Curseborne - Stealing the Show, Episode 4 • Sponsored by Onyx Path Publishing

[00:00:02] Speaker A: Hello, friends, and welcome to the final, unfortunately single serving tabletop adventure from Queen's court games. Not all of them. Ever. We're gonna make more, but this is the last one where I, Aaron, will return as the story guide for curseborn. I hope you've enjoyed the three episodes so far. I hope you have been to the Onyx path Kickstarter and given them your time, your attention, and your money. But if you haven't, now is an excellent time to do so. Because this game of folkloric horror, of liminal spaces, of multi dimensional monsters from all kinds of splat books is we're having a blast with it. I can't guarantee you will, cause I don't know a ton about your tastes, but at the very least, go give it a shot and see what you can find. We have arrived at the final moment of decision and we are going to break the fourth wall of our meta commentary theater with the following three persons in no particular order. Joining us from, I will have you know, New Jersey Webfest best video actual play winning transplanter. It is Kai as Lucas Somerset rolls. [00:01:07] Speaker B: Hi everybody. [00:01:10] Speaker A: Sitting next to Kai on my screen, it is super stern Clara Allison coming here from the New Zealand webfest, nominated for best video actual play in Mekonge. [00:01:22] Speaker C: Oh yeah. Hello. [00:01:26] Speaker A: And lastly, but not leastly, playing Blake Sweeney, it is v. Locke who you can find on Minnesota web Fest best horror actual play, the all night society. [00:01:37] Speaker D: Hi. [00:01:39] Speaker A: You can find links to their assorted social media accounts by putting exclamation point cast in chat. And if you follow those links, you will follow links to the award winning and award nominated shows that I have just announced. Also, if you haven't put Curseborn Kickstarter in your Google screen yet, I will do that work for you. I will put exclamation point game in chat. It will bring up a link where you can go peer beyond the veil at this delightful game for yourself. The last thing I will ask you to do, dear listeners, is to either check the show notes or put exclamation point safety in the chat. This is the end of a horror scenario, so it's going to get appreciably more horrible and as much fun as we are having, as much fun as I'm hoping you are having. We don't want anyone to be uncomfortable as they proceed forward with all of those things, said Lucas, Subra, and Blake. We are on the razor's edge of finding our way to the person responsible for all of this. Are we ready? [00:02:38] Speaker B: Oh yeah, I guess. [00:02:41] Speaker A: Then allow me to finish our story. When last we left our three accursed, we were in the library of River City, Iowa. Having participated in various degrees for various amounts of time in the many wonderful songs of Meredith Wilson's the Music man, we realize now that our goal is to escape this time loop in order to push forward to find the person responsible, the shrieking, Gilbert Gottfried voiced director. Now, we know that liminality is key to the way we navigate this universe. So we skedaddled away from the barbershop quartet that is also a solo act, and to the town's library, where we know tomorrow Harold Hill will be availing himself of librarian Marion's attention, at least until she rebuffs him. But for now, is empty. That means it's ritual time, correct? [00:03:53] Speaker B: Yes. Last time we did this, we did a bit of the play, but I feel like that would be a mistake here, because I really don't want to go back to that train again. [00:04:11] Speaker D: No. Doesn't make sense to go back to where we were if we want to move away from here, right? [00:04:21] Speaker B: Yes. Trying to get into one of those niggly little backstage areas. And while Lucas is saying this, he's looking between the books, down the aisles. Every single place within this probably relatively small library, he is looking at very suspiciously, like he's snooping down an alley or something. But it's a. It's just a library. [00:04:45] Speaker A: I'm assuming it's a fantastic library. Don't get me wrong. This is back from the time in american history when we built public institutions like palaces. This is a temple to the written word, but it is still a library. If you'll recall from the film, it's a two story building with a delightful hand carved wooden spiral staircase going to the upper level. [00:05:15] Speaker B: I do love a library. This one is. Smells like a library. There are certainly books here. [00:05:25] Speaker C: It feels very real for what it is. How does one get backstage, generally? [00:05:33] Speaker B: Well, besides sleeping your way in. [00:05:38] Speaker C: Well, thats a thought. [00:05:40] Speaker D: I dont think we should sleep with anybody. Unless you want me to call the quartet back. [00:05:47] Speaker B: No. The denizens of River City are not exactly helpful in this situation. [00:05:54] Speaker C: I assume the director doesn't want us sleeping with them either. [00:05:58] Speaker B: The director, however, and he says it kind of loudly. [00:06:08] Speaker D: Okay, well, if you needed to get backstage at a show, how do you do that? [00:06:20] Speaker C: I'm usually in it. Um hmm. [00:06:25] Speaker D: Okay. Well, then, uh, if people who aren't in the show want to get backstage to see you or the rest of the cast, how do they do that? [00:06:35] Speaker B: Vip pass, exclusive access. [00:06:41] Speaker C: Yeah, or I suppose if you wanted to find just the entrance, we don't have to be. I don't think they're gonna let us backstage. But if you wanna find, like, a. [00:06:53] Speaker B: Stage door, that's liminal, right? Stage door? [00:06:58] Speaker A: Hmm. [00:06:58] Speaker B: I haven't done stage doors in a long time. [00:07:01] Speaker C: I can't imagine you ever did do stage door, but fuck. [00:07:04] Speaker B: Well, it was very different. [00:07:08] Speaker C: Oh. Um, when there's a show that you see and you like, and there's, like, a performer that you really appreciate, you can go to the stage door so the actors don't leave through the front door, because that's crazy. So you leave through the stage door, which is usually, like, around an alley, which is kind of a liminal space. [00:07:32] Speaker D: Okay. Leaving through the front is crazier than people going to the alley to wait for. You understand that? Like, theater, you guys make theater sound like it's batshit, right? [00:07:45] Speaker B: I. Oh. Theater's fun. [00:07:47] Speaker C: Theater is sort of a true encapsulation of the human condition. It is how people see themselves. [00:07:57] Speaker B: It's also where the tawdry things all used to happen. [00:08:02] Speaker C: That too. [00:08:04] Speaker D: Okay, well, I had plenty of tawdry experiences that didn't happen in a theater, so, you know, I think that maybe, you know. [00:08:13] Speaker A: Okay, two, the back of a theater or the back of a Honda civic, those are where tawdry things happen. [00:08:20] Speaker B: Real. [00:08:22] Speaker D: That's unfortunately real. [00:08:25] Speaker B: Well, subra, I like this idea. The stage door is very liminal. And plus, alleys themselves are. Well, no one goes to an alley. They pass through it. That's the point of a liminal space, right? [00:08:38] Speaker A: Mm hmm. [00:08:40] Speaker C: They're just between places, literally. [00:08:43] Speaker B: Well, back in my day, we would have just a pamphlet or a little kiss for the. Well, at the time, I was more than just a fan, but that's where you would go to meet the stars. [00:09:03] Speaker C: So we find a place to wait for a back, wait for a theater, a stage door to open. [00:09:15] Speaker B: Brilliant. [00:09:18] Speaker A: I've heard some elements that are common to what we're discussing so far. One, we need an alley with a door in it. And Lucas is correct. There is one behind this library. Two, we need some kind of pamphlet or brochure that could pass for a program. Right. Something that we have from the show. And third, we need some kind of gift, be it physical or otherwise, for the performer who we are waiting to celebrate. Yes. [00:09:52] Speaker B: Yes, yes. [00:09:54] Speaker D: Makes sense. Okay. Is there, in this library, is there, like, a little information kiosk or like a. Maybe like, a board with little bits on it? I'm wondering if I can find an informational like about River City, Iowa that can act as our pamphlet for the show. [00:10:17] Speaker A: I don't. I'm not aware, historically when the pamphlet you put in a hotel to show the local attractions, I don't know when that was invented or became a thing, but I would know that in this particular type of town, there is a community board that would have various things on it you could pluck away. What event in River City are you going to pretend is the playbill? [00:10:45] Speaker D: The 4 July parade. [00:10:48] Speaker A: Ah, excellent. Has all the vendors, the local vendors who will be there selling their various meat product and candies, the different town choirs and such that will show up. Excellent, excellent, excellent. And then we need a gift. [00:11:07] Speaker B: Are there any flowers outside? [00:11:10] Speaker C: I'm sure we can find some. This place is set decked exactly the way you would expect. Main Street. I would be done. [00:11:18] Speaker B: I would love to give that luscious Jeremy some flowers. Hopefully he's still alive. [00:11:25] Speaker C: I will go look for some flowers. [00:11:28] Speaker A: Oh, it doesn't take much effort at all to make a delightful bouquet. The Chamber of commerce has made sure that this is immaculately, I won't say designed, but landscaped is the word, main street. And you can put together a striking bouquet that is not only beautiful to look at, but sourced from native, local fauna. No, fauna's animals. Flora. [00:11:52] Speaker C: There you go. [00:11:53] Speaker A: We'll get there. [00:11:54] Speaker C: What's the blue. What's the flower called? Shit. [00:11:57] Speaker A: The Virginia bluebell. [00:11:58] Speaker C: There he goes. [00:12:02] Speaker A: And now we have these things, which means the last bit is to put the ritual into motion. So tell me, Lucas, Subra and Blake taking on the role of excited theatergoers, waiting for the lead to pop out from the alley so they can get their playbill signed and get their selfies taken. What does that look like? [00:12:25] Speaker B: Lucas goes running into the alley, almost skipping, and finds probably the most nondescript door on this earth and just begins to vamp. Oh, my goodness. I cannot wait to meet the famous stars of the music man. It's going to be so wonderful. I've waited all of my life to enjoy their talents. [00:13:00] Speaker C: Trying to decide if I believe you or not. Why does everything sound sarcastic when it comes out of your mouth? [00:13:10] Speaker B: I'm offended. [00:13:12] Speaker D: Ah, you get used to it. That's just his tone of voice. [00:13:16] Speaker C: That's just what he sounds like. [00:13:17] Speaker D: Yeah. [00:13:18] Speaker B: I'm being perfectly serious right now. [00:13:22] Speaker C: I also have. I've never done this from the other side. I really enjoyed. I really enjoy their work. And the lighting and set design is fabulous, as well as every. All of the dancers are so clean. Their lines are immaculate. [00:13:43] Speaker D: Yeah, he did a really great job in that one number with the other people. I'm trying. Trying, you guys. [00:13:56] Speaker A: There is only one. [00:13:57] Speaker B: This is the worst thing to say to you, but liven it up, please. [00:14:04] Speaker A: Can you say that based on my experience, waiting outside the stage door, not myself, but with someone who wanted to. The only thing missing from this ritual is the fan trying to one up the other fans by talking about how much more they know or how much more they like the thing. [00:14:26] Speaker B: See, my favorite part was definitely the puppetry and the use of spectacle. I love a spectacle. All this was missing, honestly, was a. What are they called? A unicycle? No, the other one. Bicycle. [00:14:43] Speaker C: I will say that as much as I think the casting is immaculate, I actually saw Jeremy performing when he did spod. Bacathiophilia. Excuse me. It was transcendent. You should have been there. I think you must have missed it. [00:15:02] Speaker B: His voice would have been tantalizing as sweeney. [00:15:06] Speaker A: I would like to believe that there's a part of this conversation that turns into Lucas and Subra genuinely having a conversation about the person they did miss. And Blake is like the helpless third wheel looking around desperately. Is there someone serving drinks? Do I know anyone else at this party? [00:15:24] Speaker D: Yup. 100%. The vibe. [00:15:27] Speaker A: So you see the door open. Not very far. Just a small crack as it. Just a little bit. You imagine a squeaking sound effect as the tiniest little break opens in this. Behind this brick wall that is otherwise fairly unornamented, fairly uninteresting. And it's entirely black behind. So you can imagine an incredibly dark space. But even then, there appears to be a precipice at which the light from the alleyway is not allowed to go beyond. And the only thing you can see, it's a bit reminiscent of if you've ever watched a movie. And the lighting is really dark and you can only sort of see black shapes moving in a shadow. You can only ever really tell by, like, the edge of where a figure is as it moves across. People who've watched the last season of Game of Thrones know what I'm talking about. There's something there, and it's humanoid. It has those proportions, that amount of limb. And you see the eyes start out just a little bit like little teeny pricks, and then they lean forward and they're slightly bigger, and then there's a whooshing sound. Do you ever grab, like, sheets and give them a good. Yeah, you get that. And as they pull back the door swings wider open. Still no light penetrating from the alley in. No sound or visual information coming out. [00:17:09] Speaker D: I assume that Subra and Lucas have not actually. [00:17:15] Speaker B: Oh, yeah. [00:17:15] Speaker D: They're still definitely having this conversation. So I don't want to take my eyes off the door, just in case looking away would make it disappear. So I just kind of wave behind me and snap my fingers. Guys. Guys. [00:17:30] Speaker B: Oh, but can he do the patter for. There's a lot of talking for Sweeney. [00:17:37] Speaker C: Of course there is. It's a song time. [00:17:40] Speaker B: Yes, of course. [00:17:41] Speaker D: Guys. [00:17:43] Speaker C: Sorry. [00:17:43] Speaker B: Yes. Blake, door. Oh, well, has that been that way long enough? Why didn't you say something? [00:17:55] Speaker D: I. Lucas, I swear. [00:18:01] Speaker B: Will. Shall we lead the way. [00:18:08] Speaker A: Who goes first? [00:18:11] Speaker C: I had it. This is very silly, but because of Subra's outcast nature, I feel like she would be comfortable enough in the dark that it's not scary. [00:18:28] Speaker D: I mean, assuming it's dark on the other side. [00:18:31] Speaker C: That's true. So, yeah, I think unless you push her way in, I think saber will start heading in. [00:18:38] Speaker B: Do it. [00:18:39] Speaker C: Yeah. Let's go. [00:18:41] Speaker A: I imagine Blake does have the desire to go first, but also, you know, that your body doesn't heal, so it. It might be better to let somebody like, oh, you know, I really want to, but, I mean, if you insist, right? [00:18:53] Speaker D: Yeah, exactly. Yep. Yep. [00:18:55] Speaker C: My body is not. My body will just pop out of this plane into another one, into ours, and also, when I'm excited, I glow. [00:19:04] Speaker A: So Subra takes that first step through shadow. An important question for the other two of you. Are you following immediately behind? Are you waiting a moment? [00:19:16] Speaker D: I would be worried about waiting because we aren't quite sure how this universe works in all facets, and I would be concerned that perhaps if there's a time element to it, that we may get transported to different areas once we breach that. So I imagine as soon as Subra is through, it's okay. The next person goes. [00:19:43] Speaker B: Lucas was raised at another time and will hold the door until the last. [00:19:49] Speaker A: Then the following things happen in the following order. Subra, you have