Transcript - Episode 5: The Obverse of the Mirror (Part 3)
Audio for The Obverse of the Mirror Part 3
The Obverse of the Mirror Part 3
Wed, Sep 10, 2025
“Push the Roll with Ross Bryant” is produced for the ear and includes emotion and emphasis that's not on the page. Transcripts are generated using a combination of speech recognition software and human transcribers, and may contain errors.
Ross Bryant 00:00
[MUSIC: ominous piano] [SFX: house fire] Now what is on the table is just the shivers of the dark, glassy stone that made up the mirror and the golden frame. There is also the hand mirror nearby. The candlesticks are all over the floor. You can hear screams from out in the hallway, as people are like,
Partygoers (Ross) 00:23
[SFX: people screaming] Oh, horrors! Fire! No!
Ross Bryant 00:25
And you hear people, once again, trying to batter on the door, like,
Partygoers (Ross) 00:28
[SFX: banging on door] Lord Alfred!
Ross Bryant 00:30
Flames are consuming the curtain of the window, a slender window in this room. The diaphanous figure of yourself, Anna St. Clair, seems to not actually touch the ground, but sort of hover just an inch or two above it as it descends slowly in front of you.
Paula Deming 00:47
Oh! Oh! It's in front of me. But also this curtain is on fire. I'm gonna try and, oh my gosh, I'm scared to roll anything. It's gone so badly the last few.
Diaphanous Anna (Ross) 01:00
[speech in unknown language]
Paula Deming 01:05
Gosh, we're going to die no matter what.
Ross Bryant 01:12
[MUSIC: melancholic guitar theme] The cosmos is a cyclopean infinity of chaos, infinite branching paths stretching off to vistas in the distance that will drive the mind mad. Shall we shrink in the face of all this? Or will we climb aboard the chaos and ride it to the end, letting chance guide the way? This is Push the Roll. We're rolling dice against your Patreon suggestions to create improvised Call of Cthulhu adventures in real time with themes of eldritch horror, the weird, the transhuman, the transmundane, the cyberpunk, the splatterpunk, the anything punk. We don't know until we roll. Anytime, anyplace, anything can happen when you push the roll.
Paula Deming 01:58
[SFX: fire continues] I start to back slowly up toward the curtain that's on fire, lowering her toward it, and maybe I can just get her tangled up in the burning curtain.
Ross Bryant 02:12
Okay.
Paula Deming 02:13
I don't know. If I back away, she'll come toward me, and then when we get near the curtains, I take it and I go "fling!" and I fling it. [laughter]
Ross Bryant 02:24
Okay, that's a lot.
Paula Deming 02:29
I mean, you know, I don't know. Or I could curl into the fetal position and just give up.
Ross Bryant 02:37
No, absolutely do the curtain thing. I think that the willful and athletic "never say die" spirit of Anna St. Clair isn't going down without a fight.
Anna St. Clair (Paula) 02:45
No!
Ross Bryant 02:45
So yes, of course, try that maneuver. I think maybe that's kind of a two-tier plan to coax and to throw.
Anna St. Clair (Paula) 02:53
Just follow me. Follow me this way.
Paula Deming 02:57
Could I Charm?
Ross Bryant 03:01
Charm, it is. And I like Charm because she is charming you back. I think what this is is an opposed Charm roll. If you succeed, she moves towards you at your command. If she gets the higher level of success, then her beckoning is charming to you. What is your Charm stat?
Paula Deming 03:21
My Charm is 55.
Ross Bryant 03:22
Okay.
Paula Deming 03:23
Can I use Luck on an opposed roll?
Ross Bryant 03:25
Yeah, certainly.
Paula Deming 03:26
Because I rolled a 56 so if I use one... This is opposed so I don't know how good she did, but I'll just spend one point of Luck, I guess, to make it a 55 and that's a regular success. And maybe she failed.
Ross Bryant 03:37
Interesting. She did not fail.
Paula Deming 03:40
Oh, it's not enough.
Ross Bryant 03:42
You are also at two levels of relative success. So I think what happens is you both move towards each other a little bit, both in the sway of one another's Charm, as you try to compel her all the more by drawing a little closer. And she is perhaps compelled by you, but also is trying to get a little closer. The words spilling from her mouth are, they resonate a little bit, but they sound somewhat like the ancient Greek recitations of James Lindmore. But of course, differently accented, differently inflected.
Anna St. Clair (Paula) 04:12
She's saying the words I was trying to say. She is better than me.
Ross Bryant 04:17
You get snatches of what she's saying. Of course, it's in Greek, in the language you don't perfectly understand. But what you're getting is like,
Diaphanous Anna (Ross) 04:24
Come. Join. Gift. Radiance.
cuppycup 04:33
Silas, while obviously still smoking, I think his first thought is going to be to break the gaze of the obsidian creature and Jasper Bastian. So what I'd like to do to make that happen is flick my lit cigarette into Jasper's face. [laughter]
Paula Deming 04:51
Holy crap.
cuppycup 04:51
If Scott's okay with that.
Scott Dorward 04:53
Yeah, I am absolutely delighted with that.
Ross Bryant 04:56
I'm not even gonna make you make a Throw roll. I think you've got opportunity to do it. So, yeah. [laughter] Take one point of cigarette burn damage, [laughter] and that allows you to kind of shake out of your sort of like deadlock with this thing.
Scott Dorward 05:12
Oh.
cuppycup 05:12
Nice. And then to prepare for whenever it comes back around to me, I am going to start checking my revolver, drawing my gun.
Ross Bryant 05:19
Okay, great.
Scott Dorward 05:23
Jasper, I think seeing the room on fire around him, the room filling up with smoke and the imminence of death, feeling the ruin of his right hand, his drawing hand, realizes that there's only one way out of this, and that is to go through it. The realm that this entity showed him, this realm filled with darkness and nightmare and all the things that excite and inspire Jasper so. There's nothing for him now in this world. He needs to find a way of passing through to where this creature showed him.
Ross Bryant 06:08
The gate is somewhat shattered. Its gaze is beckoning you to join it. There's another mirror in this room, the little hand mirror that you brought in to read the reverse side of the mirror, and you have a sense that you could maybe join each other there.
Scott Dorward 06:23
Or maybe I could even just quickly try to reassemble all these pieces into something like a functional mirror again. [laughter] Yeah.
Ross Bryant 06:32
Oh absolutely, give it a shot. Yes, you've broken the gaze, and perhaps you're trying to push together all the little shivers. That's, make a Craft roll.
Scott Dorward 06:49
My Craft is in Painting, so that's not really going to help me here. So that means I'm going to have a 5% chance. Even if I'm going against my normal Art/Craft that is a failure, but I could spend six points of Luck and turn it into a success. Do I want to do that, or do I want to push it? [laughter] I've got a ruined hand. There's smoke filling the air. These are jagged bits of glass. Clearly, my instinct of self preservation is stopping me doing this, because I'm going to ruin my hands even more. But I'm just going to ignore that. I'm going to ignore the pain. I'm going to ignore the cutting, the lacerations, the blood, and just carry on moving these broken shards around until something happens. [laughter] And I rolled a 90.
Paula Deming 07:43
Oh, no! Why, guys? Why?
Ross Bryant 07:48
You push. You fail. [MUSIC: ominous synth] You're getting it all together, your broken hand pushing the little splinters of the mirror back together. [SFX: glass shards moving] Perhaps one or two of the splinters lodging in your fingers or up under a nail. But of course, it's taking such a long time. Your eyes are just weeping with the smoke in here, but you feel as though you are managing to do it, when the shivered surface that you're pushing together refracts the light of a thousand suns into your eyes as the whole spectrum bursts across your field of vision as the blinding light of Oneiros hits you from behind. You see yourself backlit in the mirror, and both of you tumble forward into its depths.
