Carl's Doomsday Scenario, Chapters 20-22

wrapping a lot of it up. Probably. Welcome to spoil Me. Welcome to the show everyone. I am Natasha. Thank you very much to Michael for commissioning this episode. I asked Michael how he was doing, and he's replied in the chat, my favorite sports team got a player, so my life is immeasurably better, even though I know it doesn't actually matter. Ultimately, Michael, nothing actually matters, which means everything actually matters if you

think about it. So whatever makes you happy, embrace it fully. I endorse it, whether or not it actually mtters. Who gets to decide that we do? We get to decide, That's what I say. So all right, you guys, I'm really really enjoying this book, in particular the first book. I really, you guys know, I enjoyed that book a lot, but he had to spend plenty of time. And this

is no criticism. This is just what happens in first books, setting up the scenario, establishing the ground rules, getting it all in place so that he could begin his actual storytelling. And that's not to say there wasn't storytelling in there also,

but you get what I'm saying. I am really enjoying now like the conventions have been accepted by the audience and we are moving into a stage where everything doesn't need an explanation anymore, and so he is freer to play with other aspects of the plot of the dialogue, you know. And I'm just really looking forward to the next book when I'm assuming this is going to be

a continuing trend. Obviously, as we hit new floors, there will be explanations and stuff needed for each of those, but it's it feels different when we are already in the game. Ooh. Rob says, for what it's worth, this is my least favorite, which isn't to say it's a bad book, but it's uphill from here. In my opinion, that's rousing endorsement in my opinion, Like, if you if this is your least favorite, I'm so sorry, guys, I kicked my camera stand, but I really like this one.

So if you feel that way, that's like very encouraging. So we pick up right after the announcement of Manassa being killed and Ripper Wanton played a video of Manassa singing and it's this like haunting sound and her voice is just like very memorable, obviously, and it gives him chills. Later on, Dona is very much like she had the

voice of an angel. This is a huge tragedy. She's reacting to Manassa's death in much the same way everybody else aside from the other Crawlers, really seemed to be because she doesn't have a bigger picture frame of reference yet due to her still having kind of a childlike point of view on stuff. Oh my god, Michael says, just a nitpick. I always thought it should be all downhill from here. Going downhill is much easier and pleasurable

than trudging uphill. Michael, do you know what I would have agreed with you, except I've been hiking a little lately, and I don't know if it's just getting older, but I'm fine. And going downhill a lot harder than going uphill. I it's a different set of muscles. And let me tell you that shit is very, very difficult and requires like a type of balance. And yeah, so I see what you're saying. I definitely do, but I'm not sure

I entirely agree, donut She like. The two of them are talking about things as they are waiting for Zev and she asks Sinji, you really believe what you said about people rising up? And he says, it's a nice fantasy, but I know things don't really work that way. And he says, for all we know that King guys, people are really happy. Just because they complain doesn't mean they have it bad. And I'm a nobody. It's not like I have the power to change anything. I wasn't expecting

that though. Jesus, it's so funny to me that he is saying, I'm just one person. I don't have the power to change anything. After this woman was killed. Like, granted, he does not believe what he said here actually made a difference. He believes that they were already going to be zapped and that it turns out his little speech fed into their narrative perfectly. So I understand why he really doesn't think that he can change anything. But I

you've got some influence, my friend. You are an influencer, and I think you are so so wrong about that. I understand profoundly. Don't get me wrong, the feeling of I am just one tiny grain of sand in this massive, unending machine of relentless oppression. How the fuck? But how many grains of sand or sugar does it take to fuck up somebody's gas tank? Like? How much would it take? Just asking questions? So, yeah, he says, the Stalwart dude was too prepared. They had the camera all ready, with

the army right outside the window. Stalwart was planning on killing us from the start. I don't think they were expecting my little speech, but it played right into their hands. He was being played too. We were just the pawns, the bait, and so was Manassa. Whoever is orchestrating this knew the Orcs planned on killing us. That switcheroob was either on purpose to get them to really kill their ally,

or they quickly jumped on the opportunity. It humiliates them and damages their alliance with the Valta, and that Barrent benefits from this. If Valta loses a powerful ally, maybe even goes to war with the Skull Empire over this, then they won't have time to try to take over the Boring system. But I don't know for sure. We have so little information now. I'm going to be very very real with you guys, Borrent versus Valta. I have barely clocked any information about either of these groups at all.

