The Adventure Zone: Commitment - Episode 4/Transcript

[Theme music (The Adventure Zone: Commitment Theme by Griffin McElroy) plays]

Clint: Alright, to kinda just reset the scene a little bit, you are in this debriefing room in the security branch of the Berg. Also in this room, lounging in a very large, I dunno, throne-like looking chair, is a man who just identified himself as Richard, the king of the USA.

Griffin: I think he said “I’m the fucking king of the USA”. [Clint: [crosstalk] The fucking king.] And that cuss? Should’ve been–

Travis: Hardcore.

Justin: So unnecessary.

Clint: The fucking king of the USA, baby.

Travis: Maybe he said he’s the fuck king of the USA. [laughter]

Justin: Possibly.

Travis: That’s what it says on my license plate!

Clint: I dunno.

Griffin: Um. I think Remy pretty much reflectively responds,

Travis: And Nadiya turns to walk out.



Griffin: I already have a mouthful of shrimp and I say,



Travis: Uh, side note, Clinton. This is Travis speaking, not Nadiya. How much of this is real to actual historical fact, and how much is Dad’s game bullshit.

Clint: Well, the royal decree is, could have happened.

Travis: Ahhh, right.

Griffin: Ah right, hey, second question follow up— are you uhhhh… Illuminati? Maybe? A little bit?

Justin: Just, you will have to tell us if you’re Illuminati.

Griffin: You legally have to tell us.

Travis: You mean dad, or the character?

Justin: I think dad.

Griffin: Uh right now, dad.

Justin: Yeah right now dad. Dad?

Clint: I’m really not allowed to tell you if I’m Illuminati, boys.

Travis: Ah right. Okay.

Justin: And that’s a confirmation. [Griffin wheezes]



[brief pause]



Justin(?): Yeah it’s not really how it works, like, at all.



Clint: Just then there’s a voice that you hear behind you in the room.



Clint: And Tears for Fears’ “Everybody Wants to Rule the World” starts to play.



Clint: Richard says,



Clint: And Martine walks into the room, and stands next to Richard.



Clint: And they walk out the door.



[sputtering and laughter]



Griffin: Um. I go over and unplug the Alecksa machine, if there is one.

[Clint laughing]



Griffin: Okay I plug it back in.



Griffin: Okay so Alecksa— I’m just gonna unplug it.



[Clint snickering in the background]



Griffin: Uh, I plug Alecksa back in.



{16:44}

Clint: So you step out into the hallway and there is a big, projected 24 question mark logo, and it leads you down the hallway. It leads you from the security wing into the very central hub of, of the Berg. Um, you have not been in this particular area before. It’s a very large chamber. It’s a large chamber that is similar to the installation room you were in before, in the fact that it’s cut in half by a very large glass wall with a door in the middle of it. In the far side is a raised platform, a big square platform in the far side, in the far half, with a 24 question mark logo on it, and on this side of the door, you have three of your friends— well, co-workers that you remember from the mixer. Sylvane, the security guy who is carrying two very large knives. [crosstalk] Also—

Griffin: [crosstalk] Great.

Travis: [crosstalk] Is that his superpower, he can have two knives?

Griffin: Knife-haver.

Clint: You will find out soon, ho— well, maybe not. Maybe you won’t find out soon. Uh, another male, Lid, and, uh, Jaime, who you’ve also met. And they’re all geared up in their vests, and ready to go. But in front of them, between you and them, stands Richard. King Dick wannabe. Smiling, his arms spread wide, and he says,



[Griffin laughs a little]



Clint: And he’s calling back through the open door to Martine, who’s standing there,



Travis: Nadiya just makes eye contact with Kardala and like, kinda nods a little bit, like, nnngh just, go.



Travis: [crosstalk] Uh, Nadiya turns both of her hands into blades and points them at Kardala and [Griffin: Woah] uh, and Remy and says,



Griffin: Is there a roll I can do to like, get a feel for Dick’s… [crosstalk] in--

Travis: [crosstalk] Is there an insight?

Griffin: There’s an empathy roll, but I don’t know if that’s necessarily it.

