Okay, so last time, after proceeding through
the town of Micah, you all learned that a large
hostile fungal organism called the Pale Mother
was threatening the town, causing most of its
inhabitants to evacuate. Booker, having contracted
some bizarre condition, is now marching directly
towards where this fungus is. and he has volunteered
all of you to help bring a bomb into the heart
of this fungus and to detonate it with the hopes
of destroying it. As you proceeded towards it,
you were intercepted by a speaking fungal humanoid,
which requested to parlay with you and guided
you to the heart of this mycelial biome, where
a massive fungal organ introduced itself to you
as the Pale Mother. And we'll start there. Wait,
I thought that was a name that they gave you
upstairs. You saying that's, you call yourself
that too? Unless you can speak fungus, you can
call me that. I suppose I cannot. Do you mind
if I go first? By all means, I do not have much
to say to this creature if I am being perfectly
honest. Bailey Ecox has said, do you know anything
about Checker Graham? Oh, yes, I'm aware of Researcher
Graham. You've met him? It's complicated. Some
in my network have met him, and we are all one
in a way. You remind me of him in some ways.
Yes, we were both onto something, all right?
But I need to know everything that he knew. Can
you help me? Everything that he knew? Well, he
left this place. He continued. He went further
somewhere, right? Yes, yes. What? He did not
end here. He went deeper. We... One of my emissaries
spoke to him. He helped broker an early treaty
between me and the people here before things
turned. The people might have known about him,
too. This was some time ago, I should say. How
long ago? Ten years, perhaps. Ten years. My God.
Okay, then what? Then he left. Moved on. Which
way? Deeper, of course. He was heading to the
center. He believed something was there, as most
people do. I think Bailey just takes a little
step forward. Did you believe? Did I believe
what he believed? Yes. Belief for me is different
than I think it is for you. I have seen machines
here in the city. I have seen things that defy
classification, such as myself. You've seen machines.
Oh, yes. This is the trail that we're looking
for. Which way did he go? Well, as it turns out,
he first went back towards the city. The town
of Micah, they call it. Beneath Micah there is
something very old. An old machine. And he looked
there first. What he found was led him deeper.
Perhaps you'll find a lead there. But, well,
that is the end of my free information. Ah, here
it is. What do you want? Go ahead. What are you
here for? I feel like Bailey has what he needs
in a way. At least in my brain. What do you want
to do? I kind of look to my companions and I
just like nod. I just smile and nod to them.
Like we're good here. Anyone need anything? No.
I mean, passage through, for one, we are looking
to move past this place deeper on, but I can
understand that there is some sort of price attached.
Yes, yes. As much as I would like to let your
biomass slip through, there's not much in it
for me. Not to be greedy, but if you could do
a small favor for me, I would gladly guide you
through my territories unmolested, unintegrated.
Though, if I may speak my piece, I believe integration
into my greater whole would be a great benefit
for three out of the four of you. Three out of
four? Damn. You know, for something that... As
you describe Defy's classification, you are extraordinarily
human in your demeanor. Most of my biomass is
former humans. They've had an effect on me, which
I find to be sometimes distasteful. But nevertheless,
such is my nature now. Well, what exactly is
this favor you want? I had an agreement. with
the town at one point, that they would continue
to feed me the sweet lymph from the machine which
lurks below their town. In exchange, I would
allow them their sublevels for farming, and I
would not interfere. But they decided they needed
to cut me off. Their new leadership decided I
was a threat to them after some of their farmers
went missing. and so they no longer serve a purpose
for me, and I tire of my peace with them, and
I have no further conceptions of honor about
our agreement, so I wish, at the very least,
for you to get them to leave or to remove them
so that I may take control of the artifice which
lies below their town. I think Bailey says, we
need to look at the machine first. Yes, I was
going to get to that. The inoption for you, they're
using the lymph, setting it alight. I see you
have a canister there. To repel me. It is an
unpleasant thing when it is set alight. If you
could just go to the heart of the machine and
temporarily disable it, the flow of lymph would
stop and they would no longer be able to repel
me. I would overwhelm them. Naturally, I have
no deep attachment to consuming their biomass
at this time. So we could come to an arrangement
there. Or if you want it to be simple, you just
turn it off and I will handle the rest. Okay,
that sounds simple enough. We can do that. Yeah.
Who's Downfall? He's Bugs. Do you say he's bugs?
Yes, yes I do. Interesting. He's with you? You
know, downfall? In a sense, one of my vessels
is being hijacked? Converted? Transmuted? By
him, right now. Oh, is it one of the ones up
in town? Fella done shot himself in the head?
Yes, a very common problem. Around here. Yeah.
They don't like it much. Yeah, we didn't know
that was yours. We just thought it was a normal
corpse. We were going to borrow it for a couple
days. Oh, that's okay. That one was imperfect.
Too far from the mycelium to fully convert. It's
just quite strange. How would you like to proceed?
Suppose we could take a look at that machine?
Yes. Yeah. We'll go look at it. Is that what
you want? We'll come back. I think that works
for everyone. I would prefer you did not return
until it is off and I have taken control of the
town. Well, when we turn it off, I'm sure you'll
know right away, right? Yes, that is true. Perfect.
Let's get going. I have a quick question out
of character, I think, to start. Do we know where
this machine is? Like, is it under the civilized
parts of the town or is it like down below here?
I should probably tell you. That it is. It is
underneath the town, and there is an access to
it behind the quartermaster's office, which you
did see at one point. It was boarded up. Yeah,
and I think she's also surprised by how willing
you are to do this. You don't take this the wrong
way. You seem substantially open -minded. Should
we put in a good word for our wall guy? If you
want to. Yeah, we need that guy on the way back.
By the way, this is going to be a tough job.
Can we bring the guy on the wall with us? There
are a lot of guys on the wall, but I assume you
mean the soldier you spoke to. Yeah, he seemed
not too far along, mask on his face and whatnot.
Booker, are you sure that's wise? I don't think
he will be. compatible with our plan. I thought
you said you would try to bring him. I say a
lot of things. Okay. Would you be amenable, perhaps,
when we shove off from this place to release
him? One measly piece of biomass can't possibly
mean that much to you with the whole rap city
up above. So you will... Give me everyone in
the city. If you wanna... Let me put it this
way. I don't give a damn. Is this shared among
all of you? I just need my info. Wow. I just
need... Well, that is... If the world were made
of people like you folks, I think it would be
a much better world. I have information that
may be of benefit to you. We'll talk about it
more once your job here is complete. Could you
tell me, though, or maybe you want to wait. That's
fine, too. I understand that. How did you come
in possession of my cousin here? Cousin? Yes,
the creature. The fourth member of your little
group. Does it speak? Halo. yeah this thing it
does i don't think the pale mother feels like
the mother or mother so i'm just like you're
not you're not relevant to me i'm fascinated
by all the stuff so maybe i'm just looking around
but he hasn't said anything halo i didn't know
you had relatives or wait is so the the guy up
top called him cousin too is that a thing that
demons do they do do that as a demon affectation
so the pale mother is allegedly a demon That's
between you and the pale mother. Normally, we
can't get him to shut the hell up. Hey, Lola
looks up and Wendy is somewhat addressed. I feel
like they're looking at him. It's like, huh?
Me? What is a cousin? A distant relative of sorts.
You are new in the world. Yes. I am new in the
world in a sense, too. Oh. Halo ponders this
for a second. He's never encountered someone
who is trying to say, I'm like you. So he doesn't
really know how to respond. That's interesting.
You don't know where you are, do you? Who you
are. When you are. Halo looks around. He's like,
I am in this container. My name is Halo. You
spend lots of time in containers, don't you,
Halo? And I think portals. Doors. Doors are portals.
We know. We know this. Well, I won't tempt your
curiosity anymore. We'll be... We'll see each
other. Or maybe we won't. But we will communicate.
That we will. Okay. Goodbye. You may wish to,
uh... Leave the bomb. No. I need this. Okay.
You just may get some questions on the way back.
I know. We will need to spin a yarn of some sort.
And I'd prefer to hold on to the soldier until
you are done with your job. I don't know if I
already said that. Oh, I very much agree. I don't
think he would be quite as flexible as we are.
No. Well, I'll have my prince see you back. It
was a pleasure doing business with you. I think
we have a promising future. Agreed. Great. The
pulsing organ lets you go. Demons are reasonable.
They love to make deals. I mean, biblical ones
do. Yeah. There's... Yeah. I'm just gonna leave
it as it is. You know, it's fine. We'll get to
it. Okay. You are returned. You go past the soldier
again and he's like, hey. Hey. What the hell
are you doing? We got a deal in the works. We
will be back shortly. I can... You'll be rewarded
if you let me go. He calls after you as you go
down the hall? Oh, I'm counting on it. Look,
you're going to want to stay here for this part.
We will be back. Take the fact that we are not
presently stapled to the wall as a show of our
truthful intentions. I... Okay. I mean, we're
just gonna leave. He doesn't have any kind of
input in the situation. It doesn't really matter.
