We leave our three adventurers for a moment and journey to a far-off island. Long ago, Ananka and Moira’s youngest sister Tekmar ran from the Nexus and went into hiding. But now, it seems someone has found her at last.
This week’s recommended podcast is Merely Roleplayers!
The Peeps This Week:
- GM: Sean Howard
- Guests: Kristi Boulton and Maggie Makar
- Story Consultant: Laura Packer
- Game Consultant: Stephen Smith
- Sound Design and Music: Eli McIlveen
Content Warning: Screaming, panic, claustrophobia, bugs and possible minotaur cooties.
ANNOUNCER
Previously on The End of Time and Other Bothers:
SEAN (AS GREG THE MINOTAUR)
(over a communicator)
This is where I will make my final stand.
Give my love to Ananka… and may the Nexus prevail.
The wind chimes in Ananka’s hut.
SEAN (AS GREG THE MINOTAUR)
Ananka?
MAGGIE MAKAR (AS ANANKA)
Yes, it is me.
SEAN (AS GREG THE MINOTAUR)
Am I dreaming?
MAGGIE (AS ANANKA)
Grishka, no. You are safe in my hut.
SEAN
You see a hut come over the dune, walking awkwardly on four chicken legs.
MAGGIE (AS ANANKA)
If there’s one thing you can trust today, it is my house. It is Kura.
SEAN (AS KURA)
BAWK!
SEAN (AS MOIRA)
Ananka!
MAGGIE (AS ANANKA)
What is it, Moira?
SEAN (AS MOIRA)
I know about Greg. That was supposed to be a one-way trip.
MAGGIE (AS ANANKA)
Grishka! Greg! Oh my God, where did you go?
SEAN (AS GREG)
Moira is building another bomb. It’s why I crossed over and told the Shattering. She’s using the three that you had me get.
MARISA (AS DARCY)
Moira!
SEAN (AS MOIRA)
We are at war. The Shattering has moved against us, as has my sister.
MARISA (AS DARCY)
What’d you hear, Snegal.
SEAN (AS SNEGAL)
That you, um, unleashed the Shattering and destroyed everyone?
Snegal come up with plan to take back the Shattering. Snegal been very busy building the Blat Caravan!
MAGGIE (AS ANANKA)
Who else can we trust? There is no one but you and me…
SEAN (AS GREG)
And your other sister.
MAGGIE (AS ANANKA)
Of course.
SEAN (AS GREG)
Maybe it’s time we bridge that separation.
MAGGIE (AS ANANKA)
No better time than now.
THE WESTERN REACHES
The sound of ocean waves and seagulls.
SEAN
We’re racing over water—ocean as far as the eye can see, but an island approaches. We are in the Western Reaches. Water laps at us as we rise and fall just above the waves, moving as fast as a bird. And we lift up into the air just as we approach the shore—a beautiful shore, which quickly changes into craggy rocks and misty fields.
As we come around on a small clearing with a small mound of earth, that at first might be mistaken for just a bump in the ground. But as we bank and come closer we see there are little windows built into the sides, and a little wooden door which opens. And out steps a young woman, who moves as if older than her age would suggest.
KRISTI (AS TEKMAR)
(hums to herself)
(English accent)
Another day, another quiet morning.
Another moment to wonder what I have done.
SEAN
A cloud moves strangely in her vision above, as she stares up out of the clearing. Gathering, growing darker. A portent. An omen. Or perhaps just an aberration.
KRISTI (AS TEKMAR)
(whispers)
Sisters, what have you done?
SEAN
Rain begins to fall and yet there is no cloud directly overhead.
The door slams shut on the hut.
KRISTI (AS TEKMAR)
(agitated whisper)
Okay, okay, calm down, calm down, calm down. You left. Everything was fine. Ananka was taking care of it, everything’s fine. I’ll run some water. I’ll just check. I’ll just check on them to make sure everything’s fine. It’s fine. It’s fine. You did the right thing. You did the right thing, you did the right thing. Okay…
Ominous music.
SEAN
As Tekmar steps forward towards the hut, a tremor runs through the ground beneath her feet. And suddenly in a blinding flash of light, the windows of the hut bulge outwards strangely—and then collapse inward in an explosion that is more felt than heard, glass billowing inwards in the hut and the door cracking open and wood splinters flying inside, as the hut implodes on itself, but is still standing.
KRISTI (AS TEKMAR)
Oh God. Oh no, it’s come. It’s already come. How has it found me?
Theme music plays.
ANNOUNCER
The End of Time and Other Bothers: an improvised fantasy role playing game set in the world of Alba Salix. Your Game Master is Sean Howard, with special guests Kristi Boulton and Maggie Makar.
Episode 29: Nobody’s Side.
THE AFTERMATH
SEAN
Out of the corner of Tekmar’s eye, she sees that there is something on the little table that is somehow untouched in all the disaster that is inside that hut. Even from outside she can see something gleaming on the little table she had in the centre of the hut.
KRISTI (AS TEKMAR)
What…?
KRISTI
And she walks towards the window as close as she can, so that…
SEAN
What was the window.
KRISTI
What was the window. Trying to peek in without touching what’s inside because she feels the energy. She feels that moment and she’s trying to decipher what she’s seeing.
SEAN
It’s looking into a hurricane. Everything was pulled in towards the table, trails of glass and wood and anything that was out and loose, all pulled in as if towards a great weight. And sitting on the table is a piece of paper and something gleams in the light that you can’t quite make out. But it’s not moving.
KRISTI
She takes a deep breath and takes the risk to go inside.
SEAN
Okay.
KRISTI
Moving through the splinters of the door.
SEAN
She walks across, glass crunching underneath her shoes, approaches the table, where a key lies. A key she may have heard about or not. A very strange-looking blue metallic key. And it is sitting on a piece of parchment.
KRISTI (AS TEKMAR)
What’s this?
(reads)
“O Great Sage Tekmar:
“I jest, sister. Read on. I am writing this on my first day of taking office. There is a protocol, a way to keep the Nexus safe in the event of—well, perhaps this will never find its way to you. I can hear you harrumphing as you no doubt wish to be left alone. But you are also the only one who will be able to know what to do with this and not be tempted by the power it contains.”
Moira…
“If this finds you, I am gone. While we may not be friends we remain sisters even past the veil.
