Wizard Wednesday Episode 77 Transcription

Wizard Wednesday Episode 77 March 1st

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Dotta: [00:00:00] [00:01:00] Here.

Here we.[00:02:00]

Did you your

Elf: It is Wednesday. We are wizards and today is the magical day we call Wizard Wednesday. My god. That song slaps, uh, channeling in with quantum style through the quantum downs. This is elf.

Dotta: And Doda and

Elf: Bear. Bear. [00:03:00] Do you have to go peepee?

Dotta: Uh, I, well, I mean, I, the, the cat, the whole cats is dead. Although I now see a channel above sale, so we'll see.

Maybe there's a peepee later if the cats, uh, are being, are not bragging us again.

Elf: Okay. Well if you have to go pee, you can just go. You don't have to ask her

Dotta: anything. Okay. I don't understand how Kmar has at everyone access, so that feels like a power too. Great for a Hall of KA moderator. Yeah. Hey, Jessey, can you, uh, delete this channel too, like you did the last one?

Yeah. Where is JT anyway? Get up here,

Elf: sees busy delivering devastating deletions to the Hall of Cats. Uh, we've got a big show today. We've got cult questions, we've got a special guest, we've got updates, and we've got a magnificent LOR at the end. But first, I just wanna start out with a very [00:04:00] crucial piece of information that is going to change the power imbalance at Magic Machine, uh, for quite a while.

Um, and that is the fact that I now own the baby Dota Wizard. Dota, how do you feel about that

Dotta: baby?

Elf: Sounds upset. I, I, I think I heard a baby. What was that again? Donna? Um,

Dotta: I think that, I think, I think there's, you, you really like threw a stone in, in, in Doda and Mrs. Do's house by owning the baby version of, of, of their, of their father. I,

Elf: I think what he is trying to tell me is that I only own the baby and not the real Dota. Is is, is that what you're trying to say? Pretty much, yeah.

Well just take good care of him. Take good care of my son. [00:05:00] Okay. Yeah. I, uh, I, I started the bid on that last, I think it was Thursday and the bid was gonna end on Sunday and there was like a, like a three or four day period where I was terrified that you would figure out and you would outbid me, but I guess you never did.

No, I didn't, I didn't

Dotta: figure it out. But uh, I'm very interested to see the lore of what a baby Dota raised by the black goat ends up like.

Elf: So well stay tuned cause I'm in full control of that

Dotta: with a, with with a, with a, with a bear snake as a godfather. Yeah. Like will the papers the wave his father and, and, and be like this like dark emo doda, maybe he'll reject against it.

I'm not really sure.

Elf: Emo teenager Doda. Yeah. Love it. Um, okay, uh, let's jump into some cult questions. Uh, so we kind of touched on this about two minutes ago, but Bill asked, [00:06:00] bill Gaines is asking, um, elf, are you glad that the hull of cats has been nuked? And will it be removed from the univer map as well?

Um, yes. I'm glad that it's been nuked, but no, it will not be removed from the universe map cuz I have a feeling. That just like with the Wizard Oberon, uh, they will be resurrected. Um, I don't know. Bear, you know more about the Hall of Cats than I do. What, what's, what's the deal? No idea. They resurrected it

Dotta: already.

Okay. I have no idea. There's, it's impossible to keep track on the narrative that's going, uh, on in that channel. It really is. Um, but I think another channel popped up. But I'm, I'm telling jitsu even in the Magic Machine server to, to delete it, it's got, let's just kill it right now.

Elf: That that cat has nine lives.

I have a feeling it's not going anywhere. Um, related, uh, slim is asking when Hall of Dogs. [00:07:00] Uh, slim. I don't know if you've seen the universe map, but the hull of dogs doesn't exist. However, there is a wolf dungeon. So that would be my question back to you. Win Wolf Dungeon. Uh, it's up to the cult to make that happen.

Um, and I have a feeling it's gonna be a way cooler place in the hull of cats, but that's just me. Um, okay, uh, Snoop Doug is asking, uh, okay, this is kind of a lure question. Uh, he's asking are there different, uh, magical forces or No, he's asking, are the different magical forces, uh, perfectly balanced in the universe?

Um, or are there some wizards who are supremely powerful, uh, but have an Achilles heel? Um, and then he is like, whenever Superman or Neo turns up in a movie, they are just invincible. Um, yeah. So he is asking about magical power imbalances. Uh, I, I'm gonna say that they are [00:08:00] definitely not perfectly balanced.

Um, there is certainly a power hierarchy in the universe just as there is in the real world. Um, all of you who are ex exercising the magic of creation, you all have different skill levels and just, uh, therefore display an imbalance. Um, however, uh, just like how Lex Luther, a mortal human can often overcome the God-like Superman, it's not always about skill or talent or brute strength.

Uh, you can be a powerful magic user. You can be an incredible creator or an artist. As long as you, uh, know what your own individual unique strengths are, you can still make really compelling creations with no skill at all. So embrace the power imbalance. Um, Okay, let's see. Next question. Uh, [00:09:00] sp Z is asking for cannon lore.

Um, he, he wants more lore, uh, like on specific heads. For example, the gin, the witches, or the illuminati's, uh, spz. I will do an illuminati lore dump next week. Um, today I'm gonna do a little bit of a lore dump on the quantum shadow because acid eater is asking, does the quantum shadow equal the underworld of the root reverse, or is it meant to be something else?

Um, no, it's not the, it's not the underworld. Um, the quantum shadow is a placeholder for the unknown. Uh, This has magical and scientific implications. Um, so to look at the scientific side of it, uh, physicists, um, they actually have mathematical, ma mathematical errors when they try to calculate the gravitational mass in the universe, um, they have no idea what accounts for this [00:10:00] anomaly.

So they insert a placeholder and call it dark matter. Um, it's dark, uh, Yeah. So, and, and then Dark Energy is, is another un unaccounted for anomaly when calculating the acceleration and the expansion of the known universe. So in these two examples, the word dark is important. Here it's dark because we can't see it, it's unknown.

Um, the Dark Ages are named. So because humanity went through a phase of cultural decline. Um, and it's, it's an era that relative to the eras that flanked it, namely the Roman Empire and the Universe, or sorry, the Renaissance. Uh, it's a time when historical records were forgotten. Um, Darkness or shadow is the absence of light.

When we know where we understand a new idea, we say, I see as if it's an implicit acknowledgement of the light being shed upon the subject, you're no longer in shadow, you see it. Um, so that's why I'm using the word dark as [00:11:00] just sort of a placeholder for the unknown. Uh, now for the quantum component of the quantum shadow, I'm just, I'm just fascinated by this intersection between mysticism and science and of all the fields of study in science, quantum mechanics is a hotbed of mystical thinking.

One of the best debates you'll ever see is this one between Sam Harris, Michael Schirmer, and Deepak Chopra. It is truly a clash of the magic in the machine. Um, And, uh, the Magical Thinker, uh, I e Deepak Chopra, um, he constantly tries to justify his ideas with science. And, and the two scientists on the panel, uh, Sam Harrison and Michael Schirmer, just continuously throughout the whole debate, just rip, rip him apart and poke holes in his magical thinking with facts and logic.

So it's, you know, it's, it's this dynamic that I just think speaks a lot to the human condition. Um, you know, I, I could speak on this more, but in [00:12:00] short, the, the quantum shadow is just, it's this, this, this placeholder for the unknown. Um, we all think we have a handle on the world, whether we're Sam Harris or Deepak Chopra.

