Geeks on a Roll: Corrupted Fantasy (Part 2)

Christian Ashley: 00:01:14

Welcome back to part two of Corrupted Fantasy wasn't planned, but it's what we're doing in order to help our editor because we love him so much, we're splitting things up and guys, we're continuing on the journey. This is systematic ecology. We are the priests of the geeks. I'm your host, Christian Ashley, joined once again by two marvelous players, John Early.

How's it going, John?

John Erdely: 00:01:33

It is going absolutely fabulous, I would say. Couldn't be better, but we could always be better. But I am at a tolerable enjoyment of life at this moment.

Christian Ashley: 00:01:44

Perfect, Nick. I hope life is a little more tolerable for you. How's it going, Nick? Paul?

Nick Polk: 00:01:48

Yeah, you know, it's. I'm a teacher and it's the summertime. I'm out of school, so I am. I'm feeling good. I'm feeling good.

I get to, instead of work, I get to hang out and do, you know, some D and D adjacent type things with cool people.

Christian Ashley: 00:02:02

Get them this.

John Erdely: 00:02:04

I'm cool.

Nick Polk: 00:02:04

Exactly.

Christian Ashley: 00:02:06

All right. So gentlemen, last time we started off with our story. Before we head that way, would you like to reintroduce the characters that you picked?

As we head that way, I'll bring them up on screen. If you had Spyro first off, then you had Guanyin.

John Erdely: 00:02:24

Guanyin.

Christian Ashley: 00:02:25

Guanyin. Sorry, I was not looking at her name. You had Freakazoid, Samwise Gamgee. Very apropos. Denday and Kumar.

So would like to give a little recap of what happened last time for the viewers because it's been two days at least for them, maybe even a week.

John Erdely: 00:02:43

Okay, so basically all the characters are spirited away into a kind of, you say, devastated Rivendell. Is that right?

Christian Ashley: 00:02:54

Yeah.

John Erdely: 00:02:55

Where Elon is dying and is in and he explains.

Or that instead of the full ring of power that Sauron had, he has the ring of half power and that he's still the Big Bad of the universe, but things are a little bit different. So there's still a lot of war going on and we are still going to have to destroy this Ring of Half Power which Elrond has.

And we have still have to go march to Mordor to go destroy it. But the rest of the universe is a slightly different. Like Gollum being dead. And.

And we are still trying to follow the path of the Fellowship which we tried to fight the. The crebane from Dunland instead of just hiding because our hero Spyro was like, I can one shot these. And failed to do so. So he had to get healed.

He's still kind of damaged. And we decided to go into the mines of Moria.

And much to the dismay of Elrond, Freakazoid and Kumar already knew the password because they already aware of the lore.

Freakazoid the book lore and Kumar the movie lore which kind of provides an interesting dichotomy of two of the characters actually already know who Samwise and Elrond and everybody is. And I'm sure Dende is just kind of rolling with it at this point.

Nick Polk: 00:04:24

And we encountered a. And then we encountered. So we're in the minds of Moria. We sort of healed Spyro, as John mentioned.

And then all of a sudden we hear, you know, someone whispering in the background, my precious. And we know Gollum's dead. But instead it's a Bilbo makes himself known. And that was where we left off.

Christian Ashley: 00:04:46

And I should have said my precious last time but what I said was, bajans corrupted. You say Bashons.

Nick Polk: 00:04:54

Oh, did you. Oh, no, I like that better Stuff is Bashans. Ooh, I like that, actually.

Christian Ashley: 00:05:01

All right, so you have met with this mysterious creature. Sam, of course, is distraught because he would have let you know the last time when Saruman did scour the Shire not too long ago.

This is how he last saw Bilbo. He had been become a recluse over the years. Even Frodo barely talked to him.

There was no Gandalf around because, remember, he was mysteriously killed by some figure that no one knew who it was. And this is how they finally saw him. As this deformed creature who not as long as Gollum had been corrupted by the presence of the Ring.

But since his Ring of half power he's gotten to the point where he's almost at the level to where Gollum would have been to an extent. Poor Sam is Mr. Bilbo, Mr. Bilbo very lustfully in the sense of he. He knows you got the ring and he wants it. He wants his precious.

John Erdely: 00:05:54

So we're gonna have to restrain this thing.

Nick Polk: 00:05:57

Yeah, I think. I think Sam, like you said, is sad.

I think, you know, very similar to the movies where Sam goes to, like, embrace Bilbo and then, you know, Bilbo already has the nasty face where he, like, reaches out for the ring, you know, doing his, like. And I think that both Dende and Spyro look in horror and they're like, what is this thing? You know, they don't have any idea.

And so Elrond's also distraught.

And I think that Spyro, having little tact I would say, you know, obviously for Spyro has empathy because he's like a hero or whatever, but he doesn't really have, you know, he's like. He doesn't really care about the situation spiral. Like, like John said, someone is going. He's like someone restrained that thing.

John Erdely: 00:06:49

Exactly.

Nick Polk: 00:06:51

Who would. Who do you think? Who would restrain him, John?

John Erdely: 00:06:55

It'd probably be Freakazoid because he is a superhero and he hasn't done anything.

And I feel like he, in his own weird way, he wants to prove himself to the group because everybody is annoyed and he wants to prove that he's more than just a walking, talking encyclopedia. So.

Christian Ashley: 00:07:11

All right. Doing so. Freaksoid easily manhandles Bajans. He is like providing no threat to someone who works on a rule of funny.

But this does have an effect on Sam, as you mentioned earlier. And I would like you this time just a regular roll. Roll me a corruption check for both.

John Erdely: 00:07:33

Of us or one of us.

Christian Ashley: 00:07:35

Just one. Whoever wants to go.

John Erdely: 00:07:37

I got it.

Nick Polk: 00:07:38

Do it, John.

John Erdely: 00:07:39

Let's do this. D20. Right?

Christian Ashley: 00:07:42

And no, it's a D100 and a D10.

John Erdely: 00:07:45

Okay. All right, here's the D150 and.

Nick Polk: 00:07:53

You.

John Erdely: 00:07:53

Gotta remember which one's okay. This is. I think this is the D2. No, that's got nine on.

Christian Ashley: 00:08:00

Should have a nine.

John Erdely: 00:08:04

Is it the zero? That's the ten.

Christian Ashley: 00:08:06

The zero is the ten.

John Erdely: 00:08:07

Okay. All right, I've got one. Here we go. Three.

Christian Ashley: 00:08:14

3:53. So Sam has dealt with a lot more than his counterpart, we're more aware of, has ever had to endure. This has made him very, very distraught.