I know they've been talked about, and I know that this information has been given to us, but it is not what's stuck in my brain. And so him putting these pieces together, I am very happy for you, Carl that you are able to keep track of this and make some sense out of it. But I'm gonna be honest, this didn't register for me one tiny little bit, because none of this is what I'm ultimately the most concerned

about in the immediate moment. As a reader, I recognize that this is all big picture shit, and I should be thinking this way if I want to try and figure anything out. But I just want you guys as listeners to understand where I'm coming from in my coverage because I don't have the memory to comment on his theory here. I don't have my own independent theory. I'm just fully accepting what Carl says because Carl is no dummy, and I am willing to take it on faith that

what he is saying is likely correct. Michael says, I like that Karl is self aware enough to know that rousing speeches from a random crawler isn't going to enact societal change. He's just another tiny weight added to a much larger situation. He doesn't actually comprehend. Yeah, I think that's really it. And that's the thing is like saying like I'm just one person, What difference can I make? Well,

it's like anything one isn't what makes the difference. It's a bunch of people deciding that they're going to do a thing that makes a difference, and that can be

very slow and over time. This is part of I'm covering the most recent Hunger Games book with Rashaan Sunrise on the Reaping and mild spoilers for this book, but it is a story about Hamage's games and how the way that his games were filmed and depicted that we saw in the original trilogy of books is not actually how the games really went, and that there are going to have to be multiple tries to topple certain systems and you're not always going to succeed on the first

or the fiftieth try. That doesn't mean it's not worth pushing and continuing to fight, but it does mean that you have to accept that sometimes you are going to make sacrifices and then you will not get to live to see the actual change and the result the fruit of your sacrifice. And I have a very hard time with that personally, just like that concept sacrificing and then

not actually getting to see. Like, guys, when I say that I have an issue with needing immediate gratification, you don't even understand how difficult it is for me to keep long term ideas and consequences in mind when something immediately in front of me seems like it would be fun or good. So the idea that I am ultimately sacrificing for something that I it's not just like, oh, way off in the future, potentially you will be dead

and you will never see it. I really don't like that one at all, actually, But okay, so go back of this, zev is explaining that they are the scheduling for who is in which trailer is public, so this is not something that they would have needed, like an insider to get the information on. Mordecai, as it turns out, had said that he should raz the king's sum, but then it's like, you should be subtle, That's what I remember saying. The good news is nobody is saying anything

negative about Carl and Donut on the net. Prince Stalwart is the villain. Rust is going to have to disown him too. I hadn't thought of that. That only leaves the sister as the heir, which I can't help but assume as soon as she mentions that that maybe it's

the sister behind all of this, but I don't know. Also, I just really want to imagine that what's going on with the Skull Empire is like succession right now, and that she's the Shiv, which isn't a good thing for the record, because Shiv is also kind of monstrous, but in her own very special way. So Mordecai says new rule, we are not meddling with mentioning or talking about any other entities outside of the dungeon from now on, We're not going to mention King Rust or Prince Stalwart until

after the sixth floor. If you two idiots make it that far. When Odette asks you about it, you are to say you have no opinion. You only talk about stuff happening in the dungeon. And Donut says talking smack is my special talent. Manassa and Princessdinadia both said so I love that. So Mordecai says, look, I know it's not your fault, but he is going to blame you. And I wanted to make sure the Skull Clan targeted the Blood Sultan it once you hit the ninth floor.

But I don't think that's going to be an issue anymore. Let's just hope he's not too mad at you. So then we cut from there to Donut and Carl having to find the two hundred and first group, which is not It's like they're out on the street prosblytizing to people, so it is not difficult to find the whole way that this this is so weird. Oh I'm sorry, Michael is in the chat. Michael oh Rob says, oh, yes,

I do. Regarding immediate gratification adhd Crew. Michael says that's part of what made the sacrifice of a guy jumping on a grenade so touching to me. I think it would be a lot easier to sacrifice yourself if you know for a fact it would make a difference doing it when you will have no idea if it had any effect at all. That's tough. That's exactly it. Michael is like, you have to be somebody who is willing to do the right thing, the like the right thing.

It can feel like, how do you is the right thing the thing to do when it doesn't have any like you know what I'm saying, is the right thing always obvious? Because I think sometimes that it is, And then I'll step back and be like, I don't know,

but that's the look. I don't want to get all caught up in this but doing it just because you don't want to be if you are, like I'm thinking about this like grenade issue, where I suppose if you don't throw yourself onto it, it explodes, It's possibly you're just going to die anyway, right because you're near enough to it, So you decide I'll take the hit and hope that everybody else doesn't take any hit because you're kind of discounting yourself being able to survive in the end anyway,

which is a remarkable presence of mind. Yeah, I don't know that it would even enter my head, you know, to be real, So okay. He When they head out from the safe room, they run into some more shambling berserkers and they get some more xp dealing with them, and this is when Karl starts to realize that the dynam light he's using is so powerful it's not really safe for him to use in close quarter combat or in regular fights. He's like two stories away and it

knocks him off his feet. He calls them basically mini nukes, and Dona is like, you need to be more careful, and also mentions that when she looks at the dynamite, it tells her that there's a seventy five percent chance it'll explode if she touches it. So his skill level makes him uniquely qualified, and it's possible her talents make her uniquely vulnerable also, and I live when she says, maybe we should have tested them first, and he says, that's what they're going to put on my tombstone. Don't

be silly, Karl. They don't give us tombstones here. I did really like that moment. So they talk about what potentially could be even higher on the list than Goblin dynamite. And let's see, he thinks about the Divine Guardian and that even though this shit is very, very powerful, even if he dropped a bunch of it directly down the thing's throat, he doesn't think it would make any difference whatsoever. So they go talk to the l's here and it's