And no matter how much understanding we gain, there's always a remaining shadow. And so, Th this shadow is always out of reach and it's always imperceptible. So, um, it's, it's always got like a bit of quantum weirdness to it, and it's always causing really weird shit to happen. Um, and so that's the quantum shadow.

It's just, it's just like, it's, it's the placeholder for the unknown. Um, okay. And then, uh, leaf dojang is, is he's ba he asked a big, long question about the book of lore on the website, um, and how it's kind of clunky right now. Um, basically the short answer is we are working on the book of lore. We're, we gave the fa the website a huge facelift.

Um, and the book of lore is next. It's in development. I know it's, it's not great right now, but it's, we're working on it, I [00:13:00] promise. Um, yeah. Do, do, do you have anything to add to the website or the book of law? Uh,

Dotta: we're working on it. You know, I don't have anything beyond that, just that we're, you know, we have so much we want to add to the book of lore to make it, uh, more cohesive around a character adding, uh, making room for some of the things that we wanna do.

Like, so, for example, questing, we'll have things that, that affect your character's page on the book of lore. Um, you know, making it easier to read, a little bit more like natural to read. So yeah, all those things are coming.

Elf: Yeah. And Leaf toing, you're asking you, one thing you ask specifically about is when you click on any of the character collections, it takes you to the book of lo entry.

Um, just like per Wizard Warrior, soul, and so on. Um, we're actually building like, full comprehensive character pages, um, that I, I, how, how do I describe it? It'll be more like, like, [00:14:00] Uh, opens sea, how you can properly search the, the tokens by trait and rarity metrics. Um, am I making sense Doda? Can you maybe explain that for me?

Yeah. Like, yeah, we'll, like,

Dotta: we're gonna make like a collections page, right? Where you'll be able to like, have filters like you do on opens sea. See if you're like, oh, I wanna look at all the cobalts or whatever, you'll be able to do that.

Elf: Yep. Cause is working on that right now. Yep. Exactly. Yep. So big, big facelift on the book of lore coming soon.

Um, yeah. Uh, and so, okay. I think Theros, T c G guys wanted to come up, uh, give a hoot or, um, maple Dad, uh, if you guys wanna come up and talk about, oh wait, here we go. There he is.

Give a hoot. Hello. Hey, how's it going? Happy Wizard Wednesday everyone. Happy Wizard Wednesday. What's up? What's happening? Yeah, what's going on with Ru's tcg? [00:15:00] Oh, nothing.

Dotta: Um, just, just a little tournament that we're gonna host. Uh, and we've combined forces with the, uh, univer game to actually host a tournament with Univer Land as a prize.

Um, so, so nothing's happening over here. Just a little bit of that. Um, uh, that's amazing. Wait, so whoever wins the tournament gets a free plot of Univer

Elf: Land. Yes. Um, that's incredible. Yeah. Whoa, don't, do we approve this?

Dotta: I think that they Well you've been working with Mazu Zuki. Zuki. Exactly. So, yeah. Um, so ne Dad, Zuki and I have been, um, Have been chatting, uh, and huge thanks to Matsui and the reverse team for, for a, just, I mean, even being open to this, like, um, really speaks to kind of like just the, the ethos of forgotten rooms.

Um, the cult provides, um, web three, interoperability, all of this stuff. Um, and so huge [00:16:00] thanks to the team and then Matt Suki who kind of helped make this happen. Um, I just actually made a tweet from Theros, uh, Twitter account. I don't know how to add tweets to a space or even if I can, um, but I'll post it in the Discord.

And, and yeah. So, uh, the tweet includes a, a actual blog post that the Universe team made about the tournament. Um, details a little bit about what ROEs is for their community and also details the prizes. So first place is gonna get a free Homestead Universe land plot. Second place is gonna be, um, booster packs from Ruins Plus Universe.

Uh, land Sale allow lists. Um, third and fourth place we'll get some with, we'll get an allow list as well. Um, and then everyone who actually, every, everyone who enters the tournament, um, and plays their first game is gonna get a free booster pack from Bruss as well. So, um, should be a lot of fun. And, uh, and yeah, I don't know, it's.

Uh, that's amazing. [00:17:00] I can't wait to see it. Oh, I just shared this. I just shared the tweet up, up top. Amazing. Uh, so that way folks can see like where to sign up and it's, uh, it's gonna be great. Awesome. Yeah. Thank you for doing that. And, and just for people who aren't aware, rooms, um, we launched the core set I think about two weeks ago.

No, about a month ago, actually. Time flies as well. Um, launch, launch about a month ago, um, we've been, we've been kind of developing the game, adding some features. The Mint is still very much open. It's actually alwa, it's actually an indefinite mint. Um, just so every, like the, uh, to the barrier entry is, is dirt cheap.

Everyone can kind of, everyone can mint packs, everyone can play. Um, we want as many people to experience ruins as possible. So, um, so yeah, hop in the discord, learn more about it, mint some packs. It's a ton of fun. It doesn't, it's not gonna, it's all, all you really need is a few packs to actually have like competitive hands.

So, um, yeah. Uh, Obviously, feel free to ping me on any discord if you have any questions. But, um, here, let me, and let me [00:18:00] post the tweet and, uh, in this and the discord. There you go. Cool. Yes, there. Um, but yeah, I don't know. I'm super excited. And again, just a shout out to me dad, who's, who's already hosted one tournament in February because he just loves the game and wants to, and then, and then provided Suki for, for doing this and make, I mean, he, he mentioned this to me a few weeks ago and I didn't really, I was like, oh, this would be cool.

And then all of a sudden, like two days ago, he was like, yeah, there you're like, the winner's gonna get a free plot of land, like, already decided. And so I was, I was, uh, I was kind of blown away.

Elf: That is fantastic. Um, no, I was joking about us approving that. I'm, I'm glad, uh, I'm, I'm glad that land is, is, is a prize for this.

Um, and, and I just gotta say like if there's anyone in the cult or anyone, period who has not. Uh, minted a pack of Ros t c g cards. Yet, what are you doing? You have to [00:19:00] do it. It is one of the best minting experiences I've had in months. The cards are amazing. To this day, I am still seeing new cards that I didn't know existed.

Uh, it's just like one of the best things to ever come from the Colt

Dotta: I app. That was a very high, I just read about it. Oh, thank you. I, I I really appreciate that. It's been, it's been so much fun creating this. We're just getting started. Like, as I mentioned, we just released, um, a new feature, um, building decks a few days ago.

We just integrated e n s with the game. So, um, definitely look forward to continuing to build this and continuing to create new art. Actually, keep a lookout. We've, we've been doing, um, some really amazing art, uh, a special card for a special, someone, uh, you know, won't, that's, that should be renowned soon.

And then we should be doing some custom in-game art for this tournament, actually. Um, So, uh, so yeah, I don't know. It's

Cult member: just gonna be a lot of fun.

Elf: It's, it's basically like if you had a chance to, uh, buy a pack of magic, the [00:20:00] gathering edition one cards, the chance is staring you right in the face right now.

Go do it. Fun. Um, awesome. That's, that's awesome. Give a hoot. Thank you so much. Um, can't wait to see who wins the land. Um, yeah, I, I guess we could have Matt up, but I think Matt's uh, traveling right now, so we can't come on at the minute. Um, bear, do you know where our special guest is for the day?

Dotta: Let me ping them really quickly.

Hold up.

Elf: Okay, no problem. Uh, while we're waiting on that, I wanted to make another fun announcement. Um, So I'm a big fan of a guy named Raul Powell. I don't know if y'all know who that is. I'm sure some of you do. Um, he's a big time like macro investor who has gotten into crypto as of like, I don't know, [00:21:00] three or four years ago.

