The Glass Cannon Podcast - Gatewalkers Episode 95 – In the Line of Spire

Episode Date: July 25, 2025

The heroes level up for the final time and continue their journey to the Nameless Spires. Watch the video here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://youtu.be/ciaQEr8d3p0 This episode was sponsored by Foundry VTT and Norse Foundry. See why tabletop gamers everywhere have made the switch to Foundry Virtual Tabletop at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://foundryvtt.com/gcp⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ For all your random number-generating needs, visit Norse Foundry at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://norsefoundry.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Access exclusive podcasts, ad-free episodes, and livestreams with a 30-day free trial with code "GCN30" at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠jointhenaish.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Join Troy Lavallee, Joe O'Brien, Skid Maher, Matthew Capodicasa, Sydney Amanuel, and Kate Stamas as they tour the country. Get your tickets today at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://hubs.li/Q03cn8wr0⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. For more podcasts and livestreams, visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://hubs.li/Q03cmY380⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Watch new episodes when they premiere every Thursday at 8PM ET on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠youtube.com/theglasscannon⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You are listening to the Glass Cannon Network, the premier source for role-playing game entertainment. Last week on the Glass Cannon Podcast. In this inky darkness, you see four large creatures surrounding you. Ew. I hate these guys. This last dream scraper, they will interpose themselves between Gek and Bugles. Uhhh. There it is!

Natural 2, natural 3, natural 1. Your healer immediately frightened 4 for a fight. Zephyr. She's going to get into flanking. Stumbling stance. Natural 20! Ohhhhh! It is Bugles' turn.

Bathe in flame. POM! He's gonna do an ignition. That hits exactly. Oh! Hey! It is Bugle's turn. Bathe in flame. Boom, he's gonna do an ignition. That hits exactly. Oh, thank God. And it dies. Yes! Awesome! Take us home, Zephyr.

Let's go. First one, 30. Hyarter! Hyarter! Second one, 32. Hits and a Kriot. A Kriot. Kriot.

And it dies. Yes! Wow, this darkness around you starts to change your back within the yurt. Have we been in here the whole time? You all level up. For the final time. The final level up!

The adventure continues... now. What would you say are your top three? It's going to be tough. Wow, this is going to be a long band. We'll see, because it's going to be an all band show. Yeah, I'll say top three things that you're most passionate about. Oh my God. I know, it's a tough question.

Making it top three is going to make it very, very hard. How do you pick? Nobody's holding it to you. If a second later you're like, ah, I forgot. It's fine. We're just old friends having a conversation. Top three. Top three.

I don't want to go first. Number one would have to be. Well, my first question is, what is passion to you guys? I want to see. I want someone else to set the vibe. All right, Jordan Peterson, come on. No, like, are you guys going to talk about, like, jobs and stuff?

Are you going to talk about, like, hobbies? Like, yeah. Stuff you're passionate about. What are you passionate about? A lot of things, I guess. Lights your fire. All three. What gets me the, like, what makes you, what gives me energy? Here's a way. Do it every. All three. What gets me... Like what makes you...

What gives me energy? Here's a way. Do it every day for free. Here's a way to put this... Housewives. Watching Housewives. Okay, that's top three, Kate. No, no, hold on.

Yeah. In the world. That brings you the most joy. There's nothing wrong with that. What do I have here, Judge? Oh, the peanut gallery over here. I think you were immediately judging. No, I'm just making sure that's what makes her...

At my passion. Brings her more joy than anything else. I love your passions. Well, because what comes along with that is the camaraderie that I get from you. I love your No, I'm just making sure that's what makes her, brings her more trippy than anything else. I love your passions. Well, because what comes along with that is the camaraderie that I get with my friends,

how we chat about it and stuff like that, and how we analyze. All right, so it's the whole experience. It's the whole experience. It's a great passion. So I guess that's the first one that I would do for free. That's good.

And in what particular order here? Yeah, I don't know if that's number one. I need time to marinate any other two. Yeah. Yeah, I usually say when you do a ranking kind of like this, I'm like, what are, you know, how do you put it? It's basically like three in your top 10 kind of idea. So it's like, you're not actually ranking this one over this one per se.

And you have the reserve the right to change it around. But oh, man. Do you have one? I have so many passions right to change it around. But, oh man. Do you have one? I have so many passions. Well pick one. He's a man of the mans. Role playing games.

Oh, top three. That's top three. Absolutely, it's my job. It's what I love to do. It's what generates, you know, my financial security for my family. And you know, there's a big part of this job that's also job

stuff. And some of that sucks, but some of it I am passionate about. I do enjoy sometimes getting into the nitty gritty of work stuff. I can't deny it. I enjoy it, you know, even when I'm like, this is tiring or this is exhausting. I'm like, I do. I do like it. I do like it. Role-playing games is in your top three passions. Okay. All right. All right. Fine. You know what? I'll like it. I do like it. Role-playing games is in your top three passions. Uh, okay. All right, all right, fine. You know what? No, it's fine.

You said Role-playing games. No, no, no, it's okay. Again, I'm just here to clarify, make sure. Yeah, yeah, you're clear. I'll drill down. I am passionate about creating stories. Like I, and I do that both with you guys as a group, but then I'm also very passionate about running

games and so like writing basically. Like I love creating ideas and stories. It's one of my favorite things to do with my time. So like when we were working on getting the trunk, coming up with ideas, you know, or but I should say when we were working on impossible landscapes, like coming up with ideas, coming up with scenes, coming up with obstacles, hurdles, I just, I never feel more alive than when I'm coming up with ideas, coming up with scenes, coming up with obstacles, hurdles. I just, I never feel more alive than when I'm coming up with a story like that. Yeah.

I think in the same vein, I was going to say acting, which is so broad, but I think what I mean is like any opportunity I get to act, whether it be in film, on TV, which is like sort of my ultimate dream, but doing improv comedy, playing TTRPGs, like any moments I get to act or improv or just become a character and get in the trunk. Like I always talk about how Vicky's one of my favorites and it's because we were so into the characters and like so in the moment.

So I would say acting, 1000% in my top three in any form. And even when it's a shitty audition, I'm like, I feel lucky I got to do that stupid shitty audition that I don't even want, but I got to do it. And I think- I think we're learning a lot about each other today. Yeah. It's good.

Just rounding out your top three. Yeah, I can do top three. I think games, and as a result, sort of wrapped up in that is telling stories like Joe said, either, well, it's like RPGs, you know, tabletop RPGs, or even just like the types of video games that I like to play for very heavy on emergent story. And I love kind of immersing myself, my imagination, like inside the game. I love doing it like on Twitch, like streaming it. It's just like sort of talking through my thought process as I'm sort of

inhabiting the game, uh, with the people watching, like I love that. So I've always loved that. Um, so that's that would be one. Two would be movies. I just love, fucking love movies. And okay, so you're nodding over there. It's just like, it's always been something. Like Tom Cruise.

Yeah, exactly. He loves. In more ways than one, I'm like Tom Cruise. Like Tom Cruise, I will almost certainly die at work. No, I've just like ever since I was a little kid, and you know, my parents have both like, have always been really into them too. And it was just something that I have like,

bonded with my family through and my friends, and just the ritual of like going to the movies like I've always like loved it that so much and but again like story and then the third thing would I probably baseball baseball the baseball yes sports is in my top three sports yeah I was in terms of like things I love sports sports might be my number one well I'd be taking that generally is like things I love. Sports might be my number one. Might be. Yeah. Taking that generally.

It's like sometimes I love watching professional sports. I love getting into professional sports with other people and family and stuff. Like it's a real, it's something you talk to people about. It's something that generates a lot of, but I also love playing sports. I always did. I still do. I wish I could do more. Your body starts to get to certain limitations. I just love playing sports. I always did, I still do. I wish I could do more.

Your body starts to get to certain limitations. I just love it. I love pushing yourself and I love overcoming obstacles in sports and stuff like that. And then watching other people do it. And then now, the age I'm at now, watching my kids do it. It's so fun and I'm so passionate about that as well. So it's just really.

But the thing about sports too, I think for a lot of people that don't like sports, that they don't, the aspect that they don't kind of get to discover is the storytelling sort of aspect of sports too. It's like the tales of these players and the teams and like the ups and downs and getting to know like the relationships, you know, inside and outside of the game, getting to know the relationships inside and outside of the game, getting to know the personalities, and just these narratives that emerge. That's what's really compelling about sports. Exactly.

It's the same thing. I've never been into F1, for example. People are super into F1. I've never been into it. And then they do a show on Netflix, and I've never seen it, but I hear people rave about the show. And I was talking to somebody recently that was just like, yeah, I never cared at all about F1. And then I watched the series and I got so into it

because you just needed that, because you didn't grow up with it. You needed the series to get the stories, like to understand who the people are and kind of what they're up against. And then you get really passionate about watching them and seeing their stories unfold live on television, unscripted, you know,

all these different drivers and all these different teams that are going against each other week in and week out. Yeah. Being a dad. Oh. That's in my top three. Mine too. Yeah. Yeah, that's something that I like strive to do better at, but it's my like favorite thing in the world. Being a dad, especially with my kids. Not other people's kids. I could care less about that.

Okay. Yeah, specifically yours. In fact, I don't like other people's kids. It would always crack me up growing up. It's like, what am I going to do with their kids? That's what my dad would say all the time growing up. He'd be like, I don't want any kids around here. My mom would be like, you have kids.

And he'd be like, I like my kids. But everybody else's kids are awful. We don like, you have kids. And he'd be like, I like my kids. But everybody else's kids are awful. We don't need any other kids. Maybe we would say it all the time, it would just crack me up. I was going to say production design too, which I also love doing, but it's not even just like- Top three. Yeah. It's not just production design though. It's like a bigger thing of creating things,

which my avenue for that is like set design and like interior design. And it's not specifically production design because like you said, it's work. And it's like some shit is shitty and being on set as you guys know can be shitty. So it's not, I don't love all aspects, but like the creativity of it when somebody first says like, oh, we need to build, you know,

like we were just in the void in the game. And it it's like we need to build a void space with a weird spherical egg that someone's going to climb out of for a music video, my gears start going and I'm like, oh, how can we vinyl, black vinyl, shiny? Like I just start like thinking through things and I like creating with my hands too. So like crafting stuff and like making props. So I say like... I write you a check right now for $25,000 and I say, I do something different here. You have ideas? Well, I would say, what do you want to do? You're the director.

