A hall I see that no sunlight reaches, On Nastrond
the doors face northward. Through its smoke -vent
venom drips, Serpent skins enskeen the hall.
Men wade there, tormented by the stream, Vile
murderers, men forsworn. Welcome to episode 18
of the Vikings and Valkyries podcast. Venturing
into the well of fate are Josh, Jeremy, Steve,
Bill, CJ, and Taylor. Welcome to you all, Black
Swans of Battle. Hi! Woohoo! Oh, hello! Now,
we have two new guests with us today, and we
are delighted to welcome Josh Heath, who is the
COO of High Level Games. He's also known as the
Heathen... philosopher a u .s army veteran who
helped convince the department of defense to
add several religious preferences to their list
including heathen so just that's a feat in itself
tell us about how you overcame barriers to have
that embraced as an official religion um it was
a pretty long process it took us about eight,
nine years, all told, and multiple rounds of
congressional requests and getting the news involved.
And finally, we had to petition the Department
of Defense Chaplains Corps directly. We had several
meetings with high -level generals, and we were
like, we're not weird. We're not crazy. This
is actually a religious belief, and we'd like
you to recognize it. And they ended up pausing
all editions. to the list for about five years
until they had a plan that was going to go out
through the entire Department of Defense. And
they included all of the requests that I helped
put into their list of things to add in that
process. So it was definitely interesting. It's
gratifying to hear that you've managed to find
your way through that bureaucracy. And you've
also published a whole bunch of game -related
stuff like Snowhaven and Army Men. Anything there
that... is going to stand you in good stead for
the adventure ahead today? You know, Army Men's
a little bit similar to this in that it's about
warfare, but as little plastic army men in a
world full of plastic bugs and other plastic
people. So maybe a little bit. I think the general
concept for this game is a little bit different
than anything I've put out in the past. But I've
played in some sci -fi settings, things like
Aeon for the Trinity Continuum. with psychics
and things like that. So I've got a foot in the
door, as it were, I guess. Now, you are well
-versed in ancestor worship, and so you've got
a whole bunch of ancient spirits playing with
you today, including Jeremy of Old Men Rolling
Dice. You're kind of akin to an ancestral spirit.
You're all about nostalgia for past glories.
Yeah, it leans into that. If I had a problem
with being called old, I certainly picked a wrong
username on most of my social medias and things
like that. So, yeah, I feel a little outgunned
here, though. Like, I'm not an author. I know
you guys have had some great guests on, authors.
And, you know, I haven't done anything as lofty
as, like, taking on the bureaucracy of my government.
I feel I'm just like, I'm just that guy. I'm
glad to be here, though. Well. your eloquence
speaks for itself you have quite the following
online you know you're constantly dipping into
that treasure trove of the of the good old days
what's your most favorite gaming memory oh my
gosh now you're really digging uh you know what
it wasn't actually all that long ago like i've
been playing role -playing games for 40. 40 years
so uh but about uh this going back maybe about
10 years uh was running a campaign and uh it
was dungeons and dragons our wizard and our group
had to dispel a very high level spell and there
was a role involved and i think she needed like
she needed like an 18 and it's one of those moments
where like everything aligns and she rolls a
natural 20 and the table just like erupted and
i think it had like it certainly had happened
in my gaming before but i had never been sort
of cognizant of how amazing It is when something
like that happens at the table. One of the other
players was so excited. Like he jumps up out
of his seat. He sort of does a full lap of the
table, high -fiving everyone. And everyone's
laughing to the point of almost like crying.
We're in such hysterics after the high -fives
were done in that. And it just kind of set the
scene as to like why I do these games. Because
sometimes great stuff like that happens. A shared
make -believe sort of turns a whole bunch of
adults into just like kids again, cheering and
shouting and laughing. Here, for just a moment,
there was just sort of bliss for no other reason
than a dice came up on the number they were all
hoping for. And it was a player who was very
new. This was her first campaign. And I can only
imagine the impression and memory that has...
given to her. It was fantastic. It's why I play
the game. Like, that was just it in a nutshell.
That is a great story. We had the kind of reverse
a couple of weeks ago when Tilda, our pilot,
joined on pretty much her first recording of
an RPG, and she got a natural one, a critical
moment. So, you know, that was equally hilarious.
Anyway, Jeremy, to your point, the interesting
thing about the podcast is bringing various different
artistic types together and the way that they
tell stories, each of them is perfectly valid.
And I think that everyone learns a little bit
of something from it. I saw somebody on Reddit
who said, I just want to play a D &D campaign
where I tell the story and I get to do all this
stuff and I just want to do it on my own. And
then they replied to themselves and said, I was
just informed that that's called writing a novel.
That's narration. I support the railroad, by
the way. As an old school gamer, I feel there
was a lot of railroading back in the day. And
yeah, I always say it's not railroading. It's
called linear storytelling. I give my players
lots and lots of options, nearly all of which
are quite bad. Exactly. Let us proceed with Bill's
favorite part of the episode, which is the quiz.
question that I have for you today is somewhat
mythical. Can you name for me all of the children
of Loki? Sleipnir, the horse. I think Fenrir,
the wolf, was as well. The serpent. One of them
is, I don't remember his name though. Jormungandr.
Is that it? Nice. You have named all of the monstrous
kin, but he was married to Sigyn and had two
offspring by her. Rumpelstiltskin. Valid contribution
as always, Bill. Thank you. So I think one of
his kids with Sigyn was Narfi. Bob Marks. Good
job, Josh. Another was Bill Hopkins. I like how
we're all waiting with bated breath for Josh
to come up with a second name. You're our only
hope. Yeah, it's funny because I was like, should
I study for this quiz? I shouldn't fail this,
and now I'm stumped. We didn't mention Hella
earlier. Good. You've made... Some audacious
stabs there, and you've got it almost right,
because you're correct. Hel or Hela is also fathered
by Loki and the Jotun Angribortha. The one that
you're missing as a son by Sigurd is Vali. As
often the case with Norse myth, it's a happy
tale, because the Aesir changed Vali into the
form of a wolf, and he tore apart his brother
Nafi. And then the Aesir took his entrails and
they bound Loki with them over three stones.
So a salient lesson for us all. Be careful what
you teach your children. Nice and cheerful, like
a German fairy tale. Germanic folklore at its
best. The inspiration point is yours. Remember
to spend it. Perhaps put a post -it note, I don't
know, on your screen, on your head, because it
oftentimes you. forget to spend it let's begin
the adventure now rather than send you back to
the ship and do some slightly boring inventory
things we will just start as you prepare to make
planetfall The supercomputer MIM has guided you
towards the planet's surface using a mechanism
called a gap lifter, or in our sci -fi terms,
a space elevator. It's affectionately nicknamed
Bifrost by the Skull for obvious mythological
reasons. The orbital ring above acts as a counterweight,
and the lifter spirals up and down a vast sky
-bound tether. The journey to the planet below,
the dual planet of Muspelheim, Niflheim, is a
lengthy one. It's going to take you nearly 24
hours to descend from the atmosphere down to
the planet's surface. Trip is largely redundant
in the era of flitting ships and thought and
memory drive. However, your ship has powered
down. And as you know, you are unseen. You are
ghost -like. You are non -corporeal because you
are out of phase in this time. The space elevator
is still used to make occasional trips. for study
maintenance and and descent to the planet surface
by the techno priest who comprised the skull
and it's the only real option available to you
again you are just on this this shuddering space
elevator that spirals down this tether towards
the planet's surface below, half of which is
seething embers, the other half is chilling cold,
and you will eventually alight in the Terminator
Zone at some kind of docking station, the Terminator
Zone being a habitable part of this tidally locked
world. So let's just take a moment to introduce
our two new crewmen, our new jetfarers. We can
imagine them a little bit like Warhammer 40k
Space Marines. What will they see when they look
at you, John? So my character is in armor that
is immediately obvious as a stylized depiction
of Yggdrasil. his helmet is shaped to look like
the head of an eagle and if you look really close
there's a small bump of a that you got to get
really close to see it is actually a blood red
hawk and along the arms are gold inlaid branch
images with the recurring squirrel motif rushing
up and down the arms and his leg armor is shaped
and colored like tree trunks his boots look like
mighty dragons that appear to be gnawing on the
roots of the tree. And he goes by the name Ula
Ixbani. Now, historically, again, if you've listened
to the podcast, you'll know that everyone will
get your name wrong. And... Uma. No, I got it.
