Transcript
Speaker: I bet she'll be entertaining as fuck to have on the show.
Speaker: So there's that at least.
Speaker: Oh God, yeah.
Speaker: Yeah, 100%.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: You know who else is entertaining as fuck?
Speaker: Who's there?
Speaker: Who?
Speaker: Hey there, everybody.
Speaker: Welcome back to Pixel It.
Speaker: My name is Kevin and with me as always is Phil.
Speaker: Hello.
Speaker: And today we are reading, recapping and reviewing our continuation of Alan Dean Foster's Shadowkeep.
Speaker: Not Destiny 2 Shadowkeep, just Shadowkeep.
Speaker: No, no.
Speaker: No, no, not at all.
Speaker: It's become impossible to find anything about this game.
Speaker: There is nothing that you can find online.
Speaker: You just put Shadowkeep, that is, it has been obliterated by the Destiny 2 train.
Speaker: By the way, I am still amazed that that one is hanging in there as well as it is because I was working in the games industry when that game came out some six years ago.
Speaker: So Destiny came out six years ago.
Speaker: Destiny 2 is...
Speaker: Five years ago.
Speaker: Okay, 2017.
Speaker: Yeah, so you were still at... I was at Scuf Gaming.
Speaker: Yeah, you were still at that controller company.
Speaker: Yeah, yeah.
Speaker: The eSports place.
Speaker: The eSports.
Speaker: ESports.
Speaker: ESports.
Speaker: ESports.
Speaker: Eh?
Speaker: Eh?
Speaker: Sports?
Speaker: I literally had to sit there.
Speaker: It's funny how often that sort of thing comes up when you're back in the normie businesses.
Speaker: Because I work in tourism now, and one of the guys who is literally, he runs the sports industry.
Speaker: division of our tourism industry.
Speaker: And he went to an e-sports convention just to see what it was all about.
Speaker: And he came back and during our monthly meeting was just going, I'm telling you, they were just sitting there watching them play video games.
Speaker: It's crazy.
Speaker: And I'm like, this industry has been around for years.
Speaker: It is a multi-billion dollar industry.
Speaker: And you're just, come on.
Speaker: I have a feeling they shouldn't be sending the traditional sports guy to cover this.
Speaker: It might not be a great idea.
Speaker: Might not be the right fit.
Speaker: But I had to raise my hand at one point and go, yeah, I used to work at this industry and this is how it works.
Speaker: And gave him a quick rundown of certain things they want to know.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And now I might be, they might be calling me in to help figure that out.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: Well, that makes sense.
Speaker: I mean, you, you have a background in the industry.
Speaker: So if they do want to do some sort of event in Greenville or the surrounding, well, Greenville is, is your, your bailiwick.
Speaker: That's pretty much it.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: I was going to say the surrounding area, but no, that's your, your Greenville.
Speaker: And that's it.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: He was like, there were people dressed up as characters and everything.
Speaker: And he's like passing around his phone with this picture.
Speaker: And he's like, and someone's like, who's she supposed to be?
Speaker: Why is she wearing?
Speaker: Are those goggles?
Speaker: That's weird.
Speaker: And it gets to be, and I'm like, that's Tracer.
Speaker: That's Tracer.
Speaker: Her name's Tracer.
Speaker: The character's Tracer, and it's Overwatch.
Speaker: It's Overwatch.
Speaker: Overwatch 2 is coming out this year.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: It's one of the biggest games.
Speaker: You wouldn't believe how thirsty people were for this character when she first came out.
Speaker: See, the thing is, Tracer's gay.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: That is canon now.
Speaker: That's canon now.
Speaker: And so is Soldier 76.
Speaker: And it was.
Speaker: Oh, I always forget that he's gay.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: For Soldier 76, it was one of those too little, too late kind of moments.
Speaker: Be like, well, you kind of waited four years to drop that bomb.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: Like it would have been nice if we knew that right up front.
Speaker: But I think we always knew that Roadhog and Junkrat had something going on.
Speaker: They definitely had something going on.
Speaker: I don't think they are returning for Overwatch 2.
Speaker: They have a new person called the Junker Queen, who is just like the hot version of them.
Speaker: Damn.
Speaker: And she's like, she looks, she's like built like Zarya a little bit, I think.
Speaker: Okay, okay.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: yeah that stinks roadhog was always my main i don't think he was competitive anymore it's been a long time no it's been such i don't uh you know what it's been i used to know all of that stuff there was a good year or two where i was like oh yeah no this is the current meta the current meta is like three tanks and blah blah blah and you know it was it was i i had that knowledge and it is all gone
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: It's yeah.
Speaker: And because it's like Destiny, it's like now it is for a select small group of people, not small, but in video game terms, probably pretty small.
Speaker: It's their everyday game.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: This is just the game you play.
Speaker: It's wow.
Speaker: You know, the way that.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: I mean, Destiny has a lot of stuff to do in it, like there's the raids and all that.
Speaker: all that fun stuff and, and all the, you know, you can spec out your character with the armor and the weapons and fashion.
Speaker: I really liked the aesthetic of Destiny, but I just, it wasn't compelling enough for it to be like something that I would drop everything for.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Who is, who, who, somebody bought Bungie, didn't, uh, not Microsoft.
Speaker: What am I talking about?
Speaker: Uh, Sony.
Speaker: Sony.
Speaker: Sony.
Speaker: Oh, okay.
Speaker: Well, yeah.
Speaker: Which is wild that they went from, they were owned by Microsoft, got out of that.
Speaker: They were owned by Activision, got out of that, and then they were bought by Sony.
Speaker: And they've survived the whole time.
Speaker: The whole time.
Speaker: At no point were they dissolved, at no point were they like,
Speaker: It's subsumed into the, like, it was just, they are untouchable.
Speaker: It's fucking amazing, actually.
Speaker: It is bananas.
Speaker: Absolutely bananas.
Speaker: But you know what?
Speaker: We're not talking about Destiny 2.
Speaker: We're talking about Shadowkeep.
Speaker: We're talking about the novelization written by the king of novelizations himself, Alan Dean Foster.
Speaker: And we left off at chapter five last week.
Speaker: That's right.
Speaker: So we get to chapter five and chapter four ends on like a cliffhanger.
Speaker: There's some goblins off in the distance.
Speaker: What are we going to do with some goblins?
Speaker: And basically the group sees that the goblins are attacking a caravan of these like lizard people called the Zysta.
Speaker: And there are migratory lizard people that travel to warmer weather.
Speaker: So basically, they're cold blooded.
Speaker: So they need to just constantly be on the move to like, oh, well, it's going to be winter here soon.
Speaker: So we got to travel to where it's summer.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: So I thought that was kind of neat.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: He's building the world.
Speaker: We've already got a kangaroo guy and an elf-style kind of race.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah, yeah.
Speaker: And this was back when you could introduce a whole race with just a few sentences describing them instead of actually having to go into like, you know, 40 hours of canon on who they are and where they come from.
Speaker: Like you could keep it simple back then.
Speaker: It was before, this is 1984 or 84?
Speaker: 84.
Speaker: It is about 84, I think, yeah.
Speaker: Yeah, yeah.
Speaker: It was before the nerds demanded all of the footnotes, basically.
Speaker: Well, yeah.
Speaker: It's also, it's before that, but also after that.
Speaker: Because what's his face?
Speaker: Tolkien, basically.
Speaker: Well, that's true.
Speaker: I mean, what's it?
Speaker: The Silmarillion.
Speaker: Silmarillion.
Speaker: Yeah, he did that shit already.
Speaker: Yeah, that's true.
Speaker: That's true.
Speaker: And no one, and that's, but I think that's the difference.
Speaker: No one's ever read the Silmarillion.
Speaker: Well, that's true.
Speaker: I don't think anyone was trying to go toe to toe with it either.
Speaker: So they were like, that was really cool.
Speaker: No one's going to do that ever again.
Speaker: Cut to, you know.
Speaker: If you claim to have read The Silmarillion, no, you haven't.
Speaker: Shut up.
Speaker: No, you haven't.
Speaker: I actually listened to a podcast where the guy just had a child and has been reading the Silmarillion to his kid who is six months old just because that's what he's reading.
Speaker: And he's like, well, the kid needs to hear...
Speaker: You know, what I'm saying.
Speaker: Was that on?
Speaker: Oh, was it?
Speaker: It's probably not aliens.
