1.08 Better Than Normal

This city’s full of secret places, around every corner! Fran finally finds a decent mentor. JJ lets down their walls. Gordon gets to know the locals. Ibra jumps out of their skin.

Thanks so much to our special guest for this episode, Julian Mundy as Fuller Silvring!

-- links --

Website: wanderingpathpod.com

Support our show: patreon.com/wanderingpathpod

-- sponsors --

- United By Blue: Creators of sustainable apparel and outdoor gear. Use code wanderingpath for 20% off at https://unitedbyblue.com

-- cast & crew --

Created by Mischa Stanton

Produced by Bex Taylor-Klaus, Lyn Rafil, & Mischa Stanton

Gamemaster: Mischa Stanton

Ibra: Bex Taylor-Klaus

JJ: Lyn Rafil

Gordon: Ian McQuown

Fran: Mayanna Berrin

Sound design: Mischa Stanton

Cover art: Lyn Rafil

Transcript assistance: Darby Summers

Music: Independent Music Licensing Collective

Production & House Manager: Erin Bark

-- about --

The Wandering Path is an actual-play podcast putting complex characters, resonant themes and engaging new mechanics at the heart of immersive adventures. We’re making the stories we want to see in the world, one game session at a time! Join us for our first season, as we dive to the heart of the City of New Prosper: a techno-magical metropolis on the rise, where those who seek to craft themselves a new future will first have to settle the debts they owe the past. New episodes every other Monday.

— Transcript —

Mayanna: Last time on The Wandering Path.

[Theme music begins in background of recap].

Mischa: With a decree from Gwen's office, we now have an official team name for our heroes, the Investigative Safety Brigade. Ooh, so professional. And it's not just our four players either. Paz has signed on, too, as is Gordon's new dog, BG. But before anything else, Fran, Ibra and Paz headed to the spot in the Dustpan that Thorgunn told them about. Just an empty courtyard? Of course not. It took 'em a minute. But with some timely remote help from JJ, they finally figured out the puzzle of the secret hidden door. All caught up? Okay, then let's see what's around the bend today on The Wandering Path.

[Theme music fades out].

[Music begins: ominous low synths].

Mischa: Fran and Ibra and Paz descend, ramshackle steps made of rusted out pieces of metal sheeting and, like wood and different bric-a-brac. Cobbled–

Mayanna: Patchwork. 

Mischa: Magically patchworked and cobbled together to form perfectly level steps descending into a dark basement below street level. 

Bex: Oh.

Mayanna: I'm so enamored already. I turn to Ibra, I'm like, 

[Soundscape begins: voices echo in a cavernous path].

Mayanna (Fran): Hey, just don't tell anybody about how hard it was for us to get in here. 

Bex (Ibra): Oh, I would never. 

Mayanna (Fran): Okay, sick, thank you so much. 

Bex (Ibra): It was so easy, we got in immediately. 

Mayanna (Fran): Totally. 

Mischa (Paz): My lips are sealed. 

Mayanna (Fran): Thank you, Paz. You are a homie. 

Bex (Ibra): Thank you, Paz.

Mischa (Paz): Until we get out of here, and I'm definitely gonna tell JJ and Gordon. 

Mayanna (Fran): Oh… Okay.

Bex (Ibra): Dammit! Paz….

Mayanna (Fran): Paz. oh, you know what, that's fair. 

Mischa (Paz): No, I'm just kidding. 

[Laughter].

Mayanna (Fran): Okay, thank you, thank you thank you.

Mischa (Paz):   No, Fran, you deserve this. 

Mayanna (Fran):  Okay. 

Mischa (Paz):  The magical thing, it's really finally happened. 

Mayanna (Fran):  I know! (Excited squeak).

Mayanna: Okay. I'm just gonna keep going down the stairs. 

Bex: Is there a handrail? 

Mischa: I think there is a handrail. 

Mayanna: Oh, nice. 

Bex: I know they're all leveled, but still.

Mischa: Yeah, I think it's the kind of place where Paz, like, goes to instinctively reach for one, and, like, one forms out of the metal business of the wall to, like, meet your hand. [Gasp].  Like a little piece of, like, sort of, uh, Schedule 40 pipe. 

Mayanna (Fran):  And they're accessible?!

Bex (Ibra):  I! Love! It here!

Mayanna (Fran):  These people are amazing! 

Bex (Ibra):  Who are these people? 

Mayanna (Fran):  I don't know!

Mischa (Paz): I super appreciate it. I do feel like hand railings on stairs are the bare minimum. I do appreciate you guys. 

Mayanna (Fran):  Mmhm. Honestly, you know what? Yes. Yes. You are right. 

Bex (Ibra):  You're not wrong. We appreciate the bare minimum. 

Lyn: This is an ADA approved podcast. 

[Laughter].

Mayanna: Not sponsored. 

Ian: No free ads. 

[Laughter].

Mischa: Deep in the stairwell, down in the darkness, you can hear the clinking and clanking as the staircase finishes building itself and locking into place. [SFX: rumbling of metal sliding into place]. And when you reach that bottom, a soft dim light emanates from the doorway. You step through and enter into a workshop. 

[Soundscape begins: forges running, tools clanking, the scuff of boots on the floor, looms whirring].

It's a large open space hewn from the earth, the walls being held back by walls of cobbled, scrap, and metal, and wood, and stone. It's kind of an impossible place, and you think about the portion of the Broken Heart of the Constellation that you came in through, and I think you wonder how that structure that you saw embedded into the ground, and this space, how they can coexist down here together. Like, it feels like this room shouldn't be here. 

Mayanna: Cooool. 

Mischa: You get down to the bottom, and it's a wide open work studio. There's rows of thick, sturdy wooden workbenches lined with desk lamps glowing with incandescent light, generally the only lighting in the room, giving the space a twilight glow. 

Mayanna: Cool.

Mischa: At the workbenches sit a few pale artisans in thick leather aprons, hammering on projects and coordinating neat stacks of what look like notepaper. Off in one corner, there's a circle of people sitting in chairs, and at first glance, it looks like they're braiding each other's hair? 

Mayanna and Bex: Oh? 

Mischa: And then as you look, you see them drawing their hands away from people's temples and coming away with like white filaments and weaving them. 

Bex: Woah.

Mischa: And then people taking bundles of these threads and bringing them to the second station, at which sit people deftly weaving at four giant looms.

Mayanna (Fran): Oh my god. 

Bex (Ibra): (Whispering) Weavers. 

Mayanna (Fran): (Whispering) Weavers.

Mischa: Overseeing all of them is a later middle aged dwarf, dressed in armor of like, dark composite plates that has little sockets all over each of them, carrying an enormous hammer with almost what looks like an engine on the back of it. 

Mayanna: Oh my god. 

Mischa: Carrying it like a maester's staff as he strides back and forth across this room, overseeing everything.

Mayanna (Fran): Wow. 

Julian (Dwarf): Who's that? 

[Music ends]. [Soundscape continues].

Mayanna (Fran): Um, friends, friends! 

Mayanna: Hands up, just like, 

Mayanna (Fran): Um, we just… Thorgunn sent us? 

Julian (Dwarf): Oh, Thorgunn Boomslang you're talking about? 

Mayanna (Fran): Yes, yes, yes. He gave us a card–

Julian (Dwarf):Wonderful. I, uh, And your name is? 

Mayanna (Fran): My name's Fran, this is Ibra, and this is our friend Paz. 

Mischa (Paz): Hi. 

Julian (Dwarf): Well, I, uh, I'm not sure exactly why Thorgunn sent you down here, but you're, you're, you're here to, what, uh, contribute to the cause or…?

Mayanna (Fran): I'm here to learn. 

Julian (Dwarf): Wonderful, and I assume that you are not even sure what you are here to learn. 

Mayanna (Fran): Yep. Thorgunn is a mystery wrapped inside an enigma, bent into a question mark inside of a haunting nightmare that I only hope to one day understand. 

Julian (Dwarf): So he's not gotten better then, has he? 

[Laughter].

Mayanna (Fran): Oh he's been the same? This is, this, this was not like the, this was not the falling action of an act two I didn't see, it was just, act one the whole time?

Bex (Ibra): He's always been like this? 

Julian (Dwarf): Let me give you a little bit of background. My name is Fuller Silvering. I am the engineer and overseer of this workshop and the educator as best I can be of the students within its walls.

[Workshop soundscape pauses].

Mischa: Yes, say hello to Fuller Silvering, played by our good friend and first guest on the podcast, Julian Mundy. 

[Cheers and hellos]. 

Julian: Hey! Wow, hey, uh, huge distinction to be first guest on the show. I'm so glad to be included in this really fun series that you guys are proposing over here, and I've gotten a little bit of my feet wet in terms of the lore, the world that you all are building and I think I'm almost as big a fan of you all as your GM here.

[Awws].

Julian: So I'm looking forward to jumping in and getting to do a little bit of a few bits with you guys. 

Mayanna: Yes!

Julian: I'm not sure how much we'll get to, but I'm hugely excited for what we do here. 

[Cheers and laughter].

Mayanna: Oh my gosh, I'm so excited too. 

[Soundscape resumes: looms whirring in the background].

Mischa: All right, well. one of the attendants brings you over a bundle of glowing white fibers to inspect. 

Mayanna (Fran): (Quietly) Woah.

Julian (Dwarf, Fuller): Once more through the refiner. 

Mischa: And, like, nods solemnly and runs quickly away. 

Mayanna (Fran): Wow.

Julian (Fuller): Now, start from the beginning. Why exactly did Thorgunn send you down here? 

[Soundscape ends. Music begins: pensive electronic synths].

Mayanna (Fran): Um, well I've been, I've been one of Thorgunn's students for a while, and recently there was an attack. 

Bex (Ibra): Several. 

Mayanna (Fran): Several. Of a magical nature? 

Julian (Fuller): A magical nature? You're talking people trying to, uh, what, knock over a bank? Something like that? 

Mayanna (Fran): There was a ghost, I think? 

Bex (Ibra): An electromagnetic, spectral–

Mayanna (Fran): Electrical, yea Creature? Phantasm? Something like that.

Bex (Ibra):  …anomaly? 

Julian (Fuller): And you have evidence of this? 

Mayanna (Fran): That's the thing. We remember it, and some people don't. And Thorgunn, when I mentioned that there was danger, he got really scared and he freaked out and he kind of had like, what I assume was like some sort of flashback, very violent in nature.

Julian (Fuller): It’s possible. I, uh, I'm not sure what exactly Thorgunn Boomslang might or might not remember on a given day. 

Mayanna (Fran): Uh-huh, uh-huh. 

Julian (Fuller): But, uh, I used to be a student, as a matter of fact. 

Mayanna (Fran): You were the other student. 

Julian (Fuller): I was. And, uh, I'm… Well, you may also be feeling a bit of a dead end yourself, correct? 

Mayanna (Fran): Yep, yep. 

Julian (Fuller): Not really getting out what you're putting in?

Mayanna (Fran): (Faltering) Y-yeah, you could say that, yeah, Yep. Mhmm. 

Mayanna: This is like the first time I think I've admitted this. Yep. Tiny little tear, just like (sniffles).

[Laughter]. 

Julian (Fuller): Kinda feels a bit like a, uh, free field study of your own. 

Mayanna (Fran): (Frantic) Yeah, it's kind of like when you walk out into the world and you just go like, “where do we start,” you know? 

Julian (Fuller): Teaches some people direction, I find, but that may just be down to the personality involved.

Mayanna (Fran):  Mhmm.

Julian (Fuller): I found direction in a number of places, and it really came down to who was willing to dedicate themselves to doing something. 

Mayanna (Fran): Right. 

Julian (Fuller): And, uh, wait, let me think, is, uh, is Thorgunn still haunting that same–

Mayanna (Fran): Pachonko parlor?

Julian (Fuller): Pachonko. Perfect, yes, alright, so nothing has changed. 

Bex (Ibra): Nothing’s changed for him, but Fran is like you. Fran isn't like Thorgunn. Fran has been learning from Thorgunn, but Fran is like you, driven and capable. Fran is willing to do things. I've seen it. 

Mayanna (Fran): Thank you, that was really nice.

Mayanna:  I have to take that in for a second. Oh my god, okay. 

Bex: I rub your back gently

Mayanna (Fran): Okay, thank you. 

Julian (Fuller): Well. I'm glad to see that you're putting in some effort. It's encouraging to see. But, uh, I have to be honest. What assurance do I have that you're worth my time? You can see that we have some quite extensively important work here to be getting on with, and I don't mean to be rude to you all, but time is not a luxury that we necessarily have, and if I'm going to invest any in you, I'm going to need some kind–Do you have any, written record of this attack, these, uh, events that you've been experiencing?

Bex (Ibra): Yes. I have a copy of a letter from the Magistrate, detailing our position in…

Mayanna (Fran): …this endeavor? 

Bex (Ibra): A vague enough way for it to be accessible to the layperson, but also specific enough to detail our import here. 

Mischa: Hm. Hey Ibra, will you roll Persuasion for me? 

Mayanna: Amazing.

Bex: Yeah. 

[Dice rolls].

Lyn: Fran, you also have your notes from the attacks. 

Mayanna: I do, oh, I do? Ooh.

Bex: Oh yeah! 

Lyn: You’ve been keeping track..

Mayanna: Right, My personal notes, my engineering notebook, yeah, so I do have like, Essentially like a diary entry of the– of what I saw. 