Clint: Who has the highest empathy among the three of you?

Travis: Ha, fuckin’ Irene.

Justin: Right.

Griffin: We could-- I have two, I have two empathy, I could take a-- I could take a swing at it.

Clint: Alright.

Griffin: No. [Clint starts laughing] I got a negative--

Travis: No that’s a negative--

Griffin: [crosstalk] Wait a minute. [Travis: Mmhmm] You have to contest it with deceive, or rapport, if you’re telling the truth, but--

Clint: I tell you what, um, you get a read from Richard that he’s sincere! That he’s honest! This is really what he feels!



Clint: From the other room, Martine says:

Travis: His name is Dick Honey?

Clint: No it’s actually Dick Poer, Richard Poer [Travis: Oh. Oh I see.] Poer-

Travis: Like poor Richard!

Griffin: [completely exasperated] Oh come on-- Ohhh, gooooosh.

Travis: I see!



Clint: So everybody goes into that half of the room. And I’m moving icons here, so you don’t freak out--

Justin: [crosstalk] Awwww here goes!

Griffin: You have to like, set it as the [Clint: Got it] active page, there we go, got it

Travis: Ohhhh there we are!

Clint: Got it wrapped up.

Justin: Eeeeyah, yabba yabba.

Griffin: Well this is a… this is a helpful m-

Travis: It doesn’t seem like a welcoming room…?

Clint: Alright, right off the bat, you notice something. On the far side of the raised platform, Richard is now standing on the raised platform. There is a-- a large chair. And seated in that chair, is… Mary Sage, Space Cadet. And standing next to her on either side, are two men, and they are operatives you remember from the mixer that weren’t total jerks-- Addison, and Flanagan. Also in this general area is another operative named Grey, who I don’t think you’ve encountered yet. Richard steps up onto the raised platform, and says,



Clint: So Kardala goes up onto the raised platform with Richard. Martine turns and looks at Flanagan, who raises a hand in the air, and suddenly this black energy surrounds Flanagan. And Flanagan places a hand on Addison’s shoulder, and that black energy seems to flow through, through Addison, into Mary Sage. And Mary’s thing of her hair starting to wave up, her eyes lighting up, she is powering up. But she’s powering up like never before. Her powers are, incredibly enhanced. And Richard turns to you and says,



Justin: So Addison’s a conduit, Flanagan creates--

Clint: The energy.

Justin: The energy, okay--

Clint: And it goes into Mary.

Justin: [crosstalk] Okay.

Griffin: [crosstalk] Got it okay.

Travis: So they are three operatives, they are three--

Clint: They are three operatives, correct.

Travis: Okay.

Clint: So. Richard looks up, and says,

{26:18}

[Music plays]

Clint: And he says,



Justin: Public opinion.



Justin: Dad you assume at this point everyone thought they were getting viral marketing for a new Kingsman movie and are already trying to close it. [laughter]

Griffin: Yeah!

Justin: You have to assume.

Clint: Can’t close it. [Justin: [crosstalk] Can’t close it.] Can’t close it. Nuh uh. [clears throat]



Clint: And Potts pushes a button in his operating station.



Clint: And Joe pushes a button.



Clint: Grey pushes a button.



Clint: Mr Garfield pushes a button.



Clint: Scully pushes a button.

Travis: Dance moves!



Clint: And at that moment, Mary Sage starts to scream.

Clint: Mary Sage is completely surrounded by this quivering black energy, and she screams again. And you see blood coming out of her nose. Addison says,



Justin: Kardala looks into the camera and says,



Justin: And then tackles Addison.

Clint: Okay. [dice rolling]

Travis: Nadiya is also ready to-- like, Nadiya has just been watching Kardala this whole time and kind of counting down an imaginary countdown in her head like--

Griffin: [crosstalk] Yeah, sure.

Clint: Mmhmm. Alright so [dice rolling] you move to tackle her, okay.

Justin: Uh that’s a… four. Which in the Fate ladder is great! Great tackle from Kardala.