Speaker: It's probably not aliens.
Speaker: I'm getting them.
Speaker: Was it Tristan?
Speaker: That was Tristan who did that.
Speaker: Friend of the podcast.
Speaker: I think I got them mixed up with another podcast I'm listening to, which also just had a baby.
Speaker: And look, I'll be on It's Probably Not Aliens.
Speaker: If the timing works out, my guest appearance will be this week that this episode comes out.
Speaker: Nice.
Speaker: Go over there.
Speaker: That's perfect timing.
Speaker: See, I did that on purpose.
Speaker: And this is your second appearance on the show, is it not?
Speaker: It's my second appearance on the show, yeah.
Speaker: Oh, that's awesome.
Speaker: We're talking about Hollow Earth.
Speaker: Hollow like a chocolate bunny on Easter.
Speaker: I love it.
Speaker: Friggin podcast.
Speaker: So Silmarillion.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: So basically, Saranol and Praktor are like, nah, forget it.
Speaker: And Merrill's like, no, we have to actually do something about this because we're
Speaker: We are morally good.
Speaker: We are on the good alignment chart.
Speaker: And we get into some weird stuff here, by the way.
Speaker: We get into some really weird race stuff that I was like, huh.
Speaker: And basically, because Praktor is like, well, you know, we're more like the goblins than because the goblins are warm blooded.
Speaker: And they have smooth skin like us.
Speaker: We're like the goblins.
Speaker: We're not like the Zystar.
Speaker: So I don't know why we would get involved.
Speaker: And Meryl's like, it's not appearance that makes them, makes people like a race of people.
Speaker: It's the fact that they have culture and laws.
Speaker: The goblins don't, I suppose?
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And so I was like,
Speaker: So she's like, we are more like the Zysta, even though they are cold blooded, than we're like the goblins.
Speaker: And it's like, OK.
Speaker: At one point, she literally says they're not people.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: It's like, yeah.
Speaker: And I mean, in a world right now where we still see these debates within D&D over certain races in the game being automatically considered evil, like goblins, orcs, et cetera.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: I found this to be very, very interesting.
Speaker: It tells you a lot about where we were with the sword and sorcery stuff.
Speaker: Right, exactly.
Speaker: That there are inherently evil creatures.
Speaker: And not necessarily evil.
Speaker: I think her point of view was it wasn't necessarily evil, just that they weren't
Speaker: You're not killing people.
Speaker: It doesn't count.
Speaker: Yeah, so more beasts than anything else.
Speaker: Yeah, you're killing more beasts that just happens to know how to use tools rather than a person.
Speaker: Which, I don't know, the whole scene kind of skeeved me out a little bit.
Speaker: A little bit, yeah.
Speaker: I feel like Meryld was really, they were both arguing the wrong thing.
Speaker: Yeah, yeah.
Speaker: It was like, it was like, it was like, Practor was like arguing not to intervene because we're more like the goblins and Merrill's arguing to intervene because the goblins are subhuman.
Speaker: And, and I'm like, no, you intervene because the goblins are the aggressor.
Speaker: Like that's all you have to say.
Speaker: You intervene because they're trying to kill women and children down there.
Speaker: That's why.
Speaker: To this like, like right wing talk show discussion.
Speaker: Yeah, it gets a little collar pulley.
Speaker: It's like, oh, can we move on from this?
Speaker: Oh boy.
Speaker: It's like, yeah, no, we kill, because it's like, think about it.
Speaker: Think about it.
Speaker: If it was a pack of wolves, if it was a pack of wolves.
Speaker: Easy.
Speaker: It still wouldn't have been the right argument.
Speaker: Still, no, no, it would not have been the right argument.
Speaker: Because you're like, well, wolves aren't people, so we can just go ahead and kill them.
Speaker: It's like, that's kind of fucked up.
Speaker: No, you're trying to defend these people from an aggressor.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: It's not like we just go around killing goblins.
Speaker: like willy nilly, you know?
Speaker: Right, exactly.
Speaker: It's not like we're trying to.
Speaker: Maybe they do in this world.
Speaker: Maybe we'll find out later.
Speaker: Maybe we'll find out later that that's actually a thing.
Speaker: The Thaladar are like genocidal freaks when it comes to goblins.
Speaker: Yeah, yeah.
Speaker: So basically the goal is they need, the goblins have blockaded the end of this little ravine that the Zysta caravan is in and they have to clear, our party has to clear that blockade in order for the caravan to move on.
Speaker: And they do.
Speaker: They actually, they get in there and they just start kicking ass.
Speaker: And there's one quote that struck me.
Speaker: It was after Praktor kills his first goblin.
Speaker: Oh, okay.
Speaker: I was going to bring this up too.
Speaker: He thinks to himself, how simple it was to kill.
Speaker: He discovered he didn't like it one bit.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: I was going to bring that up too.
Speaker: It's, you know,
Speaker: Right after this question of personhood with goblins, he does at least have this moment where it's just like, oh, yeah, killing people is super easy.
Speaker: I don't like it, though.
Speaker: So it's like, okay, all right.
Speaker: We've got some lessons here, I suppose.
Speaker: And he really starts dipping into this mild existential issue of...
Speaker: of like the morality of his prior job as an armorer creating these weapons that their only purpose is to is to like tear through flesh and kill people.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: He's like, well, this is the first time I've actively killed somebody.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: But it's certainly not the first time I have helped someone.
Speaker: to kill somebody, you know, like he has supplied the weapons and that sort of thing.
Speaker: Is then he complicit, which is way deeper than I expected to read in an 80s sword and sorcery novel.
Speaker: Yeah, 1984 sword and sorcery novel based on a game called Shadowkeep.
Speaker: I mean, that is a deep cut right there.
Speaker: It really is.
Speaker: It's fascinating.
Speaker: So they win.
Speaker: They fight off the goblins.
Speaker: They clear the blockade.
Speaker: The Zysta caravan is able to move on.
Speaker: And now that they're moving again, the goblins have really no recourse to them.
Speaker: the zysta warriors are able to like basically cut down what we find out is that the zysta are just like these merciless warriors and they just they are so strong and so fast the only reason that they were trapped is because they they had to block the arrows and spears from hitting the children uh yeah so they're just kind of stuck at that they're just kind of stuck defensive position
Speaker: But they get out, they get up to the plateau, and they reform their caravan into a defensive position.
Speaker: And they kind of, you know, stop to make camp and tend to their wounded and things like that.
Speaker: And so Praktor goes up to one of the Zistas and who is working on tending to one of the wounded warriors and
Speaker: And this Zysta, who's only ever referred to as senior mother, tells Praktor about how there is no Zysta word for fatally wounded.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: It's a great touch.
Speaker: Which I thought was really neat.
Speaker: She said, either we're dead or we're not, we can recover from just about any injury.
Speaker: So it's like...
Speaker: Either they're killed right then and there, or if you leave them living, they will recover eventually from the wound that was given to them.
Speaker: I was like, that is actually kind of interesting.
Speaker: That's an interesting little...
Speaker: It immediately put into my mind game mechanics.
Speaker: Yeah, exactly.
Speaker: I was like, okay, so do you automatically pass any fortitude check you need to resist dying or bleeding out or something?
Speaker: That's pretty tough shit.
Speaker: You have to overkill them.
Speaker: They automatically pass death saving rolls or something like that.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: That's OP as shit, man.
Speaker: It is.
Speaker: It is.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: So she also tells him, tells Praktor that basically they will never stop fighting when there's children involved.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Because they do not have a traditional familial setup where it's just the biological parents who raise the children.
Speaker: It's literally the village.
Speaker: It takes the entire village raises all the children.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: which is a very, you know, thousands of years ago.
Speaker: That's that was more the in the line with the way humans used to raise their kids.
Speaker: Absolutely.
Speaker: It was more about the group rather than than just the biological parents.
Speaker: It's a it's a nice detail in it is like subverting that expectation of, you know,
Speaker: Colloquially, you know, thinking of something as cold blooded and seeing it being this family unit that they're very, very close knit indeed.
Speaker: Very, very close knit family.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: It's a it's a it's a really cool detail.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: I like it.
Speaker: And so basically the senior mother continues on and is like, well, we owe a debt to your party.
Speaker: And Praktor's like, forget about it.
Speaker: And she's like, no, it's law.
Speaker: It's Zysta law.
Speaker: We can't just forget the obligation that we have to you.
