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C2 Ep. 121 Stranded in the Maze Chapter Eight
283 Plays2 years ago
Can the gang make it out of Khyber alive? And will Cassian make it with them?
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, Andy Dossett, Rebekah Gowman, deviouspoptart, Eðvarð Arnór Sigurðsson, Michael Clark, Eric Witman, Jerry Theuns, Philip Newman, Mark Stanley, and Shelby Johnson.
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Transcript
Introductions & Sponsor Acknowledgements
00:00:00
Speaker
The following episode is brought to you by Mark Stanley, Philip Newman, Shelby Johnson, Jerry Thunes, Andy Dossett, Eric Whitman, Edvard Arnoff, Natasha Rallerson, Deavius Poptart, Rebecca Gaoeman, Elizabeth Clark, David Scrams, Charles Compton, Darryl Delaney, Ryan Royce, Darren Katska, Irene Villarito, and Laura Pickron, as well as all of our generous patrons.
00:00:31
Speaker
D20 radio, your game is roll.
Podcast Introduction & Recap
00:01:12
Speaker
Hello. Welcome to Ever On Renewed, an actual play podcast set in the Ever On Campaign setting. I'm your game master, Eric. I'm Phillip. I'm Trevor. I'm Randy. I'm Jeff. Welcome to another episode. Gentlemen, what happened last time? We met some bugs. They bugged us. That was two episodes ago. Oh, that's right. It was. Sorry. Last episode was the riddle, the tap. We're in Kyber and we had to get in the door and we had to answer a puzzle to get in
Cavern Battle Begins
00:01:39
Speaker
the door. We answered the puzzle. We got in the door.
00:01:41
Speaker
then we went down some steps after we saw some skeletal remains skeletal and yes then we went down a spiral staircase and now it's about to get ugly yes you saw a bunch of uh aberrations corrupted versions of goblinoids
00:01:57
Speaker
Enter the cavern as Cassian took off sprinting towards the heart of Kyber Dragon Shard in the center of this large cavern to charge up his implement so he can go home. And we rolled initiative. We have that. He never ballparked a time for us, did he? He never ballparked an exit plan for us either. Fair enough. PC slot. I mean, we do. Eris is going to, so...
00:02:22
Speaker
We've got things that are like just in the mouths of the caves right now, okay, so I'm going Eris is going to activate for one story point her heroic ability to turn on the blast function of her weapon and she's gonna shoot toward the
00:02:47
Speaker
Gaunt in the group that's closest to her and she's gonna hope she rolls a whole bunch of things and can like blow up the cave mouth or something like that. So that's what I'm going for. Dole Gaunt does not have Adversary. This is the bigger one. Yes. Maybe some of the rocks and the rubble will fall on some of them. That is my hope, but we'll see. Go ahead and upgrade one purple.
Strategic Planning & Combat
00:03:14
Speaker
Okie dokie.
00:03:17
Speaker
Strain free. Wait, what was, it didn't have an adversary rating and they were short distance from me? Yes. Okay. So I'm upgrading to one red. Yep. Total. Okay. All right. That. I wonder if I can use plausible deniability on the bug bear. So I just kind of convinced somebody to leave. And then, um,
00:03:45
Speaker
I'm concentrating on a spell so I don't aim. Yes. That's good.
00:04:04
Speaker
I have four successes. So that's going to be 13 damage Pierce two on the 13 damage Pierce two. Uh-huh. Uh, and then I have four advantage. Um, two of those, I will activate blast, which will deal five to the, to everything, all the, all the creatures around him. So the, the whole adult grims.
00:04:48
Speaker
I don't know how large the opening is that they came out of. I don't know whether I can... How many advantages? I have total of four. So two of them activating the blast. I have two more. I don't know if I can damage the rocks. If that's not sufficient, I would just crit on him again. I mean, two advantage would not deal enough... Oh, two more damage. I forgot. Two more damage to him. Because I have the devastating upgrade on my hero. Yeah. So...
00:05:02
Speaker
and one of the dole grims gets exploded. Cool. Cool. Cool.
00:05:16
Speaker
Dealing five damage to this cave tunnel won't be enough to complete it'll be enough to get it started if you're trying to collapse it Completely, but it's not enough to do it in just one shot. So That that's kind of where you're at with it. Okay Yeah, yeah, I will damage that opening and we'll see where it goes I
00:05:38
Speaker
So yes, Eris launches a blast disc, hits the dolgant, and then there's an explosion evaporating one of the dolgrams and cracking the cave tunnel.
Cave Collapse & Battle Progression
00:05:52
Speaker
All right, next PC slot. Milo would like to
00:06:00
Speaker
focus on the opposite from where Eric shot to another. Yeah. Is it possible instead of hitting one of them to hit like to blast the entrance and try to catch them with some rubble with some advantage? Yeah.
00:06:16
Speaker
Okay. All right. Let me a story point so I can get my boost and that's two purple. Cause I'm just making this up. So I mean, yeah, I mean you're doing the attack spell. Um, yeah. So two purple, um, I'm going to flip a story point. So make one purple or red. Okay.