“—Moira.”
Sister, what have you done? What have you done?
SEAN
The key is quite large—a giant skeleton key, gleaming blue and almost iridescent.
KRISTI
And Tekmar takes a pair of gloves out from her cloak, slips them on her hands and reaches down trepidatiously to pick up the key.
SEAN
The gloves don’t help. The second Tekmar touches the key, even with her gloved hands, an energy shoots through her entire body.
KRISTI
Aaaagh!
(pained breathing)
SEAN
It is a feeling that has not been felt in so long, and it is all Nexus.
There’s another item in your hut, hidden, locked away, that has the same energy. You feel it calling. Reaching out to you.
What is it?
KRISTI (AS TEKMAR)
(softly)
I don’t want this. I didn’t want this. I never wanted this.
KRISTI
And she moves to—around the hut, she moves until she gets to a board in the ground by what used to be the bed and she lifts up the board. And underneath she grabs a glowing gold key… and holds it in her hand. And it’s on a cord, so she puts it around her neck… a tear falling down her cheek, because she knows what this means.
SEAN
And suddenly, an electrical arc comes out of the two keys and forms a circle in the air just in front of Tekmar. A portal to another place. Small. Faint. And it takes a while to get any clarity, but—it’s wooden but orange—lots of orange—and there’s someone or something moving around, rummaging, digging… who does not appear to realize you are watching.
KRISTI
She looks… tilts her head, and whispers,
KRISTI (AS TEKMAR)
Ananka?
SEAN (AS SNEGAL)
Huh? Ananka? Where is…? Oh! Oh! Who are you?
KRISTI (AS TEKMAR)
Oh! You’re definitely not my sister.
SEAN
An imp face comes through the portal—
KRISTI (AS TEKMAR)
Oh!
SEAN
—cocking its head and sort of, inches from your face,
SEAN (AS SNEGAL)
Oh? Oh! You smell like Ananka…
KRISTI (AS TEKMAR)
You don’t! You don’t smell like Ananka!
SEAN (AS SNEGAL)
Oh no, ho ho. Snegal no smell like Ananka. Ho ho ho.
KRISTI (AS TEKMAR)
Sorry—“Sneggle”?
SEAN (AS SNEGAL)
Oh yes!
KRISTI (AS TEKMAR)
Is that a sound you make?
SEAN (AS SNEGAL)
Oh yes. Snegal your servant, O great one!
KRISTI (AS TEKMAR)
Um, I’m sorry I‑I don’t think I’m any one’s great—who are you?!
SEAN (AS SNEGAL)
Snegal?
KRISTI (AS TEKMAR)
What’s a sneckle?
SEAN (AS SNEGAL)
Snegal is Snegal!
KRISTI (AS TEKMAR)
Right. Er, I’m sorry—I think I already know the answer to this question but… where are you?
SEAN (AS SNEGAL)
Oh, I’m in my caravan, ha ha! I’m building a caravan for Blat.
KRISTI (AS TEKMAR)
Okay, “Blat”, sure. Is that another sound that you make?
SEAN (AS SNEGAL)
Oh yes. Oh, we make lots of sounds together. We sing the Friend Song!
(sings)
Oh, the Friend Song… Oh, forever…
KRISTI (AS TEKMAR)
Right, okay, that’s… all right.
SEAN (AS SNEGAL)
Okay, sorry!
KRISTI (AS TEKMAR)
Uh… Snegal.
SEAN (AS SNEGAL)
Yes!
KRISTI (AS TEKMAR)
Have you seen my sister Moira?
SEAN (AS SNEGAL)
…Maybe?
KRISTI (AS TEKMAR)
Do you know where she is? Is she all right?
SEAN (AS SNEGAL)
Mmmaybe?
KRISTI (AS TEKMAR)
Why do you keep saying “maybe”? Do you actually know?
SEAN (AS SNEGAL)
Um, uh… no. Nope! Haven’t seen her, ha ha, sorry! Ha ha ha.
KRISTI (AS TEKMAR)
Then why would the portal show me you?!
SEAN (AS SNEGAL)
Um. Uh. She’s not behind the door I’m standing in front of at all!
KRISTI (AS TEKMAR)
What?
SEAN (AS SNEGAL)
Nothing! Nothing to see, ha ha! Nice meeting you.
KRISTI (AS TEKMAR)
You’re a strange creature. Why don’t you step away from that door then? Why don’t you open it for me?
SEAN (AS SNEGAL)
Um, I don’t know if I should…
Okay. Okay, okay! Don’t look at me! Okay! Wow, you really do look like your sister, ha ha ha. Um, here.
SEAN
And so Snegal steps aside, and you can’t quite see, but something passes, like a door that’s too big to fit in the screen. And it takes a second but you see somebody squirming in a chair in the darkness, who appears to be gagged.
KRISTI (AS TEKMAR)
Moira! My God, what’s going on?
SEAN (AS MOIRA)
(muffled sounds of rage)
KRISTI (AS TEKMAR)
Well, obviously you can’t answer!
SEAN
And then the door is closed.
SEAN (AS SNEGAL)
Oh no, haven’t seen her!
KRISTI (AS TEKMAR)
What—that was just her! What’s going on over there?!
SEAN (AS SNEGAL)
Oh, you’re breaking up!
KRISTI (AS TEKMAR)
I am not! This is a portal!
SEAN (AS SNEGAL)
(makes staticky noises with his mouth)
KRISTI (AS TEKMAR)
Stop making those noises!
SEAN (AS SNEGAL)
Oh, breaking up! I can’t see you! Bye!
SEAN
And the form scurries away, and the portal is just staring at wood.
KRISTI
And Tekmar cautiously puts her hand out towards the portal to see if she can put her hand through.
SEAN
And it all dissipates.
KRISTI (AS TEKMAR)
God! What is going on?
(sighs)
I need the other key.
Moira, we might not have been friends, but I’m not going to leave you to that fate.
Looks like I’ll have to come out of hiding after all.
SEAN
That’s when you notice how dark it is for midday.
KRISTI (AS TEKMAR)
That’s strange…
KRISTI
And Tekmar, again avoiding the chaos that is the center of her hut, moves around to the splinters of the door and cautiously tries to get her way out, and looks up at the sky to see the swirling darkness. And her stomach just drops out of her.
