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Episode 276: We move deeper into the Lorwyn/Shadowmoor dichotomy
0 Playsin 23 hours
Hello, Podwalkers, and welcome back to another episode of the Goblin Lore Podcast!
It's the New Year and we are excited to be back on Lorwyn/Shadowmoor for a whirlwind trip through day and night. Today Alex and Taya continue going to through the main story
We love Seanan and you should always check out her DVD Extras!
https://seananmcguire.com/blog/2025/12/08/out-of-this-wood-the-dvd-extras/
We also finally have a Linktree with all of our discounts/resources including how to join our Discord
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As promised, we keep Mental Health Links available every episode. But For general Mental Health the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) has great resources for people struggling with mental health concerns as well as their families. We also want to draw attention to this article on stigma from NAMI's site.
If you’re thinking about suicide or just need someone to talk to right now, you can get support from any of the resources below.
- National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 988
- Veteran's can Press 1 at anytime to be taken to the Veteran's Line
- Crisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741-741
- International suicide hotlines: A comprehensive resource list for people outside the US.
- IMAlive: Click Chat Now to access a live online network of volunteers through instant messaging.
- TrevorLifeline, TrevorChat, and TrevorText (LGBTQ+ crisis support): 1-866-488-7386, or text “Trevor” to 1-202-304-1200
- Trans Lifeline (US): (877) 565-8860
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Opening and closing music by Wintergatan (@wintergatan). Logo art by Steven Raffael (@SteveRaffle)
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction and Story Updates
00:00:28
Speaker
Hello, Podwalkers, and welcome to another episode of the Goblin Lore Podcast. ah We are still working our way through Lorwyn's story, so we are going to cover that. But first, we're gonna do some introductions and have ah have a little bit of ah of ah of a serious topic to to cover, kind of in lieu of a of an opening question. but so why don't we Before we move on, though, we should mention that at the rate we're going, the Lorwyn story might not be done before the next set comes out because of how quickly they've crammed them together.
00:00:58
Speaker
Yeah. We already have, I think Turtles comes out this month. if Or this month or early March. Yeah, it's like... Yeah, so it may just dovetail nicely right into the the next set where we can talk story until kind of a big drought in the summer.
00:01:15
Speaker
Yeah, you know, I'm looking forward to the Strixhaven story, though. Yeah, we have Strixhaven story coming up. We have the novel we could talk about in some capacity when that comes out as well. We'll have a little bit of break before then because that doesn't come out until
Social Media Challenges
00:01:30
Speaker
April. But yeah, we should get back to introductions because I've already side-practiced.
00:01:34
Speaker
Oh, that's just perfect. That's that's what we do in the show. So I'm Alex found in the discord and nowhere else on social media because it was a hellscape a couple years ago. And that's only gotten worse.
00:01:48
Speaker
My pronouns are he him. Yeah, and I'm Taya. I'm Taya Transcends on Blue Sky. And I recently took a couple of week Blue Sky break. And then before coming back, I muted a whole bunch of words. And I'm missing most of the news now, which is you know, I...
00:02:07
Speaker
get to see the magic content I want to see without having my anxiety triggered. So it's slightly better. but Yeah, that's a good approach. I do. I do. i do miss some of that magic. Twitter was great. Like a decade ago. Yeah. And, and some other communities I was in on Twitter. I was in, I was plugged into some of the were like writer fantasy writer community, which, which is also great.
00:02:32
Speaker
Yeah, I do miss some of that, but I don't miss the everything else that kind of surrounds yeah those communities. But so yeah, so I'm a pronouncer she, her, they, them. And ah yeah, I think let's get right to it.
Local Events in Minneapolis
00:02:47
Speaker
Before we get to the Lorwyn story, you wanted to discuss something that happened locally. Well, there's a lot going on locally for you right now, ah which is an understatement, but... Yes, um I did. um I recorded a solo episode a few weeks ago and I mentioned it a little bit. One of the just many, many bad things going on in the world. Lots of people are aware because I've seen weird things like the French and German news covering um my city of Minneapolis, the city that Hobbs and I both live in, actually. And it is not that we're not having a great time of things lately. ah There are a whole lot of you know fascists on the streets just being fashy.
00:03:30
Speaker
I just wanted to talk a little bit. like like I know we we missed last week. We're going to have some conversations. i think we may talk about this next week some too. Just... our plans moving forward. We're still kind of figuring out. I know we definitely want to continue recording, but life is tough right now. And as much as um we all love doing this, and I can speak for myself, as much as I love doing this, this is, it's great to come in and talk to Tayad. It's great to come talk magic stuff. I love doing this.
00:03:59
Speaker
but Oh, I'm so tired all the time. um But that aside, I just one of the things I want to mention specifically about all this stuff is that recently there was some some shuffling of the person
Community Support and Charity Efforts
00:04:11
Speaker
in charge. There was um the the administration blinking, which, you know, is a good thing to celebrate the fact maybe celebrate is a wrong term, but good to note that they are it acknowledging that things are not going their way.
00:04:26
Speaker
But just because someone has just because they change the person at top doesn't mean that the the stuff going on. No, it's changed. It's worse to that. Bring in someone even worse. Yes. And so I just want to keep that, just throw that out there. If if if they're the the narrative, and I believe the narrative is supposed to be, well, we'll wrap this other guy and it'll he'll be a moderating force. It's like the stuff they were doing before they murdered two people was still bad. So even if they go back to, we're not murdering people anymore, we're just doing bad stuff, it's still bad. And we really need to pay attention to it.