So he is a big voice on the crypto scene. Um, Dodo, do you have like a good description? Ofra Powell? Yeah. So

Dotta: he is the founder of Real Vision, which is like a fantastic kind of like media company for investing. It's completely worth the subscription, like if you're into crypto, um, like it's basically like, I don't know, I, it's, I think of it almost as like crunchy roll for like the stock market.

Um, and like, so you basically have a subscription. This isn't sponsored. I just have like, had a subscription, uh, before. Um, and it's like you, it's like a private. I don't know, it's like masterclass or something. You pay a monthly fee and you get access to their library of like courses about the stock market or whatever.

There's a really, really fun documentary that they have on, um, the history of gold. And I think that like, it's kind of weird. Watching the history of gold on that platform made me even more bullish on like Bitcoin because it actually helps you understand this idea that like the value in gold comes [00:22:00] from example, like for, for the effort that it takes to like get it out of the earth, right?

That like all of the gold on earth, if anybody has any, they will charge you a market price in order for you to get it from them. And then like the, the, the cost of gold like increases marginally with like the amount of effort that it costs to like dig it out of the earth by like whatever means possible.

And so it's this really, really well explored, well thought out documentary on kind of how, um, how it's like the effort that. The effort that you put into pulling gold out of the ground and refining it actually bakes into the material its value. And, and for me, even though I loved cryptocurrency, even by the time I watched it, I dunno, something clicked for me even about how, how that actually gives like Bitcoin its own value.

So whatever that's, uh, total tangent. Uh, Raul Paul is the founder I think, of real vision and, uh, yeah, we've been big fans for a long time and he, he just did, uh, uh, an interview with, uh, the, the, the creator of the [00:23:00] Nowhere. Uh, wait, what is it? New here? New here, new, yeah. Let me see if I can find the tweet.

Elf: Yeah. It's, it's with Dan Sickles. We, we had him on Wizard Wednesday a few months ago. He, he made the new here documentary. It's not released yet, but, um, me and Forgotten Ruins is featured in it. And so basically the biggest, what what I'm getting at is that. Uh, forgotten. Ros, uh, a sneak peek of the forgotten ros footage from the film was featured in this Raul Powell video.

It's so fun. It looks

Dotta: so good too. They like, yes. They, they, they billboard out some of the characters and there's like an Aron like walking across the, uh, walking across a courtyard. I, I posted a gift, but you can watch the video in the pin tweet.

Elf: Yeah. I, I squealed with delight when I saw it. Um, yeah. And, and I, and I love Dan Sickles.

I love Rao Pal. Um, and basically it's, it's my mission to get an interview with [00:24:00] Raoul at some point, um, because I, I think we would have a lot to talk about. Raul really understands the value of Mimetic culture. Um, listen to his interview with, uh, punk 65 29. Uh, if you want a really good take on all of this, Um, punk 65 29 is another person I'd love to talk to.

Eventually, he, I think he describes himself as the most bullish person on NFTs in the world. Um, but yeah, Raul Powell, another really great thing is he talks about is the network effect and just how valuable and how applicable network effect is to almost everything, tech culture, you know, it's, it's everywhere.

But anyway, I don't know. We could like talk for hours on this. Only point I wanna make now is, uh, check out that video that Dota just pinned to the top. Um, you know, this is something that's gonna be coming, uh, down the pike in the future. It's very exciting. So

Dotta: exciting. I loved seeing [00:25:00] wizards in this like, uh, yeah, well lit 3D environment and, and then he, oh, even in the clip, they, like, they rendered the book of lore as like a 3D book, and then they like open the page and there's some lore inside and it was just, uh, really, really fun.

It's great to have. It's, you know, it's, I think one of the benefits to this is Dan is, I think Dan won Sundance a few years ago for one of his films. And, and so to have someone at the helm who has such a high bar of quality, uh, be producing this, I think it's, you know, we're starting to see, um, how much love and effort is going into the film.

And, and I think they found a really unique way to present, uh, all the different projects and artists that are involved. So it's, it's cool. And, and it's gonna, you know, it'll have major distribution and, you know, we will, we will, uh, Maybe we'll make it to Netflix before the, before our own show,

Elf: right? Yeah.

Um, and while we're, let's see, I can't get the speaker up here. Twitter might be glitching, but, um, [00:26:00] bear, I just wanna give credit to you. You're like, again, the linchpin behind this whole thing. You made the, the Dan Sickles connection for us. Um, you, you got me into this film. So once again, it's another door that

Dotta: bear opened kicking down doors.

Well, there's a lot of friends along the way, some people in the cult. Um, and yeah, I mean, listen, we're all here for it. Let's, let's shout the rooftops.

Elf: Exactly. Uh, nad. Hello. Our, I wonder if

Dotta: our special guest knows that, uh, you have to be on iPhone in order to become a speaker. If you open spaces, they're all in your browser.

Oh, you can't come

Elf: up on stage. Yeah, you need you need a phone, Riley.

Dotta: Hold on. Texting. Okay.

Elf: We're basically, we're gonna have Riley Brown, the comic artist come up here in a sec as soon as we solve these tech issues. Ah, you're so good. Yeah. Riley's freaking amazing. Uh, but in the meantime, Nard, hello. [00:27:00]

Dotta: Hey everyone.

Um, hello. Thanks for bringing me up. Yeah. Uh, yeah, I just wanted to, um, just. Remind people and also, uh, bring to attention just anyone that joined the Nifty League and Forgotten Ruins Tournament that's ongoing right now. Um, we're in the first stage, um, for division two. And then, so what that means is you basically have 72 hours to compete your games and, um, you sort of have to make your matches yourself and ping the person that is in your group, um, in order to schedule them.

Um, but you can do them whenever, um, whenever your schedules align in the next, uh, two days. And that's for the, the first stage of the Division two

Elf: nad. I'm so glad you came up and, and said all that. I, I love what Nifty League is doing with Forgotten Ruins. The tournament is still happening, so there's still time to get into that.

Yeah.

Dotta: Um, it's been really fun just seeing the two communities, uh, [00:28:00] collide and, and place masters with each other. Um, I've been streaming the, the games on the cult chat every once in a while. Um, and I'll continue to do that just to just, if anyone's interested, feel free to jump in and just hear me get destroyed playing.

Hey. Hey nad Hey nad, how's Soda doing? Uh, he's good. He's right beside me. We're outside. I've, I've learned not to walk around when I'm, uh, on spaces cause all you hear is the crunching of my feet, but I gotta go pick up this poo right now. It's, uh, literally when Good dog. But anyway, thanks for, thanks for having me up.

Elf: Yep. See ya. Um, okay. Uh, uh, wizards and Warriors, let's welcome to, uh, the stage. First time on Wizard Wednesday, longtime friend Riley Brown, the amazing and talented artist on our comic series Riley. Hello. Hey, how are you guys doing? Good.

Cult member: Good. So glad

Elf: to hear you here, man. Yeah, [00:29:00] thanks for having me here.

It's been great working with you guys. Oh, you too, man. We, we've been wanting to bring you on for a long time. Uh, the work you've been doing just blows my mind and I, I think I speak for everyone. Um, but yeah, I mean, you know, did I lose you? Did you lose me? Nope. Nope. You're here. You're here. Um, but yeah, Riley, just to, I don't know, just, just tell us about yourself.

