(vehicle engine starts)
(epic rock music)
(tires skid)
(party horn toots)
♪ Welcome to the Gladlands ♪
♪ Where nobody feels bad, man ♪
(quirky country music)
♪ Dust off a smile and stay for a while ♪
♪ Let me thank you in advance ♪
♪ Welcome to the Gladlands ♪
(homey country music) (sign squeaks and falls)
- Hello, one and all!
Welcome back to another thrilling episode
of "Dimension 20: Gladlands."
I'm your humble GM, Brennan Lee Mulligan.
With me, as always, are our dusty do-gooders.
Say hi, Dusty Do-Gooders!
- Hi. (Zac coughs dryly)
- Nat one. - [Vic] Hi, Dusty Do-Gooders.
- You got a one. - [Ally] Nat one.
- A bouquet of teeth. Beautiful.
Last we left off, the Carer Van
had arrived at the History Heap
(Vic groans)
to find Aunt Freaky, Hugi's beloved aunt
and the mother of long-lost Muni.
- "Beloved."
- [Brennan] Beloved and long-lost Muni.
- "Beloved."
I thought she was gonna be a lot funner
with that name, honestly.
- [Oscar] Mm-hmm. - With Aunt Freaky?
- [Ally] Let's be real.
- "Beloved."
- [Brennan] Sometimes, it's important to go back
to the original concept, you know what I mean?
Where it's like, freaky doesn't just mean sexually fun.
- You're right.
- Freaky can also mean, I'm alarmed.
- [Ally] Yeah. - [Brennan] Right?
- And it's French so it's spelled different.
- Freaky!
- [Ally] With a Q? - Freaque. (laughs)
- Freaky.
- Aunt is French as well?
- Yeah. (laughs)
- Freaque. - Freaky!
- Yeah, what's French for aunt?
- [Zac] Freaque. - I never took French.
- It's actually based on the name-
the name Freaky's based off the name Freki,
which is one of Odin's wolves.
- Is that true?
- [Brennan] That's true. - Come on, huge.
- Are you pretending?
- [Vic] Huh? (laughs)
- Are you- (laughing) (Brennan laughs)
- Don't listen.
- [Brennan] Don't listen, don't listen.
- That was private.
- That was a private comment. - [Brennan] Don't listen.
- That was private for them.
- I just so don't know who that is-
(players chattering)
- But this is absolutely not for you.
- Wait, who's Odin?
- [Oscar] With one eye? - [Kimia] The one-eyed god.
- [Oscar] Is that true?
- [Ally] I appreciate the translation.
- Jacob. - Who's Odin?
- [Brennan] Who's Odin? (laughing)
This temptress behavior. - [Ally] Who's Odin?
(Jacob cackling)
- This is like the kid who wants us
to not get to turning in our homework.
(Jacob laughing) - [Brennan] I also...
- No, keep going on that.
- For me, how I experienced that was like
if I was supposed to do, like,
nine straight days of meditation to be like,
"The world is depending on it.
As long as I stay here..."
My demon would be like,
"There's some people next door who don't know who Odin is."
(cast laughing)
- You just start sweating. - [Oscar] Yeah.
- They're actually really relaxed
and have open ears right now.
(Brennan laughing)
- Last we left off- (players laughing)
- That's what that deserved.
- [Brennan] We arrived at the History Heap.
- Moving past it.
- Hugi ran into her old friend, Void Warranty,
who had recently been relieved of their duties
as the head History Heaper of the non book library,
believing instead in the existence of laser books,
that these would be able to have writing
hidden in the iridescent side of these disks,
sought after by Connor Kawasaki and Quinn Wedbush,
who have now tracked Hugi down to this area perceiving
that, I believe, Hugi only has two remaining dice left
above a d4 as the burnout increases.
Herbie, Poppy Persona out of drag,
Herbie Miggs in the History Heap robes,
tracking down, with Parcel, to Aunt Freaky trying to talk
about different missions of the History Heap.
Parcel, boo.
- Parcel.
- No, no, we...
It's understandable.
- Fake.
- Fake? (laughs) Fake friend.
- Fake friend. - [Ally] Fake friend.
- Fake friend, Parcel.
- No, if you like Parcel, we'll hang out with Parcel, but...
(cast laughing)
- But we don't think he's a good friend to you.
- Everyone makes mistakes.
- They're not a good friend to you.
- Like, if that's your pick, okay.
- [Ally] Everyone deserves grace.
- Then we're gonna hang. - [Ally] Not Parcel though.
- That's totally fine. Just go hang out.
- But with that, KoKoMo sort of tracking down right outside,
hearing in this moment that, you know,
Aunt Freaky does not seem to be that
into what Herbie is suggesting
in terms of the History Heap's responsibilities.
You know, going after this new, sort of salt coast
off the edge of the Salt Catchers versus this thing
you heard about from a rumor in Glider Town
when you were at the hospital of Bloodslug,
which was a downscraper in the Red Dust Plains
that had tomes of the Spear Shaker from the before times.
(gasps) What could it mean?
And of course, Tess, tracking down
in a section of the History Heap put together by none other
than Uncle Pus, the mysterious figure that seemed
to have found your test tube way back in the day.
You've come across a massive bug person,
(menacing dramatic music)
rhinoceros beetle wings beating behind them
and an enormous spiked nose.
This is where we left off
here at the History Heap where we return.
Stars scintillating in the night sky.
Off in a corner,
Quinn is busy working feverishly on a engine,
on a small engine to help play (baby chainsaw buzzing)
one of these non books.
As Quinn is working on that,
we return to Connor Kawasaki and Hugi in a corner.
Hugi, having left the machine behind
that is now in Quinn's hands with this Creativity check
that is needed that you cannot make it work in your hands.
Connor, you behold Hugi kind of with
whatever charred remains
of that now-destroyed non book are.
Connor, what do you do in this moment?
- [Zac] I think Connor is kind of hovering
almost like "dad in the doorway" energy,
but no dad energy at all. (laughs)
(players chuckle)
And is trying to figure out how to approach it,
but I think Connor goes up to Hugi and says,
uh... (nervous stammering)
Uh, hey, hey, Hugi, um...
(Kimia chuckling) - [Vic] Hey.
- I think, um...
(Oscar laughing)
Hey. (laughs)
Hugi, uh...
- It seems like this conversation is maybe over
so Hugi just starts walking away a little bit.
- Oh wait, I'm sorry. I just...
I just wanted to say-
- Oh, yeah.
- I'm actually just starting the conversation.
- Oh, sorry.
- I know it's kinda confusing and...
Look, I think connection is hard
(gentle music) and I think, you know,
I didn't really learn how to connect with people very...
My parents weren't very good at connecting, you know.
My mom is a condor and my dad's a dirt bike
and so I don't really...
They didn't really teach me how to connect to people very-
- I'm sorry, did you say dirt bike?
- Yeah, dirt. He is a dirt bike.
- I kept thinking that you were saying dirtbag.
- [Zac] Well... - [Vic] Like a bad guy.
- I- - A dirt bike?
- He's a dirt bike and-
- Okay.
- You know, we just didn't get along,
and he had his own way and my mom had her own-
She's like, up there, so like,
I didn't really learn how to...
I learned how to talk through binoculars, so like, this-
I'm not used to doing this kinda thing.
- Like a physical condor.
- Hm?
- Like a physical condor.
- Is there a mental con-
- Well, sort of, you had sort of said like a condor
and I thought you sort of were referring to a person.
Sometimes you know how people are sorta described birdlike?
- Oh. - I always sorta thought
you said your dad was like a bad guy
and your mom was like a beautiful-
- Hugi, give me an Awareness check,
difficulty of five in this moment.
- [Vic] (laughs) Oh, which one?
- [Brennan] Awareness.
- [Vic] Awareness, of course. Okay, I have that.
- [Oscar] Is that one of your burnt out?
- [Vic] No, that's one of my two that's not.
- [Kimia] Nice.
- Six.
- [Brennan] Okay. - But would...
Is this conversation near death?
- No, I think in this moment,
on that five- - You can halve that.
- Oh, yeah. Oh!
- [Brennan] On that five Awareness.
- Oh, I got a six Awareness.
- [Brennan] Oh, six Awareness. - Which is half anyway.
- So you succeed on this check.
I think in this moment,
as you're looking at Connor speaking to you,
the Gladlands is a wild place, right?
KoKoMo's got fuzzy ears. Tess is part bug.
Things sort of fly past a lot of times.
You in your head were like,
"Oh, when Connor said he was raised
by a dirtbag and a condor,
he meant like a bad guy and then a condor-like woman.
Like a woman who's maybe condor-themed."
- Yeah.
- In a moment of stark analysis piercing into the depths
of your kind of crisis spiral that you're in right now,
you realize that Connor was raised by a physical dirt bike,
meaning an un-sentient machine, and a condor, a bird.
And I think that you go like,
"Ah, a lot of crazy stuff has happened."
This is one of the craziest things
you've heard in the Gladlands.
How Connor is alive completely escapes you.
- Right.
- So like, my mom was flying around and like...
Obviously, she's like, gonna do her thing or whatever.
And then my dad is like (mimics dirt bike revving)
and I just felt I didn't really understand
how to connect with people-
- Right.
- ...for a long time, and I think even within the group,
I'm usually on my bike
a little further away from people.
- And your bike's not...
- Not my dad, no.
- Right. (Brennan cackling)
- Come on! (laughs)
- My dad is a different bike.
- Right.
- And so my point is, you know...
I feel like I'm not good at kinda connecting to people,
but I just-
- 'Cause of the machine and bird.
- Yeah, they just weren't good at it.
- Right, right. Right. - And so I didn't really...
I had to kinda figure it out on my own,
but what I'm just saying like,
you know, seeing everything here,
I feel like connection is rare,
and it seems like you had something really,
you know, special with your cousin.
And if you ever wanna, you know, talk about them
or do anything that y'all did together, I would be happy to.
(tender wistful music)
- I really appreciate that. Can I ask you a question?
- Mm-hmm, anything.
Is it about my mom and dad?
- Well, I just had a couple of follow-up questions
on that if that's okay. - [Zac] Sure. Yeah, yeah.
- [Vic] If you don't wanna talk about it,
I totally get that. - [Zac] No, I'm happy to.
It's confusing to me, so-
- Like an egg?
- An egg? - Or were you built?
- Hmm. I'm not sure.
(players stifling laughter)
I don't remember. Do you remember when you were born?
- No. No, I don't, actually.
- I don't remember what happened to that. It's kinda like-
- It was like a series of eggs, right?
And each one had a part to a motorcycle in it?
(players laughing)
- What's up, Quinn?
(cast laughing)
I think that could be it. I don't know.
I haven't really thought about that part that much.
- Do you talk to your parents?
- No. I mean, my dad, he kinda retired.
- Can you talk to your parents?
- I can talk to them easy.
- Okay.
- They don't really talk too much to me.
- Oh. (laughs) (Brennan sputter laughs)
- And that's something, I gotta,
you know, deal with or whatever.
- [Vic] Right. - But, you know, I think...
I don't know, I think I'm just saying
it can be complicated, family, you know?
- Yeah.
Sometimes your aunt sorta has an inability to listen to you
and sometimes- - Mm-hmm.
- ...your parents are a bird and a dirt bike?
- Yeah, sometimes. - Yeah.
- Sometimes.
(Ally chuckling)
(Zac mimics suavely lighting a cigarette and inhaling)
(Brennan laughing) - [Kimia] Whoa.
- Straight stogie to the dome.
- [Kimia] Oh. (Brennan laughing)
(Zac coughing and hacking)
- Cool. Honestly, a cool reveal for me.
- Is that the first time this character smoked?
- What was that? - I've never seen you...
(Brennan and Oscar laughing)
- Crawled into my hand.
- You lit two feathers on fire and then...
(Zac hacks)
- I don't know. - Okay.
- I watched someone do that from a distance.
- Oh, I see. (players laugh)
Connor, I know you don't spend a lot of time
on the Carer Van so like- - Uh-huh.
- I feel like I don't...
I hope it's not new information to say
I don't feel as close to you
as maybe some of the other people on the Carer Van.
- Yeah, it makes sense.
I'm kinda far away,
watching you guys from a distance, usually.
- But I just wanted to say,
I would like to get to know you better,
and I'm gonna make more of an effort to do that.
- Connor (laughs) puts the visor of his helmet down.
(voice cracking) That's awesome.
(Brennan laughing) (players awing)
Cool, cool.
- Cool, cool.
- Cool.
- You guys, what I've found here
is some of the newest technology that they had, I think,
literally right before the world collapsed.
It's called anti-skip technology.
- [Vic] What do you mean?
- And you can shake this and the disk won't even skip.
- Was the disk skipping before? Was that-
- Yeah, yeah, I guess some scientist was able to
make that, and so it's actually really sick.
- Skipping what?
- You know, it's like if you were on a road trip
or something and you hit a pothole
and it just totally ruined the CD.
It just would kinda skip forever?
This person was able to stop that.
- Where'd you come up with that word, CD?
- It says it here.
- Does it? - [Ally] Yeah.
- Okay.
- [Ally] Yeah. - Okay, okay!
- That's good. - That's great.
- So I'm able to, like, totally fix...
We could listen to any of Void's-
- [Brennan] Hell yeah.
- Like, disks, right? - [Brennan] Yeah, you begin.
Some of the disks, for some reason, don't play in it.
Some do. You're looking at them.
You begin to see that ones that say...
that have a C and a D on them do.
And you see in Void's notes, like, Void's presentation here
was very clear in terms of how they proved
that there might be secret writing.
You know, a lot of people were like,
"These disks might just be strangely shaped books
that describe something elsewhere buried in the Gladlands."
And Void's whole theory was predicated on this word
that appears everywhere on these called "runtime"
and was basically like,
"This is an indication that there
is something associated with this that we're not seeing."
- Wow. - And other people were like,
"Perhaps Runtime is the name of a deity!"
You know, something like that, and it's like,
"No, this is connected with this machine here."
As you take a look at Quinn doing that,
Connor, I'd like you to make an Awareness check.
Difficulty is gonna be seven.
If you can beat that by five or more,
there's gonna be some extra goodies associated there.
- By five or more?
- [Brennan] Yeah. - Okay, let's see.
(die taps table)
That's a 19, baby!
(players cheering) - [Brennan] 19.
- Ooh!
- Sweet, sweet, sweet.
- Here at the History Heap, you look far to the...
With the visor down, you're like...
(Zac and Ally laughing)
(laughs) That's awesome.
- [Ally] Don't let 'em see the whites of your eyes.