Seeing Bilbo, someone he was very kind to, very loving to, cared for him, even with the corruption, even without not seeing the man for many years, like not knowing how bad he had gone, he still, because Frodo loved the man. He loved the man.

And see him like this really messes with him and that he kind of starts hearing whispers from the ringing of half power of like, lose my power. We can change him. We can make him better. But it's not enough just yet for our faithful Hobbit. It's like very apparent to him he's under duress.

But no one else would notice quite yet.

Nick Polk: 00:09:10

I'm gonna keep Freakazoid on character and have him interject in this moment to ruin, you know, everything. And Freakazoid's gon, hey, old man, you wouldn't have any prune juice, would you? Journeys just stopped me up and I need to go.

And you know, the only person who understands what he's talking about is Kumar. And then Kumar goes, weed would be better. You got any weed on you?

John Erdely: 00:09:35

Got any of that pipe weed? Bilbo or.

Christian Ashley: 00:09:40

It's at this point they've dealt with a lot, very much with Freakazoid.

Kumar hasn't been the most helpful either in that regard either, outside of, like, giving knowledge of the film so you can tell the group as a whole is dissatisfied with them. Johnny rolled last time. Nick, go ahead and Roll me a D100, please. D100. D10. Just curiosity.

John Erdely: 00:10:04

D10.

Nick Polk: 00:10:05

Where'd you go? Here you go. Okay, I rolled a 24.

Christian Ashley: 00:10:09

Okay, I will tell you. That's bad. It is this point where everyone in the group is starting to, like, get very satisfied, angry. Like, they wanted to go this way.

They knew a part of the move that could have gone. And yet something happened differently.

Probably because Sauron and Saruman are on the same page, and that's why he had two different ways of attacking you is what you would think in this instance. But Spyro's like, I'm done. I've been hurt. I'll just fly that stupid ring straight to Mordor, straight to Mount Doom myself. I just want to take it.

Right now, Guanyin is, like, more not ready to do anything yet, but is having bad flashbacks to Wukong and everything she had to endure with him. And, like, well, if I took it, we wouldn't have problems. And that's where she stays. She doesn't go any further than that.

Like, Freakazoid is like, no one respects me. Maybe they would if I took this stupid ring and did it myself. And it's like that instinct, he almost reaches out to Sam and takes it, but he doesn't.

Uh, Dende. It's like, I want to go back to my friends. I want to go back to my world. I don't even know if that's even possible now.

Maybe if I took this ring, it could help me. But no, I'm the Guardian of Earth. I can't be doing something even to a place called Middle Earth.

And Kumar is like, well, maybe I'll get the respect I deserve if I take that ring. But every single one of them has the thoughts, but they're not there yet where they're gonna do something.

John Erdely: 00:11:38

I think Kumar would be the easiest corrupted out of the group.

Nick Polk: 00:11:43

Yeah, him being a human for sure,.

Christian Ashley: 00:11:46

Yes, does not help matters. But you have restrained Bajans. You know, he explains. You know, he knows the way. He can lead you there. He's watched their patrols.

He just Wants to help you. Like if you get rid of the ring, then I won't have to suffer like this anymore.

Nick Polk: 00:12:04

I think Elrond, because Elrond has a relationship with Bilbo and has had relationship with him at this point trusts Bilbo's knowledge and tries to convince the group that to.

Christian Ashley: 00:12:18

I forgot about Elrond.

Nick Polk: 00:12:18

Utilize.

Christian Ashley: 00:12:20

Sorry, I forgot about Elrond. I interrupted you. I apologize. But he too would also feel a draw to take the ring. It's like he's lost pretty much Rivendell and everything there.

This is supposed to be people working together. This has failed. He doesn't know these people. How can he trust them? They're not even from his world outside of Sam.

Like, maybe he should take the ring. So go ahead, Nick. I apologize.

Nick Polk: 00:12:41

No, I like that.

I think like you said, at this point where they are mentally in their corruption, I'm going to say that Elrond, you know, at this point is able to shake off the feeling at least momentarily to inform everyone like, no, me and Bilbo go way back. He is obviously succumbed part, at least in part to the power of the Ha. To the, the. The. The ring here, the ring of half power.

But I think we should trust his knowledge. Bilbo was a learned man. And then we can improve. We will take care of anything that comes our way from that point.

John Erdely: 00:13:17

So right now they would be just trying to figure out a way out. And I think, yes, Frank, Zoid and.

Christian Ashley: 00:13:24

Kumar would off any alarms.

John Erdely: 00:13:26

Yeah, I think that they would try to try to escape without waking up the Balrog. Because they would meant they would have probably. They would probably mention that and be like, well, you know, they would mention.

Christian Ashley: 00:13:38

Here it might not. Either way, it's bad.

John Erdely: 00:13:41

Yeah. So that's the task that they have.

Christian Ashley: 00:13:44

All right, so following Bajinth's directions, it is hard to see in the dark for most of you. So if. If it hadn't been that way, you probably would have had advantage.

But with him guiding you, I'm going to give you a group survival check to follow him correctly and not cause any disruptions that may break stealth. Okay, so who would like to take that?

John Erdely: 00:14:07

Tell me what to roll.

Christian Ashley: 00:14:09

D20.

John Erdely: 00:14:10

D20. Come on, group six.

Christian Ashley: 00:14:16

Okay, so the Maya are not. They're not shining on you today. Like, everyone is like, we gotta follow him. This is the plan.

But like Spyro, his injury kind of acts up a little bit, mess him, kind of throws him off. Some have been like, they're keeping an eye more on Sam and the ring in his possession than they are, you know, dashes directions.

And as a result of that, that's what causes you to fail this check. And there is a singular goblin who sees you, cries out in terror alerting the rest of his fellows to come your way.

John Erdely: 00:14:56

All right, well how many p. Is this like a. If we stop them from screaming, do the rest of them get still get alerted or can we kill.

Christian Ashley: 00:15:07

Too late.

John Erdely: 00:15:08

It's too late. All right, so they need to start huffing their escape and probably abandoning Bilbo.

I don't think there's any reason for like unless they shove or something and.

Christian Ashley: 00:15:20

He's the one leading them the way they need to go.

John Erdely: 00:15:22

Well then put. I say put him onto. There's somebody with speed or something. We got to figure out a way to make it move faster.

So either put them on Spyro so they can move faster or give them the Freakazoid who's got super speed.

Nick Polk: 00:15:35

But I like it. I like it. I think. I think we should put him on Freakazoid shoulders. And I think maybe Freakazoid is aware that he's being.