Scott Dorward 08:37
Oh marvelous. [laughter]
Ross Bryant 08:38
Jasper Bastian is no longer in this room. The giant creature that first came out is no longer in this room. The diaphanous visage beckons you forward, Anna St. Clair, as you reach backwards for the curtain, I think you've drawn a little bit closer together, you can try for the curtain maneuver now. Why don't you just give me a maybe, like a Fighting/Brawl roll to see if you can yank this curtain off and snatch her with it.
Paula Deming 09:04
Come on. Come on. That's better. 35, it's a regular success.
Ross Bryant 09:12
The burning curtain rips off of the rings that are holding it to the curtain rod. Moonlight now adds its dull luster to the flames everywhere. This heavy, heavy curtain now goes over this thing that was like whispering to you, seducing you as she moved towards you, and now her form is draped in this burning cloth. So just see almost like a haunted house ghost, a heavy cloak [laughter] just there on fire in this room, along with everything else. It seems the only way out of this room is through the mirror or through the window.
Anna St. Clair (Paula) 09:52
What do we do? Do we go after Jasper?
Silas Watson (cuppycup) 09:53
Do you want me to shoot her or shoot you? Shoot the you that's under the curtain?
Anna St. Clair (Paula) 10:00
Uhh, I don't know if it will do anything.
cuppycup 10:03
This might be ridiculous, Ross. [laughter] May I roll...
Lord Alfred Bierbaum (Ross) 10:09
Might be?
Paula Deming 10:10
It'll be the first ridiculous thing of the whole session.
Scott Dorward 10:13
Yeah.
cuppycup 10:14
May I roll Art/Craft: Union Busting to find the safest way out of this room? Because I'm guessing I'm used to breaking into buildings to rough people up.
Ross Bryant 10:23
Wow. [laughter] To some people, Union Busting is just a profession, but to Silas Watson, it's an art. [laughter] Wow. If you love what you do, you never work a day in your life.
Paula Deming 10:34
Yeah, there you go. Oh boy.
Ross Bryant 10:36
Yeah, why not?
cuppycup 10:38
It was Photography before the character was defined. I needed something relevant. [laughter] And I failed appropriately enough with an 84. [laughter]
Paula Deming 10:48
Oh no.
Ross Bryant 10:49
I think your days at Union Busting give you a little flashback of a mine cave-in somewhere in West Virginia, of people screaming and howling behind a bunch of collapsed barriers, people perishing of inhalation of awful things, and you suddenly realize the turnabout was fair play. Those families didn't get paid because you were trying to break up the union. But now suddenly, you find yourself in the same situation.
Virginia Lee 11:13
I would like to use Spot Hidden, because I feel like as somebody who deals in the occult, I've been in big, fancy houses that very likely have hidden doors and hidden rooms and hidden etc. So if I can find, like, a way to get the hell out of this burning room, I really want to do that. [laughter]
Ross Bryant 11:24
Now that's a Call of Cthulhuesque roll request. [laughter] Yeah.
Scott Dorward 11:24
Yep! [laughter]
Ross Bryant 11:24
See if you can find a... Uh, roll Spot Hidden for secret passage discovery.
Virginia Lee 11:41
Ah, man, I failed. I got an 86 out of 75 but I still have a lot of Luck, and I would like to use that.
Ross Bryant 11:50
Great.
Virginia Lee 11:51
Alright, so I've got to get rid of 11 Luck points to get me there.
Ross Bryant 11:56
Okay.
Virginia Lee 11:56
39 I'm now at.
Ross Bryant 11:59
As I said, like so much of this, so much of the walls have burned up. The fire is now kind of like on the ceiling. The flammable wallpaper is consumed, but you can see now smoldering and like burning away on the floor, that painting of Narcissus. Behind where that painting was, there is a little knob.
Paula Deming 12:22
Yeah!
Virginia Lee 12:23
Yes, I go for it. [laughter]
Ross Bryant 12:26
The whole little section of the wall, just like it's been on fire. It kind of like caves in under your pushing of the knob and yes, a little passage into the wall opens up and you can see it just receding off into darkness. There's a little hallway, sort of between the walls here.
Virginia Lee 12:44
Amazing.
Ross Bryant 12:44
Of course, the ceiling is on fire.
Virginia Lee 12:46
Of course, of course. I'm gonna shout,
Claire Windby (Virginia) 12:49
I found a way out. Grab the mirror on the way!
Virginia Lee 12:52
And then I'm just gonna start going toward it.
Ross Bryant 12:55
Super. Is someone grabbing the mirror?
cuppycup 12:57
I'm so like, stunned by Claire's Union Busting skills in finding the secret passage. [laughter]
Ross Bryant 13:06
Wow, she'd be such a good Pinkerton. [laughter]
cuppycup 13:09
Part of me feels like Watson would want to escape, and part of me feels like he'd want to go bust up the Nyx family to help his friend Mr. Bastian. So I do think he's a little bit torn here. What's Miss St. Clair doing?
Paula Deming 13:23
Oh, boy.
Ross Bryant 13:24
[MUSIC: ominous synth] You can still hear words wafting up from underneath this curtain that's swiftly burning.
Paula Deming 13:30
She's saying the words that I was trying to think of, but she's saying them forwards, right? Or she's saying something different?
Ross Bryant 13:38
You get the sense that she is not intoning a rote ritual sequence. She is speaking directly to you.
Paula Deming 13:46
Oh.
Diaphanous Anna (Ross) 13:47
You could have him. You could have him.
Ross Bryant 13:52
Words you understand are beginning to resolve through the Greek.
Diaphanous Anna (Ross) 13:59
[speaking in ancient Greek] You could have him. He could be yours. All the allurements that you have ever desired. You could crush your nemesis, have your retribution, have everything that you've ever desired.
Anna St. Clair (Paula) 14:21
I want it so much!
Paula Deming 14:24
And I'm gonna use that burning desire to try and take her curtain-covered form and grab her and push her into the broken bits of mirror that I just saw Jasper go into.
Ross Bryant 14:40
Okay, great. That sounds like a Brawl roll to me, right?
Paula Deming 14:42
Yeah.
Ross Bryant 14:42
You're using force. Go for it.
Paula Deming 14:45
My gosh. Oh! Oh! 12! Oh my gosh. One point of Luck, and that's an extreme success.
Ross Bryant 14:54
Oh my gosh. [laughter] Shocking, wow. You've been rolling so badly this entire time, and right when it counts, sometimes it comes through.
Paula Deming 15:06
Yes!
Ross Bryant 15:06
She rolls a success, but she doesn't roll an extreme success to oppose you. So yeah, it's like,
Diaphanous Anna (Ross) 15:12
Everything you want...
Ross Bryant 15:15
And even through the blanket, you can just feel how soft and yielding and physically perfect this version of you is.
Anna St. Clair (Paula) 15:25
Oh, I want it so much.
Ross Bryant 15:28
But you are... Some well of strength is in you and with all the athleticism that croquet has imparted to the frame of Anna St. Clair...
Paula Deming 15:37
Yes!
Ross Bryant 15:37
The curtain suddenly goes limp in your hands and it’s as if there was nothing ever in it. And you are perhaps aware now of just how if you stay in this room for one more minute, you are dead.
Anna St. Clair (Paula) 15:50
Oh, we are going to die!
Paula Deming 15:51
I'm right by the mirror, right because I tried to push her back into it?
