ADR - Episode 627: Paid for in Blood

[00:00:05] Oh hello and welcome to Adente Rigamortis. I'm Review Cultist. And I'm the Gamer in Yellow. And we're here to discuss those internet stories, most creepy and most pasta, and be critically silly doing it. And tonight we have Paid for in Blood.

[00:00:34] So yes, we are covering Paid for in Blood which is by Imperial Invective. You can check it out on creepos.wiki. And yeah, I guess we'll give our initial recommendations. I'll recommend it. Yes. Is that like, okay, that's a ditto? It's like a ditto. Yes. No, I'll recommend it as well. Okay, cool. Oh, what's that, Mikey?

[00:01:05] Oh, you're not here? Okay, cool. Yeah. I'm not here to say I don't recommend it. Great segue. Yes, we're down, Mikey, obviously. If you haven't figured out yet. But we will sojourn without him. He will return. He's not gone forever. He's not permanently banished to the void or something like that. Yeah, we definitely didn't like pay for it in blood to desummon him. No, no, that'd be silly. Wink.

[00:01:31] Yeah, the after the after episode credit will just be like Mikey will return. Mm hmm. Or it's like that Ganon, like the game over for like, I think Legend of Zelda link to the link between no links adventure. The second Zelda game. Oh, if you game over, it just has a silhouette of Ganon as like Ganon will return. Is that what it says? Yeah. Hot minute since I've Zelda to the best Zelda game. You know what? You ready to be roasted here.

[00:02:01] I kind of do like it. Like I know it is fun. Yeah. Let me see. I'm pretty sure it's again. It has returned game over. I think actually that might be might be linked to the past. Which one is that from? I seem to recall. Oh, no, it is Zelda 2. It is Zelda 2. Yeah. Yeah. And it's a game over return of Ganon. Game over. You done fucked up. Yeah. So paid for in blood. The creep us that we're covering today.

[00:02:30] Again, you can check it out creep us at wiki. We've covered stories before by Imperial Invective and we are recommending this story specifically. But let's find out why we are recommending this story starting with the rundown. So this story is cut up into four little segments. Some of them are shorter than the other than the other. So we start with a note from the desk of William Mackin.

[00:02:58] Uh, this is a forward by William Mackin about an interview of a sole survivor of an expedition sent out by the Stoker estate to their mining site. Uh, the survivor being named Mr. Howard. This would, or this was to give context to the estate as to how they found the man. Um, after, after the whole expedition went missing, uh, they apparently found the man in a jail cell after getting in a bar fight while very drunk.

[00:03:27] We never got the name of Mr. Howard, right? Uh, no, just, yeah. Uh, we just went, he just goes by Mr. Howard. So like Howard, I'm assuming is his last name. I like to think that his first name is Moe. Moe Howard. Yeah. Yeah. As in like the three stooges. Is that the last name? Is it Howard? Is it? Yeah. I honestly, no Howard was, um, champ. I Googling. This is important. Yeah. In the rundown.

[00:03:57] It's Moe Howard. Moe Howard. Yeah, it is him. Okay. Um, I didn't even know. Are the three stooges supposed to be brothers? Um, two of them are brothers and one of them isn't. Okay. Cause, um, like there was one. Oh, right. Curly is, is the brother of Moe, isn't he? Probably. I think all of them were eventually at the start. I don't know. But either way, I recall one when they were like doctors and over the PA, it's like paging

[00:04:27] Dr. Howard, but Dr. Fine, Dr. Howard. Cause one of those, I think it's Larry Fine. Is that what that's for? Okay. Anyway, it is Larry. No. Yeah. So, okay. So Mr. Howard is, is Moe. Like. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I have a different Howard, uh, in mind given, given like all the other names in the story that are used, but like Howard in mind, that's fine. Yeah. That's fine. Yeah. Um, I do like the idea of him just being Mr. Mr.

[00:04:56] Uh, you're like being Moe Howard from, uh, her three Stooges, but which also made all the other characters are Stooges. Yeah. Which is like, this was the Stooges, three Stooges is final episode. Absolutely. Uh, but anyway, moving on. Um, so yeah, that, that, that first little bit from a note from the desk of William Mocken is just kind of to give some insight to the Stoker state about how this interview got, um, or how this interview happened in the first place.

[00:05:25] Um, and then we get into the testimony of Mr. Howard regarding the events of August 20th, 1913. Uh, Mr. Howard goes on to explain the details of what happened to his team as they went to investigate the missing workers at the Ladd excavation site owned by the Stoker estate through several bouts of coercion. Um, throughout the story, uh, Howard, Mr.

[00:05:51] Howard is offered alcohol to get through the, the tale. Uh, he goes on that his team contracted by his team contracted by the estate comprised of himself, Mr. Ambrose Dereleth, Matthew Campbell, and Ramsey Hodgson first searched the surrounding woods for any sign of brigands and bandits who might've kidnapped the workers for some kind of ransom, but they find none though.

[00:06:20] They do find a notable amount of mistletoe on the trees. Um, they made it to the deserted mining site and venture into the tunnel remaining in the dark so that they didn't give themselves away and where they eventually fell upon literally a drop off point. Uh, Ambrose and Hodgson fell and Howard slid down after them.

[00:06:45] But Campbell who had only had the only lamp fled away up top, leaving them in the dark. Stuck down in the descent, uh, with only tinder sticks at their disposal and a strange breeze. They continued down the tunnel seeking an exit because surely that breeze is that warm breeze is surely an exit out of this tunnel, right? Of course. What else would it be?

[00:07:11] They found a creepy disheveled man in the middle of the tunnel on their journey, uh, that they could not coerce out of some kind of trance. So they just left him behind and kept going. Eventually they found a larger cave with the, with an object at the center, uh, past some pools of stagnant water. It was only once they got close, did they realize that the object was a mound of writhing flesh

[00:07:39] and body parts and poor Hodgson and Ambrose were attacked. Hodgson was pushed into the mass and absorbed, but Howard managed to rescue Ambrose, but he had gone quite insane from what he saw in the flesh mound. There were also gibbering people, likely the missing workers in the cave with them. And after stabbing Ambrose in the throat, Howard fled the cave back to the way they came.

[00:08:09] It took some doing and with great pains, he managed to climb the slope back to the entrance tunnel chased by the madmen. Uh, and Howard managed to elude them and escape. He decided to abandon the whole thing and drink himself into forgetting what had happened, but

[00:08:36] he couldn't escape what Ambrose had said as he died. Thank you. Or was it, how could you? As in, how could Howard leave them all down there? Abandoning them. He then told Mr. Mackin, Mr. Mackie. I wanted to say it, but I didn't want to be that guy again. Yeah. You have become that guy now though. All right there. Okay.

[00:09:03] Um, he then told Mr. Mackin that the Stoker estate should blow up the mine, the mine's entrance and leave whatever's down there alone. And then we get a final note from the desk of William Mackin. Uh, that was all Mr. Howard would say. And this section is a brief message to the Stoker estate stating Mr. Mackin's skepticism of what Howard had said and that the estate should use their best judgment on the matter

[00:09:33] of what Mr. Howard claims happened to the 15 workers and four investigative teams, including, uh, Mr. Howard's team, uh, having gone missing from the mine. Uh, so it seems that they've been like just throwing people at this. Yeah. They're throwing a lot of bodies at the problem. Yeah. Uh, and then we get the final thing, which is telegraphed response from the Stoker estate. So we get from the Stoker estate itself to Mr. Mackin.

