The Butcher's Masquerade, Chapters 51-55

check as it is. Thank you Jackie for commissioning this episode. So one might think that my first and foremost mention regarding this section might be Gravy Boat, But the truth is we're only just barely touching on what they're doing with Gravy Boat. So I will say that I'm gratified we are at least going to be seeing the results of them taking him this book. I sort of wondered if we were going to have to wait, and I wouldn't have been mad about it. For the record, if

we had to wait, that's fine. But I'm excited that we are getting to see it actually shake out this book. And by excited I mean dreading it and I hate it and it's awful, but also storytelling wise, really curious how we handle this and I this whole thing now, you know what. Before I even get any further, I

just want to mention you guys really quick. I keep meaning to say this at the beginning of all my episodes and forgetting I am going to be transitioning from doing these lives on crowdcast to doing them live on my Patreon by the beginning of next year because the pricing for crowdcast is about to go up for me, it was supposed to go up last year, but they didn't inform me adequately, so they gave me another grace period and I simply cannot afford what they are going

to be asking. So we're going to be doing this on Patreon, and if you want to get access, you just need to become a free member. You don't have to pay any money, but you do have to become like a member on my channel to see it. And just wanted to let you all know about that. So if this stops updating and you're sort of like, is

she not recording these anymore? Yes, I do, I will be, but are somewhere else now this I'm so tempted to like jump around a bunch this episode, and I guess I'm going to try and go in order because there's a lot and I know I'll lose track if I don't, But God, there are some things I want to talk

about right away. So we start chapter fifty one with Carl finding out that like the way that he is going to be firing these poison bombs, it's like they're kind of like poisonous water balloons almost, that he put a little bit more thought into it than was even necessary. He's trying to figure out exactly how to aim, and Dona is being unhelpful, as she often is, and it seems like the effect of this is quite good once

he actually is able to get the target. However, I did not tell him that because Donah is the spotter, she gets the credit for the kill, and Carl's a little bit like salty about it. Mordechai tries to be like, I forgot to tell you, and Carl doesn't believe him, which I think is interesting that he thinks Mordecai is straight up lying. I mean, he may be right, but like, why would he bother lying? Like does he think Carl just wouldn't do it this way if he knew he

wasn't getting credit. Is he that self absorbed? I don't feel I feel like he knows Donah will be like that. She needs more credit and levels. So if you had just known ahead of time, he would have like agreed because it would be to her benefit. And it's simply being caught off guard that he doesn't get the credit that makes him annoyed. But I don't know. So they wind up getting on the back of she obviously is writing Mango, and let's see, is he on the back

of anybody? I'm trying to see. No, No, he's not. They're just walking and it's Kiwi that's leading them, and he keeps realizing that she's attempting to go off course to lead them to Big Tina, who we do eventually encounter, and she has the actual personality of like an infant. So not great when somebody is basically a Tyrannosaurus Rex. But uh, it's fine. So I knew we'd lose the female dinosaur once we went down a floor, which was too bad. As great as Mango was, he was nothing

compared to the larger, faster raptor. She was terrifyingly fast. Boa constrictor things started dropping out of the trees at us, and she'd be on them in seconds, faster than any of us, chomping them in half. Still, it was good experience for her, and it was good for Mango too. So they're looking for Eva, and even visually there's a moment where it like we find out Koatchya thought she had her, and she gets away again, and Katya's starting to be like, she's got to have some kind of ability.

This is fucked up, Like, I don't know how she keeps doing this. And they are heading towards one of these creepers and somebody else kills it before they can even get there. And as they're sort of sitting there going ah, that sucks, all of a sudden, this pouring rain stops dead and a bunch of elves on the back of milk white stags appear, and there is also a litter with curtain strawn so that you cannot see

who is in there. But it turns out that's what that's gravy boat, and Doughnut spots him because the wind like ruffles the curtain. So I don't know if she was meant to see and get like warned about who she was going to be facing, or if it was sort of an accidental thing that she got caught a glimpse. I don't you know, Like it could be either way in terms of what makes the most drama. You could argue for both. But either way, this fucking guy is

called a familiar. And later on Carl realizes that like, if b had been able to be imagen like they had planned, gravy boat probably would have been like on her shoulder or something so as to cause the greatest psychic damage against both him and Donut. And he can't help but be like, oh, Deett might have been fucked up for the reasoning behind why she went and scooped be up, but like, honestly, thank God, which fair enough. So all these high elves are extremely like perfect looking

in a Lord of the Rings sort of way. I will be honest, I never thought the Lord of the Rings except for Orlando Bloom, but most of the Lord

of the Rings elves I was sort of about. I've always been a hobbit girly through and through no surprise there I literally could have been cast as a hobbit and everybody would have been fine with it, and then we get the weird like you know it's gravy boat, but at first we don't know that, and we just hear that his voice doesn't match what Karl had been expecting, because he sounds almost like New Yorker like, which in the presence of these elves is particularly odd and not

what you'd expect to hear. And he's got this sort of lecherous tone whenever he refers to donut, and it'd seem trying to find this bit. The issue at hand is these creatures which have invaded our lands. Due to your insufferable incompetence, we have been forced to venture forth from the castle to deal with it. If your intention was to fight the one we just killed, you're obviously too late. You are fortunate that both of you are

currently on the guest list for the Masquerade. I am ordered to exterminate all other vermin now, if you will excuse us. We have other similar creatures to hunt down and deal with before the sun sets. If you can, you should try to deal with the ones near zachal I said, the creature grunted. We are only concerned with the Leana district, which is south of the infested river. But that does remind me Queen Imogen would like for me to pass on a message to your friend signet.

