0:04

Hello everyone, this is Rob

0:06

with a specific content warning

0:08

for this week's episode. It

0:11

does get quite dark. The

0:13

episode opens with a sequence

0:15

involving non-sexual child abuse. If

0:17

that's likely to be too upsetting

0:20

to listen to, I invite you

0:22

to skip to 33 minutes 57

0:24

seconds. You should be able to

0:26

get context for the rest of

0:28

the episode. By

0:32

word and liar let

0:35

thy desire resound in

0:37

soul and string Set

0:40

fervor spark to cold

0:43

hard hearts and stir

0:45

the stones to sing

0:47

Welcome to the Orpheus

0:50

Protocol My

1:01

name is Dan and

1:03

I play Mitch Hook.

1:06

I'm Millett and I

1:08

play Swalen. I'm Nick

1:10

and I play Ishmael

1:13

Carnegie. This week's episode,

1:15

Mega Structure, part 8.

1:18

Mega Structure contains

1:21

violence. Refracted

1:23

spaces. You have

1:25

been warned. Last

1:30

time on the Orpheus Protocol. Mitch

1:32

Phelan and Ishmael battled the

1:34

sixth and seventh expressions, working

1:36

with surprising cohesion as a

1:39

unit, and managing to avoid

1:41

any significant injuries long enough

1:43

for Ishmael to tap into

1:45

the powers of his new

1:48

otherworldly patron and banish their

1:50

foes to distant nodes of

1:52

the megastructure. Finally granted some

1:54

breathing room, the three investigate

1:57

the situation developing in Chester.

1:59

determining that the oblivion

2:01

vault is on the

2:03

verge of a cataclysmal

2:05

eruption. To attempt to

2:08

thwart this disaster, they

2:10

approach the Braddock House

2:12

once more. The sun is

2:14

setting, and it has reached

2:16

the point where the bottom

2:18

curve of the sun has

2:21

breached the horizon. At that

2:23

angle, the progression of

2:26

darkness becomes faster and

2:28

faster, visibly and consequently

2:30

the shadow of the Braddock

2:33

House into which the three

2:35

of you walk lengthens moment

2:38

by moment until it seems

2:40

to have no end. I

2:42

think that any impetus, any

2:44

urge toward conversation, or any

2:47

form of mutual acknowledgement between

2:49

the three of you, no

2:51

matter how strong that impulse

2:53

may be made by the

2:56

bleak and almost doomed. feeling

2:58

that is descended over the

3:00

company. I think those impulses

3:02

are defeated by the weight

3:04

of this shadow. All three

3:07

of you think to say

3:09

something to your companions more

3:11

than one time as you climb

3:13

the hill and decide against it,

3:15

with a feeling that is like

3:17

defeat. But there comes a point.

3:20

where the now slightly hanging

3:22

open wrought iron gate that

3:24

marks the edge of the

3:26

bratik house property must be

3:28

crossed. In many ways, one

3:30

of the thresholds that you

3:33

must cross. What I would

3:35

like to know from each

3:37

of you first is what

3:39

you find yourself doing, what

3:41

you find yourself distracted by

3:43

whether in action or in

3:45

thought, what you're fixated on,

3:47

that isn't. crossing the threshold. And

3:50

then I would like a stability

3:52

or discipline check to see if

3:54

you are able to catch yourself

3:57

in this behavior or pattern of

3:59

thought. or if one of your

4:01

companions needs to shake you from

4:03

your reverie? Well, Mitch is certainly

4:06

distracted by memory, by thoughts

4:08

of deeds once done in

4:10

this place. He's not really

4:12

thinking about crossing the threshold.

4:14

He's thinking about pages from

4:16

a children's book nailed through

4:19

the bodies of animals. He's

4:21

thinking about hiding from someone

4:23

with a gun. He's thinking

4:26

about that feeling of escalation

4:28

of suddenly... the situation may

4:30

be beyond his control,

4:32

beyond his capacity to deal

4:34

with. Ishmael gets distracted at

4:37

the gate. He's fallen into

4:39

old habits now that he's

4:41

at a high vantage point.

4:43

He's scanning the horizon, trying

4:45

to get a lay of

4:48

the land, probably getting distracted

4:50

in the minutia in the

4:52

distance. It becomes comfortable? to

4:54

continually weigh different

4:57

variables tactically, it

4:59

becomes convenient to

5:01

think through different

5:04

scenarios instead of

5:06

moving forward. As Foylon approaches

5:08

the house, they are still

5:10

in where we'll form, and

5:13

as such, have heightened senses

5:15

at the moment, and they

5:18

are able to, on the

5:20

wind, smell, long-legged lary, the

5:22

nemophage. and I think

5:24

that is what distracts

5:27

them. The sort of

5:29

visceral fear of this

5:31

entity that they have

5:34

encountered multiple times now

5:36

that they know has

5:38

the capability to trap

5:41

and imprison them. Let's

5:43

see those checks. Let's see if any

5:45

of you wake up. I've got a

5:47

seven using my plus two in lieu

5:49

of rolling and spinning some of my

5:52

stability strain. I'm also using faded leader

5:54

rank two so that if I succeed

5:56

at this, each of my allies can

5:58

regain too mental and too spirit. strain.

6:00

Oh I like you. On my ruevole I

6:02

now have a plus one and I'll

6:05

spend a strain to bring me

6:07

to a six. You are all

6:09

successful so at about the

6:11

same time you all sort

6:13

of realize that you're not

6:15

paying attention to the house

6:18

really as it exists now

6:20

and you're not progressing toward

6:22

your goal. You are finding

6:24

other avenues. for your attention,

6:26

like the house is trying

6:28

to make you forget it

6:30

and forget what you're doing.

6:32

It's an uncomfortable feeling because you

6:35

feel the sensation of your

6:37

minds being freed from this

6:39

influence, but you never felt

6:41

its start. You are now

6:43

free to approach the bratik

6:45

house. How do you do

6:47

so? Well, we discussed last

6:49

time that Fualen's going

6:51

first. Oh, yeah, Fualen, per tank

6:54

code would be going first. By

6:56

dog and tank code, they go

6:58

first. That's right. World of

7:00

Warcraft was well and truly

7:02

settled in the public consciousness

7:04

before you got got and

7:07

trapped in the oblivion vault,

7:09

so you probably do think

7:11

of yourself in terms of

7:13

being a main tank. So

7:15

before... We go in, which

7:17

I do think we should

7:19

do almost immediately so we

7:21

don't get brain whammy it

7:23

again. I have a present

7:26

for you both. And Ishmael

7:28

takes two stainless steel test

7:30

tubes with very old looking

7:32

corks and sigil inscribed on

7:35

the outside of them and

7:37

hands one to Foylin and

7:39

one to Mitch. A drink

7:41

in case of emergency. Well.

7:43

Thank you. It will taste

7:45

horrible. Are these the ones that

7:48

make you kind of loopy? No,

7:50

actually. They will not make you

7:52

loopy, but I spent a really

7:54

long time working on that. They

7:57

will taste like the worst kind

7:59

of ass. Not the good kind

8:01

of ass. Mitch just tucks it

8:03

into one of the loops

8:05

on his vest. He's sort

8:07

of consumed with looking up at

8:09

the house now. Yeah, I mean time

8:12

has passed, but the dilapidation

8:14

has a timeless quality.