00:05:01
Speaker
But to to not make it all about that, one thing I did want to mention and and sort of shout out There's still, it's a it's a surreal thing because this is all just terrible. that All of that is just terrible. But amidst that terrible stuff, seeing people stand up and build community and be there for each other and support each other has been the other side of that and it it it it just makes ah part of that is just the dissonance of of what i'm feeling the the the two sides here um but one thing i wanted to to shout out amongst all of the other cool good organization things and things that people are doing um and just people being generous with their time and their money to try to help each other um there is a video game podcast that i listen to called mid max which is based it was started in minneapolis by some former folks from Game Informer, which was also based in Minneapolis for a long time.
00:05:56
Speaker
But theyre at this point, there's a few people who aren't in Minneapolis who are part of it, but half their crew is still here. They have been doing a bunch of stuff lately, which has just been great. They've been putting out some videos to just be like, hey, this this is happening.
00:06:11
Speaker
Please just pay attention to what's happening. But also this weekend, last Friday for us while we're recording, um they did a really kind of impromptu several days planning when normally these events would take possibly a month or two months to to plan. Big charity drive with a different gaming podcast that I don't I'm not super familiar with, but they're called Giant Bomb. So was Midmax and Giant Bomb did an eight hour charity stream. money going to an organization called veep v a e p i believe and i can't remember what that stands for but it's a local an organization that works locally here to help provide food for people they they've been doing food shelf services for a while but
00:06:53
Speaker
Lots of people aren't going to pickups now because lots of people are, you know, unable to leave their homes without risk of being just disappeared and have their family torn apart. And so the Veep has started to do a lot more home deliveries of food, but also rent assistance for people who have been unable to work for for multiple weeks or a month.
00:07:15
Speaker
and might be unable to pay their rent at the beginning of the month. So this organization or the two podcasts, they were thinking they would do like maybe 30 or $50,000, which he was apparently really excited about. Just a great amount of money can do a lot of good.
00:07:30
Speaker
um As of today, several days later, it's over $275,000. The charity, the's the the campaign itself is going to be open for longer too. So people can continue to sort of trickle in donations. This could break $300,000.
00:07:47
Speaker
three hundred thousand I know Ben, one of the guys from MinMax who kind of organizes a lot of their stuff, said, if I'm remembering correctly, he said last year there's a a lot of charities. I think it's a Minnesota thing called Give to the Max that lots of charities just sort of do a charity drive in November. And I i think he said Veep's charity drive number then was $50,000. And these guys just got them more than five times that from this event. And it's it's just incredible that that's both – some local folks, cause there's a local guy from giant bomb who is here, but also people from all over the country and all over the world who were watching, who are part of the audiences for these two podcasts. They have, you know, they have fans all over the world. And so this is people all over who wanted to contribute and help out people who are suffering. And I really appreciate that. And I wanted to make sure that people were aware
00:08:44
Speaker
that there's some, there's people stepping up and doing good. And I think that's ah probably enough about this. So yeah, let's, let's move on to the, the Lord one story.
00:08:57
Speaker
Yeah.
Lorwyn Story: Character and Culture
00:08:58
Speaker
um We're on story four, which is um as all the stories for the main set are written by Sean, Sean and McGuire. And this one was called fetch me that flower.
00:09:11
Speaker
And picks up with our our vampire boy being prodded through the forest by Lu Wen. And Kirill is having a very bad time. He says, we go all the way back to the first story. He did not have the proper, or they did not have the proper attire on. Yes.
00:09:31
Speaker
for For a walk through the forest to begin with. Better yet, a prolonged march through the forest at at a dagger point.
00:09:42
Speaker
Yeah, a little journey to another plane and then walking through a forest there that they have no familiarity with. Yeah. ah And they get into a discussion about what actually constitute feet because the Lorwyn elves are moved. Yes.
00:09:58
Speaker
ah you know That's one of their distinct features about Lorwyn elves. Yeah. Yeah, just that is it is fun to just have the first the first words of this story. have just a complaint of I'm still not wearing hiking shoes. yeah
00:10:18
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. Get into a discussion of like, well, I play sports and, you know, I have the right footwear for the right job, and this is not the right footwear for this job. Yes. do love like explaining this and Lewin's like, well, i know what foot covers are. Kith can wear them all the time because their feet are soft and delicate.
00:10:40
Speaker
Uh... But and then they're like, my feet don't hurt at all. And that's because you don't have feet. So curl, you have hooves. I walk on them. So their feet anatomically speaking, they're not. If we dropped you into a section lab, the doctor who took them apart would say they weren't.
00:10:56
Speaker
yeah Yeah. And then that got maybe a little much with Lewin reacting a little aggressively. Like, it no one's taking me apart. It's like, nope, did didn't mean it. Yeah. Say I was going to. Oh, it's hypothetical.
00:11:13
Speaker
Yeah, ah so they get walked right into Lysana, or Lysana, I'm not sure exactly how to pronounce Lysalana? I think it was Lysalana, I think is how that is the person who read the story pronounced it. Okay, Lysalana, that makes sense. um But that that's the Elven
Strixhaven Meets Lorwyn: Dynamics and Misunderstandings
00:11:29
Speaker
capital on Lorwyn. And...
00:11:33
Speaker
and which apparently is very beautiful. ah And ah they talk about that he's going to meet the high perfect in...
