Hey everyone, it's Colin. Just popping in to
let you know that this is the second part of
our vignettes. We had to split it into two parts
because it got so long. Also, I wanted to say
that I am extremely happy and grateful to announce
that we just breached 1 ,200 downloads for the
show, which honestly blows my mind. Yeah, just
thank you. That's insane. What are you doing
to me? Anyways, it really does mean a lot. I've
been really hesitant to share anything creative
that I've worked on. And to have this positive
reaction is really, it's nice. I don't want to
get too mushy. As always, thank you for the questions
you've been sending to the blog at calamitycascade
.tumblr .com. I have been slacking on answering
them. Just been trying to keep up with our release
schedule and with work and all that good stuff.
Also, I just wanted to thank all of you who have
been telling your friends about the show. We
couldn't have gotten here without you, really.
And I'm going to do the thing and say that if
you're liking the show and know anyone who would
be interested, it would be awesome if you'd recommend
it to them, whoever those awesome people are.
We don't really advertise or anything outside
of Tumblr, which isn't like the most bustling
platform. that's uh thank you again um that's
the third one i think uh yeah that's it i'm rambling
enjoy the show i will see you in two weeks loyal
Your sleep, for once, is peaceful, dark and calm,
like a still sea. Far away, deep beneath the
waves, a red sun burns, and you see the bodies,
the forms of maze and geist, sinking deeper and
deeper to some unreachable point. And before
you really have time to navigate the dreamscape,
you are pulled out of it. back into consciousness,
back into the world that you know. Sunlith wakes
up in his shitty little apartment with his shrimp
tank, which we all know and love at this point.
And tries to ponder where Geist and Maze may
have been going. Does he have any lingering psychic
impressions upon waking up from this dream or
anything? Um... I think if you want an answer,
you're going to have to roll. There won't be
any stakes, but it'll just determine the amount
of info you get. I'll roll. All right, GM, what's
my roll? I guess you're not really swaying. You're
probably studying or surveying, I guess. Yeah.
Let's do survey, since I have a point in that.
I'm surveying with my psychic insight to attempt
to... Figure out anything in this fucked up world.
That's a two. I don't really think you divine
anything, except that you feel fairly well rested,
all things considered. No horrific dreams, which
is honestly nowadays a good thing. Well, he will
not look a gift squid in the mouth on this one.
And we'll be thankful that. For the rest of the
things he plans to do with his day, he at least
will not be sleep -deprived. Let's talk about
what you do want to do today. You said you wanted
to meet with Maze, and then after that, maybe
go to check out TKR's spooky body. Oh yes. TKR
is the main thing he's thinking about today,
but he is still aware that the situation with
Maze is becoming more and more time -based. How
do you describe that? More and more. Time sensitive?
Yes, it's becoming more and more time sensitive.
Volatile? That works too. Pressing? Yes, all
of the above. Okay, you want to go to Maze first,
right? Yes. Awesome. You return to the prison
on the Peacekeeper base and go to Maze's cell.
You know, you aren't waved in as usual. People
here know you. She is not. As she kind of usually
is, blocked off and reserved. Instead, there's
kind of an air of activity to her. Her arm seems
to be mostly healed from when the guards broke
it after they had that fight last time you checked
in on her. And she's kind of pacing around the
room, holding a notebook and a pen in her hand,
deep in thought. Hmm. I will float through the
doorway. And I forget if they let me close the
door behind me on this or not. Yeah, they do.
I do. I'm in the doorway. I knock on it a little.
I'm not closing it yet to see if she looks up.
Yeah, she looks at you and kind of just gestures
you to come in. I do this, closing the door behind
me. And I try to get the vibe. What is she feeling
right now? Open up the second communication.
You know that's a roll. I know that's a roll.
Another survey. I don't have more dots in this.
I feel like... I should. As an empath. That's
a three. Also a failure. There is... She's not,
like, blocking you off. Like, she usually does.
Like, actively refusing your prods. Your probing,
whatever. But her mind is very... It's like a
flurry. It's like a... Like a kind of machinery
that's like spitting very rapidly where you couldn't
touch it without getting your fingers caught
in something that you'd rather not. And you're
kind of repelled in that way. And she kind of
like stops for a moment, writes something down
in this notebook, and then kind of snaps it closed
and turns to you and says, Hello. Hello, Mace.
What are you doing here? Well, I live here. Yes.
What are you doing with that notebook? Oh, I'm
just taking notes. Helps to keep my mind off
the imprisonment. Hmm. I see. I've just never
seen you so spirited before. Yes, well, I'm trying
to take a different approach to my situation.
