0:00

<Silence> Hello everybody again,

0:03

and welcome to another browsing episode

0:08

of Playing Games with Strangers with me this week. Uh,

0:13

we do not have Celeste, uh, she is ill,

0:17

so we will be playing without her, but who we do have is

0:23

Squid. Hello, Ky. She was not expecting me to call her name first.

0:28

You don't normally call me first. I was alarmed.

0:31

You, you were first on my screen. Oh, last in your heart.

0:37

Fair. Uh, and then we have, uh, David Clements,

0:42

who is first. Uh, nevermind. I had a qui comeback thing, but I'm done.

0:47

I I'm gonna quit tonight. And that's a series wrap on Dave Clements. Everybody <laugh>. Uh,

0:55

uh, next to him we have his sister-in-law, Amanda Clements.

1:00

Hello. What, what were you saying there?

1:03

Oh, I, that was a perfect opportunity to introduce Js or,

1:07

or someone instead. Oh yeah. Gotcha, gotcha. Well,

1:11

that voice you heard was the most talented person on the podcast was Josiah

1:15

Crandall. Hey. Uh, which I still have the library.

1:20

The library on my Amazon Prime playlist.

1:24

There we go. You know, I. Think it's, now.

1:28

If you play it sometime. I have.

1:32

I have to buy it at this point, which I'm probably gonna do, but I am waiting.

1:37

He's waiting for the laser disc. I do want a laser disc. I should probably, I want a physical copy of.

1:41

It. I should probably make a physical copy and send it to you. 'cause I,

1:45

I can do that. I just, I'm lazy.

1:50

And then the other voice that you heard is the world's greatest comic

1:55

book writer. Any Avery? No. Uh, JS Earls.

2:00

Yep. <Laugh>. Oh, right. Well, that was excitement. Uh,

2:06

just a quick reminder that Playing Games of Strangers is

2:12

a member of the Culture Box Media Group. Uh,

2:16

a place where truth and fiction wide.

2:22

And if you enjoy our show,

2:26

why not check out the Retro Rewind podcast, uh,

2:30

where every other week, the Retro Rewind podcast, uh,

2:34

you can join them as they travel back 15 or more years along the entertainment

2:38

space time continuum in their mission to review movies, games,

2:42

and establishing what is still worth your time today.

2:46

Expect fun banter, trivial insights from Francisco Paul and a rotating guest hosts

2:53

who are all out of time. That sounds threatening.

2:58

Well, I mean, I am the gm. I can decide who lives and dies.

3:03

And to quote Rocky, she dies or dies

3:08

being as you are typically the person in her role when she's gone. Squid,

3:13

why don't you go ahead and do the Patreon announcements? Wonderful.

3:17

Do you have some extra cash lying around? If so, you should give it to us.

3:21

We would really appreciate it. Um, I will say that having extra cash lying around won't help because you will have

3:27

to make an online transaction. So take that cash to the bank, deposit it,

3:31

get online. Go to our patreon patreon.com/playing game for strangers and sign up.

3:37

You can watch us play live. And I will say that your money does go to good use.

3:43

Uh, we recently, actually, with Patreon funds,

3:48

we were recently able to standardize the digital audio workstations

3:53

that we use. So we're all functioning on the same software and

3:59

streamlining the. On the, uh, topic of Patreon. If you get in now,

4:04

we have a mini arc coming up soon that you'll be able to preview on our main

4:08

feed when this campaign ends, and then it will continue as a Patreon exclusive show for you to listen to.

4:15

It'll be exciting. Alright, Josiah, go ahead.

4:20

Alright. What I was going to say is that we should, you know, like play the,

4:24

the, the theme theme song or something.

4:29

Do you, do you want to do that? Should we? Yeah. Yeah. Let's, I mean, all in favor of playing this, the,

4:35

the theme song. Say, say a who's theme song? A a.

4:40

A. I I do have the button. So.

4:43

Oh, you, I think, I think the, I have. There's no danger. So

4:54

we're friends playing games with strangers.

5:23

With strangers. Boy, oh boy. A lot happened last time. And at the same time,

5:30

not much happened last time. So, uh, everyone remembered who they were.

5:34

We were all in Lenny's. It was a really good time.

5:38

There was a lot of confusion because we decided to talk about time again,

5:42

a frequent conversation topic. Em and Mira left because they didn't wanna deal with this.

5:47

And they became best friends. Kind of hot water was shared.

5:51

It was lovely. We found out where LL was. She was at only on Tuesdays,

5:56

but not the one that we saw before. Uh, the one in water deep.

5:59

So I guess technically the one we saw before, it was just a long,

6:02

long time before. Uh, so we decided, Hey, why don't we go there?

6:07

And I cast a spell and we went there. Uh,

6:09

we decided to not take her,

6:13

but we found out she was safe. So everything's good. Um, what else?

6:18

We went to a cave. If you guys remember way back in like episode three,

6:24

we went to this cave and there were like cultus in it and they were underneath

6:27

the house. And Callum aged about 1400 years in that cave,

6:33

uh, <laugh>, Which is to say he aged, I think 20 years.

6:38

And that gave, um, and then, uh, we found Ethan,

6:43

he was dead. Seemed to be pretty permanent for now.

6:50

I learned a lot about a room and also got a book.

6:54

There's something about magic. Neither me nor Callum understand yet,

6:58

but there's dark spaces and a tentacle and a portal and some philosophy was

7:03

involved. And all things have an anti versions of that thing.

7:06

So it's kind of like shadow stuff.

7:12

Yeah. Mira named God drunk. Except they didn't because Ulta Orid is a dry can.