All of a sudden it's my thing I got to do? Maybe I should write myself a check. I mean, you can let me run... You know what I will? You let me run wild. I'll send you some mock-ups. All right. But if I said like, I kind of want to maybe do this, that, here. This is our budget. Yeah. You could do some fun stuff. I would send you some mock-ups.

Okay. Different ones. You draw the mock-ups? Like 3D render. I like put them. Okay. I kind of mock them out. You have a program for this?

Yeah, yeah. What's it called? There's SketchUp. There's CAD. CAD, I remember from like back in the day. It still exists. Yeah. It's still annoying. But yeah, so I would make stuff and then you would say, oh, love this, hate that.

And I'd be like, cool, I get a better idea of what you want, what you like. But then again, that part I also like, the collaborative, you know. The whole thing. The puzzle. Yeah, and especially with interior design too. People have very strong opinions

about the way they want their house. And I think that's fun too. So. Games, movies, baseball, acting and creating sports role-playing games. We need one more from you. I would say sports stories, creating stories. And we only have Housewives. Sports. It's exactly the same as sports. Housewives. Housewives. Yeah, okay. The way that we approach it. As I was Housewives sports. Yeah, okay. No, it is. The way that we approach it. As I was describing the F1 thing,

I was like, as I finished saying it, I was like, this is exactly what Kate is into. I thought Kate was saying sports. The stories. No, it is. You watch it unfold in front of you. All the clashing together. And you're like,

I feel like they moved that player to that team because this is gonna mess up the dynamic. And it's like, it's the same fucking thing. Yeah. It's two different things. It's two different things. That's only one though, Faith. We need two more passions from you. Passions?

Yeah. Games. Games? Games, like I don't want it to be too broad, but like- Make it broad. Make it broad. In my free time for free, like playing games

and like doing that, but in a way that's like entertaining and like that make, like when I might okay I really like making other people cry but in a way where they're like oh you made me feel some deep feelings you like to make people feel things yeah I like to make your feelings that none of us have ever cried in your presence you've never made a scorpio thing I've ever said but I just love writing something and someone's like that made me cry. I'm like yes, yes. It's a great feeling. Storytelling too, like same thing.

So games, storytelling. Housewives, making people cry. We need one more from each. I guess one more from each. My cat. Your, not cats. What about tattoos? That's a passion of yours, isn't it? I just mostly want to be covered. Okay.

It's kind of like a passion. Okay. It's more like- You don't think about what your next design is going to be or- Sometimes I show up to my appointment and that morning I thought of what to present to my artist. Wow. Okay.

I don't think it's so much a passion as it is fulfilling an oath. Yeah. It's like, I must do this. Okay. got it. Okay, so you're cat, housewives, and game slash making people cry. Making people cry. Honorable mention making people cry.

Making people feel big feelings, hopefully they cry. Movies, baseball, games, storytelling, sports. We need one more from you. I'll do family, last one. Family, because for me, it's like I love being a dad, of course. But to me, I feel like I'm part of a larger system. I love hanging out with my sisters and their husbands and my parents. You guys have like cousins. Yeah. And they're all the same age. The kids are all the same age. And so it's so fun to get everybody together that I do it an excessive amount like I drive an hour and a half every few weeks down to Philly because we just have so much fun.

Yeah. And I just I love that aspect because I remember growing up with a lot of aunts and uncles and a lot of cousins and we'd all go to the shore together and even if people live far away we'd still see them once a year or something like that and it was always so fun to like get the families together and I think a a lot of people have rough family situations where different factions get together. And you know what I mean? We've just never really had that.

We've been very lucky in that respect. We just have really, and my sister's married great guys, as you know. They're just so fun to hang out with. And they're into gaming, and they're into sports. And yeah, they've taught me a lot of stuff. So it's been, it's like that whole family unit is something you got to work at and keep at, you know, and I love doing that.

One more. Yeah, I think I really like trying new things, which sounds cliche, but I really like to be challenged. So I like taking classes and like trying something. And I think maybe what it comes down to the seed of it is I like competition classes and like trying something. And I think maybe what it comes down to, the seed of it is I like competition or like motivation by others. So like, I like to be challenged by something and I like to overcome it,

which can take the form in many things, like taking martial arts, taking improv classes, trying this. This is like a window on how I can get through to you. My brain, cooking, trying new recipes, baking something really difficult. Video games that are hard. I like, except Elden Ring. Really didn't love that one. Pretty hard. Not for everybody.

Didn't like it. But yeah, so I don't know if it's like the trying new things aspect or like the challenge aspect. Yeah. Making a mistake with Elden Ring. You're making a mistake. I don't like it. I don't like it either. Should I come back to it? Maybe it's just not a girl game. That's possible.

Yeah, maybe actually wasn't invented for girls. Just kind of get past Morgan. Morgan is there to make you win the game. When I say you have to, what I mean is I think everybody has that little hurdle. And if there's a chance you can get over it, like if you get over it, all of a sudden you can be like, I love love that like the difference between Getting over that hurdle and not it's like this is not a very good game to like this is the greatest thing ever And it's just it's hard to explain what that jump, but the game is built in such a way to weed people like you out

Very early. They got my money. I don't know why they want to do that, but they really do you but I also feel I don't need it But I also feel like would anybody tune in I don't need it. But I also feel like, would anybody tune in to Twitch to watch, to specifically watch me annihilate a video game? Cause I'm so good at it. Maybe, yeah. Really, that occurs to you that I'd be so good at a video game? Okay, Joe, let me counter, let me counter.

Would somebody log in to Twitch to watch me fight a big lake crab for two hours because I wouldn't give up on it. And they were like, you have to give up on the crab and move on, this is Elden Ring. And I was like, I'm so mad at this crab. Those crabs are bastards. And I wouldn't give up on it.

You gotta get by. But my point is, I'm not very good at video games and I can totally play these games. Like you totally can. It's, you have to rewire your brain a little. I can do it too. Like I was good at playing the samurai. I just, the first time I died and then you go back so far,

I'm like, fuck this. I don't want to do all that again. Like I'm never gonna want to do that. You have to kind of have that like grinding. You have to enjoy grinding. A masochistic relationship with the game. The things I'm doing. I like the grind.

The things I'm doing that I feel competitive about, there has to be a reward. Like I'm doing martial arts to get better at it, not to get thrown on the ground every day and not improve. You know, like Elden Ring is a little punishy. Maybe that's a bad example. Maybe I'll go back to it. No, I don't disagree, but I think that we both got better at it over time.

Oh, yeah. And then it's so fun. You learn the game. After going through like Dark Souls 1, Dark Souls 2, Dark Souls 3. Yeah, you played the other ones. We've been through Dark Souls College, so that was like Dark Souls, Dark Souls Grand School. So now to us, to us, Elden Ring is easy in a lot of respects because we have so much

experience, but because they did so many quality of life changes. And I didn't go to Dark Souls College. I just tried to get my degree. The early ones. It's hard to get even more brutal. It's hard to get it. I tried to get my master's without getting my BA. How could I do it?

I just don't like action games as much anymore. I feel the same way. Sports and Sims you like. I like sports. I like, I like Grand Strategy. Love simulation games anymore. I feel the same way. Sports and Sims, you like? I like sports. I like grand strategy. Love simulation games. Love turn-based stuff. Civ game, love is like a colony.

Family's a good one. Family's a good one. I'm just- Wait, you need two more, don't you? I know, I'm just saying like, I need one more. One more. Yeah, I just am obsessed with being a dad. My last one, I can't decide between,

it's either, and maybe this is where I can't decide between, it's either, and maybe this is where I can marry the two, like who you did games and making people cry. It's between entertaining people and success, obsessed with success. But like, there's nothing I love better than making people crack up, obviously. And then I, but I also love like make people, you know, like that. So entertaining.

It's like Kate's thing. Yeah. But the opposite. Big feelings. You like big happy feelings. I don't know if I can marry, I can kind of marry the two because that's what, that's kind of what this business is. It's like, it lets me do both.

But yeah, that would be my last. My last one. That's nice. Yeah. Matthew? I think we know what his passion is. Not being here. Took him away from us. It tells you all you need to know. It's like our garbage space.

I know, we literally threw up trash. I threw up trash there. That's the dump. I got a headache. All the things we don't want in the shop, but they're sad. If you're watching right now, what are you passionate about? What are you most passionate about? Take a second to think about it right in the comments. We'll be back right after this break.

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Only a couple more of these left. I mean, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, you get your podcasts. subtle. Noice Foundry was rolling pretty well for me last week, really well for Kate. I kept forgetting that stupid thing to have you roll the will save to after you got hit to like scrape your dreams. Oh, so annoying. I thought about like as I was driving home, as soon as you have those abilities, you're like, I'm just tired of running these abilities. And that was one of those ones.

To be frank, you weren't hitting a lot. You know what? You're not wrong. You're not wrong. I didn't even put one of you down. To be frank, you weren't hitting a lot. You know what, you're not wrong. You're not wrong. I didn't even put one of you down. But anyways, thank you to Noice Foundry. It's not their fault that I changed the encounter. And then of course, Foundry Virtual Tabletop. Yeah, you could say I didn't throw up a fun map last week.

I just left the void, but I liked that I could do that with ease. Dude, it brought me back to talk about Dark Souls. I mean, the Four Kings fight. It's a completely black floor. See, there is nothing. And these enemies are just kind of far away. And you're just running.

And it's just weird. You've got to get one down quick or another one will come up. And they're slowly coming towards you as you run. But you have no perspective. There's nothing on the side. So it all feels kind of made up and weird. Yeah, it's the craziest fight ever. Yeah, it's very weird. But it does feel like there are rules. it feels like when you're there, if you hit it and turn away, step away a little bit and then turn back, it's where it should be spatially, right? But with no reference of any even floor or ceiling, it's very strange.

