Episode 79
Episode 79 - Spiral
Pursued by those they have slighted, the Agents head deeper into the unknown.
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The Rescuers are played by the cast of 9mm Retirement Radio
- Seewolf: Lukas
- Pathfinder: Caius
- Warden: Max
- Echo: Mike
- Lifeline: Jan
Published by arrangement with the Delta Green Partnership. The intellectual property known as Delta Green is a trademark and copyright owned by the Delta Green Partnership, who has licensed its use here. Illustrations by Dennis Detwiller are reproduced by permission. The contents of this podcast are © GiggleDome Productions, LLC, excepting those elements that are components of Delta Green intellectual property.
Transcript
Hello?
Speaker B:What time is it?
Speaker C:Who is it?
Speaker A:I don't know.
Speaker A:Situation green.
Speaker A:Sleep in the squeeze.
Speaker D:Sorry, love, I have to take this.
Speaker C:Agents.
Speaker C:You stand at the brink of another violent wound in the earth.
Speaker C:A vast, ragged gash that gapes like the frozen scream of this very subterranean world.
Speaker C:The air is thick, stinking of wet limestone and something sharper.
Speaker C:Fowler.
Speaker C:Perhaps the guilt laden aftertaste of the nightmare you visited upon the Schneider rescue and recovery team only moments ago.
Speaker C:In the warm chamber past the second subway from which you have just emerged.
Speaker C:Your headlamps cast pale blades of light into the dark.
Speaker C:But with a grim familiarity you see that they are swallowed almost immediately, bleeding into the fathomless dark gulf below you.
Speaker C:This is the fissure, but not the one you entered.
Speaker C:Descended hours ago.
Speaker C:It's still identical, though, in every hazardous detail.
Speaker C:But something, something is somehow wrong.
Speaker C:The stone walls spiral and knot like exposed veins, pulsing faintly under your gaze.
Speaker C:They stretch upward into an unseen ceiling and plunge downward into a vertigo inducing abyss, making your stomachs twist as your footing nearly falters.
Speaker C:Shadows lengthen and bloom along the edges of your vision, curling and grasping like hungry fingers.
Speaker C:And always, always, there's that wind.
Speaker C:A cold, seductive breath that seems to carry a pulse, a rhythm, a lure.
Speaker C:You've crossed a threshold.
Speaker C:You've known it since the second squeeze when it tightened around you like a throat.
Speaker C:The ice churned with shapes too massive, too old to name.
Speaker C:You heard it in the subway's whispers as you sought to put distance between yourselves and your desperate act of neutralization.
Speaker C:Now, here, in this second fissure, you realize the cave's skin is splitting and its breath is constant against your face.
Speaker C:Agents and rescuers alike, your teams are now fraying ropes, each string snapping under the weight of the aftermath of Robert Greer's mad orchestra.
Speaker C:Using that particular Pegasus field weapon was not salvation.
Speaker C:It was gasoline poured over smoldering suspicion.
Speaker C:It broke the rescuer, and it may yet break you.
Speaker C:Now for the rescuers, your lifeline, once and expert guides to this underground hell.
Speaker C:They're no longer the focus professionals you relied on.
Speaker C:That much was clear from what you saw.
Speaker C:Their minds are torn, canvases slashed by pulsing chamber music and perhaps this cave's seething unreality.
Speaker C:You four agents stand at this epicenter of catastrophe, imposters pretending at expertise.
Speaker C:But you are now laid bare by the consequences of your own fears.
Speaker C:Your heads still tingle with that phantom hum that vibrates in your bones, a reminder of the strange, muffled chaos that poured forth from Forest's tablet.
Speaker C:And now, perched precariously above this fissure with a passage, only one passage, for deep within its razored maw, much like before, you know you need the shattered rescuer's skills to navigate more of this looping nightmare.
Speaker C:And then you four realize a pathfinder crouches nearby.
Speaker C:You're not exactly sure when he appeared there at the fissure's edge with you.
Speaker C:His head is cocked like a mourner at a graveside, listening intently to the eulogies of the gray and somber toned Pathfinder.
Speaker C:You know these scientists are your charges, aching for peace, and you are where you need to be, promising rest, promising silence.
Speaker C:And only a few meters away, unbeknownst to any of you as of yet, is Sevof.
Speaker C:Sevof.
Speaker C:You sag against a broken column of stone, your chest rattling with every breath, Psalm 23 burning against your teeth.
Speaker C:Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, the device's impossible curse lingers.
Speaker C:But it's the devil you hunt now, dertouful, lurking in others eyes, sabotaging this holy mission.
Speaker C:You and Echo have trapped the agents here, leaving the demon possessed and dying warden behind.
Speaker C:Your only small regret is leaving such a corrupt monster dying though he was alongside the fallen form of pure and innocent lifeline.
Speaker C:You swear to return, to give her proper rights once this mission is complete.
Speaker C:But now you look at Echo next to you, struck blind by the same evil that now causes a disconcerting aperiodic fluttering in the space below your sternum.
Speaker C:Will you reach out to the agents over your comms?
Speaker C:Will you summon them to judgment?
Speaker C:Or do you and Echo circle like wounded wolves, waiting for a chance to strike Now, Echo, you cling to to Seawolf, blind and battered, but your world has narrowed to a single point.
Speaker C:Him.
Speaker C:His voice is the sun in your endless night.
Speaker C:The dripping of the cave and the low muttering of the agents far ahead of you paint the world in splinters and ghost thoughts.
Speaker C:Your fingers still know the language of radio frequencies, though, and your blood still hums with tactical instinct.
Speaker C:But rage coils in your chest.
Speaker C:Rage at the traitors who wounded Sivolf and left you adrift in the dark.
Speaker C:Do you whisper doubts about them to Sivolf, urging him to act?
Speaker C:Or do you use your skills to eavesdrop on their radio, seeking leverage to restore his command?
Speaker C:And Warden, or what remains of Warden, you lurk beyond the edge of light, half crouched, half crawling, your ruined arms swinging useless restlessly as the thing steers your body with pitiless patience.
Speaker C:The cave is your cocoon now, hiding your Breath folding you into its loops.
Speaker C:You are few against many, but fear is a sharper weapon than teeth.
Speaker C:When you find them again, do you leave behind a trace?
Speaker C:A smear of blood?
Speaker C:A softly mimicked voice to perhaps lure them deeper into confusion?
Speaker C:Or do you wait, biding your time, until one of them stumbles too far from the others?
Speaker C:No more rhetorical questions for me.
Speaker C:No more exposition, Agents.
Speaker C:The camera returns to you.
Speaker C:The fissure yawns before your group.
Speaker C:Your group plus one.
Speaker C:A crouched and distracted or seemingly distracted Pathfinder.
Speaker C:The walls of the fissure are now shimmery with unnatural patterns that make your eyes ache.
Speaker C:That wind, it pulses louder now.
Speaker C:It's a heartbeat that syncs with your own.
Speaker C:You can't help but feel like it's urging you to try to descend.
Speaker C:You all remember that rigging the ropes will take hours.
Speaker C:It's a grueling task in this disorienting void.
Speaker C:But something about staying here, exposed on the ledge, it feels like tempting fate.
Speaker C:Somewhere behind you, the cave loops back on itself.
Speaker C:Somewhere ahead, the Percy expedition's fate, or perhaps your own, waits.
Speaker C:What do you do?
Speaker C:What do you say in this moment, Agents, as your breath returns to a normal pace.
Speaker D:Oi, Pathfinder.
Speaker D:You haven't gone lemony, have you?
Speaker A:Pathfinder turns to you a little slowly and just cocks his head.
Speaker A:What accent is that?
Speaker D:Yeah, time to tell the truth, bud.
Speaker D:I'm British.
Speaker D:And we're obviously not cave experts.
Speaker D:What we did back there, we'll regret it, I'm sure.
Speaker D:But look, you ain't a bug.
Speaker D:We know that now.
Speaker D:So if you're gonna follow us.
Speaker A:I'm not a what?
Speaker D:A Bug.
Speaker D:We hunt bugs.
Speaker D:We were certain at least one of you had one in you.
Speaker E:Pathfinder, we need your help.
Speaker E:I know we haven't given anything for you to trust us on, but.
Speaker E:But like he said, we're.
Speaker E:We're on a very important mission.
Speaker E:And if we don't.
Speaker E:If we don't get down there and see what happened to that crew before us, the whole world could be in trouble.
Speaker E:Whatever you need to trust us, we're ready to lay it down.
Speaker E:Are you ready to save the world?
Speaker A:That's crazy.
Speaker A:He looks at you incredibly confused.
