- [Brennan] A list of the topics,
themes, and subject matter
featured in this episode has been included
in the video description.
(spooky scary music)
(spooky music continues)
(spooky music continues)
(spooky music continues)
Hello, one and all!
Welcome back to another thrilling episode
of Dimension 20: Neverafter.
I am your humble Dungeon
Master, Brennan Lee Mulligan.
With me, as always, are
our intrepid heroes.
Say hi, intrepid heroes.
- Hi, intrepid heroes!
- Looking sharp. We're
looking very sharp today.
- Is it not the season finale?
Is it not the last episode?
- [Zac] We got like, I don't know-
- Hey, if we play it right,
it could be the season finale.
- [Ally] We have a lot
more, actually, to go.
- [Brennan] Hey, now!
- We could get a total party k*ll.
- Hey, let's TPK again.
- And then when Brennan
tries to bring us back,
we're all just like, no!
- [Brennan] No.
- Yeah, he calls us. Hey Siobhan,
you want to play some D&D?
- No!
- No, I'm good, man.
- Lou wore a blazer! Did
you get the message or what?
- You all come back for
the last three episodes
as brand new, and the real C
list fairy tale characters.
I'm Fear Not!
- I'm the man that k*lled all
those flies with his belt.
- I'm the Brave Little Tailor!
Cool, last we left off,
our intrepid heroes
were at the bottom of a beanstalk
waging w*r against itty
bitty little giant slayers.
Yes, all was not well in Jack
the Giant k*ller's hometown.
The bodies of giants
were being chopped up.
There were weird palisades.
Battle commenced.
We animated towers and k*lled
a bunch of tiny little wizards,
and we got a Golden Harp,
a golden egg, and perhaps
most significantly of all,
a golden goose, The Golden Goose,
the opposite and reflection of The Gander
which had long been plaguing Timothy Goose
and indeed the world of the Neverafter,
the source or perhaps herald
of the Times of Shadow themself.
But the Golden Goose was set free,
and Alphonse was blown up
by a rocket fired by a cricket,
(Emily cackling)
which we found out was the key
to undoing Alphonse's curse,
turned back into a prince,
and coordinating with the Golden Goose-
- Not my prince. Hashtag not my prince.
- [Brennan] Hashtag not my prince!
Coordinating with the
Golden Goose, you are all
once again at the top of the
beanstalk standing on a cloud,
having rescued also Tom
Thumb and Thumbelina,
who are probably traveling in
someone's pockets right now.
- Cute!
- [Brennan] Cute!
As well as Tomas, with his two
brothers, Marco and Ricard,
As well as Tomas, with his two
brothers, Marco and Ricard,
and the sleeping body of Henry Hubbard,
Timothy Goose's husband.
The book, your book that
you dearly bargained for
that we discovered from our
council with the princesses
in the castle of the Snow
Queen is a true book,
and with ink from The Lines
Between, from the Canonade,
great workings of magic could
be inscribed in this book
if it were to be returned to your custody.
- It'll be returned, right?
They're just going to come and return it.
I borrowed this, sorry.
- Library situation, right?
- My bad.
- Yeah, it's a library situation.
- You got a drop box.
- In her hair, she kind
of has a library card.
- But we return now to
the top of these clouds
as the Goose lands and Henry
is placed in front of you.
(Ally squeaking happily)
What do you all do?
Also, you're still bearing the wounds
that you suffered within that fight
as you see these figures
placed in front of you.
Pib, the first thing you see
is Tomas go and say, Puss in Boots!
- [Zac] Tomas!
- Ah!
(Zac meows joyfully)
- I kind of scamper over
and start clawing at his leg a little bit.
- He goes, ah, ah! No, no, no!
- You're stuck in his shorts.
- He hoists you up into his arms
and tries to get you kind
of comfortable in his arms.
Master Puss in Boots, you're alive!
- My sweet, dumb prince.
- Oh, thank you!
- You're alive.
- Yes!
- What happened to you?
- Well, we don't quite know.
It felt like giants attacked,
but then I didn't quite remember
if giants attacked or not.
I found my two brothers.
We escaped from the
kingdom. They both agree...
You see the two other brothers say,
yes, we just remember
armies of Snowhold coming,
led by Koschei the
Deathless, come to Marienne.
We fled as fast as we
could, looking for you,
but we couldn't find you anywhere
in the Kingdom of Marienne.
You see Tomas says, so
having these strange memories
of whether giants had come
or not, we came to Snowhold
knowing that the Snow Queen
had giants at her command,
which led us eventually
here, to this strange place.
And you see the Goose sort of looks here
with a knowing look.
However, you also see that the Goose
looks down over Henry's sleeping body.
- I pick up Henry, and I'm
holding him like a baby.
I'm like, are you okay?
- You pick up your husband who,
in your arms, slowly comes to.
Looks and goes, sees you...
(Brennan shrieks)
- (laughs) No!
Do you not know who I am?
- No, no, I know who you are!
Timothy.
- Babe, the apples are long gone.
- Babe!
- Babe, I tried to hold the
apples for a really long time.
They got macerated.
- Wait, I remember.
I remember the apples,
but I also remember...
Do you remember...
You see this look of utter terror,
but a terror that
something may not be true.
Do you remember a world
where we had a son?
- Yes.
- And he just wraps
his arms around you.
- Aw! Yeah, we cry!
- He says, I think I found your
dead body in another world!
- Oh no! I'm so sorry!
- Do you remember that world?
Is that you dead, or here?
- No, I traveled from
that world to this world
through dying, but how did you get here?
Did you die?
- I got hit by a wagon!
(Ally gasps)
(Zac laughs)
- Just a random-a*s wagon?
- Who was driving? I'll k*ll them.
- Yeah! Oh, this is Ylfa.
Do you remember Ylfa from down the street?
- I do! Sweet Ylfa!
- I'm the one who overstayed
her welcome after story time.
- You did not!
- No, no.
- You did not! We both hug you.
(Emily, Murph, & Siobhan laugh)
You never overstay your welcome!
We love having you around.
You have such a kicky energy.
- Yes, and you and Jack
were very different ages,
so it was kind of nice to set
a place at the table again.
- I saw, Jack is here, but
in this world he's not ours.
- I came looking for him, but I think
that's not quite true.
And you see Henry looks up at the Goose.
The Golden Goose turns to
you and says, Very well.
I suppose it's time to admit
that this world
has had some editing done to it.
And here, you see those seams,
(audio glitching)
the cutbacks around.
- Do the cutbacks look like
they're made from the ink,
like someone used the ink to edit this?
Or is there another thing
that's affecting them?
- [Brennan] It looks like
there's another thing
that's affecting it,
but it does look like its origin
is still The Lines Between.
Give me a perception check.
- Can I help?
- Thank you, because I got a nat one.
Ooh! 21.
- This way, over here.
- Looking directly at you.
- No, no.
- You scratch her leg.
- Follow my finger.
- I see something!
- Good job, kid.
- Good job, kid. You're so smart.
- Looking out at it,
you're sort of looking,
but you realize that that's
not actually what gives you
the information you end up using.
As those seams kind of ripple,
you hear snippets of voices,
and because you were the one
that in The Lines Between
swam out the deepest into the Auroratory,
you sense that there is more
to story than just the Canonade.
The ink that is out there that
would be this true writing,
you sense that some being
or creature or whatever
has found a way to manipulate stories
without having to rely on that ink.
- Like maybe they're
manipulating the Auroratory?
- Something like that, exactly.
- Like maybe someone took
a pee in the Auroratory?
- Now, if that-
- I did this.
- Is it piss?
- Ylfa.
- I did this.
- [Lou] Is that the sound?
- Why are you just
whispering piss to yourself?
- Is that the voices?
- Why are you whispering "my
piss" over and over again?
- It's all coming to this. We all knew.
- You just said "my piss" and clapped.
- I knew it, all along I've
wondered if I'm a monster
and I'm the big bad guy, and I am!
My piss!
- What? Honey, what?
(Players laughing)
- It's been her piss all along.
- [Ally] I kind of have
my hand on your shoulder.
I'm looking at Henry. I'm
holding the back of Henry's neck.
I'm holding his collar.
- Timothy, I think
something else is affecting,
I think that something's
affecting the Auroratory, too.
- Oh, wow. What do you think it is?
- I'm not ready to share
the theory that I'm nursing.
- Nursing?
- I'll get back to you.
- Okay, yeah, everyone
deserves their privacy.
Privacy of thought.
- The Gander or the Stepmother, I suppose?
- Or Baba Yaga. Does she
have powerful enough magic?
- Maybe.
- Could be.
- [Zac] To edit or?
- [Brennan] The Goose leans in and says,
I can say with some
certainty why I was put here.
A portion of a story was added
into this version of the Neverafter
with the most dangerous version
of Jack that could be found,
and specifically a version of Jack that
coincided with me, with a reference to me.
There was a world in which
Jack had found me and taken me,
and a powerful being that now
lurks within The Lines Between
that I believe all of you
have had some contact with,
and perhaps the boy of
destiny most of all.
- You betcha.
- Do you think that this person
was specifically doing it
to bait Timothy because of
Timothy's rising star power?
(Murph fails to hold in
a laugh, as does Emily)
- Rising what?
- I look at Henry and I'm
like, it's kind of true.
- You see Henry says, Babe!
- I'm so sorry.
I said I was getting apples.
It's so good to see you.
- I want you to know, I'm
not hung up on the apples.
- Okay, good.
- No, that's completely fine.
- There was a moment where they
went so bad that I was like,
maybe it's kombucha, and
I could feed it to you.
But then it took another turn.
It all became one big mother.
It is quite viscous. Anyway,
my rising star power.
- Henry looks and says,
When you didn't come back,
I went out searching.
And I, horrify...
I mean, I know that this
is bittersweet or sad,
but to me, the fact that
you are still alive,
because I found you very
much not in that state!
But it was wild. I found you.
There were some notes. I went to Shoeburg.
There was a clockwork man.
I reunited him with a
man with an eyepatch.
A whole bunch of stuff happened,
but then there was some
stuff about giants.
Did you know that the
original shoes of Shoeberg
have dead giants' feet in them?
- What?
- [Brennan] That's why
the shoes are so big!
It's horrifying!
- Oh my gosh.
- That's actually really rad.
(Ally laughs)
- A lot of horrifying
stuff happened to me,
and I said, I am going to save this world!
But then there were some
princesses, and they left,
and I was sort of at a dead end,
and I walked out into
the street in Shoeburg
and a wagon hit me and I died.
- So you were also on a quest, kind of?
- [Emily] By yourself?
- Yeah, I didn't have
a lot of pals on my quest,
so it didn't really-
- Oh, Henry!
- [Emily] You didn't
have any companionship?
- I hold Henry so tight.
- I missed you so much!
- This is another mark
against the princesses,
that they didn't take
you under their wing.
- No, I think by the time I got there,
I found clues that they had left.
You know, quests going
well, not a guarantee.
Sometimes you just get
somewhere late and you go-
- We all died the first time.
This is round two for us.
- This is round two
for me, yeah, for sure.
- Because of the wagon.
- I died in a big pumpkin.
- [Ally] I'm so sorry, Henry.
I was trying to protect you.
I thought I could just take
care of this really quick,
and then I got really wrapped up
in a full adventure, and I died.
I think I let him know
everything that I learned.
I think there was just
a big element to Jack
and trying to steal
the original golden egg
and the three wishes and how
I got the book and everything.
I've told him about that,
but I think I just tell
him everything now.
- He processes all of that
and shares a lot with you as well.
- I thought maybe I could
shoulder it really quick,
and then we would be done with it,
but it was so much more
complicated than that.
So yeah, I tell him.
- After I died,
I saw Jack again, our Jack.
There's something, I think
there's some connection to him
with all of this, the
times of shadow, all of it.
