ADR - Episode 541: The Last Day of October

[00:00:17] Oh, hello and welcome to Al Dente Rigamortis. I'm Review Cultist.

[00:00:22] I'm Mikey, the East End's Rival.

[00:00:24] And I'm the Gamer in Yellow.

[00:00:26] And we're here to discuss those internet stories, most creepy and most pasta,

[00:00:30] and be critically silly doing it. And tonight we have The Last Day of October.

[00:00:36] So, you might be wondering, asking yourself, listener, why are these guys doing a story

[00:00:42] called The Last Day of October, the first week of October? Well, that is because

[00:00:47] The Last Day of October is actually a series of stories by MMPrat99.

[00:00:52] And you can check them out at Creepost.wiki.

[00:00:56] They involve some characters from the Curtisville series of stories, which we have

[00:01:02] tackled in the last couple of weeks and in the past.

[00:01:06] And so according to MMPrat's YouTube comment that we were sent a while back,

[00:01:12] along with a bunch of other story recommendations after we did the summer break story,

[00:01:16] this story involves the Fire Witches mentioned by Olivia's sisters when Olivia was going to summer camp.

[00:01:28] Like when they were trying to scare her and was like, oh, watch out for the big feet

[00:01:32] or the big foot in the wind it goes and the fire witches and stuff like that at the camp.

[00:01:37] That kind of thing. Apparently this series of stories tackles those or that entity.

[00:01:43] But also this story or this series of stories at the end, The Last Day of October,

[00:01:50] The Last Story is called Short Hoggers, which ties into the story we did last week,

[00:01:56] me and Mikey, the story of Ellie Lambert. Which apparently that story was an early

[00:02:05] version of The Last Day of October, Short Hoggers. So hopefully by the time we when we get to that

[00:02:13] one it'll get a little bit more light into the its connection with the rest of this series and such.

[00:02:22] But yeah, so that's kind of some background stuff about this and why we're doing it.

[00:02:29] And yeah, I guess we should go into our initial recommendations before we get too far ahead.

[00:02:34] I'm going to recommend it for now. I am going to partially recommend it.

[00:02:40] I'll also give it a partial for now, but I'm willing this way either way.

[00:02:44] I'm sitting on the fence and I could be pushed or pulled one way or another.

[00:02:49] Well let's dive in and find out why we gave those recommendations and

[00:02:54] and see if you guys get blown over by the winds of change.

[00:03:00] Starting with the rundown. So this one's going to be heavily abbreviated.

[00:03:08] So we start with a bunch of backstory and setting for this ancient mystical forest known as Yggdrasil

[00:03:14] Wood, which appears to be in a parallel reality to the mundane world slash midgard.

[00:03:21] Maybe. There are there are various outposts set up around its outer reaches to research its

[00:03:28] strange wonders and dangers. It was created by an ancient people as a result of advanced

[00:03:36] genetic manipulation gone wrong. The entirety of that people's cities and lands now consumed and

[00:03:43] covered by its sprawling foliage and the survivors forced to flee to other realms or remain and

[00:03:50] adapt. The ones that stayed behind set up their own new settlements in and among the forest

[00:03:57] and trees and called themselves the Free Folk. Within the woods there are also many magical

[00:04:04] creatures, old gods and spirits that have claimed it as their own. One of these creatures

[00:04:09] found its way out of Yggdrasil Wood and to the coastal lands of Swanwick where we find a

[00:04:16] little fairy girl named Krissa spying on a wolverine singing to itself in the woods.

[00:04:22] It's here that the wolverine notices something up in the trees and Krissa looks up at it herself

[00:04:27] and finds a strange red light appearing and it freaks out the wolverine and the wolverine just

[00:04:33] bolts. As the beast flees and the light goes away, Krissa resumes her berry collecting from

[00:04:41] earlier thinking the light was some kind of strange insect. However, the light returns

[00:04:47] and shoots into Krissa's head assuming direct control. We then cut away to the wolverine who

[00:04:55] after running away from the weird light thing is now drinking some water from a stream,

[00:05:02] but then something comes out of the forest. A little fairy girl with her eyes gone from her

[00:05:08] sockets and in those dark pits a mass of wriggling red shapes and the girl starts to

[00:05:15] smile all creepily at the beast. The wolverine notes the fuck out of there heading straight home.

[00:05:23] Finn for now. So yeah that was my very short rundown or curt rundown of last day of October

[00:05:36] and I suppose without further ado we should move on to everyone tolerates the grammar

[00:05:40] and acquisitions. At this point I've got a couple. I'm gonna start with this one here.

[00:05:51] Some of these beasts erupt like hell-born juggernauts out of the earth, sowing chaos

[00:05:57] and carnage their threat apparent from the start. So I feel like either that period that is after

[00:06:06] sowing chaos and before and carnage should probably not be there maybe be a comma and then

[00:06:15] maybe put the period where the comma is after carnage and have that be just a small sentence.

[00:06:23] Otherwise maybe just remove that period entirely. It wasn't that also a paragraph break? I think

[00:06:32] it might have been. Yeah I have it written down as a whole paragraph break between sowing chaos

[00:06:37] paragraph break and carnage is how it starts a paragraph. Yeah yeah and then it continues on

[00:06:44] like a carnage and their threat apparent from the start period and then there's a front but

[00:06:49] right after. And so where's like and carnage their threat apparent from the start. I'm sorry

[00:06:56] that sounded like it was like continuing what we just said. Also it almost sounds like it's

[00:07:01] referring to carnage as in it's an entity like carnage from Marvel. Yeah it's a symbiote.

[00:07:10] Igrisle Wood is actually the symbiote homeworld. Yeah why not? Yeah Null's in the deep in there

[00:07:19] somewhere on his throne getting real topical lately. Yeah really with the new Venom movie coming out.

[00:07:25] Yeah but yeah and then yeah so yeah that period it feels like that whole thing should just be like

[00:07:33] its own it should all be like combined into a full sentence rather than like be cut off there.

[00:07:40] And a full paragraph not two paragraphs. Yes yes because they're talking about the same thing.

[00:07:45] Mm-hmm and then the next one I have is a bit long but there's a point to it. So

[00:07:53] then there were things worse than any wild beast and far more terrifying. There were

[00:07:59] things that could suck out a person's soul as easily as a vacuum could suck up a herd of dust

[00:08:05] bunnies. And how long could a body live with no mind let alone a soul? Not very long. It would

[00:08:12] be a very dismal death indeed. Even worse was the horrible loss of oneself by substitution. Such was

[00:08:19] the case in the quiet woodland community of Brandshell 70 miles from the Swanwick coast.

[00:08:26] It was a cold wet and gray morning on the last day of October. The sort of morning when anyone

[00:08:34] with a reasonable amount of sense pulled the blankets up over their heads and reset the alarm

[00:08:39] clock to noon. So the reason I read that whole part is because this is a point in the story where

[00:08:44] like we had just read like pages and pages of world building stuff and world setting stuff

[00:08:49] which is awesome and cool. I really enjoyed it but then it just immediately like no translation

[00:08:55] just immediately dives into the actual plot of the story at the very end of this story.

[00:09:01] Yeah. Like nothing happened. Like so it like I feel I feel the transition period like the

[00:09:09] transitionary phase from like the world setting stuff to and such was the case with like what

[00:09:15] happened in these woods in this quiet little community of Brandshell 70 miles. I feel like

[00:09:18] there should have been some kind of like dividing horizontal line there that kind of deviate

[00:09:25] from like all right we're telling you all this world setting stuff. Here's the segue to the

[00:09:32] actual story that we're going to be telling you with characters because it sort of just shifted

[00:09:38] gears to me like like from like a world lore to an actual story with some characters.

[00:09:45] Yeah well there's a what four carriage return break for where it switches.

[00:09:55] There's multiple spaces there. Like it's a huge gap. It's like at least three times

[00:10:02] the amount of a normal paragraph break. I mean you know okay I see that but like I also feel

[00:10:10] like it should have like I don't know. Well I also agree like they're a dashed line or

[00:10:17] something to break it up would be nicer to know that it's actually switching. Yeah.

