July 24, 2025 • 66 mins
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Thanks to Michael for commissioning this episode!
These chapters are the ones where Carl and Donut deal with the fallout from being attacked by fellow crawlers at the Desperado Club, and then they go and derail a train. Meanwhile, I'm worried about Grull and also about what the consequences to the train issue are going to be.
Thanks so much to you all for listening, and I will see you soon with a new episode!
Wanna talk spoilers? Join the Discord! https://discord.gg/rEF2KfZxfV
Thanks to Michael for commissioning this episode!
These chapters are the ones where Carl and Donut deal with the fallout from being attacked by fellow crawlers at the Desperado Club, and then they go and derail a train. Meanwhile, I'm worried about Grull and also about what the consequences to the train issue are going to be.
Thanks so much to you all for listening, and I will see you soon with a new episode!
Wanna talk spoilers? Join the Discord! https://discord.gg/rEF2KfZxfV
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
This is an Unspoiled Network podcast. This is spoil Me
covering Dungeon Crawler Carl Book three, The Dungeon Anarchist Cookbook,
chapters nine through eleven. In these chapters, Doughnut and Carl
(00:28):
got scammed on their pricing for security, which the security
thing is a whole additional potential benefit we'll see. And
we have got our first encounter with someone who worships Grol.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
It almost goes real bat. Welcome to spoil Me.
Speaker 1 (01:09):
Welcome to the show everyone. I am Natasha. Thank you
very much to Michael for commissioning this episode.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
Michael is here in.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
The chat, and uh so are Seraphim and Rob, so
we have got.
Speaker 2 (01:22):
A few people here. I love to see you guys.
Speaker 1 (01:26):
It always makes me very happy because there are times
where I record and there is no one there, and
it's so weird the difference I feel in my own
energy when there's nobody present. I always just am sort
of like, what am I doing? What's the point? Nobody cares?
You know, even though I know people listen after it's
(01:47):
not a big deal, but you know that's the performer
in me.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
I guess.
Speaker 1 (01:52):
So these chapters are it's.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
Sort of.
Speaker 1 (01:57):
Uncomfortable because Mordecai isn't around, and I there keeps being
these like I moments where I'm like, I really wish
that we could ask him what to do about this,
or ask his advice on this situation, or you know, anything,
(02:20):
even though so far we haven't really hit a moment
where it's been absolutely crucial, and I'm dreading since I
already feel this way reaching that point.
Speaker 2 (02:33):
But let's pick up.
Speaker 1 (02:35):
Chapter nine is right after Donut gets a skull after
her name, you guys, Donuts' reaction to this is absolutely
heart wrenching. She is so upset, and she keeps telling Carl,
(02:55):
I'm sorry. At first, I thought she was saying, I'm
sorry that I my guard down, I'm sorry that I
allowed this to happen, which I already was very much like, girl,
you have nothing to apologize for, how dare? But then
I realized that she meant like, I'm sorry for killing
a crawler, I guess. And it's so interesting because what
(03:19):
she says is I didn't want a skull. Now nobody
is going to like me, which I don't think is
true at all.
Speaker 2 (03:27):
In fact, I think it might do.
Speaker 1 (03:28):
Some good for her as much charisma as she has.
I don't know how exactly intimidating to somebody like coming
at her it is to have that kind of charisma.
I don't know if it has much of an effect
or what, but I can't help but think that maybe,
considering how non threatening she looks, it might be kind
(03:53):
of good for her to have a skull after her name.
Speaker 2 (03:57):
I just don't I don't know.
Speaker 1 (03:59):
Yeah, I just feel like I understand where she's coming from.
I totally get, especially when she depends on her popularity
so much. I really know how much anxiety I would
have if so many of the things that I got
done depended on me making a good impression right away
(04:20):
and somebody seeming to want to work with me immediately.
I definitely think I would also be concerned, you know,
but I am suspecting that maybe it won't be what
she thinks.
Speaker 2 (04:33):
You know.
Speaker 1 (04:33):
We'll see, we'll see.
Speaker 2 (04:36):
I like this whole.
Speaker 1 (04:42):
Sorry, there's some people having trouble with their watching on
their phones. Yeah, I have heard it's not great on
the phone. Sorry, guys. Michael says Donut has has such
an irreverent persona on at all times. I enjoy these
little peaks we get of how she's really feeling, yeah,
one hundred percent, and it goes away fairly quickly because
(05:03):
later on she says something about how it was but
a trifle. I barely remember the incident, you know, which
is absolute horseshit. She tries to claim it's because I
was drunk, so I don't remember. She absolutely remembers, there's
no doubt in my mind. But I don't blame her
also for not wanting to talk about it or for
pretending that it was like not a big deal. I
(05:24):
really I am not mad at it. It's just it's
hard to watch in a way because you know how
much she probably is feeling it that keeping it all
to herself is not good for her, you know, I
don't think repressing this sort of thing is good for anybody.
(05:44):
So both of the bodyguards have been stunned, and later
on there's a whole thing where we are about to
see them get punished, which I assume maybe was going
to be their deaths.
Speaker 2 (05:59):
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (06:00):
And then there's also the corpse himself named Geehun, a
level twenty one knife sharpener, and he's trying to ask
her like what happened, and she says something, the lady
cast a spell and my guy and the other rock
guy fell and I fell too, And he says, what lady,
(06:22):
And because like obviously she's so drunk that she isn't
thinking about the fact that there's another threat here. And
luckily they have some other friends who have got their back.
And this woman who has popped up behind them suddenly
falls with an icicle coming out of her eye socket.
(06:44):
And Elle comes forward and says, she was about to.
Speaker 2 (06:48):
Blast you too. I got DIBs on her gear.
Speaker 1 (06:53):
Donutlot, the one you kill before we get out of here.
Imani took up a position behind us, wings of fully spread.
I shuddered as she brought us into an ethereal hug.
Speaker 2 (07:04):
You've been juiced.
Speaker 1 (07:05):
Ten percent temporary buff to strength, you've been shrouded, ten
percent temporary damage reduction, you've been trolled twenty five twenty
five percent temporary acceleration to healing. That is pretty dope.
I really, that's a really awesome skill. This is the
(07:27):
sort of thing that like, I think of myself as
a fairly selfish person a lot, and I know that
like in the Grand scheme, it's not really true, but
it's just the sort of thing that, like in petty
little things, I can be. And then there are moments
like this where somebody has a skill that can help everybody,
(07:49):
and I am just like, oh, that is rad. That
is the kind of skill that I would want to have. Like,
out of everything that people have been able to do
in this game so far, that one has gotten my
attention the most because it's three different skills, it's a
significant buff and you can do it to anybody who
fits in your hug.
Speaker 2 (08:09):
Rad.
Speaker 1 (08:10):
I mean, that's like very helpful. I want to know
exactly how much the temporary buff is. I'm assuming as
she levels up in her abilities that the buff will
be longer and longer, but right now I'm curious, like
how long that goes on for. And Carl has to
comfort Dona and tell her that nobody's going to be
(08:31):
mad at her for having done this, and notes the
fact that they can kill so many monsters, but once
she's killed a person, she falls apart, and I was
just like, well, yeah, man, it's a totally different thing.
I could also see and I don't know if this
is a thing, but she's not human and maybe she
(08:53):
feels like.
Speaker 2 (08:54):
I killed one of you.
Speaker 1 (08:57):
In regard to her relationship with Carl, Like, imagine being
a human and everybody around you is a cat, and
your Besti's a cat, and you haven't killed a single
cat the entire game, and then all of a sudden
something happens and a cat attacks you when that's never
been an issue, and now you've killed one. I feel
(09:18):
like I feel a bit like I'd betrayed my friend,
even though you know, we both know that's not really happened.
Speaker 2 (09:26):
That's not what happened.
Speaker 1 (09:27):
It would feel like a seal's been broken or something,
and I don't know, I just I feel like that
would be a factor for me. I love Al just
immediately with everybody. She says something about how I'll freeze here.
It is I'll freeze the blood in your veins and
make your genitals shatter like glass, and it.
Speaker 2 (09:51):
Is a hell of a threat.
Speaker 1 (09:54):
I would certainly rethink if I was about to attack.
Speaker 2 (09:59):
And Elle.
Speaker 1 (10:00):
I love her viewpoint on this, which is this was inevitable.
Once word gets out how you handled it, nobody is
going to mess with you again, which also might be true.
I think the fact that she managed to survive despite
being killed because of her cockroach ability like that would
(10:20):
really I think if people either didn't know about it
or didn't really fully appreciate how that might work in
a situation like this. I could see that giving a
lot of people pause because she you would have to
be able to kill her and then immediately do another
attack that would kill her even after she was able
(10:44):
to potentially defend herself, which it's not out of the
question that you'd be able to do that, but it
would Your team would have to be timed out so well.
So I think if I were going to go after
her and Carl, I'd probably try and hit Carl first
and leave Donut for last, because if she's got her
(11:06):
cockroach skill engaged while she tries to defend Carl, then
you can jump in and kill her after it's like
been used once, you know.
Speaker 2 (11:16):
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (11:17):
I don't know, So let's see. Michael says, can I
just say I love how Jeff Hay's voice Missus mcgibbons
and yes, agree. Saraphim says, I saw it more as
her having a child like innocence that didn't ever think
about the mobs as people. I think that's like, I
think that's what is intended, you know, in the in
(11:41):
the by the author, but I feel like if I
were in her shoes, it would be about more than
that for me. And again it's difficult to say, because
like she does come across very childlike, but some of
that is an act, so I.
Speaker 2 (11:59):
Don't really know how she thinks about things all the time.
Speaker 1 (12:05):
So anyway, this is when we meet Astrid the Bloodlust Sprite,
which Carl notes does not say this is a non
combatant MPC. They are imbued with cardiovascular magic, allowing them
a wide range of attacks and abilities over any creature
that uses a circulatory system. It is said they have
(12:28):
the ability to cause one's heart to beat so quickly
it literally bursts into flames, which is both disgusting and
one of the most metal things ever. And because she's
fairy Clash, she inflicts twenty percent more damage against Carl
because he has that goblin past, And yeah, that's a
no joke. She is a lot more large and in
(12:54):
charge than Karl was expecting. And she's got a tuxedo
on and her hair in a tight bun, and she
flies through the air and I don't remember if it's
mentioned specifically if she has got wings or if she
flies without it just says red sparkles follow her, and
(13:22):
she apologizes for the fact that, like, normally we can't
guarantee your safety, but you literally bought our security package,
so if you do that, yeah, we guarantee your safety.
And we've fucked up. So you're getting your four hundred
(13:43):
gold back. And I thought that she was doing a
like I'm gonna give you most of it back, but
Carl took it as oh, Okay, we got cheated by
Clara Belle when she charged us. I it's like, it's
(14:05):
just so funny, because I really, I'm so used to
garbage customer service that would be like, oh, yeah, well,
we're still keeping twenty percent just for the fact that,
like you had.
Speaker 2 (14:16):
Guards, didn't you.
Speaker 1 (14:17):
But so like that was how I interpreted it, and
the way that he instantly was like, oh, she fucked
us over. Honestly, it would not have occurred to me,
and I probably would have blurted it out the way
that Donut was about to, because I would have been like, wait,
(14:37):
why are you keeping an extra hundred? These guys didn't
even like put up a fight. It was embarrassing, Like
I probably would have had an argument about this, not
realizing I was really fucking up somebody's day. So good
for Carl for clocking what was really happening there and
not thinking that he is just going to have to
(14:59):
battle with some corporation for the full refund, like what
I assume is going to happen anytime you try and
get your money back on fucking anything. And let's see,
she says you and Carl will be granted complimentary security
from now on, which is huge. That's a big fucking
(15:21):
deal every time for the worth of what it cost
to pay. Anytime they visit. Now it's free. I mean,
granted they almost had to die to get this, but like,
that's that's.
Speaker 2 (15:36):
A big park.
