EXPLORERS WANTED
222: A Hang with Hey You
Transcript provided by Ria Couoh

AUDIO: NINTH WORLD BY DAVID STERLING PLAYS.

DANIEL	
Welcome to Explorers Wanted. We are a weekly Numenera actual play podcast. I will be your humble GM, Daniel Andrlik. With me today is Sampson Davis.

SAMPSON	
I’m on day two of trying to get back into the workout routine post-pandemic. Everything hurts. Everything hurts!

STACE
Day two is the worst.

SAMPSON
Tomorrow is leg day so… I’m going to die.

ALEX
(groans)
I’m so sorry. I hope your bathroom is on the same floor as you.

SAMPSON
(laughs)

DANIEL
(laughs)
Alex Finn.

ALEX
Along with that… that helpful advice, I will also support the release of the “Mouth Sounds cut” that Daniel has threatened on Twitter. Go check it out.

SAMPSON
(giggles)
Yeah. Yeah.

DANIEL
And Stace Babcock.

STACE
Yeah, I started running again a few weeks ago and the first time my legs definitely thought I had betrayed them.

(Laughs.)

STACE
We got like a quarter mile, they were just screaming at me like “why”. I was like “come on, you can do it!”

ALEX
(groans)

DANIEL
Yeah.

STACE	
“You’ve done this before you can do it again!”

ALEX
They declared themselves baby.

STACE
Yeap.

DANIEL
Mhmm.
Who remembers what happened last time? I’m going to pick on… Stace.

STACE
Heck yeah! Because I did my homework!
(beat)
Prior to this so…

(Laughter.)

SAMPSON
Oh, I see how it is.

ALEX
Uh huh. Uh huh. 
(laughs)

STACE
Guys…
(laughing)
When I suspect Daniel is going to pick me, I ask you guys what happened last time. That’s just how it goes.

DANIEL
(laughs)

STACE
Okay, so the starting point I’m still a little hazy on, but we came back to the village from Cha-Cha absorbing the Nature god and… Vlad was a real fucking dick. I remember that. Like, a real asshole.
But anyway, long story short, Dili ends up getting his crafting on. He makes… a set of crutches for Nix, he makes… or starts to work on a plan for a cannon leg, and then also creates a synth slurry for the Hendersons so maybe they won’t have to try to eat rocks.
So, the party takes that slurry out to the Hendersons at their… synth structure and, uh, we very sadly find out that some of their bones apparently turned into synth? And then the other Hendersons may have… broken them apart to eat their bones? That’s the impression I got.

ALEX
I mean, like, waste not, want not.

STACE
Right. So… There are only two Hendersons.

SAMPSON
Family is about sharing.

ALEX
Mhmm.

STACE
Exactly. And it’s what’s on the inside that counts.
Yeah, the two Hendersons that remained. One of them was the guy who, when Cha-Cha tried to help the Hendersons by unmutating them or further mutating them using the Nature god’s powers, she mutated him so that his arm… fell off. Basically. So, the one-armed guy survived…

ALEX
Well, it, like, shrunk up, didn’t it?

SAMPSON
Got deflated I thought…

DANIEL
Mhmm.

ALEX
Yeah.

SAMPSON
So, it’s just like a rubber glove on the side of his… body.

STACE
And it stayed there? I imagined it was just a stump!

SAMPSON
Kind of sounds like all the material just… fell out.

STACE
He’s got a skin pocket flapping in the breeze?

DANIEL
It got pulled back in. It doesn’t look like a… skin.

ALEX
Yeah, like, it deflated and went back in.

STACE
Okay.
The one-armed guy survived. Someone else survived, and they thanked Dili for the recipe. And it was… it really felt bad.

(Laughter)

STACE
Felt like we really hadn’t helped the Hendersons.
And then we… also made clothing. Cha-Cha got her sewing skills on. Nix has a real cool matching top and bottom leather outfit with fringe and… this all took place over a few days. And… once the party came back from delivering the slurry to the Hendersons, they heard that the Travelers were once again visiting to do one of their little recruitment things.

ALEX
Yeah…

STACE
And so… the crew wandered over there only to find Hey You holding several young people spell-bound as he regaled them with… tenets and tales. 

DANIEL	
Oooh.

STACE
And that’s where we ended the episode, probably.

ALEX
Yeah! That sounds like a cliffhanger. Yeah.

DANIEL
Oh, yeah, so you had the crutches because… Dili made the crutches because… He was able to work on the cannon part, but you didn’t want to be without your leg the whole time, so… He needs two more days to install it without the leg on you.

STACE
Right. Yeah.

DANIEL
So, yeah. You guys have just wandered into this scene. It’s not very set up, I mean, it’s literally just… outside of town. Hey You has found, like, a rock that he is sitting on…

AUDIO: STRING AND TWINE BY JAMIE STEVENS VIA AUDIIO PLAYS IN THE BACKGROUND.

DANIEL
As he is talking to all this, you know, adolescents, essentially, hanging out up there. And he’s up there and he’s just like:
“Like I said, my name is Hey You and I want to talk to you a little bit about The Benevolent Society of Travelers. We… go around, we try to help everybody. We try to explore, you know, we try to remember and, you know, through our example, you know, help change the world.
You know, our founder Mordai Kinn developed a particular fighting style…”
And he, like, points at a couple of kids like:
“Yeah, I saw you get excited! Uh, we’ll get to that later! But, you know, also our tenets and our… our ethics.”
He points at one of the kids and says:
“Have you had a chance to go exploring around your town yet?”
And the kid says:
“Not really, my parents are afraid of animals or monsters eating me.”
And Hey You starts telling them a story about exploring and, with a group of people, fighting off… The thing he describes is like a gigantic creature, enormous, long sharp teeth in a huge mouth. Something that screams, something that… The way his description sounds it sounds like something… like a cross between a… really… like a gorilla. And he’s describing, you know, working with these explorers to fight it off and you can see that some of the kids are scared but some are excited by the story. 
“You know, it’s all about the journey and it’s possible that I could have died during all that. But…”

SFX: CROWD OOHS IN ADMIRATION.

DANIEL
“That’s okay. That’s my journey and I still got to help people out. And I’ve seen so much of the Steadfast and… You know, I highly recommend that you guys think about it, you know. I’m going to be “hanging out” out here, you know, in the area, for just a couple more days. And then I’m going to be heading back to the Proving Ground and anybody who wants to can come with me to check it out. Try out some training and see what’s right for them.”

AUDIO: MUSIC FADES AWAY.

DANIEL
“If we want to, we can do a little bit of a… demonstration of the fighting style. A little bit. Just need to limber up a bit, so… Let’s take a short ten-minute break.”
And he hops off the rock and the kids kind of all start wandering around and talking to each other. And Hey You is just over by the rock, and he’s not really stretching that much, he’s… Nix, you would know from… You’ve seen these kinds of demonstrations before, you know that what he’s going to do is very basic but, you know, he’s making a point of kind of… taking a break and, you know, he’s just sort of… staring up and enjoying the sunshine.

ALEX
Question one. Are we disguised?

DANIEL
Yes.

STACE
(cross-talking)
Yes.

SAMPSON
Yes.

ALEX
Okay. I always want to establish that before we start anything!

SAMPSON
Absolutely.

ALEX
Cause we have bad habits.

DANIEL
Mhmm.

ALEX
Very bad habits!

DANIEL
What do you guys do?

SAMPSON
“Nix, how you feeling?”

STACE
“I, uh, I just want to watch and see what happens? Cause like… First of all, that’s Hey You. You guys recognize him?”

SAMPSON
“Yeah. He was, uh…”

ALEX
“Yeah.”

SAMPSON
(continued)
“… in front of the Traveler’s House. In Charmonde.”

ALEX
“Didn’t you give him scorps?”

STACE
“Yeah, yeah! And, uh, so…. I just kind of want to see what’s up! Cause, like, so many people are just against this…? So, I think it might be kind of cool to, like, observe. Without him knowing who I… Also, like, Jen’s hurt me, guys. Jen’s hurt me like real bad.”

ALEX
“So, we hurt her back by chasing Hey You out of town by humiliating him in a one-on-one sparring match where he gets his ass handed to him, and all of the children point and laugh!”

STACE
“No! I just meant that I wanted to make sure he’s cool, Cha-Cha. Before we, like, talked to him? That’s all.”
(chuckles)

ALEX
“Oh.”

STACE
“Damn, dude.”

SAMPSON
(laughs)

ALEX
“I mean, like, no one hurts Nix.”

SAMPSON
“I… I don’t think Hey You is going to hurt Nix. I don’t…”

ALEX
“No, no, no, but, like… We could hurt Jen… through Hey You without really hurting Hey You, because, like, with the growing negativity around the Travelers, I’m worried that a group of people will… kind of taking hands into their own, like...”

STACE
“Hands?”
(laughs)

ALEX
“Ideas.”

STACE
“Oh.”

SAMPSON
(chuckles)

ALEX
“I mean, like, I’ve had the crowd turn on me and when they do… Numbers is a really big factor, so, like, by chasing Hey You out of town we might be doing him a favor before he gets, like, hurt.”

STACE
“I think we just, like, kind of let this play out.”
(beat)
“I want to see what… what’s up. We are going to be like Private Investigators, Cha-Cha.”

ALEX
“We get trench coats and fedoras.”

STACE
“You would have to make them, dude, like…”

SAMPSON
“I don’t think we have enough leather for trench coats.”

ALEX
“Oh. What about fedoras?”

STACE
“Probably!”

SAMPSON
“We’ve got enough leather for one fedora. Actually, not even a fedora, it’s a trilby. We don’t have a lot.”

ALEX
“Mmm. These are… sad circumstances.”

SAMPSON
“It’s a dark time for all of us.”