Speaker A:Takes a second to pass eyes over the four agents and then nods.
Speaker A:Whatever you need, I'm here.
Speaker E:Tiberius will reach out his arm to shake.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Pathfinder will shake your arm, grasp it with his other one and say.
Speaker A:I'll take care of you.
Speaker A:All of you.
Speaker D:You're the only one that rightly knows how to make it through this cave alive.
Speaker D:So we still need you.
Speaker B:Forest is going to step in and say, listen up.
Speaker B:This cave, it's a death trap.
Speaker B:And those bugs essentially, they're.
Speaker B:They're like a biohazard.
Speaker B:So we can't lose anyone else.
Speaker B:We need to stick together.
Speaker F:We need to time the fuck out is what we need to do.
Speaker F:Okay, hold on.
Speaker F:None of you fucking saw what just happened back there?
Speaker F:Yeah, this fucking cabron just followed me up here to you people, ok?
Speaker F:I stopped to help the man having fucking heart attack.
Speaker F:And he's.
Speaker F:He gets up and tries to fucking kill me.
Speaker F:And his friends are ripping each other apart and eating them.
Speaker F:And this fucking asshole is following.
Speaker F:I mean, what the fuck is going on here?
Speaker C:Yeah?
Speaker F:Vega angrily looks at the other three agents that he's standing with.
Speaker E:Well, look who wants to finally know what's happening.
Speaker E:Listen, Vega, all the stuff that you thought could be what you've been doing, all the stuff that you thought perhaps we are.
Speaker E:We are those things and more.
Speaker E:Some mib, X Files, fucking ripley's, Believe it or not, we're all of it.
Speaker F:What the fuck are you talking about, man?
Speaker F:You know what?
Speaker F:You know what?
Speaker F:No, no, no, no, no.
Speaker F:I am paid to hear.
Speaker F:I'm paid to be here to keep you.
Speaker F:To keep apparently just you three fuckers alive, ok?
Speaker F:That's what I'm here for.
Speaker F:That's why I'm here, ok?
Speaker E:And I'm telling you that you better not ignore the realities that come to you.
Speaker E:Because they're coming whether you're willing to accept it or not.
Speaker F:Look, I can handle the shit, okay?
Speaker F:That's why I'm here.
Speaker F:But going forward, you fucking tell me who to keep alive and who not.
Speaker F:Okay, Dr. Hoople, you seem competent.
Speaker F:I will look to you.
Speaker F:Okay?
Speaker F:You say save this person or not, okay?
Speaker F:That's what I need to know.
Speaker D:You ain't gotta call me Dr. Hoople anymore.
Speaker D:You can call me Bertrand.
Speaker F:Bertrand, I will look to you.
Speaker F:You tell me.
Speaker F:Right?
Speaker D:You got it, doc.
Speaker C:Dr. Jomp.
Speaker C:Forest, could you please roll alertness for me, please?
Speaker B:Success.
Speaker B:72 out of 83.
Speaker C:So when you spoke a moment ago and your fellow agents who are next to you speaking at a raised volume, there's some feedback occurring on your comms mic.
Speaker C:It's curious to you.
Speaker C:Go ahead and roll your signals intelligence please.
Speaker C:At a plus 20%.
Speaker B:Success.
Speaker C:Somebody's listening into your comms.
Speaker C:There's an open line somewhere on the network.
Speaker B:Sorry, I had to think about my name again.
Speaker B:Forest is going to.
Speaker B:Going to interject Again.
Speaker B:And just.
Speaker B:Guys, listen.
Speaker B:There's really no time to argue semantics, Dr. Vega.
Speaker B:Thank you.
Speaker B:But this isn't about who you have to save right now.
Speaker B:We just have to make a plan to move forward.
Speaker B:I'm getting some feedback right now with the comms.
Speaker B:It's very buggy.
Speaker B:It's not good.
Speaker B:It doesn't make sense.
Speaker B:And we need to make plan to move forward right away.
Speaker D:Wait.
Speaker E:If Pathfinder's here, who else is still alive?
Speaker B:I don't think it's so much about who's alive as just, well, shit.
Speaker B:I mean, you know why we're here.
Speaker F:I mean, they should be dead, but they were all fucking moving last I saw.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:Dr. Vega, you have the most knowledge on what was left behind.
Speaker F:Yeah, sure, yeah.
Speaker F:They're moving.
Speaker A:Lifeline wasn't moving.
Speaker E:All I'm saying is we might have more guests coming up.
Speaker E:And some of them might not be as friendly here as Pathfinder.
Speaker F:There's no might about it.
Speaker B:Well, okay, so then let's stop and think real quick.
Speaker B:Prepare.
Speaker B:What do we have with us to protect ourselves?
Speaker B:To move forward through this cave.
Speaker B:Perhaps to track our path so we don't find ourselves in the same circles.
Speaker B:And.
Speaker E:Hold up, hold up.
Speaker E:Chris, quick question.
Speaker E:The comms that we have, do they have an off button?
Speaker C:You go ahead and pull back your hood, your cold weather gear hood, and part of one of your neck wraps and put your hand around this communications harness that has been almost plastered to your head with sweat for the last however many hours.
Speaker C:And you look it over a bit, you don't see any off switches.
Speaker C:There's definitely a wire that runs to one of your mini battery packs that Echo was in charge of inspecting at nearly every brief stop that you've had during this expedition.
Speaker C:You could cut the wire.
Speaker C:That would probably work.
Speaker D:This is also probably the time when the comms, like, sputter.
Speaker D:On and over the comms, you.
Speaker D:You all can hear the very roughened voice of Seawolf.
Speaker C:Listen.
Speaker D:Satan himself transformed himself into an angel of.
Speaker D:Of light.
Speaker D:Warden stalks us, his toil.
Speaker D:Flesh of form.
Speaker D:None of you are safe in this darkness.
Speaker C:I need all of the agents to roll sanity from helplessness.
Speaker C:Please.
Speaker E:I don't know why.
Speaker E:It seemed.
Speaker E:Seemed pretty normal.
Speaker D:I mean, yeah, whatever.
Speaker B:We are extremely helpless.
Speaker C:You could trust us.
Speaker E:No projection here.
Speaker C:Agents.
Speaker C:Would you like to project any potential loss?
Speaker E:Felix will not project.
Speaker B:Okay, now, we said that's a bad idea if willpower is at least halfway gone.
Speaker B:So I think I will not project this time.
Speaker F:Veg is too much in shock.
Speaker F:To be projecting right now, it's too much.
Speaker F:What the fuck's going on?
Speaker C:All right, so sounds like no projection from the team.
Speaker C:Please carry on.
Speaker A:Pathfinder, in answer to what Forests said, we don't need to mark where we're going.
Speaker A:We've been here before.
Speaker A:We just keep the path and eventually it'll route us out.
Speaker A:I've seen this before.
Speaker B:Exactly.
Speaker B:I recall you laughing hysterically at the fact that we've seen this before.
Speaker B:Okay, correct me if I'm wrong, but, like, there has to be a way out.
Speaker B:Water, it trickles down, it goes out, it finds an exit.
Speaker B:There's.
Speaker B:There's got to be.
Speaker E:Can everyone hold on for a second?
Speaker E:We got a psychopath listening in to our plans and he's not a psychopath.
Speaker E:Felix will.
Speaker E:Felix will just pull the mic and rip the cable.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:It pops out of some battery pack that's tucked behind you under layers and layers of clothing.
Speaker C:It's completely damaged.
Speaker C:It would need to be probably replaced or soldered or something at this point.
Speaker E:Felix will look around, see what everyone else does.
Speaker A:Pathfinder just shrugs and says he's been through a loop before too.
Speaker A:We all know the way out of these types of situations.
Speaker D:How's that?
Speaker A:Kester taught us well.
Speaker A:We just keep going and we look for.
Speaker A:We look for rest and we look for the sign, the star.
Speaker F:Are we really going to listen to this pinch cap?
Speaker F:This?
Speaker B:No.
Speaker B:What the hell does that even mean?
Speaker B:That doesn't mean anything to us.
Speaker B:That has nothing to do with what we're doing.
Speaker B:And it certainly doesn't help us find the way out.
Speaker A:Pathfinder will pull like out of his pocket like a little notebook and he will try to draw that little star.
Speaker B:By the way, Forest is going to jump back as Pathfinder reaches in her pocket because who knows, like she didn't know what he's pulling up.
Speaker C:I think that's wise.
Speaker C:So, Pathfinder, I like that.
Speaker C:Go ahead and use in Foundry the pencil tool on the left and just draw that for them on the background.
Speaker E:Okay.