labeled corrupt temple. A quick note to Mordecai confirmed anything labeled corruptment mobs could be within, which I remember this from Skyrim as well. And there are three elves standing outside in robes that look like they've been gardening, and there is a residence right beside them, fifteen dwarven kids. One of the older kids held a stick with a small salamander tied to the end, and he was chasing

his brothers and sisters about as they all howled. I think it was supposed to be a mockery of the elves. The stick wielding kid jabbed the poor, hissing salamander toward one of the robed figures the tiny lizard expelled a single spark of flames at the city elf, who cursed and kicked at the child. Another kid picked up a rock and chucked it at the elf, who in turn raised his hand and cast a spell that reflected the rock back at him. The rock bounced off the kid's head,

who started wailing. His siblings surrounded him, and they all piled inside the house next to the temple. And this is so funny to me, the idea that like, later on, their mom comes out and she's yelling at him for throwing rocks at her kid, even though the kid threw the rock at him first, and he just literally deflected it.

So not that I'm arguing, like complaining about her interrupting this fucking dude, not a bit, But it was just your kids were being little shits, actually, And you know that said, I'm not mad at the kid throwing a rock at these elves. It's very difficult for me to give a shit. So if they're gonna be little shits directing it towards these elves feels fine to me. Good unleash them. So the kids all take off, with the one that got hit with the rock and the stick

with the salamander is just left on the street. The poor lizard was trying to drag himself away. I was going to untie the little guy, but Mango jumped forward and swallowed the salamander hole while taking half the stick with it. And this is the beginning of a terrible fiend ship where Mango yacks up this salamander and the stick later and then fucking eats it again. This salamander

goes through it too much. I hated this. I hated it so much, And it was like, there's a weird sort of twist later where the dwarf kid tries to clean that actually the salamanders all get strapped to the helmets of the dwarfs that are in the mines, and so this salamander was in training and that he likes it actually, which I have no real idea on, like whether I should trust this kid's version of things or not.

You know, I genuinely do not know whether or not this is a real thing that the salamander is, like, yeah, I love being put on a stick and waved other children. No idea. So here's when we have this odd confrontation between Dona and the city elves first one level sixteen root Druid Temple recruitment wand bearer, and they are particularly

dangerous because they are such fanatics. The Master told us that oak Fell and the oak Fell and their rotting assistance would come to the city soon and the final battle for Heaven would commence. When you agreed to help that orc, we knew it was you. You even wear the filthy symbol of your blasphemy, which is it turns out later the anklet of the Fallen Oak. The oak Fell is a Pito's version of the anti Christ. That's not

stuff one usually contends with until the twelfth floor. We need to get you to a dispel protection spell, which will handle the anti charm and other security protocols these quest locations usually have. They're annoyingly common in Skyfowel settlements. So neither and I don't know if it's just me here guys being frustrated. I'm interested to hear how you felt. Neither Doughnut nor Carl asks who the Master is. I don't know why. I'm sure they're just assuming. These guys

aren't gonna tell us, and they're probably right. They're probably right, but just ask, though I would just ask I would want to know, you know, like, and obviously the way that this is set up, where the oak Fell and their rotting assistants would come to the city soon, I can't help but wonder if the body with the anklet on it wasn't put in their way for them to take the anklet Like how far back does this whole

plan go? Somebody is setting them up on purpose. I had thought that it was fucking what's his name, but him and his mom got killed. So either he's not really dead and it was him he is dead and he had nothing to do with any of this, or it was him. He's dead and now his brother's going to take over, Like those are the only options I can think of. But there being like this prophecy about the oak Fell and then finding these bodies and the anklet on one, I just it seems like convenient to me.

And I don't really know who else I could possibly suspect that I've met, Like I am curious whether whoever is responsible for all of this is somebody that we haven't even actually encountered in the story yet. And if it is somebody we haven't encountered, I don't really know how I feel about that. A part of me feels like that would make sense because this is such a huge universe and they won't have met everybody, but they're so famous that sure, I don't doubt that there are

people out here pulling strings. On the other hand, it makes me less invested in the baddie because I'm wanting to care about whoever our bad guy is, and if it's a stranger, it's just going to be less engaging in that way. And otherwise, I genuinely like only other enemies that they've made are Frank and Maggie. So could Frank and Maggie have set this up? I don't know that they could. Like the elves or not. The elves well, no, yeah,

these are o Elves. The other guys were dwarves. The Elves are talking about the Master as somebody that feels very like established and in control, and I don't think Crawlers could accomplish that. So I don't know. It's definitely they're being set up, But I just don't know who else could be, because like the other thing is, if I'm blaming the what are they the Skull Empire? If I were trying to blame them, they literally just like shot at the true trailer the two of them were in.

They don't really feel like subtle operators, you know what I'm saying. They're not afraid to just outright take them out in a very public, borderline breaking the rules like kind of way. This elaborate story just doesn't vibe with that approach. And the only like, I don't know who all has influence on things? Who has that kind of power? I keep thinking about like Odette, and I don't think

that she necessarily has any influence on the game. She has her she has her influence as a host of this show, but I don't think she has necessarily direct influence. And who else like gives a shit about these two at this point? I mean, I don't know. I'm gonna have to think this over a little bit further. So anyway, one of them says we had to torture her to tease your name from her lips, and Carl asks who.