Mischa: Yeah, and you, you take out your, uh, diary of the events, [SFX: pages turning] which are mostly just like ideas for different devices that you come up with. 

Mayanna (Fran): Sorry, that one's, that one's old. Don't look at that. Don't look at that. Um, it's just this, it's from, uh, 6:45 p.m. to like 7:45 p.m. That's, that's the area. 

Julian (Fuller): Understood. All right, well thank you for pointing that out. 

Mayanna (Fran): Yeah, no problem. 

Mischa: Um, will you also roll persuasion? Meanwhile, Ibra, what'd you get? 

Bex: 12. 

Mischa: 12. Um. 

[Dice rolls].

Mayanna: 19! 

Mischa: Whoa! 

Bex: Yea!

Mayanna: Wooo! Plus three, so 22. 

Mischa: Whoa!

Lyn: Whoa! 

[Music shifts: humming ambient synths]

Mischa: Yeah, Fuller, you can feel the earnestness coming off of Ibra in waves. There, there's just like, not a lie within a hundred miles. 

Julian: Great. Helpful. 

Mischa: So, at least. Fran has, like, one earnest reference from somebody who isn't Thorgunn. 

Julian: Mhmm, right. 

Mischa: As Ibra's sort of, like, blathering on, like, sincerity, honestness, hard working, you're like, “yeah, yeah, I've heard it all before,” you open up this journal of Fran's, and you right away, can see someone whose mind is constantly on crafting, and if nothing else, that's a kindred spirit. 

Julian: Okay!

Mischa: Maybe now you see, maybe what Thorgunn might have seen in her, briefly. 

Julian: Right. 

Mischa: Whatever that's worth. 

Bex: Before he went back to the Pachonko parlor. 

Mischa: Yeah, whatever that's worth.

Julian: Right.

Julian (Fuller): It is encouraging to know that, whatever else Thorgunn might be, they are at least a lodestone for raw talent. Whatever else happens is sort of up to the talent at that point. But at the very least, you know, you have a gravity well for a bit to work out in the meantime. So. This is helpful. This is–this material will cover some questions I was going to ask you, frankly. 

Mayanna (Fran): Mhmm, mhmm.

Julian (Fuller): But, I suppose my next question for you is: what is it I can do to assist you in this? What is it you're hoping to learn here? 

Bex (Ibra): (Sigh) Everything. 

Mayanna (Fran): Yeah, literally anything you're willing to teach us. I just, what is this? This is amazing. I've never seen anything like this before and-and I think that things are about to get really dangerous and anything that I can learn to protect my friends and make me a better craftsperson–I would like to learn.

Bex (Ibra): Yeah, you mentioned you didn't have a lot of time and what you're doing here is very important. Can we- can we know a little bit about what it is? 

[Music shifts: ominous synths and strings].

Julian (Fuller): The whole fervor around Astra and its use?

Mayanna (Fran): Uh-huh.

Julian (Fuller): It's not sustainable. It's not going to end in a situation where people's lives are made better. 

Mayanna (Fran): Okay, that makes sense. 

Mayanna: And I remember– I flashback to when JJ overstressed their Astra trying to get like one last spell out.

Bex: Ibra starts to sweat. 

Julian (Fuller): You've been seeing it fluctuate, come into, uh, unstable conditions, crack. These things are indications of applications made in ignorance. At the very least, we are not refining the material to the point where it is safe. My research is devoted to a different system of handling energy.

Mayanna (Fran): Whoa. 

Julian (Fuller): Which has its price. 

Mayanna (Fran): Okay. Um– 

Julian (Fuller): But it will give those who are committed a leg up on what you have begun to document here. 

[Music ends]. 

Julian (Fuller): What we make here are tags. 

Mayanna: I take out my, I, hands up. I take out my revolver in a very non threatening way, and I take out one of the bullets that has been tagged with “sighting.”

Mischa: Fuller, you see a, like, small caliber bullet that has, like, a liquid metal coating across it. 

Julian: Right. 

Mischa: That has clearly been dipped in something, and then you run it under your nose, and you sniff it, and it smells a little acrid, almost like gasoline. 

Julian: Sure. 

Mischa: Obviously, one of Thorgunn's concoctions.

Julian: Right. 

Julian (Fuller): Oh, very good. Okay. Yes. This is somewhat familiar. I can see that this was done a bit in haste.

Mayanna (Fran): Yeah, I kind of just dipped it with tweezers. It wasn't sanitized or anything. It was just kind of an experiment. 

Julian (Fuller): Well, you're here–

Mayanna (Fran): You can give notes. You can, I'm open to feedback. 

Julian (Fuller): You made it here, and if you manage to use this and make it out intact, then I'll live with the next part. Which is, if you're going to devote yourself to a craft like this, you have to be aware of what you might be giving up in the process. 

[Music begins: broad chords of horns, brass and synths]

Mayanna (Fran): Okay.

Mischa: Fuller escorts you over to the circle of people braiding white strands from their temples and sort of like gestures to the circle. 

Julian (Fuller): These students are beginning the process of removing and refining the emotional core of their own minds, harnessing individual memories, impulses, creative ideas. All of these things that make up yourself and transmute them into the material that we turn into tags. 

Mischa: You see a young elf woman kind of sitting at the front of the braiding train with her eyes closed, kind of meditative in thought, but crying. Like, like, pretty deeply crying. And then the person behind her sort of, like, continues drawing the string from her head, and as the thread gathers itself in her hands, the young elf woman, like, slowly stops crying, and then her face goes, like, very neutral.

Mayanna (Fran): (Hesitant) Okay. Uh-huh. 

Julian (Fuller): You see this? 

Julian: Raises the hammer, [SFX: metal sliding against stone, clanking as it’s put down] rests it with a clang down on the flagstones. 

Mayanna (Fran): Uh-huh. 

Julian (Fuller): This is imbued with my own fury.

Mayanna (Fran): Whoa.

Julian (Fuller): My own discipline. I could tell you about the origin of that feeling. I would not sound any particular way about it. 

Mayanna (Fran): Hmm.

Julian (Fuller): We find objectivity in these moments by giving up the core emotion that created it.

Mayanna (Fran): (Unsure) Okay. 

Julian (Fuller): If you're willing to commit yourself to meditation, focus, and eventually, manufacturing your own tags…

Mischa: And here he sort of takes you by the shoulder and walks you over to these enormous looms. 

[SFX: Looms whirring louder].

Mayanna: Oh my God. 

Mischa: They're like big, silver spiky things with like three dozen wire teeth threshing back and forth as the glowing white threads are funneled into one side and woven together by these expert hands deftly weaving back and forth and what comes out is a rectangular paper tag, like an onmyo tag, like this little prayer tag that like weaves it into like a flat sheaf of paper. 

Mayanna (Fran): Ohh, that's incredible.

Julian (Fuller): Now, what will you apply this tag to? That by definition becomes a part of you, but only if you are able to properly focus, distill, and craft your own will.

[Loom whirring fades back into background soundscape].

Mayanna (Fran): (Deep breath).

Mayanna: I think Fran is thinking about… Of course, it would make sense that this level of craftsmanship would require this level of sacrifice, and I think she's also clocking for the first time, like, how you, like, “I just thought you were calm and serene because you're, like, all wise or whatever, but you are, like, the byproduct of this process. You're just very steadfast and very neutral and very, like, sure of yourself, but you clearly have taken something out of yourself to put into these things.” 

Julian (Fuller):  Do not craft tags willy-nilly. 

[Music ends]. [Laughter].

Mayanna (Fran): Yeah. 

Lyn: William Nilliam. 

[Laughter].

Ian: That's a party point for Julian. 

Mayanna (Fran): I'm willing to do whatever it takes to protect my friends. 

Julian (Fuller): That’s a start. 

Mayanna: I like, go over to the circle and I'm like, 

Mayanna (Fran): Can you show me?

Julian (Fuller): I can. What about the rest of you?

[Music begins: pensive ambient synths]

Bex: Ibra is visibly sweating and shaking. Ibra is… Ever since Fuller started talking about the fact that Astra is unstable and the way that it's been used being so dangerous, Ibra has sort of, been in a thousand yard stare since that point in the conversation. Sweating, shaking, I think. Paz has her hand on Ibra's back, and Ibra's just like, not there.

Mischa: Yeah I think Paz is like, 

Mischa (Paz) : Yeah, sounds, sounds neat. (Whispers aside) Ibra, are you okay?

Bex (Ibra): (Whispering, shaky) Um, yeah, I’m fine I’m fine I’m f–um, yeah yeah… I don't think so. Um, I think I need some air. 

Mischa (Paz): Okay. 

Julian (Fuller): Very good.

Mischa (Paz): Okay. Um, Fran, you, you got a lot of, you got a lot of stuff to learn. 

Mayanna (Fran): Yeah. 

Mischa (Paz): You're in school now! 

Mayanna (Fran): Oh God. Yeah. Yep. I'm in school. I–

Mischa (Paz): You did it!

Mayanna (Fran):  I did it. I did it, I didn't think I'd ever get to school. 

Mischa (Paz):  It's weird that your school is a basement in the Dustpan, but it's great.

Mayanna (Fran): It is really weird that it– Yep. Mhmm.

Mischa (Paz): You obviously have like a lot of, I'll take Ibra upstairs. 

Mayanna (Fran): Okay, yeah, yeah, yeah. 

Mischa (Paz): We'll meet you back upstairs? 

Mayanna (Fran): Okay, sounds good, yeah, I'll meet you upstairs, thanks. 

Bex (Ibra): Yeah, yeah, um, have fun. 

Mayanna (Fran): Ibra, are you okay? 

Bex (Ibra): Um, uh, have a good time. I'm gonna be okay, I think.

Mayanna (Fran): You promise?

Bex (Ibra): Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Mischa: Um, I'm gonna roll insight for Fuller.  

Mayanna: Ooh yeah. 

Mischa: Um, will you roll, stealth, honestly? 

Mayanna: Ooh. 

[Dice rolls].

Bex: 8. 

Mischa: 8. It seems clear to you now, Fuller, that Fran was the one who was sent here by Thorgunn, because she's the one who, like, came to train, ready to train. You look over to her compatriot, who's showing signs of collapse.

Julian (Fuller): I see. Well, no, absolutely, please, do not go any further into this if you are not feeling up to it. I know that the consequences of what we have devoted our society to is going to have ripple effects in unexpected places, so if you are one of those people, then I am sorry. 

Bex: You see Ibra shake even harder and just kind of nod in the weakest way.

Mayanna: I put a hand on the other shoulder. 

Julian (Fuller): Please understand this, that that does not make you less. Your weakness is something that you can hammer out. 

Lyn: (Pained laughter).

Mayanna:  Wow. I think that's another party point, honestly. 

Bex: Mhm. Ooh!  

Ian: Two for Julian. 

Mayanna: Wow. 

Bex: Ibra just sort of blinks a couple times and nods shakily and tries to open their mouth but just… no ability to speak anymore just turning and walking. 

Mischa: And Paz looks briefly at Fran and she's like, 

Mischa (Paz): I gotta, I gotta go. Okay? 

Mayanna (Fran): I understand, I understand. 

Mischa: And follows you upstairs, back up to the street level. 

Bex: I rolled a 2 on the die for that. 

[Laughter]. [Music fades out].

Mayanna: Yeah, and that felt like a 2. 

Bex: Yeah. It's like, this is close enough to a Nat 1 that it feels like we're right above it.

Lyn: A Nat 1 would be you barfing. 

[Laughter]. 

Bex: Yeah, right? And this was, this was just before that. 

Lyn: Yeah, just shy. 

Bex: “Oh God, I'm dangerous!” (Retching noise).

Mayanna: (Laughing) Yeah.

[Soundscape resumes. SFX: looms whirring louder].

Mischa: Fran, your compatriots leave and you are left alone in your new dojo. Fuller gestures over to the thread drawing circle and sort of gestures for you to take a seat. 

Mayanna: Okay, I do. 

Julian (Fuller): Now what I want you to do is start with taking the impulses that you wish to use, bring them to the surface, and skim them off the top.

Mayanna (Fran): (Exhale). 

[Music begins: slightly discordant, nostalgic synth chords].

Mayanna: Um, I think I, uh, pull up the memory of Paz's birthday party and when we were all singing the, the Boggins Bistro birthday song. 

Mischa: Yeah. 

Mayanna: And the, the feeling of sort of completeness and wholeness of that. And I try to channel that into what a bag of holding would need. 

Mischa: In your mind, you recall that memory, the warm, orange-yellow glow of the birthday candles lighting everyone's face.

[SFX: an echoey sound of the party’s laughter, the memory coming to life]

Mischa: And as you concentrate and draw a finger away from your temple slowly, carefully, the color of the memory fades until it's grayscale in your mind. 

[SFX: whooshing].

Mayanna: Ohh!

Lyn: (Groans).

Mischa: And you draw a slender white thread away from your head. 

Mayanna: (Whispers) Oh my god.

Julian (Fuller): Now remember this. It is here. It is not gone. No more than the memory is. Your feeling will then become your tool.

Mayanna (Fran): (Softly) Okay. Okay.

Mischa: You sit down at one of the looms. Will you roll me a dexterity check plus your proficiency because this is a craftsman's tool and you have proficiency with all craftsman's tools. 

Mayanna: Oh my god, okay, so I have a dexterity of 17, so I have a plus 3 and a proficiency of plus 2. Woo! That is a 16 on the die, plus a 3 plus 2, so 21.