[00:10:23] Cause even as it is like with the multiple spacings and such like

[00:10:27] it still felt like such a weird like change over. Like it's the kind of thing that you would have

[00:10:33] like separated by a paragraph not have that in the middle of a paragraph.

[00:10:39] Like the part where it's like even worse was the horrible loss of oneself by substitution.

[00:10:44] Then it goes to such was the case in the quiet like that such was the case in the

[00:10:48] quiet woodland community of branchel blah blah blah is still part of a paragraph that

[00:10:53] is still talking about like the world lore stuff. So it seemed like it needed that that

[00:10:56] need to be like separated from that paragraph and like put down a little bit just with

[00:11:02] a line with something separating it from the world lore stuff.

[00:11:07] Even if just like the whole actual story started with such was the case in the quiet

[00:11:12] blah blah blah if that was the start of it like that is also a cleaner start then

[00:11:17] it was a cold actually no usually when you start a story it was a cold wet and gray morning

[00:11:22] like that is a very stereotypical start to a telling of a story and that's how it starts

[00:11:27] telling the story in this. Well yes but then but like the transition for the same

[00:11:31] way in the world lore and the actual plot is that such was the case in a series of

[00:11:35] or in a quiet woodland community like that needs to be I feel I don't know like I

[00:11:40] I it feels to me that it should be like a little bit more like pronounced that it's

[00:11:46] we are now shifting gears from the world lore to the plot.

[00:11:54] But you haven't heard it I'll say that yeah um and then my next one here actually I'm

[00:12:01] going to quickly dive down to make sure I've got this right okay this one I also feel

[00:12:06] this one does I feel it need a dividing line even with the original format of the the

[00:12:12] Creepasta.wiki version of the story so this is when um Chris is being taken over and

[00:12:20] basically like her body's being snatched she stiffened when she heard a tiny thin

[00:12:27] triumphant voice sounding within her brain that would be me that was the last thing Chris

[00:12:35] I heard before her mind sank into darkness the Wolverine was looking down at her reflection in a

[00:12:40] clear flowing stream that needs a dividing like a horizontal like line because that is a completely

[00:12:47] new scene. Yeah they need some sort of a transition like in freaking the like the

[00:12:55] justice friends or something like that where it's like meanwhile at the uh yeah either either

[00:13:00] like that's like it's like uh like uh meanwhile across the across the glades um uh where the uh and

[00:13:07] near a near stream or something the Wolverine was looking at its reflection

[00:13:11] or again dressing because we're in a new setting yeah like it's a new POV like it's a new person

[00:13:18] person's point of view and some of that uh so like that there should be some kind of dividing

[00:13:22] line or some kind of separation to like there is a there is a separation there is like

[00:13:26] there's a gap between like the previous line and this one but again I feel like there should be

[00:13:33] something that like differentiates it a little bit harder yeah I'll say this the previous time you

[00:13:38] brought up a transition it's like sort of nitpicky yeah but this one is like yeah it is very sudden

[00:13:44] on this one for sure okay cool you are not wrong you're valid yay also one one quick thing

[00:13:54] that was actually in my notes for uh like unfortunately it's tied to the to the what I

[00:13:58] referenced earlier um so like we get like uh such was uh like the quiet woodland community of

[00:14:03] branch L 70 miles from the swan with close so a little bit of an actual thought go jumping

[00:14:08] in here for a second um I suppose we now kind of know roughly where swan wick and branch

[00:14:13] will reside definitely some parallel dimension or place to earth like it's not exactly earth

[00:14:19] which we kind of found out from the previous story but it we're definitely we're getting

[00:14:24] it's in this same kind of reality or world that the idrisil wood is from as well so

[00:14:32] I thought it was interesting that we're again we're getting more we're more low we're getting

[00:14:37] more steeped into like the world lore of this uh of this whole set of stories that we've been

[00:14:49] um but uh that that is the end of my actual grammar and acquisition stuff so um

[00:14:56] Mikey these stands for evil okay uh mine that I still have is elsewhere herds of eel

[00:15:07] tossed deer and spiral horn nibbled lichen and leafy shrubs so I feel there needs to be

[00:15:17] a break between spiral horn and nibbled lichen yeah because otherwise you end up with what I just

[00:15:30] said a herd of spiral horned nibble lichen or nibble lichen and leaf a herd of leafy shrubs

[00:15:39] yeah I can see that also I'm pretty sure I mean I'm I mean tomato tomato I'm pretty sure

[00:15:44] it's lichen I think that's what I was saying I know it has a ch but I'm pretty sure it's

[00:15:52] supposed to be like uh like it's like a hard ch yeah tomato tomato

[00:16:01] yeah yeah so yeah that was my issue there um and then I have a conjunction junction

[00:16:11] all right and next stop conjunction junction so it's the kind of thing you don't even know

[00:16:19] how to defend yourself against it also appeared to be much bigger on the inside than on the

[00:16:28] outside growing ever increasingly larger older and more menacing as one walk deeper into the wood

[00:16:37] it was a place where the old god still walked where the old magic still clung

[00:16:44] where time marched to a different tune to that of the outer human world so the people who would

[00:16:58] further into the tangled bulk of the other world where they would find new lives for themselves

[00:17:07] eventually recording such tales down on paper and parchment or scavenged data crystals

[00:17:17] and carnage their threat apparent from the start

[00:17:23] but others arrive secretly and insidiously without obvious drama

[00:17:31] it was a cold wet and gray morning on the last day of october the sort of morning when anyone

[00:17:40] with a reasonable amount of sense pulled the blankets up over their heads and reset the alarm

[00:17:47] clock to noon it was larger than usual like a large sheepdog or a small owl bear and it seemed

[00:17:59] to be humming a tune as it rummaged about in the brush it dropped swiftly down stopping just

[00:18:10] a foot away from the wolverine's head and hovered there it's probably just a harmless lanternfly

[00:18:20] thing wow so we definitely again because of the previous thing about the symbiote thing and you're

[00:18:24] like and karnit and like if other malicious things like showed up with less drama and some of that

[00:18:31] it's like and carnage and like going into that so yeah like carnage like is also a creature that

[00:18:37] is like taking the data as well or whatever yeah and in fact i was at that point like carnage what this

[00:18:43] a symbiote was the thing that was being referenced constantly through this for me it was saying

[00:18:48] like a bunch of stuff and then it was saying like uh the kind of day when like you just want to hit

[00:18:53] the snooze button and then it says it was like the size of um an owl bear then all of a sudden

[00:19:00] like yeah yeah yeah the alarm clock was the size of the owl bear yeah and the and the alarm

[00:19:05] clock was sentient outside in the brush like what would be surprising yeah that feels that

[00:19:13] feels adequately whimsical yes definitely yeah and then by the end of it it was like oh no it was all

[00:19:20] just a lanternfly easily to the mistake an owl bear sized uh alarm clock for a lanternfly yeah

[00:19:30] yeah yeah glamours and such you know shape shifters who knows yeah exactly

[00:19:37] but these oddities kind of happen when uh mikey grabs all the sentences through a story that

[00:19:42] start with words that they probably shouldn't like it's ends or buts because there's always

[00:19:45] better words to use and i suppose that's uh onto the grammar in yellow actually this one was

[00:19:52] like technically brought up i'm assuming uh it's a front as i don't know why i bothered referencing

[00:20:00] it because i'm sure mikey got it as the flickering rays slanted down into the shadowy realm the

[00:20:07] four slowly awoke was that one of yours mikey no oh okay well i'll read the whole thing

[00:20:13] these are two sentences um that are split into two and the second part starting with an as

[00:20:20] sunlight pierced the mist shrouding great towering conifers and broad leaves period as the

[00:20:27] flickering rays slanted down into this shadowy realm the four slowly awoke so like it even sounds

[00:20:34] like it's meant to be one sentence because it just it flows together if you just remove the

[00:20:39] period and just i feel like this is a case for a uh semi colon well no it's a it says like

[00:20:48] great towering conifers and broad leaves as the flickering rays slanted down into the shadowy realm

[00:20:54] like it's it just flows naturally to me at least i don't know like i honestly i could take it

[00:21:00] either way like as it is now or like your modification because like for me like sunlight

