Episode Transcript
[00:00:05] Speaker A: You are listening to an atomic broadcasting production. So sit back, relax and enjoy the feature presentation.
[00:00:13] Speaker B: And remember, do your part.
[00:00:15] Speaker A: Such as, like, comment rate. And don't forget to tell a friend to tune in for an atomic time.
[00:00:31] Speaker B: Now, where did we leave off?
[00:00:34] Speaker A: Ah, yes.
[00:00:38] Speaker B: Before returning to Joel to meet the
[00:00:40] Speaker C: others, Val and Uvaire planned to visit Val's childhood home and then travel to Trollforge.
So, okay, going to talk about. I'm going to do a bit of. I'm. Sam's going to do a bit of a rant.
[00:00:59] Speaker A: You're going to do a rant?
[00:01:00] Speaker C: Do a bit of a rant.
[00:01:01] Speaker A: All right, let's hear this rant.
[00:01:03] Speaker C: I am upset. Oh, I saw the new Mortal Comet movie.
[00:01:07] Speaker A: Get over it.
[00:01:07] Speaker C: The movie was great. The movie was great. I love the movie. Excellent. Great stuff. If you are all interested in Mortal Kombat, this is the.
[00:01:14] Speaker A: This is the movie Mortal Kombat.
[00:01:16] Speaker C: They actually do the tournament.
There's a lot of really cool stuff. It's written very much for people who like it.
It's great. It's awesome.
[00:01:26] Speaker A: But.
[00:01:27] Speaker C: But we went to the Alamo, right? I've got a season pass to the Alamo. I've had a season pass to the Alamo for like a year, maybe over a year. At this point, I no longer have a season pass to the Alamo.
[00:01:36] Speaker A: Oh.
[00:01:37] Speaker C: So apparently a couple months ago, and Olivia and I haven't been able to get out for a couple months, they've started rolling out something to all of the different places slowly.
So a little context. A year, year and a half ago, Sony bought the Alamo Drafthouse. They closed a few locations to be expected, and then they didn't really do anything else. And I was like, okay, cool. It's all still good. It's all still good.
A few months ago, corporate made a decision.
Oh, so, you know, one of the big things about the Alamo is you go, you sit down, you got servers, the. They take your orders, you get food, you do all that great stuff. That's a big part of why you bothered to go to the Alamo.
They now have done away with the server. You now have QR codes on your seats. You have to scan them for the menu, go to a browser. They encourage you to use their wifi and you have to order off of that. And if you want refills in the middle of the movie, you've got to use your phone.
[00:02:42] Speaker A: But you're not supposed to.
[00:02:43] Speaker C: But you're not supposed to use your phone.
And if you have complaints about people you have to do it with your phone. In the theater, everything's through your phone. They don't check your tickets at your seats anymore. They have, like, people who stand at the front door. Nobody checked our tickets. We went in. Nobody checked our tickets. And at the end, you have to close your own tab out on your phone.
And me, along with several other people who you were using data, were not able to process the tab closing, so it just closed itself out and chose a tip to give on its own.
[00:03:19] Speaker A: What?
[00:03:21] Speaker B: It sounds like boycotting measures.
[00:03:23] Speaker C: Yeah. It's utterly frustrating. It, like, messed with my whole experience that night. Like, why would I go to the Alamo anymore? Like, the servers were confused the whole time because, like, they're just getting random orders. They brought us drinks several times. They brought us several wrong meals that were, like, tables next to us. And, like, I don't blame them. It's not their fault the system sucks. Like, they did. They had gave them barely any time for the rollout of this. It just happened, more or less. They said they weren't gonna get rid of people, but now they're all understaffed.
[00:03:56] Speaker A: Mm.
[00:03:57] Speaker C: Because there's not enough for people to do anymore.
One dude was covering three theaters.
[00:04:03] Speaker A: Oh, my goodness.
[00:04:04] Speaker C: Yeah.
It's just like. And, like, they got. They fired, like, their social media event coordinator last month is what I heard something about that. And, like, so there's less events even going on now, which was also a big thing the Alamo did. It is just such a mess. It's terrible.
And I know some other people said that the services have gotten worse, and a lot of that's just because. And food's gotten worse, and a lot of that's probably just going to be less people.
[00:04:29] Speaker A: Overworked, understaffed, Overworked, understaffed, burnout.