the. What shoes are you wearing? This is actually kind of important. [00:19:58] Speaker C: Fucking swear, Erin. Character shoes, actually, yeah, I think they're character shoes, and I can keep those on all night. [00:20:07] Speaker D: They would have to be character shoes, let's be honest. [00:20:10] Speaker C: Sensible t strap, black shoe. [00:20:14] Speaker A: Mm hmm. [00:20:15] Speaker C: 1.5 heel. [00:20:16] Speaker A: So you are taking those first steps, and there's in the alleyway. It's not a. It's not paved. So you have that nice, kind of, like, gravelly crunch as you're walking and then you take the first step up onto the ledge, the stone ledge of the entryway, and the next step, the heel drops like a quarter inch more than you were expecting, because as you cross the threshold, you are not walking into a building. You are not walking into a theater. You find yourself on that honeycomb texture metal catwalk hanging above a stage. And when I say above, allow that word to carry all of the vertigo inducing height, because looking to your left and your right, you see the lighting rig. It is tremendously oversized. This isn't a spotlight that makes sure the soloist is perfectly lit. This is the bat signal pointed down at the tenor as they find the center of the stage. And these columns of light pierce nauseatingly long shafts of light pointing down to what you can see it. You know it's stage shaped. You get the feeling from it, but it's so far away. [00:21:48] Speaker C: It kind of looks like home. [00:21:55] Speaker A: Subar has spent enough time in the theater world, so the sights and the smells are familiar. The air is laced with that quiet bit of burning dust and lingering ozone. You get that carpet smell from old theaters that haven't put any extra work into the mezzanine seats, the lingering kind of costuming smell of different kinds of fabrics, occasionally the little note of a mothball crossing your nose, and it's all there, just mixing around with a sound that is too far away to be distinct but has the definite ebb and flow of a theater production. You hear a few lines, can't make them out, and then a laugh track in the echoing distance from the audience, and then the thrum of an orchestra that then plays into a song you can't quite place. Blake and Lucas, you will also experience these things. But what I want to know is, since you came in directly behind Subra, you're going to experience Subra's reaction first. And if Subra's frozen and you're bumping into her, or if Subra is rushing ahead, that's what I'm looking to find out based on how you react. Miss Stern. [00:23:23] Speaker C: I'm crying. It smells like all the things I've grown to love. It looks like all of these things that I've grown to love about people, but it's from an angle that I haven't seen in, I want to say, 50 years. Sitting over this world and looking down at it is sort of what stars do, and now we get, and I haven't had that angle since I fell. [00:23:59] Speaker A: Is it like an ugly cry? Is it a quiet cry? [00:24:04] Speaker C: It is a studio ghibli cry biggest. Like anime tears. Weirdly sparkly. She cries. Howl's movie, not howls. Yeah, howl's moving castle vertically. They go up tears. [00:24:28] Speaker A: Blake, I think you were the second in line. So you see Subra frozen, and then the sound of someone crying. And for a minute it might be easy to mistake it, thinking it's part of the show that's happening below you. But then you realize that the clarity of that means it can only be coming from one place. [00:24:48] Speaker D: I sure there's a little bit of me that kind of bumps into Subra. And then once I realize the sound is coming from her. Subra, are you okay? [00:24:59] Speaker C: It just looks really good from up here. [00:25:04] Speaker D: Okay. Oh, you're fine. Anyway, because, you know, I have no idea what she's actually talking about. I think it's about the play. You're fine. It's fine. [00:25:19] Speaker B: I think Lucas's entrance, he doesn't say anything, but he comes in with a handkerchief extended. [00:25:30] Speaker C: Yeah, super. I'll take it and just blow my nose. Just. That is gross. That is very human and gross. [00:25:42] Speaker B: But I think with that, he feels a little charged. There's a lot of emotion in that. And he remembers, oh, wait, we're backstage. I should probably lean into that a little. And while it doesn't feed anything from Subra, he digs a little deeper and you can see his eyes get a little bloodshot. As Aaron, we're backstage now, and I would like to pull on some undead strengths. [00:26:15] Speaker A: No, it does seem like the appropriate time. And not a moment too soon either, because I will ask everyone to roll their initiative for me. [00:26:25] Speaker B: Oh, golly, that is three for Lucas. [00:26:31] Speaker D: Three. [00:26:33] Speaker C: One wicked success. [00:26:36] Speaker D: One. [00:26:40] Speaker A: Strange then, that Subra, as the one who is crying, tears moving upward, and your attention is split between both the heavens above and the humanity below. But perhaps because you've been in here the longest, most able to immerse yourself, that your eyes have adjusted, or the background din of the sounds below have allowed you to kind of sort out the background noise. Because you see something moving between the lights. You see several somethings moving between the lights. Their features are not shifting. I mean, they're not recognizable. If you can put yourself in the mind of someone with face blindness, or if you imagine you've asked someone to commission art and they haven't put the facial features in yet, you just can't really place what that is. Stagehands dressed entirely in theater blacks with very sensible, comfortable, non slip shoes. [00:27:56] Speaker C: Parabiners. [00:27:57] Speaker A: All of them, one of which is some of which, rather, are just literally monkey barring their way through the lighting rig. Others which are skittering about on the catwalks as you come around, as that spread over the lighting rig and such. But the ones that I want you to roll initiative for are the ones with the sharp, whip cracking XLR cables, because that is what interrupts this moment. From below, you hear the snap of a microphone cable wrapping around, and then this black skin. And the closer they get, the more you realize it's not that they're wearing theater blacks, it's that their body is in two colors, flesh tone and theater black, that then leaps up into the scene. There are two who are in range of you right now. One at the rear of the formation, one at the beginning of the formation. Initiative wise, subra, you get to go, like, a half second before Lucas, and then the two guys will go. The two sagehands will go. And then, Blake, your questions? [00:29:23] Speaker B: I have a little hiccup in which I forgot that I literally, just before rolling initiative, used something that gives me an enhancement to all of my physical attributes. [00:29:33] Speaker A: Ah, then, Lucas, you are the one who recognizes what's going on first. [00:29:38] Speaker B: Well, I think that it's more subrah sees all of that, and Lucas is very in the mindset of he's very reactionary, just as a person, and so someone lands behind him and he just whips around. Oh, excuse you. And Lucas doesn't. He's. He's relatively physically capable in reality and doesn't much care for people being too close to him, and so is actually going to just, like, put up his. Put up his dukes, but in the most cartoonish way that you can imagine that being done, because he learned how to box like a gentleman, unfortunately, and so is just going to turn and try and punch this guy. [00:30:26] Speaker A: I have have at. It'd be close combat and might, if you are engaging in fisticuffs, which I'm. [00:30:32] Speaker B: Shockingly good at. [00:30:37] Speaker C: You know, vampires classically punching people. [00:30:42] Speaker B: That is. Is it six or seven? That's the threshold. [00:30:48] Speaker A: Seven. [00:30:49] Speaker B: Seven. [00:30:50] Speaker A: Sorry. Eight. Oh, my God. Now I can't remember. Yeah, I think it's eight states. [00:30:55] Speaker B: Okay. It's. Okay. Well, that is one hit. And then with my enhancements, two. [00:31:02] Speaker A: Well, this is a very junior stage hand only has one defense, so you are even not at your best. That raw, accursed power of the hungry is able to break through whatever block. [00:31:17] Speaker B: He puts up, and it's fully, like fists kind of moving in. Again, this ridiculous motion. And he just, with his right fist, just reaches out and punches this poor. [00:31:30] Speaker A: Stage hand who staggers, collapse backwards. You can hear an in ear monitor chatter happening. You have one extra success or, sorry, you have one extra hit. So you can spend it on a trick. You could knock the person away. You could apply additional damage. You could. [00:31:55] Speaker B: I think the goal here is to knock them away, knock them off of this catwalk. [00:32:01] Speaker A: Oh, that's easy. So the first, a good old fashioned gentleman's club sparring. The first is a nice, solid teddy Roosevelt punch that has them staggering. And then left hook or right hook? [00:32:17] Speaker B: Oh, he's got to do the left hook. Cause it's one two, not one one. [00:32:20] Speaker A: Yeah. So then left hook has them spinning and then tumbling over the edge, falling downwards. [00:32:28] Speaker B: And I think it finishes with Lucas, like, leaning over the catwalk and watching it happen, because he is, if nothing else, like a vaudeville caricature. [00:32:38] Speaker A: A good thing that you looked, because this particular creature, we're going to go above table from them to explain something about curseborn enemies come with various tags. And this one has a tag called explosive demise, where when you defeat them, they burst into some kind of energy. Can you imagine if you punched an electrician until they exploded on set? What would happen? [00:33:09] Speaker B: A whole bunch of OSHA violation. [00:33:11] Speaker D: Well, that too. [00:33:13] Speaker A: Both of those things are true. So as it tumbles down, distance is impossible to gauge. You don't know how far down it fell, but it makes it far enough from the catwalk. And then you see the body start to blur and then start to kind of glow, and then it explodes outwards with huge, arcing bolts of electricity connecting with various objects around the room. So one smashing into the bottom of the catwalk, another racing across some of the electrical equipment. Appropriate amount of sparks happening. The downside being that in that brilliant moment of illumination, you can see just how many stagehands there are. And this is not a situation where you want to be in a stand up fight. [00:34:06] Speaker B: Ah, we should run. We should all run. [00:34:10] Speaker C: Pick a direction. [00:34:11] Speaker A: Well, subra, no. You're next. In initiative order. And there is a very angry looking grip in front of you. [00:34:20] Speaker C: My dream. Um, okay. [00:34:23] Speaker A: Screwdriver in one hand, amp meter in the other. [00:34:31] Speaker C: In a turn. That would feel incredibly random, out of character if you just knew. Supra, as a human. I pull out. I have the crossbow. I can bring it out. It has this. It's made of something that is a black metal that, if it was made in a. If it was featured in, like, a fishing guns sort of magazine, they'd be like tactical black. But this is different. It is made of night. Everyone, all of her friends have these. All of the people she. That. The people she came from, they are most out. Like most outcasts, warriors. She never wanted to use it again anyway. I would like to bleed a curse die so that I can activate brutality. And we're gonna see if I can cover the other two as we start making our way out. So I guess the opposite direction of whatever this grip is in. [00:35:45] Speaker A: Mm hmm. Not in a battle map sense. This is an infinitely spiraling web of catwalks, so there is always a direction you can go. [00:35:55] Speaker C: All right, let's roll. [00:35:58] Speaker A: With ranged combat and dexterity. [00:36:00] Speaker C: Yep. And with brutality, this makes it a heavy weapon. Listen, we got that star gravity. What do we call it? This. Ranged and dexterity. Dexterity. Thank you. Damn. Four hits. [00:36:25] Speaker A: Ooh. Outstanding. I imagine there's a part of Lucas and Blake who are surprised to see the otherwise affable dance teacher level this crossbow. And I. Not the correct weapon, but Katniss, this person. [00:36:43] Speaker C: Funny thing, more efficient. [00:36:45] Speaker A: Funny thing about an outcast weapon. Outcast plane, perhaps. Explaining the extra hits you do break their defense. So one damage for free. You have three extra. Among the more expensive tricks is area damage. [00:37:02] Speaker C: Oh, hell, yes. Absolutely. Aoe all the way. I will 1000% take that. [00:37:11] Speaker A: In that case, we'll say you don't aim for the closest one because Subra understands how orbital bodies interact. And if you want to send a cosmic amount of energy exploding outward, you aim for the one just a little further in the way. So Lucas yells out into a direction. Subra says, follow me. Blake turns and goes, I'm not fucking following you. There's, like, six people there. Subra bolt from the crossbow, piercing. The first person's like, ha ha, you missed. Has that face about it, but not that face about it, because there's no face. Cocky posture, starting to come forward, and then they get that little tingle, that electric feeling as the one behind is pierced through. I'll say where the larynx would be. Then you see it start to glow, and the explosion of electricity arcs out to the nearest people. Or not people, in this case. And there is a new path carved through the catwalk. As the plasmafied cloud of monstrous human remains dissipates into the air around you, you go charging through it. [00:38:23] Speaker C: Well, come on. [00:38:26] Speaker B: That was amazing. [00:38:31] Speaker C: It's nothing. It really is. Let's never talk about it again. [00:38:36] Speaker D: You wish. [00:38:38] Speaker A: So, we have a question. We need to get to Lucy. We are backstage. Where would Lucy be? You've got an actor who's not currently on, Sethe. Where are they? [00:38:53] Speaker B: Green room. [00:38:54] Speaker D: Green room. [00:38:55] Speaker A: How do we get to the green room from the above? [00:39:00] Speaker C: Well, first stairs down. Usually at the room ladder. [00:39:06] Speaker D: I was gonna say, suppose if we're. [00:39:09] Speaker C: Being really, really creative, you could take the rope, but let's find some stairs. [00:39:15] Speaker B: Do I look like a pirate to you? [00:39:18] Speaker A: Then off we go. Looking for some way down. You are not in luck when it comes to stairs. You have a caged ladder that leads down, and, oh, boy, does it lead down. There are also plenty of looped ropes and things like that, set pieces that will be descending later for God knows what purpose that you could avail yourselves of in terms of the most efficient way down. That's it. Lucas's hesitation aside, that would be the fastest, safest. The latter. I see Blake Sweeney making a thinking vase. [00:39:54] Speaker D: Yes. Yes. Okay. All right. I have an idea. I have an idea. Okay, listen, Lucas, I know. I know you're not about the ropes, but here's the thing. If you hold on to my body, I can go and make it a little bit easier, perhaps, for us to use the ropes. [00:40:17] Speaker B: You would do that strange thing where you possess doors and whatnot? [00:40:20] Speaker D: I sure am. Yes, I am. Because above table, when I use creepy doll, I can perform any action that an inanimate object normally could, and it gives me plus two enhancement for any actions directly aided by its physical purpose. So by using the rope to descend and by inhabiting the rope, my hope is that I can assist Subra and Lucas in getting down safely. [00:40:54] Speaker B: All right, Blake, dear. Come on, Ed. Lucas just holds out his arms. [00:41:00] Speaker C: Have you ever wanted to do that thing that pirates do where you or you hit a sandbag and the thing descends? [00:41:07] Speaker B: Every day in my life, I would. [00:41:11] Speaker A: Say, for the ease of the group getting down, rather than one of the pulling mechanisms, there's some piece of set rigging that you could use, saving Lucas and Subra from having to do that most terrible part of elementary