Uma. I wrote it down. Excellent. Excellent. So
I am playing Gengar Wolf. And... Ganga is, his
armor may have had one time looked like, are
we calling him Uma? One time looked like Uma.
Proud and, you know, epic in proportion. However,
just rune upon rune upon rune upon rune has been
scratched into its surface again and again and
again. It looks like the armor is a bit of a...
It's a bit archaic. It's been maybe a hand -me
-down as the runes are clearly not all written
by the same individual if Gengar wrote them himself.
And if his helmet was off prior to us beginning
to descend, he has... perhaps the most glorious
sort of 1980s mullet with a ridiculous, just
like his armor is written all over his skin,
including his face, tattooed everywhere in sort
of, you know, stereotypical knotwork patterns,
almost like he's trying to look the role of the
ultimate space Viking. But there is sort of a
youthfulness in his eye and inexperience that
you would clearly be able to see. Very good.
See, we've upped the quality now. We're bringing
these DMs into the fold. There's all kinds of
descriptive stuff going on. Cole, why don't you
tell your crewmates why you have gathered them
and what the mission is ahead? Perhaps it's the
time to... To do a kind of mission briefing,
you grab them from the Falkir, brought them down
at Min's insistence. On this is Gap Lifter. Gappers,
our fate is to go to Nastrond, the Heart of Darkness,
and to stand witness against tyranny and murder.
Now, we cannot save this planet, or the Skuld,
and their families above us, and we cannot change
the past. But, we can return to our time, and
save the remaining homeworlds from a worse doom.
We must return the ravens who cruelly propel
our noble Falkir to the Allfather, whom they
rightfully belong. We are to bear witness in
this strand of time to prevent the same mistake
from happening again. Super. Now, Josh, one of
the things that I've thought long and hard about,
and again, as perhaps from your perspective,
you may well have a good way to explain this,
but stripping the ravens from Odin. and delivering
their skull and using it for the purposes of
technology. I mean, it's akin to taking the Turin
Shroud or the nail of the cross or the crown
of the thorns. There's something kind of blasphemous
about this. Ripping the thought and memory of
the Allfather would prevent his ability to see
into the world, to know what is coming, to be
able to contextualize it in what has been. We
will fix this. I mean, as far as Gigi's concerned,
this is just, you know, okay, nothing new. I
mean, he's going to look at Ulma. Two syllables
went wrong quite quickly. Ulma and Wolf. I'm
going to call you Wolf. I can remember that.
And he's going to look and he's going to say,
you have red on you. Yes. Bill, have you got
any perspective about making planetfall approaching
the planet below because you are potentially
headed into the very birthplace of the universe,
the place that sired the planets, the home of
Yggdrasil itself? It's the beginning of all things.
It's the well of life. It's the meaning and purpose
of every alpha and every being. But how does
it make you feel, Bill? How does it make you
feel? A little dizzy. I feel like healing. I
feel like healing a lot of people. Sometimes
not healing. It's a broad range of emotions.
And Steve, let's get a little word from you as
we approach the planet's surface because one
of the things that our new comrades might not
understand is why you are unseen and just how
trauma... plays a part in your visibility and
your ability to interact with the creatures and
structures below. One of the things that we've
learned over time is that when someone is shifted
sort of half in the world, half in the spirit
world, they can only be seen by people who have
suffered trauma, who have psychological damage.
The more they have, the more that they're likely
to see us, which is why up on the station, pretty
much no one except that one unfortunate crazy
man could see us. But we're now headed down to
a prison where I think it's safe to say most
everyone will have some amount of trauma. So
we should assume that most of them, if not all
of them, will immediately see us and there will
be no more sneaking around. The elevator continues
to lurch down its tether towards the impossible
planet below. The star Sertologi sears the sky,
appearing perhaps ten times larger than Sol does
on Midgard. It is an oppressive, radiant presence.
As you know from your discussions last episode,
the prison complex, Nastrond, and then this anchor
station that you all come to are well within
this habitable Terminator zone. It comes into
sharp relief as you descend, but there is no
real boundary between the two sides of the tidally
locked planet. There's nothing between Muspelheim
proper and Niflheim, apart from this shadowy
transition where... Along this Terminator line,
you can see it's flooded with a constant and
sickly twilight. In this zone, alien trees have
flourished. They form tall, spindly black forests,
aeons old. According to the wise, this is the
very birthplace of the world's tree. You may,
if you are religious, act with suitable awe.
The space elevator shudders to a halt. The doors
open, and they leave you able to enter onto the
planet. You may proceed as you wish. Leomi takes
a deep breath and says, The air is so rich, so
full of life. You can smell it. You can feel
it all around us. The holiest. Cornelius is going
to step out. onto whatever the area is outside
and kneel in prayer the second that he does so.
Cole will join him and run his hands through
the dirt and just kind of feeling the earth.
You feel it, brother. So full of life. In a planetary
context, again, this planet is gravitationally
locked, so it's in a synchronous rotation with
the star. Muspelheim, one half of the sphere
is like embers of a dwindling fire. Niflheim
is this frozen waste with an atmosphere that
glows like a sapphire. The planet does maintain
strong magnetic field and an oxygen rich atmosphere
and there is a constant transfer of heat through
these. whirling winds that go from the hot to
the cold side. So there is this constant blustering
gale all around you that drowns out your voices.
Gungor totally has missed the religious significance
here as he steps out of the elevator, locks his
helmet down into place, and it's warm. You might
have a rival there, CJ, for stating the obvious.
Gigi doesn't even realize they've landed yet.
The prison complex will lie about 300 yards away.
There is a poorly maintained stone walkway that
dates to when the Skald were still constructing
the ring station above. Effectively, this facility
is a temporary structure that has been converted
to a maximum security prison. It was never intended
as such. It was a halfway house for techno -priest
builders. as they were constructing the vast
edifice that dominates the sky above you. Is
the ring visible from, like, in the sky? It dominates
the horizon and it matches the Terminator line.
So everywhere you look directly up, you will
see this superstructure. We're out of phase for
the moment. What would inform us that we have
phased in and therefore... become visible and
vulnerable to what I presume is going to be a
large horde of voracious Orcneas. I imagine that
when they start screaming abuse and demanding
your immediate vivisection, that will probably
be the clue. And I don't think we have to phase
in to be seen anyway, do we? It's just if they've
been traumatizing. It's a function of trauma.
You remain unseen and out of phase unless someone
has trauma. And the degree to which they can
see you, whether you're distinct or indistinct,
depends on the amount of trauma. If you go back
several episodes, CJ, to when you faced the ghostly
World War I soldiers, you could see a hazy form,
but you couldn't make them out as clearly as
Steve did. So it may well be that people... who
have mild trauma catch a kind of a hint of you
on the wind, a glimpse of you in a mirror. But,
you know, the full -on death row inmates can
probably see you in all of your satin glory.
So, Ian, could I use a spell here? I have Udal
Wright. It would let me ask you a yes or no question
that might be helpful to us. You may indeed.
Entirely up to you. So my question is, is it
possible for us to sneak in to this place from
where we are at right now? Yes. Will we be smart
enough to figure it out? No. That's the second
question. That is the second question. Ula is
going to turn to everyone, and he's going to
point. And just kind of not specifically at anyone,
but you. are going to go left and down. You are
going to go right and up. We will be close to
the ground and careful on our way in. Do this
and we will be safe. And what about those of
us who are particularly large and quite obvious?