8:16

It seems like every time

8:18

you've been to this place

8:21

in all these different phases

8:23

of your life, it still feels

8:25

the same. You change the world

8:27

changes. This house does not.

8:29

Even when you knew the forces

8:31

here were aligned to you, it

8:33

never felt like a simple thing

8:36

or a thing to be done

8:38

lightly to walk up this hill

8:40

and enter this building. I don't even

8:42

know that like the reflecting

8:44

pool is not really back there

8:47

anymore. Sheesh. Well, Foylon, I

8:49

think, uh, if the door hasn't

8:51

fallen off its hinges, it

8:53

should open like normal. I'm...

8:55

right behind you. Yeah, Fualen

8:57

would be. I mean, I'm

8:59

sure there's a way for

9:02

them to open a door

9:04

in wolf form, like, so

9:06

Fualen, despite being much closer

9:08

to a dire wolf in

9:10

their werewolf, still has enough

9:12

manual dexterity in their paws

9:14

to open a door and

9:16

head in first. Is this

9:18

Fualen's first time in this

9:20

place? Foylon had some knowledge

9:23

of this place, but more

9:25

from Mitch discussing it with

9:28

them versus like literal experience.

9:30

Yeah, probably discussing it

9:32

rather freely, actually, because this

9:35

was before, of course, his

9:37

loss of much of his

9:39

personality. And Walter, at that

9:41

time, likely would have been

9:43

very gregarious and open about

9:46

it as well. So Ishmael and

9:48

Fuelen, you've never been here before.

9:50

So you knew from how it felt

9:52

approaching it, you knew from learning

9:55

a bit about it, that this

9:57

was a place of great occult

9:59

significance. So while you are taken

10:01

aback by the effect of

10:04

crossing the ultimate threshold into

10:06

the Braddock House, you are

10:08

not disturbed by it. You

10:10

expected it to feel strange

10:13

or significant. But

10:15

Mitch, you've been here many

10:17

times, and it has never

10:19

felt anything like this. It is

10:22

like you took a step... And somewhere

10:24

in your passage through the

10:26

door was a cleverly hidden

10:29

camera cut, an editing trick.

10:31

In one frame you were in

10:33

Chester Illinois and in the

10:35

next frame you have entered

10:37

something that feels like a

10:39

nightmare, but one in which

10:41

you are fully conscious.

10:44

And Mitch... From being here

10:46

before, you know that you

10:48

are not standing in the

10:50

entry of the Braddock house.

10:52

You're standing in a smaller

10:54

house than that. There is...

10:56

drab carpeting that seems to

10:58

have some dust that puffs

11:00

under your feet like it's

11:02

in bad need of being

11:04

vacuumed. The walls seem to

11:06

lean in at you a

11:08

bit almost imperceptibly. There is

11:10

a oppressive sense. You are

11:12

almost too tall for the

11:14

ceilings. And rather than the

11:17

sense of conflict and

11:19

escalation and possibility and

11:21

destiny, that the Braddock

11:23

House always carried with

11:25

it, there is a

11:27

mingling of fear and

11:29

anger and despair that

11:32

curtles in your stomach.

11:34

Are Fualen and Achy still

11:36

with me? Like did I

11:38

follow Fualen into this space

11:40

or am I here in

11:43

this altered realm alone? Both.

11:45

You followed Foylon in and

11:47

now you do not see

11:50

them. But I think when

11:52

you look for your companions,

11:55

that leads you to also

11:57

see in your periphery, perhaps

11:59

your... hands or your feet,

12:02

some feature of your body,

12:04

and it is not your

12:07

body. And in fact, the

12:09

moment you observe yourself, you

12:11

are not too tall for

12:14

these low ceilings anymore. The

12:16

place seems larger around you,

12:19

and you're looking down at

12:21

the hands of a child.

12:24

Ishmael. Foylon, you have the

12:26

same experience. You do not

12:29

see your companions, and at

12:31

some point realize that you

12:33

are looking out of the eyes

12:36

of a child. And all

12:38

three of you, separately, but

12:40

at the same time and

12:43

in the same perspective, are

12:45

aware in the manner of

12:47

nightmares. That something is wrong.

12:50

Something is wrong. Something is

12:52

bad. and threatening here and

12:54

dishearteningly familiar in its threat.

12:57

It is something dark that

12:59

must be faced and must be

13:01

survived but cannot be vanquished. You

13:03

begin to take small tentative steps

13:06

toward what you know to be the living

13:08

room. Somehow you know this house because of

13:10

course it is your house. It is your house.

13:12

It is your house. It is your house. It

13:14

is your house. It is your house. It is

13:17

your house. It is your house. It is your

13:19

house. It is your house. It is your house.

13:21

It is your house. It is your And

13:23

you know that something bad

13:25

waits for you in the living

13:27

room. You find yourself carried.

13:30

Powerless even to shut

13:32

your eyes if you

13:34

want to. The interruptions

13:36

in your sight are determined

13:38

by the blinking of this

13:40

child. Mitchell a pure focus

13:42

check. That's a one. The

13:45

briefest moment gives you a

13:47

glimpse of this child. A

13:49

boy from the look of

13:51

him. Perhaps eight or nine

13:53

years of age, but as

13:56

a fleeting glimpse. There's something

13:58

though, something familiar. that

14:00

makes you feel even

14:03

more deeply uncomfortable.

14:05

And then a voice issues

14:07

from the living room.

14:09

Jeremy, get in here. You

14:11

feel the pulse picking

14:13

up in veins that are

14:15

not your veins that

14:18

you nevertheless feel. The steps

14:20

carry you to the living

14:22

room where you see... Father.

14:25

The... expanding bald spot

14:27

atop the head, the

14:29

reflective shine of the television

14:32

on the bullet

14:34

sweating face, beads

14:36

of alcohol perspiration

14:38

on the forehead,

14:40

heavily creased, with the

14:42

lines of what you

14:44

understand in your child's mind

14:47

to be a dark fire

14:49

behind that forehead. You think

14:51

of your father as a

14:54

person who is burning inside.

14:56

Something eating him up

14:58

without ever truly showing on

15:00

the outside. And it is this

15:03

fire that is burning inside of

15:05

him that hurts you. The same

15:07

way that a stove would hurt

15:09

you if you were to reach

15:11

out and touch it. The TV

15:14

murmurs, indistinct. No words

15:16

can be picked out.

15:18

Some sport being played.

15:20

The volume is low because

15:22

father has something to say.

15:24

There's a disjunction. You stand

15:26

between the TV and the

15:29

coffee table, attentive, as father

15:31

regards you, with just a

15:33

magisterial presence. You are awaiting

15:35

judgment. Can I remember anything?

15:37

Like, do I have any

15:39

recall from... Jeremy's perspective. I

15:41

would allow a check to

15:43

try to do that and

15:46

that would happen at the

15:48

speed of thought before anything

15:50

else occurs. I'd be interested

15:52

to hear what skill you

15:54

think is appropriate. I guess

15:56

there are a couple of

15:58

options I could... call upon investigation

16:01

or I could call upon maybe

16:03

empathy. Those would both work actually.

16:05

It'd just be a different flavor

16:07

of narration about giving you environmental

16:10

clues or are you digging into

16:12

his actual psychology? I think Mitch

16:14

would go for empathy. It's really

16:16

rapidly occurring to him that as

16:19

many times as he's clashed with

16:21

Jeremy Stockton. He didn't really think

16:23

that hard about what his life

16:25

would have been like. And that's

16:28

an odd thing to realize,

16:30

Mitch, because even with all

16:32

of the inhuman monstrous entities

16:35

and forces that you've done

16:37

battle with over the years,

16:40

even if the answer is

16:42

something difficult to grasp for

16:45

a human perspective, like the

16:47

outer darkness or the oblivion

16:50

vault or the Tiamat event,

16:52

evil always comes from somewhere.

