A28.
This is part of the #Dungeon23 challenge in which you make one room to a dungeon every day for a year. In an effort to link my memories to the creation, I am also writing a personal journal entry with each room that may or may not be related.
You don’t have to read that part.
A28.
The door to this room is locked. The key can be found on the Necromancer Zoltux’s person.
There are a change of robes, and an oil lantern hanging from the wall. They look contemporary and well taken care of.
This room looks like it may have served as another normal entrance centuries ago. However the eastern wall has been collapsed by earth and stone.
In the rock wall is a fissure that a person can slide into. The fissure eventually opens up into a tunnel 5 feet wide.
Following this long fissure takes you out of the caves and into a hidden entrance above ground in the forest. If you discovered Fencer Pleasant and escape with him this way, he will lead you further east to his farm. His family will be happy to see him and they’ll feed you all and provide lodging.
The Window
The northern window in this room looks out onto what was once a balcony, but has been crushed by earth. If you shine a light in that direction you’ll see a broken window 30ft away that leads to another part of the dungeon. One could theoretically use this to get to room 31, or as a place to hide from wandering undead.
Kinda nice until… you look at the Cthulean nightmare that is their hands.
1/28/23
Date Night
Last night was date night and it was my turn to program the double feature.
All of my blurays are packed up so I was was a little worried about what I was going to pick out. However, in the middle of the week, Vinegar Syndrome sent me a package that included some wild movies.
I decided to pick the worst sounding one, a Mexican film called… The Infernal Rapist, which was about a murderer who is brought back to life by Satan to continue wreaking havoc on the world.
I paired that movie with Larry Cohen’s God Told Me To, about people losing their minds and killing innocents - and then confessing that “god told them to.”
So… the Infernal Rapist was... pretty much what it said on the box. Sexual assault makes me terribly uncomfortable, but I will say that this movie is so laughably absurd and poorly crafted that Gail and I were able to make fun of it. It’s not like watching that fucking scene from Irreversible. If you don’t know, you’re lucky.
The movie was bonkers and stupid, and gross, but we got some laughs which was worth it.
Cohen’s God Told Me To was fucking awesome by the way. Cohen has made so many great movies, my favorite being The Stuff (1985) with Garrett Morris and Michael Moriarty.
God Told Me To might be right up there, though. The cast is absolutely incredible. Every person that popped up was a real talent. I think Gail and I both agreed that Sylvia Sidney absolutely stole the show with her scene. For those who may not know her name, she’s Juno in Beetlejuice, the lady who explains the afterlife to Geena Davis and Alec Baldwin. She’s done a lot of other stuff too, but that’s probably what my generation would recall first.
Anyway. She gets one scene and it’s like watching a pinch hitter crush a grand slam. Beautiful work. I highly recommend it for the acting, but the story is also pretty bananas. The reality behind these killings is so much crazier than just “god told me to.” Highly recommend.
Nope
Rewatched Jordan' Peele’s Nope, this time with my oldest son who had been asking about it for a few months. It’s still really good.
When it was over my son said “It was beautiful. There were things that weren’t explained that didn’t make me mad.” It’s like watching your kid level up in artistic awareness. We’re moving past family movies and superhero fare and into more murky narratives and expressions. I mean, Nope isn’t super complex or anything, but at least it asks questions without feeling a need to give answers.
I think we could all stop feeling like we need to give an answer, especially when we don’t know what the fuck we’re talking about.
Royal Rumble
And tonight we’re watching The Royal Rumble - because my youngest wants to. I haven’t watched a ton of WWE in the last few years, but the stuff with Sami Zayn and Roman Reigns has been the best wrestling story line I’ve seen in years. I’m rooting for Sami to win.
Years and years ago I watched Sami wrestle at a small show here in Chicago. My oldest son, who was maybe 6 at the time was with me and he was wearing a lucha libre mask and a cape. Sami, who at the time was wrestling as El Generico, came out, climbed into the audience and picked my kid up for everyone to see. It was like that opening scene from The Lion King. The whole room exploded, cheering for a little kid who loved pro wrestling (like his dad). Like any fandoms, wrestling fans can either be incredibly supportive or absolutely shits. Thankfully that night the shitty fans didn’t make it.
Anyway, I’ll never forget that moment, and I’ll always root for Sami Zayn.
See you tomorrow.
-jae
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