And that's how I felt that it never felt uncool to me. I felt like we were in a nightmare, right? Yeah. It was really neat. Well, shout out to Foundry. And of course, if for any reason you haven't tried our subscription service, head to join the nation.com use code GCN 30. I don't know if we're going to run this forever, but we are still running it 30 day free trial. Check it out. We had a level up. The last final level of Gatewalkers last week.

So this brings you to what, to 12? To 10. 10 then. Okay. No, no, but we should go to, we can, yeah, Sydney, she's so bad at numbers. I'm so bad at numbers. Did you say 12?

It must be 12. 10s, I guess 10s, right? Rats. Seems low, but. Rats. Oh no. Based on what you're looking at, right? Rats. Seems low, but- Rats. Oh, no. Based on what you're looking at then, uh-oh. Uh-oh.

No, I'm just like for some reason in my head, I thought it'd be more. Let me see. No, 10. That's right. Okay. Okay. I wasn't, I'm not that surprised. Let's talk about it.

So, Gatewalkers is designed to take characters from first to 10th level. First to 11th, because you become 11th. At the end of it. Yeah, yeah. Should you survive? But this is the last relevant level up. So in addition to the level up, you're also getting that bonus feat. You could either take the Great and Awakened power feat or you can take the level 10 feat

associated with your deviant abilities classification. So tell me about it. Tell me what y'all took. Who wants to go first? I don't. No, no. Anybody passionate about level ups? I'll go first.

Yeah. Okay. Because I prepare my level ups beforehand. I get so excited. So weird thing about Hero Lab is, so I prepped my level ups and path builder because you can split it out by level really nicely. And I was going to choose tangled forest stance

as my class feat. Ooh, that sounds cool. It sounds really cool. It's not present in Hero Lab. I don't know why. I don't have the mental facilities to figure out why. But that was also a level eight. Tangled forest stance?

Tangled forest stance. It's really cool. I thought you said dance. I thought it would give me, cause right now my like blind spot, I guess, is that I do a lot of bludgeoning damage. If I get into the stance, I'll be able to do slashing damage.

There was a fight recently that was like, if I only do slashing or something besides bludgeoning, I'd be effective. So that's what I'd mostly take it for. There's also a cool thing where it's like, anyone that's within your reach, if they try to move away from you, they need to make a reflex save,

otherwise they're immobilized for that action. Like that's cool if I want to keep people near me. I can't find it in Hero Lab. So I feel like Hero Lab's telling me, no, Kate, take sleeper hold. Sleeper hold. Sleeper Hold. Is that literally the wrestling move? Yeah, the thing is with that,

it has incapacitation trait. And we hate the incapacitation trait. Except it was good last time. We hate the incapacitation trait, don't we? I am seeing Tangled Forest dance on Hero Lab. Yeah, I'll just, I'll figure it out later. Sure, it's somewhere. I don't know why I'm not seeing it.

I'm sure there's some weird setting I have, but yeah. So I'm probably gonna take Tangled Forest Stance for that for my class feat. So that's really cool. And then for skill feat, nothing was super interesting for what we're doing in my opinion that I could take. So I might just take slippery secrets because I feel like that might come in handy when we meet maybe the whale. And I have like deception

now, so because of stumbling sands. So we'll see how that goes. And then I get to learn a new language. I don't know what language to choose. A pissle. Oh, wait, what if we needed that we haven't had anything? That's what I chose. So I got in one language and I chose occlo, wasn't it? Occlo. Occlo, yeah. It's like lizard people language or no?

No, it's like... Those things you just fought speak occlo. Yeah. Oh. It's like... Other planar... Other planar, yeah. Monsters, like monstrous creatures from other planes. We should take it too.

Yeah, I'll take that too. And so I took occlo to make myself different, but whatever. I think we should all take it. Oh, he wants to be the only one that can talk to the big bads. I guess I'll, yeah. Well, yeah, I may speak Aklo. Our most charming character, Brother Ramious. How dare you?

I want to talk to the demons. What's your charisma? You don't want to know. Oh yeah, actually you're a bug. You don't want to come for the big dog. I wanna talk to the demons. What's your charisma? You don't wanna know. Oh yeah, actually you're a boss. You don't wanna come for the big dog. I picked the wrong fight there. But yeah, so that's what I'm gonna do besides ability boost.

And what was the thing? Oh, ability boost, that's huge. Yeah, it's huge. So I'm taking dexterity, con. You have anything to plus five? My dex is plus five. Boom! My con's plus three, my intelligence now is plus two,

which is why I get another language, and charisma plus two. I was gonna do strength, but when I tried to do it, it didn't make it plus five, it made it just a partial upgrade. Yeah. You need two after your plus four to get to plus five. That's what I figured it was something like that. Which is what you did in Dex.

Yeah, so. Well, that's sweet. And then with intelligence, I get another skill thing, so I took thievery. Thievery. Oh, cool. Nice. And then what was your free bonus thing you took from the...

Oh, right. So I'm already in the troll classification and the level 10 feat is pretty cool. It's tectonic stomp. You cause minor tremors to topple your enemies, all creatures in a 30 foot emanation who are standing on the ground, take 1d6 bludgeoning damage for every two levels you have with a basic reflex save. So they take 5d6 bludgeoning damage. Right? Wow, that's great. That's awesome. But that would be everyone. So it could affect you. If I don't want to take that,

I could take high speed regeneration if I want to take the feet six instead of feet ten I don't know man tectonic stomp sounds cool I'm thinking like thrall if there's a lot of them around everyone get away from me It's based you run in first with a higher in yeah, yeah stop and go I'm pretty sure I'm going to take that. Okay. Okay. Nice.

Okay. What do you think of their blue ribbon special? Thank you. Thank you. No longer gnome bard, blue ribbon special. Dick muck. Blue ribbon special. Okay.

So, shockingly, the thing that I'm most excited about, yes, I get another fifth level spell. Yes, I get more to my attributes and I now have plus five charisma. It's all great. My DCs are boosted up. Like, everything's cool. I'm most excited for this skill feat. And normally, I never care about the skill feats because they kind of are not always that helpful. I like this one. Environmental guide, prerequisite master in survival, which I am. You can rapidly adapt to climates and help others do the same. After an hour in an environment, you and up to five allies can treat the natural tempestors effects of the environment as one step less severe. So we've been struggling.

We've been struggling. So we would go from extreme to severe. So right, yeah, extreme cold to severe cold. So I could do it. All your allies? Yep, up to five allies. And he would get all of his spell slots back. Did you just give me five spell slots with your skill feed?

Right before the big boss battle? Holy shit. Yes, I did. That is so synergistic. How long is it last though? How long can you do it? Seventh level feet, there's no time limit. Forever.

As long as I'm in that environment. Because you're a master of survival. And it's been an hour, so she's studied the terrain. Wear wool socks. Yeah, she's like. Put on layers. If you have to cross a river, don't take off your stuff. Just walk through it because it doesn't matter.

That's odd. I think she has the feet in real life. Yeah. She knows all the tricks. And if you have to go to the bathroom, use snow. I mean, this is like Bear Grylls shit over here. I don't even know what I'm... I don't even know who she is. I'm like sitting there like, wow. Yep. Yep. That's amazing. All Discovery Channel. It's pretty sick. If you're legendary in survival, you can treat it as two less steps, which is- And what are you actually doing to get everyone down?

You're just finding ways? I think, I think, yeah. She, because of her skillset, she sort of found these like tips, kind of tips and tricks, these kinds of crazy things where it's like, okay, before we go to bed, if you drink this, wear this, snuggle up like this, keep your clothes.

If we're up before the sun rises, we can, you know, da-da-da, before the winds pick up. Like it's sort of she's just studying. Put a pinch of sage in your boots and all day long a spicy scent is your reward. Yes. Well said, Skid. In my mind. I think that sums it up.

In my mind, it's more Bear Grylls than like, put fixed vapor rub on your feet at night and you'll never be sick. I'm sorry. Let's go into these mechanics again for a second. Yes, sir. So you went up to five allies. Yes. You and up to-

Treat whatever the condition is as one step lower. Whatever the natural temperature affects of an environment. So it says, example, treat extreme cold as severe cold. All right. So if we have the Rime Jar and we apply that each morning, so for eight hours with your skill feat, that would be extreme to severe with the Rime Jar and then your feat would take it from severe to chilly day. Yes. And I get all of my spells back.

Yes. Yeah. I mean, and we've been- Joy of the Valley, your thoughts. We've been surviving even with- What is it called again? Environmental guide. It's a seventh level feat.

Oh my God. And this is dope because I had taken survival way back when I created Gic when she first came into the game because she was with the Smiling Wolves. She had been a traveling bard. She had kind of learned these skill sets and it's leveled up as she's leveled up and now I have master. That is so sick.

That's pretty life-changing. Yeah. I mean, it's right here. I'm not seeing anything that says you can't do this. Player core two, no less. Yeah, I looked into it because I was like, let me just make sure before I say something stupid on air I'm not seeing anything that says you can't do this. Player core two, no less. Yeah. I looked into it because I was like, let me just make sure before I say something stupid on air and everyone's mean.

Nothing like episode 95 to try that out. So mean. I'm never going to stop. I'm never going to stop. Everyone laughed. I love saying, I think this is going to be interesting. After an hour in an environment, I mean, that's amazing. Yeah. So I mean, when we leveled up, it's really interesting. After an hour in an environment, I mean, that's amazing. Yeah.

So, I mean, when we leveled up, she would gain this. Stacks with magic and cold weather gear. So you're good. We're going to get that hour immediately. Just amazing. Just a smash amazing. Yeah. That's wonderful.

That is how excited I was when I saw that. I have never had that reaction to my or anyone's skill feed. Skill feed. I know. For a skill feed, I guess it's really, but it's the circumstances that we happen to find ourselves in. Yeah, sure, sure, sure. In most campaigns, this is as unexciting as every other skill feat.

That's true, that's true. But right now, this is a lifesaver. For once, I was like, oh my god, it's all, the puzzle pieces are coming together. Yeah, you have the perfect campaign feat. So yeah, everything else I got at level 10 pales in comparison to what I feel will help the whole party. Game changer, yeah.