16:55

But for some reason

16:57

you'd never really thought

16:59

about Jeremy Stockton that

17:01

way. Maybe it's because

17:03

he was your first

17:06

icon of evil, the

17:08

idea of malice, of

17:10

destructive wasteful hatred. Maybe

17:12

you were just too young when

17:15

you came to associate him

17:17

with that. But ah. Isn't

17:19

that question even more disturbing

17:22

in this instance? Because even

17:24

if Jeremy's sickness of the

17:26

mind came from his father,

17:29

that's just another turtle in

17:31

an infinite stack, isn't it?

17:33

Let's see the empathy check. Well,

17:35

as I'm picking up the dice

17:37

for that, it occurs to me,

17:39

and I think to Mitch as well,

17:42

he's really had to ponder his

17:44

role, his position. as a

17:46

meter out of violence,

17:48

as someone near the apex

17:50

of the warrior craft, what

17:52

a privilege it is for

17:54

him to be able to

17:57

choose to be honorable. And

17:59

in that... That way, Jeremy

18:01

being an enemy, being a

18:03

worthy foe, an adversary, fit

18:05

into the myth that he

18:08

was building around himself even

18:10

as a child. Why would

18:12

he have wondered about why

18:14

Jeremy was the way he

18:17

was when it was such

18:19

a perfect piece of his

18:21

narrative? Jeremy, in many ways,

18:24

was a stepping stone for

18:26

you match. I'm gonna say

18:28

empathy and then a horror

18:30

check. Yeah. I think I've

18:33

got to resonate with the

18:35

emotions in this moment, which

18:37

is not going to make

18:39

things easier, but it will

18:42

hopefully make them more meaningful.

18:44

So I'll re-roll my very

18:46

bad roll, and do a

18:48

pretty good roll. Plus two

18:51

and using charisma, I'll spend

18:53

one spiritual strain to get

18:55

up to a six. This

18:58

successful empathy check is the

19:00

first action in a challenge

19:02

where you must attempt to

19:04

extricate your perspective from this

19:07

nightmare recollection of Jeremy Stockton's

19:09

past, or suffer some dire

19:11

consequence. And for the moment,

19:13

all three of you have

19:16

the ability to contribute to

19:18

this. You understand a few

19:20

things about Jeremy at this

19:23

moment in his life, because

19:25

under the surface of panic,

19:27

from your slightly detached perspective,

19:29

you can feel other emotions

19:32

upwelling, you can feel connections

19:34

of thought forming, connections being

19:36

bridged in the young boy's

19:38

mind, this whatever bad thing.

19:41

is about to happen. Is

19:43

like weather. It doesn't actually...

19:45

it's a trick. You're meant

19:47

to think that it has

19:50

to do with you and

19:52

your behavior, but you're starting

19:54

to feel... like that is

19:57

just the face of it

19:59

that is not what's happening

20:01

under the surface it's something

20:03

else that hot sickening pain

20:06

that nests in father's brain

20:08

makes him do these things

20:10

and it does not care

20:12

about the things that he

20:15

says you simply endure what

20:17

happens and because of that

20:19

there is a There is

20:22

one thin sliver of hope.

20:24

There is one tiny silver

20:26

lining, one faint flicker of

20:28

light in this oppressive darkness

20:31

that has settled over this

20:33

house and the people in

20:35

it. And that is that

20:37

endurance makes you stronger, makes

20:40

you just that slight bit

20:42

less able to be hurt

20:44

next time. And you, Mitch,

20:46

understand that that is scar

20:49

tissue. calluses forming. Callus and

20:51

its homophone callus. You are

20:53

feeling the almost giddy anticipatory

20:56

hope in a young boy

20:58

of having his emotional capacity

21:00

slashed and burned and ablated.

21:02

And the waste of it.

21:05

The perverse passing down of

21:07

the trauma is disgusting to

21:09

you. You do automatically pass

21:11

the horror check from repeated

21:14

exposure, standing to take five

21:16

points of stress. Father lowers

21:18

his head just a bit

21:21

so that he is no

21:23

longer looking you in the

21:25

eye. He's looking at something

21:27

on the floor. It is

21:30

a water glass. Empty, with

21:32

just a little tiny bit

21:34

of moisture at the bottom,

21:36

laying on its side on

21:39

the carpet, between the coffee

21:41

table and the television. That

21:43

ain't safe. Why'd you leave

21:45

it there? And you know

21:48

that saying you didn't will

21:50

make it worse, not better.

21:52

If you say it was

21:55

likely the cat, depending on

21:57

mood, you will be blamed

21:59

for lying, or you will

22:01

be blamed for not watching

22:04

and taking care of the

22:06

cat, that you at age

22:08

six should have known better

22:10

than to say you would

22:13

take care of if you

22:15

weren't going to. Six years

22:17

old is plenty old enough

22:20

to be responsible, and it

22:22

would be your fault anyway.

22:24

Do Ishmael or Phelan have

22:26

something that they can try

22:29

to do to separate themselves

22:31

or all three from the

22:33

perspective of Stockton before the

22:35

scene progresses? Ishmael is really

22:38

curious about what is happening

22:40

here from an occult capacity?

22:42

Like what is forcing these

22:44

memories and for them to

22:47

witness them? sees how potentially

22:49

damaging they could be if

22:51

they continue to be this

22:54

personal, if we're in Jeremy's

22:56

shoes, so to speak. So

22:58

I think he is looking

23:00

for, well, with his new

23:03

patron, he's looking for the

23:05

uh... studs behind the the

23:07

sheet rock he's looking for

23:09

the blueprints that are assembling

23:12

this magical contraption to try

23:14

and start to unravel them

23:16

find a door into a

23:19

breeze way interesting that would

23:21

be a knowledge Eldridge with

23:23

perception certainly perception that was

23:25

a minus two so i'm

23:28

going to try a re-roll

23:30

plus two and spend all

23:32

three temporary strains, so for

23:34

perception that'll get me to

23:37

an eight. All right. There

23:39

are a few things that

23:41

you're able to perceive with

23:43

effort about the scene. First,

23:46

the fidelity of the memory

23:48

is extreme. Beyond really what

23:50

a consciously recalled memory would

23:53

have for almost anyone, but

23:55

it's truncated. The memory is

23:57

only in this room. The

23:59

doorways are pure black, leading

24:02

to nothing. The windows, pure

24:04

black, leading to nothing. And

24:06

you think that maybe if

24:08

the nemophage works the way

24:11

you expect it to, this

24:13

is a memory that it

24:15

ate. And this is the

24:18

part that nourished it, or

24:20

that it incorporated into itself

24:22

in some way. and the

24:24

rest has been burned for

24:27

energy, and that's why it's

24:29

cut off at all these

24:31

points. The other thing that

24:33

you note is that as

24:36

you are learning this, as

24:38

you are internalizing this theory

24:40

that you're working on, a

24:42

light flickers on in one

24:45

of these impossibly black doorways.

24:47

And you see a rather

24:49

pleasantly furnished office with windows

24:52

that look out over a

24:54

teeming night cityscape. And you

24:56

realize that you're looking at

24:58

an office in Daedalus tower.

