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C2 Ep. 151 Mirrored Past Chapter Three
840 Plays2 years ago
Where did Milo go?
This episode is brought to you by the generous donations of our amazing Show Sponsors: Laura Pickrahn, Darrin Katzska, Irene Viorritto, Ryan Royce, Darrell DeLaney, Charles Compton, Deviouspoptart, Nastasia Raulerson, David Scrams, Elizabeth Clark, Rebekah Gowman, deviouspoptart, Eðvarð Arnór Sigurðsson, Michael Clark, Jerry Theuns, Mark Stanley, and Shelby Johnson.
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Transcript
Sponsorship and Host Introduction
00:00:00
Speaker
The following episode is brought to you by Darren Kaczka, Deavius Poptart, Elizabeth Clark, Irene Villarito, Laura Pickron, Nathan Stuller, Charles Compton, Natasha Rallerson, David Scrams, Edvard Arnaud, Jerry Thunes, Mark Stanley, Rebecca Gellman, and Shelby Johnson, as well as all of our generous patrons.
00:00:27
Speaker
D-Quarantine Radio, your game is roll.
00:01:04
Speaker
Hello and welcome to I'm Your Game Master Eric. I'm Philip. I'm Trevor.
Recap of Previous Game Events
00:01:11
Speaker
I'm Randy. I'm Jeff. And welcome to another episode. Gentlemen, what happened last time? I don't know, I've lost everything before Jeff started drinking like a raccoon. We annihilated a poor man. No, we didn't. Yeah, we really killed that guy a lot.
00:01:25
Speaker
the last one they will have heard. I apologize. We killed that guy. We didn't know anything about him. A monster. He concaved our town. We killed a guy and saved Highwall.
00:01:42
Speaker
It's probably Milo's fault. But Milo was taking a nap the entire time. Speaking of the devil, Aeris definitely thinks it's Milo's fault, if nothing else.
Milo's Ethereal Experience
00:01:50
Speaker
Aeris definitely thinks Milo was the impetus of it. Aeris can distinguish between fault and cause. It all comes back to Milo. But yes. Okay, so, Milo.
00:02:02
Speaker
The last thing you remember is standing in the cauldron with Eris and Olive talking about something and then the world turned actually. You're standing there watching them and all of a sudden kind of the residual
00:02:16
Speaker
thoughts, then feelings that you have in your mind that are not yours, the external things that you can hear and feel, go away. It's silence in your own head, which is not something you've experienced since Kylie died. And then darkness as you pass out. You then see yourself floating outside of your own body. Listen, Olive, rush over. You can't quite hear what they're saying. It's muffled a bit.
00:02:47
Speaker
give me a our knowledge lore check to purple difficulty
00:02:53
Speaker
One, two, three, four, five, that's one. Six of those and some of them. That's five of those and three of them. Six of those and half a dozen of the others. So, what's the X? X is a failure, it cancels out your successes. Okay, so those two can go away and that can go away with that and that's one, two, three, four success and one advantage? Yep, there it is.
00:03:17
Speaker
Okay, so I'll get it down straight out of the gate you can immediately tell because of your knowledge of the arcane and everything that you are in the ethereal plane You've been booted from your own body and you can also see looking down your body the smoke is not coming from your head anymore and Yeah, that's what you immediately see and then as
00:03:44
Speaker
The world doesn't begin to fade but it shifts slightly to where you can tell that there's it's like there's two versions of the world overlapping on each other that you can see and you see like another person that you don't recognize go running through past all of an heiress that they don't seem to react to and they like run through the walls of the cauldron.
00:04:08
Speaker
not tearing anything up, just going through the wall. Yeah, like the wall wasn't there for them. Like Milo could do at this point. Is Milo in control of his body? Yeah, you can move.
Strange Phenomena in High Wall
00:04:17
Speaker
And does this person look...
00:04:21
Speaker
like Milo currently? No, no, this person looks like they belong in the world with Eris and all of like they are in the reality that they exist in. Okay, but due to all of an Eris not reacting to them running through the cauldron. Okay, does not seem that they are actually in the same place that they are even though you're seeing it that way. Okay.
00:04:42
Speaker
I think that would, of course, Milo's freaking out because not understanding why this has happened. Is he going to die because the smoke has gone out of his head now? Is that something to keep him alive or what's going on? And then seeing this happen. What's the matter, Philip? He would probably, I guess, follow.
00:05:01
Speaker
Okay, you go zoom in after this figure that was running and you find yourself in the High Wall District of Sharn and you begin to see a lot of stuff happening in front of you. First and foremost, you begin to see objects like moving horizontally over the ground as if gravity isn't working the correct way. But that's only part of what you're seeing. You're also seeing some figures just walking about
00:05:30
Speaker
during their day, shopping, and give me a perception check with just one red. One, two, three, four. That's gonna cancel what, an advantage? So that's one, two, three, four, success, one advantage. Okay. Yeah, you can tell that even as you're looking at the high wall district that you've come to know through your time coming here with Aeris and stuff, you can, like when you look at some of the windows,
00:05:59
Speaker
You see them both in the state they were before Eris arrived, like boarded up, dilapidated, clearly these buildings are condemned. But then you also see that overlapped with versions of the windows that are actually really nice and set in there really well. And so it seems to me there are different versions of high wall that you're experiencing. So is this something Milo was thinking like their planes are converging or? Maybe. I think you get to say what Milo's thinking.
00:06:27
Speaker
the two advantage would he know that the two advantage i will say you like you did not follow that person through the wall you thought i want to go outside the cauldron and you appeared outside the cauldron so you get the sense that if you think i want to go somewhere you'll go to that place so okay then i would look around and see at this point you see uh hob
00:06:54
Speaker
that you can clearly recognize as your hob moving in a very strange way that does not make sense to you where it's like hob is moving along the ground like sideways like he's like this and he's like leaping from like tree to tree and park bench to park bench but he's like moving along the ground it looks very strange okay and do i see aris and reynard
00:07:20
Speaker
You don't see Raynard at any point. After a moment, Harris is walking just normal. Her hair is pointed
Ritual and Vision of Kylie
00:07:28
Speaker
forward, but she's walking normally upright. She'd be crawling because her thighs are not capable of holding her body directly out from a wall. And I recognize this is the Harris that I know and the Hobb that I know. Yep. Just doing a sick here on the wall right now.