00:06:45
Speaker
three success, six advantage. Okay. How much damage does that do to the, uh, that's three. So it's now I did. Let me make sure I got this right. I did get a, an extra yellow because of this rank boost. No, you get an extra green.
00:07:12
Speaker
Okay, so just roll one green and replace whatever is on the yellow, okay It was it was blank
00:07:29
Speaker
The green less. Yes. So was there, no, what have I just take one that has a success and an advantage? So to success five advantage would be the new total. Yes. Okay. Okay. You roll for your augment. That's what we, that's what I was. I tried to add a yellow instead of a green. So, okay. So that's four, 11 damage.
00:07:56
Speaker
How much damage? 11 damage. And then 6 advantage to try to catch some of them in the rubble that falls.
00:08:05
Speaker
You have five of them, so you can spend three of those to deal 11 damage to the group down below. So that's enough to take out all three of them. And the cave collapsed. Nice. And the cave just fully collapses in on them. So that opening just crumbles down with your magic that erupts at it. Anything else? That is all I can do. Well, you know what?
00:08:35
Speaker
Let me just destroy the group. It might be good to follow Cassian, I'm thinking, maybe? I don't know. Oh, sure. I mean, I assumed everyone was going to need to get over to the shard to keep Cassian safe. I assumed that's what this would end up. Yeah, so I'm going to head that away. Okay, so you're keeping pace with Cassian because he had already taken off that direction. So next PC slot.
00:09:05
Speaker
Renard if you got something you really want to do you can or I can go punch some guys. I'm just shooting stuff. Okay I'm gonna go see what I can do about that Dolgar. Okay so the Dolgar is long range so it's gonna take you some time to get over to him. It is where he's at right now is the only thing. Right.
00:09:24
Speaker
like more than one maneuver could get me to him, is that what you're saying? It would take more than one maneuver to get to him? Okay, well then I'm not, obviously. So, can Hobb like pick up big rocks and fling them at things? Hobb could certainly pick up big rocks and fling them at things. The issue is, what does he call that? Because if it's a ranged attack, then I'm boned. If it's an athletics check, I might be okay. I see. So his aim might not be so good. It might not be so good. It is an attack from a distance. So I feel like the rules would dictate. Specifically my ranged,
00:09:54
Speaker
What are you even? There it is. My range light is too, my range heavy is too green. I think, I assumed that was what you would have me use. It's just a straight range. There's no range heavy range light. Still, still too green. So, so no. Okay. So you get to the dole gaunt and the dole grim that Aeris just shot at in one maneuver. Um, you could, yeah, I mean, I guess you could hold off your turn until some of them have gone more towards the center of the cavern.
00:10:24
Speaker
Yeah, I think I'm gonna do that. I'm gonna, I'm gonna stay near Cassian. I'm gonna not go. Yeah. Um, I mean, obviously by hold of turn, you mean wait until two of those reds have gone. Take the next lock. Yeah. So, but I can shooty shooty the big guy, right? Uh, it's long range. So yeah, it'd be three purple difficulty. That's not bad. Okay.
00:10:53
Speaker
No. You want to use your maneuver to aim so you can get a blue? Yes. Or are you going to say no at me? And he has no defense, but he has no adversary. Who picked these monsters? Okay, go ahead. You problem. Well, one success? No.
00:11:21
Speaker
Yeah, one success. One success, two advantage. Three advantage. So my arrow can do a fun thing. Yes, your arrow can do a fun thing. I like it. See, what I want to do is only try it further, though.
00:11:36
Speaker
But once I get it, it's going to be cool. I can't wait. So one success three advantage. So your bow deals seven base damage. That would be eight damage total and three advantage. So Philip, will you roll on your percentile dice for me?
00:12:02
Speaker
The arrow halfway towards the figure splits in two and becomes two arrows so it's the lead quality. So you just two arrows. Awesome. And both of his eyeballs.
00:12:20
Speaker
he's got like eight of them so Cassian is going to use his maneuver to get he is now within you all started a long range so he moved before combat started one range ban so now he's moving a second so that's medium and yeah he'll spend two strength because that's the whole reason why he's here
00:12:43
Speaker
to get to the shard. He opens something up on his chest that has a rune underneath some of the armor and you see a connection form and some energy starts going off of the shard into his armor. Wireless charging.
00:13:08
Speaker
Oh, shoot. Not important at all. Okay. I have the idea I had about the Fletcher. I forgot to tell you.
00:13:18
Speaker
The Dolgar, the big one that just got shot by Reynard reels and like lets out a scream and begins barreling towards the center and he is going to, he flings his arm and some of the, like there's some like bony spiny like spurs sticking out of his skin. And as he swings his arm, some like snap off and go flying through the air towards Reynard.
00:13:48
Speaker
I think this is totally fair. I don't. It's a major party fella. I mean, you know what, never mind. And I'll upgrade the check. So that is two success. So that is going to be nine damage. Pierce two, Reynard.
