Bonfireside Chat 238: Nokstella, Eternal City
Added 2022-12-04 17:36:09 +0000 UTCThis week we resume Ranni's path, heading through Renna's Rise and finding that she has turned herself into a much smaller doll. After we help her fashion an acorn into a house, we head our third and final Eternal City, Nokstella, on the hunt for the Baleful Shadow... A wolf-man assassin sent by the Two Fingers to halt Ranni's mutiny.
Comments
Did Ranni ditch Blaidd? I don’t remember that. I had always thought he became the way he was because Iji imprisoned him. Out of fear of him turning. But he actually turned because he thought Iji jailed him on Ranni’s behalf and felt betrayed. Creating the catch 22 cycles scenario
Jessie joy
2025-07-24 20:52:21 +0000 UTCAnyone know what happend to the episodes between bsc 214 and 238? Really love this series and i would like to listen to all of the episodes 😊
General Shimmy
2023-11-23 14:50:25 +0000 UTC"spike her into a blendjet." Ranni smoke. Don't breathe this.
M Kroupa
2022-12-13 15:57:36 +0000 UTCAnd his upset is far more understandable, as she not only left him, but literally sent a bunch of assassins to kill him. That sense of 'but why?' in him is really heartbreaking.
Lewis Shaw
2022-12-12 11:38:08 +0000 UTCIf I were the Nox propagandist I would definitely write “they became puppets of their own volition” into the official history, even if the experiments around my Nox Puppet MKULTRA used less than willing participants.
Violet Sweet
2022-12-09 19:50:48 +0000 UTCIji was murdered I thought. There are three Black Knives assassins corpses around him. I thought that he got stabbed to death in a 3+ to 1 battle with a hit squad and got set on fire. I read it as a standard vengeance killing. We can’t get Ranni anymore, but we’ll damn sure kill all the known associates we can get our hands on.
Conner Reid
2022-12-08 03:07:39 +0000 UTCI dont think they were saying particularly she was trying to be cute as the doll but she was in the moment to me and I think the boys on the pod. Its not about her intent there. Its a weird and fun/silly moment.
Drew
2022-12-07 23:43:08 +0000 UTCYes, exactly this.
Shaun Higgins
2022-12-07 21:48:53 +0000 UTCI feel like you folks interpret everything that Ranni says as the opposite of what she actually says. I believe she is telling the truth when she says she organised the Night of Black Knives and just like I believe she is being truthful here when she's basically telling the player to gtfo. I don't think she's joking or being cute at all.
Shaun Higgins
2022-12-07 21:22:54 +0000 UTCI never thought of Iji as being suicidal, more just like he acknowledged that he was now vestigial and his purpose was done, so come what may. As several people here pointed out, it’s pretty evident that he is killed in a fight with Black Knives. My question is: why? I’m not sure I get why the Black Knives are targeting Ranni’s people unless it’s just a thing where nobody wants Ranni to do what she is planning to do. Thanks for the show!
Ryan Bennett
2022-12-06 12:16:38 +0000 UTC(sorry if this has been said a few of the comments won't load) Regarding the moons, the black moon of Nokstella is said to be lost (Moon of Nokstella), which could mean its gone or destroyed. With the Memory Stones being described as fragments, I've leaned toward the black moon being destroyed, which would make it a separate moon from the Full Moon and Darkmoon. When you're up on Manus Celes, you can see both the Full Moon and the Darkmoon in the sky at the same time, which is very literally showing them as separate. So I think they are all different moons that use real-world phases of the moon as a distinction.
thelorehunter
2022-12-05 22:32:56 +0000 UTCSeconding this take and all of the similar ones that follow
TC Padgett
2022-12-05 21:39:10 +0000 UTCYeah I love spending my workday hanging out with Gary and Kole in the background. I've done four playthroughs of ER, so it's fun to get their insights and humor on the places and characters that have become so familiar.
Bryant Ross
2022-12-05 20:10:34 +0000 UTCYeah Baleful Shadow is a TOUGH fight. The best luck I've had is using any kind of fire.
Bryant Ross
2022-12-05 20:07:28 +0000 UTCThis was my take as well, really don’t understand the jealousy take personally. I take it that Blaidd was just such a boss that he managed to resist the pull of the Fingers to kill Ranni for so long. Eventually he succumbs to them overriding his will, all the while still trying to fight back the Fingers and maintain his loyalty to Ranni, but unable to help himself.
