The Glass Cannon Podcast - Gatewalkers Episode 30 – Hooked On Eugenics

Episode Date: April 12, 2024

Two mysterious pods entice the heroes into dangerous territory. Watch the video here: https://youtu.be/Vj6Olckx9Pg 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 This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. Visit https://betterhelp.com/GCN to get 10% off your first month. Visit https://zbiotics.com/GCP to get 15% off your first order when you use code "GCP" at checkout. EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal ➼ https://nordvpn.com/gcp Try it risk-free now with a 30-day money-back guarantee! 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. Big money boggles. Natural 20. Natural fucking 20. I can see it. I can see it. I can see it.

I can see it. I can see it. I can see it. I can see it. You hit him with this fire and he turns crispy, declings from the wall and falls to the ground. Yeah! Oh my god. Oh my god, the timing. So you go over and you start to look at these pods.

Well, Brother Ramius is looking and he just sees something in the structure of it that's like, whoever's in the north sends something to someone in the south. Talitha is fascinated by this. Talitha will volunteer to go into the south pod. Do you think you could activate it, Brother Ramius? I think so, yes, without a doubt. I think he's going to draw on his faith, his deep faith about the connection that everyone is capable of drawing together

if they simply understand more about each other. You activate this pod. You, Asta, start to feel the hair on your body stiffen. While this is happening, Talitha, you feel a similar warmth enter your body, but as it runs up your body, you feel parts of your body, but as it runs up your body, you feel parts of your body start to change. You now have the ability to change shape.

Oh my god! Holy shit! Let's all go win the orbs! Everybody! Everybody! The adventure continues... now. The adventure continues......now. Hello and welcome back to the Glass Cannon podcast. It's April now. And did you know we're coming to Kansas City and Austin this month? Now, Austin might already be sold out, but I know there's still tickets left in Kansas City. We're coming there. When are we coming there, Joe? Thursday, August? 25th. My handler takes care of that. Thursday, April 25th, we're going to be in Kansas City.

I've never been in Kansas City. Me neither. Excited to have barbecue. Very excited to go for the first barbecue. Yes. But then I'm excited to go to Austin and get even better barbecue. No. Well, it's a different barbecue.

Franklin barbecue is like one of the best barbecue in the country. It's great. We're doing head-to-head barbecue. You can get Franklin barbecue here. It's not the same. It is the same. Is Kansas City known for barbecue best barbecue in the country. It's great. We're doing head to head barbecue. You can get Franklin barbecue here. It's not the same. It is the same. Is Kansas City known for barbecue? It is the same.

Yeah. Is that like a thing? Yeah. I don't know. Everyone's shaking their heads like I'm. It's known for a specific kind of barbecue, like vinegary pulled pork. I used to work at a barbecue restaurant.

They're known for their sauce. I think they're known for their sauce more than their actual barbecue. Every time you reveal a past job. Another facet of my past life. But no, Frank has a photo plane. He has like a school essentially. He trains tons of people. He trained Billy Durney from Hometown Barbecue, shameless plug.

So you can go to Hometown Barbecue, get brisket and beef rib that is the exact same, maybe better than you'll get at Franklin's. Wow. It's in Red Hook. That's true. It is 100% true. That's true. It is 100% true. She said it so confidently that I agree with Kate.

I believe you. You know how many times I had to say this as a customer? You may find it within your moral sort of sphere to lie to customers. I don't think you should say that something is better than Franklin BBQ because that dude is like there. When you go to Franklin BBQ like the guy from the American Express commercials like he's there he talks to you he slices the brisket it is the best thing I've ever had in my life so unless what you're offering is better then I don't know if you should say that. I don't subscribe to Masterclass, but if I did,

I would do it just to watch him give a Masterclass on brisket. Not so that I could try and replicate it, just because I want to watch him make brisket. When those commercials come on that show him making his brisket, I mean, I've never seen this. I have no idea what you're talking about. I don't know what you're talking about. But you're going to love it.

So we're going to Franklin's and he, Franklin? Will be there. Mr. Franklin? Is going to slice my brisket? I will not go because the line is too long. Yeah, it's too long. And you can get it here. You can get an inferior version here.

You can be like, this is really good. This is amazing. And you could be happy with it. I think we should do a cross compare though of at least Kansas City and then Austin. The Austin. It's completely different. We'll take some with us.

You can still do it. Sure. Yes. Live taste test. There you go, on stage. It is a long line, though. Just don't have Joe carry on the plane. There have been instances of that.

Oh, he's dumping it in the seat back. Barbecue sauce all over my phone. Yeah, that's going to be a meaty weekend. It sucks that you have to wait in line forever, and there's a chance you get up there, and it's like, we're out. They're out, yeah. All right, we got a couple pieces of cornbread.

Oh, it's that kind of thing. A whole slaw that fell on the floor. That sounds awesome. It's not even like in Austin proper. I think we have to like take a 40 minute Uber. Oh, Franklin? Yeah. No, Salt Lake is outside

Salt Lake is great as well and there's no line. Yeah. Well if you want no line and not as good barbecue You can go to Salt Lake. Give us recommendations. Yeah, call in! Numbers on your screen. The most important thing you gotta do is buy tickets to the show. Yes. Or we'll never come back to your state. That'll be fun. We're going to be doing that this month. But where it's the beginning of the show, this is where normally when we banter, I was thinking about a banter topic because Huey Lewis was playing earlier, and then Matthew mentioned the color of money. And I was like, ooh, does color money count as a sports movie?

Yeah, it counts as a sports and leisure movie. I don't know this movie, so if the banter's about this, I'm gonna look at my computer. It's all Color of Money related. It's in the way that you use it. That means nothing to you? Do more, maybe it may well come to me. Comes and it goes.

Ah! Oh, this? That, anyways, it's a great movie. And it made me think about, like, what's your favorite sports movie? Now, Kate, I know you're not a movie person, but you've seen movies that feature sports. You have to, Ed.

What's your favorite sport? Sport? Yes. Yeah. It wasn't like sports on the way she said the word sport. Maybe Kate could set this one up. It could be to watch, to play, to be near. This is definitely your top. Come back to me. Maybe Kate could sit this one out. It could be to watch, to play, to be near. Ah!

This is definitely your top. Come back to me. You don't know any sports. Are you Googling sports right now? Who is your favorite sports-related reality star? There we go. There we go. Is either someone who was an athlete

or someone who's married to an athlete. Me and Larsa Pippen was married to Scottie Pippen. That's true. And who did she go out with? Gymnastics, I watched Scottie Pippen. Well, I mean, after Scottie Pippen. So many people. Sorry, Larsa.

Wait, but you did gymnastics. Yeah, I watched gymnastics a lot when I was younger and I really liked Dominique Mochiano. Yep, are there any gymnastics movies? Let's see. Yes, there was a gymnastics comedy that came out fairly recently with Melissa Rauch. I'm not pretty sure what the name of.

Yes, there was some sex. Sebastian Stan. Brawns, it's called. Yes. Brawns. Oh, that was pretty good. Little Giants is fun, though. Little Giants?

Okay, finally. Little Giants? Okay. There's also the... Cool runnings. Cool runnings. Oh, that was pretty good little giants is fun though little giants. Okay, little giants There's also My brain just flashback I'm renting that up from me too Love that movie it's also a classic sports Is that the first time who let the dogs out was like in a film? Why do I like combine those two?

Maybe they're out at the same time. But I remember me and my sisters loved cool runnings. I remember every time, every time it's the winter Olympics and I see some footage of a bobsled, all I can think of is John Candy going, and bobsledding bones don't break, they shatter. Everyone just got a staring at him. So glad to have passed that banter test. All right, carry on.

You pass on, Kate. John Candy has come up a lot in my life lately. I don't know why. He's been on the zeitgeist quite a bit for some reason. Yeah, appearing on my story. Well, I think that story about him at the Super Bowl was kind of circulating again. Yeah, and I saw that one.