00:14:18
Speaker
Nine damage pierce two, but I have five soak now. You know, I have two plus four, right? So six. You only get to use four of them because that's what pierce two is. Yeah. Oh, gotcha. So subtract four from the damage. Okay. So five math was not my friend. Um, and the next NPC slot is going to be the dull gaunt that just got shot by Eris is going to
00:14:49
Speaker
hurl its bone shards. Bone shards. Short range. Cover from the stairs. What? I've covered from the stairway that I'm perching on. Ha ha. Roll blank on the set back. So two success, one advantage.
00:15:17
Speaker
Um, two success, one advantage. So that is going to be seven damage and he'll pass a boost. Okay.
00:15:34
Speaker
Hub, you can now spin two strain to get to the big one. Yeah, I'll do that. Okay, so... Seven damage. Seven damage. Eris is unharmed. Yay. So this is... Deflects off the barrier. That rules. Okay, I'm going to spin two maneuver... That's two strain, right? Yeah. Okay. Strain, yes. To get to... I'm gonna go ahead and use my... We have two story points to flip.
00:15:59
Speaker
You might as well just take out the dull grims that are in front of them. Okay. So it is one-on-one fighting and I get that boost. Nice. And you get an extra green. I get an extra green and I get a little yellow. And I'm going to go ahead and tell you that I'm going to expend, give me a second, double check.
00:16:17
Speaker
I'm going to increase the difficulty. What is the difficulty? Sorry, it's standard melee, right? Yeah, it doesn't have any adversary. So I'm going to increase the difficulty and take two more strain to double or nothing. And that's the pool. Okay. So I run up and
00:16:39
Speaker
I just, full on, you know what, I do pick up a rock, and those three dolgarims that are in my way to get to the dolgar, just each take one clonk, clonk, clonk, and sack of potatoes. Nice. Okay, so the red produced nothing. Nice. Yay. Just two threat, you have no failures, just two threat. Yeah, so two success, three success.
00:17:10
Speaker
Yeah. Three success and two advantage. Nice. Three advantage. Okay. Now, let me remember what my guys do. Let's handle damage first. So with three success, that's going to be eight, 14, 28 damage to him. Goodness. Ouch. And, um,
00:17:34
Speaker
That's six advantage. So how's he looking? Oh, that was also Pierce one. Twenty eight damage Pierce one. Twenty eight. That's like big time. I mean, not great. Not down. Still up. Okay. So go ahead and give another 28 with two of the advantage.
00:17:54
Speaker
How do you now? Explodes. Okay. I mean, that's my one thing that actually held over from the D&D monk is with two advantage, I can hit him again. So I have four more advantage and he's gone. Yes. Um, what should we, hop feels very good. Yeah. I guess with four advantage, what do you guys think? I mean, who's left? We've got two dole gaunts and one group of dole grim. One group of dole grim.
00:18:25
Speaker
I mean, obviously, I will pass a boost to top of the next round, which gives me two advantage yet to what? Do you have any strain to heal? Did some strain back here? Oh yeah, I did take four strain. I need to take six strain. Holy shit. Yeah. There we go. Pass and one boost, taking three strain back. Do you feel good about yourself? I feel really... Jeff feels good about Hobb, which has not been the case for a little while, so that's good too.
00:18:50
Speaker
Eric doesn't feel good about hot brown now. I feel great. This is wave one. Eric kind of likes when we smoke them early. It might have just been one wave, but it's no longer just one wave. I've expended so much though. That was my big gambit.
00:19:11
Speaker
The dole gaunt near Eris has gone and the big one went. So we have the dole grims near Eris and the dole grims that are... Over there by. Over there by the... Wait, Hob just, Hob eradicated a minion group. Yeah, because we have two dole gaunts still in the field and two dole grims.
00:19:34
Speaker
We got rid of the big guy? Yeah, yeah. Okay, so the Dolgant near Hob, near where Hob is, is going to cross towards Hob, seeing action. You know what? Yeah, like what is your discipline, Hob? Oh no. Oh, martial arts.
00:20:04
Speaker
Very well done. My discipline? Yes. Is too yellow. Too yellow? Okay. What is going to happen?
00:20:14
Speaker
He's gonna magic you. That's what's happening here. No. Something that is. Or fear. He didn't do it. That dulgar runs. Oh. Oh. Because of what you just did. I was gonna say, I didn't get to flavor it. I like to think that I threw the dulgar into a wall and he just stopped moving. Yeah. The far wall. Very strong. Lots of ranged.
00:20:41
Speaker
We're just going to have all of them. And that was from hitting him with that rock. And he just flopped. I mean, Clark, Clark, Clark dropped it. Astonishingly, the dole grim with that dole got, though, a resolute in their desire to kill
Victory & Revelations
00:20:55
Speaker
you. Well, I assume they don't have the upper level functioning, maybe, that. Well, it's got two mouths, and they start arguing with each other about whether or not they run. You have two mouths and four arms when you can't live with one mouth and two arms. That's dole gossip. They're not the brightest.
00:21:13
Speaker
Hey, let all of them make your checks. So the other Dolgant takes off and runs back down the, and Milo, you feel a stinging sensation with your scar. Touching his scar. And literally one group of Dolgram surviving checks. Come to die. You hear the voicing.
