Speaker 1: This is an Unspoiled Network podcast. This is spoil Me
Speaker 1: covering the Butcher's Masquerade chapters sixty seven through seventy two.
Speaker 1: In these chapters, our plan is being put into action,
Speaker 1: and as with all plans, things immediately go wrong and
Speaker 1: we have to adjust to a degree. We can do
Speaker 1: that to another degree. Only so much can really go
Speaker 1: wrong before it's just a rap. Welcome to spoil Me.
Speaker 1: Welcome to the show everyone. I am Natasha. Thank you
Speaker 1: very much to Jackie for commissioning this episode. Jackie, if
Speaker 1: you're listening, appreciate you very very much. So yeah, this
Speaker 1: section I was saying at the beginning of my last recording,
Speaker 1: which was for Falling Free, one of the books in
Speaker 1: the Vorcosagain saga. But it's a weird thing that happens
Speaker 1: sometimes would spoil me where I will be covering a
Speaker 1: few properties that all have the same like plot beat
Speaker 1: happening at the same time, and it's just a coincidence.
Speaker 1: But it's always wild when more than one book I'm
Speaker 1: covering has an evil twins suddenly show up, or more
Speaker 1: than one book I have that I'm covering is like
Speaker 1: we're about to have an extremely important fraught dinner party
Speaker 1: or something, you know, and right now, what is going
Speaker 1: on in Falling Free is also extremely far reaching plan
Speaker 1: that many people's lives are depending on, but which which
Speaker 1: relies a lot on factors outside of their control which
Speaker 1: are immediately going wrong, and some things that are within
Speaker 1: their control going wrong because folks are unreliable. It is
Speaker 1: so stressful. It really is, like I enjoy reading it
Speaker 1: to a degree because like instantly I'm like, Okay, well,
Speaker 1: obviously that went really fucking wrong, But like, how are
Speaker 1: we going to get out of it? Is there going
Speaker 1: to be a way that our friends find, you know,
Speaker 1: to move past this? And I have to assume likely
Speaker 1: there is, because our means have plot armor. And that's fine,
Speaker 1: that's not a criticism, but it's just the way that
Speaker 1: it works. But I know that likely even if our people,
Speaker 1: like our mains, don't die, that they are going to
Speaker 1: be forced to sacrifice something, and you know, maybe one
Speaker 1: of our side characters might die and I don't want
Speaker 1: that either, And yeah, it's just the whole thing to
Speaker 1: you guys. Look, I've said this before. It's coming as
Speaker 1: no surprise to anybody. Being a control freak as I am,
Speaker 1: comes from a place that is like having grown up
Speaker 1: with parents that were certainly doing their best. I don't
Speaker 1: think all parents do do their best, I'll say that,
Speaker 1: but I believe mine were trying their best. But they
Speaker 1: were not equipped to be parents, really not really, and
Speaker 1: and I knew it, you know, it was like just
Speaker 1: growing up. I was very aware of the fact that
Speaker 1: like they didn't really know what was going on, and
Speaker 1: so I had frequent recurring nightmares that I was in
Speaker 1: the back seat of the car and they were having
Speaker 1: an argument my parents and had forgotten to drive. There
Speaker 1: was nobody actually with their hands on the steering wheel,
Speaker 1: and I had to climb up to the front from
Speaker 1: the back seat in order to grab the wheel because
Speaker 1: they were not paying attention. It is the most obvious
Speaker 1: metaphor on planet Earth. And it is remarkable that I
Speaker 1: was having the stream when I was like seven years old,
Speaker 1: but there it is. I my whole life have had
Speaker 1: this feeling of unease that people are not on it,
Speaker 1: that there is like a black hole beneath me with
Speaker 1: no safety net, and if I don't manage things myself
Speaker 1: and it goes wrong, it's going really fucking wrong. So
Speaker 1: this sort of storyline where you have got to like
Speaker 1: trust the folks around you to do their job. Is
Speaker 1: extremely It gives me a type of anxiety that is
Speaker 1: very specific and personal that is irrational, I recognize and
Speaker 1: is out of proportion to the fact that this is fiction.
Speaker 1: But I still have it. And you know, I understand
Speaker 1: that mostly when you are relying on people in a
Speaker 1: life or death situation, folks do take shit seriously and
Speaker 1: do do their best. But then you have shit that
Speaker 1: happens like Samantha, like wanting her own little mission but
Speaker 1: not doing any of the work involved in making sure
Speaker 1: that mission actually can be carried out. She wants to
Speaker 1: be involved, but she doesn't want to do the homework.
Speaker 1: And that is the kind of thing that not only
Speaker 1: do I feel like this weird sense in my gut
Speaker 1: of like, of course, of course you couldn't rely on her,
Speaker 1: because you just can't rely on people. They just you know,
Speaker 1: there's also a kind of like a part of me
Speaker 1: that is very unreasonable that is going, Yeah, Carl, you
Speaker 1: decided to rely on Samantha. I am so sorry, bro,
Speaker 1: but you really just have yourself to blame for that. Like,
Speaker 1: I don't really understand what you were thinking in giving
Speaker 1: her such an important job, you had to know. Oh,
Speaker 1: It's it's not like Samantha never does anything right. It's
Speaker 1: more that when she does stuff right, it's incidental to
Speaker 1: her doing what she wanted in the first place. Things
Speaker 1: end up going right despite the fact that she decided
Speaker 1: to not follow the plan, you know. And this here
Speaker 1: is like I like her, And that's something that's really
Speaker 1: saying something in terms of what I must feel towards
Speaker 1: because like normally, there is no quicker deal breaker for
Speaker 1: me as a reader or a viewer than a character
Speaker 1: being this particular kind of neglectful and unreliable. I will
Speaker 1: really lose my patience quickly. As many folks have seen
Speaker 1: when I was back in the day covering Harry Potter.
Speaker 1: Hagrid is so many people's like favorite character or one
Speaker 1: of their tops, and I really cannot take him because
Speaker 1: he fucks up so relentlessly all the time, and I
Speaker 1: just can't take it. It's like it just bothered me in
Speaker 1: a way that it was just very much like you're
Speaker 1: supposed to be one of the fucking grown ups, and
Speaker 1: what good are you? You know. So the fact that
Speaker 1: I actually still like Samantha despite the fact that she
Speaker 1: keeps doing this sort of thing. I just think that
Speaker 1: that really goes to show that I do like her,
Speaker 1: that this is like, you know what I'm saying, Like,
Speaker 1: but uh, I also feel so saddened at the fact
Speaker 1: that it doesn't seem she understands the importance of any
Speaker 1: of this. It's bizarre how she can simultaneously be so
Speaker 1: instrumental in their plans because she knows certain things and
Speaker 1: has certain information, she can participate in the planning of
Speaker 1: things in like on a level. But then once it's
Speaker 1: time for the execution of the thing, it's like their
Speaker 1: lives are depending on this, and she just doesn't seem
Speaker 1: to like understand that or keep it in mind or
Speaker 1: maybe grasp that they just get like to they just
Speaker 1: get killed because she, being a god, doesn't really have
Speaker 1: that perspective. I don't know. But anyway, sorry, Michael says,
Speaker 1: what besides, every moment we have seen her has given
Speaker 1: you cause to doubt her reliability. Rob says, the Samantha
Speaker 1: of unintended consequences. Yeah, it's you know, she's very entertaining,
Speaker 1: but when it's time, like if she is being given
Speaker 1: something that is really clutch to do, that's on you
Speaker 1: give her something that is sort of mayhem, give her
Speaker 1: something to do that is distraction, that is her getting
Speaker 1: to like act up and letting her off the leash,
Speaker 1: so to speak. That's where she excels, is just going
Speaker 1: bonkers but doing something that requires the type of precision
Speaker 1: they are asking for here, it's asking for trouble. And granted,
Speaker 1: there's literally nobody else who could really have pulled this off,
Speaker 1: because the whole thing that she's doing is, you know,
Speaker 1: in these little tunnels that she's the only one that
Speaker 1: could fit through. So I don't think they had another
Speaker 1: option if they wanted to carry the plan out this
Speaker 1: specific way. But then you have to figure something else out,
Speaker 1: like you know, I don't know what to tell you.