[00:04:33] Speaker C: New people. Probably because a lot of the old people, I imagine, probably left. There were a lot of new faces I saw.
It was just. It was awful. We were going to see Project Hail Mary two days later for Olivia's birthday, and we just. We just canceled. And then we just canceled our season pass. I sent them an email about why, and they were like.
And, well, you know, we made this decision after a lot of time of thinking, and it wasn't made lightly, so. Okay.
Well, all right. Thanks.
[00:04:58] Speaker A: Yep.
[00:04:58] Speaker C: Like, that sucks. I don't like the AMC very much. That's the only other real option around here.
That's, like, a good quality theater. I don't like the ANC very much because its theaters are all really big, and there's so many people in. The seating is not great. I don't like those ones. I liked the size of the Alamo.
[00:05:14] Speaker A: Mm.
[00:05:16] Speaker C: I know there's a couple local theaters around, too, that are small, but I've never been to any of them, and I don't know where they are.
[00:05:22] Speaker A: And, like, they're been. I've been to a few of them, and it's.
They're there.
[00:05:29] Speaker C: Yeah. I've heard some people on, like, another podcast specifically talk about a place that they really like. I don't even know what place they're talking about. I'm like, I try it, but I don't know what you're talking about.
[00:05:38] Speaker A: Fair enough.
[00:05:39] Speaker C: But I'm like, ah, that.
[00:05:40] Speaker A: That's. That sucks. That doesn't even make sense. Is because one of the very opening. One of the opening things is like, put away your phone and. Except don't put away your phone.
[00:05:50] Speaker C: They added another slide.
It says, ps, we're aware of the irony of asking you to report people using their phones on your phone. Don't be a jerk about it.
[00:06:01] Speaker A: That doesn't. What.
[00:06:03] Speaker B: It's almost like somebody in one of these meetings was just like, wait, that's not gonna work. And they said, don't worry, we'll just add a slide explaining people that were aware how stupid this is.
[00:06:14] Speaker C: Yeah. And, like, if it's done. If that's like a slide only done by the local theater, I'm like, okay, I understand you guys are telling us, but if that's like a corporate slide, that's really.
That's really dumb.
[00:06:26] Speaker A: That's beyond.
[00:06:26] Speaker C: But, like, now, like, I don't know. I know people are still doing all the stuff, but, like, the 18% service charge doesn't feel as.
It doesn't feel as okay for me to be paying on top of. Because that doesn't even really tip people as much as this goes to, like, I think, like, more of, like a pool. But, like, it just.
I. We didn't talk to us like, a server at all aside at all. Like, and they. They brought our food. I thought my food was good. Like, I like their chicken strips, but they changed their queso. They're like spice. They're like jalapeno queso dip.
It's not good anymore.
I kind of liked.
[00:07:09] Speaker A: Sounds like they rolled out a cost savings measure and did not do the proper rollout.
[00:07:18] Speaker C: And it's frustrating because they're like, this is all part of trying to make a less distracting environment for people watching movies and to improve the movie going Experience.
If I wanted that level of it, I'd stay at home. That's not what I'm going to the theater for. I like the people. I like connecting with servers. It's fun. They're nice people. I like to support them a little easier.
I like that experience. The experience of the movie theater, aside from just watching a movie.
[00:07:48] Speaker A: Like, I've heard that corporate jargon before.
[00:07:51] Speaker C: Yeah.
Yes.
And I'm just like, this is just frustrating.
And I know it's not. It's not always going to be the case, but, like, the fact that several people at the end couldn't close out their tabs, me included, because we were using the data. I'm like, I don't want to use your WI fi. I don't like that you guys now have, like, a free WI Fi you're pushing on people. That always makes me very skeptical. I don't use public free WI fi for a reason.
[00:08:16] Speaker B: Please use our Internet resources for your private banking information.
[00:08:20] Speaker A: Mm.
[00:08:21] Speaker C: Yeah, I don't dig. I mean, I'm giving you my card anyway, but, like, I don't dig it. It's not.
God, I'm frustrated. I loved it. It was like a place I went. Me and Olivia went to a lot.
[00:08:34] Speaker B: That's.
[00:08:34] Speaker A: That is a shame. And.
Yeah. Alamo. Come on, man. Like, why would you do that? I actually. I pretty sure I know the answer, but don't do that.
[00:08:46] Speaker C: Yeah.