Even Hubert. That's right, even Hubert. Sorry, up to five allies. I did the math. Yes. Sweet old Hubert Hedge, I even thought about him. Nice. And then yeah, it's a fifth level spell.

All my DCs have gone up, which is cool. Even my Bon-Mas, which I never really use, but like that DC has gone up. But yeah, I'm excited. Awesome. It's awesome. Okay. I'm excited to not be freezing cold at the crown of the world. I'm sorry.

Did you say what special Jonski you picked for your deviant? Yes. I picked, so it's within my whatever deviant thing my eerie flicker comes from, Wraith. I picked enervating whale. It sounds like that. You release a terrible whale that tears at the spirits of all nearby, all living creatures in a 20 foot emanation, take negative damage, fortitude save. Sounds like a black Frost will. Hmm. Ask me. It does. Oh no.

Oh no. Am I doing exactly what Osorio wants me to do? Oh no! Oh no! Sydney's doing math! Wham! Wham!

Wham! Hear that part. Wham! Skid Joe? Joe Skid? Jid? Well. Sco?

Sco? Sco? I leveled up to 10. There you go, buddy. And as a result, I got a few things for my character. One of which is, Good stall. Albania is a land of contrasts. Oh.

Well, I did take a skill feat and I took survival with it. I got, I finally got trained in survival. Just purely because like character wise, I feel like we've spent two months in this environment, I feel like he would have picked up some of these skills. If, if ever he would run it now. Uh, and then I think for my spells at this level, I took, I got tongues. You know tongues bro? I know tongues bro.

What? Nice. So that could help. I think, I think that'd be good. Possibly. I also have a new psyche ability called emotional surge, which is one action ability. My heart soars, increasing my power for a moment. I gain a plus two status bonus to attack rolls and skill checks until the start

of my next turn. So that's nice. And I took the level 10 feet propulsive leap. Oh, I was looking at that. That's cool for you. Which basically gives me fly speed. You can fly. I can fly. For one minute, I gain a fly speed equal to my speed or 20 feet, whichever is greater. So like spelling flames.

So it's like Iron Man, just like shoot flames or rocketeer, shoot flames out of my feet and the rest of the year. Holy shit. Okay. So sick. Yeah. That's pretty great. Yeah.

What about your deviant ability? That was it. I'm sorry. That was it. There is one other thing that I got. I have brain drain. Come back to me. Go to Joe and I have one other thing.

I'll find it. This is big, man. It's big. Can you beat Fly? No, I can't beat Fly, but I got an upgrade here in my class feat that is situational at best. It's the kind of feat you hope you never use. But it is the kind of thing that for me, I had to pick it because even if it's like you're only going to use it once or twice in the rest of the campaign, it's the thing that

gets me the most upset tactically about the tactical rules of Pathfinder and how they really box you in in certain situations and this helps break it a little bit. The tenth level Cleric feat called Heroic Recovery. Don't look it up, don't spoil it. It is a spell shape like Gic has a bunch of. So I have to use an action to set it up. One action, Heroic Recovery and then if I cast a two action heal on a single character that is unconscious and dying, they get the full heal

from what I cast and immediately for free can stand up, which I just think is huge. And additionally, they gain a five foot status bonus to their speed and plus one to attack and damage for one round. So it's like they come back like energized. And I love it for Zephyr particularly and Buggles in our party because neither of them need weapons.

No one's weapons. So it doesn't matter if they fall unconscious. Like this is such a huge way to just revert that back to boom, you're standing, you're ready to rock. That's pretty awesome. Awesome. Dude, when people go down, one of my biggest fears is like, it doesn't even matter if you bring them up because they're still laying there and especially if you're fighting creatures

with a jaunski. So this doesn't provoke reaction strikes. They don't have to worry about picking up a weapon. They just get that free stand up. Just pop up and they're free up, standing, ready to go on their turn. Very cool. Super fun. Very cool. So then what else did I take? Wait, was that a class feat?

Oh yeah, that was a class feat. And then for my skill feat, I think this was, I took – yeah, you have to be a master in religion. I took sacred defense as this fun one as a single action. I can attempt a DC 30 religion check and if I hit it, I gain temporary hit points imbued by my deity. Oh, that's cool. I'd started just five temporary hit points, but you can as you level up, you can increase

the DC and get more temporary hit points. It's called sacred defense. You call upon your deity to grant you a protective blessing. How interesting. It's just one of those things where you have one action early in a combat, you're like, eh, and you could do it once per hour. Oh. For each fight.

They say it for every combat, basically. Yeah, like one action, I could attempt a DC 30 check. It's basically, for me right now, it's a 50-50 chance. Awesome. What about your deviant? What did you already say? Deviant, I'm doing the same thing, the whale. Oh.

Same thing. Because I'm also on the wraith line. Yeah. And I'll just take that one. That's the level six. The level 10. The level 10 was not. I don't understand.

The level 10 is called distant wandering. I don't understand it at all. It says, your body falls unconscious and your spirit projects out of it. While in spirit form, you can't move your body, which is fine, you are invisible and inaudible, though a creature could still notice signs of your presence in passing just like for an invisible creature,

but you are inaudible. You can freely move about, though you can't touch or move anything, cast spells, attack, or otherwise affect anything around you, despite your, so I'm thinking this is a phenomenal, like exploratory option, right? As long as your allies are around your body. Most effects can't harm your spirit.

Those spells like spirit blast and spirit slong that can damage a spirit might damage you. But then here we go. You can't pass through barriers that you couldn't pass through with your body. And if you are in the spirit form at the beginning of your turn, you must attempt another backlash check for your deviation.

So it's meant to be used in combat. Like a single round. Which is really- So it's like, why would I ever wanna drop on the- Oh, that's turning to your body if you fail. And that's the highest level. What fucking use is that at all? I want someone to explain to me in the comments like what I'm not getting for one round in combat I can fall unconscious. Maybe it's protective so that they don't attack you anymore, but they can still attack your body

Yeah, but but but if you're but if they think you're dying, right or dead What a fame death, maybe it's aign death. But it's not called that. It's called distant wandering. And they don't do. It makes you think the intention is for... It's not that distant. They also don't... How far are you going to get?

They also don't... It doesn't say like, they think you're dead. They have to do a check against you. In my mind, I read that and I was like, so I walk away. They coup de gras me while I've spiritually left my body. And then I have to roll a backlash because I didn't get back yet. I just doesn't, and that's the level 10.

So situational, like even the awakening, your spirit moves at the speed of thought, you gain a fly speed and a plus 20 foot status bonus to your speed while in spirit form. Another awakening allows you to be quickened so that you can recall knowledge or seek. But like at best, you're gonna be able to go see something on the other side of the room that you can't see, that for some reason you need to see. And then even if you pass the backlash, you could see a little deeper.

You can't open a door, you can't, you know. Also, are we assuming- When you fail the backlash, you go right back to your body. So are we assuming the backlash is the same DC as your initial attempt every time, or does it go up like, you know what I mean? It goes up.

It goes up because it's... It goes up like any time. That's what I assumed, but maybe they're assuming it's just a DC5 each round. Either way, like... The first time you use it in a day. To make that the highest level feat that you get is sorrow. It's a level 10 feat. I don't know what I'm missing.

Yeah, I'm thinking ahead to like, you know, knowing what I know about the end adventures. Yeah, yeah. Like a situational use of this that like, that would be really cool. Maybe, but like certainly not enough to devote a feet 10 to, I don't think. Yeah, and to compare it to a feet six where all living creatures in a 20 foot emanation take negative damage with a fortitude save.

It's pretty sweet, except it doesn't, you know, the problem with innervating, I'll never use it. So let's just say that. I will never use either of them. I've never used the other one the whole adventure This is the first one really mine is the first one that I could conceivably see myself using Yeah

the reason I won't use innervating whales because if I'm ever in a situation where none of my allies are within 20 feet and There's more than one area. I better be running away not doing innervating whale Caravan mechanic of yes.. Yes, yes it is. I took it because sometimes Gic, what happened in the last combat, Gic moves away to cast from far away and a creature will like come up to her and she's not near anybody else. But it really is like a last ditch kind of like, uh-oh. That's right, yeah. Yeah, so oh and then as far as ability points go, so exciting 10th level.

So I'm now plus five wisdom so all my saves go up which is awesome your heels go up yeah heels go up wait no my heels did not go up heels the same because at 11th level they'll go up sadly so close and then I did Dex intelligence and my first level up in Khan. Plus one Khan. Your health! He's getting harder here up in the snow. It has to be, yeah.

Yeah, so those are the highlights. Okay. Psyched! What was the last thing that you had? The last thing that I have is another cantrip, psych cantrip, redistribute, redistribute? Interest. Redistribute. Redistribute. Oh man, redistribute, redistribute, redistribute. Oh man, redistribute potential.

So this is a attempt to sort of balance out because I have to alternate with the energy types and everything. So what this does is with the basic form of it, I can take two adjacent five foot squares and I can cause heat damage. So I'm transferring energy from one to the other. I can cause heat damage in one and cold damage in the other. Well, that's cool.

And then if I amp it, they become 10 foot squares. That's awesome. And more damage. So I think that's cool, like a little bit of area damage. And I think it allows me to just to reset my damage type because I'm doing both. So then the next round I could do, you know, either fire or ice damage. You no longer have to oscillate. Well, assuming I use this, like I would have to give me a chance to reset it, I guess. So yeah, but yeah, right. Because let's say you're fighting something that's immune to cold,

you do your fire spell. Now, next round you have to do cold. Couldn't you do cold next to it and have – Yeah, and do fire on it. – next to that one? Right, exactly. Yeah. And then the next round I could do ignition instead. Yeah, and you're back to fire. Yeah. Right. So I could do – I can do – like even without using like the side burst or whatever,

I can – every round like I can do fire damage or, you know, cold damage. That's huge. That kind of negates the penalties of oscillating wave that Harry Dewey has since day one. Reduces the penalties. Right, reduces, yeah. Interesting. All right. So there you have it, level 10.

