Speaker 1: In request created by Michael Freiberg, a production of I
Speaker 1: Heart Radio and Astro Media. Listen with headphones for three
Speaker 1: D audio. The gate that's gauntlet ahead of the tunnel corridor,
Speaker 1: three drop gates, and a final swing gate with archers
Speaker 1: and spearman guard in the exit. Our only hope is
Speaker 1: to clear it. The fourth shuts keep running a don't
Speaker 1: stop until we're saving the desert sands. That's the landing
Speaker 1: rub us. There one more to go into the final
Speaker 1: Blackstone swing gate, but that's we're beginning to down. We'll
Speaker 1: do a single file. I'll leave the way Love go Serious,
Speaker 1: come on, third game, Serious Lee trapped behind the drop gate,
Speaker 1: don't worry. Serious, we'll get you out. On what happened
Speaker 1: third Gateail bunchetions it didn't. Then it dropped immediately too late.
Speaker 1: By the time we managed get Serious free, the doors
Speaker 1: of the final swing hit will have already close shut,
Speaker 1: sealing us inside of you. The drop gates driving. But
Speaker 1: why no time for questions. As soon as Serious sway right,
Speaker 1: the final swing gate is so open, listen. The best
Speaker 1: chance we have of making the best of guards outside
Speaker 1: is to spread out the dunes and six agg as
Speaker 1: we run follow my lead. Okay, see, I'm ever your
Speaker 1: side down. Get that fiery something drop, go keep moving,
Speaker 1: run towards the seting sun downs a chance to escape,
Speaker 1: Give them safe passage onto the dudes. I secured the
Speaker 1: gate with them, But sir, you're letting them get away.
Speaker 1: So to be it an arrow or spear through the
Speaker 1: head is too good for these three? A quick and
Speaker 1: painless death. What would be the fun? Let them get
Speaker 1: lost in the desert and sucking either water plumbs this time? Ah?
Speaker 1: Are you too? Okay? From the fall, I'm a face
Speaker 1: full of sand like you're just serious? Okay, technically I'm
Speaker 1: still mobile. Then, Welcome to the Azrael desert. We're lucky
Speaker 1: we made it here alive. Our number one priorities should
Speaker 1: be finding a path back to the main route that
Speaker 1: leads to them all layer all we have of the
Speaker 1: supplies on our back, so we'll have to be resourceful
Speaker 1: if we plan to survive out here. Speaking of which,
Speaker 1: we're in the desert. Are we surveying the immediate grounds?
Speaker 1: We appear to be standing at the bottom of a
Speaker 1: deep and narrow chasm of valley. To be precise, to
Speaker 1: our rear and sides are towering rock face too steep
Speaker 1: to scale without proper equipment. In the distance, at the
Speaker 1: other end of the valley, there's some sort of unidentifiable
Speaker 1: black land mass. I venture to call it a small
Speaker 1: mountain and silhouette, but I can't be certain from so
Speaker 1: far away. Map. Indeed, only we had a map, I
Speaker 1: could pinpoint our location in the desert. Map. Oh, what
Speaker 1: do you have there? The map? Yes, serious, you grabbed
Speaker 1: it off the gate man's desk before we left. Let
Speaker 1: me take a look. M h, it's all here, the
Speaker 1: main route across the desert leading to the Molair, the
Speaker 1: baobab tree marking its location, and a pathway from atop
Speaker 1: these cliffs to guide us there. It plots out everything
Speaker 1: required to find our way to the mole Air, recover
Speaker 1: the satellite dish, and complete the agency's mission. Everything that is,
Speaker 1: except for a current location. This valley is missing from
Speaker 1: the maps diagram. The unidentified black land mass. Assuming it's
Speaker 1: a mountain, it could have a trail leading out of
Speaker 1: the valley. With terrain, we can actually climb. Well, it's possible,
Speaker 1: but that's the only path forward. We have to keep moving,
Speaker 1: keep trying to find a way out. Sure, either good.
Speaker 1: Let's get a move on then. Now, as long as
Speaker 1: we're traveling through uncharted territory, it's imperative we remain on
Speaker 1: high alert of our surroundings. Otherwise, could we expose ourselves
Speaker 1: to unwelcome surprises and may fail to identify opportunities along
Speaker 1: the way. And need I remind you too, it's only
Speaker 1: a matter of time until we run out of food
Speaker 1: and water, our hope of escape dwindles, and we end
Speaker 1: up trapped in this valley with no way out. Stop
Speaker 1: my toe on this pesky rock. Wait, that's not a
Speaker 1: rock either. It's a cock show. What's a cock shell
Speaker 1: doing in the middle of the desert. Serious? Here, Hold
Speaker 1: it's your ear and listen, you can hear the ocean.
Speaker 1: Oh wait, pretty pink? Serious? Alright, serious, knock it off.
Speaker 1: This is exactly the kind of negligence I warned about.
Speaker 1: Serious as antics may have given away our position. He's
Speaker 1: just having some fun. Besides, we're the only ones down here.
Speaker 1: Good reason. Still, we need to proceed with the utmost
Speaker 1: caution until we confirm we're indeed alone. Despite what seems
Speaker 1: like a foregone conclusion, who knows what could be lurking
Speaker 1: in this valley. I'll tell you what's lurking in this
Speaker 1: valley right now, sand rocks and the grating sound of
Speaker 1: your serious, I said, knock it off, the serious, No
Speaker 1: make sound? Where did that come from? I have a
Speaker 1: theory either, but I'll need you to be absolutely quiet
Speaker 1: as Serious sounds the shell again. Go ahead, blow the
Speaker 1: shell A three four, Serious come here for a moment.
