This Inevitable Ruin, Chapters 23-27

during the death. That was the climax here. Yikes. Welcome to spoil Me, Welcome to the I'm so sorry, guys, I just got so distracted by Michael's comments that it totally threw me off my intro. Welcome to the show everyone. I am Natasha. Thank you Michael for commissioning this episode. But no, thank you Michael to all these comments. Never say this in front of me again. And that's that.

On that. Yeah, this section, guys, was like a really surprising section because I thought it was going to take a bit longer for us to get a major death.

Not a major like ally death, to be clear, but I just really never expected this to happen so quickly, and it being in Pristinadia, She's like such a figure in my mind of representation of everything, that Carl in particular hates that I thought we'd be saving her for like later in the book, and I have no problem for the record killing her now, but it was just not what I was thinking the order of things was

going to be. So let us begin. Chapter twenty three starts with like the note from Crawler Ossi about creating confusion to make an enemy frightened, and the way that this whole thing kind of like it ramps up and we know that they're working on something, but we don't

really get any details at this point. It's not until later when we get Victory talking to him that we find out exactly what it was that Carl had set up and on She seems kind of flicked out, Like I was startled by how much it's it's I was thinking any type of victory for her team, she would be very much on board for you know that it was just going to be like, yeah, way to play the system, that's my jam, I'm proud of you kind of energy, and instead it's more like, you guys came

up with something I hadn't even thought of, and I spend a lot of time thinking about this, So now I kind of feel uncertain and unsettled because I'm realizing I thought I knew the ground that we stood on, and I don't not the way that I thought. And I really like you guys know how much I love her as a character already, Like immediately out of the get I was just sort of like, yeah, uh huh, this bitch is it for her to be like shook? Has me shook? I part of me wants to say

I don't like it. Another part of me is like, no, I definitely like it. I'm very torn here where I'm just sort of it's making me like a little anxious. But I also if even she can be surprised, then we're really in for a ride, you know what I'm saying, Michael says. Brent said in the spoiler discord throw that he found it tough to read about her death. I have to say that I agree. Each time I reread and re listen to these sections, I find myself not

sympathizing more, but empathizing more. And it is tough. Yes, this is such It's such an interesting thing. I don't know how much of this is on purpose, how much of this is accidental because of who we are as people.

I don't know, I don't know, but I am going to say the audiobook narrator especially gives Empersinnadia a sort of tremulousness to her voice that I feel like it would have been very easy to play her death scene as her being sort of nasal and irritating in her upset, and instead he makes her feel really genuinely afraid and genuinely sad. And it's there's something also, like I understand

the necessity. There's so many things, and I know I'm jumping ahead, guys, but Karl is worried about there being further traps in her dress, so he has the clockwork manga rip her dress up to make sure that there's not another shield. And I get why, but it just this is the sort of thing that an enemy might do simply to humiliate somebody before killing them. That is not what is happening here. Explicitly, it is not what

has happened. There is a reason, but there is something about that detail, as well as her voice, as well as the rage of Carl, that the whole scene, instead of it being this satisfying fist pump, Yeah, we got our sort of victory, for me, it was like sickening which I think is a fucking triumph as an author, because I don't think Matt Denneman wants us to be

fist pumping. I think part of what he's trying to do with this whole series is emphasize everybody is a person, even when they're garbage, even when they are making evil choices and doing cruel shit, there's still a person that doesn't change that they are not suddenly this unknowable monster. And in the moments before death, you get to really see this in such a naked and raw way that it can be very tempting to almost be like, maybe we shouldn't kill her. Look at how fucking broken she is,

you know. And I feel like that serves both to make Karl's rage in the moment and his desire to be the one to kill her. It makes it feel more grotesque in the moment, and it also helps me to imagine what Dona is feeling when she sees what's going on with him. And I just think it's really important if we're going to be talking about like revolution, building community to overthrow people who are doing harm and making all kinds of excuses for why this doing harm

isn't really that bad. We can feel a sort of grim sense of accomplishment when somebody is taken out, but that is a very different thing than glorying in their death, feeling gleefulness about it, or otherwise like almost romanticizing the moment to make it something that's like really cinematic and distanced from reality in a storybook kind of way. I feel like he is going out of his way to ensure that when we face down with some of these people, we keep being brought down to earth for a second,