00:07:49
Speaker
Then you see Igrik coming down also. I guess. Milo's... He wants to make sure everybody that he knows is safe. Olive's safe. Everybody's safe as far as he can tell at this point in time. They seem fine. They seem fine. Other than the world looks haywire at this point. And then I guess he would just take in the rest of his surroundings. Okay. If he knows his smoke's not coming out of his head, he would like, where did my smoke go?
00:08:16
Speaker
Yeah. So you can see towards the center of Highwall, the direction everything's moving towards, you see a plume of black smoke like coming out of a tower. But that's that you think would look very familiar. But that's what you see. Okay. Milo's really concerned that he might be the cause of all this. Is there a check he can make to deduce whether it's his fault or someone else's caused it? One red, one purple. There it is.
00:08:49
Speaker
I'm afraid that one red one there makes it your fault. Last time when somebody else rolled that one it made it my fault. That's true. So this is somebody else's fault. Okay, so anyway I have three success, three advantage.
00:09:06
Speaker
and the despair. Actually, two successes because the despair cancels out. So, Milo, you can tell that this is not your fault. Once again, you think, I want to go investigate that black plume. You go to that black plume. You don't even move through space and time. You just appear there. You can tell this is not your fault. Somebody is channeling the power of Zorat.
00:09:36
Speaker
and they're basically siphoning all of Zorat's power into this ritual. So it got sucked from your body against your will, is what happened, you can tell. And so as you get close to this tower where the smoke is coming from, you actually see a figure standing over a table, the arcane runes, not gonna make you roll again, because your knowledge lore was good enough. You can recognize this, yeah, this is a ritual where they are summoning all of the power of Zorat and trying to make
00:10:02
Speaker
it coterminous with the material plane here and now. So that's what's going on. If only we'd had a conversation with that guy before murdering him. It would totally have been the different experience. Right. That's how it would have gone. It could have been how it would have gone. I didn't say anything. What are we doing? I blacked out. We're not doing anything. That's Milo's blacked out. Okay. Three advantage. What would you like to do with the three advantage? Not have the smoke come back in Milo's head. You would want that?
00:10:32
Speaker
Part of me thinks Milo might want that. It's been nothing but trouble. Yeah, but nah, not with three advantages. Yeah, but I think there's a part of Milo that might be happy that that smoke's not pouring out of his head because it has caused a lot of grief. That's the part of Milo that Aeris likes. Jeez. Yeah, three advantage. I don't know. I already feel like things have already happened before...
00:10:58
Speaker
I think just give yourself an upgrade for your next check if you want. Can Milo affect what is going on in any way or it's? On the material plane? No. Yeah, okay. Both narratively and from a mechanical standpoint, everything's already happened.
00:11:18
Speaker
Yeah, unless anybody's got any ideas, I don't know. Yeah. Okay. So the despair. Didn't forget.
00:11:35
Speaker
You feel yourself as you get closer to this plume of smoke begin to feel a pull towards it, not like a compulsion to get like physically pulled towards it. And the magical energy reaches out and envelops you. And all of a sudden things go dark again.
Threat to Andarian Royalty
00:11:57
Speaker
And after a beat, your eyes open and you see yourself in a wholly unfamiliar place.
00:12:07
Speaker
Not just in architecture, not just in like the things around you don't make sense. But you see a couple things that Milo would probably be interested in. A bed.
00:12:22
Speaker
much more modern looking bed than what you're like, it's not made of wood, not made of stone. It's made of some material that you don't think you've ever seen before. And you see a woman lying in the bed. Her eyes are closed. She sucked up some machinery, but you recognize it as Kylie. And you see her eyes begin to flutter open.
00:12:47
Speaker
The door swings open and you see some people rush in as she sits up with kind of this confused, hazy look on her face. You see a younger woman that looks a lot like Kylie come rushing in and you can't hear the words.
00:13:04
Speaker
through a couple different layers of water like you can hear things being said but it's very muffled you can't make out any kind of actual dialogue going on but you see the younger woman has a look of like grave concern on her face and Kylie hears her words and then shakes her head and begins to pull off the apparatus that's on her and she starts like fighting through people to get out of the room to something
00:13:28
Speaker
and you can follow the scene if you want, but like her and the younger woman leave the room as multiple times to stop them. Yeah, he would definitely, Milo is following this and do nothing about it, but he's going to follow. It's Kylie. A lot of like terminals and stuff that seem vaguely similar to stuff you've seen like in mill hatch industries and stuff, but just a little bit different, like more advanced. But you see some kind of terminal that is
00:13:58
Speaker
you recognize like the screen that they're looking at is the ceiling of the cauldron and they're like frantically trying to like but it's like getting darker kind of thing
00:14:15
Speaker
But then after a moment, everything goes black. Everything goes black. And you find yourself floating in this one's getting ethereal. You're in the ethereal plane, but it's much more of an ethereal space. There's less sense of space and stuff like that. And you begin to hear voices speaking.
00:14:37
Speaker
like in a distance, not too far because obviously you can hear them, but you hear one of the voices speaking is Eris's voice. Can I understand what she's saying? What is Eris saying? Not from this distance.
00:14:49
Speaker
Oh, I'm gonna... Since I'm someplace else, now I'm going to float over closely. Okay, so you head in the direction of Aerys's voice. As you get closer, you hear the other figures that Aerys is talking to, and you very clearly recognize one of the other voices. It takes you a second because you're not as familiar with the voice, but you recognize Cassian's voice.
00:15:11
Speaker
and you find yourself in a room that looks like a safe house and the Cassian that you met before with a with three other figures Eris looks very different from the Eris and then you see two other figures that you don't recognize you never met these people before but you hear Cassian basically saying
00:15:33
Speaker
Okay, so we know that the target's gonna be going after the Andarian royalty in about a day, so we need to make sure that all the tech and everything... I mean, the last thing that I want is to run into that drow again. We all remember what happened last time I got stuck somewhere and had to be helped out by, well, you. So... It's hard to predict whether it will work. He's just extremely competent.