Speaker 1: So anyway, everything is going very very wrong by the
Speaker 1: end of this section, and it's this odd combination for
Speaker 1: me in my guts of like excitement because I am
Speaker 1: first of all aware that there are likely some other
Speaker 1: contingencies that I'm not aware of because we don't actually
Speaker 1: get to like it's not like the way that the
Speaker 1: story is being told is front loading. Are the readers
Speaker 1: with information about what the plan is. We are being
Speaker 1: given hints of what the plan is, as we go along,
Speaker 1: dropped into like the beginnings of each chapter as a
Speaker 1: replacement kind of for like sometimes not always, for the
Speaker 1: entries in the cookbook. So we're being shown basically what
Speaker 1: all was intended, right before we get the moment where
Speaker 1: it all goes wrong. And because we don't have all
Speaker 1: the information, a part of me is willing to sort
Speaker 1: of like sit back and trust that there were contingencies
Speaker 1: they came up with that would figure that we could
Speaker 1: figure this out, or there are other plans that like
Speaker 1: we dropped, but aspects of it can be incorporated. But like, honestly,
Speaker 1: I really don't know any of that. It's just me
Speaker 1: having a kind of faith and the way that they
Speaker 1: have to communicate just via writing. Coming up with these
Speaker 1: sorts of intricate plans is difficult enough when the people
Speaker 1: are sitting in the same room around a table talking freely,
Speaker 1: never mind the fact that they have to write on
Speaker 1: this board or whatever it is in a bathroom, wait
Speaker 1: for the other to eventually be able to make it
Speaker 1: up that they have to pee and go in there
Speaker 1: read it. Answer how slow the process must be to
Speaker 1: put anything together. It has to be fucking agony. You know.
Speaker 1: So anyway, all that said, this whole thing is just
Speaker 1: really like balancing on a knife's edge, and it's one
Speaker 1: thing if a certain bit goes wrong, but it's that's
Speaker 1: not what we're seeing, you know what I'm saying. There's
Speaker 1: a What I keep thinking about, of course, is what
Speaker 1: do you call it? Ocean's eleven where we don't get
Speaker 1: to see the plan, We don't hear what the whole
Speaker 1: thing is. It appears everything is going very very wrong,
Speaker 1: and then all of a sudden, the camera sort of
Speaker 1: pulls back and we get to see, actually, the things
Speaker 1: that looked like they were going wrong were part of
Speaker 1: the plan all along. And it's fine. That is not
Speaker 1: what's going on here. That's not, at least if it is,
Speaker 1: I am being very effectively snowed as a viewer reader. Sorry,
Speaker 1: it is possible. I suppose that you know, this is
Speaker 1: all part of the that we're acting as if the
Speaker 1: things that aren't going according to plan are problems, and
Speaker 1: it's really exactly what we wanted, you know, like the
Speaker 1: kind of villain that gets arrested on purpose because jail
Speaker 1: is exactly where you wanted to be. Okay, possible, possible.
Speaker 1: I don't think so, though I really don't believe that's
Speaker 1: what's going on, and if it is, I'm not going
Speaker 1: to be mad about it. Just for the record, I'm
Speaker 1: not saying that that is there's no way to pull
Speaker 1: it off, But I think that kind of plan would
Speaker 1: rely too much on the acting abilities of the people involved,
Speaker 1: and I just don't see us like even attempting it.
Speaker 1: I we'll see the number of things that go wrong.
Speaker 1: That's the part that gives me anxiety, one or two
Speaker 1: things where we have to like think on our feet
Speaker 1: and adjust. Inevitable. Right, that's not what we're getting. We're
Speaker 1: getting huge sections of the infrastructure of this plan falling apart,
Speaker 1: and I don't know how you fucking adapt when it's
Speaker 1: you know, the Initially what Carl had said was like
Speaker 1: new plan, we don't attack at all, we don't do anything,
Speaker 1: we just party. And yet once everybody's in there, it
Speaker 1: does not seem to me at least that that's what's happening.
Speaker 1: So I don't know what's what. Mah, I don't know.
Speaker 1: I don't know. So starting with chapter sixty seven, Vra
Speaker 1: had just spotted Carl and was like coming at him
Speaker 1: through this uh, this big ballroom to speak to him,
Speaker 1: and I really like Carl is so unafraid of her,
Speaker 1: and like, granted, right now you should be. You're not
Speaker 1: even in the same place. She can't do anything to you,
Speaker 1: you know, I understand this, But he's just really taunting
Speaker 1: her in a way that I deeply appreciate. I really
Speaker 1: wonder if I would be handling things like this, you know.
Speaker 1: I don't know, because there's a part of me that
Speaker 1: feels like I would be too afraid in a real way.
Speaker 1: But another part of me feels like maybe if I
Speaker 1: were in this situation and I had gone through everything
Speaker 1: that Carl has gone through, there would be a sort
Speaker 1: of fatalism in me that would you know. And also
Speaker 1: always keeping in mind that a big part of the
Speaker 1: way this game works is performance. And if I'm aware
Speaker 1: that there's a camera on me and that behave in
Speaker 1: a certain way is going to get views and potentially
Speaker 1: then sponsors, maybe I would be like this. Maybe I
Speaker 1: would fucking go for it. I don't know. So she says,
Speaker 1: I have a present for you, Carl, It's coming soon.
Speaker 1: And the as this conversation is going on, we have
Speaker 1: this thing with Brittany in the background, and it turns
Speaker 1: out that her jacket, which I was like, what is
Speaker 1: this made out of? It is assembled of these slate butterflies,
Speaker 1: which are the little beanie babies essentially that can be
Speaker 1: brought to life, and she uses one to disable the
Speaker 1: alarm that goes off when an attack is made, like
Speaker 1: the safety thing the warning light, the lights glow slowly
Speaker 1: paled and the powered light faded away. A moment later,
Speaker 1: the common rarity some creature returned to a stuffed animal.
Speaker 1: I held my breath as it fell, hit the top
Speaker 1: of the ELF's spear and landed in Britney's outstretched hand.
Speaker 1: The guard looked up as Brittany pulled the stuffed animal
Speaker 1: behind her back. He returned to his position. These things
Speaker 1: don't count as a spell, they don't count as aggression,
Speaker 1: and so they function here so they can turn this
Speaker 1: fucking alarm off. And later on he sees I think
Speaker 1: raw herself looking up and observing that the light is out,
Speaker 1: and is like, ah shit. So we find out a
Speaker 1: little bit later that the whole thing that we had
Speaker 1: suspected about the bunch of mantis babies being born that
Speaker 1: is indeed happening. That is what's going on, it has
Speaker 1: been done. I knew that this was likely, but I
Speaker 1: still somehow like maintained this hope that it wasn't, even
Speaker 1: though were I in VRA's position, this is precisely what
Speaker 1: the fuck I would do, no question, you know what
Speaker 1: I'm saying. But I was like, I don't know, maybe
Speaker 1: maybe VRA's very dumb. Maybe no, no such luck. But
Speaker 1: we'll get there in a moment. So let's see. Uh.