He's not being respected and he knows that he's faster but he's. He's going to keep them at a right pace and so he's gonna put him on his shoulders and he's gonna be like, all right. Well the little guy.

John Erdely: 00:15:59

The idea is is he's listening to Bilbo Bajan's kind of nonsensical directions and he's able to like the flash kind of zip ahead and then zip back real quick and be like, okay, that's not the way. And then, and then help them figure out which way to go. But he can't go super far ahead.

But he's able to basically go like you know, a couple hundred feet in a flash to be like, okay, this is. This sounds like the next viable option.

Nick Polk: 00:16:27

Okay, I like that.

Christian Ashley: 00:16:28

So, so easy enough Freak. It's always can speed ahead. You know, Badgins nose directions around here can give them to them. What they notice is they're heading forward.

In this case is this bright flash of light and fire and they see a whip like chain go into the air, hit a couple stalactites. Yes. But then the light goes down and down and down and there is a white light ahead of them.

Nick Polk: 00:16:55

I think Kumar Kumar yells ahead at frigazoid.

John Erdely: 00:17:00

It's the Balrog of Morgoth or something. Yeah, and. But if there's a white light then that means the Balrog probably Got attacked by the White Wizard.

Since Gandalf is dead, it's probably Ston.

Nick Polk: 00:17:13

Yeah, I'm gonna say Freakazoid knows that. He's gonna be like, that must be the Bridge of Khazadoom. We have to see what's. You know.

John Erdely: 00:17:20

Or he just goes and tries. He goes and he looks at it and he watches and then doesn't tell anybody. And everybody's like, where the frick did he go?

Because he's a nerd and he wants to watch. He want. He's getting nerded out. So he's kind of useless for a little bit.

Nick Polk: 00:17:34

I actually love that every time Freakazoid goes to make himself useful, he undercuts himself. It's so good.

Christian Ashley: 00:17:43

All right, so he has noticed that there is only one way forward, and that is where this battle happened. And there is no balrock there, but there is a white wizard. And he turns around. This is good.

My plan worked as befit Saruman the white first of the Istari. Hand the Ring of half power to me plot.

John Erdely: 00:18:10

Yay.

Christian Ashley: 00:18:11

And, like, he's standing at the front of the bridge. Like, it's, like, it's possible for people to go over. If they can fly over, they can do that, but you're dealing with an Astari, as it were.

Like, come on. Like, unless someone really distracts him, no one's making it past.

John Erdely: 00:18:28

Can we go for blinding flash again to see if, like, we can blind him temporarily and try to sneak past.

Christian Ashley: 00:18:34

Him or cheap politics mean none to one who doesn't smoke the pipe weed is that Fool Wizard.

John Erdely: 00:18:39

He was sitting on a barrel of Old Toby. What are you talking about?

Nick Polk: 00:18:44

Yeah, he was definitely. He was. He was. He was smoking it on the DL.

Christian Ashley: 00:18:48

Well, he was. It was hypocrisy, if I remember correctly.

John Erdely: 00:18:51

Yes, he's like the. The love of the halflings leaf, he says as he's sitting on a barrel of Old Toby. Like, come on, dude.

Christian Ashley: 00:18:59

That's right. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So, like, no, he is unable to be blinded by the attack, but he has noticed a being of power who may be on his level among you.

Nick Polk: 00:19:08

I was gonna say maybe Guanyin. That's probably the closest. I think Elrond could also. I think.

I think Elrond could be helpful, especially with Guanyin because, you know, Guanyin's a literal God and, you know, a Mayar is not. Nothing to shake a stick at, which is what Saruman is. But I think that with Elrond half Elven and Guanyin's, power together.

John Erdely: 00:19:38

Does Dende have, I think, I think to key attack or is he only healing directly? I can't remember.

Nick Polk: 00:19:46

He's just not good at it.

Christian Ashley: 00:19:47

Yeah, he's more of a healer than he is a fighter. That's worth bringing up. Like, do you want to split the party and allow them to fight and the rest try and get past?

John Erdely: 00:19:58

I think Freakazoid can grab people and try to run them to safety because he's fast while the. While. Okay, Denday can try to do some key attacks and maybe Spyro can do some flames. And they could try to distract the White wizard on two fronts.

Nick Polk: 00:20:14

Okay, I like that.

Christian Ashley: 00:20:16

So, yeah, who's he taking first?

John Erdely: 00:20:19

Let's see.

Nick Polk: 00:20:20

I. I think. I think Elrond and Guanyin say, you know who. Whoever comes up with it.

I think whatever the plan was, Elrond and Guanyin say, okay, Frikazoid, do your thing. We're gonna do this. And Spyro and Dende, we can use your help, you know. And of course, Kumar's like, good idea. You know, I'm probably worthless here.

And then of course, Sam has the,.

John Erdely: 00:20:43

Like, I'm useless here.

Christian Ashley: 00:20:44

But yeah, okay, so Rigazoid, easily as Saruman, is distracted by everyone else attacking him, is able to slip past him. Take Kumar with him as he gets to the other side. Not thinking of anything except putting this person there.

I need him to make me a dexterity saving throw.

Nick Polk: 00:21:06

All right, let's see. I'm going to roll here. God dang it, dude, roll the five.

Christian Ashley: 00:21:12

Okay. Okay, so this is bad. As you see descending from the cavern above this weird viscous fluid, it's hard, hard for him to actually imagine what this is.

It's kind of this eldritch green kind of material. And it gets on Freakazoid and he starts freaking out as his body starts dissolving. And you see Saruman kind of like, like smirking.

It's like, well, far be it beneath me to make allies from realms beyond my own. But it turned out to work in my favor. Freakazoid is dying right now.

John Erdely: 00:21:57

Okay, so this is bad.

Christian Ashley: 00:21:59

I need you to roll me a death saving throw. And we're not going to do three because this is way more dramatic.

John Erdely: 00:22:05

Okay, so what do I need?

Nick Polk: 00:22:07

And I will roll the last one.

Christian Ashley: 00:22:08

At disadvantage because he is currently in the midst of the diploma, as John said.

John Erdely: 00:22:13

All right, so D20.

Christian Ashley: 00:22:16

Yep. At disadvantage.

John Erdely: 00:22:18

I don't know what that means, but I'll roll a D20.

Christian Ashley: 00:22:20

That means you roll twice. Okay, take the lower result.

John Erdely: 00:22:23

All right, four and.

Christian Ashley: 00:22:25

Okay,.

John Erdely: 00:22:28

10.