[00:21:05] pierced the misty shrouded great towering conifers and broad leaves period as the flickering

[00:21:13] as the flickering rays slanted down into the shadowy realm the four slowly awoke

[00:21:18] like i can see why it was turned into two sentences but i can also see your point of

[00:21:23] like it being combined yeah you read it a little slower yeah it kind of makes i get it yeah okay

[00:21:32] well what if you did a semi colon and just got rid of as that's what i was that's what i was

[00:21:36] suggesting there like that might be a solution yep for sure and any chance to be able to

[00:21:42] like finally use what we've learned in this show about semi-colons i'm still not comfortable with

[00:21:47] semi-colons at all i would rather just commas and periods for the rest of my days fair um my only

[00:21:56] other one that uh we didn't get already is something that i keep bringing up story after

[00:22:02] story it seems to be my thing like you're the tenseman i'm the minute moment man because like

[00:22:08] yeah uh in stories there's always lines like this after a few minutes the lantern fly completed

[00:22:15] its inspection and sorted of sight this is when it was inspecting the wolverine so

[00:22:20] i always gotta ask does this mean three minutes or just a few moments of time because three solid

[00:22:26] minutes is an eternity for this kind of situation yeah but if it's used to draw out tension then

[00:22:34] by all means make it be three solid minutes that this girl has to like sit motionless in the

[00:22:41] forest while this weird creature is like scanning this wolverine like that just draws out tension

[00:22:47] that's good but if it's just meant to be a couple of moments then it should be moments yeah no i

[00:22:54] i kind of agree with you on that like to me this could be like moments or it could be like

[00:22:58] again like something agonizing three minutes yeah well and few usually means i think five or more

[00:23:08] really i always thought it was you were three plus i thought it was two to three minutes no two is

[00:23:13] a couple what constitutes unless you're french a few true as far as i know three is is three

[00:23:23] plus is few so while many would agree that few means three or more the dictionary definition

[00:23:32] is not many but more than one so a few cannot be one but it can be as low as two bullshit this is a

[00:23:42] this is from the the dictionary definition of it i'm gonna write them a letter strongly

[00:23:48] i'm gonna actually look at that few versus couple versus several how much do they really mean which

[00:23:54] is on dictionary dot com um how many is a few okay how many is a few generally considered to be between

[00:24:01] two and several so i'm guessing like two on it's always like this with with english like if there's

[00:24:09] a word that is specifically meant to be something like for example a couple a couple is always two

[00:24:16] because like you know in the strictest sense a couple means two it is commonly followed by

[00:24:21] a couple of which is a couple of errands to run they made a couple of mistakes sometimes it is used

[00:24:30] without of so a couple more yeah basically it's like two or three in the in the broader sense but

[00:24:41] in the strictest sense couple means two yeah depends on how your mind is wired yeah yes of course

[00:24:52] and it's almost as if the english language like all languages are complex and have little subtleties

[00:24:58] and stuff in them yeah i hate it i know you are a simple man yeah i am

[00:25:05] it turns out gamer and yellow was the caveman all along i'm kidding i'm not so secretly

[00:25:13] i do have that that drawing it's like caveman and yellow words bad yeah they are they really are

[00:25:24] uh but i kid i kid you're not a super you're not a super simple man if you say so i do i think

[00:25:32] more highly of you well that makes one of us either way i am done with um with my grammar so i'm

[00:25:38] good to move to move on okay um then i suppose we move on to actual thoughts and i'm going to

[00:25:44] start with the photo with the drawings and the illustrations um i really love the art like again

[00:25:51] this is all um paint like watercolor paintings it seems or like paintings uh that are been made

[00:25:55] by m m pratt and they're actually viewable as an ill like as a slideshow on at the bottom of

[00:26:00] the story and they're on uh her deviant art account um and they look amazing like they look fantastic

[00:26:05] yeah i love i love it when like an author does their own art is also the artist yeah because

[00:26:12] like there's no question that's what that's what this stuff looks like like yeah it's not an

[00:26:18] art artist interpretation of it like the writer did it so that's how they saw it in their mind

[00:26:22] while they're writing it yeah or it's like uh like the the photo or the illustration of like

[00:26:28] the creepy photo or illustration came first and so the story was written off that and there's a few

[00:26:32] creative liberties kind of thing i mean that being said i have a few critics a few critiques

[00:26:43] not of the actual illustrations like they're they're great they're fine um my my critique comes from

[00:26:49] uh first off uh one of their one of them's they're layout like they're they're positioning in

[00:26:54] the story and the other one the other the other critique i have is so each story has like underneath

[00:27:01] it like a little bit of um uh i can't remember they call it i think it's like uh the foley or like a

[00:27:08] little like uh like a little sub subtext beneath them um like for like the credit and stuff

[00:27:13] with that like last day of october prologue pick number one by m m pratt 99 copyright yeah

[00:27:19] i do think that perhaps at least for some of the animal illustrations because there's a bunch

[00:27:25] of them that are showing like the creatures that are presumably from the idrisal wood

[00:27:30] i kind of wish we had like just like a reference in that little like blurb underneath the the

[00:27:37] picture that showed like what kind of creatures are in this because there are a couple of creatures

[00:27:44] mentioned in the story that i don't have a visual for and i surmise that some of those

[00:27:49] visuals are actually in the pictures as hence why they're used as like kind of a an assistance to

[00:27:54] the story which is great but i don't know which one of these creatures is like um are like certain

[00:28:01] creatures like the in the story yeah some of them are more easily like noticeable than others

[00:28:07] like it mentions i think it only mentioned one um like predator which i'm assuming is the one

[00:28:13] that's in the fourth picture the the green one with like pointy teeth and then like a mohawk

[00:28:19] basically yeah and well is that a mohawk or is that actually like the part of that tree in the

[00:28:23] background a little bit like i think so i think you're right i think it is supposed to be like

[00:28:28] like a mohawk like a like a spiny mohawk or something like that yeah almost like the yandu

[00:28:33] the yandu fin oh yeah maybe he can telekinectally guide bolts with that um but yeah actually so

[00:28:39] like the first the first illustration we get like which is right off the hop is a picture of a

[00:28:44] effectively a willow wisp which is the red light or the the reddish light i guess it's more of an

[00:28:49] orange it's orange though it is it is orange but it's supposed to be anyway i'm an aficionado

[00:28:54] of yellow i know so it's fine like it's clearly like supposed to be that thing that that light

[00:29:01] that came down from uh from the trees i kind of wish that that was not at the very beginning

[00:29:07] of the story and had actually been like near the end of the story where but we had no context for it

[00:29:11] at the start so it doesn't spoil anything i suppose that is fair that that's also fair like it's sort

[00:29:17] of like oh that's interesting i bet that'll have something to do with the story later on and then

[00:29:21] you read get to that point it's like oh it does mm-hmm that's not a spoiler where it is because

[00:29:26] we have absolutely no context at the very start of the story yeah that that's one of the

[00:29:30] images that i would not like want an actual like um like any kind of like a little blurb about

[00:29:36] because like that's fine like it's it's noticeable you'll know it when you see it kind of thing

[00:29:41] where's the there's all these other creatures though like like there's like this lizard creature

[00:29:45] with a dragon like a little dragonling creature and like a bunch of birds it out of a out of a tree

[00:29:50] knot um like what are those wearing like a tie in a suit it's very possible they are because

[00:29:56] again like we're talking we're dealing with like fairy creatures and like the the faith right

[00:30:00] right right um and i've got about a bunch of some stuff about that in my notes about like

[00:30:05] that kind of stuff um but yeah like it's so good and actually i think it's referenced actually like

[00:30:11] this this painting is in reference to like a paragraph up from it where it's like uh the air

[00:30:16] soon filled with the shrill buzz of trills of songsters both scaled and feathered like that's

[00:30:21] kind of resembles like that kind of image um i just again there's just a little like it's just

[00:30:27] reference a few of the animals that are referenced in the story underneath that little bit like

[00:30:32] that's my nitpick that's my little switch or do you want to do it like uh bring class photo from

[00:30:40] left to right yeah i know kind of a little bit kind of yeah like you're joking but like kind of yeah

