Daniel [GM] (00:00:30): 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 [Dili] (00:00:42): Podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast. Daniel [GM] (00:00:44): ... Alex Finn ... Alex [ChaCha] (00:00:46): It's really cold, and I'm just like, why don't sweatpants come in sexier outfits? Daniel [GM] (00:00:54): That is the dilemma. Alex [ChaCha] (00:00:55): Yeah. I want to be thick, but not sweatpants thick. Daniel [GM] (00:01:00): Got you. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So you're really looking for leggings that are actually warm. Alex [ChaCha] (00:01:05): Yes. Daniel [GM] (00:01:06): Stace Babcock. Stace [Nix] (00:01:07): And Marietta Jones. Marietta [Atalia] (00:01:09): Podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast. Daniel [GM] (00:01:15): Let's see. Who remembers what happened last time? This time I am going to pick on Sampson. Sampson [Dili] (00:01:21): On me? All right, so it kind of started out with Atalia telling us that she's got a note from her mom that she found in her pocket. And there was a lot of talking about that. And man, Atalia just doesn't want to fucking go. While we were talking about that, ChaCha just kind of walked off into the crowd, so we lost her. Not really sure where to go, where she's going, but we assume she'll be okay. Also, we can't find her anyway. So instead what we do is go to Nix's parents' house to try to find some documents because Nix's plan at that moment is to try to concoct this plan so that The Queen needs Nix's parents to be present, be active, be not dead. And that's about as far as we talked. Nix's mom is a diplomat; Nix's dad is a city administrator or something like that. So we get to Nix's parents' house. We can't find any really juicy documents that are going to be super helpful. The plate though that Atalia is carrying around starts acting up. That's weird, don't know what's going on there. Marietta [Atalia] (00:02:27): I wish I would've rolled better. Sampson [Dili] (00:02:28): Yeah, that would've been nice, but we're not really quite sure what to do. So we decide to go "talk", in quotes, to Doc Taraz. We decided that Nix and Dili are going to run interference disguised as hoity-toity nobles, and Atalia is going to sneak in and see what she can find. That goes okay, I guess. Atalia sneaks and finds that there is a monthly scheduled thing labeled SE, but it has now turned into once every three days and is appointed at the tower, which is a Charmonde prison for prisoners that you don't ask questions about. Scary and mysterious and probably not a great place to be. Atalia gets out just fine. Nix and Dili really get out just fine as Alabaster and Anastasia Featherwhite, I believe is the name that was used. But we get out. Talk some more about what to do next. Really kind of drill in on Atalia not wanting to go talk to her mom, not even to say, "Fuck off, mom." Golden opportunity. But before we really decided anything, Gma comes out of the shadows asking about Mamma Jerrun. And that's where we fucking ended it. Gma's back in the picture. We knew. We knew she was going to fight us before we found her. Marietta [Atalia] (00:03:44): I mean, I kind of presumed that. I just didn't know when it was going to be, so I'm really excited. "Hi grandma, how are you doing?" I think at one point, Nix was like, "Should we stop what we're doing and try to find ChaCha?" And we were like, "Okay, well, we don't know where ChaCha went." Daniel [GM] (00:04:00): And honestly, with ChaCha, it could be anywhere in the Ninth World. Marietta [Atalia] (00:04:06): Yeah. Sampson [Dili] (00:04:06): That's true. And all the places that I think we could go, like Queen's Spittoon, we're a little hot at the moment, so we can't go in there and say, "Hey, you all seen ChaCha?" That could be bad. Daniel [GM] (00:04:19): Okay. So yeah, so you guys have been hiding here. Gma has just sat down and said, "I'm curious about this Mamma Jerrun, dear." And what happens now? Gma looks as normal, but she's dressed in much more utilitarian clothes. They're much sleeker. They're focused around movement. They're not totally dissimilar from what Atalia wears, except that her cloak is a little bit more concealing. Marietta [Atalia] (00:04:50): I think Atalia like runs up to her grandma, but then stops right before and is like, "Yeah, I told you about her. She's the lady that we got the contract from. That's how we all met is through this lady. Do you want to go meet her?" Daniel [GM] (00:05:05): "Is that how you're going to great your grandmother, girl?" And she stretches out her arms. Marietta [Atalia] (00:05:10): Okay, I'll definitely hug her. Stace [Nix] (00:05:13): "Wait, whoa, whoa, Atalia, wait, wait, wait, wait. What if this isn't Gma? When does Gma-" Daniel [GM] (00:05:20): That's adorable, Nix. Marietta [Atalia] (00:05:22): Is it grandma? Does she hug like my grandmother? Daniel [GM] (00:05:26): Mm-hmm (affirmative). She does hug like your grandmother. Sampson [Dili] (00:05:28): With a knife in the back. Stace [Nix] (00:05:28): All right, I want to roll insight. Daniel [GM] (00:05:30): So if you're going to roll some sort of insight, it is probably going to be a nine. Nix, do you have anything in detecting deception or any inabilities or anything like that? Stace [Nix] (00:05:41): No inabilities, just social interactions. Daniel [GM] (00:05:45): Since you're specialized, that'll be a three. Stace [Nix] (00:05:47): 19. Daniel [GM] (00:05:48): Okay. You can propose to me [inaudible 00:05:52] , but you do see Gma seems to be legit. This is Gma. Stace [Nix] (00:06:01): Oh, okay. Cool. Well, God, I don't really know. Some sort of bonus info, but I don't know what Gma is inclined to share. Daniel [GM] (00:06:07): So you could hold to the asset on trying to decipher something later here. Marietta [Atalia] (00:06:14): We can probably use that later on in this conversation. Let's be real. Daniel [GM] (00:06:17): So Gma hugs Atalia back and says, "I'm glad to see you're all alive. Well, I guess where is your friend ChaCha?" Marietta [Atalia] (00:06:27): "[inaudible 00:06:29] seriously disappeared. Actually just two hours ago." Daniel [GM] (00:06:32): Oh. Sampson [Dili] (00:06:33): "She went on a solo adventure that-" Marietta [Atalia] (00:06:36): "Sometimes that happens with her. I think she feels compelled. Are you familiar with the concept of horrors?" Daniel [GM] (00:06:43): "No, I don't know, but it's probably good. She's a little hot right now. So not being with her is probably good.". Marietta [Atalia] (00:06:51): "Okay." Daniel [GM] (00:06:54): "You too, Nix, of course, and Dili. I mean, I guess you're all... No, except for you, honey, but we know that people are looking for you. After all, they came for me." Marietta [Atalia] (00:07:04): "Yeah, we actually came back because we had to, but yeah, I'm really sorry about that. I was really worried, but I saw that I think you got away." Daniel [GM] (00:07:16): "I took care of it, hun." Sampson [Dili] (00:07:16): "Yeah, you did. Sorry. Sorry." Daniel [GM] (00:07:17): "And I followed up where it was necessary. I don't think they'll be coming for me again anytime soon." As she looks off in the shadows for a second is like, "At least after they find Merik's body, assuming they've done that already." Marietta [Atalia] (00:07:36): "Oh." Stace [Nix] (00:07:36): "Oh, Gma." Marietta [Atalia] (00:07:38): "Oh. Oh, I have something for you," and she'll pull her backpack out and pull out the oddity she has of the picture of her mother and say, "Is this something that you had wanted to take with you? Also, I have these things," and she'll pull out her little chest that had been on her nightstand with her trinkets that she had grabbed before she left. Daniel [GM] (00:07:59): "Oh, you can keep the trinkets. I'm glad you found that portrait of your mother. Your mother had many flaws, but that portrait is from happier times when she was at her best, so I'm glad you found it. I didn't leave it there on purpose, but I'm glad it's with you. It should probably stay with you. I'm glad you have something to remember her by." Marietta [Atalia] (00:08:22): And then I think Nix was going to say something. "There's also this," and I'll hand her the note. Daniel [GM] (00:08:28): She looks at the note and she says, "Ah, this is interesting. I was pretty convinced that your mother was in Shallamas right now." Marietta [Atalia] (00:08:37): Yeah", that's what a water demon told me before it tried to kill me." Daniel [GM] (00:08:41): "That's interesting. Everybody has different experiences in life, I guess." Marietta [Atalia] (00:08:48): Yeah, actually, we were not planning on coming back to Charmonde, but we've had some issues with Queen most recently," and I'll look at Nix. Daniel [GM] (00:09:01): "Oh, Nix's family. Yeah, I heard they'd been taken in. I didn't know what the context was." Stace [Nix] (00:09:06): "Oh, yeah. It's because I'm wanted and affiliated with ChaCha who set something on fire there." Daniel [GM] (00:09:15): "So wait, ChaCha's an assassin or a terrorist?" Stace [Nix] (00:09:19): "Oh, no. Nope." Sampson [Dili] (00:09:24): "She's a force of nature." Stace [Nix] (00:09:24): "Yeah. It was a small fire from what I understand." Daniel [GM] (00:09:27): "Well, that's unfortunate." Stace [Nix] (00:09:28): "There was an accidental fire. It was like you're having a bad day fire." Daniel [GM] (00:09:33): I mean, given the response, I feel like The Queen must think that she's a real threat." Stace [Nix] (00:09:38): "Oh, I thought the queen was just a little... you know." Daniel [GM] (00:09:44): "She is, but that's how she's lived so long to guide our nation forward. But it's unfortunate. I assume that the ChaCha thing was just a misunderstanding because..." She raises a hand and touches the Atalia's cheek and says, "Atalia, you've had a rough life, but you have a good instinct for people. And I didn't think that you would actually align yourself with anybody who was a real threat to our people and our nation. So I assume it's a misunderstanding." Marietta [Atalia] (00:10:21): "Look ChaCha's a lot of things, but I don't think it would be intentional necessarily. I don't think she'd set out to destroy civilization, but I think that she thinks there's some greater purpose to her being. I don't know what that means though. She also sees things that I can't see." Daniel [GM] (00:10:38): That is probably a lot less comforting than it sounded in your own head. Marietta [Atalia] (00:10:43): I didn't want it to be comforting though. I wanted to be real about it. I want to just say that I love ChaCha, but I don't know. And I don't think she knows. And I think that might be also why she's not here right now. Daniel [GM] (00:10:43): Could be. Stace [Nix] (00:10:54): "Gma, do you work for the queen?" Daniel [GM] (00:11:00): " No I don't. I'm retired." Stace [Nix] (00:11:03): "You used to work for the queen then?" Daniel [GM] (00:11:06): "No I was a free agent." Stace [Nix] (00:11:07): "That was just a patriotic thing to say." Daniel [GM] (00:11:13): "Our queen is the queen, but that doesn't mean that I worked for her directly. And if I had to I had my own lines. Lines are important, Nix" Stace [Nix] (00:11:22): "Yes. I agree." Daniel [GM] (00:11:24): "At a certain point you have to decide where your loyalties lie. I know where mine lie. Do you all know where your lines are?" Stace [Nix] (00:11:31): "Oh yeah. Don't fuck with my parents and don't fuck with my friends. I think." Daniel [GM] (00:11:37): "That's a good start." Stace [Nix] (00:11:38): "Oh. Well. and don't fuck with other people." Marietta [Atalia] (00:11:38): "Don't fuck with people." Daniel [GM] (00:11:43): "That's a little broad. Sometimes people need to be fucked with." Stace [Nix] (00:11:47): "Oh, that's true. Don't fuck with innocent people." Daniel [GM] (00:11:53): [inaudible 00:11:53] says "Innocent, of course, is a matter of perspective. But what about you Dili." Sampson [Dili] (00:12:00): " I'm kind of in a transition period right now. I'll get back to you when I've settled down." Marietta [Atalia] (00:12:05): "Yeah, actually I kind of think we all are." Sampson [Dili] (00:12:07): "Well Dili, especially." Daniel [GM] (00:12:09): Dili's like Bruce Banner in Thor Ragnarok. Like where he's like "I'm undecided on revenge." So GMa's like, "So you're back in town. Are apparently stocking