Christian Ashley: 00:22:29

All right, so what happens here is Freakazoid, like, in his last moments, regrets. Like, I should have taken Sam. I would have had the ring and his hand pointing out. That's the last terrible joke he makes as he dies.

John Erdely: 00:22:45

Let's see.

Nick Polk: 00:22:46

I can't believe. I can't believe I. I got slimed out like this. It's the best I got.

Christian Ashley: 00:22:55

Ignoble joke for an ignoble man. Freakazoid is now dead and you are down one in your party. But Kumar is on the other side, like, dip free because he's not a cartoon character.

John Erdely: 00:23:08

And Sam is over there too. No, he did not get Sam.

Christian Ashley: 00:23:11

It was Jessicumar. So right now, right now you have Guanyin and Denday and Spy and Elrond working interference, right?

John Erdely: 00:24:17

No. Like, they haven't noticed why he didn't come back. Or maybe.

Christian Ashley: 00:24:20

Or, oh, this is easy to see. Like, echoing through the halls. His final words of like, oh, my gosh, he's finally dead. It's like that. That moment was like, oh, I'm so grateful.

I was like, oh, no. I just. I just would wish for him to die. And he did. And, like, clearly the rings influence upon them.

John Erdely: 00:24:36

No, I think they would all celebrate his death, but they'd be kind of sad, but like, oh, crap, we gotta come up with a new plan. But thank God he's dead. They didn't like him. It's terrible.

Christian Ashley: 00:24:47

And you'll see, like, Saruman, like, bashes Dende in the head then goes on the other side, sweeps under his feet and, like, he's not dead or anything. Like, it's clearly like he's knocked out completely in one blow as the other two are assailing him.

John Erdely: 00:25:03

Someone's gonna grab it.

Nick Polk: 00:25:06

I'm gonna say so, saying, I think it's good that this is, you know, with Freakazoid dying. Sam is. At least we. I'm glad we took Kumar first. Which is the first time Sam is able to.

Christian Ashley: 00:25:15

I'm pretty sure.

John Erdely: 00:25:16

What was that?

Christian Ashley: 00:25:17

Yeah, I think it's the first time we've had one of our characters die. I may be misremembering something, but. Okay.

John Erdely: 00:25:23

Okay.

Christian Ashley: 00:25:24

That's how the dice roll.

John Erdely: 00:25:25

Sometimes Spyro would try to grab his staff. They think he. He would associate the wizard's power with the staff.

Christian Ashley: 00:25:32

Does this mean the rest are gonna make their way over there while this is happening? Just kind of booking it because, like, he's not in front. There's no one blocking the way where a Kumar is the Distraction is working.

Nick Polk: 00:25:46

Okay, so. Yeah, I like that. So he goes. So Kaspyro is like, you know, he's got that dog in him. He goes and grabs the.

Goes the staff and he's like, get out of here. Just go. And, you know, they. Elrond picks up Dende and Guanyin picks up Sam and they run across.

And I think they joined Kumar who at this point, because he's useless. He's. He's three quarter. He's three quarters of the way through. Yeah, he's three quarters of the way through a joint, you know.

John Erdely: 00:26:22

And he would be like.

Nick Polk: 00:26:23

He's.

John Erdely: 00:26:24

He would warn. He.

If he saw Freakazoid and Freakazoid still in his cartoonish form then he would probably warn Dende and possibly Spyro to be like, yeah, he just melted in that goo, you know.

Christian Ashley: 00:26:38

All right, all right. Seeing them pass Sarung still battling with them will point his staff downward and say, fly after them, you fool.

And you remember, you know, the Hobbit happened but someone didn't die.

John Erdely: 00:26:52

Wasn't it Smaug?

Christian Ashley: 00:26:53

And Smaug is going after your group after having killed the Balrog with Saruman working alongside him. Now that they have joined forces you have stolen Saruman's staff which means you have him there.

But the bridge due to the majestic nature and body of Smaug is now completely and utterly gone. Everyone who's on this side who's unable to fly cannot go past. Everyone else who's made it on the way is now being pursued by Smaug.

John Erdely: 00:27:21

Okay, so.

Nick Polk: 00:27:22

And we. We left Bilbo on accident. So Bilbo, you know.

John Erdely: 00:27:26

Well, Bilbo was fun. Freakazoid's shoulders. So would Bilbo still be there after his Freakazoid disintegrated?

Christian Ashley: 00:27:33

Yes. Vagin's was. Did not like the dip and that. It was very messy but it didn't do anything to him because this is not the Rankin Bass version.

So he's still with you but you have left behind Spyro everybody else. Okay, right. Who else was with Spyro?

John Erdely: 00:27:52

We have to.

Christian Ashley: 00:27:55

Everyone else is gone.

John Erdely: 00:27:56

So we have to escape Smaug and Saruman or. No. Are we just being chased by Smaug?

Christian Ashley: 00:28:00

Just Smaug. Right now Saruman is still dealing with Spyro who has an uncertain end at this point in time.

John Erdely: 00:28:05

Okay, well, Frakazoid's dead and Kumar wouldn't have seen the Hobbit yet because the Hobbit didn't come out at that time. So they just don't know how to beat this dragon. So they're just.

Christian Ashley: 00:28:20

And I will say real quick that he is big Smaug. So this is not his usual cave. Moria. So it is harder for him to get through stuff. So he's still pursuing you but you have a head start.

Nick Polk: 00:28:32

Yeah. I say we get it. We get out of here.

John Erdely: 00:28:34

We gotta. Yeah, we gotta try to get out of here but we gotta distract him somehow. I'm just trying to think of what about.

Nick Polk: 00:28:42

What if we have Spyra because he was holding Saruman's staff and fighting him with it. And that'd be like a power even though Frode. Oh yeah. So let's say. So Spyro has multiple. There's. Spyro can use or consume things to.

John Erdely: 00:28:59

Make him fly transforms. So he would turn into like a. Like the white. Like a white wizard dragon and have some type of altered power that we can agree on that he would be.

Nick Polk: 00:29:09

Able to attack Spyro. Yeah. Spyro ate the white jewel off the top of the staff. Yeah.

John Erdely: 00:29:14

There we go.

Nick Polk: 00:29:16

Yeah.

Christian Ashley: 00:29:17

So does he do anything to try and impede smog at the same time or is he just dealing with Saharman?

Nick Polk: 00:29:22

I say let's try to a dragon versus dragon, baby.

John Erdely: 00:29:26

Yeah. Dragon v Dragon right now that's pressing.

