WEBVTT 1 00:00:02.359 --> 00:00:08.480 This is an Unspoiled Network podcast. This is spoil Me 2 00:00:09.679 --> 00:00:20.160 covering Dungeon Crawler Caral book seven, this Inevitable ruin from 3 00:00:20.480 --> 00:00:27.239 chapter Voltigue to chapter thirty nine. In these chapters, there's 4 00:00:27.280 --> 00:00:28.879 a lot of this that I don't even want to 5 00:00:28.920 --> 00:00:31.239 talk about because it makes me so sad, and it 6 00:00:31.280 --> 00:00:35.960 makes me uncomfortable, and it makes me feel like it 7 00:00:36.079 --> 00:00:37.799 just makes me feel ways that I don't like and 8 00:00:37.840 --> 00:00:42.159 don't want to feel, and I just keep being like 9 00:00:42.240 --> 00:00:49.280 Matt Deniman, how dare you who hurt you capitalism? I 10 00:00:49.280 --> 00:00:52.399 have asked this question before, I've answered it before, and 11 00:00:52.520 --> 00:01:15.840 yet Welcome to spoil Me. Welcome to the show everyone. 12 00:01:16.040 --> 00:01:19.560 I am Natasha. Thank you very much to Michael for 13 00:01:19.640 --> 00:01:24.280 commissioning this episode. Michael's here in the chat with me. Hi, Michael, 14 00:01:24.359 --> 00:01:28.040 appreciate you being here. I should probably do some sort 15 00:01:28.040 --> 00:01:30.760 of like super cut of every time that I mention 16 00:01:31.000 --> 00:01:36.200 how he's been hurt by capitalism. But that does sound 17 00:01:36.239 --> 00:01:38.959 like a lot of work, having to go and find 18 00:01:39.079 --> 00:01:45.280 those moments again. What can you do? I can't tell you, guys, 19 00:01:45.319 --> 00:01:51.480 how sad the Voltigue chapter made me. I can't express 20 00:01:52.799 --> 00:02:02.000 how I like recoiled mentally from it. It's crazy to 21 00:02:02.079 --> 00:02:07.280 me how in a moment like this, how my brain 22 00:02:08.719 --> 00:02:13.199 refuses to absorb fully. So I then wind up having 23 00:02:13.280 --> 00:02:17.159 to go back and re listen because I was like 24 00:02:17.280 --> 00:02:21.240 dissociating while I was listening and not absorbing it. And 25 00:02:21.280 --> 00:02:24.400 it's like very ironic that the whole thing is that 26 00:02:24.439 --> 00:02:26.080 I don't want to hear it, but this makes me 27 00:02:26.159 --> 00:02:33.520 have to go hear it twice, very annoying. So I 28 00:02:33.639 --> 00:02:37.680 just I am feeling myself getting emotional just like thinking 29 00:02:37.680 --> 00:02:42.960 about it. So the first sentence is Voltigue did not 30 00:02:43.039 --> 00:02:50.120 consider himself worthy of love. Mistress hens Barr had loved him, 31 00:02:50.120 --> 00:02:55.800 of course, she'd loved him, and he'd failed her. Before 32 00:02:55.840 --> 00:02:58.639 the dungeon, they were the best of friends. She'd kept 33 00:02:58.680 --> 00:03:01.120 his cage clean, had him to perch on her shoulder 34 00:03:01.120 --> 00:03:04.719 while she went to the market. Voltigue had limited memories 35 00:03:04.719 --> 00:03:07.360 of these times before the pet biscuit, but he remembered 36 00:03:07.360 --> 00:03:10.919 biting the shop keeper's finger one day when he'd tried 37 00:03:10.919 --> 00:03:13.479 to feed him a berry. It had been an accident, 38 00:03:13.960 --> 00:03:18.039 the shopkeeper had been angry he'd bled. Mistress hens Bar 39 00:03:18.199 --> 00:03:22.520 had been mad too, but that night she'd still patted 40 00:03:22.560 --> 00:03:25.159 him on the head and scretched under his wing and 41 00:03:25.240 --> 00:03:27.199 turned up the fire in the hearth just how he 42 00:03:27.319 --> 00:03:29.919 liked it. She said it was okay, that it wasn't 43 00:03:29.919 --> 00:03:33.599 his fault, and that Voltigu loved Barry so much he 44 00:03:33.639 --> 00:03:37.479 had bitten a shopkeeper in his enthusiasm, which was true. 45 00:03:38.319 --> 00:03:43.400 Mistress Hen's bar had understood him, she loved him, and 46 00:03:43.439 --> 00:03:46.840 because she loved him, she would protect him even when 47 00:03:46.919 --> 00:03:57.680 he made mistakes. You guys, you guys, I swear to God, 48 00:03:57.800 --> 00:04:11.840 I can't. I can't. So she winds up getting killed. 