The Glass Cannon Podcast - Time For Chaos S2 | E1 – The Temptation of St. Anthony

Episode Date: June 9, 2025

With the events and wounds from the Ju-Ju House still fresh in the minds and bodies of the investigators, they must decide whether or not to continue to follow in Jackson Elias' footsteps. Watch the video here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://youtu.be/VMH61JYUEx0 For a limited time, use code "TFC" to save 15% on Cthulhu products at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠chaosium.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 Friday at 8PM ET on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠youtube.com/theglasscannon⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, starting July 11th. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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As a more trusted, more secure payments network, Visa provides scale expertise and innovative payment solutions. Learn more at visa.ca slash fintech. You are listening to the Glass Cannon Network, the premier source for role playing game entertainment. Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, children of all ages, it's Friday night and it's time for chaos. We are back. It's a new year and this is the longest I think I've ever gone between recording episodes of anything.

Maybe COVID, maybe COVID was a longer time. No, I think this is actually longer than COVID because it's been over a year since we have sat together to record an episode. Seriously? Yes, it has been over a year. It's actually been about 14 months. Now you guys watching this home,

you've definitely had to wait longer than a year to see this, but it's been about 14 months since we recorded the finale. Isn't that crazy? Does it feel like yesterday? You're giving a face like, it feels like just yesterday, we gathered around the old-

It's just making me more, reassess everything else that's happened in my life since the last time I recorded it. I'm like, oh no, that's not a lie. Did you peak with the season finale? I think so, that would have been it. Feel like that we plateaued and I feel like I should have made more progress in the intervening 14 months.

Time isn't real. Yeah. Yeah. The true horror is the inexorable march of time. I just remember when we last recorded, I was like, the next time we record, I will have accomplished so much in my life. Be a whole new person. Don't think about that part. Don't think about that part. But you know what? You've got another 20 weeks to accomplish.

There we go. Thank God. So much. At least with this game. Maybe it'll trickle over into your life. But yeah, that seems like a long time, 14 months. It does in some ways, it does in others, because I started re-listening to some of it in preparation, I was like, oh my God, I forgot so much, but in many ways it feels like just yesterday, once you start diving back into the material.

But I'm excited to be back, I've been in my car the past month or so, just driving like driving being like it's Friday night and it's time again like practicing that I think I stumbled over boys and girls it didn't come out perfect I really didn't have a plan but I'm just excited to say it it really it's the first Friday appointment television since Full House I think that's what they said that's what they said that's what they said on the inner inner web But I'm very excited. I'm excited to be back for season two

If you're just joining us for the first time, holy shit You've got a treasure 20 episodes of season one that launched in 2022 and we are back for season two where we are playing a playthrough of the seminal call of Cthulhu adventure Masks of Nyarlathotep. We did the Peru section which was a prologue that was written long after it was ever published as a way for the investigators to get to know one of the key figures who was immediately murdered at the beginning of the New York chapter, which

we played to its completion. And that was the season finale. I'll get to the recap later. First of all, I want to thank our sponsor for the episode for the season. And that's Call of Cthulhu. That's Chaosium, the publisher of Call of Cthulhu. They are our sponsor. We've been working a lot with them lately and they are just fantastic.

We're gonna be doing a lot more exciting things with them, but they saw the season and they were like, hey, good luck, no one's ever finished this campaign. But here's a couple bucks. So I'm excited for them and they're not a sponsor, but I've been saving this blood orange kombucha that just came out to drink just for this episode. So Synergy, if

you're out there and you want to sponsor, I think this would be a good sponsor. Yeah, it would. I like their kombucha also. Nothing streams masks of Neolitho-Tep like kombucha. Like a fungus you can drink. Blood orange. It is a Lovecraftian. It is just like a blob of bio matter that you refer to as the mother. That's true. There's stuff crawling around in there.

How was everybody doing? I mean, we had like a quick little, ready everybody's mic ready? And then we were live and we really, this group has hung out piecemeal. And I guess in LA we were all in the same room together, right? Did we like high five? Did we? Actually, no, I think I'm remembering that maybe there was a group photo and I was like, ah, that's tough, gas, gas. Did we do that? I think we did. Yeah, we got a photo.

Absolutely. We talked. We got some good FaceTime in. I never felt, I never feel shorter than when I'm standing next to Rob and Ross. Towers of Power. That was fun, yeah. I didn't really talk about anything else, but everybody's good? Everybody's living the dream? Chilling, waiting for various strikes to end. Yeah, we striking.

Maybe by the time this airs, you'll be back looking for work as opposed to not being allowed to look for work. Yeah, that's true. But at least you'll have this forum with which to play pretend. And I'm pretty excited. I could goof off for 10 minutes, but I've been waiting long enough. You've been waiting long enough. The audience has been waiting long enough.

I think we jump in and we play. And the best way that I can start today is with a pretty thorough recap that still barely scratches the surface of everything that we did in season one. And so I highly recommend if you enjoy this and you didn't listen to all of it, listen to it. There's some magical, magical episodes in that,

and I'm excited to see what magic we create. We're a little season two, a little S2. But season one introduced us to our four heroes, our four investigators, as they're called in Call of Cthulhu parlance. We have Feroz Gibran, a graduate student at Miskatonic University studying occult cryptology among other things. We have Margot Sauer, a German born photographer and artist.

Vaughan Villiers, a British veteran of the Great War turned rather well-to-do dilettante and Carter tillinghast a conman in debt to the mob There's four very curious people from four very different walks of life and when our story began It found all of them in Peru in March of 1921, where they all traveled to join an expedition to find a lost pyramid hosted by a man named Augustus Larkin. There were promises of riches and great knowledge on the table. But everyone had their own reason for traveling to Lima.

So the four of you get there to the bar. A couple pisco sours are ordered. And you meet with Larkin and his strange associate, a man by the name of Luis de Mendoza. They're given off weird vibes, like they're not telling the whole story of what they're after. But after meeting them, they take their leave, and another man who's joined the expedition stays behind,

a man going by the name of Jesse Hughes. Of course, after Larkin and de Mendoza leave, Hughes reveals to the investigators that his real name is Jackson Elias. He is a writer from New York who joined the expedition to research a death cult in the area. This is a death cult of alleged fat sucking vampires known as Kari Siri. There are a lot of local legends

that he thinks may have some truth to them. There are no vampires, he says, but there is a death cult, and it's alive and well somewhere in and around Peru. In fact, he believes Larkin may be leading all of you into danger and may be involved with the cult. So, you go on this expedition and sure enough, the Karasiri are all too real. In fact, Larkin's associate, Domendoza, is one of these creatures.

They're conquistadors who long ago came here, fell under a curse which made them both ageless and hunger to suck the fat out of people and animals only to return to the pyramid where they were first cursed and vomit this fat back into the pyramid as a sacrifice for their god. Larkin, while not a Cary Ciri himself, is possessed by some great being who's driving the ship. And this being reveals themselves to you at the pyramid using Larkin's body as its mouthpiece. You are forced to kill Larkin and you free him from the possession, but not before feeling like this god or whatever it is that was inside Larkin has marked you in some way.

Larkin's disembodied head actually floats up at one point and the voice, I think it's Larkin's voice but it's clearly not Larkin's, says we will meet again. You enter the pyramid, you fix a broken seal, thus assuring that the cult of the Kara-Siri will eventually die out. And this is evidenced by the spontaneous decomposition of de Mendoza who catches up with you at the pyramid and just melts away. Now during this time you not only become close with each other, but you become close with this Jackson Elias as well. He seems like a nice guy. You have some real intense moments, especially underneath the pyramid when sanity is

being stretched. Four years pass after that and having faced these true horrors After that and having faced these true horrors from beyond all of your lives have irrevocably changed then one day in January 1925 you receive a telegram from your old buddy Jackson Elias inviting you to New York It's a rather short telegram tells you he has It's a rather short telegram. Tells you he has information about the Carlyle expedition and needs a reliable investigative team to help him.

That's pretty much it. Maybe you've heard of the Carlyle expedition. Maybe you do some research, but essentially the story of this expedition is there was a 24-year-old millionaire playboy by the name of Roger Carlyle, kind of a black sheep and wastrel amongst his family, and he funded an archaeological expedition to Egypt, which departed New York sometime in 1919. The principal members of this expedition were Sir Aubrey Penhew, a wealthy noted Egyptologist, Hypatia Masters, a beautiful society girl, an accomplished photographer, Jack Bras Brady,

Carlisle's confidant and bodyguard, and Dr. Robert Houston, a fashionable psychoanalyst who was at all the sexy New York parties. The ex-abinist sailed to London to consult with Sir Aubrey on matters concerning Agent Egypt. Then they departed for Egypt. After performing several desert excavations, an important find was rumored. No one really knew what it was, but at some point the principal members departed Egypt from Mombasa, Kenya, where they quickly went inland into the Nairobi wilderness and vanished.

In March 1920, a local tribesman told authorities a party of whites were seen near the Mountain of the Black Wind. This is a local name for one of the high Kenyan peaks. Rumors began to circulate that the expedition had been destroyed. On hearing of the missing expedition, Roger Carlyle's sister, Erica Carlyle, traveled to Africa and hired a search party, and after ten weeks of searching, the remains of the expedition were found. While the corpses were remarkably preserved, what little was left was torn to shreds by animals. Blame was quickly pinned on local tribesmen

who were summarily tried and executed. The expedition members were declared dead and the incident was forgotten. What did Jackson Elias get mixed up in this time? You probably think to yourself, but you like this guy. And maybe after four years away from Peru, something is calling you back to get the band back together. So you all travel to New York to see your good friend. You arrive at his room in the Chelsea Hotel and enter to find him dead on the floor, his intestines ripped out and strewn about the room and a strange symbol carved onto his

forehead. His killers, three men with these weird headbands, flee through the fire escape. You chase them, but they get away. You search his apartment and find a few disparate clues, then flee off into the night. Couple days later, you go to his funeral, where you meet his publisher and close friend, Jonah Kensington,

as well as his lawyer and confidant, Carlton Ramsey, who invites all of you to the reading of Jackson's will. Jackson had been acting strange lately. He was in fear for his life and he left a message for his friends should anything happen to him. He knew he was in danger. Evidently while following up on the cult that you encountered in Peru together,

Jackson then traveled to Africa where his research led him to believe that not all members of this Carlyle expedition died. Jackson was the type of guy that loved a good story and this was amazing. He was looking for one thing, finds out this, he decides to pursue this story. He believed that there was a blood cult involved and not only that, something possibly earth-shattering was going on.