7:21

Yeah. They were drinking N Alcoholics, but they wanted to be <laugh>.

7:27

Well, never convince me that either of them wanted to be sober. <laugh>.

7:33

We'll, we will pick up in water deep at only on Tuesdays

7:42

with the bulk of our party there. We left off with you guys taking a long rest there.

7:48

How long did you guys stay at? Only on Tuesdays.

7:52

Uh, well, are we just waking up then? Is that where we're at?

7:57

If that's how and if you just want to do the night. Oh, I don't know gang.

8:03

Um, that, that works for me. I don't necessarily need to rest.

8:09

I mean, used some smells to get here, so.

8:11

Yeah, it works. Everyone needs to sleep sometimes. Boo.

8:17

What's that? I just woke up. I'm a little groggy yet.

8:21

Oh, that's alright. So what are we planning on doing now?

8:25

He's like, we got, I got the book and we found out about that room with my ritual

8:31

and all of that, but. And Wilder and the parents.

8:37

And so I think it's, um, well, it's a, it's,

8:40

it's time we do something. Yeah. I mean, i's what I'm thinking. I'd agree. But I'm just, I'm,

8:47

I don't quite know that I've figured out enough to be able to really help if

8:51

we're doing something big, uh, and we got, you know,

8:54

know we got parents back from hell. Uh, ll Safe. What's else? What else is,

8:59

is on aside from, you know, him The big one. You know him.

9:03

The big one. That's all I'm saying.

9:07

I mean, should we just go there now? We'll take <laugh>.

9:11

Should. We just have a boss fight tonight? Just start of the episode. <laugh>.

9:17

Let's go Johnson's. I'm ready.

9:21

We don't. Or bug You don't, you don't look like what.

9:23

Do, do we know how to, how to get there? This is.

9:26

Well, I'm certain I could get us there. It's just the getting out and not die that I haven't quite got unlocked yet.

9:33

Ah. We can figure those things out later.

9:36

I mean, I got a lot of healing spells, but Carrick's pretty big. It's more like,

9:42

here's my general thought from what I've figured out so far is not so much

9:47

that we should go to where he is and kill him.

9:51

You are saying we need a weapon. Uh, more like, well now this is gonna sound funny,

9:59

but I was gonna say a needle in thread and you happen to have one of those ones.

10:03

Um, I wasn't thinking that when I started to think the thought,

10:07

but halfway through thinking it, I thought of it.

10:10

And that's how most of my thinking does too. You start with not thinking and then all of a sudden there's a thought that's

10:18

part of a thought, not a whole thought. And then it comes out of your mouth and all of a sudden it's there.

10:23

Yeah. So that's what happened when I was just now speaking. Uh,

10:26

'cause my general thought here is not so much that we need to go to where he is

10:30

and kill him. 'cause that seems, uh, I'm not gonna say impossible,

10:34

but it does sound rather difficult. However, if we were to maybe, you know,

10:38

just like stitch up the portal.

10:42

Nine, you might say. Yeah. You know, like the terror that he.

10:45

Save time. We won't save time. Yeah. If you're saving me, well, I'm not time anymore.

10:51

I guess that's my dad. And we kind of saved him. He's not in me anymore.

10:56

Is this making sense? I'm saying we should trap him and not fight him.

11:02

Hey. How, how, how do we do that? You.

11:04

Haven't gotten there yet. Stitching time.

11:08

The needle. I know. I'm not saying we need that needle.

11:12

I do think that needle would help, but. So should we find the needle?

11:19

Well, it's probably in a haystack somewhere. I weren't you guys talking about the the fate ladies or something.

11:29

Exactly. Or box tracking with us now.

11:34

Callum. Yeah. Uh,

11:40

so all this is to say that I have no idea how we do that.

11:44

We could find the fates. I suppose we could see if that would help. Uh,

11:48

I think finding more books would also be helpful. And also reading this book.

11:53

Which is very intense. Wasn't there, wasn't there a library somewhere around here?

11:58

Yeah, I think there's a library south of here, but I don't know if it's still standing. I mean, we can always go find out.

12:03

You got a book once about goblins?

12:07

Yeah. I remember that. I returned it on time too. No, you still have the pages.

12:15

Well, I don't think they're probably missing it now, given the state of.

12:18

I don't think they count. I don't think they count 'em.

12:21

No. Oh. Okay. So, um,

12:27

we should look for a specific book on fates if they we're gonna try

12:32

and find a library, right? Or.

12:35

And weapons. Well, I don't, I I mean, a book on fates would be interesting.

12:40

I don't know that it would help more like how to seal an Elger horror into

12:45

wherever it's at. And so it can stop eating souls. So if you can find me that book, that would be great.

12:51

That's in the H section four.

12:56

How, how? Yes.

13:00

Huh? Hmm. Yeah. But first we have to find the library. So there is that.

13:08

I'll ask, um, uh.

13:12

I just look around the room to see if there's anyone who might know

13:18

that looks bookish. Here's the thing. All of y'all have,

13:25

like, you, you guys came from water deep. You know where things are at? Yeah.

13:30

Yeah. I didn't, it's.

13:34

How much of water Deep is still like, not destroyed.

13:39

About 25%. When.

13:42

I say, oh, see if we can find something. Or like a church.

13:46

A church might have books as well. Like we were gonna do, and then we can go back to the Tower Gareth's.

13:50

Church. We could go to Gareth's Church.

13:54

Books a billion. They're also there.

13:58

Well, uh, I'm, I'm, I'm ready to go.

14:02

I've got a pot of honey from the kitchen.

14:07

I've got a part of pancakes also from the kitchen.

14:13

They don't work as well in a pot, but a lot of pots. Yep.

