End Notes, Episode 7

ANNOUNCER (ELI)

The End of Time and Other Bothers: End Notes. Episode 7.

CARTER

What is happening?

MARISA

And I even wrote it down! “Press in at end.” Until I totally — luckily you remembered the beetles, I totally forgot about the beetles.

MIKE

I did too.

CARTER

You’re the one who remembered that you have to actually shove it in. So my whole shtick of “Ha HAAA!” didn’t do anything. Thwack.

MIKE

End Notes.

SEAN

Welcome to the End Notes for Episode 7! We have already started… My name is Sean, I’m the Game Master…

MARISA

I’m Marisa, and I’m Darcy.

CARTER

I’m Carter, and I’m Blat…

MAGGIE

I’m Maggie, and I’m Ananka.

MIKE

I’m Mike and I’m Eggerton.

SEAN

OK, so Episode 7 was crazy! That was super fun. No exposition! Sean is so happy.

Uh… so! Wow, a lot there. Anybody have questions?

MIKE

I’d like to open with exposition.

CARTER

(laughs)

SEAN

OK, let’s do it.

MIKE

You said “portcullis” a lot, and that’s a really fun word.

SEAN

It is a fun word. Cool, thank you.

MIKE

It made me happy.

SEAN

Thank you, Mike.

MARISA

I have a question.

So… the ghoul in the tree at the end, and the king — is that from one of the stories? Is that an actual World Tale?

MAGGIE

Yes. Yep. That was vaguely — and I kept trying to pull points out of there, like, “Maybe this is kinda what’s supposed to happen, like a version of this…” So I was trying to drop hints, of what the next steps could possibly be.

MARISA

Yeah, that was great.

SEAN

You caught on that it was a version very quickly. I thought it would take longer.

MAGGIE

(laughs)

It’s just a version!

SEAN

So yeah. I was doing a different story than the story that’s written in World Tales.

CARTER

A different version of the same story.

SEAN

I modified it, right — so I modified the story because of the influence of the Shattering. It distorted things. So the idea is that the longer the Shattering is in a storyverse, the more it converts and changes it.

CARTER

OK, but can we get a short version of this story? There’s a ghoul who lives in a tree who rules over a kingdom?

SEAN

Do you want to try? Do you remember it, Ananka?

MAGGIE

Let me see if I get it… so yeah. It’s a king, that was basically possessed by this ghoul, and then he had these whole specifications of, “You cannot come by foot or by whatever, you can’t be human” — or “You can’t be man but you can’t be…” um…

SEAN

Beast.

CARTER

Ahhh.

MAGGIE

Beast. And all these other things. And then there’s just these three questions you have to answer as the sort of first part…

SEAN

Oh, that’s where you were going with the three questions…

MAGGIE

Yeah the three questions. And then when you said “riddle”, and I was like, “That’s kind of the same thing.” I was like, yeah, three questions, riddle… and then after that’s done they have to present a gift? In order to kill him there has to be a gift that’s not really a gift, and then…

SEAN

And it was supposed to be a young girl, right? That was sent by her woodcutter father, of course, off…

MAGGIE

Yeah. Yeah.

MARISA

And how is she neither man nor beast?

MAGGIE

Because she’s not a man, she’s a woman.

SEAN

She’s not a man…

MAGGIE

Yeah.

MARISA

So they’re using the literal version…

SEAN

The whole “woman” — they always do that, right?

MARISA

But did she come on feet?

SEAN

No, she had herself dragged in a net by a cart.

MAGGIE

Yeah.

MARISA

(laughs)

CARTER

What country is this story from?!

MAGGIE

Afghanistan, apparently.

SEAN

Yeah, I think…

CARTER

Afghanistan.

MARISA

Wow.

SEAN

But it’s actually the precursor to a number of stories that we sort of know? But yeah. And so the idea was that it was the ghoul that you had to defeat, and then, I’m trying to do stories where it’s not about the ghouls or… like, do you know what I mean? I don’t want to just always be goblins.

MARISA

Yes. It’s something bigger going on.

SEAN

Right. So that was a change that happened. But yeah, you did really well at trying to pull from the story.

MARISA

Yes.

MAGGIE

And then you kept going, “Get another book!” and I’m like, “Do I just look at another story?!”

(laughs)

MARISA

I know! I felt so sorry for you, because I was wondering, what does he mean by that? Do you have to look at another story? And that can’t be right!