[00:09:59] This is a response and basically stating that they will continue to throw men at the mine to get all the valuable riches there are in. Yup. And so nothing was learned from this. Of course not. Why would it? Yeah. Uh, and that is where the story ends. So with that out of the way, I suppose we should move on to everyone tolerates the grammar inquisitions at this point.

[00:10:28] Uh, and I've got a number of them. Gamer. Did you categorize your notes by segment? I did, but it's like not really necessary. Cause it's primarily like section two is the whole story. Yeah. I mean, I'll be honest right now. I have nothing for at least one of them. Um, and I have nothing for two of them in my actual thoughts. So I'll, I'll reference it, but like that's, it's really, I'm not really going to go too deep on this.

[00:10:56] So I guess we can, I can just, I can just go down the line and like, not ask you each section. If you want, I literally have two grammar. Okay. I want to start in one of the main ones. So it's not a big deal either way. Okay. Well then I'll, I'll start with that. So at the, uh, a note from the desk of William Mackin, uh, we have this, the subject of interview was intercepted from the local constable after a, after an incident at the local, after

[00:11:25] an incident at a local bar in the Providence area. So I feel like it should be, uh, the subject of the interview subject of the interview was intercepted. I mean, they both work the subject of interview. Yeah. It's still kind of works, but like, I, and yeah, this is a nitpick, but like, I really feel like there should be a the in there for me personally. Eh, I don't know. It's also old timey speak. True. Yeah. Also, this is Mr.

[00:11:53] Mack is like subject of interview, uh, was intercepted from the local. Okay. Incident at a local bar in the, uh, Providence area. Okay. Okay. Okay. Um, also from what I understand, while the, while this is merely a character using his name, the, uh, so I like, so this is in regards to like the fact that like this character, uh, that was in the local bar, like, and got like, was then got sent to jail after starting a

[00:12:22] bar fight is Mr. Howard. And there's something that's going to be alluded to later in my neck in like, in my actual thoughts about like how, um, that regarding the names of these characters. So like, I kind of picture this being like Mr. Howard as in like, not, not this character specifically being, uh, being Howard Philip Lovecraft, but, um, but being a nod to Howard because, and I'm like, I understand like, cause there's some later ones that like later names are like the surnames of other like horror writers.

[00:12:51] But, um, the idea that Howard Lovecraft getting drunk at a bar is pretty funny to me because I don't think he was that kind of author. Now maybe Edgar Allen Poe would be another, uh, would be another story. Um, the joke here is that Lovecraft was in fact a teetotaler. Uh, he was abstinent from drinking alcohol all his life. Oh, so, um, so it's a nice little, it's kind of just a funny little like nod.

[00:13:21] The fact that like, I'm pretty sure this character was based off of like love or the, they, he, uh, the author used the name Lovecraft or the use the name Howard as a nod to Howard Lovecraft since it's also in the Providence area. And it's in like, it's a very kind of mythosy look sounding, or it's a very mythosy or like Lovecraftian story that we kind of delve into. So because you mentioned that, where is the Providence area? Uh, the Providence area is in, uh, New England. Okay. Because I Googled it and it's like all over the place. Oh yeah. Yeah.

[00:13:50] Well, so it's in reference probably to like Providence, Rhode Island. So you say that, okay. I'm going to just get into this note here. Okay. Um, there, when they're talking about their history, like the, the, uh, the party that's going down there, one of them said that, um, actually Mr. Howard, he fought at the border war. Yeah. And through my Googling, the border wars were when, um, Australia was colonized.

[00:14:21] Oh, that's interesting. Yeah. So there's a Providence in there too, is there? I don't know. When you search Providence, like there's so many, like there's a bunch in America, but there's also like some overseas as well. Okay. Maybe. Okay. Cause I thought the border war. So in American history, I think the border war is also the war of America and Mexico. Okay. It might also be that. Yeah. Yeah. I think when I search for the border war, watch, it's going to show me something different now.

[00:14:50] Um, now, yeah, now it's saying the South African border war. Yeah. But like they were showing me the Australian border war. Yeah. Also, but also in American history, like the border war is the Mexican border war of 1910 and 19. Now this story is 1913. So, yeah. So this would make sense that like maybe he, so he could be that one. Um, yeah, the, it's, I, or it could also be the American civil, uh, civil war borders. Oh, that's border state. Okay. Yeah.

[00:15:20] But yeah, I, I thought I, I immediately clicked onto the, um, the Mexican border war, um, that he was referencing, but, um, yeah, I didn't even think that like it might've been the border war of Australia. Yeah. There's a lot of border wars apparently now that I'm looking in a little deeper. So who knows? Yay. Cause there's all references to a love craft. And yeah, the one that you're talking about. Yeah. Um, yeah, you know, I'll just get into it right now.

[00:15:49] Um, my note here about like the, uh, uh, the naming stuff. So yeah. Oh, actually I looked at my note again. It's not the border war. He says he, um, it was the frontier war. That's one. That, that would be the Americans that the Americas then. I don't know, man. Cause when I search frontier war, it says Australian frontier wars is the first. Oh, maybe. Yeah. But there's no, but yeah. So like, well, I mean, maybe he traveled out that way. Although that's also, yeah, that's 1788 into 1930. So yeah, he could, um, I mean like people's traveled.

[00:16:19] No, I don't believe you. Yeah. I don't, um, also if I might point out, there's also the, on the American frontier wars. Where? Uh, Google AI. Uh, it references a bunch of places that were, that had frontier wars. All right. We'll move on from this. Okay. Um, so I'm just going to jump a little bit into my actual thoughts just for a second here. So another thing that was mentioned, I am Mr. Howard, uh, had been inducted into expedition five a under the behest of the Stoker family.

[00:16:48] And also, so I was just like, wait, William Mackin Stoker estate, Howard, Mr. Howard. Okay. These are some nice nods to the weird fiction and horror greats like Arthur Mackin, Bram Stoker, Howard, Philip Lovecraft. Um, are, and these are just the ones that are at the start. Like you go further down, like to like the, the other ones, like, um, uh, Ambrose, uh, which ones are there?

[00:17:18] There's like, uh, there's a whole, whole slew of them. There was, uh, um, uh, where, yeah. So Mr. Ambrose Dereleth is actually a combination of two characters, uh, two authors, uh, Ambrose Pierce, I believe is the one, uh, who did, um, the, uh, King and Yellow stories. Um, and August Dereleth is, um, kind of the guy that inherited Lovecraft's legacy initially.

[00:17:44] And like, or basically like the publishing of a bunch of like Lovecraft stories and like kind of tried to. Uh, there, there's some, there's some intention and some controversy about like what he did with the Lovecraft mythos, um, after Lovecraft's death. But, uh, yeah, he's another, another horror writer, um, Matthew Campbell and Ramsey Hodgson. I'm pretty sure, well, there's Ramsey Campbell, who is another like author that was like in Lovecraft circles and, or like that came after Lovecraft.