KURA
SEAN
The hut is rocking and rolling on the waves, as the chicken flaps and paddles madly into the sea, and we see Ananka sitting and knitting something. And we hear the sounds from the kitchen of Greg the minotaur, who seems to be preparing lunch.
SEAN (AS GREG)
(hums)
MAGGIE (AS ANANKA)
Grishka, are you making borscht again?
SEAN (AS GREG THE MINOTAUR)
But of course.
MAGGIE (AS ANANKA)
Thank you, I appreciate it. Ha ha, I like to throw you off sometimes—you know, make it exciting. Make you feel a little like, oh, Ananka’s angry again, you are making borscht. It’s only my favorite thing.
SEAN (AS GREG THE MINOTAUR)
Potato borscht, of course.
MAGGIE (AS ANANKA)
Of course, of course.
SEAN (AS GREG THE MINOTAUR)
I know we’ve been stuck in this small room together for so long.
MAGGIE (AS ANANKA)
(sighs)
SEAN (AS GREG THE MINOTAUR)
I just wanted to give you some space.
MAGGIE (AS ANANKA)
You know, all this is making me realize how thankful I am that we are even in the same room. And while normally I would get a little bit annoyed…
SEAN (AS GREG THE MINOTAUR)
(chuckles)
MAGGIE (AS ANANKA)
I’m quite thankful for this time and the fact that we can be together like this, Grishka.
SEAN (AS GREG THE MINOTAUR)
Me too. Though the rocking is a little much to get used to.
MAGGIE (AS ANANKA)
Yes. Kura is not quite really made for—
SEAN (AS KURA)
BAWK!
MAGGIE (AS ANANKA)
Yes, yes. She’s not made for swimming.
SEAN (AS KURA)
BUCK BUCK BUCK BUCK!
MAGGIE (AS ANANKA)
Yes! Be calm!
SEAN (AS KURA)
BAWK!
MAGGIE (AS ANANKA)
Calm! We are almost there. I promise.
SEAN (AS GREG THE MINOTAUR)
Your sister is really far away this time.
MAGGIE (AS ANANKA)
Yes. She likes to hide, since we were children. She likes to play hide and seek, always hiding under the covers, hiding in the pantry, wherever she can hide.
SEAN (AS GREG THE MINOTAUR)
I know it’s so long since you’ve seen her…
MAGGIE (AS ANANKA)
It has been a very long time.
SEAN (AS GREG THE MINOTAUR)
You’ve never told me what happened. I just… I sense you’re not comfortable with it.
MAGGIE (AS ANANKA)
Well, for all we know everything could end tomorrow, so…
SEAN (AS GREG THE MINOTAUR)
It’s true.
MAGGIE (AS ANANKA)
No better time to get comfortable, I suppose.
When Tekmar was born, she was born with the mark.
SEAN (AS GREG THE MINOTAUR)
I love your mark. It’s beautiful.
MAGGIE (AS ANANKA)
(laughs)
Grishka… later.
SEAN (AS GREG THE MINOTAUR)
I’m sorry.
MAGGIE (AS ANANKA)
It was different than my mark. The mark is ingrained with a purpose. There is a purpose that only Tekmar can fulfill. It carries with it a huge weight of sacrifice. It is not like, in case of emergency break glass type situation. It is in case of emergency… someone must die.
SEAN (AS GREG THE MINOTAUR)
I understand why she runs from it, then.
MAGGIE (AS ANANKA)
I don’t think she is a coward. It is not a cowardly thing. It is self preservation.
SEAN (AS GREG THE MINOTAUR)
Yeah. I faced death and I ran.
MAGGIE (AS ANANKA)
And I don’t want this purpose of hers to be fulfilled, if I’m honest, Grishka.
SEAN (AS GREG THE MINOTAUR)
I know. You saved me when I ran. Maybe you can save her.
MAGGIE (AS ANANKA)
That is the hope. That is why I’m knitting this cloak for her.
SEAN (AS GREG THE MINOTAUR)
Well, I hope she’s not too upset to see us.
MAGGIE (AS ANANKA)
I imagine she may be maybe a little bit put out, but perhaps a little bit of happiness may be hidden there.
SEAN (AS GREG THE MINOTAUR)
(chuckles)
Maybe I’ll stay inside when you meet.
MAGGIE (AS ANANKA)
It might be best at first, yes.
SEAN (AS GREG THE MINOTAUR)
If she’s anything like Moira.
MAGGIE (AS ANANKA)
She’s a handful. But she is rather lovely.
SEAN (AS GREG THE MINOTAUR)
(laughs)
You’re all handfuls.
MAGGIE (AS ANANKA)
Mmm, what kind of handfuls are we talking about?
SEAN (AS GREG THE MINOTAUR)
…Let me put the soup on simmer.
KRISTI
Agh. Gross.
Laughter.
KRISTI
It’s my sister. Disgusting.
THE DARKNESS
SEAN
The clouds have expanded to cover the entire sky. A single island on the seas of the Western Reaches is shrouded in black, inky darkness. Tekmar stands in the small clearing outside what’s left of her hut as she senses something changing and moving above her.
KRISTI (AS TEKMAR)
(shouts)
What do you want?
It’s not time yet! I don’t feel any different… It’s not like this. It’s… What can I do? What do you want? What can I do?!
SEAN
A pair of boots step out from the edge of the trees.
KRISTI (AS TEKMAR)
(gasps)
SEAN
You see a wasted figure of a man, who carries his head high, in a gray blue jacket over deep black trousers—quite snazzily dressed. A sharp nose and a piercing and cutting gaze.
SEAN (AS DEREK VON FROMPTON)
Hmm! Well, you could begin by just giving us… the key. Oh! Or should I say both keys?
KRISTI (AS TEKMAR)
Who are you?
SEAN (AS DEREK VON FROMPTON)
Ah, my apologies!
SEAN
…the man says as he steps closer.
SEAN (AS DEREK VON FROMPTON)
My name is Derek von Frompton, at your service.
SEAN
And he bows most eloquently.
KRISTI (AS TEKMAR)
That name’s almost as ridiculous as the little imp I met earlier.
SEAN (AS DEREK VON FROMPTON)
Hmm!
KRISTI
She’s stepping away.
