The Adventure Zone - The Adventure Zone: Amnesty - Episode 32

Episode Date: August 1, 2019

The allied forces of Kepler, WV finish their preparations for the daunting task that lies before them. As the sun sets over the shattered mountain above, wheels are put into motion. Happy MaxFunDrive! Right now is the best time to start a membership to support your favorite shows. Learn more and join at https://maximumfun.org/jointaz

Previously on the Adventure Zone. You see a rift, beams of light, countless beams, criss-crossing the walls of this chamber as it extends upward beyond what you can see. And then you, Thacker, you are being whipped around the room. You're caught in just this whirlwind storm emanating from the center of the room. And right there, at the center, you see a bright red sphere. Here's the plan. We're going to head up to topside.

She's going to open the portals to vent. After, we've distracted the FBI agents and we've gotten close to the gate. She will open them as we cross through the gate. And everybody left on this sign is going to fight the quail and distract it while we try to find the heart of the quail. That sound about right to everybody. I think a clever person like me may be able to find a way around those sensors. Would you like to join the shadow brethren? Or...

Jesus Christ. Goodbye. The sun sinks behind the jagged remainder of Mount... Kepler, casting a brief golden light over the town and river below. The streets are nearly completely vacant. The air is still and quiet as Kepler lies in wait. All throughout town, small groups of locals are preparing themselves for the battle at hand. At the hospital administration building, Muffy and Winthrop gather their shadowy cabal of night hunters, bracing them for their most ambitious hunt to date. By the wood-framed reconstruction of their ruined hideout, Hollis delivers a rousing speech to the remaining hornets.

As they rally and cheer, half of the assembly mount up for their last faded ride. Keith leads the others back into the building, distributing their makeshift weapons, preparing their own defensive position. Keith hands Hollis their helmet. They embrace. Hollis mounts their bike and looks to the left.

Jake Cool-Eyce nods and lowers his visor. Hollis does the same, and the pack disembarks. Ranger Juno Devine sits on the steps of City Hall, watching the empty parking lot with mounting anxiety. She stands and begins to march toward the entrance when the sound of a motor catches her attention. She turns and sees a handful of rangers riding in a truck emblazoned with an insignia.

Seneca State Forest. She smiles and sees more trucks pulling in. Cumbra Bale State Forest, Canawa State, Cabo-Lingo State, Panther State, Wotoga State. She raised the banners for all of West Virginia's Forestry Services and without exception, they have answered her call. Zika Owens pulls into the sheriff's station parking lot, having completed his last evacuation run through town. There weren't that many folks left to evacuate.

He takes a beat and looks at the empty streets at the shattered mountain above. He grits his teeth. He sees Detective Megan finishing boarding up the windows of their station. He sees Deputy Dewey hovering several feet above the roof keeping lookout. He throws open the trunk of his cruiser and fetches the shotgun from within. And at the Cryptonomica, we see the architects of this mission begin their final preparation. Kirby sits at his computer, furiously typing out a record of the events of the last year, at least to the best of his understanding.

Moira floats in the corner in quiet meditation. Danny speaks with Janelle and her entourage of magic wielders, shoring up the building's arcane defenses. Leo spars outside with Dr. Drake, whose skill with a blade has developed with supernatural quickness. Barclay and Minerva consult a map of Kepler smoothing out the rough edges of the plan. And then, the kryptonomica falls in. silent as the last trace of golden sunlight creeps out of the room. Duck, how do you spend your last moments before you all sort of... That was really good, Griffin.

By the way. Thank you. That was. Thanks. Oh, thanks, boys. I also really liked picturing sunlight as a person, like as a person sneaking out of the room. Like, bye. Excuse me, everybody.

Just going to step out here. I'm not here to shit on your head cannon, Travis. It's like a living sun like the raisin brand mascot. Thank you. Duck, how do you spend? sort of your last moments here before you all

embark on your final hunt? I like to check in on on Billy see how he's doing I think he's covered in

cobwebs because you all forgot about his existence I forgot just didn't wasn't sure what he'd add

now I'm curious okay Kirby actually takes you um upstairs up the stairs to this big loft atop the cryptonomica

um And this loft has all these like retired exhibits from downstairs, all of which are just preposterously gaudy even by kryptonamica standards. And near the back of this room, there is a door that is cracked open. And from inside, you can see a faint light shining. And Kirby clears his throat and he says, so I got, I got to warn you, I think there's, I think there's something wrong with him. Like, I don't know his physiology, but I'm just sort of taking a wild shot here that he's, He's not of this world. Yeah, I mean, yeah.

So, like, I don't know what healthful looks like in his world, but he doesn't leave his room at all anymore. He doesn't really talk, not that he was much of a talker before. So I don't, if you go in there and you figure out some way you can help him, will you let me know? I probably know about as good as you, but I'll give it a shot. He nods, and he walks back down the stairs. Hey, bud.

you crack the door open wider and see inside of the room that Billy has been living in. And it is, it's really messy. It has not been tended to in quite some time. There is rappers and a lot of takeout sort of has been what he's been on. Is this still about the fact that we haven't put him in scenes recently? Is this like an extended guilt trip? Is this like what happens to all characters that we don't check? in on? Yeah, a pigeon is also in a big pile of garbage. She deserves whatever she gets.

