Enter the Mother, Part 3

*Good News and bad news.*

## Summary

The party meets with the resistance, sharing their plan to stop Mother: convert her to Christianity and then send her to Heaven to avoid fighting her again in Hell. Their plan is to raid the book depository for a stash of bibles and make Mother absorb them. Stirfry conspires with Scrum Fabulous to assassinate Stale Pepsi in exchange for Scrum North where his old gang used to live.

The group departs, navigating the sewers by smell to avoid Mother’s cleaned up tunnels. They pass as Mother zombies long enough to reach the book depository, finding Gerry Mentlegen hiding among the books. He reveals himself to be pantsless, having learned to use the toilet and eternally grateful that the party started him down the path. He gladly provides them with bibles and offers to lead them straight to Mother with his knowledge of the tunnels.

They reach a split path guarded by Balbor and Alex, the riddling dwarves the party met trying to break into Soaking Valley Prison. They become possessed by Mother, who has been aware of their presence. She wishes to test them, rearranging the brothers’ brains so one genuinely only lies and the other speaks the truth. She asks them to determine which path leads to herself and which to certain death using only one question, but bans them from the traditional solution (asking what the other guard would say). The group ponders a solution until Stirfry breaks away from the conversation and puts his crossbows up to Alex’s head. He apathetically begs for Stirfry to please kill him because he hates his life and his name is not Alex, exposing himself as the liar. They ask Balbor for the correct path and proceed to Mother’s chambers. Albee expresses her concerns about Stirfry’s ruthless methods, and he admits to be trying to toughen up Albee like him to take care of herself.

Mother has grown massive and more powerful than the first time they’d met. She has created hybrids of Strong Pepsi and Pipsy Pepsi to do her bidding, which swarm the chamber. Stirfry convinces her that they have all found religion and that they have returned seeking to forgive her. Mother believes them, but does not express much interest in joining their faith. She sees that they have changed and offers to use her powers to return them to their former lives; to separate Frederick into a wise wizard and two freed goblins, to heal Albee’s arm and revive her brother Casper, to give Cordelia loving parents to live with, to let Stirfry forget his sins, and to return Bellow to his blissfully unaware self. The party wavers but Albee throws a bible at Mother, forcefully converting her as she absorbs its teachings. She begins spewing out well-mannered Christian Strongs and Pipsys while overhead, a suspended and weakened Stale Pepsi pleads that the heroes not hurt his brothers. He has been drained to weaken his resolve and tempt him to accept Mother’s embrace, and Stirfry proposes putting him out of his misery to fulfill his deal. Albee refuses and frees him with the others’ help. They struggle to reach Stale but Stirfry reaches him first, insisting that in his weakened state Stale would kill Mother by merging with her.

The party pleads with Stirfry to find another way and that he doesn’t need to keep killing. Realizing his misguided hope that his friends would see his ruthless point of view, Stirfry determines that he is the “fucked up” and toxic thing they need to corrupt Mother. He releases Stale and falls back into her, letting her absorb him. When only Stirfry’s beak remains, it lets out the sound of a fog horn. All of Mother’s minions emit the same sounds as their growths wither and fall off.

A cover of Hey, Soul Sister plays over the outro.

## Links

* Episode: https://headgum.com/rude-tales-of-magic/enter-the-mother-part-3