Episode 120 - Wilds

## Wilds

A black background with a white border of thin scratches that are only present in the corners of the image. Within the image a scene can be seen of abstractly drawn pine trees depicted in white parting around an undead bear depicted in red. above the bear and between the trees abstract depictions of what may be wind are depicted in white. Ballow this scene but still within the border the words "120.WILDS" are depicted in white.

### Guest

Harlan Guthrie as Dashiell Spade

Diggory explores their soul, Cindy does some mending, and Percy reaches a new frontier. The theme of tonight's episode is Wilds.

> ***Content warning**:* *Animal cruelty or animal death (Beast the Bear), Violence, Kidnapping and abduction, Death + Injury, Blood, Birds, Gun Mention, Strangulation/suffocation, Static (including sfx), Emotional Manipulation, Drowning, Bugs, Body horror*
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## Intro - Cold Mornings

Nikignik speaks to the Dreamers of Bern Keene, surviving after the end of the world, and fining that it was not all that different from before the rains. She was far from the people she had lost and left behind; they lived in the world before their current one. She still woke on cold morning to the sound of frogs and birds and insects, even if they were stranger now then that had been. She had changed, wisdom had replaced rage, and confidence overcame fear. She leaves your wife sleeping in their bed and rises to set coffee to brew.

Nikignik resides beneath the black ocean within which Diggory Graves descended into in Episode 118 - Nevermores. On the ocean floor three structures are found, a barn, a mansion (see Episode 4 - Bodies), and a rocking chair on its porch.

## Story 1 - The Missing Eye

Diggory Graves, following the events of Episode 118 - Nevermores, arrives at the bottom of the ocean where they find a replica of Irene Mend's mansion. Diggory pushes past the front gate and find Irene sitting in a rocking chair on the porch. She tells them that she was surprised it'd taken them so long to seek her out. They sit beside her and tell her that they'd been busy lately. She tells them that she knew what they'd been busy with, that things had been going quite according to plan. They tell her that they were grateful for the chance to meet her, though they thought they already had in Epsiode 29 - Strangers. She tells them that what they'd met was a part of her she'd set aside a long time ago. They ask her if she was a part of them like the Crew of the Ruth Esther Barnes, and she tells them that she was not, she was their maker, they were executor to her will, unfortunately she'd never finished them but the black water must have gotten in and provided a spark of live in its own way. She tells them that she was were Diggory's sense of direction came from (see Diggory Graves), and tells them that she'd planned for the Crew to die. The mission at hand required her assistance, and Diggory was her final work, who she made to save the world.

She tells Diggory that the Heart of Marolmar could not be destroyed, but it was full of power, and once Diggory touched it she would be revived, nor immortal. Diggory asks if she believed the heart could make her a new body, and she clarifies that Diggory was her new body, and Diggory would no longer exist. Diggory asks what would happen to their friends, and Irene tells them that in doing her plan their would empty the heart of its power and it would no longer hurt anyone, if Diggory really loved them they would give them a chance to live. Diggory asks her that once they were gone for her to tell their friends about what happened to them, and that there was no other way. She tells them that she would make sure they remembered them always.

### Interlude 1 - Songs You Cannot Hear

Nikignik tells the Dreamers that there was always a song in the Hallowoods, and it is loudest in the Northmost Woods (see the Heart of Marolmar). The world beyond the pines was stained black, grew darker (See Black Water), but in the Hallowoods, it was steeped, drowned in blood. The Northmost Woods were not meant for the Dreamers. They were meant for Nikignik, and he treasured them, a reminder that some part of him was impressed deep in Marolmar's mind. And whatever fragment of him defined the Hallowoods, gave rise to new changes, that Nikignik mattered, that he cared. It was a forest in memorial, and it would never bow to any conqueror.

## Story 2 - A Final Stitch

Cindy Lockheart stitches Diggory Graves back together with surgical string she'd sourced from a first aid kit after the events of Epsiode 118 - Nevermores. Her, Mort and the unconscious Diggory hid in a cave, Mort sitting and staring deeper into the darkness. Cindy discreetly rests her forehead to Diggory's and pleaded with them to come back as they needed them. Mort gets Cindy's attention and tells her that he'd heard a sound that sounded like wind but wasn't, she tells him that it was probably bats and to try and keep his voice down. When Cindy looks back at Diggory, their eyes are open. They sit up, she asks if they were alright, and they tell her that were, commenting on her repairing them. She tells them that she couldn't just leave them to die, and Diggory asks where the others were.

She tells them that Hector Mendoza was still missing, the rest of the group had gotten scattered, Mort and her and had found a cave in a ravine to hide in, but Beast was Still out there. She hoped that while Beast was distracted with them the others could escape. Cindy packs the sewing kit back into one of several supply kits she'd convinced Mort to grab before they'd fled. Diggory tells Cindy that her stitches were neat and thanks her, Mort commenting that he hadn't been allowed to try, but he was happy Diggory was okay, as he'd thought he'd lost a friend. Cindy stands up and tells them that she had a solution for Beast to keep it dead, that she'd hoped not to use them so soon, but she had brough enough explosives to clear a half-mile of forest.

