Quests N’ Answers | Inside Sagas of Sundry: Goblin Mode Ep. 11

Summary

Sagas of Sundry: Goblin Mode - Episode 11 Review & Insights

Hosted by geekandsundry | Released on November 20, 2024

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Introduction

In the latest episode of Sagas of Sundry: Goblin Mode, the cast delves deep into the tumultuous events that have reshaped their dungeon-bound existence. Hosted by Amy Vorpahl, with cast members Jason Nguyen, Danielle Radford, and Dan Casey, the episode titled "Quests N’ Answers" serves as an intense deconstruction of their characters' recent ordeals, character deaths, and the escalating stakes within their narrative.

Major Plot Developments

The episode centers around a harrowing turn of events where the necromancer whom the goblins serve mysteriously disappears, thrusting three monstrous minions into leadership roles. This sudden power vacuum forces them to decide whether to remain confined in the dungeon or venture into the unknown to forge their own destinies.

Key Events Discussed:

• Character Deaths: The most shocking development is the death of Jason Nguyen’s character, Tippi. This moment marks a significant shift in the campaign, highlighting the vulnerability of characters previously perceived as invincible.

  Danielle Radford [02:14]: "Scripted alert."

  Jason Nguyen [04:17]: "I was tense the whole episode. And big props to you by the way, as our DM for being brave enough."

• Escalating Threats: The introduction of a formidable entity, the Scythe of Irelia, amplifies the dangers the group faces. This entity surpasses previous antagonists in menace and power, pushing the players to their limits.

  Amy Vorpahl [05:10]: "A death cult. It's not very serious. It's not Fiends United… Kaya wasn't just tortured. She was rent apart asunder in one of the most horrifying scenes of the entire show so far."

• Challenges and Consequences: The group grapples with high-stakes decisions where actions carry significant repercussions. This is evident in their failed attempts to negotiate or evade threats using spells and strategies.

  Dan Casey [07:30]: "The dice decided it is act two, and we're about to make things really hard for you."

Character Reactions and Development

The episode offers profound insights into the characters' psyches as they confront unprecedented challenges:

• Amy Vorpahl (Gamemaster): Reflects on the emotional toll of having to kill a character and the impact of collaborative storytelling where actions have dire consequences.

  Amy Vorpahl [03:37]: "The dice tells the story. Because had the dice been in our favor, more so for other things, we would have had that wiggle room for negotiations."

• Jason Nguyen (Tippi): Shares his internal struggle between his character’s chaotic nature and the dire situation forcing him to act heroically, ultimately leading to Tippi’s demise.

  Jason Nguyen [06:11]: "You're not Jason anymore. You are Tippi. You have to save Busy. You have to do something now because your bull is not working at all."

• Danielle Radford (Amy Vorpahl): Discusses the emotional complexity of witnessing character deaths and the shift from levity to a more serious narrative tone.

  Danielle Radford [05:56]: "This is kind of like a coming of age story for all of these characters."

• Dan Casey: Highlights the precariousness of their situation, emphasizing that their previous successes were partly due to plot armor that no longer shields them.

  Dan Casey [15:03]: "We are gonna have to grow up quickly because we do have things that we are starting to learn and care about that are on this plane."

Emotional Impact and Themes

The episode masterfully balances humor with intense drama, creating a rollercoaster of emotions:

• Mortality and Vulnerability: The death of Tippi serves as a stark reminder that no character is safe, enhancing the narrative's realism and emotional weight.

  Amy Vorpahl [19:18]: "Seeing Tippi's growth. To see it just like cut short like that in this episode is just like, it's shocking."

• Isolation and Desperation: The goblins face existential threats without the guiding hand of their necromancer, leading to isolation and desperate measures to survive.

  Amy Vorpahl [07:18]: "That's an avenue we could have perhaps taken to sort of bargain with this death column, but…"

• Consequences of Actions: Every decision made by the characters now has a tangible impact, moving away from light-hearted adventures to life-and-death scenarios.

  Amy Vorpahl [25:03]: "How can we make this work?"

Technical and Narrative Craftsmanship

The discussion also touches upon the gamemaster's (Amy Vorpahl) approach to storytelling, emphasizing the importance of adhering to game mechanics and ensuring narrative integrity over convenience.

• Challenge Ratings and Fair Play: Danielle Radford critiques the encounter design, noting discrepancies between the characters' levels and the formidable enemies they face.

  Danielle Radford [23:00]: "I think I flew too close to the, to the CR17 monster anywhere near."

• Story-Driven Mechanics: The group appreciates how the dice rolls influence the story's direction, ensuring unpredictability and maintaining suspense.

  Dan Casey [07:30]: "The dice decided it is act two, and we're about to make things really hard for you."

Looking Forward

As the episode concludes, the cast expresses both anxiety and excitement for upcoming developments. They anticipate heightened challenges and deeper character arcs as the story progresses beyond the confines of the dungeon into broader, more perilous terrains.

Amy Vorpahl [33:05]: "On that hopeful note, we are hurtling into darkness on the last water slide out of town. I am very nervous and very curious about what's going to happen next episode."

