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Episode 262: We Got to the End of the Edge
0 Playsin 15 hours
Hello, Podwalkers, and welcome back to another episode of the Goblin Lore Podcast! Alex and Taya did it! They completed the review of all 12(!!!) Main Story entries for Edge of Eternity... What will they do now??
We also finally have a Linktree with all of our discounts/resources
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As promised, we keep Mental Health Links available every episode. But For general Mental Health the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) has great resources for people struggling with mental health concerns as well as their families. We also want to draw attention to this article on stigma from NAMI's site.
If you’re thinking about suicide or just need someone to talk to right now, you can get support from any of the resources below.
- National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 988
- Veteran's can Press 1 at anytime to be taken to the Veteran's Line
- Crisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741-741
- International suicide hotlines: A comprehensive resource list for people outside the US.
- IMAlive: Click Chat Now to access a live online network of volunteers through instant messaging.
- TrevorLifeline, TrevorChat, and TrevorText (LGBTQ+ crisis support): 1-866-488-7386, or text “Trevor” to 1-202-304-1200
- Trans Lifeline (US): (877) 565-8860
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Opening and closing music by Wintergatan (@wintergatan). Logo art by Steven Raffael (@SteveRaffle)
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction and Episode Goals
00:00:00
Speaker
are
00:00:11
Speaker
are
00:00:28
Speaker
Hello, Podwalkers, and welcome to another episode of the Goblin Lore Podcast. ah We are... For sure, 100% confident that we're going to finish the story this episode.
00:00:42
Speaker
um So hopefully you have been following along with the edge of Eternity story.
Future Episode Plans and Content Review
00:00:47
Speaker
it is It has been long and dense, and I'm glad that Wizards has devoted as much to the story for this set as they did.
00:00:55
Speaker
But it also has taken us a long time to get through it. So we are here on the fourth episode of us covering this story. I hope we still have people listening at this point. Yes. Yes. and Quite understandable if if this is this is not quite your thing. we Four episodes in a row was a lot to to get through. But next week we'll be talking about carbs probably.
00:01:16
Speaker
think that's our plan. Yeah, hopefully. Do our fun Malthos review of the set as as we tend to. um And we'll see what happens from there.
00:01:28
Speaker
Spider-Man is coming out. So well we'll see what we end up doing for
Character Crossovers: Edge of Eternity in Other Worlds
00:01:32
Speaker
that. But now we are now that we are more than a minute in, why don't we actually introduce ourselves? I am Alex, found on the Discord. I paused. I didn't and i didn't almost reference a different site.
00:01:46
Speaker
um My pronouns are he, him. And we are um our opening question for this week that we came up with a little while ago, so we'll see how well I can explain this. But was thinking something like we have you know in the Edge of Eternity is kind of in its own little bubble in the multiverse.
00:02:05
Speaker
And outside of Tezzeret, that's like our one link to the other, the rest of the magic multiverse. It was like, I think it it would be fun to just kind of think about what world in the standard like magic part of the universe. I can't say a multiverse. I think magic is a so universe specifically.
00:02:24
Speaker
Um, would be fun for like someone from the edge to wind up on and for some reason like 30 minutes before we recorded i got the image of tanook with a cowboy hat on and i'm like i want to see him like in the well outlaw junction what was the name of that world oh i might blanket on that this whole set is almost a blank to me at this point yeah Thunder Junction. Thunder Junction.
00:02:54
Speaker
Yeah, I think for some reason, I think that i think that would be fun. Though, of course, I think Tanook would probably want to be there with Sammy, but I think the two of them could pull a lot of good cons on Thunder Junction.
Approaching Infinite Guideline Station
00:03:06
Speaker
Yeah, there's a good line from this episode, actually, about ah about that we'll get to. Yeah, and and importantly, that would give us a card where Tanook is wearing a cowboy hat, and for some reason, I now need that.
00:03:24
Speaker
Yes, that's a, that's a good point. and it is, it is within the reach. I don't need wizards to invent a set in order to to get a card like that. That is a good point. But how about yourself?
00:03:35
Speaker
Hey, I'm Taya. Pronouns are she, her, are they, them. ah You can find me at Taya Transcends on Blue Sky or in the Discord. um And I also, ah for criminal reasons and ah because they're a cat lover, um thought of Sammy. But I thought of them going to Nuka Penna instead, since they have Leonin and they have ah crime, which are two things Sammy's really good at. Two of Sammy's favorite things. Yeah, very nice. it All right.
00:04:15
Speaker
I think they look really stylish in a twenty suit, too. Absolutely. Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. Crime, cats and fashion.
00:04:27
Speaker
Be a great it would be a great world for them.
00:04:32
Speaker
All right. Well, we have got through the first nine episodes of the magic story for Edge of Eternities, which means that. For this episode, we are covering 10 and 11, and I think we can get through it. 10 is a little bit shorter, which is nice, and then 11 is sort of median length for for these stories. So I think think we can clear these two.
00:04:55
Speaker
and i think so, too. And me through this main story, but I want to say, like, I really appreciate how much story we got from Wizards and how more accessible it is with the YouTube video, the embedded podcast on the website and the just the normal podcast feed getting the audio recording of these.
00:05:18
Speaker
In addition to the text, of course. So there's a lot of ways to to consume this story and and get through it it and a lot of story to get through. 16 stories and some of these are pretty long when you count the sides in too.
00:05:32
Speaker
So, right. Well, in episode 10, we start in revision 15, which is where we ended the previous one. So there has not been a revision in bridging these episodes. Right.
00:05:45
Speaker
And the crew is appointing the ah approaching the Infinite Guideline Station on coast, essentially. They're not firing up their weapons or their engine because they know everybody will see them the moment they do.
00:05:58
Speaker
ah And this is a fun like sci-fi sort of thing, too, where you can't space is really big and it's hard to visually see things in space on a scale that is relevant.
00:06:13
Speaker
And so often you're detecting... if if you're detecting things by heat. You're detecting things by the radiation and other things that they're giving off. And so the ship is flying cold as they can to be much, much harder to detect.
00:06:29
Speaker
Because like as you say, there's, there is two armies lined up waiting for them. in addition to the pinnacle station itself. So you have three forces sort of all waiting for them to show up and,
00:06:45
Speaker
They want to make sure that it's when, when everybody knows that they are there, it is on their terms. Yeah.
Space Battle Strategies and Negotiations
00:06:51
Speaker
Uh, and, um, like as they're approaching, Sammy has to figure out when they're going to fire their engine to break. Uh, so they don't just fly into the station. And, um,
00:07:05
Speaker
You know, the moment they fire their newly repaired fusion engine, everyone will see them. And if they wait too long, they'll irradiate infinite guideline when they break, which Sammy could never do. They're a liar and a thief, not a bad pilot.
00:07:17
Speaker
And that that's another thing too, where like a lot of space travel, space doesn't have friction. So you hit a certain speed, you just move at that speed until you stop. And so you have engines, you fire your engines the direction you're going to slow you down.
00:07:34
Speaker
you You can't, that is how you quote unquote break.
00:07:39
Speaker
And yeah, which then it has the whole calculation of the closer they get, the better, you know, they the, the, the the less interference they will have with their plan, the less chance everyone will have to to interfere with them. But again, if they wait too long, cause all sorts of damage. And it also mentions that they they're a civilian ship and they don't have any of the fancy like anti-grav things that make it easier to dis descend. They're going to feel every one of those G's when they descend or when they, uh, slow down.