So you speak to Jonah Kensington and he shares with you Elias's correspondence with him. Elias had basically retraced the Carlisle Expedition's route, traveling to both Egypt and Kenya. At one time he sent a wire from Hong Kong and mentioned something about needing to go to Australia. He was all over the place. The last note that Kensington got from Jackson was from London, where he sounded a little off, talking about a conspiracy of monstrous worldwide proportions.

He then took a freighter for New York, updated his will, left some crazy ramblings with Kensington, and a day later was murdered. So the four of you band together to investigate Jackson Elias' murder, all the while trying to decipher what his interest in the Carlisle expedition was. And eventually you discover that Elias was killed by a cult known as the Cult of the Bloody Tongue. Jackson was always investigating these death cults and blood cults for his writings, so his friends kind of always assumed he would press too far

and it would all catch up with him. But it appears that this cult in residence in New York has ties back to Africa and was somehow connected to Jackson's interest in the Carlyle expedition. So you trace this cult all over New York and eventually to an African antiquities shop in Harlem called the Juju House.

After finally convincing the dirty cops at the local precinct, who framed a local man for all the murders and disappearances that the cult did, they're taking hush money from this cult. You convince them that they're doing that. You then attend a police raid of the Juju House on the night of one of their big ceremonies. And the four of you stand outside

and watch as cop after cop flees in terror as what they've seen in the basement of Juju House. You've been to that basement. You know there's some crazy stuff down there, but the cops are running out mad. Others clinging to life, holding on to their sides as their guts are coming out. You enter the Juju House and go downstairs

and you see a massacre of bodies, cops and naked cultists alike. There's a massive pit with some abomination writhing and moaning within, made up of the discarded corpses of all the cult sacrifices. The cult leader, Makunga Madari, comes out and attempts to cast an eldritch spell. Margo runs up to him and blows him away with a shotgun, not before suffering a major wound and almost dying herself. Meanwhile, poor Vaughn, ever on the brink of insanity, has another bout of madness where

he grabs Carter and attempts to throw him at this writhing mass of faces in the pit. While Faerûs is left to dispatch a zombified version of the woman whose husband was framed for the cult's murders. A woman who was captured by the cult after sharing information with you. You are forced to dispatch with what remains of her and every other threat and after you come out alive barely With your sanity intact Barely in his death throes Makanga Madari screams the name Nyarlathotep

Walking in the footsteps of both Jackson Elias and the Carlisle expedition, there are so many different ways for you to go. And while so much has happened, the investigation has just begun. And that recap really just scratches the surface of what went down. Margo seeing hallucinations of a tub filled with maggots, continually finding a photograph that she never took, a photograph she keeps destroying that keeps showing up, putting on a mask and seeing a blood orgy atop a great mountain. Vaughn putting on that same mask and seeing visions

of red rocks and a man painting on the walls. Not to mention Vaughn talking to and interacting with his dead lover. Faeruz's discoveries in the book Africa's Dark Sex and descending into madness as she unlocks mythos knowledge in all of these tomes that you've found. All of you being attacked by some dragon-like creature that crashed through your window at the Waldorf Astoria.

It was a wild season. Like I said, there's gonna be a lot of housekeeping that we have to do today, but there's one thing that Margo did as we were improvising the end of last season. You said that you put that mask back on. That mask that you found. Yeah. I feel like we, before Vaughn and I, we kind of just looked into it. I feel like she put it on after all of this. She put it on completely.

So the nightmare juju house occurred on Saturday, January 24th. We're doing a pretty good job of keeping track of time here. I think after everything we saw after that, Hilton Adams being freed, dropping to his knees and screaming, Faerûs pouring over all these tomes, going to see her father, Vaughn staying by Margo's bedside, because Margo is going to be in the hospital. Margo being initiated into the order, that probably takes about a week. Now the way we played it out at the end of the last episode,

we saw you being initiated first, presenting that cage mask that you found in the alcove of the basement of Juju House and all the robed figures. Can't see their faces, just sort of nodding in approval. So I think we go back there and see them all nodding while you hold this strange cage with four faces on it.

And then as you're standing there wearing that robe, we see a large dark stain start to spread out in a circle right on your side. And you know, imagine you don't want to make a big stink about it because everybody in the room is looking at you but if you put your hands down there you see that it's blood coming from this wet spot it's blood pouring out of all the wounds that you suffered during the attack at Juju house maybe your fellow investigators patched you up after the fight, but it's at that moment

you realize you need to go to the hospital. And mechanically, you have a major wound. You sustained a major wound, and there's a whole set of things that have to happen to try and get rid of that wound, but it requires serious medical attention. So at some point we see you bow out of that initiation, take a cab straight to Bellevue or wherever, and it's there perhaps in your hospital bed where we see you start to regain

some strength, reach into your bag and pull out this golden mask that you found in Luisa Mendoza, the Kari series, Hotel Room in Peru. That was before you even knew he was a fat sucking vampire. If you remember the back of the mask has this like mirror like sheen to it. It's more mirror than mask. You bring it up to your face and it's almost like your face is being pulled towards it.

Make a power roll. Oh, a power roll. Let's roll some dice. Let's roll some dice. Oh, geez, so sweaty. I'm just picturing her like loopy from the meds that she's on being like, yeah, this is a great idea. Whacked out on ether.

25 under 85. If my power's still 85. It is. All alright, so you succeed Good for me Bad for you Suddenly you put that mask on and the mask is now gone from your hands and you're no longer in a hospital bed you have been transported to what looks like an artist's studio

And it looks so familiar Do you think you had a studio back in Germany like maybe one that you set up on your own or did you have like a pro? studio, um, I think that she had a studio at school and then her teacher Gunter probably allowed her to use like whatever setup he had maybe at his house or if he had like a shed and she would maybe use that also maybe during the summer when the studio she didn't have access to it. So at first you're like, am I here in school? Wait, am I in Gunter's shed? It's so familiar, but yet so different.

And then either it changes like a dream where you're in one place and all of a sudden you're another, or maybe your perspective changes and you realize you're in an attic. And it's an attic full of paintings. There's paintings everywhere, so much so that you can't see deeper into the room. You don't even know if there are other people in the room.

Just this maze of paintings. And as you take in your surroundings, you just hear this like scratching sound. And it's feverish. And it's coming from somewhere deeper in the room. What do you do? I guess try to find it. Yeah, work my way through the maze of paintings.

Like, oh, where is that coming from? You walk towards this feverish scratching sound and you're maybe glancing at these paintings as you pass by and each are filled with unspeakable acts and scenes of horror. But you are drawn towards this scratching sound and finally you go right past one easel and you see a man like huddled in a corner like crouched and he's just like frenetically painting something, throwing paint, scratching with a paintbrush. He's painting something, and just as you sort of see him,

he stops with his back to you. And then he starts to turn slowly to look at you. And as you see his profile, you realize his face is not human, but before he turns all the way around, you feel this like wet, long thing wrap around your neck, and you just scream as it squeezes at you, and you close your eyes hoping that you'll open them back up in the hospital,

but when you open them, you are in a desert, and you look up and see the Sun overhead, but Imagine you go outside right now and look at the Sun because we're recording this in the afternoon This son is a little circle up there this like takes up the entire landscape like video game sized Sun a Huge huge Sun that blots out the sky almost It almost looks like it's crashing towards the earth, moving towards you. And then it gets closer and closer and closer and blacks out, almost like an eclipse except

it happens in an instant. And you can still see the outline of the circle of where the sun should be but then out of that black hole emerges from all sides a mass of tentacles that just starts to spread out all over the world is what it feels like. Just grasping in its hands or its tentacles I should say, and just squeezing the life out of it. And you start to feel the squeezing as well, like you're having a heart attack,

and you wake back up in your bed. Give me a sanity roll. Oh. Ha ha ha. Damn. Sanity, eh? Okay, let's see. 84 at 84.

Okay, you lose 1d3 sanity, so roll a d6. And if you roll a 1, you lose 1. Excuse me, 1, 2, you lose 1. 3, 4, you lose 2. 5, 6, you lose 3. 1. Okay, not bad. And we come out of that.

Whoo, baby. Just had to resolve that. That was a good idea then, I see. That was just bothering me from all last season. I wanted to make sure we resolved that. You were about to do that right at the end of the last episode. Ah, we'll be back next season. So yet again, more visions.

You didn't even have to put that mask on before, just being close to it, but putting it on has transported you and shown you more unspeakable visions, but the overwhelming sense you get, yet again, is dread and impending doom. Now, I think we did this after Peru. There is a investigative development phase.

This is kind of like your level up. And it's especially good for you guys where your sanity is running thin because based on certain things you do, you're gonna get some sanity back. You're gonna have a chance to heal some wounds and you're gonna have a chance to boost up some skills. So let's just walk through your rewards for solving Jackson Elias' murder.

Yes, everybody gets 1d8 excuse me 1d6 sanity points. So go ahead and give it a roll. Much needed. These are gonna be huge especially for Vaughn. Vaughn, what are you starting off at? I should ask everybody what everybody's starting out. Y'all, lest we forget, our friend Vaughn Villiers is hanging by a dang old thread. Out of his max sanity of 93, his current sanity is, count him, 14. Oh, wow.

Maybe. I remembered 14. Yeah. Oh my god. I remembered 14, yeah. Oh my god. Yeah, didn't you have like multiple breaks? Uh huh. Oh yeah. I need some TLC and bad.

So let's see how this excited diet does for me. Maybe I crack 20. You don't, you never know. Yeah, and Vaughn is also indefinitely insane as well, which is something we'll deal with before we move on. Well, two ain't nothing. My sanity is 16. Gentleman 16. Robert of Carter, boost. What was Carter at and what'd you get? Carter was at 43 and I just got five.

Hey! All right, respectable. Feeling good. Stop hogging all the sanity. Kate, what about Margo? Must be nice. I was at 83 after that one loss and I got two back. Oh wow, the rich be richer. Margo is hella sane.