I saw him in a village called Hapley
in a kingdom called Jubilee,
and I think it was inside
this book you told me about,
because one of his closest
friends was a man named Cole,
a king, if you can believe it.
- You went to my book.
- So there's a world inside your book.
- And the world inside your book
is maybe Happily Ever After.
(Ally gasps)
- Oh my god, okay.
- But you weren't there!
So I told Jack, I said,
I think that I'm...
And Jack explained, you know,
all the times and everything like that.
- So he knew about it.
- And he ran faster than the
wind and brought me to a door,
and I woke up with the
memories of this life
in which you had died, and I had no idea
if you were going to be okay,
if you were in another world
or if anything had happened to you here!
So I took off. I went east.
I met a mule in a kingdom
called Marienne who told me
where I could find giants,
and I journeyed north.
- That mule turned into a prince and told-
- What? That mule was a prince?
- Yes.
- He's right there.
He's not...
You can kind of tell it's him.
(Ally and Brennan laugh)
- A horse-faced man.
(Emily laughs)
- [Brennan] So he says, within
Hapley, I just saw visions.
Listen, I didn't see
a lot of versions of myself.
You know, Mother Hubbard,
I have enough power in me
You know, Mother Hubbard,
I have enough power in me
to come back a couple of times.
Our son, there are a lot
of stories about Jack!
- There are a lot of Jacks.
- There are a lot of Jacks out here.
- Jack and Jill, Jack Be Nimble.
Yes, I've realized that as
well. Jack and the Beanstalk.
- (soft gasp) Your son
has a little girlfriend?
- Yes. Yes, he does.
- But that's a really upsetting one,
because he falls down a hill
and gets a bad concussion.
- Oh, okay.
- She kind of doesn't
do anything about it.
- She sort of survives the
fall a little bit better
than he does, but truly, he
breaks his skull in that one.
- His crown.
- Yeah.
- You see the Goose
speaking to the rest of you.
My brother, the Gander,
has ever been my opponent,
my reflection, my other half,
and the Times of Shadow
and Happily Ever After
and the Times of Shadow
and Happily Ever After
move throughout the realms of fairy tale
over and over again.
That being within The Lines Between
placed me in this chunk of story,
and using these, stitched
it into this world
in a way that the Gander
could not find it.
- So he was trying to needle you.
- The question for me is,
why does that being want
the Gander's attention fixed
so pointedly on this world?
I was put here almost like
bait inside of a trap,
I was put here almost like
bait inside of a trap,
that the point of the
trap is to never close,
is to just be here fixating
the Gander's attention
on this place, which by its
very definition makes this world
become more and more and more horrifying
and bedeviled and
corrupted as time goes on.
- What's the reason, you think,
for trying to corrupt
specifically this world?
- Something's going down
in this world specifically, it feels like.
- Is it the book?
- Does whoever did this fear the Gander,
fear the attention of the Gander?
- I don't know that the being
that put me here fears much at all.
- I think it's interesting that they also,
they're cutting things out,
but they can add things back in as well.
- Yeah, they can kind of-
- Move things around, move
things from world to world.
- Is it that Timothy's
book is in this world?
- Yeah, I wonder if it's that.
- Which we've lost, by the way.
- Temporarily mislaid.
- I lost the book.
- Bother.
- Don't curse here.
- There are multiple children present.
- Yeah, hey, if you could-
- I'm young.
I prefer you-
- I put a glass next to
his ankle. Delicious.
(Lou squeaks)
- Here's a piece of
bubblegum to go with it.
- This rum-soaked child
can't hear words like that.
(Lou, Ally, Emily, and Siobhan laugh)
- It's whiskey, but thank you.
- Yeah, it's whiskey, but
it all tastes the same.
- It just smells so sweet on you.
- That's the bubblegum.
- It's been a few days.
- It's whiskey.
- Okay, okay.
- You see the Goose looks
at you and says, well,
that is far and away the
greatest problem we are facing.
that is far and away the
greatest problem we are facing.
I would say that the
other is knowing anything
we could learn about the
machinations of the Stepmother.
Any clue as to from whence
her powers originate
or anything as to what
it is she is trying to do
or anything as to what
it is she is trying to do
would of course be extremely useful.
If she has bent the
Gander to some purpose,
then that is a power far greater
than any individual
witch, princess, fairy, king.
The Gander's even a match
for some of the other,
certainly a match for me,
and even a match for the
Wolf, wherever he may be.
- We found the Wolf,
actually, in this world.
- I think her intent is
to destroy everything.
I think her intent is that
she does not like the role
that she was written into, and
she felt exploited, and I
think that she responded
to that pain by trying
to destroy everything.
So I think if she's working
with the Gander, it's to that end.
- Do you think she's trying
to write a story where she
has more plot, though?
- [Zac] Where she has a name?
- Because I do know the
princesses are trying to
spill the ink over all of the pages.
- I think she was like,
if you want me to be bad,
I'll be the worst that you've ever seen.
- She's consuming everything.
I don't think she's written a new story.
Ironically, I think the princesses' plan
is pretty similar to hers.
- [Ally] Yes.
- How are they different?
- Kind of, I think they're not.
- [Lou] Two different
means to the same end.
- Well, one kind of is almost
like they cease to exist,
because the ink takes over their pages,
and she still exists and
she has consumed everything.
- She wants to be everything,
and they want to be nothing.
- Yes, yes.
- Sure.
- But the outcome is the same.
- Two sides of the same coin!
- If you juxtapose.
- Give me some of that whiskey.
- Yeah, of course. Let's
get into it, you know?
- I rub Henry's shoulders.
It's a lot of this, babe.
It's a lot of this.
- Honestly, I know this
is a little bit, whew!
But I'm just so happy. I'm so happy.
- No, I just, it's so good to see you.
And Henry's a spellcaster, right?
- Yes, Henry is also a witch.
- That's so cool.
- It seems like the best
way to get information
about the Stepmother is
probably the Baba Yaga, right?
- She's the one who
knows the most about her.
- She's the one who was
sort of the linchpin for-
- [Siobhan] We also need
to get that book back,
but maybe we go to the Baba Yaga first.
- It seems like everyone
is coming up with creative,
you know, taped together ways
to have some of the power
that that book just naturally has.
It feels like it's definitely
one of the biggest-
- It also feels like a lot of these people
aren't really acting under the knowledge
of what we know from The Lines Between.
- Wait, so is there a way to know
where the princesses would be going?
It doesn't seem like they
were all going to stay there.
They were going to do some sort of ritual
and then try to get to The Lines Between?
- Yeah, I mean, the worst case scenario,
they're chartering a boat
somewhere out in the ocean.
- [Murph] To go to the bottom of the sea.
That would be a good thing!
- [Lou] If we're lucky!
- Actually, that would be great. Wait!
- If we're lucky!
- That would be so great.
- Yeah, I've got to say,
I thought that plan was
insane before, but now?
- The rolls were on our
side for that insanity.
- If they're swimming to the
bottom of the ocean right now,
then we've done something right.
- Honestly, though,
the big egg in our face
is what if that is a way to get in?
- I'm going to say you all want high.
- No!
- That's a three.
- Dammit.
- Dammit, the hair knows!
The hair's too smart.
- That hair is really canny.
- Golden Goose, I have just
a small question for you.
Do you know anything about this harp?
- Oh.
- [Brennan] The Goose looks and says,
the harp is a powerful enchanted object.
It is capable of lulling great beings
into enchanted slumber,
but also potentially
of awakening those who
have been so cursed.
of awakening those who
have been so cursed.
- Interesting.
- Can I try and play it?
- Give me a performance check.
- Do you know how to play it?
- Pinocchio, don't touch that.
- Can I give him disadvantage
by trying to give the help action?
(Players laugh)
- You just do it like this.
- That's a 17.
- Is there a spit valve?
- Do you want to give disadvantage?
- No, no, no. Of course
not, of course not.
- [Lou] And I just want to try
and play Smoke on the Water.
- [Brennan] You begin to
play Smoke on the Water,
and the Goose says,
playing just like that... (snoring)
(Lou mimicking a
clumsily-played harp version of
Deep Purple's Smoke On the Water)
- I hold the Goose's head up.
Me and Henry are kind of
making sure that she doesn't...
Okay, oh, she's so soft.
(Lou finishing the harp
version of Smoke On the Water)
- You see at this point Tom
Thumb speaks up and says-
- Oh!
- Ah!
- Hello! He says... (squeaking)
Tiny little voice squeaks.
But in his register, he goes, this-
(players laughing)
(Ally squeaking)
Teeny little voice!
- So this right here...
(Brennan squeaking)
- I am a powerful warrior!
- Yeah, you are.
- I want to eat him.
- Tom Thumb looks over to Thumbelina.
They confer for a moment, and
Tom Thumb asks all of you,
basically, you lost the
book not too far from here.
If you had a plan to try to recover it
or if you want to try
to rely on the Goose,
who is this incredibly
powerful being, to do so.
- Gosh, we want it back eventually,
but I don't think we had a specific-
- I want that book back.
- I mean, it does feel at some point
like we can't just let
them keep it for very long.
- No, no, no.
- Absolutely not.
- We should at least ask the Goose.
Golden Goose, can you help us...
Okay.
- I make a cortado.
- Excuse me!
- How? You're on a cloud.
- Can I roll for cortado?
- Do you have coffee making equipment?
- If I hit a nat 20, can I
make a cortado for the Goose?
- Sure, go for it.
- Damn.
- So close.
- So close.
- I'm just kind of mixing the
cloud together in my hands,
being like, I'm going to
make you a cortado, baby.
- Can I play the backwards
Smoke on the Water?
- Play Smoke on the Water backwards?
Give me a performance check.
- Great.
- Reverse smoke?
- That's a dirty 20.
- Beautiful harp music.
You play Smoke on the Water in reverse.
- I am a princess, a harp
is a very princess-y-
- [Brennan] A very princess-y instrument.
The Golden Goose... (snorts and gasps)
- Was it the cortado that woke you up?
- What's that? Cortado?
- Sorry.
- You made a cortado with magic beans.
- Can you help us get the book back?
- You see that the Goose looks and says,
I believe that I could.
I believe I have it within my power.
How was the book first
gained, Mother Goose?
- I accidentally used
two out of three wishes
to get it from the Gander,
and he kind of periodically
whispers in my ear
that I'm going to mess
up and make my third wish
and drop dead immediately.
- Your third wish will k*ll you.
- [Ally] Yeah.
- Can you wish that your
third wish doesn't k*ll you?
- I thought about this,
I thought about this,
but the risk is, if that
isn't allowed, I'd just die.
- Sure. Absolutely, absolutely.
- You should also know
that in these realms of the Neverafter,
if you do any kind of
third wish stuff, they may,
if you do any kind of
third wish stuff, they may,
before granting that wish,
just kick you to death.
- Who's they?
- Just wish granting things.
I've just seen a lot of
people come in and be like,
for my third wish, I wish
that the rules for wishing-
- And they get kicked to death.
- Just get kicked to death.
- Wow.
- That makes sense.
- Really aggressive, hostile.
- It's so unceremonious.
- If anyone tries to kick
you to death, Timothy,
I'll take all the kicks.
- Okay, great. So should
I just try right now?
- I was going to threaten them,
but actually I'm better at taking damage.
- You're such a bummer.
- The Times of Shadow are
bad. It's bad around here.
- Golden Goose, do you have any way
to revive Timothy,
if Timothy were to take this last wish?
- I believe there is a way for me
to perhaps retrieve your book and save you
to perhaps retrieve your book and save you
from the plight of this
third wish in one fell swoop.
- We'd love to hear it.
- [Lou] I mean, come on!
- This is what we're looking for.
- I mean, that's insane. Wow.