Speaker 1 (15:38):
I was pretty impressed with that. I feel like, if
you're trying to cover your ass regarding your business, it's
the way to handle it, you know. But I still
wasn't really sure. I some businesses, it's really shocking how
little they seem to give a shit about their reputation
because they are the only game in town.
Speaker 2 (15:57):
So I think I'm just used to that.
Speaker 1 (16:01):
So then Carl's like, hey, look, I know it's really
none of my business, but I would appreciate it, and
so a donna, if you wouldn't punish those guys, and
if you'd let them be our security every time we come,
including for tonight as we stay here for a little longer.
Speaker 2 (16:24):
And at first she does sort.
Speaker 1 (16:25):
Of you know, but then she's like, all right, you
know what?
Speaker 2 (16:28):
Fine?
Speaker 1 (16:29):
And this was a genius move because Carl not only
is he like, they're gonna be loyal because I saved
their asses, but he thinks about how if these two
dudes had been punished and then they were given another
set for free, those guys would know our friends died
(16:50):
because of these two, which strictly speaking isn't true, but
it may have added a bit of unsavory flavor to
their service.
Speaker 2 (17:01):
Toward him and Donut.
Speaker 1 (17:03):
So this is just a really nice cutting that off
from even happening, and then getting the kind of loyalty
from these two that saving them would you know, that's
like just next level. And plus requesting the same to
you guys every time means that you are going to
begin to develop a relationship with them, which could potentially
(17:27):
get you other perks. It's unclear, like they don't talk
very much ever, but it's possible that this could help
you at some future point, so we'll see. Let's see.
The four of us sat down at a table and
unrolled the paper I'd made Donut loot the body of
(17:47):
the dead human. He had a lot of armor, all
giving a few stat point boosts, and he's gonna give
all that to Katchya. He had a dozen daggers dangers,
each with a different enchantment. The one he stabbed Donut
with had a one hundred percent damage bonus if it
was stabbed into someone's back, which is pretty insane. It
(18:12):
doesn't even matter where on their back, just in their
back at all, like.
Speaker 2 (18:17):
Yikes.
Speaker 1 (18:20):
And they're putting together a plan on the like how
they're going to figure out the train lines and where
they're going to meet and YadA YadA, And he's saying,
how I feel like Mordecai was beginning to figure out
(18:41):
exactly what was going on here, But I also think
he was working with some information that we don't have
access to, so we are just going to.
Speaker 2 (18:48):
Have to do our best.
Speaker 1 (18:50):
And there are prime numbers which apparently factor into this somehow.
I do enjoy Carl being like, you never need to
know prime numbers, and El's like, uh, we're literally looking
at a thing where those are a factor.
Speaker 2 (19:12):
So evidently, yes you do.
Speaker 1 (19:15):
And I was like, look, it's not fair to judge
life according to what's happening in the dungeon.
Speaker 2 (19:21):
It's just not But I get what you're saying. But also.
Speaker 1 (19:26):
So they have to figure out everything by getting as
much like information from other people as possible, and also
by talking to one of the engineers. And let's see, uh,
he stops and gets some explosives, some more smoke curtains,
which this winds up being very helpful. And from there
(19:50):
we checked out the newly opened row of guilds, and
there are some that are of interest. One of them
is listed as Dodge and you need a skill of
seven or better, which does not yet have but potentially
they can get in there. At some point, Bomo in
(20:10):
the sledge, which does sound like a rock band, followed us, diligently,
growling at any NPC or.
Speaker 2 (20:17):
Crawler who got too close.
Speaker 1 (20:19):
They didn't speak or acknowledge what had happened earlier, though
they did appear more contrite in their own sort of
rocky way. And then they go into the casino and
he has his chip and this is so. First, there's
a mention of Laraccos, which is a label above one
(20:42):
of the staircases, and they can hear people down there
who are clearly having a fucking ball, and one of
the guards tells that it's the capital city of the
disputed Lands. It is the prize over which the factions fight.
The fighting is mostly good natured. The Desperado Club is
where they come to one wind. The armies of the
factions aren't allowed to start conquering each other until you
(21:04):
lot reach the ninth floor, so until then, the serious
commanders train their units and the rest party. The gambling
that occurs on that level is done with credits, not gold,
So that's interesting.
Speaker 2 (21:18):
I'm like the.
Speaker 1 (21:22):
Fact that it's the capitol and that apparently there's a
staircase down to it.
Speaker 2 (21:29):
But you can't fight, so.
Speaker 1 (21:33):
You're just hanging out as buds, and then all of
a sudden you have to be enemies.
Speaker 2 (21:39):
I mean, I don't know that I could do it.
I'm sure they're programmed to.
Speaker 1 (21:44):
A degree maybe, But anyway, Carl has his chip and
he decides that he is gonna go over to the
Wheel of Fortune.
Speaker 2 (21:58):
This is why.
Speaker 1 (22:01):
Labels on the spaces are nothing, which is not what
it sounds like get stabbed in the stomach by the croupier,
get poisoned and vomit blood for ten minutes straight. Can
you die like that? Sounds like you die? I wonder
(22:22):
if it's the sort of thing that if you are
a low enough level of resilience in a variety of
you know, maybe you do, I don't know. And then
there's like really good ones, a new pet, fifty thousand gold,
a legendary weapon box, and then there's unlimited free handies
(22:44):
over at bitches or penis Parade. The others were mostly
platinum and legendary boxes. Most of the spots were the
same size, except the nothing spot took up two spaces,
and one of them, the five hundred thousand gold, was
a tiny sliver with a spin.
Speaker 2 (22:58):
Again on either side.
Speaker 1 (23:01):
And he is about to be like, you know what,
never mind, I want to wait until I've talked to
Mordecai before I decide to do this, he says. This
dude runs up and tells him the comp chips is
a maximum bet and every bed over the minimum removes
one of the red spots and adds a positive one.
(23:22):
So if you use the comp only two red spots
will remain, which leaves twenty two positive results, it will
be the nothing spot and one more. I asked which
one more because one of them said, every hair on
your body turns into a snake for five seconds, which, guys,
I have so many questions about that. One How big
(23:47):
a snake? Do they turn into snakes that are proportionally
sized to the size of the hair itself.
Speaker 2 (23:53):
Because I kind of want to see that.
Speaker 1 (23:55):
Two are they venomous or are they just like guard snakes?
Speaker 2 (24:02):
Three? No, those are really it? Those are the two?
How big?
Speaker 1 (24:09):
And are they venomous? If they're not venomous five seconds,
I can deal with that. It will be a horror show,
but I can deal with it. But if it's venomous,
then absolutely not. And I have to assume they'd probably
be venomous because otherwise, like what's the risk It's just
being uncomfortable and getting bit with like tiny fangs potentially
(24:32):
or large regular fangs. I'm just trying to think, like,
they'd have to stay proportionally small, because how would they
fit on your body if they're all of your hairs
on your arm? For example, if they turned into snakes
the size of an ordinary garden snake that would be
too many to fit, so they'd have to just stay right.
I don't know, I don't know anyway. So the other
(24:56):
negative one, he puts his knife out and says guess,
and Donut tries to be like, this game is going
to be rigged, and this guy is like, that is offensive.
This game is one hundred percent legit. One of the
good prizes was choose any skill to level up potion,
(25:17):
and eventually Carl decides he's gonna do it.
Speaker 2 (25:23):
He puts his.
Speaker 1 (25:23):
Chip down and it first almost looks like they're gonna
get that five hundred thousand gold, but then it lands
on spin again. I hate, I hate that it's spin again.
With my anxiety, the absolute agony of one spin is
(25:45):
plenty having to do it again. No, absolutely not. This
is when Carl hears someone scream and he sees a
man fall through a hole that appeared under him in
the floor, and his scream goes on and on. Clearly
he's falling a while, and there are other screams also
(26:09):
coming out of the hole, and there's like an arm
made out of smoke that climbs up out and he says,
what was that? And Tito says, oh, they got a
nothing spot on that wheel too, and he's like, what,
Oh my fucking god, I didn't know that's what nothing meant.
(26:32):
And Tito says, yeah, the nothing sure is something.
Speaker 2 (26:39):
Boo boo. This man, it's a good line. I'm not
even like mad.
Speaker 1 (26:48):
I'm a little mad, but I'm like not really anyway,
he gets scroll of upgrade. A twenty minute countdown to
timer appeared, and he remembers like, if I try and
remove anything, I am probably gonna get screwed.
Speaker 2 (27:05):
So let me just drink it.
Speaker 1 (27:06):
And he gets an upgraded toe ring, which, honestly, considering
how focused on his foot attack he has often been,
I feel like is pretty ideal. And let's see this
item has been upgraded once plus ten strength and plus
five to the scale powerful Strike. I don't remember what
(27:28):
it was before. And if this, like plus ten is
on top of what it had been, or if this
is what it had been, oh, here it is, it
says right after my bad, sorry guys. It had got
on from plus three to plus ten, adding seven points,
and the power strike powerful Strike scale went up to
scale levels. So yeah, pretty good. And they head back
(27:56):
to base and it's so funny this is like one
of those moments that's where the author intended a thing,
but your girl is a real ding bad and it
didn't work. So chapter ten opens, we returned to find
Heckla sitting on the couch in our base, drinking in
Arby's milkshake. Guys, it should have been a moment of
(28:21):
oh shit, heckless here when I tell you, it did
not register that Hecla was not Kotya. I am so serious.
I didn't even hear Hecla. I heard in my brains Kotya.
(28:42):
And so when he says, only then did I see
the name over her head said Katya, I was like,
but yeah, it is Kotya. And then he says if
I was Hecla, I'd be weirded out right now. And
at this point I'm like completely confused, and I had
(29:02):
to rewind. And then I realized Donut was saying she
doesn't wear makeup and she's a lot bigger, and I'm like, oh,
my fucking god, Like y'all when I say ding bat
genuinely not awesome all the time, I'm just saying, yeah, exactly.
(29:23):
Michael says, poor Matt was probably cackling when he wrote
the scene and it was completely lost on you.
Speaker 2 (29:28):
Yeah, I'm sorry, Matt.
Speaker 1 (29:29):
I rest assured it probably worked on everybody else. But
girl is not always turned on. It's always like.
Speaker 2 (29:39):
There's there's.
Speaker 1 (29:42):
Yeah, Michael says, I would assume the types of snakes
would be random per hair, With as many hairs on
the human body, even a small proportion of them being
venomous would be deadly. And Saraphim says, but Carl is
immune to poison through his gear, And that's the question,
isn't It is like, does your gear actually protect you
(30:02):
in the normal way with these sorts of games, Because
I wouldn't be surprised if there was some weird, fucking like,
you know, loophole rule that nobody bothered and fucking mention.
But maybe it's maybe it's fine. So this is when
(30:23):
we find out that uh Katscha bought a table that
Mordecai has mentioned called a makeup table, and she used
her level up tickets, her coupons on it and it
makes it so it doesn't hurt to sculpt herself and
that she can, like if it's at a higher level,
(30:45):
eventually she can like superimpose a face over the glass
so that she can like basically trace it in terms
of sculpting, and eventually a higher level at five, it
can do that for your entire body. And Carl is like, oh, no,
(31:08):
Mordecai is going to be so pished that she used
her coupons. But in the end he's like, but they
were hers, I guess it's fine, and then it says
still using them when upgrading a skill that was only
moderately useful seemed like a colossal waste. But now that
she had it, we were going to have to get
(31:28):
creative with her shapes. Now, I'm gonna say one, Mordecai
wanting to get her upgrades tickets from her knowing that
she was going to try and leave the group as
soon as possible was a pipe dream. There is abslutely
no way she was going to give up those those coupons.
(31:51):
I'm so sorry. I'm sure you would have loved them.
It was never going to happen. I just don't buy it.