Yeah, all my characters are like Tamagachis, where if you don't clean their cabin. No, it's just, it is, it is, what his room looks like. It is, it is filthy. And as Kirby said, like, he hasn't left it in some time. And you see him sitting on a beanbag chair. And he's just a few feet away from a, like, old, CRT, like, projection TV. And he, you, is, he's playing Final Fantasy 7 on it. He's got a PlayStation hooked up and he's just like, you know, cruising his way through this, this classic JRP. And he doesn't really acknowledge you as you walk into the room and make some noise. Oh yeah. Is this your first time through? He doesn't break eye contact with the TV. Hey, Billy. Is I mean, have you, this is your first time through Final Fantasy

He finally sets the controller in his lap and turns and looks up at you. And it just kind of looks like Ryan, oh, fuck. How can we can never remember his name, Ryan Gosling? Because he's basically, he's become Billy Frost at this point. Yeah, that's fair. He just looks like Ryan Gosling, right? He doesn't look like, it's hard to read any sort of discernible emotion from Ryan Gosling since it is essentially an illusory suit.

And he just kind of nods in the affirmative. Hey, so we're going to get into some stuff for a little bit. Nothing you got to worry about, I guess. I don't know how to explain that. There's a little bit of danger to us in Sylvain, and we're going to try to fix everything. Said it right. And I guess I'm just kind of worried about

if we don't come back sort of what'll happen to you. Now he breaks eye contact with you again and he kind of looks down at the floor and he stays like that for a little while and then he reaches up and takes the wristwatch and unlatches it and slips it off. and now you see his true form, or at least the first form that you met of his, and it looks wrong. His goat man form looks like it is falling apart. And not in like a especially gory way. It just looks like a costume that is, you know, been eaten through by, you know, moths or whatever. It is just, it is missing pieces and it looks like it is, it could just sort of collapse it any second. And he looks up at you and gives a faint smile and says,

Hey, you look a, you look a little rough, bud. What do you, is it the water? Is it because you're not getting the special water or whatever? He cocks his head when you say that and then he pauses for a moment and then he looks up at you kind of curiously. And now he like kind of moves a little bit spryly and he moves over to the television and he turns the TV off and he looks at you and shakes his head, no. And then you see him take his finger and in this like thick layer of dust. that is actually on the screen of this TV, he draws a circle.

And he points at the circle, and then he points down at, like, the ground. He, like, gestures all around you. And it looks up at your eyes for, like, recognition. Oh, we're doing, like, charades. Okay. Circle down, like, planet, Earth, Earth. Is it Earth?

He nods. He nods. Pizza. Okay. Pizza. Pizza. Oh, no, it's pizza. Shit. Okay.

First word pizza. He shakes his head again. No, it's Earth. Pizza was just, okay, got it. Yes, Earth. And then he, on the opposite side of the screen, he takes his finger again, and he draws another circle, and he points away. He points out the window into this guy. The moon.

He shakes his head, no. Sylvain. He nods now. He nods. Right? And then he points himself and then points back up at Sylvain and puts like an X on it. You're not from Sylvain. You're from somewhere else.

You want to blow up, Sylvain? He looks at you for a long time like this, and it's like he is trying to figure out the correct answer to the question you've just asked. And you see him just sort of look down at the ground for a while and then take a deep breath. And then he looks back up at you and then back over to the TV. and he draws a line between the two planets and like a little crude archway to represent the gates. And he looks up at you one last time and he taps his finger on the screen near the top of it and then draws one big circle right in the center of that line, intersecting this line that is connecting the two planets. and he takes his hand off

and then sticks his finger out and points at that big circle. All right, so you're not from really either one, right? You're not from Earth and you're not from Sylvain, right? You're from someplace else. Along the way?

Like, between the two? He takes a deep breath and he slowly nods his head and he's not looking at you. He looks almost ashamed. And then he points at that big circle again and nods his head. So do you need to get back to this place sort of between the

worlds? Is that even possible? He looks up at you and gives a smile and he shakes his head no. And he starts to crawl back over to his beanbag chair. And he turns to the place. station back on and then he stops and looks up at you one last time and then he crawls back over to the TV and he just starts furiously drawing pairs of circles all around that center circle

each pair connected by a line that cuts through the center circle just like dozens of these lines connecting these pairs of circles and then he runs out of room to draw and he falls to his knees and you see in the like holes of this this goat man appearance you see this bright white light start to pulsate from within and then it fades and he collects himself and stands up to look at you you were never you weren't really meant to stay here for this long were you he smiles and he shakes his head, no. But then he kind of looks all around the room and you see tears welling up in his eyes and he leans down to the ground and he picks up a big empty box and he points at it. He says,

pizza. But you like it here, right? Like we got PlayStation and pizza and shit. You like it, but you can't really stick around, can you? He smiles and shakes his head. No. And he says, Doc. You want me to, um, oh man, you want me to, uh, let, let you, let you go or? He walks towards you and he leans in and he gives you a hug, which I, I, you may not have even expected him to know what that is or what it means, but he, he gives you a hug. And he smiles and he very, very, very, very.

very weakly stumbles back over to the beanbag chair, which he kind of collapses in, and then he turns on his game and picks it up where he left off, and then he looks up at you one last time and points at the screen and smiles. I take out Beacon and wait until he's real engrossed in the game, and then I strike him down. And instantly, his form, it dissolves around the blade. It dissolves swiftly and gracefully,

and he vanishes, and the controller falls to the floor, and when you pull your blade back, you see sitting in this chair a forearmed being made out of white light, and this being stands up, and walks towards you for a moment, and it doesn't seem to have any kind of face that you could read an emotion on. It doesn't seem to have much sort of discernible body language that means anything to you. But it gives this deep bow.