14:19

What I need, what I need, who is taking lead on who is leading the party at this point?

14:25

Me? Sounds like. Poo. Sounds like poo.

14:28

I'm looking. Okay. Poo. Yeah. I need you to roll a D 100 for me, please.

14:33

Yeah. Let me do that for you real quick.

14:36

Whoop. 35.

14:41

Okay. Uh, you guys stroll around the remains of water deep.

14:50

And. You come across the crumbled remains of the library.

14:57

Well, I could have sworn it was right here the last time.

15:03

Let's I start poking through some of the rocks and rubble.

15:09

Actually, it doesn't look very different from when, uh,

15:12

stumble Foot was running this town. Ouch.

15:16

Little blowed. <Laugh>.

15:22

Uh, I mean, we could look for remaining books.

15:25

You think we're gonna have a harder time finding what we're looking for though?

15:30

I reached down and just picked something up at random.

15:34

Okay. Maybe we. Just.

15:37

This a book. Roll another D 100.

15:41

I have still just digging for actual books. <laugh>, uh.

15:46

81. Yeah. He who lifts up a, uh,

15:54

dried, disembodied hand and asks if it's a book.

15:57

<Laugh>. I, I've heard you can read poems.

16:01

You can read bones too. And I bet you there's some bones in there.

16:05

Yeah, it looks like it. Oh.

16:08

That means I could read it twice. It's.

16:11

True. I bet you learn something different each time. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>.

16:15

Okay. Um, now Squid, you said you're shuffling through the rubble. Yeah.

16:20

To find something. Uh, Roland investigation check, please.

16:25

Oh, I'm very investigative. 16 plus zero.

16:35

Okay. You find a book. <Laugh>.

16:40

We're doing so well. <Laugh>.

16:42

Great. Is it Exci? Does it happen to be exactly the book I need,

16:45

which is how to trap an el drawer in its home and make it stop eating people.

16:49

Uh. Go ahead and roll a D 100 for me please. If I.

16:54

Roll a 100 and this is that book, I will cry. <laugh>.

16:58

That's a 60. Yeah. This is a,

17:04

this is kind of a steamy romance novel that you found.

17:08

Like steampunk. Callum slowly pockets it. No.

17:12

Callum. Slowly pockets. <laugh>. <Laugh>.

17:15

Was that it? Tellum? Was that the book we were looking for? Oh.

17:19

What. It it's a Dan it was written by Daniel Steele.

17:23

Nope, not that one. He's a good guy. Uh, maybe we trade the church.

17:30

Are you sure you wanna bring that book to the church?

17:35

<Laugh>? I think it'd be all right. What a book. I don't have anything.

17:39

Don't worry about it. It's fine. They probably all die in it.

17:43

Okay. In the church? No, in the romance book, whatever thing.

17:48

You all right. Uh, who. We head to the church. Yeah.

17:52

Who being as you're driving the expeditions still I'm driving this.

17:56

I need another D 100 for me, please. Yes, you do. How does a 74 sound?

18:03

Sounds like the church got destroyed. No.

18:05

Stop it. Dice. I need better dice.

18:10

How, how does a 99 sound.

18:13

Also would sound like a church got. Destroyed. I need to go in like the lower, like the 25% range. Oh.

18:19

We're playing Call Kahu. Call Kerick. Um.

18:23

We're doing the, I. Also thought the church was here, but it's not. You would.

18:29

Be correct. It was not. Now.

18:33

Maybe we just need somebody really smart to like, interrogate.

18:38

Oh, I think all the smart ones got left or got, you know, killed.

18:42

There's gotta be, we are the smart ones now.

18:45

No, that's terrifying. No. Callum made it out. What.

18:47

Who, who, who again looks,

18:51

just grabs his hand down and tries to pull up a, a book.

18:56

Okay. He's just. Is this.

19:00

Nope. 68 A book.

19:03

<Laugh>. Um, uh,

19:08

you pull up a kind of a, a triptych of sorts that has, uh, depictions,

19:16

artistic depictions of, uh,

19:18

things from the Bible or the book of the Debt, rather.

19:24

Oh. Or Orba picks up one and he rolled at 20.

19:29

You do, you, you pick up a hymnal.

19:34

But what songs are in it? All the good ones. This is very interesting. Lots of pictures.

19:42

So. Okay, well the church is gone and the library's gone.

19:49

Um, any other ideas on where we could go or who we could talk to?

19:54

Has and kind of, I mean,

19:56

aside from going back to the tower and seeing if they got books there that might

19:59

have something. There was always, uh, Philbert

20:08

remember, remember Philbert? I don't think I do remember Philbert.

20:14

Well, you know, he was a, he was one of our,

20:18

he he was one of the, you know, he helped out with the bug bears sometimes could get us stuff if we had trouble

20:25

getting things. Oh yeah. Uh, yeah.

20:28

I don't think that most of the bug bears Fareed so well,

20:31

but we could always go see. No, but he. He wasn't a bug bear. He was, you know,

20:37

hairy but not a bug bear.

20:40

Oh. One of them. Lived out in the woods.

20:44

Or we could try to find the bar we all met

20:49

in because the smart people are probably there drinking.

20:55

That was a pretty questionable bar. I'm not gonna lie. It's kinda seedy.

20:59

They did have a good drink though. Jss. Do you even remember the name of the bar that you all met in?

21:06

Oh. I do. I think it's.

21:09

It's. It's, it's.

21:11

On, on the tip of my

21:16

spine. The, like the something lamia.

21:20

The laughing. The. Laughing. A laughing lamia.

21:23

I was gonna say that limping. But it's probably limping now.

