Collaborators

0:00:00 The Unsleeping City: Chapter II Lou Wilson as Kingston Brown; Ally Beardsley as Pete Conlan; Zac Oyama as Ricky Matsui; Siobhan Thompson as “Anastasia” Iga Lisowski; Emily Axford as Sofia Lee; and Brian “Murph” Murphy as Cody “Night Angel” Walsh Episode 6: Collaborators < [Previous Episode] | [Next Episode] > (upbeat music) (hands tapping)

0:00:09 Brennan: Hello, one and all, and welcome back to another exciting episode of Dimension 20, the Unsleeping City Season Two. I'm your humble Dungeon Master, Brennan Lee Mulligan. With me as always, are our intrepid heroes, say, hi, intrepid heroes. Everyone is pretending to box.

0:00:21 All: Hi, intrepid heroes.

0:00:25 Brennan: The left and the right and the upper cut. Gang, it's fitting that we're boxing, because we are mid-combat. JJ, apprentice wizard of the Gramercy Occult Society, is busy putting up a brand new set of runes, given that the other ones were mysteriously erased. JJ has got one last shot. He's got advantage on the roll, but at the end of this round, he needs to hit that 17 or higher to hit the DC 25 Arcana check. Oh, God, JJ's got to do it.

0:00:55 Emily: We each still have like a round before him though, right? That's where we ended it.

0:00:59 Brennan: Yes, you have a round before him. And again, it's possible this is just like, JJ, won't lose the spell, he'll have to start over from scratch. So, that's the situation you guys are in right now. We begin at the top of the order with Kingston Brown.

0:01:20 Lou: Okay. Here's my question to you, Brennan, the DM. [Emily laughs]

0:01:30 Lou: Umm. If I… (humming) I don't like any of these options. So, Remote Access lasts for 10 minutes. So I have control of this Tesla for 10 minutes. What am I using to interact with the Tesla? Is it my full action? Is it something less than?

0:01:57 Brennan: Let me see what this spell says real quick.

0:02:00 Zac: Is it his full action or something less than?

0:02:03 Lou: [reading] “You can use an electronic device within range as if it were in your hands. This is not telekinesis. Rather the spell allows you to simulate a device as mechanical functions electronically, you are able to access only functions that a person using the device manually would be able to access. You can use Remote Access with only one device at a time,” is what the spell says.

0:02:20 Siobhan: Seems like free object interaction to me.

0:02:22 Emily: Yeah, right?

0:02:23 Brennan: I am actually going to say, listen, this thing does have limits to it. The limits are as if it were in your hands, that's the limitation. So, it requires as much energy and concentration for Kingston to control this Tesla as it would for him to drive it with his hands, which makes it a free object interaction.

0:02:45 Lou: Okay. [Emily laughs]

0:02:48 Ally: Incredible.

0:02:49 Emily: I love it.

0:02:50 Lou: Okay, if it's a free object interaction… Okay, this is again, when you tell me I could do anything, it's honestly worse. Like I would have preferred you told me, no, 'cause then it would have been clearer what I should do. Okay, because Cody needs help. Cody is 110 feet away from me. There are three devils around me. Oh, but it's okay. Oh, okay.

0:03:19 Ally: You could hold your action.

0:03:21 Murph: If it's gonna screw over JJ, I don't know.

0:03:25 Lou: I don't think… JJ is invisible, but I think we can make this work. Hold on. Can we do this? You tell me, Brennan, if this gets too crazy. I'd like to have the Tesla again do the thing where it scrapes against the wall. I’d then like to disengage, to run and hop in the Tesla. I'd then like to be driving the Tesla closer to Ricky et al and cast a bonus action spell. Can I do all those things?

0:03:58 Brennan: You may do all those things.

0:04:00 Lou: Fantastic. [Emily laughs]

0:04:04 Brennan: Yes, we descend back into the Manhattan entrance of the Holland Tunnel, where the apprentice wizard JJ is currently invisible. I believe he has invisible, Death Warded, Enhanced Ability—

0:04:17 Emily: Still Pass Without Trace.

0:04:19 Brennan: Pass Without Trace and— [Emily laughs]

0:04:24 Zac: Protected from Evil and Good and Sanctuary.

0:04:26 Brennan: Protection from Evil and Good, and Sanctuary all on this dude.

0:04:29 Ally: Wow.

0:04:30 Brennan: Buzzing with some of the most powerful magic in New York. As the rest of the heroes of New York do their best to keep JJ alive and safe long enough to complete this spell. Cody has just decapitated a siege devil with the Questing Blade that has chosen him as most worthy. (laughs) Murph laughs and pretends to swing a sword.

0:04:52 Brennan: Ricky just healed himself in the back of a Tesla with Ox. Sofia is just crushing the Jersey Devil’s jaw with elbows increasingly soaked through with blood. Bam, bam. As Pete, the tips of his fingers covered in frost from absolutely obliterating an entire swath of devils a moment before. As Iga flies over the railing, engaged with the swarm devils up above. Kingston, you whistle, the car swerves around, the siege devil on a natural 4, misses with his attack of opportunity on the Tesla, peeling away. (imitates car moving fast). The car swings around, the driver's side door opens up, next to you as the car heeds your command.

0:05:40 Lou: Great, I hop in. Yeah, I use a disengage.

0:05:46 Brennan: So that's your action. You have movement and bonus left.

0:05:49 Lou: Great. I'll use whatever Kingston's movement, plus the Tesla is. (laughs) [Emily laughs]

0:05:56 Lou: To drive like, path back. He's already used this reaction hopefully on the first opportunity attack. Drive past the siege devil within 60 feet of Cody and cast a fffffffourth level Healing Word.

0:06:18 Brennan: You roll for that Healing Word. I'm going to roll 3d20 for the Athletics checks for the swarm devils to grab onto the Tesla, thinking that you're trying to get away.

0:06:27 Lou: Great.

0:06:28 Brennan: They need 14's or higher. Let's see what they get. Two of them successfully grab on.

0:06:34 Zac: Oh shit. (laughing)

0:06:35 Lou: Okay.

0:06:36 Brennan: So you see, as you just jump in to close the driver's side, two of them have latched onto the roof, Kingston grabs the wheel, hits the gas and the Tesla zooms forward. And is about halfway between Pete and Cody.

0:06:52 Murph: Great. And how much was the Healing Word?

0:06:54 Lou: Oh, hate to, only 15. I'm sorry. I wish I could have done more.

0:06:57 Murph: Okay, thank you. Appreciate it.

0:07:00 Brennan: No worries. Okay, that's going to be… So that is now Pete Conlan. Go for it, Pete.

0:07:11 Ally: I am going to use my movement, 30. Might take an opportunity attack from this guy, to my right. But then I am going to… Hands are still cold, might as well just keep casting Cone of Cold, but I am going to turn around and cast it behind me and try to catch everyone who's there.

0:07:43 Brennan: Ooh, hell yeah.

0:07:47 Ally: I'm only going back this way, so JJ doesn't get attacked.

0:07:50 Brennan: Gotcha.

0:07:53 Ally: I could probably hit more people, if I was facing forward towards you guys, but.

0:07:56 Brennan: No, you're doing the exact job that you guys came here to do. Go ahead and give me a DC15 Arcana check real quick.

0:08:09 Ally: Oh, yeah, 26.

0:08:12 Brennan: I'm going to say that, because the Tesla has a strange geography to it, it's a moving car, you can run up and hit both swarm devils on the Tesla without harming the Tesla.

0:08:22 Ally: Incredible. Yes, I would love to do that.

0:08:25 Brennan: You can hit literally every single devil in between you and the entrance to the tunnel with that Cone of Cold. Even the one up over the railing, like you go ahead and roll damage, my dude.

0:08:40 Ally: All right, That's 8d8.

0:08:43 Brennan: Ooh.

0:08:45 Ally: [rolling a single d8 jokingly] One... [all laugh]

0:08:52 Lou: 25?

0:08:52 Brennan: 25 cold damage, hell yeah. Okay, we're going to roll for these devils. Bada boom. Hold on. And these guys need plus… [two 2s and a 10 on the devils’ dice] Whoa, all four swarm devils toast.

0:09:12 Murph: Nice.

0:09:12 Siobhan: Yes.

0:09:13 Ally: Incredible.

0:09:14 Brennan: Incredible. All four swarm devils are gone. Blasted by cold. We're gonna roll for our big boy. Big boy makes the con save. Still takes 10 halved to five. He has resistance.

0:09:33 Zac: Oh, is it 15? I mean, 25.

0:09:35 Brennan: Oh, it's 25. Yes, yes, yes. Sorry. Yeah, the big boys have resistance to cold. So that's going to be for him. Yeah, 12. That guy is looking hurt. Okay. Bada boom. That is Pete's turn. Ricky, that's you, baby.

0:10:01 Zac: Okay, Ricky is going to take out his peasant sword. [Emily laughs]

0:10:07 Zac: And look at the siege devil in front of him. And reluctantly, take a swing. Try to take a deep breath and actually swing.

0:10:17 Brennan: Go for it.

0:10:20 Zac: Natural 20. [everyone cheers]

0:10:24 Brennan: You’re fucking…

0:10:25 Ally: What is going on!?

0:10:25 Brennan: You’re fucking kidding me.

0:10:25 Siobhan: Zac, these rolls.

0:10:26 Zac: I don't know. Should I show you?

0:10:29 Siobhan: No. We believe.

0:10:29 Emily: I believe you.

0:10:30 Brennan: That's incredible, you're golden, we believe you.

0:10:31 Ally: I wonder if you put it next to your face. Zac holds up a red d20 next to his face, but it’s too blurry to really see it.

0:10:33 Brennan: Bam. Boom, boom, I love it. Oh my God. [dramatic orchestral music]

0:10:43 Zac: I'm just going to do a level one smite, just 'cause that it seems like he's so hurt.

0:10:47 Brennan: That's going to be with the damage from the sword normally, 8d8 plus… Yeah, that's going to be 8d8 plus 6.

0:11:00 Zac: 45.

0:11:00 Lou: Ooh.

0:11:02 Emily: Yeah!

0:11:02 Brennan: What happens to this towering siege devil, who has not yet managed to hit you?

0:11:08 Zac: Take a deep breath.

0:11:09 Ricky: Come on, Ricky, it's not that big of a deal.

0:11:11 Zac: And as I take sort of a baseball swing back with a sword, a thing I'm not used to using, I'm used to using an ax. I look up and just past the siege devil, I see Cody in the distance. [cast laughs]

0:11:28 Zac: And get a little mad (sword whooshes) and take the swing and cut the thing in half.

0:11:34 Brennan: His huge torso severs in a flash of light. That siege devil is gone, baby.

0:11:40 Zac: That's just my first attack though, too. (Emily screams)

0:11:42 Brennan: Hell, yeah.

0:11:43 Zac: And then I'm going to use Ox's movement, which is 120 feet.

0:11:48 Brennan: Dope.

0:11:49 Zac: And I'm going to run all the way up to the Jersey Devil.

0:11:53 Brennan: Hell, yeah.

0:11:54 Emily: I was hoping you would, you'll get advantage on attacks.

0:11:56 Zac: And then I'll take my second attack, and I get an advantage?

0:11:59 Brennan: You get advantage. He's stunned.

0:12:00 Emily: He's stunned.

0:12:04 Zac: Does an 18 hit?

0:12:07 Emily: I think it does.

0:12:08 Brennan: Yeah, he doesn't have Shield, 18 is his exact armor class.

0:12:10 Zac: Oh, yeah. Okay.

0:12:11 Lou: Very good.

0:12:13 Ally: Incredible.

0:12:13 Zac: So, I used a first-level smite earlier. I'm going to use a second level smite on this guy.

0:12:23 Brennan: Awesome.

0:12:25 Zac: All right, great. So, how many d8 would that be for this guy?

0:12:33 Brennan: For this guy, it's going to be on a second level, it's going to be 5d8.

0:12:35 Zac: 5d8.

0:12:38 Brennan: 'Cause a normal smite, a first level smite would be 3d8, second level's 4d8, and then 5d8 with the damages. So, 5d8 plus 6.

0:12:45 Zac: Okay, and I don't get any additional, because he's evil or a devil?

0:12:52 Brennan: That's factored in there, from the smite.

0:12:53 Zac: Okay, fine. Okay, that's 10, 7, 6. 23 plus 6. 29 damage.

0:13:03 Emily: Nice.

0:13:07 Brennan: Oh, baby! This guy's looking hurt. You run up with Ox. Sofia, you've got them on the ropes, bam, bam, bam! Ricky, you run up and boom! Through the chest with the sword, shattering the window of the cab behind him. (imitates shattering) Amazing!

0:13:29 Sofia: Questing blade who? [cast laughs]

0:13:33 Brennan: Iga.

0:13:34 Ricky: It's a really good sword. It's true. It's a really good sword.

0:13:39 Cody: Awesome combo, Ricky. That was fucking awesome.

0:13:43 Zac: You just see the back of Ricky's head.

0:13:47 Ally: Tense a little bit.

0:13:50 Zac: His shoulders. [cast laughs]

0:13:54 Brennan: Iga, that's gonna be you.

0:13:57 Siobhan: So, I have this Disguise Self running. Can I change what the Disguise looks like? Would that take an action?

0:14:09 Brennan: I think you have to cast—

0:14:11 Siobhan: There’s nothing in the spell that says I can or can’t? I’d have to cast it again?

0:14:13 Brennan: You have to cast it again, yeah.

0:14:15 Siobhan: Okay, then I'm just going to fly up into… If I'm above these guys, do I get advantage on attack rolls against them?

0:14:23 Brennan: Sure, if you're up flying above them I’ll let you get advantage on them, yeah.

0:14:26 Siobhan: Great, So I'll fly up 30 feet so I can shoot at the Jersey Devil. Jersey Devil's looking pretty fucked up, right?

0:14:35 Brennan: He's looking hurt.

0:14:35 Emily: You don't even need to fly to get advantage on him.

0:14:37 Siobhan: Oh right, he's already—

0:14:39 Brennan: He's a big hit point sink. So he might not be close, but he's definitely hurt.

0:14:44 Siobhan: Okay, in which case I will take out the two guys next to Cody.

0:14:52 Brennan: Cool.

0:14:53 Murph: That'd be wonderful. [dark, tense music]

0:14:55 Siobhan: So the first guy, it's 18 to hit. Does 18 hit?

0:15:05 Brennan: 18 hits, yes.

0:15:07 Siobhan: Great, so that's 15. [fireworks]

0:15:14 Brennan: Gone.

0:15:15 Murph: Yes.

0:15:16 Siobhan: And then the next one is... a nat 20. (participants applauding)

0:15:19 Lou: Brrrrah!

0:15:21 Brennan: Hell yeah.

0:15:22 Siobhan: So, that's just simply so much. 12, 17, 21.

0:15:34 Brennan: 21, destroyed. [fireworks] Two Eldritch Blasts from a woman who looks like she's hanging from theater wires as she kind of floats through the air. [Emily laughs] (Brennan imitates bombings)

0:15:43 Siobhan: To be fair, a traffic cop that looks like she's hanging from theater wires. [Emily laughs]

0:15:47 Lou: There it is.

0:15:48 Brennan: There you go.

0:15:48 Emily: But wait, are you a poorly disguised traffic cop?

0:15:52 Siobhan: No, I am a beautifully disguised traffic cop.

0:15:54 Emily: Okay, okay. [laughs]

0:15:56 Brennan: Amazing.

0:15:57 Siobhan: The disguises are great, the magic is purposefully bad looking.

0:15:59 Zac: You look like a character actor from the 90s. [cast laughs]

0:16:02 Brennan: Cody, that's going to be you baby.

0:16:04 Murph: Sweet, Cody is going to take the moped through these guys. They don't get an opportunity to attack from moving through them, it's only if they're on top of me to start with, right?

0:16:21 Brennan: If you move out of their threatened area, then yes, they get attacks.

0:16:26 Murph: So can I move like… Are you saying this? Can I move like this and not get attacked?

0:16:31 Brennan: Yes, you can, if you go past. Let me show you the square, Murph, that I'm thinking of. This is the square that you can safely go to. This one, they get swipes on you.

0:16:45 Murph: Got it. Okay. I just want to go around them to get behind the Jersey Devil. 'Cause I think that's the only slot I can fit in.

0:16:53 Brennan: Cool, so oh, in that case, only one of them is going to get a swipe on you.

0:16:57 Murph: Okay, I think there's no avoiding that.

0:17:00 Brennan: Okay. Gonna roll here, misses, just barely misses you.

0:17:08 Murph: Okay, so I go up behind the devil. I look at Ricky,

0:17:11 Zac: Oh no. [cool rock music fading in]

0:17:13 Murph: I look at Sofie and I nod. I take the Thirsting Blade,

0:17:18 Cody: Sword art, combo thirst. Zac covers his face.

0:17:23 Siobhan: No! [cast laughs]

0:17:27 Murph: And I go to take a swing. [laughs]

0:17:29 Ally: [air quotes] Combo.

0:17:32 Emily: I just want you to know that I rolled a trigger roll, every time you do something with a weapon that my husband gave that I thought was going to Ricky.

0:17:37 Murph: Oh no! [cast laughs]

0:17:40 Ally: Yes!

0:17:41 Murph: I don’t want that!