Hey, I saw your pretty deep in. Just so you know, you won't be able to finish, but it turns out that Arith is fine. It was a big scam, and she comes back at the end, and she's fine. I just didn't want you to, you know, worry. And Billy, this forearmed being of light, has already started disintegrating into these little soft balls of light that float upwards through the ceiling,

and with his last moments here on earth, he raises his arm and places it on your cheek, and then he is gone. Aubrey, what are you doing with your sort of final moments before the hunt kicks off? I think, like, you know, there's some prep she still needs to do, but at first I think, you know,

this is a pretty big avatious plan, but I think it's time to check in with Danny and kind of catch her up. and check in on her and see what she's doing. Let's talk about Danny because, you know, at the end of the last arc, she was... Rough. She was rough, right? She was a, she was sort of the final checkmate move that the, the shapeshifter had against y'all.

And she was rescued partially because of Ned's heroism in the moment, and Barclay's quick thinking. And I don't think she has been especially great. I think especially in the aftermath, the immediate aftermath, she was pretty upset because she felt responsible for what happened. How have things been between you and Danny since then? You know, so here's the thing, not to project onto your MPCs, right? But I have to imagine that it was fairly traumatic for a lot of reasons for her. That there's probably a lot of that like, maybe, Maybe Danny's distant and Aubrey's trying to like act like everything's fine, but it's definitely weird. I mean, it's only been two months.

Like I said, I don't want to project onto both sides, but I think that there's probably a lot of Aubrey making a lot of jokes and trying to like just make everything okay again. Right. Okay. You find Danny in the back room of the Cryptonomica, the former Sanctum Sanctorum, and she, is there with Janelle and her six associates that she brought with her when they sort of tore the top off of Mount Kepler. They were trapped over on this side as well. And Janelle and her associates seem to be like working on some kind of warding spell that you don't really recognize and Danny is observing. And they finish the spell as you enter and Janelle looks up at you. and all the other like magic users leave, leaving you and Danny and Janelle alone in the room. And they all bow as they walk out.

Don't do that. I, uh, weird. Don't stop. You, no. Janelle says, I suppose it's strange to see my other students acting so formal,

given the tone of our relationship. Yeah. It's weird. It also seems like kind of cold. like kind of like aluminum thing. Yeah, I just, hmm. Who's to say it's not? She says.

Ah, Janelle. I'm just kidding. It's a joke. Don't, uh, all right. Hey, Janelle, could I have like five minutes with Danny? She smiles and looks over at Danny and then looks back at you and she says, I have some preparations to attend to. And she bows to you and, uh,

Janelle? Stans and walks out of the room laughing. Danny, started to make her way for the door too until she heard you talking to Janelle and saying that you wanted some time alone with her. And she says, so does this mean you're kind of a teacher's pet? You get special privileges with Janelle? What's the situation? I think this is very much like a kind of stand and deliver thing where I mean, I've never seen it.

But I think I'm like the bad apple who the teacher sees potential in kind of thing. that's more my read on the situation. You know, kind of the lovable ragamuffin, that kind of deal. I think that's what's up. She smiles when you say lovable ragamuffin. She says, yeah, I think that place. Did you need something? Yeah, so we have this big mission thing plans back to Sylvain tonight, and I'm probably

going to die. So I just wanted to make sure, do you need, like, money to buy, food for Dr. Bonkers. I don't know. Do you have a job? Like, we've never talked about this before. How do you have money? She says, well, that's a good question now.

Mama kind of took care of that stuff for us with her artwork that she would commission from time to time and, you know, the meager amounts of money she would make from guest staying at Amnesty Lodge. But, yeah, I mean, that's a pretty good question, Aubrey. Honestly, I don't think you're going to die. Well. I have to think that we're going to pull this off, but, and I know this is selfish, but like, what I can't stop thinking about is what happens next.

If we, if we succeed and you all save Sylvain, then we can all go home, right? Yes. Yes. Honestly, I haven't thought that far ahead because I'm, as I have just said, expecting to die. We'll see. I mean, here, listen. Yeah? Sure. That's as good a plan as any, I suppose. But I don't, I don't, that place hasn't been my home for a long time, Aubrey. I don't know, I don't know what that word means anymore, as cliche as that sounds. All right, do you want to move in together? Because you could probably figure that out. I don't know if now is the time to have that been. discussion, but we could probably work that out. I think now is maybe the perfect time to have that discussion, Aubrey.

I need to have something to get me through what we're about to do, and I think you do too. And until today, I didn't know what side of the gate I wanted to land on. And I've been thinking about it and thinking about it and being stressed about it, which, like, honestly, yeah, Aubrey, I'm counting my chickens a little bit. we have a planet-sized malevolent force to whip first, but I have realized that I feel, I feel like I am home when I'm around you, Aubrey. And I don't mean that in a sentimental way. I literally mean it. You feel like home. So.

