People Being Other People - DnD Actual Play

We've hit cruising altitude, and there's something seriously not fetch going on with Rolan. Time for a little friendly confrontation.
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What is People Being Other People - DnD Actual Play?

We are PBOP - a TTRPG actual-play podcast where we pretend to be other People! Join us for, hilarious improv, immersive storytelling, and an original score to set the mood. Subscribe now and adventure along with us - for excitement, for love, and for giggles!

Tim / GM:

Last time on Cloudfall. The party was spotted while running errands and the blight saw right through phenom's illusions. There was a high heat, low speed chase through the metalworking district all the way back to the winged spire. And that's where they boarded the ship. After meeting Captain Yarhar, they stepped onto a sky ship known as the heavenly feather, where a crew greeted them with open arms.

Tim / GM:

But Aaron remained suspicious. They took their first opportunity to sneak into the back rooms and explore and just got caught by the captain. So, aboard the heavenly feather, you've all been at sea or at sky, I guess, for a few hours now. Some of you went down to meet the engine folks. Some of you explored the kitchen.

Tim / GM:

Some of you went exploring on your own, and that's where we find Aaron right now. Aaron had been exploring the kind of hidden back rooms in Captain Yarhar's office that allow him to travel from level to level on this ship intended only for Yarhar's use. Aaron was finding her way around and just popped out of the door back into Yarhar's office to find out that the captain has taken his dinner in his quarters.

Hannah / Eryn:

Oh, oh, I'm so sorry. Excuse me. I didn't realize, Aaron, kinda goes back in the door a little bit and, like, takes a step back and then, like, opens and closes the door as, like, a like, not sure if they should leave or stay. And they're, like, I didn't realize.

Tim / GM:

When you start speaking, Yahar, like, drops the bread out of his mouth onto the plate, and it just splashes into the marinara and kinda gets on some of his papers and he stands up and he goes, shiver me blow,

Thomas / Guy:

god. Sorry.

Speaker 4:

I'm so sorry.

Tim / GM:

I'm so sorry. I hate it when I get like that. You notice yarhar is holding a cutlass, and he's pointing it at you. He lowers it and he says, Aaron, I apologize. And he turns the point of his sword towards the sheath and is, like, about to put it back, but hasn't quite yet.

Hannah / Eryn:

I'm sorry. I'll leave. I didn't realize I got turned around. Let me I'll just, see you later.

Tim / GM:

And then

Hannah / Eryn:

Erin tries to back out of

Speaker 5:

the room.

Tim / GM:

Yeah. Make a deception check for me.

Tara / Journey:

Back into the secret

Hannah / Eryn:

stairs. Hey. They came out places.

Tim / GM:

Was he

Thomas / Guy:

was he eating his Italian Dunkers with a cutlass?

Tim / GM:

Of course he was. He's a pirate captain.

Hannah / Eryn:

Deception, you say? Yep. No. It's a good thing. I am very proficient.

Hannah / Eryn:

13.

Tim / GM:

Okay. Oh. You hear a click as he slides the sword back into the sheath and gives you kind of a warm smile. He says, they're serving dinner. You know?

Hannah / Eryn:

Oh, I, didn't know. I'll get right on that. I, which way which way is it?

Tim / GM:

He doesn't answer you. He is very clearly, like, reading you your response to that, and he says, Libera told me you're fresh out of a bad situation. So I'm curious. Why are you so eager to get into another one?

Speaker 7:

I, Erin, let

Tim / GM:

a good thing be a good thing. Get yourself some food, find a room, get some sleep, and let's not meet like this again.

Hannah / Eryn:

Aaron doesn't say anything and just nods.

Tim / GM:

He breaks eye contact with you and kind of nods at the door. He says, you'll forgive me if your room is guarded tonight.

Hannah / Eryn:

Aaron just tries to get out of the room through the main door that he gestured at

Speaker 4:

Okay.

Hannah / Eryn:

As quick as possible.

Tim / GM:

Yeah. You leave the right way. There's a long hallway that you can hear a bunch of noise coming from, and, the rest of the party had heard the dinner song performed earlier that I'm not going to perform again. Where were all of you when the call for dinner came out and where do you find yourselves now?

Speaker 4:

I'm still in the kitchen.

Speaker 5:

Yes. Okay. And as Erin goes down

Speaker 4:

the hall, you can hear it. Alright. Well, nope. Everyone make a single fire alarm. You'll get your turn.

Speaker 4:

Only one helping a piece. Thank you. No extra

Tara / Journey:

A flashback

Speaker 4:

to my junior high experience.

Tim / GM:

In that same moment, you can all hear people asking for extra sauce.

Speaker 4:

I don't know extra sauce. I only made enough for each of you.

Tim / GM:

What about the other 3 of you? Are you in line or already seated?

Thomas / Guy:

I think we're in line. I'm in line anyway. I don't wanna speak for you. Sorry.

Hannah / Eryn:

Erin, tries to find the her companions in line and kinda hurries over to them.

