The Glass Cannon Podcast - Gatewalkers Episode 19 – Thinlands Farms Remembers

Episode Date: January 26, 2024

The investigation brings the heroes to Thinlands Farms. Watch the video here: https://youtu.be/apxPB94i3rY This episode was sponsored by Demiplane, Foundry VTT and Norse Foundry. Check out Demiplane's Pathfinder Nexus and character creation tools at https://bit.ly/GCNOfficialTools See why tabletop gamers everywhere have made the switch to Foundry Virtual Tabletop at https://foundryvtt.com/gcp The Glass Cannon Podcast is sponsored by BetterHelp. Visit https://betterhelp.com/GCN to get 10% off your first month. Visit https://PrizePicks.com/GCP and use code "GCP" for a first deposit match up to $100. For more podcasts and livestreams, visit glasscannonnetwork.com and for hundreds of hours of exclusive shows and benefits, make your membership official and join Glass Cannon Nation today by becoming a subscriber at jointhenaish.com. Watch new episodes when they premiere every Thursday at 8PM ET on youtube.com/theglasscannon. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You are listening to the Glass Cannon Network, the premier source for role-playing game entertainment. Last week on the Glass Cannon Podcast. Stay in the light. Remember, they have concealment in the shadows. It is now Asta's turn. Asta, we don't even know what you're playing! You see Asta slide her foot back in the dirt, and I enter my arcane cascade stance. Then I spell strike. Natural 20.

Oh! You're done! 25 points of damage. And you kill it. Yeah! Asta! Galitha! You do notice as it lies back dead,

a mark on its neck that is almost identical to the one you saw outside of your room at the inn. Do you think he knows we are here? Do you think he knows where we are at all times? Seems like it. Zephyr, you're always so honest. And you go to sleep. I'm going to bed.

I'm going to bed. You make your way in the direction of Thinland's farms. I am by myself, and I mean you no harm. And what's your name? Malkior. You're welcome to travel with us, if you'd like. Yes, come with us. You can see if we find your friend along the way,

at least you would not be traveling the road alone. And eventually you see a rickety old wooden fence with an archway over an opening, and the branches have all sort of been twisted in a way that spells out Thin Lands Farms. You walk through, and it's like a small ghost town out of Red Dead Redemption. You go over to the saloon.

Everybody looks up. There's a bartender, and he just looks at you and says, We ain't got nothing fancy here. The adventure continues. Now. No. Good evening and welcome back to the Glass Cannon Podcast. Hey, sound off in the comments. How many of you are fantasizing about my hairy cheeks rubbing on your thighs? Jesus. Hey, what am I doing down there?

What am I doing down there? Why am I down there? Why are you down there i do it for that is that hair on your cheeks or is that snow it's a little bit snow a little uh it's the winter months what month is it now january uh i just love getting that laugh. I'll say anything. Literally anything. No matter how many people are reviled.

It doesn't matter. No matter how many relationships I torch. Yeah. No matter how many human rights violations I commit. Whoa. No matter how many human resources violations. I have my check. That's a human privilege.

Every human privilege. I consider that a human right. You're doing it wrong. So bad. We're two seconds in. My tummy hurts from laughing, and I'm crying from laughing. So thank you. Did you give away a mascara?

I said, I feel like I did this. I said, let's not talk about Troy's facial hair because he walked into the studio. I was like, I'm going to bring it up on air. Save it, save it. I'm going to raz him. Cindy screamed. I did it with that.

But I was going to raz you and you zigged on me. I got you, yeah. You zigged and I zagged. Yeah, I had to do that because I knew it was coming. I'll step up. You're a lot older than I thought you. You zigged and I zagged. Yeah, I had to do that because I knew it was coming. I'll step up. You're a lot older than I thought you were. I've been telling you this for years. Everybody roast Troy.

Go in a circle. I've got some gray in the beard. You've got some gray. It's all gray here and right on the flavor saver. You're going to hate it. What are you going to say? Matthew has a fuller beard than you. Wow! Wow! I'll have you know, I shaved yesterday morning.

That's how fast this is going to be. It's not true. I'm just so virile. I know. I can't help it. So what's the deal? What's the deal? Is it a winter thing?

Is it a— Midlife crisis? You're not feeling well? Midlife crisis? Are you sick? Are you playing for an NHL hockey team in the playoffs right now? First of all, I think it's very sexist to ask me about this. Because if I were to ask you about a haircut.

Which you do. I never. I would ask you. Often. He never makes fun of what we look like. Oh, did you do your eyebrows today? And they're like really bushy. So I'm like telling you, you need to do them.

That's rude. That's exactly what you do. I would never. Okay, okay,hy. So I'm like telling you, you need to do them. That's rude. That's exactly what you do. I would never. But okay, okay, okay. So that's rude. But give me your comments on fantasizing about my furry cheeks between your thighs. That's not, first of all, that's not rude.

That's sexy. This is a titillating show. And that's why people watch. We occasionally play some games, but I'm mainly here to titillate. Now I understand why we've hit that glass ceiling. Matthew has been growing that beard

for at least 10 years. I've been growing this for 8 days. So that's a huge difference. And it'll be gone. I've been mowing this back for 10 years is what you mean to say. I thought it was just like chest hair that you've shaped into a beard. Like a comb-over.

A comb-over. I just set my chin down into it. Make a little space for your mouth. Yeah, no, I just... It's winter. It's fun to do. It's fun to change up your look every once in a while. I was going to say something nice. Oh, okay, good.

It's too late now. I wouldn't do it now. No. Is it thigh related? No, it's not. I was going to say, I think the beard looks good. Oh, thanks. Yeah.

I don't need your acceptance. Wow. Wow. But it's very nice to say. You're welcome. I told you you shouldn't have said it. I shouldn't have said it. No, it's good. You're right. I shouldn't have said anything. He's not doing it for your approval and your gaze.

Oh my God. Wow. Are you doing it to prove to yourself that you're still a man? Still a man, yes. If I could grow a beard, I would. For sure. Yeah, I would grow the thickest beard. I would do the craziest shit. And I'd go like this when I think. And I would do the mustache. That's fun. Do you ever pick at the mustache? Oh yeah. I would do the craziest shit. And I'd go like this when I think. And I would do the mustache.

Do you ever pick at the mustache? Oh, yeah. I got a nice thick stache. Your stache looks good. The stache looks good. Look at this poor guy over here. Irishman. He's mainly got paint

under his lip there just to make it look a little thicker. Wait, seriously? Fun fact. When I was in high school, I played Jigger Cragen in Carousel

and needed to be a bearded villain. The people who live on land. I didn't even have. Hard to understand. I didn't even have the beginnings of a shred of facial hair at 17 years old. They glued hair shavings to my face. From a local dog.

That sounds itchy. And it looked all right from the back of the auditorium on stage. You know, I guess up close it, it looked horrible. And then it, it, it destroyed my skin.

And for like a month after the show, I just had red, irritated skin where a man's beard should be. And yeah, that sums up high school. Why didn't they use a fake beard? It was probably the glue. Well, that was very common in stage practice.

I think that they were- Spirit gum and like- Spirit gum, but then you get a beard. You get a beard. Yeah. They were trying to like make it look as real as possible. They made it out of a wig

that they like shaved, literally. They shaved a wig? They shaved a wig into whiskers. They were trying to hurt you. They just like dabbed wig into whiskers. They were trying to hurt you. And then just like dabbed it onto my face. They were trying to hurt you. I think they were just waiting for you to say stop. But you didn't.

So they were like, all right. They were testing you. They were like, let's see how far we can go with this kid. He doesn't even care. Serious question for Troy. Yes. Are you doing this just because. I can.

That will give you the opportunity when you shave it to go down to various different stages. And you can do the various civil war. Are you going to do a solo mustache? Solo mustache? I've rocked a mustache before. I did Movember a few times for prostate cancer research. It was horrifying, I remember.

Yeah. It kind of looks cool, kind of pedophilic. I'm a big mustache girly, so if you do the mustache, I'm into it. I love it. I'm halfway there.

My gaze is up on you. Can you do the mutton chops connected with the mustache first that's fun i probably won't do that i'll probably just this is all part of uh it's fun that you can change your look guys you know you can really just say uh you've had a beer as long as i know you although i've got pictures of like early days of us playing softball together no beard or handsome man underneath what he's got. Did you have a beard when we started the show? I feel like you were clean shaven then. No, yeah, I've had the beard since, I want to say 2013, 2014.

Are you going to shave it? No. Not anytime soon. It would take, what, 10 years for it to regrow? Yeah. You're so mean to each other. I haven't trimmed this once. This is 10 years of growth

yeah it's just fun to do I also wanted to see how gray it was and I learned that really mostly on the sides and the flavor saver are gray but the I'm in a very contemplative phase right now so the beard is part of that and I feel like

once I figure out what I'm trying to figure out then I'll shave it once you figure out what you're trying to figure out, then I'll shave it. Once you figure out what you're trying to figure out. Yeah. Hey, don't question it. That was really insightful.