21:26

That was that. Yep. That was it. Episode the limp.

21:29

Episode. Limping Lamia. Maybe there's too many Ls.

21:36

Uh, do we, do we, did we ever find out a quick question? Uh,

21:40

did we ever find out who else was like helping those red shirt guys?

21:44

'cause if there's any of them left, you know,

21:48

we could go look for them. 'cause I bet you they kind of helped move this process along after, you know,

21:53

you stopped. Are the members of the, uh, whatchamacallit.

21:59

I forget what they're called. They have an name.

22:03

Cultist. Yeah, them. Col.

22:07

You know, I'm sure one of them probably, you know, we didn't address this,

22:11

but kid Nathan, so whoever they were.

22:17

You want, you want to go? I'm looking for cult uh, cult.

22:22

Cult cultivators. Yes.

22:26

You don't have any magic that can help with any of this?

22:29

I mean, I have, I've got magic that I think might help, but it, I can't just,

22:33

you know, snap my fingers and make 'em show up. Oh, yes you can.

22:39

But I, I'm, I'm saying for like, finding people and things.

22:44

I have to ask Poo. Do you, are you wearing your bowl right now?

22:48

Am I wearing my bowl? Yeah. Okay. Roll a D one 100 for me please.

22:53

He's wearing, he's wearing a pot. He's a pothead.

22:58

I'm rolling so many D one hundreds. Uh,

23:03

that is, I'm rolling. Like 82.

23:07

Yeah. Nothing happens. Can't roll a decent D 100 tonight.

23:14

Josiah. It's better to lie and ask for forgiveness later.

23:19

I heard that somewhere. I think Amanda. You know, I feel like if we went back and searched the area,

23:24

I'd have an easier time actually trying to figure out where they went as opposed

23:28

to just guessing. Especially 'cause I don't know who they are or what they look like.

23:34

I feel like, I mean, honestly, I feel like we could just take Kerik.

23:38

I mean all of these bad guys and, and things and monsters and stuff. Like,

23:42

we're like, wait or book. We're like real. We're really tough.

23:45

And it's like really easy to like, <inaudible> just defeat all these things.

23:50

Can you fly? I I mean, I haven't tried yet, so I, I can't say for sure.

23:58

I don't know. It just seems like if you're gonna kill Kerik,

24:00

you kind of gotta be like way up there where he's, everything is,

24:06

and we're gonna be way down there. We are just his achille tentacles are.

24:12

But can't we climb up the tentacles? I.

24:16

Tickle the cle 10. Tickle the tentacles or takes.

24:20

Tentacles to make him laugh. Cut one. And like,

24:26

maybe we'll get lucky and it's as Achilles tentacle and then we can

24:31

like, climb inside of it. Well.

24:34

That's an option that we'll keep. And Yeah, we can eat on the way up.

24:40

We're going to eat him so we won't get, I mean.

24:46

I suppose I was. Um, since you brought this up, can,

24:51

can we get wings wilder? I mean, can, can we get wings?

24:56

I wrong. You know, Callum, you have wings.

25:00

Do have wings. You. Want to eat, eat Callum's wings. Get some.

25:03

Wings. Prefer you're not, uh oh.

25:05

Okay. I get what you're saying. Now. A little barbecue sauce on them.

25:10

No. Is there a way that we can get wings?

25:13

That's, I there is a way that we can make you fly.

25:16

I don't know if there's a way we could give you wings. I think we can build them.

25:21

Are wings important? Are they like the crowning feature of what you want? Well, you.

25:27

Why did you ask me if I could fly? Well, it's just question. You know,

25:32

the strategy of going to kill Kerik right now is all Oh, okay.

25:35

I thought, I thought, I thought you have a grand plan where we could have Yeah.

25:40

Wing. Okay. Didn't realize you were just talking trash. Yeah.

25:44

Raw. I don't know. I'm feeling, I don't know.

25:48

I'm gonna start walking towards where we left the dead body.

25:52

Oh, they're all around. The one specific one. I, okay.

25:57

Oh, well this is probably a dumb idea,

26:02

but I'm going to try something. David.

26:05

Oh, okay. So here's what I'm thinking. Imagine.

26:08

That. Who with a dumb idea. I've been trying to be smarter right now and I'm gonna try

26:15

something. Dumber. Right?

26:19

I'm going to Smart. Is not working. So we want fate, right? We need to talk to fate somehow.

26:27

You gotta trick the universe. I'm going to sit and do nothing.

26:33

And Right then fate will be like

26:38

tempting. Um, be like,

26:40

what something's this guy always the, I'm,

26:45

I'm gonna make myself a, I don't know how to do this.

26:48

How do I make myself a target for fate

26:53

so that they just call it have to show up or either do something

26:58

that do nothing. There was. The, you know,

27:01

the time that you put that symbol on yourself and then that thing showed up.

27:05

That was, that was pretty tempting. A fight, I assume.

27:09

Yeah. That's not a bad idea.

27:12

I say from halfway down the block where I started walking.

27:14

<Laugh>. Let's.

27:17

Why would you do that? Squid. Carve a big K on you.

27:24

Okay. Okay. This is, I. Mean, I would definitely be tempting fate. Probably bringing him here. Exactly.

27:31

Tempting fate. That's what I was trying to do. That's it? Yeah.

27:35

Okay. Okay. Here we go.

27:38

Is that what we want to do? I don't know that this is actually the, I mean, I'm walking this direction,

27:43

but know that's. I don't have a better plan, so.

27:48

Okay. Well I'll let my plan sit here for a minute then. And I'll wait.

27:51

Just in case you die so I can save.

