Hello everybody.
Welcome to an exciting edition of Playing Games With Strangers.
I am the host, your host, John.
Hows everybody going out there with us this evening?
We have Josiah the Poo Crandal.
Yay. Woo-hoo. Yay. Yay.
I'll be playing Poo tonight.
.
Yes, you you. He's been preparing all evening.
. I, okay. Uh, and then we have Dave Clements.
I am not playing Poo at all.
Katherine Zinsky.
I'm just not playing in general, so.
Otherwise known as Katie, I hate it. And .
And then we have Js Earls, everybody's favorite comic book writer.
Couple peoples.
Yes. Go check out the MERT shop. We got stuff there.
It puts money into our ability to do stuff.
Go check out our Patreon cuz if you are a patron,
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All right, Josiah, do your job. Yeah.
Let's play the, let's play that theme song.
Playing games with strangers. There's no
With Strangers.
Uh, we're gonna do two recaps this evening because, well,
quite frankly,
the whole party wasn't here for the last session and we didn't play
as the party for the last session. So that being said,
we'll have two different individuals giving recaps. First,
let's go to squid for the last party session.
We woke up. Some things happened. Uh, we looked at some walls.
There were a lot of shadows. I'm gonna run through this real fast.
We decided to go to a castle after we talked to, uh,
someone Don't remember who Doesn't really matter.
I'm sure they're not important. Uh, we found a big hole in a wall,
and by hole, I mean, there used to be a door there, but there wasn't anymore.
So we functionally just a hole. Um,
kind of just had an opening to a very not great place.
Bunch of shadow creatures. I cast daylight. It was terrible for me,
mainly. Uh, and then for everyone else. And now buildings are scary.
And we've all gone back to Wild's house and poo's gonna go door shopping.
We talked to Leona and that's what you missed on Lee.
. Dave, give us the recap of the last session.
Bas seat hired a trio assassins to take out three targets,
who we found out ended up being three of Emin's
siblings.
Three targets.
Was it three? Was it four? Was it seven? Was it two? Could have been two.
I don't know. My brain doesn't work. I wrote down three,
so I'm gonna pretend it was three. We just forgot what the third one was.
Anyway, when they went to collect payment from Basti,
a female fanar showed up instead of Basti, and she paid him,
but offered to pay extra for a bonus task,
which was throwing a soul stone into the scrims. Well,
one of the assassins,
Mera ghosted the other two and took the stone in which she
felt the presence of a sad and lonely girl.
And now that stone and Mera are in the wind, what's gonna happen?
Oh, and the hole. Yeah. Um, that,
that trio of assassins is kind of to blame for that hole because they opened the
door under the castle and brought in all the shadow people. The end.
Let's check in on someone we haven't talked to for a while. Em.
Hi.
Hi. Hey.
So what were you doing during the last session? Em.
Oh, living in blissful ignorance for a few minutes.
Uh, which is to say, preparing some people to kill some royal family members.
So how do you want to go about doing that? Because we're picking up with you.
Great. I would like to seek out some of my old friends.
I'm sure nothing can go wrong.
Who are we seeking out?
Um, yes, I would like to find, uh,
Brita and Gallier.
And then just anyone else I see that may have been on the guard at one point
that is perhaps unhappy with the way of things or that I've talked to
in the time since.
Okay. So you make your way to Southern Tower Fall,
you find Bria and Gallier working at Castle
Man, Lagar, uh, kind of helping with the, um,
refugees from TowerFall that have made their way there.
Gallier greets you warmly, uh,
as he has not seen you for a bit.
Hello? I will give him a little hug.
He gives you the friend side hug and he is like, how are things?
Well,
I think we could say that things for everyone have been a little better in other
times. Yeah.
Yeah, yeah. I suppose so. But hey, you know,
we're alive.
Yes. How are you? How are you both?
Uh, well, um, we got married,
so that's a thing.
Oh, the two of you, you two recently?
Uh.
Yeah. Yeah. Um, probably about four or five days ago. Yeah. Yeah. Um,
it's a funny thing. Apparently apocalyptic situations kind of
enhance a relationship. I don't know. Yes. Uh,
but it seemed like the right thing to do at the time, so.
Maybe that explains my life at Correct.
Um, congratulations. I'm sorry that I wasn't there.
Oh, it, it was, it was kind of, uh,
an elop sort of thing. I don't know.
Yes, I, well, things are, but planning in this time is difficult,
I.
Imagine. Yeah. And then, you know, what is money when there is no government?
And so, yes.
But I'm happy for both of you. Thank you. Um, although I, I mean,
I did not come just to catch up, although I'm happy to do that as well.
Okay.
I know that you guys have been working with the refugees here. Mm-hmm.
, mm-hmm. .
Mm-hmm. . And I was hoping that.
They're from a, they're from a place called Water Deep.