(Zac laughs)
- Looking out in that moment of connection,
I think you remember back to discovering the first
human encampment in the waste as a little kid
with your binoculars, hiding in the rocks,
scavenging debris and dirt to eat, you know?
Your dad nearby with the kickstand up,
your mom somewhere, you know, flying overhead.
And looking at a town and seeing that people
were making noises at each other
and just developing your eyesight so long,
looking through the binoculars,
figuring out what they were saying to each other,
how to make the noises so that one day
you could walk into that town
and speak for the very first time in your life
in a completely full and complete sentence.
- You're out of the tuna?
(Brennan laughs)
Someone's ordering a sandwich.
- With that same eyesight, you look now
and see far to the north of here
at the edge of the History Heap, not headed this way
but headed west of here,
(Brennan mimics lightning crackling)
lightning distantly across the sky.
As storm clouds begin to move across the north of the desert
(rain pattering) you see distant rain falling
upland of the Red Dust Plains.
- Does it seem like it's coming towards us?
- Doesn't seem like it's coming towards you.
It seems like it's heading slowly west,
but you know that those-
- That's where the...
- [Brennan] That's where the downscrapers are
and thing that was a concern from Glider Town
was that whatever was left in the downscrapers,
the submerged skyscrapers,
if that storm gets all the way west,
which it looks like it's headed there
or at least the weather is kind of moving off
in that direction, that there could be some flash flooding
in the direction of the Red Dust Plains.
It looks like you're- Again, on a 19,
I will say you are catching this very early.
You're seeing the earliest storm clouds.
But just looking at the weather patterns on the horizon,
you can tell that that's gonna pick up intensity
probably over the next 24 hours.
- Oh, okay.
Uh, uh...
Hugi, Quinn, I was looking out that way,
and do you guys see those?
And I just hold up my- I break my binoculars in half
and hand you each one. - [Oscar] Wow.
- Are they ordering a tuna sandwich?
(cast chuckling)
- It's that. Sorry.
- Okay.
- It's way too late for that. - There's a storm.
It's way too late for...
Sorry, I'm also gonna move your...
- Oh, thanks. Oh, got it.
Okay, yeah, yeah. - Storm clouds headed.
Don't we...
We're gonna lose everything that was down there, right?
- [Ally] We gotta tell- - In the downscrapers?
- It's still so hard for me not to say Poppy, but yeah.
- [Zac] Yeah. I think they would wanna know.
- Okay, should we...
We cracked this open.
Should we tell Void
or should we just leave some instructions for Void?
- Is it crazy to split up? I have to get this to Void.
I do. - [Ally] Yeah.
- It's really important. - We'll go with you, yeah.
- Well, I mean, do we want somebody to tell...
I mean, I think at the very least,
we should let Herbie know.
- I imagine that this is all in the same direction.
Let's just go and try to- Whoever we run into first
and maybe see if Void wants to join us
'cause didn't they just get fired?
They could work on this in the Carer Van.
- Well, we're trying to save this area.
That's why this was so important.
- Oh, I got you. Yeah, okay.
- Would your aunt care about it or no?
- I think we should leave her be.
- Okay.
- Do you wanna bag up your stuff here that's most important
and take it with us on the Carer Van
or do you want it to live here?
- Well, you know, as long this place is safe,
we're not gonna need it,
and I think it should stay exactly where it is.
- Okay, great. Let's go.
- Heading out, Hugi, you have this incredible insight
that Void was right. (enigmatic electronic music)
You have a memory of you and Muni hearing something
back here when you were kids,
and you couldn't convince anybody.
It happened by accident. There wasn't a way to explain it.
But Void has followed through, and now Quinn
putting this technology back together, been proven right.
Leaving from this place with this sort of charred non book,
how is Hugi feeling both, like, there's a big success here
in that you're gonna be able to prove that Void was right,
but you weren't able to be the one to do it.
- Yeah, I think it's very similarly to that moment
of the dock where it is this
feeling of failure that is sort of swirling.
And as it's swirling, Hugi is spinning it
and it's spinning it into like,
this was actually a good thing.
This was a better thing.
- Yeah. - [Vic] This is actually,
this is exactly the way it was supposed to be.
And that is just sort of spinning faster and faster
and that's the battery that's running Hugi right now.
Mm-hmm.
- [Brennan] We move back to Herbie
with Parcel standing there with Aunt Freaky,
one of her hands on the skull, looking off,
as you look at Parcel
not speaking up in your defense.
And again, even in your advocacy for a different
way of doing things, you're not giving the full...
Like, you're not mentioning Poppy.
You're not giving the full story of what's been happening.
But entering through the door is KoKoMo.
KoKoMo, you enter in, see Aunt Freaky standing here.
This place is actually quite- This den is very cozy.
It's not that dissimilar from your nest
in terms of how well-appointed and nice it is,
and there's little artifacts
and beautiful little decorations, bits of stained glass
and other fractured little broken things
that are very pretty and refined
and have been cared for and tended to.
You see Aunt Freaky swivels around.
"Ah, KoKoMo."
- KoKoMo.
- Welcome, welcome, my friend.
Can I assist you with anything?
- Do I see my friend?
- [Brennan] Yeah, Herbie's right there along with Parcel.
- I just kinda move over to their direction.
I'm good.
- Oh!
- Do you have anything for me?
- "Not at-"
And you see that her eyes...
Would you have left the Cali Vibes postcard
in the truck, do you think?
- I think it'd be probably with the other cassette tape
and the mismatched pitter-pattered album cover.
- Cool.
You see that she turns to you and says,
"Well, welcome, my good friend.
I believe there are some members of the History Heap
that may have some use for your services.
It's come to our attention that a lack of touch
can render one's ability to research less effective.
We have a list of people who may benefit
from a hug of 10 seconds or longer,
and they are ready to line up first thing tomorrow morning."
- I'd love to see that list.
- You see that she goes over- (Jacob and Vic laughing)
(Brennan laughs) Goes over and hands you a list of people.
And you see that there's a small spreadsheet
with a list of names, the order they signed up in.
There's a column.
- I read the names.
- [Brennan] There's a column-
(players laughing)
Hold on one second. Here we go.
- I'm kidding, I'm kidding.
- Okay, okay. (Jacob chuckling)
You see that in the third column of it
you see there's some slashes and X's
that you see are, she says, "This is a small rubric
for double overarm, one arm over, one arm under,
or both arms under based on preference."
- I look at just one name on the list.
- Great.
(players laughing)
Mrs. Jennifer Mandible.
- Cool.
- I very subtly say to KoKoMo,
but I also am saying it so Auntie Freaky can hear.
I say, is Auntie Freaky's name on that list?
- Is it?
- It is not.
She turns to you and says, "Regardless, Herbie,
if you can try to summarize for me what your concerns are.
This addition of this marine biology sign
to the Science Heap is a welcome endeavor,
and I think returning the Truthbrary,
maybe decoupling from the Carer Van,
would be to everybody's benefit.
The work of the History Heap ever continues."
- I'd like to alter my course, if that's possible.
(gentle mystical music)
- Well, altering your course
will require speaking to the History Council.
- Which is exactly why I'm here.
- Very well. You shall speak to them on the morrow.
Is there anything else I can help you with?
(peaceful soothing music)
- [Oscar] Information- - Does KoKoMo gesture to her?
I would like you to give me a Charm roll.
- Oh, interesting.
- Knock her out, dog.
- [Brennan] Difficulty of-
(players laughing)
Difficulty of-
- Smother her. (laughs)
- Difficulty of,
we'll call it a seven.
DC seven Charm roll. - Okay.
(die taps table) (peaceful music continues)
A one. - [Kimia] Ooh.
- [Brennan] Go ahead and take a Boo-Boo.
This is a failure by five or more.
(sad guitar string twangs)
You see that she says,
"This double-handed 'come hither' gesture, what is this?"
- I was offering you a hug.
- I'm not interested.
- Great.
- She turns over to you and goes...
- Oh. (cast laughing)
(slaps head) Oh.
- And I'll say to Herbie and KoKoMo here,
give me Awareness, difficulty of nine.
- I wanna Bungle.
- Your Awareness...
Oh, oh, I was gonna say, your Awareness is way higher now.
- [Brennan] Mm-hmm.
- 'Cause you're Herbie. - Oh, that's true! It's...
I forgot who I was. Thank you.
- Yeah, I'm always here to let you know you're out of drag.
- [Brennan] What did we get for Awareness here?
(Ally and Oscar laughing) - Six.
- [Brennan] Six. - Ooh, I blew up.
(engine revving) - [Brennan] Oh shit!
- Four, 10.
10! KoKoMo! (players cheering)
- And I wanna Bungle that.
- You wanna Bungle that? Okay. - Yeah, I do.
I wanna Bungle that.
- All right, you're gonna Bungle that?
Go ahead and Bungle it. Go ahead and give me a...
You're gonna subtract a d20 from this 10 roll.
- Yep.
(die taps table)
That's a six.
- So that goes down to a four.
- Cool.
- [Brennan] Okay, so you each take
two Boo-Boos in this moment. (sad guitar string twangs)
- Can I ask what the hat does again, just as a reminder?
- [Oscar] Oh, yes.
While wearing this hat,
you gain twice as many adversity tokens
when you Bungle someone else's check.
- So you get four Boo-Boos right now.
- [Oscar] Yes. - Whoa!
- [Jacob] Whee! - [Brennan] Wow! Okay.
- [Ally] What was this check for?
- [Brennan] This was an Awareness check.
- Just a general, we don't know what it's for yet?
- [Brennan] Don't know what it's for yet.
- What does that say?
- Does this usher her out faster?
(Oscar laughing)
- Does this usher her out faster?
So this is her den.
- Okay.
- [Brennan] But you would probably-
(players laughing)
- And it's kicking her out, right? (laughs)
- (laughs) I was trying to turn something bad
into something good. - [Brennan] KoKoMo-
- The moment that your voice clicks into, like, polite
and gentle even though what you're saying is so funny.
- Well, you're in her house, so.
- So this is, you're in her house.
- Okay, so this, hm, what is this? Hm. (laughs)
(Ally laughing)
- 'Cause this actually, yeah, she's like,
"You guys know where the keys are, right?"
- Yeah, yeah. "Make sure you turn off the light."
- KoKoMo, as you stare through, you look at her,
and as you offer a hug, you see that she looks
and moves a hand to the crook of her elbow unconsciously.
She does something...
There's something gestured,
but before you can interpret what that is,
how does Herbie Bungle this?
- I look at the skull that Aunt Freaky was sort of holding.
- [Brennan] Yeah.
- And I panic.
- [Brennan] Mm-hmm.
- And I sort of like,
jerk around and knock the skull over.
(dramatic impact pounds) - A hand flashes out,
grabs the skull, and her face wheels around
right in your face and says,
"Have a care, won't you?"
- I'm sorry, it was an-
- You trudging idiot!
- I'm sorry, it was an accident. I didn't-
- Don't make those, Herbie!
Don't make accidents! Do it right!
(tense dramatic music) - Okay.
Okay.
I just kinda usher Herbie away.
- She looks around and says, "I am not required
to be kind to you when you do things that frighten me.
This is my home!"
- I'm sorry, that was frightening to you?
- Leave! (dramatic impact reverberates)
- Okay, okay, okay. (haunting notes squeal)
- And you see Parcel walks out the door with you.
I'll ask for one last Awareness here just from KoKoMo.
Once again, this is going to be a difficulty of...
No, we're gonna do eight again. Difficulty of eight.
- This is an Awareness check?
- [Brennan] This is an Awareness,
but I'm just gonna have KoKoMo do it this time.
- I'm Bungling it too.
- I Bungled, yeah, 'cause I have a d6, so.
- [Brennan] Mm-hmm. (die taps table)
- A one. It's cocked, I'm gonna redo it.
- [Brennan] Cool.
- It's a one again. - [Brennan] Cool, cool.
Go ahead and take a Boo-Boo.
- Yeah. Are you gonna Bungle? (sad guitar string twangs)
- [Oscar] Yeah. - Yeah.
- [Brennan] I don't- - Is that possible?
Can I Bungle a one? - He said just from Jacob.
- [Brennan] It was just, yeah. - Oh, I'm sorry.
- That's fair. Yep, yep, yep, yep, yep, yep.
- Yeah, I think that on that one,
you just get Herbie out of there
with this extreme lashing out from Aunt Freaky.
Parcel steps out, turns to look at you, KoKoMo, and nods
and turns to look at you, Herbie, nods, and begins to walk
back to another section of the History Heap.
- [Oscar] Parcel.
- Hm?
- I would request you to find as much information as you can
about be'ach.
(players snickering)
And send all of the paperwork to KoKoMo, if possible.
- [Brennan] Uh, KoKoMo, before you arrived,
we were in conversation with Aunt Freaky,
and she communicated much of the lore
of a word that I've heard you say before.
You've referred to this many times.
A place that you were searching for
that has sort of mythic potentiality to it.
- Beach?
- Is that how you say it?
- Beach.
- Beech.
- [Oscar] Oh. - Beach.
- Aunt Freaky says it differently.
- Aunt Freaky is wrong on many things.
- Beach. Very well.
I shall accumulate as much beach lore as I can.
- Parcel?
- Mm-hmm.
- Try not to be a bad friend again.
(dramatic impact pounds) - Give me Determination,
difficulty of five.
(die taps table)
- I'm Bungling it.
(Brennan gasps) - Four.
- [Brennan] Four. (sad guitar string twangs)
How do you Bungle in this moment?
- I stand in front of...
I stand in between of KoKoMo and Parcel and I say,
that's enough.
- Wow.
That moment of tension.
As you see-
- Oh. - [Brennan] As you attempt
to advocate on Herbie's behalf, Herbie gets in the way.
And I'll ask, in this instance.
I know there's getting a lot of these in a row.
I'll ask for one more Awareness check, difficulty of eight.
- Two.
- 18.
- You see that Parcel's eyes well up with tears as they go,
"Beach lore."
And you see that they reach up
to something inside one of their robes and touch something
that appears to be like an article of either clothing
or jewelry that is hidden inside of their garb or attire,
and they head out.
At this moment, I think Quinn, Connor, and Hugi,
you're sort of out a little ways on one of the main drags
through the stacks of books everywhere
and reunite with KoKoMo and Herbie.
As the group begins to reunite,
I'm gonna need a d4 roll from you, Jacob,
and a d4 roll from you, Oscar, as well.
- One.
- Two.
- [Brennan] Two. That is for a total of three.
The fabric of the Gladlands
is a tenuous one
and one that requires careful work, attention, kindness.
And I think you can feel in this moment
panic, paranoia, keeping important feelings internal.
You know, this intercession to stop KoKoMo
for standing up on your behalf, things left unsaid,
Parcel's silence, Aunt Freaky's outburst.