49 00:04:13.680 --> 00:04:22.279 But he was given a pet biscuit. And it's unclear 50 00:04:22.319 --> 00:04:26.759 to me because like it seems she was a crawler 51 00:04:28.240 --> 00:04:32.399 and that she was actually like the pet biscuit was 52 00:04:34.040 --> 00:04:36.959 for him the like I don't think that an MPC 53 00:04:37.120 --> 00:04:39.600 gets a pet biscuit that can transform a hat, right, Like, 54 00:04:39.639 --> 00:04:43.959 I don't feel like that makes sense. So all of 55 00:04:44.000 --> 00:04:48.959 these memories that he is having about this, like, you know, 56 00:04:49.040 --> 00:04:53.160 this is all the before times, before the crawl actually happened. 57 00:04:53.839 --> 00:04:57.000 This is how I'm understanding it. Please correct me if 58 00:04:57.040 --> 00:05:05.000 I'm like not getting it, you know. And so the 59 00:05:05.040 --> 00:05:07.079 pet biscuit doesn't have the kind of effect that it 60 00:05:07.120 --> 00:05:11.160 has on donut where she is able to fully become 61 00:05:11.240 --> 00:05:16.000 like self aware and speak, you know, in a much 62 00:05:16.040 --> 00:05:21.680 more precise way. It's like he has given intelligence and 63 00:05:21.759 --> 00:05:27.439 he can speak some but it's not like an immediate effect, 64 00:05:27.839 --> 00:05:31.319 and it's over time and the passage of all of 65 00:05:31.319 --> 00:05:35.639 these experiences that he's like, it's not that he doesn't 66 00:05:35.680 --> 00:05:38.839 know what happened or that he doesn't have memory of it, 67 00:05:38.879 --> 00:05:42.360 but it's just that the processing for him is very different. 68 00:05:44.040 --> 00:05:53.680 So he's you know, she dies via a crossbow bolt, 69 00:05:54.240 --> 00:05:58.759 and he feels like he should have done something to 70 00:05:58.879 --> 00:06:04.920 keep her from being killed. And I know that it's 71 00:06:04.920 --> 00:06:07.439 not the same situation because obviously they were together in 72 00:06:07.480 --> 00:06:11.720 the before times. But I do wonder sometimes, like considering 73 00:06:11.920 --> 00:06:16.839 how attached Mango has become to Donut, what Mango would 74 00:06:16.920 --> 00:06:22.680 do if Donut died. I'm gonna set aside what Donut 75 00:06:22.680 --> 00:06:26.199 would do if Carl died, because their relationship is a 76 00:06:26.319 --> 00:06:32.439 very different dynamic than Voltigu's was, because he really was 77 00:06:32.480 --> 00:06:36.839 a pet for a majority of the Dungeon. It seems 78 00:06:36.879 --> 00:06:39.360 like in a way that Donut stopped being as soon 79 00:06:39.360 --> 00:06:49.720 as she had that pet biscuit, you know. So there's 80 00:06:49.759 --> 00:06:55.360 this mention of her dying and that that fear turned 81 00:06:55.519 --> 00:06:59.120 to rage and that's when the cookbook came to him. 82 00:07:00.000 --> 00:07:04.040 It's really interesting because it sounds as if it's the 83 00:07:04.160 --> 00:07:08.639 rage that triggers receipt of it. And with Carl the 84 00:07:08.680 --> 00:07:13.720 way that it appeared, it was an option in these 85 00:07:13.800 --> 00:07:18.240 items that he could choose between, so it didn't just 86 00:07:18.399 --> 00:07:22.639 come to him. He had to pick it, which I 87 00:07:22.680 --> 00:07:25.879 am curious about, like the mechanics of this and whether 88 00:07:25.959 --> 00:07:28.720 this is always the case, because you know, the cookbook 89 00:07:28.759 --> 00:07:31.439 came to him, is all it says, and there's no 90 00:07:31.480 --> 00:07:38.560 real details about that, so I am wondering about just how. 91 00:07:39.279 --> 00:07:42.839 And we also find out that like he gets the cookbook, 92 00:07:42.959 --> 00:07:47.680 but he doesn't see the hidden messages for a couple floors, 93 00:07:48.600 --> 00:07:51.800 and by the time he notices, he kind of feels like, well, 94 00:07:51.800 --> 00:07:56.560 this is just useless to me. Now at the very 95 00:07:56.680 --> 00:07:58.879 end of the ninth floor, as the orc armies roared 96 00:07:58.920 --> 00:08:01.560 in victory, did he find make his one and only 97 00:08:01.839 --> 00:08:06.360 entry into the book? If we have seen that entry, 98 00:08:06.519 --> 00:08:08.439 and I feel like we have because this name is 99 00:08:08.519 --> 00:08:11.279 ringing a bell. I don't remember what it is. I 100 00:08:11.319 --> 00:08:13.279 don't I don't know if it's okay for you guys 101 00:08:13.279 --> 00:08:15.399 to tell me. There's plenty of things that it's sort 102 00:08:15.439 --> 00:08:18.720 of