00:11:45
Speaker
ah they ask what happens if they insult a high perfect. and She has you killed. So this is, you know. Yeah. Yeah. Cause that was like, you you haven't told me anything about this. I'll see if I can find the line, but it's like, I don't, I don't even know what a high perfect is. It's like, no, if you don't know right from wrong or insult from flattery, you can make mistakes, but you can't give insult. That's very important. I love that very specific. Like I'm intentionally not telling you anything,
00:12:10
Speaker
yeah Because i I can't tell you enough so that you won't make a mistake. And this way it's a mistake, not an insult. Yeah. which is Just. Just a great little like culture building moment there, too.
00:12:26
Speaker
Yeah. And then Kirill asks if they've ever seen a vampire before. And I like, I like Seanan's comment on this one. It's Kirill, buddy, you've never seen an elf with hooves before. Maybe chill about judging people by your home standards.
00:12:41
Speaker
but Yeah. ah So they're walked right back in there.
00:12:51
Speaker
And ah basically the first thing that Carol notices is that the the the high perfect is just absolutely gorgeous. Yep.
00:13:03
Speaker
Yeah. and and And another great comment from Seanan, meet high perfect Morricant. She's a very pretty lady and a very shitty person. Yep.
00:13:15
Speaker
Because Lorwyn elves are assholes. Yes, yes. As which, you know, is maybe suggested by the fact that like perfect is a title of a person who is physically flawless and that is their leader.
00:13:34
Speaker
That's part of their their hierarchy is how beautiful are you? Yeah. and And I like this line, too. ah You know, when when being interrogated, but they say, I'm a student from Strixhaven. I'm not supposed to be here. Lululean found me in the woods and he stole me so I could come talk to you.
00:13:53
Speaker
Yeah.
00:13:57
Speaker
Yes. and And as you say, like, Morkant is not only perfect, but also very well aware of it. Because then Carol said, Morkant asked, are you angry about that? and And Carol said, I was, but now I'm not. If he hadn't stolen me, I wouldn't get to look at you. You are perfect. And then her response was, I am, aren't I? And then introduces herself.
00:14:18
Speaker
Yeah. ah and um And then we get a little introduction of the elven philosophy, which is that Shadowmoor is just evil and that everything should be bathed into light forever.
00:14:30
Speaker
Yeah, well,
Environmental Challenges for Strixhaven Students
00:14:31
Speaker
and and an interesting line, which I don't know a ton about the story. I guess it's fairly well. She's talking about, you know, ah always many sides the same story. So, yeah, that's true. So she kind of gave this idea and then and then Carol said, well, you know, we heard from Brigid, you know, a different perspective.
00:14:51
Speaker
And then Morkant kind of talks down about the Githkin in a way that I think she probably felt was not super. And so because it said they are simple, uncultured people, but close to the land and concerned with their community and not the needs of other, you know, the wider world. It's like, you really sound like an asshole who sounds like you're trying not to be an asshole, which makes you sound like more of an asshole.
00:15:16
Speaker
And then we cut over to the other student. Well, the last the last line is, though, after they're getting through this, is like, I'd really like to go now, said Kirill, taking a step back. I need to find my friends. Oh, no, said Morkant. She smiled a terrible, perfect smile. We need you. You're not going anywhere. Because Morkant even sets up the talking about Isulu being out of cycle.
00:15:40
Speaker
Yeah.
00:15:45
Speaker
but this line i found particularly interesting we would no longer work to undo in the moonlight all we accomplished in the sunlight the empire could rise again Mm-hmm. Apparently the elves ruled the plane at some point or damn near it when it was eternal day.
00:16:03
Speaker
or or had you know aspirations to it, which I suppose 400 years they probably did. that a lot of people will call things an empire that are not as em empire-ish as they would like, but that's their aspiration.
00:16:16
Speaker
Yeah.
00:16:19
Speaker
So we cut back to the other students and... Abigail is just like, they they finally noticed Carol is missing. It took them a little while. And Abigail's like, you know, I'm going to go find them. You can wait here if you want.
00:16:37
Speaker
And, and, uh, Sonar's like, yeah, I'll go too. ah
00:16:44
Speaker
and at that point, Abigail had kind of taken off. So then Sonar was going after her. Yeah, and that kind of left left Tam just like wondering what the heck's going on.
00:17:02
Speaker
and then well while flying um past, Abigail did not notice a the massive gnarled head of some unfamiliar beast, crowned with antlers made of tangled grasping branches.
00:17:20
Speaker
And Sinar comes to her rescue a bit.
00:17:29
Speaker
And then they then she falls right into the water, which is not good for birds to get soaked and soaking wet like that. Mm-hmm.
00:17:41
Speaker
Is it hard to fly when you're a lot heavier than you normally are? Yeah. Uh... Unless they're specifically designed water, as Sean points out.
00:17:53
Speaker
Yes. Owls are not water birds. No, a lot of waterfowl, the ducks and geese that like to hang out over
Difficult Decisions and Team Dynamics
00:18:04
Speaker
by my place in the right season, certainly not now, their feathers, I don't know if if the feathers are different, like they're set up to resist water more than an owl's feathers would be ready to.
00:18:20
Speaker
And then ah Abigail gets captured by a merfolk, essentially. yeah but I do like the line as she's like trying to fight you know try to figure out what she's going to do. i just love the line. She had the time to think Carol would tease her for forget forgetting how to fly again.
00:18:37
Speaker
yeah but Before she hit the water and the saturated her feathers immediately dragging her to the middle of the stream. So she was she was able to, because her magic did not depend on breath, at just her hands, she was able to create a little like bubble for herself or something.