U punintended and reminded. This is just a person. They aren't the system. They are a participant in a system, and that doesn't excuse any of their actions, but just a reminder they're just a person. They're just one person. And I think that's so important. And I just don't know were I writing this, if I would be able to keep that in mind myself as an author, you know, if I would be able to make this scene as effective as it is, because like, it doesn't feel like

a victory. It doesn't feel like a great and triumphant moment for us. It feels like we just missed something really bad happening to our guy. It was a close call for it. They're in like full control of the scene. There's no moment where I'm actually worried for Carl and Donut safety. In regard to UH and Personadia, it's the two of them on top with no question. And yet I am worried about Carl in the scene, not because of her, but because of him and his choices and

what he is doing to himself. Which this is a brilliant move storytelling wise, this ring. It's like what Karl is motivated by is what he gets out of the ring in terms of stat points and whatnot, which all of that valid, huge advantage, right, But what are you letting it do to you? He says later to Donut that he isn't going to give it up yet because he needs it. He needs to be stronger. And I

would argue it's making you weaker. It's stronger in a way, but if you are barely in control of yourself in a moment like this where so much matters, that's weakening you in a way that's really significant, not only to yourself and your integrity as a person within yourself, but also as a figurehead for this entire movement, because like Carl, is the de facto face of this rebellion, and if he does something that's really unhinged, that could very easily

begin to just discredit the motivations that he has and cause a lot of people who have been up to this point kind of following him willingly to sort of wonder, are we being run by a madman? It can really have an effect on the morale of everybody if you're on video like torturing somebody to death and enjoying it, you know what I mean? I just I understand why this ring is so difficult to give up. I really

really really get it. But I think he is having a lot of very short term thinking right now, and I am not sure. Even though he claims to see the moment where he's up on the edge, it still doesn't really feel like he fully comprehends how close he came to just completely losing it. And I don't know how many more near misses he's gonna be allowed to get. Like, what is going to have to happen for you to be willing to give the ring up? Dude? How bad

do you have to hurt? Donut? Because like, all I can think about is she Maria and she took his body over and made him do these horrible things that hurt people. He was fully not in control, and yet he still feels this guilt about what happened. What happens when it is you, when it is like you are still not in control of yourself, but not because an entity is taking you over, but because you have let your rage control you. What happens? Then how do you

come back? I don't know, you know, like setting aside the movement itself, the rebellion? What just about your relationship with Donut after she told you that you're scaring her and you refuse to get rid of the ring? What do you do to repair it? If you hurt her, or you hurt Mongo or any one of your other allies, or even if you hurt an enemy, but you do it in such a way that it's obvious you're enjoying yourself. How do you fix that? It's a lot harder to fix that than it is to adjust to not using

this ring. Ah. Anyway, I just saw a bunch of comments and I'm having to like scroll backward a little bit here. Jeff says it's as if he wrote it at Hollywood, saying don't make this movie. Saraph him says, she always came off not so much as an asshole, like say the Skull Empire, just as a person who's been so privileged and sheltered her whole life. She simply doesn't get how horrific all this truly is. Henry says, war ruins people, and Michael says, yeah, pretty sure it

was deliberate. I think you can see it in Carl's reaction to her death. Afterward, his rage is gone and he just feels empty and mournful. Jeff says that glee is why I've always hated murder quips in movies. Fair The unhinged exultation of violence from reminds me of the Red Court King in Dresden. That's an interesting one. There are other characters that I think of, but not that guy. Like in a way, sure, but there's like another character.

Michael says, no spoilers. I'm trying to motivate myself to read the new books he put out. It's this isn't a reference to a new book. It's a reference to proven guilty. But there are some beings in that who have a real gleefulness in the violence and the oh no, sorry,

Jeff is saying, changes, the red court changes. Yeah, I'm talking about the one that I'm thinking of, which is in proven guilty, and it's uh, there's an attack in a bathroom and Dresden goes back to the scene and feels this like happiness that something is feeling as it beats the shit out of somebody, and it's like that, that's the thing that I'm worried about, you know, Seraphim says.

The thing is, I never saw the ring as being the issue or causing any of this, and it's more just a symptom of the larger issue of what being in this crawl is doing to him. Michael says, I definitely think the ring is affecting him, though his hands shaking as he was taking it off really implies it is.

I think both are true. I think it's definitely meant to be a metaphor the ring, but also I think the ring is actually physically creating a feedback loop in him that is amplifying what he feels when it's anger and hatred and rage. And I think that's what the name of it implies. Even though the ring of divine suffering, who's suffering because Karl suffers. And it's very easy to be like you're profiting off the suffering of others because you put the ring on and you get a boost

when you kill someone. But killing people eats at you, and whether or not you think it does, unless you really have no conscience whatsoever, I believe that the suffering is inflicted on the wearer, and that it being like a divine suffering is like the hatred and anger that you feel will be amplified so that you can like kill more easily in the moment you can get the

job done. But those are not pleasant emotions. It may not it may seem odd to say that when you hate someone you are suffering, but I think that's correct. I think that's just sort of the way that works, even if we can't feel it in the moment, you know. So I don't know exactly what it is that, like how much giving it away would affect Karl, Like what kind of loss would he suffer to his various stats if he got rid of it. I really don't know.