00:08:14
Speaker
ah
00:08:16
Speaker
And yeah, so you know, outside there is a whole, ah whole war starting between the Monoes and the Sunstar company. ah
00:08:28
Speaker
what Yeah, you have Tanook's even saying, I'm picking up on and unencrypted battle traffic. Why would anyone broadcast unencrypted? Then Halea says, if they're saving bandwidth and time.
00:08:40
Speaker
They need as much spectrum as possible for weapons and sensors. And at this point, it doesn't matter if the enemy hears. They already know where you are and what you're doing. who ah And they're not doing a... ah They're not fighting ah very...
00:09:00
Speaker
organized this brawl. At one point, I said, this is awful to Nukfretz. If they're fighting in formation, we'd know how to get between them, but this is just chaos. If we get caught in someone's wake, we're all going to die as Saxa mucus.
00:09:12
Speaker
They're just trying not to get barbecued while they're flying cold through the middle of this battlefield.
00:09:21
Speaker
ah And Sammy is just like, Hylia, can you get your people to do something about this? Yeah. And they get.
00:09:33
Speaker
or put their people on. Yes. So she gets the their radio chatter going. And so they they start to hear their ships going back. Their ships kind of going back and forth. Yeah.
00:09:46
Speaker
Which gives them some idea of how to get through. And then you get. Yeah. There's some silence in the cockpit and then you have Tanook say, ever been in a space battle?
00:09:58
Speaker
ah No one answers clearly. They're spooky, he says. A lot of quiet narration about things traveling fast. You sit in a cool chair. Maybe you're under hard thrust you feel heavy. You can't breathe.
00:10:10
Speaker
They make little noises. Someone fires a missile at you and you get hit or you don't. And you die or you don't. It's ah taking like taking a long flight on an airliner, but you don't know if you'll ever land.
00:10:23
Speaker
then Yeah, which was a weird, that that is a weird thing for a, to hear on a space set where they, you know, airliners, you think that there wouldn't be ah air travel like that if they can just shoot to space.
00:10:40
Speaker
ah Yeah. Yeah. and but ti I would think cost-wise it might still exist, but especially with Caveron the way it is, maybe you wouldn't there.
00:10:52
Speaker
with with that planet as broken as it is, would be. So that was just kind of a modern. That is perhaps. Yeah.
00:11:01
Speaker
Yeah. That that's totally fair. And then, and then the section kind of ends with Halea saying, I don't know if I can take an hour of this and then, but she has to, they all have to. And then the next section, we're still in revision 15.
00:11:18
Speaker
Yeah, and the battle is the battles getting worse. Missiles and lasers are going back and forth. And Surima falls closer and closer to the station. Yeah, and they think that somebody ah has tracked them.
00:11:35
Speaker
ah So they decide to broadcast out to Infinite Guideline, um offering gifts of information and requesting their guidance. yep and then kind of significant tanuk says last chance to ask for mellow mass and sammy replies not when we're going to steal from them i won't do it and so and and then kind of continuing the but showing you know they're uh they're a criminal and and know that, but this is something that they won't do.
00:12:09
Speaker
Malomas is important. Malomas is significant and is a thing that they won't break. So they won't ask for it if they know they're going to break it. Well, then you kind of have the the plan kicking off then. So Sammy asks for help from Infinite Guideline and then sends Elfriel to basically send a message to the monoists.
Maneuvers and Tensions: Stealing the End Stone
00:12:33
Speaker
kind of doing the same thing. see how Yeah. Afril specifically says that um he's been sent by a Nevida ah and delivered there to um bring something through the warp where it desires to go and that it's basically needed to advance their faith. So he's trying to get them to cover them instead of trying to interdict them.
00:13:00
Speaker
Yep. And then you have this section ending with Sammy shouting at Halea saying your turn. You're up.
00:13:09
Speaker
Um... And then, yeah, Halea is having another little crisis of faith. and um then she decides, no, she kept the oath. She kept the litany. Praise the dawn light spark of creation. As it rises, we all rise. All of us, all of us, there are no exceptions. Cav cannot be accepted or sufficient of some abstract contamination.
00:13:29
Speaker
so she's just like, she's going to stick to her beliefs, but um still says, that you know, it's she's not the one who turned her back on them.
00:13:43
Speaker
um And so
00:13:49
Speaker
this is when ah she finally comes clean that has she has two bombs on the ship. And then Efrail says, you said you'd help us. She said you'd take on my case and beg my partner. Are you a squire of your word?
00:14:07
Speaker
And then she kind of mocks him some. Is it easy for monoists? Well, it says genuinely curious, maybe not mocking at all then. She says, you make the choice and it's made forever. You fall into supernova and you never regret or super void. You never regret it.
00:14:22
Speaker
um He just responds, I don't know. I don't know if my sister had any regrets. She fell into a super void, so I can't ask her. and yeah Then he goes on to talk about yeah um giving up his faith, but not regretting it um because he made the choice to live essentially. and And you can't quit now. They go back and forth a little bit and then she just decides, but she's agreed to take on his case to beg his pardon.
00:14:58
Speaker
And then they get back to the cockpit and Afriel mentions like, by the way, did you know that there she has two bombs on the ship? And you yeah, Tanook says, we found them while they only were fitting a fusion engine and threw them out.
00:15:09
Speaker
Oh, is yeah. And yeah. And then and then Sarah's like, not to rush you, but this plan only works if both sides think we're about they're about to get the end stone. then she's like, OK, put me on.
00:15:22
Speaker
And then she sends her message. Sends her message live. I guess he did, too.
00:15:29
Speaker
um So similar, similar message. She gives her title. She says there is a anathematic, anathematic. I said the word artifact here contained in stasis of witnesses tolerable breaches of this company's code.
00:15:46
Speaker
She's kind of given these reasons that she's on this ship. And then I will you know disengage from and disengage from the enemy only fire to defend yourself or my ship. And I will deliver the artifact to you aboard infinite guideline.
00:15:59
Speaker
And then, And then they respond. And so they the plan is on. they are They are playing all three sides against each other. But neither of them stopped fighting either. That was one of the things that Helios asked them to stop fighting except to protect themselves or the shit or this Serena. And they the the two sides keep fighting anyways.
00:16:23
Speaker
yep then so yeah yeah you're right the the very next line says the fighting doesn't stop and then there's little bit of description and but then does say but the fighting does not touch the surima um after all the enemy is not the one in control of the end stone we are the true faith so both sides again believe we can leave that machine ah you know leave that ship alone and we will we will win eventually yeah uh and um The Infinite Guideline asked Sammy one more time if they want Malomas, and Sammy replies, no, are under other protection because he doesn't want either side to get wind of what they're planning, that they're actually planning to, know, betray everybody and take the thing out of the system. Yep, and being nonspecific so that everyone can believe that that other protection is them. Yeah. Yeah.
00:17:20
Speaker
And they're like, well, how are we going to break the encryption on the
Eldrazi Attack and Pivotal Choices
00:17:23
Speaker
warp fairies? And and they're like, will Tezzeret do it? And I Aphriel will do it. You'll keep them safe like we panned, and I'll go talk to Pinnacle. Do we have a plan for that? Yes, Sammy says. I'm a con artist. A crook. Pinnacle's entire society built on giving people what ah they need, which makes them easy marks.