SEAN

No… I was just trying to build the whole that Moira is — they’ve recognized that you’re in a version, and they’re trying to see if there’s another written that would be closer to what you’re experiencing, because…

MARISA

Right.

SEAN

So one of my concerns with handing you the medallions is A, that’s sort of why we move so quickly — you didn’t get a lot instruction in them, because I also was like, if you just spend all your time fiddling with them, it won’t be fun.

(laughing)

The fact that you guys just ignored them most of the time is great. So I thought that was really cool.

MAGGIE

I also didn’t pipe in — I felt like, do I pipe in? But I’m like, they’re kind of in a tight situation, so I don’t want to suddenly start talking from one of their chests and then they have to further explain, like, “More ventriloquism!”

MIKE

That’s fun, though!

SEAN

But I think any time they’re in a situation where you catch that the scene is dragging, just like on stage…

MARISA

Yes. Feel free.

CARTER

Yeah.

MIKE

Escalate it.

SEAN

There’s no problem, right? You did great.

MARISA

But you were trapped, because we didn’t have our comms on a lot of the time, so that was another issue.

MIKE

I enjoyed playing with that. I thought it was fun.

MAGGIE

I was this close to being like, “Ananka uses magic to suddenly turn it on to comm” and be like, “YOU GUYS…”

SEAN

I would have allowed it! I totally would have allowed it.

MAGGIE

Good to know.

SEAN

Yeah, I have no problem with that. Yeah, I thought that was really cool. And when I was writing the story, once we started having this other influence, this Shattering coming in, that’s when I decided that the most powerful creature in this story is actually the ghoul, the ancient ghoul. Because they have crazy powers, like they gain memories by meal. So if they eat something they can actually gain your memories and stuff. Which I twisted a little. But it was that idea, that the ghoul ended up being the force that was almost working to help you guys.

MARISA

Right.

SEAN

Whereas in the original, Mags is right, it’s — the ghoul has taken over the king, and you’d have to defeat the ghoul.

MARISA

Defeat the ghoul. Yeah, that makes sense.

SEAN

You have to kill it by answering the three questions. Which I did not get to.

MIKE

Isn’t that that part from Lord of the Rings?

MARISA

Yes. The horse master… the horse king? Yeah.

MIKE

Yeah!

SEAN

Which it turns out is an ancient story from Afghanistan!

MAGGIE

So I’d just like to point out that the ghoul now has the memory of Blat making love with Snegal…

MAGGIE

You fed him from your hands!

CARTER

I did not make love with Snegal…

MARISA

He didn’t make love with Snegal.

CARTER

He has the memory of me not making love to Snegal.

MIKE

No, he has the memory of you thinking you made love to Snegal.

MAGGIE

(laughs)

Yes.

MIKE

Which in some ways is better. It’s pristine that way. There’s no flaws, it just… it is.

MARISA

(laughing)

I did like how it went in a… I don’t know, it just went in a crazy direction that I’m sure Sean didn’t see and none of us saw, how we would get through it. Although I did think we were never going to get out of the cell.

MIKE

That happens with Sean’s gaming, though. Because he doesn’t say — and it’s like the old 8‑bit video games, where there was that one part of the wall that’s totally different in colour? And I’m like, “Gee, I wonder if there’s a secret passage there.”

MARISA

Yes.

(laughs)

MIKE

Sean never writes an easy out.

MARISA

No.

MIKE

Which is frustrating in the moment, and Marisa, you and I played a game with Sean where we were sitting there like, “I just want to go home…”

MARISA

(laughing)

I remember that.

MIKE

But afterwards, it results in a superior story.

MARISA

Yes.

SEAN

Yeah, I wasn’t sure how you guys were going to get out of the cell!

MARISA

Especially if your bazooka hadn’t — well, you actually gave us the out. You had the king come in… no, the consort. Yes.

CARTER

Right when we were about to make that decision.

MARISA

To bazooka it out.

But if you hadn’t had… if your bazooka had broken, I thought, “Oh boy, this is going to be a very boring episode.”

MIKE

Yeah. The next three episodes…

MARISA

Yeah. Sit in cell. Knit blanket…

CARTER

Starve to death.

SEAN

I try to put you guys in situations where — so I did know, the odds were you were going to go in the cell. It didn’t have to happen…

MARISA

I know. Thank you, Eggerton.