Yeah, it's nice when you're a beginning character because maybe you can live, but I'm kinda itching to become wild. Don't worry, there'll be plenty of time for that. Yeah. And Faeruz. Faeruz was from a 97 was down to a 73. Jesus, 97. Oh, 97 is her max. Yeah. 73 is still ridiculous.

Down to 73, she was tweaking a little bit with that scepter, speaking to her father last we saw her we can um do I have to do a sanity roll or just roll the you just get? D6 back just get a d6 back just a one point okay For exonerating Hilton Adams obviously his story is especially tragic But you did clear his name Maybe he'll be able to pick up the pieces of his life and start over either way you get one d4 sanity points back for that. So give it a roll. I'm just going to walk through these just roll them and add them as we go through.

This next one is interesting for exposing Captain Robeson as a corrupt cop. I debated this one Michael and I both debated it and I think that Maybe you didn't make it public and let everybody know but you certainly got to him and whether he changes his ways or not I think you if you exposed him to himself and let him realize the error of his ways So you get 1d2 sanity points back for that Again, that's a 1 on a 1 2 two, unless you have a D3 sitting around. Two back on a three, four, and three on a five, six. I think you could say that Makanga Madari was neutralized by the shotgun to the face.

It opened his entire torso. And again, I don't know if, I think we talked about this during the show, but I thought about that moment over and over and over again because you got a bad guy you want to do something cool Right and then you step up and annihilate him however one that's Calla Cthulhu like that shit happens all the time and two if Margo misses that shot she dies on the next round a Thousand percent no questions like that's the danger of doing this that's the danger of jumping out of a fire escape

the first New York episode. Right? But sometimes cool shit happens. So for neutralizing Makanga Madari, give yourself another D6. Is that for everybody? Yeah, it's everybody. These are all across the board. Finally. Yeah, this is what keeps you in the game for a little bit.

If the cultists have been broken up or eliminated, yeah, I'd say there were a lot of dead bodies there. Give yourself another D4. And unfortunately, here's when we're gonna lose some sanity. Oh, I was having such a great time. Unfortunately, here's when we're gonna lose some sanity. Oh, I was having such a great time. If Millie Allen dies, you lose one d4 sanity. That's in addition to the sanity you may have lost

when you were exposed to her in that stage. That's a bummer. Max that out. Just let me know if Millie rolls a four because that's really sad. Yeah, that's me. That's me. I think you felt for her.

You really. I rolled a four on the last one that we got. Like you're like, roll a d4, get that back. And then I just completely negated it. Yeah. I mean, there's ways that you can gain more and loss that you just didn't tick. Now here's something interesting.

They have for defeating mythos monsters because different mythos monsters are gonna appear throughout this game You get some back. You didn't get all these like that fucking dragon thing that came after you You escaped, but I think he's gonna live to fight another good day However those zombie like creatures that you fought Milly Adams being one of them give yourself a d8 Insanity back for that so the beauty of that is sort of mitigates what you may have lost in facing it. Vaughn needs that eight.

Folks, you'll be happy to know I just cracked 30. Feels like episode one again. I'm back, baby. Well, here's a good one. That mass of faces. Uh-huh. Get one d10 for back baby. Well. Here's a good one that mass of faces uh-huh Get 1d 10 for defeating that no I Would call that defeated. I can't remember what exactly we fucking pressure cook that thing I think you like did you throw fire down there? Yeah, shut the lid and just let it simmer Yeah, so anybody got a nice sweet nine or ten

No, I got a nine. But I'm already at my max. Yeah. God damn it. That's wild. That is wild. This is like when Jeff Bezos makes another million dollars. Yeah. What are you gonna do with this? Can I roll a three?

It's another rocket ship. All right, so those are the bonuses that you get just for doing what you were supposed to do. There's gonna be other opportunities to gain some sanity back, and honestly, that's gonna be the bulk of the episode of these sort of like, what happens next? What happens to your minds?

Still some more housekeeping. Margo, you suffered a major wound. This is no joke. Major wounds can kill you if you don't receive proper care. So here's the good news. The good news is if we're putting you in a hospital, that is a restful place. If you're receiving proper care, that is good.

That is gonna give you two bonus dice on this check. If you were just like sleeping in a back alley with a like mob surgeon, you might get a penalty die, but you are like in a hospital, in a restful place with the best care. You've got friends by your side. So go ahead and give me a con check, but you're gonna roll two bonus dice. So go ahead and give me a con check,

but you're gonna roll two bonus dice. So you've got three chances here to succeed. And there's different variations of success here. So I've got two extra tens that I'm rolling. Two extra tens for a total of three. Here we go, where's my con? There it is. Con! All right.

Just give me your best. My best one is, what's the skull? A 10? A skull? Like on the- Are you using Tic Tacs? Someone gave me these. I think they might be Cala Cthulhu.

Are you using vampire dice? I think they're vampire dice. So 10 and then a zero, so a 10. Under 55. A 10 and a zero is a 100. Right? Is 10 a zero or double zeros? Oh, would it be zero?

Oh. Yeah, 10 and zero is 100. That's no good. 40. 40 under? 55. Okay, regular success. Oh, jeez. All right, so. Okay, regular success.

All right, so you did an extreme success, which means you have a chance of your major wound continuing. Now give me, roll a D6 and tell me what you roll. You wanna roll a three or higher. Okay. Two. Okay.

You gained back one hit point. You needed to gain back two to automatically remove their major wound. Now, all this is just housekeeping. All this is to say you may have to stay in the hospital longer, which will prolong the next leg of the mission, or you may just suck it up and hop on a boat and receive not as good care. We can decide this. Let's talk about these tomes you've been

reading. Pfeiruza, she loves her tomes. Love it. Tome talk. We've discovered a number of tomes. There was Africa's Dark Sex, SECTS if you're new here. That was from the was from the imagine not having listened to season one and then first of all listening to your entire Yeah It's quite simple really Were we a mature group who never looked askance at the name Africa's Dark Sex absolutely Gentlemen and ladies. Never did a twinkle reach our eye when we heard this name.

I also think it's worth, when you guys go into post on this, for the recap, put a jaunty song under it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Put some turkey in the straw or something. Like the Growing Pains theme or something. Show me that smile, Show me that smile. Guns were spilled everywhere. It was at this point that the vampire people barfed their fat into the pyramid cavern. I guess this seems matter of fact for us.

Yeah. Start over at the vomiting fat into a pyramid. Alright, so when you were reading Africa's Dark Sex and you know now the their mechanical sort of penalties and bonuses to reading tomes. When you read that you lost nine sanity, you gained 2% in your Cthulhu mythos skill, which then lowered your max sanity by two. So it takes away as it gives. All I want to know is, do you think you keep reading this? Because mechanically how it works with tomes is there's an initial reading. Sometimes it's automatic. Sometimes I have I'm going to have you roll a check to see if you can sort of decipher

it depending on the language, how old the book is. With this one, it was like, I think this one was written in like 1918, excuse me, it was written in 1920 in English. So it was pretty easy to read, but it left you rocked. Further study of it will increase your Cthulhu mythos eventually, depending on how long it takes for a complete study, but at the expense of your sanity. It's up to you. If you feel like halfway through, you're like, I've had enough. That's fine. I think by nature, with Feyreuse's background and like her,

I think she would be pouring over this obsessively. Yeah, I think so too. Any opportunity. I agree wholeheartedly. Well, the good news is it's going to take you longer to get to the end of it. Weeks. You don't know.

It's a pretty big tone for a full study. However, as you've spent some time pouring over this specific tone, you come to kind of understand a little bit more about it. If you remember, I said it's an odd mix of travelogue and expose of the ritual practices of a variety of African cults. The notes were turned into a book. There was no publisher listed and evidently Blackwell is impossible to track down. May even be a pseudonym.

Maybe it wasn't even a real person. However you found this in the basement of Juju house you knew this was a book that Jackson Elias was looking for and as you're reading it you realize there is a spell in this book and it is a little bit tricky to decipher, but it seems like it's a spell that brings the dead back to life, but there's a transformation that happens as well. A dark transformation. As you dig further you realize that is what Midari must have done to those zombies that came out of that alcove and that is what was done to poor Millie Adams. They're known as Simba, C-I-I-M-B-A.

It is a horrible creation. I can't imagine this is a spell you'd even want to learn but as you keep reading it you realize There is great power here if you choose to unlock it Zombie Queen, baby. Oh my god He does something important later if one of you guys, you can come back as a Simba. Yeah. Yeah, I don't think so. No consequences. Now Margo, you were reading Ever the Curious Little Bee.

You were reading a book called Amongst the Stones. Another one of these tomes. In English by someone named Justin Jeffrey, written in 1918, so only a couple years ago, handwritten. Looks like a collection of poems. And it was, if you remember, like the texture of the book, it wasn't leather, it almost felt like skin. It was horrible.

Oh, for God. Leathery skin. It's horrible. Leathery skin. So you've completed an initial reading of that. And here's what's going to happen. You roll a d6. Okay. I just put my dice away. Here we go. One. Okay, good. You take one sanity loss. Okay. Okay. But then you gain one point in your Cthulhu mythos skill. And your max sanity goes down by one. So little miss maximum sanity. Just got a little less maxed. Down to 97. I went from a 99 to a 98. However will you get by?

It's hard out there. Yeah. Now, let me ask you this. This book, unlike Africa's Dark Sex, which is going to take Feru's weeks, nice little ship reading for your travel across the pond. This one you could finish in like a week. Do you want to try and fully digest it? Or after getting about halfway through,

I'd be like, I've had enough. Well, I imagine she's bored while she's in that hospital trying to heal. It's great hospital reading. Maybe not so much for beaches. The nurses are like, where'd you get this book? Feels like skin. It feels familiar.

Yeah. So you continue reading and there are poems. You're an artist, I imagine, even if you don't like poetry, you get it. And there's one poem that you keep coming back to as you're recovering. It's called The Trappings of a Queen. In it, it speaks of the three most prized possessions of Queen Nytocris. This was like an Egyptian ruler back in the day. Speaks about her three most prized possessions that she will one

day return with to rule again. Her crown, a jet black circlet topped with a cut gem. Her girdle, a narrow band of intricately linked gold chain clasped by a large Kabashan cut ruby Ruby that's cut like a six-pointed star and her necklace a long silver chain Decorated with small emerald beads and a large square emerald pendant Carved with the image of a black Sphinx Give me another d6 roll with the image of a black sphinx.