[00:30:48] because like it's really interesting that they're introducing all these characters or creatures

[00:30:52] but like as you say you don't know which one's which so you can't get super attached to them

[00:30:58] yeah and i get they're just sort of background they're extras in this right now yeah they are

[00:31:03] just like kind of like it's world setting and like and like set dressing kind of stuff but

[00:31:07] i mean it's still been cool to have like some like no which one i'm i'm they're talking about in the

[00:31:11] story but that's again it's maybe just a nitpick or like a fine fine critique

[00:31:17] but i digress that's that's my that's my stick for the the the images i do actually really

[00:31:23] like them um i just had some criticism about like where they're placed and such but we got there

[00:31:28] and then uh gonna actually go to my my first actual thought of the actual story writing

[00:31:36] it's going to start with the other quotes that are mentioned at the store to the story

[00:31:40] evil is not something superhuman it is something less than human agatha christy english author

[00:31:46] of detective fiction and playwright the thing i find really scary about ghosts and demons is

[00:31:52] that you don't really know what they are or where they are they're not very well understood you don't

[00:32:00] know what they want from you so it's the kind of thing you don't even know how to how to defend

[00:32:07] yourself against anything that's unknown and mysterious is very scary or in peli producer

[00:32:14] and writer the oldest and strangest emotion of mankind is fear and the oldest and strangest

[00:32:19] kind of fear is fear of the unknown hb lovecraft new england cosmic horror author okay admittedly that

[00:32:26] last one's mine i know the story's quotes like it they are actual like quotes um from actual people

[00:32:38] like oran peli is the uh the horror the horror writer and uh producer of like the paranormal

[00:32:43] activity movies and such uh and then agatha christy is like a famed like historic like mystery

[00:32:48] writer um but yeah the last the last bit by oran peli like uh like uh was anything that's

[00:32:58] unknown and mysterious is very scary immediately like brought me to brought to mind the famous

[00:33:03] lovecraft quote the oldest and strongest emotion in mankind is fear and the oldest and strongest

[00:33:08] kind of fear is fear of the unknown yeah um so um yeah i just i just had to reference that

[00:33:15] understandable small bit on the like the quotes at the start is because as soon as i read them i'm like

[00:33:20] spoilers like is this kind of a spoiler of what's gonna be happening

[00:33:26] i don't know um kind of a little bit um like it doesn't actually spoil anything but like

[00:33:33] going into this i expected there to be like like demons and stuff that we don't understand you

[00:33:41] and and we definitely get that but it's like yeah it's very it's uh it's very subtle in the way

[00:33:46] like it was referenced like it was sort of like the foreshadowing with these quotes is a little

[00:33:50] is is is settle it works um yeah i'm basically i'm just saying i'm i'm glad that the quotes

[00:33:56] weren't just stretched out into a story you know yeah yeah they didn't just like take that

[00:34:01] like they're not direct like inspiration to the story or like it's like yeah oh no this is straight

[00:34:05] up yeah um now i get you and then my next thing i have here is a striped squirrel scolded intruders

[00:34:15] while far below a hexapodal owl bear applied the remains of a log for tasty white grubs

[00:34:22] so first off stripe squirrel scolding intruders using full four coming at them at full force

[00:34:29] to say i also love the uh the wording of just scolding because like that that could do that

[00:34:38] could be taken two ways it could be like the just the scolding intruders could be just the

[00:34:42] descriptor like the flowery description of like a squirrel like telling off some some little other

[00:34:47] creatures to like get out of its territory or it's like yeah like would be or it could be

[00:34:51] or it could be like because this is a world of fantasy and fantastic of fantasy and stuff it

[00:34:56] could be like it's like now you listen here like get off my branch yeah yeah it could literally be

[00:35:04] like i picture a cartoon a striped cartoon squirrel like just like pantomiming like uh like a gran terino

[00:35:12] style like Clint Eastwood's like get off my lawn plus i didn't want grand

[00:35:19] or you see like conquer bad for a day yeah exactly yeah it's very very concrete

[00:35:23] oh see i you're pitching conquer for a day i'm picturing the squirrels from uh

[00:35:27] from the sword and the stone by disney uh so but um the actual thing i had the actual

[00:35:35] like point i had for this quote uh was uh actually the hexapoddle owl bear so it's like if an owl

[00:35:41] bear which in dnd like dungeon dragons terms is like uh it's a bear and an owl mix like it's

[00:35:47] the owl headed bear uh with some other some extra like kind of merging like feathers and

[00:35:52] in place of some fur and such uh it's a big old fantasy beast but yeah so it's like an owl bear

[00:35:57] but it has six sets of limbs because it's a hexapoddle speed uh hexapoddle owl bear

[00:36:05] so first off i need to draw that that sounds like well i want to draw that and i want i want to

[00:36:11] see that visual i gotta draw that yeah um also is it like a hybridized offspring of a regular

[00:36:19] owl bear which usually only has like a set of arms or a set of four limbs and a set of back limbs

[00:36:26] and uh gnafke which um i mean the story does already kind of reference hyperborea at the

[00:36:33] very start like the hyperborea outpost which uh hyperborea is the homeland of such beasts from

[00:36:40] lovecraft mythos see i'm bringing it back around with the the lovecraft reference i did earlier

[00:36:44] um and as a uh as a reference point of reference gnafke's are the reference in one lovecraft story

[00:36:52] as basically like they're they're basically giant polar bear monsters with a unicorn horn

[00:36:58] and uh and six sets of limbs yeah they're like these giant monstrosities from the from the

[00:37:06] hyperborean region um in the in the ancient era of earth kind of thing and this ancient mythic

[00:37:11] era of earth um but they're usually like basically like they're and hyperborea is basically just another

[00:37:17] term for like basically north the north pole area the north pole region in in the lovecraft mythos

[00:37:22] and such and actually in other mythologies and stuff so um yeah it's i thought i was interested

[00:37:30] is like wait like a hexapod owl bear it's like i need to draw you uh because it's just like

[00:37:36] visually that's so cool and creepy like just the the six leg the six-limbed owl bear like you thought

[00:37:43] a normal owl bear was terrifying as it's rampaging towards you now just picture a uh a six a six legged

[00:37:49] one question yes six legged as um as like an insect are we talking centaur i think more of a

[00:38:07] and then it has like a second rump area like like is it it could go either way honestly it could

[00:38:14] be it could be both because it could be like like it stands up on its four limbs to make itself

[00:38:20] intimidating but it's still giving itself a centaur-like appearance yeah like it could still

[00:38:25] bend around the midsection to have the right yeah it's a little extra oh god it's even because

[00:38:32] of like because of the extra limbs it's a little bit extra longer so how long has like a serpentine

[00:38:36] kind of movement when it runs around runs around it's terrifying now it's like weird you've made it

[00:38:43] you've made an extra nightmare fuel gamer yeah i did it yeah thanks uh yeah i i may have to draw

[00:38:51] that and post that and then probably stat it out in in both dnd and maybe even some in bosson

[00:38:57] maybe um yeah we got our bosson well it's it's appropriate that i reference bosson because

[00:39:04] idrisil idrisil wood in the reference to all the fairy stuff yeah that's very bosson

[00:39:12] um but i'll move on to the next thing i have here uh since its creation the idrisil wood

[00:39:18] was a forbidden place unwelcome to all but a select few who wisely followed a strict policy of

[00:39:25] non-interference one thing was certain this was the forest primeval a place that existed well before

[00:39:33] the dawn of mankind it was a place where the old gods still walked where the old magic still clung

[00:39:40] were time marched to a different tune to that of the outer human world in the lands touched by

[00:39:47] wild enchantment and radical genetic manipulation evolution often followed more bizarre routes

[00:39:53] unconstrained by the laws of logic this is feeling awful shadow run to me sorry mikey

[00:40:01] like giant mystical like weird like weird exclusionary threshold zone with like research outposts

[00:40:11] studying the the the the wildlife the magics and like science and magic gone awry

[00:40:18] um watched a bunch of drastic parks lately it has that vibe too yeah like noninter

[00:40:24] especially lost world where like it's all about like uh humans just if we can just