Conclusion

"Quests N’ Answers | Inside Sagas of Sundry: Goblin Mode Ep. 11" offers a gripping analysis of pivotal moments that elevate the campaign's stakes. Through candid reflections and in-depth discussions, the hosts provide listeners with a comprehensive understanding of the narrative shifts, character developments, and emotional journeys undertaken by the goblins. This episode not only serves as a retrospective but also sets the stage for intensified adventures in the episodes to come.

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Note: This summary contains major spoilers for Sagas of Sundry: Goblin Mode. If you haven’t listened to the episode yet, proceed with caution to avoid unintended revelations.

Transcript

[Dan Casey]

Bingo Blitz rules. If your bingo has ads in it.

[Jason Nguyen]

That'S not a bingo. If it doesn't have the coolest tournaments.

[Amy Vorpal]

Mini games, and the most breathtaking design.

[Jason Nguyen]

Nope, not a bingo.

[Danielle Radford]

If your bingo moment makes you feel so excited that you just want to.

[Jason Nguyen]

Burst in joy and scream out loud, bingo.

[Mike Carruthers]

Sorry.

[Jason Nguyen]

So you're playing Bingo Blitz.

[Amy Vorpal]

Now that's a bingo.

[Danielle Radford]

Cover a world of excitement with Bingo.

[Amy Vorpal]

Blitz, the number one free bingo game.

[Danielle Radford]

Download Bingo Blitz and play for free. Now that's a bingo.

[Jason Nguyen]

This episode is brought to you by US Cellular.

[Amy Vorpal]

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[Jason Nguyen]

The cable guy.

[Amy Vorpal]

Fortunately, US Cellular's home Internet is so simple to install, you can do it yourself. And it's just $39.99 per month when bundled with a wireless plan with a.

[Jason Nguyen]

Three year price lock guarantee. US Cellular Home Internet made simple without the waiting terms apply. Visit uscellular.com for details.

[Amy Vorpal]

Folks, sometimes everything's not better down where it's wetter under the sea. I'm Dan Casey and this is Sagas of Sundry Quests and Answers. We're going to talk about the latest episode of Sagas of Sundry Goblin Mode. And to do so, before I go any further, I need to stress there are going to be spoilers, massive spoilers for what just happened. So if you haven't seen the latest episode, please do not go any further. I'm begging you, please. Okay. With that said, joining me as always.

[Danielle Radford]

We have Danielle Radford, Amy Vorpal.

[Jason Nguyen]

And I'm Jason Nguyen.

[Danielle Radford]

Yes, here we are.

[Amy Vorpal]

Aren't you Jason?

[Dan Casey]

Look who's back at the table.

[Jason Nguyen]

Yeah.

[Danielle Radford]

So I guess we'll allow it.

[Jason Nguyen]

Yeah, it's a little awkward seeing as I'm dead and all.

[Danielle Radford]

You.

[Amy Vorpal]

You sure are.

[Danielle Radford]

Yeah.

[Amy Vorpal]

You sure are, buddy.

[Jason Nguyen]

That was crazy. Yeah, that was crazy.

[Amy Vorpal]

Yeah.

[Danielle Radford]

Yes, that was crazy. I did have it in my notes though, too. That murder Jason Tippi would die. Yeah.

[Jason Nguyen]

Was that really.

[Danielle Radford]

No.

[Amy Vorpal]

Scripted. Scripted alert.

[Jason Nguyen]

Sounds like. That's brilliant, by the way. No.

[Danielle Radford]

Are you kidding me?

[Amy Vorpal]

Every episode after. You don't know this, but after every episode, Amy comes to me and says, we gotta kill Timmy.

[Danielle Radford]

We gotta kill Timmy.

[Amy Vorpal]

I can find a way to kill this guy.

[Jason Nguyen]

I don't blame her.

[Danielle Radford]

He's gotta go. No, no. There was almost zero of that. I could have predicted it or planned it in advance, and I don't know if that shows on my face if anyone's watching the video. Yeah, yeah. Severe thinking brain. And then the other thing that goes through this is what it feels like I'm gonna paint what it feels like to kill a character. You are simultaneous. You're like the tiny seven year old boy in a Game of Thrones scenario where there's this bad guy who came and harmed your family and your dad goes, well, you've gotta learn how to do this someday and hands you the sword to decapitate the guy. And you're like, I'm just a kid, I can't do this. But then the dad's like, no, you must. There's no one else actually. And then you go, I am not ready. And you're both of those people in that moment as the dungeon master going, I couldn't though. How could I? And then the other part of you is going, well, no, you have to like, there's not another way around this. So I'm having this dialogue with myself.

[Amy Vorpal]

Oh, and it's something that I appreciate about you as a storyteller. And also just like the act of the collaborative storytelling that is D and D or playing a tabletop RPG is that actions must have consequences.

[Danielle Radford]

Yeah, actions must have consequences. Yalls roles were saving you for the most part. Like you could tell that none of you were out of harm's way at all ever. Like never. You just weren't. And all of you, for lack of, you had some good roles, some middle roles, some bad roles. And then it's just like, well, if you're gonna make a big splash like that.