- Yeah. I'm petting the Goose.
- She smiles and says,
yes, I think there is a
great deal of danger here.
If I stray too much farther
from the top of this beanstalk,
we will leave the portion of the story
in which I was hidden.
- Oh.
- And some confrontation
will have to come
between my brother and I.
We cannot coexist in the same space,
so either he would leave
and perhaps in some way
so either he would leave
and perhaps in some way
take you with him, or more
likely, I would have to leave,
and would be abandoning all of you here
under the ministrations of the Gander.
It's possible that his attention
would become less focused
on this world, and he
would simply move on,
but that would do nothing
to solve the issues
of how corrupted this
world has already become,
or indeed the machinations
of the Stepmother,
the fairies, the princesses, et cetera.
- So many factions.
- Yes.
So you two are kind of almost
like the sun and the moon,
in a venn polled...
- But sometimes you do see
the moon in a sunny sky.
- It's true, every once in a great while.
- [Emily] Also, eclipses happen.
- I think we may be headed
for something much like that.
- Yeah, I was noticing that the moon
was talked about a little bit ago.
- Sometimes the moon is out in the day,
and of course, here in the Neverafter,
sometimes the sun is out at
night, which is very strange.
- So what do you think you
could do to make this happen?
I'm sitting in Tomas's
lap. (meowing cutely)
- Give me an insight check.
- [Emily] Aw!
(Zac meows with a chuckle)
(die hits the table)
- 12.
- The Goose has a very,
for being such a beautiful
- The Goose has a very,
for being such a beautiful
but also so wholesome and
sweet and cartoonish, you know,
those giant, brilliant golden feathers,
this bright blue bonnet, so enormous,
but it's like all of these
things are so welcoming,
so it's like seeing a high
status mythical creature
that is nonetheless making
you all feel at home,
which is such an unusual thing.
You see she raises up, and for a moment,
stops being a sweet
little old magical lady
and does sort of become
something more like a unicorn
or a dragon, something of
this ancient, mythical thing.
I'd rather not say at the
moment what my plan is,
but I think that we should
do as much planning here
while we are all together
and be as ready as we can.
Perhaps some rest is in order.
- Yes.
- You see that she spreads her wings out
to about a 40-foot wingspan
and whips the cloud material
up into a bunch of white, pillowy beds.
- It's gorgeous!
- I spoon Henry so hard.
- [Brennan] You and Henry spoon.
- Do you guys need some privacy?
You want to go off, create
your own little space?
- Maybe!
- You see she actually looks
up at the sun and says, kindly, old sun,
I think my friends would love some rest,
if that's all right.
You see that the sun twinkles,
and a kind of face appears
in it for a moment,
and almost like you were
inside of some piece of-
- Teletubbies?
- Very Teletubby.
- [Ally] It's a baby.
- It's a baby, there's a baby in the sun.
- It's a baby.
- Oh my gosh, there's a baby in the sun!
- Everyone else sees
one of those beautiful
1800s wood etching suns.
You see a baby. Just you see a baby.
- What are you talking about?
- Who grew up and lives in LA now.
- There's a baby in the sky.
- There's a baby?
- [Ally] That baby went to CalArts.
- Gerard, save me!
- Save you from what?
- Can I request one
little tiny beam of light
that lands right on me?
- Right on you.
- Aw, cute!
- I love sleeping in a sunny spot.
- [Brennan] Sleeping in a sunny spot.
But you see the sky kind of,
just like night falls across it
But you see the sky kind of,
just like night falls across it
in the way of, like, it's day,
ripples and fades as stars come out,
and it's the nighttime sky.
- Pinocchio, I'm having
a hard time sleeping.
Could you go at that harp again?
- You got it.
♪ Bong ♪
- I'm catching up with Henry.
I want to hear everything
about what I've missed!
(Lou imitating playing
the harp discordantly)
(Emily and Siobhan laugh)
(Lou continues)
- This is good.
- Wow.
- I'm actually back up again.
- I like the way that
it's not to any kind of-
♪ Ba ♪
Kind of whenever he finds the next note.
- [Ally] Seems like it's
hooked up to an amp, honestly.
- I love to go to sleep
to someone learning music.
- Pinocchio can do whatever
he puts his mind to.
- He knows all of the notes,
he just plays them whenever he likes.
- He's almost too much of a master.
(Lou clumsily singing Three Blind Mice)
Three Blind Mice?
- He's relaxed. He's not
having to concentrate at all.
- He is looking extremely concentrated.
- I feel like I'm at a rock concert.
(Lou continues to falteringly
sing Three Blind Mice)
- Thank you.
- Maybe he's falling asleep while playing.
That must be it, he's falling asleep.
- Thank you.
- Is everyone asleep yet?
- Thank you for doing that.
(Players laugh)
- I'll be dreaming sweet dreams for sure.
- [Brennan] So as people are
sort of going off to bed,
you and Henry get into
bed, he hugs you closely,
and give me an insight
check, if you'd be so kind.
- Nat one. I'm going to use a luck point.
- Sure, yeah.
- For my sweet husband. Thank god.
- Immediately takes a long rest
and immediately starts
using luck points again.
- 21, baby. I love you so much.
- He starts to drift off to sleep with you
and says, I love you too.
As you drift off to sleep,
you feel the beating wings of the Gander.
You feel the degree to
which you are still cursed.
But you also have this sudden,
seeing your husband here,
you have this other...
(cutback fizzing)
You see a cutback, you see
this little seam of story,
and you hear footsteps sort of faintly.
(footsteps thumping)
Speeding up.
You hear a voice say, Dad!
("Dad" echoes)
It's sort of as you're
drifting off into dreams,
and as you hear that,
your sleeping husband,
you feel a little tremble
in him as he's dreaming.
- Huh.
- And I think you drift
off into your long rest.
Some of you are badly injured.
Somewhere, there's a little
pedestal in the middle
of this sort of sleeping chamber
that has a tiny little bed
where Tom Thumb and
Thumbelina are sleeping.
- Are they together? Are
they a little couple?
- They're a little couple.
- Are they an item?
- They're a little item.
- Is he a Champion Fighter?
Is that why he has three attacks?
- Everyone relax.
(Murph and Emily laugh hard)
- What's his AC?
- Everyone's got to relax, okay?
- Hand us his statblock.
- Eldritch Blast!
- Look, I'm not going to spend my time
statting out every little-
- Does Tom Thumb sleep with his armor on?
Because if not, he's dead!
- I garrote Tom Thumb.
- You know, maybe Tom Thumb's a Champion,
and maybe Thumbelina's an Evoker,
and I just made them really tiny.
- Cricket swallows Tom Thumb.
- Tomas, Marco, and Ricard are
all near your little patch.
You see Tomas is sort of
petting you behind the ear.
Give me a perception check
as you go to sleep, Pib,
if you'd be so kind.
- 15.
- I think as you go to sleep,
you hear Marco speaking
to Tomas and being like,
what I don't understand...
Wait, Alphonse, our dad's mule,
was a prince the whole time?
You hear both other
brothers go, the whole time.
He was a mule. He was a prince.
Why couldn't he say anything?
You hear another one of them be like,
well, curses work that
way, sometimes you can't...
As you're sort of drifting off, you look,
and you hear one of them say,
why did we think there were giants here?
And you just see, as
one of them says giants,
a couple of those little cutbacks appear
around the harp specifically.
You just notice it in
passing. You rolled a 15.
You don't have any sudden burst
of inspiration around that,
but you see this thing
appear around the harp.
As you're all sort of
bedding down for the night,
you see that in addition to that,
anyone that has any lingering injuries,
the Goose does a couple minor
healing spells on people.
- I just want to set a snare
spell outside the entrance
to this little cloud castle that we're
sleeping in, just to...
- You set a little snare, and you see
that the Goose smiles as
you're casting that spell.
- I curtsy.
- You see she says, make
sure to get plenty of rest.
I imagine that things will
be somewhat hurried.
- Thank you.
Yes, I'm always wary when I go to sleep
that I won't wake up for
another hundred years,
but that's just how it goes.
- Do you think, only because this book
seems so terribly important-
- Terribly.
- Do you think you and your
friends have talked through
about what you might want to write in it?
- That we can write in the book?
But every time we've tried
to write anything in the book
that the book doesn't think
is true, it just disappears.
- What Timothy was saying
to his dear husband earlier
is that what you've all learned-
- Oh, the special ink. I don't know.
I mean, to be honest,
I sort of like the idea
I mean, to be honest,
I sort of like the idea
that I only write things down
that have already happened to me
instead of me living my life
in a way that's ordained
by somebody else, or on a line
by somebody else, or on a line
that leads to a point.
Even though that's easier,
I don't think it's better.
- I suppose there's something
to be said for writing
your story the old fashioned
way, just by living it.
Well, it's possible
that some great trouble
will have to be gone to
to retrieve this book,
so I just want to make sure
that it ends up having been worth it.
There's a great deal of sacrifice and loss
that you've all put into this adventure.
It seems awfully unfortunate
that these other
beings that have had Twice
or Thrice Upon a Time,
my brother, all these great beings
seem so convicted of what they are doing,
and you and your friends
seem rather reasonable.
But I suppose reasonableness and confusion
go hand in hand sometimes.
- I think everybody seems
so sure what they want,
which is great, but
they also seem to think
that what they want is
what everybody should want,
and that's the problem.
- Well-
- Shouldn't we just get
to make our own stories?
- That would be lovely.
Seems that there's a lot
preventing that from being the case.
But tomorrow's a new day.
You see the Goose sort of
nestles down, long neck,
sort of puts her beak under
her own wing and begins to-
- So cute. She's just a little ball.
- I wake up in her bonnet.
How did this happen?
- In her bonnet?
- You climbed in there very laboriously.
- We watched you very
clunkily climb in there.
You woke her up and she
went, oh dearie, please no!
- You did the whole thing
where you kept saying,
I'm sleepwalking, I'm sleepwalking!
- Don't wake me up,
I might get scared and
have a heart attack.
- I'm holding Henry so tight,
but I'm also trying to watch this happen.
- You kept taking periodic
breaks to open your eyes and
just, like, kinda clarify where you were.
- Here I go again, sleepwalking.
- With your arms out just like this.
- I don't know, I wasn't controlling it,
but I'm wearing the bonnet now.
- [Ally] It took you a good
45 minutes to undo the bonnet.
- Classic Ylfa, you said.
(Emily and Siobhan giggle)
- I think as you nuzzled
into the bonnet, yeah,
I think it was classic Ylfa.
We all kind of chuckled.
- As you're sleeping in
the bonnet... (laughs)
- Yep, now there's the
fan art I want to see.
- A lump in the Goose's
bonnet. A wolf-shaped lump.
- A lump of a werewolf.
- [Ally] A very confused-
- A bloodstained werewolf.
- It's all over the bonnet.
- Red, as you tuck into the
bonnet as you go to sleep,
as you're sort of snoozing up there,
you see that the Golden Goose just takes
an incredibly soft, downy,
fluffy golden feather
that's as big as a blanket and
just pops it on top of you.
- Can I keep this?
- Absolutely.
- Wow.
- What a delightful young lady.
You're welcome to nap with
me as much as you'd like.
- Thank you, I do love a
slumber party, in theory.
I've never been to one.
- Oh! Well, you're at one now.
- You're right, I am. Everybody get up!
- Oh!
- Oh!
- What's up? Yeah, what's going on?
- I make us Pop-Tarts.
- Is everything all right?
- I roast us some Pop-Tarts over the fire.
- Pib is sprinting around the
people who are still asleep.
- I just freak out. I get
the zoomies just like Pib.
- Zoomies! I got the zoomies!
- I tuck back into my feather.
- I'm awake, though!
- You feel a very maternal
energy from the Golden Goose
as you snuggle up with
this big golden feather.