And also, a skill that's only moderately useful because she
hasn't gotten the hang of it yet. In my opinion,
a skill that makes you be able to completely change
(32:11):
your appearance is hella fucking useful. It's just that she
hasn't just know how to do it effectively and quickly
and it fucking hurts. She's gotten to a point where
she's found something that she can do it and it
doesn't hurt. Yeah, I think that's kind of fucking key.
Speaker 2 (32:29):
And also just like just the idea that she the proprietary.
Speaker 1 (32:41):
Attitude of, oh my god, you've used them on this,
It just felt very like patronizing to me. You know,
I think this was a good call on her part personally,
and I think that you haven't found a way to
use her abilities yet because they haven't reached a level
(33:04):
where she is able to manipulate easily and effectively how
she looks. But you get to a point where she's
able to make herself like look like an NPC to
get access to certain areas or something, and like that
could really change whole sections of the game for you.
(33:24):
So personally, I've said before that being able to change
your appearance would be one of my top choices in
terms of like abilities. And the one thing I'll say
is that I really really like this author adding in
this aspect of it where one it hurts and two
(33:48):
you have to be able to sculpt in such a
specific way that it adds a difficulty level, because shape
shifting has always felt like basically a completely ope sort
of ability everything that I have read where people are
able to do this, it's almost impossible to like to
(34:10):
beat somebody who has this sort of ability when you
are working in a storyline that has like groups and
teams and an open world like.
Speaker 2 (34:21):
Exactly like this.
Speaker 1 (34:23):
So if you give a character this and you don't
put restrictions on how easily they're able to do it,
it's just absolutely unfair to me, you know, And it's
just it's crazy, in my opinion, how little Carl values
this ability. I understand that she's not that good at
(34:46):
it yet, but dude, she just got this class, the
last floor or this race, I guess it is, So
give her a fucking minute, you know, just a little bit,
and let her figure it out. Anyway, this is when
Kachia notices the skull beside Donuts name and it's just
(35:08):
like oh shit, and Donut acts like it was no
big deal. And then we have Carl training his bare
knuckle skill for a little while and he uses his
demolition workshop.
Speaker 2 (35:21):
I'm going to be totally.
Speaker 1 (35:22):
Honest, you guys. Anytime that he describes making bombs and
the like ways in which he assembles them, I almost
completely miss anything important. It's like my brain just just disengages.
Speaker 2 (35:39):
It's wild.
Speaker 1 (35:40):
I am sure it's useful to know as a reader,
and yet I can't care. So I just trust that
later on, when he uses one of these bombs, it'll
do something great that's super helpful, or it won't, and
he'll tell me why, Like you know, it's fine surferences.
(36:00):
He's clearly never seen Deep Space nine to see how
effective the type of shape shifting she is could be.
I have never seen it either. Forgive me, Michael says agreed.
Other stories involving shape shifting just kind of handwave away
the process of it. If I had the ability to
shape shift, it would be useless because I have no
artistic ability whatsoever.
Speaker 2 (36:17):
Where are the shape shifters.
Speaker 1 (36:19):
Who can only do stick figures, which would be really something.
There's a character on the one piece arc that I'm
on now who can draw with like a giant paintbrush
on the ground and then bring that drawing to life,
and he always draws badly. So it's these like cursed creatures.
(36:43):
That he makes because they you know, he's not good
at it, and they technically are a cat that can
get up and walk around or a bird that can
technically fly and carry him. But they're like barely really
able to do it, and it's obviously very difficult for them.
And if he had been a better artist, maybe it
would have all worked out a lot better. So, you know, yeah,
(37:08):
I feel for her with especially having been an art teacher.
It must be agonizing. So Dona spends this time trying
to ride Mango and he is not fucking having it.
I thought he would be a little bit more I
(37:33):
don't want to say like accepting exactly, but I thought
that her charisma and her coaxing would work better, and
like eventually it does, but he is really really unhappy,
and I just there's no rains or anything.
Speaker 2 (37:54):
So she says like we have a psychic.
Speaker 1 (37:56):
Bond, and then he just bucks her off. And all
I could think about was, like one time, putting collars
on our cats, which they're indoor cats at this point,
we have not put collars on them again. But you guys,
if you have not had a cat that's never worn
a collar and put a collar on them, dogs don't
(38:18):
fucking care.
Speaker 2 (38:19):
Mostly you put a collar on and they're just sort
of like, what, oh all right?
Speaker 1 (38:24):
Cats are like the drama of feeling the collar. They
were like slinking along the ground, walking and yowling. It
was beyond belief. So this is what I kept thinking
of here, and the fact that there doesn't seem to
(38:44):
be a way to steer him. You're totally in his
at his mercy.
Speaker 2 (38:51):
I don't know about that.
Speaker 1 (38:52):
I get the appeal, but until there's more to this,
I just don't think it's worth it. Probably just sticking
to training right now and not actually trying to use
it out in the world.
Speaker 2 (39:06):
Is for the best.
Speaker 1 (39:10):
So let's see, oh right, right right. So they then
go to one of the trains and they're looking at
that third rail and he's trying to see whether or
not it's actually electrocuted. The hoblobber fuse blew the moment
it hit the metal. The metal stick continued to crackle
(39:31):
and glow. A moment later, it vibrated itself off the
third rail. It finally stopped crackling. I didn't see any arcing. Well,
something is hot down there, and we know the fuse works,
I repeated, the experiment, tossing the fuses onto each of
the three rails just to be certain. The only time
the fuse blew was when it hit the third rail,
and something else that made me reasonably certain the hot
(39:53):
line was the third rail, as it should be. I
still wasn't confident we wouldn't get a shock if we
touched the main track, but the fact that tracks were
physically grounded suggested we would be fine, which later on
it appears that he is correct, I think. So they
do a clockwork triplicate, and she sends the two copies
(40:20):
down onto the tracks. The moment one of them touched
the third rail, it exploded. A train pulled up, bumping
and crunching over the metal on the track. I cringed
as it hit and destroyed the second clockwork mango. I
always hate this. I know that they're like just magical nothings,
but I just you know, I hate it. So I
(40:44):
gently placed it on the platform and watched for a
few minutes to make sure it didn't detonate on its own.
According to the demolition's workshop menu, the device was stable
against anything except heavy impact. Still, I watched that status
number nervously. It did not lower. So this is when
they are about to derail a train, and then he
(41:06):
gets a call from L. We explored through one of
those five stations. You wouldn't believe what we found. We
had to fight three neighborhood bosses. There's a borough boss too,
but we left her alone. And that's a miss Craig Heron.
I really want to know what they found, very very badly.
I remember the description that said there were many of them.
(41:30):
If this one was a borough boss, that meant she
was probably a lot bigger. So they managed to derail
this train. He goes up to level twenty nine and
he gets a reward, a gold engineering box. It also
says something like, let's hope this doesn't create some domino effect.
Speaker 2 (41:52):
We'll see and they're looking around.
Speaker 1 (41:57):
There's no mobs, it doesn't seem and let's see.
Speaker 2 (42:04):
We could see the.
Speaker 1 (42:05):
Still closed doorway. The door is still intact. If he
doesn't come out, what are we going to do? Before
I could answer, the door slid open and an enormous
figure emerged, and he is eight feet tall and from
the shoulders down seems to be a regular dude. But
(42:28):
where a normal person's neck would be was another torso
leading to the top half of another man. Guys, I
can't even picture this, you know what I'm saying, Like,
(42:49):
I can't even quite make my brain do this.
Speaker 2 (42:54):
It's too how.
Speaker 1 (43:00):
His name is Gorgre. He is a Mantor level forty.
He is an engineer, and he worships Grol, which is
something that isn't stated here, I don't think, but he
definitely has the blue paint on him, which is a
warning sign. And he is super like intense about calling
(43:27):
them brothers and sisters, and there's something almost like Viking,
like he's reminding me of the first Thor movie, the
attitude that Thor had towards everybody.
Speaker 2 (43:37):
As if it was all like we were in a
myth you know.
Speaker 1 (43:43):
It is too much. So the second train comes crashes
into that one, and Gorgre is just standing there like
not seeming to know exactly what to do now that
(44:04):
he isn't in his train anymore. And Donut is like, hey,
can we ask you some questions? And he winds up
giving them a lot of info. Here, we have some
questions about the end of the line. You mean stop
number four thirty five, he said, his manner changing instantly.
(44:25):
It was like I'd flipped a switch. He lowered his
voice and he tries to be like, look, it's not
safe for you guys over there. And Carl says, well,
what's at four thirty four and four thirty five? And
he says, four thirty four is baron. Four thirty five
is when we exit and take the portal back to
the depot.
Speaker 2 (44:46):
What about you?
Speaker 1 (44:48):
We talked to a conductor and he said he never
sees your kind get off the train and they don't
remember what happens at four thirty five, And Carl describes
the expression that he gets on his face right here
as a shamed which is interesting. The Tangle employees, having
completed their sacred duty, disembark at four thirty five and
(45:11):
proceed into the tunnel, which transports them back to base.
The Kravad are in charge of employee return. They use
their dark magic to prepare the employees before they enter
the portal. The portal has a side effect regarding memory.
Human Resources says, they're looking into it, and I have
to say that like the way that the author or
(45:34):
not the author, the narrator decided to deliver that line.
There's a pause after Human Resources says that isn't in
the text, and I think it's a very interesting choice.
Speaker 2 (45:47):
I like it, but it's also.
Speaker 1 (45:50):
Reading it now, I'm like that sort of adds a
tone to this that I would say is editorializing a
little bit, but not necessarily out of line, you know.
So the shame that he is feeling, as we find
out later, is because his people are not fans of magic,
(46:14):
and so the fact that he is like working for
a company that is using magic is something that if
he could control it, he would not do this.
Speaker 2 (46:26):
But he also it's.
Speaker 1 (46:27):
Very important to him obviously that he do what he's
told and be a good employee. I gate the train.
What does that mean? There's a gate just after four
thirty five, and I drive into it. I enter, and
I'm back at the depot, pulling into a parking spot.
It's just my engine car. The nineteen other cars are gone.
(46:50):
One moment I'm approaching the gate, and then I'm at
the depot. I don't know how it works.
Speaker 2 (46:56):
But let's see.
Speaker 1 (46:57):
There's no memory loss like the Dwarves and Grapples experience.
There's a flash of vile light and I and the
car teleport. I sleep for eight hours in my cabin,
eat an epic meal, get up and do the checks
and wait for them to hook the cars back up
for my next turn.
Speaker 2 (47:16):
And Carl is like, our other dude.
Speaker 1 (47:18):
Didn't say there was any time for sleep, And he
says they lose time when they go through the portal.
It's nine or ten hours until the next shift. So
the idea that like, maybe that lost time is spent
in the portal and they're not having to sleep, but
(47:39):
they could sleep, Like, It's just it's pretty terrible guys
not having like any downtime, setting it up so that
everybody is just working NonStop. How many companies would do
this if they could get away with it, like literally
all of them.
Speaker 2 (47:57):
I guess this is what.
Speaker 1 (47:58):
Severance is about. Right, So let's see, Uh, what about
your car doesn't get deep cleaned? So if we're with
you when we go through the gate, we'd be okay too.
And he's like, I don't think you could do it.
You'd be hurt. And Carl's like, I don't mean in
(48:19):
the passenger cars, I mean in the engine car with you,
And Carl like as he presses this, because Gorgor is
clearly like not really wanting to even acknowledge what Carl
is suggesting as an option. Finally, Gorgor is like, okay,
(48:40):
Like you might be physically okay from the going through
the gate, but I would have to kill you. One
last question. You came out because the train crash. Is
there any other reason why you'd come out of the car,
Like if we ever wanted to talk to one of
your fellow engineers, how would we do that? We do
(49:02):
not leave the engine car if the train is intact.