As the social fabric of the Gladlands frays,
we move the Bummerometer into the red for the first time.
- No! - Oh no!
- [Brennan] On that roll, we reduce the Good Goo by three.
(players sigh)
- [Jacob] Damn.
- Oh.
- No!
- Pizza.
(Brennan laughs)
- [Kimia] What the heck?
- Can I get a reminder on this guy?
- [Brennan] The Bummerometer?
- Yeah, what is happening
when we get to the other side of that again?
- A critical all the way to the end of the Bummerometer
will reduce the Good Goo to zero.
(dramatic impact pounds) - Oh!
- To zero?
- [Kimia] To zero.
- Okay.
- No more pizza.
- Well, hey, let's not say that. (laughs nervously)
- Could have been eight if you both rolled fours, so.
- It could have been eight, you're right.
- [Brennan] Yeah. - Right.
- Dang.
- Going into the red for the first time,
I would like to draw everyone's attention to the fact
that you all also have your own personal Bummerometers
in front of you. - [Kimia] Hm?
- Oh!
- No.
- Whoa! (Oscar laughing)
- What I would like for us to do here is,
how many points of Burnout
are shared amongst the group right now?
- [Kimia] Vic?
- Burnout does not count for your d4, right? Or is that-
- It does not count for your d4.
- Okay, then three.
- [Brennan] Three.
- I have one. - [Brennan] One.
I would like all four of you, one, two, three, four,
to each roll a d4 for me, if you'd be so kind.
(tense uneasy music)
(die clatters)
- Why? I can't roll today.
- Two. The fours are hard.
- Too strong, too powerful. - [Ally] Fours are hard.
- One.
- [Brennan] Three, great. Two, two, three.
If you'd be so kind, Zac, can you roll 2d4 for me?
(players groan) - Oh no.
- You're rolling four. - Vic!
- Oh my gosh.
- This feels like déjà vu.
- Two ones!
- [Brennan] Two ones. - [Oscar] Oh, dang.
- Incredible. So for Connor, Tess, and Quinn,
I'd like you to move up your Bummerometers just to two.
You're still in the green.
- Tight.
- [Brennan] All of you are still in the green.
- Oh, I'm in two?
- [Brennan] You're at two as well,
so even with that extra die of Burnout, you're okay.
I'd like you to move yours to three,
which is right on the lip between yellow and green,
which feels appropriate for where Herbie's at right now.
- Yeah, makes sense.
- [Brennan] KoKoMo, what did you roll?
- I rolled a one.
- Then just move your Bummerometer to a one.
KoKoMo doing the best out of everybody here,
but now with the red in the Bummerometer,
everyone's individual Bummerometers get up even higher.
I'm gonna need 4d4 rolled for Hugi.
- Oh my god, Vic! (Kimia yelps nervously)
- [Vic] Okay. (sighs)
- Oh! - Four, three, four, three.
- Oh! - [Kimia] Oh my goodness.
- [Brennan] That's gonna be 14. As you are walking up-
- That's off the chart.
- Yeah. - Okay.
- I'm gonna need you to go all the way to a 10
on the Bummerometer.
- [Jacob] It's over 9,000! - [Kimia] Oh, what? Wait...
(Kimia groans)
- And we're gonna drop one, two, three-
- This is tragedy. - [Brennan] Four.
The excess rolled-
- Goes into...
- [Brennan] Goes into the Good Goo.
- Oh my god. - [Vic] Yeah.
- I can make it less. - Tough but fair.
- Do we wanna make it less? - Tough but fair.
- Or should I save it?
- [Jacob] What do you mean?
- [Vic] I'll order- - My teddy can make it less.
- I'm gonna order a pizza, I decided.
- The Good Goo. - Make it less!
- Like less of a- - Is it once per session?
- Yeah, per session so I could save it, save it, save it.
- If the Bummerometer for the Gladlands overall
reaches maximum value, the Good Goo will drop to zero
and anyone whose personal Bummerometer is in the red
will experience catastrophe and retire from the game.
- Oh, oh, oh. - Stop! Stop!
- Not my friend! No!
- Right, but we're not there.
- [Ally] So those are our stakes?
- [Jacob] We're not there. Plenty of room.
- We're not there. - Plenty of time.
- Look at that. - Plenty of stuff to do.
- Five points! Let's drop it two more points just for fun!
- We gotta figure it out. (Brennan laughing)
- We're fine.
- [Kimia] Okay. (Oscar sighs deeply)
- I think as we rejoin,
if I'm not pressing too far forward,
I think this is a big deal for KoKoMo.
I don't think that- I don't know if it ever ticks up.
And so I think for the first time
as he's joining back with his friends,
you see him take a giant- He gets almost Kirby-esque.
- [Brennan] Yeah. - And he yells and he says,
we'd always said that we'd be good friends!
(intense dramatic music)
- No, stop.
We stop him.
- Stop.
- Oh.
- What happened?
And you can you guys just fill us in?
However much you would be comfortable filling us in,
what would you tell us?
- As you are about to fill in, you guys hear a noise.
(monstrous scream echoes)
And we're gonna go over to Tess.
Tess, staring you down in the stacks,
(menacing suspenseful music) you see a massive,
it's probably a good foot and a half taller than you
and easily two and a half times as broad.
Like, tall and wide,
this massive bug. - [Kimia] Okay, sure.
(Brennan snarls and snorts)
Hello.
(menacing music intensifies)
(Brennan roars)
- Wind rattles past. Books fly off the shelves.
And all of you guys hear that roar.
- [Ally] We run to it.
- We, I mean, yeah. - [Brennan] You start running.
- [Vic] Yeah. - But it's a distance away
because of all the time that had to elapse
for you guys to have those interactions that-
- I'm walking my dirt bike up at this point.
- [Brennan] Yeah. - My god! (laughs)
- You're pretty far behind just like-
- [Brennan] You see the bug looks at you and goes,
(growls)
"Where's Uncle Pus?"
- Yeah, where is Uncle P...
Where's Uncle Pus?
- Don't lie to me!
- I'm not.
I actually don't know where Uncle Pus is,
and we have the same goal, so if you're mad, I can help you.
I also wanna know where Uncle Pus is.
- Give me Charm, difficulty of 15.
- [Vic] We're not there yet?
- (stammering) I have a four.
- I believe in you.
- I have a four. - [Zac] Explode?
- Four! - That's a four!
- Four! It blows up. (engine revving)
- Two! - Yeah!
- [Brennan] Go ahead and take a Boo-Boo.
- Yeah. - He looks at you and says,
"Same team? No one's on my team.
You ever seen him? Don't lie to me."
- I'm not gonna lie. I actually can't lie.
I'm one of those "too stupid to lie" guys.
I've seen him.
- I'm gonna need a Resilience roll versus-
- One of those. - [Oscar] One of those.
- One of those. - Too stupid to lie. (laughs)
- It's gonna be Resilience versus Postapocalyptic Mayhem.
- Oh my god! - Wait, wait, wait, wait,
wait, wait. - Do a flip or something.
- Wait, hang on. So I'm rolling what?
- You're rolling 1d20.
He gets to roll two and take the higher.
- So you need to beat a 12 on a Resilience check.
- You got this. Easy.
- [Jacob] Bang, bang, bang, bang.
- Five. (Ally groans)
(Oscar laughing)
- All of you running, there's five of you that are running.
We need three of you to roll an 11 or higher on a d20
for you guys to make it in this next round.
(Kimia groaning)
- Can I say that I have, once we hear the scream and noises,
once noises are happening, I'm on my dirt bike
and I've turned it on.
(engine revving) - Yes. Hell yeah.
And you are taking off.
I'm actually gonna say, I'll start here.
Because it's taking a while, I'm going to need three
out of five of you to roll an 11 or higher.
Connor, if you wanna take off, you can get there immediately
on the dirt bike, but it'll be three out of four of you
need to roll to get there in time.
- If dirt bike is a relative of Connor's,
can dirt bike also have a roll?
- Cannot knock the hustle, and no.
- Okay. - [Brennan] But love it.
- And just to be clear, my dirt bike is not...
I'm not related to this dirt bike.
- I'm sorry. Yeah, I just-
- It's not a cousin, it's not an auntie.
- [Zac] This is- - [Vic] Yeah.
- [Jacob] Not a pop-pop.
- This is just a dirt bike. - Yeah, okay. Sorry.
- So Connor, are you just like,
"I gotta get there as fast as possible"?
(Zac mimics engine whining)
Cool. - I think it's go time.
- [Brennan] It is go time. Connor, you take off.
That's definitely the right call
because the odds are not in your favor.
- The odds aren't on-
- [Brennan] Even with five people.
- Yeah.
- [Brennan] And someone needs to get to Tess right now.
- [Zac] I'll get there or I'm gonna die.
- [Brennan] So we're looking for three out of four. KoKoMo-
- I rolled a 12. - [Brennan] Hugi, Quinn.
- [Ally] Okay. - Nine.
- [Brennan] Nine. - Yes! 19.
- [Brennan] 19.
- [Jacob] I rolled a 12. - 16!
- 16, incredible! All right, everyone made the right call.
(Jacob high fives himself) So Connor's gonna get there
and then the other four- - [Jacob] We're gonna get it.
- [Brennan] ...will get there right after Connor.
- We'll get one. - We're gonna get one.
- [Oscar] It hasn't happened yet, has it?
- With that, Tess, on failing that Resilience check
by five or more, go ahead and roll a d4 for me.
- Today sucks.
- Yeah.
- [Jacob] Shit.
- One! - One, one.
- [Brennan] One. - Yeah.
- [Brennan] We're gonna tick up from a two to a three
on your Bummerometer.
- [Ally] We're good. - Okay, yeah.
- [Brennan] So you see that this massive beetle goes,
(surging rock music)
(grunts) "Nobody messes with Breaker!"
(impact echoes) And slams through to the ground.
Boom! This is the hardest you've been hit in your life.
(players gasp)
- A chance to feel pain?
- A chance to feel pain. - [Oscar] An opportunity.
- [Ally] Yeah, wow. Beautiful. - Whipping around the corner,
ahead of the pack, Connor Kawasaki.
(Zac mimics motor whining)
- Yeah, he's doing the full turns,
like, almost touching the ground.
(Brennan mimics engine revving)
- On the shelves. - Sorry, sorry. Ssh, ssh.
- [Oscar] Sorry. (laughs) - Connor,
you see this massive bug man. - [Zac] Be quiet!
- Rhinoceros beetle bug man whips around.
- Shit!
(players laughing)
- [Brennan] What do you do? It's your time to act.
- I'm looking for Tess.
I'm gonna try to grab Tess's arm and wheel-
- Give me Postapocalyptic Mayhem.
- All right. (mimics engine revving)
17. - 17. Hell yes.
That is a flawless success. You whip under.
Describe for me how you free Tess
from the clutches of this massive bug man.
- I fully launch into a shelf of books that falls
and as its falling, uses it as a ramp
to do sort of a backflip and let go in the sky.
(Ally laughing) Grab onto the handles again.
It didn't help anything, but-
- Yeah, yeah, yeah, no. - Yeah.
- And just reach out to Tess's arm.
- So I reach out, but before we grab,
I gotta do a sick dap up
'cause that was such a good move, dude!
- It doesn't help us grab each other's hands at all.
- (slaps fist) Yeah, dude, Yes!
- Okay!
And then whip Tess around to kick him in the face. (laughs)
- Ow! Ah.
- Not Tess, but kick Tess. - [Brennan] Yes.
- Oh, oh, okay. (laughs)
- [Brennan] Hell yes. - I kick Tess in the face.
- [Ally] I kick Tess in the face really fast.
- You rescue, with this awesome flip,
rescue Tess from underneath Breaker.
Tess, you have one action before Breaker will go again
and then the four of you will arrive.
- Whoa.
- Whoa. Okay, one action.
Okay, I don't wanna hurt this guy.
I just want him to stop from doing any more big moves.
I think I'm gonna try to level with him one more time
even though I'm so bad at it, so...
- If you wanna try to level with him
you can also attempt Warmth here, if you want.
- Okay. - [Brennan] Hell yeah.
- Yeah.
- Give me Warmth. Difficulty is still 15.
- Five. Okay, so.
- [Brennan] Go ahead and take another Boo-Boo.
How do you attempt to connect with him in this moment?
- I'm gonna go, hey!
(Brennan snarls)
(Kimia ululating)
- Oh.
- On a five, which is a failure by more than five,
Breaker hears you go- (ululates)
You see mandibles extend and you hear- (hissing)
- Oh, made it worse! Worked with Ash.
- As you say, "Worked with Ash,"
you see that Breaker goes, "Ash?"
- [Oscar] Oh. - Uh...
- [Brennan] And in the distance you hear-
- Dude!
- [Brennan] In the distance you hear-
- Dude! - You hear (ululating)
of Ash repeating your call back to you.
- No! I called her to the den of danger!
(Brennan and Jacob laughing)
Oh no! - [Vic] Oh no!
- Tess, are you okay?
- It is Breaker's turn, and you see he says,
(snarls) "The little one, she'll know."
His wings extend and he alights up into the air,
his massive, heavy body (grunts) surging upward
under these enormous, powerful wings like a helicopter,
scattering books and pages everywhere.
On that, Connor, it is your turn again
as these four wheel around the corner
to see pages scattering and this massive bug monster,
Breaker, rising into the air overhead.
Connor, what do you do?
- Let's follow him, right?
(engine revving) - We have to.
- I'm just gonna tear off after him,
and understanding that it seems like he's going after Ash,
I'm gonna try to ramp off and land on him.
- Hell yeah. We're gonna go for it on this action.
Being airborne, you're gonna roll Postapocalyptic Mayhem.
He is going to attempt to resist this roll,
and I think he's gonna just use his Resilience,
but much like Tess, he has that +5 bug durability.
I'm gonna go ahead and roll right here.
- Hey, I haven't been using any
of my +5 bug durability. - Six plus five is 11,
so on Postapocalyptic Mayhem, you just need to beat an 11.
- Gotta start. - [Kimia] Okay.
- [Oscar] You got this. - [Ally] All right.
- [Kimia] Here we go. - Come on, now.
(energetic rock music)
Does an 18 do it?
(Brennan and Zac laughing)
- Hey, does an 18 do it?
- Hell yes. (Zac mimics engine revving)
Right as he's about to achieve that escape velocity
over the top of the books,
you are able to, boom, take off of a fallen shelf, ramp,
and slam and grapple him with your dirt bike
to the top of this 50-foot bookshelf.
(engine roaring)
(Brennan grunts and screams)
For the four of you, it is your turn.
Go ahead and roll d20s
just so that we can decide turn order here.