STACE
“We’re undercover Private Investigators, Cha-Cha. So, we can’t have the hat.”

DANIEL
While you’ve been having this conversation, Hey You has gotten up and walked over to some of the dirt next to the rock and he’s drawn a wide circle on it. Nix, you would recognize it, he’s drawing from memory (just like you could) the exact dimensions of a practice circle at the Proving Grounds.

STACE
Ooh.

DANIEL
And he comes in, he steps inside this circle and he’s just like:
“Okay, so first we will teach you some basic stuff about…”
You know, the kinds of things you teach your body to do. And he begins to start doing sort of… physical displays of things like flips and things like that. It’s the same kind of stuff that you use in combat but…

AUDIO: HOW I DO BY JAMES CURRAN VIA AUDIIO PLAYS.

DANIEL
One of the things that you’ll know, Nix, is that the moves are more flashy than they need to be. This is a physical display intended to impress like… He’s really going for broke, it doesn’t actually have much to do with the, like, fighting prowess. You know, he could just be doing that because he’s performing.

ALEX
I mean, would you say that he is overemphasizing the moves to create openings should someone wish to attack him? I’m just saying… (babbles)

(Laughter.)


SAMPSON
(laughing)
“Cha-Cha, put the gun away! Come on!”

(More laughter.)

ALEX
I mean if he’s just like wide open right there in the middle of the kick…
“We could just… solve this problem.”

SAMPSON
“That would cause a new problem. Let’s… Let’s just… Let’s justwait.”

ALEX
“I feel like the village parents wouldn’t see it that way.”

DANIEL
Sorry, it could just be that he’s doing it to perform. Some of the moves are somewhat reminiscent to the Aerial School of the Travelers. That particular style of combat. You’ve never really seen his tattoos, so you can’t be sure without seeing him in a real fight if… if that his school or not. So, he’s doing those leaps and spins and he’s like:
“Okay, so.”
And he drops down to his feet, and he’s not even out breath. Just like you wouldn’t get out of breath. This is basic stuff. And he looks at the crowd and he’s just…
“Now, that looks fancy but it’s also very practical.”
And he’s like:
“So, can I get a couple volunteers?”
And he points at a couple of, like, the burliest teenagers that you can. 

SAMPSON
(snorts)

DANIEL
Like, the two that look strongest. He’s like:
“Come on, come up!”
And he has them step in the circle and first he has the first one, he says like:
“Hey just come at me, just try to get me. Or, you know, knock me over. Whatever.”
And the kid tries and Hey You easily dodges out of the way…

SFX: STUMBLING. A CRY. LAUGHING CROWD.

DANIEL
And, you know, kind of knocks the kid to the ground like… Very gently, he’s not trying to hurt him. Nix, you are watching his moves and there’s… When the kid is doing this, there are ways that Hey You could do serious damage or even kill him like… very easily in response to that. Hey You is clearly trying to do the gentlest and, well, being the most, like, flowy, impressive thing look from the exterior of somebody watching, to really impress the other kids.

ALEX
Like Karate Kid.

DANIEL
Yeah.
And then he has both the kids try and do it to him and he does the same thing with that.

SFX: GROUND RUSTLING AS THE TWO KIDS DROP. GENTLE CLAPPING FROM THE CROWD.

DANIEL
At the end he’s like:
“So, this is kind of… this is…. This is one of my favorite parts along with the exploration, but then we also, you know…” 

AUDIO: MUSIC FADES AWAY.

DANIEL	
“It becomes a family of people that you trust. And we say our family comes with us, and that’s because, you know, your found family is the most important. And, you know, we honor our parents, you know? The Travelers that have come before us. And that’s what we have… we take on these new parents through the Society.”

STACE
So, Nix is going to try, like, make this sound like it’s coming from possibly anywhere in the crowd. 

DANIEL
Okay.

STACE
And she’s going to be like:
(clears throat)
(in a higher pitched voice)
“I heard you turned on one of your own in Charmonde!”

ALEX
(in a lower pitch)
“Ooooh.”

DANIEL
Okay. I’m going to need a Deception roll or a Stealth roll. Something like that to hide… try to disguise where your voice is coming from. I guess Performance would work too.

ALEX
Cha-Cha is helping.

DANIEL
How did Cha-Cha help?

ALEX
By doing the “oooooh”.

DANIEL
Yeah…

SAMPSON
Dili helped as well.

STACE
By also going “ooh”?

SAMPSON
No, he, uhm, will try to… do his, like, his Illusion at a distance and actually make it sound like it’s coming from a different part of the crowd. 

STACE
Ooh, adding to the “oohs” or Nix?

DANIEL
Maybe adding echo to her voice?

SAMPSON
Yeah, basically just trying to keep it away from us when Hey You looks for the source.

AUDIO: UNKNOWN PHENOMENON BY JEN LEONTI VIA ADOBE STOCK PLAYS.

ALEX
Mhmm.

DANIEL
Okay. So you’ll have two assets on this.

STACE
Alright. And this isn’t Social, right? You said this is more like a Stealth…

DANIEL
No, it’s not Social. So, difficulty is going to be a 15, and then you’ve got two assets so that’s a nine…

STACE
Is it Speed?

DANIEL
It’s going to be… I think probably... It’s probably Intellect based, to pull this off?

STACE
Okay. Nix is feeling very confident about her ability and her points…

DANIEL
Okay!

STACE
So that’s a… Six?

DANIEL
Okay.

STACE
That’s a lot of… Hm, that’s expensive Effort over… But, you know, what else does Nix have Intellect for? I’m going to spend one level of Effort to drop it to a three.

DANIEL
Okay. Please roll a one.

STACE
Seventeen. “Please roll a one…” That would be interesting, wouldn’t it?

ALEX
(giggles)

DANIEL
Yeah. Okay.
So, Hey You looks up and says: “What was that?”

STACE
(with echo)
“You heard me!”

DANIEL
“Uhm… I really… didn’t. Uh, I was kind of talking. Can you repeat that?”

STACE
Nix looks at Dili like… Like, makes a gesture like: “Say it, do it over there.”

ALEX
Can Cha-Cha move to another part of the crowd and say it? But within eyesight of Dili?

STACE
Oooh!

DANIEL
Okay. He’s like:
“Could you just repeat that? You know, I get really in the moment when I’m talking.”

SAMPSON
Does Cha-Cha say it now aloud?

ALEX
Yeah, I think Cha-Cha is going to move to another part of the crowd, within eyesight of Dili…

SAMPSON
Yeah, okay.

ALEX
And just say…
(in a lower pitched, rougher voice)
“Yeah, I heard that they were total traitors in Charmonde against one of their own. It’s not very safe.”

SAMPSON
(laughs)

DANIEL
“Well, that doesn’t sound like us. I’m not aware of anything like that. Now, admittedly, I’ve been out here traveling for a while. It’s been… It’s been at least a month since I’ve been to Charmonde, maybe longer, so… I’m not aware of anything like that, but I’ll tell you something: that is completely against the tenets of our order. That’s not the way we operate.”

STACE
Nix elbows Dili and she’s like… She mouths like:
“Told you. Told you!”

SAMPSON
“Okay! Jen’s still trying to kill you!”

ALEX
Cha-Cha is still going to shout out:
“But what if the money was right?”

SAMPSON
“Hey Nix, you should probably be… Be prepared to save Cha-Cha from this one.”

ALEX
(laughs)

STACE
“Nah, Hey You’s cool. He’s not going to, like…”

SAMPSON
“Or… save people from Cha-Cha.”

STACE
“Oh… Right…”

SAMPSON
(laughs)

DANIEL
“I mean that doesn’t make sense. Like, don’t get me wrong, like, I don’t mind spending money if the deal’s good but… Yeah, for the most part, I have what I need, you know? Got my clothes! Got my boots!”
And he lifts up a foot and he, like, smacks the toe of his boot.
“I’ve got… my heart! And I got my skills! That’s truly all I need!”

STACE
So… Nix looks at Dili and she’s like… Making “one, two, three” with her fingers like really obviously that she’s trying to indicate that she wants to say something, and she wants Dili to throw her voice again.

DANIEL
Okay.

STACE
So, she goes “one, two, three…”
(in a high pitched voice)
(with echo)
“I heard Pathfinder Jen is telling bounty hunters how to hunt down Nix!”

SFX: THE CROWD GASPS.

DANIEL
“That’s… really specific.”

STACE
(still high pitched, but without echo)
“That’s the rumor!”

SAMPSON
(laughs)

ALEX
I think Cha-Cha kind of looks at Nix like…
(irritated)
“Really?”

SAMPSON
I feel like we’re heckling a kid’s show.

(Laughter.)

ALEX
We are. That’s who we are.

DANIEL
The purple dinosaur cutscene behind the rock…

SAMPSON
“I hear Barney smokes!”

DANIEL
Yeah.

(More laughter.)

DANIEL
He brings the mascot costume if the kids are really young there and he needs to change his pitch…

STACE
For the summer camp? For the…

SAMPSON
(chuckles)

STACE
The tween summer camp?

DANIEL
Yeah! 

ALEX
Oh God…

DANIEL
Yeah, exactly.

STACE
It’s like YMCA camp.

DANIEL
“Well, Nix is a friend. And I… I think I would have heard if somebody was doing something nasty to her. But, come on! Let me see you! Let’s talk face to face!”

STACE
“No!”

(Laughter.)

SAMPSON
(quietly) 
Stranger danger!

STACE
“Later!”

DANIEL
“Well, this is weird. This is weird. Uhm. So… Hey, hey, kids.”
He kind of looks at one of the kids like…
And the kid just like shrugs.

(Laughter)

AUDIO: MUSIC FADES AWAY.