Ross Bryant 15:54
The mirror is underneath the curtain that you just were holding.
Paula Deming 15:57
I will try and wrap it all. Oh, the curtain's so heavy. But if I can, wrap it all up in that to try and keep all the shards and run toward the passageway that Claire opened.
Ross Bryant 16:08
Great, you're hot on the heels of Claire Windby and Silas Watson.
Paula Deming 16:12
Literally.
cuppycup 16:13
I think Silas was torn. But when Miss St. Clair runs off with the shards, he has no choice but to follow. Yeah, so he's gonna try to hustle out of here.
Ross Bryant 16:23
Lord Alfred Bierbaum. He's kind of looking... You could turn around and see him, Silas Watson, as he is kind of not even paying attention to the smoke or the fire. He is looking into the hand mirror that was nearby and beginning to sort of kiss it, kiss his own reflection, in a bizarre parody of what was on the painting on the wall. He seems totally transfixed by this. You get the sense that if he stays here, it's curtains for Lord Alfred Bierbaum.
cuppycup 16:52
He only has two options. One is to shoot this guy, and the other is to carry him out. [laughter] I do think, because he's in the company of Miss St. Clair and Miss Windby, he is going to try to rescue Lord Bierbaum.
Ross Bryant 17:04
Great.
cuppycup 17:05
Because who's going to take care of Proteus if he dies?
Paula Deming 17:08
Yeah.
Ross Bryant 17:09
Indeed, indeed.
Paula Deming 17:10
A good question.
cuppycup 17:12
I'll try to knock the mirror out of his hand and then carry him away, basically.
Ross Bryant 17:15
Great. Why don't you just give me a Strength roll?
cuppycup 17:17
Okay. Uh, regular success.
Paula Deming 17:19
Ayyy!
Ross Bryant 17:20
[MUSIC: elegant piano] I want to see a room full of like brocade, lush overstuffed pillows, a beautiful mahogany toilette vanity and a huge, huge mirror over the bed. [laughter]
Paula Deming 17:43
You got us into that bedroom.
Ross Bryant 17:45
There's a dome-shaped mirror on the wall that suddenly swings open and Claire Windby tumbles out of the wall behind the mirror, followed by Anna St. Clair clutching a huge bundle of a charred curtain, followed by Silas Watson holding Bierbaum like Whitney Houston in The Bodyguard, as you all come tumbling out into Mr. Bierbaum's bed chamber. [SFX: creaking wood door and multiple thumps onto a wood floor] Smoke hangs heavy in the air, and from here, you can make good your escape. With that we'll kind of cut to the outside of this townhouse as you hear bells and screams.
Partygoers (Ross) 18:23
[MUSIC: frantic orchestra] [SFX: bells and fire burning] Fire, fire!
Ross Bryant 18:26
Fine guests are pouring out of the door in their number, Anna, Silas, and Claire, as you hear two conservatively dressed people from across the street underneath an umbrella, tutting. It's like,
Distinguished Gentlemen (Ross) 18:39
Hmm. Fire at the Bierbaum residence, stands to reason. Always knew he would come to a bad end. [sad laughter]
Paula Deming 18:50
What do we do about Jasper?
Silas Watson (cuppycup) 18:53
I'll go get him
Anna St. Clair (Paula) 18:54
How? What do you mean?
cuppycup 18:58
I think Watson views the world in like terms of contracts and unspoken codes. And since Mr. Bastian was the only Englishman who was kind to him.
Virginia Lee 19:07
Awww.
cuppycup 19:07
I think he is gonna try to go back and get him.
Ross Bryant 19:11
Wow. Okay.
cuppycup 19:12
If he has access to the reconstructed shards that were smuggled out.
Virginia Lee 19:17
I'm gonna pipe up and I'm gonna say, uh,
Claire Windby (Virginia) 19:19
We shouldn't do this on the street. Quick, let's get back to my shop that is called... the Ebon Looking Glass. [laughter] We can reassemble the pieces there. Follow me! [laughter]
Ross Bryant 19:34
Great. So I think that probably Anna, you were somewhat charmed by the entity that you were communing with. But you're strong. Your Charm was also strong. It was opposed. You managed to snare them and put them back in the mirror, and yet, on the walk to, or perhaps you take a hansom cab there. Who knows how you get?
Virginia Lee 19:59
A hansom cab, yeah.
Ross Bryant 20:00
On your journey to the Ebon Looking Glass, there's a splinter in your mind, an ebony glass splinter lodged in your mind of the offer that was made to you. And while the panic of being in that burning room maybe gave you some strength and self preservation instincts for a moment, you cannot shake this idea that you could have this thing that your heart has ached for, that the door is open to you. You have but to ask. So smell the sort of scent of sage and herbs in the Ebon Looking Glass. What does it look like in there, Claire Windby?
Virginia Lee 20:42
[MUSIC: whimsical] So it's a single level, because obviously I dream of having a second level. We approach the building and like the front, is very grim. Very dark greens, lots of greens, big windows, but there are shades drawn, so you can't see inside, and inside it's very dark and very crowded. Like, you know when you go to one of those antique shops in the country, where you're just like, I don't know where I am, and you get lost very easily. And you want to touch things, but you're also like, if you shift that even a little bit, things are gonna come tumbling down. I have this great, big, ornate brass key, and I unlock it, and I say, [SFX: key unlocking and door opening]
Claire Windby (Virginia) 21:25
Don't touch anything. [laughter]
Ross Bryant 21:28
So there you are in the dark, dim, shadowy confines of the Ebon Looking Glass. Tall shelves just crammed with knickknacks and treasures from around the world and every period in history, and you've still got this bundle of charred, blackened curtain within which you know, Anna, is this glass and the offer that still hangs in the air. And Lord Alfred Bierbaum is walking with you. Silas, he's no longer trembling in your arms, though he is a little catatonic, stroking the shell of Proteus, who he managed to grab on his way out. [laughter]
cuppycup 22:07
Nice.
Virginia Lee 22:09
Proteus!
cuppycup 22:10
Well, it was nice while it lasted, we had our moment.
Ross Bryant 22:13
Yes, yes.
Lord Alfred Bierbaum (Ross) 22:15
Yes, thank you. Thank you, Mr. Watson. You're ever so strong, ever so kind.
cuppycup 22:22
Of course, I wouldn't leave you there or shoot you. It was the right thing to do. [laughter]
Ross Bryant 22:26
Just kind of like, looks at you. When you say that, Proteus, his head retreats into his shell. [laughter] But you're now all inside the Ebon Looking Glass. What would you like to do?
Anna St. Clair (Paula) 22:39
Well, I'll set the bundle down on a table somewhere, or desk of some sort, whatever a good surface would be, Claire.
Virginia Lee 22:46
I have a great round table that's full of stuff. And I say,
Claire Windby (Virginia) 22:49
A moment.
Virginia Lee 22:50
And I'm just like, [SFX: rummaging through items] just like, taking the stuff off, putting it away, and I say,
Claire Windby (Virginia) 22:53
Don't touch that!
Anna St. Clair (Paula) 22:55
I was just going to help! Okay.
Claire Windby (Virginia) 22:57
No, I'd rather you didn't.
cuppycup 22:59
Silas, accidentally holding a Hand of Glory.
Claire Windby (Virginia) 23:03
Put that down. Okay, alright.
