The Adventure Zone: Amnesty - Episode 19
December 6, 2018 8:09 AM - Subscribe
With an apocalyptic calamity looming over Kepler, the Pine Guard make their final preparations, and march to battle against a stationary, reality-twisting foe. Aubrey speaks to oblivion. Ned gets a taste of his own medicine. Duck says goodbye.
LEO!
Like a sucker, I thought "Duck says goodbye" meant that he was killed or banished or put out of commission, so I was on edge till it became clear what that meant. Emotionally, this episode delivered.
posted by Countess Elena at 9:53 AM on December 7, 2018 [5 favorites]
Like a sucker, I thought "Duck says goodbye" meant that he was killed or banished or put out of commission, so I was on edge till it became clear what that meant. Emotionally, this episode delivered.
posted by Countess Elena at 9:53 AM on December 7, 2018 [5 favorites]
This has been bugging me for the entire arc: which way does Beacon's blade coil up? I mean, does it coil up like a Fruit Roll-Up, with the flat of the blade curling over on itself so that the dormant sword is short and compact--or does it coil up in a flat spiral configuration, with the point at the center but the entire blade still visible, making the dormant sword more of a lollipop shape?
I had mostly been imagining the former, but the way Justin described attacking the sap monster suggests the latter. I remember that when he first described it, he said it was coiled "like a whip," which also sounds a bit more like the latter. But in that case... what the heck does the sheath look like (since I think I remember someone mentioning one)? A tennis racket bag? And if he doesn't have a sheath, how does he carry around a big sharp disc without drawing attention to it?
posted by showbiz_liz at 3:27 PM on December 7, 2018 [3 favorites]
I had mostly been imagining the former, but the way Justin described attacking the sap monster suggests the latter. I remember that when he first described it, he said it was coiled "like a whip," which also sounds a bit more like the latter. But in that case... what the heck does the sheath look like (since I think I remember someone mentioning one)? A tennis racket bag? And if he doesn't have a sheath, how does he carry around a big sharp disc without drawing attention to it?
posted by showbiz_liz at 3:27 PM on December 7, 2018 [3 favorites]
Oh hey also? This episode was awesome. I've been enjoying the Pine Guard stuff more and more as it went along, but this might have been the best episode of it yet. Original Flavor TAZ will probably always be first in my heart, but maybe for the first time, I didn't have even a moment of missing it.
posted by showbiz_liz at 4:14 PM on December 7, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by showbiz_liz at 4:14 PM on December 7, 2018 [1 favorite]
This has been bugging me for the entire arc: which way does Beacon's blade coil up? I mean, does it coil up like a Fruit Roll-Up, with the flat of the blade curling over on itself so that the dormant sword is short and compact--or does it coil up in a flat spiral configuration, with the point at the center but the entire blade still visible, making the dormant sword more of a lollipop shape?
I thought it was like a corkscrew, so that the scabbard would be a tube.
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 9:04 PM on December 7, 2018
I thought it was like a corkscrew, so that the scabbard would be a tube.
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 9:04 PM on December 7, 2018
This was so good. I actually yelled "YES!" aloud in my car when I heard the spooky voice the first time. Anyone have theories about what they are?
posted by a hat out of hell at 11:34 AM on December 8, 2018
posted by a hat out of hell at 11:34 AM on December 8, 2018
I had thought that Beacon looked like a normal sword from a distance, but that it had very small cracks across the blade, and that if Duck cracked it like a whip with a good deal of force, it would open up into segments along those cracks. I could totally be wrong about this.
posted by Countess Elena at 2:10 PM on December 8, 2018
posted by Countess Elena at 2:10 PM on December 8, 2018
I've always pictured it like Ivy's sword/whip from Soul Caliber. I could have sworn one of them even invoked it back when Beacon was first introduced.
It could also be like an Urumi which would coil up like a fruit rollup. This doesn't really fit with how they describe using it, though, especially not cutting though a metal chain.
posted by Mr.Encyclopedia at 6:13 PM on December 8, 2018 [1 favorite]
It could also be like an Urumi which would coil up like a fruit rollup. This doesn't really fit with how they describe using it, though, especially not cutting though a metal chain.
posted by Mr.Encyclopedia at 6:13 PM on December 8, 2018 [1 favorite]
I think Ivy's sword might be the closest comparison.
I found a transcription of episode 5 where Beacon first appears:
I found a transcription of episode 5 where Beacon first appears:
Griffin: I want this moment of the case open and, Duck, you are standing in front of it, and on this cushion, you… see the weapon, and are just kinda confronted with your past, all of the moments that your destiny has called out to you and you have turned away from it, and, for the first time, you’re actually considering doing the opposite.posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 7:30 PM on December 9, 2018
Justin: What I see in front of me is a coil. It’s a coil of a… it looks like a sword that’s been coiled, basically. There’s a hilt… not terribly wide, but there’s a hilt there. And then the sword is kind of rolled, almost like a whip, I guess.
Griffin: And we should mention, this is, like, a Chosen thing. You built this weapon using a series of tags, can you tell me what those are, just so I know for the fight?
Justin: The Form is Handle.
Griffin: Right.
Justin: Artifact, Blade, and Chain.
Griffin: Chain being, like, it’s…
Justin: Well, y’know what? It— actually, for what it is, it would probably be…
Griffin: It’d probably be Long.
Justin: Long would probably be… yeah.
Griffin: I like the idea of a chain sword, but that’s, I think [Justin: That’s another thing.] this is much better, yeah. Long, yeah. And that’s cool- all of those inform the things that, like, narratively, this weapon can do. Okay.
Justin: And I reach in… really slow. [chuckles] And I take the handle. That’s what it’s called? There’s another word for—
Griffin: Hilt.
Justin: Hilt? Yeah, there’s a crossguard, that’s what I meant to say. Crossguard. So I grab the hilt, and when I do, it starts to unfurl. And I hold it up, it unfurls into a blade. .
When the light beings came out of the tree and its ilk, I was so afraid for Billy! But it course I shouldn't have been: Griffin knows to protect his monster children, however unintentional their creation may have been.
posted by meese at 8:17 PM on December 9, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by meese at 8:17 PM on December 9, 2018 [1 favorite]
I think Ivy's sword might be the closest comparison.
But the resting state of that sword is just "a sword," not "a sword that's been coiled".
posted by showbiz_liz at 8:37 PM on December 9, 2018
But the resting state of that sword is just "a sword," not "a sword that's been coiled".
posted by showbiz_liz at 8:37 PM on December 9, 2018
But the resting state of that sword is just "a sword," not "a sword that's been coiled".
Yes, and Beacon's resting state is apparently coiled like a whip.
But, like Ivy's sword, Beacon can apparently form up into a sword, and stretch out like a really long sword, and be flexible and wielded like a whip.
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 8:58 PM on December 9, 2018 [1 favorite]
Yes, and Beacon's resting state is apparently coiled like a whip.
But, like Ivy's sword, Beacon can apparently form up into a sword, and stretch out like a really long sword, and be flexible and wielded like a whip.
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 8:58 PM on December 9, 2018 [1 favorite]
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posted by nubs at 9:13 AM on December 6, 2018