That's what I'm saying. You guys ever think about stuff? That was just saying something stupid and trying to pass it off as knowledgeable. Because he has the beard. He can like do say stuff like that. Cause you do that. Do that gesture. That's why I want to be.

Matthew looks so smart all the time. Right. It's it. When I wear my glasses with the beard, it's over. Yeah. Yeah. I, glasses. Because you do that. Do that gesture. See, that's why I want a beard. That's why Matthew looks so smart all the time. Right. When I wear my glasses with the beard. It's over. Yeah. I can pretend to be really smart. It's not the things he says. That's why people think that you and I are so silly.

Stupid, because we don't have beards. No beards. Because we can't grow beards. I didn't want to say it. Well, you all have an advantage, though, over Troy, at the moment, at least, and most moments, which is he's usually either wearing a Red Sox hat, which immediately lowers your intelligence level by a great deal, or a brewery hat, which it kills the whole, you know,

you just look like a beer drinker who hasn't shaved. But then the glasses add a little bit more. You look like some guy who's going to, like, mansplain hops to me. Or I can go hoodie up, and then I look like I'm trying to sell you a Christmas tree. Oh my God. Or a gas station attendant. Or a Frasier Fur or a Douglas. I'm going to blow up a post office.

Skid in the past. Let's just talk about Skid. He hasn't had a beard in a while, but he had a beard. I had a giant beard for a while. It's like David Letterman. I thought it was great. You had a giant beard for a while. It's like David Letterman. I really like your beard. I thought it was great.

Yeah, you should bring the beard back. Maybe I will. I just can't get through that itchy stage. The itchy stage. That's the thing. I'd love, I'd miss the beard, though. It's terrible for your skin, but it's fun to have. What do you mean it's terrible for your skin?

It's real bad for your skin. It is. You gotta do, you gotta work with the beard. You gotta do the beard oil. You gotta do the beard balm. I don't want to mansplain beards to you all. You gotta get a beard balm. You gotta get a beard balm. But I feel like shaving your face. I didn't do it with the beard. You got to do the beard oil. You got to do the beard balm. I don't want to mansplain beards to you all. You got to get a beard balm. But I feel like shaving your face.

I didn't do it with the beard balm on. Listen, we don't shave. I'm not going to womansplain a beard. But I feel like shaving a beard over and over irritates me more than throwing it. You don't shave down to the skin. You buzz. No, that's not what they do. Tell us. Oh, please.

See, what they do is spread your legs across this subway car and tell us oh please spread your legs across this subway car and tell us up and against against the green just water I didn't know that we did that that's crazy all men do that

Kate is so smart I didn't know that we did that I don't make the rules it is. I don't make the rules. I don't make the rules. It is fun. I don't know how long it's going to go. I'm letting everything go. I'm not trimming the neck.

I can tell. I'm just letting it go. That's what really pushes it. It just nudges it into homeless. I leave my house. It's dirtbag territory. The minute you go past your Adam's apple with no train. You got to shape it, man. Well, they say for the first month. I don't even know if I'll go

that long. Just let it go. GQ? Beard Monthly. Beard Enthusiast Monthly. Beard Enthusiast Monthly. You mean you don't subscribe? I am the beard. They enthuse about it. You're on the cover of every month.

We're all still just trying to chase the Matthew Beard. How's your Capitacasa coming? Cover of every month. Six months out of the year. We're all still just trying to chase the Matthew Beards. Month after month. How's your Capitacaza coming? Well, it's fun. You guys should try it. I think you should bring it back. We'll all be bearded, and then we'll be those guys.

We need a hook. Four beards and two ladies. That's the show. I could grow almost a beard. Maybe. That's impressive. Yeah, the older you get, you get chin hair. Little whiskers.

Little whiskers. Maybe we should just... Dye them black. I don't need to dye them black. Next episode, Kate, I think we should just come in with beards. Yeah, I'm just going to stop plucking and shaving. Do you want me to glue some wig shavings to your face? Thank you for offering.

I was waiting for you to ask. And then we can all be the bearded bros. Yeah. Yep. I have a plan. During the break, I'll shave off my beard and you can glue it to your face. Perfect. Great.

See you right after this. We'll be back in a second. Do you not want to miss this? Do you not want to change, you want to reinforce. I just finished a significant writing project that I've been working on for a while. I'm happy with that. That's a pretty good thing. I want to keep doing stuff like that. So, you know, around New Year's, we get obsessed with how to change ourselves instead of just expanding on what we're already doing right. Maybe you can, maybe you finally organize one part of your space and you want to tackle another. Maybe you're taking your supplements every morning and now you want to actually eat breakfast too.

Therapy helps you find your strengths so you can ditch the extreme resolutions and make changes really stick. And yeah, I talked a lot about my experiences in therapy, how much it helps me having that other perspective. Someone who really just knows what they're talking about and has some expertise to help you out with some of those moments in life can be incredibly just invaluable. If you're thinking of starting therapy, give BetterHelp a try. It's entirely online, designed to be convenient, flexible, and suited to your schedule. Just fill out a brief questionnaire to get matched with a licensed therapist and switch therapists anytime for no additional charge. Celebrate the progress you've already made. Visit BetterHelp.com slash GCN

today to get 10% off your first month. That's BetterHelp.com slash GCN. That was just a bit. We didn't really do that gross as much as much as it would improve the quality of the visuals we're sorry we're sorry well uh maybe fake beards next week maybe i won't even have a beard next week we'll see uh but we will have uh another episode of the show and you know what let's do one today too. You guys have been, we're all here. We're all here.

We might as well play. See you next week. Cool. We have a show. Also right now, you guys have been doing some investigating, huh? You knew this was going to be a paranormal investigating.

So you are investigating some things that are outside of what is considered normal. You went to the quakingacks, did some research there. Do you remember what you learned at the Quaking Stacks? That you can get high in the library? You can get high in the library. You communed with the library tree, and you learned of a slender, lurking creature of shadows

that was defeated by the elves, making it seem like perhaps this Kniepo the Slim had been around for millennia. And then you also learned in a volume of the Pathfinder Chronicles about the First World that there was a little footnote about the Thinlands, a colorless forest located in the shadowy realm of Nighthold, once ruled by the exiled eldest, Count Ronalk. You then took up your next phase of the investigation by investigating Pa Mosby's farm. Pa Mosby was someone that was evidently attacked by Gorgas and survived to tell the tale. Unfortunately, his beautiful mule, Shailen, did not survive. And when you get there, you see

that there's a wife, a husband, his pa, and then there's a son, and the son thinks that your devil's meant to return him to hell. He believes that he is a devil spawn. And one day, pretty much everyone he comes in contact with is a demon meant to return him to the right hand of the Prince of Darkness. So you're like, we'll deal with that later. We need to talk to Pa. Pa has been hitting the bottle pretty heavily ever since he lost his mule. He describes Gorgas like which you fought. And, you know, more importantly, you get from Pa and from the boy that they have seen perhaps Kniepo the Slim, this slender figure watching them from a distance. Not unlike what you guys saw when you were walking home to the inn and you saw this slender, long figure in the shadows of an alleyway. It is one of the worst things to see in

an alleyway yeah really is someone that is too tall figure in the shadows and they felt both of them like they were being judged by this person now whether the little boy's uh sort of uh hysteria is connected to what pa had seen or not or what what you had seen. You're not 100% sure, but they both had in common that they felt like they were being judged by this figure that was watching them. Very, very strange. So you leave there, you'd heard about another victim that the crime scene may have still been active. You could have gone and checked that out. But you know that time is of the essence. So you just push on to an area known as Thinlands Farms. You get there, it's very dark and very weird and very creepy. It's

like a Western town. It's Thinlands Farms, all made out of twisted branches. You get there, you're looking for a place and a guy just kind of grunts at you. You go into a little bar and everyone in there is just kind of looking at you weird. The bartender turns around. He's like a 60-something-year-old man. And he is beautiful. He's just like crazy handsome looking. And he just looks at you and says, we ain't got nothing fancy here.

And then you look around. And everyone that's sitting at the table kind of looks up at you underneath their dirty brims of their hats, their soiled overalls. And every single person in the bar is just like crazy young and beautiful looking. Which

belies the sort of filth that they're covered in. And they're all just kind of like grizzled, spitting on the floor, looking at you. And a woman down the end of the bar says, oh, now, Rufus,

that's no way to talk to visitors. And she stands up and comes over to you, spits on the ground. Now, you'll be begging our pardon. We generally distrust strangers around here. It's not often that city folk venture all the way over to Thin Lance Farms, especially lately where it's gotten so dangerous out there.