Speaker 1: This mission maybe too much for Logo. He's been acting
Speaker 1: weird since we met him, and the fall probably pushed
Speaker 1: him over the edge. Keep an eye on him. Big brands,
Speaker 1: more fragile logo. It's all going to be okay. We're
Speaker 1: gonna get you some help, and you can stop counting now.
Speaker 1: Precisely as hypothesized, Serious sounded a final time. Hum him.
Speaker 1: I guess serious Blue into the shell. I started counting
Speaker 1: seconds in my head. I'm confirming it now, but I
Speaker 1: believe we're about five miles away from the black Land
Speaker 1: Mass at the valley's end. How do you figure? And
Speaker 1: what about the sound we just heard? Where did that
Speaker 1: come from? It's an echo. It's all quite logical. As
Speaker 1: observers at ground level, our lineup sight is limited to
Speaker 1: roughly three miles beyond which objects seemingly vanished past the horizon.
Speaker 1: The only reason we can identify the Black land mass
Speaker 1: the head is due to its great height, allowing us
Speaker 1: to make out the mountaintop while it's base remains hidden
Speaker 1: from view. Sound, however, is unencumbered by these optical limitations.
Speaker 1: When serious blows through the cock shell, the sound travels
Speaker 1: all the way to the black mountain mass in the distance,
Speaker 1: and then returns to us as a reflection of the
Speaker 1: original signal echo. Precisely, and given that the speed of
Speaker 1: sound and dry air is roughly three three per second,
Speaker 1: I can calculate our distance from the mountain working through
Speaker 1: the formula speed of sound equals distance divided by time,
Speaker 1: and then having the answer to account for our one
Speaker 1: way direction of travel, brings us to the five mile
Speaker 1: marker I alluded to, which is the total distance to
Speaker 1: our path of escape and wherein life the basis of
Speaker 1: the reverberation of sounds throughout the valley magic not magic math,
Speaker 1: and like before, the sound should be coming back to us.
Speaker 1: Intent nine eight seven sounds like you're off by a
Speaker 1: few seconds must be a rounding error. No, I stand
Speaker 1: by it. Total return time for the sound is a
Speaker 1: function of its distance travel. That can only mean one thing.
Speaker 1: The Black Mountain Mass, whatever it is, is moving towards us. Ah. Oh,
Speaker 1: then let's get a move on. Come on, but didn't
Speaker 1: you hear what I said? We could stay here and
Speaker 1: wait for it to come to us, or we can
Speaker 1: go and face it head on. I choose onwards and upwards. Serious,
Speaker 1: wait for me. Since we're proceeding forward, it's important to
Speaker 1: note that every five second reduction and echo return time
Speaker 1: corresponds to approximately half a mile nearer in distance. So
Speaker 1: the sooner the echo returns, the closer we are noting.
Speaker 1: Serious sound the shell from time to times, so we
Speaker 1: know how far we are away from the Black Mountain Mass. Now,
Speaker 1: if we could only reach a higher vantage with increased
Speaker 1: range of sight, we might be able to identify the
Speaker 1: nature of the approaching object and even chart out a
Speaker 1: path back to the main route. We'll be on the
Speaker 1: lookout anything else. No, let's just hope that Black Mountain
Speaker 1: Mass doesn't speed up. Oh, no, logo, I think I'm
Speaker 1: starting to lose it. My eyes are deceiving me. Too
Speaker 1: serious informations, too much. Step man, snap over on the right,
Speaker 1: on that nearby isolated cliff, side. I see a beam
Speaker 1: of light coming from what looks like a lighthouse. There's
Speaker 1: even steps car up into the rock face leading up
Speaker 1: to it from the valley. It must be a symbol
Speaker 1: for my subconscious. Do I go into the light or
Speaker 1: run away from it? Lighthouse on lone cliff? Serious, you
Speaker 1: see it too, see logo? Don't be so dramatic. Thanks,
Speaker 1: you're looking up all right, you're right the lighthouse. There's
Speaker 1: our higher advantage point. I bet we can restock on
Speaker 1: supplies too. There may even be a way to call
Speaker 1: for help. We're saved. Well I didn't quite save that,
Speaker 1: but we're saved. We're saved. I'm going into the light. Ah,
Speaker 1: come on, serious Logo's head into that light like I'm
Speaker 1: off the flame. We might have to save him from
Speaker 1: getting burned. Here we are the lighthouse. Hello, anyone home?
Speaker 1: No answer? Serious, No, don't do it. The doors unlocked.
Speaker 1: Make sure to be on your best behavior when we
Speaker 1: meet the lighthouse keeper. Were lucky. We'll learn the fastest
Speaker 1: way out of this value back to the main route.
Speaker 1: This place is all run down, it's full of cobwebs
Speaker 1: of all Then that door, it must lead to the
Speaker 1: keeper's quarters. Wait, before we enter, it would be wise
Speaker 1: to formulate a plan. One of us should stay behind
Speaker 1: at the lighthouse to try and mind for supplies and
Speaker 1: information from the benefit of this hidvantage point. That way,
Speaker 1: the other two compare up and continue exploring the valley
Speaker 1: and share their findings upon return. Okay, how do you
Speaker 1: propose we split up? It should be merit based. Serious.
Speaker 1: You're a natural tracker. You can locate trails or detect
Speaker 1: hidden dangerous and your talents are best utilized down on
Speaker 1: the valley floor. Either you're you're you like to talk
Speaker 1: a lot, so you should be a little bit quick
Speaker 1: friends out of any hostile strangers encountered out in the valley.