That's nice. Hey, Danny, that's a... Hey, Danny, that's a very nice thing to say. She steps closer to you and she says, I mean it. Wherever you land, that's where I'm landing to. Okay, well, now I have to live. Okay, I was just, now I have to make plans. I still haven't done my taxes.

You know what I mean? Because I was expecting to die until vain. Now I've got to do my taxes and I've got to live. She moves in and kisses you. Yeah, Aubrey kisses back. Okay. Fine. I will live and we'll go to IKEA and we'll get some new furniture and we'll move in. I don't know. Can we, can you take IKEA furniture to Sylvain? I don't really know what the customs process is between planets. She's like tearing up with joy. And she says, I wish I could go with you out there. But then who would take care of Dr. Harris Bonkers?

Yeah. And also Kirby and the rest of the knuckleheads around here. Sure, but I mean, priorities. Things are going to get pretty dangerous here, and I think the Cryptonomica Defense Force is going to need all the help it can get, because saving this place, it seems like the least I could do for him. He would appreciate hearing that, and I will also tell you what he would tell you. If it comes down to it, save yourself. Do everything he can to protect everyone else. Yes, absolutely. but save yourself for two reasons one because ned knows how sad i would be if anything happened to you

and two because ned died saving you and he would not want that to go to waste so like protect your cryptomicon for you yeah yeah absolutely never appreciate that but also keep your damn self alive because i'm sure now would appreciate that too and while you're at it protect Dr. Harris bonkers. She smiles and she gives you a hug and she walks for the door and she says, right back at you. Protect Dr. Harris bonkers? No, the other thing.

Oh, right. Protect myself. Got it. We did once again figure out a way that we could pretend to kiss our brother. Yep. And, yeah, we've done it a couple. We did it again. One of these days, we'll be able to tell a story without pretending to kiss our brother.

This time, Griffith kissed me. I would make that clear. Griffin kissed me. Hey, folks, we don't, we don't create a plan to pretend to kiss our brother. I've already been working it into the next one, though. It's a big plot point. It happens sometimes we have to pretend to kiss our brother. That's all, okay?

That's all. Thacker, how, how, how do you spend your last few moments before the hunt? I'm so much of when he was on the other side is, is a blur to him. Like, you know, when he was overcome by the, the, memories that weren't really his memories. Right. And, you know, when he was, you know, he basically blanked out for a period of time, you know, when he was in that storm and all that stuff is going on.

And also, you know, he did get lost. I mean, he's already bragged to them that he can get us there. He can get them there. Right. But I think he is probably doing a little research. I assumed when you said a couple episodes ago that he had found this library and had scoped out all these books. Yeah. That he had to teach himself, you know, he had to translate those books.

I would assume they wouldn't have been in English. And so I think he probably brought some of them back. He had that great big backpack and didn't take very much with him. So I think he probably grabbed as many of the books as he could possibly bring back. And I think he's been kind of pouring over those books so that he can maybe answer some questions about the quill. That's great. Because they haven't really, I mean, figured out what they're going to do to the quill to get rid of it once they go over. Or more sort of menacingly what the quill could do to you as you try to see it out.

I like that a lot. I think that everything you say totally tracks. We covered that Mama brought some books back with like when she went and rescued you. and I think a lot of them were probably your journals, but I don't see any reason why, you know, a handful of them could not be books that were, you know, relevant and interesting that you took from this library and, you know, taught yourself this language. It doesn't seem like an archivist would leave behind books. Yeah, sure. So I think he would grab as many as he. Maybe the ones he could translate, he brought back.

That's kind of the basis. I think he's doing research in prep for the trip so that he can be as useful as possible. Okay. When he, because I honestly, I've been imagining that Thacker has this weird kind of guilt going for him. I mean, he spent time somebody else's in somebody else's head. And this somebody else did some really horrible things. I mean, with those memories that he shared where they were basically eradicating all the life from the planet. Yeah.

I think that had an effect on Thacker. I think that really, you know, and he did surrender to the quill, right? I mean, because he was all bestial and feral. Well, that's one way of putting it, right? Like, that makes it sound like Thacker had a chance to hold out, which it, you know, it seemed so instantaneous that that might not have been the case. It's not like Thacker was weak-willed in that moment. That's at least not how I had envisioned it.

No, I don't think he was either, but I think it was just so overpowering. Yeah. So I think in some weird way he's got a lot of associated guilt with that, even though it wasn't him that actually did those things. Okay. And so, you know, I don't think he wants to let everybody down. So I think he's really trying to bone up on as much info as he possibly can. Bone up. Okay.