It's not like he can walk after you. You return
to the sub -level. Six. What are your moves?
I think as we walk, Ledger lights up another
cigarette and says, well, somebody's gonna have
to tell that fullman something. Halo, it should
not be you. So wait, you guys just let me bring
you down here? Oh, do not start with me. We sure
did. They'll just ignore you for the rest of
the world. You're crazy. You think they'll ask
about the bomb? Yes, they'll ask about the bomb.
They'll ask about why we didn't set it off. They'll
ask about what the hell we're doing coming back
to town. We need to tell them something. Now,
Booker, you're a man who lies as easy as breathing.
I trust you will steer us right in this matter.
Give it a try. I got an idea. You need to come
down here. I mean, we could tell when we just
talked to it. We lied to make a deal and that
we're going to need a lot more bombs than this.
That's a good one. That is an intriguing proposition.
If we just say yes to everyone, nothing needs
to collapse yet. Until the moment. You're right.
And we get to choose that. What a strategy. You
are one clever devil. They did just trust some
strangers. They sure did. Hey, both parties did.
You ever think about that? They're so dumb. Okay.
You go back up and you approach the fire break.
The foreman calls out and says, how'd it go?
How did it go? Well, we met with the mushroom.
It was an interesting person. Have you spoken
to it? I didn't know it spoke. That's strange,
because it said it made a deal with a town before.
Just completely fucking blown up this guy's spot
instantly. You really trust that thing? You trust
that thing? You think he's going to tell you
the truth? What'd it tell you? I'm just trying
to get all information that I can. Why didn't
it eat you? Because we weren't mean? I don't
know. We weren't rushing in to try to kill it.
What happened is it attacked our town and consumed
and infected our people and our food. It said
it had made a peaceful deal. It's lying. It's
lying. It's lying to you. Probably trying to
turn you against us. It could have said the same
thing. But it didn't hurt us. We're fine. Yeah,
look. I don't think we are taking the word of
a giant pulsating subterranean organ seriously
necessarily, but the thing was quite large, I
have my doubts. Why didn't you blow it up? You
were there. Because we need more bombs than just
one. I guess if you haven't seen it, you don't
know how big this thing is. Guess not. You're
lucky we came back, and now we need more of these,
okay? The plan will go into motion once you start
collecting these. They take a while to fill,
but... We'll get started. So you're going to
go back with all the bombs, and it's just going
to let you? It seems like it, but we need to
see the machine first. It needs to know that
we visited the location. It can smell it on us.
It doesn't think that we're coming back with
more bombs. You see, that's the ruse. What does
it think? I don't know exactly what... We said
we needed more time. We were going to try and
drum up some... Well, you know, it lacks people.
It lacks bodies, but it can't get past your little
barricade and it's getting hungry. Yeah, don't
worry. It wasn't chaos. We lied. We said we were
going to do something. But now we need to work
together and get more bombs. Okay? Okay. Well,
we'll start filling up bombs then. Okay, it's
not going to let us back in unless we look at
the machine. That's the issue. The machine where
all this stuff comes from, I assume. Yes, the
one underneath the, is it the quartermaster's
office, Colin? Yeah, it's the quartermaster's
office. Yeah, the one underneath the quartermaster's
office, that's the one. I don't know if you want
to go down there. Well, we have to. If we're
going to return and drop off the bombs, it knows
that we've been places, okay? It just realized
that. It knows we talked to you. It's possible,
and this is purely speculation on my part, but
it might want to know more about this machine
so that it can come up with some kind of way
to... foul it or foil it in order to speed its
advance. It was a little bit hazy with its intentions.
You understand what's going on here now? I almost
don't want to make you roll. It seems kind of
reasonable. That's what I feel. You really are
just saying yes to everyone. I'm not going to
force you to make a roll here. You don't have
to pressure him. Listen. I've gotten to deep
into Fallout New Vegas with every faction on
my side, okay? I know how to keep people happy
without tipping the scale. Okay, fine. I'll tell
the Quartermaster to let you in, but that machine
is sensitive. Please do not mess with it. That's
true. We'll drop the bomb off here, and he's
going to hand it to him. You get more of these,
okay? Okay. You go do that. It didn't tell us
to touch it or do anything to it, at least not
yet. It may... revise its demands once we've
seen it it's hard to say okay i i you didn't
need to tell me that but that's fine um okay
um but you do recall that it did tell you to
turn it off temporarily right oh yeah no i know
what it really cool cool i'm just making sure
just making sure that you're lying yeah i guess
he he Tells you to tell a dubious back up at
the quartermaster office that you can open up
the fucking entrance to the place below. I think
he would probably tell you to be careful. To
be very careful. Because it is not a safe place.
And it has hurt people before. Sure. Okay. Are
you going straight in? Are you just going straight
in right now? Bailey's ready to go straight in
if anyone wants to follow him. Booker's coming.
I was wondering if Ledger might feel compelled
to tell the mold brewer lady that she should
probably get out of town now. But Ledger, but
Ledger, but Ledger, betray someone because of
your true nature? Yeah, I'm doing that. I feel
like I can betray lots of people. Yeah, no, you're
right. He won't. But also, Booker, you have to
forge a friendship or romantic relationship with
an NPC. Oh. But is this it? Does Booker really
care? I don't know. It's the right chemistry.
It seems like you guys immediately hated each
other in my mind because you insulted her. To
be fair, the Pale Mother is an NPC. Oh, yeah.
We getting some fungus -y. Don't say that. Colin,
don't say that. That's staying in. You motherfucker.
Me no likey. Oh, no. Your mind is so small. So
cool, Doc. So, both of these is both the... The
mushroom colony and the town, are they both havens
or haunts? Excuse me? No, haunts are things like
the church is a haunt. Haunts are specific places
inside of havens that can remove a specific type
of stress or fallout if you give them money.
The only option of me destroying a haunt is if
I let them destroy the town, correct? Yes, unless
you can think of another. Is there no church
in the mushroom? Well, I don't know if there
is, but I assume there's no church in the mushroom
colony. So, by the way, the mushroom, yeah, there
are no haunts in the infected area. There's a
third haunt in this town, which you guys didn't,
I didn't really mention, which is the quartermaster's
office is also a haunt for supplies. But if you
are surrendering the town because you want to
know more about Checker Graham, which is your
task, that's destroying a haunt because towns
are full of haunts. Yes. There you go. Okay.
So, hey, let's, let's kill these innocent people.
Let's do it. Who needs them? I don't think I
have, I don't know that I've played, uh, a character
who's like this, like, much of a mercenary fuckhead.
Like, I'm always tinged at least with a little
bit of morality. Even Geist kind of was. He's
just a real piece of shit. I mean, I'm not saying
no one can stop Bailey. Bailey is a bit of on
a crusade right now, but that's kind of what
he does. I mean, I don't think based on your
beats and based on who your characters are and
your goals, I don't think it's ridiculous. I
mean, Bailey hasn't weighed all his options yet.
Let's see this machine first, and then we'll
decide. I guess that's true. One of the other
advantages to this method is that we can kind
of decide at the very last minute who we want
to go with or who we're going to betray. Exactly.
Also, just to be clear, I'm not casting any moral
aspersions on you. I think it's totally fine,
given everything, to surrender this tiny town
with not that many people in it to the Pale Mother.
Normalize loving bad characters. Am I right?
It's good. Listen, if you see a lion eating a
deer, are you going to be like, that's an evil
lion? That's so true. That's so true, Colin.
That's so right. It's an evil mushroom? No, it's
not an evil mushroom. It's just what mushrooms
do. You guys are all deer, so there are some
questions, but if you could cut a deal with the
lions to be like, leave me alone, then... That
could vibe. Well, that's a spotted deer. It's
different than, you know, a striped deer. You
arrive at the quartermaster's desk. Like I said,
so much supplies. There is a passage that's been
boarded up behind it where a bunch of these thick
conduits come out of. And I guess you probably,
you got word. Total Aria, like I said, tell Dubious
that you're good to go in. He'll know what. That
I said it somehow. I'm not interested in the
details of this arrangement. And he's like, okay.
I'm also going to tell Dubious, listen, they
needed more bombs for our plan. And also bring
them every weapon you can find here and bring
it over to them. Okay? They need it. Now that
is a lie. That is a lie. I'm going to ask him
to vacate all his weapons and to take any bombs
with him out of this area. But down to the fire
break. Yeah, basically where everyone else is.
Okay, that would be a compel. That is... Oh!
I did not choose a compel! Damn it! I thought
I did! Do you want to aid me on this compel?
No. Booker's really good at compelling. Hey,
Booker! I helped you earlier. You want to help
me? Yeah, let's do it. What is this compel? Is
Booker doing the compelling, or is Booker helping
you? So you get plus one dice. Yes. Go, Adam,
go. Can someone say kitten daddy dubiouses in
a Yoda accent? No. No, then that can't be done.