00:17:39
Speaker
Exactly the opposite. They're really good at spotting fraud, so I'm going to tell them the truth. All of it. And that should give you the time you need to get the fairy under control and made it with the Serena. Yes, but the greatest con person is the one who knows when the truth is ah is needed to get what you want.
00:17:57
Speaker
Yeah.
00:18:02
Speaker
So we we continue with revision 15. So some nothing's changed there yet. ah And neither side is making any progress fighting each other. So they're they're kind of fighting to a stalemate at this point.
00:18:23
Speaker
But they do have a temporary ceasefire. Yeah. Retrieve survivors, make repairs, and limp away. both sides crowd into infinite guideline waiting to receive the end stone from Surima.
00:18:37
Speaker
Yeah. Uh, and, um, they get out of the ship after, uh, docking with pinnacle guideline and they get out in combat armor and the pinnacle dock master Wiley transmits a Sammy and to cross the bridge on the station. You're not dressed for a polite meeting.
00:18:59
Speaker
yeah Sammy's response. There's a war out out there. Both sides want what we've got and I'm not going anywhere without protection. Yeah. Yeah.
00:19:09
Speaker
ah and then it's like, you're aboard infinite guideline. Pinnacle guarantees your safety. I guarantee no one's safety. I haven't claimed Malamas. I could be here in bad faith. I will inform checkmate Mantis accordingly. Sammy's just like, yeah, I could be here in bad faith.
00:19:25
Speaker
Yeah. Sammy wasn't lying about the, I'm just going to tell them the truth. Yeah. um And so ah one of the Emidians comes out,
00:19:40
Speaker
ah and ah start basically interrogating Sammy a little bit. Oh, they first start going through a list of everything wrong with Sammy's operation of a fusion spacecraft without a valid flight plan.
00:20:00
Speaker
ah ah Overdue for inspection and workup. The Ceremo is a reckless ship and a danger of the well-being of the commons. Do you come here as a guest or a thief?
00:20:11
Speaker
ah
00:20:15
Speaker
and then they go on and sammy just tells them about the end stone and how it's willed them to be there uh yeah it just starts that i cover their response with i have not claimed melomas because i am not here as a guest doesn't exactly it doesn't answer the second part of the question but does say i am not a guest And they've come into possession of this artifact. It has a will of its own. I've, uh, I'm trying to get it back to its maker, the Warren parties. Uh, yeah. And the interesting thing about is though that, uh, Mantis is not surprised about the end stone. They knew something was manipulating things.
00:20:56
Speaker
Uh, because there was still the, the, know, some of the things like the price of moxide, the colony on Sigma and Mantis is just like among others. ah And ah they're like, an artifact of this power must be delivered to the only agency that can be trusted to contain it.
00:21:11
Speaker
And Sammy says, you mean Pinnacle? And Mantis says, and I mean the Drix. ah or this The ancient race that gave everyone inter interstellar travel to begin with.
00:21:24
Speaker
And then Mantis talks about there're there being one on Infinite Guideline just then. and You get a little bit of foreshadowing where they say it's like one in a billion chance to actually meet a Drix.
00:21:38
Speaker
Yeah. ah Sammy is aghast. A Drix here? What will they say? What will they wear? Not one in a billion has ever had a chance to meet Drix. I can't meet a Drix. I've got to.
00:21:49
Speaker
I'm not. Oh, whoa. what's but And then Mantis' response, you are right. You cannot meet a Trax. Barrow has expressed no interest in the Endstone. Yeah. ah And ah while they keep talking, ah the station comes under attack.
00:22:09
Speaker
ah Something is piercing the station ah that doesn't have a definite form, mass, or shape. is visible to the sonar only as a pattern of interference, a waveform of potential spreading out towards the dock.
00:22:26
Speaker
ah And so, hello, the Eldrazi are here. Revision 15. Eld. Yeah. Yeah, and then we cut to Aphriel and Halea going to collect one of these warped fairies so they can get through the infinity column.
00:22:47
Speaker
Uh... And ah they think, oh, you think they know what's going on? in earth Of course they know what's going on. and ah It's pretty obvious what they're going to want So ah we get a ah little bit of art of some Eldrazi in here.
00:23:06
Speaker
um And they come under attack, too. And they're like arms, legs, tentacles, appendages. ah None. Are you seeing antenna? ah So they get... ah um and then it cuts back to to nuke and the rest of them while while it's coming through the wall uh And we get a really cool um description. It is beautiful. It is a loop. It has no inside or outside. Its mantle is rich with topology, fourfold sphere inversions, triply symmetrical immersions like knots of ears, crushed spears. It flashes pale white, ultraviolet, it speckles the light. so
00:23:47
Speaker
The atmosphere around it twists warpwise, rushing in and out. A cyclone in wrong dimensions. It's a really good description of the Eldrazi.
00:23:58
Speaker
um
00:24:02
Speaker
and Mantis is like ah attempting communication yes ah they make on strobe light and sound of the thing it does not stop coming yeah ah and then Mantis calls for sanctioned self-defense which has all the robots lighting it up but ah And it does, the weapons do tear into it, but almost as soon as anything damages it, that area, like, instantly refreshes.
00:24:37
Speaker
ah And um but when when the Eldrazi finally makes contact with one of the Mechans, It just um basically turns it to dust. It says, the mechans left it exploded, but not exploded like a broom. No, not detonated or deflagrated or um vaporized. The mechans components have been graphed a lattice of likey chalk stuff that connects plates, joints, weapons, sensors. Even the mechans computer brain has erupted into a dense fuzzball of chalk.
00:25:10
Speaker
Which is a really good description of what they did to the land in Zendikar. Yeah. On twists the alien for surely this is alien.
00:25:21
Speaker
Not merely a thing that isn't human or humidian or cav, but a thing that is strange to all life. Yeah. And this one, Tan Sammy shouts, yeah, Tam says very relaxed, run.
00:25:36
Speaker
Yeah. And then we we cut back to Halea. Yeah. And they're trying to get ca Captain Sammy on the comm. Sammy's a little too busy to ah react or respond right now. Yeah.
00:25:55
Speaker
yeah So then they're they're trying to get, trying to break through it and Elfriel is saying the security is terrible. thank yeah It is. I feel like I'm breaking into a public museum. Yeah.
00:26:08
Speaker
Um, and And this is like one time did they get there as they're trying to get to where these these ah fairies are. they They have some back and forth. And at one point, Helios <unk> says, if you pass out, I don't know if I can get you back. And was like, I thought you'd you'd try to leave me here. And he was like, no, I need you ah along. And says, yeah, for what?
00:26:32
Speaker
ah And then she's like, oh if we run into those squid things, oh you need someone clumsy to feed to them? I've heard it all before. No, I need someone to protect, or I don't know what to do.
00:26:45
Speaker
So they do find the... yeah
00:26:53
Speaker
Sorry, I missed you. They do find the fairies.
00:26:57
Speaker
think then they're they're trying to over Yeah, they're talking to the computer system, and basically they're basically they're denied to borrow one because they don't have clearance to leave. So Afriel just starts reciting numbers.
