(warm tones resound) (text clicking)
(chimes twinkle softly)
(lively adventurous music)
(stoats squeaking)
(adventurous music continues) (stoats continues squeaking)
(bear growls)
(adventurous music intensifies)
(adventurous music continues)
(wind rustles)
- Hello, and welcome to "Dimension 20: Burrow's End."
I am your dungeon master and warren warden, Aabria Iyengar.
And with me to spin a yarn,
oh, so excited, of us versus them.
- Tell us a story.
- Are my preternatural predators.
- (gasps excitedly) Yes! - Oh!
- Say hi, preternatural predators!
- [Players] Hi, preternatural predators!
- We're in the pocket now. I have a thesaurus.
I can't lose! (players laughing)
- Unbelievable, six out of 10. We're picking up steam.
I can see the finish line!
- I'm out of words. I cried about this this morning.
(Siobhan laughing)
So, within the brutalist bunker that is Last Bast,
our family opted to do a bit of divide and conquer
in search of guidance for the workings of this community,
this mega warren, as well as some clues on its secrets.
The Light, the humans, and their impending return.
Our precocious kits spent a record four minutes in education
recruiting a temporary sidekick, Lukas, in the process.
Our mothers now settled into their combinations,
were visited by Sybil, the young elk hunter
they healed earlier in the day.
She confided in them about a secret bit of information
she found and hid in the lab.
And after a fortuitous dovetailing
of both of our groups back together,
the family snuck in and heard a pair of snippets
from the log of one Dr. Wenabocker, a human scientist
that worked here at the Peace Power Plant 20 years ago
when some strange catastrophe began.
We ended with more questions than when we began
and one clue, Reactor Charlie, on every stoat's lips.
So I would like to pick up the next day.
I want you to have a long rest and a little time
to digest all of the things that happened.
And I'm going to begin this time with a question
for the one I believe
is the earliest riser in the group, Ava.
What are you thinking about as you wake
in your little blue cubby?
- This place could be nicer, but you know,
we can spruce it up a bit.
Viola's very good at that kind of a thing.
Well, we gotta find out who this Charlie is
and get right down to it.
Is everybody else in the...
Is everybody else's...
- I think everyone's just sort of hitting that,
beginning to wake.
There's something very unnatural in here
about the fact that the lights stay on the whole time
so like, all of everyone's sort of circadian rhythms
are a little strange, but you are, again,
millions of years old and you need minutes of sleep
to recover because you are so close to the grave.
- Could I have made sleep masks from our sashes?
(Erika laughing)
- Did you do that? Okay.
I do want a little, just give me a little dex check.
- Certainly.
- If you get masks, you're that much closer to hats.
- It's so close. - Oh!
- What is it? Oh, what is a mask but a hat a little low?
- [Rashawn] That is 12.
- [Aabria] A 12? - Yes.
- Okay, I'm gonna say that the DC on this is deeply low
because what is, like, a sleep mask
but a sash for your eyeballs?
So I think you've made one for everyone.
- I just laid 'em across everyone's eyes
as they were falling asleep.
- Oh, that's really sweet! - All right.
- Ava, I will remind you that in your sort of discussion
about what a truck is, you know,
a bear that doesn't lift its legs that people can be inside,
Sybil did offer to show you the trucks here.
Not that I'm trying to lead the witness, but...
- Oh, absolutely. I'd like to go see Truck.
- Sweet. Do you try to wander off without her?
Or do you wanna go find Sybil?
- Mm...
- Who do you take? What do you do?
What you want?
This is your little moment for you to have some time
to check in with your personal priorities.
As a stoat that has devoted her life to her family,
quite often to her children's chagrin,
you have a little bit of time to yourself
and what you care about. - All right.
Uh, I pull...
(Erika grunts softly)
(Jasper yelps) (cast laughing)
Good morning, Thorn.
You didn't weigh in on everything yesterday much.
You just kind of went along with the group.
- (groans) Yes. - And everything,
but this is what you wanted to do, right?
We're going to find the Blue
and use it to fight the monsters.
- Yes, I guess in some way.
- Shh!
- (whisper) I guess in some way, yes.
It was a lot to take in yesterday.
And truth be told,
it's hard to know what's the right thing,
but I guess all we can do is continue to move forward so...
- Hm, that is not a bad answer.
- What time is it? This is so early.
- What are you looking at? (Aabria laughing)
- The light's always on.
It feels like it's so early. - Oh, yeah.
Well, I'm going to go and look for Truck.
- Okay. - So I need you
to keep an eye on things.
I know that (sucks air through teeth) I think my girls
are having their hands a little full,
but they're very good.
They're very, very good at feeling their way out
and making the most of a situation.
And I think, well, I thought what you did yesterday
with the directing of the group is...
That was...
Mm...
(smacks lips thoughtfully)
Good.
(gentle instrumental music) - (exhales deeply) Thank you.
It was rather impressive seeing you in your element
as a part of the group just like you were,
it's like you'd always been there.
- I have always been there, yes.
- Okay, uh, sure.
Do you want anyone to come with you to find Truck or?
- No, I'm going to go look for Truck.
I don't think everybody's quite ready for things,
especially, especially Tula.
I think if you can give her a hand with the children again,
maybe she'd appreciate it.
- Yes.
Um, well, I will uh, keep a watchful eye
and please be careful.
You'll be fine.
- I will be fine. - [Jasper] Of course you will.
- You have made me not regret that you married my daughter.
- I will absolutely take that. (Aabria laughing)
- Hm. - Okay.
I'm gonna count that as a win.
(Aabria chuckles)
- All right, I'm gonna go on out and suppose I can go...
I might just go take a...
I don't wanna bother Sybil.
I'm sure she's sleeping. - [Aabria] Sure, yeah.
- Right now, but I'm just gonna
take a look around for Truck.
- Okay, on the inside, go ahead
and give me an investigation or perception check.
- [Erika] Mm.
- [Aabria] I wanna make it investigation but-
- Yeah.
- No one has investigation. - [Erika] No.
- Except for people who are like, I know secrets.
No one else has built a build for that.
- Perception to see what I can hear
or smell or- - Yeah, kinda suss out.
- It's a very distinctive smell, Truck.
- [Aabria] It is. You're right.
- Yeah.
Oh, nope. Eight.
- That's okay. You can't find any signs of Truck here.
And as you sort of skitter out moving very quickly,
I think there's a moment where you realize
and you link this up to when you were running at full speed
with the herd of stoats that were hunting
that when you get to open all the way up
'cause you're not sort of with children
and your children's children and moving in that,
like, we all stay together at this medium pace,
you're like, oh, I can get around here pretty quickly.
And because it's so early,
there aren't a lot of stoats flowing around.
Maybe 1,000 are moving through central spaces.
You do not sense or scent anything to do with Truck,
but you do see towards the walls
some of the doors that are a little higher up,
and occasionally on the ground in front of them
sets of striped lines painted into the concrete
that at a certain angle you're like,
that's kinda the width of the weird legs of Truck.
- Oh, I see. Maybe that's Truck's writing.
Hm. - You said the word writing
so now I'm gonna make you roll
to learn how to read against your will.
You had that thought. - Here we go.
- So now you've gotta make a wisdom saving throw,
and if you get higher than, hold on...
A 12, you unfortunately know how to read now.
- I, it seems so pretentious. (cast laughing)
10. (laughs) (cast laughing)
I live to be illiterate another day!
- You resist understanding with a strength of will
that honestly defies comprehension.
Like, I will not let that make sense.
No, I will not. Cool.
- Just kind of glaze over. - [Aabria] Glaze over!
(Aabria laughing) - Ah, ah...
All right, but I can...
I'm going to follow the yellow truck read.
- Truck tracks? Yeah, for sure.
(laughs) You truck read the lines on the ground
and make your way through like,
again, these sort of like tunnels
that were dug into several foot thick walls of concrete
and make your way out again.
And you see, yeah, there are whole versions
of that like, strange flat rock that would sort of run
like a bizarre river close to your house,
but it was always like, patchy with grass
and trees growing through it.
It's smooth. - Hm.
Bleh, ugh.
- Smelling it. Go again...
No, no, no, you've already rolled.
Kind of, as you move across this unbroken stone,
as you smell it you pick up just little traces
of that weird acrid smell that came
from the first time you saw Truck.
- Hm, you know,
scent is probably the most keen sense that I have,
and the one most likely to bring back memories.
And my eyes are going and my hearing's not always so good.
And a lot of things just, yeah,
I mean, the blueberries don't taste like they used to.
- [Aabria] Oh! - But that may just be
because they don't make the blueberries like they used to.
But scent is still, scent is still strong.
And oh, it brings me back to that horrible day.
Mm, I'd like to follow Truck.
- You follow the scent for Truck. Give me a survival check.
(die taps table) (tense dramatic music)
- 13.
- As you're kind of sniffing out this very faint odor,
I think you look down and realize sort of without it
as you are lost in your reverie
and sort of remembering one of the worst days of your life,
you don't realize that you are at a full sprint
and you are covering ground around the outside of Last Bast.
You come forward and you realize you are running very close
to where you sort of ended up yesterday,
that strange pen that they made for the spiny elk.
- Oh. - And the smell of Truck
is getting stronger, but the sound of talking
does hit your ears.
They're not that bad yet.
So I'm gonna ask you, do you continue to chase down Truck?
- Oh, well, do the voices sound like they're raised?
Or are they just talking?
- You're used to status being asserted.
- [Erika] Mm.
- It's what you do to your family.
It's what you've done to your warren. RIP the Red Warren.
The thing you hear isn't arguing.
What you're hearing are commands being given,
one voice louder and gruffer than the rest.
- I'd like to go over there and see that.
It's good to know about what your neighbors are up to.
I'm not saying that I'm a gossip
or that I am paying extra attention to it,
but it's just, you know, it pays to be aware.
- Who are you saying this to? - [Izzy] Yeah.
- [Rashawn] Who are you talking to? - Having that conversation in her head to herself.
- I am saying it fully out loud,
muttering it to myself old lady style.
- [Aabria] (laughs) Yeah.
- And be like, oh...
- But I like that it's like, are you placing the judgment?
Like, is someone else in your head going, "What a gossip."
- Yeah, boy this is- - Right, your mother
is telling you off for gossiping.
- [Siobhan] She's in there. - Oh no, it's Beatrix.
That's always like, "Ah, you gossip, what a gossip."
- She's dead. - And I'm like,
"Yeah, but Beatrix is dead so like..."
(cast laughing)
- You tell the ghost in your head that she's dead
and it gets quiet. (laughs) - Oh, oh, oh!
- She shuts up real quick. - Hush, hush now, hush now!
- All right, are you coming over with your normal Ava rizz
or are you gonna try to sneak?
- Oh, I'm going to sneak.
- Okay, go ahead and give me a stealth check.
- Even though you're speaking out loud to yourself.
- [Rashawn] Yeah. - [Aabria] Yeah, yeah.
- I'm muttering. - Which was I was like,
let me ask before 'cause the expectation would be like,
walking with a very loud raccoon dick bone
and being like, anyway- - Oh, yeah,
I'm not some sort of gossip! - [Erika] Shit, yeah, uh...
- Exactly.
- So I've slowed down to sort of a speed walk,
you know, like a morning to early-morning speed walk.
- You would knit the first hat, which is that little visor.
- Yeah. (slams table) (whisper) How did you know?
- I'm from Irvine, California. - [Erika] Yeah, yeah, yeah!
- I've had several of them.
- Got a visor. - Go stop in the park
and move my arms around. - Yeah, so I'm... (laughs)
So I, you know, I got a four
so I'm sort of like, rocking up.
I'm rocking up, you know. (mumbles)
- So you sort of hear everything begin
to hush down a little bit from the lower voices,
but not the big, booming voice
that was giving orders to begin with.
Those remain unchanged, and you see,
as you round this bend, first Bennett.
And then three stoats you don't recognize,
two of them look almost identical to one another,
and they, just like Bennett,
have little sashes around their waist.
And then one other stoat.
The one that was very obviously giving orders
if only from their bearing, and the fact that Bennett
looks tiny next to them. (Erika gasps)
If Bennett was large for a stoat,
the stoat that is giving Bennett orders
is just at a slightly different scale.
- (silent) The Rock. - You would guess like,
honestly, like The Rock.
Like two to three times the mass
of a normal stoat that you would see
with some little circular decorations on their shoulders
with a little bit of gold bits coming down.
Their whiskers together curled into a little pattern,
a design in the front.
And not just a sash, but sort of wrapping fabric
that flows out and away.
Clothes, a word that your brain wouldn't know to know,
and yet the stoat stands imperious and imposing
and barks orders as Bennett, who sort of couldn't help
but hear you come up, turns his head.
Gives you a little, oh, good morning, Ava.
- Oh, good morning, Bennett. - [Aabria] Hi.
- How are you today?
- I'm so good. You're up early.
- Well, I'm up at the kind of normal hour that I'm up.
Sometimes I like to go and do movements very slowly
in the park, but you know, we're settling in.
We're in the blue corridor, you know,
I think nine up and 13 to the left.
And we're settling in quite nicely.
You should come and visit sometime, yes.
Who, who are these...
I'm Ava.
- Is this like a meeting? - A meeting, yeah.
You just rocked up to a very important meeting just as-
- Oh, you must be the Carton twins.
(players laughing)
- Honestly, that's so good I'm...
Like, a little inspiration, thank you.
I was about to do the thing of like,
reminding you of a thing you were told yesterday.
But then these two twins turn to you
and give you a deep bow perfectly in sync.
- So polite.
- Yes, my name's Carter and this is my twin, Pep.
Yes, we run Defense in the same way that Bennett,
who I believe you've met, runs Resource Allocation.
- [Erika] Mm.
- And then this, of course, is... (exhales sharply)
And the bigger stoat doesn't have to move forward
and yet there's a sense of like, a hand wipe
even as these other stoats are interposing themselves
between you and them.
They sort of wipe their hand away,
and without knowing or seeing it, they part in front of them
and just a little head nod.
I'm The Director, one of the First Stoats.
You can call me Kiran.
- Karen? - Kiran.
(Siobhan laughing) - Kiran.
Oh! Well, you look very good for 20 years old.
- So do you. (chuckles)
- Oh. (players chuckling)
Uh, if only, if only.
I'm but a mere four and a half years,
but I've got quite a few winters left in these old bones.
- So I've heard.
I was apprised of your assistance
as the elk was being taken.
- Oh, did Bennett tell you about me and about my children?
Oh, Bennett!
- And you see Bennett's kinda like, blushing
and standing at the side like,
I don't deal with this smoke at all.
(players laughing)
(Erika laughs mischievously)
Kiran just sort of nods and like-
- This is like an old woman
wandering into a Joint Chiefs of Staff-
- Truly! (players laughing)
- And being like, "Mr. President, your Chief Admiral
wants to sleep with one of my children."
(players laughing)
- That's exactly what's happening right now.
- Even better, it's walking in going,
"Oh, sorry, you're in a meeting?
Cool, anyways, so what were you saying?"
- You've wandered into the war room,
and you're having a little convo.
- It's just nice. It's very the neighborly thing to do, yes.
- Osama Bin who? (cast laughing)
- As Kiran kind of gives you a little bit of a smile,
stoats normally have just rows of fangs and teeth.
There's something very strange about Kiran's smile,
the way that the sort of two main canine incisors
are more sharp than a stoat's would be.
It reminds you more of a wolf
or some of the bigger cats that live in the area.
But also that like, the teeth in the front
and towards the back that you can see seem flattened out.
So like, strangely flatter, more fanged,
and then flatter in the back again.
- Oh.
- Is there something I can...
- What, uh, can I, may I...
- Absolutely not! - Oh.
- And the moment you move forward, ranks are closed
and you are absolutely stopped.
No, thank you. - Oh, well, well...
- Your boldness is appreciated.
- Oh, why, thank you. It's one of my better traits, yes.
So my daughter Viola and her husband Thorn-
- [Jasper] Oh boy.
- Really would very much like to meet with you
and the other First Stoats. - [Aabria] Mm-hmm.
- (snaps fingers) Yes! - Has many, many questions
to ask, and I'm sure that the three of you could collaborate
on something very exciting. (Rashawn laughing)
- She just tried to put her hand in his mouth.
(players laughing) - Yeah, fair.
Yeah, yeah. - Collaborate?
This guy's so huge!
- Golly, that's so in character.
- Collaborate? - Erika, you are awesome.
(players laughing) - Truly so badass.
- As for the First Stoats, there are four of us,
and though we do not hide ourselves away
from the population that we have bent the tenor of our lives
to protect, we are not so easily sought out,
though I appreciate your interest
in the leadership of this community.
- Oh, well, I feel like it's, you know,
if you're any sort of leader in a community
you have to get together and share some blueberries
with other people and, you know,
it's just a neighborly thing to do, you know?
So you should come by.
We're in the blue corridor on eight up
and five across and...
- I know where you live.
- Oh! Oh, Bennett!