Who are you, what have you, what have you done in your life? What, what, how did you end up here? Give us your

Dotta: story. And

Cult member: I'm a comic book artist. Start early. Uh, I've been working professionally as a comic artist since 2005, which at this point is a pretty long time ago. And, um, I've worked for Marvel and DC and, you know, various other publishers.

Uh, I'm probably best known for my work on Deadpool over at Marvel. Um, I also recently did this Batman verse Fortnite comic book. That was pretty popular also. [00:30:00] Um, but yeah, I've done a lot of stuff and, uh, I don't, honestly, I don't know how I got hooked up with the Wizards guys one day.

Elf: Looks like the quantum shadow has silenced Riley. We heard one day and then he was gone.

Dotta: I thought it was

Elf: me, but No, no. Riley, I think we lost you. Well,

Dotta: I'm sharing, uh, a bunch of Riley's art that's not like forgotten ruins art. It's just like some of his fantastic art, uh, from his Twitter account, uh, up on the space while we wait for him to, to recover

Elf: Bear.

I, I know that Riley was, was someone that you brought into us. How, how did you

Dotta: find him? I feel like, uh, I feel like Nalgene may have. Sniffed him out, uh, when we were looking for potential artists. So I think now Gene gets props for finding him. [00:31:00] And then I remember the first time I spoke to him on the phone, um, I was with you having breakfast, if you remember that.

Elf: I do

Dotta: remember. And, and, and so we, we were very nervous because we really wanted to be in business with him. And most comic book artists hate NFTs. So I was like trying to like dance around this concept of like us being a web three project without scaring him away. But he was very open minded.

Elf: Are you there, Riley?

Dotta: Nope. You see the audio? I don't know what's going on. Like clicking and, oh, there you are. Oh, there we go. Hey, we can hear you now.

I

Elf: heard you. Dammit. Twitter. Oh man. The one time we bring Riley

Dotta: on. Riley, if you want, you can leave and then, and then come back and then we'll, yeah, maybe that'll help happens to me all the time. [00:32:00]

Elf: Yeah. Riley try disconnecting and then, and then come back. Um, while he's doing that, I'm just gonna say, uh, you know, one thing I really love about the comics, and I've said this before, uh, is that it serves, it's, it's a real proof of concept for, for what Forgotten Ruins is, is all about, um, which is the collaborative, legendary, the idea that instead of one creative authority building a world, an entire community of fans and IP holders builds the world together.

So, Um, it's the idea that the fans of the franchise get to take part in the financial and creative development of the IP itself. So it's one thing for me, or Dota or Bear to proclaim all of this as an abstract idea. But no, we actually have tangible proof printed on a page. Here's a comic book that we made that's living proof that this [00:33:00] idea works.

We successfully brought a piece of legacy media into Web three and transmuted it into the collaborative. Legendary. Here is proof that this can work. Um, okay, so, Riley, are you back?

Cult member: Uh, I think I am. I'm not sure

Dotta: when I can hear

Elf: that. Yeah, we can hear you.

Cult member: You sound great. Good. Okay. Good. I don't know where I got cut off before, or if you heard anything I said earlier.

You

Dotta: said one day and then that was it.

Cult member: Okay. Well, basically, uh, I'm a professional comic book artist. I've, um, uh, been working, uh, for Marvel and DC and various other companies since 2005. Uh, I'm probably best known for my work on Deadpool. I've done a lot of Deadpool stuff over the years. Um, and I also have a, uh, I recently did a Batman verse Fortnite comic.

That was pretty popular as well. Um, and, and so, uh, now I'm working with these Wizard Cult guys and [00:34:00] honestly, uh, you asked how I got hooked up with them and I'm not entirely sure myself. One day, uh, bear just reached out to me and I was kind of wondering, what, what is it that drew you to my work? What, what, what did you see of mine that said this is the guy that we wanna work with?

Elf: Um, I saw a, uh, competent draftsman, an amazing visual storyteller, um, and an artist who didn't hate NFTs. Oh,

Cult member: well, yeah. I mean, that's, there's a lot of artists that don't hate them, but just secretly because they're, they're waiting for the, you know, bad press to blow over.

Dotta: Yeah. I think one of the things that, that, that we loved about your work, Riley, was that it's like, while it feels contemporary, I think, you know, you draw inspiration and would love to hear who you're inspired by, but I think, uh, just, just looking at it, you can tell that there's like this love and this love for [00:35:00] like, the medium of comic books.

And I think you, um, sort of honor, uh, a, a lot of the, the classic style and there's this mix and, and so it just, your work really popped off for us. Um, and, and yeah, it's just this mix of old and new, uh, it feels super fresh and, and obviously with the, the colors that you work with. And, um, it just, it feel, it just felt so perfect.

And, and I think, you know, we know now you did the first cover for the, for the, for issue number one or one of them. Um, just seeing, uh, the pencils and the inks and the colors coming in for issue number one and number two, it's, it's just so incredible. Every time we get some, we get some, we share in the, the company Discord and everybody just like fawns over them.

Oh,

Cult member: thanks, man. Um, yeah, you asked me. My, my influences are, um, I, I think, I, I think stuff like, [00:36:00] I know you guys are a big fan of the, uh, anime animation studio madhouse, um, and those are, you know, those are some of my favorite stuff. I've got like concept art books from those guys going back years. Um, and then other than that, I love.

Superhero comics like Jim Lee is one of my biggest influences. I don't think my work looks much like him, but you know, I'm always looking at his stuff for inspiration. Um, and I don't know, it's a lot of different things.

Elf: Yeah. I, I, I think it's really fun that we've got a superhero, uh, artist working on wizards because, um, I feel like superheroes are really just kind of the modern day version of wizards.

Okay. Um, I mean, that's really what a superhero is. It's just another wizard. Uh, and so, yeah, I mean, that's just one way to bring wizards into the modern era is, is, uh, super heroizing.

Cult member: Yeah. I mean, I think culturally superheroes are kind of like the modern American folklore, right? Like wizards or witches or [00:37:00] baba yaga or whatever, you know, trolls, ogres and all that stuff from, um, from the old country.

So, I mean, yeah, you're totally right. It's totally that it fits the same. Fits the same thing. Cause it's like, as opposed to, you know, you have like myths, legends, and folklore and they all kind of are different things. Like legends are sort of based on real people that have been extrapolated to historic or to uh, to heroic size.

But, um, folklore is just kind of stories that people come up and everyone knows that they're just stories and weird characters and stuff like that. And that's exactly what superheroes are. They're all kind of like, you know, the morality lessons you get from, like, again, you know, an old story's like, don't go into the woods, or you're gonna run into a witch and she'll eat you.

And now it's like, you know, be good otherwise, uh, Batman's gonna tie you up and send you to RK asylum. So,

Elf: I did not realize that we had chosen such a perfect artist for this project. Everything that you just said is so [00:38:00] forgotten, ruined. Yeah. Um, I, I love it. Ri yeah. I remember Stan Lee saying something about like, like the Greeks in Romans had their pantheon of gods, and now the modern day American culture pantheon of Gods is like Superman and Batman and Thor and Aquaman and Yeah, totally.

Yeah. Super cool. Um, yeah, I, you know, I, I, okay, I'm, I'm gonna ask you like a, a kind of a silly question cuz there's really no answer to this, but I'm just, I'm just curious how you would answer it. Uh, what is more important in a comic book? The images or the words? I,

Cult member: it's, that's, so, you know, that's, uh, an argument people have on social media all the time, and I really don't think.

That there's one answer to that because they're both so important. I mean, without the words there, it's, you know, you have a illustration or a drawing. Or a painting, but [00:39:00] which is a thing. Um, and those are great. And without the pictures you just have prose, which is also a thing. And those are great. But coming together as a comic, um, it's got to, it's like the fusion of both of them together.

