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Hello and welcome to episode 194 of the Rustical Gaming Podcast. I'm your host, G.M. Alex, and you'll be with me today. I have... Ben Meredith. Bryn Munro. Lydia Nicholas. And Palin Gould. And who are you playing? Zolf Smith. Hamitzler and Alta Ham. Southside Bottom.
I just wanted to outdo, OK? I wanted to outdo. There's a portmanteau between cell and slide there, I think. But anyway. And Azu. So, I believe that we were... I say I believe, I know, categorically. I'm sure of it. You're in other London and a pair of large footsteps and a pair of small footsteps are approaching as you're all still within the Barrett compound. And it was a complete mystery who they were. Just slowly just driving Barrett into the ground while Zulf just...
Sits. It couldn't happen to a nicer man. At which point, yes, I believe you had a large pair of footsteps and a small pair of footsteps approaching, and Brynn assumed that it was Summit Neal and Skrark. So as the things that used to be Summit Neal and Skrark... No, I'm going to jump in basically where he left off, which is with those approaching.
A kobold and a bear may round the corner that may or may not be exactly what you expected. Fine. Skrark! Summit Neal! They sort of give a look around. Skrark gives a little bit of a wave. Bear turns back into Summit Neal, and then they let themselves into the compound. Sorry, canonically, it's the sound that droids make when they transform back into people. Yeah, so it's weird. Like, the transformation into a bear, super impressive, very dramatic, very magical. The return is just...
Yeah, they approach and, you know what, I'm going to go ahead and say it. Yeah, Skrark runs up and sort of gives you a little bit of a hug. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Sel runs, runs towards da-da-da-da-da-da. Anyway. Except in that slow-mo, it's you sort of going, step, step. Step. And poor Skrark is like, step, step, step, step, step, step, step, step, step, step, step, step, step, step, step, step, step, step, step, step, step, step, step, step, step, step, step, step, step, step, step, step, step, step, step, step, step, step, step, step, step, step, step, step, step, step, step, step, step, step, step, step, step, step, step, step, step, step, step, step, step, step, step, step, step, step,
It's hard. It's going to be hard for it to be weirder than it is in there. When did you all get here, then? Yes, I've been here for days now. Oh. About half an hour ago. Oh. Oh, right. Okay. Yeah, I know that there'd been some weirdness. So is everyone here? Oh, hey, Zulf. Yeah, everyone's here. Right. So, why are we outside? Well, Zulf can answer for himself. I wouldn't want to step on those emotions. Toes. Emotions. I'm just getting some fresh air. Zulf is getting some...
Fresh air. I became convinced that the people that wanted us to work with them have thoroughly bad intents, and I do not trust them enough to listen to them try to convince me that they are doing a good plan. Oh, yeah, you've met the Barrett guy, right? Yeah, so it's the sort of thing where, you know, someone might convince you with their logic, and that's not... Not if we stab them first. That was genuinely a thing that I thought about. I don't know what it is about that guy that makes me think about knives.
I don't think it's a you thing. I think about nice with him as well. Generally, you know, it's a strange thing. Not really been an obsession of mine before. But yes, he's trying to tell us to do a thing and I just, I don't, I don't trust him enough to listen to. Like, it's these people. They're not really lovely people. Maybe you are, pointing at the squizzard.
They ain't. So I don't, I don't know. I mean, these are first impressions and I like addressing the squizet. I, I don't, I don't, I am always willing to revisit those, but it does seem that they are, they are evil and committed to evil and to taking over the world and doing a lot of damage while doing so. So, you know, it's just a lot practically going on that I, I don't want to be, I don't want to be involved in. And I, I know that I,
Sometimes I make bad decisions, and sometimes it's good to step away from things before you have been convinced to do something, because it seems very logical. I didn't feel it was a healthy or safe place to be. And also I wanted to check if Zolf was okay with the air thing. What is wrong with Zolf's air? Zolf, what is wrong with your air? Nothing's wrong with my air. I was quite upset about something, so I removed myself from the upsetting situation. How very wise. I'm going to head inside. Someone Neil gives a side-eye look towards the squizzard. I'm finding not all of the company here to be amenable. Oh, there's another one inside, so... I feel an inherent urge to no longer go inside. Someone Neil sort of just steps out a bit further into the yard. Yeah, I felt that feeling as well. I get the impression that it's a bit of talking now, and then we're moving to wherever the next place is. But is...