(players laughing)
- Truly, in this moment, give me an insight check.
- Bennett is folding himself into himself.
- [Aabria] Yes. - He's like, "No!"
- Bennett would like to cease existing.
- "If you're a good leader you should do this." is so bold.
- That is a dirty 20. - [Rashawn] Yes.
- Bennett looks absolutely like,
he's not mortified you're bringing him up,
but there's a mixture of one, the ping you get immediately
is, I didn't tell them where you live.
They know where you live.
And other than that, this is the craziest conversation
and it's wild that I am currently the fence
between a brand-new old woman and this guy.
So just truly shocked and staggered.
And I think you get a lot of like, ah, the audacity!
As like, a vibe you have normally, but this looks even more
than you've seen or experienced before.
Truly like, "I cannot believe this is happening. Holy shit."
- Now, I'm not saying that the burrows
could use a little bit of sprucing up,
but it could be a little cozier, you know?
(Jasper exhales deeply) I mean,
we love a good dandelion mural.
Mural? Mural. - Mural.
- Yes, mm. - [Aabria] I agree.
- Do you have any more? - Art and decoration
are as important to life as food and water.
- [Erika] Mm. - And not every stoat here
has learned to appreciate that yet.
- Oh, well, perhaps there should be some sort of programs
that you can implement, you know?
Where everybody is given a little taste
of that kind of ornamentation, and it should be,
everybody can contribute to it, you know?
I think that there should be a lot of support for the arts,
mm, in a government, in a good government.
- Make a...
- You said, "What's a parade?" yesterday.
(cast laughing) Programs and government.
- Yes, yes, yes. - She learns quick.
- Give me a persuasion check. - No formal education, but so-
- This is like residual for every comedian
who had a family member being like,
"Well, why don't you call Lorne Michaels?"
- [Siobhan] Yeah. - Yeah.
- And get on "Saturday Night Live."
- This is like if they got-
- If they rappelled into Lorne Michaels' fucking house.
- Tried to put their hand in Lorne Michaels' mouth.
- And were like- - [Aabria] Into their mouth.
- And were like, "Bring back Church Lady.
Also, hire my son!" (cast laughing)
- Bring back Church Lady.
- With a negative four, that's a five.
- [Aabria] A five for persuasion.
- Yes.
- You see the sort of interested smirk on their face softens
into something a little more condescending.
- [Erika] Hm.
- I appreciate that after 18 hours here
you are so full of phenomenal ideas, Ava.
- Oh, I'm full of it, all right. Yes.
Hm, um... (smacks lips)
- Keep going.
- Is, is there a...
In your Defense Force,
is that geared more towards the wildlife out there or...
- (laughs) What wildlife would we worry about?
- Well, I mean, uh...
- A wolf? A bear?
(scoffs) No.
All of our Defense Forces are turned towards the only threat
that would move a community this large
into constant and frenetic motion.
The humans are coming back. We know that to be certain.
And every new stoat that joins the fold has a story
of some catastrophe that sent them fleeing from their home
that have killed family and friends.
(tense dramatic music)
That those lucky survivors that made it to our doors,
we will always offer shelter and succor to.
And then once they have moved through
whatever they need to move through
to realize that they are safe and needed and welcomed,
we begin our great work of preparing
to push them out and obliterate them
so this can remain our home.
No, there's no wildlife that we worry about.
- Hm, well, that's a great comfort.
It's a great comfort, indeed.
Now, when you say obliterate them, these hoomans.
- Yes.
- Have they come here and have you dealt with some already?
- (sighs softly) No.
Insight check. (Jasper breathes deeply)
(tense music)
(die taps table)
- Oh!
- That's a natural 20. (warm tones resound)
(Jasper cheers) (Brennan trills excitedly)
- A lie, plain and simple.
Of course they've met a human before.
But I think there's something worse than that.
You see sort of behind their eyes, old but sharp,
not just thinking back to the time a human broke through,
but the times across 20 long years.
The like, casualness with which their posture
moved into memory.
Humans are not a strange monster to them but a nuisance,
a threat, and a bother.
And you see it in their pose, but all you got out loud
was a simple one-word lie, (tense music stops)
"No."
- Oh, well, it's a good thing
that you're remaining prepared, then, you know,
in the eventuality that they may come back again someday.
- Soon. Someday soon.
- Oh, is there...
Should I mark something on the...
- On the what?
- Uh... (cast laughing)
- Pep kind of moves over and just takes a little tissue
out of their, like, if I can kinda just...
- Is there, is there, is there...
- Yeah, it happens to me all the time.
- Oh, God. I hate learning.
But, in- - Didn't you tell someone here
about the dust that killed your warren?
- Yes.
- What do you think caused the dust, Ava?
- Well, I don't rightly know,
but in my ignorance of what it may specifically be,
I certainly don't know how to prepare
to drive whatever it was back.
- All we can do is try to bolster up our walls
and take and turn and transform their technology
into something that they have to reckon with.
- [Erika] Hm. - And if you reach a point
where you would like to assist us in this,
I think your skills would be well used in Defense.
And with that, Carter and Pep,
in sync with The Director's words kind of flow forward just,
yes, if you want to have a conversation at some point
about joining ranks, you would be...
We heard about the elk and how you almost kind of killed,
cut his foot off. - Yes.
- So do you want to do a little walk and talk?
- I would be delighted. Where are you off to?
Where am I following you off to?
- Sweet, you see that Carter and Pep like,
exchange glances of like, (mutters) I dunno.
We were supposed to be at this meeting,
but we have to take this woman
that wandered into the war room away. (laughs)
- Oh, I couldn't possibly trouble you anymore.
- Oh, absolutely. Under your arm.
Under your arm. - [Erika] No, no-
- And you're being escorted away.
- Well, goodbye, Bennett. It was lovely to see you again.
And um- - Good to see you.
- Goodbye, goodbye...
- Director. - Director, Director...
- Kiran. - Kiran, yes.
Goodbye, Director Kiran, and please make sure to visit us.
We're the last burrow on the blue corridor.
- Mm. - Mm.
- And both Bennet and Kiran,
who are still sort of facing off with each other
wait until you like, get back to that road
that circumnavigates this place
before they go back into their conversation.
- Do you know how to
make, to do Truck?
Do you know how to, you know, make Truck?
- You know about trucks? Oh, oh!
Oh, we have something we can show you.
And they begin to like, they drop to all fours
and break into a run and you realize now
that the direction they're leading you down the road
begins to smell more and more
of that fresh stench that is Truck,
and they're going to take you off to the garage
to show you what they've been working on.
We'll come back to you in a little bit.
Thorn, you are sort of up and awake,
and everyone else is kind of doing those like,
those pre-stirring when you know people
are leaving deep sleep.
What's on your mind right now?
- Oof, I think Thorn is currently...
It rarely happens 'cause I feel as a trained hunter
and ranger he's always kind of like, scanning
and taking information in.
I think he's truly lost in his thoughts at this point.
Trying to process what Viola and Tula said to him
in that the idea that the Light was made by the humans
I think has fundamentally rocked his foundations, you know?
This entire belief system that he had made
and the source of all his power,
which he wants to channel everything
into repelling these things, was made by them,
and I think he is trying to reconcile that in his own mind
before he kind of like, steps out or continues any part
of that conversation from yesterday.
So I think, yeah, like a little bit kind of absent-minded.
Probably just like, place a paw kind of like,
on Viola's paw as you're waking to sort of,
just to feel that kind of sense of contact,
but won't be kind of like,
waking anyone up or anything. - Sure.
Go ahead and give me a perception check.
- Six.
- You know what, I'll leave it to you.
It doesn't have to be a dice roll. Do you wake up?
- Mm, I open one eyeball, but it's this one.
Yeah, I open one eyeball and I go,
what's got you troubled? - [Jasper] Hm? Oh.
- [Rashawn] Something's wrong. I can feel it.
- I'm just thinking about yesterday.
Tensions got a little high. (chuckles)
- Yeah, it was, you know, kind of our first fight in a way.
- Yeah.
- I'm sorry that it had to come to that,
but I just don't think they all know
what they're really up against.
- I completely agree, and I wanted to apologize
because what that... (inhales deeply)
Me pushing back on you in that moment wasn't...
That wasn't fair because it was coming from a place
of my own fear, and I was putting that on you.
I don't know how to come to terms with the idea
that everything I've ever believed
could be some lie fabricated by these monsters,
some creation of theirs that they carelessly discarded.
And I agree with you that it is arrogant of us
to suggest that we might know it better than them
whilst I still have to hold onto the belief
that we can wield it better than them.
- Our intention is to help, not destroy,
though there is some destruction
that's going to be part of it.
And I think that using the Light with good intention
negates all that other stuff.
You got this far with your knowhow and your understanding,
and we have to pivot.
It would be foolish to think that we know more than they do.
That's just arrogance.
When we walked in here
it seemed like they had everything under control.
They've controlled...
There are lots of people who don't ask any questions,
and the fact that we're asking questions
I think puts us a level above everybody else.
'Cause if we just follow along, we would be dead.
We could have been slammed up against a tree, forgotten.
They won't even speak their names out loud.
It was hard for Sybil to say, "Brother."
- Yes. (clears throat)
- Imagine if you couldn't ever say mother or brother
or sister or aunt or lover ever again,
how empty that would be.
- I don't know what life that would be
if I couldn't say your name.
- [Rashawn] I think the more information we gather,
the stronger that we are. - Mm-hmm.
- And the stronger that we are,
the less likely that we'll perish.
- I agree.
So we've gotta check out this Reactor Charlie, right?
- Yes. Charlie is on my mind.
I'd also like to speak to Quentin.
- Okay.
- Runs, I believe, the Technology unit
'cause I wanna know, what is their...
If these humans come back, what is...
Are there multiple plans or is it one big thing?
Because they gotta have- - Yeah.
We got an A through D situation.
- [Rashawn] Yes. - A through Z or just A.
- I would love to see a beat sheet.
- Yeah, just a little play-by-play.
- [Rashawn] Exactly.
- Yeah, that would be good for sure.
Could I just, could I grab you for one second?
- Sure.
- And if we can sort of lead out just a little bit
to do a little sidebar. - Sweet.
As you go for more of a sidebar,
which again, sidebar declared, I still want...
Can you give me a perception check?
- Yeah, uh-huh.
- The mother always lies in wait.
- Perception's gonna be a 22. - Damn.
Yeah, you for sure come to consciousness
hearing the murmured conversations.
I'll say you caught the back half of that conversation,
and you are fully awake as you hear them moving off,
sequestering themselves further for more conversation that,
this is the bit that you know you won't be able to hear.
- Okay, I am going to very,
I'm gonna very softly rouse myself.
And while my kids are sleeping, I'm just gonna whisper
to my children, do you wanna sleep longer
or do you wanna come with me to get breakfast?
(Siobhan snores in excitement)
(Erika and Jasper chuckling)
Jaysohn, do you wanna come with me to get breakfast?
Lila, do you wanna come or do you wanna sleep?
Okay, up and at 'em. Let's go, we have to wait in line.
And I just know that we have to go get food for everybody
so I'm gonna go wait in line for breakfast.
- Cool, so as you guys step away
to have a more private conversation you're like,
what uncanny timing as the rest of the family moves.
- I'm gonna head to that line to go get breakfast,
but I'll bring some back.
If they allow me to,
I'll bring some back for the whole family.
- Yes, and something for Thorn as well.
- Yes, absolutely.
- Good morning, everyone. - Good morning.
- Morning. - Hi.
- How'd you sleep?
- Jaysohn doesn't understand that question.
(cast laughing)
- [Jasper] Excellent. - I just close my eyes
and then I wake up later. - (laughs) How.
- [Siobhan] That's how I sleep.
- Jaysohn, do you not dream?
- Do you sleep in a different way?
- Do you not dream? Do you not allow your-
- Oh, I dream so much! Yeah! (Aabria laughing)
- Jaysohn, have you never had a bad night's sleep?
- He's had many bad night's sleeps,
but he doesn't understand...
It's all good. - [Jasper] Okay.
- You had a big meal yesterday.
We ate a bunch of rabbit, right?
- Yeah, it was really good.
- So it's nice to sleep on a full stomach.
- Oh my goodness, it's so nice.
And then I dreamt that I was chasing the rabbits,
and then I caught the rabbit,
but then it kept going and I killed it and I ate it
but then it kept going and then I was chasing it.
It was a skeleton
and it was really cool. - I look at like a scratch
in my fur on this side of my body.
It's like, I know you were dreaming last night.
(cast laughing) Yes, yes, yes.
- (claps) A killer.
- All right, we're gonna go get breakfast. See you later.
I'm gonna take off with the kids.
- Perfect.
- I'm not really too sure how to phrase this,
so I will just say it. (soft instrumental music)
I have a concern that there was a lot of influence
on us as a family, there were a lot of voices,
and I appreciate those and I want to listen to them
and take them all in, but I want to ask one thing.
If the time should come where a decision has to be made
to run or stay, that it is our decision
whether we run or stay.
And I mean mine and yours together,
and that if we think the best thing is to stay that we stay
because we also have- - Mm-hmm.
- Children to consider.
And I'm not asking you to go against your family.
If we should decide, if Tula decides that she wants to leave
and that's what we decide is also the best thing,
then absolutely we will go with Tula
and Ava and the children, of course.
But if we feel in our heart the best thing to do,
the safest thing to do is to stay and fight,
that we stay and fight,
and I know that's a really hard thing to ask of you.
- Mm-hmm.
- But I cannot lose you.
- If you want to run, I will run wherever you go.
It's more than us right now.
And yes, I love my family and I love what we've built,
but it's not worth it if we're all gone.
If there's a command word or something that you wanna,
like a safeword that you wanna say
and then we take off and we go, I'll go.
- It will always be our decision, Viola.
I wouldn't have a clue what I was doing if it wasn't for you
so tell you what, you come up with a command word
and then I'll know. (chuckles)
- Okay, I'll think on something.
But yes, it's our decision.
Your decisions are our decisions.
My decisions are our decisions.
And I guess Viola just kinda looks out into the expanse
of all of these people and is thinking like,
worst case scenario, how do we get out?
Like, kind of making like a fire escape plan-
- Yeah. - [Rashawn] In her mind.
- What are you trying to figure out in this moment?
Like, how to get out if you need to get out?
- Yeah, oh, I would want to know
what the evacuation plan that's already kind of set
and maybe do the opposite
of what they have planned for themselves.
Like, if everybody is going to go to the side door,
I would go to the back door because that's gonna bottleneck.
That's gonna be a lot of traffic.
- Sure, okay. I like this.
If you are trying to figure this out
just on the sort of way things are set up
because like, systems are fairly intuitive,
I'm gonna say that's a survival check.
If you are trying to understand what the plan here is
with any sort of preternatural clarity, arcana check.
You tell me what you wanna roll.
- Would I be able to, with the secret mission
that I was sort of hoping to accomplish with Jaysohn,
which is kind of like, try to study the layout
and patterns and recognizing patterns and stuff,
would I be able to assist with this?
If I'm sort of explaining...
- I think in this moment I'm gonna leave it just on her
as you lean into what you know and what your priorities are.
And it's not that like, you aren't good collaborators,
but there's something about the just like,
what am I clocking really quickly in and of myself?
Who are you by yourself in this moment?
- [Rashawn] I'm gonna use arcana.
- Yeah.
(die taps table)
- 18. (Izzy chuckles)
- [Aabria] 18.
- That's my aunt. - [Izzy] Yeah.
- I'll give you a little of both.
You start with the flow of what everything is here.
Everything that the stoats have added and built
is made to try to get people
to move as efficiently as possible.
There's ways, like, there's lots of ways up
and into these rows and rows of little nests and homes.
Easy paths up and down.
Easy ways for you to make your way
to wherever you're headed within Last Bast.
Low or across the walls or across scaffolding,
everything is for easy and rapid transport
so people don't get clogged places.
But the exits are not open and easy.
This place is not meant to have an escape plan.
You understand truly well that this is the fallback position
and if Last Bast falls, so goes everyone.
(slow uneasy music)
There are exits. You know you can get in and out.
But there's no sense of like,
"and then we swing open these wide doors
and everyone flees out."
There's no sense of like, you weren't given information
as you were being onboarded with like,
"In the event of an emergency, head here, here, or here."
That's not what this place is.
- That makes her- - [Aabria] It's a bunker.
- Yeah, bunker. No freedom.
Can't move the way you want to.
As an outside cat, I don't like it.
- I will come in and qualify,
it's not a lack of freedom to move the way you want to.
No one's progress is impeded.
But the point of this place
isn't easy and open ingress and egress.
Like, you leave when you have to go somewhere.
But the point isn't,
everyone's just flowing in and out constantly
or you would have seen more people outside.
You go outside because you have to go outside.
You go outside because you need to do something to like,
serve the community or grab something for yourself.
