Speaker 1: This is an Unspoiled Network podcast. This is spoil Me
Speaker 1: covering Dungeon Crawler carl a Parade of Horribles Book eight,
Speaker 1: chapters thirty six through forty one. In these chapters, everything
Speaker 1: is just feeling like it's spinning wildly out of control.
Speaker 1: I don't know. There's something about this book, guys that
Speaker 1: has got me so flipped out and feeling just Welcome
Speaker 1: to spoil Me. Welcome to the show everyone. I am Natasha.
Speaker 1: Thank you very much to Michael for commissioning this episode.
Speaker 1: Michael's here in the chat says made it by the
Speaker 1: skin of my teeth. Cordelia too, I was all alone
Speaker 1: up until a mere moment Ago appreciate you'll be in here.
Speaker 1: So I just really you guys this. I think part
Speaker 1: of where this is coming from. I've talked about this
Speaker 1: extensively every episode, and I've just been sort of interrogating it.
Speaker 1: And part of what I realized as well is knowing
Speaker 1: that the series is like starting to come to a close.
Speaker 1: I remember that he said that he's planning on about
Speaker 1: ten books, and you know, we have always got examples
Speaker 1: of writers who claimed a series was going to be
Speaker 1: so many and then ten years later, they're still writing,
Speaker 1: and so they intended a thing, and that's all well
Speaker 1: and good, and that's just not what wound up happening.
Speaker 1: But I'm going to go ahead and operate on the
Speaker 1: assumption that Matt Dinneman is right or has a plan.
Speaker 1: And I think that I just cannot fathom any possible
Speaker 1: way that this story gets wrapped up in two books,
Speaker 1: considering how fucking bonkers things are right now. And you know,
Speaker 1: I think part of this is We've got a world
Speaker 1: that is so big that I would like closure on
Speaker 1: probably a lot more things that I'm actually going to
Speaker 1: get it on. So I think part of it is simply,
Speaker 1: of course, it feels like this to me because I
Speaker 1: want details on things that it is impossible for me
Speaker 1: to really unless he decided to do a series of
Speaker 1: short stories or something, which is not out of the question.
Speaker 1: But I and you know, the series is so fast
Speaker 1: moving that even though I feel like there's no way
Speaker 1: that you're going to be able to do this, I
Speaker 1: can't help but also think how much he packs into
Speaker 1: each of his books, like and each of his chapters,
Speaker 1: really to the point where covering it I have started
Speaker 1: to slow down quite significantly, because it's just there's a lot,
Speaker 1: you know, so I should have more faith, I think,
Speaker 1: but it just is a really huge number of problems
Speaker 1: and snarls and loose threads and questions, and it feels
Speaker 1: like in this book we're just getting more questions. We're
Speaker 1: having almost nothing so far be answered. And I recognize that,
Speaker 1: like that's in these chapters specifically, a thing that happens
Speaker 1: is a bunch of questions get answered, but like these
Speaker 1: are not the questions that I had really partially they are,
Speaker 1: but like there are questions that get introduced within this book.
Speaker 1: So I'm just how can it possibly be done? And
Speaker 1: how can it be done in a satisfying way. Michael's
Speaker 1: in the chat says, FYI, he is doing some additional
Speaker 1: short stories. The print version of his books include an
Speaker 1: extra chapter. They're worth reading, but I recommend you wait
Speaker 1: until you finish this book before you hit up Barnes
Speaker 1: and Noble to check them out. They include an extra
Speaker 1: chapter of like story that is in that book. In particular,
Speaker 1: the extra chapters are called the Pineapple Cabaret. Oh, because
Speaker 1: like that was part of what I was referencing here,
Speaker 1: is that we get answers about the Pineapple Cabaret, but
Speaker 1: I haven't even heard of it until this book. I
Speaker 1: guess not strictly true. The Pineapple Cabaret is referenced it
Speaker 1: by the AI in that scene with Victory or Formidable,
Speaker 1: but it was, you know, just a very passing thing
Speaker 1: and I didn't register it as something that I needed
Speaker 1: to think about at all. So, yeah, it's getting the
Speaker 1: answers on that is interesting, but it doesn't address a
Speaker 1: lot of what has been an ongoing series of questions
Speaker 1: for me. So chapter thirty six, Karl has just had
Speaker 1: this encounter with the goddess and she disappears. Everybody froze,
Speaker 1: and it turns out for him time passed during that freeze.
Speaker 1: Nobody else noticed it. They get notification that there's a
Speaker 1: goddess here, but it's pretty much immediately gone. There's nothing,
Speaker 1: you know, like, there's no evidence that this really happened,
Speaker 1: and it's just a weird I was really not sure
Speaker 1: whether he was going to tell them the truth about
Speaker 1: what all happened, and like to be fair, he does.
Speaker 1: He tells them, but he does like edit or just
Speaker 1: generally sort of there are some things that he use
Speaker 1: out because they are distressing which I think is fine.
Speaker 1: You know, there are going to be times where a
Speaker 1: thing is edited in such a way that I'm like,
Speaker 1: you are simply courting disaster, and that is going to
Speaker 1: come back and bite you, and you idiot. But this
Speaker 1: was a time where I'm like, I don't think the
Speaker 1: edits he makes are affecting anything. I think it's fine,
Speaker 1: And I really appreciated the fact that he is pretty
Speaker 1: much as forthright as possible here it is. You know,
Speaker 1: this is not a stage in which I want you
Speaker 1: keeping further secrets to a degree that's unavoidable. Don't mention
Speaker 1: the fucking anarchistic cookbook, obviously, but you know what I'm saying. Everybody,
Speaker 1: I think has earned being told the truth about what's
Speaker 1: going on. And I love the fact that like he's
Speaker 1: flipping out while everybody else is sort of what happened,
Speaker 1: and Imani is the one that registers that his fucking
Speaker 1: heart rate is really elevated and something is obviously wrong.
Speaker 1: Let's see, oh right, And then a tiny fairy appears.
Speaker 1: This turns out to be a creature from one of
Speaker 1: her cards that's been made a permanent like companion because
Speaker 1: of the weird effects of one of the effects of
Speaker 1: the god becoming a permanent thing that Karl causes to happen.
Speaker 1: So there's a moment where Imani is like, this is
Speaker 1: because of Carl, and I was immediately like what how
Speaker 1: so and then it's explained and it is very literally
Speaker 1: because and I was like, oh God, damn, Okay, I
Speaker 1: realized the eye on my chest was still open and
Speaker 1: I had to make a conscious effort to close it.
Speaker 1: And that part really creeps me out. Guys, I have
Speaker 1: found it all too easy to put her out of
Speaker 1: my head, and I've you know, obviously pun intended, lol,
Speaker 1: but you get what I'm saying, Like, I have really
Speaker 1: made myself not think about her, and it has worked
Speaker 1: a little too well. And the reminder that she's here
Speaker 1: and is like not exactly entirely under his control really
Speaker 1: fucking irks me. Don't like it. So this guy jacobus
Speaker 1: reverse tooth fairy, so apparently he like is he doesn't
Speaker 1: buy loose teeth from children. He does the opposite, which
Speaker 1: we don't get real specific here, but my assumption is
Speaker 1: because like if we're doing the exact opposite, he sells
Speaker 1: firm teeth in two children, you know, like if we're
Speaker 1: doing the Elaine benis reacting to Bizarro Superman in Seinfeld
Speaker 1: kind of situation. But my assumption is that it will
Speaker 1: cause this guy will cause teeth to appear in your
Speaker 1: mouth that weren't there, I assume, but I may be off.
Speaker 1: We don't get a lot of detail here, possibly because
Speaker 1: we're going to have the horror of this revealed at
Speaker 1: some point, possibly obviously, and let's see, Oh, Ellie fucking hell,
Speaker 1: Carl hanging out with you is as dangerous as hanging
Speaker 1: out with Samantha. Also, I don't trust that mercenary you hired.