Doc. Taraz. You're with multiple wanted people and no doubt at least some people came looking for you at our home. I took care of it, but..." Marietta [Atalia] (00:12:46): Was it the Handlers? Or was it the Knyxos?" Daniel [GM] (00:12:49): "They seem like Handlers. I didn't have a chance to talk them through it, but I responded to them as if they were handlers, which is why you don't have to worry about Merrik anymore. But my understanding is your mother has stepped in to bring things under control." Sampson [Dili] (00:13:09): "Oh shit. Your mom's high up." Marietta [Atalia] (00:13:12): "Okay. So Merrik is dead. That's a good data point. My mother wants to meet with me tonight at our old abode. And..." Daniel [GM] (00:13:20): "Are you going?" Marietta [Atalia] (00:13:21): "I was planing on not, actually." Daniel [GM] (00:13:26): "What were you going to do instead?" Marietta [Atalia] (00:13:27): "Go to my other meeting." Daniel [GM] (00:13:29): "You have a other meeting."" Marietta [Atalia] (00:13:30): " Yeah." Daniel [GM] (00:13:31): "With whom?" Marietta [Atalia] (00:13:33): "We were just talking about when you mysteriously appeared as you apparently do." Daniel [GM] (00:13:39): "All right. So you don't have any interest in meeting with your mother?" Marietta [Atalia] (00:13:44): "I know we don't talk about our feelings in great depth, but I was 12. She was never really present. I was very alone. Now it's a decade later and I'm just like, I don't care. I don't really want to be involved with that. I'm sorry about Tamara. I don't know what she wants really. Honestly." Daniel [GM] (00:14:04): "Who's Tamara again? Remind me." Marietta [Atalia] (00:14:08): "Good friend apparently. We found a metal lady who apparently mom wanted to kill. Oh, I was hurt because I don't know if you noticed, but I look like my mother. Yeah. I don't know if you're familiar with that or [inaudible 00:14:22]." Daniel [GM] (00:14:22): "No, that name doesn't ring a bell. Either one of them, but, well, when are you supposed to meet her?" Marietta [Atalia] (00:14:30): " There was not a specific time. It was just tonight. The letter was pretty 'meet me a grandma's tonight. We need to talk.' It was really detailed. We're really big on specifics in this family." Daniel [GM] (00:14:46): "Hmm. Well, dear, as always, I'm worried about you." Marietta [Atalia] (00:14:50): "Well I was worried you too." Daniel [GM] (00:14:52): "Would you be okay if I went to your meeting instead?" Sampson [Dili] (00:14:56): Can we watch that? That's fucking rad. Marietta [Atalia] (00:15:00): " I just feel like it's a set up and I love you grandma. And I'm sure you are such a strong lady, but what if I don't want her to hurt you or something? I don't know. It just felt very trappy too. 'Meet me at this specific location.' That seemed like a dumb place to show up to." Daniel [GM] (00:15:17): "That's fair. That's fair, but I wouldn't worry about me." Marietta [Atalia] (00:15:22): "But I've given you this note. So you do whatever it is you want. I don't want anything to happen to you yet. Please." Daniel [GM] (00:15:31): "I can't promise that, honey. I can't only promise that I'll work within my lines." Stace [Nix] (00:15:36): "Oh, what are your lines, Gma?" Daniel [GM] (00:15:39): "That's my concern." Stace [Nix] (00:15:40): "Well, but you asked me my lines." Daniel [GM] (00:15:42): "It's good to know people's lines, but if it comes down to my granddaughter and my daughter, that's a little bit more complicated, but it depends where the lines are. I have lines for family. I have lines for friends. I have lines for business. I have lines for my country. I am many things and one of them is a patriot. I'm not going to go against our queen, but I'll stand by my family." Stace [Nix] (00:16:08): "Are you to turn me and Dili in. Or.." Daniel [GM] (00:16:12): "Dili is wanted by The Knyxos. I don't care about that. You're wanted by the Knyxos too. The queen is interested in you Nix, but you're one of my granddaughters lines. As long as you stay with them, those lines are fine." Marietta [Atalia] (00:16:28): "Probably. His cheeks are pink." Daniel [GM] (00:16:29): But Nix. While I am awfully fond of you. You step out of those lines. I'll turn you in, in a heartbeat." Stace [Nix] (00:16:37): "Oh yeah. Perfectly understandable, Gma." Daniel [GM] (00:16:41): "Anyway, I hear you have troubles of your own, something about your family and the tower?" Stace [Nix] (00:16:46): "But you just told me one of your lines is that acting against The Queen. So I understand if you don't want to get involved." Daniel [GM] (00:16:54): "Yeah, I won't directly interact." Marietta [Atalia] (00:16:57): "It sounds nefarious. So just because we support the country, do we have to always support an individual? Even when they do things that are maybe not good." Daniel [GM] (00:17:05): "That's a fair question, honey. Where do your lines tell you to lie?" Marietta [Atalia] (00:17:09): "Well, they told me that locking up Nix's mom in a tower and having some crazy Nano doctors see her three times a week is maybe not a good thing." Daniel [GM] (00:17:19): "What crazy Nano doctor?" Marietta [Atalia] (00:17:20): "Doctor Taraz." Stace [Nix] (00:17:23): "Oh my God. I tell you that's so rude." Marietta [Atalia] (00:17:25): "Bad Taraz. Sorry Taraz. Bad question. I'm really confused. I don't actually know the San Jose Mall. All I know is that she's been ripping Nix and her family off for like a year." Daniel [GM] (00:17:35): "Oh. Her. Well, that's odd that she would still be seeing her at the tower." Marietta [Atalia] (00:17:43): "At the tower. It's in her calendar book." Daniel [GM] (00:17:45): "That's odd." Marietta [Atalia] (00:17:46): "We talk like every three days." Daniel [GM] (00:17:48): "What's going on. Why would she be seeing your mother Nix?" Marietta [Atalia] (00:17:52): Didn't we tell her about this? Daniel [GM] (00:17:53): I think you told her in sort of vague terms. Stace [Nix] (00:17:56): "Oh yeah. Her teleportation attacks. And it kind of seems like she's taking some sort of dark energy from my mom, which helps her stabilize for a little while." Marietta [Atalia] (00:18:06): "It's also affiliated with this Numenara device that's associated with Knyxos organization." Stace [Nix] (00:18:11): "Oh yeah." Daniel [GM] (00:18:11): "Okay. That's more than I can comprehend in one go but..." Marietta [Atalia] (00:18:16): I'll pull the plate out of my backpack. Daniel [GM] (00:18:20): "I would say if your mom has a teleportation attacks, there's probably an obvious reason why the queen would want to subdue those." Stace [Nix] (00:18:29): "So she doesn't get out." Daniel [GM] (00:18:30): Mm-hmm (affirmative) Stace [Nix] (00:18:33): "Oh, we're going to have to fuck up Doc. Taraz." Marietta [Atalia] (00:18:35): "We're going to have to fuck her up I think." Daniel [GM] (00:18:40): "Let's just say Doc. Taraz is somebody who helps the very rich. She's not at least within my lines." Marietta [Atalia] (00:18:48): "On a scale of one to 'I could take her'. Do you think.." Daniel [GM] (00:18:52): "I don't know her personally. I can't tell you" Stace [Nix] (00:18:54): "On a scale of one to 'I could take her', do you think?" Daniel [GM] (00:18:58): "Do you mean I, as in me?" Marietta [Atalia] (00:19:00): No, I wouldn't ask that of you." Stace [Nix] (00:19:03): "Nix?" Daniel [GM] (00:19:03): "Nix, I don't know. Honestly, I've only had very short contact with you since you left those years ago. Can't speak to that. I'm sure I could take her." Stace [Nix] (00:19:13): "Oh, do you want to spar? We should spar." Daniel [GM] (00:19:17): "I have no intention of doing that with you." Stace [Nix] (00:19:19): "Oh, okay." Daniel [GM] (00:19:20): "Nix I don't spar." Sampson [Dili] (00:19:23): "She wins." Stace [Nix] (00:19:24): "Okay. G-Boss. [inaudible 00:19:27]." Marietta [Atalia] (00:19:29): Do we need to insight check that statement or... Daniel [GM] (00:19:33): Yeah. Stace [Nix] (00:19:33): No, she just kills. She doesn't spar. What's the point? Daniel [GM] (00:19:39): "I do what I need to do. I don't play games." Stace [Nix] (00:19:42): "I feel vaguely insulted Gma but I can respect it." Sampson [Dili] (00:19:47): "So I just had a thought, kind of tangent to what we're talking about. Atalia, the plate reacted when we were at Nix's parents' house. Right?" Marietta [Atalia] (00:19:56): "Which was actually when the appointment was taking place, it turns out." I will pull the plate out and it's wrapped. Cloth covering. Daniel [GM] (00:20:05): "What's that?" Marietta [Atalia] (00:20:06): "Grandma, that's the cipher object I was telling you about. Also, I honestly really don't know what your specialty is. Do you enjoy Numenara or is it just not your thing?" Sampson [Dili] (00:20:17): "If you could describe yourself in a sentence." Daniel [GM] (00:20:21): "Numenara's not my specialty." Stace [Nix] (00:20:23): I would like to use my asset in figuring out what is Gma's specialty. And Nix does it by being like, "Do you like swords?" Daniel [GM] (00:20:31): Okay. So you have a social advantage, you have a social specialization and you have this extra advantage. So that's three assets, which brings it down to a six. Stace [Nix] (00:20:41): I'm going to spend a level of intellectual effort. Daniel [GM] (00:20:44): Okay. Stace [Nix] (00:20:44): Back in single digits where I belong. Daniel [GM] (00:20:48): Brings it down to a three. Stace [Nix] (00:20:48): [inaudible 00:20:49]. Daniel [GM] (00:20:48): Okay. Gma's specialty isn't Numenara. You get the feeling that her specialty is more in stealth. In lethality. Stace [Nix] (00:21:00): " Oh yeah. Gma's a straight up assassin I tell you." Marietta [Atalia] (00:21:03): "Yeah. What's her thing. Is it murders? " Stace [Nix] (00:21:04): "It's murders." Daniel [GM] (00:21:06): "That's a little rude, but I made a good living off of that." Stace [Nix] (00:21:13): "Oh, hell yeah." Daniel [GM] (00:21:14): "I tried to make go an honest route later on, in the hopes that would help my daughter raise my granddaughter. But that didn't work out. And when I found Atalia I wanted to make sure that we lived an honest life. I still have my savings from my previous career. But..." Marietta [Atalia] (00:21:32): "How did that work? Did someone tell you that mom had just stopped showing up? Or..." Daniel [GM] (00:21:37): "If somebody had told me that I would have been there far sooner, honey. I wouldn't have left you there for as long as you were there." Marietta [Atalia] (00:21:45): "I just don't want to deal with it." Sampson [Dili] (00:21:48): It's way off topic. But I just had a vision of small 10 year old Atalia singing that song from... Marietta [Atalia] (00:21:56): Les Mis? Sampson [Dili] (00:21:57): No, not Les Mis. The animated one about coming to America. Stace [Nix] (00:22:01): Fievel Goes West? Daniel [GM] (00:22:02): Somewhere out there. Stace [Nix] (00:22:03): Somewhere out there. Sampson [Dili] (00:22:05): Yeah. I was just imagining Atalia singing that as a ten year old. Daniel [GM] (00:22:11): "Honey, if I had known, I would not have left you there as long as it was. As long as you were there." Which incidentally, this is probably new news to Nix. Marietta [Atalia] (00:22:20): I think it is. I think she's... Daniel [GM] (00:22:23): Atalia was there for some extended period of time before her Gma found her. Marietta [Atalia] (00:22:30): "I don't know. If she wants to like reconcile or something, I don't really see that as beneficial." Daniel [GM] (00:22:34): "I don't think she wants to reconcile, honey, if she's reaching out to you, she wants something." Marietta [Atalia] (00:22:39): "She's pissed at me about the situation. That I really don't want to see her. And yeah. If she wants something from me, I don't think I really want to give it to her either. So yeah. If you would like to go to that meeting, that's perfectly fine. I would ask that you try not to die. If that is a thing that happens, I guess." Daniel [GM] (00:22:58): "And that's always my preference, but we'll see. I'm not going to kill my daughter." Marietta [Atalia] (00:23:03): "I know you're not going to, but I don't think you need to die over that either. I think it's okay to just leave. I would rather have you be alive for me than die for my mother at this point. Selfishly." Daniel [GM] (00:23:19): "I appreciate that. That's not your choice though, Atalia." Marietta [Atalia] (00:23:20): Okay. Stace [Nix] (00:23:21): "Well anyway, I have another meeting to go to." Daniel [GM] (00:23:24): "Okay. Fair enough." Sampson [Dili] (00:23:26): "Actually, I feel like you should come with Ms. Gma. Mrs. Gma? Mrs. Stone. Go with that one. Mrs. Stone?"" Daniel [GM] (00:23:34): Gma's fine, Dilly." Sampson [Dili] (00:23:36): "It doesn't feel natural. And I don't know. But Gma. Ms. Gma." Damn it. "You should come with us to this meeting? Maybe? Yes." Dilly nods. Stace [Nix] (00:23:49): "Which meeting Dili. We have two." Sampson [Dili] (00:23:51): "The Mamma Jerrun one." Stace [Nix] (00:23:54): "Oh yeah. Do you want to come meet Mamma J?" Marietta [Atalia] (00:23:55): "Yeah." Stace [Nix] (00:23:56): No, wait, we shouldn't take her to Mamma J. It's a secret. Marietta [Atalia] (00:24:00): I think we shouldn't. It is a secret. Daniel [GM] (00:24:02): It's very vocal for a... Marietta [Atalia] (00:24:00): ... we shouldn't. What is the secret? Daniel [GM] (00:24:03): You're very vocal for a secret. Sampson [Dili] (00:24:04): The reason for the meeting is a secret. But, I feel- Stace [Nix] (00:24:06): Yeah, no. Yeah. I mean, it's okay to know that she exists, but it's like secret. Sampson [Dili] (00:24:11): I just feel that [G-ma 00:24:13] And [Momma J 00:00:24:13] should have the opportunity to maybe be friends, maybe. Because that could be helpful to all of us. Stace [Nix] (00:24:20): Oh, yeah. Daniel [GM] (00:24:20): I don't know, Dili. I have enough friends at my age. Sampson [Dili] (00:24:25): Why not one more? That's... Never have too many friends, I think is what other people say. Why not? Daniel [GM] (00:24:32): I don't know. Sampson [Dili] (00:24:33): Also, you did say you were curious about her. You did say that. Daniel [GM] (00:24:36): I am curious about her, but the opportunity to see my daughter again is also pretty strong. Stace [Nix] (00:24:42): All right. So G-ma, do you need us to be lookouts? What do you need? Daniel [GM] (00:24:49): I don't need anything from you. I was just asking permission from my granddaughter. Stace [Nix] (00:24:51): Oh... Daniel [GM] (00:24:52): You guys go about your meeting. I'll deal with my daughter. Stace [Nix] (00:24:56): Very deflating. Sampson [Dili] (00:24:57): I just don't feel like we need to choose between meetings. We could do like Momma J's first, because she said early evening or evening. Daniel [GM] (00:25:04): She just said evening. Sampson [Dili] (00:25:06): Yeah, evening. And then I assume G-ma, your daughter's more of like the midnight type, so. Daniel [GM] (00:25:13): I don't know. Stace [Nix] (00:25:14): Plus, Atalia wants you to stay alive, so. Daniel [GM] (00:25:16): I'm not worried about my daughter. [Saliana 00:25:18] is Saliana. But I'm not worried about my life. Stace [Nix] (00:25:26): Atalia, what do you want? Marietta [Atalia] (00:25:28): If she wants to go meet my mom, that's fine. We should go meet with Mama [Jerrun 00:25:33] though. I would not have gone to the meeting with my mother until late, because that's when I presume she intended by the verbiage of her letter. Momma Jerrun was just kind of like, 'At dusk.' It's dark. Now let's go. I felt like- Stace [Nix] (00:25:46): Okay, well, good to see you G-ma. We don't have a place to stay. So we might be a little bit hard to find, but you didn't have a hard time, so. Daniel [GM] (00:25:54): I'll find you. Stace [Nix] (00:25:55): All right. Marietta [Atalia] (00:25:56): Yeah, I guess say 'hi' sometime [inaudible 00:26:02] after you see mom. Daniel [GM] (00:26:04): She reaches up and she touches your cheek again and says, "Don't worry, Atalia, I'm going to keep my eye on you." And then she starts walking away into the alley and fades into the shadows. Marietta [Atalia] (00:26:16): Yeah, I know [Jasky 00:26:18]. Daniel [GM] (00:26:18): Yeah, Jasky does give a little wine and rubs her head against you. ChaCha, You're back in [Polos' 00:26:29] shop, with Buddy Cop just kind of floating in a corner, waiting patiently. You notice that Bastian is over in the corner and he has one of these like snake creatures with the distorted faces that has kind of come in. And Bastian is currently holding it by the head and occasionally poking it with a small, sharp knife. And it keeps making this hissing noise at him and wriggling, and trying to swing its tail around a hit him, but Bastian's too quick. And Buddy Cop looks at Bastian and is like, "Bastian, don't play with your food. Go outside." And Bastian kind of grimaces and then he looks at the snake and says, "You heard him," and then drags the snake out the door again. And Buddy Cop says, "What did you see, ChaCha?" Alex [ChaCha] (00:27:27): I think it's been determined that destroying Dili's friend needs to take a back seat, and I either need to kill that Nano or we need to storm the castle. Daniel [GM] (00:27:42): Hmm. Well, I don't know about if I can help you storm the castle. I could help you kill a Nano for sure. Although it's not my preferred way of doing things. Alex [ChaCha] (00:27:54): I mean, they're probably innocent. I have to consult with Nix. She seems to have a stronger opinion of innocence than I do. Daniel [GM] (00:28:04): I'm curious though, you've wounded Nix twice recently. I'm curious why you're so concerned about her opinions. Alex [ChaCha] (00:28:12): She said we're family. And I didn't mean to hurt her. It was just, she keeps getting in the way. I go to protect her and then she steps in the way. Daniel [GM] (00:28:23): That must be terribly frustrating. Alex [ChaCha] (00:28:26): It is. And it's just, I'm not sure if I need to get faster than Nix or stealthier than Nix. I'm not sure how to make her understand that I'm protecting her. Daniel [GM] (00:28:38): Hmm. Well, maybe you could find a way to help her. Alex [ChaCha] (00:28:43): That's why getting rid of Dili's problem is now a backseat, because I don't think Nix would appreciate it if, while dealing with Dili's problem, her mom died. That might be bad. Daniel [GM] (00:28:56): Hmm. Well, I'm open to either approach. I could either help you take care of this Nano or perhaps we could find a way together to get Nix's parents out from their current confinement. Alex [ChaCha] (00:29:12): I think the option that makes people less angry with me is getting Nix's parents out. I think Nix still thinks this Nano's helping her. I don't know. I think Nix is kind of innocent about these things. She doesn't quite get the world. Daniel [GM] (00:29:32): Hmm. Like perhaps she lived a sheltered life or something like that. Not many have seen the world like you have, ChaCha. Alex [ChaCha] (00:29:40): I mean, that's good for Nix. And that's why I want to protect Nix. Because she needs to keep being a good person. But she also has to let me be the bad person sometimes. Daniel [GM] (00:29:57): Well, if you'd like, I could get you into that prison. Alex [ChaCha] (00:29:57): I think that's the best option, because I think Nix might go at this a bad way. Because she thinks the guards aren't going to hurt her, I think. So I think we need to break into the person and get her parents. But I don't know where to keep them because I don't have a house. Daniel [GM] (00:30:17): That is difficult. Do you have anybody else you could call on? Alex [ChaCha] (00:30:21): I mean, I don't think... Momma Jerrun didn't seem to really know what to do. She was kind... I don't know. They made it sound like Nix's parents were a Plan B and that we need to destroy the automaton first. Maybe Donovan, but I don't know how effective he will be. Daniel [GM] (00:30:44): Hmm. Well, like I said, I don't know where you would hide them or offer them shelter. I can definitely help you get them out. Beyond that, I'm not sure. Certainly something beyond that would count it as a second favor. Alex [ChaCha] (00:31:01): That is correct. I think the best option is to free them and hide them at Momma Jerrun's temporarily. She seems to have some sort of protection. And then Nix can figure out where to hide her parents. We don't have a ship anymore, so that's not an option. Daniel [GM] (00:31:19): All right, I think I can help you with this. Give me just a moment. And he fades out of your vision for a moment, and you can hear like this weird smacking, crunching, slurping sound coming from the alley out back, from where Bastian went out the door. And then a moment later, Buddy Cop appears and he has two items in his hands. One of them looks to be a small sphere. The other one looks like a glowing dagger wreathed in wiring, and it glows with an amber color. And first he hands you the sphere and he says, "This is an explosive. It's not as potent as the other item in your possession by any means, but it should help secure your exit from the prison. This other item will allow me to open a door, take you directly inside." Alex [ChaCha] (00:32:29): This is Alex asking, but is the amber sphere distinguishable from the nuclear weapon? Daniel [GM] (00:32:40): It definitely is, yes. Alex [ChaCha] (00:32:41): Okay. Daniel [GM] (00:32:42): The two look very different. Alex [ChaCha] (00:32:44): Just making sure. Daniel [GM] (00:32:46): Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, no, no. ChaCha's not going to have an oopsy and use the wrong one. Alex [ChaCha] (00:32:52): Oopsy, I nuked the palace. Daniel [GM] (00:32:56): There goes half of Charmonde. Alex [ChaCha] (00:32:56): Woopsy-doodle. Well then I would have to roll a new character too I think. Daniel [GM] (00:33:04): Mm-hmm (affirmative). Alex [ChaCha] (00:33:04): Well... Daniel [GM] (00:33:05): Depending where the others are in the city. You don't know where they are. I mean, they might- Alex [ChaCha] (00:33:08): I know. New party. ChaCha had butter fingers. I guess ChaCha will ask Buddy Cop. "So it's not as strong as the other one, but what is the actual damage it's going to do?" Daniel [GM] (00:33:27): It explodes in a short range. You can set a timer on it or just throw it and it'll explode on impact. It'll do 10 damage to anything within that short distance, from where it lands. I would advise not being in the blast radius. So you may wish to, if you're going to throw it, unless you're going to throw it very far, I would suggest setting at least a timer of a few seconds. So you have time to run the other way. Alex [ChaCha] (00:33:55): That is good advice, I think. Yes. Okay. I guess this is where I get to do my own heist. Just like I asked, except I don't get to steal things. I'm stealing people. Daniel [GM] (00:34:09): Exactly. It's more exciting. It's more worthy of you, ChaCha. If you want, I can even ask Bastian if he'll help in some way. He owes me one. Alex [ChaCha] (00:34:18): Does Bastian like [Heiss 00:34:19]? Daniel [GM] (00:34:20): Bastian... owes me one. Let's put it that way. I don't know if he likes Heiss, but he will help if I ask. Alex [ChaCha] (00:34:28): As long as you weren't saving the favor for something else, I think I could have a little backup. I don't know how durable I am. Daniel [GM] (00:34:37): Well, shall we make a trade then? Favor for a favor? Alex [ChaCha] (00:34:40): Yes. Daniel [GM] (00:34:41): All right. And he takes the glowing blade and he slices the air in front of him, and this rift opens up. And it's like the rift is full of light. You can't really see anything else. And when you look over, Buddy Cop is gone, but Bastian is over next to you looking over. You're only a little bit taller than Bastian. Bastian says like, "Okay, we're going to do this?" And his hands have like grown into long claws. Alex [ChaCha] (00:35:16): Yeah. We're going to go save some people. Apparently low casualty, but if you kill people in self-defense I'm not going to tell. Daniel [GM] (00:35:26): He smiles at you. He's like, "That's how it always starts." And he jumps through the rift. Alex [ChaCha] (00:35:32): I think ChaCha's going to kind of like think a moment about that. Like, "Oh, you're right. This is kind of a slippery slope." ChaCha should remember the slippery slope. It's pretty easy to just start just murdering everybody once you're just like. "It's okay in self-defense," and she's just kind of go through the portal too. Stace [Nix] (00:35:57): Atalia, G-ma's fucking terrifying. Marietta [Atalia] (00:36:00): Yeah. Can you imagine what my mother is like? Stace [Nix] (00:36:03): No, That's why I was like, worried about your G-ma, but she doesn't want us to