And even to that end, like, you weren't seeing people,
like when you came in, you weren't seeing people
that looked at you and your family crazy going like,
"Oh, how'd they, they get to go in and out."
Like, there was no sense of that.
Like, the priority of the people here isn't like,
"Well, I gotta figure out an opportunity to get out."
Like, this isn't North Korea.
It's just, there isn't an instinct to do that
because everyone is on the same page.
- Gosh it, that's...
That's cool information. Thank you for that.
- Oh my God. You're welcome.
Says the universe or your own heart
or whatever gave you that information.
- Sugar, okay. I guess I relay that to you.
Yes, so I, you know, it may be harder to get out
if we need to get out, if we want to get out,
but we can get out.
- Yes, it sort of draws me back
to what Sybil said yesterday.
The idea that stoats have come from every which direction
so my instinct right now is that we stay and fight.
- And that's what we will do.
- I like that.
And let's go move now to the person
with the biggest fuck off instinct of them all.
Tula, where are you and your kids headed? (laughs)
- So we were told that food comes from a line.
So I think Tula is thinking about breakfast.
Is thinking about...
And I think in all honesty Tula woke up
and is like, ah, Mama is gone.
(Aabria laughs)
And we've been here for less than 24 hours,
and I hear Viola and Thorn conspiring out in the hallway.
And well, I guess I'll get food.
I'll go get food. (laughs)
- Oh my God. - Yeah.
It becomes immediately very obvious that like,
whatever you're thinking and working on
and dealing with your kids,
like, there is no like, great investigation check.
You see that as people are waking up
and also flowing down from their relative nests,
everyone's moving in one big direction
to a side room under a bunch of like, walkways.
And there's just a big distribution mechanism.
Like, the closer you get to it,
the more you see people are naturally queuing up
and walking back with like, big bundles of like, meat
and fish flesh and little metal cups,
basins of water held in paws and little bric-a-brac
and sometimes wrapped in leaves.
As they pass you like, good morning, good morning, hi.
- Well, this place is very exciting.
There's so many other stoats here.
- Yeah, that's Lukas.
- Oh!
- [Aabria] (congested) Mint, Mama!
I had mint and I need it to live!
- [Brennan] Um, uh... - [Aabria] Full meltdown.
- I'm gonna look over at Lukas and say, hi, are you Lukas?
- I'm Lukas. - [Brennan] Oh-
- (gasps) (congested) It's the bosses of me! Hi.
- The what? - Hi.
- They're the boss of me. - [Siobhan] I'm not your boss.
- Jaysohn. - I don't-
- Why is Lukas telling me- - [Izzy] We gave you back!
- That you're boss of him? - We gave him back!
- [Brennan] What do you mean-
- We gave him back to Education.
- You gave him back? - They gave me back,
but my allegiance remains with Jaysohn and Lila.
- Is your nose stuffy? - Yeah.
- Come here, come here, come here.
And I'm going to Lay on Hands five points to cure a disease,
and I'm just gonna blow into one of his nostrils.
- Yeah! (claps) - [Rashawn] Oh!
- (Brennan blows sharply) Just catch a bunch of snot.
(players groaning in disgust) - Amazing!
(Siobhan and Rashawn retching)
A snot rocket like, scatters across the ground.
(Siobhan groans) (cast member snorts)
- Oh, there you go, sweetie.
- (no longer congested) Oh my God! Mom!
That lady's mouth is mint!
(Siobhan giggles)
Hi. - Hi, um-
- I pledge my allegiance to your family forever!
- Oh, that's very- - Yeah, you gotta stop
giving yourself away, it's weird.
- [Aabria] Okay. - [Brennan] That's all right.
- But you can be our friend.
- I'm gonna look for, is his mom right around here?
- (laughs) She's got that dead stare of just,
this was a kid that was melting down seconds ago
and she's just...
He's been kicking and punching her
and she's just moving slowly forward like, yeah, hi.
Thank you so much for- - [Brennan] Oh, of course.
- Biting my child's congestion out of his face.
- Of course, you're more than welcome.
It's lovely to meet you. I'm Tula.
- Oh, hi. My name's Meredith.
- Meredith, it's so lovely to meet you.
- [Aabria] It's so lovely to meet you.
- I'm so glad. My children have just started in Education.
And Lukas was so sweet to them
on the first day. - And ended.
- Oh, yes.
- Yeah, we're not going back there.
We actually figured it out.
- All right, well- - [Izzy] Yes.
- We'll talk about that in a moment, but...
- Simon's a bit of a pushover and just-
- [Brennan] Oh, I see. - Normally the children here
are quite happy to just be around other children.
(yawns) You're new then? If they're new. (sniffles)
- [Brennan] Yes. - Are you a recent addition
to Last Bast? - Yes.
We just joined yesterday.
It's lovely. - [Aabria] Oh, how wonderful.
- Thank you so much for having us.
- Yes, thank you. You already have proved incredible value.
My child is hyperventilating in the corner now.
- [Brennan] Yes, and I would lean in and go-
- Thank you. - And by the way, if,
you know, we have so much more space in our burrow than ever
so if Lukas ever wants to come over and play,
if you'd ever like some time for you and your-
- I'm just gonna...
And she just leans in and gets very close to your face.
- Yeah, I understand. Yeah, you-
- This is one of those things
where you have to take it back now
'cause if I get to hold that hope in my heart
and then later you're like, Lukas can't come over-
- [Brennan] I'm not going to take it back.
- It will kill me.
- These two are the most it's possible to be
so we're already at the limit.
So if we add another,
it actually doesn't make a difference to me, you understand?
- I do actually understand that.
- [Brennan] If there's a third-
- Thank you so much. - [Brennan] You understand?
- Yes. - The difference between none
and two is infinity so (cast laughing)
adding three, you can't get more than infinity.
- [Aabria] Yeah, that's fair. - You understand?
Yeah, absolutely. Well- - That's very nice.
Thank you so much. I'm staying in the...
We're in the red corridor. I'll send...
He'll find you later.
Are you sending them back to Education?
And we can exchange information there if that's easier.
- Yeah. - [Aabria] Or just, uh...
- I assume that's the right thing to do
unless there's other...
Are there other- - Well, I wasn't sure
if you'd figured out like, a job or something
or what you wanted to do.
There's no pressure- - Yeah, I wanna get a job.
- You want a job, little boy?
- I'm actually really big.
- Yeah, okay. (laughs)
This a woman with, almost like your mother,
no fight in her about that.
Like, absolutely. Like, I don't want that smoke, no.
- Actually, and I was wondering
because I think both of my children
are very excited about Refit.
- Refit? - Yes, absolutely.
- No! (Erika laughing)
You're not listening to us at all!
- We're actually really excited about lab secrets.
- Labs and secrets. (players laughing)
And weapons and fighting! - Oh, I'm so sorry, what?
Hold on, I'm so sorry, what? Lab secrets?
- Yes. - Lila's really clever.
Lila can read- - Lila-
- Interesting. What have you heard about lab secrets?
- I sorta found it out on my own.
- Mm-hmm.
- That um, you know, there are bunch of secrets and-
- What kind of secrets?
- [Izzy] That like, people who are in charge-
- I work in a lab. - Yeah, I know.
- [Aabria] Oh. - [Izzy] Yeah, you're awesome.
- [Aabria] And she give a little look to-
- You're awesome. Lukas is awesome.
- [Aabria] She gives a little look at Lukas.
- We love Lukas. - And Lukas shrinks back.
And it's the most neutral look,
and you see Lukas looks like he has been struck with a wave
of like, this is...
Not hit, like he's not flinching like a hit child,
but more like, this is the thing you know not to talk about.
- Can I make an insight check into Meredith here?
- [Aabria] Absolutely.
- (whisper) Don't talk about the family business.
- 24. (Aabria laughs)
- That's crazy. (laughs)
Yeah, I mean, you pick that up right away.
Like, this is a very tired mom
with a high-energy, just a little psychopath that she has.
Very 'only child' energy.
And this is one of those things where it's like,
a mom who said, "I want you to, like, do what you do
and I'm not going to keep secrets from you,
but the thing we don't talk about is my work in the lab."
- [Brennan] Mm-hmm.
- That like, you don't share that with the other children.
And you know that he doesn't know exactly what she does,
but the way she immediately clamped down on that,
she does something that like, does not get out.
- [Brennan] We're not gonna. - He actually didn't tell us.
I just could tell.
- 'Cause Lila's really clever. - [Brennan] Mm-hmm.
- But you looked at him and he got scared.
- Sure. Well, he knows he's not supposed to talk too much.
- But he didn't! - He didn't.
He actually could barely talk because he had a blocked nose.
- [Izzy] He can't breathe.
- And then once he had the mint,
all he talked about was mint.
- [Aabria] Mm-hmm, okay.
- He really didn't talk about anything but mint.
- Sure.
- Meredith, I think that the kids are very excited
about all of the new things going on
in the Last Bast. - We're just trying to keep...
- But I'd be interested in talking to you
about where you think the ideal places to go are.
We were lucky enough
to meet Bennett yesterday on our way in.
- Resource Allocation. - Yeah, we saw
there was a hunt concluding. - Oh.
- Out as we arrived yesterday.
- Our grandma went into it. - Yeah.
- And she- - Our grandma's really strong.
- Well, yeah.
- [Aabria] What were they hunting?
- Just like me. - Yeah. Hm?
- What were they hunting? - [Izzy] Moose.
- [Brennan] They were a large sort of antler-covered elk.
- Just drafting off of that previous insight check,
and I'll let you kind of pick this up a little bit, too.
That her asking a little too casually,
"What were they hunting?"
Was absolutely a like, did you see the thing
that they were actually hunting or is this the like,
yeah, you saw them looking for rabbits, sure.
- Yeah, so I'm like, yeah, so we saw them driving an elk
into the enclosure with the other monster,
the other beast that was in there so-
- I think at this point she's just like,
losing the ability to hide it like...
You've seen so much.
- That was just walking up.
- Oh, we killed a bear. Just us.
- First day.
- And we're just trying to keep our family
and your family safe. - [Siobhan] Yes.
- By wanting to know the lab secrets, actually.
- [Siobhan] Yeah.
- Because we just like, got here.
- We're just minutes in. - And it's like, what?
We're like, doing all of this secret stuff.
- Right, and then we have to go to this Education thing,
which is just pointless.
- Yeah, and everyone's like,
talking shit about Simon all time.
- And we have to line up for food.
- Sweetie! - Instead of just going
and killing a rabbit. - We're just meeting Meredith.
- Like, the rabbits are right there.
Why can't we just go kill a rabbit?
- [Izzy] You can.
- Oh, we have to stockpile this. Everyone goes in that way.
- But I'm hungry now.
- We're in line for food. - Right.
You're in line for the rabbits that were caught earlier
and they're being actively slaughtered.
- So somebody else killed the rabbit?
I'm not a baby. I can kill my own rabbit.
- So why don't you join Resource Allocation then?
- Exactly! No!
- Yes. (players laughing)
- Incredible.
- Yeah, there's a deep mom Xanatos is like,
"It's all going according to plan."
- [Aabria] Let me say, what was your name again?
- Jaysohn.
- Resource Allocation is mostly going out
and hunting in the woods.
- We watched a stoat get killed yesterday
in Resource Allocation.
- [Siobhan] Yeah, but I wouldn't be killed.
- Well, the thing that you saw being hunted-
- His name was Curtis.
- Ssh!
(Jasper exhales sharply) - Hm.
Well, that's very unfortunate for them.
Normally, Resource Allocation work is not that dangerous.
What you saw-
- Well, then I don't wanna do it.
- Was something very special.
I think if you haven't experienced much death in your life,
that you're a very lucky stoat.
- Oh, we have! - Oh my goodness!
Let me tell you about death. - Our whole house died!
- Our grandpa, he is dead, and our dad...
- [Siobhan and Izzy] He is dead.
- And then there was a guy
who was trying to be our second dad,
and he's dead. - Dead.
- Our Auntie Beatrix,
she's dead. - Dead.
- All of our Uncle Thorn's friends except for two of them
who are the ones who have the mint,
they're all dead. - Dead.
The bear, dead.
- Bear, dead. - All the chipmunks-
- [Siobhan] All of the chipmunks.
- Inside the bear, dead. - Dead because of us.
We killed those. - Yeah.
- My children are very excited to be here in Last Bast.
(players laughing)
And so I'd love...
Has anyone ever been hurt or injured or killed in Refit?
- I think injuries do happen, yes.
- One time at the warren, I saw a guy walking into a hole
and a rock fell on his head and he died.
(Brennan laughing)
- I think that's the sad truth about stoats.
- [Izzy] So my mom is, yeah, yeah, yeah.
- Is death is everywhere. - [Izzy] Yeah!
- And everyone that made their way here-
- Our heads are too small and our bodies are too long!
(cast laughing)
So if you get hit in the head, it's over!
- It's over. It's over. - What's your name again?
- Lila. (players laughing)
- [Aabria] You are absolutely correct.
Our bodies are long and our heads are very weak,
and that's why we move so quickly.
- [Izzy] Mm-hmm.
- But some of the things that we do here
are not what it's in our instincts to do.
- Yeah. - We are trying to do newer
and more interesting things,
and when you learn new skills- - Mm-hmm, like make weapons.
- You are full of secrets.
And I think you say that, and you saw that every time
you sort of dropped big information,
a big bit of information it sort of hit her.
You saw like, it ripple across her like,
what does this little girl know?
And at that one, all of the pretense of being very like,
kind and trying to move though advice stops
and she just moves back up to standing.
Hm, well, my son and I ought to be going.
- And Lukas is just like, no, I can breathe!
I can wait in the line forever. I'm feeling so good.
And she's like, we have food at home. Why don't we go home?
- Can I make an insight check?
I wanna see if there's antagonism towards my kid here.
- Sure. Give me an insight check.
- Like, it's one thing if she's like,
oops, I need to lock it down.
- Fuck, I rolled good! Now you have to beat a 23.
I did the best, almost the best I could do.
- Can I help her with how insightful I also am?
- No.
- 16. - Oh.
You don't see antagonism toward her.
Like, she doesn't feel anything strongly about this child,
but what you do see even with a 16
is that she has just logged a problem.
(haunting sinister music)
(Jasper exhales softly)
- I'm going to look at her and say, well, the offer stands
if you'd ever like a hand with Lukas.
- Oh, thank you so much. That's very, very kind.
- Yeah, Lukas you should come over-
- Sweetie I'm gonna- - [Aabria] Yes, of course.
- Let me talk to Meredith right now.
- [Siobhan] Sure.
- [Brennan] And by the way, if you ever want-
- She pulls Lukas closer to her
'cause Lukas is now trying to like, look out at your kids.
- And I wanna send them back to Education,
but I'm worried that when they got back from Education
the other day they started saying
a lot of really worrisome things about weapons and lab
and all this other stuff.
And it just feels like there's a lot of agitating things
happening at Education that I-
- Give me a deception check.
- Oh! (players shout)
- Give me a deception check. That's so good!
- Can I get any help from any of my kids in this moment?
- Yeah, they were talking about weapons.
- I'm like, (whisper) Lukas, come over- - And they were like-
You have a weapon. - [Aabria] Well, let me be very clear.
- I'm gonna ask you guys sort of like, player questions.
Your mom just snapped on you to like, be quiet.
- [Izzy] Yeah. - While adults were talking.
Would you have listened to her and fallen back
or would you reinsert yourself into this conversation,
disobeying your mother's orders?
- [Siobhan] Mm, I think we're- - I don't think
we're reinserting ourselves. - Yeah, I don't think so.
I think that she snapped so hard
in a way that she almost never does.
- [Aabria] Yeah. - Mm-hmm.
- That I don't think-
- [Izzy] But we're also sort of like-
- Like maybe we're behind her. - [Izzy] Okay, she's mad.
- And going, I don't know what I said. What?
- [Aabria] Sweet. - I don't even know.
- I respect the like, fidelity of the moment,
and you do not have advantage. - Cool.
- The moment Meredith was done with you,
Lukas was pulled in close.
And like, even him trying to squirm away,
she is keeping him tight, tightly tucked
and is trying to get away.
- 10.
(Erika yelps) - Oy, oy, oy, oy, oy.
- [Aabria] Yeah. - Oy, oy, oy.
(apprehensive piano music)
- Yes, okay, well then I will absolutely check in
with Education and see what's going on.
It's unfortunate.
Simon, though being a bit of a pushover normally,
keeps a tight ship.
And it's strange that such worrisome fantasies
are sort of coming out of Education.
- To be clear, I wouldn't blame Simon at all.
I didn't have a chance to meet him.
The children's uncle brought them to Education yesterday.
I was more worried about some of the other children
in the class and the fact that they seem
to be able to run around and, you know,
it doesn't seem like there's a tremendous amount
of order in that room.
- Understood. Oh, well, all right, Lukas.
I guess we'll have a little conversation
about what's going on in Education.
- [Brennan] By the way, I am- - And get to the bottom of it.
- Fully trying to throw Lukas under the bus.
