0:04

For a while, because we've had

0:06

a couple connectivity issues, I've been

0:08

like, am I going to

0:10

continue on with Zoom? And I kind of

0:12

like looked around and weirdly,

0:14

there isn't a single meeting program

0:16

that has a reputation for stable

0:18

connection, which is the thing that

0:21

I value most. There are a

0:23

lot of them that are like,

0:25

oh yeah, we'll automatically transcribe and

0:27

use AI to create summaries of

0:29

your meeting or whatever. And as

0:31

much as I don't like

0:33

AI, like having a transcription would

0:35

be useful. It's just

0:38

none of them are like, oh, everybody I

0:40

ask goes, oh yeah, there's always a reliable

0:43

connection. It's every single one is like, ah

0:46

yeah, the connection can be asked sometimes. And

0:48

I'm like, that's the one thing I want

0:50

these programs to do. John,

1:00

you have been on

1:02

a hike with Bayless

1:05

Gal out into the

1:29

harvesting areas around this settlement.

1:31

The question that I have

1:33

for you, John, is there

1:36

are a couple different harvesting

1:38

areas, which one

1:41

are you going to? I think there are a

1:43

couple like newer, smaller

1:45

operations and there

1:49

are like too much larger

1:51

older ones. I

1:53

think the older ones are

1:55

closer, the newer ones are

1:58

farther Out where. Was

2:00

what? what? Where does a Bayless

2:02

think that area was supposed to

2:04

be? I feel like ah the

2:06

third my distance traveled. It would

2:08

make sense that if we're going

2:10

to the further one john it

2:12

would be more. Oh I'm sure

2:14

that I will not be able

2:17

to get back and ah and

2:19

infiltrates so let's go to the

2:21

old one Spring also own far

2:23

or old home cooks or old

2:25

and close and ah new and

2:27

far new info for new area

2:29

all right. So it

2:31

it is a bit of a

2:33

track. As you are walking along

2:36

you can see that like mostly

2:38

these are dirt roads. Ah there

2:40

are very worn paths. There is.

2:43

Like I think something. almost.

2:46

Comforting and familiar as you

2:49

realize that chicken carts are

2:51

definitely pulling most of the

2:53

stuff around so you can

2:55

see griffin tracks are worn

2:57

into the ground use. You

3:00

know that's ah, the things

3:02

that they harvester are being

3:04

pulled back by beasts of

3:06

burden. You.

3:10

Get to know famous a

3:12

little bit. As

3:14

as you go through. And

3:17

he goes so you're you're really

3:19

new to ah this this place

3:22

right? Ah,

3:25

Yeah. I were. You know, says.

3:28

Picked up my. Not.

3:30

Hill first. Seven

3:33

Year Sentence. And I'm really

3:36

really really try and keep

3:38

it at seven. Seven Year

3:40

Sentence. Own says man.

3:43

In that's enough. At. And

3:45

I'm I'm. When. Here's

3:47

the thing. The. y'all know of too

3:49

many people that get out early i

3:51

guess i kind of came in here

3:53

thinking that maybe there was a way

3:56

the fuck is really just kept my

3:58

head down and like dot good Mark's

4:01

left and right that I could get out of

4:03

here in five or six. So

4:06

there's no good behavior. This

4:09

isn't – the thing is, it's not

4:11

a prison, right? Yeah,

4:14

I know. They're not taking behavior

4:17

into account. Now,

4:19

there's certainly bad behavior. You

4:22

will be fined if you break

4:25

rules and that pretty

4:27

much necessarily adds to your

4:29

sentence. But you're here

4:31

to pay off a debt. You're working a job

4:34

to pay off that debt. Now,

4:36

that said, it's not unheard

4:38

of for people to get out of here early.

4:42

It's based on the work that you

4:44

do. Some people really throw

4:46

themselves to the grindstone. Also,

4:49

if you're lucky enough to get

4:51

called up for a desk job

4:55

that both pays better

4:58

and it's less dangerous work

5:00

overall. I

5:04

could become an admin

5:06

type. Can you read and write? Oh,

5:09

yeah. Front and back. That's

5:11

huge. Yeah. Yeah. You

5:14

know, those spots don't open up

5:16

as frequently as other spots do,

5:19

but you could make something work

5:21

and there's always trading shifts with

5:23

people before or after you. So

5:26

you got options for sure. What

5:28

does it take to, I

5:30

don't know, be stationed at the

5:34

Griffin? What

5:38

does it take to be stationed with some of these

5:40

Griffins? I feel like I think

5:42

John it kind of like

5:44

walks by like a it's

5:46

just like a collection of

5:48

chicken carts and supplies. And

5:51

he reaches towards like a kind of

5:53

like a burlap sack reaches in, pulls

5:55

it out and then like it's just

5:57

like chicken feed, essentially. Yeah. front

6:00

bag is like, how

6:04

do I get stationed to take care of these

6:06

chickens? Y'all

6:08

are feeding them Martin, Martin Meals.