Thanks again, Sony.
[00:08:49] Speaker A: Thanks again, Sony. Sony strikes again.
That's a whole nother rank in and of itself.
No.
[00:09:04] Speaker C: Anyway, I don't think I've ever. I don't know if I've ever gotten to do a rant on the show. I know other people have, but. That was Sam's Rant.
[00:09:11] Speaker A: That is Sam's rant. That's a valid rant.
[00:09:13] Speaker B: Episode title.
[00:09:14] Speaker A: Sam's Rant.
[00:09:16] Speaker C: I'm.
[00:09:16] Speaker A: Well, I'm in full support of your rant and the reasoning behind it.
I, like people support the right word.
[00:09:25] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:09:25] Speaker A: We support local workers.
[00:09:27] Speaker C: Yeah. We like people. Stop giving us more machines.
[00:09:30] Speaker B: I personally, not on behalf of Atomic Broadcasting, but I, Jordy, endorse your rant.
[00:09:37] Speaker C: I do my rant in the name of atomic broadcasting.
[00:09:41] Speaker A: I am atomic broadcasting.
[00:09:44] Speaker B: I am. You can't just say stuff now that we're a business.
[00:09:47] Speaker C: I am 33.34%.
[00:09:54] Speaker A: 34. Okay. Yeah, 33.33.
[00:09:57] Speaker C: It was like, how much ownership between these three people? And it wouldn't let me do 30. It was like, that's only 99.99. Like, fine, I'll take the extra 0.101 percentage.01 repeating.
[00:10:13] Speaker B: Well, I have no idea how to transition out of that. So we're going to start with the sun beginning to rise.
[00:10:19] Speaker C: Balance yourself.
Unless you're listening to us on a cell phone, then please don't.
What? I'm sorry. Anyway, what did you say? Unless you're listening to us on a cell phone, then please don't silence your cell phone.
[00:10:40] Speaker B: Oh, I thought you said challenge yourself.
I was like I can't transition that you said challenge yourself.
[00:10:54] Speaker C: Geez Jordy, why don't you just try a little bit? Try a little bit for once. Please. It's been 128 episodes and now with
[00:11:02] Speaker B: all extraneous devices silenced, we find ourselves back in the world again.
[00:11:07] Speaker A: To an alarm clock.
[00:11:10] Speaker B: Uvert rolls over and silences the alarm. Upbeat music starts playing as the opening titles surf to show.
[00:11:17] Speaker C: Ain't nothing gonna break on my stride.
[00:11:20] Speaker B: Revealing that up until this point this has all just been Uvair's dream.
Uber is now waking up in an 80s world. He's just a short guy, he's not even a dwarf.
[00:11:34] Speaker C: Are we playing Call of Cthu?
[00:11:35] Speaker B: And then Uber wakes up in the Nice pistachio.
[00:11:40] Speaker A: Oh golly.
[00:11:43] Speaker B: And we camera goes down and like through the floorboards and now we're down in the common area of the Nice pistachio. There's pistachio shells everywhere and somebody's like starting to sweep them up as Uber's coming down the stairs and Val's already down there starting on her breakfast.
[00:12:04] Speaker C: Famously Val wakes up before Uber
[00:12:09] Speaker A: for once. No,
[00:12:12] Speaker C: yeah, I have Mark, because I'm still working on those ghost pepper pistachios from last night.
[00:12:20] Speaker A: Good morning Val.
[00:12:23] Speaker C: Good morning there.
[00:12:27] Speaker A: I think that we should leave as soon as we are able.
After all we still have to recon reconvene with the rest of the party at a time decent time.
[00:12:41] Speaker C: Right.
I wonder what they've been up to today.
[00:12:45] Speaker A: Or what they've been up to for the past few days.
Awfully nothing too adventurous perhaps.
[00:12:55] Speaker C: Knowing them probably up to something crazy.
[00:12:59] Speaker A: That is what worries me.
[00:13:03] Speaker C: You know, with Albert around, I'm sure things will be alright. I mean he's. He's pretty level headed.
A little distractible but level headed I'm sure.
[00:13:14] Speaker A: And as Uvarus says that you can see he looks very unconvinced and perhaps even more worried given his interactions with future Alward.
[00:13:31] Speaker C: Yeah, plus you know, Zephyr doesn't murder people anymore, so there's not worry of that.