00:18:59
Speaker
Creating a mask of sorts. Yeah, it's interesting. I think you know it's part of her being deaf is that her magic doesn't have a vocal component to it. Yeah, which is worked really well here because she would not have been able to speak then, but she was able to make the gestures that were required to ah cast a spell, which is what kept her alive. I mean, she was able to breathe while she was unable to fight the current and get to the end. Well, there rock, so she was unable to find a safe place to get out of the water. She was at least able to not need to worry about breathing.
00:19:39
Speaker
But yeah, and then then ran into some merfolk. And then we cut back to Sanar, who ran back to where Tam was waiting and i was just, you know, um...
00:19:52
Speaker
ah Abigail made a drown? Yeah. Drown? yeah Yeah. And I like this comment, another comment from Sean. It's like, Tam is pretty sure that letting a new another student die will impact her grade.
00:20:09
Speaker
That's good. Yeah. well and just I think we we mentioned it. It'd be weird for Tom to jump in here, possibly, but Teo's reading from from Shana McGuire has her notes. Did you say something? Did you actually explain what those were? Not this episode, no. I've i've talked about it on the previous episodes. But ah she does these behind-the-scenes features for all of her stories. And um she goes through ah the stories at a bit of a higher level and then comments on some of the more interesting happenings in the stories.
00:20:47
Speaker
and These are on her blog, right? Yeah, they're on her blog. So if that's something you're interested, you really enjoy the story, go check those out too, because it's fun to kind of have some of that you know extra commentary. Director's cut, that what she refers to them as?
00:20:59
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah, DVD extras. Yeah, DVD extras, essentially. Yeah. So, so yeah, then, um, trying to figure out what to do So, you know, Tam is trying to decide, okay, do we, do we go after Abigail? Do we try to continue on? Do we try to circle back even further, you know, and, and, and, and try to find, uh, uh, Correll, like what should we do? And kind of lands on, so see what would, what would her teacher want her to do? Tam didn't talk about him much. This interesting little potential glimpse of something here is that didn't didn't even want to think about him much to prevent the mind mages in her theory classes from catching a glimpse of him and her thoughts and starting to ask questions. But she knew he would have wanted her to choose the option that would protect herself and save the most people at the same time.
00:21:57
Speaker
Which means her and Sinar at the moment. Yes. And so especially because Sinar was able to report, okay, well, Abigail fell and is maybe drowned, but found the tributary we were sent to look for. And also that he he thinks she probably didn't drown, that she was being swept away.
00:22:14
Speaker
Yes, that's fair. Oh, I see. Yes, I'm missing that. so she So he says the water took her away and Tam asked drowned and then he responded, I don't think so. That's right. Thank you. i So Tam just says, okay, well, let's go find the tributary and continue what we were doing.
00:22:33
Speaker
And so they they head off to to go find Marilynne.
00:22:41
Speaker
and then we cut back to Marlin, the queen of the Fae. she's having another little bit of a breakdown of her worries about becoming Una again.
00:22:57
Speaker
ah Because petals just keep spawning around her. yeah petals that were Una's flesh. that are not flowers of of either Lorwyn or Shadomar.
00:23:17
Speaker
And worried about, like, you know, that she would have been part of Una, um and if she avoided it, but maybe she still is. and yeah Yeah. That worries her. Yeah, she's she's worried that Una would be reborn to terrorize the plane again, and Marilyn would disappear.
Internal Struggles and Identity
00:23:41
Speaker
And they they also think, you know, if if day and night go to war, if Iridu and Asil go to war, that that could bring back the great Aurora, which would return Una to the world.
00:23:57
Speaker
Which, obviously, Marlin doesn't want because Marlin likes her body and likes inhabiting it. Yes, and and also you know fought Una because of the damage that she was doing. and know And not just losing her body and herself, but then also knowing that this evil, this person who likes to harm others is back to end in a position to continue that harm.
00:24:22
Speaker
Yep. and then or And then Tam walks in, and at first ah Marlin ah mistakes the Gorgon for an elemental. Yes. It is a interesting to see the the perspective, an outsider's perspective of our two you know characters, or a person from this plane viewing two people from off the plane, as opposed to the inverse, which is most of what we have seen. yeah Goblins do exist on this plane, but not Gorgon.
00:24:54
Speaker
And so Tam introduces herself and and mentions that Brigad sent them and they're from Strixhaven and they're trying to find a way home. And Seanan's comment here is just Tam is very tired. Yes. And I do like Tam goes on some just like sort of long tirade. And then just the first response is Senna going, whoa. It's like, what? And it's like, I've never heard you talk that much.
00:25:26
Speaker
And then Marlin's hearing laughter, ah which is you not a good sign. Not a good And they talk about, you know, the cycle being out of whack and Una being returning and Marlin not knowing if she has time to stop her. And Sinara's just like, wow, I don't know what any of that means. Yeah. oh Yeah, that's perfect.
00:25:54
Speaker
Yeah. And, and then suddenly Reese slams the door open along with a fairy sitting on his shoulder and pointing at Marilyn, Marilyn,
00:26:06
Speaker
and And it's the same fairy that's been causing all this trouble, Shonan points out. Yep. Yeah. And Sanar says, yeah, points at the fairy and says, that's what we follow through the portal. So this and from little bits of the story previously, it seemed like this fairy very intentionally brought students here, brought people from this other plane in an attempt to get them to maybe wake Isulu. Yeah.