00:27:14
Speaker
Yeah. And ah it's code rejected. What were you thinking? If you keep trying this, you might randomly guess the right code. Trillions and trillions of years after the stars go out. That's a rhetorical approximation. It would be longer. ah ah yeah Even if the system is taunting Aphrae. Aphrae looks stricken. what i was so sure. And then Halea realizes, you thought you'd use the end stone.
00:27:39
Speaker
You thought you'd guess randomly. And then in the future, you'd get the end stone to make your guess correct. that's exactly what I thought yeah and then she's like that's not how it works you create a paradox so then they're going back and forth about this a little bit and then finally he's like fine she's like fine go get the end stone I'll stay here yeah um and and they they're teasing each other again and then they both start laughing they're they're getting along pretty good at this point
00:28:14
Speaker
ah ah But that then they remind it is like, ah africa remote my suit doesn't have thrusters. You need to carry me back. And and she's like you'll have to climb down the outside of the station.
00:28:28
Speaker
and then he's like, you're not seriously going back to your militant church of laser. Yeah. so I am. i told you I'm going to make my report and beg your pardon. Yeah.
00:28:40
Speaker
ah listen vapor brain the stone is lazy it takes a simplest route if you're not there with me when i use it maybe it'll find a reason you never were here at all maybe you'll have died on the crossing hit by debris from exploding ship maybe the stone will make it so you're gone like it made your sister gone she says o low low hit um yeah uh and so um Uh, right at the end, uh, Sir Vondam shows up and is like, okay, time for us to take the sun stone or the end stone. Uh, and then we jump still in revision 15, uh, back to, Sammy and Sammy's like, what is that? And L check might mantis, uh, scrolls back.
00:29:29
Speaker
Um, That doesn't tell me anything. ah It's old, Tenukron. Eld means it's old, dug up.
Halea's Crisis and Revelation
00:29:39
Speaker
Like from inside Kavaron.
00:29:42
Speaker
Yes, old. Everything in Pinnacle Space is too new, you understand, too young. Space shouldn't have been should have been dominated already, full of life, but instead we grew up in calm and lonely stars. Only once in a while we found something older, and the Drix come.
00:29:56
Speaker
Would be nice if they showed up now, Sammy Elves. Yeah, yeah. Well, the shaft ahead of them turns to chalk. Yeah. And another, another Eldrazi pops out in front of them. So now they're stuck.
00:30:11
Speaker
ah And so Tanook decides the best thing they could do now is build a weapon.
00:30:22
Speaker
and it's like, uh, and Nobody taught me monster killing, Sammy says. Yeah, me neither, but I do know basic engineering. Every time our weapons hit these things, they cut part of it or blow through part of it Most of it isn't there. It's somewhere else, buried in the limony, maybe. How do you hit the rest of it when you can only see part of it?
00:30:45
Speaker
Burn it, check me, Mantis Warbles. Poison it, a spreading acid, a chain reaction. Electrocute it, Sammy says. remembering about seven dozen electrocutions on the Surima. Yeah, and then and then while they're ah an emergency bulkhead crumbles tentacles curve out of the shaft behind them so then sammy time tammy says finishing to do because tanuka saying we need just need time so then checkmate mantis you know engineering i'm more expendable i'll divert it go and they before either of them can protest the mock mechon hurls them at the ship hulk yeah
00:31:26
Speaker
ah And then um both sides of the Monoist and the Sumist are both boarding the station now and fighting each other.
00:31:39
Speaker
on on infinite guidelines start to fight back. So the Mechons, they race out to meet the warships of the two faiths, brifling with effectors and so spectral warfare Atena.
00:31:52
Speaker
ah They go with the warships of the faiths, like castration scissors. They're going after the war the radiators. Again, snip off the radiators and the heat of battle has nowhere to go but into the ship itself.
00:32:05
Speaker
Melt yourself or surrender.
00:32:10
Speaker
yeah But on the guideline itself, where there is no heat sinks to wick away violence, the war parties crash against each other.
00:32:20
Speaker
yeah And then we get a bit of back and forth of um ah the the fighting going on and a little, we get a little cutaway about the Sir Catiline and fighting with their squire. And it's just kind of like a little peek in on the,
00:32:40
Speaker
ah thing And then we get to this and really interesting part, which I miss when I listen to this the first time. and so Among the melee, a hunger out of space whirls and feeds. It feeds on photophori and pinnacle mechans. It feeds on the sunstar knights and armored constables from pinnacle's tactical corpse.
00:32:55
Speaker
It feeds on fools who didn't heed the warning to evacuate and friends who stayed to lend pinnacle their aid. But it does not feed on monoists, not one. This hunger eats potential, the ability to become many things. And the monoists worship only one
00:33:12
Speaker
ah So it's like they're completely ignoring the Monoist for some reason. a Which is interesting. that We'll see what happens with the story in the future years, but this could be interesting if we have little seeds of more information about the Eldrazi given here that sort of become relevant elsewhere in the story.
00:33:37
Speaker
But then we cut back to Servandum talking to Halea and Afriel, still in revision 15. Yeah, um Servandum says, sometimes you screw up so badly there's no fixing it.
00:33:52
Speaker
You just have to mark your life before when I did it all right and afterward when I failed. You can't apologize. You can't make it right. You just live with your failure and try not to fail again. I should have killed you when you begged me to, but I didn't and I couldn't. And now we both have to live with it.
00:34:11
Speaker
yeah uh and so they go for a bit for um a back and forth a bit and uh sir vaughn is saying the whole thing is their fault but they can still um you know tells um alia to hold yourself responsible come back to the faith and then she's like uh But she has to say no, doesn't she? She's having some you know finally having some inner thoughts about it.
00:34:44
Speaker
ah yeah but um And she's saying basically she has to commit to her choice. She has to make on her own an inevitable result of her immutable identity because if it's not her choice, if but it's changeable, then it's the stones.
00:35:01
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. She says, I understand why you did what you did. It's the sum talking to Sir Vondam for you know probably kill you know killing all of the innocent cav that the The moment of that caused her to to question how this is all built.
00:35:18
Speaker
And then she goes on and says, you know the computation of the sum must include and anticipate our own choices. If I see that you chose to slaughter them, the slaughter calf in the name of great thing, the sum, and I reward that with obedience and honor, and I return the end stone to that order so it can be vouchsafed and taken away, i am altering the computation of the sum. I am creating a path that leads to victory through thousands of dead calves.
00:35:42
Speaker
But I do not believe the sum should ever pass through thousands of dead innocents on its way to greatening. you not believe the dawn's light ever burns the helpless and the small? So I must become the reason the sum diminishes when you butcher thousands.
00:35:56
Speaker
I must modify the sum through my own choice. It will not great because your squire will revolt. That must be in the sum.
00:36:04
Speaker
I'll not go home with a stone and be a a hero. Yeah. And, uh, So he says, he tells, Servandum tells Halea that he's going to hit her.
00:36:16
Speaker
And Afriel hits Servandum instead. And Servandum is basically going to turn around and ah kill Afriel. But um Halea stops him and drives Servandum off.
00:36:39
Speaker
Uh, and then Bonham says, uh, Squire Halea, uh, for conduct unbecoming a companion to the sun star and for a greasious derogation of the sun by my authority as a night of the company, I hereby degrade you.