Speaker: And he's like, I'll just take like an extra sword or something.
Speaker: And she's like, no.
Speaker: She's like, nope, we got to repay life with life.
Speaker: And he's like, oh, what does that mean?
Speaker: And basically, dun dun dun, we have a new party member.
Speaker: Chewbacca joins the team.
Speaker: Chewbacca joins the team.
Speaker: They send... Wookiee life debts the fuck out of him.
Speaker: Life debts the fuck out of him.
Speaker: Might as well be.
Speaker: In terms of strength, it's basically a Wookiee.
Speaker: They send... They're going to send with the party their finest warrior named Hagrod.
Speaker: Or is it Hargrod?
Speaker: Hagrod or Hargrod?
Speaker: I think it's Hagrod.
Speaker: No, Hargrod.
Speaker: Hargrod.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: He is their finest warrior and also the one who is able to withstand cold the most.
Speaker: He's the tankiest tank that ever tanked.
Speaker: He's the tankiest tank that ever tanked.
Speaker: So basically, Hargrad is like, all right, I'm going to go with you.
Speaker: And Praktor's like, welcome to the team.
Speaker: Maybe we'll even be friends at some point.
Speaker: Hargrad's like, no, I don't think so.
Speaker: It'd be a lot easier if we weren't.
Speaker: Thanks.
Speaker: He's like, no, in fact, as soon as I consider my debt to be paid, I leave.
Speaker: And I was like, oh, OK.
Speaker: I respect that.
Speaker: I'm going to get back and tend to the children.
Speaker: Yeah, literally, he has a wife that he is leaving to do this.
Speaker: Ain't that a bitch.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: You're getting attacked by goblins one minute and the next your husband's been volunteered for a suicide mission to shadow keep.
Speaker: Exactly.
Speaker: This has been a real fun Tuesday.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Sranel does not like Hargrot because the Zysta are not fun people.
Speaker: Srannell, by the way, this section of the book that we're reading is where Srannell starts really getting on my goddamn nerves.
Speaker: Srannell goes from like, oh, isn't he a fun character?
Speaker: And we're like, god fucking damn it.
Speaker: To the six-year-old that you feel like you have to swat every five minutes.
Speaker: And we're not quite there yet, but that's just like a hint of it.
Speaker: It's like, oh man, these guys aren't very fun.
Speaker: Shut up.
Speaker: Can you take, can you, can you fight until you're literally dead?
Speaker: Then fuck off, kangaroo.
Speaker: I like the way I said kangaroo.
Speaker: It sounded like I was kind of slurring or something.
Speaker: Yeah, I don't like that.
Speaker: I didn't like that.
Speaker: Kangaroo as a slur, that's.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Not a fan.
Speaker: Not a fan.
Speaker: Anyway, chapter six.
Speaker: We're just going to leave that there.
Speaker: Yeah, let's do it.
Speaker: Let's leave that one in the dust.
Speaker: Let's leave that one in the dust.
Speaker: So they take off on their journey.
Speaker: They're going down the road.
Speaker: They have, Praktor and Merald have a brief discussion about
Speaker: And I thought it was kind of funny.
Speaker: Basically, the end of the discussion is Praktor will stop treating Meryld as if she's like a delicate flower and breakable.
Speaker: And in return, Meryld will stop flirting with him.
Speaker: Man, this poor girl back home.
Speaker: Janacy, is that what it was?
Speaker: Janacy?
Speaker: Whatever.
Speaker: Ricency.
Speaker: Ricency, that's what it is.
Speaker: Just this poor girl.
Speaker: She gets basically no mentions.
Speaker: She gets like one mention in this section of the book.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And otherwise, this guy is just falling all over himself over this elf.
Speaker: It is so sad.
Speaker: And Meryl's just giving it, laying it on thick.
Speaker: Oh, yeah, she knows what she's doing.
Speaker: She's 80 years old.
Speaker: He's not the first boy she's flirted with.
Speaker: Oh, God.
Speaker: So he's like, I can't.
Speaker: I'm betrothed to another back home.
Speaker: I got a girlfriend who's age appropriate and everything.
Speaker: And Meryl's like, well, you stop treating me like I'm breakable and I'll stop.
Speaker: flirting with you is basically how that happens and he's like do you think either of those are going to happen or no no i don't think so tractor tractor has has definitely has some sexism that he needs to work through it ain't over it ain't over folks
Speaker: So on their way, they have a, the DM rolls the dice and they have a random encounter with a caravan of humans fleeing.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: In the direction of Shadowkeep.
Speaker: Meryl, can you roll perception for me, please?
Speaker: Yeah, it's like, yeah.
Speaker: He didn't say initiative, right?
Speaker: Okay, good.
Speaker: Okay, okay.
Speaker: Oh, so you see a caravan.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: So yeah, there's a group of humans.
Speaker: It really does feel that way for a lot of humans.
Speaker: It does feel that way.
Speaker: It does.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: So they see a group of humans fleeing from the direction of Shadowkeep from a town called Kept Basin.
Speaker: What a name.
Speaker: That is a great name.
Speaker: And Kept Basin is the town that is at the foot of Shadowkeep from what I gathered.
Speaker: Yeah, yeah.
Speaker: In the shadow of Shadowkeep.
Speaker: In the shadow of Shadowkeep is a town called Kept Basin.
Speaker: And it's a, you know, quaint little town.
Speaker: And they talk to one of the travelers, an old man who is, you know, he's bringing up the rear of the caravan.
Speaker: And he basically gives them the lowdown of what's going on.
Speaker: Kept Basin started getting hauntings.
Speaker: There were wraiths.
Speaker: that kept appearing in people's homes and emerging from the keep.
Speaker: And also, oh, it also seems like it's always night there for some reason.
Speaker: I think our town's cursed.
Speaker: We should probably go.
Speaker: So everybody packs up and heads out.
Speaker: And then the old man tells them about
Speaker: Even though the town is completely empty, there is probably one person still there.
Speaker: And that is an innkeeper named Norrell.
Speaker: Norrell.
Speaker: Who has not left his inn behind.
Speaker: And he also says, and there's rumors that Norrell has more to offer than just rooms for rent.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: And then the guy goes on.
Speaker: Don't they say that like his explanation is like, look, I sell to people and now I'll sell to demons.
Speaker: I don't give a shit.
Speaker: That's fine.
Speaker: That's basically his explanation.
Speaker: He's like, I'll sell to anybody.
Speaker: I don't care.
Speaker: He's truly a both sides are bad sort of fella.
Speaker: Exactly.
Speaker: So they arrive at Capped Basin.
Speaker: A few days later, the soil's been corrupted.
Speaker: It's...
Speaker: endlessly foggy, and they see Shadowkeep in person for the first time.
Speaker: Basically, Praktor says it was designed by someone who is clearly not an artist.
Speaker: It is grim, stolid, and dull.
Speaker: So it's just, I was like, oh yeah, that makes sense.
Speaker: A wizard who has no real sense of architecture or artistry basically just threw this thing together.
Speaker: I'm like, okay.
Speaker: Yeah, it's, yeah, the, the,
Speaker: Which makes a lot of sense when you think about it.
Speaker: I couldn't help but think like anytime you've seen these grand mansions and castles and stuff designed by, you know, that this is a trope, you know, these places that are built for wizards and...
Speaker: He just holds himself up in there with all of these important tomes of knowledge and does experiments and stuff.
Speaker: And there are always these grandly beautiful places.
Speaker: And I never thought about it until now, but it's like, oh yeah, they would probably be ugly as shit.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: It would just be really, it's just brutalism and East Soviet block kind of concrete walls and everything.
Speaker: But it's got priceless treasures inside.
Speaker: My secret mission is that I kind of like brutalism.
Speaker: Brutalism is pretty cool.
Speaker: No, no, I'm with you.
Speaker: It is pretty cool.
Speaker: Kind of dig it.
Speaker: I don't know why.
Speaker: I just love how imposing it is.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: It's very... Utilitarian and imposing at the same time.
Speaker: I don't blame you.
Speaker: So they meet... Oh, and Practor and Merrill have another back and forth.
Speaker: more flirting back and forth.
Speaker: Practor's like, please stop calling me young.
Speaker: And how would you like it if I started calling you old or elder?
Speaker: And she's like, okay, fine.
Speaker: Careful, Practor.
Speaker: She's going to start calling you daddy next and you're really not going to know what to do then.