6:11

This stuff is basically rocks. It's

6:14

not hard to do better than

6:16

this. Come on. Wow. I

6:19

think mostly experience. Most

6:22

people, that's the kind of work that people

6:24

almost avoid more than the factory. Those things

6:26

will take your arm off. And

6:31

then as he's walking, John has the

6:33

meal in his hand and he's smelling

6:35

the meal. He's

6:39

very unimpressed. Very unimpressed. He

6:42

takes a piece of tibble, looks at it, looks

6:44

at it, looks at it, looks at it twice,

6:47

spits, and then he

6:49

goes up to one of the chickens and

6:51

just offers it open palm for the chicken

6:53

to take it from his hand. I

6:56

think Bayless like winces because

6:59

the chickens here, they

7:01

have a nasty look about

7:04

them. These are

7:06

hard living chickens. You've

7:10

probably been to petting zoo where

7:12

you've seen some chickens or maybe

7:14

you have an eccentric

7:16

friend who raises chickens and

7:19

those birds are loved. They

7:23

have all of their feathers. They

7:26

look mean in the way that a

7:28

chicken looks mean, but if you see

7:30

chickens on farms with

7:33

worse conditions, it is

7:36

clearer that these birds used to be

7:38

dinosaurs. And that

7:40

is definitely the look of these

7:42

chickens. Many

7:45

of them are so pecked with

7:47

feather loss and whatnot. They

7:49

look like a pointy fist that's covered

7:51

in feathers. He winces

7:53

as John it approaches, but John

7:55

it is somebody who knows birds

7:58

even though the birds that he grew up in. up around

8:00

were definitely raised and trained

8:03

better. Johnnett can

8:05

operate with them pretty easily.

8:07

I don't think we need

8:09

a role or anything for

8:11

Johnnett to just display what

8:13

Acheron put into him. And

8:16

the chicken pecks out some of the feed.

8:19

Johnnett, I think, is unharmed. Tyler?

8:22

Yeah, I feel like maybe there's a

8:24

moment where one of these chickens starts

8:27

to peck and then goes for a

8:29

big old bite and nips Johnnett. And

8:32

I think maybe that might send

8:34

Bayless into making wins. But

8:37

I think in response to that, Johnnett just kind of like,

8:40

hey, watch it, man. And kind of gives the

8:42

chicken a little boop on the beak. And

8:45

maybe we could roll for it, but maybe there's like

8:47

a, hey, hey, don't try me. Don't try me. Yeah,

8:52

you know, give me

8:54

a quick, I think

8:57

charisma. I think that's what you would,

8:59

or not charisma, presence. Yeah, presence. That's

9:01

what you would use to. Okay. All

9:04

right. So, core, skilled.

9:08

All right. So, two of them? Yes.

9:11

Boop, boop, boop. One

9:14

success. We take those. Yeah.

9:18

That is a successful here. So,

9:21

I think it is just like a

9:24

boop. I feel like to

9:26

deal with a griffin chicken, these are

9:28

not as tall as acaron chickens either.

9:30

Like I think the tallest is they

9:32

don't have the good feet. They don't

9:34

have the good feet. They're

9:36

not reaching, what was it, like

9:39

12 feet or whatever in acaron.

9:41

These are like eight feet. You

9:43

know, they're essentially like big horses.

9:50

So, there is like kind of a

9:52

smack that you give the bird that

9:54

is like issued so casually

9:57

from Johnnett as somebody who's

9:59

experienced. uh with with this kind

10:01

of beast of burden that Bayless

10:04

again like foot like oh no you're

10:06

gonna piss it off and that mollifies

10:08

it that's just like it

10:10

it gets corrected and finishes the feed

10:12

in your hand. Wow

10:17

yeah wow I think if

10:19

somebody like you was was working with the

10:21

griffins then we would be

10:23

better off for sure.

10:25

Well I mean how would

10:27

you even make that introduction I don't even know

10:29

how to get started everything is so layered

10:32

to get anywhere here. Well

10:35

I'm not gonna lie to you there's going to be

10:37

a lot of paperwork for for sure but

10:40

at the end of the day it's a

10:42

practical organization we want things

10:45

to move efficiently. Cruel

10:48

as it is you know nobody

10:50

wants to be here nobody wants

10:53

us to be here apart

10:56

from what we owe so we

10:59

just keep things moving. Yeah

11:01

and and I think John it

11:03

kind of dusts off his hands maybe

11:05

gives the the chicken like one

11:07

one good like pet and like we're cool and

11:09

you know they keep on walking and like you

11:12

ever uh you ever think about

11:14

leaving you ever think about when

11:16

was the last time someone escaped? I

11:18

mean people do run most

11:20

of the time nobody chases after him

11:23

because well you're

11:26

kind of running off into the jaws

11:28

of the holly so not worth

11:30

it that is new information.

11:33

The holly? Yeah. What's that?

11:37

Well I mean this

11:39

place wasn't always a

11:42

red feather operation there

11:45

there was like I don't know this

11:48

operation moved in we chased some

11:50

people off and they're still

11:53

kind of around mostly they

11:55

keep quiet after the

11:58

initial confrontation we drove them back,

12:01

they ran for the hills, and they've

12:03

been in those hills. So not

12:05

a huge problem, but I

12:07

gotta imagine anybody who wanders away from

12:10

there, those folks aren't friendly. Oh,

12:12

so the folks that

12:16

had this land taken from them are

12:18

currently, are we walking, in what

12:21

direction are we walking to? Are

12:23

we, yeah. And farther

12:25

away from the settlement

12:27

definitely means closer

12:30

to hallway territory, for sure. Oh,

12:32

okay. So it's like, so

12:34

are we walking

12:37

currently towards the

12:40

folks that this land was taken

12:42

from? You're nervous, I can

12:44

tell. Don't worry. I'm not nervous

12:47

about the chickens, I'm more nervous about this.

12:50

What I mean is you don't

12:52

have, these people don't

12:54

have guns, you know, they've got

12:57

whatever weapons they have. Again,

12:59

the Red Feather soldiers did a number.

