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Arc 29: Venom
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This story isn’t intended for young or sensitive readers. Readers who are on the lookout for trigger warnings are advised to give Worm a pass.
Complete list of potential triggers: here
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Episode Description:
“Eleven?” Partisan asked.
“Stationed around the world, at the borders of the stronger nations,” the entity informed the Wardens. “Like yours, they’re remaining more or less stationary, only attacking when they see weakness.”
“And you believe it is the Brockton Bay Book Club who are responsible?”
The entity shook its head. “I can’t know. You’ve seen for yourself, the powerful blocks they’ve put in place against powers. But enough clues point to the them.”
Get in contact with us @brocktonbaybc
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Timestamps:
(00:00) - Introduction
(01:10) - Book Club Begins
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Transcript
Introduction and Merchandise
00:00:00
Speaker
Exciting announcement, we now have Brockton Bay Book Club merch. We've got our Brockton Bay Book Club t-shirt as well as the Brockton Bay's sweatshirt. They look sweet. Hannah designed them and they're amazing. So if you're interested in that, link will be in the description and shout out to Hannah for all the sweet designs. Thanks so much for your guys' support and go check it out.
Introduction to 'Worm' and Content Warning
00:00:25
Speaker
Worm is a web serial by J.C. McRae, also known as Wildbo. You can read Worm in its original format by visiting pairhumans.wordpress dot.com or donate to Wildbo's Patreon at patreon dot.com slash wildbo. This story isn't intended for young or sensitive readers. Readers who are on the lookout for trigger warnings are advised to give Worm a pass. For a complete list, check the description for all of Worm's trigger warnings.
Excitement over Worm's 29th Arc
00:01:33
Speaker
Good morning, Brockton Bay. The weather's looking nasty outside. Better go underground. It is arc stop that. I'm going to cut that off. I would have gone on for a while. I could have been magical when we cut it short.
00:02:01
Speaker
Why do I do this? Because you let me welcome every everyone.
Complexity and Character Development in Arc 29
00:02:10
Speaker
Why do as Alan so beautifully put it arc 29 of worm. yeah heart We are so close to the end.
00:02:25
Speaker
right around the corner. It's crazy. It's right there. And boy, with this arc, this was a it was packed. A lot happened in this arc. So much. yeah Any quick thoughts? Anyone wants to get out before we dive in? This is one of those arcs that felt like two arcs. Yeah, it did. If we're honest, it definitely felt like this was more than one because there's just so much Not only action, but there's lore and there's information included in here, right? Yeah, it's incredible. Yeah. Yeah. A lot of information is finally given answers and yeah.
00:03:06
Speaker
yeah we've We've reached that point where like all of the threads, we've been like tattletale, we've been connecting all these threads this whole time and like all the threads are finally like coming out. And I just, I don't, I don't think I'm, I'm smart enough to read this and feel like I understand. I'm really glad we're doing this all together. Yeah, we've officially reached points in this story where I think I may be stupid.
Revelations about Eidolon and Endbringers
00:03:39
Speaker
um As we've talked about before, the Eidolon being related to the end bringers, I i thought that was subtext. and it No, they clearly spell it out. And I don't know how I just like brain farted my way through forgetting that. I was like, ah, yes, deep readers have looked into the, you know, they've talked to Wild Bo himself on the mountain top and they've, you know, conferred with the deep lore and looked into stuff.
00:04:05
Speaker
And they assume, you know, they've guessed that that's the case. I was like, no, they just say it. They just say it. Um, and, and this was ah another one of those arcs where I'm like, yeah, there's some things that are talked about in here that like, I only know because I've seen other people talk about it online. And I assumed it's because they were in the deep, ah deep, deep, you know? Uh, and the answer is no, it's more just in the thing you.
00:04:30
Speaker
You stupid, dumb, dumb. It's literally spelled out in a paragraph. You just got to remember, remember, wake up, Alan. If you're listening to this, think Alan, think, didn't you read the arcs? Well, I mean, it definitely doesn't help that cauldron's base feels like this weird.
00:04:56
Speaker
liminal space or like, you know, so the whole time you're like, I'm trying to visualize where they are. I have no idea where they are physically in the world or like in the base. Like there's so much happening and it's very confusing.
Cauldron's Base: Mystery and Intrigue
00:05:10
Speaker
I just know they keep going down.
00:05:12
Speaker
Yeah, but that does help. It's funny you say that because literally as I was reading all that, I kept thinking back, I adore this small puzzle game called Super Liminal. And that's exactly what it feels like. It's just this ethereal dreamlike series of chambers and rooms and hallways. Like nothing makes sense, but everything's like an experiment. It's like, yep, this is it. Ooh, this is interesting because mine is very straightforward. Is the white ass hallways from yeah from like any, well, my first thought is not hexagonal, but the New Hope spaceship at the very beginning. It's just a white house yeah hallway. It's just that. And every time you pop your head in a room, it's just a science room with beakers. Like it's all the same white, but then you open into the prison area and this is going to be a just, it's a clean version.
00:06:10
Speaker
But the layout is the same as the Borderlands 2 prison area near the beginning of the game. There's like catwalks and everything. Yep. I know exactly what you're fucking talking about. Yeah. but Thank you, Hannah, for getting it. Dude, I've played Borderlands 2 way too many times. but It's that but clean yeah because they're talking about catwalks and, you know, having a ton of the things and going around corners and, you know, uh, but yeah, that's what I imagined. I, I feel like it's,
00:06:40
Speaker
For me, it's very straightforward. That's funny. Directionally, I'm lost. Like at one point they were talking about third and fourth floors and I was trying to figure out just if the numbers are counted as like, you're a you're ah instead of being like, you know, floor negative one, floor negative two, floor negative three, as you go down, they're just calling it floor, you know, whatever. Or if maybe there is a ah ah you know lobby floor and we're just totally lost in the sauce. and Yeah, no. i
00:07:11
Speaker
Taylor goes on a a thought spree trying to figure out whether or not they started at level one or if if that's considered ground level. There's actually a war worm wiki input for the cauldron compound. what so there's where is amatic Is there a blueprint? I'm i'm still reading, but the first line is legend claimed that it was too large to explore in one lifetime.
00:07:38
Speaker
whoa That's pretty cool. Wings, wings of the structure were on separate continents linked only by the door maker. So there's a reason you guys are confused. That's all we'll say. Let's, let's not try to explain it here. We'll just, cause it's like, it's like multi-dimensional, right? It like exists or or it can exist in multiple dimensions. Yeah. Yeah. Cause one of the things we know here is like, not only are guessing, there's a few ways they've done it, but like every,
00:08:09
Speaker
ah some of the rooms and offices all face different portals potentially. So either the office itself, like at the door is a portal that you are walking through, um, which they talk about. They do that for a lot that like, this is a door that goes into a room that is somewhere, but we've just permanently left that open or their window is a portal to, you know, the coast.
00:08:37
Speaker
but the rest of it's inside the facility. Yep. So it says overall that the decor tends towards a plain Spartan white. Most areas have a white tiled floor and white painted walls for a long time. It was completely eerily spotless. Uh, the hallways were all glass, including the ceilings and there's, you know, lights, but yeah, it's, you know, it's what you guys were describing very liminal space. Yeah. It's interesting. Yeah, for sure.
00:09:09
Speaker
Well, you want to show me, should we get into it? We don't start in the cauldron base.
Challenges in Brockton Bay
00:09:12
Speaker
We got to get there. Got a couple of works first. you Got some stuff going on before we go. I, you know, I kind of wish it was broken up a little bit, but you know, here we are. We'll do what we can chapter at a time as we do. Yep.
00:09:24
Speaker
Um, Okeydoke, uh, while we open yeah chapter one, the group gathers, the doors have stopped working. Um, they traveled to Brockton Bay, Zion arrives, wreaks havoc. Uh, and the simmer comes to just, you know, to help, to be helpful. Wait, that was in Brockton Bay. Mm-hmm. That shows. Yep. Yes.
00:09:50
Speaker
Yep. I did not realize this first know fight was in Brockton Bay. It's crazy. I am very, very grateful, as always, to the space battles. There's a whole thing on space battles of all of the summaries. I couldn't remember half of the shit if if it weren't for that thread because... i've chip I Where world happened, man? I don't know where we are. I don't... I don't know who the fuck we are anymore. Yeah. and Just make sure you clip that one. That's a that's a good one for the soundboard. Mark. time
00:10:25
Speaker
I was going to say this is one of the, at least this first part, I guess, until you get to Cauldron's base. This is definitely one of those arcs where it feels like the setting does not matter. Like I didn't know that we're in Brockton Bay, but it doesn't really feel like it means anything in a weird sort of way, if that makes sense. Yeah.
00:10:42
Speaker
Yeah, totally. Like the the location, like we hop world so much now. And and there's there's like these little settlements and all these different places and all these different worlds. And like the place that meant so much to us that like we fought to keep after the Leviathan attack all the way back at the beginning. Like Brockton Bay is just, it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. It's all just a hellscape.
00:11:09
Speaker
Yeah, for sure. It's like it's, it's like it's the end of the world or something. up Something like that. Yeah. No. Uh, so Brockton Bay has kind of been transformed, uh, a lot, a little, a lot, uh, by, um, Vista has kind of moved things about.
00:11:29
Speaker
Oh, right. Yeah, she's in a lot of work. ah Which makes it difficult for when they come through the portal ah for the Dragonfly to set down. Because everything works.
Portals and Powers: A Discussion
00:11:39
Speaker
Don't they say something like because, like kind of grim, but like because so many people have died, Vista has her power can work a lot easier because it doesn't run into people, essentially. Yeah. Wild.
00:11:52
Speaker
Instead of having to the, you know, the whole mansion effect of like, well, you know, this location has a lot of people in it, so therefore you can only manipulate it up to a certain point. Well, now, I mean, Rockton Bay is practically empty. Like, yeah, yeah. There's maybe stragglers, but like, that it's, you know, she can do what she wants with most of it now.
00:12:12
Speaker
Yeah. Um, I of just personally, he didn't have too many notes on this first chapter other than, uh, I did. It's kind of interesting how we haven't spent a ton of time with the door maker, but yet for pretty much the last arc and a half or so, they've essentially taken the portals for granted, yeah just walking anywhere they need to. And all of the sudden nothing right is crazy. Imagine getting trapped on another world or another part of the world and having nowhere to go. I don't have to imagine that though, Jacob. I've seen monsters Inc when they get banished. Okay. That's true. Monsters Inc did it first. You're right. There's such a chilling moment when they, when they go and they say the thing like, like, Hey, it's crazy that, you know, door maker, like he's probably taking a nap right now. Cause all these things are down just because
00:13:12
Speaker
Doormaker doesn't sleep. ah fuck yeah Actually, and then I had a question about this. So with how like, um when he goes, when he, you know, is out of commission, a lot of the doors that already exist, all the doors that already exist, stay open. There's just no new doors appear. And so I was kind of,
00:13:36
Speaker
with the way that Taylor, we've seen Taylor's power react when the bugs will kind of continue on her last order if she gets knocked out. And then that made me think about imp too of like this idea that like maybe, cause imp has to focus on being seen. Does imp disappear when she's asleep or when she's knocked out? Like does your power continue to function when you're incapacitated?
00:14:01
Speaker
Yeah. We, we talked about that before. And we did. Yeah. Em's power about like crazy. And if she got seriously injured, yeah nobody would know and nobody would remember. Yeah. but actually I wonder if it depends on your passenger in a way, um, as in like your passenger creates this passive effect to protect yourself. Right. You know, and we've talked, you know, we've talked before about how the passenger protects your brain, protects your body, depending on the powers you get.
00:14:31
Speaker
So for a power like door makers or tailors, it's beneficial usually if it keeps going, right? To protect you from whatever knocked you out. Yeah. But because imps is the opposite. Maybe it would just turn off because as a part of the passenger, it's like, it is not safe for my power to be active while knocked out. Maybe, which we'll make him know that there are other powers that continue regardless of, uh, the, whether the person's living or not gray boy being one of those.
00:15:01
Speaker
yeah Yeah. And Alexandria. Alexandria. True. yeah yeah Anyways, that was just a ah thought I had. It's fun. Yeah. Also we kick off this whole thing with Taylor thinking it about clock blocker.
00:15:17
Speaker
do we Really? I didn't notice. Oh, that's sweet. It's a fleeting thought. It's not a lot going on here. You know, you're out there. You're thinking you're fleeting thoughts. Your mind strays, you know, every ship is possible. You you have a bay full of these ships and they any one of them can set sail yeah any one of those ships. Right. That's right. This one could have set sail and said it sank in the harbor.
00:15:46
Speaker
Oh, that's just depressing. You're right. It sank in the ocean by the ocean. It did sink in the ocean. but But yeah, ah the simmer comes through the portal, which is kind of interesting. she asked like she Yeah, she has to tuck her wings back and like crawl on her hands and knees to get through. Yeah, it always it's always hard for me to to to visualize her because she's tall, but not like end bringer tall.
00:16:15
Speaker
yeah she's Like 15 feet or so, which is such an odd, I thought she was still like 30 feet tall. And then her wings make all the difference. Cause she's as big as the, as Leviathan, I believe you're probably right. as And then her wings add another 30 feet.
00:16:35
Speaker
which is what makes her look so darn big. I always assumed she was shorter. Maybe I'm wrong. It's 15 feet. similar So keep in mind, her wings are all over and when spread out, she appears a lot bigger than her actual 15 foot height. So the wings do add additional height, but she herself it as you know humanoid body is 15 feet. Leviathan is 30 feet tall, Behemoth is around 45. If that helps with the... Oh, the more you know.
00:17:05
Speaker
Yeah. No, you more. No, the more now. It's actually the similar. Monkey, some more monkey do more. Oh my God. I love you guys so much. It's a bad joke.
00:17:32
Speaker
I love it. Thank you, Jacob. True. Uh, shall I, shall I just, you know, jump on into chapter two, then? Yeah, absolutely not. We've got to talk about Noctiscape and how stupid I am. ah Holy a cow.
New Recruits and Team Dynamics
00:17:46
Speaker
I, Noctiscapes are the thing I was talking about at the beginning where I thought everybody was mentioning Noctiscape's this, Noctiscape's that online. And I assumed in my infinite wisdom that that is just something that's uh, you know, due to canonical it's, it's outside the regular story. And that is an assumption I've ran with this whole time. And it's not, it's right here. They have, they talk about it. And I don't know how I missed this. Do you want to explain for those of us who don't know what the fuck you're talking about? Noctis capes are capes that basically don't require sleep. Like they don't sleep.
00:18:23
Speaker
Oh, like like fucking raccoons. Well, nocturnal means operate mainly at night. Noctis in this case just means lack of sleep. Yeah. Well, yeah, well i still I also have the word insomniac too. I feel like, you know, yeah got yeah they could have gone in. Come on, wild bow. yeah You don't have to make up words all the time. Geez. Sounds cool. But, you know, definitely this is one right up there with cauldron born writing pen. You messed, you know, could have done better.
00:18:54
Speaker
But, you know, best laid plans. Also, ah the new the new recruit for the wards, Romp. Oh yeah, we went right by Romp. Romp is terrible, and I am so glad that Grace rides her ass as hard as she does. I love it.
00:19:17
Speaker
I don't remember. I don't remember either. I swear to God, I did read these chapters only a few days ago. It's all right. Let me refresh your memory. So Taylor goes over and finally like meets back up with the, you know, the wards and protectorate that she used to hang out with. Yeah. And she's feeling kind of awkward about it. Feeling kind of awkward about it. Grace as we've established is now the new Uh, head of the wards. Yes. So she's you gotten her upgrade, um, because you're tucked in and all of them are now protectorate. Um, but our new person that we have in the group is called romp. And she is just, you know, just not giving everybody the respect she deserves. And grace just goes, start running. Like, you know, Oh, okay. Start running laps. She's not funny. Yeah.
00:20:11
Speaker
And then they have the line that just breaks my heart, which is, yeah, you liked us, but you know, you didn't love us. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Talking about the teams. that was yeah Yeah. That one, that one kind of hurt. um And she was, she was with them for two years. She was with the undersiders for like two months.
