Spice World

Straight from the fight to a funeral. Things are more somber this week at Cave of Riches. We help the tribe placate the shade of Jamis, and learn he was a pretty popular guy. Stilgar directs the ceremony and takes us deep into the cave for the final rites. Mike and Derek find out first hand why this is Cave of "Riches". We're moved to silence but have to ask... -Where did Jamis keep that baliset?...

Set your glow globes to yellow because it's fight night at Cave of Riches! The Caladan Kid steps into the ring with the Angry Arrakeen. Mike and Derek got front row seats for this one. Jamis is determined to throw down, and won’t let Jessica or Stilgar deter him. The tension is thick but at the same time everyone gets caught up in the moment. Crysknives clash and the fight is on. We cheer Paul on...

We're not at sietch yet, but we set up camp at Cave of Riches with our new Fremen allies. Jessica and Stilgar take a sidebar to further negotiate her position in the tribe. Eavesdropping with the rest of the troop, we get the feeling Stilgar just wants to put up the doorseal. Then things get weird. Jessica gets everyone caught up in prayer and prophecy. We turn to Paul and... Paul how you doing bu...

With chakobsa and kung-fu Jessica takes control of a delicate situation. Mike and Derek brush up on their glossary game while a flurry of words are exchanged. Once Jessica orders Paul to climb down, it seems she's won us passage with the Fremen after all. Plans and expectations are shifting like the dunes. Before long Stilgar has us packing up and marching out single file. We take one look back at...

We witness the end of a great man today; Liet-Kynes. We have a toast to the fallen and reflect on the last manic ramblings of a once precise man. We also learn a few interesting facts that lead us down the proverbial worm hole. Join us as we talk about... Kynes' knowledge of the mysterious ecosystem on Dune, The origin and mystique behind the name Liet-Kynes, Derek reveals (almost) all about worms...

Run! Paul and Jessica make their way across the sands with shia-hulud right behind them. The desert throws everything it's got at them. We meet them across the drum sands. Huddling in the rocks we get up close...too close to a sand worm. Sitting in silence and awe, presumably refilling our water caches, we pray to the great mother. Something more interesting gets the worms attention thankfully. We...

Gurney Halleck, troubadour warrior and Mike's hero, has reached the smugglers. A new Tuek is running the show here and sets the terms for his asylum. Mike and Derek take Tuek up on his offer of wine and join them for the negotiation. Gurney's decision is made up when news of the Beast Rabban reaches his ears. We negotiate the finer details while we finish our glass...  Detective Gurney, ...

Our tired beaten thopter crash-lands deep in the southern desert. We run for our lives with Paul and Jessica as the biggest worm yet searches in vain for the thumper. From there the desert is our enemy this chapter. Mike and Derek almost lose it when they realize the wine was in the lost pack. They throw themselves into the sand digging wildly. Before they come across the pack, they dig up… Paul t...

Brushing the dust off our stillsuits we head back to civilization and check on the Baron. After he fully emasculates Nefud, we try to get into the Barons head while he's adjusting Piter's plan on the fly. Then we finally meet Mudir Nahya himself, Count Rabban of Lankiveil, and Mike rallies to his defense. We can't find any chairs, so we huddle in the corner with some very fine Geidi Prime wine. Be...

Say what you will about Duncan Idaho, but the man knows how to make an entrance. As the mushroom cloud in the distance dissipates, Kynes invites us in for spice coffee. Of course that coffee never comes. In all the chaos we make it through the labyrinth and to the ornithopter. Jumping into the back, we’re barely seated before Paul grabs the controls and gets us airborne. As the craft climbs into t...

Thufir Hawat has been busy. We catch up with the old mentat while he is talking to a fremen. No one is surprised when the fremen is never named, but we do something about it this time. They keep talking past each other, so we mingle with the remaining troopers. They’re passing around a little something from the Caladan Wine Cellar. We all end up eavesdropping on Thufir, but we also overhear... Spa...

Even camping on Arrakis is dangerous. We kick off book two buried in the tent with Paul and Jessica. They are adapting quickly to a life on the run. While Paul works to dig us out, we sit and listen to Jessica recall her dream. Drawing from our wine caches, and not thinking about how they refill, we interpret... Sphincter is always funny, Prescience Paradox, Wandering Zensunni, Then... wait, the G...

We're taking a trip back in time for the story of Ibrahim Holtzman in a special episode of Spice World: Between Two Dunes ! There are so many stories from the Encyclopedia we want to get to, but for one reason or another we cannot fit them in the normal show and must consign them to Shai-Hulud. With Between Two Dunes (B2D) we can give those stories the spotlight they need. This week we trace the t...