Speaker 7:

Hi. Hi.

Speaker 4:

Hi, Erin. Just get behind. No budging.

Hannah / Eryn:

That's fine. I don't I don't I can wait. But

Thomas / Guy:

Poppy made dunkers.

Speaker 4:

Wow. I don't

Hannah / Eryn:

know what that is. Sounds good though.

Speaker 4:

Like Very delicious.

Tim / GM:

Like, 8 people near you all kinda turn to look at you when you say you don't know what that is.

Hannah / Eryn:

I I'm not from around here. Sorry.

Tim / GM:

There's like a hushed murmur of people, like, very clearly judging you.

Speaker 8:

Door and elbows, Aaron was like, try to blend it a little bit. Cheese. And it gets suspicious. I don't know what dunkers are.

Tim / GM:

Aaron, you can physically see the rumor, like, moving through this place.

Hannah / Eryn:

Erin looks very worried to have gathered so much attention.

Speaker 4:

I just I didn't I didn't realize it was that bad. You don't tell anyone, but you can have seconds.

Hannah / Eryn:

That that's not I won't need that to think.

Thomas / Guy:

The secret ingredient is cheese and bread.

Speaker 5:

Those are the only ingredients.

Tim / GM:

You see another rumor just move through the crowd.

Speaker 5:

As you get closer, Poppy is putting a dunker on each tray, and Pinch is, like, very precariously holding out a ladle full of sauce and, like, spilling it everywhere.

Tim / GM:

And she's also, like, covered in sauce. Yeah.

Thomas / Guy:

Extra sauce, pinch.

Tim / GM:

Pinch gives you, like, a heart. Wow. Pinch gestures out to the person in front of you, the person behind you.

Thomas / Guy:

Think you know a guy.

Speaker 8:

Doesn't play favorites.

Tara / Journey:

Journey's at the back of the line. It took her a while to get there because she was coming all the way from the infirmary.

Hannah / Eryn:

Yeah.

Tim / GM:

Journey, you're kind of, like, poking up a little bit, trying to look over people's heads through the crowd.

Tara / Journey:

Not hard. I'm very tall. True. Yeah.

Tim / GM:

Kind of like, you know, coming into high school lunch, seeing if anybody else is in to see lunch, and, like, if there's a place to sit with them. Mhmm. In that moment, you don't see your friends, but Roland was not far behind, when you both came up from the infirmary. So he is right behind you in line, actually.

Tara / Journey:

Journey's not familiar with, junkers, probably.

Tim / GM:

Yeah. No.

Tara / Journey:

But definitely saw the rumor go through that Erin didn't know what they were and that that was bad. Mhmm. And so she is keeping it to herself.

Speaker 4:

Why does everyone hate me?

Thomas / Guy:

Because I was me last week.

Tim / GM:

In this context, I think Roland actually isn't much for conversation. When you're around a whole lot of other people, it seems Roland is not as personable.

Tara / Journey:

Okay.

Tim / GM:

So he kind of actually clamps up and is standing behind you. Occasionally, when you look at him, he just gives you a nod and looks out at other people.

Tara / Journey:

Okay. Yeah. I just get my food and try and find my friends. Okay.

Tim / GM:

Yeah. So I think the rest of you have moved through the line. You You sat down with all your dunkers. Your group is actually not far from the engineers that you had met earlier. Couple other familiar faces nearby.

Tim / GM:

But no sign of the captain ever since you've come back here. Journey is the last to approach your little table.

Tara / Journey:

Hey, everyone.

Thomas / Guy:

Journey, how are you feeling?

Tara / Journey:

I'm right as rain. The healers got me all fixed up. That that fight was so strange. I I feel like I was out of it for a little bit. I don't know what happened.

Hannah / Eryn:

Oh, man. They must have some good healers. You look much better.

Speaker 4:

Yeah. I'm glad.

Tim / GM:

There's only, like, small patches of, you know, like, bare skin where there should be fur and that kind of thing, but the the damage of it all is completely gone. Mhmm.

Thomas / Guy:

I must ask, Jodie. When you stepped out of the cart to save Roland, surely you knew your own life was in danger. Why would you do such a thing?

Tara / Journey:

Well, Roland and Phenom did their darndest to help us out when we were in kind of a spot of trouble, so I figured turnabout's fair play. I didn't wanna leave him in the lurch. Phenom didn't seem totally convinced that he was gonna be alright. So

Thomas / Guy:

I guess I did not have the same experience having been on the ground when you encountered Roland.

Tara / Journey:

When you're traveling with people, you help them. Seems easy to me.

Thomas / Guy:

Yes. I could get used to this.

Tim / GM:

Roland has sat with your group, but he didn't greet you, nor has he, like, announced himself.

Speaker 8:

Well, fancy seeing you here, Roland.

Tim / GM:

Oh, yeah. Hey, guys. He looks back at his food and kinda stops talking again.

Speaker 4:

How how are you holding up?