- [Aabria] Yeah, 100%.
- Lukas can catch whatever fucking consequences he needs to.
(players laughing)
Tough fucking titties, Lukas. (players laughing)
- [Aabria] I think, like- - Wow!
- In this moment your persuasion went off the way it did,
but I think your insight
and the insight that you've rolled and your passives,
like, I think you're catching pretty obviously
that she is rip cording out
of any sort of understanding with you, too,
and she's not picking up what you're putting down
but is just trying to be nice and exit the conversation.
- [Brennan] Yeah, got it - But sure, like, of course.
Her kid's a little shit and you knew that before
so he's gonna catch a fade.
- Any fucking smoke I can throw.
- [Aabria] Yeah, yeah, yeah. - That's like,
my kids aren't trying to crack your weird, fucked-up city!
You have a talkative fucking kid!
- [Aabria] Yes, absolutely.
- Is just, let's throw that narrative up in the mix.
- Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- I'm going- - That's awesome.
(Brennan laughs) - (chuckles) I like it.
- I'm gonna turn to Lila and Jaysohn.
Let's get breakfast and let's not talk to any other adults
until we get back to the burrow with some food, okay?
Thank you. - Yeah.
- She was mean. - [Brennan] What's that?
- She was mean. - Yeah, she was kinda mean.
And we were just asking questions. It's not rude.
- You're both very bright young children.
What do you think might happen
if you asking a mean person questions?
- Kill us. - Yeah, that's a good guess.
- Oh!
- Lila, that's a good guess.
So we just gotta be careful, okay?
- My three here, give me a perception check.
- 21. - 10.
- 14.
- [Aabria] Jaysohn. - Mm-hmm.
- As your family finishes collecting food,
and you are without, literally without any question,
they just ask you, food for how many?
And you're picking up your sort of breakfast for the day.
You cannot help but notice that several stoats
with copper wire wrapped around their sashes
always have eyes on you and your mother and your sister.
- And do I get the impression
that they are just interested in us 'cause we're new?
Or do I get the impression
that we're like, kinda being hunted?
- With a 21, this does not look like you are being hunted
because you don't feel like you're being stalked
into a place. - [Siobhan] Uh-huh.
- But it is very clear that like,
whichever direction Meredith and Lukas took off in,
like, a signal was thrown and you're being watched.
- Okay, I'm gonna pull on my mom's sash.
- [Brennan] Mm-hmm.
- And I'm gonna point this out to her. - Okay.
- Give me a stealth check.
- 26. - Yeah.
You're able to do it in a way that isn't like,
you making eyes with one of them and being like-
- [Siobhan] Uh-huh. - Mom, they're looking at you!
You're like, yeah.
- Look at these people!
- Yeah, look at these people all here looking at you.
- Yeah, whatever you say to me I'm going to, okay.
- Yeah, and I'd really like some, the legs of the rabbit
'cause I really like the legs of the rabbit.
- Okay.
- And I would love an ear of a rabbit also
so I can just like, chew on it for later.
(Brennan sighs) - Whisper then.
- Yeah. - Yeah.
I'm gonna just say, okay, and I'm not going to look.
I'm gonna just take my son's word for it.
And I'm gonna say, okay, very, very curious.
You are both very curious young children.
When you can see something, it can see you.
It's not always safe to go looking for things.
If you are going to hunt,
half the hunt is not getting seen yourself.
- Right.
- That's all, okay? - So we have to do that thing
that Uncle Thorn does that makes us invisible.
- There's lots of ways of getting seen.
You can get seen by a monster and it will charge you,
but sometimes you don't want the things in here
to get spotted either.
And those can get spotted by just asking a question
a little bit too bluntly.
You have to think about how important it is
just to not be noticed.
Right now we've been running around
and doing all sorts of things,
and there's almost no reason for that to be good.
If I knew nothing else other than I could be in a place
where people wouldn't pay attention to me
or be in a place where people would, I would pick a place
where they were not paying attention to me.
- Should we go for a walk outside?
(Siobhan gasps excitedly) - That sound really nice.
- Yeah! - I think that's a good idea.
- Yes.
- But we're gonna get breakfast first
'cause we can't do anything on an empty stomach,
and we have to bring some breakfast back to the burrow.
- You make your way back to the burrow.
And I think by the time everyone sort of gets back there,
you three get back there,
Ava, you've made your way back, too.
And you are all together again with food and water, ample,
easily distributed and cheerfully shared.
I need Thorn, Viola, and Ava to make perception checks.
(dice tapping table)
- 13. - Five.
- 15.
- Thorn, it's a little strange when they get back.
You notice and you're just like, huh.
Just, it's like a slight change.
You are used to the smell of your family,
and yet they came back
and there's just like a slightly strange smell
to the three of them.
- Would this be anywhere similar to like,
when we might mark our territory perhaps?
- Yes.
- (whisper) Somebody peed on us. - Ooh, oh, okay.
Whew! (clears throat)
How was the line for the food?
- Oh, it was so boring and so long.
- Was it super boring? - Yeah, it was really boring.
- Oh, okay. - Well, we ran-
- Jaysohn just took that so literally and was just-
- [Jasper] Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
- [Aabria] That's the best part is like-
- The line was really boring. (Aabria laughing)
- We ran into Lukas from Education.
- Oh.
- And we met his mother, Meredith who was a little bit,
seems a little tired and just a little bit guarded.
She seemed a little guarded about,
her son had been talking about her work in the laboratory
and so we had-
- I think Lukas only mentioned that she worked there.
I don't think-
- And that's all that we talked about
so I think she was just busy.
But we were thinking about going for a walk
aboveground in a little while.
Something Lila felt like doing.
I don't know if we feel like a little family stroll.
- I think what's happening for Thorn right now is like,
with smelling that, feeling like something is generally off,
like, I'm trying to work out whether you're giving us
a signal with this like, going for a walk thing.
- [Brennan] Mm-hmm. - And I don't know if that...
Like, that's how Thorn's interpreting it.
- [Brennan] Yeah. - [Aabria] Yeah.
- So like, if I can do an insight check
to see if I can pick up what- - [Aabria] Sure, sure,
sure, sure, sure. - I think she's putting down.
- You can tell Tula is not feeling like, bolting.
That it's just a little bit of privacy, yeah.
- Oh yeah, no, yeah, that's what I mean is more of a private
like, we need to be somewhere private.
- Just, let's be somewhere private.
- [Jasper] Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay.
- It would be nice to get some fresh air.
We've been down here for a while.
- Yeah.
- Is there any way to like, find out if it feels
like we're in any way being surveilled, like, in our room?
- In this right now? What a fun question.
Investigation check.
(die taps table)
- 14. - [Siobhan] Can I do...
- You wanna do it to?
- Can I do a perception check for the same thing?
- [Aabria] Sure.
- Would it have to be also with investigation?
- I think you are a vibe catcher,
and you are specifically looking for stuff so.
- Great, I got an 18. No, 19.
- Okay, 19 and 14.
I think you looking around,
you're just looking for like, weak points.
Also, you guys are very good at like, being conspiratorial
and being like, here's how I know in my room how mom will,
or especially Auntie Beatrix would go over here.
You, sort of in your cursory glance,
don't see anything that would give the game away
within your like, little nest at all.
But you are deeply aware of the fact
that there's no fourth wall here.
But with that, right now if you guys all got quiet,
you would hear maybe the murmurings
of the loudest people surrounding you if they were shouting,
but you can't overhear anyone else's conversations.
- [Izzy] Hm.
- And I think with a perception check of 19,
you see that people would have to,
like, expend a pretty aggressive amount,
like a nigh noticeable amount of energy trying to listen in.
Like, it would be like seeing a little ear (laughs)
or like a bit of fur like someone-
- Great, they haven't figured out
the glass against the wall trick yet.
- Exactly, how could you get a bit of glass that small?
Where would that even come from?
A Polly in my pocket? - Yes, exactly.
- [Aabria] Do you think they have that?
- Exactly.
- No, Aabria, no. - Thank you, thank you.
- (laughs) So yeah, but you are realizing like,
kind of looking out and away, the thing they can do
is keep track of you. - [Siobhan] Mm-hmm.
- Not necessarily like, listen in on you.
- Can I just say, uh, Ava, I was wondering
if perhaps it would be a good idea
to have a little morning clean.
Just, you know, a little bit of grooming
of each other, just-
- You wanna be licked by my mother?
(Aabria laughs) - I thought you'd never ask!
- You've done it now. - [Aabria] Wild!
- Wow. (Erika gurgles)
- What the fuck is wrong with you?
- [Jasper] And that's all of us.
- [Brennan] Yeah, absolutely. - That's all of us.
- Yeah. (laughs)
- Well, wait, 'cause it's my sister I can sense vibes.
Was that Meredith giving you shit?
- She...
And I don't know how people can hear us or not.
And I was like, you know what?
I thought she was just as lovely as could be.
(Aabria laughs) - Hm, bless her heart.
- Bless her heart. - [Rashawn] Mm.
(players laughing)
- If you like her, I love her.
(cast laughing)
- Okay, I don't know...
Have you told us that you saw people seeing you?
Do you think you- - That has not happened yet.
- [Rashawn] That has not- - Now-
- [Aabria] Yeah. - I think we're like,
a little trying to like, leave.
- Yeah, a little trying to leave, and we're on the go.
We're doing a little spit wash on the go.
And I'm saying, now, I don't mean to tell tales
out of Education, but I met one of the First Stoats and-
- What? (player gasps)
- [Erika] Their, his- - Oh.
- [Erika] Their teeth- - What?
- Were just, oh! Oh! (Siobhan laughing)
- I mean, if your teeth are the first to go,
you're basically falling apart.
- No! I mean, they were just odd, you know?
I mean, and not, you know, just...
- You met one of the First Stoats?
- Yes! And they're very handsome.
But still, their teeth are,
it's like a wolf's in the front but like a...
- Pig? - No, no, no, the...
- Deer? - Beaver.
- Turtle. - That's all the animals.
- Fish. - The ones that have...
Yeah, the mice, I think, in the back.
- Sabre-toothed mice. - You know how in the back?
They have in the back and they're all flat.
They're all flat in the back.
- They have flat teeth in the back?
- Hold on, hold on.
This is a stupid opportunity to make Erika,
try to make Erika's character know more.
Make a wisdom saving throw.
- Heck yeah.
- [Rashawn] Do they eat meat or...
- That's a three. (players laughing)
- You've never known what a back flat tooth is called.
- [Jasper] Learn. - [Siobhan] Learn.
- Let me be very clear, I eat my rodents whole
just all the way through.
- Ava is perfect-
- [Siobhan] Gotta swallow. - And makes me feel insane.
(Erika chomping)
- And they're just flat in the back and pointy in the front.
- Are we outside? Have we made our way out?
- [Jasper] I think- - I mean, you're still in it
unless you were making like, big clips up.
- Do I get the vibe that Sybil might know Thieves' Cant?
(Siobhan gasps)
- Ah, so now we're in a very interesting thing with...
I know that this is your like, rogue kit.
- Yes.
If I were to put like, secret mess...
If I tried to write for the first time
(Izzy and Siobhan laughing)
and put secret messages in it. - [Aabria] Yeah.
- One, would I be able to do that?
- Super fun fact, how would you know?
You don't know what a rogue is.
And you didn't meet her through a connection
where you'd be like, we have the same ability set.
- 1,000%.
- [Aabria] So what I'm gonna tell you is-
- Yeah.
- You can always try and see what happens.
- Yeah, I think I wanna try and like,
get a message to Sybil.
- Sure. While the adults are talking.
- [Izzy] Okay. - What does Lila do?
- Well, she's like... (laughs)
Okay, fuck. Do I...
- Oh, you pulled focus. Bitch, you better be ready!
- Well, I tried to pass you a note, but then you asked.
Do I need to think about pencils?
- Oh, we can make it very easy.
- [Izzy] Okay, okay, okay. - And say that you've got
like animal blood or stuff.
- And thank God, thank God. - [Aabria] Yeah, you're good.
- Okay, I think I'm just trying to be like, how can we help?
- Okay, so you're trying to encode the idea,
how can we help? - [Izzy] Mm-hmm.
- In the general like, help you?
Help the thing? Help what?
- She wept to us yesterday. - [Aabria] Sure, sure, sure.
- And said, "Help me."
- Is that what she said? - [Izzy] Yes.
- Interesting. Yeah, no.
Okay, why don't you ponder how you wanna like,
execute on this, and then we'll like,
wrap this little bit up and we'll come on back to you.
- [Izzy] Okay. - Cool, sweet.
- Jaysohn, did you notice anyone
paying any particular attention to us right now here
just before we leave?
- Yeah, no, yeah.
In the line, the ones with the copper.
- Right now, like in this moment.
- [Siobhan] Oh, right now.
Oh, I know- - In our little cubby.
- Can I do a perception check?
- [Aabria] You already did one.
- Oh yeah, no, no. Oh no. - When you looked out,
when you looked out, you saw like, Population Support.
- [Siobhan] Yeah. - They're moving through.
- They're moving through, but they're not like...
- In this moment whilst we're here. - [Siobhan] Obviously, yeah.
- There is no one in proximity to you listening for you.
- [Siobhan] Great.
- But looking out into the corridor.
- There's like, maybe somebody hanging out. Like just-
- There's always someone close, and they're looking up.
- [Siobhan] Great. - At the wall of nests.
- You mean to say that we're new here
and nobody's paying attention to us?
- I think a lot of people are paying attention to us, Mama.
Maybe too many.
- I'm just gonna like, sort of position my back
so that I'm sort of talking to the family
with my back to the open entrance.
And I'm just gonna say, I believe that you're being tracked.
I smelled something as you came in,
and I fear that if we suddenly all leave
and go for a walk without any particular direction,
that's asking for people to follow us.
If they're not in this moment tracking us,
perhaps this is perhaps the best place
to have an open conversation as swiftly as we can
before we decide what we want to do
so we need to be quick, efficient,
but I think that if we leave,
we're going to encourage them to suspect something.
We don't want to let them know that we understand that...
And I'll sort of gesture to like, can you smell? (sniffs)
- Do I start to smell it once he points it out to me.
- You know what, I'm not even gonna make you roll for it.
Yeah, now that you're sort of pointing out like,
something smells weird.
And because you had been carrying all the food back.
- It's Tula's toots. - You were sort of like,
it's not my toots, what could it be?
Now that you've put down all the food-
- If you're telling me that I fart. Yeah, um...
(cast laughing)
- Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
- Now that food is down and distributed,
you no longer have the scent of that in your nose
and you're like, oh, there is just a little something tangy
lingering in the air, and you recognize it as like, yeah.
- [Brennan] Musk. - There's musk.
- Who did I make physical contact with,
with me and my kids?
- As you were coming back, I think it's very much like,
there is enough people out,
especially when you were in that cramped line,
that like you were coming in, people were going like,
"Oh, excuse me, pardon me," and brushing past you.
Someone brushed past you and marked you.
- Does this feel like an...
Like, when I smell this, does it smell like the smell
of the stoats of this warren?
Like, it's naturally rubbing off on me?
- [Aabria] Yes.
- Or does it feel more specific?
- You guys don't...
Other than like, Tula's unfortunate problem
with crop dusting... (laughs)
- You have a litter of kits and see how hard it is
to keep it locked up down there!
- My mom is a farty little slut.
(cast laughing)
- Okay?
Like, do like the classic 1950s like,
her in a cartoon in a circle.
"Farty Little Slut" in big block letters.
- I'm a farty little slut. - 100%! But you-
- I'm a tooty little girl.
- You understand that like, musking and marking
and all of that scent work is intentional.
Like, no one does that on accident.
- [Brennan] Yeah.
- So you were very clearly marked,
and now it makes sense that like-
- [Brennan] So- - Now that your son was like,
"Yeah, people are watching."
- We've been marked, and I think I'm trying to ascertain
if it's like, is this like,
oh, this is like the pollen ambient in the air
or is this like a royal jelly?
Like, we put the criminal stank on you kind of vibe?
- It's less of like, criminal stank.
'Cause it's not like, yeah,
this isn't like being marked by a bee and it's like,
if you smell this, attack them.
- [Erika] Wild. - So like, if we took a bath
we'd be fine to move or- - Right, but maybe
they would be like, why did they take a bath?
- You know that you smell different
than the other stoats in the warren.
And this is less of like,
you've been marked for something to happen
and more of like, I think your natural paranoia in this
is like, how do you keep track of someone?
Population Support understands that like,
once a flag's been raised, once you've been marked,
everyone knows, if I smell something, keep an eye on them.
- We used to, when finding a new rabbit warren...
Thank you. We would mark one-
- (laughs) Sorry. The look on their face got me.
- One particular rabbit, we would mark it.
It would make it easier for us to follow them and then...
(Erika licks dryly) Oh!
And they would lead us then back their warren.
It's a similar smell, and it's very intentional.
(Erika gurgles) Oh, God!