25:01

You Ishmael can escape this

25:03

effect, but you cannot bring

25:05

your allies with you in

25:07

that way. I think what

25:10

Ishmael is going to try

25:12

to do is pull himself

25:14

out to Datalist Tower and

25:17

then continue to see if

25:19

there's ways from the outside

25:21

that he can assist his

25:23

friends to pull free as

25:26

well. You have to fix

25:28

your own oxygen mask first.

25:30

Do you attempt to communicate

25:32

what you're going to do

25:35

to your companions? Yes, I

25:37

would like to. Roll me

25:39

a presence check with charisma.

25:41

Hey, you know what I'm

25:44

great at? Not that. Minus

25:46

went on the die, which

25:48

gets me to A0. Mitch

25:51

and Phelan, you are conscious

25:53

of Ishmael just vanishing from

25:55

this strange peripheral perception. that

25:57

you have as though he

26:00

were never there. I need

26:02

you both to roll against

26:04

horror. Well I've got a six

26:06

on my horror check. I got a

26:08

flat on the dice and I'm gonna

26:11

spend too strained to bring it to

26:13

a six. All right you both passed

26:15

and need to take five from

26:17

unnatural. I will spend one

26:19

strain so I only have to take

26:21

one. And I spend too strained

26:23

to take none. The water glass

26:25

is larger than life in your

26:28

view. And father asks you. Left

26:30

or right? Oh Christ.

26:32

You feel the calculus

26:35

in Jeremy's young

26:37

mind. Running, doesn't

26:39

matter. Swimming, doesn't

26:42

matter. That all

26:44

uses both. But soccer,

26:46

you kick with your right,

26:49

which means you're posted

26:52

on your left. So

26:54

in the smallest voice,

26:56

but not stuttering, not

26:58

whimpering, because you know

27:00

what that brings, you

27:03

feel yourself, Jeremy, say,

27:05

right, take off your shoe

27:07

and suck. Similar to

27:10

Ishmael, Fuellen is using a

27:12

lot of their... occultist knowledge

27:14

to look for the seams,

27:17

to look for any point

27:19

that they can sort of

27:22

metaphorically or physically wedge their

27:24

nose in and dig themselves

27:26

out. I would let you

27:29

also do a knowledge

27:31

Eldridge, but this is

27:33

with vitality, because you

27:35

are going to need

27:37

to use your experience,

27:39

your sensory personal visceral

27:42

experience. of the hunting,

27:44

devouring, and then eventually

27:46

the escape process from

27:48

the nemafage. That is

27:50

the strongest lever

27:52

to set your own perspective

27:55

apart from the nightmare that

27:57

you're trapped in. Right. That

27:59

would be... a plus one on the dice,

28:01

I'm gonna spend three strain to bring

28:03

it to an eight. You can feel

28:06

the connection of your perspective

28:08

to the nightmare recollections of

28:10

Jeremy Stockton stretching and becoming

28:13

almost like there's static in

28:15

the signal. There are little

28:18

gaps and losses of information.

28:20

You're not free yet, but

28:22

you know that you're moving

28:25

in the right direction. And

28:27

that is something that Mitch

28:29

also feels. And I think

28:32

that you're on some level

28:34

aware, Mitch, that that is

28:36

due to Foylon's effort. Shivering,

28:39

you remove your right shoe and

28:41

sock, and take a little meaningless

28:43

comfort from being neat and

28:45

tidy about it, from... not

28:47

just bawling up the sock

28:49

and throwing it by folding

28:52

it and sitting at a

28:54

top of the shoe for ease

28:56

of putting on later. But that

28:58

distraction doesn't last

29:00

long. You straighten up as

29:02

is expected of you, and

29:04

Father's eyes seem to have

29:07

gone deeper and darker in

29:09

the cave of his face. The

29:11

TV glow flickering off

29:13

of those recessed gemstone-like

29:16

edific edifices. Like eyes

29:18

in a dark forest

29:20

catching campfire light. Take

29:22

a step towards me. You

29:25

know that that's not what

29:27

it really means. That's one

29:29

of those fake choices. If

29:31

you step just a little

29:34

bit forward, if you step

29:36

far forward, a lunging

29:38

step over the glass, it will

29:40

be worse. If you set your

29:43

foot down lightly, tentatively,

29:45

it will be worse.

29:47

You have to take the

29:49

normal step of a person

29:51

without a care in the

29:53

world walking barefoot through a

29:56

room because you have to

29:58

learn. There's a... flutter

30:00

in your chest like a

30:02

starving bird left inattended in

30:05

its cage, making one last

30:07

effort to break free, not

30:10

knowing that the owner has

30:12

abandoned them. And you step on

30:14

the glass. The crunch is

30:16

muted by the muffling of

30:18

your flash, and an arc-shaped

30:21

set of slivers scallop their

30:23

way through the skin of

30:25

the soul of your foot

30:27

and into the muscle beneath.

30:29

The pain is incredible

30:32

eclipsing, but you feel a

30:34

tiny, tiny grief as the

30:36

initial flare of pain begins

30:38

to settle, and your brain

30:41

can begin to think again.

30:43

For a moment, the pain took

30:45

you away, but it was just

30:47

a moment, and part of

30:49

you wonders how nice it

30:51

might be if you could be

30:54

in pain like that more or

30:56

more conveniently. Mitch and Foulon

30:58

roll luck. Oof,

31:01

minus one. Also minus one?

31:04

I'll split it between you

31:06

then. Each of you take

31:08

two points of physical damage

31:11

that can't be avoided. As

31:13

a version of that pain

31:15

settles in your body, wherever

31:18

your body is, Mitch or

31:20

Foylon can now make another

31:23

attempt to separate yourself. I

31:25

think the pain as seductive

31:28

as that moment of release

31:30

was, it... helps Mitch remember

31:32

what they're here for.

31:35

Many years ago, Mitch kind

31:37

of chided pierce for not

31:39

riding out visions that were

31:41

given to him by the

31:44

reflecting pool. And in so

31:46

many situations like this, where

31:49

he's been transported or taken,

31:51

shown things that he could

31:53

never have normally seen, going

31:56

with the flow, has been

31:58

to his advantage. Here, the

32:00

idea that he could learn

32:03

from that pain, that he

32:05

could learn from this man,

32:07

Jeremy's father, is kind of

32:09

like one of the false

32:11

choices that the father gives

32:14

his son. This is not

32:16

a situation where Mitch is

32:18

going to mystically come to

32:20

himself. This is a trap.

32:22

There is not value or

32:25

wisdom here. There is overwhelming

32:27

waste and tragedy. So as

32:29

much as Mitch empathizes with

32:31

the young Jeremy and as

32:34

much as he grieves for

32:36

the soul, he sees being

32:38

lost here, he knows that

32:40

this happened. It already happened.