And noisy. Be quieter then. Well, I could be
quieter. It's more of an issue of my size. hide
behind things i am not small in my armor am i
i just don't like sneaking josh there's a couple
of things that have come up in previous episodes
the first is is that he is the size of uh ganger
wolf who was the uh you know is a pun for why
jeremy is called ganger wolf so he was the the
heavy set norseman who was so large he couldn't
ride a horse And secondly, when they were on
a stealth mission to rescue the law speaker a
few episodes ago, CJ was effectively foghorn
leghorn and just alerted everybody. He got bored
and threw a couple of grenades into a gondolier.
Yeah. So just be prepared. He's keen on just
opening up with his machine gun. He likes to
let that speak for him. The patience part of
him is not strong. I suspect, Josh, as you are
a veteran, you've been around the military, you
might have a discipline and approach to these
things that is entirely absent from this group.
I'm picking up that energy right now. Especially
Gigi. However, feel free to try and drag them
kicking and screaming. I think it will be a life
lesson. Again, look you up and down and go. Stay
low. When things get hot, you do what you are
good at, yes? Certainly. Fantastic. I shall tiptoe
to the best of my ability and whisper as quietly
as I can. The prison complex, as I've said, is
a maximum security prison. The planet itself
acts as the warden for the murderers, adulterers,
and oathbreakers who find themselves banished
here. A lot of the Jotnar. We're sent here as
prisoners of war. It's an equivalent to Guantanamo,
perhaps. Rescue is impossible because you flee
into Niflheim and you freeze. You escape into
Muspelheim and you burn. The prison proper is
within visibility. You can see, as you stealthily
approach, hugging the trees that ring the...
stone walkway, you can see that there are a group
of inmates lounging around at the entrance to
the prison. They haven't seen you, they're talking
amongst themselves. One of them is a broken down,
antiquated diverg. The second is a hulking wain
covered with orange flowers. The Third is an
excitable man who is being berated by the fourth
figure, who's also a man, all of whom are in
orange jumpsuits, adorned with a Nastrond motif.
There doesn't appear to be, like, a guard with
them or anything like that, though. Partly because
the structure itself is so inaccessible. You
can't get out of here without trying your freezing.
It's the ultimate Alcatraz. I'll turn to the
group, and one of us needs to make a distraction
to move them away from the door. Yeah, everyone's
pointing at CJ. Me? Son, I shall go introduce
myself. They may know who I am. I was the silver
medalist at the All Asgard Games for the Tonga
Honk. Oh, God. Gunga looks incredibly impressed
that you're a silver medalist. A fan! I'm trying
to read Ian's face to see if this is another,
like, jumping out of space. You do, you do, you
do. His eyes are only bulging a little. We're
fine. You do, Gigi. All right. So Gigi's going
to walk toward these prisoners. He's going to
saunter. It's not going to be a march. It's going
to be a little less aggressive. And he'll saunter
and kind of wave and try and get their attention.
And in his usual voice. you'll say hello my dear
fellows i am your new cell mate i have been sent
here for committing atrocious crimes of all manner
of varieties i am griotka the magnificent you
may have heard of me silver medalist all asgard
games wait has he won the silver medal yet yeah
exactly you're back in the past who knows We're
five years in the past? You might have just given
them the kind of betting scan for all time. The
almanac. Now, how many of them actually see me
and hear me as I approach? All four of them turn
to you and look you up and down to get your measure.
Just quickly, before you go on, what is everyone
else doing? Did you all hunker down by the bridge
following Josh's lead? Can I cast Dream Sight?
Dream Sight prevents you being surprised, so
should you be surprised, I will recognize that
you wanted to peer into the near future to prevent
you from doing so, but there is no immediate
danger. No, I'm very much not surprised by Gigi.
You can also use Dream Sight to re -roll a dice,
so that's worth remembering. So... CJ, they simply
look you up and down. They are somewhat surprised
to see you. And the hulking Wayne, again, he's
rippling with muscles, bursting out of his suit.
And he says, What you doing outside? Nobody complains
about outside. As bad as it is, it is better
than being threatened by the Christians. I came
from the elevator. Did you know the big elevator?
Have you seen it? They sent me down. How then
you a prisoner? They just sent me down. How are
you a prisoner? There are no guards. He making
no sense. And he looks across to his fellow prisoners.
The old droid simply looks at you and says, I'm
leaking. Oh, I'm leaking. Dare I ask, leaking
what? It's my battery fluid. It's leaking. Gigi
is a yo -for, and yo -for are tremendously...
What's the right word? Leaky? No, tremendously
fond of these little robot things. In fact, he
speaks their language. And so... he's going to
say allow me i know my way around your kind i
may be able to help you you remember how steve
was once incarcerated his spirit in a broken
down heap of old crap this is probably even older
and you can quickly ascertain that this diverg
is at the end of its battery life and God knows
what crime it committed or why it is here, and
it's just constantly moaning. The fourth figure
is even more unhinged, and he tugs at your cape
and says, You got some grenades? You got some
grenades? Set the fire! Set the fire! I am so
sorry, good man. I used all of my grenades on
the Imperial fleet. Unfortunate, I know. They
were quite effective. Big boom indeed. I agree
with you. What about your friends? They got some
grenades. What friends? He is just bouncing up
and down excitedly and he reaches into his pocket
and begins to light matches and singe his fingernails
with them. The last man turns to you and says,
Please accept my apologies for these... these...
my other inmates. I can act if you like as a...
as a guide to Nastrand. I have a little guidebook
here. It is merely one imperial shilling and
it contains a list of... All of the inmates that
we've had, rich and famous and illustrious and
noble and scurrilous and evil, it's all here
for you, laid out. That could come in handy,
actually. Hands over an imperial shilling. You
look through the guidebook. It is effectively
toilet tissue that has got lots of blots and
stains on it. Could still come in handy later.
You'd look alike. You can lift an ox, says the
wain. When I was a young man, I was a great one
for hefting. But now I have no strength left.
I can barely lift up my head. We wains, we honor
the insane, you know. Step aside for them. But
inside, be careful. For the roarer, he is a whole
new level of a glazy. I shall avoid him? Meet
him? Ally with him? What are you suggesting?
Is everybody sneaking in? Because Gigi's just
struggling here. Tell you what, everyone give
me a slight roll with one wheel, considering
that CJ has had to deal with these renegade inmates.
I think we were all just hiding by the bridge
watching you going, oh, he's actually doing quite
well this time. These people are insane. With
a wheel, he said. With a wheel. Well, 16. Well,
so far we've got an elf stealth squadron. So
19. Like a parliament of owls. What's the group
noun for ninjas? Shadow of ninjas. Shadow of
ninjas? Or maybe it's just of ninjas. He's got
them distracted. Is this when we open fire? We
typically, yes. Hopefully not on Gigi. Don't
shoot until absolutely necessary. They are not
innocents, but they do not need to die yet. Gigi's
going to take this insanity a little bit higher
now. And so you're going to see him conversing
with his hands. And that's him. And because of
the wind, you can't really hear what he's saying.
But basically what he's saying is, I really was
silver medalist at the old Asgard games. You
have rope. I shall demonstrate all of you on
one side and me on the other. And we shall play
Tonga Honk here now. Let's have some fun. And
then, so they're going to be looking for rope,
hopefully. Is there a rope in my pack? Do I have
a rope? You do. We've covered this in your bailout
bag. So he's pulling out a rope from his bailout
bag. Let's play. You grab the end, all of you
on one side, and I shall be on this side. So
he's setting up a tug -of -war. Very ingenious.
Did we establish a way to extract him? No. You
know, we've got our strongest guy with the biggest
gun. We've just clued him out of our plan. He
once rode a rocket ship and somehow escaped from
that. It was fantastic. We had to go back in
time to save him. And we're back in time now.
You don't need to worry about his gun. I mean,
you have Ula. And I sort of brandish my gun.
I assume that's what my shaker is. your shaker
is exactly it's the norse pseudonym for a machine
gun the great thing about you know norse and
icelandic is it's very poetic and it kind of
lends itself to these things so dragon guns howling
dogs all of these things are what we've come
to with to name the weaponry so yes you've got
all of those to hand cj we will leave you playing
your game of tug of war with at least three of
the inmates who participate the Dverg is a little
bit too miserable and tired to participate and
simply slumps down in a corner and dozes off.