You see she says, make
sure to hold onto that
if you're going to take care of it.
It should bring you some
good luck, I imagine.
- Okay, I will.
I've been honestly
neglecting comforts like this
for a while, with the
adventuring and whatnot.
Also, my grandma... (sighs)
The guest bed at my
grandma's was one of those
really itchy quilts,
crochet quilt that she made.
It looked fantastic, felt terrible.
- And to crochet a quilt is a commitment.
- I mean, rest in peace,
but she had a lot of time on her hands.
- I'm just trying to imagine-
- You just kind of crochet the squares,
and then you quilt them together.
- She got really, really inventive
with cross stitch and whatnot.
- I can only imagine. She
sounds like a wonderful woman.
- Yeah, she was a really
wonderful woman. She's passed.
- I'm very sorry to hear that.
- Yeah, but I think it's...
I guess it's a really normal experience
for a child to lose a grandparent.
- We all have our time, and
it doesn't make the loss
hurt any less,
especially if the person you've lost
made up such a large part of your world,
if they were important to you.
- Yeah, well, okay, it's
interesting that you bring that up,
because I was kind of eaves-peeping
on your conversation with Sleeping Beauty.
- Eaves-peeping, delightful word.
- Grandma, again. (blows kiss)
You bring up loss, and
I've been thinking about,
because, you know, Timothy
is such a good writer
and I know that he could just
write the most amazing world
for everyone to live in, and
I've been trying to decide
if, on both a personal
level and a macro level,
if I thought that I should ask him
to write my story differently?
to write my story differently?
So that my grandma didn't die?
And then I was also thinking,
maybe death in general
should be written out.
But I've been doing a lot of thinking.
I've asked a lot of
people a lot of questions.
I haven't gotten many answers.
I'm starting to realize
that there's a limitation
to authority figures.
They are not a repository of information.
But I think that, think
that, maybe I think
that if Timothy were
to write a new version of this story,
I think that...
I think I would have...
I think I would...
I feel like this is going to make me sound
like a real naughty little girl.
- [Brennan] Ooh!
- But I think I would
have him keep death in it,
because I've been trying
to reflect on what
it means to everyone,
and I think that more than
even beginnings and endings,
for me it's kind of been an
evolution or a transformation,
and that maybe some of the pain I feel
is actually growing pains,
and that if what happened
is actually growing pains,
and that if what happened
to my grandma hadn't happened,
I wouldn't be where I am,
and I probably wouldn't be this, you know?
So I guess I am here just asking
yet another authority figure for advice,
but that's what I've been noodling.
Or do you think death is just bad,
and I should just be like,
Timothy, redline that?
- I think you could possibly
create a world without death.
But I imagine that one
day, that world would die.
- Wow, so you think you
couldn't even write it.
- Have you ever been...
Have you ever had a story
that you loved so much
that you were always
excited to hear it again?
- Yeah, Three Blind Mice.
- That's the one?
- Yep. Short, sweet, it's got animals.
I'm in.
- All right.
(Brennan and Emily softly laugh)
All right.
(Brennan, Emily, and Murph laugh)
- Sometimes it feels like
in my social interactions
I set up hurdles that other
people aren't willing to jump.
(Everyone laughs)
(Lou claps once)
- You know, I think that
you're a charming little girl
who knows exactly what you like-
- And what I like is what
a grandma would like.
- Yeah.
Yeah, yeah.
- Anyways, I would love to hear the point
you were going to make before
I said Three Blind Mice.
I am going to have Timothy
edit that one out for sure.
- No, well... (stammering)
I think...
Sorry, you really threw me for a loop.
(Players laughing)
I normally don't get sort
of stumbled like this.
It's a trick of when you stop the story.
Happily Ever After is sometimes true,
but it's also something that
you put at the end of a story
to say, this is where I've
decided to stop remembering.
to say, this is where I've
decided to stop remembering.
I don't want to go into the rest here.
And I think that what's so
fascinating about a story
is that you can go back
to it over and over again,
and you realize that even when you know
that it's going to end, all the parts
at the beginning and the middle mattered,
and they were important
for having happened at all.
And I think that death, I
can't necessarily speak to,
for I've never died, but what I can say
is that stories do need endings,
and that whatever the ending
of a story looks like,
whatever the Neverafter becomes
if it's not the Neverafter anymore,
if the Times of Shadow leave,
those stories will still need endings.
- I know, but I think I
was looking for something
that it could mean beyond endings,
because I know that
endings give the meaning,
but for some reason, that
was too philosophical to me.
I couldn't imagine going
to my grandma and saying,
hey Grandma, I'm not going
to rewrite your story
so that you exist because
endings give meaning.
So I think I was trying to understand
what I would say to my grandma.
- Do you feel that you need
to explain something to her?
Do you feel that she is confused or...?
- I feel that...
I feel that I have to let her go,
and so maybe I'm just imagining
what I would say to her
to work through how I'm
going to let her go.
(Brennan sighs)
- I've met you in many worlds.
- Really?
- A world where your grandmother
never grows old and never passes away
is a world where you are
a little girl forever.
- I know.
- I think that perhaps you are right.
Perhaps all of this is
large and philosophical
and abstract and academic
beyond the point of reason.
I was trapped in a story,
edited into a page in a book
that exists in a realm beyond
this one, and for that reason,
I needed to be rescued by the six of you.
None of it makes any sense, I don't think.
Perhaps...
Perhaps the hurdle is not that
this quandary in front of you
Perhaps the hurdle is not that
this quandary in front of you
is difficult, but rather that it is hard,
that there is no puzzle here,
nothing that need be solved or estimated.
- [Emily] I know, I think
that's what I'm struggling with,
is that I'm trying to understand it
like it's going to make me
feel better, but really,
the thing that going
to make me feel better
is just accepting it.
- The mind loves
to take hardship
and turn them into puzzles, I find.
Sometimes they're not puzzles.
Sometimes they are simply
the briars deep in the woods
in which we have been
caught on our journey.
- Yeah, I guess I was
probably using this idea
of magical ink and Timothy's book
as a way to keep
this puzzle going in my head.
Anyways!
- You draw the feather up.
- Thanks for talking to me.
- Thank you for talking to me.
- I kind of wanted to
talk to Timothy tonight,
but I saw that look in his
eyes when he saw his husband,
so I wanted to stay out from underfoot.
so I wanted to stay out from underfoot.
- You're a precocious child,
(Emily and Ally laugh)
and there's a lot of sort of parts of you
that are grown up in ways that-
- I'm really straddling
two worlds right now.
- No, for sure. Goodnight,
Little Red Riding Hood.
- Goodnight.
- For anyone else here in
this little cloudy night,
is everyone just going to sleep?
- I'm going to check
on Cricket real quick.
(Brennan panting squeakily)
Hey, bud.
- I'm dying.
- Yeah, what's going on, man?
- [Brennan] I'm dying.
- That's what I wanted to check in on.
- k*ll me.
- What?
What are you talking about?
- k*ll me.
- What?
- Step on my head.
- Okay, Cricket. Hey, man.
- What's that?
- Talk to me, man. What's going on, man?
- Feels like my insides are sand.
- Why? Is it because
you won't drink water?
- I'm not gonna drink water!
- Cricket, okay, I'm going
to reach into the cloud
and attempt to excise some sort of liquid.
- You grab a little thing of vapor.
It pools into water in your hand.
f*ck you, man! f*ck you!
- Stop this, man. Stop this.
- Get away from me!
- [Lou] I'm just trying to help you, man.
- Shut up!
- I'm trying to help you!
- I don't want it!
- I'd like to grapple Cricket.
- Okay, he's going to roll.
That's a 15 minus 4 for 11.
- That's a 19 on the die minus one for 18.
- [Emily] Minus four? (giggles)
- You got to drink! You
got to drink this, come on!
Come on, I know you're a
spirit that I've summoned
out of a book, but you got to drink water.
- He drank water!
- [Lou] You doing okay, man?
(ominous music swelling)
(in a much deeper voice)
♪ When you wish upon ♪
- Oh no.
- sh*t, sh*t!
(Brennan gurgling)
- (in a higher pitch) Wow!
- There's my Cricket.
- Wow, okay.
- Okay? (laughs)
- I'm sorry about that, bud.
- It's okay, I probably should've
had a little bit of water.
- I gave you too much
water. That's the thing.
You got to ration it.
- What did I say down there?
I said don't eat, don't
drink, don't sleep.
- Don't drink water.
- Don't drink water.
- We originally brought it up
because your voice is so high.
And so we were like how's it get?
Oh, and you were especially
raspy at one point.
- Yeah, that makes sense.
- That was one of your things.
- I'll tell you what.
- What's up, man?
- I'm feeling good.
Hey, so did your stepmom
put the Goose here?
- That's... I think that's
what people were saying,
is that she has some kind of machinations
around the Gander, and the...
getting the Gander's attention here,
so yeah, she's I guess
in The Lines Between
really messing stuff up.
- Wow, well, I just wanted to say,
if you're worried about, you know,
I know that she was helping
you with magic before,
but now you've got your own book,
and I'm on your side.
- Yeah, yeah.
- No matter if she eats me or
puts your strings back on you,
turns your wood to rotten
wood, eats your dad,
kills your dad and eats him,
makes the Dogfish come back,
does anything like that, I'm on your side!
- Thanks, man.
Hey Cricket, you've lived for 100 years.
- 100 years old, yep.
- You're a super wise guy.
Do you think that stuff's going to happen?
Come on, man.
(Brennan laughs)
Come on man, don't think for this long.
- Well, I figure it's like this, right?
- Okay.
- You know, she's-
- He kind of sounds like Steve-O.
(Everyone laughs)
I was like, I'm placing this!
- I can hear it!
- And finally, his new podcast,
he literally sounds exactly like this now.
- That's why Knoxville's the captain!
(Everyone laughs)
- That's why you're
always trying to get me
to not drink water and do
backflips onto sawhorses!
- Oh my god.
- Is Cricket in just a little thong?
- [Brennan] Yeah.
(laughs with everyone else)
You see Cricket goes, well,
I think whatever happens,
you know, we've never seen a fight
between the Stepmother
and all six of you guys.
Maybe it would be good.
- Good, like, entertainment-wise?
Or good like we're going to win?
(Brennan blows air out in a sigh)
Because you said that like
we're putting on a show.
- Well, here's what I say, and I mean this
in a way to be like, yippee, encouraging!
What other choice do you have?
(pensive harp music)
(Ally laughs)
- Yeah.
It's going to come down
to it at some point.
Someone comes out on top.
- Yeah, I think sometimes, you know,
when you're a little bug,
you're like, I'm going to get squished!
You can't live your
life every day thinking
you're going to get squished,
even when your best friend
throws stuff at your
head to try to k*ll you.
- It was one...
I didn't want to k*ll you, I
was just upset that you were
trying to learn me something
that I didn't want to learn.
- But, you know, I don't know, Pinoch.
Is there a part of you
that doesn't want to do it?
Is there a part of you that, you know,
you got the Golden Goose now,
you're here with your friends,
but I'm not your friends' cricket.
I'm your cricket,
and if you're worried that
there's a lot of danger here,
you know, the path of wisdom
sometimes says to run away
from a fight you can't win.
Is there some part of you
that thinks the smart move is to run?
- I don't think it's about running.
I don't know, it's like,
I was eaves-peeping earlier,
and it's like the Goose said.
(Emily and Brennan laugh)
You know, I think there
is this question of, well,
what happens when it comes time
to decide where our stories go?
I don't really know where I end up next.
I mean, right now, I'm
maybe having a good time.
I mean, right now, I'm
maybe having a good time.
You know, I'm chewing bubblegum
and drinking whiskey nonstop.
- You got so much of that
stuff back at that fight.