I just feel like I don't think whatever that loss is, that it would be worth what he's what he's cultivating in himself, right now. And that's really the only way that I can put it, because at this point this is a choice. He is aware what it's doing to him, and he is still choosing and tries to say, I don't know what came over me, And I was so glad that Donna is like, the fuck you don't you know exactly what came over you? And I was so plea is that she just doesn't let him get away

with that. Oh, I have no idea. What shut the fuck up. Don't insult me by playing in my face about this. It's not a mystery, dude, you know, Michael says. We've also heard Mordecai I say the Ring is really popular for the warlords for its power boost. How much has the Ring affected them? Have stuff in the game amplify their blood thirstiness or their callous disregard for crawlers and NPCs, something to maybe think about, possible. Jeff says earlier about the King that he is addicted to her. Oh,

in changes, I thought that it was much more. The King is just addicted to He's a blood addict. It's not the hurting. The hurting is incidental, but it does not matter. This is not a Dreasden podcast, Jeff says, making it so you have to heal them before making them before marking them is super insidious. It turns them into a hardcore murderer instead of someone taking advantage of

an opportunity. Agreed, Agreed. It's just it's a really there's there's a certain sequence here, and I feel like the moment I remember approving of him using the ring on Prepotente's mom Miriam dom and I still like, in terms of the actual practicality of that moment, I do stand by it, but I just really it's the sort of thing where I'm like, I didn't want him using the ring at all to begin with. If he's gonna use it, then yeah, that was the right call in that moment,

but like, just don't use it. Though everybody was right regarding what danger this poses. Mordecai's been around enough. If he's that flipped out the you have this ring, I think you need to take that a lot more seriously. And he just really isn't hearing it. I just look, a lot of the theming behind this book has been Carl feeling really alone and really angry and occasionally being reminded I'm not alone. There are other people in this

with me. There are other people who believe in this cause that are willing to sacrifice and organize, you know, And this ring is something that serves to further isolate him. And the fact that we had that moment of Louis being like, you come in here with your crazy eyes and I'm just waiting for you to suddenly lose your shit and kill everybody. I don't feel like that had enough of an impact on Carl to hear you know what I'm saying, Like, do not telling him you're scaring me?

And Louie having told him that earlier, I need you to hear, very bluntly, what is happening, Carl. You are turning into the kind of man your father was that people were afraid of and tiptoed around because he became so prone to violence and so unpredictable and in a way predictable actually, but like what you are trying to fight against, you can become quite easily. That is how it works. That's the trap, and you better fucking watch it. And I do not feel he is watching it adequately.

I do not feel that he takes these moments seriously enough because they are scary. I'm comfortable, deeply inconvenient, by the way, and he doesn't want to face up to what it means. And I really really understand that. I'm profoundly I understand. But the stakes at this point are so high it's funny. He's interpreting it as differently as possible from me where I'm going. The stakes are way too high for you to keep ignoring this, and he is going the stakes are way too high for me

to bother with this right now. I'm sorry, Carl, but this is literally what it's all about. And if you let this start to slide, that's it. What have you got? What are you fighting for? Then? What is it? You know? Like So anyway, Seraphim says, I still don't see it as some one ring type thing as much as it just a tool designed to encourage people to give into their darker aspects to make them better crawlers disagree. I

think it's a tool. I don't. I'm not saying it is a one ring type thing, but I definitely think that it has an inf I mean, the AI basically said so. In its description. It said something like, I sure hope there's not some weird side effects from using this ring that would be really bad. Like, it's definitely, to me, without question, affecting him in some other way I don't like. To me, that's not even a question. It's simply how is that happening? How much of that is?

How much does the ring need to influence him before it no longer even needs to keep pushing and it sort of begins to snowball on its own. You can just give somebody a couple of pushes and then it takes off in a certain direction and you can just step back and put your hands behind your back and whistle and neck like you didn't do anything. So oh yeah, Michael says. The AI had the ominous description, and it

mentions it a couple of times. It had another line about the ring doing something far worse to him when it was talking about something else affecting him, if I recall. And that's also the thing with like the Daughter's Kiss, is that the way the name of it, But that one, it's a much more obvious thing because it's actual literal soul poisoning that he'll get like a notification for, and it will warn him AT's happening, and there will be

a specific d buff to go along with it. That is something that is quantifiable, and therefore, as much as it's terrifying, because he knocks himself out later, it doesn't scare me as much as the ring does, because this is something that is so much more insidious, so much more difficult to put your finger on. It is something from the outside that it seems you can see happening to him, but there's not an easy way to like

verbalize what it is. And because it is so vague, he can deny it or pretend it's not as big a deal. I don't know, like donuts, the person who knows him best, and the fact that she is afraid, I think she'd be the last straw for him. And it makes me really sad how quick he is to just be like, not yet. There is not going to be a point going forward, Carl, where it will be

better and easier to get rid of the ring. He's acting like there's going to be some point where it will like will have reached peak and I won't need it anymore. When when would that be? When do you think, after you win, how long will that take? How much damage will have been done by then? If you had been here alone, or if Donut hadn't talked you out of it, what would you have done to Impersonnadia, what would you have done? How? Like, It's just it is such a close call to me, and he just isn't

treating it like that. He's really behaving like this is a one off moment rather than a symptom of a larger problem that is only going to continue to grow. It's just, guys, it's really upsetting man. So I'm going to back up here, but I don't regret starting with that scene. We'll get there too, because I want to