But I knew immediately, and he says she was serving an important purpose, removing the unworthy filth from the streets. But then she started asking questions, questions. It turns out that attracted the oak Fell, just as the Master predicted, and this again, they are very distracted by the fact that these guys are talking about torturing gum gum, so they don't ask who the master is, but I really

want them to fucking ask. And there's a little preamble conversation here where eventually Doughnut turns to Carl and they start weirdly reacting. And this is when we find out about the anklet being what is causing them to They're flickering from white dots to red ones, so as soon as they catch a glimpse of it, their enemies. But then when her fur covers it again, they go back to just being neutral. And I kind of find that funny. Donut lifted her back leg, revealing the small magical anklet

with the three little beads. She shook her foot and the beads made a rattling noise. The elves growled and hissed like a pack of wild animals. One of them, the female light Healers, started scratching at her own face, causing rivulets of blood to form. This is uh. It feels like this is an enchanted item that is affecting them.

This is more to me than just simple fervor. I think that something on this is affecting the elves, and the elves only I don't know, but it just the reaction is so extreme, and like, look, they're literally extremists, so maybe it is just pure them, but I can't help but have my suspicions. I don't know. I love when he says you think there that she's the Antichrist because of the anklet, and Donuts says I told you would.

Jewelry is uglean. H I found that so funny. Look, I think with jewelry can be lovely, but I do get where Donut's coming from. It's rare for me to really like it. There are times where I'm it's the sort of thing where I'm like, I understand the appeal.

It's not for me, but I get it. So this is when Salvatore takes that like acorn off of his stick and begins to eat it, and it causes magical fervor, triples their amunt of points, increases their strength and makes them glow and talk really loud, and they'll be immune to your fear spell. So he is ranting, and this is when he gets interrupted by the dwarven woman who bashes him with a literal rolling pin. I imagine the

dwarfn woman, who is also like hugely pregnant. I imagine her wearing a like a pink bonnet with white polka dots on it, and probably like maybe curlers in her hair, something like that. Wap thwap thwap down the street. The two swordsman guards turned toward the scuffle. I stared in surprised astonishment at the tableau the woman had come out of nowhere. The other elves looked at each other, none of them moving, equally frozen with surprise by the unexpected violence.

The seminar elf continued to suck his thumb. The healer continued to scratch at her own face. The scene only held this way but for but a moment, though it seemed to go on forever. The stalemate ended when Mongo yacked the salamander back out onto the street and the dwarf, says Benjamin. Benjamin, and I was just like, oh no, so everything falls apart. At this point, the like dwarven woman gets frozen, and that takes her out for a

full sixty seconds. I don't know how many of you have played games with that kind of like functionality and combat, But there is nothing more infuriating than being frozen in a game. I think it's the worst possible attack to use on somebody. Just you have to sit there and just take it as people go to town beating the shit out of you. The worst I hate it is young Ricky Joe knelt before Benjamin the dead salamander. His

lower lip quivered as he picked up the gold. The broken stick line dripped off, and the guards come over. They moved towards the frozen, pregnant dwarf and they're coming at her because she's the one that started beating up this elf. So she's literally on the ground, utterly helpless, and they're gonna kill her. So her kids are trying to come to her rescue, and of course Karl is watching this. I was aware nobody left on the street

at this moment was innocent. Nobody except maybe Benjamin who was already dead and the baby dwarf in Eunice's belly. The elves were assholes. The rock throwing dwarf kid was a prick who'd gotten what he deserved. Unice obviously had some anger and birth control issues she needed to work out. I was like, does she have birth control issues? Maybe she just likes to have lots of kids. Don't judge her.

And Ricky Joe the Salamander Torturer was obviously well on the path toward the life of a series real killer, and normally some kid that's like tormenting an animal. I would agree, but there was something about this whole scenario that just felt like, I don't think that's what's going on here, which is why I'm sort of tempted to believe Ricky Joe and what he said later. But anyway, he goes on and punches the guards and it does fucking nothing except turn both guards red. Warning you have

been branded as a troublemaker at this settlement. Guards will now attack you on site. I remember, guys, one particular playthrough of Skyrim where I attacked a guard in a town. I don't remember what happened, but I do recall that I didn't realize it was a guard, and I attacked without knowing what it was I was doing. I got branded as a troublemaker, and there was like a quest that I had to be in this town and I couldn't get around them. I finally went back and loaded

a save from before I killed that guard. Because being branded a troublemaker it throws such a wrench into gameplay. It makes things so fucking difficult. If you have very high stealth, it can be fine because you can sneak past them. But at the time I was not focused on stealth. I was like just pouring everything into combat only. So when like he gets this alert, I felt my heart stop a little bit because I was just like, Oh, this is gonna be a nightmare for you. I don't

know how bad it's really gonna be. Meanwhile, Ricky Joe tries to punch Mongo and he loses his whole forearm and hand. Mongo swallows it later pukes it back up, but there is no way for them to reattach it, so Brah has got only one arm. Now doesn't even seem that upset as one would expect, but that's also