SEAN (AS DEREK VON FROMPTON)
Well, I’m not sure of whom you speak, but I can say that who I serve will pay you most graciously for both of those keys.
KRISTI (AS TEKMAR)
I… I don’t know what keys you’re talking about.
SEAN (AS DEREK VON FROMPTON)
Well, we could begin with the one that’s around your neck.
KRISTI (AS TEKMAR)
What—what?
KRISTI
And she, like, stuffs it into her shirt and she’s just looking around.
KRISTI (AS TEKMAR)
Well. That was a little idiotic of me, wasn’t it, ha ha.
SEAN (AS DEREK VON FROMPTON)
And then we can discuss Moira’s key.
KRISTI (AS TEKMAR)
What?
SEAN (AS DEREK VON FROMPTON)
Did I stutter? I do have a tendency sometimes. I get a little excited.
KRISTI (AS TEKMAR)
How do you know my sister?
SEAN (AS DEREK VON FROMPTON)
Well, I know a lot about your sister, but I don’t know very much about you. Hmm… strange that, isn’t it?
KRISTI
And Tekmar is still stepping back, starting to feel the water on her boots.
KRISTI (AS TEKMAR)
I am… I’m not sure that we have much to talk about. I’m not really in a conversational mood right now, to be honest. Maybe if you come back tomorrow, as you can see, my hut is an absolute mess and I really must be taking the time to clean that. So if you’ll excuse me.
KRISTI
She starts to move around.
SEAN (AS DEREK VON FROMPTON)
Oh, yes, where might you be going, my dear? You’re in the middle of the Western Reaches, on an island with nothing in sight!
KRISTI (AS TEKMAR)
And how did you find me?
SEAN (AS DEREK VON FROMPTON)
I answer the call.
KRISTI (AS TEKMAR)
Whose call?
SEAN (AS DEREK VON FROMPTON)
Oh, you might know him as the Beast. Or the Shattering.
KRISTI (AS TEKMAR)
How did you find me?
SEAN (AS DEREK VON FROMPTON)
Well. You are holding both keys of the Nexus—two of the three, I believe. It’s not very hard to follow those, you know.
The Nexus is done. You have lost. Drop the keys. It is over.
KRISTI (AS TEKMAR)
I’m not on anyone’s side. I ran. I didn’t want any of this, okay? I don’t—I—why can’t you just leave me be? I’m not going to do anything! Just let me be!
SEAN (AS DEREK VON FROMPTON)
Perfectly understandable. Perhaps if we had a spot of tea.
SEAN
And a table appears, beautifully set with three tiered trays and a tea set filled with goodies, and he beckons.
SEAN (AS DEREK VON FROMPTON)
Come! Perhaps just a little snack, clear the air. There’s no reason to take any sides here.
KRISTI (AS TEKMAR)
If I knew anything about magic, it’s that you can’t conjure food or drink out of thin air. So this seems unnatural to me and I just don’t trust you and I’m not going to be sitting at any table!
SEAN (AS DEREK VON FROMPTON)
Right then. I have attempted to be pleasant, to be gracious, to be a good host—visiting someone who clearly cannot provide such things right now.
(lowers his voice)
So you had best just drop the keys, and I’ll be out of your hair.
KRISTI (AS TEKMAR)
And if I don’t?
SEAN (AS DEREK VON FROMPTON)
Then I will enjoy devouring you.
KRISTI (AS TEKMAR)
Right.
SEAN (AS DEREK VON FROMPTON)
Don’t even think of trying something, little girl. I am older than you.
KRISTI (AS TEKMAR)
You think so?
SEAN (AS DEREK VON FROMPTON)
I know so.
KRISTI (AS TEKMAR)
Well, I’m just reaching to get the key. No funny business.
SEAN (AS DEREK VON FROMPTON)
Good. Very good.
KRISTI
And as Tekmar reaches to grab the key, She places her hand on her chest, flat—and casts Invisibility.
SEAN
And read Cast a Spell.
KRISTI
All right, Cast a Spell. “When you release a spell you’ve prepared roll +Intelligence. On a 10+, the spell is successfully cast and you may cast the spell again later. On a 7 to 9, the spell is cast but choose one…”
9+3… 12!
SEAN
Your ears pop… and nothing seems to have changed, so you have a moment of—and then you see his face contort into this horrific snarl.
SEAN (AS DEREK VON FROMPTON)
Oh, you think you’re pretty smart, don’t you? But I sense you are still here. So allow me to respond in kind.
SEAN
And he raises his hands up to the sky and you see what you thought was a cloud up above begin to move, as a swarm of flying little… things begin to swirl, tighter and tighter, coming down and down towards where you are both standing. And as it gets closer, you see—it is hard to fathom, but it’s as if there are hundreds of flying scorpions, glinting, almost iridescently in what little light there is.
A swarm is heading towards you. What do you do?
KRISTI
Well, since she’s been getting close to the water, she just goes into the water without a blip. Just goes right underneath.
SEAN
I believe you are invisible… but you still have mass.
KRISTI
I do, but she’s been going further and further into the water.
SEAN
Okay.
KRISTI
So she’s just going to… just swim. Just try to, like, so that nobody can see, because he’s so focused, hopefully, on the swarm.
SEAN
Okay, so let’s roll Defy Danger. That’s what it’s for.
KRISTI
8—do I have anything plus?
SEAN
Dex.
KRISTI
My Dex? So 9.
SEAN
Okay, so that is a partial success.
He stands there, his arms outstretched and the swarm is swirling in wider and wider circles filling up the entire island, searching, searching for you. And you hear him laughing.
SEAN (AS DEREK VON FROMPTON)
You have to come back sometime, little girl!
SEAN
And you are afloat in the ocean, and the nearest island to your perfectly secluded place is probably too far to swim.
KRISTI
Okay.
SEAN
You hear a buzzing, and it gets close and then goes away. It gets close and goes away. Now, while you are casting Invisibility, you can’t cast another spell. That’s the whole idea, right?
KRISTI
Mm hmm.
SEAN
So as long as you maintain that focus, you stay invisible. If you cast something else, you have to drop Invisibility.
KRISTI
Okay. So Tekmar, keeping her nose just above water, slowly treads around the island, checking to see if there’s any places where the bugs have checked and have since disbanded.