So then I think the scene is like Thacker reading these, you know, these books that he has to translate. Maybe there's some parts that he was in the middle of translation. translating before he was overtaken and never quite got to finish him, maybe this is his chance to finally finish it, you know, years later. Where are you at? Where are you envisioning this, this like final bit of research taking place? Well, let's see. They can't get to IAM to Stey Lodge, right? No. Sanctum Sanctorum is gone. Well, no, the sanctum sanctorum is in the kryptonomica. Yeah, no, I don't mean the, you mean the headquarters. They're headquarters, yeah, that's gone um you know what i think he'd be uh i think he'd be outside i think he'd be

in the woods someplace not far i mean just by a by a creek or something so he can think because that's where he does his best thinking i think he's probably got his old macbook they had batteries right uh yeah yeah sure not not especially beefy ones i imagine uh how about this kryptonomica is like pretty much right on the riverbank so maybe you just like hike into the woods uh just a little bit off to the west there and find a comfy place to sit on the riverbank and sort of watch the, watch the sunset go down as you. I imagine there's like a picnic table kind of thing. Yeah, for sure.

You know, the outdoor, he's got the books all spread out on the picnic table. He's got the MacBook open, and he's just really involved in it. Okay. Why don't you, why don't we roll to investigate a mystery? I think that's the best way to probably do this. Although, tell me, because I am not as familiar with your playbook. is there, you are the searcher, right? I imagine that there are probably some pretty juicy moves that you've got that address this.

Actually, instead of investigative mystery, the searcher has a thing called psychic event where his mind is awakened or her mind is awakened. And so you use the sensitive and the sensitive opens your brain to this environment. And depending on your role, you get information on a psychic level. Okay. I like that. We haven't like advanced Thacker at all,

so I will say, his connection with this thing lasted so long that you would probably also have advanced sensitive, which would trigger if you get a 12 or more on your role and would give you, like, more data. But yeah, I think that makes a lot of sense for what you're doing. So maybe it doesn't have anything to do with the books at all.

It's just like reading these books put to, in this like unfocused state that makes it easy for this kind of psychic event to take place. Yeah. And I think he's also inspired by the environment. I think that's, you know, it's almost like, you know, he has a moment of Zen. Okay, yeah. Okay, why don't you roll plus Weird and we'll see what happens. Okay.

That is an 8 plus 2 for Weird. That is a 10. That is a full success, which is good. because I had a really, really nasty hard move to do on you for this one. It says definite impression, some kind of vision or a tangible aura. Okay, this is what happens. Or an overheard thought. Okay.

You are reading your books and you are sitting by the sound of the river, sitting by the river, and the light disappears as the sun sets behind Mount Kepler, and you just hear the rushing of the water, and it is giving you, just this really just pleasant disarming white noise and you are just sort of lost in this book you're reading and all of those things together are enough to just put you in this very, very open and somewhat enlightened but also super vulnerable mental state. And as you enter that state, just all of a sudden like a bolt of lightning, you feel the quell. And you not only like feel the quell, you feel like you are locked in combat with it in some way. You feel yourself

trying to, and this is new for you, but just trying to think more powerfully than the quell. You feel like just as you are trying to learn about it, you feel like it is also trying to reach into your mind and figure out what you are planning. But after a few seconds of this, it's so brief, you feel the relief as the quell sort of gives in, and then you have this psychic vision, and you see the quell, you see all of it. You see it like a heart attached to these, like, these veins and capillaries reaching all over the body of this planet. And in seeing it, in seeing the fullness of it, you get, an instant impression of what is headed your way.

You know what is going to come through the rifts when Minerva opens them up. The quell isn't just like this intangible thing that controls Silvans and apparently humans too and sort of blights them and turns them into these mindless killing machines. It has another form, and you can see it now in this vision. It takes the form of this storm, like a rage-filled, cloud that can move anywhere through anything. And it carries with it the quail given form. And you see these shapes in the cloud, these bright blood red, like some of them are these four-legged shrieking beasts and some of them are just these disembodied clawed hands.

Some of them are just these massive just piles of dripping, living like plasma. and these manifestations of the quell are the tip of the spear, and they are what you expect will be sort of piercing through the gate when things get going. So that's what you see of the quell. You see the shock troopers that are going to come through when you all try to make your way into sylvain. And the vision starts to fade, but as it does, you follow one of these veins that I mentioned before,

and you follow it into the city, into Sylvain and you fly down sort of the main drag there over the crystal and towards the castle at the center of town and then you're inside the castle and through the royal chambers and behind the royal chambers and there is this secret elevator in the ground underneath this crest of Sylvain and down below that is this huge open chamber where you can see the remnants of the crystal of Sylvain hanging downward and below that it's just this huge black void, this huge empty pit. And then your perspective changes as if you just jumped into this void and you go down and down. And as you feel like you were about to, you know, hit something and die, you see

the bright red heart of the quell. And then you fall forward nearly just catching yourself just moments before you tumble into the river and you are back. Holy shit. Okay, so that had nothing to do with peyote. As far as you know. As far as I know. Well, all right. Mission accomplished.

I think I need to tell the others that there is a hell of a lot of hell coming our way. Hey, everybody. This is Griffin Macroy, your dungeon master, your best friend. And the head coach of your... softball team that you're on called the ball hitters. This is episode 30-something of the Adventures Zone Amnesty, and I am so glad that you have joined us and so glad that you've gifted us with your patience as we run a little bit late on this one. Things got a little bit wild when we released our book, the Murder on the Rockport Limited, graphic novel adaptation,

which thanks to you, once again, hit number one on the New York Times bestseller list. It's an unbelievable honor, and it's all because of you. Like, we didn't go out there and buy a bunch of copies of the book. We just made the dang thing, and your support has just done it again, done something unbelievable in our lives, and we are so eternally grateful for it. Thank you to everybody who's been tweeting about our show as we move through the finale arc here using the Zonecast hashtag. It really means a lot and this is such a sort of hectic, hectic time for all of us, not just because of the book, but also because the, you know, wrapping this story up is, you know, pretty stressful and we're hoping that we do a good job.