MIKE

(snickers)

SEAN

That was awesome.

But the interesting part is, when you were in the cell, I was like, is Darcy finally going to… lose her mind? You know what I mean? Or…

MIKE

I was thinking that was going to happen.

SEAN

Eggerton just got you in more trouble; Blat almost influenced and talked your way out…

(laughing)

It didn’t quite go the way you had hoped…

CARTER

Almost.

SEAN

Almost. And then yeah, I thought, maybe you’ll bash your way out. That’d be cool. But then you rolled, what, a 3?

CARTER

Yeah. One of the worst rolls you can do.

SEAN

So that was interesting. That was fun.

Eli, do you have questions for this one?

MIKE

I was genuinely sad when I lost the fairy pouch.

ELI

Oh, I know…

MARISA

I saw that. But thank goodness you kept some, because we would have been in trouble.

ELI

That went deep! That seemed to cut very deep into Eggerton…

MIKE

It did! It’s a security thing. And that actually goes back… I have an anxiety disorder that I’ve always been very open about, and when I was a teenager and I first started venturing out after being more or less psychologically trapped in my parents’ basement for months, I had a side messenger bag. And it had a bottle of water, and bus tickets and money for a cab, and a book and a notepad and… it was like a protective feeling, like a teddy bear I would carry around. And it was a little bit of a flashback to that when the fairy pouch went away. It was like a safety net.

CARTER

Yeah. But that bag didn’t make you spontaneously drunk every so often, so…

MIKE

It actually got me high pretty regularly. I’ll be honest.

SEAN

Well, I have to say, that was amazing, and that worked really well, Mags, with Ananka coming in like that. I thought that was working…

MIKE

Mm hmm. It adds another dimension to what we’re doing.

MAGGIE

So hopefully you can all trust the visions after this!

MAGGIE

They’re pretty good. They’re pretty accurate! They’re just, you know…

MIKE

“We’re in a jail cell.” “Uhhhhh…”

MAGGIE

They’re a version. Let me get back to you on that.

(laughs)

SEAN

Yeah, I don’t know what else happened in there that would be unusual…

MIKE

The whole thing was unusual.

(laughs)

MARISA

The whole thing.

SEAN

Well, that’s usual for us. I thought the whole thing was really strong. I thought that was a good one.

ELI

It had a bit of a Court Jester feel. The old Danny Kaye movie.

MARISA

Yeah!

SEAN

Yeah. That was definitely an influence.

ELI

Yeah. Well, I don’t know if it was an influence on your DM-ing, but the ventriloquist act thing certainly took it down that road.

MARISA

Yes.

SEAN

I love that you — the one roll you make is on basically selling the lie of Phil and the ventriloquists.

MARISA

Yeah. Now it sounds like an old ’50s group or something. Phil and the Ventriloquists!

SEAN

But originally it wasn’t Phil and the Ventriloquists! It was “Phil, Agatha and Eggerson and the Ventriloquists — we’re thinking of shortening the name…”

MARISA

That was great.

SEAN

That was awesome.

CARTER

And there’s juggling and there’s dancing… and people explode. Fun for the entire family!

MIKE

I like how that part — I was waiting, like “Oh, he’s going to have to come up with something,” so then it’s like, nope, he explodes, everyone accepts it. Next scene.

MARISA

(laughing)

Exactly. It was like a trick.

SEAN

And I totally thought you were going to forget to get the artifact. But Mags had your back. She remembered.

MAGGIE

I was like “It’s not poisoned any more… I’m pretty sure?”

MARISA

Yeah, that’s right.

CARTER

But now — write this down for next episode!

MARISA

What?

CARTER

Who! Is! Scribbles!

SEAN

Hey everyone! We’re doing a quick punch-in on End Notes because you, our amazing fans on Discord — if you’re not on Discord, get on Discord, it’s so cool, we love you guys — have added some questions recently that were about the episode that’s just going to air. So we wanted to record these and we can shove them in. So that’s why this may sound a little different, but is being shoved into the End Notes for that episode.

OK! Here’s some questions, guys, I’m just going to throw ’em out, they’re from the Discord. We’ll see what we can answer.

MIKE

42.

SEAN

Thank you, that is the answer for the universe.

“Was that a Time Trip! reference?”

“I can feel everythiiiiing!”

Yes.

ELI

Sean’s been wanting to have that since Episode… 2?