[00:13:40] Speaker A: Yeah, he Glances around to see if anybody heard that there's just the one,
[00:13:48] Speaker B: like, maid who's sweeping up the.
I don't know what her career is. I'm like thinking maid, thinking she's probably a waitress. But she's just cleaning. But she's sweeping up the pistachio shells. By this point she has about a bushel of pistachio shells and is too focused in her work to notice.
[00:14:08] Speaker A: That is true. He has turned over a new leaf for career wise, but I'm sure they're fine.
Have you finished your breakfast? And he looks down at your ghost pepper pistachios.
[00:14:27] Speaker C: Yeah, and I mean, they're mobile. I mean, it's like a walk. It's like a walk food. You can, you know, like getting a hot dog on the street.
[00:14:36] Speaker A: Yes, but I think the. Andy looks next to the ghost peppers at the pitcher of milk on the table.
[00:14:43] Speaker C: I am lactose intolerant. I don't even drink it.
[00:14:46] Speaker B: The milk is starting to curdle.
It's been left out all night.
[00:14:51] Speaker C: I don't know why nobody claimed this.
Too many pistachio shells, I guess. But now, yeah, I can just put these in my pocket, my bag here, and we can head out if you're ready. If you don't want any breakfast.
[00:15:05] Speaker A: I had a little bit of light breakfast brought up to my room.
[00:15:09] Speaker C: Ah, nice. That's good. I didn't want, you know, to waste of these. Figured I'd eat them. We didn't eat much last night. A little too talkative.
I'm nervous about going there again. It's been such a long time.
[00:15:26] Speaker A: Well, are you ready then?
[00:15:29] Speaker C: Yeah, yeah, as ready as I'm going to be, I think.
[00:15:33] Speaker A: Good, then we should get going. And Uwe begins working to walk out of the inn.
[00:15:42] Speaker C: You know, I've never been back here since I was taken away.
[00:15:50] Speaker A: And as we walk outside of the inn and you're talking, Uvaire places his hand on your shoulder or reaches up and touches your shoulder.
And mid sentence, as he's been looking at Geordi the last like 10 minutes,
[00:16:09] Speaker C: he's been doing the incantation.
[00:16:13] Speaker B: Uvair, I'd like you to roll a D10. And I will also roll a D10.
[00:16:19] Speaker C: Can you look into my brain and see the right place?
I don't know if Uber's ever been
[00:16:24] Speaker B: to, other than he has not been. I'm assuming that Val gives him some, like, clear distinction of this is exactly where it is and describes what it looks like.
[00:16:34] Speaker C: It's only been 14 years.
[00:16:37] Speaker B: I'll have tens Sven, you will have the ones.
What'd you get?
[00:16:44] Speaker A: Four.
[00:16:44] Speaker B: I got an eight.
[00:16:45] Speaker C: Hey, 84.
[00:16:47] Speaker A: I don't know what that means.
[00:16:48] Speaker C: Isn't that bad.
[00:16:49] Speaker A: I need to look.
[00:16:51] Speaker B: Doing my math now, mathematically, we appear
[00:16:54] Speaker C: a mile in the air.
I have wings. It's okay.
[00:16:59] Speaker B: I don't know why I did all that math, because now I'm just going to round it.
You appear 0.84. So 84% of 1 mile off from your destination.
[00:17:12] Speaker A: Goodness.
[00:17:13] Speaker B: And I'm like, oh, that was gonna be so interesting. I'm like.
You appear roughly one mile out of town.
[00:17:23] Speaker C: Nice.
I love it.
[00:17:26] Speaker A: So, Val, mid sentence, you suddenly find yourself out of Kal's Guard and roughly one mile away from your hometown.
[00:17:36] Speaker C: Just in the woods.
[00:17:37] Speaker B: You're standing just in the woods.
You do recognize the landscape, though. I imagine as a child, you would have been this far from town often.
[00:17:48] Speaker C: Yeah, that was. That doesn't feel like 10 minutes.
[00:17:54] Speaker A: I started the incantation a bit earlier.
[00:17:58] Speaker C: Oh, okay. I guess that explains why you looked a little distracted.
[00:18:07] Speaker A: Bit of skill that I used to not make my spells known.
Ah.
[00:18:15] Speaker C: Kill.
There's. If I.