school and cling to the rope while holding your body at the same time, same effect. Just saving you a small amount of trouble. [00:41:35] Speaker D: No, absolutely fair. I'm going with what I know, which is. Yeah, but yes. So I will climb into Lucas awaiting arms and then activate creepy doll, in which my body will just kind of. It becomes rigor mortis essentially sets in. I am essentially dead. Unmoving. Completely unmoving. And I will go and inhabit this rope, this rigging, to make it easier for Subra and Lucas. [00:42:06] Speaker A: I will take from either Subra or Lucas a might and athletics role, and then from Blake Sweeney, let us call that might and technology. [00:42:23] Speaker B: I'm going to say that Lucas is holding a body, so I'm going to put out that he probably cannot do this unless Subra says otherwise. [00:42:33] Speaker C: Well, I had a really great set of roles, and if I do this, it's bad. [00:42:41] Speaker A: Remember, the difficulty is one. The default difficulty is always one. Unless this is happening. I'd like to know the results from Subra and from Lucas first, because the result of Blake's role will determine the difficulty for Subra and Lucas role and for dramatic effect. It is much more interesting if we know our outcast and our. [00:43:07] Speaker D: Are there any flaws or defects in this that will affect my difficulty rating? [00:43:12] Speaker A: No. [00:43:13] Speaker D: Okay. [00:43:15] Speaker C: Very terrible news. I wasted all of my hits on the last roll. I've gotten zero. [00:43:21] Speaker A: Not a waste. You did. You did carve the path forward. [00:43:24] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:43:25] Speaker A: Lucas any easier for you? [00:43:28] Speaker B: Oh, I didn't realize I was actually rolling athletics and might. Yes. A wicked success. [00:43:40] Speaker A: Oh, wonderful. Just a 110 on the cursed eye. [00:43:45] Speaker B: That's it. [00:43:46] Speaker A: So two hits. [00:43:47] Speaker B: All I rolled was cursed eye. [00:43:49] Speaker A: Two hits for Lucas and then Blake. What's it like being a winch? [00:43:58] Speaker D: You know, there's something fun about not being a human being, able to. To control mechanical parts. It's very methodical. People are weird. People talk about the majesty of the human body and how amazing it is, the circulatory system and all that, but, man, sometimes just a good piece of machinery. There's no weirdness about it. It does what it's supposed to do, and that's that. [00:44:28] Speaker A: I'm a simple gear. I'm a simple spool of wire. Uncomplicated, unburdened, don't have to pay rent. [00:44:36] Speaker D: It's great. [00:44:38] Speaker A: Very well oiled. In this case, I reached an age where I wish I could say the same thing about my joints. So enjoy yourself. As you manipulate this beautiful piece of rigging machinery, what is the result of your role? [00:44:56] Speaker D: Uh, that is three successes. Uh, and because they're all cursed die that I rolled, I believe that's a wicked success. Cause one of them is a ten. [00:45:10] Speaker A: Okay, well, good news, bad news situation, because you've all just piled on huge amounts of wicked successes, as I understand, except for Subra, who did not accomplish the goal at all. [00:45:21] Speaker D: Mm hmm. [00:45:23] Speaker A: The sense of urgency is what's going to be the downfall of our party for this particular moment, because Blake is not interested in being outside of their body for very long. Right. Also, it's a simple life as a winch, but it's a bit undignified, and it's very quickly going to be boring. So those things together connote to me a certain amount of speed. Right. Interesting part is getting on the ground. Yes, yes. Uh, Subra, you have attached yourself as best possible to this thing, but you were not expecting that. One, two, three, go. And then two. Instead of a nice little, like, knee lowering, someone just rips the thing off and it's ascending. But Lucas, possessed of supernatural strength and holding Blake Sweeney's body, you will be able to avoid the worst of the situation. Uh, what we'll say happens is, Blake, you have exceeded the safe operating speed for this particular piece of equipment. And as it descends, you realize you can't quite slow down the equipment as it nears the stage. Subra, you are not prepared for this. First of all, not wearing the correct shoes for backstage work. Second, not able to secure yourself to any particular thing before the impact happens. Will say, that is one harm to you. As you hit and you tumble and you spill out, splayed onto the ground, you're also knocked down. That's going to be important here in a minute. Lucas, two hits. [00:47:04] Speaker B: You said two. And an enhancement. [00:47:07] Speaker A: Ah. So three for you, which means there's going to be one complicating thing between you and blake. No one's going to take any damage because that's one hit to stop each of you from getting damaged. And there's one left over. So will you save yourself or will you save Blake Sweeney's body? [00:47:27] Speaker B: I very rarely does Lucas ever ask someone to genuinely trust him, and he genuinely does care what Blake thinks of him. So he will cushion any fall against their body with his own. [00:47:46] Speaker A: Then we will say, thus you have landed on a beach. It is a very sand across the. You're thinking in theater sense, still imagine you have the stage, and then on top of that, someone has put four or five inches of very nice beach sand. And behind you there is, uh, very well designed palm trees. The rocks could use some work. There's a chorus perched around the rocks, wearing, you would say, late 18 hundreds, 1880s to 19 hundreds. Materials Subra splayed out flat on the ground. Blake, you're on. Lucas, were you holding Blake like a swaddling baby or, like, over your shoulder or. [00:48:40] Speaker B: It was full bridal carry over the threshold because he's a cartoon. [00:48:46] Speaker A: Okay, so then you are trapped beneath Blake. Blake, you'll be able to get up on the first turn, but otherwise you're kind of stuck on your back. We'll say that Blake has then planted themselves across your abdomen. Right. [00:49:02] Speaker B: That makes sense. [00:49:03] Speaker A: Subra then has the best view as we go to break, which is once the. Ironically, the stars have cleared from your vision, you look down and you see very well kept polished boots. And then sliding your vision upwards. Brilliant white, perfectly creased trousers coming to a waistcoat with a fine embroidery, a chest full of medals, a pith hat. And as your vision spreads over what is flanking this particular individual, my assumption. [00:49:49] Speaker C: Is like twelve women of varying ages. [00:49:54] Speaker A: Mm hmm. Audience, guess what's coming soon when we come back from our break. This is stealing the show. The final episode of our curseborn actual play. Don't go anywhere. It gets a lot more musical from here. And we are back. Those of you eagle eared and eyed and educated viewers in the audience know where this is going. But for those of us here in the final episode of stealing the show for Krisborn, theyre about to find out. We descended more rapidly than desired from the stratospheric lighting rig down to a stage. Not the music man as we might have been expecting, but a nice sandy beach with palm trees, waving, rocks perched. And in the distance, a british sailing ship, super stern. Your eyes start at riding boots. They proceed upward. A crimson coat, medals, a pith helmet. And your eyes make contact with the actor's lead face. Just in time. I am the very model of a modern major general. I have information vegetable, animal and mineral. I know the kings of England and I quote the fight's historical from marathon to Waterloo and order categorical. And then a dozen female voices rushing along. [00:51:28] Speaker B: I think at this point Lucas is trying to, like, push Blake off of him. [00:51:33] Speaker D: Yeah, I would have returned to my body and I stood up and I would have reached down to help you up as well. Sorry about that. [00:51:44] Speaker B: Quite alright. [00:51:48] Speaker A: Uh, one problem being is that amidst this pattersong. Uh, super. Since you have asked in the past, and Blake, you've asked in the past, I've also let you know these are real humans. Very much the same experience in terms of are the parts in the right place that you've had in the music van. But beyond the music and the giant crashing orchestra, this song has a. You can see the conductor. He's getting all the range of motion in his arms as they play through. You can see stagehands. [00:52:25] Speaker D: Oh, no. [00:52:26] Speaker B: It's been a while since I've heard Sondheim. [00:52:32] Speaker D: The Lucas Sullivan stage hands, sir. [00:52:36] Speaker A: The general. [00:52:36] Speaker B: Right. Gilbert and Sullivan. [00:52:38] Speaker A: The general stepping over. Subra, heading up stage. I'm very well acquainted, too, with matters mathematical. I understand equations both simple and quadratical. For their part, the Aud, the cast have not noticed or cared about you. [00:52:56] Speaker D: Great. Unfortunately, the stagehands do. So I think we should go. And I'm gonna go. Where do we go? [00:53:04] Speaker C: Backstage again? Fudge. [00:53:08] Speaker A: Yes. If you'll recall how the music man set was literally an infinite town in infinite, Iowa, so, too, you will find yourself on the island of Penzance. And if you can't swim, we might be in trouble. [00:53:24] Speaker C: What if we all claim we're orphans? What? Never mind. [00:53:31] Speaker B: Don't look the part. [00:53:33] Speaker C: You look, actually. Okay, I'll do. [00:53:36] Speaker D: I'm gonna. I'm gonna get up off this beach, and I'm just gonna start running away from the stagehands. [00:53:40] Speaker C: Yeah, right. [00:53:41] Speaker D: If they are along the beach that I'm running into the water, because whatever's happening right now, I just need to get away from the stagehands. [00:53:47] Speaker A: Oh. Go in for a swim. [00:53:50] Speaker D: If there. If there are people on all corners of the beach, then, yes, I guess so. [00:53:56] Speaker A: There are directions enough. If you don't want to get wet. I'm not mean if you want to have at. If you don't want to, we can say they are not, like, crowding you onto the beach. There are not so many of them that you cannot find a bolt towards the island or somewhere else. But I'm happy to follow you wherever Blake Sweeney's flight response goes. [00:54:14] Speaker D: Great. No, I'm going to run along the beach. The water is my last resort. I feel like I'm faster on land than in water, not a shark, so. [00:54:22] Speaker A: Mm hmm. Everyone joining team running. [00:54:26] Speaker C: Yeah, team running. [00:54:27] Speaker B: Even though loafers do not go on beach sand. Yes. [00:54:30] Speaker C: Oh. And character shoes are better. [00:54:32] Speaker A: Stamina and athletics. [00:54:34] Speaker B: Oh, God. Oh, no. [00:54:48] Speaker D: That is one success. One hit. [00:54:52] Speaker A: One's all it takes. You're safe. Luke is making a less enthusiastic face. [00:54:59] Speaker B: What do you. What do you call it when you have no successes on anything? Uh, if it's all cursed, I saw. [00:55:06] Speaker A: Oh, what a delightful kind of failure you've stumbled into. Subra, you have two. [00:55:11] Speaker D: No, me. Me too. [00:55:13] Speaker A: Oh, also, you delight. Yeah, well, this is quite helpful, actually, because when you fail in this way, you lash out in your cursed nature. Right. And, Subra, you're the one who we're gonna. We're gonna pluck on here. But, Blake, excellent 40 yard time. I don't want to lose sight of that. You are gonna make some good distance as Lucas and Subrah. It's not that you fall over and stumble down that you are not making as good a progress as perhaps the enemies are. We'll see what they get. Yeah, three successes for them. So barring the thing we'll talk about, they are going to they, the stage hounds charging after Blake. You, you're far enough ahead. You can look behind, over your shoulder to see first the comical plumes of sand flying up behind your shoes as you sprint. And then a costume grip. Not, not grip, but someone from the costume department running forward has one of the pullover british peasant dresses. You know what I'm referring to. The default stage outfit for a chorus member in this show. And this is coming up, arms raised to pull it down over Lucas, where then another is the stage manager whose job it is to wrangle actors back and forth. And is one hand out reaching for subras like the collar of your shirt because your cue isn't there yet. Don't go on stage. That kind of vibe, tragically, does not have the giant stage hook. So they are going to grapple you. No idea where they're taking you, but that's where the situation is right now. But Subra, you are the outcast. You've made this wicked success. You more than anyone can see through this. Can I ask you to roll esoterica and intellect? [00:57:24] Speaker C: Not a bad pool. Come on. No annies. Two successes. I'm only rolling curse dice for a while. [00:57:39] Speaker A: Gonna want to burn those off if things don't go, if things start to get a little messy. [00:57:44] Speaker C: Well, let's see what happens next. [00:57:46] Speaker A: This is good news. You understand the rules. You're starting to figure it out. You thought the music man was in isolated incidents, but we know at least there are two, correct? And when you were reminiscing about a previous life up in the lighting rig, there were multiple sets all around. You know that in the music. Manda, how did you get off the train? [00:58:16] Speaker C: Yeah, we finished the song. [00:58:18] Speaker A: So there's some kind of rule here. There is some sort of passphrase ology that you could use to transition between perhaps different sets. [00:58:33] Speaker C: So I'm panicking. And the problem is, when you ask, somebody is panicking, think of a song, think of any show. None come to mind. So I'm gonna take a wild guess and reach for the first musical that comes out of Monogana, supra. And as she's being dragged away by a stagehand, go. The greatest magicians have something to learn from Mister Mistoffele's conjuring turn. And we all say, oh, the audio. [00:59:22] Speaker A: Explosion that follows, because that's the line where the entire chorus lights up. And it's a brilliant white flash of light as you get to the apex of that. And then, like, the orchestra's holding that note. And then, like a flashbang, the set changes, and you are all stumbling around. Lucas, halfway into a tunic of some sort. Subra falling back onto the stagehand. Blake, turning around, being like, what the hell's going on? Bright flash of light. Flash bangs are no one's friend. And then you're stumbling backwards. And, Blake, your shoulders hit something hard and a little sharp. Cause you turn. Is that. Is that a fucking car? No, it's the wreckage of a car. And then turning back to Subra, descending from the heavens on a beautiful rope, spiraling around. Spandex, David Bowie makeup, enormous hair, leg warmers, magical mister mistoffelees. [01:00:42] Speaker B: So I'm no longer being quick change grappled. [01:00:45] Speaker A: So you're still there. Yes. This is the thing. The change in scenery has, like, destabilized everything, which means you have the opportunity now to, like, fight back against the stagehand. Subra, you also have that opportunity. Blake can't run away anymore, but now you've got great distance on these people. And more importantly, you changed the set, so you've changed the ways that people can get in. So someone who was running from stage left to come grab you, well, now there's junkyard in the way, right? So I will take from any of you. Initiative order is not super important. You act before the stagehands in this case. But. [01:01:27] Speaker B: I think that Lucas is going to do what he does best, which is turn to this stagehand and try and get into a cat fight. [01:01:37] Speaker A: A cat's fight, if you will. [01:01:39] Speaker B: Yes, a cats fight, if you will, and is going to, again, put up those fisticuffs. But comedically, I think, is also still kind of wrapped in the tunic that is now completely out of place because we're no longer in pirates of penzance, but is going to try and push off of this stagehand, the forced quick. [01:02:05] Speaker A: Change, close combat, and might, since