talk about some specific lines. But Immani shows up as they're in the trenches and she is buffing everybody to calm them down and like, you know, relieve their anxiety, which people are actually physically sighing in relief when she does this. So let's see. The original plan was to have more tribuchetes, but the confusion about whether we'd be allowed to build these, mixed with the early end to

the ceasefire, had led to us only having one. It was loaded with about fifty contraptions called dazzlers, and they had a pile of almost two hundreds sitting nearby. They were basically a combination of an alarm and spotlight trap. They would only shine toward the eyes of the closest enemy soldier, strobing powerful beams of multicolored light right into their faces, and they'd all play the same song at the same time. It was one of the few types

of trap modules. Victory would allow us to load into the tribu Chaise. She crept into existence just behind us, like I'd summoned her with my thoughts, and she has Drick with her. Victory had told me adjutants could go invisible if they needed to observe something where their presence would give away that their team was up to something. I was going to say something sarcastic, but I dropped it. We see the target. This is Louis lowering for the bombing. Run.

Now get into the fog as soon as you drop, and Ellie says, I have the first air gun targeted. A bubble appeared around Doughnut's head and Moni had it as a spell, but Mordecai had also mass made a potion that did the same thing. This thing he works slightly better than it's supposed to. Is this particular buff and their ear plugs so that everybody's hearing will be protected when these fucking traps go off, which eventually he gets deshrouded. Everybody gets destrouded and all of their own

protections come off, which sucks. That got me really fuked out for a second. Y'all, and they're all drinking invisibility potions. The mages will cast obfuscation and will go up and over. Don't stop running until you're in their trenches. The soldier who brings me the most dead cheese sticks gets surprised.

This is Doughnut steering them all with positive reinforcement the assault of the The alt part of this plan had not come from me, but was one of many contingencies that Tippett and Rosetta had brought with them from the outside, which was part of the reason why we'd been able to put this together so smoothly. It's only a second part that I'd planned out. We'd put it together with

some input from Baroness Victory. Katya wouldn't be actively participating since she was needed on the other front, and I found myself missing her dearly. I still hadn't had a chance to talk to her since we'd separated from the dream World. I'm kind of wondering if Carl hasn't developed feelings for Katya that he's simply not acknowledging right now because it's extremely inconvenient. I don't it's not really like that much of a thing, you know, It's just a

little bit of a suspicion. I didn't feel it from him earlier, and it may just be that it's like he's so clamped down on it. But it just never really felt to me like it was more than I care about you as a person. You're part of my team. I've grown to like you, you know, like, and I really just didn't see him as a threat or feel like Bautista had anything to really worry about. And now I'm starting to be like, maybe, but Tison knew better

than me. I just assumed it was the optics of both of them being like around the same age, attractive people, you know, like that you would see Carl as a threat. I just thought it was like the circumstantial thing. And I don't know, maybe it's more than that, and I was just being payheaded about it. So let's see. The bombs were strong, but their main purpose wasn't simply to blow stuff up. The enemy trenches were covered with layers

of anti explosive fortifications. Louis was aiming the party planner in front of their position. The bombs would leave a deep crater in front of their trenches, showered dirt over the defenders, which their mages would have to clear off and would clear any traps and protective enchantments set up right there in front of the enemy line. So then we have the signal to go, and a bunch of people began just begin just like lunging forward. A second, then a third, then a fourth explosion walked its way

across the enemy lines. Ellie reported she'd hit the first anti air battery with a missile, but there was a protection spell around it. Still the device had fallen over and hopefully would be unable to fire for some time. And this is when the Dazzlers come out, peaking at number three on June twentieth, twenty twenty. Wait, really, huh anyway, peaking at number three on June twentieth, twenty twenty, despite first coming out nineteen ninety two. It's killing in the name,

which is very very on the nose. This is no accident. It is very appropriate that it peaked in twenty twenty. Twenty twenty was a fucking hell of a time man, and he and Donut drink invisibility potions. He puts one on Mango and let's see. He asks Donut if she's scared, and she's like, of course, but actually lately it's been more that I'm numb and I don't get scared until after everything is over. And he just feels like real sadness at that. This has been something for me for

a long time. And I, you know, when I performed on stage and stuff, I often had this where I would be completely in the zone before and after and during, but after I would start to shake and just like lose it. It wasn't until it was over, you know. So as they begin to push forward, he's getting all these notifications about troop deaths, to the point where he finally turns the notifications off because it's so constant that

it becomes like a solid sound. And Imani is out here just like healing people and handling, and it's just I just really want to stress how much of a

fucking g Imani is. I just finished. I can't even remember what number book it is of the wandering in the Last Light, and there's a character in that named Geneva who is she is a surgeon from our world, or was going to be, And she winds up in the middle of a battlefield and begins to administer aid to people on both sides, regardless she doesn't have any stake in either, but she leaves that it is her

duty to help whoever she can help. And there are some really harrowing chapters in those books, because there's lots of violence, there's lots of battles, But to me, Geneva's chapters are the most like the most deeply harrowing, grim exhausting chapters. They're really compelling, but there is a sense of like the only thing that can keep you going in that sense, in that frame of work is like