Speaker E:So it looks like a.
Speaker E:It is a five pointed star with what looks like.
Speaker E:I don't know.
Speaker E:I'm going to guess an eye in the middle of it.
Speaker C:So you four look at this drawing.
Speaker C:What do you say?
Speaker C:As he finishes the OR places the final touches on this sketch, Felix will.
Speaker E:Be swinging his mic like a metronome in front of him.
Speaker A:When we were in Kessler, the training grounds, we.
Speaker A:We went down and we entered a loop like this.
Speaker A:And we, we found a map and it had this symbol and we.
Speaker A:We followed it.
Speaker A:And it.
Speaker A:It let us.
Speaker A:It let us out.
Speaker A:So we just have to find.
Speaker A:Find it again.
Speaker D:So we're on a fun little scavenger hunt for a pretty little star.
Speaker D:Wonderful.
Speaker B:I mean when it all comes down to it, we're on a scavenger hunt for bugs.
Speaker B:We just have to know that we can get out of here after we find what we're looking for.
Speaker D:That's the spirit forest.
Speaker A:Are the bugs in people in their heads?
Speaker D:They make them do bad things.
Speaker D:Awful things, mate.
Speaker D:It's different for every bug.
Speaker D:But it's the worst things you can imagine.
Speaker A:Well, I just saw two of my rescue team try to kill one another, so.
Speaker D:Oh, me running mate.
Speaker D:That's par for the course.
Speaker A:How about we get up this fissure?
Speaker C:How about it then Pathfinder, you take quick stock on what everybody has with them before things changed for you.
Speaker C:It's clear that prior to that moment everything was being organized well, fastidiously maintained.
Speaker C:Because they all have plenty of gear to help you build the rigging.
Speaker C:Descend with themselves and all of their equipment without an issue.
Speaker C:As long as everyone remains focused on and calm.
Speaker C:But it's going to take a team effort to get this done.
Speaker C:You don't have Warden Zewulf or the expert Eyes of Echo or Lifeline.
Speaker C:You'll need to work very hard to ensure that they get where they need to go.
Speaker A:Pathfinder turns to the agents after taking stock of your belongings.
Speaker A:I can do this.
Speaker A:But I'll need help.
Speaker A:And I'll need focus.
Speaker A:Who among you actually has experience?
Speaker E:I think the silence speaks for itself.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:Nothing.
Speaker D:Nothing like this one time when I was a wee little bloke.
Speaker D:Made a fort with blankets.
Speaker D:That's about it.
Speaker B:Hopefully you can appreciate our sense of humor.
Speaker B:If there's something you need to teach us.
Speaker B:And we could.
Speaker B:We're fast learners.
Speaker B:But give us protocol first.
Speaker B:Our lives depend on him.
Speaker F:Just to set the scene.
Speaker F:Vega is spending this whole time staring at him him very angrily and suspiciously.
Speaker F:And does not want him anywhere fucking near him.
Speaker F:That's where Vega's at.
Speaker A:Every time Pathfinder turns to look at you, it is with so much love in his eyes.
Speaker F:Oh no.
Speaker C:Vega.
Speaker C:Go ahead and roll human intelligence.
Speaker C:Go ahead and check that human intelligence box.
Speaker E:Hell yeah.
Speaker F:Be 24 next time.
Speaker F:This would be great.
Speaker C:When Pathfinder meets your smoldering angry gaze, you can't help but avert your eyes.
Speaker C:You can't hold.
Speaker C:You can't hold this, the gaze at all.
Speaker C:Because what is pouring forth from this man is wholly unexpected.
Speaker C:It is a purity that doesn't belong down here, and it scares you.
Speaker D:And to make things even worse, since only Felix ripped out his comms, the voice of Seawolf also sputters.
Speaker D:And the comms.
Speaker D:And you hear the rough voice over.
Speaker C:The comms when he says, you need us.
Speaker D:Two are better than one, for if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow echo's ears and mein geist.
Speaker D:A God's gift to save us.
Speaker D:Let me be your gods and shepherd.
Speaker E:Chris, with Felix not having the your place plug in, and I was going to ask you anyways.
Speaker E:I want to do a.
Speaker E:In the back of this group, as everyone's talking, I want to keep an eye out down tunnel, listening, looking for any movement or sound.
Speaker C:Absolutely.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:You've got head on a swivel.
Speaker C:You can all show an alertness, I guess a search.
Speaker C:Minus 20%.
Speaker D:You said we all can.
Speaker C:Just Felix.
Speaker D:Okay, while that's happening, Bertrand says, that's about enough of that.
Speaker D:And he fishes his earpiece mic wires back to their battery pack and unplugs them.
Speaker E:I forgot the minus 20, but I got a crit fail, so.
Speaker F:Shit.
Speaker F:99.
Speaker E:Whoop, whoop.
Speaker E:My.
Speaker E:My ears explodes.
Speaker C:Yeah, 99.
Speaker C:Critical failure.
Speaker C:You're peering down the tunnel of the subway that you just emerged from, scrutinizing it.
Speaker C:The furrows in your brow are deep and groovy.
Speaker C:All right, cool.
Speaker A:Groovy.
Speaker C:You can check that.
Speaker E:Oh, I did.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:So, Bertrand, you go ahead and reach back and follow the wire down, sneaking to the battery pack attached to you.
Speaker C:And you're able to extract this wire or this plug from the pack with minimal damage.
Speaker C:It's not meant to be removable the way it's set up.
Speaker C:Apparently it's all kind of one unit.
Speaker D:Okay.
Speaker D:If that's the case, he would just coil them up into a loop and put them in a pocket.
Speaker C:Yeah, that's easy.
Speaker C:All done.
Speaker D:Turn off the switch on it or whatever and.
Speaker D:Right.
Speaker D:Felix had the right idea.
Speaker D:We don't need them taunting us.
Speaker B:Forest is following in suit with Felix and with Bertrand.
Speaker B:And she's just going to remove the comm and buried it under a rock in the cave.
Speaker C:Oh, you like?
Speaker C:Take off the battery pack, take off the comm harness, and put it under a rock.
Speaker D:Bertrand would stop for us from doing that, grab her arm, and say, we don't know if we might need this communication, Felix.
Speaker D:Torrey's out.
Speaker D:But the more of us that may be able to communicate later, the better off we might be.
Speaker B:You're right.
Speaker B:You're right.
Speaker B:I.
Speaker B:She's gonna wrap it up, shove it in a pocket as well.
Speaker B:Listen, we know the bug protocol.
Speaker B:We have to prepare.
Speaker E:Felix will look at Vega and Pathfinder.
Speaker E:You're next.
Speaker F:Oh, Vega has definitely unplugged his.
Speaker F:Vega has also removed his comm harness.
Speaker C:Okay, cool.
Speaker C:So Vega's following suit in Pathfinder.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Pathfinder will switch it off.
Speaker C:Easily done.
Speaker C:It's off.
Speaker C:Is it time to start rigging?
Speaker D:Bertrand is actually gonna hold out his hand for Pathfinder's unit.
Speaker D:If you don't mind.
Speaker D:I'll take that.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker A:Pathfinder will acquiesce.
Speaker D:Thanks, mate.
Speaker A:Don't destroy.
Speaker D:We're gonna build our trust all over again here.
Speaker A:So just don't destroy it.
Speaker A:Or leave it behind.
Speaker D:We wouldn't dream of it, mate.
Speaker A:Still must maintain the integrity of this place.
Speaker D:Yeah, whatever you say.
Speaker D:Thanks for being a.
Speaker D:Being a lad.
Speaker A:Pathfinder beams at you.
Speaker A:And we'll start getting to that rigging.
Speaker B:The agents, they know.
Speaker B:They were coming here looking for bugs.
Speaker B:But do we know why?
Speaker B:Specific.
Speaker B:We don't know why the bugs are drawn to this cave.
Speaker B:Like what they're really doing here.
Speaker B:Correct.
Speaker C:We have a pretty good idea.
Speaker C:And that came from the excruciating work performed by Felix upon Dr. Braden.
Speaker C:VIS A vis the Pegasus.
Speaker C:The other Pegasus death toy.
Speaker C:Brought to you by Bertrand.
Speaker C:Right?
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:So Felix saw something important enough to create a massive meeting of the minds, right?
Speaker C:Between Delta, Green, Pegasus, Immek and Sina.
Speaker C:A once in a lifetime, epic meeting, right between these groups to plan this insertion out.
Speaker C:So you're down here specifically as a result of what he discovered?
Speaker C:The intel he gathered from a sick man's brain.
Speaker C:Felix, do you remember what that intel was?