[Amy Vorpal]

Nothing felt low stakes in this episode.

[Dan Casey]

No.

[Amy Vorpal]

Even the smallest disease.

[Jason Nguyen]

I was tense the whole episode. And big props to you by the way, as our DM for being a brave enough. It does take so much to kill a character. Cause you don't wanna see him go. And I think, you know, like there was never. Even the moment I rushed off initially I was like prepared for the worst.

[Amy Vorpal]

Okay.

[Jason Nguyen]

I was already so tense and like, this is not. This feels overwhelming. We're only level three.

[Danielle Radford]

You're only level three. And narratively, goofs have worked. Yeah, you know, they've worked until works. Goofs and guffaws and gaffes, they've all worked. The heist was so fun. The Marked was pretty fun. And everything has been fairly balanced and pretty cool. And then it's just. The Scythe of Irelia is a big deal.

[Jason Nguyen]

Yeah.

[Amy Vorpal]

A death cult. It's not very serious. It's not Fiends United. It's not like in Fiends United there's one scary person and that's Kya. And here Kya is such a little ant.

[Jason Nguyen]

Kaya's being tortured.

[Amy Vorpal]

Kaya wasn't just tortured. She was rent apart asunder in one of the most horrifying scenes of the entire show so far. Terrible so far.

[Dan Casey]

Say for me the horrifying definitely so far. And it is like, this is the moment where, you know, we're halfway through the series and, like, for lack of a better term, this is where gets real, where it's like, yeah, like, it's fun to joke around. It's fun to have fun, but, like, in a story, you get to a point where it's like, you really have to start. Like. Like you said, there have to be consequences. Like, there have to be things that can't just be as much fun as we have doing Scooby Doo and silly.

[Amy Vorpal]

Things and fun chases I minor illusion my way out of this.

[Dan Casey]

Yeah.

[Danielle Radford]

No, you can't. It was a really calculated decision to make everyone pretty anonymous behind hoods and cloaks. That gives you some leeway, but only some.

[Jason Nguyen]

Yeah. And look, as a player, it was so hard for me to be like, my mind goes to like, okay, what's the min max way of doing this? How do I make sure I achieve success? But I think things really shifted in my brain when Bizzy threw the dart. I was like, well, now there's really no way out, and she's being captured, and my friend's gonna die. And I think there was a part of me, I know it sounds dramatic, but a part of my brain was just like, you're not Jason anymore. You are Tippi. You have to save busy. You have to do something now because your bull is not working at all. So he had to have his little moment. And did I think I would die? I wasn't sure.

[Danielle Radford]

How would you know? I mean, how would I know? I don't know. It's not like. Like I said, it's not like I have it written down.

[Jason Nguyen]

Like, okay, it was perfect.

[Danielle Radford]

If X, Y and Z happens, everyone dies.

[Amy Vorpal]

I feel like there's a scenario where it's like, if you'd been like, let them go and I'll get you the chalice. Like, I have the chalice, and I can get that to you.

[Danielle Radford]

Oh, interesting.

[Amy Vorpal]

Like, that's an avenue we could have perhaps taken to sort of bargain with this death column, but.

[Danielle Radford]

Yeah, but Tippi's an agent of chaos.

[Dan Casey]

And the dice were not in our favor.

[Danielle Radford]

No, the dice are not.

[Dan Casey]

This is one of those times where it's like, the Dice tells the story. Because had the dice been in our favor, more so for other things, we would have had that wiggle room for negotiations. We would have had room for, like, other story avenues where we would have been able to stealthily get out of that before our friend was straight up murdered. But we just didn't. Again, the dice decided it is act two, and we're about to make things really hard for you.

[Amy Vorpal]

It was such a sick moment where you throw this dart and you crit. You crit on the big boss. The most important guy there just wanting.

[Dan Casey]

To do a distraction in my dice when it comes to rolling attacks, isn't trying to get me crit. So I was like, oh, yeah, I'll play nose. It'll be a distraction, and it'll be a small thing, and then we'll have room to be able to figure out how to get up to the stage stealthily. And then it was like, nope. Hits does damage.

[Amy Vorpal]

Exactly. You crit on hit, and he just turns and is like, sends this enforcer to go try and psychically dominate you. And it's so scary because you're like, that was nothing to him. He just lost 14 hit points. And he's just like, this is like a fly landed on my shoulder.

[Danielle Radford]

Yeah, exactly.

[Amy Vorpal]

And when that sinks in, you're like, oh, we are so out of our element with this guy right now. We are not equipped to handle this, man.

[Danielle Radford]

And there is a version of this where Thresh prepares you a little better. And it didn't. It didn't really go that way. Why?

[Amy Vorpal]

What happened during the preparation phase?

[Danielle Radford]

No, don't worry about it.

[Amy Vorpal]

But, Kim, you're running on.

[Danielle Radford]

No, I mean, the version is basically more of a little bit like, oh, no, this is a big deal. High stakes, very scary. But I just kind of decided, look, Thresh sees that you're part of Unzug's lair, is impressed. You kind of are, you know, some stuff. There's something going on, and she's just like, you know, I'm scrappy. They're probably scrappy too. And I love how it turned out. But, yeah, this, to me, this is kind of like. Well, I don't know. You kind of know what you're dealing with now. And. Yeah, and it's not. If you thought you would be fighting this group right now in episode 10, you know, like, right after the Fiends union or whatever, it's like, oh, there's just no.