13:01

You can do a lot with a

13:03

little man. There

13:05

hasn't been an attack in a long

13:08

time. You

13:10

know, again, that first confrontation

13:12

was pretty brutal, and message

13:15

was received. Occasionally,

13:17

we see folks poking

13:19

around the sites, we

13:22

chase them off. It's just, if

13:25

I were you, I wouldn't wander

13:27

off alone, because being

13:29

out alone, I have to imagine, is

13:31

very different than, you know, working

13:34

around the camp where everybody kind

13:36

of understands that Red Feather soldiers

13:38

are nearby if need be. I

13:41

mean, the, the, the

13:44

hallway? Yeah, the hallway.

13:47

Well, I mean, there's got

13:49

to be some recorded instance

13:51

of anyone

13:53

within the compound. Has

13:56

the, has, have the hallway ever struck? Have

13:58

they, have they ever? taken anyone who

14:01

went out for a break for

14:03

too long and didn't come back.

14:08

Like I said, there have been people who

14:10

have run. There's

14:13

not really a recorded distinction

14:15

between folks who run and

14:17

folks that, I guess,

14:19

maybe the halle. To

14:23

be totally honest, I

14:26

haven't seen a halle. It's,

14:30

you know, we know that they're

14:33

out there and stories

14:35

fly back and forth about them being

14:37

like you don't want to mess with

14:39

them or whatever, or them

14:42

being mostly harmless.

14:44

Again, it's

14:46

not like there are raids

14:49

or anything. People do occasionally

14:51

say that sometimes somebody

14:53

will approach one of the sites, but,

14:56

you know, you raise guns and

14:58

they'll run off. Well,

15:04

I hope that I

15:06

guess I don't catch any in my stay here,

15:08

but, you know, it

15:10

sounds like

15:14

y'all are back in, this place is backing itself

15:16

into a corner by continuing

15:18

to stay where they're clearly

15:20

not supposed to be. Well,

15:24

you know, that's the red

15:26

feathers. If they see

15:28

something they want, they're going to take it no matter

15:30

how hard it is or what they have to spend

15:32

to do it. Push

15:35

the people that own it back to

15:38

a convenient viewing distance.

15:40

Yeah. And I think with

15:43

that, you kind of

15:45

arrive at this

15:47

site. This

15:50

area is not a forest

15:52

because, narratively, I don't want to

15:54

deal with there being a forest.

15:57

I think it's... Well, it'll be fine. It's

16:01

not quite a wetland. I think

16:03

there are taller grasses but there

16:05

are like occasional

16:08

trees. I

16:10

think the grasses out here

16:13

are kind of like a

16:15

pale bluish green.

16:17

The dirt

16:19

underneath is like in

16:22

places where it is not wet it

16:24

is like very hard and sturdy areas

16:27

where there is mud like it really

16:30

sucks you in because there is just

16:32

a great deal of clay in the

16:34

soil around here. But

16:37

you approach this

16:39

area where there is

16:41

a tree and

16:44

there's a lot of activity as

16:46

there are these strange

16:49

lichen like protrusions that

16:51

are coming up

16:53

out of the ground that

16:55

definitely have stalks. There are

16:58

tents and whatnot set up

17:00

around them and right

17:02

now you can see a bunch of

17:04

people who are in way

17:07

more kitted out uniforms

17:11

like everybody is you know dressed head

17:13

to toe and masked up

17:15

in pretty much all locations and

17:17

you've definitely seen the factory uniforms

17:19

which are head to toe but

17:21

even on top of that there

17:24

are like extra veils and whatnot

17:26

that people are wearing and

17:28

they are very quickly moving

17:30

from stock to stock. It

17:33

looks like they have some sort

17:35

of marker or pen that

17:38

they are brushing

17:40

against like berries

17:42

and whatnot as they move to check

17:44

over but like they're moving

17:46

through and you can see sort of like a

17:48

group of people that is huddled

17:51

off to the side while these other

17:53

people like look like they are working

17:56

Really hard and trying to move very,

17:58

very quickly. I want

18:00

to point out that the grass

18:03

is that you see some of

18:05

them have been like cut back

18:07

pretty significantly to the point where

18:09

most of them I want to

18:11

say like their areas where the

18:14

grasses do go up over your

18:16

head of the griffins can probably

18:18

easily have their head over the

18:20

grass and most places but like

18:22

a take somebody very tall to

18:25

see fully over the grass to

18:27

the wider landscape. Ah here there's

18:29

just a lot of different slant

18:31

by blocking view alpha so john

18:33

it done it can add. Nor.

18:36

Are they stepping into like a clearing were

18:38

in the grass has kind of been cleared

18:40

for this you know for dungeons and then

18:43

outset that outskirts of that is just like

18:45

shut up. Yeah, exactly. Cocoa

18:47

well done it real quick.

18:49

like hey, ah, What's.

18:52

The what's what's this break time

18:54

was who drew that which will

18:56

Did this team draw the short straw?

18:58

Are they working in a net?

19:00

Ah so everybody works in shifts but

19:02

I want to say something is

19:04

weird but the way the operation as

19:07

to work is there are markers,

19:09

people who go through and mark which

19:11

things are ready to be plucked

19:13

and. Also, estimate when

19:15

others are going to which shift is

19:18

gonna need to take care for others.

19:20

I'm. These.

19:23

Things that we harvest like day

19:25

through all the time. It's constant

19:27

and they ripen at different stages

19:30

and will really really have to

19:32

be very quick and careful. So

19:34

they're people always moving circulating through

19:36

Ah to get this. But like

19:39

whatever is happening here, there should

19:41

be more people on shift and

19:43

ah, I'm real quick. Just.

19:46

For like a level of something to for

19:48

john it to see and months and

19:50

stop me if we've seen this before but

19:52

like can I roll something or can we

19:54

just have like us some I just want

19:57

to see what happens if. What?