Virginia Lee 23:05
And then I just sort of like, self consciously, like, rub the dust off and I say,
Claire Windby (Virginia) 23:11
There you go. [SFX: uncovering table]
Ross Bryant 23:13
Pardon the mess. Great. So now you kind of can unwrap your ad hoc parcel here and there once again is that gold frame with its little distorted prayer on the reverse side, and there in the obverse, nested within the frame, are the many shivers of the mirror that Jasper managed to reset and put back together. It is just kind of a broken mirror there, but incredibly fragile. You know that, like you could kind of shift it around, and little pieces would probably fall and skitter across the table, but you've got it there.
Anna St. Clair (Paula) 23:51
Silas, what do we do?
Silas Watson (cuppycup) 23:54
Well, I was wondering, Miss Windby, is there a way that you could tether me or something, so that if I go in there and I find Mr. Bastian, that you can pull us out?
Virginia Lee 24:05
I sort of like, fold my arms and put my finger on my lip while I'm thinking.
Claire Windby (Virginia) 24:09
Ah, just a moment.
Virginia Lee 24:10
And I like, go into the back and I disappear, and I'm going to come back and I'm going to have, like, a length of rope that has silver woven through it.
Paula Deming 24:20
Ooh!
Virginia Lee 24:21
And I'm gonna say,
Claire Windby (Virginia) 24:21
It's not very long, but I figure we can attach this to, oh God.
Virginia Lee 24:26
And then she starts looking around, and she's like, trying to find something like a pillar to anchor it to, or the bottom of the table, or something.
Scott Dorward 24:34
A large stuffed bear. [laughter]
cuppycup 24:38
I think Silas was privately hoping for magic. He's like,
Silas Watson (cuppycup) 24:41
Oh, a real tether. Yes, yes. [laughter]
Paula Deming 24:44
Oh yeah, a rope. That's what I meant.
Ross Bryant 24:46
But yes, you were hoping for some sort of like a spell, some evil dispelling charm. But no, it's a rope. [laughter] And you got...
Virginia Lee 24:53
A rope with silver.
Ross Bryant 24:54
Silver! Silver rope. And Claire finds a suitable anchor point, and it's now around you. [MUSIC: ominous synth] Anna, you continue to feel the pull of this mirror, and every time you pass it, you can see in its broken surface your own face reflected back at you a hundred times on every little cracked shiver, imperceptibly, like it must be your imagination. The dozens of your reflections every now and then, one or two of them will kind of move without you moving in return, like looking at you, seeming to kind of beckon you.
Paula Deming 25:28
I'm trying so hard to not look, but I can't help it. Every time I go by, I do steal a little glance.
Ross Bryant 25:39
Yes, and you can tell that Lord Alfred Bierbaum, sitting nearby, a cigarillo in his shaking hand, is also kind of like peering into the mirror with a transfixed gaze.
Lord Alfred Bierbaum (Ross) 25:49
What a strange thing. Terrible, terrible, my house. Yes, so many treasures. Oh, the work of a lifetime, really. I'll have to go to my country house. Oh God, what people will say. [laughter]
Silas Watson (cuppycup) 26:03
Miss Windby, this, I couldn't help noticing the name of your shop. Maybe you could use this thing as like the shop sign. Get Mr. Bastian to paint it for you. It could be pretty nice, is all I'm suggesting there.
Claire Windby (Virginia) 26:15
That's a splendid idea. But let's maybe focus on the task at hand.
cuppycup 26:18
Oh right, he's tying rope to his ankle, or maybe to his waist. Miss St. Clair, did you want to come with? I noticed you were staring.
Anna St. Clair (Paula) 26:28
I don't. Hmmm. I mean, yes and no. Would it be helpful? Or do you think you could do it on your own? Do you need me?
Silas Watson (cuppycup) 26:39
Well, you did seem to do most of the stuff back there. [laughter] It's really up to you. It could be helpful. I don't know what state Mr. Bastian's gonna be in. I did make a friend there on the river, so maybe I can hold some sway with him. [laughter] He was like a boat Grim Reaper. [laughter]
Virginia Lee 26:57
A boat Grim Reaper.
Anna St. Clair (Paula) 26:58
That sounds awful.
Lord Alfred Bierbaum (Ross) 27:00
[quietly] A boat Grim Reaper? [laughter]
Silas Watson (cuppycup) 27:03
Yes, keep up, Lord Bierbaum. [laughter]
Paula Deming 27:06
I think perhaps I should try and stay on the outside of the mirror in case anything comes out.
Silas Watson (cuppycup) 27:12
Perhaps, if I get stuck there, maybe if I'm in there for more than 15 or 20 minutes, you can do another séance and try to bring us out.
Anna St. Clair (Paula) 27:19
Yes, yes. I think that's a good idea if you don't come back in 10 minutes, let's say.
Silas Watson (cuppycup) 27:24
10, yeah.
Anna St. Clair (Paula) 27:25
Perhaps we can pull all of you out somehow everything that's inside.
Lord Alfred Bierbaum (Ross) 27:34
[maniacal laughter] A boat Grim Reaper, yes, yes. To go down and then return. Silas Watson, my little Orpheus, after Jasper Bastian, our lovely little Eurydice. Don't look back. Don't look back. Oh. Presente, spirito.
Silas Watson (cuppycup) 27:51
If you have more silver rope, you might want to tie him up.
Claire Windby (Virginia) 27:54
I think that might be a good idea. [laughter] While you're there, how about we have a signal like give three tugs if you need us to pull you back or something like that.
Anna St. Clair (Paula) 28:02
Yes, good idea.
Silas Watson (cuppycup) 28:03
Three tugs. Yeah, that's...
Claire Windby (Virginia) 28:04
Three tugs!
Silas Watson (cuppycup) 28:05
That's what we'll do, yeah. It sounds flawless. [laughter]
Paula Deming 28:08
Go dive in, somehow. [laughter]
Ross Bryant 28:10
Awesome. You tie the silver rope around your waist. It is anchored to something.
Virginia Lee 28:16
A very large statue of a Buddha. [laughter]
Ross Bryant 28:20
I'm glad this isn't a rope use era. If this was Down Darker Trails, we'd be failing on tying this knot.
Ross Bryant 28:26
Oh god. [laughter]
Ross Bryant 28:27
There seems to be a certain irony to using a statue of the Buddha for an attachment, but. [laughter]
Virginia Lee 28:33
You're right! [laughter]
Ross Bryant 28:36
Yes, yes, the Buddha, it is. So with this attachment, well and truly affixed, you turn to the mirror and look down in to see your own face multiplied a hundred times on the various cracks, and each little face looks back at you, and you now know this is not now your first rodeo at this thing. You kind of know what you're dealing with, to some extent. Last time you had that experience just by kind of reaching out to it with your will. And it opened to you. You knocked and the door opened. So yeah, why don't you once more, roll your Power and see if you can get on top of this thing or not?
Silas Watson (cuppycup) 29:13
Alright, knock again.
cuppycup 29:16
Uh, 91.
Paula Deming 29:17
Oh my, oh no. [laughter]
Ross Bryant 29:19
The rest of you, Anna, Claire and Mr. Bierbaum sitting there, giggling to himself, singing little snatches of Monteverdi to himself, [laughter] see Silas Watson kind of look and tap at the shivers. He's like poking around. For him and him alone, gravity seems to entirely shift as he tumbles forward and seems to collapse into the mirror on the table, and the rope spools out [SFX: rope unraveling] down into the now... The surface of the mirror as you look in is no longer cracked. Ripples seem to form on its surface as the rope goes in. What were cracks are now just little disturbances and waves in a liquid surface as Silas descends.
Virginia Lee 30:06
Yes.
cuppycup 30:08
Ross, it's up to you, but if it affects the outcome of wherever Silas ends up, I could potentially push this roll by untying myself once I get through.