help her and you don't want to meet your mom. So it's cool. But like... Marietta [Atalia] (00:36:09): I think I have to be okay with it. I'm uncomfortable with it, but I think I just have to be okay with it, if you know what I mean. Like my grandmother is a strong, independent woman. I'm supposed to be a strong, independent woman. You know? Like- Stace [Nix] (00:36:21): Yeah, yeah. Die alone, all that. No, I get it, Atalia. Marietta [Atalia] (00:36:26): [inaudible 00:36:26] doesn't break my heart though. And we don't have to be that way. Sampson [Dili] (00:36:30): Also, I kind of want to watch. Like, I don't want to get involved but I kind of want to see what's going to happen when these two like are in the same vicinity together. I feel like it's just going to be like so cool. Marietta [Atalia] (00:36:39): If I knew I could not be discovered. Like if I knew that there was some way I could be completely hidden, I would maybe go see what happened. Stace [Nix] (00:36:48): What if we... Okay, we say, "Yo..." Yeah, yeah, yeah. We say, "Yo, Momma J. We joined [Courteous Knight's Hope 00:00:36:53]. If you help my parents, and if you let us look in the fire to see G-ma and your mama..." Marietta [Atalia] (00:37:03): Okay. Okay. Okay, so what do we say? We like, "we believe in it, but..." Sampson [Dili] (00:37:10): Well, we do. The door's a real thing. Marietta [Atalia] (00:37:11): We need her. We need her to believe in us, too. And- Stace [Nix] (00:37:15): Oh, she believes in us, Atalia. Marietta [Atalia] (00:37:17): Yeah. So if she could support us in our adventures, because it seems like it's all connected in some way, a little bit. You know what I mean? [inaudible 00:37:26] Stace [Nix] (00:37:25): I do feel like there's some sort of larger plan or plot. Yes. Sampson [Dili] (00:37:30): There's definitely a main story line. Absolutely, yeah. Marietta [Atalia] (00:37:32): Yeah. I [inaudible 00:37:34] to go talk to Momma Jerrun and see if she- Stace [Nix] (00:37:35): Yeah. We would just be like, "Let us look..." But we got to see if she'll let us look in the fire. Sampson [Dili] (00:37:40): Oh, I was just going to say also, Nix. She said she's going to help you with whatever your thing is still. Do you actually have like a relatively solid plan? Stace [Nix] (00:37:48): Yeah. So here's my plan. We read all this shit that we found, and then we make a plan. Marietta [Atalia] (00:37:54): No, so, yeah... Sampson [Dili] (00:37:55): So no. Sorry. Marietta [Atalia] (00:37:57): I was going to take the notes that you had on your mom at all, though. Stace [Nix] (00:37:59): Okay. So my dad works for the city. If we messed with city stuff... Marietta [Atalia] (00:38:06): Also, after our meeting, I could try to break into your dad's office now that it's nighttime. Stace [Nix] (00:38:10): Yeah. Marietta [Atalia] (00:38:11): I can also see in the dark, no lights required. Stace [Nix] (00:38:14): Wait, have we ever met Momma J during the day? Marietta [Atalia] (00:38:17): Maybe she's only real at night. Sampson [Dili] (00:38:19): I assume she's sleeping during the day. She seems like a night owl. She has to sleep, that's the thing. Marietta [Atalia] (00:38:24): Guys, my grandma's kind of terrifying, isn't she? Stace [Nix] (00:38:26): Yeah. No, she's absolutely fucking badass. I would love to spar her except she would kill me, I guess, so. Sampson [Dili] (00:38:33): Oh yeah, absolutely. Yeah, she doesn't seem like a fighter. She seems like a... ender, you know? Like she'd stop... She ends [crosstalk 00:14:41]. Marietta [Atalia] (00:38:40): Yeah. There's no like AOE. It's like a single attack. Super high damage. Stace [Nix] (00:38:46): Oh, I forgot to tell her I'm a snake now. Marietta [Atalia] (00:38:49): Oh, shit. I didn't tell her either. And I thought it like three times during the conversation. I was like, "We need to wait for the right moment." And then it got really uncomfortable when she was like, "It's not about what you want, Atalia." And I was like, "Oh shit. Okay." Stace [Nix] (00:38:58): Oh- Marietta [Atalia] (00:38:59): Okay. Stace [Nix] (00:39:00): Yeah. Sampson [Dili] (00:39:01): I feel like we're getting distracted. So, Momma J. Nix, what's your plan? You said your dad works in administration. Stace [Nix] (00:39:06): Works for the city. Marietta [Atalia] (00:39:09): Or we start an international incident, maybe. Sampson [Dili] (00:39:13): By doing... Marietta [Atalia] (00:39:14): [inaudible 00:39:14] But I think we could disguise... I think we could replace Doc Taraz. We could kidnapped Doc Taraz, and then one of us could impersonate, when we're going to go see yo mama, and then leave an illusion and get your mom the fuck out of there because I'm good at getting out of places. Stace [Nix] (00:39:34): Well, and my dad. Oh my god, Atalia. He's been so kind to you. Marietta [Atalia] (00:39:39): We don't know if your dad's there too, is what I'm saying. It's like, we know that your mom is there because that is where she's been going to meet. But I'm hoping your dad is there too, but we don't know that. You know what I mean? Sampson [Dili] (00:39:49): Just a quick clarification, Atalia. I can't leave an illusion. Marietta [Atalia] (00:39:53): Why not? Sampson [Dili] (00:39:54): I can't do that because I kind of need to see it. Stace [Nix] (00:39:57): Do you have to disguise yourself as a human, or humanoid, or can you disguise yourself as like a cart? Sampson [Dili] (00:40:05): Someone or something roughly my size and shape. Stace [Nix] (00:40:08): [inaudible 00:00:40:09], Dili. Sampson [Dili] (00:40:08): Yeah, I could do that. Stace [Nix] (00:40:12): I don't know if they left them in the palace, but yeah, that would be sick. Marietta [Atalia] (00:40:15): Or we can just get the automaton to show up. Sampson [Dili] (00:40:17): Yeah, let's just do that willingly. Stace [Nix] (00:40:20): Well, fuck, Dili. I forgot the automaton's following you legit everywhere. Marietta [Atalia] (00:40:25): Let's just start that fight in the lobby of the tower. Yeah, what if it just meets us at the tower and we have the fight there and we just destroy it, and then it's really easy to get your mom out. Stace [Nix] (00:40:38): No, Atalia. There was a whole middle part to that plan that you didn't say out loud. Marietta [Atalia] (00:40:44): Uh... Stace [Nix] (00:40:45): Impersonation. Marietta [Atalia] (00:40:47): Oh. Sampson [Dili] (00:40:48): Impersonation. I can do that. Again, but leaving in illusion, I need to see where the illusion is to leave it. But if I can't see the place, then it's... Can't do it. Marietta [Atalia] (00:40:58): Well, I could just try to sneak in and see if I can find out where your mom is. If I could just kidnap her out. Sampson [Dili] (00:41:05): Break her out? Marietta [Atalia] (00:41:06): Yeah. I mean, I'm pretty good at making things like work for me to get in and out of places, and like unlocking those kind of things. You know, like if it's just to get her out, I could possibly do that depending on what the situation is. But again, I would need to like gather more data and scope it. Stace [Nix] (00:41:25): That's what I'm saying. We're in the information gathering phase of our plan. Marietta [Atalia] (00:41:28): Okay. So we should go talk to Momma Jerrun and tell her the bones of the plan and the data we need. Maybe she's already scoped that tower before. You know what I mean? Maybe she already like... She's like, 'My dude, if you just like touch this one brick, you are spontaneously teleported to exactly where you...' You know, like maybe there's something like that. Daniel [GM] (00:41:44): Mmm. That would seem like boring and convenient narrative. Marietta [Atalia] (00:41:47): Well, that's why I'm not running this game. Stace [Nix] (00:41:51): All right. So Momma J is to ask the hard questions and also see if she'll let us look in her fire. Marietta [Atalia] (00:41:57): Okay. Wait, wait, wait, game plan. Look in the fire because mom, also helping your family, maybe breaking into your dad's office, scoping the place, but breaking your mom out is the plan. Also we should think about... Stace [Nix] (00:42:09): Breaking my parents out, Atalia. Marietta [Atalia] (00:42:11): Yeah. Yes, yes, yes. Both of them. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm not using the correct verbiage, but... Sampson [Dili] (00:42:18): Actually, I just had a thought. Is it a good idea to break your mom out? Because it does seem like Doc Taraz is at least helping in some capacity. So if we break your mom out, now all of a sudden she doesn't have like the medical help she needs. Marietta [Atalia] (00:42:32): If we break her mom out, maybe we could help her in some capacity. Sampson [Dili] (00:42:35): Could we? Could we do that actually? Because Doc Taraz may be the only thing keeping her like physically in Charmonde, right? Marietta [Atalia] (00:42:43): I'm just not feeling that's the rationale. And that I don't feel like her being imprisoned by the queen, by some lady that's responsible for her being locked up in this tower is the cor... I refuse to believe that is the correct choice. Stace [Nix] (00:42:57): Atalia, you're yelling. You yelled "queen" really loud. We should go. Marietta [Atalia] (00:43:01): Yeah. Sampson [Dili] (00:43:02): Yeah, I'm actually wondering now if like, maybe your parents are safe. Like not in a great place. As safe as they can be. And like the real issue is whoever put the search for Nix out. Like whoever put the search out for you, that's the problem we should solve. Your parents are fine. Again, in quotes. 'Fine.' So we just need to remove you from the equation in the sense that you should not be a criminal or wanted anymore. That one we should solve. Stace [Nix] (00:43:28): I could turn myself in. Marietta [Atalia] (00:43:30): Okay, well, let's go to this meeting first. Yes? Stace [Nix] (00:43:33): I think we have to get ChaCha cleared, honestly. Marietta [Atalia] (00:43:37): Well, we also don't know where ChaCha is. Stace [Nix] (00:43:40): I know. So we should go to Momma J's. And we're walking. Sampson [Dili] (00:43:44): We should. Okay. Stace [Nix] (00:43:45): Yeah. Sampson [Dili] (00:43:46): If we only get one chance at the fire, maybe you should use it to find out where ChaCha is. Stace [Nix] (00:43:49): We will negotiate for multiple uses of the fire. Sampson [Dili] (00:43:52): Yes. But if we only get one, look for ChaCha? Marietta [Atalia] (00:43:56): We'll negotiate for assistance. How about that? We'll see what she'll be willing to do, because maybe she'll just be like, "Bitches, like, why?" I don't know. We'll just see. Stace [Nix] (00:44:05): I feel like maybe we should talk to her. Marietta [Atalia] (00:44:07): Yeah, let's go do that. Look how we're walking there right now. It's amazing. Stace [Nix] (00:44:12): We're walking. Sampson [Dili] (00:44:13): Disguised. We're disguised. Marietta [Atalia] (00:44:16): We start swinging in our hips more as we walk. Stace [Nix] (00:44:19): Nix's pants are going swish-swish, swish-swish. Marietta [Atalia] (00:44:22): Jasky's in full trot. She's into it. She's like, "Oh, this is my preferred walking speed." Sampson [Dili] (00:44:26): Guys, why are you walking so fast? Jesus. Marietta [Atalia] (00:44:29): We're practicing the cardio. It could be running. Sampson [Dili] (00:44:32): This is cruel either way. Daniel [GM] (00:44:35): Okay, so you guys make your way back to Ward [Ana 00:20:36], heading towards Momma Jerrun's, assuming I understood that conversation correctly. Stace [Nix] (00:44:43): Fair. Marietta [Atalia] (00:44:44): What do you mean? That wasn't covert? Stace [Nix] (00:44:48): Calling it a conversation is generous. Daniel [GM] (00:44:49): So you reached Momma Jerrun's door. It's now late afternoon. What do you do? Marietta [Atalia] (00:44:54): Knock. Stace [Nix] (00:44:55): It's only late afternoon? Daniel [GM] (00:44:56): Mm-hmm (affirmative). Marietta [Atalia] (00:44:58): We're pretending it's time. Stace [Nix] (00:45:00): Atalia said it was dark. Daniel [GM] (00:45:02): Atalia is possibly blisteringly insane, so we don't know. Sampson [Dili] (00:45:10): Atalia only sees darkness. Marietta [Atalia] (00:45:11): I mean, it just always looks light out to Atalia actually, because she can see in the dark. Daniel [GM] (00:45:16): So, you knock on the door and Momma Jerrun answers like, "Nix, Dili, Atalia. You guys are all little earlier than I