00:20:41
Speaker
that's That's all I had for 29.1. No, it's good. I love it. I do i do like the little the little camaraderie of like, because it is awkward, like Taylor coming back to the
Taylor's Identity Shift
00:20:53
Speaker
ward. I mean, she thinks about of like like this is like, are they going to hate me? like Because the whole thing is she's wearing her black costume again. And it's like, well, have you chosen to be a villain? Like, well, no, I'm Taylor. It's not her black costume again. It's a new black costume.
00:21:10
Speaker
Okay. Well, it's black is the point is that she's not in her white and blue anymore, which she was when she was with the wards as Weaver, you know, she's now more. She's not Weaver. She's back and blat just Taylor. Yeah. You're like, that could be a good song, which we will get back to. Yes, we will. We will bring this back up. Uh, okay. I'm just going to go ahead to chapter two for already. Yeah.
00:21:34
Speaker
Go ahead. Chapter a Dose, Sekis. Sion fights, because fuck him, and he just kind of tears the whole group apart. Gabbel is doing really well, holding up ah for a while there, but Gabbel, Queen of Sores, and the King of Cups all do fall in the end. um And we have this moment where everyone sees a vision of Sion's true form before Sion moves on.
Sion's Attack and Character Responses
00:22:00
Speaker
Which I guess implies that there was a there was a trigger thing that happened. Right. Someone triggered. Makes sense. Yeah. now yeah there was a Somebody had a second trigger and then died immediately. Because what happened, I believe. That tracks. I mean, ah the the whole Queen of Swords and King of Cups thing was violent. And God, I...
00:22:28
Speaker
For the same reasons that I love The Slaughterhouse Nine, I love that because I love like highly emotional traumatic scenes in books that tap into your emotional response. ah i like it's It's horrendous, but like it's it it made me cry because it's like we're we're holding out. We're at the you know the final the final people trying to stand up and and then to, you know, I think Taylor puts it in the sense of like Zion being a kid with an anthill, like he's just having fun now, like he's just, he's he's enjoying himself and it's ah yeah painful. It's also, it's just like this, you've you've made it this far, like there's been
00:23:13
Speaker
tragedy after tragedy and world after world that's essentially destroyed at this point. And you've survived to and now you've made it so far. And yet it's, it's just hopeless. It's a, it's like a tidal wave. It's like running from a tidal wave. Eventually you' it's going to catch you. And yeah, it's crazy. I did love even just visually though that the this fight scene was, was really good. It was really visual. Uh, gavel holding his own for a minute was really cool. that was so cool What a freaking baller. I don't remember this fight scene in particular. Like I remember the the king and queen incident, but as a whole, I don't remember this fight scene. And this is kind of a low key standout.
00:23:57
Speaker
It really is they they hold their own for a while there because it's uh gavel and vista And uh, who else is it kid win are kind of up on this like little hill and gavel's just taking chunks Out of scion, you know just wham wham and then, you know queen of swords king of cups are also You know more down on the ground, but like they're they're really hitting him Hard, it feels like it feels like we're actually, you know making progress or we're doing something And yeah, gosh. Nope. Yeah. No, he gone.
00:24:36
Speaker
e Speaking of which, I love that, you know, we talk about gavels, uh, you know, powers. Uh, and I think it's Taylor says something about like, should should' have gone with like Excalibur's scabbard. Oh yeah. oh yeah like right Gosh, man. Everybody's a critic.
00:24:53
Speaker
ah For real though Taylor's so judgy. Even now she's like, oh man, critiquing his like choices. Really missed out a name there. Yeah, for real. Let's not forget Gavil was a mass serial killer. Yeah, yeah in Australia, right?
00:25:10
Speaker
Oh, well, was all there and that's just, you know, makes sense. I didn't know that was still a requirement to live there. That wasn't a judgment. That was just like a comment on like things that I remember. If Hannah remembers something, she's going to blurt it out because Hannah doesn't remember Jack. shit Oh, I will say, I will say, as I was saying this earlier, so you got, you guys know our listeners, you guys know Hannah don't remember shit.
00:25:33
Speaker
uh even though i've read this book before i don't remember anything about this ending you know what i you know i do remember i do remember queen of swords and king of cups i do remember them and so when we got to their point i was like oh shit i know something's about to go down because i remember who these fucking people are like and then of course it you know it was and like i said before i love emotional moments but like Oh, it's nice to remember things at from this point onward, though. Hannah has no clue what happens next. So yeah there there was a lot of this in this arc where like little moments I remembered very, very clearly.
Power Combinations and Speculations
00:26:08
Speaker
But between them was completely new again. Completely yeah just lost in the sauce. So I had a a weird thought when we were having this fight. What if Tohu, which I believe is the the three power and bring her, correct?
00:26:26
Speaker
Right. The small one or the big one? It's the small one. Okay. yeah What if Tohu, as one of the powers that she picks, chooses Glastigwenye? Ooh. And what if she chose Glastigwenye who had Eidolon's power? e And as part of Eidolon's power in ghost form with Glastigwenye,
00:26:56
Speaker
He brought about a super weapon like Tohu. How far down this? as i say That's a lot of recursive. Could we be weapons within weapons? You say I know, right? You know, I think if we could, that'd be pretty great. I how many powers deep could we go?
00:27:15
Speaker
We could infinite, ideally, as long as the things don't get like, what's it called? Degrade. Degrade, yeah, thank you. As long as there's no degradation as you go through. I mean, no, it's Santa Degrade. It's Eidolon. It's Eidolon.
00:27:30
Speaker
oh um Dang. That's why his name rhymes with colon. What?
00:27:38
Speaker
Because he's dog shit. okay well
00:27:43
Speaker
I've never heard you even pronounce his name the correct quote unquote correct way until now. So it was for an important purpose. I feel like Eidolon. Yeah, I like Eidolon better. Anyways, ah ideally, Alan, to answer your question infinitely.
00:28:03
Speaker
Throw a couple of nil bugs in there. You've got yourself a stew. I mean, you can throw those inside. It only needs one power. So like, you got two others to tack onto the sides there. So, nil bug. I can't remember if it's this chapter or if it's one of the later ones where they mentioned, I think it's after this. I think it's the next chapter. ah But nil bugs alive? Yes, apparently.
00:28:31
Speaker
I was under the assumption. He got just a little crucified, but he's fine. I guess he did just get a little crucified and then like someone brought him back. I mean, look, it's happened before.
00:28:42
Speaker
um um Jesus Christ. No, it's the words exactly.
00:28:52
Speaker
yeah That's so stupid, but I loved it. I just, I think I just assumed that he was dead. Oh, Alan.
00:29:03
Speaker
oh but Okay. I just, I thought he was dead is what I was trying to say. And he's not. So. Apparently not. I guess. I guess. I mean, if he's helping, sure. And then at the end of this fight, we finally see kid wind go down.
00:29:22
Speaker
Oh, yeah, that one hurt too. Dropping leg flies. Ugh, I just, I always feel like Kid Wynn and Clockwalker were too, like, they were just- Oh, geez. Yeah, they really were. And I just, and like, I know Vista is technically too, but in my head, like, she was always like the youngest of their group. And so she was like, you know, the little sister vibe of like, ugh, man, it yeah it hurts me. this yeah the Seeing the people that we know so well,
00:29:52
Speaker
He went down protecting Vista, right? Yeah. Am I remembering that right? I think so. Yep. Yeah, that that was a rough one. All of this is a rough one. God fucking damn it, Zion. Got it. I don't know. it We've gotten to the point now where like it it also feels like
00:30:17
Speaker
It, the deaths don't hit as hard as they, you know, would have if this had just been an end bringer if fight or like a, a slaughterhouse nine fight. Like the deaths would have been, it would have hit harder. Like losing Regent for me was really tough and like, and losing clock blocker. And that was tough too. But like at this point we've lost so many people. It's, it's easier to keep track of who's alive rather than, you know, who's dead. Yeah. Yeah. I get that shell shock.
00:30:48
Speaker
Yeah. Was there something you were going to say, Nick? I think I talked over you before. No, I was just, I was just confirming what I thought I remembered, which was that he, he helped protect Vista against a Scion attack. The Simriff did too as well, actually, if I remember right. I think so. The Simriff was trying to protect Kidwin and Vista. Whether or not that was done generously, you know, we can speculate. My assumption is it was more about the technology.
00:31:17
Speaker
Maybe. Yeah. That's the vibe. I didn't, I didn't think he died though. Did he die? I thought later, i you know, maybe I'm mistaken. I thought he went. Oh no, he did. because theres There's a section where Vista's holding him in for a laugh. Yeah. Okay. I just assumed that he was dead. Yeah. The assumption I think is, I don't think it's stated like, and he died, but like, no, he did. He did. I was, I was just misremembering it cause it wasn't quite clear. Yeah.
00:31:46
Speaker
Okay. Yeah. Crane the harmonious as well, whatever the heck she does. Oh yeah. She's mentioned a little and I don't, she's like there. There's so many people. I can't keep track. Sounds like an animal in Kung Fu Panda. Yeah, exactly. I really have a hard time not thinking of the villain from the second movie. Is it, is it Crane? Is Crane the villain? It's not Crane, he's a peacock, but just that vibe, you know.
00:32:19
Speaker
Yeah. Chapter and three. Chapter three. Uh, so now that Zion's left, um, Taylor helps to tend the wounded with legend, uh, and then sets off to find Cauldron.
Betrayals and Realizations
00:32:34
Speaker
She takes a ah small group of people with her. Uh, they meet up with Sater's group, uh, and then find out that they've been played. And then they head into Cauldron, head right into the lion's mouth.
00:32:50
Speaker
into the, in the, in the cauldron bubble, if you will. We all hate Sater. We all hate Sater train. Oh my God. What a motherfucker. We'll get to, we'll get to, to some more shit about him later for sure. But what a motherfucker. Yeah.
00:33:13
Speaker
I do love, yeah, I was, okay, we'll want to save the Seder Haed. Yeah, we'll save the Seder Haed. All that to sum up with what's said in this chapter, though. You're the reason humanity deserves to get wiped out. Yeah. Like, come on, man. Why are we turning on each other right now? Like we're trying to function. It's the same thing with like the stuff we saw in the last arc of like these different factions that are like trying to take over certain settlements or like try and put their, you know, put their roots down in a place so that the community can build up around them with like them as a base. Like that's so fucking shitty, man. Like we're trying to live. We're trying to keep humanity alive and you want to play some fucking games like
00:33:54
Speaker
And you've got to go do some shit. Get fucked. It's true. Disgusting. Yeah. I do like the little flirting thing that happens in the ship though. That's kind of fun. Or they're trying to like guess, uh, guess stuff. So like talking they're talking about canary and like, Oh yeah, I still remember some of the words to your songs and stuff. Like I, I love the little banter. Anytime we have little banter moments is fun for me, but yeah.
00:34:23
Speaker
It was pretty good. um Legend just doing legend shit. Classic. Just talking and Taylor's like, Jesus, man. No, I love legend though. Like he's such, yeah I mean, well, yeah, but he's, he's so nice. He's, I mean, he obviously is, you know, he's got issues, but I don't know. I like Taylor and him talking too. It's just like a good, I don't know. I like it.
00:34:52
Speaker
Yeah he's one of the good ones. Yeah. Cause he got like, he got duped with the rest of them. Like, just true he didn't know. And I mean, he was stupid, but I feel like, I feel like he accidentally got a good power. Like Colton was like not expecting him to get a a real good power. Like, oh Oh shit. Oh yeah. He's sure you're one of us. Yeah. know ah the alone yeah
00:35:23
Speaker
We'll put you in charge.
00:35:28
Speaker
Uh, and isn't, isn't there a moment to where Taylor's talking to legend and I can't remember what she's asking him to do, but she's basically like, I need your help with something. He's like, yes, God, please anything. Let me help. um Please. I just want to be useful. and i think at One point in time is is that i is that in this chapter, isn't that before where he like shows up to fight, uh,
00:35:52
Speaker
To fight jack and she's like get the fuck out of here. We don't know if he's gonna like he just soaks and flies away. Yeah Maybe it was legend. I can't remember. No that was Oh, no, you're right. It was I don't know they were worried that I was a little bit more here. Oh, yeah legend pouts idle on broods Otherwise they're the same goddamn person
00:36:23
Speaker
Uh, also they're like Taylor's like looks over and goes eat fresh. Yeah. Right. yeah I saw that. Yeah. that's a Subway. Subway. So why? Subway and at least one of these worlds. and Well, I mean, we've, we've all played enough geo guesser to know that subway is like what the most it's in the most countries, right? I believe so. Yeah. It's it's at least close to it.
00:36:53
Speaker
I mean, listen, my my wife grew up in East Africa and the only chain restaurant they had in their tiny little town that she grew up in was Subway. like if that is some eat some that bread say anything i know say yeah geo guess right now
00:37:15
Speaker
I mean, yeah, if that doesn't say something, then that, I don't know what.
Taylor's Plan and Group Dynamics
00:37:19
Speaker
Oh my gosh. Um, also, uh, Taylor start like, say, Hey guys, here's my plan for what I want to go do. And everybody finally fucking listens. Finally. So goddamn trust that's been deserved this whole time. Yeah. Finally. Finally. She gets what she's always wanted. Yeah.
00:37:45
Speaker
This is it's really sad because this is like right. ah Not only do we get some goddamn trust, we get a dragon hug. Oh, yes. yeah I'm still waiting for mine. Other people be waiting for their, you know, be waiting for that that letter letter from Hogwarts. I'm still waiting for my dragon hug. um And then ah we get the all new all black outfits.
00:38:15
Speaker
Yeah. Let's roll out. I mean, Canary's like the only one, uh, the only one in like bright colors. Everybody else is in black, which I love. Yeah. ah Except that's cause she's in dragon teeth armor. Oh, true. So she ends up, you know, hulked out as well. Yep. Okay. So,
00:38:42
Speaker
we We get in.
Cauldron's Facility and Prisoners
00:38:44
Speaker
We're in Cauldron now. The group finds some bodies that have been kind of dragged away out of sight, out of mind. And we meet the custodian, which I love her, them, whatever. I love them. ah They find the prisoners of Cauldron.
00:39:04
Speaker
and then run into the invading force as our group tries to deftly slip away. Tries. ah Tries being the keyword here. Yeah, this is a so really interesting little section. Just them getting into Cauldron, right? Getting into this. Again, this weird, liminal space like we talked about. Very, very weird. Very weird. Yeah.
00:39:32
Speaker
Yeah. Uh, I do love the lore we get opening up about, uh, case 53s now though. Yeah. We start to get some answers. Yeah. Some of the interesting things here. I like that cauldron 53 as well. Undoubtedly some of them are mistakes. And we, we see that later on in the interlude, um, that.
00:39:57
Speaker
the way that they're used and potentially some of them created intentionally, uh, are, are like, they could be used for tougher biomes or used as like smoke screens or potentially more capable of fighting scion than other people would be because of their inhumanity. Yeah.
00:40:23
Speaker
I think, I mean, do we want to pull in knowledge from the rest of the arc? Because I think, I think the blindness pretty clearly has to do with Eve, so to speak. Yeah. We've pulled some case 33 stuff in here. yeah That was, that was at least the feeling that I got was like, it has something to do with the fact that he has a bit of blindness towards Eve. And as a result, he.
00:40:51
Speaker
He can't see them as well because they're some of the most direct perversions of what she was. Right. That's at least the vibe I got. that but I was going to say, is it that he can't see them? I thought it was that actually not that he can't see them, but more like he, their powers are kind of hidden from him, uh, almost as if they're Eve's powers in a way. I don't know. It's.
00:41:15
Speaker
I thought that they were more of like a distraction, like that they were, they would throw him off. Like how we've, we've realized that like the duplicates threw him off or like, uh, certain attacks where he's like unsuspecting or it's like basically because they're such like, they're so weird that they throw him off because they're not just like the regular powers. They're like,
00:41:39
Speaker
You know what it might it might be? It might be sort of like the psychological effect ah with the echidna clones, how she made these sort of warped perversions of everybody's powers and stuff. It might be sort of like that where it's like he knows all of her powers in a way and he looks at this and then realizes, wait a second.