DANIEL
And he’s like:
“Okay, well! It’s not cool to kind of just yell at me and hide but… If that’s your journey, that’s your journey!”
There’s something about the way he tones it and his accent that I’m not doing but, Nix, you kind of know that’s the Traveler equivalent… Even though “that’s your journey” is a totally fine thing to say, but his tone is very subtle. It’s the Traveler version of the…

ALEX
Bless your heart?

DANIEL
Of the Southern “bless your heart”. Yeah.

STACE
(chuckles)

DANIEL
Which Nix would be very familiar with. And he looks at the kids and is like:
“So! Like I said, I’m going to be hanging out here for a couple more days. Feel free to come out if you have more questions. Do another one of these get-togethers.”
And he points over at where there is a sort of… remains of a cooking fire. There’s actually a fairly large cooking pot there. Nix, you recognize that smell. It is one of the best stews that they would have regularly at the Proving Ground. Not all the time. But it was after… It was like a festival stew, like, after people completed a big milestone in training? They would all get together and have this stew. Together.

ALEX
I’m going to yell something horrible.

SAMPSON
(laughing)
Oh God…

ALEX
I think Cha-Cha moves slightly over and she’s going to…
(in a high pitched, nasal voice, very loudly)
“It looks like he’s trying to cook kids! What is this? No wonder he travels! He has to steal kids!”

STACE
Nix is like trying to, across the crowd, make the cut across the neck like… “Stop.”

SAMPSON
“Alright, here we go.”

DANIEL
“Well, it’s funny you mention it. You know, I did use, like, goats.”

SAMPSON
(laughs)

DANIEL	
“But they weren’t babies. They were just, you know, full grown mountain goats.”

STACE
Nix gets in line for some of that stew.

SAMPSON
(whispering)
“What? Nix, no!”

STACE
Yeah…

ALEX
Yeah, Cha-Cha is reconsidering!

DANIEL
Well, he’s already passed out the stew.

STACE
Aww… sad.

DANIEL
Like, the stew was the first part.

ALEX
We missed good stew.

STACE
Nix gets in line for one of those goats!

DANIEL
But he motions and the kids kind of start dispersing. A couple of them wave at him happily and he waves back at them and runs off. And he goes back over to the pot and starts ladling out a little bit more into a bowl for himself, and he grabs what looks to be a skin of, presumably, water and takes a big drink.
What do you guys do? The kids are dispersing, so if you want to stay and be hidden, you’re going to have to find somewhere to hide.

STACE
No. As soon as they’re alone, Nix will gesture for Dili to drop her disguise and walk over there.

ALEX
Oh no!

SAMPSON
Dili is not going to do that until all the kids are gone.

STACE
Right! That’s what I said!

SAMPSON
Oh, okay. 

ALEX
(laughs)

SAMPSON
Okay.

STACE
Once all the kids are… once they’re alone.

DANIEL
Okay, so the kids are leaving and you three are standing there. Hey You does look over at you guys and kind of gives you a little “sup” nod and a smile like he hasn’t put two and two together yet. He’s just… “oh, these people are hanging out.”

SAMPSON
Dili gives a nod towards Nix and her disguise drops.

STACE
Yeah, Nix will walk over to Hey You.

DANIEL
“Nix! Nix! That’s awesome!”

STACE
(overlapping)
(shushes him)
“Hey You…”

DANIEL
“I haven’t seen you in a while! Like…”

AUDIO: PIANO AMBIENT ATMOSPHERE BY MIT-RICH VIA ADOBE STOCK STARTS PLAYING.

DANIEL
“Like, it’s good to see you! I mean, I, I wondered what was up with you! Like, there was all that stuff about your name was up on the job board and then Pathfinder Jen took it down, so I was figured it was okay, but, like, it’s… It’s wild! Like, how have you been? Where have you been wandering? It’s good to see you!”

STACE
“Uh…”

DANIEL
“Wait.”
He pauses.
“That wasn’t you yelling out there, was it?”

STACE
“Yeah, it kind of was. Cause, like, honestly, Hey You, I was not sure… Like, no offense, like, I definitely enjoyed our time together in Charmonde and I would definitely consider you a friend? But Pathfinder Jen betrayed me and I’m just, like, not sure who I can even trust right now.”

DANIEL
He pauses for a moment and he’s like:
“Well, first thing, super uncool, my dude, disrupting somebody else’s thing for that. Not cool. Especially a fellow Traveler.”

STACE
“I had to be sure, man. I, I, I really am… I really am.”

DANIEL
“Yeah, but you could have done… You could have done that face to face.”

STACE
(non-committal noises)

DANIEL
(small huff)
“Like we’re having a talk now.”

STACE
“Oh, uh… You’re right. Yeah, yeah, you’re right.”

(ALEX and SAMPSON laugh.)

DANIEL
“So… Yeah. And, uh, two. That is, uh, wild about Pathfinder Jen. I don’t… I’ve never thought of her that way at all. I mean, she’s… She’s a Pathfinder. She’s been in the Society for a long time, I mean, that’s pretty…  I mean I… Don’t get me wrong, I trust another Traveler but like… That’s just… That’s just something heavy to be dropping on me.”

AUDIO: MUSIC FADES AWAY.

STACE
“No, I know, you’re, like, the first Traveler I’ve seen since I left Charmonde. Lot more shit went down. Like, I’m really very much more wanted, uh, also by the Queen, and…”

DANIEL
“Oh. Shit.”

STACE
“Yeah…”

DANIEL
“What’d you do?”

STACE
“Nothing!”

SAMPSON
(snorts)

STACE
“Well, okay! So…!”

DANIEL
“Really? I figured there would at least be a good story in there, right?”

STACE
“Yeah, so… I didn’t do anything wrong is what I’m saying. Like, oh yeah. So, the Queen arrested my parents because… Like, she thought I was hanging out with a terrorist and then… yeah.”

DANIEL
(overlapping)
“Oh. Were you?”

STACE
“My… yeah. And then my terrorist friend, like, broke them out of jail and helped them escape. Ah, and so like…”

DANIEL
“Oooh…”

STACE
“Yeah, yeah. So, like, now I’m super wanted, and Pathfinder Jen is helping bounty hunters find me. Like they’re…. Yeah.”

DANIEL
“Whoa.”

STACE
“I mean, that… That’s not… family. You know what I’m saying? Like…”

DANIEL
“Yeah, that’s rough.”

STACE
“I could see, like, not wanting me to be around, like, totally get that. But, like, actively helping people find me?”

DANIEL
“Yeah, that’s weird…”

STACE
“Look. Here’s my evidence…”
And she’ll pull out a little notebook.
“Got this off a bounty hunter.”
And show him the note.

DANIEL
Okay, so he looks at the book and he kind of like… Flicks around the pages and stuff like that and he’s like:
“Seriously? Five thousand shins each?”

STACE
“Uh… Right, yeah… You’re not… thinking about it, are you?”

DANIEL 
“No! No, no, no.”

SAMPSON
Insight check.

ALEX
Mm. Yeah. Yeah!

DANIEL
Okay! So, it’s a 15.

ALEX
I got an eight.

SAMPSON
Seven. I don’t know shit.

STACE
Well, I guess I can.

SFX: DICE ROLL.

STACE
Seventeen.

DANIEL
Yeah, so Nix, you definitely know.
Hey You is thrown off by the number but he’s not really thinking about it.

ALEX
Well, me and Dili are sure he’s thinking about it.

SAMPSON
(laughs)
Yeah.

DANIEL
He’s not really tempted. I mean, like, the number throws him off. But, again, Hey You doesn’t seem like… He’s aware what money is worth but he doesn’t seem that concerned by it.

STACE
Gotcha.

SAMPSON
Question: is Hey You a himbo?

ALEX
Oh. Is he?

DANIEL
Well, you’ll have to define for me what you’re calling a himbo so I can help define that for you.

ALEX
Sweet, innocent bebé who does… not do wrong.

SAMPSON
Also, big and buff and muscular… but not a thought behind those eyes.

ALEX
Yeah. Just… head empty.

DANIEL
I think that’s going to be… 

ALEX
(incomprehensible)

DANIEL
No, I’m going to base it off this Insight roll.

ALEX
(interested)
Mmm.

DANIEL
You guys may not necessarily trust that he is… not tempted by it, but he also kind of comes across as relatively, like, to you guys, like, the way he talks, very… naïve.

ALEX
Wholesome.

DANIEL
And… yeah. And he tends to speak a little slower and like… He doesn’t necessarily seem like he is that bright. I mean he is… He is not huge, but he’s built in a similar way as Nix is. Like, he is very strong but it’s a very… You know, it’s a lighter frame. It’s designed for doing fast, delicate movements as opposed to, like, slamming into shit.

SAMPSON
Mhmm.

DANIEL
In fact, he’s probably just slightly… He’s probably around the same size as Nix. He might be… No, he’s probably got the exact same build, really, cause the styles aren’t that radically different. And… Nix, this is what you can tell from your Insight:
He’s startled by the number, but he’s not tempted. Hey You comes across, at least in this moment, as very earnest, but he’s also very sharp. It’s not just technique, like, he was up here talking to those kids and while he was dumbing it down, like, you know there’s a deeper understanding in him of what he’s talking about. He’s not just, you know… it’s not like he got stoned and then got up there.

STACE
Oh.

DANIEL
Mhm.

SAMPSON
He’s one of those guys that you think he’s stoned all the time, but he’s actually never touched a drug in his life. 

ALEX
Yeah…

DANIEL
Yeah.

ALEX
He’s just high on life!

DANIEL
And he’s paying attention to everything.

SAMPSON
Mmm.

DANIEL
Nix, that’s the other thing you notice. He looks like he is very laid back right now, and he is relaxed but… you know that he is, not aggressively but just sort of out of instinct, tracking everybody that is in this area right now. Where they are, how far away they are… The same way you would in this situation, where you’re not, like, in a place where you would flat out designate as safe.