Speaker 1: You can't trust fire fairies. So this turns out to
Speaker 1: be like a weird thing like Doughnut gets with certain
Speaker 1: you know, breeds of cat. But this bitch, you know,
Speaker 1: I had been really worried about her maybe reacting poorly
Speaker 1: to Carl's lack of commitment regarding embras. And it goes
Speaker 1: in a really different direction because they decide to allow
Speaker 1: the mercenaries to join them when they go see a Kuma,
Speaker 1: which I really just don't have like a strong opinion
Speaker 1: on whether or not that was a good idea or not.
Speaker 1: I feel like I wouldn't have expected it to have
Speaker 1: the effect that it has. But I also don't really
Speaker 1: know why they needed to be there, other than we're
Speaker 1: simply bringing everybody I don't know. So they go to
Speaker 1: chicken and waffles and upgrades as planned, and there is
Speaker 1: an imp in the front. Her name was Darla Dene.
Speaker 1: I'll get a big table together, but it's going to
Speaker 1: take a minute. I'll get you some menus. How many
Speaker 1: kitty menus do we need? She looked at Dona and
Speaker 1: popped her gum, And everybody is asking for various menus.
Speaker 1: Of course, Prepotende is going to Nita Soda. Samantha is
Speaker 1: here and that is new. She wasn't here just a
Speaker 1: second ago. I want you to know that Finley attempted
Speaker 1: to seduce me, and I was enticed, but I resisted
Speaker 1: his lurid advances. Still, if you kill him in a
Speaker 1: jealous rage, I would think it was really hot. Which
Speaker 1: I love you so much, Samantha. I just love her,
Speaker 1: I really do. Ooh, Gene's hear that, thunder God damn,
Speaker 1: better bring the dogs inside. Husband, hopefully he heard that.
Speaker 1: Don't worry. The badger said, I already got her figured out,
Speaker 1: and I'm like, do you do you, because I just
Speaker 1: think nobody does. And I think that's a wild claim
Speaker 1: to make. That's all I'm saying. That feels optimistic. But whatever,
Speaker 1: we'll leave that alone. So this is when he says,
Speaker 1: we're not looking for a table. We want to see
Speaker 1: the top shelf upgrades. Just push the music machine, don't
Speaker 1: push too hard. We just open and we don't need
Speaker 1: it scratched. And there's a mention here about the fact
Speaker 1: that the milkshakes are listed as giving a five percent
Speaker 1: buff to reaction time, which I'm really I'm wondering whether
Speaker 1: or not this is true, Like is it as simple
Speaker 1: as they will label it for you? In some places,
Speaker 1: it almost feels like a trick, you know, I don't
Speaker 1: know anyway. There is a drink later as well, where
Speaker 1: I think it's tep It is like telling Carl, hey,
Speaker 1: I vetted this one, and I was like, but can
Speaker 1: we be sure they're always the same? Like I just
Speaker 1: got really, really paranoid about all of this. Corpse of
Speaker 1: hickster level twenty five upgrade imp, a dead imp with
Speaker 1: his eyes burned out. The little thing smoldered like he'd
Speaker 1: just been killed. And he's got a note for Karl
Speaker 1: in his pocket. You were supposed to come alone. You
Speaker 1: more on. This isn't a tea party. A Kuma really
Speaker 1: is throwing his weight around here in a way that
Speaker 1: is going to be quickly revealed to be a mistake.
Speaker 1: So they go in and he is just He says,
Speaker 1: by the shitting gods, how are you still alive? You're
Speaker 1: a fucking idiot. Carl Dona casts mute, and Ellie shoots
Speaker 1: an ice bolt and shatters one of his testicles. I
Speaker 1: didn't even think about the fact that she was going
Speaker 1: to be holding quite a grudge at the fact that
Speaker 1: he stole the gay of the Farh Gods from her.
Speaker 1: I should have, but I didn't, And she really is
Speaker 1: holding on to this fucking grudge like I am not
Speaker 1: mad at it, for the record, but damn so they
Speaker 1: have to. They put him in an anti magic shield, which,
Speaker 1: because he is like basically made of magic empowered by magic,
Speaker 1: causes his health to his health bar appears and begins
Speaker 1: to slowly lower over the duration of this conversation, to
Speaker 1: the point where if they were to leave it up
Speaker 1: long enough, he could just die from the shield itself,
Speaker 1: which is a real bummer for him. That's a pretty
Speaker 1: intense weakness. Actually, I was kind of thinking that these
Speaker 1: were meges, like how can we possibly cope with these guys?
Speaker 1: But that's a like, yeah, anyway, one time, I'm on,
Speaker 1: said Ingrid Schmidt, who was the resident in the room
Speaker 1: next to hers, tried to cheat at Bingo and Ellie
Speaker 1: found out. She wheeled up to Ingrid and whispered something,
Speaker 1: and Ingrid started crying and refused to come out of
Speaker 1: her room for a week. The woman never played Bingo again.
Speaker 1: I still don't know what Ellie said to her. I
Speaker 1: asked the other day and she just laughed, which I
Speaker 1: am dying to know what the fuck that was. But uh, bonkers.
Speaker 1: So here's a Kuma yelling I will fucking kill you all, which, Akuma,
Speaker 1: I hate to tell you this, but when you have
Speaker 1: just had a testicle shattered, continuing threats is probably not
Speaker 1: the vibe that you want to continue on with. It
Speaker 1: just seems like it's a very short sighted method of
Speaker 1: communication at this point with people that you should realize
Speaker 1: by now did not come here to play. So do
Speaker 1: you want them to play? Because they fucking can And
Speaker 1: that would be obviously no problem to anybody, But there
Speaker 1: it is, and Okuma says, we're trying to help you idiots,
Speaker 1: We're on the s same side, which is hilarious considering
Speaker 1: that it takes him forever to just answer the question
Speaker 1: why did you tell me to kill two teams? And
Speaker 1: the reason that it takes so long for him to
Speaker 1: answer it is because it was going to force Carl
Speaker 1: into an impossible position where he would have no choice
Speaker 1: but to help the warm ages. So the answer sucks
Speaker 1: and makes you look like shit, and you trying to
Speaker 1: be like we're on the same team is actually kind
Speaker 1: of bullshit, like you are in a very general sense,
Speaker 1: but not really, not really. You crawlers weren't supposed to
Speaker 1: surviving these numbers to this floor. The AI had to
Speaker 1: compensate by drawing from deep reserves on the last floor,
Speaker 1: where they made the floor even bigger. They plumbed some
Speaker 1: of the mobs from the first and second floors, but
Speaker 1: those are different and it didn't work right. So now
Speaker 1: some of these NPC teams and all the NPCs for
Speaker 1: the mercenary guilds are getting pulled from emergency backup because
Speaker 1: your numbers are too great and when you broke the
Speaker 1: seventh floor required them to quickly populate the map on
Speaker 1: the eighth in a way that further depleted the reserves.
Speaker 1: A former crawler taught me all about this. A skink.
Speaker 1: They're trapped in the cabaret. When he says trapped, as
Speaker 1: we find out, that's like by design. At first, it
Speaker 1: makes it sound like they aren't being allowed to leave
Speaker 1: from an external force, which like techn you know what
Speaker 1: I'm saying. They put that in place. They know how
Speaker 1: this works better than anybody, better even than the AI itself,
Speaker 1: I think. And let's say I'm trying to find this
Speaker 1: bit Npcason. Mobs especially aren't supposed to be used for
Speaker 1: more than a few seasons. That skink he has this
Speaker 1: process he calls the worn path, and it helps us
Speaker 1: realize what we really are. Mobs are supposed to get
Speaker 1: recycled once they've been used a few times to prevent
Speaker 1: that from happening, but it's expensive and their records are spotty,
Speaker 1: and as a result, these mobs and NPCs are used
Speaker 1: over and over. They do audits occasionally, but so many
Speaker 1: get missed. But Harrot, that's the skink. They figured this
Speaker 1: out and found a way to exploit it, which harrot instantly.
