THIS is the penultimate episode of the Numenera campaign storyline. (I lied last time)The crew races to the gateway that can take them home. Or can it?
Knights of the Night
KotN Actual Play Podcast - 162 Numenera - Take Me Home
[Music] Hello and welcome to Nights at the Night, actual play podcast. This new manera adventure, Sandswap, has been written and run by GM Scott. [Music] And now, please enjoy episode 162, titled, "Take Me Home." Actual play begins 25 minutes 26 seconds. [Music] Okay, first of all, I want to apologize to the listeners, because I said this would be the last episode. I think I'm going to break it into two, because, um, still? Yeah, it was like three hours. So two weeks, two hours. So two, yes, two more weeks, two more weeks. We'll be done in two weeks. So if this will probably be the penultimate episode. Before we get to that, we have some feedback. Facebook, episode 160, Jason McDonald's, I wonder if Mike forgets that he destroyed the item, because he was legitimately possessed by the hard-cooked brain, or because the idea of destroying it was so traumatic that he blacked it out. Did he actually destroy his gnome item? I believe in the process of destroying the Queen B, the idol was destroyed. Now, we're talking in real life, probably about two years ago. Wait a minute. First of all, give me two and a half. What the hell are you guys talking about? Feedback? Were episodes two years ago? Yeah, well, I can't help it. I mean, that's the question of the question. Hi, Mark. First of all, to our fans, especially Mr. Rocket, Chu is here tonight for feedback. Right. So, this is very apropos. Uh, Jason McDonald is the one that did the video. I saw it. That was really funny. That was fantastic, wasn't it? That's great. Yeah. He's done three of them now, I think? Is that his third one or his second one? Okay. This is a comment by Jason? And this was a comment by Jason. So, he is focused on shit luck because that's what he's doing the videos of. Oh, okay. Occasionally, something will come up with having to do with that. Yeah, I mean, I'd have to go back and listen to the episodes, but I'm fairly certain that the idol was destroyed in the process of heart-cooked brain inhabiting Michael Colek, and then there was some energy that came out from the idol and destroyed the Queen B. Yeah, actually, Jason is probably the expert now because he has certainly listened to it a lot more recently. Long ago, man. Yeah. And that's an interesting thing that I noticed is we are coming up on our fourth year anniversary podcast. What? One. One. It'll be later this summer, but we are three, three and a half years in the summer. Yeah. Yeah. At the summer, I mean, it's fucking cold outside, but the summer that's coming up this year. In 2014, during the summer, we will reach our four-year anniversary. Back to the feedback. Facebook. Episode 161, I already said, okay, that episode earned me much nutcase points. I was listening to it while I was shopping at the local market, and I kept bursting out laughing. And I could have been amused by the prices, but those make one usually teary-eyed instead of laughing out like the town maniac. Well, I didn't quite get that far this time. Keep pushing my buttons, knights. So that was for episode 161. Is that when you met the beta? It was about Indra telling us. So one after we met the beta, so we were, I think we were pretty much wrapping it up and ready to head back. Right. And we were debating with Indra and we were, yeah, okay. Yeah. What jokes were there? The betas were ordered to group together. Felix said no. No, I do remember that Scott made a comment because the beta of yours refused to group with the other ones and Scott made some comment about being converted into universes. Right. Okay, now let's get down and talk to Indra. I was like, now I'm going to stay here and then my other guy was like, now I'm going to stay here. You're insubordinate in two different dimensions. Richard Watts also commented on 161 and said, so Scott, how many more levels until you complete your evil genius prestige class? I'm uncertain if this party is being played by the prime daughter, the beta daughter or the quam via brain controlling the prime or the beta. I also have a sudden urge to rewatch inception. Like impressed with this, with the strategic plotting. Remind me never to play you in a game of diplomacy. Man, we really show away from like to come and get the story. Yeah. Yeah. You can remember how badly he got his ass kicked into diplomacy. It was really bad. I think he actually closed it. You fucked me over. Yeah. I came up with Mike and he was a fucking downer. Oh, he was all down. He was really depressing. Like he wouldn't have to. He refused to trust me. He wouldn't have to trust me. I know. I was getting screwed over. I was like, look, I need an ally. Will you know what I mean? And he had to have screwed over everybody because he was so terrified of being screwed over. He was petrified. He skipped an entire tournament as well as my game. Mike posted a pretty hilarious comment about Scott, diplomacy playing. Right. And the funny part of it, the really, really, to me at least, because it's me, is that I completely wanted to be his ally because I knew that your boys would team up in some way. But the way the match played out, it makes sense. That's what I'm saying. I do it. I didn't mean just that they would always team up. It's the way the map played. They had to team up. And so the only chance we had in that game was to team up, not screw each other over and we'd have a fighting chance, and he just would not, he refused to believe I actually could be sincere because I wasn't going to totally screw him down. Actually, history has shown that I had no idea that was going to happen. He never played a game of diplomacy with me before, so he... No, but he's playing other games like Dust and let's see, Risk and I remember screwing him over in Dust. Really? No, it just comes second to second to second. Yeah, why wouldn't you remember? Right. It's just, yeah. There was nothing exceptional about it. Right. Thanks for the... At least the evil genius comment. It was a lot of fun playing that story and I really enjoyed the way it played. Mike is running late, so he's not here for the feedback, but we might have a comment from him later. Right. My bet. That was it for Facebook. We also had some feedback on our email address, which is feedback@kotnpodcast.com. Dave Laport said, "Hi, Knights. So far, my comments have been limited to Facebook, but I thought I'd send you an actual email this time around. I just finished listening to Shagrin and after deciding to skip over the Dresden story and listen to all the world of darkness stuff at once. I enjoyed Shit Luck immensely, but after listening to much of the feedback you've received, I think I'm in the minority when I say that I enjoy Shagrin more." Shit Luck was an awesome story with great moments. I've heard many of them mention in your feedback segments. No means no woman, hard-cooks brain in the library, and I got this to name a few. I think my favorite moment came when you decided what to do with Side Street Billy after it was discovered that you'd eaten a member of your team. One of you, I think it was Jay/Tom, was lobbying to kill Billy. You made a remark about Billy crapping out one of his friends. That started me laughing, and I got stuck in the image of a werewolf taking a crap. For the record, it was not. Mike, Jay. It was definitely Mike. Yes. To this day, Michael Clay still has a major issue to this day. It's been like a month, third, month, and a half in the game world, but he has a major issue with Side Street Billy, which won't make sense if I remember correctly. His conspiracy is a thing. It was very much against werewolves. In Sister Katie, you really wanted to see him dead too, but that's true. And he ate a friend and killing people, but he lives in the garage. It's all bad. That's just fine. Yeah, it's just fine. Negative there. So was Sister Katie around, or did you mean Tony about a deal? No, this was the second safe house in Tony about a deal, nearly got it. He'd already been blown up and taken out of action, so it was actually Sister Katie. Anyways, back to the email, which starts with, anyways, I found Mr. Green was more of a roller coaster ride to shift back and forth between flashbacks and real time added to the high level of anxiety. Yeah, the combat scene was long, but it served as a great backdrop for the flashbacks. He created a whole series of mini cliffhanger moments for me. The fun of the flashbacks were intensified by the need to get back to the fire and find out what was going to happen next. One also, Green got more of an emotional response from me than shit luck. Bravo on both stories. For me, shit luck was great, but the screen was better. On another note, you guys inspired me to check out Fate Core System. I downloaded a copy of the PDF from Dry Few RPG. After perusing the basic rules, it seemed to me that there's some interesting parallels with Numenera. I suspect that money may have been drawing on or expanding on some of the mechanics of Fate. For my part, I like the idea of a point system that allows players to influence the story. Numenera's XP system seems to be an attempt at something similar, but it also seems to fall short since XP are also used for advancing the characters. In my homebrew Numenera game, I'm splitting out the points into two types, XP for advancing and SP story points for in-game use. SP will be earned in a variety of ways to ensure that they are spent freely without the need to hoard them for fear of running out. With enough points around, I think it will be able to help mitigate the flaw in the Die 20 as the core die-year-old mechanics. I'm also going to draw on Fate ideas and expand the use of story points beyond the re-rolls and refusing intrusions. I mentioned in my Facebook comments that I was participating in a podcast, and I just want to reiterate that I regard KOTN as the standard by which I will judge my own performance. Thanks for the inspiration. That was Dave Laport. Thanks very much for the feedback Dave, that was some good stuff. I want to say that maybe some of the initial pushback during some of the feedback sessions of Shagrin might have been that they didn't understand the concept in the sense that if you were to board up a summary of Shagrin beforehand and said a battle stretches out through the night and the characters find meaningful moments and flashbacks as the battle rages around them, and they understood that the battle was supposed to last the entire, you