SBR 1.30: Eudemonism

> "*Sam reaches out to a familiar friend, but is interrupted by someone who is more familiar than he should be..."*
>
>

## Events of Note

* Sam wakes, having apparently been asleep for a week.
* Scourge interrupts Sam's phonecall with Oliver, causing the latter to hang up in fear.
* Sam looks into the crystal ball and sees Madame Marie.
* Sam talks to something inside the crystal ball, and then it smashes.

## Summary

Sam begins the episode having only just woken up. He fears that he has been asleep for a whole week, since last week's segment. They are in pain, with splinters across their body, sore wrists, and they're also covered in chalk. The studio is full of drawings of the white door, in pencil, chalk, and scratched into the floorboards.

Sam runs to check on the cats, and almost passes out again. His nose begins to bleed, and he tries to delete the forum thread about the Man in the Flat Cap, but fails. They then remember that they were meant to meet with Oliver, and in their distress, they knock the tarot deck onto the floor. Sam recognises one of the cards, 'Unrelenting', to have the same design that Oliver has as a tattoo. Once again, the cards Ignorance, Ingratitude and Indifference are face up on the floor.

Sam phones Oliver, who explains that the three face up cards are the 'Three Inconvenient Sins', and that in order to not be mislead, one needs to have a good relationship with the deck. Oliver states that Marie may have been trading with Major Arcana, but Sam is still confused. Before he can explain however, the two are interrupted by the same ominous voice as before, when Sam spoke to Rhytidia. Oliver recognises the voice, and is audibly afraid, apologising and hanging up immediately.

In a bid for answers, Sam looks into the crystal ball to see Madame Marie. She hopes that her plan will work, and is then spoken to by Indi, who is flanked by Ingra and Bliss. Sam snaps out of the vision, and realises that the last eight months had just been a game, set up by Marie.

Sam demands that the crystal ball show them the Man in the Flat Cap, the Man who Walks Here and There. There is a voice from the crystal ball, who offers cryptic conversation, telling Sam that they will find everything out in time. Sam briefly tries to see Oliver in the crystal ball, but finds it emotionally painful. Sam identifies them as an Echo, from the True Arcanist Tarot. The echo states that they answer to Sam, and he orders that they stop. The crystal ball smashes, shattering the moment Sam makes the demand.

He laughs, somewhat hysterically, before apologising to those listening. They wearily bid everyone a restful sleep and goodnight.

## Characters Featured

* Sam Enfield
* Oliver Boleyn
* Revel (Cat)
* Cosmo (Cat)
* Eggroll (Cat)
* Scourge
* Madame Marie (Crystal Ball Vision)
* Indi
* Ingra (mentioned)
* Bliss (mentioned)
* The Flat Cap Man (mentioned)
* Nagisa (mentioned)
* Janet the Tarot Witch (mentioned, see Trivia for more information)

**Listeners writing in/mentioned:**

* Karl

## Trivia

* When Janet the Tarot Witch is mentioned in this episode, the conversation that Sam is referring to is in SBR 1.17: Burger Van, and actually occurs between Madame Marie and Astrid the Janitor. We're going to ignore this discrepancy however, given that Sam had literally been asleep for a week and most likely had better things to worry about than which Loyal Assistant said the words 'her bloke'.
* This is the first episode that Madame Marie has had audible lines.
* "Eudemonism" is defined as "a system of ethics that bases moral value on the likelihood of actions producing happiness".