Now, you wouldn't know nothing about that, would you? I'm not a city folk. Asta steps forward and bows in reverence. I actually am from the Wildwood. Yes, you're right. And she leans in. She's like, you're a kitsune,

aren't you? She smiles her sharp, jagged, toothy grin. Yes. Yeah. You forgive me saying so I didn't know if it was a secret But one of the things I can do Is see the truth And I see that in you Asta smiles again

No secrets And she looks at her party Kind of like What the fuck is this lady's deal? I'll show you a picture of her if you want. Yeah. Again, like everyone here, just absolutely gorgeous. Oh, wow.

Oh, she's so pretty. What's with her hat? She's got little antlers coming out of the black hat. What's that horrible accent and voice you're doing from that beautiful face? That's not really what I was picturing at all. I need you to shave the beard immediately. The immersion has been broken. Don't look at me, just listen.

Don't look at me. I'm an idiot. The voice does not match what you see, but it didn't for the bartender either. Looks kind of like Padma Lakshmi or something. Yeah, there is a little Padma there. I could see that. Troy.

Are the antlers from her head or her hat? That's what I was going to ask. Would I know, being this close to her, like familiar

with the wild woods and just sort of nature in general? Excuse me, what is that shit coming out of your hat? What the fuck is that?

You look fucking weird. What the fuck is that wrong with you? Could I do like a nature 21 21 It's not unheard of for people to have weird shit

Coming out of their head What the hell Great work Troy Cool roll Here in this fantasy land You don't know of it actually Meaning any specific thing. Oh, if you see an antler head, that means they can cast fireballs.

Can I roll? Are they antlers or are they on her hat? Are they antlers or are they wood? Do you want to ask her? Because they look like wood. Okay, when she says you're a kitsune, I think I say, nice hat. That's an opening. Yeah, we know each other.

Nice hat. Are those... Oh, this old thing That's an opening. Yeah. We know each other. Nice hat. Are those? Oh, this old thing? Oh, those. Yeah, they hold on now. And she like squinches her eyes and they recede into the hat. Ew, gross. Buggles.

Buggles, please. That's rude. Sorry, I didn't mean to frighten you there. Just if you're not used to seeing. You run away. I'm looking for my cape. That's rude. Sorry, I didn't mean to frighten you there. Just, uh, if you're not used to seeing... Run away. I'm looking for my cape, folks. That's here somewhere. I'm going to hide in your case.

I thought you were going to get up. I need the kind of character. I need my cape. She says, if you're not used to seeing folks such as myself, I imagine that might be a little strange. But once again, I ask you, do you know anything about this danger out in the forest? What brings you here? Forget my manners.

I should introduce myself. Her name's Abelina Choi. Alderwoman. Abelina Choi. Alderwoman. She's on the council here for this town. Alderwoman. Alderwoman, Abelina Choy. Alderwoman. Sit on the council here for this town. Alderwoman. Alderwoman, yeah.

What's so funny, Goblin? There's a very, one of the later Futurama episodes, they bring this creature back from the sun, this like living flame thing, and he's just like, yes, it is. I was once the all-powerful alderman for my district, and I was deposed, but I shall return the favor

and I will become the most powerful alderman in the universe. Yeah, Brother Ramius will say, yes, Alderwoman, we are. Please, call me Alderwoman Troy. Yes, Alderwoman Troy. Troy. Call me Alderwoman Troy. Yes, Alderwoman Troy.

Troy! Alderwoman Troy! Call me Alderwoman... Call me Abelina. Abelina. Yes, we are quite familiar with the dangers happening outside of this village. We narrowly escaped an attack from Gorgas, just outside your boundaries. We were nearly killed. We're encouraged to see that the danger

does not seem to have come within Thinland's farms. Is that true? For the most part, things are safe here in town, but the minute you step outside of town, things get a little hairy. We've lost some people,

but perhaps you, uh, help out the economy and purchase a drink here from Rufus and then we can chat a little more.

Rufus. Yes, Rufus. Might we help out your economy and have a drink? Sure. Or perhaps some food?

May I have food? Very hungry. Do you hear food? I'm very hungry. Do you hear sausage? It sounds excellent. Delicious. Science code. Perfect. Perfect.

What do you want to drink? Uh, milk. Water, please. Ale? Wine? Milk. Water. Ale.

Wine. What? Water. Ale. Wine. Water. Two waters. Really helping out the economy. Two waters. If you were when your bartending day is, how thrilled would you be to get that order?

We'll just have water. Can I get a little lemon and a straw? Bar's like 3D. Water and a warm bar seat. A lemon and a straw also. Oh, 3D. Right, water in a warm bar seat. A lemon in a straw also. Oh, sure, come right up. No ice. Five deer senses. Five grains.

Two waters. You want a lemon too? In my ale? Oh, who else ordered the water? The lemon? I did. You wanted the lemon. Thank you.

Could I get some in the milk? Lemon in the milk?. If you have lemon, I'd like... Thank you. Could I get some in the milk? Lemon in the milk? And do you have... Do you have any cola? What is wrong with you? Could you pour the cola in the wine? No. I'm sorry.

Real quick, I just want to clarify what happened here. The cola request joke was so funny, you couldn't even get it out? That's how funny it was? You've made something that's not funny hilarious. How do you keep doing that?

She's laughing at it into hilarity. You've laughed it into funny. I'm working on my delivery. If I just crack up, it's so funny. We haven't seen each other in a while. Just a red wine. Red wine, holy cola. I know a guy in college who would salt his cheap beer.

Is that a thing in Massachusetts? Yeah, I've seen that before. My college friends. Wait, why? They would do that too. They put salt on everything. I have friends put salt on cheese pizza. Are they diabetic or something? They're all dead now. Oh, every single one of them.

We would go to a bar, he'd order Bud Light, and then he would take the salt shaker and just be like... I've seen that. Yeah, it's a weird thing. Does it make it more bubbly? No, just more tasty. Salt makes everything better. Did you ever see somebody open up a McDonald's cheeseburger and salt it? Yeah.

McDonald's fries open a package of salt. I do that. Yeah. I mean, I understand why people do it, but I am past that point. On the burger, that's a lot. He takes your order. She says, I got a table over here. Get the fuck over here.

So normally we're not the type to swap. Oh, wait, I'm the woman now. Is this the bartender? No, I'm the woman. Oh, get the fuck over here. Normally we're not the type to swap stories with strangers, but if we have a common enemy in these recent predations upon our town, then perhaps we'd be more willing to loosen our lips.

I gave you my name. What are yours? I'm Brother Ramius of Latria. Brother Ramius, man of the cloth. Indeed. May I ask you, man of the cloth. Indeed. May I ask you a personal question? Absolutely. Hope you don't take offense. You've been burnt.

And his demeanor, like, changes, drops a little bit, his face. How do you know that? As I said to your Kitsune friend, I can see things. I see it in you. You're a survivor. I am. Brother Ramius.

To leave the breakwater. To leave the breakwater. Brother Ramius Talitha Breakwater Talitha Breakwater I see something in you as well Oh yes? Yes What? I think you'd rather me not say Brother Ramius looks at Talitha I fucking knew it

Talitha. Fucking knew it. Talitha just blank expression. Poker face. And you there, young lady. Uh, Zephyr. Zephyr Velos. Your ink is cool. Oh, thanks.

I like your hat also, and your hair. That's very nice of you to say. That's nice hair. My sister did my hair, and my mother made my hat. What are their names? Oh, their names. This Margaret is my mother. That's a very motherly name.

And Maggie Mae is my sister. That's a very motherly name. And Maggie Mae is my sister. Maggie Mae and Abigail. She's older, so she took my mother's name, Margaret Maggie. Maggie Mae, and I'm Abelina. Did you say Abigail? Did I? Yes. I'm very stunned.

This woman knowing my most deepest personal secrets. Was it hard being a younger sister? It was, but I had a younger brother, so we... What was his name? Ronald. Ronald. I almost forgot. What was his name? Ronald.

Yes. Named after my father. Is that all the siblings? That's all of them. We've got to keep things moving. What is your name there? What about your father? Ronald.

Well, we called him Rick. Rick, short for Ronald. His friends called him Rick. Rick Joy. Your dad, you called him Rick. Alderman Rick Joy. Oh, it's a hereditary position. Yes, he passed and I took over.

Okay. Alderman Rick Choi. Rick Ronald Choi. You make the Ronald in quotes? What's your name? As I... Whose birth name is Rick and the nickname is Ronald?

Oh, no. This is getting all twisted around. Hold on, I gotta change my notes. I wrote it down wrong. This woman is full of lies. This place is crazy. It's like Bob, in Oh, no. This is getting all twisted around. Hold on, I gotta change my notes. I wrote it down wrong. This woman is full of lies. This place is crazy. It's like Bob in quotes, Robert. Bob Robert.

I wrote down Rick. I hope that's important later. What's your name? As I said before, my name is Asta. Asta, that's right. Asta, you are native of these woods. Well, the Verd a native of these woods. Well, the Verdun forest of Taldor is where I'm from.