00:21:40
Speaker
This won't be the last time you hear from me. You hear me? You just made an enemy. Were you our friend when you sent these guys? I can't hear him. I can't hear him. You can't. Yeah, Milo's over there just... Yeah, you feel a racking pain in your brain. Just doubled over. I mean, the only enemies left on the field are the Dolegrims, so they are going to rush over to Hob since they are near him and try to attack him.
00:22:11
Speaker
Okay. Kill him! No befriend him! Kill him! He's our god now! Okay, no, I had it wrong. I'm sorry. I thought the Ring Fighter meant if I was solo fighting others, they got advantage. I get set back. So, never mind. I don't even know if mathematically they can roll enough success to damage you with the boost. Two success, nothing else. So that is going to be...
00:22:42
Speaker
Six damage. Hobb just lets him hit him for a while. Hobb looks at Cass and he goes, just let him tucker himself out. Just slid into the voice. We're back around to the top of the round. Your heroic ability is still active so you can take the first slot and you just wipe them out. Well that's right, I can do it twice. That is literally your next turn. You know what, now it's not a joke. Obviously it doesn't work for the timeline.
00:23:12
Speaker
they just tucker themselves out trying to beat up hobby just let it happen and when they fall asleep he's just like you know if they wake up we'll stop them but whatever um okay so uh a couple seconds of like silence go by and then you hear a
00:23:31
Speaker
My thing will run out if a round passes. Is a round going to pass? Yeah. Then Eris would shoot at that cave entrance again. Yeah. Because while we have a moment, she will try to close. I mean sure. You're no longer being actively attacked at this point. You can take a breath and aim. So you chatter that cave entrance. So those two closest to the staircase are gone. Excellent.
00:23:54
Speaker
Um, yeah, there's a breath of silence and then it's broken by. And Cassie is like, I feel like I overpaid. Um, for, I mean, no, you guys did great. Just, that seemed easy. Like you're, you're very impressive. Yes. We're worth the money because we made that seem easy. Okay. Um,
00:24:24
Speaker
I feel like I overpaid. No, we kept you alive. You paid adequately. Good job. I thought it was a compliment. Thank you so much.
00:24:33
Speaker
No, Milo took it as a compliment. It's not. Milo, your opinion on that is invalid. Like, you are incorrect, apparently. No, Milo can absolutely feel that way. It's just not a compliment. Hob will later be like, Milo, you're good. He would be a mean, right? Anyway, so casting's like, we're done here. So back up top, I guess. I'm all charged, ready to go.
00:25:01
Speaker
Milo's still down on one knee. You OK, Milo? That voice in my head again, he said that I don't know if he meant just me or if he meant all of us. We had made an enemy. It's his ability to it's a proximity thing. Once you're back up in the city, he won't unless he comes to Charne, he won't be able to to do that. So where is he now?
00:25:29
Speaker
Presumably on his plane or somewhere deeper into Kyber. I mean we're just on the fringes of it like
00:25:38
Speaker
No, no, no, please, please, please, please, no, you. I'm just thinking about the future of the game, is all, and thinking about things being bad. You, please, say your threats. Cassian's not going to threaten anybody. No, you're threatening us. Foreshadowing. No, Milo, it's like you're in his dominion right now, which is why he's able to do this. So once you're back up in the city, it should be fine.
00:26:08
Speaker
mental note to stay away from here. No, Milo, you don't get to read it. I quoted a Ghostbusters line about... I said, there is no Milo only Drinn. In the future, not right now, obviously. Let's head back up. Yes, please, let's now, immediately.
00:26:37
Speaker
And Cassian starts climbing the stairs. Do I get to read that one? That's a no. Okay, so Cassian heads up. Milo is close behind. You want to stick around? Absolutely going.
00:27:02
Speaker
The lava hasn't risen so much that you all can't extend the peaton bridge a bit further and cross over. Once you get to the opening that leads back into the cogs, you're able to get out of here unmolested.
00:27:21
Speaker
uh Cassian kind of looks at you I was like I guess like I don't need to I have to go to the outskirts of the city where the manifest zone is going to be that uh I used to jump so there's no reason for you all to come there so I guess this is where we
00:27:36
Speaker
part ways and he reaches into his bag and extends. I know it hasn't worked with every other one but if you're ever interested and he hands Rainard a small slip of paper. Did good.
00:28:01
Speaker
Don't stop, you're forcing me to comment. I just want to laugh at the thing you did and move on. But when you stop as Terry, it makes me go, that's the takeaway, is that, of all, Reynard seemed the most capable of our group today. You are aware of the rules. I know. There is already a hob, there is not a Reynard. They're just so desperate for a Reynard to take any of them.
00:28:22
Speaker
Um, you did well. You hit your, you hit your shots. I don't understand the digs, but he, he, I don't either. I didn't say that all the time. Um, can I, uh, can Milo and I have a moment?
00:28:45
Speaker
looking at the rest of you. Eros looks at Milo. Yeah, that's your call, bud. That's fine with me. We all take three big sifts back. And then I grab Raynard and pull it back. Yeah. There's a small bench nearby and Cassian gestures over to it and like, let's go have a seat. Okay. And Cassian sits down and sits his helmet on the ground between his feet.