Speaker: Who's the daddy?
Speaker: Clearly it's Norrell, who is a big fat man.
Speaker: Big, big dude.
Speaker: Just a big dude.
Speaker: They estimate at one point that's written, like they estimate he's tipping the scales at about 400 pounds.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Just a beefy man.
Speaker: Real tough to get a read on.
Speaker: He is, he is, he's like, I am neutral.
Speaker: I am Switzerland in this whole humans V demons debate.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: He's a weird character.
Speaker: So weird.
Speaker: He's so antagonistic and condescending in different ways to each of the party members too.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: But then he's like, all right, well, come on, let's all get drunk and have a big meal.
Speaker: And then suddenly he's super supportive and very cool.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah, so they basically, chapter seven begins with them realizing that with Norrell preparing a huge feast.
Speaker: And so it's like, it's more food than he typically cooks.
Speaker: He's like, well, I got no other travelers to tend to, so I'm going to make a big meal.
Speaker: And I thought it was great that Meryl
Speaker: is described as having moved away from the group and her male companions are assaulting their plates.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: I love that line, yeah.
Speaker: She just like moves a few seats down because she's kind of disgusted with how they're eating.
Speaker: I imagine there's a lot of food flying in the air, too.
Speaker: Just like a lot of shit ain't hitting the target, you know?
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Oh, gosh.
Speaker: They all retire for the evening and Norrell takes Praktor.
Speaker: into a back storeroom to show him some- This was such a weird scene.
Speaker: Such a weird moment.
Speaker: And it's a weird moment for nothing to happen.
Speaker: Yeah, yes, exactly, yes.
Speaker: So Norrell takes Praktor back into this storeroom and it has all of this, you know,
Speaker: It's basically like the building at the end of the Raiders of the Lost Ark.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Norrell just has all this stuff that top men should be looking at.
Speaker: Top men.
Speaker: Top men.
Speaker: It's beautiful.
Speaker: They call him Belosh.
Speaker: That's... We could do this all night, guys.
Speaker: We could do this.
Speaker: Belok.
Speaker: And you know, I get the feeling we might.
Speaker: We might.
Speaker: So it takes...
Speaker: So Belloc takes Praktor back into the storeroom to show him some things that he has for sale, relics, potions, et cetera, et cetera.
Speaker: And there's this golden ring that Praktor is really interested in.
Speaker: He's also like, well, maybe Meryl would like it.
Speaker: Like, how about your fucking girlfriend, Praktor?
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Already, yeah.
Speaker: He's like, he left his girlfriend and is like, baby, I'm going to bring home riches.
Speaker: Look, I'm just saying, I know a lot of enlisted guys like this dude.
Speaker: Like, just, baby, I'm going to bring you back so much cool shit.
Speaker: We're going to have a family and live on a cul-de-sac.
Speaker: And the first foreign girl that catches his eye, who?
Speaker: Who are we talking about back home?
Speaker: Nobody.
Speaker: That doesn't sound like a real person.
Speaker: That's not a real name.
Speaker: You made that up.
Speaker: I think I'd remember if I promised my precious, precious virginity to a woman named Ricency.
Speaker: Pretty sure I'd know.
Speaker: Pretty sure.
Speaker: Pretty sure I'd know.
Speaker: But yeah, he's like, oh man, this ring would be great for Merald.
Speaker: And Norrell's like, great, it's 10,000 gold.
Speaker: And Prager's like, what the fuck?
Speaker: What?
Speaker: And I love – and the guy's like – and he really seems – he does say – he says like, hey, look, I know not to judge a book by X-Cother.
Speaker: Maybe – I thought maybe you might have had the money.
Speaker: And he's like, no, I don't even –
Speaker: I can't even wrap my head around that kind of money.
Speaker: And he's like, well, everything else is pretty expensive.
Speaker: And Bractor's like, I think I'm good.
Speaker: Oh yeah, he hustles him out of there.
Speaker: He starts to realize that's his budget.
Speaker: And he's like, oh no, we're moving on.
Speaker: We're not, yeah, nevermind.
Speaker: Forget I said anything.
Speaker: So they wake up the next morning, Norrell feeds them.
Speaker: Wait, hold on real quick.
Speaker: And that's it?
Speaker: That's it?
Speaker: Like the whole scene is just a sales pitch.
Speaker: Just to, Norrell basically brings him in for like, he's like, listen, I know this town is a little empty right now, but I got some timeshares.
Speaker: Dude, that's exactly what it is.
Speaker: They got keep view.
Speaker: So you have a view of Shadowkeep from the backyard.
Speaker: You get three days a year and- It's called Glen Ross Farms.
Speaker: It's called Shadow Glen.
Speaker: It's called Herbalife.
Speaker: Herbalife.
Speaker: Yeah, he's trying, it's like his fucking, what do they call it?
Speaker: The MMO.
Speaker: The multi-level mark, MLMs.
Speaker: Yeah, MLM.
Speaker: It's like he's pitching his MLM to him.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And that's it.
Speaker: That's all that happens.
Speaker: That's all that happens.
Speaker: And they move on.
Speaker: It's such a weird scene.
Speaker: It is a weird scene.
Speaker: It's so weird.
Speaker: I assumed it's going to come back later as important, but.
Speaker: It has to, doesn't it?
Speaker: It has to.
Speaker: It has to.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: I hope.
Speaker: I feel that that's kind of a big miss if that doesn't come around in some way.
Speaker: Like at all.
Speaker: It's such a weird scene.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: So yeah, the next morning Norrell gives them a huge breakfast, even though they can't eat anymore.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: And they're like, all right, we're going to go walk over to Shadowkeep now.
Speaker: Because that's the thing, is Shadowkeep is just like over there.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: It's like across the street from the scene.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: It's up the road.
Speaker: We're going to leave our horses with you if you can take care of them, and we're going to go into Shadowkeep.
Speaker: We're going to stop at the Bojangles along the way to Shadowkeep, which is just up the road.
Speaker: We're going to step up the road.
Speaker: Oh, God.
Speaker: It's so casual.
Speaker: They're here now.
Speaker: It's...
Speaker: What's Bojangles' known for?
Speaker: And it's funny because we're about halfway- Fried chicken, right?
Speaker: Bojangles is fried chicken.
Speaker: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: 24 hour a day biscuits, my friend.
Speaker: Some of the best biscuits in the world.
Speaker: So damn good.
Speaker: Yeah, and I was starting to get to the point because we're about halfway through the book now.
Speaker: Yeah, almost exactly halfway through.
Speaker: Yes, and we have been collecting our party
Speaker: So thoroughly that I was starting to go, I swear to Christ, if this book ends with them standing outside of Shadowkeep, I'm going to lose my mind.
Speaker: So the fact...
Speaker: You know, like some elaborate prologue, you know, because I know that in the game, you have a party of 10.
Speaker: Sure.
Speaker: And so there was a part of me that was like, I wonder if it's just this whole book is him just collecting a party of 10.
Speaker: And then it's like, Shadowkeep loomed ahead.
Speaker: Right, right.
Speaker: And it's like, you want to find out what happens next?
Speaker: Play Shadowkeep.
Speaker: Well, you can by playing the game.
Speaker: But we're actually going to go in now.
Speaker: We're actually going into Shadowkeep.
Speaker: We're going in.
Speaker: Um, they come up to Shadowkeep.
Speaker: Uh, it's, it's, it's got a big old door and they are like, well, what do we do?
Speaker: Uh, how do we do this?
Speaker: And, uh, Merald is like, uh, okay, watch this.
Speaker: And she like, she like Merald, fucking Merald.
Speaker: She basically goes up and she like touches the door in some random ways.
Speaker: And then the door talks to them.
Speaker: So speak the word.
Speaker: And she goes up and like whispers something to the door and the door opens.
Speaker: And Praktor's like, how did you know that?
Speaker: And she's like, it was obvious and refuses to explain anymore.
Speaker: And explains nothing.
Speaker: And basically just chides him like, you really need to start paying closer attention to the shit that happens around you.
Speaker: And Praktor's like, what?
Speaker: What the hell?
Speaker: She's like, come along, dum-dum.
Speaker: Yeah, that's exactly it.
Speaker: It's like, dude.
Speaker: Fuck man.
Speaker: Merrild gets so rude in this.
Speaker: I was like, I found myself like flipping back and forth.
Speaker: Like I was just like, wait, what the hell?