00:16:00
Speaker
I don't know if that's the case. Look, I'm telling you, you sent me on this one. I don't know what it is about me. I get what it is about all this. But, you know, he pauses when I'm there. Yeah. True. But you're not sending me on this one. I get it. He's made some very specific threats about everyone I love. Joke's on him. I wasn't there. I'll teach him a lesson.
00:16:27
Speaker
I know you will, I know you will. As long as everything is buttoned up and casting stops and looks right at you, Milo, as you're cloning Milo.
00:16:37
Speaker
Who? Oh wait, Milo's there. You all can see like a ghostly figure is now in the room. But we don't know Milo because... Right. Yeah. Who? What's he got? Oh. Do you not see the... Yeah. This is one of the people that helped get... Yeah, you got the scar. It appears to be a ghost. Milo, points light. I could activate the countermeasures. No, it's... I think it's Ethereal Plane. I think it'll trap him this time. I don't think he's dead. I think you've seen it all out. What are we gonna do with him once we break him? Trust me, we would know if that Milo was dead. Could be useful.
00:17:08
Speaker
Okay, so you all don't know Milo Kegbottom. You have heard of somebody named Milo that's a big deal to people back at home base. So the name Milo would mean something, just not on a personal phone. Is this that Milo? Yeah, this is that Milo. Hey Milo, what's up buddy? You're sure I shouldn't trap him. She's been extremely reckless about all this. I know, but we don't... Milo tries to communicate, but...
00:17:37
Speaker
Try to communicate. I think you tried to tell us something. What is it? My love. What is it, boy? Cassian. Yeah, it's me. And it's you. Yes. And you're here. I wouldn't. Why? I don't understand what's happened. Either, you're not dead. No, I'm obviously on the ethereal plane.
00:18:05
Speaker
Smoke stopped coming out of my head and I sounds like positive improvement if it's coming out and I'm now it seems I'm just Interrupting a meeting going everywhere and who's this?
Return to Material Plane
00:18:20
Speaker
and Milo looks it she has a Scarlet dyed mohawk
00:18:28
Speaker
has goggles very similar to the ones that Eris got from Cassie and presumably her clothing is much more plain much more put together and orderly with a having just gone to that restaurant with a distinctly dark ghoul
00:18:43
Speaker
look to her gear much more so than the heiress. But the tattoos are the same, and so you would have put ways to recognize her. I know Milo picked up on it, but I wanted the visual. Everyone else would describe the physical appearance of their characters? Yeah, sure. The guy that you heard speaking is tall and thin with long brown hair just pulled back into a low ponytail, and he's wearing a very plain brown cloak.
00:19:12
Speaker
but you catch a glint of some like copper color at the collar and a little bit of peeking out of the back of the bottom of the sleeves, the cuffs of the sleeves. And he has a, actually, you know what? He does it. Cassian does.
00:19:27
Speaker
oh yeah so he does not have a weapon on it and then this person is a seemingly human woman with like bright orange hair snatched back in a pony and like a hot pink
00:19:43
Speaker
Looks like claw mark tattoo on her forehead and the outfit is very like Black Widow. Okay. Okay. So very assassin. Nice. Cassie is wearing the gear that you saw Cassie. So Milo goes, who's this over here that after that comment that was made in. No, I live in.
00:20:03
Speaker
Sounds very much and looks quite similar to Eric.
00:20:17
Speaker
Notice that. He knows your name. He got it right. Like, Dex is saying this loud enough for everyone to hear. In a sense. Okay. I did debrief that he knows a version of, yeah, anyway, we didn't get to that. Okay, Milo, the smoke's not coming out of your head, so you probably got your tie to Zoriath severed. I don't know why that caused your soul to
00:20:40
Speaker
leave your body, but that is concerning. I would love for you to get back. Does it sound like a relieving thing? Would we be proving to have one's mind? Not that Kylie. Will it not be better for her? What she's doing is dangerous.
00:20:57
Speaker
Listen, doing something dangerous and reckless just because it makes you feel better. It doesn't make it wise. The technology that allowed her to do that is the core of how we can jump universes, though. She had the breakthrough, like maybe she could be afforded an indulgence. No offense, Milo. Right, but now it... I will say that I was there, briefly, in her location, and she was connected to some machines, and... Yeah, she was just comatose. No, she's not.
00:21:27
Speaker
She sat up and unhooked everything and went to some screens with... Oh, I'm going to assume is probably... Cassian holds up a finger and like... All of which supports my assertion that this was extremely unwise and dangerous as it apparently coincided with her coma.
00:21:45
Speaker
Cassian steps away and starts talking in the communicator. You're killing me, Iris. We need to focus on the novelty of the situation right now instead of critiquing it. So do we tell my names too? No. You can't, I'm low. You can call me E. Just the letter. Short for E, short for Evelyn. Don't call me E, they'll all kill you. Very well. This is a person there, so we'll get along with it.
00:22:08
Speaker
I know I say this every day, but if you don't tell them what it's short for, there's not a lot of danger of them calling you that. Okay, but where's the fun in that? My brain is melting because I keep almost saying what Hob would say, especially to Aeris. You're sure I shouldn't trap him? No, I don't think that. If anything, I think maybe what would be best for us is to make sure that he makes it back. All right. Aeris walks over, opens a kit, and starts working on a device.
00:22:38
Speaker
Milo's over intent on what Cassian's doing because he's concerned about Kylie.
Debate Over Milo's Role
00:22:45
Speaker
Hey Milo, you want a local warrior for a minute? But I'm very concerned about Kylie. I understand that. Here's the thing, Cassian's not going to talk to you right now. If you'd like answers, perhaps, some of the more vocal members of the group. You don't know this yet. That is certain to me. I've got a feeling. E.
00:23:05
Speaker
Cassian has an earpiece in, so it's not like a speaker on his. Yeah. I live very well. All right, once Milo comes close. All right. Hey, buddy, listen. Sorry that you're here. I hope it's not too disconcerting for you. We're going to try to get you back. And when you get back, there's Cassian says, hold on. No, none of that. We don't do that. I will admit that I was a bit
00:23:36
Speaker
I could have used a little more subterfuge now that I think about it. Because you have an earfuge head, so I thought perhaps you couldn't hear me. I learned quickly that that is not the case. No, we don't, and Cassie wants back over, we don't interfere that way. Fine. We interfere in all kinds of ways.