Is that something that they want, and is that the right thing to do? It seems like they're saying there's a solution, but what if they're lying, and this is a way that will actually leave them in charge? And again, you know, I don't... Then we've lost. Basically. Like, we have already lost. So, if they're the best option, or if they're the only option, it's that or nothing. Other options? Maybe. I should have stayed inside to hear. Maybe I should get all the information. Yes. I often find that doesn't really help. You don't...
Yeah, so Scrop knows there's all kinds of stuff flying through the air right now. I'm gonna head inside. You know, I will come with you, but if I seem like I'm agreeing with something because it sounds like a fun experiment, do kick me. Okay. You know, there are explosions, I know. Do you think there's a way of opening this door quicker than the normal method? Do you reckon there's a way we could test that? Wait, no, I can say... You're trying to get me to explode something, aren't you? Skrark opens the door and starts heading inside. I just thought I might try and trick you into an early kick. That's fine, it's fine. I saw three right there. I'm going to jump to the inside of the dining room as Sel and Skrark enter. Somebody else stays outside because somebody else does not like being near Squizards. Into the dining room where it was.
Barret and Hamid were having a natter with Azu occasionally just putting the absolute smackdown in ways that Barret can't acknowledge. And Wilde and Exquisite were also there. Of course. Oh, yes, yes. And Wilde did also get in one epic smackdown. That's true, that's true. So Barret's there as Sel and Skrark enter. Ah, hello. Oh, Skrark! I'm so glad you're okay. Hamid, Azu, hello. Hamid will sort of move towards Skrark and then catch himself and hesitate a bit. Skrark holds out a hand to shake. Hamid accepts gratefully. I'm glad you're all right.
Who's the big one? Scrogg points at Greg, who has been in there very still and very quiet in the dining room the whole time. I totally forgot he was in there! Yeah, people do that with Greg. Aww! Oh, this is Greg. He's a friend of ours from a long time ago. Well, a friend of Sasha's, mostly. But also an excellent cook and just generally a great guy. Yeah, new friend. Hello. And good to see you. So, have we decided what's happening with this prick then? Points to Barrett. Not yet. He still has some questions to answer. Well, don't mind me. Scrogg sort of goes over and settles in.
Greg puts a big hand up since people have been acknowledging Greg's existence again. Oh, God. It's a squizzard. Oh, oh, these people as who gestures at the squizzard? Oh, it was a metal person that was going to take over the world and then did. A large sort of mechanical robot. Have you ever seen one of the clockwork men like they have in Paris? Oh, yeah. Yeah, so like that, but a bit more bulky, more similar to another person, quite large. And the idea was they could perform almost any task you gave them and they were going to be used as an army or something. Oh, OK. Yeah. But now they're up.
Well, there was a sort of, one of the components that made the first simulacrum work. Yeah, it was like a seed, and when it started growing, turns out it had consequences no one really understood. That makes sense. If it's a robot that's full of seeds, it's going to... Yeah, basically, that's my understanding. Varys just there, just watching this back and forth. Thrilling as this is. Oh, shut up. What more do you need? Could you stop pretending you're in charge? He's not, he's not in charge.
I'm still waiting on the answers to my latest questions, Barrett. What is the thing you need us to fetch, and how exactly do we use it, and what exactly do we use it on? I'm still waiting on you to remember that I stated I cannot tell you those things in this play. I have another question, which is, is it a suicide mission? Probably not. With the detect thought still kicking around, I'd say of, no, I could think of worse fates for you all, or something similar.
Ham just raises an eyebrow. Right. I mean, it's going to be very dangerous, and whatever he pretends, I don't think he really knows how dangerous it'll be. I just thought it would help to check that, you know, if it involves walking directly into a volcano or something, it would be good to know in advance. In a lot of ways, you're already in the heart of the volcano if you think about it. I don't care what you think. Right, so I think at this point it would be a good idea for the two of you to go and wait in the furthest room of this place while the rest of us talk without you. Very well, that's fine.
Don't linger too long. And then Barret just steps up, heads out, and leaves. I'll go get Dolphin's summit, Neil. Wild just pipes up. Thank you, Cell, if you would. I don't think we can get any further without. Cell goes and does that. While Cell's gone, Wild sort of gives a meaningful glance at Hamid. I may have heard you earlier. Is this going to be a problem? What?
You might want to take a bit of time and figure out what's happening with you, Inzolf. Oh, that, yeah. If he's going to duck out of every single briefing, if nothing else, it's going to take twice as long. Was that because of what I said to him? I thought that was because of the other thing. I think I know Inzolf well enough to know that Inzolf, it all tends to get mixed up together. You do know him better than any of us. Let's sort out the immediate problem of how to save the world first, maybe. But Hamid... I don't have anything more to say to Inzolf about what I was saying before. I don't know.