What is it? A lightning bolt shot forth directly at Mongo and Doughnut obviously throw is herself like a friggin Secret Service agent in front of the President between the bolts of lightning, and Mongo gets nailed with it and thrown into a tree and the tree like explodes from the force of it. And the only reason that she is not dead is because of her cockroach skill. Carl obviously is like for a moment going I have like, what the fuck she can't do that? I gotta tell

her never to do that again. And he actually does restrain himself, which I appreciate a lot because I am so sorry. She hasn't got a lot left, dude, And if she wants to, like keep Mango alive, if this is something that means a lot to her, I know it sucks, but like, let her have it, dude. Honestly, I just feel for Donut in this respect particularly, and it's you know, Carl would do that for Donut, no question. So, oh yeah, they'd almost killed Mongo. This wasn't just a

whim of an NPC. This was planned, a story movement engineered by the showrunners. I thought of prepotente sobbing when Miriam had died. They were doing this to all of us, ratcheting up the drama for the floor's finale. And yeah, if he had succeeded in actually killing her, she would have.

And if she hadn't seen gravy Boat through the curtain fluttering, It's possible that she could just wind up like on the war path for the person who killed Mango and then be faced with the surprise reveal of oh my god, it was gravy Boat the whole time. But the attempt to kill Mongo fails. Now, it's possible they knew it would fail. I don't think so. I think that her stopping them wasn't part of the plan. I also think that her getting to see him wasn't part of the plan. So,

you know, I don't know. Maybe I am giving the AI too much credit here for fucking things up on purpose, or you know, regarding the wind only not what Donut did. But uh, yeah, she says it was Ferdinand. I saw him. They brought him down here and changed his memory and turned him into a jerk. He tried to kill Mango. They're making it so I'm going to have to fight him. And Carl at this point is like, fuck this, We're going down to the next floor. We don't need to

do this, understandably. So everybody else is basically like Carl, you can't just fucking abandon us. And as far as he is concerned, his sole obligation is to Donut. I was helping everybody else. I hope you all are okay. I wish you the best, but I don't owe you anything. And if it means that it protects Donut, I will go down to the next floor. Fuck you. And it's all like understandable on both sides for me, every argument that each person is making for and against, I get it.

You know, I think it's a terrible call. And honestly, Wakatia says, She says, I know you, this is a knee jerk reaction. That's the part that I think is the most convincing. Trying to rationalize to him why going down isn't smart. I would normally fully endorse reasoning with somebody, but Carl isn't in the head space where reason is going to penetrate his skull. He is angry and protective and has there's like a switch that's been that has been flipped, and he is triggered into this mode of

anger right now. And I don't blame him for that at all, but it is much smarter to point out you have been like this before and made snap decisions that you regretted, and you're doing it again, and I'm calling attention to it, and also, IMMANI rightfully, what is Donut think? Have you even asked her? And that really

gets to the heart of the matter. In my opinion, It's unclear how much that gets through to Carl, But considering my feelings through a law of this section have been frustration in the fact that he doesn't seem to be like taking her seriously enough, or believing that she can do things, or involving her in his plans, I can't help but feel like that's a very relevant question to ask, and really, when it comes down to everything, the most important overall setting, aside whether or not it

is smart gameplay or if this is a snap judgment, you are about to do something too Donut without her knowing or giving you permission. You are about to pull her into the next floor. You don't have the right to do that, You just don't. So anyway, Katsha gets in contact with him in the private chat separate from the group, and tells him like, I really need to

talk to you. I've been putting it off and I don't know what this is going to be, but you know it's something that's like she says that I've done this before, but it's bigger this time than all the other stuff, and I'm curious what it's going to be and looking for advice more than anything. And it's not about Eva. Let's get through whatever is, whatever is about

to happen first and we can talk. But we can't talk if you just jump down the stairs five days early, and Carl ends with I'll let Donut decide, but I'm going to try to talk her into it. Mordecai thinks it's a good idea too, So we have him just

thinking things over and looking down at Donut. She's like curled up and recovering, and he is reflecting on the state of things right now and whether or not they're going to be able to actually succeed with this quest that he hasn't heard anything about Kuan Che, who they haven't heard of in a while. He isn't on the top ten list anymore, and he is thinking about the fact that they are bringing gravy Boat back and that he is probably pretty lucky because who is he do