00:41:57
Speaker
this, this was meant to be, you know, nice power X and all I see before me is this terrible monster, you know, whatever yeah you might want to yeah try and play on like the shock factor or whatever. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. I mean, if it buys them time, cause the whole idea was like, we're going to scatter them around. We're not going to cluster them all in one place. Like as an attempt to like try and stay hidden, I guess. But I, I, I get what you're saying though, about like kind of using it as a cloaking thing because the,
00:42:27
Speaker
Like, she's been here. Like, Eve's been here this whole, well, ah that's okay. We can get into that when we get to that chapter. I'm sorry, I don't mean to jump ahead. No, sorry. No, there's some overlap. Yeah, yeah I mean, I think, yeah, we can we can kind of get back to it as well. But i i the kind of the way I read it was more like, is is not that they're immune to him or blind to him, but more that he recognizes that they're not his shards.
00:42:53
Speaker
And so he's, he's drawn to investigate in that sense where it's like, where he knows that it's, it's entity work at play, but not his. And so he has like, he's more, uh, interested in it in that sense. Yeah, that makes sense. That makes sense. I mean, yeah, I guess if, you know, I was walking around and I suddenly saw somebody wearing, you know,
00:43:21
Speaker
my dead wife's hand might be able to disturb. Oh, no. That was not expecting you to say that. Wait a minute. I've seen that hand. I know that hand. Hold on now. but You were also maybe trying to burn the whole world and it just made you pause for just a second. Yeah. Did you get that hand, bro? That's not my hand.
00:43:50
Speaker
Everyone either has my hand or someone else's hand. And that's not my hand. So I have special hands. I have special. Look, Syed, look with your specialized. My hands. So is in invisible or and yes go Incorporeal? Are we invisible as to the sense that I got? Mildly incorporeal. Incorporeal, sorry. Yeah, yeah, incorporeal. Because she can go through walls and shit. In carports, yeah. gene i see I don't know about going through walls. Yeah, I don't know about going through walls. But do she can spread her awareness. Yeah, she can duplicate. And it seems like she can kind of spread herself thin. Sort of like how a legend talked about moving.
00:44:47
Speaker
And like so fast, he could become pure energy, but he's not sure he wants to try that. Or if he could come back to being normal, a normal human. Um, it kind of is that same sense of like, it feels like she can spread herself a bit thinner. She can duplicate, and then she reunites back with her main body. Sort of the feeling I got because the way she buffets people into the, and like keeps them in their cages.
00:45:12
Speaker
is that she duplicates herself like a thousand times and every one of those little you know thin pushes is duplicated on each other a thousand fold. So she literally is you know bopping somebody with a piece of paper so many times, even a super strong person couldn't fight against it.
00:45:36
Speaker
Yeah, we do talk about in this chapter about the prisoners that are here in Cauldron, how they don't have doors on their cells that's just like a open space. Yeah. So like she's keeping them in, ideally, tell until we have Mantellum that kind of blocks up with powers and stuff, I guess, is the idea. That he's like the one that's stopping her from doing her job. is that Is that what it's supposed to be or is it something else? Because the whole thing is that she can't guard them anymore.
00:46:15
Speaker
Yeah, okay. Mantellum's the problem, if I recall correctly. Yeah. And a problem he is. he He's basically the power negator. And of course, I don't know if it comes up now or later, but they're like, would it work on Sion? And they're like, no, of course not. yeah Idiot. You dumb ass. Yeah. Okay. I think this is where I kind of started to get confused on the spacing of it, right? Of like the prison and like, okay, we've got,
00:46:44
Speaker
Prisoners and where's which room are they in versus which room others are in it's it's like a whole. I don't know. There's a lot going on. It's like hallways of prisons and then you go down. I kind of imagined it like the there were stairwells on the ends and then it was like an apartment building with like or like, you know, college dorms. Yeah. You have a stairwell on either end and then like a long hallway with cells on either side because they run down. They run down the hallway and people are like yelling at them and they're like happy to see them. And then they get
00:47:21
Speaker
They're like trying to run and they because the case 53s are like searching they go down to the end Open the door to make it sound like they went into the stairwell and then they hide in one of the cells At the end because there's like empty cells Down there. Yeah, something like that. But like they talk they so so Taylor does talk about how that like the floors up or down are can like see them or hear them or something, which makes me feel like we're on that like scaffolding walkway that Alan was mentioning, except it's like the, maybe the floor is made out of that so that it's like, perhaps the floors below can see that like, Oh, someone's coming up above because I can see their feet or whatever. Like that's kind of the vibe that I got, but I don't know if that's, I don't know if that's accurate.
00:48:17
Speaker
Like yeah i was it was hard. yeah kind of Yeah. It felt like there was more floors than just their floor that could like see or hear them coming. And so that's what made me think of like the transparent floors or transparent walkways potentially. I don't know. It's it's it's hard. there's And then, you know, mixed with the fact that there's a lot going on, like easy to get a little lost here. Yeah. Yeah, definitely. Yeah.
00:48:44
Speaker
Yeah. I mean, we've seen this place before with, uh, not the shamrock escape, but with number man, putting the one person back into their putting the people back into their cell. Yeah. But that felt back that felt a little bit different though. Like that felt like we were going down like.
00:49:01
Speaker
Like to me, that felt like when you're ah ah in a hospital and you go down a hallway and there's the two double doors and you go through the double doors and there's like a a new hallway on the other side. Like that's the vibe that I got with the number man interlude. But I, again, I, it's. Cause I think of this area, like I definitely feel like there's like see through catwalk, you know, that's grating. Yeah. Like grading. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
00:49:26
Speaker
Yeah. out And I was going to say, I don't know if it was in this one or the next one where they're, they basically have, speaking of crucifying people, um, well, weld is in some trouble, it seems. Yeah. Yeah. He's in a bad way. he's He's having a, having a bit of a bad time, it seems. Yeah. No, he's not doing so hard. And then they try to cook Sveta in her metal ball. Yeah. Yeah. Poor Sveta.
00:49:53
Speaker
go She's she I did like all the all the parts with her in this arc, but man she's gone through it poor thing Yeah, yeah, she's having a bit of a bit of a rough go bad day But um Yeah. Okay. Shall I just head on word? Yeah. Yeah, i go for it. Since we're we're starting to bleed, sections are starting to bleed in together and I'm not remembering as well i enough what happens where.
Confrontations and Strategies
00:50:20
Speaker
ah Chapter five here, the K-53s are searching the cells um and they're making their way closer and closer to... Our group, um as they come around the corner, they're able to hypnotize a few and then go out and attack the rest, custodian assists, and then they make their way down to meet up with Sater's group.
00:50:42
Speaker
So there's there's there's like a first half of this chapter and a second half. So the first half of this chapter is very much like them in the cell trying to figure out what to do. They mount the camera on the wall so Tattletail can kind of keep up with what's going on. They're realizing Mantellum's power. There's another crucifixion that happens which is just horrific. Some weird stuff with... ah ah Canary's power, which gets a little hairy there. And then the second half of the chapter, which is them making their way down and meeting up with Satyr's group. That's kind of closer to the end of the chapter. This fight is definitely the one I'm like, eh, this is where I'm starting to lose things. A little bit of like placement. Yeah. so this happening day That's okay. Yeah. From what I get.
00:51:29
Speaker
You have some of the case of D3s that have gone down. They're pausing the cells to try and find good stuff. It's ideally what they're doing. And they... he So Taylor pulls out her special her special knife, ah her blurry knife, and is like, got it up to one guy's throat basically telling him like, tell everybody else to back off, say that it's empty and he's like trying to get them and there's like a guy behind him who's not paying attention and like, no, I want to see. And they have this like little tiny skirmish moment where it feels like
00:52:04
Speaker
Our group here is a little like separated from what's going on further down the hallway, which makes me feel like this is a long ass hallway, like much longer than I thought it was.
00:52:17
Speaker
And that's why they can kind of skirmish around down here with their little so little case 53s that they've, you know, mind wiped or whatever, you know, they've done. Yeah. And and that way they're the Mantellum group that's down there crucifying people doesn't know what's happening up here. It's a lot. Yeah.
00:52:40
Speaker
Yeah, definitely a bit definitely bit on the confusing side, which is funny because I think it ironically kind of plays into the strength of the arc, which is that our characters are also incredibly confused, yeah you know which is kind of funny. is is It did sort of feel like that at times when I'm reading it. It's like, yeah.
00:53:01
Speaker
I'm right there with you guys. I don't know, quite know what direction you're facing. so Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I do like, I did like the, some enjoyable, like power usage in this fight. Uh, Taylor using these, you know, the, just the hanging death knife. Going through the crowd and like, amazing ended up swinging it and like cutting. i She got a man. um Oh, she got a lot of people is what she got. Yeah, she got a lot of people on top of that, too. But yeah, just the like, all right, the lights flicker, she drops it, flicker again, drops it again, like just walk. I mean, because all you got to do is walk it through somebody and then they ends up swinging it all the way through everybody. Yeah. Yeah. Just like the pendulum arc through the weird effect. Was this Taylor's hallway fight scene? Oh, my gosh. We need to have one in Worms somewhere.
00:53:55
Speaker
I was thinking about the hanging knife in the air, just kind of like floating through and cutting people from behind as it makes its way through the crowd. Just has, you know, all the way back to three body problem worth the ah ah with the ship. um god that You could do that through the hallway, but it's just the knife hanging in the air. just go in And then, you know, bumping into people and taking them out.
00:54:17
Speaker
Well, somebody reaches up and tries to grab it and miss because it's a fucking lightsaber and a dagger. yeah And they cuts their fingers off, um which is just... Oh, wow. And then the follow-up.
00:54:33
Speaker
ah Shadowstalker pulls a pretty cool maneuver, which feels like glitching in a video game. She's poking just her head and the crossbow out so that she can shoot people from like yeah the upper wall. Yeah, I did like that. I did like that a lot. That was really cool.
00:54:53
Speaker
Um, no, it that's actually a great comparison, Alan, because it totally does feel like, like old halo or old called of call of duty where you realize you can just push the gun through the wall and shoot people that way. yeah yeah That's a great comparison. I love that.
00:55:10
Speaker
Yeah. Cause she's, she's shadow stockers up on the wall, sniping and lung, uh, goes full flame, flame thrower and, uh, just start, starts tearing through at people. And at first they start, Oh, there you you got this. I was just gonna say at first they start, everyone's like on his side because he feels like a case of G3 that he like belongs there. And they're like, yeah, you know, fuck shit up. And then all of a sudden he's like fucking people up and they're like, Oh, well we were
00:55:41
Speaker
Like, which is great because it good bit because they don't realize it until it's too late that he's like fucking up their shit. Which, yay, long. I love long. And hopefully saving Weld. I don't know if Weld survives this, honestly. God, I feel like he should. Like, he's so Weld, you know? like durable yeah So He's so durable. At one point, his arm does get like yoinked backwards.
00:56:08
Speaker
And like yeah like like, I guess the the equivalent of getting your shoulder dislocated and then like stuck to your back of your neck at an odd angle. Like because he's metal, it's just he just has to reabsorb and rearticulate.
00:56:25
Speaker
you know yeah might You could throw my boy in a trash compactor. I'm pretty sure he'll roll out of that eventually. I think so too. Like he'd roll out as a cube, but he'd like reattach. He'd regrow some leggies.
00:56:37
Speaker
ah i Feel like he's just down like he's just down. He's not He's not he's down. He's not out. He's exactly right, right, right We trust that our boys gonna make it through oh, yes Our I know a lot of people don't like was worried. I googled it Is he good is he good he's good, okay, okay good Because I I love him and Sveta so much. I feel like they have to end up together. I Yeah. I need them to be alive for each other. Absolutely. Yeah. Spenta deserves happiness. Oh gosh, she's been through so much. She deserves so much better. She needs this. She needs this. and she did Also, all the way back to the crucifixion. So we are up there crucifying a case 53. Does anybody remember which one this is?
00:57:36
Speaker
He doesn't have arms or legs. He doesn't have arms or legs, but he does have a giant goiter on his neck. And they talk about that he was, they you know, this is the one that we were going to, you know, wipe our memories and edit our memories with, which triggered me to flip back. They've edited my memory because I don't remember. I know. i hold of this one um So I had to go back because I couldn't, I didn't see it in the, on the Wiki.
00:58:06
Speaker
Uh, for para, like for the case 53s or anything. And I like scrolled back through my notes and found it. Uh, it's the slug is his name. We talked about him a little while. i I'm with Nick though. What? homes slug It's just, it's a case 53 that Cauldron uses to edit and wipe memories before they like drop off case 53s. Oh, okay. So that's why like, they bit i'm sorry sorry, things are coming together.
00:58:43
Speaker
So that's why Nooter and neuter in them, they can't remember what happened to them exactly because of him, the slug. no um On top of that, the slug, because he's, he's a brain editor can do some wild shit, uh, like crippling your powers or just removing them period. damn Wow.
00:59:08
Speaker
So if you were like, yeah, I don't want to cooperate with you, Cauldron. I want to re-nig on my power thing. They can be like, cool, takes it away quick teleport you, you know, open a portal. And all of a sudden he just, all of a sudden the part of that, you know, the Corona Polentia is cut off from the rest of your brain. You ain't got no powers. Why didn't they just do that with the birdcage caves? Uh, what do you, for like, like the idea that like, okay, so We have, well, I guess, no, he's cauldrons and cauldron doesn't share the cauldron. And the only other person that knows about the Corona polentia, the one who I believe named it is bone saw.
Humor and Complexity in the Story
00:59:49
Speaker
Yeah. Right. When, when grew went through his second trigger. Yeah. Yeah. Because bone saw has the, like the compilation of information on the hard drive. And I want to say that somebody else gets their hands on a copy of that or something.
01:00:02
Speaker
Lil Riley Rue has all the tricks up her little sleeves, up her little frilly sleeves. So like only some people know where powers are located physically in the brain, or at least the terminal through which they kind of access the physical world or connected. Uh, gotcha. This is where I will once again ask the community if there has already been a, uh, fanfic with a crossover with Siler from Heroes and Worm. I get that reference. Please let me know because I feel like it was just made for a crossover fanfic. And I need it. I mean, you could write it, Jacob. Yeah.
01:00:50
Speaker
and Someone else to have already done all the work. I will say our our patrons recently have ah asked us this past week. Reminder, we have patrons on Patreon and they get access to a special Discord where we all hang out and talk. ah We're asking about ships and ah like who your favorite ship is, whether canon or not canon, talking about that. And it just made me realize like maybe I need to write yeah maybe we should all write like a little fanficcy fun thing for the fans because it would be fun. I think it would give us it like all a chance to kind of explore some stuff that we would love to see in the universe that we don't get. And obviously Wild Bo has like a plethora of things on the internet, but like, why can't we add to it? Why not? yeah yeah If I could have a quick aside with the rest of the podcast.
01:01:39
Speaker
You too, Hannah. i'm also and this is like okay yeah you know We're all in this aside. So we're having this aside away from our listeners, right? Yes. Yes. it Okay. Got it. Got it. Okay. Just, so so I mean, they can listen in too, but just so that they know this isn't aside from the regular podcast. Right. So here's what I'm thinking. I'm thinking we put in like a bunch of super, the Cape names and like some scenarios into a hat. And then we like draw them.
01:02:05
Speaker
oh And do you like some improv. Maybe that could be a Patreon episode. Maybe like, Oh no, Jacob will be playing legend and Nick will be playing, uh, slash and it looks like he wants to seduce him, uh, at a gas station. Oh my God scenario. That's amazing.
01:02:35
Speaker
I think i scary up at least an hour of content. i Wow. i An hour, Jesus. I thought you were going to say that we do like a little flash fiction thing where we have to drag stuff out. And like we're limited to like 200 words or something. And it's like you're limited to a short flash fiction with, you know, these two characters or something.