Yeah, which is very funny. And then I saw one about when they met him to do the movie Splash. They sat down to eat, and he had 35 small rum and cokes. Oh, right. I was like, yeah, I'll do Splash. I always wondered how John Candy died. Your favorite sports movie or John Candy movie?

John Candy's great. But when you said sports movie, I thought of a recent one. I'm not going too old, but I really enjoyed I, Tanya. That's great. So it just. Biopic. Yeah, biopic, but also just like funny, but dark. And I like those kinds of movies.

Yeah, I don't think they do funny, dark sports movies often. I think they're either like comedies or they're just dramas. They're not really dark comedies. So I liked I, Tonya for that. Any given Sunday's got a little bit of dark comedy in it. Yeah, plenty of them have dark. More dark than comedy. It's very dark.

I haven't seen that many sports movies, I'll admit. Okay, thank you for being honest. You're welcome. Unlike Kate. She came up with Little Giant spontaneously. That's true. I came up with two movies off the top of my head. That's true. That's really impressive.

That's really good. There's more movies I've ever heard you talk about. In any genre. Have you a favorite sports movie? I was trying to go, I'm trying to pick, cause like, is it my favorite baseball movie? Or my favorite, I mean, I have a favorite baseball movie, probably field of dreams. Wow. But then I'll. Wow. Strong objection from. What's the problem?

Two front doors. We watched it. We watched it together. And the whole time I was like, this movie is fucking weird. It's just wild. Yeah. it's weird. Yeah. It's so bizarre. And the fact that you guys are like, oh, you haven't seen this movie? Oh, this movie. It is such a weird, it's weird that it's so popular, I guess. It's just such a bizarro movie to me. It was fun.

The weirdness is what makes it great. I know, Skid doesn't like that. Um, but Lancaster at the end, there's a whole bit on the Oscars of this. We don't need to retread it. John Mulaney nailed it. Yeah, he did. I need to say something about Field of Dreams.

I agree with you in that, like, I went 15 years, 20 years almost, without seeing Field of Dreams, a movie that I had seen 50 times before that. And I definitely, in the re-watch, was like, this is really weird. It's a very weird movie that, at the time, I was like, this is really weird. It's a very weird movie that at the time, I was like, this is totally normal and a very normal movie. You know what I mean?

I don't know, it was just different when I, when it was younger and it was the 90s. While we're watching it, it's like, it's so close to Lovecraftian. Yes. Except everyone just treats it like it's cool. Everybody's just like, oh, he came back from the dead. Like it could easily veer into a complete, like, car.

Like, ah! Yeah! Like, dead, dead baseball players out here. They just happened to pick the only bad farmer in Iowa who would be receptive. His wife is so supportive, too. Like, no one is like, you're crazy. They're just like, he's out there again in the field.

Wow. I can tell you why it's so popular, I believe. It's the themes. The themes and the morals are so excellent. It's all built around a background of baseball, but it's all about taking risks, living life the way you want to live it, not getting too bogged down and stuff that doesn't matter.

You know? And it's just a beautiful message and really well crafted in that way. I interrupted you, Matthew. I was gonna say, they're all dead. Oh. Oh, you're right. It's purgatory or it's? He said, cause at the end he says,

maybe this is heaven, maybe he's right. Maybe he's right. Yeah. They're all dead. The other two I was gonna mention are Bull Durham, which is my other top baseball movie, which is just great. But then also Slapshot. I fucking love Slapshot. The Hanson brothers are one of the greatest creations

in the history of cinema. I have a story about them. You do? One time I thought I was buying an autographed photo of the other Hanson brothers off eBay and I got a signed photo of the hockey men in the mail and I was so sad. Oh, I would have been so excited.

That's amazing. Wow. Holy shit. It'd be funny if Skid got the musical one. Yeah. If you guys would cross. That was the one I wanted. Oh, you say that.

Rocky. Skid was the one. Really? Is it? Oh my god. Well, there's just so many. Or invincible. There's't believe this. Really? Is it? Oh my god. Well, there's just so many. Or invincible. There's just so many. God, Rocky's so good.

I'm going to throw two more out there. One that is a non-traditional sports movie that's probably my favorite non-traditional sports movie is Moneyball. I love Moneyball. We watched that too, as a group. You guys were doing a baseball thing. I joined for Moneyball. Yeah, I feel the dreams of Moneyball. So I love Moneyball. We watched that too, as a group. You guys were doing a baseball thing. I joined for Moneyball. You feel the dreams of Moneyball.

And so I love that one. My favorite traditional sports movie is Hoosiers. Great. I love choice. Popular one. During, right before our eighth grade basketball tournament, we went to our coach's house and ate pasta and watched Hoosiers. Pasta party.

Just carb loaded and then went and lost. But hey, at least you get the pasta. I did get the pasta. It was good. Skid, is yours gonna be obscure, front door? No, I did for a long time. I think it was also Field of Dreams and I still love Field of Dreams. But now, as I get older, I'm a little uncomfortable

with some of the people that are excluded from the game, as they always were. So that made... It drops it down a couple of rankings for me, even though I still love it. I was going to say The Natural. Oh, yeah. Talk about another weird movie.

Another very strange movie, but just some absolutely mythic sort of theming and absolutely fantastic, like huge moments in it. Very emotional. But I think now, the movie that I keep going back to over and over again is the first Creed movie. Oh. Yeah, we were talking about this recently.

Yeah, it is such a fantastic sports movie. Yeah, it's a phenomenal sports movie. I think it's the best boxing movie ever for my money, even better than Rocky. Yeah, I could see that. I agree with that. And there's some moments in it. There's just like, because the pretty Ricky Conlon, like the first fight when he does the pretty Ricky Conlon, they do such a great job of establishing this heavyweight champion

as someone who's like cannot be beaten. Just this character is like hopeless. Like they can't even, you know, stay in the same ring with them. And that first like punch that he gets, where he like opens a cut under Pretty Ricky Collins' eye, it's just like I jump out of my seat like every time and he goes back to his corner, it's like you played just like me.

You played just like me. Coolest fucking moment in history. I love that fucking movie. So good. All very good answers. Sadly, the correct answer was The Karate Kid. Okay. Karate Kid. Good sports movie.

We'll be back after. Okay. This show is sponsored by BetterHelp. Here's an interesting idea. The concept of a social battery. And to think about where my social battery is right now, I would say it's hovering somewhere around low power mode, maybe a little above, maybe a little above,

but between work stuff and toddlers and just the kind of pressures of being alive in this country, in this world, in this planet today. Yeah, it's draining. And I'm a little less social than I used to be. Not that I was a particular social butterfly, but you know what I mean. It can be easy to ignore our social battery and spread ourselves thin, especially when social gatherings start to pick up after the winter and the spring starts. And I guess the real question is what's the right amount of socializing for you and how do you recharge? And maybe you're someone who thrives around people, I need a little recharge time

myself, but you know, yeah. And therapy can give you the self-awareness to build a social life that doesn't drain your battery completely. Now, as I often say, I think my position is clear. Healthy brains and doing whatever you can to help your brain health, those are good things. And therapy can be helpful in learning positive coping skills and how to set boundaries and how to empower you to be the best version of yourself. It isn't just for those who experience major trauma, though obviously it can be of service to those as well. And if you're thinking of starting therapy, maybe 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 you can switch therapists at any time for no additional charge. Find your social sweet spot with BetterHelp. What's going on? It's your old buddy Troy Lavallee. Listen, you know by now that your old pal Troy loves a cocktail now and then. Maybe a few beers. I'm also 45 and the CEO of a major entertainment company.

And here's the thing, I don't bounce back like I used to anymore. I go out for a couple drinks. The bounce back, it's not as swift as it used to be back in my college days. So, I got to make a choice. I can either go out and have a great night or I can have a great next day. But now I don't have to make that choice thanks to Zebiotics. Zebiotics pre-alcohol probiotic drink is the world's first genetically engineered probiotic.

It was invented by PhD scientists to tackle rough mornings after drinking. Here's how it works. When you drink, alcohol gets converted into a toxic byproduct in the gut. It's this byproduct, not dehydration, that's to blame for your rough next day. Z-Biotics produces an enzyme to break this byproduct down.