Yes. I have heard about this, uh,
briefly before everything happened. Um,
I was hoping that perhaps the two of you might have interest in doing more than
just reacting.
Oh.
I think it is not hard to see that Tower fall is in a bit of turmoil.
Okay.
And that our current perspective,
new leaders are perhaps not what is best for us.
They never were. But I understand. Yes.
I would like to help take care of that problem.
And I'm hoping you might as well.
Hmm. Roll of Persuasion.
Stranger 14.
He kind of nudges Bria, who was, uh,
just, uh,
distributing supplies to the refugees and utters something in her ear,
and she looks at him and just kind of nods. It's like, yeah.
I think, I think we can
get down with what you're putting down.
I would love to have a conversation about it.
And perhaps if you know anyone else that may have interest,
I think it could be good for Tower Fall to be listening to her people for once.
Fair enough. When do you want to have this, uh, meeting?
Tomorrow morning, perhaps.
All.
Right. Should be time to find others.
Uh, where, where should we meet at?
Um, are you familiar with, uh, and I will just explain like,
the area where she grew up that she's assuming does not have a lot of people in
it currently.
, you're talking about up in Northern Tower fall. Mm-hmm. .
Uh, yeah, he's like, um, yeah,
I can't say I've been there very frequently, but, uh,
I, we can certainly meet up there.
My hope is that soon we will become quite acquainted with all of Tower fall
instead of only half of it.
Well, that, that, that's the dream then, isn't it?
I think it's a bit closer to reality than dream at this point.
Well, for everyone's sake, let's hope so.
Yes. It's good to see both of you.
It's good to see you. Uh, you know how, how, how are things?
How are you in Bassi?
Well, he proposed.
Oh, congratulations.
No.
Oh, oh, oh.
He's working on some things
Bing different. We'll see how it goes. I'm not sure.
Um, he will also be aiding in this endeavor.
I'm trying, I'm trying to picture being different for him.
Yeah. I am too. What, what? That's like, I'm not sure that he knows yet. Um,
but until he does, I think we're just giving it some time.
Fair enough. Do what's best for you. No point in running into a, uh,
lifelong commitment without, uh,
making sure that your interests are taken care of.
Exactly. And I'm taking care of my interests now.
Well, hey, uh,
did you want to help out with the refugees or what do you got going on?
Uh, well, this was mainly my goal for the afternoon,
but I would be happy to help and perhaps if we
share the message with them as well.
I see no reason why they should not be a part of the effort. We're building.
Part of the solution.
Yes. Reconciliation does require many hands.
Hmm. Alright. Right. Well, let's get to it.
And you spend the better portion of the day.
Starting a right.
. No. You spend the better part of the day, uh,
serving the refugees as well as, uh,
maybe propagating a few ideas to people.
Sing. So, so.
Three much, uh, uh, two,
two people that it would make sense to spread your message to.
Quietly sewing seeds.
Mm-hmm. come the end of the day.
I'm assuming Emron is going to make her way back to where?
Back to Bait's house or.
Uh, I think that's where she stayed last night. So yes.
Okay.
Despite saying previously that she would not, but now that they're, you know,
overthrowing a government might as well.
Okay. You make your way back to that direction.
Uh, make a perception check.
Oh, that's going be high. 23.
All right. From at least 200 yards off. You see the door of, uh,
Bai's house wide open and you see a smear blood
trail coming out the door.
Yeah. Hate to see it. I'm going to speed up.
.
Uh, you get to the front door and there is just
venison and blood all over the place inside this house.
Can I tell who this venison is?
Well, you walk into the place, you see.
I will do so with my weapon drawn distinctly.
It's such, okay. It's a weird juxtaposition,
but you see Rhoda fast asleep in a corner
and you do see bits of Bai here and there.
Some leather jacket over here. .
Um,
there's no sign of NICU to be found as
well as no sign of Ida.
Oh.
But Damon,
you do find him mostly intact in another part of the house.
What does mostly intact mean? Can you, can you break that down for me?
From about neck down to the base of his belly opened up
and some of his innards are outed snow.
Now, when you said he's mostly intact, I think you got the word wrong.
I think he chose the wrong word for that. He's bar barely intact.
Perhaps .
But he's all in one place though, is what I'm saying.
Oh boy. I'm going to try and help that.
.
How are we doing this outside of panicking and trying to push everything back
in?
Yeah, that's about it. Yeah.
.
Please go inside your body. She says.
Yeah, as you're doing that he is very cold. Like.
Like dead cold.
Yes. Like he.
Oh, well then I'm not gonna put those back inside now that,
that blood's on my hands. Um, and I feel good about it. Um,
I'm going to go check that road is alive.
Oh yeah. She looks entirely untouched.
I will wake her rapidly.
She's mm-hmm.
What happened.
To what?
Look around.
Oh yeah. Yeah. That, um, so, um,
I guess bae
had some people over and decided that you were
paying
too much attention to family stuff and he wasn't at
your, the center of your focus. So he decided to fix that.