[Cheers and whoops].

Lyn: Yeah! Hell yeah. 

Bex: Yea!

Lyn: Hell yeah. 

Mischa: The emotional portion of it was maybe the hardest part, because as soon as you're sitting at a desk with a craftman's tool, [SFX: loom whirring] your hands instinctively know what to do. You carbon copy the process that you saw the other acolytes going through, and yeah, you draw your emotional memory into a white paper tag.

Mayanna: Oh my god. Oh my god. And then I open up my notebook and I start to decide what kind of bag we need. 

Mayanna (Fran): Could it be like a, like a crossbody or like one of those like sling bags or maybe it's a backpack? 

[Laughter]. 

Mayanna: And I just, I'm, I'm working on that and trying to figure out which bag to use to put this on. I do ultimately like, our society is pretty trendy and futuristic, so I do go with like, one of those like athletic sort of crossbody. 

Mischa: Sure. 

Mayanna: Yeah. 

Mischa: The ones I'm constantly getting ads for on Instagram. Yea, for sure.

Mayanna: Yes, exactly, exactly. But cool, but it's cool. 

Mischa: Listen, those bags on Instagram? Are pretty cool. I'm not going to buy one, but they do look pretty cool.

Ian: But they’re pretty sick.

Mayanna: A deep purple with like three little zipper compartments, and it's very gender neutral, so anybody could wear it, and it would look slay. 

Bex: I love how much Fran loves purple. It's so good. 

Mayanna: I love purple. (laughs).

Julian (Fuller): I see we have a trendsetter in the building. 

Mayanna (Fran): (Laughs nervously with a hint of mischievousness) I don't know what you're talking about.

[Laughter].

Julian (Fuller): I hope that it serves you well. Now, as I say, continuous creation of these tags does exact a toll, and we are still studying the long term side effects of the process. But our understanding has advanced enough that we can begin to apply it. 

[Music ends]. [Music begins: gentle piano].

Mischa: Fuller reaches into a pouch on his belt and pulls out, from a stack, one of several paper tags that he keeps in there.

Julian (Fuller): You have a means of fighting back, or? 

Mayanna (Fran): The-the tiny gun hasn't been working great so far. But this is, this is all I have. 

Mischa: Fuller takes the tag and lays it, like, tries to lay it across the gun, but has to, like, kind of wrap it around because the gun's so small. [Laughter]. And the white paper, once it's woven into paper, it, like, takes the form of dull paper, but as soon as it's applied, it brings that white glow back. [SFX: high pitched shimmering sound]. And it fades into the surface of the gun and kind of like melds into it and disappears.  

Mayanna: Like an inscription sort of wrapped around or like, uh? 

Mischa: Yeah, like the like the whole paper sticker like just goes all around it and then the paper itself fades into the object and becomes part of the object.

Mayanna: Sick, wow.

Mischa: As you hold it in your hand, you can feel a clarity of purpose, that “when I hold this object, I know what I must do.” And then you look back at Fuller's face, impassive, wise, but somewhat devoid of feeling, and you realize that this was, like, one of Fuller's moments of clarity that he has given you.

Mayanna (Fran): What was this memory? 

Julian (Fuller): The first hammer blow I struck in building this new workshop. It was the first time I realized that I could do something about the world around me. 

Mayanna (Fran): I will, I will treasure this for the rest of my life. 

Julian (Fuller): You'll need it. 

Mayanna (Fran): Okay. Can I come back here? Am I allowed to come back? 

Julian (Fuller): By all means. Dedicate yourself. Find your way back. You have my blessing. 

Mayanna (Fran): It moves. 

Julian (Fuller): It needs to. 

Mayanna (Fran): Ahhhhh, It's so cool. Okay. All right. I will, I will do just that.

[Music ends].

Mayanna: And I think I um, if I may, I would love to leave one of the sighted bullets. In the building, maybe under the stairs. 

Mischa: (Laughs) Okay. 

Mayanna: I don't know if that'll do anything, but I, I would like to hope that maybe if it's there, I can maybe feel for it again.

Mischa: Okay, interesting. Yeah, good call. Okay. Cool. 

Mayanna: I don't know– 

Lyn: One day, your cleric in the party will level up enough to get Locate Object. 

[Laughter].

All: Yeah! 

Mischa: One day. 

Mayanna: I just kind of like leave it under the stairs on my way out. Like I, I, I casually kind of go to pick up Ibra's backpack and I kind of just, like, leave one of them down there under the stairs.

Mischa: Ooh, You wanna roll Sleight of Hand? 

Mayanna: Yes, I absolutely will. 

Mischa: And I'm gonna roll Perception for Fuller. Julian, do you wanna roll it? 

Julian: Sure. 

Mayanna: Oh my god. [Dice rolls]. (Gasps) That is a 21. 

Mischa & Lyn: Whoa. 

Julian: Beats what I got. 

[Laughter]. 

Mischa: Yeah, you, um, slide a bullet, like, into the stair, like, the bottom riser of the stair and, like, you push it in so that it's flush with the rest of the objects. Yeah. It just, it kind of, like, from the back looks like another nail but slightly shinier. 

Mayanna: Yeah, Yep. 

Mischa: And you, uh, with your fresh new tag, your upgraded gun, and your new way of doing things–

Mayanna: Oh my god. Yup.

Mischa: You go to ascend the stairs, but just as you're about to leave, Fuller calls you back and mentions one last thing. 

[Music begins: ominous, unsettling ambient strings and synths]

Julian (Fuller): Young Fran, a moment please. Young Fran, just one thing to consider. 

Mayanna (Fran): Yes? 

Julian (Fuller): Magic is thought made real. Astra is thought made real. Our process comes from within us. When you see these crystals, remember and ask yourself, “whose thoughts are these?” 

Mayanna (Fran): Uh-huh. 

Julian (Fuller): We cannot continue to rely on the scavenged thoughts of those who came before, whatever they may be. That path leads us somewhere broken, and I refuse to let this city break any more.

Mayanna (Fran): I'm with you. 

Julian (Fuller): So find your way back here, and I hope to see that you've done good work when you come back next. 

[Music ends].

Mayanna (Fran): Okay.

Mischa: And you grip the strap of your bag tight and ascend the stairs. 

Mayanna: I think on the way up the stairs I put my finger to my temple again just to see if I can do it alone.

Mischa: Mmm. Roll a … 

Mayanna: I'll take, like, Arcana if you want. 

Mischa: No, it's a concentration check. So, in point of fact, it's a constitution saving throw. 

Mayanna: A constitution saving throw? [Dice rolls]. 12. 

[Loom whirring ends].

Mischa: Yeah, with a twelve, you ascend the stairs and, like, slow your steps and attempt to draw another memory and you like, yeah, it comes to you pretty, you know, like you have to try, you have to think about it, you have to concentrate, but you, you can do it and like, you're like, oh, and it like elastics back into your head a little bit.

Mayanna (Fran): Okay. That was my prom date. Okay. 

[Laughter].

Julian: A lot of ways that can go wrong. 

[Laughter]. 

Ian (Gordon): Hat trick for Julian! 

Mischa: While you were down in the basement. Gordon! you've completed your deliveries for the day. 

Ian: Yup.

Mischa: JJ, you've completely thrown out your daily schedule. 

Lyn: Yep. 

Mischa: What are y'all doing? 

Lyn: After texting Fran and Ibra about their escape room that they were supposedly in, I think at some point, JJ was like, on the bus, [SFX: bus doors open, bus hydraulics working as it drives off] originally gonna go home, but then just, like, stops off in Mine Town, and wanders around a bit before getting the idea to text Gordon after your deliveries just being like, 

[Soundscape begins: city noises, birds tweeting, dogs barking, gentle wind and cars passing by].

Lyn (JJ): [SFX: Staticky filter, indicating a text] Hey, man. Are you done with your route for the day? You have a dog now, which is so cool. Um, I don't know if you've had a dog before? 

[Laughter].

Ian: I love this block text right now. 

Lyn (JJ): [SFX: staticky] But there's kind of a sick dog park over in Minetown that a bunch of the residents had built a few years ago. If you want a little doggy date, I can– here's the location, wanna meet up with me? 

Ian: You just see, like, the three dots of, me typing back, and then after a moment, two full lines of only exclamation points.

Mayanna: Oh my god, yes. 

Bex: Perfect. 

Lyn: How do you pronounce that as Gordon?

Ian:  Uh, it goes like this. You look at your phone and you hear in your head, (muffled screaming through closed lips).

Lyn: Nice. 

Julian: That's almost exactly what I imagined. 

Mischa: I know right?

Bex: Yeah, that feels correct. 

Ian: That's the proper pronunciation. 

[Music begins: charming guitar joined later by harmonica].

Mischa: Yeah, you head over to Ferris Park, an old park over in Minetown, near, closer to where you grew up. Your, your feet just sort of, as you wander, carry you towards it. It's been around for a little while, it's sort of cobbled together, like, old HVAC ductwork into slides, and like, old decommissioned construction equipment into, like, jungle gyms. There's, like, welded pipe climbing things. 

Lyn: Yeah, like repurposed rebar.

Mischa: Yeah, But it’s all–

Lyn: It's safe!

Mischa: Yes, it's all, it's all like, been worked over. It looks like a big community project that the neighborhood around it kind of like realized this need for a park for the kids and for pets and stuff and sort of like built this together out of what they had on hand. 

Julian: It's amazing what you can do with a new shade of paint.

Mischa: Yeah, for sure, absolutely. There's also like, like hard scrabble, sort of like dirt, stone courts with lines drawn on them in chalk, for kids who are playing four square. It's mostly dirt, ground, there's not a ton of like, manicured grass lawns, what is this, the upper city? But there is a little patch of like, clover lawn that's like, for the dogs and pets to run around in. It's, it's carpeted in five leaf clover. 

Mayanna: Awww.

Julian: Whoa! 

Mischa: That's normal here, but it's weird to us.

Lyn: Yeah. 

Ian: That's cute. 

Lyn: Dungeons & dragons– 

Mischa: Yeah, You can do anything, even have clover lawns instead of grass lawns. 

Mayanna: You can do that in reality, too, just to be clear. 

Lyn: I highly recommend looking up the various states of clover lawns in your native area.

Mayanna: Yeah. Star clover, I think, is a good one. It's like water, it's like a water reducing lawn. Alternative, yeah. 

Ian: Are you serious? 

Lyn: Yeah, there are a lot of lawn alternatives. 

Mischa: I'm gonna have to bring it before the unholy court of my HOA next time I see them. 

[Laughter].

Mischa: JJ, as you stroll up and, like, kind of wander through this park, there's families, there's kids, there's you know, single adults, there's groups of people just sort of minding their own day. Which part of the park do you wander to while you wait for Gordon? 

Lyn: I think what JJ first turns to is, like, sitting at a bench, looking over, like, the playground area, kind of. 

[Music ends]. [Soundscape shifts: children playing is added into the city mix].

Mischa: Mhmm. 

Lyn: And takes out the transfer forms that Gwen gave her. [SFX: papers rustling].

Mayanna: Ooh. 

[Music begins: pensive ambient synths].

Lyn: And, um, spends a lot of time, like, looking at it. Looking back at the playground, which is like, you know, like JJ's been on this playground growing up. Really trying to kind of bask in the families and the people just going about their day to day. Most of them being like blue collar working families, but still like being able to take time out of the day to like spend time together. 

Mischa: Mhm. 

Lyn: And like find little bits of joy and happiness and relaxation. And like, at first it's like kind of like smiling, like listening to kids, like going like, Like,”Yeah! ah!” chasing each other around and then it kind of dawns on JJ that, like, this is what is at risk. 

Mischa: Yeah. 

Mayanna: That's so good. 

Ian: This is a heavy episode. 

Mischa: Leetle bit, sorry! Are you ready for a heavier part, Ian? 

Mayanna: Oh, yes.

Mischa: Are you ready? 

Ian: No. What? No! 

Mayanna: Yes. 

Ian: Because I'm about to come with my new dog. Nothing heavy about that, except the dog. 

[Music fades out].

Mischa: No, it's too late. We're already here. We're already in the episode. 

Ian: What the fuck? 

[Laughter]. 

Julian: Here we go. I'm turning down the lights. 

Mayanna: No, it's dark in here now!

Lyn: It's so dark and dim!

Mayanna: I can't see anything! 

Mischa: JJ, you stare into these forms [SFX: paper rustling] and sort of drift back into, through your memory. You flash back to a day in this park, [SFX: whoosh]

 [Soundscape ends]. [Music begins: gentle guitar and ambient synths]. 

Mischa: Maybe like I don't know, six or seven years ago, you were also in this park as a little teen JJ. I'm imagining like pigtail braids? 

Mayanna: Aww!

Lyn: Yeah, absolutely. This was before JJ cut all their hair off. 

Mischa: Yeah, absolutely. 

Bex: JJ Longstocking.

Lyn: Absolutely braided hair, maybe a butterfly clip. 

Mayanna: Oh yes, please.

Mischa: Cute. 

Lyn: Like one fell off. The other…

Mischa: I think it's a little one made of, like, a gear and then, like, wire woven into the little clip. 

Mayanna: So cute.

Lyn: Yeah, my grandmother made it for me. 

Bex: Oh!

Mayanna: My heart.

[Soundscape begins: birds in park, wind rustling through trees].