That's not what I mean. I'll do my best not to antagonise him. I don't think it's your fault. Because I think that perhaps you two simply may not be able to be proper friends, like we are. I don't know what you think. I guess I think you might be right, Azu, but it's not important right now. Let's work out what we're doing next, but I think it's going to be OK.
Understood. I'm not trying to force an issue here. I just need to know if we're going to have to address that immediately or not. I hope not. Not for my part. Understood. In which case then, I'm going to jump to Cell popping outside and fetching Zulfan Summit Neil. Cell comes out the door. So the squizzards have left, and so we're all having a lovely briefing about what we're going to do, and you should be there because it's awful. They say it's not going to be a suicide mission, so hooray! We trust that.
Somebody else doesn't say any further and just heads inside. Yeah. You all right, buddy? Dissolve. That's a big question. And I'll head inside. Yes, good, good. Excellent. I have a character knowledge question, Alex. Yes.
I still had Detect Thoughts active on Barrett. And to Brynn, it feels very much like Barrett is like, no, I can't tell you this yet because he doesn't want to lose his remaining leverage. Whereas one of the points of Hamid was if there is like a genuine justification for I can't tell you this yet beyond just saving his own skin, then Hamid will kind of go along with it more readily than if... I will spell it out for you because you'd know from Detect Thoughts. He genuinely believes he cannot actually tell you more here because this is a forward operating base. It's not an HQ. If it's not safe or whatever, sure. However, he is absolutely relishing the fact that he's managed to get himself in a situation where he can sit there and act like the big I am again.
You think this is his greatest joy in this conversation, but you genuinely believe that he believes telling you this here would be a tactical error. Like, that's obvious from surface thoughts. Unless the guy is an absolute, like, you know, dual-mind master, blah, blah, blah, but then we're heading into, well, then why bother at all, you know? Yeah. Thank you. Can I assume everyone is reconvening in the dining room then? Mm-hmm. Which case then, with everyone back and sat, Wiles just like, so we've got a choice. So Barrett thinks there's some sort of item, which if we go and retrieve it, we can then take it to another location and use it.
and it will have some sort of huge impact on the hive at the centre of the hive mind. Will it kill everyone who is... Do we know if it will kill people or free them? We don't. No. He says that he can only tell us the specifics once we're in a safer place. And he genuinely thinks that, as much as he's enjoying leveraging his position, there is something genuine there too. I mean, I think the questions we have to ask are, and maybe we don't know enough to answer these yet, is both Barrow and...
the cult of Hades want to rule as much of the world as they possibly can. And right now, the biggest thing in their way is the blue veins, which still feels like an inaccurate term with what we now know. But the point is, I kind of believe they're genuine in their desire to get rid of that. But obviously, if they had found a way to somehow take control of it, they're going to do that rather than destroy it. So the question is, do we, as we're going through, do we think that what they're suggesting that we do is going to actually destroy the problem? Is it going to kill everyone in the process? Is it going to somehow give them control of it? But also, if the action we take, you know, leaves...
them more powerful, or gives them the opportunity to suddenly take control of so much all at once? Are we just replacing one type of terrible with a different type of terrible? I think... This is wild. I think that, to my eye, one, we can follow him to wherever this magical safe location is, and then make the call. Hammond is nodding. Two, unless anyone has anything I don't know about, to my eye, it's a case of assuming that this isn't just openly a ploy to just gain control and kill everyone in the process. Am I wrong in my assessment that it seems to me that we just have to cross each bridge when we come to it?
You know, save the world from one thing and then set up for the next? I think you might be right, Oscar. And I think the good news is that probably the people in this room are best placed to assess the impact of whatever Barrett is having us do with Cell's alchemical knowledge and Summit Nail's botanical knowledge. And, you know, the magic we kind of, a lot of us know about a bit. Hopefully we can at least figure out before we take any action what impact it might have. And, you know, if they try and take over the world, we can just kill them.
Azu, I like you and I like the way you think. I don't say that enough. I just, I just, yes. They've managed to fail to take over the world for millennia. Presuming that they don't manage to leverage this situation successfully, I suspect they could continue to fail for another millennia. They don't seem very good at it. If indeed that, if what we're doing doesn't directly, you know, help them accumulate more power immediately, then yes, it may be that they'll be the next enemy to fight, but you've got to face the biggest threat first, I suppose. Greg awkwardly puts a hand up. Oh.