I guess.
I don't believe when I said what happened here that you're understanding the
depth of my question.
Well.
Start, start talking about what has happened here.
Beste happened here.
Beste happened everywhere, it seems.
Well, yeah. That's what happened when he decided to do to me,
uh, what he did to our dear brother in the other room.
You did this. How did you do this?
She holds up her hands and you see that they are completely coded in blood.
Does she seem herself.
, make an insight check at disadvantage.
I just rolled two tens in a row, plus six. So 16.
She seems a little off.
How did you do this?
She comes up to you and she puts her finger just underneath your sternum
and you feel her nails slightly extend.
And her hands are kind of like this with her palms facing outwards and,
and the backs the backs of her hands together. And she starts to push,
push towards you. And she goes a little bit of pressure and a lot of
forearmed strength to open.
Okay. Okay. Okay. And Hmm?
Where's Nickis?
I don't know. I haven't seen them.
And you went to sleep after this?
Well, yeah. Breaking a sternum is a lot of hard work.
Okay. Okay. Okay.
I'm going to back out of the house.
You leaving?
Yes.
All right, well, bye.
And she lays back down and goes back, you know,
kind of starts to curl up to go back to sleep again.
Okay? Okay. Um,
there's a probably five settlements of pacing back and forth with Okay.
Being repeated the entire time.
Mm-hmm. .
Who to see who to where to go. Um hmm. Okay.
I'll go to Katy's house cuz I don't want
to go to my other sibling's house.
Okay.
In hopes to find nicu.
Uh, you head to Katy's house, uh, which, uh,
it also doubles as her seamstress shop. Great.
Her abode being above the actual shop,
you get there, the front door is left partially open, but there,
there is a sign on the door that says, uh, closed.
You walk in and the shop seems largely undisturbed.
He's gonna look around. Okay. Don't like that. That door's open.
Make an investigation check.
It's not great. Um, well by one.
Uh, yeah, you don't like,
you scour the entire shop as well, as well as her abode above.
And you don't find her at all.
Great, great. We love this.
I am going to stand in the middle of this shop and clutch
my weapon very tightly and say, Tom,
if you can hear me and you would like to show up right now.
A couple seconds later,
there's someone walking down the street and see a familiar, smiling face goes,
ah, Emron fancy meeting you here.
I asked for you to come here.
Oh, did you now, who could have known?
Do you know what's been happening here?
Well, according to the sign on the door, it says that they're closed.
So probably not a lot.
With my family.
With your family now,
where I do appreciate you coming to me.
We all know nothing is for free,
especially information.
I'm aware.
But I would have to say that, um,
you already know what's happening here, dear Sweet Rhoda
apparently told you, I can see it written all over your face.
What part?
A love scorned a sought to further
acquire your affections by
reducing the number of distractions.
Does that sound about right?
Are Nickis and Ida alive?
Well, who could say.
You? Oh.
That's right. I could What's in it for me?
Well, if you know who did this, I would deliver them to you.
I bet you would.
Except the actual person responsible has already been dispatched
as you have already seen. Unless you're talking about the, uh,
three individuals who actually did the wet work.
Yes.
As those fools have already unleashed certain things upon this
city that they don't even understand. Uh.
What do you mean?
Well,
that is more information that you're asking for.
This is fun for me. I would say that, uh,
you'll find that answer in the basement of Circler.
Well,
I can promise you that come the morning your appetite will be
satiated.
. Well, it's, it's nice of you to think so,
but my appetite is vast.
But I do appreciate any contribution you could make.
Um, the three,
I forgot their names. Dave . Do you have them written down by chance?
Yeah. Mayra, Coyle and Cen.
That's right.
Do you know where to find them.
Um, on that? I do not.
I will say though, that if I wear you,
I would be exercise a little bit of discretion prior to dispatching
Mayra as she may be in possession of something you may want.
I can do that. Are Nickis and Ida alive?
They are. They are with other family.
My other family.
Perhaps.
That doesn't leave a lot of good options.
Mm. But I don't extend a lot of goodwill either.
So that is about as much information that you are going to get.
The good options being the family members that are left alive.
But I appreciate you thinking of yourself in the moment.
It's what I do Now, if you'll excuse me,
I'll be on my way. Enjoy the basement of circular, by the way.
Very, very pleasant.
I've been All right. We're gonna go to the other brother's house.
Which one?
They only have one left.
Oh, you're talking about Ethan. Okay. Yeah.
Not, not the TowerFall brothers, my other brother.
Gotcha. Gotcha, gotcha, gotcha. You get to Ethan's house,
his front door also is left a little bit open and you see some scorch marks
across his lawn.
That seems fine. There will be less ceremony to entering his home.