27:54

You. What should I. Right?

27:57

I'm just like my leg this time.

28:01

Yep. And I'll be right beside you. Ready to push, I mean, help you.

28:05

Alright. Actually, so I take, uh, uh,

28:09

the palm of my good hand and I take out a little,

28:13

little knife and draw that symbol on the palm of my good

28:18

hand. Yep.

28:20

You draw it or you carve it? Well.

28:24

Uh, you know, draw it with an i with,

28:27

I carve it just a little carve.

28:30

Just a little blood oath. This is how it works, right? You're.

28:35

I I was waiting for cooler heads to prevail on this. Nope,

28:39

but everybody's like, oh, let's kick the DMM to the curb.

28:42

Listen, I'm not there. I made a plan and I was gonna follow through with it and I thought it was a good

28:47

plan, but. I didn't. What was your plan? You're.

28:50

The one who gave him the idea to carve the symbol unto himself.

28:54

I, he asked a question and as his friend, I helped to answer it.

28:58

My plan was to go find where a Ethan's body was again and track the people that

29:02

killed him. 'cause maybe the fact that there were two other people and there were tracks

29:06

leading away was a good lead to follow. Too.

29:10

Complicated. They're long gone by now.

29:15

Okay. Um, poo. Yes. You carved this symbol into your hand.

29:20

Yep. Uh, wilder.

29:25

Uh, immediately when you see this symbol carved into his hand,

29:30

it pixelates in your vision, like some bad, uh,

29:36

censorship on television. Okay.

29:40

And poo your hand shrivels. Like, uh,

29:44

when I say shrivels, I mean like biblically.

29:47

I, I get ya. Oh.

29:53

That's, wow. That's too bad. That's.

29:55

An interesting feature. Uh.

29:59

Hmm. Also, you take a negative to permanent loss to your

30:05

dexterity. Okay.

30:09

And you look funny with the little shriveled hand too.

30:13

Um. Yep. That didn't, that didn't, uh,

30:17

do exactly what I thought I would do.

30:22

Did the fake show up? Oh, I think fake showed up.

30:25

I'm gonna look around and see if there's any giant invisible things coming for

30:28

us. Nope.

30:30

Okay. I.

30:33

But while you're looking around, make an investigation check for me please.

30:37

Alright. That's.

30:40

A 17. Uh, you,

30:44

while you're looking around looking for the invisible things that aren't there,

30:48

um, you do notice now that you're intentionally looking,

30:54

there does seem to be one building that looks like it was entirely

30:59

untouched in the onslaught. Like the tower was untouched.

31:04

Yeah. Okay, well, I'm gonna stop walking down the street and walk over there.

31:09

<laugh> the building Have like a sign or a come in. We're open.

31:15

It's, it's, it's actually a, it's actually a residential house.

31:19

I knock on the door. Nobody's home.

31:23

I open the door. You step in and get a familiar stank on the air. Oh.

31:29

Although not as fresh. I'm gonna take a little peek around.

31:36

You see Lacey doilies and kind of frumpy

31:41

flower patterned wallpaper on the, this.

31:45

This is are certain somebody's home? I've been here.

31:48

Have I been to this house before? You have? Oh.

31:51

Is there a bird somewhere that's missing Its owner.

31:55

A bird. I dunno. I just feel like she would have a bird.

31:58

<Laugh>. She, she feels like someone that would have a bird.

32:02

Uh, there is no bird there. No. Hmm. That is quite interesting.

32:09

I'm going to just look around for anything of interest in her home

32:15

other than lace, doilies, things that might actually be helpful.

32:20

Uh, make an investigation check, please. He's so.

32:24

Good at. Is everybody else following her into this following call into this house.

32:30

Sure. It's boring out here. Um, I'm gonna, I'm gonna cast bless on myself too,

32:35

because I know Not bless. What am I? What am I?

32:40

Nevermind. I don't have, oh, guidance. Guidance.

32:45

I don't have smarts in my brain.

32:48

To answer your question. I'm following who? So if he's following Callum.

32:54

I don't find anything. I'm looking at it. Sadly.

32:59

I thought this would work. You thought what would work?

33:04

This my hand. Oh.

33:06

Sorry. Tempting fate. Tempting fate. I'm going to just have to try something else.

33:14

Sometimes we just have to play the hand that fate has dealt us.

33:20

I. And I'm not there. So I'm following Callum.

33:23

Um, this house, did you say there was, how,

33:27

what is the entrance like to this house again?

33:30

Like the o the end, the first room you walk into is kind of like a sitting room.

33:34

Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. There's like a par there's Yeah. Um,

33:39

and there's like some gaudy flower

33:44

print, uh, wallpaper in this room.

33:47

Laced doilies on all the tables. If, if,

33:52

if you were to use the word frumpy to

33:57

describe a motif, you would probably, this would be,

34:01

that would be the room that you are, have just walked.

34:04

In a bingo card on the table. Like, like if you were,

34:08

if you were to try to picture the home of the president of the Sandy Patty Fan

34:13

club. Oh.

34:16

So my house. <Laugh> <laugh>. I have something Title.

34:19

My heart. I am the president. <Laugh>.

34:22

Of the Sandy Patty Fan Club. Uh, like, if, if it was in our world,

34:28

you'd expect to see like Twila Paris cassette tapes.

34:32

Everywhere. And a Michael Bolden poster.

34:37

And an adventures in Odyssey. Uh, I didn't find anything that may have been hidden.

34:46

I'm standing on a chair. That's stupid.

34:51

Exactly. Oh, fake.

34:56

You, you are aware that this is not an, this is not a final destination movie,

35:00

right? Yes. Yes. I, I, I Hey.