I'm sorry. You'll have to wait until after the
game. Is this compel what? Haven. Compel, haven,
plus one standard. Let's do it. Jesus, another
crit. Critical success. Damn. Yeah, he's... He's
down with it. He's like, okay, I'm going to grab
all my stuff. I don't even know how to even give
you a crit here. Maybe when he's walking away,
like a... I want him to take explosives with
him, too. That's what I was hoping for. To tell
him to, like, bring all the weapons out of this
room and also go get more bombs for them. Okay,
sure. Whatever that meant. He takes, like, a
mining charge with him, too. I'm sure this...
Something's going to happen. Okay. And I think...
When, after all this happens and he leaves, I'll
just tell the group, now we don't need to fight
our way out if something happens, okay? You are
truly a mastermind. Now let's go see this thing.
Let's go. The wooden, behind these boards that
you pry off, there is a wooden stairwell, which
eventually turns into a ladder, which after a
short distance deposits you in an off -blue hallway.
The walls and floor down here are squishy, almost
rubbery. It is rounded in such a way that it
is difficult to keep your balance and as if it
was not designed to be walked by human feet.
The thick conduits coming from the farms seem
to connect into the walls here, disappearing
into them. All around you, you hear a gentle
hum accompanied by the swishing liquid noise
of the conduits which come from all around you.
Despite there being no visible lights in this
hallway, it seems intrinsically illuminated,
a universal blue hue which casts no shadows but
gives you visibility nonetheless. Ahead of you,
the hallway splits, and right at the fork, on
the ground, you see a small pile of metallic
items, some buttons, a zipper, and a couple of
basic tools. Above the small pile, there is an
opening in the wall, a puckered orifice which
pulses in time with the swishing noises around
you. What is going on here? I think that's your
machine. I think I want to try and learn more
about this thing, if possible. Sure. What does
that look like? That's what I'm trying to figure
out. So basically the machine is just like a
console and there's a hole in the wall. Is that
what this is? There is an orifice in... The wall
where the hallway forks into two separate hallways.
I did not mention anything about a machine, but
you could view it as a machine. Oh, okay. So
there's like two... We haven't ventured all the
way through then. No, no. I assume this is kind
of like the border of it or whatever. You know
what I mean? Oh, I see. Then I'm gonna... I say
we continue. We go see the source of this thing,
I suppose. The hallway is forked. Is it? Very,
very deep. Can I, like, go check in both to see
what this is? Sure. Do you want to go left or
right? I'll go check out left. Sure. You pass
the pile of random mechanical items, or random
metallic items, and you go to the left. The hallway
continues curving a little bit, and then it ends
in, like, this weird... It's not bony. It's kind
of fleshy. Almost like a... Kind of like... It
looks like how your knee feels when it's not...
This is going to be an insane thing to say. It
looks like your knee feels like when you can
wiggle your patella around. You know? No. Well,
if you relax your knee, the bone on your kneecap,
you can wiggle it around on your tendon. So the
door is kind of like tendons and kneecap. Underneath
skin. Underneath skin. I hate it. Yeah, and it's
blue, and to the next bit is another one of those
orifices. Okay. Go look at the right hallway.
We're saying orifices today. To the right hallway,
you see there is... It... It goes up. It goes
vertical. Like 100 % vertical up into the air.
And then off to the side of it, there's another
one of these... I'm just gonna call them doors.
With another one of these orifices next to it.
And there is a single metal dagger on the ground.
A lot of discarded stuff around here. Yeah. I
wonder if they had to feed things into this machine
to make this work. It seems metal we keep finding
around here. I'm going to pick up that dagger.
Anything special about it? No, it's a pretty
basic fucking dagger. Call it just like a D6.
D6, just call it a dagger. Kill. Kill dagger.
Kill dagger. I think, yeah, I think Ledger's
gonna shrug and try and open the door. How? You
pushing on it? Yeah, you said it has a bit of
give, right? I'm gonna try and make it give.
I mean, it wiggles. You could definitely wiggle
it. You, like, apply a normal amount of force,
it wiggles, but much like if you push down on
your kneecap, the tendons are kind of tight,
so it's not moving. What if I try and like pull
it to the side to dislocate it? How hard is it
hard? I don't know. I'm going to keep going until
it won't open. I keep going until it either won't
open or it like until I like I get it's like
beyond my capacity to open it easily. Sure. Like
without a roll, basically. Yeah, it is. It is
not easy. You cannot find there's nothing without
a roll. Nothing is immediately apparent on how
to open this door. I don't want to let anyone
hurt it. I want to try to. connect with it in
the same way I did with the train engine that
one time. Will you stop for one minute? Will
you just turn yourself off? This is also a technology
domain, just FYI. Yeah. So it won't go well.
Wait, are we making a choice right now? Is this
happening? No, we're just going in. I would also
say discern technology would not go amiss here
if you want an angle for that, Adam. I know you
are a discern technology boy. Yeah, I do. But
I guess I'll let you do your stuff first, Ewan.
I think it would be better if Bailey did it and
I didn't. Okay, you want me to do it? I'll do
it. I will discern this technology. What does
that look like? I'm trying to figure out what's
going on with this door, right? Yeah, sure. Yeah,
I think I'm like... Probably pouring through
my notes. Ideally, Bailey's trying to figure
out how this connects to Checker Graham. And
I think he's cursing himself for not asking the
quartermaster that before he went down. Now he
has to do it himself. He has to do a little field
of research. But I think it is him. Honestly,
in the strangest way, he is putting metal objects
against his door and pressing it in different
ways. Sure. He's doing. Sure. Discern technology
plus zero standard. Are you ready for this? I'm
ready for this. What the fuck? That's your third
critical success in a row. Three crits on the
board. Yeah, you... How am I going to give you
major fallout if you keep rolling so good? Could
you explain that to me? No, no. Something horrible
is going to happen. I just feel it. Yeah, you
kind of look around. You're kind of fiddling
around with this door. And then your gaze is
kind of drawn to the orifice. The puckered orifice.
The pulsing puckered orifice off to the side.
And as you kind of move closer to it, it reaches
out. It kind of opens up a little bit as your
hand gets kind of close to it. And I think you
touch it gently. You touch it gently, let's say.
I'm not going to assume anything of you here.
But as you touch it, it tries to suck you in.
It tries to suck you in a little bit. And you
feel something. Like a foreign presence kind
of bump up against your mind, kind of like when
you touched it, it was trying to interface with
you. And I'll leave. I'll put I'll put you at
a fork here. How do you want to proceed? Hmm.
So you're asking me, do I want to continue and
get get nasty with this thing? Right. Do you
want to put your hand inside of the orifice?
I think we all know the answer to this one. Yeah,
I tell Halo, grab on to my torso and don't let
me in, okay, if it takes me. In fact, all of
you, grab my shoulders, and I start putting my
hand in. Great. We love it. Good that someone
put their hand in the orifice. Okay, yeah, so
it kind of sucks you up to your forearm. It clenches
around you in a yucky way. It's wet. I'll tell
you that much. Slimy. And it kind of conforms
to your arm. Like at first it kind of feels more
like there's an empty space, but then it kind
of clamps down in like a very muscular way. And
this presence kind of... What's a good word for
it? It's not violent, but it is... Like imagine
if you tried to... Something was brushing your
hair really hard. Right? It's trying to make
order out of a knot of hair. You are the knot
of hair. It is trying to brush you into a form
that will accept the brush. I'll say that Bailey
is also trying to lean into this. He's allowing
this thing to happen if it is trying to convene
with him. Great. Since you had a crit on your
last roll, I'll give you mastery on this next
roll. If you want to convene the thing, I need
to compel technology. Okay. We're here, right?
I mean, we're here. We're here, Colin. I mean,
we're here. Your arm's already in it. That's
the scary part. Yeah. So, compel, technology,
mastery. This is a plus zero, right? What does
mastery do? Mastery, it basically gives you another
die. Gives you an extra die, yeah. So, I don't
know if there's a checkbox for mastery, but if
there isn't, just do plus one. There is a checkbox
for mastery. Okay. Okay. Compel technology mastery.
Let's do it. What? Okay. Something fucked up
here. How is this happening? That's another four
crits in a row. I mean, can you roll again? Just
like, just to see. Yeah. I'm just going to roll
again. Well, that's a nine. So I used to have
really fucking good luck. Holy shit. That was
four. That's my fourth critical success. All
right. I don't even know what to say. Give it
to me, Colin, I guess. This is the opposite of
the end of last session. Tell me what I want
to know. I want to know. Tell me what I want
to know. You'll have to give it to me. What do
you want? What does Bailey want? Bailey wants
some, if he can get this, he feels like somehow
this thing, he has a belief. He is dying to know
this belief. In fact, he knows this belief. The
city of glass is made from a machine. Now he
is seeing some sort of organism that still...
acts like a machine. He sees mechanisms around
it and stuff like that. So he almost wants to
have this machine acknowledge his hypothesis.
Like, does this thing tell him concretely, yes,
what he is looking for? I know you can't give
me that yet. Yeah, yeah. Do you also want to
open the door? Why don't I just tell you? Ignore
what I just asked. Here's what happens. You find
out how this thing wants to brush you. In some
way, you find a meeting point where your mind
meets this thing. And it opens itself to you.