Speaker E:There was something.
Speaker E:There's probably another ship that landed in here with a similar magic object or otherworldly power thing.
Speaker C:So there's something down below.
Speaker C:The word weapon was used several times in those strange ghost like shattering images that cascaded across your very taut and nearly fractured mind.
Speaker C:And they're real excited about getting down there.
Speaker C:That's.
Speaker C:That's about enough for.
Speaker C:For you to have been mobilized to be thrown down into one of the deadliest caves in the world.
Speaker C:Agents, you begin to take orders from Pathfinder, who is atypically subdued as he calmly guides you through rearranging your equipment so that you can start building the rigging to descend this second fissure.
Speaker E:Are we all going down at the same time or were you like, taking turns?
Speaker E:How's this going to work?
Speaker E:Because I do want to do something.
Speaker C:In the cave, it's going to be very much the same as before.
Speaker C:So the safest way down is one at a time and sometimes one with some counterweighted equipment at the same time.
Speaker C:And that's about it.
Speaker C:Because of the difficulty of the descent, the narrowness of the the crevices and the razor sharp rocks all around.
Speaker C:So it is really best to do it one at a time and make sure everybody's getting down safely.
Speaker E:Would Pathfinder be last?
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker C:That's up to him.
Speaker C:Although yeah, he would either be last or he would be first, depending on how he wants to handle it.
Speaker C:I'll leave that up to him.
Speaker A:What is the advantage of either?
Speaker C:If you're a first, it gives you kind of that same leverage point if somebody decouples from the the wall to better honestly use your strength and muscle them back onto the wall kind of like you did with a forest during the last time from above.
Speaker C:You have not as good leverage just because of the way the safety guidelines have to be hammered into the ice and rock.
Speaker C:Okay.
Speaker A:So it would be safer for them if I went first.
Speaker C:You'll be able to ensure that their target point is secure, safe.
Speaker C:And you feel like based off of what happened before that you have the most flexibility to deal with emergencies.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Or go lost.
Speaker E:All right.
Speaker E:In that case, I do want to carve a half arrow like a seven into the wall pointing towards the way that we came in.
Speaker C:Perfect.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:You can find like a sharp, sharp rock on the ground or use one of your entrenching tools or anything to begin chipping away at the rock to create an etching.
Speaker C:I need the agents as you finalize all of this work under Pathfinder's guidance.
Speaker C:I need you to go ahead and roll either an athletics or survival -20, whichever is higher.
Speaker C:Actually, I'm going to give you a little bump since you've kind of been here before.
Speaker C:You can roll Dexterity first to see if the rolls that I just mentioned get a bonus or not.
Speaker C:So roll dexterity first for me.
Speaker A:Felix, Is that me as well?
Speaker C:I failed a 51 of Pathfinder.
Speaker C:You don't need a roll for this.
Speaker B:Forest failure 84 out of 40 on dexterity.
Speaker B:Not surprised.
Speaker C:So Dr. Vegas and Dr. Kramdis, who hasn't yet revealed he's Felix.
Speaker C:So you're still Dr. Kramdas to me, buddy.
Speaker E:Hell yeah.
Speaker C:Dr. Vega, Dr. Kramdis, both of you get a plus two.
Speaker C:Yes, I guess that's true.
Speaker C:You did say it.
Speaker C:So both of you get a plus 20% to either athletics or survival minus 20%.
Speaker C:Does that make sense?
Speaker F:Survival flat.
Speaker C:Whichever's higher.
Speaker F:Athletics plus 20.
Speaker C:Correct.
Speaker C:Whichever's higher.
Speaker C:Oh.
Speaker F:Oh.
Speaker F:Oh.
Speaker F:Dr. Vega looks at Dr. Kramdis.
Speaker F:They hold hands together.
Speaker F:Everybody glows and they say critical success.
Speaker A:Motherf.
Speaker C:Eleven.
Speaker C:Eleven.
Speaker C:Make a wish.
Speaker C:You say together.
Speaker B:First fails athletics.
Speaker D:Bertrand fails Simon.
Speaker D:Eight over.
Speaker B:Let me check that box.
Speaker B:Beep.
Speaker C:It's a grueling descent yet again.
Speaker C:Bringing down the equipment with you without the assistance of the other rescuers.
Speaker C:Well, the whole team feels it.
Speaker C:The absence of those who are gone or those who choose to remain in the shadows perhaps is felt your muscles strain.
Speaker C:Your body's threatened to give out.
Speaker C:But Pathfinder, you watch as the aged Dr. Kramdis, who impressed you the last time you descended.
Speaker C:This fisher seems to know his way around the belay lines, the safety ropes.
Speaker C:He seems to have a knack for this.
Speaker C:You can see Dr. Vega has picked something up as well.
Speaker C:They both help the others as you guide them from above.
Speaker C:As you watch them descend down towards what is the continuing passageway through this fissure deep, deep below, you can't help but feel maybe, maybe a little pride.
Speaker C:Maybe they're learning something.
Speaker C:They're picking it up quick.
Speaker C:It's impressive.
Speaker F:Dr. Vega looks at Dr. Kramdis as they go and does one of those unblinking smokey eyed nods of knowing.
Speaker F:You know what I'm saying?
Speaker F:Like in those movies where they.
Speaker E:Ooh, smokey.
Speaker F:Across the room where you look like.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker F:Yeah, man.
Speaker C:We've done it.
Speaker C:Jesus, man.
Speaker F:This is the no judgment zone, Erica.
Speaker C:Right, Pathfinder.
Speaker C:You listen and watch as Dr. Vega his feet slam safely against the dusty outcropping that leads to the passage out down below.
Speaker C:And you hear almost as if you expected this to happen.
Speaker C:Footsteps crunching behind you.
Speaker C:You're the only one up there now.
Speaker C:All four of the agents are far, far below.
Speaker A:He's gotta get down to them.
Speaker A:He will not take stock of the footprints behind and will just go descent as quickly as possible and as safely as possible.
Speaker C:So you swing forward and begin the descent as well.
Speaker C:Your own descent.
Speaker D:You will probably still hear the voice of Sea Wolf as he says.
Speaker D:Pathfinder, you.
Speaker D:You know they won't survive.
Speaker A:They don't.
Speaker D:They don't even have to.
Speaker D:But God has sent us in all of this mess.
Speaker D:Let us help.
Speaker D:We went through this once before.
Speaker A:Pathfinder responds as he clings to the rock face, stops and he looks up.
Speaker A:My love, we're all already dead.
Speaker A:But you can join if you will.
Speaker A:You know these ballet lines.
Speaker A:Just wait for Me to get down first.
Speaker A:One at a time.
Speaker A:It's safest.
Speaker D:Echo needs to go first.
Speaker D:She can't see the light of God.
Speaker D:You need to help her.
Speaker E:Can we all hear this at the bottom?
Speaker B:He doesn't have comms.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:So is this like.
Speaker D:Ah, you plucked out your C, didn't you?
Speaker B:So is this something really?
Speaker A:You guys are way down.
Speaker C:You can absolutely hear speaking above you.
Speaker C:Whether or not you can make it out, I will decide.
Speaker C:But right now their voices are too, too low for you to make anything out.
Speaker C:But it is 100% obvious to you that somebody is talking to Pathfinder.
Speaker B:Mumbling.
Speaker B:Okay, got it.
Speaker C:It's just very low.
Speaker C:So yeah, if y' all want to interrupt and yell up there, that's up to you.
Speaker D:Remember, you guys can take this moment of failure role where Bertrand perks up at this and loses focus on what he's doing.
Speaker C:This all happens when Dr. Vega has already been the last one to hit the.
Speaker C:The dusty dirty.
Speaker C:That already happened.
Speaker C:So everybody's down below.
Speaker C:Pathfinder was going to be last.
Speaker C:That's what we decided.
Speaker C:And the moment Pathfinder was ready to descend, he heard footsteps behind him.
Speaker C:He chose to ignore them and jumped to begin his descent.
Speaker C:And then S.E.
Speaker C:wolf stepped out of the shadows and began speaking.
Speaker C:At that point, you heard talking.
Speaker C:You see Pathfinder has stopped.
Speaker C:He's returning conversation to somebody.
Speaker C:But you cannot make out what they're saying because they're not yelling.
Speaker C:They're speaking at a conversational tone very, very far up from you.
Speaker E:Eric just really wants to play his new character.
Speaker C:You're welcome to yell up and be like, oh, who.
Speaker C:Who you speaking to?
Speaker C:Or something.
Speaker B:You take us comms.
Speaker B:You should.
Speaker C:So you're welcome to always interrupt, but.