00:36:51
Speaker
ah darken the illumination that showed you the rank of Squire. I delight you from my service and bar you to the path of knighthood. Remove your armor. The wound is beneath it. Remove the insignia of your service. There no longer signify surrender your weapon. it has wounded the faith. Do you understand me?
00:37:07
Speaker
Uh, and, uh, She says, yes, sir, I understand you.
Emotional Reunions and Desperate Measures
00:37:11
Speaker
So she's still really conditioned to obey. yeah though the the the next two lines, I think give that a lot of context, too, where he has cast her out of the free company.
00:37:20
Speaker
She has made it permissible for him to strike her with lethal force. And though her heart breaks for it, so her mind tells her it's futile, she makes a choice. and as ah And then this section ends with she strikes at her knight.
00:37:38
Speaker
Yeah. And then we're still in revision 15, but we're back to Tanook and Sammy and they're trying to improvise a weapon. ah And Tanook asked for some cable.
00:37:52
Speaker
um And so Sammy is going through crates, basically looking for, um looking for cable and they deactivate a stasis cast and a pair of green lights shine back.
00:38:08
Speaker
Uh, and, uh, Miri is in the container, and has apparently been in stasis for the last three years while Sammy was looking for her.
00:38:19
Speaker
she hasn't aged a day. that's why she never came back. She was frozen in time and our ship ended up with nearly any private ship and so far. We're not getting an overhaul or tear down on the guideline, but no one opened the cast because no one remembered what was inside.
00:38:36
Speaker
Yep, so she, Wef, walked into a cast that was actively in stasis. Yeah. And was stuck there. ah And it's like, she's alright, she's okay, she doesn't even know she's been away. She doesn't think Sammy abandoned her for years.
00:38:52
Speaker
ah And Sammy approaches her, and Miri is a little frightened, and Wef walks away again. And Tanook's like,
00:39:02
Speaker
ah Yeah, well, we've still a monster coming after us. Yes. And Sammy is still, Sammy is sobbing and still looking for Miri. But they do find some power cables instead of the cat.
00:39:18
Speaker
Yeah, they find the power cables and holds it out for, gives it to Tanook to finish the weapon he's working on. Yep. And at the end of this, is we got Tally Ho, Tanook Roars, the second creature hits him from the side, and then we cut back a Tally Ho, Bondum says mildly,
00:39:36
Speaker
ah
00:39:43
Speaker
iy and i like this one yeah yeah go for it uh she hit him he took it right to the chest but it wasn't enough the armor of a knight is proof against directed energy it wouldn't be much armor otherwise would it which just makes me think of stormtroopers and star wars oh yeah of course yep
00:40:06
Speaker
So yeah, then they're, then they're fighting, fighting back and forth. And there's the line, like they fight as they have fought on the sparring floor. That's the worst part. It's no different. There's no vengeful force or cold hatred and fond of sharing attacks.
00:40:19
Speaker
He still loves her. She still loves him. Yeah. Uh, and, and, um, Yeah, and so then she's she can never beat him, honestly. Of course she couldn't.
00:40:35
Speaker
He is decades her senior and a veteran of real battle. He's a killer. But he always told her, anyone can lose a fight. A fight isn't a monotonic test of power. It is an event, a complexity.
00:40:47
Speaker
Fight it 10 times and 13 things will happen. A fight is like life. The only way to know what happens is to fight it, and that's why I love to fight. Mm-hmm. Um...
00:40:59
Speaker
So ah they keep fighting for a little while and Sir Bonham says, I can't kill you. You know it. I know it, but I only need to give you a survivable wound. I survived a hole in my brain squire. You can survive a lot of holes in armor like this.
00:41:13
Speaker
Holes. Yes, holes. Thank you for the idea, sir. She shouts back. yep of And um she's heading towards Afriel and it says he won't be able to intervene bottom grunts.
00:41:27
Speaker
I have a constant track on him. Look elsewhere. um So kill him now. He's fence list. I'm still a night that didn't stop you at Tarduen, sir.
00:41:39
Speaker
ah he's just like, I had to protocol dictated it. Yeah. Yeah. so that say So it wasn't you who chose to slaughter them.
00:41:50
Speaker
The sum chose it. I would have ah would have chosen it too if I were a good knight. Yeah. ah And then they're like, ah you're working with him? Why Vondam comes back at her if he can't kill me this time? and ah But Aphriel has a hole in his hand.
00:42:05
Speaker
Sir Vondam doesn't know about the hole. Yeah, this hole. Yeah. this hole ah
00:42:14
Speaker
yeah
00:42:17
Speaker
Yeah, and so she lands between Vondam and Aphrael. Aphrael crouches like a beast in his half-ruined armor. I get it, he says. Go.
00:42:27
Speaker
So then he they he manages to get Vondam to destroy part of his armor so that his left... to exposing Aphrael's bare left hand.
00:42:38
Speaker
And then he reaches around and grip Vondam by the back of the neck.
00:42:44
Speaker
And then she's... Yeah, so then she's able to jab her thumb through that hole into the back of Vondam's neck and pop his vertebrae apart.
00:42:55
Speaker
Yeah. Which you think would be lethal, but you gotta remember these are superhuman soldiers. Superhumans built into armor that also heals them.
00:43:05
Speaker
Yeah. ah And then we we cut back to the second ally and smashes Tanook from the side. But... but ah um It says, the the thing is unmoved. it draws the inner tissue away into its higher dimensional body, rotates into um place new flesh. The new flesh is burning. So their their weapon has actually worked the way they hoped it would. The alien keeps rotating, swallowing itself into nudeness, but the quicker it turns, ah it the more it comes apart.
00:43:44
Speaker
Ash, dust, blasted ribbons. Yeah. And it rotates apart like a turn of a tree, obliterated, leaving the branches. And Sammy is like, ah are you all right? How did you? Because somehow Tanook survived contact with one of these things.
00:43:58
Speaker
And well as it wasn't me, then ah you must wash a voice as and they look up together. And there's Drix there. ah Because Drix do one thing ah besides giving away warp technology. They kill Eldrazi.
00:44:16
Speaker
Um, and it's like, you're just in a potential manner. and It could be anything. It could be anywhere. You just have to wash it off or it will attract the eld. Uh, did you do that? Did you save me?
00:44:27
Speaker
ah On this end of the staff is a 30-meter-wide blackbody divergence in the ultraviolet range. It has been rotated in the laminar spaces and the stem of the L-dwells. Thus I strike at my prey. I am called Tomulus of Barrow. I am a sentinel of the cofferdam.
00:44:45
Speaker
A drix. Tomulus or Barrow, please. Do you love cats? This is the first thing Sammy asks after meeting one of these legendary creatures. Yep.
00:45:01
Speaker
Um, and that says, no, the Drix says they attract predators. I have saved the beautiful insect and delivered her to her post. Now I must hunt. Please spread the word to your fellow kinds that they must wash away the potential matter. Uh, how do we wash it? But the Drix is already gone.
00:45:18
Speaker
ah and then, Tammy's like, Oh, uh, Tan, we can't leave. Uh, I mean, Miria here, she, she left walk again. and The Drix said cats draw predators.