STACE
“Yeah, so, uh… I, I am sorry for crashing your, uh… show. I’m just having a hard time…”

DANIEL
“Alright. Forgiven, man.”

STACE
“So, like… So… What… What would you do? Like, you said you were heading back to the Proving Ground in like a couple of days?”

DANIEL
“Yeah, I’ve got to… Yeah. You know, I figured out… I’ve been kind of making my rounds here and Pathfinder Geralt said to come out here to Mountain’s Bone and, you know, check to see if there was anybody interested in joining the Society.”

STACE
“Do you know that they don’t like us here, man? Like, I’ve been here in disguise and they talk, like, some mad shit about us.”

DANIEL
“Hey, man, if I worried about everybody who said something mean about me, I’d spend my whole life worrying. You know?”

STACE
“Really? I feel like nobody says anything mean about you, Hey You, like…”

DANIEL
“Well, that’s sweet of you to say, but, you know, I’m sure. There’s somebody I got to have made angry. You can’t go through life without making somebody angry or annoyed at you and, you know, if I spent all my time worrying about that I would never get a chance to live my life and take my journey. You know, dude?”

ALEX	
“Man, Hey You is awesome. Fuck.”

SAMPSON
“Right? Like, he’s kind of getting to me.”

ALEX
“Man, I was wrong…”

DANIEL
“You know, Pathfinder Geralt, he, uhm, he said something to me the other day that I thought was really awesome? He said, you know, well “the other day” , it’s been a long time since I’ve seen him…”

STACE
“Yeah, yeah.”

DANIEL
“But, uh, he was saying how… Hate or anger? You know, it’s like you drink poison and hope the other person dies.”

ALEX
“But, like… you can set fire with poison.”

DANIEL
“That’s true. That’s true… I did that once. That was cool.”

SAMPSON
(laughs)

DANIEL
“I was honestly a little worried it was going to like… Blow up in my face, blow up the whole hallway? But it just worked out perfectly. It just, like, burned out that little one section. It worked out great.”

STACE
Man, CC likes him even more. 

DANIEL
(laughs)

ALEX
“Damn.”

STACE
“What did you burn it with? Like… Did you have like matches? Like, what?”

DANIEL
“Oh, this is the coolest shit. So, like, I fought this thing, I don’t even know what it’s called, like, okay? It like had… It was, it was like the size of… It was like a little smaller than an Aneen, you know? Yeah, maybe like an Aneen calf sized or something like that, but totally different, like, body. It was furry, it had these little claws and these like terrible antlers, and, yeah, I had to fight that thing down. 
Turned out though when I finally defeated it, I found the… I was trying to figure out, like, is there anything that we could scavenge off of it for the journey? Cause we were low on rations, and so I found these venom sacks in its mouth. 
And the cool thing is those turned out to be flammable, like, really easily. Like, they were super sensitive. Like, uhm, it reminds me of… what the hell do they call that, back at the Proving Ground?”

ALEX
Think, Cha-Cha is now looking more in love at Nix, thinking that they can make bigger fires together like…
(gasp)
“It has been foretold.”

STACE
Nix needs to provide a new assortment of jars…

DANIEL
“It wasn’t my thing. The thing that the crushers were doing in the demonstration… What do they call it? Something like nitroglycerin or something like that? So, the cool thing is that if you threw a jar of the stuff, it would explode and set fires. It was really awesome. 
Man, that thing was huge though. Terrible meat. Not worth trying to eat if you ever see one of those things. ‘Kay, just… The venom is cool! Uhm, I assume it’s poisonous? The locals said that it breathes fire, but it didn’t do that when I was… fighting it, so. That could have been just people making stuff up.”

STACE
Nix is just like grinning at Cha-Cha, like in Cha-Cha’s direction and she’s just like…

ALEX
(giggles)

STACE
“Dang, yeah, that’s super cool. Holy shit.”

DANIEL
“Mhmm.”

STACE
“Uh… Yeah.”

DANIEL
“Yeah, like this really long snout and these big whiskers? It was crazy.”

STACE
“Dang… So, uh, man, I got like some business? I’m being discreet? You know, with the…”

(Laughter)

STACE
(continued)
“… with the bounty and all, hence the disguise.”

DANIEL
“Yeah, for sure.”

STACE
“But, if I wrapped up my business here in a couple of days, I might be interested in heading back with you, cause I would, like, really like to find out what the heck is going on with, like… Pathfinder Jen and… It just doesn’t seem right. You know what I mean? Like, it’s been giving me like a bad vibe.”

DANIEL
“Yeah, it definitely seems weird. She’s really the only Pathfinder in Charmonde, too, so it’s weird, like, it’s not… It’s not easy to just ask somebody about her. But yeah! You can… Obviously, you’re always welcome at the Proving Ground and I’m happy to have you along, bud, for the company. And if it doesn’t work out, like, timing wise for us to travel together, that’s cool. If you want, I can ask Pathfinder Geralt when I get there.”

STACE
“I mean, yeah. So, like, part of me is kind of still nervous about showing up, because if Pathfinder Jen would do that, like… Who else would do that? You know what I mean? And I don’t want to show up at the Proving Ground and have, like, the Pathfinders there have decided to turn me in? I’m just trying to, like, live my life, walk my journey, you know? I’m not trying to spend time in a prison.”

DANIEL
“Yeah, sure. No, you can talk to… I mean, obviously you can talk to Pathfinder Josah Kinn. I mean, she’d shoot straight with you, right? I mean, she’s the one who… She was your teacher, right?”

STACE
“Yeah, yeah. That’s probably the best idea, right? Like, maybe I could come in subtle, too, with my friends here… in disguise? See what the…”

DANIEL
“Oh, your friends are in disguise too?”

SAMPSON
(small laugh)
Dili gives Nix like: 
(annoyed)
“What the fuck Nix?”

ALEX
Yeah, I think Cha-Cha is giving her the:
(whispered)
“Come on, dude! Be cool!”

STACE
Nix immediately forgot what she actually said.

SAMPSON
(laughs)

STACE
And she’s like:
“You know, that’s their business. That’s their journey, you know what I’m saying? Like…”

DANIEL
“Oh! Well, yeah, that’s fair! Yeah!”

ALEX
“It’s our thing. Disguise.”

DANIEL
“I’m sure it’s cool! I mean, obviously, our family travels besides us, and, you know, it’s definitely true. I mean, as long as you’re not bringing, like, any like… known terrorists there, I’m sure nobody there is going to have a problem.”

STACE
“You know what’s interesting? I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately, Hey You, is like… Who gets to define a terrorist?”

SAMPSON	
“Oh. Wow.”

ALEX
“Ah…”

DANIEL
“Uhm…”

ALEX
“Nix, maybe we should… reorganize this conversation.”

SAMPSON
(laughs)

DANIEL
“Yeah, that’s a com… That’s a complicated geopolitical question, Nix. Uhm…”

STACE
“Yeah… Alright, yeah, yeah, you’re right. You know what? Don’t have a lot of time to unpack it with you, Hey You, although I would love to, sometime. I got to take care of this business. If I’m back, I’ll come with you… depending. So.”

DANIEL
“Yeap. So, what’s your business here, by the way? Like it’s… I’m here just looking for new Travelers, but, you know, you never mentioned what you were doing. You just said “business” which… you know, that seems… I don’t know. Like… I get you’re in a tough situation?”

STACE
“Oh, you know, like jobs. You know, like, we’ll just do jobs sometimes. Like, it’s just a job.”

DANIEL
“Oh cool! Well, if you’ve got any leads, I mean, I wouldn’t mind helping out while I’m here!”

STACE
“Oh, interesting. Yeah, let me, uh… I’ll come swing by if we think we need you for sure.”

DANIEL
“Alright. Where do you guys stay?”

STACE
“I mean if you’ve got the time to spare… At the inn. Like, there’s only one. Like, at the inn? Are you there? Is that where you’re at? Or are you camping?”

DANIEL
“No. No. I’m staying out here right now. Camping. Like, I find it’s easier during this thing, cause a lot of the times, like, the kids don’t like to have to come up and talk to me directly.  For some reason, this town maybe it’s because, you know, what they supposedly say over here, but a lot of the times, like, when newer people are over here…  You stay camped out here so the kids can sneak out at night because they want to talk to us one on one.”

STACE
“Yeah, so they definitely think that we’re a cult and that, like, we steal their children.”

ALEX
“I mean, it’s good reason. Good reason.”

DANIEL
“Oh, shit! Well, I mean, that’s rough. I mean, you know, don’t get me wrong, I… I joined the Travelers young but, like, I, you know, I made my own choice. You know?”

STACE
“Oh, yeah. Me too. Yeah. Of course.”

DANIEL
“I look back on it, never doubted it for a second. I’ve gotten a new family and… that’s all I need.”

ALEX 
“What happened to the old one?”

DANIEL
“Oh, yeah. We… You family travels beside you. You leave your family behind. The Order becomes your family.”

ALEX
“But, like, you had an old one, so did you just say… I’m leaving forever?”

DANIEL
“Well, you know, I let them know I was going off to become a Societ… to join the Society, and. Yeah. That was… Ah, twelve years ago now?”

ALEX
“Oh.”

DANIEL
“Hope they’re okay! Haven’t seen them!”

STACE
“What about your parents though? Like, how do you take care of them?”

DANIEL
“Oh, my birth parents? Oh, I mean, I, I gave that up… I mean, my parents are the ones who traveled before us. The Pathfinders. The Pathfinders are our parents now. You know that.”

STACE
“Right. Yeah. Uhm… No. Like, I…”

DANIEL
“I was kind of surprised that you were staying in your parents when I was back there, but then I heard your mom was sick and… figured the Pathfinders must have… you know, made an exception for you, which, you know. It’s a little odd, but I get it. I get why they would do that.”