I see. Where I grew up, I should say. Right. And you, what's your name, little man? He shrinks into his cape. I wish I could demonstrate. Sound like a good crack. I'm really sad about your cape. Really wish I could demonstrate. Sound like a good cry. I'm really sad about your cape. Really, really, really.

Are you all right? I really want to know if it's okay. What's your name? Buggles. Buggles. Just Buggles. Is that a name you chose or a name that was given to you?

He just shakes his head. Well, you're all most welcome here. And this is Melchior. Oh, I didn't see you there. I forgot because I didn't want to role play here. I'd like to hear a truth about Melchior.

What is your, Melchior your name is? Yes, I'm just looking for a friend of mine. Maybe you saw him. His name was Varner. And she's like, we did see a man named Varner. One of the oak stewards from Seven Arches. And he's like, yes, yes, you saw him.

Where is he? And she says, oh, he came by here recently, maybe about a week past, left, never saw him again. And he's like, I have so many questions, but I'm here with my new friend, so I don't want to interrupt, but I would love to know more. Anything he told you? She said, there will be time, Malkior.

But what brings you all to Thinlion's Farms? As you say, there is a threat visited upon these lands. We have been tasked by the Oak Stewards of Seven Arches to handle that threat. To discover its source and its lettuce here. There is some involvement with the Thin Lands and the threat. Are you familiar with the Thin Lands? Your namesake.

The Thin Lands. The other plane. Say it a few more times. The Thin Lands. So here's what I'm going to have you do. Not unlike what we did when you were talking with Pa Mosby and exploring the Quaking Stacks, I'm going to have you roll some checks.

This will determine how this sort of conversation goes with altar woman Abelina Choi. You can choose from diplomacy, nature, survival, or if anyone has first world lore, you could choose that as well, which I don't think anyone does. It would be a fun little thing to throw some points into. I'm happy to do nature.

I'll take diplomacy. What's your nature, Joe? Plus eight. What's your diplomacy? Plus six. My best is nature at a plus four. So maybe I can try to aid Ramius? You better take the check, yeah.

Yeah. What are you doing? Also nature plus four. Okay. I'd like to try diplomacy, plus eight. Thin lands, thin lands, yes. Well, that's a long story. You see, people like my great-grandmother

believed that there were holes in the world, holes that connected to other places, even other worlds. Now, some of these holes move and change, but others are static, always in the same place, though they may come and go, only appear certain times of the year or even the day. My great-grandmother and a lot of people here at Thin Lands Farms believe that one of those holes is right here in this area. A hole that bleeds into our world. And that hole leads to the first world.

That's what she believed, at least. It's what makes our soil so rich. No, our people so special. I've always wondered what parts of our world seeped into theirs. But these thin lands you speak of, it's probably what this place is named after. This passageway takes you there. Now maybe our ancestors knew of this and they went and visited. Maybe had an accord with the people over there. Built this place in honor of the place they visited. I don't know for sure.

It's just a story that's been passed down. Even my great grandmother didn't 100% believe that. But there is a connection. As for where these holes are, if anybody knows, they ain't telling. When people go missing, sometimes it's these creatures like these gorgas. Kill them, they don't return. Other people disappear and don't come back, and people always wonder maybe they found one of these holes.

Walked through, never returned. One of these holes walked through, never returned. Anyway, maybe that's where all these people keep disappearing. Maybe your friend there, Malkiel, maybe that's what happened to him. Question is, are they looking for these things? Or are they being taken. What do you think? Maybe a little bit of both.

Not sure. No one from Thinlands Farms that has gone missing has returned. We've had a couple people, as of late, past month or so Went off, never came back It's not unheard of We're here on the outskirts We try to keep everybody here So that stuff like this doesn't happen We can't protect everyone

When that happens, we'll send out a search party You know, follow up on the last known locations As best we can. These two people in particular that were lost, we didn't find any trace of. Some people just want a better life. That's why they leave Thinland's farms.

Other people, maybe they're looking for something, and other people, maybe they're taken. But no one has left and come back claiming to have visited Thinland. No. These people that left and have not returned, did they leave families behind? Friends? This is a small town.

One of them was a bit of a loner. A bit of an outsider. The other was a married woman. By all accounts, they had a good home life, children. So we just assumed that she might have been attacked, taken. It was unlike her to leave town. But, you know, sometimes in families, things go on that we don't know about.

What was her name? Maybelline. Did you speak with her husband, the children? Yes, we spoke to the husband and the children. You know, it appeared everything was hunky-dory with them. What's the husband's name, if you... Gerald. Do you think they would speak with us? Gerald?

I imagine he would. I'd have to give an introduction. Of course. But, uh... introduction. Of course. But, uh... We felt pretty good with his answers and we moved on. As I said, it's not unheard of for people to disappear.

And what of the loner? Any details you can give us there? Older? Younger? Older man. Rufus's age. Never married, never had children. Kind of kept to himself. Read a lot of books.

But born here, raised. Born and raised here, yeah. His parents only had him. Had no brothers or sisters. They passed, he took over their home. Lived there. Kept to himself. Once in a while you'd see him here at the saloon, drinking.

But, uh, one day he just up and left. Has anyone that you know of ever gone looking for any of these openings, intent to prove the myth

correct? Oh, yeah. Some people do. Not me. Young kids trying to prove themselves myth correct? Oh, yeah. Some people do. Not me. Young kids trying to prove themselves. Teenagers. Have any claimed to have found them? No. No. Maybe back in my parents' or great-grandparents' day, there'd be people who'd tell stories to try and get attention,

but not in my time. You know, there's a lot of stories, stories that go on around here. Some people say it's attributed to a being known as Kniepo the Slim. You ever heard that name? Yes. Yes.

Yes. We'd done heard of Kniepo before. It's always the children. They come running back to their ma's and pa's, telling them that they seen some figure, some tall, slender figure, watching them, judging them. You've never seen him? I'd never seen him.

Even as a child? Even as a child. At least I don't remember if I did. My great-grandmother said she saw him once. She said she wasn't worthy, and he left her alone. Interesting. What makes one worthy or unworthy of Ginebo's judgment? I don't know. But around here you don't even say his name,

because they say even saying his name draws attention to you. They can hear you. They can hear you invoke their name. And another question. Your great-grandmother never drew a connection between Ayudhara and these holes. Ayudhara? Talking about them elf gates?

Exactly. No. Although they serve the same purpose. The holes that I speak of, my great-grandmother taught me about, these are holes that just appear in nature. my great-grandmother taught me about. These are holes that just appear in nature. But you were not affected by the elf gates opening recently.

No, heard about that. Nobody around here was affected. Ain't any of those gates around these parts. Do you believe that your ancestry, your blood, is of the First World? I don't know. There's some around here that do. I just think the sort of proximity to this other place has made us different. I don't know if it's gotten to our blood or not.

Well, you said it made you special. What is special about everyone here? Look around you. Old Rufus, 85 years old. Looks like he's in his early 30s. How old do you

think I am? Twenty? Twenty? Three. Very sweet of you to say, but I'm much older than that. Is it just your looks, or are you physically, do you feel physically still much younger? I feel much, much younger than I actually am, and everyone here has gifts. Your antlers? Sure. That's a part of it.

That's my connection to the... Also, you're able to see the truth, as you put it. And it's all connected. These antlers, as you call them, is just a part of nature that's in me, and perhaps the world around us hears your thoughts, feels your feelings, and then feeds it back to me. That's how I always... how I always believed it.

Is there a place in Thinlands Farm where you feel the strongest connection? No. It's all around us. Um Ma-ma-madam Uh, what was the name Of the loner, the man? The man that disappeared? Yes Um, his name

What the fuck was his name? Let's call him the loner Perhaps you could just pull from the world around you To give you that answer. His name was Henry. Henry Buckets. Really? Yeah, old Henry Buckets.

Henry Buckets? Really? Henry Buckets. Every time Troy says a name like Harrietta Pebblesworth, the body we didn't discover, I'm like, unimportant. I'm like, Henry Buckets? Don't go don't go looking like okay that's we're not to follow up with this made up Henry Buckets

is he a real person real name you never heard of buckets is the long line of buckets no he was the last one buckets buckets Henry Buckets we were hoping to spend the night. Are there rooms to let in the saloon here?

There are. There are. You've got the coin to pay for it. Of course. Yeah, absolutely. Was I of any help to you? You were. I'm sure we might have some questions.

I think we'll have many more questions after we walk around a bit Oh explore town now you should know that everybody isn't as friendly as I am so it's all right don't be not not all of us are as friendly as we seem oh you seem quite friendly. She lingers on you. I love it about her face.

Anyway, it's good to meet you. I know you're here to do good. Hopefully you can help. If there's any way I can be of service, you just ask for all the woman Alvelina Choi. Rufus! They're looking to get some rooms here. Can you set them up he comes over

here's your deer sausage I eat it with my hands and here's your silverware of course maybe just use the hands. Is it bad? Okay. Yeah.