[00:18:12] That was like a big fan and started to do his own mythos stories. Uh, and I'm sure Hodgson is as well. I'm not as familiar with his. Mm-hmm. Um, if I just look up, uh, yeah, William Hope Hodgson, uh, I think is another one. Um, yeah, he's, he's a sci-fi and horror writer that was also in the same kind of circles as Lovecraft. So. Nice. So yeah, basically this, this whole section was just like, I'm sorry.

[00:18:39] Well, these are some, uh, like, as I kept like seeing the name, like the names of these characters, like, oh, these are some nice nods to like horror, other horror writers in that genre. Mm-hmm. It's kind of funny too. Like a little bit of light connective tissue time. Yeah. Um, me referencing Game Grumps again, three days ago, like a couple of days before I started reading this, cause I started reading this like yesterday. Um, they played a game called, uh, Dankinstone Bongsters Graham Smoker Stankula.

[00:19:07] Uh, which is like, uh, I think like a, an Irish, uh, metal band. They made a game about them as dudes going through like killing vampires. Nice. And smoking weed. And yeah. So yeah, I watched that video. Graham Stoker Stankula and then Stoker Estate showed up. Yeah. Which makes sense. Cause Bram Stoker or Abraham Stoker was Irish. Mm-hmm. Like Dracula.

[00:19:36] Oh, I didn't know that that was like Abraham. Yeah. Like that word form. Yep. Guess that makes sense. I, I mean, I only re like, I, not like recently, but I, I, it, it took a few years before I realized that, or before I found out that Abraham was, or Bram was a short form of Abraham. So, um, but yeah, so getting back to grammar acquisition stuff. Oh, is that where we are? Yeah. Believe it or not. Yeah. I know. Weird.

[00:20:00] Um, I'll, I'll move on to the, the testimonial of Mr. Howard regarding, um, so in this section, we have, uh, Mr. Hodgson briefed us that the esteemed Stoker Estate had experiencing a number of workers who had been, who had either failed to report in for duty or had fled. So I feel like it should be either, um, uh, uh, Stoker Estate had experienced or had been experiencing.

[00:20:33] Um, and then my next thing here. Um, and then my next thing here, as we prepared under the auspices of tree riddled. Um, yeah. Um, as we prepared under the auspices, a tree riddled with so much mistletoe that it was near impossible to see the sky under the, its infestation. Um, so I feel like it should be under the auspices of a tree riddled. Yes.

[00:21:03] Um, but also, and this is again, kind of leaking into actual thoughts a bit. Um, I, I had to look up the meaning of the word auspices and like, I think I've heard before, but it appears to mean like support, but like a group or institutional support or the other, uh, the other kind of meaning for it is an omen. Like, uh, basically like a, a portents of, of, of either good fortune or bad or doom. I got under the protection of.

[00:21:33] Yeah. There's, there's different like kind of takes on it. Um, I'm not sure. It makes a little bit more sense. Like as we prepared under the protection of a tree, so much mistletoe. Okay. Cause I was sitting under it. Yeah. Yeah. Cause I was also wondering like, cause I know mistletoe in folklore, aside from like the kissing tradition, um, mistletoe. Mistletoe is often used, like is like carried around, like by people of certain like traditions and folklore, um, because it is a symbol of protection and fertility.

[00:22:03] Um, so I was wondering like, why is this a bad sign? Cause like, it seemed like, it seemed like at this point, like they were doing, it was like, it was an auspicious or wow, auspicious. Um, uh, it seemed like it was a, um, uh, like it was hanging over their head, like something bad. And I, it was always like, wait, this is all like protection stuff. But like, I guess you're the way you're saying it, like the way you brought it up is actually makes more sense now. Yeah. Like this is the last comfort that they're going to feel before they go in. It's just chilling underneath this tree.

[00:22:33] Yeah, exactly. Okay. Um, and then the next thing I have, we made progress deeper into the site by clinging to the walls and proceeding with caution. It was here. We, it was here where we came across the depths purely by accident. So I, I feel like the depths should be changed in this instance.

[00:22:57] Um, as the word was already used in a previous paragraph, um, just describing like, uh, like going into the depths of the tunnel. Um, and like, this isn't like, this might be just another nitpick thing here I have, but it's like, I, some, some ideas I could offer here is like maybe, um, uh, this is where they came across the drop-off or the descent, um, or the pitfall.

[00:23:22] Just, um, and yeah, just, uh, and even like the descent maybe because it, it's coined as the descent in the next paragraph as well. So, but then you'd be like, oh, well it says descent twice. Yeah, I know. Now else now. So maybe, maybe just call it the drop-off or something. I don't know. Yeah. Just like, yeah. Just like repetition of words just sometimes like gets me, uh, when they're used though.

[00:23:44] Especially when in this, uh, format, like you can go nuts with the old timey, um, words for things. Cause like, you know, you don't have to use modern stuff. You can, there's, there's probably a lot of other words that we don't use anymore. That mean the same thing that we can Google while we're reading the story. Oh yeah, I know. There's, there's definitely a number of them in this story. I said that like it sounded negative, but it's not really. Cause it makes sense. Yeah. It's immersive in this.

[00:24:13] So, um, but I'll move on to the next, uh, bit of grammar issue. Um, I moved next and tried to careful navigate the treacherous descent down to the other two. Speaking of the, the descent down. Um, but, um, but yeah, the, uh, obviously I think this should be, I moved next and tried to carefully navigate the treacherous. Yes.

[00:24:36] Uh, and then the next one I have, I promised Ambrose we would return for him once we were able to locate and exit and regroup with Matthew. So I think it should be, it should maybe be, um, uh, I promised Ambrose we would return for him once we were able to locate and exit. Like locate and exit, not and exit. Oh yeah. Like they're gone. All right.

[00:25:05] Now we're coming back. Yeah. Yeah. Cause like, cause it was like we, the, the, in the original sentence, it's like we were able to re, uh, once we were able to. We were able to locate and exit and regroup where it's like, uh, shouldn't that be like locate and exit and regroup? Yeah, that makes sense. Yeah. Uh, and then for the final note, uh, from the desk of William Mack and I have nothing. And then the last thing I have is in the telegraphed response from the Stoker estate.

[00:25:34] I am willing to pay any price necessary. Continue with mining operations. So I know it's a telegraphed response. So it is the way the character talks about it. Cause like, uh, with telegrams and like stuff, um, each word costs money. Oh, okay. So, but, um, I think it should be, uh, I am willing to pay any price necessary to continue. Continue with mining operations. I don't know though. Profit, you know, exactly.

[00:26:03] These guys are already like, like they're, they're already greedy little corporate bastards. Absolutely. Or corporate magnates. So it's like, maybe they are like stingy enough to like, we don't need the two there. No, they get it. Those simpletons will understand. Yes. Uh, but that is all I have for grammar position from the story. So, um, gamer, do you have anything left? Um, technically, um, I mean, I mean, yes, but also technically, uh, my first one is before chapter one, which is

[00:26:33] apparently a thing I've been doing lately. Before chapter one? Oh my God. Okay. Yeah. Go. Okay. So it's technically not, it's a not grammar, grammar note. Is this in the author's note? Yeah. Yeah. It's in regards to the author's note at the top where it says, uh, special thanks to Mr. Dupin and, uh, Jonathan Nash for helping me edit and revise the story in the writer's work shot. So when I read that, I'm like, oh, great.

