Update: Heading to Mid-Season Break A Little Early

Hey, amazing people,

As you know (if you're keeping count), we were due to have one more episode of The Silt Verses released (3.8) today and tomorrow before our mid-season break, which we’d already pushed back by a week.

We've gone back and forth on the topic, but after a lot of discussion, we’ve decided to shelve that episode for the time being and begin our break now, one episode early, picking up again on January 11th 2024.

We really hate to cause disappointment and further disrupt our schedule, and we always want to be able to showcase our cast’s amazing work on time exactly as it deserves, but we’re running on empty right now and have been for a while.

Realistically, we need to take the pressure off ourselves for a few weeks so we can get out some of our planned Patreon content, focus on fully preparing for the end of the season and see the show off right without burning out. (And have a Christmas break and recharge our own batteries as well!)

3.8 was a particularly ambitious episode structurally, and while it's technically complete and we’ve been working on it right down to the wire today to try and get it right, we’re ultimately just not happy enough with the results and confident enough in the flow of the story to release it in its current state (we’re talking about the writing and production, to be clear - the acting is, as always, frigging fantastic).

So we’ll continue quietly working on the episode during the break along with everything else, and either we’ll slip it seamlessly into the feed in early January or - if we just can’t get it to click to our satisfaction - we’ll shift any narratively-required scenes into the rest of the second half of the season, and release any remaining bits separately for free on our Patreon for anyone who’s interested in hearing them.

We hope you understand our reasoning and as always, we’re incredibly grateful to you for listening to and supporting the show - we’re really proud of the seven episodes so far and our main priority is ensuring that we’re releasing a final season that you all really enjoy.

If you have any questions, of course just let us know.

You can find a summary of everything that appears in the episode below in case you’re curious in the meantime (spoilers, of course) - we’ll be creating more stuff for you folks in the coming weeks, but if we don’t speak to you before, have an amazing holiday break and a hugely heartfelt thank you for your support as always.

J&M

3.8 Summary: 'And Even The Kings In Their Bowers Of Iron'

After waking to find that her god has recklessly walked her out into the wilderness in her sleep to find fresh prey, Paige resolves to become a better leader to the Children of the Woundtree. 

She makes an effort at peace with Elgin over a fresh coffee and explains her intention to quit alcohol. Elgin informs Paige that there’s been a Linger Straits strike on a power plant in Fenton, wiping out most of the town; as a result, the entire Peninsulan electrical grid is struggling to cope.

We encounter a small team of blue-collar workers on the National Grid - their chief, Webb, his subordinate, Silverwood, and Moss, a young radical. Webb attempts to keep order over his team, planning a rolling blackout across the Peninsula to handle the deficit. Moss, however, informs the team that the Fenton plant was not hit by a CLS airstrike at all, but by a Woundtree disciple who was being sacrificed to keep up with increasing demand. The team ask for reassurance that none of them will be hallowed, which Webb gives.

We hear a series of phone calls across the struggling national grid - as ordinary citizens share conspiracy theories about the war, attempt to find out about the safety of loved ones, and share their fears about the direction of the war.

In Glottage, a disillusioned Shrue receives a call from Katabasian Greve about the stalled negotiations over the legalisation of the Parish of Tide and Flesh; Greve offers up the lives of Faulkner and the hundreds of disciples at the Paraclete's Gulch as an incentive.

Shrue passes this message on to Press Secretary Carson, who agrees on the spot - while trying to hide the fact that he's still urgently trying, and failing, to stay in contact with Val.

Over the channel, Val ignores Carson's attempts at contact, and continues her advance towards Nesh.

At the National Grid, Webb is informed by his superiors that there will be no blackout in Glottage or the Saint's factories, and that teams will be expected to make sacrifices to the Saint Electric instead to make up the deficit. Webb struggles with the idea of offering up Moss - but ultimately decides to stand with his co-workers.

The team barricade the doors and begin to sabotage the Grid in protest, bringing about an instant blackout across the Peninsula. 

Led by outraged and angry citizens, protests begin to gather in the darkened streets of Glottage - which rapidly turns into a riot. Carson demands that the Saint's people fix the problem.

At the National Grid, a team storms the building, meeting with heavy resistance from the workers - who are ultimately driven back.

Moss and Silverwood flee into the woods with a fatally injured Webb - to their shock and triumph, they realise that the pylon-angels have broken hungrily free from their moorings and are stalking across the land in search of victims.

Finally, sharing a beer by the final approach to Glottage, Carpenter and Hayward notice the lack of city lights ahead of them, and wonder what could have caused it.