- It's crazy, man.
My leg, at this point, truly
from my ankle to my thigh
is just wadded up bubblegum
that's just gotten
stuck in my puppet shoe.
(dramatic music cuts off
abruptly as everyone laughs)
I know this is no way to live.
- My puppet shoe? (laughs hard)
- I can't keep going like this.
I think there's just
something really scary
about when we get to that moment
and we have that confrontation,
a choice needs to be made.
It's been fun. This has been fun.
But something's going to
have to change at some point.
- Cricket looks at you here,
and he just sort of hops up
onto your shoulder and leans his head
up against the side of your jaw.
He takes a moment and he's like, you know,
the world and times of
shadow, these great beasts,
Wolf and Gander and all this
stuff, it all seems so big.
But I feel like it's
hard to do the big stuff
when you're not sure what's
going to come after it, even.
- Mm-hm, yeah.
- What do you want?
Let's say everything goes great
and you guys don't all get k*lled
and I don't get squished up and smashed.
- What do I want?
- What's the world look like after that?
It's what you said to the princesses.
You win your w*r, and then what?
- I don't know.
I mean, there's part of
me that keeps thinking,
what if we just kept this going?
What if we just kept, you know,
tricking people into thinking
they had adult sleepovers
and chewing bubblegum
and drinking whiskey?
You know, taking Gerard
places he doesn't like,
and then showing him how great they are?
But that's how I think you
end up like Candlewick.
You know, you're beating
people over the head,
eating donkey dogs.
You know, I don't want that life.
I don't want to be that guy.
I don't want to be Candlewick.
But also, you know.
- I think I owe you an apology.
I think your dad and I think
the Fairy with Turquoise Hair,
I think we all owe you the same apology.
I think if everybody
in your life tells you
that the only way you'll
ever be a real boy,
a real anything, is to be perfect,
I think you're going to stuff your leg
full of bubblegum and whiskey.
- To the f*cking thigh, man.
- You shouldn't have to be perfect
for people to say you're a real boy.
- Yeah.
- I'm sorry, Pinoch.
- It's fine, you know? It all led me here.
And I like it here, kind
of on a surface level.
On a deeper level, I don't
know how I feel about it here,
but I do like where whatever this is,
this journey, has led me.
- It is fun when Gerard
doesn't like where he's at.
- Because then you'll
be like, don't get mad!
And he'll get even madder,
because he knows how mad
you're about to make him.
- I wonder, he's got to be
leaning into it to some degree.
- He's got to be! It's the best!
- He's got to be, it's too fun.
- [Lou] It's too fun.
How about a couple more
glasses of whiskey?
- Top me off. Top me off.
- But you got to drink
a little bit of water!
- f*ck you, man!
- That's my guy.
- [Brennan] You see Cricket
begins to sip a little,
there's a drop of water
and a drop of whiskey
that he goes back and forth between.
You fade off to sleep.
If there's anything else, I think Gerard,
everyone is kind of snuggling.
We have Red with Mother Goose,
and Pib is with Tomas and his brothers,
Cricket and Pinocchio, Henry and Timothy,
and then I guess Rosamund,
you're off sleeping
in a little princess bed somewhere.
- Yes.
- With your swarm of animals.
- Just covered in creatures.
- [Ally] Four poster.
- Gerard, how about you?
Where do you post up?
- I think Gerard's having
some bubblegum and whiskey
and just having a long think.
Just sort of staring off pensively
while also eaves-peeping on everyone,
so he has dramatic things
to gossip about later.
- I mean, it's just
like an expansive cloud.
If nobody talks, you can hear everything
that anyone else is saying.
- Yeah, I'm just sitting back
and listening to everyone,
and also kind of sitting in,
probably for the first time
since being in the castle,
just in a nice bed,
nice and comfortable,
listening to everybody talk
being like, I'm going to have
so much sh*t to talk tomorrow.
- I have two little
chipmunks over my ears.
- Little noise-canceling
chipmunks. Incredible.
I think at some point,
Tom Thumb comes over
to get a little bit of the
whiskey and bubblegum here.
- Cheers.
- He takes a little thimble. Cheers.
- Listen, are you guys married, or?
(Lou, Ally, and Siobhan crack up)
- You know-
- Sort of?
- Well, you know-
- I hear that.
(Lou and Siobhan laugh)
I'm sort of married.
I'm just kind of drunk, all outpouring,
just like, oof.
- So you're sort of married?
- Yeah.
Things are not well.
- No, I imagine not. Your wife, is she...
Is this the sort of situation
where you're married
to a princess and you're a frog,
or is this a situation where
you're married to a frog
and you kind of transformed into a prince?
- So here's the thing, I was a frog.
We fell in love, not a frog.
We fell out of love, frog again.
- Mmhmm.
- [Murph] And then we saw
each other, and the last time
we were together, I kind of
ran away when there was a w*r,
and then I've been really
trying to, you know,
do more fighting stuff and
less running away stuff,
and then there's this whole kerfuffle,
and it looks like I'm running
away, but I didn't run away!
But at this point, kind of,
I think the damage has been done.
I'm just the run away guy now.
(Ally laughs)
(Murph laughs)
So, like, how do I fix this?
How do I save my marriage, Tom Thumb?
- I would like to point
out that you're putting on
a deeper voice for the tiniest person.
(Everyone laughs)
- You see Tom Thumb
looks up at you and goes,
do you, do you've...
- You're just trapped at a bar.
- I've cornered Tom Thumb.
- This is where the whiskey is, you know?
- Yeah, I've got my hand on the top of it.
- You've shared a lot, but still,
this feels like 5% of the issue.
I don't have enough info to weigh in.
- [Brennan] He's like, do you feel
like the run away guy?
(Lou laughs)
- You know-
- [Brennan] Like is she wrong?
I know a lot of guys, I hang
out with a lot of these toads.
You know, I hang out with mice,
I hang out with some
squirrels, and they'll be like,
this woman has this bad opinion of me!
And it'll be like, is she a little right?
- Yeah, no, there's still...
Yeah, I guess you can
still be the run away guy
without being the run away guy, Tom Thumb.
- Elaborate.
(Lou giggles)
- [Murph] Well, I physically
don't run away as much anymore,
but run away guys are still run away guys.
You know what I'm saying?
- You know, I think you can always...
I fight so many people,
and I am two inches tall.
I fight so many people,
and I am two inches tall.
- [Murph] Right.
- You know, I don't let anything determine
what I'm going to do about my life.
I wake up at 5 AM every day.
I work out so that I can
fight with a button and a pin.
- That's awesome. No
wonder your wife loves you.
(Everyone laughs)
- She's not my wife, but yeah,
absolutely. Yeah, for sure.
- You guys have such a good thing going.
(Emily cackles)
- Yeah.
- You wake up and you're just there.
That's just not run away behavior.
- No, you know, someone my
size, you can't run away,
because you'll be running
away your whole life.
You got to stand up for yourself.
- And the gait, the small gait.
People would catch up to you.
- Yeah, honestly, yeah,
I can't run that fast,
so it's not an option, I have to fight.
But, you know, I would just say
it's never too late
to decide who you want to be, you know?
Everything we've learned today,
at least for me and Thumbelina,
is, oh, our stories are
literally being written.
You know, and there's a
part of it that's destiny,
but if your destiny's being
written, something's writing it,
and why can't you write
at least a part of it?
- Tom.
Tom Thumb.
- We're going to wake up at 5 AM tomorrow
and you're going to be like... (grunting)
- Tom, I know I'm drinking right now
and it sounds like I'm just making plans
that I'm not going to stick to.
I want you to wake me up at 5 AM,
and we're going to work out together.
- I'll wake you up at five.
I'm just going to check in one time,
and you let me know how you're feeling.
- Perfect, and I will be up.
- Great.
- I appreciate that.
Love everything you guys
are doing. That's awesome.
g*dd*mn, that's awesome. Good for you.
Good for you guys. I stay
up another four hours.
- So about 45 minutes
after you've passed out,
Tom Thumb goes, hey, just-
- What the f*ck are you doing?
Get out of here!
(Emily and Brennan laugh)
- Sorry, man. You said-
- I'll talk to you later!
- [Ally] (laughing) Oh my god!
- Okay, that's on me. That's on me.
- Oh my god!
- [Brennan] That's on me.
(Everyone laughing)
- Oh my god!
- Are you insane?
- [Ally] I'll talk to you later!
- I instantly fall back asleep.
- Amazing, a new day rises
here on top of the clouds.
- Henry is up working out with-
- Henry is up, yeah.
Is Timothy with him as well?
- We have a great morning thing set up.
We're just wordlessly having
a perfect morning together.
He's working out, I'm
making a perfect AeroPress.
That exists up here.
- Along with all the
ingredients for a cortado.
- Yeah, exactly.
- Roll 2d6 for AeroPress.
- Or you're just rolling clouds.
- We got a two. That's enough.
- I like to imagine Tomas did the thing
where he kind of woke
up and I went... (meows)
And then he pretended to be asleep.
(Zac meows)
- Squeaking at him to wake up.
- I'm kind of hungry.
I'm kind of hungry.
- I don't have any-
- Can you wake up and give me some food?
- Food, okay. Yes, Master Puss in Boots.
- Some sort of full meal.
- Some sort of full meal.
- My birds are whipping eggs.
- Just whipping some eggs.
A little kitchen here in the clouds.
All of you do have the
benefit of the long rest,
and actually, I will say
that the Golden Goose
does cast Heroes' Feast.
- Oh my goodness!
- What's that mean?
- How many extra HP do we
get from Heroes' Feast?
- [Emily] Advantage on
wisdom saving throws.
- Heroes' Feast, you
bring forth a great feast
including magnificent food and drink.
The creature is cured of
all diseases and poison,
becomes immune to poison
and being frightened
for the next 10 minutes.
- Oh.
- We got to get to-
- Get the Gander here!
- Actually, these benefits
last for 24 hours.
That's very cool.
The creature is cured of
all diseases and poison,
becomes immune to poison
and being frightened,
makes all wisdom saving
throws with advantage.
Its hit point maximum
also increases by 2d10.
It gains the same number of hit points.
- Hit point maximum increases.
- Do we all roll our own 2d10?
- Do you roll the 2d10
or do we roll the 2d10?
- What am I doing here?
Hold on one second.
The creature is cured of-
- This is a really, really powerful thing.
- [Brennan] This is incredibly powerful.
- The Goose is in the
kitchen. We keep walking in.
- [Emily] I used to do this as Moonshine.
- Being like, what the f*ck is going on?
- Are you cooking?
- This is a level 9 spell.
- They made this way better.
The Goose gives you some food.
You all get some food. The
Goose gives you all some food.
- I wake up late, so I get
not as good of a bunch of breakfast.
Tom!
Were you going to tell me
that there was breakfast?
- Why is Tom your servant now?
- He's not my servant, he's my friend!
- You see Tom goes, Gerard,
can I talk to you outside real quick?
- Yeah.
- Can I speak to you?
You go outside and Tom's like, hey man,
I just want to let you know,
I'm just going to level with you
because I respect that you
guys came and rescued me.
Your other friends came and
got me and Thumbelina out.
You were sort of off
somewhere else in the battle.
- I was helping!
- We're not at this level with each other
where I'm going to be
talked to in this way,
so I just want to let you
know that I'm not feeling
the kind of vibe that you're
bringing into breakfast, cool?
- That's awesome.
(Murph exhales)
(Players laugh)
I feel like we took a
couple steps back, Tom.
(Brennan cracks up)
Tomorrow, let's work out together.
- Do you really want me to ask you?
- Oh my god!
- Do you really want me to ask you?
- Absolutely.
- I'm going to come to
your room at 4:45 AM
and I'm going to say
it's time to work out.
- And I'm going to do it.