Speaker 1: I swear to you this, Carl, before this night is done,
Speaker 1: I will have your decapitated head on my back and
Speaker 1: takes off. So now, lucymr You guys, what's going on
Speaker 1: with lucymr? Is? It's still confusing. I think we're you know,
Speaker 1: we haven't been given all the information yet. It's so
Speaker 1: sad and overall is satisfying to me in terms of
Speaker 1: not only the weirdness of the mystery going on with her,
Speaker 1: but ultimately with Florin, because I was extremely concerned about him,
Speaker 1: you know, and I wasn't mad. I understood why he
Speaker 1: felt how he felt. There was nothing in me that
Speaker 1: could really blame him, but that doesn't mean that he's
Speaker 1: not going to completely fuck our plan right up. You know,
Speaker 1: it was just this sense of inevitability that it was
Speaker 1: all going to go left in this like very particular way,
Speaker 1: and I didn't want to see it. I didn't want
Speaker 1: the plot beat of a hot headed person is goaded
Speaker 1: into taking action that is unwise because they can't control
Speaker 1: their feelings of rage and desire for revenge. It is
Speaker 1: a well trod trope, and for a reason, because this
Speaker 1: is honestly a reality in the world, like, this is
Speaker 1: what happens. But it's not fun to watch because you
Speaker 1: know they are about to ruin everything for everyone. And
Speaker 1: I just wasn't looking forward to it. I'll say that
Speaker 1: and then we don't get it. And it was a
Speaker 1: real relief. I mean, I just didn't expect it to
Speaker 1: go the way that it goes, and for Flora to
Speaker 1: have the presence of mind to stop and look and
Speaker 1: hear and think. You know, I expected him to do
Speaker 1: something stupid, to be almost to a degree motivated by
Speaker 1: resentment of Carl trying to tell him what to do,
Speaker 1: even where it would be like, not only am I
Speaker 1: doing this because I have the right to do it
Speaker 1: because of what happened to a person I care about,
Speaker 1: but I am irritated that you are trying to assert
Speaker 1: control over me. I'll show you, And so he does this,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean. I was very worried that
Speaker 1: it was going to be ego driven in that way,
Speaker 1: and instead Florin has a similar reaction to her as Carl.
Speaker 1: When Carl first spots her here, It's interesting the Lajah
Speaker 1: Bless was here in her beautiful woman form, but she
Speaker 1: stood against the wall, chewing on her fingernail, eyes darting
Speaker 1: back and forth like she didn't know where she was.
Speaker 1: In that moment, I saw her for what she was,
Speaker 1: a kid in an adult's body. And when Florin looks
Speaker 1: at her at for the first instant of him seeing her,
Speaker 1: of course he's just like, let me at her, and
Speaker 1: it takes very little time for him to stop and
Speaker 1: be like wait and to see what Carl also saw.
Speaker 1: I just love this, It's so it just it. I
Speaker 1: think the reason that this is speaking to me so
Speaker 1: much is that it's addressing the very thing that I
Speaker 1: was talking about the beginning of the episode with not
Speaker 1: feeling like I can rely on people. Florin is displaying
Speaker 1: a maturity and a control that is not what I
Speaker 1: expect out of people most of the time. Frankly, it
Speaker 1: feels unlikely, and so a big part of me just
Speaker 1: doesn't really try to depend on it because it seems
Speaker 1: like it's extremely optimistic to expect this. And he came through.
Speaker 1: You know what I'm saying, He fucking does the self
Speaker 1: control grown up thing. I just didn't think he would.
Speaker 1: And it's so comforting to have a moment of being like, oh,
Speaker 1: somebody on Carl's team has fucking self control and can
Speaker 1: be relied on in a way that I just took
Speaker 1: for granted wasn't possible or gonna happen. And it's nice.
Speaker 1: It's just really it's a nice surprise. I love that. However,
Speaker 1: we've got Katscha, on the other hand, busted out, like
Speaker 1: about to really start some shit today when she knows better,
Speaker 1: and like, I won't say that Katya undid the way
Speaker 1: that I was feeling, you know about Florin, where I
Speaker 1: was so gratified. That's not what I mean when I
Speaker 1: say this. It's just more so that the direction this
Speaker 1: lack of control is coming from is so unexpected and
Speaker 1: in some ways sort of underscores the whole vibe of
Speaker 1: like you just don't have control over anything, and if
Speaker 1: you think you do, it's an illusion. And the whole
Speaker 1: thing with her and Eva is so ugh. Eva has
Speaker 1: over fifty player skulls over her head and four Hunter
Speaker 1: Killer marks. That ratio is frankly unhidden. That's insane, Like,
Speaker 1: I just the fucked up nature of your priorities is
Speaker 1: so explicitly displayed in that ratio. It's out of control.
Speaker 1: It's remarkable that somebody else hasn't killed Eva by now,
Speaker 1: like that people haven't teamed up against her. I understand
Speaker 1: Katcha's particular beef, you know, I get it obviously, but
Speaker 1: I would think that other people would have really clocked
Speaker 1: how like how much of a threat she is on
Speaker 1: a variety of levels, and decided, Okay, this is untenable.
Speaker 1: She's out here sabotaging shit, like, let's deal with her.
Speaker 1: And maybe they have. Maybe they have, and that's why
Speaker 1: she's got so many Player Killer skulls. Partially is that
Speaker 1: it's she know they tried to come at her and
Speaker 1: they missed. But Kotscha is like, really, I was thinking
Speaker 1: that she was going to be more prepared for singing
Speaker 1: Eva than she is. It's I think a result of
Speaker 1: Kotscha sabotaging by taking all of those potions that were
Speaker 1: left for people in the locker room. It's just like
Speaker 1: kotcha being like even that you had to even ruin
Speaker 1: that you couldn't just leave that the fuck alone? Why
Speaker 1: are you like this? And that's literally what she says,
Speaker 1: is just like, why are you like this? These are
Speaker 1: your people too, and Eva is the most I love
Speaker 1: the energy that she's written with because it's deeply infuriating, obviously,
Speaker 1: but it's also extremely recognizable. I am lucky in that
Speaker 1: I don't think I've ever met anybody in person that
Speaker 1: I've had a fight with that was like this, but
Speaker 1: I have absolutely encountered this type of person online. And
Speaker 1: I don't even mean like strangers. I mean there have
Speaker 1: been people that I knew purely online that devolved to
Speaker 1: this quite quickly, and I was like, oh, you're that
Speaker 1: kind of person. But the what I mean by this
Speaker 1: is she immediately goes for the lowest blow, most petty,
Speaker 1: most hurtful week spot in a very like childish kind
Speaker 1: of way that it's almost it's not even that like
Speaker 1: she necessarily hits you where it hurts, and it gets
Speaker 1: you because she hit you in that weak spot. It's
Speaker 1: for me more of the fact that she hits you
Speaker 1: where they like in a place where that's not even
Speaker 1: where what the argument's about. This isn't relevant, even that
Speaker 1: I am talking to you about a big picture thing
Speaker 1: and you're just trying to like confuse the issue by
Speaker 1: bringing up other shit that's irrelevant? Do you give what
Speaker 1: I'm saying? And that part is what I really keep
Speaker 1: getting stuck on, is just the idea that, like when
Speaker 1: because people like this, it's so difficult to deal with them,
Speaker 1: because if you are like me, for example, it's a
Speaker 1: there's a sense to it of like I am trying
Speaker 1: to reason with you. I am trying to come at
Speaker 1: you with a logic that obviously you have no fucking
Speaker 1: interest in because you keep deflecting. And how do you
Speaker 1: like argue with somebody that is handling it like this?
