Speaker A
[Music] [Music] Was that just a dream? Was [Music] that not a dream? Was [Music] that just in my head? That's [Music] just Lord, how it feels. Was that really just a dream? No, that's not how it feels. [Applause] a
Explore the mystical awakening of Sybil Inswood in Mage: The Ascension, blending urban fantasy, magic, and surreal storytelling.
Key Takeaways
- Magic in Mage: The Ascension is portrayed as an alternate understanding of reality, where belief shapes outcomes.
- The setting is a living, breathing city that blurs the lines between organic and inorganic, enhancing the mystical atmosphere.
- The protagonist’s experience oscillates between surreal dream states and stark reality, emphasizing the theme of awakening.
- Characters like Pablo add depth and humor, balancing the darker, more mysterious elements of the story.
- The narrative invites viewers to question their understanding of science, magic, and the nature of reality.
Summary
- The video explores the concept of awakening as a mage in the Mage: The Ascension universe.
- It challenges conventional scientific understanding by presenting magic as an alternative truth behind phenomena like flight.
- Sybil Inswood’s journey is set in a surreal urban environment where flesh and steel merge, creating a living cityscape.
- The narrative describes a mysterious shadowy figure emerging from a lake of bile, symbolizing an ominous presence.
- The protagonist struggles with a viscous, organic substance, emphasizing the visceral and uncanny nature of the setting.
- The scene shifts to a mundane reality where Sybil wakes up on a normal couch, highlighting the contrast between dream and reality.
- Pablo, a flamboyant character, attempts multitasking with billiards, hacky sack, and poetry, adding humor and grounding the story.
- The video blends poetic narration, atmospheric sound, and vivid imagery to immerse viewers in the magical realist world.
- Themes of perception, reality, and the power of belief are central to the story’s exploration of magic and science.
- The video sets the stage for an ongoing narrative involving magic, personal awakening, and urban fantasy adventure.
Full Transcript — Download SRT & Markdown
Speaker A
[Music] What is it to be awakened? To be a so-called mage? Simple. It's to understand why exactly an airplane flies. H? What's that? You have no idea what I'm talking about? Let me ask you then, why does an
Speaker A
airplane fly? Is it because of their turbine engines, their aerodynamic design, perhaps the competency of the pilot, co-pilot, support staff, or engineers? I'm sure the usual answer is some mixture of all three. You plain hating psychopath, and in some places
Speaker A
that might even be true, but it's not here. You see, in Mage: The Ascension, planes fly for the same reasons durables fly, the same reason birds fly. It's simple really. Planes fly because we figure they ought to. The engines help, of course, the design,
Speaker A
the crew, the engineer, but unless you're familiar with the mechanics of aeroscience, you probably couldn't tell me exactly really why it is that airplanes fly. Can you? You can say science, engineering, physics, but most say them without intimate
Speaker A
comprehension. That's because the airplane flies not thanks to the turbine engine or the canny pilot. It flies because there are rules, rituals we follow for consistent results. The laws of physics to us are perfectly acceptable natural forces we follow right to harness their
Speaker A
power, to bend them to our will, and make our dreams manifest. That is science. That is technology, pharmacology, psychology, aeroscience. In another word, magic. To be a mage is not necessarily to know these things. Rather, it's to know a
Speaker A
different truth entirely, to have a different answer as to why airplanes fly, and through application of principles, either mundane or extraordinary, make the impossible possible. A wizard conjures a flying broomstick from raw quintessential patterns. They speak a phrase of commands
Speaker A
in Enoan, and so their broomstick flies. Matt scientists harness impossible materials, disproven theories through which unfathomable wonders might be accomplished. They laugh so simple, merely charge the titanium chassis with their ether-powered photonic ray and watch as their wondercraft flies weightlessly.
Speaker A
A priest prays, a monk meditates, and through their truths uninhibited by the restriction of consensual reality, the means to fulfill any dream is realized, though not without a cost. Why does an airplane fly? Every mage has a different
Speaker A
answer. Let the game begin.