00:26:32
Speaker
Yeah. ah And then Rhys is just like, oh, you've been keeping it from me that Una might be coming back because Rhys has a pact. If Una might be coming back, he's supposed to kill Marlin.
00:26:44
Speaker
And Marlin decides she doesn't want to die and takes off running with Tam and Sanar.
00:26:54
Speaker
and this is like, ah we have to go, said Marlin. That was Rhys, my advisor and oldest friend, and he'll kill me if he thinks Una is coming back. Why, asked Sanar. I made him swear he would. um yeah and then they run and and she tells the fairy that was with him that brought the whole you know brought the class to the students here it's like you're you with us now and yeahy the fairy comes along and looking deeply amused it mentions specifically the
00:27:28
Speaker
ah And if you've guessed who the fairy is by now, good job. I ah sort of figured it out. I had a good guess at this point who it was. Yeah,
00:27:40
Speaker
i I did not, having not having a lot of familiarity with previous Lorwyn story. I don't know if that have helped or not, but I knew it would not have because there was no tie to Lorwyn before the story.
00:27:55
Speaker
okay for the Okay. I did have, i figured it out in the next story when this topic when this topic comes up a little bit right before you're basically told it Yeah. so speaking of the next story, it is called if we shadows.
00:28:17
Speaker
Um, and I guess I, I, I don't know if we missed it or I just didn't mention it, but Marlon dispatches, Carol to fetch a flower for her. That's where the name of the title of that last story went from. the the flower that Marlon or not Marlon, but, uh,
00:28:37
Speaker
um Just goes to story. The Elf wants to use to poison Isulu to keep the knight from coming back.
00:28:48
Speaker
Yeah.
00:28:53
Speaker
Yeah. So then story five picks up right at the rate where we left with Marlin, Sonar, and Tam running to the edge of the palace grounds.
00:29:04
Speaker
Yeah, and I like Marlin asked, do either of you have a sword? And Sonara and Tam stared at her. We're students on a field trip. We're not armed. And Seanan's comment here is thus proving it was not a field trip to Innistrad or Fiora.
00:29:22
Speaker
Yep. Because in those places, you would especially be armed. Yeah. Yeah. I was like, well, I can't call a fairy swarm to help us. Reese will follow them. The fairy had her shoulder giggled like he was having the time of his life. Yeah. and And then you get a very dangerous question from a goblin. Oh, this is another another good Seanan comment. It was right after that line. It says, oh, hey, the asshole fairy's got pronouns.
00:29:49
Speaker
Perfect. Well, that's the first time they're referred to as a gender. So a little bit more. can to Okay. This might be, i did not catch that. Yeah.
00:30:00
Speaker
right. So then we get, um yeah.
Philosophical Views and Character Depth
00:30:03
Speaker
So now we're asking, do we just need to cut the butt off? And so the Maryland nods and he just starts digging through his pockets, finding mud and a leaf and some flowers and a flyer for mage trial tower tryouts. And they're like, what are you doing? And his response was Prismari study track. I'm just be like, nope, cover my ears and duck. Yeah.
00:30:26
Speaker
and And this is another, you know, Shannon has a lot of good comments. with this I got, you know, this was like three in a row. i got to point out. And the comment, this is quite simply one of my favorite exchanges the entire story.
00:30:37
Speaker
It would have put up with so much more pushing character from point A to point B if it meant I got ah the calm Prismari study track is an explanation for managing mashing incomprehensible objects into explosive goo. Thank you, Sunar. Thank you.
00:30:54
Speaker
it's That's That's wonderful. yeah And again, I just, I love that, like, Tam knew exactly what was going on, and of course then Marilyn would have no idea. So then it explodes. It's just naturally, it just, it explodes. Well, nothing happened at first. Yes. And Marilyn's just like, I don't understand what, and then it explodes. Yes, and then I look Tam like, did you have to blow it up? And then his only response is, yep.
00:31:20
Speaker
Yep, since and and then another Sean in Comet says, he is going to do great in Prismari.
00:31:27
Speaker
Yes. Yes, I think he will. But yeah, then they then they head along. Yeah. ah And ah Tam observes that Marwan's been ready to run for a while.
00:31:45
Speaker
And... and
00:31:49
Speaker
Yeah, and and and then kind of her explanation. well Well, then Tam says, you know that's you created a world you you couldn't live in. That's why you asked Rhys to do you a favor and he ran when he tried.
00:32:01
Speaker
And then Marilyn's explanation, like Una was my creator and I needed to know I wouldn't become her if I had the same power she did. I needed to know that Lorwyn Shadomar would be safe from her return.
00:32:14
Speaker
But I'm still myself. Even if parts of her live on in me, I'm not her and I need to make Rhys see that. Yeah, and um and then they talk about, like, can they release him from the oath, and they can't really...
00:32:34
Speaker
And I liked that this line is good too. Tam found herself wondering whether they had Gorgons and Lorwyn because Marlin didn't flinch before meeting her eyes. Neither did most of the students she knew from Archavius. They didn't know to be afraid of a Gorgon's gaze. And so they weren't. It was strange. At home, even her teacher would sometimes flinch and she could have ah couldn't have hurt him if she wanted. So she is one of the types of Gorgon who don't have death touch.
00:32:59
Speaker
ah Which is, it's plane to plane in Magic whether Gorgons have Stone Gaze like Vraska does. It depends on what plane they're from. Yeah, so then they they keep journeying.
00:33:13
Speaker
And then Marilyn tells them that they're heading to this. they She said, I have friends in this bog. This is the home of the stink drinker Warren of Bogarts. And unless she's moved along since her like since last since she last sent word, we'll find Aisling here.