I know that it's... futile to really wrath and
rage against my imprisonment. It'll just end
up hurting me, like punching a wall. So I'm going
to take a more active role, I think, in everything.
Sunleth is curious about this, but doesn't say
any more. You know how lucky you are, right?
Tell me about why you think this. You have your
freedom. You have power. Tangible, psychic potential.
You have comrades. You have agency. And those
are things to be grateful for. Don't you think?
Yes. Some of these things are true. Some of them
are less true. But my biggest concern with what
to do with all of these is to preserve your life.
Of course. I see that now. I see the value of
a life, I think. I've realized now so much. And
I believe I have you to thank for that in many
ways. Is she telling the truth? She is. Sunleth
gets less suspicious at this and says to Maze,
what was the town city that I had this communion
in? Raywood Sands. Yes. Sunleth says, at Raywood
Sands recently, I was invited to join a Clusterist
communion. And? I feel I understand. Much more
about you now, too. I think I understand a lot
more about myself as well, oddly enough. Sunlith
nods his head. Whatever the equivalent of a dolphin
smile is, he's doing it. But it's just a short,
wry one. She's focusing enough on him to pick
up his emotions. She senses that and then attempts
to grab some more of her psychic attention. to
talk to her without words, since he has some
sensitive information to convey. Sends that little
packet to her. And he says, with that link, I
am close to devising a way of getting you away
from here. Away from the fighting. Away from
the death. And I'm still trying to do this for...
As many people here as I can. But before I take
any actions that will affect your life in this
way, I wanted to ask you how you felt about it,
if you wanted it. I am ready to be free. Sunleth
feels an emotion of relief and just a really
sad happiness. really heart hurting happiness
that he probably hasn't felt. This is like the
most positive emotion he's felt in many weeks
now. So he feels that and says, good. I am. I
am glad to hear it. I will move swiftly with
this because time is of the essence and I will
keep you updated as best I can. Good. Please
hurry. I will. And she goes back to her notebook.
Okay. I wish you luck with her writing. And leave.
Awesome. Okay. Let's go to TKR. Let's go to TKR.
You return to the secluded hangar at the corner
of the base. And out front, sprouting from the
tarmac, are five red flowers arranged roughly
in a pentagon. Maybe a circle, depending on how
you look at it. Ooh. That's not good. But it's
so pretty. It is. Yeah, I don't even bother looking
at that too much. I have a goal here. Yeah, you
proceed inward. descending down the old cargo
elevator into the planet. Where do you go? The
observation area or the actual chamber in which
the corpse resides? Do you have to go through
the observation area to get to the chamber? How's
the infrastructure of this place look? No, you
can go directly to the chamber. Cool. Do I see
Ziggurat hang around anywhere? No, she's not
here. I'll just tell you that. My plan was to
avoid her if she was here, but yes, I want to
go directly to... The corpse chamber. Great.
You enter the chamber. The corpse of TKR is here.
It looks a little different than when you last
saw it, much more disassembled. Its seemingly
endless tangle of red wire has been kind of pulled
apart, giving the distinct impression of a corpse
which has been eviscerated from the belly down.
Its arms have been attached to hooks hanging
from the ceiling, kind of pulling at the sinew
of the thing's hands. There's more of a stillness
to the corpse now. The pulsing rhythm that accompanied
your last visit is far weaker and distant, barely
indistinguishable from your own heartbeat. Hmm.
I think arriving in this place, and this is still
a very large structure, correct? Very large.
Just takes up the whole room. I'm dwarfed by
it, despite being a large little creature myself.
some of this scared he's remembering the last
time he tried to connect to a fucked up psychic
phenomena on this planet and what happened but
is still so curious so bent on just trying to
figure out what is happening here to try to use
information in any way he can to do anything
with it so i think he tries to put up as many
of his empath safeguards as possible around him.
The bubble of protection from him and Geist.
Having the large waterfalls of severance. It's
all there. He's visualizing it. And he wants
to just kind of brush up against the sides of
this psychic presence that is TKR. Maybe just
figure out the shape of it, just the outline.
Just get something. And that's another survey
roll, which I failed to... You can push yourself
if you'd like. I think I'll just take this stress,
to be honest with you. I don't have much. One
stress? Two stress? What was it? Two stress to
push yourself, yes. Alright. Okay, I'm pushing.
Gives me one extra die. And we're gonna pray.
Oh, my God. That's two ones. Jesus. Okay. So
your position was desperate, by the way. Yeah,
I figured as much. Desperate standard. Maybe
even desperate great. Who knows? So there is
a familiar feeling in TKR as you reach out and
try to touch it. A duet of familiar feelings,
like people you know, like the scent of them,
like a faint taste. And as you probe further
to investigate those hints, to figure out who
are these two people here with you, the trap
springs. Your mind is flooded with raw thought,
a deluge of overwhelming sights, sounds, and
emotions. You are in a boiling sea. of blood.