19:59

happens when someone squeezes a berry too much

20:01

and it touches their skin. I just want

20:03

to see like a small

20:06

like, scenelet of like the

20:08

procession of like how freaked out do they

20:10

get when- I love this

20:12

as a request. I

20:15

kind of think this

20:19

because somebody is moving so quickly like

20:21

they've got a marker like we zoom

20:23

in on this person like moving from

20:26

stalk to stalk comes to a berry

20:28

pauses and

20:33

they move to mark it

20:35

and we can see as the

20:37

audience that the skin

20:40

of the berry is soft

20:43

and some liquid drips

20:45

down but of greater

20:48

concern there are some

20:51

dry spores that kind of like

20:53

move out. This person immediately clutches

20:55

to their hip and

20:57

rings a loud bell and

21:00

then the people who are like pulled to

21:02

the side like draw back

21:04

everybody looks a little bit panicked they

21:07

ring their bells and

21:10

the everything stops

21:12

as like this person like throws a

21:15

shroud over the plant and

21:18

pulls out what it looks

21:20

like there used to be

21:22

before we had spray bottles there were like

21:24

these pump bottles and they

21:27

basically pump over this shroud

21:29

kind of moistening it everybody

21:32

sets a perimeter everybody throws

21:34

on extra masks and the

21:36

person like has their hands

21:38

up and a group of

21:40

people like come over and

21:44

we begin to see like a process

21:46

of somebody getting stripped out of some

21:48

of some gloves and having them replaced

21:51

with fresh gloves as literally

21:53

it's over the course

21:55

of like I want to say 10 minutes

21:58

everything that they have is like taken off

22:00

and thrown onto a fire. Woof. Yeah,

22:05

John it, John it leaves over to Bayo

22:07

like, Hey man, you got an extra mask?

22:09

Whoa. Hey. Hey

22:28

heroes, it's James, your game master, and

22:30

welcome to the mid-roll. Heroes

22:32

C2E2 is coming up this weekend, and

22:35

I have a couple live appearances. Friday,

22:38

April 26th at 4pm I'll be

22:40

in room S402B for the Netflix

22:42

and Kill RPG Game Show, where

22:45

we will match lucky audience members

22:47

up with monsters from the D&D

22:49

Monster Manual, and of course, give

22:52

away prizes. Afterwards, we'll have

22:54

a signing at Anderson's Bookshop, which is going to

22:56

be at booth 163. Then on

22:58

Sunday, April 28th at 1245pm, once again, in room S402B, we're

23:05

going to be doing the Ultimate RPG

23:08

World Building Panel, where Jeff John and

23:10

I will use exercises from the Ultimate

23:12

RPG World Building Guide to make a

23:14

new setting in front of the audience.

23:16

That'll once again be followed by a

23:19

signing, starting at 2pm at Anderson's Bookshop,

23:21

booth 163. I

23:23

hope to see you there, heroes. A huge thank

23:25

you to everyone who supports us on Patreon. Folks,

23:27

we can't make the show without you. And

23:29

I am so grateful for everyone who is

23:32

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times. It means the world to me. If

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to everyone who supports us already, and everyone

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who's going to support us in the future.

23:54

Now, a quick word from our sponsor. And

23:57

with all that out of the way, let's get going.

24:00

Back in the sky! There's

24:13

gonna be protective

24:15

equipment here. We should

24:18

stop over there first. Why would

24:20

Ariel come out here?

24:23

I don't know. I don't know. And

24:27

this is a

24:29

point where somebody comes up to you

24:31

guys and goes, Hey, what brings you

24:34

here? It's not time for shift change

24:36

yet. Uh, John, it kind

24:38

of takes lead. Are you the shift lead?

24:42

I'm Foreman. Okay, yeah.

24:46

We're looking for someone. A friend

24:49

of ours had a little bit

24:51

of a falling out the

24:53

other night and didn't show up to shift. Someone

24:56

else is missing? Oh no.

25:00

Wait, yeah. We're

25:03

looking for Ariel. Who's missing on

25:05

your end? Ariel? Wait,

25:07

the girl at the desk sometimes?

25:11

Yeah, that's her. Oh.

25:14

Well, I don't... This doesn't make any sense.

25:16

Who's missing from your team? Oh,

25:19

God. And he... I can

25:22

never remember his goddamn name. He,

25:25

like, goes through shift papers

25:27

and it's just... Dechina.

25:32

I think I only know his... You

25:34

know him by his last name. He's one

25:36

of those. And he

25:38

calls out to someone else

25:41

and I just need to pull

25:43

up the name that we came for. He

25:45

calls out to, hey, what did they call it?

25:48

And someone who's part of

25:50

this other group that is, like, talking

25:52

in kind of a panicked way, like,

25:54

turns back. Sereno. Sereno. It's called a

25:56

Sereno. He's one of those Serenos, the

25:58

people that... that follow

26:01

the, he fell in with

26:03

the church's little cult here. Okay.

26:07

Duchino, when did he go missing? And

26:10

what's one thing at a time?

26:12

When did Duchino go missing? He

26:16

had a break, I want to

26:18

say, like four hours ago. Oh,

26:21

jeez. And

26:24

the Serenos like to spend

26:26

their breaks in quiet contemplation

26:29

and prayer, which is fine.

26:32

So usually he walks off somewhere into

26:35

the grass and he's back in time

26:37

for a shift, no problem. But

26:39

no one's seen him. We go out to where he think

26:41

he would be and he's not

26:44

there. And Ariel, have you seen

26:46

Ariel out here at all?

26:49

Did she pick up a shift or something?

26:52

She's on the clock at all. I

26:55

don't have a listing that she should

26:57

be here, but you say she's been

26:59

missing since last night? Yeah.