because kids don't get what consequences are. So and Donut has to stop Mongo from continuing and beyond just taking his arm and actually killing him, because Mango is about that, and this dumbass kid is about to punch Mango again with his other hand and just lose both hands. Which I can't lie, would have been fucking hilarious. Like I don't wish for a child to lose both hands, but this is fiction and a weird game, and I do think that had he lost both arms, I wouldn't have

been able to stop laughing. I think that would have been very, very flunny. The swordsman's wide blades smashed into the ground. The blade missed me, instead drilling into Salvatore, who'd just been healed back to consciousness by the face scratching light healer. He'd been sitting on the ground shaking his head. He was cleaved in half, cut right down the center, like a damn bagel. I the description of

like a bagel killed me. There are so many ways that you could have described that, and a bagel evocative not gonna lie. I pictured it. So they get out of there, and they take the kid with them, and he gives the kid a heel potion, but it doesn't grow his arm back. It just stops the bleeding and you know, sort of seals things up there. As they're leaving, he tosses a boom jug into the air and it falls after they're out of the way, and it lights the whole place on fire, which means that Ricky Joe's

house burns down. The kids and his mom are far enough away that they're not caught up in it, but yeah, whole building gone. We waited until sunset before leaving our hiding spot atop the building, and Mordecai is very upset that they had been labeled as troublemakers. And this is when they have the conversation about the salamander, and he's just like they like it. He was in training. He carl asks Ricky Joe, did you notice anything weird going

on in that building? And he says it was always weird. One of them would cry for his mama every morning. We could hear it through the walls. There were a lot of weird smells. My brother Bubba Lane said he saw something fly from the roof a couple nights ago. He said it was a cross suit, but it was probably just that skyfowl lady. I don't know her name. They all look the same to me, but she visits a lot. She usually just comes before dark and leaves

right away, walking with a bunch of other ladies. She didn't come today, though, and this gets me thinking on the same track as Carl that maybe it's the assistant lady who is actually responsible for what's going on. It also occurred to me, and this, ultimately, I think, just turns out to be nothing. But I was like, do you hear beanie babies have some significance in this? Are they somehow like storing magic? Or is she turning people

into beanie babies? Like that would be very funny, but uh, it doesn't seem like a beanie baby's factor into anything. So I also like that he has a sibling who sometimes calls women stupid, and that his mother slaps the kid when he says that, pinches his ear till he apologizes, and then makes us all line up and call him stupid. I endorse this. I think that is fantastic and I wish that this was just the way that we operated

in life. So Carl's looking around trying to figure out how they're going to get the fuck off the roof that they've been sitting in to stay out of the mess, and he has to come down on a rope. Donut is able to get down with like no issue whatsoever, and she says something like about how he needs to start working on his jump ability because he doesn't have

any He's having to use ropes all the time. And it's interesting because like, there isn't a lot in which I feel like Karl is slowing them down, but this is a particular area where yeah, he is. I had to carry the protesting Ricky Joe under my arm. I ended up accidentally dropping him the last ten feet, but he was mostly fine. Belly flopped hard onto the ground, losing his weak grip on the severed arm and salamander corpse. He started wailing, Oh you're fine, I called, as I

climbed the rest of the way down. Walk it off, kid. His health had barely blipped the idea that this his arm flopping around and the dead sound like this what a fucking picture. Oh my god. So there's a scream and Ricky Jo says, that's me Mom. She's in labor again. She's going to be really mad if I miss it. I'm in charge of holding her left leg. Bye, Princess Dona by Mango. I'd love that he doesn't say good

by to Carl. This woman just being so constantly pregnant that they have like a setup for her going into labor. I do not like know what to even think of this. Rob says to me that totally made me think Carl might be a marginally unreliable narrator. Oh, Rob is saying, oops, he slipped, Like maybe Carl dropped him on purpose. Interesting. I don't really think so, but I could see maybe

not being honest with himself about it. Perhaps. So this is when we go back to the one I'm Narwhal and we meet Katya, and Karl had forgotten all about Katya, not me. I have been eagerly awaiting meeting heckless friend. I had been so curious how this all was going to go. And it's fascinating because when he looks at her, the AI tells him her race is human and that her class is monster truck driver. As we find out

later that's not really her race. And so the AI isn't always correct or honest depending on how you want to look at it, which is accurate to how actual AI functions everybody. I just want you all to know that this is an anti AI generative AI podcast. I hate generative AI. It is inaccurate. It is theft. It is theft of not only intellectual property and the work and vision of artists. It is also literally stealing the out of the pipes of the poor people that they

inevitably build the server farms in their communities. There is a video that has been circulating of the families who are near this new server farm and they turn their taps on and this tiny trickle of water comes out and that's how it's been for months, and they like, it's just all of the water has been diverted to this fucking server farm. I cannot emphasize enough how little value AI brings as opposed to the damage that it does. The ratio is insane, and I just cannot believe that

we are going along with it. And I can't believe how impossible to escape it is, because it's literally built into fucking every app now, and the fact that it uses so much power for everything, even when I am not trying to use it, because it's just an automatic feature. So whether I like it or not, I am sometimes using it. It makes me so fucking angry. I think, if you use AI to like write for you, you are so lazy. You are so lazy. Oh my god. If you're using AI to do research for you, it

is not accurate. AI is much less reliable than something like Wikipedia, which we use to make fun of people who used Wikipedia for research. Now AI is the thing that everybody's usaying. We're just accepting that, and like there are actual legit jobs out there endorsing it. Are we fucking high? It's all around the worst idea we've ever had. I hate everything about it. There is not a redeeming quality.