Speaker 1: As for me, well, I'm an intellectual. I could ingratiate
Speaker 1: myself with the keepers. I'm sure this lighthouse is full
Speaker 1: of complex machinery that requires a lot of technical know
Speaker 1: how and a scientific knowledge to operate things that would
Speaker 1: be painfully boring to the average individual. For the sake
Speaker 1: of the team, I volunteered to stay be hide. Oh
Speaker 1: how brave of you? Logo? Serious? Do you agree to
Speaker 1: our hero's proposal? Chicken hardball baw baw deal Waiting One
Speaker 1: last thing? What if I need to protect myself when
Speaker 1: I'm alone. Can I borrow a weapon? We don't travel
Speaker 1: with weapons, remember, but you do go emissions that take
Speaker 1: you to places like this. What do you mean you
Speaker 1: don't travel with weapons? We found bringing weapons into unfamiliar
Speaker 1: places just invite trouble. Besides serious protects us. Now let's
Speaker 1: go in MS. How nice? How long you're just in time?
Speaker 1: Thank you? We're aching. You were expecting us? No, oh,
Speaker 1: it kind of sounded like you were. How good of
Speaker 1: you to come? If I don't, you'd be early. I'd
Speaker 1: have finished tidying up. We don't mind. But wait, we
Speaker 1: didn't plan to come here. We happened here by chance
Speaker 1: and a little late. If you ask me. It's tea time,
Speaker 1: but I'm afraid it hasn't much left. Please help yourselves
Speaker 1: way ahead of you. Now that you're here, we can
Speaker 1: finally start. Okay, Oh, I'm ether. This is why are
Speaker 1: we fellows? Logo and big guys serious? And I'm shullock.
Speaker 1: Have a seat, So tell us, Sherlock. Why is there
Speaker 1: a lighthouse out here in the desert? The lighthouse? Why
Speaker 1: is it overlooking the desert? The lighthouse? Desert? I don't
Speaker 1: follow the building we're in right now. Normally it'd be
Speaker 1: overlooking an ocean, but instead it's here in the desert.
Speaker 1: Oh yes, that lighthouse. Well, let's see, it's a long story. Ah,
Speaker 1: you were saying, what the story you were gonna tell us?
Speaker 1: The story behind the lighthouse? Oh yes, back to the
Speaker 1: days when it was wet all over. At the time,
Speaker 1: I was a sail stationed on the s S. Pangaea.
Speaker 1: Beauty of the vessel, fabulous true, love them like they
Speaker 1: have a family, which they were. I come from a
Speaker 1: long line of seafars, bus and tame the wall. Next
Speaker 1: thing I know, we're surrounded, and then cannon bar blood
Speaker 1: right in the hole caused us to bear up bos
Speaker 1: and we never had a chance. Once we hit that
Speaker 1: ice bag. They say n an icebread lies beneath the
Speaker 1: water service, and one hundred percent of the time I
Speaker 1: found that to be true. I'll tell you. It took
Speaker 1: us grab and to get those anvils back on board
Speaker 1: the ark. But I digressed. We were gone. Just then
Speaker 1: we saw the guiding light of this lighthouse and swam ashore.
Speaker 1: We made it to our new home, and over time
Speaker 1: I became its captain. What eventually came to darkness that
Speaker 1: covered the land. The water turned to vapor and was
Speaker 1: sucked up by the night sky. Then it got hot,
Speaker 1: real hot. That's try eat red toe stick together and
Speaker 1: lips shut. I started sweating. I felt moisture pulling up
Speaker 1: on my brow, maybe thirsty, So I decided to come in.
Speaker 1: He makes some nice tea. Then you three walked in.
Speaker 1: How in considerate of me? Let me get you a refill?
Speaker 1: S No, I am, I'm all right, nonsense, I insist
Speaker 1: more tea would be lovely. About the lighthouse, though, how
Speaker 1: long has it been here? Shoot? About as long as
Speaker 1: I can remember, I reckon since the dawn of time.
Speaker 1: It's so that dang grandfather taunting me for an eternity,
Speaker 1: TikTok TikTok, calling my name, trying to hypnotize me with
Speaker 1: its golden rock. Sherlock, Sherlock, prodding me with a pointy hands,
Speaker 1: old croc old croc driving me cuckle goockle. Why I
Speaker 1: ought to rip your hands right up and break your face?
Speaker 1: Who's killing time? Now? Grandfather? Okay, where will we serious?
Speaker 1: And I were dressed on our way up leaving so soon,
Speaker 1: really wish we could say, but we have business back
Speaker 1: down in the valley. Wait, great meeting me too. I
Speaker 1: should also be your best behavior logo. Remember you're a guest. No, please,
Speaker 1: don't leave me alone with this insane lee, gracious host.
Speaker 1: So do you like being a lighthouse keeper? There's something
Speaker 1: off with Sherlock. He's a little but scatter brain. You
Speaker 1: dodged a bullet with that one. Hey, keep sounding the
Speaker 1: shell while we walk. Someone could think it's a distress
Speaker 1: signal when we come to our rescues. Well, serious, it's
Speaker 1: just us too again, out on a mission. Just like
Speaker 1: old times. We're a long way from imperiod. We go
Speaker 1: home soon. Yeah, assuming logo actually knows what he's talking about.