Speaker 1: I'm just like, oh shit, and Carl has pretty much
Speaker 1: the same reaction. I do the fact that it's like, oh,
Speaker 1: you're supposed to recycle these, but it costs a lot.
Speaker 1: This is so very on brand in general, in any universe.
Speaker 1: I swear to God, this shit is so fucking frustrating.
Speaker 1: The dungeon is full of mobs who know their own nature.
Speaker 1: Everything is broken, it's all accelerating. Even if the AI
Speaker 1: hadn't already gone primal. The awakened NPCs are like a
Speaker 1: disease to the integrity of the crawl. Nothing inside will
Speaker 1: be allowed to survive past the season, no matter what happens.
Speaker 1: Even if the outworlders somehow gained back control, are well
Speaker 1: past the point of no return. That means everyone and
Speaker 1: everything in the dungeon, all that work of generations will
Speaker 1: be bind. But these two former crawlers, Hara and Minerva,
Speaker 1: their exploit is a way for us, the NPCs, to survive.
Speaker 1: But you crawlers can use it too. A dungeon is modular.
Speaker 1: There are thousands of pieces that come together. There's what
Speaker 1: they call framework, which includes all the mobs locations at
Speaker 1: some of the indentured workers. Excuse me, it's the third
Speaker 1: to last thing that gets installed, and it's the one
Speaker 1: physical part that's reused every season to make the dungeon.
Speaker 1: It's like a crawler's inventory, but a huge one, and
Speaker 1: it is a physical object. It is moved from planet
Speaker 1: to planet. The showrunners feed their plans into the framework
Speaker 1: with software, and the MACROAI is installed, and I suddenly
Speaker 1: wake up thinking I'm a palace guard, pet groomer. And
Speaker 1: many seasons ago, two indentured former crawlers approached the current
Speaker 1: season's showrunner and asked for permission to be in charge
Speaker 1: of building the seventeenth floor. Nobody ever makes it to
Speaker 1: the seventeenth floor, but the showrunners are required to have
Speaker 1: plans in place. It would be a way to help
Speaker 1: automatically dispose of awakened NPCs, and it would fulfill the
Speaker 1: requirement to have a floor ready to go. The showrunner agreed,
Speaker 1: and they were given access to create the floor. The
Speaker 1: seventeenth floor is a small floor where crawlers must face
Speaker 1: greatly enhanced mobs from earlier floors, a hand built maize
Speaker 1: filled with traps that culminate in a floor boss that's
Speaker 1: all but impossible to kill. The showrunner who approved this
Speaker 1: project was murdered soon after it was approved, and the
Speaker 1: two former Crawlers who were put in charge were forgotten.
Speaker 1: My my mind, they're still there exist. Outside any supervision
Speaker 1: running construction. Showrunners always just reuse the plans from previous
Speaker 1: seasons for everything above the thirteenth floor. Nobody looks at it.
Speaker 1: The showrunner who originally approved never transferred their paperwork. They
Speaker 1: aren't accumulating hours against their indentureship. They are all but invisible,
Speaker 1: and they were trapped by design. They didn't want to
Speaker 1: be seen. They weren't just building the seventeenth floor attached
Speaker 1: is the only entrance to a pocket dimension they built.
Speaker 1: They were building an oasis for mobs and NPCs to
Speaker 1: escape to. The two Crawlers sacrifice the possibility of ever
Speaker 1: getting out to make a place where NPCs and mobs
Speaker 1: could permanently escape the horrors of the dungeon that is
Speaker 1: the Pineapple Cabaret. And Carl is like, okay, so they're
Speaker 1: doing all of this and making all this effort to
Speaker 1: stay invisible, and you just fucking told everybody about it,
Speaker 1: and he's like, well, yeah, yeah, that nothing is broken.
Speaker 1: So now everybody already knows if they want the crawl
Speaker 1: to keep running, They're gonna need to start from scratch,
Speaker 1: and all the NPCs that currently exist are going to
Speaker 1: have to be destroyed. They don't have a choice in
Speaker 1: that the AI can feed itself. I don't think it's
Speaker 1: going anywhere. We might be able to create an exit.
Speaker 1: We might, but there's a problem, a lot of problems. Really.
Speaker 1: The Cabaret is similar to the Nothing. It's not a floor,
Speaker 1: it's a separate dimension, and the rules do allow crawlers
Speaker 1: to travel to it, but as of right now, they
Speaker 1: don't have a way in or out except via the
Speaker 1: seventeenth floor. But if we can build another door, any
Speaker 1: crawler who is within when the floor collapses will be
Speaker 1: deemed lost, but they won't be killed. Wait, if someone
Speaker 1: gets pulled into the Nothing, they don't die when the
Speaker 1: floor collapses. No crawler could survive the Nothing. That's irrelevant.
Speaker 1: The Nothing was broken on the last floor. But this
Speaker 1: dimension is the same sort of thing. I was there
Speaker 1: at the Pineapple Cabaret. We deliberately left returned to cold
Speaker 1: storage when we realized what was happening and got brought
Speaker 1: to Faction Wars. We needed to find the Scavenger's daughter.
Speaker 1: It's how we keep the Denisen safe escape to the
Speaker 1: planet's surface. She's crucial, as is her father. But for now,
Speaker 1: we need a way to get ourselves back to the cabaret.
Speaker 1: And when we go, we can take some crawlers with us,
Speaker 1: but only if they meet the requirements. I glanced at Samantha,
Speaker 1: who perked up at the mention of the word scavenger,
Speaker 1: which I'm wondering if she is the daughter or if
Speaker 1: I don't. I just genuinely don't know. Is her child
Speaker 1: the daughter. She said that her child is dead and
Speaker 1: that she felt it, but maybe she's wrong. We're She's
Speaker 1: not super reliable. There are some things I just want
Speaker 1: to believe her, and I kind of think she was
Speaker 1: telling the truth about that, but I don't know. And
Speaker 1: this is when Florin is like about to shoot a
Speaker 1: Kuma is like, I told you wo'd kill you if
Speaker 1: you lied, and you did, and he's like, out about what?
Speaker 1: And he says, you let faction wars on your own.
Speaker 1: You can step in and out of floors as you please.
Speaker 1: That's how you got here. Sounds like you can get
Speaker 1: back there just fine. You're right, but that wasn't a lie.
Speaker 1: We need you and crawlers can't skip floors. You need
Speaker 1: us Why it was fine until we left. We needed
Speaker 1: to get We needed to leave to get to the
Speaker 1: Scavenger's daughter, and the moment we left, they moved in.
Speaker 1: Now we have to need to fight to get it back.
Speaker 1: And lots of us were killed in Faction Wars. There's
Speaker 1: only five of us left. It's not enough. The dimension
Speaker 1: is infested forgotten monsters, shadow mimics who were almost impossible
Speaker 1: to root out, remnants of things. We don't want to
Speaker 1: wake things Agatha can and will wake the moment she
Speaker 1: learns they exist. We left for just a few days
Speaker 1: and our protection spells got canceled out and all hell
Speaker 1: broke loose, and now we can't get back without a
Speaker 1: fighting force. Using you wasn't my first choice. Our original
Speaker 1: plan was to build more mages during Faction Wars, but
Speaker 1: you ruin that. And our second plan was to use
Speaker 1: an old Ally and the Nothing, and you ruin that too,
Speaker 1: So you're the third choice. I'm really curious who the
Speaker 1: Old Ally and the Nothing is. We have two possibilities
Speaker 1: to get there now that the Gate of the pharaoh
Speaker 1: Gods has gone and broken. The casinos are one way
Speaker 1: if that doesn't work, something involving your shop interface. That
Speaker 1: was Harrot's idea. The requirements are, you can't worship a god.