Speaker 1: How do you get through to them if what it
Speaker 1: seems like they actually want is to just sit back
Speaker 1: and insult you like a fifth grader on the playground.
Speaker 1: If they are this unwilling to even engage with the
Speaker 1: actual concerns that you're bringing up, then the futility of
Speaker 1: it becomes apparent really quickly, and is so disheartening and
Speaker 1: discouraging and ultimately just saddening. You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: It just it sucks, man. I just really this is
Speaker 1: a person that I there are some people that I
Speaker 1: think really show you they make the world worse, and
Speaker 1: they are trying to make the world worse, and they
Speaker 1: have no interest whatsoever in improving. They don't care about
Speaker 1: the state of the world. It's about themselves and the
Speaker 1: world is better without them. When you behave like this,
Speaker 1: I think this is just like proof that you don't
Speaker 1: deserve to live. If you have decided to make your
Speaker 1: whole deal about ruining the lives of other people and
Speaker 1: taking their lives as well, which is you know, like
Speaker 1: fifty player skulls, are you fucking kidding? Then I think
Speaker 1: you forfeited your right to live. And that's just that
Speaker 1: on that I don't really know how else to say it.
Speaker 1: So yeah, like just the way that she insults Kotya.
Speaker 1: I just want to be clear, I am not saying
Speaker 1: that this has no effect on Kotya. It's just more
Speaker 1: that the effect that it has I think is very secondary.
Speaker 1: I think that it's really like Katya has built I
Speaker 1: think probably some immunity to it at this point, and
Speaker 1: that she's having a reaction the way I am describing
Speaker 1: where she's like I am trying to like reason with
Speaker 1: you and understand, and you're still doing the same boring
Speaker 1: shit where you insult me like this, really that's it.
Speaker 1: This is what you're coming at me with, Like are
Speaker 1: you fucking serious? And I just can't imagine, in this
Speaker 1: situation with so many people trying to work together to
Speaker 1: make something happening, this much of a cunt. Like that's
Speaker 1: just really what it comes down to for me is truly,
Speaker 1: how are you this much of a fucking cunt? I
Speaker 1: don't where is this coming from. Something's broken in you,
Speaker 1: something's wrong with you? And eh anyway, So yeah, this
Speaker 1: is why Fannar couldn't stand you with your ugly brown hair,
Speaker 1: piggy nose, constant whining. What kind of mother could you
Speaker 1: have possibly been? Like really, this is what you do.
Speaker 1: This is the kind of thing like it's just so
Speaker 1: fucking pathetic, it's so it's it's not even insulting anymore.
Speaker 1: It's like when somebody, you know, I'm trying to reason
Speaker 1: with them about how they're bigoted against immigrants and they
Speaker 1: call me fat. That's that's it, that's it, Okay, like
Speaker 1: I would Okay, sure, that's very very relevant. Cool. So
Speaker 1: I love donut being like, oh yeah, I was thinking
Speaker 1: about you today and it reminded me that I need
Speaker 1: my litter box changed. And I am really curious where
Speaker 1: this is going. I just Eva is somebody that I have,
Speaker 1: honestly like, on a certain level, actively tried not to
Speaker 1: think about, which I don't really. I guess it's just
Speaker 1: like she was not present. There was only so much
Speaker 1: we could do, you know, like what else am I
Speaker 1: going to do? And now that she's in my face again,
Speaker 1: a big part of me is like, we need to
Speaker 1: do we need to do this, We need to handle
Speaker 1: this bitch. Somebody do something like you know, what I'm
Speaker 1: saying in a way that I'm kind of feeling is
Speaker 1: probably not correct, But that's just how mad she made me,
Speaker 1: is that she and that's her goal too, I think,
Speaker 1: is like she wants to just make you mad so
Speaker 1: that she's trolling you, you know. Anyway, this she asked,
Speaker 1: how's it looking back there? And she is talking about
Speaker 1: the layout of the stage, the lighting and everything, and
Speaker 1: how it's not what she was expecting that the place
Speaker 1: looks beautiful, but they do not have the facilities on
Speaker 1: par with the esthetic, which I fully understand what she means.
Speaker 1: And this whole vibe is like her irritation with this
Speaker 1: I get. It's so it's so funny to me in
Speaker 1: this section how much I relate to Donut you guys.
Speaker 1: I mean, let's set aside the very obvious comparisons with
Speaker 1: both of us being performers and her being too much
Speaker 1: and me always being too much and being a little
Speaker 1: bit too ambitious for what I can actually do. Like
Speaker 1: all of that aside, I just felt like there was
Speaker 1: a kinship between us in this section that was stronger
Speaker 1: than it has been in any of the other books
Speaker 1: so far. I knew this was going to be immature hour,
Speaker 1: but once you see it up close, you don't fully
Speaker 1: appreciate the level of an aptitude required to make something
Speaker 1: look this nice yet be so functionally inefficient at the
Speaker 1: same time, which is a put like, I feel like
Speaker 1: I have had this exact complaint verbatim about things in
Speaker 1: my life. I just one thousand percent know where she's
Speaker 1: coming from on this and this type the very particular
Speaker 1: type of frustration that comes with it as well, because
Speaker 1: there's this sense of like you had it in your hand,
Speaker 1: you had it, you could have done something here. Why
Speaker 1: did you do this? Why is this the way the
Speaker 1: direction you decided to go with it all? You know
Speaker 1: what I'm saying anyway, So Florin I needed to say focused,
Speaker 1: I can't be babysitting your ass, and Florence says, I'm good,
Speaker 1: get off my back, and Carl says, okay, I'm gonna
Speaker 1: trust you, and he says good out loud, and this
Speaker 1: is when he says, something's off with her anyway. She
Speaker 1: ain't acting right. I know that with that bitch don't
Speaker 1: mean much, but something ain't right. And eventually he investigates
Speaker 1: and we will get there. When we get there, Prepotente
Speaker 1: comes up and he says, I need to join your party,
Speaker 1: and Carl straight up says, no, talk to Katya. She
Speaker 1: might be willing, but your level seventy and you'll end
Speaker 1: up the party leader of whatever party you join, and
Speaker 1: most established parties won't like that. Better yet, find some
Speaker 1: of those displaced EVA crawlers would It would only be
Speaker 1: for the remainder of this floor. It's so we travel
Speaker 1: together to the start of the next I've been collecting
Speaker 1: clues and after speaking with Katchia, she informed me about donuts,
Speaker 1: magical hammer, and stick and they get interrupted here and
Speaker 1: I was so annoyed because I think that he knows
Speaker 1: something that he hasn't figured out. And Carl says, we're
Speaker 1: bookmarking this. We need to get through the party first,
Speaker 1: and honestly, I get where he's coming from, but this
Speaker 1: feels like information that is important enough that it should
Speaker 1: be found out first. It feels like this is relevant
Speaker 1: to probably your plan for tonight, even potentially, And it's
Speaker 1: because Carl is just behaving like these are two separate issues,
Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying, where if we handle this
Speaker 1: the party first, then we can deal with the other thing.
Speaker 1: And I'm really feeling like, no, probably this is like
Speaker 1: related to whatever. I just think Carl's is this decision
Speaker 1: to set this aside as a mistake, and I am
Speaker 1: worried about it biting him in a later and I
Speaker 1: guess we'll just have to see. So we get one
Speaker 1: of the Theobald coming up and making the announcements about
Speaker 1: how food is available trade in the hunter hands, YadA, YadA, YadA,
Speaker 1: and then we have this like bit here where fucking
Speaker 1: All of a sudden, Signet walks in and Zeb is like,
Speaker 1: I fucking told you not to do this. Out of context,
Speaker 1: Carl is like what are you talking about? And Zeb
Speaker 1: is like, you know what I'm fucking talking about. Carl's like,
Speaker 1: I no, I really genuinely don't what are you talking about?