32:42

There's not anything he can

32:45

give to make this go

32:47

away. And along that same

32:49

line of thought, even Pierce

32:51

Kezek, in his ultimate moment

32:53

where time was not fully

32:56

a barrier to him. He

32:58

didn't change this. Nauseatingly, Jeremy

33:00

Stockton needed to be the

33:02

Jeremy Stockton you knew, for

33:04

the salvation of the world

33:07

that you represent to be

33:09

possible. You see no way

33:11

around it. And with that

33:13

grim thought, clutched, like a

33:15

blade, Mitch tries to break

33:18

free by remembering the truths

33:20

of himself. that while this

33:22

is convincing, this is all-encompassing,

33:24

he is not Jeremy, and

33:26

he is Mitch Hook, and

33:29

he does have something to

33:31

defeat. I'm basically trying to

33:33

use presence on myself. I

33:35

like it. With using all

33:38

my S-rank features, that gets

33:40

me to N8. Flaylin and

33:42

Mitch, you move on. The

33:44

house shrinks around you a

33:46

bit. Jeremy is older. and

33:49

you enter the basement where

33:51

you most hate to be.

33:53

Ishmael, you are... in a

33:55

mid-sized but very nicely furnished

33:57

office. There's a desk, there's

34:00

an inbox and an outbox,

34:02

there is a laptop, legal

34:04

pads, and sketchbooks and things

34:06

like that, and there may

34:08

be other things if you

34:11

think about them hard enough.

34:13

What Ishmael would like to

34:15

do is essentially try to

34:17

get his mind around what's

34:19

going on like so he

34:22

knows that these are memories

34:24

that they're being forced through

34:26

but from a metaphysical level

34:28

the the why or the

34:31

how that's happening is still

34:33

an itch that he's trying

34:35

to scratch so I think

34:37

what he's going to do

34:39

is focus really hard on

34:42

a drafting table and start

34:44

trying to architecturally draw out

34:46

what this magic looks like

34:48

both like incisuals and architecture

34:50

and see if he can

34:53

figure out ways to control

34:55

it on a much less

34:57

intense scale than when he

34:59

did that with the mega

35:01

structure but he is trying

35:04

to go for the same

35:06

flavor like when you look

35:08

at the magic eye pictures

35:10

and get the unfocused just

35:12

right he's trying to gain

35:15

a level of understanding and

35:17

then from there hopefully be

35:19

able to manipulate things and

35:21

protect his friends a little

35:23

bit. Maybe get out of

35:26

the thrall of these memories

35:28

and back towards stopping the

35:30

oblivion vault from devouring the

35:32

world. That could be good.

35:35

You begin to work and

35:37

you become aware of the

35:39

telephone ringing as you pick

35:41

it up and answer it.

35:43

You didn't even know there

35:46

was a phone on the

35:48

desk and the architect is

35:50

speaking on the line. Uh,

35:52

hello. You've accessed the floor.

35:54

plan, but you're coming from

35:57

someplace strange. Can you describe

35:59

it to me? Well, we

36:01

are at the Braddock House

36:03

and currently being forced through

36:05

memories of an abused child,

36:08

as far as I can

36:10

tell. I managed to extricate

36:12

myself, and I'm now what

36:14

looks like to be in

36:16

office of the Datalist Tower,

36:19

so I figured I would

36:21

give you a ring, magically

36:23

speaking. And so good of

36:25

you to call back. This

36:28

child, were they at some

36:30

time or are they presently

36:32

a host to the nemafage?

36:34

Yeah, I would say most

36:36

likely based on what we're

36:39

seeing, the memories seem to

36:41

be sort of a nemafage's

36:43

greatest hits of things it's

36:45

ate and thought were the

36:47

most tasty, which doesn't speak

36:50

well for the neutrality of

36:52

a cosmic force like this

36:54

because they're... Fucking nasty. It

36:56

may be that this post

36:58

had their most intense emotions

37:01

as negative ones. Unfortunately, that's

37:03

relatively common. You are working

37:05

in strange conditions. There is

37:07

a sizable amount of interference.

37:09

I understand the oblivion faults

37:12

on a reasonably deep level,

37:14

but I did not build

37:16

it myself. What a great

37:18

time for some research boss.

37:20

I can get you some

37:23

more info. Don't you really

37:25

enjoy that kind of thing?

37:27

That's I thought that's why

37:29

we get along for armed.

37:32

What is it that you're

37:34

hoping to accomplish? I need

37:36

to extricate my compatriots. They

37:38

are currently experiencing these memories

37:40

firsthand and that's gonna get

37:43

real gross real fast and

37:45

we need them in one

37:47

piece Oh, perfect. Yes. I

37:49

don't know necessarily where you

37:51

will catch up to them

37:54

when you reenter the... If

37:56

you imagine the oblivion... had

37:58

a door. That door has

38:00

been peeled outward like a

38:02

flower opening, a great and

38:05

expanding cone, a maelstrom that

38:07

pulls in new memories, new

38:09

consciousness. Eventually everything, or close

38:11

enough that it doesn't matter.

38:13

That's what it looks like

38:16

from here. But if you

38:18

were to draft in great

38:20

detail, an elevator... Okay, that's

38:22

actually exactly the kind of

38:25

advice I was hoping for,

38:27

thank you. The plan should

38:29

be in your desk. You

38:31

might be able to install

38:33

that elevator in an empty

38:36

space in the memories. Your

38:38

companions and you could use

38:40

it to exit the procession

38:42

of preserved memories and get

38:44

to where your bodies are.

38:47

Okay, that's actually exactly the

38:49

kind of advice I was

38:51

hoping for, thank you. You

38:53

don't need like a tribute

38:55

of blood or suffering for

38:58

that dude. Stop the oblivion

39:00

fault. That will suffice for

39:02

now. Okay, that's kind of

39:04

refreshing. And Aike will reach

39:06

down, open a drawer, and

39:09

start to rifle through the

39:11

papers looking for plans to

39:13

get started. Go ahead and

39:15

roll me a knowledge Eldrich

39:17

with the lower of your

39:20

dexterity or focus. That is

39:22

a negative two on the

39:24

die. I've already used my

39:26

re-roll, but I have not

39:29

yet replaced it with a

39:31

plus two, so I will

39:33

do that. And I will

39:35

spend three mental strain to

39:37

get that to an eight.

39:40

Okay, wow, you only lose

39:42

one point of humanity? Nice!

39:44

and you basically draft out

39:46

the plan and then just

39:48

roll it up, put it

39:51

in some secure internal pocket

39:53

of your harness and exit

39:55

the office back into the

39:57

memories. I'm imagining it fell...

39:59

kind of like going backstage

40:02

at a haunted house attraction,

40:04

like just popping out of

40:06

this darkly lit oppressive atmosphere

40:08

into a business setting, and

40:10

then going back the other

40:13

way takes a little bit

40:15

of centering on Aki's part.

40:18

Mitch and Phelan, you feel

40:20

the grit of the dirt

40:22

floor beneath you and the

40:25

irritation in your eyes and

40:27

nose and throat from breathing

40:29

too much of this dust,

40:32

but that is nothing compared

40:34

to the soreness in your

40:36

wrist, where your right hand

40:39

is handcuffed to an old

40:41

squat and almost heart-like iron

40:43

furnace. At the very least,

40:46

it is summer. The metal

40:48

of the handcuff will not

40:50

be heated to leave blisters

40:52

on your wrist. You may

40:55

get them, but getting them

40:57

from friction is slower and

40:59

less painful. Useless pain, it's

41:02

not the kind of pain

41:04

that helps you escape from

41:06

anything. But you were out

41:09

too late, so here you

41:11

will stay. The rotation of

41:13

your shoulder and your elbow,

41:16

more or less defining the

41:18

borders of your world. It's

41:20

just you, the furnace, the

41:23

floor, and the bucket to

41:25

piss and shit in. Father

41:27

may remember to feed you,

41:30

he may not. Foylon and

41:32

Mitch moving so quickly from

41:34

being six or eight years

41:37

old to being a teenager.