Speaker: No, the only person who could see it, who could get, who could figure it out is Merrild.
Speaker: She solves the puzzle and they don't even know that they're trying to solve a puzzle.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: They got no idea.
Speaker: They're like, they're like, what?
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: All right.
Speaker: Well, I guess I'm glad she came.
Speaker: So Marilyn walks her arrogant ass into the building.
Speaker: Seriously.
Speaker: But what an ass.
Speaker: But what an ass.
Speaker: If you are a practor, you're still thirsting after it.
Speaker: Just thirst.
Speaker: It never ends.
Speaker: Speaking of thirsting, Srannell sees an all silver altar and decides to be the absolute dumbest character in the book.
Speaker: This is literally Srannell's first game of D&D.
Speaker: He had...
Speaker: Like he exists to be the most stereotypical rogue in the party.
Speaker: There's an altar made completely out of silver.
Speaker: And he's like, well, you know what?
Speaker: That's all I need.
Speaker: Let's drag that thing out of here.
Speaker: We melt that baby down.
Speaker: Wagons are going to have to like carry that amount of silver back.
Speaker: And they're like, no, we're not here for that.
Speaker: And Saranel's like, you're not here for that.
Speaker: And they're like, Saranel, don't touch it.
Speaker: There's a rune in the ceiling above it.
Speaker: And Saranel's like, whatever.
Speaker: And then he touches it and he gets hit by a lightning bolt.
Speaker: Yep.
Speaker: He gets flung across the room.
Speaker: And they're like, is he dead?
Speaker: Yeah, they literally assume he's dead at first.
Speaker: He's like, well, fuck, he's dead.
Speaker: And I think it's Meryl disappointed.
Speaker: She's like, no, he's just, he's stunned.
Speaker: No, he's just stupid as hell.
Speaker: Meryl's like, nah, he's pretty much just an idiot.
Speaker: And Praktor just like kicks him awake.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: He's like, you...
Speaker: What the fuck?
Speaker: So they give him a lot of shit for being very greedy and they move on.
Speaker: They move on to the next room.
Speaker: And you think to yourself, you think to yourself, all right, he's learned his lesson.
Speaker: He's learned his lesson, clearly.
Speaker: Yeah, clearly.
Speaker: 100%.
Speaker: Sranel is not going to try to steal from Shadowkeep again.
Speaker: No, sir.
Speaker: No, sir.
Speaker: No.
Speaker: So they move to the armory and-
Speaker: There's like an anvil and a hammer and Praktor and Merrill debate whether Praktor should hit the anvil with the hammer.
Speaker: And Merrill is like, didn't you just see what happened?
Speaker: Praktor, for God's sake, man.
Speaker: That fucking kangaroo is a goddamn moron.
Speaker: Anyway, what do you think will happen if I hit this thing with my hammer?
Speaker: He's like, well, it's got runes on it and these might be good runes.
Speaker: And she's like, I don't understand them.
Speaker: You don't understand them.
Speaker: Just assume all runes are bad runes for the moment.
Speaker: Can we play that game for a little while?
Speaker: So they don't.
Speaker: They decide not to.
Speaker: And they go into the next room, which is the barracks.
Speaker: So they were basically, in my mind's eye, they were in like a main hall.
Speaker: And then behind that was an armory.
Speaker: And behind that is a barracks.
Speaker: And, you know, the barracks are filthy, but Sranol is basically like jumping into piles of garbage looking to see if there's anything.
Speaker: He totally is.
Speaker: He finds three golds.
Speaker: And I like the term they use for gold coins.
Speaker: They call them goldens.
Speaker: Yes.
Speaker: It's just a little detail.
Speaker: And I thought that was a fun detail.
Speaker: And Sranel cleans the goldens by licking them.
Speaker: And Meryl nearly throws up.
Speaker: Yeah, he sure does.
Speaker: He sure does.
Speaker: That was just a part of it.
Speaker: Meryl is not happy with having seen that.
Speaker: No.
Speaker: And you got to be honest, like based on the way that fantasy, traditional nowadays fantasy treats elves, you figure they're the most likely to be like bigoted probably because they tend to be very erudite and waspy.
Speaker: So, you know, she's like, like holding down like, like 14 different like versions of mud blood for a kangaroo at that point.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: She's going to dip into that Harry Potter racism real quick.
Speaker: You know that JK Rowling shit.
Speaker: She's going to- No.
Speaker: I learned it by watching you, Rowling.
Speaker: That fucking turf.
Speaker: Anyway.
Speaker: Anyhow.
Speaker: She's a piece of shit.
Speaker: That's the position of Pixel It Podcast is JK Rowling.
Speaker: Indeed.
Speaker: Fucking sucks.
Speaker: And we'll get it to you in writing as soon as we want to.
Speaker: As soon as we care, we will give it to you in writing that she sucks.
Speaker: So, yeah, and then they find a little pedestal device with all of these slots in it.
Speaker: And Praktor is like, oh, I saw gems from Norrell's storeroom that would fit into this thing.
Speaker: And they're all basically just like, all right, well.
Speaker: Cool.
Speaker: Cool.
Speaker: I mean, we're not outside at Norrell's.
Speaker: We're kind of stuck in here now.
Speaker: And then there's like a pregnant pause.
Speaker: And meanwhile, Hargrot is like, I found the stairs.
Speaker: It does.
Speaker: You know, it does kind of that moment kind of feels like when you're playing an RPG and you hit a moment where you go, oh, fuck.
Speaker: I think there might have been a side quest that I missed here.
Speaker: Like there was an item that you could have gotten earlier.
Speaker: Yes.
Speaker: And you went, oh, fuck it.
Speaker: Let's keep going.
Speaker: And you get here and you're like, oh, man.
Speaker: Exactly.
Speaker: Exactly.
Speaker: So Hargroud finds the stairs.
Speaker: And they go up to the second floor.
Speaker: And immediately they're under attack.
Speaker: Yes.
Speaker: There is clubs.
Speaker: There's spears.
Speaker: There's all sorts of things being swung in their direction.
Speaker: Meryl and Praktor make a run.
Speaker: They sprint for the next set of stairs and Hargrot and Sranil basically hold off the attackers.
Speaker: And it's an interesting detail where these attackers are not demons, but they also don't know what the fuck they are.
Speaker: They don't really give a lot of description, do they?
Speaker: It's like, we can't tell what they are.
Speaker: They're not demons.
Speaker: They're things, but what they are, we can't really define.
Speaker: They're less than demons, but more than man, partly metal, partly real.
Speaker: I don't know.
Speaker: It's just, they don't get a lot of descriptors here.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: So they basically Hargro and Saran will fight them off.
Speaker: They back themselves up to the stairwell.
Speaker: that uh merald and practor ran up and as soon as they get up practor basically closes the path with a table he like flips a table over the entrance yeah to block the things from getting through um
Speaker: So and Meryl explains to them like these things are under somebody's, you know, magical command or whatever.
Speaker: They're not they're just going to stand there like underneath this entrance.
Speaker: We can't go back this way.
Speaker: So they have to find another way.
Speaker: They, as they're checking the room that they're in, they find a pile of bones in which is a skull that begins to float.
Speaker: And this is just kind of like a...
Speaker: You probably had had problems with the use of this word.
Speaker: Merrill calls it a lich.
Speaker: That's right.
Speaker: With a T. Yeah.
Speaker: With a T. A lich with a T. And it is a floating skull.
Speaker: It's like a it's like a watchdog almost.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And it's there to protect.
Speaker: If I may, if I may, Kevin, for the fans of ours who are Warhammer 40K fans, it resembles Servo Skull.
Speaker: Hmm.
Speaker: Yes.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: There's one for the super cut.
Speaker: There's one.
Speaker: There's one for the Warhammer 40K supercut.
Speaker: So it's this floating skull and it's there to basically just protect a single thing.
Speaker: It's not there to protect anything else in Shadowkeep.
Speaker: It's just one individual thing.
Speaker: And so Praktor starts sorting through the pile of bones and finds a book.
Speaker: And when Praktor tries to touch it, the lich just like its eyes glow and burns Praktor's arm.
Speaker: And Hargrod destroys it with one swift blow from his axe, shattering it across the room.
Speaker: And basically...
Speaker: It gave it gave Praktor like instantaneous sunburn on his arm where it was looking.
Speaker: So I imagine if it was if its gaze kept looking at him, he probably would have been like melted or something.