The rest of you can enter the prison complex
itself. The area that is behind these guys is
very clearly abandoned. There is, however, a
constant chanting that echoes through the building.
One of the things that occurs to you here is
it's almost monastic. The Nastron facility is
just a Spartan. Clearly not designed as a prison.
There are no bars. There's no cells. It's like
a military facility that has been repurposed.
You see it's largely wrecked. There's empty room
upon empty room. with old circuits ripped out
of the walls, bits of insulation and building
materials strewn everywhere. The only thing that
distinguishes it from an out -and -out ruin is
that the walls are adorned with crucifixes and
the occasional open flame torch and religious
icon. There is a sense that this is almost a
medieval monastery. The easiest thing would be
to follow the chanting. From this entranceway,
you can wind your way through rooms, an empty
kitchen and mess hall with strewn pots and pans,
a blood -ridden infirmary where there are soiled
sheets and masses of ransacked cabinets. But
the whole place, again, feels very derelict.
Do we get a general sense of how long ago any
of these things were used or that people came
through here? I know we can hear this chanting,
but does it seem well -trod? It does. It's as
if people have been summoned from what? they
were doing. There were perhaps a plate of half
-eaten and warm beans in the mess hall. There's
a half -finished surgical procedure and, you
know, a bowl of blood with a scalp in the infirmary.
There's all of these little clues that suggest
that people were here within the past few hours.
Do we have a sense of how many people are chanting?
It's fairly harmonious. It's like psalms echoing.
It would be akin to a large church and a congregation
within singing lustily, but at some distance
because it's echoing through the ventilation
shafts, through gaps in the wall, reverberating
around the building as a whole. And it's probably
50, 60, 100 yards away. and slightly muffled
by the amount of walls between you and wherever
the congregation is gathered. Is there a way
to get above where we think they might be? To
have some sort of vantage point over anyone?
That's what I would be looking for, if that's
something available. The architecture, the roof,
the ceilings all look fairly solid, so you could
get above them. and be on the roof atop them
and be able to hear where noise is coming from,
but be then difficult to get into the room from
that vantage point. For example, as you pass
through the infirmary, you notice that there
is a... disconnected power plant. You can tell
it's disconnected because this whole place is
lit by torches as opposed to electricity. You
can see near that power plant is a guard tower
that will look over an interior courtyard and
from that you're fairly sure that you could climb
up onto the roof in the direction where the congregation
are gathered. Is it possible to search the infirmary
for any kind of, like, med kit, first aid kit,
healing supplies that we could take advantage
of? There's nothing here that Lermie doesn't
have already, but yes, you could scrounge together
and create your own med kit or field kit or any
number of... I feel like taking that into my
own responsibility rather than, you know... I
got your back! Yes, by all means, this... Place
is Spartan and monastic, but there is enough
here in terms of bandages and drugs that you
can cobble something together and put it into
your packs. I'm going to draw my... I have a
long axe. I feel like we're going into close
quarters in here and we maybe don't want guns
going off right away. I'll certainly volunteer
to lead. the way through these dark and grubby
hallways towards the chanting, if that's the
plan. Or at least to move towards the tower that
you spoke of, that we can get a look. I feel
like Genghis is sort of looking at everyone like,
so I'll go? I'm going to, Leomi is going to cast
Healing Herbs so that I'm ready to do extra good
healing, should the need arise. Cole, I would
step forward and just say, like, I would caution
us to result of violence before we have to. I'm
not sure what effect our weapons would have in
this timeline, in this phase, or what consequences
our destruction would have on our future if we
were to do something too rash. So perhaps we
stay our blades as long as it is possible. Then
I think it is smart. We use the tower to get
an idea of what's going on, listen in, and then
make a decision on how we act from there. Agreed.
Okay. So you can rejoin the group as they gather
and make their plans there. And Josh, if you
want to clamber up the tower, you can get on
top of the roof without giving your presence
away. because there is so much noise that's coming
out as the prisoners below are lustily singing
their carols, their chants, their psalms. There
is worship going on as Norsemen. It's not something
that is very familiar to you. It sounds ancient
and liturgic. It sounds as if they are chanting
in Latin. Disgusting language. So Shishi comes
up behind everybody and tries to whisper. So,
how far have you gotten? So Ula's on top of this
guard tower at the moment, so I'm not sure if
he heard that. Look, you're pretty loud, so maybe
he did. Louder than the chanting? Hopefully not.
And what's that dreadful music coming from the
other room? Having scouted it out from the various
different vantage points, you can see that the
only way into what appears to be a makeshift
chapel is through some large steel doors that
stand slightly ajar. There's enough room there
to... shoulder them aside and enter into the
room beyond and just enough of a gap that the
music, the singing beyond is somewhat muffled
and not coming out in its full resonant glory.
I just want to double check again. The plan is
to retain the timeline and not eliminate every
being in that space, correct? Correct. Yes, we
are meant to merely be voyeurs. Then we should
wait for their chanting to be over, and they
leave, and then we should enter that space to
see what is inside. Or perhaps the chanting is
what we are meant to observe? How closely is
what I am worried about? No one's going to write
anything about people that live here. I think
we can do as we please. That seems... unwise
and perhaps unhospitable to those who are here
attempting to become rehabilitated, one might
argue. Did you see those guys out front? There's
no rehabilitation going on there. They didn't
even know about GG's silver medal. You should
see them now, covered in mud. I won, by the way.
If only one amongst your party has such abilities
as Stonewalk or Blacksite. That's a big hint
for somebody. Yeah, that's a huge hint. I've
learned to pick up on Ian's subtle little hints
over time. Subtle. If I may for a moment, Air
has an ability to turn himself invisible for
a short period. He has limited x -ray vision.
If he's standing next to a wall, he can see through
it. And he can disguise up to five people for
up to an hour. So we could all have orange suits
on, like the ones outside. Air goes invisible
and the five of us are prisoners. And we could
go through the doors. You could look through
the doors, couldn't you? Yes. I love this plan.
I love this plan. Very heroic. No way for it
to fail. If we can get close to the door, maybe
not even the door, it could be a wall, like a
wall that we know, a wall with the chapel on
the other side. Err could press his nose to the
wall and look through the wall and see what's
going on on the other side. Can indeed. So it
doesn't have to be the door. Correct. You can
find an adjacent wall and peer through using
your... Doc Alpha, gift of black sight. On the
far side of the wall are indeed hundreds of inmates
sitting transfixed. Some are praying on their
knees. Others are lying prostrate on the floor.
Some have fists raised and are chanting in an
ancient tongue. In the centre of the group is
a thin, unkempt man, his eyes redolent. of ancient
enmities smoldering like cold black embers. What's
this unkempt man doing? Ayr will relay to the
group sort of very, what do you call this thought
of Voceir? Just very quietly relay to the group
what he's seeing, sort of under his voice. It's
clear to you that he is controlling the inmates
as a puppeteer controls a marionette. He holds
some kind of bulbous capsule in his hand, and
he is conducting the choir of inmates within.
Air will relay all this to the rest of the team.
It seems that there's a ringleader who is...
quite literally conducting a choir. The figure
glances over his shoulder directly at you, understanding
that there is an intervening war, and he says,
Hmm, you shouldn't be here. Mimir playing games
again. What do you hope to find? But what was
it Mimir said we needed to witness? Didn't it
tell us? Is this anything close to what it was
saying we need to witness? We need to witness
something, right? Did it say, like, witness this
event? Question. The congregation he's conducting,
are they entirely people or are any of them Orkneyists?
Because we had a theory that something was going
on down here. The vast majority, as far as you
can tell, are all Yukna soldiers, prisoners of
war. the brutish giants of Norse mythology who
were defeated in the war and many of them incarcerated
here for their part in it. Also, Eir will point
out with some distress that he just, whoever
that is, just saw Eir through the wall. Presumably
he can see the rest of us. Don't just stand there.
Come in, come in. You may as well have a ringside
seat. Ula will just walk around through the doors
and in. Might as well. In for a penny. In for
everything. Sounds like there's something to
witness here. This is a breach attack, right?