00:33:32
Speaker
And Aisling brings in the elementals to the story. she kind of explains a bit about ashling's history just traveling and you know someone that she knew back during the the last the story of the last set essentially yeah ashling was one of the major major characters in the original block as well uh And I liked the description of Aisling. Her face was a mask of the same black glass as her body, crowned with a shock of blazing bonfire. More flames leaked out along the line of her throat and from the creases of her joints, making her look like a barely contained inferno.
00:34:13
Speaker
Yep. Yeah. And I love Sanar's first reaction, too. He just says, whoa, said and is scrambling out, staring at Aisling. You're beautiful. And then...
00:34:26
Speaker
tam his sonar trying to like be you know don't be rude and then his just response was what she is fire is always pretty but letting fire to decide to be a person is a special sort of pretty yeah sonar is a little philosopher yeah and then before tem can explain how this was in foretaste goblin philosophy Yeah, and then Aisling laughed. No, i've got I've got to cover this comment from Sean. Oh, yeah. Sinar really, really likes things that burn, and things that explode in natural disasters. Aisling may be his perfect woman.
00:34:59
Speaker
ah Excellent. Yeah. it's i Yeah. I love it. It's that's a great, a great little introduction, but between them. Yeah. And and then Aisling helps them get out of the boat and, and head toward the stink drinker, of Warren.
00:35:19
Speaker
Yeah. Which Sinara gets to go play with some goblins for a little while. Yes. They went to fish for some eels and he was very excited.
00:35:29
Speaker
And this is when we get Aisling knows what the elves are up to somehow. It doesn't really explain how she knows, but she knows that the elves are planning on trying to kill Isulu.
00:35:41
Speaker
And ah they're looking for poisons that might help them complete the task. And then Tam is like, wouldn't that be a good thing? Forgive me, but it seems like your world is better in the daylight. Our allies turned against us when night fell. If we can stop the night forever, we can perfect your world. Wouldn't that be better?
00:35:59
Speaker
Uh, and as, uh, not in the least said, Marlin, Lauren isn't meant to exist unchallenged. We need the balance shadow more provides the true transforming night. A silly, a rude, or balance forces equal in all things. And we see what happens when we have one without the other.
00:36:15
Speaker
I don't want to die. If I were to agree to ending the night forever, i would deserve the death Reese promised me eternal day is una's way, not my own.
00:36:25
Speaker
Uh,
00:36:28
Speaker
So then we really get to the point that, you know, Lorwyn and Shadowmoor supposed to be a balanced plane. That is the natural order of things here. The way that it was before was unnatural, and that was being controlled by Una.
00:36:42
Speaker
yeah And then Aisling, you know, explains as well. As Sulu would regenerate, the balance would restore. Una destroyed both great elementals um when she created her Aurora, and they found a new balance after the Aurora, which... I think, you know, Maryland then snapped like that doesn't mean I can condone an attack on the natural order, not when we've just got it back. But I think part of this was at least my read of Aisling too, was just saying that there, even if I don't want to say that there's a futility to it, but it's like, this is the natural order, how it's supposed to be. You can impose upon it for a period of time, but then it would correct itself. And so the, the idea to do this is not only a bad idea, but it's also a bad idea with a limited time span.
00:37:26
Speaker
So it's like, it's something you shouldn't be trying to do because it will cause lots of pain and won't even get you what you want in the end. yeah and the Yeah. And then we cut to a Johnny for a
Ajani's Role and Battle Prowess
00:37:39
Speaker
little bit. who who immediately try Who immediately gets attacked by some millipede looking thing.
00:37:48
Speaker
which Ajani makes short work of. just love the line. It was not a battle that could ever have lasted for long. Yeah. Ajani was a great warrior, a survivor of a hundred battles against greater enemies than this.
00:38:05
Speaker
Yeah, he he tried to repel it without wounding it, but it, ah but it kept strike. It struck again and again, and he had no choice but to strike it down.
00:38:16
Speaker
And then,
00:38:19
Speaker
And then he finds the tracks of the students walking away from the gate. Oh, it simply says clearly fleeing from something.
00:38:29
Speaker
oh Yeah. And, Yep. And he's, you know, then he kind of assesses the area and says, Beast of Shadowmore and Beats of Lorwyn, both driven but to attack, but a sudden change of day and night. This isn't how things were meant to be. He could tell how out of sync the plane was with itself and how unhappy. And then the the last line in his section here was this had to stop.
00:38:54
Speaker
And then we we flash back to Tam Sanarn and Marilyn. Yeah. And the goblins have prepared a boat for them and the goblins are going to guide them down the river. Uh, and once they've been dropped off near gold meadow.
00:39:10
Speaker
And i like this is line is like Tam again, showing that, uh, you know, as much as she likes people, she's also, you know, very out for herself too. It's just friends are important said Tam, but they can leave you vulnerable too. She looked back at where Sinar looked over the rallying dangling one blue hand in the water.
00:39:32
Speaker
Tam Frown, you were running from this wreath because he wants to keep his word. Please forgive me for not putting too much stock in your promises.
Marlin's Creation and Backstory
00:39:40
Speaker
ah So Tam's not very trusting of Marlin here at this point.
00:39:46
Speaker
And then Aisling is like, well, she's telling the truth. You know, Una basically screwed the world over. And wrecked the balance. um And I like this line. Lorwyn doesn't remember Shadowmoor. Does nor Shadowmoor remember Lorwyn. But a creature knows when it's only half of what it's meant to be.