This is a rule, now, my fellow warriors, I see
a place of respite. I shall drink my fill of
mead and wait for the crash interdiction team to arrive
to extract me back to base. So he goes off,
but not for too long, as we will see a
little bit later. Let's see, we know the keys are
(49:26):
color coded. His key will only work on other Ochre
line trains. I don't think we can hop on over
to the yellow line and use it there. And if
we have to crash a train to get the key,
that stops the rest of the trains on the line,
we don't know for how long. If the trains are stopped,
the key's useless. Wait, Carl Donut said, doesn't it only
stop the trains behind it. What if we get the key,
(49:48):
jump onto the Nightmare Express or one of those other
super fast loop trains and jump ahead on the line
and catch one of the trains that were already ahead.
That's brilliant, I said to Donut, scratching her on the head.
She beamed. I'd also come up with that idea, but
I wasn't about to say that. Now I really appreciate this.
(50:09):
It's good leadership, being able to like let somebody have
their little moment, even though you already thought of that,
Like it's the way to you know, I approve of this,
and I will admit that I'm not sure I would
think to handle it this way.
Speaker 2 (50:25):
I feel like I would.
Speaker 1 (50:28):
Probably be like, yeah, that's what I was thinking, not
trying to necessarily take the wind out of their sails,
but more emphasize the fact that, like, yeah, we're thinking
alike on this, you know, like encouraging but in a
different way. And I kind of prefer this method.
Speaker 2 (50:48):
Yeah, I don't know.
Speaker 1 (50:50):
Just to let's see, he says. He revealed two different
ways to get to the stairwells. We can also use
the employee portal. Maybe it sounds like people who take
that path loose time and suffer memory issues and they
have to fight the Kraviad whatever. That is probably a
boss guarding the portal. I'm going to go ahead and
(51:10):
guess that they are not really magic and that this
is just like people who are managing a section of
the dungeon itself, and that they just have like a
sort of name in world for them to make them
seem like they're part of things, but actually they are basically.
Speaker 2 (51:30):
Like staff, you know. And Katcha is.
Speaker 1 (51:35):
Like, this is so complicated, how many people are even
going to figure this out? And Carl is like, we're
gonna start spreading words, so hopefully everybody finds out. And
this is when Goregre comes running out and he's like,
I can't believe you fucking did this. I had no
idea it was you, but here I am, and I'm
(51:56):
going to fuck your day up. And it is as
battle neighborhood boss versus Gorgre, the man toor adherent of
Grol the war god Berserker extreme level forty. So they
(52:17):
use a bunch of smoke curtains here and it does help,
but this dude is like much more immune to the
things they use than they're used to. They're like, the
first thing, of course that Doughnut does is magic missile,
and it turns out that he is totally immune, which
(52:41):
is really unfair. That's super unfair to me. And the
fact that they're using magic on like their you know,
little accessories and whatnot. This makes Gorgre really angry because
you know, magic and wizardry die and Roll's name.
Speaker 2 (53:02):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (53:02):
He turned and swiped again, this time at donuts location,
which I wasn't expecting. She backflipped out of the way. Okay,
d Like, I just didn't realize that we were like
that with our fighting at this point, backflipping okay, and
(53:24):
Carl punches him and he gets a one point five notification.
I was puzzled by why it remained on the screen.
Because of my magic Gauntlet special ability, each successful punch
had a one point five percent chance to summon Groll
the War War God, which would probably be a juiced up,
almost immoral version of Prince Stalwar of the Skull Empire.
Speaker 2 (53:49):
And the fact that it stuck.
Speaker 1 (53:51):
I was like, because it is adding up through the fight, dude,
and it takes him a little to clock that that's
what's happening. Later on, he does four quick punches and
it's three four point five, six, seven point five, and
he's like, oh no, but he can't kick. He's too
(54:14):
close in to be able to get the leverage that
he would need for that. So he gets up to
ten point five. Gorgor grunted in surprise as my damage
reflection hit him. A hand from his lower torso wrapped
around my throat, catching me before I could get away.
(54:35):
And I needed this reminder that brow has four arms
because I had forgotten. And again, it just seems very,
very unfair. All of this is every little bit I
think of of the advantage that he has would make
me kind of be like, maybe I should just let
(54:56):
myself die. Maybe I should just give up because this
guy is like, there's there's a lot of factors against
Carl in this moment, but Carl isn't a giver upper.
That's just not him, and I respect it. So he
slams on protective shell, thinking, oh, that'll shove him away
(55:17):
from me. But the thing is, Gorgor has such a
grip on him that when he is shoved, Carl is
shoved with him, and so like, because he's yanking on
him just I get what you were going for, Carl,
and I don't know if I would have predicted this
(55:37):
would happen either, but it is embarrassing in its way.
Speaker 2 (55:43):
So his grip loosens.
Speaker 1 (55:46):
At one point when they land really hard, I felt
an ominous crunch within myself. He continued his forward tumbling
momentum as I slammed onto a healing potion. Before I
stop moving, I turned in time to see him fall
off the edge of the platform, his body plummeting into
the space between the third and fourth cars. I clambered
(56:09):
to my feet as Gorgore, dazed, stood all the way
up to his full height as if he was standing
underneath an awning. His health was down to twenty percent.
I feel it in my chest. I had been blessed
by the gods. That's when I saw the ten point
five was now blinking and Gorgor had a timer over
(56:31):
his head. I will be honest, I really didn't think
that this was going to work at this point. I
thought we were just going to be adding that as like,
you know, a potential stake for this little scene, and
then eventually it would actually happen later now granted it
doesn't happen here either, because Carl decided to go fucking
(56:52):
ham and kill him before girl can come through. But
you know what I'm saying, Like I just I didn't
expect this, so he bounds toward him with his talon
strike activating. I executed a dropkick right at the solar
plexus of the lower chest. HM good detail of Gorgore.
(57:18):
He rocketed back on the tracks as I dropped him.
As I dropped into the channel like a sack of
hammers z. It wasn't a loud sound. I barely heard
it over the sound of.
Speaker 2 (57:29):
The music, but I felt it.
Speaker 1 (57:31):
As the electrified corpse of Gorgor crumpled and hit the
main tracks, I more than sensed the current rushing.
Speaker 2 (57:39):
Through the third rail.
Speaker 1 (57:40):
My entire body ripped in pain as the tracks were
electrified by the short circuit caused by Gorgore's body. Thankfully,
the grounding was enough that the shock was dispersed. I
hopped backwards, stumbling and hitting the back of my head
on the platform's edge. I felt jaws bite on to
the back of my jacket and cloak as don't up
(58:02):
pulled me from the channel, which again stronger than I imagine
I keep forgetting how much her abilities have accentuated what
an ordinary cat can do, and it's like, you know,
she is not a cat. She doesn't have the abilities
of a cat. And then he gets admin notice, congratulations, Crawler,
(58:26):
you've been sponsored. Viewers watching your feed will now occasionally
see advertisements produced by your sponsor.
Speaker 2 (58:33):
Sponsors named the.
Speaker 1 (58:34):
Valzawa Valta Corporation. Additional details available in the sponsorship tab
of your interface. And that was the end of the chapter.
And guys, I really really want to know how this
all works. I want to know what kind of ads
they're seeing. I want to know, like the people who
watch the Dungeon, do they hate when eventually sponsors get
(58:58):
introduced because.
Speaker 2 (58:59):
It had been ad free previews to this or.
Speaker 1 (59:03):
Did it used to have ads and it was simply
not targeted ads by certain corporations And so it's just
like the nature of which ads they see that are changing.
Maybe that, uh, but yeah, like this whole thing with Girl,
I am very interested. I am very relieved that Carl
(59:28):
killed this guy before Girl came through. But there also,
I can't lie, was a part of me that was
pretty curious and was sort of.
Speaker 2 (59:35):
Like, oh shit, it's happening. Well, let's let's see this guy.
I have to assume.
Speaker 1 (59:42):
If it if he had succeeded in coming through, though,
Carl would definitely have been dead. Maybe I'm wrong about that.
I don't really know how all this works, but I'm yeah,
I'm assuming that, And a part of me kind of
wonders if this gauntlet is really worth it because that
was what.
Speaker 2 (01:00:01):
Five punches total. And I don't know, man, maybe maybe
maybe you.
Speaker 1 (01:00:12):
Get something else.
Speaker 2 (01:00:15):
Ah, I don't know.
Speaker 1 (01:00:17):
It's it's so risky to me, though. Michael says, the
percentage being cumulative is a huge deal. And the other
thing is is it persistently cumulative, Like the next time
he punches, is it going to go from ten point
five to twelve? Or does it start from scratch with
each fight? It fucking better start from scratch because otherwise
(01:00:40):
the thing is just unusable, right, Seraphim says, you know
they have a premium AD free option. I wonder if
they do. Like that's an interesting question because, like so
many streaming services have started making the premium option more
(01:01:02):
expensive and adding in another tier that has like yes
it has ads, but fewer ads than the other tier
because it seems like the premium AD free loses them
so much money in the long run that they almost
regret having had it as an option at all. So
(01:01:23):
a part of me feels like, if they were smart
business people, there would be no premium AD free option
for anybody that having that be like even a choice
would be out of the question.
Speaker 2 (01:01:38):
But perhaps.
Speaker 1 (01:01:45):
Michael says, you know, it would be a BS premium
option where corps can pay more to bypassion. Rob says,
it's just the same home depot ad like ten times
an hour. Also, let's ban advertising. It's so tough because
like advertising, I understand the need for it with some things,
and I don't I like, I don't hate it in
(01:02:10):
as a concept in general, but the way that it
has become what it has is so insidious that especially
like because of how social media works, there will be
stuff that comes across your feed that if you're not
really sharp eyed about it, which many people are not,
(01:02:32):
it looks like a regular post but it's actually an AD,
or it looks like a real article, you know, or
something like.
Speaker 2 (01:02:40):
That, and.
Speaker 1 (01:02:42):
That kind of advertising. It's not like there wasn't gorilla
advertising before, but it's just so much more pervasive at
this point. And you know, I try and go to
like an article on certain websites and I can't even
fucking read it because there are so many pop up ads,
and there are so many ads that take a while
to populate, and as they populate, the size of the
(01:03:06):
ad will change and it will shove the text up
or down, and then you have to find your spot again.
And just as you find your spot, it just again
and it makes it so that you can't even get
to the end.
Speaker 2 (01:03:17):
I have had like my browser crash and.
Speaker 1 (01:03:21):
Basically be like, sorry, there's too much going on on
this site. You know, I think that's insane. I understand
that we need to pay our bills, but for Christ's sake,
you know, anyway, I uh, Michael says, we're approaching the
dead Internet anyway, where all the content will be generated
by AI bots responding to other AI bots and the
(01:03:43):
AI thing. You guys know how I feel about it.
I don't even want to get started talking about that.
Rob says, regulators just seems to have no real idea
about how sophisticated targeting has gotten either. It's not your
old drive by sign advertising.
Speaker 2 (01:03:57):
And I completely agree, and all so I.
Speaker 1 (01:04:01):
Don't care what anybody says. I don't want to hear it.
You can come to me with your little arguments all
you want. Our phones are fucking listening to us.
Speaker 2 (01:04:14):
I have no doubt.
Speaker 1 (01:04:16):
There have been too many times where I have literally
been near a stranger talking about a thing at like
a coffee shop, a thing I have no interest in personally,
but they're close enough to me that it can feel
like maybe I'm talking with them, and I will open
my phone and there will be an AD for the
(01:04:37):
exact thing they were just talking about. Or one time
I picked up my phone after characters on a TV
show in the room, we're talking about something, and I
pick up my phone and there is an AD for
what the characters on the show were describing, which was
not relevant to my life at all. And I had
(01:04:59):
never seen that ad before, because you know how it is,
you get to see the same ads over and over
because of your browsing.
Speaker 2 (01:05:04):
Habits, so you're used to a certain type.
Speaker 1 (01:05:06):
Of ad, and this was for something literally the TV
characters had mentioned. They're listening, And I do not want
anybody trying to tell me different, because I'm so sorry,
But you live in a dream world they are absolutely
listening in.