There are gnashing teeth, hands tearing you apart,
whistles and screeching and the feeling of flesh
beneath your teeth expanding, cracking your jaw,
threatening to split your head in two. You feel
your arms plunge into viscera, the entrails of
the great beast and begin to weave. You yank
at the barbed wire intestines of martyrdom's
envoy and knit together the promised device,
the crown. There are two consequences. The first
is that the crown has been birthed immutably
into reality. The second is that you are rendered
unconscious. You may attempt, resist, or reduce
either of these consequences if you so choose.
Oh, this is so cinematically good, though. Okay.
You don't have to. If you're interested in it,
you don't have to resist. I want the crown. That
is your choice. Me as a player, I want the crown.
Sunless is going to fight to not go unconscious,
though. I'll let him do this. Cool. That's going
to be a resolve resist. You're going to click
resolve on your character sheet, and we'll see
how much stress you take. You take one stress.
Good job. Two and a five. Okay, cool, cool, cool.
So you become aware of what is happening to you
as this horrible sensation fills you. Although
it's not... explicitly horrible it's you're kind
of inhabiting it in a lot of ways where it's
not necessarily bad it's like a remembered memory
but you know that's up to you whether how you
feel about that and you come out of it just as
threatening to like just destroy your mind or
at least force you into an almost comatose state.
And you see in your hands, bloody, as if your
own exopod hands have somehow learned to bleed
this crown. Just a round, human head -shaped,
thorny thing made of almost like a barbed wire.
And it is filled with potential. you could say
it's like just potential energy. Um, it, it looks,
it looks plain, like it's not glowing or anything.
Um, but you know what this is. You've been told
what this is, um, over and over again. This is
what you need to give to Geist. Um, what will
make him the next one, you know, in a long line
of, uh, martyrs. Um, but you managed to stay
awake. Uh, the, Just barely escaping, blacking
out entirely. And I think you maybe stumble backwards
from the corpse. Yeah, I was going to say something
that drops the crown and starts moving backwards.
And if anything is behind him in this room, he
just rams into it and it clatters over. Yeah,
and I think as you fall backwards with the crown
kind of in your hand, You feel a familiar presence
behind you. Okay. We will jump right into it.
Loyal, you had just fallen backwards from the
corpse. The crown still clutched in one of your
exopods' hands. when you felt a familiar presence
behind you. Geist, you had just walked in to
see Loyal convulsing and then fall backwards,
and in his hands, a thorny crimson crown made
out of the wires from TKR's corpse, which is
kind of calling to you, promising a panacea for
your broken mind. That seems bad. I feel like
Geist is at least smart enough to not... Smart
enough to realize that, especially when Loyal's
around, unbidden voices in your head saying that
it will make all of your problems go away are
not to be trusted, generally. So I think he can't,
I guess he can't really try and shake Loyal awake,
can he? So he should be like, Loyal, what the
fuck is going on? Wake up! Come on! I was gonna
say, I feel a familiar presence behind me, but
do I have enough control over my faculties to
turn around? Yeah. I think Geist has his sidearm
out. He's got his handgun in his hand. Do I feel
any compulsions or draw towards any particular
action right now? Um, I mean, you are pretty
in tune with this thing. I mean, yeah, it wants
you to give the crown to Geist. Mm -hmm. It's
not trying to control my body or anything. It
just wants it to happen. No, by resisting going
unconscious, you have essentially temporarily
broken that issue, but there's a threat. There's
a threat behind this compulsion. Yeah, I think
when Geist calls out to him, Sunlip would turn
around slowly, just, like, blinking. Be like,
what? I... I... I don't... I don't know. Why
are... Why are you here? You can't be here. What
the fuck? You told me to come here. Put that
thing down! I... What? What's happening? I didn't
tell you anything. And then maybe he, like, tries
to make his exopod release the grip on the crown
to drop it, see if it clatters. Uh, yeah. It
clatters to the ground, and it starts rolling
towards Geist. Oh, shit. Geist is gonna, like...
You know, like... Have you ever, like, dropped,
like, a glass of water when you're in your socks,
and you, like, step back really quickly from,
like, the spreading pool of water? Unless it's,
like, rolling super -duper fast, Geist is just
gonna try and, like, get away from it. And he's
probably aiming his gun at it, too, in what is
likely an incredibly futile gesture, but he's
doing it anyways. Yeah, this isn't, like, a rubber
situation. It rolls up to you, and... It's kind
of just like a coin that's just been knocked
off its axis, kind of just like settles slowly
at your feet. What is going on down here? Where
is everybody? Isn't this a research project?