(dice tap table)
- 14.
- 17. - [Brennan] 17.
- Eight. - [Brennan] Eight.
- Two. - [Brennan] Two.
Hugi, you're first to act.
- Okay, as Connor was wheeling past,
can I have gotten my wingsuit clipped onto the back
of his bike so I'm like- - [Ally] Sick. Like a kite?
- ...floating behind him?
- [Brennan] Yeah, absolutely. You wanna kite up after him?
Hell yes. Go ahead and give me Postapocalyptic Mayhem.
- That's so funny!
- Yeah, okay.
- The rope just going before it pulls.
- [Ally] Multiple people fly.
- 15.
- [Brennan] 15. - [Kimia] Yes!
- You take to the sky.
- Okay, great. So as I sort of like, kite,
I'm a kite and so I'm sort of like, I'm...
(Jacob laughing) I sorta like, I wanna like...
- Kiting.
- I'm a kite.
- That's enough. - So I wanna like,
dive-bomb in underneath to sort of get ahead
and then re-kite out, that way I'm back behind.
And then I wanna try and roll a Charm roll
to see if I can defuse the situation a little bit.
- Hell yes. You're gonna give me a Charm roll here.
Difficulty, as it has been so far, is gonna be 15.
And I will say, you have incredible Charm.
With your Bummerometer in the red,
you don't wanna fail this by five or more.
- Okay. - [Brennan] Cool?
- Great.
- But go ahead and roll. You're looking for a 15.
- 10.
(Oscar groans) - [Brennan] Okay.
- [Ally] Do you have Boo-Boos?
- Nope.
Does it seem like Ash is...
Would I reasonably think that Ash is in-
- [Brennan] Danger or? - In like-
- I'd like to help. - [Vic] Deathly danger.
- Yeah, that's awesome.
- [Brennan] You wanna help out here? Okay.
- Yeah, and I wanna use this hat, so-
- [Brennan] Okay.
- Once per session when I help out while wearing this hat,
add the full maximum value of my virtue die to the roll
(Ally gasps) rather than half.
So I have a d6 in Charm as Herbie.
- [Brennan] As Herbie. Hell yes.
- Yes, so it's plus six.
- [Brennan] Go ahead and spend a Boo-Boo.
- 16.
- [Brennan] That gets you to a 16.
- [Ally] Awesome, awesome. - [Kimia] Nice!
- [Brennan] How is Herbie helping from down below here?
- I've seen Hugi in kite mode.
(players laughing)
- Many a-time.
- Many, many, many a-time, and the tactic
of Hugi in kite mode is to get closer to the target
to be like, "Hey," you know?
So I know that a conversation's about to head down.
- [Brennan] Mm-hmm. - And so I look through.
I just, as I'm running, I'm like,
'cause I'm very familiar with History Heap, I sort of
flip through the books that have been taken down
and I throw a book at them,
and the book is "How to Talk to Bugs."
(Brennan and Kimia laughing)
- Bam! The book lands in your hand.
- I love that book.
- There's some good stuff in it. There's some good stuff.
- You that it opens up to a page
about bumblebees that communicate through dance.
- Oh, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. (Oscar laughing)
And so I just, so I am in full kite mode right now
so I just have my hands. (lively guitar music)
So I'm just gonna, yeah, do a little bit of this like...
(Vic snaps fingers) (Brennan and Ally laugh)
- [Ally] It's all in the wrist.
- I'm going to dance as well and Bungle this because-
- No!
- What? - She just got help!
- But I'm gonna use one of my-
- [Brennan] One of your treats? Yeah.
- ...larva to not make it so that it doesn't hurt anything
just so I get a token. - A Boo-Boo.
- Just so you get a token. Incredible.
- [Ally] That's how that works?
- Using our stuff! It's fun! - [Brennan] Using our stuff.
- Yes.
- So everyone's dancing. You're eating a little larva treat.
What does Hugi say as Connor pins this massive bug
to the top of the shelf. (mimics engine revving)
Tess is up there as well. You kite up.
The book gets thrown to you. What do you say in this moment?
- I will say, hey.
- And you are dancing. - Yeah.
Hey, hey, hey.
- [Brennan] Hey. - Hey.
(Brennan snarls and growls) (wings buzzing)
(Brennan buzzes with interest)
Hey, we started at a 10, and I just wanna say,
let's just, let's take it down a second.
And I just wanna say, we're here to help.
I know it seems like maybe we've come in a little bit hot.
We're here to help this situation. We're on the same...
Maybe I'm not gonna say same team.
- Don't say it! - Okay, so I just wanna say,
listen, we have a similar end goal in mind,
which is to make this situation a better situation.
How can I help you today? (snapping fingers)
- [Kimia] Oh!
- You see that Breaker stops fighting for a second and says,
(huffs) "Get off me! (bike motor rumbling)
Get this bike off me!"
- Hey, why don't we get the bike off first?
- Get the bike off him?
- Yeah, let's get the bike off for a sec.
- You sure? Okay.
(bike motor rumbles to a stop)
And just do that thing where you like,
kinda awkwardly walk backwards.
- [Brennan] Walk backwards. (Oscar and Ally laughing)
On that successful Charm roll, you buy enough time
that running around, KoKoMo and Quinn right behind you,
but with the time you bought on that Charm roll,
you see Rubby and Ash run up.
Ash, thinking that Tess was calling for her
and now is reunited and you are all safe and together.
- How big is Ash, by the way?
- Tiny, tiny, tiny. - [Kimia] Little.
- [Ally] I put her in my cage with my head.
- [Brennan] (laughs) Open a latch and you see-
- [Ally] No, no, she can fit...
Oh yeah, yeah, I'll open up the latch.
- [Brennan] Open the latch. So it's like she-
- [Ally] I take a key that I've had around my neck,
(Oscar gasps)
and I use it really quick
and I open up the thing. - Wait a second.
- Clocked it. - And I put Ash in there-
- Whoa. - ...and I put it back.
- Like, unthinkingly, you just (whooshes)
throw her in there because she's safe.
No one will be able to grab her without grabbing you too.
- And I'm sorry, just above table, do we know this?
- No. - [Brennan] No.
- So this is the first time- - Now you know.
- ...the crew has heard. - I just have the key myself.
- Above table, are you cannibalistic for bugs also?
Is this something we should-
- You guys are about to watch me have a tuna sandwich.
(players laughing and shouting)
- Throw some toast in there, a little Dijonnaise, and I eat-
- Some Kewpie Mayo?
- No, of course not. - No.
- I'm not cannibalistic for bugs.
- Does Quinn do this sort of without a second thought?
- Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's like reflexive
'cause I know that he was just flying
to try to get her. - What a beautiful key!
(Brennan and Vic laugh) - Yeah, it's really ornate.
- [Brennan] KoKoMo, give me five Awareness down there,
if you'd be so kind.
- [Ally] Get in here, and then I-
- Five! - [Brennan] Five!
- On the dot, baby!
- KoKoMo, Quinn is unaware, you are not, of the significance
of Quinn deciding that someone is safer close to her
than kept apart from her.
- KoKoMo!
- [Brennan] Ash jumps in there.
You see that Rubby jumps up on your shoulder, Quinn,
and you see draws a katana (metal slices)
and stands there at the ready for-
- Oh! (laughs) - Oh!
- Guard the gate! And the gate is my face.
- See?
- The gate? - We kinda get it now.
- See?
(cast laughing)
- [Kimia] Oh, it makes sense.
- Rubby sees Breaker standing up, looking at you, Hugi.
You see Rubby from down there goes,
"You put a hand on her, I'll put a thumb on you."
(Vic and Kimia laugh)
- This is huge.
- Dang. - Wow.
- A match made in fucking hell.
- I totally get it.
- It took five episodes, but we fucking get it now.
(Oscar laughs and claps) - We get it now.
- I just sorta look around at my friends like this.
- Well, I didn't know the thumb guy had a cool sword.
(Brennan laughing) How was one to know?
- How was one to know?
He never brings it up.
- It honestly changes everything.
- He's humble about it. That's even hotter, dude!
- A little bit of valor.
- We're all turned on now.
- I know he's not the most attractive
when he has the sword out,
but imagine him without the sword and you're-
- No! - Whoa!
- [Ally] Oh!
- I don't wanna do that. (Jacob laughing)
You can't make me do that!
- You can't make me do that.
- When you get to know him, the sword,
it doesn't detract anymore, you know what I'm saying?
- The only thing going for him. Okay.
- Breaker turns around and goes, (snorts)
and you see Ash goes, (gasps) "Tess, the guy from my dream!"
- I know, I got it now. I didn't.
Actually, just a minute ago I got it,
and I'm so sorry I called you.
- "No, it's okay. I'm glad you saved us, he..."
You see Breaker goes- (growls)
Ash calls up and says, "Hey, you don't have to be mad!"
And you see he goes, (huffs) "You wanna help me?"
- Yes.
- You have to find the man who did this. He came here.
(weighty dramatic music)
Uncle Pus. He's the one.
Found us and abandoned us. He's the one who did this!
I smelled him. He came here.
He was looking for something.
He was looking for something instead of... (grunts)
Well, he's gone now,
and I know there's a clue to find him here.
- Instead of what? Say it.
- Give me Warmth, difficulty of 15.
(die taps table)
- 15! (players cheering)
(mystical flute flutters) - KoKoMo, he looks up at you,
and I think, he's totally based in strength
looks at another physically imposing figure
and turns around to square up with you
regarding this confrontation as being potentially violent
or potentially like a showdown.
In this moment as you say that,
you see he looks stunned and confused.
What do you do as you see him in this vulnerable state?
- I just play my flute to give him some backing music
so he can speak his mind if he chooses to.
- [Brennan] You play this flute. You see he goes-
♪ Doo, doo, doo, doo, doo ♪ (peaceful soothing music)
- What do you mean, "Instead of what?" Instead of what?
- You were gonna say something but you stopped yourself.
Instead of what?
He was looking for something instead of what?
- Instead of me.
(Brennan bawling)
- Let it out. - You see he leaps down
and just embraces KoKoMo and just starts crying so hard.
- Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.
- He goes, (cries aggressively) "He abandoned us!
He woke us up in that place!"
- It's not fun to be alone.
- No. (snorts) I was gonna make him pay.
I was gonna make him pay. He shouldn't have done that.
Why would he wake us up?
Why would he smile at us if he was just gonna leave?
- Yeah. I remember asking him if we would always be together
and he said, "Yeah," but I guess that's not true now.
So I know how you feel.
- [Brennan] Give me an Awareness check.
The difficulty on this is gonna be an eight.
- Well, I got a seven.
- [Brennan] Okay.
- I'm gonna use this to give you half, which is 10.
- A 17. On that Awareness, you reach back.
And I think, Ash, her first memory
was walking through the swamp where her test tube was.
- Yeah.
- Connor, you just had this conversation with Hugi,
and you look at Tess leaning back,
but obviously Tess and Breaker and Ash were all
fabricated in a laboratory,
but I think that you look at a struggle with memory.
And I think that there's something to the idea of like-
You had that moment with Hugi where you said like,
"Do you remember being born?"
You wonder if there is a fog of forgetfulness
over a period of youth here.
Is there anything you say to Tess in this moment
as you offer that Help action to him?
- [Zac] You know, sometimes,
I don't really feel anything like a dirt bike.
And I hope that makes this make sense for you.
- I'm listening. Oh, that was it?
- That was the entirety of it.
- Got it.
- But I do feel more connected to being a condor.
- Yeah.
- It can be really frustrating
to not know how to put the pieces together,
so let me know if I can help.
- Hm.
I don't often think very deeply,
so maybe I can try to think harder.
- You look at Connor, and processing this
familial fighting or something like from a distant past.
The Gladlands doesn't remember its past
and that's why the History Heap is here.
And trying to remember these things that happen in childhood
that are so significant, but the memories are so old
from a time where you didn't even have context.
Looking around as Breaker sort of heaves into KoKoMo's chest
you look down and see this Uncle Pus section
with wind having scattered everywhere
from Breaker's wings, the fallen shelf.
You look down and you see there's a small,
stained manila envelope that has scattered.
And you see it was hidden in Uncle Pus's section
from behind where everything was shelved.
And you realize it was put here because it was non books.
These laser disks have sort of scattered.
- Oh.
- [Brennan] These little laser books have sort of scattered
on the ground in a section that looks like nobody
would have seen them or found them as you try to remember,
why did Uncle Pus say he would never go anywhere?
Why did he say that you would always be together?
And you look at these non books
on the ground in front of him on that Awareness check
and remember something.
You're in a room. There's green light that is underground.
There's some tasty little thing you're eating.
You're so small.
You look and see a spoon that is the size of a van,
and you realize this is a memory of being so small
that you're crawling around on a table.
And you see next to you- - Tiny.
- There's a tiny little,
calling out to you, you hear, "Tess, help!
I'm on my back!"
And you see Breaker on his back as a little beetle
who is struggling to get up.
- (high-pitched) Oh, I got you, I got you!
Hang on. One sec, one sec!
- [Brennan] You move over.
You have a memory of Uncle Pus
holding a couple other little test tubes and looking at one,
and you see writing something down.
You see, speaking on a shortwave radio and saying,
"Well, the only two that have opened
are the ones that are the most resilient.
They were able to hatch even in the adverse conditions
of the subterranean bunker.
I think this poor little one
is gonna need a more rich, biodiverse environment.
She won't be able to survive
unless she has plenty of vegetation and humidity around."
And is looking at Ash as a tiny, tiny little egg-
- Oh.
- ...in this test tube, and you think of her test tube
floating in the water outside of Rotglob.
- Oh.
- The veil of memory passes away,
and you end up looking down at these non books.
Looking at them, you see that there are scratches on them,
and you realize these are not non books
from the before times.
These were recorded by Uncle Pus.
Up on top of the shelf, Connor and Tess and Hugi,
all of you guys have that ramp to scoot your way down
as you bumblebee dance.
KoKoMo, you see Breaker
is just sobbing in your chest, looks around.
Down here, I think Herbie, you're looking
at these sort of scattered disks
that I think Tess is seeing as well.
Quinn- - Hey, I have something...
I can play these.
- What? - You can play those?
- [Ally] Yeah, wait.
I think we put the whole setup in your saddlebags-
- [Brennan] Mm-hmm. - ...when we left the...
- Turns out there's a CD drive in my...
- In your motorcycle?
- Oh my god!
- I've been wondering what that was. (laughs)
- Oh, no. Yeah, that's one of the readers.
And I kinda-
- Can KoKoMo put this big beetle man down apologetically
and scurry off to his house real quick
to retrieve something?
- Yes, absolutely.