00:23:55
Speaker
Listen, I'm very in favor of regulations, but this one, he is correct. This thing doesn't like, if it happens, it's not the end of a timeline. Bad stuff happens, but it's not like, it's not in the purview of our scope. That very clear thing, like it's going to kill a timeline.
00:24:12
Speaker
Then we step in and recede, but we don't take away agency from people. When other organizations have the amount of success that we have had, they expand other roles. Okay. So we are now moving beyond simply apocalyptic events. The rules are what make us who we are. If we didn't have rules, we would be like all the other entities that are jumping around that we have to go fix the problems that they try to do.
00:24:35
Speaker
I like to think that it is our moral fortitude that makes us who we are. I believe in fact that the other organizations have rules that are just like dangerous bad ones about hurting people and helping people.
00:24:48
Speaker
Miley, you begin to feel a pull away from this room. Oh, it's working. Oh, you didn't. He's going back to the right way. And Miley says, whatever you do, just make sure that Kylie is safe. That's the whole gig. And you feel smoke begin to wisp out of your forehead. And you all see Miley begin to get pulled away like he's about to get gone. Dex, just in case you guys didn't realize, Dex is stink high in Cassian about cutting him off when he was about to say a thing.
00:25:17
Speaker
Look, we're going to take care of Kylie. You take care of your stuff, I guess. Like, really is eyeing Cassie about not having said this thing. Is Myla, like, about to fade away for good? Yeah. Whatever. Don't kill, don't kill Callaway. No. What? Whoa. And then turn the switch. And Myla, you get sucked out of the room. Banished. And you all, as your eyes open up and black smoke, and you find yourself in Alla's room in the cauldron.
00:25:46
Speaker
Everything seems fine. It's not, though. Everything seems just settled, to be fair. Everything's up against one wall. Yeah. But... Everything might now have the potentiality to become fine, but it's not. We're not bad.
00:26:00
Speaker
You can be back. Yeah, you hear voices as the crew enters the culturing. Okay, important question. Has Eris's hair returned to its original color? All of the changes that occurred are back to me. Has Hobb's face returned to its original location? Yes. Ranard's hands are the right direction. The trees are no longer made of flesh. Oh yeah, that was a bad one. That was bad. Yeah, that was more important.
00:26:23
Speaker
of all the things that happened. There's one flesh tree left. There's one disgusting tree. So you hear voices as people come back in. Milo still, where he collapsed, I'm assuming? No, you got carried up. You're in all of his bed. Oh, that's right. They carried me up. I remember that. Look, all I'm saying, it was exactly the same as the smoke that comes out of his head. We're all saying that. Were your hands backwards too? No. No, it was much worse.
00:26:50
Speaker
of just throws his hands in the air and turns around. You see my air? Milo! No, it was pink. Milo! Yes, I'm awake now. I guess the smoke is back to coming out of my head. That's disappointing.
00:27:12
Speaker
Come on. He's awake. That's not disappointing. That's not disappointing. Okay. Thank you. Not disappointing. He's alright. I was just hoping maybe when we killed that person down at the- Really? I was just cursed there. When we killed that top down at the bottom of the- Bottom? Whatever it was. That's not the bottom anymore. It's just over there now. Yeah, did you all figure out who was behind it? Olive says this.
00:27:36
Speaker
Oh, we found who was behind it and we murdered him. Oh. We didn't have... Didn't get a name. Oh. Didn't ask. We weren't given an opportunity to talk to him. He did not present himself politely. Oh, yeah, and he folded high walls in half. Right. Hello, are you okay? Yes, I'm on my way down. We all are. Yeah, I think Hob might be really, like, really screwed up right now.
00:28:00
Speaker
So Milo as you enter the main area of the College
Eris and Amen's Philosophical Discussion
00:28:03
Speaker
and you see everything up against one wall like everything up against one wall and Yeah, whatever's coming out of your head folded the neighborhood in half. Well, no, that's not quite 100% because when I went unconscious I entered into the ethereal plane and
00:28:25
Speaker
and I saw like planes trying to become terminus and people walking about as if everything was fine and then this where we are everything topsy-turvy and I went to the location of where the black smoth was in that tower and it seemed that
00:28:51
Speaker
He, along with the other, he sucked the magic out of my head, along with, I guess, where else he was pulling it from. How does that? Because Eris is not aware of, is that correct? Is Eris no where Myla, she's aware, oh, she is aware, okay. Yeah, Cassie had been really happy about it. Because I was trying to not tell her. No. So. That cat has been out of the bag for a while.
00:29:18
Speaker
Okay, I don't know if she had exactly known that, but yes. Basically, whoever it was took my magic and was trying to bring it in to cause, I guess, the planes to become coterminous. To what? Because that's what that magic trailing out of your head does. Yes. But if I still didn't, if I did not have this magic coming out of my head,
00:29:49
Speaker
he would have still been doing the same thing. As he was drawing it out he drew it from me as well in addition to wherever else. However else he was pulling it in. I think perhaps a more charitable read would be the same thing as causing both the smoke out of Milo's head and whatever happened. I'm saying it's a lot more dangerous than we thought it was. Now that I agree with but
00:30:18
Speaker
We're starting... this conversation goes nowhere if it feels as though we're blaming Milo for this. And I want to nip that in the bud today. Yes, I know. I don't think Milo could do it if he wanted to. He's expressed himself. He doesn't know how his magic works. But I'm learning as we go.
00:30:33
Speaker
It's a great way to learn. I'll run several of the places that he's been affected by. We all are. Yes, I have more to share in my travels out of my body. I also saw Cassian. And I saw not my Kylie, but I guess the Kylie that I have a connection with.
00:31:01
Speaker
who was in a coma, no longer in a coma, looking at screens. Oh, shit, out of a coma. What? Look at the what? In a coma, out of a coma? Yes, it's like she knew something was wrong and came out of what the coma she was in. And I saw Cassian. She came out while you were unconscious. And I would assume so, yes. And I saw a version of you. Right here.