35:04

Why other. There's only one way to find out.

35:07

Find out. Yeah. Callum. You can do like the, you know, detecting magic thing, right?

35:12

Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. Could you do that here? 'cause uh, this seems odd, right?

35:20

Uh, yeah. Also, this is til this house, uh,

35:26

she's not here because, you know, uh,

35:28

that everything that happened back in the diner, uh, but yeah.

35:33

Yeah. That, that smells familiar. Um,

35:37

I'm gonna say some words and I'm gonna move my hands and cast, detect magic.

35:43

Nothing. Hmm.

35:46

Except for what you guys have on yourselves.

35:49

I was gonna say not even Callum or. Uh, well, uh, zero.

35:58

Nothing. She's normal.

36:01

So glad we came here. Do you. Think mundane, some might say.

36:06

Now here's a wild thought. Do you think that maybe she just doesn't taste good?

36:10

Kerik. <Laugh>?

36:14

I mean, that's act What if, what if.

36:18

I feel like she might be right up his alley.

36:21

I don't know if we touched this. House. We

36:26

like go to battle with him wearing one of her dresses.

36:30

And perfume. And he won't touch us. I'm just saying.

36:36

If we want to go in for the longer haul, we wait until we can all learn True Polymorph and then we all become Tilda

36:43

and then we'll be unstoppable. That.

36:45

Does sound like emptying fate. Is It does. I suppose.

36:51

I mean, I, I can use Alta Self on myself.

36:57

But. Well, that's, that's something. I suppose. It's not useful now, but.

37:02

Right. You know what? If the time comes, uh.

37:06

Okay. Wild idea. Does she have books?

37:11

I'm gonna look for books. Roll Investigation, please.

37:16

I'm decent at that. If I can roll it. Well, not one.

37:21

<Laugh>. Uh, yeah. You you don't, you don't find anything.

37:28

Oh look, this book says Nimrod. The Ladd around the world.

37:33

Oh. Yeah. That's a pretty good. Film. Oh. Oh.

37:37

Wait, you said book. Oh wait, she was burning it.

37:44

Where did you find the book? Savage. <Laugh>.

37:49

Um. I feel useless. So yeah.

37:54

That's, I was wonderful. I'm still standing on a chair coming.

37:58

Here. I'm just gonna look for a bookcase then.

38:02

With my eyeballs. With your eyeballs. I'm.

38:06

Just gonna walk through the house, see if anything pops out.

38:11

Squid. What's your passive perception for Callum? Oh.

38:13

Very high. 19.

38:17

As you are cruising through the house looking around,

38:23

you do see the,

38:26

just the corner of a book hanging out of the side of

38:31

underneath her bed, between her mattress and her box Spring. Oh.

38:35

It's her diary. I get it.

38:39

Uh, as you pull it out, it is in fact her diary.

38:44

I sit down on the bed and then immediately stand up and decide I don't wanna sit

38:48

on her bed. And then <laugh> sit on the floor and read it.

38:53

Hey, the cover to that book looks just like the one you took. You picked up.

38:57

<Laugh>. Surprisingly similar. She is Danielle Steele. <laugh>, <laugh>.

39:04

It'll just pending. Mystery. Solved. As you're reading through this,

39:09

a lot of it is just what you would expect.

39:16

That's Sally down at the club. No, uh, basically just a lot of passing judgment

39:24

on random people. That's Sally down at the club. <laugh>.

39:28

Oh, I thought you said met Sally down at the club. No.

39:30

No, that's Sally. Hmm.

39:33

Yeah. Yeah. Lot, lot of, lot of passive judgment. But as you,

39:37

as you go through the book, more and more it becomes increasingly more

39:43

self-righteous. Like this has been progressing over time to the point where it's borderline

39:49

manifesto. By, by the last few pages of this, uh,

39:55

talking about what the world really needs is another good plague to

40:00

call the numbers a bit. And. Oh.

40:03

Purge the wickedness from this world. That's rough. I read a letter like this once from a man named Ted.

40:13

Uh, okay. Um, oh,

40:18

well, did she list any, like, people that she found that agreed with this

40:25

philosophy where she heard this philosophy?

40:29

What's that? You roll when you're trying to get a feel for how other people are.

40:33

Yeah. Roll an insight check. Oh, baby. Okay.

40:38

Well that is a 17 on the die plus nine.

40:42

Oh, good Lord. It's 56. You, you, you,

40:46

you've noticed a pattern going towards the end of the book. She be,

40:50

she's becoming more and more isolated away from people

40:55

as this goes. It, it seems like her condi,

40:59

her condition or whatever she's going through is getting worse as time goes on.

41:02

And you'll notice she talks about specific individuals less and less.

41:06

And it doesn't seem. Like it was a inciting incident.

41:11

No. It, it, it seems like a, just a overtime thing. Okay. Um,

41:16

and at you, you kind of get the feeling like she was interacting with people more, less,

41:22

and less as time went on.

41:26

Nothing about like where this idea came from or there's no like clear

41:32

change of tone. No, it, it was just progressive over time.

41:38

Anything that sounds like actionable.

41:42

You're gonna have to be a bit more specific. I.

41:44

Uh, it's one thing to say that the earth needs a plague.

41:47

It's another to say that I'm building a plague. <laugh>.

41:50

Ah, gotcha. Uh, no, nothing to that effect.

41:54

She wasn't necessarily planning to help. She just thought it was a good idea.

41:58

Yeah, it was all ideation. No plan.