- Can I go faster because I fart?
(players giggling)
- [Oscar] What? - Whose house? Your house?
- My stuff. I'm trying to get to my stuff quickly.
- I'm gonna say, give me a Resilience of...
We'll give it a Resilience of three,
and if that allows you to fart,
you can do it instantaneously.
- I'd like to Bungle that. (Brennan laughing)
- What the hell?
- I'm gonna throw a cricket into your mouth.
- Okay. So the Bungle, okay.
(die taps table) Oh!
It's a nine.
- So you're gonna take four Boo-Boos and
it doesn't detract at all. - [Ally] It didn't fail.
- [Brennan] But you still get the Boo-Boos.
- Yeah, I still get them. - Oh!
- [Vic] Yeah, we need that. - And you get two as well.
So you get two Boo-Boos from that.
- [Ally] Awesome. - Cool.
- [Brennan] You guys have really taken
our lovely little indie game system
and just absolutely torn it to shreds.
(Jacob cackling) God bless.
Cool, you blast off.
- I'll be right back! (blows raspberry)
(Brennan and Vic laughing)
- [Ally] Sick. - Oh, nasty!
- I try to stop you, but instead,
I'm giving you a high five. - [Brennan] Yes.
(Jacob blows raspberry) (Oscar laughing)
- [Brennan] What do you grab from your stuff?
- I assume I have a Beach Boys CD.
- Yes. - [Jacob] In amongst my-
- Amongst your stuff. Yeah, absolutely.
- Yes, and I grab that.
- [Brennan] You grab it, rush off.
(Jacob shouting)
You come back.
- Cute! - So cute.
(Jacob shouting)
- You rush all the way back.
As you do so, you have this machine in front of you,
and you can see, Ash, still in your cage, is there.
And you look over and see that Ash is seated on the floor
of the cage in a corner and is kind of
leaning her head against your head with
arms wrapped around your head- - Oh my god.
- [Brennan] Sort of like, sitting up there.
It's very comfy.
- I say, we're probably out of the weeds.
Like, he seems like he's calmed down now.
He got a nice hug, so you can get out if you want,
but are you comfortable?
- I like small, enclosed spaces.
(Brennan chittering) - Yeah, me too. Okay, great.
So I kinda set up the thing so we can start listening
to the tapes from Dr. Pus.
- [Brennan] Hell yes.
- Uncle Pus.
- [Brennan] Uncle Pus. You see-
- Professor Pus?
- [Brennan] Professor Pus.
- Uncle Professor Dr. Pus.
- Yeah. - Professor Pus.
- I think we all know deep down
that an uncle and a professor and a doctor are the same.
- Kinda the same guy.
- Kind of the same thing. - Deep down.
- [Brennan] Deep down. - Same vertical stack.
- When you really boil it down.
- What's an uncle if not a professor?
- Yeah, but a doctor in the sense that they're a dentist
but they went to medical school.
(Vic and Brennan laughing)
- You see-
- Uncle Professor Dr. Dentist Pus.
- You hear a little voice recording saying,
"This is the voice of Uncle Pus
recording on an extremely experimental technology.
I know that this device is capable
of creating one of these recordings,
but I've not yet cracked which of the devices
available here at the History Heap can actually play them.
I keep putting it in a little flat one
that feels like it fits
and it keeps opening up with a sort of menu
where a little logo bounces around a screen,
and boy, I wait for it to get in the corner
'cause it reverses direction, bounces back."
(cast laughing)
(Zac snapping fingers)
Snap, snap, snap, snap, snap.
- So true.
- Just sitting there, "Wait for it..." (laughs)
You see that he goes, "This is a missive that I am leaving
for my wonderful bambinos
back in the bunker,
to number five and number three."
- They tell.
(Ally laughs)
- "Number one has been planted deep
in the warm vegetation of Rotglob, and as soon as I am back,
she should be healthy enough for you all to be reunited.
I have discovered that your siblings,
number two and number four..."
And I think here, Tess, you go, "Tubes."
- Tubes. Oh, grabs a piece of paper, writes his name down.
Oh!
Tubes.
Tubes. Guys, how do you make a S?
- Like this.
And I write one next to it.
- How do you make a five? (Brennan laughs)
- [Ally] Like this. Flat on top.
- I'm five.
- You see Breaker turns from KoKoMo and goes, "I'm three."
And you remember seeing the bottle that Ash never saw,
the one in the bottom, Test Tube 1.
- Ash!
- Huh?
- I think you're one.
- What? But I'm so little!
- Yeah, but I mean, size doesn't matter,
and that's something big brothers can teach you.
You can be number one and still be little.
- And I'm 20-something.
- What?
- Years old.
- [Oscar] They're not talking about age, Connor.
- Connor it's- Yeah.
- They're not talking about age, Connor.
- Wait, did he say two and four are...
- You see he says, "I've discovered a likely location
here at the History Heap of a technology
that may be capable of aiding the hatching process.
Your siblings, two and four, are in arrested mitosis,
meaning that their growth process is...
Part of the cryogenics of how you were kept for so long,
they just haven't unfrozen, and there needs to be a...
There's a technology that I believe exists
in the Red Dust Plains that I may be able to recover."
- Come on, now. - Hm.
- That I may be able to recover, if it is possible,
that would allow your siblings to actually hatch
and begin growing, and I am out to seek it.
As soon as I am done, I will return to collect you.
Don't worry, I told you that I'd always be by your side,
and that's a promise I intend to keep.
Recording date, 14th day of Hot Time Sequence
five years after the last time
we wrote down what year it was.
- Oh man, why do we do that? - Brutal.
- We gotta be writing down the year.
- It's like, you don't even really need
to put something there in that way.
- [Kimia] It's hard. - Well, the paper gets lost
and then we just start again so it's really hard to know.
- Off in a corner of the History Heap, you see
there's a group of History Heap researchers being like,
"I think the calendar should be a circle and not pages!"
And someone says, "Guys, they are counting on us.
We gotta wrap this up pretty soon."
- They'll get there.
This is reminding me, guys, there's another reason
we really need to get to the Red Dust Wastes.
- [Zac] Oh, yeah.
- Connor...
- I don't have a way...
There's a rain system floating in towards it.
- There's gonna be flash floods all over that book cache.
- Wait, what?
- The downscrapers, they're about to be flooded
if we don't get over there.
It's gonna happen no matter what.
- [Ally] Where the person said all the books are.
- Connor, can you calculate when the rains will...
- Yes.
My eyes roll back in my head,
whites like "Dune." (electronic buzzing)
- [Ally] He's beautiful! He's beautiful!
- I don't know. A day?
- No, you're exactly right.
It's already raining,
but there's a small ridge of the mountains.
The storm will cross that ridge,
and basically the second it crosses that ridge,
it's gonna start hitting the other side of the mountains
and (mimics rain pouring) floods.
- Which means not only is the book gonna be demolished
but the technology as well.
- And Uncle Pus maybe.
- Yeah, it sounds like he was still there
if we haven't seen him.
- Hopefully, he's still out there.
See, Breaker, I told you we were on the same team.
- Wait. - Wha?
- Does that team... (tender sentimental music)
Would you say that team-
- Is a
family? - Family?
(Brennan bawling)
- Oh!
- I'm in the hug too just so that Ash can be part of it.
- Just the cage.
- [Brennan] Ash can get in there.
- I just slowly start pulling everybody into one big hug.
- [Brennan] One giant hug. - [Jacob] Yeah.
(cast shouting)
- Does this affect us at all?
- [Brennan] Does the giant hug effect everybody?
- [Oscar] Does this- - Well...
- Can't help but notice- - Nice vibe.
- ...we're really playing to our strengths.
- [Zac] Can you get in the hug?
- [Ally] And we're in a massive group hug.
- Get in here, DM.
Get in the hug. - Yeah.
- I'm gonna say, everybody,
give me a difficulty five Warmth check.
- Okay.
- I just half it. I make it.
- [Brennan] And in halving it- - Same.
- [Oscar] Yeah, so do I. - Six.
- [Brennan] Cool, what did we get here?
- Six. - [Brennan] Six.
- Two. - [Brennan] Two.
I'm gonna say you halve yours, which means that you can,
I think, extend a tick in someone else.
So someone that fails their roll,
you just squeeze them extra tight
and you can give them a success here.
We get a six over here. - [Kimia] Mm-hmm.
- I halved it for a six as well.
- [Brennan] Halved it for a six.
- I got a three and I do think that this is a moment
where I've said my piece and I don't feel
like people were listening to what I had to say earlier.
- Yeah. I dig it.
For Quinn, if you wanna extend that to Quinn
and pull them into the hug, you can do so, KoKoMo.
- Yeah, I would love to.
- All of you can tick down one on your Bummerometer.
- I'm gonna use music box so you can re-roll.
- Oh. - Unless that's...
- [Kimia] Unless you don't want to.
- Yeah, unless you wanna-
- I can, but I got a three on that first one.
- [Brennan] Mm-hmm.
- Oh, you have a four Warmth.
- Mm-hmm. - Never mind.
Even KoKoMo knows.
- In this moment, big, big hug.
- Yes, we're a family and we're all
on the same page! - We won, we won!
(Brennan laughing) - I love this!
- Yeah, yeah.
- [Brennan] In that moment, Hugi,
with the big expression- - Yeah, yeah.
- ...of the Red Dust Plains, are you
sort of going through the motions?
You're participating in the hug?
- Yeah, 'cause I think at this point,
it is one of those things where
I think it took a lot to express discord the first time
and so I got to speak this big, unfortunate need
and now I feel like I've spoken it
and it's sort of like we've decided as a group
that we're gonna go forward with it anyway
and so it feels too insurmountable.
I'm too tired at this point, I think, to...
- Hugi's request from the previous episode
was that the Carer Van not dedicate itself
to this History Heap.
- That we can't, yeah. - [Brennan] We can't.
- Mm-hmm.
- Go ahead, give me a Charm roll, if you'd be so kind.
- 14.
- [Brennan] 14.
On that 10, I would like you
to just subtract a d6 from that roll.
- [Vic] Great. - [Brennan] A d6 roll.
- And so that's, and roll the d6.
- [Brennan] Roll the d6. - Of course.
- I do calculus, not regular math.
- 'Cause you're math, you're math.
- Four. - Four moves that 14 to a 10.
- 10.
- [Brennan] Connor, because you connected before,
I'd like you to make a DC 10 Awareness check for me
if you'd be so- - Which I'm just gonna halve.
- Halve and succeed.
I'm gonna say, Connor, on that 10,
I think you just see that, like,
the ghost has fully gone out of Hugi.
She's just not present in this moment.
As the hug decommences, Herbie, time is now of the essence,
but you're not talking to the History Heap
until tomorrow morning. - Mm-hmm.
- You have these CDs. Breaker is no longer an active threat.
KoKoMo, you've returned with this Beach Boys CD as well.
- Mm-hmm.
- [Brennan] After listening to this message.
- Yeah.
- And I think, KoKoMo, you also see that,
again, Ash is hanging out in Quinn's helmet here.
But you hear off in the distance.
(as Aunt Freaky) "Hugi! Hugi!"
(somber desolate music)
- Yes, ma'am.
- You just hear Aunt Freaky's voice off in the stacks
being like, "Please come by and visit.
You are family, after all, the only I have left."
- Yes, ma'am, I will be there. I'll be there in a minute.
- Mm-hmm, but you don't leave right away.
You stay here for the moment.
- Yes. - Okay, cool. Copy that.
Hell yeah, what do you guys do?
- Do I recognize the faltering? Can I roll to see?
- [Brennan] Yeah, yeah, yeah. Give me a roll.
- Six, blow it up. (engine revving)
One, seven.
- Seven, hell yeah.
I think that is a success to see the faltering here, yeah.
- Okay.
- [Brennan] Mm-hmm.
- I think KoKoMo's gonna try and play the CD for everybody.
- [Brennan] Cool.
- In maybe hopes that it could maybe turn the vibe around.
I haven't listened to this for a very long time,
but this gave me hope when I was just a dust wanderer
before Poppy found me.
I spent a lot of time trying to find more of these things,
and sometimes I did and sometimes they didn't work
and sometimes there was just pictures.
But anytime I was out there wandering the dust
and everybody said, "You should go crush bones,
you should go crush bones,"
I knew that there was something a little more special,
and I knew that maybe I could find the beach.
I just want you to know what the beach really means to me
and how good it can feel.
- [Brennan] The CD begins to play.
Go ahead and just make a Warmth roll for me.
We'll call it difficulty of 10.
- 10. - [Brennan] Hell yeah.
- Wow, you're rolling it today.
- [Brennan] Rolling it. - I'm right on the dot.
- The Good Vibrations begin.
(groovy surf pop music) As Good Vibrations begin,
nearby, you hear some shouting (Jacob vocalizing)
that's been going on a little distance away
at the Screamatorium- - Hm.
- ...begins to stop and you see that these robed figures
just begin to approach, sort of leaning in and going,
"What's, what's happening here?"
And you see that Void is amongst their number,
kind of looking off, has been at the Screamatorium.
You see Void looks up and says, "Hugi?"
- We fixed it.
- Everyone gathers around, looking at these little disks,
but you see that Professor Dogmouth says,
"What do you mean you've...
You were tampering with the non books? I...
(lively upbeat pop music) My god."
Just hears the Good Vibrations.
On that 10 Warmth check, looks over at Void and goes,
"Void Warranty,
it appears your assertions were correct."
You see that over in a corner,
one of the robed History Heapers goes (clapping)
and starts clapping, and you see a bunch of them
lift Void up on their shoulders.
And on that Warmth check with Good Vibrations playing,
the Good Goo...
- [Oscar] Oh, thank god. (Jacob vocalizing)
- [Brennan] So two. The Good Goo goes up by two.
But I think in that moment of celebrations,
they start cheering and clapping
and looking around at each other.
You also see that a lot of the History Council
has sort of appeared from the Screamatorium in this place.
You see that they say like, one of the History Heapers says,
"Well, a new technology has been discovered
by these helpers of the Carer Van.
To the Carer Van is a great debt owed by the History Heap.
Thank you for your service in this regard.
Void Warranty, though you tampered with non books
against express orders and were responsible
for the destruction of some historical artifacts,
in this instance, perhaps, can some leniency be gathered,
though we ask, in the future,
to please check in with us
if you're gonna fly off the handle and go rogue.
You're a loose cannon, Warranty!
What could that be, a loose cannon?
More research required. (players chuckling)
The important thing is this,
we will have to conclude our Screamathon tomorrow due to,
we have to dive into all these non books tonight.
We will conclude the Screamathon tomorrow
over whether or not to establish a forbidden section
and whether knowledge can be evil or not."