[00:26:59] So now our grammar section won't just be reviewing the author's grammar, but also, also those fine gentlemen who also edited it. Uh-oh. Yeah. Like I feel bad now. Yeah. Extra bad more than I normally do. That being said, I only found one out of all those ones that you did. Um, and you, you already talked about, so I actually don't technically have anything to talk about. Okay. Then we can, and we don't have a, a cosmic demon here to be super silly and throw us,

[00:27:28] uh, a, uh, a, um, conjunction junction. Aw shucks. I guess we'll move on to actual thoughts. Or maybe I'm, I did do one. No, I didn't actually. Yeah. Uh, no. But that being said, like, um, I get why, um, he called in for like reinforcements to help him with this because I'm sure doing an entire relatively long entry like this using a lot of old time you speak is difficult to have it like using the correct speech and all that.

[00:27:58] So I'm sure they helped quite a lot. Yeah. Okay. On, on that note, I kind of want, so I did look at the comments for the story, like right before our recording, but no, like, and I'm not going to name names, but there's one that stuck out of me, uh, that was like long, but good. I was like, wow. Very distinct. I'm going to use that as my, uh, as my final thoughts. Yeah. Uh, God.

[00:28:25] Um, but yeah, so I'll move on to, um, actual thoughts. Uh, I already covered something that I had for, uh, for the note from the desk of William Mackin. So I'll move on to the testimonial of Mr. Howard regarding the events of August 20th, 1913. As mentioned, we were paid a poultry sum by the venerable estate to lead a small expedition

[00:28:50] to investigate the claims of workers at the Lad, at the Lad excavation site outfitted with only the most basic weaponry. A Springfield M1903 with a bayonet from my time on the frontier, a bolo knife, which Campbell asserted was all he, he required or likely the only weapon he had any real proficiency with, and a Colt single action army revolver.

[00:29:18] The intrepid Ambrose did not arrive with a firearm, which I suspect was due to his lack of means and financial situation. He instead carried a cudgel that had likely been put to work in the farm for dealing with pests. In the end, the weapons afforded us little hope. The weapons afforded us little hope against what we would encounter down in the darkness of the excavation site.

[00:29:47] I forgot that Ambrose even had a cudgel. He never even used it. Yeah, no, he's just like, yeah. Uh, and so like, as I was really, I got to this part of the story, I was like, wow, this is really just the starting out. Like, it's just a gaggle of Call of Cthulhu player investigators, isn't it? A little bit. But the way I saw it is these guys are like legit just D class. Oh yeah, no, yeah. They're basically like 1913 D class. Yeah. The old D class.

[00:30:13] And that's like justified even further later on when it's like, yeah, we sent like four or five of them in and whatever to keep sending them. But yeah. And also like, um, with regards to like my comments, like, oh, this is just a gaggle of Call of Cthulhu player investors. So there's literally like a kind of a stereotype on like how in, in, in Call of Cthulhu, the tabletop RPG, um, likely like a player, like group, like of investigators is likely going

[00:30:39] to be like, uh, a detective, uh, a grizzled detective, a swarth or a, uh, a, um, uh, a wealthy dilettante, a tribal fisherman. Hmm. Like, just like, just a, like just a massive, like most unlikely regular folk, just like a very, a very diverse cast of regular folk that have no, no reason to be fighting cosmic horrors from beyond time and space, but are, and are likely going to die. And that's kind of the point. Yeah.

[00:31:09] Because Call of Cthulhu is not D&D. It is, uh, you, you go up and investigate the weird mystery of the, in, in the location, you discover the strange, horrible cosmic truths, and then you get eaten. Yeah. The fun part is seeing how your, how the characters meet their ends. Yeah. Whether it, whether it be, they go incurably insane or die horrifically. Um, but yeah.

[00:31:35] So, and yeah, this, this cast of characters, uh, was like, as they're getting out there load out, it also reminded me of like in Delta Green, a modern, um, kind of variant of Call of Cthulhu, um, there's sort of an unspoken, spoken rule of like, if the GM is giving you all the weapons, it means you're fucked. Yeah. They'll do nothing. He might as well give you a nerve gun. Yeah. Cause very often again in Call of Cthulhu and being, being a horror game scenario or game

[00:32:03] system and modeling sort of like the cosmic horror and Lovecraftian horror of the, the stories that Lovecraft and his, uh, um, compatriots wrote web standard weapons have no fucking like business, uh, like being, being able to like do anything. Uh, like very often, uh, the monsters in, in a, in an adventure, in a scenario aren't even really statted. They're just like, they do lethal damage. Yeah.

[00:32:31] There's no chance of killing them. So exactly. No point writing those numbers down. Yeah. Or if they are, if they do have stats, they're incredibly like, it's basically like darkest dungeon or like, again, like a, a, a dark souls, like you're, it's horribly unbalanced because, but the imbalance, like the, the non balancedness of the store of the, of the investigation is the point. Like you're not supposed to, you're not living in a balanced, fair universe.

[00:32:59] You're living in an uncaring, dark and cold cosmos. Yes, absolutely. Uh, and this story is already starting like very strong with that kind of mentality of just giving these guys like this, like these kind of pitiful weapons. And then even stating that those weapons wouldn't do nothing against what they dealt with. So, um, but I digress. I will move on to the next thing. Yep.

[00:33:24] Uh, upon recollection, the woods have taken on a darker and more sinister tone, whether this is a result of my experience or it is, or if it is actually the case, I do not know for certain. Good old Mr. Howie here saying, uh, just kind of reaffirming my personal belief of, uh, the force be scary, yo. A little bit. Uh, yeah, no, like.

[00:33:53] As soon as you call him Howie, it just immediately is Howie Mandel now. Oh God. Yeah. He's just secretly, he's actually secretly a Shoggoth or a changeling. He just keeps changing faces. Yeah. Oh no. Or even worse. He's not a Lethotep. He just keeps swapping masks. Or he's the creature that he's explaining. Yes. He got it. He actually never like, like Mr. Howard never got out. Like it's basically like he got thinged. Mm hmm. I think he's a Shoggoth, right?

[00:34:24] Um, like in this story, not the thing that you're talking about. I'll bring that up later. Cause I do have a note. On that. So yeah. Okay. Um, cause I didn't think like, I didn't think, oh, this is just Shoggoth. Oh, just Shoggoth. Whatever. Like that. Like that's a super mundane thing. Okay. So another thing was like when we were, when, when they were in the woods and some of that and like, they were seeing all this mistletoe. I was like, what the hell? I was like, why is this all this like mistletoe like in this wood? And so is that like a clue as to like what mythos creature? Like, oh God, are we going to be dealing with the, with Shubnigaroth, the black goat of

[00:34:53] the woods with a thousand young? Are we going to deal with it? Cause like, cause I was thinking like this was, I didn't even realize. It was going to go into a tunnel or into a cave system. I thought it was like an excavation in some woods. And I was like, oh God, are these woods like infested with the, with the dark young, which are these like horrible, like health, like horrible abyssal spawn that can basically like look like trees except when they, uh, but then when they, when they decide to like kind of come out of their blending, um, they are like horrific gnarled tree, like things

[00:35:22] with goat legs and mouths and eyes all over. Oh damn. Yeah. Um, but then like later on we got like the actual object, which is this like flesh mound in the, in the center of the cave is like, oh, it's just a Shoggoth. It's not dark young. So much better. But then there's even something further because like it, it is kind of like there's like it, um, the way Ambrose kind of goes into his mania. He says like, there's so many eyes and all that stuff. It was like, okay, Shoggoth probably.