Speaker 1: With that astronomy, mumbo jumbo can show us how to
Speaker 1: reach imperiod by following the eclipses path of totality dress
Speaker 1: logo logo Smart, I know, but I just can't stop
Speaker 1: thinking about it. The day we returned home, part of
Speaker 1: me worries that maybe we've been gone too long, too
Speaker 1: much time has passed. We'll get back and everything will
Speaker 1: be different. At home, we knew that people were trying
Speaker 1: to save all have changed so much so they might
Speaker 1: as well be strangers in some foreign land. Another part
Speaker 1: of me worries that we'll get back and find that
Speaker 1: nothing is different. The people in places preserved same as before,
Speaker 1: but Imperia no longer feels like home because we're the
Speaker 1: ones who have changed. Hear that the sound returned more quickly.
Speaker 1: The black mass must be getting closer. Ah, what is
Speaker 1: the series? Spot? Something traps white flat thorough like follow?
Speaker 1: Where do you think leads? M flowers? Field of white flowers?
Speaker 1: A serious? You know what this means? There must be
Speaker 1: water nearby, but now vultures free block. I guess there's wrong,
Speaker 1: doesn't after all? That makes begamating cold? Can't running good?
Speaker 1: To resist? Ignore it, don't engage, keep moving, Hi, stop running,
Speaker 1: but will open byre do it? Do it? I think
Speaker 1: they're bluffing or they actually have a gun. Gun scared tactics,
Speaker 1: No way, it's looting. You can't get bullets in this hemisphere,
Speaker 1: for it's a warning shop, and I'm warning you. I
Speaker 1: never missed twice. I stand corrected. You don't fire, We'll cooperate.
Speaker 1: How about a compromise. If you want oil, we can
Speaker 1: get you oil. We've got oil. And it ain't just
Speaker 1: for fueling, neither it's for burning. It's the amulet. You've
Speaker 1: got paid by thinking it. Menched my host a rather nicely.
Speaker 1: Don't either his life nor his amulate our eyes to tea.
Speaker 1: They're only tess want this service? Fine? And where am i? Men?
Speaker 1: Allow me to make a proper introduction. I'm fat chief
Speaker 1: alchemist of the Necronos. Please here a Zipper and Luna,
Speaker 1: sunken charls. We welcome you to our hello grounds, the
Speaker 1: valley of the shadow of Death. We'll make ourselves right
Speaker 1: en up. Check out the big man. Looks like we've
Speaker 1: got ourselve green dumb came across all flowers? Did you
Speaker 1: pretty unknown? They only grow here in the billy Something
Speaker 1: about the nutrients in the soil, our own organic fertilize
Speaker 1: the blood of heathens. And if you peel back at
Speaker 1: the petals, you'll find a secret in side. When the
Speaker 1: flower dies, it releases spools. Just one taste of the
Speaker 1: interior risk will bring you closer to the inner truth.
Speaker 1: We're not here for your flowers. Oh, we're not worried
Speaker 1: about that. What do you want? It's what our master designs.
Speaker 1: Your master. You'll meet her soon enough, Zeppa, Luna, load
Speaker 1: up Chicago for transport. Give me arist of time there,
Speaker 1: get to walk in walking, You're walking. Oh God, we
Speaker 1: can't believe. I'm better ask Sherlock for help, as either says,
Speaker 1: desperate times call for desperate measures. Sherlock, my travel companions
Speaker 1: and I are experiencing some navigational difficulties. Our map of
Speaker 1: the surrounding area is incomplete, and while I can overlook
Speaker 1: a few missing topographical features and contour lines, the valley's
Speaker 1: absence renders the map inadequate as a cartographic guide. Since
Speaker 1: you reside here, it would be highly agreeable if you
Speaker 1: would please direct me to the nearest path leading out
Speaker 1: of the valley. So you're seeking direction in life, I
Speaker 1: suppose you could say that be aware what lies in
Speaker 1: the desert, What lies there? The black viper, the call
Speaker 1: of the void shadows. People can spend a lifetime chasing echoes.
Speaker 1: So I'm getting lost along the way Others others fine,
Speaker 1: what they were hoping to hear? Which is the song
Speaker 1: stress at the end of the tune? Do you know
Speaker 1: who's behind your lullaby? I'm sorry, but I can't interpret
Speaker 1: your cryptic language. Simplize, symbolize, simplize. Look, here's the map.
Speaker 1: How about you point to our current locations, and we'll
Speaker 1: use that as a reference marker. Oh me, but I'm
Speaker 1: not even here right now, of course not. Do you
Speaker 1: have any travel insight or just more in a nonsense. Well,
Speaker 1: I'm a traveler too, you know, a time traveler. I
Speaker 1: live in the future. I dwell in the past. You
Speaker 1: won't find me in the present. Now, what are you doing? Drawing?
Speaker 1: Is your path forward? A circle? You drew a circle
Speaker 1: that which has no beginning, has no end. Bound to
Speaker 1: repeat this endless loop we are I'm hunger insatiable, like
Speaker 1: the serpent that face on its own toe. I can't
Speaker 1: take much more of this. The problem you faces You're
Speaker 1: too smart for your own good. What well your problem?
Speaker 1: Your problem is that you don't make any sense. I
Speaker 1: can't even understand you because of the way you speak.
Speaker 1: Talk without rhythm, don't alert the priest. Walk without rhythm,
Speaker 1: don't attract the beast. Walk without rhythm, don't attract the beast, sherlock.
Speaker 1: If you didn't want to help, then you should have
Speaker 1: just said, so, okay, I'm headed up to the observation
Speaker 1: deck so I can get a view of the valley.