I'm just going to say some words, okay? I'm going
to say some words to you. Just some information.
Here's the information. Vessel damaged. Operating
at 2 % efficiency. Vessel off course. Navigation
not responding. Adaptive parasitic organism detected.
Parasitim equals 40 % output. Deploying countermeasures.
Deployment failed. Countermeasure system damaged.
Regenerative systems offline. Repeating distress
beacon. Oh. This thing is trying to turn the
entire planet into mushrooms. And it is doing
a bad job of it. Yeah, it doesn't seem like it's
going great. It's damaged, it seems. It came
from somewhere else. I don't know that... It
came from outside. It got pulled here by something.
There are others like it here. And that's what
you know. That's what I give you now. You also
can control the doors. And you know where the
heart of this thing is. In your mind, it translates
to spleen. You know where the spleen is. Oh,
sick. You also know that there is a detention
room slash specimen room. Where some people have
gone. Okay. Hmm. If you judge a query about controlling
the spleen, it would probably tell you that it
has to be done in the actual spleen chamber.
Okay. Now, I... So, the mushroom people want
me to turn this machine off, right? Yes. They
don't want you to destroy it, but they do want
it turned off temporarily. I think they want
the countermeasures stopped, because I assume
that's what's producing the lymph. But with my...
Sorry, go ahead. I'll tell you, in lieu with
Zach's questions, the countermeasures don't work.
They're broken. The lymph is part of the terraforming
it's doing. That is the 2 % efficiency. So you
would have to turn off the spleen, which creates
the lymph, and that would work that way. But
that has to be done in the spleen chamber. Sure.
So that's what they want me to do is... Yes.
Turn off the machine because why exactly? They're
using the lymph for the bombs. Turning the lymph
on fire is what is so effective against the Pale
Mother. I see. So if this thing keeps moving,
they can make more bombs and that's why the Pale
Mother doesn't want it. Yeah, so she wants it
turned off temporarily so they can't burn her
and then she can overwhelm them, take control
of this thing, and then it's all hers and she
wins. Yeah. That sounds bad. Okay, is this going
too far? They wanted me to turn off the machine,
probably through me just, like, slapping it around
a bit. But now I have control over this machine,
possibly? Or do I just know it? It seems like
I open doors. You have access to, like, the outermost
systems. You do not have control of the spleen.
You have to go to the spleen chamber to control
the spleen. Do I have a much bigger bargaining
chip now against this mushroom? In some way,
can I start making... Can I use this thing against
the mushrooms? That does not... In what sense?
Because it doesn't have... I don't know. It doesn't
have any defensive systems. Those are offline.
Except for some basic ones. And it would be too
slow if it's trying to spread anything, correct?
Yeah, so it's really in a bad shape. Okay, yeah,
I can't use it in any way that I was thinking.
Yeah, you could try to... Hey, you could try
to fix it. If we could find what the countermeasures
are, that seems like a bit of a long -term project.
You know, you can use Mark of the Weaver to fix
something that would take lots of hours of careful
work to do it immediately. You could fix the
fucking terraforming flesh technology if you
wanted to. I mean, we're here, aren't we, Colin?
If that interests you, you can do that. You fucking
maniac. We're here, aren't we? I mean, why go
back now? I guess I should also tell you you
can teleport anywhere inside this ship now. Whoa.
Can you teleport? Can we all teleport? You can
move anything anywhere inside this ship. Okay.
Narratively, we can teleport. Narratively, you
can teleport. The exact mechanism for how that
movement happens isn't exactly clear, but it
can happen. Okay, so do I need to get to the
spleen to fix this thing? Or marker the weaver?
Or can I just do this here? Let's talk through
this. Sure. You're in a spaceship, right? Yeah.
Just be honest. If we can just be honest, you're
in a spaceship. Yeah. There is... It's like,
if you want to fix the engines, you have to go
to the engines. If you want to fix the countermeasures,
which are like the defensive systems, you got
to go there. If you want to improve the efficiency
of the terraforming or its energy source, you
have to go there and figure that out and work
with the ship on it. There's no like one place
you can go to fix the entire vessel. Unless you
want to like spend a lot of time here, which,
hey, I mean, you have 27 hours. Why not fix the
spaceship? Why not? I don't think there's any
situation where you fully fix the ship because
you do not have the technology to do that. But
there are situations where certain systems you
could definitely work with. Is me moving around
the ship? Are all these critical successes a
one -time thing? If I move somewhere, am I going
to have a hard time leaving it? Or am I good
now with the ship? You are good to communicate
with the ship. Okay. So it's not like I'm in
the Spleen and now you failed the leaving and
you're dead. That's what I'm wondering. You're
not at the point yet where you are a natural
with the ship, but you've got a lot of crits,
so I'm giving you a lot here. To lay it out,
if you go to the spleen, you go to control the
spleen, there's going to be a roll there. I'll
probably give you mastery on it. And then if
you try to repair things, that'll be a harder
roll, but you'll be able to do it because of
the information you have. Okay. You have a lot
of power here. You've got a lot of power here,
Bailey. I, um... Hmm. I know. I don't know how
I'm going to communicate any of this to the group,
because I assume they're just, like, looking
at me, putting my hand in the wall. Having a
good time in there? I think Bailey kind of, like,
cocks his head back unusually fast, and he kind
of, maybe he's struggling as he says this, because
he feels the thing clenching his arm, but he
still wants to speak, and he's like, fellas,
I think I'm having a change of heart. I think
I can control this machine. I think I can make
it very, very strong. Stronger than the mushroom
wanted. I'm not opposed to this idea, but I would
ask to what end precisely. Well, I guess that's
a question for all of us. Is anyone feeling any
allegiances right now? Mushroom or people? I
just want to move along. I think people. I worry.
Let's just move along. I feel like this mushroom's
gonna demand more of us. We can deal with people,
but we can't deal with the mushroom. This is
a way we can deal with the mushroom. Then it
can't backtalk us. Then we have it in a corner.
If you give a mushroom a cookie. So true. So
how is this going to allow you to deal with the
mushroom precisely? What is your intention? My
intention is we are about to make a lot more
bombs and actually go through with my stupid
lie. Oh, I can't even keep track of the twists
and turns of this. All right. Say I'm in on this.
What exactly would that entail? This would give
us a clear area out through the tunnel because
the mushroom won't be stopping us and the town
will be on our side. Maybe we can get some things
from it. All right, but what do you have to do?
I think I just got to go a little deeper and
fix something. Okay. I don't see why that would
be a problem. I assume this is a no, but does
anyone want to come with me? Well, I would hardly
let you go by yourself. I want to go. Okay. I
don't know if you want to be alone in a place
like this. Okay. To add one... facet to this,
just so you know. The Pale Mother did imply that
she has more information that would benefit all
of you. She only gave Baileys for free. That's
all I'm going to say on the matter. You can use
a bargaining chip for that. That is true. But
I just wanted to make sure you know that. Sure.
Before we destroy the information, we could try
to still get more. In case you're going scorched
earth. Just know that that is included there.
But that's fine. I'm cool with this either way.
I'm liking what's going on. We're pointing a
giant gun at this mushroom. Maybe we don't have
to pull the trigger immediately. You know? Yes.
We need to make sure we're holding the gun correctly.
Where are you going? Bailey, where are you taking
all your friends? Do you want to take them to
the spleen or do you want to go to one of the
other systems? I assume is the spleen the place
where I could resume the lichen? You could increase
lymph production, which is what terraforms the
world. And also it can make bombs. But there
is also a strictly defensive system here called
countermeasures. Really? Yes. What if that hurts
the people, Adam? Well, we don't know unless
we investigate countermeasures. Can I go see
countermeasures? Yes. Are you bringing your friends
with you? They said yes. Okay, great. You are
all sucked into the floor and walls of the ship.
You are... It is like you are being moved through
an esophagus or some sort of other digestive
organism. It is very strange. You can't really
breathe either. It's weird. It's weird and it's
kind of wet and slimy. But you are spat out right
side up, shout out, in the... Another part of
the ship, which is also glowing blue, and in
the center of the room is a flawless metallic
sphere that is hovering a few feet off the ground.
It is about two meters in diameter. It's perfectly
spherical and shiny and reflective. And you know
that this is the killing sphere. Our friend.
The killing sphere? Yeah, there's a power output
problem that is not allowing it to activate.
That's a very big startup time for its reactor.
And you could probably do something here to deal
with this. Is this like a plug that I'm looking
at? It's more wireless than a plug in this case.
Okay, but disrupting the sphere would turn something
online, I assume. So, like, think of it this
way. At the core of the issue with this vessel
is that there's like a lack of resources. The
lymph is the primary goal of the vessel, or at
least it's determined that. So it's using all
its resources on lymph. You could turn off the
lymph entirely and you might be able to power
this sphere. Well, that's your assumption, at
least. I'll give you that. Yeah. Yeah. Or you
could try to boost power output, I guess. This
is all very foreign to you. This is all very
new to you, Bailey. But you're vibing with the
ship. Yeah. I mean, what I was going to say is
I was going to put my hand if there is an orifice
nearby, orifice slash data pad to learn more
about this room. That's what I wanted to do.