I believe that I must. All of it is being motivated from your ethics and your personal integrity and what you believe is the right thing to do, because logic doesn't make sense in this, like staying and helping everybody when you're in them, It doesn't Logic doesn't support doing

any of this. It is about having a very firm belief on what your duty to humanity is and I don't have that in that way, and reading about somebody who does, and how just unwavering it has to be to keep doing that kind of work and to withstand the kind of abuse that you take, The threats, the

constant danger to your life is overwhelming. And Imani is in a different situation where she's the healer for one side, so it's not exactly the same, but still a healer is putting themselves in danger for the sake of other people and not simply going out there and fighting to keep themselves alive. They are always looking around for who needs help, and it is such a selfless impulse to have.

It's just a little humbling, you know. And Imani, I really hope nothing happens to you because we need you so bad. I swear to God. Sorry. Jeff says, often I'd have to go to the bathroom to avoid talking to audience members. Oh about I was like, what Seraphim says, Geneva is awesome. Michael says, boss bitch Geneva. If you please only use her full unofficial title when referring to her, that Seraphim says, hey, now that is doctor, boss bitch Geneva.

Henry says, I just started the Wandering In and I found it not that compelling, but it seems I should continue and finish the first book. I'll tell you what, Henry, the first book is the weakest by if only because I don't like Erin very much. It's a she's a weird character where I like parts of her, but I find her really difficult in a way that's like very specific, and so I found myself starting to get very impatient

with her. And eventually something's happened that not only kind of make it like we're gonna actually cope with those flaws in her, but we also get other povs and that helps a lot. So just you know it's it's not you don't have to keep pushing through it. I always say, like, if you're not enjoying something, feel free to drop it. But there are times where I'm like, no, something pays off in my opinion, you know, Michael says,

Aaron and Riyoka were both meant to be difficult. In my opinion, Riyoka is difficult, but she's difficult in a way I find so relatable that I just find her very fascinating. Aaron is difficult in a way that I don't get. I just don't get like her thought process a lot of the time, and so she infuriates me. So, uh, yeah, that's the thing. It's it's just it's the kind of thing that I run into with like I don't I don't like when characters seem to have no fucking common

sense about shit. It's very tough, and Aarin is the biggest airhead bitch. Sometimes it's crazy to me, like how she's still alive after everything. She's made some bad calls anyway, So Michael says, I also listen at one point five speed, which helps I could see that. Yeah, so all right, uh, and missile streaked in our direction. I pulled a full strength hoblobber and tossed it in the direction of the heavy gun. I saw a flash but received no experienced notification.

This is when he says, go forward, and he intended to send that just to Donut, but it goes to everybody's screens and they all comply. Which is one of those moments that I think is like way more significant than Carl realized as it is in the moment, I feel like this is going to be like I think, I just I think he was unintentionally inspiring in that

one moment, you know what I mean. Anyway, So the moment after I sent the command, the ground and under me gave way and we fell into the wide crater, I clicked from full assault band to near proximity band. Keep back reading the scroll. So he does a build the trench creates a channel in front of him, and there are a bunch of soldiers of the enemy side that just like fall because he's at a different level than they are at. There was a long existing exploit.

The scrolls were craft magic, so it pretty much ignored most protections as they weren't meant to be used offensively. The scroll didn't care who was casting it. And this is something that they've known about but never fixed for like literally years and years and years. I activated the Daughter's Kiss. I jumped into the air and landed hard onto the enemy's chest. And the next chapter starts with Donut being like, Carl, get up, Get up. They're running

and he's like, what the fuck happened? And I'm like, bro, you got warned. It told you that it was gonna be like a post coital thing. I was surprised that he was surprised. I am just grateful it was only thirty seconds because I really like it just he look. One thing about Carl is he isn't going to take warnings seriously enough. That is just something that I have learned about him, and probably to a point that's a good thing, because I have anxiety I'm gonna take warnings

too seriously. You know, there's a balance that I think that we could find Carl, but if he were more balanced, he probably wouldn't be here. And I mean that on every level. I feel like that sentence works on a lot of ways. But there's times where I'm just like, dude, that shit's been hanging over you, like you're lucky. It was only thirty seconds, and I guess you know, there's a lot going on right now. There is a lot happening. I shouldn't be surprised that he had forgotten Mongo stood

next to me, completely covered in dirt. He'd gone, oh, and don Quixote has gone from forty five to fifty one, and it goes up to forty two as he's watching, or fifty two and the middle trench is filled and the illusion is holding. Let's see the second anti air battery is down, Louis, hurry your ass up. The first one's almost back up. I'm running. They have a pair of mages on my scent and Imani says, get the

hell out of there. So everybody is cheering because of this like tactic working, which we shall get to in a moment. But Colonel Boomer chimes in here and it is just like, hey, everybody, you're really counting your chickens before they've fucking hatched. So just chill out because we have these guys up against a wall, and when people are trapped, they will pull all all the stops. So be ready because this is not over. And he jumps.