Speaker 2 (01:05:23):
It's fine, just accept it.
Speaker 1 (01:05:26):
Anyway, I'm gonna wrap up, thank you guys again for
hanging out with me, and I will be seeing you
again on Thursday with a new episode.
Speaker 3 (01:05:33):
Until then, did a lout motherfuckers
Speaker 1 (01:06:06):
That was an unspoiled network podcast
This is an Unspoiled Network podcast. This is spoil Me
covering Dungeon Crawler Carl Book three, The Dungeon Anarchist Cookbook,
chapters nine through eleven. In these chapters, Doughnut and Carl
(00:28):
got scammed on their pricing for security, which the security
thing is a whole additional potential benefit we'll see. And
we have got our first encounter with someone who worships Grol.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
It almost goes real bat. Welcome to spoil Me.
Speaker 1 (01:09):
Welcome to the show everyone. I am Natasha. Thank you
very much to Michael for commissioning this episode.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
Michael is here in.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
The chat, and uh so are Seraphim and Rob, so
we have got.
Speaker 2 (01:22):
A few people here. I love to see you guys.
Speaker 1 (01:26):
It always makes me very happy because there are times
where I record and there is no one there, and
it's so weird the difference I feel in my own
energy when there's nobody present. I always just am sort
of like, what am I doing? What's the point? Nobody cares?
You know, even though I know people listen after it's
(01:47):
not a big deal, but you know that's the performer
in me.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
I guess.
Speaker 1 (01:52):
So these chapters are it's.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
Sort of.
Speaker 1 (01:57):
Uncomfortable because Mordecai isn't around, and I there keeps being
these like I moments where I'm like, I really wish
that we could ask him what to do about this,
or ask his advice on this situation, or you know, anything,
(02:20):
even though so far we haven't really hit a moment
where it's been absolutely crucial, and I'm dreading since I
already feel this way reaching that point.
Speaker 2 (02:33):
But let's pick up.
Speaker 1 (02:35):
Chapter nine is right after Donut gets a skull after
her name, you guys, Donuts' reaction to this is absolutely
heart wrenching. She is so upset, and she keeps telling Carl,
(02:55):
I'm sorry. At first, I thought she was saying, I'm
sorry that I my guard down, I'm sorry that I
allowed this to happen, which I already was very much like, girl,
you have nothing to apologize for, how dare? But then
I realized that she meant like, I'm sorry for killing
a crawler, I guess. And it's so interesting because what
(03:19):
she says is I didn't want a skull. Now nobody
is going to like me, which I don't think is
true at all.
Speaker 2 (03:27):
In fact, I think it might do.
Speaker 1 (03:28):
Some good for her as much charisma as she has.
I don't know how exactly intimidating to somebody like coming
at her it is to have that kind of charisma.
I don't know if it has much of an effect
or what, but I can't help but think that maybe,
considering how non threatening she looks, it might be kind
(03:53):
of good for her to have a skull after her name.
Speaker 2 (03:57):
I just don't I don't know.
Speaker 1 (03:59):
Yeah, I just feel like I understand where she's coming from.
I totally get, especially when she depends on her popularity
so much. I really know how much anxiety I would
have if so many of the things that I got
done depended on me making a good impression right away
(04:20):
and somebody seeming to want to work with me immediately.
I definitely think I would also be concerned, you know,
but I am suspecting that maybe it won't be what
she thinks.
Speaker 2 (04:33):
You know.
Speaker 1 (04:33):
We'll see, we'll see.
Speaker 2 (04:36):
I like this whole.
Speaker 1 (04:42):
Sorry, there's some people having trouble with their watching on
their phones. Yeah, I have heard it's not great on
the phone. Sorry, guys. Michael says Donut has has such
an irreverent persona on at all times. I enjoy these
little peaks we get of how she's really feeling, yeah,
one hundred percent, and it goes away fairly quickly because
(05:03):
later on she says something about how it was but
a trifle. I barely remember the incident, you know, which
is absolute horseshit. She tries to claim it's because I
was drunk, so I don't remember. She absolutely remembers, there's
no doubt in my mind. But I don't blame her
also for not wanting to talk about it or for
pretending that it was like not a big deal. I
(05:24):
really I am not mad at it. It's just it's
hard to watch in a way because you know how
much she probably is feeling it that keeping it all
to herself is not good for her, you know, I
don't think repressing this sort of thing is good for anybody.
(05:44):
So both of the bodyguards have been stunned, and later
on there's a whole thing where we are about to
see them get punished, which I assume maybe was going
to be their deaths.
Speaker 2 (05:59):
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (06:00):
And then there's also the corpse himself named Geehun, a
level twenty one knife sharpener, and he's trying to ask
her like what happened, and she says something, the lady
cast a spell and my guy and the other rock
guy fell and I fell too, And he says, what lady,
(06:22):
And because like obviously she's so drunk that she isn't
thinking about the fact that there's another threat here. And
luckily they have some other friends who have got their back.
And this woman who has popped up behind them suddenly
falls with an icicle coming out of her eye socket.
(06:44):
And Elle comes forward and says, she was about to.
Speaker 2 (06:48):
Blast you too. I got DIBs on her gear.
Speaker 1 (06:53):
Donutlot, the one you kill before we get out of here.
Imani took up a position behind us, wings of fully spread.
I shuddered as she brought us into an ethereal hug.
Speaker 2 (07:04):
You've been juiced.
Speaker 1 (07:05):
Ten percent temporary buff to strength, you've been shrouded, ten
percent temporary damage reduction, you've been trolled twenty five twenty
five percent temporary acceleration to healing. That is pretty dope.
I really, that's a really awesome skill. This is the
(07:27):
sort of thing that like, I think of myself as
a fairly selfish person a lot, and I know that
like in the Grand scheme, it's not really true, but
it's just the sort of thing that, like in petty
little things, I can be. And then there are moments
like this where somebody has a skill that can help everybody,
(07:49):
and I am just like, oh, that is rad. That
is the kind of skill that I would want to have. Like,
out of everything that people have been able to do
in this game so far, that one has gotten my
attention the most because it's three different skills, it's a
significant buff and you can do it to anybody who
fits in your hug.
Speaker 2 (08:09):
Rad.
Speaker 1 (08:10):
I mean, that's like very helpful. I want to know
exactly how much the temporary buff is. I'm assuming as
she levels up in her abilities that the buff will
be longer and longer, but right now I'm curious, like
how long that goes on for. And Carl has to
comfort Dona and tell her that nobody's going to be
(08:31):
mad at her for having done this, and notes the
fact that they can kill so many monsters, but once
she's killed a person, she falls apart, and I was
just like, well, yeah, man, it's a totally different thing.
I could also see and I don't know if this
is a thing, but she's not human and maybe she
(08:53):
feels like.
Speaker 2 (08:54):
I killed one of you.
Speaker 1 (08:57):
In regard to her relationship with Carl, Like, imagine being
a human and everybody around you is a cat, and
your Besti's a cat, and you haven't killed a single
cat the entire game, and then all of a sudden
something happens and a cat attacks you when that's never
been an issue, and now you've killed one. I feel
(09:18):
like I feel a bit like I'd betrayed my friend,
even though you know, we both know that's not really happened.
Speaker 2 (09:26):
That's not what happened.
Speaker 1 (09:27):
It would feel like a seal's been broken or something,
and I don't know, I just I feel like that
would be a factor for me. I love Al just
immediately with everybody. She says something about how I'll freeze here.
It is I'll freeze the blood in your veins and
make your genitals shatter like glass, and it.
Speaker 2 (09:51):
Is a hell of a threat.
Speaker 1 (09:54):
I would certainly rethink if I was about to attack.
Speaker 2 (09:59):
And Elle.
Speaker 1 (10:00):
I love her viewpoint on this, which is this was inevitable.
Once word gets out how you handled it, nobody is
going to mess with you again, which also might be true.
I think the fact that she managed to survive despite
being killed because of her cockroach ability like that would
(10:20):
really I think if people either didn't know about it
or didn't really fully appreciate how that might work in
a situation like this. I could see that giving a
lot of people pause because she you would have to
be able to kill her and then immediately do another
attack that would kill her even after she was able
(10:44):
to potentially defend herself, which it's not out of the
question that you'd be able to do that, but it
would Your team would have to be timed out so well.
So I think if I were going to go after
her and Carl, I'd probably try and hit Carl first
and leave Donut for last, because if she's got her
(11:06):
cockroach skill engaged while she tries to defend Carl, then
you can jump in and kill her after it's like
been used once, you know.
Speaker 2 (11:16):
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (11:17):
I don't know, So let's see. Michael says, can I
just say I love how Jeff Hay's voice Missus mcgibbons
and yes, agree. Saraphim says, I saw it more as
her having a child like innocence that didn't ever think
about the mobs as people. I think that's like, I
think that's what is intended, you know, in the in
(11:41):
the by the author, but I feel like if I
were in her shoes, it would be about more than
that for me. And again it's difficult to say, because
like she does come across very childlike, but some of
that is an act, so I.
Speaker 2 (11:59):
Don't really know how she thinks about things all the time.
Speaker 1 (12:05):
So anyway, this is when we meet Astrid the Bloodlust Sprite,
which Carl notes does not say this is a non
combatant MPC. They are imbued with cardiovascular magic, allowing them
a wide range of attacks and abilities over any creature
that uses a circulatory system. It is said they have
(12:28):
the ability to cause one's heart to beat so quickly
it literally bursts into flames, which is both disgusting and
one of the most metal things ever. And because she's
fairy Clash, she inflicts twenty percent more damage against Carl
because he has that goblin past, And yeah, that's a
no joke. She is a lot more large and in
(12:54):
charge than Karl was expecting. And she's got a tuxedo
on and her hair in a tight bun, and she
flies through the air and I don't remember if it's
mentioned specifically if she has got wings or if she
flies without it just says red sparkles follow her, and
(13:22):
she apologizes for the fact that, like, normally we can't
guarantee your safety, but you literally bought our security package,
so if you do that, yeah, we guarantee your safety.
And we've fucked up. So you're getting your four hundred
(13:43):
gold back. And I thought that she was doing a
like I'm gonna give you most of it back, but
Carl took it as oh, Okay, we got cheated by
Clara Belle when she charged us. I it's like, it's
(14:05):
just so funny, because I really, I'm so used to
garbage customer service that would be like, oh, yeah, well,
we're still keeping twenty percent just for the fact that,
like you had.
Speaker 2 (14:16):
Guards, didn't you.
Speaker 1 (14:17):
But so like that was how I interpreted it, and
the way that he instantly was like, oh, she fucked
us over. Honestly, it would not have occurred to me,
and I probably would have blurted it out the way
that Donut was about to, because I would have been like, wait,
(14:37):
why are you keeping an extra hundred? These guys didn't
even like put up a fight. It was embarrassing, Like
I probably would have had an argument about this, not
realizing I was really fucking up somebody's day. So good
for Carl for clocking what was really happening there and
not thinking that he is just going to have to
(14:59):
battle with some corporation for the full refund, like what
I assume is going to happen anytime you try and
get your money back on fucking anything. And let's see,
she says you and Carl will be granted complimentary security
from now on, which is huge. That's a big fucking
(15:21):
deal every time for the worth of what it cost
to pay. Anytime they visit. Now it's free. I mean,
granted they almost had to die to get this, but like,
that's that's.
Speaker 2 (15:36):
A big park.
Speaker 1 (15:38):
I was pretty impressed with that. I feel like, if
you're trying to cover your ass regarding your business, it's
the way to handle it, you know. But I still
wasn't really sure. I some businesses, it's really shocking how
little they seem to give a shit about their reputation
because they are the only game in town.
Speaker 2 (15:57):
So I think I'm just used to that.