If we are where I think we are, there should be a travel road just a little bit over there, just to the west a little bit. And then that should take us into town. We should run into a couple people on the way.
[00:18:32] Speaker A: Maybe I will trust in your direction. I have never actually been here.
[00:18:38] Speaker C: Yeah, I used to run around in these woods when I was really little. So as best as I can remember, this was. This should be. Should be fine.
I've walked around in a lot of woods, as you have too, I'm sure.
[00:18:55] Speaker A: Quite a few, I would say.
Now let us go visit your town, your home.
[00:19:05] Speaker C: Yeah.
I hope they remember me.
[00:19:09] Speaker A: I don't think there is a fear of that, Val.
[00:19:14] Speaker B: As you head down through the woods, you eventually come across the path that you were looking for. And you start following it into town. As the trees clear, you see the familiar sights of the buildings. But something strikes you as just a little bit odd. Just something off in the back of your mind.
Maybe it's just. It's a little quiet.
There's not a lot of smoke out coming out of chimneys. There is one tendril of smoke coming out of one chimney. And outside in the town square, there is a hooded figure.
[00:19:54] Speaker C: Val's kind of just looking around like there. Something.
Something feels a little odd.
It's really quiet.
I'm gonna you.
[00:20:09] Speaker A: As you say that, and you look over at Uber, he has a very concerned Expression on his face.
And he might have picked up on it a bit earlier than you, that you had said we might run into anybody, and there hasn't been anybody.
And in fact, the pathway, I would imagine, might look a little overgrown.
[00:20:32] Speaker B: Yeah.
On that reflection, the path to town does seem a little bit less used than you might expect.
[00:20:44] Speaker C: Hello.
[00:20:46] Speaker B: The hooded figure turns to look at you, and it's an older man. And he points, puts the hood down and is like, hello, can I help you?
[00:20:58] Speaker C: Um, maybe I was coming to see my family here.
[00:21:07] Speaker B: He looks a little bit confused and he's like, were you expecting to meet anyone here?
And as he starts walking towards you to meet you, you notice that around his neck is a chain and a medallion with a spiral symbol.
[00:21:26] Speaker C: Oh, okay. What's phasma? Oh, it's for asthma symbol.
[00:21:32] Speaker A: Gotcha.
[00:21:33] Speaker C: Yeah. I grew up here. It's been a long time since I've been back, but I came back to see my family.
What's. What's going on here?
[00:21:48] Speaker B: A look of just profound.
At the same time, grief and discomfort comes over his face and he's just like, I'm so sorry, my child.
I.
You may want to sit down.
[00:22:13] Speaker C: What's.
What do you. What do you mean, what?
[00:22:19] Speaker B: He notices your face paint and your holy symbol. Where, I forget where is Pharasma's symbol displayed?
[00:22:28] Speaker C: Like an amulet that was displayed.
[00:22:32] Speaker B: So he notices your face paint and the. The amulet and he's just like. Like, I see you are a servant of the lady of Graves as well.
[00:22:42] Speaker C: Yeah, yeah, I am champion servant, yeah.
[00:22:50] Speaker B: Well, then you must know that sometimes the tasks she gives us are not the most pleasant.
My task for the last while has been to bring peace to those who perished in this town.
It seems that there was some form of calamity and they were all killed.
[00:23:20] Speaker C: What?
What. What do you mean they were all killed? A whole.
The whole town.
How could something like that happen? What?
[00:23:33] Speaker B: I do not know. Pharasma did not tell me the cause of this event, merely that my presence was needed here to bring peace to the souls and to ensure that no one was to meddle with the remains afterwards.
[00:23:53] Speaker C: Surely not everyone died, right?
There was a family.
Faren was the father.
Were you able to find him?
[00:24:05] Speaker B: He reaches out, like, to take your hand, but, like, doesn't immediately grab it. He's like, reaching out to see if you will reach back out.
[00:24:14] Speaker C: Sure, yeah.
[00:24:16] Speaker B: He takes your hand and does, like, the patting the back of your hand and he's like, my child. I can show you where they were laid to rest, if you would like.
[00:24:31] Speaker C: I.
Yeah. Yes, sure. Yeah.
[00:24:42] Speaker B: He guides you down the paths of Otherton that were once very familiar to you, but now are strangers, overgrown with grass and weeds. And the streets that used to be full of life and the smells of baking bread are now just empty.