[00:40:28] take a step back and let nature run its course yeah life finds a way

[00:40:36] yeah it's kind of like that kind of thing as well um yeah i also i just love this combination

[00:40:41] of the fairy worlds and like Norse mythology with strange science and technology as well

[00:40:47] it's just really cool and fun like this kind of stuff i'm also and i don't know so i don't

[00:40:55] know this part 100 for sure again so and i'm proud feel free to like correct us on this or even

[00:41:00] clarify for me uh if you ever listen to this but i i almost got the impression that this is

[00:41:06] sort of meant to act as an origin for a bunch of the fantastical elements in the mmprat 99 stories

[00:41:13] like this is sort of like where a lot of that stuff stemmed from

[00:41:17] like that maybe yeah that place like that world um and like it's probably not all of it but like

[00:41:23] this seems like this is like sort of like the birthplace of all like the fei folk because

[00:41:27] it references like the the the surviving tribes that survived that escaped or that that stayed

[00:41:33] in this forest like they they became known as the free folk which is just another term for the

[00:41:38] fairies so like is this what is this the are we is this basically giving us the origin of the fairy realm

[00:41:43] or the fairy lands um i think it referenced like other fantastical races before that i think

[00:41:49] yeah well you know this also references that the survivors fled out to away or like either

[00:41:54] they fled two other realms like other places um but like also they reference like the yota uh the

[00:41:59] the yotin and the um or the yotar and like some other kind of fantasy yotar dwarves and stuff of that so

[00:42:08] um i don't know like it just gave me the impression like is this like

[00:42:11] the all this world setting we're getting like we're getting dumped in with like a bunch of

[00:42:15] in the first couple of paragraphs or first couple pages of the story

[00:42:18] like it kind of felt like an origin for like a bunch of the stuff that we've been

[00:42:22] kind of reading about in other stories yeah you're not wrong yeah um and then we have

[00:42:29] another one here another pair another another quote uh descendants of the conquered

[00:42:36] niam esk and einsel are an einsel tribes in what in cells yeah no it's a i and s e l for context

[00:42:50] einsel uh tribes enslaved sprites and perry forced into indentured and bound servitude

[00:42:57] and chymaroids or and chymaroid or g gmo yes g o notes gmo's uh life forms genetically modified to

[00:43:09] handle various manual tasks or for entertainment and companion purposes to resemble mythological

[00:43:15] creatures uh once divided by mistrust and bitter rivalry were now united with a single purpose

[00:43:22] and this is like talking about like the free folk stuff um like these kind of groups and yeah like

[00:43:28] again this kind of feels like this is sort of like setting up the origin for like the fay world

[00:43:31] like they were actually an advanced they were a kind of a mix of magic and advanced technologies

[00:43:35] from like an ancient long gone race before humans and that's how all this stuff like got

[00:43:40] like got founded um but that's actually not the thing i was going to point out here so like

[00:43:45] i'm i'm sort of aware of few of these creatures that was referencing like sprites and stuff of that

[00:43:50] perry though was like a surprise i was like is that a thing and so i googled perry um folklore

[00:43:56] so according to to google like folklore stuff um the perry are tiny lovely winged creatures

[00:44:02] neither good nor evil who enjoy playing pranks on people but can also be helpful they were

[00:44:09] thought to be sprites imprisoned in a fairy form to atone for a past sin or sins

[00:44:15] but were not considered immortal and were and were certainly not human souls

[00:44:21] so i learned a new a new type of fairy folklore today

[00:44:27] and that kind of that kind of like was sort of my because i'm fairly well versed in a lot of

[00:44:31] like fairy folklore and like and like mythology stuff uh just from like my interests and there

[00:44:37] were a few references in this story that was like i was having to actually look back on and like

[00:44:41] see if they were actually things um and so like that was that was something that was constantly

[00:44:46] coming up also once again shadow run vibes are very strong with this story um like not saying this is

[00:44:55] based on shadow run at all i'm i'm just like we here at al dente rick amortis and and one

[00:45:01] let's die our sister podcast our huge shadow run fans except for my because he's never played in it

[00:45:08] yeah we do need to crack that sometime but like yeah like magical trees fairy worlds the meta plane

[00:45:16] stuff like it feels it got i feel like at the very like this could be really good fodder for a shadow

[00:45:22] run game oh for sure yeah yeah you take anything from this entire series and make it into a scenario

[00:45:28] yeah like wolf cop in the in the previous one hell yeah that bunker that whole bunker such set up

[00:45:35] where like they're like they're the cops are investigating that thing hell there's even elf

[00:45:38] cop and wolf cop like it's basically just a like a cop with like enthropy and an elf cop um but like

[00:45:45] even like the previous story we did ellie lambart like i was referencing it much too i'm sure

[00:45:49] mickey's grin because i i'm just constantly referencing shadow run stuff yeah but uh

[00:45:56] but yeah it's just like really interesting um like really again like just that that blend

[00:46:02] of like fantasy and like high tech or mundane world stuff is just very cool and like again brings

[00:46:08] brings to mind like things like shadow run and is it high tech or just like modern tech well in

[00:46:13] in the previous gate in the previous well first in this one like high tech in like the genetic

[00:46:17] engineering and stuff like that like the like the yeah and then in the previous story there

[00:46:21] was like a rail gun basically created by by an ancient elven race okay fair enough yeah um

[00:46:29] but in in uh yeah so that just what i just wanted to bring up that uh and then speaking of like how

[00:46:36] i'm kind of fairly well versed in like in in in folklore stuff i'm going to reference this quote

[00:46:41] here uh their land held many dangers huge predators like the wherea and the yaoi uh lurked lurked

[00:46:49] in the deep wood okay so i am aware of what a yaoi is and not the that type of anime genre

[00:46:55] not that one avoid that i was gonna bring it up but okay like yaoi uh yaoi as in y o w i e which is

[00:47:04] an australian variant of the mann ape or like the the the bigfoot basically of australia another

[00:47:09] bigfoot oh no dude like there are there are bigfoot across the the world that have like different

[00:47:15] names like not just like bigfoot yeti sasquatch there's like the yaoi there's the alpama in russia

[00:47:21] there's uh the orang padang i think in in malaysia or in like the southern southern eastern like

[00:47:26] islands like there's a ton of of of man ape creatures all across the world um but yeah i wasn't

[00:47:35] so i'm aware i was aware of that creature that cryptid uh that was being referenced but i wasn't

[00:47:40] aware of the wherea and doing a google search i wasn't really able to find anything about it

[00:47:45] so i'm i'm now wondering if it's a creature made up by mmpratt 99 um yeah that's just connected to one of the

[00:47:52] like the countries in this world yeah so it also made me wonder is wherea that that creature that

[00:47:59] we see it like in the last image um like that that uh thing with the yandu fin uh like woodland

[00:48:08] creature um or like i i'm it's actually kind of i'm surprised it didn't get a uh like maybe maybe

[00:48:14] it is a natural creature i'm just i didn't look deep enough but uh if so somebody can correct me in the

[00:48:18] comments um and please i want to learn about more weird cryptids and creatures of around the world so

[00:48:25] if it's an actual yeah if it's another if it's an actual creature like or like an actual

[00:48:29] cryptid or creature or vossen or whatever uh please let us know and i'm proud if you're

[00:48:33] listening to this if this is one of your original creations i'd like to know what it looks like

[00:48:37] because i had no real point of reference aside from the wherea so it's like is it like a werewolf

[00:48:42] thing is it like an a beast of some kind um but yeah uh and then talking about beasts i'm gonna go

[00:48:52] reference this one uh as a rule wolverines don't have a reasonable amount of sense being mostly

[00:48:59] an appetite with claws and teeth i thought that was the honey badger or did they just not give a

[00:49:05] fuck see i just had i just had to throw in that little bit of silliness of like i thought

[00:49:09] that was a honey badger that doesn't give a fuck they just are just uh no no no matter sense and

[00:49:14] they're just just appetite with claws and teeth yeah i don't know enough about either of them

[00:49:22] technically i'm pretty also technically i'm pretty sure a wolverine is just uh

[00:49:25] pretty sure wolverines and honey badges are like from the same animal family