like. The point is that the reader will have 103 00:08:18.759 --> 00:08:21.800 forgotten by the time we get there, like Nicholas Flamel, 104 00:08:22.360 --> 00:08:26.560 you know, so I don't want y'all to remind me 105 00:08:26.720 --> 00:08:29.600 if it's the sort of thing that like, it's more 106 00:08:29.720 --> 00:08:33.480 fun if I can't remember. But I did. I did 107 00:08:33.519 --> 00:08:39.679 want to mention Kse I am supposed to remember, Michael says. 108 00:08:39.720 --> 00:08:41.720 I think it was probably similar to what Bianca the 109 00:08:41.759 --> 00:08:44.519 hell Goat got, probably made him stronger and gave him 110 00:08:44.519 --> 00:08:47.559 a bit more intelligence, but not full human like sentience. 111 00:08:48.600 --> 00:08:51.120 An option that was glinting like a key item in 112 00:08:51.159 --> 00:08:54.879 a video game. Yes, which also is what happened with 113 00:08:54.919 --> 00:08:59.279 another item with And that was what Carl like, he 114 00:08:59.480 --> 00:09:03.600 remembered this effect on an object that I think it 115 00:09:03.720 --> 00:09:06.720 was the uh was it the little figure in the 116 00:09:06.759 --> 00:09:10.639 glass box? I can't remember. I feel like that's it. 117 00:09:10.679 --> 00:09:16.600 That was oh man. The basically it's the same kind 118 00:09:16.639 --> 00:09:21.879 of creature as what uh, oh my god, what is 119 00:09:21.879 --> 00:09:25.519 his name? Guys? I keep wanting to say, Bastion. Why 120 00:09:26.240 --> 00:09:29.000 it's uh, you know, tiger man, and he has all 121 00:09:29.000 --> 00:09:32.200 those beanie baby things, and Carl has like an epic 122 00:09:32.320 --> 00:09:35.240 version of that that. I think it had that same 123 00:09:35.279 --> 00:09:40.440 effect on it when he was looking at it. But anyway, 124 00:09:41.279 --> 00:09:48.320 upon exit he'd found the Outreach Guild, suddenly the magical 125 00:09:48.360 --> 00:09:51.679 properties of his adopted race didn't work anymore, not outside 126 00:09:51.720 --> 00:09:55.799 the dungeon. That was something they didn't tell you. When 127 00:09:55.879 --> 00:09:59.600 you changed your body, They changed you and they couldn't 128 00:09:59.639 --> 00:10:04.200 change you. Excuse me, is that still true? Or was 129 00:10:04.240 --> 00:10:08.960 that only true for him? That's insane. I didn't know 130 00:10:09.000 --> 00:10:11.120 that this was something that you just couldn't change back 131 00:10:11.159 --> 00:10:15.120 at all. I had no idea. I don't know what 132 00:10:15.399 --> 00:10:20.519 I thought was going on, but I just didn't think 133 00:10:20.559 --> 00:10:24.559 that it was like simply not an option, and the 134 00:10:24.559 --> 00:10:28.000 fact that there are going to be properties to your 135 00:10:28.240 --> 00:10:30.600 body that you've chosen that only work in the dungeon, 136 00:10:30.639 --> 00:10:33.080 and then those are taken away. So it's not just 137 00:10:33.120 --> 00:10:37.759 that you're changing permanently, but you're also taking on a 138 00:10:37.799 --> 00:10:42.720 form that has distinct advantages, and then those advantages are gone, 139 00:10:43.200 --> 00:10:48.159 So you're winding up with like a non functional body 140 00:10:48.559 --> 00:10:58.360 in certain ways, which is just so fucked up. His entry, 141 00:10:58.480 --> 00:11:01.519 Michael says, wasn't back in the Butcher masquerade. I miss her. 142 00:11:01.600 --> 00:11:03.679 I miss her so goddamn much. Is it worth it 143 00:11:03.720 --> 00:11:06.519 to survive this place with her gone? No? No, I 144 00:11:06.519 --> 00:11:10.159 don't think it is. Right before Miriam dom sad chapter, 145 00:11:10.240 --> 00:11:14.360 which is very fitting now that we know who Foltigue is. Yes, okay, 146 00:11:15.080 --> 00:11:22.399 that makes sense. So anyway, he gets this thankless, shitty 147 00:11:22.519 --> 00:11:30.159 job and he uh is just kind of like sleepwalking 148 00:11:30.159 --> 00:11:34.360 through this life that he doesn't really even want. His 149 00:11:34.440 --> 00:11:37.159 two partners and only real friends were a wheelchair bound 150 00:11:37.200 --> 00:11:39.720 gin and a former human cave fairy who could no 151 00:11:39.840 --> 00:11:42.960 longer fly and would get severe burns if she was 152 00:11:43.000 --> 00:11:46.879 exposed too long to most UV light, which is just 153 00:11:47.159 --> 00:11:52.320 fucked Like can you imagine you choose a fairy and 154 00:11:52.360 --> 00:11:55.159 then you are stuck in that but you can't fly anymore? 