Yeah. I don't know if that's possible. Yeah,
there is always an orifice. I want to plug into
the orifice and ask. I'm learning that lately,
today. So I'll give you the information I just
told you, which is that there is a limited amount
of energy. You cannot access that. You cannot
change that from here. You have to go somewhere
else to do that, to get access to the core systems,
because you don't have the permissions to change
that. But diagnostically, there's not enough
energy to power the killing sphere and the lymph
because of an issue with the engine, we'll call
it, the heart. Do I get any more explanation
of the killing sphere? Or is it just the name?
It translates to killing sphere, like in your
head. You're trying to make sense of it. And
either there's a language barrier. The killing
sphere is so platonically one thing that it is
simply the killing sphere. And you're kind of
leaning towards that second one where what the
killing sphere is, is it is a sphere that kills.
There is like an access point here where you
could maybe change some parameters on the killing
sphere. But that would be a roll. Yeah. I know.
The only thing I'm thinking of, like. Bailey's
thinking many things. He's wondering, is this,
if I turn on the killing sphere, is it going
to kill me? Because I'm in a room with a killing
sphere. The other thing is, if this is a countermeasure,
like a protective measure, I assume, shouldn't
there be more than one killing sphere in his
tiny brain? You would need a lot of killing spheres
to protect things. How can one small sphere kill
so much? How can one small sphere kill so much?
It just can't be done. It can't be done, Colin.
The thing seems at least aware that the parasites
are a problem. Like one of the things in the
Rita was parasitic present or something. So like
there are decent odds that if all this thing
does is kill and we turn it on, it will kill
the mushroom or at least will be amenable to
killing the mushrooms. That's what I feel. I'm
wondering if we turn on the, the lymphs. Is that
what you said? That's like the, the thing that
he needs to make the bombs, right? We turn off
the lymph. Yeah. So the lymph is, is like a super
fertilizer, which. It can also be used as a bomb
by lowly lifeforms. Okay. That's a slow measure
to destroy these mushrooms. Possibly, if I turn
on the killing sphere, it will do something.
Yes, it could. I want to learn so much about
this killing sphere, guys. Guys, I just need
to learn about it. Hey, what's everyone's reaction
to being digested and then spat out in another
room? I think... Ledger kind of falls to his
knees, coughing and sputtering, and then looks
to see if his death is with him. Your death is
with you. Good. Did she just float through the
wall, or did she get sucked? What's your vibe?
What do you want here? I like to think that she's
not affected, so she literally just glides through
the wall. You know, now that we talked about
it, I think she did get digested, and I think
that's really bizarre for you. Oh, no. That's
gotta be so scary for her. Yeah, she, uh, it's
weird. It's like, that's not supposed to happen.
I think, yeah, I think Ledger will just be like,
now, Bailey, tell me what the fuck is going on.
Um, I think Bailey's got his hand already in
the other orifice, and he says, uh, another idea.
This is a killing sphere, and I think it can
deal with the mushrooms really well. I think
I can turn it back on. A killing sphere? That's
the best way. I don't know how else to say it.
It's a killing sphere. Does it say what it'll
kill? It seems to hate parasitic organisms. I
would say that's the mushrooms. The bad ones.
It's a countermeasure. It's a countermeasure,
and it said it was trying to deploy a countermeasure.
It failed. I told it to take it to me to the
countermeasure, and that's what this is. Parasite's
a pretty broad term. That's true. Are we going
to die if you turn this on? I could bring you
guys back if you want to leave. Can you figure
it out first? Don't tell me that. I'll do something.
I'm... Okay. I'm gonna fix the killing sphere.
Okay? Hell yeah. Does anyone want to be around
for this? I mean... Ledger's probably not gonna
leave. Well... Bailey's offering... Yeah, Bailey
has basically spoken and said, like, I think...
He's basically told you everything he has, but
he is offering you, he's like, I'm not gonna
keep you here if you're afraid of the Killing
Sphere. I will send you back, because I can,
but that is my intention, is to fix the Killing
Sphere. Oh, yeah, if you could get me out of
here, I would like to... I don't want to be around
when you turn this damn thing on. Anyone else?
Booker, Halo? Don't want to be killed. Goodbye.
All right, friends. Maybe start rocking away
and I don't know. Tell him to just hang on for
a bit and I'm going to send you back away. I'm
going to send you out of here. All right. You
go back to the entrance, I guess. You three.
You're spat out of the wall. Okay. Bailey. So
is your intent to you can't switch the power
here. Are you trying to? This is the Mark of
the Weaver that I was talking about earlier.
Okay, so you want to... Mark of the Weaver is
gain the men's skill. Once per session, you can
fix someone or something in a matter of seconds,
even if it would usually take hours of careful
work. Okay. I was going to fix this so I can
turn it on. Are you going to try to mess with
its parameters before you fix it and turn it
back on? So that's available to me. That is something
that I could probably do. Yes, I would love to
do that if Bailey could figure that out. It's
going to be a roll. It's going to be a roll here,
and this is going to be a standard roll. This
is going to be a compelled technology roll to
change the parameters before you turn it on,
because you get the sense from what you know
now that if you turned it on without changing
its parameters, it might see you as not a good
life form. Okay. So a compelled technology standard.
Yeah, because there's no... There's no huge difficulty
at this point. Yeah. All right. This is probably
the time. Hey, success with no fucking stress.
No. Impossible. This is truly insane. God wants
this to happen. Checker, you feel the spirit
of Checker Graham flow through you. Oh, my God.
It's great. What is it? I don't know. It's insane.
We have from Adam. We have. And he's made all
the roles in the last, like, hour, maybe. 10,
10, 10, 10, 9, 8. Now, the last nine, we did
not count. We were just checking to make sure
I didn't get wrong. When I saw that nine, I was
like, oh, well, thank God that we got rid of
that success. Okay. You interface with the Killing
Sphere. It's in a dormant state right now. You
get this, for a piece of technology, you don't
really imagine technology to be, like, emotional,
right? But there is a... A deep and almost perverted
malice to the killing sphere. It is not just
something programmed to kill. It's something
explicitly programmed to take an almost psychosexual
love of violence and death. My God. Yes. And
basically, you basically just make it so that
it doesn't have that same sexual urge to kill
to. Who are you? How are you changing its parameters
here? Is it just like, obey me? Is that what
it is? Obey me? Obey me, Bailey? Yeah, I would
like it to do obey me, Bailey. Follow my orders.
I would say that, like, I'd like to say obey
me, anything that I say. And also, the parasitic
organism, if I can, it seems to be interfacing
with my mind. I want to show it the mushrooms
that I saw before and try to... Show it that
this is the enemy. This is the parasitic organism
that you need to destroy. Nothing else. This
is all I'm giving you. Obey me. I am Bailey.
Okay. And it will obey you first. And when it
does not have direct orders, it will automatically
attack that parasitic organism. Okay. Locking
in. Let's turn this thing on. Okay. Locking in.
Now, to finish this off, I need one more roll
from you, Bailey. It won't be risky because you
succeeded at compel, which is good. Which is
amend, technology roll, and you're going to be
switching over all the energy to the killing
sphere, correct? Correct. Okay, to do that, you
need to go to another room. I'll teleport you
there in my mind. You're in the lymph room now,
okay? In the spleen room. This is where the main
controls are at. The orifice here is like...
two meters wide, and it's on the floor instead
of on the wall. And, you know, you hop right
into that bastard because I know you're a freak
at this point. Of course. And it just sucks your
whole body in. But you can breathe in here, which
is pretty crazy. And it's like you've been transported
elsewhere. You're like, your mind, you're like
in this mindscape now. And all of your senses
are kind of just like absorbed by this alien
interface. You like are the ship now. It's kind
of crazy. And it's... You're going to have to
give me that men technology. Give me men technology
roll to see how you do this. And this is the
mark of the weaver, correct? Yes. Okay. I can
I use another ability with this? What would that
be? There is unorthodox methods. Okay. What's
that? I don't know if this is cheap, but it does
say once per session before you roll dice to
resolve an action. Instead, state that your result
is a six. You succeed, but. I like that. That
forces us to have a consequence finally. I would
love to give you a consequence, please God. I
figured it's probably time. What? So here's how
I'm imagining things. I'm imagining, bear with
me here, this is a little out there. You are
in a space where thought and reality are compacted
in such a way that you can physically manipulate
the ship because the ship is your mind, right?
So my question to you is, as you were, Very quickly,
like zooming around in this place and you are
rerouting power to the killing sphere. What how
do your unorthodox methods come into play here?
What's the weird what's your weird methodology?
My weird methodology, I think, is that Bailey
is realizing that this is not just buttons to
make a killing sphere turn on. He realized that
he needs to converse emotionally with this thing.
