The Demonic Dance (Part 2)

Arc poster by Milo Ellersick

**The Demonic Dance (Part 2)** is the fourth Second Citadel episode of The Penumbra Podcast season 4, and the ninth overall. It was released January 25, 2022.

## Overview

In which Damien the Pious learns a very important lesson: never meet your heroes.

### Trigger Warnings:

* Sexism
* Xenophobia
* Homophobia
* Violence towards people and animals
* Death
* Pursuit and threats of violence
* Abuse of power
* Implied domestic abuse
* Deception

## Episode Summary

Sir Tristan monologues about the monsters he has killed, saying the Zeppelopod is the worst of all. When the magic, or sacred, rain called the Petrichorous or Storm That Sings comes, Tristan says monsters will congregate to dance to create devastating earthquakes. One Zeppelopod, he says, is hard enough to kill, but he's done it by hitting their weak spot, a nerve center. But with a stampede of them coming, he's setting a trap, and all he needs is for Damien to fire an arrow to trigger the switch at the right moment to kill them all.

Damien tries to talk his way out of helping, insisting that, in his retirement, his ability with a bow has eroded too much to help. Tristan sets up a target for him to shoot, and Damien misses on purpose, gleefully laying out a different plan that will allow him not to fight. Tristan doesn't trust him, and pressures Damien to shoot at Tristan's falcon, Chivalry. Damien resists, but Tristan throws a dagger at the bird's chest, and Damien fires an arrow to deflect it, saving Chivalry. Having forced Damien to demonstrate his skills, Tristan insists they use his original plan tomorrow.

Left alone for the time being, Damien vents his frustration with Tristan, grumbling that both he and his father admired Tristan, but he cannot do so now. He wonders whether he should go through with the plan, if the Zeppelopods are so dangerous to the Swamp. He thinks his vow not to kill might be unbroken if he only hits the switch, not a living thing, but he dislikes his own desire for violence and heroics. Lord Arum comes upon him, interrupting his reflection, to suggest they have lunch together and rehearse the magic words Damien is to recite during their ritual to harness the Petrichorus. Damien convinces him to make a portal to take them further from where Tristan might still be lurking.

Damien nervously wonders to himself whether to tell Arum about Tristan. Arum tells him directly that he's nervous about their plans for the Petrichorus, and is concerned he's putting too much of the pressure he feels onto Damien and Amaryllis. Damien vaguely brings up large dangers in the swamp, but Arum misses the hint. He talks instead of the last Petrichorus, 30 years ago, and the irritating "music" human settlements across the Lake of Tranquility made during it. Damien suggests it was more likely alarm bells. As the conversation progresses, Arum remarks that one of Damien's purposes as a mortal is surely reproduction, which makes Damien choke and protest.

Damien asks instead what Arum makes of creatures whose purpose is instead to destroy, but Arum does not believe the Universe would allow such a creature to exist. When Arum was a hatchling, he made a species of "universal prey" called Sweetfrogs. He made them delicious, and eager to be eaten. Unfortunately, they were so eager that they began to force themselves down people's throats, and Arum had to instead bring them to extinction. He explains that his mistake was in thinking that any creature could have only one purpose. Even if on a broad ecological scale, a human or Sweetfrog has a purpose to reproduce or be eaten, they can only survive and flourish by assuming that their individual purposes are more complicated than they appear. Damien asks Arum about how long his Sweetfrog experiment took, but Arum clears his throat and dodges any implication about his age.

The next evening, Arum and Rilla make their final preparations for the Petrichorus, only to discover Damien is missing. Damien slips away, intending to "protect my own" and return in time to help. Tristan finds him and scolds him for not being more punctual. He starts to give Damien orders, but Damien tells him he will not be using Tristan's plan. Just as Arum said, distant alarm bells--and the cries of the Zeppelopods--sound like music in the storm. Damien uses a recording device borrowed from Rilla to play a recording of the bells and communicate with the Zeppelopods and lure them away. Tristan tells Damien he's lost his mind, and Damien laughingly agrees, saying he hopes he never finds it. Tristan sends Chivalry to try to steal the recorder, but Damien thinks it's done his work sufficiently already. The Zeppelopods have been rerouted away from the settlements' bells they are drawn to, and are beginning to dance where they are.

Damien explains that he found ancient research in Rilla's library suggesting that Zeppelopods mistake the Petrichorus-distorted sound of the alarm bells for their own language, calling them to congregate to lay their eggs. He intends to build a new bell here, where no one will be harmed next time the sound attracts them. As Tristan rages, Damien warns him that he knows Chivalry attacked the messenger pigeon Queen Mira sent him days before, Tristan is to peacefully leave the swamp if he doesn't want Damien to report his interference with royal correspondence. As Damien leaves, Chivalry cries out, and Tristan calmly tells him they'll see Damien again.

At the Keep, Arum tries to do his own job as well as Damien's, but he struggles, and the Petrichorus slows and stops. Rilla starts to comfort him, but Arum doesn't need her to advocate for Damien. He needed Damien, and he didn't come. Meanwhile, Damien tries to rush home without leading Tristan to the Keep. Tristan catches up with him. Damien insists they will not work together further. Tristan reveals he knows about Arum, Rilla, and the trio's experiments. Rilla was exiled for experiments like them, and the punishment for repeat offenders must be harsh, Tristan muses. Damien has a choice: he can resist Tristan, and he and his lovers will be hunted and tortured by the knights of the Citadel, or he can return with Tristan.

## Cast and Crew

* Matthew Zahnzinger as Damien
* Melissa Ennulat as Rilla
* Noah Simes as Lord Arum
* Joshua Ilon as Sir Tristan