Greg, who do you know about? Oh, I didn't necessarily mean Barrett specifically, although he clearly needs to be dealt with. I meant the cult in a more general sense. I think they are obviously a bit more powerful than what we see right here directly in front of us, but not as powerful or as threatening or as deadly in the immediate senses as the infection. Greg, do you think that they're telling the truth? Before Barrett may contact them.
gives a sort of enormous shrug. To me, it doesn't seem like there's much of a choice about what we do now, right? You know, we can leave the world as it is or not, and I'm very much in the knot, but I just want to make sure that we stay alert at every stage to the idea that they might... be firstly lying to us secondly hiding another option this could all be something to distract us from the fact that there is another way to get rid of it all and so managing to make us work on this rather than realize that there's a way to get rid of all of them all together and that's a really good point Sal I don't think I could have put it better and actually now we haven't had a chance to talk with you since we saw that you know in any detail since we saw that plant in the center of the garden and yes you know with that and with the information we've had and you've been here for a while haven't you a week maybe yes What do you think of the situation? Does this fit with your knowledge of how the seed works? Could it do this? Do you know any way to stop it? We have always known that the garden is more than a physical place. It is a meeting of places, and it's a better word, places that are beyond here. These creatures, these things are from a different place, one which is somewhat darker and more vicious than our own. If the seed has been thus corrupted, that it is a threat to even them.
Again, presuming the truth of it, we are left to think that a threat to all worlds is greater than a threat to one. But I am no wizard. I am no magician. I have no knowledge beyond that which I've learned. And we are very, very far beyond what I've ever learned. Fair, fair. Yeah, I think I agree with Sel. My instinct is that we go along for now, but we have to stay wary, given that we know that the people we're working with definitely don't have good intentions.
I agree, and if we go with him, we might have more information to make an even more informed decision as to what we do next. So, yeah. Zolf? Yeah, sure, let's do that. Sprock? I'd rather kill a big scary monster than not kill the big scary monster. Valid. If it's a choice between living with a big scary monster and, you know...
I'll probably pick the latter. I mean, it does seem that it's not open to negotiation. That does seem like there isn't a third. Usually very much in the negotiation frame of mind, but if it seems that... I mean, Wilde and Dolph, you've both spent, I think, a long time trying to fight with and even talk with and study the blue vein simulacrum thing, and it hasn't worked, so I'll trust that that avenue is closed off and kill the thing.
Is the thing, so... Sounds like we have an agreement. Is that unanimous? Grand! It's all nice when we agree, isn't it? Cell grins pointedly at everyone. Yes. Wild leans forward and says, well, if I had to pick a group of people who I'd end up, you know, facing the end of the world with, you are who I would choose. Aww. That was so sweet, Oscar. No, it was, wasn't it? Yeah. Also, you know...
Sel gives Wild a hug. And I will take a break on that. And then we'll be back in a couple of minutes for everything to be magically fine with no problems whatsoever. Yeah, that's what we agreed. Okay, back in two minutes. Bye. If you're a business owner, then you know they call it running a business for a reason. EQ Bank knows it too. Knows you're running the team, running the show, and you're definitely running the numbers. EQ Bank's business account is built to help you make bank. It has no monthly fees and earns high interest. So you can keep running what really matters. Sign up today at eqbank.ca slash business.
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And welcome back. So, sounds to me like we're willing to go on our little Merry Scout jaunt to the new place. Does anyone have anything that they are going to be wanting to do beforehand? I am not going to be doing huge amounts of RP in transit because, you know, it's hostile territory. So if there's any conversations or prep that you want to do before leaving, I'd suggest letting me know now.
I guess just supplies. Like, are there any stashed in the mansion, and are we like, well, this is the final push, so we should take them all with us, and are we doling them out to everyone involved? Wilde shares the information that he's been told, which is that it is maybe a day's journey away because it's such slow travel, not because it's a huge distance. There are supplies here, certainly more than enough for the journey. There's enough to equip everyone with, like, dungeoneering supplies, let's call them. You know, Crowbar, that kind of thing. Refresh our dungeoneering packs. Are there healing potions, for example? That's probably the one thing that is worth tracking more explicitly. In total, there are ten here. Ooh! What kind? What level of healing potion?