And you see that someone holds up a copy
of Ayn Rand's "Atlas Shrugged" and goes,
"I think it should be destroyed!
It will poison the world again if we let it!"
And you see that someone else says,
"Knowledge can be neither good nor evil.
If we do not read the book, how do we stop ourselves
from accidentally writing it in the future?"
- I try to snap, and I was like,
oop! Wait, I'm not in drag. (cast laughing)
- Was there a fly? Are you okay?
- Yeah, I was swatting a fly. - Oh, cool.
- You see Breaker goes, "Brother!"
- Brother!
- Oops. - [Brennan] Yes, Connor.
- Oh, I was just gonna see if I could, real quickly,
try to get Hugi's attention.
Hugi, um, I know that there's
a lotta complicated feelings about all this stuff
and uh, I know that's maybe not what you were wanting to do.
(soft tender music) - Hm.
- Um, but I'm just trying to figure it out,
and I feel like Poppy,
some part of Poppy needs to go there for Poppy
and some part of Tess needs to go there for Tess.
So I want you to feel supported,
and I'll help you do whatever you need to do,
but I'm wondering if there's a way we could also go there.
- And then I think Hugi just thinks about it for a second
and just goes like...
Just can't really form the words
and is searching for them and then just goes,
can I show you something?
- Mm-hmm.
- Maybe, can I show you guys something?
- Yeah.
- Should we go somewhere where we can do that?
- Yeah. Do you mind if I just...
And then I just sort of wanna lead them back
to that little alcove in the library.
- You guys head back to the library.
Void is being celebrated.
You see that as you guys head back to the library,
you see that there's a quick-
The History Council gathers here.
Professor Dogmouth is there, says,
"We should go and gather with Aunt Freaky.
This non book thing,
it's an absolutely critical breakthrough."
You see here looks- Professor Dogmouth who has a bunch of,
you know, pronounced canines, big jaw, just looks over
and goes, "Thank you to you for repairing that device."
- Mm.
- We appreciate that your bunker-dweller tech proficiency
has come in handy.
I know that you are part of the detail of the Carer Van,
but perhaps a time at the History Heap would be of benefit.
- That's- Oh, cool.
Yeah, I did live in a bunker for a long time.
- [Brennan] Mm-hmm.
- But I'll think about coming to the History Heap, maybe.
- [Brennan] Mm.
Mm-hmm? - Can I roll for Awareness?
- [Brennan] Yeah, roll for Awareness.
- I just wanna listen in to this conversation
and realize that Quinn did not bring up the fact
that she ate her husband.
(Brennan laughing) No such thing.
- I think you notice that, no roll necessary.
- Mm-hmm.
- But I think he goes, "Very well." And you see that-
- And I'm sorry, it's dunker.
(Ally and Oscar laughing)
It's pronounced dunker.
- Dunkirk?
- God, here's the thing about that.
If you're sure about that, we will double-check. We are-
- I have to know.
- We are 99% that this makes a "buh" sound
and this makes a "duh" sound, but they're close!
- You're gonna have to check the math on that.
- I'll tell you when, from living down there,
we just called it the Good Dark.
- "The Good Dark. Amen."
You see that Professor Dogmouth-
- As we turn and we walk, I think we lock eyes,
and I link arms with you and I go,
I ate my husband, I ate my husband,
I ate my husband, I ate my husband, I ate him-
- Let it all out. - I ate him, zero seasoning.
Not even salt, Herbie.
- [Brennan] (laughs) You see-
- I just have to get it out.
- As you move away from this place,
you see that the History Council gets together and says,
"Well, we should go to Aunt Freaky's.
This non books thing is an incredible breakthrough,
but it's absolutely gonna fuck our schedule."
And you see that he walks off. (Ally laughing)
And you guys arrive at the non book section
and see a small shelf.
And Hugi, you can describe for everybody
what's on that shelf.
- Yeah, so it looks like garbage, and I recognize that.
It just looks like a bunch of little pieces of garbage.
No, and I know that it does. - Stop.
- [Oscar] Beautiful.
- And I know and I recognize that.
I just wanna say it's like-
- It's funky!
- Well, so here's the thing.
I don't know if you guys have noticed.
This place makes people from here a little bit crazy.
- I know.
- I don't know if that's been a thing
that you've noticed at all.
- I definitely noticed that. - Immediately.
- I mean, I just met my new brother,
and he was terrible at the start.
Knocked me into a wall. - Yeah, yeah.
- Seems like a high-stress situation
like when you find out a lot of
EMT drivers struggle with substance abuse.
- Huh?
- And EMT stands...?
- Electric-magnetic teedled.
- Right.
- Struggle with substance... (laughs)
- [Vic] Okay. (Oscar laughing)
- That's awesome.
- [Vic] Yeah. (Oscar cackling)
- And that's not KoKoMo. That's just Jake.
- Just kinda high stress. - No, Jake's here!
You brought Jake out! - Get him outta here!
- [Jacob] Jacob thinks that's awesome.
- You got Jake out.
- You have no lines.
- Oh, cool, cool, cool.
- I'm positive that can all be cut. I'm positive.
- No, leave it in. It's an important message.
- I hope you leave it in, but I'm positive it could be-
- Not if I call it back in three minutes.
(Ally and Oscar laughing)
- So, um...
- [Ally] Yeah. (gentle wistful music)
- My cousin and I, when we were little,
we would, like, run around.
And I kept being like,
"This is garbage, this is trash,"
and he's like, "No, it's really beautiful."
And he was always really good at finding stuff like that.
And so we would hide it 'cause obviously it's trash
and trash is not useful, and so it would be burned.
And so we would hide it here,
and we found these little...
If you look at the backside of a wrapper,
it's kinda shiny, actually.
And this one in particular, you can
see sort of a warped reflection of yourself
so it's kinda like a mirror, but kind of like,
it's fun when you look at it so we kept that one.
- This is cool stuff.
- Thanks.
- I wandered the desert looking for cool stuff
for a long time. - Yeah.
- Yeah, this stuff's not trash.
Like this, this tiny little cap-looking thing
could be a hat for Ash.
- Yeah. - Not trash.
- Yeah. - Treasure!
- It's pretty cool to me.
- Okay, well... - What does it say?
Mount-ain Dew.
- Wonder what that is?
- Mount-ain Dew.
- But um, you guys,
we really can't leave, you know?
It's like, about 12 years ago,
me and my cousin Muni were gonna be doctors.
We went through all of our training, like 27,
and it was really exciting.
Muni was really good at the doctor stuff,
and right away they were like,
"You're gonna be charge of all the bedside manner things."
You know, like, "You're gonna be in charge
of diagnosis and helping people."
And he was incredible at it. Was, like, amazing.
I didn't know what I wanted to do exactly
so I was just sorta bopping around.
And one day, we were driving back home,
just across the Waste.
And we were talking and I don't remember
exactly what we were talking about,
but he was laughing really hard, and
then he just stopped laughing.
And I turned over,
and he was just gone.
(soft sorrowful music)
Yeah, they think maybe it was an aneurysm
or something like that.
We don't really know. He just was here and then he was gone.
And you know,
when you love somebody
and then that love doesn't have anywhere to go,
and they say that that's grief,
and I think that when the grief doesn't have anywhere to go,
it just turns rotten sometimes,
and I'm kinda scared it's what's happening with me.
- Is that why you sort of hesitate to take off your mask?
Listen, I know what it's like to be in drag,
but to me, drag is an escape.
It's who I am externalized.
But you use your drag to hide.
- And then I just wanna sorta like,
(latch clicks) unclip the back of my mask
and just sorta slowly take it off and sorta cradle the mask.
- Whoa.
- Wow.
- [Brennan] I think that you would all probably see a level
of indentation where the mask touches the skin,
and feel free to correct me if I'm wrong,
but there's probably no way to look at the ridges
of pressed skin that does not conclude
that there is a degree of pain
and tightness in keeping that on.
- Yeah, for sure.
As you know, when people die in the History Heap,
it's like, a little bit different here.
In most places, it's something
that you get people around and you celebrate.
And when you leave here, you just kind of disappear,
and I couldn't let that happen.
So, I don't know, I built something as special as he was
to remember him for myself, and everybody really liked it
and they started asking me to do it for other people.
And so I started traveling around
and then people were requesting it,
and I started making it unique to as unique
as the people were in which I was providing the service for.
And if I can't do that for people,
then they just don't get that.
Nobody else wants to do this job. I have asked.
I have tried to get people to help,
and it's not the kind of thing you can make people do.
It's not like being a nurse
where you can train people for it.
You have to want to do this,
otherwise people just
slip away and that's it.
And I want- I so badly want you guys
to have the things that you wanna have.
I want that.
I want that for you, but I'm so scared if I'm not here,
then what happens, you know?
- That's how you started.
You first did the procession for Muni?
- Yeah.
- [Ally] Whoa.
- And then I didn't go back to the hospital and...
Yeah, so my medical training gets used to...
If people need coroner services, I go do that.
- [Ally] Yeah. - Okay, I understand.
I'm also dealing with something similar.
I fear like I'm being selfish going over there
to find what I think would help people to find some fiction.
This Spear Shaker, I've heard stories, fictional stories
that I think are powerful enough to change people's minds,
but it's not what the Gladlands needs,
according to the History Heap,
but I feel like it can invoke so much change.
And going there,
I'm scared that I'm making the wrong decision,
sacrificing the good of people's needs and wants for my own.
But when have you ever sacrificed other people's needs
(gentle warm music) for your self-interest?
- What do you mean?
- Like, you just do whatever you wanna do,
no matter what people need from you.
- I don't understand.
- I mean- - You know, like-
- Like your own Bub's Day for you and nobody else.
- Like a Bub's Day that was like a Hugi Day?
- Hugi Day. - Hugi Day.
- Where Hugi just does whatever you want.
- Or even a Hugi hour.
- We could start with a Hugi minute.
- [Oscar] Where you take off the mask and you just-
- Like what? Like-
- Do things for you.
- One time my dad went down a hill on his own.
No one was there to tell him...
I was there like, "Please stop."
And he was like, "I got..."
I think he meant this. He was like, "I gotta do me."
- Right.
- I'm really sorry that happened to you.
- [Vic] Down the hill.
- Thank you.
- Were you able to get your father back?
- He's still at the bottom of that hill,
I'm pretty sure. - What?
- But he's happy. - You saw it happen.
Why didn't you go get him? - [Ally] What?
- 'Cause I had to let him do him and me do me.
- [Vic] That was the last time you saw your-
- And my condor mom do condor mom.
- [Kimia] Yeah... - Hugi, I don't know.
- Thank you for sharing. - I think maybe one
of the issues that you're feeling,
I'm just curious if this resonates with you,
but I feel like some of this kind of
more personal relationship-based work
that's coming from a thing very deep inside
is sometimes passed down through families.
- Mm-hmm.
- I could so see that feeling extra hard
'cause maybe this was, like,
one of the last people in your family
that could have this connection.
So maybe we can just kinda be on the lookout
for if someone has that spark
and maybe you would want to teach them,
but in the meantime, I would be really down to kinda like-
I don't feel like I really have a role.
I would love to apprentice a little.
I don't think I'll ever be as gifted as you,
but maybe we could start writing it down
and have some kind of
a tradition or something like that.
- Well, and this isn't a jab,
but you're kind of good around dead bodies already.
- [Kimia] KoKoMo! - It's not a jab.
- No, it's true, and I do appreciate that.
- Sometimes you have to say hard things to be a good friend.
- That's true.
- I just wanna say something to the group.
It's not really that I'm a cannibal.
It's just that I really break down under stress
just a little bit earlier than anybody else would.
- You see Ash goes, "What? You're a what?"
(Jacob and Oscar laughing)
- Look, I did eat my husband,
but the issue wasn't me eating him.
Anyone would have done that given the amount of time.
I just did it a little bit too early.
- I'm just gonna go,
hey, hey, I really appreciate that, and you know,
I don't even think we need to fix this right now.
I just really-
- Yeah, you're right.
- But sometimes just the hope helps.
- [Vic] I really appreciate-
- Just knowing that some relief might be somewhere helps.
- Yeah.
- Like I have two other siblings. Who knows?
They might be freaking fire-breathing buggos.
They could help. There might be help.
- Why would the fire breathing help in this situation?
(players chattering over each other)
- To cremate the body. I mean, it makes sense.
- [Vic] Oh, oh, to cremate the bodies.
- They might already have half the knowledge!
- Good at that. - Right, okay.
- And Hugi, I don't think I could be like you.
I couldn't do it like you do it,
but maybe we could all kinda help a little.
- [Ally] Yeah.
- It's like the story in the Dome of Dreams.
We were all inchworms working together to build a hut.
We can do that here too.
Sometimes we tell stories that we don't even listen to.
- Hm.
- [Oscar] And I'm guilty of doing that.
- Heck, we could make a story that's totally our own
and we don't even know what's gonna happen
and we don't even know how it's gonna end.
We could make it our own.
- Slackline.
- [Jacob] We could surprise us.
- I wanna slackline.
- Did you say slackline? (Kimia gasps)
- You wanna slackline?
- [Ally] What?
- [Zac] You wanna slackline?
- Kinda like barefoot
in between trees? - Between two trees?
- In a quad?
- [Ally] In a quad?
- You guys see, entering into this non book area,
you see Void walks in.
- Void!
- [Brennan] Void says-
- You're being celebrated! - Congratulations!
- Thank you so much. - Congratulations.
- KoKoMo! - [Brennan] Thank you.
Hey, that thing, the music, that's...
I thought it would be words,
it would make writing, but it can make sounds.
It can have voices!
(pants) I came because the History Heap wants,
your aunt wants you to come right away.
The History Council's
actually all gathered at Aunt Freaky's.
- Okay, yes. Yes, of course.
- Just want to mirror back at you really quick.
What you do is so incredibly special,
and I do understand that that's a burden on you,
and that's really not fair.
- Thank you. - I'm gonna squeeze my elbow
and get some KoKoMo lard.
- [Brennan] Yeah.
- And gently put it on
(Ally gasps)
the spaces in which-
- [Brennan] Where the mask is cut in?
- [Jacob] Like a sort of...
- [Brennan] Incredible.
Go ahead and give me a Warmth check, difficulty of five.
- [Ally] Come on. (die clacks)
- 12! - I'm gonna Bungle it.
- [Brennan] (laughs) More Bungling?
All right, go ahead and subtract your Warmth from it.
Are you throwing another larva in there?
- [Ally] Yeah, yeah. - Yeah.
- [Brennan] All right. Great, great, great.
- How many are left?
- You've used one already, right?
- I've used one.
- [Zac] So I have five left.
