Ep. 4: Turingtown, Part 4

Listen to the episode

*With Bill Turing nowhere to be found, our heroes pursue their only other lead: Marshal. This one’s gonna get bloody (assuming you count oil as robot blood). Watch as they:

TRACK a clearly laid-out path!

COWER from an enemy many levels higher than them!

F\*\*\* UP everything, really.*

## Synopsis

*Read the transcript here.*

Our heroes follow the Obsidian glass into a broken tower in the mountainside. The glass leads to a platform underneath a broken gazebo, which carries them down into a cavern lit by a string of lanterns. Our heroes follow the lanterns, with Xoc using his strong glass staff to leave behind a trail of "breadcrumbs." They eventually run across some robotic vultures perched on a temporary wooden shack used by Obsidian Bay's miners, and Elee breaks in. Inside, Xoc finds two organic healing stims and a starting kit for the Mechanically Automated Research and Study Lifeform, gifted to Obsidian Bay by JET.CO.

Beyond the shack, our heroes notice that the cavern's mining grows far more mechanical, with perfect 90 degree angles. As they proceed further in, they notice more obsidian tiles, eventually encountering a wall made out of obsidian. Upon their entrance, the wall tiles flutter to the side, and they enter a room filled with 8-foot high electronic panels, more obsidian tiles, and an ovular, "breathing" pod in the center. M.A.R.S.A.L. addresses the heroes, revealing that he is the Mechanically Automated Research and Study Lifeform. He was brought into Obsidian Bay to help them find the secrets hidden in the mountain, but upon uncovering the cocoon, whatever was inside convinced him that people were far more interesting, and M.A.R.S.H.A.L. started killing the citizens of obsidian bay and integrating them into a singular consciousness. M.I.S.H.A. scans M.A.R.S.H.A.L. and learns that, while his consciousness is spread throughout Obsidian Bay, he is siphoning energy off of the cocoon through six tubes connected to it. They confront M.A.R.S.H.A.L., claiming that instead of enlightening people, he is simply killing them. M.A.R.S.H.A.L. claims that our heroes will understand his point of view once they're integrated, and he reveals a Disassembler he found in the mountainside and trained to disassemble flesh. Xoc sentences M.A.R.S.H.A.L. in the name of the Weal, and combat begins.

During combat:

* Hopper contemplates using his machine control implant, but instead fires a buzzer disk at a console labeled “use in case of inhibition,” missing and catching the disassembler's attention in the process. He successfully ducks behind a console.
* M.I.S.H.A. uses the adhesion clamps to climb onto the ceiling above the cocoon.
* Following the sound of the buzzer disk but not realizing that Hop hid behind the console, the disassembler tears into the spot Hopper started his turn.
* Xoc attempts to hit one of the tubes with onslaught, but the impact of his esotery is cushioned by the obsidian panels surrounding the cocoon.
* Incorrectly thinking that Hopper's buzzer disk was his machine control implant, Elee grabs the disk Hopper shot and slides it back to him. Hopper stares at Elee in confusion.
* Hop yells "everyone aim for the conspicuously marked console!" and shoots it, rolling a natural 20 in the process. The console sparks and sputters, two of the tubes connected to the cocoon pop off, and the disassembler turns its attention to the fizzling console.
* M.I.S.H.A. jumps on the cocoon and tries to stab it with their dagger, but the obsidian tiles assemble at the damage point and push the dagger back out.
* The disassembler hits the sparking console with so much force that another tube pops off of the cocoon.
* Xoc activates his magnetic master gloves, using them to pull another tube off of the cocoon.
* Elee hits the fifth tube with her chair, loosening the sixth - and final - tube in the process.
* Hopper does a home run slide, pops out his forearm blade on his left arm, and slices off the final tube. He rolls a natural 20, causing the tube to hit and fully deafen the Disassembler. Combat ends.

With one last scream (and a lot of sparkling consoles), M.A.R.S.H.A.L. dies, and the obisidan tiles attached to the cocoon fall to the ground, revealing a fleshy, veiny sack with small black spiders inside. The pod opens, revealing a figure with large, imposing armor and a horned helmet. The obsidian tiles start flying and circling this figure, and the earth around our heroes quakes. Hop yells for everyone to run.

Using the candles on Elee's hat to illuminate the path marked by Xoc, our heroes race back towards the entrance of the cavern, using the obsidian platform - which has now turned into a kind of staircase - to escape. Behind them, the ceramic ruin walls fill with a green light. Once back on the surface, our heroes flee to the entrance. Unfortunately, Hopper gets hit by a rolling ceramic pod, and M.I.S.H.A. notices the green light surrounding at edge of the city. Where the line is, they realize a thin, invisible flexi-glass barrier has been erected. Elee attaches the density nodule to her chair and starts smashing into the flexi-glass barrier, while Xoc uses far step to teleport everyone into a lift leading out of town. Elee accidentally hits the lift, speeding up everyone's descent towards the ground, although no one is injured.

Once on the ground, our heroes watch in horror as the flying obsidian tiles surround the entirety of Obsidian Bay and carry it into the sky. Our heroes failed.

## Trivia

* This is the first episode to feature a content warning/content note in the description. This was added years later after Kyle started placing content notes in later episodes. He didn't update every episode, but since spiders are so core to the plot of Season 1: Flashback Future, he thought it was necessary to add one here.
* This is also the first episode to feature Kyle's microphone actually facing the proper way.
* Xoc continues to express discomfort with unrequested physical contact in this episode, as he flinches when M.I.S.H.A. puts a hand on his shoulder.