You enter into the front door and you find the house empty. Except for that,
you know,
you try to enter into that back area where Poo tried to enter into that one
time. Mm-hmm. . And he couldn't, and you couldn't pass by the,
that area either. It's like there's a wall there,
but it looks like an open space to walk through.
Into tonight. The kitchen make an absolutely wild decision in this moment.
Can I put on my little tinfoil hat while I'm in his house and see what.
Happens? ? Uh, you put on your tinfoil hat and you see a wall there.
Is there a door?
There is not,
but the outside of this house looks much larger than the inside seam.
Like a brick wall.
Maybe.
Maybe. Does it look brick?
Oh. Oh, you're okay. Okay. Nevermind. Nevermind. I thought you.
Were asking me inside wall.
Uh, yeah, it's, nope, it's,
it's actually looks like a painted wall coverings.
I'm gonna take out my hand X and I'm gonna drive it into the wall.
Okay?
Uh, we're gonna take out some stress.
Gotcha. Uh,
you spend time hacking into this wall and it's the strangest thing.
Like this sheet rock on this wall does not seem to be ending as
you're hacking into it.
Hmm. Um, she'll go until she's pretty tired and Okay. Uh, that will,
that will help. Um.
You've managed to carve your way about three feet into the, uh, sheet rock.
And you don't find a stud.
You don't find an opposite side of the sheet rock.
And there's no sign of, aside from the scorch marks of blood, anything else?
Not in the house.
A struggle.
Not in anywhere in the house that you can get to.
I'll go do a little loop outside too.
Uh,
when you get outside and you turn off the walkway to step
onto the lawn, you see glyphs all over the lawn.
Are they in a language or anything? I recognize.
They have a very runic, uh, look to them.
They seem to be in a bit of an arcane language. I mean,
if you want to roll an arana check, you're welcome to.
Yeah. Let's see how my plus zero does for me.
Sheer fourth of will and a nine.
Yeah. You're not certain what they are, but I will, I will give you this,
that the scorch marks look like they are around one of the
glyphs.
Erasing it or just circling.
It. J like something happened on that.
Glyph. And it's not like a teleportation vibe.
No, no.
Uh, I'll,
I'll at least like commit that glyph memory so I know what it looks like.
Mm-hmm.
. I will also say you see a,
you do see a lot of scuff marks on the roof.
Exactly. Why we expect to see scuff marks. . Great.
Uh, anything around the outside of the house?
No. Other than the scorch marks on the lawn.
Is there a way to get on the roof?
Uh, the way that this porch is, is, uh,
like you have the door and then you have a porch that extends to the, uh,
northern side of the house. Uh,
and that's kind of an inlaid porch area like that the roof
covers. Uh, and there is a railing in front of the porch,
like a wooden handrail sort of thing. If you tried it,
you could probably use that to,
to step up and pull yourself up onto the roof if you wanted to.
Sure. Let's get up there. Got nothing better to do.
You get up on the roof and you see a rope hanging down the back of the house.
Up on the rooftop.
Click, click, click.
My little hoves . Uh,
is there not a way to get to the back of the house from the front
or is it just a rope that's been left?
It, it's a, it's a rope that's been left dangling down to the back of the house.
And from the top of the house you can see glyphs all over the lawn.
Like somebody Was it, it,
it would seem like somebody was incredibly paranoid about.
Someone. Oh. I wonder who . Hmm. Haven't met anyone like that. Um,
interesting. Are they all different?
Uh, no. They're.
All the same. All the same? Mm-hmm.
.
And only one of them has a scorch mark.
Correct.
Interesting. Well, I don't know what that means. Yep.
And that's the end of her investigation about that. Uh,
we love playing a smart character. Um, great.
Hmm. All right. Well I'm going to take out the YouTube.
Mm-hmm. .
Who do I want to look for? Got three options.
None of which, you know what they look like.
Oh no. I still need to make sure that my siblings are okay. Duh. Uh,
triaging priority order.
. Oh, okay.
I think I, instead of my siblings in this moment,
because Tom said they were alive and I'm gonna trust him because he seems like a
very trustworthy man. Um,
I'm gonna see if I can see where my mother is.
Okay.
Just cuz I know it'll make you happy. John .
Okay. She's not,
it doesn't seem like she's trying to hide from you specifically.
You look down this YouTube and
you see your mother amongst
Stonewall and she's
talking to somebody about ha getting dinner
prepared.
And you hear her say, nickis no, not like that.
No. Come here. No. You know what? I'm just gonna do it. You just watch Ada.
Okay.
Any familiar surroundings or
anything I can pick out to know where they are?
You mostly see just stone based bricks for,
for the walls behind her.
Cuz of how the scr works through the YouTube.
It's like you're staring through a tube. Mm-hmm. . So,
so you don't see a whole lot of surrounding,
I would say make an architecture check.
Um.
Well that was my thought too. Like if it's a stone house,
it's nicer than what we lived in, so.
Right.
I rolled an 18.
For architecture .