We're the fucking scientists. How did you get
down here? That's a good point. I think for maybe
the first time since walking in here, Loyal's
looking around the surroundings and being like,
wait, where is everybody? Can I sense anyone?
Besides me and Geist here right now? Yeah. I'll
just give that to you. I think there are... You
do detect a couple of people. A skeleton crew,
I think, they told one of you, is still in the
observation chamber. They do not... Like, you
can... It is a one -way glass up there, so you
can't see in. But there are people in there,
yeah. Oh. They're watching us. I think Loyal
is mostly trying to ignore Geist at this point
and focusing on the implied threat of what happens
if this crown does not get put on his friend's
head. Like, what do you mean? What are you going
to do? Maybe he tells Geist to be quiet. Like,
I'm trying to concentrate on something right
now. What the fuck are you talking about? We
have to get out of here. Just quiet. Roll something
for me. What is this? Good question. Is this
another one of your infamous surveys? Oh, yeah.
Don't do shit. But maybe. Maybe one day. Do you
want to push yourself or get help? No, I don't
have enough stress for that. I could help. Well,
okay. I could potentially help you for free if...
First of all, if we can think of some way, but
also if this counts as like a session of its
own that I can use my tactical genius. Yeah,
you can consider this a separate session. Okay.
I guess, what exactly is it that Loyal's trying
to do? Trying to hone back in on the threat.
The voice in his head telling him to put the
crown on you. I'm trying to ask it, like, what
happens if I don't? I just need quiet for this.
Maybe Geist can assist us by shouting out. Yeah,
that's his assistant. Does that work to you?
I think I need a little more than Geist's being
quiet. I'm thinking maybe, like, maybe in the
past, because Geist doesn't really, you know,
he doesn't know, he doesn't really understand.
you know psychic phenomenon at all even a little
bit but i can see him like trying to give like
really like unsolicited advice about how like
you know you just gotta it's all about focus
this is what i do right all right you just it's
like he tries to teach loyal how to meditate
or just like you know like focus on your breathing
you know go inward really just you know push
everything else aside focus on what's important
that one singular thing and then you just act
without thinking I think if Geist is doing this,
it's more the genuine emotional expression of,
I want to help you, which is calming Loyal down
enough to think, and not really his words so
much. You know, I could see almost the comedy
of Geist of all people telling you to meditate.
Could be therapeutic. Turn tables. Okay. Survey.
Survey with another dice. This is a desperate
position. I should tell you that. Oh, yeah. Desperate
in a purely narrative sense. I don't know that
I'm going to be hitting you like a level three.
Hopefully. I don't know. Yeah, I'm the only one
who gets hit with level threes in vignettes.
You volunteered to be tortured. You know, that's
what happens. I've heard some things about what
happened to you. I'm fine. I'm rolling. I'm back
in here. Three and a five. Partial success. Okay.
So, the threat, what it wants, I guess. It probably
says, He is the best candidate. If a new king
is not crowned, millions will die. Is this a
lie? That is... That's a good question. No, it's
not a lie. That is the truth. Okay. But with
your partial success... Yeah, what happens to
me? I'll also say that there is a sense with
this threat. It is a desperate threat, as I'm
sure you probably interpreted from how things
have gone. But the desperation doesn't necessarily
come from a malicious place. There is an unexpected...
Kindness to it. That there is a belief that this
is actually a good thing. This isn't like a possession
in this voice. I think your consequence is that
the corpse of TKR begins to kind of spasm, like
thrashing wildly, and like its splayed entrails
start to come alive, whipping kind of violently
around the room, like cutting holes in the wall.
And like I think the glass above you smashes
and its arms flex and contort, tearing hooks
and supports from the wall and the ceiling. And
it pulses and swells and its torso boils, presses
outward and kind of bursts in a liquid deluge
of these sharp wires. Like imagine literally
like a river of cabling. And it starts to swirl
around you with like a rough simulcra of fluid
dynamics. And then starts building this almost
thorny thicket, beating like a heart. And then
once it has kind of encapsulated you, and this
all happens in like a few seconds, it stops and
just rhythmically pulses with this tense metal
creaking, waiting. Uh, for something. Ooh. Oh,
that's sick. Okay. So I'm assuming we just can't
get out of here now, right? Oh, is it around
both of us, or just loyal? You are both in the
dome. Oh, fuck, I thought I was outside of the
dome. Um, I guess the crown is here in the dome,
too. Geist would be aiming his gun at the King
Returneth as it's, like, moving, but then as
soon as we're in the thicket, he's, like, aiming
it back at the crown, and he's like, should I
shoot it? I can shoot it! Should I? Would it
do anything? Can I shoot it? No, don't. It's
just metal. It'll bounce off. It's not just metal.