[00:35:49] Um, or that weird zygote creature from, uh, the one short film by the guy who did district nine, uh, which is like just this giant massive, of, of different like body parts. We're like, like hands made of hands and like legs made of legs and just an entire like creature. Yeah. And just like a massive, like just a giant head of eyeballs, just like all the eyeballs of all the, all the people it's, it's, it's absorbed. Wow. Yeah.

[00:36:19] Um, yeah, it's basically like a fractaled human parts. Um, but, um, it does kind of describe the, the, the mound is like being almost like a chrysalis or like a cocoon. So like maybe it's actually something more original within this like flesh mound. Like the flesh mound is actually just like kind of the outer like shell of an egg. Yeah. Could be. But, um, yeah. So again, furthering just like, I was, again, the story, like just, it was furthering my

[00:36:49] like, uh, my, my mythos, my mythos, uh, senses were tingling. Throughout the story as it were. As a show. Um, yeah. But continuing on, um, this one, I decided to keep an actual thoughts rather than, um, than grammar position because it's a new word I learned. Um, the silence of our surroundings hung like a pall over us yearning to be broken. And I was like, Paul, and it's like P-A-L-L.

[00:37:15] So Paul noun funeral and formal a cloth spread over a coffin, hearse or tomb. Um, it is also used in ecclesiastical contexts to cover a chalice. So basically it's like a funeral shroud. Yeah. And I also had to look it up, obviously. Yeah. And I also, I just think it's a really nice macabre analogous word to describe a silence hanging over something. Oh yeah. Super cool. Yeah.

[00:37:44] Again, like further, like just these archaic words, these like fancy archaic words are really fun in the story because it is supposed to be told by somebody who's from like 1913. Mm-hmm. So. The more I read it, the more I'm like, why don't we just talk like this now? Like. Yeah. Because we got bored. Because we got lazy. Yeah. Yeah. You're right. You're right. Um, but, uh, the next thing I have here is when they actually descended into the cave.

[00:38:12] Um, where are my notes? Yeah. Uh, before we could make out any more of the area, the light. That pause that you put there. Before we could make out. I mean, there's a lot of mistletoe in the forest. Yeah. I know. Right. That could be wise. Like, oh, hell yeah. Yeah. Uh, but yeah. Before we could make out any more of the area, the light was extinguished by a slight gust. And at this, and instantly I was like, the cave's breathing, isn't it? That's going to be the revelation, right? Like.

[00:38:41] And. And update. Yeah. Update. Surprisingly, no, but I was kind of close. Mm-hmm. Like, it wasn't like, the cave isn't breathing as in it's a lie, but that was technically breath. Yeah. Um. And then. They continued into the darkness. We walked in complete darkness for a few minutes with nothing but the steady footfalls of our boots before Ramsey decided to ignite another tinder stick.

[00:39:11] Man. And so like, as I'm like reading this and I was like the description of them like traveling into this dark tunnels and like only the, only like the ability to use a tinder stick, which is basically just like a larger version of like a match stick. That's what I figured. Yeah. Yeah. Uh, it's an old timey match stick basically, or like, so like a camping kind of match stick. Um, with the use of tinder sticks, uh, this brought to mind, uh, memories of playing games like amnesia, the dark descent, where like you either use a lamp and if you didn't have

[00:39:37] any lamp oil, you could literally just use the tinder stick, like a, from, from a little box that you'd find occasionally. And just use that little light to light your way and not go insane. Yeah. Um, and then the next thing I have one memory of the man sticks with me, which is that he

[00:39:58] wasn't a tired, like a local miner who wore thick clothes and cloths around their faces to protect themselves from particulates and dust motes. Instead, this man was outfitted in gear more befitting of a traveler or wanderer. Given that no sane man would wander into a cave of their own volition. This leaves me with more, with one essential inquiry.

[00:40:25] How many expeditions had been sent them, had been sent there before us? 33. Expeditions. God damn it. That's how many. Nice. Um, but yeah, first off, or I guess second off because of that, um, kind of presumptuous of Mr. Howard to say that no sane man would go into a cave of their own volition, says the cultist. Yeah. Yeah. You're right.

[00:40:55] I would definitely go into a cave or at least like check out a cave mouth if I saw one, but, um, but also, uh, I do love the resulting revelation that perhaps the Stoker estate had sent men before Howard and his crew and hadn't mentioned that in their briefing. Yeah. I mean, why would they? Because they wouldn't want to go. Exactly. It does sort of add a, a sinister vibe to the estate, especially like, like how like little they were paying these, these, these, uh, gentlemen. Mm.

[00:41:25] And like from the, from the get go, we kind of tell it like these gentlemen are basically just like, they're basically thugs, like they're goons. They're just like, they're, they're like low rent, like mercenaries, basically. Like they're, they're, they're, they're, they're like probably they're borderline homeless probably at this point. So probably, um, and then update. Yeah. No, the Stoker estate is totes evil or at least greedy, uncaring businessmen. So same thing. Um, yeah, honestly. Yeah.

[00:41:56] And then, and then later I said, and they sent four expeditions prior to Mr. Howard's group. Damn. The title of this story seems to be, to have been fitting. Yeah. Uh, and this is before I, uh, before we got to a certain part later on in the story, which like basically credits the story. Um, but, uh, I'll continue on. I tried to ignore the fact that the airflow was leading us deeper into the darkness and

[00:42:25] further underground, but with each passing moment, the realization grew stronger. Yeah. No, no shit. Like seriously, like the fact that you're going deeper underground following a warm breeze should really tell you something. Yeah. But they didn't really have a choice, even though I guess they had a choice. They could have got it the other way by just breaking their fingernails and leaving. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Yeah. But they didn't know that. Apparently the lad excavation site is in Durpland too. Like apparently Durpland is a new England. Mm.

[00:42:56] Or probably closer to around Providence, Rhode Island. Um, but I'll move on to the next thing. Mm. Um, Ramsey's please. So this is when like they discover the flesh mound thing and Ramsey gets grabbed and kind of like pushed into it and such. Uh, and there's all those gibbering like mad men in the shadows of the cave. Um, Ramsey's please for help turned into incoherent screams as viscous fluid made contact with his skin.

[00:43:24] Whether the ooze was acidic or just facilitated the fiendish osmosis. I cannot be sure. All I know is how painful it sounded. Ramsey tried to pull himself free and I watched in horror as the skin on the side of his face sloughed off where it had come, where it had contacted the vile substance, but it clung to him and incorporated him deeper into its mass.