There's nothing about the way generative AI works that I think is worth the time, attention, and energy that we are pouring into it. So I just wanted to say that, and I stand by it, and I will always stand by it. It's like one of my top issues now that I'm fighting for is like abortion rights and kill

generative AI. So Katya, we find out eventually that she's actually a shape shifter doppelganger sorry, and this means that she can change how she looks, but she has to emulate it by making herself look a certain way by concentrating, and it hurts to do it, which I kind of appreciate the addition of the pain, because otherwise being able to change around all the time is so easy that it can be kind of abused in terms of the plot.

So adding a layer of difficulty there I think is really necessary to keep somebody from being kind of overpowered.

And she's only level nine, which Karl is really hesitant to bring her into the fold because it feels like she's going to significantly hold them back, which I understand, but also they've been dealing with these shambling things and it seems like kind of an XP farm, and maybe just go there with her and you'll be able to deal with some you know, she doesn't gain the non physical abilities of the shape, she just looks like it. The problem for Maskatchia here is she can't just say,

make me into a human. She has to shape it herself, and it hurts. She has to mentally chisel her appearance herself, and since she isn't yet a master sculptor. So this is something that I think is so fascinating because the ability to like completely control what I look like. I love this idea. It's something that I think a lot of people deal with with just straight up to morphia. And you know, the way that plastic surgery has gotten

to be like a little bit out of hand. A lot of us really wish that we had control over how we looked. And I think considering how plastic surgery works. People seem willing to deal with pain in order to get the look they want, so so let's see. He gives her a shard of mirror as well, because she hasn't been able to find one, and once she sees herself, she's able to adjust some things pretty quickly to make herself look a little bit more human. Mordecai says, the

monster truck class. It's an Earth version of the staunch barrier class mixed with a jouster class. It's a relatively common combined class called a juggernaut. In other words, she's a straight up tank that gets an increasingly massive constitution bonus the faster she's moving, and based on her current constitution while she's standing still, she is quite the house. And he then in chat says, what's the catch, and Mordecai says, massive constitution and good dexterity. She sucks at

everything else, especially strength, which seems counterintuitive. She's not a fighter and her level is low, so despite your ability to absorb a lot of physical and magical damage, she is far behind the curve. I once found an indestructible wombat thing on the eighth floor. The Monster could absorb a direct hit to the face with a celestial warhammer, but they were small and weak, so instead we just picked them up and dunked them headfirst into buckets of water.

They quickly drowned. Jesus Mordecai, Yeah, it is kind of grim. My point is the strongest, most indestructible wall in the world. Isn't that tough if you can pick it up and toss it aside? It's just like with your shelf plan later tonight, which that's a little hint for us. So I am very interested in, you know, her being part of their party. I'm into this. I think we can level her up. I think we can figure it out.

I'm just imagining, like, granted, if you can pick her up and toss her, but put her somewhere that they can't reach her, have her like stand in front of you to take damage while Carl chucks bombs out from behind her. I think that's a pretty winning combo. I don't know. And let's see. We spent the next few minutes getting her to join our party. And she has strength eleven, intelligence eight, constitution fifty one, dexterity thirty, charisma eight.

And it turns out she's got all kinds of like items and buffs to her constitution, which Carl is particularly interested in because his is not high enough. And let's see, I also have something called pathfinder which helps me find stairwells really easily, which is something that Mordecai had said earlier that they should try and get if they can. And she mentions being good at fixing engines because of the earth hobby potion. So she's now a gearhead, very handy.

Love this. And she was an art teacher, which Karl tries to be like an art teacher and you sculpt that shitty. All art is different, Carl. Maybe she was a great painter. Okay, maybe she made jewelry. You don't know,

stop it, stop judging her. So Princess Donut versus CSI and Gustavo three, turns out somebody had zeroed in on Donut when she was talking shit about the Rottweilers, and now pople are trying to get them versus one another, which obviously later on Carl is like, well, we just have to avoid Lucy Amar and then it's quickly clear to him, Oh, this has gotten enough attention. They are going to make us face off. There is absolutely no way that we're going to avoid each other. They're going

to make it happen. She says. Every moment spent not gaining experience is a waste of time. I will find this donut in the dungeon where her death will be forever. Ceci and Gus will tear this putta apart, and then I will rip Carl to pieces and take all of his shiny toys. This bitch is scary. I am very excited. I do. I don't want to face She's very scary, but also I kind of do. I just want to know, you know what I'm saying, Like, I just so, Yeah, it won't happen. It won't be until after the third

round of sponsorships so on, or after the sixth. Does that mean they'll go easy on us till then? Maybe, but probably not. Whatever happened to them trying to kill us off early, they're still trying to end as early as possible. But they need money, so you high performers are going to be treated differently. All of this ties in with what I need to talk to you about. Boring is warning shopkeepers and pub owners to be extra

careful not to anger crawlers. It doesn't explicitly say this, but some of you guys are getting much stronger than you should. The Desperado Club is proof loop boxes are controlled by the AI, and it's attempting to compensate for the time limits. Is that why you didn't have a fit when we decided to take on this quest, you were already snagged in the net It happens. I could tell this was a good one from the get go.