Yeah. What would that be?
Uh, that's an excellent question. History. History. Um.
Like usually it's like history.
Yeah. Let's go with history. Why.
Not? It's, I mean, it's a zero. I have a zero intelligence. So.
Eighteen's still good though.
I will say that it looks very similar to the stonework that makes up the tower.
Okay. Uh, the old family tower,
but she looks healthy-ish.
Very.
Great.
In fact, you,
I would even say that the clothes she's wearing looks nicer than what she was
wearing when she was still living with your father.
Great. But she's not wearing like the, uh, voodoo hippie.
I drank the Kool-Aid stuff he was wearing, right?
No.
Okay, great. Perfect.
We're gonna just assume that maybe they're a happy family right now. .
But she's single, right?
She is now. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Hmm.
I don't know what the bereavement period is, but swoop in there. You know.
I mean, or bogs look. Might look to make your, make your mom the new queen so.
He won't make it that far. .
Oh no. . Okay.
Um,
I believe that I'm going to head back
towards southern tower fall.
Okay.
To see what my elf eyes can see. Uh,
which is to say to find a place. Uh, no, I lied.
I'm gonna go back to the state's house and uh,
make sure my little demon sister is fine.
Your little demon sister. Nice. Uh, yeah, she's asleep.
Great. I'm going to,
I'm just going to clean the house as best as one can. Mm-hmm.
with bits of bestie to round and then probably
take a nap, I'm guessing. Okay.
Well it is the end of the day at this point anyway,
so it makes sense for you to fall asleep. All right.
Next day.
You know what we need?
We need to go to that magic shop and see if we can find a place that like IBUs
spells.
Wouldn't you say a magic shop? Which magic shop are you referring to?
I don't, I don't know.
I just got here not that long ago and frankly it's not been the best.
There was one magic shop, but we didn't like that one. Yeah.
Oh, well. Well, was there another one then?
Uh, I don't remember how to get, that's the only, there's,
I only remember how to get to the one if I'm being honest.
Right. I, I think there's three, but I don't do magic, so.
Oh, I, okay. Also, how are, how are you feeling Abag and wilder,
Felix? I don't. Hi.
Hi. Um.
That's the only normal one in the group right now.
That's hurtful.
Oh look. A tall building. .
So rude.
See.
Who's a tall building?
He is a large object. You are correct. Um, uh,
I am going to, okay. I'm going to see if I can help or bog.
Do what?
Feel better.
He's just like twitching a little bit. I.
Think he's, he's also missing a hand.
Okay. So, okay, well, okay, so we have, okay. Um,
I realize I've said that a lot this episode. Okay. But it wasn't me.
So it's different. Yes.
I will put a hand on or bog and cast greater restoration and
see if that helps him out.
Bog you no longer have your spasms and
whatnot going on.
Okay. Oh, so you stopped it? Yes. Yeah.
Oh, okay. Um, thank.
You.
So we should be thinking.
About it. You still are missing a hand though.
I can't solve that problem. I can only do so much.
I know. I don't.
Even know that you never had a hand and I've never had these fingers.
Watch fingers. I dunno.
We should be thinking about what we wanna do because the longer we're here,
the more people start disappearing. Right. Um,
from everything to that spaces between spaces and also.
Close the door. Yes, exactly.
Yeah. How, how do we need to close the door?
I, because well, he found a door. So like you said,
we probably have to find a magic place that can do No.
No, they're making a magic door. They're imbuing it with symbols. So it can be.
Take weeks. We don't have weeks I don't.
Think. Right. I can, I can get us to that one magic shock, but I.
If we can get there mm-hmm.
.
I can make a door. I've realized.
You can make a door.
I can make a door.
But also the idea of going back to where that door was is kind of
one of the least exciting things that I can think.
Of. So what you're saying is you are good at making doors now.
Yeah. I can do the I can open them, I can close them. I can make them.
It's my new thing.
Come. You should have told me this yesterday. Okay.
I wasn't, I, listen, yesterday was quite a stressful pool.
Right? I've got, uh, I've got, um, here.
And I look over to one of Wilder's couch
pillows.
I have rip a big piece of fabric off of it to make a blindfold for,
um, for Callum.
Here. All right. Here's what we're going to.
Do. And I.
We're going to first blindfold you.
Then you can Okay. Well.
Buy me new cushions. It's.
Fine. I have, I have thoughts too, but I'll wait until you're done.
And then we'll uhhuh.
Is this the wrong time to say that? I really don't like the dark.
You don't like the Well, um, open your eyes then.
He he's not Okay. He's not goth anymore.
Okay. Well, I mean, that's more lifestyle.
I'm just saying that I, I I mean we,
you can't go outside without being afraid of Right. Large things.
So if you don't see large things, BA bing, ba boom.
Okay. Okay.
Alright.
Well if you get me the door booger or.