27:02

I mean, I hate to say

27:04

it, but I think it's gotta

27:07

be the hallway, right? Giant turns over.

27:10

Hold on, that doesn't make any sense,

27:12

the hallway. They

27:15

barely mess with us out here. Why

27:18

would they be around the

27:20

settlement, the town? Hey, I'm

27:23

just calling it like I see it, pal. Somebody's

27:25

missing from here. You got somebody else

27:28

missing. Do

27:30

the math, all right? Ariel had a

27:32

desk job. Yeah. And it

27:34

seems like we got people walking off site and

27:36

not coming back. Who's off site?

27:39

I just

27:42

said, what direction did Dachino

27:44

go in? And... Well,

27:46

yeah. I am glad

27:48

that you're here. We

27:51

need to get back on schedule. We

27:53

can't fall behind. What just happened

27:55

there happened because we don't have a full

27:57

force out there right now. people

28:00

who want to put together search parties,

28:02

but we can't sacrifice the manpower. Wait,

28:04

but you're talking about you don't have

28:06

the manpower, but there are people that are just

28:08

chilling here while other people are working. That's because

28:11

they want to form a search party and go

28:13

look for this fucking cultist. Okay.

28:16

Well, John, it looks at Bayless like, I

28:19

mean, I already took the day off.

28:21

If we go search for DiCino,

28:24

can everybody else get back to

28:26

work? Because this seems dangerous and

28:28

I don't want any more folks inhaling

28:32

this stuff because people are, we're down

28:34

a man or two. I

28:37

think, you know, you can plead the

28:40

case that somebody is out there looking,

28:42

you know? I think people

28:44

just want to think that nobody's

28:46

doing nothing, you know? It's not

28:49

like DiCino was somebody that everybody knew

28:51

well. Well, people knew him well

28:53

enough to want to go look for him. So

28:55

we can tell folks that we're

28:57

going to go look for him. I

29:00

guess while this is happening, John,

29:02

it is tries to collect

29:04

information. Oh, what does DiCino look like?

29:06

Do we have a photo? Who am

29:09

I searching for? Yeah. Okay.

29:12

I want a,

29:15

I think this is presence. While

29:18

that role is being resolved, a question I wanted

29:20

to ask, the bell that was

29:22

rung as like an alarm, is it distinctive? Or

29:24

is it just kind of like any kind of

29:26

regular clapper style bell or did it have a

29:29

notable noise? I think the

29:31

sound is like kind of deep

29:33

and distinctive. I think there is a

29:36

deep bell and higher bell sounds to

29:38

it. And basically the

29:41

point of the bell system is

29:43

they can't use a whistle because

29:46

if there are spores at risk, breathing

29:48

in is probably not the way to

29:50

do it. So everybody, if

29:52

a bell like that rings, especially

29:54

around an operation like this, everybody

29:57

knows that something's up. Interesting.

30:00

Also, I don't know whether... Well, Nathan will remember that.

30:03

I guess it's something we wouldn't necessarily know because it's the

30:06

wrong time of day. I wonder if the... Because

30:08

the church slash bards,

30:11

I was going to say spa, has like

30:13

a chime and then all the kind of

30:15

worshipers, all kinds collectively went down. I wonder

30:17

if you can hear it from up here.

30:20

Oh, you know what? I will say

30:22

yes. I'll

30:24

say like it's far out, but

30:27

I think the church bells probably

30:29

have like an eerie quality to

30:31

them that just like carries, especially

30:33

because it's mostly over grasslands. Like...

30:36

Cool. Sorry to interrupt, but I want

30:38

to say. Oh, you're good. You're awesome. I got a success

30:41

and an opportunity. Then I think

30:43

you go around and you get

30:45

a decent amount of information about

30:47

this to ChinaFella. The

30:49

first is this is somebody who has

30:51

been working here for a very long

30:54

time and had a

30:56

really bad case of scarlet.

30:58

This is somebody who like

31:02

nobody... Despite

31:04

being around a long time, nobody feels

31:06

like they know him personally because for

31:08

the last several months, he has either

31:10

been very, very sick

31:12

or went into the Sereno

31:15

and folks

31:17

in the Sereno are disconnected

31:20

from the larger community of workers

31:22

in a big way. They keep

31:24

to themselves a lot more. They

31:27

spend their breaks in quiet prayer

31:30

and contemplation. There is

31:32

a lot of like the social life

31:34

that is cut down for these folks

31:36

that they've traded in exchange

31:38

for relief from the scarlet at

31:41

a rate that they can afford. So

31:47

despite not being well known, people are familiar

31:49

with him just because he's been around longer

31:51

than pretty much everybody else here has been

31:53

around. He

31:56

needed more frequent breaks than

31:59

everybody else. And it's the sort of

32:01

thing where there's an official break that everybody's allowed,

32:03

but especially in

32:05

areas like this where the operation is more

32:07

remote and it's pretty much worker controlled, it's

32:09

like anybody who is afflicted

32:12

by the scarlet, it's like we try to

32:14

make sure that they get the

32:16

rest that they need. Otherwise, if

32:18

people are pushing through their shifts, it just

32:20

gets worse for everyone. While

32:22

this is happening, Johnnett is like, probably

32:26

brings up a couple times to folks where it's like, since

32:29

the Chino kind of has been seeing

32:31

the Sereno more and pulling back from,

32:33

he might still be pulling back from

32:35

the people that he knew, those relationships.

32:37

But in the times when people did

32:39

see him since enlisting more

32:41

in the Sereno, did he seem

32:44

happier, more at peace?