And so all of your support and sharing it and telling all your friends about it, it really means a lot and we could not do it without you. Thanks to Maximum Fun for having us on the network. Go to MaximumFund.org and check out all the great shows there. They have shows like Switchblade Sisters and Beef and Dairy Network and stop podcasting yourself. A bunch of shows, all at Maximumfund.org. We have other stuff at mackleroy.Family. You can get our new graphic novel at theadventurezonecomcom. And again, a lot of you have already done that.

So if you have, no pressure, you've done enough. God, God, we're already dead. But yeah, if you haven't read it, you might like it. And I don't know, I don't really have too much else to say. It's a pretty casual ad spot this time, I feel like. Thanks to everybody who came out to our premiere of Dadlands out at San Diego Comic-Con with our special guest DM, Brennan Lee Mulligan. We are going to be putting Dadlands and Tas Hootananny up after we wrap up Amnesty

to give us a little bit of break before our next thing, which you're already sort of working on. so we're excited to tell you more about that once we are ready to. But let's not, you know, count our chickens. Let's get right back into episode 32, I remembered, episode 32 of the Adventure Zone Amnesty, and we will be back next week getting us back on schedule for episode 33. So talk to you then. Bye. It is 8.30 p.m. Knight has fallen over Kepler, and it is time for the operation to begin.

The five satellite teams are in place and they are ready to defend their respective rifts now armed with the knowledge that Thacker obtained from his psychic vision. But before any of that... It's a bunch of drippy red hands and shit. Yes, with that combat insight, they will be better equipped to defend themselves.

But before any of that can happen, the away team will need to breach topside and will be counting on Hollis and some of the hornets to run a distraction. That away team are the people who have not sort of been assigned to these different satellite teams. They are the three of you, obviously. The three other chosen are there. Minerva and Dr. Drake and Leo are going with you up to top side. as well as Janelle, who has left her entourage behind to help defend the different points, and Barclay, who just like would not take no for an answer, wants to go find Mama. That's where sort of his loyalties lie.

So it's the eight of you heading up to Topside. Before we do that, like this is, there's one sort of part of the plan that we haven't exactly settled on, and now's the time to do it. You kind of have two means that we've established of going up to Topside. And you assume, like, once you get up there, there will be more barriers between you and the archway and the FBI sort of installation. But you have two means of just getting to topside in the first place. The first is the finicular tram, which is, you know, it is manned by an armed guard. That is the sort of obstacle there.

Or Juno has sort of given you a map of the woods that are, the woods are just peppered with these sensors that Juno Devine has given you kind of a rough approximation of their location. Regardless of like whichever side you go in from, the hornets will be able to run distraction at your signal. They're awaiting probably like a flare from Aubrey, if that sounds good to y'all. Yeah, sure. Yeah, before they start stunting. So whichever way you go, you know, they will be ready to help you out whenever you need it.

But yeah, you have these two options, the funicular or a trek through the woods. Which one is the oasis? We only settled on the finicular last time. That end, we were going to, like, knock the guard out. So just to let you guys in on some stuff that we didn't really cover in the last episode. Last episode, I had this list of sort of, like, assets that could be helpful to you on this final hunt, depending on, like, which ones you prioritized, you would either learn new things or have more people that could come and help you out, or you would be sort of locked out from other people that could help you out. In getting Juno Devine on your side, you kind of, her bonus was that you have a secondary way to, you would. to breach topside if you so choose, which isn't to say that it will be necessarily safer or more

reliable. It just gives you kind of another option. So, finicular's still on the table or, you know, once Thacker came back and told you all the situation. And you probably did circle up with Juno at some point, especially Duck. You now have this other option too. Gotcha. Thacker, what do you think? You know, listen, you know, I have never trusted that big tin can thing. I remember an old James Bond movie where there was people in like a finiquin their little train. I mean, it did not go well. Oh, man, did you see skyfall? Yeah.

Oh, man. No, no. Yeah. That was one of the last movies we saw it at the drive-in before the Keppler driving closed in. I think following the chronology. Do you have a pernicular thing in the Kingsman, too? Yes. Oh, Kingsman, don't know that.

That was a rope way. That's different. But also, I don't think, I think worth the chronology we've set up, maybe you got like an early screener five years early or so of Skyfall. Sorry to interrupt. This is Griffin. I'm leaving the scene again. Hey, listen, Woods. Woods works for me if you all think we can get there in time.

I mean, we're going to have to keep a pretty brisk pace if we're going to go through the trees. And, you know, I don't, I mean, maybe we can get machetes for the rest of you, but I'll be doing. of the brush cutting, so if we're going to do the woods, we probably ought to shake a tail feather. Listen, just my vote, I say we do the woods because the finicular has opportunities to go wrong, whereas the woods is just a trek, you know what I mean? Like, as long as we hoof it, very little can go wrong walking there. Like, yeah. Just jump cut to you all being destroyed by bears. Right. Yeah, let's do it.