Speaker 1 (16:01):
So then Carl's like, hey, look, I know it's really
none of my business, but I would appreciate it, and
so a donna, if you wouldn't punish those guys, and
if you'd let them be our security every time we come,
including for tonight as we stay here for a little longer.
Speaker 2 (16:24):
And at first she does sort.
Speaker 1 (16:25):
Of you know, but then she's like, all right, you
know what?
Speaker 2 (16:28):
Fine?
Speaker 1 (16:29):
And this was a genius move because Carl not only
is he like, they're gonna be loyal because I saved
their asses, but he thinks about how if these two
dudes had been punished and then they were given another
set for free, those guys would know our friends died
(16:50):
because of these two, which strictly speaking isn't true, but
it may have added a bit of unsavory flavor to
their service.
Speaker 2 (17:01):
Toward him and Donut.
Speaker 1 (17:03):
So this is just a really nice cutting that off
from even happening, and then getting the kind of loyalty
from these two that saving them would you know, that's
like just next level. And plus requesting the same to
you guys every time means that you are going to
begin to develop a relationship with them, which could potentially
(17:27):
get you other perks. It's unclear, like they don't talk
very much ever, but it's possible that this could help
you at some future point, so we'll see. Let's see.
The four of us sat down at a table and
unrolled the paper I'd made Donut loot the body of
(17:47):
the dead human. He had a lot of armor, all
giving a few stat point boosts, and he's gonna give
all that to Katchya. He had a dozen daggers dangers,
each with a different enchantment. The one he stabbed Donut
with had a one hundred percent damage bonus if it
was stabbed into someone's back, which is pretty insane. It
(18:12):
doesn't even matter where on their back, just in their
back at all, like.
Speaker 2 (18:17):
Yikes.
Speaker 1 (18:20):
And they're putting together a plan on the like how
they're going to figure out the train lines and where
they're going to meet and YadA YadA, And he's saying,
how I feel like Mordecai was beginning to figure out
(18:41):
exactly what was going on here, But I also think
he was working with some information that we don't have
access to, so we are just going to.
Speaker 2 (18:48):
Have to do our best.
Speaker 1 (18:50):
And there are prime numbers which apparently factor into this somehow.
I do enjoy Carl being like, you never need to
know prime numbers, and El's like, uh, we're literally looking
at a thing where those are a factor.
Speaker 2 (19:12):
So evidently, yes you do.
Speaker 1 (19:15):
And I was like, look, it's not fair to judge
life according to what's happening in the dungeon.
Speaker 2 (19:21):
It's just not But I get what you're saying. But also.
Speaker 1 (19:26):
So they have to figure out everything by getting as
much like information from other people as possible, and also
by talking to one of the engineers. And let's see, uh,
he stops and gets some explosives, some more smoke curtains,
which this winds up being very helpful. And from there
(19:50):
we checked out the newly opened row of guilds, and
there are some that are of interest. One of them
is listed as Dodge and you need a skill of
seven or better, which does not yet have but potentially
they can get in there. At some point, Bomo in
(20:10):
the sledge, which does sound like a rock band, followed us, diligently,
growling at any NPC or.
Speaker 2 (20:17):
Crawler who got too close.
Speaker 1 (20:19):
They didn't speak or acknowledge what had happened earlier, though
they did appear more contrite in their own sort of
rocky way. And then they go into the casino and
he has his chip and this is so. First, there's
a mention of Laraccos, which is a label above one
(20:42):
of the staircases, and they can hear people down there
who are clearly having a fucking ball, and one of
the guards tells that it's the capital city of the
disputed Lands. It is the prize over which the factions fight.
The fighting is mostly good natured. The Desperado Club is
where they come to one wind. The armies of the
factions aren't allowed to start conquering each other until you
(21:04):
lot reach the ninth floor, so until then, the serious
commanders train their units and the rest party. The gambling
that occurs on that level is done with credits, not gold,
So that's interesting.
Speaker 2 (21:18):
I'm like the.
Speaker 1 (21:22):
Fact that it's the capitol and that apparently there's a
staircase down to it.
Speaker 2 (21:29):
But you can't fight, so.
Speaker 1 (21:33):
You're just hanging out as buds, and then all of
a sudden you have to be enemies.
Speaker 2 (21:39):
I mean, I don't know that I could do it.
I'm sure they're programmed to.
Speaker 1 (21:44):
A degree maybe, But anyway, Carl has his chip and
he decides that he is gonna go over to the
Wheel of Fortune.
Speaker 2 (21:58):
This is why.
Speaker 1 (22:01):
Labels on the spaces are nothing, which is not what
it sounds like get stabbed in the stomach by the croupier,
get poisoned and vomit blood for ten minutes straight. Can
you die like that? Sounds like you die? I wonder
(22:22):
if it's the sort of thing that if you are
a low enough level of resilience in a variety of
you know, maybe you do, I don't know. And then
there's like really good ones, a new pet, fifty thousand gold,
a legendary weapon box, and then there's unlimited free handies
(22:44):
over at bitches or penis Parade. The others were mostly
platinum and legendary boxes. Most of the spots were the
same size, except the nothing spot took up two spaces,
and one of them, the five hundred thousand gold, was
a tiny sliver with a spin.
Speaker 2 (22:58):
Again on either side.
Speaker 1 (23:01):
And he is about to be like, you know what,
never mind, I want to wait until I've talked to
Mordecai before I decide to do this, he says. This
dude runs up and tells him the comp chips is
a maximum bet and every bed over the minimum removes
one of the red spots and adds a positive one.
(23:22):
So if you use the comp only two red spots
will remain, which leaves twenty two positive results, it will
be the nothing spot and one more. I asked which
one more because one of them said, every hair on
your body turns into a snake for five seconds, which, guys,
I have so many questions about that. One How big
(23:47):
a snake? Do they turn into snakes that are proportionally
sized to the size of the hair itself.
Speaker 2 (23:53):
Because I kind of want to see that.
Speaker 1 (23:55):
Two are they venomous or are they just like guard snakes?
Speaker 2 (24:02):
Three? No, those are really it? Those are the two?
How big?
Speaker 1 (24:09):
And are they venomous? If they're not venomous five seconds,
I can deal with that. It will be a horror show,
but I can deal with it. But if it's venomous,
then absolutely not. And I have to assume they'd probably
be venomous because otherwise, like what's the risk It's just
being uncomfortable and getting bit with like tiny fangs potentially
(24:32):
or large regular fangs. I'm just trying to think, like,
they'd have to stay proportionally small, because how would they
fit on your body if they're all of your hairs
on your arm? For example, if they turned into snakes
the size of an ordinary garden snake that would be
too many to fit, so they'd have to just stay right.
I don't know, I don't know anyway. So the other
(24:56):
negative one, he puts his knife out and says guess,
and Donut tries to be like, this game is going
to be rigged, and this guy is like, that is offensive.
This game is one hundred percent legit. One of the
good prizes was choose any skill to level up potion,
(25:17):
and eventually Carl decides he's gonna do it.
Speaker 2 (25:23):
He puts his.
Speaker 1 (25:23):
Chip down and it first almost looks like they're gonna
get that five hundred thousand gold, but then it lands
on spin again. I hate, I hate that it's spin again.
With my anxiety, the absolute agony of one spin is
(25:45):
plenty having to do it again. No, absolutely not. This
is when Carl hears someone scream and he sees a
man fall through a hole that appeared under him in
the floor, and his scream goes on and on. Clearly
he's falling a while, and there are other screams also
(26:09):
coming out of the hole, and there's like an arm
made out of smoke that climbs up out and he says,
what was that? And Tito says, oh, they got a
nothing spot on that wheel too, and he's like, what,
Oh my fucking god, I didn't know that's what nothing meant.
(26:32):
And Tito says, yeah, the nothing sure is something.
Speaker 2 (26:39):
Boo boo. This man, it's a good line. I'm not
even like mad.
Speaker 1 (26:48):
I'm a little mad, but I'm like not really anyway,
he gets scroll of upgrade. A twenty minute countdown to
timer appeared, and he remembers like, if I try and
remove anything, I am probably gonna get screwed.
Speaker 2 (27:05):
So let me just drink it.
Speaker 1 (27:06):
And he gets an upgraded toe ring, which, honestly, considering
how focused on his foot attack he has often been,
I feel like is pretty ideal. And let's see this
item has been upgraded once plus ten strength and plus
five to the scale powerful Strike. I don't remember what
(27:28):
it was before. And if this, like plus ten is
on top of what it had been, or if this
is what it had been, oh, here it is, it
says right after my bad, sorry guys. It had got
on from plus three to plus ten, adding seven points,
and the power strike powerful Strike scale went up to
scale levels. So yeah, pretty good. And they head back
(27:56):
to base and it's so funny this is like one
of those moments that's where the author intended a thing,
but your girl is a real ding bad and it
didn't work. So chapter ten opens, we returned to find
Heckla sitting on the couch in our base, drinking in
Arby's milkshake. Guys, it should have been a moment of
(28:21):
oh shit, heckless here when I tell you, it did
not register that Hecla was not Kotya. I am so serious.
I didn't even hear Hecla. I heard in my brains Kotya.
(28:42):
And so when he says, only then did I see
the name over her head said Katya, I was like,
but yeah, it is Kotya. And then he says if
I was Hecla, I'd be weirded out right now. And
at this point I'm like completely confused, and I had
(29:02):
to rewind. And then I realized Donut was saying she
doesn't wear makeup and she's a lot bigger, and I'm like, oh,
my fucking god, Like y'all when I say ding bat
genuinely not awesome all the time, I'm just saying, yeah, exactly.
(29:23):
Michael says, poor Matt was probably cackling when he wrote
the scene and it was completely lost on you.
Speaker 2 (29:28):
Yeah, I'm sorry, Matt.
Speaker 1 (29:29):
I rest assured it probably worked on everybody else. But
girl is not always turned on. It's always like.
Speaker 2 (29:39):
There's there's.
Speaker 1 (29:42):
Yeah, Michael says, I would assume the types of snakes
would be random per hair, With as many hairs on
the human body, even a small proportion of them being
venomous would be deadly. And Saraphim says, but Carl is
immune to poison through his gear, And that's the question,
isn't It is like, does your gear actually protect you
(30:02):
in the normal way with these sorts of games, Because
I wouldn't be surprised if there was some weird, fucking like,
you know, loophole rule that nobody bothered and fucking mention.
But maybe it's maybe it's fine. So this is when
(30:23):
we find out that uh Katscha bought a table that
Mordecai has mentioned called a makeup table, and she used
her level up tickets, her coupons on it and it
makes it so it doesn't hurt to sculpt herself and
that she can, like if it's at a higher level,
(30:45):
eventually she can like superimpose a face over the glass
so that she can like basically trace it in terms
of sculpting, and eventually a higher level at five, it
can do that for your entire body. And Carl is like, oh, no,
(31:08):
Mordecai is going to be so pished that she used
her coupons. But in the end he's like, but they
were hers, I guess it's fine, and then it says
still using them when upgrading a skill that was only
moderately useful seemed like a colossal waste. But now that
she had it, we were going to have to get
(31:28):
creative with her shapes. Now, I'm gonna say one, Mordecai
wanting to get her upgrades tickets from her knowing that
she was going to try and leave the group as
soon as possible was a pipe dream. There is abslutely
no way she was going to give up those those coupons.
(31:51):
I'm so sorry. I'm sure you would have loved them.
It was never going to happen. I just don't buy it.
And also, a skill that's only moderately useful because she
hasn't gotten the hang of it yet. In my opinion,
a skill that makes you be able to completely change
(32:11):
your appearance is hella fucking useful. It's just that she
hasn't just know how to do it effectively and quickly
and it fucking hurts. She's gotten to a point where
she's found something that she can do it and it
doesn't hurt. Yeah, I think that's kind of fucking key.
Speaker 2 (32:29):
And also just like just the idea that she the proprietary.