32:46

Johnnett is trying to suss out is

32:49

like, is the Sereno actually

32:51

a source of relief for folks? Or is it just

32:53

kind of like, faith only and

32:55

like, are there

32:58

like tangible results? Oh,

33:00

that is an interesting question. And

33:02

I think, yeah, for the opportunity

33:06

that you got on that role,

33:08

I will say, you

33:10

get that I think he used to

33:12

take a lot more breaks before he

33:15

became a Sereno. I

33:17

think it is a situation where

33:19

he was in a lot

33:21

of pain before to the point where it

33:24

was almost impossible for him to get through

33:26

the day. And he has been getting through

33:28

the day if it comes with the

33:30

caveat of having this isolation

33:33

and personality shift.

33:36

Gotcha. And then there's nothing that there's

33:38

nothing that we can take with us

33:41

that would provide him relief if we

33:43

were to find the Chino

33:45

out there. No,

33:47

I mean, the treatments that

33:50

you have for Scarlet are

33:52

pretty straightforward. It's whatever the

33:54

metaphysician can provide, it's whatever

33:56

the church can provide. Or

34:00

whatever sacrifice people were doing to the butcher.

34:03

Gotcha. Okay, well

34:05

then I think like

34:08

John it is prepped to go

34:11

into I think John it takes

34:14

one more feather does a

34:16

quick a little bit more

34:18

of a careful inscribing of like

34:21

the direction that they headed how

34:24

long they've been walking and that

34:27

he's going to be continuing into

34:30

the the grasslands and

34:33

he addresses that to he addresses

34:36

it to gable and

34:38

kind of like tosses it out just

34:40

to have some kind of status of

34:43

day before he goes further in great

34:46

great. Yeah, he is like

34:48

as he squares up the bailers

34:50

like Bayless. I guess I

34:52

guess we are I guess we're becoming fast friends

34:56

because I feel like I I

34:58

don't know what's going to what we're going

35:00

to be walking into but I feel like

35:03

I would like you with me. Yeah, I'm

35:05

I'm in all the way. You know, I

35:07

I didn't know this tachina character, but if

35:10

two people are missing, it feels

35:12

like it's connected right and.

35:16

Oh, real quick. John it doubles back to

35:19

the foreman did the Chino last

35:21

time you saw him. Did he

35:23

seem angry or

35:26

or, you know, volatile anyway,

35:28

the outs sort of out

35:31

of the usual. Always hard

35:33

to get a reader on

35:35

the read on that guy. It

35:37

just seemed like a normal day until he didn't show

35:40

up from his break. Okay, that

35:43

might be the best case scenario.

35:45

All right, we're we're going to

35:47

go check in and, you know, if we're not back in

35:49

if we're not back in two

35:51

hours. Send

35:55

you know, send some more folks from

35:57

the from this shift. Shift

36:00

change I'm gonna be making a request but I'll

36:02

let them know that two people walked out for

36:04

sure Okay. All right

36:08

John it offers a huge gloved fist

36:11

bump Yeah.

36:13

Yeah, I think There's

36:16

like a novelty of that the Foreman does

36:18

it you can tell like as he brushes

36:20

his fist against yours It is a

36:23

very light touch And

36:25

that just might be a custom

36:27

of the area That's right Yeah,

36:31

so I guess we we keep

36:33

on we keep going through the

36:35

grass Yeah, I

36:38

think now that you know

36:41

Like kind of who is

36:43

missing and what is at stake and whatnot. There's

36:46

probably a way for you to Investigate

36:49

through magic now. Yeah,

36:52

I think I think

36:56

John it let's Bayless

36:58

sort of take the lead And

37:01

I guess if he would probably be able to do this kind

37:04

of anyway because there's so many layers But

37:07

while while Bayless is sort of paving

37:09

the way through the glass Grass

37:15

John it is going to try

37:17

to like I'm gonna

37:19

make a role for for the

37:21

future Love it.

37:24

Let's see This

37:29

is dingwam. Yeah,

37:32

I'm just gonna do visions

37:34

so that is going to be How

37:40

many At

37:42

what point do I do mastery

37:44

dices? Within this mastery

37:47

would be upgrading a d8 to

37:49

a d12. Gotcha. Gotcha. All right

37:51

Well, I'll stick with what I've

37:53

got for the moment. So that's gonna be

37:55

for Great.

38:00

One success, three opportunities. I

38:04

like it. You

38:07

open your eye and

38:09

I think we'll address

38:11

the opportunities first. A

38:13

thing that you can feel kind

38:16

of bubbling in the area almost

38:18

like a miasma at your ankles

38:20

right now is

38:22

killing intent. Sort

38:26

of permeating the area. The fact

38:28

that somebody has disappeared and

38:30

people suspect that they're while they

38:32

were involved, it is

38:34

people have something that they don't

38:37

understand is happening. They've got people

38:39

that they don't understand. They

38:41

have immediately connected those two points.

38:46

It feels like if tensions here

38:48

are not served, that killing intent

38:50

can only grow thicker. This

38:53

is exactly the sort of area

38:55

that you feel the butcher would

38:57

walk. I

39:02

think you are able

39:05

to find the ghost

39:09

trail of Dachina.