SEAN
There’s like a swarm, so there’s places, yeah, that it’s not currently there. Yes. Bushes and rocky outcroppings and, like you know the island well.
KRISTI
Yeah. So she just makes her way and then comes to a small area that also appears to be clear. But Tekmar is not a dummy. She’s placed a trap underneath the bush that she then lifts, looking around… and quietly goes into a bunker that she’s made for herself under the ground… and closes the top.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
ANNOUNCER
It’s the beginning of the middle of The End of Time and Other Bothers.
ELI
Hi everyone, it’s Eli here.
Sean is off at Podcast Movement, living it up and hobnobbing with all kinds of awesome folks from the audio fiction community. I’m back here putting the finishing touches on this here episode.
And I guess the big news for me this week is that I GMed my first game! It was super fun. It was very stressful, there’s a whole lot going on—I’m not very good at it yet, but I’m so keen to try it again. The game we were playing is Impulse Drive. If you’re into Firefly or Killjoys or anything like that, it’s right up your alley. It’s Powered by the Apocalypse, so the mechanics will be very familiar to you if you’ve followed our show here.
All of which brings me in kind of a roundabout fashion to the show I want to talk about this week, which is called Merely Roleplayers. It’s produced by the Blackshaw Theatre Company—the cast and crew do this actual play podcast on the side which is a lot of fun. They do a different system every season and as far as I know they are the first podcast to do a whole actual play adventure in Impulse Drive. So that that got my attention right away, but they they do all kinds of other stuff, like in the latest season they’re sky pirates, and they’ve done ones where they’re a struggling theatre company here on Earth. It’s really a ton of fun and you should check it out. It is Merely Roleplayers—look them up wherever you find your podcasts!
Anyways, that’s enough out of me. Let’s get back to the show.
MIDROLL—THE CRATER
CARTER (AS SECURITY GUARD)
(mutters)
Stupid magical people… it’s a perfectly good building and it gets disappeared for some reason, now I gotta guard it…
SEAN (AS SNEGAL)
Hello mister security guard!
CARTER (AS SECURITY GUARD)
(wearily)
Oh, you’re back.
SEAN (AS SNEGAL)
Uh. Yeah! I just brought you something special in this basket. Just for you!
CARTER (AS SECURITY GUARD)
Really! Just for me.
SEAN (AS SNEGAL)
Just don’t open it while I’m here. No! Don’t! No! Aaa!
CARTER (AS SECURITY GUARD)
Aaaaaa! …oh, it’s a lovely sandwich.
SEAN (AS SNEGAL)
…It is?
CARTER (AS SECURITY GUARD)
Well, I don’t know why this was so dramatic.
SEAN (AS SNEGAL)
Oh!
CARTER (AS SECURITY GUARD)
Oh, well, thank you very much.
SEAN (AS SNEGAL)
You’re welcome, ha ha.
CARTER (AS SECURITY GUARD)
So why do you keep showing up here? This building disappeared weeks ago. Why do you keep coming?
SEAN (AS SNEGAL)
Oh, well, I just, you know, just looking for doors—I mean, looking for interesting new ways of seeing the world.
CARTER (AS SECURITY GUARD)
…through doors?
SEAN (AS SNEGAL)
Yeah! Every door you open is a new journey.
CARTER (AS SECURITY GUARD)
I see, so it’s a metaphor.
SEAN (AS SNEGAL)
Yeah! I just, you know, if you see me maybe taking a couple of doors that were you know, discarded, that’s no big deal, right?
CARTER (AS SECURITY GUARD)
Well, it’s not so much discarded as the building vanished and there’s just refuse everywhere… but, hey, you keep plying me with sandwiches, I’ll look the other way.
SEAN (AS SNEGAL)
Oho! Okay, good, ha ha!
I just gonna go over here to this very strange shiny door.
CARTER (AS SECURITY GUARD)
Whoa whoa whoa.
SEAN (AS SNEGAL)
Uh, yeah?
CARTER (AS SECURITY GUARD)
You’re not using this so you can travel to a different time or dimensions or space or anything?
SEAN (AS SNEGAL)
Oh no ho ho, no, I’m just building a caravan.
CARTER (AS SECURITY GUARD)
Oh! Thank god, yeah, my boss specifically told me, like you know, making sure that nobody uses the remains of a magical building to do something nefarious.
SEAN (AS SNEGAL)
Oh yeah, no, no I’m just gonna put them in a caravan, ha ha, you know, and paint them.
CARTER (AS SECURITY GUARD)
Ah, that seems fine. Ooooo! This has extra lettuce.
SEAN (AS SNEGAL)
Oh, okay. You enjoy the sandwich! I’ll be right over here by this… oooh, shiny…
CARTER (AS SECURITY GUARD)
If you also would like to trade sandwiches for magical items, go to otherbothers.com or hit up our Discord, where maybe you, for the right piece of kale, could get a magical item that changes your life.
SEAN (AS SNEGAL)
Uh, excuse me, mister guard!
CARTER (AS SECURITY GUARD)
Yeah?
SEAN (AS SNEGAL)
Aaa! This door is sort of attacking me! Aack! It’s got my leg!
MARISA (AS THE DOOR)
(growling and gnashing)
CARTER (AS SECURITY GUARD)
Yeah. They’ll do that.
KURA
SEAN
It’s morning… and Ananka and Greg wake up slowly, curled up against each other in the little bed. And there’s a change. Having been on the water for so long, you can instantly know the waves are changing in tempo. There’s a distant sound of seagulls and… a strange buzzing sound.
MAGGIE (AS ANANKA)
Do you hear that?
SEAN (AS GREG)
Hmm?
MAGGIE (AS ANANKA)
I thought I was dreaming it.
SEAN (AS GREG)
No.
SEAN
Greg is up in a flash, rolling forward and getting dressed.
SEAN (AS GREG)
You’re right, something’s wrong.
MAGGIE (AS ANANKA)
We’re getting closer now to Tekmar. Um… something must be wrong. Someone must have reached her before we did.
SEAN
Greg is already pulling the crossbow and cocking it, and reaching over and pulling out your bone staff and handing it to you.
MAGGIE
And Ananka gets dressed, because they were sleeping in not a very dressed state…
KRISTI
Ugh.
MAGGIE
(laughs)
And directs the hut to slowly prepare for getting out of the water and onto land as they are nearing their destination.