Lucas West
2022-12-05 18:04:28 +0000 UTCShout out to Kole unearthing my Animorphs memories. Thinking about the compulsion of the ant drone brain makes me wonder if Blaidd dealt with something similar as a servant of the greater will.
TC Padgett
2022-12-05 17:43:28 +0000 UTCSame, the same assassins whose bodies are around blaidd when he snaps
Artalam
2022-12-05 17:41:59 +0000 UTCCame here to say I saw Iji clearly killed by Assassins and he took several along with him.
Drew
2022-12-05 17:20:43 +0000 UTCJust wanted to say that I'm so happy you guys are still doing this podcast - I first found you guys about 3 years ago when I first got into the Dark Souls series (and I've now played them all). And I really enjoyed listening to all of your episodes! This is the first time I've played one of the Souls games in real time with your podcast and I love it! Keep up the amazing work!!
Kassie Jackson
2022-12-05 16:58:54 +0000 UTCyeah i had to cheese him with Hoarfrost Stomp lol. conversely my LEAST favorite moment of Rannis quest
sleepysmiles
2022-12-05 16:26:25 +0000 UTCKole, as a fellow midwesterner born in the late 1980s, thank you for that Animorphs reference.
David
2022-12-05 15:05:17 +0000 UTCAlso, what happened with Miq' and Malenia's "Shadows"? If the Two Fingers declared them Empyreans, that means they were around (as in, tied to) with the Golden Order long enough to have received some Shadows themselves.
Robert Phanelson
2022-12-05 14:43:29 +0000 UTCSo... Iji is killed by Black Knife assassins and Blaidd is attacked by them but kills them. It is believed that Ranni sent the BKAs to "tie up loose ends". As in, her earthly legacy before ascension. This action, to me, is why Blaidd is upset. Much like Malekith and Marika, Blaidd is upset that YOU helped her divert her path where he cannot follow (due to being a servant/creation of the Greater WIll via the Two Fingers), while feeling betrayed by her for leaving him. Much like Malekith. I think there are way more Marika/Malekith/Hewg/Godfrey parallels to Ranni/Blaidd/Iji/"Player Character" than people realize...
Robert Phanelson
2022-12-05 14:34:05 +0000 UTCI had so much trouble with Baleful Shadow. Tried over and over, different loadouts. In the end just walked backwards in a circle and bated moves, then punished certain ones. Was painfully slow way of doing it.
Thomas Quillfeldt
2022-12-05 13:44:04 +0000 UTCthe bit where you have to pester Doll Ranni until she goes “OK FINE JEEZ, YES IT’S ME, ARE YOU HAPPY NOW??” is my favorite moment in her quest line and maybe just my favorite moment in a From game. definitely one of the funniest p.s. fuck that baleful shadow fr i hate that guy. me and my crew all hate that guy. hardest fight in the game p.p.s. yes “Umbrella” is still a bop
sleepysmiles
2022-12-05 04:01:05 +0000 UTCMaybe what you got here is a suicide by cop.
Drew Weing
2022-12-05 02:25:50 +0000 UTCI still think it's a little ambiguous? He says he's going to do it and he's useless, and I always took the bodies assassins he managed to fight off. But yeah, that is fair.
Duckfeed.tv
2022-12-05 01:53:02 +0000 UTCI also initially thought Iji committed suicide, but you can find several Black Knife assassin bodies in the road near him, and of course he's covered in black flame. There's also a couple bodies near Blaidd, although he must have gotten the upper hand. As for who's behind the assassins...?
Drew Weing
2022-12-05 00:01:46 +0000 UTCI don't think Blaidd is going mad because of jealousy, I believe he is under a compulsion to server the will of the Two Fingers and it is conflicting with his absolute loyalty to Ranni. Blaidd was raised alongside Ranni as a brother, with her his entire life as a loyal servant, friend, and confidant. When she breaks from the Two Fingers and her fate, he is then commanded to slay her by the Two fingers. Also yes, Blaidd will escape the Evergaol after being trapped there by Iji.
superkeaton
2022-12-04 23:26:06 +0000 UTC