0:17:42 Ally: Oh that's good, that's smart of you.

0:17:44 Emily: I’ve passed every time.

0:17:45 Murph: I don’t want that!

0:17:45 Lou: You have to. Do it, Murph, do it!

0:17:46 Brennan: Incredible. Incredible, Cody has no idea, how could Cody know!

0:17:49 Murph: Okay, bonus action. Thunderous Smite, call the lightning. Then I am going to… I'll take a swing and see if I hit, I roll with advantage, right?

0:18:02 Brennan: Yep.

0:18:05 Zac: [rubbing the bridge of his nose] Sword art? God dammit.

0:18:09 Ally: Combo!

0:18:09 Siobhan: Murph, you're simply too good at this. It’s very disturbing. [cast laughs]

0:18:13 Emily: I just really thought Dale meant Ricky to have it, I just really thought.

0:18:15 Murph: 20 to hit.

0:18:16 Brennan: Yeah, That's going to do it.

0:18:18 Murph: Okay. Great.

0:18:19 Brennan: Roll your second attack first, if I can ask because… Just roll your second attack to see if you hit on the second one.

0:18:27 Murph: Okay, another 20 to hit.

0:18:31 Brennan: Both hit. So I want you to figure out how much damage you're doing this round, if that makes sense.

0:18:39 Murph: Okay, so I'm going to do another. Okay, so I've just cast, I've done Thunderous Smite. I'm also going to do a second level Divine Smite on the first attack. And then I'm also going to do another first level smite on the second attack.

0:18:58 Brennan: Okay, so from the Divine Smites alone, we're talking 3d8 and 4d8. So that's 7d8 from just the Divine Smites. Plus the Thunderous Smite you're doing, how much extra damage is that?

0:19:13 Murph: That's 2d6. Or is it more damag from smite? 'Cause the second level would be 3d8 but it would be 4d8 because it's a devil, right?

0:19:22 Brennan: Exactly. So that's where 7d8 is coming from. 'Cause you're doing—

0:19:24 Murph: Oh, 7d8. Got it.

0:19:25 Brennan: A first-level smite and… Yeah, so 7d8 for smite all told plus 2d6 from Thunderous Smite plus 4d6. So it's 7d8, plus 6d6 plus 18.

0:19:39 Ally: Amazing.

0:19:40 Brennan: I'm going to tell you—

0:19:41 Murph: There's only one… Oh wait, you're right, you're right. Sorry, my bad. [tense Box of Doom music]

0:19:44 Brennan: Yeah, so it's 7d8 and before you roll, I'm going to tell you something. This creature has 47 hit points left. I want you to roll damage now.

0:19:56 Murph: Okay, so you said 7d8, plus 6d6, plus 18, cause I do plus 9.

0:19:59 Brennan: Plus 18. Correct.

0:20:01 Siobhan: Jesus.

0:20:03 Murph: Okay, please.

0:20:08 Siobhan: Yes, nice! [cast laughs]

0:20:11 Siobhan: Freaking nice!

0:20:13 Zac: Nice. [Murph imitates sword slashing]

0:20:15 Ally: Whoa, nice.

0:20:19 Lou: Real dumb. [cast laughs]

0:20:22 Lou: So dumb.

0:20:23 Cody: Omnislash, meteor strike, sword art, combo! (sword swooshing)

0:20:31 Ally: And somehow you, Cody, in the game know that you, the player, got 69. [cast laughs]

0:20:37 Lou: Somehow.

0:20:43 Brennan: Sofia and Ricky.

0:20:43 Cody: I am the Jersey Devil!

0:20:45 Brennan: You watch Cody decapitate the Jersey Devil.

0:20:54 Emily: Who he summoned.

0:20:55 Brennan: And he does such an insane dance routine of Omnislash video game moves, a good 60% of which don't hit, because it's mostly about the moves at that point. Murph imitates cool sword moves.

0:21:11 Brennan: The Jersey Devil is no more. Cody, you hear Bazathrax go,

0:21:19 Bazathrax: Dude, dude, open your shirt, open your shirt, open your shirt, open your shirt! [Murph imitates shirt opening]

0:21:24 Brennan: Ricky and Sofia, you watch flame erupt from the neck of the Jersey Devil and begin to pour into Cody's open chest tattoo. [metal music]

0:21:36 Siobhan: God.

0:21:37 Brennan: You get a very real sense that Cody Walsh may be becoming the Jersey Devil.

0:21:45 Cody: So fucking sick! You dream about it every day! And then just devils are real and fucking, you can just absorb them! [Brennan laughing]

0:21:52 Ally: [whispered, face in their hand] God.

0:21:56 Zac: [running his hands through his hair] Can I— aahhhh.

0:21:58 Ricky: Cool.

0:22:00 Pete: Great, man.

0:22:03 Zac: [stammers] Ricky is just bright red. [cast laughs]

0:22:07 Brennan: Bright red!

0:22:08 Zac: Like you know when someone's lifting like they're squatting like 500 pounds, his face just looks like that.

0:22:16 Brennan: Oh my God. Amazing. Okay, as that has happened, (imitates blowing sound) from within the core of the Jersey Devil's chest, you just hear like

0:22:26 Jersey Devil: Bro, bro, bro, bro, bro, bro, bro, bro!

0:22:30 Brennan: And it's just fire and then eventually just Juul mist, just vape mist, (imitates mist pouring) pouring out of the open throat. You see more swarm devils, because of the difficult terrain from Erupting Earth. Only four of these guys are gonna be able to attack. Four of them are coming for Sofia.

0:22:51 Emily: Oh, actually because he died, I do get four hit points.

0:22:55 Brennan: Hell yeah. Sofia, you take seven points of slashing and four points of poison damage. One is going to come for Ricky. That's going to be a hit for five slashing and four poison to Ricky. And then one's coming for Cody, two misses on Cody. Cody's infernal power.

0:23:23 Cody: I am your dark lord now. [Zac lets out a long, beleaguered sigh]

0:23:29 Brennan: Siege devil comes thundering forward, is going to take a charging... actually is going to move here and it's going to take a charge at Sofia, plus 10, 9 or higher. It's bad. We'll roll in the Box of Doom. [dramatic Box of Doom music]

0:23:49 Brennan: Natural two, Sofia avoids the charge. [Emily laughs]

0:23:55 Brennan: Incredible.

0:23:56 Emily: I was going to let it happen if it did, I have Shield. (laughing) I was going to let it happen if it did.

0:24:01 Zac: To get the damage?

0:24:02 Emily: Yes.

0:24:02 Brennan: Just to get the damage. Sofia, that's your turn.

0:24:07 Emily: Okay, I am out of everything I can do. So I am just going to… Oh, what do I even do here? I think I just…

0:24:14 Zac: We sh—

0:24:21 Emily: What were you gonna say?

0:24:23 Zac: I feel like we should at least… So not necessarily you, but I'm worried about leaving JJ so alone. Throwing that out there.

0:24:32 Emily: Oh, but there are no devils headed that way yet, right?

0:24:36 Zac: Right. I mean, not that we know.

0:24:39 Emily: I think I'm going to go after these two wieners, since I don't hit for much.

0:24:43 Zac: Cool.

0:24:45 Emily: So I'm going to go up to the first one. Does an 18 hit?

0:24:48 Brennan: Yes, it does.

0:24:50 Emily: Okay. So that's 13.

0:24:54 Brennan: Not down.

0:24:55 Emily: Okay. Gonna try and hit him again. Does a 23 hit? Yes it does.

0:24:59 Brennan: Yes, it does.

0:25:02 Emily: That's going to be another 13.

0:25:04 Brennan: Gone.

0:25:05 Emily: Okay, and then I'm going to use my bonus action just to do an unarmed strike against the next one. It misses.

0:25:11 Brennan: Cool. Copy. Pum pum, pwah! Kill one of the swarm devils. Sofia, it is no longer your turn. JJ, at the end of that—

0:25:21 Lou: Let's go, JJ.

0:25:22 Murph: Good luck JJ.

0:25:23 Lou: C’mon, JJ.

0:25:24 Brennan: He's got the Enhanced Ability. He's rolling with advantage. He needs to hit 25, he's got plus eight. Is anyone else doing any kind of shenanigans here? Any luck points or other fucking crazy shit like that? No?

0:25:37 Ally: I'm thinking about it, I can afford to do a luck.

0:25:40 Siobhan: Can we give our luck points to him?

0:25:42 Brennan: Yeah, if you want to do a Bend Luck, you can. It's a, roll a d4 for me.

0:25:49 Ally: Okay,

0:25:49 Lou: Okay.

0:25:50 Ally: 2.

0:25:52 Brennan: 2. Okay, it is a 15 or higher, JJ needs to hit.

0:25:57 Lou: Let's go, JJ.

0:25:58 Zac: Come on JJ, come on JJ.

0:25:59 Lou: Come on JJ.

0:26:00 Emily: Come on JJ. JJ rolls a 10 and an 11. [cast groaning]

0:26:02 Emily: No!

0:26:03 Brennan: Brutal.

0:26:05 Siobhan: Brutal.

0:26:06 Brennan: Absolutely brutal. You see… Unless, I will say, luck feat, if anyone has a luck point left, because luck interacts with advantage. Meaning you can have double or triple advantage, because re-rolls do work with luck.

0:26:24 Siobhan: Yeah, I'll spend a luck point.

0:26:27 Ally: Yes.

0:26:28 Brennan: Rock and roll. Okay.

0:26:29 Ally: Please.

0:26:30 Brennan: One of those dice is going to get rerolled, 15 or higher? Another 10.

0:26:36 Emily: Oh!

0:26:36 Ally: Who else has a luck point?

0:26:37 Siobhan: And I will spend my last goddamn luck point. I'll spend it. [Brennan laughs]

0:26:41 Emily: Okay.

0:26:43 Brennan: We'll allow it this time. Come on, JJ! 12!

0:26:48 Siobhan: Oh, God dammit! [cast laughs]

0:26:50 Lou: What, JJ?

0:26:50 Zac: Can I use my last luck point?

0:26:52 Brennan: Yeah, you wanna use your last one? Cool, burn through all of them. Here's the last one. These are some powerfully mediocre rolls. Here comes the last one in front of the board. We have two 10s, an 11 and a 12. That's a 5, baby.

0:27:07 Siobhan: God dammit.

0:27:07 Lou: JJ!

0:27:09 Siobhan: Oh no.

0:27:10 Emily: JJ.

0:27:11 Zac: JJ is sweating.

0:27:12 Siobhan: JJ, you shit the bed.

0:27:12 Lou: At this point, what more can we do for him! [cast laughs]

0:27:16 Brennan: Brutal.

0:27:17 Emily: This is true. This is true.

0:27:19 Lou: We gave you everything, JJ.

0:27:20 Zac: This is the worst day of Ricky's life.

0:27:23 Brennan: You watch the complex ending of the spell fritz out. JJ yells back,

0:27:29 JJ: I got it! I know what I did wrong. I just made a mistake earlier. I can go back and fix it again.

0:27:36 Iga: You’re fine JJ, just do it. Don't tell us, just do it.

0:27:41 Brennan: However, I will say this, of the two sort of solutions to this combat, Cody finishes absorbing the might of the Jersey Devil. I will need an Intimidate check with advantage here from Cody, if you would be so kind.

0:28:04 Murph: Sweet, I have proficiency.

0:28:09 Ally: Hell, yeah.

0:28:14 Murph: [claps] 26. [intense, quick, dark music]

0:28:17 Brennan: [laughs] Cody, you finish ingesting the power of the Jersey Devil and you gleam with infernal light. The Questing Blade rippling with black and orange flames. You turn and the Jersey devils here behold you. Even though you're living in Queens these days, you were born in Jersey City. They look at you. What do you say to the devils here assembled? [dramatic pause]

0:28:57 Cody: What's up, guys?  I am the new Dark Lord of New Jersey. I am Cody, the Jersey Devil. I have defeated your master and I am the new Dark Lord. I will call upon you one day and we will take back the Queens Center Mall. But that is not today. You guys need to fuck off for now and fucking relax and go back to your own malls in New Jersey, which has a shitton of malls. [cast laughs]

0:29:33 Brennan: The devils here all… Look, you guys see an army of devils extending all the way off to the New Jersey turnpike. And the giant siege devil looming over Cody, gets to one knee and bows and the swarm devils bow and the entire highway of devils bows to Cody Walsh. Zac and Ally both are rubbing the bridges of their noses. Siobhan is rubbing her temples instead.

0:29:54 Ally: Oh my God.

0:29:55 Cody: There are many parking lots of many different strip malls and regular malls that need you. Go.

0:30:04 Brennan: One of the great siege devils—

0:30:05 Cody: Take shopping carts and ram them into curbs, while your friends are inside.

0:30:12 Brennan: One of them goes like,

0:30:12 Devil: Hell yeah, dude, we're going to do the old school, 'Jackass' style, baby, CKY, dude!

0:30:20 Cody: Fucking hilarious.

0:30:22 Brennan: You see one of the siege devils goes up and bellows out, says,

0:30:23 Siege Devil: Devils of New Jersey, you heard the word of the one who destroyed our master. Let's go to fucking AC, anyway bro, New York fucking sucks! We’re going to Atlantic city, baby, woo, get wet.

0:30:41 Brennan: And you see the devils—

0:30:42 Ricky: Get wet?

0:30:43 Sofia: Why do they keep saying that? We need to ask Cody after this, what that means.

0:30:49 Brennan: You see that as they begin to leave, a bunch of swarm devils, come over and go,

0:30:54 Swarm Devils: Yeah. Yeah. My lord, fuck, yeah. Do you think I can borrow like $20, just for the fucking craps to AC?

0:31:02 Cody: I am your dark lord, [yelling] get the fuck out of here!

0:31:04 Swarm Devil: [panicked indistinct yelling]

0:31:06 Brennan: You see that the siege devil who bellowed out to the other devilkind to heed your warning, looks at you from the toll booth, looks at New York City behind you, gives you a very solemn the shocker and then walks off— [Murph laughs]

0:31:19 Brennan: Walks off into New Jersey. What's going on with our—

0:31:27 Ally: This is such a side note, but there was a car that parks in my neighborhood that it's only sticker is a the shocker. And I cannot figure them out, sorry.

0:31:39 Murph: I think until this moment, everything was complete fantasy for Cody of all this. When that devil threw up the shocker, Cody is shook, because he's realizing he's on the same side as these bros. [cast laughs]

0:31:57 Ally: Yes, yes.

0:31:58 Cody: The fuck am I becoming?

0:32:06 Brennan: [laughs] What's going on with our other heroes of New York that watched this unfold?

0:32:13 Ally: I mean, I go pat Cody on the back, like,

0:32:13 Pete: Great job, man. You did such a freaking good job. It was great.

0:32:22 Cody: I gotta be honest. I couldn't have done it without Sofie saving my ass. But then also fucking Ricky, you like took that hit for me. So that was fucking cool. And Kingston healed me. That was cool. And Madam Anastasia—

0:32:40 Pete: Do you think that was what happened? [Emily laughing]

0:32:46 Pete: Cody, Cody, no, don't worry.

0:32:48 Iga: No Cody, we were all there.

0:32:49 Cody: Cool.

0:32:50 Iga: Yeah, we saw it.

0:32:52 Cody: Cool, cool. So just, yeah. Go team.

0:32:56 Pete: Yeah, definitely man.

0:32:57 Ricky: Sofia, mind if I, can we sidebar, real fast, Sofia?

0:33:01 Sofia: Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely, we’ll be right back. [quietly] Yeah, Ricky, what’s up?

0:33:10 Ricky: So, I'm kind of going through something a little bit unnatural for me right now. Where it’s like, I really… Cody is swinging his sword around again.

0:33:26 Ricky: I could never have expected that to happen.

0:33:30 Sofia: I know, I know.

0:33:31 Ricky: And to continue to happen. Ongoing Cody sword swinging.

0:33:32 Ricky: And I appreciate you bringing the Questing Blade back, 'cause I kinda missed it to be honest and I was glad that Dale had it.

0:33:40 Sofia: I know, I thought it was for you, I really thought it was for you.

0:33:43 Ricky: Yeah, I just had to say that to somebody, 'cause it's—

0:33:48 Sofia: You wanna just like… I don't mind… Do you want to just scream really loud? 'Cause I can cast Silence.

0:33:56 Ricky: Yeah, can you go ahead and cast Silence on me?

0:33:58 Emily: I cast Silence. Zac screams silently. [cast laughs] Zac finishes his scream, then mouths that he’s okay and gives Sofia a thumbs up.

0:34:18 Emily: Okay, I dispel it. [Brennan is truly losing it]

0:34:21 Ricky: Thank you. Thank you.

0:34:23 Sofia: Yeah, of course.

0:34:24 Ricky: I think that helps a lot.

0:34:25 Sofia: It helps me sometimes. I thought it might help you.

0:34:26 Brennan: Oh my God.

0:34:28 Ricky: Thank you. Are you okay by the way?

0:34:31 Sofia: I'm fine. I'm in a better place than you are. I think the fact that he admitted a couple of things at the end is soothing to me. I'm still mad that you didn't get the Questing Blade, but I'm hopeful about the young pup.

0:34:47 Ricky: Yeah, yeah, yeah, me too. He seems like… a good guy. [Murph laughing]

0:34:53 Emily: I cast Silence again and then we both... Zac and Emily both scream silently. Sofia is clearly saying “fuck” over and over again.