00:31:31
Speaker
Eris, where are you going? I'm gonna go see how the bar is. Right. Come with you, Rick. How about you, Rick? Um, I have a lot of questions. Yes, yes. So, well... I think it's not uncharable to say Eris wouldn't have shared the whole Cassian multiverse thing with Olive. Would Eris have shared that with Olive?
00:31:53
Speaker
It just seemed like Eris dismissed most of it, so it wouldn't have been worth sharing. But I could be wrong. Eris probably talked about this mad person that we went on a mission with in explanation of the new goggles. OK. Yeah, there was quite a bit that happened with Cassian outside of just the... Yeah, the new goggles would require some sort of explanation because Eris didn't make them. OK. And we came back pretty hurt from that one, too, didn't we? Yeah, there was also that. Yes.
00:32:23
Speaker
And Eris, I really think you should stay. I think she's gone. The door closes. Now, is Cassian your Minotaur friend or the Lizard Man? You would absolutely remember Cassian. As neither one of those. I do. He gave you the quiver.
00:32:41
Speaker
Yeah, all your magic heroes. That was his name. Anyway, I saw someone looked at the heiress from wherever
Personal Dynamics and Group Dynamics
00:32:50
Speaker
I was and a couple of other people that I did not know. They sounded cool. And somehow they concocted a device to send me back. And as I was fading back into my body,
00:33:10
Speaker
The last words that one of them told me was, for us not to kill Callaway. That doesn't sound right. Like it was imperative that we not kill Callaway. That's interesting. Because when Cassian was here, he was very clear about not telling us things like that.
00:33:35
Speaker
I think when I was told that, Callaway, excuse me, Cassian, was not happy that information was shared. See, Milo doesn't know his name either. They seem to exclusively tell you the things that they're not supposed to tell people and they weren't supposed to believe you. I don't know that Hob knows how to react to that. See, I think the thing better than dramatic irony is when the characters are told the important information but they refuse to believe the important information. I should possibly believe it. Alright, so...
00:34:04
Speaker
The other heiress. Yes. I'm genuinely trying to remember. I'm trying to put myself back into how much I bought into this stuff. It was more than heiress, but less than mine. Well, because Milo had the one-on-one conversation with him. Milo has more information than anyone else. That's what I'm saying. That's what they're saying to tell you all this stuff. I pretty much shared. Everything. Yeah. Everything, yeah. So other heiress told you that we can't kill... No, it was... Yeah, it was other heiress. It was?
00:34:30
Speaker
I thought it was Dex. They both tried to tell you that Eris was the one that actually said it. Okay. Randy, it was like four minutes ago. I was trying to take in a whole lot of stuff. There was a lot.
00:34:42
Speaker
It was Eris. Yes, it was the other Eris who said it is essentially from the tone of her voice that it is imperative. I took it to mean perhaps for our world, maybe, not to kill Callaway. It's never been a foregone conclusion for Hob that we were going to kill Callaway. So I think, yeah, I don't.
00:35:08
Speaker
I have a strong feeling either way about whether he lives or dies, but I will not allow. I'm way too strong for right now. I had always thought if it was necessary, we would absolutely kill him. Yeah, breathe those sorts of things, sure. Yes.
00:35:24
Speaker
Do you think you can go back and ask more questions? No, because it's like my soul was ripped from my body. Is that a stupid question or are you laughing? No, it's a funny question. It's not a stupid question.
00:35:40
Speaker
If we duct tape your head close so the smoke can't come out, do you think eventually? No, I stopped the flow before and his soul didn't escape his body. So, I don't think that's a movie. It takes longer. Perhaps. Yes, I possibly have some...
00:35:55
Speaker
I don't tell Eris, but I may have some magic that can put me on the ethereal plane. I've not tried it, and I don't know at the point in my existence that I would wish to. Eris, as you walk through the high walls district, people come in out of the woodwork helping set stuff right, pick stuff up, just- Eris sets Kubrick to start lifting. Okay. They seem very thankful, but are you headed to soaring spirits, or are you- She'd start making her way that direction, seeing people in-
00:36:23
Speaker
in trouble or things broken that Ygric can lift into place that sort of thing she would stop and help but yes in general she's moving in that towards the bar. Okay so yeah you're stopping to help people but it seems people are very quick to
00:36:40
Speaker
get out of their homes and help people recover, pick stuff up. And yeah, you get to soaring spirits relatively quickly. And same thing, it's largely more of the same. People just picking stuff up. You see a lot of the bottles were smashed when the gravity shifted in soaring spirits, but they're picking up. It doesn't seem, people's spirits don't seem broken, if that makes sense.
00:37:06
Speaker
but their spirits are broken. Yeah, easy. Very good. Mark that to cut his jaw. That was good. That seems like a quote. I'm just really glad that you're confident. Guys, Trevor, it makes me happy. At least I'm listening to them. Jesus. I'm going to aim for the middle, Trevor. Yeah, Jorlin, out in front of the store, in front of the store experience, in fact, like helping
Preparation for the Hunt
00:37:30
Speaker
people pick stuff up. You saw him before, but yeah. So that's what you see currently. That's what she's doing.
00:37:36
Speaker
Urelin sees you approaching himself. Did you share your name? I can't remember. Fixer. I was about to say, would you like to say that you shared your name so he doesn't just call you the Fixer? She definitely left before actually introducing herself to anyone. Okay, so Urelin sees you as like, it's a
00:37:53
Speaker
Fixer, right? No, I'm Zane. Zane. Zane. Nice to meet you, Zane. Formally. Yeah, he extends it, and as he's picking stuff up, moving it about, fixing the sign on the door, it's like, everything okay at your home? It's all against the wall, but... Yeah, better than some circumstances. Do you need any help or anything, or are you just here to help? I know, I was just...
00:38:17
Speaker
I have a goal that can lift things. So I figured there's probably plenty of things broken that need. Yeah.
00:38:26
Speaker
Yeah. If you actually wanted to go to, there's a, Amen. He's a scholar, librarian. He was a professor at university back in Kire. He has a lot of like bookshelves and stuff that I'm sure that's going to take a while. If you want to go help Amen. He's, you see the big building with kind of the dome on the top over there. That's his spot. If you want to go help him. Thank you. Yeah.