SEAN
The hut refuses…
SEAN (AS KURA)
(low, anxious crooning)
MAGGIE (AS ANANKA)
(sighs)
Kura, we will be fine. We will be fine… argh. Why do you resist me?
SEAN (AS KURA)
Bawwwk…
SEAN
The buzzing sound is growing louder.
MAGGIE
Ananka senses the fear all throughout the hut—it’s literally, the hut is shaking.
SEAN (AS KURA)
(anxious sounds)
MAGGIE (AS ANANKA)
Get yourself together. This is not the time to be scared. This is a time to be brave. Are you brave?
SEAN (AS KURA)
Bockaw!
MAGGIE (AS ANANKA)
Kura. You can be braver than that.
SEAN (AS KURA)
Buckaww!
MAGGIE (AS ANANKA)
I don’t want to be the one to have to put a spell on you. Because I know, I know you can be brave.
SEAN (AS KURA)
(clucking)
MAGGIE (AS ANANKA)
Kura. Do you remember how Tekmar used to paint your walls that beautiful, beautiful blue? We owe it to Tekmar.
SEAN
And the hut lurches forward and takes to the air.
And you hear a pattering of things striking the side, as if thousands of bugs are hitting the side—loudly!—of the hut. And the buzzing is growing louder. And Greg is gesturing at the window.
SEAN (AS GREG)
Ananka, it’s… this is strange. There’s some kind of swarm.
MAGGIE (AS ANANKA)
It… it looks like scorpions?!
SEAN (AS GREG)
Worse than that. Flying scorpions.
MAGGIE (AS ANANKA)
Huh! Okay…
MAGGIE
Ananka reaches around the hut to see if there’s anything she can do.
(laughs)
SEAN (AS GREG)
I think we have to take the hut in and get out fast and…
MAGGIE (AS ANANKA)
Okay. We just have to move quicker. Otherwise they will surround us. They will attack us, they will get inside and we’re done for.
SEAN (AS GREG)
Yeah.
MAGGIE (AS ANANKA)
Okay. So… hurry up, Kura!
SEAN (AS KURA)
Bockaaawww!
THE BUNKER
SEAN
Tekmar is shivering in the bunker she hoped to never have used… no light coming in from the cracks of the trapdoor. Unsure though if that’s because of her workmanship or the lack of any light outside.
And she hears footsteps approaching…
KRISTI (AS TEKMAR)
(tense breathing)
SEAN
…and then a tapping on the ground.
Tap.
Tap.
And then a tap that resounds on wood.
SEAN (AS DEREK VON FROMPTON)
Ah! There you are. Not very hard to track you.
Are you going to come up or should I… come down into the darkness?
KRISTI
And Tekmar quietly lets go of her Invisibility and summons a Magic Missile just hovering above her finger as she shakes with fear, pointing it at the door.
SEAN
Okay.
And there’s a strange sound. The buzzing is quite scary… and the tapping of a foot… but there’s a chicken sound?
SEAN (AS KURA)
BAWWWWWK!
SEAN
A screaming, incoming chicken. And you almost hear von Frompton turning on the ground above—
SEAN (AS DEREK VON FROMPTON)
What? What is that?!
SEAN
And you hear—
SEAN (AS KURA)
BUCKAAAAAAAAWWWW!
SEAN
…as the chicken hut comes screaming into a crash landing, trying to buckle its legs, hitting so hard parts of the wooden frame come flying off… and out of the door, unbeknownst to Tekmar, leap Ananka and Greg the minotaur.
MAGGIE
And they are getting their bearings and trying to just see what’s happening around them, and she notices Derek…
SEAN
A tall wasted figure of a man stands—at first a little shocked, and then you know, adjusts his jacket—
SEAN (AS DEREK VON FROMPTON)
Ah! Yes! Hmm, did not expect you so soon. The other sister.
MAGGIE (AS ANANKA)
I beg your pardon, but it is I who has the Sight. You cannot expect anything. It is I who knows what will happen.
SEAN (AS DEREK VON FROMPTON)
Oh, and how has that Sight been working for you, Ananka?
MAGGIE (AS ANANKA)
No complaints.
SEAN
Greg is lifting his crossbow and stepping forward, raising it directly in the direction of the gentleman.
MAGGIE (AS ANANKA)
And now you will prepare to die.
SEAN (AS DEREK VON FROMPTON)
Ah, so you’re just going to attack an unarmed man who is just here on an island.
SEAN
And you hear from below—
KRISTI (AS TEKMAR)
(muffled shouting)
SEAN (AS DEREK VON FROMPTON)
Perhaps instead, Ananka, maybe we should have a little reunion and unite you and your sister who is currently hiding in this little bunker she built, just below my feet.
MAGGIE (AS ANANKA)
If she is down there, she’s down there for a reason.
SEAN (AS DEREK VON FROMPTON)
Ah, yes.
MAGGIE (AS ANANKA)
I suspect that reason is you. And if she feels safer down there, that is where she will stay. You and I may have a chat.
SEAN (AS DEREK VON FROMPTON)
Oh, I’m afraid not. But you may have a chat with my little friends. Enjoy.
SEAN
And Derek von Frompton collapses into dust in front of you.
MAGGIE (AS ANANKA)
(gasps)
SEAN
And the swarm buzzing gets louder as you see it begin to spin around the island and head from every direction, tendrils of it flying towards your little clearing.
MAGGIE (AS ANANKA)
Okay, and—
SEAN (AS KURA)
BUCKAWWW!
MAGGIE (AS ANANKA)
Okay, so I have never tried this before…
MAGGIE
Through Death’s Eyes.
SEAN
“Through Death’s Eyes”?
KRISTI
Through Death’s Eyes! Oh no!
MAGGIE
I want these scorpions to die! I want them to die.
SEAN
Okay, read Through Death’s Eyes.
MAGGIE
Okay. “When you go into battle, roll +Wis. On a 10+, name someone who will live and someone who will die. On a 7 to 9 name someone who will live or someone who will die. Name NPCs, not player characters. The GM will make your vision come true if it’s even remotely possible. On a 6—you see your own death, and consequently take—1 ongoing throughout the battle.”
SEAN
Okay.
MAGGIE
So we have a really great way to get rid of entire swarm of flying scorpions.