Okay, it's less actually...
I've kind of revealed the thing now, the MacGuffin.
It's more them that need the...
- We shouldn't remove this unless we're planning to bolt.
- [Jasper] Okay. - For the wood line right now.
It's more suspicious for them to find us
and if we don't smell that way again.
- [Jasper] Okay. - That's the most suspicious.
So, if we want to bolt right now, let's get rid of it.
And if we're not going to bolt right now,
then we should just remember
that anything sneaky we wanna do in the future,
we should cover ourselves with a more powerful scent.
- Yeah. - If we do want to bolt,
though I highly recommending taking Truck.
- I wonder if we could go find that...
- Hm? - Hm?
- Did you learn how to...
- Oh, I didn't. I don't know how to...
- [Rashawn] Truck. - Truck yet,
but they're working on how to Truck Truck.
- Where?
- The twins showed me. - Who's that?
- They're the head of Defense.
- Ooh, Defense. Boo, boring. - Ooh, can we meet them?
(cast laughing)
- Really quick, Lila.
So, do you have like, your sort of coded message?
- Well, I was gonna go see
if I could maybe just like, see if she's in her place.
- Oh yeah. Do you wanna just go talk to her?
- [Izzy] Yeah. - Sure, sure, sure.
- Okay, all right, sweetie. We'll see you.
Wait, I don't, I actually- - I think I'll just
talk to Sybil. - Okay.
- I wanna talk to Sybil.
Can I talk to Sybil? - Okay, yeah, come.
And Mom. - Oh, Lila's going
to see her little girlfriend. - And Mom.
(Jasper chuckles) - Me? I don't wanna see...
Well, okay. (laughs)
I'm like, I'm gonna stay here and talk with the family.
You go talk to Sybil, sweetie. - [Izzy] Okay.
- Sweet. All right, Jaysohn and Lila.
You make your way up and over.
And it's quite easy to like, do kind of like a look up,
peek in, that's not it, that's not it.
And you see Sybil just sort of just kinda waking up.
You know, late teenager.
They get up at the crack of noon
if left to their own devices, like, uh, what?
- Hi. - (yawns) Hi, good morning.
- [Siobhan] Good morning. - [Aabria] Hi.
- Do you wanna go outside with us?
- Why? No.
- [Siobhan] I just wanna find all the rocks.
- This is my day off.
- I think we should stay right here.
- What? No, we were gonna go outside.
- Jaysohn, literally, did you hear everything-
- [Siobhan] I just wanna- - That they were just talking
about in our room?
- You have something in your room?
- Sybil, hi. - [Aabria] Hi, good morning.
- Good morning. Remember- - Hey, let's talk on the nest.
- Do you remember everything- - And she just rolls over.
She does not get up.
- Do you, do you, ssh, ssh, ssh, it's okay.
- (laughs and claps) It's so soothing.
- Sybil, do you remember everything you showed us yesterday?
- Oh. And she immediately is fully awake.
Yes...
- My family's being followed.
- Why?
- Because I think we broke a lot of rules
and asked too many questions.
- And we gave Lukas mint. - Okay, hold on, real quick.
Who were you asking questions of?
'Cause I did say, don't say anything.
- I didn't.
(Brennan chortles) - [Aabria] Didn't what?
(Siobhan laughs) - I didn't say anything.
- We were so quiet.
- So when you say asking questions,
who was asking questions?
- We got in trouble for nothing. We were being so good.
- We talked to a lady who worked in the lab.
- Yeah, Lukas's mom.
- Just in general? And did you ask her questions?
- Yeah. - [Siobhan] No.
- Yeah, don't lie to me. You came here.
You came to me. - [Izzy] I did not.
- I was asleep. It's my day off.
- I know. - My ribs were broken.
My brother's dead! - I know, I'm so sorry.
- [Aabria] Yeah! - Dead, dead, dead, he's dead.
- Yeah, it's bad! - [Izzy] Yeah, I know.
- Thank you for telling me the truth immediately.
That's good. - Yeah, but I'm just trying
to sort of figure out what to do
because... (blows softly) - Yes.
Oh, thank you. Honestly, kinda nice.
Oh, you smell a little... (sniffs)
- We got peed on, yeah.
- Oh, there's... - They're just tracking us.
They're tracking us. - Yeah.
- Wait, do you know who it is?
Can you smell who it is? Do you know?
- Oh, this is Population Support.
They help, but they are population control.
- Do you think we should clean ourselves?
- I think it would make sense that...
Of course, why wouldn't kids be cleaned?
- Yeah, that's what I thought. - So you would forget.
Yeah, and get it off of you. - But my mom thought
it was suspicious. - Okay, but I do hate-
- And that way you have deniability for why it's gone.
- [Izzy] Okay, but wait, so whenever-
- And then new Population Support-
- [Izzy] It has to fucking go away.
- The other coppers won't be able to know who you are.
- Yeah, yeah, ACAB.
(Rashawn laughs) (Aabria clicks tongue)
(Erika screams at the copper-Copper pun)
- Yeah, she said copper wires several times.
- [Izzy] Yeah.
- It was right in front of our faces.
- Okay, I also just wanna know,
what do you think we should do?
(Rashawn exhales sharply) (Jasper chuckles)
Because you asked us for help yesterday.
- Yeah.
- I don't know. I don't know what to do. (laughs)
- No, you're good. And thank you for coming in.
And I'm so sorry if your family's in danger
because of the thing.
- Well, and you know, it's like, our fault.
- Oh, no, no, no. It's okay.
Just rule one, and please take this
in the spirit in which it's intended.
Stop fucking talking to other people about the scary stuff.
- Yeah, for sure.
- I've been here my whole life,
and every time I've asked a question...
I was like you not that long ago
'cause I'm not that much older than you.
Like, weeks ago asked questions and was marked and watched
until I just went with the flow for a while so-
- Oh.
- I'm sorry I didn't say that earlier.
I kind of assumed, like,
you seem to have your shit together.
- No, we're smart but we're dumb.
- No, it's okay, it's okay.
You're great and you're so smart.
You're both so good. - Yeah, we do not know
how this warren works at all.
- You're good. Here, come here.
And she's just gonna reach out and grab you both
and pull you a little more into the nest just getting low.
I'm not paranoid. I'm worried.
- No, we don't think you're paranoid.
- [Aabria] Cool, thank you. - We think you're awesome.
- Those might be the same thing, but for sure.
- Fair, thank you. We gotta find the Reactor.
I don't think there's anyone we can ask questions to
that are gonna give us answers.
- My grandma met a First Stoat.
- Yeah, and she said his teeth were really weird.
- Which one?
- Oh, Cankle? - [Izzy] Do I know?
(Rashawn chortles)
- Kiran. - Mm, yeah.
- The dictator?
- Yeah. - (whisper) The dictator?
- [Izzy] The dictator? - The dictator?
- [Erika] Ooh!
- The dictator? - Yeah.
Oh, that's so interesting.
Insight check. (laughs)
That's interesting and normal. Both of you, come on.
18. Uh, 17.
- 19. - (wheezes) Oh my God!
Yeah, yeah, she's just immediately like, oh fucking no.
Even along with that, like, a word you've never heard before
but the context in which you got a reaction
and then the sort of understanding
that comes with it is control.
- Yes. - Yeah.
- Yeah.
- Yeah, and she saw Truck.
(dramatic menacing music)
It just doesn't get the same reaction?
- [Aabria] Okay. - Interesting.
- No, no, no.
- 'Cause to Jaysohn, Truck, very scary. Killed grandfather.
- [Aabria] Yeah, I think you're see-
- Dictator means nothing.
- I think you're seeing in that moment that like,
Truck is a word that just doesn't mean anything to her yet.
- Uh-huh. - That like, if she's seen it
it didn't mean anything.
And you guys have weirdly more broad knowledge about stuff.
Like, she can go deeper on some things,
but you've heard a lot in the last 19 hours.
Uh, okay. Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh.
Wait, okay, rule one.
We don't ask anyone
that we're not sure are our friends anything!
- And that's different
from the other rule one that you already gave us?
- [Aabria] No. - No, she's just saying it,
sort of saying it again. - [Siobhan] Oh.
- Yeah, I'm just, rule one,
rule two, same rule. - Okay.
Just don't talk to anyone. - Lock it down.
No, no, you can talk. Be friendly.
- Just don't talk to anyone anymore.
- Don't look, don't be suspicious!
We have to find this fucking Reactor!
♪ Don't be suspicious, don't be suspicious ♪
♪ Don't be suspicious ♪ (Aabria laughing)
- TikTok is great. (cast laughing)
- I have an idea of where maybe a Reactor might be, but...
- Tell me. - I, ooh, okay.
I was writing it down. Hold on.
- Okay.
- And you see and she actually like,
goes deeper into the nest and pulls out like,
a scrap of paper and has drawn a rudimentary map
of this place and a couple X's where...
She's like, these are places it's very hard to get to.
- [Izzy] Mm-hmm.
- And places that um, I feel pulled to.
- [Izzy] Hm. - So it's interesting
that a place where my body says it wants to go
is hard to get to, you know?
- [Izzy] Mm-hmm.
- [Aabria] Does that make sense?
- [Izzy] Mm-hmm. - Yes.
- Like, the Light is like, yeah, that way.
And then everything here is like, fuck that shit.
- [Izzy] Mm-hmm. - But it said the thing
that we're supposed to go to the Light that Lila read.
- [Izzy] Mm-hmm.
- You read a thing? (gasps) When you were on your way.
- Yes. - Right.
We leave messages so stoats that are running from the humans
or whatever problem they have know that they can keep going
and it's like a hope thing, like hey-
- But it's like saying you should do it
and then it's saying you shouldn't do it.
- Yeah, it's a little, yes, yeah, it's fucked up.
- Well, I don't understand that at all.
- No, I think you do.
- No.
- I think you understand that,
and then the thing you do with that
is not really coming to you, you know what I mean?
- [Siobhan] Sure. - Like, you get it.
You've put a thing and a thing together, and you're like-
- But why would you tell somebody to do something
and then tell them that they can't do it?
That's what I don't understand. That seems stupid to me.
You just tell people one thing
and then they should do the thing.
Or they shouldn't, but then they're breaking the rules
and then they can get in trouble.
- Well, I mean, your mom tells you to do stuff
that you don't wanna do,
but you know you're good at doing, right?
- Yeah. - All the time.
This feels like that, but it feels like some parts
maybe of Last Bast, they think they're our moms.
- So, so, but you know where these places are,
so like, maybe all three of us,
'cause like, we're so good together as a team,
maybe we could, the three of us...
Like, what if we said to our mom we were going to Education
but then, oops!
- I think maybe this is a little more dangerous
than just the three of us going.
Also, I really like your mom,
and she helped me not die yesterday.
- Yeah, we need Mom. - Oh, we really like our mom.
- [Aabria] And she made me cry and I don't wanna do-
- I think if I lied to Mom I would throw up and shit myself.
- [Siobhan] Okay, but- - I think I would throw up
and also shit myself. - But if you don't lie to Mom
then you just stay next to Mom the whole time
and then you're in... - [Izzy] But just sometimes
you talk to Mom and- - Resource Allocation
and gnawed in the face. - Right, and she's like,
"Okay, let's do it," you know?
Like, she fucking broke into the place with us yesterday.
- [Siobhan] Yeah, Mom- - I spent three weeks marked
so I think if we all start moving together-
- And you didn't have a grandma to give you a bath.
- Exactly. - [Siobhan] Hm.
- My grandma died a while ago.
- Oh no! - It's okay. Stoats die.
- [Izzy] That's true. - Um, eh.
- Yeah, get over it, Jaysohn.
- I think if we all walk around together,
then they think that I'm- - You get over it.
- Making you ask the questions and I'm-
- Okay, we're gonna go back to our place,
and we're gonna take a bath. - Yeah.
- Take a bath, go find the Reactor, Charlie.
- Charlie. - Find Charlie.
- [Izzy] Yeah. - And then...
- Morganstern. Who was the guy?
Martin. - What?
She just bleeds out through her nose.
- Wenabocker. - Meinabiker.
- Oh, you were... (laughs)
Dr. Wenabocker. - Dr. Wenabocker.
- Yeah, we said the same thing.
- And the Reactor. - [Aabria] Go find it.
I'm gonna stay here. It's my day off.
- And drive Truck. - And it's expected
that I'm going to...
What is a Truck? I'll figure it out later.
- It's a bear. - [Izzy] Well, I'll show you.
- That moves on its own. - Yeah, okay, bye. (smooches)
- [Siobhan] Bye. - Oh, kisses. (smooches)
And hands you the map and just pretends to like,
curl up on herself and go back to sleep.
- Okay, do I have any instincts of like,
how my mom lied to me?
- [Jasper] Hmm... - Ooh, yes.
(players 'hmm' dramatically)
- I think past the like- (players laughing)
- Oh, right.
- Past the lie of omission, I don't think so.
- I just know that something was left out.
- [Aabria] Yeah.
- Do I know if she did it on purpose if she doesn't know-
- There's no way to know that. You gotta get on digging.
- [Izzy] All right. - (whisper) Dig, dig, dig, dig
♪ Dig dig a tunnel ♪ - Okay, we gotta take a bath!
- Grandma- - So as I'm licking-
- Do you wanna knock this out
'cause this is gonna take a while.
- [Erika] As I'm... (Aabria laughing)
- Right, can I do one insanely quick thing?
- [Aabria] Sure.
- Could I find Olliver and Teedles?
- Sure.
Okay, so we're gonna follow Thorn then
as you head over to the yellow corridor
to find Teedles and Olliver.
- Absolutely, yellow corridor, 19 by three.
- [Aabria] Yep.
- I just wanna find Olliver and Teedles.
I wanna really quickly kinda catch them up.
Like, I will very- - [Aabria] Real quick.
- Very briefly just sort of basically say like,
we have reason to believe- - Sure, sure, sure, sure.
- [Jasper] That we're being followed, et cetera. - Perception check,
perception check, perception check.
- Ooh, ooh, ooh! We're doing okay today.
19. - Sweet.
You are about to like, bust into their nest.
- Boom! - They're dead.
- No, they're fucking. (laughs)
(Siobhan screams and laughs) - [Rashawn] Ooh!
- Finally, some action on this goddamn show!
- Oh, it's been so sad. - (laughs) It's so sad!
- They're dead and fucking. - [Brennan] No!
- Liches. - [Aabria] You blew this-
- Little chipmunks inside them.
- (laughs) Puppeting!
Oh no, it's like "The Lion King" musical.
(cast laughing)
'Making Simba'. It's a prequel.
- Yeah, I'm about to like, charge around the corner
and I'm like, ooh, oh! - Are they actually fucking?
- Yeah, like, you see- - [Jasper] Yeah.
- Like, their sort of nest and they are under the moss.
(Jasper clears throat obviously)
- Wait, they're fucking for real?
(Jasper clears throat loudly) (Siobhan laughing)
- They have subtly referred to each other as partners, but-
- You are crazy. - Yep.
- You know, yeah. (Jasper clears throat)
- In the morning? (Brennan laughing)
That is some beginning of the relationship
type stuff, all right? (Siobhan laughing)
- Wow! - Yeah, they've been dating
for six months. (Brennan laughing)
Which seems to be most of their lives.
- Yeah, that's so long.
- Yeah, I'm just... (clears throat excessively)
- Teedles' head pops up.
Inconvenient! Good morning!
- [Jasper] Absolutely.
- [Aabria] Love the Conduit. God!
- [Jasper] So, I am truly so sorry.
- Hi. You don't look as sorry as I feel.
- Yep, that's...
I've done more times than I- - Olliver, Olliver, Olliver!
Just give us a second, okay? Olliver.
- [Izzy] Olliver, come up from down there.
- I can see you moving, Olliver!
I can still see you! I'm not blind.
- Yeah, he's trying to make some stuff happen.
- Yep, mm-hmm, mm-hmm. - But we are having a meeting.
What do you need? Do you...
Good morning. - I just wanted
to make a small request. - [Aabria] Mm-hmm.
- I have reason to believe...
- Gets down and moves over towards you.
- I have reason to believe that my family is being tracked
by Population Support.
- Okay.
- There has been too many questions asked.
I- - Lila.
- [Jasper] Almost certainly. - [Aabria] Sure.
- And I was wondering if perhaps you had picked
or if you had offered yourselves for a job yet.
You or Olliver. - Oh.
No, we're so traumatized.
- I know you're busy. I completely, you know.
- Yeah. - [Jasper] Yeah.
- Man, we've been here for a day.
- [Jasper] I know.
- I got to sleep and then food was just there
and I was like...
- It's great.
- [Aabria] Could you imagine, a day to ourselves?
- It's great. - Yeah.
How did you get in this much trouble immediately?
- Lila. So- - [Aabria] Yeah.
- [Jasper] Like I was saying- - Yeah, and she's so mean.
- Yeah, yeah. - [Aabria] She's so mean.
- Truly. - [Aabria] Yeah.