Level 10. Nice. Final significant level up of Gatewalkers. When we come back from the break, the road to the end begins. Stay tuned. When we come back from the break, the road to the end begins. Stay tuned. Look, there are a lot of celebrity interview podcasts out there, but there's only one Happy Sad Confused. I'm Josh Horowitz, and yeah, I'm the host of the show,

so I'm a little biased, but truly Happy Sad Confused is the place for nerdy and intimate conversations with all your favorite actors and filmmakers. From Andrew Garfield and Scarlett Johansson to Christopher Nolan. Casting what-ifs, backstage stories, and much more. Listen to Happy Say It Confused on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. It's ticklish business anyway. You look at it, come on, we'll stick together. Love movies? Love classic movies? So do we. you get your podcasts. heart, and serious expertise. As published film historians and lifelong classic movie buffs,

we bring insider insights, deep research, and lively debates with a variety of special guests, ranging from celebrities like Holly Madison to TCM luminaries Dave Carver and Eddie Muller, and even family members of old Hollywood legends. Subscribe now to Ticklish Business on your favorite podcast app, and let's talk about. Stay alert. Stay human. Stay free. Recursion on the Realm Podcast Network. Listen before they silence the signal. back, you have all leveled up, you're in this yurt, it's day, I don't know, 61 or so, you've lost some time. But by all calculations, according to Edward Rittleson, I believe he said it was around a 68 day journey. So even with that lost time, you think you are within a week.

Man, I wish he was still alive so we could kill them. Just kill them all over. Overreal. Can I ask a campaign level question? Within a week of the nameless spires, I just want to finish. I'd like to ask a campaign level question that. So, no. Within a week of the nameless spires, go ahead.

As we're putting all our memories together, we have gotten so many of them from so many different areas. And by the time we talked to Sakawachi's grandmother, by the way, did anybody think we were ever going to meet her? No. No. I always assumed we weren't and that she was a character in the past that we were not going to meet.

I also thought we were never supposed to go to, I wonder if there was a way we would have gone to her camp if we had like stayed with, like forced to stay with Saka Wachee and like met her then and said it came to us. Saka Wachee must always leave. He must and turn into an owl because he he says he doesn't want to be with you because of the whole thing like and he gets freaked out and he has good reason to overthink. I made a lot of changes. I assumed that anyway. why I'm changing everything. Okay. Fair. Your game now. Perhaps that's why this is so confusing. We've gotten little bits of information from all different areas and by the time we're

finished with her, we know it all. Does anybody know how we got out? Like we teleported supposedly after this mission, we teleported back to the temple, right? Back to the temple of Findeladlaura. And then with Riddleson, we just walked back through the gate. Yeah, and then our memories were erased. And then our memories were we walked through the gate back at home alone, whatever, Mars, Barnes walked onto another planet.

The rest of you returned through the gate, the two. And then sometime later, we get a letter from Riddleson. Yeah. And the whole thing is like, we just walked through the gate and then like lost time. But it didn't feel like anything. So still no one can, but do we have a memory of exactly what happened at the Nameless Spires? Like when we brought the last Salmon Car there, do we remember everything that took place?

What I explained last week was you see these Black Frost covered zombies and creatures of shadow and you're working in unison with them to lock Inamor in somewhere within this hexagonal temple in the middle of the name with spires. Oh, okay. The ground was opening up and black frost was coming up. So there's a lot of shit going down and then you left. Do we remember what's his name again?

Ayn Amoron? Ayn Amoron. I keep thinking Agamemnon. Agamemnon. Ayn Amoron. It looks a lot like Ayn Amoron. Do you remember him talking? Like did he say anything like, oh, do lot like a… Do you remember him talking?

Did he say anything like, oh, do this to me? Do you realize what you're doing? No, it was like a stealth mission. You took him out and then dragged him. He was unconscious when we chained him up. Okay. How do you spell Salman Karr? S-A-U-M-E-N-K-A-R or not even with a dash.

I say U. There's no L. U-M-E-N. I thought it was like Salman. Second word. Salman Karr. Like there's no L. I thought it was like Salmon. Second word. Salmon car. Ca. Like Salmon ca. Salmon Rushdie.

Oh yeah, I've been spelling it Salmon. Salmon. Salmon. Like Salmon. Salmon car? Yeah, I'm driving a Salmon car. I'm driving a Salmon car. I did car with a K though, K, but I did a double R.

I did that too. I got the K right. Did you do a double R? No, I just did one R. Threw in an extra. Jimmy Carr. I mean, I just did one R threw in an extra Jimmy Carr I mean I know about these because I've been huh. I've run yetis before You know, I would say as you come to in the yurt

yet again having this experience of a dream like situation that felt like more than a dream, like it transcended dreams. At this point all of us have played enough adventure paths that have dealt in the dimension of dreams. It didn't quite feel like that. You know, Sesshu responded or remarked it was like in the dreaming. It almost sounded like the dreaming. Capital D is like a transcendent experience beyond the material plane, somewhere between the material plane and the dream plane. It felt very real, almost like your souls were transported to the real Aminua.

I have a good one for this. We can tell this. We can know. We should be able to know. I would like to roll astronomy lore to know exactly how many days passed. Oh, by looking at the stars. By looking where the sun is, the position of the sun or the stars. In either case, we would be able to know how many days have passed. Were we unconscious in our tent for two days, you know, and just don't have any memory of our

physical bodies moving past this tree, or was that just a night's sleep that felt like two days, right? Like we would be able to tell from astronomy, Laura, because the sun moves a little bit every day. Put down a little... Give me a little astronomy, Laura. All right, I'm going do, uh, my... Your thing! My scholarly recollection. So I'll roll two die and take the better. He's about to do the thing!

He's doing the thing! Uh, I got a 32. Thirty... Oh, astronomy lore! Astronomy lore? Carl Sagan over here. Alright, so... Hahahaha!

You believe... that... you went to sleep in this hut on the 60th day and the journey that you had on the 61st day never happened. You're waking up... And that time didn't pass. And that time didn't pass. Okay, cool. But it still didn't feel like a dream upon waking.

Right. It felt more real than that. So you think, okay, well, whatever happened, time passes differently in that state. Yeah. OK. Yeah. Cool.

So it's day, you have every reason to believe it's day 61 now, even though your memory is that you already had day 61. Yeah. When you walked out of the tent and froze, and passed out and froze, and you woke up within there, you still feel like you went through that night. But yeah, it's a lot of strange time dream stuff happening.

Okay. I want to do a quick nature. I know this is kind of silly, but I just I feel like it's what the character would do. I'd like to do a quick nature examination on the tree. I just want to make sure that this is completely natural tree just happens to grow here because of its protection from the cliff. And that is an 18. 18. You think the tree is a narrative device the Game Master wrote so

that you'd know when you woke up that you were in the same place. Is that an honor mark? You know 18, you said? 18. That makes sense. That makes sense. I think that's true. Yeah. Something about this tree. I think that's true. Yeah.

Something about this tree. I think we should move on from the tree and I think we should leave. Well, here's what I was going to say is as you're getting your bearings in the hut here, you notice perhaps Buggles seems a little different. Yeah. And you also heard what Sesshu said. Yes. You don't know what that intimates.

As much as you think Buggles may want to rid himself of this, what does that sacrifice entail? When Sakawachi spoke of sacrifice, it was, kill a living god. Buggles. First, am I still stupefied? No. You all wake up with no mental

well Don't be on the one mechanical leave with Buggles Let's say we're setting out yeah, starting to walk Ramias will like come up next to Buggles as we're crunch crunch crunching through the snow and ice I'll just be like I'd never thought of it. Never in all of our time with Sakawachi.

And I thought that it could be a possibility to sacrifice Koula Khan. So hesitant to say, because he knows the cool Hulkan is always listening. Doesn't seem like a feasible option to me. But I'm curious what you think. And you look, Buggles, he's not looking at you, like he's looking down, like you can't see his face. He's like looking down at the snow as you walk with the hood over his eyes, and he looks up and you just see the strain, like in his eyes. He says, I am using every ounce of my effort to restrain him.

Knows, perhaps, his time of death is near. I do not know what this will entail, or if I am capable of doing it. I am also loathe to forfeit the power that I can use to save my family and friends, my people, back home, whether the prophecy I was told was true or not, is a power that I could potentially use to overthrow the oppressor. This is a difficult journey for me, and I am sorry. I am sorry for everything that I have done and that I might do. Forgive me." He just looks back down, scrunch, scrunch, scrunch. I'm sorry for everything that I have done and that I might do. Forgive me. He just looks back down not just your people, but everyone.

This... You think... The Kula Khan... Can, say... Hear everything I say... When you are in this process of restraining him? I know that he can. Well... His power... Has done a great deal to help us as well. I am also loath to simply give it up

on the word of Sakawatch's grandmother. Perhaps there, perhaps a different solution will present itself when we arrive. Let's keep our minds open to all of our options. I hope you are right. For also, he and I are so intertwined now, I do not know that I can sacrifice him without sacrificing myself in the same effort. Indeed. I have often found myself afraid of him,

but I do not know that that means he is evil. Sorry. So cold. I do not know that the two are one in the same. He is intimidating. That is a fact. He has, it feels like, great power. The power to free your people. But you also have friends now. You have friends that could help you do the same. He will know. I fear he will not lay down his life without a fight. And Remus just nods in the cold, pulls his cloak of elvenkind closer around him and won't say anything else for the moment. Just keep trudging through the snow. About Zephyr and Gic. about Zephyr and Gek. This cool new thing I learned, and she like does some weird stuff with her arms

and they become like these weird gnarled things and she like whacks you. She's like, hey, stay right there. Whoa. Take 2D6 sandwich, I'll roll it. No, it's just immobilized. Six. Oh, I can't move.

Yeah. Oh, I can't move. I can't move, what did you do? I don't know, it's just immobilized. Six. Oh, I can't move. Yeah. Oh, I can't move. I can't move. What did you do? I don't know, it's just this new thing I learned, I think, from just laying on those great punches on those weird nightmare things. Oh, I can move again. Do it again. Hubert? Do it in your mouth. Hubert, are... Hubert?