Speaker 1: You entering the area will instigate a smite. Not certain why,
Speaker 1: and obviously this rules out a lot of people. So
Speaker 1: what this sounds like to me is we have to
Speaker 1: kill all the gods or else nobody is going to
Speaker 1: you know, Sorry, I just saw in the chin At
Speaker 1: that shows how wildly powerful the gang is now to
Speaker 1: easily smack a war Mage around, says Cordelia. Right, Michael
Speaker 1: says from the last book, the war Mages grabbed her
Speaker 1: daughter and bounced. Presumably Samantha interpreted her no longer being
Speaker 1: able to feel her daughter on the floor as her
Speaker 1: daughter dying. Okay, I forgot that they had her right, right, right.
Speaker 1: So he says something about we don't want the gods
Speaker 1: to know. Carl's like, well Eris knows, and He's like, yeah,
Speaker 1: she doesn't count because she always knows fucking everything. And
Speaker 1: then here's the part where he admits that the killing
Speaker 1: two teams was purely for self interest. Then we jumped
Speaker 1: to thirty nine. Entering the Lollipop, we'd remuted a Kuma
Speaker 1: and left him with about two percent health. I hadn't
Speaker 1: finished asking him questions, but an imp entered and started
Speaker 1: flipping out about the dead imp on the counter, and
Speaker 1: we all had to leave. I exchanged a fist bump
Speaker 1: with the war maids to get him into my chat,
Speaker 1: and it worked. He said it would only work if
Speaker 1: he was on the same floor as me. We left,
Speaker 1: but not before Louis got his milkshake and Prepotente excitedly
Speaker 1: picked up his pile of about two hundred sodas, all
Speaker 1: in tall glasses with colorful straws. Each one apparently gave
Speaker 1: a different buff which is incredible, and I love this
Speaker 1: for him so much. It's just such a weird, specific thing, amazing.
Speaker 1: And apparently when Louis drinks his, it like spatters out
Speaker 1: his gills, and that's so horrible. That would be such
Speaker 1: a bummer that, like everything that you consumed, did that
Speaker 1: from now on. What a fucking pain in the ass.
Speaker 1: So this whole idea of the Pineapple Cabaret being built
Speaker 1: as an like an outside dimension is crazy. I am
Speaker 1: so curious how they were able to make this happen.
Speaker 1: I want to know what the thought the deal was
Speaker 1: with the person who gave them permission? Who was suddenly murdered?
Speaker 1: Because I'm like, were they murdered or did they not
Speaker 1: even exist to begin with? Did they make an NPC?
Speaker 1: Like was there a way to trick people into thinking,
Speaker 1: you know, or use a shape shifter or something like.
Speaker 1: There's so many possibilities for a way to set this up,
Speaker 1: because apparently all you're relying on is that nobody gives
Speaker 1: a shit because it's the seventeenth floor and it's irrelevant
Speaker 1: on so many levels that you just have to hope
Speaker 1: nobody looks too closely, which I mean that would be
Speaker 1: probably pretty easy to do. So it could just be
Speaker 1: a murder to tie up loose ends exactly as it looks,
Speaker 1: or it could potentially be something a little bit even
Speaker 1: more devious that that person wasn't real to begin with,
Speaker 1: or you know what I mean, Like I don't know.
Speaker 1: And this is when Carl is saying the thing that
Speaker 1: I've been saying. I was frustrated with the whole design
Speaker 1: of this floor since everything was so dangerous, it was
Speaker 1: too rigid, too time consuming. Everything we needed to do
Speaker 1: we could only do between races. I missed our ability
Speaker 1: to just bounce around the map at will, and I
Speaker 1: was saying last time about how like the break between
Speaker 1: didn't seem like that big a deal. But once he
Speaker 1: points this out here, I was like, oh, yeah, the
Speaker 1: part of my anxiety has been, even though I didn't
Speaker 1: realize it, that the races are just something that we
Speaker 1: have to get through before we can go back to
Speaker 1: what we're really doing. And so there's like this weird
Speaker 1: stress of the race itself not even being the biggest deal,
Speaker 1: but we have to be so focused on it, you know.
Speaker 1: It just there's no breaks. So we have all of
Speaker 1: the explanations of what exactly happened from Doughnut to everybody
Speaker 1: in the chat. Rosetta doesn't have a reaction to Harrot's name,
Speaker 1: but Carl is like, she has to know who that is,
Speaker 1: and uh, this is when Carl is meeting Tippid and
Speaker 1: this is when he gives him the beer that's got
Speaker 1: a two percent constitution. Buff. I don't know who Minerva is.
Speaker 1: Tipped continued. She might have been a season before my time,
Speaker 1: but I do remember watching hairt during my time as
Speaker 1: game guide wasn't one of mine, but I remember that
Speaker 1: season was a lot like you little fucker was a
Speaker 1: real thorn in the side of I can't remember, and
Speaker 1: warm ages are evil fuckers. It's possible they're working together,
Speaker 1: but more likely they'll use you to clear out that
Speaker 1: floor and then killed a lot of you to take
Speaker 1: it for themselves. The warm age also mentioned shadow mimics.
Speaker 1: That's probably the true problem. Dealing with those guys is
Speaker 1: going to be a real chore, which we don't really
Speaker 1: get all that much here, but he says, like Mordecai,
Speaker 1: that is what he is actually and that he is glitching.
Speaker 1: It's impossible for him to be both a changeling and
Speaker 1: shadow mimic. Changelings can't even touch mimics, and shadow mimics
Speaker 1: don't get the skills of those they copy, so it's
Speaker 1: plain broken. But it also means there might be one
Speaker 1: or two of those running around on this floor, so
Speaker 1: be careful. Don't love that. I was really thinking there
Speaker 1: was a special case with Mordecai because of him being
Speaker 1: a manager. But if this is something that can apply
Speaker 1: to anybody, yikes. This is when Tippett goes up there
Speaker 1: and he sings love Shack. If my theory is correct,
Speaker 1: a gauge will appear above me when I sing. If
Speaker 1: that happens. We know the guild is here, and the
Speaker 1: gauge does appear mentioned as similar to Guitar Hero. He
Speaker 1: can't sing, so it doesn't stay in the area that
Speaker 1: it needs to to get access. I love the fact
Speaker 1: that Dona is just so encouraging to him and saying
Speaker 1: it was fantastic, you did such a great job when
Speaker 1: everybody is just obviously like broken not sing. She just
Speaker 1: I don't think that this is put on. I think
Speaker 1: she's just that tone deaf that to her he did
Speaker 1: do a great job. She's just so terrible. You know,
Speaker 1: there's a secret mark on a handful of songs. If
Speaker 1: you pick the right song, it'll engage the sequence. If
Speaker 1: you can get through the entire song with your needle
Speaker 1: in the green, you'll gain access the whole time. Donah
Speaker 1: of course, goes up there and tanks because she can't
Speaker 1: sing and she won't use her auto tune. Girl. There's
Speaker 1: a whole fight between Prepotente and one of the guys
Speaker 1: that's like running this about him bringing in outside drinks,
Speaker 1: which causes him to leave. I'm really curious about what
Speaker 1: this is, because like it feels like we just really
Speaker 1: needed a reason to get Prepotente out of here for
Speaker 1: right now. But I don't know if that's it or
Speaker 1: if it's just meant to be another indicator of the
Speaker 1: fact that PREPOTENTI doesn't know how to deal with people
Speaker 1: very well anyway, So Carl, like Mordecai, is brewing some
Speaker 1: barred potions. And then we go into chapter forty and
Speaker 1: I do not see why both of you must sit
Speaker 1: upon me at the same time. Deota complained, you are
Speaker 1: exceeding a recommended weight capacity, my breathtaking princess. You should
Speaker 1: sit here just to you and you alone. Without you,
Speaker 1: I have no purpose, no reason to even exist. When
Speaker 1: you add the nude human, I am unable to function.