39:13

You are able to

39:15

find this quiet area

39:17

where there was some

39:20

contemplation. Then

39:22

you find the presence of

39:26

another person. They

39:30

move and you find another

39:33

clearing and there you

39:36

find two bodies. One

39:39

is of a worker who

39:41

is dressed head to toe in working gear. The

39:47

other is a man

39:49

with long hair and

39:51

a skirt that sort

39:54

of, I guess you could describe it

39:56

as a skirt, it has a

39:58

wrap up to. his

40:00

chest, like kind of just

40:03

over his solar plexus, and down that

40:05

ends in a skirt. It is decorated

40:08

with red and blue

40:10

patches in this beautiful

40:12

pattern work. He

40:15

has tattoos, but of course,

40:18

most notably and significantly to

40:20

you, there is a

40:24

mark on his back, a wound on his

40:27

back, where clearly a lot

40:29

of blood has spilled out. I

40:33

think because you got so many opportunities, one

40:35

thing that you will notice is there

40:37

is a lot of blood that looks like it

40:40

has poured out of the wound, but

40:42

there does not seem to be a lot of blood on the

40:44

ground. And these two men are dead

40:46

next to each other. Oh

40:51

no. No, no,

40:54

no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. This

40:57

is getting very bad, very, very, very

40:59

fast. What the

41:01

fuck? What the fuck? And in

41:06

almost a rhetorical way,

41:08

John, it gestures to

41:12

the man in the skirt, like, Holly, yeah,

41:15

I guess that looks like what people say

41:17

Holly look like. OK, all

41:20

right. And oh,

41:23

wait, is this

41:26

person, where are they?

41:28

What is their condition in relation

41:30

to the Scarlet? Like,

41:34

are they not a trace

41:36

of Scarlet? OK,

41:39

OK. Yeah,

41:42

I think John

41:45

it goes to

41:47

check on this

41:49

other person that he presumes to be the

41:52

Gina, but then he stops

41:55

at that realization like,

41:57

whoa. whole

42:00

skit I think there's a shot where

42:03

it's like kind of above Jonnett's head

42:05

looking down at both of these bodies

42:07

the one to the left is covered

42:10

in protective gear and the other one is

42:13

almost bare and it's like how

42:16

and why. Jonnett

42:19

turns to Bayless

42:21

like why is do

42:24

you see what I'm seeing? That some

42:26

guys died yeah that some guy

42:28

is not clothed and doesn't seem

42:31

to need to be. What

42:33

do you what do you mean? When was the

42:35

last time you saw him with this much skin outside in his

42:37

workplace in this in this in this place? I

42:39

guess I guess not I don't know where

42:42

you're going with that though. But you

42:44

don't think that that's kind of interesting

42:46

to say the least I don't I mean this

42:48

is not a I mean at some

42:50

point this this

42:53

has to do with Ariel.

42:56

We'll pick that threat up later but like

42:59

he is untouched untouched

43:01

by Scarlett and I think

43:03

Jonnett is going to kind of go over

43:05

to the body and and maybe

43:07

I think we're are we on his

43:10

back is he flipped over? I think

43:12

he's down on his stomach right now. Yeah and

43:14

I think Jonnett is going to you know

43:17

you have bodies bodies come with the

43:19

territory these days and so he's going

43:21

to flip the body over to get

43:24

a look at this person more

43:27

directly mainly their yeah their

43:29

face and skin. Yeah this

43:31

I think this man appears

43:33

to be in his forties

43:35

he looks good you know

43:37

with the caveat of he looks good

43:39

for a guy who probably

43:42

spends his life doing

43:44

some hard work and living outside. You

43:47

know there are people who clearly live

43:49

very healthy lives and spend a lot

43:51

of time outdoors and that does sort

43:53

of go into their aging but he's

43:56

otherwise fit well fed well taken care

43:58

of and yeah. there is not

44:01

a trace of Scarlet on him. You can

44:03

actually see on his feet and

44:05

his hands. They're rough with

44:07

calluses. He clearly does a lot

44:09

of work with his bare skin.

44:12

Although he does have

44:14

sandals on, he probably

44:17

walks around in bare feet sometimes

44:19

too, which would be

44:21

unheard of in this community.

44:24

Bayless looks at you and goes,

44:26

I can't believe you had

44:28

the presence of mind to notice that.

44:32

But I guess you're right. He doesn't have

44:35

Scarlet. I mean, uh, Janet is going

44:38

to take a quick sweep of their

44:40

immediate surrounding area. Is there any sort

44:44

of like stock of Berry,

44:46

wild, like wild Berry that might

44:48

be around? I think Janet is

44:50

kind of like reflexively wants to

44:52

do like a test of like

44:54

if he takes a Berry and

44:57

maybe like runs it on this

44:59

guy's like wrist or something. If

45:01

there is going to be any like reaction, you

45:04

know, I assume he's probably been dead

45:06

for a little bit, but if the

45:08

skin is going to do anything. I

45:12

love the instinct of this.

45:14

Um, I think you

45:17

are thoroughly looking

45:20

him over. I

45:23

think you find that

45:25

he has a bag and

45:27

there are what looked like berries

45:30

in it. Oh,

45:32

woof. Okay. This wa-

45:35

Bayless, why do you think that

45:38

these berries are poisonous only

45:40

to us? I

45:43

don't know. I'm going to

45:45

be honest. I

45:48

heard that the Hale were out here.

45:50

Um, I know that,

45:53

you know, from, from just stories

45:55

that I heard there used to

45:57

be trade, um, before we, we

45:59

see. set up shop here and

46:02

drove them away. I

46:04

don't know much more than that. I had

46:07

no idea that they were unaffected by

46:09

the Scarlet. We're really not supposed to

46:11

be here. That line is

46:13

just too ironic to me. Tyler,

46:16

I need you to make

46:18

an intellect roll. Bet

46:21

three. Oh, no,

46:23

no. Three

46:26

successes. Okay. Oh,

46:29

hell yes. As

46:32

somebody who has spent a

46:35

lot of time very

46:38

recently being in mortal

46:40

danger, you develop a sense.

46:43

There is a quality in the

46:45

air, maybe something that you can

46:47

almost taste. The first time

46:50

you tasted it was

46:52

when you faced down Polaris

46:54

on that beach. It

46:56

is something that the

46:59

flavor of killing intent is mixed

47:01

with it, but there's something more.

