Ah, where were we? Yes, the never-ending forest and the suspicious woman in the cabin. The group finds itself still stuck in this loop and getting very frustrated by the process. Galahad now approaches the cabin with The Turk in tow and has a heated conversation with a perplexed woman named Mal, whom the group attempts to explain that she has met before. She tells the group that they are more than welcome inside, and she can make them some tea, which has a mix of reactions and responses. The Turk, having gone inside and taken note of the inside of the cabin, notices some books that catch his eye and feel out of place. While he can’t make heads or tails of it, he offers the information up to the group in the hopes that one of them can. The rogues attempt to put their heads together using their insights and eye for detail to see if they can see something that is being hidden in plain sight. Lo and behold, it’s Galahad who figures out that the books contain a shift cipher, and it’s with that bit of information that the group manages to connect the dots that they are in the Endless Maze. There is concern and a lot of plans being made to escape the maze, with Zechs trying to follow Duo and eventually using Speak with Plants to talk to the nearby trees, Arguile inspecting the cabin further, and Galahad doing a fly around with Duo to see if he can find and go through the path that Duo did. After which, Bahamut informs his champion that the only way out is through. It took some time to assess the meaning, as every conceivable plan was being made to circumvent the maze entirely. It was when they took a second to stop and take the words literally that they finally did make their way through. Eventually, they find their way out, seeing the cabin deteriorate as they came across it one last time, and they continued on their way. We end with dinner and evening watches as Zechs and Shanks speak to a seemingly frustrated Arguile and try to get him to open up on what’s been bothering him. After some words of wisdom from the Elven archer and some whiskey provided by Zechs, the three shared a laugh and were able to finally feel a bit more at ease with the given situation.

There's so much happening, and that's where we pick up…

Find out what happens next in this episode of the Medusa’s Cascade: Collateral Damage!

Theme Music is written and performed by Efflorescence

Mixed by Thomas Lapierre III

Check out the show at themedusascascade.com