Mischa: You are here with Samira. Samira had texted you earlier today to come meet in the park. She had something she wanted to talk to you about, and she rolls up, big smile on her face, like, striding across the park lawn like she owns the place, as she does most places she enters. 

Mischa (Samira): What are you waiting for? 

Lyn (JJ): Huh?

Mischa (Samira): It's jungle gym time, baby! 

Lyn (JJ): Oh, oh, oh, oh, okay, uh… 

Lyn: And I, like, also, like, sprint, like, jokingly, like, tackle her before she can get onto the jungle gym. I was like, 

Lyn (JJ): Nope, me first. 

Mischa: Ooh, uh, let's roll, let's roll a grapple check.

Mayanna: Yes, yes, yes, yes! 

[Dice rolls].

Bex: I love baby JJ.

Mayanna: Yes.

Lyn: Uh, grapple, that's athletics, right? 

Mischa: Yeah. 

Lyn: 17. 

Mischa: She bolts for the jungle gym and you tackle her onto the clover lawn. [SFX: falling onto clover].

Lyn: Yeah. 

Lyn (JJ): Ha, me first. Heh.

Mayanna: Adorable. 

Lyn (JJ): Yeah, what are you waiting for? 

Mischa (Samira): I, nothing, no, I, I'm waiting to pick up the flaws in your strategy so I can swoop in for the win, of course. 

Lyn (JJ): Ah, yes, a gambit, if you will. I don't know what that word means. I think I'm using it right. Am I using it right? 

[Laughter]. 

Mischa (Samira): I have no idea. 

Lyn (JJ): Okay. 

Mischa: She sort of like sighs and stands up and dusts herself off. She's like, 

Mischa (Samira): That's kind of what I wanted to talk to you about, actually. 

Lyn (JJ): A gambit? 

Mischa (Samira): Learning what gambit means. 

Lyn (JJ): Oh… What? 

Lyn: I'm also, like, getting up, dusting myself off. I have, like, a huge grass stain, like, on me because I really went for it. 

Mayanna: You really did. 

Ian: Clover stain. 

Lyn: Clover stain. A big clover stain where I'm just like, 

Lyn (JJ): “I can get that out probably. No, my aunt's gonna get that out.”

Julian: It's a whole thigh. 

Lyn: Yeah, it's like, like, yeah, it really wraps around, like, to the butt cheek, too.

[Laughter]. 

Mayanna: It's like a baseball slide. 

Lyn: Yeah, exactly. 

Bex: You didn't just tackle, you slid. 

Lyn: Yeah, 

Mischa: You sort of like brush at it for a few times. You're like, that's not going anywhere.

Lyn: Yeah. 

[Laughter]. 

Mayanna: It's making it worse. Really bleeding it in there. 

Lyn: Um, so like, as she's saying, it's like, 

Lyn (JJ): I don't, wait, what? What are you talking about? 

Mischa (Samira): You know, um, I know our parents definitely want us to, like, go into the trades and follow them in their footsteps, and, you know, they, they sit us down and talk about that a lot.

Lyn (JJ): A lot, yeah. 

Mischa (Samira): A lot. 

Lyn (JJ): Every dinner. And most lunches.

Mischa (Samira): Like, we haven't, like, we haven't heard it before, like, it's just the same argument. Every day. 

Lyn (JJ): Yeah, I mean, I don't know if it's an argument. It's just their thoughts, I guess. 

Mischa (Samira): It is, but, like, I wonder if there's just more. 

Lyn (JJ): What do you mean? 

Mischa (Samira): Well, just cause my name is Mason doesn't mean I was born to do masonry.

Lyn (JJ): I mean, you are good at it though. 

Mischa (Samira): Well, yeah, I'm great at it. I'm great at everything I try. 

Lyn (JJ): Well, That's true. Unfortunately. 

Lyn: And I like hit her shoulder a little bit. 

Lyn (JJ): So like, what do you want to do then? You want to do something else? 

Mischa (Samira): Yeah. I want to do something… else. You know, sometimes when we're in classes, it feels like I'm just there to do a task, that I'm just hands, that I'm just feet. I'm just arms. 

Lyn (JJ): Mmhm. You don't feel your brain or heart in there? 

Mischa (Samira): No. 

Lyn (JJ): You've got a lot of those. Okay, that makes it sound like you have multiple brains and multiple hearts. 

Mischa (Samira): I do, I have three brains and four hearts. 

Lyn (JJ): Oh!

Mischa (Samira): That's why I'm great. 

Lyn (JJ): I knew something was up with you. 

Mischa (Samira): Yeah. But like, did you ever think about doing anything other than what your parents told you to do?

Lyn (JJ): Um, yeah…. No. You know I don't. 

Mischa (Samira): Why not? 

Lyn (JJ): I don't know. Like, what they do is cool. And my whole family, they, like, all the work that they do is really important. And helps a lot of people, really helps the city, and I want to do that, I think. 

Mischa (Samira): Yeah, that's just like you, you always want to help every single person. 

Lyn (JJ): Yeah.

Mischa (Samira): You know, I, sometimes I just think that like, yeah, it's just about what my hands can do and building stuff, but like, no one really cares what I think or anything. 

Lyn (JJ): I care what you think. 

Mischa (Samira): I know… I was, I was gonna say except for you? 

Lyn (JJ): Oh, well, I'll always care about what you think. 

[Music and soundscape end].

Mischa: Hey Lyn, do you want to roll a flirt roll about it?

All: [Laughter and yelling]. Oh shit! 

Bex: Finally! 

Mayanna: I did not pick this up at all. 

[Laughter]

Ian: Me neither. I was like, what the fuck is happening? This is chaotic. 

Mayanna: I didn’t get this was this the whole time till just right now. 

Ian: Yeah. 

[Dice rolls].

Mayanna: Oh my god. 

Lyn: I rolled a 12. 

Mischa: Okay, what's your charisma mod? 

Lyn: Oh, charisma mod, flat 12. 

Mischa: Yeah, I rolled an 8, and Samira gets a plus 3, so that's within one.

[Music begins: ambient horns and synths]

Mayanna: (Gasps)

Bex: Oh! 

Ian: Wait, that's the game! 

Mayanna: (shouting) That's the game! That's the roll for flirting! 

Bex: That’s it! Wait a minute, that's it? 

Mayanna: It's 11 and 12! AH!

[Back to back screaming].

Ian: Yeah, that's fucking good. 

Lyn: I, as Lyn, am blushing right now. I'm like, I don't know what to do about this moment. 

Mayanna: I'm beside myself. 

Bex: I got goose pimples. 

Mischa: You guys are tearing down your walls in that way that teens do when they think that they're the only people in the world. And at that moment, you lock eyes with each other. 

Mayanna: (gasps) Oh my God. 

[Park soundscape resumes: birds and wind in the trees].

Lyn (JJ): (Stammering) Um, anyway, uh… So, so you're, you're gonna do something else when we go to school? That's what you're, you're gonna…?

Mischa (Samira): Yeah, I don't. I don't think normal's for me. (Heavy breathing).

[Laughter]. 

Lyn (JJ): Um, yeah, you're, you're better than normal. Um… 

Mischa (Samira): JJ? 

Lyn (JJ): Yeah? 

Mischa: And she, she puts her hand on your shoulder and it's like shaking a little bit and she goes, 

Mischa (Samira): So are you.

Mayanna: (Gasps).

Mischa: And then you snap back to the present.[SFX: a whoosh and the sound of children playing and the sounds of the street resumes] 

[Music fades out]

Mischa: Staring down at these forms that are kind of what you've always wanted to be offered by someone else and something that might disappoint your parents most of all. 

Bex: (Whispers) but it might excite Samira. 

Mayanna: Oh my god. 

Lyn: That is not the point of that flashback!

[Laughter].  

Bex: Nope, not at all. But!

Lyn: Um, yeah, I think like–

Julian: It’s the point I took away..

Mayanna: Yeah, that's the only thing I can think about now. 

Bex: Right? The rest of us are like, “we know”

[Soundscape pauses].

Mischa: Okay, quick, before we go on with this scene with JJ in the present, everybody react to what just happened. 

Mayanna: Oh my god! 

Bex: YES! Oh my fucking god, yes! HAHAHA Gay. Heeheeehee

Ian: You did it.

Mayanna: I can't believe I missed that. I can't believe it. 

Ian: 100%

Mayanna: Every–Sorry, this is lore about me, Mayanna, the person. [Laughter]. Whenever I would watch a movie with my family, I'd be like, “Are those two gay?” And my brother would be like, “Why do you think everyone's gay?” And I'm like, “I don't know. There's just like a vibe between them. That they just seem like they really like each other.” And I had no idea!

[Laughter]. 

Mayanna: I didn't clock it at all! Oh my god. 

Lyn: It's been years of repression. 

[Laughter]. 

Mayanna: Oh my god. 

Bex: Literally, since they were 13.

Mayanna: I’m like they’re just gal pals! Good friends!

Lyn: Since that moment, clearly, nothing has happened. 

Mischa: No movement. 

Mayanna: Besties!

Lyn: No movement since then. 

Julian: Oh, so it was a tremendous, it was like an earthquake where it was a seismic shift and then back to stasis for another hundred thousand years?

Lyn: Yeah.

Mayanna: Literally oh, I love it. 

Bex: So delicious. 

[Soundscape resumes].

Mischa: Meanwhile, back in the present, you, that, that flashback, like, I'm gonna say JJ. probably thinks about that once a week at least. But– 

Lyn: Yeah.

Mayanna: Oh my god.

[Laughter]. 

Bex: That's your Roman Empire. 

Lyn: (simultaneously) That’s my Roman Empire.

[Laughter]. 

Lyn & Bex: Jinks!

Ian: Wait, wait, wait, I mean I guess this is a stupid question, but if you think about it once a week, why haven't you done anything about it? 

Lyn: Have you met JJ? 

Bex: (overlapping with Lyn) Gay!

Mayanna: That's literally JJ's whole problem. 

Mischa: Ian, you've clearly never been a teenage girl.

[Laughter]. 

Ian: That's so true, how did you know that? 

[Laughter]. 

Lyn: Wow. 

Mischa: But like, here back in the present, the reason it's rattling around your brain now, of course, is because like, I don't know, did you ever think that you'd confront that question the way Samira did? 

[Music begins: serene chimes]

Lyn: No, I mean, that's the thing that JJ likes most in Samira, is that she's always willing to tackle things head on. So like, in that moment, remembering her voice, even though it was a moment of doubt for her, she still… Like, the knowledge of the present is that she still went full force into it, like, despite being at odds with both of our whole families because of it, that she still charged ahead and, like, reflecting on looking around and thinking of that memory like, this is what's at stake, and starts filling out the forms. [SFX: pencil scratching on paper].

Mayanna: Oh my god.

[Music and soundscape end]

[Midroll music plays and fades out].

Mischa: Hey there, it's Mischa. This is the rest stop. Come take a break beside the path with me, just until we catch our breath. 

This week, we ask that if you're liking the show, please share it with your friends. We're really getting deeper into this story and this mystery now, and I know there's some people out there that like to wait until there's a few episodes of something before they try it out. Well, now's the time! Please, please, please, word of mouth is still the number one most effective way to help a podcast grow. So if you have a friend, a relative, or whoever, and you think they might like the show, send them a link. Sit down and listen to an episode with them, we'd really, really appreciate it.

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Let's get back on the path and back to the show.

[Midroll music fades out].

[Soundscape begins: city traffic, occasional honking of horns, driving to the park].

Mischa: Gordon. 

Ian: Hi. 

Mischa: Hey, you, uh, roll up. Are you still in the tuk-tuk even after all your deliveries? You know, you gotta get around town somehow. 

Ian: Yeah, I think I use the tuk-tuk pretty irresponsibly. [Laughter]. You know, I think like that I use the tuk-tuk for all of my life. 

Mischa: It took you like two days for Cecilia to be gone, to be like, “this is my tuk-tuk now.”

Ian: A hundred percent. And it's sick, gotta tell you. 

Mischa: Yeah. 

Ian: Having a tuk-tuk when you previously did not. 

Mischa: So small, parallel parking's a breeze. 

Ian: A hundred percent. 

Mischa: Yeah. So you roll up onto the park in the tuk-tuk [SFX: car parking] and BG, your brand new dog. 

[Music begins: jaunty, jazzy piano].

Ian: So sick. 

Mischa: sticks his head out the window, uh, looking around for just, just like, little tiny picture window on the bread tuk-tuk, just enough for ventilation for the bread, and just sticks his head through it.

Mischa (BG): (Panting)

Ian: Is his head also square, like the, like, it's like a perfect–

Mischa:  Yeah, I think like, well, for, for the first moment, it's like perfectly rectangular and it pops out to normal. 

[Laughter]. 

Ian: Great. Okay, so I get out, I get BG out of the back. I, I have, I've been wondering about this, this whole episode so far. It's a dog park. 

Mischa: Yeah, 

Ian: There's other dogs.

[Soundscape shifts: Dogs barking, birds in trees, animals running around in the park, breeze in trees].

Mischa: There's other dogs. 

Ian: We've never seen BG interact with other dogs. 

Mischa: That's very true. 

Ian: I'm super curious if BG is well behaved cuz BG is a chiller or if BG is gonna be a dog– 

Bex: A killer? 

Ian: A killer. Not necessarily a killer. I don't think he's a killer. I don't think BG's a killer. I don't know if a–

Bex: I know but chiller or killer is what I'm supposed to say.