41:39

You feel the great, vertigious

41:41

sense of change in how

41:44

little there is emotionally now.

41:46

The great fear a father

41:48

as a force that is

41:51

incomprehensible, as a person who

41:53

you love or loved being

41:55

consumed by something bad inside

41:58

of him. That's almost all

42:00

gone. It's an echo. It's

42:02

a... fading, whispering memory. Now

42:04

there are just the things

42:07

that you want and the

42:09

things that you must endure

42:11

as you wait to get

42:14

them. And very little else.

42:16

And this is just another

42:18

pain, hunger, thirst, inability to

42:21

sleep due to discomfort. It's

42:23

just more of the backdrop,

42:25

the dull, poorly made mat

42:28

painting. in distinct in its

42:30

detail, in front of which

42:32

the real sets, the real

42:35

scenes that are real and

42:37

you can remember in clarity

42:39

take place, and those scenes

42:42

more often than not are

42:44

when you become powerful, when

42:46

you have an opportunity to

42:49

intimidate, to hurt, to coerce,

42:51

someone weaker than you. It

42:53

is summer. And so it

42:56

is very strange when the

42:58

rattling thud of the furnace

43:00

turning on takes place. Mitch

43:03

Orf Whelan, please roll a

43:05

check to separate your perspective.

43:07

Picking on those weaker in

43:10

order to make yourself feel

43:12

more powerful heavily goes against

43:14

their own personal principle of

43:16

how you have to treat.

43:19

being stronger than others. And

43:21

I think that allows them

43:23

to sort of snap out

43:26

of it for a moment

43:28

or two in order to

43:30

look for a way out.

43:33

I would say that's empathy,

43:35

thinking about what undergirds your

43:37

very different view of power

43:40

in its uses. Plus two

43:42

on the dice. I mean,

43:44

this is basically a principle.

43:47

The with great power comes

43:49

great responsibility. For sure. and

43:51

I will spend three strain

43:54

to bring that to an

43:56

eight. The noise to signal

43:58

ratio increases. It is very

44:01

strange that there is no

44:03

heat coming... from the furnace.

44:05

Stranger still, the rattling, the

44:08

low resonance that you feel

44:10

as much as here, is

44:12

not constant the way that

44:15

it should be. It almost

44:17

pulses in a wave or

44:19

a series, and somehow over

44:21

sleepless hours, as hunger and

44:24

thirst begin to truly set

44:26

in, either deliriously or enlightenedly.

44:28

You, Jeremy, become aware that

44:31

something is speaking through

44:33

the furnace, through these

44:35

vibrations. You realize that

44:37

it's one for yes,

44:39

two for no. From

44:41

your partially merged perspective,

44:43

you can see that

44:45

perhaps only questions that

44:48

make sense for Jeremy

44:50

to have will be

44:52

answered, but you feel like

44:54

if you concentrate. You can

44:56

actually ask these questions. There

44:59

is an opportunity to learn

45:01

something about whatever this strange

45:03

event was. One of the

45:06

first questions that comes to

45:08

mind is kind of, it's

45:10

one that my, like, role-playing

45:13

instinct tell me, no, no,

45:15

no, that would never be

45:17

helpful, but it seems like

45:19

one that Jeremy might ask,

45:22

and it's, is this real, or

45:24

is this really happening? Can

45:32

you get this

45:35

handcuff off me?

45:37

Can you get

45:40

me something

45:43

that would

45:45

get this handcuff

45:49

off me? Do

45:51

you want to

45:54

help me? Are

45:56

you important?

46:00

Help me then?

46:03

Do you

46:05

think I'm

46:08

important? Do you

46:10

need me to

46:12

help you? Can

46:15

I help you

46:18

from down

46:20

here? A series

46:23

of vibrations. Rapid

46:25

this time, pick

46:27

out some kind

46:29

of code, and

46:31

you realize that

46:34

with patience, you

46:36

can count the

46:38

groups of pulses,

46:40

and they can

46:42

correspond to letters. Book.

46:45

You need a book? It's

46:47

a book I could get

46:49

for you? Is the book

46:51

in this house? Will

46:56

I know it when

46:58

I see it? Is

47:00

it like a

47:03

like a textbook

47:05

a big serious

47:07

book? Is it

47:10

at the bookstore?

47:13

The library? Like

47:16

the town library?

47:19

Like the town

47:22

library? If I

47:24

get you the book, can

47:26

you do something for

47:28

me that would make me

47:31

able to do what I

47:33

want? Ooh, okay. It seems

47:35

so simple. Just get

47:38

a book for something,

47:40

get ahead in life.

47:42

Will anybody try to

47:45

stop me? There's no answer.

47:47

Okay. Jeremy Intuit's that as

47:50

a I don't know. Sure.

47:52

And then further, whether this

47:55

question comes from whatever he's

47:57

talking to or from himself...

48:00

He thinks, you think,

48:02

if they did, would I

48:04

care? And you know that that

48:06

answer is also no.

48:08

At this moment in

48:11

a hallway whose

48:13

darkness becomes infinite

48:16

as it progresses,

48:18

a light shines vertically,

48:20

expanding from a line

48:23

to a column and

48:25

ishmael. himself can

48:28

be seen exiting the

48:30

elevator that just opened.

48:32

And seeing Ishmael

48:34

himself allows you to

48:36

be aware of yourselves,

48:38

Mitch and Foylan, if in

48:41

a staticky, flickery way,

48:43

you now move as ghosts,

48:45

clearly unseen, unheard, unfelt,

48:48

by Jeremy Stockton somewhere

48:50

in the past. Hey,

48:53

sorry to kind of bug

48:55

out on you there. But

48:57

I'm back there. Where have

48:59

you been? And, well, I

49:02

guess also, where have we

49:04

been? As far as I can

49:06

tell, you, well, all of

49:08

us again, we are sort of

49:11

taking a guided tour of the

49:13

Nemophage's greatest hits. the memories that

49:15

were the strongest that it wanted

49:17

to keep while it was eating

49:20

things and that's part of why

49:22

these suck so bad but I

49:24

went sort of behind the scenes

49:27

had a talk with the new

49:29

boss man and this elevator can

49:31

just take us straight out of

49:34

here right now I don't know

49:36

if you want to continue to

49:38

see these horrible scenes of suffering

49:41

but we could take this elevator

49:43

avoid all these horrible thoughts and

49:45

if we can get Outside of

49:47

the maelstrom, hopefully, in theory, we

49:50

should be able to plug the

49:52

mouth and stop the impending death

49:54

of the universe, or at least

49:56

our corner of it. Thank you for

49:58

coming back, Icky. I don't mean

50:01

that to be sarcastic, just

50:03

it does really mean a

50:05

lot to me. Sorry, I

50:07

know I just kind of

50:09

blinked out of there. I

50:12

tried to tell you all,

50:14

but it was sort of

50:16

a closing door situation. I

50:18

don't normally just, I don't

50:21

know, is Irish goodbye offensive?

50:23

Probably. Not really. I don't

50:25

normally leave without saying anything.

50:27

So now that we're somewhat

50:30

separated from the experience, we're

50:32

not Ian Jeremy's experience, so...

50:34

tangibly. Yeah, it's become a

50:36

scene rather than a memory.