it's a physical struggle. And remember to add your enhancement for your undead strength. [01:02:12] Speaker B: Yes. Oh, thank God I rolled all of those dice. That is only a hit with the enhancement. So it's two total. [01:02:21] Speaker A: So now to do one damage, and then you have a trick you can. [01:02:24] Speaker B: I would like to break free of this grapple, please. [01:02:27] Speaker A: Awesome. So wrestling through it, you give the good punch as I'm imagining it. Like, the tunic is kind of over you, so you're just. You get a good gut there. You imagine this is the part where the stagehand would go, but no mouth can't make noise stumbling backwards. That lets you rip the thing off, the tunic off. And then as this creature stumbles back and falls, like, onto its elbows, there's no glowing. You see the thread. The seams on the garment start to unravel, and the costumer explodes into thread. So imagining for a moment the scenes in hellraiser when the chains come out, but in reverse. And instead of chains, it is the little fabric or the little thread you would use to repair tears in costumes mid show. [01:03:27] Speaker B: Wait, what the. [01:03:30] Speaker A: That will unfortunately add a complication for you, because now you are tangled in a mess of. You are a ball of yarn, a. [01:03:39] Speaker B: Comic ball of yarn in a junkyard of cats. Cool. [01:03:44] Speaker A: Subra Blake turning to you so Lucas. [01:03:48] Speaker D: Is free, but tangled. So, I think, am I close enough that I'd be able to close the distance and help untangle Lucas? [01:03:58] Speaker A: Yeah, I'll buy that. [01:03:59] Speaker D: Okay, then I would like to do that. [01:04:02] Speaker A: Would you like to call that dexterity and athletics? [01:04:06] Speaker D: Oh, sure. [01:04:08] Speaker A: I think also, if it's not, it could be survival. I'll take either one of those on the off chance you have more survival than athletics. But I don't think you do. [01:04:15] Speaker D: I do, actually. I have zero athletics in this body. [01:04:20] Speaker A: Break out those girl scout skills. [01:04:23] Speaker D: One success, one hit. [01:04:25] Speaker A: All right, then. That's enough to buy off the complication for Lucas. So describe that scene for me. [01:04:30] Speaker D: I close the distance. I'm not super athletic, so there's no parkour or anything like that. But I get to Lucas, and I just start grabbing at tufts of this thread. Ideally, it's not so Lucas hasn't moved so much that it's totally wrapped up in him. So it's pretty easy to kind of be like, no, no, give me this. Pull your arm this way. Do this, do that. And I'm just kind of grabbing chunks and pulling it, but making sure not to make the situation worse. There's a little bit of dexterity in making sure that he doesn't get stuck even more than he already is. [01:05:08] Speaker B: I think some of it got in my nose. [01:05:11] Speaker D: Well, better in your nose than, I don't know, wrapped around your arms and legs, I suppose. So. [01:05:20] Speaker A: Thank you, Subra. You are the last among us who is yet to act. And do you have a friend who is near you attempting to put you back in the green room? [01:05:29] Speaker C: I'd rather not. Um, what do I have to do to get out of this? [01:05:34] Speaker A: Grapple would be close combat, and might is your. Your bisticuffs skill. [01:05:41] Speaker D: Oh. [01:05:42] Speaker A: But if you have a cursed ability that you'd like to call upon, or an outsider ability, like, to call upon, there are all options there. [01:05:50] Speaker C: Well, um, I still have. So. So, uh, I guess this is a new scene. So almost literally so I'd have to reactivate brutality. So let's bleed a cristi to do that, which is rapidly fixing my pool. And then does that mean that my fisticuffs count as heavy weapons? [01:06:14] Speaker A: Yeah. [01:06:16] Speaker C: All right, time to punch things, I guess. Let's see here. Uh oh. Uh oh. What have I done? Sorry, I have. That was dumb. I have zero for. Never mind. I have zero for close combat and also wicked success. [01:06:42] Speaker A: Yeah. Loving this. So Subra fists like a neutron star, forming dents with your hatred of this particular moment. The thing about cosmic level forces is that the scale is all wrong, right? Like, humans can't conceive of a hundred miles, let alone a hundred light years. So when Subra is like, I don't want to hurt this person too bad, I'm going to turn it down to, like, 10%. You don't realize that your 10% is still enough to, like, send a Mars spiraling out of orbit, crashing into the sun. So given that its brutality, imagining this is, like, fists up, and then it is, uh. [01:07:26] Speaker C: You ever get kicked in the face by a cancan dancer? No, I don't advise it. And one character, shod foot, is going to connect with this or stagehand who's just doing their job. [01:07:46] Speaker A: Just doing their job, indeed. The brutality, of course. More than enough to end the life cycle of whatever this particular creature is. You smash into it, there's another explosion as it hits the ground. This time, I need everyone to roll. Athletics and dexterity as an. Imagine a grenade, but instead of metal bits, clipboards. [01:08:19] Speaker B: No successes. [01:08:20] Speaker A: All right? [01:08:21] Speaker D: No successes. [01:08:23] Speaker A: Okay. I'm not sure it's the shock then, because you've seen fire, you've seen fabric or, sorry, lightning fabric. You do not expect clipboards. Everyone takes one harm as you get battered in various ways, either clipped edge on by it, or just straight up battered in the face by the call sheet from this particular play. [01:08:44] Speaker C: I gotta stop taking harm. [01:08:48] Speaker B: I think we see one of the clipboards fully smack Lucas in the face. It's vicious paper cuts. But then, because I'm assuming we're about to hit a new round as well, you see them knit back up, as his undead strengths can regenerate. One injury at the beginning of each round. [01:09:11] Speaker A: Blake and Lucas, opposite ends of the spectrum. There, your one harm is just going to be a bruise that never goes away. Where on your body is that bruise? Now? [01:09:24] Speaker D: That bruise is like my upper arm, which really sucks. I assume it hits me because I'm positioned such that I'm still in the direction of facing Lucas. So it would have smacked me in the arm. And there's just this nice little welt there. Not super great. Not super great. There goes my desire to ever wear tank tops ever again. [01:09:49] Speaker A: A sleeveless dress off the table for Blake Sweeney. Yeah. What is your question, Clara? [01:09:57] Speaker C: I remembered we had, like, a pool of collective, like, successes that we could bank. [01:10:01] Speaker A: Are you talking about momentum? [01:10:02] Speaker C: It was momentum. That's what I was thinking of. [01:10:05] Speaker D: Oh, we do have momentum. [01:10:07] Speaker A: Yeah. You have three. Yeah. [01:10:09] Speaker C: I can't use it for this, though. I just need to start rolling better. [01:10:14] Speaker A: Yeah, you can try one for one. You can buy enhancements. So you have to already have had a success if you want to not fail. The default cost is two. [01:10:22] Speaker C: Yeah, that's what I thought. Okay. [01:10:24] Speaker A: And then instead of knocking people around and stuff like that, you can. You can buy momentum that way. [01:10:30] Speaker C: Well, let me try to get roll. I'll roll less like shit. Sorry. [01:10:39] Speaker A: For the time being, we have eliminated the immediate dangers. There are no stage hands. Well, I say immediate dangers. There is something dangerous about these costumes and the way the cats are gyrating. But they don't mean you harm. [01:10:56] Speaker B: They can't be far behind, though. [01:11:00] Speaker A: No. You have just a minute to collect yourself. What are we trying to do? Where are we trying to get. [01:11:07] Speaker C: Okay, um, do you remember no one here? Does anyone here look familiar? Any of these cats? [01:11:17] Speaker A: No. The. You are suddenly coming to terms with the scale of the operation in this space. That major general did not appear in the music man. All the cats did not appear in Penzance. [01:11:34] Speaker D: Follow up question. How are the. Like, I know that we kind of said that, like, there are. You know, the people feel the same as. As far as, like, the degradation is a thing. Right. But how is this. Obviously, it's a junkyard. But how is this stage compared to when we left music man? [01:11:55] Speaker A: What do you mean? [01:11:57] Speaker D: Like, if we were looking at something that had text written on it is. Could we actually, like, read the text or is it at the same sort of level where, you know, it's degraded too much? So we can't. [01:12:08] Speaker A: So in that there is no such degradation on this play or on Penzance. Happy to explain more on an esoterica and cunning role. [01:12:19] Speaker D: Yeah, I'll give that a shot. Ooh. That is three successes. And I. My ten is not on my hunger, so not a wicked or not on my curse. [01:12:34] Speaker A: So take those two extras and burn them for momentum. [01:12:37] Speaker D: Yeah, absolutely. I have a feeling we're gonna need them. [01:12:41] Speaker A: Puts the root to five. And with the one hit, you need to get the answer. Each individual production is self contained. And, you know, the degradation happens when it goes too far. When. When it resets. Right. How long before it resets? How long before it finishes? That's the question. You've had a tape, right, as a child, and if you let it play all the way through and rewind it, it lasts longer than if you just play that one song, rewind. One song, rewind. Right. So we can explain that these, at best, we can tell these productions have not been interrupted until y'all showed up. And then, second, we know there are understudies, right, because the cast kept changing in the music band. So there has to be somewhere else that these people are going or being kept in between shows. Okay, so how do we break out of here? Into there? The stagehands are interrupting you because you're not supposed to be here. Right. [01:14:05] Speaker C: It actually, we might need to go with the stagehand. [01:14:10] Speaker B: Ooh. No. [01:14:12] Speaker C: Think about it. If we're supposed to go where we're supposed to wait for our turn, wouldn't they put us back there? [01:14:24] Speaker B: Yes, but what's our turn? And what place would that put us? [01:14:30] Speaker A: If you wanted to get with the actors who weren't on stage, or if you had a problem that needed fixed, what would you do? [01:14:41] Speaker B: I guess we can play along with the stagehands. [01:14:48] Speaker C: Well, we've kind of destroyed the ones here. [01:14:53] Speaker B: Well, then we'll go find some other ones. Oh, I don't know. Um. Come with me. And you'll be in a world of pure imagination. [01:15:12] Speaker A: A wonderfully sweet song. In this case, it is not that blinding white flash. It's a wavy, mirage like video transition as your field of vision starts to kind of fog over. And then in the movie version of this, you would realize that we've just put a plate of, like, a frosted candy glass over the lens. And as it peels away, you find yourself on a rolling, whimsical, green, hilly landscape. Mushrooms popped up. The deep, overwhelming smell of confectionery. A burbling river in the background. Deep and rich. A creamy chocolate. [01:16:03] Speaker B: Well, that worked wonders. [01:16:04] Speaker A: Hmm. [01:16:05] Speaker B: I've always wanted to do this. And immediately, Lucas is going to kneel down and pluck up a mushroom. [01:16:16] Speaker A: What flavor would you like it to be? [01:16:19] Speaker B: I think in his little accursed heart of hearts, he wants it to be licorice. [01:16:25] Speaker A: Mm hmm. Red or black? [01:16:27] Speaker B: Oh, black. [01:16:29] Speaker A: Excellent. [01:16:29] Speaker D: Red is not licorice. [01:16:32] Speaker A: That's an opinion. [01:16:34] Speaker D: It's. It's correct. He wants to say fact. [01:16:39] Speaker B: Licorice root flavored. [01:16:40] Speaker A: Mm hmm. Well, we know what happens in Willy Wonka when greedy little children avail themselves too enthusiastically of the treasures of Mister Wonka's chocolate factory. Don't we. [01:16:54] Speaker C: Get murdered by Oompa Loompas. [01:16:57] Speaker B: Trying to get stagehands for someone to come? But also, he's just a menace and wants to be the bratty child. [01:17:04] Speaker A: Well, in this case, Lucas is correct, because as that happens, there's a Willy Wonka figure. Tall, narrow, has the cane, leans forward, very disapproving, like a sadness tut. Right. Willy Wonka isn't a menace in this version, but he's disappointed because you're not going to be able to make it to the end. Reaches forward, blows the whistle. [01:17:26] Speaker B: Delicious. [01:17:31] Speaker A: Bad things happen when you eat too many sweets. I wasn't ready for that. But the song proceeds, and Lucas being assuming you go along with it, they are gonna oompa you out the loompa. [01:17:47] Speaker B: Are we going with this? [01:17:51] Speaker C: It's hard to argue with a dozen tiny men carrying you. [01:17:55] Speaker B: You're right. And he just kind of, like, leans into it and luxuriates. [01:18:01] Speaker A: Now, Subra and Blake, according to the rules of the show, you have to find a way out. How do you break the rules of the Wonkaverse? [01:18:16] Speaker C: I have always wanted to do this. I will take a bite of a. I'll grab one of the little teacup flowers and take a big old bite. [01:18:28] Speaker A: Butterscotch. [01:18:31] Speaker C: Honestly, it's fondant. It's upsetting for everyone involved. [01:18:39] Speaker A: But we worked really hard. Don't be a bitch. That's not the song. [01:18:45] Speaker D: But it is now. [01:18:48] Speaker C: It is now. [01:18:52] Speaker D: Well, here's. Here's the problem. Because I, while Lucas and Subra have always wanted to eat some of the things, I've always wanted to know what it was like to swim in that chocolate river. Always. So you know what? We're here. I'm never gonna get another chance at this. I am diving into that chocolate river. [01:19:15] Speaker A: Diving or cannabis diving? [01:19:17] Speaker D: Yes, diving. [01:19:23] Speaker A: Fun fact about that. About that chocolate river. It's not as deep as we are led to imagine. [01:19:28] Speaker D: No, we're not doing high dive. Right. We're doing shallow swim. Team dive. [01:19:34] Speaker A: Got it. [01:19:34] Speaker D: You just. You go along the surface. Just get your momentum. Skim the top. [01:19:41] Speaker A: Well, that is good. Into the review. Go. And you have made a choice that others in your situation wouldn't and that prevents you from taking injury. We don't talk enough about how deeply dangerous the factory is and how the safety standards are. But Willy Wonka isn't entirely to blame because the children were the responsibility of their parents and at different points did circumvent obvious safeguards. So as Blake Sweeney dives into the water, you get Oompa Loompa doople de dare. The court finds you breached your duty of care. Oompa Loompa dupity disk. That's what the judge calls assumption of risk. As you are hauled off into the backstage area. The last line is supposed to be Oompa Loompa Doople dee do. Only a partial judgment for you. [01:20:45] Speaker D: I'm so happy right now, as you. [01:20:48] Speaker A: Are at most 60% responsible for the harm that has fallen upon you. But not in this case, because Blake Sweeney has dove correctly. And thus we arrive. Lucas, first out the door, the very second you are out of the camera range. Whatever the camera or the audience would be, you are dropped down. There is. There's already a fawning stage hand there who's ready has a towel or a napkin thing for you to wipe the candy off your face. [01:21:19] Speaker B: Thank you. [01:21:20] Speaker A: Looking down at the call sheet, doesn't find you. I think you're back in seven. I don't have you here. Go check in with the manager. I will. [01:21:29] Speaker B: I need the rest of the chorus, Subra. [01:21:32] Speaker A: Likewise, they give you. Your teeth are visibly stained with the fondant, so you get a small oral hygiene package. It's like a little, like a medicine cup with some water, enough to swish and clean. Blake, you appear dripping in chocolate, leaving it just everywhere behind you. The poor costuming intern stagehand. All