STACE
“I didn’t even realize that was an exception, Hey You. Like, they’ve really never stopped me from writing letters or, like, talking to my parents? Yeah.”

DANIEL
“Oh, really? Wow, that’s really weird.”

STACE
“I feel like they never even came up, but like…”

DANIEL
“Yeah. I remember, uh, Pathfinder… Tarah being… she used to whip me black and blue if she caught me writing a note to my family.”

STACE
“Weird… Damn!”

SAMPSON
“That doesn’t sound like a cult to you? That doesn’t sound cult-y?”

ALEX
“That…! Uh… Mmm… That sounds a little extreme.”

DANIEL
“She was teaching me to deal with extreme conditions, I mean. I got that. I didn’t understand at the time, but by the time I finished up my time on the Proving Ground, I got it.”

ALEX
“Ah…”

STACE
“Where did this happen?”

DANIEL
He’s like:
“Actually! I got a really wicked scar! You can almost not see it under the tattoo over back here but let me show you…”
He, like, pulls back his shirt and you see this… Essentially like a lash mark against his back.
“You wouldn’t believe this. She did this with a cloth belt of her robe.”
And it’s like cutting through, like, the tattoo has kind of gone over that scar, and you do see this kind of like a flowing, looping tattoo as opposed to your sort of more angular form of the tattoos of the Order.”

STACE
“I had no idea that the Aerial School was so hardcore, dude, like, we didn’t get up to that shit where I trained.”

DANIEL
“Really?”

STACE
“Nah.”

DANIEL
“That’s odd!”

ALEX
(high-pitched laugh)

DANIEL
“I mean, I’ve talked to people from… That studied under Pathfinder Kinn. They had pretty similar stories to me.”

STACE
“Huh.”

ALEX
“Maybe you should visit your family one day and just… kind of see how they’re doing? Check in? Because, like, that could be part of your journey and it’ll would be fine. Maybe you’re going to help them on their journey!”

DANIEL
“Yeah. I mean, I guess, maybe. That’s a walk! That’s all the way to South Draolis.”

SAMPSON
“Oh.”

STACE
“Oh, dang. You came out of Draolis? How did you even hear about the… Like, you know I was practically raised in it, right? You know, like, I have… My family’s always supported or been Traveler, you know what I mean?

DANIEL
“Yeah. Yeah. I’ve heard that. There’s… There’s a way house in Qi and they, you know, they… were doing… gathered there. And I lived in a village just outside of Qi, uh, a little place called Hemper’s Grove and word came out there, and I ended up following back to Proving Ground. It was a rough trip.”

STACE
“Yeah, that’s a heck of a hike! Holy crap, man! But, like, sick! That’s a heck of a way to start your Journey. I, uh, yeah! Dude! I just want to compare more notes about like..  our experiences? But I…”
(laughs awkwardly)
“I… Uh, Cha-Cha, I know we…”

DANIEL
“Cha-Cha?”

STACE
(clears her throat)

SAMPSON
“Baby-Pack.”

ALEX
“Baby-Pack. Baby. Pack.”

DANIEL
“Wait. You’ve got Cha-Cha here? One of these is Cha-Cha?”
He’s pointing at Dili.

(Laughter)

DANIEL
He’s like:
“I saw all the posters about her! It was the one that had your name on it, right? That Pathfinder Jen had to take off the board?”

SAMPSON
“Yes.”

ALEX
“Yeah.”

DANIEL
“You’re Cha-Cha?”

STACE
“Is this going to be a problem, Hey You? Because like…”

DANIEL
“Oh! She’s even doing the voice! That’s awesome!”

ALEX
(laughs)

SAMPSON
“Yeap! That’s me! The one that does the voice!”

DANIEL
“Wow!”

ALEX
(squeals)

DANIEL
“So, uhm… Terrorism, huh? That seems kind of… severely uncool.”

SAMPSON
“You had to be there. You had to be there.”

STACE
“So, she, like, set a desk on fire.”

DANIEL
“Oh.”

ALEX
“That… That’s it. Desk on fire. That’s it.”

DANIEL
“But, didn’t you say there was a prison break? I mean, I assume people died during that, right?”

SAMPSON
“That was a different terrorist.”

STACE
“Well, that was after she was already, like, an accused terrorist for setting a desk on fire, you know what I mean?”

ALEX
“And like…”

DANIEL
“Oh…”

ALEX
(continued)
“… there were no casualties part of Cha-Cha’s escape. Afterwards is a different story.”

SAMPSON
(laughs)

ALEX
“There may have been in fighting among the guards on who was taking blame.”

DANIEL
“Really?”

SAMPSON
“It was hardly even a breakout. They just didn’t do the paperwork right. It’s…Eugh…”

ALEX
“Yeah. It was… it was a clerical error.”

DANIEL
“I mean, I heard she, like, turned into a shadow and slashed somebody’s throat.”

ALEX
“You really believe a terrorist with fire powers could tun into shadow?”

DANIEL
So he turns to you, Cha-Cha, and is like:
“Oh, wait a second. Wait a second. I got it. I got it! Wait a second. It’s all starting to make sense. It’s starting to come together!”

ALEX
(whispered)
“Oh God.”

DANIEL
“I’m piecing it together! It’s like… You gotta be a… Uhm… Atalia. Or Adilabrim? One of the two?”

ALEX
“Yes…?”

SAMPSON
(laughs)

DANIEL
“Oooh! Which one? Which one?”

ALEX
“Uhm…”
She kind of looks at Dili and is like:
(whispered)
“Which one’s better?”
 
SAMPSON
“Fun fact! They are the same person! But don’t tell anybody, that’s a secret!”

ALEX
“Exactly!”

SAMPSON
(chuckles)

ALEX
“They’re just really good at disguise.”

DANIEL
This is definitely going to be a roll with you, Dili.

SAMPSON
Okay!
(laughs)

ALEX
Cha-Cha is going to…
(laughs)
… I guess assist… with the Performance?

SAMPSON
Stace, you got to get us out of here, we’re just going to keep digging this hole.

DANIEL
Okay, so…

ALEX
Just digging the hole!

DANIEL
Yes, chill…

STACE
I’m having fun, like, I don’t know…

(Laughter.)

ALEX
You’re just like “no”!

STACE
Aren’t you guys interested in the outcome?

DANIEL
Since Cha-Cha is assisting…

SAMPSON
Alright…

DANIEL
(continued)
… it will be a twelve for you, Dili. I would say that Nix gives you an asset, except that you’re also in disguise, so he’s probably a little… heightened about potential deception even if he’s not worried.

SAMPSON
Fair. Fair. Free level of Effort, brings it to a nine… 

SFX: DICE ROLLS.

SAMPSON	
Seven again.

ALEX
Damn it.

DANIEL
“That seems pretty far-fetched. I mean…”

ALEX
“Have you ever seen them in a room together?”

DANIEL
“Well, that one time. With Nix.”

ALEX
(non-committal hum)

DANIEL
“They were all walking together outside her house.”

ALEX
“How many people were walking?”

DANIEL
“I had to bring to her from Pathfinder Jen and she, like, well, her poster was on the wall…”

STACE
“Yeah. They’re just being cagey, Hey You, cause like… of the whole “being wanted” thing? They just don’t want to be too specific.”

DANIEL
“Oh, I totally get that. Totally get that. This could be a badass story for your Journals, by the way.”

STACE
“I know! Like, if anybody would freaking believe it…”

DANIEL
“Oh, I’m sure! There was crazy shit in there. I don’t know how much time you spent on the library at the Proving Ground but… it was wild.”

STACE
“There’s a library at the Proving Ground?”

ALEX
(snorts)

DANIEL
“Yeah, it’s where people turn in their Journals when they fill them up, so that we have a record of everybody’s Journeys.”

STACE
“Oh shit.”

SAMPSON
(wheezes)

DANIEL
“You haven’t been doing that?”

STACE
“Well, I have a Journal! Yeah, yeah! Yeah.”

DANIEL
“Just one?”

STACE
“I’m not a prolific… writer.”

DANIEL
“Oh. Okay. Well…”

STACE
“Oh! What about my letters? I wrote like a ton of letters!”

DANIEL
“I don’t know if that… If that kind of stuff’s there, they don’t have it at the general library… So, when you were saying that you only have the one and that you’re not a prolific writer…”
There’s a moment where he, like, pauses and kind of… looks up like he’s searching his memory. And then he’s like… It’s like he gives you a look like, “yeah, that checks out.”

STACE
(laughs)
“Oh, my gosh. This is, like, way too much fun, Hey You. I kind of forgot how cool you were.”

DANIEL
“Yeah, yeah. I just wish they had scorps there.”

STACE
“I know, right?”

ALEX
“But, like, Nix… You can’t eat scorps, remember? Because then you make that face of sadness.”

STACE
“Cha-Cha. Cha-Cha? Shh.”

DANIEL
“You can’t eat scorps anymore?”

STACE
“Uhm. Yeah… It’s… Really…”

DANIEL
“It’s like an allergy?”

STACE
“Something like… It’s, uh… It just don’t taste good to me anymore. I lost my taste for them and it’s really…”

ALEX
“Ate too many.”

STACE
(continued)
“… really sad…”

ALEX
“It happens.”

DANIEL
“Yeah.”

STACE
“You… You’re not helping.”
(laughs)
Nix is looking right in Cha-Cha’s eyes, and she says, “You’re not helping.”

DANIEL
Wait, wait, when you do say that she ate too many, he looks your way, he jokes like:
“Heh. It’s that why you changed your hair color? To match the scorps?”

STACE
“This is actually natural, yeah.”

DANIEL
“Oh, wow… That’s very cool!”

STACE
“Yeah.”

