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, and fourth episodes!
Opening the fifth episode with a recap, Aabria retells the creation story the stoats of Last Bast shared in the previous show. Monsters come from the shadows. The stoats of Last Bast believe they can destroy the monsters (i.e. humans) in order to save their kind.
Our players split up. Trusted with the children, Thorn Vale searches for information on the Blue while Viola, Tula, and Ava explore the particulars of Last Bast. There’s a clear occupational specialization with stoats being divided between their task groups. Tula correctly surmises that nobody fully knows everyone in the group and would therefore be incapable of identifying an outsider if appropriately marked as belonging to Last Bast.
Much of what the stoats in Last Bast use comes from the human who originally created the place with Aabria sneaking in “human remains” as a supply source without fully touching on it. Whether this simply a morbid description of how they use what remains of the humans or a hint at something darker isn’t revealed.
The group receives its own sashes and accommodation. With extra sashes, Viola has the potential to finally get that hat she always wanted, but while she’s concerned about fashion, Tula panics her son will be put into Defense, leading to him being sacrificed. When Sybil arrives after hearing them, Tula and Viola immediately work her over together with their mother to get a bigger scoop on Last Bast.
Most new people go into Resource Allocation, Sybil’s job. Tula quickly gets a read something is wrong. Seeing Sybil’s emotional distress, Tula carefully working to bond while reaching out to Viola to back her up. The sisters continue to be a wonderful duo, tag-teaming like a dream.
Last Bast traditionally removes the name of the dead, pushing people to purposefully forget and dehumanize them to make the mourning process easier. Distancing themselves from death and looking at the multitude, they lean into the collective. When Viola shares about her father’s death, Sybil asks if Ava remembers a time before names. Ava confirms she recalls a time when relations came first, and Sybil admits the one who died was her brother. She breaks down, and they immediately hug her. After a touching moment, Tula asks about any dangers, and Sybil offers to show them something.
Thorn Vale takes advantage of Lila’s ability to read, assigning Jaysohn to explore the lay of the land. While reading signs, Lila discovers Last Bast was originally the Warren Peace Power Station. This more science fiction, radioactive superpower twist shifts more toward an accidental (or perhaps on purpose) Rats of NIMH lean. Considering the fallout and strange mutated creatures, a nuclear event would explain the leap in evolution within a few decades as well as the HAZMAT suits.
They discover the young stoats have school. Thorn Vale brings the children there after breaking up a fight between the two with Ellen, a gossiping stoat who is eager to learn any information about the new group as well as sharing bits about those within Last Bast.
In class from the teacher Simon, Lila confirms the light and nuclear power are one and the same. As his sister memorizes a map she finds, Jaysohn immediately challenges authority, managing to intimidate his way out. The two recruit Lukas.
Unfortunately, Lukas’s participation in the group is short-lived.
Thorn Vale then goes with the kids to the lab where they meet up with Sybil and the rest of the group. Lila wants to explore it, but Tula warns the lab is dangerous. The secrets around the lab makes Sybil distrust it. Technology works in the lab, such as Lukas’s mother. Sybil also shares that Last Bast doesn’t talk about their weapons, despite other groups using that technology.
Despite Tula’s reservations, the group sneak into the lab. Sybil brings them to a tape recorder. A human recording plays. Some disaster occurred at the nuclear power plant, but the recording suggests it wasn’t the stoats at Last Bast who chased them away but the fallout. Tula and Viola conclude that the monsters understand the Blue/Light better than them.
Highlights
Erika is an absolute agent of chaos. While they’re generally a wild ride, Erika went full on senile grandmother. Ava immediately implied pathogens, balancing on embarrassing her daughters while also hinting at doting by suggesting supplies that they would need, but the manner in which she did it left her daughters flustered.
The already high tension between Olliver and Teedles versus the core familial group seems to have clearly splintered. Tula offers Olliver a sash, but he already has one, and Teedles confirms discomfort with living with Ava and organizes separate housing for her and Olliver. With them no longer close by, odds are pretty good that they’ll end up turned against Thorn Vale if Last Bast ends up as an enemy.
Final Score (5 out of 5 Stars)
Brennan puts on a magnificent performance. Tula’s grief and frustration absolutely devastates. Compared with the curiosity Thorn Vale has toward the Blue and the dismissiveness of others in the group, Tula holds onto fear. It’s been a constant throughout the series, and the emotional chaos Erika honed in the beginning of the episode comes to a head in a wonderful multigenerational catharsis.
With each new episode, Aabria weaves a fantastic story, introducing creative characters and bringing out the best in her players. They end on a startling revelation. Though we aren’t given a specific, Tula has a secret, and Lila doesn’t know what it is, but she realizes it is there. Whatever it is, the teaser at the end of the episode suggests the dangers of curiosity will come back to haunt the group.
Nuclear fallout, radiation mutations, and dangerous secrets abound. What will come next? Will Olliver and Teedles turn on Thorn Vale? 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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The Boss Rush Podcast – The Boss Rush Podcast is the flagship podcast of Boss Rush Media and the Boss Rush Network. Each week, Corey, Stephanie, LeRon, and their friends from around the internet come together with other creators, developers, and industry veterans to talk about games they’ve been playing, discuss video game and entertainment based topics, and answer questions solicited on social media and the community Discord.
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