Speaker A
Still, you find yourself walking down familiar curdled streets. Asphalt drapes forward in an endless drudgery. Midnight skies tinted with strange colors and buildings that seem half alive surround you. This endless stretch of urban decay
Speaker A
feels almost as if it breathes under your footsteps, and where in this enormous city would Cibil imagine herself to be? Cibil would probably imagine herself on a park bench overlooking the urban sprawl, a bench made of twisted bone and
Speaker A
twined intestine that bows comfortably underneath her weight, overlooking the city as it leaves and breathes in front of her. And so it is in this park where senu lines the trees and Horus vapors begin echoing out from organic sewer
Speaker A
grates. This place where flesh is steel and steel is flesh. Is it lonely here? Most of the time, there are residents, allegedly lights and windows, but not often that anybody comes out to talk. Indeed, and so it is that you're here
Speaker A
again on your solitary bench in your solitary park in your solitary city of living flesh. You sit and you ponder the skylights. You sit and ponder the organs masquerading as buildings, and you sit alone until very suddenly, yet so achingly
Speaker A
gradually, the shadows begin to coalesce over a vibrant lake of bile. Something is coming through the mists. I'm going to look around, kind of look over each shoulder as if checking to see if it's going for
Speaker A
someone else, and I'm just going to keep an eye on whatever's emerging from the mist. The shadows mount across this lake. They coalesce into a form almost reminiscent of a person, this draped over black cloaked figure. It
Speaker A
appears almost to be wearing a jacket, but it isn't because it isn't anything. Black and one white eye peers through the rising mists. A suggestion of a hand beckons you closer. Going to look around, point to myself and go
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me? Well, there's no one else around in this empty park, so you're left to assume yes. Well, all right. Going to push myself up from the bench and walk a little closer to this thing, kind of hands in my pockets, the posture kind of
Speaker A
stooped and a little slumped. You make your way through the turgent red lawn and the breathing FLF ground. You step by step approach the lake, and as you do, the shadows become more and more pronounced, the figure more and more bold
Speaker A
until at last you reach the lip of the lake of bile. But as you step one last time, the ground gives way underneath you. You feel your balance begin to fade as if you're stepping on pure gelatinous goop. I'm going to try to
Speaker A
quickly pull myself out of it, try and find something solid. It's not quicksand, but I'm sure it's something visceral. You struggle against the mounting syrupy disgusting gore that mounts at your feet. You reach out for anything you can, a
Speaker A
plant made of lungs or perhaps a floral banquet of intestines from some wandering willow tree. You seek anything, and all you find is the lip of the lake, and you're able to pull yourself over it, look over the lip as forces begin
Speaker A
dragging you down, and that shadowy figure stares right at you. It doesn't say a thing, and as you look down at that pool of bile, you see shapes in the murk. You see reflections in the dark. You see in its
Speaker A
waves something coming, something fierce, something dark, something all-encompassing. But before you can fully realize what it is, a hacky sack hits you in the face and you wake up. Okay, all right, who's—I'm going to grab at the hacky sack waking up on a
Speaker A
normal couch, not made of flesh, in a brick-clad room that is certainly not alive and certainly not breathing. A masked face with no shirt on but quite a presumptive cape nearby, the billiards table looks at you bashfully. Ah, Pablo is sorry that
Speaker A
this came to you. Pablo did not mean for the hacky sack to reach you in your slumber. Pablo is simply trying to multitask. You know what? No worries, Pablo. Is it another tits out kind of day?
Speaker A
I kind of push myself up on the couch, swing into a sitting position. Every day is a tits out sort of day in my line of work, for none can dare attempt to ignore the handsome vis of Pablo, the
Speaker A
mysterious—is it mysterious if you're showing off that much skin? Doesn't that eliminate some of the mystery? I mean, it's not a mystery how big your boobies are. Um, anyway, what was the multitask? What are you— you see he
Speaker A
gestures at the billiards table. I was attempting to play hacky with my legs while I was also attempting to score a perfect game of billiards and also finish the slam poem that Chaos Blackwell asked me to finish for the big show later
Speaker A
on this week at the cafe. I'm going to look at the billiards table. How—how—how does it look like his game is going? Oh, it looks terrible. It looks like he's made almost no progress at all. The balls are
Speaker A
all just around in awkward places. You know, it doesn't seem like he's really pocketed anything. The notepad by him is just kind of scrawled and torn up a little bit. It doesn't seem like it's fully realized either, and the hacky
Speaker A
sack, of course, it previously was in your face. I'm going to slowly, slowly nod at him. Looks like it sure is going. You can't expect perfection to arrive without a bit of a failure in its
Speaker A
wake. Those are some words of wisdom, while I'm still incredibly groggy. So when's your deadline on this poem? Oh, I don't know. I don't know. It's sometime at the end of the week. Blackwell has all the
Speaker A
details. It's at some cafe, but your big show is far more interesting. This could really put the dying dream on the map. That's the idea. Well, hopefully they like it more than l
Speaker A
can't can't judge Perfection the people are not ready for the viscerality that you bring to them they are not ready for the true experience of uh smell Vision in accord with their televisions see right exactly thank you Pablo somebody
Speaker A
gets it of course I understand you Cil also pig guts are too expensive to do that again ah yes yes I don't think that I could get my father to lend you anymore but I can tell you this I
Speaker A
can tell you that tonight I would love to be nowhere else but your show and I'm very sorry that I cannot make it hey you're not coming I I want to but yeah you see there is a uh change in the
Speaker A
booking and uh they're going to let me go up against the Crimson crippler tonight so uh you see it's very important for my career that I don't no show and bombard my chances becoming Champion ah fair enough we all got to