00:40:05
Speaker
Yeah. And then Marilyn simply says, Una broke the world. Yeah. Which Tam still kind of isn't buying. It's like, but the why is that your fault? you Just because this Una might be back, there's no reason you should have to die. Also, Tam is like, just because she's your mother and Marilyn quickly cut. She's not my mother. She made me.
00:40:23
Speaker
Yeah. Pinched off a piece of herself like plucking a petal from a flower she made me. Yeah. ah oh Never heard of such a thing, a little stranger. Did you think all lives begin with a loving embrace of a family to welcome you Mine begin in Ona's bar, petal-born and larval distinct from the furries around me and that I was half-finished waiting to be put through my insars by Ona herself.
00:40:49
Speaker
Yeah. To be her avatar and carry her consciousness ahead of my own. Kept me as a weapon, not a child. It's it's really setting out like this is the even in this world, it is not a usual circumstance, let alone the you know realm of experience that Tam would have.
00:41:12
Speaker
And this is the first time this is mentioned at all in the story. it is like, yeah I was meant to become her when the world inevitably rose against her. She made only two mistakes, my Maker Mother, and I was one of them. And then Ashley's like, what was the other?
00:41:27
Speaker
With so many interests. Yeah, Ashley doesn't know this at all.
00:41:34
Speaker
And then she also made somebody else, Marwan mentions, and...
00:41:47
Speaker
And then this is like, no, Marwyn looked at the water. My creation was her second mistake. The first was my brother. So this is the first mention of Marwyn having it a brother, the and older brother specifically.
00:42:01
Speaker
i was meant to rule Lorwyn when Una couldn't could no longer carry the crown, but wasn't her first choice. She wasn't sure any piece where it could remember itself as she did when subjected to Shadowmoor's light. And so she made another before me intended to be Shadowmoor's prince in waiting.
00:42:17
Speaker
So Justin, yet that was Una's backup plan if Shadowmoor did take over is that she basically had an avatar for either side of
00:42:29
Speaker
That explains part of his backstory too. Like he he befriended a giant, a sage who carried stories of Erdu and Isulu, who's who were legends then not part of our world. He called the man father pledged to be a good son to him. And Una was infuriated.
00:42:49
Speaker
She ordered the giant killed where we could watch and told my brother, the only lesson he should take away from fathers was this, that they will always leave you. They always fall. Yeah, and then we get we get an important little um foreshadowing here. Sitting at the edge of the table, the fairy that had been accompanying them frowned up at Marlin, wings at half-mental. It opened its mouth, looking for a moment like it was going to speak, only to flinch as the boat in church to a sudden stop.
00:43:14
Speaker
Running hard against the bank, Ashley and Marlin rushed to shout up to the Bollywoods who were steering them along the river, demanding to know what was happening. And Seanan's comment here is, that whole story was new to our little troublemaker, too.
00:43:29
Speaker
Yeah. And then in the commotion, the fairy rose and flew away, perplexed expression on its face. Yeah. And the boggarts are like, oh there's something going on here and we can't tell stories of our new experiences if we don't get home. So we're out.
00:43:46
Speaker
And then it touched back to Hyrule. And I like one other little bit from Aisling. She says, we walk. My memory is as unbroken as yours. was like And then she explains, the elemental elemental's touch has left some consequences. My form may flicker night today, but my heart no longer changes. As long as you stay within my light, you should retain some of your daylight nature. And then Sonar's like, people don't change where we're from. And it's like, oh, that's even better than they walk off Yeah.
00:44:19
Speaker
So, and then this is actually, I guess, where we first find out that this is where Curl was cast to find the flower. So even though the last story was called Fetch Me That Flower, we don't actually find out about it till here. So I didn't miss it when we were covering the last story. It just didn't happen yet.
00:44:36
Speaker
Yeah. Uh... And so that kind of cuts back. And so they're they're collecting the Dawn Glove to make the poison. And and and they're going back and forth a little bit. And I do love this line from Carol. They said, picking flowers is what got me into the situation in the first place. yeah Yeah. you Back to the first story that we were doing out in the woods. Yeah. That was their field trip. The point of their field trip was to collect some flowers.
00:45:09
Speaker
Yeah. So then part of the reason that the elves, uh, Mark hat specifically like brought, uh, Carol is because there is a the grove where she wants this flower picked is in shadow more and thus,
00:45:26
Speaker
any her or any of her elves going through it would become their Shadowmoresons. Yeah. but And this is also an interesting part, though, which I missed reading this the first story, is Morricant keeps misgendering Kirill, and Kirill corrects them.
00:45:42
Speaker
And Morricant is ah
00:45:47
Speaker
just doesn't
00:45:50
Speaker
It doesn't like being corrected at all. And Sean, if don't, here's more. Kent doesn't believe in being corrected by anyone. Not as perfect as she is. Her repeated use of the wrong pronouns for cural here is intentional. um Because she just didn't want to be wrong about anything. So...
00:46:07
Speaker
Yes, and i do like after Kirill, you know, in the store in the text here, corrects her, Lewin does use the correct pronouns.
00:46:20
Speaker
Does say they don't deserve to die this that way. Yeah. So Lewin's starting to get a little rebellious against the perfect, too. ah And then Ajani shows up. Yes. to love that too when a white blur burst out of the trees and landed between them a massive two-handed axe in his hands yeah snarled at theurora line and the cinders retreated he snarled at markant and she snarled back less bestial more arrogant
00:46:52
Speaker
yeah and' like ah Are you one professors versus missing students? Yes. it's like My name is Ajani and we are leaving. but Turn his g glare on on Perfect Morkad who tried and failed to match it. One hand on the small of Kirill's back he began guiding the student away.