of the various stagehands have been of roughly the same size. This one is visibly smaller and even without a face. Incredibly upset that this has fallen in their lap again. Speaking no mouth. Is it in my head? Is it allowed? Unclear how the rules here work was waiting for you with just a towel, and then just kind of lowers it defeatedly as they see you are covered. Follow me. [01:22:34] Speaker D: Okay. [01:22:37] Speaker A: To the extent that you all follow your instructions, I want you to imagine the following behind stage at a theater company, all the various departments, all the dressing rooms, all the racks multiplied like a factory farm. Are you familiar with the sense of the panopticon? So you have all the cells on the outside and the big bit in the middle. Well, in this case, the cells on the outside would be stages. And in the center is, like the theater industrial complex, an infinitely stacked silo of green rooms and catering and offices and all of that. So, Blake, as you proceed, I think it makes the most sense that, subra, you've been left your devices. And, Lucas, they just say, go check to the manager. But that's not this person's problem, so I'm not going to follow you. That Blake is the one you would kind of coalesce around. [01:23:46] Speaker B: Yeah. [01:23:48] Speaker A: So then you arrive in the costume department, and I'm. Lines. I am talking lines like bread lines. In the great depression, hundreds of actors from every conceivable stage production lined up, getting pieces traded in, getting pieces traded out. Turn left. Makeup chairs in every direction, where hundreds of actors and hundreds of stagehands moving in unison, stenciling all the various bits and bobs onto their face and elsewhere. [01:24:33] Speaker B: Oh, what an operation. [01:24:37] Speaker D: Yeah. [01:24:38] Speaker C: This would require so much power. [01:24:42] Speaker B: Oh, God. [01:24:45] Speaker D: We're probably out of our element here. [01:24:49] Speaker B: Yes. Um, we should leave. Yeah, we should leave. [01:24:57] Speaker D: How? [01:24:58] Speaker C: What do you mean, leave? [01:25:00] Speaker B: Well, we found our way through with all these liminal spaces and things. Why don't we find our liminal way out? [01:25:09] Speaker D: And. Okay, let's say that we do that. Are we just gonna take ourselves and head out and just leave? And I kind of, like, gesture to the hundreds of bodies inhabited by human souls. [01:25:34] Speaker C: This is a lot of people. [01:25:37] Speaker D: I have no idea how we'd get ourselves out, much less one person that we came here for, much less this many people. [01:25:50] Speaker B: And Lucas is, like, actively all the places, Blake, where you know that he would be like, well, I don't care about them. He's having a hard time saying that, so he's kind of glitching. Hmm. I I think that we should do the good thing. [01:26:20] Speaker C: And that is rescue all of these people somehow. [01:26:26] Speaker B: Of course. That's exactly. Exactly what we should do. [01:26:31] Speaker C: You look pale. [01:26:34] Speaker B: I'm a vampire. Leave me alone. [01:26:38] Speaker A: The line has moved forward up. I'm assuming, Blake, you do want non chocolate clothes. Yes. So I will ask either Subaru or Lucas, what role has Blake Sweeney been cast in? Which costume is she given? [01:26:51] Speaker C: I think you said sweeney. [01:26:55] Speaker B: Oh. [01:26:59] Speaker D: That is my last name. [01:27:05] Speaker B: Yeah. [01:27:08] Speaker A: As the lead or as the romantic interest? [01:27:11] Speaker B: Oh, no, I think we got to go full lead. Blake's dead. I think it's funnier to. Yeah, they just heard sweet Sweeney. [01:27:20] Speaker D: Yeah. Here. [01:27:21] Speaker C: Yeah, that makes sense. [01:27:22] Speaker A: Mm hmm. So your clothes are disposed of, but you get a wonderfully flowing. I don't know how to describe the fabric that looks like a potato sack. Right. It's not a smooth fabric. It's very, like, not ruffled, but it's wrinkly. [01:27:40] Speaker B: Rough linen. [01:27:41] Speaker A: Yes, rough linen. You get the. The neck tied ascot. But I just. A mess. Prop razor comes later. But what comes after costume. Those of you who are or what comes in addition to costume, you get the makeup. So I hope you like your new look. Blake Sweeney. [01:28:04] Speaker D: Oh, my God. This is like inhabiting a new body, but it's still my body. This is crazy. [01:28:13] Speaker A: You look like what people imagine Lucas looks like when they think of vampires. [01:28:20] Speaker D: This is. [01:28:20] Speaker B: I like the sallow cheeks. They look good on you. [01:28:22] Speaker D: Yeah, they do, don't they? I'm. You know, there might be something to this acting thing. [01:28:29] Speaker C: I really wish that they hadn't taken such influence from Tim Burton with later productions of this show. [01:28:35] Speaker A: Mm hmm. [01:28:36] Speaker B: Well, you know, the heavy eyeliner's nice. [01:28:40] Speaker A: Taking some more time to banter as opposed to rescuing children or the people here. [01:28:46] Speaker D: I figured this is happening. These conversations are happening while the makeup is getting applied. Yes. [01:28:53] Speaker C: All right, well, can we pied piper them out? [01:29:00] Speaker B: I think we have to go find the piper. [01:29:04] Speaker C: The director. [01:29:06] Speaker B: Hmm. That blow hard. [01:29:10] Speaker D: Okay, well, question how, like. I mean, could we find a production that's, like, in rehearsal? So, like, the director might be more involved than one that's, like, actually running? Because then we'd actually be able to, like, get some face to face time with him. Right. [01:29:35] Speaker A: And how would you identify that production, assuming you're in the middle of the. The meatpacking plant equivalent of the theater industry? [01:29:47] Speaker C: We're in a. But someone had to have checked a call sheet or something to get Blake Sweeney right. [01:29:52] Speaker A: Mm hmm. [01:29:53] Speaker C: So I assume there are other call sheets for the costume department of people in production and seeing who's doing costume tests versus people who are doing or fittings, even. I'm gonna go look for one. [01:30:10] Speaker A: Thank you. I will say, if you want to be able to just, like, yoink one off a table, steal one. We're talking Dexterity and larceny. But you might be able to persuade. [01:30:20] Speaker C: A stagehanda, I'm going to bleed a die so that I can slip off the mask, which is something that outsiders do or outcasts can do. An outcast can let a portion of their alien nature slip through, helping them with social interactions. This gives an automatic hit to the outcast, which applies before the role on a relevant influence action. For example, if a very, very upset dance choreographer showed up because the costumes for the production cannot be moved in. [01:31:03] Speaker A: I've been waiting a long time for you to do this in this particular universe. And I'm glad you have decided to do so now. Oh, now I'm scared because you are vastly underestimating how persuasive this particular gesture is. Describe what it looks like when Subaru reveals their true nature. Every outcast is a little different. And you peel back a little bit of that veil to reveal the truth underneath which I believe at this point, neither Blake nor Lucas have seen. [01:31:35] Speaker C: Um, yeah, it's, it is. It really peaks rather than explodes. But I stand a little straighter this, like, and it's almost blinding light from every orifice, all of them, as I just start to speak in a volume, a volume that your ears can no longer comprehend. It is so loud. It just has come back around to silence. And the whole space that I occupy is blinding, deafening, and freezing cold. And for a second, you are the only person in the world like, you are the only person in the universe. Universe. You are miles and miles away from anything and everything that you could touch or know, and you will. This is, you will never be near anything else. You are so lonely. [01:32:51] Speaker A: Very cosmic sense of scale crashing into the room. So you let that slip out, and you go to speak to the nearest stagehand to make your complaint or your request. But it is immediate. The first time you make any kind of eye contact with the shapeless face of this creature. It recognizes what you are. And what Blake and Lucas you will see as Subara approaches is every single stage hand that you can see operating as if in one hive mind. All of them one hand forward in a gentle bow, gesturing in a direction. [01:33:45] Speaker C: We're either headed to see the manager or getting escorted off the premises. Let's go. [01:33:53] Speaker B: Uh huh. Uh, I think as we kind of see Lucas start to, like, almost like, scared scurry. Uh, past Subra, um, he goes past the bank of, uh, makeup mirrors, and he is not visible in them, as his bane that is currently afflicting him is not visible in mirrors. [01:34:24] Speaker A: You'll proceed a certain distance until you arrive at the stairs. And here there is a larger stagehand you're starting to see now, a bit like orcs. They are ordered by power in terms of size. This one, much bigger, broader shoulder, Dorito shaped head, six hot dog neck kind of stagehand. And he looks at Subra, down at Subra, because, like, I'm talking like Jason Momoa, big man, looks at you, looks down at his clipboard, looks at you, looks at the clipboard. Well, I don't have you on here. Are you a new arrival? [01:35:14] Speaker C: The director wants to go in a different direction, and so I am the new choreographer. [01:35:22] Speaker A: No new choreography. You see him just reaching for a pen, writing down the line. And your entourage? [01:35:31] Speaker C: I need my assistance. [01:35:35] Speaker A: Assistant. Well, this is a surprise. I don't have a room ready for you, but if you'll take the second on the left upstairs, we'll see to it all your needs are tended to. [01:35:52] Speaker C: Thank you. Finally. Good service. [01:35:54] Speaker A: Around here, the amount of deference is shocking to all parties involved, and it will perhaps make slightly more sense as you ascend the stairs and make it too this next level. If you've ever been behind stage or are even on a movie set, you can tell how important someone is by two things. One, how big the dressing room is, and two, how fancy the thing on the door is. And in this case, the hallway is quite long. But there are only two things visible for you. Second on the left, not labeled at all. Super. You can open that door. We'll talk about what's inside it later. The only door in this entire hallway that has something on it is a big, big gold star. Like, comically large, considering the size of the door. And then below it, in a beautiful calligraphy font, Lucy bly. [01:36:55] Speaker C: I'm gonna sprint to that door. [01:36:59] Speaker B: What? Subra where you go. [01:37:05] Speaker C: Lucy's in that room. [01:37:09] Speaker B: Uh, fucking Lucas looks to Blake. Who's Lucy? [01:37:15] Speaker D: A small human. [01:37:17] Speaker B: Oh, the missing child. [01:37:20] Speaker D: Yes. [01:37:20] Speaker B: All right. Yes. [01:37:26] Speaker A: Throwing the door open, listening at the door, pausing, looking. Just kicking that baby down. [01:37:29] Speaker C: Ah, Lucy. I am supra is too good, too sweet. Throws that door open. [01:37:38] Speaker A: Mm hmm. It is, alas, empty, save for a stagehand. This one matronly in form, because child actors cannot be left unattended and must have someone on set who is going over various amounts of paperwork. You burst in, she sees you, we're still in the same scene, you're still leaking, and she goes, oh. Oh, how exciting. Another one. [01:38:12] Speaker C: I'm so sorry. What? [01:38:14] Speaker A: Well, Lucy's been having to do all the work here all on her own, but they've had the director. He's found another one. And that means, though, it's going to be so much better around here for us. [01:38:24] Speaker C: I'm so sorry. What? I, um. What? [01:38:33] Speaker A: Well, you're a star. [01:38:36] Speaker C: Oh, I just got the pun. And I hate you now. [01:38:49] Speaker A: 10 hours I've been waiting for this moment. [01:38:54] Speaker C: What? Um, Lucy is where? Lucy's. Uh, hold on. What? [01:39:09] Speaker A: I don't know how much back and forth you and I need to do here. I will take for granted that Subaru is struggling to connect with the moment Lucas or Blake as the stars are entourage. If you would like to jump in and manage your talent more than. [01:39:24] Speaker D: Yeah, absolutely. As Subra just stands there repeating what over and over and over again, I'm gonna just kind of, like, lean in and just be like. I think they mean that she's an outcaste. Right? [01:39:42] Speaker C: How familiar am I with Lucy? [01:39:44] Speaker A: Not at all. [01:39:45] Speaker C: Okay. That's what I thought. [01:39:46] Speaker A: Didn't know she existed until she went missing. [01:39:48] Speaker C: That's valid. [01:39:49] Speaker D: Okay. [01:39:50] Speaker C: Yeah, I guess I never got the chance to see her. [01:39:55] Speaker B: That does make sense, though, because that's a lot of energy. [01:40:00] Speaker D: Are you the choreographer? Anyway, it doesn't matter. [01:40:03] Speaker C: One of my was the choreographer. [01:40:06] Speaker D: Oh, that explains way more. Okay. All right, so. Excuse me. Yes? You know, Subra here is the new choreographer and actually is supposed to meet with Lucy. So where is she? And can we set up a meet with her now? [01:40:29] Speaker A: Oh, I'm. I'm afraid that's. That's not really what I'm. I'm in charge of. You would have to speak to someone else. [01:40:37] Speaker B: I'm just. [01:40:38] Speaker A: I'm sorry. I'm just here to make sure Lucy's okay. [01:40:43] Speaker D: Okay, can you tell us who to talk to, then? Do you know where she is? Uh, oh. [01:40:49] Speaker A: I mean, the director would be happy to help you. [01:40:53] Speaker B: Yes, the director. Speaking of, where are they? [01:40:57] Speaker A: Oh, I don't. And what? You realize very quickly, stagehands are limited to a very specific set of tasks. And when you try to push that programming outside it is Westworld. They're like, doesn't look like anything to me. So they will give you unsatisfying answers unless it deals immediately with their particular purview. [01:41:15] Speaker D: Okay. Um. Hmm. I'm the chance that. What? What are the chances that this person has ever actually, like, met the director? And if I were to, say, have them recall a memory, that that would be. That that would lead to helpful information. [01:41:36] Speaker A: Give it a shot. [01:41:39] Speaker D: Okay. Yeah, once. Once I kind of realized that this is going not in the way that I would like it to. I'm going to bleed one of my cursed eye, and I'm going to activate memory scape. I project a recreation of one of the target's memories into the space around you for everyone to see. If it's immortal. I can choose the memory. And I assume that she is mortal. Am I assuming correctly? [01:42:16] Speaker A: No. [01:42:16] Speaker D: Okay, well, then, that's fun. Well, then this, I'm sure, will be terrifying, because if she's not mortal, then she gets to choose the memory that we see. [01:42:34] Speaker A: Yeah. Blake is going to themselves learn. And also allow Lucas and Subra to learn a lot more about how this place operates. Because Blake has probably never seen or met or heard of the creatures that operate as servitors of the plains. The myriad of ways that life can take shape beyond here. And the memory that comes immediately to mind for this particular person is a. Well, it's a plea for help, because as the room darkens and dims, you see an impid creature imagining bony facial features. Leathery wings, no hair, but like a soft, sloping back, kind of like egg shaped head, little three pronged toes, three pronged hands. And there's a vague sense of just, like, flying through the openness with notes of the same thing you got from subor, that big emptiness. And then almost imagine this creature flying and then just being caught in a snare, stripped down into plain black box space. And a gentleman walking forward. Very small, tight goatee. Big, thick. I went to NYU. Round black glasses, bald on top, but still around the side. Sweater over a shirt with a tie. Walking up, examining, circling. Their lips are moving. But does this. Sorry, this is a question for you. Does it let you