So that's what, you know, I mean, that's the answer. Like what makes it a comic is having both of them together. You take one out or the other and you just have a different thing. That's not a comic anymore.

Elf: Yep. Yep. If that makes sense. No, it makes perfect sense. You know, ev everybody's got a different answer to that.

I figured as the artist you might lean more into the images, but, but Well, I, I'm trying to be diplomatic. I could easily say, you

Cult member: know, if you erase all the board balloons, you'd still know what was happening in the story because, you know, if I'm doing my job right, you should still be able to read it. Um, exactly.

But you know, that's, I wanna be nice to our writer friends out there too.

Elf: It's, uh, it, it's funny cuz Joe said to me one day that he's like, you know, I just, I just hope my [00:40:00] words are, are enough for Riley, cuz I know that comics are primarily a visual medium. Uh, and, and, and now you're like, sort of being nice to Joe.

And so no, the words are just as good. But, but no, I agree. They're, they're both critical and that's what a comic

Cult member: is. Yeah. Yeah. Well it is a, well it is a visual medium, but the, you know, words become a visual thing in the, um, in the comic. I mean, that's one of the interesting things when you kind of, you don't realize it.

As much when you're just reading it. But once you start making a comic, you realize just the physical presence of the words on the page matter a lot as far as how you're planning on the page and what it looks like and stuff. And um, you know, how many word can fit into a word balloon before the word balloon just takes up too much space or it looks weird or whatever.

Like, there's a lot of weird visual stuff that has to affect the words as well, which is, you know, you don't think about. But it's an interesting, uh, an interesting part of the

Elf: process for sure. Yeah. So, so, so one of the interesting things [00:41:00] about. You know, our project is that, uh, it, it, again, it's this idea of the collaborative legendary where all the stories and the, and the creative development isn't just from like one creative authority or one studio.

It's, it's an entire studio, or, sorry, an entire community of people, uh, many of which are in the audience right now, um, that are, that are contributing to the creative development. Um, and so, you know, as you know, like a lot of the stories that are in the comic are pulled from and inspired by the book of Lore, uh, which is stories written about our community.

Um, and, and what I really love is that. Like even you and Joe who, you know, didn't nec didn't write like an entry or in the book of lore, you're still part of this collaborative legendary, like you're taking these pixel art character designs and then you are adding your own creative spin on it. Um, [00:42:00] and, and just developing it further.

Um, and yeah, I mean, you know, like Dota said earlier, every time you submit a page to us, we share it in our discord and we all just like, yeah, shit, our pants over it. Oh, cool.

Cult member: Um, that's, no, that's fun. I love the book of law. It's, I refer to it frequently when I'm drawing like. You know, if there's gonna be a bunch of wizards in the background, like, I think, I mean, I don't know, I think I can say this.

There's a, there's a scene in the first issue where, uh, we're in a place with a whole bunch of wizards and I'm like, well, I just have to like, fill this, fill the background up with guys. So I kept going back to the book of lore for I ideas on like, let's say, okay, uh, where I need, I need three more wizards, who's back here?

Okay. That one's cool. That one's cool. That one's cool. And, you know, I don't know if I drew the, you know, between the pixel art and, uh, the way I drew them. I don't know if anyone's gonna be able to recognize their specific wizard, but, uh, you know, so everyone I drew in there is somebody somewhere out there,

Elf: so, no, that's so great.

That's so great. Yeah. I, [00:43:00] yeah, it's just, it's just like, you know, we, we call the pixel characters creative primitives. Um, they are like a seed of creation from which infinite. Um, amounts of visual looks can be expanded and extrapolated. Um, and it's just so much fun to see the way that you interpret these very simple pixelated characters.

Um, yeah, I just hope that I do a good job. I

Cult member: hope that, like when I draw my version of them, the guy, you know, who like, who it's their wizard doesn't say, Hey, that's not what my guy looks like. Yeah. I, cause sometimes I don't want 'em all to look the same, like, I want 'em to look different. So some of 'em are gonna be taller or shorter or fatter or whatever, so,

Elf: you know.

Yeah, no, it, it's, it's a concern I, I always run into as well. Um, so far we've had no complaints, but I know there's gonna come a day when we, like in the show or further issues with comic or some, someone's gonna be [00:44:00] upset the way we depicted their wizard, but it hasn't happened yet. Good. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Um, But yeah, I don't know.

Uh, bear or doda, uh, comments, questions? Um, I, I know that there's gonna be a lot of, uh, lot more announcements on the comic soon. Bear has been working on some very excited things, exciting things. Um, but yeah, I don't know. I, I think that's all the questions that I've got

Dotta: actually. I'm just, yeah. I love every page that we see from you.

I, I just feel. So privileged to work with you and just so thankful to have your interpretations of characters, uh, put to the page. I don't think you should worry about, uh, the person who owns the wizard being, uh, bothered by it because I think that just everything I've seen, I love so much. I think that the chance that someone will see, um, [00:45:00] your interpretation and dislike it is, is very, very low.

And in fact, I think Okay, good.

Elf: Yeah, we're just gonna say opposite. There's a, there's

Cult member: a very spun, I mean, honestly, drawing, like interpreting the Pixel graphics as fully drawn characters is one of my favorite parts about this project. And, um, there's one scene in, uh, issue too that I'm particularly, uh, fond of where, yeah, it's just got a bunch of, it's just got a bunch of wizards in it and I just, Really enjoyed the, um, designs I came up with, especially

Elf: because

Dotta: Do you wanna, do you wanna describe that scene for us a little bit as a little teaser?

I mean, I don't,

Cult member: well, it's, well just basically, I don't think it's giving anything away. There's a scene where a bunch of wizards are sitting around, uh, playing a board game of some sort. And, um, they, well, and so what I thought was fun for me is that, uh, you know, in the script, Joe picked out a bunch of wizards that he wanted to use and, um, he gives me the little graphics of them so that I know what they look like.

And half of them, maybe more than half, [00:46:00] half, like, like almost the exact same outfit on except for one thing was different. I was like, okay, how do I make these guys different? And I think that if you just looked at the drawing and didn't see the graphic, you'd have no idea that they mostly looked the same.

Like, I really, you know, had a good time. But I also think, I think I hit that spot where they look exactly like the graphic, but also. Totally unique. Like even though the guys all look the same, they look different than my drawings. And that was a lot of fun.

Dotta: I love that.

Elf: I know exactly what you're talking about.

And yeah, this is, this is just further proof of concept showing how this, this all can work. Um, the fact that you took somewhat similar looking characters and still got different looks out of them, um, it's, it's just great. It shows how like a talented artist can make it work. Um, you know, I, I, I think one interesting thing about things about comics is that, like, unlike TV or film, okay, okay.

You take like, like a film and there's thousands [00:47:00] of people that work on it. There's the actors, the director, the producer, the script writers, the, the art directors, the photographers. I mean, all these different people are bringing different creative visions to this one piece of work. And so oftentimes it's really difficult to like, like, Show a single person's creative vision.

It's, it's really hard for like the UR to, to really express themselves on a film just cause there's so many different people working on it. But with a comic, it's really just you and Joe and like, ironically, you're using a lot of content from a whole community of people, but at the end of the day, it's like, it, like the visual is all you Riley.