- She gets it from her grandmother. She's a nightmare.
- She's so mean!
- I thought we were really getting along
and then she just turned round and was just like,
ka-ka, cut me down. - [Aabria] Yeah, crazy.
- Like, I've never felt so undermined.
- I'm gonna be really honest. I do like Viola.
- [Jasper] Yeah. - [Aabria] So mean.
- Yeah, oh, oh, truly, but I kinda like it when she's mean,
you know what I mean?
- Yeah, God, what it would be like to-
- Like when she's mean I'm like, mm, okay.
- Yeah, no, I get it, I get it, I get it,
I get it, I get it, so get it.
- I can paint you a more vivid picture if you want.
- I don't want more of a picture. Thank you, sir.
- But I've seen your pic...
No, okay. (cast laughing)
- What the fuck are you guys talking?
- It's a cult and sometimes it's horny.
Don't worry about it. - Lila, why are you here?
- Lila, go back to your room!
- Go back to your rooms.
- I'll explain when you're older.
- [Jasper] This is very much an adult conversation.
- Yeah.
- I was just wondering, if you hadn't picked a job yet,
I feel like Population Support is one of the more connected,
connective tissues, shall we say.
And it wouldn't be the worst idea
for us to have someone on the inside.
- Done.
- But no risks. Don't...
The last thing I need is for either of you
to be in any trouble.
I'm just, I think that if we're going
to find out some information, it would be helpful.
Thank you. - Done, okay?
- [Jasper] Okay, yeah. You...
- Keep them safe.
- I will. And...
- I would hug you, but I feel like it's weird.
- I truly don't want to, yeah. - [Aabria] Yeah, yeah.
It's weird. - Yeah, yeah, the smell is...
- [Aabria] But there's like a- - Hm?
- Yeah, nothing. You're good. - Okay, as you...
Uh, nope, uh, yes, I'll uh, catch you in...
- Yeah, we gotta go. - In a bit.
Olliver, Olliver looks really tired.
Are you okay, buddy? (chuckles)
- [Aabria] Don't look at me.
Olliver's just like, don't look at me.
- [Jasper] He's just like... (sighs in exhaustion)
- [Aabria] Sun, wind, go.
- Okay, yep, mm-hmm. - [Aabria] Thank you so much.
- Yep, brighter than, swifter than the wind, eh, Olliver?
Nope, okay. - Yeah.
(cast laughing at the innuendo) - [Izzy] Go, go!
(Aabria blows kiss)
- Oh, oh! (cast continues laughing)
- Got 'em. - Got 'em. (laughs)
And you go ahead and make your way back.
So what's the game plan, fam?
- Well, I suppose that we should go meet Charlie, yes.
- Mm, okay, but let's just have it a tiny bit quieter.
Just like a tiny bit.
- Sybil said that it would be best to be clean.
It would be best to not have this.
All right, well then yeah, let's do that.
- Didn't we already do that?
- To Jaysohn, yeah.
- But you haven't gotten yours. (licking daintily)
(Aabria laughs) - Get in there.
- This is great. - There's a little,
a grooming train. - Yeah.
I'm gonna go like, Mama, I think Vi's got it, Vi's got it.
- Are you sure? - I got it.
I gotta practice, Mama. - Thank you.
It's just, it's so much faster and nicer
when you have saliva. - And your fur-
(cast laughing)
- The dry grandma. - Kinda part-
Not a middle part, but just to the sides. - [Izzy] This episode is fucked up.
(Siobhan laughs) - So, um, yeah, and that...
And as I'm licking Viola I'm,
and that Kiran lied directly to my face.
I mean, I asked, you know,
"Have you ever had an altercation with a human?"
And they were like, "No." And absolutely they have.
Pushed 'em back, I'd say.
- As in, they've, altercation with the humans here?
- Oh, I don't know if it was here here,
but I, you know, they've been...
The twins say that they've been sort of going out further
and that the humans have been coming through and all.
And I asked them, do you plan to go to human burrows
and wipe them out, you know,
just the way that your father and I did many years ago?
The Blue Warren is no more.
Well, you go to their warren and then you get rid of them-
- You killed people? - [Erika] What? No.
- Stoats, darling. Stoats. - [Izzy] Oh.
- Stoats, yes, and so they, yes, indeed,
I think they're putting together some plans
for being able to go to human burrows
and make sure that they don't come back here anymore.
- Grandma, you got so much intel.
I'm so impressed. - [Siobhan] Yeah.
- Oh, thank you, dear.
It's not bad for someone
who doesn't know how to read or pre-read.
- Sure. - Pre-read?
Oh, write. (cast laughing)
(Aabria clapping) And I'm going to...
I'm gonna look at Thorn and Viola and say,
whatever is or is not true about the Blue,
here they are in control of everything,
and we know that they are lying.
So this place is not safe. I think we should go...
I can't believe I'm saying this.
I think we should go to this Reactor.
- [Rashawn] Oh, I've been waiting for you- - Oh.
- To get on board, Tula! - Lila! Look at me!
(Aabria screams excitedly)
- I just say to everyone, nobody argue.
Let's just go. - [Aabria] Ooh!
- [Rashawn] Yes. - [Aabria] Hold on, Jaysohn-
- I have a map! I have a map! (cast laughing)
- [Jasper] Yes!
- She's always Tula, but Tutu's here. Yay!
- We're living in a Population Support state.
We can't yell this stuff out loud!
(cast laughing)
- Amazing. - To the forbidden place!
- So as you guys come down,
I need you to make an investigation check
to read and comprehend the map.
- Can I give the help action since I can read too?
- [Aabria] Yeah. - Yes!
- Hey! - I also read the other map.
- Right, but that one was very much like, here's a hallway.
You were able to map it easily.
This one is someone who hasn't really had-
- [Jasper] Secondhand. - Like an eagle-eyed view.
Yeah, exactly, trying to explain distance.
Like, it's a real zoomed-out cartography,
and she might not have done that good a job.
How'd you do?
- Critical...
Success. - Okay.
(warm tones resound) (players cheering)
It coulda gone a different way.
- My heart.
- For a 29. - Amazing!
- You don't say. (Rashawn snapping fingers)
- These stoats are cooking. Let's go.
♪ The hottest girl in the world ♪
- I mean, I have a moment of just tearing up
as I watch my sister who can do this crazy power
help my little daughter with the...
You're doing such crazy stuff. I don't understand!
- And so are you, Mommy!
You wanna go and you wanna find the crazy thing.
- I wanna do it 'cause I think
it's gonna expedite us leaving, but I love you.
(cast laughing)
- You understand expedite immediately.
And there was a lot to this
because there were multiple X's
where there were a couple points of like,
this might be it, this might be it, this might be it.
And I think as you, like, deftly navigate
through the halls of Last Bast, you get closer.
I wanna honor that crit because I was going
to make you check each reactor to try to find Charlie.
- [Izzy] Hm.
- But I think the second one you go to
as you're like, okay, this might be one.
How could you tell? Let's go check the other.
And as you were like, well, maybe we go down this.
Something inside you is like,
no, the thing you feel isn't strong enough.
- Mm-hmm.
- [Aabria] And as you like, go and-
- Yeah, Sybil said it was like...
You know? - Sybil did say...
- [Izzy] Sybil went uh, uh. (Aabria laughing)
- But as you go to the second reactor, you're like,
oh, something feels very strong here.
- Mm-hmm.
- And like, you're struggling to look away from it.
As you guys are moving through,
she has a perfect line on where you need to go.
Are you trying to move discreetly?
Or are you just trying to move quickly?
- Yes.
- I wanna cast Protection from Good and Evil
on our leader here who's sussing through.
- Vibes. You wanna do it now? - Yes.
- How long does the spell last?
- 10 minutes. - Okay. Anyone else?
- I'm gonna hold on until we're closer.
Bless only lasts one minute so hold on.
- Anyone else putting some stank on?
- Yeah, I'll go with Pass Without Trace on all of us.
- [Aabria] When do you cast it?
- Hm? - When do you cast it?
- Well, it lasts for an hour. - [Aabria] Yep.
- So like, as soon as we get to a point
where we feel like the restricted tape is up.
- Sorry, we're doing a little bit of like,
I'm gonna honor that crit immediately
and tell you how easily your way will be.
- [Jasper] Oh, we have to get there.
- Because of Lila's- - [Jasper] Right, I see.
- Critical success, and now I'm talking
about the sort of nitty-gritty of like,
how are you getting there and how are you managing the fact
that you've got- - [Jasper] I see.
- Now you have a proverbial level of stank on you.
- Yeah, I will do that as soon as we head out.
- As you head out? - [Jasper] Yeah.
- Okay.
- What if they can Detect Magic?
(Siobhan gasps) - That's so interesting and-
- No! Uncast! - What a delightful,
what a delightful meta thing to have said.
- Uncast, uncast! (Brennan laughing)
- Pass Without Trace is on everyone. Give me stealth checks.
How are you trying to get there?
Are you like, weaving through-
- [Siobhan] Jesus Christ. - Normal areas?
Are you trying to look for secret passages
to get where you're going?
- Uh, oh... - Well, I...
- Everybody. - [Jasper] Yeah.
- It's a question for everybody.
- Yeah, yeah, yeah. Please don't put this on me.
- I don't think that we need to move quickly, you know.
It's not like we're on some sort of a crunch here.
I'd say that we just go carefully.
- 29. - Damn!
- I roll stealth with disadvantage.
- God damn!
- I have a 17. - You still got that high?
- And I rolled a two so I... (laughs)
I got a 19.
- Do you wanna use any of the inspiration
that's been thrown your way? - I absolutely do.
I absolutely do.
Okay, that's a 27.
- There you go. - [Siobhan] There we go.
- I got a 18.
- Lila is focused and locked in,
but you have to give her like,
we're running through the halls
or we're trying to find a secret passage,
and that's the question I need answered from you now.
- Oh. - Finding the secret passage.
- Secret, yeah. - Yeah, I'm gonna say secret
just 'cause we had success
with the secret passage yesterday, right?
- I think the threat, right, if we're gone for longer
they know that we're not in our home
and they raise a high alert, right?
- Yep. - [Siobhan] Right.
- So if we're sprinting through the hallways, it's like-
- That's also weird. - It's also weird.
I think it's one of those things where-
- Make it weird.
- [Brennan] Yeah. - [Jasper] Yeah.
- Pick our poison. - [Jasper] Yeah.
- Yeah. - I'd rather explain
why they couldn't find us than get caught
going to the big, secret place.
- [Siobhan] Yeah, yeah. - Hell yeah, okay.
- And with that note, give me a survival check.
(die taps table)
- Okay. (laughs) There it is.
That is a 27. - Whoo!
- Amazing, as you are sort of given the notes
as everyone's like, okay, we have to find a way
to like, not be seen and make our way through
so Lila can navigate us there.
You, whose head is always up
looking for a more interesting thing
than whatever the fuck's happening in front of you
have clocked big vents and pipes everywhere.
And you think that like,
if you lead them through the ventilation system.
- [Siobhan] Uh-huh.
- Where you do not see stoats running,
you can get them there out of sight.
And with a 27, you absolutely do it.
I don't even have a navigational thing to give.
Like, you do it. You're great.
- Mom, it's like what Sybil did with us yesterday.
- Oh! Up through here?
- Yeah. - It doesn't smell
like anything even comes up through here.
- Yeah. - Well, great job, sweetie.
You are both doing so good. I'm so proud of you.
And it's just such little time until you're grown up.
You're almost there. I love you so much.
- No, no, no, we're already really grown up
and we're doing grown-up jobs. - [Aabria] Ooh!
- And we don't have to go to Education. Let's go!
(cast chuckling)
(Brennan sighs in exasperation)
- What would they learn there anyway
that they can't learn with their grandmother?
- Exactly. Grandma teaches us so much.
- Well, I would normally say something sassy,
but she interrogated the president?
What happened? (cast laughing)
I think she's right. I think it all, she's right.
- And she thinks she is the president.
- There you go.
- [Aabria] You make your way through-
- Wait, what did you talk to that dictator about?
You didn't talk about anything inappropriate, did you?
- No. - Insight check!
With advantage! - [Erika] No!
- Deception check!
- I'm gonna gang up on Mom, too. - [Jasper] Did you ask if this dictator was single?
- That's gonna be a 28. - Oh, yeah.
- Well, that's a four. (players laughing)
I 100% believe that I did not say anything
out of the ordinary.
- And you know what that means.
(cast laughing)
- Not even a little bit, but that Bennett fellow was there.
(cast chuckling)
- I cannot believe that you told an immortal dictator
that your daughter was single.
(cast laughing)
All right.
- If I don't get it there, who will?
(Brennan laughs) - (claps) Amazing.
You make your way through this ventilation system,
and you're able to make your way through pipes and tunnels
and then you start getting to spaces and places
where it's dusty and there are no longer stoat footprints.
And you feel it, that's the thing that almost takes over
from your mind mapping down the marks.
You can let that light, that Blue lead you forward and down
until you see letters sort of on the inside.
Markings, the letter C over and over again for Charlie.
You don't know. It doesn't matter.
There's no need for a stoat to understand the NATO alphabet.
And then you find it.
Can I get my map?
- Oh!
- No, no! (echoes)
(droning haunting music)
(droning haunting music continues)
(haunting music intensifies)
(metal clanks)
(eerie music)
(eerie music continues)
(eerie music softens)
- Okay, you all move down.
You find a little hatch, open it up
(players gasp) and push through.
- [Izzy] Lines.
(players screaming)
- [Jasper] What? (player gasps)
- It's a straight-up puzzle!
(Jasper gasps) - It's a puzzle!
- [Aabria] You see one stoat (player gasps)
waiting on the edge. - [Izzy] Meredith.
- [Aabria] It's absolutely Meredith.
- [Brennan] If it's Meredith, I'm gonna spec barbarian-
- [Aabria] So here's what we're gonna do.
You get absolutely rushed
as you sort of spill through the hatch
(hatch squeaking) into this room.
And a singular stoat with the massive cattle prods
that you saw earlier is going to run up and take an attack.
- (gasps) Auntie!
- With a natural 20.
- Oh! - [Jasper] Oh!
- Viola, you take 17 points of lightning damage,
and I need everyone to roll initiative.
(Erika groans) - Oh, this is so sick.
(Aabria laughs) - 17.
- [Aabria] All right, 17. - 23.
- Jaysohn's got a 23. Viola.
- Eight.
- [Aabria] Eight. Thorn.
- (laughs) That is eight.
(Aabria gasps in realization)
- Honey, oh my God. - Cute.
- [Aabria] That's so cute. - Terrifying.
- Assumption that Thorn has the higher dex-
- [Jasper] I think I have the higher dex.
- Between the two of you.
- I've got a +3 for dex, yeah.
- +3.
- [Siobhan] Also three. - Oh my God!
- Oh my God, Rollies! Roll again!
(dice tap table)
- You got it. - [Jasper] Right.
- Yeah, okay. (laughs) Ava, how'd you do?
- Nine. - [Aabria] Nine.
- 21.
- [Aabria] Okay. - [Jasper] Got a 21.
- With a 23, Jaysohn, you're up.
- Okay, I am going to bonus action
bring out my Arms of the Astral Self.
They glow blue and give me a 10-foot range.
And I am going to rush past this person
who just zapped my favorite aunt,
and I am going to try to knock them prone.
- Okay. - [Jasper] Oof.
- So first attack is a 17?
- Misses. - Ooh.
- [Siobhan] The second attack. - Ooh.
- Oh, that's gotta hit. Is a 26.
- Oh my God, yeah. Absolutely hits.
- Okay, I knock them to the floor.
- You see this stoat like, sort of encumbered,
manages to miss your first hit,
but you're able to like, get in and under,
and just the unwieldiness of the contraption on his back,
he falls down and is prone.
- So now you all have advantage-
- [Izzy] Get his thing. - On attacking him.
- I will have advantage? - [Siobhan] Yeah.
- Oh cool, take his gun.
- Well, I used by bonus action. I don't...
Can I take his gun? That seems like a...
I don't have any other actions.
- There are specific things in kits that allow you to like,
remove weapons so yeah. - [Jasper] Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- Yeah, but can I try and take his gun?
- No. (chuckles)
- I can. - Yeah!
- Sure. Go ahead.
- Okay, I am going to sneak attack.
- What are you attacking with? Are you getting in close?
- Does that feel dumb?
- The thing that is gonna be hard if you get in close
is that you're gonna be in range of a lot of this stuff,
and you don't know like,
how quickly he's gonna move in initiative.
- [Izzy] Uh-huh.
- And you're by a big, terrifying pit.
- So if I move in close...
- You'll attack with advantage.
If you stay far away, you'll be safer,
but you will attack with disadvantage.
- Okay, yeah, I will just...
What's it called? Primal...
- Primal Savagery.
- [Izzy] Savagery. - Nice!
- And try and take his thing.
- So you're gonna aim to disarm him?