Ian: Oh, you're right. 

Julian: He's a thriller. 

All: Ooooooh. 

Ian: There it is. Is he chiller, killer, or thriller? 

Mischa: Well, we're here to find out today, here in the Dog Park. 

Mayanna: Dog park! 

Ian: So, uh, I take BG out, I put his leash. 

Mayanna: That I made. 

Mischa: His brand new, like, bespoke, beaten metal and leather collar. 

Mayanna: Yes. It's got a little studs for BG on the handle near where you hold it.

Bex: Our theme for our team is purple. 

Mayanna: Yes, it's purple, it's a purple leash. 

Ian: It's dyed purple. 

Mayanna: Yeah. I have like leather strips of various colors that I keep in my craftsman's tools, and purple's always in there. 

Lyn: Always stocked. 

Mayanna: Always stocked. 

Ian: So we get out, and I… I mean, the dog park's like, not It's big, but it's not massive, right?

Mischa: No, it's not massive. You can probably spot, uh, JJ. 

Lyn: And there's like a– There's a big dog section and a little dog section. As soon as I hear the tuk-tuk roll up I like wave to you [SFX: brakes creak as tuk-tuk parks].

Ian: Oh, great. Okay, so I walk over to JJ., and then presumably we go to the big dog section. 

Lyn: Yeah, because he's a bigger dog. 

Ian: Cause BG’s a Big Guy.

Mischa: Yeah, I think as you roll up on JJ., I think BG, like, jumps up, big paws, right on the bench next to you, and sort of, like, sniffs all around your face.

Mischa (BG): (Sniffing).

Lyn (JJ): Hi! Okay, okay. You're very good, but, I will start helping you with training,

Lyn: And I turn away. 

[Music ends].

Mayanna: Oh! 

Mischa: Whoa! Interesting. Make for me, please, JJ, the first of what I'm sure will be many animal handling roles in this scene

Mayanna: Ah! Yes. 

Lyn: Perfect.

Ian: Oh my God. I'm gonna get my D20 out. 

[Dice rolls].

Mayanna: Yes. Yes. Yes.  

Lyn: 13. 

Mischa: Yeah. With a 13. Um, BG's a street dog. Yeah. BG sort of like barrels through situations, but after just a, a couple minutes sniffing around you, like eventually slowly hops down. 

Lyn: Mhmm. 

Mischa: And looks back up to Gordon. 

Mischa (BG): (pants)

Lyn (JJ): Good. That's called “off.” 

Lyn: And then, I. I'm like, 

Lyn (JJ): you might need some help, Gordon, 

Lyn:And I will cast, um, Enhance Ability on Gordon for owl’s Wisdom, so you have advantage on Wisdom Checks.

[Music begins: ethereal ambient synths].

Mayanna: (gasps) Yes! 

Lyn: I'll just like, put my hand on Gordon's shoulder, and be like, 

Lyn (JJ): You gotta be firm, but fair. They don't think like people do, but that doesn't mean they don't think and that they don't feel. 

Mischa: Great, you're gonna get advantage on any wisdom checks. 

Lyn: Which includes animal handling. 

Mayanna: Thank god. 

Mischa: A small, like, glowing thumbs up symbol appears like right over your heart. [SFX: high, shimmery note]. [Laughter]. Yeah, you, gather up the lead and go, “Okay, boy, time to go to the big dog section.” 

[Music ends].

Ian: And we walk into the dog park. How many dogs is it? Is it like a busy day or not? 

Mischa: Um, it's like a moderately busy day. I would say it's like, um…

Mayanna: Roll for dogs! Roll for dogs! 

Mischa: You don't have to roll for dogs. I have an entire table full of NPCs that have dogs.

Mayanna: Ooooh yes.

Mischa: We're good. We're okay. We have dogs. 

Mayanna: We're eating good in this game. 

Mischa: I have dogs!

Bex: We also just really like to roll things. 

Mischa: Well, good news for you Ian, I would love to play a little minigame with you and BG

All: Minigame! Minigame!

[Music begins: playful electronic beats].

Mischa: here at the dog park. Here's what's gonna go down. I have a table of people you can run into at the dog park as you are attempting to train and rein in your dog.

Mayanna: I love this. 

Ian: Okay, great. 

Mischa: You're gonna do several rolls of increasing difficulty. 

Ian: Great. Energy's key, thank you. 

Mischa: The better you roll on these things, the more people that BG will behave himself in front of that you might be able to talk to. 

Ian: Oh, you really know how many people are in this dog park. You did this whole, yep, I've seen it.

Mayanna: I'm so jealous cause you guys had an ASMR library scene and now you have this sick ass dog park scene. This is so dope. 

Bex: Ian gets great shit.

Lyn: Yeah.

Ian: Hang with Gordon. 

[Laughter]. 

Mayanna: So  dope. Oh yeah, and deliveries. Oh my god. 

Lyn: Gordon gets all the minigames. Yes. 

Mischa: Gordon's a minigame machine.

Ian:  Yeah. 

Mischa: Are you ready? 

Ian: Yes, I'm ready. 

Mischa: Okay, so these are gonna be animal handling rolls.

Ian: Okay, 

Mischa: Which is a wisdom skill So you're gonna roll with advantage. 

Ian: Got it. 

Mischa: The first one has a difficulty of five. 

[Dice rolls].

Ian: 7. 

Mischa: Great. 

Ian: Woo! 

Mischa: What's the first command you attempt with BG? 

Ian: Uh, it's heel because there's more dogs, you know, we go in there's dogs around BG's super interested and I say “heel” and… 

Mischa: You give the command to heel, and BG, now having crossed the threshold into the dog park, is straining at your lead to see all the dogs. 

Mischa (BG): (Pants). 

Mischa: A woman in athleisure wear, like stretchy lycra pants–

Mayanna: A true queen.

Mischa: –and like a brimmed visor, with like five or six dogs on leashes in her hands. 

Ian: Yeah, that's a problem. 

Bex: Excellent,

Mischa: Comes up to you and goes, 

Mischa (Dog Lady): That's no way to get your dog to listen to you. You need to be firm. You need to be commanding. You need to show him who's the alpha. Are you the alpha?

Ian: And literally like, she's so staccatic in the way she talks that every time she's like, “alpha,” I like, jump a little bit Yeah Ha ha! But, but I take her advice. 

Mischa: Okay. 

Ian: Uh, because I'm sure BG is pulling on the lead even more now with five dogs around. 

Mischa: Absolutely, He’s trying to sniff at all the other dogs. The other dogs are, um… Can you roll nature? 

Mayanna: Ooh. 

Ian: 13.

Mischa: Her dogs are sort of like, milling in place and like, wiggling, like they really have the urge to move, but like, they're not quite straining at her leads, but like, they're not, they're not prim and proper and sitting in a row either. You know what I mean?

Ian: (Understanding hums).

Mischa: And yeah, BG is still, like, straining, and you, you just go, “Heel! I'm the alpha! Heel”! Nothing. 

Ian: Nothing? 

Mischa: No. 

Ian: No, I rolled a seven, he got a five! Okay, great. 

Mischa: I know, listen, and um, the, the trainer lady looks at you and just goes, 

Mischa (Dog Lady): You're clearly not cut out to be a dog owner. 

Mischa: And, and sort of leads her, her dogs away. 

Mayanna: Uh! Wow.

Ian: And as she walks away, I'm gonna yell something after her, but then I think BG like, pulls on my arm again, so I'm like, 

Ian (Gordon): (Voice cracking) Hey, y–watch out!

[Laughter]. 

Ian: I, like, I take a huge breath, like, my lungs in front of me go, 

Ian (Gordon): BG, chill! 

Mischa: And as soon as you say chill, BG sits and smiles up at you. 

Ian: (Singsongy) Ooh, we're making progress. 

Bex: Chill! 

Ian: (Singsongy) Training our dog. Progress. 

[Music ends].

Mischa: Yeah. 

Ian: Great. Okay, great. 

Mischa: What's the next thing you want to try? 

Ian: Uh, well, he's already sitting, so maybe let's try rollover.

Mischa: Ooh, interesting. 

Bex: You wanna skip down?

Lyn: Yeah, you gotta hit down and then roll over. 

[Laughter]. 

Ian: Oh yeah, that's true, that's true, that's true, that's true. It's down and roll over. Sure. 

Mischa: Sure, you could've convinced me. I've never trained a dog. 

[Laughter]. 

Bex: Nah! 

Mayanna: I have no idea how any of this works.

Mischa: Okay, go ahead. Um, this, this one is a difficulty of ten.

Ian: Oh, fuck me. 

Julian: See, if you command a dog to do that before they go down. They do a somersault. 

Mayanna: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. 

Lyn: They do a kickflip. 

Bex: Yeah, they do a kickflip. 

Mayanna: And then they get a skateboard out of nowhere and then they just go.

Bex: They start ollieing.

Mayanna: Yeah.

Ian: 17. 

Mischa: 17, nice. 

Ian: I'm gonna fucking trounce today's minigame, you guys.

Lyn: Yeah. 

Mischa: Yeah, BG, lays down in the clover. An Older woman walks past, with her, like, old moving afghan. Comes over and goes, 

Mischa (Afghan Owner): What a lovely sweetie. 

Ian (Gordon): Thank you, ma'am. 

Mischa (Afghan Owner): May I pet him? 

Ian (Gordon): Uh, mm, I don't know if you should. Uh– 

Ian: Is she already petting him? 

Mischa: Uh, yeah, I think as you're equivocating back and forth, she leans down and, and pets BG and BG’s super into it.

Ian: Oh my god, I literally had closed my eyes in fear to not see the tragedy that was about to unfold. [Laughter]. And then BG's a lover. 

Mayanna: Yeah. 

Ian: Chiller. 

Mayanna & Bex: Chiller! 

Ian: We're finding out, Chiller at the moment. 

Mischa (Afghan Owner): I love spending my afternoons in the dog park. 

Ian (Gordon): Oh my God. Hi, it's so nice to meet you. My name's Gordon. What's your name?

Mischa (Afghan Owner): Hello, my name is Dorothy. 

Ian: Oh my God, 

Mischa (Dorothy, Afghan Owner): it's a pleasure. 

Ian (Gordon): It's such a ni–Do you come to the dog park often, Dorothy? 

Mischa: She sighs a little bit. And goes

[Music begins: wistful piano and synth].

Mischa (Dorothy): more and more lately I have tried to spend my time here. You see my, Hmm. My building was damaged recently, and now my landlord wants to buy the unit out from under me to refurbish. I'm afraid I might have no place to go. 

Ian (Gordon): Oh my gosh, that's terrible. What was the damage? 

Mischa (Dorothy): I came home one day from buying the groceries and the wall was completely blown apart. 

Ian (Gordon): Blown apart? Dorothy, that sounds terrible. 

Mischa (Dorothy): Some sort of gas leak? I don’t know. 

Ian: And then something about gas leak just like, just like perks my ears up for a second. And I look at Dorothy and I pull a muffin out of my muff-dolier. 

[Laughter]. [Music cuts].

Lyn: I thought we were not saying muff-dolier

Bex: I thought we were only saying muff-dolier. 

Lyn: No!

Mischa: Hold on, we lost Julian for a second. Alright. 

Julian: Alright, I'm back. 

Ian: It's a bandolier for muffins. 

[Laughter]. 

Julian : Oh, just caught me from the side, that's all. No, we're good. 

[Music resumes].

Ian: I, like, I like, I very nicely just like, hold out a muffin, I go, 

Ian (Gordon): You hungry, Dorothy?

Mischa (Dorothy): Oh, so nice, thank you. 

Mayanna: Cute.

Mischa: She's, she smells, she breathes it in. What flavor muffin is it? 

Ian: It's blueberry. 

Mischa: Oh yeah, she smells it. 

Mischa (Dorothy): Oh, I love blueberry. Thank you. So nice to meet such a kind young man. 

Ian (Gordon): Dorothy, maybe I can come by your house and see the damage. I don't know if you want  

Mischa (Dorothy): Oh! Oh, that's– What a kind offer, whatever for?

Ian (Gordon): Well I mean, if I'm being honest, I kind of just got a promotion, and I worked for this cool thing called the ISB, and, you know, we're supposed to help people, and, I don't know, it just kind of seems like I met you for a reason today. 

Mischa (Dorothy): How kind, yes, do you have a piece of paper, something to write? 

Ian (Gordon): Oh yeah. 

Ian: And then I like pat all around my apron and I pull out a little, like a little bakery pencil. 

Mayanna: Yeah. You have your restaurant review notebook. 

Ian: Oh yeah, you're right! I tear a back piece out of the restaurant. No, I don't even tear it. I just hand her the. Uh, Restaurant Review Notebook, open to the last page. 

Mischa: She writes her address in there. Her address is in East Minetown. 

Ian: East Minetown! Dorothy from East Minetown. 

Mischa: Yeah! You have this entire conversation with Dorothy, this lovely woman, and you turn around and BG is still in the down position, exactly where you left him. 

Mayanna: Wow. 

Ian: BG is the most chiller. So then I get inspired, and I like, Dorothy's here so I kind of want to, you know, to have a show. 

[Music shifts: upbeat guitar chords and light piano].

Mischa: Yeah sure.

Ian: You know, I want to show off a little bit, that's the word, and so I go, 

Ian (Gordon): Hey BG, roll over. 

Mischa: (laughs) Okay, go ahead and roll. 