0:35:02 Brennan: Incredible. Amazing, you guys leave from here having rented this place. In the minute or two that you guys are kind of putting things back together, Kingston leaves that note on the Tesla. JJ finishes getting the spellwork up here now. I mean like getting it up in three rounds, is literally getting it up in like 18 seconds. You know what I mean? So he like, having a minute to do it. The runes go up, he turns around and says,

0:35:37 JJ: Okay, I think that's done.

0:35:40 Brennan: And you see something connect and boom. The runes start pulsating. And a moment later, completely soaking wet, sort of coughing and sputtering, Esther flies in with her silver baseball bat.

0:35:54 Esther: [coughs] Okay. We're good. We are all good. We are taken care of.

0:36:00 Siobhan: I pull a pair of warm socks out of my large woven bag and hand them to Esther.

0:36:08 Esther: Oh my god, Madam—

0:36:10 Iga: It’s just always important to have a little pair of extra dry socks in New York City, because this city sometimes you need a pair of dry socks. You know what I mean?

0:36:20 Esther: I appreciate that so, so much. Truly thank you.

0:36:25 Zac: I use Destroy Water on Esther.

0:36:29 Brennan: [imitates water splashing] She’s dried off, she goes,

0:36:30 Esther: Hun, thank you so much.

0:36:31 Ricky: You got it.

0:36:33 Iga: That also works.

0:36:35 Brennan: She looks at you—

0:36:36 Ricky: Sorry, she can use the socks, too, they seem nice.

0:36:39 Brennan: She does put the socks on, but she looks up at you, Ricky, and goes,

0:36:44 Esther: Yeah, thank you so much for that, hun.

0:36:46 Brennan: And absentmindedly looks at your forehead and touches a vein on your forehead.

0:36:52 Zac: It's like that. [mimes it pulsing]

0:36:53 Brennan: Yeah, like pum, pum, pum. She's like,

0:36:55 Esther: Hey, hun, everything good?

0:36:57 Ricky: Yeah, um, things are great. The Questing Blade came back and… Esther’s mouth drops open in shock.

0:37:01 Ricky: ...funny enough, our new friend, Cody, it went to him. It went to Cody. I just had a very similar conversation to this, but you should know about this. Cody is over there and it looks different. It looks different than the ax that I had. (sword swooshes)

0:37:22 Ricky: He's swinging it. He's kinda cutting those cars over there. [car crunching noises]

0:37:28 Ally: I think I'm over there Minor Illusioning like apples and oranges for you to slice. We’re just like bro-ing out, like,

0:37:34 Pete: Aww, dude! Aww, dude!

0:37:37 Cody: Fucking hell yeah! Fucking Limit Break!

0:37:41 Brennan: Yeah, you see Esther looks over and says,

0:37:42 Esther: Thank you, stop. Thank you, stop! Thank you, stop that. Yeah, for sure, stop.

0:37:45 Cody: [still swinging] Yes! Yes!

0:37:48 Brennan: You see two bats fly in out of the nighttime sky. [imitates bat flying] Ana and Amelia arrive as well,  Esther looks over, JJ is standing… You guys can see actually in the roll20, the incredible elaborate ward that JJ has put up. Esther goes over and says,

0:38:04 Esther: Incredible, incredible, incredible, wonderful.

0:38:09 Brennan: JJ goes,

0:38:09 JJ: Woo! Would certainly have been killed many times over, if these guys had not stopped the onslaught of devils. [gentle, dreamy music]

0:38:19 Brennan: Ana and Amelia begin to cast Mending on all the cars that got damaged or ruined. Kingston, I think Remote Access probably helps like drive some of these cars back from where they got—

0:38:32 Lou: Put everything back in place, yeah.

0:38:35 Brennan: You guys do your Unsleeping City cleanup crew here. As you hear the approach of like, sirens and other people coming to see why the Holland Tunnel got shut down. [faint sirens] Esther looks over at Kingston and Pete and she also looks at you, Ricky and says,

0:38:56 Esther: Yeah, I got you, hun. Good. Hey, hey, you see that?

0:39:01 Brennan: She takes your face in her hands, and goes,

0:39:01 Esther: I love you. That's bullshit. I don't know why that's going on, but I'm saying that as a wizard, I think something fucked up happened, okay?

0:39:11 Ricky: Okay. Well, I love you too. And, um, I, you know— I, and between you and me, I'm having a bit of a moment, I would say.

0:39:23 Esther: Yeah, I hear you. It's okay.

0:39:24 Ricky: And I don't know. I might run home.

0:39:27 Esther: Do you want to just… We might have a little like debriefing here, but if you want to just run home, that's totally fine. Why don't we do a debriefing tomorrow morning? It's late. People have been busy. If you want to take a run home, go ahead and take a run home, sweetie.

0:39:42 Ricky: I don't want to miss anything, but I definitely want to run home. [Ally and Emily laughing]

0:39:48 Esther: Honestly, we're going to be another few minutes here. Do you want to just run to the Gramercy Occult Society and we'll meet you there?

0:39:54 Ricky: Yeah, yeah, that sounds great. I love you. Thank you for… I mean, I want to hear about the water part later, but yeah. Zac mimes zooming off.

0:40:04 Brennan: [laughs] Ricky takes off, Esther comes with Amelia and checks on you, Sofia. Comes and puts a hand on your arm sort of like squeezes your bicep and goes like,

0:40:13 Esther: Hey, how's Ricky doing? He looks like he's not doing great right now.

0:40:19 Sofia: Yeah, no, he's not. I feel like it's my fault, because Dale gave the Questing Blade back and I pulled it out of my pocket saying, "Hey, Ricky, I think Dale wanted you to have this." Then it made this really big arcane show about choosing Cody instead of Ricky. [cast laughs] Zac mimes furious running.

0:40:43 Sofia: And then to add insult to injury, Cody named it, the Thirsting Blade, because it thirsts for blood, then absorbed the power of a devil, took the final strike on the big bad guy, absorbed its power, became the Jersey Devil. So the Questing Blade, which Ricky once loved, is now in the hands of the newly anointed Jersey Devil, who's calling it the Thirsting Blade.

0:41:11 Brennan: Esther, her hands shake in front of her. And she's like,

0:41:15 Esther: Oh, oh, no. I literally was never able to imagine what could get under Ricky's skin. And it's like going from thinking that a thing was impossible to knowing what would perfectly, completely shatter my darling love. Okay, this is so… The Questing Blade came back, how are you, Sofia? Are you doing okay?

0:41:49 Sofia: [stammers a little] Maybe now's not the time.

0:41:52 Esther: Okay, yeah, I hear you. Stay—

0:41:55 Sofia: I'm fine. Let's focus on Ricky.

0:41:59 Esther: Gotcha.

0:42:00 Brennan: You guys finish the cleanup crew here and people go home for the night. You guys are taking care of it. You've saved the city yet again. JJ is looking at Ana and Amelia being like,

0:42:16 JJ: Can you, the fucking army of devils? This is fucking nuts! This is crazy!

0:42:23 Brennan: JJ comes over to you, Cody, and it's like,

0:42:25 JJ: Dude, those combo moves were out of control, man!

0:42:30 Cody: Thanks, thanks. Yeah, I've been actually studying sword fighting for a while, but it took until… I would really recommend selling your soul to a devil, just kind of any devil. 'Cause my devil's not even particularly good, but gave me a lot of powers and then that combined with sort of just years of practice in my backyard, just like freaking out on soda bottles and stuff. And yeah, that's kinda where I'm at.

0:42:57 Brennan: You see, JJ—

0:42:57 Cody: Your math stuff was awesome. That was like.

0:43:01 JJ: Dude, I know I'm not at your level yet, but I'm working on it. It's all very theoretical and learning where the intersections of science and magic and mathematics, all sort of interplay is a fucking trip man, but it's super cool.

0:43:14 Cody: No, that's, dude, parties need wizards and then they need warriors. So you might not be able to do what I can fucking do, but I can't do what you can fucking do, if you know what I mean.

0:43:24 JJ: Holy, shit, man. I super appreciate that. Do you have your Switch on you?

0:43:29 Cody: I actually kind of feel like… Okay, I'm sort of a PS4 guy. [Brennan laughs]

0:43:35 Cody: And also a PC guy.

0:43:37 Brennan: You guys dive fully into that. You see that, bum, bum, bum. Cool. Texts go out as people go home that night, texts go out to people basically being like, “hey, we should debrief about last night, but also sort of talk over next steps, what's going on.”

0:44:07 Brennan: Esther texts you, Sofia, and is basically like,

0:44:12 Esther: Better for us to meet and talk at the monastery, or better for us to do Gramercy Occult Society?

0:44:20 Emily: Can I do some kind of Perception check of what I think? I'm worried about Tony, but I'm also worried about taking books out of the monastery. So can I do a perception check about, which I feel is a bigger threat?

0:44:44 Brennan: I’d ask for Insight actually.

0:44:49 Emily: Okay, so 10.

0:44:51 Brennan: I think Sofia is as conflicted as you right now. I think that it's just like… Because obviously taking the sacred texts out of the monastery feels a little sacrilegious, but—

0:45:04 Emily: Yeah. I think Tony is an easier thing to keep an eye on, than worrying about removing texts from the monastery. So I'm going to say,

0:45:13 Sofia: Yeah, let's do monastery.

0:45:16 Brennan: Hell, yeah. The next day—

0:45:23 Emily: Oh, that means everyone's going to come to Staten Island!

0:45:25 Brennan: Oh my God.

0:45:27 Siobhan: Oh boy.

0:45:28 Emily: Oh my gosh. I go around, I'm picking up trash trying to make it look as nice as possible. I do like Belle in the Beauty and the Beast for Staten Island.

0:45:42 Brennan: Amaz— Just throughout all the Staten Island getting everything perfectly ready for people. When Sofia approaches Esther saying, “Hey, we probably do the monastery." Esther says,

0:45:50 Esther: God, it makes perfect sense. We can approach the monastery. We'll put out a formal invitation.

0:46:00 Brennan: And Esther hits up a… Esther turns her head to Ricky next to her on the sofa and is like,

0:46:06 Esther: You good for a meeting in two days, sweetie? Can you get that time off of helping hands? Is that okay?

0:46:11 Ricky: Yeah, let me double check. I think I should be okay.

0:46:16 Esther: Cool.

0:46:16 Brennan: She looks at you and says,

0:46:21 Esther: Cool, good, good, good.

0:46:24 Brennan: She also texts Madam Anastasia, or rather she sends a formal invite to Madam Anastasia and underneath it puts,

0:46:30 Esther: This will also serve as a time for the return of your chest to you, to make the most use of your time and convenience.

0:46:43 Siobhan: [Iga voice] A bribe to go to the Staten Island. Well. [Emily laughing]

0:46:49 Siobhan: [Iga voice] It had to happen sometime, I guess.

0:46:54 Ally: You've never been to Staten Island in your whole life?

0:46:56 Siobhan: [Iga voice] I have been on the ferry, you have family visits, you take the ferry, it's free. You see the island, you see Ellis Island, you turn around, you get back on the next ferry back. You do the exact same trip. That's what Staten Island does to you. And that was enough.

0:47:14 Brennan: Incredible.

0:47:17 Emily: I'm just going around Staten Island. I'm going into every single store, telling them to put on their best show. I mean,

0:47:26 Sofia: There's visitors coming. There's visitors coming. Put out the welcome mats!

0:47:35 Brennan: [laughs] So, two days later and you see… So, Madam Anastasia, you get that invitation. Ricky, you're going to make time to go be there and do that. Sofia, you're obviously like hosting and getting Staten Island as ready as possible. And Kingston and Pete, you get specific formal invitations, accompanied by texts from Esther, being like,

0:48:03 Esther: LOL about the formal invitation. There's magical reasons for us doing that. You're both Voxes. We want to make the magical laws of the city happy. Hope you can both make it, love, Esther.

0:48:16 Brennan: But you do get these formal magical things that get dropped off by pigeons like big signed parchment, things being like, "A council of the Gramercy Occult Society to be held at the Monastery of the Midnight Sun. Staten Island, altitude 2,500 feet, above Spaghetti's Bakery.” And Esther asks you and says,

0:48:39 Esther: Hey, this is going to be kind of a real deal meeting of the minds. Anyone from the city you guys think should come, feel free to go ahead and invite.

0:48:51 Brennan: And I think Sofie gets one of those as well, of like if there's anyone outside your order that you think should come, feel free to go ahead and invite them.

0:49:01 Emily: Yeah, I mean, obviously I send a group text to everyone here to come. Yeah, do you guys have anyone else that you want to invite? It's a big island, we can host a lot of people. And I know a lot of the business owners are really excited. (Brennan laughs)

0:49:18 Murph: Maybe Willy.

0:49:20 Siobhan: I like Willy. Willy is our neighbor.

0:49:26 Zac: Great.

0:49:27 Ally: Willy and Em? I would love to get a hold of Nod at some point and be able to talk, but.

0:49:31 Lou: I mean, that would be my ideal.

0:49:37 Brennan: Cool, who do you guys specifically reach out to and how before the meeting?

0:49:41 Ally: How do I contact Nod? How was I getting in contact with them?

0:49:45 Brennan: You just are normally able to reach out to them and speak pretty easily actually.

0:49:50 Ally: I'd like to do that and invite them to this thing.

0:49:54 Brennan: Go ahead and give me an Arcana check.

0:49:58 Ally: Okay. Oh, that's only an 11. [dramatic music]

0:50:05 Brennan: It's not working. Sometimes Nod is busy or other shit comes up. You could always try going to a more dreamlike place. It also occurs to Pete in this moment, that you haven't needed to contact Nod for awhile for anything, you've been kind of just doing your Vox Phantasma thing of bringing dream life in the city. It probably also occurs to Pete, that his consciousness was already pretty altered during the times that he was contacting Nod the most frequently.

0:50:38 Ally: Yeah. Interesting. [rolls a sobriety die] We’re good. [Emily and Brennan laugh]

0:50:47 Ally: I think I'm gonna meditate. I'm gonna try to meditate.

0:50:51 Brennan: Cool.

0:50:52 Ally: I've been trying to meditate.

0:50:53 Brennan: Give me like a Religion check.

0:50:57 Ally: Let me see here. (whistling) That's only a nine. This damn chimes keeps going off. I can't meditate.

0:51:13 Brennan: You’re like in your mind, you are not in Nod physically right now. That's a bigger deal to go to Nod in person, to like ride the L all the way to the Nod station. But you're in Nod just in your mind and your liminal space, because you travel there every night in your real dreams. There's something there at the edge, that you feel like you could come back to when you're actually asleep. But you see something, you think you might see where Nod is.

0:51:44 Ally: Okay. Okay. [dreamlike piano music]

0:51:46 Brennan: That night when you go to sleep, you're in Nod, again you're not here physically, you're here just in your dream state. You're dreaming. You're here in the world of dreams. Your body is asleep somewhere in the waking world. Bright sparkling lights, you see that there are all of these ghost fleet leaves, made almost of like incense smoke that blow through Nod during the autumn swirling up, all the stars overhead. Of course, New York with starlight, never happens in the waking world, but here in the dreaming sky is rich with stars. Go ahead and give me a Perception check.

0:52:30 Ally: Okay. That is a [scoffs] 9.

0:52:39 Brennan: You can't tell why, but it's not as bright here right now. You're looking around the buildings. And normally the buildings are alive with lights. But you know that the lights are on in places where people are dreaming and you're looking around and just seeing that there aren't a lot of dreaming people in the city. I mean, there's plenty. There's lots, right? You're looking around and see millions of people, But God, do you think these buildings used to be brighter? And you're seeing rooms and apartments here in Nod that are dark. You know, there are dark apartments in Nod all the time. People are out of town, people aren't home. They're awake during the night. So they're not at home dreaming. Nod is always sort of purpley and misty and swirling in indigo. You feel a rising in your stomach, almost in that way of like a car going over a bump in the road or something like that. And you feel a wash of something around you of raw Umbra.

0:54:00 Ally: Fuck.

0:54:04 Brennan: One or two little lights go out, not big, just one or two twinkle out. You look behind you, behind you is Times Square in Nod. Which is bright, colorful, even more bright and colorful in the dream world than it is anywhere else. You haven't fucked around with Times Square in a while. Because Times Square is where everything fucking went down three years ago. And you know that the Paragon doorway is closed and sealed. It's safe. You've taken care of that. You've been doing your thing, but there is… You sense something out there in Times Square.

0:54:56 Ally: Hmm… Can I try something?

0:54:58 Brennan: Yeah.

0:55:00 Ally: So this Umbra around me, right?

0:55:03 Brennan: Yeah.

0:55:04 Ally: That I've been seeing. Do I recognize it from like other places? Like this is what I've just been seeing?

0:55:11 Brennan: Yeah, it's hard. You realize it's always there. It's like how you can't really see humidity in the air. Unless someone shows you a picture of like, "Here's on a clear day and here's on..." And you go, "Oh shit, there is a big difference." But you'd never would look for it. That's sort of what Umbra is here. Yeah.

0:55:31 Ally: Can I just start saying out loud things like,

0:55:35 Pete: Fuck all the people here. I fucking— Honestly, fuck the party, these New Yorkers. Kingston needs to leave, he's never seen Europe. What a fucking dumb guy. [Brennan laughs]

0:55:50 Ally: Can I just start talking shit on New York?