Speaker: I don't know.
Speaker: Yeah, like a kind of light death ray sort of situation.
Speaker: Yeah, yeah.
Speaker: And then also, so after Hargrod breaks the skull, he finds a gem inside of it, which is the life essence of the Lich that Merald explains.
Speaker: Maybe that'll come back later, I'm not sure.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah, I feel like it's either we're setting a lot of little breadcrumbs to come back to here, or this is literally like a dungeon crawl sort of thing where it's just like, no, that's his reward.
Speaker: He gets a gem.
Speaker: Yeah, I'm not sure what it is either.
Speaker: And we probably could have found out had Sranel for the second time in four rooms decides to touch something.
Speaker: Jesus.
Speaker: Jesus Christ.
Speaker: This is anti-Ru propaganda.
Speaker: That's what this is.
Speaker: These are Ru stereotypes.
Speaker: That's what this book is.
Speaker: So basically, there's a case, a sword case.
Speaker: And Serrano's like, I'm going to open it.
Speaker: And he opens it and out comes poison gas.
Speaker: Whoops, it was trapped.
Speaker: What?
Speaker: And it like knocks Serrano out.
Speaker: Hargrod like grabs Serrano, throws him over his shoulder.
Speaker: It blinds Praktor and Merald.
Speaker: And Hargrod has to like save everybody, like dragging them out of the room and into a hallway so they can recover.
Speaker: It's like...
Speaker: It's like, if I was volunteered for this mission by my grandmother or whatever, the senior mother thing, I'd be so pissed at this point.
Speaker: I'm like, are you serious?
Speaker: Oh my God, these people are so dumb.
Speaker: No, no, they're meant, no, no, this is Darwin at its finest.
Speaker: They're meant to go.
Speaker: Like, why am I here?
Speaker: I am just slowing down evolution.
Speaker: So Argron gets them out and Praktor basically makes an announcement that no one is allowed to touch anything unless Merald says so.
Speaker: And he's like, not even himself.
Speaker: He's like, he's like taking the, the, taking it off himself and saying it's Merald that has to determine whether it's safe to touch.
Speaker: Because I, because I almost fucked up too.
Speaker: I'm not going to, I'm not going to let myself go for that one.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: So, you know,
Speaker: New rule.
Speaker: New, new, new.
Speaker: Thanks for the safety tip, Egon.
Speaker: Yeah, exactly.
Speaker: Exactly.
Speaker: And then they see they find a troll sitting behind a desk waiting for his lunch.
Speaker: Just hanging out.
Speaker: Just hanging out.
Speaker: He's like, do you guys have my lunch?
Speaker: And we're like, oh, sorry, we were not Postmates.
Speaker: And he's like, that's fine.
Speaker: I'll eat you instead.
Speaker: I love by the way that he says, he says, I'm waiting for my lunch, which I thought was a setup for him to say, no, you're my lunch.
Speaker: Because they go and they say, well, yeah, sorry, we didn't bring you any lunch.
Speaker: And he goes, well, the person who's supposed to bring me my lunch will be punished for that.
Speaker: But for now, I'm going to.
Speaker: So he actually was waiting for his lunch.
Speaker: He was literally waiting for lunch.
Speaker: He was just sitting there waiting to eat his lunch.
Speaker: I wonder who caters Shadowkeep.
Speaker: Or do they just do Jimmy Johns like everybody else?
Speaker: Jimmy Johns.
Speaker: Please sponsor us, Jimmy.
Speaker: It's basically the only businesses in Kept Basin are Norrell's Inn and then at Jimmy Johns.
Speaker: Right, exactly.
Speaker: Free smells, the neon sign up in the window.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: So the troll's like, bah.
Speaker: That's basically this entire sequence is the troll going, bah.
Speaker: And they're like, they Scooby-Doo on out of there.
Speaker: Oh, yeah.
Speaker: Leaving a cloud in their own shapes behind.
Speaker: There's a shaggy shaped cloud behind them as they run.
Speaker: Zoinks, like zoinks, Scoob.
Speaker: And...
Speaker: Hargrod really earning his life debt here basically is like running backwards with them and killing all the little trolls that the big troll releases to cover their escape.
Speaker: Like Hargrod really just doing the work here.
Speaker: He just...
Speaker: Is there a better MVP than Hargron at this point?
Speaker: It's like here, you are all like second level people.
Speaker: We're giving you this like level 10 fighter.
Speaker: That's exactly what it is.
Speaker: If you ever play WoW and you're in an instance or something like that and everybody's the appropriate level except for that one guy who's so-and-so's friend who's walking you guys through it.
Speaker: Like, that's basically what Hargrod is.
Speaker: He's just double the level of everybody else.
Speaker: Yeah, yeah.
Speaker: He's...
Speaker: So they run down a hallway and Meryld is basically doing her intuition thing.
Speaker: And she's like, no, go right here.
Speaker: And they go because they reach an intersection.
Speaker: And then they go down a different hallway and then they reach another intersection where it kind of branches off into three paths.
Speaker: And she's like, all right, we got to go down the right one.
Speaker: And Saranel's like, what do you mean they're all going to be dead ends?
Speaker: Because Saranel went ahead and quickly looked at the end of each hallway.
Speaker: He's like, they're all dead ends.
Speaker: And she's like, no, we got to go down this one.
Speaker: And the party gets to the end of the hallway.
Speaker: The trolls are still coming after them.
Speaker: And she's like, look at this wall.
Speaker: And it's like subtly changing colors.
Speaker: And they're like, what is it?
Speaker: And she's like, well, it's a wall, but there's something behind it.
Speaker: And they're like, what's behind it?
Speaker: I don't know.
Speaker: But something is behind it.
Speaker: But something's behind it.
Speaker: So they take a leap and it's a portal and they run through the portal.
Speaker: And it's it's a really nice moment where they get through the portal and then one of the trolls reaches its arm out through the portal as well.
Speaker: And Meryl takes a little bit of a dust dust from a pouch and sprays it onto the wall and says some magic stuff.
Speaker: And the portal closes with the troll's arm on the other side and it cuts it off and the troll's arm falls to the ground.
Speaker: And they say, they hear like screaming somewhere else in Shadowkeep.
Speaker: Yes.
Speaker: So it's interesting.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: We're reaching a whole weird area here with Meryl too where like, is she a mage?
Speaker: Yeah, not, I don't think she's specifically a mage, but the thing I kind of view her as is in, so in Elden Ring, they had this class of,
Speaker: Basically, this specialty that you could pick up called perfuming.
Speaker: So there are these enemies called perfumers where they like instead of casting a fire spell, they would take like a dust and throw it into the air.
Speaker: And that would cause like explode like little fire to appear in the air.
Speaker: So like the perfumers, like their entire thing was using like dust and perfumes and other tangible things.
Speaker: to create something that normally like a wizard would just like cast a spell or what have you.
Speaker: Perfumers used like magical stuff instead.
Speaker: So like almost an alchemist kind of situation.
Speaker: Kind of like an alchemist character, yeah.
Speaker: So I think part of her studies is like she knows a lot about magic stuff.
Speaker: she knows a lot about a lot of things, but she specifically knows a lot about magic, not necessarily as in she's a magician or a mage, but she knows how to close a portal, for example.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: She's just, yeah, she's like this kind of intellectual jack of all trades.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: Interesting.
Speaker: Which is, because in D&D, the, what is it?
Speaker: Is it a...
Speaker: Which one is it that learns magic by studying it?
Speaker: Wizard.
Speaker: Wizard, okay.
Speaker: So it's like a wizard, but she has studied it, but she doesn't actually do it.
Speaker: She just knows it.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: It makes for an interest, because they talk about mages.
Speaker: They talk about wizards.
Speaker: So magic is an existing force in this.
Speaker: But we don't have a mage.
Speaker: It makes for an interesting class, I suppose, a class dynamic.
Speaker: between all of them.
Speaker: It's just, yeah.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: It's, it's, she's a really interesting character, I guess.
Speaker: She is.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Um, so they, they continue on and they are somewhere else in Shadowkeep.
Speaker: They actually don't know where they are now, um, because they've gone through this portal and, yeah,
Speaker: They don't know what floor they're on.
Speaker: They know, though, that... Yeah, they fully warp zoned.
Speaker: They warp zoned.
Speaker: Super Mario Brothers, they skipped a few stages here.