Speaker A
make our dough so is the Crimson crippler going to you know does he actually Crimson people no of course not it's just a stage thing but uh you know it's sure to be quite a show he does have a bit of a reputation for
Speaker A
dropping people on their heads but uh you must work with these characters when you're making your bones fair enough well drink your milk strengthen your Noggin I clonk him on the head a couple of times I will yes I
Speaker A
will and soon Pablo the mysterious will become the most renowned Luchador in all of norak uh until then though I will have to settle on losing to the crimson crippler and wishing you good luck from afar as you rise to your feet you finish
Speaker A
your conversation with Pablo and mostly here in the dim corners of the mous pad the chill brick and mortar internet cafe where your studio dying dream Studio calls their home base along the walls are murals and framed pieces of poems of
Speaker A
photographs of Pablo the mysterious being put into uh uh various uh choke holds and uh submission holds and you know all the many many times he's lost on the local scene you happen upon this your place of creative power and do you
Speaker A
have any intentions on doing anything before you head out to the big exhibition tonight before the exhibition uh I'm going to double check the the game that I made just making sure that it's running we haven't gotten any crashes
Speaker A
that everything is ready to be projected on the uh exhibit sure why don't you go ahead and describe your computer and your game sure uh cil's computer is um kind of a big clunky thing probably at least a few years out of date by Uh current
Speaker A
year it's 04 right uh 06 06 06 uh yeah so it is a computer probably from ' 04 um and it is loaded up with uh mostly just rudimentary gamedev software and folders and folders of gigabytes worth of weird images Unearthed from the
Speaker A
internet uh of dubiously legal status but all very artistically inspiring uh her game called to dream of a face you've never seen is a pretty simple thing um on her computer it loads up as just this firsters uh walking simulator as the
Speaker A
term I don't think has been coined by 06 uh this low poly hazy City Dreamscape where indistinct figures move through the fog walking toward a player who meanders through an endless winding street very nice a Pablo looks over your
Speaker A
shoulder well boss I can tell you for sure I certainly would would want to live there you wouldn't why not because there's nothing to do it's just a long winding streak with strange mysterious figures yeah I mean it's more meant to
Speaker A
be like a like a dream experience rather than somewhere you're supposed to uh settle down exactly my point it's why it's so impressive boss oh uh well thank you thank you it's supposed to be a little unsettling but
Speaker A
uh I I don't know do you think they'll like it oh you you cannot concern yourself with if they like it or they don't like it you make your heart sing and then when you sung your song If they boo
Speaker A
death to them if they cheer har okay there you got it now you got we're yell yeah uh yeah I I guess I just I mean I like it it it looks good it it's I I've had dreams like this aund
Speaker A
times before but you know I really got to make rent this month well uh what do you think exactly the uh meaning that you're going for is well it's about the experience the actual setup is already built in the
Speaker A
exhibition space so it's it's it's more of a a component of an experiential piece you see uh the subject or participant sits down in a room that's should be you know dark quiet insulated uh thanks again for getting me
Speaker A
all those uh 2x4s by the way oh you're very welcome uh and then they're sealed inside they put on the headphones for the immersive soundscape I made for the game and then they move forward it's projected in front of them it consumes
Speaker A
the whole room a little Rothco esque H and then you move move forward into it and it's it creates a dreamlike experience the faces are just indistinct enough to where the viewer could project whoever they thought of onto them and
Speaker A
the idea is they play and they walk and they go forward until they see a face that they believe that they recognize and they take that name and they write it down on the wall and hopefully if they don't tear it down beforehand at
Speaker A
the end of the exhibition the whole wall will be filled up with names of strangers and you know that's the idea well that sounds fantastic I know that I would be writing that many names on your wall yes the
Speaker A
moodiness it seems like your specialty of encapsulating people's minds into a strange experience why I can't imagine that they'll look past it especially with the audience participation element yeah yeah that is a key part of uh Concepts conceptualism like this
Speaker A
one oh well I must make one final advisement on you yeah my advice is when you leave today uh be sure not to make sure any of your scary photographs are poking out because they have a children's birthday party in the front
Speaker A
part of the mouse ped oh oh yeah I'll I'll cover him up we don't want any more complaints like last time sorry about the trauma at the princess birthday tea party I never realized that the child that sweet could
Speaker A
spew so much vomit a don't remind me well anyway I don't want to make you late but just understand that as soon as you're done uh I you can give me a call and I'll come help you break down whatever it is
Speaker A
you need provided I am not hideously injured by the Crimson crippler yeah don't get Crimson crippled uh what time's your fight is it the the the last one the title oh no I've while yet before I get a
Speaker A
title shot this is more a a exhibition match uh specifically a squash match but uh you know uh you must suffer these indignities at first it reminds me of my slam poem would you want to hear it before you head out you know what Pablo
Speaker A
I would want nothing more than to hear your slam poem lay it on me okay you must prepare yourself I'm gting my loins all right I'm the Champion but not yet the technical Legend uh but not yet I'm the
Speaker A
master of chair shots tap spots I cut a promo like no other and there on my waist hangs every title these things are coming they're coming they're coming I just have to reach so I reach empty I'm not the champion
Speaker A