- [Izzy] Yeah. - Okay. Make an attack roll.
- 24.
- A 24 hits.
So, you see that this is like, strapped on
and the main prod is in his hands.
- [Izzy] Uh-huh.
- So you cannot take this thing all the way off of him.
- Okay.
- But you can like, kick away the main prod in the front.
- Okay, I'm going to do that.
- Okay.
- 'Cause I think I'm scared of it.
Can I kick it towards Jaysohn? - Sure.
You come forward in here.
Interpose yourself.
(intense energetic music)
And with him down on the ground,
you're able to kick it and it slides back,
still connected to his back
and the backpack that he's wearing,
and the prod itself is like, in front of Jaysohn now.
- Okay, and then I'm gonna move back. (laughs)
- If you move away and leave his threatened area,
he's gonna get an opportunity attack on you.
- You could bonus action disengage.
- Yeah, yeah. I'll do that.
- Okay, so then you disengage. Where do you wanna get to?
So you're able to use the rest of your movement
to go somewhere else.
Where are you trying to be?
- I think just like, maybe behind Viola.
- Okay, cool. And then you get in.
You're able to, while he's down, kick the prod away
and then sort of slither back under your aunt's legs.
You just peek back, fuck off! (cast laughing)
And he's still down. Beautiful.
- [Izzy] Okay. - Good job, good job.
- Good job, sweetie. Good job, sweetie.
- A mild applause rings through this bizarre space,
and everyone sees like, kind of as you look in
and to the right, this massive pool.
And it's almost distracting how enticing it is.
Like, being a kid going to a pool on the first day of summer
you're like, nothing in this universe I want more
than to jump into this.
This is the closest you've ever been
to a high concentration of what they call the Light
and what you call Blue.
(Jasper whistles dramatically)
Next up, Tula. (stoat chittering)
- [Brennan] This person here with the cattle prod,
he's been partially disarmed.
- [Aabria] Yes. - But not permanently.
And coming in here, he just attacked my pregnant sister.
- Yes. - Okay, I'm gonna kill him.
(cast laughing)
So...
- You can absolutely get across.
I kind of just put you in arbitrary spots.
- No, for sure.
- Don't worry about that initial distance.
- I'm gonna rush here, bonus action...
Or actually, yeah, I'll just get to Tula's spot
and like, put an arm in front of you, seeing you're injured.
- Mom arm! (laughs)
- Mom arm my sister. - Yeah.
- I'm gonna jump onto this tile here.
- [Aabria] Yeah.
- And I'm going to attack this absolute jabroni
(Siobhan and Aabria laughing)
with advantage 'cause he's prone.
- [Aabria] Yeah.
- Fuck 'em up.
- Okay, that is a 12 on the first attack.
- Misses.
- And then the next one's gonna be...
That one's gonna be a 27.
- Oh, jeez! - Yeah, Mom!
- [Aabria] It just hits! - [Erika] Yes!
- Let's go, Tula.
- Okay, and I'll go ahead- - Toot toot.
- [Brennan] And drop a- - Toot, toot!
- I'll drop a smite on this one.
- Yeah. - Just a first-level one.
We'll go, so that's gonna be eight, 11, 18, plus four.
22 points of damage. (Jasper grunts)
22 points of damage to this dude.
- Just a first-level one,
and he's actually expired. - [Aabria] Jesus Christ.
(Brennan and Siobhan laugh)
- Past tense.
- Kind of a glass cannon.
Yeah, just describe what you do to him. Shit.
- Wow, a one-hit wonder.
- [Jasper] Okay, that was dope.
- He's dead? - Fuck.
Well, I did think this was gonna be more of a like,
what's going on? - [Jasper] Yeah.
- He attacked a pregnant woman.
- [Brennan] I think this-
- He doesn't know she's pregnant!
- He has to die.
- I think there's a...
Again, I think that like, I...
It's not reflected mechanically here.
Tula has, if there was, like barbarians have rage.
If she had a feature it would just be called fear.
- Ooh. - And it would be...
And so there's, she sees her sister being hurt.
Is like, is immediately like, my sister, her children,
their future, all of the happiness,
everything coming to them.
And if you like, caught it,
those cameras where horses cross the finish line,
the moment where the guy dies, (snaps fingers)
I already just have my fangs deep in his trachea larynx
tearing his throat out, and my eyes are wide in panic
so I'm at my most afraid in the moment where I kill him.
- [Aabria] Oof!
(viscera splashing)
Oh, that's a cool description. Well, anyway, um-
- Mom, can I have the weapon?
(Brennan growls and snarls) - Whoa!
- [Brennan] Yes, yeah, sweetie, if you want the weapon...
- Oh!
- That a girl! And clean up the...
- [Siobhan] Yes!
- Are you okay? - I'm okay, I'm okay.
Um, how are you?
- Fine. What an asshole!
- Where are we, Tula?
- I don't know.
I'm gonna immediately just go to my sister and heal her for,
how much damage did you take?
- 17. - [Brennan] Okay.
- Oh my God.
- Glass cannon. (laughs)
- He's in hell.
- Yeah, I've sent him straight to hell.
We're gonna do Cure Wounds at first...
That's 1d8, right? Or is that 2d8?
- 1d8.
- [Brennan] 1d8. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- 1d8 plus...
- Plus spellcasting.
So that's gonna be an eight.
I heal eight hit points with the first one so you have,
there's nine left, right?
(energy powering up) Nine points of damage left.
And I'll go ahead...
I'm gonna do Lay on Hands for the rest.
Let me get you back up to full.
- Oh, thank you. - You got it.
I'm not gonna let my baby sister-
- [Aabria] HP back up. - Walk around here
with kids on the way, injured!
I don't fucking think so!
- It's just like when we were kids
and people would try to funk with me.
And my eyes close for like a second,
and I thought it was 20 years.
- Yeah, I think there's a moment
where I get my paw around you
and it is like some other stoat in the Red Warren had like,
pushed you down and I had thoroughly kicked his ass,
but I did not tear a throat out, but...
- My sister's gonna fuck you up!
(Brennan and Aabria laughing)
- Oh!
- Thank you, thank you. - Sweetie, okay.
- I'm gonna ask a real morbid question.
- Do we eat stoat? (laughs)
- If you wanna.
- [Jasper] Well, uh... (clears throat)
- Mom? - Mm-hmm?
- Do we eat stoat?
- You had rabbit earlier today.
- Oh, but I'm real hungry. - Sis, do not digest.
They've been in this.
- I don't think it's safe. Your Auntie Vi is right, okay?
- I have a suggestion, and I'd love it if-
♪ But what happens if we go in the water ♪
- This is, I have a suggestion that I truly-
♪ And Tula, oh my God ♪ - It doesn't sit well with me,
but I'm just gonna say it anyway.
Is there a universe in which it behooves us
to throw the body into the, to see what happens.
♪ And see what happens ♪
♪ Does he come back to life ♪ - Just so that we know.
(Izzy and Aabria laughing)
- The song is so pleasant and the concept is...
- [Jasper] Is horrific. ♪ A nightmare ♪
- And Lila, if the man-
♪ And you get rid of the evidence ♪
- [Brennan] Who just tried to kill your aunt-
- What? - Came back to life,
we would learn...
- It's okay 'cause I have the thing.
- I think that the best thing for us to do
is to figure what this room is for.
- RIP.
- Let's not jump to the scariest experiment right away.
Let's do some safer experiments first.
- Yeah, can I zap Lila?
- No, sweetie- - [Izzy] No.
- Just an experiment!
You said an experiment! - Zap Thorn.
- Sweetie, look me in the eyes.
Are you gonna be able to not zap friends with that?
- (whispers) Yes.
- Zap the body.
- Okay. - Can I zap the body?
- Actually, you should get some practice. Zap the body.
- Yes! (Brennan laughs)
- You're gonna try to zap the body?
- [Siobhan] Yes. - All right.
- [Siobhan] The fuck.
- I need you to make an intelligence saving throw
to interact with technology.
- A saving throw?
- Saving throw? - [Aabria] Yeah.
- Well, thank God I have a -1 to that.
- And you add +2. - Add +2, add +2.
(Siobhan laughs) - So +1.
Is that a nat one?
- It's a three, which becomes a two, which becomes a four.
(Aabria laughing)
- Hey!
- [Aabria] It's going up.
- I am my grandma's grandson.
- I think you have the understanding
that you found the trigger
before you found where to grab it.
- [Siobhan] Uh-huh, sure. - And like, it's very light.
(Siobhan laughs) - All right, yeah.
- It's not that light. You're gonna take seven points.
- Ooh! - [Aabria] Of thunder damage
just off of like, the second-degree current
coming through the prod before you-
- Can I do a deception check
so that my mom doesn't see that I got hurt?
- [Aabria] Yes! - 'Cause don't want her-
- Would love to roll insight. - To take it away.
- Yes, yes, yeah, absolutely. - Would love to roll insight.
- Fucking absolutely. - [Aabria] With advantage.
- That's only a, oh, with advantage, okay.
- No, wait, I don't wanna give you advantage.
This is funnier.
- I got a 10. - Oh!
- Okay, on a four, I got a 14.
(cast laughing)
So I'm gonna go, Jaysohn,
did you hurt yourself with the lightning gun?
- No. My hair is all just standing up.
- One ear is like, twitch, twitch.
- [Brennan] Then why is your hair like this?
- Bleed. - Why is your hair like this?
- It's been like this the whole day.
- So it doesn't shock you?
So if I hold it it won't shock me?
Can I hold it? Can I see the lightning gun?
- Yeah. - Oh, thank you, wonderful.
Great. Smash, smash, smash, smash, smash to bits!
- We need it! - No we don't!
The guy who had it I killed in a second. We don't need it.
And in fact, I'd love some examples
of any time curiosity has helped this family!
A-five, four, three, a-two, one!
Let's solve the puzzle and leave forever!
(Jasper laughing)
- You... - What's a puzzle?
- Yeah, great question! Let's go now!
- You look at the Reactor.
- She's a bit much. (cast laughing)
- Oh, God! The cycle of violence.
- Everyone's so worried about me when I'm sad,
but when old Tula starts to come back,
everyone's got thoughts!
- Lila's like... (Brennan and Aabria laughing)
- All right, who's investigating what?
- Viola would like to move from the rim.
- [Aabria] Sure, sure, sure.
- Onto one of these brown squares.
- [Aabria] Which one?
- [Izzy] They do look like Rice Krispies.
- No, no, no, I don't want you going anywhere, Viola.
- Well, come with me, Mama.
- Well, why don't I test it out first
and then you can come later. - Tula's on one already.
- Have we seen this symbol in other parts of the warren,
other parts of Last Bast?
- Give me a history check with disadvantage.
(dramatic tense music) (die taps table)
- That's a 14.
- With a 14, the thing that you're looking down on
feels vaguely familiar, but it's not...
You've seen symbols all over this place,
but what you're looking at is like a weird jumbly mess.
- [Izzy] Yeah. - But you can see like,
seams in between these massive pieces.
You're looking down into a pool.
- [Brennan] Mm-hmm.
- And yeah, I think because you were already standing on one
as you're sort of looking around,
you see a small almost imperceptible depression
in the center of the stone you're standing on.
- While my daughter's looking at that,
and now that I know that there's no real harm there,
I'm just gonna, just gonna take that little pack
that he had and I'm gonna shove it in.
- Okay, you see it drop in and settles down
at the bottom of the Blue.
- Okay. - Huh.
I'm gonna take the tip of my-
- Ooh. - Of my staff.
- Oh, okay. - And just kind of dip it in
a little bit.
- It makes contact with it, and nothing happens.
It doesn't dissolve. It touches the Blue.
It comes out of the Blue.
- I'm going to look and say, well, I don't know... (sighs)
Okay, this is Charlie, right, sweetie?
This is where we were coming to.
Would you know, sweetie, why there would be one missing?
Because I know everything's even except for,
there's one missing.
- Mm-hm. Can I make an investigation check?
- Please do.
(tense dramatic music continues)
(laughs) Was that like a little prayer?
(Erika gasps) - Yes!
- You're kidding. - No!
- [Brennan] No fucking... - Unbelievable.
- We're hittin' some crits! - Let's go!
- When it counts, when the chips are fucking down.
- You gotta say it out loud so the camera knows. - It's Crit City, population us.
- What'd you roll? - [Siobhan] Yeah.
- (rapidly) One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, 10,
11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19,
oh, 20! (warm tones resound)
(cast laughing)
- For a total of.
- On the first dice ever gifted to me-
- [Aabria] (gasps) Oh! - That I ever owned
by my husband. - Gosh.
- [Aabria] Aw, it's so good! (Brennan blows kiss)
- For a total of 29!
- We love to see it. - Ooh.
- Now, what are you looking for?
- What this is.
- Incredible. What a question.
- I mean, Izzy wants Lila to know how to solve it.
- Right.
- [Izzy] But I don't know if Lila...
- [Aabria] Knows it's a puzzle.
- Knows it needs to be solved. - Mm.
- Correct, so sort of zooming back in, Lila, you get in and,
I mean, wherever your mom goes,
like, you understand you can be.
- You can stand on my shoulders.
- Yeah, you're a lot bigger than me.
- Yeah, you just climb up. - [Izzy] I didn't realize.
- You're a little guy.
You see this circle in the center of the square in this grid
that your mother is standing on, and you look out
and see that there's a similar little impression
in all of these, and I'm just gonna like,
puppet you a little bit
to give you the information that you need.
Like, the moment you kind of go over
and you start to touch it,
it's extremely sensitive and sinks down.
And you go and touch the left side of it.
Like, you don't push in the center of it,
but just sort of grazing the edge to see like,
well, maybe I pry it up.
Maybe it spins, I don't know what.
But that little bit of pressure on the left side of it
sends the entire thing slamming to the left
and then it stops.
- Oh, so it's floating.
- I'm gonna take this moment to cast Bless
on my sister and my two children and myself.
- Okay.
- Sorry, guys.
- (laughs) Did you just apologize for a Bless?
- Well, to them. - Oh, yeah. RIP.
- Well, I'll cast Bless on the others.
- It's fine. My daughter has never blessed me.
(Brennan laughs)
- [Aabria] So- - Never been blessed.
- [Aabria] Just a real quick double check.
- Uh-huh.
- Just a quick little double check.
You are casting magic, right?
This isn't an equivalent of like,
I'm trying to keep an eye out for my family.
You're doing magic.
- Which of my features are magic and which are like,
flavored differently? - Yeah, he's casting magic.
- You reach forward and that protectiveness,
that fear for their safety that you extend out
and send into the world,
like, trying to send a little more security
than you have ever felt or feel specifically in this moment.
You feel magic hit (energy whooshes)
and a pulse moves through (Erika gasps)
and the entire pool flashes with Blue as the Bless lands.
You cast Bless also?
- Yes, on Thorn and my mother.
- In that same way, you release energy, love, and hope
and the desire for protection,
and as you feel it sort of leave you
with a prickling of your fur and the skin beneath,
your eyes close but you're suddenly filled with light
as again the pool underneath you flares.
- Come back to me, sweetie. Come back to me. (laughs)
You're enjoying that a little too much.
- [Rashawn] Immediately I'm feeling like, waves of energy.
- Labor.
- Don't say that. (Aabria and Brennan laughing)
- What happens if her water breaks into the pool of Blue?
- Minor game thing.
- [Izzy] Her babies are born in the Blue.
- (gasps) It's a water birth. - Can you cast Bless on me
and I'll cast Bless on you? (warm tones resound)
- Sure. Yeah, I only used two, so yes.
I'm gonna include you in that as well.
'Cause in my, what I'm believing now
is that maybe when we use this power,
it's pulsating so could that shift these tiles?
- Well, I think the tiles are shifting
'cause Lila pressed something.
- [Siobhan] Yeah, this moved, right?
- Hold on, give me an arcana check with advantage.
- [Jasper] Oh, does that actually...
- What you doing, buddy?
- Did we move this one already?
- She was standing on the left of it. It slammed left.
- [Rashawn] 10. - Sorry, my left.
- [Siobhan] Oh, I see. - Oh, okay.
Right, right, right, sorry. - So can I know-
- Hold on. Yeah, we'll get to that in one second.
- [Izzy] Yeah. - [Jasper] Yep.
- 10? - Mm-hmm.
- With a 10, I think you sort of reach out with that feeling
'cause you are not afraid of the Blue.
And you reach out to a farther tile, this one over here.
And as you try to push it,
all of you see it sort of wiggles.
(stone scraping) - Oh!
- You have two vectors to move these tiles.
You can either stand on them and use the pressure plates
or you can reach out with the Blue.
(Jasper chuckles, rubs hands, and spits)
- [Rashawn] I reach out.
- Okay, who goes first? I won't leave you in order.
What do you wanna do?
- Well, where are we moving these? What is everybody doing?
- Does Lila, like, can Lila be like,
I think it makes a circle?
- Yeah, with a natural 20. - Yeah, I did.