they have that they could bring? Maybe his father is still alive. He's not actually even sure, And honestly, it seems as if even if people aren't alive, that it maybe doesn't matter, Like I don't really know how that works. If they were killed by the collapse. I think that they can still bring them into the game because they are fresh enough, so to speak. But his father being

a boss would be genuinely horrifying. His father is a literal monster to begin with, and I think if anybody could cause Karl to freeze up, it would be his dad. I feel like that is a really high potential event, and I don't care for that as a concept, but I think that if I were a showrunner who had no soul, I would go for that for sure. And he comes to the same conclusion. It was only a matter of time before they brought him here if he was alive, so we shall see. And then still it

was nothing compared to others. I knew IMMANI had a big family. For example, Katcha had people too, And yeah, I think of this myself because, like you know, I don't have a big family. And even so, if you had, like somebody that I was friends with on any level, I think it would really fucking get to me anyway.

You know, it's worse for it to be somebody you were super close with that meant something to you, for sure, But I can't help but feel that this tactic would really undo me if I had any frame of reference for who the person had been originally, even if they weren't like a close family member or something like that. Yeah, I don't know, but I guess we'll see. So when Donut wakes up, she immediately says, we're not going down the stairs early. I appreciate what you're attempting to do

for me, Carl, but it's of no worry. Ferdinand may have been my first love, but I am a mother now and I have more important responsibilities. Mango needs me, and if I am going to pursue a singing career, I can't be tied down or all emotional because my ex boyfriend is suddenly trying to get back into the picture. If Taylor's swift or Adele can profit off heartache, I'm quite certain I can as well. Amazing, I love it

so much much good for her. This is when he gets a gold benefactor box, and later on we find out what this is. I'm gonna get into the whole thing, but I really I want to bring it up once we get to the negotiation r the nipple piercings, because she don't want to wear no nipple ring. So this is when we encounter Big Tina. I am not going to spend all that much time on Big Tina. I'll be honest. I find her uninteresting. I get that it's supposed to be like quite a thing. It's a dinosaur

in a too too who used to be a little girl. Hilarious. I don't care. I gotta be honest with you all. This is nothing for me. The idea of there being dinosaurs in this world in general, particularly fun. Yes, the idea of mongo like getting to mate and this whole thing like being a weird way to get in with the dinosaurs so that you are not their enemy. Cool. But as far as like her and her storyline, don't care.

Just don't don't care at all. I will be shocked if Donna doesn't take this recital opportunity to sing like practice somehow I don't know, but yeah, that's going to be the thing that they have to figure out, is how to like create this recital and give her what she wants. All of a sudden, they get interrupted again. Please wait loading my hud blinked twice, paused, then flickered

a third time. For the briefest moment, I felt a strange, rushing sensation, but it cleared away almost immediately, as if nothing had happened. But then I noticed a new bar in my vision underneath my health and manna mine was filled all the weight to the right. The hell is that,

sorry for the delay, may resume normal activities. And this is when they get the notification that they have failed the quest, and the AI is telling them I warned you, I warned you, And I should mention Donna point it out in the last section that the AI is referring to itself in the first person a lot more than it used to. That it had occasionally done so, but

it is much more frequent now. And she is also the one who you know previously had noticed that Samantha is able to move around more, and he has this happen in I don't remember if it's it's actually gonna last one, but there's a point where Samantha was like in somebody's lap and then suddenly is next to him, and he's starting to be kind of like, yike, she's really getting mobile in a way that I don't really like.

So I'm gonna mention here something that like, I don't know if it's anything, and I'm not trying to put anybody on blast here, I'm really not, but I have to acknowledge it because I really try to be as honest and upfront with you all as I can be whenever I cover anything. If I'm covering something and I get spoiled on a plot point, I feel like I almost never keep that quiet because I just feel like eventually I'll probably fuck up and say something. Anyway, I

may as well just like get it out there, you know. Now, I don't even know that this is a spoiler. But in the Disaccord, there was somebody who I'm not sure if like what they said was a spoiler and they shouldn't have said it, or if they were just theorizing and didn't consider that they have read further ahead than me or what. But they said something about, how does it seem obvious to anybody else that the AI is evil and is the one that's like fucking everything up?

Which they said this before I found out the next thing. So I was sort of like, what the AI? I mean, there's a whole system that is profiting off of this, Like the AI isn't the bad guy, The system's the bad guy. What do you mean? And so I was really puzzled, and I was like, I don't know what to tell you if that's what you think. And they said something about, like, well, in later books, there's just like some things that are said, and they didn't get specific.

All I said in response was okay, then you're working with information I don't have, so I don't know. And now that we're seeing the way that the conversation goes with this crawler later, I am thinking that person did spoil me a little bit. I don't know how much. I don't know if it's a problem in particular or anything, but I do want to remind folks that there is a spoiler and no spoilers channel, and if you have read ahead, and you're going to be mentioning anything from

future books. You don't want to do it in the no spoilers channel where I'm at, because that is going to influence me. And that whole point of this is like not to have me go through this blind, not knowing anything more than what I have read on the page.