So he's trying to understand its psychosexual
urge to kill and destroy. And he is trying to
converse and speak to it and says that, like,
I know what you want and I know you can't get
it right now. I want to help you get that. All
right. And if you if you help, if I can help
you turn that on, then buddy, follow me. You're
going to get that sated all the time with you.
Like, I want this the sphere to know that I'm
on its side and I'm trying to help it get its
urge back. Sure. I think like as you because
you're conversing with the main system, right?
And you almost, as you, like, talk to the sphere,
you kind of feel it, like, it kind of speaks
up, too. And it's like, yeah, man. Yeah, we're
going to do some great stuff together. You and
I are going to do some great stuff. Let me give
you some help. Let me help you to talk our language
here. Okay. You get a six automatically. Unrolled.
No rolling sound effect, Colin. Don't make a
rolling sound effect. This didn't get rolled.
The stress here is a D8. It's a very high stress
in the control room. You take five supply stress.
Oh, boy. That must be a six supply stress. And
I'm going to explain to you what that means.
Roll me a Fallout test. It's going to be a major
regardless because of our agreement, but just
roll it anyways. Yep. Okay. You rolled a two,
but we have our agreement. And here's what happens
as your major Fallout. which I'm glad I got to
give you this one because I really enjoyed this
thing I wrote. Bailey, choose the two pieces
of resources or equipment or both that you do
not care if you lose forever. Oof. Okay. I have
Cursed Puppet on here. That was going to be one
of them that I don't care that I lose forever.
Sure. I'm trying to think. Colin, can I be weird?
Yeah. I want to do Cursed Puppet and the Occult's
Niche Unopenable Box. No! Our box! You fucking
maniac! It's so valuable! I hate you. Are you
certain? You certainly want to destroy the box
forever. It's so valuable. I hate you. I thought
it would be fun narratively, but let me think
about it. I mean, it would. I think it would
be funny. Cause I'm imagining the scenario. He
cares nothing else about the world. And the most
expensive thing in the world means nothing to
him in this moment. But there's something very
funny about you choosing that. And I will be,
I will be narrating it to you shortly. So I'm
cool with it. Like I'm, I'm cool with it as the
GM. So if you want to do that, I'm, I'm fucking
on board. And it's going to make what happens
next extremely different than it was in the past.
Oh, fucking lord. I know that's tempting, isn't
it? Fellas, that sounds like a lot of fun. I
don't know. It does. I cannot deny that. Colin,
take my cursed puppet and my unopenable box.
Yes. Remove them from your sheet. Sir. They are
gone. You feel a stinging sensation in between
your eyes and a terrible burning sensation in
your mind. All of your senses scream out and
seem to collapse on each other, hammered together
like steel into a blade. And then suddenly there
is a complete peace. You are now one with this
place now, and it waits patiently for your inquiry,
eager to answer you and respond to your commands.
You are spit out of this, the interface. And
there is now a, you've been implanted with something
which has consumed your cursed puppet and your
unopenable box in order to create the implant
it has implanted you with. Oh. So you gain the
ability machine interface. You've been fitted
with an alien machine interface device. Describe
where the implant is and what it looks like.
Whenever you physically touch a machine, it may
roll mastery on understanding or manipulating
it. Yes. This is... Where do I put this? In my
resources? This is an ability. Oh. Okay. And
it's called what? Machine interface. Interface.
Did you copy and paste it, maybe? Yes, I did.
Okay, yeah, I see. But you have to describe what
part of your body it's on and what it looks like.
So is this... Do I need to integrate the box
and the puppet into this? I think in some way
you do, because that's what it's made out of.
And I'm going to describe something else in a
second here, but I want to know what it looks
like first. Yeah, I'm trying to think, like...
What the hell would this have been turned into?
Juice puppet parts? Strings? Yeah, it's like...
Hmm. Hmm. The easy answer is something in my
hand, but we can't go easy. Whatever you like.
Yeah, take your time on this. I have something
fun, Colin. Mm -hmm. What if the input device
is on, or his implant is on my forehead? Top
of my skull. Okay. Which means I need to, like,
if I'm trying to infiltrate something, I need
to, like, put my hands against the wall and put
my head into the device. Yeah. Or next to it.
Yeah. That's what I'd like it to be. And ideally,
I was just thinking of it as a socket. But is
that not enough? I mean, it's up to you. I imagined
it as not something that protrudes necessarily,
but not something that recedes. Almost like a...
I don't know. Just like a patch. Or something,
but it looks weird. I don't know, you could have
antenna for all I care. It's your choice. Yeah,
I'm thinking some sort of small antenna -like
protrusion. Not that it's springy. I assume that
it's hard. Up to you. And it's coming out at
the top of Bailey's forehead. Not at the top
of his skull. So it's like right there in a way
that he probably needs to wear his hat forever
now. Is it a horn? Do you have a horn now? Oh,
do you have like, that could be kind of cool.
It's made from puppet. It could be like almost
a ivory wood or an ebony wooden horn. And that's
how everyone would probably assume it. I can't
convince anyone that is like some machine output.
Anyone who sees that thing is going to be like,
you've got a horn on your head, demon, right?
Yeah. I say let's do that. Okay. Well, just write
that in the ability description wherever you
put it. Okay. Okay. So the thing I want to add
on, because you specifically use the box, is
that in your, you know, in like some games, like
a lot of games that have items, you go in your
inventory and you can like rotate a really high
def 3D model of the item. Yeah. There is in your
mind, always from now on, there is a extremely,
More detailed than the human eye. 3D model of
this box. Except now it has a keyhole. And it
will never be opened. And that's the thing, Bailey.
You're pretty sure that this is how it was meant
to be opened. What? Yeah, it couldn't be opened
in the physical world. But now it has a keyhole.
It didn't have a keyhole before. Can I open this
right now? Not right now. But you think you can
figure it out now. It's no longer an unopenable
box. Now it's just a box you can open. I just
need to figure out how to open it. Yeah, you
just need to figure out how to open it, man.
Somewhere in your noggin needs to be an answer.
You just gotta think on it. You just gotta think
on it. Makes sense to me. Yeah, it's a rational
answer to everything, isn't it? Okay. The lymph,
the spleen shuts down. It is no longer producing
lymph. You hear a, it's a very loud humming noise.
And then there's like a nasty noise as the killing
sphere enters the room with you and just waits.
So this thing is going to, if I move around,
is this thing following me? Yeah. Yeah. Unless
you tell it otherwise. I, I pat it like an animal.
I say, buddy. Let's fulfill that urge. And I
want to get out of here. Okay, so you took a
major supply fallout. That was it. You can now
clear all your stress. Stress is cleared. Okay.
Bailey's in the hallway, and there's a gigantic
metal sphere following him now. And he has a
horn, right? And he has a horn. Does he have
his hat on? Is your big hat on? I probably have
it off, so you see the horn. What in the hell
is that? Is that the sphere of death? That is
the killing sphere, but don't worry. We talked
it out. It's cool with us. I think Ledger's gonna
look at his death to see if she has any particular
opinions on this death sphere. Your death is
absolutely horrified by the sphere. Keep it the
hell away from us. That's okay. I'll just keep
it by me. Hela points at Bailey's head. Why do
you have a thingy? What the hell? What happened
to you? What is this thing? I started touching
my little thing. It's sensitive. Wow. I didn't
notice this before. I don't know. I guess I got
it from the machine. I put my hat back on. Maybe
no one needs to know about that. Booker. His
horn is extremely valuable. You recognize the
pattern of the unopenable box on that horn. Hey,
Bailey, where did our box go? How do you know
about that? No. You son of a bitch. He grabs
the horn. Hey, listen, listen. The sphere wanted
something, and I had to give it. Listen, we want
the sphere, okay? This is more expensive than
any... box, okay? And you just decided? I knew.
I knew you would want this, okay? I knew all
of you would want this. Because what this sphere
is going to do, it's going to give us all the
answers we need. And show me. Hey! If you guys
have any questions for the mushroom, now we can
ask it. Because it has to answer. And he pats
the killing sphere on the head. I know what I'm
asking. Anyone want to come with? I don't think
I want to leave you alone with that. thing as
much as I am loathe to be around it myself. It's
a good idea. Let's go get this shit sorted. Kayla
was looking at his reflection in the sphere.
I guess we're gonna go. You go. The sphere can't
fit in like the little chiseled out hallway,
but that's fine because it melts its way through
the rock really effortlessly. That's good. Oh,
wow. Yeah, the rock kind of just falls away.
Does it turn molten behind it? It should. Yeah,
it does. It's molten. It leaves a big molten
borehole behind it as it goes up to the surface.
You probably hear some screaming from the surface
as this happens because it gets there before
you. But yeah, you're up there now. The sphere
is there. You're there. Dubious is screaming
because a massive sphere came out of the wall.
A couple of the farmers are shocked by it. That's
the situation. Everybody stand back. If the sphere's
on our side, don't worry. It's spheres with me.
It's okay. I'm going to go get the sphere. Yeah,
it's with you. It's following you. All right,
let's go over to the, I assume, that barrier,
right? Yeah, yeah, you go down to the barrier.