Ross Bryant 30:18
Push it? Oh, yeah, absolutely.
cuppycup 30:20
Push the connection. If I'm feeling like I didn't make a connection, I would untie myself to try to give myself fully to the space.
Paula Deming 30:28
Oh my goodness.
Ross Bryant 30:30
As we've sort of kind of established loosely, a successful roll means that you can kind of get on top of your experience with the mirror and get out of it. To fail means you are a little bit more consumed by it, and you make an even deeper connection. But yeah, see if you can kind of keep your wits about you with that push. I love it, by untying yourself. How constraining to be in limitless space and feel yourself confined to the silver rope.
cuppycup 30:57
I hate to spoil the party for you, Ross, but I did pass. Regular success. [laughter]
Ross Bryant 31:02
I think that's awesome. I've been saying that it feels like going into water, and that's exactly what it feels like. It's cold, dark water that you're kind of plummeting into, and you feel the tether kind of reach its limit. [MUSIC: deep bass drone] You feel a sort of like bass note of its thrum in the liquid medium that you're suspended in. And you feel as though you should be drowning, but you somehow don't have to breathe in this space, and it is just dark fluid all around you, womb-like. You feel like you're dangling on what could be just a limitless expanse. So yeah, you undo the knot at your waist and continue to float down. Your will was exerting itself to try to find Jasper Bastian, yeah?
cuppycup 31:45
Yeah, absolutely.
Ross Bryant 31:46
Great. Let's turn to Jasper Bastian. You were lost in the gaze of Oneiros. What is the nature of your dream? [laughter]
Scott Dorward 31:54
[MUSIC: eerie and slow] I think it is along the lines of what he saw before with all these scenes from Greek myth that have been rendered in his own artistic style, but they are very stark black and white. There is a sense of depth of infinity to the shadows and the darkness around him. As far as Jasper is concerned, this is what he's always wanted. This is it. This is like Narcissus looking into the mirror. This is him looking into his psyche, his own art. This is it made manifest around him, the darkness, the danger, the sheer deathness of it all. He's in his happy place.
Ross Bryant 32:52
Ah, gorgeous. There you are, like on the... trailing your finger in the limpid pool that you're gazing at your reflection in. The curly cues and tendrils of the grove around you. And yes, pretty dryads cavorting in the trees. Your reflection suddenly looks oddly familiar. And Silas Watson, you come up out of that liquid medium you are in. [SFX: submerged in water] And you, in a way, are Jasper Bastian's reflection as you...
Paula Deming 33:20
Oh, cool.
Ross Bryant 33:22
[SFX: water splash] As you break the surface of the pond and you see Jasper there, just not as you have ever seen him. His slight frame now like elegant and leonine, a little garland of flowers around his temples. [laughter] As he regards you as you rise up out of the pool, and you two are aware of the stark black and white of this space, and how, just like Jasper said, that the darkness suggests the depths of infinity. [laughter]
cuppycup 33:49
And he'll take in Jasper and just say,
Silas Watson (cuppycup) 33:52
Tasteful. [laughter]
Jasper Bastian (Scott) 33:55
Isn't it just simply wonderful? Is, is this not everything that you've ever dreamed of?
Silas Watson (cuppycup) 34:02
Uhm, not exactly, but it's nice. I like it. I like what you've done with the place, but we have 10 minutes. We need to get back to London, and I'd love it if you came with me, because I risked quite a lot to be down here.
Jasper Bastian (Scott) 34:17
Why would I ever want to go back there?
Silas Watson (cuppycup) 34:20
What are you gonna do down here, Mr. Bastian, you'll get tired of it after half hour?
Jasper Bastian (Scott) 34:26
How could one be tired of seeing one's soul reflected back to one?
Silas Watson (cuppycup) 34:35
Oh, this is gonna be more difficult than I thought. Umm. [laughter]
Ross Bryant 34:39
Yeah he doesn't, he doesn't seem to want to go.
cuppycup 34:42
Yeah.
Ross Bryant 34:42
But you succeeded on your Power roll. You're here. You're kind of looking around. You can kind of move in this space. And you have the intuitive sense that you could kind of return back through this pool. He is opposing you.
cuppycup 34:57
Yes.
Ross Bryant 34:57
And you are in his dream.
cuppycup 34:59
Right.
Ross Bryant 35:01
Back in the Ebon Looking Glass, you see that the rope is slack. [laughter]
Claire Windby (Virginia) 35:06
Oh, Jesus. [laughter]
Anna St. Clair (Paula) 35:08
Oh, no! Do you think that means he's not attached to it anymore?
Claire Windby (Virginia) 35:13
Either that or he's been eaten by something. I have no clue. God.
Anna St. Clair (Paula) 35:17
What if we give it a little shake and see if anything responds.
Paula Deming 35:22
I'll take the rope and I'll give it a little shake.
Ross Bryant 35:24
It goes taut in your hand.
Anna St. Clair (Paula) 35:26
[surprised gasp] Oh! Hmm, alright. Umm.
Ross Bryant 35:31
A little jerking pull.
Anna St. Clair (Paula) 35:33
What? Oh, okay, I let go. Maybe he's still there. That's him. Maybe he was pulling on the other end. That was him. That's the sign just one pull, though, so it's alright. [laughter]
Ross Bryant 35:44
The Buddha that it's attached to begins to scrape across the floor.
Claire Windby (Virginia) 35:49
Oh no. [SFX: metal scraping] Oh no, no, no, no, no, no. Oh no. [laughter]
Ross Bryant 35:57
[SFX: metal scraping] Something is coming up the rope. Back in Jasper's dream, Silas is trying to coax you out. It sounds like you don't want to go.
Scott Dorward 36:08
But I have a solution perhaps.
Jasper Bastian (Scott) 36:12
Silas, what you want to take back to London, isn't me. You want to take back the idea of me. You want to take back what do you feel you owe me. How about I paint you an idealized version of myself from the stuff of dreams itself that you can take back, and you can always pretend that it is your dear friend, Jasper Bastian, and perhaps it will be the best of Jasper Bastian, a Jasper Bastian that will spread dreams, such dreams as are undreamt, throughout the artistic world of London. And change everything, change it and make it beautiful.
Ross Bryant 36:57
Yes, yes.
Silas Watson (cuppycup) 37:01
That is beautiful. It's a beautiful thought, Mr. Bastian, but you have to understand this place we're in, you didn't build it.
Jasper Bastian (Scott) 37:08
No.
Silas Watson (cuppycup) 37:08
Something else built this place. It's reflecting your thoughts, your dreams, but this is, it's a trap. You have to see that.
Jasper Bastian (Scott) 37:17
Silas, I did not create the paper upon which I draw. I did not create the inks I use. I did not create the brushes I use, and yet I use them to create. I use them to reflect myself. And all I am doing there is bringing dreams to life. Here I am working with the stuff of dreams itself.
Ross Bryant 37:39
Yes, and since you mentioned sending back a perfect simulacrum of yourself to bring dreams back, now you know you have to do this Jasper Bastian, whether or not Silas Watson wants to. And it seems as though he needs some convincing. And perhaps like out of the grove, another Jasper Bastian steps.
Paula Deming 37:59
Oh, my God.
Ross Bryant 38:01
Even more idealized, gorgeous, youthful, potent. And the two Jasper Bastians look at you and just like,
Idealized Jasper (Ross) 38:10
We're going back.
Silas Watson (cuppycup) 38:12
Yes, one of you is coming back with me. I'll let you decide which one.
Scott Dorward 38:16
I'm just going to take the garland of flowers off my own head and put it on the other Jasper.