Christian Ashley: 00:29:29

He's wounded. He can't fly over because of the initial. I mean the injury from a while but he can still blast. Now he is supercharged with the gym from the staff.

So if you want him to rain rocks, do a dragon breath that like collapses over Smaug and like potentially might kill him. Who knows? Like, go ahead.

John Erdely: 00:29:48

All right. Go for it, Nick. Roll.

Nick Polk: 00:29:51

All right.

Christian Ashley: 00:29:52

I will say this is just a luck check. Just give me a D20. See what you have on there.

Nick Polk: 00:29:57

Thankfully I roll the 19. So.

Christian Ashley: 00:29:59

Okay, so just as described, like Spyro like tenacious as always eats the jewel. Saruman is completely, utterly flummoxed by this. And blast with the new power he just got from the jewel at the.

The rocks above Smaug completely destroys and shatters them. They come tumbling down on Smaug. But you guys have no clue what happened to him or Saruman.

John Erdely: 00:30:25

All right, well, we break for the exit and don't look behind us. I guess you see.

Nick Polk: 00:30:30

Yeah. And Kuma and Kumar's like did Spyro just fly? You fools us.

Christian Ashley: 00:30:39

Now is not the time says how long would have one. Don't make yourself the second.

John Erdely: 00:30:49

Cool. I was going to say Kumar could be useful later on if they're. When they're safe.

If he could perform surgery on Spyro and maybe there's like a shard of something inside of him.

Christian Ashley: 00:30:59

No, I'm saying it collapsed like Spyro. You left him and Saruman behind, remember? Like smog destroyed the bridge. Spyro can't fly right now, okay? He was engaged with Saruman.

He took out Smaug at the cost of who knows. Because you don't know.

Nick Polk: 00:31:16

So we've. Have we. Did we successfully get out?

Christian Ashley: 00:31:18

We are out the minds of Mor.

John Erdely: 00:31:20

Okay, cool.

Nick Polk: 00:31:22

And we'll do the same thing. We'll, you know, we'll take them to the side. They're crying because as far as they know they've lost two companions.

You know, they're crying over Spyro but. And then any sadness they feel for Freezoid is just lack of assistance.

John Erdely: 00:31:42

They're just like. I don't think they'd really. They. I don't even think they're mentioned. Freakazoid again. They're just gonna. They'll be sad about Spyro and Kumar.

Christian Ashley: 00:31:52

Be like brother in arms. What's his name?

John Erdely: 00:31:56

I don't remember.

Christian Ashley: 00:31:57

Okay, so now that I've had multiple opportunities I'm not going to make you do a check to assess the wound. Oh, sorry. No, Spyro's not there. Never mind. So you've all made it. And to speed things along, you meet the writers of Rohan.

Things are way bad in Rohan. Freema worm tongues in charge. And they charge you. Hey, bad idea. Don't go that way.

And Eowyn is among their number because things would have been bad for her if she had remained in Rohan with him. Our father Theoden is dead. Rima is king as far as everyone else is concerned. So using Rohan to get past is a bad idea.

But they will assist you and get you towards the borders to get you towards Gondor and Mordor easily enough. So now Bashan is leading you into the way he knows inside of Mordor. But you have people who know the way he's sending you is leading you to Shelob.

And then.

Nick Polk: 00:32:52

Did you say Eowyn? Eowyn joined our party.

Christian Ashley: 00:32:56

You know what? Sure, if you want Eowyn to join, I am okay with that. If she sees the righteousness of your calls. I don't remember her brother's name.

Nick Polk: 00:33:03

Cool. Let's take Eowyn because she's wish.

Christian Ashley: 00:33:06

Yeah, yeah. He'll say. Yeah yeah. He'll stay as like the leader of the knights who are still doing their job even with no assistance. And she will join your party.

Nick Polk: 00:33:15

Sick. Sick. We'll take Aow Win over Freakazoid.

John Erdely: 00:33:19

All right, well, Kumar knows about Shelob. So he would recognize the path and be like no, no. This is the way that Spider and Elrond.

Christian Ashley: 00:33:29

Go ahead.

Nick Polk: 00:33:30

Wait, say that last part. Christian.

Christian Ashley: 00:33:31

I said Bajans is upset his plan.

Nick Polk: 00:33:33

Has been foiled and Elrond will will have sympathy even though he's very angry with Bilbo because he knows that it's not completely his fault. He's been corrupted by the Ring of Half Power.

But Elrond having knowledge of lots of lore talks about where Shelob came from and that she eats light and that basically the only thing that can help is the true light reflected in the star of one of the Silmarils which is the star of Earendil. And one of the last. Can we do this? Can I say the last thing that he took from Galadriel was the starglass?

Christian Ashley: 00:34:12

Please? Absolutely. Okay.

Nick Polk: 00:34:15

Okay, cool.

John Erdely: 00:34:16

I'm gonna say. Well, we also have Guanyin who, who could shine a little bit.

Christian Ashley: 00:34:21

I don't know how she factors into the Silmarils and everything. But you know what I'll say she adds to your bonuses here. Whatever they are your bonus.

John Erdely: 00:34:27

The light to resist. Whatever.

Christian Ashley: 00:34:30

I'll even say since you have both of them together. She love ain't messing with you.

John Erdely: 00:34:35

Perfect.

Christian Ashley: 00:34:36

This is a group who clearly was prepared to come in here. Yeah, they're evil, terrible things. But does she really want to fight what looks to her like a Mayar, you know, in Guanyin or anything like that?

Like I'm gonna say no.

John Erdely: 00:34:53

I agree. Cool. She'll just wait for them to pass. You can eat some something later.

Christian Ashley: 00:34:58

So it is much easier for you to infiltrate more though. I know everyone's because you sped things up. It's like we couldn't possibly do a part three.

I've already taken enough of these guys job time for everything. And I have things I need to do too. So.

You will notice that Mordor is not as built up and industrialized as it would be familiar with certain members of your party. It's like there's still orcs running around. You know, there's still the science that they're preparing for another war and everything.

But like without the power that Sauron had before would have would have been the Ring of Power itself. He is way lesser than he is so he's not able to use as much force. Saruman is not aiding him right now. They're actually actively fighting one another.

So it is so very easy for you to infiltrate. In fact Once again. I mean, I've given you advantage many times, but you've kind of earned it. And this is one of those urns.

Like, as weak as he is, it's easy for you guys to make an advantage check to stealth to get to Mount Doom itself to get rid of the ring.

John Erdely: 00:35:54

All right, what do we need to roll?

Christian Ashley: 00:35:56

Roll a D20. John, roll a D20. Nick, please.