Clint: A great tackle from Kardala. As Kardala starts to make the move towards Mary… Sylvane moves. And… with super speed, which is his power, places himself between Mary and Kardala. Kardala tackles Sylvane, and Sylvane’s momentum carries Kardala off the platform, and off to the uh left side, off to the floor. He takes two in physical stress, and a mild consequence that his uh, ankle, is kinda dinged up. He can still move, but he can’t move very fast--

Justin: [crosstalk] The injured ankle, that’s his aspect--

Griffin: [crosstalk] Owie owie owie, owie on the ankle.

Clint: He’s got an owie. He’s got a big owie.

Griffin: Yeah.

Travis: Oh my goodness.

Clint: Richard says,



Clint: And Martine takes her gun out, and points it at Mary’s head, and says,



Griffin: Um. I say,



Griffin: And I jump at Martine to try to interrupt this hostage situation. [Clint: Awesome.] I mean if this thing is popping off we may as well do this. Uhhh I got a five on my athletics roll.

Clint: Okay. [dice roll]

Griffin: I’m not trying to like tackle or like, injure in any way, I’m just literally trying to uh jump, jump into her to keep-- keep, to-- to cool this situation a little bit.

Clint: And as you’re coming down on her, her eyes flash red because she too is augmented with stimplants.

Griffin: Fantastic, fantastic.

Clint: Her eyes flash, and heat beams come out of them.



Clint: They just barely-- they miss you, but she does shoot heat beams out of her eyes.



Clint: Nadiya, what do you do?

Travis: Uh, well while this is going on, Nadiya walks up calmly, turns her hand into a knife and puts it to Richard’s throat.

Clint: [laughing slightly] Okay?



Clint: Let’s say, let me think here for a second, gimme a second, I did not expect this.

Travis: Yeah I can roll to intimidate.

Clint: Do a roll to intimidate!

Travis: Oh, sorry, I said intimidate, and then, I realised there is no intimidate in Fate. [Clint laughs] It’s uh, um, I believe what I meant to say was provoke, um, so plus five provoke. And I am attempting to create an advantage by, uh, invoking, or provoking, an emotional state from the target, and the target opposes with will.

Griffin: So what did Martine roll on the will roll. Did uh, [crosstalk]

Clint: Martine… [dice rolling] uh… pl- uh zero, and Martine’s…

Justin: You gotta talk into the mike.

Clint: Sorry.

Justin: Yup.

Travis: These mikes, when do we start using them?

Justin: Our last dad was a radio professional, so it’s [Clint laughs] hard for us to keep up with our new dad.

Clint: Uh, plus one on that roll. So… [Griffin: [crosstalk] What’s the-] you successfully provoke her.

Griffin: What’s the emotional aspect that you have put.

Travis: I would like to, uh, create an advantage with hesitant?

Clint: Okay. Ummm. Just, y’know, she’s got a gun pointing at Mary…

Griffin: Aww she’s got heat eyes and it seems redundant to also have guns, but.

Travis: Well I just want to create a little, just some hesitation there to be invoked later.

Clint: Alright. I like that. That’s good, there’s a little hesitation there. She isn’t quite sure. So. She uh, she powers down her eye beams, and says,

Clint: And she turns to Mary, and she says,



[TAZ: Commitment theme fades in at 35:03]

[The Money Zone 35:23-41:40]



Clint: Martine says,



Clint: Onyx is so deep in concentration summoning all this energy, but Addison says,



Clint: And Mary screams again.



Clint: Addison says,



Griffin: And I jump at Addison now. [Clint: Okay.] I’m just gonna fucking like, ping pong around the room I guess, jumping on whoever needs to be. [background giggling] Uh, uh…

Travis: Jumped.

Griffin: Jumped at. Uh, and this one is gonna be a fight roll.

Clint: Okay. Roll it. [dice rattling]

Griffin: Uh that’s gonna be… a... one plus five, a six.

Travis: Hooo!

Justin: Wait you-- wait your fight’s five?

Griffin: It’s a three plus with my natural weapon, [crosstalk] that’s two.

Justin: Oh, cool. Neat. Okay.