Buggles is appalled. So am I. How is it? Is it good? Tell me. What? Oh, that was not a character. Sorry, I did my character voice.

Is the sausage good? Yeah. Oh, okay. Roll. It's delicious. It's about sausage. It's a 12. That's great. It's a 12's worth.

Freshly caught with magic deer. Anyhow, you know. Any sights we should see in the town while we're here? Anything of note? There's a cow with six udders. That sounds remarkable. I'd love to see that. What's...

Where? Is the milk regular? Is it regular milk? Is this milk? Is my milk from the cow? It is, as a matter of fact. The milk. Which one of the udders?

It has healing properties. Cow with six udders? It has healing properties. Cow with six udders. And there's a silo that has hay in it. That's really all it has. We don't have a lot. You keep hay in a silo? Yeah.

What do you put in your silo? Grain. That's just foolish. This town is weird. You northerners. You northerners. You northerners. Put grain in a silo. A perfectly good silo filled with worthless grain. We put ours in boxes.

Hay in the silo, grain in the boxes. It's like my Rick used to do. My daddy Rick You should go Yeah let's go Here take a box of Rick Choi's grains A box of Rick Choi's grains for everybody Thank you

Oh his picture's on it God bless him I miss him every day. Says Rick Ronald. The Ronald of grains. What does that mean? Alright, enjoy your room. I'll be down

here drinking. Looking for a lover. Oh my. I'm gonna pretend my character didn't hear that. I think we're all gonna follow the character and pretend they don't hear that. I think we're all going to pretend we didn't hear that. One of these days, someone's going to stroll through and be the alderman for me. Good night. Can I roll a perception to see if she seemed like she was being truthful throughout all of that?

Yeah, sure. Sure. Okay. 14. 14. 14. I'm going to as well. She's creepy, but seems to be above board. Unlike everyone in this adventure.

21. And I'm more so reading about the nature, like getting a vibe for her with my understanding of like Fae and just sort of the mystery. Yeah, you feel like a lot of her understanding of the world is derived from fairy tales. What you would consider fairy tales or maybe what they would consider fairy

tales, but maybe, you know, from your connection to nature that there's a lot more truth in these fairy tales than, you know, more civilized folk sort of lend credence to. And so that's the kind of vibe you're getting.

It seems like almost childish the way she talks about the world, but her understanding is... Yeah, but it also seems like she acknowledges that they're fairy tales. Yeah. And also, what an insular community. It doesn't seem like anybody leaves this thin land's farm unless they're gone, gone and disappear. There is a sort of gravity to it.

Yeah. I feel like. To the extent where some people will just vanish. Well, now I'm getting creeped out because I'm like, can we leave? Are we forever stuck here? Yeah. I hope so. I truly do. That we're stuck? Yes. Because then I hope so. I truly do.

That we're stuck? Yes. Because then that would give us something to do. This is awful. Let's go look at the cow. Yeah. All right. I would ideally would love to see the cow, but the rameus.

And the hay silo. And the silo full of hay. Could you imagine? All right. So you check in. You get your keys. And then you ask someone. You go and you see the silo.

And it's just a normal silo. But it's bust. You see hay busting out of the top. I think we should investigate it for at least 20 minutes. Yeah. I'd like to pursue a lead on the hay silo. They should have sent a poet. Pursue a lead on the hay silo?

They should have sent a poet. And then there's a guy just kind of cleaning up a little pen where a cow is. It just looks like a normal cow. But if you peer over, you do see six udders. Last question. Don't laugh at me. Do cows count under stabling lore because they're kind of in a farm stable? Roll on the cow.

I think what better way to use stabling lore. It was either the dumbest question ever or the best. No, that's the best question of all time. Can I use my stabling lore on the cow? What do you want to know about the cow? How well you harness it, where you put the bit. Where you milk it, I guess.

What do you do with the six udder? Do you have to do them all at once, or is it... Maybe how this came to be, or how weird it is, if I've heard of anything like this before. That's not bad. Okay. Yeah, yeah. We're going to put the bit for... Natural one. Natural one.

You think all cows have six udders? Yeah, the whole time you walk in there, you're like, you don't want to be weird, but you're like, don't all. It was the silo. The silo. What's so weird about that? The silo full of hay. You should go up to the guy and be like, may I ride it? As is tradition.

Do you ride these cows? Is that a race cow? It's okay with you? Where's your saddle for this? It's a beautiful thoroughbred race cow. Can I take him out? Can I walk him around? Is this cow properly shooed?

Take a look in his mouth. Shod. Shod. Is this cow properly shod? I love you just trying to open the cow's mouth. I have a thoroughbred cow. I have a line on a thoroughbred cow of my own that would be available to stud. Yeah, you might want to breed this cow.

Oh, you come to see the 600 cow, huh? No. Yes, please. We're moving along. No, yes, please. Here's one question. Yeah. What's your cow's name? My cow's name is Mickey.

Mickey? Mickey. Mickey. What's your cow's name? My cow's name is Mickey. Mickey? Mickey. Mickey. And your name? Mickey as well. Name them after me. All right, well, farewell, Mickey, and farewell, Mickey. Let's go.

Wait, one more question. Yeah, I'm here all day. Was this cow born this way? Was this cow born this way? It was. His mama only had four udders. She was born with six. So the mother cow also had a strange amount of udders?

No, the mother had four. You're talking about the, not the udder, you're talking about the nipples. Yeah. The udders. The udders. Are they individually called udders? I thought the udder was the full. You know what?

I'm Googling this. You don't know nothing about cows. I don't have stabling, Lord. I don't know what that is. I'd help you, but I have no clue. Utter. Let's move along. Can we go talk to Gerald?

Gerald, yeah. You want to check in on Gerald? We would like to kick in the door of his house. You're really itchy for some combat. The children are tied up, and he's like, They were just playing hostage. Hello? We don't like strangers around here.

Can you imagine? Dumb kids. We don't trust strangers, do we, kids? This is random priest. This random priest carrying all these books kicks in your door and stabs you through the heart. That's every child's dream. No, Abelina is like, we'll walk with you. All right, so again, I spoke to Gerald after all this.

Well, I thought you were looking for a lover. I am, but you said you wanted to talk to Gerald. She was kind enough to make an introduction to ease the beginnings of this conversation. But Abelina, I do wonder, with your uncanny ability to draw truth out of the very ether, if you noticed anything strange in talking to Gerald at all.

He was completely truthful, had no idea why his wife would be missing. Truth be told, I didn't sense anything nefarious in Gerald. While I did sense that maybe he wasn't telling me the whole story. I see. But since I didn't think there was any foul play, I did not press.

I believe we should speak with him, because foul play does not have to be a part of learning the deeper truth. We could learn maybe more about what was going on with his wife. What's her name again? Talitha. Her name. Her name. Maybelline. Maybelline.

Maybelline. Why can't she be true Maybe it's just Maybeleine Maybe it is Here I'll bring you to the door And she's You hear her Step

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That's prizepix.com slash GCP and use code GCP for a first deposit match up to $100. I love this app. I'm obsessed. PrizePix. Pick more, pick less. It's that easy. Door opens up just a hair. You see a guy's face. Alderman Choi. How can I help you? Gotta seize all of you. Yes, Gerald. These are some visitors here,

and they are investigating some of the problems that we've had. Oh, she's got an accent. Yes, Gerald. These are my friends. They're not my friends. I don't even know them. Some visitors. Are you okay?

Potential lovers. This is like a reverse session. Whiplash. Is the beard diminishing your powers? I had so much to drink while searching for a lover. These people, these visitors, they're here to maybe help us with some of our problems. It seems like they have some problems of their own, but they had asked me to introduce you because, obviously, he's like,

I don't really want to talk about it. She's like, I understand, but they may be able to help. All of us. She looks at him and he's like, All right. Kids, I got to talk to you. Be outside. He comes out on the porch. Is he beautiful?

Gorgeous! But he's wearing, like, again, filthy overalls. He's got dirt all over his face, and he's just stunning and young-looking. And he takes out a handkerchief and kind of wipes his neck and the top of his head. How can I help you? And Abilene says, I'll leave you to it.

Have fun with the leather. Yes, I'm going to try. Gerald, may I call you Gerald? You may. Forgive the intrusion and we are so sorry to drudge up painful memories. But as you know, there have been attacks in the lands around the farm, and we've been tasked to investigate

and perhaps put a stop to them. What can you tell us about the night Maybelline disappeared? She just told me she was heading out to get some food. We didn't have milk or something. Eggs. I can't remember.