know, that's all there was. There wasn't going to be shitlock you went from scene to scene. You were hopping all over cleave when you were investigating things, and I think everyone expected that. And then when this battle just kept drawing out, even the players to some extent, because you guys didn't know going into it either, it was like, when do we go to the next scene? Well, there is no next scene. It is one battle taking place in a night with flashbacks happening throughout it. And I think that might have been it as people didn't understand what to expect at first, and then in retrospect, it might be one of those things that people appreciate more in retrospect after it's done, and they have a time to choose. Right, I was going to say it's kind of like mow over in comic books, you have the issue release, and then you have the trade paperback, which they combine all the issues. Or a similar example might be that nowadays a lot of people binge watch on Netflix where you'll watch your entire season, and that's a totally different experience than to sit and have to wait a week in process when it comes out. And not only that, but process. And that's what you see. And that's what you see. Another week. Hell, an entire series, multiple seasons. Yes. Yeah. I mean, there's so much for you to think about and kind of conceptualize in that off week of the show that you're waiting for in the next episode, you show up. So you're thinking about the characters, the interactions, you're going back and thinking, when you're binge watching, there's none of that going on, you're just wam, wam. You don't really have time to appreciate it the same way you do when it's broken up. Well, I bet that. Or maybe appreciate it in a different way. It's definitely a different way, because in a binge watch, you can see the pattern. You can see the ebb and flow in something like this, and a binge listen. As David LePort might have done, you can definitely see and appreciate the flow much better. Right. The avid listeners that were listening, we had to wait a week in between them. Right. Hey, the arrival of Mr. No, no, it's understandable, we started feedback and you actually came up a few times and one of them will have to go back and we'll do it right now. This was Mr. Richard Watts, who said a few things he talked about, Scott achieving his evil genius prestige class and question whether the prime daughter was playing us, the beta daughter, or the quan was controlling them and playing them through either one of us. And then ended with Mike, I was impressed with the strategic plotting, remind me never to play a game of diplomacy against you, so. What did you talk about? Then we talked about a game of diplomacy for a while. First of all, Richard has now talked to me in three years since the lesson we played. Frank is a cousin of ours and he was in that game as well, yes. Was he? Yes. Nice strategy, Mike, sorry, I just wanted to make sure you got that kudos. Before we. I know you did these five as well. Online. Oh, wait, the guy we were talking about before Mike arrived. David the port? David the port. We're still going to go back to that. He had the difference between SP and XP he was going to use in his home room and air. Yes. If you ever do get supply, Matt, I'd really love to hear about it because it sounds like an interesting system that could improve it. I'm not going to spoil anything about how we felt about the entire game, but do tell me if it makes the day 20 any better. The splitting of the experience I mentioned during that on GM intrusion. There's some things we have to decide, like, do you deny a GM intrusion with SP and then if you accept a GM intrusion, do you get XP or SP? I think he was just saying experience points is totally different and only used for advancing and experience. I would say if you get fucked over, you get XP, but that's just me. I don't know. Is it consolation? Yeah. Because story points just kind of evaporate. Perhaps we should discuss that in the new mirror app. Sounds good. Moving on. On Google+. We had a number of comments on episode 116. Joshua Grasco said, "So looking forward to listening to this. It feels like a long time. Are you sure you guys don't want to post more than once a week?" Yes, I'm sure I'm not going to post more than once a week. I'm having a hard time as the editor posting once a week. But if you had nothing else going on in life, look at what you were doing. Oh yeah, I wouldn't mind. You would probably love to post more. Unfortunately, yeah. Unfortunately, I have a life. So sad. Yes, it is. I know, but you're the ... oh, I said that's not likely something we're going to do, which Joshua responded with, "I know, but you're the best. Great job, guys. Keep it up." And Jason McDonald responded with, "Q, you're the best around. Everything ever is going to keep you down." Thank you. That song went through my head for like a ... It must have been on the fan. Yes. We're never going to give it up. We're never going to let it down. Yes, exactly. We're running around. Have you heard of a chute? I can't. I can't. It's all so true. It's true. Your God, make it stuck. Do you just get rickrolled? Yes, I do get rickrolled. Jason Carter also posted on 160. All I have to say about the ending is brother, dum, dum, dum, dum, dum, dum, dum. Because that's how that one ended with ... Did you use it? Right. All I used to. Dum, dum, dum. I didn't use it. Yeah. Yeah. Chuck Yelton posted and said, "You can at least have the decency to put beards or eyepatches on the evil versions of the players." Yeah. How are we going to tell each other a point? Exactly. But just what about this group is evil. You folks keep getting better and better. So thank you. Chuck, Jason, Jason, and Joshua for the guidance on Google Plus. Yeah, there's some great moral ambiguity going on there. No, not really. They were Vedas. So they were slower and dumber and not quite as shot as we were. They paid the price. Were you and Mike's characters dressed up? Yeah. We didn't have no robot parts anymore. I didn't have a job so it was easy to tell them. There was no tail out of that. No tail. I think I looked exactly the same. Someone looked exactly the same. Others were different. Yeah. It's not a beard. It's just a goatee. You know, you just have to have ... Right. I was funny that that became the meme of your evil twin, is that they always have to have that goatee. Hey, we watch community. That's my soft part. Yeah, soft part. There it is. On episode 149, still in Google Plus, Heath Wilder said, "I just discovered you guys it, but I must say, how impressed I am. Great podcast. Thank you for all the post-production." In this episode, a listener mentions you guys playing Eclipse phase. We never did. They just said, "Maybe we should." Heath says, "I love that game and I think you rock it. But I think the fake hack of it, coming soon, might be more up your alley and mine, as the basic system it uses is more uber crunchy." Anyway, thanks for making my daily two-hour travel time your my number one listen. Which is the end of the feedback. As I mentioned before on Facebook, we have the fan page, and a couple topics that are going on there is, I mentioned we were gearing up for Dresden and suggested those who were Jones and for some Dresden stuff to visit Richard Watts' blog, there's a link up there on the fan page. Anthony Erkmer mentioned that if you're a Dresden fan, you might try Sci-Fi's Lost Girl Show. There was a lot of talk on that. I've never seen it. Has anybody? I don't know what's worth it. I haven't heard of it. I think it's about the main character being a succubus. Sounds appropriate. And it's got a lot of fake flavor to it. Some people liked it. She's really a sweet girl inside, but you know it's not really evil. She's just an informaniac. No, I don't know. I've never seen the show. Oh, slow down. I'm watching it now. Or Playboy. I don't know. No, it's on the Sci-Fi channel. Luke Green posted some of his artwork from his previous Kickstarter that has to do with his universe. I don't know if anybody got a chance to see some of that. I did. Is that the comic? Yes. I thought it's a good artwork. Yeah, it was. If I'm not mistaken, Luke cracked me if I'm wrong. But I think it's not his artwork that his Kickstarter was paying for it so he could add it to his universe and his game and his stuff. But I could be wrong. It might be Luke's. But whoever does it, it's really nice artwork. I enjoyed it. Jason McDonald posted a link to, did anybody see the bike shed role playing? That looks cool. That looks cool. We would have so much fun in something like that in this group. Yeah. It's basically a spaceship simulator. Yeah. And it was larping with role playing with video game. It's all put together. You go into this little shed type thing that inside has been rebuilt entirely to look like say the shuttle enterprise or something. It's a command. And each area has their own view screen and there's a big view screen that shows you outside and there's like a built in thing for steering and flying the shuttle. And if things go wrong, you have to like pull a panel on and wipe it. There's touch mirrors. It's like a touch panel where they control their engineering or their flying or the science or whatever and they all got their stations and they're a couple of things to what's going on on the main screen. Yeah. I mean it was really an interesting bit. Plus with joyous things, they got actual switches and buttons on the ceilings and the walls that are connected to the system. You've got to hit up in certain sequence. You've got to hit up in certain sequence. You've got to hit up in certain sequence. Things don't work right. And there's excess panels that come off the walls and you've got to attach them. You've got to attach wires when things break to fix things. The key is teamwork. The comedy is that it doesn't work. It doesn't work. Dude, teamwork. Especially when they don't have no idea what they're doing. They're just like here. Figure it out. Try to fly out of the hanger deck. Okay. Dry it again. Two last things on the feedback are on the fan page. Logan Swanson posted some information about basically came down to fan fiction between Sister Katie and Dan and Al Morgan. Okay. Fan fiction or slash fiction? Yeah. Well, in his running world of darkness, adventure and he used our characters and yeah, there was a link up between you two. Yeah, I often wonder which character any out of the group Katie would fall for if she was going to fall for it. The big silence life? Well, she's from a redneck big background. He's the biggest redneck we got in the group. Anyway. That can be a good job. I mean, it was never common. I think that's the only one. It would be that or Jay. I think she would like Jay because of his devotion to his religion. It's not your religion. I'll just sit and look up. Can they? Are your rules against that? No. But she wouldn't. You should still look someone. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Are you claiming to be gun toting socially enough to talk to any race guy driving sister? Can't hook up with someone if she wants. She's only been a number like a year or two. Right. I think it's a special benediction, I don't know. Yeah, I'd have to say Daniel. Not that Daniel would want to hook up with her, but she would want to hook up with me. She would find Daniel the most. Right. The most appealing. Well, I just don't want to read that slash fiction anyway. I'm glad I'm not on Facebook. Sorry. I had to hear this. Is there a love scene in the fan fiction? I will have to ask Logan. I'm not really sure. Oh, which is not a link to it? I don't think he actually posted in a blog he just said in his adventure. Right. Oh, I see. There's not an actual blog. It just kind of frightened me. Do you think that James has been in front for so long and I wouldn't mind you as my son. Really? Will playing that out, necessarily. No. No. Jay Alton wouldn't tap that. Or would he double tap that? Last but not least, I recently joined a Jim Butcher Appreciation Society Facebook page. Wow. I know somebody who won't show it. Yes. All two of you. Did you start that? No. Actually, there are thousands of people in this fan page. And one of them actually posted a link where they said for Christmas, they got the Dresden Files RPG game and asked about playing it, so naturally, I mentioned the fact that our podcast has done actual play episodes. They asked what podcast they told them. And we doubled our people. Well, I just want to welcome anybody who happened to come over from the fan page. That wasn't my attack. James Butcher starts listening. And I'm going to have to actually tone down my criticism of his writing style. I've just lost all our fans. Am I being anti-Jim Butcher fan page you could write? Right. They got so much better. It's funny, because I'm the same page, because I've read through it. Everybody acknowledges what happened with the first two, three novels. And we all agree that that is strongest work. But that's true of so many. I think if you have an idea, sometimes your idea is unique enough and it's strong enough of an idea. You can carry through that until the writer obviously sprues the same thing. Terry Pratchett, in the Discworld series, I would never suggest anybody go and find the color of magic, which was his first book. Never. Actually, only hardcore fans would I suggest read that after you've read everything else. It's not his best writing. No, I mean, I joke around with it. But it really is inane to think that the writer doesn't improve his craft as he continues on. Those books are actually outstanding. As a quick aside, I always thought it was interesting how JK Rowling started. And I don't know if it was intentional that she started writing a simpler story, because the kids were younger. And then as the story went along, her story became more complicated and her writing style became more advanced. Well, if it was just incredibly fucking lucky of her as a new writer to happen to follow that style, where you've got simplistic storytelling in the beginning when the kids are young. I'm sure she's answered that question somewhere. Probably. But I'm actually experiencing that right now, because recently I finished reading the seventh book with Deviant, my oldest. And then I'm reading to my middle child right now, we just started the Harry Potter series with Divine reading the first book. Oh my God. Yeah. It's like, it's children's book. Right. Is what the first book is. You forget that a bit with the movies mixed in and just time passing by. But yeah, the way she grew, at least the way she seemed to mature, the story of Richard as well. But it played perfectly well. In Harry's career as well. A lot of it, yeah. Right. Because he, yeah, more serious issues as they got older and it just, it was really well done. And her writing style. So I don't know if that was an accident, but you know, that she didn't intend to do that. I imagine that's probably the case. She just became a better writer and it fit perfectly. Right. And she had to write more mature things. You couldn't write, if you're doing it year by year by year, you can't be writing that and he's a 10 year old when he's 14 or 15. He's dealing with different issues. So you really almost have to write a more mature storyline. Well, I think we're seeing a bit of that on the big screen with the Tolkien, you know, we're seeing the Hobbit as opposed to the intricate story of Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit was more of a kid's book. Yeah. You have to see why they change so much in the movies as compared to the book. All right. That's the end of the feedback. We'll get on to the episode. Quick reminder. KOTN Podcast.com or by so the right hand side, Amazon link, click on it. It doesn't cost you anything, but it gives us some help support the podcast. Appreciate everybody that's been doing that and we want to get on to the episode. This is chapter 12 of the new Manera story, "Sanswept." I am your storyteller/GM Scott and with me tonight on my left is John playing Sega, the Nano of the Tarps Machine. Thomas playing Felix, a strong-willed Jack, who hunts with great skill. Mike playing Bosco, the tough glaive who fuses flesh and steel. I am Jim playing Eshman, who is a mystical Nano who works miracles. I'm Tom playing Tila, the intelligent Jack, who housed at the moon. Michael playing Nina, a stealthy Nano who exists partially out of faith. And with us tonight in a guest capacity is... I'm Rachel. In a guest capacity. So last week, if we'll go through a quick recap, the battle at the Oasis had been halted and there was negotiations with the sultana. And through that consultation, you decided to forego the battle and I think we'd kind of come to a conclusion where everyone wanted to, at least in some form or another, agreed with the precept of taking her body double back to her father to say that she had died. And to kind of play up that falsehood or that angle, so that you could work on the inside to form that revolution in the city state. Right. That's what she expected. Right. Take the body back. Right. And right before negotiations were set to close, Kwant, the God Tree, he had displayed an image of the obelisks which you were going to walk through to get back to your dimension, to your parallel if you will. I don't know that we know that. I mean, we assumed that we walked through those to get to this dimension. Right. And we were told we needed something from here. You need one of the Kwant Shards to... And we have to go back through there. And you have to go back through the obelisks. Now, the tree showed you an image of one of the obelisks being destroyed by enemies of serenity, the city that you come from. I think it was Neelish, the city state that is the sworn enemy of your city state. And they were destroying the obelisk because obviously they felt, to some degree, that they were bringing power to serenity and they wanted to somehow undermine that power. We don't know that. You don't know that. I don't know that would be our assumption. Why would they be doing that? I think it's a pretty fair estimation. They're destroying these obelisks for some reason. Just strike a blow against serenity or do it. Yeah. If the GM tells you something, you didn't know, you just accepted it. No. Right. I think that might be what we assumed. Yeah. It was just an assumption. At that point, I think we'll pick up right there. I was worried about us just leaving this pocket dimension. Right. What happens here when we're gone is Indra's business. We were talking about that when we notice all of us are being destroyed now. I don't care what happens to the other us, as I just want to get the hell out of here. That's why we can't. Fair enough. I look out for myself. You're thinking, "Is anybody here to have a problem?" I'm looking out for us, the primes, yes. The primes. That was exactly the term I was hearing. Yeah, the babies. Are you talking about losing their beta? I think that we want to leave that up for a debate later. I think time is now of the essence. If these guys are chopping down these obelisks that outline the gateway, it might be ruining the gateway, we've got to stop them first and foremost. Yeah. Can we actually see that happen on the big screen of the tree? Yes, the tree. Right. The tree showed that image through all its little leaves. It just shows one large image. One of the more gateways was destroyed, and then they put the weapon in the center and started praying to recharge it. We're charging it. We need to move. You have a fast method of travel for us? She says that, unfortunately, she does not. She will give you a quam chard that will allow you to transport fat age. I was actually pulling this off. No, no, no, no. You can't pull off the tree. I went up to do that with my teeth. She warned you that that's a really bad idea. We're just after your knees before or earlier because of some, eh, yeah, I thought I was pulling her out of the tree's brain. Well, I want to go underneath the tree and ask why I'm selling for us to the... If you want to talk to your buddy God, go ahead. Okay. Are there any beasts that we could ride? He's told me all I need to do. All she has left are three needs, which are two-legged-packed beasts. You had one that you rode in on, or at least your cart was brought in on your caravan cart. There are a total of four needs, but there are six of you, but it needs a relatively large beast. It's possible. She's giving us a couple more hours. Why don't we take the ticket off? Here we are. She works her way. In the tree, there's a large center carved out. There's an archway carved into the tree that you can walk through. So she walks to the archway and she kneels down in front of the holographic altar. She makes some prayers, and her knees basically appear six quang shards, one for each of you. It basically looks like the shape of it is a diamond-type shape, looks like a crystal of some sort. A prism? A prism, if you will, sure. She hands them to you and says, "You best move quickly." You're coming with us? No, I'm not. So, Ichabod isn't either? You're going to keep the gate lay open. That's her face. Okay. What? She's keeping Ichabod as collateral. That's