[Amy Vorpal]

Oh, no. It's something I love about stories like this, and it reminds me of, like, My first experience playing a game like Elden Ring, for example, where you face this gigantic boss and you're like, well, they put it here. I'm supposed to. I'm supposed to fight this creature, and I'm supposed to defeat this creature. Or. But just getting our asses handed to us so definitively is such a humbling moment as characters, and it's just like, oh, total rewiring of the brain and realizing, wow, it's like when Luke Skywalker gets his hand cut off in Empire Strikes Back, you're like, that's not supposed to happen to the main character, to the hero.

[Danielle Radford]

Totally.

[Dan Casey]

Yeah. And now it's definitely. Obviously, for the audience and for us, there's the real stakes of, like, oh, the world is genuinely, like, in this episode, we've got so much lore and we learned so much about what the plan is and how bad it's gonna be. And in this one, this is just. Even. This isn't even close to the plan being the plan. This was just evil people doing evil stuff they could do. Whether or not this goes, and it's awful. So now everyone has this idea of, like, the world is like, we are screwed. Like, this is. If this is what they can do on this small scale before they've even achieved their goals, we got it. This has to be stopped. Like, this cannot be allowed to happen.

[Danielle Radford]

And for reference, you could easily Google this, but for reference, a dragon Turtle's challenge rating is 17.

[Jason Nguyen]

Yeah. That's a lot. Yeah.

[Amy Vorpal]

When you described that this whole area was just plunged into darkness because of the scale of the creature, I'm like, oh, this is clearly some kind of terror of the deep.

[Danielle Radford]

It absolutely is a terror of the deep. Yeah.

[Jason Nguyen]

To me, it goes to show how lucky we've been as these minions to have gotten as far as we have with our hijinks. And it's like a very sombering lesson in stakes. But I feel like I understand that I'm a chaotic person and player, and I understand that sometimes I make decisions because I just feel like Tippy wouldn't have it any other way in sort of a hijinks situation. But the running off in the beginning was really, like, for the stakes, for Tippi, he already said, like, I don't care about this God stuff. I don't care about this chalice stuff. I care about saving Pekora 100%. And to know that she was chained up and there's this death cult and they're on their way to, like, do this. In his mind, the worst is Happening. She's been sacrificed. He had to go.

[Amy Vorpal]

It made sense for Tippi to do that.

[Danielle Radford]

Of course it made sense. Yeah.

[Dan Casey]

You got pretty far.

[Danielle Radford]

You got pretty far. You actually kept getting. And it's like at some point, there is this inflection point where people are clocking.

[Amy Vorpal]

I got on stage. You got on the stage.

[Danielle Radford]

You shrunk the dais. You grew the dais. There's just stuff.

[Jason Nguyen]

The dais shrinking.

[Danielle Radford]

Oh, my God.

[Amy Vorpal]

Just like. Oh, my God. The pain of realizing that I keep forgetting we're underwater. Cause I hear dome, and I'm like, oh, there's no water in here. But realizing we're underwater, and then everyone just stays put. After I try to drop the floor from under them, I'm just like, okay, all right. I wasted one of. I just got level two spells, and I blew it.

[Danielle Radford]

I think that's where you, as players and characters were, which is like, okay, I'm gonna try this cool thing. Oh, my God. That couldn't have worked even further from what I meant it to do. Oh, okay. I've got this other cool thing. Absolutely not. And it's not that I built this. This. If I were to say what the CR for this encounter was, it be too much like, you know, you don't put a CR17 monster anywhere near.

[Amy Vorpal]

We're not meant to fight our way out of this, right?

[Danielle Radford]

No, no. 100%. But it also is like, at every point, it's like, well, these guards. I don't know. It was a risk. It was such a risk. We had so many speed bumps that.

[Amy Vorpal]

Like, literally, each of us on our way in beefed it somehow.

[Jason Nguyen]

Yeah, yeah, Absolutely.

[Danielle Radford]

Yeah. Yeah. You're Seahorse catering manager.

[Amy Vorpal]

I can't wait until Varsich comes back.

[Danielle Radford]

Varsish.

[Amy Vorpal]

And tries to find Pizzy. Pizzy.

[Jason Nguyen]

So I had to step out and wait.

[Amy Vorpal]

What happened?

[Jason Nguyen]

Oh, I don't know. Just a little thing called weather. You know, eight blades going into Tippy's body at once. Maybe. But for you guys, what was that like? What was going through your heads for the rest of the encounter or when that happened? Yeah.

[Dan Casey]

Well, it's just shocking. Cause it's like, again, before we've been. Even when things have had stakes, it's always been, there's a little bit of fun, a little bit of silliness. And this was like, drop the hammer. No, kids, you are in real life. You are no longer in. These are not playground rules.

[Danielle Radford]

Like, no plot armor.

[Jason Nguyen]

Yeah.