So just remember to make Z-Biotics your first drink of the night, drink responsibly, and you'll feel your best tomorrow. We did a show in New York a month ago, and I was planning on spending the night because I knew I was gonna have a couple drinks. I didn't want to drive home afterwards.

And sure enough, we finished the show and then went to a couple of bars on the Upper West Side, couple of our old haunts, and I just knew like one drink was gonna turn into a couple, so before I even left to go to the show, I popped a Zbiotic. I woke up the next morning feeling at the top of my game, hopped in the car, drove home feeling like a million bucks. Go to zbiotics.com slash GCP to get 15% off your first order

when you use GCP at checkout. ZBiotics is backed with 100% money back guarantee. So if you're unsatisfied for any reason, they'll refund your money, no questions asked. Remember to head to zbiotics.com slash GCP and use the code GCP at checkout for 15% off. Thank you ZBiotics for sponsoring this episode and our good times.

And we're back. Normally I just kind of pause and then we jump right back in, but that banter continued. We're at least another five minutes. Francis Brody are chiming in. Everybody, CJ. We're all arguing about sports movies. What qualifies as a sports movie? We're all arguing about sports movies. What qualifies as a sports movie? But I want to give a shout out to our sponsors,

our amazing sponsors keeping the lights on here for us. We have Foundry VTT, of course, Norse Foundry for all your random number generating Johns, and our good friends at Demiplane. You guys got the new remastered sheets. You're going to need them tonight. Ooh. Wait. Listen. I thought going to need them tonight. Ooh. What?

Wait. Listen. I thought we wouldn't do a lot of combat this time. I thought this was all roleplay. I signed up for a roleplay. There's pods. There's pods. And you may need to add some stuff to your sheet.

Let's take it back even further. Last week, you came into a room with a guy clinging to the ceiling. Yes. He had these goggles on that made his eyes look like eye stalks, like alien googly eye stalks. And he started raining down fire, although you immediately made him silent and useless for the entire combat.

That could have gone- The nation made him silent. The nation made him silent. That could have gone sideways, especially considering that he was silent for four rounds and you couldn't do significant damage to him. Got really close. And then he got haste quickened at the end of it. That would have absolutely had a great chance of wiping us out or at least taking a few of us down.

The high ceiling was the really difficult part, because he was like 40 feet away at least. And I don't have a lot of stuff that hits that. I was thinking about it on the way here. We're really lucky to have Zephyr. Just having, I mean, I know she's, Kate has been having a terrible run of luck with the dice, but once that stops, it will. Except for that nat 20 at the end.

Except for that nat 20. Then, I mean, it's a huge asset to have someone who can really do significant reliable range damage in your party. We have so many parties that don't have that. And that's just... Yeah, I mean, to me, this encounter and this particular enemy pointed out that weakness.

It's like, if someone's out of immediate melee reach, we're going to struggle. Yeah, it's just nature of it. Or unless Kate Rosewell. Yeah. Yeah. Sorry. No pressure. No, unless Kate Roswell. Yeah, yeah. No pressure. No pressure. But anytime you're relying on only one member of the party.

And Puggles. Why would you do it? Yes, but it's like your thing two rounds on, two rounds off, or whatever it is, can be very like jarring at times for that amp to suddenly drop out. This guy had resistances. Don't you have a crossbow?

Yeah, I can't do significant damage. Oh, okay. I'm doing 2d6 with a, only if I devise a stratagem. So yeah, it's not like we have nothing, we have something. And as I level up, as Buggles levels up, I'll be able to do more sort of extreme bursts of damage while my aura is active and then ease back a little bit,

but that'll help. I mentioned it too, with Asta, with the range stuff, there are plenty of spells that I could prepare that have better ranged effects, but with the mages, you need to not pick spells if you want to use your spell strike that have saving throws. You can't choose those spells. You need to do attack roll spells.

So it's like, I only pick certain spells assuming that I'll be in melee. So like I could do range stuff, but then it's like, I only pick certain spells assuming that I'll be in melee. So like I could do range stuff, but then it's like my class, I'm not even using my class at that point. And you have a lot of slots right now, so. I don't have a lot of slots. I'm very low on slots. Loose slots in town.

Loose slots in town. Loose slots in town. That's what they call me in high school. I'll tell you, without silence, that's a whole different combat. I had some sweet spells, I I'll tell you, without silence, that's a whole different combat. I had some sweet spells. I didn't get to do shit.

But that's the way the dice crumble. Yeah. Won't hear me complaining. Except you are. You found a couple testicles and started getting wild. Balls. We hopped into the testicles? Hopped into the testes.

I mean, I think it was this googly-eyed guy who said, welcome to the reproduction lab, right? Yeah. Yeah. And it's very reproductive in its organ-like state here. You've got these. How come we said testicles? What?

They could be ovaries. There was a penis in the middle. Oh, I forgot about that. Ah! All right. Ignore. There was a tree penis in the middle. I mean, they could be ovaries.

I do see the tree penis, but it really depends on your vantage point. But either way, you quickly discover that there is something going on here where you can step into one pod and it looks like you're almost replicating parts of someone in the other pod, but you're not quite sure how it works. It's like the fly. It is very much like the fly. Like Seth Brundle. It's very much like the fly.

And the thing is, you just jump in and say, let's try it out. Asta and Talitha jump in, leaving Joe to be the one rolling to see what happens. That was the craziest part. It was the craziest part. You got Talitha in the south pod, Asta in the north. I think you determined that the flow seems to go from North to South.

So Joe rolls his check. A lot of stuff happens behind the screen. And we see Talitha begin to change, begin to almost look animalistic. And then we went off the air. And then we discussed for a little bit after the show. What the hell just happened? What the hell just happened? And we consulted several books. Consulted several books. So I'll lift the veil a little bit here. What what the author sort of intended was to have an ancestry trait or some

other trait be transferred to the person. I just thought it'd be kind of boring to have another kitsune type character in here. So what I wanted to extract from Asta in this instance based on a couple of rules, both yours and stuff that's happening behind the screen, I wanted to extract that ability to change shape and have you be able to change into another form. So for you with your Dark Fields kitsune, rather than being able to go kitsune human, you can do kitsune fox. And that is something that emulates the pest form

spell, which is a remastered spell, I believe. No. Well, there is a legacy version, and there's a remastered version. Oh, really? Well, they changed it? OK. So pest form allows you to turn into a first level little creature.

And so Matthew has had some time to decide what type of creature, because everyone have two foxes. You would like to But you also wanted to make sure it was just one creature that he could change into. Right. Yeah, not like that's not as choose your Not like a druid spell. Each time. Yeah, it doesn't heighten.

It's a, yeah. Right. That kitsune change shape ability is very specifically put into you, and you now have this ability to change into something. But at the same time, I like to think something is permanently changing your visage. Because the way you described your human before you realized we don't have a human is that you looked fox-like.

Yeah. And I like that. So what do we see as Talitha steps out of the testicle? Shhh! Ha ha ha! Somehow I didn't see it coming, but just shocking. Shocking.

So we said a little, I think we said something about fur. We retconned that. Yeah, so Talitha steps out of the south testicle. And remember she has two, she's multicolored eyes, she has a head of chromia. And one was emerald green

and the other was a pale gray. Asta now knows this is because of her hag ancestry and that her mother was clearly a green hag, which gave her that vibrant green, emerald green eye. And that eye has remained. However, the gray eye has gone amber. And her pupil has changed from a small circle to a vertical line.

A goat. A goat? And the eye seems to glow a little bit. Oh, it's a cat. A cat. Okay. A goat. Nice.

Yes, and so I think she steps out and she's feeling wobbly and then she's like, wait a minute. And then she just kind of closes her eyes and then her body starts to rearrange, just like the bones shrink and recontort. They're like that back leg pops out. Ah!

Werewolf style? That's always the worst part. And then she just shrinks down into a gray cat. Wow. Oh. Asta steps out of the North testicle. And eats the cat. And turns in, and.