Speaker 1: I'm not naked, you are in your underwear. I worry
Speaker 1: you might get pinka at my princess. Oh my god,
Speaker 1: that fucking kill me a little bit inside. De Roota,
Speaker 1: do please stop complaining. Nobody likes it when someone complains
Speaker 1: too much. And then she turns around and complains, which
Speaker 1: is exactly my energy. Once again, I swear to God, hmm,
Speaker 1: this fairy, uh, what's her name? I'm trying to find
Speaker 1: her name because they call her k and I feel
Speaker 1: like it's it's qui latte something like that. Uh, she
Speaker 1: is going through an existential crisis essentially, and it's just like,
Speaker 1: there comes a point where she's literally yelling about how
Speaker 1: she doesn't know what's real and what's not anymore. If
Speaker 1: Harra is real, show yourself to me. You know, there's
Speaker 1: just I was. I just was really so worried about
Speaker 1: the polar opposite thing that happens where I thought it
Speaker 1: was going to be. Carl isn't showing enough faith, but
Speaker 1: instead her faith gets so fundamentally shaken, and that's a
Speaker 1: really interesting reversal of my expectation. Three daw lights appeared
Speaker 1: on our dash, indicating new upgrades the gyro that would
Speaker 1: keep us from flipping the Bubble Buddy knockoff edition. We
Speaker 1: could upgrade to the Golden with a regular upgrade, a
Speaker 1: shield that we could electrify. After we upgraded it again,
Speaker 1: we'd be able to float with it. And finally there
Speaker 1: were resizable old terrain tires. The loud speaker crackled, Zev's
Speaker 1: harried voice echoed. Her neutral tone filled filled me with dread.
Speaker 1: And yeah, there's just a sense of like somebody has
Speaker 1: a fucking gun to her head while she's reading this
Speaker 1: in the audiobook, I suspect that's almost literally what is happening.
Speaker 1: This is a very long description of what all is
Speaker 1: going on here. I'm not just going to read this verbatim.
Speaker 1: I felt like I kind of had to do it
Speaker 1: with everything at a Kuma was saying, because it's you know,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean, Like all of that is
Speaker 1: stuff that's going to inform our character's actions for a
Speaker 1: while upcoming. But when it's something like this that's about
Speaker 1: this particular race only, it feels a little bit less
Speaker 1: crucial because I know we're going to encounter some of
Speaker 1: these details just as the race goes on in further chapters,
Speaker 1: so I don't worry about it quite as much. There
Speaker 1: is going to be this because this race is so long,
Speaker 1: required pit stops and they have to stop for at
Speaker 1: least two hours, but they will get like their access
Speaker 1: to their garages during that time, so that everything will
Speaker 1: be repaired. Not necessarily fully repaired, but it's going they
Speaker 1: will be able to do some things. And there's also
Speaker 1: going to be vendors, as she puts it, who will
Speaker 1: be selling countermeasures in case you lose your containment, which
Speaker 1: I am deeply curious what the fuck that looks like,
Speaker 1: because it's the way she says, uh, selling countermeasures. It
Speaker 1: feels like these are vendors who are going to be
Speaker 1: scalping the fuck out of you. Selling countermeasures, is what
Speaker 1: she hesitates before saying, So my assumption is going to
Speaker 1: be that sell is like kind of acute euphemism for
Speaker 1: whatever is actually happening here. The containment bubble is indestructible,
Speaker 1: but you can lose it and wildly. If your vehicle
Speaker 1: is destroyed or your mount is killed. You won't lose automatically.
Speaker 1: You'll lose containment, and yet you can still survive and
Speaker 1: cross the finish line. But it's unlikely. Let's see, I'm
Speaker 1: trying to find the team from now on, and the
Speaker 1: team that wins is given a key that will open
Speaker 1: a single garage of a defeated team. You may find
Speaker 1: additional supplies to upgrade, and in some cases an entire vehicle.
Speaker 1: If you do find a second vehicle or amount, you
Speaker 1: can add it and expand your garage and may choose
Speaker 1: which to use for the next race. That sucks that
Speaker 1: the winner gets to take shit like I am prepared
Speaker 1: to be very angry about this because We've got this
Speaker 1: fucking seat and everything for Donut. This truck sucks on
Speaker 1: a number of levels, but there's also been so much
Speaker 1: work put into like getting it exactly how we want
Speaker 1: it to be, that taking it. It's not even necessarily
Speaker 1: that the other team is going to use it. It's
Speaker 1: just going to be to fuck you, you know, Oh,
Speaker 1: I hate this so much. This race will see other
Speaker 1: heats racing alongside you on the same track. Containment stealing
Speaker 1: isn't active. Take what you will from that statement, good luck,
Speaker 1: So Donut is just like, did you understand all of that?
Speaker 1: And I mean I understand it in the theoretical sense.
Speaker 1: That does not mean that I'm going to necessarily retain
Speaker 1: it all, but I hope that Carl will, and they
Speaker 1: make sure to get a bunch of those breathing potions
Speaker 1: as well, because that is the assumption I think they're
Speaker 1: making about like containment breaks and you won't be able
Speaker 1: to breathe anymore, which I'm not sure if that's actually correct,
Speaker 1: but it's as good a guess I suppose as any Like, uh,
Speaker 1: the Tumbleweed of Team Sparkles pulled up sporting a pair
Speaker 1: of massive metallic exhaust ports. That were new Lucian was
Speaker 1: driving this time the bugy had wrote it was shouting something,
Speaker 1: but it wasn't directed at us. I wasn't sure it
Speaker 1: was directed at anyone. We get one Fine Pigs upgrade
Speaker 1: and it turns out to be a painting like a
Speaker 1: wrap on the vehicle of anime Tigriant's kissing the ass
Speaker 1: of a pig with heart symbols everywhere, so you know
Speaker 1: that sucks. And then it was a pair of crawlers
Speaker 1: on a mount. They had a dwarf mercenary Bruna the
Speaker 1: slaughter new this is the biological amount of Team Flamingo
Speaker 1: for the purpose of the tenth floor. And this thing
Speaker 1: is being ridden by Oswaldo, who has a grudge against Carl.
Speaker 1: But he does, I will say, actually engage with Carl
Speaker 1: later in a way that does not make me feel
Speaker 1: that he's warming up to him. It's just more that,
Speaker 1: like I think that he has an sense to realize
Speaker 1: they're not really enemies really, even though they're being put
Speaker 1: in this position, even though their histories are what they are.
Speaker 1: The Level sixty three human strong man named Felipe l
Speaker 1: was holding the reins. I just really want to point
Speaker 1: out Level sixty three is really not that high like that.
Speaker 1: You know, what, what have you been doing? You get
Speaker 1: those as a rookie numbers. We had to pump those up.
Speaker 1: He was a prick, but I only talked to him
Speaker 1: when terrible stuff was happening. I knew he was from Brazil.
Speaker 1: How his now devastated team had all focused on putting
Speaker 1: all points into a single stat and it had served
Speaker 1: them well early, but in recent floors their team had
Speaker 1: been whittled down, which, yeah, putting everything into one stat.