They have a couple more lymph bombs here now.
The lymph is turned off, though, which they're
a little concerned about. And they look at you,
and they see the sphere, and they're like, what
the hell did you do? Don't worry. I told you
not to touch anything. I found something stronger
than the bombs, all right? We're going to go
deal with that mushroom problem now. You're not
going to see them ever again. What is that? What
is that thing? It's a problem solver. But we
need the lymph to grow the plants. This thing
will handle everything. Don't worry about it.
You can turn it back on, right? Hold on. He kind
of looks at the sphere. Yeah, it said it could
do that. It didn't say anything. Okay. I don't
think it talks to me. I mean, who knows, you
know? Yeah, the sphere comes with you. You go
with the... I think everyone's kind of shocked.
There's a shocked silence. As you go down the...
Do you want it to start destroying mushroom matter?
No. Let's go. I want to go speak to the mushroom
god again. Okay. Are you trying to just go there
yourself? Without escort, I assume? Yeah, I mean,
like, yeah. Yeah, the sphere can lead you there.
Yeah, I feel like the sphere really wants what
it wants. Yeah, you follow the sphere, you get
to the soldier. Now, now what? What is that?
What's happening? Can you cut this guy down?
Can you just, like, let him out? Uh, the sphere
evaporates all of the mushroom matter. My Siri
just turned on on my phone. I heard that. That's
the sphere. Can you kill this man? Oh my god.
Killing this man. The mushroom matter around
the soldier instantly evaporates. Like, it just
turns to dust. And the sphere lets out a little
humming pulse. You can tell it wants more, man.
I tell the guy. You should absolutely run, not
even to the people. Just keep running as far
as you can. Where? There's fucking creatures.
I would take your chance with the creatures.
Okay. What if I stay with you? I'd look to the
rest of the group. Is that okay with you guys?
I mean, you seem to have a, this sphere seems
quite useful. So I'd like to, I would personally
like to stay here. I have no strong opinions
on the matter. I simply want to be rid of the
damn thing. All right. Just to be clear, you're
planning on telling this creature that we have
betrayed it and we are here to demand more information
from it. Well, I'm going to ask about the information
first, and if it needs a display, we'll let the
sphere do what it needs to do. All right. This
has become your rodeo. Please do not get us all
killed. Do you guys have any questions for the
mushroom? Surely. Why did it call me cousin?
That's a great one. We can ask that. Okay. Yeah,
I don't think, I mean, you pass more bodies and
stuff. I don't think you pass a prince. I think
it kind of lets you come to it. You're back in
the big room with the pulsing organ. Yeah, probably
speaks to you. It says, This is a very unexpected
development. Trust me, I was not expecting it
either. But I need to know everything you know
about Checker Graham. Okay. You wish to come
to an agreement then? I think you should tell
me first. Okay. I think he's going to realize
you're threatening him. I... Just tell me. What
do you want to know? I've told you most of what
I know about Checker Graham already. I have information
for your friends, of course. What can you tell
them? Well, I need to know a little bit more
about their situations. I recognize the taint
of demonic control on your friend Booker, I think
I heard his name was. Could help with that. Your
friend Ledger. His essence is split. Foreign
body and a soul which is not his own. I think
I could give some advice about that. And, of
course, Halo. Well, Halo's new in the world.
But Halo doesn't know what he is. Why he is.
I think we should hear this thing out. Yes, I
would agree. I would agree. Yeah. But we are
in a different situation now, Bailey, as you
realize. I think you've done an excellent work.
You've exceeded my expectations, truly. Yeah,
I guess so. This does change the nature of our
agreement. As I no longer have the power, I need
to do some mitigation in order to safely give
you this information. Right. I need the information.
Okay, which one do you want first? I would choose
carefully. I turn to the group. Who wants to
go? What do you know about this thing on my neck?
My split soul. What can you do? What do you know
about it? You want to overcome the control that
the Institute, right? Yes. Yes. Ledner looks
very intense. One of you deadwalkers are among
my children, as it turns out. That one, she said
that joining us was preferable to any more control.
And I accepted her willingly. We're happy. I'm
happy. But. If you wanted to go another way about
it, which I'm sure you do, there is a loophole.
A great many magicians are among my children,
and they say that if you could find your body,
your soul's body, not the body that your soul
is in right now, and you had a talented magician,
though it seems Bailey here is quite talented
at his gift. If you could somehow bring your
body and your soul to the same place, you could
undo your subjugation. Return yourself back to
that place you came from. Re -establish your
death as a pure thing and take the road back.
Yes, how can I find my body? That I do not know.
I think Ledger maybe looks at Bailey and she
says... He doesn't say anything. I changed my
mind. He doesn't say anything. Bailey looks to
Booker. You next. Yeah, Booker Parkelian. What
about him? What has control over me? What do
you know? In the interest of good spirit, I gave
you the answer about Ledger. I should tell you
now that where you are standing now, this is
not my heart. This is a node. Think of it as
a town. I'd be upset if you destroyed this town,
but the vast majority of myself is somewhere
else. I'm not here to destroy anyone. Yes, but
you have a... very frightening object with you.
You must understand that. The sphere does what
it wants to do. I can't really stop it. It seems
to be listening to you. No, trust me. I could
listen to it, and it has an emotional urge. It
wants this. Okay. Can I still have the town?
What was your original agreement with the town?
And please don't lie to me. My original agreement
with the town was that I would stay down here.
They would supply lymph to me, and they wouldn't
take more than they need. In recent years, under
the guidance of their foreman, the demon who
you've met, they decided to take more than they
needed to expand their farming operation to further
sustain their town and their greed. And that
was not part of the agreement. And so, I came
to take what was mine. Hell with the town, Bailey.
Let them have it. That sounds fair. Is he deciding
whether to spare the mushroom town or not? Yeah,
I'm trying to see where your feelings are at.
Seems like everyone just wants to go forward.
Yeah, Halo notices that Bailey's looking at you.
Or looking at him. And he says, This pale mother
seems to imply that it can live on and grow back.
But the people here... People don't grow back,
do they? They do if they leave. If you wish,
given your increased leverage, which I respect,
I will let the people go, or you can tell them
to go. That was always an option. I never asked
for them to stay here and be consumed. They chose
that. Okay. As long as you don't hurt anyone,
I guess. If they don't go back on their word,
I won't. If you go back and tell them, because
they won't listen to me, that they need to evacuate,
that I don't know if you can make them, but I
think you could, especially with that sphere
at your side, then we'll have a deal when they
are gone. And if you leave the sphere behind
while you leave the town or you have it, I don't
want the sphere here on our next negotiations.
My fear is that I will give you the information
you need. And next thing I know, the sphere is
coming to kill me. I don't want that. That's
fair. And I want the lymph back on as well. I
need that. That's the whole point. I could probably
turn it on myself, but I would like your go ahead
for that because it will... I understand. That's
fair. Okay, then here's what I propose. Go back,
get them to leave. I will go back into the town.
You'll have the sphere with you to ensure I don't
try anything funny and take you over. And then
after that is done... You will be guided out
of the town towards Camp Rascal, where you will
be let go. And then I will have my prints there
to communicate your last couple questions. Does
this work for everyone? Yes. I don't give a damn
what happens to the town. Okay. How much longer
do you have, Zach? I mean, not really any concrete
time. Ideally within a half hour. I can imagine
this going in. If we go fast mode, I think we
could get it done in a half hour. Yeah, like
Bailey's heard what he's wanted to hear, and
he's ready to go back. Okay, you go back. You
go back to the infected, to the fire break, we're
calling it. And we have our Cathari soldier with
us, right? Yeah, yeah, that's true. He saw everything.
He's been extremely quiet. Yeah, but he witnessed
everything, so he can relay this information
so he knows. That we what we just agreed with
and what they need to know. Basically, that's
what I want to do. Yeah, and I'm sure you're
you talking through this, I assume. Yeah, I'm
just basically telling the demon like you are
going to have to evacuate. Unfortunately, this
mushroom, it needs a town. It seems you went
back on a deal that you made previously. It was
planning to kill everyone here, but I got to
talk it down. It will allow you to leave, but
you do have to leave. This is my livelihood.
You can get another. You could be not alive.
Why are you doing this? Why not just help us?
I need to go forward. Because I'm going to help
everyone. It sounds like you're ruining my life,
is what it sounds like. He kind of takes a step
forward. I don't think you understand. You got
to leave, okay? Ledger's hand hovers near his
pistol and he watches this with intent. So that
thing follows your orders. Does it? Seems so.
He goes for his gun. Sphere, go ahead. I know
you went to Sphere. Take this as your opportunity.
Total Aria is, I guess you could describe it
as disassembled. Like each distinct limb, each
like differently colored patch of skin, which
looks like lips, is turned into a new piece.
Just like very cleanly, separately, almost like
you like a jar full of rocks, you know, just
very distinctly separate pieces. It's not messy.