01:02:54
Speaker
And you can choose when the conversation happens, but it has to, like, have happened within the canon story. But it's just like an extra, like, a little interlude of, like, oh, yes, when Taylor was, you know, over here talking to them, this person, you know, you got to write a little, little flash fiction moment. Yeah. Yeah, it'll be fun. Yeah, I like that. Both are good. Both are good. Excellent patron content. Michael, where's my both please? Yes, smash.
01:03:26
Speaker
Yeah, it's not here. You can't have it. All right. In the words of Jacob, both ways smash.
01:03:39
Speaker
Speaking of both, please. Uh, I have a note here that I needed. What are we back to the podcast now? Yes. Yes. We're back to the question. It's just our listeners know they side what's happening. Um, okay. So I have a ah special note here that I need to go back and, uh,
01:03:55
Speaker
ah Some fun trivia. So do y'all remember back in the cave with Seder's group? I don't remember anything ever. So we're in the cave with Seder's group. We're all the way back there. They're like, Hey, where's the portal? And they're like, we're not acting weird. What, why are you so paranoid? And then it's all illusions and Seder's duplicates. Yes. So there's a, uh, uh, uh, uh, one of the Vegas dark ah teammates, Nyx, N-I-X, uses her power of illusion to cover up the portal. You remember this, yes? Oh, yes, I do remember that, yeah, yeah. And then Golem, of course, pins her to the ceiling using one of his hands. Yeah, yeah. So, you got Nyx there.
01:04:45
Speaker
um you ah You'll notice that name's a very familiar, and I was like, wow, that's weird. that she's here. I could have sworn she was slaughterhouse nine. You know, that's cause her twin sister is slaughterhouse nine and dispelled nicks and Y Y X. They both have basically the same power, except that the nicks from the slaughterhouse nine, her like v the, when her illusions are disturbed, they become like they are gas. Yeah. Um, but yeah, they're twins. Um,
01:05:19
Speaker
They have the same power. Uh, they're both cauldron capes that drank the same thing. And one became a case 53, which would be the slaughterhouse nine one. And the other one stayed normal. But, uh, they, they both got, uh, because there's a whole weird thing where passengers, um, when they're latching onto people, uh, identify DNA.
01:05:47
Speaker
as like, if you're a twin, they basically see that as the same person.
01:05:54
Speaker
in Interesting. So that's why like, Senya and Menya basically share the same power. I'm curious. Wait, does that mean you trigger at the same time too? Yes. Oh. So hypothetically, you could have a stressful situation for one twin without it being a stressful situation for the other, but then they both trigger.
01:06:15
Speaker
Potentially. Yes. Um, fascinating. So, so that's, you know, uh, something, something that, you know, just a little, a little fun trivia right there. Also, uh, Nick's, if I'm not mistaken, uh, the NYX next is an original slaughterhouse nine member, which places her like all the way back in like in 1987, like when she joined up.
01:06:44
Speaker
which will be shortly after they got like power showed up as well. my good I'm just like Hannah just spilled water all over herself, but it's no excuse me while I go change my pants. The last time we'll hear that on this podcast not the first won't be the last.
01:07:09
Speaker
Uh, maybe now's a good time to take a little break for all of us. Use a best word from our sponsor. yeah yeah yeah at break This episode of the Brockton Bay book club is sponsored by made Marion made Marion creates custom cottage core and run fair clothing designed for everybody.
01:07:31
Speaker
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01:08:03
Speaker
And we're back. Hey. What a lovely ad break we had there. Go check them out. Show them some love. What are we on chapter six? yeah yeah yeah yeah Yes. Yes. Yes. Six. Um, so we are headed away from the chaos now.
01:08:29
Speaker
Oh, wait, no, wait, hold on. We didn't finish five because there was something I wanted to talk about. Well, let's talk about it while we're scrambling. We have this moment and we don't have to like we don't have to like talk talk about it. I just wanted to mention it because I thought it was funny and also like Taylor. ah So she's so we have our two little ah hypnotized friends, case 53s that we're using as ah like distractions and other things. And ah Taylor's like, take off your shirts.
01:08:58
Speaker
Great, now go stand in the doorway and make out. If anybody comes this way, tell them you're busy. and Everybody else is like, whoa, whoa. It's like, wait a minute, hold on, hold on. And who is is it? Can there? I can't remember who it is. Cuff, I think. Is it Cuff? Cuff is like, yeah, no, it's always Cuff. Cuff makes sense. Cuff is like, um, that's a little weird. And Taylor's like, what do you mean? And she's like, well, i I'm sorry, I didn't mean to say weird. I meant to say, that's a little rapey, Taylor. And she's like, oh, yeah, right. OK, go pretend to make up.
01:09:31
Speaker
Try your best. Just get real close. ah ah yeah it it Okay. We've talked about for a while now that Taylor seems to just kind of be like disconnected from like.
01:09:51
Speaker
people and like normal things. And like, this is one of those moments where it really shows through. And it's like, cause I read it and I was like, uh, they're hypnotized. And like, if we know anything from canary's power, we know that that bad stuff can happen, uh, by making sure it not to cover all your bases and making sure that the person you're singing to knows when you're joking. and Right.
01:10:21
Speaker
knows when you're, you know, using hyperbole and such. And I just love that cuff is like, uh, uh, Taylor, Taylor, Taylor, you can't, you can't, you can't tell them to do that. but That's, they still have, I mean, they were trying to kill us, but like, they still have body autonomy. Like, please, please no, please no.
01:10:41
Speaker
And I just I love that even though there are times when we get lost in Taylor's head and we see the world from her perspective as weird as it is, ah there are people around her that remind her that she just can't do those things. And that's just not OK. She got she got bug brain. She got she got bug brain real bad. Yeah, that was it does. It does kind of lean into her I guess sort of belief that people are kind of tools, not always, but she does kind of, yeah yeah she's very utilitarian, right? She's like, what's the best way to get out of the situation? I know hypnotize these guys and make for an awkward situation that nobody wants to come across.
01:11:28
Speaker
Yeah, it's like and everybody else. She's got to have somebody as the moral compass, right? And it can't be tattlestale because we know that she's just as bad. Cuff steps in and does a really good job. Yeah. Cuff does a good job. She's like, wait, wait, wait. Hang on. We can't, we can't do that. That's not okay.
01:11:49
Speaker
but That is Taylor though. It's, she is the ultimate, uh, uh, what sort I'm thinking of hypocrite because yeah he's like, Hey cauldron, you can't, you can't control people's lives like that for the greater good. Only I can do that. Come here a deal for you. It's called controlling people's bodily autonomy. Don't do that. mr um I mean, we have done it again.
01:12:20
Speaker
I mean, we see that even all the way back with coil, right? Where it's like, yeah, coil abusing Dinah. God, I wish I could use Dinah right now. God, I wish I could abuse. I mean, news ah remember, you can't spell can't spell abuse without use. God.
01:12:40
Speaker
yeah damn out
01:12:43
Speaker
So bad, but it's so good. It's so good. Cuff also, I don't know if it's technically at the end of this chapter here or if it's the beginning of the next one. I think it's the end of this one here when they go down and they run into Sater and his group where Cuff says literally the most Hannah thing I've ever read in my entire life. She basically, I think I said this earlier, is that she just like looks at Taylor and she's like, look, I know you're a masterclass. I know that he's a masterclass. When you masters like start talking to it oh that sounds bad when you masterclass start talking to each other, like Us normies are lost. We're very lost. So please, for the sake of the normies, tell us what the fuck is going on. And no and I do love Tyler being like, like, I'm a masterclass? I don't know. Such a silly goose. silly goose.
01:13:28
Speaker
Oh my God. um yeah if i I don't know about that. What do you mean?
01:13:36
Speaker
ah darwin youen We're all laughs at this. ah And honestly though, I, I, that's how I feel all the time reading worm. I just really wish that while that would spell some of this shit out because it's just there. Oh, there look.
01:13:52
Speaker
There's something to be said about not treating your readers like they're fucking stupid. you know You don't have to spell every little thing out to them because sometimes they'll just get it. You know you don't have to say it. And there's there's something to be said about not treating your readers like they're stupid as a writer.
01:14:08
Speaker
I am very stupid. I would like someone to explain to me what the fuck is happening because I don't understand. Have the shit that Taylor or Wild Bo, you know, I'll just say Wild Bo. I don't. Wild Bo, listen, you're a phenomenal writer. This whole podcast is a testament to that because we love it so much and we love Worm and I love Worm and I'm constantly astounded by you. I need you to spell some things out for me, my dude, because I I don't consider myself very dumb, but yeah ah reading your books sometimes makes me feel really dumb. And I need you to just like maybe just tell me what's happening. I think ah we would all appreciate just a little bit more of the telling rather than the showing. Just tell me, just tell me. um I'm happy if you just wouldn't tell me. That would be great. Thank you. Like I keep thinking of Michael Scott asking Oscar to explain the surplus to him. Like explain it to me like I'm eight. Oscar does that and then Michael thinks about it.
01:15:08
Speaker
Explain it to me like I'm five. yeah yeah ah i I normally, um I'm normally, uh, also in favor of like, you know,
01:15:21
Speaker
Just write it. If the readers get it, they get it. If they don't, they don't. And for the most part, there's a lot of stuff that when you're writing, you don't, unless they don't get the entirety of your work or a good portion of their work, like if they're missing a segment, it's like kind of going over a vocab word. You go by it and you go, Oh, um I don't know what that means, but you know what?
01:15:45
Speaker
I just got to keep reading and I'll just kind of come up with a context in my head and move on. We'll come back to that never. Um, and, and you keep reading cause one word out of place, isn't going to throw you off that much. And in this case, it's such a long story. One paragraph is not going to throw you off that much from the entire story. And so you let them slide from time to time. And for the most part, I would say,
01:16:13
Speaker
that these are, you were able to figure stuff out, but ah you know, it's not the easiest to read into. However, whatever the hell is going on with the Vegas capes and what they're trying to accomplish and what they're doing and their reasons for things are just lost.
01:16:37
Speaker
I don't know what's happening. I thought it was, you know, Oh, is this just me? I'll look this up. And the answer is, nobody else knows. There's guesses out there. Like, Alan and I talked about this earlier. if You can't tell. Oh, it's great. If you, ah if you Google like Seder parahumans, the first, well, for me, the first link is ah is a series of Reddit links. What was Seder's plan? Seder's modem?
01:17:07
Speaker
and someone explain what happened with Seder. Discussions about Seder. Like, yeah clearly we're not alone here. The yeah best, the best. and I'm gonna give this like tattletale explaining um freakin' night. The best explanation we have is that Seder is in love with Pretender and knows that Pretender works for Cauldron but hates Cauldron for keeping pretender from him because he has to stay in the Alexandria body and, you know, fight and potentially die and hates them for keeping what he believes. Pretender to be prisoner, even though pretenders kind of choosing to do this. And because of all that, when they, they are both defending pretender, you know, because pretenders right next to Dr. Mother in this case,
01:18:07
Speaker
from all of the case, 53 is coming to kill them. But also if they got to there, uh, they, that Sater might not be in control enough to not want to kill Dr. Mother for keeping his lover captive as he views it.
01:18:24
Speaker
Oh, when you put it like that. When you put it like that, it makes sense. But the thing is, is that you had... That's not something I could have been reading. And I don't buy that either. Yeah, I don't know if that's even...
Betrayals and Shifting Alliances
01:18:37
Speaker
Okay, this goes into the next chapter. It's the closest we've got.
01:18:41
Speaker
Yeah, there's they're trying to do a betrayal is OK, so I'm just going to go into the next chapter. So we'll just put that they did. They done do a betrayal. Well, chapter that's all you had to write. They had further down until Sater's group tries a betrayal. Things get tense and then m makes them back off. Sign arrives and Taylor's group fleas is is what I have here. But this is this part. That's the beginning part is the the the do a betrayal. Yeah, they done do a betrayal.
01:19:14
Speaker
I think I read that section a couple of times, and I still don't know what happened. Like, they're they're there, they're talking, and then they're not, and they're all of a sudden getting all, you know, trigger happy, and it's getting, you know, hairy down here, and and then then and then it's like, oh, wait, no, Zion's coming. Okay. And then they then they split up? Or they they they go down further?
01:19:40
Speaker
They split up. Yeah, they yeah they're like, we'll hold off Sion, I guess. Which makes no sense that all of a sudden is like, no, it's cool. We're just going to die here. Like, yeah, I definitely felt like he wasn't planning on leaving, but then. Yeah, this way. Yeah.
01:20:02
Speaker
You know, you came all this way, infiltrated the group, and then like, snookies, sneaky sneak, and then, and now you're just gonna die in a stairwell? Like, why? Time for fan fiction. That's true, I guess. I'm gonna write fan fiction where he doesn't die. Yeah. It is a bit of a weird moment. Like, I don't really understand their motives for betraying... Yeah, yeah thats yeah, it just...
01:20:31
Speaker
from the beginning, right? It didn't make make sense. Why were they hiding the portal to the cauldron? they It just felt like another needless obstacle. And I get, I get the other groups who are like grabbing territory or, you know, looting and pillaging because this the you know, they're going to die. yeah Like I kind of get that because that's a typical, pretty typical end of the world scenario. I, yeah, it felt out of the blue for someone who at least ostensibly was a quote unquote good guy and Yeah, I don't know. it it's It is weird. It is weird. I agree. ah Wait, I like this Reddit commenter from seven years ago. ah His plan, Sater's plan was to do nothing. They wanted to make sure that the case 53s were not interrupted in taking down Cauldron, knowing that Pretender would have survived being inside Alexandria's body and invincible. They were just making sure that nobody interfered with the destruction of Cauldron.
01:21:30
Speaker
Simple. Maybe too simple. Yeah. Since they killed a bunch of case 53s and took their place. Yeah. Yeah. And then they died in a stairwell. If someone wants to maybe tag well, though, in the comments of our YouTube video, that would be stellar.
Community Engagement with Wildbow
01:21:51
Speaker
yeah wow well We would love to have you on the episode, please. We would really like that. we we' It would be great.
01:22:00
Speaker
We promised we wouldn't say anything.
01:22:20
Speaker
um like hey could you ah talks so normal people can understand you oh yeah i wonder if all power classifications talk like that Like, cause I know for sure. Tinkers talk like that. Oh yeah. and like Yeah. Tinker talk. So like the tinker talk with their tinker toys. Um, so masters, you know, be plotting all the time. who Maybe, you know, talk about how, oh, my, are the way, my, I don't, you take care of, you name your minions. Like, um,
01:22:55
Speaker
yeah. know i like it yeah Maybe blasters compare beam sizes or something. They have to. yeah Stranger classes just don't talk to each other. oh yeah that's together they're all in They're all in the corner on top of each other, but they none of them know it. and they're like They don't even know I'm in the corner, but it's just all of them. yeah
01:23:21
Speaker
Somebody make that meme. image in my I'll get on it. Emp pointing out that they're all man whores at the end of the day. Are we all most accurate assessment, Emp? Always calling them out. Again, I have to point out we get a moment where Taylor is just basically like Emp.
01:23:42
Speaker
Are you literate now? What is going on? Oh, she had a second trigger and developed a literacy word. I think she literally says like, we're, where are you learning these words? Yeah. It pulls out a raise on, it wasn't raison dietra at one point in time. And everybody looks at her.
01:24:04
Speaker
what well What I love about that one too, right? As if I remember people are like, okay, first wrong, but also yeah. Yeah. His raise on Dieter.
01:24:17
Speaker
and Fantastic. Uh, Oh, uh, we get the first K uh, first mention of the number boys. Hmm. Now the number correct me if I'm wrong. Cause we have two things going on here. One is that the slaughterhouse 9,000.
01:24:34
Speaker
Did they make nine harbingers? They did at least. Okay. Because, uh, it's it that this is kind of under the assumption that like right away, cause I don't remember seeing any of, did we see any of the harbingers fight? we Maybe we did. yeah Okay. Did they all like do one fight and when they didn't die and everybody else fell apart, they just immediately all defected to cauldron.