news all day. Nina would like to have a brief conversation with Indra alone. I don't know. You want to play that? Sure. We'll be playing it in front of here because everyone can pretend like they didn't hear it. It's not a big deal. It's just my dad. She doesn't necessarily want to go back to her dad in serenity. In serenity, right. She doesn't want to go back to Indra's dad or to serenity. Her own dad. Right. So, does she have something that needs doing elsewhere up north? She may, but the thing that she would like you to do first is to basically gain her father's trust. She needs you to seek to gain her father's trust by bringing back her dead body, which is actually her beta, not herself, to her father, to fulfill the mission, to get his gratitude, and to then be able to work your way into his good gracious because she needs you to form that revolution, and she'll need you on the inside. Is your father likely to be gracious when he's showing your dead body? Yes. As much of an asshole as he is, he will be gracious that you were at least able to bring my body back. Okay. But thank you. And there may be jobs for you as the revolution takes form in other locations besides serenity. I know you're not a fan of my father nor am I, but I think we need to start there if you could. Okay. We're off. We need to get together with my brother, Bos. Okay. Can you hear him? She's giving us a ticket out of here. I don't like being told when I can and can't leave, so why don't we get through the gateway back to our own world before we decide to do anything. Let's keep this on the demo and just tell out. Well, I agree. First thing is to get out of here and escape and if these crime leaves are what we need, then let's see. You're giving us to us. So let's go. Let's go. When she wraps up her conversation with Nina, she approaches the larger group of you and says, grab my beta, please, put it onto your cart and I'll give you three more means and head back. You don't have much time. And I don't feel like being locked into the first parallel. Evendre, if this place is all kind of controlled by Kwame and you as a priestess, can you use your digital luminaire of powers to just like turn the road into a giant escalator and move us. Take it off time, Phil. No. As I try to explain when we first spoke, my powers might seem great to you. I understand. They really are minimal overall. Three anneons, a fourth anne with a wagon with a dead Indra beta version on the wagon. Is that correct? Is that a good description of where you're going? Let me move faster than we can walk. You can push a neen as a pack animal, like any pack animal, you can push it for a certain period of time. This place was like an hour's walk, so we're just going to-- No, no. It was about three hours walk. Holy moly. It's just longer. Close to four. Now it's six. Would you do? I guess just imagine he's getting bigger as we speak. No, it's about a four hour journey was what took you to get here, three and a half, four hours to get here. So to get back to the crossroads, the obelisk, will be roughly the same time, although you can push the anneons to try to get there maybe in a couple hours. It's still the same day for me and my goal is to go back to kill was a neem handling, so I can-- I push these-- Okay. --remoke as fast as we can. And I'm talking to you again on the wagon when we're going. One second. Did Kwam show us something that has happened, is happening, or will happen in the near future? You're asking her. Yes. She says Kwam is mysterious. Okay. That's a good answer. But my estimation is that's happening right now. I don't think Kwam's reach into another parallel is tenuous at best. I don't think it can see into the future in another parallel. I think this is happening right now and-- Danger is imminent. I was also trying to give us a reason why we wouldn't have to rush and kill her so fast. Right. At this point you're going to have to make the conscious decision to leave your betas behind to their fate. Okay. And you need to understand that is players because if you come back someday and they're all dead and murdered by her, then you're going to be the ones that have to live with that. Yes, I did. We're not murdering them. She's the one murdering them. Why would we do that burden? Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't mean that. I know we can't talk to them, but she can talk. She can translate for us, and I'm trying to convey to them to work with her while we're getting everything hooked up and ready to go. Sure. We have the animals, we have the wagon, we have our equipment. Okay, brother, I want to talk to you for a minute. Is there a dude on the wagon? Yeah, we're talking on the wagon. All right. Well, we're going to talk real quick. Is there any of us that's really, really fast? No. Well, I gave somebody a speed thing. Yeah, it took me a while. You are when you're in here this morning and it-- oh, it's not-- oh, it does. It's not. We're not putting the speed. We're not putting the speed. We're not hedged or whatever, so we really didn't need it. Because if you flip the switch, I may be fast, but I'm also random. Yeah. I'm not going to be able to test you guys. That was not-- that was a plan? No, he just was saying. No, I'm saying. I'm fast in life. Is there any way to-- no. No. But I can't control the form yet. Oh, yeah. Before we leave, Sig goes to his beta and takes back his book. Find a heart. [LAUGHTER] He's so impatient to say-- You're not going to need this. [LAUGHTER] Sarah optitiously slips him, his cipher, infertile projector that's a wall of flame. Okay. And I'll leave it to that. And try to convey in some basic sign language that this is a weapon. Right. Yeah. The assumption is that your character goes nowhere as well as you do. Hopefully. I mean, he doesn't have a tail. There's no big guessing. Yeah, it's assumption because mine doesn't turn into a bear and his is in half metal. Mine doesn't have a tail. Yeah, yours is never a tail. When we last left last week, I was still hiding out on a hill. And then we acted like there was-- I assume that eventually you-- You probably won the emergency half and I went down to go talk. Right. That's good because-- You don't have to cover it. I just wanted to mention all that. No, I appreciate that. What the fuck happened? He's stuck on the hill. Right. No. Felix disengaged himself from his hidden position of fire and joined the rest of the group once it seemed that danger was no longer imminent. So the group as a whole, three aneans in the front, one anean with a cart in back, some people doubling up on aneans, I would imagine. I'm stirring the wagon because that has the most aneans in mine has the skill to machine us how to do it. You have the four legged aneans, the other aneans are two leggeds, yes, anemia. I just have a question about the return tickets. We got six of them. Yes. How does that work with the aneans? The dead body. I'm asking. Right. She said it'll be sufficient. Each one has a very small force field that it basically projects out maybe a foot or two. So if I gave you one, it wouldn't be enough to cover your entire group, but each of you just make sure you're close enough to your aneans and to my beta's dead body to transfer them across. In that case, I'm going to try to hide mine and sneak in with everyone else. Okay. I think it doesn't get used. I don't know. If there's no-- if it just gets used automatically, I'll be sure. Sure. Okay. Fair enough. Back on the trail and you make your way back to the four obelisks that you originally passed through to enter this first parallel. And I'm discussing one of my brother because I still think we need to narrow down our tactic here. Is there any reason we don't want to get out of here and then actually destroy this fucking gate so that-- Tell me why. A, we're removing all the weapons from serenity. Are you talking this out loud with him? No. I'm whispering it to him while I'm sitting in front. He's the only one I trust. He's my brother. If we make a decision, it's going to be brought out to the rest of them. But I'm asking-- I have the same idea that once we get out of this pocket universe that we continue to work-- That's what we want. We see them. We screw the betas completely because they're trouble and they're fueling the visier in our world. You rely on like complications. And if some others can die in the desert, then you don't have to understand it. The tail guy. No, no. I need him. He can teach me how to control that. I don't hear about your love life. Hi. You know, whatever. What we want to allow this gate to be closed, doesn't it solve all our problems? It solves-- I think a lot of problems. One thing I'm worried about though is once we're out, we are in our world again and the visier has the ability to probably monitor and see. So he's probably going to be able to see us destroying. However, I was thinking of some way to maybe let the nihilish people finish their job. But after we get out, anyway, I'm still thinking of some plans, but we're worth some potty go. I think we had to-- Do we bring it up to the other group? No. We're going to need their support. Not yet. There's only two of us. Only when we need them. Okay. They give orders. They follow or they die. That's it. Work for you so far. I'm glad. I can't hear this. No, I'm not saying we should kill them indiscriminately. Only with reason. Only certain ones. We don't like. All right. It's a two-hour trip back to the obelisks, and it's relatively uneventful. You see the same thing you did. You're in a cold desert. This desert in the first parallel has much more flora and fauna than you're used to. It is a much nicer desert. Within two hours, there's no catch sign of any of the creatures, the threatening creatures that you had cross-passed with on your way to the oasis. It seems like your path is very clear, and within two hours, you see two dunes appear on either side of the road, which you recognized as the dunes that you passed through, and sure enough, beyond that, you see the obelisks. And beyond that, you see the continuation of the cold desert. So you don't see your parallel beyond the obelisks. You still see this parallel. Yeah. We don't see any sign of the nihilish pigeons. No. No, but when we pass through the gate, we're going to move from this to our parallel. So we have to stop here and get set. We don't want to just walk through. Let's say everyone can. Okay. Everyone calls to a halt. From 50 feet from the four obelisks. Can we assume that we had a conversation as the tactics before we actually got here so we're not sitting around at least at the