Griffin: I’m just trying to knock hi-- I’m not trying to, like. I’m not trying to [Clint: Alright.] punch to hurt him? But uh my punch is uh, sort of pass on this kinetic force. I’m going to knock, [Clint: Alright] knock Addison as far away from Mary as I possibly can.

Clint: Describe it.

Griffin: Uhhh I leap off of Martine, uhh and kind of fly over Mary and with my knees up, uh…

Travis: Oh like Ong-Bak style.

Griffin: Ong-Bak style, [Travis: Yeah.] I collide with Addison, and uh, right as I, right as I hit Addison I sort of extend my palms and this wave of force shoots out and uh, knocks them across the room.

Clint: [laughs] ‘Kay.

Justin: Presumably, cause we don’t know what Addison’s, uh, opposition that was.

Clint: Yeah, it was a negative one, so.

Justin: Hachi machi.

Clint: Yeah, you-- you not only knock Addison down and away, but he goes flying. And… I--

Griffin: That’s seven, that is-- I did hit Addison for seven points of stress. [crosstalk]

Travis: [crosstalk] Non-lethal. Non-lethal.

Clint: [crosstalk] And I think you knocked him out, you didn’t just knock him all the way, you knocked him out.



Justin: You can also add an added benefit on top of that Griffin, since you succeeded with style.

Griffin: Uhhhh oh yeah! So… uhhhh…

Justin: You have to add an aspect to the situation.

Griffin: You can add an aspect-- yeah, so. But I actually get a, uh uh special effect, which is the thing that each of our characters have. Uhhh you add an aspect to the target which you can invoke once for free, or you can move up to two zones for free. So I’m gonna say, I’ll take extra movement and just like, after I collided with him, I do a perfect backflip through the air and, and am standing right next to Martine, again.

Clint: [laughs] Alright. Martine, her eyes flare up again… [crosstalk] and--

Griffin: [crosstalk] Is Mary is Mary is, uh.

Clint: Mary’s head kinda slumps forward, and…. And uh, Onyx is still summoning energy but there is no longer a conduit. But Mary’s power is still activated, it’s not as powerful as it was, but her hair’s still extended and you can tell that she’s still got her power but her head is kinda slumped forward, uh, in pain and in exhaustion. Matter of fact, she has taken three physical stress, um, because of, because of all the things that were going on. [Griffin: Okay.] Um. [dice roll] Martine fires a heat blast from her eyes at Nadiya. Uhhh one, two. Uhhh has five in shoot, so one, two, she shoots the heat beams effectively at Nadiya. Nadiya what do you do.

Travis: Okay.

Griffin: So you’d have to defend with athletics again, shoot.

Travis: Yes, so! That’s a plus one to athletics, and my athletics is plus one, [Griffin: [whispering] Yikesss] so that’s a two, versus what was it?

Griffin: A… seven?

Travis: Was it? What?!

Griffin: It was pretty freaking good.

Clint and Travis: Well.

Travis: I’m going to use, uh, Collateral Damage. If an attack is going to hit, rather than me becoming denser, you can decrease your mass so that the attack passes through you, but! [Griffin: Uh oh.] The attack will continue on and damage another target.

Justin: [wheezes] Ohhhh nooooooo.

Travis: So sorry Richard! Byeee!

Griffin: Ohhhhh shit!

Clint: Okay. Who’s the other target?

Travis: Richard.

Griffin: I mean it’s gonna, you knew it was gonna be Richard, right dad?

Clint: It smashes into Richard, because you are intangible. Alright?

Travis: Uh huh.

Clint: It knocks him away from you, knocks him off the platform, aaaand he is really fucked up. He is-- [Travis: Yeah.] his clothes are on fire. [Travis: Aww yeah!] Uhhh he’s screaming--

Griffin: I say I say,



[laughing]

Clint: Um. And Martine just wigs out. Just absolutely wigs out. Raises her  gun, her eyes flash, aaand she’s just gonna bring down seventeen kinds of hell on all you guys. That’s when Mary looks up and looks at Martine, and says,



Justin and Griffin: [simultaneously] Probably millions. [laughing]

Justin: Right. Probably.