01:25:05
Speaker
Probably I think that's the idea because they fought ah Right at the very end they fought yeah they were and they were protecting Jack from Taylor and golem there at the end Yeah, I think it's in golems interlude where he fights them. Yep I remember you know him going up like the wall face and everything Yeah, so I kind of just assumed at that point to like right at the end Jack gets incapacitated and you know that whole plan crumbles and They're all just like, all right, guys, you know what we talked about. We're going to dip and go find a a big harbinger. Yeah. ah He already sent the email as soon as I was just sitting in his office. but sure yes like i I feel like there's more of me out there. I'm calculating way too many numbers right now.
01:25:53
Speaker
I'm going to send an email to a random number code and then they'll get it, you know? but them and so they all Yeah. It's dad, you know, the long, so long password to open up, but they all know what it is, you know, for 2069 dash, dash, dash 8085,
01:26:13
Speaker
you know, same combination I have on my luggage.
01:26:18
Speaker
Yeah, uh, just I was like, they, but this was of immediately abandoned the ninth. I guess so. Yeah. i Like yeah you guys are going on a murder spree. That's not us. We'd rather go do some Excel spreadsheets. This has been fun, but but and no call I mean, that's really what happened to the original Harbinger. Like, yeah, I mean, this has been cool guys, but He really was just hanging out because his friend was there. yeah yeah If it wasn't for Jack, like he would not have hung around at all.
Cauldron's Internal Power Dynamics
01:26:54
Speaker
Although you did mention the slug character, I wonder if they maybe rewired him a little bit to be like more friendly towards Cauldron. I mean, eventually he did Defect, so it probably didn't take much. yeah That was just an idea. yeah True.
01:27:09
Speaker
I wonder if he defected at first to Cauldron or if he went on his own to just be a banker and Cauldron got in touch with him because he is a later addition. That's true. That's true. And I always, I kind of always assumed that he was like, uh, almost always there kind of guy, you know, maybe like the third oldest, you know, employee.
01:27:35
Speaker
or not oldest, but third longest working. He's got the watch for the loyalty program or whatever. But no, they say, they could, they say later, like in a couple or maybe next chapter that he's, he's pretty new because the doctor still doesn't trust him with anything. Oh yeah. Which means he's been there for a little bit, but not nearly as long as maybe a year or two or something, but not still say more than that. Like the,
01:28:02
Speaker
Cauldron's been around since, what, 1970? Maybe? I mean, it's basically, well, I was going to say it basically formed when, before Sion touched down. I'm trying to think of when that happened. We'll say that. I mean, he's only been there like 10 years, probably. And you don't get the password to the staff break room till your 15th year. yeah You have to prove yourself. comes with bonus vacation He knows the password, but you know, he also knows that.
01:28:29
Speaker
He's been there for like nine and a half years, and it's like 10 years is the threshold. He's really not showing up to the Christmas parties, which, you know... He needs to put in some effort. It's not mandatory, but... He shows initiative. We like initiative. They're just one big family, and he's just really not... He's just nagging in the corner. Coltrin is less of a company. Or is that Michael Gagne? That was Michael Gagne. I was gonna say all that.
01:28:57
Speaker
I trust me, I gagged plenty, but that wasn't on me.
01:29:04
Speaker
yeah ah Shall I just read the next one? Yeah, let's keep going. Chapter seven, the group slides down into the very long.
01:29:15
Speaker
scary panic room column thing, uh, and is met by the doctor's group. Uh, they fight, then join up. Doctor takes them deeper and, uh, snags a vial, but then Sion blows up all the vials before she can actually take one. There is a lot that happens in this chapter. A lot of I was going to say, I only have one note for this chapter.
01:29:42
Speaker
What's your note? What is it? Uh, my note is, Oh, in regards to them talking to Taylor, like, I don't know your past. You've not been very trustworthy. Like bitch. Now I got to deal with cauldron of all people not trusting me to most sussy like, also, what do you mean not trustworthy based? Like you might, ah she's been nothing but trustworthy, violent, maybe.
01:30:10
Speaker
But dishterful one time, one time. one It's all it takes sometimes, you know. I know. Cauldron calling themselves like they they have information. You have the clairvoyant. You can see this shit. You know that that's not true.
01:30:30
Speaker
Anyway, pissed me off. There's a lot of empty vials so in the room full of vials. Yeah. that was i was That room felt like a museum to me. Yes. And I hated that. Like, I imagine all of the backlit shelves just full, like, chock full. Like, if you guys have seen Bones in the the show, there's like a section where they keep all of these, like, drawers of Bones that are, like, still unassigned.
01:31:04
Speaker
And they're all backlit. And so it's just like this huge long corridor, like floor to ceiling warehouse vibe of all of these backlit drawers that are like full of bones. And that's kind of the vibe that I got with this. It's just like this huge long corridor of like floor to ceiling shelves of vials all backlit with only like 100 of them still having liquid in them. Or like 100 or 200, I think is what Taylor says. Yeah.
01:31:34
Speaker
Yeah. Really spooky room. Yeah. And they're all labeled too. They all have like names attached to them. Oh, also at what point did we pick up Sveta too? Cause she's here with them this whole time. and Right. So she, so she, so I think it was back up when we were, when the case 53s were going through the cells. Yeah. she She was with weld and then she got snagged during the whole thing, the the struggle, the, the,
01:32:04
Speaker
The whole thing with lung and someone snagged her. I think maybe imp grabbed her.
Chaos and Climax in Cauldron
01:32:09
Speaker
Yeah. Cause she holds her up and that's right it's like, I'll fucking open this shit right in the middle of the Vegas. That's right. With, uh, Sater. She'll do it motherfuckers. She has, she has that, uh, yeah. i caring around Yeah. This is a,
01:32:27
Speaker
I like this section a lot because I feel like it answers a lot of the questions we've had about Cauldron. I mean, I liked this whole arc is a lot because in Cauldron's fall, we discover how they did everything they did. And i find I just find it really fascinating to me. This is where the world building shines the most maybe is in the sense of just getting everything together and finally seeing it put together and like, ah,
01:32:52
Speaker
Okay. And obviously I'm kind of jumping ahead a bit to when they talk to Dr. Mother and all of that. And, you know, and of course, Contessa's interlude, but yeah, it's just as like, Oh man. Ah, so good. Yeah. It's really interesting seeing it all, seeing it all sort of, yeah, like you said, getting, getting peace together and, uh, seeing the pieces fall into place. And it's, it's interesting because it makes me very attentive tentatively.
01:33:22
Speaker
Not really. Want to go back and reread it all again? um Now that it's fresh. Now that it's fresh, not going to do that. But I got to wonder how much of this... Re-listen to the podcast. You're not wrong. ah How much of this Wild Bo had planned out from the beginning? Yeah. Yeah. I was wondering the same thing.
01:33:48
Speaker
If he's ever talked about that or did an interview or something, let me know. I would love to. This is goes back to, I'm pretty sure this was written in reverse where he had the idea for Sion and the powers first, I believe. I know Sion was at the very least was one of the first things and then had to figure out how to get to, I mean, Sion essentially going crazy. Like that Sion sign doing, you know,
01:34:18
Speaker
doing this whole gold morning stuff is where he started. He's this gold morning. Is that what this is when Sion's like fighting everybody? Is that what that is? Cause I've heard the phrase gold morning and I didn't know. Like I know that it's the end, but I didn't know like, is that him basically going off? Like when he starts by exploding the UK. Yeah. Okay. It's the golden sunrise.
01:34:47
Speaker
Oh, that makes sense. Damn. Damn. Happy gold morning. Merry crisis. Yeah. I wonder, wonder what day, what day on our calendar would be gold morning day? Ooh, that's a great question. I bet someone's figured it out.
01:35:11
Speaker
Anyway, that's a thought for the wrap up podcast. Hannah's just going to Google it really quick podcast. June 19th. Mine says 20 to the 24th. Maybe it started on the 19th. June, uh, wait, there's a timeline. Okay. Wait, hold on. Also those spoil. Oh, you're right. Okay. No, I'm not. I'll stop looking it up. ah i don't want yeah We're so close. We're so close to the end. We got like what two arcs and that's it. We got one arc and an epilogue arc. So two arcs. Okay.
01:35:53
Speaker
Um, We were talking about planning things out ahead of time. did Do you think that, um because you you just said that Wild Bo knew about Sion and powers and stuff all the way from the beginning. Do you think that Sion also had like the Contessa element figured out early too or like the the Cauldron element figure out? Because there's so much of it that we just don't know. Like we don't meet Contessa for a long time reading in the book. And like I'm wondering if that was on purpose because we meet Sion like very early on. like It's very clearly an important element in work. yeah But like we don't meet Contessa or like learn about Contessa until later when cauldron stuff starts like really starting to bubble up a little bit more. But it makes me curious like how much of this was ah like stuff that just came out as he went or if like you know he had to plan out... like Oh my gosh, I'd love to see his outline.
01:36:47
Speaker
I know it isnt i mean because we get the cauldron symbol fairly early on with neuter and Gregor. Yes. like Yeah. arc What is that? Are five or six something like that? So yeah, sure we get it. like that We get cauldron mentioned pretty early on. But yeah, how much did he have planned at that point is would be interesting. I don't know. Be kind of curious to see. Is he is he a planner or a pantser? I want to know.
01:37:14
Speaker
um Also, 1982 is when, uh, when the, uh, entities arrive when they drop. Okay. When is, but I really, I did want to know about cold morning. Uh, it says June 19th. Um, so that's yeah and it because thiss morning the way they, the way they timed it. It's also, it interrupts Taylor's 18th birthday party. Oh,
01:37:44
Speaker
It does. Also known as victory in Europe Day. Victory in Europe Day? Yeah. Nice. World War II. Oh, yes. I'd just spend more because, you know, UK is gone. So victory. Oh, shit. like that is Are you counting that as a victory?
01:38:06
Speaker
oh Not my words. you're worried ah no back but no it was definitely all I mean, you know, it's a, it's a small thing. So silver linings on these dark days, the gold linings, you mean ah the gold linings on the and these dark clouds. Yeah.
01:38:33
Speaker
Okay, back to vial stuff and stuff that's actually happening canonically in the chapter. the said the okay this is the part where you know Hannah's getting confused now. ah So the doctor is talking specifically about these three vials. So she's never take she she never took one, and now it's like, well, now's the time to take one. And she does like a little mixology moment where she pours some of whatever vial they had into like the the black vial, I guess. And it makes like this weird red thing. And then she tries to drink it. What is happening?
01:39:11
Speaker
What is why what's the doctor doing? Yeah, like she's trying. So the goal but from what I understand is she's trying to like trigger a something that could potentially like a breaker power that could potentially get them out.
01:39:26
Speaker
So she is, if correctly, if I'm wrong, I don't even think it's just that I believe was, was she trying to do a breaker power? I thought she was mixing up like some of the like, um, stronger vials together in order to fight scion. If he comes down, I think she even calls out like a mover and black or mover striker or something like that is what she's hoping for.
01:39:53
Speaker
Yeah, she says something, but I i've forgot. I mean, she doesn't get to take it. Obviously, Sion says no.
01:40:03
Speaker
Well, before she... Okay, so I kind of miss her. I miss... I didn't go back and read it. it's It sounded like she just dropped the vial. ah what but What happened? So, so she's she's like right right about to drink it because there's two things happening. There's them, they're like running, trying to like run down the corridor to get away. And then Taylor is also describing what's happened back in the the main room where Sion is because she left the bugs there.
01:40:29
Speaker
So the moment that Sion, he's like picking up vials and he's dropping them. And then he like, instead of doing them one at a time, he does something where like they all shatter. And when that happens, the vial that the doctor is holding to like drink, it shatters in her hand and she was only able to drink a little bit of it. So the glass cut up her hand and now most of it is on the floor. Got it. Yeah. I mean, he basically did.
01:40:54
Speaker
ah Shatter bird. Yeah, he pulled a shower and even though she wasn't at the same area. was It was just the vials It's not like all the glass. Yeah Interesting Taylor's over here like lick it up. Well, she well, she can't think she does say you just have a moment where she's like you should look at and then she realizes like no because I think neuter was the one who told her you have to use the whole dose or else it doesn't work because yeah, that's what was you get You get a kid now. Yeah Uh, yeah, yeah, so there's like kind of that moment because I think imp says something to dr mother about like, oh your hand because her hands all Her hands her neck too her hand and her neck. Yeah, she's got glass everywhere This is also I believe where sveta is like talking about
01:41:44
Speaker
Sveta's like talking to the doctor about like, this is who I used to be and you took me and you never asked what I wanted. And if you had asked, I would have told you I'd rather be dead than this. And Dr. Mother says, um like, what do you want me to say? Like, what do you want me to do? Like, do you want me to cut up my face? Like, would that make you happy? Like, and Sveta's like, I want to know what my name was. Like, tell me my fucking name.
01:42:11
Speaker
And she can't. No, no, no, no. She knows her name. She even knows her birth name. Oh, no. Sveta knows it. Sveta knows it. She wants to see if Dr. Mother knows it. Dr. Mother has no clue. She's like, say my name. Yeah, say my fucking name, bitch. Like, say my number, even. Which, by the way, when she does finally say it, it's like 1717. It's like the easiest number ever. 1616, I believe. Yeah, it's like a super easy number. It's like, but you couldn't even remember that, man.
01:42:39
Speaker
Yeah. Also, you know, i obviously shouldn't have been done dirty. All that yada yada. I know what you're going to say. A lot of people, not just fed up, but a lot of people got to be doing some yapping right now. And maybe that's just getting them some shit off their chest before they die. Cause they know that could happen now.
01:43:05
Speaker
But maybe now, if we're planning on surviving, now ain't the time, bro. Yeah. it Well, you know, it's funny. It's one of those things we kind of, we talked kind of dance around these things before, but like there's so many groups that think they have the answer to saving the world here. And like, if they're the group that does,
01:43:31
Speaker
Well, then it's all justified, but if they're the group that doesn't, a you kind of killed thousands of people. Yeah. you know So it's like, right it's, you know, it's, uh, history is written by the victors and, uh, unfortunately Coltrin is going to be remembered as the group that and fucked up a lot of people and ruined lives. Didn't do a damn thing.
01:44:00
Speaker
see I would like to think that they get remembered as like the one people who tried to do something. And then all the other groups remembered as just people that wouldn't fucking cooperate. also that too Yeah, that is unfortunate. Right.
01:44:19
Speaker
Are we glad? Well, actually, I guess, is it not till next chapter that she gets a got one? Just go into the next one. Yeah. So chapter eight, well, before we get there, sorry. Okay. With the, with the scion fight, you know, we're talking about scions, you know, body we've seen now the entity and how large and massive and, you know, seemingly eternal he is. Um, and yeah, so, but what I thought was interesting was how Siberian,
01:44:48
Speaker
at least briefly could affect him until he decided, I don't want you to affect me anymore. Basically is what it sounded like. Um, and I just thought that was really interesting. Yeah. but At one point there, they're both residing in the same space. Yeah, that was cool. Which is like just cutting him in half basically, but he just keeps reshaping like yeah millisecond by millisecond. Yeah. It just makes me curious how much damage did she actually do? You know,
01:45:18
Speaker
Yeah, I'd be curious to know because especially with the next bit about, you know, kind of seeing Eve's flesh garden. know like Yeah, it you know when when like the tiniest little fly bites you and you're not even sure if something bit you, but it's enough just to kind of make you like slap your arm out of reflex. That's kind of what this felt like, is like maybe this was the first time, and maybe Eidolon as well, you know, first time where Sion had to take a moment to be like, okay, that was a little annoying. it Just sort of slap it away, you know.
01:45:53
Speaker
Which is crazy. Yeah. Oh, I mean, every little bit counts. Like, I'm, I'm happy anytime we can do a little bit of damage, but it, it's so minuscule in the grand scheme. Like, it feels so hopeless. Yeah. Got his attention very briefly. Speaking of grand schemes. Yeah.