expected." Marietta [Atalia] (00:45:27): Is that okay? Do you want us to go get a coffee and come back? Daniel [GM] (00:45:30): No, it's quite all right. I had a couple of meetings cancel, so feel free to come in. And she leads you in and she starts... She says, "Would anybody like any tea?" Marietta [Atalia] (00:45:41): Yes. Daniel [GM] (00:45:42): "I don't have any scones ready, but I can make tea." Stace [Nix] (00:45:44): Nix glares at Atalia. Marietta [Atalia] (00:45:45): Look, do you want to go get pizza? We can come back. Stace [Nix] (00:45:51): No, we're here... Thank you for the tea, Momma J. Sampson [Dili] (00:45:53): Yeah, thank you. Daniel [GM] (00:45:55): She makes you tea, and says, "So, you're all back early. I hadn't planned the induction until this evening. What can I do for you?" Stace [Nix] (00:45:55): So we do want to be inducted. Go ahead, Dili. Sampson [Dili] (00:46:12): No, was I was just going to say like, "What can you do for us?" is kind of the question. Daniel [GM] (00:46:14): What are you trying to accomplish? Marietta [Atalia] (00:46:17): Well... Sampson [Dili] (00:46:17): Nix, Atalia. This is your thing. Marietta [Atalia] (00:46:19): Yeah. We have a couple of concerns of a personal natures for both of us that we were wondering if maybe you could help us with. Daniel [GM] (00:46:31): Okay. Can you be more specific? Stace [Nix] (00:46:33): My parents. Daniel [GM] (00:46:34): Yes. I've already committed to helping you with those. Marietta [Atalia] (00:46:36): We found Doc Taraz. Taraz, that bitch has been meeting with Nix's mother every three days in the tower in the Queen's possession. So yeah, the queen has her in the tower is what we're saying. Daniel [GM] (00:46:53): Well, I knew she was in the tower, but this is odd that Doc Taraz would be meeting with her more regularly. Marietta [Atalia] (00:46:57): Maybe it's to keep it under control. Maybe she's siphoning something. I don't know. It's weird. I don't like her. So we were hoping... We were also thinking that it's nighttime now, so maybe I could do some information digging at Nix's dad's office. We also don't know what would be left there at this point. Sampson [Dili] (00:47:13): It's like four o'clock. Marietta [Atalia] (00:47:13): Not confirmed that her dad is also in the tower and hoping he is, but I don't have any concrete information on that. Daniel [GM] (00:47:21): Oh, her dad is definitely in the tower. Marietta [Atalia] (00:47:23): Okay. So, cool. Same location, great. We love that. Let's go. We were thinking about maybe impersonating Doc Taraz and... Stace [Nix] (00:47:30): Atalia. Can I talk about this plan? And you talk about your thing. Your thing with your mom. Marietta [Atalia] (00:47:37): It's fine. It's fine. It's fine. Stace [Nix] (00:47:41): Atalia wants to know if we can use the fire to watch her mom and her G-mom meet later tonight. Daniel [GM] (00:47:48): Mmm. Sampson [Dili] (00:47:48): On pay-per-view. Marietta [Atalia] (00:47:49): I don't even know if it works that way. Stace [Nix] (00:47:52): It was my idea. Daniel [GM] (00:47:58): It depends. I need somebody who's... I need a guardian that's present at the location in order for me to be able to see it. Sampson [Dili] (00:48:03): Oh. Daniel [GM] (00:48:00): The location in order for me to be able to see it. Simpson (00:48:03): Oh. Alex [ChaCha] (00:48:04): Oh, who's been following us around? Marietta [Atalia] (00:48:06): Who do you think? Daniel [GM] (00:48:08): You haven't been inducted yet. I can't answer that. Marietta [Atalia] (00:48:11): Yeah, obviously. Alex [ChaCha] (00:48:11): Stanis? Daniel [GM] (00:48:14): Stanis, Merrick, others. Alex [ChaCha] (00:48:16): Tamara? I would feel really bad. Daniel [GM] (00:48:18): No, Tamara wasn't a member of her order. She was a handler. Marietta [Atalia] (00:48:23): My grandma was familiar with her. So any other secret members we don't know about? She doesn't seem to be telling us. Daniel [GM] (00:48:34): I don't know who would be in with me. I might be able to see it. I might not. Alex [ChaCha] (00:48:34): [Dachesky 00:48:36]? Marietta [Atalia] (00:48:36): Makes sense. Chesky, are you the secret member? Daniel [GM] (00:48:40): So next, what's the question about your parents? Alex [ChaCha] (00:48:43): Okay. So we have done some thinking and what I think we should do, Mama J, is that we should... So my parents work for the government and if we made the queen aware of, or think there is, certain problems in the areas that my parents could help with, then she would want them to be free in order to help. Daniel [GM] (00:49:09): That's fair. But your parents have both been out of the office for a long time. Alex [ChaCha] (00:49:16): Yeah, I guess. So you're saying it's a bad plan? Daniel [GM] (00:49:17): No, I'm just saying that there's a potential flaw in that the queen might not rely immediately on them. Alex [ChaCha] (00:49:25): Well, an alternative plan is to kidnap Dr. Oz and or kill her, impersonate her, and go into the tower pretending to be her for one of my mom's appointments. Daniel [GM] (00:49:38): That's interesting. Marietta [Atalia] (00:49:39): Or I could just break in and try to steal your parents out. Alex [ChaCha] (00:49:42): Atalia, we know that you can do that. Daniel [GM] (00:49:42): Give me a moment. Marietta [Atalia] (00:49:42): Okay. Daniel [GM] (00:49:47): And she looks in her fire and she says, "Your mother doesn't look well." Alex [ChaCha] (00:49:53): Well, she is sick. Daniel [GM] (00:49:55): No, I know that, but she looks weaker. Marietta [Atalia] (00:49:59): Oh, we have the plate. And it did the thing when she was in the meeting with Dr. Oz, like vibrated. Sorry. I thought that was- Simpson (00:50:10): He had a text during the meeting. Marietta [Atalia] (00:50:14): Yeah. Alex [ChaCha] (00:50:15): Yeah. You're fine, Simpson. You may speak. So we had to get her out of there. Marietta [Atalia] (00:50:26): Yeah. Alex [ChaCha] (00:50:26): We're going to have to fuck up Dr. Oz. Daniel [GM] (00:50:29): I would assume that Dr. Oz has been- Alex [ChaCha] (00:50:32): Taking more than she should. Daniel [GM] (00:50:34): Or at least she's been asked to. Alex [ChaCha] (00:50:34): We've got to go to the fucking wayhouse, Atalia. Marietta [Atalia] (00:50:39): Sure. I'll fight people for you. Alex [ChaCha] (00:50:39): No. Better. Marietta [Atalia] (00:50:43): I'll sneak in and steal things for you. Daniel [GM] (00:50:47): I think Dr. Oz is being paid by somebody else to extract what you need or extract what... Your mother is feeling ill. I think Dr. Oz was extracting something to help your mother stop teleporting. I think it might be happening too often. Simpson (00:51:04): I think she's probably extracting the life force of her as well as the teleportation juice. Daniel [GM] (00:51:11): That seems a little poetic and odd and convenient. But something like that. Alex [ChaCha] (00:51:17): Well, we have the plate. It has something to do with it. I would like to use- Marietta [Atalia] (00:51:22): There's a... I've already tried- Alex [ChaCha] (00:51:24): Confident outlook to neutralize Nix's inability in understanding human error. Daniel [GM] (00:51:31): Okay. Marietta [Atalia] (00:51:31): Can I assist her? Daniel [GM] (00:51:32): Atalia can assist you. Alex [ChaCha] (00:51:34): Nix's going to spend two levels of effort. Daniel [GM] (00:51:37): Okay. So that brings it down to 12. Alex [ChaCha] (00:51:40): Oh, my God. Is there anything else? I [inaudible 00:51:44] re-roll that. Time. Daniel [GM] (00:51:49): Yeah. You don't know. Alex [ChaCha] (00:51:49): It's so hard to figure out what is going on. Daniel [GM] (00:51:50): That one vein is bulging so strongly in Nix's head. Alex [ChaCha] (00:51:57): Nix was so close to figuring it out, then lost it, lost the thread. Simpson (00:52:02): Nix, breathe, breath. Alex [ChaCha] (00:52:03): All right. We got to figure out what the plate is doing. Simpson (00:52:08): Does your society have a history archive? Just a history of its time before or a history of all its members, like a catalog? Is that the word? Alex [ChaCha] (00:52:18): Oh, yeah. Simpson (00:52:19): Does it include dead members? Does it include your aunt? Does your aunt have a story or a chronicle? That's one. Alex [ChaCha] (00:52:26): Oh, individualized stories? Daniel, we have not discussed this. Simpson (00:52:29): Just in general. But you don't have to tell me, but can you figure it out? Daniel [GM] (00:52:36): Is it the kind of thing where travelers would chronicle individual traveler stories? Marietta [Atalia] (00:52:42): I think at a minimum. So Nix talks to everybody and gathers recent events and rumors to share with the other travelers. So there would at least be some record of that. Daniel [GM] (00:52:51): There might be some record. But it's probably not something that's kept in [Charmond 00:04:58]. Alex [ChaCha] (00:52:59): That would probably [inaudible 00:52:59] at the proving ground. Daniel [GM] (00:53:01): Yeah. Simpson (00:53:02): Where's the proving ground? If you can tell us. Alex [ChaCha] (00:53:04): Yeah. It's north. Nix is great at navigation. It's north of here near the mountains. Simpson (00:53:11): Okay. Alex [ChaCha] (00:53:11): How far is that, Daniel, to the foothills? Daniel [GM] (00:53:13): It's not a short trip. It's probably a two week's journey if you were tired of it. Marietta [Atalia] (00:53:20): So we have to find a way to resolve this, though, or else we're no good to you. Alex [ChaCha] (00:53:25): Wow, Atalia. Way to sell it. Marietta [Atalia] (00:53:27): You know what? I mean- Alex [ChaCha] (00:53:30): Listen, we break into the wayhouse. We break into my dad's office. By we, I mean you. Marietta [Atalia] (00:53:35): Okay. Alex [ChaCha] (00:53:35): And then we just see what else we can find out. And we keep thinking about our plan. And we kidnap... Oh, my God, let's just fucking kidnap Dr. Oz. I'll put the squid on my head. We'll get some answers. Marietta [Atalia] (00:53:49): I'm game for that. Daniel [GM] (00:53:50): So you're looking to kidnap Dr. Oz? Alex [ChaCha] (00:53:56): Mm-hmm (affirmative). Daniel [GM] (00:53:56): Let me ask you a question, Nix. Do you want to do that yourself or do you want to avail yourself of our resources? Alex [ChaCha] (00:54:02): Oh, your resources, for sure, Mama J. Sign me up. Daniel [GM] (00:54:06): Okay. Do we want to speed up the induction process? Alex [ChaCha] (00:54:12): Hey, if you're ready, I'm ready. Daniel [GM] (00:54:14): Just a moment. And she looks at the fire and the fire crackles in its hearth. And she says, "Let me make some more tea. It'll be about 20 minutes." Alex [ChaCha] (00:54:25): Takes power naps. Marietta [Atalia] (00:54:26): We also wanted to ask about Chacha. Chacha just disappeared. We need to figure that out, too. Daniel [GM] (00:54:34): Chacha is doing whatever she needs to do. So you step through, there is sort of almost migraine pain of light, but then it goes away, and you find yourself standing inside the cell that has Nix's parents. You are quite physically there. So [Lasher 00:54:55] is holding Nyo there and they, at least he, looks very startled to see you there. And Bastian looks at you and says, "Are these the ones we're supposed to kill?" Alex [ChaCha] (00:55:04): No. These are the ones we are saving. These two need to stay safe. Kill anything that tries to hurt them. Daniel [GM] (00:55:10): All right. All right. So what's the plan now? Nix's dad looks at you, he's like, "Chacha, what are you doing here? Is Nix with you?" Alex [ChaCha] (00:55:22): No, Nix is investigating something else. So I figured I would trade a favor and get you guys out of here sooner than later. And we just need to be really quiet and figure out how to get out of here. And you can't tell Nix if anybody besides you get hurt. Daniel [GM] (00:55:42): That's a lot to take in, Chacha. But honestly, if it means that I can get Nyo to safety, I'm willing to do anything at this point. I had no idea the queen could be like this to her most loyal servants. Alex [ChaCha] (00:55:57): That's kind of why I'm trying to push Nix in the direction of let's not get caught. Because the queen doesn't really like me, and Nix is now associated with me. So- Daniel [GM] (00:56:09): Why doesn't the queen like you? Alex [ChaCha] (00:56:11): Well, I've set a couple of things on fire, but that's not really important right now. The important thing is to escape. Daniel [GM] (00:56:17): Okay. Okay. So what do we do next? The guards were just here a little bit ago, so I don't think they'll be back for a bit. Alex [ChaCha] (00:56:27): Do you know the layout of this prison? Daniel [GM] (00:56:30): The prison itself, no. But I'm very familiar with the aqueduct underneath it. It's part of my job to manage the contractors that take care of the aqueducts. Alex [ChaCha] (00:56:41): Is anybody working there right now? Daniel [GM] (00:56:44): No, since I've been in the office, but as far as I know, they wasn't any major work planned for the tower palace anytime soon. Alex [ChaCha] (00:56:53): Okay. Because, unfortunately, I think the best escape plan is to blow a hole in the floor and go down rather than out. Daniel [GM] (00:57:02): Okay. We're quite a few floors up, I think. So we'll probably want to get down a few floors if you're going to try to blow a hole in the floor. Alex [ChaCha] (00:57:10): That is very good to know. So- Daniel [GM] (00:57:14): How did you even get in here? Alex [ChaCha] (00:57:16): Like I said, I traded a favor to get here sooner. Daniel [GM] (00:57:20): Oh, okay. Okay. Well, how do we get out of the cell? And Bastian looks at you and says, "I take it that's my cue?" Alex [ChaCha] (00:57:30): If you can affect the physical items, I would like it. Daniel [GM] (00:57:34): So he goes over and they clearly are not reacting to him. They don't see Bastian at all. But he goes over, and his mouth extends and distorts. It's like it's pulling open. It's really far open, like in a Japanese horror movie. It's all dislocated and stretched and things like that. Alex [ChaCha] (00:57:59): So kind of like Kushisakiona? Daniel [GM] (00:58:01): I don't know. Alex [ChaCha] (00:58:02): It's the mouth-cut woman who has the really big mouth. Daniel [GM] (00:58:07): Oh, yes, yes, yes. Definitely. His mouth goes around the lock element of the door, and there's this sizzling sound and this tearing, screeching sound of metal. And he yanks this thing off the door. And at that, Lasher and even Nyo jumps, because there's this sound of something clearly tearing and there is this purple smoke rising from the parts of the door that were originally the lock mechanism. And Bastian's eyes just glow a satisfied purple. And he looks at you and it's like, "Okay, what's next?" Alex [ChaCha] (00:58:51): Now we need to get into the main hallway and we need to get out. Daniel [GM] (00:58:58): Roll perception for me, difficulty is going to be a 12th. Alex [ChaCha] (00:59:04): What pulled this perception? Daniel [GM] (00:59:06): Intellect. Alex [ChaCha] (00:59:07): Okay. I'm going to use one level of effort, got two edge. That's two points. Daniel [GM] (00:59:17): You have two levels of edge, did you say? Alex [ChaCha] (00:59:17): Mm-hmm (affirmative). Daniel [GM] (00:59:20): So it only costs you one point. Alex [ChaCha] (00:59:22): Oh, sweet. I've been doing the math wrong then. Marietta [Atalia] (00:59:25): So that's a 19? Daniel [GM] (00:59:27): Ooh. What would you propose as a minor effect? Or should I tell you what the information is and then you- Marietta [Atalia] (00:59:33): I would like the information first or else I'm going to make a bad choice. Daniel [GM] (00:59:36): So you definitely hear somebody from beyond one of the hallway doors. Like what was that sound? Go check. And the sound of boots clomping against the stone floor heading towards the hallway door. What would you propose as a minor effect? Alex [ChaCha] (00:59:56): And he's ripped the entire door off the frame. Daniel [GM] (00:59:58): Or at least the whole lock mechanism has been sort of dissolved and chewed off of the cell door. There's a big gaping hole where the lock mechanism would have been. It's goatsy, but for jail cells. Alex [ChaCha] (01:00:11): I know I'm just like, well, we could do hedge magic and put up a fake temporary lock, but that doesn't explain the extra person in the cell. How big is Nix's dad? Daniel [GM] (01:00:26): He's taller. He's probably around five foot eleven, if I remember correctly from Stacy's description. He's definitely thin, so he's very lanky, and he definitely looks like he hasn't been eating much. But like I said before, you suspect that has more to do with stress than that they weren't feeding him or something? Alex [ChaCha] (01:00:46): Mm-hmm (affirmative). Daniel [GM] (01:00:47): So yeah, he's a lanky, average to tall-sized male. Alex [ChaCha] (01:00:54): I guess the minor effect would be Chacha would be able to also notice any place for her to hide. Is that minor? Daniel [GM] (01:01:03): Yeah, it could be. What you can tell is that in this cell, you're not going to be able to hide. There's not enough in here. And you've got a bright red cloak. But we could say for your minor effect, because I don't want you to miss out just because there wasn't anywhere to hide, we could say for the minor effect that you could have, and maybe we say something like, depending on what you end up planning to do, we could give you an asset on being prepared to do it since you know they're coming. Alex [ChaCha] (01:01:35): I think with that, I think Chacha is going to use hedge magic to cast the illusion of the lock is still in place. Daniel [GM] (01:01:50): That'd be very difficult for hedge magic. Alex [ChaCha] (01:01:51): Okay. Daniel [GM] (01:01:52): Dilly could probably do that with his mind or illusion, but I don't think Chacha can do it with hedge magic. Alex [ChaCha] (01:01:57): Okay. So I guess, oh, we were going to try and do a little chaos route, but I guess we're going chaos. I guess with that, Chacha's going to go try and hide somewhere down the hallway, shut the door, and wait if she needs to ambush the guards. Daniel [GM] (01:02:21): Okay. So Bastian will follow you most of the way. He is cognizant of your instruction that he's supposed to hurt people that try to hurt Nix's parents. Alex [ChaCha] (01:02:31): Good. Daniel [GM] (01:02:33): The door opens and give me a stealth roll and you'll have an asset on this. It's going to be a 12 to start. So then it's a nine. Alex [ChaCha] (01:02:43): 13. Daniel [GM] (01:02:43): Okay. So they don't immediately notice you as you come in. They come in, they see the cell door, and these two guards are like, "What happened?" They pull out weapons. They say to Nix's parents, "Stay right where you are. What did you do to this door?" And Lasher is stuttering. He's like, "I-I didn't do it. I don't know." He's a terrible liar. Alex [ChaCha] (01:03:11): I mean, technically not lying. He doesn't know what happened. Daniel [GM] (01:03:11): Yeah. One of them is like, "Secure the prisoners. We need to move them. I don't know what they did. The queen's going to hear about this." And Bastian looks at you and says, "So do I get to kill these guys or not?" Alex [ChaCha] (01:03:23): Do you think we wait to see where they're taking them because they might take them to a better location to kill them? Daniel [GM] (01:03:30): Okay. Alex [ChaCha] (01:03:31): It's like, honestly, it'd be hard to hide their bodies up here right now. Daniel [GM] (01:03:34): Okay. Fair enough. Alex [ChaCha] (01:03:36): And then there's a bottleneck up there where there's another door. So- Daniel [GM] (01:03:41): Incidentally, your passenger at one point says, "I am so deeply uncomfortable with this right now." The guards grab Nix's parents and pick them up somewhat roughly. Lasher's just kind of coming along. But they're picking up Nyo somewhat roughly coming out of there. And then they start going through the door on the far side, and that door is about to shut. Alex [ChaCha] (01:04:08): Would it be possible for Chacha to sneak through the door? Daniel [GM] (01:04:12): Sure. Give me a stealth roll of... Because somebody has to shut the door and you're trying to sneak through it. I think this is probably going to be an 18. Alex [ChaCha] (01:04:23): I've got an 18. Daniel [GM] (01:04:24): Okay. So somehow you manage to slip through the door. Maybe you go between the legs of the guard and scuttle off into a corner. I don't know what you do. Bastian just walks through the door as it's shutting. And you see these guards looking at something, and it's like there should be a cell a level down. Let's go down the stairs. And so they're leading the parents down these stairs. And I would say that you can probably follow them without too much of a problem. And then they get down to this next level, and there are two more guards down here at this level. And they're like, "So what's going on? "These two, I don't know how they did it, but they started breaking out of their cell. We need to lock them up here and put them under a heavier guard." Alex [ChaCha] (01:05:09): I'm trying to think of what kind of roll it would be. It would be like so Chacha's just going to start a fire somewhere. See what happens. Daniel [GM] (01:05:17): Yeah. Alex [ChaCha] (01:05:18): I need to read about hedge magic actually does [inaudible 01:05:21]. Daniel [GM] (01:05:21): Doesn't do much for combat. Alex [ChaCha] (01:05:22): No. And I don't want it to. I'm trying to remember what Nix said about not killing " innocent people." Daniel [GM] (01:05:32): I know. Alex [ChaCha] (01:05:32): And Bastian's like- Simpson (01:05:34): Chacha's being so good. Chacha's trying to be so good. Alex [ChaCha] (01:05:37): And Nix's dad said we need to go down a couple more floors. This is only one floor. So she can't exactly just blow up the floor and be like, "I hope everyone can swim." Daniel [GM] (01:05:48): I will offer you an XP at this point. Alex [ChaCha] (01:05:49): I'm going to take it. Daniel [GM] (01:05:51): Okay. Who would you give the other XP to? Alex [ChaCha] (01:05:54): Got to give it? Well, Nix, because this is all for Nix. Daniel [GM] (01:05:58): Okay. Bastian seems to get impatient as he notices Nyo being roughly handled, and he swipes out with his claws and slashes the Achilles tendon of one of the guards. And they scream and fall to the ground, blood pouring from their leg. And like, "Oh, my God." And then there's all sorts of screaming and commotion. Bastian looks at you and just goes, "Oops." Alex [ChaCha] (01:06:29): It's understandable. Is there anything further down Chacha can set on fire so it's just chaos everywhere? Daniel [GM] (01:06:36): There's a guard's desk, yeah. Alex [ChaCha] (01:06:39): Going back to her origins, Chacha sets the guard's desk on fire. Daniel [GM] (01:06:44): Yeah. I don't think you have to roll to do that, but you do have to roll to be unnoticed while you're doing it. You'll have an asset because somebody just had their Achilles tendon cut and you are probably not right next to that guard. So you have an asset there. So it's probably a 12. Marietta [Atalia] (01:07:00): 16. Daniel [GM] (01:07:03): Okay. You set a fire without anybody seeing that you're doing it. Now the fire's off. And one of the other guys was like, "What the hell? What's going on?" Nix's family is just huddled in the corner, trying to stab away. They are very much like... These are upper middle-class people that are still convinced if they don't do anything wrong, the cops won't hurt them. Alex [ChaCha] (01:07:26): This is all a misunderstanding. Somebody is going to come in at any second and be like, "Oopsy, our bad." Daniel [GM] (01:07:32): Yeah, yeah, exactly. Alex [ChaCha] (01:07:34): We got two distractions going. I think Chacha's going to try and signal Nix's parents to move further down and see if they can find a staircase further down. Daniel [GM] (01:07:46): I think you guys could get back to the staircase without a problem. Whether or not they can do it stealthily is another question. Alex [ChaCha] (01:07:53): Yeah. Daniel [GM] (01:07:54): So roll a die and tell me if you get even or odd. Alex [ChaCha] (01:07:56): Odd. Daniel [GM] (01:07:58): Okay. So as they're crawling over there, one of the guards notices like, "Hey, stop them." And unfortunately, it's at that moment that they also notice you waving them towards it. And then there's a moment where he blinks and he's like, "Oh, my God, it's the terrorist!" Bastian says, "Okay, time to take care of business." And he reaches up and slashes one of the guards throats, the one that just yelled like, "Oh, my God, it's the terrorist!" And just blood goes spraying across this room and lands on Nix's parents and you, who are now very clearly in shock, but still moving towards you as quickly as