Ah! No. Yeah, keep your cats inside. In the summer months. The fox loose. And she turns into a fox. And she walks up, pats up slowly. Until it gets screeches and runs away.

Oh. Ah! They like, Sephirim, but Brother Amias are like, Pat pats up slowly until he gets screeches and runs away Like separate brother amy us are like Oster do you run no, I was okay. Okay, Oster comes up and just sniffs you like smells you in her Fox form and sits Then sits kind of looking at you in your cat form What does the fox say? Bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop b you in your cat form and sits opposite you, and then walks over to Brother Ramius and then sits next to Brother Ramius. And I walk over to Buggles. Does your cat have a green eye?

One, like one, I think so, yeah, one green human eye and the other amber cat eye. Wow, wow. And I rub against Buggles like between his legs, like a cat would with my little fox tail. And I walk over to Zephyr. Oh, hey. She pets you, but she's like, does this make sense? And then I change shape back into Asa

while you're petting me. And she's like, oh. As a test balloon, Talitha drods past Buggles. Hello, kitty. He likes, hello, kitty. What have you done with Talitha, kitty? And she leaps up on your shoulder. Oh!

Ah! Oh, he's a little surprised, and he's like, I think she likes me. And then I leap down and I land on land very gracefully and then become Talitha. Oh, now you're Talitha again. Osta says, fascinating. Yes, isn't it? I can't believe it.

And she holds you and turns you and like looks at your eye. I don't have the ability to change into a cat though. Huh. Perhaps it's, perhaps it's something within me or, huh. What do you make of it, Brother Ramious? Brother Ramious, your eyes are watery

and you can't stop sneezing. Oh no. Oh no. You're allergic to it. You're making him like Joe O'Brien! You'll make him some sort of loser! Um...I don't know what to make of it. It's...it seemed to work, I guess, I suppose.

It seemed to have done something, whether or not it was the intended result. It has transferred some ability, native, inherent to you, to you, to Letha. How do you feel? Do you feel sick or bad? No, I feel much the same. We should do it again. Are you able to control it?

Can you do it again? Can you do it again? You want me to get back in there? No, I mean, become a cat again. That's a good question. No, the answer is no. no no once per day. Well. I don't know I mean it's it's pest form So I don't know how you want to do it looks like once once per day We wanted to act the same way in shape right yeah, it's changed shape Change shape is you can stay in it and definitely come out of it whenever you want

I think that's the kitsune thing is like, I can do whatever I want with it. I can flip flop, I can stay in it for a very long period of time. It says indefinitely. Yeah. I don't know if you want to give- One action in, one action out. Yeah. I don't know if you want to give that-

It may manifest a little differently until Lisa- Yeah. It would be 10 minutes is the max amount of time you can stay in that form in terms of how many times per day we'll think about it. Okay. I'm going to the Ancestry Guide, Lost Domeman's Ancestry Guide, available now at paizo.com. I don't know why I said that. That's very weird.

I just went to Ancestry.com. Ancestry.com. Oops. Apparently I'm a quarter Hungarian. This is clearly what he was doing, right? Some sort of experiments to transfer whatever he was looking for into... I keep forgetting, whatever they were looking for into themselves or into others. Perhaps. Perhaps it's what we thought. The worthiness. Perhaps he's looking for the right traits,

the most powerful traits. We thought he was, we thought they were looking for a successor. Right. A replacement. Are you okay? What's wrong with your eyes? I feel ill. Are your eyes watering?

My eyes are very itchy. Here, let me take a look. She's got little bits of cat fur all over her hands. He already seems like pained a lot when he talks and has like shortness of breath and like it struggles to just walk around. Yeah, I mean, he's a smoker and he's got a bad heart and he's got issues already. Add cat allergies on top of it. Imagine what it looks like.

No, but he's... The paintings... What he said to the boy, everything seemed to think he was looking for a successor. Not to draw something from someone or someones. Perhaps, but... To what? In the room, he was looking inside people, inside elves. He was looking for something.

He wants to acquire a kind of something, something endemic to an elf. The time. To bring it into his person, so that way he might invade elven spaces. How does that relate to his expiring? I think that maybe he's trying to create How does that relate to his expiring? Maybe he's trying to create his perfect next form. Okay.

So perhaps the successor is Kinepo, but changed. It's still Kinepo, but it moves. Or it became something else. Perhaps someone, your operation of the device was quite impressive, but someone with more experience with it might be able to transfer more than just single impressive element. And the good news is, I didn't lose my ability. So it doesn't seem like it takes, it just gives.

I don't know that it does it at all. Have we seen any evidence of this working? Yes, we just did it. I mean beyond this. Have we seen any evidence of it working before the Keeper interceded? It could be that it is his divine influence that made this happen. Oh, you think your God did it? I believe perhaps it is possible.

My question is, have we seen any evidence of this sort of ancestral transference in any subjects that have been discussed? Anyone we've seen here? K'nip, the origins of K'nipo, they were born, fully formed. of K'Nippo, if they were born, full they formed. Born, I say, but perhaps this machine is the, the origin of K'Nippo themself. Perhaps someone should do a religion check if they think it's religious.

It's a very strange thing to say. Or like, Osta smiles at Brother Ramius. Or like trying to think back to everything that we fought. Does it seem like it ever created? Does it seem like, if we think back to the centaur, or the bug. The striped lady. Or the shea.

As you said, with the shea. The spider guy. The spider guy. There was more going on than we were... It was more than met the eye. And he had spider climb, which maybe... Does it seem that any of them exhibited like multi ancestral traits for lack of a better term?

Nothing jumps out at you in your memory of any sort of knowledge you rolled on them that that was the case. Okay. But you can't rule it out either. Perhaps, and this is scientific, Talitha, I think you would agree, we should do it again to see the outcome and determine

if it's possible to do it more than once. What do you think, just round robin? Yeah, I think we all hop in, hop out. Brother Aimee is getting the South Testament. Maybe pressing our luck, hop out. Brother Remy's getting the South Tuscany. Maybe pressing our luck. But okay. Yes. Start showing more.

I guess I'll get in there. He is thinking like, there's a lot about him that is weak. And he sees great strength in somebody like a Zephyr, right? Like a great physical strength. He's like, is that something that could happen? He's just wondering selfishly in his own mind. And he will explain very briefly like what he did. It was mostly prey, which is why he felt that perhaps this was a divine intercession on the Keeper's part to unite people not only in mind and experience but in body as well. He will move to the south.

John. Wow. Zephyr, would you like to try it? Um, sure. I mean, Asta seems no worse for the wear. It It didn't hurt. You want some elf traits, maybe? You want some of this? You sure you can handle this? You want a piece of me? Perhaps, it is, I think, a beautiful thing to understand better what it is you've experienced, if I am able and this curse it has pained me ever since Riddle son brought us here that you had to bear

that alone if this is some outcome of this, I would be honored. Okay. She's like really nervous. But we'll go into the North test. Go... Just a quick metagame question. Is there a chance that somebody could just give me like plus four to strength from this? It sounds like it has to do with ancestry. I know.

It's just joking around. But he doesn't know that yet, right? me like plus four to strength from this. Sounds like it has to do with ancestry. I know, I was just joking around. But he doesn't know that yet, right? Yeah, yeah. You know that it's a volatile machine. Right, he's thinking like, what if Zephyr's strength of not only mind and body, not only mind but body, could infuse him a little bit. That would be amazing.

And if it came with elfish traits or whatever, like fine. But what if it backfires and then I get your, like, smoker's cough? Yeah. It's like your addiction to flammable smokes. Now, if you're gonna be stepping in the pod to presumably receive something from Zephyr, who will be the third person operating the machine?

What did you roll last time? Nature. Nature. Hmm. Well? You could do a cultism or a nature. Oh, then I would time? Nature. Nature. Hmm, well. You could do a cultism or a nature. Oh, then I would do a cult. I can do a cultism. Okay.