Timelines Explained & Personal Revelations
00:29:16
Speaker
Milo, I don't even know where to start. I haven't been totally forthcoming with information. Call out a Gaspian.
00:29:38
Speaker
Guess again. Take two. Sorry. Call that a gas again. No, it didn't work. The words. Yeah. You take first. First take. Yeah. Roll it back.
00:29:51
Speaker
Makeup. I sometimes wonder why when Matt Mercer wants to have a one on one conversation with the player, he sends everyone else out of the room and I'm starting to understand. No, I'm just kidding. The you mentioned hearing Kylie in your head. Yes. I haven't heard her for a while now, though. I know. How do you know?
00:30:22
Speaker
That Kylie that you've heard is my Kylie. She... So wait, so my Kylie who is dead now, that's not who I've been hearing. It's complicated because the divergent point
00:30:52
Speaker
where her timeline and this timeline broke off. Um, I don't know the circumstances of your night of the fire, but for her and her story is she was still working on the books. She was staying up late trying to track down this discrepancy that she had found. And you kissed her on the head and went upstairs to go to sleep and
00:31:21
Speaker
The fire started, Hob came in, grabbed her and got her out. Wait, Hob? Hob rescued Kylie that night and they couldn't get to you. So clearly there was some aspect of your night where she
00:31:49
Speaker
was upstairs or unable to be rescued and you were. But with one major distinction, the timelines are remarkably similar. So while it's not the Kylie that you knew here in terms of lived experience, she is remarkably similar.
00:32:16
Speaker
and she saw you and saw you were going to be left without her.
00:32:24
Speaker
And like I said, she's brilliant. She's smartest of us and figure out a way to communicate with you to try and help you. She doesn't totally know the magic part. We think that's just throwing a line through Zoriat. There's some arcane
00:32:48
Speaker
line, which is why your magic is kind of unpredictable. Like it's the plane of madness. So, um, so that's where that comes. But she was trying to just talk to you, help you connect with you and something happened not too terribly long ago. Um, she's stable, but she's unconscious. Um,
00:33:18
Speaker
So there was some kind of backfire through. Yes, when I cast a spell that went awry. It backfired. So like I said, she's not dying. She's stable, but. That's. That's why you haven't verbally heard anything. The.
00:33:48
Speaker
Yeah, I'm going to pause here for questions if you have. While you think of questions, I would like to point out that our last session I wrote down in really big letters, is Milo actually a warlock and Kylie is his patron? Yes. Yes, is the answer to that question. The whole time, huh? I did not know this.
00:34:17
Speaker
I know there's a lot to take Milo, and I know that I apologize for the fact that I outright lied to you about the fact that we already have a Milo, because that's not accurate or true. So there is no Milo where you're from? No, but you can't come yet.
00:34:46
Speaker
your timeline needs you here for now. But I've got a heck of a retirement package once, once it's stable. If you're interested, if not, I totally understand, but. I want to make sure I understand. Yeah.
00:35:17
Speaker
This Kylie is not the same Kylie Milo was married to, or it is the same Kylie. In another timeline, like another Milo was married to another Kylie. But he said there was no Milo. Well, no, Milo died in the fire. Yeah, the other timeline, Milo died in the fire. Like how Kylie went to bed, the fire started and you couldn't get to her.
00:35:41
Speaker
It was the reverse where Milo went upstairs and went to Mike and Kylie went to him. And importantly, that is the divergent point, meaning everything up to the fire was exactly the same for Milo and Kylie's lives up to that point. Oh, okay, sorry. With one big exception, but he hasn't gotten to that point yet. But he has kind of hedged his bets in the lead up to this. He didn't say exactly the same.
00:36:12
Speaker
Is there a chance? In our timeline, Milo's dead. No, in your timeline, Milo's alive. In Cassian's timeline, Milo's dead. Well, in the timeline that Kylie is from, where Milo died before she came to the lighthouse. Oh, right, because that's not necessarily Cassian's timeline. Yes. In my timeline, my Kylie is dead. I've prepared a diagram with a lot of yarn over here in the other room. I hope so. If you'll follow me on. Lighthouse Kylie's Milo is dead. Yes.
00:36:41
Speaker
Kegbottom's, Milo's, Kylie is dead. And so Lighthouse Kylie has been talking to Kegbottom, Milo, and Cassian is meddling. And I'm my own grandpa.
00:36:56
Speaker
Okay. Now, one important bit of something that Milo may be aware of, and I just want to make sure that Randy's on the same page as Milo. Since things have gone silent, you've used your heroic ability to gain it. So the connection's still active, you just have it verbally heard Kylie. So yeah, that's something that Milo would be aware of.
00:37:22
Speaker
And you could communicate to her using this magical mailbox out by a lake house. That's quite a bit to take in. So she's like the source of my magic.