50:39

Right. But Mitch understands that

50:41

we're we're going to not

50:43

see something. That's that's what

50:45

he expects is that we'll

50:48

get in the elevator. We

50:50

won't have to see whatever

50:52

thing was going to happen

50:54

to Jeremy next, although he

50:57

has some guesses. And there

50:59

is that part of him

51:01

right now that really does

51:03

want to kind of honor

51:06

the loss to grieve for,

51:08

well, I was going to

51:10

say could have been, but

51:12

given Pierce's plans that... maybe

51:14

isn't appropriate to say, but

51:17

still, there was a loss

51:19

here. There was a failure

51:21

in the face of evil,

51:23

not a personal failure on

51:26

Mitch's part or on the

51:28

part of, certainly on the

51:30

part of someone, I guess,

51:32

but it's sad. It's sad

51:35

and it's awful, and Mitch

51:37

doesn't want to just skip

51:39

away from it. He kind

51:41

of takes a moment to

51:44

look at Jeremy there in

51:46

the scene and just feel

51:48

that moment of... real empathy,

51:50

kind of a wish into

51:53

the universe that things didn't

51:55

have to be this way.

51:57

And with that remembrance or

51:59

grief, you're able to move

52:02

your consciousness into the elevator

52:04

that Ishmael has constructed, and

52:06

the three of you find

52:08

yourselves fully yourselves as the

52:11

door closes. So the inside

52:13

of this elevator is all

52:15

brass and gilt and lots

52:17

of overlapping geometry. It's very

52:19

ornate. And the control, rather

52:22

than being a panel of

52:24

buttons, there is a stool.

52:26

and a handle that looks

52:28

like you would use to

52:31

control a, like a subway

52:33

train or something, where there

52:35

would normally be an attendant.

52:37

Aiki looks to the other

52:40

two and says, going down,

52:42

I guess, and throws the

52:44

handle to the... The floor-marked

52:46

crucible house, one assumes. Yeah.

52:49

Which will line up the

52:51

door of this elevator to

52:53

a doorway. in the Braddock

52:55

House rather than in this

52:58

vortex of memories. Mitch, as

53:00

the floors ding by, you

53:02

realize that you are holding

53:04

in your hands a small

53:07

stack of papers. Distinctive, the

53:09

children's illustration style of Henry

53:11

Colfax. You see the simplified

53:13

illustration, though still quite recognizable.

53:16

of Jeremy Stockton, retrieving the

53:18

long-legged Larry children's book from

53:20

the Chester High School library,

53:22

you see at home a

53:25

picture of Jeremy lying naked

53:27

in a bathtub completely covered

53:29

in pages rather than water.

53:31

He has disassembled the book

53:33

and you see that he

53:36

has cut himself all over.

53:38

and that the blood doesn't

53:40

touch or soak the pages.

53:42

It rolls of its own

53:45

accord, seemingly out of the

53:47

bathtub and onto the floor,

53:49

and you see little bits

53:51

of the illustrations where they

53:54

touch his skin bleeding out

53:56

of the book, the color

53:58

and vibrancy draining into the

54:00

wounds. Then you see Jeremy

54:03

again clothed with a sinister

54:05

look, clutching a stack of

54:07

dull pages. And then the

54:09

pages begin to overlap with

54:12

memories you have, or at

54:14

least things adjacent to your

54:16

memory. You know how Jeremy

54:18

gave that essence back to

54:21

the book. He did not

54:23

bleed to feed the book

54:25

he bled to make room

54:27

for what the book would

54:30

give him that he then

54:32

had to repay. And it

54:34

had to be repaid through

54:36

the means of Jeremy's understanding

54:38

of power. And you saw

54:41

where that came from and

54:43

what shape it took. Jeremy's

54:45

imaginary friend. from the book,

54:47

offered him everything he could

54:50

ever want, power to do

54:52

what he wishes, to ignore

54:54

what he does not wish,

54:56

and a perfect and painless

54:59

oblivion, the best part of

55:01

pain, without any of the

55:03

hardship. You can tell that

55:05

the truth of this story

55:08

is that Jeremy Stockton was

55:10

never more happy than when

55:12

he was feeding the nemafage,

55:14

hosting it, nurturing it, and

55:17

helping it to destroy. You

55:19

get the shaking in your

55:21

hands under control, and as

55:23

the sound of the papers

55:26

shuddering, quiet, you realize that

55:28

you are no longer holding

55:30

them. They have vanished like

55:32

smoke, and you are alone

55:35

in the elevator. Foylan and

55:37

Ishmael take Memento Mori as

55:39

you are removed from the

55:41

scene. Ding! Crucible house. The

55:43

doors open. As the doors

55:46

open, and as I... ready

55:48

myself for what comes next

55:50

to what do I see?

55:52

As far as you can

55:55

tell the bratik house as

55:57

it always is, but when

55:59

you take a step out

56:01

of the elevator there is

56:04

a little lurch of difficult

56:06

balance and a sudden whining

56:08

in your ears thunder in

56:10

your chest you have suddenly

56:13

transitioned from where you were

56:15

to being physically in the

56:17

bratik house in a state

56:19

A fighter flight of panic.

56:22

It's like you've gone from

56:24

one night into a waking

56:26

physical experience that mimics a

56:28

nightmare. You have an overwhelming

56:31

awareness of being hunted, of

56:33

being chased down, and you

56:35

hear the hammering of enormous

56:37

arachnid legs, as the nemafage

56:40

makes its way through the

56:42

house toward you. What do

56:44

you do? It seems too

56:46

simple to say, but it's

56:49

really the only thing to

56:51

do. I draw my sword

56:53

and strike. You lock a

56:55

firm and sure grip on

56:57

the hilt of Excalibur, and

57:00

the blade will not come

57:02

forth. The footsteps grow slower

57:04

but closer. The creature is

57:06

savoring these last moments. This

57:09

powerlessness is like a nightmare

57:11

as well, but it is

57:13

all too real. What is

57:15

it? that Mitch reaches to

57:18

is his own first and

57:20

oldest background to some place

57:22

where he can fight on

57:24

more even ground. Excalibur is

57:27

a blade wielded on many

57:29

battlefields, now across much of

57:31

the world, but what Mitch

57:33

reaches to is his own

57:36

first and oldest battleground. The

57:38

baseball diamond. Fuck yeah! And

57:40

so you are there on

57:42

the baseball diamond, in the

57:45

place where so many hard-fought

57:47

victories and instructive defeats took

57:49

place, in many ways a

57:51

place of power for you.

57:54

But it is not as

57:56

you remember it. It is

57:58

in horrible disrepair. One of

58:00

the dugouts, the roof has

58:02

crumbled in. Some of the

58:05

fences are rusted through or

58:07

fallen over. the lines that

58:09

define the diamond. barely visible,

58:11

growth of various weeds, and

58:14

the occasional wildflower piercing the

58:16

turf. Morbid curiosity carries you

58:18

to the dugout to look

58:20

where the little plaques hang,

58:23

commemorating various championships. And they

58:25

are not as they should

58:27

be. Mitch, you realize that

58:29

you are in a version

58:32

of Chester, Illinois, where Mitch

58:34

Hook never was. and the

58:36

sun is going down. The

58:38

lengthening shadows do not behave

58:41

as they should. They swallow

58:43

the buildings, the street lamps

58:45

that they come from. And

58:47

this darkening seems to be

58:50

a contracting circle that you

58:52

on some level simply know

58:54

is death. And so you

58:56

run. You run as few

58:59

people can. and your steps

59:01

uneringly take you to the

59:03

Braddock House, because that is

59:05

the center of the circle.