[Dan Casey]

You have entered the real world. And even a part of the plot of this of the overarching thing and that many characters have said over and over again is it's weird that because of, like how lowly our position is, even in the dungeon that we're in, there's no reason we are, as you said, like, we are code, we are nothing. We are walk back and forth. We shouldn't have even been able to make it out of the dungeon. And so. And there's always been like, it's been weird that we've been able to do as much as we have. And I think now we've brushed against what in universe has already been so weird. And it really. And it's like, no, you're not. No matter what the plot, the on purpose plot armor was that you were having through all of this, that isn't going to go forever. And it really is. So much of this is not just them. Like, this is. I mean, it really is kind of a coming of age story for all of these characters. And so this is one of those big moments where it's like, we are gonna have to grow up quickly because we do have things that we are starting to learn and care about that are on this plane. And this plane is now in danger. And again, we haven't even seen the worst of it. And we know that the rest of it is coming. And so then when Tippi, like, dies right in front of us and obviously we've seen death, we've been around death. We did live in where people were tortured. Also, our reaction to Kaya's torture compared to the way that we would have reacted the first episode was. This was like, disturbing and upsetting. And as we are growing and growing empathy and like learning about a life beyond. We didn't like Kya, we don't want. And we even joke like, yeah, oh, you can kill her, that's fine. We didn't want that to happen to Kya. That was like, genuinely disturbing.

[Danielle Radford]

Yeah, that's what Thresh said. They may be one step ahead of you.

[Jason Nguyen]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Amy Vorpal]

For me, I mean, incredibly well put. Especially with that parallel to episode one where we conducted the exit interview on people being tortured and left them on the rack as we left Eunzoo's lair. And this was just. This was visceral in comparison. Like, that was like. That felt like Looney Tunes. Like in episode one, in terms of like, if you think back and compare it compared to what we just witnessed, it's just truly wild. But for me, when that happened, it was just. I went through like all five stages of grief where I'm just like, I'm shocked. I'm like, I can't believe what's happening. I'm angry at Jason for making this decision.

[Dan Casey]

He took you away from us.

[Amy Vorpal]

I'm like, frantically looking through my spell sheet to be like, what spells do I have? How can I interrupt this? What can I do? I don't have that level of trickeration up my sleeve. And then I'm just accepting that he is dead and trying to be like, okay. Cause I'm like, can I get his body out of here somewhere? Busy's still in chains. Pekora and Crandall are still in chains. I have not been discovered yet. I don't know what to do. And then it was honestly the mechanic of the chaos with the. The death frenzy. If we didn't have that, I don't know. I was like, okay, the best I can do is to try and hope to get Busy out of here alive. And we will try and figure out a way to rebuild or rescue Tippy at a later date. Like, we'll try to find his corpse, assuming it doesn't get. But when he's like, oh, yeah, they're feeding corpses to the giant murder monster, I'm like, okay, well, I got worried back there.

[Jason Nguyen]

I was like, they're doing what to the corpses?

[Danielle Radford]

Yeah, yeah, you're now chippy and you're gonna be dippy and dippy. I don't think I've killed a character like this. You know what I mean? Where it's just. And it reminds you that, like, well, I've thought about this many times in my life how a verb can be. It's so short. It's like, what, four, five, maybe seven letters or something? And that's it. And then that's the verb. Like, die, you die. But it's bigger, you know, like, it should be more words or it should take longer to say that. And like, being the person who's like, yes, you are dead. It's like, excuse me. Like, we don't have like a 24 hour song to sing. You know, that means that it's like, oh, no, it's just. You're gone.

[Jason Nguyen]

Yeah, it was, you know, you were rolling the dice and it was like, that's one dice, that's two dice, that's three, that's four, that's five, that's six, that's, that's. And then I was like, there's no way. There's no way I'm gonna survive that.

[Dan Casey]

And she just keeps picking up dice.

[Jason Nguyen]

And rolling them I did the math and you know, double checked and you're permadeath is what you know when you roll more than your hit points plus your constitution. So yeah, I was dead. And there's nothing to do about it.

[Amy Vorpal]

100% get it. For folks who play and want their characters to have that plot armor, want their characters to have that level of survivability and I understand you don't want to just. There's some systems that lend themselves to intense PC lethality, like a Mork Borg or a Call of Cthulhu or something like that. You expect your character to probably bite it like old school cyberpunk or something like that. But with D and D, like you're this hero of legend, like you expect them to kind of survive to live another day. So when a character finally dies, it has that like visceral impact. Especially after so many episodes of seeing Tippi's growth. To see it just like cut short like that in this episode is just like. It's shocking. It's very shocking.

[Jason Nguyen]

Yeah, it was brutal.

[Dan Casey]

Which was wild because we kept making jokes before that happened. I don't remember if it was in this episode or in the episode previously, but we kept making jokes. Oh, it was in the previous episode, I think, where we. We would keep making jokes about like. I don't know about what. Oh, you keep mentioning alive things. I don't know what alive things are. We're dead. And joking like, haha, we're dead, we're dead. We're dead. Tippy's alive, but we're dead.

[Danielle Radford]

He, he, he, he, he.