Speaker C:But that's, that's the setting for the agents.
Speaker C:And you should not feel very happy that your guide is, has stopped and is talking to who is probably somebody insane who hates you.
Speaker B:And I need a description of what Vega's face looks like right now.
Speaker F:Smoky eyes and.
Speaker E:And McDreamy.
Speaker A:He's beautiful.
Speaker C:That's all you need to.
Speaker D:So I don't think Bertrand's going to go the path that Chris kind of outlined there.
Speaker D:It's going to be more of a.
Speaker C:He's.
Speaker D:He snaps his eyes looking up to try to make out what Pathfinder's talking to, who Pathfinder's talking to.
Speaker D:And he gets everybody else's attention and points other.
Speaker D:He's talking to himself.
Speaker E:How.
Speaker C:How far up are we?
Speaker D:Or a little whisper on the comms is.
Speaker C:It's It.
Speaker C:It is a very, very steep and deadly drop.
Speaker C:I don't exactly remember how many meters I said before.
Speaker C:I'll have to look that up.
Speaker C:And.
Speaker C:And I don't feel like doing it.
Speaker C:But it's very far enough.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker B:More than 400.
Speaker C:It requires hours of rigging.
Speaker C:Six hours of rigging.
Speaker A:A yell would carry very well in a cave system.
Speaker A:If that's what you're going to do.
Speaker C:Oh, absolutely.
Speaker A:I will say after Pathfinder says his piece, he continues down.
Speaker D:I think Seaworf has also heard enough and starts like strapping in.
Speaker D:Echo.
Speaker C:Echo is going to talk through comms to Pathfinder.
Speaker C:You do know Pathfinder's comms are off Just because of your familiarity understanding of the system.
Speaker C:Despite the fact your vision has fled from you.
Speaker C:You've been able to communicate with Seawolf in order to eavesdrop on the agents.
Speaker C:Until most of them turn their comms off or otherwise there's been a malfunction.
Speaker C:Okay.
Speaker C:How was Seawolf communicating?
Speaker C:Just yelling.
Speaker A:Literally just talking to me.
Speaker A:Because I'm about 10ft away from you at most.
Speaker D:I still stepped out to actually talk.
Speaker C:With Pathfinder before he disappeared.
Speaker C:So he specifically, he wasn't like catching up to him.
Speaker C:He waited and bided his time to deliver his message.
Speaker D:Okay.
Speaker C:That's what happened.
Speaker C:I just want him to get in a bit too.
Speaker E:To Pathfinder at least.
Speaker C:You can definitely talk to him.
Speaker C:He's starting to climb away.
Speaker C:But you can still talk to him.
Speaker C:No problem.
Speaker C:Wait, Pathfinder.
Speaker C:Why?
Speaker A:Why do you trust them, Echo?
Speaker A:Don't you, Echo.
Speaker A:We're all dead.
Speaker A:We're all dead.
Speaker A:I'm just getting us to our resting places.
Speaker A:If you feel that yours is with us, come.
Speaker C:Echo is biting her lip till it bleeds.
Speaker C:Don't you see how they've betrayed us?
Speaker C:Don't you see how they defy seaweed?
Speaker C:You're part of our team, Pathfinder.
Speaker E:Buddy, are you coming or not?
Speaker E:We're waiting.
Speaker C:You need to stay with your team.
Speaker C:With your leader.
Speaker A:Pathfinder is continuing down.
Speaker A:He says to Echo one last thing.
Speaker A:He says, you can come or you can lie there.
Speaker A:I do not care.
Speaker A:And then we'll call down to Krampus.
Speaker E:Dr. Felix.
Speaker E:Hillary Krampus.
Speaker A:You have to call down to Felix.
Speaker E:Coming.
Speaker C:You traitor.
Speaker A:You.
Speaker C:Infidel.
Speaker C:I.
Speaker C:If I had my eyes.
Speaker C:I rip your corn from these rocks.
Speaker C:I go.
Speaker D:Shut up.
Speaker A:At this point, they probably hear that.
Speaker D:Yeah, probably.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:They.
Speaker C:That.
Speaker C:That is definitely not something that is difficult to hear for the agents.
Speaker C:It's very clear to you.
Speaker C:There's a female and angry, rage filled female voice.
Speaker C:It sounds threatening.
Speaker C:Can almost make it out up above standard for us.
Speaker B:I did not leave the iPad on long enough.
Speaker C:As you hiss out these words of venom echo.
Speaker C:Your eyes begin to ache, but not with pain.
Speaker C:With what you can only describe as anticipation.
Speaker C:I've never anticipated with my eyeballs.
Speaker C:Well, you just.
Speaker C:You just.
Speaker C:Okay, thanks.
Speaker E:How long does it take for like Pathfinder to climb down?
Speaker C:So it took all of you about six hours to rig this down and slowly and safely get to this ledge.
Speaker C:Little bit over, Pathfinder scales down.
Speaker C:Doesn't even seem like he needs the safety or belay lines, but he's keeping them intact.
Speaker C:He just kind of free climbs down as if it's almost a step ladder.
Speaker C:And he's down with you in about 35 seconds.
Speaker C:The speed at which he moved down that insane looking jagged maw does not seem possible to you.
Speaker C:But regardless, he's down with you, brushing himself off.
Speaker E:Slippery little guy.
Speaker E:I'm going to put another arrow.
Speaker C:You go ahead and take your entrenching tool and dig it into some soft limestone to quickly create another symbol in the rock.
Speaker E:I'm going to keep that bad boy close.
Speaker E:The entrenching tool, not Pathfinder.
Speaker E:Medium at best.
Speaker D:He's a bad boy too.
Speaker E:He is a bad boy.
Speaker C:What's your bad boy rating on your character sheet?
Speaker B:Bad boy for life.
Speaker C:99 agents.
Speaker C:You hear the sound of the line being worked from above.
Speaker C:You can see it moving as if somebody's grappling with it.
Speaker C:At the edge of the top of the fissure that you just descended.
Speaker A:Pathfinder will turn to Felix as he's the one that yelled.
Speaker A:He'll say Echo and Seawolf are coming down.
Speaker F:Say that again.
Speaker F:What?
Speaker A:Echo and Sivov are up there and descending.
Speaker F:No, no, no, no, no.
Speaker F:They are.
Speaker F:They're a fucking threat, man.
Speaker F:They can't come down here.
Speaker F:Vega looks at the other agents.
Speaker A:Echo's blind.
Speaker A:And Sevof is.
Speaker A:I. I don't know.
Speaker A:You know better, okay?
Speaker B:You just said it.
Speaker B:Dr. Vega knows better, so.
Speaker B:Dr. Vega.
Speaker F:You tried to fucking kill me.
Speaker F:Okay?
Speaker F:They, they, they're all crazy.
Speaker F:They're all fucking crazy.
Speaker F:Okay?
Speaker F:They cannot.
Speaker F:No, no, no.
Speaker F:It is not safe.
Speaker F:Stop them.
Speaker F:Okay?
Speaker A:Chris, Can I stop them?
Speaker C:Yeah, you can absolutely go ahead and just cut the line and leave it dangling.
Speaker C:Seawolf's pretty resourceful.
Speaker C:He'd probably figure it out.
Speaker C:But it would delay them for a pretty, pretty long amount of time.
Speaker C:Especially since you didn't see that they had a Bunch of equipment with them.
Speaker C:I mean, Seawolf can barely stand sick.
Speaker A:I'll do that.
Speaker C:Damn.
Speaker C:You take out a wicked looking knife and you just deftly, quickly cut all the safety lines that are pinioned down here where you guys have landed all your equipment, they move away from the ice wall, fall forward towards the greater abyss of the fissure.
Speaker C:Well, shit.
Speaker A:Pathfinder looks at Bertrand and says, trust, right?
Speaker D:Yeah, mate.
Speaker F:Vega just kind of shakes his head side to side, wide eyed.
Speaker A:It won't kill them, but it'll slow them down.
Speaker A:If you think their place is not with us, let's continue.
Speaker C:I need the agents to go and enroll another sanity from helplessness.
Speaker F:You know, it's a good night.
Speaker F:Or an hour in.
Speaker F:We've already had two of these.
Speaker E:I didn't know I could be more helpless.
Speaker C:Dr. Vega and Felix, you both rolled critical successes again despite our veiled rule.
Speaker C:I did promise I would start letting you.
Speaker C:What about me?
Speaker B:What about me?
Speaker F:Synced up tonight?
Speaker E:Dude, we're killing it.
Speaker E:We're definitely not going to die.
Speaker B:What about me?