Nick Polk: 00:36:00

1:14.

Christian Ashley: 00:36:04

Okay, so saved by the advantage you get. You know, let's say a group check. We'll just say it's a 20. Non natural. You get in quite easily. Like, once again, fewer troops.

A lot easier for you to get through. There's not as many Nazgul around. Ring rates, they're spread very thin. Trying to look for the ring of half power. And now it's the ultimate moment.

We're standing above the castle and Mount Doom. Sam, whoever wants to. Actually, both of you, because of how low the roll was last time, I need you to roll me a disadvantage. A D100 check. D100.

D10 for both of you, please.

Nick Polk: 00:36:48

And do we both row twice?

Christian Ashley: 00:36:50

No.

Nick Polk: 00:36:51

Or is it one?

John Erdely: 00:36:52

Okay, so I got a 20 and a four.

Nick Polk: 00:36:57

Okay, I got a 19.

Christian Ashley: 00:37:00

19. All right, so what I need you to do.

John Erdely: 00:37:07

Ooh.

Christian Ashley: 00:37:07

Is go ahead. Sam is there. He's got it. He's about to drop it. You know what Versions would have done in this scenario? So you've got him restrained.

You're not stupid.

John Erdely: 00:37:18

I was gonna say.

Christian Ashley: 00:37:19

And he can't let go.

John Erdely: 00:37:21

Kumar would just push him in. He's gonna finally be useful. And he just pushes into the pit.

Christian Ashley: 00:37:28

All right, make a shove attack. That's a strength based attack. Just a D20.

John Erdely: 00:37:34

D20. All right, hold on.

Nick Polk: 00:37:37

I love this so much.

John Erdely: 00:37:40

That's what everybody's gonna be like. That's what they all wanted to do.

Christian Ashley: 00:37:43

Like, why don't you just shove them.

John Erdely: 00:37:44

In and Kumar's gonna find out.

Christian Ashley: 00:37:47

But actually, real quick, that does remind me of something. Go ahead, finish with your roll. 6. Well, because he's still weak.

Human roll me a dexterity saving throw for Kumar so that he doesn't drop in there himself.

John Erdely: 00:38:04

All right, is it a still a D20.

Christian Ashley: 00:38:08

That's a D20. Okay.

John Erdely: 00:38:10

15.

Christian Ashley: 00:38:12

Okay, so he fails to throw to shove Sam into the fire. But he also fails to drop himself in there. Everyone in the group is distraught. And you can hear. That was the best idea, actually.

Denday hears a voice in his head, a voice not intending to talk to him, says, yes, yes. Squabble amongst yourself. Prove me right. It's like, everyone, stop. It's not the ring. There's someone else behind this.

And above the chasm, dark black robes. Takes the hood off. You see the face that I think actually no one would recognize at this point in time in history of George R.R.

Martin, looking down upon all of you. Just fight. Fight. Prove me right. The world is full of despair and there's no hope. No one can give up the ring. None of you kill yourselves.

Nick Polk: 00:39:10

Do it.

Christian Ashley: 00:39:11

Do it.

Nick Polk: 00:39:13

And I think everyone's gonna look up and, you know, I think cast it into the fire. I think. I think they're gonna look at Elrond for answers. And Elrond's gonna be like, I don't recognize this. This man.

Christian Ashley: 00:39:30

And you hear a more majestic voice though. But I do. And stepping from the opening of the cave that leads into Mount Doom is a very familiar figure to some of them.

Gandalf the White has returned. You slew me once, Necromancer, Martin. But no lore. I have been brought back as Gandalf the White. And Martin goes, no.

It's such a cheap shot that Gandalf was able to come back. That brings no stakes to your story. I want nothing to do with this. And Gandalf says, I've had enough.

And sends a bolt from his staff into Martin, destroying him, disintegrating him completely.

Nick Polk: 00:40:10

And then you. We hear a voice. What about Aragorn's tax policy?

Christian Ashley: 00:40:22

Martin is no more. But the ring still is.

John Erdely: 00:40:25

I like this quick. Nothing to do with the plot.

Christian Ashley: 00:40:31

Who do you think corrupted the world?

Nick Polk: 00:40:33

It wasn't Morgoth. It was George R.R. Martin.

Christian Ashley: 00:40:37

And Gandalf says this fool from another realm made pacts with another writer, author named Alan Moore, who studied the dark arts so that he could corrupt our world of Middle Earth and prove that his story was the best. Forgetting that without this, this grand story, his story would never exist. Look at Sam And Sam. You've suffered much. Cast a ring aside.

And with this you don't get advantage or disadvantage. Just straight roll. Roll me another D100 to decide if Sam gets rid of the ring or not.

John Erdely: 00:41:10

All right, both of us with the.

Christian Ashley: 00:41:12

Or no, just whoever wants to do it.

John Erdely: 00:41:15

Go ahead. Nick? Same.

Nick Polk: 00:42:19

Do I need the D10 too?

Christian Ashley: 00:42:21

Yes. Yes, sir.

Nick Polk: 00:42:22

Okay. 22.

Christian Ashley: 00:42:25

Okay.

John Erdely: 00:42:26

Failure.

Christian Ashley: 00:42:28

All right. So in the distraction of them all.

John Erdely: 00:42:29

Things,.

Christian Ashley: 00:42:32

Bajans has gotten free. Sam is going to take the ring on himself. Bajans comes in for no reason, it's not even on his finger.

Bites off the finger that would have been for himself. And falls into the flames, the lava, looking at his precious. And you guys have successfully destroyed the Ring of Half Power.

John Erdely: 00:42:55

We didn't successfully do anything. We were just there.

Christian Ashley: 00:43:01

Hey, look. Hey, A Debbie is a debut. It doesn't matter how much you screw up along the way.

Nick Polk: 00:43:05

Hey, this just became more of an authentic adaptation of Lord of the Rings because like you said, Frodo failed, Sam failed. It was only by the hand of Christian Ashley was the quest successful.

Christian Ashley: 00:43:19

Is it a deus example? That's for the viewers to decide. You know what? Let's go for it. All right, so, gentlemen, we rate on various Things out of 10 mission status.

You successfully got rid of the Ring of Half Power. You didn't know, but you were also. Yeah, well, yeah, that's part of why you're not going to get as high of a score.

You also stopped the machinations of George R.R. Martin from Proving his work was the better work. So I'm going to give you a five because you fought against tremendous odds to get here.

Like, the world was corrupted beyond belief. Things that happened similarly, but not the same. So I'm going to give you that teamwork. I'm going to say, like, you guys did really well.