time? We did have two hours. Yeah. Well, yeah. Well, do you want to do it on the road as we're going? Yeah. Now it's the time where we pull our weapons, we get our stuff together. We charge through this. Well, we just... Run the plan. Run. The line leaves for the obelisks. What is the plan? Do we have a plan? No, that's what we're going to talk about. But here's what we've got. The requirement has shown us that there is agents. How many? Sorry. How many? Three priests on the other side. Three EN priests on the other side. Oh, okay. We did. They say how do you kill an EN priest? What's your answer? Well, you're coming after me. I've used all of my ciphers at my disposal so I'll be worried about that. But if you can clear them away from it, I can probably deactivate the ciphers. So me, it still works. Hopefully, they don't need all four for it to work. And there's only one cipher. Correct. Correct. I'd describe the device it's recharging in. It's actually just sitting on the desert floor. The three priests were knelt in a triangle around the weapon and they were praying. And you saw some flicker of life coming back to the site after it had obviously gone out when it sliced through the first of the four obelisks. Nina and Felix will be our snipers or ranged attack. No, you're a close person. It's a dream of mine, but yeah, I don't care. I got two. You're a borrower. Okay. Good. I'm thinking though, maybe the fastest one of us could run up there and grab the thing while the rest are looking havoc. Nina, you're pretty fast and can sneak. So you get the stealth approach. So I'm thinking that I will be the loud one. Well, you and I fight the best side by saying the right. You and I go through. He attacks that range. Why do we have to fight them? I can talk to them. Because they're-- And distract them? Well, I'm not sure they'll listen because they obviously work finilish and they have some loyalty misguided as it is. But do-- I'm sorry. Ian, are they a no-revisioned unto themselves or are they part of an island? In the steadfast, the priesthood is a whole and they operate under a high priest, which is in the-- Like in a civilization. The amber pulp. I think it's called. The amber pulp. But you are out of the steadfast. You are in the-- Okay. But that's what we're pulling on. The beyond. And for that reason, they are actually very click-ish in their own small groups. So they don't follow the amber papacy in the steadfast. They follow their own set of laws, Mike. That's fine, because Sig has a good point that if he can approach them with the ritual greeting of the priest when they meet you in the secret handshake, hey, whatever they deal with-- That's their business. Okay. Right. But I don't know if-- Are you ostracized from them? Are you an outcast from them? So they would-- No, they'll know. Okay. Honestly, I have the symbol. That's enough. As Sig suggested, let's try to give peace a chance or talk. At least get us into a better position to screen an attack if it comes to that. So I think that's a good point. I think let's try-- if you can talk to me-- We're giving up the event. Can I have children help in trying to bargain with them then? I still think it was going to be surprised, especially if one of their own comes out of this thing and tells-- Okay. It should be very low. He stepped through the gate and he puts one of his lumber tree-sized crossbow bolts through one of them. There's two. What's going to be your leverage? Not me, but there's-- What do you want to talk to them about when they're saying we're here to destroy these? What do you hear? What do you come up with? We're carrying a dead body. I mean, I can get out hysterical and ask if they can revive her. I mean, just as-- Distraction? I mean, we're distracting them to what end? So we can do what? Get through. Take their side of the way, leave, what do we want to-- what do we want to do when we walk through there? We want to go through the things that they're doing, what they're doing. I think I can get them to stop. All the end priests, their duty is first to technology. If I tell them what's through there, they'll be more interested in visiting it than chomping it down. Not necessarily if they're deep within serenity's control territory, that was supposed to have the ability to have access to this. Plus, they make no more about it. Not like me, though. Well, they just seem to show-- They've shown us something to say, by the way. He was very-- Well, we've only been there for a couple hours. We don't know what their thought process is, but they just show up with a big piece of noumenera that can cut down obelisks. They clearly had a plan. They came out here to find it, and they have the equipment to raise it to the ground. So at the very least, they know why or they want to destroy it. Now, I'm not entirely sure that we shouldn't let them. However, I'd like to make this decision on the other side when we're back in our world. But at the very least, I can enthrall them with tails of the other side for a while. That's what I'll try to do. That doesn't work out. At least, they might try to kill you when you walk out. That's probably the least. I'll have to miss it, all right? More happens. Well, then, in that case, Plan A is we are following you, and you can try and talk to them. Yes, and you have the people's skills that can help you. If that goes to hold on to handbasket, then it's hit them as hard and as fast as we can. Tila and I will be the frontline troops, Nina and Felix, will be our snipers and stealth and sneaks. And then your job will be to deactivate that scythe, the numenera. Okay. And then Eshman support and only attack them. Do not attack any of us. You wouldn't think you'd have to classify that, but history is shown. History is shown that you're afraid. Under no circumstances are we to activate my sister. That doesn't make any sense. I wouldn't do that. Again. I was gonna die. That's not it. That's what I was gonna say. Even if you're going to die, just being clear, it took us hell on to get to this obelisk. It's about two hours, which means by my count, you've got two and a half hours left. Yep, before she turns. Possibly. Probably. Turns. So, Plan C is... It's better be over in a fucking hour. Let's put it that way. And then in two and a half hours, she turns into a piece and kills everyone. Bob's thinking outside the box. And then with this, I wouldn't care. But... Are you asexual? Are they all? We're deck on. Okay, so you've got your plan? I think Plan A is Sigg's talk. Plan B is the fight. Do we wait, like, right outside the cave while we talk to them? No, I think we need to move out of this dimension. So we all walk very obviously. I mean, can we? We don't know how it works. Look, you might be able to sneak behind the pillar as you travel through, and then be on the other side. Only behind the pillar. Felix, all we remember is what we saw when we came in. So we were able to get to that point. We were able to walk behind the pillar. Felix, all we remember is what we saw when we came in. And people were walking, walking, and then boom, they just disappeared. So what's going to happen is, I assume it's going to be happened in reverse. We're going to walk, walk, walk, and then we're going to suddenly appear to them. Anybody want to hide in the carts so they cannot be conceived by the three? They don't know how many of us there is? I don't know. We're sneaky here. Yeah, so you guys can be our -- Crossbow people. Did we want to do something with the beta-indra? Because I've got lies and trickery, and I'm sure I'll be believed when I say this is my sister-do-something. Would they rush with my story? No, I mean, it won't get there. The only problem is, I want to go through as soon as possible, because if they cut one of the other, it's two of the four that are gone, that might not even allow us to go through. So we might be on a very, very short time thing. So as we arrived, we walked through. Let's go. We're doing the two-hour lead-up. Yeah, I know. How long do we have? About two minutes. I know, my job. I'm going to be hidden in the cart. Right. You're going to be hidden in the cart? Yeah. And everyone goes through it roughly the same time. Is that correct? I believe that's -- At the very least, I'll be visible and in the open, so I can be hiding. Okay. And you'll be on the cart driving this. I guess if we're the diplomats. Freshman? I could carry Indra over to them. You guys want to go with that? She's eager. Can you heal her? I think that might be our backup. Do we have a backup? I think our backup is kill people. That's the best plan B. Plan B. Plan B isn't the same. Plan B is always our backup. That's all Felix needs to know. Okay. I'm assuming the three means that are being driven are written -- excuse me -- go through first with the cart closely thereafter being pulled by the four legged mean. And when you go through the two oblisks that are marking the pathway back to your parallel, you notice a fog and mist. It's definitely not your parallel or your ninth world that you end up back at. You walk through the two oblisks and you end up in some type of -- for lack of a better term -- pocket parallel that has absolutely no desert around you at all except for the four oblisks. Four oblisks, not three. Right. So there are four complete oblisks that are glowing in the mist with a soft white glow. And beyond the mist, which is maybe 50 feet away or so, the mist becomes too heavy to see. So you find yourself almost like in some kind of pocket parallel. So we almost like an airlock? Yeah. Fuck this. It's almost more like a hub. You know where we may have alternate choices. Well ours is screwed up, so we want somewhere else. I hope not. Let's just keep going internal. Why the fuck do you mean -- This friend tell us any of this. Did you give you a roadmap? My friend. Well, we look at the quantity. Keep party with her once. Don't we have to -- Don't we have to -- Don't we have to turn left and go through the next pair? This is more like Amber, the prime. We're at the prime right now. It was -- Even our original -- Wow. What about the prime? It's level one. Everyone thinks they're prime. I am so prime. I'm sure first parallel thought they were prime. Yes. Yeah, well they're wrong. So good. They are now dead, yes. Could you have left them for their prime? I don't know about that. First of all -- Halfway. Trial. Anything? Oh, let me -- the floor is made of glass. I don't know. Do you know that? You know that? I fit in the floor. Well, the desert -- The floor is made of glass. There's some light sand over the glass. But yes, it is. It almost looks like