Ross Bryant 38:22
Excellent, yes. And it looks at you with burning eyes, and you can tell that there's something else out there in the wood, something else in that darkness that seems to recede off to infinity. The rope goes even tauter under your hands, Anna St. Clair, and you feel something beginning to push against the surface of the mirror.
Anna St. Clair (Paula) 38:45
I think we might need to sever this connection soon if he doesn't come out. I think something else is going to come out. I don't think it's Silas. Maybe we need to cut the rope and just drop it.
Claire Windby (Virginia) 38:54
Uh uhm, umm, errr. [laughter]
Claire Windby (Virginia) 39:00
I'm trying to think, if I have anything in this occult shop that I can use. Can I do another Occult roll to see if maybe I know that, oh, God, this is... [laughter] Like holy water or some sort of item.
Ross Bryant 39:19
Speaking of items, yeah, you've got little vials of holy water. You've got gadgets and gizmos aplenty. You got whozits and whatzits galore. [laughter] But it might not all be as potent as what you're currently dealing with. Speaking of objects, something just fell out of the mirror. [laughter]
Virginia Lee 39:37
Okay.
Anna St. Clair (Paula) 39:38
What is it?
Ross Bryant 39:39
It's rolling across the floor towards you, Anna St. Clair.
Anna St. Clair (Paula) 39:42
Oh no, is it a croquet ball? [laughter]
Ross Bryant 39:45
No, it looks like an apple.
Anna St. Clair (Paula) 39:46
An apple? [laughter]
Scott Dorward 39:51
A golden one.
Anna St. Clair (Paula) 39:52
Do you know?
Ross Bryant 39:54
Yes, it's shining with the burning red gold of the frame.
Claire Windby (Virginia) 39:58
Don't touch that. Don't touch it!
Anna St. Clair (Paula) 40:00
[MUSIC: emotional piano] Do you know James Lindmore, my tutor, he always had an apple with him during our lessons. Maybe I should take it.
Paula Deming 40:09
And I will reach.
Claire Windby (Virginia) 40:10
Don't touch the apple. Don't.
Ross Bryant 40:12
Sounds like she was reaching for it. You pick it up, and you can see inscribed on its surface in Greek characters, ones that even one with a schoolgirl's knowledge of Greek would know. To the fairest. [laughter and gasps] And at the moment that you read these words, a sense of the... This woman is telling you not to touch this beautiful thing?
Anna St. Clair (Paula) 40:32
But I must.
Ross Bryant 40:33
Not to take this gift? If she doesn't want you to have it, then that must think that she is the fairest, that she is a rival to your affections, that maybe she has eyes for James Lindmore.
Anna St. Clair (Paula) 40:45
Look, I know that you are more beautiful than me. You've always been more beautiful than me, Claire Windby.
Claire Windby (Virginia) 40:54
What is that supposed to mean? What is wrong with you? We're in the middle of the... What?
Anna St. Clair (Paula) 40:57
Do you know, just like Lord Bierbaum was saying, perhaps it doesn't matter what we do in life, as long as it has beauty. Maybe that's the most important thing.
Paula Deming 41:07
And I look at this apple and I go to take a bite of it.
Ross Bryant 41:12
Great. You take a bite of it. [SFX: bite apple] Roll Sanity. [laughter]
Scott Dorward 41:17
Oh, hail Eris.
Ross Bryant 41:20
Hail Discordia.
Paula Deming 41:22
Oh, I definitely make it. 18 under 44, so.
Ross Bryant 41:27
Okay, that's great, but you have just taken a bite of the apple of Eris, so I'm afraid there's still gonna be some Sanity loss involved.
Paula Deming 41:37
Yeah, if I lost four more, I would be Indefinitely Insane. [laughter]
Ross Bryant 41:41
Cool. You lose three. Don't let anyone tell you, I'm not fair. [laughter] The second your teeth sink through the golden hue of this apple, you've never seen anything so beautiful that seems to be the result of some incredible craftsmanship, but also the delicate craftsmanship that only nature can do. But, ah, the workmanship of an artist can outdo even the hand of nature. As you have seen yourself, things can be perfected to achieve greater beauty than they naturally possess, and you must have more as you sink your teeth into it, [SFX: apple bite] And your success on that Sanity roll just keeps you from maybe going absolutely mad, but your taking of this bite is filling you with the spirit of... You are instantly aware of the persecuting eyes all around you. There's a lot of metallic surfaces around you, and you can see reflected in all of them, the burning eyes of Claire Windby, judging you. Beautiful Claire Windby, who, even at her age of 45 still radiates such gorgeous personal allurement. How dare she? How dare she possess such natural beauty?
Anna St. Clair (Paula) 42:58
Why? Why do you deserve this more than me? Why do you deserve to be blessed in this way with your appearance and I don't? I don't think you do. I think I do deserve it myself.
Paula Deming 43:12
And I pick up my croquet mallet. [laughter] And I will telegraph very clearly.
Virginia Lee 43:22
Yes, very clearly.
Anna St. Clair (Paula) 43:24
Picking it up.
Virginia Lee 43:25
When she goes for the croquet mallet, I go,
Claire Windby (Virginia) 43:28
Now wait a minute. Wait a minute. Let's make sense.
Virginia Lee 43:30
And I'm gonna, like, I'm gonna do that thing where I'm, like, going around the back side of the Buddha. So it's like she's like she's on the opposite side of it. [laughter]
Ross Bryant 43:39
Great. Kind of chasing each other around the Buddha. [laughter]
Virginia Lee 43:42
Meanwhile, I'm trying to see if I can find something to defend myself with. I would rather not hurt her.
Ross Bryant 43:48
Why don't you roll Luck to see if you find something?
Ross Bryant 43:50
Oh jeez, okay. Alright. [laughter]
Virginia Lee 43:53
Uh, that's a failure. 56 over 39. [laughter]
Ross Bryant 43:57
Cool. Yeah, you're in an occult shop. You, yeah, [laughter] you find a little uh, scrap of cloth with, like, a Sacred Heart embroidered on it. Sorry, probably won't do much against the croquet mallet.
Anna St. Clair (Paula) 44:14
Perhaps, if I take a bit of your beauty from you, [laughter] it will transfer to me. That's what was happening in the mirror, you know. Did you notice every time I got a little bit more beautiful? It's because I took it from someone, Claire, and I don't want to take it from you, but...
Claire Windby (Virginia) 44:33
Well then put the mallet down, you crazy bitch. [laughter]
Anna St. Clair (Paula) 44:38
Claire, I can't!
Ross Bryant 44:39
Insults. Insults!
Anna St. Clair (Paula) 44:41
I can't put it down, even if I wanted to. I can't. My hands won't let go of it. You will have to run away from me, or I will take your beauty from you. I'm sorry.
Paula Deming 44:52
And then I go to swing.
Virginia Lee 44:54
Can I evade?
Ross Bryant 44:57
So here's how this will work. Anna St. Clair is gonna roll her Fighting/Brawl.
Virginia Lee 45:01
Okay.
Ross Bryant 45:02
If you want to evade then you roll a Dodge. Dodge is a skill on your sheet there, like all the others.
Virginia Lee 45:07
Oh jeez.
Ross Bryant 45:09
If Anna gets the higher level of success then she comes down with all the force of Eris into your head with the mallet.
Virginia Lee 45:14
Oh god.
Paula Deming 45:15
I'm sorry.
Virginia Lee 45:18
Okay, okay.
Paula Deming 45:20
I got a hard success.
Virginia Lee 45:23
I got a 28 over 32, can I... I still have Luck points. I would like to counter to make it a hard success as well. Can I do that?
Ross Bryant 45:34
Yeah, okay, then you can get it down to a hard success.