SEAN
Well, we’ll see. “Name someone who will live and someone who will die…” Okay, so let’s roll 2d6 +Wisdom. Your Wisdom bonus is…? 2.
MAGGIE
Uh… +2. K.
SEAN
Roll 2d6!
MAGGIE
So, rolling… oh God…
SEAN
That’s a 5…
MAGGIE
That’s a 5… +2.
SEAN
+2 is a 7.
MAGGIE
+2 is a 7. So, “On a 7 to 9, name someone who will live or someone who will die.”
SEAN
So who do you want to die or live?
MAGGIE
I would like this entire swarm of killer insane scorpions to die.
(laughs)
SEAN
Okay.
Tekmar. You are downstairs. You hear muffled sounds, yelling… and then you hear the swarm increasing. And you hear shouts and you hear, like a very large creature running right over where you’re hiding, above you. and then silence. Nothing is moving above you.
KRISTI (AS TEKMAR)
(whispers)
Okay, Tekmar, just go, just go, get out. You have to do something, you can’t just stay here, you have to do something… come on, come on, you can do this, just get outside.
MAGGIE (AS ANANKA)
(muffled)
Tekmar? Tekmar, are you in there?
KRISTI (AS TEKMAR)
Ananka?
MAGGIE (AS ANANKA)
It’s me! It’s safe!
KRISTI (AS TEKMAR)
Ananka!
KRISTI
She runs up and pushes the trapdoor open and, you know, covers her eyes because the darkness is suddenly receded—and she sees her sister for the first time and just lunges at her as a hug.
MAGGIE (AS ANANKA)
Tekmar!
KRISTI (AS TEKMAR)
Oh my god, Ananka!
MAGGIE (AS ANANKA)
I’m so happy to see you!
KRISTI (AS TEKMAR)
I thought I was done!
MAGGIE (AS ANANKA)
No, no, little sister. You’re okay. You’re all right.
KRISTI
And then Tekmar pushes back and goes,
KRISTI (AS TEKMAR)
How the hell did you find me?!
MAGGIE (AS ANANKA)
Well… I still have, you know, a little bit of a sense of where you hide, where you like to hide, always in the spots that are furthest away and beside the waters.
SEAN
A giant of a man, half minotaur, half man—
KRISTI (AS TEKMAR)
Oh!
SEAN
—is approaching, with a massive heavy duty crossbow fully pulled back with two bolts in it, and is walking towards you shirtless.
KRISTI
And that Magic Missile that I had ready, I point my finger at him.
Laughter.
KRISTI (AS TEKMAR)
Get back, Ananka! It’s a beast!
MAGGIE (AS ANANKA)
Tekmar! No, no, no, no, Tekmar. This is my Grishka. Uh, is a very long story, but he’s here to help. He’s on our side. Please. Please put away your weapon. I’ll explain everything.
KRISTI (AS TEKMAR)
Why isn’t he wearing a shirt?
MAGGIE (AS ANANKA)
Uh. Yeah, that’s kind of his thing, ha ha.
SEAN (AS GREG)
We were otherwise engaged.
KRISTI (AS TEKMAR)
Oh, gross! I just reunited with my sister! That’s literally the first thing you say to me?
SEAN (AS GREG)
She’s just definitely your sister, Ananka.
KRISTI (AS TEKMAR)
It’s disgusting.
I haven’t seen you in what, a millennium? And this is how you greet me, with some shirtless half demon?
SEAN (AS GREG)
Uh. Yeah, I’ll leave you to to reacquaint. I’m gonna scout the area.
KRISTI (AS TEKMAR)
I mean… thank you.
LATER
SEAN
We cut to afternoon. It’s a hot day. There’s the buzz in the air of insects. And Ananka and Tekmar are seated at the little table, the last piece of furniture standing, and two chairs that have been half cobbled together inside Tekmar’s hut, or what remains of it. Greg is in the kitchen making tea.
MAGGIE (AS ANANKA)
Tekmar… I’m so so very happy to be sitting with you right now. When I found out about Moira, I knew you would be uncompromised. I knew you would be the last source, the last pure source of support I could count on.
KRISTI (AS TEKMAR)
It’s a lot of pressure to put a person.
MAGGIE (AS ANANKA)
(laughs)
SEAN
Greg walks over with tea, and crouches down beside you both.
KRISTI (AS TEKMAR)
Thank you. Sorry I was… sassy to you earlier.
SEAN (AS GREG)
No offense taken. Here, have some tea.
KRISTI (AS TEKMAR)
Thank you.
SEAN (AS GREG)
So, we need to find the third key.
KRISTI (AS TEKMAR)
What do you mean we need to find the third key?
SEAN (AS GREG)
Moira’s key.
KRISTI (AS TEKMAR)
No, I have Moira’s.
SEAN (AS GREG)
What?
KRISTI (AS TEKMAR)
I have two.
SEAN (AS GREG)
Then…
KRISTI (AS TEKMAR)
I’m sorry, I meant to tell you in all the chaos. Moira sent me this, and a note. It appeared in the darkness when when the Shattering appeared.
SEAN (AS GREG)
But that would mean Moira’s dead.
KRISTI (AS TEKMAR)
Well, that’s what I thought, but when I when I grabbed my own key, a portal appeared and this small impish thing named Smeagol, or Sneez—
SEAN (AS GREG)
Snegal! You saw Snegal.
KRISTI (AS TEKMAR)
Sne—yes. Yeah, that’s the sound he made. Yeah, he said he hadn’t seen Moira. But then I looked at him and you know, gave him the Look.
SEAN (AS GREG)
Yeah, I know it well.
KRISTI (AS TEKMAR)
And he opened the door. And I saw Moira tied up gagged in a room. I was leaving the hut to try and go, I don’t know, help and I would just—the plan was just to run in, run back out, you know, not stay, just help her. And then all of a sudden we were overtaken. I don’t know what I would have done if you hadn’t come.
It doesn’t make me less angry. But…
SEAN (AS GREG)
It means… Ananka, you have all three keys.
KRISTI (AS TEKMAR)
No, it means means Ananka has one key and I have two.
MAGGIE (AS ANANKA)
(sighs)
SEAN (AS GREG)
It means you can reopen the Nexus.
KRISTI (AS TEKMAR)
What? No!
MAGGIE (AS ANANKA)
It must be done.