Oh. Hubert, are your feet getting cold? No, no, they're hairy. You of all people should understand. You think I have hairy feet? I've seen hair in places most women don't have it. How many women have you met, Hubert? At least three since mother.

All right, anyway. That's pretty, that's pretty dope. Hey, can I talk to you? Oh, okay. You, we move a little bit further away from Hubert. Can we speak away from the hedgehog? Hubert, go somewhere else. Go hang with the guys.

All right. At last. No! Wait up. No! No, what are you talking about? No. No. No thank you. Where shall I tell you what Harry said?

No thank you. Um, I don't, I don't have a very good, I've got a pretty good like gut sense and it's gotten me thus far in my life and I've stayed alive. I don't have a pretty good gut sense about what's coming. That's why you shouldn't think about it. We've had no control this whole time. We continue to have no control. We have all of our memories back and it still kind of doesn't feel any different. I thought we'd feel, I'd feel more clear. And I don't. And yeah.

Yeah, I just kind of feel worse. Yep. Well, we didn't do extinction. Well, we didn't do extinction. But now remembering what it was like to be there. Now seeing it in my own eyes, the things that I've done. now remembering what it was like to be there. Now seeing it in my own eyes, the things that I've done. I don't know. I don't know how to get right with that. And she like turns back behind her to the table, leans back, grabs a skin of wine,

and she was like, holds it up. Well, that'll help. That's a start. This, for now. Yeah, that's a start for now. Until maybe we can go back to the mainland and get therapy or whatever they have here. Yuck. I'll take some of the wine. No time for that. No rest for the wicked, right? Pours glass. Oh, thank you. I was just going to take her to the wineskin. Thank you.

I already had glasses. And this year it's amazing like an unnecessary step in a horrifying survival situation I have your little moments of humanity bring out the crystal stemware I open up the bag running through the snow. It's full of porcelain plates Possibly leave these crystal coblets behind It's a magic yurt. It's a magic yurt. As they're drinking the wine, what about, and she looks over at Remus and Buggles

getting their head start as we pack up the yurt. What about Buggles? I mean, he's your friend, right? You've known him longer than I have. Well, you mean the whole God thing? Yeah. Yeah. Kind of everything.

I'm hoping there's another way. Maybe we'll find another God on the way there to sacrifice. It leans into Zephyr. Because I don't know how we're gonna sacrifice part of Bugles that we don't see. Zephyr. And he always says that he doesn't like to be talked to like he's two different people.

Zephyr. Maybe the Kulakan and him aren't separate. Kik is nodding. Zephyr. What? That's what I'm saying. Yeah, cool. What are you gonna do?

What am I gonna do? When we get there? Yes. Would you be- No, for breakfast. Would you be willing? She takes another, she chokes away. Would you be willing? Zephyr doesn't wanna go to the place

you're bringing her to where it's like, are you gonna murder your friend? She's like, want to go to the place you're bringing her to where it's like, are you going to murder your friend? She's like, wait, what? No, we're not going to. That was my question. There's obviously going to be another solution to this. It kind of just nods and looks over at Buggles. There's no way.

Yeah. Right. I'm sure Sokka Watch, and she continued packing, I, I'm sure Sakawatchi had an idea of a different living god before he met us, right? Do you think we'll see Sakawatchi there? I don't know. What if he tries to kill Buggles? Should we defend him?

Yeah, hell yeah, hell yeah we defend him. But are we still not doing the right thing if we do that? Man, if I knew what the right thing was, I would not be here. I wouldn't have walked through a gate to begin with if I had done the right thing, I think. All we can do now is try to not keep doing the worst wrong thing. Well, is not sacrificing him the worst wrong thing. Well, is not sacrificing him the worst wrong thing?

I think sacrificing him would be the worst wrong thing. Yeah, that's what it feels like to me. That's what it feels like to me. Yeah, let's agree right now. We're not gonna kill Buggles or the Coolacon if they're different. I agree to that unless it's what Buggles wants. And I don't know if he's ready to talk about that.

I'm not ready to talk about that. But I haven't talked to him and he's been acting different and you guys know him better than me. I'm not, I can't step in. I can't I can't step on those hard to talk to you lately I know and I'm scared for him We should catch up to them Here take this. Okay packs up the glasses Revealing we have many other glasses. I chug the rest of the line put it back in the bag

We stack all 15 porcelain crystal glasses and roll them into the yurt. Wrap them up in newspaper. Yeah, individually. You're moving. Yeah. And roll up the yurt. Kitchen.

Kitchen. And we leave that scene. And you're back on the high ice, trudging across this wasteland, but with your new skill feat, Ramius is emboldened with all these extra spell slots. He's just firing holy light off into the sky. Like, good morning, grass! Then, psh, to vinyl.

How dope is that? And every so often, Gick pulls your sleeve and is like, make sure your wrists are covered. That's part of it. It's a vital entryway to the cold. You lose most of your heat through your wrists. Through your wrists. She keeps giving tips over that hour,

and then we all know how to do stuff. Yeah. I would imagine that first hour, there might have to be some, I don't want to get into any pretty of it rim jar rim jar oh yeah right right All right, fellas. We've only got an hour. What was happening in that yurt? You're just giving one hour rim jars. For all the fellas. Don't come in.

Don't come in. The yurt smells like rim jars. Suppose it's my turn. No. You burn it out of here. Oh, god. Rime. Rime jar. We'll say you're fine. And y'all got a little pep in your step. When you go to bed that first night after your experience with Sesshu in the dreaming you are not plagued by these

nightmares that you've been plagued with for a couple weeks now. You are clear-headed. Awesome. You know any sort of mental strain you've faced it's still present but it's not omnipresent it's not all you think about. There's something about knowing that the end of your journey is coming, which is reassuring, but there's also this new thing that has entered your minds, the idea that the end of your journey could be the end of your journey. Not only for Buggles, depending on what this all means, for Buggles, depending on what this all means. But knowing the threat of a Soyo and whatever minions have gathered at the Nameless Spires, on day 72, four days after what Edward estimated,

you climb a bit of a ridge and just when you get to the crest in the distance, jutting from the horizon like dark gray horns, you see six monolithic towers Three of them are identical and stretch a couple thousand feet into the sky you think Couple thousand feet a couple thousand feet into the sky. Wow The other three are of uneven heights One looks to be about half that, one a little less than half, one about 1.5 times size. And even from this distance, you can tell that that wasn't an intentional part of the architecture. Those towers have probably crumbled over time.

These are ruins of a civilization that once was. These... It's like the Burj Khalifa. That's a little less than the Burj Khalifa. It's like seven of them. The immense size of these towers from where you're standing distorts your perception in a way of how far you have left to travel. They seem so huge that you don't know if you're almost there or if it's going to take a long time to get there. The way they're climbing out of the horizon, you don't really see what's at the bottom yet so you just point in the direction of your final destination, the Nameless Spires. Seven hours pass and you start to draw close enough to notice that one of the

spires in particular appears noticeably darker than the other ones. What are they made out of? I mean, what kind of material? Stone or? Ice? It looks from that distance you'd think stone. What kind of material? Like stone or... Ice? It looks from that distance you'd think stone. It doesn't look like glass or anything like fancy and sci-fi.

It looks like stone. But when you get there, or you get closer, after eight hours' travel from seeing it on the horizon to getting closer, you notice that one of them is noticeably darker than the others. You continue forward a little bit more and you notice that not only is it darker, but at the base of the tower, the color is like changing. It's like shifting from gray to black. From far it just is this weird like color change. You think our mind's playing tricks on us.

I think it's some sort of mirage, sort of hallucinogenic effect here. So you continue forward. Sorry, sorry, sorry, but it's consistent? It's consistent, yeah. But it's not moving. No, no, it's not moving. It's just like the color is altering. You look up, it doesn't seem to be an effect of the sun like shade or something. There's something weird going on there. Well you continue forward and the cause of this change eventually becomes clear. It looks like there are these great vortices of wind laced with what looks like black ash curling around the spire and it's sort of painting the spire darker and darker at a slow but inexorable pace.

It's just like, and so it looks in a moment, depending on how you're looking at it, it'll look gray, but then it looks black again, gray and then black. And whatever this wind is, it's climbing up one of the towers in particular. You push on and soon this area, these ruins unfold before you. You get about, still, a dozen or so miles away and you can see nestled within these six spires a city come into view. The stone structures are obviously much smaller than the spires themselves, but no less strange in appearance. Nat.

Just like Mount Zamanis. David I'm sure this is where they drew from. And I haven't read that in a hundred years, but it is kind of ringing a bell. This is classic fantasy, ancient civilization. It looks very strange to you, stuff that maybe you've seen in history books, but even then it defies most logic. There are domes, there are twisted towers, angular facades, all clashing and competing for your attention.

Flesh of domes is caves of ice. Ha ha ha ha. You were wondering in particular, what are these made of? And you can still see that stone, but it almost looks like these buildings are made of a dark green stone. Maybe over time they've aged and there's some sort of fungus, or maybe that's just

the color of the stones up here. There are twisting streets sort of weaving between all of these buildings and domes, paved in massive slabs of gray basalt. At the city's heart, looming hundreds of feet, 500 feet over all of these ruined buildings, stands a giant hexagonal pyramid. You would think that this is the first and last temple of Akakaru, where you are destined to go, though even this

pyramid is dwarfed by all the spires that surround it. As is tradition, just seeing these ruins provokes within all of you a profound sense of deja vu. Your memories have come back to you since your moment in the dreaming with Sesshu, your moment defeating those dream scrapers. And though your memories of your prior visit here are still vague, they're distinct enough to remember the name of the temple, the first and last temple of Akakaro. You remember hearing that, knowing that that's what your destination was. You also know that this darkening of the spire, this wind, this vorticity of wind and ash,

is a new development. When you were here, that was not happening. Whatever is happening there at that one spire? It is recent. What do you do? How far are we away from? Twelve miles? Yeah, ten or twelve miles. I guess we should make our way.

Does anyone remember this? That wind rising up the tower? No. Me neither. No, I do not. These memories are coming back, but this is not among them. Keep walking. Is the spire that's being...