yet but I am the champion just not yet hey that was pretty good I'm good you really think so oh yeah that's going to be a hit at the next slam poetry thing I know I can't wait dozens
Speaker A
of people will be there dozens wow that's a dozen more than last time I know ever since we started going to these slam poetry meetings I admit I I never had much faith in them but uh uh once again we have proven our Ingenuity
Speaker A
why we've been able to quantify our attendance rates by over 200 present that matters something in my book word all right well you probably should go prepare for your match and uh if I wrap up early maybe I can catch the
Speaker A
tail end of it oh that sounds magnificent I hope to see you in the crowd uh I will be sure to uh make sure you get a sight of my good side before they pumble me into a flaming table a
Speaker A
Pablo every side's your good side he gives you a hug and uh with his strong chiseled form oh my bones and uh at once you are left to begin preparation for the exhibition tonight all right I'm going to uh get
Speaker A
all of my tech stuff packed up um sequestered away give one last run of the game make sure it's running without any bugs or anything like that I'm going to get in my beat uple Corolla and I'm going to be on my way all right as you
Speaker A
head off with all these things you pass by a sea of children who appear to be glued to these glowing RGB lights at the end of their PCS they seem to be playing some game whereupon a a human being just keeps smacking an orc
Speaker A
over and over again with a wooden Mallet derivative these images pass you by as you head on to your old dusty Corolla and I must ask something that I had forgotten to ask earlier syil would you mind describing
Speaker A
yourself oh of course syil is a short individual she is a 52 she is decked out in these layers and layers and layers of black clothing that kind of hang off of her little spindly body her face is half obscured by a kind
Speaker A
of green black mask with a little Jagged frowny face on it she is kind of obscured by a heavy scarf on her shoulders despite the fact that it's probably out of season her hair is this mop of messy scraggly unkempt black that
Speaker A
kind of comes down just past her ears she's got a little bit of makeup on though clearly she had put it on before the nap and hadn't bothered to fix it afterward as it's sort of just a black
Speaker A
smear on her eyelids and just underneath yeah just overall this Rey little goth creature all right and it is such a wretched form such a greedy Beast that drives through the dark Norfolk air kissed with sea salt and occasionally
Speaker A
bedazzled by The Humble Lights of the not so towering buildings of downtown you find your place in a parking garage located next to the venue of choice the uh Red River Art Gallery waiting for you and the exhibition hall for you to finish
Speaker A
setting up is is a portly man with circular glasses that you have come to known as Mr belge Mr Bel Mr belge let's go let's go Mr Bel I I I love I love your NPC names thank you Mr belge looks
Speaker A
at you why yes Mrs Syble what is your last name again I forgive me I just I remember I recognize you based on your mask for the most part uh Inwood Cil Inwood Inwood are you by any chance
Speaker A
related to the uh Portland inwoods um not that I'm aware of oh well that's fine too now we've got your big uh 2x4 settlement all set up all you need to do is just do the fancy Dancy computer things and uh well it's sure to
Speaker A
be a smashing show don't you think uh yeah that's the idea all right excellent I'll leave you to your various devices and uh do feel so inclined to tore the other artists work while your floppy discs uncompiled or whatever it is your
Speaker A
technical types and do yep I will go activate my floppy discs uh flop them around a bit and then uh we'll get on our way thanks man is that why they call them floppy discs uh yeah mag magnificent and you are given full leave
Speaker A
to uh set up your machine um why don't you go ahead and make me a Charisma computer check oh goodness gracious all right um uh Charisma computer that's correct all right that's 8 d10 baby oh wait are we in the r 20 uh I'm
Speaker A
in the R 20 it'd be nice it'd be nice if you were in the RO 20 all right 810 for a Charisma computer a modest roll uh ooh that's a lot of fives but we've got a 10 uh and if you would count
Speaker A
my specialty in programming then uh uh you're not programming you're just setting so that would be three successes three successes you've got your machine set up more or less how it is in your mind's eye the uh ceiling maybe is a little bit
Speaker A
too cramped but by and large everything's set up how you want it to there is uh pencils and there is uh the controllers set up the benches are wonderful the projection looks just fine all right how much time do I have to to look
Speaker A
around you actually have a a bit more time you're a little bit ahead of schedule you've got about 20 minutes before uh uh you're given the signal to head to your station and uh make ready for the guests all right I'm going to uh
Speaker A
just run one quick test make sure everything's good and then I'm going to go Meander around the place see see what I'm dealing with okay the first uh piece you come across is rather interesting you you see an enormous still life portrait of a
Speaker A
can of salsa verde oh ah are you admiring my portrait says a re gentleman the combover um oh yeah that's uh that's that's pretty damn good salsa ver day makes me hungry oh yes it will simulate your hunger quite efficiently this is my
Speaker A
piece I call it H salsa verde right on the nose huh well you must understand that uh the people of this city they don't exactly understand subtlety you sort of need to paint it on the nose for them to pay attention you know what I I
Speaker A
feel you there well the the brush works pretty damn good there a lot to be proud of why thank you uh by the way I don't think I introduced myself my name is beepis beis uh wow uh cool I'm syil my
Speaker A
exhibition's just uh down the way oh siil I see is it that big black Igloo over yond yeah the igloo H interesting you know I look at that and I think wow you know is that it but I've only seen it from the
Speaker A
outside that is true that is true you haven't seen the inside yet well the inside is something to behold definitely uh swing by later if you've got the time oh indeed I I I I must he adjusts a bow
Speaker A