- If you sleep in gym
shorts the night before,
it helps you just roll out
of bed and go to the gym.
- Oh yeah.
- That's awesome.
- Put out your workout shoes.
- [Ally] That's what I've
seen on YouTube a lot.
- All right, let's get back to it.
- So you all depart from
this little cloudy castle
and begin to move out,
and the Golden Goose
begins to lead you back towards
the Castle of the North Wind
where Princess Clara and your horses are.
- Along the way, can I pull
up to Pinocchio for a second?
- Yeah, go for it.
- Hey, Pinoch.
- Hey, what's going on?
- How you doing?
- I'm okay. Me and the Cricket
got into it last night.
I got him to drink some water.
I think he's feeling better.
But yeah, how was last night with you?
I'm so glad you found your friend.
- I'm glad, too.
I appreciate you, you know...
I know it felt right to
just blow up the mule
who attacked you and k*lled you.
- It's what I wanted.
- I wasn't really thinking
of it in those terms.
I was thinking about it from
my perspective, and I just...
I just want to say thank you,
and that I owe you a favor.
So if you ever need a favor,
you have Pib's Official Favor.
I don't have anything to give you.
- There's not a certificate or anything?
- I got some ball bearings.
You want some ball bearings?
- Yeah, give me one of
those just as a token.
- I have 200 in here.
- [Lou] Okay, I'll take
one of those, thank you.
- So that's representative
of me owing you a favor.
- Hey, thanks.
I won't lie, I wanted
to blow up that mule.
- Yeah, and rightfully so, I should say.
- But I'm glad it led to
something nice and good.
But who knows, we'll see
when this comes in handy.
- That's a piece of lint.
- Sorry, it was in my hair.
We'll see when this comes in handy.
- Did we ever get from the
Goose the official plan?
Because she was like, I
know how to do this for you.
- The Goose is not saying a plan.
She's just sort of
waddling along the clouds
with all of you towards the
Castle of the North Wind.
- [Ally] Cute!
- She's really cute,
so I don't think any of us are-
- I think the Goose is too nice to say,
but I think we're going to...
...the Gander.
- I mean, I want to, right? We want to.
- I was listening to
everybody's stuff last night.
That's kind of what I-
- You were eaves-peeping?
- I was eaves-peeping.
- Wow.
- Should we just say it?
Should we just be like,
Goose, we're ready?
- Yeah, bring us in.
- Goose! Golden Goose!
- Golden Goose!
- Yes?
- Do you have a name, or just a title?
- Just the Golden Goose.
- [Siobhan] Great, thank you.
- I think we're ready to fight the Gander.
- Well, that's very good,
because he's naughty naughty.
- Was that your plan?
Is that the plan you
didn't want to share yet,
but we guessed it ahead of time?
- Yes. I will say this.
When the time comes, I do think
you're going to have to do
something about that Gander.
- So maybe not necessarily yet.
- I would say not yet.
I would say not until you have
your book back, certainly.
- Okay, so the Goose-
- [Lou] Well doggone, that's not the plan,
so we didn't guess it.
- So that wasn't the plan.
- [Lou] f*ck!
- Golden Goose, do you know
the way to Baba Yaga's hut?
- Yes, I think that will be the plan
after we recover that book.
The way to the Baba Yaga's hut...
I know that the Wolf
is with her, even now.
Do you have a means of
tracking or finding the Wolf?
Otherwise, I should be able to-
- Ylfa?
- I mean, I think so.
I close my eyes and try to meditate.
- [Siobhan] I cast Guidance on her.
- Ylfa, without needing to roll,
you feel a sort of thumping.
(heart pounding)
At first it feels almost like
a palpitation of the heart,
until you realize that you can feel
another being's heart
beating in your own chest.
- I can feel him. I can feel him.
Okay, how could I find this?
How could I find him via this?
- You just smell the smell of blood.
Following that same thing,
it's like when you were tracking before,
when you were following the
blood of the Fairy Godmother,
this sense of a primal pull in a direction
towards your quarry.
(Emily snorts bestially)
- I can get us there.
- That's post-book, right?
- [Zac] We've got to get the book first.
- Golden Goose, are you
picturing yourself staying here
where it's safe and us
kind of splitting up
and doing different things,
or would you come with us
to go and retrieve this book?
- I do not think I can remain here
where it is safe for long,
or rather, I don't think that
it would solve our problem,
because you need your book
back quite desperately,
and I think that in addition
to that, it's also of benefit
for the Princess Snow White
to not have your book.
- Yes.
- [Brennan] Doubly significant.
- I'm kind of petting her. I
can cast Nondetection on her.
So for eight hours, she's
hidden from divination magic,
and she can't be scried on.
No magical means can find her.
Can I ask her, do you have your own way?
I know you're a very powerful being,
but is there anything we can do to help?
- I would hold onto your magic
for the time being, Timothy.
What I would tell you is this.
Once we get your book back,
I think that going to
the Baba Yaga at once
will be necessary if you stand any chance
at stopping Pinocchio's former patron.
I would say once you have the book,
I had a lovely conversation
last night about what one does
when one has the opportunity
to change the world,
and I don't say that in
a glib, pandering way.
To change the world is
the stuff of nightmares.
It is a horrifying responsibility to think
that because things
cannot remain the same,
each and every one of us must
shoulder some responsibility
for how they will become different.
In a kinder, gentler world,
you could live the simple
version of your story.
Forces conspire to change things,
and so even if it escapes
you what you must write,
know that if you write nothing,
others will write something.
I wish you all the best
with what it is you
will determine to write.
- So not writing is not an option.
- I don't think it is.
Mother Goose, may I ask you a question?
Do you know the Baba Yaga?
- We have met.
- I feel that it's very likely
that she's going to demand
a high price for any
assistance that we are to seek.
Do you know what she respects?
I want to make sure
that, you know, we can...
We would meet her where
she's asking us to be.
- Three things.
Courtesy,
diligence,
courage.
I would say that those
are the three things
the Baba Yaga most respects.
Ah, the Castle of the North Wind.
You arrive at the edge of the clouds
and go back up into the mountains
where you see the Castle of
the North Wind up ahead of you.
You walk down the path
with the Golden Goose.
As you get closer to the castle, you see,
and I think Pib, you especially
notice those cutbacks
begin to fade more and more away.
It's like you're leaving the part
that was stitched onto this world.
- Can I try something?
- Yeah.
- When I see it, I look
at the cutbacks and go,
giants, giants, giants!
- Give me a perception check.
(die hits the table)
- 15.
- You hear,
way, way off, an echo.
(echoing) Fee...
Fi...
Fo...
Fum...
And I think you feel the
last little bit of cloud
move through, and the cloud
smells like deep forest,
and the thing it smells like are the woods
that you went to in between
this life and your last life.
It smells like the woods where you met
the Fox and the Rabbit, and
you suddenly have a feeling
of potentially being able to move
through the world in a weird way.
However, that is suddenly interrupted.
(thunder booming)
Standing in the courtyard of
the Castle of the North Wind,
you see Princess Clara and
your other horses there.
The Golden Goose looks up
at the sky and takes a step
The Golden Goose looks up
at the sky and takes a step
through the last little
seam, and the sky, whoom!
through the last little
seam, and the sky, whoom!
- No!
- Darkens.
The Goose goes, hello, brother!
Whoom! Boom!
The sky rips in half like the last time
when you showed the Sword of Truth
and you all got scattered onto horseback,
when you were trying to get
back to The Lines Between.
You see the Gander says... (cackling)
Hello, sister!
Hello, dearie. Good to
see you, you look well.
(Brennan screams)
A Godzilla laser shoots out of his mouth,
fire in his eyes.
(Brennan screams)
Oh, you seem rather
upset. Is now a bad time?
You are not to coexist in
the realms in which I travel!
You are not to coexist in
the realms in which I travel!
This is not Happily Ever After!
This is mine!
Understood. I'll be on my way presently.
I'd like to make a wish.
And you see the Gander hovers and stops,
and the Goose looks at you,
and you see tears streaming
down her eyes, and she says,
I'd like to make Timothy's
third wish, if I might.
You see there is a moment
of all of the versions of Mother Goose
in which Mother Goose is the Goose,
and in which it is the
witch riding on the Goose.
- We are, yeah.
- You see she touches her
forehead to your forehead,
and there are all these stories.
She's like, in many worlds,
in many worlds and many stories,
we have been one and the same.
I love you, Timothy.
She looks up and says,
and as she speaks, it's
both her and your voice
coming out of her, and she says,
I'd very much like my book back.
And the Gander goes... (cackling wickedly)
Your wish is my command.
The Goose goes (shrieks) as
her feathers catch on fire.
She screams and thrashes on the ground.
The Gander descends and circles her.
There is a spray of golden blood
that sizzles on the ground
as the Gander descends
and begins to feast on the
body of the Golden Goose.
You see that a book, thump, falls.
You literally see in the
swirling, tempestuous smoke
of the Gander's body, the book falls,
and you see a momentary dead white hand
grasping after the book
and getting sucked back
into the Gander's wing as the Gander
has clearly stolen it
from wherever it was.
It falls into the ground,
and you hear the crunch
and snapping of ribs
as the Gander's long,
snaking head buries itself,
feasting on the Goose's body,
and as the light leaves the Goose's eyes,
she turns to you and goes,
run, dear boy.
- I grab the book and-
- What?
- Can we run?
- Let's go!
- Clara! Clara!
- Right this way!
These horses appear,
and you jump on horseback and take off.
- I guess we take off.
- Yeah.
- Should we have done something?
- I thought about that.
- [Emily] No!
- I don't know if there's
anything we could've done.
- I think that what matters now
is that we make that sacrifice matter.
- Can I check the book? This is my book?
- You look back at the
book. You're galloping.
As you are fleeing down the mountainside,
you hear the laughter of the
Gander on top of the mountain.
- Can you put her in the book?
- Can I?
- Take the feather.
- I have the feather.
- You take the feather. The book glows.
Give me a, like, Arcana
check. Do so with advantage.
- Use her gold blood as ink.
- I'll cast Guidance as well,
so you get a d4 if you need it.
- Okay, 16, and a 4, that's 20. Arcana?
- Arcana.
- 25.
- You take the feather.
(mimics energy humming)
So, the question is this.
As you begin to write this,
are you writing your own poem in the book?
Are you writing the story of
Mother Goose? Or are you...?
What is it that you attempt to write here?
- I guess I just want to
start laying the groundwork
- I guess I just want to
start laying the groundwork
for what we use this book for.
I guess I write...
Yeah.
- Write what you want to write.
Whatever you want to write.
- [Ally] Yeah, I guess
I just write about our
sleepover last night.
- [Brennan] Okay.
- An adult sleepover committed to text.
- A non-sexual adult sleepover. We did it.
- A non-sexual adult sleepover
where the Goose is curled up
in a little soft ball, and
Gerard is working out furiously
in a little soft ball, and
Gerard is working out furiously
making crazy gains
before the sun's even up.
- [Murph] Me and Tom.
- Tom slept through it.
You were pretty upset,
but you kept working out.
- Yes, rewrite Tom. (laughs)
- He's the villain! He's the villain!
- As you get the feather,
and the feather glows
and starts going into the book, you hear
this cackling and crowing
from the top of the mountain.
You hear the Gander calling out and going,
it's done, it's done!
The world of story, it's mine!
It's mine forever, mine for always!
All upon all times!
And you feel shadow reaching
out and cracking the sky
above you, and you see that the Gander
almost begins to change shape.
You see other forms he's taken
in other realms and other worlds.
You remember walking past those
doors in The Lines Between
of the Hall of Legends
or the Lands of the Tall.
Who would he be there and
what would he be doing,
this spreading, conquering thing?
As you flee, you have this feeling
of this feather, this one last part
of this mythical being
that you still have.