Give me another D6 roll. Okay, okay, okay, okay. Ooh, six. You lose three points of sanity. Okay. Your Cthulhu Mythos goes up by two and your max sanity goes down by two and you have completed reading of this. What is your mythos at right now?

Mine's at three now. I just gained all three of that. Good for you. All right. So your mythos is at three. Now the way that tomes work, you could keep reading them and it like doubles the time that it takes and keep unlocking Cthulhu Mythos at the expense of your sanity.

There are no spells in this book, but if you wanted to get rocked a little bit, you definitely feel rocked. And pretend I didn't know this. The benefit of having Mythos points is so you can pull off spells? Or I forgot the effects of the game. It allows you to sort of, when you're confronted by, whatchamacallit, by mythos things, it gives you a chance of trying to understand

what you're up against. But I don't think it is relevant to casting spells. I can't remember. There's a whole, there's another mechanic in the game called magic points, and you can gain magic points in certain ways. Some of you, like, I think it's based on your intelligence or whatnot and you can gain magic points in certain ways. Some of you, like I think it's based on your intelligence or whatnot. You can find items and some that you may already have that give you extra magic points.

But I'm not sure I'd have to give further look into what the mythos skill really gives because yeah, otherwise what's the point of giving myself a greater mythos skill? And what's the title of this book? Because I just have it down as Margo's skin book Margo's skin books amongst the stones amongst the stones And then Faeruz was reading one as well Another one you can't put these books down these this is why when you went to your father

And you thought you were giving him the shit, and he looked at you and just crazy, crazy air. You're reading these horrible, horrible things. Steady buddies pulling all-nighters. You're looking through these manuscripts. They're like bound together. They're all over the place. And if they were to be titled, it seems like there's a phrase that comes up over and over, and like notes in the margins, like maybe it's called the necotic manuscripts, perhaps?

And as you're reading them, they're stories that at first seem like Greek myths. They're like retellings of Greek myths. And I say retellings because as you delve deeper, they don't always align with the myths that you know. And I imagine as a student of the occult and cryptology and whatnot, you've spent some time with your Joseph Campbell. And this doesn't quite, these stories don't quite align. Like maybe they're just straight up retellings.

But then there are passages that start to talk about Earth in a pre-human time. It talks about these little creatures known as crinoids, which are these marine-like beings that look like fluffy spiders and they're still around today. These are real creatures. But it talks about them in a way that like, it's like they knew shit. Like this was their land.

These little crinoids. And then it starts to talk about other beings that inhabited Earth long before that and they are mind-bending in their description. It sounds, there's alien and then there's like beyond alien and this sounds like beyond alien. And as you continue reading, you get the sense that further reading may allow you to contact these other beings, these ancient pre-human alien entities. Unfortunately, I'm gonna need you to roll a d8. My life's work!

Oh wow. Yeah, it's a chunky one. Six? You take six sanity damage. Okay. Permanent? Yeah, well that's just damage. That's just like six damage, right?

And we'll deal with that in a second because we're gonna have to, that's six and one pop. But then your Cthulhu Mythos will go up by three and your max sanity will go down by three The necotic manuscripts I mean you think this would take a year to read all the way through Over time you can tell me if you keep doing so the idea that you could communicate with these beings May come in handy. Hell yes

That is an absolute yes Three add three to the mythos you said Yeah, three to your mythos and then maxsan goes down by three and you lose six sanity which means I'm gonna need an intelligence check and this is one that you probably want to fail I'm sorry, what was it you said it was a? Intelligence. Intelligence is like through the roof, isn't it? Yeah, she understands.

It's at an 80, so let's, how do I make a roll on this thing? Are you doing a little roll Sony online? Oh, I heard a whoop. Yeah. Oh, here we go. It's a d100. It looks like a six. That's weird. I don't think I... is that? Oh, it is a d100. Yeah, I rolled a six. Rolled a six. Normally, that's right in the line.

Smashing success. You understood the living shit out of them. Yes. Nora, however, is confused. Yeah, I mean, you lose six sanity and one pop. That forces you to roll a intelligence check to see if you fully understand the brunt of what you're reading. It's a check that you want to fail

because then you move on with your day. Unfortunately, you succeed because you're fucking smart. And you're like, there are other beings that I can contact? And you just start tearing the book, tearing pages out. I start a board with thread thread. Just... Crazy board? Yeah, it's a crazy board.

Yeah, I imagine you come to, and you're just, you just lying in ripped pages and you slowly start to put them back together in your little room. Just when you thought you guys were okay, you're not. Keep in mind there are two other books, two other tomes you found that have not been looked at. One was in French, to leave Rodivo and Then there is another one called

Hop on pop what is it called? Fuckin Something else there was one other one the other one was in English so something to keep in mind Oh The other one's called life is a God. That might be fun. Fun boat reading. That one's in English. So let me know if, if Rob, if you feel a little left out, you want to lose some sanity and gain some mythos. You think Carter's fucking reading books?

If nobody wants to, I'll definitely take up some more reading. But I don't want to take that away from somebody if they want it. It's also, it's a shareable resource, if you like. I want to learn about life as a god, too. You can definitely, like, can I stop Bogarting life as a god? You can bookmark these bad boys. I looked up crinoid while you guys were doing that.

They're adorable. Aren't they cute? Guess they inherited the earth. The idea that they know things and you see them just kind of listlessly floating around. Contemplating. All right, last piece of real sort of crunchy business before we get into it. Skills. Anytime you use a skill successfully, you should have checked the box next to it.

As long as a bonus die wasn't used. Something to keep in mind. If you use a bonus die for a check, you don't check the skill. I think we've been pretty on top of this because Michael, our man behind the scenes, always sends out emails with what you did. So, let's just take a moment here while we chat. For each of those skills, roll a D100 for each skill. If you roll over the skill, so if you fail, or roll a 95 and above, like if you have a skill that's a 96 and you

roll a 95, whatever, which would have been a fail, 95 or above or over the roll, then you take a d10, roll that, and add it to the skill. That makes sense. Sorry, you're rolling over, and if you succeed in rolling over, you take a D10 additional. You add a D10. Yeah. Great.

Yeah, it's basically like, you know, the better you get, the more successful you are at doing things, you might learn how to get even better at it. Love it. Couple little. I have to roll over it. You have to roll over it.

If it's less than or equal, you didn't learn anything from the experience and the skill doesn't change. Done. After you do each skill, remove the check mark and keep in mind, obviously, Methulu, Methulu, Cthulhu, Methos and credit rating doesn't improve this way.

That's why there's no check box for them. Yeah, so that's a little challenge. This challenge this is like this your level up let me know if anybody goes above 90% because that can happen here if you're like the 80s and you roll a 10 and you get a 90 what happens is you then gain immediately 2d6 sanity points Representing the discipline and self-esteem that comes from mastering a skill Let's see and then if you roll a 96 or above Automatic automatic like success for the term for in terms of Developing the skill. There's a good one persuade. I got a good one. I'm beginning like one and two plus.

Persuade, I got plus seven. Let's go! Hell yeah. Ooh yeah, I get a little more four-shit. I got four. I don't think you can get that. I rolled double zeros in single digits. I'm almost everything.

I was getting low, low, low. Ooh, I got 99. What this does, it sort of encourages you to try more skills, like skills that you're not good at. Like man, why are my locksmith skills this good when I don't know enough history for a college student? Right. Okay, I think that's weird at all.

Okay. Yeah, I just got better at locksmithing and one point better in stealth. That's it. I think very apropos to our experience thus far, Vaughn's library use and occult have gone up. Nice. Yeah, same library and occult. I'm a creep. I have like this spot hidden went up and stealth went up. Oh nice. Last ones photography that's going up. So you're a real creeple deep.

Sure. A creeple deep hole. I rolled the best that I'll ever roll this entire campaign. And I've wasted time. That's the worst like the one time you need to fail a roll. Yeah. Yeah. Or the two times because intelligence checks.

Alright great so you give us some of you got a little boost here Or there's two times, because intelligence checks. All right, great. So you got a little boost here and there. Nobody went above 90, right? No. OK, that'll be fun when that happens. I love that little mechanic. I call it Cthulhu. This is why I love this game.

It has all these little extra chunk if you want it. All right, now another thing that we don't really have to deal with, but something to keep in mind that we're going to be tracking behind the scenes. The more you come to face these horrible mythos creatures you eventually become desensitized to them and so we'll eventually start checking like if you face another one of those giant dragon things or another Simba you know you may not take the automatic sanity damage because you've already taken as much

sanity as you damage as you can from seeing these things. Then you can get into the weeds with these mechanics where it's like, well, if it's been a long time since I've seen one of them, it kind of erodes and you can get scared again. It's kind of kind of fun. Let's look at your backstory elements real quick. Everybody has backstory elements. I mentioned this at the top of the stream. We'll start with the you know, we haven't heard from Rob too much Let's start with Carter tilling hast Carter your I'm looking at your backstory here

Tell us about your significant people treasured possessions and meaningful locations I'm also rereading some of this locations. I'm also rereading some of this. Meaning, a significant people person was Myrtle, the elderly woman who Carter had convinced to marry him with the grand plan of inheriting all of her wealth when she died, except she didn't die. She just kept on trucking. Oh, just real... Just refusing to give it up.

And in the process, that's when he got kicked in the face by a horse, thus ruining his formerly handsome visage. That was just a... He was a real knockout until that, which is why he wears this porcelain mask thing. And what we sort of revealed at the end of the season was that actually before Carter had come to New York to meet with Jackson after getting the telegram, that Myrtle had passed away right when he got the telegram.

And he decided in that moment, after the experiences that he had had in Peru and what he was hoping to become as a sort of a better person, he just packed up and left and did not try to cash in, didn't do any of that stuff, just left. And the problem with that is that he now owes a lot of money to the mob, which he was hoping to pay off with this inheritance, but because he's got this gross Conscience that's growing inside of him like a little crenoid He

He's get addled so Myrtle the significant person is Now insignificant because she's dead, But I'm deleting her from your key connection. Yeah. I feel like that'll get revealed as we go. All right. And you've got a, your treasured possession is a locket with two photographs of you. Pre-accident. Once again, you were kicked in the face by a, what was it? It was a horse. A horse and it left you with half a face. Just a big caved in hole, yeah, that he is covering with this mask.