an incomplete or -- Buffering. Yeah, it's just something strange. You know you're not in your dimension or your parallel. You know you're not in the parallel. You just left. You're somewhere else completely. And the four obelisks are glowing a soft white glow. We came strong. We answered and turned to the right. Now we're entering. We're going to turn to the left. It's just -- So Felix takes his knee. He spurts his knee. And he spurts his knee on through the left set of -- Oh, wait, wait, wait. That was right. Right, Felix? We pushed. What's his name? So that is fun. We left. We pushed. We already left him. He was the woman. Yeah. This is the time where we probably want to set up in case we have to talk to them immediately when we exit. Then Sigg and I should go through first. And we walk. Okay. And Sigg and T-Lok are riding a knee through the -- So can't ride a knee. He's walking. Okay. Is he holding the knee or is he leaving out? Well, you need to be up front and personal because they need to see you and you need to do the -- In order to do plan -- Yeah. He takes out a symbol of the -- Yeah, on the priesthood. Why can't you ride it in? Yeah. I can't. There's still not the skills. Maybe the tail on the fairs. I don't know. It's just not going to happen. You don't like them. It's scary. Who's driving the four-legged with the wagon? The wagon. Boss, I think. Boss. I thought Boss was leaving me. And he tied up the unines behind it, I think? Yeah. Behind the wagon? Yeah, he just tied it. That'll work. Okay. Okay. I would like to be in the wagon with -- I'm staying here. A small crossbow. Okay. I'll fire it once and then hand it back to you because you're going to fire the large one and then switch -- Small one. Is it a repeater? Okay, we could switch. It is a repeater. I don't want to switch. I just want to want a shot and then I'll probably get out and do whatever I do. Okay. Yeah. So, Tila and Sig move through. Tila on and Anim, Sig on foot, move through the second set of oblisks to the left because that's the exact opposite of the way you entered the first parallel. So, says Sig. Yes. And he is correct, actually. By all your memories, that's the way you want. When you cross through the second set of oblisks, nothing changes. And, as a matter of fact, the Anim, that you're riding, Tila, starts to paw at the ground and get nervous as you edge towards where the mist becomes very thick. It stops and it's definitely resisting any further movement forward, at least without some serious spurring out. Over a seemingly cliff. I would say cliff. It's not black. It's heavy white mist. Okay. Sig reaches out with his ability to sense Numa Nara. Okay. You definitely sense Numa Nara to a very strong degree in the four oblisks and even on where maybe the scythe might be in the distance. The Numa Nara beyond, like in what would be the heavily misted areas, drops to almost nothing. Yeah. I don't like that. I don't like this. I want to leave. So, let's figure out how to do that. Sorry, I'll blaze the fog. The fog is about 50 feet in circumference around the four oblisks. All I can think of is the number of oblisks seems to be significant, so if we have to get back to our world, do we have to match what's in that world with this place, so do we have to knock down or bring down one of the same oblisks that they knock down? Yeah, there's both of them. How are we going to do that? I'll let you out. You have the ability to interact with Numa Nara, so I was hoping you'd be able to interface. Convince it to fall over? Or? We'll... I could try talking to it, but I don't know what the other thing is. I know the function of this machine. I would... I'm going to shut these off. Are we not using our detergent tickets properly? Was that made clear? Um, she said you just walked her. Do we still have the tickets? You still have the tickets. The quam charts. He's getting up above his head. Put down the cross, we'll get off the wagon, and walk towards still, carefully towards the fog. Using perception, she gets off the wagon, and walks in which direction, please? Past us? You went through the oblisk to the island. You now went to the oblisk to the west, or at least two of you have, what is Nina doing? Where is she walking? We should... If you're going to walk towards the mist, we should put a rope around you, so it fades a cliff. You can do it with all of it, didn't you? Or any dozen of it. To the edge of it. Oh, I thought they walked through it. No, just me. I'm going to go to the west. Anybody else have a problem with that? I'll use the rope. Wait a minute. I want to... I think I got an idea. Good idea. The rope is a good idea, but I think I have an idea in that we are talking about multiple dimensions here. Right. There's got to be an anchor between these dimensions and anchor them to each other. If it's the oblisk who exists in all of these dimensions, one of them, the anchor points is broke, the one in our original parallel. Right. Can we take... So let's go between two that aren't broke in our original parallel. That would take us somewhere else. I don't know that, but this ain't taken us anywhere. Go back to where we came from and get around to the ones that aren't. I don't know. When we saw the oblisk being destroyed, which one was it? I don't disagree with you, but maybe what's going on the right was the one in the left. I don't think it was ever clearly stated. But, strangely enough, I have a skill of remembering things. It's got just as clear because I'm not sure there was a horrible many corners, not just three. Right. No, that was important. But maybe Sig can interface with these... Well, but you're not the dot. Oblisk. Oblisk destroyed. Since you asked, that has a map. I always have maps. Good. That's what I do. Keep passing down, please. That was nice. And the map will be found on the Facebook page. Let me guess where the broken will be. When we came through this map, we were going south. Correct. Then we turned right. We went through and turned right. Correct. And now we're trying to go to the north. And then east. And then east. So now we're trying to go north, and then west. Now we came through it. And now we went south, and then west. Now we're trying to go what? East and then north. East and then north. And then north. And that's not working. So that shouldn't be affected by that. But we're all lined properly. You're all making it. A bunch of assumptions. Well, we have to. Yeah. I have a little robot guy. Yes, you still do. Can he... Did you use him up on the current? No. No, he chose not to on the following current. If I sound, who can you come back and report what you saw? No. I don't think that was a lot of shit. He's not a guy. Right. It's an automaton, basically. It's not anything that you can. I could send him through. Who's got the rope? Yeah. I mean, see if you see to exist. That tells us something. And we can try to fall on the back now. I've got straight through. That'll roll. Do you do that? Yes. Okay. Ashman, which of the four passageways do you send him through of the oblisks? I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I just... In the dimension you're in, obviously that oblisk isn't broken. Right. Okay. So we're all on the same page here. And so right now we're north of the... I was saying north then. That's where it became. Well, we are in our dimension that we are currently and we're in between all four of these, right? Some of you are in between all four. Some of you are to the north that pass through, meaning yourself, Tila, and Sig pass through to the north. Well, let's go over here. It went to the edge of the fog before your enine got nervous and said, uh, uh, I'm not going to do that. I have an ex-while. Which contains a long rope. While everyone's digging this out, can Sig take a look at his quam leaf to see if it has any sort of charge. He's called a quam leaf, he wants, but it's... She called it a quam shard. But that's okay. She's not here to correct terms for it. It seems to be doing nothing. It seems to be just a reflective mirror. I'm trying to hold it up to these obelisks. Good idea. But unfortunately, nothing happens. Actually, did you... It's not necessary. Yeah. It's not taking our ticket. Well, we... Obviously... We've done something. Maybe the ticket brought us here to this prime area. Either we're bringing something with us that isn't letting us cross over or something's happening. The quam leaves can't make it through. Have you ever seen one on the other side? Yeah. That doesn't mean that shit. That doesn't mean that shit. I haven't seen them before ever. Maybe they just... My point is... You just have to leave them here and travel through them. That's a fact. Sig tries. Not what she said to do. She said carry them on your body. They project a one to two foot radius and you walk through the obelisk and you'll be returning to your parallel. It's what she told Nina specifically. Nina definitely brought that up during your conversations on the way here. And if you decided to be sucked into purgatory and live in hell forever, you missed that part. Yeah. I just want to be clear because I don't think I have the answers to this yet. Sig cannot interface with this new manera of these obelisks. Sig has not tried to interface with the new manera of the obelisk. No, he extends to unoff switches right now. Right. But you do have... You do have... Experience this equipment, right? Didn't you just say that you've experienced this? The stipulation is I need to know the function of the device. I'm pretty sure I know the function of these devices and that they are supposed to bring them in. Right. Right. What if they're fun? So because you're called, there were images being cast in these as well. Like when you walked up to one of these obelisks the very first time, you saw a reflection of another parallel you assume at this point and someone in that parallel. That's true. So that could be another function. I'm just trying to... Because it was, in real time, it was two months ago. So just trying to remind you of what happened. Sig, why don't you check out the two northern obelisks on the way back? They look like... Are the obelisks showing any pictures? No they're not. It's true. What about doing any... Just a soft white glow. We were almost there to send them through and get stopped. Yeah. They got sidetracked to scan Sig, actually, interact with these obelisks. Here's... This is how we're going to interface with the map. I'm on the bottom left one and I walk up to it, tap my palm leaf to it and then that doesn't do anything. Correct. It does not do anything too. So I try to communicate with the