Speaker C:Regardless, would you anybody like to project any potential loss?
Speaker B:But wait, you didn't tell me about my role.
Speaker E:No bueno.
Speaker C:That's true, that's true.
Speaker C:I did not tell you about your role.
Speaker C:But would you like to roll a projection?
Speaker C:Would you like to.
Speaker C:Willpower.
Speaker C:Can I check the box?
Speaker F:Yeah, check the sanity box.
Speaker D:What about for last time?
Speaker C:Oh, do you mean for, for your adapted.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:Oh yeah, any, anytime.
Speaker C:You don't go insane.
Speaker C:But you lose sanity.
Speaker C:You can check.
Speaker C:But since you're not losing any sanity.
Speaker F:I'm sorry, Eric, I was being sarcastic.
Speaker F:Yes, you absolutely can.
Speaker F:According to Chris, you can check a box.
Speaker F:I apologize.
Speaker C:No box checking.
Speaker E:But, but we did.
Speaker E:This is the second roll, so if you, if you did it the first time, check it.
Speaker D:Right.
Speaker C:Nobody check your boxes, please.
Speaker C:I'll take care of that for you.
Speaker B:What else am I going to check?
Speaker B:I have a box.
Speaker C:Don't check boxes.
Speaker C:No boxes.
Speaker E:Now we're not allowed to know about the game.
Speaker F:If only there was a rule book we could read.
Speaker C:Gosh, guys, we've been playing Veiled Sanity rules the entire podcast.
Speaker C:You know how this works.
Speaker C:You all feel extremely unnerved that your pursuers are this close.
Speaker C:And Pathfinder is so blase.
Speaker C:But on top of that, he went ahead and just cut the lines.
Speaker C:He didn't undo them.
Speaker C:He damaged them beyond any repair.
Speaker C:If you need to get back up, you do have some rope left, but not, not a lot.
Speaker C:It just seems like a.
Speaker C:Seems like a Mistake.
Speaker C:If you're trying to leave this place ever again.
Speaker C:That's why you rolled.
Speaker D:That's fair.
Speaker D:Look, mate.
Speaker D:Making decisions like that run them by us first.
Speaker A:Pathfinder nods and says so.
Speaker A:I'm sorry, did that not feel correct?
Speaker B:What do you mean?
Speaker B:You cut the line.
Speaker B:Forest is gonna look at everyone.
Speaker B:Open your packs.
Speaker B:Open your packs right now.
Speaker B:Let's check what we have.
Speaker B:We're looking through our supplies.
Speaker B:We need to think about what we have for protection and survival and to keep getting us through here, especially now that those lines are cut.
Speaker B:So open your goddamn bags now.
Speaker A:Path.
Speaker A:I'm just.
Speaker A:Nonsense.
Speaker A:We have enough.
Speaker A:But we can check again.
Speaker A:If we come through here, we should be able to get down safely again.
Speaker A:But hopefully this is just two loops.
Speaker B:So what's in your pack?
Speaker B:Pathfinder?
Speaker A:He'll open it.
Speaker A:He'll show you.
Speaker A:We all have pretty much the same things.
Speaker A:We have survival gear.
Speaker A:Pathfinder's obviously carrying far more than the rest of you.
Speaker A:But there's no personal affects that he's really brought with him.
Speaker C:I mean, the only thing that you might.
Speaker A:If you're really looking through his package, the only thing that you'll find is in a top zippered pocket.
Speaker A:There's just a locket without a chain.
Speaker C:Forrest, are you like searching through his pack or are you just checking out what's in there?
Speaker C:Now, you've seen inspections over and over again, so this is no surprise.
Speaker B:Everybody is like bags in a circle on the ground.
Speaker B:Like left and right.
Speaker B:Just kind of reaching.
Speaker B:Not digging in everyone's bags, but expecting everyone to pull out what they have.
Speaker B:That is useful.
Speaker B:Locket's not useful.
Speaker B:I'm talking about survival and protection.
Speaker B:So you have nothing.
Speaker C:Let me kind of set the stage here.
Speaker C:You're on a very dangerous ice ledge at the bottom of this fissure that leads through a tunnel somewhere else into the cave system.
Speaker C:There's not a lot of space to spread out everything out of your bags.
Speaker C:I will emphasize that we've gone through several scenes of like, re inspecting all of our equipment.
Speaker C:So we're very familiar about what's in our bags.
Speaker C:As far as you had brought what we have a lot less rope, less pitons and less belay and rappelling equipment because now it's dangling above us at the top of the fissure so that that bunch of equipment no longer exists.
Speaker C:The equipment that was with Lifeline, Warden, Civil and Echo is also above us somewhere beyond the second subway.
Speaker C:Otherwise you have everything you've brought with you that you've been inspecting up until the moment of madness over and over again.
Speaker C:Is there anything in particular you're looking for or worried about having missed?
Speaker B:I want to make sure that we still have a way to protect ourselves against the bugs.
Speaker C:I don't think you ever had a way, ever in this game to really protect yourselves.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker B:I mean, just watching.
Speaker B:I mean, obviously bugs can jump from person to person.
Speaker B:I know that well enough.
Speaker D:Are you asking if we have the dust?
Speaker B:Any of the items we would typically use if we were going to perform a ceremony or ritual.
Speaker B:I mean, in general, just something for protection.
Speaker B:We have our guns.
Speaker B:We did our sear training before we came.
Speaker B:Like, just things to look out for ourselves for protection and then survival wise.
Speaker B:Yeah, I mean, we.
Speaker B:We ran along out of a really shitty situation.
Speaker B:I'm just curious if we still had.
Speaker B:If we left things behind or what we have now so we can assess moving forward.
Speaker C:There's nothing that's been left behind.
Speaker C:But you don't have firearms.
Speaker C:You don't have real weapons.
Speaker C:You have climbing equipment that can be made into weapons, perchance.
Speaker C:Right.
Speaker C:Lifeline did try to beam Warden with an entrenching tool.
Speaker C:So you do have entrenching tools.
Speaker C:Those can be used as makeshift clubs or even blades.
Speaker C:But as far as like weapons, you never brought any weapons with you beyond what was packed for you in your personal effects.
Speaker C:I'm talking about your tablet with the USB key that we've used.
Speaker C:I'm talking about the thing that we got out of scenepl, My hat box.
Speaker C:And we have a hat box and no flash grenades.
Speaker C:And I will go ahead and give you one tobacco tin about maybe with about a third full of the greasy powder that seems to slow down the bugs when they've emerged from someone's skull cavity.
Speaker E:Sick.
Speaker B:And what was Felix using to sort of mark the way?
Speaker B:You said he was like scratching entrenching.
Speaker C:Tool or a sharp rock.
Speaker C:I didn't really.
Speaker E:Yeah, I'm using my entrenching tool.
Speaker B:Okay, Felix, let's just keep marking the way.
Speaker B:Okay?
Speaker B:I think that's important.
Speaker B:That was a good thing you did.
Speaker E:You got it.
Speaker C:The team begins to walk forward, continuing through this narrow passageway out from the bottom of the fissure.
Speaker C:At this point, there's no surprise that it feels familiar to you.
Speaker C:However, the walls are just as strange here in its difference as the fissure was at first glance.
Speaker C:The second fissure, you feel like there are whirling patterns on the limestone walls, on the ice, on the frosted over rock as you pass by.
Speaker C:It's very Strange to you because as you try to study them, look at them closer, the patterns seem to scatter away from any sights or gleaning.
Speaker C:Just natural stone, natural ice.
Speaker C:But you can't shake the feeling that you're moving within some changing, surreal, breathing living creature.
Speaker C:You're now in another familiar chamber.
Speaker C:One that you remember being a pleasant place to rest.
Speaker C:You're there again.
Speaker C:The squeeze.
Speaker C:It's a nice little campsite.
Speaker E:Oh okay.
Speaker C:The squeeze.
Speaker C:You gotta be on your belly.
Speaker C:It's pretty rough.
Speaker E:The squeeze is tighter than this.
Speaker E:A squeeze level.
Speaker C:Oh yeah.
Speaker C:This is a comfortable place.
Speaker C:As you enter this familiar low ceilinged chamber, the place that was.
Speaker C:It's so obviously the last place you made camp.
Speaker C:Only with your full team.
Speaker C:You all note, perhaps out loud, otherwise closed lipped, you all note that it's warm here.
Speaker C:An uncanny warmth.
Speaker E:And it wasn't like this in the pre swirl area, correct?
Speaker C:No, it was freezing.
Speaker C:I mean it was.
Speaker C:I think I said it was like a nice balmy, comforting like just above freezing.