Okay. I think that's a consensus. The eight of you are trekking through the woods, and you got a little headlamp looking down at this map that Juno's drawn like these circled areas showing where she saw these FBI technicians installing these sensors. And the fact or duck, like, no fucking question about it. Like following this map and what you know about, I'm not even going to make you roll for it. it like there is no way that the two of you your your expertise combined could fuck this up so you find your way you know around these circles and you have a pretty clear easy trek through the woods um i don't even think it takes you especially long um and you reach this clearing that a creek

is cutting through. And just at the other end of it is a fence. It is an eight-foot-tall chain-link fence with this tall spiral of barbed wire on top of it. And it just like, it spreads out and goes as far as the eye can see in either direction. And like every four poles or so, there's a camera pointed downward at the ground in front of the fence. and beyond the fence, through the tree line, you can see some faint lights shining.

Obviously, this fence was not here before. This is part of the FBI's sort of protection of their installation. What does your party do? Based on what we know, did it, how far is the fence that we're at currently from the gate? Okay, I'll give me that. How much distance will we have to cover? Yeah, I mean, it's, it is, you still have some, some distance to cover. the FBI have been pretty

sort of liberal with their, how much of the top side they have kind of occupied around the archway. You are, you are some ways off from it still. So you don't know like exactly, you know what? Actually, Duck would know. You are some ways away from the installation

because you saw the installation in your vision. And you know that you are, you are, you still have some distance to go. Do we see any cameras? Let's out roll. How about that? Okay. Yeah, if you want to read about situation.

I thought we already saw. Do we see cameras? You do, but I mean, still, it is a bad situation. So if any of you want to roll to... That is a five from Aubrey. Plus sharp? Plus sharp? It's only a six total.

Looks okay to you. Well, that's not... It's not a perception check. I will fuck with you if you fail. So Thacker or Duck, do you want to help out? I'll help. out or roll? You would tell me how you are helping out and then roll. Then could Thacker not do the same thing?

Um, yeah, I think, yeah, I think you could be, I think you could be doing like the same thing. Okay. Whoa, yeah. And 11 plus two, that's a 13. Well, it'd be plus cool because, uh, that's what you roll to help out. Then that's a 10. Okay, that's a complete success that would add one to Aubrey's roll, bring it up to a mixed success. Uh, cool. Yes. So you get to ask a question, I believe? Yes. From the list? I have a lot of rules documents open right now.

This expansion, this Tome of Mysteries, is fucking badass, but it's also I'm out of screen real estate to house it. You get to hold one. Yes, you get to ask one question. Okay. I'm going to ask, well, what's the best way in? I'm trying to see if there is, from the angles the camera is pointing, if there is an approach that would avoid getting spotted. The cameras are panning back and forth, and you're able to sort of track a route that would get you like to the fence. And if you like line your back up to the fence, you might be able to avoid detection.

But you get the sense that that is kind of a risky maneuver and that the like the viewing angles on these things are pretty, pretty bodacious. So that is what you've got. If you want to try and do this, all eight of you would have to do it unless you have some other idea. But you can get to the camera if you roll, I think, well enough. Well, here, okay, so here's the thing.

I could probably short out the camera or destroy the camera, which is probably going to bring people here, but maybe not at the speed if they see the aid of a sneaking, maybe they'll just send like a technician out. You know, and we will have time to then get from here to there by the time somebody gets here to check out the camera. I could cut the cameras with my sword.

Okay, Minerva, okay. I'm just saying they look pretty fenzie. Yes, we could all do things, Minerva. I agree. Yeah, I mean, I could cut the cameras with, I have a sword too, Minerva, but you got to understand the way these things work. Like, that's going to set off some alarm bells. You have any, like, magic potions and make people involved? invisible there?

Yeah. No. No. How am I supposed to know? You do all the other magic? Yeah, but I've never, I, potions aren't real. Just magic magic is real. Come on.

Oh. Some, my bad. Some potions, some potions are real, but that's not, but it doesn't, I know, it's, there's no effect on our current situation. Okay. Yeah, you know what? I'm gonna knock out the camera. Okay.

I'm gonna use magic. I don't feel that. that about it. Whoops. Oh, noisy. Oh, boy, howdy this isn't. Which would normally be plus three, but. You have a minus one ongoing, yeah.

So that's a six. Which is, let me check the math. A complete failure. Yeah, unless you all can sort of. Okay, so I help out, and I reach in at my code, I'm like, don't forget to always use this, your special wand that I had. Well, Janelle's there.

Can Janelle help out? I mean, technically, NPCs can't help out, but Janelle is so, like, connected to you and your magical ways. Like, I do, and you all have, like, done stuff together before, including reviving Thacker that I don't, I think she would see you struggling and help out. I just don't know how to resolve that because I don't want to roll. So I can roll for her. Roll again for her to help out. And, oh, my God. It's another four.

But she does have plus a magic. She's got a plus. No, man. That is a, that is a failure on you. and Janelle now. I'm going to take a hard move here. You zap the cameras and instantly these red lights lining the fence on the ground, these like little pylons, they stick up and illuminate.