So anyway, I just wanted to address that because it's in my head now, you know, and like after what it is later that gets said, it felt like, okay, so they were thinking about this particular development when they were saying that, And like I said, even if the AI does turn out to be evil, like the AI is really not the problem, not really not when you come down to it, you know. So I don't know

that I would agree with their assessment anyway. But also they are once again working with info I don't have yet, so there's maybe other developments later that will change my mind. So anyway, what happens is that the AI has decided that since the odious creepers who remain are up near Zakau where all the hunters are, the hunters especially are going to be punished for the fact that they didn't

get up off their asses and do anything. And Katya had been saying to Carl earlier, like, it doesn't look like anybody's going after anything up there. I wouldn't be surprised if they are thinking they can just hunker down in the safe rooms and let everything happen on the outside and not get involved. So the AI obviously is

thinking the same way. And what he I'm saying, he what it decides is that this hunkering down thing absolutely is not going to fly and creates a new bar in their status that is called the blood bar, and if they do not fill it, they will not get access to safe spaces or personal spaces. So if you don't do any fucking work, basically you don't get to rest and hide places. It has to be at a certain point after you have actually done something to earn

being safe that that will happen for you. And due to this, everybody who hasn't filled their blood bar, who is in one of these protected areas gets punted out of it to a random location. And when you enter a safe area, the bar begins to count down. When it's full, you're given ten earth hours to be layabouts it reaches zero. If it reaches zero, while you're still tucked away, you get randomly teleported to a location outside

the safe room. If it's at zero, you cannot enter a safe room at all, including guildholes or locations that double as pubs. The idea that you get ten hours and then it punts you to literally anywhere is genuinely terrifying.

Our people are always out grinding, and so I feel that, like under ordinary circumstances, I wouldn't be all that worried about them, but I can't help but think that something could very easily happen to make it so that they wind up stuck in there for long enough that they get separated somehow, And I really don't want it to, but I guess we'll have to see. So then after that announcement is a second one about what's happening is punishment.

Now that because the Odious Creeper quest was failed, the spell g Henna Bramble has been cast. This will spread outward at the average speed of four and a half kilometers per hour, faster at night, slower in the sun. Every plant touched with the spell is transformed into a thick, impenetrable, ten meter high wall of thorn covered vines that will undulate and thrust and attack. If you are pricked by the thorns, your blood immediately boils away and you explode.

This spell cannot be countered. The plant cannot be poisoned and killed. The brambles can be beaten back, but they are relentless. They will not come within five square meters of a stairwell, but everything else will be encompassed, including towns and buildings and everything that's not a safe room.

And it starts right now, so this is when suddenly a hunter is teleported into their midst The dinosaurs jump on this guy instantly and take one of his legs off before Karl is able to stop them because he wants to question this guy. And his name is Iota. He is a crafter level fifty coin tinker and dude has not leveled up one single solitary time apparently didn't

really want to be here. He's an accountant. Also, they keep meeting accountants, and is like very resigned by the end of this conversation to the fact that he's going to die because everything is bullshit and nothing is fair and they're greedy assholes and the whole system is garbage. In a way that like, Carl isn't exactly feeling for the guy. I don't want to say that, like he's not sympathetic, but he is sort of like, hey, at

least we can agree on something, you know. And he is super drunk as well, because that is all he has been doing apparently, since he hasn't been leveling up. He's just been hiding in a bar, just getting tanked day after day. And Carl is trying to question him, and Donut keeps being like, Carl, stop being dramatic, just kill him. And I was sort of like Donnut, normally I agree with you about like the drama aspect, but this is something that he really does need to ask

this guy what the hell is going on. So this is when he mentions something some of the families sued to let people out said, with the regime change, the contract should be nullified. These environmental changers ain't supposed to affect us like this. That mantis bitch was the one who sued trying to save her daughter. They just told us that the court ruled in our favor and we could leave if we wanted. We was all at the bar drinking and celebrating. We could get out of this

cluster shit. And let's see. I got bad news for you, buddy. I don't think you'll be going home. Not likely, he agreed. I warned them. This is all the Mantises fall. Rumor is when they sold the mud Skippers the AI they used for the crawl, they gave them a used one. The mud Skippers ain't had enough money for shit. After that incident a few cycles back, the Mantises are forced to retire their amusement park ais every season. They're always

complaining about it. So the rumor is they sold born and already used one for a real crawl all under the table. It's no damn wonder it's going primal. This early said to my mate, we are in a world of shit. If there's another lawsuit, it don't take kindly to and look what happened. So we had had a mention at the end of the previous book, I think where somebody is saying that the AI is going primal, and I'm still not entirely sure what that means. My

assumption is that it's basically just becoming sentient. You know that primal is like the first step on the way to fully self actualizing if that makes sense, But I might be wrong about that. He said, we got a notification the judgment was nullified by the authority of some long law. The notification was five paragraphs long. Basically, it was saying it's making its own rules now and it's going to finish the crawl, and we were stuck there until the floor was over and then we could go home.