Like, Freezoid was annoying. Kumar could be annoying. But at the end of the day, like, you stood up for each other. You sacrificed yourselves for each other.

Like, I'm throwing that to a nine. The negative one is because of Freakazoid.

Nick Polk: 00:44:15

Yeah, fair enough.

John Erdely: 00:44:17

Sustainability work was pretty good. They played off each other's strengths. And Kumar actually was useful when he was like, no, that's the way to the spider. I mean, he actually.

His lore of the movies was helpful.

Christian Ashley: 00:44:29

Everyone played their part. Even Freak was like, it wasn't his fault that the dip was there. And he was helpful.

Not knowing if you would pick a cartoon character at all, I had figured, like, I'll put that there. If it happens, it happens. If it doesn't, oh, well, someone just gets green slime on it. It's very Nickelodeon.

John Erdely: 00:44:45

That's awesome. I was just like, he just got dipped dead.

Christian Ashley: 00:44:51

All right. Sustainability. I have no idea that this team is never coming back together. Like, you looked after each other. Sure.

But, like, I think a 2 may be excessive, but I'm still going to throw a two.

Nick Polk: 00:45:05

Go ahead.

John Erdely: 00:45:06

I was gonna say Spyro, Guanyin, Sam and Dende, they'd be okay together. It's Kumar and Freakazoid, that kind of.

Christian Ashley: 00:45:15

Screw everything team as a whole.

John Erdely: 00:45:17

Team as a whole. Yeah. I mean, I would give it like, at least four or Five.

Christian Ashley: 00:45:24

So it's for strength. You have Guanyin on your side, huge pool. You let Elrond join your group, which is an optional thing to happen, and you got that done.

It'll be important for bonus. Bonus points in a bit. Let's see. Freakazoid is strong. Like, rule of funny applied correctly can make certain things, you know, happen.

It wasn't his fault that the dip was there. So I'm actually going to give you. Even with weaker characters among you, they knew they played to their strengths.

So I'm going to give you a 10 on that one.

John Erdely: 00:45:51

Thanks, Dumbledore.

Christian Ashley: 00:45:53

Now, fun. I don't know how I feel about this one because I think if it was just Freakazoid and Kumar, maybe, maybe they'd be okay. But these.

This group wasn't having fun. They were like, we're here. We're trying to take care of this problem. I'm gonna throw a four. So.

Nick Polk: 00:46:16

Yeah, yeah, it's fair. Things did not go well for the majority of the part.

John Erdely: 00:46:21

Raykazoid died in Spyro. We don't know about, but his transformation style sequence was cool.

Nick Polk: 00:46:26

That was. That was a way. He went out like a G. Dude, that was great.

Christian Ashley: 00:46:29

I love. Oh, yeah, Spyro's huge strength there too. Yeah, I'm throwing. So you've got 30 so far. So let's go to bonus points. Let us look at them.

All right, Bonus points, plus one if Nick is handsome. Oh, got that. Negative one if John shows up. Oh, back to zero.

Plus one if you managed to aid any character who had suffered a worse fate in the new timeline. You did that to Elrond. You did that to Eowyn as well. She showed up for five seconds, but you know what? She did well.

So that's one if you managed to heal Elrond and have him join your party. Plus two, so that's three if you help visions overcome the corruption of the Ring of Half Power and.

Or stop them from taking the ring away at the end. No, you didn't get that. It would have been negative 3 if you killed or permanently maimed him. He did that to himself, so you're fine.

Plus four if fewer than four of your characters were corrupted by the Ring of Half Powers. Now, I'm going to say corruption would have meant that they had lost themselves and were no longer part of the party. That happened to none of you.

So plus four right there. So that's seven. Plus five if you managed to convince George R.R. Martin that his series wouldn't exist without Lord of the Rings existing as it is.

You didn't do that because no one there knew who he was. So unfortunately it had to be Gandalf DNPC working on my behalf as an author avatar. Yes. All right, so you got +7.

So that's a 37, which I think the initial scores we had were pretty much around that. So well done guys. That was a ton of fun.

Now I skipped over some things at the beginning because of time, but you know what we're going to go over anyways, at this point, one of the things I forgot to ask was theology is play. Like why we do this, how it can be involved. Like, what are your, your thoughts on that?

John Erdely: 00:48:17

Well, I mean, with the nature of diving into a fantasy, like even a DND style realm, I mean you can have all these characters exist and, and they can, you know, be playing around a realm where God is, God is king or even, you know, like in Supernatural. And when, oh gosh, what was his name?

Gabriel was making them play around in whatever universe he was creating at the time or whatever game show, whatever he had the main characters in. So you could do a lot in fantasy, in fantasy.

And you can discuss theology because, you know, by the nature of having multiple realms, magic powers and you know, like overpowered higher beings like in Lord of the Rings of ir and it just opens up discussions of, you know, greater beings and a greater, greater things happening in the universe. That's pretty natural to discuss. Even when you're dealing with things like Guanyin, which is in, you know, another religions being.

It's still just natural conversation starters to kind of compare and contrast Christianity lore to other religions and fantasy realms like Lord of the Rings.

Christian Ashley: 00:49:37

Nick?

Nick Polk: 00:49:38

Yeah, I think it's just, you know, I think as people who get nerdy with theology, it's really easy to forget that like theology and religious existence is embodied. And so like we can talk all about the nature of God, which is important, and talk really nerdy things about what is heaven going to be like.

But if it doesn't translate to what we're doing in our everyday lives, there's going to be something that is missing there. And so I think that when you take something like play, I mean, MIT literally has courses for civ students to do world building and it helps them.

They've seen that people have a higher rate of success when it comes to city management or something like that for problem solving.

And so I think theology is play where it's embodied, tangible, I think probably can have overall benefits to not just our theological nerdiness but also our religious being practice.

Christian Ashley: 00:50:39

Well said, both of you. I'm not going to answer because I've answered this like five times already. If you want to hear those answers, go back to previous episodes.

We're also short for time. So the idea of being corruption, of course, in the original story, the ring of power itself is very corrupting.

Well, what happens if it's not as powerful? But what if someone else is jealous? We'll say, I don't know, is that libelous or salacious or what have you? I'm going to say it anyways.

Of a certain media and how it has power over people in a way that he doesn't. The corruption that can come from that.

If he could corrupt that world to be more like what he has in mind, with things being more grim, dark and terrible and people not being as honorable as you would expect. There's still good people in the world, but they're not as good as they would be in any other story.

John Erdely: 00:51:24

So.