SEAN

Didn’t I have you do it?

MARISA

Yes, you did have me do it.

ELI

Or Episode 1. Sean wanted to do it in Episode 1, and I was like, uh… a shoutout to another show to close out our first episode just felt a little weird to me?

SEAN

We should have. I should have pushed. It would have been awesome.

ELI

(doubtful muttering)

MARISA

Carter did a great job of that.

MIKE

Mm hmm. And if you listen to it you can hear how long he sustains it. Through the music.

ELI

Oh, criminy.

SEAN

And there’s a funny story there. So the first cut that Eli did of that episode, it ends right as the music comes in.

ELI

I just faded him down after about five seconds of of very impressive hollering.

SEAN

Yeah. “Everythiiiiing…” And then the music starts and you’re done. But then when Eli was doing an output, he somehow un-muted the end of that channel, when he was editing and moving stuff around, and so you just keep going as the music plays — the music ends, the credits start, you hear Eli talking…

ELI

I start reading.

SEAN

You’re still going, and I was like, “We have to keep that!”

MARISA

That’s great. That’s so great.

MIKE

It was an impressive holler.

SEAN

It was a mistake, and I was like, “Don’t take that out. I love it so much.”

ELI

Everyone’s heard the title of the show anyway. They know what’s coming.

SEAN

So that is a reference to Time Trip! I love Time Trip! and I’m so excited to get that episode out so we can give them a shout for their show.

ELI

That’s Just Press Playhouse?

SEAN

Just Press Playhouse.

(he stumbles slightly)

I always get that mixed up.

So that was from Ely. Ely also wanted to know… “Did the broken bazooka disappear when the new one showed up, or did it stay in the cell?”

So you have since introduced something in [Episode] 8/9. That might…

CARTER

Like, I think it’s a Spider-Man web thing, where the webs, from what I remember in the comics, stay hanging off buildings and lampposts for like an hour before they dissolve. I think the same thing happens to abandoned bazooka shells, or bazooka tubes. I think after a while, they’ll vanish, but it still stays as a physical object for a little while.

ELI

Ahhh.

SEAN

So Ely, something’s coming, as a teaser, where a certain individual has one on each shoulder.

CARTER

(laughs)

ELI

Because that’s a slight contradiction to what happens in the scene in the book, with Reginald the demon, who recalls his giant axe? And as Carter — as Blat is trying to take the axe for himself…

MIKE

Uh huh. It just disappears.

ELI

Reginald just reclaims it.

SEAN

I think his power works differently.

ELI

Yeah, yeah, totally.

SEAN

What Blat has now done, though, is made it so he can’t recall them. So I’m probably going to use that.

MARISA

No, I don’t think that’s what Carter is saying. He’s just saying that the one that he had was just sitting there, and he recalls a new one.

SEAN

Right, but that’s the difference. So the difference is, the way — Eli’s right — the way it technically works is, it’s your soul-bound weapon, so if someone tries to take it — it’s like a comic book — runs away with it, you just call it back. It’s yours.

CARTER

Right. Right.

SEAN

But what Carter’s saying is, he can just have them appear, and they stick around for an hour.

MARISA

Yeah.

SEAN

And if that one’s over there, he can just make a new one. So it’s not recalling the one that’s there.

MARISA

Right.

ELI

It kind of makes sense…

SEAN

So, it means I can basically use a leftover item, or — you know what I mean?

MARISA

I see.

MIKE

We just had a conversation about the technical aspects of soul-bound weapons.

MARISA

Yes, I was just thinking that.

SEAN

We did. We’re very geeky.

Eli, you had something to say?

ELI

Oh, just that… it’s a projectile weapon, that fires projectiles, so it’s got this kind of expendable ammo…

SEAN

Oh yeah, I’ve given up on that. I had a whole thing on that, but he’s… because basically my thing was, hey, it only has one shell in it!

(laughing)

But you just keep calling new ones and just dropping them! There’s just a trail. If you guys ever lose Blat, just follow the discarded tubes.

MARISA

Yeah. The trail of bazooka.

MIKE

Would there be any, like, geographical association? If it’s a soul-bound weapon, wouldn’t it have to be near his soul, in a sense? So like, if we… is Episode 7 out yet?

ELI

Yeah.

CARTER

Yeah, that just came out.