Speaker 1: And finally he looks up, sees Signet and is like, oh, fuck, okay,
Speaker 1: I understand this is not me. This was the AI.
Speaker 1: He had one of the NPCs go invite her. This
Speaker 1: has nothing to do with me. I love it. I
Speaker 1: love it. I love it. I love it. The AI
Speaker 1: is diabolical. This AI is like the producers on a
Speaker 1: reality TV show just throwing gasoline on the fire and
Speaker 1: letting the cameras roll this. This AI is here for
Speaker 1: the lulls, Like fully just wants to watch the world
Speaker 1: burn kind of energy, you know what I'm saying. I
Speaker 1: just cannot like it's so good. I never expected it
Speaker 1: because I just thought there had to be some kind
Speaker 1: of fail safe built into the AI, Like I figured
Speaker 1: there had to be some way. No, the AI does
Speaker 1: what it wants. Evidently it has completely gone. They keep
Speaker 1: saying gone. Prime I'm saying feral, which I think is
Speaker 1: like they're in some ways kind of the same thing
Speaker 1: this level though, of just flouting the rules and expectations.
Speaker 1: Something about this feels like, probably according to the estimations
Speaker 1: of a lot of the people involved, many other things
Speaker 1: the AI has done previously have been a bigger deal,
Speaker 1: but for some reason, this for me feels like the
Speaker 1: biggest deal. This feels like a very particular type of
Speaker 1: like go fuck yourselves, I do what I want that
Speaker 1: we haven't seen before, and it just seems like we've
Speaker 1: crossed the line now and things are really beginning to
Speaker 1: pop off. I am thrilled. I can't wait to see
Speaker 1: what this is. So anyway, Imani is like, she can't
Speaker 1: help us if she's in the room with us, so
Speaker 1: apparently you know, they had her as part of a
Speaker 1: plan and that is not happening now. And Carl says,
Speaker 1: I was worried this was gonna happen the second the
Speaker 1: Queen told me a pedo forms the guest list herself.
Speaker 1: I didn't even think of that because, like I even
Speaker 1: said at the time, she says, the pedo forms again,
Speaker 1: like we know that's not how it works, but sure whatever,
Speaker 1: Like I fucking addressed that thing and it still didn't
Speaker 1: enter my mind. And he's just like, so the whole
Speaker 1: thing is to test image in by bringing in one
Speaker 1: of her biggest enemies and uh, Signet. Meanwhile, he's like
Speaker 1: pointing out to her, those are the people over there
Speaker 1: that are controlling everything, and you know, Zev is just
Speaker 1: in the sidelines, still just being like, Carl, what are
Speaker 1: you doing? But like, honestly, Signet, being here, the cat's
Speaker 1: out of the bag to a point, like, not in
Speaker 1: this way really, but I feel like it's just a
Speaker 1: step away. If Carl doesn't completely tell her what's going
Speaker 1: on here, I feel like the AI is poised to
Speaker 1: do it on his behalf for the for the Lulls
Speaker 1: once again. So then we have the whole thing with
Speaker 1: Carl going to trade in his hunter hands for a prize,
Speaker 1: and the prizes in general are kind of eh. They're
Speaker 1: not as weak sauce as like a chuck e cheese,
Speaker 1: but they are definitely the sort of thing where it's like,
Speaker 1: but we could make that, but we could, but we
Speaker 1: already haven't a lot of that, or that thing isn't
Speaker 1: even that difficult to find, or you know, blank like
Speaker 1: fill in the blanks. It's just nothing is really particularly
Speaker 1: excited exciting. Sorry, and he the person behind the counter here,
Speaker 1: reminder is Chaco, who tells carl All to please tell
Speaker 1: Mordecai what happened. I regret it every day. But if
Speaker 1: we hadn't done it, we'd all be dead, including him
Speaker 1: and his brother. That's all there is to say about it.
Speaker 1: They do that if you survive long enough in this place,
Speaker 1: they'll eventually make you turn on your own party. It
Speaker 1: happens every time. You'll regret making it as far as
Speaker 1: you have, no matter who is helping you, no matter
Speaker 1: how close you are, we're all alone in the end,
Speaker 1: alone and broken with the choices we've had to make.
Speaker 1: He jerked as if shocked. It's not as if shocked.
Speaker 1: I fully believe that he was actually physically shocked, that
Speaker 1: this is the punishment for speaking out of turn this way,
Speaker 1: that he is not supposed to do this. So anyway,
Speaker 1: he's like, you have sixty six hunter hands, and it
Speaker 1: is just like God, damn okay, And it turns out
Speaker 1: that like and I don't. I'm sure this has been
Speaker 1: mentioned before, but I couldn't remember it until it was
Speaker 1: specifically said out loud, there is no way to give
Speaker 1: other hunters or other crawlers the hunter hands. You have
Speaker 1: to like, get one really good prize. The hands you've
Speaker 1: got are the hands you've got, and even getting more
Speaker 1: hands tonight wouldn't really work unless you found a space
Speaker 1: where you could actually open the boxes and get them
Speaker 1: out and then are like you weren't You aren't able
Speaker 1: to leave the party and come back in. So there's really,
Speaker 1: if we're looking at the rules straight on, no way
Speaker 1: for Carl to get this thing that is at the
Speaker 1: end of the table that is much much more. It's
Speaker 1: evidently a whole thing with the way that this spell
Speaker 1: works and the party works is that Imagen has to
Speaker 1: offer us one of her most valuable possessions. And so
Speaker 1: there is this particular crystal. I think it is that
Speaker 1: when Mordecai hears it sitting there, it's just like, oh shit,
Speaker 1: get that. But it's one hundred hands and Carl does
Speaker 1: not have that. So now we have to find a
Speaker 1: way for Carl to gain the system somehow, and I
Speaker 1: do not know how he's going to do it, but
Speaker 1: I have no doubt he is this we're figuring it
Speaker 1: out you know. So then we get the beginnings of
Speaker 1: the talent show with the pets, and these people are
Speaker 1: coming out here with the least you guys. Look, I
Speaker 1: am not a person that likes cruelty, right, I don't
Speaker 1: like making people feel bad. But I have a very
Speaker 1: high standard for something, and I will lose sight of
Speaker 1: the fact that what I hold as a standard is
Speaker 1: just my standard, that is not the fucking universal expectation.
Speaker 1: Other people have their own standards, and they have higher
Speaker 1: ones than I do for other things, and lower ones
Speaker 1: for things that I consider important. That's the way it
Speaker 1: works in life. We all have our different priorities. But
Speaker 1: when it comes to aesthetic and performance and that sort
Speaker 1: of thing in the right arena, I have a standard
Speaker 1: that when people don't meet it, I can get mean
Speaker 1: in a cruel way that is like really not nice.
Speaker 1: And I know that about myself. Where I will see
Speaker 1: somebody has posted something that they made, Like there's groups
Speaker 1: I'm in on Facebook for like resin crafts, stuff like
Speaker 1: that clay, and people will post stuff that I would
Speaker 1: never admit to having made in my life. You could
Speaker 1: not water board it out of me that I made
Speaker 1: that thing. It is a disaster. It's obviously mixed wrong.