hear? [01:44:43] Speaker D: It does not say that it doesn't. So I assume it's a complete and total recreation, which means any sounds of sights, smells, etcetera. [01:44:51] Speaker A: Okay? Then you hear him speaking. It is not a language any of you understand. It's atonal. The grammar seems based on repetition and echo. So as he speaks, he lowers his voice, and then that timbre reflects differently off the room, which seems to mix in some kind of way. Uh, you will recognize it plainly as sorcery, but you can't disentangle the ritual or how it works. And as he speaks these things, you see the creature shift. That the. The middle of the three claws splits. And now it's a hand, and it starts to change color. And then you see the skin kind of peel open and then fold back. And now it's those theater blacks. And when the transformation is complete, this impid creature has been transformed and bound by this sorcerer into what you see. Now, I don't think the creature is conscious for this or aware of it. So we'll say that that ends. And then the, uh, the stagehand is saying, is there anything else I can do for you? I can show you to your room. Um, would you like a snack? Catering is very, very good here. [01:46:25] Speaker C: I'm gonna look at Blake and Lucas and ask them, do you want to see the director? [01:46:35] Speaker B: I think we have to, dear. [01:46:38] Speaker D: Yeah, I think so. [01:46:40] Speaker C: Uh, I'm very sorry for the thing that comes next. And, uh, I'm gonna grab a chair and throw it at a. At one of the mirrors. And in my truly booming star Karen. [01:47:02] Speaker A: Voice. [01:47:04] Speaker C: As celestial Karen voice. Just go. I demand to see the director. This is not going to work. Excellent dance moms got along. [01:47:20] Speaker A: Floor stays where it is, but stretches out. You see the standard horror movie effect when someone gets pulled down a hallway, right, happening to the furniture, to the stagehand. You're left alone on this blank hardwood space. Everything snaps back into this black box. Just enough room for you all to be comfortable. It's not claustrophobic because you can't really tell how far away things are. And then the feeling of being lifted up, you get that riding an elevator upward feeling. You plop straight through. There's a. Not that you can look up and see, but as it's moving through this space, it comes eventually smashing through the floor of another stage. You're still in a box. It unfolds like a gift present would. And then you realize that you can hear again. You can see again. You are on another stage, to the right and to the back, moving away from the audience. So it's front of stage, back of stage, not backstage, but back of stage, sweeping off into the wings, reminiscent of a thirties or a forties musical number. So you see the women who have their long tights and they're kicking up. The background is swinging. The words will perhaps become eminent to you or gain meaning for you. As the lead actor begins to come down the stage towards you. It's springtime for Hitler and Germany, Deutschland. Behind that is where you arrive, smashing through winter for po and everyone freezes. There's a tremendous amount of tension on the stage as you're looking around and seeing everyone looking at you and panicking. And then a solo beam of light in the audience turns on. And halfway back in the theater, in the middle row, you see a round gentleman in a sweater with a tie, a tight goatee, and thick, thick glasses. You can just see him. Just the tension that the one angry blood vessel. [01:49:56] Speaker D: Guys, I think that's the director. [01:49:59] Speaker B: Excuse me. [01:50:03] Speaker A: Excuse me, excuse you. Ruining another of my shows. Stab. Staaa. Stay. Hands screaming. And then. Oh, no, they're starting to come forward. Not running at you, but. [01:50:22] Speaker B: Lucas is going to run at the director right there with you. [01:50:26] Speaker A: Excellent. Let's make this initiative then, then, yeah. [01:50:42] Speaker D: One hit. [01:50:47] Speaker C: Two. Two hits. [01:50:55] Speaker B: Three hits. [01:50:59] Speaker A: I like it when it's. You'd see an order like that. So, Lucas and then Subra and then Blake and I have rolled the director's die. I apologize for that in advance. And then the stage murdered stagehands will go last. And there are three of them, because there are three of you in this opening round. So, Lucas, you start to charge forward. It is almost a trick of the light, a trick of the mind, because as you jump, I'm assuming, like, leaping off the stage, you're not running to the side or whatever you are. You're gonna hurt all these chairs up towards him. Right? [01:51:57] Speaker B: He is frighteningly nimbly, I think, jumping, like, across the seats and the chair backs and, like, using the arm rests. [01:52:09] Speaker A: So as you're doing that, you see him stand up. And it's a. In the future, assuming you survive, there will be a bit of comedy with a man of this stature appearing as dangerous and smug as he is trying to. Because when the director gets out of the seat, he is not that much taller. This man is about five'two. So he stands up as you come off the stage and he sets his clipboard down. And as he sets it down, there's a sound like a deck of cards shuffling. And he activates his illusion power. And now this theater begins to fill up with directors. There are various ways to tell which is which, and you have some options there. But just letting you know that as you make it out, that is the case. Illusions cannot interact with you physically, so don't worry about that. But it just means that he is hidden among the many. If you've played D and D, this is the mirror image spell, but with many, many more mirrors. That said, let us have you do athletics and dexterity because that will determine how much distance you cover before the illusions start to populate and might make it easier for you to find the real director in the future. [01:53:35] Speaker B: That is two successes, two excellent. [01:53:40] Speaker A: One is a hit. You can use that second to buy additional effect. So instead of making it like one, three of the way, you can make it two thirds of the way to him. [01:53:51] Speaker B: Yeah, I think that I'll write off the first one. It's just like he's very capable of scaling these chairs. The second one, I think he takes kind of an uncanny jump over them that he jumps further than normal mortals should be able to as he becomes more and more visibly his hungry lineage. [01:54:16] Speaker A: Then we get two sound effects. We get the card shuffling, and then we also get that whoosh. As. As Lucas demonstrates, a preposterously, obviously non human vertical leap. [01:54:28] Speaker B: Yes. [01:54:30] Speaker A: Subra to you. [01:54:35] Speaker C: So mad, so angry. I start running towards the director and then realize that I have a long range weapon. And do I have to reactivate brutality? [01:54:51] Speaker A: Wow. Yeah. Racine. [01:54:52] Speaker C: Hell, yeah. Uh, I'm gonna reactivate brutality. I am, for purposes that will become clear, also going to reactivate that, um. Uh, the slipping off the mask again. [01:55:06] Speaker A: Mm hmm. That leads you down to one, right? [01:55:10] Speaker C: That gets me down to one. [01:55:12] Speaker B: Yeah. [01:55:12] Speaker A: Don't go lower than that. [01:55:13] Speaker C: Well, you won't like it. Probably not. It does. It might actually be useful. But both of those combined, I think I'm going to try to shoot. I would also like to demand, where is Lucy? [01:55:36] Speaker A: I'll deliver that line with all the desire you can muster. [01:55:39] Speaker C: Oh, man, I have to act this. Yeah, just firing the first arrow and going, where is Lucy? [01:55:47] Speaker A: Normally, you put the punctuation mark at the end of the sentence, but I like the way Subaru negotiates. So ranged combat and dexterity, it's not gonna be made harder by Lucas presence. Cause Lucas is way higher in the year than Lucas should be. [01:56:08] Speaker C: Oh, man, I've bleeded almost on my cursed dice. So none of these. They're not wicked. That is, however, four hits. [01:56:15] Speaker A: Oh, nice. So Lucas jumps up. You aim at where the illusion at least started. So one hit to get a success. Sorry. The difficulty wise, it's two given distance and the director being a being. Right. Each illusion in the area is a complication. You have to buy off the number of complications. Lowers as you go on. [01:56:48] Speaker C: So would there be a way to activate my Aoe again? [01:56:53] Speaker A: Yes, that's what I'm going to say in this case. 99 seat theater. Right. 99 directors. Aoe can take out a great number of them. So roll a d ten for me. [01:57:06] Speaker C: All right. Boop, boop. Three. Not. [01:57:14] Speaker A: No, it's a. No, it's ten plus d ten. So 13, which gets you to 86. [01:57:25] Speaker C: Yay. 86 out of 86 directors on the wall, I guess. Oh, that burns. Two of my hits, right? [01:57:35] Speaker A: Or three of them. [01:57:36] Speaker C: So I've got two left. I think there's one more thing I can do, but it's kind of weird. I don't think it's going to work. And that is to use. Where did I put it? [01:57:50] Speaker A: Is this a separate action? [01:57:54] Speaker C: I think it would be. It takes up a hit. So it's. And it is just, um. A, uh. Fuck. What are they called? [01:58:01] Speaker A: Shit. Trick. [01:58:03] Speaker C: Trick. Yes. [01:58:03] Speaker A: Yes. [01:58:04] Speaker C: That's a separate action. [01:58:05] Speaker A: Then no, tricks are fine. [01:58:07] Speaker C: Um, can I use instant hatred? [01:58:11] Speaker A: I'll describe her in the audience where it does. [01:58:16] Speaker C: I lost all of the liquid in my throat. Instant hatred. Your target ends up attracting negative attention from strangers. They gain the destroyed reputation status effect for the rest of the scene. My hope is if there are enough stagehands who don't love the way they've been treated, we get them on our side. [01:58:42] Speaker A: Well, I can't think of any stage hand who does not love their job and have zero complaints about it. So, yeah, attracting negative attention from strangers. I will take it. You can either do the stagehands, of which there are eight in the immediate vicinity, we'll affect some number of those, or the cast members, the actors would also work. Which would you like to do? [01:59:12] Speaker C: I think I'm gonna take a page out of a different musical and rally the people. [01:59:19] Speaker A: Mm hmm. Excellent. Well, this is incredibly on note because we've learned over the course of this scenario some important things. Remember in the train car, very, very early, Lucas discovered the people there are not happy to be there. And as you burst into the scene here, they were terrified not of you, but of the director, because they know what happens when things go wrong. And when you smite this person showing the director is weak, we are here to challenge him. It doesn't have to be like this. Cast members find that little bit of something to push them forward. So we will say that the cast generally is a massive. People will give them a pool for harm that they can kind of take as a group, and they will act as a group towards stagehands, such they can keep you all from being attacked. Yeah. Which brings us to Blake Sweeney. [02:00:27] Speaker D: So we've already established that I can tell at a distance if a body can be inhabited because there is a light on inside. Am I able to tell based on this ability, which of these illusions are or which of these directors are illusions and which one is the real director? [02:00:49] Speaker A: The illusion says that it's convincing enough to appear as the original thing, to which I assume means they are giving off all the same amount of detectability. [02:01:04] Speaker D: Well, I don't have a crossbow, and I'm not particularly agile, but I have some abilities that neither Lucas nor super do. And I have the ability to cast a little psychic damage. So I'm going to bleed one of my cursed eye and cast dissonance, and I'm going to make an attack with empathy, with the stunning tag if it hits presence. Presence and empathy. Fantastic. Okay, so I got seven successes. So here's what I'd like to do. One of my powers, or one of my abilities as a dead is status effects. When casting spells with the psychic attunement, bleed a curse, die to apply the effect to a second target. So with my seven, I would like to cast dissonance on a second target. So that's. That's two of those dice. And then there are five left. So I would like to activate the area trick for both of those attacks. So I still have, like, one left over, but that way I do two very large bursts of Aoe in separate areas and hopefully take out a ton of the illusions to really thin down their numbers. Yeah, can I do that? [02:02:36] Speaker A: Oh, I mean, it makes sense to me. You can do all kinds of cool shit when you roll seven hits. Not that Subra would know. So unnecessarily rude of me, and I apologize. [02:02:49] Speaker C: I got five before. [02:02:51] Speaker A: Yeah, that's right. The first time, I think, ever playing a player that I've seen five successes, but then. And what's your last hit for Blake? You can add damage, you can take momentum, you can move things around. [02:03:06] Speaker D: Yeah, I think we'll just take the momentum. Cause momentum is going to be useful, I think. Especially if we need to make something not end poorly for us. [02:03:22] Speaker A: Six, I believe in. Now. [02:03:24] Speaker D: That sounds correct. [02:03:25] Speaker A: Started with three, bought two at one point, bought another one. That's six. All right, roll two. D ten. Also reading now, the area back is called shockwave. That way. [02:03:40] Speaker D: Shockwave. [02:03:40] Speaker A: Okay. The people at this path spent a lot of money on those words. We don't want to. [02:03:46] Speaker D: That is true. So do you want the total number or the individual numbers? [02:03:51] Speaker A: On each individual, please. [02:03:52] Speaker D: Seven and eight, respectively. [02:03:55] Speaker A: Excellent. So we're down to roughly about half the seats in this theater are empty to the bottom of the initiative. Order we go. This is where the cast acts. And this is where the. The Stagehands act. There were three that were fairly proximal to you, one of which was designated for Lucas, who is no longer in the zip code of the stage, which means one of you, between Subra and Blake, will be getting two. The other is one. I'm rolling a d ten for each of you. Seven is Subra. You're the one who's going to get hit twice. At this point, you both roll your defense, which is your stamina. [02:04:46] Speaker D: That is two successes, two hits for me. [02:04:50] Speaker A: So your defense is three. [02:04:54] Speaker C: That is no hits. [02:04:56] Speaker A: Okay? So your defense stays at one. In that case, the stage has come. We are the very low ranking people were downstairs. Now we are at not department heads. It's much, much harder. But shift supervisors in the stagehand world, I don't know. Enough about it. But we're kind of there, which means, for Subra, the first one lands two hits, the second lands two hits. [02:05:28] Speaker C: Okay, so let's talk about armor and taking damage. [02:05:31] Speaker A: Yeah. So you subtract your armor from the damage. [02:05:36] Speaker C: Removed. So I have just taken all. I'm out of any armor. I'm just getting hit. [02:05:44] Speaker A: Now, if they devote all four to damage, that's valid, which they're not going to do. How much armor do you have? [02:05:54] Speaker C: Zero. [02:05:54] Speaker A: Now, how do you start with. [02:05:56] Speaker C: I started with three, so actually, it burned through going through the. Unless I wrote something down wrong going through the. Getting thrown around in the last couple scenes hit me here. But also, I don't know how my body works in this place. [02:06:13] Speaker A: So you didn't use your armor before to get the damage. So that damage happened, which means you have three. Now. [02:06:21] Speaker C: In that case, let's do that. Yeah. Sorry. [02:06:23] Speaker A: The two automatic hits. That's two. They have met your damage. He'll take two, and that damage happens. [02:06:29] Speaker C: Okay. [02:06:30] Speaker A: The first stagehand continues with the two. In the one two that removes your armor. The next stagehand uses his one to grapple. He is trying to