Seems unimportant now. But she said she wanted to go out and grab at the store, and I told her I'd go, and I wish I had. She left, and that was it. Never came back. And she, where would she, would the path to the store

have taken her anywhere close to the borders of the town? General Store is right up there, he points. It's like five buildings down. That's why I didn't think too much, even though it was after dark. She was just walking up there to General Store. After about 15, 20 minutes, I come out on the porch. I looked and didn't see her. I thought maybe she saw one of her friends

and got to gabbing and uh an hour passed and I told the kids to stay put walked up there and uh old uh Chevy that runs the general store said she ain't even

ever come in and what time did she leave? uh The chevy that runs the general store said she ain't even ever come in. And what time did she leave? Must have been 6, 6.30, right around dinner time. Was it customary for her to go out at that time of night, right around dinner time? No, no, again, it was, we were just short on something that she wanted to make for dinner. Oh, you're right, you said it was sugar, right? No, it was eggs or milk. Oh, right, eggs.

I can't remember. She was making something special for our anniversary. It was your anniversary? It was the night before, but I had to work, so she wanted to do something special. Was she upset that you had missed your anniversary? If she was, she didn't tell me. She didn't seem upset. She was all excited to make this meal for us. And what time does the sun go down at Thin Lands Farms?

Well, on the days that we see the sun, which ain't many, it goes down around 530, 545 this time of year. It's winter. Had she been acting strangely at all in the days or weeks leading up to her disappearance?

What do you mean? Anything outside of the ordinary. Um... No, no, no, really. Gerald, I put this delicately. We're not from here. You don't know us. Maybe that means you don't trust us, but it also can be a bit of a blessing, don't you think? We have nothing. We know no one in this town.

We have no reason to share anything we learn with anyone we would see. We'll be gone in a matter of hours. Perhaps if there's something you know that you didn't share with the Alderwoman, we might be the perfect people to get it off your chest with. Anything that could help, really. Well. Well. Why don't you come inside?

He turns around and opens the door. Come on in. And he just goes into like a dark house. I follow. I follow. Yep. It's a mess. It looks like the wife abandoned this schlep and the house is

like plates piled up. And you see two children standing in like another room and they're standing like in the doorway lit from behind and uh he's like kids go go on and uh go go on in the kitchen i've got some some people here i gotta talk to about your ma and the kids just kind of stare and then turn and go around the corner. He's like wringing his hands, and he's like, come with me.

He starts walking upstairs. As the kids walked away, like, perception check on the kids. Okay. Yeah, are there kids? Creepy kids. God damn it! That's fine. We'll talk to the kids. You saw two beautiful Shetland ponies

turn in the corner. But we saw the kids. You saw the kids. We just couldn't see their faces. Well, just the whole thing with, like, the kids are the people who have seen Kniepo in the town. Yeah, we'll get there. Unless this guy kills us upstairs. We've had so much luck talking to children.

So I think this time will be it. Yeah, children, it's got to be handled very delicately. We'll follow this guy's lead for the moment, but we've got to talk to those kids. We'll go upstairs. Up the stairs. Dark, creaky staircase. Can I just also, perception, or if you'll give it to me,

are there any family photos? Like the wife? Is there anything? We're all scratched out. Eyes are scratched out. Photographs. Abelina's choice face has been pasted over the wife's face. Paintings.

There's photographs in this fantasy world. A lot of farming medieval families would commission paintings of each other. They definitely would have Polaroids. Is there a drawing? It's like a five foot by three foot painting. Is there a stick figure drawing? There's one photo of all four of them with Santa.

Since Christmas 1942. I'm just thinking a stick figure drawing that says mommy. If you're specifically looking for that you do see uh some children's drawings like stuck to the wall oh um and some of them have the slender man all incredibly thin man i don't see that i don't see that stop lying uh do you want me to perception check you just you're looking up the stairs and you're looking for that you do see

children's drawings on 27 perception, what do they look like? Anything special? It's just like typical kids' drawings. House, stick figures, a tree. No, you don't see any tall, thin men. Nothing creepy. All right, we head upstairs. You head upstairs.

Dark staircase. So I saw it's a little dark here. Haven't felt much like letting in the light, um, so, I didn't mention this to Evelina, because I just didn't think it was all that important, frankly, it was just something I was trying to figure out on my own, but, uh, maybe it's not connected at all. Here, let me show you. And he opens up a door at the end of the hall. I'm sure it's not connected at all. And you see a large table.

And on the table is like a, that's what I'm looking for, like a recreation of the area, Thin Lands Farms. Diorama. A diorama, but it's like huge, kind of like in Beetlejuice. He has the town.

Like a model, basically, of the whole town. Like at the Queen's Museum. Yeah, it's like a, it's got the whole town, but then the surrounding forest as well, and it's highly, highly detailed. Wow. And you're looking from a bird's eye view,

so you see trails through the woods and trails leading through town and everything, and he's like, she got really into sort of a hobby a few months ago. Started out with just buying a couple of things, and then she got into whittling and carving and painting, and I liked it.

It kept her comfortable, and she enjoyed herself. But then she really got into it and kind of took over her life. She wasn't around as much anymore. Even for the kids, I'd come home and the kids would just be drawn, alone in the dark, and I'd come upstairs and she'd be feverishly working on this, and I didn't want to press because she seemed happy. I don't even know if this is connected to anything,

but it's definitely not finished. So I was hoping maybe she'd come back and finish her work. And you see, like, it started and just went out, out, out, out, out, out, out. Is it centered on their house? It's centered on the town and then, like, the forest around it is growing out, but then it just stops

at different points, like she hasn't finished it. It's like, I don't know. I don't know. I don't know what she was after here, but... You never asked her any details about why she was doing this? One night... She said it was just a hobby? One night, we had had a little dust-up.

I had a couple too many. The saloon, I never laid my hands on her, nothing like that. I wasn't rough. I just came home a little sloppy and we got to arguing because she'd made dinner and I didn't tell her I was going to stay out.

I didn't plan on staying. I just started drinking and one thing led to another. And I pushed the diorama or whatever this thing is over. And one thing she said that just stuck with me, she was like, they're watching. You can't do that. They're watching.

I thought maybe she was drinking. And then I thought maybe I just made that up and misremembered, but she fixed it as fast as possible and I passed out on the couch. She was obsessed with it. Do you mind if we have a look? No, please. So Talitha would like to take the magnifying glass out. Oh, perfect. And just scour this thing for any, if anything looks unusual, maybe there's perhaps markings of a...

Yeah, marks the openings, the portals. The openings between the world, or anything that looks unusual, or anything that looks like she's... A small figurine named Kineppo. Yeah. It's just on it. And Buggles comes up to the edge of the table.

He's just like, his eyes barely come up to him. He's just like, he's got his hands on the edge. He's just like peering over his... And you see a little model of the six-eyed cow. Like, eye level with you. Oh, Mickey. Yeah, she named Mickey. Look.

And look, there's Mickey. Mickey's here. I'm going to do perception. Okay, and what does the glass give you, like a bonus? It gives me a bonus perception. Oh, come on. Natural two. Use a bottle cap.

I don't have one. Oh, like they're just everywhere. Oh, yeah, we're all playing this economy. We are. We're all the time. With the bonus, ten. Ten. If it's related to Kineppo 11

so you get in there with the magnifying glass you're really looking in there the only thing that kind of jumps out at you is you do see like coming from the door of their house like scratchings in the dirt because it's very realistic what she's done here with

very limited tools. There's, like, scratchings that go out and into the forest, and then, like, out into the forest, and then another scratching goes, like, almost like little pathways, but not really pathways. It's kind of like tracing routes. Could I roll scouting more? It's like a family circus cartoon. Awesome.

Like the little kid, he'll trace out his path. The dad's like, here, jump in the pool. And he chased a dog here at the dotted line. Yeah, I mean, they're kind of all spiraling out. And some of them just end in town. Some of them go into the woods. Wait, I'm sorry. They look like scratches?

They look like somebody took the tip of a pencil and traced a route. Oh, like made a line. Yeah. Could I do a scouting war to see if I notice any pattern or any... Yeah, sure. Yeah, I'd like to do this. I said, Brother Ames, what do you make of this? Survival.

Can I do a survival and try to get a send? Change your dive. Can we do survival? I'll give you a survival. 12, scouting war. Let's go to Norse Foundry. Come on. Boom salad 29

Oh wow Damn Alright so you're You're giving a A cursory glance Turns into a more intense Gaze on this He rips the magnifying glass

Out of the plate Gives her an irritated look What are you even doing with that? You have it backwards I'm the inventor She's holding the glass She's holding it by the glass Gives her an irritated look. What are you even doing with that? You have it backwards. She's holding the glass and looking through the stick. She's holding it by the glass end. Like looking through the handle. It's like a pointer, right?