We go in. Weapons down for now. Cole turns to
Gigi and says, Gigi, you can see one's spirit
companions, can you not? somewhat um it is keep
an eye on our quarry here to see if anything
shows up i'm curious what may be at play here
certainly air will cast ancestral wisdom on himself
to make himself immune to charm compel frighten
and trauma because i have a feeling one or more
of those things is going on in there alas that
these lava should die in the moment of fertilization
Such it is with all joy. Life's most splendid
moment of enjoyment is accompanied by death.
So we've all walked in. You are all within the
makeshift chapel at the back by the wall watching
this unkempt, wiry man conduct his Jotnar orchestra.
I think it would be proper for me to introduce
myself and my friends. I am Griotka. There really
is no need. I know all there is to know about
you. Indeed, but... The Skald plucked the wings
off the Raven God, but they bit off a little
bit more than they can chew. The Fools took Bithri's
hounds as well. They will devour you soon enough.
I feel like you have us at a disadvantage. Who
are you, sir? Why, I am the ruler. Does my fame
not precede me? This little experiment is but
the tip of the spear. You'll see what I mean
soon enough. Unfortunately, no. Were you in the
old Asgard games, perchance? Oh, my dear fellow,
I was the one that built the very wall around
this. Have we witnessed enough? I don't think
so. I think the thing is coming. I think the
big thing is coming. I think it's here. So hearing
that, someone present would kind of understand
what that means, right? If he erected the walls
around the all Asgard games, that would make
him, we would know, right? It would be like,
you know, walking into a room and it's, you know,
like a... like a zombie john kennedy and then
you go oh who are you i'm the one who sent man
to the moon and then you'd be like oh yeah you're
kennedy okay so like like you you would know
right we'd have some kind of history so in the
context of the yoten war the ruler is the leader
of the raw rebellion he was the one that roused
the christian souls to topple the empire and
he was the originator of the Jotnar themselves,
splicing man and animal to create the savage
soldiers that almost tore the empire apart. To
which then Jiji would say, holy shit, you're
still alive? Did they kill you twice? Like Rasputin?
Stabbed, shot, thrown in a river, you came back,
stabbed, shot you again, threw you into the river
again? Did I mention the most painful state of
being is remembering the future, particularly
the one you'll never have? You should run! Running?
You notice that as the roarer talks, the convicts
behind him are being transformed. Their bodies...
and shuffle as they contort themselves one by
one into a legion of chemicalistic ghouls. The
whole prison in the space of seconds becomes
a hellish nightmare as you witness the birth
of the Orcneus. So Hula's going to point at Ganga,
axe back to back at the door. I'm very excited
about that. and my goal is to act as a blockade
for the rest of the group to get out and run
while we take on these things as they are coming
at us well that is unprecedented bravery you
may award yourself one honor for the brief moment
of time in which it will be useful for you these
These Orcneus are the embodiment of undeath and
primordial elements. They are the infectious
horror of zombies interwoven with the chill of
an ice giant's breath and the ruthless rage of
a fire giant's heart. These are creatures that
are born of this impossible planet, the hole.
chamber echoes to their infernal screams as they
descend upon you like a tempest. Fast turn or
slow turn? Fast turn. What do you think, PJ?
Gigi was lying. He has grenades. He's gonna toss
a few into the pit. How many can I, like, can
I do two, like, can I double fist? And do two
and toss them in? You can throw a whole harness
of grenades, should you wish. And describe to
me the scene. So we're kind of at the back and
then there's just this whole horde of people.
So if I just kind of toss it in the middle and
tell everybody to duck, it could make big boom
boom. You could certainly do that. Again, the
scene is a makeshift chapel that has been put
together in the bowels of this. prison facility.
So there's no stained glass windows or anything.
This is like being in the, as Cole described
earlier, the heart of darkness. And in front
of you are a horde of creatures that are animated
by a primeval will and fury. Their bodies bear
the pallor of death, the cold blue of frostbite
and others of them are set ablaze like fire giants.
They lurch like the viathans walk towards you,
claws scorching the air in their frenzy. Okay.
So that's awesome. Quick question. How resilient
is the Ironside spell? The Ironside gift enables
you to resist as a triggered action one set of
damage per round. And so if I were to wear my
grenade belt as a suicide vest and run at the
Roarher, would I survive? Your iron side would
enable you to ignore that damage. although if
that damage we would roll it were significant
enough, you would take trauma from the fact that
you would have otherwise have died. You can contain
that damage and hopefully try and take out as
many as possible. I know what I'm going to do.
I'm glad that we talked this out. So I'm going
to toss the entire vest with all the grenades
at the Roarer, because he's presumably kind of
in the middle of this horde. And then I'm going
to turn around and I'm going to bear hug everybody
else to shield them from the blast to minimize
the collateral damage. So just a quick whoop
and then turn around and be like, duck, everyone.
Joss, I just want to ask, is this kind of tactic
in any military manuals that you've read? I don't
think so, no. But it's not a bad idea. Use your
explosives and then jump on the grenade as it
were to protect your friends. Sure. Jump on the
friends to protect from the grenades. I believe
they're still working this one out in the academies.
There's been a few wrinkles that have come up.
I have heard that we have a great healer. So
whatever damage is done from these grenades,
I'm sure we can recover, right? Oh, absolutely.
Plus, the other one picked up a bunch of medical
equipment. So, you know, we're good. Okay, so
I have a fast turn, and this is how combat works,
just so that everyone knows it's not initiative
-based like D &D. This being the V &V podcast,
we don't do rolls like that. Fast turn enables
you to take an action, or if you took a slow
turn, you can take an action and move, but opposing
creatures that took a fast turn will go before
you. So there's a kind of sequential camaraderie
to combat where you can build off each other.
And certainly because some abilities have the
option to lend each other wheels and enhance
skills. Here, for example, as a triggered action,
CJ could also engage in cutting insults or flighting
with the roarer, and that would benefit everyone's
immediate role. He said, by way of suggestion.
Diomi is going to cast Summon Spirits. Very good.
And would you like to tell all of the assembled
dignitaries what that does mean? Well, it allows
me to either attack creatures directly, using
up the number of spirits that I have to roll.
Or I can give people wheels, or I can give enemies
rolls. I rolled an eight. So the spirits. will
issue forth at your command and assist your combat.
I think I'm going to take a slow turn. I think
I'm going to take a slow turn as well. Yeah,
I want to come out shooting, but after Gigi has
sort of cushioned the force of the grenades,
and then I'll come out from behind that. So I
guess that would be a slow turn. I guess that's
what I'm going to get. Eric will take a fast
turn to use self -fortification to Brace against
the impending mayhem. And as a living statue,
one of the Dark Alpha, you have the ability to
reconstitute your body in hardened form and protect
yourself from the inevitable onslaught of damage
that is about to happen. Gigi, you lob your bandolier
of grenades. Last time you just threw three as
part of a juggling act. This time you are, shall
we say, hurling ten at the foe. They land with
a clatter immediately at the roarer's feet. Now
this man, like I've said, is spindly and gaunt.
He has coal black eyes and a shock of red hair
that stands upright like an explosion itself.
And he picks up your bandolier of grenades. And
he holds them in front of his face. And he chuckles
as he compresses them to dust. Really? How rude!
I did not see that coming. He wants to take those
slow turns. I think that's a good point now for
Ula and Ganga to, like, step back around the
party. with axes and be ready to to hack whatever
is coming at us above table question real quick
with triggered actions um if something like in
my case i have warden tree if that can be an
action or a triggered action does that essentially
work like a bonus action would in dnd or since
it's an undefined trigger action triggered actions
yeah the equivalent of a reaction so you can
take an action and set the trigger so that when
The triggering action occurs. You pull the trigger.
Got it. I'm going to hold action. Got it. Cool.
Everyone else is bracing for impact. I'm actually
going to step around and start using... I can
burst fire with my shaker, I think. And I think
I'm going to start laying down suppressive fire
on the closest ranks of the bad guys. Not the
roar. I'm like... I want thin numbers that can
actually get to us if possible. Roll for damage.