### Marketing - Something Big

Lady Ethel Mallory interrupts Nikignik with her 'marketing' segment. She tells them that she was in a town named Deadwood, begins to talk about how strange the name was but is cut off by another transmission by Dashiell Spade (see Episode 77 - Rebels). He introduces himself, telling the listeners that he was hiding in the walls of Box Cassiopia with a bundle of stolen equipment, having manged to break out of the conference room they'd been keeping him in due to poor security management - but they knew he was there, so he didn't have much time. He addresses Cindy Lockheart, telling her to keep fighting, that they could win, and asks her to not forget his daughter. He announces that Oswald Biggs Botulus was working on 'something big' (see Episode 94 - Milestones), that he didn't know what it was, or if they were in danger. He tells them that he could hear people approaching and cuts off his message.

### Story 2, Continued - A Final Stitch

Cindy, Diggory and Mort set up the explosives, Diggory asks her if she didn't want to save them for her original purpose of destroying the Heart. She tells them that she still had one crate left, and if it didn't work, they'd improvise. She watches through her rifle telescope as Mort sets up the crates, finishing just in time for Beast to make its presence known, Mort turning to run and Beast giving chase. Mort makes it back to the cave, avoiding Best to the bears confusion. Beast stands in the middle of the explosive, and Ciny pulls the trigger on her rifle, setting off the explosives and dropping to the ground immediately. She hopes that they will both kill Beast permanently and send off a form of single flare to the other so that they could regroup.

She looks out to see that it hadn't worked, that beast was still alive, but then Mort jumps up and runs out of the cave, yelling that it hadn't been bats. The Murmuration (see Episode 111 - Winds) flies out of the cave and collides with Beast, removing it from reality piece by piece. She turns and asks if everyone was okay, finding Olivier Song had landed behind her, along with Riot Maidstone and Percy Reed. Riot tells Cindy that the smoke signal had been a good idea but asks her what she'd done. Cindy looks over to see the Murmuration finish killing Beast and departs, having behind only a desolated statue hacked into odd geometric carvings. The group do not have time to celebrate, Cindy watching as The Faceless King appears in the far end of the clearing (see Episode 112 - Watchers). Cindy tells the group to run as the King rases it's hands and restores Beast to un-life.

### Interlude 2 - A Day Without Mourning

Nikignik asks the Dreamers what he was doing, telling them that he wondered this every so often. It was surely not coincidence that he lingered in the Hallowoods, he clung to all that was in them, just had he had Marolmar in life. Nikignik had been someone who was loved, a companion, and then Marolmar was gone, and his universe with him. He had sought distraction anywhere he could, but that anywhere was always to close to him. Now he wondered if this was healthy, he had good reason to share these stories, and perhaps if the expedition succeeded, he could lay his final memories of Marolmar to rest. What happened then, he wondered, who was a Nikignik that mourned no longer? He was curious, someday, to find out.

## Story 3 - Welcome To The Wastes

Percy Reed and Diggory Graves have a brief conversation, Percy expressing relief that Diggory was okay. He asks them if they had seen anything when they were unconscious (see Episode 118 - Nevermores), but Diggory lies and tells him that they'd seen only darkness. Cindy Lockheart starts screaming for them to run, the group starts to sprint away, and Percy asks how Beast wasn't dead. Riot tells him that she didn't know but they should try not to get split up this time. Percy sees a light in the trees a head, and wonders if they were close to their destination after all this time. They continue to run, the Beast on their heels, but then them fall down a steep muddy bank into am expanse of white snow, Percy looks up to see the others picking themselves up from the fall, Diggory helping Percy get to his feet. Cindy commands them to keep running, but Percy looks back, seeing the Hallowoods end, give way to a short beach and then an expanse of black ice.

They continue running, trying to catch up to the rest of the group, but hear Ruot scream, turn around to see Beast break through the tree line and onto the ice fifty feet behind them. Percy turns to Diggory and tells them that Beast wouldn't give up, and Diggory stops, telling Percy that they could buy the others some time. They turn to face Beast as it approaches but pause as they hear a rumble in the ground, watch as the ice beneath Beast cracks open and black tentacles reach out to drag it down into the water. Percy looks down, sees a mass of squirming black flesh beneath the ice, and asks Diggory what had just happened. Diggory backs away from the hole in the ice, tells Percy that they were in a new territory, and it had its own guardian, which parts on them had met before (see Episode 109 - Windows). Percy looks down to see that the stuff beneath the glass had spelled out the word 'Creep' in cursive all across the ice. Percy asks what it wanted, and Diggory tells him that it wanted them to die, the writing changing to agree with this. Percy and Diggory begin to run away, as the ice all around them breaks apart.

## Outro - Wilds

Nikignik waxes poetics about wilds, asking the Dreamers if they feared what lay beyond the carefully constructed artifice of their lives, or did they treasure it? Their world had become a wilderness, and they would have to strive now to ignore it. Trees reclaimed ancient concrete with their roots, and ivies grew to entangle the most unsightly of structures, rich fields replaced the manicured lots of grass held a generation ago. And in the wilderness, they must choose what they wished for their life. It was a choice he did not envy them, but one they may make freely.