[00:43:50] At this moment, Ambrose reached my side and stood with me before the abomination. So this really, so this is where the point was like, oh no, it's not dark young. It's Shoggoths. Uh, because like Shoggoths are usually like, uh, they don't generally like absorb things. They usually like, you know, decapitate their victims. Um, but they also in, in some of the stories and in, in some of the, uh, the game systems,

[00:44:16] they give them like an acidic kind of, um, uh, almost an acidic material on their, on their surface. Yeah. So, but I also with regards to like this, like giant flesh mound in a cave and like these like praised, like kind of cultist, like gibbering madmen that are also here. Um, it, I was kind of getting the vibes of like sons of the forest. I don't know if you've ever played that game. Yeah. Yeah. Like, yeah. Like it's basically like, yeah. Like there's like crazy people out in the woods, like they've gone like kind of tribal and savage.

[00:44:46] And there's also these like horrible mutate mutated, like flesh abominations, like both on the Island or in the peninsula, depending on the mood, on the, on the, on the game and also in the cave systems. Yeah. It's very much that kind of vibe. Yeah. Uh, but honestly also like this is, I keep bringing it up, but like, yeah, this entire story could easily translate to a call of Cthulhu scenario. Like you're sending a rat, your, your, your players are just a ragtag team of, of, of down on their luck.

[00:45:16] Like people from various like, like either conflicts or just like adventure-y types, uh, who've been contracted to, by this estate to go find out what happened to their mining crew. And they go down to the tunnel and they fall down into like the pit and go further into the deeper part of the tunnel. Um, and then, and, and like, you can even have like, they, if they go deeper into the tunnel, they find like the big flesh abomination thing. If they try to climb back up the, uh, the, the slope and manage to get up there, then they're

[00:45:45] ambushed by the tribes or by the kind of the tribal, like mad men of the, of the mine and like dragged and, and, and like, there's a, uh, either that either results in, um, them defeating and escaping and not finding out what, what horrors were in the cave or getting dragged down to the tunnels by these mad men and seeing the horror of the cosmic monster. Yes. Bad regardless, honestly. Yeah, absolutely.

[00:46:11] Um, but yeah, this isn't, yeah, I could easily see like this being translated to a call Cthulhu investigative scenario. Yeah. Um, and then we get to the part where I, where it just ends with credits. Um, so, uh, I could hear others drawing near, perhaps the, they were miners or wanderers. Perhaps they were other expeditions sent forth from the august Stoker estate, uh, intrigued

[00:46:40] by the promise of riches, unaware that their only reward would be paid for in blood and lunacy credits. Cause paid for in blood. Yeah. Uh, but also I didn't know that August or august, depending on like how you want to pronounce it, um, is in this use is an adjective meaning majestic or impressive. Yep. I also did not know that. Very weird. Yeah.

[00:47:10] Um, then the, I probably should have looked up how it's actually pronounced. Cause I wonder if it's just August, like the month. I mean, honestly, it makes sense. Like August, like would be used as like that, or cause like August is often like, it's like the tail end of summer and like things are very like kind of impressive and majestic, like depending on where you are, I guess. But yeah. Um, but I'll move on to the next thing I have.

[00:47:36] I passed by Matthew trying to fend off a number of the psychotic supplicants who had ambushed him, but there were too many and I was in no condition to help reduced to a craven child. I could only hide in the darkness as the madman fell upon Matthew and dragged him towards the cavern. Um, so I, I kind of like, first off, I like the fact that like, uh, Mr. Howard just like curled up like a bitch and hidden the cave. Wow. Wow.

[00:48:05] You wouldn't. Or, or no, no, I obviously would as well. Like, like this is definitely a, like, I don't have to outrun the bears. I just had to outrun you. Bang. Shoot you in the leg. A little bit. Like it's very much that kind of like situation. Uh, but I, I like how the resolution here is, um, uh, about what became of Matthew. Like, it's not simply that like, as Mr. Howe was running out of the tunnel, he found Matthew's dead body, which so often happens in these kinds of stories. Like, uh, the, the cowardly character that flees early on in the story is found later

[00:48:35] dead. Um, but I like that. Like we, we find him in the act of being like either killed or taken back into the tunnel by, by another group of the, uh, of the, the cultists essentially. Mm. Um, it adds, it adds more to like the harrowing situation that adds a little bit more action than just like the discovery of a body. Absolutely. So I wonder how long they were actually, um, like down there.

[00:49:02] Cause he said like he was, I assume he was just lying to them to leave. Right. Like he wasn't actually looking for a rope when he said he was going to go look for a rope. Oh yeah. No, I assumed he was like basically trying to get away. Yeah. Yeah. Um, but I don't know, man, if they were down there, cause like, I don't know how long they were walking for, it seemed like forever. Yeah. But if they were down there for 10, 20 minutes and he's still there, maybe he was actually looking for a way to help. Maybe. Yeah.

[00:49:27] And also it based in mind, like if there were more of these crazed people, like in, like on the surface that even adds even more kind of creepiness. Cause like these guys walked right into a trap, which again, like adds even further, like kind of creepiness is the fact that like they were basically being watched the whole time as they entered the, uh, the excavation site. Um, so yeah, maybe Mr. Maybe Matthew was not a coward. Uh, maybe he was actually just trying to like help his friends, but I mean, he could have

[00:49:56] left, uh, could have left them the lantern rather than like let them fend off with the, with Tinder sticks. I mean, yeah, but he was actively trying to find something to help. Maybe. Yeah. Yeah. I don't know. I don't want to back at this guy. You're really, you're really like trying to defend the, like Matthew did nothing wrong. Justice for Matthew. Yeah. Right. It was, it was Matthew Campbell, right? Or it was, uh, yeah, he's the, the only guy that has a normal name. Justice for Campbell. Um, hashtag justice for Matt, justice for Matthew.

[00:50:26] Uh, but yeah, so I'll move on to the next thing I have here. Um, this is in regards to, um, uh, Ambrose's last words that, uh, haunt Mr. Howard. The worst thing that haunts me still was Ambrose's words as I stuck my bayonet into the hollow of his throat. I couldn't hear him clearly, but his words sounded something like, thank you. No, that's not right. His final words were not thank you.

[00:50:54] They were not appreciation for sparing him from the madness and giving him the only mercy I had. No, his words were, how could you? How could you fill my head with tales of heroics and adventure? How could you not help Ramsey Hodgson? How could you lead us into this horrible place? How could you do this to me? How could you run? He was right. I had done those things.

[00:51:23] And the only thing that brings me any solace is drink. So this is, to me, this is just a really good horror line because at first I really liked the idea that he was thinking he was thanking, uh, his murderer for the sweet relief of death before. Like, it just adds like, like makes it sadly creepy. Like it's like, it's like, just like, cause he was just going insane.

[00:51:51] Um, but then he, then we get Mr. Howard start spiraling into this guilt and maybe like the final words were thank you, but maybe it maybe, and maybe they were condemning him or maybe he's just had too much time since the event to internalize and gaslight himself over the guilt. Um, oh, and, and over some just blood choked sounds of a dying man, a man he killed amidst

[00:52:21] that place of madness. So it's just like that extra little, the extra bit after thank you is just so good to me because it's like, it could have been like an appreciative, like the, it's also kind of common in these horror stories where like a character is killed and like, thank you. Like, just cause they're going insane or like a fate worse than death sort of situation. But I like the final, like the, the words after were after like his suggestion that it was thank you. And like more goes into this, again, this guilt spiral that like, maybe they weren't, it wasn't thank you.