Speaker C:But this is, this is like it's getting close to maybe 50 degrees Fahrenheit.
Speaker F:So not quite sauna.
Speaker C:Not quite so close.
Speaker F:So close.
Speaker A:Pathfinder rests his hand upon the cave wall, takes some deep breaths, looks around at the group and says.
Speaker A:How are we feeling?
Speaker A:Do we need to rest?
Speaker D:Oh, I could go all day mate.
Speaker A:It's been about one.
Speaker B:I think the key is that we just have to be smart about this.
Speaker B:We can't pretend like we can keep going.
Speaker B:We need a moment.
Speaker B:But we have to be very keenly aware of what's around us.
Speaker B:Pathfinder, I have to ask.
Speaker B:You cut the rope to your friends.
Speaker B:Did you do that to prove a point to us?
Speaker B:Or is there something about them that made you concerned as well?
Speaker A:I think that they died to the music.
Speaker A:And I think you all know best what feels right.
Speaker A:And if their corpses being around you feels wrong, then I trust you.
Speaker A:I believe you.
Speaker A:We should be feeling safe.
Speaker E:Well that doesn't make me feel weird.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:I'm not really sure what all that means.
Speaker C:There's a gentle light that shines through this space.
Speaker C:Took a while for your eyes to adjust to it as the thin blades of light from your harnesses and helmets cast over this familiar room.
Speaker C:You're not sure where it's emanating from.
Speaker C:Not really.
Speaker C:You can see small amounts of yellowish moss as you look closer around you.
Speaker C:Considering taking a break as per Pathfinder's recommendation.
Speaker C:You can also see small clusters of bluish fungi as well.
Speaker C:It's almost startling to see it poking up between seams in the rock.
Speaker E:Y', all, I don't feel comfortable taking a nap next to Mr. Spores over here.
Speaker E:I think we should keep moving.
Speaker B:I trust your instincts.
Speaker B:I think we.
Speaker B:We.
Speaker B:We should take it slow, but we should keep going cautiously.
Speaker B:And if anyone feels off, just speak up.
Speaker B:Don't be afraid to say so.
Speaker A:Chris, do I have any extra medication?
Speaker A:Just anything from Lifeline.
Speaker A:From her bag?
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:Roll a luck.
Speaker C:Okay, let's see.
Speaker A:Success at a 40 under 50.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:You have a few anti anxiety anxiety meds, some more Diamox and one other item of your choice.
Speaker A:Looking for something to keep us awake.
Speaker A:So stimulants.
Speaker C:You've got some.
Speaker C:Something akin to light.
Speaker C:Adderall.
Speaker A:He'll pull out the bottle.
Speaker A:I have some medication, some stores of it.
Speaker A:Does anybody need a stimulant?
Speaker B:No, no, no, no.
Speaker A:Does anybody feel lightheaded?
Speaker B:No more drugs.
Speaker F:Vegas speaks out.
Speaker F:What is it you have there?
Speaker A:I have Diamox, a lighter version of Adderall.
Speaker A:Anti inflammatories.
Speaker A:Just a few of each.
Speaker F:Yeah.
Speaker F:Hold.
Speaker F:Hold on.
Speaker F:Before anyone takes anything, run it by me.
Speaker C:Yes.
Speaker F:Okay.
Speaker D:Do you think it's a good idea to re up on the drugs?
Speaker F:Should we be taking a rest now or.
Speaker F:I mean, we're.
Speaker F:I just want to know what it is he's.
Speaker F:This fucking guy is trying to offer you.
Speaker E:Chris.
Speaker E:Can we tell how tired we are?
Speaker C:You just had about six and a half to seven hours of extremely strenuous physical exertion.
Speaker C:And you're old, so you're very tired.
Speaker C:Your bodies are near exhausted.
Speaker C:Also, you've been like, doing this for, it feels like days now.
Speaker C:You've had maybe three hours of sleep in a room that looked just like this, except it was cold.
Speaker C:This one's weirdly lit and warm and has fungus growing in it.
Speaker C:So that also is taking kind of a mental toll.
Speaker C:So, yeah, you're really tired.
Speaker C:Really tired.
Speaker B:He did already suggest that we move forward.
Speaker C:Yep.
Speaker B:To which I agreed and then suggested we all just communicate how we're feeling as we go and take our time.
Speaker F:Vega's gonna say it's just my medical opinion.
Speaker F:Which you've hired.
Speaker F:If you are this exhausted after all that and you load up on a bunch of drugs, you're gonna get yourselves fucking killed.
Speaker F:Okay, but do what you want.
Speaker B:No, no, it's not doing.
Speaker B:It's not doing what we want.
Speaker D:Sleep in shifts.
Speaker B:We're here.
Speaker B:We trust you.
Speaker B:That's why you're here.
Speaker F:I think we should rest.
Speaker B:Okay, but this place is obviously very different from where we've been before.
Speaker B:Despite being the same.
Speaker B:It's.
Speaker F:I'm trying not to think about it.
Speaker E:So y' all want to die here instead of dying farther in?
Speaker B:I don't think we're going to wait.
Speaker D:The first two hours.
Speaker B:No, no, no, no.
Speaker B:We shouldn't stay here.
Speaker E:All right, then I'll take an upper and I'll head over and grab one of the stimulants.
Speaker C:Yeah, sure.
Speaker A:Pathfinder will pop the cap off the little bottle that he's got handy.
Speaker C:1.
Speaker B:Horace is going to move to where Felix is and kind of stick by him with the water close by and monitor essentially while he rests.
Speaker C:I thought he just took a stimulant and he's ready to go.
Speaker E:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker E:He's just going to make another arrow and keep moving.
Speaker C:Yeah, we're not resting.
Speaker B:Do these uppers kick in that fast?
Speaker C:It's basically that scene from waking from a dream where they just take the drug and their eye immediately expands.
Speaker C:That's what happens.
Speaker E:But my butthole?
Speaker C:Oh, yeah.
Speaker C:You'll never poop again.
Speaker C:You're all dried up and husky now.
Speaker E:Oh, no.
Speaker C:Y' all begin marching forward.
Speaker C:Crouch down a bit bent over in this low ceiling passage.
Speaker B:Forest is still next to him, FYI.
Speaker C:Yeah, Forest.
Speaker C:You're hanging out near Felix while this is going on.
Speaker C:Echo, would you please roll me a 1D100?
Speaker C:Just roll that sweet ass.
Speaker C:Non skill specific.
Speaker C:Windy.
Speaker C:100.
Speaker E:Please die.
Speaker E:Please die.
Speaker E:Please die.
Speaker C:This is the Asta Astra.
Speaker C:You don't have to check for that.
Speaker C:Your skill's too high.
Speaker C:You don't have to check that.
Speaker C:I'm skilled in that already.
Speaker A:Oh my God.
Speaker B:Damn powerful dice.
Speaker C:That's pretty good.
Speaker C:That is really good.
Speaker C:That's a 2 out of 100.
Speaker C:Thank you.
Speaker C:I required that.
Speaker C:Sevolf, if you could please do the same.
Speaker D:Yes, sir.
Speaker C:That's a 24 Donka.
Speaker C:All right, great.
Speaker C:Thank you both.
Speaker C:The team keeps pressing forward as the passage begins to narrow again in a familiar way.
Speaker C:Surprise, surprise.
Speaker C:You find yourselves back where the ice plugs should have been.
Speaker C:Where you found a shattered hole instead of a passage abutting against a league's deep and wide and broad glacier.
Speaker C:This room next to yet another icy tunnel delving deeper, deeper into this impossible repeating cave system.
Speaker C:It has the same shadowy and dynamic and banded appearance as those mirrored passages before it.
Speaker C:But again, there's some light here.
Speaker C:A faint light from within.
Speaker C:More of those same cold, seductive winds blowing up from the passage carved into where the plug should be.
Speaker C:I need Everyone present in this ice plug area, five of you to roll power.
Speaker C:Whoa.
Speaker C:Oh.
Speaker D:That's my special.
Speaker B:I don't think I've ever rolled power.
Speaker A:That's a success From Pathfinder with a 14.
Speaker E:Got a success forest critical failure.
Speaker C:All right, Felix, go ahead and roll a sanity for me.
Speaker E:I would like to project on me for now.
Speaker E:I don't know if it is.
Speaker C:This is not project.
Speaker C:This is suppressing an acute episode.
Speaker C:If you would like to.
Speaker C:Would you like to still do that?
Speaker E:Yes.
Speaker C:All right.
Speaker C:So I need you to go ahead and roll a 1D4 please.
Speaker C:You need to spend those willpower points to try to repress your acute episode.