Speaker: Yeah, exactly.
Speaker: Because it seems like they're in... They don't say it specifically.
Speaker: It seems like Gore Withers' throne room or just like his... Yeah, yeah.
Speaker: Because he has there's a chair, there's like plenty of space for people to just kind of like mill about and hang out.
Speaker: Like if he was if he was like having a meeting of a bunch of other wizards or something like that, they could and his his chair is at the head of the room.
Speaker: And it has some, the chair, and fucking Serrano touches the chair.
Speaker: Of course, of course.
Speaker: And this time they're like, well, maybe he's right this time.
Speaker: Shut up.
Speaker: He's not.
Speaker: He's not.
Speaker: The chair starts like glowing.
Speaker: Basically, the chair has some magical properties.
Speaker: I think the way they explain it is like, it would give the person who sits in it possibly the, like, Gore Withers' knowledge.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: But they're like, yeah, or not.
Speaker: We're not going to touch it.
Speaker: Or maybe let's not do that thing.
Speaker: And Meryl's like, Practor, why don't you sit in it?
Speaker: And Practor's like, no.
Speaker: Just no.
Speaker: I'd rather not.
Speaker: Like at least Praktor learned his lesson.
Speaker: You got to give it to him.
Speaker: So there's this magical chair and they have the option to sit in it and all of them check the no box and they're like, we're moving.
Speaker: Moving on, people.
Speaker: So nobody has any.
Speaker: And meanwhile, though, Saranel has left the room and the chapter, our section ends for this evening, ends with Saranel screaming from another room.
Speaker: And that's where we leave off because.
Speaker: I mean, we can only hope that third time's the charm and he's finally dead.
Speaker: Yes.
Speaker: What the fuck, Saranel?
Speaker: What the fuck?
Speaker: We were all rooting for you.
Speaker: So we're two thirds of the way through the book.
Speaker: How are you feeling with the book so far?
Speaker: I'm still really enjoying it.
Speaker: It's still a lot of fun.
Speaker: There's so many like fun character moments.
Speaker: Like the characters like, ah, the characters are really, they have a shit ton of faults, you know?
Speaker: Yes.
Speaker: Meryl is arrogant.
Speaker: Praktor is sexist.
Speaker: And just so ready to forget about his girlfriend.
Speaker: About Ricensee, yeah.
Speaker: Sranil, he's got a lot of moxie and enthusiasm and that is matched by his being as dumb as a box of rocks situationally.
Speaker: As a rogue, that seems about right.
Speaker: And our tank loves too much.
Speaker: So everybody's got equal issues.
Speaker: I think he should have left by now.
Speaker: He should have left by now.
Speaker: The tank is being played by a 16-year-old, and he's been told by his mom that he has to play with his 9-year-old younger brother and his friends.
Speaker: And he's like, all right, fine.
Speaker: He's got to keep him out of trouble.
Speaker: I'm only doing it if I can use my character.
Speaker: And so, yeah.
Speaker: So, yeah.
Speaker: So, that's the vibe I get from Hargarad.
Speaker: I feel like we need, like, he's just earned so much at this point.
Speaker: You're like, all right, he got that one gem, but I feel like he gets, like, half of the treasure and then the rest of them divvy up the other half.
Speaker: Like, he's earned it at this point.
Speaker: He's earned it at this point.
Speaker: So, yeah, we have one episode left of Shadowkeep really burning through this book.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: It's an easy one, isn't it?
Speaker: It's very page-turny.
Speaker: It's page tourney.
Speaker: It's pretty easy to break down everything that's happening in each chapter.
Speaker: So we got about 80 or so pages left.
Speaker: So we'll be good to go next episode.
Speaker: And now for our new... I guess it's no longer new.
Speaker: We've been doing it for a few weeks now.
Speaker: It's not brand new.
Speaker: Brand new.
Speaker: New-ish.
Speaker: Now for a segment I like to call What Are You Playing?
Speaker: So what are you playing, Phil?
Speaker: Um, I think I am, I'm, I'm, I'm about done with, um, Dead Space 3.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: I haven't completed it.
Speaker: I just don't think I want to play it anymore.
Speaker: Hmm.
Speaker: Uh, it's just, it's, it's like, it, it isn't getting much better.
Speaker: There's still a level of like the stuff that you like from Dead Space, but it's getting really monotonous.
Speaker: Oh, gotcha.
Speaker: And, uh, and the, uh,
Speaker: when it isn't monotonous,
Speaker: you're dealing with a storyline that is intensely stupid.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: There's just, it's like, why do I give a shit about if he gets the girl?
Speaker: Like, there's way too much emo drama about my ex-girlfriend who has a new boyfriend who wants to kill us because he doesn't like that I'm her ex-boyfriend.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: Too much boyfriend drama in dead space.
Speaker: Way too much boyfriend drama.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: I mean, his ex-girlfriend, his ex-girlfriend is smoking hot.
Speaker: But so.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: I understand.
Speaker: But also, come on, man.
Speaker: It's just, it's, yeah, it's kind of, it's embarrassing.
Speaker: I feel kind of like every time a cut scene starts in, I kind of preemptively cringe.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Like, I'm just like, I am not going to care.
Speaker: The cringe is strong.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: And you can't skip it.
Speaker: So, yeah, I'm at chapter 15, which means I'm about 75% of the way through, which feels like it'd be a shame to quit now.
Speaker: But I'm genuinely feeling like I might be soon.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: But it's not all bad news.
Speaker: I am also playing a game called Ravenous Devils.
Speaker: Oh, what is that?
Speaker: I think this one came out this year.
Speaker: It is essentially, do you know Sweeney Todd?
Speaker: Yes.
Speaker: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.
Speaker: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.
Speaker: This is essentially Sweeney Todd the game.
Speaker: Played by Johnny Depp in the movie version.
Speaker: And I believe everyone agrees that that's the best version, right?
Speaker: It is.
Speaker: There are no other versions to compare it to.
Speaker: There are no other versions of Sweeney Todd.
Speaker: And there never will have to be.
Speaker: And it'll just be that.
Speaker: Because when you get it right, you don't fuss with it.
Speaker: When you're Tim Burton and Johnny Depp,
Speaker: They're going to get it right.
Speaker: Every time.
Speaker: Every, every time.
Speaker: Every time.
Speaker: So yeah, this was them saying a tribute to that in game form because they don't want to fuck with the music.
Speaker: That classic operatic voice that Depp and Helena Bonham Carter is known for.
Speaker: I almost got through it.
Speaker: I almost got through it.
Speaker: Very, very long pause.
Speaker: Helena.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: But Ravenous Devils is a it's a kind of a simulation strategy game where you play a couple.
Speaker: You have two characters and the husband is a tailor as instead of a barber.
Speaker: And the wife is a pie maker.
Speaker: And it works very much in the same way as the plot line of Sweeney Todd, where you open up a pie shop.
Speaker: on the bottom of the house and a tailor's on the top of the house.
Speaker: And when somebody comes by to look at your clothes, you kill them, steal their clothes, re, you know, kind of like redo them.
Speaker: So they look nice and new and everything.
Speaker: Send the body down the chute.
Speaker: And then you swap to the wife and grind up the body, make pies out of it, swap back up.
Speaker: It's...
Speaker: It's very tense.
Speaker: You have to swap back and forth.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: You have to time things out just right.
Speaker: And the whole idea is you want to keep the customers happy because if they're not happy, they might start to notice some of the suspicious shit that's going on.
Speaker: And you do get kind of a plot line, like people kind of blackmailing you and you get little missions.
Speaker: But the whole thing is basically upgrading your shops so that things are easier.
Speaker: You get more mannequins to hang more clothes on, more tables for people to eat more cannibal pies.
Speaker: It's great.
Speaker: It's a lot of fun.
Speaker: I think it was five bucks.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah, I was looking at it at Steam just now.
Speaker: Yeah, it's tense.
Speaker: It's fun.
Speaker: It's not perfect.
Speaker: It's got some bugs in it.
Speaker: I actually have to start over because they try to walk you through the tutorial kind of stuff bit by bit as you go, which is, I think, a better way to do things instead of top loading it.
Speaker: But unfortunately, I've run into an issue where I got ahead of them a little bit and it just fucked up
Speaker: the tutorial section because you know, so you kind of have to go at their pace sometimes, which is frustrating.
Speaker: That is the worst.