00:37:44
Speaker
If that helps you get there then yeah, I mean she's not she just wanted to communicate with you to be able to make sure you were okay because you were left alone and the magic was
00:37:57
Speaker
A side effect? I just thought of a whole lot of worse possibilities. A side effect of what? I mean there was a fire and I was hit on the head. The side effect of her developing the connection. She basically had to throw a line through Zori at from her to you. Stuff from the plane of madness is soaking into you. That's what's happening.
00:38:20
Speaker
So that's, that's what's happened. Um, so when this is all done, I mean, am I going to go mad? I mean, it came through the plane of madness. I mean, we don't think so. Like I said, Kylie was Kylie missed you.
00:38:46
Speaker
She missed Milo and she saw you and she knew that you would miss her because you all loved each other.
00:39:02
Speaker
She kind of threw caution to the wind. She had plenty of people telling her bad idea, do some more tests, make sure there's nothing. But she didn't, she needed to talk to you. She needed to connect with you. And so she kind of threw caution to the wind against her better judgments. And here we are. And here you are.
00:39:26
Speaker
and how she's been unconscious since that happened. No improvement?
00:39:40
Speaker
But like I said, she's totally stable. So we don't know. People far smarter than me are working on trying to get her better, get her awake, but she's not in any danger right now. Because like I said, the connection, the connection isn't with her directly. She built a communication device to speak with you, to have that connection with you. So that's why the connection is stayed active, even though she's unconscious.
00:40:08
Speaker
And can I not just go with you and then come back or? No. It's not a safe journey to jump, for one. Something might happen to you. Also, I mean, it's just it's not your time yet.
00:40:36
Speaker
Like I know I gave Raynard an offer, but he can't come yet either. This is for down the road kind of thing, like, um, but. Well, I, she's got to get better and, and I assume I will, I will know when that happens because she will, she will talk to me again.
00:41:02
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. She'll, she'll be the one back behind the desk as it were. And I'm sure she'll let you know as soon as she can. So, I mean, I, you know, I still cast my magic. So if I happen to cast another spell and it happens to go wrong, is it going to
00:41:25
Speaker
potentially hurt her further? Do we know? I won't hurt her because we have stabilized that connection.
00:41:36
Speaker
Like after that happened, some of our smarter minds, especially those that were the biggest voices against this idea, took great pains to make sure that there are safeguards now. So if something like that were to happen, whoever is communicating with you is protected. Whoever's funneling information to you, that kind of thing. So no, you don't have to worry about that.
00:42:06
Speaker
Alright then, I can't really think of any other questions. That's an awful lot to take in.
00:42:21
Speaker
Thank you for telling me and being honest. I mean, when she wakes up, just putting in a good word for me because she's going to be real mad at me for telling you all this. But it felt wrong to leave everything the way it was. Yeah. Why would she be angry?
00:42:45
Speaker
I mean, I think she wanted to be the one to kind of unload all this when the time was right. But how do you breach that subject? Like, I'm not the Kylie that you exactly knew, but I'm just like her. And would you have believed her? Or would you have just thought you were mad? Anymore, I'm not sure. Fair enough.
00:43:13
Speaker
For the sake of honesty, before I go, one last thing. The person behind the desk now that's taken over for Kylie, because it's her apprentice, the only other person that really knows how this communication thing works. And Kylie made her promise to look after you if anything were to happen to her. She's probably not going to talk to you.
00:43:42
Speaker
yet for a while, I don't know, it just feels odd, but the big divergent point between my Kylie's timeline and your timeline is you had a daughter sometime before the fire, which is part of the reason why Kylie didn't want you left alone, is that was a distinguishing point. So that Milo and Kylie had a daughter and she's
00:44:13
Speaker
at the desk now. And her name? Maggie. That's very odd. We thought if we were to have a child, that would be the name. Hmm. Well, Cassian, thank you for that. I hope it helps in some way. Yes. I guess I should let you be on your way.
00:44:43
Speaker
Yeah. Um, if once, once you're, once things are good here, if Kylie's not awake, I'll, uh, I'll reach out and see where you stand. Very well. Thank you and offers a hand. Milo takes it. All right. Well, time for me to get home.
00:45:06
Speaker
Farewell. I'm sure there are several other questions that just do not come to mind right now. Yeah, that's how it goes. As soon as I'm gone, you'll think of 20 more. But I think we left this at a good spot. Farewell. Bye.
Mission Debrief & Departure
00:45:27
Speaker
And Cassie walks past the rest of you after having talked to Mylon. Just kind of gives you all a wave and walks down the street.
00:45:41
Speaker
You think he was making it all up? Did we hear it? No. He very intentionally wanted it to be like a personal moment of my life. If I was just making it all up, then I have to get out of town. I don't need you to come with me when I go back is what I would say. Right. This is going to sound ridiculous after what we just overheard, but it doesn't really make a difference. We did the job and he paid us and we can all move on.
00:46:10
Speaker
No, right, yeah, yeah, I see. Just wondered. And he looks over at my life, would you good? What he was going to offer to take you back in time. Forward, was he forward or back? It's wibbly and wobbly. I'm okay.