And your meaningful location is a gentleman's club to escape your ever-living wife. Yeah, that never came up. I don't know what the fuck I was thinking with that thing. Hey, you know what? It's still out there, man. It wasn't a gentleman's club in the modern sense where, you know, he's getting the the lunchtime meatloaf and watching the strippers. It's it was more I think of a where men gather to talk about

their penises or something. I don't know what happens. Every Friday night. Yeah, is it still there? Indeed, it is. Gentlemen's conversation. Yes, old boy. Still very much in place. See you next Friday. Yeah, covered everything I planned on speaking about. All right. Just guys being guys, you know. Keep in mind the development phase and really any time in the game when something significant happens is a great time for you to update, change, or alter any of these backstory things.

Like for you, your key connection will need some updating at some point. Fae'ruz, let's look at your back, Jon, here. You've got significant people. Talk about him. Well, we have in season one met Feroz's father, Dr. Nadine Gibran, who we got to see at the canoodling at the party that we crashed. Very popular NPC, I think. Yeah. Certainly like one of my favorite NPCs. I think you play Troy. I'm sure since last we saw the

both of them, she was kind of losing her marbles, thinking she was giving him the business and putting her foot down and letting him know who's who. And I know you sent me with your order to go into this investigation and blah, blah, blah, but you need me. And meanwhile, she's like super disheveled. But I'm sure she's had a few conversations with him. They have a very unhealthy relationship. So I'm sure that they've had a few conversations and she's still trying to wrap her mind around this and trying to wrap her mind around why this order that they both belong to has sent her out to do all of this work.

And she's been poring over her most prized possession, which would be her mother's diary. Her mother died when she was much younger, under really mysterious circumstances. Her father does not like to talk about it. This is the biggest mystery she has to solve in her lifetime. Yeah. What is going on there with your dad's connection to this society, your mom? Very, very interesting.

A lot of mysteries here. Margot, what is going on with this German? Well, so with the theme of significant people, her significant person that I have written down is Gunter, who was one of her teachers while she was in school. It was one of those situations where the teacher and the student kind of got together. Was it appropriate?

No, did it happen? Yeah. Young teacher, the sun, the Margo's fantasy. He like taught her the basics a lot of what she knows. He introduced her to Debruck, like that like group of people who were the Blue Riders, or not the Blue Riders. I'm getting more confused. Anyways, he kind of influenced her a lot

and it maybe got to the point where like, she maybe had to feel like her own artist, her own woman. Like she's very influenced by him and he's helping her a lot with maybe connections and all of that. And they did have a falling out and I'm thinking it was something a lot and like she said something really awful to him probably like, you know, I need to I can't be what you want me

to be or like I need to be my own person. I can't just be like your little pet or something like that just hurt him and they and that was before Peru. And I think that was maybe her mindset of like trying to find inspiration in Peru. She's like, I need to go off the walls, a different direction away from what Gunter has been like teaching me, I need to prove that I can like do different things and become my own artists. So they fell out, she went on this wonderful journey. And I'm thinking also in the hospital,

maybe this was in the news a little bit. Margo's name came up, he heard about it, and Gunter was visiting her in the hospital, and maybe they're reconnecting, perhaps? Oh, Gunter, all right. Dead side manner. Keep that in mind. And then also one of her treasured possession

that I wrote down a long time ago was, it was a sketch that Gunter drew of her that like looks really peaceful and calm, just like whimsical maybe, and she's always really enjoyed it. And I think it's really funny that there's this like portrait of her that's like deranged a bit that keeps popping up that she can't destroy. So that's interesting.

Yeah, I didn't even look back at that. That is cool. Awesome. And then finally, our veteran here, Mr. Von Villiers. Von, talk to me about the significant possessions, people and locations of your life. So as it was revealed, the significant person in Vaughn's life was a friend named Oberon Doyle, who he went to school with and enlisted with, and this was a young man who was killed in the Great War. Their relationship, as we learn more about it, was exceeded friendship

and was a much closer attachment to which Vaughan may not be able to even give a name. And his possession, as he carries around a letter written by Oberon everywhere. Now probably woefully folded and faded, but is always on his person. And Vaan's cracks into madness having to do with the border between life and death becoming thin, were connected to the mad hope that he may be reunited with Oberon in some way. His meaningful location is his family home back in Britain, named Eaglesgrange, which is like a Howard's End-esque country house, where he has a little study and lives a bachelor's lifestyle, much to the dismay of his family. And I'm looking here on the character sheet and his ideology is the religions of the world

are so much theater and foolishness that he's an Anglican who lost his faith in the war lost his face in the trenches that's very much changed I think that Vaughn's exposure to the mythos has I mean the first thing that's come to mind is that evil is real a palpable and active force in the world. And so he has found faith again and doubled down on, he's taking the catechism, he's becoming more and more Catholic by the day. And with the idea that these forces that he's encountered are demonic and that they are That in some way in his fight with them. He is engaging in a sort of spiritual warfare and So that's what's knocking around in his head I

Love it Well You guys have told me, I emailed you after our last session, probably like the next day or within a week to ask you like, all right, well, you've got some options, where do you guys want to go? And you told me. And so I spent some time preparing that. We changed our mind, we didn't tell you.

Actually. I need another year to prep. But before we get there, I want to give you one last chance to regain some sanity. And the way that you sort of do that in this downtime is either, well, you can use both, therapy or something therapeutic or spending significant time with a backstory connection. That could be a person, that could be a thing, that could be a location, the penis club, for example. Gentlemen's club, Troy.

It's a club for gentlemen. I apologize. There's an accent over the P so people don't know. An anus club. What is an anus club? You, that the latter one spending time with the connection would actually require a role and you could lose

you could eat shit and lose a little sanity but you could gain as well. And those are both best done through roleplay. So when we come back after the break let's get INTO IT! We'll be right back. So when we come back after the break, let's get into it. We'll be right back.

Whether it's a family member, friend or furry companion joining your summer road trip, enjoy the peace of mind that comes with Volvo's legendary safety. During Volvo Discover Days, enjoy limited time savings as you make plans to cruise through Muskoka or down Toronto's bustling streets. From now until June 30th, lease a 2025 Volvo XC60 from 1.74% and save up to $4,000. Conditions apply. Visit your GTA Volvo retailer or go to volvocars.ca for full details. I'm Amy Nicholson, the film critic for the LA Times. And I'm Paul Scheer, an actor, writer and director. You might

know me from The League, Veep, or my non-eligible for Academy Award role in Twisters. We come together to host UnSpooled, a podcast where we talk about good movies, critical hits. Fan favorites, must-sees, and acacia missteps. We're talking Parasite the Home Alone. From Grease to the Dark Knight. So if you love movies like we do,

come along on our cinematic adventure. Listen to UnSpooled wherever you get your podcasts. And don't forget to hit the follow button. Welcome to the realms of peril and glory. Explore the mechanically magical vistas of Vale, the paranormal mysteries of liminal London, and the cyberpunk chaos of cyborg You'll be immersed into unforgettable campaigns and heart-pounding one-shots

Search realms of peril and glory to find out more One, two, three. Now that we got all the housekeeping out of the way, it's time to get down to business. This is the real work, but this is the fun part. This is where we get to see where these characters are at, having experienced everything they experienced, both in Peru and New York, but certainly New York is much more,

it's right now, it just happened. We're like days Maybe a week after the nightmare at juju house So I want to check in with everybody about what they're doing as some sort of Therapy could be therapy could be something else And then we'll move on to talk about how you're going to connect with a backstory connection because that has a little more mechanical stuff to it. But Vaughn,

what do you think your outlet for therapy is? Obviously after Peru, we saw you, I think you were back in England and we saw you with probably your regular therapist and you were talking to him and seeing Oberon Doyle standing outside of the window, wrapping on the glass and waving at you. But now you're in still in New York here. What are you thinking? When last we saw Vaughn, I think he was, well, before he went to a speakeasy for some dancing, he was at confession. And I think he's seeking counsel from the church and maybe trying to

seek out a helpful and comforting priest to guide him through this difficult time. Okay. All right, so we see like an empty church and it's dark, empty pews and a confessional. And may we see you walk up to it and enter. Yes, he crosses himself, it's down. Father, it's been, um... I suppose it's only been a day since my last confession. Is it a sin to see things, Father, if you see things that fall outside the conventional logic that most people experience,

I suppose what I'm asking is how do you... How does one sift and tell a hallucination from a revelation. That is a deep question, my son. Normally, I would say to see things isn't a sin, unless of course these hallucinations were caused by hallucinations were caused by you doing something you're not supposed to be doing. That would sort of tread into a possible sin area. Well, I, of course, as a corollary to this, would confess that I do have a weakness for strong drink. There is no tremens of any kind bringing on what I've seen. No, I've seen things, father. I passed St. Anthony on the way in, bedeviled by an army of fiends. I...

I fear as though I... I've been the subject of the same sort of assault. I've seen fiends darker than those that dwell in the blackest pit. I've seen them, heard them, felt them. They are abroad and active in this world. I must tell you that I feel as if I'm going mad, and yet there is a part of me that knows that what I see is true. Am I being tempted to evil, or is God showing me these things so that I can fight against

them? Well, in St. Anthony's case, he was certainly doing God's work by pushing the fiends back down from whence they came. But hearing what you're saying and your mention of one of your vices being drink, one has to be careful that their sins do not bring about the attention of the devil, yes? Because sometimes that attention is what can be tormenting you. So, in a way you bring it on yourself by the choices that you make in life. I've, um... I've never made any claim to be of an ascetic sort.

I've never been an anchorite, Father. I've done many things, but I suppose I can endeavor to stand between my will and my flesh more than I have made a habit of. And still the visions come. And still the visions come. If one sees the Fiend, how does one rebuke him? Well, when you are faced with demons, there are essentially two roads you can walk down. You can embrace them, give in to their power, have your life succumb to their base needs and join them in their suffering. Or you can rise up like Saint Anthony. Prepare your mind, your body, and your soul for spiritual warfare. Yes.