Mayanna: Oh my god. 

Bex: I'm so excited. 

Ian: I'm using the yeet dice. 

Bex: Let's go. 

Mayanna: Do it. 

Ian: I'm gonna yeet this. 

Lyn: Roll twice and take the highest because you have advantage.

[Dice rolls].

Ian: (whispering close to the mic) Well, the first one's a 21, so… 

Bex: Ayo! 

Mayanna: Woo!

Ian: (whispering close to the mic) And the second one's a 20.

[Cheers].

Ian: Wow, that's the best dice of all time. 

Bex: Oh, damn. 

Mischa: Yeah, BG rolls over, um, and sort of like, rolls into one of the, um, flattened dirt paths. [SFX: a thump and dust rustling from being disturbed]. And a group of skating teens– 

[SFX: skateboards rolling].

Ian: No. 

Mischa: –Roll up and do ollies over BG. 

Mayanna: Nice: 

Ian: Oh my god, what?! 

Mayanna: “Yeah, take that Terrence! I told you we could do them all over this dog! Yeah!”

Ian: Which is even more impressive, because they're riding skateboards through grass. 

Bex: “I can’t believe he landed that!”

Mischa: Yeah, they're, honestly, these are skateboards that have, like, rubberized tires. They're like mountain boards or whatever. 

Ian: Yeah, totally. 

Mayanna: Cool.

Mischa: These kids, like, do sick flips over your dog. 

Ian: Sick flips. 

Mischa: And, yeah, and they they, like, stand off to the other side, like, high fiving. Uh, Dorothy kind of goes, 

Mischa (Dorothy): Oh! Oh my, what a, what a good doggie! 

Ian (Gordon): What a great. 

Ian: and then I lean down and I pet BG behind the ears, I go, 

Ian (Gordon): You're such a good dog! You're such a good dog, BG! 

Mischa (BG): (pants) Arf!

[Music ends].

Ian: And I, and I pull out, oh my gosh! I pull out some of the specialized dog treats that I've made for BG. 

Mischa: Yeah! 

Ian: Yeah! 

Mischa: The sausage rolls!

Mayanna: Yes! 

Ian: The little, they're like, they're like, about nickel sized. 

Mischa: More pigs in blankets, really. 

Bex: Oh yeah! 

Mayanna: Little bite-sized

Ian: Totally, and they're like an inch long. And I tossed one up and he catches it in his mouth. 

Mischa (BG): (Chomps). 

Ian: There it is. Perfect day. 

Julian: The inaugural BG Bite.

Mayanna: Yes. Yes. 

Bex: BG bites! 

Mischa: The skateboarding teams all stand off to the side, like high fiving each other. They're like, 

Mischa (Skateboarder 1): Sick air! 

Mischa: And the, another one's like, 

Mischa (Skateboarder 2): Not as good as in that factory though. Oh man. We got to get back there. 

Ian: Wait, what, what the hell is happening today? Everything is converging upon Gordon. Uh. 

Lyn: So many leads… we had a lead for the factory. 

Ian: Right. Which we, we just. I run over to the kids, and I go, 

Ian (Gordon): Did you just say you were skateboarding at the factory?

Mischa (Skateboarder 2): Yeah, what's it to you, old? 

Mayanna: (Gasps).

Mischa: And another one goes, 

Mischa (Skateboarder 3): Yeah, old! 

[Laughter]. 

Ian (Gordon): I'm twenty. Or something. 

Mischa (Skateboarders): Old! So old! 

[Laughter]. 

Ian (Gordon): Stop it! Hey! 

[Music begins: low ambient synths].

Mischa: Do you want to go ahead and roll, Persuasion with Disadvantage because you're talking to children. 

Mayanna: To children, yeah.

Bex: I don't know, he's acting like a child. 

Mischa: Any time I have spoken to children, I have rolled Persuasion with Disadvantage.

Mayanna: That is fair, because you have to speak to them in their language. 

Bex: But he is! He's being petulant and dumb. 

Ian: But I gotta be real with you, it was a lot… I didn't do so well as a kid, so that checks out.

[Laughter]. 

Mayanna:  I, too, didn't. 

Ian: Yep. Uh, oh, this is wait, hold please, hmmm. 11. 

Mischa: Yeah, within 11, I think they go, 

Mischa (Skateboarders): Nuh uh, that's our spot, get your own!

Ian (Gordon): I'm not taking the spot from you! Oh, ok, look. When you've been at the factory recently, have you seen anything strange, weird going on at the factory? That's all I wanna know. 

Mischa (Skateboarder): Yeah, I was there two days from now, I saw a weird old guy at our spot. 

Bex: “His back cracked a lot!”

Ian (Gordon): Oh God. You–

Mischa: And then they skate off and high five in the distance. [SFX: Skateboard rolling away].

Ian (Gordon): Come back here you stupid kids!

Julian: Time travel burns. 

Mayanna: Yeah!

Ian (Gordon): I work for the government!

[Music fades out].

[Laughter]. 

Mayanna: Party point. 

Lyn: What in the Ars Paradoxica? 

Mayanna: That’s so funny. “I work for the government.” 

Mischa: That's just how kids work, man. 

Lyn: In the distance you see even JJ goes like,

Lyn (JJ): (Pained groan).

Mayanna: Yikes. 

Bex: You hear over the hill, “Old!”

Mischa: As the kids, skate away, BG comes up and stands right next to you and looks up at you and smiles.

Mischa (BG): (Pants).

[Music begins: calming piano].

Ian (Gordon): I love you, BG. You make everything okay. 

Mischa (BG): Woof.

Ian: Okay, uh, this is a real challenge for me. This is like a real life challenge, because I grew up with boxers. And boxers are fun, great dogs, but they aren't the smartest of dogs. So I never got a dog that would play fetch, because you'd always throw the thing, and then the dog would run and go get it, pick it up, look at you, and then drop it. 

Bex: Yep. 

[Laughter].

Ian: And then you would walk the 20 feet to pick it up and throw it again, and basically that was your walk across the park. 

Bex: It's really great when you have a Fitbit. 

Ian: Yeah. 

Bex: Otherwise, not so great. 

[Laughter]. 

Lyn: Yeah. 

Ian: Okay, so we're going to do, we're going to try fetch. 

Mischa: Fetch? Okay. The difficulty for this one is up to 20.

Mayanna: Oh my god. 

Bex: Oh, shit. 

Ian: And plus 6. [Dice rolls]. 18. 

Mischa: Nice! 

Mayanna: Yeah, alright, awesome! 

Mischa: Alright! You pick up a stick and hurl it and, uh, and just tell BG, go long. 

Ian: I take another huge breath, 

Ian (Gordon): Go long, BG! 

Ian: And then I chuck the stick sort of like a boomerang, it's like, [SFX: whooshing]. (Imitates wooshing) through the air. 

Mischa: Yeah, it lands, uh, way off in the distance next to one of the picnic tables next to a bunch of guys eating lunch.

[Music ends].

Mayanna: Oh, no. 

Mischa: Oh, no? 

Mayanna: Guys eating lunch? You don't want to bother guys eating lunch. 

Lyn: Yeah it’s lunch!

Mayanna: It’s lunch!

Lyn: It’s their lunch break!

Ian: You're just throwing sticks in the direction of guys eating lunch. 

Bex: Dog get distracted from stick, go eat food. 

Mischa: Yeah, I do think that, like, BG picks up the stick and then gets a whiff of whatever they're eating at the table and just sort of like, with the stick in mouth, just kind of leans over the table and goes, and all the guys at the table go, 

Mischa (Lunch Guys): Ugh! Dog! Who's dog is this?

Ian: I go, 

Ian (Gordon): BG, heel! Heel! 

Mischa: Yeah, nothing. 

Ian: Fuck. I run over. 

Lyn: “Oh he really wants my ham sandwich”

Ian (Gordon): (Out of breath) No, I'm sorry.  So sorry to disturb you. I work for the government. 

[Laughter]. 

Mischa (Lunch Guy 1): (Vaguely New York accent) Oh you work for the government, huh? Well, I got something to say to you, pal. 

Ian (Gordon): (Out of breath) Oh, no, no, no, that's not what I meant. I work for a very small branch of the government that’s meant to fix things.

[Music begins: energetic synth beats].

Mischa (Lunch Guy 1): Listen, you got, 

Mischa: And another one of them goes, 

Mischa (Lunch Guy 2): Tony, simmer down, will you settle down?

Mischa (Tony, Lunch Guy 1): No, no, no, this guy says he works for the government. 

Ian (Gordon): Oh, okay, this is a problem. 

Mischa (Tony): I got a bone to pick. All these bridge collapses, pipes explodin’. Our community's going down the pits. All these things poppin off every single day I hear about somethin’ new. What's the government doin’ to fix it? 

Mayanna: Oh, no. 

Ian: And then I'm about to say something, and I look down, and I go, 

Ian (Gordon): Oh my gosh, what kind of bread is that? That looks really amazing. Did you get that from the local bakery? 

Mischa: Roll a charisma saving throw. 

Mayanna: Yeah. 

Ian: Fuck. Yeah. That's called misdirection. 

Mayanna: I love this. 

[Dice rolls].

Ian: 17. 

Mischa: Okay, uh, yeah, he goes, 

Mischa (Tony): Uh, I don't know, it's whatever the sandwich place had. 

Ian (Gordon): Yeah, the sandwich place! I made that bread! 

Mischa (Tony): Good for you. You work for the go–Oh, the government's too busy making bread to solve all the problems of the little people down here on the ground, huh?

Ian (Gordon): That's not–No, sorry, that's not what I meant. I just I was trying to connect with you, because, like, you had bread, I think it's probably really good bread, and I made it, and I'm also 

Mischa (Tony): I don't need connecting–!

Mischa: The other guy at the table, goes, 

Mischa (Lunch Guy 2): Tony, he's trying to level with you. 

Mischa: He goes, 

Mischa (Tony): shut up, Maurice. 

Ian: And I go, 

Ian (Gordon): Hey, don't talk to Maurice that way!

[Laughter]. 

Mischa (Maurice, Lunch Guy 2): Thanks, kid. 

Ian (Gordon): Yeah. Now you listen to me, Tony. I'm a part of a brand new organization within the government that was just started yesterday to solve all these problems. And if you've got a complaint, I advise you file it formally with my office. Address pending. [Laughter]. My name's Gordon Baker, and you can tell ‘em I said so.

Mayanna: Yes! 

Mischa: Hey Gordon, roll intimidation. 

All: Yes! 

Mayanna: That was sick. 

Ian: (Singsongy) Motherfucker. 

Julian: You really wanna fuck with the guy that bakes your breakfast? 

[Dice rolls].

Mayanna: Yeah, you really wanna step to the king? 

Ian: 15. 

Mischa: Yeah! Tony takes a step back and just goes, 

Mischa (Tony): I got complaints, I got complaints up to here, with bakers like you on the task. Jeez, Maurice, when's it all gonna come down?

Mischa: He sits back down and eats his lunch. 

Mayanna: (Gasps) (Pained groan).

[Music ends].

Ian: That hits me a little bit. That hits me, that hits me hard. But there's nothing I can say to this guy. 

Mayanna: Nope. 

Ian: So all I really say is, 

Ian (Gordon): Hey, just between you and me, that bread's really, really good if you put butter on it. 

Mayanna: Mmm. 

Ian: And then I… Give him a thumbs up and I'll walk away.

Mischa: over your shoulder, we, the audience, see Maurice, hand Tony, like, a pre packaged butter pat. And Tony just, like, knocks his hand away and folds his arms.

Mayanna: Aw. 

Lyn: Maurice!

Mayanna: He's hurting. Toxic masculinity's a prison. 

Mischa: Yeah, it's true. 

Bex: It's true. 

Mischa: But BG trots back with you, stick in mouth, super happy. 

[Music begins: gentle, upbeat piano].

Ian: Ah. Best dog ever. 

Mischa: Yeah.

Mayanna:  He really is.

Ian (Gordon): Mhmm. You're great, BG. 

Ian: And I lean down, and I take the, like, I take the stick, but he's like, 

Mischa (BG): (Growling)

Ian: Yeah, yeah. 

Ian (Gordon): You're such a good boy. 

Ian: And then I go, 

Ian (Gordon): You and me, BG. We're going to save this town together. 

Mayanna: Awwww.

Bex: (Squeaks).

Mischa: Um, BG hears that and forgets about the stick in his mouth and just goes, 

Mischa (BG): Woof!

Mischa: and then, um, licks you on the face. 

Ian: Yes! 

Mayanna: BG and GB. Best, best duo.

Ian: We run back to JJ. 

Lyn: I was on the bench still, filling out forms. 

Mischa: Your forms are completed. They're all ready to be filed. 

Ian: Yeah. 

Bex: Yay!

Mayanna: That’s so exciting!

Lyn: Um, then after the forms, watched a lot of cringe happen with Gordon, I was like, 

[Music ends].

Lyn (JJ): Oh, should I, uh, I don't think I can help with that. 

Mayanna: I think I'm proud of you for setting that boundary. I’m not here, but I’m really proud of you for like “I don't need to, I need to let him fly on his own.”

Bex: It's a beautiful step for JJ. 

Lyn: I don't think Gordon spends a lot of time in Minetown, now that I think about it. I don't think he knows how to talk to people here. 

[Laughter]. 

Ian: I run up to JJ with BG in tow. JJ, BG, ISB, it's a big, it's a big letter. It's a big acronym. 