Given how many people there are, that probably means one each. Moderate. Moderate women's brand. I love that you've been wanting to, you know, reduce the number of NPCs travelling with the party at every opportunity, Alex. And, you know, you may leave most of the boat crew behind, but then we accidentally took some and yell with us. And now we've accidentally picked up Greg as well. He just wanted to do the voice again. So that is another thing, is Greg makes it known, Greg will not be coming with you. Okay.
Why not? I mean, that can be an in-carriage question or an out-of-carriage question, but I think, to me, it seems logical that Greg would. So, Greg is not willing to for a couple of reasons. One, Greg has a role down here, which is to keep finding people who have managed to make it this far without support and then connect them up with supplies and other people and so on. And Greg thinks that role is too important, and I won't RP it, but Greg basically says, no one cares about other London apart from other Londoners, so I guess that means it's me. Aww. And so he's not willing to give up that job. That seems fair. That's the primary reason. The second one is that Barrett...
it basically says we're not interested in him, we're interested in you. That's the nasty reason at his end, but Greg's like, I wouldn't want to go anyway. I mean, there was this whole we need muscle thing, and Greg is a lot of muscle. Again, that is a logical thing. You should probably ask that later. At this stage, those are the two answers you are given. But Greg's explicitly been like, I don't really care what Barrett thinks, I don't want to go anyway, I'm doing something useful here, and if I don't do it, people are going to suffer. Sel trusts Greg and Greg's opinion, and Sel feels very out of their depth. So if Greg seems like he doesn't think this is a good plan to go at all...
Is it Greg thinks we should do this, but he wants to do his job, or Greg is very much against this plan? The former. As far as Greg's like, he's like, I mean, that sounds like a good plan, but I'm not about to abandon people down here because those monsters are big and scary. I am also big and scary. I would rather they get found by me than them. That makes sense. Azim is probably going to make a mental note of, Greg might be good in the cult of Aphrodite.
I think there's also an element of Greg sort of splitting the world into things that he thinks are above his pay grade and things that aren't, if I'm being honest. And he's like, I can't save the world, but I can certainly make sure that any person I find down here that their troubles are done. I wonder where Sasha got her phrase from. I was thinking of the exact same sentence. Any other preps that people want, RP or otherwise? Are we leaving immediately or do we have a chance to rest? I would say Barrett would be pushing for immediately, but if you're all like, no, we're going to have a rest, Barrett doesn't really have the ability to stop you.
What do we think? I'm just trying to find my hit points on this character sheet. I certainly want there to be a rest before the next big encounter, but I'm assuming that we're going to a place for more information rather than the next encounter, so I'm happy to carry on. I'm just putting off and preparing my spells as long as possible, so... Yeah, Hamid's eased up approximately 50% of his spell slots, give or take. Then I'd say probably Wild would be the one to say, let's take a rest. Cool. Four hour or eight hour? Okay.
Well, if nothing else, it'll give Zol some time to prepare new spells. I'm back to full health, right? Because I've had three days. Yeah, you probably would be at this point. I mean... Yeah, technically both Hammond and Skark still had some damage, but I'm going to assume if we take an eight-hour rest that we can knock that off, basically. Yeah, I'm fine for basically people to take an eight-hour rest and then press on. I'd say that it's very difficult to keep passage of time here in terms of morning, day, noon or night, so it's not too difficult to rest. There's no natural light whatsoever, so that makes it kind of easy. Also, you've had a rough time of it, so I could understand you having that time. I am at, like, 50% health, so yeah, that's why I asked about a rest.
Yeah, that's fine. In which case then, is everyone okay for me to jump ahead to everyone has had a rest? Yeah. And are you ready for a fun metagame? Ooh. The days of me needing to ask you all to give me will saves after you rest. The people who've been tracking you aren't bothering anymore, so we don't need to do that anymore. Oh! Yeah, I've seen speculation about that, that they weren't actually save against nightmares, but save against scrying.
That's exactly what it was. I'm happy to share that now because I don't need to do that anymore. I think, yeah, I think I also had that theory at one point, but certainly a lot later than I probably should have. So yeah, no, everyone goes to bed and doesn't have to give me any saves when they wake up. What a brave new world we're in. Hurrah. So you'll survive the night.
Would people like to head on to their next location? Yeah, let's go to the second location. It sounds wise. Bad idea. With the habitual kidnapper. Secondary locations. In which case then, yeah, the party assembles in the yard at the front and Barrett gives just the worst prep ever. It's not a pep talk. It's more like, you know, don't split up because that would be stupid. Don't make loud noises because that would be stupid. If you find yourself under attack, run away because fighting it.
would be stupid. If you get lost, come back here, because if you try and find your way on your own, you'll just die, which would be stupid. Okay, we get it. Thank you. Except not thank you.