If you do burst fire, you don't have to roll
to hit. You just apportion the damage amidst
the creatures that are rushing towards you. They
might make a slight roll, but these creatures
are effectively operating in game terms as a
mob, which is a collection, a collation of individuals
that perform much more as a swarm. I do have
an ability called Weapons Expertise, which allows
me to add an extra D6. Correct. So would that
apply in this case? It would. So you should be
rolling 6d6, I think. I think so, too. I rolled
very well. 28. Your bullets tear into the horde,
but they barely make a dent in its relentless
surge. One of the things about the Orpheus is
even when they are felled, unless they are burned
or beheaded, then they rise again. So each of
your shots is, unfortunately, somewhat fruitless,
and they advance unfazed, even if they are missing
limbs or have been splattered by gunfire. As
the burst goes off, Ula screams, That's why I
said axe! That's why I said axe! So, not to say
that some orchids are felled as each bullet does
find its mark, it's just there are so many of
them that the relentless tide is not stopped,
and by the time the ones that were punctured
and cast to the cold, hard ground are passed
over, they will stand again, risen in undeath.
How far are we from the door? You're standing
in the doorway. Oh, nice, nice. How wide is the
doorway? It is six yards wide, 18 feet. Time
to run. I think Cole's just going to start, like,
say, we need to fall back now. We need to go
and start running through the door. Cole is hightailing
it. Cole is the captain of the falcon. He is
your commanding officer. If anyone wants to disobey
his orders, then... by all means, is it? So I
think Ula is going to step into the room. You
said there are torches, right? That are lighting
everything. There are torches in this room as
well. The whole chamber is interspersed with
occasional flaming torches, again, like that
medieval monastery. So you could pull them out
of a socket and brandish one, should you wish
to. Yeah, so I think Ula's going to grab that
and Probably doesn't have any cloth on him, but
he's going to take the torch and throw it toward
the massive Orcneus and then move in with his
axe to try and take some heads off. Let's make
some rolls here. So you have the benefit of wearing
the Gapfarer's suit of armor. That is genetically
engineered to fit you. However, the challenge
here is that while they may not be able to penetrate
the mix of plasteel and ironwood that surrounds
you carved ornately to fit your form, this chaotic
maelstrom of rending teeth and claws will attempt
to rip off your helmet and their searing bites
may well find a way to penetrate your... runic
shields and metamaterials so the horde automatically
does damage to anyone who stays within its environment
at the end of any round and so i'm going to ask
you to take 12 damage okay you remain intrepid
making your stand in front of this monstrous
wave but you are engulfed by the tempest and
they begin to tear Let's go to the top of the
next round. All right. Gigi is ready to make
the next move. He's going to say, I think we've
seen enough. Thanks very much. And he's going
to carve wave runes in the doorway that will
erect a shield. And then he will designate the
creatures of his choice, which will be his companions
who are present, who will be able to move through
the shield. But the Orpheus will not be able
to, to cover the retreat. I suggest we get back
to the elevator and back. To the future! Great
Scott! You etch your Eldritch symbols into the
doorway and it creates an impenetrable barrier
that will give you at least a minute head start
whilst this unholy union of frost and flame sees
you behind you. I suggest we all go! I can only
do one of those! Let's go, let's go! Yeah. It
is a mass flee, or are some people remaining
to stem the tide? I'm going with my strengths
and fleeing. Some of us remember being slaughtered
by the Orkneas three rounds in a row. Yeah. I
am going to take a slow turn, but overall I'm
going to flee. I don't want Ula being consumed
by the horde. I know that his intention was to
guard the doorway, which I'm still fine doing.
but if i can like sort of slash with my axe to
get to him and pull him back so he's not being
overwhelmed uh to put sort of the the door at
our back so to speak uh that's what i would like
to do that means stepping into the avalanche
of rot and ruin that has swarmed over him like
an unstoppable wave you're welcome to do so but
it will be a feat of unparalleled Heroism and
Valhalla may be cool. I've heard that's the only
way you get glory, though. Yeah, so I've got
to live up to this armor I'm wearing, so I'm
going to go for that. Feel free to give me a
might roll and give me the damage associated
with your long axe as you twirl it with great
skill. reminiscent of the Varangian Guard of
old, clefting and cleaving as you go. Awesome.
Okay, so I got... And I get a wheel with this,
because I have weapons handling, I think. So...
21. That will give you not only a hit, it will
give you additional damage with guards of the
abilities that you have, I think, on your character
sheet. So roll me the... various dice sixes oh
but i do have forceful strikes so if i roll more
than a 20 exactly that was what i was referencing
so you get to another d6 wow uh 20 damage in
total don't die we could use you on a regular
basis there is a flurry of steel as you You can
test the space with the horde of Orpheus and
almost fight your way through to your fallen
companion, aiming to grab him. You just reach
out. He's just that little bit beyond reach.
If you give me a successful might roll, I will
let you grab his shoulder. Okay. Plus 3, 15.
With a surge of adrenaline, you clasp. your gauntleted
hand on his shoulder and haul him somewhat out
of the fray, just as, undeterred by your weaponry,
the horde swarm forward. Again, their forms flickering
with infernal fire, their very touch scorching
your armor. So I wanted, before I ran, I wanted
to lay down covering fire to kind of give them
some kind of assistance to... pull back from
the horde. So can I use my hoss hitter and make
three attacks using weapon? By all means, roll
away. Okay. First one is a four, and we're not
going to use that die anymore. Second one is
a ten. Sorry, what do I add to it? Attack rolls?
You're slight in this case. And I do love the
correlation between the word die. meaning dice,
and the word die meaning perish. Such a GM thing
to say. Oh my god. We have spirits giving wheels
as well, don't we? And I have weapons handling
giving me a wheel as well, so that makes it a
17 for the second attack. And the third attack
is a wheel 12. Bullet after bullet finds their
target. It's dropped one. after the other, only
to have the terrifying horde fall over them in
a seething sea that continues to surge towards
you. As soon as I finish the attack, I'm going
to say, everyone's clear. Get out now. Let's
go and start following the other three. It is
clear that dozens upon dozens, scores upon scores,
nay, hundreds upon hundreds of these new Feral
Orpheus are are about to burst from the room.
And if you know your history, then they surge
up the very space elevator that you descended
upon and storm the orbital station above you,
destroying everything in their apocalyptic wake.
This is the benefit of traveling back in time
and having 2020 doomsday hindsight. So was that
a strong suggestion that we not go to the elevator?
Oh, it's entirely up to you. I don't think that
there's many other methods of getting off the
planet beyond running into the furnace or the
frigid waste. We need to make it to the ship.
Yeah. And I would remind you that 24 hours down,
24 hours back, and you had a total of 72 hours
before that. star that hung sullenly in the sky,
detonates the supernova called the Swordfall,
and eradicates all life on this planet. And sorry,
Josh and Jeremy, to parachute you right into
the middle of Ragnarok. But, you know, it happens.
Like the Rora said, you've got a ringside sneak.
But what should we do? You are able to bring
the stragglers to the doorway. Gaunt's spindly
roarer strides up and looks at the wave runes
and begins to draw his finger over them with
a very long claw -like fingernail and he pops
them one by one. The fourth build that you had
created with your runic magic instantly collapses.
And he chuckled to himself. Would we know from
our history how long it took the Orcneus to climb
the ladder? Are they climbing it faster than
the elevator can go? Good question. There were
no eyewitnesses to tell the tale and keep time.
Aren't we already, like, I mean, Steve, how far
away are you now? Error is currently, I mean,
I think... Without hyperbole, I think I can say
that Air is currently the fastest diamond -crusted
obsidian statue on the planet. And he is headed
to the base of the elevator, and he's going to
push the call button. You don't have to summon
it, because no one else has been using it. It
is still there. That never happens. Well, luckily,
you're the only people who've chosen to descend
to a planet about to detonate. There weren't
people queuing up. 24 hours for the elevator
to come back down and pick us up, and then 24
hours to go back up. 24 hours of elevator music.