What does Timothy want to inscribe?
- I start writing, I don't know
if any of it's going to stick
because it's not like
we have the true ink,
so some of this might fall through.
I think I write a sweet
thing about the Goose
and about how jacked Gerard
is, and then maybe I go
to the next page, and can I try something?
Can I write, and then the Gander
fell for the distraction
that was laid for him?
(Brennan affirms)
- A couple of words
stick, and I think the two
that stick immediately for
you are Goose and Gander,
and Goose, when Red puts that
feather against the book,
Goose becomes illuminated like Jack did,
beautiful script around the G.
Gander is still very
much in your handwriting,
but it does stick to the book.
- Okay.
- But you see Goose, and you
go back to that illustration,
and you do see at the bottom of the hill
the illustration of Jack
and King Cole now joined
by Little Miss Muffet and
the Itsy Bitsy Spider,
all with a Goose sailing
over the sun in the back.
- That's too cute! She's so f*cking soft!
- You do see, however,
that the expressions
of these illustrations have changed.
You see that Old King Cole
has a hand on a sword.
You see that Jack is running
with a banner over his shoulder
and you see that Little
Miss Muffet is helping
the Itsy Bitsy Spider get up a rain cloud,
but their expressions look not
joyous like they once were.
They look concerned.
- They're fighting for something.
What's on the banner? Can I see?
- The banner has a little
witch with a broomstick
on the back of a goose.
- Okay.
- Is this book tainted
in any way by the Gander,
or was it the princesses that tainted it?
- You get to the bottom of the mountain.
As you start looking, and again can hear
the crackling of thunder overhead,
you find correspondence in the book.
- With the f*cking witches? The sisters?
The princesses and with Scheherazade?
- [Brennan] Scheherazade, yes.
- The two of them were
talking to each other.
- The two of them.
You see a conversation that
begins in Scheherazade's script
saying, Timothy, thank god.
I don't know what magic
you were able to funnel
through the book, but we've
been able to relax our defenses
for the first time in a while.
We stopped whatever monster.
It's now locked in the
basement of The Lines Between.
I don't know how long
we can keep it there.
Where did you get that magic from?
The response appears in the book.
Our mutual ally, dear
Mother Goose, is indisposed.
I'm one of Timothy's friends,
the Princess Snow White.
You see it says, to whom do
I have the honor of speaking?
Scheherazade introduces herself.
Snow White offers as much magic and help
as Scheherazade would want.
Scheherazade mentions
something about the background
of her story, and is like,
I'm here with my friend Sinbad
and a friend of our from a
different realm named Aesop.
I came from a realm where
I was married to a king.
Snow White says, married to a king?
- f*ck!
(Brennan laughs)
- You see it says,
something of a princess.
Scheherazade says, if you say so.
And you see that Snow
White responds and says,
I'm going to try another
means of communicating.
My understanding is that you
have the power to open doors.
You see Scheherazade says, I do.
Snow White says, wonderful.
I'll be in touch presently
in a more secure method of communication.
And you see that that is the
last of the correspondence.
- Can I write, Scheherazade, it's Timothy.
I have my book back.
- You write, Scheherazade, it's Timothy.
I have my book back.
- Do not trust Snow White.
This book was stolen from
me for a bit of time.
- We're going to leave it up to the dice.
You want a high roll.
16, you write in the book,
Scheherazade, this is Timothy.
My book was stolen for a
while. Don't trust Snow White.
You see there is a pause.
Scheherazade writes back,
Timothy, question mark,
this book was stolen from you?
- Yes.
- Okay, dot dot dot. Who stole it?
- Rapunzel.
- Where are you now?
- Of course not.
I'm at the bottom of the ocean,
near the door to The Lines Between.
(Everyone laughs)
- Okay, so you write that.
No response after that.
- Where are you?
- No response after that.
- Okay, Scheherazade would've been like,
why are you at the bottom of the ocean?
- Yeah, so they have Scheherazade's book!
- Yeah, that's what I'm saying.
That's what I was thinking.
- Okay, okay.
- And it can open doors.
- And it can open doors,
which means that they've gone
to The Lines Between,
and they're near the ink,
and they're probably trying to figure out
how to get that ink and then,
- We have to go there, yeah.
- Do you think we can go
through your book now?
Is there anywhere else we should...
Wait, we have the book. Should we go to-
- We should, we gotta
go see the Baba Yaga.
- f*ck!
- It seems like you have
the ability to travel
through worlds, when you
whispered at the cutback.
- There's something about the cutbacks
being related to the words we speak.
I don't know exactly what it is.
- I have my book back,
so I have Legend Lore,
that 5th level spell
that I never got to use.
- That's true, you can use
Legend Lore if you want, yeah.
If you take a second to cast
Legend Lore on your book,
you know that not all of these
books do all the same stuff,
so Scheherazade found some
power that she had in her book
to let her open doors into other realms.
Your book is not going to let you
open a door automatically
into another realm.
You also know that the Gander's
wings are still surrounding
this world, so however
you get out of here,
you're going to have to
do some kind of accounting
for what the Gander is doing.
However, you do know-
- Are you chewing gum?
- Yeah.
- [Brennan] I'm going to say this.
You do know for a fact
that casting Legend Lore,
the trick that Pib tried
to do on Cinderella before
of trapping her in the book,
your book does have the power
to get people into it.
- Wrong book.
- There is a way
they can attempt to resist
being put into the book.
If they are defeated in
combat, it becomes effortless.
Any number of people
that you want to defeat,
you can just lock them up in here,
because of course the
issue is, if you just k*ll
one of these fairies or
princesses or whatever,
they're just going to come back.
They're going to wake up in another world
and come back, right?
- But I'm putting them in the world
with King Cole, with Jack.
I'm just adding them into that world,
- Yes.
- so that's also kind of scary.
- Also kind of scary, yeah.
Oh, but you also, there is a
way for you to take the people
that you've put into the book
and bring them back out again.
- That's why they have
the w*r banners and stuff.
- They want to help.
- They're going to help.
- Yeah.
- Should we bring them out?
I mean, we should probably
get out from this situation
and know that we can bring them out.
- I think our only chance
is probably the Baba Yaga.
She's the most powerful
person in this world,
and I don't want to bring more people into
that equation, 'cause she seems...
- We already don't know
the math on that one.
- No, we don't. (laughs)
- I'm already worried about
us being polite enough,
and I don't know.
- I've already being trying to think,
what is an honorific for a witch?
- [Siobhan] Mistress?
- Do you say Miss Yaga?
- [Ally] Ms.
- Or Madame Yaga?
- Maybe we should just
ask her, or is that rude?
- I think that's rude.
- Oh no.
- I have a feeling I can just
take the lead on this one.
- No, no, no.
- [Murph] Ask Tom!
- [Lou] Let's do it!
- [Zac] I could help
talk, I would be happy to.
- Yes!
- Are Tomas and the other guy here?
- Oh yeah.
- Tomas, Marco, and Ricard, yeah.
All three brothers are here, yeah.
- Oh sh*t.
- Okay, guys.
- Huddle up.
- Do we have something we
specifically want to say to them?
- No, I was just-
- Roll call over here.
- We were kind of having a moment with us,
and then I looked, and there's
just three white dudes.
- Can I be honest? Can I be honest?
Should I put them in the book?
- Can they do anything?
- Can they do anything cool?
- I don't remember them being especially-
- These are three miller's sons.
- Tomas, do a cartwheel.
- Right now?
- Yeah, hop off the horse
and do a cartwheel. (laughs)
- Just give it a shot.
Let's see one cartwheel.
- [Ally] Can you do one cartwheel?
- On the snow, it won't hurt you.
(die hits the table)
Oh, okay, not too bad.
- You see he does a cartwheel.
- That's a serviceable cartwheel.
- I'm sorry.
I think I already I have
a crush on someone else.
- Now do a cartwheel into this book.
- Tomas, hey, listen to me. I
come from a different world.
Obviously we've talked
a little bit about this
where maybe I was, I
guess, slightly British.
(Players laugh)
You know, in that world,
those big old guys,
the big fellas that I don't
want to say their name right now
seemingly k*lled all of you.
- Oh no.
- And we are in this world
where that didn't happen,
and I don't know exactly why,
we're still figuring that out.
I don't want that to happen to you guys,
and I think it's safer inside the book.
- Ricard says, I will go in
the book. I'll go in the book.
- Get in there.
- Yep.
(Players laugh)
Marco jumps in, and Tomas-
- Beautiful form.
Beautiful, really beautiful.
- You see Tomas goes, now
wait a minute, wait a minute.
We all come from different stories,
and I've been thinking
a lot about this, okay?
In the story of my life,
basically all that happened is,
a magical cat came along... (grunts)
He just goes right in the book.
- I'm so sorry! I'm so
sorry, that feels so rude!
- [Lou] Did we get him? Okay, we got him.
- [Ally] Oh my god, that feels so rude.
- I feel like he had a little more to say.
- Tap dancing him off the stage.
- Okay, y'all, we're going
to chill with the book.
I have one question
about my correspondence
with the princesses.
Did it sound like maybe
they're fragmented now?
Like they were like, who
stole the book from you?
It was Rapunzel?
It seemed like they
weren't on the same page.
What a weird question.
- I was wondering
if that was exploratory, trying to probe
what you were willing to give
up so easily to Scheherazade.
- [Ally] Okay, yeah, maybe it was that.
- [Brennan] I'll say this, too.
Go ahead and give me an Insight check.
I'll let you do it with
advantage with this Legend Lore.
- Amazing, okay.
- And I will once again cast Guidance.
- Amazing, with a d4?
- Yeah.
- Cool, I have a plus-
- What a great cantrip.
- We'll call this a DC 20.
- Okay, and this is Insight?
- Insight.
- I have plus seven.
Yes! That's a 15 plus 7, 22.
(die clacks in dice tray)
25.
- Hell yeah.
You keep coming back to this.
I think you know
that there are all these
factions here, right?
Bizarrely, one of them,
and one of the most
significant ones, is you.
As on the back foot as you have felt
in part of your adventures,
you've just recovered your book back.
You know more about,
you're the only person
you know that has a book
that you've been able to
cast spells out from it.
You're the group that were the first ones
to find The Lines Between
and all of this stuff.
Looking at that book and
making that Insight check,
you feel
that the instincts of your
companions are correct.
The degree of caginess that was shown
by some of the princesses,
the degree to which,
when you encountered the Turquoise Fairy,
remember, when you were
fleeing through books
out of The Lines Between,
you met the Turquoise Fairy
and she was like, I don't agree
with everything the
other fairies have done.
You don't think any of these
factions are monolithic.
- Yeah.
- But it's a scary spectrum.
There might be people in
these various factions
that are beyond convincing,
and there might be people
that are not, but
fundamentally, they are people.
They are humans, right?
And that goes even for the great beings.
Obviously no one's going to be
harder to talk to than the Gander,
who's an elemental being
of the Times of Shadow,
and who knows what the
Stepmother's deal is now,
but the Stepmother was
once a human woman, right?
So in all of these things,
there is some aspect here.
So I think the things that this
Legend Lore makes clear are,
there is not uniformity amongst
every one of these factions,
even the factions that are
just solely individuals,
and in terms of death or combat,
if it comes down to that,
and in terms of death or combat,
if it comes down to that,
I think you also are aware
that you've already all died,
and these people are not
really fearing death,
but this book gives you
a way to defeat people
and actually not have
them necessarily die,
but instead to just
preserve them in the moment
of defeating them.
- Cool.
- To potentially, you know, figure out
what the world would look
like for them after that.
- Yeah, I think me and
Henry are kind of talking.
Usually I've been alone
with my little book,
and now it's the two of us
with our hands on our hips
like, maybe it's this.