Speaker 1: This is a method that it does that exact sort
Speaker 1: of thing in games a lot of times too, where
Speaker 1: it's like, really really advantageous for a particular part of
Speaker 1: the gameplay, but then you reach a point where that's
Speaker 1: no longer the focus of the game anymore, and now
Speaker 1: you've got no skills for things that have become a
Speaker 1: much greater portion of gameplay. And I've never been somebody
Speaker 1: who like pursues that kind of of stat distribution. I've
Speaker 1: always found it to be like, I think you should
Speaker 1: definitely prioritize one or two things over others, but there's
Speaker 1: a difference between doing that and pouring everything into one.
Speaker 1: You can just have that the two you prioritize be
Speaker 1: like ten or so higher than the others. But you
Speaker 1: know what I'm saying, the team. Uh. The item as
Speaker 1: Waldo had looted was the memorial crystal of a Pito,
Speaker 1: which was a mystery because supposed Leapedo wasn't dead, which
Speaker 1: we find out a little bit more about this later.
Speaker 1: He wors Tupa, and so does Felipe. The realization that
Speaker 1: these guys did worship a deity was devastating. That meant
Speaker 1: they wouldn't be able to go to the Pineapple Cabaret
Speaker 1: if we ever found a way to open the door,
Speaker 1: which also meant we were now stuck with them. I
Speaker 1: really think it's going to be we have to kill
Speaker 1: all the gods so that nobody's worshiping anything anymore. I
Speaker 1: feel like that's the only fucking way, and I don't
Speaker 1: know how that fucking works. So Carl sends over a
Speaker 1: bunch of instructions, don't kill other players. Uh, if you
Speaker 1: kill the pig, you'll summon taranus. If you kill the mentors,
Speaker 1: where fuck the bug bears are our friends? And he
Speaker 1: just says, fuck off, Carl, I'm not talking to you.
Speaker 1: I won't attack you unless it's you or us, but
Speaker 1: I don't give a shit about any of the other teams,
Speaker 1: at which point Donut says, you're only alive because of
Speaker 1: me and Carl. You straight to video, low budget Leprechaun.
Speaker 1: You better listen or else. God damn it, Donut, don't
Speaker 1: antagonize him. He's not an enemy. He's not going to
Speaker 1: help us. Carl. He knows it's us or him. It'll
Speaker 1: be easier if we stay out liking each other, she added,
Speaker 1: turning to look out the window so I couldn't see
Speaker 1: her face. It's best not to dwell on it. We
Speaker 1: have a race to win. Let's figure this map out
Speaker 1: before we start. Oh, Donut, I thought, doing my best
Speaker 1: to stave off the sudden wave of dismay. No, that
Speaker 1: really got me. That really got me. I mean, in
Speaker 1: a way, she's right, of course. That's the thing about
Speaker 1: growing cynical, is that in a way you're right, but
Speaker 1: in that particular way they're also wrong, And it's like
Speaker 1: it's on a soul level, you know. Anyway. So chapter
Speaker 1: forty one, Doctor Metcalf gives us the overalls of what
Speaker 1: this track is. We have over forty possible paths to
Speaker 1: the pit, stop, and depending on how safe they are,
Speaker 1: changes their length. The safer the longer. There are going
Speaker 1: to be some obvious obstacles that are on the map
Speaker 1: in the way, but they are also going to be
Speaker 1: traps which, for obvious reasons, are not on the map.
Speaker 1: Carl And she says that her suggestion is to stay
Speaker 1: on the direct path, but veer off before the temple
Speaker 1: we will be forced to cross the I sure hope
Speaker 1: these Piranhas haven't learned to fly river and there isn't
Speaker 1: a bridge, but the map indicates the water as shallow.
Speaker 1: U huh. I don't trust the map though, like and
Speaker 1: this is exactly the sort of thing that causes decision paralysis,
Speaker 1: and because there is no way to make anything happen
Speaker 1: without trusting something about the information you're being given. I
Speaker 1: don't trust what the buffs say about the drinks. I
Speaker 1: don't trust what previous experiences with those drinks that they
Speaker 1: like hold up. I don't trust what the map say.
Speaker 1: I don't trust anything to a degree that it's like, well, girl,
Speaker 1: do you have a better idea or suggestion? And no
Speaker 1: I don't. I sure don't. But I get to a
Speaker 1: point where it just feels like none of this can
Speaker 1: be trusted or taken for granted as correct because yeah,
Speaker 1: so the water it's shallow now, And then you get
Speaker 1: there and something's happened or somebody did something, you know,
Speaker 1: but maybe maybe maybe about literally everything, you've got to
Speaker 1: pick something and do it. And this is the part
Speaker 1: where I just really get caught up. This is also
Speaker 1: so part of like, I know that this is veering
Speaker 1: off into a weird side topic here, but if you
Speaker 1: are American, you know what I'm talking about. Where we
Speaker 1: are dealing with the stupidest healthcare system and taxation system
Speaker 1: on planet Earth, and you just begin to be like,
Speaker 1: I can't do anything because I have this insurance that
Speaker 1: tells me one thing. But then I go to the
Speaker 1: doctor they say and it turns out they're not in network.
Speaker 1: Or I call up and I'm told I owe this much,
Speaker 1: but then I show up and I owe this much.
Speaker 1: And it gets to a point where every tiny thing
Speaker 1: requires so many levels of fight and communication with various
Speaker 1: entities that all have different information and tell you conflicting
Speaker 1: things that you just begin to fucking blue screen and
Speaker 1: decide not to go to a doctor ever again. And
Speaker 1: that's a place that I have been for like, I've
Speaker 1: gotten out of it now, but for a while that
Speaker 1: was just the reason that I didn't see the doctor
Speaker 1: was because it was such a cramp in the balls.
Speaker 1: And I just think about that a lot lately, and
Speaker 1: the fact of putting things off not because I don't
Speaker 1: want to do them, but because there are so many
Speaker 1: varying factors involved that figuring out where to start and
Speaker 1: having to take it on faith that certain factors are
Speaker 1: going to remain is too much of a gamble. And
Speaker 1: I don't have the energy to start something that I
Speaker 1: might have to like switch gears right off the bat
Speaker 1: or switch gears like six or seven times. So anyway,
Speaker 1: it's just I just had to catch myself here because
Speaker 1: her assumption that the map is correct. You've got to
Speaker 1: assume that or else you're not gonna do anything, you know.
Speaker 1: So this is not to say that I necessarily think
Speaker 1: that I am wrong. I bet I would bet a
Speaker 1: lot of money that that water either isn't shallow or
Speaker 1: the fact that it shallow will be the problem. Actually,
Speaker 1: but I can't fault the choice to take it at
Speaker 1: face value. Oh. Also, she just keeps complaining about not
Speaker 1: getting up grated enough and Carl is like really starting
Speaker 1: to get ticked off, and I am just waiting for
Speaker 1: him to say something that's going to cause the car
Speaker 1: to refuse to cooperate entirely. She says, this hell comes
Speaker 1: from your inability to commit. You fear that decisions are
Speaker 1: the same as shackles, which, if this is the therapist
Speaker 1: quotes that b was taking him to, she clearly was
Speaker 1: trying to like nail Carl down, And so this was
Speaker 1: the therapist trying to encourage him to propose to her.
Speaker 1: I guess because like, Carl does not actually strike me
Speaker 1: as somebody afraid of commitment at all, So I think
Speaker 1: that was something in him that knew I'm not proposing
Speaker 1: this bitch, you know. Anyway, the shield turns on. While
Speaker 1: the plan was to try to kill Team Sparkles, we
Speaker 1: didn't have a specific strategy. I was starting to realize
Speaker 1: that was a mistake. I hadn't talked to the woman tours,
Speaker 1: but I knew that they very likely held a grudge
Speaker 1: against Team Sparkles for blowing us all up at the
Speaker 1: end of the last race. If they tried something, it
Speaker 1: was likely Corky was going to get killed. He was
Speaker 1: the key to everything. I couldn't let that happen. I
Speaker 1: don't recall how he's the key to everything. I know
Speaker 1: that he is their mission currently, but I don't understand
Speaker 1: the key to everything. So I don't know what to
Speaker 1: say about that. I'm just you know, there's a lot
Speaker 1: to keep track of, a lot. I'm I would hazard
Speaker 1: to even say that we may be overdoing it a
Speaker 1: little bit this book, but that I mean to be seen,
Speaker 1: so let's see. Uh. This is when he reaches out
Speaker 1: to Oswaldo again, this is just you and me, Sorry
Speaker 1: about donut. I have a question I hope you answer.