Are you fucking kidding me? Look at this. Yeah.
What are my options here to get out of this?
I don't know what your options are. I think I
know what our options are. There are options.
I will say there are multiple options. Why does
it want me to put this on? Is this what you had
for me? You lied. I know you lied. I... I don't...
I don't know. The... The things here on this
planet, they... They want you for something.
I... They want you for something. Oh yeah, well
how's this for an ultimatum? Geist is going to
point his service weapon at his own head. Ooh.
Interesting. Give me a sway. The funny thing
is that it's zero dice minus one die because
I am electrocuted. Oh, wow. Let me go to here
before I fucking kill myself. I was going to
say, there's a move in the tabletop game, The
Sprawl, called Play Hardball, where you can make
a threat, but if you... On a partial success
or a failure, you have to follow through with
the threat. I think that one's in Dungeon World,
too. God, I don't know if I like those odds with
zero dice, with negative one dice. To be clear,
you don't have to shoot yourself if you fail
this roll. We're not using that rule. We're not
using that rule, as funny as it is. It'd be really
funny. Oh, fuck. Okay. Yeah, sure. Why the fuck
not? I'll sway. Do you have any devil's bargains
for me? Would the bargain be if I fail, I have
to shoot myself? God, wouldn't that be fun? Let
me look at my clocks. I will give you an extra
die if you can accept that it will go for someone
else instead. No one in this room. No dice. Let's
fucking get it. Oh, God. Why am I doing this?
Because I know it's just going to go for... I
mean, Geist doesn't know this, but Devil's Bargains
are a meta concept anyway, so I'm able to utilize
the fact that I know that it'll just go for Maze
if I don't take it, and it goes to somebody else.
It might go to Maze if you fail anyways, just
so you know. Yeah, yeah, yeah. We'll see. We'll
see. Fuck, maybe I should just put it on. Maybe
I should just quit fighting the current. That
is another option. So we're just stuck in here
in the pulsing thicket right now. Nothing is
threatening us or trying to... It's not getting
smaller. We just gotta work this out. Not quite
yet. Well... If it starts to do that, this is
where Loyal would say, It's martyrdom. It's martyrdom.
It wants to be you. It wants you to be martyrdom,
the next virtue. It wants to come back as you,
and the way it can do that is through the crown,
and I don't know how or why, but it's chosen
you. Geist will stop for a second. He was about
to point his gun at his own head, and he's like,
What? I mean, would I... Would it be... Would
it make me a... Clusterist? This feels... I don't
know, bigger... Than what's happening here. On
this planet, I mean. I... Know if you would remain
in your body... When martyrdom... Arrives. Okay.
I'm going to... Fuck it. I'll take the devil's
bargain for rolling one die instead of zero.
I'll take it. Okay. Yeah, Geist puts his gun
up to his own head and he's like, you want me?
Fuck off! That's a two. That is a two. I will
take my XP, please. You will take your XP. Hmm.
Hmm. Hmm. Hmm. What do we want to do? I guess
here's my question from Geist's point of view.
Is this a bargaining tactic or is this a refusal?
Oh, it's a bargaining tactic. If it was a refusal,
he would just shoot himself. Well, I mean, there
are ways to refuse things other than killing
yourselves. This is a PSA to everyone. But yeah,
no, this is him like, if you want me so bad.
Watch out, because I'm crazy. I could pull the
trigger at any time, and then where would you
be? Okay. There's a lot of great options here.
I hate this tone of voice. Don't you, Isaac?
Yeah. The thicket draws closer and closer to
you, pushing inward. The thorny vines begin to
plunge into the ground around both of you. and
separates both of you in this wall of wires.
You can barely see each other through the gaps.
What side is the crown on? It is on Geist's side.
Of course. And with one final pulse, gets just
like right up in your grill. Just this horrible
hissing metal noise. I guess a better question
is, how tempted are you by this? How tempted
is Geist by this? Yeah. I think he's not tempted
by the power really at all. I think because,
like, he... I don't know. He, at this point,
has become so galvanized against, you know, the
Clusterists, and this thing is... I feel like
Geist is starting to suspect that the virtues
aren't really necessarily tied to clusterism
as a whole, as they might outwardly appear. He's
kind of starting to understand that they're like
things from outside or something, or at least
that's what I believe. I think that's what Geist
believes too. And I think he, you know, like
Geist isn't, Geist believes that he can kill
retribution on his own because he's come close
a few times or he's at least. not come off badly
as he should have thanks to some lucky rolls
from me so i don't think he doesn't feel like
he needs this power i think the only thing really
that's driving him to even consider to take it
is the idea that if he doesn't loyal will get
killed and that's like a very immediate like
getting out of this situation right now But he
doesn't really want the power itself that much.