- I think you... (Brennan laughs)
I think you like, missed...
Like, again, you're also very short
and like, trying to look out at a thing that's very wide.
- [Izzy] Mm-hmm.
- But once you've spent a little time investigating
you're like, oh, at the very least this is a circle.
- [Rashawn] I guess- - So, what do you do?
First things first, what do you do?
- Viola would move to the spot across from sis
and try to pull...
- Which one? Do you wanna be on this one?
- [Rashawn] Oh, I wanna be over on-
- Here?
- [Rashawn] Yes, further on this side.
- [Aabria] Sure.
- And look out to my sister and like, pull with the Light.
- Yeah, I'm gonna, take me.
If you're gonna use the Blue,
I think we'll get off to the side here.
- [Rashawn] Oh yes.
- [Brennan] And then let you pull.
- So yeah, I'd wanna pull that one towards me.
- First move. (players breathing nervously)
(stone scraping)
(impact pounds)
Looking down into it, you all see a wolf skull
sitting at the bottom of the pool.
- [Izzy] Oh shit! - Whoa!
- A wolf skull? - [Aabria] Yep.
- Oh my God!
There's an actual wolf skull- - Whoa!
- In there!
- Aabria described the First Stoats
as having wolf-like canines.
- (silent) No, I didn't. (player screams)
- Interesting.
- It wasn't. It's not quite there.
- And we're gonna go and there's gonna be flat...
There's gonna be like, a game show host with flat teeth.
- [Jasper] Mm-hmm, mm-hmm. (Siobhan laughs)
- A game show host?
- He was there the whole time!
- Okay, then I look out.
Oh, and I reach out to everyone. Okay, what's the next?
What would you like moved next?
- (British impression) Knight to C4! (cast laughing)
- I can do it, I can do it, I can do it! (laughs)
- Do you wanna run and go move it?
- [Siobhan] Yes! - Or do you want to use-
- You know what I wanna do.
- [Erika] Yes. - I wanna jump on it.
- [Erika] Jaysohn, let's go jump on things, Jaysohn.
- Yes, Grandma! Yes, Grandma! - Jaysohn sprints.
- So I go also with Jaysohn, yes.
And I say, where do you want this one?
- Well, it was connected before.
It was already connected, right, sweetie?
- [Izzy] Same direction.
- And you slide. This slides to the right.
- [Jasper] Ooh. - Okay.
- Nothing! There's nothing down there!
- [Aabria] Nothing there, but you see a little burst of Blue
as you have correctly moved it.
- [Erika] All right, now which one? And so now which way?
- Would you mind if I?
I'll go down to the bottom here
and try and pull that one with the Blue towards me.
Just sort of try and like,
summon a little crackle of energy in my hands and try and-
- [Brennan] Jaysohn. - Pull it.
- You wanna step off while Thorn's doing this?
- It's this one here. - [Aabria] Yeah.
- Just to clarify. - Oh.
(stone scraping) (impact pounds)
- [Siobhan] I don't know what it is!
I've never seen it before in my life!
(Aabria laughs) I don't know!
- [Erika] I know I see it.
- It's so round! It's like a...
It's round! - [Izzy] A nut?
- It's so far away. Okay...
- Wait, what is it? I actually can't see.
- Oh. (gasps) What the heck is that?
- [Jasper] Yep.
- [Brennan] What is it, what is it? It's a human?
- [Jasper] A little monocle.
- [Izzy] It's a human skull. - [Brennan] It's a little-
- [Siobhan] It's a human skull.
- Do I? Would I?
I don't know that I'd know what that looks like. I don't...
- Yeah, well, actually- - See, I've only ever...
Oh, wait, no, I would! I would!
- Oh, you would absolutely know.
- Oh no, I wouldn't 'cause I would...
Yeah, I haven't seen them without the, yeah.
- Hooman! Hooman!
- (laughs) Still somehow says the wrong word.
- The whew-man. - Hooman.
- [Jasper] Oh, human?
- It's cumin, yeah. - Cumin.
- Lila, they killed Grandfather?
- [Izzy] A learning center. - Our grandfather?
- Yes! But the ones that I saw were wearing...
They had some sort of like a, what do you call it?
- I hold up the paint chips. - [Erika] It's almost like...
- Mama, is it blue or is it yellow?
- No, no, it wasn't either of those,
but it was like, you know, the things that you have
on the top of the acorns.
They're an acorn, an acorn...
- A hat? (intense dramatic music)
- Oh no, this is how we've invented hats!
(Erika laughing)
- Huzzah! - (with wonder) A hat!
(Aabria sighs dejectedly)
- We all begin to glow blue
and float up through the Reactor.
(Jasper mimics choral singing) - [Aabria] Sure.
(players laughing)
- Thank you. - Yeah, good. You're good.
Hat!
- The invention of hats.
- Chapeau.
- [Players] (chanting) Hat, hat, hat, hat
- Can I use the Blue to manifest
an object on my own head, please?
(players laughing)
- How badly do you want it?
- No, I don't. You're right.
- Oh, I'm going to go... - [Aabria] Next.
- [Siobhan] Yeah, come on. - [Erika] I think I know
how to do this one. - [Aabria] You wanna do it?
- [Erika] And imitate Jaysohn.
- [Siobhan] Yes. - [Erika] Go, go!
Whee! - Yeah, you can slide it.
Go for it.
(stone scraping) Yeah, there you go.
- (shouts) Oh!
- What you see at the center of this
defies description or understanding.
It's like a sludge, something forming under roiling
that must be heavier, infinitely denser,
and hotter than the liquid that surrounds it,
bubbling up, spreading out, and pouring over.
The urge to jump towards this is palpable.
I need everyone to make a wisdom saving throw.
- Yeah, plus.
- [Brennan] Everyone's got Bless.
- [Siobhan] Bless. - Bless and +2?
- Yeah. - And plus
if you're within 10 feet.
- [Jasper] Oh, if we're there. - Oh.
- Within 10 feet.
- Whoop!
- Well, you have a +1. - [Jasper] Okay.
- You and me have a +1.
- It's a, the DC is 16. - [Jasper] Oh wait no, no, no.
(dice tapping table) (tense adventure music)
- Plus Bless. - [Jasper] Oh, okay. (sighs)
(energy powers down)
- Oh. - [Siobhan] I got a 14.
- Hey, just a little handshake as someone
who also rolls crits followed by ones damn near immediately.
Who failed the roll?
- It was a 16 to pass? - [Aabria] 16.
- I failed.
- [Aabria] Of course! - Oh yeah.
- The children turn. - [Siobhan] I'm thirsty.
- And sprint with everything in them
to dive into the center of this puzzle.
What do you do?
- Sprint and tackle my daughter.
- Yeah. - I try to grapple Jaysohn.
- Can I use, I wanna try and use a Thorn Whip
on the closest one to me.
- Make the call. You're kind of...
I mean, you're a little bit closer to Jaysohn,
but they are equidistant so- - Jaysohn's the quickest.
I think that's the one I'm most concerned about.
- [Aabria] Okay. - I'm actually faster, but...
- [Jasper] Um... (Aabria laughs)
- Well, when I get another level
and I take another level of rogue, then you'll see.
- All right, go ahead and give me a grapple check.
So, strength versus strength or athletics.
- Actually, it's wisdom because I still have my arms.
- Oh, that's right, that's right. Well, that's this one.
I'm resolving this one really quickly
and then we'll get to Jaysohn
'cause Jaysohn's a different beast.
- [Izzy] Strength? - [Jasper] Entirely.
- Athletics is gonna be a 17 for me.
- [Aabria] Okay. - I fail.
- [Aabria] Okay. - I'm less than.
- You feel yourself run, and you are immediately grabbed
not by the scruff of the neck or gently,
but your mother slams into you and pins you down.
There is no gentleness in this moment.
Okay, Jaysohn is sprinting for it.
Give me the first attempted grapple.
Athletics versus your athletics or acrobatics.
- I unfortunately rolled a 23.
- [Jasper] Oh, but you have a strength.
- How'd you do?
(die taps table) (tense chiming music)
- That's a 14.
- Ava reaches out and you feel just the very tip
of your grandson's tail.
The fur comes away in your hands as he gets past you.
Last chance. - (groans) Oh my God!
I can't, I don't...
This is okay. ♪ Last chance ♪
- So my Thorn Whip is a +6. Is this against AC?
Well, then it's like a, then there's like another check-
- [Aabria] It's against AC. - To actually...
- What's your armor class? - It's 19.
- Oh, good lord! - All right.
Let's make this a Box of Doom roll.
- No!
- Because let me be very clear.
- That's a lot of- - You've seen too many bones-
- Bones in the water! - At the bottom of this.
- [Jasper] Yeah.
- If you miss and Jaysohn jumps in, I will be very clear.
Jaysohn is dead.
- Oh, nevermind!
- Oh, I'm...
- So this feels like a Box of Doom roll.
- Yeah, okay. Yep.
Okay, yeah, just so to clarify, it is, if this hits,
I pull them 10 feet closer towards me.
- Yep. - So if I do this...
Oh no! I don't...
- [Aabria] And you're rolling with a +6?
- +6. - And you have Bless.
- So that's an extra to your attack roll?
- Yes, add your d4 to your- - Yeah.
- Does that work on attack rolls?
- [Aabria] Yes. - [Brennan] Yes.
- Okay. - This is an attack roll.
- Shall I roll the d4 first? - Yes, yes.
- [Aabria] Let's roll the d4 first.
- So you're rolling it first. (Jasper moans)
- Well, okay.
- [Aabria] So as it is right now-
- Awful. - To get to that 19,
19 minus six, you have to do a 13.
- [Jasper] Okay. - So let's roll your d4
to see how much we're taking off of that.
(intense sinister music) - Oh congrats!
- [Jasper] Four! - Yeah.
- Four! Okay! (Jasper groans)
- Okay, okay. We're cooking, we're cooking, we're cooking.
- All right, so you're trying to hit a 19.
- [Jasper] Yep. - Yep.
- [Brennan] What do you add?
- I add six, so I'm adding 10 to this
so a nine or higher, basically.
- Nine or higher makes it.
- Famously, I've been doing so well with...
Oh my God!
Oh, I'm so stressed! - You add four.
Welcome to the Dome. - I'm so stressed.
- [Aabria] Before you roll. - [Jasper] Mm-hmm.
- In this moment- - [Jasper] Uh-huh.
- I think you understand a lot of what's happening,
and you feel the intense pressure.
This isn't just, oh, Jaysohn's doing something.
Like, you understand that source is too strong.
- Yeah. - He will not survive it.
He's still a child,
and Ava isn't going to be able to bail you out.
If you miss with this... - [Jasper] Mm-hmm.
- [Aabria] Your nephew, your family is lost.
- I think Thorn himself is like,
full nosebleed resisting this like,
'cause like, this power has been like,
so akin to what he wanted for so long,
and even he is like, struggling so...
Oh, oh my gosh, this is horrendous!
Okay, so I need a nine or higher.
- [Aabria] Yep. - I feel sick.
(Jasper exhales softly) (intense sinister music)
(impact pounds) (alluring eerie music)
(soft alluring music)
(soft alluring music continues)
(warm buzzing resounds)
- 14! (players screaming)
- Oh my God!
- [Brennan] Whoo! - Oh my God!
- Oh! - [Jasper] Oh oh!
(Brennan and Jasper shouting in relief)
- There's no way to come back if Jaysohn died. - I genuinely was like,
about to start to start crying.
Like, that was awful! - Oh my God.
- I think you feel it in that moment
as you reach forward with your Thorn Whip,
tears at the edges of your eyes.
From one DM to another, why don't you describe for me
what it looks like as you successfully grab Jaysohn.
- I think there is this moment as like,
I look out towards the pit.
I can see Viola in the corner of my eye and there,
and I can feel that like, pang of like,
that parental urge within me.
And it's almost as if my hand moves
without me even thinking about it.
The vine just extends out, wraps around Jaysohn's torso,
and he yanks like, so hard.
I think the thorn's like,
really digging into your side (Siobhan grunts)
as I pull back and I think that as I pull back
there's just like a crackle of lightning that like,
extends down the vine.
And I probably pull you back- - And kills him.
- And to the point where Jaysohn fully lands on Thorn.
And I'm just like, holding onto you like... (pants heavily)
- You know what, go ahead and roll damage for me.
And roll a d6, I think there was a little bit of slam damage
as you like, brought down- - [Jasper] Yeah, definitely.
- Slam-age. - [Jasper] That's-
- Slam-age. You're right. - [Jasper] Slam-age. That is...
Oh, actually- - Yeah!
- Four damage to Lila.
- This is actually nine damage.
- [Siobhan] Okay, great. - [Aabria] It's okay.
There's more waiting.
- [Jasper] Yeah, clearly, of course.
- This isn't the end? - Can I...
- Doesn't look like you have the symbol yet.
- Can I scream out to Vi and be like, Vi, the far slab!
- Yes, immediately.
I run to the side and I flip this one up
to cover this big hole.
(shout) I'm a mother! (stone scraping)
(cast laughing)
- [Erika] Nothin'
- [Rashawn] I can't see anything.
(Brennan panting)
- [Aabria] That was close.
- I walk over to you in the pile.
I say you're going to be a good father.
(Aabria squeals in delight) (tender piano music)
- Uncle Thorn, can we try that again when we're safe,
but we do it as a trick?
- Jaysohn.
- 'Cause I think it was really cool.
- [Jasper] Jaysohn- - But we could just maybe
do it as a trick next time. - Jaysohn, with all the love
in the world, if I see you jump off one more fucking thing,
(Brennan laughs) I'll kill you.
- [Erika] Yes, this- - I think I hear him
threaten my child and I go...
Finally. (cast laughing)
- Thank God.
- [Brennan] Thank God.
- Lila's just like, sorry, Mom.
- Sorry, Mom.
- It's okay. It's okay.
The lesson is this. Everything new is bad.
(Jasper laughing)
For a while, for a while. - [Jasper] Yeah, yeah.
- Everything new is bad.
- Might us, maybe we should,
as many of us should sort of be away
from the new hole that we're gonna create just in case.
Have hold of each other. - [Brennan] Yeah.
- Whoever feels confident.
- Let's keep a hand on the young ones
and then we'll do this last one.
- All right, everybody. Clear off of the-
- I'll just, yeah, yeah, yeah. That's it.
- [Erika] Perhaps everybody should get off of the not ice.
- Are you? Who's doing the last one?
- The ice is very much liquid.
- Are you? - Yeah, shall I?
Oh, I'll go do it. I'll go do that.
- [Brennan] You're gonna do it?
- Everybody, I'm gonna do- - As my...
As Grandma's going over to do that,
I'm gonna just touch you and say, thank you.
(Jasper exhales sharply) Thank you.
- It's what families do.
(stone scraping)
(impact pounds) (energy whooshes)
- With that final glow,
the entire pool seems to get more vibrant.
(Siobhan gasps)
The glow around you in that same way
seems to change and transform, and Blue fills your vision.
And then you all feel as everything below you
begins to shift as somehow this thing
was balancing on this liquid, and the way you've turned,
though you now see a symbol
that you all know you've seen all over this place.
And all of you, except Ava who refuses to know things,
(cast laughing)
understand that that's a radioactive symbol.
And you all begin to capsize. (players gasp)
And I need everyone to make a dexterity saving throw.
- [Rashawn] Okay, add +2, everybody.
- And that's (Rashawn gasps)
where we're going to end tonight's episode.
(players scream)
- What? - Okay, Bless.
Lucky Footwork, everyone, +2.
- [Jasper] Lucky Footwork, Lucky Footwork.
- Everybody, Lucky Footwork.
Everybody knows Lucky Footwork.
- [Jasper] There's so much to add to this.
- Everyone remember that we have abilities
that help us in times like this!
- Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah!
- And we'll see you next week on "Burrow's End."
(Jasper grunts) - Oh!
(players chittering) (intense dramatic music)
(metal hatch slams)
- You all scramble, and this entire floor begins capsizing.
- Okay, now what do we do?
- All this Blue stuff is so irregular!
- Honey, I felt 'em kick!
- What? (screams)
- Stoats take over areas.
You've taken over warrens, but this was built by stoats.
We would love to know why you're here.
- I love you, Mommy.
- I love you, sweetie. Great job.
(Izzy growls rabidly)
- All right, here we go.
- Fuck 'em up, Grandma.
- For your children.
(Rashawn gasps)
If we die, we die, but you cannot let us fall.
- This ends now!
- Do you think it's worth the danger?
- I trust you more than any feeling
I've ever felt in my life.
- Are you okay? - No, I think I died.
- You died. It was so cool!
- Nothing will ever let me be alone with my thoughts.
You don't scare me.
(Rashawn chuckles)
- They're bleeding a lot. You did that.
You did a good job. High five.
Why are you so determined to lead this warren to ruin?
- We are determined to lead our family to survival.
(dark sinister music)
(dark sinister music continues)
(metallic clanging echoes)