[00:49:29] well sure they are just one of them is uh acted by Hugh Jackman

[00:49:36] which for after the wolverine scenes i saw it as Hugh Jackman

[00:49:39] okay so apparently they aren't from they aren't in the same subfamily uh so honey badgers are not

[00:49:45] in the same subfamily as the wolverines which are a genius a genus of large size and atypical

[00:49:52] ghouloninine or ghouloninay the honey badger can be regarded as another analogous form of an

[00:50:03] it's it's they're they're they're similar but they're not they're not like a subfamily of each other

[00:50:09] kind of thing interesting and yeah i'm not gonna lie every time i kept hearing wolverine

[00:50:15] especially the wolverines of that i kept thinking of like is this just Hugh Jackman in the in

[00:50:19] the woods yeah i feel like i'm like a rebels trying to fight against bombiness

[00:50:27] wolverine yeah um i also watch that recently i've never actually watched red dawn

[00:50:35] ah like i've watched it in the sequel where they're fighting against freaking like north korea's invasion

[00:50:40] isn't it a remake yeah whatever retelling yeah yeah um yeah so moving on to the the next thing i have here

[00:50:50] to chrissa beetle a 11-year-old einzel uh i can't i can't i immediately die after i see that see that

[00:51:00] name because it's so like kind of it's a little awkward for my my tongue um an 11-year-old einzel

[00:51:07] girl crouching behind a nearby clump of blackberries this wolverine was different

[00:51:15] um so man this story is tossing a lot of like fairy and folklore names at us uh so

[00:51:23] einzel is is referenced a couple times in our in my comments here and in the story

[00:51:27] um it was like one of the creature one of the one of the be one of the races are of people that

[00:51:33] came out of um out of the idrisal wood it seems as well um but we see her here um and actually

[00:51:41] einzel as i could find it online uh is actually a type of north umbrion or scottish fairy um specifically

[00:51:51] it's from a fairy tale called my own self which is actually where the name einzel comes from

[00:51:56] because when you say my own self in the scottish i think scottish gaelic uh it sounds very much

[00:52:03] like mine's uh like uh like me einzel like i think like when you when you when you see it in the um

[00:52:11] in the in the original scottish language um my own self ends up looking very it's basically a

[00:52:17] compacted word uh from of the title of this of the fairy tale my own self so i thought that was

[00:52:22] really interesting but i'll move on to the next thing i have here um and actually so we were

[00:52:27] talking just a minute ago about uh wolverine how we were thinking it was like the wolverine

[00:52:32] just some guy in the woods a huge jackman type in the woods just like same bub and all the times

[00:52:37] about and then we same bubble hey there bub has he ever said bub yes he does actually he says it in

[00:52:45] the movies yeah okay i recently like i looked up later because in the in the new deadpool versus

[00:52:51] the wolverine like or deadpool in the wolverine like he says it a bunch of times i was like

[00:52:56] does he actually ever say that in the other ones and he does actually in the first movie

[00:52:59] he does say it a couple times and in the uh i think the wolverine origins movie he says it a few

[00:53:03] times uh but back to the story at hand here's a quote this is nothing to do with the story

[00:53:10] yeah but like again like because the wolverine apparently talks or at least sings um so i thought

[00:53:17] that was really fun and this is the uh the quote here uh nevertheless chrissa recognized the

[00:53:23] tune as an old human folk song one that seemed to be designed for the sole purpose of driving

[00:53:29] people completely and utterly insane 98 bottles of beer on the wall 98 bottles of beer take one down

[00:53:36] pass it around 97 bottles of beer on the wall and again so that gave me a chuckle just like this

[00:53:43] like the the contrast is like it's like the song a song designed for the sole purpose of driving

[00:53:47] people completely and utterly insane and it's just i didn't know where was going to go it's

[00:53:51] like oh what kind of songs is going to be 99% i mean to be and to be fair like i've never

[00:53:57] finished that fucking song when i've started would yeah so i understand i get the joke

[00:54:05] but it's it was a fun little like it was a fun little like whimsy thing all right and as and as

[00:54:10] was some of these stories the whimsy then kind of transitions to horror and creepy shit by the end

[00:54:18] for several minutes the wolverine stared at the girl sniffing curiously

[00:54:22] then she walked forward slowly and cautiously wondering why the girl was still standing there

[00:54:29] and not running away as she sniffed at the many ornaments that adorned the still girl

[00:54:35] the girl raised her head slowly and opened her eyes only there weren't any eyes just gaping

[00:54:41] holes and way back in the darkened recesses a compact mass of red shapes regaled pilot lips

[00:54:50] stretched into a mocking smile okay so that was a really creepy and cool sequence and for end

[00:54:57] descriptor for like the the possessed or the taken over um uh chrissa um and i wasn't actually really

[00:55:06] expecting it like up until this point the whole story had been really just whimsical

[00:55:09] and world lore and some of that but then bam creepy body horror uh as the creep as as this

[00:55:16] thing is taken over chrissa's body and her like her mind is gone and this thing is now just like

[00:55:21] it's plucked out her eyes and they're just have these red wriggling things inside her sockets

[00:55:27] like and i'm pretty sure that thing is also eating her soul based on the description we

[00:55:31] got earlier about like some some of the dark things that live in this in the idrisal

[00:55:34] wood that like eat your soul or like suck your soul up and such um i don't know if it's like

[00:55:40] literally just something that takes your soul or if it takes your soul aka it goes into your head

[00:55:47] and ends your brain and all of your innards and just pups its your body aka you are dead

[00:55:53] yeah and and i e like once it's something that eats your your brain i mean your brain is

[00:55:56] basically your consciousness which is your soul so like yeah still like damn it i i want more

[00:56:02] of this to like the story like ends really abruptly with like the the the the wolverine

[00:56:07] just saying nope or not not saying literally nope but like basically just going nope and running home

[00:56:13] and the story ends there i really hope this continues in the next story or like like part

[00:56:18] of this plot line continues in the next story so we get a little bit more because that was such a

[00:56:21] cool like sudden turn of events from like the whimsy to like bam body horror that kids

[00:56:30] dead that that fairy kid's dead and her body's being puppeted by some horrible thing yeah you

[00:56:36] thought it was whimsy whimsical horror uh did i just i also like what's funny is i referenced whimsical

[00:56:43] horror um in the previous story in place of uh magical realism and now we're getting some actual

[00:56:54] like some like the the far side of whimsical horror where it's like whimsical whimsical stuff

[00:56:59] whimsical stuff fun nice and fairies and folklore and say bam her eyes have been

[00:57:04] replaced with these wriggling red things in her sockets it was like uh uh yeah um

[00:57:13] but yeah i uh by the end i was like uh damn it i want more

[00:57:17] like we're just getting to the good part and then it just ends but like i don't hate it

[00:57:21] the way it ends because it's like a nice like kind of punch like last less punch and i know

[00:57:26] that we're going to be getting more stories because there's even like a next thing at the

[00:57:29] end of the story it's like the next story kind of thing but it's a it's a nice little cliffhanger

[00:57:34] for like a series of stories that feels sure i just hope that the next story actually continues on

[00:57:40] from this scene maybe or like at least like continues on in this plot

[00:57:45] um but i digress i'm actually done with my actual thoughts so mickey these tense freeble

[00:57:53] all right so my actual thought here is that i get that the story has a bunch of world building

[00:58:08] but for me it feels like there's too much and because of that it takes me out of the story

[00:58:18] because it's basically explained that this is a midgard adjacent reality so anything that happens

[00:58:25] to me isn't scary because it doesn't happen in our reality but it does happen to some characters like

[00:58:31] well eventually once we get past the world building that's when the story starts and it gets interesting

[00:58:38] yeah you're not you're not wrong like i i the story does kind of like it's it's heavy on the

[00:58:44] world setting and like world exposition stuff and then we get like a small short story at the very end

[00:58:50] that like has some like has some characters and some horror to those that happens to those characters

[00:58:55] we need the context yeah you know you're right too well you need some context but you don't

[00:59:01] need as much as we get yeah this one was as much as i like it it is pretty heavy handed on the

[00:59:07] world exposition literally half the scroll bar is um is world built which technically is kind of