It's not wet at all. It's almost like a like
a flash frozen thing that's been carved up with
one of those high power water like cutters. And
he just falls into a bunch of pieces on the ground
after a little bit of hum from the sphere. I'm
going to turn to the rest of the villagers. Sorry,
go ahead. You're next. I was going to say to
the people around me being like, none of you
agreed with him, right? Didn't you want to leave?
Yeah, we want to leave really bad. We're going
to go. That's what I thought. Go ahead, guys.
Yeah, we're going to grab our stuff and we're
going to go. Thanks for all the help. Appreciate
it. You're the best. We're going to go now. No
problem. They leave. They leave. Real quickly.
So long, people. Tartalaria drops his gun. It's
left intact. I'm going to give it to you, or
whoever wants it. I'll pick it up and look at
it. It is a very fine double -barreled shotgun
with a really cool red wood built into it. takes
shells that are not normal shells, but they use,
like, bloodsand shot shells. It is a very nice
gun. This is a D8 kill Demonwood coach gun. I
think Ledger's gonna pick it up, look at it,
and then be like, this one looks more your speed.
And he's gonna toss it to him. Oh, thank you.
I'll take it. Never was a fan of the street howitzer.
Too cumbersome. Okay, so let's fast forward a
little bit. Everyone's leaving. It's only been
a few hours since the beetle thing. Are you waiting
to talk to Downfall? Or are you just going to
like... I mean, you kind of have to, right? Yeah,
we gotta see. We gotta see. Sure. Yeah, the sphere
comes with you. You kind of wait. People leave
the town. Everyone's kind of confused, but I
think they whisper to each other, but they keep
their distance from you. They do not approach
you. Or the sphere, which stands guard outside
the house. And, like, you start to notice that
some of, like, the Pale Mother's, like, troops
start creeping into the village, too. Just, like,
over time. But... The... Eventually, the... The
corpse that you left in this house is converted
into a big... writhing mess of beetles. A bunch
of small scarabs swarm around until you see,
like, the outline of a body of a man. And from
that skittering mass, a voice emerges and says,
Very good. Where are you? We're in... Was it
called Micah? Micah. Something went weird. That
is... Yes, I was going to say that is extremely
unusual. Seems the city has shifted more than
I thought. But this may prove to be a boon. You
are far deeper in than your other destinations
were, though it is more uncharted. Have you made
inroads there? Will you be able to progress?
Yes, we plan to move on to a place I believe
it is called. Fort Camp Rascal? Soon another
Cathari outpost. That makes sense. Well, very
well. As per our agreement, here is your promised
stipend, as well as another pouch of blood sand
for the next time you must make contact with
me. And you gain two D6 stacks of tallies and
a D6 sack of blood sand. And Downfall says, unfortunately,
the master has not been able to provide any additional
information on your individual quests, but...
When he's feeling a little bit better, I suspect
you'll be able to shed some light on those, if
you have not already found your own ways of discovering
that information. Yeah, well, I do hope to hear
from him soon, perhaps at the next settlement.
Will that be all? I believe so. Yeah. Ledger
looks at the rest of the team but says nothing.
I'm impressed by your efficiency. I'll be seeing
you, hopefully, at Camp Rascal. And then the
mass of beetles collapses. And then the large
beetle returns to your inventory. Ding! Yay!
I never took them out. I did put the tallies
in my inventory. Good. You don't really need
to keep track of the blood sand, because I'm
assuming it's going to be used for communicating.
But if you want to, that's fine, too. Okay. Now
I guess you leave, right? Nothing else left?
Yeah, we're rolling on, walking through the ghost
town as the mushrooms start to take it. I mean,
I'm... I'm going to turn to the sphere, and I'm
probably going to say, there's no way I can take
you with me, is there? No. You're just too good.
Yeah. I kind of figured sphere. It has a prime
directive that it can't leave a certain radius
of the ship. But, mournfully, maybe as a bright
spot, the sphere tells you that if one day the
ship terraforms the entire world, then the sphere's
domain will be the entire world. And we can meet
again. And then you kiss. I'm gonna hug this
fucking sphere. I'm hugging the sphere. I love
you, Death Sphere. You hug the sphere. It vibrates.
Yeah. Couple last courses of notes of matter.
Now that you are down here by the quartermaster's
office, your beetle vibrates, indicating the
presence of another nearby. I will fast forward
past this because you have your funny implant,
but there was a second, another beetle inside
the ship in a room called the anomalies room
where there is a number of disassembled human
beings who were presumably part of one of Mr.
Albright's previous expeditions. So you have
that beetle. Someone add. Expedition 2 beetle
to their sheet. Damn, son. Yeah, let's call it
a D6 occult. Got it. Expedition 2 beetle. Are
you having the sphere escort you, or are you
going to let the Pale Mother escort you? Yeah,
I'm going to have the sphere escort me. I thought
we agreed to leave the sphere behind. Wasn't
that part of our deal? Oh, when we get back through?
I mean, what's it gonna do? Say no? When we got
the sphere? We're tight. Yeah. It's up to you,
really. I'm bringing the sphere just so no tricks
get pulled. I'm not doing anything. One of the
pale princes comes to meet you and ensures that
you are not heading towards the pale mother,
but instead heading out. You know? That's true.
That's where we're going. A lot of that mycelium
starts to creep. like, up into the upper farms
you've seen. It's made astounding progress in
the last 24 hours. And you head out. You are
led out to the edge of the Pale Mother's domain.
Eventually, the sphere can't take you any farther.
You say a tearful goodbye. Yeah, I'm telling
the sphere also, if anything tries to interface
with you, don't let it. Okay? Yeah, the sphere
assures you that it's yours and only yours for
all time. Don't let the mushrooms take you, sphere.
Give it a pat on the head. But the sphere does
ask. It does request that you let it resume killing
once you are gone. I think I tell the sphere,
your job is to protect the ship. If anything
happens to that ship, you do what you need to
do, all right? But it is terraforming, and the
mushrooms are aiding it. And you must protect
the ship. and the mushrooms, even from themselves.
Don't let them get too much more than they need
to, all right? You know where they need to stay.
Okay, so you're telling it to ensure that they
do not take more lymph than they already were
getting. Yeah, because the ship needs its lymph,
too. Yeah, there's a limit in power. Yeah. Okay.
I want the... Listen, the sphere needs its engagement,
and I'm still giving it a job. All right, got
it. It'll be the... humble watchman. And the
Pale Mother will just have to figure that out.
Okay. You head out. After a couple days of uneasy
trekking, you kind of are deposited at the end
of the fungal pathways. And I guess now the Pale
Prince kind of speaks to you. And Booker and
Halo. That's what the Pale Mother has. Yay. This
is what She says, through the Pale Prince, to
Booker. Breaking a demonic pact is very tricky.
It is possible. Technically speaking, everyone
who joined my children broke their pacts. There
are others of your disposition here who have
been freed. It is my belief that if you alter
your body and soul to such an extent that it
is no longer recognizably yours, you will be
freed. of your agreement with Parkelion, as it
will no longer be with you. Gee, that's helpful.
I didn't say it was going to be easy. And Halo...
Take my chances with the rap book. Halo, what
do you think you are? I... I know what I am.
I'm Halo. That's right. You know everything you
need to know. I'm giving this fucking mushroom
a cold stare. Is that really all he needs to
know? What would you have me do? I won't intervene.
I won't intervene. I'll tell you this, Halo.
You're not the first one of your kind I've run
into. And I don't mean demons. Okay. Did you
say the same thing to them that you did to me?
Oh, they weren't interested in talking. What
were they interested in doing? Going deeper.
Well, that's what we're doing, what I'm doing.
Then it runs in the family. One question I have
for Booker and Ledger is, are you interested
in asking about the tasks given to you by your
master? Oh, I guess so. That actually... I've
been so focused on how to fuck... I know. I forgot
that I'm supposed to be doing a job. What was
the... The maw apparatus and the string that
consumes for Booker. You ever heard of a little
thing called the maw apparatus before we part
on amicable terms? The maw apparatus and the
string that consumes. You were both sent to get
those separately. Yes. They're the same. Well,
that's convenient. Two names for the same object.
Its true name is strangely absent from my children.
Concealed. But I do know that it is an object,
to my knowledge, that was sealed beneath the
Wandering Sea long ago. Hmm, you don't know where
it is right now. The Wandering Sea? No, the...
Oh. Oh, shit. We were there. I mean, we think.
Well, that is useful, Booker. I believe we may
have things to discuss. I think we do. That's
all, then. Well, if we run into each other again,
I hope we can strike up another such profitable
deal. Hopefully with... Less threatening needed,
but I respect it. No hard feelings. Well, ain't
that just wonderful? I'm glad you got what you
wanted. Now let's get the hell out of here. As
a sign of goodwill, I will release the spores
that have been nurturing in your lungs. That
is down to you. Thank you very much. Safe travels
now. So long, pale lady. And you. And we can
end there, I think. Beautiful. How thrilling.
I didn't have to fire a shot. I thought for sure
somebody was going to get shot in the head. But
luckily, we have the killing sphere.