At which point, unless anyone says otherwise, I am going to have to sort of abstract this journey a little bit because I am not doing this in the standard sort of Pathfinder D&D, you know, a search check for every five or square in case of trash because it's quite a long way. That'll take a while. Are there ten people travelling? Is that... So, the people who are travelling are Barret. Two squizzards. Four party members. Yep. Oscar. Yep. Skrark. Yep. So many are. Yes. I made that ten. Raggy's not coming with you. Yes. There was a reason there were ten potions. If there were not ten potions and there's eleven people, I've gained someone somewhere and I'm not sure where from. In which case then, everyone sets off. Could I ask everyone please for a stealth roll?
This will be abstracted, but yeah, a stealth roll, please. All right. Five. Well, that's an eight. That's 23. 36 for Hamid. Ooh! And 28 for Skrark. Good grief. There's something very disturbing about having someone who can make explosions happen at will and also navigate stealthily. That's a very unpleasant combination. I don't like it. As who I can work with. As who can punch down walls with sheer force of will, but, you know, everyone knows they're coming. I can work with that. I mean, there's a reason a halfling sorcerer is a good Pathfinder archetype. Okay, everyone starts heading off through what used to be Other London.
Everyone is sort of distributed so that you're not just traveling in a big clump and so on. And there's a lot of elements of basically the more stealthily proficient members sort of looking out for others. The squizzards split themselves one to the very, very back and one to the very, very front. And occasionally they'll just call a halt for apparently no reason whatsoever. And then you'll hear a distant and then they'll carry on and things like that. As you're traveling, it becomes apparent that there are a lot of these creatures around the place. Lots of, you know.
and all that crap all over the place. So as a result, it's echoing around the space, but they seem to be picking a very circuitous route that does seem to be avoiding all of the major issues. You make your way back. It's heading comparatively close to where Greg's setup was. So I'd say Greg probably accompanies you for the first chunk, but then peels off and you take a different route. You start heading and sort of skirting the marketplace, which seems to be particularly busy with creatures at this point. And then very soon I'm made to a stairwell, you know, one of the major stairwells that are leading up and down and start making your way up. I'd say for the sake of flavour and based on the rolls, there's probably a hairy moment or two where someone knocks something over and then there's that flurry of activity, but...
Yeah, a lot of that kind of thing. Hammond rolls 36. Hammond catches it before it hits the ground. This is the kind of thing I'm talking about. I'm sort of taking an average of rolls rather than just seeing, who rolled less than five? Haha, everyone fails. I'm kind of averaging it out quite a lot. So there's a lot of that sort of picking up stuff that people are dropping and that kind of thing. And yeah, as you make it to the stairwell and start climbing up, it starts being obvious as you've been traveling that there are more of this sort of...
blue route network so not the actual creatures but actual like big chunky routes have sort of perforated their way through this uh infrastructure that used to be other london you know there'll be a pipe that has a little hole in it and you can see that pipe is full of root and that kind of thing as you make it to the stairwell there's a little bit of a breather and another briefing which effectively boils down to you're going to be going near the routes don't mess with them don't go near them don't touch them we're going to have to navigate them but just don't mess with them and one other thing which i'll do as bar at rp now which is um And I just need to say one last thing, in case anyone has an attack of stupidity, as we've been discussing earlier. If one of the things see you, they all know where you are. If you are seen, you run. You do not hide, you run. If that means running back, that's fine, but do not stay where you are if you are seen. And that doesn't just go for the creatures down here. Those don't seem to, you know, connect in the same way. They have less initiative. But we're going to be navigating a small portion of above ground. Not for long, but when we do so, do not be seen. And if you are...
move. Does everyone understand me? I'm not going to die for the sake of someone being dense. Yes. Hammond rolls his eyes and agrees. As he was this, this, like...
Okay, in which case then, people start heading up the stairwell. As you start heading up the stairwell, it's clear that this has been infiltrated by vines much, much heavier than other areas you've been. A lot of it seems to be coming from top down. It doesn't seem to be coming in from the sides or whatever. It feels like, maybe not the central hub, but certainly you know how roots branch and then branch again and branch again. You're quite far up that branching structure. There's quite a lot of biomass here. Still no sign of a single person, though. So you've not seen any bodies, you've not seen any corpses or anything like that. It's just a lot of blue glowing plant matter that's interspersed. And as you start making your way up the stairwell, you start leaving behind that sort of...