Speaker 1: Did you have a quest with the memorial crystal? And
Speaker 1: did you fulfill it? Did you figure out how to
Speaker 1: use it? And it takes him a while, like he's
Speaker 1: thinking maybe he won't answer, but he finally does, and
Speaker 1: it's so weird. There are two crystals that he has
Speaker 1: been sent to collect and they were both corrupted in
Speaker 1: some way, so now he's been sent on a mission
Speaker 1: to figure out what's happening to them. And the fact
Speaker 1: that the one was corrupted is why he was willing
Speaker 1: to give it to Prepotente, because I was sort of like,
Speaker 1: he just gave it to you like. I was puzzled
Speaker 1: by that, and apparently Prepotente just like instantly started yelling
Speaker 1: at him about not giving it to him sooner. And
Speaker 1: Carl is just like fucking christ dude, because he just
Speaker 1: does not know how to be a person. I was
Speaker 1: going to break it in front of him for killing Gimli,
Speaker 1: but I'm so tired of this. Tuba wasn't sponsored at first,
Speaker 1: but now he is by some rich asshole. So I
Speaker 1: just gave the crystal to the goat and then he
Speaker 1: was a complete prick about it. Who's the god you
Speaker 1: have the second crystal? For? They saw the vinegar bitch,
Speaker 1: the one Paz killed. He was my friend, you know,
Speaker 1: Paz and Anton and even Sisterinez. It's like everyone who
Speaker 1: ever comes in contact with you dies. And I forgot
Speaker 1: to mention the fact that one of the cards has
Speaker 1: been made real and permanent. The weird reverse tooth Fairy
Speaker 1: has both Dona and Carl feeling a bit of a
Speaker 1: way over the fact that they tore up pas his card,
Speaker 1: because they're like, maybe there would have been a way
Speaker 1: to bring him back. Actually, I don't think bringing him
Speaker 1: into this again is a kindness. Kill him, It's fine.
Speaker 1: I have zero doubts that that is what he would
Speaker 1: have wanted and preferred. I just maybe I'm wrong, But
Speaker 1: the injuries that he had were so profound, and they
Speaker 1: were inflicted by a god, and I just don't know
Speaker 1: if there was even a way to undo it. So
Speaker 1: you bring him back into this world and then what
Speaker 1: he just dies of his injuries anyway, like unless you're
Speaker 1: able to figure out a way to heal him in time.
Speaker 1: I don't know. I just think that it was the
Speaker 1: only option. I just really, you know. So this chapter
Speaker 1: ends with Kimada that's her name, Sorry, this is her.
Speaker 1: I don't know what's real anymore? Is this real? Are
Speaker 1: you real? Am? I real? Does any of this matter?
Speaker 1: And the whole like vibe here is so it's just
Speaker 1: so surprising. I can't I'm really worried about what she's
Speaker 1: gonna do on the road, because there is just no
Speaker 1: telling when you are in this kind of headspace, and
Speaker 1: it could be disastrous, Like it could just be so bad.
Speaker 1: So I am really worried on all of their behalves.
Speaker 1: I really don't know what to think, and just being
Speaker 1: able to like shit on fire, like oh god, you know, yeah, yeah, hmm,
Speaker 1: Cordelia says, everyone who comes in contact with you dies
Speaker 1: is such a bitchy thing to say. You're in the
Speaker 1: fucking world dungeon. That stupid little phrase applies to everyone
Speaker 1: because almost everyone is going to die. Osvaldo sucks. This
Speaker 1: is Cordelia in the chat. By the way, Yeah, Cordelia,
Speaker 1: thank you for pointing this out, because I had meant
Speaker 1: to address but I just got distracted as I was reading.
Speaker 1: Because one, You're so right, everyone who comes in contact
Speaker 1: with you dies, Well, caughtcha actually got out of the dungeon.
Speaker 1: I would like to point out you were friends with Yez.
Speaker 1: I'm sorry, but that bitch was insane. Did you not
Speaker 1: like clock that or think that was a factor. The
Speaker 1: people who died were killed by a god because the
Speaker 1: game put them in an impossible situation. Blaming that on Carl,
Speaker 1: especially considering the times that he tried to stop those
Speaker 1: three from doing things that were stupid and thoughtless, is asinine.
Speaker 1: That they were being foolish about stuff and they made
Speaker 1: the choices that they made, and that had nothing to
Speaker 1: do with Carl at all, which is a pretty rare
Speaker 1: thing to be able to say. Actually, like, there's a
Speaker 1: lot of stuff that you can back up and sort
Speaker 1: of tie to Carl in some way. But that's one
Speaker 1: situation where it really like the gods are just impossible
Speaker 1: to cope with. You just have to withstand them if
Speaker 1: you can, and that's kind of your only option. So
Speaker 1: they weren't able to And like Inez, just I really
Speaker 1: feel as well, the fact that they hid from Carl
Speaker 1: and Donut that Inez was so unwell was a really
Speaker 1: like unfair thing to do. I understand that you weren't
Speaker 1: necessarily in the same party, but they weren't aware how
Speaker 1: much they needed to be concerned about her, and you
Speaker 1: just decided to hold on to that information in a
Speaker 1: way that was putting everyone at risk. So, if anything,
Speaker 1: I think that's kind of their fault. Like yeah, and
Speaker 1: as Oswaldo, everybody who comes in contact with you, guys
Speaker 1: is acting as if there isn't also a group of
Speaker 1: people that's been friends with Carl from the start, that
Speaker 1: has been that are almost all still here. A lot
Speaker 1: of us are still here, so I am sure that
Speaker 1: what his response to that would be would be something like, yeah,
Speaker 1: but I'm not part of his little clique, so he
Speaker 1: won't be looking out for me in the same way
Speaker 1: that he is looking out for those friends of his.
Speaker 1: But as Faldo, be fucking for real, please, are you
Speaker 1: going to be looking out for anybody outside of your
Speaker 1: party the same way that you're looking out for your party. No,
Speaker 1: that's the way humanity works. We take care of our
Speaker 1: own because they matter to us, and other people do not.
Speaker 1: And that's an unfortunate fact, but it's how it works.
Speaker 1: And trying to insinuate Carl is somehow unusual in that
Speaker 1: way or cruel. Carl cares about everybody more than most
Speaker 1: people do, if anything, you know, like it's just Oswaldo
Speaker 1: wants somebody to be angry at that's it. He wants
Speaker 1: to hold somebody accountable, and Carl's right here, and it's
Speaker 1: just it's that simple. It really is that simple, and
Speaker 1: it's childish and petty and unfair, but it do be
Speaker 1: like that sometimes. It's you know, we're not always our
Speaker 1: best and this sort of situation where it he literally
Speaker 1: like us or them, it brings out the worst in people.
Speaker 1: I'm sure it would do to me. Even Donut is
Speaker 1: over here, like maybe it's better if we don't like
Speaker 1: each other at all. You know, this is just what
Speaker 1: starts to happen and it fucking sucks. Uh. Michael says,
Speaker 1: Carl helping to save almost everyone on the card floor
Speaker 1: is the only example Karl needs. Part of it is
Speaker 1: also probably what Donut said us, all the knows are
Speaker 1: going to be they're going to have to kill each
Speaker 1: other eventually, so it's easier to see the other guy
Speaker 1: as a villain. I actually don't even think it's that deep.