And Carl is like, so they're just gonna let the AI do that, And He's like, yeah, of course, because what else are they going to do lose all the money they've put into the crawl by shutting it all down now. Of course, not like this kind of thing with the AI. It always eventually happens, but it's usually way further down on the floors. For at this point, the showrunners and everything are not supposed to be all

that involved, because the AI handles stuff. The massholes parting it up at club school at Pendra on the eighteenth level all got their own security teams in Orbit if it truly goes super nova, but a primal AI usually just lets them leave and take the modules when it's all done, all in exchange for letting the AI live out a happy life afterward. Them. Council asshole has been doing this a really long time. They know what they're doing.

Nobody ain't gonna really get hurt except you guys and people like me who gotta or work for a living. Then viewers will eat it up, and Boring or whoever is holding the credit shit is still going to make more money than all the gods combined. And this is when it says I was starting to like this guy, which was a problem. It's usually not an all or nothing thing. So far, the only thing that's changed is that the AI isn't complying with court orders it doesn't

agree with. That's almost always the first step, and sometimes it's all that happens. It's just my poor luck. It didn't like a court ruling that would have saved my ass. But one thing is for certain, the AI and a complete stickler for the rules. It likes the drama. And Carl's like, what do you mean by that? And he's like, I am the notorious shit talker who has drunk off his ass and I just happen to get teleported right next to the number one crawler. Yeah, I doubt it.

He put me here so that everybody would get to see me spilling the beans to you about all that's going on, like obviously, and he's like, look, I'm not mad at you for killing me. I think i'd probably fucking do the same thing. Whatever. I'm just a fucking accountant. Most of us have been sitting here just getting blitzed the whole time. It was clear from the moment you rated Zaka, this was going to be different and none

of us was going to be turning a profit. Sorry about missing that party, though it'd be nice to get out of that pub and eat some better. I didn't let him finish. I crushed my chest, crushed his chest in with my foot, and this levels up the ring of divine suffering. And also I just want to acknowledge that Karl also like rips one of his nipple piercings out with his foot, and I feel like the AI

had to have been very happy about that. So then we get the opening of chapter fifty four, and I'll be honest, I read this twice and it was like my brain just completely won't wah won't waht wah halfway through it. Both times. I don't know why this just slid right off my brain. Y'all but for whatever reason it did, we get a description of three types of castles.

The first is a regular building like anything else. It's a fortified building with monsters, sometimes with a boss inside, and there's a quest involved occasionally, but it's part of the environment. The second type is a governmental entity. Usually this is a quest target. One must either claim the throne room or kill a boss, and once it occurs, the castle's conquered and whatever this castle has dominion over is obtained. It can be a region or a whole country,

or just the castle itself, or simply a quest trigger. Incidentally, this second iteration is the type in the Faction Wars game of the ninth floor. The third castle is similar to the second, with a small difference. The castle itself is a self contained village with an NPC and guard ecology. It is almost identical to the villages and cities of the third and sixth floor. If conquered, the castle will appear in the crawler's interface as an owned village and

taxes will be collected. Guards can be controlled just as if it is a regular village. Crawlers who have obtained one state. There are a few differences to the interface regarding town defenses and available upgrades, but they have not told me what they are and threatened to punch me in the mouth if I kept asking. So I don't know what relevance this is going to end up having,

but I assume it will be something. And this is when Carl has to like talk with Donah about the implications of what this guy said, and I love that. Donah in the end is like, well, if the AI is going crazy, probably killing him with your foot was a smart move because at least keep the crazy on

your side. But then she brings up some girl that was friends with Miss Beatrice who was obsessed with a dude and she broke into a guy's house who had a restraining order on her and carved his initial into her leg or wait, carved her name into his thigh, sorry, which isn't very reassuring. Donut Like she's saying this, like, you know, here's a good example, and Carl's like, yeah, that just makes me the guy that gets fucking carved on. Awesome.

Don't love that. So the next we have like the dinosaurs that are traveling with them attacking like some of the bodies that they come across, and Katya is talking to Carl via chat and she's saying about how like the bramble setup is going to push everybody into the same territory. One of us will have to risk going to a desperado club to talk to them, and we got to do it fast. I'm pretty sure this happened just at the right time for it to finish covering

the entire map. As the timer runs out, we'll all be squished at the same spot. And Carl says the Elves won't want the Brambles in their territory and they'll try to beat it back. I think they may have something to protect the castle. I hope there are stairs in that area. There's a set near me, and we're close to the Elven border. But it sounds like this area will be drowned out in three or four days.