Speaker 1 (32:41):
Attitude of, oh my god, you've used them on this,
It just felt very like patronizing to me. You know,
I think this was a good call on her part personally,
and I think that you haven't found a way to
use her abilities yet because they haven't reached a level
(33:04):
where she is able to manipulate easily and effectively how
she looks. But you get to a point where she's
able to make herself like look like an NPC to
get access to certain areas or something, and like that
could really change whole sections of the game for you.
(33:24):
So personally, I've said before that being able to change
your appearance would be one of my top choices in
terms of like abilities. And the one thing I'll say
is that I really really like this author adding in
this aspect of it where one it hurts and two
(33:48):
you have to be able to sculpt in such a
specific way that it adds a difficulty level, because shape
shifting has always felt like basically a completely ope sort
of ability everything that I have read where people are
able to do this, it's almost impossible to like to
(34:10):
beat somebody who has this sort of ability when you
are working in a storyline that has like groups and
teams and an open world like.
Speaker 2 (34:21):
Exactly like this.
Speaker 1 (34:23):
So if you give a character this and you don't
put restrictions on how easily they're able to do it,
it's just absolutely unfair to me, you know, And it's
just it's crazy, in my opinion, how little Carl values
this ability. I understand that she's not that good at
(34:46):
it yet, but dude, she just got this class, the
last floor or this race, I guess it is, So
give her a fucking minute, you know, just a little bit,
and let her figure it out. Anyway, this is when
Kachia notices the skull beside Donuts name and it's just
(35:08):
like oh shit, and Donut acts like it was no
big deal. And then we have Carl training his bare
knuckle skill for a little while and he uses his
demolition workshop.
Speaker 2 (35:21):
I'm going to be totally.
Speaker 1 (35:22):
Honest, you guys. Anytime that he describes making bombs and
the like ways in which he assembles them, I almost
completely miss anything important. It's like my brain just just disengages.
Speaker 2 (35:39):
It's wild.
Speaker 1 (35:40):
I am sure it's useful to know as a reader,
and yet I can't care. So I just trust that
later on, when he uses one of these bombs, it'll
do something great that's super helpful, or it won't, and
he'll tell me why, Like you know, it's fine surferences.
(36:00):
He's clearly never seen Deep Space nine to see how
effective the type of shape shifting she is could be.
I have never seen it either. Forgive me, Michael says agreed.
Other stories involving shape shifting just kind of handwave away
the process of it. If I had the ability to
shape shift, it would be useless because I have no
artistic ability whatsoever.
Speaker 2 (36:17):
Where are the shape shifters.
Speaker 1 (36:19):
Who can only do stick figures, which would be really something.
There's a character on the one piece arc that I'm
on now who can draw with like a giant paintbrush
on the ground and then bring that drawing to life,
and he always draws badly. So it's these like cursed creatures.
(36:43):
That he makes because they you know, he's not good
at it, and they technically are a cat that can
get up and walk around or a bird that can
technically fly and carry him. But they're like barely really
able to do it, and it's obviously very difficult for them.
And if he had been a better artist, maybe it
would have all worked out a lot better. So, you know, yeah,
(37:08):
I feel for her with especially having been an art teacher.
It must be agonizing. So Dona spends this time trying
to ride Mango and he is not fucking having it.
I thought he would be a little bit more I
(37:33):
don't want to say like accepting exactly, but I thought
that her charisma and her coaxing would work better, and
like eventually it does, but he is really really unhappy,
and I just there's no rains or anything.
Speaker 2 (37:54):
So she says like we have a psychic.
Speaker 1 (37:56):
Bond, and then he just bucks her off. And all
I could think about was, like one time, putting collars
on our cats, which they're indoor cats at this point,
we have not put collars on them again. But you guys,
if you have not had a cat that's never worn
a collar and put a collar on them, dogs don't
(38:18):
fucking care.
Speaker 2 (38:19):
Mostly you put a collar on and they're just sort
of like, what, oh all right?
Speaker 1 (38:24):
Cats are like the drama of feeling the collar. They
were like slinking along the ground, walking and yowling. It
was beyond belief. So this is what I kept thinking
of here, and the fact that there doesn't seem to
(38:44):
be a way to steer him. You're totally in his
at his mercy.
Speaker 2 (38:51):
I don't know about that.
Speaker 1 (38:52):
I get the appeal, but until there's more to this,
I just don't think it's worth it. Probably just sticking
to training right now and not actually trying to use
it out in the world.
Speaker 2 (39:06):
Is for the best.
Speaker 1 (39:10):
So let's see, oh right, right right. So they then
go to one of the trains and they're looking at
that third rail and he's trying to see whether or
not it's actually electrocuted. The hoblobber fuse blew the moment
it hit the metal. The metal stick continued to crackle
(39:31):
and glow. A moment later, it vibrated itself off the
third rail. It finally stopped crackling. I didn't see any arcing. Well,
something is hot down there, and we know the fuse works,
I repeated, the experiment, tossing the fuses onto each of
the three rails just to be certain. The only time
the fuse blew was when it hit the third rail,
and something else that made me reasonably certain the hot
(39:53):
line was the third rail, as it should be. I
still wasn't confident we wouldn't get a shock if we
touched the main track, but the fact that tracks were
physically grounded suggested we would be fine, which later on
it appears that he is correct, I think. So they
do a clockwork triplicate, and she sends the two copies
(40:20):
down onto the tracks. The moment one of them touched
the third rail, it exploded. A train pulled up, bumping
and crunching over the metal on the track. I cringed
as it hit and destroyed the second clockwork mango. I
always hate this. I know that they're like just magical nothings,
but I just you know, I hate it. So I
(40:44):
gently placed it on the platform and watched for a
few minutes to make sure it didn't detonate on its own.
According to the demolition's workshop menu, the device was stable
against anything except heavy impact. Still, I watched that status
number nervously. It did not lower. So this is when
they are about to derail a train, and then he
(41:06):
gets a call from L. We explored through one of
those five stations. You wouldn't believe what we found. We
had to fight three neighborhood bosses. There's a borough boss too,
but we left her alone. And that's a miss Craig Heron.
I really want to know what they found, very very badly.
I remember the description that said there were many of them.
(41:30):
If this one was a borough boss, that meant she
was probably a lot bigger. So they managed to derail
this train. He goes up to level twenty nine and
he gets a reward, a gold engineering box. It also
says something like, let's hope this doesn't create some domino effect.
Speaker 2 (41:52):
We'll see and they're looking around.
Speaker 1 (41:57):
There's no mobs, it doesn't seem and let's see.
Speaker 2 (42:04):
We could see the.
Speaker 1 (42:05):
Still closed doorway. The door is still intact. If he
doesn't come out, what are we going to do? Before
I could answer, the door slid open and an enormous
figure emerged, and he is eight feet tall and from
the shoulders down seems to be a regular dude. But
(42:28):
where a normal person's neck would be was another torso
leading to the top half of another man. Guys, I
can't even picture this, you know what I'm saying, Like,
(42:49):
I can't even quite make my brain do this.
Speaker 2 (42:54):
It's too how.
Speaker 1 (43:00):
His name is Gorgre. He is a Mantor level forty.
He is an engineer, and he worships Grol, which is
something that isn't stated here, I don't think, but he
definitely has the blue paint on him, which is a
warning sign. And he is super like intense about calling
(43:27):
them brothers and sisters, and there's something almost like Viking,
like he's reminding me of the first Thor movie, the
attitude that Thor had towards everybody.
Speaker 2 (43:37):
As if it was all like we were in a
myth you know.
Speaker 1 (43:43):
It is too much. So the second train comes crashes
into that one, and Gorgre is just standing there like
not seeming to know exactly what to do now that
(44:04):
he isn't in his train anymore. And Donut is like, hey,
can we ask you some questions? And he winds up
giving them a lot of info. Here, we have some
questions about the end of the line. You mean stop
number four thirty five, he said, his manner changing instantly.
(44:25):
It was like I'd flipped a switch. He lowered his
voice and he tries to be like, look, it's not
safe for you guys over there. And Carl says, well,
what's at four thirty four and four thirty five? And
he says, four thirty four is baron. Four thirty five
is when we exit and take the portal back to
the depot.
Speaker 2 (44:46):
What about you?
Speaker 1 (44:48):
We talked to a conductor and he said he never
sees your kind get off the train and they don't
remember what happens at four thirty five, And Carl describes
the expression that he gets on his face right here
as a shamed which is interesting. The Tangle employees, having
completed their sacred duty, disembark at four thirty five and
(45:11):
proceed into the tunnel, which transports them back to base.
The Kravad are in charge of employee return. They use
their dark magic to prepare the employees before they enter
the portal. The portal has a side effect regarding memory.
Human Resources says, they're looking into it, and I have
to say that like the way that the author or
(45:34):
not the author, the narrator decided to deliver that line.
There's a pause after Human Resources says that isn't in
the text, and I think it's a very interesting choice.
Speaker 2 (45:47):
I like it, but it's also.
Speaker 1 (45:50):
Reading it now, I'm like that sort of adds a
tone to this that I would say is editorializing a
little bit, but not necessarily out of line, you know.
So the shame that he is feeling, as we find
out later, is because his people are not fans of magic,
(46:14):
and so the fact that he is like working for
a company that is using magic is something that if
he could control it, he would not do this.
Speaker 2 (46:26):
But he also it's.
Speaker 1 (46:27):
Very important to him obviously that he do what he's
told and be a good employee. I gate the train.
What does that mean? There's a gate just after four
thirty five, and I drive into it. I enter, and
I'm back at the depot, pulling into a parking spot.
It's just my engine car. The nineteen other cars are gone.
(46:50):
One moment I'm approaching the gate, and then I'm at
the depot. I don't know how it works.
Speaker 2 (46:56):
But let's see.
Speaker 1 (46:57):
There's no memory loss like the Dwarves and Grapples experience.
There's a flash of vile light and I and the
car teleport. I sleep for eight hours in my cabin,
eat an epic meal, get up and do the checks
and wait for them to hook the cars back up
for my next turn.
Speaker 2 (47:16):
And Carl is like, our other dude.
Speaker 1 (47:18):
Didn't say there was any time for sleep, And he
says they lose time when they go through the portal.
It's nine or ten hours until the next shift. So
the idea that like, maybe that lost time is spent
in the portal and they're not having to sleep, but
(47:39):
they could sleep, Like, It's just it's pretty terrible guys
not having like any downtime, setting it up so that
everybody is just working NonStop. How many companies would do
this if they could get away with it, like literally
all of them.
Speaker 2 (47:57):
I guess this is what.
Speaker 1 (47:58):
Severance is about. Right, So let's see, Uh, what about
your car doesn't get deep cleaned? So if we're with
you when we go through the gate, we'd be okay too.
And he's like, I don't think you could do it.
You'd be hurt. And Carl's like, I don't mean in
(48:19):
the passenger cars, I mean in the engine car with you,
And Carl like as he presses this, because Gorgor is
clearly like not really wanting to even acknowledge what Carl
is suggesting as an option. Finally, Gorgor is like, okay,
(48:40):
Like you might be physically okay from the going through
the gate, but I would have to kill you. One
last question. You came out because the train crash. Is
there any other reason why you'd come out of the car,
Like if we ever wanted to talk to one of
your fellow engineers, how would we do that? We do
(49:02):
not leave the engine car if the train is intact.
This is a rule, now, my fellow warriors, I see
a place of respite. I shall drink my fill of
mead and wait for the crash interdiction team to arrive
to extract me back to base. So he goes off,
but not for too long, as we will see a
little bit later. Let's see, we know the keys are
(49:26):
color coded. His key will only work on other Ochre
line trains. I don't think we can hop on over
to the yellow line and use it there. And if
we have to crash a train to get the key,
that stops the rest of the trains on the line,
we don't know for how long. If the trains are stopped,
the key's useless. Wait, Carl Donut said, doesn't it only
stop the trains behind it. What if we get the key,
(49:48):
jump onto the Nightmare Express or one of those other
super fast loop trains and jump ahead on the line
and catch one of the trains that were already ahead.