And he takes you to the graveyard you'd mentioned earlier.
And when you last remembered seeing the graveyard, there were. There were headstones, there were graves, but now there's dozens more. The graveyard is just about full.
He takes you up to a pair of headstones, side by side, where you find your adopted parents, Faron and his wife, laid to rest.
[00:25:38] Speaker C: She's gonna kind of go up and kneel next to Varen's little gravestone, and I.
When did this happen?
How long ago?
[00:25:55] Speaker B: It's difficult to say.
I know it was not recent. I'm sorry. I know this is difficult for you, so if you just. If you need time, just tell me to stop. But it seems that it was some years past.
[00:26:18] Speaker C: Well, you can keep doing whatever you were doing. I'm just gonna stay here for a bit.
[00:26:29] Speaker B: Of course, my work here will be finished before too long.
But I will still be here for the next few days should you need someone to talk to.
And he gives a deep nod and then quietly leaves you in the graveyard.
[00:26:55] Speaker C: They are one of the really only good people I knew for a long time.
[00:27:07] Speaker A: I'm sorry, Val.
[00:27:11] Speaker C: Has to be.
I don't know.
Some way we can figure out what happened, right?
I mean, surely Phrasma knows what happened. Or Barzok.
I mean, they never said anything.
[00:27:32] Speaker A: There surely is a way, Val. But do you really want to know why?
Or why? Do you want to know?
[00:27:48] Speaker C: Feels weird, something like this to happen to all of them.
A lot of weird stuff's been happening, but.
I don't know.
Closure, maybe. I want it to be connected somehow. For some
[00:28:11] Speaker A: to find the reason of why something so senseless happened.
[00:28:19] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:28:20] Speaker A: Yeah.
Would you be able to deal with the fact that there was no real reason?
[00:28:28] Speaker C: I know people always have their time. Everyone's going to go at some point. This is gonna happen.
But I just.
I like to think I'm prepared for when people have to go. It's part of life. It's a big part of what I have to do.
But just.
Just to hear that they all died together years ago, and they just. Their bodies just sat out here till this priest showed up.
Nobody ever came by.
Did anyone even know that this happened?
[00:29:11] Speaker A: Pharasma did.
And sent her servant.
[00:29:16] Speaker C: Yeah.
Kind of wish. I don't know, maybe she sent me here earlier.
[00:29:25] Speaker A: But would you have been ready?
Would you have been able to deal with what you would have found?
[00:29:35] Speaker C: No.
Barely keeping it together right now.
I mean, I've been around a lot of dead bodies lately, and I've gotten a chance to talk to them. I mean, are there souls still here? Can I talk to them now? I are. They are already gone. I guess.
[00:30:01] Speaker A: Val Uver's been standing behind you as you've been looking at the graves.
And you feel him turn you so that you look at him and you see tears in his eyes and sadness on his face.
[00:30:24] Speaker C: And that definitely sets up vowels. She's been holding back. Just pouring out.
[00:30:33] Speaker A: It's okay to grieve, Val.
It's okay to let go.
And he just holds you.
[00:30:48] Speaker C: I think probably for a while, we just sit there.
And then she'll kinda pull back and look to the grave again.
I hope. Maybe I somehow.
I don't know.
I just.
I wanted to just share so much with them that I haven't gotten to in so long. But maybe I'll get the chance later. Or maybe I never will. I just.
[00:31:32] Speaker A: I think you will, Val.
Perhaps it will be a long time.
But death is not the end.
It is only another beginning.
Yeah.
Now is not the time to think about what can happen in the future.
Now is the time to grieve.
If you wish to find out what happened, then by all means, reach out to Pharasma and see if she gives you answers.
Be prepared that if she does not, perhaps it just might mean that you are not ready.
Yeah.
[00:32:23] Speaker C: There's been a lot of things I've been given that I'm not ready for. And almost wish this was one of them. But maybe. I don't know. Like you said, maybe she's got it for me.
[00:32:38] Speaker A: And maybe she is preparing you. Val, if you choose to walk the path that has been put before you, this will not be the first scene that you see.
[00:32:52] Speaker C: Yeah. This is just the first time it's been so personal.
Yeah, I've been hurt before. I've been betrayed. But I haven't lost people like this.
I guess it's good to know what it's like.
She's gonna try and stand up a little shaky.
And then she's gonna pull out the clay tablet.