Nice. So, Ian, would it be worth it for being
suicidal to blow up said elevator to prevent?
the Orcneus from going up it? It's certainly
something that you can try. The only advice that
I will give you is that the omnipresent sentience
that was Mim, who in this world is a supercomputer
reflection or analog of Mimi in myth, said that
there was no way of preventing this doom. but
you were to stand judgment in the hope that you
might prevent the next. There is seldom a single
wave. Fair enough. It is the thought that goes
through Ula's head, though, very strongly, like
we could save lives, but maybe not. When it comes
to Mimir, it's the thought that counts. Oh, nice.
Man. Painfully good. Well, I mean, we've got
to go up the elevator, right? All aboard the
new elevator. Yeah. The ruler who stands in the
sea of Orchneus as they swarm over the bridge,
some of them burning brightly, others are rhyme
-dueled supermen. All of them are born of the
Yot -Ma, so are muscular, beetling brutes. He
waves at you and says, Give my regards to the
future of mankind. We love all of you. Yes, thank
you. Farewell. It's too bad he couldn't die.
You know, as eccentric as we all are, it's very
comforting to me that we're not the most eccentric
in this universe. There's always a more eccentric
bad guy. There seems to be. Why are they all
monologued so much? It's just inherent. That's
right. The elevator begins to slowly spiral.
up and away, leaving the planet's surface behind
and you can just hear the screams of the Orpheus
as they begin to clamber up, moving at horrifying
speed, clambering up the star ladder, trying
to keep pace. I'm going to ask you all to give
me an awareness check. Seven. Twenty -seven.
That's a twenty plus four for twenty -four. 96.
No, wait a minute. 9. 20 plus 5 for 25. I rolled
a natural 1 for 2 with my bonus. Who invited
that kid? He's the muscle, not the brains. Those
of you who didn't, you're probably too traumatized,
too horrified by the fact that these spiky terrors
are clambering up this star ladder. But the ones
of you who passed can look down and you see an
oddity, an additional oddity, should I say, on
the planet's surface that's visible from the
Rising Lifter. You see the Falcon sitting idle.
Its Imperial crew are clearly trying to hurry
through some last -minute repairs. You have to
look on impotently as... the Sea of Orcneus,
unleashed from Nastrond, begin to scramble over
the heart and overpower the crew. There are a
few desperate shots of the dragon guns that hurtle
shells into the Horde, but it's not enough to
save the ship from being entirely overwhelmed.
Well, that's that mystery enlightened a little
bit about the fate of the Falkir. That's the...
Not our Fal 'kyr, that's the historic Fal 'kyr
that we have now discovered. Which dumped Orc
-mea sonnets. Yes. That's a fair assumption.
In your earpiece, through your comms, you hear
Raggedy, your pilot, who pipes up in your ear
and says... So, the citizen followed, but I still
have power. What are your orders, Captain? I
would have power. Quick, think of something.
Do we need to report to Mim directly, or is Mim
aware of what we've seen, and we can just skip
that and run straight for the ship? I know which
one I'm voting for. You don't know the answer
to that, I'm afraid, Steve. Do we remember if
Mim gave us any kind of indication of when our
time are we going to just pop back into our existence,
or do we have to travel back to the rift, or
anything about how we're getting back? I don't
think there was any. Steve, could you ask the
skull in your head, or the seer in your ear?
Oh, brilliant. The elf on the shelf? The elf
-ar on the shelf -ar? Yeah, I will ask the voice
singular in his head. Is Mim... Does Mim know
what we've seen? Have we borne witness to Mim?
No. Mim does not know what we've seen. We have
to get word to Mim, or else we haven't upheld
our end of the deal. Let me clarify. What I thought
you asked me was whether you had seen what Mim
needed you to witness, and the answer is no.
Oh. Maybe it's the scar going on. There's something
we haven't seen yet. Can I do my oodle right
to ask you a yes or no question? Of course. You've
got plenty of time. You're basically sitting
in an elevator listening to the elevator music
with a horde of undead ice and fire giants tearing
up the atmosphere below. It's not our worst day.
It's not our worst day by a long shot. Are we
able to witness what needs to be witnessed from
the ring? Yes. Okay. That's encouraging, if nothing
else, right? Ragni pipes up again, asking for
your orders. Ragni, man the guns, lock down the
ship defensively until we make it back. We have
24 hours to figure out how to get power back
to you. She says. Lock down the ship, prepare
it for defense as if a siege were coming. We
will be back on the station in 24 hours. We have
that amount of time to find out how to get power.
Protect the crew and everyone and do your best.
And look around at everyone else. I presume they're
just my dogs. Yeah, probably. Well, I would just
like to say today was a good day. You know why?
Because Gida said we would die down there. Well,
here we are, not down there, and very much alive,
even the red shirts. That's a victory! He's not
wrong. He's technically correct. The best kind
of correct. We've evaded a swarm of orcneus who
will kill us three times in the future. The orcneus
horde are gathering with insane momentum threatening
to overtake your carriage to the stars. Oh. How
close are we to the ring at this point? Are we
still hours out? Yeah, this is literally 24 hours
of crawling up a nanofiber tube into the atmosphere
with an undead horde of relentless marching giants
underneath you, clambering their way up along
the same tether. Are we able to not fully exit,
but even partially exit this thing at all? Maybe
in our Gapfarer suits? Ganga and I? You certainly
could, because your gap suits are designed for
exploration of the Gununga Gap, the Norse Yawning
Void, and so even as you hurtle into the thinning
atmosphere, you would be able to smash through
a window, clamber outside, wreak the approaching
horde with gunfire. However, It's a risky maneuver,
and you may well allow the Orcneus to enter through
the breach that you've made. Oh, so the rest
of us would suffocate. Yeah, there's that. Steve
would be all right there. You don't want that
to happen. Error is going to ask a second question
to the voice in his head, and the question is,
when we arrive, If we go straight to the hangar,
will we witness what we need to witness? Yes.
Oh, got my plan. We just have to survive till
then. What could be easier? Yeah. We don't have
to stop and talk to Mim. We can run straight
to the hangar. And we'll see what we need to
see. Did Ragni say the station was already on
alert? Correct. Okay, so they are aware, so they're
not going to necessarily be caught. by surprise
per se. That could buy us time. No, they're the
epitome of the military -spiritual complex, and
they have eyes on the planet below as the Orcanist
horde erupt. Then they have started to train
their Heimdall missiles that they will launch
from the station in an attempt to stop the horde
reaching the station. Not worried too much about
the elevator, possibly. The history teaches us
they make it up no matter what, so it'll probably
stay intact long enough for us to get up there.
Okay, good point, good point. Maybe Gigi could
jump on something. That usually works. So we
can't smash a window because you guys will suffocate,
but can we literally open the door and everybody
just hold their breath while Ula and I step out
and then close it, and then would life support
take back over? I will allow you to step out
into the void under the protection of your gapsuits
and ensure they can hold their breath momentarily
and hold on to their garments that will presumably
be whipping out and suck towards the venting
out. Is the idea we just need to slow their ascent?
And so like we could just sort of... step out
and create a firing line i know bullets don't
kill them but it does slow them down right so
that's what my thought was too right we go out
with both of our machine guns and we you know
try to take slow them down as much as possible
for as long as we can i'm with you a lot that's
what you want to do save these heroes yes i appreciate
the gesture i appreciate it all right i do want
to just emphasize or just just highlight one
of the phrases that you just said. Bullets. Bullets
only slow them down. So, if the rest of our brain
trust would like to just think about the implications
of bullets only slowing them down. And, I've
just done it perfectly. Oh, you mean like arming
ourselves? Yeah, with flamers. I'm sorry, am
I the only one who brought a flamethrower from
the armory? that I've been holding on to this
whole time. I'm not the sharpest tack in the
weapon drawer, but I'm pretty sure that we can't
use a flamer in the void, though. Like, we stepped
in. Stop helping the GM. What are you doing?
