"The riddle says: 'He walks on four legs in the morning. He walks on two legs at midday. And at night, he slithers from dream to dream effortlessly, like the air we breathe. And we love him.' Welcome to Night Vale."
The Telephone Service finally fixes the only telephone booth in town, and a submarine arrives from faraway Nulogorsk. Plus, a new campaign from the Tourism Board, we meet our station's newest program director, and strange texts from a mountaintop, if you can believe that.
Tropes present in The Deft Bowman include:
- Comically Missing the Point: Cecil points out that the arrival of a submarine from Nulogorsk in the middle of the desert was unexpected... because Nulogorsk hasn't contacted Night Vale since 1996, and for no other reason.
- Eerily Out-of-Place Object: Dana finds a lighthouse with a red beacon on top of a mountain in the middle of an uninhabited desert otherworld. Additionally, the submarine from Nulogorsk appearing outside Night Vale.
- Otherworldly and Sexually Ambiguous: The Sheriff's Secret Police's genderless spokesbeing who has smoothly beautiful features and a voice that calms animals.
- Rapid Aging: The Sheriff's Secret Police opens the submarine and pressure a junior detective to be the first to investigate. She begins screaming soon after entering. When she emerges, she is decades older with long silver hair.
- Shame If Something Happened: We're introduced to the new StrexCorp manager for the radio station, Lauren Mallard. She and Cecil get along so well; she loves everything about him, and the show, even his boyfriend. Yes, that perfect, scientist boyfriend. What was his name again? Carlos? Right, Carlos.
"Today's proverb: You can’t get blood from a turnip. Listen. You need some blood? I can totally get you some blood. Put that turnip down, and follow me to the blood. There’s a lot of blood."