Carl jumps onto the party planner as it comes down to pick them up, and he sees, uh, Ruby is it Ruby? No, Bonnie, I keep getting them mixed up. And later he spots like another kid and is going, what the fuck? Why are they letting kids participate? And Donut actually says to him that she's older than I am, Carl, which I was like, oh, damn, that's true. I don't

know how much she feels that age. She could physically be older, but does she have the kind of compounded experience of age that happens when you actually retain all your memories. I don't know exactly how this works, because I know that some of them seem to unlock memories when they learn their MPCs, and they can access the memory of previous seasons and whatnot. I don't know if

that's what's going on here. I totally understand Carl being like, we can't let kids into this, but Carl, I also urge you to consider that otherwise the kids are literal sitting ducks. And is that preferable. I don't know. I don't. It's a really hard call because these aren't normal kids. So I just don't. Really, I don't know. Let's see, I'm trying to find this bit don't And I sneaked up on the three guards and killed them before they even knew we were here. I can't believe there's so

few soldiers, there's no protections, nothing. She's very trusting for such a backstabbing bitch. They made her commit all her troops to the front line. Rosetta said she spent every penny getting here, and once the quarantine went into effect, the officer she was expecting refused to come, so she only has a few friends, which is h life comes autch you fast, doesn't it interesting? And I really kept expecting there to be more of a trap, and there

just isn't. It's pretty much what it looks like. Not that she's unarmed or anything, but you know what I'm saying. It just so. This is when as they're going into the throne room, there are a couple people who appear here, an adjutant and another appearing right next to me. This was Baroness Victory. She had a somber look upon her face. She shook her head sadly. You're too smart for your own good, Carl, she said, you guys slaughtered them back there.

Do you know how many blindly jumped into that middle trench? The scout for team rechribution went up almost twenty levels. The normally stoic orc looked shaken. I think we need to revisit what's considered offensive magic. That chemical alteration spell is a little too powerful. I don't feel like you should revisit anything in the midst of it all. If we're not gonna have prepared exploits beforehand, that's a done deal. That's the rules, and that's what they are. I don't

like this baroness pipe down. That's all I'm saying. Excuse me, the scout in question was an NPC bartender. Instead of just purchasing a bunch of different alcohol types, they gave the NPCs a few scrolls with the ability to alter the chemical composition of water within a container. In this case, they dropped a water scroll, and the container was the trench.

The two NPC team spies had filled the empty middle trench of the enemy with water, turned that water into some sort of acid, and covered it all with an illusion spell. The retreating enemy is confused and scared, had fallen back from the first trench, only to blindly jump into a pool of acid. It was a horrifying spell. That is honestly brutal. Bruto, I'm not mad at it. We're doing what needs doing. But I can't pretend I'm a fan. It's a smart idea, but I get why

victory is just like fucking Jesus Christ, you know. Yeah. We jump then to Milk's POV. This is a bit of a flashback because Miriam is still a live This is this is a really this is what Matt Deneman keeps doing is being like I think you think you know how bad it can be. Hold On, hold on, hold on, hold on. I have another POV for you. And so every time you find out about another one of the deals that somebody made, it's just a fresh

wave of horror. You know, it's just milk situation. I literally paused the audio book and went out to Marshall, who was just sitting on the couch minding his own business, playing a video game, and I was like, Babe, there's a character and this is their deal, and this is how many times they're supposed to end. This is how many times it's actually happened. This is really sad. And he was just like fuck and I was like, yeah, fuck, And then I just turned around on press play again.

It was just like a moment of Kenyon, Kenny, stop it that. But no, that's the point, that's what it's for. This is what it is, and he's right to do it. I don't like it, but I'll allow it. So Milk is basically in such a profound depression that she is just letting herself barely exist and has found a way to mute all the notifications about what's going on, not feeding herself, not moving, and is essentially doing the most extreme form of like bedrotting that I can think of.

And you know, we've had a lot of her in the The Anarchist Cookbook. She has contributed a lot. But what we find out she's on the fifth floor. She hadn't really been paying attention this season. A pile of newsletters remain stacked up by the door. And let's see, she hadn't had a one on one with a floor supervisor in over fifty seasons. What was the point? And what was the point is really kind of like the whole vibe for her, you know, it's just what's the point?