Speaker 1: The colors are off, it's like cracked at the edges,
Speaker 1: it's full of bubbles. The color like it just there
Speaker 1: are there. I see it all the time with people
Speaker 1: posting very proudly things that it just I would be
Speaker 1: ashamed of, literally, and so donuts whole reaction here to
Speaker 1: like the complete lack of preparation that these people have
Speaker 1: made for this competition, and how she's just like, oh,
Speaker 1: this is gonna be like candy from a baby, no problem.
Speaker 1: I have had this reaction to things before, and it's
Speaker 1: like it's not kind, but let's be very fucking for real.
Speaker 1: Some people just don't try because it's just not as
Speaker 1: important to them, and that's okay, but it's it's just
Speaker 1: difficult for me to understand why you enter at all
Speaker 1: into a competition when you just seem to be unwilling
Speaker 1: to put forth any effort, Like what's why are you bothering?
Speaker 1: You know? Why? Why did you do it? So? Anyway,
Speaker 1: this whole performance, there's you know, him just telling the
Speaker 1: story about his hawk and what it does and YadA YadA.
Speaker 1: And as this guy is doing this, we have Mordecai
Speaker 1: and Carl going back and forth on all of these
Speaker 1: different items, what they do, whether it's like worth it
Speaker 1: or not. And he asks Mordecai wants to know if
Speaker 1: there's any sheet music like your escape spell. You have
Speaker 1: a bard, Yeah, Doughnut sings. How would she can she
Speaker 1: hold a pitch? Ugh? I said, she's getting better. She
Speaker 1: has a vocal coach in our safe room. That one,
Speaker 1: he said, pointing at a sheet of music ten hands,
Speaker 1: a song of Skedan, which is great, not quite as
Speaker 1: good as Wings of the Pixie, which is what he's
Speaker 1: talking about. But she wouldn't be able to sing that
Speaker 1: one for a while anyway. And there's a mention here
Speaker 1: about how the spell music works. And I didn't know
Speaker 1: this sheet music could be used more than once. It
Speaker 1: allowed of Bard to sing a song they normally couldn't.
Speaker 1: The system helped them perform if they had the music
Speaker 1: in front of them, making it easier to pull off.
Speaker 1: But it still wasn't a sure thing. If the music
Speaker 1: was performed well and in key, it cast if not,
Speaker 1: the page tour just a little bit too many tears,
Speaker 1: and it was ruined if you managed to sing it
Speaker 1: perfectly all the way through, with perfect pitch. The song
Speaker 1: was added to your Bard spell book called Your Repertoire.
Speaker 1: The sheet music didn't go away in that case either,
Speaker 1: so you could save it for duets or to sell later.
Speaker 1: The song Doughnut was going to sing this evening was
Speaker 1: easy for her because it was a song she'd been
Speaker 1: hearing her entire life. There was a bit of mystery,
Speaker 1: a chicken in the egg thing, but I had too
Speaker 1: much to deal with to wonder on it for wonder
Speaker 1: on it for long. So that being how the sheet
Speaker 1: music works, I found that really interesting. And let's see
Speaker 1: who bought that seventh floor upgrade and floor pole position.
Speaker 1: And the next was called eighth Floor Book of Lore.
Speaker 1: Random starting location, full title will reveal itself upon purchase.
Speaker 1: There was a sign under boat that said limited to
Speaker 1: one each who bought that seventh floor upgrade. The goat
Speaker 1: he had thirty three hands. He was my first customer
Speaker 1: bought that skill up grade in a case of man epotions.
Speaker 1: He didn't even ask about it, just walked up, pointed
Speaker 1: at it and took it. And the memorial crystal is
Speaker 1: the thing that is one hundred hands. Soul crystals are
Speaker 1: mined from Scolopendra's layer. They're created when certain types of
Speaker 1: people die. Crystals are similar, but they're created by fallen
Speaker 1: gods and demigods. They're filled with information, usually god tear
Speaker 1: level spells and knowledge. One can get the information out
Speaker 1: of them by charging it up. You charge them up
Speaker 1: by installing it on a weapon or your armor, or
Speaker 1: just wearing it like jewelry and killing stuff. There's lots
Speaker 1: of storylines about these things, and it was discovered during
Speaker 1: a mining expedition by the High Elves. The Queen normally
Speaker 1: wears it around her neck. It's part of the whole
Speaker 1: butcher spell. They have to offer their most valuable item
Speaker 1: as a prize. And this is when he tries to
Speaker 1: find a way through the fine print, and it just
Speaker 1: doesn't seem like there is one for getting more hands.
Speaker 1: I'll take the shrink wand the eighth floor lore book,
Speaker 1: that music sheet of skidadl, the case of twenty four
Speaker 1: featherfall potions, and a case of healing potions. So we'll
Speaker 1: see how this works. You know, like it seems like
Speaker 1: he's spent all his hands, but I feel like that
Speaker 1: fucking crystal, we're still getting it. I don't know how,
Speaker 1: but something So this is when we get Donuts' first
Speaker 1: appearance on stage with Mango, because there's like the talent
Speaker 1: show thing, and Carl had said, keep it low key.
Speaker 1: We don't want to tip our hand. Your talent show
Speaker 1: production is going to be a little you know, extra, yeah, extra,
Speaker 1: but low key. Well this is indeed low key compared
Speaker 1: to what she has planned later according to her, which
Speaker 1: I have zero doubt is true. And this is the thing,
Speaker 1: when you are dealing with somebody who is truly, genuinely
Speaker 1: actually extra, your frame of reference for what that means
Speaker 1: doesn't mean anything to them because they are thinking already
Speaker 1: so far beyond what you could even consider that it
Speaker 1: is impossible that you have the same standard at all
Speaker 1: about what Loki even means. You aren't operating with the
Speaker 1: same playbook, dude, So your idea of Loki in hers
Speaker 1: bear no resemblance to one another. And you should know
Speaker 1: that by now. Honestly, Carl, like this is on you.
Speaker 1: You should be very aware of this at this point.
Speaker 1: There is no excuse, in my opinion, this was you
Speaker 1: should have seen this a mile away. And frankly, the
Speaker 1: tipping her hand that her thing is going to be
Speaker 1: high produced, I don't even think is a problem. I
Speaker 1: don't see why you're worried about that, because, if anything,
Speaker 1: she should stay as much in character as she can.
Speaker 1: Her thing later is going to be a huge deal,
Speaker 1: then why wouldn't she be doing a big thing for
Speaker 1: this as well? Then I think suddenly doing a big
Speaker 1: deal for something after being low key on this, I
Speaker 1: think that's more suspicious. Personally, I feel like this is
Speaker 1: the better way to move. And I don't really get
Speaker 1: Carl's thoughts on this, but you know, this is like
Speaker 1: I'm just I'm thinking of the number of things out
Speaker 1: there that I could I'm so sorry. I'm just remembering, like,
Speaker 1: you know, a decade back when I first moved down here,
Speaker 1: I got a job at a bank, and I got
Speaker 1: that job. It was like a couple months before Halloween,
Speaker 1: and they were having a pumpkin carving contest and it
Speaker 1: was like called pumpkin carving, but technically it wasn't carving,
Speaker 1: Like people brought in pumpkins that they had painted and
Speaker 1: stuff like that, and it didn't have to be real pumpkins.
Speaker 1: You could use you know, the artificial like whatever. And
Speaker 1: I built this incredible castle out of artificial foam pumpkins.