obelisk and coerce it and do it on position. Okay. So this is a ability that your character has because he speaks with machines. Is that your... Yeah. One of your talks to machines. Talk to machines. Excuse me. This is a really complex machine. This is a very complex machine which I don't think the rules as... If it's an intelligent device, I can't really do anything to it. It has to do it on its own accord. Right. For instance, I couldn't shut off my arms. I thought about it occasionally. You had a crossbow at my back and I was like, "I could turn off his arms." He's touching things. He's touching things are too dangerous. We have to kill them now on this challenge. I'm gonna say this involves a role. I do. Okay. I'm not comfortable with just getting you an on/off switch. So if we look at the... It's really complicated tech so I can understand that. Yeah. Zoom in narrow or whatever. You're not gonna know the level of the difficulty of this mechanic, but you can put effort into it if you want. Sig. You can definitely put what knowledge you know and your effort into trying to contact this particular obelisk. Is that something you want to do? Rather than staying in this purgatory, yeah. Okay. Sure. If you want to kill you now, it is intimidating. Your level is level six. It's intimidating. Okay. That gives you a target number of 18 that you need to roll to succeed. You gave effort. That puts you down to 15. Good luck. But he also has noumenera. I have skills. Yeah. Boy, he can't kill you. He has skills with his skills. Oh, his staff. And I am trained in noumenera, but that's it because leveling is really slow. Okay. Oh, we didn't get experience. I'll take you a good point. Last week. John, you... Oh, man. I've been learning so much about the contrary. You have. You have. Thomas, you stayed hidden well and protected the group. Very exciting. Two. That's good for the group. Pityquants. You did a good job of interacting with everyone, too. Oh, wow. They were part of your side, right? I mean, we didn't know. I think just because Rachel's being very generous. I know. It's better. They were just used to get begging for one. Ashman. You need to hold on. Nothing. Sorry, buddy. One. Tila. You... Did you do the exceptional last week, Tila? Besides... Continue to breathe. That's hard. Yeah. Show him up when he was sick. One. He got... Aw, wait. I'm working ripped out of a mess. Yes. And Nina, because you actually knew Indra from the previous life and spent a lot of time talking to her and probably were kind of with it a lot, your group not going to be attacked immediately by her. Two. Two. Two. Two. I'm going to talk to these agents of... Three. Oh. I win. Fingers. Favorite. Full role playing points. What's it going to do? Level five? Four. What? A sub level. Okay, Sig. Yeah. Your target number is 15. Difficulty is five. I'm going to say that Numenir applies here, so it takes you down to level four, which means you need to roll 12 or higher, but that's as far as I'm going. Okay. Yeah. All right. Nina, 12 or higher? Wow. Sig only won, which in this game system, Rachel, is a critical failure, meaning the worst thing possible happens. So, Jon, do you choose to spend your... You can only reroll once. You can only reroll once. That happens. Really? You can only reroll once. Well, I can't roll worse. There's a W. We won. We roll once. Four. You want to level up? Hmm. Do I want to screw everyone over and level up? No, it's not. Jon, I can spend one of my points. Really? Yeah. Anyone can spend an experience point to allow you to reroll your die. Okay. It's an eight. He didn't succeed in turning it on, but within the soft white glow, the obelisk, all of a sudden, this red image appears almost like in the center of the obelisk. You can see it from all four sides, and it is a character, meaning a written character. Whether it be a letter of the truth, the language spoken in your land, or some ruin, or some character from... You don't even recognize, but in incredibly fast succession, it is rolling through with this red light, almost like a digital display, if you will, for nowadays. It's rolling through some sort of alphabet, but he knows he didn't succeed the way he wanted to succeed. But he did get it to do something. All four of them are bathed in a soft white light, except northwest obelisk is now glowing white with a red character or symbol that's scrolling through at almost an imperceptible speed. And we want to go through the northwest and the northeast, between those two, and you may have turned on one. It's the southeast one that... No, he knows he didn't turn it on. He just made it do something that he didn't intend to. I do not say oops. The southeast one is one that's broke, and the northeast one is one that's throwing characters on it. No, the northwest one is the one that's throwing characters. There's an compass on the top. Yeah, he knows he's got it. The northwest one is one that's throwing characters, but in our dimension, it's the southeast one that's been chopped in the west. Yes, in your dimension, that would be the one that was cut in half by the eon priests of Neelich. Because I would say that would be the one that you would have, that can't align, that you would have to manually align to where it needs to go or something. I was just trying to get the gate we need to walk through on. You know there's a simpler way to turn these on, sick? Yeah. You didn't even work, but you did something. You're like, "Oh, shit, I did something." But this was the one that the northwest one was the one you were trying to turn on, correct? Yes. And it didn't turn on in his opinion, but something happened. But something happened. He triggered some kind of reaction. Then you... I tried talking to it in the truth. Take me home. You talked to the office, and you just see your reflection through that haze in the west. This doesn't make fun to you. It's not sentin' it in any way that you can... Okay, it's not responding to me. I don't know what it's doing. Mike has the potential to go up to tier two. Which, as a man who is partially made of metal or machine, he can actually interface with new hair. I get this power bugging himself in. If it has a port, I imagine. This is just a giant glass hubble. It's valid. All right, thank you for that. I'm just saying that it seems like it's... I'm not going to tell you whether that's going to be a fit or not. You're going to have to go up that level and make the decision. You're not going to know if you're going to be able to interact until you have that ability. In light of our current situation. I'm not saying it's a bad idea. I'm just saying I'm not going to tell you whether or not it's going to work until you do it. Then I am going to do it since... Okay. I have an X-ray viewer. I was wondering if I used that to try to find something in this... More obvious. When you're going to use your robot to use... Yeah, I was going to do that too, but you got sidetracked. Then I think we should just try what you're doing with another obelisk. Let's try it with a... The one that got cut? The one that got cut. Do the same thing, and I will try to help you. And if my hand accidentally touches the obelisk and all of a sudden the wires come out of my metal arms and interface with it, then so it'll be it. Right. Now, he's... You have enough sense of humor. I would actually try it with this one, because that creates any result. Because we're doing it in the past room. Then I... Well... You know what I mean? I knew it would be one. Then tell me... Sig... That right, of course, does not exist. Well, first of all, is I level up and I gain this ability? Am I aware of it, or do I have... Oh, absolutely. No, absolutely. I walk across the road to the other obelisk and try to activate this one as well. Hopefully, I fail. You have more experience dealing with your failure than your success, that's for sure. Oh, that's hard. Yeah, it really is. You know how many successes I've had? I turned your... Never mind that way. Don't want to talk about it. Oh, shit. What did you roll? I'm sorry, what did you say? Like two. It's not a one. It's a fucking guys, what do you want? It's a chicken. Well, what is that? Oh, okay, you're going to reroll the two? It's not a cricket failure. You didn't fail you. You didn't experience, you didn't notice. I saw it. No, I saw it. I just wanted to make sure that the decision he wanted to make. Hey, Rachel has a free candy one. Can you do it? She might not want to use it, yeah. I don't know. I have to go in half an hour. Right, so she might want to use it. You can keep that. Okay, now, real quick, are you spending effort? Hell yes. And you're going to start running out of points. I have two effort. I used two this time. That takes it down to level three, which is level, which is a nine or higher for success. How many points does that cost me? Lots. Well, the first one costs you three. The second costs you two. And then you take off any... Ed, you have... Oh, you don't take it off for four. You don't take it off each time. You got four. He's saying the total. Stag, no, you gave me a intellect to build it. Here's to one edge. I didn't know. I would be doing this. Okay, so that makes the first one just cost one point. And this one costs three. Right. So four points. This is six intellect left. So you're running out of intellect, which is... It happens. You're running out of intellect. You're running out of your willpower to fuel your intellect. Go ahead. Nine or higher. Good luck to you, low roller. Oh, my God. That was your re-roll. That was my re-roll. Okay. Yes. And the red light of the red character is starting to get through the second one. You know that's a countdown until they explode, right? That's not how I don't know that. Oh, I like that idea. I think I'm going to just totally make that the idea. Actually, they could be anything you'd tell us because we could make it... What does it mean? They were like, "How hard?" Can I make a new scenario just to understand what's going on with this afterlife? You could try to make a new scenario a roll, sure. It's going to be harder than just turning them on. Good luck. Just to understand. You can't roll over some of me, apparently. Sure. In this particular instance, Jim, your level is seven, formidable, impossible without skills or great effort. I think it's laying me in there in that whiff. You're walking around and poking that thing inside your face. I'm looking for an answer. I'm looking for an answer. I do the same thing at the same time. Sure. I have new scenario a roll. So it goes down one level, which is an 18 for you, and Jim, 18 for you as