tie you see my masterpiece salsa verde here though I think will be the cream of the crop oh well uh well we'll see about that oh yes we will see civil we will see we will see right we will
Speaker A
see wait we will it looks great thank you we will see yeah thanks purpus I'm going to move on makes sense makes sense you're there has not been a single NPC name that is missed Bo thank you I
Speaker A
thank you oh boy the next piece that you see is a large white room with three trash cans and three mops all with warm soapy water as well as a few wet floor signs are the floors actually wet no
Speaker A
okay good I'm not about to eat you walk forward and a muscular but scraggly mid 40s woman looks over at you in a denim vest hey hey hey hey hey you have to pay to uh use this I have to pay yeah yeah yeah the
Speaker A
the gates aren't even open are you allowed to be in here oh I I I'm an exhibitor oh you're an exhibitor well that's fine I don't really give a then she spits on the ground oh is this your piece yeah it's my piece I
Speaker A
call it fulfillment oh so was going to nod I see I I know a conceptualist when I see one where'd you get the inspiration well you see uh I got the inspiration because I uh you know I happen to own this
Speaker A
venue and uh I remember last time there was a big Art Exhibit here uh you know people didn't really clean up after themselves they didn't really uh you know the floors weren't really well mopped and and uh you know it's trash
Speaker A
everywhere so I figured why don't I make one of these Rd PCS and uh you know like you could call upon the people you are are tasked with the uh uh chance to uh participate in the upkeep of this
Speaker A
establishment it's very a fulfilling word uh so this is definitely not a way to to get some labor out of the public I got to go and you see is she just turns around and just walks off oh well that is the greatest motivating
Speaker A
force behind every great artist of the 21st century capitalism Miss Miss hi hey what's up the gates are due to open in five minutes oh well goodness gracious me yeah I I I'll get set up and start directing people my way thank you for
Speaker A
the heads up yes you're very very very very welcome yeah I'm going to give him a thumbs up and I'm going to putter my way back to my exhibit Smiles at you with yellowed teeth and you make your way
Speaker A
back to your exhibit there's a atmosphere of Stillness over the art gallery just before the doors open it's something that speaks to you perhaps just this quiet moment amidst art some of varying quality but art not yet consumed and as you get ready you notice
Speaker A
a window nearby the outside of your IG glue someone's staring in I'm going to kind of turn over my shoulder and give him a look uh try and get a beat on who this person is see if I can't come get them to come in and pay
Speaker A
to see my exhibit it's rather dark it's hard to see you might have to get a little closer I do me anderr up to the window though get a bit closer and closer and as you get close enough
Speaker A
you're able to actually make out a face in the window in the darkness of this person's silhouette the face is yours going to tilt my head to one side tilt it back kind of see if it follows and I'm not
Speaker A
just an idiot who must took a uh a mirror for a window no no it doesn't follow just stares at you it Slams on the window and disappears hell I'm going to pinch my arm make sure I'm not back in
Speaker A
that dream again no certainly not and as further confirmation you hear that welome one and all to this the Red River art exhibition do enjoy your time and keep in mind a complimentary cheese bars to the left thank
Speaker A
you and people begin to make their way in damn it how am I supposed to compete with the cheese bar it's a doomed gesture but you have to try it's like you're on the band of the sinking Titanic now I would like you to make me
Speaker A
a Charisma art roll at difficulty 8 to see who it is that you're able to draw in Okie doie that's another pretty hefty dice pool but not a very Hefty roll that's only one success how long were you working on this
Speaker A
project a while Cil spent a lot of Dev time on this game making sure the Ambiance was just right she's not much of a handyman but she got as much help as she could putting together this little black room meant to immerse you
Speaker A
in the world of the game and it's here in this the Triumph of your efforts that you've sat you sat here looking at The Faded black and white at the dark colors and the space for scrolled names and
Speaker A
misremembered faces you've sat here [Music] waiting as you've waited very few people have come a gentleman quite obnoxiously munching on a hot dog enters in yeah so is this some kind of source gaming sort of thing uh no not really
Speaker A
it's more of an experience okay well I'm kind of like into Counter Strike you know like Esports you know is it video games really art though I you know maybe if you go into the go inside you can
Speaker A
tell for yourself yeah okay sure game can I bring my hot dog yeah oh wait difficulty 8 on that roll you said oh yes that's no successes then oh no successes yeah yeah so do I enter here oh look at that turns his head and
Speaker A
he sees another exhibit that's so sity bro walks over to it let's go oh yeah mhm boy all right get it together Inwood not done yet how do it come Cil a raised Victorian collar a dark trench coat an
Speaker A
Ambiguously gendered face and profile your friend and fellow member of dying dream Studio chaos Blackwell approaches yo Blackwell it's going uh well I'm here verily this place seems dark and damp and filled with your you usual Melancholy are you telling me they
Speaker A
haven't quite awakened to your genius oh thank you very much for that and uh I'm going to check the inside have any names been written down anybody anything to show somebody's actually interacted at the exhibit uh yeah there is uh there's
Speaker A
one oh for uh Seymour butts God damn it well looks like it's working as in intended well I shant advise thee to give up hope the Yonder masses are simply a too Philistine to appreciate vout Brilliance well I'm glad somebody's got
Speaker A
faith maybe I will get time to catch Pablo's uh match pretty the siil thou must have labored quite intensely upon this theater allow me custodianship of its services for a time and enjoy Yonder cheese bar and perhaps other exhibits
Speaker A
you know what maybe some cheese from the cheese bar is exactly what I need to perk me up thanks bud verily verily you shall know that I chaos Blackwell am ever at your service and uh they bow before entering into your evil Igloo oh