00:45:29
Speaker
Um, And then his Captain Captain to nook, grabs a handful of cable and throws it at Sammy. Take hold. Come to me. Mira's safe. She's safe. She's not safe. They're eating the place. where we're goingnna They're going to eat her.
00:45:43
Speaker
Captain, take hold of the rope. Tan, you aren't listening. We have to go out there now. We have to check every single stasis cast in this hangar. And then we have to find the directory of every stowage on the station. don't have to open up all the casts. Every single just keeps going. What's just going on? That's like, Captain. Captain Sammy.
00:45:59
Speaker
You're having a panic attack. yeah ah And then
Tezzeret's Intentions and Interdimensional Encounters
00:46:08
Speaker
Tanook gives Sammy a hug to try and ah um basically get them calmed down. ah And is like, I can't decide what to do next. I need you to do it for me. Are we going back to the Soryma to finish the job for the Metal Man or are we going to look for Miri? it's your choice.
00:46:28
Speaker
And it's not a choice at all. They're going to look for Miri wherever she went. She'd go to a safe place. She'd go to a ship that looked like Screama. And maybe by some feline instincts, she knows what stasis casts are the safest place.
00:46:40
Speaker
It's not a choice at all because choices both choices leave to the same place. so ah And Sammy grips to look at the time that i know what to do, Tan. I know what to do. So Sammy figures out where she went.
00:46:55
Speaker
yep and we're we're back to vondham uh
00:47:02
Speaker
yeah could still control his armor through his nerve interface but his squire reaches through the hole in her enemy's hand and cuts the knight's nerve interface away yeah yeah now he is helpless he is only human ah zi I made my report. I cannot serve. So this is Halea talking to to him. I cannot serve the sum because I believe the sum is wrongly calculated. Therefore, I must lessen the sum so that in seeking to great in itself, it will amend its calculations to show mercy.
00:47:33
Speaker
I also ask pardon for Afriel. He chose to turn away from Inevitah and should be granted new life. And the only response is kill me. Yeah. And of course she says, ah you know I can't.
00:47:50
Speaker
Yeah. oh And this says, you will try to escape with the end stone. Our fleet will destroy your ship. And if it fails, the fleet will destroy infinite guideline. The sum demands I stop you before that can happen.
00:48:03
Speaker
And the only thing you can do now is demand that I kill you. So maybe I will stumble on my love for you and hesitate. No, I must be destroyed. heyah I failed because the end stone still moves me. I am an antirapy.
00:48:13
Speaker
I am not who I was. I was a curse. I will lessen the sum. I cannot bear it. Kill me. will. hey and
00:48:25
Speaker
Yeah. And so Afril says, let him live. ah You don't want to kill him. It's obvious. So don't. You, Vondam. It's better if you live. And then he responds, why? And Afril says, don't be a hypocrite. You just said it.
00:48:40
Speaker
You can't make it right. So live with your failure and try not to fail again. Go throw yourself before the cab and let them execute you. Or go sun yourself into a race and I don't care.
00:48:52
Speaker
And this gets at a thing that I love. i love this here because there it's, I talk about this every so often, although I think it's been a while since we've done some stories about this, but the the idea of heroic sacrifice and the idea of the villain realizing their errors at the end and sacrificing themselves to correct things are really, really prevalent in our stories culturally.
00:49:17
Speaker
And both of them there can be good uses of them, but both of them in a lot of ways feels like the writers are just don't want to deal with the consequences of what's going on, particularly the villain side where it's easier to throw the villain away and say, there we go.
00:49:35
Speaker
In the end, they were actually good or in the end they wanted it to do good. And so now they're dead, but now they're dead and we don't have to worry about them anymore. And it's a lot harder for someone to just live and deal with the consequences of their choices.
00:49:51
Speaker
Yeah. And, um, so they basically get there and, uh,
00:49:58
Speaker
They get down to the end of this. And she says, no, I will go. I made my report and begged your pardon. and I've been cast out of the free company, but I am still a summist. I've placed myself on Aaron, true sir. It's all right, Bondham says, still smiling a little. I like it when you call me, sir. Always did. Made me feel worth it. Oh, child, what did we do? How did we let this happen?
00:50:17
Speaker
ah Sir, she says, unable to break the habit of respect. It wasn't the end stone. You just shouldn't have murdered all those cops. That's all. I couldn't abide it. I won't see you again, sir. You will, Vondam says, sadly, you are my responsibility, Halea, even as my failure.
00:50:34
Speaker
And then we jump to revision 16. Which has an interesting subtitle in the parentheses, Exile Target Ship. Yeah. Yeah, and and then the first line, Samyantinuk almost made it home free.
00:50:50
Speaker
um There is this... uh, big Hulk of the, the, the worshipers of Inevitic have taken Surima. Uh, and they try to stop, uh, instead pummel right into, ah the enemy or the Monoist soldier. Um,
00:51:14
Speaker
and, uh, Uh, and that's my ship, Sanny Snarls, and gets the the antenna rapier up. They stab the monos right in the chest. The event of a collision becomes a flicker of purple light and drifts off the curve of the armor.
00:51:27
Speaker
they just, I love how their armor just changes causality.
00:51:34
Speaker
Yeah, and with just without missing a beat. The end stone is aboard, at the gravkill paladin says. You will aid Elfriel. ah You will allow the stone to guide to you to its purpose. It is the will of Inevida.
00:51:45
Speaker
It does not matter if you understand. Now Sam, it feels rude. Stabbing is no way to make an introduction. You're letting me go? end stone has come here to the eternity column. If it wishes to go through, the ah then it will, and we will aid it.
00:52:02
Speaker
And then they they refer to the Eld. like So you sent these things here? It's like, they've not troubled me. If they've destroyed the enemies of Inevida, then they are in accord with the will of Inevida.
00:52:14
Speaker
It would be hard to comply with the will under the assault by Sunstar. Yeah. So we just go aboard, Sam. Yes, but I will accompany you.
00:52:26
Speaker
Yeah, we already have Afriel. uh, nuts apart. And so this is where things merge, uh, back up together. ah And um then all of a sudden the graph kill paladin collapses into a crumpled ball like crushed foil.
00:52:45
Speaker
Tanuka and Sammy stare in horror. ah Come aboard, Tesserit calls from the talking umbilical. The holes in the wall flow together and seal. Yeah, Tesserit just walks through the walls on the ship. He doesn't bother going through the doors.
00:53:00
Speaker
Yeah. yeah ah there are There are others coming. I employed you to bring me to the Endstones Maker, Captain. I am not taking new passengers. You just... That was a Grafkill Paladin.
00:53:13
Speaker
Yeah. I'd have had less trouble with the Solar Knights, but the two apostates handled themselves. It's like... it does right You have such fascinating machines here.
00:53:24
Speaker
Deseret murmurs, but they do still answer me. Yeah. Ugh.
00:53:32
Speaker
Tezzer seems to really enjoy being in the edge. Oh, he it's yeah. As far as he's concerned, it's, it's a great place for him. His skills. When he says like, they're all soft, that it's reality is too nice. And then he can manipulate almost everything because it's all made of metal.
00:53:51
Speaker
Yup. Yeah.
00:53:55
Speaker
Uh, So then we Afril and Halea flying back to the Surima under the terrifying scrutiny of warships. It's a great line. yeah And i' like, I still can't believe you guessed that code, Halea says, breaking her long signs. Which probably is not wise, but because he also won with the thrusters and she could throw him into space.