possible. And you guys are now all at the staircase. There are two other guards which are now coming for you guys. What would you like to do? Alex [ChaCha] (01:08:49): I think we're going to run. And I'm just laughing so hard internally at the new idea of the Chacha terrorist of not only does she set fires, but she has some magical, mythical shadow claw power. God, the queen is going to be paranoid. Daniel [GM] (01:09:16): We see a camera back in the academic ward and this [inaudible 01:09:21] courier is moving down the street and it turns into the alleyway. And we see you that torn open door that Chacha encountered at Polo's shop. But the workshop is not occupied by Bastian and [inaudible 00:21:37]. In the workshop we see a creature of pure synth, seven feet tall, and it seems to be working on something. And it removes clearly a very damaged left arm. And the thing that it puts in its place is something that looks part synth and almost partly made of shadow, and it clicks into place. And we see one of those snakes with the elongated [inaudible 01:10:07] face come in there, clearly gallivanting about this automaton, like they do. Alex [ChaCha] (01:10:15): Yeah. It's just like, "You can't see me. Me-me-me." Daniel [GM] (01:10:19): And this automaton latches its arm into place. And then all of a sudden this shadow arm lashes out, grabs one of these snakes and snaps its neck, and then fades out. Alex [ChaCha] (01:10:31): Bullshit. Daniel [GM] (01:10:33): Takes about 20 minutes before there's a knock at the door, and Merrick walks in the door. Simpson (01:10:33): Hi, Merrick. Daniel [GM] (01:10:41): Hi, Dilly. It's good to see you again still alive. Simpson (01:10:46): It's a surprise for everyone. Daniel [GM] (01:10:47): Stanis says good things about you. Simpson (01:10:50): Also a surprise. Marietta [Atalia] (01:10:51): Dilly's [inaudible 01:10:53] a lot. Simpson (01:10:51): I'm doing all right. Marietta [Atalia] (01:10:51): Great. Simpson (01:10:51): Feeling better. Marietta [Atalia] (01:10:51): Great. Daniel [GM] (01:10:57): Stanis says some things about you, Atalia. Marietta [Atalia] (01:11:02): Yeah, I can't control how I look on the regular. I'm sorry. And I try. I do. I mean with the unfortunate personality, I mean, that's what I try with. I can't help this. She'll gesture to her entire face. Daniel [GM] (01:11:18): So Mama [Jurin 01:11:19] says, "If you could all stand before the fire." Marietta [Atalia] (01:11:21): Oh, yeah. Simpson (01:11:22): Dilly goes up to the fire. Marietta [Atalia] (01:11:24): Atalia's a step behind them. Daniel [GM] (01:11:26): Please all extend your right arms and pull up your sleeves, expose your forearms. Alex [ChaCha] (01:11:32): Leave rolling noises. Marietta [Atalia] (01:11:36): Make a cannon. Daniel [GM] (01:11:37): The fire reaches out and licks each of your forearms. It is painful, but there aren't any marks from it. And Mama Jurin says, "Do you all commit yourselves to the Guardians of Nights hope? Do you commit yourself to the preservation of humanoid kind?" Marietta [Atalia] (01:12:00): Yes. Do we say yes now? Alex [ChaCha] (01:12:00): Yes. Marietta [Atalia] (01:12:00): Yes. Simpson (01:12:02): Yes. Alex [ChaCha] (01:12:03): Yes. Daniel [GM] (01:12:03): The fire- Alex [ChaCha] (01:12:00): Do we say yes now? Marietta [Atalia] (01:12:01): Yes. Alex [ChaCha] (01:12:01): Yes. Sampson [Dili] (01:12:02): Yes. Daniel [GM] (01:12:03): Yes. Sampson [Dili] (01:12:04): The fire will know if they're lying. Alex [ChaCha] (01:12:05): Yes. Daniel [GM] (01:12:05): Oh, fantastic. Alex [ChaCha] (01:12:07): Well, I'm not feeling like the opposite of that. So I feel like, yes, I feel confident in my yes. Daniel [GM] (01:12:12): All right! Sampson [Dili] (01:12:12): [inaudible 01:12:12] Alex [ChaCha] (01:12:12): Yeah! Daniel [GM] (01:12:14): As part of that comes the secrecy of her order. And for a moment, when you see something flash in front of your eyes as a symbol of a white eye on a black field with light shining from the eye onto an unfolded Tesseract, excellent than the answer you need to know is if somebody asks you, what is the door? Your answer is the doors but the first but exit and entrance, hope and despair. There are deeper answers, more elaborate answers that you'll learn in time. But that is the answer for now your job from this day forward as the preservation of humanoid kind in the long term and the secrecy and protection of our order, and you guys feel this burning sensation and your forearms, and she says, you won't be able to see it, but the brand is there. And it is part of the answer to the question. You have committed yourself to something great. You are now guardians, guardians of light's hope. Guardians of what is to come. This is a calling. This is something that cannot be refused later. Our organization will support you. We'll direct your efforts and help you find a path to a safe future for humanoid kind. And with this, you become one of us. With that in mind, I ask you all to think of yourselves, not as individuals, not as people lost, but people who defend the varieties of humanoid kind against impending doom. And with that, I ask you to take two steps closer so that I might embrace you and welcome you to our order so that you might become the strength that helps carry us forward in facing the darkness that is to come. Then, she extends her arms in a wide stance. Sampson [Dili] (01:14:33): Awkward about it. But [inaudible 01:14:35]. Alex [ChaCha] (01:14:37): Wait, are we hugging? Daniel [GM] (01:14:38): Seems to be what she's asking you to do. Marietta [Atalia] (01:14:41): Oh Yeah. Next we'll hug her next, less awkwardly. Alex [ChaCha] (01:14:45): That's how I will be. Like, I guess if we're we're doing it. Daniel [GM] (01:14:51): So mama and embraces you all and you feel a burning sensation in your exposed forearms, even though you can't see anything there. And Mary comes up behind you and hugs you all in this embrace and Merrick whispers may the garden hold to all. And it's embrace at that moment, Sharon's back and sets right there. How do you think we should handle this? Dr. Oz? So you guys run down the stairs. There's definitely like general alarms going off throughout the tower, but you guys reached the bottom floor. No problem. And Lasher says, if we can unhinge these greats, we should be able to get down into the aqueduct. And there are some like complicated things, securing them into place. The kind of thing that would probably take Dilly almost no time to figure out how to undo cleanly. Alex [ChaCha] (01:15:50): Yeah. But this is Chacha. Marietta [Atalia] (01:15:52): And let me just read double check something. Alex [ChaCha] (01:15:56): Yeah. I have, when I'm angry, I have an inability with, you know, stuff. I think church's going to pull up the not nuclear bomb and kind of just turned it next to his dad and be like, so we could just blow it up. Daniel [GM] (01:16:15): He, he like [inaudible 01:16:17] pauses for a moment. And like, you can tell, like, there's like some part of him, that's still a city administrator and you can almost see him calculating the costs of repairing that damage. But then he can hear the guards on the stairs up above it's like, do it, do it. Alex [ChaCha] (01:16:35): Okay. I think trach is going to get everybody like to move back, even bastion and set the timer for like, kind of think of how long it would take Chacha to move back to a safe distance. Cause that's all she really wants. So that'd be like four seconds. Or do you think we should do it like an entire round of combat for the six seconds? Daniel [GM] (01:16:57): Let's say six seconds. Cause you need to be a short distance. You need to be past a short distance away in order to be safe. Yeah. Alex [ChaCha] (01:17:03): So that's what church is going to do. And she's going to get everybody back first and then go back, set the timer and run back away. Daniel [GM] (01:17:11): Okay. So you can hear the guards getting close and then it explodes. And that is deafening in this space, but there is a big ass hole where the great used to be where you guys can slip down into the aqueduct to few six years. Alex [ChaCha] (01:17:28): I think that's our plan because I didn't think it would be easier to go out the front door like Dr. Oz did. Daniel [GM] (01:17:36): Yeah. So you guys slipped down in the aqueduct and you realize that aqueduct is a very polite term. This part of the system is very much sewage disposal. Alex [ChaCha] (01:17:45): I think I am going to need that [inaudible 01:17:47] this. Daniel [GM] (01:17:47): Yeah, I'm sorry. And Lasher is doing his best to kind of hold his wife up on his shoulders as best he can. Alex [ChaCha] (01:17:56): I think Chacha is going be helping with that. She's already weak. It doesn't need this. Daniel [GM] (01:18:00): He's like, okay, let me see if we're trying to get back to our house. Alex [ChaCha] (01:18:06): We are not going to your house. Daniel [GM] (01:18:08): Oh, right. No, you're right. You're right. Where in the city should we go? I can try to figure out. And what I remember. Alex [ChaCha] (01:18:15): I'm just going to give him a rough description of where mama Jones is. Cause she's going to dump them there. Daniel [GM] (01:18:23): Oh, word Ana. Okay. Okay. That's a scary place, but I guess probably for the best, Alex [ChaCha] (01:18:31): I got a lot of friends there. Daniel [GM] (01:18:32): Okay. And he starts leading you down a couple of the tunnels. It was like, it should be a left up here and you can hear like guards kind of like coming into the aqueduct behind you guys. And bastion looks at you and says, do you need me to slow him down? Alex [ChaCha] (01:18:52): Just injure them. I'm pretty sure kidding. Poop will utter an injury. It's just going to add some insult to injury. Don't do anything too permanent, but if self-defense. Daniel [GM] (01:19:04): All right and bastion starts moving quickly back down the tunnel, not disturbing the water at all, as he walks through it. And Nixon's, father's like, who are you talking to? Alex [ChaCha] (01:19:15): I have friends that have special purposes. I think it's better. I don't tell you everything. Daniel [GM] (01:19:25): All right. All right. This way. And so he keeps leading you down these tunnels and you hear screaming coming up from behind you down the tunnel, just men and women like screaming, like blood curdling, screams of terror and pain. You know, Nick's parents can hear the screaming. What they probably can't hear is the sound of an eight girls giggle, echoing down the tunnels. And then finally Lasher, he spots like it. There is sort of a ladder leading me up. It's like, this should be, it should be roughly in the right part of the wardana. Alex [ChaCha] (01:20:07): Yeah. Let's go up. I think, I think this is what people call an intervention. Daniel [GM] (01:20:13): Okay. Okay, dear, come on. I can't carry you. And Chacha is strong, but small. I need you to help try and get yourself up this ladder and Nixon's mother kind of moans a little bit, but she tries to grab on and you climb up this ladder and find yourself on a street of wardana. There is actually just as you're coming out of this sort of equivalent of a storm grade, you can see there is somebody sort of shivering in the midst of some sort of drug fueled episode on the ground there, somebody who looks just like the ratty clothes and things like that. But they are clearly not aware of you as you come out. Alex [ChaCha] (01:20:58): Oh good, we should not have to kill everybody. So I think Chacha is going to try and like be as stealthy as possible and get them to mom and Darren house. Daniel [GM] (01:21:09): Okay. Not many people looking for you. So this is going to be a fairly simple stealth role. I think it's a six because it's wardana and nobody's really, everybody's trying to ignore each other as best they can. Alex [ChaCha] (01:21:09): Okay 17, thank good joses. Daniel [GM] (01:21:24): Okay. So you lead them back and forth and you can see mama Jern's door there with a sign out front that says explorers wanted. Inquire within. The camera pans back, and we see a familiar cottage in Shermont. Cottage where Italia grew up most of her childhood. We see somebody in a dark cloak and hood approach the door and open it go inside. And for a long time, the camera's sill just still a distance in the street. And then it slowly approaches