Speaker 1: I don't think he's thought that far ahead. I think
Speaker 1: he really does just blame Carl, but who knows. Maybe
Speaker 1: I'm not giving him enough grace. I just the the
Speaker 1: what Michael has mentioned here about Carl helping to save everybody,
Speaker 1: and also all of these people that came in to
Speaker 1: help in the last floor because of the precedent that
Speaker 1: Carl has been setting. As Although refusing to see what
Speaker 1: Carl cares about is a real choice, this is not Oh,
Speaker 1: he doesn't know Carl and so he's leaping into conclusions
Speaker 1: about No. At this point, all of Carl's actions point
Speaker 1: in one direction, and if you don't see what that
Speaker 1: direction is by now, that's willfully misreading because you don't
Speaker 1: want to see him as a good person, and it
Speaker 1: is just not convenient to the way that you're choosing
Speaker 1: to interpret everything. That's a valid thing that you can
Speaker 1: choose to do, But don't pretend it's a misunderstanding. It's
Speaker 1: you putting your fingers in your ears and closing your
Speaker 1: eyes and saying, la la la la lae, I hate you.
Speaker 1: You know, so, Michael says, Pony did kill his pet.
Speaker 1: Imagine how you'd feel about the friend of a guy
Speaker 1: who killed one of your dogs. I mean, this is
Speaker 1: the thing, is Pony killed his pet. It Carl. Pony's
Speaker 1: not even part of his party, you know, so like, yeah,
Speaker 1: sure they are acquaintances that work together, and sure, Pony says,
Speaker 1: I love you Carl, and we know that Pony is
Speaker 1: so rational, but like that connection is just inadequate to
Speaker 1: me to be blaming Carl for Oswalda isn't inclined to
Speaker 1: give anyone in Carl's group the benefit of the doubt, right,
Speaker 1: And this is like the thing that's super weird to
Speaker 1: me is why not, because again, it has been proven
Speaker 1: over and over and over and over again that these
Speaker 1: are people who are doing their best and are trying
Speaker 1: and who care. If you don't see that, by now,
Speaker 1: that's a you problem. You're choosing not to. There's just
Speaker 1: no way for all of this evidence to not add
Speaker 1: up to one fucking conclusion, even if you're not on
Speaker 1: the inner circle. Cordelia says, Osvaldo decided to separate himself
Speaker 1: from the group last floor too. He've used Carl and
Speaker 1: the majority of crawlers is separate from himself. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: think that's that's like weirdly, a part of it is
Speaker 1: that he has decided that. And this is the thing
Speaker 1: that happens with some people is that they really think
Speaker 1: going alone is strength, and that the only way to
Speaker 1: really be sure you're going to make it out is
Speaker 1: if you look out for yourself, because nobody else is
Speaker 1: going to and you can't, like if it comes down
Speaker 1: to you or them, everybody will eventually turn on you,
Speaker 1: et cetera, et cetera. And there is a certain amount
Speaker 1: of reason to think that way and believe that it's
Speaker 1: not based in nothing, but it is rooted in fear.
Speaker 1: And a thing that I have recently begun to realize
Speaker 1: is that human beings, more than any other mistake that
Speaker 1: we make as beings, we mistake fear for wisdom, and
Speaker 1: we think getting out ahead of a situation that we've
Speaker 1: invented in our own minds. Is us being wise and
Speaker 1: canny and smart about how to handle things and be
Speaker 1: ready when really we are simply functioning from a place
Speaker 1: of fear and that is not good way to live.
Speaker 1: It may be necessary at times, but we default to
Speaker 1: it in a way that we then pat ourselves on
Speaker 1: the back floor. And it's a real like if this
Speaker 1: is true of me as well, because of how much
Speaker 1: anxiety will inform my actions, and that's fear. It's just
Speaker 1: a type of fear, but it's the same thing. So like,
Speaker 1: I think that is something worth interrogating for many of
Speaker 1: us when we are struggling with a decision because one
Speaker 1: thing feels like the right thing and the other feels
Speaker 1: like the foolish thing. Does it feel right because it's
Speaker 1: morally right, because it feels like what you want, Or
Speaker 1: does it feel right because it's the one that is
Speaker 1: sort of more self protective? Does it feel right because
Speaker 1: you're afraid? And if you took that out of it, now,
Speaker 1: what seems right? What seems smart? You know? Michael says
Speaker 1: to quote Wizard's First Rule, one of my favorite fantasy
Speaker 1: books as a kid, that did not hold up at all.
Speaker 1: People will believe something because they want it to be
Speaker 1: true or they're afraid that it's true. Then Michael says,
Speaker 1: it would be funny to commission you to cover Terry
Speaker 1: Goodkind just to see your reaction. I feel like I
Speaker 1: read something by Terry Goodkind before. I honestly don't remember
Speaker 1: what though, but yeah, anyway, this is just this is
Speaker 1: something that Rashaun and I have been talking about a
Speaker 1: lot lately, because she is really making an effort to
Speaker 1: put herself out there a little bit more lately as
Speaker 1: she gets older and as she is dealing with like
Speaker 1: various tragedies in her life. There's this weird like double
Speaker 1: sense of sometimes feeling like I can't ever escape all
Speaker 1: the bad things that are happening, and it makes life
Speaker 1: so unbearable. But also the life is so short and
Speaker 1: I only have so much time, and I only have
Speaker 1: so much time with certain people who may go before me,
Speaker 1: and I should really make the most of that that
Speaker 1: I can. And she would often simply default to everything
Speaker 1: is terrible and it will never relent and there's no
Speaker 1: point to anything, and has begun to really try to
Speaker 1: embrace the alternative of let me make the most of
Speaker 1: the time I have, and how much choosing to have
Speaker 1: this outlook has changed things because she's begun to realize
Speaker 1: how much she was operating from fear most of the time,
Speaker 1: and how much she was accepting being disappointed as like
Speaker 1: a default, and that that was actually a choice that
Speaker 1: was not simply happening to her, She was choosing that.
Speaker 1: This is not to say we are in charge of
Speaker 1: what happens to us, because obviously I am not a
Speaker 1: fan of like the faux positivity of like you can
Speaker 1: choose how you react to things and choose whether you're
Speaker 1: happy or not. I mean, to a degree, sure, but
Speaker 1: we will start to do that in a way that's
Speaker 1: almost victimbly me and irrespective of actual reality. But I
Speaker 1: do think there are many people Rashan my husband as well,
Speaker 1: who tend to immediately look at the dark side and
Speaker 1: sort of stay there, And I am not really that type,
Speaker 1: and I think it can be frustrating for me because
Speaker 1: I'm like, you don't have any further evidence to base
Speaker 1: your position on than I have for mine, and mine
Speaker 1: is a lot nicer, and they're sort of looking at
Speaker 1: me like yeah, and then when it doesn't go that way,
Speaker 1: you're going to be really bummed, and I won't be
Speaker 1: because I'm prepared and I know that's what's going to happen.
Speaker 1: But my thing is, yeah, so i'll be bummed if
Speaker 1: it happens. But you're already bummed. So you're just spending
Speaker 1: way more time bummed out, don't you think some of it?
Speaker 1: Maybe it might be nicer if you're like optimistic about
Speaker 1: something for a second, just for a little bit. Anyway, Anyway, Okay,
Speaker 1: I'm going to wrap up way over time again. Thank
Speaker 1: you guys so much for hanging out with me. I
Speaker 1: appreciate you all. Thank you Michael for commissioning this one.
Speaker 1: And until next time to the lou motherfuckers. That was
Speaker 1: an Unspoiled Network podcast.