And he says, like, I've changed my mind about going down the stairs early, but I actually kind of wonder now if it is not such a bad idea for everybody to do that. I'm thinking we should work together for the rest of the floor. And Katcha is mentioning Brittany, who was part of their party. She got zapped away. She hasn't killed the thing, this entire floor, and I hadn't noticed her blood bar was empty. That is wild.

I'm like wondering if it's that she wasn't given the opportunity, if she doesn't like killing, and you know, is she lower level and feels intimidated, like what's going on with her? It was very curious. So last chapter fifty five and we encounter Signet again. I really enjoy donut greeting her tattoos, you know, the Clinton Nadine tattoos. Preparations are still under way for the final part of our assault. But that is not why I am here. We are not staying.

The elves hunt us. I have stopped to warn you. The forest cries, A darkness spreads from the north. Yes, I heard, I said, the Gehenna brambles. It had only been a few hours and nobody had seen or heard anything yet regarding this new threat that was to be expected. It was moving slowly. It was likely just reaching the borders of Zakow. Now it'd be over a day before it even reached the river. Yes, the brambles. I presumed you'd have learned of this by now, But it is

worse than you know. The trees are in pain. They are crying for help. The trees and dryads are casting a spell that just might help them. It will not stop the plague, but if they are successful, help will soon arrive to protect them from the worst of it. Okay, I said, not understanding. Help in the form of Dewata, the forest protector. I heard of your incident at the temple. You will need to be extra careful if Dawata enters the realm. They are especially unforgiving of apostates. Stay away

from any all trees. They will whisper your location to the deity. Great, I said, just great. Yeah, it sucks. I mean, I knew did Wata was going to inevitably have to be a problem, but I should have realized that it was not going to be like circumstantial. This

is being orchestrated to happen this way, you know. So then we go to the scene where Karl is having to convince Stna to wear one of these nipple rings because it gives plus ten points and an additional five percent to constitution, which is a particular weakness of hers. And she is just like all for all different reasons against it. She has a whole slut shamy thing about it. She has an ascetic issue with it. She has a

tactile issue with dangling things. She says something about like, I don't see you wearing one, and he's like, I am about to wear one, and it's way bigger than this one, the one, like the biggest one gave plus five in the drink mixing skill, which is extremely funny, and I'm trying to find the one where, oh yeah, I've grown to the moment. I read the description of the third nipple ring because I knew it'd be something

I pretty much would have to wear. The glowing gold ring was about the size of a half dollar and was too good to pass up. It imbued the wearer with something called quarterfall. It basically made one's falling speed a quarter of what would normally happen. I was no physicist, but I suspected it still wasn't going to be a pleasant landing, but at least it would be a survival surviv bubble one. My god, guys, So this is when he says, I'll give you a prize, and he does

something quite shady here. So he had gotten a bunch of different loot boxes, which don't really give him anything extremely interesting my benefactor box was puzzling. It was a highly valuable and familiar potion, though not quite as powerful as the one I already had Pawna's Cries. This potion has a limited shelf life. This potion adds plus three to any spell or skill of your choosing. A limited

shelf life was different than a short one. A short shelf life potion had to be taken immediately, a limited one had to be taken before the end of the floor. I still had the Pawna's Tears potion in my inventory that did the same thing, but it had no time restrictions and was plus five, not three. We were saving that one until a little later. This new potion also

came with a note, which was unusual. It said simply save the torah Leine, and he is annoyed that it's not more direct and explaining, but Mordecai explains that they pay by the character for these notes, and if they are to direct, the Ai will make it more coded,

which means basically completely impossible to figure out. I stared at the note trying to figure it out, when I suddenly felt the familiar haptic buzz of my escape plan skill Activate additional words appeared on the page Circe sponsored dewata give potion DONU need fifteen, but make it a secret, use temp boost, Prepatente plus A, Moni plus Samantha all at the same time. Can do it or use other pawn a if have to, will replace P Hugh. First

of all, P Hugh is very funny. They wanted me to give the plus three potion to Donut, so he has already been given instructions to give it to Donut. But he tells Donut that if she will wear this nipple ring, he will generously give her his Benefactor Box prize, despite the fact that he has already under instructions to give it to her, and Mordecai hears Carl making this proposition and almost speaks up because it's shady, and Carl

tells him not to. Now, I personally don't love this as far as what Carl's doing, but also everything about the reasoning for Donut not wearing it is nonsense, and so oh, I kind of support him tricking her because she's being stupid. I love you, Donu, but you're being very, very dumb. So I, while like my ethics is very squaky over this, I can't help but just be like, yeah, no, you're doing what you gotta do. Man, I get it,

you know, I don't know. Also, I just need to mention Samantha is like rolling around on the floor being kicked by the baby cubs and she's saying kick me, oh, yes, just like that, and I'm like, girl, why do you have to say it this way? He gets in touch with Amani. Do you have an ability that increases the level of a spell? And she's like, it does, but it makes cool down longer. And Ellie doesn't like when I use it. So he convinces Donut to put on the ring, and he puts his. He agrees to go first,

and it definitely does hurt. And of course the AI just completely underscores everything that Donut has been saying about the implications of wearing a nipple ring ending with reward. Hohrrors don't get rewards. And she says, not that one krl up higher. And on the other side, if I'm going to be permanently disfigured further, it may as well be on the top, right, which is such a weird like, why does that make it less? You know what I'm saying?