Clint: She squints her eyes, and there’s this humongous tremor, that runs through the entire room. Hell, runs through the entire Berg! Instantly, the twelve branches that house the different departments separate from the central hub and start to submerge. And the central hub is rocked by this. It was never designed for all of the branches to separate and become, distinct vehicles or whatever, at the same time. And… things start goin’ to that seventeen kinds of hell all of a sudden.

The central hub’s now basically a huuuge floating platform, starts to rock back and forth, and the stress on the building is-- is, is huge. Cracks start appearing in the walls, and in the ceiling, and… Martine rushes over to Richard’s side. Um, and but, this has started a chain reaction that, that just, is not gonna stop. Um. Onyx, and… runs over and picks up Addison, and takes off, they flee, they-- they run. So does Grey, Grey runs after them. Um, and-- and so do uh, the other operatives, except for Sylvane. Sylvane is still standing there, waving his knives. He has positioned himself between you guys, and Martine and Richard.

Griffin: And they’re by-- and they’re by the door?

Clint: Yeah. The cracks in the walls start getting even larger, and large chunks of the ceiling start falling, exposing the sky and-- and the air outside. Um, the machinery, technology, start exploding, and you hear a claxon start to, start to ring. Um, telling people to escape, to-- to leave, and Martine looks up from Richard’s body and says,



Clint: And all of a sudden, through one of the cracking decrepit walls of the room, a skimmer comes blasting through, and settles down amongst the debris, and the dust, and everything else. And through that hole in the wall, you can see that the central hub is starting to submerge.



Justin: It just sounds right, now everyone’s split.

Clint: It’s just you guys.

Justin: [crosstalk] Okay.

Travis:  [crosstalk] Alright.

Justin: We’re leaping onto the skimmer for sure. Martine can fuck right off.

Griffin: Well I-- I say,



Justin: Kardala, um, runs over to Martine and Dick and uh, picks them up, one in each arm and says,



Justin: Kardala is uh running towards the skimmer with both of them.

Clint: I-- And Sylvane, can’t follow very quickly cause of his injured leg. So he goes limping, and he runs out the door to try to find some other kind of escape.



Clint: And-- and you guys took Mary, right?

Griffin: [crosstalk] Yeah.

Travis: [crosstalk] Yessss.

Griffin: Yeah, for sure.

Clint: So, she looks down, and she’s lost a lot of blood. And. She tries to start the skimmer, and… it’s just not responding. It’s damaged itself when it came crashing through the wall. And the platform, the central hub, is now starting to sink below the waves. And the water is, is starting to come pouring in, and basically is surrounding the skimmer.



Justin: And Kardala claps her hands and summons a thunderbolt to hit the skimmer.

Clint: [in a strangled sounding sort of voice] This is great!

Justin: Kardala has a, I would say, a poor understanding of electronics but thinks that this should do the job. [giggling]

Clint: Oh no!

Justin: Uh, so that is, I’m rolling against an opposition of two, and it’s a will roll… zero… [Clint: [crosstalk] I’m going to--] plus… [Clint: [crosstalk] I’m going to-- okay go ahead] plus three. So, three. So I do create the, the lightning bolt.

Clint: The lightning bolt hits the skimmer, and somehow that kind of jumpstarts everything. And Mary says,



Clint: Just as the platform starts to go under the waves, and the skimmer backs up out of the hole, and hovers there on the waves. And you see the, the central hub, sink under the water. You also see in the distance, a number of other skimmers start to fly off. And they’re all gone. You’re watching this awesome hole in the water come crashing in like the Red Sea, filling back in after parting.

Griffin: I say um,



Travis: I look at Martine and I say,



Travis: And I turn, uh Nadiya turns her right arm into a baseball bat and clobbers her, trying to knock her unconscious. [laughing]

Travis: Oh no! Well. It all ends up being uh, a plus two, not great.

Clint: Okay a plus two, and an athletics roll to defend… [dice roll] Ah it’s alright. It’s a minus four! [laughter]

Travis: Okay.