00:47:15
Speaker
Yeah. And then Lewin decides to go after them. before the perfect can stop him. ah And then we get, and we go back to Aisling stepping into the Shadowmoor and turning into her blue form, which, yeah, that the, the, the, the Lorwyn Shadowmoor elementals have some of my favorite art and magic. They look amazing. Well, the flamekin specifically of the elementals, but,
00:47:45
Speaker
And then another Sean in common is pretty fire lady is basically the living embodiment of the Prismari campus. Cenara is now officially and hopelessly crushing on her.
00:47:58
Speaker
Yep. ah And they're basically walking right into the middle of arrows being shot, trying to trying to herd them closer together.
00:48:11
Speaker
so With the transformed Brigid at the front of the pack. um Yeah. yeah the and And like Aisling says, you know we can't hurt them can't fight or hurt or we will hurt them.
00:48:28
Speaker
What do we do? it's And the scenario's response is, well, we find out where they're taking us. yeah And then they so then they see Isulu walking serenely toward them.
00:48:40
Speaker
a small green speck flitting in front of the beast's moon-crowned head. And then they gasp and and realize that that's the fairy they saw back there.
00:48:51
Speaker
And then Marilyn says, my brother, I only know him in a Shadowmour form from Una's memories, but I know him. Mm-hmm.
00:49:03
Speaker
Ashling said, you Warren, Shadowmour tells lies he may not be who you believe he is. Yeah.
00:49:11
Speaker
And on the horizon where the edge of the forest meets the field, the line of torches appear and the elves appear. So we've got like this three-way confirmment confrontation between our party, the Shadowmoor Kithkin and the Lorwyn elves.
00:49:27
Speaker
And that's where it ends for this story and where we'll be picking up next time. yes Go through the last two main stories, six and seven.
00:49:39
Speaker
Yeah. ah So, yeah, you know, setting up for a big a big fight between all these different groups. ah Yeah. And we'll have to to see. We don't know exactly where our... our so Well, I guess we have two. weve Our party has split into three. so we have this this group here we end with. We have Carol and Ajani somewhere with Lula. Somewhere around here because the elves are here. So we know that they're around. And their Abigail is still somewhere else. Hanging out with merfolk. Hanging out with merfolk. Yeah.
00:50:14
Speaker
Because the merfolk asked her to come. come with them. And so who willll we'll see what what happens there. Yeah. And that's ah that's it for this week. So we hope you enjoyed more of the story. Like I mentioned before, if you enjoyed the behind the scenes commentary, there's a lot more of it than what I what i covered. So check out Seanan's blog.
00:50:39
Speaker
oh it's She has some very funny comments. and And there's, there's um in addition to the main story, there was three side stories. Which I still haven't read. I need to do that.
00:50:52
Speaker
Yeah, so we'll we'll see. maybe Maybe we get to those after um after next week where we finish off the main story. We'll see kind of how how that goes. And then, of course, if you're liking magic story, it's a good time. We'll have Strixhaven soon. We'll have the novel soon-ish.
00:51:08
Speaker
And then not a lot of Magic Store for a while. so Yeah, we still got to April before Strixhaven. So we've got a little bit. The next set is Turtles, which we won't have Strixhaven for, of course. yeah No, we won't have much there. But so, yeah, we'll we'll see.
00:51:25
Speaker
but wings ah Which, yeah, i don't you since you're not on social media, I don't know if you saw this, Alex, but they accidentally spoiled all of the rares and mythics for the Turtles set.
00:51:36
Speaker
Nope, I did not see They were accidentally inserted in the pre-release kits for Lorwyn. Oh, no. so Wizards just came out and published the whole list of rares and mythics for the set because they were accidentally put into Lorwyn pre-release kits.
00:51:54
Speaker
of That sucks, but that's probably the best way for them to handle that.
00:51:59
Speaker
It took a lot of attention off of Lorwyn on its release weekend. So it was once again a bummer that Universe is Beyond was stepping in over. There were people saying this was intentional. like, no, screw up like that is not intentional.
00:52:13
Speaker
Not the way. Because blew so much of their hype machine for the upcoming set. Yep. yeah auditage cycle they have this They have this hype engine built to try to to maximize their stuff. And as much as I really don't like how the thing operates, this is not this is not how they'd have done it. they did not have just They would not have dumped this entire thing.
00:52:42
Speaker
this early they they wanted to piecemeal it out at least a little bit to give a little bit of a you know spotlight to specific things and and whomever would have been previewing this stuff that yeah oh that sucks for just a bunch of people yeah just just all around it does yeah oh wow Yeah. that So yeah, we'll we'll see where we go.
00:53:05
Speaker
um ah we were We were part of the way through Time Swarer Block. Well, story. we Maybe we do some the other stuff. Well, we we'll figure it out. Yeah, we will. You'll take care of yourselves and and we will be back.
00:53:18
Speaker
You have been listening to the Goblin Lore Podcast. Goblin Lore can be found on Blue Sky at GoblinLorePod or by going to our link tree for all of our links, especially to our Discord and our discounts.
00:53:30
Speaker
We welcome all feedback through social media or by joining our Discord, which is very active. And now, goblins, I just want to remind you that goblins, like snowflakes, are only dangerous in numbers.