00:54:20
Speaker
Yep.
00:54:24
Speaker
yeahp And then they have, speaking maybe weird expressions. So, well, I like to guess that she reacts. okay So there's, there's a weird event. And then all of a sudden he realized it's a tactical event horizon.
00:54:39
Speaker
The monoists must have set, set up an inevitator to protect us.
00:54:44
Speaker
So she says, wait, don't your people want the end stone? Why would they help us? And his response is, don't look a gift horse in the ass, Halea. Her response is just, what? What? Yeah.
00:54:56
Speaker
Just perfect. Because I was like, what? And then Halea says, okay, good. that they get to the ship. they get to the ship
00:55:07
Speaker
And they're like, the first thing Aphriel says, yes, I need to use the stone. Yes, I know you do to figure out their course once we make it into warp. Yes, Aphriel says, but also to decrypt the warp fairy. But you've already done that.
00:55:17
Speaker
But I won't unless I do it. won't have done it unless I do it now. Never mind. Let's open it up.
00:55:25
Speaker
Yeah. ah And in the box is Miri. She was hanging out with the end stone.
00:55:35
Speaker
And Sammy tries to say something, but all that comes out is a sob. They finally have their cat back.
00:55:46
Speaker
hello
00:55:49
Speaker
And I like this. You still don't get your ship get the ship repaired without me, Tezzer, it says from behind Aphriel's ass. Don't consider yourself released. Sammy doesn't seem to hear. Sammy is so sorry. Yeah.
00:56:04
Speaker
um that's like I love. and And so Tezzeret's like, okay, Aphraim, use this. She drops the written reg beside Aphraim. He's already called up the map.
00:56:16
Speaker
He's like, but first i have to make my guess. What guess? The goad to release the fairy. sure Tezzeret cuffs him lightly enough to smash him into the wall of the cask. I told you the code. Would you come all this way to steal a fairy without the code to use it? No, use the map.
00:56:28
Speaker
Come on. Yeah. So yeah, we know what revision 16 was. Then Tezzeret was actually useful and told them to go to edit. it Yep. So now, yeah, now we know what the the revision was yeah and now they can start leaving.
00:56:46
Speaker
That's like we, so then it, it, uh, the use the use the stone to figure out which way the end stone wanted to go. And then Tezzeret says, we we warp that way until the tone still stone tells us we've reached our goal its goal.
00:57:03
Speaker
ah He claps, caps them happily on the shoulder, throwing him to the floor. We will see what god or monster made this thing, and I will decide whether it is to be fled, bargained with, or
Conclusion: Reflections and Discoveries
00:57:12
Speaker
overthrown. It's so a fun Tezzeret line there.
00:57:20
Speaker
ah And then then they try jump warp, but ah they get a time synchronization error because the warp ferry, they're still inside that tactical time bubble, so the warp ferry can't communicate to the state with the station ah to sync up for the departure.
00:57:41
Speaker
Yep. And then the and then you have solar nights outside. And Sam says, not now, not with Miri back. Sammy growls and switches the ArcJets to manual.
00:57:53
Speaker
Yeah. Time to play chicken with a stationary option. Yeah. yeah Another correct line. Yeah. They burst out of the Sherazade. The timestamp clears the Warp Ferry communication in front guidelines.
00:58:08
Speaker
And a few lines of diagnostic text, the column is closed to outbound traffic, sync request rejected, NAFID, lighter warning, imminent collision, emergency collision alert. The term is the SM block detects the targeting later of the ship, ship lasers i'm imaging their hull, uh,
00:58:27
Speaker
Uh... the v systems aboard the warfa unit guidelines search the decision face looking for any option to avert the collision then sammy wins the game of chicken because there is only one option only one way to get the sremalear if fort smash an infinite guidelin or explodes under a laser fire and smashes into infinite guideline the only option is to give stammy what they want
00:58:48
Speaker
ah And so they take to warp. And then we get revision 16, final revision. So we're still in 16, but now ah we've we've gone from exile target ship to final revision.
00:59:01
Speaker
Yeah. And I had to look. And it just it was kind of bothering me. And now that I'm looking at it in text, it it really was hitting me. And someone on Reddit agrees with me. So this tactical time bubble that Shahrzad is a reference to Shahrzad. Mm-hmm.
00:59:16
Speaker
for The card from a the first card in the game that creates a sub game that puts the entire game in a time bubble while you go play a second game. Yeah. Oh my God. That is, that's beautiful.
00:59:29
Speaker
Sorry. Sorry. Back to, back to the actual story now moving forward. Yeah. And so now we're in the, we're in the final revision. Flying says the stream of flies on its repaired fusion drive, soaring through the superstructure of warp.
00:59:44
Speaker
ah And you have Tezzeret offering a toast. Where I come from, there are elder dragons, unholy machines, and sphinxes with metal to surpass men. They have all sought to master me, but I survived. Why? The spark in here, the fire of possibility, and what fuels it?
01:00:00
Speaker
The unknown becoming known. You discover what you do, what you do not have, and you take it. We have taken a piece of the unknown. And everyone is confused. He's just like, you've done well. Congratulations. And they're all like, what?
01:00:17
Speaker
Yeah. like i know these response Have we? and ah Pinnacle attacked. Thousands are dead. The dead chose their fights, Tezzera says. Except the Cav and the Pinnacle crew killed in the fight.
01:00:31
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. ah sammy is table host must deflect a brewing argument have you ever seen this view before my lord ah yes
01:00:44
Speaker
uh yeah they're they're heading toward the edge of sifera the worm wall yeah um and they're like okay what are we gonna do and i was like uh Bring it out, Sammy says, and Afril drops the ensign on the table.
01:01:02
Speaker
ah Leah stiffens, Sinek reels back, overturning chair. Miri curled up on Sammy's lap, raises her head, and goes back to sleep. We're waiting for it to do something. Afril's the one it likes, so I'll let him handle it.
01:01:16
Speaker
Yeah. like And he's like, aren't you ah aren't you all worried it's possessing you, making you do things, alternate choices? And Sammy says, I haven't done a single thing out of character in my entire life.
01:01:27
Speaker
Yeah. ah And then it's changed after it says, look, it's gone fully egg.
01:01:42
Speaker
so So then Solia asks, what's your deal anyway to Tezzeret? And his his response was far away ah as if I have an interest in metals, a kinship with them. When I washed ashore in your strange reality, I made it my test to learn all your metals and their arts.
01:01:59
Speaker
Sigma caught my interest, a world rich with ores, but not with miners. Was it an opportunity overlooked, a threat, or a threat? Where metal gathers, sometimes danger grows. Then Memanon showed me.
01:02:11
Speaker
taught me taught me languages in exchange for my help pursuing the anomalies that fascinated them. Memnon and I agreed that Sigma was an anomaly, so I began with an expedition.
01:02:23
Speaker
Do you know what I realized? Or do you know what i've realized, Sammy? And Sammy takes a long draw of coffee, that I was the best for the job, and Tezzeret's response was that I was weak, suspiciously weak.