Right? Um, and, and like, like what do you think about that freedom that comic writer or artists have? That

Cult member: honestly, exactly what you described is what got me into comics to begin with. Like when I was a kid, you know, like first grade people ask you a lot like what you wanna be when you grow up [00:48:00] and I always, I love drawing, so I knew I wanted to be an artist, but I didn't know what kind of art I wanted to do because when I thought of like artists painting stuff for museums, I just thought of light landscapes and stuff like that, which I thought was kind of boring.

Um, and I wanted to draw cool stuff. Like I saw, you know, like transformers and uh, ninja Turtles and stuff like that that I'd see on in the cartoons I liked as a kid, but also, At the end of the cartoon, there'd be a ton of credits. And so I knew a lot of people worked on it and I was like, I'm sure my job would be to animate doors opening and closing.

I wouldn't get to do any of the cool stuff. Um, and then, but then like I went to a birthday party one time and as a party favor, my friend was given out, uh, Marvel comic books and I was flipping through it and it was all the cool stuff that I loved from, um, from the cartoons, but there was only one guy drawing or like, you know, a one guy and an anchor and a colorist.

And I was like, oh, this is awesome. This guy gets to draw all the cool stuff. And [00:49:00] um, you know, he's in control of the whole thing. And so I was like, that's it. I wanna do that. I wanna get into comic books. And so that was always kind of a plan. It was just for the reasons that you said, cuz now I get to have control and um, kind of have my vision put.

Into put into being, uh, rather than just, you know, animating doors, opening and closing or whatever mundane stuff that animators have to deal with.

Elf: Yeah. It's a good example

Dotta: of like why you need kind of like role models or like people in your life or things that you see in your life that just be like, you can do this.

Yeah. Or like you

Cult member: Yeah, totally. Yeah. Yeah. It seemed really, you know, possible to me somehow as a kid, I was like, okay, that seemed achievable. Um, and it was, although now looking back at it now, like having been in the industry so long and met so many people who tried to get into comics who, you know, it's very competitive.

Um, I, I didn't, you know, if I were to. Nowadays I'd probably be like, oh my God, it's impo. Like so many people wanna get into comics, like, how can you ever do that? But, [00:50:00] you know, as a kid it just seemed doable. So I always planned on doing it and that's, it worked out for me. Luckily

Elf: on our team, we give all the doors to Bear Snake.

Um, but I, uh, I, I, I wanted to a, actually, I have one more question. Um, so, you know, one of my philosophies in terms of, uh, when you're like hiring and working with artists is I, I try not to give as many, like, try to give the least amount of notes as possible. Cuz I, I find that like the best work often comes from just letting the artist do their thing.

You don't need to direct them. Like, especially if you find someone mega talented. Oh, I'll lost you again. Oh, can you hear me? Oh, we can hear you. Hello? Can you hear us Riley?

Dotta: He must have the same model phone that I do. Yeah. Seriously. He must be on

Elf: starlink. Okay. Yeah. So all I'm saying is like I, we give Riley almost no notes at all.

Right? Like he [00:51:00] just turns in something and we're like, perfect. It's golden. And my well, and I can give a little. Oh, while Riley's connecting,

Dotta: I can give a little insight into like,

Elf: uh,

Dotta: okay. You know, that's one of the things that's like so important when we work with an artist, right? Is that you're able to give them just like a minimal amount of direction.

We look for the same thing too with our programmers too, and just like our team in general, which is just like, can we give you a high level goal and then you can execute because there's like 10,000 decisions between here and shipping. And so then like, can you make these like talented, good taste decisions along the way?

And like, yeah, there have been times where I, I encourage El and like, El, why don't we use this artist? You can just tell them what to do and then they come back with something that's like, you know, and, and they'll be like, I just, I can't, I can't help this person like be, uh, at the level that they need to be.

You know? And so then it's, and it's so refreshing, like a fresh, uh, glass of, of water when you find someone who can make those

Elf: choices on their own. Um,

Cult member: uh, sorry, I, I just got [00:52:00] reconnected. I. I didn't hear, I kind of think I know what the question is, but I didn't hear the whole thing. Like, I got cut off. Yeah.

And we were,

Elf: yeah. I'll just, I'll just quickly repeat it. Yeah. Basically, um, you're so good and talented that we never give you any notes or ask you to redraw anything. Um, and I'm just curious, you don't have to name any names, but like, do these other big comic studios ever like, make you totally redraw things or do they micromanage your drawings?

Or like, how does, is, is there a difference between working with Magic Machine and working with a big name comic publisher? Um,

Cult member: honest, my experience isn't too much different. Uh, I don't, I've never really gotten very many notes from my publishers before. Um, and usually it's, you know, like usually it's stuff I agree with or it'll be stuff that'll be like, you know, company policy or whatever.

It's like, like, uh, uh, I and also some, like, there's been. I don't know, like one [00:53:00] time that springs to mind is, uh, that's kind of funny. There's an, there's an issue of Deadpool that I was drawing where, um, Deadpool is he like kidnaps someone's family to kind of use them as bait to catch a bad guy or, or maybe the bad guy cut.

I don't know. I wanted to say it was Deadpool to kidnap them, but maybe the guy was using the family as bait to catch Deadpool. I don't know. But, um, I just thought it was such a ridiculous situation that, and I was just kind of thinking, you know, in the character's point of view, this is the worst day of their life.

They just got kidnapped. They don't know if they're gonna die. There's this lunatic a mask who's like tied them up. And so I have, you know, so I have like, they're like bound and gagged with tears coming down there.

Elf: Oh no. Some somebody bound and gagged Riley.

He's, he is cutting off at the most perfect times today. I don't know.

Dotta: I

Elf: [00:54:00] don't know what. There we go. We got you. Am I here? Oh, yep. There you go. Right here. Okay. Yep.

Cult member: Sorry. Uh,

Elf: we heard bound and gagged. Yeah, well, so

Cult member: yeah, so the character, they're bound and gagged, but you see their eyes and they're like, tears are coming out.

And the editor was like, can you just erase the tears? It makes it too sad. And yeah. Um, like she's like, it's

Dotta: funny

Cult member: if they're just tied up. It's sad if they're crying. And, um, so those are the type of notes that I'd get. There's another time in a Hercules series where like he's in bed with some woman and you know, he's just like, after a night of, you know, I'm sure the bow and, uh, being a, a gentleman as Hercules is known to be waking up.

Or covering him up to, you know, his waist or whatever, and the editor asked for like, like, can you make the covers up a little higher? Just because, you know, it's like, this is the main character. I don't want it to be too, I'm like, okay, that, [00:55:00] you know, so like minor things like that. Um, but nothing, nothing ri I, you know, nothing too major.

So I can tell you that I'll never ask you, but can't ask that. Cause I've definitely heard of other guys that have had. To redo significant amounts of work, so,

Elf: right. Yeah. I'll, I'll never ask you. Erase my go out again. God damnit, or, oh, I guess he can't hear me. Oh, we can hear you

Dotta: just fine. Okay,

Cult member: good. You

Elf: just being quiet.

Yeah, yeah.

Dotta: But maybe you can't hear me. No, you maybe just can't hear El Sometimes spaces will do this. Like you can hear one person but not the other. So Elf was talking, we all heard you, what you were saying. Oh, okay. Sorry. You're great. He was saying, elf was saying he would never ask you to erase tears from a character because he has no soul.

Yeah. And he, he was also then going to say he would never ask you to pull the sheets up, but pull them down.

Elf: Right? Yeah. Yeah. That is exactly what I was gonna do. Three is gonna get real weird then. Yeah, [00:56:00] please. My kids

Dotta: are gonna read this comic. Your kids are about to become

Elf: adults. Yeah.