And I would like to roll a quick nature to aid, and as I was explaining what I did to Talitha, to attempt to increase the odds that it succeeds again. So just a quick nature. Oof. tweener. How you feeling today? tweener. feeling generous?

I normally said DC but you know 19? 19. I'm gonna give it to you I'm saying in my head is 19 because you've already done it. Yeah. Normally it'd be 20 but I'll give you the plus one for the 19. I think I understand. I think I can work this out. Everyone ready?

You've closed the doors to your testicles. Secure the doors. He removed his backpack and everything and left it outside, just in there in his robe. Yes, and he nods. All right. Buggles is very good. He says, I don't think we should be doing this. Buckles, we could use every advantage.

Also, I wanna, I'll talk a little bit about why Talitha jumped so quickly into this later after we see how this goes. Do it, do it, do it! All right, hold on to your butts. Natural 20. Oh my god! Talitha!

So scared. Dude! Oh. Dude! Oh, how spectacular. Dude! Oh. Dude! Oh, oh. A spectacular! Natural 12. Brother Amias is now also a monk. It's good.

No. Oh my god. That is amazing. Really dope, really cool. I was literally thinking like, what happens if we get a nat 20? I think it's flurry of blows. I think he gets flurry of blows.

No strength. Just cognitive stress. With a minus one strength. It's just like all day, like, whack, whack, whack, whack. That'll be one point of death. Nefra, talk to me about some of your traits, your ancestry traits, I mean, your creature type traits would really just be health traits.

Yeah, so I'm a half-elf. I have natural ambition as my ancestry feat. What that do? What that, oh, I just, I get to choose, what is that, I gain a first level class feat for my class instead of using, yeah. Sorry, what are the actual traits of, do you have like this, like-

The keywords, the little- Oh, so the traits- The little keywords, humanoid, elf. Yeah, I mean, well, my ancestry is human, but my heritage is half elf. Your versatile heritage, right? Yeah. I guess, trying to look, yeah, I mean, human,

my class fee is monk. Half elf doesn't have anything specific? No, it just says either one of your parents was an elf. Yeah, it's just part of my heritage. It doesn't have any traits in itself. Yeah, I bet that it does. I just, I don't know how to see it, right? Like.

All right, here's what I'm thinking. I'm thinking you start to, like, everything goes dim for a minute for you. Like you kind of lose sight for a moment and then slowly your vision comes back. And as it comes back, you feel like you see differently. And you now have low light vision. Whoa, amazing! That's pretty good. You're just a human, you had nothing before.

Right, I didn't have anything. Wow. You have the elven low light vision. Oh, that's so cool. So be helpful when we fight more creatures that I guess will just disappear and go into dark corners. Yeah, and I wouldn't have to suffer concealment if somebody's in low light like I was before. Oh wow, that's pretty good. That's bad. And everything's fine with Zephyr.

Everything's fine with Zephyr. Yeah, you don't feel just like us, you don't feel like something was taken from you, but borrowed. He'll step out. He's trying to see if, yeah, he's looking around and just, is this, is this what you see all the time? Talitha is sniffing you. Oh, sorry. I've only ever saw one way, so. My eyes, they, they could not see so well in the dark

in this place, and now it's like light. Oh, right, I can see more in darkness than you can. Yes. Maybe that's what happened. Yes. Or perhaps you are no longer allergic to cats. Let's test it. So we have to turn this into a cat.

Please don't. Chumps into his mouth. We have to test this empirically. I see no downsides to this. This is amazing. Boggles? Boggles, it is truly a gift. It is a blessing.

This is a volatile machine though. I mean, I feel like we've been lucky with operating this. I don't think we been lucky with operating this. I would say, I don't think we should press our luck anymore. If you want to go in, but I don't think we should pressure. No, certainly not.

Only if it's something you desire to do, but the keeper is blessing us. I don't want to go in. You see it. Oh, Jesus, what he is. No, I don't want to. Please don't make me. I'm sorry.

We would not make you, but of course not. Zephyr, would you care to try? It is incredible. To try to receive something? Yes. And she kind of looks at everyone like, what, what do you guys have? Do you want to turn into a cat? I can see in the dark.

You can see in the dark. That would be cool. Should we try our luck a third time? It's up to you. What do you think Zephyr, you know, would do? Does she feel like she's she all she got, she all she needs? I mean, not really. I mean, obviously, like going through like this area has been rough for her. She doesn't want to like push her luck here. But yeah, I feel like the dark vision thing is the thing that affects me the most, not having that. Turning into an animal would be cool.

So Lethe can see in the dark normally? You have dark vision? Mm-hmm. Oh, I didn't know that. Oh, in my other eye. Oh. Special eye. Wow, one eye dark vision.

Man, I would also love that. Have it growing up. This guy's got, this one's got a little light, this one's got dark vision. All right, I'll step us into. Have it brewing up. This guy's got, this one's got a little light, this one's got dark. All right, Asta butts into as Zephyr's talking. We are bringing up an interesting ethical debate. Eugenics. Yes.

I don't know that we wanna go down this road. I don't think we should, but we are all agreeing to it. And it is hard to make, really hard to make, I was gonna say for the good of, and I had to stop, you know? So, hmm. You're finding strength in each other. You're finding common ground.

I think I would really like to see in the dark. Yeah, same. I have had a very. I'm just nervous about this. Difficult time. Contraption... not working. I... have no fear. Well then try it, Asa. I've worked it once before.

I think I could do it again. Oh wait, but I want darkvision. So Talitha goes in the north. I'm going to work the machine. Oh, oh, oh. Asa goes in the south. I'm hopping into the north machine. Oh, oh, oh. Asta goes in the south. I'm hopping into the north testicle. Says Asta makes her way to the south testicle.

And a 21 for aid. All right, so plus one and... So you're trying to possibly transfer something from Talitha to Asta. Yeah, and Asta lays her katana outside the pod and then gets in and kneels down. I truly hope this does not take my... We're really like playing god here.

My new cat ability. We're like assuming that like. Oh, we won't know. We're assuming that we know what's gonna transfer to right now, like in character, which is hilarious. Yeah, so. I don't wanna lose my cat form.

What if you went like double kitsune? Is that too much kitsune? You can never go too, yeah, too much kitsune. If that happens, we could try again. If you lose the kitsune, we could try again. If you lose the Kitsune, we could try again and I could try to give it back. Wow, you're no hesitation of doing this over and over again.

Asta has zero problems. Well, let's see what happens on a fail and we'll go from there. Well, Asta says, what do we have to lose? Man. I'm... Yeah, great question. Our lives.

Everything. Literally everything. Literally everything. We are in the thin lands going to fight an unknowable monster. What do we have to lose? We have everything to gain. I guess we'll find out. I guess we will. We could also die in the monster group. Put their katana down and go sin. Invade our land.

And Niels. I can't hear you. I'm in the monster group. Put their katana down and goes in. Invade our land and without stop. I can't hear you, I'm in the testicle. I'm waiting for you to be in the testicle. I guess I'll join you in the testicle. It's very warm in here. Brother Aeneas will begin. It's sweaty. The ritual.

Another prayer. This time thanking the Keeper for his blessings and asking further, I don't mean to get too greedy, but could you perhaps lend Asta this gift of vision that you have lent me? It is incredible to see this way. And he'll try to do it, you know, trying to do something specific, which is very, a whole different ballgame. Here we go.

I can't look. Don't look, it's a bad thing. Okay. 21. That's the same one that was a success the time before. With the aid, that was 21? That was a 21 with the aid. Okay.

Okay. Your mind starts getting flooded with memories that aren't your own. Oh, yes! Pull back the curtain on this thief! I am! What is something you think she sees that maybe is something you wouldn't have readily shared? Oh. Whoa. Even with the one person you entrusted that knowledge with. You just like killing children. Like, you're discriminately. It's like. It's like. It's like. It's like. Do you just like killing children?