01:02:36
Speaker
My organization lacks specialists in recovery and handling of artifacts, a mistake I would not make. And how could I make it? And then Afriel guessed you didn't, you sent them to Sigma and they vanished and as if I'd never employed them at all. and so this is, this is how Tezzeret discovered that the stone existed kind of this void in his own network.
01:03:00
Speaker
And that's when, you know started this whole this whole thing to send these two. Tanuk said it wanted something from you, so you sent us.
01:03:11
Speaker
Yes, I chose the most desperate, disposable pawns in my employ so that they ah so that they could not exceed except by the favor of the thing hidden on Sigma.
01:03:22
Speaker
And I made it my genuine intention to bring that thing, once it was in my position, wherever it wanted to go.
01:03:31
Speaker
Yeah.
01:03:34
Speaker
And so they they then they realize that they're coming up to a ship called the Wormspeaker, which was wrecked. And this is where Tanook met Sammy.
01:03:50
Speaker
or Or they're headed somewhere light minutes away from it, but they're heading in that direction. And then all of a sudden their engine turns off. And then they're like, well, ah well, first they're like, well, we're going light minutes away. And then they're like, oh yeah, but it would have drifted.
01:04:05
Speaker
so they're going exactly where it should be. no ah um, and then it says, so what, what are you saying? After all demands, we're going to erect science ship. No, Tezzer says they are saying we are going to the place that killed it.
01:04:23
Speaker
Uh, uh, And yeah, and that's when the engine cuts out and a weird creature just walks through the wall. Um,
01:04:36
Speaker
and it is, um, it is faces a green mask scaled with the oxides of eons. It has lips, eyes, and nose, a brow, but its ears are world knives above empty cheeks behind its face is nothing but pale light.
01:04:51
Speaker
It's a weird alien creature. um that i That art reminds me of Volrath, but i that may just... No, you're not wrong.
01:05:05
Speaker
Yeah, old old old school villain from early early days of magic, if if y'all aren't familiar with Volrath, one of the antagonists um from one of the first like really proper stories magic put together in the Tempest block.
01:05:22
Speaker
Mm-hmm. isnt Not exactly, but especially Volrath's curse is looks very similar, of fairly similar to that character. Yeah.
01:05:34
Speaker
Yeah, may may not be ah intentional. I like the last sentence. There's a whole paragraph describing this thing. I only read the beginning of it, but the last sentence is, it has no genitalia because it need not reproduce because it is finished. It is is the end. it is final and complete.
01:05:52
Speaker
Yep. I want to know more about what these things are. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. And, uh, so after all tries to grab the end stone and it buzzes in his hand, like a wasp, he cries out and drops it.
01:06:07
Speaker
And the figure translates beside him and the end zone falls into its hand. Yeah. And then, um, The figure cups Afriel's face. He screams. A voice sounds through the face that does not move. Touched by the core. Blessed.
01:06:25
Speaker
Afriel drops like his mind has taken flight.
01:06:35
Speaker
attacks the thing at this point. Yep. And Hulia manages to slice off two of its fingers, then its hand fastens around her neck and crushes. She falls, tearing at her neck, making an awful sound.
01:06:51
Speaker
Tezzeret lunges to catch the severed fingers.
01:06:56
Speaker
Yeah. And then it says, you smell of aether, the voice says. It reaches out with its cut hand and touches Tezzeret's chest. ah above his possibly absent heart. Nothing happens.
01:07:07
Speaker
He makes a soft, curious noise. You taste of the wall, which is interesting. Again, kind of talking about the potential potential, theory I don't know that this is like the shard from old, old school magic, where there was a number of worlds that were stuck in this one space and any planeswalkers within couldn't leave it and any outside couldn't enter it.
01:07:31
Speaker
That the, the, the reference the wall a lot. And this may be some sort of divide between this part of the magic universe and the other part of the magic universe.
01:07:42
Speaker
And Tezzeret somehow fell through it. Mm-hmm. ah And um Sammy lifts a hand. Hello, who are you? Is this stone yours?
01:07:56
Speaker
ah With their other hand, they reach over Miri, who is trembling, claws locked into Sammy's trousers, and draw their antenna rapier beneath the table. I am the last thing the beautiful android says, the way it produces a single sound eye is full of dreadful love. So it comes to me.
01:08:13
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah.
01:08:15
Speaker
Yeah, not here, it says, looking directly Sammy, not now, but the serpent needs a hero. Find me if you can. but your Put your lance through my heart. You'll come to nothing in the end. As Sammy jerks the rapier to bear on the android's heart.
01:08:32
Speaker
Yeah, and stars and nebulae closed before it and has gone just gone the end stone with it. Tezzeret's mission is complete. The end stone has been delivered. he has ah he has his glimpse of higher power.
01:08:45
Speaker
and Sammy leaps up, rushing over to Hylia. Her throat is crushed. It's treatable, but she needs air now. then So she yells to Tan, get her to a bunk.
01:08:59
Speaker
And then Tan, leaning over Afril, says he's out. Tezzeret, help him. Yeah. And ah the middle man stares with the two fingers he caught in his claw. They seem delicate, almost insubstantial. Their severed ends flicker with violent, violet light.
01:09:14
Speaker
And he looks up at Sammy and smiles, carved viscerously. So you do have something like a planeswalker.
01:09:24
Speaker
Yeah.
01:09:28
Speaker
Yeah. That was very aspirational. He says, don't you think?
01:09:34
Speaker
Yeah. Sammy doesn't know what to say to that. Miri is staring wide-eyed at the place where the cosmos split open. Sammy picks her up, holds her close, and just for just for a moment, they need to go help Tan with Halea.
01:09:45
Speaker
But Miri is here. Miri is still here. One thing is all right. And that's the end of our story for... Yeah, after almost five hours of talking about it Yeah, it's ah it's a lot. It is cool. And there's like five side stories.
01:10:04
Speaker
There's a couple other articles, one with the legends of of story as well, if you you really get into the story and want. There's a lot a lot you can read. Yeah, there is so much you can read about this one.
01:10:18
Speaker
Yeah. All right. Well, that is that's the story. We did it. It only took us four episodes. Oh, and and yeah, the next week we can do our get to the the set review and then we will have to decide kind of what we're what we're doing from there. But that'll be fun to talk some cards, talk some some fun mechanics and flavor in this set.
01:10:43
Speaker
Being this sci fi set, it's going to be a little weird with of those. But looking forward to that. Yep, i did get it I did get to pick up a copy of my Sliver Stone from a friend. So, you know, i I think it's time. I haven't touched my Sliver deck in years and years. I think it's time to dust it off and update it some.
01:11:07
Speaker
Nice. Yeah, I might have some stuff for my Lance deck. Honestly, I still have not really looked through this set very much. but there is Between the main set and the Commander deck, there is a lot of good stuff for Lance decks.
01:11:23
Speaker
I played against that ah that Commander pre-con last week. It is a good pre-con It had like 12 lands out on like turn six. It was pretty ah bonkers.
01:11:37
Speaker
Nice. Nice. All right. Well, I think that does this for tonight. Goblin Lore Podcast. Thank you for listening. We can be found both on Twitter and Blue Sky at GoblinLorePod.
01:11:49
Speaker
Check out our link tree for our Discord and our discounts. We appreciate you listening and welcome feedback via social media or Discord. Until next time, Podwalkers, remember that goblins, like snowflakes, are only dangerous in numbers.