[Dan Casey]

And it's like Tippy's dead and we're alive. You know, like that weird inverse of like that feeling. Yeah, this was definitely going through. That joy of coming through and crossing the plains and being hugged and embrace by magic and leveling up and discovering.

[Danielle Radford]

Light and many colors.

[Dan Casey]

Yeah. These new things about ourselves. And then, you know, in the end of this episode now everything is just like dark and uncertain and scary. And we had all of that hope. We had a magical girl transformation for goodness sakes.

[Amy Vorpal]

Yeah.

[Dan Casey]

And now you're carrying your dead friend's.

[Amy Vorpal]

Body going down a water slide with my buddy's corpse.

[Danielle Radford]

Yeah. The whole thing about Earned Curve Fathom is that it once was really special and magical and like used for good. And then. And then you get the Scythe of Aurelia inside it and it just, yeah, becomes toxic pretty quickly. And what's fun about the visuals of being underwater is that, I mean, I mean just planning it was like, oh, yeah. What does blood do in water? Like, it makes a cloud. Like, it doesn't do.

[Jason Nguyen]

Absolutely.

[Amy Vorpal]

No, it was great. It painted such a gruesome visual.

[Jason Nguyen]

So visceral. Yeah.

[Amy Vorpal]

And, like, obviously this cult is made of, like, fanatics whipping themselves into a.

[Danielle Radford]

Frame and killing each other. It is a death cult. I mean, that's all, you know, you can do the math that the guards on the end were going to keep closing in until everyone.

[Amy Vorpal]

They're not summoning the angel. Firaxis.

[Danielle Radford]

Yeah.

[Jason Nguyen]

In your head, were you ever worried that there'd be a party wipe like that? We may all take the bucket in this episode.

[Danielle Radford]

I did text earlier today, after we shot another episode, I just texted one of the story producers. What if they fail?

[Dan Casey]

Question mark.

[Danielle Radford]

So that's as far as I went.

[Amy Vorpal]

Oh, it's okay. We turn back into a bone pile.

[Danielle Radford]

Right, Right. But so, like, there was a version where I was like, you know, you start playing and you're like, oh, yeah. Like, I didn't build this according at all. According to challenge rating. The way that DD says, you know, third level character. The math doesn't check. I didn't build this at all like, that. Maybe I should. I'm gonna change. Maybe I change some of these monsters. Maybe some of these are commoners, you know, like, and I'm doing that math and, like, moving, like, trying to just go backwards and go. Maybe not. Maybe not. Amy. Maybe we flew too close to the.

[Amy Vorpal]

Maybe I should have taken them to the Demon King stadium.

[Danielle Radford]

Yeah, but it was so, like, I needed that, too, because I needed. Everything has been not easy for you. No, it's been. It's been fairly smooth sailing. It has almost felt like you have plot armor on some level, like you've earned your stripes. But then it was like, but here's what you're up against, and if you're going for it, and that is where Pokhara is, then we're showing. We're gonna show you what you're up against in season five. You know, in season five, like, not this time at all.

[Amy Vorpal]

This is us walking away from, like, the burning building, like, that's exploding, and then we step on a landmine.

[Danielle Radford]

Totally. Totally. Except. Except, yeah, pretty. Pretty motivated, too. Like, I will say, like, that character moment, the way things were going for you once it started happening. I don't know if you could clock over my facial expressions expression, but I was like, there's going to be an inflection point, and I do not know what I'm going to do when that happens. Oh, yeah.

[Amy Vorpal]

There were several points during the episode where I looked at you and you were just like, that's what you're doing.

[Jason Nguyen]

Yeah.

[Amy Vorpal]

Okay.

[Jason Nguyen]

Yeah.

[Amy Vorpal]

All right. You said it out loud, and you're not taking it for your day.

[Dan Casey]

I know.

[Danielle Radford]

And I wish I had more of a poker face.

[Amy Vorpal]

No, it's.

[Danielle Radford]

But it is like, oh, my God.

[Amy Vorpal]

But we're all confidently making these choices.

[Danielle Radford]

Absolutely. Absolutely. Yeah.

[Amy Vorpal]

So even when, like. Even when I like something as innocent as me realizing, oh, that's not how this spell works in water.

[Jason Nguyen]

Right. Yeah. And we're not retconning. We could easily be like, oh, yeah, yeah. Oh, let's take that. But let's not do that.

[Amy Vorpal]

It's more satisfying to be like, well, that didn't work.

[Jason Nguyen]

Yes, exactly.

[Amy Vorpal]

How can we make this work?

[Jason Nguyen]

Yeah. So fails. Like, you know, every failed dice roll. I think that last episode made me go like, damn it. Every single time.

[Danielle Radford]

Yeah, that's good. I myself was going, was clock. I'm gonna have to cry after this. Cause I was going, we don't have time to cry. Don't cry. Why would. We're not crying.

[Dan Casey]

I literally.

[Danielle Radford]

We're not doing that. So we're actually doing a show, so we're not gonna cry. And I can't cry. Cause I've gotta keep the story going. But, like, after this freaking talk back and we all go home, like, I'm gonna need an emotional release.