Christian Ashley: 00:51:24

So how do we deal? How do we handle dealing with people who don't like the media we do and want to turn it into something it isn't?

John Erdely: 00:51:30

I mean, what, tell them to kick rocks, but do it in a polite way? I guess. But it's basically, you know, like, me and you, Christian, are authors and we have our own characters and universes and things.

We are very protective of our own creativity and have. You know, when someone wants to try to control something, they don't. They only want to do that because they don't.

They either don't like it or they just want to deny its existence.

So it's important to, you know, stay firm and, you know, be, you know, if someone's trying to control your work or turn it into something it isn't, you know, to be like, hey, you know, stop that. You know this. You know, when you want to interpret your own meaning into something, it needs to be in an allowable form, not a.

You can't just take your own meaning out of things ad nauseam.

You know, if it's a gray area or if it's something the author intended to be gray, you know, sure, you know, you can interpret things a certain way, but if you want to change it entirely, you know, you can. You're welcome to write your own fan fiction. And, you know, like when George R.R. Martin didn't like that Gandalf came back.

You know, you can express that as much as you want, but you, you know, you can't change that because that's someone else's creativity and it's someone else's vision.

Nick Polk: 00:52:52

So, yeah, I think it's. It's this. I'm.

I'm more on the other end of that, where I'm a lot more loose when it comes to adaptations or playing or doing something with someone else's work. I think on a personal level, I think it's different.

So dead authors or people, people who are like, super famous is a little different than people like y'. All.

I wouldn't just take your stuff online and rip it and start, you know, messing with it unless I had, like, a little secret fan fiction journal that I kept to myself or something. But if you found out about it and you were like, nick, that's really making me uncomfortable. I think you don't really get my world.

And I'd be like, you're right. I'm sorry.

But when it comes to something like Lord of the Rings, you know, and this is divided amongst fandom with Rings of Power, the movies themselves, you know, I'm playing Shadow of Mordor. There's lots of fans who hate that game because of what they do to the lore. And so for me, I'm like, I respect that totally fine.

I like, I like all those things. But I am also like a book nerd first. And so I'm like, I get it. I respect your feelings.

But also, I'm going to play some Shadow of Mordor and watch Rings of Power and have a great time.

Christian Ashley: 00:54:06

Yeah, the Shadow board is a good one in the sense that, yeah, it changes certain things. Lore wise like that aren't really focused in Tolkien's kind of legendarium, as it were.

But at the end of the day, it's a fun game that respects the world enough that, yeah, changes are made. But like, it still, it could potentially have happened within the world of the Lord of the Rings versus something like.

Look, everyone knows my opinion of the sequel for Star Wars. I despise them to the core of my being because they corrupt characters that I love immensely and make them into caricatures of who they aren't.

And like Luke Skywalker being the most evident in those.

It's like turning him into this nasty old man who has given up on everyone when this whole thing in the original series is hope and idealism and wanting to change people and do better. Like to the point where he tries to redeem the emperor and Darth Vader at the same time.

I can't see that same man because you haven't given me enough to believe that he become that man. We See, in the sequel, Killage, but at the same time, people love it. So, like, do I just tell them their opinions are wrong?

I think they are, but how do I do that? Do I say, like, because you're wrong, you're an idiot, and therefore you should never watch or read anything Star wars wise?

Well, no, it means that they've come to a very different conclusion. So if you want to be a grumpy old man, and I would argue there's some.

Some jealousy involved in a certain series having more popularity than your own, well, you can have your opinions and be dead. Wr. I don't care what Aragorn's tax policy is, because I don't need to know that.

I knew the man from reading three separate books about him and what he did. So I know that if the author says he ruled as a good king for, was it 100 years or something like that, well, that makes perfect sense to me.

That doesn't mean he never faltered. That never meant that there was never a point where he did. He never sinned or something like that.

It just means that he had 100 years of good reigning, like, whatever. Like, get over yourself. Final, final words before we move on.

Nick Polk: 00:55:58

Just, you know, I think fandom's already hard enough. You know, have your opinions, respect each other. Respect each other's opinions, have your cake.

John Erdely: 00:56:08

And eat your own, too, essentially.

Nick Polk: 00:56:11

Oh, nice.

Christian Ashley: 00:56:12

Nice. All right, so we will be answering a bonus question at the end of this.

That is knowing the story as you do now, who would you have switched one or more of your character picks to and why? So if you want to know that, there's links in the description down below to have that way to send us a little money to help support us in that way.

Thank you for all you do. If you want the merch that we have here, including this shirt, same thing, you'll find it in the same spot.

So, gentlemen, do you have a final recommendation for the audience, even though you were only supposed to have one? I can go first if you need time.

Nick Polk: 00:56:42

Go ahead, hit it, Chris.

Christian Ashley: 00:56:44

Yeah, so I have, for years avoided it because I know how the man writes and I love him for his novels. But the Silma really is worth your time because it does deeply enhance the world of Middle Earth.

It's still rough for me for certain parts of it, so maybe if that's not your thing, don't go for it. But I think I can handle it enough because I know how much he cared for it, that it mattered a lot to Tolkien.

So I want to see if that mattered to me. And ultimately it does. So Silmarillion. Check it out.

Nick Polk: 00:57:19

Oh, yeah, yeah. You know, I think for me, because I'm gonna keep it one. Because I could just ride, you know, Christians. I can piggyback off Christian, but I won't.

Spider noir is just amazing. If you have not watched Spider Noir, Nicholas Cage is brilliant. I like to in black and white because I enjoy the old noir stuff.

It's magically captures it in a modern sort of take on it. It just feels like an era piece. It's amazing. Spider Noir. Worth your time, John.

John Erdely: 00:57:53

I guess I don't have an extra recommendation, so I'm gonna fall back on Red Dead Redemption two.

Christian Ashley: 00:58:00

Okay. Because.

John Erdely: 00:58:01

Fabulous video game. So funny the way I love the crash physics.

I can't tell you how many times I've run into somebody else on a horse or crashed into something on the horse or jumped into something on the horse. And watching Arthur fall over and over, over again never stops being funny.

Christian Ashley: 00:58:23

That was me and the speeder in Star Wars Outlaws. I can't tell you how many rocks and trees I ran straight into and splattered all over the place. Because I'm a BET driver.

All right, thank you guys for going through this. I had a. A absolute blast with you recording this. Thank you listeners as well for supporting us and how you do it.

I'd like to shout out supporters again. Russell Gentry, Justin Vaugh and that Noel Jeannie Mad. You guys are the best. But remember, we're all the chosen people. A geekdom of priests.