Which been there? Absolutely been there? So this is when she hears prepotente Miriam and uh, oh my god, what's the other one's name, Bianca? That's the one Bianca. Bianca melt the guards. So this is her like once Miriam comes in, Milk immediately realizes what was likely happening. Miriam's been turned into a vampire and now she doesn't get to go into Club Vanquisher anymore. They just probably told her her membership has been revoked. It's not her fault

that this happened to her, but it doesn't matter. And you guys. There's a couple notifications, one of them being like, if you've died a starvation, it's not like you escape, We'll just save you and add years to your indentureship. And then punishment can include, but is not limited to, additional time added to indentureship, reassignment to a combat role, or the worst fate undead reassignment. That's really it's giving you're not done yet, which I am not excited about

getting to see that in action. So the door opens and Milk is shocked because nobody comes in here. Nobody, and Bianca begins to like get ready and attack, and also Bianca is just like on fire and so begins to light up things in the shop without even intending to do that, and eventually Miriam steps in and she's

just like, oh my god, I'm so sorry. Gets Bianca to like calm down, uses a salve on Milk to heal her arm, which Milk is shocked by because crawlers just don't use their own resources to save NPCs or help them in any way. So she's just like what, And I really love Milk's like finding a way around things. There's there's a point where she's just like you know, this is how it works with the guards coming. If you wait too long, these guys will start to mobilize,

but they won't do anything. And she gets like a notification of like you're telling them too much information. Be careful and Prepatente says, you're a former crawler, and she thinks, interestingly, the words were like an accusation. You were a crawler, you fought you were part of something once and now

look at you. All you do is sleep And just essentially the fact that all the fight has gone out of her, she's really ashamed of and she thinks her family would be ashamed of her too, But like, this is a very valid response. But the way she's coping, I get it. I understand. It feels like Matt Denneman just was like, let me go interview a bunch of like vets and tell their stories about how each of them coped or didn't when they were finally like released

from service and the system them down completely. It's just yep, So I love this moment too, of I sure hope you don't threaten me. I might be forced to give you information like the map in the back of this room that I hope you don't steal from me. And it turns out milk is still indentured in the dungeon, so we might come across milk at some point, and I'm pretty stoked about that. I wonder if they're feeling

a little bit more motivated lately. Will not be freed until her services are used at least three hundred and thirty three times times used so far six So I'm going to just briefly touch on Donadia again. I'm out of time technically, and we have talked about this already, but there are just a couple of like moments that I want to address here. Get the dress, I called,

just in case she had more shields. One of the clockwork's pipe swiped and the entire top of her gown ripped off, revealing a green tinged body covered with tentacles. They popped out like biscuit dough being released, flapping in all directions. The Empress sobbed as she waved her tentacles about the clockwork Mongo's bit and tore at her arms, leaking blue blood everywhere. I cast a heel scroll on her, and so he marks her. Don't let them kill her,

not yet. Help Empress Donadia gurgled, somebody help me. This is what happened in the end, I called out to the ceiling. This is what happens to all tyrants, big and small. I'm not, Donadia cried, I'm not. And the thing is like, she's not. She's not, but she is a participant. She doesn't see Carl and Donut as real people. She just doesn't. That's a fact. She told another NPC she wasn't real, and then was like, I can't wait

to get a chance to kill these two. And now that the tables have turned, it suddenly, Oh no, Look I have sympathy for you in this moment. But you said what you said, and you are what you are, and you did what you did, and you have got to cope with that. She tried to hold my hand and cried when Manassa was assassinated. For just a short moment, I thought perhaps she was one of the good ones.

Then I'd learned she was attempting to purchase a faction worse spot, that she'd been trying for a long time, that she wanted to come into the dungeon and freely kill people just like me, my friends. The anger that washed over me was so brilliantly white. All three of my eyes burned. I'd never felt anything like this. That's the ring. I'm so sorry. An anger that is so insane that his eyes burned, and it's like nothing he's ever felt, one hundred percent. And in his head he's

hearing his mother say, it's so loud, Karl, it's so loud. Quiet. I said, he's saying to something else, but it seems like he's saying it to Donadia. You know, it's just oh. This is when he tells Dona, I changed my mind and donut no, Carl, please no, I need you to step back. I needed to calm down right now. I got this. It's okay. I did it for my people. Donadia whispered for your people, I asked, incredulous, No, donadi Ya, you did it for you, and now your people are

going to suffer because of it. Your mark has fully formed. And there it was the edge. I saw it clear as can be. Right there, I stood upon it, one foot stretched out over open air. You can do that. Sometimes you can find clarity when you need it most. I took a step back. You can find clarity, but you can't hold on to it. Apparently, Carl because you're still gonna use this fucking ring, so you know, mm mmmm mmmmm mmmm. I'm just saying mm hmm. So the