Let's give these guys a chance at glory. they
can blast down at the approaching hordes. Give
me some damage rolls as your gunfire echoes out
against the tide of orchids. It is like shooting
at an immense wave of these rimed, jeweled and
fiery monstrosities clambering towards you. Each
bullet fells one and sends them tumbling back
to the planet below. 20 damage. It's almost impossible
to miss. So meanwhile, the rest of us are still
in the elevator. And whilst that's true, you
also notice that calling alongside you is the
Falcon. The one from the ground. Yes, the very
self -same Ironwood ship that you piloted here
appears to be now manned by a group of 14 -year
-old pirates. who spin the ship around to train
their dragon guns. If we die here, we're still
right and Guido is still wrong. We're not on
the planet. I got 23 for damage. The two stalwart
gapsmen blast against the seething tide, firing
with abandon into the bodies below. All it does...
His slowly stem the tide as the figures fall
away from the tether. Others replace them. There
are legion. Jeremy, please make a slight roll
as the Falkir turns its dragon guns and howling
dogs on you. A shell fires with unnerving precision
towards the space elevator. catching the side
that you are on, there is an immense explosion
that threatens to topple you off and down through
the atmosphere. I may be toppling a total of
nine. Then, yes, without any protection, you
plummet, passing through the thinning atmosphere,
falling hundreds of metres, kilometres, and not
even your suit. can withstand the impact. You
pass through the tide of Orpheus, but ultimately
hit into the Terminator line with a sickening
crunch. Oh, he's okay. Josh, again, you are surrounded
by the horde. I'm going to give you 15 damage
and a tear at your suit, ripping it apart, pulling
the various... pieces of armor to one side as
their fangs and claws find their way through
your defenses. Are these, the gapter armor, they're
powered, right, by something? Mm -hmm. Is it
possible to make that explode, short -circuit
the armor and kind of use it as a set of grenades,
as it were, to blow as many of these things off
as possible? You can rig it. You will short -circuit
it and potentially set up a cascade reaction
that would cause an explosion and take anyone
in short range out with you. I will attempt to
do that. Okay. I will require a witch roll to
do that in Extremis. If you fail, you can always
use that inspiration point. Good point. I rolled
a two, so I'm going to use that inspiration point.
Channeling the divine fury of Odin, you overcome
your panic and your fumbling as you try to charge
the suit to detonate it. Inspired by that divine
force, you rig the armor and erupt in flame.
The Orpheus will ground you, tumble to the planet's
surface with you. Their howls diminishing as
they... fall back through the atmosphere. A single
Wilhelm scream. Gentlemen, I thank you for your
glorious contribution. You have acquitted yourself
with great heroism. We like people to go out
swinging in a blaze of glory, and you've done
yourself proud. I feel I may have spoken too
soon. Still not on the planet. Technically. Okay,
I'm going to pitch an idea to everybody and we'll
get a consensus vote. But Steve, you can disguise
yourself. Can you disguise other people at the
same time? Yes, I can disguise up to five people,
including myself, for one hour. Could you disguise
us all as Orkneas and then we'll all go on top
of this thing before it gets too high so we don't
suffocate. We'll wave down the Falkir. We know
the Falkir is going back to our time. And we'll
just stow away on there for a while and let it
just zip us back since our ship doesn't work
anywhere. But then we don't witness the thing
that Vim needs us to witness. You don't know
that. They might go there first. This is batshit
insane and I love it. Yeah, I'm having trouble
separating CJ and Gigi at this point. And others
have said that about me and my character as well.
So I recognize that. I've said that about him
a lot. So the disguise can increase or decrease
the target's apparent height or weight by up
to 25%, including clothing, equipment, whatever.
Would that be enough to get us all within more
or less the right size range for an arcanist?
At least, legally. There's a fair few flaws in
that plan beyond the looking like an undead fire
or ice giant. Just because it's stupid, Ian?
I mean, come on. Yeah. That's our thing, man.
You throw all the spaghetti at the wall and you
see what sticks. What I'm going to say is this,
is the heroic sacrifice of the two gapfarers
has at least bought you plenty of time for the
gap lifter to spiral up the cord, the tether,
and to reach the station. You've put enough...
distance between you and the ascending horde
that you reach the station minutes before them,
but crucial minutes which will enable you to
flee across the orbital station back towards
the hangar where you left Ragni and the falcon.
Okay, so you can cut that whole idea in post
-production. Perfect. They shall not have died
in vain for your silly idea to jump on a ship
again. It basically was the same idea. It's just
this time, everybody goes. Something about the
definition of insanity, but yeah. Do we make
it back? My God. Yeah, we're in the hangar. Run
straight to the hangar. You are able to navigate
your way through to... the hangar past the various
laboratories of the skull the skull themselves
the cowl techno priests are all agog they are
all running around fearful they are all able
to see you but no one really pays you much attention
they're much more concerned now with the approaching
catastrophe the missiles are being fired sirens
are blaring from everywhere no one stops too
so much as if your second class despite the fact
that you are non -humans they've not seen an
alpha they're not saying doc alpha but uh this
is such a horrific occasion that they don't care
at all about you running through their station
yeah i'm sorry that they can suddenly see us
that's I'm sorry, just a few minutes ago, Gigi
suggests doing the crazy thing that he had done,
and we all go, yeah, that might work. None of
us goes, wait a minute. We already did that.
It was bad. Then we all just went, yeah, come
here. Well, Min did call you Black Swans for
a reason. In the hangar, I'm going to allow you
to make a wit's roll, those of you who are still
there and surviving, because you are able to
see one of the familiar faces that you saw last
time, Bangzia Valison, wearing his green robes.
He appears unperturbed by the unfolding catastrophe,
and he is jumping onto a shuttle. The shuttle
is called the Yungnir. 23. 30, 20. 10. 12. So
the ship is named for Odin's spear, a weapon
that famously never misses its target. Bangsy
of Allison powers up his thrusters, leaves the
hangar on this carver, and heads directly towards
the looming red sun. Oh. Okay. What did you figure
out? Because I didn't figure it out. It's the
metaphor of the sphere. It never misses. He's
aiming at the star that's about to go supernova.
He causes the supernova. To try and stop the
Orcneus from spreading outside of the solar system.
Or to enhance the Ragnarok. We don't know if
that's a good thing or a bad thing. Or if the
intention was good or bad. Because he's got those
two dark wolves as his spirit companions, which
was weird as hell. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Is he being
influenced, controlled? Is he, you know? Aurora
talked about the stripping of Huginn Amunin,
but he also mentioned that they had inadvertently
stripped the hounds of Vithrid, Odin's personal
pottery. Gary and Freckie then, the ones that
serve him. Hmm. Well, two wolves and two spirit
wolves. There's a parallel there for sure. Gary
and Freckie translate to avarice, greed, hunger,
voraciousness, and they cut Hugin and Munin loose.
They inadvertently cut those two loose as well.
And then... Bangsy and Valison is prowling around
with two spirit words. I'll leave it to you to
draw your conclusions. You can ponder on that.
You're pondering faces. You may rush towards
the outfield, but before doing so, I want a slight
roll from each of you because the station is
now ringing with detonations as warheads are
exploding. sculled with their unit shields and
weaponry are attempting to defend the station
as best they can. You may well be hit by debris
as you speed through the hangar. I got it twice.
Ooh, five. Okay, nine damage. Twelve. Okay. Twelve.
CJ? Eleven. You all wing your way through the
station, desperately speeding. through the hangar,
sweating profusely as you rush towards the Falkir's
extra vehicular pour to jump on board. The Falkir
does look like it has powered up. Mim has been
true to its word and now you have seen the crucial
event. Now you have taken your judgment seat
and stood witness. You are able to fly the ship.
Ragni calls out to you and says, Welcome aboard,
and in the nick of time, too. I can say that
again. Fire up the engines. We need to get out
of here now. She begins to do so, and as you
enter into the Raven's Nest, who's going to be
powering thought and memory drive with her? I
can, or we had done it in the past. Even in the
past. I'm happy to do it. I'll do it this time.
Okay, you plug in the flight visor and your world
goes dark as the Oblivion Link kicks in the magnetic
field powers up with a hum and Ragney turns to
you and whispers. I'm curious. What did father
have to say? Was he burdened with glorious purpose?
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