Speaker 1: At least then this visit will have the more something
Speaker 1: true about living down. High Priestess Nadia, we brought you
Speaker 1: two outsiders, caught them trespassing in the near the gardens.
Speaker 1: You too, what do you call yourselves? I'm ether, that's serious.
Speaker 1: We stumbled here by accidents, Ether serious, how fortunate an accident.
Speaker 1: You're just in time. The moon's almost at zena. Our
Speaker 1: ceremony is about to begin. Fang, Zephyr Luna, show our
Speaker 1: guests of honor to the observation brig where they may
Speaker 1: be whole the awakening at one Cypriestess, you heard her
Speaker 1: prepare to get walking. Now. The big one had with
Speaker 1: him this comb shell. I took it so he wouldn't
Speaker 1: disrupt the ceremony. I want to tell, said how rarefined.
Speaker 1: Let him hold on to it. I don't think it's
Speaker 1: a good idea to an outsider being position of an
Speaker 1: instrument during the ceremony. Yet you think it wise to
Speaker 1: talk back to your High Priestess. Sorry, Fang, question my
Speaker 1: command again and I'll ensure you die and unholy death.
Speaker 1: Luna return the shell to him right away. High Priestess,
Speaker 1: here serious, I invite you to join us and honoring
Speaker 1: our master with your music, the sound of your shell
Speaker 1: will add to the symphony of the summoning a h
Speaker 1: Now take them away to the brig my pleasure. High Priestess,
Speaker 1: you too, get a move on. Even from up here
Speaker 1: on the observation deck, I still can't quite make out
Speaker 1: with that black masses. The distance is too far away,
Speaker 1: and it's dark and foggy out. Now where's it headed?
Speaker 1: Retract the optical magna fog? Sherlock, When did you come
Speaker 1: up here? But yes, good idea. If I adjust the
Speaker 1: beacons angle to refocus the light upon our immediate vicinity,
Speaker 1: at least I can observe if anything of notice happening
Speaker 1: on the valley floor contracting, contracting testing, ocular realignment. Oh
Speaker 1: no either and serious. It looks like they're in trouble, Sherlock.
Speaker 1: Those people down there, they'll see the light and know
Speaker 1: someone's up here. Will they come for you me? No,
Speaker 1: I'm nobody, and you can't hurt someone with nobody. I'm
Speaker 1: a ghost and I hoped myself, so I think they'll
Speaker 1: leave you alone. People come to the lighthouse looking for
Speaker 1: the key to Sherlock, but they lack the right frame
Speaker 1: of mind to open the door within. You know, I
Speaker 1: used to be just like you. I remember it like
Speaker 1: it was tomorrow. In a future life, I was the
Speaker 1: queen of the odd country. Then she took everything from me. H.
Speaker 1: She lives in the walls of my attic, and she
Speaker 1: kills me every night, sherlock. When she visits you turned
Speaker 1: down her offer. The Golden Goose comes with a noose.
Speaker 1: Once she catches you shall never let loose. She hunts
Speaker 1: the game. You're paying her game. Only yourself to blame
Speaker 1: when she drives you insane. I've said too much. Please
Speaker 1: look at come on, get moving, he says. No way
Speaker 1: to treat your guests of honor? Now is it? You
Speaker 1: made me waste my last bullet on a warning shot.
Speaker 1: Now you're gonna wish it was you I wasted instead.
Speaker 1: Zippa the brig. The door to the cage is open,
Speaker 1: and the waiting filler up. You too, get it perfect fit.
Speaker 1: Don't be said you too, I'm jealous. After all, you've
Speaker 1: got a front row view of the ceremony. Hi Priestess
Speaker 1: approaches how our guests doing sitting pretty in the brig?
Speaker 1: They ain't going nowhere? Thank go prepare the tribute for
Speaker 1: the awakening. Hi, Hi Priestess Luna Zefyr ready the grounds.
Speaker 1: I'll speak with our guests and enlighten them on a ritual.
Speaker 1: It will be our honor comes after her, My fortunate sons,
Speaker 1: Your arrival is a good omen a. Few outsiders ever
Speaker 1: witnessed the glory of our master's work, Your master. Where
Speaker 1: do you serve the one true savior? Umbra? Why? Yes,
Speaker 1: she is the last bastion of truth in a world
Speaker 1: full of lies. Umbra, and only Umbra will lead us
Speaker 1: into suffering and deliver us to salvation. Why why would
Speaker 1: you choose to worship something that brings you suffering. Suffering
Speaker 1: is glorious, It's divine, There is truth, it's suffering. I
Speaker 1: don't understand you choose to suffer room either life is suffering.
Speaker 1: From the moment you enter this world, you're born a prisoner,
Speaker 1: condemned to a life with no reason for being, no
Speaker 1: deeper meaning, no higher purpose. Where you search for answers,
Speaker 1: you find only questions. The wise among us see the
Speaker 1: life for what it truly is, a cruel joke played
Speaker 1: in a cold world apathetic to our existence. Some get
Speaker 1: sick and never get well. Others lose their sanity and
Speaker 1: stay lost in their minds. The lucky few pass silently
Speaker 1: into the night. You're wrong. There's more to life than that.
Speaker 1: There has to be. The only constant in life is
Speaker 1: chaos and suffering. The only certainty death. Beyond that, it's
Speaker 1: just a seat. You see ether in a futile attempt
Speaker 1: to make sense of it. All wickedest lie people tell
Speaker 1: themselves is that they have no control over their lives,
Speaker 1: that they're too weak to influence their destiny, that they
Speaker 1: have no choice but to suffer at the whims of
Speaker 1: fate and fortune. But they're wrong. We can choose. We
Speaker 1: can submit to the chaos. We can choose to suffer.