Bog. So my idea,
and I don't know if it can work cause I don't really get the whole magic stuff,
but, um,
would like freezing time help stop
the effects of anything?
So you could also do that or can you not do two things at once?
Um, well, so it, it would, here's my dilemma. That's a good idea.
Uh, it would be a, it would be a great idea if I could get myself to the castle.
Um.
I'm working on that. I've got.
You. We can just knock you out and drag you there.
Well, that, I mean that, that's, if you guys are there, it's fine.
It's just the, the stopping of time you will all stop as well. Great.
Which leaves me on my own, uh, which sounds terrifying, uh,
in general, but if we can get there. Yes. Uh,
also they kind of move when time stops a little bit because they're also kind of
there.
Okay. So let's, let's, let's keep going. Will blindfold you. Yeah.
Um.
Okay. While you, uh, you good? You all good?
You are giving me that stare again. You're just staring off into nowhere.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Good, good as can be. Um, yeah.
Fine. I can help you tomorrow.
Yep.
Nope, I'm good. Good. When you Okay.
Can you help.
Yourself? Yeah, I do it once a day. Yeah, the day after that.
Okay.
I'm trying to be selfless. I don't know what's a thing?
Wilder. What color was your couch?
Uh, green.
Okay.
Let's can also just put my mask on, you know.
No, no, not, I don't.
That's probably not a good idea. When you are being afraid of stuff.
It's, it's fine. It's fine. The faster we do this. Yep. Let's.
Go. Follow.
So while we're walking, let's talk. Yep.
Hold on to my hand. Callum.
Let you, yep, I'm holding. Okay.
Here.
We go. Make a wisdom safe, please. Callum.
Oh lord. 18.
Okay, you're fine.
Okay, great. Good. Uh, so what's our, what's our plan
after this? Cuz we don't know where Lars is now. Right? So we can't kill him.
Um.
So do we just leave.
Stop the ghosties? That's a, yeah. Good first step.
Then.
Hi. Second step is, I mean, ours, we will find him and kill him.
Right?
Do we know that he's still, like the shadows might have taken him?
I believe we were told that the, they were making,
he was making use of the shadows to, um, make his kingdom,
uh, to be in effect.
I, I don't, I don't think evil really, you know,
respects deals like that and stuff.
Yeah. Right. But best I know he's still around, I guess is what I'm saying.
All right. Well, as long as he is. So we, we close the door, we kill Lars,
we bring his head to the drought. We get out of TowerFall. Is that our goal?
I think so's our.
Plan. Yep. That's good. Good.
Plan. Okay. Yeah. So my question is what are we, what are we doing after that?
Yeah.
Because, um, you, cause I know you were saying that, you know,
we're not really powerful enough to take on.
Yeah. Kerik, I'm,
I'm inclined to believe that even more now having looked into the face of
not God, right? Ah, yeah. Yeah.
So what I, I don't listen.
I'm trying really hard to have hope in the right things,
but it feels kind of hopeless in this moment. So
if anyone wants to say something encouraging now, it'd be a great time.
Well, do you have anything? Oh.
No, I'm, well, I mean, oh, you guys could go see Eileen's parents.
Oh, we could go to hell.
That's very encouraging. Huh?
Keith? Keith, where are you? I feel like you need to hold my other hand.
He's on you.
Oh.
Good. You, you feel him climbing up your back.
Gonna hold him like a little teddy bear. Just thanks. Thanks Keith.
Do we think we can do that?
Do you think maybe if we go to hell that will give us some insight into, uh,
taking out XOs and Kerik.
Not a bad option. I'm sure we could get some intel.
They at least hang out there sometimes.
I mean, it couldn't.
Be, I don't know that Kerik does, but.
Well, they at least have some associates there.
Question. Yeah. I think, I think his AOS has a place there. I'm not sure. Yeah,
I don't remember.
Uh, all of of you make a history check, please.
Okay. We're forgetting something that we should remember. Sure.
There is a, there was a man with a really nice smile there.
No, we don't talk about him. 22.
Oh, okay. A.
20 Something.
12 In eight. I'm thinking about Kerik again.
Okay. Uh, poo and Felix,
you both remember when you guys were in hell that there was chatter
about, uh,
XOs having United both Hell and the abyss. Uh,
so it, it would make a lot of sense that there may be some information Yeah.
In those areas.
Yeah. I'm getting, I'm getting good, good thoughts about that plan.
Doesn't that mean they're all like united against us down there?
Well, not necessarily. Cuz it's a big place and also, uh,
demons aren't very trustworthy. They're kind of just chaos, embodiment.
And sometimes devils will just make a deal for the heck of it.
That sounds like Paul.
Like can't we just go to Yeah. Can't we just go to heaven instead? I've.
I've been trying. I've.
Heard that.
It's been trying.
It's it's lott but it has a lot of, it's like got like five star reviews.