Speaker A
chaos well hopefully they are have more luck than I do and I'm going to go to the cheese bar and Melancholy munch on some monster they got some monster they got some Brie by God they got it all here
Speaker A
for you and also the adoring public who are all at once gathered at the exhibit closest to the cheese bar it's this noral twine sculpture of a dog perhaps a snower made out of this Dreadful warped yarn ooh that seems up my alley going to
Speaker A
putter over to it ah welcome says the sculptor one Harpo killgrave I see you've come to be enamored by fuzz is that his name yes that that is his name you see this sculpture was made out of twine in honor
Speaker A
of my most beloved childhood companion whose name was also FS oh was modeled after your old dog yes you see he choked on Twi that he wasn't supposed to eat oh I put a hand on his shoulder Pat him
Speaker A
gently thank you but you must know that we have immortalized him for this twine sculpture is made out of the same twine he choked on syil looks actually genuinely delighted by this um like her eyes light up a little bit
Speaker A
really really it is the ultimate statement of the power of Life over death or perhaps death over life cool how'd you get it out well the autopsy was rather thorough yeah yeah oh that's really neat uh thanks for sharing it with
Speaker A
us well you're quite welcome and I'm pleased that you have enjoyed this Testament of my little friend I'm sure fuzz is uh chasing dog safe twine in heaven yes I imagine so though he was never baptized that may
Speaker A
be an issue oh no not dog Purgatory well well I'm I'm sure he'll atone for his sins and get to Doggy Heaven within like 2.5 business years most likely yes with that you are free to further pruse the
Speaker A
halls of the art exhibition all righty I'm going to uh Meander past I'm going to catch one last sidong look look at Sala Verde a little bit of burning hatred beginning to form in my chest oh as you do it's funny that you do you see
Speaker A
beis sitting in front of salsa verde as he opines to a crowd of people who are clapping and cheering oh no at Sala Verde he is Supply tiny little cups with salsa verde in them and you are able to see and my
Speaker A
friends I can happily tell you all that salsa ver has been sold for $500,000 it's like a knife to the [Applause] chest siil is going to take a breath we're good we're good good for him you know artists supporting artists I'm
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going to leave the room very quickly you uh leave the room and perhaps uh catch uh your breath and uh you return once again to the black Igloo where uh chaos Blackwell is uh seated in front of I understand it not Cil nothing
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not a single soul one of them walked past and called me fruit that's all oh well you're my favorite fruit which fruit am I I would say you're like a dragon fruit for sooth a mighty dragon fruit verily my friend you
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have done me great Justice and you they point out their finger are the delightful Tangerine of my heart a buddy well thanks anyway I admit Cil this entire Affair has dreadfully depressed me if you don't mind I'm going to go and
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peruse the cheese bar myself for some Libations and something to increase my spirits oh yeah the cheese is actually pretty good that's a silver lining there must always be a silver lining there must always be and you see K
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Blackwell moves there up noxious goth cloak over their head and heads off to the cheese bar leaving you alone by your installment I got to try something where are the most people gathered in this exhibit you know look
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around and try to see if I salsa ver salsa ver ah very interesting they can only look at salsa verde for so long you think that people are you see a few people are it's like fairly distant you can see a couple
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people are kind of crying looking at it oh my god really a okay okay I'm going to try to catch some stragglers people who are kind of moving between exhibits you catch the hand of one gentleman a tall gentleman uh excuse me
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sir are you interested in uh taking a look at an experience Ral exhibit not far off yes I am in the market for just such a thing good evening good evening this tall man has quite the well sculpted face he's beautiful to
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behold he has long blonde hair and appears to be wearing some kind of black Poncho no way with a gold lapel is this I shall take it your exhibit H yes indeed to dream of a face you've never seen is the title most
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delightful you must allow me to inspect it yes oh yes please do this tall man approaches the lip of the igloo entering in ah ah it is one of the uh how do you say video games yeah but you don't need to be
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experien video games or anything to play all you need is this joystick and you can move through the streets that's all you got to do just walk most excellent years takes the joystick in a gloved hand and begins walking the streets and
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why don't you describe the sights he sees the totality of the experience is this closed off black room the subject is allowed to sit down into uh the best seating that Cil could afford which was a black bean
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bag and um they are outfitted with a pair of headphones to kind of immerse them in the soundscape of the city the noise and light of the outside is completely blocked out the wall in front of them has the game projected onto it kind of
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about lifesized it would look like uh as if you yourself are looking through your own eyes at this cityscape it is this kind of Dow gray nearly colorless image of this hazy foggy City all of it is low poly the graphics are
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pixelated and a bit chunky at the edges but it all comes together in this kind of despite the kind of monochromatic color palette there's this amount of detail that is surprising for a a low poly experience and as the player moves