I think with one final pulse, the vines burst
into thousands upon thousands of gossamer threads
of red metal, as thin as a hair, and plunge into
the walls, the ceiling, and the floor, convulsing
and burying themselves like maddened worms. And
then the air is still. And you are alone, the
two of you. The crown missing. And there is countless
pinprick holes surrounding you, and the corpse
of TKR is gone. Out there somewhere on the hunt.
Oh. Oh, fuck. Oh, shit, Loyal, you gotta get
up. We gotta get out of here. Come on. I look
around, just on impulse for the crown, knowing
that it's not going to be anywhere in this room,
and then follow Geist out. Let's go. Let's go.
Let's fucking go. Okay. You head up. And see
people in the observation room, I'm assuming.
Skeleton crew, do they have anything to say to
us? I guess, are you leaving, or are you going
to the observation room? I think we should, Geist
will tell when we get into the elevator. Guys,
don't be like, the button for the observation
deck, it doesn't work. I mean, it didn't work,
but I tried. We need to be radioing someone about
this. Who? Yes, I'm just like, in shock, being
like, who do we radio? How do we tell everyone
at once that this thing is outside and we don't
know what it'll do? Oh, who the fuck is in charge
here? Did they really think they could contain
this thing? It's fucking stupid. Technically,
Ziggurat's in charge. Wow, no wonder it all fucked
up. I don't know. I guess... Can I still press
the button to observation? Cool. You go up. And
everything's fine up there. And TKR is still
on the other side of the glass. No. Are there
people here? Yeah. Can I do a bit of a sonar
scan to see if this is an illusion, if it's actually
there? What, TKR? Yeah. Sure. Okay. Maybe another
study, or survey, rather. Yeah. Nothing special
for this one with my position. Uh, I'll just
gather information roll. I guess roll straight
up. Cool. Oh, six. Uh, yeah, that's not TKR in
there. Like, what do I get back with? My cymatics
on this one. What does it look like? Well, it
is TKR in there, but it's not there anymore.
There's like people here just like working, tapping
away. Yeah. And it's like, oh, hey, we were inspecting
visitors. What's up? It's gone. It's fucking
gone. This isn't. Go fucking down to storage
right now. It's gone. It's fucking escaped. It's
right there. It's not. They pointed at it. Yeah.
Yeah. And it's on all the cameras, too. Uh, yeah.
It's all on the cameras. Geist has his gun out,
and he's wild -eyed. He's looking crazy. Um,
and he's like, it's you big fucking fool! Go
down and see for yourselves! It's gone! Sir,
sir, and they kind of put their hands up, and
I go, okay, uh, we'll do whatever you want. Go
check! Right now! Uh, uh, are you forcing them
all into the elevator? No, maybe just one or
two. Okay. Yeah, I think I kind of let Geist
do this and then talk to whoever is not doing
this and say, where's Ziggurat? We need to contact
Ziggurat. Well, Ziggurat was out on research
with someone and she's not here. She doesn't
work here all the time. There's other things
going on. Bring her back. She knows something
very urgently. Get in contact with her. Okay.
I'll do that. Let me do that now. Thank you.
Okay. Come on. Are you getting to the elevator
with the researchers or are you staying here
with your hostages, I guess? I'm staying here
with my... They're not hostages. We're just having
a discussion and there happens to be a gun in
my hand. Of course. You know what? No, I am going
to get in the elevator because otherwise they'll
just press the button for upstairs and bring
security down. I'm getting on the elevator. I'll
be like, I'm going to show them you stay here.
Make sure they get fucking around here now. And
I'm going to get in the elevator with these guys.
I'm not aiming my gun at them, but like it's
in my hand. So its presence speaks volumes and
I tell them to push the button to go down. Yeah,
you go down. into the storage room with the researchers
in front of you, and it comes out into the chamber,
and TKR is there. But you know, you know very
well that it is not there anymore. Oh, fuck.
Oh, shit, the holes in the wall are all gone.
Just for you, there's a single tiny pinprick
hole kind of near the elevator, but that's it.
I tell them, like, no, this isn't right. This
isn't right. Could you see this? I point at the
pinprick hole in the wall. See what? I just press
the button to go up the elevator with them still
down here. You press it and for like half a second
it doesn't register and then it goes through.