[Laughter]. 

Bex: A big letter day.

Mayanna: A lot of acronyms, yeah. 

Lyn: So many letters. 

Ian: And I run and I go, 

Ian (Gordon): Hey, man, everyone, this part of town is really intense. But, I think I found a little bit of a lead. 

[Music begins: ambient synths]

Ian: And I tell JJ all about the old woman's house who had a wall explode for seemingly no reason. 

Mayanna: Yes.

Lyn (JJ): Woah. That is… That should not happen. 

Ian (Gordon): That's what I was thinking!

Lyn (JJ): Infrastructure here is not the best, but not like “exploding walls randomly” bad. 

Ian (Gordon): Yeah. We should go check it out.

Lyn (JJ): : Yeah. 

Ian: And then it feels weird and awkward for a second, I pull out another muffin. 

[Laughter].

Mischa: BG, you pull out another muffin and BG kind of, like, gets up and you, like, tries to hop up on your chest and get the muffin. 

Mischa (BG): (Pants).

Ian: And I go, sit, sit BG, sit. 

Mischa: Roll another animal handling check. 

All: Yes! 

Mischa: This one's up to 25. 

Ian: Motherfucker, are you serious?

Bex: Why is it harder?!

Lyn: It gets harder and harder.

Mischa: It's up to 25! 

Ian: But like, I don't even, with my, there's no way I'm gonna roll 25. 

Mayanna: You have advantage.

Mischa: If you get a nat 20. 

Ian: Oh okay, got it.

Julian: This muffin is full of bacon. 

[Dice rolls].

Ian: It was a 14. 

Lyn: Try one more time, cause you have advantage. 

Ian: Oh sick, [Dice rolls]. It was a 12. 

Mischa: BG hops up onto your chest, grabs the muffin out of your hand, and runs off. 

Ian (Gordon): No! 

Mayanna: Oh my god.

Ian: Whoa, whoa, what? What? 

Ian (Gordon): BG come back! BG! 

Mischa: Bolts up into a bush and kind of like disappears into a bush. [SFX: leaves rustling].

Ian: Okay, I follow him. I run after BG. 

Ian (Gordon): Hey, get back here! BG, come on! Come on, BG! 

Lyn: I will run with you. 

Lyn (JJ): Ah! Oh no! 

Ian: I pull a little sausage snack out of my bag. I'm like, 

Ian (Gordon): BG, come here, come back. 

Mischa: You find him, underneath a hedge, digging a deep hole into the dirt. [SFX: dirt and leaves rustling].

Mayanna: Oh my god. That's so silly. 

Ian: A hole to put the muffin in?

Mischa: Plops it in. And sort of like, brushes it back with his back feet. JJ and Gordon, please roll Perception. 

[Dice rolls].

Mayanna: That's not… regular. 

Lyn: Oh, unfortunately, I don't think that's very good. 

Mayanna: Come on, you got this. 

Lyn: Uh, 14. 

Ian: 16. 

Mayanna: Ooh.

Mischa: Yeah, you see, mixed in with the topsoil, uh, that BG has sort of kicked up. Like, a glint of light catches your eye. And you bend down and brush aside a little bit of dirt and pick up a sand-grain-sized little particle. 

Ian: Mhmm.

Mayanna: Whoa. 

Mischa: You hold it up to the light and it refracts that same, like, orange yellow glow that you found. In the crystal of the construction site. 

Mayanna & Ian: Woah. Woah. Woah. 

Mischa: And you can feel, scaled down to the tiny speck size of this crystal, that same feeling of warmth of home, that you felt holding the other one.

Mayanna: (gasps) Oh my god.

Ian: I look at JJ.

Lyn (JJ): I'm not sure what that means. 

Mischa: BJ looks up at you, dirt covering his face and his paws and like a huge mess, just goes,

Mischa (BG): (Sneezes).

Mayanna: Oh, he's a good boy. 

Ian: He's a good boy. He’s a really good boy.

Bex: He's the best. 

Mayanna: He's a really good boy. 

Ian: The first thought I have is that we need to section off the area and conduct a dig, but man, all these Minetown peeps are going to hate us if we close down the dog park.

Lyn: Yeah.

Mayanna: Man, you, this is so smart. 

Bex: (whispers) Whose thoughts are these?

Mayanna: Ugh, I thought there was only one. 

Bex: Oh hell no, whose thoughts are these.

Ian: Did we get, we got like, we got like badges or like patches or something like that when we 

Mayanna: I mean, I can, I can work on that. 

Lyn: Yeah, Fran wanted to design some patches. 

Ian: But we don't have that one yet. 

Bex: We gotta design a crest for the ISB first. 

Mayanna: Yeah, crest.

Julian: Varsity jackets. 

Mayanna: Yeah, exactly. 

Lyn: Just for right now, I'll charge up my goggles again with Detect Magic, [SFX: electronic whirring] to try and locate, to see if there's like, a bunch scattered in the dirt, or if it's just like, this one. 

Mischa: Sure, good call. It is just the one piece. 

Lyn: Okay. 

Mayanna: That's worse, I feel. 

Mischa: And it's, and it's so tiny, like I'm talking about like a, like a, like a large grain of sand.

Lyn: It’s so small.

Ian: Got it got it got it.

Lyn: Yeah, like a speck of glitter. 

Bex: Like one of those pearls in soil that's like fertilizer. 

Mischa: Like it would, like it would fall straight out of your gauntlet if you tried to use it, you know what I mean? Like tiny.

Lyn: Yeah. Huh.

Ian: So we don't think, so it doesn't, it doesn't– There's not a bigger piece underneath, because the goggles, the goggles aren't just the surface, right? They can detect–

Mischa: Well, uh, I mean, rules as written, the goggles only penetrate, what is it, three feet of soil? 

Lyn: It's, um, let me double check. 

Mayanna: Because if it was deep underground. 

Lyn: Yeah, three feet of whatever. 

Mischa: Yeah, so, so it's at least In the top three feet of soil in the park as far as JJ can see and walk around for the next what 10 minutes or whatever it says. Yeah, if there is one, it's deep below the soil but like-

Ian: And it's just this one speck.

Mischa: It's a tiny one and yeah, and it's the only thing you can see with Detect Magic

Lyn: Okay, um, I grab like, I don't know, do I have like a… Do you have vials? You're an alchemist. 

Ian: 100 percent I do. 

Lyn (JJ): Can you pop that into a vial? And then we can have it for safekeeping.

Ian: I open up a vial, and I pour the contents of it onto the grass, and the grass immediately starts to like, smoke and fizz. [SFX: Fizzing and steaming]

Mischa: Yeah, like bubbles and fizzes. 

Mayanna: That is so funny. 

Bex: Nice. 

[Music fades out].

Ian: And then I take my, um, apron, my bakery apron, and I put my finger, like, in the cloth, and I'm like, (imitates squeaky noises of cleaning the inside of the glass vial with the apron) Right? And I'm like, wiping out the inside of the vial.

Mayanna: That’s smart yea

Lyn: I'm stomping out the–

Bex: Yes!!

Mischa: Well, I think you take, you take the piece of your apron out, and that, like, sputters and fizzes a little bit.

Ian: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. 

Mayanna: Oh my god, what was in that one? 

Mischa: Volatile reagents. 

Mayanna: Yes! 

Ian: And then I drop the speck in. 

Lyn (JJ): That is not good for the ecosystem. Okay.

Ian: I don't notice at all. I’m all like, (humming).

Lyn (JJ): Dogs play here, You can't be pouring reagents on the ground!

Ian (Gordon): Oh yeah. Right. Right. Sorry about that. 

[Laughter]. 

Mischa: BG like bends down to sniff it. 

Ian (Gordon): Get out of there, BG. No, no, not food. No. Sit. Heel. 

Lyn (JJ): Although if you do put it in your baked goods, maybe it is edible. Are these edible? 

Ian (Gordon): That's a great point.

Ian: And I, and I pull out another one and I uncork it for a second and I'm like, 

Ian (Gordon): Hmm… Another day.

Mayanna: (Laughs).

Bex: That's a disaster for another day. I mean, adventure. 

[Park soundscape ends]. 

[Music begins: dark ambient synths]. [Soundscape begins: wind through the Dustpan, far-off cars].

Mischa: Let's cut from there back over to the dustpan. Ibra, you ascend the staircase. 

Bex: I think I have to stop several times to like, steady myself and grab the handrail. 

Mischa: Yeah. 

Bex: And not drag Paz down with me. 

Mischa: Yeah, what's going through your mind? What's– 

Bex (Ibra): It's absolutely racing, speeding like a bullet train. And the words from Fuller about Astra being dangerous keep echoing through my head. As all other thoughts keep running, those thoughts keep echoing over top. It feels blinding at a certain point. It, it just, the echoes end up getting cacophonous and, and Ibra, like, stops being able to see for a minute and has to sit down and breathe.

Mischa: Yeah, your vision, your vision swims and blurs and like lights bloom around you. You take a seat. Paz steps over in front of you and starts like, 

Mischa (Paz): Hey, hey, it's okay. Listen to me. Deep breaths. You got this. 

Mischa: Your vision swims and everything sort of like melds together, but over Paz's shoulder, [SFX: crow caws] you see someone standing still in the courtyard, like, 50 feet away.

Mayanna: What?!

Bex: My breathing completely stops. 

Mayanna: Whoa. 

Mischa: You try to focus on that as the blood pounds in your ears. 

Bex: I'm not breathing either, which doesn't make it easy. 

Mischa: No. And, again, it's a little blurry, your vision's sort of hazy, but it looks like a full armored knight. 

[Music shifts: almost sinister, ethereal ambient synths].

Mayanna: What? 

Mischa: Standing in the courtyard, staring you down. 

Mayanna: Oh my god.

Lyn: Mmm… 

Bex: I immediately bolt to my feet and push, like, get in front of Paz. 

Mischa: Yeah. 

Bex: Push between Paz and whatever this figure, knight-ish figure is. Breathing very hard. 

Bex (Ibra): (Heavy breathing).

Mischa: Yeah. I think that fight or flight kicks in and actually all of a sudden, like the anxiety that was misplaced, all of a sudden it gains context and becomes part of the battle mode.

Bex: Adrenaline takes over the cortisol. 

Mischa: Yeah. you reach down for a weapon, any weapon at your belt, at your side, you pat. You remember you left your backpack downstairs.

Mayanna: Oh my God. 

Lyn: Oh no.

Mischa: You look back towards. the staircase considering whether or not to make a bolt for it and leave Paz defenseless or whether to stare them down barehanded, and then you look back away from the staircase back towards the knight and there's no one there.

[Music ends].

Mayanna: Whoa. 

Bex (Ibra): (Breathing shakily) Um. Ah..

Mischa (Paz): Uh, what? Uh, what, what, what's going on? 

Bex (Ibra): There was, there was, there was a knight, uh, there was, there was a knight there. 

Mischa (Paz): Really? 

Bex (Ibra): Where, where'd he, where'd he go? Oh god. Oh god, am I losing my mind? Am I dangerous? Oh god. 

[Music begins: bright, ambient synths with hopeful guitar entering later].

Mischa (Paz): Hey, hey, You couldn't hurt me. 

Bex (Ibra): But I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm Astra. I'm dangerous. I-I don't know what I am.

Mischa (Paz): We got time, we can figure it out. We're young, we're fresh, we're spry. 

Mischa: And she bounces back and forth from leg to leg and then she winces on her bad leg.

Mischa (Paz): Oh, ow.

Bex (Ibra): (Laughing weakly) Don't, don't do that.  But what if, what if I'm just a complication? 

Mischa (Paz): You can't be a complication. If you have complications, you decide what to do with that. And you're like several decades into this whole deal. I feel like if you were dangerous, it would have come up before now. 

[Laughter]. 

Bex (Ibra): (Chuckles between heavy breaths) Yeah I.. I guess you're right. It's just, I never thought of how much of me is based in something I don't understand, you know>

Mischa (Paz): Like, man. I'm not like you. I'm made of something that's volatile and-and unstable and… I didn't know that and now I do and I'm scared of myself. Even if I haven't changed my knowledge of me has. 

Mischa (Paz): It can be tough, incorporating hard facts about ourselves into our identity of ourselves. Especially when it's like, sucky stuff. [Laughter]. But it doesn't change who you are. You're my friend. You're our friend. If there's, I don't know, explosive chemicals in your skin or whatever, [Laughter], we'll figure it out. 

Bex (Ibra): I mean, I really hope that it's not, like, in my skin, because I feel like that would be way too easy to activa–I don't know enough. We gotta find stuff out. I'm just–

Mischa (Paz): But you, you already have training with it. 

Bex (Ibra): I-I guess? 

Mischa (Paz): You already know how to, like, use your special glowy powers to do rad shit! I've seen it! 

Bex (Ibra): I mean, I guess, but I hadn't really thought of it that way. Just, I don't know, I guess I was just kind of taking it for granted.

Mischa (Paz): Well, Now you can look into it, uh, with a clear eyes, full hearts.

Bex (Ibra): Can't lose. 

[Music ends].

Bex (Ibra): Man, I'm sweaty, I can't– Ooh, (groan). Anxiety sweat smells so bad. Oh, I wish I had my backpack.

Mischa: Paz leans down to sniff your pits. 

Bex (Ibra): Don't do that, you don't want to do that. 

Mischa (Paz): Hard boiled eggs.

[Groans].