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through this fog and this Mist hanging heavy over this rainy city silhouettes pass by just at their periphery no matter where they turn the camera everything seems to remain just at the edges of their Vision each individual inside Bears some
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small distinguishing characteristic there is the swish of long hair on some models there is the sound of heavy booted footsteps there's a cut of a well-defined jaw occasionally you can sometimes hear the sound of breath in your ear occasionally you will see little
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bits of cibil's signature horror the glint of a glowing white eye a figure with too many Limbs and too many teeth just at the edges of the periphery their figures just defined enough to suggest a shape and enough of a defining
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characteristic that the participant May project their own uh life experience and the people that they know on to these figures and as soon as they see somebody that they believe that they recognize that they could have sworn looks exactly
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like someone they know they're encouraged to write the name down you watch as this mysterious gentleman traverses through your city he does so for quite a long while I must it meet I've never seen such a display it's rare for me to behold
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something of this particular aesthetic I noticed that these delightful Half Men they appear to be at once familiar and unfamiliar how did you achieve such a delightful effect if I may ask um well it's a number of different
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factors um factoring in kind of how the human brain works we're encouraged to see faces and project familiarity onto things that remind us of things that we know faces being the most obvious and so putting these things at the edge of your
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periphery it kind of lets your mind wander and run wild and keeping things just hazy enough lets you uh project your experiences onto otherwise blank canvases I wonder though is this ability to find patterns even when none should exist is this a
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advantage of the human condition or perhaps a means for some dark stranger to impose themselves um I mean I'd say a little bit of column A a little bit of column B my work explores that exact idea and so let us
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explore you find these strange creatures no face or perhaps too many faces you see them as you have so expertly sculpted them and I must ask what conclusion do you believe we should draw one of caution or warm
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embrace honestly that's personal every mind is different some people might find it to be calming deeply therapeutic some people might find it to be uncanny unsettling I think good art TOS that line it lets you walk away with your own
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experiences your own thoughts I'm not projecting a message or a moral onto the experience I'm just opening up the mind and letting it do its thing a true artist you are like the how do you say the the baiten the how do you say the
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Vincent vano the the George Lucas who made Star Wars oh I don't know I think I'm a little more like um like an arm mut but thank you you are most welcome come he takes the headphones off Rises
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after identifying a I believe I have a name to inscribe onto your mural where might I do so anywhere you'd like ldly with this sensual notion The Tall Man approaches the wall he notes that there are very few
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names written on it before adding his own do you speak Italian uh no I do not then you are left to your own devices to identify the words scrolled on your wallor Del H do I do do I know if my buddy speaks
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Italian um chaos Blackwell might Pablo speak Spanish you know yeah I'm going to I I'm going to nod uh thank you for participating oh yes but I can't help but notice Fair Cil very few others have seen fit oh well you know we're a we're a
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salsa ver day kind of town ah yes the salsa ver day I don't much care for that painting if I may be honest oh I think you would be a first I I think that Norfolk has a thing for
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salsa that is green it seems so doesn't it tell me Cil do you feel frustrated with your current attainment of artistic recognition oh uh I mean I I I I I'm I'm getting by I'm doing just fine you know
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I I create work for the love of creating work and uh you know I uh a non answer uh I I mean I'm happy with what I can make I'm happy with the things that I've put out but are you happy with the response
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with the audience well I'm happy with at least one oh why that's so kind of you to say might I make you an offer uh sure I happen to run the studio of Swords my own private Gallery I'm a sculptor you see
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and Doctor oh wow that's uh pretty loaded yes well I had an excellent teacher and now I seek to Apprentice another I see in your art Limitless potential your ability to grasp the canny and The Uncanny Mark you as a
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prodigy and your familiarity with this technological medium why it it perplexes me and that means it would be an excellent asset to my own understanding um that is really generous yeah um well I I I didn't really put a price
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tag on it or anything uh sure you're interested yes uh of of course he puts a hand on your shoulder most excellent now I must must warn you the pathway to the Masterpiece to understanding the world through ART
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through any means of expression it is painful are you prepared to suffer such pain uh don't they always say that uh you have to suffer for great art oh indeed and if I may be so brash you're more