This is how you do it. You look. And you realize there isn't a pattern, but you do see that she, it appears that she was trying to figure something out. Yeah, she was testing the fences for weaknesses. She was like. They remember. They remember. She was like looking and then realizing that's not right. Let's

try this. They're very precise in the way they are. Can we narrow down if there's like... What's like the most recent one? Yeah, like what's the one that doesn't seem to have like not worked if that's possible? Yeah, like dead end, dead end, dead end, empty end

of... Well, they must all... Well, no, not necessarily. I was going to say they all must not work. Like, if this is something like her trying to reach the other side... But maybe the last one... But then she wouldn't have come back to scratch it, you know? What's she looking for? So you try and figure out

what the latest one was. And it doesn't make sense, because you you see it and you're like, this looks like, if you recognize any sort of pattern here, this looks like the most recent one. But when you watch it, it goes towards the general store, but doesn't even make it to the general store, goes past, out into the woods,

and then curves back around and comes into town and like connects with a previous line that ended in like scratch outs. Like is there a certain way you need to What if it

what if there's a tunnel or something? What if it's not above ground? It's below ground. Or on this plane. Or on this plane. Or if there's a way to summon the holes somehow.

Even still, we should take any path that heads toward the general store and walk it. Yeah. Definitely. We should walk it. We should walk that path. Like you said, both ways. Maybe it's forward, maybe it's backward. It's worth a try.

You, Gerald, you've been extremely helpful. One more thing, and this is quite delicate, and of course you should feel free to be with us, but might we speak to your children? Oh, it's almost time for their bath. We won't be long. Can I ask what you want to know? Just their observations of their mother.

Maybe they'd seen something in what she was doing here at the table that you didn't because you were at work. want to know. Just their observations of their mother. Maybe they'd seen something in what she was doing here at the table that you didn't because you were at work. Just anything that can be... In this kind of investigation, even the smallest detail, it seems so insignificant and sometimes shines a light on what was previously

in darkness. In other words, we wish to terrorize them needlessly before we go and continue the story. It's so messed up, like we're going to ask them about the monsters they see. The best time to do it is right before bedtime. Do you see monsters too?

Have you seen this man? They're real, you know. I'm here to tell you they're real. They're real. If it's just that, okay. They killed our friend. If it's just that, okay. If it's just that, all right. The our friend. If it's just that, okay. If it's just that, all right.

The monsters who killed Mommy killed our friend as well. There's a little boy who doesn't live far from here, who lives in constant terror. He's your age. He's the son of a demon. You know what? You remind me of him a little bit. He sees demons.

It's like the scene in Tar. Oh, yeah. I'm Petra's father. A man finds you. No. No one will believe you. Children can be incredibly insightful in ways that we do not even understand. Meaning grown-ups.

We see the world in a different way than they do. It can be very helpful. You're welcome to be there. We'll be gentle. Yeah, I'd like to be there. I trust you and all, but they might be scared. Yeah, all right, come on. He leads you out of the room, closes the door.

You take one last look at that diorama. And then... Mildred. Jim. Okay. It's good to know there's no information. Never mind. All right.

We'll be going. We'll start walking. Sorry to trouble you. Toward the general. Never mind. Just going to write down Mildred. You know what I just realized? We are short on the light.

We're losing the light, so... I just wanted to make up their names. Mildred and Jim. Mildred, Jim. The second. Jim. There's any Troy LaValle game. We only want to talk to Mildred.

It is complete nonsense. And that's nothing to do with the plot. Jim, you can sit. Jim, you can wait. You can go have your bath. You can have your bath. My grandfather's name was Jim. Mildred.

Jim. Can I call you Jimmy? No, please don't. Please don't. That's the boy's voice? No, that's... God. Are the children also like cherubic, beautiful?

Do they look like babies? They look like models. They look like child models. Like Gerber baby models. Yeah, but they're like probably six and seven years old. They're not infants. But everybody looks so young. I'm wondering

how it affects their age. They're seven years old with baby faces. That's terrifying. That's actually what you... They have no teeth. Well, like, I'm wondering... That's the dirty secret of the Gerber baby food companies, that the model actually was 13.

Yeah. Well, like, I'm wondering also, like, with kids, they run around a lot and get scrapes. Like, does this also affect, like, they don't get... Hurt? A bruise or a scrape? They're dirty. They are scrapless and, like, they're just dirty and...

They have no teeth. Dirty but scrapless. Completely scrapless. Dirty but scrapless. Completely scrapless. Dirty but scrapless. Remove your clothes. Completely smooth. I don't believe you are scrapless. Talk to your kids.

Don't worry, it'll be fine. I'll above board. Remove your clothes. I need to check for scrapes on your knees and elbows. I need to see that you can be scraped. You know what, that was a good question. Mildred, Jim. May we attempt to injure your children to see what happens?

Mildred, Jim. May we attempt to injure your children and see what happens? Mildred, Jim, take off your clothes. Mildred, Jim, these nice people have some questions. They they We're trying to help your mother. Perhaps even find her. Father looks.

They're probably not going to or anything. We talked that the mama probably ain't coming back, and we've all sort of accepted that. But, you know, they might be able to give us some information that would give us peace. So they want to ask you some questions. Asta sits on the ground to get, like, to their level.

They're not even looking. They're just drawing. And she says, I like your drawing It's one of mommy's birds Oh, one of mommy's birds Yeah Did mommy like birds? I think so What is it?

Um, it's not as good as hers But it's a parakeet Wow, I think that is really good Don't we but it's a parakeet. Wow. I think that is really good. Don't we all really like the parakeet? Jim's like, I got a parakeet too. Wow.

Nobody cares, Jim. Shut up, Jim. Jim, it's clear you're not part of the plot. Let your sister speak. Stop wasting our time. You don't know shit, Jim. Did your mommy draw birds, too? Yeah, she'd draw birds. She'd draw birds with us all the time.

She was always drawing birds. Can you show us some of her drawings? Over here in Br you in the living room and you see it's like a bunch of child's drawings and then there's one drawing that's clearly been done by an adult but it's not like a lot nicer

mommy made that one as if I drew it and Jim is like yeah mommy made that one is it another parakeet or these all like different birds it's just like it's Is it another parakeet, or are these all, like, different birds? It's just like a, it's weird. It's almost like, not deformed, but it would be like if I drew a bird. Drawing a bird from memory.

Yeah, drawing a bird from, I don't even think I'd draw, you wouldn't even know if I drew something right now as a bird. It has a head and a wing goes up and around, but, like, nothing special. Wow, what did Mommy call that? A bird. Bird. She drew those a lot. Yeah, well, yeah. She'd have us draw it, and she'd tell us how to do it, and we would try to do it.

And we didn't always do it the way that she wanted. And she would say, no, you've got to go this way. Can I look at the mommy drawing to flip it over, see if there's anything written on it? Nothing on the back, but you do see that all the birds are kind of variations on the same theme. Is it the same

style? Like, are they drawn with the same... Is it the same bird? It might be the same bird. Like, the bird itself is insignificant. It's like there's... The shape is the shape. The shape is the same bird. Like, the bird itself is insignificant. It's like there's... The shape is the shape. The shape is the same shape that just changes ever so slightly. Huh.

You know, I don't think I've ever seen a bird like this, and I live in the woods. You live in the woods? It's dangerous there. It is a little dangerous. You shouldn't go in the woods. But I was born there. You were born in the woods? Mm-hmm. I've never seen a bird like this. That's so interesting. What did mommy say when you drew

them? She told you to draw them. Why? I think she just really liked birds. She would say, no, no, and she'd take one and would scrunch it up. And then she'd say, you've got to try this, try the bird this way, try the bird this way. And sometimes they just weren't right. They weren't, she looks at Jim and he goes, worthy. They weren't always worthy. That's what Mommy said. Did Mommy ever say anything about her being worthy or you being worthy or your dad being worthy. Mommy loved us, right, Dad?

Joel is, yes, Mama loved you very much and Daddy loves you. And I think we're probably ready to take a bath now, right? Unless you guys have anything else. Did your mother ever say who these birds were worthy for? I don't understand. Was she trying to make these

nice birds for someone? I don't think so. She just wanted us to help her make the perfect bird. Okay. That's really nice. Your mommy was really nice.

Is really nice, Jim says. Yeah. She is really nice. She is really nice. She's gonna come home and we'll draw birds forever. And we'll be worthy. That's right.

Sounds like it is bath time. Perhaps we should... You guys want to take a bath with us? No. No. No. Thank you. I don't think we can.

All right. We have to be on our way, but thank you for your hospitality, Gerald. Yeah. And if we find out anything, we will, of course, come and talk to you. All right. Good luck, Mim, and maybe just kind of keep all this between us. Of course.

People in town get nosy. I just want to be left alone to raise my children. I don't want to speak to anyone else in this town. Guaranteed. Sweet dreams, Mildred and Jim. Goodbye. Goodbye. Rest assured, this will be kept in the utmost confidence because we hate everyone else.

Last thing we want to do is speak to anyone else here. You can count on our misanthropic nature to keep your secret. And we'll head out. You'll head out. What time of day is it now? Now it's time for bed. Now it's like probably 9 o'clock, 10 o'clock at night. Let's walk.