- [Vic] Yeah. - So that's 12.
You take two, you take two...
Oh, you take four and you take two.
(sad guitar string twangs) And, KoKoMo, as you apply that
go ahead and roll...
Oh, did you beat it by five or more? You did, right?
- Yeah. Yeah, yeah. - [Brennan] Yeah.
Go ahead and roll 2d4 for me.
- 2d4. May I borrow?
- [Kimia] Mm-hmm.
(dice tap table)
- Three and one.
- You may reduce your Bummerometer by four.
- [Ally] It's at the yellow!
- One, two, three, four!
- Oh my gosh. - Yes.
- And I will ask this, and there's no wrong answer.
I will either allow you to take a number of Boo-Boos
equal to that four, so you take four Boo-Boos,
or if you feel that it makes sense to,
one of your burned-out dice can come back online.
But it's whichever you think is more realistic.
Either you have
more resolve and determination going forward,
but you're still burnt out,
or you're slightly healed by that ointment.
- I think I'd like to take the Boo-Boos for now.
- [Brennan] Good. Go for it. - [Jacob] Makes sense.
- Yeah.
- You take those Boo-Boos. (sad guitar string twangs)
You guys head off.
Walking back into Aunt Freaky's den,
you see that her, Professor Dogmouth,
several other professors of the History Heap are all here.
It becomes quite a compact space.
You're also here with the other Carer Van people.
I think Ash and Breaker are off to one side.
Rubby is standing near the door.
You don't see Parcel anywhere.
- I was gonna ask.
- But you see Aunt Freaky there.
As you walk in, she whips something out
from the crook of her arm, this little place,
and you see quickly deposits Muni's skull
on the table near her,
something that you've not seen in a long time.
She looks and says, "Ah! Hugi, welcome.
The discovery of these,
I suppose as we will now have to call them, laser books
is of great interest to us.
The Carer Van has come at a fascinating time.
We appreciate the bringing of food and water,
and the matter has come up for
the decoupling of the Truthbrary
from the crematorium kiln, from the ash maker's kiln.
But of course, you have just aided us in a tremendous way.
We owe you a debt of service.
Hugi, I wished to speak to you in particular."
- Yes.
- [Brennan] Because this matter before us...
Essentially, Hugi, I think there may be some need
for a reexamining of priorities here.
It's come to my attention that Void has been reinstated.
(sighs) While the discovery was made,
the discovery was not made by Void,
and Void did still disobey a direct intercession
from the History Council, and it is my opinion
that if anyone were to be placed in charge
of the laser book section, it would be Quinn Wedbush,
whose breakthrough allowed this to occur.
And I believe that Void,
as punishment for destroying historical artifacts,
should be taken into your care and...
Well, we need more ash makers, and I think that Void should,
as punishment, be made to do it.
- Hm.
No.
- [Brennan] I'm sorry?
- No.
- No to what, exactly, Hugi?
(tense pensive music)
- All of it.
- I'm going to need a Determination roll.
- I press the mini chainsaw into their hand.
- [Brennan] I'm gonna need a Determination roll.
- If I burn out, can I get an auto-success on this?
- Burn out your second to last die?
- Mm-hmm.
- [Brennan] Yeah, go for it.
- Okay.
- As you are filled with determination in this moment,
your second to last ability is what?
- Awareness.
- Awareness. So all of your vision is like tunnel vision.
All of it scans down.
You see Aunt Freaky goes, "Hugi, need I remind you,
your role as ash maker was provisional
given that the lead ash maker died suddenly and abruptly
while solely in your company.
You are, as you have always been,
the runner-up to that position."
- Oh. - [Brennan] We must...
we must ensure the future stability of the Gladlands.
If funereal proceedings are not widespread,
then everyone hinges on a unique failure point.
Your inability to convince anyone else
to study ash making with you has left us at this crossroads,
and now, at least, a punitive measure may be taken
to ensure that at least someone is studying this craft.
- This is no runner-up!
- It's okay.
- That's not a runner-up!
You don't even know! You haven't seen!
You haven't seen what my little sibling has done.
Yeah, that's right!
We've been all over this town doing a lot for people,
and the only person
who knows how to do those things is Hugi.
And they never asked
if anyone else wants to learn, actually.
So they also haven't failed
in finding other people to do this job.
There are people out there. We just gotta ask for help.
- I didn't know you still kept his skull.
- [Brennan] You see here, everyone from the History Council
looks over at this skull.
Bones are a common decoration item in the Gladlands,
but you see everyone looks over, and you see she goes,
"You recog...
You recognize this?"
- Yeah, I didn't think you were at the service.
- I wasn't.
- I kept his skull and I put it
on top of the place where I spread the rest of his ashes.
I didn't realize that anybody took it.
- It is not for reasons of rank sentimentality
that I keep this.
Obviously, as an ash maker, you are well aware
that death is beautiful and a part of life.
The actions that were taken at the funeral
were taken for everybody to process their feelings.
The facts of Muni's death were such that it was a tragedy,
and in so acknowledging it and rendering funereal services,
those feelings were processed.
- You aren't gonna be able to know away these feelings.
- As you say that,
I would like you to make a Charm roll for me,
and I'd like you to make it with advantage.
Difficulty, as I've said before,
we're gonna make this difficulty 15.
And you could add any specializations you have here.
- Okay.
Okay.
(sighs) Two fives. Plus a two is a seven.
- [Brennan] Music box.
(bright gentle music) - Plus we got a music box.
- And you've got the chainsaw. - And I have the chainsaw.
- Ooh, does the chainsaw and music box step on each other?
Do they synchronize?
- [Brennan] Yeah.
- I have the chainsaw and I just go and I... (laughs)
- [Jacob] Justify, justify.
- I go, you can't...
And then I realize a little, 'cause I don't have my mask on,
a little hair falls into my face,
and I just take the chainsaw
and I gently brush it off of my face.
(Oscar laughing) - Just brush it away.
Remind me what the music box does.
- "Once per session, you can play this music box
for another character to
allow them to re-roll a failed check
without taking a burnout."
- [Brennan] Incredible.
Go ahead and re-roll both those dice for me.
You're also adding a +5 from the chainsaw.
- Two 15s.
- Yes. And you roll a d6 for the chainsaw. You add a d6.
- [Brennan] Oh, roll a d6 for the chainsaw.
- And a d6 for the chainsaw.
- [Oscar] It's about to go down.
- [Kimia] Yeah. - Four.
- Nice, 19.
- So with a 19 plus any specializations you have
so I think that's a 21.
- Yeah.
- [Brennan] You see as you say-
- Can I say something else to her?
- [Brennan] Yeah.
- I know it feels safer when there's facts
and there's good things that happen
and bad things that happen,
but the reality is, sometimes things just happen.
And there's no amount of knowledge
that can stop that from happening,
but I'm here if you ever wanna talk about anything.
(tender somber music)
- "I'm well aware.
I'm well aware."
And you see the word "aware"
just catches in her throat like poison
because if awareness could make her happy,
it would have a long time ago, and she realizes suddenly
that whatever kind of awareness she had, it hasn't helped.
And you see her reach absentmindedly.
She crooks her elbow but can't make herself
reach for the skull in front of people.
"His little head was always right here."
- Yeah.
- What we do here is find information and knowledge,
and we found the ways that people buried their dead,
and it's supposed to work,
so if that doesn't work, then what are we doing?
If you can't make it okay with what you've learned,
then does learning even help?
Have I been unkind to you?
- Yeah.
- I don't know why I can't be nice.
I'm very sorry.
- I think I'm realizing I haven't been very kind either.
I thought maybe not coming back and not visiting
and giving you the space that you needed
was what you needed in that situation,
and I'm realizing maybe you just needed me to be here.
- Even though I've been very unkind,
I have always loved you and thought of you
because I know that you know how much this hurts.
And I feel like if we had been in pain together...
I'm very sorry.
I don't know how to learn my way out of this
and I don't have anything else that I know how to do.
- Mm-hmm.
Hey, um, it's, like, way too late to go back,
but
we could try something new moving forward maybe?
Can I just reach out a hand for a handshake?
- You see that she reaches out a hand.
As you reach out a hand for a handshake,
you see that there's a moment where she goes for her hand,
and you can see that her hand is going to wrap around you,
but there's a moment
where she sees you going for a handshake
and starts to falter.
In this moment, do you widen for an embrace or stay-
- Yeah.
- As you suddenly go like,
"No, no, we're gonna do that instead," I would like you
to add a permanent +2 specialization to Warmth.
- Oh, nice.
- Can I-
- [Brennan] Which I know is your d4. Yeah?
- Can I join this for a second with Hugi?
- [Brennan] Yeah. - Say,
one thing that I've really loved about Hugi's whole process
is how it's really not intellectual.
It's just really beautiful and you can feel that,
and I'm curious if there's a way to do
a second funeral for Muni
that you could be at, if you're interested,
'cause I think closure is kinda non-intellectual
and it's just something
that you could feel if you wanted to.
I don't know if that's something either of you
would be interested in before we leave.
- Yeah, I think as you embrace, and you- and Quinn
offers that up, you see the history professors,
the History Council is sort of stunned.
You see that Aunt Freaky embraces you.
Like, you're so tall and she's towering over you still,
and she picks you up and is just holding you there
like this little crow wrapped against her breast.
She's leaning down.
And you see that she absentmindedly reaches down
and gets the skull and holds it in close and goes,
"I would love another ceremony.
(tender warm music) I didn't attend the first one.
I forget what lie I told about why I couldn't come.
I'm so sorry.
And there's a carelessness here
that I don't agree with on my part. (sniffles)
I think I have treated feelings
as if they are very inconsequential because to regard them
would be staring at the oncoming of a great storm.
Perhaps by not seeing it, it would never become real,
but it has simply grown in the darkness."
You see that she kneels down with you here and goes,
"You do not need to do all of what you did,
but some of what you did,
it maybe would be like a funeral again."
- Yeah.
Yeah. Okay, yes.
KoKoMo?
- KoKoMo.
- Can you fart and go grab all of my stuff from there?
- Abso-toot-ly.
- [Vic] Do you know what I'm talking about?
- Yes, I know. - Okay, if you-
- All the smell good and the good stuff and the round guys?
- Oh, that, but I was wondering
if you could go back to that area in the library
and if you could go grab some of my stuff.
- KoKoMo. - Yeah.
- I toot off. - I go get the other stuff.
- [Brennan] Hell yeah.
- And Tess runs away to do something.
- [Brennan] Cool.
- Runs off to do something real quick.
- [Brennan] Cool. (mimics zooming)
(Jacob mimics tooting off) Yeah.
- We all fart. Let's be honest.
- [Brennan] You scoot off, you scoot back.
- I stay, but I do fart.
- Before I do that, real quick,
I just hold my necklace that you made and then I run off.
- I'm like, oh, okay.
- [Brennan] KoKoMo returns with Hugi's effects.
And Tess, you said Tess headed off as well.
- Tess headed off somewhere. - [Brennan] Okay.
- Blasted off real quick. - [Brennan] Cool.
- Farted off?
- Farted off. - [Brennan] Farted off.
Hugi, with your effects in front of you,
you see Aunt Freaky just sort of kneels,
putting the skull in the little place of honor
on her table that it normally rests in.
- So normally, at this part there's a body.
There's obviously no body, so I'm going to
take just some of these effects,
some of the ones that maybe are a little bit more flammable
and put them in the middle in this
little basin that I carry sometimes
for grinding stuff up. Like a mortar and pestle.
And I'm gonna place that in the middle,
and I am going to light it
the way that I normally light stuff which is
I've got a match, but it kinda catches on my sleeve,
and I'm not getting it out the way I normally do
so I sorta tug a little bit and it breaks.
Okay, that's fine.
So I'll just take the smaller one
'cause I don't need a longer one
'cause it's not going in there, which is fine.
And I go to strike it, but I don't have my mask on
and so I'm just sort of doing this.
Okay, that's fine.
Does anybody have a lighter?
- Rowan Atkinson is playing this role.
- Wow, brutal. Yeah. (laughs)
(Oscar and Jacob laughing) - It's Mr. Bean?
- Does anyone have a lighter or like, something fire?
Do we have fire?
- I can help, I can help. - [Vic] There's no flame here,
typically, so it's...
- So I think Quinn's gonna try to help
in any way that she can.
- Do you wanna spend a Boo-Boo with the help out action here
or do you not have? - Would if I could.
- [Brennan] Would if I could. - I don't have a Boo-Boo.
- [Brennan] So I think that with Connor,
you have a lighter here, right?
- I have, I don't know where this came from,
but I used it to light a couple feathers earlier.
- That's fine. Okay, we light it.
It's normally- it goes a lot smoother than this, typically.
- You see that she nods, looking,
for the first time that you've ever seen her,
looking vulnerable because she's completely lost
in her own mind, knowing that you're making mistakes
and realizing that there's something in this
that's sort of like, well...
In her head, there's no criticism of you. It is all...
Although you might not have the awareness
to even recognize that.
You see that she's criticizing herself
for not being at the first funeral 'cause she's like,
"Of course, this is an echo.
I'm not getting the real thing."
You can see that there's self-doubt creeping in
for her being like, "I shouldn't have asked for..."
Like, "I asked for something wrong."
What do you do as you continue?
- I'm gonna light it on fire and so sorta this like,
it's normally a really sweet smell
because I have things that I put in
and that I sort of am like, oh, right,
and I throw a little bit of some flower petals in there
just to make it smell a little bit better
'cause we are burning trash right now,
and I'm realizing as the smell of
trash is coming out of this that I'm like,
I should have mentioned before I lit this on fire.
You know...
Well, I mean, you might not have known this part.
We used to collect sorta little trinkets
and there's some
shiny things that we thought were cute
and so that's sort of, I'm offering that.
Okay, and I throw the end of the flame in there and I go,
okay, now anybody can say- At this point,
I'm gonna open up the floor
to anybody that would like to say anything about Muni.
- Is there a sort of rubric
for what sort of things people say, typically?
Or I guess, what's the...
The purpose of saying these feelings is that one will, um...
In an ideal situation,
the end state for the funeral is one in which...
- So, um, this is more so that way you and me
and people that know and love us
can sort of come together and mark a moment
for somebody that's not here anymore.
- This is just an experiment in, what would you do
if you weren't allowing yourself
to judge yourself in any way.
- Ah.
- So anyone can say something.
- This is a moment where we mark the passage
of someone who's not here.
- So that's what I said, and I think for you,
it's just whatever, um... It doesn't have to be that.
There's not like... It's not written down anywhere.
It's kind of whatever your heart is telling you to say.
Maybe a memory.