155 00:11:55.200 --> 00:11:59.159 Like how worthless? I'd be so pissed. Oh my god, y'all. 156 00:11:59.440 --> 00:12:01.840 There's like so much about this whole thing that of 157 00:12:01.879 --> 00:12:06.320 course is disgusting, But there's something about finding this out 158 00:12:06.360 --> 00:12:12.759 now that really just you know what I'm saying, It's 159 00:12:12.879 --> 00:12:18.639 just every new thing I find out is so gross 160 00:12:19.000 --> 00:12:24.240 to a new level. And it's because of the effects 161 00:12:24.240 --> 00:12:28.120 that like go beyond the dungeon. The dungeon itself is 162 00:12:28.480 --> 00:12:31.879 so terrible. But then to find out that these choices 163 00:12:32.120 --> 00:12:38.679 have this ripple effect of consequence that nobody warns them about, 164 00:12:39.840 --> 00:12:42.480 which of course they're not going to because for the 165 00:12:42.480 --> 00:12:44.639 most part they're gonna think that you aren't going to survive. 166 00:12:45.639 --> 00:12:49.559 But also you want to make deals with them if 167 00:12:50.399 --> 00:12:55.360 you know so the ideally, I guess the idea is, 168 00:12:55.679 --> 00:12:57.480 we're going to hope that you pick a body that 169 00:12:57.559 --> 00:13:05.039 makes you so vulnerable because you can't do anything once 170 00:13:05.039 --> 00:13:07.600 you're out of here, that you'll take whatever job and 171 00:13:07.600 --> 00:13:11.159 whatever shitty treatment because you have so few options. Is 172 00:13:11.200 --> 00:13:18.159 really like I think the long con here, right. So 173 00:13:18.919 --> 00:13:23.960 he's here on the surface now, Weeper Commander Voltigue for 174 00:13:24.039 --> 00:13:29.159 the Operatic Collective. His racial abilities had thankfully been returned 175 00:13:29.200 --> 00:13:32.720 to him, and he hadn't been dragged away to the 176 00:13:32.720 --> 00:13:35.600 Bone Clan like all the other former Crawler turned mercenaries. 177 00:13:35.639 --> 00:13:38.919 Fatigue had entered the dungeon as a pet that gave 178 00:13:39.000 --> 00:13:41.960 him a slightly different designation on the form, and someone 179 00:13:42.000 --> 00:13:46.600 working for the Pacifist network embedded deep in the bureaucratic quagmire, 180 00:13:47.080 --> 00:13:50.320 had changed the code on that designation to make it 181 00:13:50.320 --> 00:13:53.440 appear as if he was something else. They thought he 182 00:13:53.519 --> 00:13:56.559 was a former indenture like the Bobkas and so many others, 183 00:13:56.559 --> 00:14:00.240 not a crawler, just another refugee, which we still don't 184 00:14:00.240 --> 00:14:03.480 really know all about the Bobkas either, so that's interesting. 185 00:14:05.440 --> 00:14:07.080 He didn't know for certain what had happened to the 186 00:14:07.080 --> 00:14:09.960 segregated former crawlers who'd been stupid enough to get themselves 187 00:14:10.000 --> 00:14:11.840 back in the dungeon on the wrong side of the fight, 188 00:14:11.919 --> 00:14:15.039 but Voltigue thought it was pretty damned obvious King Rust 189 00:14:15.200 --> 00:14:18.000 had suddenly jumped several levels. The purpose of the Ring 190 00:14:18.039 --> 00:14:20.759 of Divine Suffering was to raise stats, not levels, but 191 00:14:20.799 --> 00:14:24.679 that's what happened when you fed it anyway. I just 192 00:14:25.600 --> 00:14:35.639 that's so gross. It's so gross. It's so disgusting. You 193 00:14:35.720 --> 00:14:37.039 have to help, but you have to do it in 194 00:14:37.039 --> 00:14:38.799 a way where nobody will ever know it was you 195 00:14:40.320 --> 00:14:43.039 if they suspect a former crawler is involved, though, purge 196 00:14:43.039 --> 00:14:47.120 the mercenaries of the few former crawlers amongst them. For 197 00:14:47.279 --> 00:14:51.759 all his brilliance, Porthos had underestimated the brutality of the 198 00:14:51.799 --> 00:14:56.000 trapped warlords. The former Crawlers were dead before Voltigue was 199 00:14:56.080 --> 00:15:01.600 ever discovered. It was too late for them, and he's 200 00:15:01.679 --> 00:15:04.759 just watching King Rust get murdered by Rosetta, and it's 201 00:15:04.799 --> 00:15:06.879 just like, Wow, he killed all those guys to level 202 00:15:07.000 --> 00:15:10.879 up and then look did nothing for him fucking dead. 203 00:15:11.720 --> 00:15:15.240 Which this is so like the bitterness of this moment, 204 00:15:15.559 --> 00:15:20.480 in the satisfaction, you know, there's just this awful mixture. 