Usually you just have to bring something from point A to point B and it's done, or you have to kill someone. Now you should get a couple hours sleep. He mentions about what's her face? Try to keep her alive, but if she does die, make sure you get those rings off her finger. Damn. So they have to go break into the magistrate's place. The alley contained a group

of a level fourteen monsters called shadow Leaks. They were smoke like ghost like smoke like ghost class mobs that swarmed us as we approached the side of the building, and they're able to deal with these fairly easily. Mongo gets bigger as he hits level thirteen. He'd gone from dog size to pony sized, just like that donut leaped from my shoulders to the back of Mango to see if she could ride him, but the dinosaur got so excited he started jumping up and down, tossing doughnut away.

She poofed all her hair out in anger and return to my shoulder. We'll work on that, leader, she mumbled. I am deeply looking forward to this, I really really am. I kind of want Carl to be able to ride Mongo. I'm not gonna lie, but I'm okay with with just donut from now. So the what Carl had done with the shelves that I had noticed and was sort of like, is there a camera? It's explosives. I don't know how it didn't occur to me that's this whole fucking thing.

If he's planting something, I should assume it's explosive, like every time, I really should. So what they're doing, it's like they there had been this moment earlier where him and Mordecai talk over the fact that, like when we were saying, we're going to make whoever's killing these women pay, they hurt us somehow, and what's that? Which I have just been taking it so for granted that everything they say and do is on camera that it didn't really bother me that whoever this was was able to see

or like at least hear them. But it didn't occur to me that, like in game, that isn't how it works. So I didn't even ask this question. But as we find out later that mysterious letter, that's what it does. So they have to pull the letter out and like talk around it with their plan to set up whoever it is that they're trying to trick into this trap.

So they, let's see, blow up the thing. I'm trying to find the spot here where they donut quickly cast clockwork triplicate on the dinosaur and pulled the original mango back into his carrier. We need even get in a minute, but not right now. And I pulled the hobgoblin smoke curtain into my ystera she stera, I think is the way you pronounced this, if I remember, and tossed it onto the opposite roof. I then lit a second and wedged it into a roof tile at our feet. We're

jumping on the roof now, I said. I crumpled up the letter and tossed it up in the air. One of the mangos grabbed it and swallowed it whole, which I really am curious what effect that has on anything, because the mongo is only that one isn't real, like what does it do? And they are able to jump all the way across the alley and up a whole story, which he had not anticipated being successful, but evidently donut have faith in them. So let's see, I'm trying to

find the spot. I pulled the Hobgoblin Puss and jammed on the detonator. A clockwork mongo how'l filled the air in the moment before night turned. Today they blow up the place, but their quest isn't complete, and this is giving him a very bad feeling. Understandably, we've all been here where we have a quest, we think we've done the thing, nothing happens and we're like, oh, it's not over, which, considering this is only going to get them a silver box,

really does seem kind of unfair. Your title has changed. This change will revert upon collapse of the floor. I had jumped up two levels to twenty one. Doughnut had jumped two levels to nineteen. Let's see, I'm trying to find the spot. New achievement assassin. You have killed a ranking NPC town official. You have received a Bronze Assassin's box and there's ultimate extreme power. You've received a Platinum Tyrants box. You have also gained control of the Medium

Skyfall Settlement. Good life, Magistrate. I never saw that coming and this will be interesting. Cock Block. You have assassinated an NPC whose existence was required to complete another crawler's quest, which was Miss Quill, so we know for sure she is dead. I can you imagine you guys playing this game and somebody else fucking your quest up in this way? I would be nivid. I would be so mad. So yeah, his name change is Magistrate Carl of Medium Skyfall Settlement.

So we'll see how this works out. I think we screwed up. Magistrate Featherfall is dead, but the quest is still there. That means he wasn't the head bad guy, and it looks like Miss Quill wasn't either, So now they have to go in there and figure out what the hell is going on. And they go into this building that is like starting to fall, and I love when he runs into a couple eagles and he says that he's the magistrate. I wasn't certain how this sort

of thing worked. If they'd recognize my authority or not. If this were the real world, they'd say, fuck off, your crazy assholes. The skyfall called down to me, go back to the Desperado or wherever you came from. You shouldn't be up here. I really enjoyed that. I thought

that was very well done, that little overlap there. So they get inside and I'm running out of time here, so I have to kind of speed up this part, but I promise I will be more than likely bringing it up next episode again because this is a big deal. They come into this room where there are tons of women's corpses hanging all over the place in different levels of dissemblement. So the word I want there are like they are cross us. So they're in pieces because of