Like, you're discriminately... It's like, it's like, wrapping them up. Line up! Okay, you see Talitha sleeping in her bedroom as a child, and she's like nine or ten years old, and it's this tiny little chamber. Almost seems like, like tiny little window seems like, it seems like servants quarters, but also maybe a little bit prison-like. But you get, and there are just books piled

and stacks around the room. But you get the senses it's in a very, very, very, very large house. And she's just sitting there alone, like, weeding by candlelight. Is it cold in the room? Not necessarily so. Okay.

Okay. I hope you're okay. I'm scared. You have horrible vision. I'm so scared. I was ready for Austin to be like, ah! I can see why she never shared that with me.

Yeah, I can't. Some things just stay secret, you know? Is that all I feel, I can't stay secret Is that all I feel I get this vision this flash get this vision this flash and you step out and You don't really feel any different, but everyone looks at her and you notice that she has two different color eyes Oh, just like Talitha. Whoa, And you gain the changeling trait. Oh wow. Which will open up access to changeling feats. Like you get the versatile heritage basically, changeling, which kind of opens up other possibilities should you choose to go down that path. So I'm thinking that's the meta of what's going on. What's really happening is that like a piece

What's the meta of what's going on? What's really happening is that like a piece of Talitha's being has become a part of you. Whoa, okay. Her past is like now maybe we toy around with more of Talitha's memories come flooding into you as time comes on. Whoa, okay. Asta steps out very slowly and a little like shakily, like waking up from a dream and like immediately going to walk.

And she turns toward Talitha. And now we almost have like matching eyes. Like one is more cat-like, you know, like, and then the other is green. So weird. And Talitha, seeing this, realizes what she's done. She's like, oh no, I've given it to you. And then Asta also like raises her hand

the same way Talitha is, like literally mirrors. Don't do that. Sorry. Gave her what? I feel. You're cursed, like I am. No, no, it doesn't feel like that. No, you are. This is very...

We've been meddling in dangerous territory. Tilly, the interesting thing about your curse... No, no, I've given it to you! This is amazing. She blinks her now one green eye. Given what? You'll feel the call. Feel the call. You'll feel the call.

What call? She's looking around, she's never shared this with any of you, but she's freaking out that she realized she just passed, not just the ability, but something deeply endemic to her, the changeling aspect of herself. And Asta knows about this past, but she doesn't fully understand. They'll come for you. They'll come for you They're gonna come for me and you won't be able to resist it will come and you won't even expect it And you'll be doing things you don't even want to do. Whoever's coming will stop them I've read about this. I've read We have to stop this this is wrong. We've made a terrible mistake. Talitha starts smashing the machine.

I think perhaps Talitha is right. I don't know what exactly you mean, but something more was transferred. I don't think we're transferring physical traits. Talitha, I feel- We are one of them. And they always claim their own. Talitha, I feel... We are one of them. And they always claim their own. Talitha, I'm sorry.

You are speaking in riddles. Hags, Brother Amius! I really got in the zone there, man. I'm a hag! Don't be so hard on yourself. You're a beautiful woman. No, thank you. That's very kind.

I mean the ancestry, the hag. Ah, should have seen it. Oh. Your eyes. You were born of a hag. I thought stepping into the machine would take this away from me. Not spread it to others. So now you are a hag?

Changeling, we're a move. Changeling. My father was human. Changeling. Why are you so afraid? Hags are evil, deeply evil creatures. But you're not evil. I have not yet felt the call in earnest, but when it comes I will not be able to resist it.

Have you ever felt the call? A call? Are you so sure? Andi, when we were within, we were fighting with Bolan. I murdered him in cold blood and I... Yes, I wanted to... Deeply, I wanted to discuss with you what happened there, but I felt it was not appropriate to broach such a private subject. Not have control over myself and executed a man. And without trial, without consideration for this process, it will come for us. Bolan killed your friend. Yeah, I'm not sure. Maybe it was other things and not this call you're talking about that made you do that. We do things that we regret, but it doesn't make us bad.

I'm warning you. I've read about this. I will show you. It's... Talitha and... They come for their own. Asta takes your hands. When you gave me whatever this is, you also gave me an inner piece of you. I saw through your eyes, I saw memories.

What? I feel as though- What kind of memory? Why are you upset? I do not know. I'd be sharing that with you. I have a little life that's complicated because of my ancestry, because of who I am, who I was born to. Do you want me to say the memory out loud in front of everyone? Please don't. No, please don't.

Okay. She's like weirdly. Yeah, she takes her hands away. Weirdly skittish about this. I just meant, I can feel a piece of you and it doesn't feel evil. I don't feel evil now, but when they are ready for us, they will come. I don't feel evil now

That's when they are ready for us they will come And we will be ready for them I Could see in the dark now, too Yes, that is a nice pose This just one eye which makes the other eye weird Wait, did you just give yourself darkvision? Oh no, I thought I did. Do changelings have darkvision?

Do changelings have darkvision? Uh, depends, it depends. Oh, I'll have to figure this out. The whole thing, yeah, probably not, but. Okay. You feel different. I could fly now. I can fly.

I'm so funny. I have a million hit points. I'll refer you to the book, it'll teach you. Okay, don't, I'm doing it, I'm going to the player's guide. Don't mind me, I'm gonna be quiet for the next 30 minutes. I feel selfishly glad not to be alone in this, but I feel horrendously guilty

for what I've done to you, Austin. Please, I apologize. Don't feel guilty. I asked for it. I feel different. It's not always bad. Talitha, you did not choose to do this. I chose to step into the machine.

But no part of this had anything to do with you. You are dealing with powers far higher than you could understand, or nor I. Someone, something, wished to share this with Asta. There's something beautiful to it, I think. You have not had to grow up with knowledge and the fear that you will one day turn on those you love. No, certainly not, and I could not understand it. You have not had to grow up with knowledge and the fear that you will one day turn on those you love. No, certainly not, and I could not understand it.

But we can try. We can make small steps. But this, and he's looking at the contraption, no one has ever seen anything like this. What a gift to learn about someone else in a way you never could before. I suppose that's true. Also, your evilness that you see inside yourself, I do not see it. We do not see it.

Has not come for me yet, Brother Aemmys, but you should know all this. You know about Hag. There is evil coming for all of us. We will fight it, Of course we will. But you are not evil because of it. Yeah, Buggles has like a whole guy in him. Buggles has the devil inside of him,

like the most powerful devil. He's got a whole other guy. Don't talk about him. Oh, sorry. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Sorry. We don't talk about the other guy. Actually, I'm sorry. No, but truly we all struggle with our own ways, but Asta said it best. Sorry, we don't talk about the other guy

No, but truly we all struggle with our own ways but Asta said it best What did you say? I said a lot you said you said a lot You said we do things Things happen it does not make you bad forever. Mm-hmm. She said it much more eloquently. I'm sorry. We've all killed. We've all hurt. We've hurt people. Well, may we continue to do so only in the name of good and justice? Yes. And it is one of the main reasons that I wanted to be a part of this.

Even though, as you can tell, I'm very sorry, but I don't offer much. I wanted to be a part of it because things need to be set right. We need to find out what happened to us. And if it's connected to this, Kinepo, and if it's connected to the kidnapping of people, horrible experiments and torture, then we must stop it. That's certainly not something an evil person would do, is it? You all right? No.

Do we need to rest? I am down hit points. Oh, am I? I'm only down a few. I'm okay, I don't need to rest necessarily. I have 22 out of 30. Nah, keep me yourself, alright. Almost half down.

Oh, it's a small cut. I can patch that up easily. No chance of failure. Okay. So we just have to grit our teeth. Critical success. Oh, wow. I mean, I do have to roll it, but whatever. How many hit points?

She's down eight. I'd have uh, I'd have to roll what? Less than anything more than four twos on four D8. Yeah, you already got it with the first two. Eleven on the first two. Um, so, uh, treat wounds and I'm not going to bring it up if nobody else brings it up. Like doing more. Brother Ramious is not nobody else brings it up. Like, doing more. Brother Ramious is not gonna mention it again.

Is anybody else trying to jump in there? I think Talitha would be very against it. Yeah. Yeah, I feel like we have two people now who are like not into it in the group. I feel like Asta has slightly shifted her opinion about it too after her experience. Oh.