Mayanna: Oh my God. 

Mischa: Fran, you ascend the staircase, and Paz is sniffing Ibra's pits. 

Mayanna (Fran): (Drawn out) Uh huh?

Bex (Ibra): I have deodorant in my backpack! You don't want to do that! 

Mayanna (Fran): (Drawn out) Okay…

Mayanna: And I just immediately like give you your backpack. 

Bex (Ibra): Oh my God. Thank you. 

Bex: I pull out the deodorant and (imitates spraying).

Mayanna: While they're doing deodorant, I just text Gordon. I'm like, 

Mayanna (Fran): [SFX: Staticky] I think Paz might be moving in on Ibra.

[Snorts and laughter].

Ian: I think you see Gordon like do the three dots a couple of times and then stops. And then three dots again and then stops. And then just sends the melting face. 

[Laughter]. 

Lyn: What does JJ see looking at you read this text? 

Ian: Oh great. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Um, I read it and I kind of laugh at first. I'm like, 

Ian (Gordon): Psssh.. what? Psh. Nah.

[Laughter]. 

Ian: And then like nervous laughter.

Lyn (JJ): Are you okay? 

Ian (Gordon): What? Get out. I'm fine. 

Lyn (JJ): Okay. Pardon me.

[Laughter]. 

Mayanna: Total misunderstanding of the situation, but I love stirring the pot. 

Bex: I love this so much.

Mischa: As you like rattle around your bag, [SFX: rustling in bag] you notice inside the bag and remember that you have the, the crystal of rough Astra that you found in the construction site with you. 

Bex (Ibra): Oh shit. 

Bex: Ibra like finishes with the deodorant. And is like, 

Bex (Ibra): I just remembered I brought this with me.

[SFX: metal on bag jingling].

Bex: I pull out the box. 

Mayanna (Fran): Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. 

Bex (Ibra): Should I just keep that in—

Bex: I just shove it back down [SFX: metal tinkling as bag is closed]

Mayanna (Fran): Yeah. We can put that back in there. Are you okay? 

Bex (Ibra): Oh, um, no, but that's okay. 

Mayanna (Fran): Okay. 

Bex (Ibra): Right, Paz? 

Mischa (Paz): Yeah. 

Bex (Ibra): Yeah. 

Mischa (Paz): It's okay to not be okay. Correct. 

Mayanna: I pat you on the head a little bit. 

Bex (Ibra): Oh, thanks. 

Mayanna (Fran): Yeah, I mean, looking–you're looking pretty okay to me.

Bex (Ibra): Thanks. Smelling okay too. 

Mayanna (Fran): Yep. That's, yeah. Sorry. I didn't realize you left your bag, so. 

Bex (Ibra): I didn't either. I-I-I– (sighs).

Mayanna (Fran): It's okay. We got it. 

Bex (Ibra): I, I'm, I'll be ready to talk about it soon. 

Mayanna (Fran): Yeah. I got you. 

Bex (Ibra): Thank you. 

Mayanna: I'm gonna text the group chat, be like, 

Mayanna (Fran): [SFX: Staticky] Hey, where are you guys at? 

Lyn (JJ): [SFX: Staticky] Minetown Dog Park. Ferris Park!

Mayanna: And then I text back like, 

Mayanna (Fran): [SFX: Staticky] Without meee??

Lyn (JJ): [SFX: Staticky] Get over here. 

Mayanna (Fran): [SFX: Staticky] Okay! 

Mayanna (Fran): You guys wanna go to the dog park? 

Bex (Ibra): Absolutely. 

Mischa (Paz): Yeah!

Mischa: Ibra, you pick up your backpack to hoist it onto your shoulder [SFX: bag closures rustling] and the lead box tumbles out of it. [SFX: reverberating metal clinking and bouncing]

Mayanna: No!

Mischa: And sort of skids like five or ten feet away from you across the cobbles. 

Bex: Oh shoot. 

Mayanna: I immediately rush to it. 

Mischa: Yeah, um, Ibra, Fran moves towards the box and time slows.

[SFX: Metal clinking slowly, rhythmically] [Music begins: very deep, low notes and high pitched ringing]

Bex: Uh oh. 

Mischa: The knight in armor steps up to the box. 

Bex: Oh no. 

Mischa: Picks it up. Looks down at it. Wordlessly. Stone faced looks at you and cracks it open. 

[Music shifts: striking low piano notes and ominous strings].

Mayanna: Oh my god. 

Mischa: Immediately, night and day, as soon as the box is open, you can feel the warmth pouring out of it. The energy that was contained inside the lead box and had no escape sort of cascades out of the box and washes over you in this time-slowed moment. Fran, you just see the box on the ground sort of like tumble and open. And you thought, like, you bought one with a good clasp. 

Mayanna: Yeah, yeah, 

Mischa: But apparently it pops open as soon as it hits the ground. 

Mayanna: I panic immediately, I'm just like, I gotta get that thing immediately. 

Mischa: You rush forward, pick it back up, and close the lid. And behind you, you hear a loud zap. [SFX: thunder and electric crackling]

Mayanna: (Gasps).

Mischa: A large crack of electricity hitting the very top of the metallic debris. 

Mayanna: Oh my god. 

Mischa: That made up the, the roof of the workshop. [SFX: electrical zapping] And cascades out from that point in several arcs, before coalescing and forming at the very top of the structure, a wraith. [SFX: abrupt whooshing]

Mayanna: Oh my god! 

Lyn: Oh no.

Mischa: It takes a moment to scan its surroundings. It looks over the courtyard, the shafts of sunlight peeking down from up above. It scans all around. It takes in everything it can. It looks back towards you, holding the box. And screams and dives for you. [SFX: high-pitched shriek] 

[Music ends].

Mischa: We're about to roll initiative. Ibra, do you have something right before that?

Bex: Abso-fucking-lutely I do. 

[Music begins: upbeat techno]

Bex: I'm going to either– bonus action Springheel. I can jump 10 feet, just standing jump on top of my movement. 

Mischa: Nice. 

Bex: Or I could use the bonus action to mark, trying to figure out which order I want to go in. 

Mayanna: Man. 

Bex: I’m thinking Springheel first? 

Mischa: Okay. 

Bex: Cantrip. My jump distance increases 10 feet until the start of my next turn, and I can make a running high jump or a running long jump without a running start.

Mischa: Nice.

Julian: Dive kick this son of a bitch. 

[Laughter]. 

Mischa: You sort of like Yeah. You like dodge slide towards Fran.

Bex: Yeah. Can I use my movement with, or just the bonus action? 

Mischa: No, I think just the bonus action. 

Bex: Cool. 

Mischa: But that's, that's plenty. You can get right up--

Bex: I'm gonna use it. Yeah. 

Mischa: –Next to, uh, Fran. And uh, at this point we're gonna roll initiative. 

Bex: Yeah 

Ian: Yeah!

Mayanna: man. 

Lyn: We’re missing it, Gordon. 

[Dice rolls].

Mayanna: Ooh, that's nice. I got an 18. 

Bex: I got a natural fuck. 

All: Awww. 

Bex: I'm going last, baby. 

Mayanna: Oh my god. 

Mischa: Well, good thing for that, that warrior's prowess. 

Mayanna: Yeah, seriously. 

Julian: That's what they call batting clean up. 

Bex: It's a very important position. 

Mayanna: Yes. 

Mischa: Yeah. Fran, you are up first. 

Mayanna: Ok, he's coming at me? Um, I'm gonna, I'm gonna grab the gun. 

Mischa: You can feel the gun jump to alertness in your hand. 

Mayanna: Woah, woah.

Mischa: Like you, like all of a sudden whatever connection Fuller has given to this gun. You can feel it just like, as soon as you are ready to use it, it is ready to be used.

Mayanna: Oh my God, amazing. Um, ok cool. I'm gonna fire. Um, so I'm just gonna roll to attack. 

[Dice rolls].

Julian: Can I, can I? Pitch a flavor thing where when you fire the pistol, the, uh, the report of the, the shot rings like a hammer blow? [SFX: gunshot and the ringing of a hammer at the same time]

Mayanna: Oh, yeah, you can. Yeah, you can. Absolutely. Every bullet does that now. 

Lyn: Yeah. 

Mayanna: Yeah. They make that sound every time.

Mischa: You're actually, instead of rolling dex, you're gonna add your intelligence. 

Mayanna: Oh, neat. 

Mischa: Because this, because this gun is now enchanted. 

Mayanna: Oh my god, so it's a plus 3 , and then I have a plus 5 to hit. It's still pretty bad, I think that's like 8. It's eight to hit. With all that, yeah. 

[Music ends]. [Music begins: piano].

Mischa: Ugh. Yeah, I think the wraith is diving right for you, and as it leaps through the air on like a flying hover course directly for you, [SFX: ghostly shriek] I think maybe you're just a little bit thrown by like, the immediate threat of it.

Mayanna: Yeah, I go, yeah, it's, it's, a lot's going on. It's very frantic. 

Lyn: It's a very fast moving target. 

Bex: Fran-tic

Mayanna: Fran-tic! Nice. Um, yes, my bonus action. So that's one bullet, it's two before I have to reload, so I'm not gonna reload, but I think I'm just, I think I'm, I'm just bracing, I think I'm just bracing for whatever's about to happen.

Mischa: Yeah. 

Mayanna: I'm clutching the box very tightly. 

Mischa: Yes, the box is closed, you reclasp it, it doesn't look like the clasp was broken. 

Mayanna: Yeah, I assume there's some trickery going on here. 

Mischa: Well you, Mayanna, know there's some trickery because I told you when I did that thing with Bex. 

Mayanna: I assume, yeah. Fran, Fran is just confused and scared.

Mischa: Yeah, for sure. This thing is going to, uh, finish its trajectory straight into you, [SFX: ghostly shriek] and it's going to, like, solidify itself as much as it can. It's going to forcefully slam you. 

Mayanna: Hoo, boy. Okay.

Bex: Disadvantage on the attack. 

Mischa: Why? 

Bex: Uh, fighting style protection, reaction. 

Mischa: Oh, okay, yeah.

Bex: When a creature you see attacks a target other than you that is within five feet of you, you can use your reaction to impose disadvantage on the attack role.

Mischa: Baby, there it is. All right, disadvantage. 

Mayanna: Whoa. 

Bex: Thank you, Longstrider. 

Mischa: Yeah. Ibra, at the last moment, like, leaps to your side. 

Bex (Ibra): No! 

Mischa: And like, pulls your hips and sidesteps you. 

Mayanna: Whoa, hello. [Laughter]. 

Mischa: And the, the ghost, the, the wraith flies past you and skids across the ground. 

Mayanna (Fran): Ah!

Bex (Ibra): I got you. 

Mayanna (Fran): Oh my god, thank you.

[SFX: ghostly shriek].

Mischa: Uh, it hovers uncannily back to upright, [SFX: abrupt whooshing] twists around on its central stem and screams at you both. [SFX: ghostly shriek].

Mayanna: Oh my god. 

[Music ends]. [Music begins: piano, synth, strings, and percussive beats]

Mischa: Paz. Stands in the shadow of the structure as the wraith flies overhead, sees it make a beeline for the two of you, and, you know, Paz is a pretty passive, pretty friendly person. I don't know if either of you have ever seen her angry. I don't know if you've ever seen her enraged. 

Mayanna: No. 

Mischa: But a dark storm cloud, crosses her brow.

Mayanna: Whoa. 

Mischa: And her face contorts with an anger you've never seen from her. And she says, 

Mischa (Paz): Leave! Them! Alone!! 

Mischa: And a giant arc of lightning [SFX: electrical crackle] zaps from her fingertips directly towards the ghost. 

All: Oooohh!!!

Mayanna: What? 

Lyn: What? 

Bex: Get ‘em Paz!

Mayanna: How? 

Lyn: When did she take a level?! 

Mayanna: I don't know! Well, she did get touched. She got touched by the spectral forces. 

[Ecstatic laughter]. 

Mischa: The lightning hits and is going to deal 1d12 lightning damage.

Bex: Boom, baby!

Mayanna: Oh my god. 

Julian: Happy birthday, gang. 

Mischa: That is 11 lightning damage. 

Ian: Holy shit!

Lyn & Mayanna: Oh my god! 

Mischa: Paz's fingers crackle with lightning, [SFX: electrical crackling,] and she looks down at her hands, astounded. 

Mayanna: She doesn't know about, oh my god. 

Mischa: She goes, 

[Music ends]

Mischa (Paz): What the hell was that?! 

Mayanna: Oh my god, oh my God. 

Bex (Ibra): I told you maybe you're better than normal!

[Theme music fades in].

Mischa: The wandering path was created by me, Mischa Stanton, and produced by Bex Taylor-Klaus, Lyn Rafil, and me. This story was game mastered and sound designed by me, Mischa Stanton, and was played and performed by Bex Taylor-Klaus, Lyn Rafil, Ian McQuown and Mayanna Berrin. Cover art by Lyn Rafil, transcript assistance by Darby Summers, and music courtesy of the Independent Music Licensing Collective. Our production and house manager is Erin Bark. 

If you like what you're listening to, please tell your friends and let them know where to find us. Our website is wanderingpathpod.com, where you'll find links to subscribe and follow us wherever the path leads. We're also on Patreon, patreon.com/wanderingpathpod. We're so grateful for anything you can do to help us keep making this show. 

Thanks for wandering with us. Till next time!

[Theme music fades out].