Speaker: I mean, I understand the benefit that tutorials bring, but this happens a lot in even in regular software or web apps where I'll be like, all right, I know exactly what I want to go do.
Speaker: And it's like, well, hold up there, partner.
Speaker: We're going to run you through the tutorial.
Speaker: And there's like no obvious way to just close the tutorial out.
Speaker: And you're like, no, I got to go click on the thing.
Speaker: And they're like, first, you're going to want to click over here.
Speaker: Be like, I don't need to click over there.
Speaker: And you click over here.
Speaker: And you can't skip it.
Speaker: And it's like, and then, you know, the...
Speaker: Clippy appears on screen and looks like you're having trouble clicking the next button and you're like fucking Clippy and then the guy, the Mr. DNA from Jurassic Park appears on the screen and he's like, this tutorial was built with Don-O DNA.
Speaker: It comes from your blood.
Speaker: Yeah, it's a lot like that.
Speaker: And I think it would be one thing if the mechanics of this game were truly unique and very kind of confusing.
Speaker: But these are pretty well-worn mechanics, which is fine.
Speaker: We don't have to redo the wheel every single time.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah, but I feel like you get – it's kind of like being a DM with D&D and that sort of thing, and you get too far ahead of it, and you don't – you railroad people a little bit if you're not careful.
Speaker: Yeah, yeah.
Speaker: And it's – I'm going to get back into it, but I did have to take a break because I was frustrated because basically I knew I was going to have to start all over.
Speaker: Oh, yeah.
Speaker: I know that.
Speaker: I know that feeling.
Speaker: But, you know, that's what you run into with these indie games, and it makes it, you know –
Speaker: these things can be worth it.
Speaker: So far it is.
Speaker: I'm enjoying it so far.
Speaker: So yeah.
Speaker: Ravenous Devils, I mean, five bucks.
Speaker: It's worth a look.
Speaker: It's, it's like a sideways thumbs tilting.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: You know?
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Pretty good.
Speaker: Pretty good.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: B solid B right now.
Speaker: What am I playing this past week?
Speaker: Yes, sir.
Speaker: So I was prepping for my daughter's birthday party.
Speaker: So I was basically playing things that I had previously played.
Speaker: So, yeah, this week was a lot of 20 minutes till dawn.
Speaker: Mm-hmm.
Speaker: There's been some updates 20 minutes till dawn and there's some content updates to vampire survivors, which I was back in.
Speaker: I was back on my bullshit, getting the getting the new achievements.
Speaker: They added the the final boss so you can you can fight the final boss now, which which I did and I beat it.
Speaker: So does that mean I stopped playing the game?
Speaker: No, it doesn't.
Speaker: Nope.
Speaker: I still have more achievements to get.
Speaker: I have never played a game that was so welcoming to get back into after I hadn't played it for like a week.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And you know what it is, is the developer used to work on slot machines.
Speaker: Well, son of a bitch, that explains everything.
Speaker: Oh my God.
Speaker: No, that explains everything about this game.
Speaker: Holy shit.
Speaker: How am I just hearing that makes sense?
Speaker: Oh my God.
Speaker: Yep.
Speaker: Yep.
Speaker: The developer knows how to, like I was thinking about the other day, I was like, oh man, this game would be, if this game had micro transactions, they would be so predatory.
Speaker: They'd rule the world.
Speaker: Thank God it doesn't.
Speaker: And the game still only costs $2.99.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: God.
Speaker: Good God.
Speaker: That would be insane.
Speaker: That would be the worst.
Speaker: But no, I don't know.
Speaker: I know the next update is version one and they're out of early access, I believe.
Speaker: Oh, okay.
Speaker: So after this next update is it.
Speaker: It's pretty much going to be it, I think, unless they do some big... Until they start doing expansions.
Speaker: Expansions and DLC or what have you.
Speaker: But yeah, I mean, it's still a fun.
Speaker: fun game and it's like one of those things where it's like oh you know I'll play it a little bit and then suddenly I've added 10 more hours to my play time of this game it's ridiculous I'm also still playing the quarry here and there just trying to round out some of the achievements on there
Speaker: And they just did some little updates for, you know, there's a little content patch that they added where they had, they added 80s throwback character outfits, DLC.
Speaker: Oh, that's fun.
Speaker: for all the characters.
Speaker: And they added a new online multiplayer mode where you can have seven friends that have the game and basically the seven friends can play along with you and everybody votes on the decisions.
Speaker: Oh, we've got to do that.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Because I want to get this game anyhow.
Speaker: We need to find out who in our group has this game.
Speaker: Yeah, yeah.
Speaker: Because that sounds fun as shit.
Speaker: It does.
Speaker: Otherwise, nothing.
Speaker: I'm not playing anything new at the moment.
Speaker: Just kind of working through some old stuff.
Speaker: But, hey, look at that.
Speaker: There's a weekend deal.
Speaker: All right.
Speaker: This is, you know what?
Speaker: This episode is going to come out after the offer ends.
Speaker: So I'm going to tell you, Phil, right now.
Speaker: This is always bad news for Phil.
Speaker: Control is 70% off right now.
Speaker: You liked control a lot, as I recall.
Speaker: I did.
Speaker: And that's that SPC thing?
Speaker: Yes, it is.
Speaker: It is basically, it is set in the same universe as Alan Wake.
Speaker: OK, yes, yes.
Speaker: It's Remedy makes it, and it's set in the same universe as Alan Wake.
Speaker: There's actually some Alan Wake tie-ins to the game.
Speaker: Nice.
Speaker: So, yeah, SCP, it's very SCP-like where you are going into this unidentified government bureau to rescue your brother and basically the entire building.
Speaker: It's called the Oldest House, I believe.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: And there's some weird like Norse mythology tie-ins to it that are never fully explained.
Speaker: And that's actually kind of the thing I like about it is like a lot of people would say, oh, Control, you know, I hate that they don't explain everything.
Speaker: And I'm like, man, I fucking love that they just...
Speaker: Like, yep, it has something to do with Yggdrasil.
Speaker: Maybe.
Speaker: Well, that used to be what was great about those things, man.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Maybe.
Speaker: Anyway, we got to keep moving.
Speaker: And we're like, no, no, no.
Speaker: What was that?
Speaker: We do not have time to explain.
Speaker: We got to keep moving.
Speaker: I like that.
Speaker: That's awesome.
Speaker: It'd be like, you go through this one portal and be like, why am I in the middle of the night sky?
Speaker: Like, why wouldn't you be?
Speaker: Of course you are.
Speaker: Moving on.
Speaker: Huh?
Speaker: Yeah, no, no, that's just where you are.
Speaker: But why though?
Speaker: Just trust me.
Speaker: It's a weird building.
Speaker: Let's go.
Speaker: I don't understand why you're not catching up to the fact that it's really fucking weird in here.
Speaker: I love that shit.
Speaker: We need more room for that.
Speaker: We need more room for weird just for weird's sake in media.
Speaker: Absolutely.
Speaker: Not everything needs to be footnoted and explained.
Speaker: No, we don't need to overexpose everything.
Speaker: I'm going to write a story with magic in it, and I'm not going to explain how magic works in that universe.
Speaker: Good.
Speaker: You know what?
Speaker: The rules are not even going to be consistent.
Speaker: There's going to be no consistent rules.
Speaker: Why?
Speaker: It's fucking magic.
Speaker: It's magic.
Speaker: Pure chaos.
Speaker: It's chaos.
Speaker: All it is is chaos.
Speaker: It works sometimes because you want it to work.
Speaker: It works sometimes because you don't want it to work.
Speaker: I love it.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: But that'll do it.
Speaker: That'll absolutely do it for tonight's episode.
Speaker: So if you want to help us out, if you really truly want to help us out, give us a follow.
Speaker: Give us a follow on your podcatcher of choice and rate us five stars or whatever rating system they have.
Speaker: But yeah, iTunes and Spotify rate us five stars really helps out on iTunes.
Speaker: If you could leave a written review, that would be even doubly helpful.
Speaker: Follow us on Instagram and the Twitters at PixelitPod.
Speaker: Check out our website at pixelitpod.com where it has links to the Discord and our Steam Curator group where you can see our curated reviews for the games that we talk about in the What Are You Playing segment.
Speaker: Yes.
Speaker: So that'll do it for tonight's episode.
Speaker: Have a good night, everybody.
Speaker: Bye.
Speaker: Bye.