Terrible Purpose rears its ugly head in the final chapter of book one. Paul’s abilities are taken to the next level, and we get our first taste of full on prescience. All the while, Mike and Derek sit with the Lady Jessica in terrified awe. Paul starts telling us about the future, and spoils a book he is going to read. Before the last drop of wine leaves the literjon... Frank meets Mike in a dark...

Like a Las-Gun hitting an active shield, Piter’s plan meets Yueh’s plotting. The catastrophic results leave Mike heartbroken. We make it out the door with the Baron and get to work on our dirges (for Piter of course). While promotions are handed out we find Piter’s sapho stash. We toast and try to distract ourselves with… One last “That’s so Piter.” 00Mapes, Monkey Bites, Then Derek can’t win this...

The first Sardaukar shows up, but leaves Mike a little disappointed. He basically has a clipboard and does not seem too invested in his job. Yueh makes the rounds while Arrakeen burns. Once his job is done Mike and Derek pull out that fremkit and take a closer look. With literjons of wine we rummage through its contents. Mike’s speculation runs rampant until it spills over into Worm Theory and… Yu...

It’s Piter’s special day! Mike and Derek spare no expense celebrating Piter’s promotion to Duke* of Arrakis. Long live the Duke*! This makes Jessica a loose end that has to be taken care of. Naturally the Harkonnens bring in the ‘C’ Team to get the job done. Once we get everyone's name straight it's a quick thopter ride over the shield wall. Derek does a Hasmir Fenring impression. Jessica, like al...

Yueh finally takes a shot with that dart gun. It's not quite the rifle we dreamed but it will do. The Arrakeen crisis is on. We learn that Yueh has some serious plans of his own. On the upside this means Leto gets to take a nap, but on the downside we have to say goodbye to the Shadout Mapes. A toast for Mapes, not spilling a drop, to celebrate her life and influence. As Yueh bundles up his catch,...

After Druncan Idaho spills the spice on his secret orders, Jessica confronts the mentat assassin Thufir Hawat. It's a battle of observations versus computations. Jessica knows information is her best weapon in this fight, but having the crysknife on hand can't hurt. It only takes one thing to shatter Hawat's world... the Voice. Sitting on schlag we toast Jessica's good news and get a front row sea...

The long awaited dinner scene is here at last. Jessica has hastily arranged the attendance of the major power players on Arrakis. You could cut the tension with a knife, and some seem determined to do just that. By the time we realize we're the only ones without snoopers (snoopi?)... Kynes get a free cup of water! Only Bewt gets a name? Mike gets into character, Then Derek is hoping for a mir...

It’s a new day on Arrakis and it’s going to be a busy one! Dr. Kynes makes a striking first impression before taking us out into the desert. We climb in the back of the Duke's thopter with Paul and Gurney. We'll be careful not to spill any wine in such a fancy thopter. Plenty of time before we reach the spice sands to check on... Our first listener recommended wine! No one listens to Gurnery Halle...

Piter's plan continues to divide House Atreides. Leto confides in his son a message for Jessica. We question Leto's ethics. Then we grab the Assassin's Handbook off the shelf. While the poison snooper checks the wine we flip through the pages making some annotations of our own on... Arrakis keeps us moral. Sword Masters of Gamont. Another Fenring. The glossary game is off to the races. Sapho Horse...

Shadows continue to gather around Duke Leto; suspicion, intrigue, and death permeate every thought. Not many light-hearted moments in this chapter. While Thufir is telling Leto some hard truths, we help ourselves to a bottle of the good stuff. With Sapho-stained lips we switch into mentat mode and analyze... -The worst name yet. -Duncan Prime. -Curse you, Louis! -Then the glossary game gets brutal...

The Duke is on day two with no sleep. Can he stay awake though what is essentially a power point presentation... in SPACE. After Spice Mining 101, Duncan Idaho shows up with good news and a new friend! We pass on the rachag and stick to our wine, checking out a few tri-d projections of our own... -Two crysknives in two days, not bad,  -Ave Old Maria,  -Fremen Table Manners,  -The Gl...

The Harkonnens have pushed Leto too far this time! No quotation from Gurney Halleck will calm this fire. That said, there is no shortage of them in this chapter. We’ll be bible experts before we know it. Until then, we meet some grunts fresh from Caladan. We rub elbows with the new arrivals, sharing a bottle of wine, and talk all the latest gossip... -Gurney wears his emotions on his scar -We shed...