Okay, I'm going to go back up to observation.
You go up to observation, step out of the elevator
and then the elevator gets called up. Well, it's
still there. It looks like it's still there.
I mean, I went down there. Everything's all wrong.
The holes were gone. That's not... This... It's...
There's no point in staying here. We have to
go. Yeah. I'm gonna start jamming the go up button
on the elevator. It has already been called.
Yeah, I know. I'm waiting for it to come back
down here. Okay. Probably full of those fucking
peacekeeper cops who are coming to arrest us.
It does come back down, and there are the two
guards who were up there when you came here,
Geist, with rifles pointing at you. Pointing
at me? Yes. What the fuck? What have I done wrong,
sir? And they say, Geist, we're going to need
you to put down your gun. Oh my fucking god.
Geist throws his gun to the side and goes like,
this is psychic phenomenon. It's not. You need
to get Ziggurat here now. We just spoke to her.
She said you might be experiencing some after
effects from your test. So we just want to get
you to a calm place, sir. I put the gun down.
I put the gun down. Would you fucking relax?
Yes, yes. That's great, sir. Why don't you come
with us? Loyal. I want to. What about him? I
want to get in front of Geist and say, just we're
going to leave now. I. I'm going to help him.
Everything is under control. Give me sway. And
yeah, I'm trying to fucking sway them. What do
you think I could do to make this more sway -y?
It's a controlled standard. They trust both of
you more or less, but they are worried about
the situation. Okay. Roll a failure so they just
gun us down and the scene ends. Open fire. Oh,
wow. Four fours. What are the chances? Triple
four. That's nice. Okay. Here's what happens.
So they say, okay, okay. You can take him. Just
make sure he gets some rest. And that's what
Ziggurat said is important right now. And I think
the complication is that any... The credulity
you had regarding the whole TKR is missing thing
is now gone. Yeah, that seemed like it was coming
to us. Okay. Guys, let's pick up your gun. Let's
get out of here. Ugh, fuck, why? He picks up
his gun, but he makes a point of unloading it
and racking the slide to take the bullet out
of the chamber, foreholstering it very deliberately
in front of the men with rifles, and then he
leaves. Excellent. For a second I thought you
meant unloading it. Like shooting it into the
wall. Just real quick. Nothing to worry about
here. You go up and you leave and Loyal, the
little red flowers that were here have now withered
and are dead. We need to look. the entire planet
for new little red flowers to figure out where
this fucking thing has gone. Without the word.
Okay, so where... What's next for you? For the
both of you? It's fucked up to say, but I really
wish that we had contact information from that
fucking freaky -ass dude from the Peacekeeper's
Psychics Division. The man in black. Oh, yeah.
I mean, is there a wheelhouse? I guess you guys
would probably want to call Ziggurat. Hmm. Okay.
Well, I guess she picks up. So I guess she would
do that for you. Yes, Garrett, I've heard you've
had a mental breakdown. It's not a fucking mental
breakdown. I don't know what you think that you
did to me, okay? But you can check. fucking receipts
on this, alright? Last night, before any of this,
I had horrible nightmares, not the usual ones,
and when I went to speak with Director Jermaine,
apparently I had called him and requested a keycard
for access to the King with Earth project. I
never did that. I know how this sounds, alright,
but I messaged my squad mate. Loyal. And I went
down there to see what was going on, and some
freaky shit happened. Alright, psychic shit.
You saw the videos, I'm sure, from our action
against the King Richard frame. This is some
psychic shit. It's not purely physical. Something's
happened. I'm not the only one who saw it. And
what would you like me to do about this? Geist
is immediately at a loss because he literally
had not considered even for a moment what the
answer to that question might be. I don't know.
This is your fucking freak show project that
slipped. Don't you have, like, contingencies
or something? Isn't there something you can do?
Tell me you wouldn't contain a psychic entity
without some way to track it or detect it. Please
tell me that. Uh, well. We, at the time, thought
there was just a minor electric signal coming
from the remains of what you fought. We didn't
consider this was a larger situation. It's called
martyrdom! It wants to be killed! Fuck! Geist
is gonna hang up and throw his space phone at
the ground really, really hard. Okay, do you
have a case for it? Yeah, yeah, yeah. He has
like a space otter box or whatever, so it just
like bounces and is completely unharmed. Okay,
I was just really worried. Those are really expensive.
The peacekeepers do not have it in the budget
to buy him a replacement. Absolutely not. No,
that'd be really hard for you. No more candy
crush for Geist. Fuck! Yeah, you hang up and
your phone bounces a little bit, but is otherwise
fine. I think Geist just looks at Loyal and he's
like, what the fuck do we do? It's out. What
was that? Loyal, what was that? No one's going
to be able to help us with this or believe us.