It... Whatever is his will, I shall endeavor to do. I will not say that it was not my hope, but I... I cannot help but feeling as though I've been chosen. Father. It sounds as if you have, my son, the question. I am a sinner. God knows I am a sinner, but... Why has he chosen me, as a base, a sinner as I am a sinner but why has he chosen me as a base a sinner as I am to

to choose me to take up the sword of the Spirit in this war? Well the question is has God chosen you and anointed you as his holy warrior or has Satan chosen you for his mark. You must be very careful, very aware. I shall girdle my my spirit then with with the armor of my faith, and attempt for the flesh shall always fail, to tread more lightly, and attempt to live more righteously, Father. Pray for me when you have a chance to. I have been chosen for a great mission, and I have been shown things that I may do battle against them. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among sinners, blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Hail Mary, mother of God, pray for us in us now and the hour of our death. And has Vaughn praised the Rosary.

I suppose he gets some... He has been coaxed into a... He's been told that what he's seen is quite real, and that he is now engaged in a virtuous mission. He has been chosen for a higher purpose. And from there we'll fade out of Vaan saying various Hail Marys over and over again. Can we just, I just need a second. Triggered by the Catholic shit.

Sorry, sorry, sorry everyone. Prayer, also Troy just nailing it with the Catholic viewpoint of like, well you brought this on yourself. If I've seen them in loud and ingress it is only because I'm how sinful I have been yes yes my fault as he's talking I'm thinking like a 2023 priest would probably be like hey man don't worry about but I'm thinking

1920s priest I mean you'd like to think so right this definitely true goodness well sorry I'm fine let's get let. That's true. Goodness. Continue, sorry, I'm fine. Let's get, let's keep the, you know, oh, this is great. He's saying, Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed are thou among women, and blessed is the, that continues, and we hear another voice saying that, and blessed is the fruit of her womb, Jesus.

Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. Amen. And we come back to see a priest saying a Hail Mary at a funeral. And there is a coffin, very nice coffin, and a gathering of a good amount of people. So this person must have been old that passed. We cross along the faces until we see the half face of Carter Tillinghast. We gotta resolve this, buddy.

I imagine you went back for the funeral. Yeah. Are we outside? Are we in the cemetery? Yeah. I think we're at the cemetery. Yeah. So I think as you're kind of panning across everybody and they all look very rich and

old, you get past the last person and then you see like far in the background is like a tree, like a dead tree. And you just see this like face kind of come around behind sunglasses, a fake beard kind of, you know, it's believable enough. Got him on a hat bundled up, there's a cigarette dangling out as Carter's just sort of like peeping at the thing. And he, yeah, he's come back. He felt this, uh, pull to come in and see, uh, Myrtle and, uh, and yeah, he's just, I think he needs this, um, emotionally just to, you know, some closure here. So, uh, he's just watching basically from afar.

He's watching the priest is talking. Maybe a light rain starts and people pull out their umbrellas. Someone hands the priest an umbrella and people are grabbing handfuls of dirt and throwing them on the coffin one by one these old socialites Probably knowing that their turn is coming soon Throwing dirt Can't imagine you're compelled to go over there and show your face what I think yeah I mean he booked like he no one saw him, you know, I think The butler probably found her body like he's gone We'll say at a certain point the ceremony ends and people start

Coming towards you in your direction to get to the cars. Are you like try to get out of there or you guys? Yeah, I think he like turns around like kind of like trips over a headstone godfuck as You turn around you see a car that you didn't see moments ago parked with all the other cars and A figure gets out big guy shock of red hair and They figure it gets out, big guy, shock of red hair, and he just starts scanning the crowd.

Looking. Uh-huh. Feels like this guy's familiar to you, but also can't quite place him. But you have this like strong fight or flight moment kind of rise up within you. Yeah. He, I think the car, the type of car that it is, is triggering to Carter. I think it's the kind of car that like organized crime would use. A meata.

Yeah, it's like, ha ha. Sporty. Wow. Vin Diesel gets out with a corona. Yeah. Diesel gets out with a corona. Yeah, I think he, I don't think he necessarily recognized this guy's face, but I think he gets the gist of that. This guy's probably some, some muscle. He gets out and he's scanning around and then he just starts walking towards the crowd that's coming.

Yeah. You're there as well. I'm gonna try to get the fuck out. Blend in. Yeah. I'll put a stealth roll on your flashback. Yeah. Uh, let's...

Yeah, we're back baby. We're back baby! Throw them bones. A one. Oh my god! Oh my god! We're back baby! Let's go.

A one under 61. Just see a tree slide away. A one, a critical success, that's amazing. So we just see the crowd part and this Irishman is just Looking like maybe he saw you maybe he didn't but you're gone you're in the wind It doesn't make sense. There was no way with him coming towards the crowd that you'd be able to get away But he stands like some Jason Bourne thing where like people are walking by and then somebody there like somebody crosses frame

And now I'm not even there anymore. Yeah, he looks around like you're on the other side now and you're looking at him and you just duck away. I'm peeping you now. And from there we'll cut to Faeruz. Faeruz what does what does therapy look like for you? Therapy to Feruz is pouring over her books alone or her mother's journal in a speakeasy and occasionally looking up at the people inside and just so curious as to what their life must be like after all that she's seen and been through. But there's people in here that have been born here and will probably die here and will never ever have left their hometowns or have families and children and how strange and foreign that seems to Feruz that that is what most of the world is and and they're happy. Are they Is she happy? Because everything, everything to her,

despite all the books that she reads and everything that she pours over, the more she wants order in this world, it just becomes so much more chaotic. And she just can't make sense of it, and all she wants is to make sense of anything right now. And she just can't make sense of it and all she wants is to make sense of anything right now and she This is the closest that she'll ever be to normal is just looking

people watching strangers and Not even really striking up any conversations because what would they ever talk about? How could she connect with anybody? And she feels this deep-seated loneliness. Your mother's journal is one of your prized possessions. So we're kind of like double-dipping here. I like this. You're reading this and this is something you carry with you. Do you think you've read it cover to cover or are you still discovering new things in

it? Dr. Kirsten Kiefer I think at first it began randomly looking at a page at a time, a random page here, a random page there, initially just to find some comfort and then as she is realizing that her father never discussed her death, her father doesn't like to talk about her mother. She passed away when she was so young that she can't remember even if they had a good relationship or not. So now as she's older and kind of has read enough random pages, she's kind of going through it chronologically and just trying to piece the life of her mother together.

So I think she maybe would have read most of it by now as she maybe has tried to stop and ask some questions and kind of look into things. I don't know if she particularly would have read the whole thing yet. And did your parents, where were they born? Where did they meet and where were you born? Were you always in Massachusetts? I was originally born in Cairo, my whole family. And shortly after my mother passed away, we had immigrated and grew up just her and her father in Massachusetts. She just wants to connect to something. She hasn't connected to where to her roots. She just wants to connect to something she hasn't connected to

where to her roots she hasn't everything's a mystery everything and so frustrating because she can't get any answers despite how hard she digs and digs. So as you're looking through this journal and taking everybody in it must be nice to look at living people and not monsters. But I imagine from time to time you look up and as these tomes are eroding your brain while also unlocking knowledge, you just see flashes of Juju House. You see those two people, a guy talking to a girl leaning against the bar.

You see like a cop running out, holding his chest. You see dead cultists or people running at you. But you're really engrossed in the journal and in taking in the scene. And you come to a passage in the journal and it's so striking to you because you feel like you've read this portion before,

but nothing surprises you now when things just appear. portion before, but nothing surprises you now when things just appear. It's a passage that your mom is talking about a man that she met. At first it seems pretty benign, but then she starts writing about him a little more often. And then it becomes clear that she may have had an affair with this man. And it's not quite clear what happened with it. It seems like it was troubled. It seems like it was a, it troubled her conscience, even though she wasn't happy. And it was torrid. And then he had to go back home. It appears he wasn't from Cairo. Even though I can't say that I knew her at all

because I was so young, but it goes to show how much of anybody can we know even when they're right in front of us. Anybody can we know even when they're right in front of us? Is there like a name or is there a location? It's like you keep looking and you see like a captain, captain or looks like he was some military rank. But at first it seems like she wasn't even sure. But then it becomes pretty clear that he was in, he was like a British soldier and had to go back. It's unclear what he was doing in Cairo

But then you do see a name finally as you're digging through Emile Emile L Looking for a last name. You don't even see another mention of Emil. Checking our previous season one notes of NPCs. Are there any Emils? I know. Emil! Interesting.

So she will kind of like dog ear that little section. Captain Emil L. perhaps. Get another drink, maybe. Are you having a couple of Count Tales? A couple of Pisco Sours for old times sake? Yeah, Pisco Sours. I've, uh, Feyrus has definitely, in her loneliness, has turned to any comfort of, uh, Feruza's definitely in her loneliness has turned to any comfort of a human connection. And that is her connection to her, her friends from their adventures.

There's a guy standing at the bar. He's kind of watching you all night. Maybe you'll look up, you'll look away. But eventually he comes over and is like, pardon me, miss, are you alone? Clearly you've been here and I've been here and you've been watching me, so yes. I didn't know if you were waiting for someone or anything. I just had a lot on my mind at the time. Sure, I see you're reading books.

There are a lot of people reading books here in this bar. Women read, you know. I know, it's the 20s. But I noticed your drink was a little low. Perhaps I could, could I buy you another drink? And Faeruz realizes that she's come, she was ready to, her guard is always up and she realizes how her guard has been up like this for a long time and that kind of disarms her a little and takes a moment to collect herself.

And yes, I apologize. Yes, thank you. That would be lovely. What's your pleasure I I've been drinking Pisco Sour so if you wouldn't mind Making another one fancy All right Pisco Sour Camarena Goes to the bar gets two Pisco Sours Have you Have you lived lived here your whole life? No, no, no, I'm from out west, just starting a new life.

Maybe I live here now, I haven't quite decided. It's a little busier than what I'm used to. I know that feeling. Where are you from? Got an exotic look I'm from the future. Guy cleaning glasses behind the bar is like audibly rolling his eyes at this guy. You don't know how many times I've actually been told this. It is so cringe.

I had to do it. That's what this guy would say. I'm sorry, what was the question that was? Where are you from? You got an exciting look. And at that she specifically doesn't tell him where she's at. I around the Miskatonic University and along those campuses. Oh, Miskatonic, that's in Massachusetts, right? Yeah.