ALEX
(laughs)
Cha-Cha gives her a look like: “And I wasn’t helping?”

(Laughter.)

DANIEL
“It’s so weird how the wind works. I don’t feel any wind at all or any breeze, but, you know, like, your hair is moving. It’s weird. Pretty cool.”

STACE
“Yeah… It does its own thing. Like… Miss my mohawk sometimes but…”

DANIEL
At this point, I will offer you an XP.

STACE
Yeah!

DANIEL
Who are you giving the other XP to?

STACE
How we looking? On the tiering and the XPs.

ALEX
I need two more to tier up, I think.

STACE
To tier up to four…?

STACE
Damn!

SAMPSON
Holy crap!

ALEX
I’m bringing the gas!

STACE
You know, you retire at tier six. I’m just pointing that out.

ALEX
Or I become the ultimate villain. Listen, you don’t know our plan.

STACE
Or at tier seven, right? You… retire at tier seven?

DANIEL
Yes. Tier… It’s tier seven.

STACE
Yeah.

DANIEL
Cause tier six you have abilities that you get. Cool ones.

ALEX
And then I’ll just always reroll everything. 

STACE	
To Dili…
(laughs)

ALEX
My plan…

STACE
Or Sampson, who is a real person.

SAMPSON
(laughs)

ALEX
Wha…?

STACE
Who can… use XP.
(laughs)

SAMPSON
Well, I have plenty of XP, I just haven’t had a chance to do the thing yet.

DANIEL
Okay.
Nix, when you said you missed your mohawk, all of your hair stands up immediately and forms into the best fauxhawk it can do.

ALEX
Aw, it’s trying!

STACE
Does Nix feel or notice? Like, no?

DANIEL
(hums consideringly)
Give me an Intellectual of… six.

SFX: DICE ROLL.

STACE
Seven!

SAMPSON
(laughs)

ALEX
Ooh!

DANIEL
You definitely feel something happen up there, and Hey You looks at you like:
“Oh, that was awesome! How’d you do that?”

STACE
(fumbles)
“Uh… It just sort of happened when I thought about my mohawk! What?”

DANIEL
“That’s badass! That’s very cool!”

STACE
“Oh, hell yeah! Uh, let me think about… slicked back.”

DANIEL
It kind of… moves into that pattern.

STACE
“Middle part.”

DANIEL
There’s a moment where the hair kind of lifts up and it’s almost like it’s confused for a moment, what to do. And then it shifts into a middle part.

STACE
“Oh, hell yeah. Back to mohawk!”

DANIEL
Goes back to mohawk.

STACE
“Shit! Oh my god! Did you see that?”

DANIEL
“Yeah, that’s wild! How are you doing that?”

STACE
“I don’t know!”

DANIEL
“You couldn’t do that before, could you?”

STACE
“No!”

ALEX
Again, Cha-Cha is giving her the… “What the fuck.”
(laughs)

SAMPSON
(chuckles)

ALEX
“And I wasn’t helping?”

STACE
“I mean… yeah. You know wild things happen! Oh yeah! Any cool mutations, dude? You been playing the arch game?”

DANIEL
“You know what? I haven’t had much luck with the arch game!”

ALEX
“Do you want to play the arch game?”

DANIEL
“Hey, if you know where a badass arch is, I’ll give it a shot!”

ALEX
Cha-Cha is like slowly taking off her glove.

STACE
“So, we’re going to… Yeah! We’ll let you know! Uh, we’ve got to check in, but I’ll definitely be back, uh, to say hi and sh… and, and shoot the shit if I get a chance, dude, like…”

DANIEL
“Well, that’s cool! But, but, uhm, I’m sorry. Which one were you? Cha-Cha or Adilabrim? I got confused with the conversation.”

SAMPSON
“Good. That was the intention.”

ALEX
“We’re anybody you want us to be.”

SAMPSON
“That’s Baby-Pack, I am Bork.”

DANIEL
“Okay… Well, that’s… Okay. Whatever. Uhm,  but… Where’s the arch?”

ALEX
“Listen…”

DANIEL
“I mean, you can’t just leave me hanging like that. Come on!”

ALEX
“Dili, should we…? Bork! Bork. Bork!”

SAMPSON
(laughs)
“Uhm…”

DANIEL
“Come on, man! I mean, can’t you guys trust me at this point? Come on, Nix! You can vouch for me?”

SAMPSON
“I think, if we’re going to do this, I think Hey You should be the one to… make you angry.”

ALEX
“Yeah, but it’s just like… so. If you close your eyes and hold out your hands, we’ll give you, like, yeah.”

STACE
“She… She can play the arch game. Without an arch.”

ALEX
“I am the arch game.”

DANIEL
“Oooh… That’s very cool.”

STACE
“Yeah, but, like, you got to keep in mind, it could go good, right? Or it could go, like, real bad!”

DANIEL
“Okay.”

STACE
“Remember Kayleth… may he rest in… that puddle.”

ALEX
“Bork lost his spleen!”

DANIEL
“Okay, cool. Well, I’m… I’m… I’m game!”

SAMPSON
(laughs)

ALEX
“Yeah… Yeah.”

DANIEL
“Let’s give it a shot!”
So, he closes his eyes, and he holds out his hand!

ALEX
“Just… Just slap me, Bork. It’s fine!”

SAMPSON
“Okay, quick thing!”
Uh, Dili goes to Nix and whispers, like:
“Should you ask him about the plate? Cause he seems to know a lot. Just a thought!”

ALEX
“Before he gets to meet Nature.”

SAMPSON
“Or just in general, I don’t know!”

DANIEL
“Oh, I spend a lot of time in nature.”

ALEX
“This is a different Nature.”

SAMPSON
“Just a thing to think about, Nix.”
And then I guess Dili will go and… take a deep breath…

ALEX
(giggles)

SAMPSON
“Please don’t kill me!”
And then smack Cha-Cha.

DANIEL
Okay.

ALEX
And then Cha-Cha just like grabs Hey You.

DANIEL
Okay. So, you grab Hey You and you reach his skin.
A debate I have. Do I want to offer you an XP or do I want to leave it to the dice to decide?

STACE
XP! Intrude away! Please!

ALEX
Mhmm. Intrude on this.

DANIEL
Okay. I will offer you an XP then.

ALEX
Yeah. We have to take it. We have to.

DANIEL
Who will you give it to?

ALEX
Uhm… Between y’all, how are you doing?

SAMPSON
I have nine XP, I’m fine.

ALEX
Okay. Clearly then, Stace.

SAMPSON
(laughs)

ALEX
Cause I was going to have Stace roll for Hey You’s mutation anyway, cause it’s like… You made Hey You.

STACE
I didn’t make Hey You!

ALEX
I can’t mutate Hey You. Well, you made… How to make Hey You.

STACE
And he consented!

SAMPSON
(snorts)

DANIEL
So, you touch Hey You, and there’s a moment where you feel that frustration, you feel that power energize in your chest. It seems like at first nothing happens. He’s like, kind of like, shrugs it off…
“That’s kind of a bummer.”
Like, he lowers his hand.
“I was hoping for something kind of… obvious.”
And then…

AUDIO: AWAY FROM DANGER BY MICHAEL VIGNOLA VIA AUDIIO PLAYS.

DANIEL
(continued)
He puts his hand up to his chest.

ALEX
Oh, no.

DANIEL
And he coughs, almost like a gurgling sound.

SFX: BRIEF, PAINFUL COUGHS.

DANIEL
And you see blood starting to trickle from his mouth.
And his…

SFX: A SHORT COUGH.

DANIEL
And his tongue is swelling in his mouth.

SFX: WET GURGLING.

DANIEL
And you see his eyes bulge wide until you see his eyes actually pop open, and there are strange tendrils pushing their way out. And he’s… 

SFX: MORE COUGHING. IT IS SHORT, WET AND PAINED.

DANIEL
It’s very wet.

SFX: COUGHING CONTINUES, ADDED GASPS FOR BREATH. SOFT BREAKING NOISES.

DANIEL
And you see his arms are, like, shifting…

SFX: ONE LONG, LOW RIPPING NOISE.

DANIEL
Like, you can hear bones breaking as they shift around in different directions and then these bone spurs start protruding out of his throat until there is a moment where they hit what you must assume is his carotid artery.

ALEX	
(gasp)

DANIEL
And blood begins spurting out of his body.

SFX: HEAVY THUDS.  THE COUGHING IS NOW CHOKED AND PAINED. THREE GASPS FOR BREATH.

DANIEL
As his eyes have popped and they’re just raining down his face and these tendrils stick out.

SFX: MEATY, WET POPPING NOISE.

DANIEL
And this eye goop, this… this tumor in his eyes and this arterial blood… Both splat on Dili.

SAMPSON
(laughs)
“Goddamnit!”

(Laughter.)

DANIEL
Because he’s still horrified, he’s turned away from the direction…

SAMPSON
“Every goddamned time!”

DANIEL
He falls to his knees, and he finally falls face down, and his spine twists heavily and pushes up out of his back until it’s made its own little arch.

STACE
(incredulous laughter)

DANIEL
And it’s at that point that Hey You stops struggling and he stops breathing, and he stops pulsing the blood and it just… flows straight…

ALEX
“I seem to have really bad luck with being Nature.”

STACE
“Holy fuck. This is like…”

ALEX
“I’m sorry about your friend, Nix.”

STACE
“I’ve never seen the arch game go so badly…!”

SAMPSON
(chuckles)

STACE
(continued)
“Like, usually you end up with sort of like a grotesque…”

ALEX
“Waddle?”

STACE
“Yeah! Or something like that, you know?”

AUDIO: MUSIC FADES AWAY.

ALEX
“I seem to have really bad luck being the arch, but I think our group in general has bad luck with the arch game because, like, Dili lost his spleen in the arch game.”