42:01

And there was nothing magical about the house. I'm gonna use my premeal awareness just to see if there's anything funky in this

42:08

place. Uh,

42:11

which is the thing that lets me sense aberration, celestial's, dragons,

42:15

elementals, phase fiends and undead. Nah, nothing seems.

42:20

I'm gonna waste a big spell on this 'cause I'm

42:24

suspicious. Uh, I'm gonna use

42:29

my sixth level spell for true seeing,

42:36

uh, which allows me to see things as they actually are including any secret doors,

42:41

see into the ethereal plane, all of which is up to a range of 120 feet.

42:46

As you cast the spell, you see a frumpy stinky house. Yeah.

42:55

Nothing fun happening on the ethereal plane right now.

42:58

Shame? Um, no. All right. Well I am at a loss.

43:04

Good. Zoe, go home. Yes. What a great idea because it's so exciting here.

43:11

I mean, we could also go back to, you know, where the body was and see if they were gonna

43:17

come back. I don't know. Fine.

43:20

Sure. Just. Before we leave high. School, I just wanna go see the body, but first go see the body. But.

43:25

First. Probably feet first, but.

43:28

I'm going <laugh>, I I go into the kitchen area and find shocker

43:36

something in there. I'm going to try tempting fat yet again.

43:43

You're gonna start out without chewing. Oh boy. This will be fun. Uh.

43:47

I'm going to eat something from Turtle's kitchen. Yeah, that's fair.

43:53

Hmm. And I find,

43:56

I don't know something and proceed to eat it. She's.

44:00

Honestly, given that she's been on vacation a while, it is probably not good.

44:02

Exactly. I open one of the bottom cabinets.

44:08

The kitchen, you find a box of twink, you find a box of Twinkies. Oh.

44:11

That stuff. Never goes bad. And I, I shove all of them into my mouth.

44:17

Oh, they're delicious. Once you get past the plastic bags that they come in.

44:22

Okay. Faith, where are you? I'm ready for you anytime now.

44:30

Nothing. I. Don't think I'm gonna want to be around when fate shows up for that. <laugh>.

44:37

Okay. Well, interesting. I feel like I learned nothing here.

44:43

I don't think this plan is working. Anyone else feel like they learned anything?

44:49

No. Alright. I think we should all split up.

44:52

I rappers remember the trick off from rappers.

44:56

Oh yeah. Good. Yeah.

45:00

Yeah. So does it mean a anything to anyone if, um,

45:05

when Poo carved the thing in to his hand just

45:10

a minute ago, I couldn't like, quite see it.

45:13

Like I knew it was there, but I couldn't make out what it was.

45:17

Yeah. How does poo's hand look? Not so very good. Shriveled.

45:21

Does it look the same with true seeing?

45:24

Yeah. Does the symbol look different?

45:28

No. Oh. Maybe somebody should try to heal his hand or something.

45:34

Can we see the symbol normally? Yeah. Except for Dave, right. Or Wilder. So.

45:41

He still can't see it? No.

45:43

So if I do this wilder, can you not see.

45:47

Except, except who? You can't do that. It's like literally shriveled into yourself.

45:51

So if you do this well. No. Should we.

45:55

Fix that? Do you want that fixed? I'm burning the spouse odds real fast again,

46:00

but. I I did bring it on myself. You don't, you don't have to.

46:05

I mean, no, that's, that's what friends.

46:07

Are for. We could find a bread knife and cut it off. Or magic. Oh.

46:11

I was, yeah. Yep. So it's gonna hurt you more than us.

46:17

Or we could not do that. Maybe. Okay.

46:22

Maybe Poo is the plague that Hilda

46:27

was praying for. I find it hard to believe that Tilda was praying for Poh.

46:32

I bet she prayed all kinds of poo.

46:36

Not that I believe. <Laugh>. Okay, so that doesn't alarm anybody, which is alarming. Well,

46:43

it's kind of. Alarm speed. I just don't have an answer for it.

46:46

So you can't, it's what does it look like?

46:50

Uh, blurry, like, um,

46:57

blurry blocks of whatever color your hand is.

47:01

How does it make you feel? Like if I come closer to you.

47:05

I get really close to. It. Just gets bigger.

47:10

Rub it on his face. Yeah. But like, does it make you feel uncomfortable or like,

47:16

are you repulsed by like, I don't know.

47:19

I am. The symbol. Hit him.

47:24

With it. That's the thing though. Like, I can't make it out. Um,

47:28

your hand's not like the best thing I've ever seen, but, um,

47:33

you know, that makes me slightly uncomfortable.

47:36

Can, can. You try to lick, lick it? See what happens.

47:39

Can you tell it? I'm not. Can you make out any details at all?

47:44

Not when I look at that, no. Hmm.

47:48

But, and you could, you could see his hand before that. Right?

47:53

Right, right. So like, if I were to write it on this wall.

48:00

And I'd, I'd write it on some of the, the,

48:05

the wall that has the, um,

48:10

you said that was wallpapered. I just kinda scratch the symbol into the wallpaper.

48:18

As you do this, the wallpaper seems to seal itself back together

48:28

as you cut, as you cut the symbol into it.

48:34

The Holy Spirit. Um, I wasn't, wasn't expecting that.

48:40

I, I I just take another like slash um.

48:45

Just don't do it again. At the, at the wallpaper.

48:48

Just a regular slash. Yeah.

48:52

Uh, yeah. It, it stays in the wall.

48:56

That's wild. Well, no, I'm just confused.

49:01

Yeah. You don't think that cleared anything up of me either. Alright. All right. Um,

49:07

let's try something different. I mean,

49:12

at this point with like, literally like put,

49:15

throwing things at the wall to see if anything happens and I don't know. I mean,

49:19

we've got a lot to lose, but, okay. I am going to,

49:25

uh, start carving in this symbol that,

49:30

uh, kind of looks like,

49:35

like question marks kind of in a swirl. Um.