59:08

That is the last place

59:10

that will go, and throwing

59:12

open the door, nearly pitching

59:14

yourself in to the entry

59:16

hall of the Braddock House,

59:19

you realize with a twist

59:21

in your stomach that you

59:23

have come back to the

59:25

same nightmare, only somehow worse

59:28

this time. You know that

59:30

even if you reach for

59:32

Excalibur... It isn't that you

59:34

wouldn't be able to bring

59:37

it forth, it won't be

59:39

there for you this time.

59:41

You hear the scurrying footfalls

59:43

getting closer but wandering from

59:46

floor to wall to ceiling

59:48

back to floor. And you

59:50

know that you need another

59:52

source of strength before the

59:55

creature reaches you. What is

59:57

it that you reach for

59:59

this time? I reach for

1:00:01

another battlefield, another... place of

1:00:04

victory, but this time one

1:00:06

of both victory and loss.

1:00:08

I reach for the day

1:00:10

of revolution in the nightmare

1:00:13

city, a day where Mitch

1:00:15

Hook stood tall and led

1:00:17

people to overthrow a great

1:00:19

evil, but a day not

1:00:21

of triumph entirely as good

1:00:24

friends were lost along the

1:00:26

way. The day that the

1:00:28

palace was breached and the

1:00:30

hold of the nightmares on

1:00:33

that city. irrevocably broken, you

1:00:35

realized that no matter how

1:00:37

great your personal strength, there

1:00:39

is a greater power in

1:00:42

inspiring others, to be as

1:00:44

strong as they can be,

1:00:46

to work for a common

1:00:48

good. And so, on the

1:00:51

wings of that great triumph

1:00:53

dearly bought with blood and

1:00:55

loss for the promise of

1:00:57

a free tomorrow, you again

1:01:00

breach. You again breach. the

1:01:02

castle gates of the nightmare

1:01:04

city, and enter not the

1:01:06

soaring vaulted stone mage wrought

1:01:09

ceilings of the palace, but

1:01:11

again the entry of the

1:01:13

bratic house, this time palpably

1:01:15

more dark, the creaking and

1:01:18

settling of the ancient home

1:01:20

laden with an impossible personified

1:01:22

malice. The strength of your

1:01:24

arm was not sufficient to

1:01:26

break this spell. Even the

1:01:29

strength that you kindle in

1:01:31

others was not enough to

1:01:33

break this chain of fear

1:01:35

and destruction and darkness that

1:01:38

now coils around your neck

1:01:40

as the shadow of an

1:01:42

impossibly tall and thin humanoid

1:01:44

figure, with limbs emerging at

1:01:47

odd angles, and that all

1:01:49

too familiar top hat. is

1:01:51

cast from down a hall

1:01:53

onto the wall next to

1:01:56

you, dwarfing you in its

1:01:58

proportion. At this uttermost end...

1:02:00

where all seems lost, what

1:02:02

do you reach for? Well,

1:02:05

at first, I looked

1:02:07

to triumph, and then

1:02:09

to a bitter sweet

1:02:11

victory. And so in

1:02:13

turn, my mind goes

1:02:16

to a place and

1:02:18

a time that Mitch

1:02:20

sees as an unmitigated

1:02:22

loss. Necessary, perhaps, but...

1:02:24

another moment of powerlessness

1:02:27

of impotence. He thinks

1:02:29

of being in the

1:02:31

presence of the king

1:02:33

in yellow and of

1:02:35

the world fire that

1:02:38

that presence took from

1:02:40

him. You reach and

1:02:42

strain and strive to

1:02:44

grasp even the tiniest

1:02:46

ember of that flame

1:02:49

of that contained cataclysm

1:02:51

that you carried within

1:02:53

yourself. The destruction. that

1:02:55

it represents surely must

1:02:57

be strong enough to

1:03:00

bore a hole in

1:03:02

this prison and free

1:03:04

it you to act

1:03:06

in your own defense

1:03:08

and something unexplainable occurs

1:03:11

you are fully and

1:03:13

certainly conscious of the

1:03:15

absolute absence of the

1:03:17

world fire inside yourself

1:03:19

for a moment you

1:03:22

despair the yellow king's

1:03:24

removal. of the world

1:03:26

fire to his custody

1:03:28

appears perfectly complete. And

1:03:30

so you are taken

1:03:33

utterly aback by your

1:03:35

hand closing on that

1:03:37

very ember of the

1:03:39

flame that you had

1:03:41

hoped to find to

1:03:44

turn against this overmastering

1:03:46

crushing pressure being put

1:03:48

on you by the

1:03:50

nemefage. You knew that

1:03:52

it was not there

1:03:55

and yet you have

1:03:57

found it. The pain

1:03:59

of a burning spreads

1:04:01

from your palm over

1:04:03

most of your body.

1:04:06

As you cough, your

1:04:08

eyes water fiercely, and

1:04:10

you experience a rush

1:04:12

of vertigo, along with

1:04:14

the pain of being

1:04:17

burned, you are violently

1:04:19

disgorged from one of

1:04:21

the many mouths of

1:04:23

the nemophage, that gnarled

1:04:25

cancerous spider full of

1:04:28

devoured galaxies, you find

1:04:30

yourself... tumbled to a

1:04:32

prostrate position on the

1:04:34

inert stone slab that

1:04:36

was once the reflecting

1:04:39

pool behind the bratik

1:04:41

house. Instinctually you rise

1:04:43

to your feet, drawing

1:04:45

a scalliber, and the

1:04:47

glint of light that

1:04:49

travels along the blade

1:04:52

as you ready it,

1:04:54

you realize is supplied

1:04:56

by the fire that

1:04:58

burned you out of

1:05:00

the nemophages maw. Mitch,

1:05:03

you look past your

1:05:05

old foe and through

1:05:07

that broken window at

1:05:09

the back of the

1:05:11

bratic house, lit by

1:05:14

the fire that burns

1:05:16

upon him, you see

1:05:18

Walter Marchand, and your

1:05:20

eyes meet. The

1:05:41

Orpheus Protocol is a game

1:05:43

by Varklec Press, available for

1:05:45

purchase now on itch. I-O,

1:05:47

and Drive Through Our PG.

1:05:49

This show is made possible

1:05:52

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Please visit patron.com/Orpheus Protocol. If

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You can follow me on

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1:06:17

Stith and follow the show

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and at various lerps around

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get the chance. You can

1:06:29

find me as a player

1:06:31

and producer on the Space

1:06:33

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1:06:35

Squadron. And you can find

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me on Twitter at Cheerio

1:06:40

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1:06:42

cereal. You can find me

1:06:44

on my other podcasts, Tabletop

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1:06:48

play podcast where IGM, and

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a Night of Shreds and

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Patches, a Genesis system, diesel-punk,

1:06:54

post-post-apocalyptic actual play podcast. Next

1:07:20

time, on the

1:07:23

Orpheus Protocol. Mitch

1:07:25

Hook and Walter

1:07:27

Marchand must face

1:07:29

one another at

1:07:31

long last. And

1:07:34

Foulon and Ishmael

1:07:36

must contend with

1:07:38

the weight of

1:07:40

the past. Old

1:07:42

sins demand their

1:07:44

wage, next time,

1:07:47

in reckonings, part

1:07:49

one.