205 00:15:21.519 --> 00:15:28.120 I absolutely I think this might be one of the 206 00:15:28.159 --> 00:15:34.080 most devastating new povs we've gotten. And when I say 207 00:15:34.120 --> 00:15:37.799 new POV, I recognize that this isn't like it is, 208 00:15:37.919 --> 00:15:41.120 but oftentimes that sort of implies it's a permanent thing. 209 00:15:41.200 --> 00:15:42.840 But you know what I'm saying, Like, we have been 210 00:15:42.879 --> 00:15:50.159 in a lot of awful former Crawler minds and seen 211 00:15:50.279 --> 00:15:55.600 some history and whatnot, but this is different. This is 212 00:15:55.679 --> 00:16:05.320 just something different. So we get you know, Stalwart being 213 00:16:05.360 --> 00:16:09.840 like what's happening and them being like, your father's dead 214 00:16:09.879 --> 00:16:13.600 and if you hadn't stayed behind like a little bitch, 215 00:16:13.759 --> 00:16:20.600 maybe you'd know that, but no, you didn't. And we 216 00:16:20.840 --> 00:16:24.000 find out about like Princess Formidable and what she told them, 217 00:16:24.000 --> 00:16:27.039 which is very funny considering that it seems the world 218 00:16:27.039 --> 00:16:32.120 won't be ending, so she's just destroyed their business for 219 00:16:32.240 --> 00:16:36.200 no reason, which is just life comes at you fast, 220 00:16:36.200 --> 00:16:42.720 doesn't it. Their only hope was to break the Princess posse. Now, 221 00:16:42.720 --> 00:16:45.720 while they had some semblance of unity, and they'd been 222 00:16:45.759 --> 00:16:51.159 so confident, even cowardly, Hortense himself had come along being 223 00:16:51.200 --> 00:16:55.200 pulled on a flat litter, and I liked this. The 224 00:16:55.240 --> 00:16:58.480 operatics had likely done a cost benefit analysis and saw 225 00:16:58.519 --> 00:17:01.639 they'd achieve a point zero one percent profit if he 226 00:17:01.679 --> 00:17:04.640 came in person. So that's what they did, which, like, 227 00:17:05.400 --> 00:17:08.759 is it when you read it in a way, it 228 00:17:08.960 --> 00:17:12.559 sounds like a joke, But this is the way things work. 229 00:17:13.039 --> 00:17:17.440 It genuinely is like, you know, it's very literal, and 230 00:17:17.480 --> 00:17:19.799 it's easy to be like, oh yeah, jeez and sort 231 00:17:19.799 --> 00:17:21.440 of roll your up, but like, this isn't a joke. 232 00:17:25.359 --> 00:17:28.160 So he's named new leader of the block, which is 233 00:17:28.160 --> 00:17:34.160 being disputed by Stalwart, and as leader, he says, I 234 00:17:34.200 --> 00:17:39.480 guess we attack, which is like, wow, what leadership. So 235 00:17:39.519 --> 00:17:47.200 they begin to head forward and Voltigue looks around make 236 00:17:47.279 --> 00:17:50.200 sure that you know, he's going to be positioned in 237 00:17:50.240 --> 00:17:57.880 the right place, and he pushes this button to listen 238 00:17:58.480 --> 00:18:06.039 to some mozart piano because Foltigue's new race can't really 239 00:18:06.079 --> 00:18:11.000 sing the race he had picked like that he couldn't sing. 240 00:18:11.039 --> 00:18:15.440 After having been a songbird is devastating to him. Music 241 00:18:15.519 --> 00:18:18.599 is just a big deal, and that that was part 242 00:18:18.640 --> 00:18:21.839 of what also like fucking hit me with this, I 243 00:18:21.880 --> 00:18:28.559 swear to God. And the way that he has been 244 00:18:28.680 --> 00:18:32.400 conscripted to do this is Porthos saying to him like, 245 00:18:32.480 --> 00:18:34.319 it is not too late for you to do something 246 00:18:34.400 --> 00:18:36.640 about her death. You don't have to feel this shame. 