01:46:17
Speaker
Yeah. Into the flesh garden. Yeah. Well, okay. So the end of this chapter, at the end of ah seven before eight is when Sion comes after them and the whole place kind of crumbles a bit. um I believe, I believe this is where mother, Dr. Mother dies. um Oh, yeah, that's right at the end. Yeah. Because they're running, Sveta is let loose. um And she just, she can't, she can't stop because she's had this whole conversation with Dr. Mother and Dr. Mother clearly like, isn't, I think in the end, like, she just isn't remorseful. Like, she doesn't feel remorseful at all for what she did because she's she feels like she's justified in all the decisions that she made because Sveta was just like one of millions and
01:47:02
Speaker
in the end like if they can you know save the world then it doesn't matter and I think that's like all really Sveta wants is like she wants Dr. Mother to feel bad for what she did but she doesn't and so Sveta just like crushes her to death uh and then the the roof falls in so that all happens right at the end there Yeah. Just, just her being like, I'm going to grab Zion, but I have to grab another person. Sorry, doctor mother. It's a rather convenient you standing there. yeah Oh no, I can't control myself. Oh, Oh dear. And then she like crushes her skull in half. Yeah. She crushes everything. She crushes everything in half. There's a Taylor's arm. Yeah.
01:47:48
Speaker
We'll get to that Taylor kind of asked for that one. Well, this is I mean when we we can get to that we're in that ah This is kind of this moment where everything's falling to pieces ah The the roof is coming down the beams are getting fucked and I believe if I if I remember, you know the outlet the the layout of what's happening Sveta like or no the excuse me not Sveta the What's the Invisible Girl? I literally was just... The custodian? Yes, the custodian. I feel like this is kind of this moment was like, okay, get, like move, please. Everything's crumbling. ah And Taylor like reaches out and one of the tendrils, Sveta's tendrils wraps around her arm and crushes her arm. So I thought she did it on purpose. She did. To use Sveta as a...
01:48:48
Speaker
grappling hook. Yes, she did. Okay. I did not get that. I'm pretty sure it was on purpose. But that makes sense. Yeah. To get out of the way from the falling stuff. Yeah. Cause she's like, there's no way I'm going to make it. So she like grabs Feta, throws her. And of course it's enough time for her to like grab on. Cause of course she would react.
01:49:12
Speaker
And then like also Sveta's flank there. So she snaps into the door. Right, to the doorway. And just yoinks Taylor with her. Right, yeah, yeah, yeah. And Dr. Mother gets crushed under all the things. She gets smashed. Further further smashed.
01:49:29
Speaker
ah Yeah, more more smash. I do also appreciate it. I was had to go back and remind myself. Taylor does attempt, for some reason, to stab Sion with her, with her nano knife. Yeah. As he's walking by. You know, got we all try to do what we can. Yeah, but you know. Gotta shoot your shot, you know. Right.
01:49:52
Speaker
What an opportunity. ah So chapter eight, ah we have found Eve's flesh garden, um which is mentioned to be more of a ah place than a thing or a person. ah Sveta is yoinks out of there. Sion gets very sad and then very angry. And then we throw chunks of chunks of Eve at him. And the group bunkers down and drops the roof on Sion's head. um There's also a little conversation in there with Lung and Taylor, which ah ah we have to talk about as well. But, you know, we'll get to it. And some more information is kind of given up about Eve. Oh, the flesh garden. Flesh garden. so yeah What a nice... Anyone seen Annihilation?
01:50:45
Speaker
The film annihilation. Yeah. Which one is that one? Uh, it's Alex. gar or Um, yeah let's girl the four women scientists go into the zone acts or whatever. And there's like the weird the person in the pool. It's like an empty pool.
01:51:08
Speaker
right i' thinking Oh, yes. no no No, no, no, no, you're right. And he's like yeah it's like this weird like creature humanoid yeah looking thing, but it's like all like tenderly and rooty and but it's in the pool. I only bring it up because the way annihilation is is kind of described is it's sort of this really creepy ethereal beauty and I think it pulls it off very
Eden's Origins and Power Lore
01:51:31
Speaker
well.
01:51:31
Speaker
And that's kind of how I feel about the flesh garden is it's like, it's gross, but also because they describe it as like kind of beautiful. It's like weird art. Yeah, it's it's very trippy. Very cool. Well, because it's kind of this.
01:51:49
Speaker
Again, it's one of those things where it's like you imagine a pool of water where it doesn't look that deep, but then you look into it and it's really crystal clear and you can see all of this life and stuff moving and, you know, gyrating inside of it. And it's kind of that same vibe of like you look, you look at it and you just see kind of this blob, but you look a little closer and oh, what is that? That's a hand and oh, that's, you know, one of the most beautiful human faces I've ever seen. And you know, what have you.
01:52:18
Speaker
ah but all just kind of mishmashed and, you know, messed up and in the wrong places all at once. I kind of feel like Echidna is like the grotesque version of this and smaller, obviously.
01:52:33
Speaker
Yeah, but like the kind of like there are limbs and there are Faces and there are there's just a lot going on and you have to like focus your eye on a specific place to be able to like see the detail because if you look at the whole thing, it's just like like overwhelming and grotesque and that this is kind of like also grotesque but it like more
01:53:01
Speaker
artistic maybe is the word I'm looking for. I don't know. It's, it's, it's yeah.
01:53:10
Speaker
Hot. Yeah, exactly. Wood. I mean, can you imagine the hand jobs from all those hands? Not just the hand jobs.
01:53:23
Speaker
But the the foot jobs. No, no, I knew you were going to do jobs. Why? Kinky. She said no. Why do I why do I hear that with like Anakin's voice of like and not just the hand jobs. That's the voice I was doing. OK, I just wanted to confirm that was in fact what you were trying to do. Yeah, you like you discussed, but but not repentance, you know.
01:53:48
Speaker
yeah yeah
01:53:53
Speaker
Exactly, Jacob. You get it. Never repentance. Much like our podcast.
01:54:04
Speaker
Oh, oh, two things I want to talk about. One, uh, great. Now we've thrown his girlfriend's burning body at him. Like that battle. pi did that um Yeah. Yeah. And multiple times. Um, and then, uh, I want to talk about how this part right here,
01:54:23
Speaker
When we talk about like, Oh, how do powers work? Uh, you know, how this works in terms of like explaining, not just for this universe, but I mean like all superpowers, how they work. Um, you know, one of the thoughts I've always had is where when beast boy transforms, where does the mass come from? Where does it go? And we once again,
01:54:50
Speaker
This is when I got to this chapter, I went, Oh my gosh, everything's a portal basically. It's all like, Oh, it's all connected. The mass comes from this. Yeah. Where does it go? It gets transferred back to this. Like this is, this is, Oh, you want fire? Like we've talked about kind of hinted at before.
01:55:21
Speaker
There is, it's not just that it's a fire dimension that he's opening to. It's really, he's opening back to Eden's body. Like he's opening a small, whenever somebody uses fire, they're essentially opening a portal back to Eden's body, but the fire section of that body and, you know, and summoning that forth. So like when you're using strength, it's,
01:55:51
Speaker
You know, that's a little bit more abstract, but you're essentially pulling force from Eden, like the, even the dead corpse of Eden or, you know, science, real body Eden. Um, no, they call her Eve. I'm pretty sure. Yeah. Cause they, I was gonna say I could have sworn they call her Eden because they talk about her being a garden.
01:56:18
Speaker
I mean, it's, it's Eve here, but right it's, I mean, it it doesn't matter. But yeah, like every, every power is essentially pulling from, and we'll get to later, like a mass so large that it's, it's bigger than the planet. Um, so, you know, when they're trying to hurt Cy on,
01:56:47
Speaker
you know, by putting Siberian in him, like, yeah, you're taking chunks out, but you're taking chunks out of something that is bigger than a planet. Like, it doesn't matter. ah right And, you know, there's just so much potential energy there. Like, you're never, you're practically never going to run out of it. Yeah, I mean, I think they say like, it's intended for the shards to last thousands of years.
01:57:17
Speaker
if needed, you know? Yeah. Yeah. And like, hypothetically, Cauldron could keep making as many, you know, vials as they wanted to, as long as they have access to her. Like, as long as they can keep cutting chunks off of Eve, like, they can so keep making more vials, because there's just so much of her. And like, they talk a little bit about this in the interlude, but like,
01:57:43
Speaker
remembering where they're pulling chunks off because like specific areas are more attuned to certain powers. Like that idea that like we could just keep doing this. Like if we didn't have Sion coming down and ripping this whole place to shreds, we could just keep doing this for like, not forever, but for a really long fucking time. Yeah. I mean, which the opposite part of that is also wild that like technically You could burn through all of the powers eventually. Yeah. Hmm. Like somewhere along the line, you could run out of Eden. It might take um a while, years yeah but it is technically a limited though, not practically limited resource. Right. Hmm. Very cool. Very interesting.
01:58:38
Speaker
There's a section here where ah Lung and Taylor are kind of alone together. And there's, I i could have sworn he was gonna kill her. Like he was just gonna end her. Like I didn't think she would die. Like I thought he would try though. And he doesn't, like he he has her arm in his grip. And he's like looking for weakness, I guess. And I kind of have like this little stare down.
01:59:04
Speaker
Do it, you bitch. I bet you I want to burn my fucking arm off you big pussy.
01:59:14
Speaker
I love fucking kill you. I love that lung is only mad at Sion because Sion interrupted his drinking and fucking.
01:59:26
Speaker
Like an eating ah and eating. Yes. Sorry. Anything like that's it. He's is just like, he's got his priorities in order. shows Ruined my day. He threw off my groove. and I'm sorry. and off the emperor groove I mean, at a basic level, I mean, isn't that, yeah isn't that every i mean problem?
01:59:52
Speaker
yeah Fucked with it, bro. You fucked with the plan here. Oh my God. More reasons to just love lung. Yeah, what a trap. Yes. What a trap. Absolutely. Lung burns off her arm. We throw chunks of Eve at Zion. And then, okay, this again, we've reached another section where I got a little confused. So correct me if I'm wrong, they make a hand sphere.
02:00:26
Speaker
around our our people. And then a freaking mountain Siberian touches the sphere from the inside and makes the sphere. Yes. yeah Right. Okay. And then Alexandria slash pretender brings down the roof, if you will, with Sveta's help to crush Zion.
02:00:54
Speaker
yeah one And then Sion tunnels up and out. so alexandria lift ah So, then Siberian lets go of that of the of the thing, of the fist, weird thing, dome, whatever. And then Alexandria just lifts it up through the hole that Sion made to get them up, you know 49 or 42 floors Is that Is that what's happened is that what happens That's the vibe I got essentially but it it is a little shaky there's a section where Taylor is like looking back up the Stairwell and like she sees the dead doctor mother Mm-hmm, and I don't know
02:01:53
Speaker
Like, I don't think I understand how that happens in conjunction with them being like hauling ass back up the column, the the corkscrew column thing. Because I also thought the number man talked about how it's all pressurized water, and that if they broke a hole in it, the water would like crush them.
02:02:16
Speaker
Right. That's why they can't go through the side and they have to go up back through the top basically. Okay. Okay. Okay. Right. Right. Right. Cause it's a column. Okay. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. That makes sense. Okay. Just as a quick, as a quick aside, cause I was super curious when we were going back and forth to an Eden and Eve, it is Eden. Ellen is correct. However, the name Eden is not used anywhere in worm to refer to the thinker, the thinker being the actual entities classification. Yeah.
02:02:45
Speaker
It's just a fan name. Yeah. So this is probably one of those things where I in my head remember reading this for the first time and them talking about the garden. And I, this was something that stuck in my mind this time because they hint at it. And I guess they never say it.
02:03:07
Speaker
i Like calling out the garden of Eden. Well, because they call, he, they call his names, not Sion it's Zion. Zion. Yeah. Right. He keep calling them a Sion. Um, and, and Eve being very close in, you know, a word to Sion, but same with Zion and the garden of Eden being like these perfect paradise places, right. Um, as counterparts.
02:03:33
Speaker
Yeah. web makes is Is Eve used or are neither no names are used? Eve is not used. Eve feels like that might've just been a mistyping on the space battles form. Okay, cool. I'll go ahead and fix it in my notes right here. To be fair, I like Eve as a name. i mean i like i like the I like Zion and Eden both as places is pretty poetic.
02:04:00
Speaker
ah Yeah. ah Especially with the comment about how that you know looking at the entity, it's like, well, she's not really a person. She's like ah a place more yeah because it's like so vast. At what point do you stop being a person and start becoming a place?
02:04:16
Speaker
compromise or do I love that concept and even have I written about it? Eden is the entity's physical form. Eve would be if the entity lived would be the the the well reverse the Eve would be the ah the ah projection kind of like what Sion is. Yeah. Yeah. So Sion and Eve, Sion and Eden. And Eden. Yeah, exactly. Legit. I love it. Okay. You guys good with me going on to nine?
02:04:55
Speaker
Let's do it. I'm sleeping. Okay. Chapter nine. Uh, our group returns while Zion, uh, vents his anger. Uh, they get some healing done and the rest head out and then panacea knocks down the wall and Taylor's brain.
02:05:13
Speaker
yeah oh Oh yeah. The fuck. Oh yeah. The fuck. I'll be honest, this chapter I kind of sped through because I was still reading at the pace of the previous chapters. yeah And it was like, this one was over very quickly for me. um yeah But a nice little, a nice little ah ah relaxation moment from all the tension we just had. Yeah.
02:05:38
Speaker
Yeah, I do. I do find one moment funny where Sion's venting, right? And Taylor, you know, they kind of realize he's angry now. Like it seems like maybe this is the first time he's actually feeling grief and Taylor's like serves him, right? The fucker. I hope yeah it's just this great. Like, yeah, yeah ah good. mean not get emize back where She's like, yeah. Yeah. It feels like the first time like he's feeling like,
02:06:06
Speaker
You know, when my brother, you know, when he got hurt or when I lost him and the pain that you feel from a love. Oh yeah. They can feel his grief too, which I think is interesting. She's like, I fucking hope it hurts. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. So this is actually, this is perfect. I'm so glad you brought up. Cause I was trying to remember where it was. Remember how last arc we were talking about whether or not grew died.
02:06:31
Speaker
Yeah. on the and and and and And I was like, oh, yeah, no, he's just fine. He's off living in the woods with what's her face. And y'all were like, no, it's like he went to the farm. Like, no, he's dead. Yeah. This moment, because imp doesn't say when my brother, she just says when my brother, dot, dot, dot, she doesn't finish her sentence. And so this was a moment where I was like, oh, shit, is this when she's talking about Gru dying? Is this her being like referencing that? That like Gru is dead? Because I um yeah
Taylor's Journey and Pivotal Moments
02:07:01
Speaker
That's yeah, that was I mean, that's the my continued implication there is that that's that's how it went down. And they're just not saying she's just not completing her sentence because of Taylor. Well, I don't know if she's not finishing your sentence because a tayloror or or so just kind of hang in the air. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. They also mentioned here that this is the first time science expression has changed.
02:07:27
Speaker
Oh yeah. So he's gone from his like stoic, you know, face to now ah his, his eyebrows are scrunched and his like mouth is like downturned a little bit. Right.
02:07:43
Speaker
Now he's mad. He put on his angry eyes. They did throw his girlfriend at him. They did. Parts of her. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, they all trying to figure out what the hell to do.
02:07:58
Speaker
And then Bonesaw and Brain. And then the i the last line of that chapter is, and then it all went wrong. And then it all went wrong. And I'm... Like, oh, now it did? Yeah, Jesus. It's now now it's going wrong.
02:08:19
Speaker
Taylor. Hey, Amy, can you, uh, can you fuck with my head, Amy? I don't do brains Taylor. Can you blow my brains out? Say no more. I mean, that's kind of the vibe. Like what the fuck just happened. I don't. Yeah.
02:08:34
Speaker
like i don't it's okay so it's where i've talked about this before about feeling like something is true but not knowing if it's true if it's like me remembering some part of my brain is like oh yeah i know we remember what happens or if i legitimately i'm just like running off of guesswork here but i When that line happens, I kind of, because they're talking about, oh, we didn't talk about the part. Okay. Apparently Taylor had a second trigger event the second she had her first trigger event. Oh yeah, they mentioned that. She had two right in a row. We went right over that. Oh, right. Oh yeah. Which was interesting. Yeah, because they talk a lot about second trigger events and the fact that Contessa can help people have their second triggers with her power. Right.