Virginia Lee 45:38
Okay.
Paula Deming 45:38
Perhaps as I swing I end up smashing the top of the Buddha statue.
Virginia Lee 45:43
Oh yes, I love that. [laughter]
Ross Bryant 45:45
The bald head of the Buddha, just like caves in under your stroke, and a bell-like dong [SFX: resonant bell] resounds in the room.
Virginia Lee 45:55
Taken 12 out of that. So that is now 27 is what I have left. [laughter]
Ross Bryant 46:00
Okay, Luck going fast. But Anna is hot on your heels, raising her mallet once again.
Virginia Lee 46:06
I know the interior of my occult shop, though, and it is a maze, remember. So I'm gonna leave her behind, and I'm gonna just, I'm gonna find like little nooks and put some distance between her while I try to think of what to do.
Ross Bryant 46:19
Love it. The hand of Jasper Bastian is stroking your cheek, Silas Watson. This figure that has emerged from the grove in the darkness, and now it is holding your head, and now it is pushing your head underneath the water that you came out of. Are you letting that happen?
cuppycup 46:37
No, my... Watson's intent is to take the real Jasper Bastian back through the water. So I think at this moment he'll fight against that and try to get upright again.
Ross Bryant 46:47
Okay, here we go.
cuppycup 46:49
51 under 60, regular success.
Ross Bryant 46:51
The ersatz Jasper failed his Brawl roll. So you succeeded.
cuppycup 46:56
Oh, wow.
Paula Deming 46:57
Yeah!
cuppycup 46:58
Alright. So I think once I kind of stand up, I'm going to look at the original Mr. Bastian and say,
Silas Watson (cuppycup) 47:07
This ain't you, and this will never be you. And that's just not good enough for me.
cuppycup 47:13
And he's going to try to tackle him into the water.
Scott Dorward 47:15
Oh. Yeah, Jasper is going to turn and try to run into the woods. [laughter]
Ross Bryant 47:21
Great. Make your Dodge. Make your tackle. It all ends in PvP, oh boy. [laughter]
Scott Dorward 47:28
It's the Ain't Slayed way.
Ross Bryant 47:30
That's right.
cuppycup 47:31
I failed. I failed with an 81.
Scott Dorward 47:33
I failed my Dodge, but it doesn't matter.
cuppycup 47:36
Yeah.
Scott Dorward 47:36
Actually, I am going to still turn that into a success so that I can use the rule about disengaging from combat and get away.
cuppycup 47:44
Oh, there you go.
Scott Dorward 47:44
Yeah.
Ross Bryant 47:45
Great. Jasper Bastian is in the woods. You can see his form in the stark black and white moving into the grove, seeming to kind of disappear and scintillate in the seemingly hand-drawn trees. If you look over your shoulder, the garlanded visage of the counterfeit Jasper Bastian is sinking underneath the water, regarding you as it goes, perhaps back the direction you went to get here. But the real Jasper is escaping into the woods.
Silas Watson (cuppycup) 48:12
Fucking Brits. [laughter]
cuppycup 48:14
I think he's gonna respect Mr. Bastian's wishes at this point, having run off into the woods. So how much of this other Jasper's body is exposed?
Ross Bryant 48:27
He's just sinking underneath the water, he's basically just walking in. So I think maybe just his head is still above water, and now it's down in it.
cuppycup 48:34
If my gun works in this world, I'm gonna try to take one clean shot at the imitation.
Scott Dorward 48:41
Ooh.
Ross Bryant 48:41
Okay, interesting. Go for it.
cuppycup 48:43
This is what Pinkertons do when they get mad. [laughter]
Ross Bryant 48:45
Yeah, yeah. When in doubt, the American pulls his gun.
Paula Deming 48:48
The American way? Yep.
cuppycup 48:50
I rolled an extreme success.
Scott Dorward 48:51
Oh, my God! [laughter]
cuppycup 48:54
With a nine.
Ross Bryant 48:55
Great.
cuppycup 48:55
The max damage for this gun, a Colt single action Army pistol is 1d8. 1d8 plus eight, okay.
Paula Deming 49:03
Wow.
cuppycup 49:05
Oh, wow, that's a 15.
Paula Deming 49:06
Holy cow.
Ross Bryant 49:08
Okay, cool.
Scott Dorward 49:09
You just shot a dream in the face.
Ross Bryant 49:11
Yeah, you shot a dream.
Silas Watson (cuppycup) 49:14
This ain't the American dream. [SFX: gunshot] [laughter]
Ross Bryant 49:16
[MUSIC: eerie drone] And now, yeah, you see, like eerily, not blood, but ink, the black ink of his wound as he now, an obscene Narcissus, bobs lifelessly in this Sylvan grove. In this little pool, its mirrored surface, he just kind of bobs lifelessly there, bleeding blackly into its water. You know that the way back is through that water, and the real Jasper Bastian is behind you in the grove.
cuppycup 49:46
I don't think the gunshot's gonna make it easier for me to get him back. So I'm gonna take the imitation's crown and then dive back through.
Ross Bryant 49:55
Take his little garland, yeah. You go back into the water, and suddenly you find yourself back in that dark, gloomy, watery expanse. [SFX: underwater movement] Your pistol made of dreams there in your hand as you are made of dreams. But you don't have your rope any longer. You're just suspended. You don't see above you where you came from any longer, the rim of the pool of Jasper Bastian's dream has disappeared. You are just suspended in an infinity of black fluid. But you, of course, shot a dream. The will of Jasper Bastian was repelling you. These things do not pass unnoticed in this realm. And I just want you to see in front of you in that dark fluid expanse, as though you're down in just like a bottomless ocean. Something swims into view. [SFX: large movement in water] It is a head the size of a mountain, a feminine, but not human face the size of a 45-story building is looming out of the darkness. Its eye the size of a city bus goes past you as it regards you. Somehow you are only viewing not in black and white, but in shades of black. There is only darkness here, because this is darkness incarnate. The Mother of Night is looking at you with her eye of darkness. Roll Sanity.
cuppycup 51:22
Oh no.
Virginia Lee 51:23
My God.
cuppycup 51:24
I feel like this is gonna be bad either way. I rolled an extreme success.
Virginia Lee 51:30
Yes!
Paula Deming 51:30
Wow.
cuppycup 51:32
Seven.
Scott Dorward 51:34
Oh God.
Ross Bryant 51:35
Sometimes this stuff don't make sense. Yeah, you lose, um, three points of Sanity.
cuppycup 51:41
Okay, that's getting me close, but I'm not there yet. But on three points, I do think seeing this thing obviously, is gonna be alarming.
Ross Bryant 51:50
Oh, yeah, you're terrified.
cuppycup 51:51
So Watson's gonna try to take a coin out of his pocket and just kind of holds it up, trying to get a ride.
Paula Deming 51:59
[gasp] Payment.
cuppycup 52:00
Trying to get the ferryman to come rescue me. [laughter]
Ross Bryant 52:04
This face just kind of looks at you quizzically. A finger, a dark finger the size of like a locomotive, like moving towards you in the dark expanse, regarding you with an indifferent... Interest is not the word, just a like passing curiosity. This thing that is older than the oldest thing that you have ever possibly conceived. You are just a mote of dust in its awareness, and it just kind of like touches you for a moment, and the blackness that is blacker than any darkness subsumes you.
cuppycup 52:42
Amazing. And that was his experience in England, pretty much, I think. So. [laughter] Yeah.
Ross Bryant 52:50
Roll Stealth, Claire Windby, from your hiding place in the Ebon Looking Glass.