And all of the other cameras now zip towards the fallen camera that you have blasted. You and Janelle have blasted with your magic. What do you do? Whoops. So they're all like elevated, right? We couldn't like reach those. Right, they are eight feet plus change off the ground. Are they being operated manually by somebody or is it just like a motion detection kind of thing?

Let me, Griffin, now say the point of you giving a shit about sneaking past these cameras is now over because they have, you have failed, set off the alarm and the cameras see you. So like, I don't think you necessarily can put the genie back in this proverbial bottle. But they seem to be, they seem to be autonomous. Aubrey, fires up that flare. Okay, you all This has gone so bad so quickly I'm not going to make you roll to To use magic on this

No, maybe it's a literal flare, Griffin Oh, okay, I see, so it's not a magic flare It's a flare gun that you had because you are about Yes, you know, why I don't want Aubrey to become too dependent on magic or shit Like this, I could have thrown a rock at the fucking camera And why would have gone better Janelle looks at you and is like, that one should have been a layup. And you hear alarms going off and you...

Janelle, a big basketball fan? Yeah, now she is. And you hear engines start up, like way, way off in the distance, not motorbike engines, but some other kind of FBI vehicle, you assume. And so you lift your flare gun into the air and you fire it. and it sails upward and arcs and comes down and you don't see it anymore. What do you do now? There's probably been something where we've set up like when you see the flare,

a five count and go or something. So I would wait and see if we hear something else. I start running. Come on. Let's keep doing momentum. Okay. Let's fucking go. Hey, Barclay, want you hurry up and tear that sucker down?

There are still cameras. What could it be worse? What do you think cameras are? They have captured image. Cameras are seeing us already. Just knock the damn fence down. He says, yeah, camera time's over. And he slips off his bracelet and just charges through the chain link fence like it is tissue paper.

Hey, we got us a tank. All right. Let's fucking go. And he starts sprinting forward. Okay, the eight of you take off into the woods. you hear the sounds of the alarms behind you, you know, fading into the distance.

And you, you run and you're following Barclay's lead as he sort of, he sort of knocks out the brush for you with his massive Bigfoot frame. And then he... Sunday, Sunday, Sunday. Bigfoot.

And then he's got his massive frame. And then he, he stops. And the eight of you almost sort of like the, guess the seven of you pile up in a comedic cartoonish way and you realize why he has stopped. You realize sort of, you realize the source of the lights that you all were chasing. Your eyes adjust and there's Amnesty Lodge.

And you all have never seen it like you're seeing it right now. It is lifeless and unkempt. And in fact, like this is the first time you realize just how old this building must be without the people dwelling inside of it. It looks like nothing special. The roof needs patching. The paint's chipping away. The windows look like stained and non-functional,

but the sign is still there. And Barclay walks over and he puts a hand on it. And even in his big foot form, you see that tears start to well a bit in his eyes. Big guy, I promise. Once this is over, new coat of paint and we're back. But I think it's time to keep moving. he says yeah i guess no matter what happens i i guess amnesty lodge has served its purpose let's let's go and then you all hear a voice

from the other side of the lodge shout hands hands now hands where i can see him and you see a guard uh with a rifle braced on his hip uh pointing at you and he he's reaching for a radio on his belt uh i tackle him okay roll to kick some ass. I'll kick the poor guy's ass. Kick his ass, Justin. Kick his ass. Justin.

That's a six plus two. So it's eight. Okay. That's a mixed success. Deal some damage to him and he will deal some to you. Okay. I guess we're doing plus two is from Beacon. Yeah, you're not doing Beacon.

I think you're... That'll be overzealous. Yeah, I think killing this man. I think like your natural toughness, your natural sort of big boy tough armor would just also translate to like you fucking hurt people when you go tackling into them. So I think this would be too, too harm. Too harm. And as he, as you like tackle into him, I think he also just like gets the butt of his gun into your chin and you, you take one harm, but not. And you roll to the ground and he comes

crashing down to the ground just as he was pulling the radio up to. his lips, and he has been incapacitated. He's dead? No, he's... That's not what incapacitated means. I pick up the radio and put it on my belt. Okay. You hear a voice say...

Harper. Harper. Come up. Harper was that you? Where are you, bud? Yep. It's... Tarbo. Uh, all...

C... You all hearing this? The radio breakup. Radio break up. Smashed it. Smash it. Smashed it. It smashed on the ground. Nailed it. You all see... Another Oscar-worthy performance from Duck Newton. You all see these powerful, bright flashlights swinging and these loud,

voices, shouting directions, calling for Harper as backup heads your way. And then the stillness that is blanketing Kepler tonight is torn apart with the simultaneous ignition of a dozen motorbike engines. And you see these flashlights now start to like peel off and look around for the source of this, this noise, breaking formation. And that noise is growing louder and more furious with each passing second. And you see like silhouettes of these guards catching each other in their flashlights and you see them trying to take aim at shadows that you can now see sort of soaring through gaps in the tree line. And then 12 headlights illuminate all at once. And they slip in formation down the far bank of a creek and then launch out of the opposite side.

The moon illuminates the trajectory. of the Hornet's last flight. Maximumfund.org. Comedy and culture. Artist-owned. Listener supported. Hi, I'm Dave. Hi, I'm Graham. And we're two house DJs

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