02:09:21
Speaker
Yeah. and And the fact that like Taylor's kind of thinking about like, oh, maybe I could have my second trigger. And they're like, oh, no, bitch, you already had yours. And she's like, what? Right. Which I mean, tracks with the amount of like crazy shit Taylor can do and how she's like just a little disconnected from everybody else. She's got that bug brain going on. It it tracks.
02:09:42
Speaker
um No, but ah so when she says it it all went wrong, like I i have this like feeling, not of like panic or worry, but I have this feeling like that's the end. If that makes sense, like this is... This is the end. This is this is it. Like it's all come to this point for Taylor, like Taylor's journey.
02:10:11
Speaker
has like, this is it, and this is like the culmination of all the things, and it's not good, and it's not bad, it just is. And I i don't know how I feel about it, and I don't know what's happening, and I don't, I just, it it's so it's such a weird feeling. But and it feels like this is like,
02:10:33
Speaker
It's just just so like, it's not good. It's not bad. It's just like, this is it. And this is the the culmination of things. And it's kind of just disappointing. And I don't know why I feel like that. Uh, but I guess we'll find out in this next interlude, but I feeling all the things. Yes. Uh, final interlude. Yeah. do it All right. Maybe one of my favorites. way we we would Hold on. Hold on.
02:11:02
Speaker
but i'll say Two things, uh, cause I was looking up stuff here. Um, number one that Taylor talks about before she does this big moment that even though this is very self destructive, they're like, Hey, do you want to get tattletale in on this? And she was like, uh, tattletale would probably see this like, uh, this cause she thinks of me kind of, you know, as a replacement for her brother a little bit. And she would see this path sort of like a suicide. Wait, does she say that?
02:11:33
Speaker
Um, I don't think she says that. I think she says that, like, well, I mean, I thought that she she doesn't say that she implies it. Um, cause I thought that she said something like, like tattletale would try and stop me. Yes. And I was like, hold on. There's a whole thing. I mean, that na it really is tattletale would strut, try and stop me. And I went, well, yeah. Cause she, and and the, one of the things she mentioned is like, this is a self-destructive or like.
02:12:04
Speaker
You know, no coming back from this or whatever. And I was like, yeah, cause you know, it is like her brother. You would, you, you would die and you know, that would hit probably a little harder than, uh, because of the whole brother thing. See if I can't find it. Um, well, I scroll down. Uh, the other bit is, uh, I guess when Diana said cut all ties to have, she meant everything, not just people.
02:12:34
Speaker
Oh, again, things where I'm like, I understand you're trying to be poetic. Well, though, but I really wish you would just spell things out because I don't know what I'm supposed to get here and what I'm supposed to not. But the I guess that was the other paper. That Dinah gave her. Yeah, is I'm sorry, cut all ties.
02:12:55
Speaker
Is it cut all ties? I thought it was, I thought it was too. Snip snip. I thought it was do it maybe. No, I believe it's cut all ties. She gets that and that's when she joins the wards just because she cut the ties with, um, and that's why she leaves so abruptly too.
02:13:19
Speaker
I guess you're right. But like once again, this is this was something that I was just confused on. And I feel like i I've never known what the papers have said and I've never felt confident in knowing what I think they might be from the clues. that And I just just tell me, just fucking tell me, because then when they're revealed later, it's like, oh, shit, that's what they said. That's what this meant. Oh, my God. Yeah, I mean, I'm just getting frustrated. Yeah, I like them because she's fiddling with them you know all the way to to her turning herself in and they check her pockets and like, what are those two things say? And she's like, uh, you know, they, they, there's a while they're teased. Um, and people look at them, but we never say what they are for a while. She's blind at the time. Um, and then for the brother thing, uh, Hey, maybe you should run this by tattletale. I look back at tattletale. You're going to lose your mind, maybe a little, maybe a lot, maybe all at once, maybe in pieces depends on how it all reconnects. So I said,
02:14:17
Speaker
Tattletale would stop me, I said, she'd, and then in her head, Taylor says, see it as something self-destructive, suicidal. Oh, that tracks. Okay. And my, my thought is she would see that and very much the same way, her brother. Yeah. Yeah. So, um, yeah, that's all I had for the end of that.
02:14:43
Speaker
That's good, I hadn't noticed that. But that makes sense though, because like Taylor has become kind of the surrogate. Okay, ah interlude from the other entity's perspective, from um Eden's perspective. ah Looking to the future, connecting with this third entity, crashing, ah realizing that she's made the mistake. And then we switch to Fortuna, awakening, seeing the paths to victory.
02:15:12
Speaker
and then finding Eden and killing her and becoming Contessa. Cauldron is founded with Dr. Mother. And then we have kind of like ah some some time jumps as we move through the timeline that we know of as Cauldron has expanded and grown um up until the present day with Contessa fighting against Weld, ah moving through the portal and meeting Teacher.
02:15:40
Speaker
Great interlude. Top five. It's a lot. It's a good one, though. I liked being able to see her powers at work. That was cool. Yeah, the vision we get of her optimal future, talking to all the other heroes was really cool. You want to talk about the optimal future? Yeah, optimal future was really cool.
02:16:08
Speaker
Do we have guesses for who these ah alternate heroes are based on their weapons and the way they talk? Well, they she mentions Colin and Hannah. So that's Miss Militia and Arm Master. Yeah, I don't believe Hannah is spelled the same as it her name is when she's Miss Militia. Because I think or she's Hannah. Yeah, it's H-A-N-A-H or H-A-N-N-A. Yeah.
02:16:36
Speaker
Um, when she's a miss militia, but this one spelled. ah j and h Correct. ah pal Um, and then arms master is arsenal in this case. Oh, OK. Yeah. I don't know about the others. I had I had no fucking big three that put their weapons together, which are like a glaive sword. And I'm trying to remember what the other one. There was one I didn't know. Then I didn't know what it was. It like was the name some kind of weird, like Asian weapon. I believe the glaive is arms is arsenal. So that's arms master the sword. So word there's arsenal partesian.
02:17:18
Speaker
Partisan. Partisan. And Clarent. And yeah, Clarent. Yeah, Clarent I believe is the sword. And I'm trying to remember what the other weapon is that they they pull out. yeah I'm trying to look at it. I have them all written down though.
02:17:40
Speaker
ah Oh, they talk about Richter as well. and Yes. They do mention Richter. ah Partisans, heavy spear, arsenals, geese arm. Is that maybe how you pronounce it? It's a French weapon. Okay. Geese arm. Yes. And Clarence long sword. Oh, I said to leave. Uh, so, so Clarence, uh, which is another name for one of King Arthur's swords is Dauntless.
02:18:09
Speaker
Oh, interesting. Who the fuck is Dauntless? Way back, I believe he's the guy who can continuously imbue his weapons with power every day. I might be mistaken, but I'm pretty sure that's right. Okay. Okay. So he's the sword because he does a sword and shield type thing. And he imbues power into them in his armor. Then you have arsenal, his arms master, and then partisan, which would be the heavy spear is Chevalier.
02:18:36
Speaker
Oh, okay. Makes sense. Which is why it's so heavy. Mm. Makes sense. Richter. You were correct about Dauntless. Am I wrong about the others? Oh, oh, about, oh, about the power. Yes. Only the power, yeah. Thank you, Michael. Appreciate the confirmation. Um, uh, Richter, uh, if you recognize the name is Dragon's Creator. Right, Andrew Richter. Um. Does anybody have any guesses for Black Knight? I'm guessing that's, I thought that was Dragon.
02:19:07
Speaker
Any other guesses? Batman. Let me think about it. Let me think about it. Black Knight? Yes. I think you mean Dark Knight. So the line is, we'll need our Black Knight. Hannah, partisan said, we'll bait them into a fight, then sick him on them. So it's a him. He'll be able to win this as long as it's parahumans he's fighting. Oh, is it like is it lung?
02:19:35
Speaker
No. I was going to say hatchet, hatchet, or not hatchet. No, but Nick, you are on the right track. I can't remember his name though. You're on the right track. Who else do we know that is very specifically good against parahumans? Oh, Jack. That is correct. It is Jack slash AKA his real name, Jacob Black. The Black Knight. The Black Knight. Oh my god.
02:20:06
Speaker
Love it. I am confused about a couple of things though. First of all, because the Hannah, the way it's spelled in this little piece here is spelled differently than Hannah. That's correct. We did talk about that. Yes.
02:20:19
Speaker
And my impression of this was, are you guys saying that this is Contessa's optimal future or the entity? Before she crash lands, she has like this moment where she's looking because the whole thing is closer. I thought you guys were talking about Contessa seeing this as a future. as I thought this was the entity. This is a very confusing. This is Contessa, correct me if I'm wrong, but this is Contessa seeing the memory of the thinker entity. Yeah, she has, because she has yeah the dream.
02:20:54
Speaker
That's right. Oh, she has the dream and says, I need to remember this dream. That's right. Right. So that's in my head. That's what I thought it was is that like, she's, she has this dream of the other ended of, of, uh, eaten basically spiraling through having these moments, like having this thought process of like, okay, planning out, this is what we're going to do. Here's the optimal futures. Here's this, this, this, they crash land. It doesn't go well. She like wakes up realizes like, Oh shit, I have to remember this goes to the whole song and dance.
02:21:24
Speaker
And then once she wakes it wakes up a second time and she remembers it, she goes to hunt Eden down. So what I do think that's right, I don't just, because I don't think that's the way it's written. Like it's not written from Contessa's memory. No, it's written from the entity's perspective. yeah Yeah. Yeah. Okay. So mean but yeah what you're what you're reading is is her dream that she also has. Yeah. So what we've, what was established previously, if I remember right from the previous time we met the entities,
02:21:57
Speaker
And we discussed it their whole goal is they travel to these alternate universes. They travel to these inhabited planets and they disperse the shards to increase the conflict and get more data. So I think, you know, it's interesting saying like, you know, we're getting to war and they're about to have this massive battle. Um, and arsenal begins to get suspicious, but then the entity blocks it cause she's got memory wiping powers.
02:22:23
Speaker
um And so right so this is kind of the optimal future. It's interesting that the optimal future has all of these ah characters at their peak and at their best, but that is kind of like what they want because they want the conflict yeah to be heightened. It's funny for me though, because I didn't read this as her ideal future, which I thought was funny. I read this as a previous world that they had destroyed already. And it's like, this is what happens when they arrive is sort of like, this has happened before basically. But yeah what you said makes more sense in this cooler. So be fair. I also read it differently the first time. So I know the first time I read it, I read it as this is an alternate universe. Yeah, exactly. in Time as the others, but this is,
02:23:12
Speaker
This is just her running a simulation before they arrive at the planet. Yeah. Which is why when Contessa like wakes up and remembers the dream, it's why she knows immediately she has to go kill Eden because she, she sees from this simulation that Eden had performed that like, uh, that Eden's whole goal was to create conflict and like,
02:23:37
Speaker
that that that, you know, kind of this whole like, well, war is inevitable. And like, she's like, I have to kill her. She is going to like stir up war basically. And that's why she's like, I have to hunt her down right now. That's like the vibe that I got. It's super interesting because specifically what I gathered from this is she wanted a very specific type of conflict on this planet, which is you don't want everybody killing each other.
02:24:05
Speaker
You want the shards and their hosts to last as long as possible, but to have conflict with as many others as much as possible. Yeah. The the way she sets it up is essentially there is one big group and one antagonistic group in the world. And then also like 20 small end bringers that promote the paranoia. So they're constantly going to have small skirmishes with this other group on top of like your regular small skirmishes. Yeah. Kind of that went like a cold war building up to a real war in a sense. Yes. Yes. That way you constantly have the, the tussling, but at the end of the day, everybody goes home and you reset and you gather the information and then go do more, you know, shard rubbing together stuff.
02:25:07
Speaker
we also get them sure its um We also pretty much get our biggest clue into what the entities are trying to achieve, which of course has spawned numerous Reddit threads and other forums. um But i got to I had to read it. I had to mark it here because it's really interesting.
02:25:29
Speaker
ah confident the entity responds. This is optimal. This is after that the the vision has shown them all going to
Entities' Goals and Destructive Methods
02:25:36
Speaker
war. when yeah ab and It is heavy with these new shards, drowning in knowledge and experience. If this could occur with every cycle, bringing this sort of information into the pattern, then survival beyond the end point would be virtually guaranteed. So It's a man. This is so beautiful. This gets in. I've been like waiting for this arc for so long because this is just beautiful stuff to get into. And honestly, we'll probably get deeper into it after the series is over fully. But like this idea that these entities are attempting to survive entropy, essentially um the heat death of the universe and all that.
02:26:20
Speaker
ah is fascinating because their method for doing so, they're essentially forces of the universe itself. And the universe, if ah the the whole theory of entropy is that it's descending into chaos and destruction, which is what the entities do, but they're trying to survive beyond that essentially, you know, for every eternal immortality. So the goal of what they're doing is not destruction.
02:26:49
Speaker
The goal is to surpass destruction, but they don't know how to do that. All they can do is destroy. And so it's this really cool bet, like they're trying to figure it out, but all they know how to do is create chaos and destruction, as that's what the universe is supposed to do.
02:27:09
Speaker
And so it's like they they don't have the answer. That's why they're still doing it. It's it's this cool like limit to universal knowledge. And they're hoping that maybe one day they release their shards on a society, on a planet, on a world, and it doesn't destroy it. I think that's the ultimate goal. They just don't know how to do that. They want to see success. They want to see life. They want to see everything work together perfectly.
02:27:39
Speaker
but they can't it's, it's, ah it's just it's so good. It's just beautiful. Yeah. I think that, or they just, they hit the magic combo of powers, you know, you multiplying off each other that they get the ability to escape, you know, reality, I guess. Right. Um, so maybe the, the entropy isn't the entropy as in like systems within the universe, but,
02:28:08
Speaker
That they escape the bound of existence in the universe as like, as well. So, you know, the heat death happens and they aren't even there to die beyond. Yeah. Yeah. Gosh. That's I didn't pick up on that end point thing at first. That is nice. That's some really nice parallels with the end of the series. We'll come back to put a pin in that. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That is interesting.
02:28:35
Speaker
Well, I guess it's, it's interesting too. Cause I know we've talked about how there are other entities that from maybe didn't have the same goal that the warrior and the thinker did. Um, you know, the one that passes through the thinker seemed more antagonistic, at least in the sense of not caring as much about their plans, I guess. right Um, and additionally sort of,
02:29:05
Speaker
sort of the the thinker's overconfidence in her ability to handle everything, which I think is kind of an interesting parallel to ah Taylor as well. yeah Because that's ultimately what leads to her crash is she disperses her shards too quickly. And as she's trying to contain the chaotic shards that she received from the third entity and the warrior's like, are you okay? And she's like, yeah, I got this. I'm fine. Oh no.
02:29:35
Speaker
Yeah, this dumb bitch is literally on Google Maps driving her face right into the planet. yeah don wait wait wait we got it that was so You're so happy you said that because the pair... Did I cut you off? Are you about to make the comparison? No, no, no. That know yeah that that is the comparison I am making. You go go ahead. No, I was just gonna say the parallel with Taylor's mother. So like...
02:30:00
Speaker
wait wait wait you know all shut um Jacob keep going. um I don't know what you're I don't know what you're getting at. They both died texting and driving like it's just but comes back around. Wild Bo you're a genius. It's all just one and big don't text and drive campaign.
02:30:24
Speaker
that a From the lowliest human that are the greatest of entities, no one's safe from it.
02:30:34
Speaker
Like that terrible Super Bowl commercial from like five years ago that everyone hated. Got that company fired. one one One where it's like, it's like all the children being like, I would love to be, you know, all their dreams, their hopes and dreams. But I can't because I died. Yeah. I don't think it was texting. it I think it was like seat belts or something. I can't remember what it exactly was. yeah well they would I do remember that. Super depressing. And everyone was like, the hell is this? Watching football. Yeah. yeah it
02:31:06
Speaker
oh damn Anyway, ah Nick, I want to go back to, uh, something you mentioned about, uh, the loaner entity, AKA a badton, which I tried to remember if that's also a fan made name or if that was actually given by, I don't remember it being in the, um and I it's not in any of them, but I have a feeling cause we've talked about them before. Uh, yeah, we, we've mentioned them and I want to say it's actually a name given by wild bow. Um,
02:31:36
Speaker
Cause he talks about a bad and I believe there's another entity that he doesn't that he mentioned somewhere. Um, that is like, uh, Oh, what if we did this? And, uh, so they're like, yeah, anyway. Uh, but from what I remember this loaner one isn't aggressive. In fact, the shards that it gives, uh,
02:32:05
Speaker
are the ones that are like, Hey, have you considered philosophy and negotiation instead of just conflict shards?