Virginia Lee 52:56
Failure, 49 out of 20.
Ross Bryant 52:59
Great. Anna, you know exactly where she is. She's hiding just behind that bookshelf, just there.
Anna St. Clair (Paula) 53:06
There she is.
Ross Bryant 53:08
You can see like a little swatch of her skirt even, protruding from it.
Anna St. Clair (Paula) 53:13
[MUSIC: eerie drone] I think as I go toward her, there are all these reflective surfaces, yes?
Ross Bryant 53:18
Yes, all around little metallic and glazed images reflecting your face and her face.
Anna St. Clair (Paula) 53:25
As I look and I see her, and then I look up and I catch my own face in the reflection. And as is often, I think the case with jealousy, it is less about the other person than our hatred for ourselves. And I think perhaps as I see myself in the reflection, it's more distracting. And I see all the flaws and all the things I hate about myself and teetering on the edge of Permanent Insanity as I am, I think what Anna St. Clair does is look at herself in the reflection and take her fingers to her face, and instead of going after Claire Windby, perhaps there's a small bit of her that still remembers this is her friend. She begins to rake down her own face with her nails, tearing herself apart as she drops to her knees, crying and speaking, partially remembered Greek. [SFX: skin tearing and body hitting floor]
Ross Bryant 54:35
Wonderful.
Virginia Lee 54:35
Do I hear this? Do I hear her crying?
Ross Bryant 54:38
Yes, and as I said I think the reflective surfaces everywhere, perhaps in a little bulbous crystal ball up ahead of you, you see, distorted, a reflection of this face being peeled away. I'm gonna have you both roll Sanity.
Virginia Lee 54:52
Oh no! [laughter]
Paula Deming 54:56
I somehow still passed. This is insane. I rolled a 38 under 41.
Ross Bryant 55:02
Crazy.
Virginia Lee 55:03
I failed, but not by much. I got a 60-aught over 52 and I still have Luck points, because I had a ridiculous amount at the start.
Ross Bryant 55:13
Alas, you cannot spend luck on Sanity rolls.
Virginia Lee 55:15
Oh, nevermind. Ugh!
Ross Bryant 55:17
Claire Windby, you lose two points of Sanity. Anna St. Clair, you lose one point of Sanity. Does that get you over the threshold, Anna? [laughter]
Paula Deming 55:23
[MUSIC: eerie drone] The one point for me is... I've lost 10, which is a fifth of my start. So, yeah, I think as my fingers dig into my own flesh, it is the thing that tears the last tether I had with actual, a grip on my mind. [SFX: skin tearing] I can't cope. I cannot cope with everything that's happened, everything I've seen, everything I felt, it is too overwhelming, and I let go.
Ross Bryant 55:51
Yes, you are overcome with strife. In moments like this, you only have some control of your character, but it sounds like you are, you are almost like, in the way that Claire Windby had, in a way, become the personification of your self-recrimination, it has now fully closed its circuit back upon yourself. And you look at the flesh under your fingernails, up at the scars on your face in the... reflected at you a hundred times, mocking you from every corner of the Ebon Looking Glass. And the croquet mallet in your hand is there, and suddenly it's crashing into your skull again and again and again and again. [SFX: mallet hitting wetly]
Paula Deming 56:31
The whole time with that smile.
Ross Bryant 56:33
Yes, that smile. [SFX beating continues] And you see a prophetic image of yourself beating an unseen person to death as Claire Windby, you see the rictus smile on the face of Anna St. Clair as she destroys herself, overcome with envy, with narcissism, with strife, having eaten the Apple of Eris. [SFX: body hits floor] Lord Alfred Bierbaum has fainted. [laughter]
Scott Dorward 57:06
How's Proteus doing?
Paula Deming 57:09
Proteus!
Ross Bryant 57:09
Proteus is waddling across the floor like, um, there might… Maybe there's a loose piece of lettuce or something, just like, you just see his beak come out, like, munching down. One of the gems in his flank, on his shell, reflects the horror of this image of self-battery that is taking place as Anna St. Clair destroys her own reflection, overcome with strife. You're just there in the silence left in that moment, Claire Windby. And then there is the strange bass tone thrumming as the silver rope suddenly gets taut again. [SFX: rope straining]
Virginia Lee 57:49
Oh no.
Ross Bryant 57:52
Our survivors, in quotes... Anna St. Clair is pulverized, but Claire Windby, you live to fight another day because, of course, you were there that evening, and you stepped over the ruined body of Anna St. Clair, over the fainted figure of Lord Alfred Bierbaum to help out Jasper Bastian, as he came out of the mirror. A garland on his head. Silas Watson, alas, lost in the depths of the obverse of the mirror there. The limpid pool. It was broken, but now you see that as Jasper Bastian steps out of it, the dark stony surface is whole again, perfectly reflective. Sealed. Let's do a coda. Where do you think Claire Windby goes after this?
Virginia Lee 58:49
Well, after a lot of deep cleaning of the shop.
Paula Deming 58:55
Sorry, sorry about that. Did I make a mess?
Virginia Lee 58:58
She's going to close up shop temporarily and go on a very long trip to a very far away continent to... [laughter] maybe back to Canada to commune with her dead husband, just getting away from London for a while. [laughter]
Ross Bryant 59:17
Wonderful, wonderful. I love it. They're in the fresh air, like stands of pine, clear blue water. Jasper Bastian's illustration book is the sensation of London that year. What do you think happens with this Jasper Bastian?
Scott Dorward 59:35
Well, it's not just an illustration book. It's a manifesto. It is an exhortation to dream. To replace the tawdry, mundane reality of everyday life with the beauty, the vividness that only dreams can provide. And to make these dreams real, even the bad ones. Especially the bad ones.
Ross Bryant 1:00:08
This homage to the decadent and grotesque finds its way into publications like The Yellow Book and is finding itself on countertops of aesthetes all over England and the continent. And surely coincidentally to this, there is a rash of disappearances, people going strangely mad, dropping out of society, sleeping sicknesses as people waste away in their beds, sleeping never it seems wishing to wake up, and if they wake, they are somehow changed. [MUSIC: ominous drone] [SFX: water movement] Silas Watson, just see the obverse side of a golden coin resting on your eyelid and huge fingers pluck it off and spirit it away into a dark cloak. [laughter]
Charon (Ross) 1:01:00
The time has come.
Ross Bryant 1:01:04
And the long punting staff rows you across a river whose name you cannot even bring yourself to intone, towards a distant shore to which all shall go eventually. And you are being rowed there by the ferryman, a one way trip, unless...? [laughter] And we'll, let’s say, Claire Windby, on another expanse of water, clear blue lake in a land of thousands of lakes skimming the surface of the limpid water. There's a tiny little islet there in this lake. The air is fresh, and as you step out of the canoe, there you see the entire beautiful Sylvan landscape spread out in front of you and the wobbling reflection of the canoe. And you suddenly are startled, because standing next to your reflection are several other reflections of faces you used to know, and that's where we'll leave it. [laughter]
Paula Deming 1:02:11
Incredible!
Virginia Lee 1:02:11
Amazing.
Scott Dorward 1:02:13
That was really good.
cuppycup 1:02:14
Yeah, that was so much fun, Ross.
Paula Deming 1:02:15
Oh man. That was amazing, Ross.
Ross Bryant 1:02:18
That ruled. Y'all were great.
Paula Deming 1:02:20
Virginia, I'm sorry I came at you with my croquet mallet. [laughter]
Virginia Lee 1:02:24
You were driven to madness by a golden apple. It happens. I understand.
Paula Deming 1:02:29
I did it all for love, you know? [laughter]