STACE
“Damn, that’s one way for your journey to end. Holy shit!”

SAMPSON
“Yeah…”

STACE
“At least he died doing what he loves. Playing the arch game.”

DANIEL
Yeah, so at this point I’ll offer Dili an XP.

SAMPSON
Oh God.

ALEX
Oooooh.

STACE
So scared…

SAMPSON
Alright. Here we go, I’m taking it.

DANIEL
Who’re you giving the next one?

SAMPSON
Let’s give it to Alex!

ALEX
Oh no!

SAMPSON
Tier four, let’s go!

ALEX
Fuck yeah! This is going to be scary!

DANIEL
So, from the edge of where you are, over by the town, you suddenly hear two screams.

SFX: TWO LONG, HIGH-PITCHED, TERRIFIED SCREAMS.

DANIEL
And when you look over, you see one of the adolescents that had been at the presentation earlier who’d been bringing her mother back to meet Hey You, and they look in horror at what’s happened and they turn and run back towards the town.

ALEX
“Maybe we should leave. Dili…”

STACE
“Yeah, hang on, though. Hang on.”
Nix will go over and be like… take his boots.

SAMPSON
(laughs)

ALEX
Yeah, I was going to say, take the boots! Fuck yeah!

DANIEL
(laughs)

STACE
You think we murdered this guy for no boots?

DANIEL
Take his boots, try to modify them to match your size. Yeah. 

STACE
And, uh… Just run through his… Through his pockets for any... any keepsakes or… his Journal. And his Journal.

ALEX
Mmm.

DANIEL
Okay, so you grab his Journal. You find in the first page: he’s got a numbering scheme.

STACE
Holy shit!

DANIEL
This is journal thirty.

ALEX
Jesus, Hey You!

DANIEL
You can see he’s already got about a third full. And I told you he has like five shins, right?

STACE
I don’t think you mentioned that, but Nix will take them.

DANIEL
He has five shins on him. He’s got some rations, and he also has… He has two cyphers on his person.

ALEX
Oh shit.

STACE	
I didn’t expect you to do that.

ALEX	
Me either.

SAMPSON	
I… yeah. Should we go through the arch just out of, like, respect?

STACE
How big is this arch?

ALEX
Made out of his body? Yeah! Can we go through his body arch?

DANIEL
It’s not a big arch. It’s… It’s maybe… It’s still the same length of his spine. It’s just that his spine pulled up and stretched into an arch. 

ALEX
How tall is Hey You? Could Cha-Cha kind of like limbo underneath it? 
(beat)
Respectfully.

STACE
(laughing)
Respectfully? Is that what you said?

SAMPSON
(laughs)
Respectfully.
Respectfully climb through his body…

ALEX
Yeah! 

STACE
Just like Nix’s… Actually, I think that, like…

ALEX
(gasp)
“We can put his boots through the arch! In respect.”

STACE
“No! I’m going to wear these. What are you talking about?”

ALEX
“But like… Like a final arch! Like… thing. Before we take it… Take them. We put it through his body arch. I don’t think the boots are disappearing.”

DANIEL
The only thing that you guys have that would fit through the arch is maybe Hubert.

SAMPSON
That’s Hubert’s choice to make.

DANIEL
(chuckles)

ALEX
Yeah, yeah, that’s kind of on Hubert…

STACE
I don’t want to be responsible…

ALEX
(continued)
… to make this choice.

DANIEL
So, are you ready for those two cyphers?

STACE
Oh, yeah! Heck yeah! Shi, I’m even going to write them down.

SAMPSON
Yeah.

ALEX
Oh, yeah.

DANIEL
Okay, so.
The first cypher is an Instant Companion.
It is a small castle. If you submerge it in water for one minute, the cypher morphs into a hound-like beast of a level equal to the cypher level with appropriate health, damage inflicted and so on. Plus, one point of armor.
The hound obeys the user’s commands as best as it can, it has only animal intelligence levels, for 28 hours or until it is slain, whichever comes first. At which point it dissolves into thick liquid.

STACE
Oh.

DANIEL
So, roll one d6 on that. 

STACE
Hang on.
Nix reaches into her cypher back pouch, remembers she has the rest cypher, and she uses it.

SAMPSON
Oh, damn.

DANIEL
Okay.

ALEX
Oooh…

DANIEL
Excellent! So…
Nix, you activate this cypher. There is a moment where everything freezes.

SFX: A HIGH-PITCHED, MUSICAL HUM. IT IS TECHNOLOGICAL AND SHARP.

DANIEL
And you are standing there, and things begin moving in reverse. For you, you see those last five minutes happening in reverse in real time. And I’m feeling generous today, I will offer you an XP at this point.

ALEX
Ooooh!

STACE
Daniel! I am… scared! But yeah!

SAMPSON
(chuckles)

STACE
Heck yeah!

DANIEL
Okay! Who will you give the other to?

STACE
Uh, let’s see…

ALEX
Sampson?

STACE
Yeah! Probably, Sampson! Alex… I want you to get the love, even though you’re like… like ahead of us, quote unquote. But like… I also kind of want to try to keep it even.

ALEX
Yeah! I kind of like this, you know, keeping it even. So, like, not one of us is super powerful so if we happen to be like time-frozen during a fight, it’s not like one person… Like, we’re screwed?

STACE
Right, one person is not pulling their weight? Like, it’s okay.

DANIEL
Mhmm.

AUDIO: IN THE BLACK LAKE BY GERARD FRANKLIN VIA ADOBE STOCK PLAYS.

ALEX
Yeah. Yeah, it’s okay!

DANIEL
Yeah.

STACE
(snorts)

SAMPSON
Yeah, I’m going to cry after this episode, so…

(Laughter.)

DANIEL
Yeah, so this XP happens.
And you get back to the five minutes before, which is right around the time where you guys are explaining the arch situation, maybe slightly before. It’s when he’s talking about the arch game. He wants to know where the arch is, but before Cha-Cha has said. Like, the moment is about to freeze when Cha-Cha is starting to take off her glove, but before you’ve explained to Hey You what’s happening.
But, at this point, everything freezes.

STACE
Oooh.

DANIEL
And there is a shift in the air, and you can’t see anything clearly but something strange, like… It’s almost like these strange bubbles of light all around you, and you hear a voice around you. The language that it is speaking, the sounds that it’s making you do not recognize, but yet you still understand. And it reviews and it says:
(in a computerized, highly processed, low voice with slight echo)
“Unauthorized access of temporary technology detected.”

STACE
Oooh!

DANIEL
“You are not approved for this timeline alteration.”

STACE
“Oh, like, why not?”

DANIEL
“You do not possess needed clearance for operation of set item. This will be noted in your record. Further incursions will result in severe disciplinary action.”

STACE
“Wait, like, who are you?”

DANIEL
And, with that, the lights fade, and you are dropped back into real time as Hey You is asking:
“So, where’s this arch? I mean, I’m definitely interested.”

AUDIO: MUSIC FADES AWAY.

STACE
“Okay, so, like, I’m just going to stop this right here, you guys, cause… I had a reset cypher that turned back time five minutes and I did it cause, Hey You? You died. So, Cha-Cha, whatever you’re thinking, stop thinking it. There’s going to be no accidents. We’re all going to be okay. Alright? Alright.”

DANIEL
“Whoa. You had a cypher that turns back time?”

STACE
“Yeah, yeah.”

SAMPSON
“You used it?”

STACE
“Yeah, I used it!”

SAMPSON
“Oh.”

ALEX
“Damn.”

DANIEL
“Badass!”

STACE
“Yeah, man!”

DANIEL
“And thanks! I mean… Family looks after family, right?”
And he kind of gives you like a playful punch in the shoulder.

STACE
Nix like… looks away and she tries to shrug it off.
(low volume)
“Yeah. Family looks after family.”

DANIEL
“For sure! For sure! Well, like I said, I’m heading back! Whether you come with me or not, do… do you have any journal you want to send back with me? Like… you know, at this point you’ve got to have a couple, right?”

STACE
Nix pulls out her journal. How far along is she?

DANIEL
A third into it. No. No. It’s Nix, sorry. He was a third into his thirtieth journal. You are about three fourths of the way through for the eight years that you’ve been a Traveler.

STACE
“I’m almost done with, uh, with this journal.”

DANIEL
“Oh.”
There is something where, you don’t need to roll for it and it’s not… it’s not mean-spirited or anything like that, but there is a little bit of disappointment in his eyes. And he’s like:
“Oh. Well, you know, I’m sure you’ll get it filled up in no time.”

STACE
“Yeah, you know what? I think I’m actually going to like, uhm, work harder at it? I didn’t realize that, like, everyone else was writing so many journals, so… Definitely going to step up my game and maybe like… you know… Think of some of my best adventures in the past and write them down also…?”

DANIEL
“Alright, well, just remember: don’t do it because of the others. Do it to reach your own peak.”

STACE
“Yeah, man. Right. Yeah. Shit. Well! Glad, uh, you un-died, uhm… and… That means that I’m going to see you again, hopefully before you leave… Oh, shit! I just got another question for you, cause, like, you seem like really up on…. Traveler stuff? You seem like you know like a lot? Uh, what about these plates? You ever hear about these plates?”

DANIEL
“You mean like to eat off of?”

STACE
“No, they’re like, uh, commemorative plates for, like, dead travelers. They’re like keepsakes.”

DANIEL
“Dead Travelers… You know, it doesn’t ring a bell for me but I could have sworn… Could have sworn that Taras said something about that.”

STACE
“Taras?”

DANIEL
“Yeah, another… Another Traveler. Yeah, kind of came along to the School. He was, uhm, he was another special case, you know? He had some exceptions made for him.”

STACE
“Oh. Like me. I’m like a special case? Also?”