Speaker E:A four, big four.
Speaker C:So subtract that from your willpower, please.
Speaker C:All right.
Speaker C:I need you now to describe to us how one of your bonds might help you keep it together.
Speaker E:I will.
Speaker E:Think of my friend Blake Gibbons.
Speaker E:And how I'm in this situation while he's having his perfect little life without any issues.
Speaker E:And I'm day after day going slowly mad, learning more than I have ever wanted to.
Speaker E:I resent him.
Speaker E:Yeah, that's it.
Speaker C:Perfect.
Speaker C:We'll go ahead and subtract four from that relationship and then attempt another sanity roll.
Speaker E:When you say attempt.
Speaker E:I don't like that.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:Welcome to trying to repress sanity in this game.
Speaker C:It's real tough.
Speaker C:Okay.
Speaker C:You did fail.
Speaker C:Woo.
Speaker E:Anyone got any grenades?
Speaker C:So unless you need me to remind you offline.
Speaker C:I'll just remind you.
Speaker C:Here you are now, in the deep throes of your most recent trauma.
Speaker C:It's very clear to you that this is all like some reusable set.
Speaker C:And you're actually offended at the laziness at play here.
Speaker E:Sounds good.
Speaker C:Perfect.
Speaker C:And I think I have another failure.
Speaker C:Is that correct, Dr. Vega?
Speaker F:Yes, I.
Speaker C:Did you feel this wind pulling at you?
Speaker C:You hate where you are.
Speaker C:You hate where these closed lipped operatives have taken you.
Speaker C:A place that you should never be.
Speaker C:You should be.
Speaker C:Sipping margarita's poolside after stitching up some idiot sicario.
Speaker C:But this wind, it pulls you and it urges you deeper.
Speaker C:Deeper into the cavern.
Speaker C:And you know you're going to go.
Speaker C:You know you're gonna have to see this journey through.
Speaker C:And something down there wants you to.
Speaker C:And you almost want to look whatever it is in the eye and spit in it.
Speaker C:You for a moment regard these irrational thoughts speeding through your mind.
Speaker C:This urging, this need to continue.
Speaker C:You find them to be foreign, not your own.
Speaker C:Deeply unsettling.
Speaker C:But they're there.
Speaker C:They're there in your head.
Speaker C:Dr. Vega.
Speaker C:Nagging and persistent.
Speaker F:Nope.
Speaker C:So the rest of you realize, of course, that you're here at a similar spot.
Speaker E:Felix will say.
Speaker E:He'll walk up to the hole and say, well, I did it the first time.
Speaker E:I guess I gotta do it for the second take, too.
Speaker E:God, this doesn't even look right.
Speaker E:Cheap ass motherfuckers.
Speaker E:And he'll keep going.
Speaker D:That's the spirit.
Speaker D:Bertrand's gonna let Pathfinder pass him, and he's gonna catch his shoulder.
Speaker D:Hey, you mentioned looping through the caves, and now I'm starting to buy in.
Speaker D:What's to stop us from going the other way, other than being pursued?
Speaker A:Well, to go the other way would be to return to Warden and Echo and Sifulf.
Speaker A:I think the only reasonable path is forward.
Speaker A:It's the safe path.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:You're looking for bugs.
Speaker A:Why would they be behind us?
Speaker D:Well, if it's a loop, why wouldn't they?
Speaker B:The matrix is broken.
Speaker A:I think it's less of a continuous circle and more of a spiral.
Speaker A:We have to keep going down to reach the bottom.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker D:Carry on, then.
Speaker D:And he pats you on the back.
Speaker F:Vega just kind of mutters to himself.
Speaker F:Carry on, then he says.
Speaker F:Carry on.
Speaker C:Fuck it.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Pathfinder just smiles.
Speaker C:You all continue, to no one's surprise, but to everyone's silent frustration, you see a familiar sight in front of you.
Speaker C:A long, tiny, horizontal crevasse lined with ice and jagged rocks.
Speaker C:It's undoubtedly the squeeze.
Speaker C:But there's something wrong now, something clearly wrong.
Speaker C:Even from here, you can see the ice as it stretches beyond the blades of light.
Speaker C:From your flashlights, you can see patterns and twisting shapes that seem to touch the ice's surface from within and then pull away.
Speaker C:Strange glints of light, purple and the deep shades of blue appear as if the ice is bruised by these brief moments of impossible tactility.
Speaker C:And then back to white.
Speaker C:This continues before your eyes.
Speaker C:Undeniable.
Speaker C:Impossible.
Speaker C:You all stand still, watching these psychedelic swirls, these strange brushes against some different world below the ice.
Speaker E:Well, I'll be damned.
Speaker E:Maybe this is what Production was saving all that money for.
Speaker D:And then he kind of regards Felix because Felix didn't laugh.
Speaker D:And I think Bertrand is starting to realize that he's maybe a little bit.
Speaker E:Serious and a little bit rock and roll.
Speaker D:And a little bit rock and roll.
Speaker B:Yeah, a lot of rock and roll.
Speaker B:Well, we've always been disposable, so maybe we should just go out with a bang.
Speaker C:What does that mean?
Speaker F:I am not.
Speaker A:That's terrifying.
Speaker C:She pulls out a stick of dynamite.
Speaker C:We all take turns looking at each other.
Speaker B:Well, I think we'll know when it.
Speaker B:When the time comes.
Speaker A:What the fuck?
Speaker C:I'm really scared now, and I'm running the game.
Speaker F:Vega's very disturbed by this.
Speaker D:I'm starting to think you maybe need a nap.
Speaker B:Well, I'm not sleeping.
Speaker D:I'm starting to think we maybe all need a bit of a nap.
Speaker B:Well, we're not all sleeping at the same time, right?
Speaker B:Do you need a nap?
Speaker B:I mean, communication is key.
Speaker B:I said that.
Speaker B:Do you need a nap?
Speaker B:Bertrand?
Speaker D:Bertrand kind of like looks down at his feet, holds his hands up, kind of examines them.
Speaker D:Yeah, I think I need a nap.
Speaker B:Forest is going to look over at Dr. Vegar.
Speaker B:Doctor, can you.
Speaker B:Can you monitor him?
Speaker B:Can you keep an eye on him so that he's okay while he rests, please?
Speaker F:I don't need to monitor him or any of you.
Speaker F:Yes, we all need a fucking nap.
Speaker C:But.
Speaker F:But what do I know?
Speaker F:I'm just a doctor.
Speaker B:This is how you keep us alive.
Speaker B:If someone has said that they need something very special specific, then that's who you help in the moment you heard it, love.
Speaker D:Doctor's orders.
Speaker C:So there's not really a nice place to sleep here.
Speaker C:If you guys want to return back through the really narrow crevice back to the campsite area, that would be a perfect place to sleep.
Speaker E:The.
Speaker C:The prior chamber.
Speaker C:Is that what you like to do?
Speaker B:The warmth and the fungus that was nearby.
Speaker F:We should all fucking sleep here.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:So that's a perfect place to sleep.
Speaker C:And it.
Speaker C:And it is fairly warm in there, so it'd be quite comfortable, if not a little sweaty under all of your winter clothing.
Speaker C:But this spot, the squeeze, it.
Speaker C:There's no place to, like, sleep.
Speaker C:It's just a super narrow crevice that leads to this incredibly very narrow horizontal swath that you have to climb through on your bellies being squeezed by the rock and ice.
Speaker C:You could sleep in the squeeze.
Speaker C:That's pretty uncomfortable.
Speaker C:But I guess if you're that tired, you could probably be it work.
Speaker C:Want to do that?
Speaker F:Was that.
Speaker F:Was that an innuendo?
Speaker C:No, but it was kind of a Please, please sleep on the psychedelic ice in my game.
Speaker E:I'm going to lick it.
Speaker E:Can I lick it?
Speaker E:I'm going to lick you lick the ice.
Speaker B:Oh, no, your tongue's going to get stuck to it.
Speaker B:That is going to be really bad.
Speaker C:Double dog D. Yeah, definitely sleep in the ice that has unnatural colors that you've.
Speaker C:That have not been seen by human eye before.
Speaker C:And strange eldritch shapes swimming impossibly below it.
Speaker C:Please.
Speaker C:Sleep there.
Speaker B:That seems like the alien ship we've been living.
Speaker D:I'm going to take his word for it.
Speaker D:We should sleep there.
Speaker F:Doctor's orders, y'.
Speaker B:All.
Speaker C:Sleep in the squeeze.
Speaker C:Sleep in the squeeze.
Speaker C:Sleep in the squeeze, Sam.