0:55:55 Brennan: Give me a Deception roll.

0:55:56 Ally: Okay, oh, I have good Deception, I was a drug dealer. That's 20, not nat.

0:56:05 Brennan: Cool, you start saying that. You begin to see a thread of Umbra going towards Times Square kind of in that weird bridgie way. Vein is the wrong word, it's more like how currents exist in the ocean. There's a current of Umbra, (imitates current) moving towards Times Square. And you feel somewhat invisible. Here's the thing. And I'm going to ask Pete for this lie to work like a lot of good lies. Part of you has to believe it. Is Pete willing to let himself get to a point of feeling a little bit of isolation in this moment to make the lie convincing?

0:56:57 Ally: I mean, he's definitely saying all of this stuff knowing he doesn't believe it. But I do believe he is pretty isolated.

0:57:06 Brennan: If Pete feels a twang of isolation, then the lie will work, but you have to feel the real feeling of loneliness.

0:57:16 Ally: Yeah, I think he does. I think he definitely has access to that feeling.

0:57:21 Brennan: Okay, cool. That is a trigger for Pete.

0:57:24 Ally: Yeah. 4.

0:57:27 Brennan: Cool. Great.

0:57:28 Emily: Yes.

0:57:29 Brennan: You move forward, as you say that you feel that real thing of you're like, "I'm living in a fucking attic in Astoria." You know that Priya didn't treat you correctly. And you know, the kindness that Sofia and Kingston and Ricky and everybody has extended to you. You know that kindness is incredibly real. And the realness of that kindness makes it hurt even more that these people are not going to lie down in bed with you to keep you warm at night for the rest of your life. They're not going to be there by your side at every moment they are going to have their own needs and their own lives. And for as awful as Priya was to you, as much as things were never going to work out with Rowan, you weren't alone. And that when you feel isolated and you feel this feeling of like so sad, so alone, cold. And cold is a measurement of distance almost. You're further away. The more farther away things move from each other, the colder they get, down to the level of electrons, right? The air is moving less. Things are less agitated when they're further apart and colder and more distant. And as you hear that, something's wrong with the colorful signs. You're in Times Square and you look and see through the colorful signs and all of these things are billboards of signs and products that don't exist, all the signs in Times Square Nod are for companies that people in the city dream of starting. So there's all these dreams of people that are trying to make it in music and haven't made it yet and trying to sell their movie and be an action star and this person, that person. So it's an incredible neon thing of all the dreams and ideas and innovations of people and what they want to do with their lives. There is an area as you look, and at first you think something's wrong with your eyes because you're looking at some of the signs and they are absent of color. And then you realize that you are seeing the absence of color in the silhouette of a figure wearing a suit. [air whooshing ominously]

1:00:03 Ally: It's that person. [tense, dreamlike music]

1:00:05 Brennan: The way I would describe it is picture if… Like, you know when someone is invisible you're able to see through them. Picture if someone was invisible and you could see through them but everything that you were seeing through them to see was [snaps] robbed of its color. So there's no features to this thing. There's no outline. It's just the shape of something human like with the things behind it, robbed of color.

1:00:36 Ally: Can I cast Detect Thoughts on it?

1:00:40 Brennan: Static.

1:00:44 Ally: [thinking] Okay...

1:00:49 Brennan: You see the figure turn to you. It probably— Here's the thing, it doesn't look… You can't tell how far away this thing is because it isn't a figure. It's just things in the distance not having the color they would normally have, right? So it's like, where is this thing in relation to me? But in terms of the size of something, it would make sense if something was not close but not far away, maybe something like… Like if a person was in the middle distance between you and signs behind it, turns, you hear a voice coming out of the speaker function of your phone. Like your phone is on speaker mode. A voice of a guy that you went to high school with speaks to you out of the phone and goes,

1:01:44 Voice: [through a tinny speaker] Wow, look at all these dreams.

1:01:51 Brennan: The head of the figure turns and again, there's no face but the head turns in such a way that you know it is oriented towards you and just goes,

1:02:03 Voice: Most of these will never come true. I suppose hope is kind of painful that way.

1:02:11 Brennan: Two of the signs blink out. [brief glitchy music]

1:02:17 Ally: Was that the invisible person that said the second part, most of these will never come true?

1:02:22 Brennan: The invisible person—

1:02:24 Ally: Hasn't spoken, it was just the—

1:02:25 Brennan: Hasn't spoken, it's a voice coming out of your phone but you're not sure. There is no person there. And so, maybe this person doesn't talk from a place because it is nowhere.

1:02:41 Ally: Okay, do I get the sense that… Like when I was trying to be really negative or when I was embracing the isolation that I feel, do I get the sense that the Umbra could take me over or that I was feeding some sort of loop with it?

1:03:01 Brennan: Yes, It felt like that feeling of emptiness, that isolation, more powerfully attached you to the Umbra.

1:03:13 Ally: Okay, I just sprint towards the invisible person.

1:03:19 Brennan: Cool, you sprint towards them. Make a Wisdom saving throw for me, DC—

1:03:26 Ally: Nat 20.

1:03:28 Emily: Yes! Yes!

1:03:29 Ally: Nat 20. Ally lifts up a notebook with their d20 on it to show the camera.

1:03:30 Emily: Yes!

1:03:32 Zac: Oh my God.

1:03:34 Brennan: Fuck you! Fuck you! [cast laughs]

1:03:38 Emily: Yes. Yes.

1:03:38 Murph: Oh my God.

1:03:40 Siobhan: I love it when Ally ruins Brennan’s plan.

1:03:41 Ally: I cast Banishment on them.

1:03:44 Brennan: Here's the thing, you cast Banishment on them. Pete, on a nat 20, it fucking works. Something you reach out and immediately know. Ally, I'm going to be real with you. If you had rolled a 19, you'd be fucking dead. Ally’s jaw drops.

1:04:04 Brennan: What you just did— When you reach out to banish this thing, it flinches, in the way that a great white shark flinches when punched in the nose, you just did the brave… Pete realizes, “I just did the bravest thing I've ever done.” This thing is so vast. The size of it, it is bigger than Nod, bigger than New York, bigger than anything. Its form is formless. Its mass is massless. It extends from here into the deep dark depths of the dreaming forever, and you running to it would have put you into its center and you would have joined your friends, Josefina Gatsby and Hans in the far reaches of the dreaming and your last memories would be [snaps] gone from that museum, baby. That's it. On a nat 20, like punching a shark in the nose, like doing something that fucking crazy. This thing vanishes from Nod, voom. And you hear a scream cry out from the top of the Empire State Building. [faint child’s scream]

1:05:14 Ally: I look, can I see anything?

1:05:15 Brennan: Yeah, you can fly in the dream realm, no problem.

1:05:17 Ally: Oh, yeah. Right.

1:05:20 Brennan: Again, the equivalent of banishing— [laughs] [cast laughs]

1:05:29 Ally: Did I just ruin your whole game?

1:05:32 Brennan: Oh, for everyone at home, this is the last episode we're shooting before I have a five-day break. Which is the only reason I'm ruining my whole campaign right now. [Emily laughs] Ally covers their face in shock.

1:05:47 Brennan: Pete, you… Yeah, you have that… I don't know. It's the thing of like, "Oh, I did a skate trick. Oh God, I didn't realize I was doing it from one skyscraper to another." Yes, that was an ollie. But I didn't realize that I was doing— [Ally laughing]

1:06:06 Brennan: I didn’t realize what the stakes were in that moment, right? You, boom. And you think maybe partially, because of the ill-advisedness, whatever this entity is there is some calculation on it's part of like… You’re like, “Okay, I so believed that was going to work that perhaps whatever the fuck…” Even “entity” is too humanizing of a word for what that thing was. And it's gone for the moment, it's gone from Nod. You've done your job as the Vox Phantasma. And as you fly to the top of the Empire State Building you see, withered, emaciated and hurt is the gray orphan, is Nod. Looks up, something has been feeding on Nod and you think you know what it was. [somber, gentle piano music]

1:07:06 Ally: I grab Nod.

1:07:09 Brennan: You grab them, they look up and go,

1:07:12 Nod: I keep saying it, but I knew I choose— I knew I choose right, right, right. [quiet gasp]

1:07:20 Brennan: And they collapse and start breathing. And your presence begins to fill them with a multi-colored phantasmagoria of healing light. The reason you haven't heard from Nod is it was being devoured. It being the place and them being the person, were both being devoured by whatever that thing was. You look back down at Times Square, and for a moment you're holding Nod. You can tell that they're healing. You're holding them in your arms. They are smiling and weeping these jet black tears, like you saw them weep on the very first day you saw them. You look down Times Square, the signs that were turned off, turn back on but they don't turn on with color again. [energy activating] “Gladiator, coming to a campus near you.” You wake up. [pauses] [laughs] Fucking wild! [cast laughs]

1:08:28 Brennan: Woo baby!

1:08:31 Ally: Wow.

1:08:34 Brennan: Okay, I'm going to say that's what Pete's mind is on. But it's the day of the meeting. So, you, hey, you did your job, you found Nod. But of course Nod can't come to the waking world anyway, but you're awake on the day of the meeting. For everybody else, I know it's crazy. But after all—

1:08:44 Zac: You just throw up. [cast laughs]

1:08:55 Ally: Truly.

1:08:58 Brennan: Oh my fucking god. Kingston, do you reach out to anyone to come to… Does Kingston, Sofia, Ricky, Cody, or Iga reach out to anybody to invite them to the meeting?

1:09:08 Zac: I don't think, I don’t think I actually know Willy that well to invite him to this meeting. But that was the only person I could think of that was outside of, an ally that we've talked about.

1:09:21 Lou: Happy to do it, unless people… Maybe this is crazy.

1:09:25 Zac: Maybe it's unnecessary.

1:09:26 Lou: Yeah. I mean, I'll invite Willy, is it… I'm not going to invite… I just had the thought and I'll just say it in the group chat and everyone could just thumbs up or thumbs down. Will Santa Claus be helpful in this situation? Or are we leaving him out of this?

1:09:41 Zac: You mean Wally?

1:09:42 Lou: Oh, Santa Claus is gone. Wally is Santa Claus now.

1:09:43 Siobhan: Wally is Santa Claus.

1:09:48 Emily: I think that may be, if you feel excited about having Santa Claus, AKA Wally there that absolutely I'm on board. There is something about him that I want to just keep him innocent.

1:10:03 Zac: Did he date your mom or did he not?

1:10:06 Emily: Did he date my mom?

1:10:07 Brennan: I think we fully redlined that because it was a joke at the end of the finale. And then we all thought about it for a day and went, that's so disturbing and upsetting. Let's not have that happen.

1:10:18 Lou: Great, we'll leave Wally innocent. And I'll text Willy and see if he wants to come. I'll forward him the same invitation that was sent to me. And if he'd like to attend, he's more than welcomed.

1:10:31 Brennan: Yeah, Willy gets back in touch with you and is like,

1:10:32 Willy: I would love to attend. What are we going to see you at the poker game? You get back together with Liz and now...

1:10:40 Kingston: All right, I'm making a conscious choice to spend time with a woman I find to be near perfection. [Emily laughs]

1:10:47 Kingston: So I think, if I have a choice between poker and perfection, I'll pick perfection 10 out of 10 times.

1:10:55 Brennan: He goes,

1:10:55 Willy: Oh, of course.

1:10:57 Brennan: He says,

1:10:57 Willy: I say these things because I miss you.

1:11:01 Kingston: Well, she's working a lot right now. So who knows maybe I'll be able to sneak over one Thursday night. We'll see. We'll see.

1:11:09 Brennan: Wonderful. Cool, so Willy is on his way there as well. And Sofie, anyone from you?

1:11:18 Emily: I actually want to use the time to maybe ask Tony something.

1:11:22 Brennan: Sure. Yeah. So it's the morning of the meeting. Yeah.

1:11:26 Emily: Yeah. I think I want to… I'll go in on my phone, pretending I'm finishing up a conversation, just be talking really glowing about Pete. Just being like,

1:11:37 Sofia: Oh yeah, yeah. Then he casts haste on a Dalmatian, and then Cone of Cold on a bunch of devils. What a kid that. Oh, sorry, I'm going into a meeting, bye. [to Tony] Sorry, I was talking about Pete. Hey?

1:11:53 Tony: Yeah, you all right. Yeah, no worries.

1:11:55 Sofia: Yeah, no, sorry. That's rude of me. I should’ve put my phone away sooner. Anyways, I just had a real quick question for you.

1:12:04 Tony: Yeah, yeah, shoot. What is it? What do you need help with?

1:12:08 Sofia: I just wanted to know a little more about what happened in San Francisco. Obviously nothing that you don't want to tell but I was curious if you all had a Vox Populi or Vox Phantasma there? I don't know enough about this kind of stuff, to know if that will be normal.

1:12:25 Brennan: He shakes his head and says,

1:12:26 Tony: No, there's an unseen world within San Francisco. As there is within most cities, but no, it's… Yeah, magic's different depending on where you go, New York is unique, unique New York, right?

1:12:46 Sofia: Yeah. That rolled off the tongue for you. Are you a theater kid?

1:12:52 Tony: Nah, you know, surprisingly, I didn't get into much theater. I mostly was getting my ass kicked. But I'll tell you what the… No, San Francisco's got a magic all its own. And I have family out there so I wanted to see them. And I also wanted the Order that… You know, there was a period of time in American history where they were going to have… They got the Statue of Liberty out here in New York. And in San Francisco they wanted to build a complimentary statute to it called the Statue of Responsibility. It's a interesting piece of history. You can look it up. I think people forget that sometimes and I wonder what the country would be like if we had had both statues kind of watching out for us on either coast because it's not always about what you want to do, sometimes it's about your responsibilities.

1:13:54 Sofia: Yeah, I see. Oh, you know, as a fellow, a monk of the order dealing with the material world and really ingrained in that kind of stuff, I totally agree. Responsibility is really important. It's really important.

1:14:07 Tony: Yeah. You know that's the mantra, right? It is what it is and—

1:14:11 Sofia: Yeah, it is what it is. Absolutely, I think that's a great mantra. [purses her lips]

1:14:17 Brennan: (laughs) You see, Tony looks at you and says,

1:14:23 Tony: In any case, no there's no Vox Populi, Vox Phantasma there. New York is special in terms of its relationship to the cycle of waking and dreaming. It has a unique relationship to sleep, to the world of dreaming. But there's plenty of other realms to be attached to, plenty of other sources of magic out there and other places.

1:14:47 Sofia: Okay, I was just curious. 'Cause I know that we have a real reciprocal relationship with magic and the material. We have a good relationship between, maybe liberty and responsibility here. And so I was curious.

1:15:05 Tony: Yeah, it's not really magic what we do.

1:15:09 Sofia: No, it's not.

1:15:11 Tony: The power of your strength, your ki, your soul. Ki is literally life force. It's not supernatural, it's the most natural, right? And even people that cast spells with the best of intentions can sometimes be meddling in forces that they don't fully understand. You know what I mean? And I'm not gonna lie to you. Sofia, look, I think, you know that I'm an old school guy. I feel old school kind of way about things. The last thing I want to do is be an old dog trying to learn new tricks. And I don't want to be that asshole that comes back home and tries to tell people the way to do things or whatever. Look, hey, you crack the riddle, right? Turns out Dale was right, the chosen one was a real thing, right? So I'm not going to tell you your business. What I will say is that it's a slippery slope. It's a slippery slope, because of course Haste is going to be useful. Of course, it's going to be useful for someone to summon some kind of spirit, do something quick. So you let it slide, right? And that's a little more, it's a creature from the dream realm is something crossing over, is something else. Eventually the line gets drawn somewhere and if it doesn't, well, what the hell happens then, right?

1:16:39 Sofia: Yeah, I definitely agree that it's a delicate situation and that responsibility is important. I do hope that you will keep an open mind because I do believe an old dog can learn new tricks.

1:16:55 Tony: Hey, I'll do my best, I'm pretty old. [laughs]

1:16:59 Sofia: Okay, yeah. All right. Cool.

1:17:00 Emily: And I think that I feel okay with that conversation, kind of feel like I suss him out a little more. I was considering spying on him. Obviously, I don't say this out loud, but I think I'm going to just keep it as is.

1:17:20 Brennan: Cool, the meeting comes. So Esther arrives with JJ in tow because Ana and Amelia are asleep. It's the daytime. So she arrives looking great. They're with Ricky. Iga, you get there. You guys all meet up at the ferry. You see Willy walking up. [imitates thudding] Give me a Perception check.

1:17:51 Lou: You got it. That's going to be 18.

1:17:57 Brennan: Willy is moving a little bit slower than normal.

1:18:03 Lou: Can I tell why or is there… Can I tell why without asking?

1:18:08 Brennan: Give me a Medicine check.

1:18:10 Lou: I'd love to. That's going to be a 28.

1:18:17 Brennan: Willy is a golem. He is animated by a divine force and it looks like that maybe his connection to that divine force is a little bit weaker. A little bit lessened. It looks like he's straining more to move his own bulk but he looks up at you and you can tell he's masking it. He just goes,

1:18:38 Willy: Kingston Brown from uptown, there’s my buddy.