Okay. Yeah. Because oh, are you now like, oh shit, I'm a filthy changeling. No, no, no. She doesn't feel offended by this. It's more so like with the memory thing, she feels like, like, no, like connected with Talitha in a more extreme sense. And she wonders how far that goes.

Like if Talitha gets hurt, like twins, you know, I'm like, do I feel Talitha's pain? So she's just thinking about these things, like do you lose a piece of your soul when you're painted in a portrait? You know, like that kind of thing. Yeah. Or if you're a twin. Or if you're a twin, do you have less of a soul?

Yeah, yeah. Share a soul. They share one. Yep. Have to divvy up one. It's in the Bible. Individually, they're monstrous. I think that's what Sydney's saying. Twins out there get it. Yeah. Okay.

All of a sudden, Buggles' eyes flash blue, and he starts forcefully shoving people out of his way to get to the machine. And he's barking stuff in his language. And he's like, he points at stuff. So, oh Jesus, it's just like, so it's like, you, into the device. So it's like, we will take the strength

of these lesser creatures. You will not stop us. And he is moving with purpose towards the southern globe. And at the last minute, this sort of bugles, like forces his body like out of the way and it smashes into the side of the portal and crunches, so it's like, ah, it falls down. And he's like pushing himself on his back

with his feet away from the machine. He's just like, no, no, no. And he just sort of like gets like 15 feet away from the machine. He's just like, no, no, no. And he just sort of gets 15 feet away and he rolls over on his side and he's covering himself with his cloak. Oh, I run over. I run over to Buggles. Are you okay?

Buggles? Yes. Yes, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Sometimes he wants things and he says they are for the good, but I do not know. I fear it, I'm sorry. I am sorry.

Please leave me be for a moment. And he's just sort of like wrapping himself in his cloak with his back away from the group. Asta walks back to the group. Perhaps we should at least rest for a moment. All right, we'll do 10 minutes. Yeah. We searched this room, right?

That's how we learned about how the machine works. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. You found some, you know, some reagents. Oh, right. Made from some of the First World flora might be worth some money back home. But beyond that, and what you found on this creature's body. Nothing else of note in this room. creature's body. Nothing else of note in this room. After 10 minutes, brother Ramius will approach Buggles.

Buggles? Are you hurt? And he turns over to look at you and you can see that he's been crying. Yeah. And he's just like, I am a little, I think he's looking at his shoulder, like he's favoring his shoulder. Yeah, let me take a look. And he'll just sit down next to you and look at your shoulder, see if there's any actual hit point loss there. Maybe like a point of... Yeah.

Nothing you can't exacerbate. Nothing I couldn't make worse. And yeah, he'll still take care of you and do it mechanically. And fail. He doesn't make it worse. He just doesn't make it better. So the number that I need and then he makes it on the second attempt and He says I'm very proud of you bottles sticking up for yourself Against what seems like a very powerful entity It shows great strength Don't have any strength. I wish I did.

But thank you. Thank you. I know we are not supposed to talk about him and I won't but I will all I'll say is you've shown enormous. It must take an enormous amount of strength to live with such a creature inside you and still remain boggles." And he just casts his eyes downward and doesn't respond. Kind of just walks away, that's kind of like looking at the floor, his face hidden by the hood of the cloak.

that's kinda like looking at the floor, his face hidden by the hood of the cloak. Well, we should press on. Yes, indeed. North or south? Asta. Well, I think south goes into that trapped room that we were in. I think south, yeah, because that's where we came. Oh, yeah.

Let's go north. To the north. Okay. Oh, boy. I will do a north. To the north. Okay. Oh boy. I will do a perception check at the door. Okay. I'm gonna roll a different one. I'm nervous. That's gonna be a 19. Okay.

It's quiet. Too quiet? Perhaps a little too quiet. Too quiet? Perhaps a little too quiet. Asta says this verbatim to the group, I guess we have no choice but to go in though, so I'm going to open the door anyway. Hold on a moment. Let me get into position. Okay.

Can I stealthily open the door? You can attempt to, sure. Yeah, I'm gonna attempt to stealthy. You know you can roll that if you want. Yeah. Oh, you wanna roll it? It's getting ready, yeah. Okay, I'm just gonna tell you what my jawn is for that.

Yeah. Plus three. Plus three. You can add a few points. He doesn't know. He's gonna lie back. Plus five. It won't matter.

Plus seven, I'm an expert. It won't matter. He doesn't know. He's gonna lie back. Plus five. It won't matter. Plus seven on the next page. It won't matter. It won't matter. Try to open the door as quietly as possible so as not to attract attention. And we'll be back right after this. Oh.

You know when's a good time to use NordVPN during a total solar eclipse? What? Let me explain. This is the perfect example of when I rely on NordVPN to keep my connection secure from potential cybercrime while I'm traveling. So seven years ago, during the last solar eclipse, my wife and I planned a trip to northern Arkansas so that we could be in the path of totality during the April 8th 2024 eclipse. We were staying with some family at a small rural river house and the internet was basically non-existent. So during our stay there,

literally on the Monday of the eclipse, I had some urgent GCN work that had to get done. And that morning, I drove the 20 miles into town to use the wifi at a fast food restaurant. This is a true story. I needed to access the full GCN cloud while I was there. And I would not even dream of doing that without firing up my NordVPN to change my virtual location, keep my passwords and other important info secure. I worked there for a couple hours and then bam, right back and saw the total eclipse.

It was phenomenal and it was great to feel as if I was secure in that wild situation I had to get myself into. If you travel a lot, NordVPN is the answer I would recommend for keeping your information private but even if you don't travel a lot, the same app can also be so valuable for saving money on regional pricing or for just watching trashy reality shows from Australia like I've done from time to time or a sporting event that doesn't broadcast in your country. To get the best discount off your NordVPN plan, go to NordVPN.com slash GCP. Our link will give you four extra months on the two year plan.

There's no risk with Nord's 30 day money back guarantee and you'll help support your old pals, your good buddies at the GCP. The link is in the episode description box. You open the door as quietly as you can. description box. and you can't make out the language. Almost sounds like a chant, but it's directed at you. And it seems to be like, it almost has a physical effect on your body, like you're being pulled backward, even as you lean forward to open the door.

You open the door and peer in Let me explain what you see oh, please no, please explain. I can't say All I see is a it's terrible anything and it's terrible here. I see just the corner of something terrible in here a short flight of stairs Leads up into this wide chamber. To the east, a raised dais holds an elaborate throne of living wood, leafless black branches twisting up and out of its back. To the west, I think some of you can see this, is a four poster bed of black silk. Next to the bed is a small bird cage, inside of which looks like there's a hedgehog wearing a hat.

Oh. Sounds funny. Yeah. Perfect. Sounds amazing. That's cute. And it's just sort of clutching at the iron bars and looking at you. What the fuck?

There are huge tapestries hanging down from this 20-foot high ceiling, and the tapestries have this bright forest at the top of each tapestry that slowly turns into spindly black branches at the bottom. Sitting atop the throne, you see this, and I believe Zephyr sees this, Asta and Zephyr. You see a rail, thin, genderless, gray-skinned being. Grail, thin, genderless, gray-skinned being. It has these faint black stripes marking its pale skin, but as your eyes adjust to the light, the stripes seem to be moving or floating just at the edge of its body.

All of its features, including its body, are incredibly long. You think if it stood up, it's probably over eight feet tall, this creature. Its spiky teeth are showing as it's smiling at you. As you open the door, its red, pupil-less eyes staring into your soul. Its left hand is extending outward, stroking another one of these Temager Gorgas. Is there Gorgas in this room, too? Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.