[00:52:50] Maybe it was how dare you. And then it should really just him beating him himself, like mentally over like what he did. Maybe the words were fuck you. Yeah, exactly. It could also be that. Yeah. Um, but again, like, I like that idea that like this, uh, I'm not sure if like, this is how this, how the author is intending, but to me personally, it's like, it sounds, it kind of feels more like, um, the longer he, he describes that, like, how could you, how could you do this? How could you do that?

[00:53:15] It was more, it's less like probably what Ambrose was saying and more just like the guilt beating at Mr. Howard. Yeah, absolutely. Um, so I really liked that kind of emotional sting to this whole thing. And then the final thing of, uh, of this, this section anyway, uh, let it starve and save

[00:53:37] us all the horror it will release once it, once it's inchoate embryo is done gestating. What are these worth? Uh, like, again, this is not like the attack of the story. Like I was just like, the story has, has used so many big and antiquated terminology. Yes. Um, don't, yeah. And like, again, don't get me wrong. I'm, I'm for it. It helps with the immersion because this is set in an earlier time.

[00:54:03] Uh, and most of them I know from other works, like both set in this era and also from this era that I've read, because I, I read a lot of Lovecraft. I read a lot of, um, other like associated writers of like horror and weird fiction. Um, like when I was in college and stuff, but. And again, like I'm, I'm a fan of Call of Cthulhu and like the, the Cthulhu scenario, like the, the Cthulhu, uh, RPG.

[00:54:27] So I have looked into like scenarios and mysteries and adventures that are set in like these time, these time periods. So like you get that like kind of flavor a lot. Um, but inchoate or like, I'm not even sure if I'm, if I'm pronouncing it right, but I N C H O A T E describes something that has just begun. It's not formally or it's not fully formed or it's in an early, an early underdeveloped stage.

[00:54:59] So again, it's just, again, just another fancy word. Yes. Uh, the story uses for the flavor of the, the era. What I like about a lot of the fancy words that it's using for the era is I feel like 90% of them, you, you just get based on context. Yeah. Like you don't necessarily have to Google them. I Googled most of them. It was just cause I wanted a hundred percent clarification, but most of them just, you could tell through context. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:55:27] The ones I, I think the ones I brought up for like in my notes are just the ones that like I found the most curious, but like other, most of the time I knew what they were kind of getting at though inchoate embryo. That one was definitely one. I was like, I never heard this word before. Yeah. And I, and like, even with the context, like, I guess like, I like, I had really no idea. I guess, I guess now it makes sense. Like that. It was used for, to describe an embryo that's like gestating, but like, yeah, I'd never like heard that word before.

[00:55:56] So I had to find out what that was. Hmm. Uh, and then for the next, uh, the last two segments, like a final note from the desk of William Mackin and telegraphed response from the Stoker state. I have nothing. So, uh, gamer, do you have anything left to say? Uh, yeah, I got a little bit that we can talk about. Okay. Um, let's see this one. We've, we've talked about actually this enough.

[00:56:25] I don't need to bring up more weird words. Um, hang on. I normally highlight these when we actually talk about them. I haven't been today cause I've been lazy. Let me see. Oh yeah. There's one here. Uh, as we journeyed, I regaled Ambrose with tales of my experiences during the frontier war. He listened wide eyed and wrapped as, uh, Mr. Hogson regarded him with a, a sad smile, knowing good and well that that type of music won't take off until the late 1970s.

[00:56:56] God damn it. You listen wide eyed and wrapped. You spit in bars. Oh my God. God. Wow. R A B T obviously. Yeah. Ooh, nice Warframe reference. You're taking my job here. It took a trip. Anyways. Also, not, not, not to correct your, your pronunciation of a name, but it is Hodgson, not Hogson. Oh.

[00:57:25] Cause there's, there's, there's a D before the G. Liar. I don't believe you. Okay. I'm staring at it right now. So. Hodgson. Hodgson. Hodgson. Hodgson. Hodgson. Close. Close. Yeah. Okay. Later on. Uh, this is like during the fight with the creature.

[00:57:53] I can do nothing but watch as the tendril drew him towards, uh, with writhing shape and pressed him against the odious orb in order to it eating one of his, uh, one of his bros. Yeah. And then as soon as I said that, I'm like, well, I mean, you didn't fire your gun yet. You're the one with the highest firepower out of everyone by far. Cause he's actually using like a rifle caliber and he doesn't shoot it. He just stabs things twice with it. He might as well have just had a spear. It would be really funny.

[00:58:21] It was like, I have this cool, like the Springfield 1903 or 1904. Something like that. Yeah. I was like, uh, with a fixed with a bayonet, which was the only part I was actually proficiency and, or, and I, I didn't actually have any ammo for it. Yeah. I had the gun, just no bullets. Yeah. Basically. Yeah. Giving, making him just a spearman basically. Yeah. Cause they, again, they were, they were like in a regular scenario, in a regular situation,

[00:58:47] they like without the, like, you know, Lovecraftian horse from beyond time and space and the flesh monsters. Um, they were woefully unprepared even before like, Oh, one of them has a gun. The rest of them have melee weapons. Yeah. And like, he has a gun. Yeah. He really has a gun, but he's using it more like a melee weapon. One of them has a cudgel. Yeah. And, um, actually that's all I have left. Okay.

[00:59:17] Cause he actually caught all of my other ones. Yeah. Well, you were also kind of jumping in when you could. Yeah. Yeah. All right. Well then, uh, I suppose we'll move on to final thoughts. So obviously I'm still going to recommend it. Um, it does need some quick and minor. See what I did there. You know, minor, like minor. Anyway, some quick and easy. I understand. No, like minor, not minor.

[00:59:46] Which minor are we talking about? Like, like the mines. Ah, yes. Yes. I knew that. Moving on. So some quick and easy fixes to the, the grammar and like, just like, again, just a quick edit. Basically, uh, we'll get rid of some of the things that we, we found. Um, but otherwise, again, it's a, it's a nice little Lovecraftian tale of corporate greed and digging too deep. Discovering something man wasn't meant to know. Um, like, yeah.

[01:00:15] And, and like the little nods to different, like Lovecraft and Lovecraft adjacent authors, like, uh, with the, the names was, was a nice touch as well. Yes. Um, I, I under, again, I understand now, like why, like Mr. Why it was Mr. Howard and not Mr. Lovecraft. Yeah. I mean, that'd be a little hard. Right. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Yeah.

[01:00:35] That one, like he, I like, I mean, I was already kind of like a Stoker estate and like, fortunately, it's not like it's William Mackin, which honestly Mackin, Campbell, Ambrose and, um, like Campbell and all them. Um, those are not like as known as Stoker and, and, uh, Lovecraft. So, um, I could, I could, you can kind of want to get away. Like they're, they're more of like the, like they're, they're definitely known.

[01:00:59] Like, I'm not going to say like, they're like, oh, they're like, they're, um, small time in, in horror because they are like pretty prolific horror writers, uh, from these times. But, um, compared to Lovecraft or Bram Stoker, they are like the smaller guys. Yeah, absolutely. But, uh, yeah. So I, I like those little nods. I found that very cute.