how that works. And then there's the magistrate who's in this weird sort of dream catcher hanging upside down, pinned into place. How did we get credit for killing that guy when he was like this? He looks like he's been dead a long time. I don't know. There was a nest of CROSSU the original descriptions had to truly kill them when had to find their bodies and destroy them. The ones without heads were I assumed out and about in the town. But if that was the case, why

do they appear as corpses on the map? And this is when he's realizing that the AI isn't accurate. It's saying that they're corpses, but they might not actually be really dead corpses. So there is a point where one of them wakes up. I'm trying to find the exact spot where this whole he uh. He reaches out to Mordecai for some advice. Here, spells in your menu and scrolls won't cast if you're in a muted zone. Everything else, including magical items, potions, and spells you've already cast, will

still work. So they sick Mongo on one of the elves. He chomped down on the dark ELF's head. The barely detached head caved in under Mongo's alarmingly powerful bite. The head slopped to the ground, followed by a rush of organs and blood, as if her neck was a drain that had just been unclogged. The purple swirls of magic blinked off, The purple aura around the others blinked out. The hair on the back of my neck stood on end.

So all of these beings start to rise, and Mango, of course, because he do what he do, is trying to attack all of them, and as they begin waking up, he yells out, go along, and she takes a minute to get what he means. But this is one of their little plays. I'm not going to get into all of this again because of time. But they pushed through the corpses as I yanked the fireball or custard lotto ticket from my inventory, and he gets fireball. The eggs shaped ball of fire leaped out of my hand and

rocketed toward the doorway to the bedroom. The flaming projectile was the size of an opened umbrella. It didn't move as quickly as one of Donut's magic missiles, but that didn't matter. The entire building rocked again, the floor buckled. Did we get them all? I think so, but we fried whatever loot Featherfall had. So they go back into the room and there is a woman who's flickering. Her dot is going from red to white, or from an ex to white to a red dot. It's like cycling through.

And it's Burgundy, who they had run into when they were getting to when they were trying to see the magistrate. The first time she works at the mall, and first of all, she is like, I want to be clear. You guys need to kill me because this is a curse and I do not want to be like this, And she explains that she was brought here by the elves. I worked in another settlement, but they told me I could get a job at the Desperado Club, and they talked me into coming. Everyone knows if you work in

the club, there's a chance you can descend. I could go to the hunting grounds and then maybe even deeper where it's safe. This is just the fucking chant, right. All anybody can talk about is trying to get deeper where it's safe. That's all anybody fucking wants is to just not be somewhere where they're under attack all the time. It's really not all that much to ask, one would think. So let's see, she says, Uh, Featherfall wasn't the one who did this. He's been here the whole time, hanging

on that thing. His body was turned into a dark fetish to keep our bodies safe at night. Miss Quill's the one who's been running the city the whole time. She's the real magistrate, which Carl is sort of like, okay, good at least killing her did something because I thought she was maybe totally innocent. The quest didn't tell us to save the women or kill who was responsible. We just needed to find out what was going on. And we were almost there and Burgundy goes on. Miss Quill

came and got us. She asked us so many questions. I didn't know why. At the time, I thought she was going to take me to the club and staid she brought me to him, to her husband. He's in another place across the street where the swordsman guards stay in the evening. The guards don't know he's there, or they don't care. They can't look up, which is wild. I don't know why, but that detail got to me so bad. He's named Remix and he's casting a big spell.

He's not alive or dead, he's something in between. What does that have to do with you, guys? And she's saying during the day we live and work in the building, and at night were his private army. Every time a new skyfowel or chickadee comes into one of the shops, where to pluck a feather. I don't know why we give them to miss Quill. As to the women, they are those whose sins aren't enough. They are women who

have come to work at the Desperado. But when they are brought to Remis, when he twists them, when their heads sometimes fly from their bodies, they do not always turn into crossu. It's not a perfect thing. Sometimes they simply die. When this happens, us to feed upon them. Then one of his avatars picks them up and drops them in the alleys. Mss Quill says, they have to drop them within a few blocks of his lair. He controls the avatars as if they are his own limbs,

but they can't go far. Are the other skyfall I don't understand. And the room starts to slip, and she yells for them to kill her, and Donut kills her with a magic missile and that's the end of the chapter. So yeah, Michael says, I hate how her story is pulled directly from real life people sex trafficking women by lying to them what they're traveling for the way that

sex trafficking works. It's so funny, guys, because there are all these you know, weirdo Facebook posts and emails that old white ladies like to send to each other about like what to look out for that you might get snatched. That's not how they do things. They go after people that don't have family. They lie and make up stories about the great life you're about out to have. They

pick up hit like hitchhikers or unhoused people. They're not gonna go after the thirty two year old mom of three getting into her suv at the fucking mini mall. Like that's not how that works. But anyway, yeah, this, Uh, I am out over time, so I really do have to wrap, but I'm excited to see what this book, how it wraps up, So we'll see, all right, everybody, until next time to thelue motherfuckers. That was an Unspoiled Network podcast