Mango kills her. I love that Donut frames it like he's pissed about your ruling in the pet show a donut never change and he gets this huge like achievement. Gavrillo princip I'm gonna read you a Bosnian Serb student who assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austro Hungarian throne, and his wife, Sophie, Duchess von Hohenberg, in Sarajevo on twenty eighth June nineteen fourteen, set off a chain of events that led to the Austro Hungarian invasion of Serbian

the start of World War One a month later. So that's who that is. And basically the AI is like, you killed somebody important, important in like a sort of bureaucratic sense, but still and if you really want to function up, I can't wait to see some of the other guys that you could kill. So that's the notification and Mongo gets the credit for the kill, which I think is interesting because Mongo being Donuts Pet I would have thought she'd get the credit. I didn't know he

could get credit on his own. That's I just didn't realize that. So Michael says, probably a touch of she Maria too. Regarding the anger for sure, Sarah FM says, yeah, I don't see how that is the ring, but the all three, in my eyes, that very much feels like she influence. Sarah f'm no offense, but I don't get why you are so like the ring isn't doing anything when the AI's description says it more than once. It's just weird how you're like refusing to see that the

ring is doing anything. I don't get that. Like you can think whatever you want to think, but I just don't understand the logic. It feels like it's just said. It's not subtext, it's actual text. I don't get it. It's fine, but it's just weird. So now we have to deal with the mercenaries, and they all have like a pink ring, but they're like is a red one also, So we've got to like figure out exactly what we're doing with these guys and see if we can trust

them or you know, it's it's a ticklish situation. Because they're telling Carl, we didn't want to be here or we didn't want to fight you guys. This was like something that we were just conscripted in too. And I believe this in theory, but I just don't really know. It is certainly possible for the mercenaries to be promised something else, you know. I just don't really like I want in my heart, I want to believe them so bad, and for the most part I do. For like eighty

percent of them, I do. But the decision to be a mercenary indicates a certain type of person. I understand that we don't always get choices the way we'd like, so I'm not trying to cast too many judgments on them just based on this, but there is an element of that in there, and I'm just I'm just I don't know, I don't know. We'll see. So this is when uh, one of the Nole's, Colonel Pillbacks, no Corporal, sorry, Corporal Pillbacks, is like explaining to him we didn't want

to be here. But then he's like, these two lock John Mains are our mates, and if you kill them, we won't be too enthusiastic about helping you. And Carl carefully, slowly takes the ring of divine suffering off his finger, which seems to I won't say everybody relaxes, but I will say they are watching for that, because on this floor he can mark all of them at once, which

is just bananas. And yeah, it's uh. As he is talking to him, all the anger I'd just been feeling was gone, drained out of me, like all my rage had been ejected out of an air lock. I felt painfully empty in my chest, as if part of me was gone now too. I'd been holding onto that anger for so long. I wasn't sure how I felt now that she was dead. An unexpected sense of mourning hit me all at once, and it was confusing and strange

and completely bewildering. And I think that morning is coming from the rage you felt toward her was like driving you in a way that once it's gone, once she's dealt with, you don't have that pushing you anymore. And now what once you realize that, like taking care of this one person hasn't really solved anything. I mean, I'm not trying to say they shouldn't have killed her, and it is going to be the first step in solving things.

But it's like any time that you create a big plan for yourself and you finally execute it and you have a moment of oh and it's done. Oh and it's done. Now what you know? So he uh, finally, it's just like, guys, don't worry. We're not going to kill you, at least not like now, and we're just gonna need you to make it to like agree, if any of your friends try to hurt any one of us, you have to kill them, which is a fair deal.

And they are also He's like, we're going to disarm you all and also have you guys all be separated and let's see, Zev, this is victory. Zev wanted to me to alert you you'll all be going on a live round table tomorrow all the remaining war lords, including Juice Box and Ferdinand, which is a first. Don't worry. All hostilities traditionally freeze while you're away. I don't like that line. Traditionally. If there's anything that the past ten

years has taught me is that tradition is nothing. Nobody in power her respects tradition on any level or gives a shit if it means they lose. It's nothing. And I expect this is gonna be different this time. I just feel like, you know, so Florin is letting him know, Northern Side, we're gonna have to retreat and fall back. It's bad. And then Donut, are we gonna talk about it? And it turns out that he is now the leader of the party because his strength in total has outstripped hers.

And she has a moment, but he recognizes it's kind of for show, and that a few floors ago she would have been genuinely pissed, but right now that's not truly an issue. And this is when they have the chat conversation. You do know what came over you. I want you to th that ring away. It's not worth it. It's doing something to you. You're scaring me. The words were like a slap to my face. How many times had my mother said that to my father? Still my finger itched. I took a deep breath. Not yet. I

need it for just a little longer. I need to get stronger. It's important. It's not going to matter if it kills you first. That's why I need you. Donut, you did good. Just now I'm going to need you to help me stay grounded. Donut didn't answer. That's fucked up, Carl. I don't like this about him. He's like, I need you to keep me from going nuts. That is so unfair. She has her own mental health to deal with, and it's already precarious as we know. You being like I

need you to help pull me back. No, no, no no, don't you dare put that on her? Do you know how? Like, suppose you don't listen next time, how is she gonna take that? She will blame herself forever it is. I don't like that response at all. The fact that she doesn't answer him, I think indicates that she feels the same way I do, but doesn't really have the words for it. If you are depending on an outside force to keep you grounded, because otherwise you can't be trusted,

what happens when there isn't one there? Dude, Hello, you're playing with I was gonna say explosives, and then I was like, oh god, all right, I'm over time. I'm gonna rap thank you guys again until next time. To lou motherfuckers. That was an unspoiled network. Pat