[01:01:20] Um, the, uh, the monster, uh, whether it's a Shoggoth, like flesh mound monster, or perhaps like an egg of something like bigger, like something that will grow out of that, that flesh mound into something more horrible, um, is, is also really cool. I'm, I'm wondering if it is, if it's some kind of like an original monster that the character, the person, the author has added, or if it's, is supposed to be some kind of other mythos entity, uh, that's already established.

[01:01:47] But, um, for the sake of the story itself, like if you're not in the know of like mythos stuff and, and what have you, it is still just a good tale of like finding something in the, in, in a cave. Um, after like, like after searching for like some abandoned mine and like not knowing what it is, like just describing it and not like naming it or anything like that. And having like weird, like mad people around it. Like that's fine. I love it. Like it's, it's great.

[01:02:15] So I'm not going to lie in regards to like the, uh, the references to the names and stuff. Um, and you calling it cute. I really didn't think the word cute was going to be used to describe anything in this story. Just like, oh, that's like, that's cute. Like that's, I understand. I understand. Yeah. Um, but yeah, I also liked, I also kind of liked the, uh, the fact that like, it's not just like the horror is not just coming from the unknowable in this, like I either the flesh man or whatever's in the cave.

[01:02:44] It's also coming from the horror of corporate greed. Like this, this magnate is just as uncaring as the universe. Yes. Like, I want the, I want the metals that are in that mine. We'll keep sending men in regardless. Yeah. So yeah, that's my, my final thoughts and recommendation. I will recommend this story. Yeah. For me, I'm basically going to be mirroring that as well. It was a, it was a great read.

[01:03:11] Um, quite the tale of like messed up abominations and corporate greed, honestly. And it could make a shadow run job, honestly. Sorry, Mikey. Rest in peace. Um, uh, like because of that fact, like, cause the corporation is just like, no, just throw guys in there, you know? Yeah. And then they, they're, they're inadvertently like sparking some kind of blood ritual or, um, they're accidentally summoning something from like a deeper meta plane or, or like from

[01:03:38] beyond the meta planes, like the, the things that like the horrors that are, that are like be. So in, in the shadow run mythos cosmos, um, there is the material plane or the material world, which are our earth world. Um, like in our universe, there's the astral plane, which is sort of like a membrane between our world and the meta planes, which are these like basically like a frothing bubbles of different

[01:04:02] universe, different, like kind of mythological or, or like folkloric realms, um, that are surrounding the, the, the, the physical world. And those in themselves are a bigger membrane keeping the things beyond that at bay. Yeah. Um, so like, and then, and that, that stuff like is like the worst, like, that's why like there's a lot of stuff in like some of the deeper lore of shadow run where like people

[01:04:31] are trying to keep like certain blood rituals and like, um, there are certain like blood magics like out of like being used because it will summon these things or it'll, it'll tear a hole in the membrane to let these things in or create a bridge to their, whatever they are, their side is. Like they need another reason to not do blood magic. Yeah. It's not bad enough as it is. Yeah, exactly. Yeah.

[01:04:58] So, uh, yeah, it's just like, yeah, this, I could definitely see this being like, yeah, some corpo like, uh, or some affiliate of a, of a corporation. Um, uh, one of their minds mining sites has gone missing. So they're just going to send, uh, uh, a group of shadow runners to go in and find out what's going on or, or yeah, or even like sending like, uh, um, one of their paramilitary like security teams to go down there and find out what's wrong.

[01:05:22] So, and then they find that some dark secret of the corporation has been like working or the, the corporation just stumbled upon an older ruin or something that's been like festering down there. Like maybe the reason why this mine is so rich with like maybe some magical mineral, like or a calcium or something is because at the set, like down in the depths, there's this like horrible ritual space from like the, the, the third age or the, or the second age. So.

[01:05:52] Yeah. Yeah. Um, like I said, it was fun. Uh, and like the read, I liked the old timey words that were being thrown through it at first. It was like a little annoying until I realized the date of it was 1913. And that's like, Oh, okay. Got it. This is actually cool. Then it actually like added to the immersion a lot. Yeah. Cause there's somebody in the modern days. He was like, man, don't, don't be, don't be that guy. Yeah. Why are you this guy?

[01:06:21] And then we understood why he's that guy. Um, and also as a bonus, we learned like words. So that's cool. Words that I won't use in a normal speech, but I, I heard them now. You now know what August means. Uh huh. Yeah. You know why, why that summer month is, is named like that. Mm. Yeah. Um, so yeah, it was a fun read. Don't really have too much complaints. And for me, I didn't really catch much in the way of grammar. So I don't have much to complain about.

[01:06:48] It was put together, written and edited quite well. Yeah. I mean, it w it did go through some editing based on the, um, its own editing based on the, uh, the, the author's note above. So. Yep. Yep. Makes sense that we wouldn't have found as much. So. Mm hmm. Yeah. Shocking, honestly, cause normally half my notes are just grammar related things. Also, I just realized that, um, the thumbnail for the narration of the story, which is from

[01:07:16] like creepy pod or something, um, is a, is actually a screenshot from amnesia. Oh, is it? I didn't realize that until I looked at it a little bit more. Oh yeah. You're right. That's kind of funny. Or like a, or a similar like game. Like it's very, very similar graphics and like setting. Mm hmm. So that's kind of funny. But, uh, yeah. Um, so again, two recommendations. Um, and that's all you gotta know. Yeah. There's no third one. No. What third one?

[01:07:46] Mm hmm. Who's Mikey? Don't do that to me. You already did that to me on our sister podcast. One last die. Yeah. Plug, plug. Yeah. Uh, but yeah, that's it for tonight. Uh, if you like what you heard or if you didn't leave us a comment in the comment section below where this gets posted, some of us are on blue sky. Uh, I'm at review cultist. Uh, you can also send us emails at al dente rigor mortis at gmail.com.

[01:08:11] That's a L D E N T E R I G A M O R T I S at gmail.com. Where you can also leave us suggestions for other creep pastas, SCPs, spooky things. You creep it, we'll peep it. Yeah. And if you'd like to help support our show financially, you can go to Patreon. We have special episodes, early access and extra content to all our patrons helping support the show. Thank you immensely. You're helping keep those hosting bills at bay. And as always, we very much appreciate that.

[01:08:41] And to our listeners and the authors of these stories, thank you immensely. Cause without your listenership, it'd be like screaming into the void, into the dark, deep depths of these tunnels. And without your authorship writing and posting these stories on the internet, we really wouldn't have much of a show cause we'd have nothing to talk about. So thank you. Now's a good time to mention that we are a part of a podcast network, Crit in the Night, an actual play and creepy pasta podcast network.

[01:09:11] We're there alongside our previously mentioned sister podcast, One Less Die, and our cousin podcast, The Role Playing Exchange, for things that go crit in the night. Until next time, I have been your host, Review Cultist. And I'm the gamer in yellow. I'm used to waiting for Mikey. That's why there was a little bit of a delay there. Uh, yeah. Hi. Yeah. I'm on point here.

[01:09:39] And this has been al dente rigor mortis. Sleep well.