Justin: So, real comedic {verity} we’ve got going on here.

Clint: That whacks up against her head, and she collapses right next to Richard.

Justin: Okay.

Griffin: Is Richard conscious?

Clint: He is conscious, but he is in a lot of pain.

Travis: Good.



[Clint laughing]



[Laughter]

Griffin: Travis just rolled-- [descends into laughter] [indistinguishable] programme again.

Justin: That’s a, uh so what is that Trav-- [more laughter]

Travis: That is [laughing] plus four.

Clint: Okay. In this weakened condition that knocks him right out. He’s gone.

Griffin: I talk to Mary and I say,



[pause]



[laughing]



[End music fades in]

Clint: And the skimmer goes zippin’ along the Gulf Coast, headed towards Washington D.C. Mary says,



Clint: She squints her eyes, and a little panel opens, and out come a bunch of strombolis.

Travis: Yes.

Griffin: [laughing] This motherfuckin’ Archie Comics ending to this.

Justin: I love it.

Griffin: And Jughead gets his burgers.

[Clint laughs]

[End music starts fading out at 58:24]

Griffin: So how close was that to what you were envisioning for the episode?

Clint: Uh.

Justin: Yeah I think a little bit of wrap up would make sense.

Travis: Okay.

Clint: That was fairly close, I knew I wanted to have a confrontation. I actually was gonna involve a couple more operatives but then I realised that would have been too confusing and too big. And I really, I wanted, I want there to be a conclusion. I had no idea how it was gonna end. [Griffin: Yeah.] I wanted there to be a conclusion, but I wanted it to still be open-ended if we still wanted to, y’know revisit these characters in the future, so… that really went-- I’m very pleased with how it came out!

Griffin: Alright!

Travis: Well good.

Justin: Good for the day.

Griffin: Uh, as long as we’re debriefing, cause the point of this is to learn, learn stuff. I like the Fate system, I don’t think it’s gonna be a good fit for [Travis: Yeah] the show. Just because kinda-- the, the, the way that combat is almost like a negotiation? Or, uh, you’re constantly tryna to like, calculate things with aspects which I should say right now we were not especially good stewards of those, [Travis: Yeah] we did play a little bit Calvinball to suit our needs--

Travis: It’s great for gameplay, it’s not so great for like, rapid narrative storytelling? [Griffin: Yeah, sure.] Especially when it comes to like, if you attack with this, which one do you defend with, that kind of stuff?

Clint: Well I think it’s good, I think it’s good for storytelling, I really do think it’s good for narrative.

Justin: Um.

Griffin: It’s just not necessarily what we’re, what we’re doing but I had fun! I had fun with it! I think--

Justin: Oh I loved Fate. It’s great.

Griffin: Um. Um yeah. I think-- I think we keep trying some. I mean obviously whatever we do next is gonna be a different system we’re still figuring it out, but yeah, that’d be great--

Travis: Then we’ll be back with a different story.

Griffin: Yeah great work dad, that was cool.

Justin: I liked all your great voices.

Griffin: [simultaneously with Clint] You worked very hard on voices.

Clint: [simultaneously with Griffin] I worked very hard on voices. [laughter]

Clint: Apparently what was limiting me was just doing one!

Justin: Just doing one-- [crosstalk]

Clint: [crosstalk] Yeah, I needed to do twenty-four!

Justin: [crosstalk] You’re too, you’re too multifaceted.

Clint: Yeah I was just too big--

Justin: Like a diamond with one facet.

Clint: I was too good for the room.

Justin: I guess.

Griffin: So… I guess that’s it?

Clint: We might have one after credits sequence.

Travis: Oh shit yeah!

{61:31}

[Music]

Clint: It’s a hospital room, and Richard is hanging onto life. He is surrounded by monitors and wires and uh, Martine is by his side, Sylvane is standing over the side. The doctor walks in, checks the monitors, looks at her clipboard, looks at Martine, and says, um,



Clint: And she reaches up and flips over her medical ID tag, and it has a twenty-four question mark logo on it.

THE END