[Jason Nguyen]

Right.

[Danielle Radford]

Actually seeing you. So you left the stage and we do these talkbacks, right? We do these talkbacks right after the episode. But when you came back, it was like, maybe, I don't know, 30, 40 minutes later. And I was like, oh, my God, it's Jason. Did y'all have that? I was like, oh.

[Dan Casey]

Oh, is him.

[Danielle Radford]

He's okay.

[Dan Casey]

There he is.

[Jason Nguyen]

He's right there in front of me. There's definitely, like a. Like, I was definitely in shock for a little bit. Like, when I am anxious or scared or shocked, all I know how to do is laugh. And so, like a maniac, I was in the corner being like, I'm dead. I died. I really like Tippy. Oh, no.

[Amy Vorpal]

Yeah.

[Dan Casey]

All I wanted to do was keep cracking jokes.

[Jason Nguyen]

Cause that's how I do it.

[Amy Vorpal]

We're already on the gallows, so gallows humor is what comes next.

[Danielle Radford]

That's it.

[Jason Nguyen]

And then, you know, I got really worried for you guys. I got really scared that I was like, well, she killed me. She's gonna kill. She'll kill another one of you.

[Dan Casey]

She's killed. She'll kill again. Run again.

[Danielle Radford]

Run away. I've got. I got the taste of player blood.

[Jason Nguyen]

When Kaya was getting ripped apart, I was like, oh, no, guys. Dip right. No more. Hi, Jinx. Dip. Let's go.

[Amy Vorpal]

I was already trying to figure out an escape route when things accelerated in an extreme manner, beginning with the dart heard round the world.

[Danielle Radford]

Yeah, we might need a warning for Body Horror.

[Amy Vorpal]

Yeah, we'll probably put a content warning on the previous episode just to give people a heads up. On a lighter note, what were your thoughts when we all split up at the very beginning?

[Danielle Radford]

Yeah, some of it seemed by design. We knew that Busy wanted to be a server. But then. Yeah, you shot off in the dark. And I purposefully. I don't know, like, at that point, it's kind of like, well, you did it. Let's see you make your bed. Let's lie in it. This isn't something that I haven't run into before, but I. It's one of those, like, doing turns. Doesn't make sense.

[Amy Vorpal]

It was exciting to me, though. Cause in a way, it hearkened back a little bit to the chase mechanics from an earlier episode where we were chasing Crandall through the streets of Nakbreka. And in this case, it was, like, longer scenes with each person, but it's all kind of playing out simultaneously. And it's very exciting. Cause it's cutting back and forth and we're like, none of us have that awareness of what the others do. And especially when I was like, oh, we have the sending stones. No, we don't. Because you.

[Jason Nguyen]

I threw it.

[Amy Vorpal]

You threw it away.

[Jason Nguyen]

I threw it. And it wouldn't have worked anyways.

[Danielle Radford]

But it would have worked anyway. It would have been.

[Jason Nguyen]

I could have fixed it, though.

[Amy Vorpal]

Sure.

[Jason Nguyen]

It's something I could have done.

[Amy Vorpal]

I know.

[Danielle Radford]

I know you could have.

[Jason Nguyen]

We don't have that. I think the biggest. Like, what you. And props to you again, because this one did catch me big time by surprise is that moment where they were all chanting. And I was like, well, I'm just gonna chant along, too. The way Tippi would chant along. And then to be caught in that moment and be like, well, why don't you roll a performance?

[Amy Vorpal]

That was so good.

[Jason Nguyen]

And failing that, Roll was like, gosh.

[Danielle Radford]

I mean, Jason, dammit. Damn it. It's an easy chant. I was just going, mmm, mmm, mmm. And you went, mmm. Or whatever the hell.

[Jason Nguyen]

I was like, well, yeah, he's not gonna do it.

[Danielle Radford]

Right. Well, that matters. I know that matters.

[Jason Nguyen]

Yeah. But the dice were not on My side in that moment. And it was bad.

[Danielle Radford]

No, it was bad.

[Jason Nguyen]

Yeah.

[Danielle Radford]

No, I did want there to be. Especially in all of Earned Cure. Fathom this feeling of heavily being surveilled, almost like the KGB and surveilling even your neighbors and people you love and going, is everyone saying the right thing? Because Scythe of Aurelia is no joke. And even day to day activities are going to be like, well, are we behaving correctly? And so especially in the Abyssium where. The Abyssium where everyone knows what to do. Yeah, you're gonna be clocked.

[Amy Vorpal]

I saw Fish there last month. They were great.

[Danielle Radford]

Yeah, you're gonna be clocked.

[Jason Nguyen]

What was your plan when you were throwing the dart? Was it. It really was to create a distraction, like what was the follow up in your head that was going to happen after?