1:18:41 Kingston: Oh, what’s up, Willy.

1:18:44 Lou: A big old hug.

1:18:47 Kingston: Hey, thank you so much for coming out. This should be good to get off the island, go see what Staten Island's all about. I agree.

1:18:58 Brennan: You guys, so it's Willy, Lowell Masters who shows up. Who's also moving slowly. [cast laughs]

1:19:11 Brennan: Esther and JJ, JJ can see Willy and is… He's like,

1:19:14 JJ: Holy shnikes dude, this guy. Look at this dude. This is wild, man!

1:19:22 Brennan: And you guys all get on the Staten Island ferry, Pete, this is the morning you woke up. So you get there right as the ferry is about to take off. So you see Madam Anastasia, Ricky, Esther, JJ, Willy, Kingston and Cody all here with Lowell Masters. Pete, what do you say as you approach?

1:19:44 Ally: Yeah, I think I just tell everyone everything. Yeah, especially Kingston, I'm just talking about how it was taking dreams away. It seemed to be a lot of… Like it was just subtracting something from the city or something from the people and that it's only banished.

1:20:08 Kingston: Oh, well that doesn't sound good at all.

1:20:11 Zac: Did you tell us the Gladiator part?

1:20:14 Ally: No. Yeah, yeah. I'll tell you that part too. And about finding Nod. Wait, sorry. The Gladiator part was at the end, right before I woke up.

1:20:25 Brennan: The two signs in Times Square that had been shut off which literally you understand. You understand in waking what that means because Times Square and Nod is made up of everybody's dreams and ambitions and desires for the future. When signs disappear like that, it means somebody in the waking world fully gave up on that dream. It died in them.

1:20:51 Ally: So then I saw a Gladiator come back on.

1:20:55 Brennan: [imitates billboard flashing] Yep.

1:20:56 Ally: Got it. Yeah. I let everyone know that. Especially Cody.

1:21:00 Cody: This is all adding up.

1:21:01 Ally: I'm like, yeah.

1:21:02 Cody: This is super adding up.

1:21:04 Zac: Wait, I want to ask JJ something for a second.

1:21:07 Brennan: Yeah. Go for it.

1:21:08 Ricky: JJ, I remember you and Esther talking. You are at Columbia and you found a particle in science that was literally magic.

1:21:21 JJ: Yes, it was pretty wild, man. So it has to do with the physics of space-time. And basically, there is a particle within the understanding of science. Ricky nods along.

1:21:41 Brennan: You see JJ looks at Ricky already like… He's like,

1:21:44 JJ: Okay, so basically it's this, right? Nothing can move faster than the speed of light, right? Speed of light is the fastest thing in the world. And as long as this thing is like, theoretically you could time travel and like go back to the past. But in order to do that you'd have to move faster than the speed of light and nothing can move faster than the speed of light. There's a whole bunch of relative reasons for that. But it's this weird thing where, have you ever heard that light moves both like a particle and a wave, it behaves sort of like both in weird ways?

1:22:11 Ricky: Have I heard that? [Brennan and Emily laugh]

1:22:15 Ricky: [unconvincingly] Well, yeah, sure. Awesome.

1:22:20 JJ: So there is an element in terms of time, there are elements of time that exist in kind of measurable space that we can quantify and kind of understand. But in terms of relativity they change in certain instances, right? But when you get into studying quantum mechanics, the whole thing with quantum mechanics is a thing can break rules. It can be in two places at the same time, the rules of kind of macro physics and the rules of quantum physics differ. So we don't have a united theory of physics, right? So I'm sorry. I feel like I'm messing up.

1:23:02 Ricky: I don’t... It seems like you're talking about stuff that… Well, generally my question... Did anyone find your research?

1:23:12 JJ: Oh, well, I sent it in because I applied for an internship at Gladiator. [offscreen sighing]

1:23:18 JJ: So I sent it in to them, but is that…  Did I… What's up? Why is everyone's sighing?

1:23:31 Cody: [yells] I played Soul Calibur with you, dude! [cast laughs]

1:23:38 JJ: Dude, they just pay super well. I got the cool thing at Columbia. I wasn't gonna work there forever, but like it's a huge thing on your resume. If you can… I didn't mean to fuck up.

1:23:51 Brennan: You see he says,

1:23:51 JJ: Look there's a…

1:23:53 Brennan: Esther stands up for JJ and says,

1:23:53 Esther: JJ didn't know the magical world was real three or four days ago. So we're gonna let JJ off the hook on this one.

1:24:06 Brennan: You see, JJ goes,

1:24:06 JJ: Yeah. Look, basically the particle is this interesting thing, right? Because it exists where… I was studying it in Florida and I couldn't find it. It wasn't there basically, right? But when I came to New York or say in Columbia we were able to find traces of this thing that were fractal images of a moment of time where instances of time that were longer were actually repeating at impossible speeds, right? So there are segments of time within New York that seemingly, now that I understand within the "Unsleeping City", the beginning, I was like why are we only finding traces of this in New York City? And now I know about the "Unsleeping City", but basically if you take like a year in New York, that year exists as a standard year, but also has a fractal quantum… [struggling for a description]

1:25:06 Ricky: Is it like New York minute?

1:25:08 JJ: Yes!

1:25:09 Brennan: He points at you and says,

1:25:09 JJ: Yes! Exactly. There are minutes of time that exists in fractal quantum entanglement with themselves, where if you can isolate a 60 second span in New York, it consolidates to a particle faster than the speed of light. There are these minutes floating around in space-time here that are literally faster than the speed of light. There is nothing faster than [sighs] a New York minute.

1:25:41 Pete: Everything could change.

1:25:44 JJ: Yeah. It's pretty fucking wild. It's cool.

1:25:46 Pete: In a New York minute, ooh you. Do you guys know this song? Nevermind.

1:25:50 Ricky: Sorry, I. [cast laughs]

1:25:55 Ally: Can't wait for that to be in a supercut.

1:25:57 Brennan: You make it to Staten Island, exit this ferry, Emily what's waiting for them as they exit the ferry in Staten Island?

1:26:05 Emily: I have a secret flash mob that's just people having a lovely day, but in a sort of choreographed way. [laughing] [Disney music]

1:26:18 Siobhan: Like La La Land but Staten Island.

1:26:20 Emily: Exactly. (laughing)

1:26:21 Murph: Oh my gosh.

1:26:22 Ally: Stata Island.

1:26:25 Emily: So it'll be like a kid loses their balloon and then a nice man catches it for them. But then falls over a grocer, who's putting out stuff. But then is caught by someone who's putting a mattress out on the sidewalk. [laughs]

1:26:44 Ricky: Wow, it’s really nice here.

1:26:44 Kingston: People keep catching people. People keep tripping.

1:26:47 Ricky: I don't know why it's got, it’s a bad rap. I mean, this is wonderful.

1:26:50 Cody: Fucking incredible.

1:26:51 Emily: Three, two, one, and now they all erupt into song. [laughs]

1:26:57 Iga: This, and take it from me, I know ‘em when I know ‘em, is not real. [cast laughs]

1:27:06 Brennan: All of you ascend the sky-bound fire escape that moves all the way up to the Monastery of the Midnight Sun. You arrive to find a small welcoming committee made up of Sofia, Cindy, who's the abbess, and Solomon out here. Cindy and Solomon both look over at you, Kingston. Cindy goes,

1:27:31 Cindy: Oh, Kingston Brown, I remember when you were here all the time.

1:27:36 Brennan: Gives you a big hug.

1:27:38 Kingston: Oh, we're a long way away from Jackson's days. But I mean, Sofia holds it down.

1:27:45 Sofia: [flatly] You came out for Jackson?

1:27:47 Kingston: What?

1:27:48 Sofia: You came out for Jackson? You came out to Staten Island for Jackson.

1:27:53 Kingston: I mean, there was a lot more going… I mean, you are so competent that Jackson couldn't handle it the way you could.

1:27:58 Ally: Oooh. Ooh.

1:28:03 Emily: I scarf a cannoli.

1:28:03 Sofia: Yeah.

1:28:09 Iga: I brought you a box of Peter Pan Donuts, from Greenpoint.

1:28:14 Sofia: Oh thank you so much!

1:28:15 Iga: As a gift.

1:28:16 Emily: I put them out.

1:28:18 Brennan: Incredible, Peter Pan Donuts. Cannolis from Staten Island, a true spread.

1:28:24 Emily: So sweet.

1:28:27 Brennan: You guys get inside. Solomon says hello to Kingston and Iga as well. Solomon goes,

1:28:35 Solomon: Hey Kingston. Good to see you back in the monastery.

1:28:38 Kingston: Hey, nice to see you, Solomon. [to Sofia] I wasn't around here like that much. [cast laughs]

1:28:45 Kingston: I just, I'm familiar with these people. I wasn't like I was out here every weekend back in Jackson's day, just to be clear.

1:28:55 Brennan: And you guys, as you go in. Kingston, you see a guy that you haven't met yet because you were not Vox Populi, before this guy had already left and moved out to San Francisco. But Tony Simos comes over to you, Kingston. And he goes,

1:29:10 Tony: Do I speak now to the Vox Populi, of New York City?

1:29:16 Kingston: You can just call me Kingston Brown. Nice to meet you, what's your name?

1:29:19 Tony: My name is Tony Simos. I'm former First Fist of the monastery. Your reputation precedes you Mr. Brown, it’s a pleasure to have in the monastery.

1:29:28 Kingston: Hey, nice to meet you Tony.

1:29:28 Lou: Yeah. Yeah, that's all. Just shake his hand.

1:29:35 Brennan: Yeah, shake his hand and move on. Sofia, give me an Insight check.

1:29:41 Emily: Okay. Ooh, bad. That is a 9.

1:29:49 Brennan: 9. Cool. You see Tony walk over to Ricky, Esther, and JJ. Tony looks over and he goes,

1:29:56 Tony: Hey, I want to talk, Ms. Sinclair. Alejandro was an incredible man. And I want to come over and say, sorry for your loss. He was one of a kind and an asset to the city that is truly, truly amazing.

1:30:14 Brennan: And Tony looks at you, Ricky and says,

1:30:17 Tony: And this is Mr. March off the Fireman's calendar. How you doing, pal?

1:30:22 Ricky: Former Mr. March, how you doing?

1:30:25 Tony: It's all right.

1:30:25 Ricky: My name is Rick. You can call me Ricky.

1:30:28 Tony: Ricky, that's all right man. I got a lot of firefighters in his family, man. How you doing?

1:30:31 Ricky: I'm good. We're working on a new calendar. Um, or, Esther, am I supposed to talk about that?

1:30:38 Brennan: Esther goes,

1:30:38 Esther: You're fine. You're fine, Ricky.

1:30:39 Ricky: Okay.

1:30:41 Brennan: As the meeting begins to get started… Yeah. I guess Sofia—

1:30:47 Emily: Before I let Tony be in this meeting can I just do an Insight on him or on Cindy to make sure? 'Cause like I trusted him because of Cindy but can I do an Insight to see if he's bewitching Cindy in any way.

1:31:07 Brennan: Give an Insight check.

1:31:09 Emily: Okay. I have bad insight. Let's see. Okay. 19.

1:31:17 Brennan: Cindy is not bewitched, but she loves Tony. She and him came up around the same time.

1:31:27 Emily: Okay, so it seems like a sincere… She trusts him.

1:31:33 Brennan: She trusts him implicitly, you see that. You see that Tony has genuine affection for Cindy on a 19. No doubt about it. He's very playful, gregarious, kind of a funny guy.

1:31:49 Emily: I did want to text the group text and be like,

1:31:52 Sofia: This is the guy I was talking about.

1:31:54 Brennan: You do see, pointedly on a 19. Tony does not introduce himself to Cody, does not introduce himself to Iga and does not look at Pete.

1:32:07 Ally: While he's not looking I cast True Strike on him. [cast laughs]

1:32:14 Emily: Okay, this is like—

1:32:15 Siobhan: Can I use my Ghostly Gaze? I have a weird… Can I use my Ghostly Gaze to go through Tony's wallet?

1:32:29 Brennan: I'm gonna roll a d20. Tony's tight bike shorts and workout tank top reveal no wallet of any kind to you.

1:32:40 Siobhan: He doesn't have any info on him at all, interesting.

1:32:44 Brennan: He's got a watch.

1:32:47 Emily: Apple Watch?

1:32:49 Siobhan: Is it an Apple watch?

1:32:49 Emily: Ghostly Gaze into his email.

1:32:51 Brennan: No, you don’t see, it's not an Apple watch.

1:32:53 Siobhan: I don't think there's going to be anything inside a watch that Ghostly Gaze lets me see through solid objects. So I don't think me seeing through a watch will give me any useful information on him. Does it look like an expensive watch?

1:33:12 Brennan: Did it look like an expensive watch? Yeah, I guess it looks… Yeah, it looks nice. Looks like a nice watch.

1:33:15 Siobhan: Okay.

1:33:17 Emily: Okay, I'm just going to text Pete and be like,

1:33:19 Sofia: Do you want me to ask this guy to leave? 'Cause he's being really disrespectful to you.

1:33:24 Ally: I would text back.

1:33:25 Pete: I cast True Strike.

1:33:29 Emily: Pete likes it, all right.

1:33:30 Ally: I said,

1:33:30 Pete: I'll take him down if he makes a move.

1:33:32 Sofia: Okay. I've got my eyes on him. You got your eyes on him. We all know this guy is possibly an absolute piece of shit.

1:33:40 Ally: I'm standing up so straight, almost on my toes.

1:33:46 Murph: Yeah, I think Cody is also seeing this as a chance to bond by being… It looks like he's standing near Pete smoking a cigarette.

1:33:53 Ally: And I love it honestly.

1:33:55 Cody: What do you think this guy’s fucking deal is?

1:33:58 Pete: I don't fucking know. I don't fucking know. But he's about to get it handed to him.

1:34:02 Cody: Fucking dick. [cast laughs]

1:34:06 Sofia: Cody, you can't smoke in here. You can't smoke in here.

1:34:10 Cody: I'm so fucking sorry. I'm so fucking sorry.

1:34:14 Brennan: It's incredible. Yeah. You see the Astoria boys over in the corner talking to each other. You guys got pad thai last night. You're feeling great. You're back at the spot enjoying yourselves. Life is good.

1:34:24 Emily: I feel like I need to kick him out. But also, I don't want to disrespect Cindy.

1:34:29 Brennan: I think Sofia knows that there's no way to kick him out without it being a huge clusterfuck. The meeting begins. Esther stands up and goes,

1:34:38 Esther: Assembled inhabitants, denizens and protectors of the Unsleeping City. Good afternoon. My name is Esther Sinclair. I'm the chairwoman and head of the Gramercy Occult Society, which has long worked hand in hand with the Order of the Concrete Fist to safeguard the city of New York and the Unsleeping City. We also have the honor today of being joined by both the Vox Populi and Vox Phantasma. And for the first time in the history of— The cast members clap.

1:35:10 Emily: Let's get a big round of applause going.

1:35:12 Murph: Look at Tony.

1:35:13 Emily: Look at Tony. [laughs]

1:35:17 Brennan: Tony does not clap, but makes one of those faces of like, [nodding] sort of nods along the clapping.

1:35:21 Emily: This motherfucker.

1:35:26 Ally: That's so specific and that's so blood boiling. [Emily laughs]

1:35:39 Brennan: You see that—

1:35:41 Emily: I'm going to Hexblade Curse him quietly.

1:35:44 Brennan: Quietly. Cool, incredible.

1:35:49 Ally: Wait, what'd you say? Sorry.

1:35:51 Emily: I just put a little Hexblade Curse on him just in case shit goes down.

1:35:56 Ally: We start leveling on him like we did on JJ. [gentle music]

1:36:07 Brennan: So you see that Esther looks out and says,

1:36:13 Esther: For the first time in the history of the city of New York, we not only have the ability to protect the city from threats external, but to also understand our externalities. And in fact, everything that we've come to learn and understand about the sixth borough.

1:36:34 Brennan: You see Tony winces at this, the sixth borough is not a term that the order would have used back in the day to refer to Nod. They would have just called it Nod. She says,

1:36:44 Esther: Is indeed that the denizens of Nod are for lack of a better word, New Yorkers and deserve the extent of our protection and our understanding. Over the past two weeks, we have seen an influx of raw Umbra into the environs of the waking world of New York, both in the washing ashore so to speak of antipopuli, aboard a northbound A train on Halloween evening, but also in connections to other Nods of magic nearby. We saw not only the arrival of the Jersey Devil followed by his prompt defeat, thanks to Champion of Darkness. Cody starts clapping.

1:37:31 Ally: I nudge you. Pete claps aggressively.

1:37:34 Brennan: You see Tony leans over and whispers to Cindy and say,

1:37:37 Tony: This guy just fucking start his own clap. Did he start his own—

1:37:42 Zac: Ricky just nods. [mimicking the way Tony was nodding before] [cast laughs]

1:37:45 Emily: Ricky you—

1:37:47 Ally: You devilish.

1:37:50 Cody: I started a bunch of claps, just all the claps. So relax.

1:37:53 Brennan: You see, Esther looks and says,

1:37:55 Esther: Not to mention the appearance of an infernal codex itself in a Hot Topic.

1:38:10 Brennan: You see that JJ speaks up and says,

1:38:12 JJ: Honestly, I feel I've seen infernal codices in Hot Topics before.