Speaker 1: We can embrace death, and in that there is freedom.
Speaker 1: In that lies the path to salvation. That's your answer.
Speaker 1: Give up, We give in, We give in to what
Speaker 1: is real. We give in to Umbra, willingly surrendered to her.
Speaker 1: To commit yourself to Umbra makes you invincible, for then
Speaker 1: nothing else can hurt you. It's the only sane choice
Speaker 1: in this insane world. You may not understand, but there
Speaker 1: is pleasure to despair, a relief from torment, a solace
Speaker 1: and suffering. Through Umbra, we may rest in peace, High Priestess,
Speaker 1: we arranged the grounds and identified the source of the
Speaker 1: light that intrudes upon our sacred rights. It stems from
Speaker 1: atop the southern cliff, the old lighthouse. I'll gather the
Speaker 1: others and put it out. No, my child. On the contrary,
Speaker 1: let it shine a light on our master's glory. Is
Speaker 1: the lighthouse not worth searching for? First tributes fit for offering?
Speaker 1: I've paid a visit to the beacon before, and spoken
Speaker 1: with its keeper. There was nothing left for Umbra to possess.
Speaker 1: As you say, let the light illuminate our ceremony, so
Speaker 1: all may bear witness to her glory, Big man, blow
Speaker 1: your shell for Umbra. Ah. Do it's serious, High Priestess.
Speaker 1: The tribute is secured and has been branded with the
Speaker 1: mark of possession. He's ready to be received. Good. Inoculate
Speaker 1: him with the elixir one drop of sweet white flower
Speaker 1: nectar to open his mind to the inner truth. Hear
Speaker 1: that voice, give him a taste of the risen serious
Speaker 1: the black mass. It must be close, it begins, What
Speaker 1: do I do? What do I do? Either and serious
Speaker 1: or in danger? Down there? Even if they fend off
Speaker 1: the assailants, the black mass is still getting closer. I
Speaker 1: ever heard a sound you can't come here that echoes
Speaker 1: in your years, drawn in by the pitch hands, fixed
Speaker 1: in frequency. That must be it. Sound. Sound must be
Speaker 1: what's attracting the black mask, like when it hurd the
Speaker 1: horn of the cock shell. I can try to lure
Speaker 1: it away to the cliffs here and keep either in
Speaker 1: serious safe. Does this lighthouse have a fog horn? It
Speaker 1: does great? Where is it? Service room upstairs? In the attic?
Speaker 1: The attic, of course, anything else I should know about
Speaker 1: the fog horn? Fog fog one is broken. The fog
Speaker 1: horn is broken, Yes, sorry, broken? How do I fix it?
Speaker 1: You're searching for the right answer, but asking the wrong question.
Speaker 1: What please? My friends are in big trouble and there
Speaker 1: isn't much time. That fog horn might be the only
Speaker 1: thing that can save them. Tell me how to fix it.
Speaker 1: I don't think you understand the nature of the problem.
Speaker 1: It's not the break in the horn. It's the tear
Speaker 1: in the sky, the rupture in the ground, the fracture
Speaker 1: in the fabric that ripples through what. We are out
Speaker 1: of sync with the world, but we're made of the
Speaker 1: world too. To set everything right, we need to risk
Speaker 1: store balance in ourselves and our universe. Fix the world. Okay,
Speaker 1: but first the fog horn. Where do I start? It
Speaker 1: all begins with a big bang, a tug of the
Speaker 1: pull cord, a flash in the pan that'll fire up
Speaker 1: the engine and get the mantel rotating again as it
Speaker 1: should be, and you will be on your way. Okay,
Speaker 1: but give a schematic or manual of some sort. You're
Speaker 1: the lighthouse keeper. You must have dealt with this before.
Speaker 1: It's all been set into motions. Since the world began
Speaker 1: spinning on its axis. We to cycle around this wheel
Speaker 1: we call existence, passing through the three phases birth, life,
Speaker 1: and death. Round and round and round we go. Maybe
Speaker 1: I am asking the wrong question. How do I restore
Speaker 1: balance to our universe and save the world? You find
Speaker 1: the folk rum. See the world seesaws back and forth,
Speaker 1: back and forth between order and chaos, chaos and order,
Speaker 1: But everything that goes up must come down. To set
Speaker 1: everything right and restore balance in our universe, find the
Speaker 1: fulgrum and make it level. Is that all you have
Speaker 1: to say? And when the time is right, flip the
Speaker 1: switch and listen to the harmony of the spheres plays out.
Speaker 1: How will I know when the time is right? The
Speaker 1: intuition of course, what am I doing? What a waste
Speaker 1: of time? That grandfather clock was right. You're just a
Speaker 1: crazy old crock now. And remember, don't forget. In the
Speaker 1: hour of the blood Moon and the pale Blue, we
Speaker 1: summon the Umbra, are one true master. Heed the call
Speaker 1: of the necronauts, Travelers to the Intra, Guardians of the
Speaker 1: Valley of the Shadow of Death, Martyrs for your possession,
Speaker 1: Show us the path home to your inner kingdom, for
Speaker 1: we have lost our way on this terrestrial plane. Shatter
Speaker 1: the grand allusion and reveal to us our true selves
Speaker 1: so we may finally see what's real. Illuminate our final
Speaker 1: resting place, and we shall be born again in your
Speaker 1: fertile womb, immortal and death. We live to carry on
Speaker 1: your name. The sunken child is blessed with the Holy Few.