the cottage. And that's where you can see the pool of blood has slowly, beginning to ooze up the front door. And that's where we'll end this season. Alex [ChaCha] (01:22:23): Oh shit. Marietta [Atalia] (01:22:23): Oh man. Sampson [Dili] (01:22:24): Oh fuck. Marietta [Atalia] (01:22:25): I didn't know that. Sampson [Dili] (01:22:27): Oh shit, Season break. Daniel [GM] (01:22:30): Okay. Marietta [Atalia] (01:22:31): This is good. I feel so good though. Daniel [GM] (01:22:34): So Dili something for Dili or if not Dili, anybody else? Sampson [Dili] (01:22:39): I feel like Dilly's character arc has kind of been leading up to this. I think I hope like it definitely started on the shift being ran to where Nixon, Natalia were definitely dying, but now it's like, this is definitely like no turning back from here. Like no backsides so I feel like that Dili has survived to this point is a huge deal and I'm super happy. Daniel [GM] (01:23:05): Very cool. Yes. There was some question about that. Dili came very close to death a couple of times. Sampson [Dili] (01:23:12): Yeah. Yeah. Daniel [GM] (01:23:14): I'm actually very excited to see where Dilly goes next. Marietta [Atalia] (01:23:17): Yeah, and we have to resolve the automaton issue still. Daniel [GM] (01:23:20): Yeah. Alex [ChaCha] (01:23:20): I think it's really cool that Dilly like played out his origin story. Sampson [Dili] (01:23:24): That this is definitely like beyond the beyond, but that was actually like my point, like Dilly wasn't NPC for the first here, but now he's actually like coming and exploring, becoming a player care. Alex [ChaCha] (01:23:38): I like Dilly character growth and development. Daniel [GM] (01:23:43): Yeah. I honestly debated a little bit like where the season breaks should fall. And even though there's a bunch of cliffhangers still in progress, I feel like it's still appropriate that this moment is the season break, but that doesn't mean that there isn't going to be other explorers wanted stuff. We'll probably pick a short break it's stuff where we play some, we are all mad here or something else along those lines. As we kind of gear up for the next season, there is all a lot of shit in the works with that, as I'm sure you can see from all the plot lines that are converging right now, but in the meantime. Alex [ChaCha] (01:24:25): Yeah! How do we get Chacha back? Where is Chacha? Who is Chacha? Chacha. Sampson [Dili] (01:24:31): When is Chacha? Daniel [GM] (01:24:32): Let me, and Alex worry about Chacha. You're going to find out. Alex [ChaCha] (01:24:37): [inaudible 01:24:37] is worried about Chacha. And so was Mariana. Daniel [GM] (01:24:38): Yeah. Mariana we'll find out what's happening with Chacha when you hear the recording. Alex [ChaCha] (01:24:46): That's cruel sir! Sorry. Sampson [Dili] (01:24:47): Kind of amazing. Just amazing. Daniel [GM] (01:24:51): So we have a segment that we do each week called player intuitions, which is where we offered you the listener and XP to try out something we think you would really dig this weekend is Marietta's turn Marietta. What would you offer our listeners next page checkout. Marietta [Atalia] (01:25:04): I think you guys should check out the TV show M*A*S*H. Alex [ChaCha] (01:25:11): Yes. Marietta [Atalia] (01:25:11): That TV show your grandparents watch. Maybe you see, you've seen reruns on historic Fox, which is now FX. I don't know what else is that anyways, channel. [inaudible 01:25:27] It does find you, but the channel, you do find it on. It may be place on there all day when you watch it. But it features out all the it's. One of my all time. Favorite TV shows. It's one of those ones I like grew up watching, like on afterschool, I think, and around safe and like star Trek next generation was on at the same time. So I feel like I wind up watching those while I was doing homework or something, but it is a little bit dated, I guess, is the asterisk. So it was originally released in the seventies and it's not updated for 2020 in some aspects, but I will say it was very far ahead in a lot of ways for its time. It's a comedy, but it's also a trauma and it's serious. And it has really well-developed characters who experienced character growth. It's 11 seasons long. The episodes are only 20 to 25 minutes, which is excellent. If you have other stuff you're trying to do during your day, it's a story about friendship and growing together and overcoming evil and doing the right thing. And it's also sort of about Vietnam war, even though it focuses on the Korean war, just really good plot development, good characters, warrants there shows where characters leave and you're like, Oh man, I really liked that guy. But then when your character comes to you like, Oh, this is a cool new character. That's like fully developed in their own way and not necessarily a complete repeat of the last dude. Yeah. I really enjoy it. It was also so you guys know since it's like older and maybe like a strange thing to be referencing in 2020. The series finale was like the most viewed TV show to date at the time. And I think that lasted up until like somewhat recently with Game of Thrones, I think is what unseated it. So yeah. It's, it's good. It's good. Check it out. Daniel [GM] (01:27:12): The series finale of M*A*S*H was intense. Marietta [Atalia] (01:27:15): It's, it's sort of more, it's more of like a feature link. It was broken up into two cards, but it addresses like a lot of episodes of M*A*S*H are very light and fluffy, but they also address a lot of the more serious issues that are faced in war and healthcare in general mass chance for mobile army surgical hospital. So it is mostly doctors and focusing on saving people who are hurt in war. So yeah, that final episode is sort of heartbreaking, but it's also just really amazing. And my parents talk about it. Cause I think it was finished in like 82 or 83 and they both remember like watching it with people like that final episode. Yeah. A lot of people were there for that. So, and the final episode of season three, the Henry one, that one was really popular, really high ratings too. Daniel [GM] (01:28:02): So I remember the, I was very, very young, but I remember watching that final episode in real time at my grandma's house and it was really wild. Marietta [Atalia] (01:28:15): Oh my gosh. Did your grandma cry? Daniel [GM] (01:28:15): I don't remember. I was honestly so caught up with it, especially with the hen and things like that. Marietta [Atalia] (01:28:24): Yeah. Can I just, I can't believe like with how many people that we're going to sit down and watch that the content that it wound up being in the story that it winds up telling and just the character, their like willingness that they were to talk about. Those things that shouldn't have been on at like four or 5:00 PM on Thursday, I guess. I don't know. You know what I mean? For sure. So maybe it's too lighthearted. I'm sure there are plenty of flaws with it. Like I said, it's not updated for 2020. It's definitely got some flaws that were puts itself in a mouth. But I think if you can step back from that and see what it did do for its time and, and what it is trying to do as a story. Yeah. It just, I remember how foundational it, was and how it should be just, I guess, love and acceptance and helping and healing the imageable regardless of your beliefs of their values. Like a lot of it is, even if it's a bad guy, we're helping them, even if it's the, you know, and that's just a mentality that I think is good value base for people to continue having. And I'm always into it when a TV show or media or book or video game or whatever it is, is here to tell you to be better and save people like, Oh, yay. My favorite moral of the story. Daniel [GM] (01:29:34): Yeah, for sure. I would also add on the say, is that in my opinion, the recommendation is for the TV series as opposed to the movie, like the TV series. Marietta [Atalia] (01:29:45): Yeah. This was a TV series. I don't think I've ever actually seen the movie. The thanks movie, the song. Daniel [GM] (01:29:50): Yeah. The movie is not great. The move, the only reason for the movie is to get the lyrics of the song. Marietta [Atalia] (01:29:54): Yeah. Sampson [Dili] (01:29:56): Okay, awesome. Marietta [Atalia] (01:29:57): So check it out or if you love it or if you hate it or if you just want to talk about it in general, please, I would love to discuss, I love Nash. Daniel [GM] (01:30:05): And the people wanted to reach out to us and tell us what they think about the show or about Nash. How would they do that Marietta? Marietta [Atalia] (01:30:11): Well, the best place to start is to open up your browser and go to explorers wanted data FM where there are links to all of these things. So we are active on Twitter where we're at Explorer, Swanton, we are on Instagram and explores, wanted podcasts. We have a Facebook page. The sixth floor is we're on a podcast. If you're looking to support us. In other ways, we do have a Patrion. If you're able to support us financially, that would be really great. We have some goals we would like to work towards and there are some benefits for those programs and we are exploring warranted on patron. If you want to check that out and the best thing you can do, if you want to interact with us, if you want to talk to us, other than social media, of course is come to our discord. That's where our community hangs out. We talk, we share pictures. Do you TT RPG, do you video game? Do you like television? Do you have a plant? Do you know an animal? Do you have pictures of any of those things we would love to have you on our discord? There are links to that on our website and all of the social medias. Yeah. Come join us on discord. We would love that. Daniel [GM] (01:31:09): If you enjoyed the show, the best thing that you could do for us is to tell a friend and tell them why you liked the show and why they should listen to it. The second best thing you could do is to leave us a five-star review on the podcast directory specifically like Apple podcasts, Stitcher, or pod chaser. And we have a new five-star review. Can tell us about that space. Stace [Nix] (01:31:31): Yeah. So Ross Kingston gave us a five star review saying Newman era is one of my favorite games full stop. The simplicity of the rules is such a selling point and the explorers wanted AP maximizes this in spades. The characters are well-developed. The GM handles the game and rules in a no-nonsense manner. And the story itself is compelling and in-depth, but not so hopelessly convoluted that you can't follow it. Wait people follow it. No, I'm just kidding. Thank you very much. Ross. Ross is, has hopped in to our discord a time or two, I'm pretty sure, hawklord. And that also has a very cool Twitter presence. Daniel [GM] (01:31:31): Yeah. Very cool. Alex [ChaCha] (01:32:11): Yeah. Thank you very much, Ross. Appreciate the review and glad you're enjoying the show. Sampson [Dili] (01:32:17): Thank you. Daniel [GM] (01:32:17): Excellent. Yes. Thank you so much. If you didn't like the show for some reason, or if you felt that it was just mad. Well then I'd like to ask you to consider the Cicada. These insects spend years living beneath the ground in their larval form, sucking SAF and moisture from the roots of the plants above them. Then when the conditions are right, they molt or shells and emerge as adults for a handful of weeks where they frantically breed and lay eggs for the next generation. Before dying off by contrast, you have exponentially more time, a lot into your adulthood. I dare you to do more with it. If you want to reach out to us individually on social media, you can, you can find me on Twitter at Andrew, A N D R L I K. Stace [Nix] (01:33:07): I'm also on Twitter @StaceWindu. Sampson [Dili] (01:33:10): Happy new year. I think it comes out happy. New year. I'm @slampotato. Alex [ChaCha] (01:33:16): If y'all understood the Dr. Phil knife hand references tweet at me @Realteaunicorn. Marietta [Atalia] (01:33:18): I put Christmas lights up outside our home for the first time ever. Tell me what you think about lights on the exterior of homes or just lights in general. Do you like lights and I'm on a hike. Daniel [GM] (01:33:35): Thank you all for listening. I hope you enjoyed the show. Have a good night day, afternoon or weekend, or whenever you listen to this. All (01:33:43): Bye!