Kids stayed up late. Let's walk the path. Walk the path towards the general store and we'll like loop around. We'll go to the forest and come back the way it was drawn. We'll go to the forest. Also, before we... That last path she went into the forest and came back. drawn. We'll be in the forest. At 10pm? I thought you were born in the forest.

I was born in the dark. Not this kind of forest. Is this because you're scared or because you want to go to bed? Are you asking Sydney or are you asking Asta? I'm sleepy. I want to go to bed. No, Asta is down to go into the forest

I do feel we should walk this path I agree I really wanted to ask the children about Canepo But I didn't feel it was right How to phrase it Also, if Canepo Assaulted the

Don't say the name You said it Canepo What are you doing? Drawing him to us Canepo Assaulted the... Don't say the name. You said it. I whispered it. Stop. What are you doing? Drawing him to us. Canepo. Canepo.

You don't understand the forces at play here. Perhaps not. Can you do? Well, no, but... Has Canepo visited you in the night, Aster? He visited all of us, if I remember correctly. Have you been deemed worthy? Sorry. I feel threatened. We're on a trial here. Have you been deemed worthy? Sorry.

I feel threatened. I feel threatened, Talitha. I am on your side. But I simply know the gravity of bringing things to life through through What's the word I'm looking for?

Buggles? Thank you. Words. Using words. Yes, thank you, Buggles. To make things happen. It's not like magic. Yes. No, you're right. Thank you, Buggles.

I have a feeling that... Kineppo. Very funny. Is here regardless. He's here already. Who do you believe, who do we believe is watching? It's not just Kineppo if we are to believe

Gilbert's telling. They. Who could that be? You see, Talitha, the they actually kind of really seems to disturb Talitha. Oh, interesting. Talitha, you seem unusually disturbed.

I'm just creeped out by that creepy man and his creepy children in the creepy diorama. That's two creepy men and creepy children in one day. Is Melchior still with us? Sorry, two days.

Sorry, three creepy men. Melchior stayed back to talk with Abelina. Oh, okay. Now they're having sex. No, he wanted to know more about what she knew of Varna. All right, let's walk this path. Let's walk this path. Before we do, was there anything about the patterns made to form the birds

that reminded me at all of the patterns in the diorama as a matter of fact they do oh they are very very similar um obviously you saw that she was going trying to figure out one way and then realizing that wasn't correct but yeah there's something to the idea of it going into the forest and coming back that reminds you of like a bird's wing. There is definitely a bottle cap worthy connection. Yeah! Awesome. Nice. Thank you.

Um. I was wondering if these were flight paths that she was tracing, but Hmm. Let's go into the forest. Let's walk this path. Yeah. Walk the path into the forest. I stole one of the forest. Let's walk this path. Yeah. Walk the path into the forest. I stole one of the pictures. Of the bird.

Maybe we just asked. No. Not Buggles. Yeah, what a dumb idea. I want to steal. You go into the woods, you know, that's the portion. You have to go in the wing, if that's what that is. And it's dark. It's eerie. You always feel like in the wing, if that's what that is. And it's dark.

It's eerie. You always feel like people are watching you or things are watching you. You hear. You're a lot more aware of bird sounds now. I draw my katana. Birds on the bridge. Sing. Just step aside.

Ha, ha. Eden. The fuck was that? Are we, like, deep in the woods, kind of? Or we like deep in the woods kind of, or can we see town? Or is it like thick, like immediately? About five, ten minutes of walking, you can't really see the lights of town

because there aren't many lights. But eventually you loop back around and come into town. Is there any trace of anyone else going this way before? Yeah. Let's roll survival. Yeah, roll some survival. Also nature on like the birds that she had drawn like maybe when they fly this path

if that's what they're doing yeah you could do a nature on that all you heard was parakeet but there was nothing on any of these birds 20 on nature and birds in the path you don't know anything specific about parakeets

That would give you any Oh, parakeets always go this way At this time of year And even thinking back It didn't even look like a parakeet It was just a nondescript bird Should we follow the path In the drawing, try to recreate it?

Yes, yeah, can I, is there any way That's what we're doing, right? We did one, we did like the wing Also, what time did she do it before? 6, 6.30 What time is it now? 10 Perhaps we rest, sleep on it Do we finish the

Let's finish the circuit and then Finish the circuit and you're back in town Yeah, so we complete the circuit and then finish circuit and you're back in town yeah so we did the circuit all right um yeah real quick survival check i just wanted to see that's a 20 i just wanted to see if the uh sorry it's not a 20 it's an 18 i wanted to see if the the path that we were walking corresponded to a trail, like an actual trail. Because, like, we probably could not walk through uncut woods. Yeah, I mean, when you first walked in, it was uncut woods,

but it wasn't so thick that you couldn't get through. Okay. What did you roll for survival? 18. 18. From time to time, you did see a broken branch that sort of made you think, oh, someone else has walked through here. Passed through, but it's not a trail.

It's not a trail. It's not a trail. Eventually, it comes back on on and you are on the trail that leads right directly back into town. Okay. All right. Okay. Interesting.

So you go back to the inn. Saloon. The saloon. And you see Malkior is in his cups a bit and he's like hey I was going to come and meet up with you while you were talking to that man but I

got to talking to Abelina and the bartender had spoke to Varna as well I didn't really learn too much but it was him they definitely saw him he was here and he left. I think he was here to help. I think he was here to help them with their problem. Maybe it was a

mission from the Oak stewards. Maybe they were sending him as like a rogue agent to help these people because that's what the Oak stewards do. They help people. That's what I think he did. And maybe he just, he got into some trouble on the way back or maybe he got lost. The Druid got lost in the woods. He's in denial over whatever happened to Varno. Varno, we all know Varno disappeared.

Yeah, if anything, also maybe like the Maybelline like seeming to get possessed almost to like. With her obsession. Yeah, with the obsession also maybe like a Maybelline seeming to get possessed almost. With her obsession? Yeah, with the obsession. Yes, I'm sure that's what happened in Melchior. Perhaps we should all go to bed. Yeah, I'm going to have a couple more, and then we get a room?

We getting rooms? We got rooms. We have rooms. Did you get a room? It's get rooms? We got... We got rooms. We have rooms. Did you get a room? It's fine. I can take care of myself. I'll see you in the morning. And you go upstairs.

Good night, Melchior. And you go to bed. You guys keeping watch? Mm-hmm. Yeah. No. I mean... I mean, ordinarily, we probably wouldn't in an inn,

but the fact that we're being... In the last inn, they came to our door. This place is so creepy. And we're being haunted by a slender figure. Also, people here, I don't know if I trust the people here. Yeah, the town is weird. I don't want to get robbed in the night. Yeah.

All right, so you keep watch. We don't have to get into the details of that watch, but someone is always awake watching the door, watching the locked windows. So making sure everything's on the up and up. And you wake up the next morning. And... Buggles, you see something in the middle of the room right when you wake up.

And someone's on watch. We'll say that the person on watch for that early shift was Asta. Asta, you're right there. And you turn and Buggles, maybe you're pointing at Asta. You see it as well and have no idea how that got there. It wasn't there a second ago. Um, all of you see this commotion and turn and see a dead bird

lying in the center of the room and its wings have been like elaborately and purposefully broken. have been like elaborately and purposefully broken. Just like twisted in some weird fashion. Like artistic, maybe. It's horrifying. No blood. It's just like this awful twisted twisted, dead bird on the ground.

I didn't do that. How'd that get in? Are the windows open? I check the windows. Locked. I don't wake nothing. I don't understand. Coming up close to it.

Yeah, let's investigate it. Pull out the drawing. What species of bird is it? Magnifying glass. It looks like a finch. Finch. I'm going to get my magnifying glass out. I'm going to take a look.

Stick forward. I'm pursuing a lead. I'm using a different die. Brother Ramius is going to get out his quill and a piece of paper. He's going to start drawing exactly the bird as it lays before anybody touches it. Natural 19. There you go. There it is. Okay.

touches it natural 19 there you go there it is okay so for perception that would be uh 26 i'm sorry 27 uh 28 if it's related to kineppo or the first world oh amazing you're looking at this and trying to think back to the mother's diorama trying to think back to the mother's diorama, trying to think back to the children's paintings, piecing this all together. Bird's eye view for Arrhenius looking as well, trying to decipher a pattern. And you realize that this bird is a map, sort of overlays with what she was drawing. But, you know, you'd have to go back there to try and perfectly figure out which way is what and what she was trying to decipher that maybe she didn't figure out, because not only is it a map, but it's also a clock pointing to a very specific time. And we'll see you next week. Oh, wow. Oh, a break in the case, I guess I'd say. A lot of breaks.

A broken wing in the case. A broken wing in the case A broken wing in the case A place and a time or just a time A place and a time It's drawing us in Maybe this is what happened to her Yeah this is what happened to everybody But we have to follow that path

We have to I wonder if it was her that left the bird Don't be ridiculous She's operating on another plane. That is stupid. That doesn't make any sense. God damn it. It's time to make your membership official.

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