247 00:18:37.160 --> 00:18:45.319 You can still do something. So he goes into the 248 00:18:45.359 --> 00:18:49.359 midst of the army and they're like, dude, what are 249 00:18:49.400 --> 00:18:54.720 you doing. What's happening? Did you, like, is your tank 250 00:18:54.799 --> 00:18:59.599 fucked up or something? And he's just like, yeah, well, 251 00:19:00.880 --> 00:19:07.440 and he smokes a blitztick and says, show me mistress 252 00:19:07.480 --> 00:19:13.440 hens bar. So that's like his last you know, moment 253 00:19:13.559 --> 00:19:18.440 of being alive, is like reaching for the past, still 254 00:19:19.160 --> 00:19:25.279 never having let go, you know. And he blows it up. 255 00:19:25.880 --> 00:19:27.720 And when I say blows it up, this is not 256 00:19:27.799 --> 00:19:35.359 a normal like it. He takes out according to this 257 00:19:35.480 --> 00:19:45.559 like little descriptor ten thousand fellow soldiers with a single blast, 258 00:19:46.079 --> 00:19:54.720 which is bonkers. I can't like, that's bananas, and I 259 00:19:54.759 --> 00:19:59.359 can't help but be like, I hate that you were 260 00:19:59.440 --> 00:20:03.359 so prepared to take a suicide mission. I hate that 261 00:20:03.440 --> 00:20:05.880 you were in this state, but thank you, you know, 262 00:20:06.079 --> 00:20:12.279 And I have to imagine that's why Rosetta is crying later. 263 00:20:13.519 --> 00:20:17.200 But it may be about the money too for her. 264 00:20:17.440 --> 00:20:20.200 Maybe that's it. I could be a combo. I don't know, 265 00:20:21.279 --> 00:20:26.279 but yeah, this is just so it's just so devastating, y'all. 266 00:20:27.160 --> 00:20:35.000 Oh God, Michael says, this poorthous guy was clearly planning 267 00:20:35.039 --> 00:20:36.960 far far ahead, and it sounds like he didn't let 268 00:20:36.960 --> 00:20:40.160 Tippet or Rosetta or anyone else know about Voltigue, or 269 00:20:40.160 --> 00:20:42.640 at least they were smart enough to not let anything slip. 270 00:20:42.960 --> 00:20:44.519 He had the ace in the hole that might have 271 00:20:44.559 --> 00:20:48.319 helped them survive a seemingly insurmountable situation, Planted a long 272 00:20:48.400 --> 00:20:52.200 time in advance, his line to Voltigue did ping. My 273 00:20:52.400 --> 00:20:54.880 uh oh, is he a manipulative bastard with his own 274 00:20:54.920 --> 00:20:57.839 agenda beyond what we know? Sense though? You mean like 275 00:20:57.880 --> 00:21:01.240 that it's not too late to do something. It's like 276 00:21:02.000 --> 00:21:06.720 it's one of those things where I can see it 277 00:21:07.119 --> 00:21:11.400 being a manipulation tactic, but it's also so literally true, 278 00:21:11.680 --> 00:21:16.240 and this is doing something and it's like a profound 279 00:21:16.319 --> 00:21:23.440 something honestly that I don't know. Manipulation doesn't necessarily have 280 00:21:23.480 --> 00:21:28.839 to be a lie, So I guess, you know, Michael says, 281 00:21:28.880 --> 00:21:31.640 talking someone into a suicide mission always makes me raise 282 00:21:31.640 --> 00:21:34.440 an eyebrow, even if it's for a good cause. That's 283 00:21:34.480 --> 00:21:41.160 sort of the uh, the like odd quality about it 284 00:21:41.200 --> 00:21:45.160 is like we don't know exactly what it was that 285 00:21:45.240 --> 00:21:49.799 he was proposed from the start. I could see this 286 00:21:49.880 --> 00:21:54.680 guy being the one to be like, I'll go I'll 287 00:21:54.720 --> 00:21:57.079 fucking die if it means taking them out, and like 288 00:21:58.920 --> 00:22:01.680 coming up with this idea himself as they begin to 289 00:22:01.799 --> 00:22:06.119 put forth here's what we're thinking of doing. It's it's 290 00:22:06.160 --> 00:22:11.279 such a tricky you know, it's I think about it 291 00:22:11.319 --> 00:22:15.119 a lot because when it's part of why I'm like 292 00:22:15.200 --> 00:22:19.640 the state, the mental state that he was in is 293 00:22:20.039 --> 00:22:22.559 it's not a fair place to be when you make 294 00:22:22.599 --> 00:22:26.440 this kind of choice. But also nothing about any of 295 00:22:26.480 --> 00:22:29.440 this is fair, And I don't know is it, Like 296 00:22:30.119 --> 00:22:34.359 is exploiting that okay when it's for a cause? Like 297 00:22:34.400 --> 00:22:40.440 that's a constant repeating theme in this story is like 298 00:22:40.640 --> 00:22:44.000 when is it okay? And when not? How desperate do 299 00:22:44.000 --> 00:22:46.240 you have to be and what does it cost you? 300 00:22:46.599 --> 00:22:50.039 And like, you know, regarding the children getting involved, you know, 301 