wrench the crossbow out of your hand. And the two of you are in a kind of pitched up close battle for control of the weapon. [02:06:57] Speaker C: Now, that's reasonable. [02:07:00] Speaker A: Miss Blake Sweeney at a three, no zero hits on four dice, so you are able to evade the damage. How does this happen? Is it a brilliant pivot dodge at the last moment? Is it a excellently well executed parry? [02:07:21] Speaker D: Oh, no, no. It's definitely not a well executed parry. Once all the damage goes out, I think there's a moment where I kind of spin around to, like, look at Subra and be like, look. And in that moment, I just kind of get a little lucky. I wish I could say that it was about skill, but it is not. It is definitely just luck. They swung, and I moved. So that's story of my life. [02:07:49] Speaker A: Then we return to the top of the initiative order, where our sorcerer tyrant, for those of you who have the cursed form book and want to know what this enemy is patterned on, now moves. First, we have experienced the illusion power. Now we will experience the alter environment power, because fighting on the set of the producer not working out well, nothing to hide behind. The theater begins to give way. We move from the very 1930s Hollywood. Not 1930s. It can't be in the 1930s because the Nazis weren't there until the forties 1950s Hollywood set. And then the very first thing you hear is the sound of a helicopter. The wump. Wump. Wump of helicopter rotors and the different large sweeping staircases give way to buildings three or four story concrete style. The large lighting fixtures and so such become a dense foliage. The humidity in the room turns up tremendously because we've gone from the producers to miss Saigon and all the various directors in their illusory forms have now spread out among the scene of them trying to evacuate the embassy. Lucas, Somerset, we go to you. [02:09:34] Speaker B: Hahaha. Still dressed as Professor Harold Hill. Lucas flying through the air. I think if it's alright, lands relatively close, not directly next to the sorcerer purposefully, but gets just the driest, bitchiest smile on his face. You seem very lonely. Let me help you with that. And is going to reach out, flick his wrist and I would like to bleed. To curse, die and activate. Uh, personal predator. Um, character chooses a target with a medium range, commanding the target's shadow to attack. This creates an animated shadow that uses the fright template and has the incorporeal and unusual anatomy and vulnerable fire qualities. The shadow remains physically connected to the target, causing the target to suffer the gravity status effect until the shadow is destroyed. The shadow fights until destroyed or until the scene ends. [02:10:52] Speaker A: I like this idea. And I have a great direction to go from it. Will you roll? Let's call it cunning and esoterica. Sure. Trying to determine what the odds of you casting this on the sorcerer are. [02:11:10] Speaker B: Ah, yes. [02:11:12] Speaker A: Oh, that sounds like a bucket of dice. I like your odds. [02:11:18] Speaker B: I like the odds. And yet I have no successes. [02:11:24] Speaker A: All right, you got six momentum, so you can buy your way up to success for two. [02:11:32] Speaker B: How do we feel about that table? Yeah. Okay, we're gonna finally start dipping into this momentum. [02:11:38] Speaker A: You've been building it up. It's. It's time. Yes. [02:11:42] Speaker C: Can't take it with you. [02:11:44] Speaker A: So describe then you are able to. There's just something that gives it away. There's something either about your predatory nature or something that has happened in the room. What is that one small detail that you are able to pluck out that allows you to correctly identify discern between the illusory and the real? [02:12:09] Speaker B: Well, with the undead strength and the aforementioned mirror problem. You mentioned that this almost seems like a house of mirrors. Suddenly folded all of these sorcerers into place, but there was a glimmer of it or for a moment, that folding reality. Lucas could see only the real sorcerer for a microsecond, so he'll lose sight of it very quickly. But while in midair, all he could see was the one. [02:12:43] Speaker A: You lash out with your accursed magicks. The spell latches on to the still very human piece of this sorcerer, and the shadow kind of melts off. If you've seen dry ice kind of sublimating, it's that kind of feeling where the just kind of melts off into a cloud that falls around, and you might expect the shadow then to immediately lash out into fisticuffs. Two very round men slap fighting one another in the stands. But that is not what happens, because there are some ways to hurt sorcerers that don't involve fists at all. The shadow appears, and you hear. Oh, great. Yes. No. Excellent job, Melvin. Just like your audition before. You, of course, had to go through all of this effort, but you're never going to make it, are you? No. No, you're not, because no one needs a five two round man to be the lead. Les misdemean. [02:13:46] Speaker B: This is exactly why Lucas has this ability. [02:13:49] Speaker A: And the cold, cutting voice of this sorcerer's deep regrets of past failures is now lashing out at him. [02:14:05] Speaker B: Delicious. [02:14:10] Speaker A: Subra is stunned. Despite it being her turn in the. [02:14:13] Speaker C: Initiative order, Lucas really is a monster. Okay. Okay. So just to get a sense of the space, there is a man being harangued by his own shadow in the middle of Saigon. [02:14:28] Speaker A: Yes. [02:14:29] Speaker C: Okay. [02:14:30] Speaker A: There's also a helicopter and refugees and stagehands all trying to. [02:14:35] Speaker C: No sign of Lucy. [02:14:37] Speaker A: No. [02:14:38] Speaker C: All right, well, uh, just crazy. [02:14:43] Speaker A: We'll get that. [02:14:43] Speaker C: I wasn't actually prepped for that. Um, I think all of this, I think I want. I'm just. I need to take advantage of the space again, so I'd like to be. I I'm gonna start singing again. [02:15:05] Speaker A: Okay. [02:15:06] Speaker C: Oh, God. And so in this moment, you just can quietly hear Subaru saying, something has changed within me. Something is not the same. I am through with playing by the rules of someone else's game. Gonna make me go more? [02:15:33] Speaker A: No, I'm enraptured. Tell me what happens next. [02:15:38] Speaker C: We've established that you can change the scene through changing the song and every. And in this scene in the show, in wicked, it does get a very narrow to a point, and it just sort of ends. The spotlight gets a sickly green hue as it starts, as the stage, the whole world starts to go dark as it starts to concentrate on our little accursed party and also this director who's dealing with a lot. [02:16:19] Speaker A: Go ahead. [02:16:21] Speaker C: And all of the. Like, the city and all of Saigon is starting to kind of melt into something that looks a lot more green and a lot more clockwork than it did before. [02:16:31] Speaker A: Excellent. Removing the cacophony, removing the extra bodies around, limiting the amount you have to deal with by zeroing in the scene to a deeply close, personal moment appropriate for the director. Currently. One thing, though, I will say you are being grappled still, so singing and defending would be a mixed action. Will you look at your pool? And we're going to need the worse of presence and culture or close combat. [02:17:08] Speaker C: And might damn well, based on what you know about me, I would say that close combat and might are gonna be the things I have to roll. [02:17:19] Speaker A: Then I had an inkling. [02:17:23] Speaker C: Well, fuck me, I guess. [02:17:30] Speaker D: Two successes. [02:17:32] Speaker A: Alexa Land. [02:17:33] Speaker C: Specifically a wicked. Not a wicked success, but a tendency. And I'll take it. [02:17:38] Speaker D: Yeah, everything goes in the kristi. [02:17:41] Speaker A: So two hits is enough to successfully perform the song. And also, you can either break the grapple, or you can stay crappled and just sing this song while mauling the shit out of this crustacean. [02:17:52] Speaker C: Ah, yeah. I think this tarantino esque revival of wicked is simply not going to do well. If anything, I don't know what color these stagehands turn when they get stabbed, but it isn't green as I'm gonna take my crossbow bolt and just jab into this thing's face. [02:18:17] Speaker A: Excellent. Excellent. The second piece, of course, is unfortunate because we know what happens when you stab a stagehand. [02:18:24] Speaker C: Oh, fudge. [02:18:26] Speaker A: Yeah. And you found one of the workplace safety stagehands. So the person who is responsible for, among other things, ensuring that there are no fire hazards. [02:18:36] Speaker C: Red tape. [02:18:38] Speaker A: Uh, fire. [02:18:40] Speaker C: Okay, well. [02:18:44] Speaker A: So he's going to burst into flames, uh, in a way, setting this part of the stage alight. Can you roll athletics and dexterity for me? [02:18:53] Speaker C: I think I'm going to die. I can. [02:18:57] Speaker B: Oh, wait. [02:18:58] Speaker C: This is fine. [02:19:01] Speaker A: You have hit points left to go. It takes six before you get to near death. You're not even bloodied yet. Your armor is still intact. How's that result? [02:19:13] Speaker C: I got a lot of sevens. [02:19:15] Speaker A: Okay, you can spend momentum to upgrade and escape it. Otherwise, you will be gaining the aflame tag. Burning tag. [02:19:23] Speaker C: Can I have a momentum so I don't become a comet? [02:19:30] Speaker B: Especially when you put it like that. [02:19:31] Speaker D: Oh, yes, yes, two momentum. [02:19:34] Speaker C: But, yes, I would like two momentum so that I do not become a comet, please. [02:19:38] Speaker A: Spending those two doing the stab and then the shove after. Critically important, as the creature tumbles back and then column of flame in a very old testament kind of way. [02:19:52] Speaker C: Didn't realize they were going to pyro for this show. [02:19:54] Speaker A: Well, the stagehands all have very different shows they were in. You'll remember this stagehand was coming from Miss Saigon. Blake Sweeney, your turn. You have seen a tremendous number of things happen in the last little bit here. Subaru very nearly catching fire. Kai ripping someone's trauma out of them and then giving it a knife so it can stab the person. [02:20:20] Speaker D: Yeah. So obviously, like, we're still in the stage, but, like, are we. Are we still in the theater? So, like, there's still. Okay, great. So. [02:20:30] Speaker A: Oh, I'm going. Sorry. My bad. No, you are in the set that Subaru has created back in the infinite realm rule. [02:20:38] Speaker D: Okay, so I would like to find cover because I need a safe place to put my body. And I specifically phrase it that way because, kids, two with me, because I am going to activate creepy doll. I only have one cursed eye left. I don't want to bleed any cursed eye. Just requires me to hold a die. So I am going to activate that. I'm going to activate creepy doll, and I am going to inhabit the supra's crossbow, and I'm going to take over the crossbow, and I'm going to shoot at the stagehand that is following me before I was able to duck away into cover and hopefully not have to worry about that stagehand anymore. [02:21:21] Speaker A: Well, two things are important. One, don't miss, and two, don't critically miss. [02:21:25] Speaker D: Oh, God. Well, don't say that. [02:21:28] Speaker C: Don't shoot any. Anyone else. [02:21:31] Speaker D: Okay. All right, well, I've never been a crossbow before, so are we gonna call that dexterity and ranged combat? Because that's what Subaru was rolling. [02:21:41] Speaker A: To the extent that a crossbow can be dexterous, I suppose, for want of a better skill set, sure. I think as the crossbow performs, it is probably technology and not ranged combat, but. [02:21:53] Speaker D: Oh, I mean. I mean, I can do that for sure. That's even better. I like that. That is one hit with two enhancements, because I am doing the thing that is the object's purpose, so it counts as three. [02:22:12] Speaker A: I get that. So I'm rolling the defense right now, and I need you to know I've rolled 110. There are two dice left. So this is gonna come down to it. And then a seven. [02:22:26] Speaker D: Okay. [02:22:28] Speaker A: And then an eight. [02:22:30] Speaker D: Okay. It goes to the attacker, right? Not the defender. [02:22:34] Speaker A: It never says in these games, but I've always said it goes to the attacker, which means you tie. [02:22:39] Speaker D: Okay. [02:22:41] Speaker A: And are able to shoot the stagehand. Problem two. We know what kind of stagehands they are. Now the stage is more on fire. [02:22:53] Speaker D: Great. Cool, cool, cool. [02:22:55] Speaker A: Cool. [02:22:55] Speaker D: Cool. [02:22:57] Speaker A: This takes a full turn you're inhabiting, right? So you are not going to have your body back until we return to your initiative order, correct? [02:23:06] Speaker B: Yes. [02:23:08] Speaker A: Godspeed and good luck. Back to the top. It is the director who, as you might imagine, is not enjoying his experience. There is an entire flood of retorts coming back. Oh, my mistake. No, it was a. They've been sleeping with so and so. And then, you know, Jeff had already been all the excuses that creatives used to make up for their own fantasy failures and just roaring out of him. And they are going back and forth at it. But there's fire in the room. The shadow creature is terrified of fire, is vulnerable to fire. And this begins to escalate the circumstances quite quickly, to which case he says two things. One, turning back. In fact, it's all your fault. It's your three. And I'm not going to put up with it anymore. And then he activates his disappearate ability. So the director begins to unfurl into dozens and dozens of animated playbills that float off into the various parts of the scene, up into the rafters, down into the orchestra pit, up and around through one of the vents in the mezzanine, clearing out of the area. [02:24:39] Speaker B: Coward. [02:24:41] Speaker A: The second bit there is that he can summon additional reinforcements. I have rolled the dice. There are nine stagehands who are now within medium band of you all. This brings us to Lucas. [02:25:02] Speaker B: Lucas, still swatting away miniature playbills, kind of looks around. He's making me very hungry. We should leave. I dream. No, that's too sad. My place is here. I fight with you. And as he says this, he's, like, climbing over the seats, too, like, victoriously pointing across the entire place, looking for Blake, not finding them, pointing at Subra. [02:25:39] Speaker A: Instead, you will find Blake in a wagon. We'll say, because as you mount the chair and it gives way in, the wood shifts and forms to become a barricade in revolutionary France. And, like, at the. At the bridge of. At the stern of a ship, right? You're just raising up Steve Zissou, pointing Subra. The smell of smoke gives way to the smell of gunpowder and smoke. As you turn to see Luke, the. The buildings begin to shift. I forget the name of the specific architect who is responsible for the Paris architecture plan, and I feel deeply, personally defeated. But we are on the set of les mis, so you all know what this looks like. And then. Yeah. So, Subra, you are in. In the huddled mass of the other revolutionaries who are on the stage, grabbing their various weapons and forks and such. Blake Sweeney is still currently unconscious, but you are in a wagon where someone has mounted the side of it and is now straddling you, waving the tricolor above you in huge, big strokes, because they think you are dead and they are not going to let your death go in vain. Viva le ble, Sweeney. Vive la France. Viva la revolut. As they swing it around. [02:27:04] Speaker B: We should think quickly. [02:27:08] Speaker C: Where do we find a star? If not, where do we find Lucy? [02:27:18] Speaker A: Uh, Cunningham culture. [02:27:23] Speaker C: Yeah, why not? This isn't my character sheet. Oh. Three hits. [02:27:40] Speaker A: Three hits. Easy peasy. Most popular musical with roll for a child. Female child. [02:27:48] Speaker B: Oh, God. We have to go to Annie. Oh, God. [02:27:49] Speaker C: Oh, God. [02:27:50] Speaker A: Blake's made the noise. Blake. I not Blake rang the buzzer first. Sing the song. [02:27:56] Speaker