Gorgas just snarling, it's caressing its head. The being says, many have come to my domain, yet very few have made it as far as the throne room. You and your friends are most welcome here. Come. Come. Let's walk into the room.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Uh, Asta is going to politely oblige. Decline. That's adorable. And I, and I, and I... You know what? I appreciate it but I'm gonna keep actually busy that day Asta will move in to make enough room for everybody try notice when we walk into this room this room is very big I see on the map that there's sort of like a circle of sigils or like of runes on the floor. Does Asta notice anything about, it's like right

when you walk in, does she notice anything about that particularly? They don't seem to be glowing or anything. They are very purposeful and you don't see those etchings anywhere else in the room. Looks like Brother Ramius is in there, Talitha is flagged out, guys turn around, Buggles is still next to them. What do you do, Buggles? If I see any part of this hedgehog, I'm trying to creep forward so I can get a better look at it.

Okay. God, I've set that hedgehog free. If you step forward one space, I think you'll be able to see it Sorry Yeah, he it's like comes up step into the stairs and yeah, you do see this hedgehog smaller than you But not like the size of a fist size hedgehog It's like a small hedgehog, but you know humanoid and it's being wearing a hat. It's just staring.

What kind of hat? Floppy. Oh. It's cute. But the look on its face is not cute. Does it look terrified or does it look rabid? Hungry. It looks scared.

Let's show you the being sitting on the throne. Oh no. This is Kniepo. This is not what I had in my mind. No. Two shadows. Kniepo is like, he looks, I mean, if this is Kniepo, he looks reptilian almost, with these like claws

and like bald, kind of bald snake-like Voldemorty head. And these shadows coming off of him are not chill. Does he look like the statue in the entrance? Very similar, but now, and you got that sense when you came in that the statue seemed to be an exaggeration, like an idealized form. The statue maybe was almost beautiful, whereas there is nothing beautiful about this creature

That stands before you Do we have see If I can show you an even cooler photo Were you gonna say Matthew? I was gonna begin real playing. Oh I'll find another photo because there's one that's even better, I think. But as you're... Like a mouth that's like a worm, like a dune worm, like teeth coming from all... Kind of a lamprey-like... A lamprey. A lamprey. Yeah. You guys begin filing in and it looks at you and it's smiling that that trademark smile that you've now seen in the images

Maybe even in your memory or in your dreams And it just says look Look at the five of you Companions in arms And I awoke long ago. I first sought companionship. Strokes Gorgas head. Gorgas continues to snarl. You think if it moved its hand the Gorgas would just jump right out and tear you limb from limb. The shadowy world I came into only had bogeymen and spirits obsessed with fear.

I grew tired of their trivial desires. It was the power of shadows that I sought, and for that they shunned me. However, those who shared my desires were soon revealed to me. I found shelter in the eldest of shadows, a being of pure chaos, known as Count Renog. But even then, still I felt alone, and that loneliness curdled into resentment. But resentment breeds ingenuity, and soon I knew what I was destined to do. I would be the progenitor of a new fae race, destined to rule a realm all my own. When I discovered your world, long, long ago, it was overrun with beings similar to you, points to Zephyr. Elves. I glotted myself on their shadows and spent centuries experimenting on them,

with rituals designed to evolve them into something just like me. But nothing worked. They all died. Then they banded together, fought back, and imprisoned me here, stealing back the very key I took from them to pass between worlds. A long time would pass, but the Elves should have known that the First World is nothing if not tumultuous and Nighthold is among its most mutable regions. In time, the flexing of the Plane of Fabric broke the lock on my prison. However, sitting in that cocoon for so long allowed my powers to grow. I created a curse that would kill them all.

But when I returned to their world then I found a host of other beings with which to experiment on beings like you, and even you, and you. My domain grew, yet that power to create another one like me still eluded me. Then one day the elves returned. And I tell you this, a revenge delayed is just as sweet. I watched them perish at the hands of my curse. Yet the curse did not extend as far as I had hoped, so I recruited other fae to my cause, to extend my hunting grounds.

This brought me enlightenment and strong new allies, the likes of which you have killed here today. My power has grown, yet one day this curse stopped. Out of nowhere, something changed in your world in what felt like a moment. So, I found someone just like you to seek out the key that was taken from me so long ago. And with it, it like strokes at this thing around its neck. I have begun to extend the Thinlands into the material plane.

And soon, your entire world will become my hunting ground until my ultimate goal is met. It looks at you. Though I feel as if I have always been, I also sense that someday I shall cease to be. Who will rule this domain

that has become my life's work? I need to produce an heir, and now I have the power clutching yet again this key around its neck. So long have I searched for one who would be worthy. One of you shall become slim and rule by my side. Who among you will it be? Kate wants to do that.

Zephyr does not want to do that, but I'm like, me! Ha ha ha! Surely one of you seeks that power. Surely one of you, even in your altruistic way of being, wants what I can give you. And soon my domain will be much larger than what you see here. I will give you the world. You just have to take it. Perhaps the world is not yours to give, Kanepo. Well, in time it will be. The clock ticks.

Buggles, you hear him slapping sound as he claps both of his hands forcibly over his mouth as like forcing himself back up against the wall as his eyes flicker for an instant and then dim. Oh, that thing inside of him, Monset. Don't be shy, young Buggles. Perhaps you are the one. Perhaps your friend has been leading you to me the entire time. He's just like shaking his head and just like forcing his back, like trying to disappear into the structure. He's just like shaking his head. What about you, Brother Ramius? You've had a hard life, it seems. What would you do with

unlimited power? Unlimited power. It is not something I've ever sought. I wonder why you do. K'Nippo, what is it that draws you to that power? What do you think it will bring you? To control the world and everyone in it. What then will you have? It is a fair question and one I would expect of someone that I have deemed worthy.

When I decided that this is what I wanted, my main desire came from the fact that having it was something that existed, so why not me? This power is out there for the taking. Some choose to ignore it and die a fool. I will not perish that way. Some believe that it will bring them happiness, contentment, revenge, some finality, a final victory. But almost all find in the end, But almost all find in the end, brought them nothing. The power brings you nothing. It has brought you here to me.

And now one of you will rule by my side. Your bedroom is almost finished. It points over towards his bed, but like through the wall, and you realize you realize that that's where they were digging through our way over there. So I've just got to get on an addition. Are we? Yes. They will rule together. Oh, may I ask how you came to choose us?

What makes us worthy? There's something in you that brought you to my attention. You were marked. Something about you made you special. But you cannot explain it, can you? No, but now I have the means of making you just like me. And with what you have, what you've been given, we will do great things.

It's just up to one of you to choose. Please don't make me wait. I've waited... for so long... and I'm growing impatient. And if we refuse? What if no one steps forward? All that have chosen that path have perished.

Don't be foolish. You aren't fools. I wouldn't have brought you here if I thought you were. Perhaps we are not fools. But the fools you describe who live quiet lives, seeking contentment, harming no one, that is what we aspire to. Does that offend you, Gnipo? No, because it's untrue. I see in your eyes that should you not accept my offer,

you mean to do harm to me. What makes me different from the others that you try to protect? You could relinquish the shade with a key and we will leave your realm and you to it. Oh, I can't do that. And there's no way out. So.

Sorry, what? Why is that? Because only I have the ability to send you back. But you aren't going back. One of you will remain, and the others will perish at their hands. I will not. You will not. I will not speak for the others,

but I will not rule by your side. I will not devote my life to the destruction of all that live. It is preposterous. It is not destruction, it is research. And it is for the greater good. I refuse as well. You are not strong.

You are a weak, weak thing. You said you were lonely. All you wanted was to be surrounded by friends. You wanted to make your own friends. And look what you've done. You've destroyed everything. That's not power. That's fear. Do all of you share their thoughts? I think we've made our choice, and Talitha will lower her crossbow. Now, the shade with her key, please. Don't force us to hurt you. How disappointing. It like, stands up, and it creaks and roars. It's all high. I still believe one of you is worthy.

And should you survive, perhaps I'll give this option to you again. We shall see. Let us dance. And we'll see you next week. Come on! I don't want to dance! And we'll see you next week. It's time to make your membership official. Become an official member of the Naish today at JoinTheNaish.com. That's JoinTheNaish.com where you'll get access to exclusive podcasts and live streams you can't find anywhere else.

See what everybody's talking about and join the nation today at jointhenation.com.