00:22:50.519 --> 00:22:54.039 It's just it's a really it's a blurry, weird line. 302 00:22:54.920 --> 00:23:01.720 And I almost feel like there's no other way this 303 00:23:01.759 --> 00:23:04.519 guy could die that would that he would feel like 304 00:23:05.119 --> 00:23:10.240 there was any meaning to his life. I could see 305 00:23:10.279 --> 00:23:16.200 that being almost an act of mercy for him. You're like, look, 306 00:23:16.319 --> 00:23:20.039 you're going to die, but clearly you don't seem to 307 00:23:20.079 --> 00:23:24.200 want to be alive anymore. And what if I told 308 00:23:24.240 --> 00:23:27.279 you you would not only die, but you would find 309 00:23:27.319 --> 00:23:31.279 like a tiny bit of peace perhaps in the moment 310 00:23:31.359 --> 00:23:37.559 before because you fucked them hard. And that's really really 311 00:23:37.599 --> 00:23:41.480 fucking compelling, man, you know, when you've been through what 312 00:23:41.559 --> 00:23:47.359 this guy has been through. So and also the fact 313 00:23:47.359 --> 00:23:50.400 that like he wasn't even a person to start off with. 314 00:23:51.039 --> 00:23:53.839 So he's here because the pet Biscuit did something to 315 00:23:53.920 --> 00:23:59.039 him that he didn't choose and didn't want necessarily either. 316 00:24:00.079 --> 00:24:03.799 Not that I'm believing her, you know, but like it's 317 00:24:03.880 --> 00:24:06.119 just such a all of this is just because of 318 00:24:06.240 --> 00:24:12.000 interference of other people and their like brutality and abuse 319 00:24:12.039 --> 00:24:14.079 and lack of seeing you as any sort of like 320 00:24:14.640 --> 00:24:23.200 living being with agency at all. So we start chapter 321 00:24:23.279 --> 00:24:29.240 thirty five and Carl has thrown a smoke mantle as 322 00:24:29.279 --> 00:24:33.839 they begin to like charge two guards fell as I 323 00:24:33.960 --> 00:24:37.720 ran no not felt they were just gone, like they'd 324 00:24:37.759 --> 00:24:44.720 been sucked below the surface. And Donut is saying that like, 325 00:24:44.799 --> 00:24:46.839 we're going the wrong way, Carl, and he says, we 326 00:24:46.920 --> 00:24:51.319 gotta loot the orc and then retreat, which as they 327 00:24:51.319 --> 00:24:54.680 are heading forward, Rosetta is falling to her knees and 328 00:24:54.799 --> 00:24:56.519 is at the data pad, and He's like, what the 329 00:24:56.559 --> 00:25:01.480 fuck is she even doing? She has a ring that 330 00:25:02.000 --> 00:25:08.079 is like pressed into the data pad somehow, and she 331 00:25:08.240 --> 00:25:11.039 tells him I need his head for a retina scan. 332 00:25:11.240 --> 00:25:14.400 Grab his head. He doesn't know what this is about, 333 00:25:14.480 --> 00:25:19.960 but he obeys orders. And as they are heading back 334 00:25:21.119 --> 00:25:24.599 and she says take his corpse too, He's like, where 335 00:25:24.599 --> 00:25:27.720 the fuck did you even come from? Where did this 336 00:25:28.079 --> 00:25:31.079 tunnel come from? And this is the part that I 337 00:25:31.119 --> 00:25:37.400 am really like feeling twitchy about, you know, is the 338 00:25:37.440 --> 00:25:41.680 fact that there's this whole thing that apparently is going 339 00:25:41.720 --> 00:25:44.920 on that Karl doesn't know about it all. It's sort 340 00:25:44.960 --> 00:25:49.400 of funny because later on he says something about how 341 00:25:49.519 --> 00:25:52.119 the king being killed and him not being the one 342 00:25:52.160 --> 00:25:55.079 to do it is making him feel like he's sort 343 00:25:55.119 --> 00:26:00.160 of losing control of things and He says it in 344 00:26:00.160 --> 00:26:04.000 a way like as comparing it to what happened when 345 00:26:04.039 --> 00:26:10.680 she Maria took over his body. As tempted as I am, 346 00:26:11.240 --> 00:26:17.640 and I am to dismiss this as you're just a 347 00:26:17.680 --> 00:26:22.160 control freak, Carl. That's just that's all it is. Really, 348 00:26:22.359 --> 00:26:25.519 I think what it is is him recognizing that he's 349 00:26:25.559 --> 00:26:29.559 being manipulated by people whose objectives he thought he knew 350 00:26:30.160 --> 00:26:34.079 and now is realizing that maybe there's more than he understood, 351 00:26:34.759 --> 00:26:41.000 or at the very least they are, you know, coming 352 