Are we in New York? Yeah, you're in New York. Well, that's up to you. You tell me. Are we in Boston? I'll just change to be like? Yeah, you're in New York. Well, that's up to you. You tell me are we in Boston? I'll just change to be like, oh, Miss Katonik up the street Yeah, let's say Miss Katonik because maybe she could okay if she's been talking to her dad and also maybe maybe she's back there And just needed to check in. Oh, Miss Katonik Well, that's what are you are you a student there?

Yes, also again. Great question, this guy. Why? Knows exactly what to ask. I can tell you don't get a lot of women around here. Where do you live? Do you have my social security number next? Do you have a list of your fears?

I'm a student there. Come back to people's fears. Yes, I'm a student there. Yes, I'm a student there though. I do a lot of, have been doing a lot of travelling lately. Travel? Do you find it strange that some people could spend their whole lives living in the same place and having the same friends and going to family dinners and having... I don't want to assume that you didn't... You just mentioned that you were not from here originally, so I didn't want to assume

that you didn't have a family or you didn't. You have the craziest eyes. They look so amazing. They are like... I'm sorry, I got lost. You were talking about travel. Your eyes are so beautiful. I hope you don't mind me saying so. I just... My god. How did you weigh? I hope you don't mind me saying so I just My god arched you way There's a little slam that entire drink back now hoping that this will just feel better and

Whoa, and I think it's a part of inside like inside she Despite all of this coming off like so cringe to her, knocks back this drink and she's like, you know what, if feeling normal for a moment is what I wanted to feel, she just kind of succumbs to the moment a little bit, knocks back that drink hoping it just makes her feel any, anything. Forgive me, I just don't have much of a social life.

This is a little bit not something that I'm used to. Yeah, this isn't really my scene either. I can't even do it. I can't even. It was just so like smarmy. You wanna get out of here? The bar back behind the counter is like trying to make eye contact with you giving you subtle like, no.

Is this guy really gonna, is this gonna work? Against all of Faerus' judgment, she sees a bottle for the, like a bottle of whiskey or something that's just out from the other customers in the pouring shots, and she takes the bottle, fills her, is it a highball? It's a Pisco Sour served in,

or is it served in a coupe? Highball? That's how they serve them here. I feel like when we were at Gen Con, it was a very stemmy. It was, yeah, it was a very little little coupe glass um so we'll say she just fills it to the brim Because it's whiskey so that's a lot still that's a lot of whiskey, and she will drink that and say No offense, but against my better judgment, yes.

I heard a yes. And he, we just see both of you stand up. And he- And she just kind of wobbles a little. She's like, oh, okay, good, finally. Rude girl, you can do better. She just wants to feel. Making bad decisions. She just wants to feel. Making bad decisions.

She just wants to feel. We're all making bad decisions. Some people have reckless hookups. Some people become Catholics. Trauma affects people differently. She wants to feel like a normal person. And so she's like, I guess this is what normal people do. All right, so we just see him stand up, help you up and holding hands, leave the bar.

Black out of there. Now Margo, you're tricky because you're in the hospital recovering from this wound. We've seen you at the initiation. We've seen you with the mask. Vaughn, you mentioned in the epilogue to season one that you're standing vigil at her bedside. You're with her. Yeah. I think I'm in and out making sure that the nurses are tending to Margo's needs and occasionally if Margo comes to every now and then she might just see Vaughn sitting by the window like Cigarette dangling out of his mouth as he's reading like

Revelations of divine love by Julian of Norwich or something. It's like They allow smoking in the hospital back in this time so oh hell yeah, it was revivifying and health giving hours of tobacco this time so oh hell yeah it was revivifying and health-giving powers of tobacco yeah I'm gonna throw this together see how this this works I'm gonna get them to get you there Margo so let's say Carter you come back from Massachusetts Massachusetts right isn't that where Myrtle was? And you go to check in on maybe when you left, you knew maybe, I don't know, Margo was like, I'm fine, I'm fine, I'm fine. Goes to this order. We see in the epilogue you asking her like, what's the deal with this order, right?

So if you want to check back in on her you find out now she's in the hospital you go to the hospital and You go to the desk and they tell you what room normally I'd play this whole thing out because it'd be hilarious That's the quality of NPC I've been missing baby I'm so excited to go to England and just hear all your British MPs I mean I could do all show that I'm so excited to go to England and just hear all your British MPs Face of yours is quite exotic You get the room and you go up there and just as you're about to open the door Vaughn comes out God till I have to maybe jump out of my damn skin double V Goddamn too long. Yes. Yeah, three four days something like that before days, right?

Feels like longer doesn't it? Yeah, this meeting should come with a little bit more fanfare, but it's only been a couple days, so... Have we got 14 months? Yes, certainly not. Though in this economy, God knows. How's she, uh, how's our little, uh, how's our little crap doing in there? Well, the little knockwurst laid up on the bed there is in and out, dare I say. Little Pino Schnitzel currently laid up on the bed there is coming to every now and then, babbling incoherently, but the nurses and staff here swear blind that she's better and better every day. Oh, great. Well, I didn't want it. The then Carter looks down, he's got like a little box.

It's got a... kind of like... starting to have like a grease stain in it. It's like a little food to go box. Like, I... swung by a little Germany, and I got her a schnitzel. Oh, yes. Um, but it was before I went back to mass, so... I did have the time to string by. This is a couple days older than you. Yeah, I did have the time to string by, but I feel like...

you know, it always smells a little bit. I feel like maybe I could put it by her bedside or something. Something to give her a taste of home. Yes a pungent brined meat of some kind should be just the trick. Yeah. What are you doing? You been to church? Hmm?

Been going to church? Here and there, yes. Yeah. How's that working out? Well, as it ever does, I suppose, Tealing House, I find a certain solace in it. They're trying to get me off the drink, you see, but um... The way I see it... One of Christ's miracles was turning water into wine, so it was good

enough for him, I suppose it was good enough for me. It's ridiculous. Bourbon? He pulls it out of his jacket. As long as one doesn't do things to excess, then I think you can well and truly avoid mark of sin, all things in moderation, including moderation. Yes, yes, for sure. All right, well I'm just going to run in here and just put this down pay my respects that do you say pay my respects when the person's still alive

Yeah, a bit too soon for that I think telling has paid my hellos Give her a visit. I'll stretch my legs and a nurse walks up and sees you card and it's like I'm sorry sir You have to smoke in here. Oh, thank you. Something didn't feel right. Thank you. Cigar. Yes, my god.

Not smoking a Paul Maul tilling house? Are you trying to kill the poor girl? Sorry. Everyone in this ward could be dying right now because of me. You must flood their T-zone with the vitamins that only the junior tobacco can provide. Okay, I'm going to run in here real quick. Alright, let's say at least for the moment, Margo, you're asleep. Resting.

Or at least he thinks you're asleep resting or at least he thinks you're asleep You come in with your five Darryl Dale schnitzel Just trying to be super quiet next to the Bed thing and there's like a maybe there's oh, you know what maybe there's a vase with some flowers in it And there's a thing that says like from Gunter Like oh, okay flowers in it and there's a thing that says like from Gunter. Who the f- It's like, oh what the f- okay. That's- I don't know where that is. Put that right there.

And then just accidentally just fucking knock like it goes to fall off and then he's like, oh shit! And then like grabs it and then the whole vase goes and falls off the end table. Fuck! Sorry, shit! Oh! Hi! Hi! Hi! What? Hello! It falls off the end to fuck so shit. Oh hi hi What well hello sleepyhead It is that schnitzel

That's it. That's very good. Yes Do you feel better already? I? Mean I would have taken a pretzel maybe um right right That's saying thank you. Thank you. I could just I'll just leave I dropped this These beautiful flowers. I'm so sorry space Oh That's okay. I'll pick those up I'm like picking up flowers and like opens the box and starts like sticking the stems into the schnitzel

Okay, no no I feel bad. You should have these too. Maybe as you put it back on the side table, you see her skin book. Oh, little light reading. Most people in the hospital are just checking out Dean Koontz, but yeah, read the skin book. I mean, I don't have anything else here. And I mean, it's very, very interesting stuff in here.

Yeah, do you, are you sure you should be just reading this? Do you know what I mean? No. Okay, okay. Yeah, whatever's gonna- Maybe you should read it. I'm good. I've been sticking mostly to Fritz the cat

these days Ross what's the cat crazy? The callback that I fucked up 1972 Good poems in here, very up to interpretation. Yeah, but I'm not really good with abstract thought. But yeah, okay, well, how are your sutures? Everything healing? It's not healing as fast as I would like.

But I just keep my mind busy with the book and she also has a sketchbook out on the table and it's- Oh, you've been drawing? Oh, yes. I mean, I was so inspired from New York, not just our experience. But is the art culture there? Is it Dadaism? Is it Dada? The dot, I'm sorry?

Yes, Dada. Yeah, that sounds like a... Melting box. Do you need a bed pan? What are you trying to say? Yes, a bed pan and I'll put my name on it and put it in a museum and everyone would be like, I guess's arts. Oh god. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, okay. All right. I feel you yeah, okay That makes sense cool. See been all right well you've been drawing and you've been reading this horrifying tome and it seems like everything's

Coming along okay Well, I don't want to keep you awake or Coming along okay Well, I don't want to keep you awake or Well, let you rest up because you know like to think mystery squad. No, I'd rather be awake. Oh Okay, okay. Yes. Well. I don't know if you you know want to be awake and Looking at me, so I'll go but you know mystery squad. We're gearing up right we're gonna next leg of this Yes, venture. Yes, I will be there whether I'm well or bandaged together. Okay great.

Yeah, that's gonna be fun. I think it's gonna be fun. I think if there's anything we've learned so far is that we all just have a great time together. Yes. Troy, time out. Do we, we told you, the players told you, where we're going next. The audience, did they know? No. We've dropped a couple of clues here, but this might be the time for you to

talk about it. So yeah, heal up, you know? Jolly old England, baby. It's gonna be a... It's gonna be a gas. I do, I do, before we go, I do have to do one thing. Dum dum dum dum dum. There's a knock on the door, and a man comes in wearing a beret and a very tight scarf, and he rushes to your bedside. Oh, Margo, Margo, my darling. Speak of the devil. What's, are you all right? I heard you were in the hospital,

and I sent flowers and came as soon as I could Oh and he like Go can I say that? Oh, I will be careful and he hugs you. Oh My darling, how are you? Are you all right puts his hands on your face and he's just ignoring you Carter Are you all right my sweet? Oh Yes, I mean, I am injured, but I'm so inspired and look at all of this art that I've made, she's showing in the sketchbook.