And hurry it up and get it over with. The last thing we need is more Carl and Princess Donut sexy time fan snakes floating around you guys, this is one of those moments where I should have known, Like, you know, you ask me, like, flat out, do I think people are like making fake videos or writing fanfiic of him and Donnut. I'm going to say yes, But I've never stopped to think about it, because why would

I Why would I do that? And it just made me stop and think there was something I can't remember what it was, but my friend Candace was telling me about it and how it's something that she thinks is like genuinely fucked up, and it's people writing fanfic about actual real life celebrities and not fanfic about the characters those celebrities are playing, which you know, it's a fine distinction, I think a lot of people would say, because oftentimes

it's the characters that you're getting to hook up because you think the actors are hot, you know. But it's still a difference, and it's the sort of thing where it's like kind of revealing also about of course the person who is writing it, which it always is. But I can't like. This is something that I stumbled across, unfortunately a lot, when I especially was doing Song of

Ice and Fire. Song of Ice and Fire got really popular long before there were tons of sites that were willing to host high resolution images, and so there were plenty of people who did really beautiful Song of Ice and Fire fan art, and one of the few places that would host like a high quality copy for them to share with people was Devian Art. And Devian Art, you know, it's called Devian Art also contains tons of porn and like erotic imagery and whatnot, which I've got

no problem with. It's fine. But I when I was looking for images for Song of Ice and Fire, if I searched Game of Thrones, or even when I was looking for like Harry Potter, I would every now and then stumble across an altered image of an actual actor from the property itself. And it was always like, like, I'm thinking of Harry Potter now and Emma Watson, who

plays Hermione in the Harry Potter movies. It would be like her naked with the most gigantic kits you ever saw, but it would be her fucking face like photoshopped onto an illustrated body, and I just was so squigged out at the idea of like taking a real person and doing that with them. You know, it's just like it just crosses a line in my opinion. And you know, there were plenty that involved multiple actors of course, and the idea that it's happening with like Carl and Donut.

There's just been such weird reactions to Donut in the Dungeon. And what I mean by that is like people who are kind of propositioning her but who are not of the same species as her in a way that I do not understand how that would even work, you know what I'm saying, like, how would that even? How would that even work? So I don't want to know. To be clear, I am not actually asking this question, but it is something that has kind of brought me up

short a few times. When there's like a character of a completely different species looking at Donut and getting all fucking creepy about it. I just always stopped and went, what how So the idea of that, it's like Donna and Carl at there inevitable to a degree, but I'm also just like, who even why, you know, what are we doing I'm sorry, I'm going to just like go back. I saw a bunch of chat that I didn't I

this is, Michael says. I actually wonder if Ra and Sirce threatened the rest of the Hunters into tanking the quest like Karl was thinking. Maybe. Sarafim says, at this point, my guess would be the AI doing it just to fuck with the assholes running things. Michael says, yeah, I'm guessing they didn't want the reveal to be here. Oh. Regarding gravy Boat, her jumping in front of the bolt

was likely completely unexpected. Sarafin says, yeah, in this case, the best argument is you know you will regret it later. Regarding going down the floors early, what's the saying you can't reason someone out of a position they didn't use reason to arrive to, says Michael. Michael, I have never heard that saying, and that's fantastic. I love it and I will be remembering it. I appreciate I appreciate this

being brought to my attention. I don't know how I haven't heard of that one before, but ooh, it hits particularly hard. In the ear of Ore Beyonce twenty twenty five. Serfim says Ari Carl and his dad. I could see him freezing. I could also see him going, oh, I have waited so long to punch your face in. True. Yeah, true. I feel like it's the kind of thing where it would start off with him freezing up, and then it would evolve into him going, no, you know what, fuck this,

I'm gonna punch his face in. It could reverse also, it could be I start off excited to punch his face in, and then as things get going, like maybe some of the things that he says are so specific that it causes Carl to come up short. You know, I don't know. Michael says, don't put baby in the corner, Natasha, Big Tina needs to dance. I swear to God, Guys like this whole thing with Big Tina, it's just so, is this like working for anybody else? I understand what

we're doing, what I think is happening for me. It's such a weird thing with Matt Denneman's writing because I get the feeling I am not as susceptible to his type of humor as some people are, and that there are probably folks out there for whom a lot of this would work better in terms of just being genuinely comedic.