KRISTI (AS TEKMAR)
You just… you two had this daft plan in the first place that ended up with a bomb, and you just decided to tell me. You know that’s why I ran. I wasn’t going to be a part of this and now you bring this fight to me? I’ve been running for so long. Don’t put me in this position. Nobody needs this. This interference is how all of this began in the first place with Moira’s crazy ideas.
MAGGIE (AS ANANKA)
It has to stop somewhere. We have to get things back on the right axis.
SEAN (AS GREG)
This isn’t about winning. This is about balance, Tekmar.
KRISTI (AS TEKMAR)
You sound just like her.
SEAN (AS GREG)
Trust me. I’m not like her.
She used me. She used me to build the bomb I told you about. She wanted to win at all costs. She didn’t want balance.
KRISTI (AS TEKMAR)
(softly)
You think you’re the only one who was used?
SEAN (AS GREG)
I’d be very surprised if I was.
KRISTI (AS TEKMAR)
You believed her. You stayed. You chose her. I begged you. I begged you to come with me.
MAGGIE (AS ANANKA)
I know. I just… I didn’t want to believe my own sister could be capable of something so horrible.
KRISTI (AS TEKMAR)
And yet here you are sitting at my ruined hut, finding me, coming and bringing me back into this.
MAGGIE (AS ANANKA)
Tekmar… there comes a time when you have to stop running. It pains me to say it and I’m very sorry. But you cannot outrun fate, or destiny.
KRISTI (AS TEKMAR)
You think I don’t know that? I’ve had destiny branded onto my skin since before I even knew what it was.
MAGGIE (AS ANANKA)
It was certainly, I appreciate, a very hard burden to carry with you throughout your life.
SEAN
Ananka, the key hidden in the folds inside your cloak, burns into your side all of a sudden.
MAGGIE (AS ANANKA)
Aaah!
KRISTI (AS TEKMAR)
What’s wrong?
Grinding, ominous music.
SEAN
And the world goes dark around you. You are alone in blackness.
You are suspended in the blackness as a vision hits you like you have not felt for so long. You feel a hand clutching at you and that’s it—as you fall through a portal, and a door, and another door opens, endless doors flying past.
And suddenly, you’re in a place you have not been in a long time. It is the heart of the Nexus. But it is hurt. You can feel it—the quickened and strained heartbeat, as if it’s in your soul, the floor, though, rocking beneath you as if you’re in a wagon or something.
And far above, you hear the three. You hear Blat shouting and you hear Darcy shouting back, and you hear Eggerton moving around. But that’s when you notice, in front of you, is Tekmar’s form, collapsed, not moving… dead for some time, hand outstretched with a death grip on a key that she is reaching out, as if to give to the Nexus.
And then you are back in the hut.
MAGGIE (AS ANANKA)
(gasping)
KRISTI (AS TEKMAR)
Are you all right?
MAGGIE (AS ANANKA)
I… I just… I felt something. I saw something.
SEAN (AS GREG)
I’ll get some birch bark. I’ll be back.
KRISTI (AS TEKMAR)
Ananka, what did you see?
MAGGIE (AS ANANKA)
Tekmar… it was… there was darkness. I felt the heart of the Nexus beating, slowly, as if dying. And… you were there.
You were there and you had the key… and…
KRISTI (AS TEKMAR)
Say it.
MAGGIE (AS ANANKA)
You were gone.
KRISTI (AS TEKMAR)
So that’s it then, hmm?
MAGGIE (AS ANANKA)
I have had not had this dream since you were born.
KRISTI (AS TEKMAR)
Well, like you said… there has to come a point when you stop running.
MAGGIE (AS ANANKA)
There has to be another way.
KRISTI (AS TEKMAR)
Ananka, we’ve both known this was coming for a long time.
MAGGIE (AS ANANKA)
You don’t have to do it alone.
KRISTI (AS TEKMAR)
Yes. I know.
MAGGIE (AS ANANKA)
Well then. I guess it’s time to go.
KRISTI (AS TEKMAR)
(brightening)
At least there’ll be someone sexy like Greg walking around with us.
They laugh.
KRISTI (AS TEKMAR)
Do you think he keeps his shirt off all the time? Is that just like a regular…?
MAGGIE (AS ANANKA)
Oh, that’s definitely his thing, ha ha…
SEAN (AS GREG)
…Is this a bad time?
KRISTI (AS TEKMAR)
Uh! Um. How much did you hear? The sad bits? Or…
SEAN (AS GREG)
Uh… I’ll go get Kura ready.
MAGGIE (AS ANANKA)
Thank you, Grishka.
CREDITS
Theme music plays.
ANNOUNCER
The End of Time and Other Bothers, with your Game Master Sean Howard, and special guests Maggie Makar and Kristi Boulton.
Dialogue editing and transcription by Michael Howie.
Additional material and sound design by Eli McIlveen.
Story consultant: Laura Packer.
Game consultant: Stephen Smith.
Supporting producers: Ryan Cushman, Evelyn Jones and Kim Bellinger.
If you enjoy the show, check out our Patreon. You can get early access to episodes, weekly bonus content, and join our wonderful fan community on Discord. Look for the Patreon link at OtherBothers.com.
OUTTAKE—THE CRATER
MIKE (AS SECURITY GUARD)
(burst of walkie-talkie static)
KCHHK. Uh, come in, Samantha. I might need backup over here.
MARISA (AS SAMANTHA)
KCHHK. What do you need backup for?
MIKE (AS SECURITY GUARD)
KCHHK. It’s that stupid little imp. He’s back and trying to steal things again. This time, he said he brought me lunch and then completely forgot to actually give me the lunch.
MARISA (AS SAMANTHA)
KCHHK. He’s a little imp. How can you not handle that?
CARTER (AS SECURITY GUARD)
KCHHK. Have we invented radios yet?
MIKE (AS SECURITY GUARD)
KCHHK. ICE-Ts are well documented in this era.
CARTER (AS SECURITY GUARD)
KCHHK. My mistake.
MARISA (AS SAMANTHA)
KCHHK. I just like to talk through my hand.
MIKE (AS SECURITY GUARD)
KCHHK. None of us are saying “Over” and that’s poor radio nomenclature. However, I am frustrated by—are we just gonna start this over now?
Laughter.