well. Do you have a new scenario? I have new scenario as a special sheet. Okay. So that takes you down to 15 for you, down to 18 for you. I'm putting it to offer. Do you wish? Go ahead and do so, and then make your roll. That takes it down to a nine. Nina rolls 18. Okay. And we have a 17. Okay. So both Nina and Ashmen. Okay. Its function in a very vague sense is a inter-parallel transportation system, which I'm sure you guys knew. You right now have confirmed. Is that it? Just the basic function? Or is there more? You want to give me the rundown, John? Have I had an opportunity to try to interface with any of these aqua-lists? To your knowledge, there is no check that you see that can allow you to interface with it. I am going to use my x-ray viewer on one of the ones. I'll say the one that's in the, where the one is that's broke. Okay. How long does this just go to panel? Can you try it on the one I activated and the one that broke? I'd be interested. So I'm just going to start walking between each of the aqua-lists. Okay. Just see if that works. It does not. Okay, good. It's a level 10 x-ray viewer. Oh. That's pretty high level. That's pretty high level. That's very high. You can end the Avelis looking for some excess panel or structure. Right. This is how you do it. First of all, you hold up this piece of Sin Smart Glass Commodation paper and you are able to see and it looks as if an every onion slice of this Avelis is a mirrored surface, which seems incredibly unusual, but that's what it seems to be made of. There is no core to it that allows you to jack into it or of interest. It is made completely out of glass. Nina is getting chilis rope and tying it around my waist. Right. We're going to try the right thing. The fog. Does it look like anything like the nubonero storms that come through? It's iron wind. Iron wind. That's not anything. It's going to be freaking out if a little bit. Okay. Iron wind. Good point. I'm watching you roll. All right. Listen. So that if there's a cliff unexpectedly, you won't fall. You want to pop the robot out first? I'm sure she's taking tentative steps. Yeah. I'm using my stealth. You want to use the robot first? Or she just wants to crawl out and see what happens. No, I'm tired of waiting for the robot. She's a bit impetuous. I don't see her waiting. Right. So you move forward into the fog. There is seemingly nothing but the glass ground that you're walking on and the mist that stays so thick that you can't see the hand in front of your face. I'm sitting there. You walk five feet. You walk 10 feet. You walk 15. You walk 20. You walk 50. You walk 75. The rope is at its length at this point, and she can still hear her to just -- it's fog. It's mist. It's really boring. Can't get out of here this way. So you can't. Okay. While she's out, we get the oblisks to work. Okay. Then in that case, you're back to your -- no. Once you reach just a maximum like that, you sure have a quick time to play and know that. Is your X-ray thing still working? Can you use it on the thing I activated? Yeah, we'll do that too. We'll walk over and look at the numbers on the one that you see. You see, again, the onion slices of the oblisk, but you see it kind of sliced into thousands of onion slices, or slices, if you will, shards. And each one has the same numbers rolling through it as almost as if there's a digital imprint on every single layer of this totally 100% glass oblisk. If he brings that X-ray thing anywhere near my character, I doubt him. Right. You punch him. Right. Just so you know. Actually, it's paid 25 cents for the X-ray viewer. I have ideas. Does anyone else have any ideas? You still have an idea, John, that you came up with that you haven't played yet. I think Sig started to align it, and now it's trying to sync up with the ultimate intervention. He hasn't succeeded at that. Try it with the broken one. Paranormal terminology. One more try. I don't know. I move over to the third oblisk. There came the charm. Yeah. So, please. Do you want a little bit broken in our reaction? By using any... Again, it's 18. I give you down to 12 because of your skill with Newanera. Sig. I think you know what you might need it to say. I think you should try. You got the Nerf of West one on. I think you should... Not on. Well, it's doing something. In his opinion. Right. But you're halfway there. He's triggered something. It's easier now. It was a failed idea. Try that one again. Yes. I can't keep trying this. Well, you don't have to spend your effort. No, I know. But if I just keep trying to succeed eventually, what kind of sense does that make? Well, I'm going to make it more and more difficult each time you go back to seeing an obelisk. You're trying to get on a different obelisk. You only need to make it more difficult once and I'm allowed to be able to succeed without using effort. No, that's not true because you took it from an 18 down to a 12, John. So, you've got a 15 and 18 and then it's out of your reach. You've got a couple of videos. You've got to use effort and how to scale. If I don't use effort, it's... You can't use effort again. So, you're down to 15. So, you basically have one... Two failures. So, I go back to the old one. Here. And I... What are you wrong? 13. Oh, so close to a 15. It's going to be a 15. Wait, wait, wait, wait. No, take that one back. Use the one, Rachel. It was red. I don't know what you're going to want. So, you're going back. It was clearly that one. That's the one. This is going to be the one. For instance. I have just a great deal with it. I would say a 19. Faith in the diary. I do. 15. Oh, look at that! That's pretty neat. You need it. I think Rachel deserves a high five. I mean, yeah. That's fine. Look. All right. So, science aside. You rolled exactly what you needed. I roll enough. I'm bound to roll our benefits. See how he feels about science. But you do it now. That's helpful, yeah. Only because you use Rachel's down. I roll the nut. Okay, I'm just glad that happened. I'm sure that. So, the obelisk glows a very vibrant down. It stops its rolling numbers and glows a very luminescent purple. Oh. That's a good color. Ready. We study it. It's a good color. Yes. I told you that one worked. But I'll do the other one. And then we walk out the gate. I think you have to do it. Okay. I'll activate the other one. I'll be right back. Roll a 15. Yes. Exactly that. So, you go back to the Northeast obelisk. Mm-hmm. What ones we need to track for. Actually, here's a question. Now that he's had his success, does he know what he did? So he... Difficultly become easier. Right. That's a great question. I think in this game, yes. It takes down to a 12. So, you can go ahead and roll a 12 or higher on level four difficulty. You can go ahead and do that. Go ahead. A lot. Go ahead and do it. Thank you. I was fasted. Okay. Thank you. Oh, yeah. Okay. That one's on too, bam. Right. And then we walk through it. And get back on a jerk, y'all. Thank you. Thanks for listening to the nights of the night at actual play podcast. And podcast.com for more information on this and other adventures where you will find character stats, photos, storytelling props, and even a form for comments and suggestions. Or you could email us directly at feedback@kotnpodcast.com or contact us via Twitter or leave a message on Facebook. All music for this podcast was created and performed by Zen Audio Smith. If you'd like custom professional music created for your podcast or business, please visit ZenaudioSmith.com and please join us next episode for more mystery and adventure. Those make one usually teary instead of laughing out like I mean, laughing. You did say you're going to have hard time. You did say that. But that, but that, but those make one, give me another bear, but those make one, was lobbling, was lobbling. Yes. I don't know where I got so bloodthirsty, y'all, but you're, but not you're calming down from it. You're definitely, yeah, you've definitely worked your way out of that. You're playing against type. You know, you're usually the, the difficult man. Yeah, but don't listen to me. So I'm going to try to tell you something. All right, guys, we're trying to restrain me. I was just so amazed that after a billion years, I know you held on a hand basket, it's still a phrase that was, but something's ticker off forever. Yeah. Did you say that? You did. But I've used a lot of idioms. They just ringed them. It's hard not to. Do you? I didn't see who was let was the bear. Does Indra have any ciphers on her or any? No. It's like a brown cloak that looks ripped and torn. Eshman's looting the corpse of me. Yeah. Like, no, like, what's more like a high class or royal nobility, like clothing. I thought that was the starting if you injured her. I'm already looted before shards or whatever. No, she's ready. Yeah. The Indra prime already looted Indra beta. Okay. Do you want to make sure? She did. That was a little weird. Let's just go. Good. Sam. Nice. Thank you. You did that. Yeah, absolutely. That's one who's going to make it to do. I didn't get one. Rachel, for showing up tonight. You did one beat, but you can give it to anyone tonight, as part of, yeah, as part of their excitement. I was saying she didn't call when you normally do. I tried talking to it in the truth. Take me home. Country road. You are. You have a USB finger now. That's not okay. No, okay. No, okay. That's not making weird. That's not making weird. That's not making weird. This is embarrassing. It really sucks. Can I blame Monty? I blame the creator of this game, because I'm rolling shitty tonight. So, Nina, I don't know. It's just lame. Well, no, what it is, is you're too deep into it. You're not seeing the force of the tree. But it's the light. Don't you feel better? No. You've underestimated our ability to get stuck on very simple things. Right. You know, this is fairly complicated. So... Yeah, this is open the vapes. Come on. I thought you were a perfect. I'm a perfect. If we can't even find where I'm just going to touch the... It's going to finger the abro, let's go. Shake it. She's out of the room. You're a freak. You use your psyche. We were put down! Wow, that was one of the most disturbing visuals that I'm in. Yeah, I wasn't looking at it. Ashman. So you don't have to spend effort. You now have the knowledge of the... Ooh, I've never even seen it. I was in the present. Apparently this is Apple and I'm Windows PC, so... Between show that meeting. You keep trying to plug into it. Maybe you need to... No! Yes! I'm not that interfere. Okay. Here's the thought. He is an interface. He is an interface. He's... AHHHHH! [Laughs] (laughing)