Speaker 1: We offer you a tribute so you may rise from
Speaker 1: your eternal slumber, a dormant vessel bound to your will.
Speaker 1: Fill his vacant head with your sacred knowledge, Flow through
Speaker 1: his veins with your blackest bile. Move his lips so
Speaker 1: he may speak the words that open the hidden door
Speaker 1: to the Intra. Oh yes, oh yes, possess, I feel
Speaker 1: her awakening within. See through his charcoal eyes, manifest in
Speaker 1: his weighty mind, mind his spirit as yours to incarnate.
Speaker 1: Use his body as you wish. Bring forward the night fire,
Speaker 1: carry the torches to the sacrificial pire. O Umbra, take
Speaker 1: me home. I'm ready to be received, burned away my weakness,
Speaker 1: rise from my ashes. Show me the one true path,
Speaker 1: and I will follow you into the night. We pray
Speaker 1: to thee, save me from myself and set me free.
Speaker 1: You sleep inside my soul. Awaken me, turned out to
Speaker 1: SIMI fire. Stop stop the ceremony. How dare you went
Speaker 1: to feel the dear? That's not the way to channel Umbra.
Speaker 1: It won't work, Trust me, I said, why now, this
Speaker 1: can't be the first time you performed the ceremony as
Speaker 1: Umbra ever awakened. I'll did you the meaning of silence
Speaker 1: that speake. Stop the ceremony. You have our ears. Either
Speaker 1: enlighten us with your hidden wisdom, but pick your words carefully. Oh,
Speaker 1: they'll be your last. You said it yourself. You worship
Speaker 1: the pain and suffering Umber brings. You'd like nothing more
Speaker 1: than for her to possess your soul, the one true
Speaker 1: path home. Then your words are meaningless. The sunken child,
Speaker 1: suffering and illusion. The ceremony a lie. No, Dear, how
Speaker 1: can you let a prisoner talk like this? He's just
Speaker 1: a heathen? Does he speak for the High Priestess? Hold
Speaker 1: your tongue, fang Or, I will hold it for you.
Speaker 1: Finish what you were saying. Umber of feeds off suffering,
Speaker 1: but you necronouts welcome death and hopes of channeling her,
Speaker 1: which means for you it's not suffering at all. It's pleasure.
Speaker 1: That's why Umber won't awaken. You don't know true suffering.
Speaker 1: What can speak? This sunken child, like all the others,
Speaker 1: will give his life in vain for a promise that
Speaker 1: can't be kept. How can any of you call yourselves
Speaker 1: your master's true servants when all you offer Umbra is
Speaker 1: false suffering. So spare the life of the sunken child,
Speaker 1: and in this charade, release us and preserve your honor
Speaker 1: before Umbra. That's the one true path home. Enough, release
Speaker 1: our guests from the brig. You can't do it now,
Speaker 1: fang Or, you will be left behind when we depart.
Speaker 1: Gentle with untying our ropes. You heard the High Priests
Speaker 1: for guests, Dear, thank you for understanding my partner and
Speaker 1: I thank prepare these two for tribute. What it will
Speaker 1: be my own a high priestess. Let's time with the
Speaker 1: holy feel tie them to the sacrificial pie. But you're right,
Speaker 1: we necronauts have nothing to offer our master. We'd already
Speaker 1: give our lives, Willie Lane. But you, my surrogate childs,
Speaker 1: you possess a gift that of true suffering. You are
Speaker 1: our key to reaching the entry tribute. Secure to the pilet. Please,
Speaker 1: you're making a mistake. We'll be needing this amulance where
Speaker 1: you're going now, Etha, will you my amulance? You too
Speaker 1: will serve as vessels for Umbrah's glory. Resumed the ceremony.
Speaker 1: I'm sure the foghorn problem isn't anything. Some simple troubleshooting
Speaker 1: can resolve. Engine. Probably just need some oil. Yeah that's right,
Speaker 1: a little oil and all of everything up and running
Speaker 1: in no time. Oh no, there's a lot more machinery
Speaker 1: than I anticipated. Okay, okay, not a problem, no cause
Speaker 1: for concern. I'll take a moment to survey the room
Speaker 1: and explore the environment. M hm hm. There's there's some
Speaker 1: complex mechanisms. Tubular devices, A stable of levers, pulleys, hand cranks,
Speaker 1: and bats. They are bats. Okay, okay, it's really no problem.
Speaker 1: I'll take a step by step, apply the scientific method,
Speaker 1: and have a foghorn fixed and operational shortly. Mm hmmm,
Speaker 1: I wonder what happens if I pull this lever and
Speaker 1: press first steps. So with this step, how about if
Speaker 1: I connect these two chords together? Photo photo photo. This
Speaker 1: isn't working at all. I'm just randomly pulling levers and
Speaker 1: pressing buttons. At this rate, it could take forever, and
Speaker 1: by then it'd be too late. He's no more Hancko,
Speaker 1: black mass disappear. We have bigger concerns at the moment.
Speaker 1: Are one true master? We offer you these two tributes,
Speaker 1: pure of mind and soul. They're real tears from real cries.