DANIEL
(huffs)
He laughs, he’s like:
“Yeah, dude! Course you are!”

STACE
“I… I didn’t know, man! Like I, I did not know!”

DANIEL
“Hah, like, how did you not know not everybody gets a parade of Orders in their last year.”

(Laughter.)

STACE
“I don’t know, I just assumed that people liked me, you know what I mean? Like, I was doing really good…”

DANIEL
He laughs and is like:
“Dude, you’re cool. You’re awesome. Like, don’t misunderstand, but… Let’s just say uh, you know, our time at the Proving Ground was just different.”
And he claps you on the shoulder once and is like:
“Tell you what, thank you so much, I appreciate that you reset time for me. Uhm, that’s badass. I hope you write about it in your Journal because…”

STACE
“Oh, yeah! I’m going to write that down, yeah, yeah!”

DANIEL
“Okay! Cause that needs to be in the library for sure! It’s cool that, you know, you’re… thriving throughout all this strife and, like you said, I mean, I’ll talk to Pathfinder Geralt and see what I can figure out because I am curious now. Yeah, I think uh… I’m going to… Finish eating up and… get some sleep, cause… pretty sure some of the kids are going to show up soon.”
And at that you can hear footsteps behind you and it’s this kid walking up with her mother. 
Dili, it’s at this point that you can hear a voice in your head.

AUDIO: STRATEGIC INVASION BY LIAM BACK VIA AUDIIO PLAYS IN THE BACKGROUND.

DANIEL
And it Is definitely the automaton, and it says:
(in a robotic voice with a lower pitch)
“Something’s changed.”

SAMPSON
Internally, Dili will answer:
“Uh, yeah. The… timeline changed, apparently. Are you talking about something else?”

DANIEL
“More than that. I… I heard what your friend Nix said, but… she left something out. There’s… something different about her.”
And when you look at Nix you feel this intrusion on your vision, internally, where you see what appears to be… you’re not exactly sure, you don’t necessarily know the symbol that’s floating above Nix’s head in your vision here.

SAMPSON
Mhmm.

DANIEL
All you know is you look at it and you see a warning.
And there’s where we’ll end this episode.

AUDIO: MUSIC FADES AWAY.

ALEX
Damn… I’m happy we saved him.

DANIEL
Since it mostly involved Nix, Stace, say something about this episode.

STACE
Well, I can’t believe I finally use the reset cypher. I thought that thing was going to last until the end of the campaign. 

ALEX
Mhmm.

STACE
I thought it was really cool talking to Hey You, cause, like, I think about how Nix has developed and that was like… very much her vibe at the beginning of the campaign. And I thought it was a really nice contrast between, like, where Nix is now versus how she was then. I thought that was really cool, so.

DANIEL
Yeah.

STACE
I also like, I mean it was mostly about Nix, but… how Dili and Cha-Cha just like threw in to help… heckle. 
(laughs)
That was great. They were just like all in. No questions asked. They were like: yeah, we’re doing this.

ALEX
Yeah…

SAMPSON
We trust Nix.

DANIEL
Yeah. Yeah.

ALEX
Mhmm.

SAMPSON
(continued)
It’s the others that we’re just like…
(grumble)

ALEX
(grumble)

DANIEL
Yeah, very cool.
So, we have a segment that we do each week called “Player Intrusions.” That’s where we offer you, the listener, an XP to check out something we think you would really dig. This week it is Stace’s turn. 
Stace, what would you offer our listeners an XP to check out?

STACE
I would offer our listeners an XP to check out the videogame “Factorio”. You can get it on Steam. I… want to say it’s like 30 bucks? Maybe 20, I can’t remember.
Anyway, it is a, like, supply chain game. You build a factory and, basically, the goal of the game is to automate your shit until you achieve an advanced technology. A different advanced technology so you can get on a rocket and get off the planet.

ALEX
Oooh.

STACE
Yeap.

ALEX
Kind of like…

SAMPSON
(laughs)

STACE
Uh, no. It’s like a top-down. You have an engineer so you’re… At the beginning of each map, new game, your engineer crashes unto, you know, a planet that is populated by nothing but swarming bug creatures. And so, while you’re building your factory, you also have to do a little bit of like… It’s not quite tower defense but it kind of is? 
You have to have, like, your turrets and you can, you know, develop and build walls. You got to build ammunition so you can build assembly line or assembly belts to, like, take your ammunition to your turret.

DANIEL
Oooh.

STACE
But you need, you know, iron for your ammunition. And you need copper plating or, like, depending on the type of ammunition, you might need different things, so you have your, you know, different belts pulling it all together, running by different processors which make different parts which go into the final product which deliver it to the turret, and so on and so forth. It’s just so cool…
I feel like I’m not describing it particularly well, but you got to watch a video and you just got to watch these assembly belts just… take these resources everywhere and then they get pulled automatically into processing and turned into like copper coil… and then turn into electronic chips and… Ugh, so great.
I’ve wasted so much of my life in this game.

SAMPSON
(chuckles)

DANIEL
I haven’t picked it up cause I’m worried I will get too addicted to it.

ALEX
(laughs)

DANIEL
But I remember you talking about this off-air, and I told one of my friends about it. It was a math professor, and he was… His eyes lit up with excitement the more I passed on your description of it.

STACE
Oh yeah, and it’s like… It’s super addictive. So, it’s not turn based, it’s real time, but you’re always just like... “I just need to, you know, build one more process.”

DANIEL
Ooh.

STACE
And I’ve, like, really messed up and put like too many different parts on the same conveyor belt and realized that I needed to refine it and, uh… Yeah. I’ve made some beautiful symmetrical factories.
(chuckles)

(Laughter.)

DANIEL
Awesome!
Well, if people want to tell us what they think about “Factorio” or about the podcast, how would they do that, Sampson?

SAMPSON
Well, just try googling “Explorers Wanted”. To see if we are the first result. If we’re at that point yet.

ALEX
Oooh.

STACE
No. NASA has a program called “Explorers Wanted”. That’s not us.

SFX: TYPING ON KEYBOARD.

ALEX
Oh, fuck!

SAMPSON
Oh, damn.

ALEX
We should sue them for copyright infringement!

SAMPSON
Alright, well.

DANIEL
It’s NASA! Exploring outer space!

ALEX
Listen, did they copyright it?

STACE
Oh, we’re the first result on my browser! But I don’t know what that means, because I visit our website forty times a day.

SAMPSON
Whether they did or not, they have more money than us, so.

ALEX
Do they at this point? Do they?

SAMPSON
Yeah. Oh, yeah.

DANIEL
They do. Everyone has more money than us.

(Laughter.)

STACE
True.

ALEX
True. True. As an accountant, true.

SAMPSON
Well, if the google thing doesn’t work, they can to explorerswanted.fm, from there they can find all the places that we have staked our claim on the Internet. 
Such as on Twitter where we are at explorerswanted. On Instagram and Facebook, we are at explorerswantedpodcast. 
If they want to interact and talk with us directly and to all the people that we’ve collected into our own little community, they can go to our Discord, at explorerswanted.fm/discord . That should get you the link. 
And if they want to support us, and it is within their means, they can do so at patreon.com/explorerswanted. Give us money so we can fight NASA! Please.

DANIEL
Yeah. Absolutely. We got to get that…

SAMPSON
(laughs)

DANIEL
And, honestly, if you enjoy the show, the best thing that you could do for us is to tell a friend and tell them why you like the show and why they should listen to us.
The second-best thing you could do is leave us a five-star written review on a podcast directory, specifically Apple Podcasts, Podchaser or Stitcher. Those three make the biggest difference. 
If I’m being honest with you, Apple Podcasts makes the most difference for people finding us and trying us out. Podchaser is probably second on that list. If you don’t have an Apple account, that’s totally okay. We get it. Go steal a friend’s iPhone. Leave us a review under their account. 

SAMPSON
(chuckles)

DANIEL
I’m kidding. Legally, I have to say I’m kidding.

(Laughter.)

ALEX
Legally.

DANIEL
But, anyway, those reviews make a huge difference for people trying us out. They make a huge difference for the exposure of our show and people… just to help people us and check it out.
If you didn't like the show, or if you just thought it was meh, well, I want to remind you that “is” is not the same as “should”.
Just because something is a certain way does not mean it should remain that way. And, where we can, we must endeavor to make the “should” a new reality. This is not easy and can’t always happen quickly. 
For example, I wish I could tell you something comforting right now, that the dark is just an absence of light that has no mind of its own, writhing in the corners of your room. I wish I could tell you that monsters aren’t real. I wish I could tell you that there’s no reason to listen to that tingling sensation in your spine, that nothing is watching you.
But there are things that slip in and out of our peripheral vision. Things that scuttle and chew against the inside of our skulls. 
We cannot make them go away. We can only hope that the reverse is also true.
If you want to reach out to us individually on social media, you can!
You can find me on Twitter  @andrlik, a-n-d-r-l-i-k.

STACE
You can find me on Twitter @StaceWindu. 

SAMPSON
Tell me what… what your definition of himbo is, @SlamPotato. 

ALEX
Join me on my campaign of sending the NASA Explorers Wanted reviews of our podcast, @realteaunicorn on Twitter and, Twitch, @teawithaunicorn! 

SAMPSON
(laughing)
Okay, that’s it for us!

AUDIO: NINTH WORLD BY DAVE STERLING PLAYS.

DANIEL
We will be back next week as we will for every week in your foreseeable future. Have a good…
(laughs)
… night, day, or weekend, or whenever you listening to this, and…

ALL TOGETHER
Bye!

AUDIO: NINTH WORLD FADES AWAY.

SFX: BEEP!

DANIEL
Or whenever you’re listening to this, and…

ALL
Bye!

STACE
Fuck yeah! I want a nap.

ALEX
(gasp)
Man…