1:38:18 Brennan: And Esther goes,

1:38:18 Esther: Right in this case, a real one, which is noteworthy.

1:38:24 Brennan: She says,

1:38:24 Esther: Additionally, we have Lowell Masters here who should be here in a minute or two. He's in the bathroom at the moment.

1:38:38 Iga: [hums in distaste] My mother, what she would say to me. [Emily and Brennan laugh]

1:38:45 Brennan: Incredible, you see Lowell Masters walks in. Iga, it looks like honestly, some incredible restoration work has happened on this chest. It looks to be in incredible shape. Lowell has really taken care of it. You see that it's on a small trolley table with some flowers around it. Some incense burning, brings it in. He goes,

1:39:09 Lowell: Hello everyone. So we did a deep 48 hour scan on the chest here. Sort of understood the major things about it sort of right away.

1:39:20 Emily: Need to say deep.

1:39:24 Lowell: Again for everybody here. Just want everyone to know, the margin of error on these identifies is, well, we would have to be, in a tiny fractional percentage to not sort of have a deeper understanding here. So the box appears to have been changed. And I am happy to report that these changes in the exterior of the box are a reaction of the box to a change in its environs. Far be it from the city appearing on it… The city and skyscrapers appearing on it...

1:40:07 Brennan: And you see as he shows you the chest, the chest has another complimentary set of skyscrapers. Now showing a woman with her hair tied in a scarf and a man with an enormous double-handed sword and a long coat.

1:40:28 Iga: Hmm. We are put together. Interesting.

1:40:34 Cody: Two sides of the same coin. [cast laughs]

1:40:37 Iga: You keep on saying that. And do not know if you know what it means.

1:40:42 Brennan: You see Lowell says, see he says,

1:40:47 Lowell: I want to be very clear to Mrs. Lisowski here that the appearance of a city skyline on this box, is effectively something along the lines of perhaps an adaptation, maybe more correctly put to be an evolution, because the forces that have prompted this allergic reaction of your box, aren't trying to put a city on it. They're trying to erase it. And your box is fighting back.

1:41:30 Iga: Okay, that's weird.

1:41:32 Ricky: What's trying to erase—

1:41:32 Iga: I mean, certainly my magic has not become less powerful. So they're not winning.

1:41:40 Brennan: You see that the—

1:41:47 Sofia: Is it essentially like a rash that's an immune response to a greater threat?

1:41:53 Brennan: You see Lowell says,

1:41:53 Lowell: Precisely, exactly. The force at work that has changed the environment. I believe the box is responding to the presence of this raw Umbra within the city. And the Umbra is seeking out things like the chest that belongs to Mrs. Lisowski and objects like these fighting back and withstanding is actually preventing the tide from destroying or racing even more. So this chest right now, if I'm being honest…

1:42:29 Brennan: You see that Esther stands up, she says,

1:42:33 Esther: Can you tell us more about the nature of the chest?

1:42:35 Brennan: And he says,

1:42:35 Lowell: Absolutely, incredibly powerful magic of all eight schools of magic. Every single one. There are thematic associations within this, with legend, myth, stories, and particularly history and time itself.

1:43:07 Brennan: Kingston as you hear this, go ahead and give me a Perception or Insight roll.

1:43:15 Lou: You got it. We'll go 23 Insight.

1:43:26 Brennan: Kingston, you're looking at this chest, old and full stories. And now you see it's covered in skyscrapers. And it's covered in skyscrapers, all this wild stuff all over it. That chest feels good to you. You are well-versed in medicine and what you see is a city that is sick and you are looking at a shining vaccine. You are looking at this. And when Lowell says legend, myth, history, and time, you have this sort of vision of… You've never associated yourself and Pete with moments in time before necessarily. Like Pete's dream, you're the waking world. You're real, your community thriving heart, Pete is wild, fancy, chaos, but also you kind of realize that there is an association with time itself with both of you. You are a man of the present. There are people that are alive right now and they have needs that need to be met. And we have to stand up for them because they are living in this moment. The communities whose blood flows in time to the rhythm of the city is what you stand for. And Pete being next to Nod, is almost mythically associated with the future, with potential, with chimeric things, things that could be anything, right? And you look at this box and suddenly feel a third kind of magic. And I've already used a metaphor to compare this thing to a vaccine, but there's almost a comparison to a vitamin as well, but there is some attachment of this thing to the past and it is something healthy.

1:45:30 Lou: Yeah, I think kind of taking that in, I look up to Lowell and Iga. And so,

1:45:40 Kingston: Iga, you were describing the inside as kind of being a fairy tale, right? Like some kind of castle from the places that you came?

1:45:55 Iga: Yes. It's sort of an ideal of a castle of the Black Forest.

1:46:08 Kingston: Is there a possibility, I mean with everything that Lowell is saying about the nature of time and what this speaking to kind of it is being a positive reaction. I mean, is there a chance that what the inside of that box could be changing? If that box in some way is tied to time or represents the past, is there a way that the inside of that box could change to be reflective of your present right now that that inside would become the city as that becomes the past? I mean, is that possibly the change that is happening in your box?

1:46:44 Iga: I mean, I don't know. It's never happened before. I mean, look I'm the first one, I'm living here. My daughter's growing up here, she's born here. But I, I— There was no precedent for this. There's no history for this. This is not the history. This is not the past. This is something new.

1:47:12 Kingston: I think your box is incredibly important to this moment, to whatever is happening.

1:47:23 Brennan: I think Iga is in a very uncomfortable position right now. Her family heirloom was in this big room full of all these fucking magical people. How is Iga feeling at this moment right now?

1:47:38 Siobhan: I'm very protective of the box because that's sort of all that she's been brought up to do. Like day one, protect the box, that's more important almost than your life. But also she does love the city and she loves her life here. And she loves that her children love their lives here. And she just feels, I think afraid, really afraid to step out. She spent so much of her childhood being warned that stepping into the spotlight was dangerous. And the whole reason that her magic looks fake is to make people think that her magic is fake. So that she can hide in plain sight. She spent her life hiding from everybody because the important thing is family and keeping the family safe. And the box is a part of the family. So putting that in danger, even if it's a means to ultimately save it, is scary to her.

1:49:08 Brennan: Iga wrestles with all of that. There are no clear answers to her here. And I think that Iga is falling into a lot of loops. A lot of loops of how much her life is shaped by the actions of women who came before her, by the traditions of this place and about all the weight of history. But also this weight of not exploring, like all the weight of, “here's the thing that's going to control the passing of your life, don't look into it and don't ask any fucking questions about it.” And Iga is different than all the women that came before her. You moved to New York. And I think that Iga is wrestling with trying to keep a tradition alive. When you already did something that your mother and your mother's mother and your mother's mother's mother never did. As we move from that, you see that Lowell steps away from the box and returns it to you, Iga. Misiek, [pathetic noise] crawls up onto it.

1:50:19 Siobhan: I pull down my sleeves to take it.

1:50:23 Brennan: Yes, incredible. You see that Esther steps forward and says,

1:50:34 Esther: So we can see that this chest and for the time being which I want to remind the assembled council is the property of Mrs. Iga Lisowski and no degree of importance around that chest should cancel the fact in anyone's mind that we would love to work hand in hand with Mrs. Lisowski to understand the chest, to the best of our ability. And how it may be protected by us, as it in turn appears to in some fashion, be protecting us by holding this advancing tide of raw Umbra at bay.

1:51:18 Iga: I will work with you, but I cannot, I'm sorry, let you take it.

1:51:26 Brennan: You see Esther—

1:51:28 Iga: [shaking her head] This two days already very stressful for me.

1:51:30 Brennan: You see Esther nods and says,

1:51:32 Esther: Of course, I understand.

1:51:34 Brennan: Tony speaks up for the first time and says,

1:51:38 Tony: Madam Anastasia, as I believe your appellation goes here in the Unsleeping City, would you… Obviously the chest needs to remain in your custody, you're the one who understands it the most and is most connected to it. Would you find it acceptable to have more protection in your life, either to move to a more secure location than your current home or to have people posted at your home, should anyone physically come for the chest?

1:52:12 Iga: What, you think I can't take care of myself? I've been taking care of myself all my life.

1:52:17 Tony: I know you can take care of yourself, Madam Anastasia. I'm worried about taking care of the chest.

1:52:23 Iga: The chest will take care of itself. The chest has taken care of itself and will continue to, and nobody else can use the chest but me.

1:52:35 Brennan: You see Esther looks over to Sofia and Pete and says,

1:52:42 Esther: In addition to dealing with the chest, we seem to have some resolution to the infernal business of the Unsleeping City with the [raising her eyebrows] “Night Angel’s” victory over the Jersey Devil.

1:53:00 Pete: Yeah, that's my guy! [cast laughs]

1:53:05 Murph: High five Pete. Zac nods, mouth pressed very tightly together.

1:53:07 Brennan: Esther puts a hand on Ricky's shoulder. She says,

1:53:11 Esther: However, I believe there's some interesting work in terms of the dream realm that we should dive into. As First Fist of the Order. Sofia, would you like to talk about some of what you've discovered in the scrolls of the monastery? [tense, slightly discordant music]

1:53:34 Sofia: Absolutely, I basically, in looking through the scrolls discovered many allusions to dream monsters and dream magic that seemed to exist in a deeper part of the dreaming world. And that was alarming to me. And I also came across the fact that there was one section in which it speaks how to deal with a monarch of Nod. And it references the gray orphan, but it does only say “a”. So that is alarming to say the least to suggest that there may be other monarchies in the dreaming world.

1:54:26 Brennan: And Nadia actually approaches at your mentioning of this and spreads that scroll “Forms of the Greater Dreaming”. So this ancient, enormous scroll of the Concrete Fist is expanded. And you see, Pete, there is a drawing of Nod, the gray orphan, and it's kind of an anatomical drawing. And you see, there are like pressure points on this drawing of Nod as like, if you were going to fight this thing, here's how you'd fight it.

1:54:59 Emily: Again, I've prepped everyone that the monastery had a different relationship with the dream world than the current one.

1:55:12 Pete: Okay. I mean.

1:55:12 Sofia: This is, this is an artifact.

1:55:13 Ally: I look at Sofia, like obviously we're good. I know, I know. But it’s also, like—

1:55:17 Sofia: This is an artifact from the 1800s, I was equally alarmed by it. I was surprised. Yeah.

1:55:25 Brennan: You see Tony speaks up and says,

1:55:25 Tony: I'm sorry to interrupt. What are we alarmed by?

1:55:34 Sofia: I think that when I see a lot of this stuff, look, there are creatures of the deep dreams that are described that sound absolutely horrifying. However, I have had very positive interactions with the gray orphan and Nod and the world of dreams. And so when I see an anatomical model of pressure points to hurt or paralyze or stun someone that I consider a business associate at least, that is unusual. And it disappoints me to think that there was a time that the gray orphan would be seen as a foe.

1:56:31 Brennan: You see—

1:56:33 Emily: Can I look and see like what Cindy thinks of that?

1:56:38 Brennan: Yeah, go ahead and give me an Insight check.

1:56:43 Emily: 13. Just like really trying not to insult Cindy.

1:56:47 Brennan: Cindy is sort of wide-eyed and you see she's in the past right now. She remembers the time when the order felt differently. She was a part of the order when the order felt differently. And I think you recognize in this moment it is because of Sofia's victory. Sofia has everything lined up to be taken seriously. Like, victorious over the American Dream, sealed a Paragon from destroying New York, was part of this group of people that three years ago saved everybody and everything. And is the chosen one and was the wife of the previous chosen one. Like Dale cracked the mystery of the Empire State Building. You were chosen. And I think Sofia realizes that you wield an incredible amount of status and have pushed this place very far, very quickly. And maybe people listened to you because of how much respect you command, but maybe it was a bigger deal than you thought. And they did it because you are so incredible. But the other side of that coin, to borrow Cody's expression, is that they did it because they respect and believe in you, but they didn't get here themselves.

1:58:25 Emily: Okay, yeah, I'm just trying to be really sweet and make this a gentle insinuation for the older members in the room.

1:58:43 Brennan: Cool.

1:58:46 Emily: I definitely shoot Pete a little, [mimes eye contact] I'm sorry. Please know that I wish I could speak more frankly.

1:58:55 Brennan: So you see Esther casts a Message cantrip to you, Pete and actually asks while Sofia is talking and says,

1:59:07 Esther: Do you want to share what you shared with us on the ferry here? Or are you feeling—

1:59:10 Pete: No.

1:59:10 Ally: I Message back.

1:59:12 Pete: Absolutely not.

1:59:16 Brennan: Cool. You see… So the meeting is sort of talking about these deeper threats. And so Esther says,

1:59:31 Esther: So it seems likely given everything that Sofia has said and our experience with the raw Umbra leaking into the city, the appearance of these infernals, the appearance of other things like this, that we are dealing with an ebb of something powerful from deeper within the dreaming. These tides, to borrow a phrase from Sofia. To paint a picture, think of Nod, the sixth borough like a coral reef, bright, vibrant, full of life but it's full of life because it is close to dreamers. It is symbiotic. It exists in mutual benefit to the waking world of New York City and their interplay, which is the "Unsleeping City" brings a vibrant arcane biodiversity. Past the reef of Nod is the deeper dreaming. and some tidal force triggered by we don't know what is moving therein. [ominous, dark music] And perhaps those tides explain the runaway A train on Halloween. It may even explain the appearance of Cody's infernal grimoire, we can't be quite certain. However, what seems clear is that these effects are happening because of events happening on the other side. And so it is possible that an expedition should potentially be planned or some deeper understanding at least of what is going on should occur. And it is also clear that the time has come where the resources of the city should be shared. We have a living Vox Phantasma and Populi at the same moment. We have the presence of this magic represented by the Lisowski heirloom. And we have warriors who will defend the city.

2:01:36 Brennan: And here she looks sort of lovingly at Ricky. She says,

2:01:43 Esther: So hopefully what we would like to propose is a research committee to look into a possible investigation of forces that work deeper in the dreaming to be done safely and responsibly with the full permission and guidance utmost of the Vox Phantasma himself. But a sharing of resources and open collaboration between the order and the society. Is this amenable to the parties herein gathered?

2:02:18 Brennan: You see Tony stands up, looks over at Cindy. Cindy stands up. Cindy goes,

2:02:25 Cindy: As abbess of the Monastery of the Midnight Sun, we would be delighted to usher in a golden age of understanding and collaboration. Sofia sighs in relief.

2:02:37 Brennan: And you see Tony loudly goes,

2:02:37 Tony: Woo! [clapping and cheering] Let's do it. Let's fix the problem, gang, huh?

2:02:48 Brennan: And snacks are shared, cannoli are bandied back and forth.

2:02:52 Emily: Do I trust this? Does everyone—

2:02:56 Lou: Can I make an Insight check?

2:02:57 Brennan: Make an Insight check.

2:02:58 Siobhan: Yeah, I want to do an insight check on Tony as well.

2:02:59 Ricky: Tony seems cool.

2:03:00 Emily: I got a 5 insight check. I want to know why Tony just—

2:03:02 Siobhan: 17 Insight check on Tony.

2:03:07 Murph: I'm doing an insight check, but to see if Ricky's pissed at me. I got a 2, which for me is a zero. (Brennan laughs)

2:03:14 Murph: So I just punch him on the arm.

2:03:17 Zac: Do I roll a Deception? 15.

2:03:18 Brennan: 15. [cast laughs]

2:03:20 Lou: I got a 20.

2:03:20 Zac: I kinda turn away from him. [still clapping]

2:03:23 Lou: 22 on Tony.

2:03:25 Cody: We’re warriors, dude.

2:03:27 Brennan: 22. You noticed that JJ had a Detect Magic spell up. JJ had Detect Magic up to look at the chest specifically. And JJ is sweating bullets right now.

2:03:51 Emily: Oh no.

2:03:52 Brennan: But you mostly look over at Tony. Cannoli are being shared, you actually do your insight. As Tony is talking to JJ, you go over to the corner. Tony's going like,

2:04:06 Tony: Hey, man, listen, you gotta have eggheads around. Guys, like you, they tell guys like me on the front line what to lookout for so we don't get our fucking asses handed to us. Oh, Kingston, have you tried the cannolis here, man, these things are out of control. I'm more of a baklava guy myself. Hey, try some of this. This is Ma’s.

2:04:24 Brennan: And hands you a piece of baklava.

2:04:26 Lou: I eat it.

2:04:27 Kingston: Ooh, flaky, this is real good.

2:04:30 Tony: It's a filo dough. That's what I'm talking about.

2:04:32 Kingston: Yeah. Yeah. Hey, so I mean, what an exciting meeting we just had. I just wanted to check in with you. I mean, of course you have been around the order for a while and I know you all haven't always… Your approach to the dream world is very different than the one we're at right now. But old school to old school, I just wanted to see, check in, just catch a feeling.

2:05:02 Brennan: He looks at you and goes,

2:05:02 Tony: Hey, man, yeah. I think it's bullshit. That's not how I roll back in my day. Look, I'm not a great liar, not how we would have handled things. But you don't learn new tricks, the young pups roll you right over, so what are you gonna do? It's not my call to make. And if I throw a big shit fit right now and say, "Hey, this is all bullshit, we got to watch out. Why are we questioning the wisdom of the scrolls? Why are we questioning the way the order’s worked for over a hundred years?” Cool. So no one trusts me. I'm not involved. And I can't be that voice of reason when maybe we do go too far, so hey.