- You see Henry is sort
of, seeing the Goose
get devoured by the Gander
on top of the mountain, is
like... (sighs queasily)
- I'm holding him. We both
cried for a little bit.
- Okay.
- She was so brave.
- Okay, well. Umm...
It seems like the book is powerful.
We have very little time.
The princesses have already
moved to The Lines Between.
- Does everyone feel ready
to meet the Baba Yaga?
- Let's do it.
- Let's do it.
- I don't know if I'll ever be ready.
- How do we get out of here?
- I think I listen to the heartbeat,
I sniff for the scent of blood,
and then I think I start
to track down Death.
- You begin to track down Death.
As you track down Death,
moving through the woods,
you go into the depths of Snowhold,
the deepest, darkest parts
of that snow-covered forest,
moving through the
chill air, long shadows.
You begin to find
the actual prints,
a massive wolf moving through this space.
Looking through the woods,
you see a deep recess,
thick rot of leaves encrusted by ice,
layer of water moving
underneath the surface,
a swampy, pitch fen,
dead trees, their branches still so thick
as to obscure even the
gray clouds overhead.
In the center of this clearing
is a house, a cottage.
You see carvings
along the arched roof,
smoke pouring from a chimney,
small, thick, yellow glass
with the glow of fire inside.
Small stairs made of stone
ascend to the front door,
rough-hewn and covered with moss,
the stone of the steps covered in lichen,
a house that looks like an
ancient and primeval thing.
The steps touch down into the mud,
which is, of course,
necessary, because the stairs
go lower than the bottom of the house,
because the bottom of
the house is raised up
about eight feet off the ground
with two massive chicken's legs
underneath the house.
As you approach the clearing,
what do all of you do?
- I think I want to go into
werewolf mode, use a rage,
- I think I want to go into
werewolf mode, use a rage,
not as an offensive tactic, but more like,
I was thinking about how the Beast said
that when she sees me
like this, it's honesty,
so I'm going to try to
really just be myself.
- You feel those two
heartbeats in your body.
- You feel those two
heartbeats in your body.
When you become more wolf-like,
what happens to those two heartbeats?
- The little heartbeat, which is mine,
starts racing, racing, racing, racing,
and then they become one.
(imitates a heartbeat)
- You feel just one massive
heartbeat within you.
That one heartbeat. Thump thump.
All of you watch Red fully
transform into a werewolf.
Wolf face, mouth, red cloak.
- Beautiful.
(Emily laughs)
- Thanks.
- [Ally] Right, babe?
- I felt it until you said it.
- Oh, it was uncool,
sorry. Damn.
That was brutal. I'm
sorry. (laughs with Emily)
- Does where we're standing feel not...
Does the clearing feel like
it belongs to the Baba Yaga,
and this is just kind of like woods?
- It feels like the clearing
belongs to the Baba Yaga,
and this is just woods.
- Pinoch's going to take a quick second,
and is really trying to empty
out his leg as best as he can.
Really get in there. I want
to walk in clean, you know?
- It's pretty cold here, so
maybe you can chip it out.
It's like putting your clothes
with bubblegum in the freezer.
- On the way, I will have
scrounged Goodberries, too.
- [Brennan] Cool, cool cool cool.
- What were those three things again?
- It was courtesy, diligence, and courage.
So I'm trying to have
the courage to be myself,
and I'm going to just try to
be a really courteous werewolf.
- What do we mean by
diligence, do you think?
- Diligence is like-
- It's like committing
to something, doing it.
- It's like how me and Tom
wake up every morning
at 5 AM and work out.
- Wake up every morning
at 5 AM, that's diligence.
- So we do ask you to go
kind of towards the back.
- I'd be happy to talk.
- Absolutely.
- I think I'm just going to
be a werewolf and curtsy,
but someone else should talk.
- I was kind of thinking-
- Yes, I'm very happy to be
quietly princess-y over here.
- [Murph] I think she's
also about, you know,
honesty and stuff,
so I feel like truth sword,
but also, that's a sword.
That seems kinda threateningly.
- Just have it on you.
- [Murph] Maybe I'll
just have it on the side.
- Maybe even put it down.
- Yeah, when we get there,
I'm going to put my sharpened
broomstick on the ground.
- I'll put the Sword of
Truth on a little pillow.
- [Zac] I'll put my
daggers on a little pillow.
- Yeah, let's pillow up our weapons.
- So can we go into the
clearing and just kind of put
all of our weapons down?
- [Zac] How many pillows do we have?
- Maybe send you up to knock on the door?
- I have Conjure Pillow.
It's a 3rd level spell.
- [Emily] Oh, I don't know
that I'm going to make
a great first impression,
because I am a bumbling preteen.
I think Pib is, I mean, a
witch loves a cat, right?
- Oh my god!
- A black cat.
- [Ally] You're so right!
- [Siobhan] Wow.
- So I'm here to curtsy
and be brave enough
to be my monstrous self, but
I think Pib is going to be-
- Yeah, can we kind of look in the window
and see if she has a cat calender?
- Okay, now we're rude. So rude.
- [Ally] Never mind! Never
mind, I'm not gonna, I'm just...
- [Murph] Pib leads the way
and we walk in. Let's do it.
- The rest of us are all
gathered just like this.
- We're all like this,
but also with pillows.
- Pib leads the way.
♪ Ah ♪
Is there anything that
any of the rest of you do?
So we're going to leave this
to basically a persuasion check from Pib.
- I honestly will admit, I do
not have amazing persuasion.
- I will give Pib Guidance,
and maybe a Bardic?
- I'll give you the help
action and a Bardic.
- Okay, we have Guidance,
help action, Bardic.
- I'm doing a wolf "I'm
lower status than you" bow.
- Cool.
- It's a d8, by the way.
- d8?
- I think so, right?
- Actually, I'm going to
give you the Cloak of Stars,
which will give you a plus one, also.
- Plus what?
- A plus one.
The Cloak of Stars will give you a-
- Okay.
- We're not planning on,
we know we can't lie to
this person right now.
- Wait. That might just be saving throws.
- We're not lying.
- In that case, I'm fully going to,
nonthreateningly presenting
the Sword of Truth
as being like, you can
check out this magic.
We're telling the truth about everything.
- The Cloak of Stars is saving
throws, not checks, sorry.
- So we're all on the ground,
you're walking up the stairs,
and you're going to knock on the door.
- Copy that, so this is going to be
a very significant Persuasion check.
Actually, I will go ahead
and make this Box of Doom.
- Damn.
And you have advantage, so if we need it.
- So if things don't look good,
maybe I'll pull some strings, you know?
- Yes, maybe we pull some strings.
I'm going to let you know right now,
we're setting two sort of levels for this.
The minimum you need for things
to not go quite bad is a 25.
The minimum you need for things
to not go quite bad is a 25.
- What do you add?
- I only add one.
- Oh!
- I'll talk! Let me talk!
- What do you you have?
I have a plus five.
- I also have a plus five.
- Maybe hold Pib.
- Hold Pib.
- Okay.
- Pib, look as cute as possible.
- [Lou] I take my hat
off and put it on Pib.
- Hat off, put it on Pib.
- So jaunty!
- Okay, and the number you really want
to try to go for here is a 30.
25 is what you need.
- Okay, you have
advantage, a Bardic, a d4.
- Yes.
- And a Goodberry.
- [Zac] I have good Deception.
- Incredible, okay, cool.
- Do you want me to roll the
Guidance and the Bardic first?
- I would love you to roll
the Guidance and the Bardic first.
- [Lou] We'll start with the Guidance.
- All right, come on, Guidance.
- Come on, come on.
- [Brennan] That's a three.
- [Emily] Gorgeous!
- I've been hanging out with
royalty. I know what I'm doing.
That's a one.
- That's fine.
- That's four, that's okay.
What do you add to persuasion?
- I add five.
- I'm helping.
- I have help.
- With these two, you have help.
That's four.
- [Emily] Nine.
- You're adding plus nine.
- I will Bless you.
- You can also Bless, that's true.
- So roll another d4, because
you can't get to 30 right now.
- That's a 2, plus 11, so
all of that plus your normal
is plus 11, so on a 19
or higher, you get a 30.
is plus 11, so on a 19
or higher, you get a 30.
On a 14 or higher, you get a 25.
- Murph blessed some dice I had earlier.
- [Murph] I was doing it as a bit!
- I thought about using
those, and I'm not going to.
- [Zac] This one's pretty good.
- I'm not going to use this.
I feel good about these two.
- Okay.
- Number one.
(die clattering in slow motion)
(all screaming)
- Nat 20!
- Good lord!
(Everyone celebrating)
- Oh my god.
- Wow! Wow!
- [Emily] Woo! Woo!
- Can I roll another one just
to see if it's a double crit?
- Oh my god!
- Let's see if you can get
some more crits in there.
Give me two.
- Double crit.
- Double crit!
- 17's not bad.
You want to do what the Call
of Destiny would've been?
- Let's see how it goes.
- Can we double crit?
Can we double crit? You know what?
I will use one that Murph blessed.
I'll use this giant
one that Murph blessed.
- [Brennan] Three, okay, cool.
- Murph clearly blessed that one.
- Damn, man! That's sick!
- That was gorgeous.
The way it span around!
- So sick.
- Should we all give these back?
- [Brennan] You all give those back.
- That's why we play this game!
- Actually, Red, Emily,
funny you should ask.
- [Siobhan] Beautiful boy, we love.
♪ Beautiful boy ♪
♪ Beautiful boy ♪
- The door swings open
into pure cobweb, stench, and shadow.
into pure cobweb, stench, and shadow.
The stench is both, it is a combination
of old, rotten earth and deep, rich herbs.
You smell spices and garlic
and an ancient stew in
a cauldron somewhere.
You face only shadow right now.
Pinocchio, what do you say?
- Milady.
(Emily gasp-laughs)
I am Pinocchio.
Some have called me the Boy of Destiny.
I see myself only as the son of Geppetto.
I have traveled here with my
friends to beseech your aid
in writing a tale
of healing.
- Oh my god, it's Biden.
(Emily laughing)
- For our world.
We know you choose no side,
but still would ask for your help.
- All of you feel
the air get thicker and heavier,
and Pinocchio, you feel a hand.
Deep claws sink into the
wood around your neck.
All of you look up and
see a giant stone pestle,
like a huge stone bowl,
and a leering, hideous face
lean down and go, what's
this you carry with you?
And that's all for this
episode of Dimension 20.
- What? No, no!
(Everyone laughs and groans)
- Be careful what you ask for.
Walking up ahead of you on the path,
you see a little figure in a red cloak.
No worry about strings to
get caught on anything, huh?
- In my hands now.
(Brennan cackling)
(Lou laughing uncomfortably)
- How many monsters do we have here?
- I'm kind of a spirit.
- Depends on how you define monster.
- Yeah.
- You have a sword
that tells the truth, right?
- I do.
- Why don't you take
the sword out and ask it
if Elody still loves you?
(echoing cackles)
Pinocchio, do not worry about me.
All you must do is tell the truth.
- No, we have to stray together.
- Don't freak out. Hi.
(Brennan shrieks)
(players laughing)
- Her arm reaches out through the forest
and snatches a page out of your book.
For this precious thing,
I think I will be coming
to The Lines Between with you.
- I think it's fine.
- You know what, I got this.
(Murph yelps)
(players laughing)
- Murph! Murph!
- All right.
- [Lou] Murph, that's not okay!
(ominous music)
(ominous music continues)
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16x17 - The Last Wish
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A tabletop role-playing game show produced by and broadcast on Dropout and created and generally hosted by Brennan Lee Mulligan as the show's regular Dungeon Master.
A tabletop role-playing game show produced by and broadcast on Dropout and created and generally hosted by Brennan Lee Mulligan as the show's regular Dungeon Master.