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a kin to the creatures of the night than anything else uh you prefer Dark Places that's how I've been described I kind of gesture at the general fit most excellent well then my friend I think you'll be perfect I welcome you to your new life
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uh hold on what exactly is being offered here what he smiles broadly and you see two fangs emerge everything and he burs down hard into your neck it's this surge of feeling you feel every cell in your body a flutter
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with power with sensation with with motion you feel your fingers and toes convulse and yet you feel a coldness it's it's it's wonderful but you feel as if something is being lost you feel feeling begin to leave your fingertips
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and all of a sudden you know that despite the ecstatic sensation something very dangerous is happening to you right now hey hey hey get off don't strugle I will make you something more something greater something Beyond human I'm
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giving you a gift a gift and as he continues to drain and drink and drink and drink you feel more and more being lost you feel your head grow foggy you feel yourself falling almost limp in this Embrace and it's
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then that you spy the projection that endless wandering City and you just in the midst of your Panic you happen to see a figure a dark figure figure the same one from your dream reaching out to you with the last of your
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strength will you reach out to it yeah I'm going to hold out a hand kind of try to reach toward the figure it's called your vision is blurry but even you can tell as this dark figure reaches for your
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hand it seems almost part some unseen Veil and you feel it cold damp but alive gripping your hand and all at [Music] once you're gone from this place you collapse into unconsciousness and you sleep when you awaken you awaken to a dark breathing
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City with strange Hues in the air with streets of Gore and buildings that breathe you find yourself at the edge of a pond of bile and you know you're very much awake going to get to my feet look around the now very familiar
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your surroundings I'm going to look out over the lake of bile looking for that figure again oh it's there and it's staring right at you you can feel its breath on the back of your neck even though it
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stands ahead I could send you back you could live forever I don't know if that's how I want to live forever what do you desire my child I don't know I want to dream something better I I want to live I want to breathe I
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want to I want to make things I want to explore the depths of the mind I God I you want to make rent you seek a life of statements a life observed the Shadows would be [Applause] kinder I don't think I'd be able to see
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well enough in the [Music] shadows then take a step forward forward young dreamer and awaken and you look down at the lake of bile and you see that in its place is a Clear Lake of Crystal Water I take a step
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in you step in and while all rationality should say you should be at that exhibition you should be in the grip of that mysterious Dreadful man you were instead in the back rooms of the mouse pad looking at the billiard game Pablo
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never finished looking at your terminal you feel exhausted you feel drained but here and now there's something different you know something's watching you from the window and you couldn't feel More Alive thank you for watching this episode of The norog Wizard game we hope
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if nothing else it's worked up your appetite for salsa verde the character of Cil Inwood is performed by the ever watchful odor rosi three guesses as to who is the Storyteller actually no guesses it was me speaker if you enjoyed this session follow us on
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YouTube at brother alfabusa or consider becoming a patreon at patreon.com SL alfabusa there you can find sneak peeks at upcoming ogre poing projects such as Hunter the parenting Half Lives year of viscosity and of course the Norfolk Wizard
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game thank you God can you imagine just eating a can of salsa ver every day can you imagine just like being the sword gormless ghoul to just eat spoonfuls of salsa and call it a meal we're putting that in the next script you know salsa
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ver is actually a very versatile sauce I feel like people don't give it enough credit I love it on my enchiladas and actually welcome to the epic Gaming channel of Carl reviews the game video I'm sh in this episode we see cble a
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young lady who is a passion for the morid G decides to wake up in her apartment where she finds her friend a big boy after that she drives her a big Toyota Corolla I have to give negative points for that after that she gets to
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her art gallery and of course in the art gallery she meets with the most important person in the series beis the creator of Sal sa you will not believe what happens afterwards he meets with the lovely dashing figure of Mr bite you
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in the neck he comes from the land of Pennsylvania anyway he bites her in the neck and she becomes Super Saiyan I have to give points to the storytelling in this episode and of course the giant pools of and B one thing that I
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think could have been done better of of course was the layout of the studio I could not understand anything that was going on in this episode who is the mop lady I will have to give it a seven out
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of 10 it was pretty good but I would not rewatch it that's it for C if you
Topics:Mage The AscensionSybil Inswoodurban fantasymagic realismmystical awakeningBruva Alfabusashadow figuresurreal storytellingfantasy roleplaymagical realism