[Dan Casey]

So it was literally. It was. Bizzy was so upset by what was happening to Kya and even with all of the joking about, oh, Kaya can die, whatever, it was really upsetting and just viscerally terrible. And I just couldn't stand watching it. So it was a thing of like, get him to stop doing that. Plus also then her arbitrarily pointing out people to get like trying to save any more people from being arbitrarily killed. I'm like, if I throw this, then maybe it'll just be just enough for him to be like, what is that? Let's go find out who that is. I didn't think he was gonna automatically know it was me. And then that could be an incident where he's like, he gets upset, he lets her go, the pointing and everything stops. And then maybe it becomes more investigation and then we have time to kind of slink in around under that instead of it being. Because at that moment again, she is being horrifically tortured. And also every person she's pointing at, there's just like innocent person dead. Innocent person dead. Innocent person dead. We were up to like what, like five or six people at that point. So it was like, I want innocent.

[Danielle Radford]

They're all scythe of her. Really. Yeah, but I know what you're saying, but I'm wondering.

[Dan Casey]

But yeah, but it's also because there's no justice.

[Danielle Radford]

It's random.

[Dan Casey]

It's random. And I think it's also because already established earlier in the episode, like you said, so many of them are living in this way because that is the way that they have to be because this is what's happening. How many of them are actually here of their own choice and how many of them are here because there are consequences to people they love for being there. Like, how many are conscripted? Like, how many people don't want to be in there and are just playing around?

[Amy Vorpal]

How many seat fillers?

[Dan Casey]

How many are seat fillers? Did they not sell out the abyssum?

[Danielle Radford]

How many of them just on their monster just say evil without any personality to explain it?

[Dan Casey]

Right. And so I think that's the other thing too is because we'd already seen that there were so many people when Busy was talking with the mer folks. And they're like, it's not up to us to have an opinion that like sticks with her. It's like, oh, so all these people being murdered. Maybe it's not up to us to. They're also victims. And so in that moment, Bizzy was trying to stop that from happening. Save as many of these people and see if we can disrupt this to make something else happen.

[Danielle Radford]

Well, you paid the price as well. That did make sense.

[Amy Vorpal]

It did disrupt things.

[Danielle Radford]

Yeah. And I love. I mean, I don't know, I use sleight of hand many times for like to see if someone notices. Like, sometimes your spells being cast, you need to do something. It's another version of stealth. But it's also like, yeah, you threw the dart. Let's just see if you were able to hide that you threw it even in this vast audience of people. And unfortunately, yeah, you don't even know. I mean, this guy's not to be messed with.

[Amy Vorpal]

The horror movie moment of Michael Myers looking directly at you.

[Jason Nguyen]

All of a sudden.

[Amy Vorpal]

He noticed we.

[Jason Nguyen]

Got jump scene from stage.

[Amy Vorpal]

He's like, you.

[Danielle Radford]

Yeah, very scary. Go get her. Lock her up. Feed her to my little.

[Amy Vorpal]

Yeah, feed her to my little Turdy. My little turd. On that. On that hopeful note, we are hurtling into darkness on the last water slide out of town. I am very nervous and very curious about what's going to happen next episode. But I can't wait to find out together. Thank you so much for watching. Thank you so much for listening. Thank you so much for joining us. We really appreciate it. Yeah, take care of yourselves. Drink some water, go for a walk. We're going to do the same. We'll see you next time on a brand new episode of Sagas of Sundry Goblin Mode. And yeah, take care. Bye bye, guys.

[Dan Casey]

Hold your goblins tight.

[Jason Nguyen]

Maybe forever.

[Christopher Dring]

You should listen to the Gamestop Biz Microcast. More people are playing games than ever before. They've never been more popular. And the business behind it is facing some real challenges and changes. There's been tens of thousands of layoffs, hundreds of studio closures as major companies face rising costs and falling sales. There's uncertainty around the future of game consoles. There's legal and government intervention into how games are even being paid for. The role of AI is changing how games are being made. There's the impact of games like Fortnite and Roblox dominating everyone's time. And then there's the desperate wait for Switch 2 and GTA 6. And that's just 2024. Two leading business journalists with a combined 35 years of experience offer you a weekly guide through all of this and more. I'm Christopher dring, head of GamesIndustry Biz. I'm James Batchel, editor in chief of GameStry Biz, and you can join us every Monday for the GamesIndready Biz microcast, the most important stories, expert guests, exclusive market data, and all in less than 30 minutes. Usually the GamesReady biz microcast every Monday on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Amy Vorpal]

Contained herein are the heresies of Radulph Bhantwood, erstwhile monk turned traveling medical investigator. Join me as I study the secrets of the divine plagues and uncover the blasphemous truth that ours is not a loving God and we are not its favored children. The heresies of Redolf Bandwine Wherever Podcasts are Available.

[Mike Carruthers]

Listening to a podcast should be time well spent, and I promise it will be if you'll give this podcast a try. It's called Something you should Know. I'm the host, Mike Carruthers, and in every episode I talk with leading experts on topics I know you will find fascinating from why people can't keep secrets, what your favorite music says about you, why your pet acts in strange ways, and so much more. Something you should Know is designed to give you information you can use in your life and give you great intel that you can share with others. I'm told it's a binge worthy podcast and with over a thousand episodes, there's a lot to binge on. Something you should Know has been ranked in the top of the Apple podcast charts consistently for a long time. I know you're going to like this, I just need to get you to try it. Something you SHOULD Know. It's available wherever you listen to podcasts.