49:39

Yeah, you're the yellow sign. Um, right. Um,

49:44

you carve it in, there's a brief moment where it seems like it's gonna do something,

49:50

but then it doesn't, you like, you can feel a tension in the air,

49:54

like something should happen mm-hmm. <affirmative>. But the tension releases,

50:00

uh, you, you recognize this feeling like the preempt of like casting a spell.

50:06

Poo. Same time as me. You carve your symbol r archive mine.

50:10

Let's see if that does anything. Right. 3, 2, 6.

50:16

Callum, are you, are you watching this as this happens? Oh yeah.

50:20

I've been watching this whole thing. Oh, okay. That's.

50:22

Why I s saying what does that look. Like? <laugh>. Oh, gotcha. Gotcha, gotcha, gotcha. Um, yeah.

50:27

So when a, as you're watching this,

50:30

and it would've been the same for both ti all the times you've seen these

50:34

symbols carved into the wall, um,

50:37

you see a yellow pulse come off of the symbol that

50:43

fe Felix or Wilder car carves into the wall.

50:49

But like nothing happens after that.

50:52

Do I recognize that? Um, I believe Callum did see the yellow sign. Maybe.

50:59

Did it happen to be related to a good friend of mine that liked yellow <laugh>

51:03

was his favorite color. Oh yeah. Yeah. You would've known that sign to be related to him.

51:11

Okay. So I don't think that one's. With the, with the symbol that, uh, poo

51:17

carves in, there's a blinding black white mm-hmm.

51:20

<affirmative> that comes off of it. It pulses and then there it see you like,

51:26

you sense an echo of it, some coming from someplace else

51:32

that you can't see with your eyes and then it seals

51:37

itself back up. The carving in the wall seals itself back up again.

51:41

Someplace else in the house or like someplace else.

51:45

Someplace else. Okay. Uh, okay. Well I don't think that symbol's gonna do anything.

51:51

'cause I'm pretty sure the man that was connected to it is dead.

51:56

That one didn't do fun things and I didn't like seeing it.

51:59

Mine. Yeah. What did.

52:01

It do? It kind of did a big like thing and then there was like,

52:08

oh, hoof feeling. Um, and then it was like gone.

52:13

You know? Hmm. Before we carve any more symbols,

52:18

can we please think about where we're carving them?

52:22

Maybe be a little more strategic just

52:27

randomly in this lady's house. I don't know. This seems,

52:31

and I hate to say it like a rabbit trail.

52:36

Yeah. I'm just still really confused as to why her house isn't touched.

52:40

There's probably other houses that aren't touched. It's only about,

52:45

from what I saw, I think it's only about 25% of the, uh,

52:50

town. I look around for a basement. Good with math, by the way. Olba. How about find a basement?

52:57

I start looking up for a basement. Who finds an attic and there is no basement to this house.

53:03

I'm gonna go outside and look for a cellar. <laugh>. I found an upper basement. I'm going up.

53:12

Okay. Goodbye. I pulled down the, the ladder for the attic there. I'm assu.

53:18

I'm assuming it's one of those. Nice. Are you gonna, you have to fly.

53:24

Can I get that? Can I get into the attic? You see signs in the attic.

53:31

Basically equivalate e equivocate to

53:36

affirmations of purging the sin from your, from your body.

53:42

Okay. And there is a, well, to put it in a,

53:48

for a lack of better terms there,

53:51

there's a handle up there that has about five straps of leather with

53:56

knots in it. Mm-hmm. <Affirmative>. It's a torture like chamber.

54:03

And then there's kind of like a,

54:06

a thick yoga mat in the middle of the floor.

54:10

And there's a window in a, in the ceiling above that yoga mat,

54:14

which is the only source of light in the.

54:18

Attic. There's not any, I i,

54:21

I take a glance around the room to see if there's any more.

54:25

I don't know anything interesting like what Kellen's kellen's been looking for,

54:29

like books or anything like that. There aren't any books up here. Okay.

54:33

It's a single room and it's just the signs regarding evil that

54:38

must be purged and the mat and the implement of flagellation.

54:47

Of what? Flagellation. <laugh>.

54:51

Oh, sorry. He, he thought you said something else.

54:55

Yes. I thought this implement a ululation.

54:59

I was therefore, um,

55:04

I think this lady was crazy <laugh>.

55:08

We knew that already. I think even before we got here.

55:12

Really crazy. She has like a yoga mat up here.

55:16

Oh. I mean, those are kind of common, uh,

55:19

health reasons and she doesn't look like a yoga kind of person to me though.

55:23

There's also like this whip thing and signs about, okay, cool.

55:27

Getting rid of evil. Maybe I should have led with that one.

55:32

I thought the yoga thing was,

55:36

was throwing me for a loop. Maybe you should lay on the mat and you could be a yoga bear. <laugh>.

55:43

Hey boo boo. <Laugh>. If you, you know,

55:50

I think you need to be Hilda, so like, whatever you think she did up there,

55:55

I think you should do that. Who is this hill? <laugh>. What?

55:59

Whatever her name is. I, I try to put her outta my mind.

56:04

Tilda world, whatever. Okay. So she's paying penance for something. Yes.

56:11

Yes. Is that what we're gathering here? Hmm.

56:14

I'm think she just has a itchy back.

56:18

Uh, nope. There's better ways. You have been listening to the Play in Games With Strangers podcast.

56:30

With the voices of John Har you, Catherine Sirki,

56:35

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56:44

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56:49

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