02:32:15
Speaker
Um, right I'm pretty sure, and I'm pretty sure that's what like kind of starts throwing things off is like Eden's come here specifically with the idea of, um,
02:32:29
Speaker
Oh yeah, conflict. It's all about conflict. It's all that. And when they, you know, rub up against each other and it gets the like, Oh, well, have you considered like that? It's not all about conflict. The shards. She's like, Oh, I mean, I guess I'll incorporate this now. Um, I don't know. I don't think that was the cause of it necessarily, but I know that those are what she received from the entity. Yeah. No, that, that makes sense too, because, um,
02:32:59
Speaker
It seems like then the thinker is distracted, right? Like she's trying to incorporate some new concept, which it's, it is funny to me in a way that these vast universe spanning entities are also just mortal and think like humans in their own way, so to speak. right yeah You know, kind of the, um,
02:33:25
Speaker
Kind of a small gods thing right like some. Some fantasy series have big gods like Tolkien's universe does that are basically you know incomprehensible and all powerful and infallible and a lot of fantasy universes that have small gods which are like ascended humans or.
02:33:42
Speaker
um You know, which, who knows, maybe the entities were ascended humans or ascended sentient beings, um, from a previous life form, but the idea is right. Like they're do what ascended worms, ascended worms. Yes. Ascended worms. Uh, when a worm truly finds the light, but, um, sort of this idea of like small gods, right? Like Sion is a God in a sense, worm Nana.
02:34:07
Speaker
Oh my god. Stop distracting him, Ellen. Go on, finish. No, that's it. That's all. God damn it, Ellen. But yeah, this is interesting. um Very cool arc. Yeah. I think i think though it also does serve to explain, if you think of them in terms of the thinker and the warrior, it does serve to explain why Sion is ah
02:34:32
Speaker
single-minded, you might say. yeah don When you're like, Zion, go kill that thing. He's like, okay, I only know violence. Yeah. Well, it's funny, even even in her like ideal scenario where they're like their ideal simulation, she does all the talking. He doesn't say a fucking word. He stands next to her and like is silent.
02:34:56
Speaker
Like he never speaks. It's all her. I think there was a moment where there was some, there's some thread or Wabbo speculates that had their roles reversed and, uh, the warrior crashed and the thinker was the one who remained would have been a similar outcome, very depressed and kind of roaming aimlessly, but would have been way more strategic with the shards and like how things worked would have been interesting. Hmm.
02:35:20
Speaker
maybe even had been would have been harder to battle because like Sion at least like you can you can equate his actions to very much of like okay well he's in his like child phase where he's like smashing anthills and like now he's in his adolescent phase where he's like, he's experimenting or it's like, instead of it being so cut and dry, it might've been like way more complicated and way more difficult to like understand or like, like, uh, uh, track the like phases that Eden would have gone through if it had been reversed. But like, since Zion is like kind of that like brute warrior, it's like, cool, I'm just going to blow up the UK. Yeah, right. Yeah.
02:36:06
Speaker
As opposed to like, I don't know, maybe destroying civilization from the inside out kind of thing. Yeah, yeah. one And we see that too, right? Where Sion, Sion's ability seems to be on power negation. We see that in his.
02:36:21
Speaker
fights with the end bringers and stuff right like konsu's time bubble he uses it to protect some heroes and then saon figures it out and negates it right and can break through. Whereas in the optimal future we see from the thinker she's able to put blocks in people's minds.
02:36:41
Speaker
And I think like you said, yeah yeah, that would be a lot harder probably to fight against because the idea of basically what she's doing is like, arsenal begins to get suspicious of like, what are you guys like? Are you more than we think you are? You're not just normal heroes. And then boom, he forgets that and it's gone, you know? And, and she can see those thought patterns a lot more clearly. Whereas I feel like the warrior Zion is just a lot more.
02:37:09
Speaker
I will, yeah I will kill, I will fight. I will, you know, and then obviously like, you know, lots of powers related to breaking other powers, which is really nice and interesting, but not as many thinker powers, so to speak. Just as a fun last little note, a wild boat did.
02:37:29
Speaker
on Space Battles, a quick little ah what-if ah sort of edit to this interlude, where instead of Abaddon or Abaddon intersecting with the thinker, it was a different entity called Apollyon.
02:37:48
Speaker
That was like the apex predator of entities and absorbs the two of them, uh, in efforts to make a more violent cycle. Interesting. And then said at the end of his little thing, I will not be continuing this others can just like here's a what something could, could be this kind of entity. It's just for fun. That's fun. Well, any final thoughts?
02:38:17
Speaker
on the ark 29 god i love contessa my girl amen man she told me y'all just love your fedora girls no i don't love teacher wearing a weird-ass wizard outfit taking over falcon like always ah fucking ah I like to think mine in my mind, he's dressed as a wizard, but he got his wizard now for from like party city. And yeah like you know, uh, this is like clearly designed for, uh, you know, at least it's more resistant. Oh my God. good like a love Just like outlining the cleavage, you know, just,
02:39:09
Speaker
One of those strap on strap on beers. Like with the elastic that goes behind your ears, very ill fitting. Like a pointy, it's like blue with gold stars on it. It's like got the pointy hat. Exactly. Oh, wow.
Contessa's Power and Strategic Moves
02:39:26
Speaker
I'm sure it notice. Yeah. Oh my God. Fucking teacher. God damn it. Oh, he's getting in the way.
02:39:38
Speaker
Yeah, all right iny so ah yeah here here I do like um with Contessa seeing the explanation of her power where it is like put out in steps in front of her and she can see how many steps it is. oh yeah well it keeps The plan to save the world like keeps changing based on when she's starting, what happens and all of that stuff.
02:39:59
Speaker
which I find fascinating. I also find it interesting. Okay, as far as the theory about what Shard she got, um it seems like she did. Did she just kind of yoink the thinker's whole future planning like Shard? I That was the vibe I got.
02:40:17
Speaker
yeah Well, I think and Alan could probably correct me here if I'm wrong. I think the implication is that in the entanglement with Abaddon, she essentially loses that shard ah and or unintentionally loses that shard to Contessa. And that's what causes the crash because she's sort of lost sight of the future. Yes. So technically, technically, it's not just that she loses it.
02:40:48
Speaker
to, to contest it directly during the shuffle. Uh, she actually loses it. She's trying to, you know, like manage everything. She, I believe technically loses it to a bad and, and, but, but it's not like tied down to anyone. So it just kind of gets shuffled up and lost.
02:41:12
Speaker
Oh, interesting. um Okay. Cause they're exchanging shards back and forth and then she's trying to reorganize them, but it's happening. Like the, the shuffling is happening too close to like landing time. And, and it just can't be shuffled. Like she can't organize her cards before they just crash land. Yeah, you're right. Yeah. Um, which is, I love hearing about, uh, the, like,
02:41:37
Speaker
crash landing. Uh, they're like, we need to shed shards. It's like, you know, why do we need to do that? Cause we're bigger than the planet is and we'll destroy it if we land like this. Yeah. Got to shed some, got to shed some stuff, shed our skin a little bit sheds. So how terrifying was that must've been for the people of that earth that she crashed, landed into yeahsh like half a planet slamming into your planet.
02:42:06
Speaker
Yeah. It would fuck up your planet. And that's yeah so, so when I looked up a Contessa on the Wiki, um, it said that Eden crashed on a different planet, an alternative earth, or is it just, does that just mean the earth that like earth bet or like earth, earth Juliet. And it's not, she just crashed there. She crashed.
02:42:35
Speaker
through multiple earths like yeah that's like why her body isn't formed because it's like all crystalline like yeah yeah yeah it's like through multiple realities yeah that's why the dinosaurs are no longer with us oh my god through time and space damn I'm trying to find it. There's the old like how Star Wars Force Awakens should have ended. This is how I imagined she crash landed. Cause what he's trying to like time getting out of light speed to land on the planet. But of course it's like trying to gauge light speed. So it's just like and now comes out of light speed, just slams right into the planet and explodes. Yep. Just love it.
02:43:25
Speaker
Dr. Mother turns out to not be the brains of the operation. Yeah. Oh yeah. That was cool. Brains of the operation. I did like that. It's kind of this weird thing of like, if Contessa were the brains, she couldn't see the plan, but because she can like filter it through Dr. Mother, a regular person, it doesn't get blocked by the shards. I thought that was kind of a, kind of a cool work around that she figures out pretty quick. It's really neat. clever And also it it is clear then to write like Dr. Mother's the one who kills Eden because Contessa can't see where to stab, but she's like, if Dr. Mother says, do I stab here? She can say yes, which is such again, an interesting, just such an interesting workaround that they discover really quickly with how they can work together well. Real fast. Yeah. It's like Dr. Mother's are familiar. Yeah. Oh my God. That's actually, yeah. I love it.
02:44:24
Speaker
That's great. Thanks.
02:44:30
Speaker
Also, I just want to read this final line because we're because ah we're at the end here. We are. but this ah so A teacher says, ah we need your help saving us from ourselves. Case in point, we've got a crisis that involves one little lady I think you're familiar with. He held up his phone, a picture was displayed. It took her a moment to recognize the person in the picture and not because it was an unfamiliar face. Weaver, she asked.
02:44:59
Speaker
and That means that that means that the whatever it was that she fucking did that Goddamn panacea did to Taylor isn't just mental. It's physical, too. Wait, wait, why would it be ah physical? Because she says that it takes her a moment to recognize the person in the picture. like just's have Perfect memory.
02:45:23
Speaker
Yeah, but like she knows Taylor. Like the idea that like she looks at the picture and it's like, wait, what the fuck am I look like? Oh my God. Like that's fucking Weaver. That means that Weaver doesn't look like herself. Oh, I did not get that from that. Oh, I did. Like that just means that Taylor doesn't look like Taylor anymore. She looks like maybe she's really wonkadelic. Like maybe something's wrong more than just inside her head.
02:45:53
Speaker
Maybe. That's true. And here we go. Down the rabbit hole. Oh yeah.
Favorite Powers and Final Arc Expectations
02:46:05
Speaker
Favorite powers really quick. Oh yeah. Favorite powers. We didn't do favorite powers.
02:46:10
Speaker
ah Real fast. Real fast. yeah and Fast powers. Fast powers, paper, go. Ooh. Queen of Swords. It's a process. She does the sword in the ground. It shoots lines out that tap into every cape within an area, then brings all of those powers back and congeals them into a giant gelatin. And then she can pick and choose which powers she actually wants to like be in the pudding.
02:46:41
Speaker
And then whatever you send through it gains aspects of those powers. So of course she whips out a gun and shoots a bullet through it, which like.
02:46:52
Speaker
goes in. I think it's not going to pop through the other side, but then it does and just has like the rainbow spiral effect of all the powers that just passed through. Oh so my God. That's got to be hands down. One of the coolest of visual powers we've already ever seen in this. and That's fascinating. I will counter with the least visual power ah that it might was my favorite gavel.
02:47:20
Speaker
Is this power of bonk? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, pretty cool. Yeah, the big bonk. Yeah, the way it's described of. um So he. I'm trying to think. Yeah, basically he can reduce the severity of any damage um and he has a huge amount of durability and he can imbue that durability.
02:47:47
Speaker
but the way he would use it would be to smack somebody really hard and then remove their durability right before they hit something. Yes. You could bypass the Manton effect in order to make individuals completely invulnerable as well. Because yeah, Taylor taylor ah mentioned is like he was so cruel because he instead of just smashing them with the hammer, he would just make them invulnerable and send them flying to die when they hit a wall. When they hit the wall, yeah. Just like gross. Crazy.
02:48:25
Speaker
yeah so I love gavel. I was going to say gavel. I'll say custodian though. Uh, she's so cool. I love, she's just like, she's floating around. She's keeping an eye on everything. I like her a lot. Yeah. Cause it's pretty cool. I love a good ghost. I, I'm honestly having a hard time remembering people's names at this point. I thought the flower lady who was with Seder was kind of interesting. Oh yeah. The crystal. Is that Rose? Is that her name? flore flore Thank
02:48:58
Speaker
I just thought that was interesting because it's, um, it was an example of kind of what Taylor's talked about before about a power that doesn't seem that impressive, but when, when in the right hands and just like trained by the right people, it it can be pretty useful. Um, and I, I dislike that as well. Um,
02:49:22
Speaker
Yeah, I'm trying to think if there were a few others, some of the case 53 seem really interesting, um, as well. But, you know, there, there's a lot going on and I'm honestly having a hard time remembering names. I'm trying to remember what a king of swords did as well. I thought he had a cool power, but I can't remember or king of cups. King of cups. Yeah. He had, uh, I know his second trigger involved a bunch of.
02:49:50
Speaker
hands, tentacles, and stuff. So I think his first ability was probably just summoning ethereal hands. No, he had the ethereal wi limbs out of energy. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Basically, and then he used them as like prosthetics, basically, um, that were pretty strong, if I remember right, because Lung lost a limb and King gave him one, not knowing he could regenerate. yes And then Lung was like, I can't get it off. like Take it this the fuck off.
02:50:16
Speaker
No, that's fine. And then, yeah, with his second trigger event, he was able to cover a huge area with it. And then, you know, he died. And then Glycyc when he took it and started using it, uh, which was neat. Yeah. It sucks for him though. Cause that was, uh, that was rough. That was rough. Yeah. He just shoved her right into the ground. Yeah. Very, very long arc.
02:50:42
Speaker
Um, obviously this is the, this is the penultimate one, right? This is, it is. Well, and so well epilogues or epilogues are different. Yes. Sure. Thank you. Yeah. There's only one more official official.
02:51:00
Speaker
Well, we will read the epilogue, don't worry. We're going to read the epilogue. Yeah, we can't skip it. Obviously, yeah. And then technically, there's another arc afterwards, but it's supposed to be like a teaser for Ward? Oh, I thought you were making a joke that it was Ward.
02:51:16
Speaker
There's technically another arc called Ward. It's called Ward. We just have to keep going. I just I don't know if the because I was looking at the website the index is I don't know if the that arc is technically like the first arc of Ward or if it's like the teaser arc before Ward. I don't I don't know for sure.
02:51:38
Speaker
Yeah, I think it's supposed to be like an inter like enter arc. Okay. Well, I mean, obviously we can we'll get to that when we get to that. Yeah, we'll find out, won't we? yeah Down the line, down the line. wo Well, on that note, this has been arc 29. Thank you to ah all of my lovely co-casters, podcasters. You guys have been wonderful. You too Jacob.
02:52:08
Speaker
And thank you to all of our lovely listeners who absolutely are also wonderful. And ah this is yeah this was a long one. Thanks for sticking around. We had a blast as always. And as always, let us know your thoughts in the comments below, wherever you're listening.
02:52:29
Speaker
whether that be Spotify or YouTube, et cetera, wherever podcasts are sold. ah We absolutely love reading all of your comments and interactions. We have so much fun ah talking about these arcs with our patrons over on our Discord. And so if that sounds like fun to you if you stuck with us.
02:52:50
Speaker
for 29 arcs and you if you want to interact with us some more and listen to some other weird ramblings and funny rants that we go on that we don't have the time to give to everybody. Come on over to our Patreon. We'd love to have you. We have a lot of fun over there sharing memes and other fun stuff. So ah stop on by.
02:53:13
Speaker
And until next time, well, next time, stick around for Alan and I's breakdown of Ark 29 on Dissecting Worm. We have a lot of fun with this one. And then following that will be Ark 30. The final Ark of Worm. Holy shit. Holy shit. And Michael, would you like to play us out?