2:05:51 Kingston: So you let me know that the shit fit is coming, just not today.

2:05:54 Tony: Shit fit is coming, but not today, pal. Yeah, that's where I'm at right now. I'll roll with it. It is what it is. Hey, it is what it is.

2:06:05 Kingston: It's what you all say. You mind if I talked to JJ for a second?

2:06:10 Tony: Sure. Yeah. JJ, the man wants to speak to you.

2:06:14 Brennan: JJ looks up.

2:06:17 Lou: How close is, can I pull the, JJ away from Tony?

2:06:19 Brennan: Yeah, give me a little Persuasion check here.

2:06:22 Lou: Okay. Wow. I have not rolled a single good Persuasion check today. That is a two and a three, so a 10.

2:06:34 Brennan: Cool. Yeah. You pull JJ away, what does Kingston say to JJ?

2:06:40 Kingston: Hey man, I just want to say it's been, over the past, what, week? I just want to say you're doing a great job and that you're doing a lot for the people of New York City. And we are just so proud to have somebody like you be such an influential part of the Unsleeping City. And I just want to check in, it seemed like you were having a bit of a hard time during the meeting. I saw you kind of sweating pretty hard while you were going over the scroll. I just want to see that everything was as it should be.

2:07:12 JJ: Yeah, man. Thank you. Thank you for those kind words, and incredible. I don't think I even would've gotten the runes up in the longer time it took me to get them up, if you hadn't—

2:07:25 Kingston: Hey, I mean you got them up and that's what matters.

2:07:30 JJ: Yeah. I'm okay. It's just a lot to take in.

2:07:34 Brennan: Give me an Insight to check.

2:07:37 Lou: Okay. That I do better. That's going to be 25.

2:07:45 Brennan: You know that your 10 was not good enough to stop Tony from overhearing you. On a 22 Insight for Tony. You know, Tony knew that he couldn't lie to you. So he put a very brave face on it. You don't think he's this fucking bubbly underneath. He said a bunch of shit that was true because he knew that he wasn't going to be able to deceive you. And I think Kingston is maybe a little bit… It says something about the gravity of this dude that he knew not to lie to you, Tony. Like that's something that makes you take a little pause of like,  "Okay, this dude is not..." I guess the lesson from Tony is, Tony's not underestimating anybody and he's not moving from a place of panic and he's not moving from a place of urgency. The other thing with JJ is you see what's fucking JJ up. JJ sees some kind of magical aura around Tony. And he did it when he cast Detect Magic on the chest. But Kingston doesn't know what.

2:09:06 Lou: I put my hand on the back of JJ’s neck. And I just say,

2:09:11 Kingston: You're doing really, really good work. And I will, let me give you my number. You don't hesitate to call me anytime. Anything I can do for you. If you're ever up at Columbia, I'm right in the neighborhood, so.

2:09:30 Lou: And then I immediately text the group.

2:09:32 Brennan: Cool. You text the group. Your Insight is high enough that you know on your 10 persuasion, it didn't do the trick with JJ. JJ is excited that magic is real but he also knows where your allegiances are. He knows, so Kingston feels it not quite sink in. JJ is too rattled, right? As you guys head out from there one of the last things you see in the monastery… Obviously, not everyone's heading out but the people that are heading out together you're just heading out. It's been a little party. People celebrating the new… Like you guys got your wish collaboration the order and the society are working together, two Voxes. We know there's a problem in Nod, some shit's going on. The last thing you see is over by the ramparts looking out over the clouds together a dish of baklava being shared between them. You see Tony talking to JJ, is one of the last things you guys see. They've been talking out there for a while and JJ is laughing and smiling, as Tony talks to him and shares.

2:10:40 Ally: Is there a way for me to pass by Tony on my way out or I would have to go out to the edge and talk to him?

2:10:49 Brennan: Hold—

2:10:49 Emily: I mean, you can always use me as an excuse, and I can pretend to show you something.

2:10:56 Ally: I really just want to do a little drive by statement and keep walking is my dream.

2:11:04 Brennan: Yeah, go ahead. Give me a flat Charisma check to do a drive by. We'll call it a DC 20 flat Charisma check to do a drive by where Tony can't get a word in edgewise.

2:11:15 Ally: I would love to intimidate him, would be my dream. [Emily laughs]

2:11:19 Brennan: Oh, go ahead and make an Intimidate roll.

2:11:24 Ally: Alright. That is a 24.

2:11:26 Brennan: Cool. You hit a 24.

2:11:30 Ally: Can I convince Cody to be by my side for it?

2:11:33 Murph: Yes. Yes, absolutely. Yeah.

2:11:35 Ally: Okay. Great. All right. Great. So two of us, we walk by.

2:11:37 Murph: So we walk by, as we get outside, I pull out my cigarette.

2:11:44 Ally: And I just want to say something like, pass by and go,

2:11:48 Pete: Hey, let that be the last time you look at me like that. Okay? Buh-bye.

2:11:55 Brennan: He doesn't look at you, Pete. And he says,

2:11:57 Tony: I didn't look at you at all, kid.

2:12:01 Pete: Exactly.

2:12:01 Ally: And then I'm like,

2:12:01 Pete: Cody, go, go. We gotta get the last word! [cast laughs]

2:12:09 Brennan: You sprint out of there.

2:12:14 Siobhan: Is there a place where I can leave Misiek, where he would be hidden?

2:12:20 Brennan: Yeah, absolutely.

2:12:21 Siobhan: But listen to Tony's conversation with JJ.

2:12:23 Ally: [gasps] Ooh.

2:12:25 Brennan: You're going to need to make a stealth check for Misiek here. Go ahead and make whatever Misiek stealth check would be.

2:12:30 Emily: Can I cast Pass Without Trace on Misiek?

2:12:32 Brennan: Sure, you absolutely can.

2:12:37 Siobhan: Oh sorry, I'm looking at the wrong code.

2:12:39 Ally: Me and Cody are touchdown in zone dancing, but like hidden—

2:12:44 Cody: That was awesome. That dude is fucking hardcore.

2:12:49 Pete: Fucking, yeah, he didn't look but he heard me, cause he responded. So we have talked.

2:12:54 Cody: Right, so he was pissed off. You could tell he's pissed off. [Emily laughing]

2:12:58 Pete: How do you look at me though?

2:12:59 Siobhan: That's a 28 with Pass Without Trace. And he has advantage on perception on all sight, hearing and spell and— smell and resistant to magic.

2:13:14 Brennan: Copy that.

2:13:15 Siobhan: So I mean I guess resistance is just magical damage.

2:13:19 Brennan: Sorry what is your Stealth check here?

2:13:22 Siobhan: 28.

2:13:24 Brennan: 28. Cool. You passed Tony's passive Perception by one. [Siobhan and Murph sigh]

2:13:38 Zac: His passive Perception is 26?

2:13:38 Brennan: 27.

2:13:41 Ally: By one.

2:13:42 Emily: He’s a monk.

2:13:43 Brennan: 27, yeah.

2:13:46 Siobhan: Jeez Louise.

2:13:48 Brennan: So you see him talking and he's going like,

2:13:51 Tony: Okay, Columbia is great. You got the whole world out ahead of you.

2:13:54 Brennan: He says,

2:13:54 Tony: And don't be nervous to, all these people are good people. The Order, the Society, all these people. They're great. And I appreciate you stopping by to talk, man, listen anytime I can help put your head on straight. You just let me know.

2:14:07 Brennan: You see JJ goes,

2:14:07 JJ: Yeah, absolutely. It's been awesome. Esther is so cool.

2:14:11 Brennan: And he goes,

2:14:11 Tony: Yeah, I met her today for the first time. Seems like the society's in incredible hands, man.

2:14:18 Brennan: You see, he looks at you and says,

2:14:19 Tony: So JJ, I wanna ask you a question here my friend. Why back in the meeting you take a look at me and you look like you've seen a ghost. [dramatic music]

2:14:28 Brennan: And you see JJ goes,

2:14:32 JJ: [a little shaky] Um. There were two distinct effects on you.

2:14:39 Brennan: And you see Tony goes,

2:14:39 Tony: Shh, it's okay. It's okay. Let me give you my number, we're not going to talk here. We'll talk later. You take it easy, JJ, huh?

2:14:53 Brennan: And Tony gets JJ's phone number and walks away.

2:15:07 Sofia: Just so everyone knows I really couldn't just kick him out or anything. Cause like Cindy's the abbess and I just have—

2:15:17 Kingston: Makes sense.

2:15:18 Sofia: —to be respectful.

2:15:18 Iga: No, it would have been socially awkward.

2:15:19 Pete: Enemies closer, I think, I think you're doing totally the right thing.

2:15:23 Sofia: Okay.

2:15:24 Ricky: What's the deal with this guy? We like him, or? [Emily laughing]

2:15:29 Pete: What? He's horrible.

2:15:31 Sofia: Are you not on the group text?

2:15:32 Ricky: I'm on a group text. I— that’s— Oh! Okay. That's Tony. [Emily laughing]

2:15:38 Pete: I mean he made fun of Cody's sword. Okay, he's got to be bad. Asshole.

2:15:44 Cody: Yeah. Right?

2:15:45 Ricky: He made fun of Cody's sword?

2:15:48 Cody: That's fucked up. [cast laughs]

2:15:50 Ricky: [nods] Yeah. Pretty fucked up. [chill music]

2:15:52 Brennan: Cool, we're going to move into another period of downtime here really quick. So we're gonna go around, do some downtime activities. Basically, it's not like you guys are preparing the expedition right now. This is basically going to be a two week period where you are sort of like sizing up... I'm trying to think how to put it. It's like a two week period where you are pooling resources to research how feasible it would be for an expedition to head into Nod, to look up stuff like, how can it be done safely and efficiently and effectively. And you guys get a message as well of an old friend that's going to be in town and wants to get together at a Denny's in Forest Hill.

2:16:20 Zac: Brennan!

2:16:49 Brennan: Because Santa Claus is going to be here for the Macy's day parade. Siobhan gasps. Murph claps happily.

2:16:59 Siobhan: Santa Claus is coming to town?

2:17:00 Brennan: Santa Claus is coming to town for the Macy's Day parade. So you guys are going to… He's going to be here a month before Christmas in the parade! And of course, people think it's a fake Santa, but it's the Unsleeping City. Of course it's real Santa. So you guys get a message,

2:17:15 Wally: Dear friends in the Unsleeping City, it's Wally Claus. I love you guys so much. I live at the North Pole now. I miss you. And I will be there in two weeks. You guys should totally come to the parade near Central Park so I can wave at you from the last float.

2:17:36 Ally: Incredible.

2:17:37 Brennan: Hell yeah.

2:17:38 Lou: Is that a letter or is that a text or?

2:17:39 Brennan: That is a voice message that appears on your group text.

2:17:44 Lou: Right. Right. [Emily laughing]

2:17:47 Zac: He just intruded on our group text.

2:17:48 Brennan: He says,

2:17:48 Wally: I can move through in-between spaces and I can go in any group texts I want and as I'm secret magic Santa Wally Claus!

2:18:00 Iga: Who is this? I do not have this number.

2:18:02 Ally: “Santa Wally Claus!”

2:18:05 Cody: So Santa is real or?

2:18:08 Ricky: Yeah. Yeah, Santa is real. Yeah.

2:18:11 Murph: See Cody's clearly extremely emotional.

2:18:14 Cody: That's fucking dumb. [sniffs] [cast laughs]

2:18:17 Pete: Hey man, are you crying?

2:18:19 Cody: No, it's fine. No dude, people they fucking made fun of me for saying Santa was real until I was like 12 and then I found the darkness. So I didn't need Santa anymore, but. [sniffs]

2:18:33 Ricky: Is the darkness an absence of Santa?

2:18:35 Pete: Whoa.

2:18:37 Cody: You might say that.

2:18:39 Ricky: Would you say that they're two sides of the same coin? [cast laughs]

2:18:47 Cody: Now you're getting me Ricky.

2:18:50 Ricky: Yeah, I guess I am.

2:18:51 Ally: I'm shooting Ricky a look that's like, "This is too easy, stop."

2:18:55 Zac: I don't like Scott. [Emily laughing]

2:19:00 Brennan: Incredible. So we're going to go through downtime activities here. Does anyone know what they want to be advancing, researching, looking into developing during this next period of downtime? Can also be related to just real-world stuff as well. If you want to be out making money doing something or related to like pursuing a relationship or whatever. Who has an idea of what they wanna be doing during downtime?

2:19:20 Zac: I have a quick one.

2:19:22 Brennan: Yeah. Go for it Ricky.

2:19:23 Zac: So I think Ricky is as aware that maybe the only thing he can offer is doing Divine Sense on the day. But outside of that, probably can't offer much. So I think he might see if Esther has a second to Identify his sword or something to see if that reveals anything about it. Just because he's trying to embrace the fact that he does not have the Questing Blade anymore.

2:19:46 Brennan: Yes. She casts Identify on the sword and comes up with a very sad… You're sort of just in your apartment playing music, you guys are lying together being very happy. She is talking again about just like,

2:19:59 Esther: Yeah, it just feels great. It's like so much work it's going so, so, so well, I can't believe all the stuff that the order had their hands on! Like, all of their pra— they have so much more data than we have because their monks have been out there looking at stuff. And you combine that data with the Society's analysis. This is going to be a golden age of magic. This is going to be crazy!

2:20:22 Ricky: [nodding] Nice.

2:20:23 Brennan: She identifies your sword and she looks up and says,

2:20:28 Esther: Um.. uh, Ricky, I uh... so the sword is connected to sort of humility as a concept. It's literally called like the Peasant’s Sword. It does have more powers that kind of unlock when you are like, crazy humble. Like when you're an amount of humble that's too humble. You have to be too… It's almost not even worth it. It's a good magic sword. I think you should just probably use it just to be like a magic sword.

2:21:07 Zac: Ricky's never really thought about being humble before. The idea. It just was like I think innately humble prior to that but now there is something bothering him in general in his life that [laughs] I guess is intruding on that.

2:21:25 Brennan: Yeah, Ricky, you feel that. You feel the thing of not only is it an insult that you don't have the Questing Blade. You have a sword that would be cooler than the Questing Blade if you didn't feel that you deserved the Questing Blade. But you do fucking feel that.

2:21:52 Ally: Fuck.

2:21:53 Zac: Okay. Okay. I like kick some drawings of the Questing Blade charcoal under the couch. [cast laughs]

2:22:01 Ricky: Okay. Yeah. Well, I'm going to go to Central Park and sort of monkey bar across the trees the whole way from the park.

2:22:15 Brennan: [laughs] Ricky is looking even more jacked these days. Just running. Brennan and Zac both imitate tree monkey bars.

2:22:22 Brennan: Cool. That's Ricky's downtime. What is everyone else doing?

2:22:27 Murph: I think Cody's talking to Pete and trying to be like,

2:22:32 Cody: We should like hang out with JJ to try to make sure he doesn't do fucked up stuff.

2:22:42 Pete: Yeah, dude. Yeah. I think you're totally right. Also you have a relationship with him, right? You guys were already gaming and stuff. So you got his number, can you just hit him up?

2:22:53 Murph: Yeah, I guess I'll text JJ and try to get—

2:22:59 Ally: See if he wants to hang or try to get what— sorry.

2:23:04 Brennan: Cool. Hell yeah. So Cody, you're also moving through… Throughout the next two weeks, various imps and devils come and pay fealty to the dark infernal night champion of—

2:23:20 Murph: Hell yeah.

2:23:22 Brennan: And you see that there's this weird thing. Bazathrax is like,

2:23:24 Bazathrax: Dude, I'm swimming in power. The Jersey Devil is like a big fucking deal. We got all this power. Dude, we're going to soup your shit up. You're the fucking man right now, dude.

2:23:37 Cody: This is awesome. This rules. Nothing can go wrong.

2:23:42 Brennan: But you also are feeling this anxiety around your devotion and attachment to the Queens Center Mall which is still scheduled for demolition versus this connection now to New Jersey. You sometimes hear the siren. Like you look out across the Hudson River one day and just see sirens at the Newport Center Mall being like singing wistfully because they can tell that an infernal Jerseyan energy has been taken away from their shores somewhere across the vast Hudson.

2:24:19 Murph: I feel like I'm having weird conversations with Pete where I'm like,

2:24:23 Cody: Do you think we could get a fucking cheaper apartment? If we were in Weehawken or something? It's just a train ride away. [Brennan laughs]

2:24:32 Pete: Yes, it was kind of far though right man? We're already kind of far.

2:24:36 Cody: Right, yeah.

2:24:38 Pete: Yeah.

2:24:40 Brennan: The Astoria house by the way is fucking bumping, you guys. It's not even annoying Lars and Brita anymore. You also see in that two week period. Cody, go ahead and give me a Persuasion check as you're talking to JJ.

2:24:55 Murph: Okay, ba, ba, ba… Persuasion 14.

2:25:04 Brennan: JJ seems pretty busy with stuff going on at the society. He games with you, but he's not available for an in-person meetup. Also with a 14 Persuasion you find inadvertently, ‘cause you share a room with Josh. Josh has been unemployed for a while now. You find an application for Gladiator in your room from Josh.