Where is that spire in relation to us? Like is it closer to us than the other spires? So if you're looking at this city from where you're standing, imagine a spire that's nearest to you here to the left, another one to the right, and then like two at the center, two in the back. It is the one middle left. Maybe we should head over towards... It's either we walk towards that, I guess, or into the center of the ruined city. Walk into the ruined city, see what's there. Yeah.

Or we can cut through the city to go towards the spire. Are there any animals around? Birds, like any sign of life. Yeah, you see a bird. A gear falcon? Yes, there happens to be a gear falcon. Okay, quite a loud- Swooping nearby.

Falcons pretty distinctive call. Ah! Huh. No, it's a Arctic sparrow. Perfect. Um. Arctic sparrow. Okay, I-

Google it. The bears are well known for all their birds. I tune in to the Arctic sparrow. It's one of the rarest sparrows in the world. There's no way it exists. I tune in, high Arctic Sparrows. There's no way it exists. I tune in high survival. Let's remember. Master in survival. Okay, calm down. Not bear grills.

I tune into my animal elocutionist. Okay. I hear animal sounds as conversation instead of unintelligent noise, and I can respond in turn. GMs love this. Yeah, especially Troy. Your first mistake was saying yes. There's an animal.

Yeah. Ladies and gentlemen, we got him. So at this point, you're on your own. In most cases, wild animals will give you time to make your case. All right, so you want to listen in on this sparrow that's nearby? Yes, and if you don't want me to have a fun conversation, I'm at least listening in. Who am I to not allow you to decide what you want to do when you overhear this sparrow talking?

To itself. To itself. What's it saying to itself? Calling to others. Does it say its name out loud first? I think I know what it's saying just cries its name. I know what it's saying It looks up hey hey Bye

What is this bye-bye say Stupid I'm so stupid. It cures this loudly. Oh, I'm so fucking stupid. The Arctic sparrow drops an F-bomb and you just see him slapping himself with a wing. Yeah. Oh no.

You see Gic looking up and she's just going, and she goes, hey. Who's there? I'm down here Dick muck dick muck hood. I'm down here Wait a minute. you're not... You're not me! You're not one of me! No! How can you... How do you understand what I'm saying?

Uh... Hahaha! I can actually talk to... to you! You can talk to me? You understand everything I'm saying? I'm getting it loud and clear. Why are you saying stupid? Why are you mad at yourself? I'm listening in on my private conversation to myself. Sorry, you were screaming in the sky. We were just walking through. Uh...

Well, it's kind of personal. Um, just uh... My wife left and um... She left the nest and uh... To get food? She said she was going out to get some twigs and uh... It's been six weeks. Oh. So uh, I- I just was feeling a little foolish. To get food? She said she was going out to get some twigs, and it's been six weeks. Oh.

So I just was feeling a little foolish, like I should have maybe, after a couple of days, called for help, maybe called the cops. Bird call the bird cops. I'm starting to wonder either she's not coming back, or something happened. Gigg is looking at Zephyr just shaking her head. Stupid.

Are you listening to the... So stupid. Yeah, we just heard... Yeah, we just hear this flurry of... And you just see Gic talking like, I'm sure she's coming back. You know, it's been six weeks. But it's pretty cold up here, right?

And snow happens and it seems really windy. You sound like Mike. I think me and Mike would get windy. You sound like Mike. I think me and Mike would get along. What Mike said. Hey, while I have you, we're actually looking for something. Are you familiar with this tower, this whole area?

This there? Yeah. Yeah, no, I've seen it before. It kind of takes up the whole world. Right, this is the world. Where you live. Yeah, no, I don't live there. Right, this is the world. Where you live. Yeah, no I don't live there. Right, right, right.

Yes. So are there other folks like me, or like big folk, or like anything going on in there? You see anybody? It's got a bad vibe over there. I don't really spend too much time. You think, you think she went there? Well I was gonna say I could check because we have to go in there, but we want some information

Would you do that for me? Yes Do you need me to do something for you? Just information just simply there was a time when I would do anything I don't need anything from it. I needed drugs I could tell you how many assholes I packed to get speed. A rim jar. I'd do anything. So many rim jars. So many rim jars.

Do you need a rim jar? I know about that. I'll do whatever it takes. Just bring my wife back. No. Just bring me Sarah. What was your name? My name is Brombulus. Brombulus. Just bring my wife back. Just bring me Sarah. What was your name?

My name is... Rhombulus. Rhombulus. Okay. Rhombulus. It's a very common name amongst my people. Sarah's the weird name. That's what I loved about her.

She knew about my past. Mike and Sarah seem really special. I was just asking about this place. I'll go in. We can look for Sarah. Okay. But it seems bad vibes, right? There's bad vibes. Have you seen anything in particular, like the wind around that tower? What's up with the wind? It's so windy.

That's a new development. It wasn't always like that. There's people down there now. It was empty. Me or like him? You know, it's funny you mentioned this. Like a few months ago. Why are you pointing at me?

Or like them? What is it saying about me? Uh. It's just. A few months ago there were people here and then they all sort of went away and now there's people there again. There's a lot going on.

The ground has opened up. Right. Every time, last time I flew over there, I did not feel good. You should stay away from there. I will. I hope Sarah's not in there. I hope not.

But if she is, I need you to promise me you'll do everything in your power to bring her home. She looks again at Zephyr, shaking her head no. I can't breathe, I can't breathe. Yep, yes. Side quest. Shit, I scroll, oh my god, there's so many. Finding Sarah.

Finding Sarah. Finding safe Sarah. Oh no, I look on the map, I like, it's not visible on the map yet, I'm like, this is gonna take a while. I've been clean for 16 years. But last night things got bad, and I almost relapsed. Bring her home, or you'll be killing me too. Okay.

Tweet tweet tweet tweet is all you hear. Thank you, Romulus. Tweet tweet tweet tweet is all you hear. Thank you, Rhombulus. I think this conversation is precisely what the designers had in mind when they wrote. No question. When they wrote this particular ability into a master survival set.

Rhombulus the drug-seeking burger. The Arctic Sparrow. The Arctic Sparrow is sure in the adventure. Fallen on hard times. All right, well, we'll be off. Anything else that you might know about before we go in there? Because it looks pretty bad. Is there a better way to get inside? No, no, no. I wouldn't go in there at all.

But yeah, no, it all looks pretty dangerous. Those towers, they're right in the middle of the city. And there's a pyramid. Just, I would stay away. A pyramid, too? Yeah, everything's in there. You can't get in. It looks impassable. I Just, I would stay away. A pyramid too? Yeah, everything's in there. You can't get in, it looks impassable. I mean, I can fly. Can you fly?

No, I purposefully didn't take that spell to get something else. We talked about it, but maybe I should've. I could fly my whole life. Didn't stop me from using. Oh, Romulus, the sun is really getting low. I think we should probably. Get lonely out here on the high ice.

Yeah, I think we gotta get a move on, so. It's lonely out here on the high ice. I'm gonna get to getting and. Just wanna be clear, the sparrow's this big. Yeah, yep. And now you look really awkward. Yep, I keep, Gek is backing away from this very small, unassuming sparrow.

I back away with him. We really gotta be going now. What is he saying? So late. All right, well, thanks for stopping by. Stupid, stupid. I hopefully see you on the other side. How was your conversation?

That was not what I thought it was gonna be. What did you think it would be? That was not good. Talking to a tiny bird. The bird's wife left him, and it might be in the tower. He's using drugs to get by. Drugs. Shut up. Drugs.

Yeah. He also said the word. Where? Where is Drugs? Bird Drugs? I don't think you want to hang out with Romulus. Just asking if he keeps the drugs in the nest or something. Oh yeah, did I mention?

We want to make sure he doesn't have anymore access to it. Did I mention? The bird's name is Romulus. Just asking if he keeps the rest of the nest or something. Oh yeah, did I mention? We want to make sure he doesn't have any more access to it. Did I mention? The bird's name is Romulus, so we should really keep our distance. What's his wife's name? Sarah. Huh.

And his best friend's name is Mike. You had an extensive conversation with this bird using an ability that is so far beyond my understanding, only a master of survival could possibly do something like this. Did you find even one piece of useful information in that exchange? Did you tell him to go maybe fly over there for us? Did your ability net seriously even one moment

of anything beyond comedy? We're giving us another side quest. I didn't think so because because it never does ever. Well, we did learn that the wind is something new. Something's happening, because there's people here again, we know. I think we knew that. People here again. Wait, what?

There were people here before. When? I'm assuming it was us. Yeah. But you didn't ask when. He doesn't know his brain is the size of a pea. And he's on drugs. It was probably. And the drugs are making holes in his brain.

The longer his wife is gone, I don't think. Ramius is gonna watch with his fucking bird fly. Yeah. Like. Steal a stash. See where he goes. Let's take a moment and follow him. Let's follow the bird.

I think it's really far from here. Follow him right to the stash. He's like flying moment and follow them. Let's follow them, bro. I think it's really far from here. Follow them right to the stash. He's like flying all crooked and shit. One wing, stupid, stupid. All right. I don't know what our plan is, but there are people inside. It's dangerous. There's a pyramid in the city. Yes, I can see it from here.

Yeah, it just, I didn't get much more. The birds said it was dangerous. The birds had bad vibes. Oh. Bird doesn't go in there. Yeah, it just I didn't get much the birds said it was dangerous the birds had bad vibes. Oh Or doesn't for doesn't go in there because your instincts are probably right Head into the city. Yes, I think we should start there. Let's see if there is a city see if it's Jarz any memories for us Then make our way to the vortex around the tower and we have to

find Sarah I don't think we have to find Sarah at all and then what cast tongues halfway just want to be clear drugs after you saw self-loathing yeah there's a lot of that I don't think we need to bother with him at all so you sort of went into the details I think think it became quite evident that Sarah's not in the towers. She is banging Mike. Yeah. I came to the same conclusion. I feel like Sarah left him.

It's quite obvious. Sarah and Mike are together somewhere. Perhaps in there, if we see them, gain some evidence of their infidelity. I remember when he was like, that's what Mike said. Right. Yeah, that she probably just...