Yeah. But according to Leona, we can't,
cuz she can't do her job because of Kerick kind of hold in the
hold in the line, so to speak.
Ooh. Uh, maybe she'd like to go to hell with us.
Probably not.
Do you want to ask her? I'll ask her.
You go ahead. That's fine. That's.
Fine. I think maybe not right now.
Alright.
Seems he seems touchy. Are you touchy Wilder, Felix, whoever you are.
No.
N I'm not. Do you want hold my other hand, stop.
It. No. Okay.
Just.
How many hands do you go.
Have? Because I only have two hands and I'm holding Keith in the one.
So you could hold Obox other hand.
We could just form a day. I don't.
Chain, you know, the one I don't have. Just.
Mind your safety buddy.
I just.
Well, but I mean, you can always use my hand.
How, okay. So silly question, but mm-hmm. ,
how do we get to hell from Tower Fall?
Well, that was gonna be my other question, which is to say we could go back.
Well, the way I came back over, you know, through the, under the, the, you know,
the long way.
Okay. Is the, is the hell vacation?
Is that after we kill Lars or.
Yes, yes. Yep. Yeah. Just.
So I think we're.
Good. There's probably, there's there's probably a good idea. Yeah. Yeah, yeah.
And you know, if we just keep going down long enough in the under dark one,
I'll have a great time. And two, we might find it, I don't know.
Yeah. We just might.
Okay.
If you walk far enough,
isn't there like a door down there that didn't we find a door? I wasn't there.
Didn't someone find a door down there?
There were several doors.
One of which is today. If we don't find something down there and we go back,
we know where a door to hell is.
We're going toward, towards it.
So we could go there. Yeah. Mm-hmm. .
What.
About the door? It'll take a while. What.
About the door that we're, we're closing?
Well, I'm, oh, what? Well that's it. I see. I mean, ah,
I that is an interesting idea. Insane. There's all the,
there's all the stuff on the other side and Kerik,
which I think is kind of the wrong door we want to take. Yeah.
That's kind of like walking in the front door with bells and whistles on, but.
Okay. So, but I've heard these awesome stories about like, when you like,
jump inside the mouth of something giant and then you can like,
cut 'em out from like the inside and you can like chop 'em up.
Maybe we can stab the heart or something.
Don't say the G word.
I don't what, which, which.
It's a giant. He said giant. I.
Don't, I'm trying not to think. I don't want to talk about it.
See? Ah, see.
Gotcha, gotcha. Yep. Yep.
Be my guest.
I'm just thinking like, I mean, sure we can put a door there,
but the whole reason for a door is so that nothing can go in or out. Right,
right.
Right.
Always. I think through that.
Door. I should put a wall there.
Yes.
Well that's what I, that's what I can do. Yes. I know I said door,
but I meant a wall.
I mean, that's a door is like a wall.
That do sound really similar.
Yeah. Yes. I, yeah. Listen, I don't need this. It's been a stressful day.
No, that's fine. So question when we get here, how.
Are you? Oh, here.
I'm just saying, yep.
Right about this time. You guys are strolling up to Stirk.
Uh,
you guys just let me know when you want me to cast daylight on myself and we can
just keep walking in and hopefully I won't cry again.
You guys also notice that there aren't any shadows coming out of the castle.
My sh my door jam worked.
Or maybe they just, the they empty.
Maybe they're just all out. Yeah. Could.
Be on a lunch break. Um, we scatter.
'Em away. Nap time. What.
If you put a mirror.
Maybe an.
Nocturnal, put a mirror on the inside of the door and he'll see how ugly he is.
And.
What if we just stand there and say, you're a rubber. I'm glue. No, I'm rubber.
You're glue.
Right? Write that one. I'm.
Poo not glue.
Oh, that's true. Your.
Rubber. I'm.
Poo. Yes. Are we almost there? Yes.
We're.
Are there.
And there are no.
I can't see. I don't.
Know. Oh my goodness. There are no shadows coming out of anywhere.
Okay. Just keep moving.
I slowly, I both do not want to see large things,
but also if you're very claustrophobic at the same time.
Focus on the small things.
There's nothing around, we're just walking straight through.
We're going through the door.
Small door. Callum, small bricks.
As you are in this darkness,
you have flashback memories. It's totally,
mostly dark make of making a deal.
I made a deal. Mm-hmm.
.
Remember I told you
that I wanted your friends? Oh, did you need.
I hearing the same.
You are?
Oh.
No, no, no, no, no.
Candy.
Uh.
You okay.
I'm going to cast non detection on myself.
What are, what are you doing? The little flick,
flickery hand thing, whatever. We'll just.
Uh, and see if that makes the, uh, voice stop.
Oddly. It does.
Great. Okay. Well that's fine. What's.
Fine? What's fine?
Oh, just hearing voices.
That's not fine. If you're saying that's fine.
Yeah.
No, it's not fine.
Especially when you did the little twinkle fingers.