[00:59:18] needed as i said but yeah it is a bit much yeah like again like i didn't hate the like either it

[00:59:24] it does dampen the scariness of the story until like the very end or like it holds off the

[00:59:29] scariness until that last story that last part of the story yeah yeah and then like i i really hope that

[00:59:38] the next story is we get more story because we already have the world building done yeah like

[00:59:45] okay now that we've got all that out of the way the next one although hopefully it's not like

[00:59:50] the lord of the rings where the return of the king the book half of it is explanation of the

[00:59:57] elvish language and stuff we need to know when then the last time is the actual story

[01:00:02] from what i understand that's a lot of token is like um my best my favorite example of like

[01:00:08] token writing and again like i don't hate token writing at all but like the best example i can

[01:00:13] give for that i've heard is uh it's like and then the fellowship was was uh was attacked by a

[01:00:19] by a band of 300 orcs after they defeated the orcs wait what harrigan saw a blade of grass

[01:00:25] that reminded him of a song and then it's just like 10 pages of song or of explaining explaining

[01:00:32] the origin of that song and the song's lyrics and stuff like that battle is just like it happened

[01:00:38] that they won yeah it's like it happened they beat up they beat these 300 orcs by the way

[01:00:43] there's this really cool like world building let me explain to you by incredibly deep lore and

[01:00:48] like again that's fun and great but it does kind of like like we're so used maybe it's just because

[01:00:56] we're all like just spoiled for like action and shit like that but and like the rules and so that

[01:01:01] it's like the the author's uh priorities yeah so that that's the end of my actual thoughts wow

[01:01:16] okay um gamer okay let's see in regards to like the perspective shift of um like swapping from

[01:01:24] the main character being the the girl to the wolverine at the end i like the perspective

[01:01:29] shift of it though like it raised a lot of questions for me in regards to this wolverine

[01:01:34] specifically like what i'm assuming this wolverine was a person at some point like it's bigger than

[01:01:40] normal it has complex thought and it it at least thinks it's singing like it's probably not literally

[01:01:48] saying words it's just like the way that it's making its like growling noises it's it's to the

[01:01:54] jingle of 99 bottles of beer on the wall so gamer i know you you weren't in last week's episode

[01:02:00] no i got the rundown you did you got the rundown i so you didn't read the story it's in full

[01:02:06] no okay the reading that story might explain some things about the about the swanwick forest

[01:02:12] like the forest around swanwick okay and and brand shell um like they're sort of like this

[01:02:18] it's sort of like a threshold like it's not it's it doesn't seem to be on earth but it's like

[01:02:22] earth adjacent where like fairy folk lore like fairy folk and like magical creatures and some

[01:02:28] of that that seem to have some kind of intelligence do exist but also like pop culture references

[01:02:33] to the of the human world also kind of bleed in prisa was like acting as if she's never seen

[01:02:40] anything like this before oh that's true yeah in the yeah so yeah maybe oh yeah because like

[01:02:48] yeah maybe yeah maybe it is like some person or it just like they just never seen this wolverine

[01:02:53] before who knows maybe this wolverine will actually end up being a character in the later

[01:03:01] in the wolf cop so we could have wolverine lady something yeah

[01:03:08] bet it's interesting and then the um i kind of chimed in on this before like the soul

[01:03:13] stealing of the creatures i don't think it's like a a magical form of soul stealing like

[01:03:19] mortal combat like um shang sung like your soul is mine it's not that kind of deal

[01:03:24] it's more along the lines of it murders you and it just puppets your body from the inside

[01:03:29] i don't know whether it like the one entity goes in and starts eating and it's growing inside

[01:03:36] through eating or if it just goes in kills the uh the person and then it calls friends to also go

[01:03:44] in and form enough inside multiply yeah like does it like yeah does it call its buddies and that's

[01:03:52] why those wriggling masses yeah it's and also with regards to the soul sucking it's more of

[01:03:56] like a biochemical soul sucking because again like it's not the it's not a like the magic in

[01:04:02] the magical sense or the the spiritual sense of your soul being like sucked it's the fact that your

[01:04:07] brain which makes up your your consciousness that's what's your your identity is getting

[01:04:13] sucked away because you're being your your brain's getting eaten physically yes but when people are

[01:04:18] telling tales of this they won't like you would say it in the more fantastical um terms

[01:04:25] yeah also like how this story goes hard with that like no it's like her like her mind just going

[01:04:31] like being taken away by this thing and then like her eyes are gone and in the in the sockets

[01:04:37] you deep in the sockets you see these things wriggling it's like oh that was a physical

[01:04:40] thing that was not a spiritual soul sucking yeah which is way creepier honestly yeah like good job

[01:04:47] and then like after all that happened it made me think like what's the purpose of this entity

[01:04:53] doing that like half of it is eating the insides for food I suppose and the puppeting I'm assuming

[01:04:59] and kind of hoping in the future is like basically to wander the body back to civilization as like

[01:05:06] a bomb to release a bunch of them into the population center to spread more yeah that's

[01:05:11] what I'm thinking as well unless like maybe like when it's it maybe yeah I think it's

[01:05:17] it's more like that like and that's like basically it moves it takes over a body then goes to

[01:05:21] like somewhere else where this body will be recognizable at from its original from its old self

[01:05:26] and then that's how it can spread out and like get get more vessels basically um that either that

[01:05:33] or it's like just like it needed a body like a host to to to exist longer in this world

[01:05:41] kind of thing yeah because originally it was just like a ball of light that shot up her nose

[01:05:50] um look we also don't know if that is a like a creature that is just emitting light like a very

[01:05:56] powerful light bug or if it's like a wisp like it's made of pure energy yeah because it could be

[01:06:02] either or both in this setting I do like the idea of like an energy creature or like a like

[01:06:07] like a light spirit of some kind that needs to go into a host so that it can then use

[01:06:12] the biomass of that person's brain to create its own physical form and that's that wriggling

[01:06:18] stuff inside of it like basically your it needs your brain like your gray matter tissue

[01:06:24] to form a flesh form of it it's basically like a bug spirit from Shadowrun um where like in the

[01:06:30] in the spirit like like bug spirits are are like just spirit like immortal spirit creatures

[01:06:36] but in order to actually influence the real world the mundane living world

[01:06:40] they need to take biomass and create a flesh form version of themselves

[01:06:46] yes yeah creepy and gross indeed that it is and that is also the end of my notes

[01:06:57] wow I was really just you guys are really just backpacking off me today

[01:07:02] I mean when you say basically everything like yeah yeah that's fair yeah I'm not gonna repeat you yeah

[01:07:09] um all right so yeah on to to final thoughts yeah I'm still gonna recommend it um again I

[01:07:15] said conditionally or like so far at the beginning and that's mostly because like I'm recommending it

[01:07:21] now because as it is like it's a lot of lore of stuff that we've been wanting to know about

[01:07:29] though this world this this setting uh we got a fair amount of like some stuff here

[01:07:35] and the story ends rather abruptly with like the the Wolverine just like the girl getting

[01:07:40] turned into the being puppeted and the Wolverine just like running off like trying to run home again

[01:07:47] it seemed like this is like sort of a cliffhanger to like the next story we're gonna get

[01:07:52] which may like advance this plot line but like so so as it is I'm still willing to recommend

[01:07:58] it for now because we get a lot of lore and we get the start of something really cool and even

[01:08:02] that last like creepy couple of paragraphs was really good I just hope it goes somewhere

[01:08:09] yeah but I also don't hate if it if it doesn't I mean that last bit it doesn't like end so abruptly

[01:08:15] that it's like okay like um like I wish I do wish there was more but like it it ends like a like a

[01:08:22] lot of short stories end um and not in a in an uncompelling way like in a way that's like

[01:08:29] um like oh man I really want some stuff this this sucks otherwise it's not so much that is like

[01:08:34] I want more I'm not gonna hate it if it if it if this is the only bit of this if it was just like

[01:08:40] kind of a short story to tell it gives a quick scare at the end of it or a quick creepy moment at the

[01:08:45] end of it I'm not gonna um hate it for that but I would like some more yeah you're not Disney