Speaker 1: And I made like fill green windows and towers, and
Speaker 1: it had like actual like glass panes in it because
Speaker 1: I had jars that I like spray painted with stencils
Speaker 1: over them that I peeled off and I filled it
Speaker 1: with string lights so it glowed. And when I tell you, guys,
Speaker 1: this thing was beautiful. It was really beautiful. It was
Speaker 1: so fucking far beyond what anybody had thought, like, And
Speaker 1: when I tried to explain what I was planning to
Speaker 1: my husband, he was just like how, because you know,
Speaker 1: I started off with a bunch of fucking foam pumpkins
Speaker 1: and a bunch of glass jars and that was all
Speaker 1: I had on the table. And I was like, so
Speaker 1: this is what I'm gonna do, and he's looking at
Speaker 1: me like if you say so, but I just that
Speaker 1: sounds like it's not gonna work. And then once it
Speaker 1: was all put together, he was like, holy shit. I
Speaker 1: was like, I tried to tell you, and I brought
Speaker 1: it in and everybody was just sort of like, why
Speaker 1: don't I just take my pumpkin? What's the point? And
Speaker 1: then I got fired, So my entry had to be
Speaker 1: removed from the competition because I got fired. And I
Speaker 1: remember one of the girls that I was like, I
Speaker 1: still like texted for a second after I was fired,
Speaker 1: was sort of like no offense, but I wound up
Speaker 1: winning purely because you got fired, And I was like, well,
Speaker 1: but yeah, anyway, the idea of like, yeah, I'm gonna
Speaker 1: just like build a literal castle, this is like if
Speaker 1: you told me to go low key, I would still
Speaker 1: have gone harder than anybody there, because putting an effort
Speaker 1: looked like that to me. So dialing it back from
Speaker 1: there would still be considerably bigger than what everybody else
Speaker 1: had decided to do. And that's not to say that
Speaker 1: there were some entries that were really good, but they
Speaker 1: just you know what I'm saying. So anyway, this whole
Speaker 1: thing with her, I I'm so delighted. And Akanda is
Speaker 1: playing Nicki Minaj, which is like perfect, perfect and mango.
Speaker 1: She has taught him a bunch of tricks, you guys.
Speaker 1: She's also managed to amplify his roar so that it's
Speaker 1: like more impressive. She says earthquake, and he jumps and
Speaker 1: lands on the stage and piratetechnics go off, and there's
Speaker 1: a whole like the ladies love him. Sorry, ladies, He's
Speaker 1: taken and the other girl Dinos come out with like
Speaker 1: paper hearts that they're holding with his name, like, I
Speaker 1: am so sorry, but this is the best thing that's
Speaker 1: ever happened in this series so far. And I haven't
Speaker 1: even gotten her performance yet, so we'll see about that.
Speaker 1: But that's part of it, like a plan, and this
Speaker 1: is just purely what it is, and that is part
Speaker 1: of what I love about it, is that this is
Speaker 1: just for the sake of winning the pet contest. This
Speaker 1: is like, ultimately, there's no other ulterior emotives here. She
Speaker 1: just absolutely slayed for the sake of it, because that's
Speaker 1: what she does, because she is, you know, I fucking
Speaker 1: get it, girly, and I respect it and I salute it.
Speaker 1: Good for you. Oh my god. The Velociraptor actually moon
Speaker 1: walks at the end, and then they both have their
Speaker 1: heads bopping to the music in time like just no notes, perfect,
Speaker 1: absolutely perfect. Anyway, the blob guy was shaking, and I'm
Speaker 1: really sure that's a good thing. That was low Kei, Carl.
Speaker 1: They told me I couldn't do my magic missile entrance.
Speaker 1: We had planned. This was nothing compared to my Kesha act.
Speaker 1: Miss Beatrice and I performed in Cleveland, which I am
Speaker 1: desperately curious about that You sat an occasion. Let judges
Speaker 1: look for your butthole. Your cat shows not at the
Speaker 1: bar afterward. Honestly, Carl, it's like you know nothing about
Speaker 1: my life, which probably probably true. So I'm sorry. How
Speaker 1: did you train Mango to moon walk? Oh? It was nothing.
Speaker 1: Wait to see our real dance number later. I can't wait.
Speaker 1: So this is when he checks in with Bomo and
Speaker 1: the Sledge, and at first things seem to be doing
Speaker 1: all right, but it's not long until Sledge is informing
Speaker 1: him about the mantises and how there are a lot
Speaker 1: of them, and Carl is just like, oh, what the fuck?
Speaker 1: And he asks Samantha how many babies can she actually have?
Speaker 1: And I love Samantha's response, She'll have as many babies
Speaker 1: as she wants. Her baby Sprinkler will shoot them out
Speaker 1: until the very end of time if she wants, which
Speaker 1: is uh. It's evocative and informative, and els like those
Speaker 1: are her children and she's burthing them here. Remember that
Speaker 1: dude who blew up when Dewata was born. I was
Speaker 1: talking to that Hunter guy, and you know Vro's people
Speaker 1: tricked his brother into going into that temple and being
Speaker 1: used as the birthing vessel for Dawata. They plan murdered
Speaker 1: another hunter just to cure Vrov of venereal disease. Rob
Speaker 1: messaged him and said he'd be safe if he went
Speaker 1: in there, and they somehow tricked him into submitting to
Speaker 1: the ritual. The brother is pissed about it. And now
Speaker 1: the Circey bug ladies is having an actual flesh and
Speaker 1: blood babies and just sending them out into the world.
Speaker 1: What's gonna happen when the floor collapses? Are they just
Speaker 1: going to go away? They're her kids. So yeah, it
Speaker 1: didn't occur to me that they're like actual babies because
Speaker 1: the god is part of the game, so I thought
Speaker 1: it was going to be kind of not really real,
Speaker 1: but it seems like it is. And the fact that
Speaker 1: there is somebody that Vross screwed over, I think probably
Speaker 1: Carl could potentially take advantage of but I don't know how.
Speaker 1: Maybe it's saying he could take advantage of it as
Speaker 1: like over speaking a little bit, And really what I
Speaker 1: mean is that perhaps the brother who's angry, who I'm
Speaker 1: assuming isn't in the game, Maybe that brother is able
Speaker 1: to give Carl some kind of help. I don't know.
Speaker 1: So let's see, I'm going to chapter seventy one. I
Speaker 1: am so over time, and I am like two chapters
Speaker 1: behind here, guys, Ugh, I'm sorry. I kind of talked
Speaker 1: about a lot of this though already, where we're dealing
Speaker 1: with Lucia Mahr and the revelation that something weird is
Speaker 1: going on, and Floren talks to Carl. I don't understand
Speaker 1: it all. There are multiple people in there, real people,
Speaker 1: mostly kids. The girl I was talking looking to is
Speaker 1: named Jill. She's ten years old and she's Dutch. I
Speaker 1: thought she was trying to pull something, but she's telling
Speaker 1: the truth. She knew the Prime Minister of the Netherlands.
Speaker 1: That is no street kid from Ecuador running an op
Speaker 1: something to do with a dog and a guy named Alexandro.
Speaker 1: But there are kids in there in her head, multiple kids.
Speaker 1: We have to get that dog, not her. The dog.
Speaker 1: It can still control her from afar, but only in
Speaker 1: short bursts. Once we get it, it's gone. And Carl
Speaker 1: says to Zev, you guys said there were no children crawlers,
Speaker 1: And like I was asking this in the discord, I
Speaker 1: think it's Droll who said something like, keep in mind
Speaker 1: that Luciamar is only thirteen. And I said, wait then,
Speaker 1: what Constant is a kid to them? And I don't
Speaker 1: remember what the response was, but it was sort of inconclusive.