D: I'm a crossbow. [02:27:58] Speaker C: I can take it. [02:28:01] Speaker D: I can't. I can't sing. Crossbows can't sing. [02:28:05] Speaker B: You're right. [02:28:05] Speaker C: Technicality maybe far away or maybe real nearby. [02:28:15] Speaker A: It's important to visually know that as you move through musicals, the cast stays like, new cast arrives. But now we plop into this orphanage with dancers and men dressed like nazis, a whole host of vietnamese villagers or. Yeah, vietnamese villagers. Various, like munchkin extras from wicked and witches, an entire army of french revolutionaries, and now orphanse. But there it is, sitting on one of the beds, lit in their solo light, singing in a glorious, beautiful child's voice. Lucy belting out. It is. It is haunting. It is good. Do you know the way that Subra made you feel proximity, right? That voice activates the ethereal core of just ripping at the heartstrings. Blake taking the role of someone sleeping on one of the beds, still with the tricolour above. And there's Lucy, and she is singing a song that you will never hear anything like this so long as you will live. I will say, blake, at this point, you can. We're out of initiative order. So the crossbow loses sentience, and then Blake appears, blinking, staring up at a frenchman's trousers. And then the waving flag. [02:30:03] Speaker D: Just shove myself out from underneath this man's crotch. [02:30:11] Speaker B: Lucas is crying. [02:30:15] Speaker A: Everyone'S crying. The entire room has started to freeze as all these different actors. I don't know if this actually happens on set, but I imagine, I would like to imagine that every now and again, everyone is there watching a scene, and the person just delivers it so well that everyone has to take a second back during a rehearsal and be like, jesus. And you get that ASMR tingle feeling that rolls up your spine when something hits just right. And for one tiny, perfect moment, this child is the star at the center of a solar system made up of you and all the actors you've brought with you through this medley. [02:31:05] Speaker D: Okay. [02:31:05] Speaker C: Is it. [02:31:06] Speaker B: Well, there. [02:31:08] Speaker D: There's Lucy. Can we just get her and go? [02:31:18] Speaker C: It's different than the rest of these people. [02:31:27] Speaker B: You know, I was only half joking before about performing a liminal to get out. But what if we do end the music man and he looks around at the room full of people that are here? What happens when these shows end and the proprietor is away? It's awfully liminal, don't you think? [02:31:57] Speaker C: Yeah, we can probably end the show here. [02:32:09] Speaker B: Well, I forgot how Annie ends. I usually am feasting by the time it's over. [02:32:14] Speaker C: Okay, first of all, delight. I can sing the last lines, the lines from the finale song. [02:32:28] Speaker A: Well, let's take it to its conclusion then, without having to make you go through the musical. It is a genuinely heartfelt performance where Subra, playing the role alongside another star, Lucas occasionally taking up too much scenery, as is his nature, but giving you credit for being aware of the moment. Right. And Blake, desperately trying to be out of view because has never seen the musical, does not know the words, and does not want to be called upon to perform a role. [02:32:57] Speaker D: No, never. [02:32:59] Speaker A: Just sitting slightly off screen with the tricolor french person on the left and then one of the nazi dancers on right. [02:33:08] Speaker D: We've become really good friends, actually getting a lot. [02:33:11] Speaker A: It's so, so moving. You might become a musical theater fan after this, after all. [02:33:17] Speaker C: Yeah. [02:33:19] Speaker A: And so you sing and you perform and the show ends. And as is true of all rituals, theater has them as well. Everyone bows, everyone shakes their hands. The costumes are removed, the makeup is removed, and at a certain point, you'll have to go to the stage door when you are there on the threshold. There it is. That's the stage. That's it. [02:33:49] Speaker C: Can we just take them all with us? [02:33:52] Speaker B: Lucas is gonna try. [02:33:55] Speaker C: Yeah. I'm gonna grab Lucy's hand and indicate that she should grab the person next to her so that people start holding hands like what you would for that final curtain call. But I'm gonna start walking towards the door. [02:34:16] Speaker A: You open the door. It is the same experience as before. There seems to be a cliff at which the light from this universe does not pass further. But unlike the inky blackness that was there in the previous instance, it is now a gentle white orange glow, a late sunrise. Subra, you take the step through and then Lucy, and then on down the line. [02:34:46] Speaker D: Yeah. [02:34:47] Speaker A: So Subra, takes the first step, foot lands on cold New England concrete as you exit the stage door of the theater we began in your hand, behind you, held by teeny child fingers. Lucy comes along, and the line will proceed. But this is nothing. The right time and the right place for so many of these people. And as they come out, you see their bodies in a way that is familiar to Lucas, that the, uh, the misty feeling of an emotion being pulled up and brought somewhere else, or Blake, the way that when you are incorporeal, the world seems like it's got that little bit of Vaseline on the camera lens, that slight bit of wrongness as the universe attempts to correct itself. And so the gentleman who was born in 1890 and then played a very senior fellow in the producers gets pulled away to the place that he belongs, rewinding back into the ongoing fabric, the libretto of our lives, until he is at places, until he is back to one. The last person through the door, I believe, at this point, would be Lucas. [02:36:17] Speaker B: He waits for every single one of them to leave. [02:36:21] Speaker A: And then. So you step out, the parking lot is empty, and you see Subra, Lucy, and Blake standing there. I assume Subra is crying. Blake, what's that face like? [02:36:40] Speaker D: I think I'm just talking to Lucy. If Subra is crying, there's an amount of consoling that she is not capable of doing. And Lucy's just been through a lot. So I think Blake would spend this time kind of, like, talking about how amazing she was in the performance and how she's very, very skeptical, and she should be very proud of the work that she's done, because all of her hard work shows and just trying to have that conversation with her. [02:37:14] Speaker A: And then that Lucas, is what you find. [02:37:19] Speaker B: Lucas steps out, straightens up his dreadful three piece suit. Well, then I think I'm hungry. This has been very nice. Too nice. [02:37:43] Speaker A: Suffice it to say, we will move on to the epilogue from there, there'll be a small amount of consternation in this city as Lucy returns. But being of a similar nature to Subra, give you the credit that you're able to have the conversation and be like, let's not tell anybody about the secret dimension we went to. Right. No, Lucy is in on it, and your involvement will be concealed in that way. Her parents are thrilled to have her back. Then there comes a time, a few weeks later, return to our theater. Is the gang coming back together? Is this something that we do on a. On a fairly regular basis? [02:38:27] Speaker D: Yeah, I think it is. Lucas harangues everyone is this. Yes. And yeah, yeah, I'm, I'm, I'm getting into it. You know, there may be something to this. So slowly I'm coming around. Maybe eventually we'll get to a theater that's not this one, but, you know, for now, it's a good place to be. And of course, Subra is part of our group now. So. [02:38:55] Speaker A: Lucy, of course, a star student. [02:38:57] Speaker C: In your class, absolutely weird choice for them to try to really insert as many dance numbers as they did into into the woods. Sondheim. Famously not great for dance numbers, but alas, they persevere. [02:39:20] Speaker A: And unlike the first show, this one ends as it should. Not saying it's a good play, we've established this repertory is not entirely capable of putting on a good play, but there's no one missing. The crowd roaring with applause as the cast and ensemble take their bow. As is now tradition, we will be leaving here for jitters. Right, the diner. And as the three of you part that we have this ending shot, the three of you head for your various vehicles to go. The cast members are peeling out of the stage door and circling around each other. And then there's a light on inside the theater and we follow it down, dressing room by dressing room by dressing room, until there's one at the very, very end. And standing in front of a mirror, there's a rather short gentleman with a close cropped goatee and thick black glasses staring into the mirror. And there's a million things I haven't done. But just you wait. Just you wait. And we fade to black. That has been stealing the show, our original story for curseborn. It came out right now. Do you want to possess crossbows? You want to rip people's regrets out of them? You want to turn into a comet? Go now. Kickstarter purchase. That simple. It's that easy. I have been Aaron, I have been your story guide. But none of this would be possible without the creativity, the delight and the. The amount of joy I've gotten from your facial reactions from the following three persons playing the row. Uh, playing. Sorry, playing the role of Subaru's crossbow as Blake Sweeney. It is Velaque. [02:41:27] Speaker D: V. Yes. [02:41:29] Speaker A: Do the thing. [02:41:31] Speaker D: You don't have a question for me tonight either? [02:41:33] Speaker A: No, I'm. I'm. I'm so happy at the end of this. I'm just letting it. We're loose. [02:41:37] Speaker D: That's. No, that's. That's super fine. Hi, everybody. You all know me. It's me. I'm vy. You can find me everywhere on the Internet. E isforvampire because my name is Vy and I like vampires. I'm also here pretty much all the time doing a whole bunch of shit like this, like, curseboard, which has been so much fun. Oh my God, such a blast. Not just because I got to hear Aaron patter singing, but also for everything else that has happened in this game, it has been an absolute blast. But if for some reason you don't want to see me playing Ivy Larue over on the multi award winning all night society or a crossbow in curseborn, you can find me on Sundays for the next couple weeks over on crit hit chronicles. We are playing a kids on bikes game inspired by the haunting of Hill House, where I play just the absolute worst human. She's awful and it's wonderful. Again, that's, you know, that's. I don't know if I have a type of person that I like to play, but I think I'm finding it. If it's not a knowledge hungry, witchy investigator, it is just awful person. [02:42:50] Speaker A: So I gotta be careful. I'm not gonna be able to cast you and Kai in the same game very often because that is a huge violation of my spotlighting rule. [02:42:59] Speaker D: It is. It is. Yes. The Venn diagram of characters that Kai likes to play and the characters that I like to play are a circle. Just a single, single circle. [02:43:09] Speaker A: But that's me playing the circle to V's overlapping circle as Lucas Somerset. It is. Kai. Kai, I hope I wrote this scenario for three specific reasons. One, I know that you are a huge fan of musical theater. Two, I know that Clara has a tremendous technical background and would appreciate the small bits. And then three, that V would play an amazingly wry foil to that. And I just loved the idea of having like, what about a road trip through multi dimensions with two obnoxious theater people and their friend who does not have this in common. [02:43:51] Speaker B: It was a complete joy. God, some. You committed too many crimes here, Aaron. I think I'm gonna have to fight you. Hi, everybody. I'm Kai. You can find me all over the Internet as a cell of imladris. You can find me literally tomorrow over on Auto Moon Studios in but then, what is a hundred percent improv story that I am doing with super Dylan as two guest storytellers in their new series, new season of but then what? It's a great time. We tell a wild outer space story and then you can find me this Saturday. Finally back on transplantor rpg with the interlude episode between arcanous two and arc three for the Chaos protocol, where it's only been two weeks since the end of Ark two. So it's a good chance to catch up and hop on in because we're about to start arc three. It's going to be really fun. Can't wait to come back and play my horrible, sad dad, maybe dead cowboy. And then back on the Doomsayers on Sunday. And the loop continues, where I am over on imminently in, like, minutes, and also in a week over on Happy Jack's rpg in Outrunners, which is a starscape adventure. And you can find me doing all of these things and so much more if you follow me over on social media and follow my many adventures to come. [02:45:22] Speaker A: We've established that I'm due violence from Kai, but Clara playing super stern. From a scale from one to ten, how offensive did you find that content? Musical theater content? [02:45:32] Speaker C: Not as offensive as the pun at the end. [02:45:36] Speaker A: Oh, it's not a pun. It was delightfully delivered. Clue. [02:45:40] Speaker C: It was. You have usurped John Wick on my list of enemies. John Wick the game designer? Not John Wick the character. I need to make that very clear. [02:45:53] Speaker A: Well, where can people find you having more fun than you get to have here? [02:45:59] Speaker C: Wow. All over the Internet is clearly underscore golden. If you. I'm over here at Queen's court games, playing games fairly regularly. I think I'm on the next thing that airs after this, maybe. [02:46:15] Speaker A: No, be sure. [02:46:15] Speaker D: No, you're not. [02:46:17] Speaker C: Never mind. Pretend that doesn't exist. [02:46:19] Speaker D: Nope. [02:46:19] Speaker A: Am I? [02:46:21] Speaker D: No. [02:46:22] Speaker C: What's next? Spoilers. All right, well, that's probably gonna cut out, but yeah, I'm here at Queen's court games, playin games. Also alongside v, I am playing a vampire in the all night society as Maya Lagasse. I don't remember anything I do other than this. All of my stuff is in intense pre production. So if you keep an eye on the hellscape that is Twitter, you can probably figure out where I am next. [02:46:54] Speaker A: And I am Aaron. I've been your story guide. I'm always your GM. You can find me G and M. All kinds of things. For one, the most award winningest vampire, the Masquerade podcast on the planet, the all night Society, or heaps of our back catalog. I will also be making an appearance on October 30 at Rpgeeks. We're gonna play some view scream again, which going to be a whole big heap of fun. Aside from that, if it's on QCG and it's not happening, the next thing after this, I am probably running it. And the best way to keep track of that is to follow me at Aaron in words or to follow our channel at Queenscourt RPG. On Twitter. At Queenscourt Bsky. No, at Queenscourt dot games dot. So the blue ski Lilink will be in chat. [02:47:38] Speaker D: Queenscourt Games QCG social. [02:47:40] Speaker A: Yes, that one. Facebook Instagram. I don't know what you're into, but you can find us there. The second best thing to do, aside from watch more of our content, is to come here. The conversation we're going to have about all the different things I put these people through. Because if you have $5, you can exchange that $5 for access to the Patreon, where, among other things, you'll get the talk back episode that we're going to record imminently all the previous ones and v not one, but how many? Two original art pieces every month from our ongoing campaigns. I think also in the near future we have finally found a game that allows us to monetize their content and hide it behind a paywall. So you might just get your very own private QCG content just for you. But the only way to know for sure is to sign up on Patreon. Let us know. I'm going to take your money. I'm going to give it to Kaiden. [02:48:36] Speaker D: It's true. [02:48:37] Speaker A: Aside from that, that is all for us from now. We will be here next week but 2 hours ago with more more spooky adventures. It is Halloween season, so we have something creepy for you. Until then. Bye for now.