Yeah. No, uh, just old pile of mind,
you know, old body,
the fell that are trying to get rid of just Uhhuh.
Oh, Mr. Meanie head popping in again. Yeah, I For an unannounced visit.
Yeah, that's the one. That's the one.
Okay. Um,
so I guess we just get close cast daylight.
You do your thing. Yeah. That, that's the plan, right?
Yep.
That's sounds screech to me.
Let's just go quick. We're.
Going.
We, we carefully make our wait to the room where the door is.
Okay.
And, and you can freeze time and take as long as you want and it'll
won't be boring for us.
Um, I mean, it's not gonna take that long, but.
Okay. Just making sure you seem.
Can I take the blindfold off now? Are we safe? Are we inside wimpy?
Yes, we're inside. Yeah. I'll take it off you.
I look at it for a second and then I put it on as a bandana.
Hmm. All right guys. Make your way down to the basement.
And it's weird because you guys can hear your footsteps as you're going
down.
That seems fine. Usually, yeah. It's silent down here before.
Oh yeah, that's right. Hmm. I mean, this seems.
Is the door still here too?
Normal? Almost.
Uh, what door?
The doorway.
Oh yeah, the doorway is still there. Uhhuh .
What's on the other side of the doorway?
. I'm so glad you asked that question.
Um, wait.
Is, is the door still like, uh, propped up with Steph?
Like I put a table and stuff in front of it?
Well, you stuck a, a table in front of the doorway,
but the door was never there. Right?
Right.
But yes, the table's still in front of it,
but you can distinctly see on the opposite side where that
red room once was. Uh, it,
it's almost like the daylight burned out the facade that was in that room
and where that depression was in the middle of the room.
Now when you look in there,
there is a massive flesh pit.
Hey Dave,
just jumping in here real quick To let you know that the description you're
gonna get here in just a second is more graphic than we normally
would get on the show. So maybe a little bit less friendly,
family friendly in the imagination department, but stick with us.
What John has described and cleared up to the cast after the
recording is that this is on par with the Sarla pit from
Star Wars Return of the Jedi.
So keep that in mind as we proceed and enjoy the rest of the episode.
Oh.
A mess of what now?
Flesh pit. It, it's like a pit made out of flesh.
Thank you for the clarification.
With biological lubrication with occasional patches
of dark coarse air,
and there is a very pungent aroma similar to
that of body odor. Oh, and bile.
As you stare down into this flesh pit,
there are occasional portions of the sides that will tend to
quiver in anticipation as individuals are appro are
approaching the, uh,
spnc toal rim of this pit.
I don't like that. I don't know if anyone else feels comfortable in this room,
but I don't.
I I don't think we're supposed to feel comfortable in this room.
Well, this is not what it was like before,
right?
No. No, it was not. I.
Don't know if this is better or worse.
I worse, I think worse.
And this is coming from someone that couldn't stand on his own two feet last
time he looked inside.
So I'm gonna walk up to the, the table.
So it's separating me from the actual doorway and I'm gonna cast
burning hands and try and burn the room. See what happens.
I.
Believe burning hands, you have to make contact with what you're trying to burn.
Good idea. Aboard. Aboard. Nope.
Uh,
it says as you hold your hands with thumbs touching and fingers spread a thin of
sh uh, a thin sheet of flame shoots forth from your outstretch fingertips.
Okay. You blast this fire out at this flesh pit
and you watch as again the spnc toal rim of this flesh pit
closes up and it begins to
blister. Then you hear a
come from the closed flesh pit as a gout of flame
comes up through this blast of flame that you
let out. And then you, as it's doing that,
a shadow escapes from this puckered sphincter.
I hit it with a Art of Radiance.
We'll do that instead of a whole daylight.
Again.
I mean, if anything it's definitely,
it seems to me like we should definitely be going down. Just,
I'm not going through this room to go down. Just making it. I.
It clear if we want to step out,
I can close this room often and we never have to see it again.
That would be wonderful.
It reacts, but it's still there.
And then you watch as it kills over and starts clawing at the,
uh, puckered opening as it starts to pull itself back in.
Yeah, I think we close it off.
Yeah. We should close this off. I'm gonna get sick.
Yeah. I think this is not the way I want to go to hell.
.
Alright. Do your thing. Tell them.
Uh, I'm going to cast stone shape and make a wall.
Okay. You have successfully walled off this room.
Aza. Let's.
We are on the outside just in case you weren't sure.
. Wait.
Come. I'm, that was not,
that was not stated prior to it.
The door is closed. We did it.
All right. So we win.
You have been listening to the Playing Games With Strangers podcast,
with the voices of John Har you, Katherine Zinsky,
Dave Clements, JS Earls, Celeste Mora,
Josiah Crandall, Eric Campo, and Steve MacDonald.
The theme music was written and performed by Steve Arthur.
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Gameful Strangers.
God.