We should find our team. And what? Leave? And
tell them what's happened and come up with a
plan. What kind of plan? What could we possibly
plan for this? We're going to be arrested from
this very firebase any day. Well... I don't know.
Fuck. Alright. I guess. As far as next steps
go, what the fuck else are we gonna do? Should
we talk to Nyla? Or does that even matter either?
I don't know. That thing, it wanted me to put
it on. It was promising me, you know, lots of
stuff. I don't know that, you know, most other
people would be so hesitant. It's gonna be coming
back. Do I know that it went to go find someone
else? Or do either of us know that? Didn't Loyal
see a vision of Maze putting it on or something?
Yeah. With that knowledge, Loyal would be wanting
to go to her mazes. Where is she again? The prisons?
Hashtag the jail. Loyal would just like suddenly
look more alert and be like, maze, the jail,
we need to get to the prisons. The fuck is, like,
corn? Corn? Maze? Corn? Oh. No, no, the prisoner
I was tasked to interrogate, we need to get her
right now. I think that's where it's gone. I
think that's where it's gone. Yeah, I mean, Geist
doesn't really understand, but he'll go. Yeah,
you go to the prison. I guess, Geist, you've
never been here before, but it is a little prison,
little building. And you go in, you're shepherded
in, and Maze is still in her cell. She is still
writing in her little notebook. And she kind
of looks up at you like she's expecting you and
says, You've brought a friend. Geist, I think
at this point, looks at Loyal and he's like,
What the fuck? That's the girl from our first
combat op. What the... They asked you to interrogate
her? Yeah, I just ignored this. Is this really...
maze or is this another thing that's an illusion
uh that's a wild question to ask um but i mean
i don't want to make you i'm not gonna make you
roll this this everything's just a little too
normal this is maze like i expected to get here
and then just like have this whole room blown
apart Yeah, the guards are all dead. Mech traversing
around in the streets doing something. I mean,
it's not here. It's not here. But it could be.
This doesn't make sense. None of this makes sense.
Yeah, we're just in the cell and immediately
arguing amongst ourselves. What is Maze doing
while we are doing this? She kind of closes her
notebook. And says, is something wrong? I don't
even think looks at her or considers her a part
of this conversation. Look, you were wrong. It's
fine. We got to move on. What are we even doing?
What are we going to do when we find it? What
were we hoping to find here? I want to turn to
Maze and just look her very squarely in the eyes
and ask her, Maze, what can you tell me, us?
About martyrdom. You know what martyrdom is?
Yeah, I don't know what to say to that. He kind
of smiles placidly at you. I really want to know
what's in that notebook. But I don't want to
just grab it. Yeah, I was gonna say, if she's
not willing to give it to you, you could take
it, but I feel like that would be bad for the
relationship that you have been so carefully
cultivating, but I also don't know if that matters
at all. Yeah, I think that we might be past the
point of this. If only Joseph was here to break
her legs a second time. I guess I would ask,
in my, again, calmest voice possible, may I look
in your notebook? Why? Something has changed
just now. And you have also changed. And I want
to know if there's a connection. Okay, Sunleth.
And she pulls out her notebook and opens it up.
And inside is a drawing of a crown. And it says,
It's my turn. Oh, hell. Mace, did you take it?
Did I take it? You gave it to me. You came to
me. And you made this connection. I... What did
you think would happen? That I would just give
up? Well, what the fuck is she talking about?
It wasn't going to be this one for me, originally,
but I've been prepared. Honestly, I think I'm
a better vessel than he would be. It's only a
matter of time now, really. A matter of time
until what? Until it's my turn, Loyal. Do you
think, with all of its resources, I'm going to
be staying in a cage? Do you? Geist, I think,
has his gun out now, again. He's like, loyal.
We gotta handle this. I look at Geist sharply
and say, put that away. And turn back to Mace
and say, what do you plan on doing? I guess that
depends. I can't imagine what I'll think when
it happens. Who I'll be. I think it'll be a fundamental
change from what I've seen so far. Because it's
not time yet, really. It's not time yet for me.
So we'll just wait and see, I guess. It's not
too late to change your mind, Garrett. I think
just in Sunless's mind now, he's like, okay,
it's still out there somewhere. It's not in here.
I turned back around like we need to leave. It's
not here. What the fuck is she talking about?
What have you been doing here? Trying to save
a child's life. Now let's go. Garrett will put
his gun away and he will walk towards the door,
but he'll stop and look back and be like, that's
not a child anymore. Not really.