TV REVIEW: Burrow’s End Episode 6 – Reactor Charlie

Title: Burrow’s End
GM: Aabria Iyengar
Players: Brennan Lee Mulligan (he/him) as Tula (she/her), Isabella ‘Izzy’ Roland (she/her) as Lila (she/her), Erika Ishii (she/him/all) as Ava (she/her), Siobhan Thompson (she/her) as Jaysohn (he/him), Rashawn Nadine Scott (she/her) as Viola (she/her), and Jasper William Cartwright (he/him) as Thorn Vale (he/him)
Streaming Service: Dropout

If you missed it, catch our reviews of the first, second, third, fourth, and fifth episodes!

We return to Last Bast and our group of players, who recently heard the tapes about the disaster which led the humans to leave nuclear power plant. Due to the constant light, Viola makes sleep masks from the extra sashes to help prevent their circadian rhythms from being affected.

^{Erika as Ava (Image Credit: Dimension 20)}

Ava wakes Thorn. She instructs him to keep watch as she goes to see the trucks Sybil described. Finding road markers, Ava follows them, coming across Bennett as well as Pip, Carter, and a foreboding looking stoat of unusual size who reveals themselves to be one of the First Stoats.

Ava’s conversation with Kiran utterly devolves, beginning with interest on the First Stoat’s part before tumbling toward a condescending amusement.

^{The Director (Image Credit: Dimension 20)}

Viola and Thorn explore Last Bast, learning that the place is a fallback. There is no way to evacuate cleanly. Last Bast is a place for a last stand. Last Bast’s permanency underlines the cultural perspective. Abandoning it isn’t an option. The majority of stoats within have little interest in going outside unless absolutely necessary.

Lining up for food, Tula meets Meredith, Lukas’s mother, and the two immediately strike up an understanding as mothers. As Tula tries to protect her children, Jaysohn and Lila dive onto the lab of secrets with Lila implying Lukas was responsible for suggesting there were secrets there. Meredith’s attitude shifts.

Lila gave up all the secrets. While she doesn’t outrightly implicate Sybil, the fact that she lets Curtis’s name slips in addition to revealing they know there are secrets regarding Technology. Tula worked so hard to create a comforting environment for Sybil in the aftermath of her brother’s death, and Lila’s curiosity completely ruins that.

^{Brennan Lee Mulligan, Siobhan Thompson, and Rashawn Nadine Scott (Image Credit: Dimension 20)}

Brennan works so hard to redirect Meredith’s suspicion, but the dice do not agree. Meredith puts them under observation secretly. Luckily, Jaysohn catches it, but tensions are high.

Thorn Vale notices a scent, marking them to be tracked. Population Support uses the scent to indicate people to keep an eye on. Lila and Jaysohn consult Sybil, seeking her reassurance as well as instruction. After cleaning up, the group decides to seek the reactor.

Some amazing rolls got us to Reactor Charlie without an issue; however, a stoat with a lightning gun awaits them. A rush attack hurts Viola. Jaysohn quickly leaps to his aunt’s aid. Lila follows, helping her brother before retreating. Faced with her children in danger and her pregnant sister hurt, Tula panic attacks, tearing out his throat.

_{Reactor Charlie (Image Credit: Dimension 20)}

Tula destroys the gun after Jaysohn shocks himself and as they move further into the reactor, they realize they’re standing on unstable ground. Their magic pulsates in the flaring pool. As they shift around the stones, they uncover skulls, including a wolf’s and a human’s.

^{Human skull within the reactor water (Image Credit: Dimension 20)}

When the core of the reactor tempts Lila and Jaysohn to their deaths, Tula manages to catch her daughter, leaving Thorn Vale to make a desperate save of Jaysohn after Ava fails to catch him. With that, Thorn Vale finally receives Ava’s approval.

Highlights

Any distrust toward Last Bast’s long-lived leaders spiked to an all new high after meeting Kiran. Between their size and their unusual teeth, Kiran would’ve stuck out as suspicious even without the rather demented figure in their character art. Whether their mutations have some human inspiration to them or are the result of nuclear fallout, there’s something not quite right about them.

Final Score (4 out of 5 Stars)

Izzy dug a hole this episode. Everything she said in front of Meredith drew unwanted attention down on them, and afterward, she sends a message to Sybil, throwing attention her way. Considering her character is a precocious child, her actions are well within the norm; however, that doesn’t mean each one wasn’t frustrating to watch.

The danger level jumped, and the rolls leaned toward extremes, making tensions spike only to fizzle. Rashawn and Brennan continued to be a dream sibling team for good while Siobhan and Izzy fell into destructive chaos, but it was Jasper’s exasperated Thorn Vale who pulled the two together this episode.

^{Thorn Vale is done with Jaysohn (Image Credit: Dimension 20)}

Did you have a favorite moment? Is there a scene who think deserved more attention? Let us know what you think in the comments below or go over to our Discord channel to join the conversation.

Featured Image: Dimension 20

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