I guess there's no one left to really tell about this. So.
Hope I make you all proud.
And then she's gonna kind of squeeze in on the tablet to start crumbling it over the graves.
[00:33:43] Speaker B: Val, as your hand begins to crush the Tablet and cracks begin to spiderweb through the clay.
There's almost a seeping of that same astral energy of a starlit expanse that's almost oozing out of the cracks until it finally collapses in your hand.
And then it's almost an explosion or an implosion of space as this astral expanse, this cosmic endlessness, bursts out into a sphere. And both you and Uber find yourselves floating in nothing and everything all at once. You can see below you is the spire, Pharasma spire, and the graveyard of souls, the astral plane itself, just spiraling in a maelstrom of perfectly balanced chaos around you. And then, just as suddenly as this all happened, everything is drawn back in. You're back in the graveyard, but there's no tablet in your hand anymore. But through your skin, instead of seeing the red train, the red ruddiness of life under the translucency of your skin, you now see this bluish, starlit, as if your blood has now been replaced by the cosmic endlessness of space.
[00:35:07] Speaker A: You've made your decision then, my young friend.
[00:35:13] Speaker C: Yeah, I guess I made it a while back and I just wasn't ready to let go.
But I guess it's time then.
[00:35:25] Speaker A: As you begin your journey, your transformation, as in your future walk, you lead others and families, the dead and the dying.
You lead their souls to Farasma. Than you will remember this day.
Keep in mind the grief and the mourning of those that they leave behind.
And one day, you will lead me on that path.
Perhaps.
[00:35:59] Speaker C: It would be an honor.
[00:36:02] Speaker A: Bring peace.
Bring order.
That I believe you can do that I know you will do.
[00:36:14] Speaker C: Thank you.
And she's going to kind of nod and make her way to the center of town.
[00:36:23] Speaker A: Ufer doesn't follow.
He continues to stand at the graves and leans down at your adoptive parents.
Rest easy, all of you.
The daughter you have raised has grown strong.
And now she has started on a path that I cannot follow.
I promise quietly that I will support her as long as I can so that one day she might meet you all once again.
And after saying that, he gets up, turns, and walks out of the graveyard.
[00:37:18] Speaker B: So, Val, you were heading to the center of town, you said?
[00:37:22] Speaker C: Yes.
[00:37:24] Speaker B: In the town square, there is sort of a.
A dais.
It's got like, off to the side of it, there is like a strong wooden beam that's kind of hanging askew.
[00:37:39] Speaker C: While Val's walking towards the dais in the center of town, she's like replaying memories that are coming to her head of her family together.
Singing songs with Shell and dancing time, hanging out at the graveyard, running around hide and seek and all that.
And this family time with dinner.
And it's just like, interrupted very abruptly in her mind with just like a storm and then like a door being broken, broken open.
And just her being just dragged out into the weather by Hamir.
And then just like all these memories of isolation, of just being separated from everyone, sitting in the graveyard alone with a book, just looking out the window at all the families.
And she's replaying all of this in her head as she's stepping up on the little dais to kind of start looking around.
She's just kind of going to, like, hold on to her amulet from her asthma and kind of look over herself.
She feels different.
And she's looking at her right arm, that's all still cosmic. Y all still looks like the stars are overlaying it.
And her left arm, that's still just her prosthetic that Pilgrim had given her.
And she just clutches onto that amulet, and she's like, I'll ask here
[00:39:37] Speaker A: if
[00:39:37] Speaker C: it pleases any of you to help me understand what happened here, Shallon or Phrasma or Barzak or anyone.
If not here, then I understand.
[00:39:58] Speaker B: Value receive no answer in words to your plea, but you do have a strange sense of peace that settles over you.
[00:40:16] Speaker C: Okay, all right, then she'll kind of hop off and make her way back to there.
[00:40:29] Speaker A: When you turn to get off the dais, you see Uvaire waiting for you quietly at the edge of the town center.
[00:40:38] Speaker C: She's gonna walk back to the grave one last time, up to Faren's tombstone and pull out her last holy symbol of Shallon.
And she's just gonna kinda hang it from his tombstone.
May the eternal rose bring you love and comfort in your time.
And then she'll stand up and go right to there.
I think that's all that can be done here for now.
[00:41:28] Speaker A: Then we shall leave,
[00:41:35] Speaker C: and she'll turn back to that hooded guy, assuming he's still around somewhere.