Speaker 1: Will soon feel the whites of their eyes when we
Speaker 1: wash them in the fire. They will burn most bright,
Speaker 1: and their screams will bless the night. They will suffer
Speaker 1: as our chosen martyrs bodies yours to possess and show
Speaker 1: us the true path home to the Intra. They see
Speaker 1: the staring him rang for the night by us. Come on, logo, think,
Speaker 1: how is it that Sherlock was once able to operate
Speaker 1: the fog horns complex machinery. There must be some method
Speaker 1: to this madness. What was it he said about how
Speaker 1: it starts. It all begins with a big bang, a
Speaker 1: tug of the pull chord. That's as good a place
Speaker 1: to start as any. H M. The engine. It's actually starting. Okay?
Speaker 1: What was next? We to cycle around this wheel. We
Speaker 1: call existence round and round and round we go the
Speaker 1: hand wheel. Okay, hands in position ten and two. Let's
Speaker 1: turn this wheel clockwise one, two, three. I hear the
Speaker 1: smoke heating up through the clips. It's working. Then what okay?
Speaker 1: The world seesaws back and forth between chaos and order.
Speaker 1: To set everything right and restore the balance, find the
Speaker 1: fulcrum and make it level. Here a metal beam resting
Speaker 1: uneven upon its central pivot point or fulcrum. Next to
Speaker 1: it are three steel weights of ten, five and fifteen pass.
Speaker 1: I can s two sides equal to balance the beams.
Speaker 1: The pressure gage is stabilizing, and when the time is right,
Speaker 1: lit the switch and listen. It's the harmony of the
Speaker 1: spears played out. I suppose that was as good a
Speaker 1: time as henny. Here goes nothing. It's alive. It's alive,
Speaker 1: my creation live, awaken up. Oh, I can from your
Speaker 1: sleep my feeling, I feels her awakening. I can trip
Speaker 1: you twitch five, Oh masta, break through the ground and
Speaker 1: open avoid to swallow us home. Were welcome your return
Speaker 1: phrase me to what's happening till your black worm? Now
Speaker 1: it's too late. That team's gone, hip a Luna. Pull
Speaker 1: back to the li ground. Let's side. Wait, don't leave
Speaker 1: us tied tie you can keep you from the end
Speaker 1: of don't to put it in. Say hi to a
Speaker 1: faster I appy less, Let's go, black worm, come for
Speaker 1: ouz ah serious, Sorry, this looks like the k Don't
Speaker 1: be sad. Don't people at the bird. We'll worry for
Speaker 1: you either, worm and follow horn, leave and go home.
Speaker 1: We're saved, how Sherlock. I don't know if I'll ever
Speaker 1: understand you. All that nonsense. It made sense. I'm off
Speaker 1: to rescue my friends. I hope we meet again one day.
Speaker 1: You can take my sand slid. It's in the basement.
Speaker 1: Get you that quick up sure, stick to the eye
Speaker 1: ground all about look good, no time for questions. Get
Speaker 1: off too, there's no way out my mountain mask That
Speaker 1: was worm leap yap a bally an. Now that the
Speaker 1: worm has gone, that could be just crazy enough to work. Logo.
Speaker 1: Don't get any wild ideas up one step ahead of yet,
Speaker 1: as it look pretty tight. But if we can make
Speaker 1: it through that slip in the valley rock, we might
Speaker 1: be able to escape. Keep your legs and arms inside
Speaker 1: the vehicle. It's about to get cozy. We're in time.
Speaker 1: The crevice the walls is turning a narrow around us,
Speaker 1: but the end is only a few yards ahead. Serious
Speaker 1: three stings pop and selling that show a trust me,
Speaker 1: now going to skip past that rock vile. We're finally free.
Speaker 1: We made it through show dropt sand. Let it go.
Speaker 1: It's great. I'm doing it. I'm really doing it. I'm
Speaker 1: saving to day. Look at me, I'm a be David.
Speaker 1: No helmet, no hardest, I'm trying without a mask. I flover. Oh,
Speaker 1: we're out of gas. But now head to the high
Speaker 1: ground leading out of the valley. We'll be safe their
Speaker 1: once we're off the dune. The worm camp peers through
Speaker 1: calcified rock. Who okay, but why are you walking like that? Oh?
Speaker 1: I talk without rhythm. Don't alert the priest. Walk without rhythm,
Speaker 1: don't attract the beast, come on, walk like me. Can't
Speaker 1: beat him? Yeah, baby, Oh no, Please don't hurt them.
Speaker 1: They're just pawns. They're just eating it in ponds in
Speaker 1: this tragic game of life. Yeah. InterQuest created by Michael Freiberg,
Speaker 1: a production of I Heart Radio and Astro Media Executive
Speaker 1: produced by Michael Freiberg and I Hear Radio, co produced
Speaker 1: by Adam Ramunda and Chelsea English. Sound design and mixed
Speaker 1: by Dennis Dembeck. Music by Trey Toy. Performances by Matthew Brissard, Ether,
Speaker 1: Mike Leaviovitz, Serious Mike Kaplan, Logo, Lucy poul Umbra featuring
Speaker 1: Nick Nanny gate Man, Casey, James Lango, Sherlock, j P
Speaker 1: mcdaide Fang, Mattie Smith, Zephyr, Tina Hesham, Luna, Nina tar Nader,
Speaker 1: Joe List, Sunken Child. Director and head writer Michael Freiberg,
Speaker 1: writers Tom Delgado and Will Julian, story editor Chelsea English,
Speaker 1: dialogue editor Adam Ramunda. Additional music Matthew Blaca, fully post
Speaker 1: red full cast and crew in the description. Find more
Speaker 1: podcasts from my Heart Radio on the I Heart Radio app,
Speaker 1: Apple podcast, or wherever you listen to podcasts.