Dotta: Something Riley, something that we haven't even really spoken about is, uh, sort of all the stuff that I've been working on. Um, and so I sh we should catch, we should catch up this week and I'll, and I'll bring you up to speed. I know, you know a little bit, but, um, the, you know, we've been talking to the cold about making sure that all this amazing work that you're doing gets to see Delighted day and the biggest and best way.

So, um, you know, it's gonna be, it's gonna be very exciting and they'll be anywhere and everywhere. Uh, and so Great. We're, we're excited. Awesome.

Cult member: Awesome. I'm psyched about that.

Elf: Yeah. Um, okay. We only have like five minutes left. Um, Riley, thank you so much for coming. You're, you're welcome back anytime. Um, but yeah.

Thank you.

Dotta: [00:57:00] It's been so great. Thanks, Riley. He might not have heard you. It's been so good to have you. Please feel free to come back anytime.

Elf: Oh yeah. My pleasure guys. Thanks so much. Yeah, uh, incredible.

Dotta: I, again, I I just love your work so much, and I just like cry with happiness every time we see stuff you turn in, so

Elf: thank you.

Oh,

Cult member: thanks so much. Thanks so much, man. Thanks. Yeah. Um, and so is this, are we wrapping up now? Should I, we

Elf: have, we have

Dotta: some lore, uh, by everyone's favorite storyteller, Sharon. She is come up on stage, and so you're free to stay up on stage and, um, and as, uh, Sharon reads her lore well, uh, just real quick,

Cult member: uh, before I go or before Sharon takes over, um, I can I, if you don't mind, can I just plug my podcast that I do?

Please, please, of course. Every week I've got the Hypothetical Island podcast. It's me, my buddy George O'Connor, who's another comic book artist, and we, um, we interview other comics creators and [00:58:00] animators and toy designers and cool creative people that do pop culture stuff. So, um, yeah, give a, give a check it out when you can.

It's a lot of fun and it's very silly, very, you know, uh, we ask a lot of stupid questions. It's definitely questions people don't usually hear, which, uh, makes it fun. So, but yeah, medical Island,

Dotta: check it out. I just shared, uh, I just shared the account and the link up here in the space so that way people can, uh, uh, find it and follow.

Elf: Amazing.

Cult member: Awesome. Awesome. Well thanks a lot guys. Uh, thanks Riley. Thanks Riley. Thanks for jumping on, man.

Elf: Uh, Sharon. Hello?

Cult member: Hello. Can you hear me?

Dotta: We

Elf: sure

Dotta: can. Do you have.

Sharon: Today I'm going to read you my ru verse story. Um, from the fall, all hellos Eve, the flames of the camp fire crackled. As [00:59:00] the girls watched the sparks float up in the air, GIA pulled her hoodie back and asked, mom, how about a story near God as eyes sparkled as she sat up? Sure. Which one do you wanna hear?

Setting her snacks down. Gia. Ask. I like any story about Warrior Kathleen. Good choice. Reply Nagata. It's a perfect autumn night to talk about a legend. Hmm, let me think which one. NGA glanced up at the sky, closed her eyes for a moment and touched thero of air she was wearing, letting it go. Her hands began to act like they were holding a large ball while she recited into the wind.

Legends of old legends of new appear [01:00:00] before us now so we can view a large sphere appeared and floated up from her hands inside of it swirled different colors. Warrior Kathleen commanded Nagata and the sphere turned into pictures of the warrior. In unison, the friends of Gia blurted out. Wow. Gia smiled as she softly shook her head no.

While placing her pointer finger over her lips, the girl smiled and nodded back knowingly taking a deep breath and letting it out. Slowly, Nagata said, all hellos Eve battle, the sphere changed into a picture of a dark purple beast flying through the woods. It looked right at the girls, stuck out its tongue and [01:01:00] screech.

The friends huddled together. Nana continued. One night each year, evil things emerged from the darkness in Rome. Deep in the Emerald Forest, a beast flew into the unfamiliar woods. It perched on the branch of a hundred year oak tree. Gradually turning its head and searched warrior. Kathleen had been on guard all night when she spied him, his haunting eyes, large wings, and the blue horns on top of his head gave away.

He was the nightmare mp, legendary for his use of blood magic and black magic. Kathleen took her sword and pushed it into the dirt while she reached for thero of the earth, she mouse some words, barely making a sound. [01:02:00] My oath is my promise to protect and guard those who are good. I'll keep safe from harm.

Releasing the room. She pulled up the sword and slowly made her way from tree to tree until she was a short distance from the beast. The backside of a large willow tree kept her hidden. She waned, hoping for the right moment to attack. It wasn't long before they both heard noises off in the distance.

Kathleen charged around the tree. Both of her arms swung the sword as she attempted to stab the MP in the stomach. The sword bounced off as the MP flashed at her. Kathleen ducked but one of the beast's gigantic wings smacked her. Her body hit the willow and the world went dark. The scream of the emp [01:03:00] and the smell of decay jarred Kathleen back into reality.

But her eyes stayed shut. The beast landed and rolled the warrior over. He opened his mouth and bent down a long tongue, came out and licked her cheek. Kathleen remained still. The IMP leaned back and hissed I could snap you and be done Under her cloak, Kathleen tightened the grip on her sword. A stream of blood trickled down her arm over bruises and through clumps of dirt.

It joined a larger cut at her wrist from above. A branch crackled. As a speckled falcon drove straight at the EMP's head, the nightmare. Imp looked up and Kathleen led out her own battle. Cry. The beast turned [01:04:00] his head as her blade with its tip glowing hot cut, open the skin under his eye. Black blood trickled down the EMP's face as he let out a piercing roar.

He grabbed her by the throat with his left arm, and together they lifted into the air his purple claws slash slashed across her torso, and he dropped her. Kathleen plummeted motionless to the forest floor. The M flew down and stood on all fours over her. Yet because she was so much smaller than him, they were still so feet apart.

His face grimaced when he saw her clothes had no sign of being ripped. Kathleen's chest rose slightly and her lips parted. Not dead yet. You are a [01:05:00] tough one. Several black splatters fell onto the swollen and bloody face. The emp smirked as he watched drop of his black blood bubble as it disappeared into a gash on her forehead, closing his own purple, glowing eyes for a moment while his own bleeding wound sizzled and grew new skin.

Looking back, the MP noticed or innately carved beads braided into her autumn hair. He licked his lips and bent forward, he sniffed and got a heavy, earthy smell like the moss that grows on the dark side of trees. Who are you? You are not a wizard yet. You have magical things. You fight like a warrior who has fought many battles.

[01:06:00] Yet you are young. How did you know to attack my eyes? Forrest girl. He hissed. Thero on her necklace, caught his attention, peeking it with a talon. He tried to snap it off. The heavy cord wouldn't break. The em took his teeth and tried to bite it, but the razor sharp canines didn't even leave a mark. His hand reached towards her throat as the falcon screamed from above.

The beast looked up and noticed the first rays of sunlight. Were about to break the horizon, putting his head down by her face. The MP snarled. We are not finished her little one. They call me the nightmare. M for a reason. My blood is now in your blood. We are [01:07:00] connected. I will be in your dreams every night.

His wings started to beat and he lifted up as he let out a wicked laugh. See you tonight.

A soft moan released from Kathleen's mouth. In her subconsciousness, she replied, you wish I would break that easily. I have endured more pain than you know. I am a survivor. You don't scare me and I am not afraid to die. I am strong. I am proud. You had better learn my name. You would better protect those eyes.