[00:41:39] Speaker B: Yeah, he's easy enough to find.
[00:41:42] Speaker C: Thank you for taking care of these people.
[00:41:46] Speaker B: Of course.
I wish you only the best in your continued journeys.
[00:41:54] Speaker C: Thanks you as well.
[00:41:59] Speaker B: And as the two of you, I'm assuming, walk away from him, kind of heading down the road, the camera stays focused on the hooded figure who looks over to the gravestone with the symbol of Shelyn. And he nods, gestures behind himself as a door to emptiness and darkness opens up and he steps back through.
And that is where we'll end this Episode.
[00:42:28] Speaker A: He might be Barzok in disguise.
[00:42:31] Speaker C: Oh, he's kind of bringing comfort to me.
That's nice. He didn't tell me crap.
[00:42:36] Speaker B: Yeah, I'll go ahead and say. There's really no way for you guys to know that canonically in game, so. Yeah, that's what it was. It was Barsock.
But with that end of the episode, you both level up.
[00:42:49] Speaker C: Oh, whoa.
Hey. We're level up before the others.
[00:42:54] Speaker A: Or with the others, maybe.
[00:42:56] Speaker B: Who's to say you guys don't know what they're doing? Maybe they leveled up twice.
All right. And the hero point for today's episode goes to. Sam.
And I don't know if this got kept in from the first time I said it, but these two hooligans have leveled up.
We are now up to 14.
[00:43:18] Speaker C: For the others, it's official. Arrows to level 13. Those losers. And we're level 14.
They definitely. You did not listen. You did not listen to it. Episode last week that may have included them leveling. Yeah, that didn't happen.
[00:43:32] Speaker A: As far as we are concerned, we were the first.
[00:43:35] Speaker C: They haven't even recorded a single single episode yet. Of the split. We've done all of them.
[00:43:39] Speaker A: I reject any possibility being different.
[00:43:41] Speaker C: Super late. We're gonna finish ours before they are though.
[00:43:46] Speaker B: Best part is, I'm just sitting here like, I don't even know what order our editor is gonna send these episodes out, so I don't even.
[00:43:52] Speaker C: It doesn't matter.
[00:43:53] Speaker A: We are first regardless.
[00:43:57] Speaker C: Well, thank you for the hero point. I'm gonna go, like, I don't know, cool off a minute. These last two episodes have been very emotional. A lot going on. We recorded these two back to back.
[00:44:10] Speaker A: Yep.
[00:44:10] Speaker C: We're about to record the next one. It's a good time, but man, I'm getting all teary eyed.
[00:44:16] Speaker B: It's.
[00:44:17] Speaker A: It's good, it's good.
We hope you guys enjoy them.
[00:44:20] Speaker C: I hope you guys really aren't like, oh my gosh, another episode, please.
[00:44:26] Speaker A: I know we don't have Harolds, but,
[00:44:28] Speaker C: you know, it's fine, it's fine. No more pity hero points.
[00:44:31] Speaker A: No more pity hero points to the visitor.
[00:44:35] Speaker C: I'll make sure he's never in this show again.
[00:44:39] Speaker A: Actually, no, no, not really. We love you, Harold.
[00:44:40] Speaker C: It would be great, actually. We do like him. Yeah.
[00:44:46] Speaker B: Well, goodbye.
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[00:45:43] Speaker C: You okay? Jordy? What's up?
[00:45:48] Speaker B: Something in my drink.
[00:45:51] Speaker C: Was it dihydrogen monoxide?
[00:45:55] Speaker B: More like eggshell.
[00:45:56] Speaker C: Oh.
[00:45:56] Speaker A: Oh.
[00:45:57] Speaker C: You drinking egg whites this morning?
[00:46:00] Speaker B: No, it's supposed to be drink. Yeah, that's gotta be egg.
[00:46:06] Speaker C: What kind of drink are you drinking?
[00:46:07] Speaker B: Well, I poured a bubbly into the leftover ice from my Brahms beverage earlier.
[00:46:12] Speaker C: Huh. So maybe the bubbly is made with eggs, Right?
[00:46:16] Speaker B: Who knows?
I think I'll just be done with that drink for now.
[00:46:20] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:46:22] Speaker C: Protein anyway.
[00:46:23] Speaker A: Calcium, iron.