That's brilliant, I said to Donut, scratching her on the head.
She beamed. I'd also come up with that idea, but
I wasn't about to say that. Now I really appreciate this.
(50:09):
It's good leadership, being able to like let somebody have
their little moment, even though you already thought of that,
Like it's the way to you know, I approve of this,
and I will admit that I'm not sure I would
think to handle it this way.
Speaker 2 (50:25):
I feel like I would.
Speaker 1 (50:28):
Probably be like, yeah, that's what I was thinking, not
trying to necessarily take the wind out of their sails,
but more emphasize the fact that, like, yeah, we're thinking
alike on this, you know, like encouraging but in a
different way. And I kind of prefer this method.
Speaker 2 (50:48):
Yeah, I don't know.
Speaker 1 (50:50):
Just to let's see, he says. He revealed two different
ways to get to the stairwells. We can also use
the employee portal. Maybe it sounds like people who take
that path loose time and suffer memory issues and they
have to fight the Kraviad whatever. That is probably a
boss guarding the portal. I'm going to go ahead and
(51:10):
guess that they are not really magic and that this
is just like people who are managing a section of
the dungeon itself, and that they just have like a
sort of name in world for them to make them
seem like they're part of things, but actually they are basically.
Speaker 2 (51:30):
Like staff, you know. And Katcha is.
Speaker 1 (51:35):
Like, this is so complicated, how many people are even
going to figure this out? And Carl is like, we're
gonna start spreading words, so hopefully everybody finds out. And
this is when Goregre comes running out and he's like,
I can't believe you fucking did this. I had no
idea it was you, but here I am, and I'm
(51:56):
going to fuck your day up. And it is as
battle neighborhood boss versus Gorgre, the man toor adherent of
Grol the war god Berserker extreme level forty. So they
(52:17):
use a bunch of smoke curtains here and it does help,
but this dude is like much more immune to the
things they use than they're used to. They're like, the
first thing, of course that Doughnut does is magic missile,
and it turns out that he is totally immune, which
(52:41):
is really unfair. That's super unfair to me. And the
fact that they're using magic on like their you know,
little accessories and whatnot. This makes Gorgre really angry because
you know, magic and wizardry die and Roll's name.
Speaker 2 (53:02):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (53:02):
He turned and swiped again, this time at donuts location,
which I wasn't expecting. She backflipped out of the way. Okay,
d Like, I just didn't realize that we were like
that with our fighting at this point, backflipping okay, and
(53:24):
Carl punches him and he gets a one point five notification.
I was puzzled by why it remained on the screen.
Because of my magic Gauntlet special ability, each successful punch
had a one point five percent chance to summon Groll
the War War God, which would probably be a juiced up,
almost immoral version of Prince Stalwar of the Skull Empire.
Speaker 2 (53:49):
And the fact that it stuck.
Speaker 1 (53:51):
I was like, because it is adding up through the fight, dude,
and it takes him a little to clock that that's
what's happening. Later on, he does four quick punches and
it's three four point five, six, seven point five, and
he's like, oh no, but he can't kick. He's too
(54:14):
close in to be able to get the leverage that
he would need for that. So he gets up to
ten point five. Gorgor grunted in surprise as my damage
reflection hit him. A hand from his lower torso wrapped
around my throat, catching me before I could get away.
(54:35):
And I needed this reminder that brow has four arms
because I had forgotten. And again, it just seems very,
very unfair. All of this is every little bit I
think of of the advantage that he has would make
me kind of be like, maybe I should just let
(54:56):
myself die. Maybe I should just give up because this
guy is like, there's there's a lot of factors against
Carl in this moment, but Carl isn't a giver upper.
That's just not him, and I respect it. So he
slams on protective shell, thinking, oh, that'll shove him away
(55:17):
from me. But the thing is, Gorgor has such a
grip on him that when he is shoved, Carl is
shoved with him, and so like, because he's yanking on
him just I get what you were going for, Carl,
and I don't know if I would have predicted this
(55:37):
would happen either, but it is embarrassing in its way.
Speaker 2 (55:43):
So his grip loosens.
Speaker 1 (55:46):
At one point when they land really hard, I felt
an ominous crunch within myself. He continued his forward tumbling
momentum as I slammed onto a healing potion. Before I
stop moving, I turned in time to see him fall
off the edge of the platform, his body plummeting into
the space between the third and fourth cars. I clambered
(56:09):
to my feet as Gorgore, dazed, stood all the way
up to his full height as if he was standing
underneath an awning. His health was down to twenty percent.
I feel it in my chest. I had been blessed
by the gods. That's when I saw the ten point
five was now blinking and Gorgor had a timer over
(56:31):
his head. I will be honest, I really didn't think
that this was going to work at this point. I
thought we were just going to be adding that as like,
you know, a potential stake for this little scene, and
then eventually it would actually happen later now granted it
doesn't happen here either, because Carl decided to go fucking
(56:52):
ham and kill him before girl can come through. But
you know what I'm saying, Like I just I didn't
expect this, so he bounds toward him with his talon
strike activating. I executed a dropkick right at the solar
plexus of the lower chest. HM good detail of Gorgore.
(57:18):
He rocketed back on the tracks as I dropped him.
As I dropped into the channel like a sack of
hammers z. It wasn't a loud sound. I barely heard
it over the sound of.
Speaker 2 (57:29):
The music, but I felt it.
Speaker 1 (57:31):
As the electrified corpse of Gorgor crumpled and hit the
main tracks, I more than sensed the current rushing.
Speaker 2 (57:39):
Through the third rail.
Speaker 1 (57:40):
My entire body ripped in pain as the tracks were
electrified by the short circuit caused by Gorgore's body. Thankfully,
the grounding was enough that the shock was dispersed. I
hopped backwards, stumbling and hitting the back of my head
on the platform's edge. I felt jaws bite on to
the back of my jacket and cloak as don't up
(58:02):
pulled me from the channel, which again stronger than I imagine
I keep forgetting how much her abilities have accentuated what
an ordinary cat can do, and it's like, you know,
she is not a cat. She doesn't have the abilities
of a cat. And then he gets admin notice, congratulations, Crawler,
(58:26):
you've been sponsored. Viewers watching your feed will now occasionally
see advertisements produced by your sponsor.
Speaker 2 (58:33):
Sponsors named the.
Speaker 1 (58:34):
Valzawa Valta Corporation. Additional details available in the sponsorship tab
of your interface. And that was the end of the chapter.
And guys, I really really want to know how this
all works. I want to know what kind of ads
they're seeing. I want to know, like the people who
watch the Dungeon, do they hate when eventually sponsors get
(58:58):
introduced because.
Speaker 2 (58:59):
It had been ad free previews to this or.
Speaker 1 (59:03):
Did it used to have ads and it was simply
not targeted ads by certain corporations And so it's just
like the nature of which ads they see that are changing.
Maybe that, uh, but yeah, like this whole thing with Girl,
I am very interested. I am very relieved that Carl
(59:28):
killed this guy before Girl came through. But there also,
I can't lie, was a part of me that was
pretty curious and was sort of.
Speaker 2 (59:35):
Like, oh shit, it's happening. Well, let's let's see this guy.
I have to assume.
Speaker 1 (59:42):
If it if he had succeeded in coming through, though,
Carl would definitely have been dead. Maybe I'm wrong about that.
I don't really know how all this works, but I'm yeah,
I'm assuming that, And a part of me kind of
wonders if this gauntlet is really worth it because that
was what.
Speaker 2 (01:00:01):
Five punches total. And I don't know, man, maybe maybe
maybe you.
Speaker 1 (01:00:12):
Get something else.
Speaker 2 (01:00:15):
Ah, I don't know.
Speaker 1 (01:00:17):
It's it's so risky to me, though. Michael says, the
percentage being cumulative is a huge deal. And the other
thing is is it persistently cumulative, Like the next time
he punches, is it going to go from ten point
five to twelve? Or does it start from scratch with
each fight? It fucking better start from scratch because otherwise
(01:00:40):
the thing is just unusable, right, Seraphim says, you know
they have a premium AD free option. I wonder if
they do. Like that's an interesting question because, like so
many streaming services have started making the premium option more
(01:01:02):
expensive and adding in another tier that has like yes
it has ads, but fewer ads than the other tier
because it seems like the premium AD free loses them
so much money in the long run that they almost
regret having had it as an option at all. So
(01:01:23):
a part of me feels like, if they were smart
business people, there would be no premium AD free option
for anybody that having that be like even a choice
would be out of the question.
Speaker 2 (01:01:38):
But perhaps.
Speaker 1 (01:01:45):
Michael says, you know, it would be a BS premium
option where corps can pay more to bypassion. Rob says,
it's just the same home depot ad like ten times
an hour. Also, let's ban advertising. It's so tough because
like advertising, I understand the need for it with some things,
and I don't I like, I don't hate it in
(01:02:10):
as a concept in general, but the way that it
has become what it has is so insidious that especially
like because of how social media works, there will be
stuff that comes across your feed that if you're not
really sharp eyed about it, which many people are not,
(01:02:32):
it looks like a regular post but it's actually an AD,
or it looks like a real article, you know, or
something like.
Speaker 2 (01:02:40):
That, and.
Speaker 1 (01:02:42):
That kind of advertising. It's not like there wasn't gorilla
advertising before, but it's just so much more pervasive at
this point. And you know, I try and go to
like an article on certain websites and I can't even
fucking read it because there are so many pop up ads,
and there are so many ads that take a while
to populate, and as they populate, the size of the
(01:03:06):
ad will change and it will shove the text up
or down, and then you have to find your spot again.
And just as you find your spot, it just again
and it makes it so that you can't even get
to the end.
Speaker 2 (01:03:17):
I have had like my browser crash and.
Speaker 1 (01:03:21):
Basically be like, sorry, there's too much going on on
this site. You know, I think that's insane. I understand
that we need to pay our bills, but for Christ's sake,
you know, anyway, I uh, Michael says, we're approaching the
dead Internet anyway, where all the content will be generated
by AI bots responding to other AI bots and the
(01:03:43):
AI thing. You guys know how I feel about it.
I don't even want to get started talking about that.
Rob says, regulators just seems to have no real idea
about how sophisticated targeting has gotten either. It's not your
old drive by sign advertising.
Speaker 2 (01:03:57):
And I completely agree, and all so I.
Speaker 1 (01:04:01):
Don't care what anybody says. I don't want to hear it.
You can come to me with your little arguments all
you want. Our phones are fucking listening to us.
Speaker 2 (01:04:14):
I have no doubt.
Speaker 1 (01:04:16):
There have been too many times where I have literally
been near a stranger talking about a thing at like
a coffee shop, a thing I have no interest in personally,
but they're close enough to me that it can feel
like maybe I'm talking with them, and I will open
my phone and there will be an AD for the
(01:04:37):
exact thing they were just talking about. Or one time
I picked up my phone after characters on a TV
show in the room, we're talking about something, and I
pick up my phone and there is an AD for
what the characters on the show were describing, which was
not relevant to my life at all. And I had
(01:04:59):
never seen that ad before, because you know how it is,
you get to see the same ads over and over
because of your browsing.
Speaker 2 (01:05:04):
Habits, so you're used to a certain type.
Speaker 1 (01:05:06):
Of ad, and this was for something literally the TV
characters had mentioned. They're listening, And I do not want
anybody trying to tell me different, because I'm so sorry,
But you live in a dream world they are absolutely
listening in.
Speaker 2 (01:05:23):
It's fine, just accept it.
Speaker 1 (01:05:26):
Anyway, I'm gonna wrap up, thank you guys again for
hanging out with me, and I will be seeing you
again on Thursday with a new episode.
Speaker 3 (01:05:33):
Until then, did a lout motherfuckers
Speaker 1 (01:06:06):
That was an unspoiled network podcast
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