The corners of her mouth rose up while her beaten body was still. Her Falcon named Finn swooped down and landed next to her. Finn dug one [01:08:00] foot into the forest floor, and with the other grabbed herro of Earth. Her trusted companion called Call,

Dotta: call,

Sharon: call. Several women showed up each with the same tattoo on their arm.

They quickly tended to Kathleen their warrior and protector of the Woodlands. Narta drop dropped her hands, bent her head down, and was quiet. Wow, mom. That was the best story. When I grow up, I wanna be like Kathleen Nagata face glowed as she replied. Who says, you aren't already my sweet daughter. You are strong, proud, and loyal.

And that's it. I wanna say a very special thank you to Merlin [01:09:00] realize in Ando for allowing me to use the Nightmare Amp Beast number six, and another special thank you to Panko for his help with my original story. Thank you everyone. Sharon.

Elf: Thank that was amazing.

Dotta: Gosh. Yeah,

Elf: it uh, man, that just made me love the Nightmare m character I, the, the lore you added where if his blood gets into yours, then he's like, now he can control your nightmares.

That's so cool. Yeah. Thank you. And, and then the way he worked your own warrior into it, when he, like, he didn't realize that she was a warrior. He thought she was a wizard, and she just subverted his expectations. And then you worked the falcon into it. Like you, like that whole story was just a rollercoaster.

I loved it. Thank you. Um, Sharon, I have actually something really funny to tell you. [01:10:00] So, uh, as you know, uh, the one who rings was on our team, uh, we've been having him experiment a lot with ai and, uh, one of the AI things that he has been doing is like, uh, synthesizing different people's voices. So he very easily synthesized Rogan's voice.

He easily synthesized my voice. Yep. The, the AI tried to synthesize your voice, and in my opinion, it failed. Oh. Which means

Sharon: he's got some growing

Elf: to do. Yeah. It means you are like AI proof. You are a genuine human being that the robots cannot master yet. So,

Sharon: That's

Dotta: plenty.

Elf: Um, just well done. So good. Thank you. Thank you. Yeah, thank you. Um, yeah, I, I, I know we're over time, but I [01:11:00] wanna go over actually some really great cult content that I've seen this week. Um, and, uh, I, you know, the first thing I wanna acknowledge is, uh, cast Amir. I saw something from Cast Amir just today that I don't know if it's new or old, but damn, it's badass.

It's this image of me and Bear Snake in an alley. Um, bear, you know the one I'm talking about?

Dotta: I love it so much.

Elf: How freaking cool do we look in this image?

Dotta: Cooler than in real life. I'll tell you that. It's

Elf: true. And, and, and speaking of cooler than in real life, you're wearing the, uh, forgotten Rooms jacket.

And in this version it actually looks really cool.

Dotta: I don't see, I don't see the actual image on cast's seed. Maybe it's just a

Elf: reply. Um, yeah, you can find it. I'll find it. Another really awesome piece is, uh, meat Prisoner drew a really great [01:12:00] illustration, um, meat prisoner. I want to see more work from you. Your drawings are so damn good, and we bear, we don't get enough of your work.

Um, but this latest piece is great. I love the Little frog that's, that's in the bottom center of the page, so damn good. Um, We also, uh, I'm pulling this all from the Cult Chronicle, by the way, from Tony Del Rio, which thank you Tanya so

Dotta: much. Thank you for putting this together. It's, I look forward to it every week, uh, and it's really amazing.

Elf: It's the best. Umm, Maui at Wda has it. This is, um, just a nice compilation of the work that she's done in the past six months. Uh, just an amazing character designer of wizards and warriors, both, uh, love Maui's work. Um, and then, uh, dirt Bag. Lou, uh, has this really awesome gif. Uh, rich Witch Rowena of the Wild.

[01:13:00] Um, just a really amazing, beautiful, complex gift that just has a ton of scenes in it. Um, night Al Birdman made the thing that probably made me laugh the most this week. Um, just a ridiculous image of, of his 3D wizard casting an invisible fireball, and, uh, making a bunch of women on a trampoline, uh, just fall down.

Uh, my description of it is terrible. You just have to see it in action. Uh, black Sand, uh, is continuing with massive world building and lower expansion. Um, you, you've gotta see the Black Sands webpage. Just go to the Black Sand, uh, Twitter account to see what they've been building. But, you know, black Sand is more than just just pony races.

Black Sand is an entire city and. An entire culture unto itself. Um, so definitely go check that out. Um, and then speaking of [01:14:00] Tonya Del Rio, uh, not only is she doing the Cult Chronicle, uh, the Candace Coven is just an amazing project that, uh, uh, every week I see a little bit more work come out of, and she recently did this fantastic character design, uh, the Artificer Angus of the Mount, uh, a super handsome young wizard if we ever saw one.

Um, uh, and then was, uh, speaking all what I love about,

Dotta: what I love about Artificer, Angus of the Mount is that he's like leaning up against the gate to the seventh

Elf: row, which is just incredible. So fun. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like she took the original art and then like put it on perspective and reed it and yeah, it's just fantastic.

Um, was actually, uh, speaking of AI has been doing these really cool, uh, AI renditions of the Secret Tower. Um, and there's one of them in the Cult Chronicle, but was, I think my favorite one I've seen you do is it looks like an old, um, like [01:15:00] Renaissance painting. Uh, it, it actually looks like a, like Rembrandt painted the secret tower.

It's, it's one of my favorite versions I've seen. I don't know if it's, um, public, but you should definitely share that one. Um, another piece of favorite, one of my f piece, one of my favorite pieces of cult content this week is from Why is Sam This? I don't even know what it is, but it's this hilarious little pixel animation of the Why Sam Wizard Racing the Emma Wizard.

Um, it's hilarious. I think the why Sam

Dotta: has animated a good amount of like, I don't know if these are like Pokemon Game Boy, I don't know. I don't know my Game Boys or my Pokemon games, but I think that he's done quite a few of the wizards in this style, and I would like to see more of that.

Elf: Yes, this definitely has a Pokemon vibe to it.

I'm guessing that's what it is. Um, but yeah, it's, it's so freaking cute. It's just like ridiculous. We need to see all the wizards in this style now. Yeah. [01:16:00] So get on that. Why Sam? Yeah. Yeah. And then, uh, die, die, uh, did a really fun piece, um, and amage to the resurrected Wizard Oberon, uh, who returned from the quantum shadow, A super fun piece.

Um, Daniela Ra, uh, has, has another really great illustration of, uh, of a, of a warrior, a mushroom warrior, stewy hero of the wood. Um, and then there's just tons of fun memes from the Hall of Cats. I don't even know what to say about 'em. It's Hall of Cats. Um, but yeah. Excellent cult content this week. Um, and I think that's all I've got.

Uh, oh, let's see. We've got a question from, uh, Tupac Shock. It looks like we've got a goblin. Um, Tupac. I'm gonna bring you up. Uh, what We love the goblins [01:17:00] Tupac Shock. Hello.

Dotta: Connecting

Elf: Tupac. Hello.

Dotta: Connect. It says Connecting. Oh, darn. Well, guess that's not gonna work out. Yeah, I

Elf: really wanted to hear your question.

Dotta: Ellp. It's two, it's three

Elf: 15. Oh, you, you gotta go pee pee bear. Is that the problem? Listen.

Okay. All right, well then if that's the case, um, we'll let Bear go peepee and, uh, this has

Dotta: been bear Sharon, Riley Brown

Elf: there, there he,

uh, channeling out from the quantum [01:18:00] downs and everybody.

Cult member: What does that,

Dotta: here we,

here, we're

here, we.[01:19:00]