MIKE

7’s out. OK, so… when you leave one in the cell, and we leave the cell block…

MARISA

Ooo, it should disappear.

MIKE

Would it remain for an hour, or would it disappear as soon as you’re out of soul-bound reach?

SEAN

I’m not going to let Carter answer that.

MARISA

I think a little bit of Blat’s soul is everywhere he goes. He leaves a little bit everywhere he goes.

MIKE

Awwww!

That’s because he blows his nose with his hands.

SEAN

We’re not going to let Carter answer that. He’s already making my life hell with his canon changes.

MARISA

Bazooka changes, actually! Hahahaha.

CARTER

I’m staying consistent! I’m trying to create a universe here.

MIKE

We’re world-building together.

SEAN

OK, Dr. Booze asks, “Where did the Chancellor go?” …that Darcy put the beetle on.

MIKE

I asked, in character, “What happens to them?” And Moira just said, “We take care of them.”

MARISA

That’s right!

SEAN

That Moira, she’s so dismissive.

MIKE

And Sean did it with such…

MARISA

So Moira, you have to answer that.

MIKE

Mm hmm.

SEAN

She’s not here right now.

MARISA

(laughs)

MIKE

That was a little creepy.

SEAN

(imitates an out-of-service phone beep)

Doo-doo-doot! “The number you have reached…”

CARTER

Kinda dark, yeah. “WE TAKE CARE OF THEM.”

MIKE

And I remember, because in the moment Sean gave me a look, and it was like a…

MARISA

Yeah.

MIKE

“You wanna screw with us? We’ll screw with you.”

SEAN

“Really? Really? You’re gonna ask me that right now? When I’m in the middle of seven hours of exposition and trying to get you into this thing?”

MARISA

Yeah. But then, cut to, like, the Chancellor being served tea and crumpets and stuff by Moira. “Would you like more tea? We do take care of you here!” That would be awesome.

MIKE

(laughs and applauds)

Or Reginald.

MARISA

(laughs, then lowers her voice to imitate Reginald)

“WE TAKE CARE OF YOU HERE.”

ELI

It’d be like Missy in the Nethersphere in Doctor Who.

MIKE

Oh yeah! That’s true.

SEAN

OK, next question… Dr. Booze, she said: “What about the Scribbler?” I believe you have named him Scribbles, Blat?

CARTER

Scribbles.

MARISA

Them. You’ve named them.

SEAN

Thank you — them. I believe you’ve named them.

MIKE

Carter uses “he” once, and then gives “he” a female name, and then we settled on “they”.

MARISA

Yes.

SEAN

Right.

CARTER

So I got all my bases covered.

MIKE

(laughs)

SEAN

So how did Scribbles get to a jail cell, is the question?

MARISA

Ohh.

CARTER

I would love to know that!

MIKE

I think Scribbles probably scribbled on something Scribbles shouldn’t have scribbled on.

MARISA

(laughs)

ELI

Mm hmm.

SEAN

I think that’s probably correct.

MARISA

The unscribblable!

MIKE

Oooo.

SEAN

“We know you got the name for the Grissom Device from ars Paradoxica. But did you pull inspiration for it from anywhere else? I’m just wondering because it reminds me a lot of the thing from Guillermo del Toro’s movie…”

MARISA

(with a flourish)

Guillermo del Toro!

CARTER

Cronos!

SEAN

– you nailed it! Cronos.

CARTER

Yeah! Cronos.

SEAN

I have not seen Cronos. Can you explain, Carter?

CARTER

Well, it’s just a device that sounded very similar to it, and I think you should edit this immediately and change your reply to “Of course! Guillermo del Toro’s Cronos!” because it makes us seem classy and down with popular culture.

MIKE

I think it’s worth noting that for the first, like, two months, I was convinced you were really lame and named it after an author. And I was like, “Why would he call it a Grisham Device?”

MARISA

The Grisham?

(laughs)

The John Grisham Device.

MIKE

“That’s so stupid! I mean, like, Sean’s my friend, so I don’t want to say anything, but man, this show’s gonna suck.”

CARTER

“Suddenly I want to… read a book! About the military!”

MIKE

Maybe a lawyer?

MARISA

(laughs)

Maybe.

MIKE

A lawyer in the military?

SEAN

All right. Well, thank you, guys. This has been End Notes, we are super excited to move on and get you guys Episode 8!

MARISA

Yay!

MIKE

Can we get snacks first?