00:46:38
Speaker
Where are we? The Cogs. That's what I thought. You're right by the Delvers. I'm just about to walk over there and be like, what the hell are you guys doing here? Well, if you're OK, let's get out of here. What do you want? I just I. I just really need to think about some things for a while. Just please give me some time. You don't like do anything, though. No.
00:47:09
Speaker
All right. No. Can you call Tasha to come and get us instead of? Oh, yeah. All right, great. Eros will call Tasha. OK. So Tasha comes
Reflections on Timelines
00:47:22
Speaker
in. How long has it been? I mean, because I thought he said we were going like a day into Kyber, but maybe it was different. Yeah, I mean, I undersold the amount of time you all were walking between the caverns. So yeah, I mean, it has been the better part of the day. Yeah, sure.
00:47:43
Speaker
friends. I'm I am hungry. Yeah, it feels like we haven't eaten in a really long time. You wanna, you wanna go to the bird? Give them a break. I've aired four sales for a while. I mean, I guess.
00:48:07
Speaker
Hob is just like sleepwalking as he processes what's been going on. Yeah. If you wouldn't mind, please just drop me off at home on the way. You sure? Yes. I think I'll have a meal with my mother, I believe. Okay. Yeah, right. Sure. I forgot. I was going to say, he wants to bring you something, but you got mom.
00:48:33
Speaker
back to silky smooth voice shake head bottom and then on up to the consistent Boyd yeah okay hang out with some automata mm-hmm okay so what's what's your bet is he real was it fake I think I
00:48:59
Speaker
that there's certainly an element of truth to what he was saying. He knew the things he said, but what he said about my past was correct, and it's not something I've talked about a lot, so. Hard to find out, too. Very, no, like, the difficulty level. That's like, you know, standard con man stuff, but. Great, right, right, right. He was confused only about goblin stuff, though. He was confused only about goblin stuff, though.
00:49:31
Speaker
Right, you'd think you're... There's no way that didn't happen. Well, he called her Eris. Which was from... Yeah, right. I mean, why would... This is... Why would she... I'm gonna say she, because it's confusing otherwise. Right. Why would she change a name if... First things didn't happen? What do you think? Was he making it up?
00:50:02
Speaker
I don't know. I have an invitation for something. Which feels like you might have the most skin in whether or not this is real. Because he's invited you to join him. I mean... Would you want to? What's to say it wasn't real. I don't know. He's talking about there being other timelines where we did different things. I mean look at the world we live in. There's so many crazy things. Well that's the issue. It's not...
00:50:32
Speaker
What's the problem if it is or isn't real? We have no functional way of assessing whether or not it's real because, sure why not, is kind of a standard way to end a conversation in where we live. Well, I can find out. Do you want to do that? Do you want to do that? I mean... You know, what does it say? Is there a contact number? It says IOU.
00:50:59
Speaker
Does it say shoot a line through Zori at and we'll have a conversation? How are you going? How do you get in touch with him? Well I haven't opened it. On one side of the card is a symbol of like it's a
00:51:13
Speaker
orangy goldish circle with a purple lighthouse like very simplified with two um like it's like a light effect going out the sides and on the other side it's actually a very simplified map of corvair
00:51:30
Speaker
with some various dots and next to the dots are dates and below it has instructions on basically if you want to accept this invitation to inquire about the lighthouse
00:51:49
Speaker
be at the marked location at the marked date. And basically there's no year on it, so it's like a consistent like on these dates. I mean, it's, everyone, you all know about manifest zones. This is presumably like, Cassian's presumably headed to one of those dots right now to jump home. So it's basically a bunch of meeting points all over the continent.
00:52:14
Speaker
So, yeah, there's one that's marked today and it's nearby where you are, so. Why don't I go right now? I'm not, that wasn't what I was implying. Got a cat to deal with. This lines up with if Cassie's jumping from shard. That cat does not need guardian. That was weird as y'all have done we've ever done.
00:52:38
Speaker
as weird a job as we've ever done for sure. Right, it was mainly successful. That's what made it more weird. That was... Yeah, I really thought that was gonna be... I thought maybe we would die. Like, I wrote a whole letter out and everything about it. I'm... Sorry? No, I'm not... I can't go back if you're not... If you didn't feel... I'm not sad we didn't die. Just...
00:53:09
Speaker
I'll admit, I wasn't. I wasn't. Please, myself, for it, and then. Sure. That can be jarring, sure. I wasn't quite to that. I guess it's just that I'm always fairly certain I'm gonna die. Oh. No, I don't, I mean, you know, like, I live the life I live. Right. I've made a lot of people angry. I guess one opportunity, oh, would not, opportunity's the wrong word. One situation.
00:53:37
Speaker
that my might die is no different to me than another. But I'm sorry that it came into starker relief for you than it typically does. Right, yeah. It's all right. I'm not upset about it. Sorry, what was that? All right, three chickens. Thank you. I would also like a sandwich. The special.
00:54:04
Speaker
Yes, it's three chickens is the sandwich. It's two chickens on the outside of a third chicken. It's one of the chickens that has cheese and bacon on it, so that's how you know it's the middle. Wow. It's like two breaded chicken parmesan patties smashed down real thin. Look, I ate the double down when it was at KFC, and it was fantastic. I don't know what to tell you.