They both could be in the tower. She probably could tie it if his constant drug use. I look off in the distance at Romulus and think, so sad. He's tying a piece of spider silk around his arm. It's a wig. Oh no, no. I look away, I don't like it.

I look away. It's a like it. I look away. A little tidy, little tidy spoon. Look at me. Oh no. Don't look at me. No! But yes, I think we should make our way. Let's make our way to the pier,

to see who's there. Perhaps there are some people lingering about or... Well, he said there were. Let's get a closer look. We also know, all of us know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, this creature has not bursted free, certainly loosening the confines of its prison. Yes, the sparrow mentioned the ground has been opened up.

It's a matter of, I don't know, days? Well, it controlled us once before, Annette. There's no reason to think it couldn't do it again. We must steel our minds as we walk through here. Don't trust everything you see or hear, even from each other. Just know that we are all in this together. We all wish to imprison this thing forever. We're in this together. Don't trust each other.

No, if one of us seems to act violently towards us or if one of us seems to suddenly change their opinion about a Soyuz, it is most likely not them talking. We should have a safe word. Right, okay, that's a great idea. We will know it when we're clear of mind. Should it be Romulus? I don't understand how a safe word works

if you're already mind controlled. Hmm. Huh. Should it be Sarah? Sure, Romulus, sure. All right, let's continue toward the city. And so, you go toward the city. It's like any sense.

It doesn't make any sense. Makes zero sense. Poor bird. You. Dude, honestly though, it would be dope if Sarah was in there. I hope so. I hope we do Bangin' Mike?

Bangin' Mike? We walk in on them? Like she's got a nest full of eggs that aren't- No! That are Mike's eggs? She has another family. Oh my god. Housewives, this is all you.

I know. Did you ask Romulus if he had any kids? I don't think he did. Maybe that's why Sarah left. He implied his nest was empty. He didn't want to bring kids into this. Also, did he say he was clean for 16 years? I think that's the longest sparrow- Arctic sparrow. Arctic sparrows. His nest was empty. He didn't want to bring kids into this. Also, did he say he was clean for 16 years?

I think that's the longest sparrow a sparrow has ever lived. They live a long time. Yeah, Arctic Sparrows live a long time. Birds live a long time. Clean for 16 years. Especially when they're clean. When they're clean, when they're doing drugs, they live a lot longer. So many of them though these days.

Yeah, so many. It's hard to send in the drug abuse. Oh wow. I feel like I have to say, just for people listening, sparrows live for three years. Exactly, that's why I was like, this thing is. This is an arctic sparrow. Yes, this is an arctic sparrow,

which is like, galarian specific. Magical, there are arctic, is that an arctic sparrow? No. Are they cute? You shut your mouth. They're adorable. There's no way there's an arctic sparrow. I don't think so.

I think it's just small birds that live in the arctic that look... Don't ruin the moment. Truth. I'm having fun. You trudge forward. As you get to the city outskirts, two sites really command your attention. There's the Blackening Spire and the hexagonal

pyramid. I'm going to say something before, real quick. The vital beacon is lit. Brother Ramius has that. Because now that I don't have to do those castings, he does have that. Just in case we got jumped or something, I'm going to let you know. The beacon is lit! The beacon is lit! The beacon of Ramius is lit! The beacon is lit! The beacon of Ravius is lit! Now and then, you, as you kind of take in this scene, you spot gusts of wind laced with this ash

that look like they're blowing from the temple to the spire, like all caught up in this wind vortex. It's almost like the tower is directing energy to the spire in a way. And energy or something. Wait, there's a tower in a spire? You're talking about the hexagonal pyramid? I'm sorry, the pyramid. The pyramid is going from the pyramid to the spire. Yeah, of course. Some central nervous system there. The entire temple is, it looks like it's almost sheathed in like a shimmering light now that you're closer to the city itself. More of this rolling wind and black ash covers the temple as well as the spire. It's

different though, but it looks to be in one direction going from temple to spire. The buildings that loom over the city streets, they're all open to the elements. There are no doors on any of the structures. You think that if there were doors, they've wasted away. Anything that once lived in these buildings must be gone. There are no signs of life within the buildings. The city itself, from the outskirts here looks completely abandoned.

The streets leading through all of these buildings, leading to the pyramid and leading to each individual spire, have been sort of broken in half by a series of fissures in the ground that have they're like cleaving the streets, cleaving some of the structures as well. It looks like a bunch of different fissures but depending on how you look at it might just be one crack that is kind of spidered out throughout the city, but they're very wide wide sort of Rivening in the ground and they're crushed with this dark ash It makes the ground seem infected in some way

And there is this unsettling sound as the wind whips around the city. It sort of whips in and out of these holes. Like a whistling, like a whistling, like a whisper. It's like, oh, you hear like whispers on the wind. Sorry. Going back again, who built these spires in this pyramid? The Salman Kar built the spires. this pyramid? The Salmanqar built the spires, right? So this is a Salmanqar holy place, a Salmanqar temple. I mean a two-

Or like it was erected when he sacrificed- Two thousand foot tower? Like this is an epic- Or it existed and they just lived there? Civilization sort of thing. Or it was erected when he sacrifices God, like in a magical way maybe? From what I read. Yeah this is a for as far as you know this is a city that was built by Salman Karr a long time ago. And do we know if this is the the temple the pyramid is on the

exact North Pole of Galarian or it just happens to be somewhere on the ground of the world? You don't know if it's on the exact North Pole but you feel like looking at the map and everything that you're as close to the North Pole as it is, and that carries with it its own energy. Let me go, this might be helpful to you. Let's go to a map. I mean, according to the expedition route map,

these spires are the North Pole. Very interesting. Oh shit. So you see the way these fissures are. Holy crap. Yeah, not good. Sort of makes the traversing city streets. Not something you would call, quote, passable. Yeah, they look pretty impassable.

Yeah, they're like these, yeah, they're these huge fissures. Amazing. All right. Well, it looks like there's an entrance there to the south. Bramius is so freaking nervous. He's more nervous than anything that he's going to like, be mind controlled. That's really like his worst fear is that he's going to go in here and then help

finish what he started. He's trying so hard to steal his mind against it. He's holding his holy prayer beads that have turned into the symbol of Gruhastha. He's holding them close. He's holding the greater staff of healing, using it as a walking stick. Just walking closer and closer. I keep... let my mind be sound. Please let me help my friends. And I'll start walking toward the closest fissure. I'm I'm actually gonna get kinda close to it, to like, maybe even peer down. Oh God.

See how deep it is. Does it really disappear into like, he's going very carefully to just sort of peer over the edge. Okay. Everybody give me your perception check. Perception. I don't see anything at all.

25 for Remus. 25. Gick and Buggles. 19. 33 for Gick. So a couple of things. As you peer over the edge here, they look, you see no bottom, right? You don't know if it just goes on forever or if it's just so black down there it's hard to see where it ends. However, within these fissures,

there seems to be this ash that is rolling and moving, not necessarily like alive, like a fungus, but just sort of like constantly flitting about. There's a wind blowing down there. Yeah, the wind is blowing it all in, and that probably makes it harder and kind of obscures how deep these fissures really are. You look across this main fissure to where there are smaller ones and in the distance here where I'm pinging on the map there

you probably can't even see the ping unless you zoom way out but the next big open space there straight ahead you'll see if you look real closely, there's some movement there on the map. Oh, yeah. That is where the base of the spire is, the spire that from a distance looked like it was just bodies all over the place. It's like, no, it's like outlines of ash bodies. Oh my god.

Are they real? I can't tell from here. There are bodies. There are bodies and it also looks like there is some sign of life there. It's hard to see who or what is over there because of these swirling mists that get thicker near the base of the spire. But there is some sort of life over there and it's weird. A few of these bodies that are lying on the ground, dead, I guess, skeleton, I don't know. Maybe it's just the wind, but they look to be moving. Lying on the ground, but there's something moving and maybe there's one figure standing

there. It's still pretty distant to you and between the fissures and the ash and the wind, you're not getting a clear picture, but it's very, very, very strange. On top of that, as all of you approach this fissure and kind of peer in, that wind that was whipping through sounded like whispers, continues, but now the whispers have a voice to them. A voice that is familiar, but can't quite place it. You don't know if they're speaking to you or just speaking to anyone.

It's something like give up yourself. Untold power will be yours. Just let go and the world is yours. Everybody roll a will save. Oh, let's fucking go. God damn it. Okay. Okay. Okay.

I said, stay in your right mind. Stay there. For Brother Remus, make sure I have this right. It's just too ridiculously good. Now, 10th level Ramu. That is a 35. Very good. Very good.

23. Not as good. Not as good. Not as good. Very good. 23. Not as good. Not as good. Not as good. 24. Right around the same level of- Don't say it, everybody knows. Level of goodness. But if it's a success, then it's a critical success. Yeah.

I just can't not. She had to say it. Is this an emotional effect? Is this an emotional effect? Is this a fear effect? 33. Oh. He is steeled against this.

Larry. Larry. Larry. Larry. Larry. Larry. Larry. Larry. Larry. Is this an emotion effect? Is this an emotion effect? Is this a fear effect? 33. He's steeled against us. Larry. Kareem.

Pass, pass, fail, fail. And mine is a critical success. I waited until I found out the result of it all. That's very important, because whatever effect is going on here, you are now immune to it for 24 hours. My resolute faith was just praying, help me out my friends.

I suppose you're able to steal yourself, however, Gic and Zephyr, you have this moment where the voice really speaks to you. Really speaks to you where you kind of lean over the edge. I'm gonna just jump right in. And we'll see you next time. Oh my God. He's got to be like, Zephyr, Zephyr, you're a bit close.

Don't worry, I have cat phone. I'll help you, dick. We'll see you next week. It's time to make your membership official. Start your 30 day free trial today and become an official member of the Naish at jointhenaish.com with the promo code GCN30. That's join the naish.com and use code GCN30 to gain access to exclusive podcasts, ad-free episodes, and content you can't find anywhere else. Once again, it's jointhenash.com

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