Yes, yes, it's beautiful, but what happened to you? Why did you get tied up into this? Dude, what are these wounds? Oh, well, I was in Harlem, in New York, you know, New York. Should I? I'll let you, I'll let you hang out with, is this your father? This is Carter. You guys can have a...

Oh, I was with him in New York. This is Gunter. Gunter. He's my friend. Oh friend, sorry. This is Carter. This is your friend Carter, yes? Yes. Friends meets friends.

Hello! Yes, Mr. Carter. Hillinghast. Very nice to meet you. Carter shakes his hands like, oh it's just sort of an older hand here. I don't want to break it. Margot, I do not know what happened to you. My accent is all over the place. It is sometimes French, sometimes German. It's from where we are from. Yes, it is our specific town was once French occupied. Our special friend accents. But listen to me.

I spoke to the doctor when I was coming in. They told me what room you are in. I had this whole thing with the woman at the desk downstairs that was hilarious. But he says that you are good to be discharged tomorrow. And this is perfect because I have booked us something. And I hope you don't mind that I have taken the initiative here. Perhaps you have other plans, but there is a retreat about an hour and a half from here for artists. And I thought if you are sick, a hospital can only do so much to make you well. I need to take you away, take you to the country.

And perhaps we could also have a good catch up session. It has been a long time you left so abruptly, we didn't talk and then I hear you were in the hospital. We go to this retreat and we draw and we get back to nature. Oh yes, I cannot wait to show you my new endless supply of inspiration. He's getting into Kakkaism.

I'm sorry? Dada. Dada, Dadaism. Dadaism. Yeah, she's been talking about it. Oh, very well, yes. I cannot wait. Mr. Barter, it was wonderful to meet you.

Barter. And I will pick you up tomorrow and we will go to the retreat and then we will go to the retreat and then we will we will talk about The future yes. Yes, that sounds that sounds wonderful. I'm so happy that you came visited me I am so happy to be here and I just want to take you away from all of this all of this danger Oh, I don't know if you can do that. Oh, well I will. I'm very convinced. You can try.

Yes, I shall. The art will bring you home. I do not want to see you in the hospital with wounds in your stomach from Harlem! Ehh. Ehh. It's not that bad. I will see you tomorrow. Yes. Please, thank you, friend.

You are her friend. Thank you for watching over her and keeping her safe. And oh, someone left an old schnitzel here and he just throws in the trash. Cannot eat schnitzel that smells like that. My flowers! They seem to have been destroyed! Oh, those were your flowers? Yes, I sent them to you.

I was on my way. I wanted to surprise you and here I am. I will see you tomorrow. We was on my way. I wanted to surprise you and here I am. I will see you tomorrow. We won't need flowers. We're going. There are so many flowers. Oh. And I... Well, hopefully they won't turn to dust when we get there. Oh, that is very...

Or maybe they won't be engulfed by the endless sun. You are very dark. That has not changed. And I cannot wait to see your beautiful face tomorrow. Any squeeze that you are... Oh, oh. Oh, I'm so happy see your beautiful face tomorrow. And he squeezes you. Oh, oh. Oh, oh. Oh, so he stops. I just love you so much. Oh, so much.

Okay, okay. See you tomorrow. And he leaves. Uh. Ah, what a special man. What a great life you have. I'm gonna go. I'm gonna go.

Because my cigarette's out. Oh, okay. So I gotta get another one. I have a light. I'm gonna go. Because my cigarette's out. So I gotta get another one. I have a light. No? OK. I'm just gonna get a whole new carton. I'm gonna just take a walk around the block 42 times. But I'll talk to you later.

Yes, yes. Great. Bye. Carter leaves. And so we'll say the next shot is just a car, a lone car going up the highway, going up the, I don't know if it was called the Deconic back then, but that's what it's called now. You're heading to like, not upstate New York, but what would be Westchester. Maybe you even see in the distance, the prison where Hilton Adams was Maybe you see the exit that you would take to get to the Carlisle mansion where you went to that

crazy party but eventually Gunter pulls off The road and drives down this beautiful tree-lined, perfect trees. There's light snow on the ground and a house in the distance, like a single farmhouse in the distance. And as he pulls up a bunch of people in very loose-fitting clothing, inappropriate for the weather to come out. Very artisty, pre-hippie hippies. And Gunter just grabs your arm like, yes, it is time to return to your roots, Lago. This will be fun.

And, you know, from there we see you in a room with all other artists around. And you know, Gunter's painting as well. Are you a painter or just do photography or do a little bit of sculpture? Many mediums, painting, drawing, woodcuts and photography. We'll say that this retreat has like every couple hours you change their discipline. Like sculpting hours next, but right now it's painting. And so everyone is painting and Gunter is just kind of

looking at you and smiling. How do you feel like in terms of seeing Gunter again and the sort of pull back to normalcy, you have a chance to kind of get away from all of this if you wanted to, versus like having a brush with death and knowingly picking up the case again. Maybe she feels like they fell out but this rekindling is fine because her perspective and life is so different now. And she did, even though it was horrifying,

she did kind of succeed at forging her own way a bit and gaining her own inspiration and altering her mind. So maybe she's interested to see if and how he can fit into that. And this little retreat is kind of like a nice escape before she goes back to continue what they were doing but maybe Gunter can be in her life again and it makes sense and it's not overwhelming and all-encompassing.

Is there a part of you that thinks you might just walk away or you want to see if you can combine both? It's not that she's gonna walk away. It's more like, it used to be her being a part of his life. And now she's like, this is my life and I see you trying to be a part of it. And you can be a part of it or I'm just gonna keep on, time will keep moving on type of thing. So she's not putting too much pressure on it, but she's happy that he's there.

Yeah. You're in it to win it. You have a meeting with Jonah Kensington and Carlton Ramsey in a couple of days. You've told them that the four of you are planning on continuing this and heading to London, the last place where Jackson Elias went before returning to New York and before being murdered. They want to speak with you just to kind of touch base. Carlton is the one controlling the finances from Jackson's will to give you the money to be able to do this although Vaughn has been putting you up in the nicest hotels in town. Sounds like you're pretty much committed to doing that so you're painting

everybody's painting and there's like the the retreat leader is walking around And he stops by your painting. Oh. Well, that's very interesting. And your painting looks like this. Ah. Yes. For anyone not watching this, it's like a screaming, faceless, identity-less person with maybe something coming out of its head? It's a person wearing the mask. Oh, that's the kid's mask.

The golden mask, but the mask that you kept seeing with four different heads on it, their arms raised to the sky in a look of anguish, perhaps mixed with ecstasy, definitely more anguish. And the person is like, oh, well, this is rather interesting. I don't mean to interrupt, but may I ask you what we have here? Oh, this is just, you know, I don't know how to put words to it yet. I feel like perhaps it could be up to whoever is looking at it to put their own meaning

to it. I don't want to muddy any meaning, but I just, I feel so compelled to make these images. And I hope that's comes across on this man's face. A little bit of ecstasy in there, you know? Yes. It's, it's quite striking. Have you, have you spent some time in the Belgian Congo? Oh, no.

Well, the reason I ask is I have, I passport, and so I was feeling rather skittish and traveled to all the places I could get to with ease, and I recognize this. It's Congolese, but it's strange that you would draw that. Are you an art historian? I think I get my inspiration from all over. But I really love just mysterious, occult types of subjects. Very interesting. It's so funny that you recognize what I'm painting.

Yes, yes, it's quite striking. I'm surprised you've never, never seen anything like it. Well, keep up the good work. I watch him as he walks away. My smile drops. And Gunter just is looking at you. He's not really smiling like he was before. Kind of maybe sees something in you. It's giving him pause. The last thing we see is Vaughan finishing his prayer, getting up, doing the sign of the cross and leaving the confessional.

We just see that little grate there that separates the priest and the confessor. I've never been to confession, even though I went to Catholic school for 16 years, but I would always kind of peer in there to see what it looks like. You see it on TV where you can kind of see the priest back there through little holes. When we just, as Vaughn leaves and shuts the door, we just kind of pan back to that little grate. And through every tiny little hole that separates the priest and the confessor, just like black ooze begins to seep through

and just drip down the edge right onto the floor where Vaughn was kneeling. And we'll see you next week. We're back. We're back baby. We're back baby! Oh yeah. So spooky. So spooky. I cannot wait.

Strap in. Things are going to get crazy in England. We'll see you real soon. 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 JoinTheNaish.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

and use code GCN30 at signup to get your first 30 days for free. Tell your friends, come join yourself, and see what everybody's talking about when you join the nation today. The The Warning Woods has haunting horror stories that are sure to linger with you long after listening. I'm Miles Tridle, writer and narrator of The Warning Woods. Each week I write an original scary story and share it with you on The Warning Woods. Each week I write an original scary story and share it with you on the Warning

Woods. I've written two novels and nearly 200 short stories spanning the horror genre. If you're into scary stories, you need to check out the Warning Woods. Listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts, just search for the warning woods and click play at your own risk. Greetings, adventurers. Today we're excited to introduce you to a new story, Dark Dice, a horror podcast that blurs the line between actual play and audio drama,

where the story is determined by the role of the dice. Six adventurers embark on a journey into the ruinous domain of the Nameless God. They will never be the same again. One of the players is now what they seem after a doppelganger, a creature that can assume the form and voice of whatever it kills, infiltrates the team. As the players are picked off and replaced one at a time, can they figure out who the monster is before it's too late?

Can you? Here's a quick example of what our show sounds like. The shambler with the jar of liquid inside of him. Soren Arkwright let loose an arrow that cracked the glass, passing through the spine of the creature. The shambler still managed to maintain its forward momentum, but stumbled as it eagerly tried to bite and swipe at Soren landing near his feet. As Jeff Goldblum has now joined our cast, Dark Dice is available however you listen to podcasts.