2:25:36 Cody: Josh? Josh, house meeting.

2:25:41 Brennan: (laughs) You schedule a house meeting. Josh is not there that night when you find that. But damn do you—

2:25:47 Murph: Just yelling that through the house.

2:25:49 Brennan: Just yell. “House meeting!”

2:25:51 Zac: When?

2:25:53 Brennan: Incredible.

2:25:53 Pete: Right now?

2:25:55 Brennan: Okay, any other downtime activities from people?

2:26:01 Siobhan: I'll take the chest to the Gramercy Occult Society. And I think I actually might bring Jessica as well because I feel like she's not reacting well to my trying to teach her and introduce her to this stuff. But there's all these cool young women. It's maybe a more interesting way into it for her than just her mum.

2:26:34 Brennan: Give me a Persuasion check and again for downtime activities, we're going to set the DC at 20 for downtime activities, kind of across the board. Go ahead and give me a Persuasion check.

2:26:47 Siobhan: Again, that's an 18, I'm going to use a luck point.

2:26:51 Brennan: Hell yeah.

2:26:54 Siobhan: I just— That's cocked. [scoffs and shakes her head] And I'm going to use another luck point.

2:27:00 Brennan: You got three and you're burning through them with downtime.

2:27:04 Siobhan: Okay, there we go, that's a 20.

2:27:06 Brennan: Hell. Yes. Jess dragging her feet. She goes like, just,

2:27:13 Jessica: Mom, I don't want to go.

2:27:16 Iga: Sometimes you got to do things that you don't want to do. That is part of being an adult. You ask me to treat you like an adult? I treat you like an adult. You gotta do a thing you don't want to do. That's being an adult. Bam.

2:27:29 Brennan: You're walking down the street by Bryant Park rounding the corner to the public library. Jessica looks at you and goes like,

2:27:38 Jessica: Yeah, but it's just such a waste of time, mom. You always call me up to the bedroom and open up the chest and show me the blankets in the chest. Siobhan briefly squeezes her eyes closed.

2:27:49 Brennan: She says that. You've brought Jessica to the castle. And as she says that you look, with that 20, I'm going to include an Arcana roll in that. As she says, “You just show me blankets and this weird old chest, you keep,” You see Umbra is oozing out of her eyes. (imitates Umbra oozing) She's really forgotten.

2:28:17 Iga: Blankets? What do you mean? Okay, yeah, I think it's a very good thing for us to be going into this place together.

2:28:24 Brennan: You look around the corner and she's like,

2:28:27 Jessica: Mom, just stop it. It's like magic isn't real!

2:28:35 Brennan: [roars] Orlando roars and she whips up to look at this roaring lion. Who goes,

2:28:41 Orlando: Hello Madam Anastasia and welcome to Gramercy Occult Society!

2:28:47 Brennan: And you look and see reanimated Rovias. And he says,

2:28:51 Orlando: Hello, young lady, my name is Orlando. This is my boyfriend Rovias, we guard the Gramercy Occult Society.

2:29:03 Brennan: She says,

2:29:03 Jessica: I thought you guys were named Patience and Fortitude.

2:29:08 Brennan: And he says,

2:29:08 Orlando: Right, well, that's what we're called as well. I am Patience because I had to wait for this one over here to get rebuilt.

2:29:15 Brennan: And you see Rovias goes,

2:29:15 Rovias: And I'm Fortitude because I'm back from the dead. [laughs]

2:29:21 Iga: And you say magic isn't real. Look, this is the magic of love. [Emily laughs]

2:29:28 Brennan: The two lions leap over to each other nuzzle and lick each other's manes and go,

2:29:30 Orlando and Rovias: Love after all is the most powerful magic.

2:29:38 Brennan: You hear from deep inside Gramercy Occult Society,

2:29:40 Esther: [yelling] No, it's not, the most powerful magic is always sort of a bit of conjecture. There's many different powerful magics, all varying. But in any case, come on inside.

2:29:48 Brennan: You see, they say,

2:29:48 Orlando and Rovias: Very well. Yes. One of us always lie… Sorry. Both of us always lie. No, neither of us lie. We always tell the truth. You're allowed to go inside. That's the riddle.

2:30:02 Iga: Good riddle, it was good. [waggles finger] You fooled me and then I got it, very clever.

2:30:10 Brennan: You introduce Jess, who is 12, to Ana and Amelia and Esther. She has never met cooler young women in her life. She is completely obsessed. And you watch as Esther gives her a grand tour of the Gramercy Occult Society and you watch your daughter respond to magic in this way. You watch Esther not only figuratively but also literally make eye contact with you and [snaps] dispel the Umbral Arcana around your daughter. Esther puts a hand on your shoulder as you can see Ana and Amelia have grabbed Jess's hands and are flying with her through the Gramercy, she’s like,

2:30:56 Jessica: [screams] Oh my god, it's super real!

2:31:02 Brennan: [imitates flying movements] And you see, Esther goes,

2:31:02 Esther: Happy to help. Jess is going to be just fine.

2:31:08 Iga: Thank you. You know, we do things differently. That doesn't mean we can't respect each other.

2:31:14 Brennan: She says,

2:31:14 Esther: That's absolutely right. And I owe you an apology. We are different and I respect you so much now. And I should have always. And I'm sorry if I've ever said anything that indicated that I did not have the utmost respect.

2:31:36 Iga: No, I have been stepping back too long. It was very dangerous for a long time to have this box and it gave us advantages but also my family, for some many generations we had to keep it safe. And maybe this is the time, maybe this is it that we use the power for more than just the protection for ourselves.

2:32:11 Brennan: Esther nods and says,

2:32:12 Esther: I relate to what you're saying more than you can know. Safety is really important and actually the most important person in the world loves safety more than almost anything.

2:32:33 Iga: Oh, you and Mr. March, you got a thing.

2:32:35 Esther: Yes, my wonderful—

2:32:35 Iga: That's cute. That's cute, you're a good couple. That's cute.

2:32:41 Esther: I think so. [Zac laughs]

2:32:43 Brennan: You see she says that,

2:32:43 Esther: But you know, I kept myself safe for a very long time. Things that are wondrous and magical and important. Safety is good. But if all you're achieving is safety then you're not really living. You know, that old expression the ships are safest in harbor, but they were made to sail.

2:33:19 Iga: I like that.

2:33:21 Brennan: And Iga looks at her beautiful daughter and feels the feelings of a thing you've always tried to give Jess and that hard feeling that comes from moms when their daughters are around 12. Yeah, and I think Iga has been vulnerable in this moment with Esther and Esther's been vulnerable with her. The two of you sit and watch your daughter fly and you feel all those feelings of a mom watching her daughter soar. Any more downtime activities from anybody?

2:33:57 Ally: Yeah. I'm gonna go, honey, [finger guns] to Narcotics Anonymous. [cast laughs]

2:34:04 Ally: It works, if you work it and you're worth it.  So, my consistency up and yeah.

2:34:12 Brennan: You and Lugash grab coffees, he smiles.

2:34:14 Ally: I love it.

2:34:15 Brennan: You go to meetings, you share. You're having a great time. Go ahead. And that means Pete is going to bump up to a d8. Pete's doing great. Hell yes.

2:34:26 Ally: Yeah.

2:34:27 Brennan: Yeah, baby. Way to go Pete!

2:34:29 Ally: I didn't need to roll it, but yeah.

2:34:31 Brennan: Pete is going to be rocking his… I don't know what the chip structure is necessarily, but if there is a 90 day chip, you're rocking it, baby.

2:34:37 Ally: Sick. [shakes his chip]

2:34:42 Brennan: Sofia.

2:34:45 Emily: I'm trying to decide, because I think that I want to be tailing Tony, but I'm also aware that I personally have taken my sobriety for granted. So I'm like, is it possible that I can tail Tony, but also take some me time?

2:35:08 Brennan: [pointedly] No. [cast laughs]

2:35:12 Brennan: You can tail Tony and go to your meetings. But you know that the, he is good. This guy was First Fist of the monastery. You know that to meaningfully tail him you will have to make room in your schedule. It comes down to logistics. It's time. It's just time.

2:35:33 Emily: Okay, I think that he is endangering a lot of people so I'm going to tail him.

2:35:40 Brennan: Sofia bumps down to a d10.

2:35:41 Emily: I'm still in a good place. A d10 is good.

2:35:45 Brennan: It's good.

2:35:46 Iga: Next time just so you know, I'm very, very good at tailing people. Sofia [laughs] You have so much on your shoulders now.

2:35:51 Iga: I don't want to tell too much about my past but—

2:35:55 Sofia: Anastasia, we’re asking too much of you.

2:35:57 Ally: I wanna know all about your past.

2:36:02 Brennan: Sofia, go ahead, give me… I am not going to allow Pass Without Trace for this, because it's happening over a series of two weeks, but give me a Stealth check. [dramatic music]

2:36:13 Emily: Okay. So just one?

2:36:18 Brennan: Just one, just one.

2:36:24 Emily: [covering her face with her hand] Oh my fucking god. I got a nat 1.

2:36:29 Murph: No, no.

2:36:32 Brennan: Wow, we're going to have to cover that nat 1. I'm gonna leave you for a moment and we're going to go to Kingston. Kingston, what's your downtime activity?

2:36:44 Lou: How long are we… Is this possible expedition into the dream realm?

2:36:48 Brennan: How long is it?

2:36:51 Lou: How long or is it a multiple day thing?

2:36:56 Brennan: Right now you guys are in the process of determining things exactly like that. Like part of the reason you're pulling all these resources of this committee is like, "Okay, if we go into the dream realm to try and look at this shit—”

2:37:08 Lou: I think I'm going to grab Liz one of the nights that she has the least work around the Rico case.

2:37:14 Brennan: Cool.

2:37:15 Lou: And let her know that I’m maybe gonna be gone for a bit.

2:37:22 Brennan: Okay, go ahead and give me a Persuasion check.

2:37:27 Lou: [laughs] Okay. Oh, there you go. That's going to be a 22.

2:37:39 Brennan: She looks at you, she squeezes your arm. She goes,

2:37:46 Liz: I know who I'm with. I know who you are. I see you and all the work that you do to make me feel… Kingston these last two years have been the happiest two years of my life.

2:38:06 Kingston: Okay, good. Same here.

2:38:10 Liz: I know who you are. I feel like the most special person in the world when I'm with you. I know what that means coming from you and your relationship to this place and these people. Sweetheart, love of my life, you have my permission. You do what you need to do, okay. You've made sacrifices for me. I can make them for you. I'll be fine. I'll take care of Bruce and we’ll all be okay.

2:38:48 Kingston: That's mostly what I needed to ask, you know—

2:38:51 Liz: You asshole, you fucking dick! Listen!

2:38:55 Kingston: Well he just needs to be walked, all right. I know you're busy right now.

2:38:58 Liz: I am fucking busy. You’re gonna wander off— [talking over each other consistently]

2:38:59 Kingston: He's lazy he needs exercise!

2:39:01 Liz: To go to la la land.

2:39:01 Kingston: Okay, all right. Well it's not la la land, it's the sixth borough, all right.

2:39:06 Liz: Fairy, twinkle toes.

2:39:06 Kingston: We have to take this more seriously.

2:39:07 Liz: Magic land.

2:39:09 Kingston: You have to understand, you know what—

2:39:10 Liz: I'm trying to put away real pixie criminals.

2:39:12 Kingston: Okay, all right. [Emily laughing]

2:39:15 Brennan: You see, you guys kiss and lay together that night.

2:39:20 Lou: [laughs] Very formal. An incredibly formal lay together.

2:39:27 Zac: You guys fuck, and uh. [cast laughs]

2:39:28 Brennan: You guys fuck hard.

2:39:30 Lou: [slamming his fist into his hand] Pow, pow, pow!

2:39:32 Ally: The joy of the DM. At the end of any scene Brennan can be like, "And you guys fuck and then we're going to move over to, uh" [cast laughs]

2:39:40 Lou: Y’all be fucking.

2:39:41 Brennan: I meant lay together, as in being close with one another. But if you guys want to fucking bone down—

2:39:48 Siobhan: Yeah, physically.

2:39:49 Brennan: Be my guest.

2:39:50 Lou: Bone down! [laughs]

2:39:52 Brennan: Cool. Kingston, we'll end on two things here real quick which is, Kingston the next morning you and Liz have a wonderful breakfast. She smiles, you go downstairs and see your beautiful mother Victoria heading out for the day. She's got her coat on and is getting ready. And she goes,

2:40:06 Victoria: Kingston, oh, my sweet son. Good to see you. You've been busy these past couple of days.

2:40:12 Kingston: Yeah, yeah. You know, since Halloween things had kind of picked up in the city since then so.

2:40:19 Victoria: I wanted to talk to you. Your father got a business card from somebody asking about the building.

2:40:27 Brennan: She hands you an Excelsior Dynamic Homes business card with a handwritten phone number on the back.

2:40:34 Victoria: Do you know anything about this?

2:40:37 Kingston: Yeah, this is spam calls and some real, uh...

2:40:42 Victoria: Kingston, it wasn’t a call, a man came by the building.

2:40:45 Kingston: Yeah. I think it's some kinda… You know, Mom, if anybody comes by from this company again you let me know, all right. 'Cause I would like to have words with them.

2:40:55 Victoria: Oh, I'll, I'll make sure to pass it along. Have a wonderful day. Give my love to Liz.

2:41:01 Kingston: I will do that. Thank you, mama.

2:41:04 Victoria: Ooooh, I love her and I love her living here!

2:41:07 Lou: Okay, I kiss her on both cheeks and look over on the back. Is there a name on the card?

2:41:14 Brennan: A different name from Devin, another realtor's name.

2:41:17 Lou: Got it.

2:41:19 Brennan: You head out. Sofia, you're deep in the Bronx actually.

2:41:28 Emily: Really? [low, dark, ominous music]

2:41:28 Brennan: Yeah, you're way up north. You've been called on Tony's trail for a second. You think he's around the corner. You're in an alley. You go to the corner. Street seems kind of lightly packed up. What's Sofia looking for in general?

2:41:52 Emily: So I came here thinking Tony might be here.

2:41:54 Brennan: Yeah, you know, you followed him here. He was walking down the street and you just lost him a second ago

2:42:03 Emily: If that's the case, I don't think I have any… I think I'm looking for anyone who looks like a peer of his, anyone who looks like someone that they would say the kind of things he's been saying to me but not be discrete about it. If they were talking to each other.

2:42:27 Brennan: Sorry. Give me a Perception check.

2:42:32 Emily: Oh boy. (laughing)

2:42:44 Brennan: You look around the corner. You think you see somebody that looks like someone that might roll with Tony. And you hear a voice right behind you in the alley. Go,

2:42:58 Tony: If you want to talk to somebody, you can always just say you want to talk.

2:43:09 Sofia: Yeah, I don't disagree. I should have been direct. I'm just so concerned about how inflexible you seem and also how… I think you're doing shit that you're not copping to.

2:43:34 Brennan: You turn around and see Tony right behind you in the alley. Old, you didn't hear him for a fucking second. And he got the drop on you in the way that people don't get the drop on you. He says,

2:43:47 Tony: You think I'm doing shit that I'm not copping to.

2:43:53 Sofia: Yeah, I do.

2:44:00 Tony: Okay. You know scumbags, fucking bad people. Cause there's a lot of bad people in this fucking city.

2:44:13 Sofia: I would agree.

2:44:15 Tony: Generally speaking, you can always tell the fucking grift they're running because they’re accusative of everybody else. Someone's counterfeiting money, they're always looking for that counterfeit bill. Somebody's taken a little bit off the top. They're always looking for people's shortchanging them. You tell me I'm doing shit I'm not copping to?

2:44:42 Sofia: I understand the hypocrisy of me spying on you, saying that you're not copping to shit.

2:44:55 Tony: How about this, Sofie Bikes. I haven't broken any rules. I haven't done anything wrong. All I've done is tried to be a good monk of the order and I've supported you in every fucking decision you've made. So let's try this. You fucking tail me again, we got real problems. We settle old school. I am done fucking tiptoeing around. I didn't cross you, lady. You fucking understand me?

2:45:25 Sofia: You know who you crossed? You crossed Pete Conlan and when you cross Pete Conlan, you cross Sofia Lee.

2:45:32 Tony: [yelling] You’re more loyal to the fucking dream realm than you are to the real world, and you're taking this whole fucking order down the toilet. And I don’t need a fucking—

2:45:40 Sofia: [yelling] “It is is what it is” is fucking terrible fucking theme! It's garbage. Do you know how it feels to sit there in your room and say “it is what it is”? That never took someone from fucking nowhere to somewhere better. The order has a fucking lot to learn from. It is what it could be.

2:46:02 Brennan: He nods, calms down, steps back, says,

2:46:07 Tony: Okay, it is what it is. And I got everything I need.

2:46:13 Brennan: And he takes his phone on voice memo, stops the recording and vanishes. And that's all for this episode of the Unsleeping City. [Emily laughing in shock]

2:46:25 Zac: Wow.

2:46:26 Brennan: Tune in next week.

2:46:26 Siobhan: No. [Emily wheezes] [NEXT EPISODE - Episode 7: Parade of Peril]

2:46:26 Edited by: gluegunshots, rowan solsys, and Kyber Bonsai