00:38:51
Speaker
Yeah, you see a male hack elf, a little bit older, greying around the temples. The door fell off when it swung open, so he doesn't have a front door right now, so you just see him walking around, and he looks up and sees you. Hi. The Fixer. I heard you have things that need lifting. Oh, yeah. Oh, hi. You're big. Egrick. Egrick. Yeah, here, just come in and appreciate the help. And back to the call. So, you all were saying,
00:39:20
Speaker
Pop has begun taking high-placed things that he recognizes where they were. Anything that he's not reaching that tonight. Putting things back on the higher shelf. That he knows what they are. He's not touching anything. He does not know what it is or does. Leaving that to Raynard. Raynard, can you grab that? The liquids that Raynard's shaking the bottle.
00:39:41
Speaker
Radar, will you taste this as if it goes in the refrigerator or the laboratory? After a few minutes, the door to the cauldron opens, and Kath and Sana walk in, and they seem very nonplussed or shook at all, clearly did not experience what you all just did, and Kath kinda looks around. What happened? Whole place bowled up. I need much more context. Reality was distorted.
00:40:06
Speaker
Keep trying. Okay. Those are my big words for the day. You've seen bowls. Imagine Highwall became one. Probably more of a vase, really, if it was that steep. And Cat looks at Hobb and bobs her head towards Milo. What happened? Milo's smoke. It was not because of my smoke. No. It went away. That's what you would say, to be fair, Milo. It went away. Cause this came back. So they absolutely...
00:40:36
Speaker
It was Milo's smoke independent of Milo. It's possible that Milo's keeping all of this at bay. As soon as it got out, magic just happened. Your magic can leave you and work independently of you? That seems worse than Eris's theories. It was taken by some... obviously evil person in a tower. It's a very odd person that can kill you. I think it's wise to remember that, unlike science, what we shouldn't be doing is making hypotheses based on our observations so far.
00:41:06
Speaker
I know, in science, that's the way you roll if I get it. But we've gotta suspend that a bit for this. Okay. And Sana pipes up. So are we going to hunt a warlord soon? Oh my goodness. The warlord! Told to come meet you here for that. And we're going to, yes. Hob takes a moment to actually explain. I used all my PTO with Ulfin to be here, so I can't do it again if we're gonna delay.
00:41:36
Speaker
You've got it. I know an orc named Samuel Govers. You have a shift exchange book. Hob actually takes a second to explain what just happened, why we're all so freaked out and a little messed up. My face was in my stomach. Is Aeris okay? Where did she...
00:41:52
Speaker
No, her hair was different. There it is. Eris and Ygric went to see where else they could help him. Oh. That's nice. That's what Hob assumes. Yeah. Actually, no. Hob knows that once she got out of there, that's what she was going to do. I think that's fair. Okay. We'll go get them. They're a part of this. Obviously.
00:42:13
Speaker
A big thing just happened to a bunch of people in where Aerys lives, and so we're gonna... She's taking a second. Okay, yeah. Havi's not saying she walked off because she was upset about hearing about the other planes they took. I guess we'll help you clean up here while we wait on Aerys to get back. Oh, thank you. And then Rainer just sits down.
Reflection and Dialogue for Normalcy
00:42:33
Speaker
And then I think if there is, if we really aren't taking a second and tie like, not a long time, but putting things back where they need to be, that Olive can and Eris when she gets home can clean up more later. Yeah. But a hob would start because we do have to start getting in the mindset of this job we have. Going back over, all right, so there's the blood collecting ones that
00:43:01
Speaker
can, you know, clone your blood. And then there's the other ones were just attack, right? Yep.
00:43:09
Speaker
The shadow stalkers and then the arcane sentries were another thing that you discovered. The sentries are basically like mobile surveillance devices. The shadow stalkers are what the thing that you all that Eris exhibit and the blood seekers, you don't know what they look like. But they're the ones that they, if they can get hold of your blood, they can track you at that point. Yeah. Yeah. So Hob just starts running through all that stuff again, like we've never seen on the blood seekers.
00:43:32
Speaker
Is it laying around? Yeah, she's repurposed one to crack back to its home. Is it crawling around? Yeah, it's probably, it's powered up. Eris, is your hack helping Aemon? He is directing Egric like where to put like books that have fallen and stuff and as you're seeing this like
00:43:55
Speaker
He's not putting them in alphabetical order, or it's inscrutable, like where he keeps his books as your... I hate, I have a system, guys. Randy, you would be an I have a system guy, wouldn't you? I have no system. Those heiress almost certainly. Heiress. Actually, Randy, you do strike me as a war, there is no system guy. That's true. That's right, there's no system.
00:44:19
Speaker
Yeah, Aemon's not like talking shop or anything with Ares, because obviously he's like directing, eager and aware to put stuff back. But as Ares looks around, he's like very clear that the first thing that Aemon put back in order, potentially because that was the thing he could most easily do so, is his desk, which is already up against the wall that would have been turned up. And you see a small stack of books
00:44:42
Speaker
About pottery like chiron pottery and stuff like that and like a mound of clay that he's been forming and working But it is not indiscernible discernibly not chiron pottery. Like it's yeah, it's not what he's going for kind of thing. What are you working on? Oh I so I have this thing I don't really talk to people about it But you're here and you saw it and it's gonna be weird if I don't tell you about it now so
00:45:11
Speaker
There was this Chiron philosopher way back when that had this whole thing about innovation only comes from ignorance is the idea. And so not realizing a challenge is like the best tool to rise up against it. And so I'm trying that in an artistic endeavor, seeing if I know what like Chiron pottery looks like to a certain extent, but I'm not a potter.
00:45:36
Speaker
Yeah, Potter. Potter. And so, like, I'm trying to recreate my approximation of Chiron pottery to see if I can do something interesting and different in that space, and then I have the books there once I'm done to cross-check my work to see if I did stuff similar or did it wildly differently, and if it failed, why, and stuff like that. But, so that's my thing is, like, I pick a thing and I try to excel at it with no knowledge about it to see if I can create something new and different. Yeah.
00:46:06
Speaker
Cool. I don't know. It's like, sculptor. That's the word that I was trying to think of before. I don't sculpt things in general, but yeah. So yeah, it's just, yeah. The whole philosophy is like, as soon as you assign the label to yourself, you limit what you can accomplish. So it's best to go in just with no intention so that you can see what will happen. Yeah.