For me, a lot of the jokes are funny in that they aren't that funny and that they're so like, you know what I'm saying, And so there's a part of me that is always unsure is that on purpose, am I? Am I? Is my reaction sort of like in line with what he is intending to do or not. And this is something where it's like what if it was footloose? But with dinosaurs. It's the kind of joke that, like, I think would be perfect if the first mention that

we get of it, we're sort of it. But it's been made such a plot point that I feel like it's lost its funniness and it's now. I'm not saying that he can't bring it back around and make it funny again, but it kind of just feels like beating a dead horse, you know, like stop, it's already dead. And I don't know, maybe that's just me, but Seraphim says that was mostly theorizing but using data you didn't have yet are the discord channel, And then Michael had said,

anyone else feel kind of sorry for hunter? Vika I know she's a hunter and all, but I think that might be my response to being stuck in a situation where I knew I was going to die soon. I don't remember who is hunter, Vika, Michael. This guy wasn't Vika. His name was Iota, right, which one was Vika? It's an interesting question. If we accept that attraction and love can be toward personality in the mind, then if there were other species who were intellectual peers, could there be

interspecies relationships even with completely different bodies. Of course, for a lot of the ones Matt has done so far, it hasn't really been loved. That has been the consideration. A lot of sci fi and fantasy has done the interspecies thing, but almost always with super hot people with different ears or something, but who looked mostly human. Yeah. True, Vika was the one the AI said was crying all day and masturbating. I forgot about that. Okay, yeah, yeah,

thank you. She's just in one of those spirals that can happen. I get it, girl, I get it. Yeah. I'm curious to see where the whole Big Tina thing goes, because I feel like the whole thing with his humor has been super hit or miss with me, and I have expressed already that there are times where I feel like he just gets a little bit too Like he emphasizes the punchline so much when the joke was there already. I got it and I already found it was funny, and then he has to kind of explain it, and

I'm like, you didn't need now it's ruined. You just you did too much. You overcooked it, you know. So this is kind of that exact same phenomenon, but like on a larger scale with it being an entire plot point. It's just kind of maybe taking the thing past the point that it really has the substance to support. So I don't know, Michael says, Perdido Street Station by China Melville was an interesting one where a human was in love with the giant bug equivalent, but they loved each

other anyway, No idea, what that is? Your issue is that you're too mature. I am forty five, but am the emotional equivalent to a teenager and find it all hilarious. See like I disagree. I am not sure you guys know how many Dick jokes and six nine jokes I make all the time. But I really think you have to have like a light hand with that kind of joke, and you drop it and then you run away and let it explode without you, because it's the joke doing

the work. It doesn't need you anymore. It's when you like throw the bomb and then you stand there and warn everybody how there's about to be a bomb that goes off, and then after it goes off, you go, hey, did you guys see the bomb that went off? Where it's like, why, for what reason you can trust that we get it? You know? I don't know, So we'll see because it's like I said, it's hit or miss. There are times where I find things really funny, and then there are times where I'm like, I see that

he intends this to be funny. It's not, but I get what he meant, you know. Sarahim says, I didn't find it funny per se, but I liked the idea of what was going on. Michael says, I do think it is deliberate on Matt's part. He really leans into the gross stuff to emphasize the AI's personality. I think, especially considering what we learn from Iota in this group of chapters, I think that it depends on what it is, because like Michael talking about leaning into the gross stuff

with the AI, that's a very different question. Like the AI blurbs are intended to feel very edge lordy, that is meant to be not funny on the surface, but funny because you know the type of dude who would write this, and the AI is like aping that in a way. That's kind of you know what I'm saying when I talk about like a joke that I brought

this up before. But when we find out, for example, that Dona is a bard on this floor and Carl says some like the problem was none of the spells could be cast unless you sung the song on key. I cracked up as soon as that sentence finished, as because I know instantly why that why it's not working. But as I'm laughing at the joke, I think, then comes the sentence and why was that a problem? Because donut sounded like a seagull being run over by you know,

like whatever, Yeah, I know I got that. You didn't need the rest of it. It's, you know what I'm saying, like that kind of thing, you're stepping on your own joke. I was laughing and now you've explained it and I've stopped laughing because you just took it to the point where you're acting like I'm a fucking idiot, that kind of thing. So it's not like so within the AI text, although I get why people would think of that when I'm talking about the humor, because those are the parts

of it that are the most outrageous. But that's not even really the part that I mean in terms of the humor. It's like the setup of different moments and being in Carl's POV and the way that he's like interpreting things for us. So yeah, it's just, uh, I'm gonna start like kind of noting the jokes that work for me and why, or the ones that don't and why or the ones that did and then didn't, and just kind of keep an eye on it a little

bit more because I find comedy really fascinating. Comedy is so dependent on so many factors to work, and it can be very difficult to like pinpoint exactly why one joke got everybody fucking like on the floor laughing and the other joke had no reaction. So it's sort of like a science. And I always like to interrogate it a little and find out because I think that it helps make me better at comedy to understand it anyway. All right, all right, I gotta wrap this up. Thank

you guys again so much for hanging out. I appreciate you all very very much. Hope you're enjoying the coverage, and until next time to the loom. Motherfuckers. That was an unspoiled network podcast.