00:26:41.079 --> 00:26:46.759 at this whole problem with methods that he's not involved 353 00:26:46.839 --> 00:26:50.880 with at all, and he definitely wants their help and 354 00:26:51.000 --> 00:26:55.880 definitely wants to be like he just also would like 355 00:26:55.920 --> 00:26:57.839 to be at the center of every plan and to 356 00:26:58.039 --> 00:27:01.599 know everything that's going on at all time. And if 357 00:27:01.599 --> 00:27:04.319 you really stop and like consider the position that Carl 358 00:27:04.440 --> 00:27:08.119 is in, I can't help but understand why, if I'm 359 00:27:08.200 --> 00:27:11.359 giving them a big benefit of the doubt here, why 360 00:27:11.400 --> 00:27:14.799 they wouldn't want to involve him, because like bro is 361 00:27:14.880 --> 00:27:20.519 under such scrutiny all the time, and Voltigu's POV he 362 00:27:20.559 --> 00:27:23.359 says something about how like Carl was practically shouting from 363 00:27:23.359 --> 00:27:27.880 the rooftops that he had the cookbook, you know. So 364 00:27:30.279 --> 00:27:33.960 the fact is that if you really want to keep 365 00:27:34.000 --> 00:27:37.519 some shit truly secret, you probably don't want Carl or 366 00:27:37.599 --> 00:27:44.519 Donut anywhere near it. Unfortunately, and yet, because of who 367 00:27:44.599 --> 00:27:47.119 Carl is, and because of the way that he has 368 00:27:47.240 --> 00:27:52.720 like been feeling like he's being played with, this would 369 00:27:52.799 --> 00:27:56.400 not be a good feeling to have coming from your allies, 370 00:27:56.640 --> 00:28:01.599 you know. So I understand his feeling, but I also, 371 00:28:02.119 --> 00:28:05.720 if the motive is what I'm thinking, really get where 372 00:28:05.720 --> 00:28:11.160 he's coming from. And the whole thing with like taking 373 00:28:11.359 --> 00:28:17.799 the money. This is the kind of thing where it's 374 00:28:18.039 --> 00:28:21.599 very easy to be like, oh, so it was all 375 00:28:21.640 --> 00:28:25.799 for money, but like we're talking literal billions here, so 376 00:28:26.400 --> 00:28:30.960 it's not just money in quotes. It's the kind of 377 00:28:31.039 --> 00:28:35.240 money that shifts entire hierarchies and power structure. It's a 378 00:28:35.279 --> 00:28:43.400 sea change, and considering everything, money is super necessary to 379 00:28:43.440 --> 00:28:47.160 achieve this sort of thing. We just don't We can 380 00:28:47.160 --> 00:28:52.519 acknowledge that money runs the world, but when it comes 381 00:28:52.599 --> 00:28:57.119 to like taking money, we'll get very precious about it 382 00:28:57.160 --> 00:28:59.680 and be very like, oh, does this makes me look greedy? 383 00:28:59.680 --> 00:29:03.400 It is like cheapen our cause somehow, and it's like, no, 384 00:29:03.799 --> 00:29:09.240 you need resources. That's like, it's just it's the kind 385 00:29:09.279 --> 00:29:15.160 of thing where an image is weaponized against you, the 386 00:29:15.200 --> 00:29:18.599 same way that like, if you get violent, you'll be 387 00:29:18.680 --> 00:29:21.640 suddenly painted as this, and it's like you're fighting back 388 00:29:21.680 --> 00:29:27.440 against violence. That's why you're doing this. It's because of 389 00:29:27.480 --> 00:29:29.640 the violence that has been inflicted on you. But suddenly 390 00:29:29.680 --> 00:29:31.640 when you do it, it's a problem. You know, it's 391 00:29:31.640 --> 00:29:35.359 that exact kind of double standard. But it can be 392 00:29:35.519 --> 00:29:41.240 very effective in quelling people or making their cause seem 393 00:29:41.279 --> 00:29:47.359 less legitimate or whatever. So I'm trusting that this money 394 00:29:47.440 --> 00:29:50.759 is going to something that's like going to be a 395 00:29:50.799 --> 00:29:56.240 bigger picture assistance, but it may not be. I don't know. 396 00:29:57.000 --> 00:29:59.359 Even if it's not, I can't really be that mad 397 00:29:59.359 --> 00:30:03.440 about it, because, like, whoever it's for, Rosetta's not getting 398 00:30:03.440 --> 00:30:06.839 out of here to spend that money. She knows that, 399 00:30:07.279 --> 00:30:11.000 you know, So whomever it's for, it's not her personally, 400 00:30:12.000 --> 00:30:14.759 unless there's some way to leverage it to get that 401 00:30:14.839 --> 00:30:21.319