They seem to be denizens of other London, and as you start heading up this stairwell, there seems to be less of them. And then eventually, everyone hears this without... There's a ringing of a bell that might be very familiar for people. Oh, dear. And the blue glow of the vine surges in time with the ringing. Is it, when you say a familiar ringing bell, is it Big Ben? Yes. You shouldn't be able to hear... I thought it was the same bells. No, no, no, not the silver bells. No, no, no. You shouldn't be able to hear Big Ben here, but... Is Big Ben evil? You hear a harmonic sound coming from the vines themselves, and they glow blue with the chime.
As you continue heading up the stairway, it gets denser and denser until eventually you start seeing that there's effectively a climbing setup where the actual stairs are overrun, but they have ropes and so on. I'm not going to get climb checks for people. We're not under a time pressure, and they've got a bunch of extra climbing gear and so on. We take 10. Exactly. There's a reason that exists in this system. I don't need it. It takes a while because you have to go one at a time to get around this one bit, but...
I'd say after probably five or six hours of travel, once it's split out amongst the lower areas and then up through the stairwell carefully and waiting and blah, blah, blah, blah, you've all made it to the top of the stairwell and are effectively facing a service door that's currently locked. And again, Barrett sort of one last time just goes from here, we're above ground. Remember what I said? You're going to be going straight down this corridor. You will go up a manhole. You will follow the alleyway that you are in. You will take a left. You will take a right. And you will climb down the next manhole.
Are you not coming? Yes, but if you are seen, you now know the route. Gonna turn invisible. If you can do stuff like that, now's the time. Yeah, so we'll say. My potions only work on myself, but I think, you know, if you can... I could potentially turn everyone invisible, but we won't know where each other is, and these things do also locate with sound so far, but that's the things down below. The things above don't do work like that. Think of them as different species, and I don't know what they are. Very well. Is it sensible to make everyone invisible at the risk of losing each other? Yes, if you can.
Maybe Barret could remain visible and we could follow him. That's fine. If anything sees me, I'm just going to get teleported away anyway. Okay, so we have not addressed the idea that you have some kind of... No, who is going to be teleporting you? Points to squizzard number one.
Why can't you teleport us to the place that we need to get to? Because if you could teleport in there, it wouldn't be safe. But you could teleport next to it. That is the meanest you've ever heard. There's these layers of very deliberate, careful kindness, and they've been scraped away. I'm going to peel you like an onion, Sal. No, it's like, you could teleport us next to it, you absolute idiot. Barrage doesn't answer. She's like, no. I will cast invisibility on the remaining three party members and the three friendly NPCs, not the Squizzards or Barra.
Okay, cool. In which case then, Barrett gestures to one of the squizzards because God knows Barrett isn't going to be the person to stand up front and open a door. And the squizzard does so, opens the door. It seems to lead into, effectively, yeah, not a sewage hatch, but like a service layer. But it appears far more, frankly, less ruinous than a lot of other London has been. You know, that's a deep, deep chunk of the city that's been broadly forgotten a lot of the time. This actually seems to be a once maintained, if not still actively maintained, service tunnel. And Barrett and the first squizzard start heading through very, very carefully, make their way to a manhole, turn around to check on the party.
sees no one there, gives a shrug, then climbs up and lifts up the manhole cover. And the first thing that happens is, can everyone give me a perception check? Oh no. 15. 20. 18. 25 for Hammett. 22 for Skrark. Okay, in which case then, the second the manhole is pulled back, the first thing which is a little bit of a shock to the system is...
The sounds of an active city filter down. All over London has been broadly empty apart from monsters and, you know, the remnants of a people that were once there. The sounds of an active city filter through. It's a bit of a shock to the system, like, I know, okay, that's interesting. Hamid, you notice one extra salient factor? There are no voices.
There's footfall, there's construction, there is, you know, carts going past, there's movement and there's loading and there's unloading, but there doesn't seem to be a single voice that's been said. The rest have just lost that in the shock of, oh, city, but there is not a single voice in the city as far as you can tell. That's very frightening. Keep the same marching order, just tap the ladder gently when you get to the top to indicate the next person can go. That's a good idea.