[01:08:51] Princess right now saying you must have more you're okay with it but more wouldn't be bad

[01:08:57] yeah I'm more of a Dom Bluth princess uh I'm more like Anastasia now

[01:09:04] yeah no nearly enough about princesses to know I'm not you do man Dom Bluth is the king of animation

[01:09:12] like of non-Disney animation so you're not wrong yeah um secret of noob um

[01:09:21] but yeah so yeah brass tacks I'm still gonna recommend the story I'm I am looking forward though

[01:09:29] to the next story to see if there's any more of this plot that it gets uh carried on so Mikey

[01:09:34] these things for evil yeah so like I stated the number one issue I have is that there's

[01:09:43] too much world building in my opinion um dare you well it could be condensed a bit

[01:09:54] so that we get more of the the pertinent information um because it's really just setting up the scene

[01:10:06] and then we get the scene which ends up being good which is why I enjoyed it but the the problem

[01:10:16] for me is that the it took so long to get to the meat and potatoes of the story

[01:10:24] yeah the actual the actual like character driven story rather than the world driven story

[01:10:29] that is the the world setting yeah so because of that I'm only giving this a partial

[01:10:42] fair and gamer yeah I'm much the same as Mikey honestly like I'll give it a partial

[01:10:49] because it was slow to get started um as I said with it spanning half the length of the story

[01:10:56] for the setup but it it was warranted because like that's a lot of important information that you need

[01:11:05] to understand the world setting as a whole it's not necessarily needed for this story itself

[01:11:13] it is to some extent because like you need to sort of understand what her um her tribe is from

[01:11:20] or her race yeah and we also know that the this creature is from that place as well like from that

[01:11:26] yeah so it's important but it does take up a lot of the story yeah but with this kind of like

[01:11:33] this world setting and this whole like overarching story that we're going through there needs to be

[01:11:38] a lot of background to explain things because I've been finding what I'm reading through these

[01:11:44] there's a lot of things being thrown at me and I don't know what they are

[01:11:47] and that's partially because early on like we were reading this out of order so I was very confused so

[01:11:54] like we're slowly getting all the information all the puzzle pieces to put things together

[01:11:59] yeah I'm glad there's at least a little bit of a exposition dump at the start of this to

[01:12:04] get into it but it did sort of weigh the story down a bit um but yeah uh the art was great

[01:12:15] the world is really interesting and fantastical even though like it's already like

[01:12:21] lightly fantasy but this is like even more fantastical and interesting in the world that's

[01:12:27] already interesting and fantastical if you know what I mean yeah because like it seems like

[01:12:32] this zone is like the world around it turned up to 11 you know yeah like it's even more

[01:12:38] magical and weird in here yeah because it like I we didn't reference it but like it describes

[01:12:43] like there's a city that's buried beneath the forest like like not not underground but like

[01:12:50] beneath the roots and like the the the the undergrowth of this forest that was of the previous

[01:12:55] like civilization that created this forest by accident like there's a whole like lost civilization

[01:13:01] there um that was like pretty advanced and they fucked up with some genetic engineering

[01:13:05] and created this giant mystical world tree forest um and then uh yeah like and again from the previous

[01:13:13] story we did ellie lambert um there's reference to like it's it's said actually it's set in swanwick

[01:13:19] and it references brand shell its neighboring brand shell um and like it's there's fairies

[01:13:25] and imps and werewolves walking around in this town and they're talking about like

[01:13:30] going to go see the movies or like talking about motley crew the the band but also

[01:13:38] um like putting on a play of john carpenter's the thing like that's just it so it's like it's

[01:13:45] kind of like it's it's like whiplash a little bit because it's like there's all this fantasy

[01:13:50] stuff being mentioned but then it's like all of a sudden oh yeah they're doing a play about

[01:13:55] john carpenter's the thing it's like oh right okay yeah so like and me and me and mikey kind of came

[01:14:00] to the conclusion that it's probably a parallel universe kind of like how fairy lands are in in

[01:14:04] the uk where it's like um it's a world that's like right next to ours that has some of our bleeding

[01:14:12] a bleed into it or it's like kind of like an alternate version of our world where it's a

[01:14:18] way more interesting alternate reality where in most stories an alternate reality is the same as

[01:14:23] this reality it's just things happen differently yeah like instead of me having uh like eggs for

[01:14:30] breakfast i had uh counter-ocular like that's the difference of the alternate world you know

[01:14:36] yeah or you have like uh yawios yawis in the yowie not the not the other one if you say so you

[01:14:45] do not want you do not want the the other yawio i mean speak of yourself man i mean fair enough

[01:14:51] i'm not going to king shame of course um but yeah so yeah i i get you like because um uh what was it

[01:15:00] see when i went into this story like you guys are giving this a partial recommendation so because of

[01:15:04] the all the lore stuff like is a little too heavy and i understand that when i went into this story

[01:15:09] uh i actually told myself it's like all right because like in the previous story we'd read

[01:15:13] i was expecting it to be more connected to the curtisville stuff and i was a there was a little

[01:15:20] bit of me that was a little like i was like am i getting too am i expecting too much like am i am

[01:15:25] i being too biased for like expecting the curtisville stuff like with this story because like this story

[01:15:30] is not set in curtisville it's somewhere else so i'm like all right the next story we do in the

[01:15:35] series like this last day of october i'm going to go into this with an open more much more open

[01:15:40] mind clear head not expecting any connections and then we get all that world setting yeah and just

[01:15:46] like okay that's fine answer a bunch of questions i had about the world that's good yeah so yeah that's

[01:15:57] one of the reasons i'm giving it like a full recommendation at the moment is because like

[01:16:01] for that that that touched on a bunch of stuff that i was already asking myself and i was trying

[01:16:05] to keep a keep a keep out of my head when i was reading this story but i just kind of

[01:16:09] smashed that that damn in my head so yeah for me um the this as everyone said this when we get to

[01:16:20] the story the story is good it's just it takes a little too long to get there yeah like it there

[01:16:26] was a couple of points where i'm like when is this actually going to become a story you know

[01:16:30] because it's like it's a lot of background plot that we need which is great but i didn't

[01:16:34] know when it was going to actually start becoming a story yeah and that's really my only gripe with

[01:16:41] it just that it took a while warranted but it took a while so that's yeah so yeah partial

[01:16:49] high partial because it is still a great story it's just slow to get there yeah and it focuses

[01:16:54] more on like world lore than an actual like plot yeah until the till the very end but yeah i get

[01:17:01] that much so yeah that'll that'll do for this week's episode two partial recommendations and one full

[01:17:06] recommendation for now um we'll see what the the future holds with the the next next

[01:17:12] next story in the series known as the last day of october um and yeah if you like that'll

[01:17:19] do it for this week's episode so if you like what you heard or if you didn't leave the comment

[01:17:22] the comment section below this gets posted uh we're all on twitter kind of uh mikey's at

[01:17:28] the gamer nello is at the gamer nail but without that w at the end because the name is very long

[01:17:33] i'm at review cultist i'm also on blue sky at review cultist so you can send me messages there

[01:17:39] you can also send us emails at al denteberg amortis at gmail.com that's al d e n t e r i g a m o r

[01:17:46] tell us at gmail.com we can also leave the suggestions for other creep pastas scp's spooky things

[01:17:52] you creep it will peep it yeah and if you'd like to help support our show financially you can go to

[01:17:56] patreon select the back of two like to support us that we have two hundred five dollar tiers

[01:18:00] special episodes early access and extra content to all our patrons that are helping support the show

[01:18:05] thank you guys immensely you're helping keep those hosting bills at bay

[01:18:08] and as always we very much appreciate that and to our listeners and the author of these stories

[01:18:14] thank you immensely because without your listenership they'd be like screaming into the void

[01:18:17] and from that from that dark void red giggling things

[01:18:24] and without your stories uh that you post or you create and post online for people to enjoy

[01:18:30] and the art that you create for the stories mmpratt 99 we really wouldn't have much of a show

[01:18:35] because we have nothing to talk about so thank you until next time i have been your host

[01:18:40] review cultist i'm mickey the east ends for evil and i'm the gamer in yellow and this

[01:18:45] has been al dente rigamornis sleep well