00:46:34
Speaker
All right. I don't know. I'm weird. At least that's what other kids told me when I was little. Sure. Yeah. That's not me inviting you to call me weird, because it really did hurt my feelings. I'm just not. I'm making the joke before you can. Yeah. So thank you for helping with the books, though. I was sort of watching this with a slightly puzzled look on her face, because she doesn't know how to respond. And that's the look. And so I know that you think it. And so yeah.
00:47:04
Speaker
I just love feelings in that speech. Now how to respond to that. Most people don't when they interact with me, so yeah. You're... Okay. Welcome to Highwall. Yeah. That's alright. People don't respond well to me either. Oh. It's probably me. It's definitely me.
00:47:33
Speaker
Okay. I think you're nice and cool and thank you for this and the other stuff you've been doing and so... Don't talk much. Yeah. That's usually where the problem is. I'm doing things and fixing things. It's usually okay. People like talking about you. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You're sending stuff.
00:47:55
Speaker
Sounds like the beginning of a beautiful relationship. No, sounds like two people who aren't gonna get a little over your sitting stone. You hear Hob say, there's cauldrons back in. Acceptable order, do you need a hand out there? Just finishing up here at this...
00:48:12
Speaker
Is this a library or a bookstore? Library? Do you learn the books? Do you just keep the books? Is this just your place? I learn the books out when people want them, but saying it's a library kind of invites people to come, and I don't want that yet. I'm just helping out this guy's book collection with his shells and stuff. Well, now you made it sound weird. God, I'm so weird. A book collection. That sounds pretty cool.
00:48:40
Speaker
Roy. Wait, I didn't. Because Hop can hear him. Roy, okay. I don't read personally. We're about done. If you recall, we've got quite a bit to attend to when you're ready. Yeah, we'll be back in just a minute. Sorry. Eris is now extremely uncomfortable, and we'll begin to... I'm sorry that I just...
00:49:11
Speaker
First through fifth impressions aren't my thing. You've apologized to me a lot and I haven't known what for any of the times. Just me and me. Why would you apologize for that?
00:49:20
Speaker
I never apologize for that. That's awesome for you. I love that for you. That's great. It's not great for all of us. I'm still on the line here. Sometimes it'd be nice to... Just kidding. You don't need... No, go. I'm gonna keep talking if you stay here. And none of us want that, so... I don't know. Okay. It was nice to meet you. You don't gotta lie.
00:49:47
Speaker
What? I'm not- This seems romantic. What is- You did there to me. Yeah. What? Okay. I'm sorry, like I- Stop, why are you sorry? Because you seem uncomfortable and I feel like that's my fault. And I just wanted to come to High Walls to meet people and maybe be a teacher and I'm too awkward for that, so.
00:50:11
Speaker
Great. There's a bar. Maybe you should have a drink. Yeah, I was there. I saw you. I bought you a drink and that seemed nice. Okay. Thank you. And I'm sorry all your books are out of order. No, they're getting back in right order. Okay. Good luck with sculpting. Thank you. See you around, I think.
00:50:35
Speaker
Yeah, I'll be soaring spirits and just, yeah. I'll be around, they're opening like a garden thing, I think next week, so. What? Gonna go to that. Oh, yeah, okay. Okay. Bye.
00:50:47
Speaker
What just happened? Who was that guy? What just happened on my pocket? See, this is why I have a lava bike. I want to scream right now. What in the world? That was so funny. I'm completely thrown for a loop. I go, the listener noticed, but at the table you might have noticed I was...
00:51:07
Speaker
Like, I went blackout confused for the last 45 seconds of that conversation. Maybe a minute ahead. Right, but for it to be rom-com, for it to be a hallmark movie, Aeris would need to be like a really well put together upper class woman who stumbles in on this weird awkward dude who owns a bookshop.
00:51:24
Speaker
Anyway, end of episode. Thanks for everyone listening. It was really fun. It was so weird. It was really fun. I was feeling awkward for both of you. Just trying to help. That was really nice. He wishes he could express that in a way that didn't make anyone feel uncomfortable, but anyway. The Earth returns to the cold room. It seemingly looks like it's put back pretty close. Some things are in the wrong spot, but they're pretty. Goes about fixing things. There is definitely a collection of things on the floor that none of us wanted to touch.
Conclusion and Future Plans
00:51:55
Speaker
No lie. Maybe all of it. I was like, no, let's just... Okay, Cass looks it. So, are we heading out soon? Or what's the plan? Eris, are we ready? Do we have our little... hunting dog? Yeah, it should work. Alright. You have a hunting dog? No.
00:52:18
Speaker
I sometimes speak in colorful metaphor. Here's the question. I don't like that. As we all know.
00:52:38
Speaker
But we want Sana to come with us. As we all know, and none of us have ever forgotten, I have a harness that allows me to track. Would it be best if we let Fido here go on his own? Right, and then you track. And then once it stops... Right. Cos that way we're not... Yeah, that's a good idea. ...following it, we can go to it later, see where. Yeah. So...
00:53:01
Speaker
Perhaps we just turn her loose. Here it is. Gives it the command to return to its... Hopstar saying, I don't love you anymore! Go away! You can't live with us! Trying to scare it off. Harry and Henderson's. I get it. Exactly. Border-free. It's on it. Yeah, it literally skitters away. Okay, so we just wait. I'm gonna go make some coffee. Anybody want coffee?
00:53:29
Speaker
Yes. I'll make a pot. Okay. Yeah, actually. Perfect. Nice. Pot is actually, it's just the... Does yours not have the attachment thing where you can put like the bigger thing in it and it makes a whole pot. It's only a single serve. You have hot and cold running coffee in here? Yeah. Neat.
00:53:45
Speaker
Only ever need a mug. I believe it's called Kath. Look at this guy. Learning. 148 episodes later. Picked up on one thing. Hob just puts his mouth underneath it and wheezes the juice for a second. He's like, all right, I'm good. Next. Sonic goes over and begins like.