He might survive. Barret climbs up, heads out into the alleyway, and I'm presuming people follow in normal marching order? Mm-hmm. Good idea on the tap-tap. That's avoiding all kinds of stuff. You have to find interesting ways to coordinate when you've got a whole group of invisible people. Yep. So, you are in a mucky alley. I think lots of, like, crates left around and, like, rotten wood. For, like, dramatic circuitousness, is this the same alley where Bertie, Zulf, and Hamid initially found Sasha? It is now, yes. Aww.
Because that's, yeah, I hadn't had that one. It is now. I'm going to claim that. That was mine. That was my idea. It means in the eventual animated show, you can use the same background from episode one. Oh, reuse assets, you geniuses. God, that saved at least £100.
Also, Alex is well aware he just grossly underestimated how long it takes and how much it costs to make assets. I love the creator in me just went, don't let people assume it's only 100 quid. That's terrible. But also how easy it would be to preserve one for six years. No, just no. So anyway, yeah, you are in that alley. Although the only people who might recognise it are Hamid Anzolf. And even then, Hamid rocked up to that party a little later than the others. So, yeah.
It leads down deeper between some buildings, and that seems quite full. It seems like it might have had extra stuff shoved in here, almost barricade style, where it's less that it's an alley than you are picking your way through a maze of garbage, effectively. As you pick your way through, yeah, it's clear that there is activity all around you in the city, but there are no windows on the backs of these buildings. You are right in the sort of mid-gap. I think Terry Pratchett described it best, where it's like, you know, you have a building, you have another building, someone taps over the building between, but forgets that there was a space between the two, and you end up in those weird liminal spaces that no one really owns.
That. Heading through the alleyway. Yeah, you take your first left. And then Barrett calls for a stop. Gestures to the empty air that he assumes is the party. Gestures to his eyes and points down a side alley that is not the route that has been described. And then does a terrible mime of like, you know, Pink Panther tiptoe.
Thank you for also doing that mime. And then, effectively, Barrett peeks around the corner, waits and waits, then darts across quickly. Obviously, the rest of you don't need that kind of precaution. But I would say, as you go past, you can see to your right a busy street full of people. All of them seem to have exposed blue vein that you've known as the infection. It isn't a case of varying stages, though. It's not like some of them are full-blown plant creatures and some people are not. It seems uniform in its sort of... Generic is the best way I can describe it. But they're all in some form of construction activity. Wheelbarrows, carrying crates.
handing out tools or whatever, it all seems to be construction-focused on the street, and it's eerily coordinated. What does it feel? Step, step, wait, step, step, wait, that kind of thing. And carrying on down the alleyway, you take the extra turning, and then Barrett sort of turns around to look at all of you, and then points towards what seems to be an inn at the far end of the alleyway, and what seems to be, if you look carefully, a manhole cover that's just slightly open before the back of that inn. And then he starts sort of creeping towards it, heading towards the manhole cover. Could you all do me a favour? Could you please roll me perception checks? Yeah.
30 with over that 20. Ooh, 31 also with a natural 20. Nice. 15 with a 2. 29 for Hamid and 18 for Skrark. Zulf, Hamid and Azu all notice that even though it's an alleyway there is a sort of weather-beaten bit of lettering across the top of the inn because it's probably got it on all sides or something. It's very, very old. It's not been maintained at this angle. Azu probably wouldn't clock it as anything particularly significant. Hamid and Zulf, you can just make out the name of the inn. The one that got away.
You... And I'll close the episode there. That is the stupidest answer to a long-lost piece of random information, Alex. Do you know how much debate there has been? You actual literal monster. You're mad. Is that really what you meant at the time? Really, though? It is. It really is. You're a prick. I got nothing further for this episode. I've been sat on that for so long and just telling me to, yeah, bleep it, f*** office, everything that I wanted and more. Thank you so much, Alex.
You little chaos gremlin. You goblin of a man. Oh, you should see his face, people. He's so happy. He's so happy. It's like a pure joy that you just see. You know when, like, a toddler has done a really big fart? It's that, like, I have power. You didn't even know. Come look what I did, Lydia. Come look what I did. Kind of joy. Right. Okay. Well, on the bright side, everyone gets to find out what's in there next week. So until then, bye, everyone. Bye.
I found the imposter, guys. It's number 11. You look around. Yes, there it is. Hamid, Azu, Sel, Hamid. Wait.
I can only think of all those TikToks and things where people are miming DJing the BBC News theme. And then they're like... Yeah, like that with vines. This is just a very organic, very expensive visualiser. Turns out that's the end goal here, is just to make the biggest visualiser in the multiverse. That's cool. And then you're going to project that through a soundscaping mechanism. Naturally.
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