- May I suggest using facts and knowledge
and then personalizing that. Making it meaningful to you.
- "Uh, Muni was born at three o'clock in the morning
and there was a waxing crescent moon.
(soft peaceful music)
Um, my brother and I, long ago, were named...
He's passed long since,
but my brother was expecting a little girl
around the same time as my son was going to be born,
and we decided, 'cause the History Heap
was much younger then,
to name them after two beautiful birds
that we had found a long, long time ago.
That the little girl would be named Hugi.
My son would be named Muni."
And you see here, she sort of pauses for a moment
as it sort of catches in her throat.
And I believe Hugi is thought, correct?
And then Muni is memory.
"Thought and memory.
The memory of this place,
memory of the History Heap and thought.
And I named them after that because ravens collect things,
and we collect things here and..."
And you see that you can see here getting caught up
on trying to get these facts right and trying to
talk about more knowledge, more information.
She goes, "I loved when he played with my niece,
and we are here in this moment to say goodbye,
which is the point of this.
And I think the reason I didn't go the first time is,
even though this is the point,
and you're supposed to process the feelings
because death is beautiful and it's a part of life
and there's nothing wrong with it.
So that's what we tell people is,
'There's nothing wrong with it.'
So if we're telling that to people and that's true,
then what do you do if you don't believe that?
What do you do if you don't really want to say goodbye?"
- Yeah, and I didn't say something the first time
so I can say something this time.
- It think as they're about to say something,
I kind of very gingerly usher them away from the kiln,
and I look at Connor and bring him over
and him and I shut the furnace and open the flume
so the flame... - [Brennan] Yeah.
- Which is something normally Hugi would do,
but we, together close it, (panel squeaks and latches)
open the flume.
- [Brennan] So that smoke can start to travel out.
- Yeah, I can go.
- Please.
- [Vic] Okay.
I'm so fucking mad at you, dude.
Oh man. Oh god.
You coulda told me you were gonna die
and then I could've, like, gone with you or something.
I don't know. Like...
Oh man, we were... (sobs softly)
(soft melancholy music)
Oh, god, we were supposed to do this together,
and now it's just me, and this fucking sucks!
And I hate it here. (sighs)
Like, I hate this. I hate everything about it.
I hate waking up in the morning, and I hate walking around,
and then I see something really beautiful and I'm like,
"Oh my god, Muni would love this,"
and I don't even have anybody to tell that to,
so I'm just like...
I'm just, like, here? It sucks!
I'm really glad I have an ability to help people,
and when I'm not helping people,
I just don't really know what to do.
And if you were here, you'd tell me what to do.
I don't have anything beautiful or nice,
or I don't have good memories to share.
That's it. That's all I think all the time.
That's all I feel all the time.
- I think what you said is very beautiful.
I don't typically talk this way, but this sucks.
I think that's the most profound thing I've ever heard.
- Do you mean that?
- And I read profound things all day.
I think it sucks. I think it's really awful.
I miss my son.
- When Princess Diana died, her son walked behind the car,
and I was wondering if you wanted to go for a walk.
- The ancient histories are well recorded in this regard.
I think the pressure I've felt to do this right
and the feeling that
we're working really hard all the time
to find things that are true, that are one way
and we have to try to find them the right way,
and we tell people that death is beautiful
and that it's okay to say goodbye.
And I think I need to make it okay
that that's one thing that's true,
but also it's not true.
That this sucks.
And it's very confusing
'cause I wouldn't know which one to write down,
and now I'm realizing that the point
is not to write either down,
that it's not death is beautiful
and it's not that death is horrible,
and that from moment to moment,
it's just gonna be both of those things,
and I shouldn't have thought about which one to write down.
I just should have thought about which one I was feeling.
And I'm so sorry.
I like this funeral.
- Really?
- I didn't know that you were allowed
to say, "This sucks," at a funeral,
and it's the only thing I've been thinking
for so many years.
- I kinda didn't either,
and I feel like maybe I'm gonna bring this forward.
- She wraps her arms around you and says,
"I hope you do.
(Vic sniffles)
I love you.
I need to treat you like that's true.
It's not enough for you to...
I think we need to stop focusing so much on knowing things
because I knew that you knew that I loved you,
but if I don't feel it and if you don't feel it,
then it doesn't really matter.
I need to make you feel like I love you."
And you see that she wipes a tear away from your cheek
and permanently adds a specialization to her Charm.
- Oh, nice.
- You're always very good
at making people feel like you care about them,
and that's important, and I can do better.
Muni-
- Yes.
- ...should still be here, and I hate that he's not.
And I can say, as someone who knows a great deal,
I know,
know
that he would be very proud of you.
And I know that he,
in what we assume is either a big ball of gas somewhere
or maybe a different dimension,
I know that he loves you too.
- Even though I was never good at drawing blood,
and he was so good at drawing blood.
- [Brennan] He was a prodigious talent.
- [Vic] Yeah.
- The things that are gone now that he's gone were good
because he was good, and if it didn't suck that he was gone,
it would be us saying in some regard
that it wasn't good that he was here,
so it's okay that it sucks 'cause something good is gone.
- I love you too.
- [Brennan] A big, big warm embrace.
She steps out of the funereal kiln,
looks at the skull, and goes,
"Muni, um...
Muni didn't like being cooped up at the History Heap.
When you go on these adventures,
would you do me a favor and bring him with you?"
- Yeah, I...
Oh, yeah, I'd really like that.
And then I'm gonna reach into my pocket here,
and I've got this little pebble
that I've turned over so much in my hand
that it looks like a pearl,
and I'm gonna hand it to Aunt Freaky.
Maybe you'd like something else of his then.
- "I know you'll be back soon,
and I'll see him again then, and until then,
I'll keep working on this."
And you see that she hands the skull to you
and gives you a kiss on the cheek.
"Ooh, some kind of ointment." (Vic laughs)
Tess.
- I just had a small idea to round out the ceremony.
- Oh yeah.
- I know that sometimes you like to do some sort
of a spectacle or leave something behind
so that people can have memories,
and I know memories are super important.
So I did my best to use all my smartest brain cells,
and I picked one of the non books up
and I scribbled down, if you guys wanna hold these,
the words that they were saying to one of the songs,
and if you could play this.
It's "Everywhere" by Michelle Branch.
- Sure.
- (sighs) I know you like to read,
and sometimes reading is easier than feeling
so if you read the words while they're happening on here,
I think something really special and fun can happen.
- You see one of the professors sort of off in the corner,
as you begin to play "Everywhere" by Michelle Branch goes,
(grumbles) "This is absolutely preposterous.
We're aware of the existence of the poetry
of 'Everywhere' by Michelle.
Within the case that was discovered,
the words to the song are made very clear!"
- So I didn't have to write it all down?
It took everything I had!
It took everything I had to write every single word down,
and yeah, the S's are fives,
but everybody knows how to read that.
That's just my handwriting.
- As you see the music starts playing, this guy says,
(warm upbeat pop music) "Yes, the lyrics are..."
The music begins to play.
♪ Everywhere to me ♪ ♪ Turn it inside out ♪
♪ So I can see ♪
- And you see this person goes,
"Well, that's simply..." (breath catching)
(Brennan bawling)
And starts weeping fully.
"The context of the music is very significant!
I am being made to feel!"
(Ally laughs)
And just bellows that out.
And you see, taking the lyrics written down,
you see that the professors here begin singing,
and you see this joy begins to go out.
All the other professors come over
and begin to feel this joy all throughout.
- If you're watching this on YouTube, it's actually playing.
- Yeah. (laughs)
(Zac and Oscar laughing)
Is it fair use to sing the chorus if we sing it?
- Somewhere in the Gladlands, a grand piano
whips across the road. (piano glissando resounds)
- Yeah. (Ally mimics piano glissando)
- [Brennan] Incredible.
As you all begin to sing, you see this hush goes out
over the History Heap,
and the researchers everywhere hear this music playing,
which fills them with- It's like, joyful and charming
and goes out everywhere and is a type of knowledge
that taps directly into a feeling.
There is a type of information
that not only communicates the significance of something
but also the feeling of it.
And you see, (mimics wind whooshing)
and you see out, all these robed shuffling figures
begin to link arms and sway side to side on the beat.
And then you see someone says, "Absolutely illuminating!
It's extraordinary!
Ah!
My body!" And starts dancing.
- Starts skanking- - [Brennan] Starts skanking.
- ...to "Everywhere" by Michelle Branch?
- "Pick it up, pick it up,
pick it up, pick it up." - Oh!
This is just like in the book with the spinach man!
- Yes!
(Jacob mimics upbeat trombone music)
- It's just like the end of "The Sprinch!"
- Sprinch? (laughs)
♪ Michelle Branch ♪
- [Oscar] Can I say something? - [Brennan] Yes.
- So like, while y'all were having a moment.
- [Brennan] Yeah.
- I think Herbie excuses himself and leaves.
- Yeah.
- This sort of act of emotional vulnerability,
it's very tough for someone who has been
trying to convince the History Heap-
- [Brennan] Yeah.
- ...of the thing that is happening before him.
- [Brennan] Yeah.
- And it's a little overwhelming.
- [Brennan] Yeah.
- So he removes himself from it.
And then there's also a little bit of frustration too.
- [Brennan] Yeah. - Of the fact of like,
especially that earlier interaction
between Hugi and Aunt Freaky.
- [Brennan] Yeah.
- Of just like, you don't know...
You don't know how magical this person is.
- [Brennan] Yeah.
- [Oscar] The dismissal of, like what Tess was saying,
like, you don't know.
- [Brennan] Yeah.
- [Oscar] You haven't seen this person.
- [Brennan] Yeah.
- And it's that recognition also of like,
these people don't see me as me and don't value me as me,
and it's overwhelming and I leave.
- [Brennan] Yeah.
- And what I decide to do while I'm walking around,
and I've been debating it, but I take this opportunity
to go to Aunt Freaky's...
- [Brennan] Den, yeah. - Den.
And I remember I clocked earlier
that there is a piece of paper, information, on Dr. Puss or-
- [Brennan] Yeah.
- Uncle Pus.
- [Oscar] Uncle Pus. - [Brennan] Uncle Pus.
(players laughing) Uncle Pus, yeah.
- [Jacob] A lot of information on the table.
- Don't point at me- - Professor Pus.
- [Jacob] A lot of data on the table.
- ...and go, "Dr. Puss!"
- A lot to remember.
(Vic laughing) - [Brennan] Yeah.
- Can't get too caught up in names.
- I just spit coffee everywhere.
- [Oscar] Dr. Pus.
- [Brennan] I love it, I love it.
- Wait, you spilled coffee?
- I spit coffee everywhere. (Oscar laughing)
- And I just take that infor...
I just take the files and I take 'em with me.
- Dr. Puss.
- [Kimia] (laughs) No, don't bully.
- [Oscar] Trying to... (laughs)
- Waiting until the second I take a sip of something.
- You take the files
and just start heading out of the History Heap?
- Yeah and make my way toward the Carer Van.
- As you arrive at the Carer Van,
you sort of move around the people
that are gathered by the kiln.
You can hear the music playing and see the group
sort of gathered here. ♪ Everywhere to me ♪
- [Brennan] Where do you go to in the Carer Van?
- I go back to the Truthbrary,
and I'm honestly trying to look for Parcel
'cause Parcel is nowhere to be found, correct?
- Parcel is nowhere to be found.
As you go back, give me Awareness, difficulty of five.
- 10.
- You arrive back to the Truthbrary.
You see that there is a locked sort of
privy area in the side of the house.
There's no working...
The bathroom just drops into a hole
off the back of the truck,
but you see that there's a small locked bathroom
in the Truthbrary that there appears to be a light under.
You don't hear anything too advanced going on in there,
but maybe that's where Parcel is.
But the rest of the Truthbrary is around there as well,
but yeah, I think, yeah. - I like...
Yeah, I gently knock on the door.
- You hear, "Uh...
I'm, uh...
I'm, I'm shitting!"
(Kimia laughs)
- (laughs) Fuck.
- Parcel?
- "Uh, please leave. Sorry, uh, I need..."
And you hear a bag fall
and a number of clattering things on the ground.
- Sounds familiar to me.
- [Kimia] Hmm.
- Hmm.
- He's coked up.
(Brennan laughs) - (laughs) Clattering coke?
- It's the coke spoon.
- Parcel's been hitting rails for the past hour, yeah.
- The mirror.
- The can.
- I say through the door, I say,
Parcel, you don't have to tell me anything,
but I'd like for us to talk, really talk to each other.
- Give me Warmth, difficulty of...
I'm gonna say difficulty of seven.
- Nine. - [Brennan] Nine.
As you say, "Parcel I want you to...
You can say anything to me," there's a beat, a deep sigh.
"Parcel's not in here."
(Kimia chuckles softly)
The door opens.
Radiant mohawk, leather bustier,
tears streaking down a face that is not Parcel but Parcel.
"Parcel's not here.
I am Flashy Facade."
- [Oscar] And I just hug her.
- [Brennan] You hug. - Tight, hard.
- [Brennan] Tight and hard.
And that's all for this episode
of "Dimension 20: Gladlands." (players groaning)
- Yes!
(Brennan laughs)
♪ Everywhere to me ♪ - We're gonna workshop
Flashy Facade a little bit, but...
- [Brennan] What's that?
- She's a baby queen.
- [Brennan] She's a baby queen, yeah.
We'll see you next week for the thrilling conclusion
of "Dimension 20: Gladlands."
We'll see you there as the rains fall
on the Red Dust Plains. (thunder crashes)
(Brennan mimics lightning crackling)
"Hope you're hungry. 'Cause it's time for a thumb sandwich."
- That's right! - Okay, here we go!
(dramatic percussion music) - You know what?
I'm gonna make them love Poppy.
- Are you alive?
- "My sweet boy."
- I wasn't always the Spinch.
- Truce.
- "For my sake and yours, you'd better werk!"
- It's time for a collabotage.
- Collabotage!
- Listen, I'm gonna kill all of you.
- "I'm growing three sizes larger!"
(thunder rumbles) (intense dramatic music)
Storm.
- No!
- [Brennan] The water is collecting up ahead.
"The Spinch is gonna eat me!"
- If we don't get those books, I'm gonna die.
- They have you, and you have us.
- "Break a wing out there."
- I don't have wings.
- "We made it, my boy!"
- KoKoMo beaches!
- [Brennan] "KoKoMo beaches!"
(Brennan mimics bird calling)
- Mom!
- "Let's do violence!"
- That's never good.
- "I am Extremis Nox. (dark menacing music)
My balls are bombs,
(Oscar laughs) my ass a flamethrower!"
- Come on, what? (laughs)
- [Jacob] Makes sense.