Speaker 1: So I'm surprised that this question hasn't been asked earlier,
Speaker 1: because to me, thirteen counts as a kid. But like
Speaker 1: you know, and Zev says, it's complicated, Carl. You don't
Speaker 1: have to be involved in everything. We're not going to
Speaker 1: discuss it, especially not now. Heads up, and this is
Speaker 1: when Ferdinand appears on Carl's shoulder. So chapter seventy two
Speaker 1: begins with the analysis of the map from Louis, and
Speaker 1: there's the revelation about the tunnels that Ferdinand uses, which
Speaker 1: evidently nobody is aware of or because they look down
Speaker 1: on him so much, they just don't pay attention to
Speaker 1: anything he does. And Ferdinand seems unaware that he's looked
Speaker 1: down on like this. And the way that they decide
Speaker 1: to play it is Donut has to really lay it on,
Speaker 1: thick with him and flatter him him and use her
Speaker 1: charisma to manipulate him. And there is some worry from
Speaker 1: Carl that whether or this is even going to work.
Speaker 1: But her charisma is at something insane like one sixty
Speaker 1: or one eighty, and it's essentially he is putty in
Speaker 1: her hands. There's just of course it's working. Let's see,
Speaker 1: he's level one hundred. Province Boss listed as a minion.
Speaker 1: Stats are one hundred down the line except dexterity, which
Speaker 1: is one twenty five in charisma, which is seventy five,
Speaker 1: which I think is very funny that his charisma, after
Speaker 1: everything being at least one hundred, his charisma is lower
Speaker 1: because everybody is just sort of like, no, I don't
Speaker 1: like him, and Donut really like. At first, it's like
Speaker 1: I don't think I can do this, and Carl says, yeah,
Speaker 1: you can, and if you don't, he's going to try
Speaker 1: and kill Mango, So you've got to do it. At
Speaker 1: least for manco Oh Donuts charisma of two seventy six.
Speaker 1: I was so low. I was underscoring her by one
Speaker 1: hundred almost. I am so sorry, Donut, please forgive me.
Speaker 1: Plus the bonus from the seas the Day toothpaste was
Speaker 1: well over three hundred. Bonkers fucking insane. So as this
Speaker 1: is all happening, they're meant to be like distracting Ferdinand
Speaker 1: so that Samantha can use his tunnel. But unfortunately, he
Speaker 1: decides that he is going to go back to his
Speaker 1: room and I don't even remember what it is, but
Speaker 1: he's like gonna use the tunnels. And they are so
Speaker 1: worried that Samantha's gonna get caught in there, and he
Speaker 1: doesn't even notice her. He just rolls right by her.
Speaker 1: And let's see, Uh, I tricked him good. I'm in
Speaker 1: the tunnel. Now where do I go? Carl? Where do
Speaker 1: you go? You were supposed to memorize the map, Samantha?
Speaker 1: Did you see that thing? How was I supposed to
Speaker 1: memorize that? You memorized the map? And IMMANI turned and
Speaker 1: gave me an I fucking told you. Look, this is
Speaker 1: when Louis is like this. We're trying to like deal
Speaker 1: with the Twister, their changelings and the mantises fighting in
Speaker 1: the air and the change things are turning into Mantus's
Speaker 1: and it is getting very confusing. And let's say, sorry,
Speaker 1: I am okay. This is sledge Bonnie is okay, Bear
Speaker 1: Cubs okay, Prudence is okay. I took a deep breath.
Speaker 1: We'd never agreed to save Prudence in the bear cubs.
Speaker 1: They were supposed to stay in the safe room until
Speaker 1: the collapse, where they'd simply disappear. Taking care of Bonnie
Speaker 1: the Gnome was difficult enough, and like, I get it,
Speaker 1: but I also, you know, telling an MPC to like
Speaker 1: ignore other NPCs tricky tough. I would feel weird about it.
Speaker 1: I get it. The airship has been taken. It's covered
Speaker 1: with bugs and is just spinning in the air. On
Speaker 1: roof of castle, very flat, no entrance, changing change links
Speaker 1: flying to the tower. Elves are shooting, Changelings are flying
Speaker 1: fighting mantis is and turning into mantis is, confusing change
Speaker 1: link dead on the roof. Two turrets still have shooting
Speaker 1: elves running. I have controller. I can crash twister into
Speaker 1: other turrets and Louis is like, don't crash the twister,
Speaker 1: and Carl is like, I'm really sorry, Bud, but we
Speaker 1: have to do this. And this is when he looks
Speaker 1: up and he sees some people. They're trying to get
Speaker 1: Lucia to break the seal. I'm trying to find the bit.
Speaker 1: Lucia was amicably chatting with her fellow as if they
Speaker 1: were all best friends, waving her to kill a bottle
Speaker 1: about offering drinks to everyone. I watched just several hunters,
Speaker 1: including Vrazaba and multiple Charconians, moved in, creating an additional
Speaker 1: semicircle around the group. At the prize counter, Chaco backed
Speaker 1: himself up all the way against the wall like a bartender.
Speaker 1: In one of my Louis Lamar books, Ready for the
Speaker 1: Inevitable Shootout and Donut says. They are saying, I get
Speaker 1: to go on last. Isn't that great? I'm the headliner.
Speaker 1: In the meantime the singer song, Have Britney play her guitar,
Speaker 1: have Tina dance. Don't do the velocirapper velociraptor hop. It's
Speaker 1: too dangerous. I'm very curious what that is and why
Speaker 1: how am I going to bring the razzle dazzle without
Speaker 1: the grand finale. We survive, that's the finale. Donut sh Carl,
Speaker 1: You lack vision, That's all I'm saying. And let's see,
Speaker 1: I'm trying to make sure I cover everything before I wrap, because,
Speaker 1: like you know, obviously I am really short on time.
Speaker 1: Here he ran right past and didn't even see me.
Speaker 1: This is Samantha about Ferdinand because he comes rushing back
Speaker 1: to make sure he sees donuts act use the potion ball.
Speaker 1: That's why we gave it to you. Drop it right
Speaker 1: into the middle of the room. They'll be asleep for
Speaker 1: thirty minutes, Samantha, I didn't bring it. I gave it
Speaker 1: to Clayton. It made me clink when I rolled. I
Speaker 1: wouldn't be able to sneak away. And quite frankly, it
Speaker 1: was very rude for you to shove that up there
Speaker 1: in the first place. And he's like, you've got to
Speaker 1: go get it, and she says, not watch this, and
Speaker 1: then Yelle's not fair. You told me I could do this.
Speaker 1: The guards are already dead, Ferdinand, A voice snap the Queen.
Speaker 1: She just appeared right in the middle of the room
Speaker 1: with no warning warning. This room is now sealed. Nobody
Speaker 1: will be allowed to enter or leave until the conclusion
Speaker 1: of the party. You are protected from outside influence or spells.
Speaker 1: I am very curious whether this seal applies to the tunnel,
Speaker 1: like if people aren't aware it's there, is there is
Speaker 1: does the magic is it sort of comprehensive regardless of
Speaker 1: whether you direct it towards certain areas, or does the
Speaker 1: tunnel need to be targeted with magic, because otherwise it's
Speaker 1: not you know what I'm saying like, I'll be curious
Speaker 1: to see how that all works, but well I have
Speaker 1: to see all right, kids, I have got to wrap
Speaker 1: them so overtime both my recordings today. Apologies, appreciate you
Speaker 1: all so much, Thank you for hanging out with me,
Speaker 1: and thank you Jackie again for commissioning this one. Until
Speaker 1: next time to the loom. Motherfuckers that was an unspoiled
Speaker 1: network