00:54:02
Speaker
Making coffee for everyone. A mug at a time. Sorry, Trevor. Our resident abberonic expert. It's difficult because Eris owns one mug. Yeah. Of course. Of course not. Like, it's your night off. Stop it. This is how she gets out her nervous energy. It would appear that way. Yeah, by drinking liquid anxiety. We're drinking coffee out of, like, beakers. Beakers, yeah. Healing potion bottles, like. Milo got his little side, little pack, and he just pulls out a mug. I got a mug. Just in pieces.
00:54:32
Speaker
What is it? Trixie or whatever? It has whatever
00:54:39
Speaker
OK, so how long are you going to let this thing take off before you then begin to pursue? Because you're not going to be able to see it when it stops. You just see the direction. You just let it have a head start. We know it's in the cogs, right? Yeah. And we know how far long it takes for us to get to the cogs relative to 45 minutes. Yeah. And probably time will be. It depends on how this thing gets to the cogs also. Yeah. If it's taken the stairs, then it's going to take a while. If it just died long. I figure if we give it 45 minutes, then we'll
00:55:10
Speaker
It will stop a deerish minute before we probably get there. So as San is handing out the resident vessels of Kath, she looks at Cobb. So, Cobb, how have things been going?
00:55:23
Speaker
Earlier today, my face was in my stomach. Summarize everything again for us, Hob. Yes. Is that like a metaphor? No, it happens when you see... No, it happens in colorful language when we ask about the dog. Right, and I do. I don't get that I don't know about that. But what happened was my face left my head. I feel like you already told us about that. That was like the re- but like, what have you been up to when you're not like, in mortal peril?
00:55:46
Speaker
The mortal peril tends to make the other things get fuzzy. Okay. I- Here you go. Never mind. I'm sorry. I'm not trying to be rude. The most important thing that's happened to me lately was when my face moved to my stomach. I think our last social engagement was her party. And I don't think we've stopped since then. Right. I found out that I had this job. I-
00:56:10
Speaker
When I'm not being Hob, he's staring at a wall and softly humming. Because it's easier for me to picture that. He just slowly, he stands there like in a character selection scene in Fortnite. Just bobbing back and forth just a little bit. I apologize, Jeff. I have genuinely been playing Hob.
00:56:30
Speaker
lately where if he's not on screen, he's like resting. Okay. Because he's really sad and exhausted. He hasn't told a lot of people about the sad part yet, but I think it's coming through. He does. He starts to fill her in. I think that's a conversation. He starts to fill her in on the last two or three jobs and what they're doing here in this thing. And I think maybe he realizes, he goes, I have not really done much.
00:56:58
Speaker
Everyone can give me a perception check with just one red. No.
00:57:14
Speaker
One threat, one success? Okay. Failure with four. Why are you laughing at me so much today? No, I'm laughing because you're the only one that passed. You thought none of us were going to succeed. We have a lot of advantage. We have a lot of advantage on the table, one threat. Raynard, you can tell over the course of the 30 to 45-ish minutes because like, Sana tries to engage everyone.
00:57:38
Speaker
in this same line of questioning, that Sana tries to engage in this same line of questioning with Milo and Eris and you, Reynard, and you can tell the motivation behind this, Reynard, and you seem to be the only one that picks up on this. All Sana wants is like a sense of normalcy with her and her circle. And she understands that like,
00:58:03
Speaker
You all live lives that are not normal, but it also seems like she just wants, yeah, like her relationships don't feel normal lately. They don't feel like normal friendships. And so it's like killing her inside. So she tries to find these moments where it can be like just friends hanging out, drinking coffee, and it never works. And so you can see like a sense of like tension in Sana that she's not like, she, oh God, she would never actually overtly express that tension. But you, Raynard, you're picking up on that a little bit. So yeah.
00:58:34
Speaker
It's Anna. Yeah, what's up? Come here, come here. Okay. What? And she walks over, away from everyone else with Raynard. What's up? I just want to let you know that I don't judge you for having people in your living room. The wrong sister! The wrong sister. No, but we know that she held him in the living room, right? The wrong sister! Well, I mean... I was kidding.
00:59:04
Speaker
But Sana is the one who kidnapped them. No, Cass is the one who kidnapped them. But we talked to Sana, right? About Cass. But it was Cass. Yeah, in the fridge. So Sana knows. Yeah. We all know. You picked up on Sana desperately wants to have a normal conversation, and you were like, I don't judge you for your captives. Yeah, trying to make it normal. This is how Raynard would try to make it normal. I love it. You're the dumbest person I know. I love you so much. I'm staying true to Cara Cara. Yeah, absolutely. You love it.
00:59:34
Speaker
Someone like looks, he's like, what? You haven't talked about it, we saw. No, I know. I don't ever stop. Thank you for that, Reynard. I appreciate that you don't judge me for the actions of my sister and how I don't stop her. Yeah, thanks. I appreciate it. Yeah, you just seemed tense. Yeah, no. So, just want to clear the air on that one.
01:00:02
Speaker
Appreciate it. Thank you. Are you good otherwise? I'm great. I'm great. Working at orphans and helping train ace and... Oh, great. Great. That'll turn anyone into a stress ball, I'm sure. Uh-huh. Uh-huh. Uh-huh. Yeah, maybe that's the real issue. Do you want more coffee? I would love it. Thank you. Yeah. Calf. Oh, my God. It's not a waltz away from greenery.
01:00:36
Speaker
End of episode, Jeff's gonna need 15 before he's able to record again, so we'll call it there. Thank you all so much for listening. If you want to be part of the conversations surrounding this episode, you can join our Discord, the link to which you can find on all of our socials, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok. We have a YouTube channel, youtube.com slash the e-paint down, that I do all kinds of tabletop role-playing game related videos over there, and the link to the Discord is in the description of all those videos.
01:00:58
Speaker
We have another actual play on the Laughing Tree channel that is run by Philip, played in by myself, called Kybershard, set in the city of Stormreach, using D&D 5th Edition. We also have a Patreon, patreon.com slash the Geek Pantheon. If you want to support the shows in any way, you are able to do so over there. And we have merch at thegeeppantheon.com. Thank you all so much for listening. I've been your Game Master Eric. I'm Philip. I'm Trevor. I'm Randy. I'm Jeff. We'll see you next time.
01:01:24
Speaker
you