00:54:34
Speaker
What do you think he said to Milo upsetting? I mean, obviously it had something to do with Kylie. Right. But I couldn't tell you what. Maybe he just kind of had to tell him, look. I mean, if he's making it up, it's a very cruel joke. The cruelest. And you know that Milo's going to believe it because Milo has to believe it because it involves some sort of hope vis-a-vis Kylie. But my guess is the reason he's upset is he was explained to by Cassian.
00:55:06
Speaker
whether true or not, that he, something, you know, you can't cross the streams, this Kylie and you will not come into contact and, you know, that kind of, I think. I think we've seen a play about that. I think we've seen a play about that, didn't we? Didn't we go? Probably, yes. Very similar idea. I mean, I can't imagine having a final nail put in a,
00:55:34
Speaker
to go from she's dead, to there's a light, to there's nothing. I'd probably want to go home and have a meal with my mother as well. I would not want to go have a meal with my little mother, but that's... Do you think he always hears voices or just Kylie's? And today? He heard a different voice today. I think there's voices we don't know about.
00:56:00
Speaker
Milo's not secretive. He does talk out loud to them. That's very true. I think we probably know. With Amanda. He talks out loud to them. But we're not with him all the time. That's certainly true. I hope.
00:56:31
Speaker
I hope that whatever has put him in his current funky short lived but
00:56:43
Speaker
I suppose in the end, I started eating my chicken. Bones and all. Oh yeah, absolutely. The marrow's in the bones, my friend. I guess. Sorry about all the other Irish talk. I know this was a bummer. Yeah, I mean,
00:57:14
Speaker
Hop, not really knowing why it was such a bummer, just recognizing emotions manifesting. I just don't really want no answers, if there is one. You don't want no answers if there is one. I mean, look, I just don't want to, what am I going to ask? I'm going to ask, is her family alive? She made a thrall. Right.
00:57:43
Speaker
I can't think of what answers would feel good. I am uninterested to know how this other Hobbes life stacks up to mine. I can't imagine it comes to anything but jealousy or pity, depending. And I'm not interested in being jealous of nor piteous of myself. Yeah, I mean, you see the see that every timeline my life sucks or just in this one.
00:58:11
Speaker
I don't really know why. I can't figure one of those that would make me feel bad. I mean, following those... I mean, would you want to know if your dad was nice in a different timeline? I'd be interested to know what I was doing. Following the logic... Because paths hadn't crossed. Well, he wouldn't not tell me what I was doing, so... We can certainly say...
00:58:30
Speaker
that there is a timeline for each of us where everything has always gone well. And we can all say, screw that guy, am I right? I mean, I'll kick into that. I'll kick into that. She's lost all sense of creativity in how she designs chassis for Elementals.
00:58:50
Speaker
It was just round. Yeah, like a blob. It was boring. It did. I mean, the floating aspect was fairly neat. Maybe one flies. I guess it's an error. I guess there's the soaring. There's like the soaring of like the airships and Tasha. And then there's like the kind of slow puttering that this one did that I thought it was kind of cute. Outside I wouldn't even decorate it. It was just plain. I could slap a sticker on it.
00:59:18
Speaker
It's not what I do. No, it's not what you do. And then he goes, but the other heiress. Milo, you walk through the door of your home. Your mom is there. She just kind of looks up at you expectantly. And do you say anything? What do you do?
Conclusion & Community Engagement
00:59:46
Speaker
Do we have something to eat, mother? I'm a little bit hungry now. I know you've always got something. I can get you something, yeah. That would be nice. Thank you. OK. And she gets up and goes over and starts throwing a sandwich together. It seemed like you wanted something quickish, so I almost said stew and was like, that would not come back in six hours. She makes her famous quick stew.
01:00:18
Speaker
Yeah, there's this great new company that just comes in at a metal cylinder and you just dump it in. Instant stew. It's yesterday's stew. She puts it in a cup that's got heat metal on it. Yeah, she puts something together for you and sits it on the table and sits down. She had like a cup of tea in front of her and was reading a book. Everything okay?
01:00:44
Speaker
I just heard some interesting news that I just need to process. I just need to be in my thoughts for a little while. Thank you for the sandwich.
01:01:06
Speaker
And she picks her book up and just starts reading, lets you sit there in silence. Turns on your stories. End of episode. Thank you all so much for listening. If you want to be part of the conversation surrounding this episode, you can head on over to our Discord, the link to which you can find on all of our socials, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok.
01:01:22
Speaker
and we have a YouTube channel, youtube.com slash the geek pantheon. The link to our discord is in all the video descriptions and those videos contain DM tips and things like that and book reviews. Hot takes. Yes, hot takes. And also kind of a campaign diary series I've started with my home game that Jeff is also a player in.
01:01:43
Speaker
You know what? It is going to be watchable content, I think, based on our session zero from last night. We also have a Patreon, patreon.com slash the Geek Pantheon. If you want to support the shows financially in that way, you can do so over there. And we have a merch store. GeekPantheon.com is where you can buy your merch. 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.
01:02:09
Speaker
you