47:04

When a weapon is drawn, when a weapon is pointed

47:06

at you, it is in the

47:08

air. You feel it. Your

47:11

body reacts. You

47:14

are able to freeze, dry yourself

47:16

up, ready yourself. You know

47:18

that you're being watched and that there is

47:20

a weapon on you. I

47:24

think there are two complications

47:26

that came with this. What I will say

47:28

is, you notice this as

47:32

people are breaking through

47:34

the grass. You

47:36

can see folks in

47:39

holly dress

47:41

surrounding you and Bayless.

47:44

Bayless, I

47:46

don't think has noticed it yet. I

47:49

think the big advantage of rolling

47:51

to notice this is that

47:53

you are going to have a chance

47:55

to react before Bayless reacts or anybody

47:57

else does. have

48:00

not noticed that you can feel that they

48:02

are there. You

48:44

sat across from me and tried to

48:46

speak. I may never know

48:48

what you said, but I do

48:50

know you said it so gently. I

48:53

could tell you recognized me, even through

48:56

all of my self-pity. I

48:58

noticed you held yourself from speaking when

49:00

you realized I was the lonely woman

49:02

who turned away from

49:04

every conversation. I am

49:07

sure if you kept talking I would have run. Part

49:10

of me expected you to run. After

49:12

all, the only thing I had

49:15

to offer you was mostly silent

49:17

weeping. But you sensed

49:19

that I needed you. To

49:21

my amazement, you just sat

49:23

with me. For the first

49:25

time in months, I was

49:28

not alone. But

49:31

that was not your only miracle. After

49:33

some time had passed, how much

49:35

I'll never be able to say, you

49:38

placed your hand on the table, your

49:40

palm up, carefully reaching

49:43

towards me. An

49:45

unmistakable offer, I

49:48

felt then, truly, how

49:50

long it had been since I had experienced

49:53

any sort of kindness, at

49:56

least any that I could bear. But

49:59

this... small gesture. I

50:02

ached for it. Not only

50:04

did I feel the want for it,

50:07

I felt the strength to accept it.

50:09

Even if I could not meet your eye, I

50:12

could meet your touch. I

50:15

shook as I reached back to you.

50:18

Even through our gloves, I

50:21

could feel the warmth of

50:23

your hand. In

50:26

that, I felt it. For

50:28

the first time in ages. The

50:32

sun, it was in you.

50:35

In your touch. That night,

50:38

I held your hand and

50:40

I remembered what it was

50:43

like to want to be

50:45

alive. That first week must

50:47

have been so strange. You

50:49

found me outside the tavern the next day,

50:53

anxiously deciding if I could

50:55

bring myself to face you

50:57

again. I'll always remember

50:59

you were so careful,

51:01

so gentle, as

51:03

you held your hand out to

51:05

me, inviting me in again. Every

51:09

night we held hands. At

51:12

first alone, though you

51:14

had so many friends and admirers

51:17

approach you, you

51:19

spoke to some, but I could

51:21

feel in your touch you were with

51:23

me. By the

51:25

end of the week, you had me

51:27

next to you at a table full

51:29

of our friends, talking and

51:32

laughing away, your hand

51:34

still in mine. You

51:37

took this chance on a girl

51:39

who refused to speak, who

51:41

turned everyone away until she

51:43

was desperate and weeping. I

51:46

know you were asked. I could feel

51:49

the questions every time, even if I

51:51

couldn't understand them. You

51:53

let them flow around you, easily

51:57

dismissing them. I

51:59

like to imagine you said, this

52:01

is my friend. I don't know

52:03

her name, but she needs this.

52:06

That was enough for everyone. I

52:09

felt myself there, a

52:12

part of something even if I

52:14

only barely participated, my

52:16

long winter, finally at a

52:18

sort of end. But

52:20

you had yet more miracles for me.

52:32

campaign Skyjax is a one-shot network production.

52:34

For more information, be sure to follow

52:36

us on Twitter over at campaignpod for

52:39

updates about live shows and other events

52:41

we might be doing. You can find

52:43

more great gaming shows over at one-shotpodcast.com.

52:46

Jonnet Kessler was played by Tyler

52:48

Davis, who can be found on

52:50

Twitter and Instagram at Tyler A.

52:53

Dave. Gable was played by Liz

52:55

Anderson, who can be found on

52:57

Twitter at Liz Anderson underscore underscore

52:59

underscore, or on her podcast Paired.

53:02

Captain Oromar Vale was played

53:04

by Nathan Blades, who can

53:07

be found on Twitter at

53:09

PhantomArtsENT or streaming at twitch.tv

53:11

slash The Neon Caster. I

53:14

am James Damato, your host and game

53:16

master. You can find me on

53:19

Twitter at oneshotrpg or

53:21

on my podcast, One Shot. The

53:23

original music featured in this podcast

53:25

was written, composed, and performed by

53:28

Arnie Parrott. You can find him

53:30

over on Twitter at Arnie Parrott

53:32

or on his website, ATPtoons. This

53:35

episode was edited by Allie Grauer, who can

53:37

be found on Twitter at dreams to the

53:39

kun, or on her

53:42

podcast, Skyjax Currier's Call. Our

53:44

logo was designed by Fiona Shea, who

53:47

can be found on Twitter at Lunarum.

53:49

The World of Sphere was inspired in

53:51

part by the music of the Decemberists

53:53

and Illimat produced by Together Studios. This

53:55

show was made in part by using

53:57

a modified version of the Genesis roleplay.

54:01

designed by Sam Stewart and a team

54:03

of talented professionals. There are no

54:05

kings. Take flight. you