Tim / GM:

He looks up at you, and he just kinda, like, nods with, like, a a really slight smile.

Speaker 8:

Okay.

Hannah / Eryn:

You don't know anyone else on the ship?

Tim / GM:

He flicks his eyes around, like, really briefly and then gives his head a shake with, like, a probably not kind of expression.

Hannah / Eryn:

Were you sent with us to watch us?

Tim / GM:

No. It it it's nothing like that. I really just I needed to recharge out here.

Hannah / Eryn:

Can I roll an insight check?

Speaker 8:

Yeah. May I as well?

Hannah / Eryn:

Yes. 20.

Speaker 8:

Natural 20, but

Tim / GM:

Oh my god.

Speaker 4:

What? I

Tim / GM:

don't know.

Speaker 4:

What the fuck?

Speaker 8:

26. No roll.

Tim / GM:

Natural 20. Okay.

Hannah / Eryn:

And I got non natural.

Tim / GM:

Yeah. So okay. Non natural 20. Roland's keeping something close to the chest that he's not telling you guys. It doesn't seem to be about, like, him specifically about him being here.

Tim / GM:

Doran with a natural twenty, you catch the one brief moment that Roland flicks his eyes away when he's asked if he is here to watch people. He looks right at the shoulder of your jacket, and then he kind of, like, breaks his eyes away really quick.

Speaker 8:

Mhmm. I take note of that, where his eyes rested. We'll come back to that. Well, we can't stay strangers with, rest of the crew for long. We we certainly should be meeting some people.

Speaker 8:

I glanced around those 2 engineers. Are they seated at a table? Yeah.

Tim / GM:

They're, like, right behind your table, so you're kind of, like, back to back with them almost.

Speaker 8:

K. Are they by themselves? Or

Tim / GM:

Seems like it. Okay. Yeah.

Speaker 8:

Hey, guys. And I, tap on their on one of their shoulders.

Tim / GM:

They both kind of turn inwards toward each other to look behind themselves, and they both have, like, a dunker in their mouth. And they just, like, tap dunkers, and then they, like, take them out of their mouths, and they're like, oh, hey. Yeah. Hey.

Speaker 8:

Hey. We didn't catch your names. Do you wanna join us?

Tim / GM:

Oh, they, like, look at their empty table and your table with a couple spots left open. Sure. They stand up with their trays and sit down at yours. The first guy, sits down and says, hi. I'm I'm DeWalter.

Tim / GM:

It's nice to meet you guys.

Tara / Journey:

De Walter?

Speaker 8:

De Walter?

Tim / GM:

De Walter.

Tara / Journey:

Oh, fuck. This is gonna be The

Tim / GM:

other guy sits down, kind of, like, actively dipping his bread, and he looks up and he goes, my name is Makeda. It's nice to meet all of you.

Speaker 8:

Makeda. Yeah. Makeda. Uh-huh.

Tim / GM:

Uh-huh.

Speaker 8:

Well, Walter and Makeda, I am, Doran, and this is Guy. Everyone else, we, we met these 2 down in the engine bay. And, is Poppy here?

Speaker 4:

Oh, I'm coming. Sorry. I had to I had to finish up. What a lunch rush.

Tim / GM:

Poppy is caked in marinara.

Speaker 4:

And so is Pinch. Yeah.

Speaker 8:

Seems like you got a little extra, Poppy.

Speaker 4:

I made it. I'm allowed.

Speaker 8:

Wow. Okay. Poppy, these 2 here, DeWalter and Makeda, we took a look at the rolling pin and we were able to do some sweet upgrade.

Tim / GM:

What? It was really nothing.

Speaker 8:

Well, it I mean, it took you no time. It was it was very cool. So, anyways, I think it can go twice as fast as as as it could before.

Speaker 4:

No way.

Speaker 8:

Yeah. Yeah. I I think, it might impact how fast the oven heats up if it's moving at the same time.

Speaker 4:

Oh, well, then But

Speaker 8:

that's yeah. I mean, how often are you

Tim / GM:

test and the math.

Speaker 4:

Now there's

Tim / GM:

a couple other things to watch out for too. We took the regulator off. The levitator can spin fully 360 now, so just be careful you don't put it upside down.

Speaker 4:

Level what?

Tim / GM:

Well, the the the engine component. You can flip it upside down, and it'll force the it'll force your wagon into the ground, which is never a good thing. But

Speaker 4:

no. No. No. It's it's just an engine.

Tim / GM:

Poppy, Mikita looks up at you and he starts kind of doing, like, hand gestures to better explain what he's talking about. And he's like, yeah. So the the levitator that's, know, kind of towards the front middle of the thing, you know, you give it its buoyancy, that helps it become weightless and and gives it a trajectory. So we just change the angle at which you can hold the left. He kind of sees that your face is, like, losing track of everything.

Speaker 5:

I I like space out, and then I

Speaker 4:

look over at Guy, and I'm like, I am so sorry.

Thomas / Guy:

Guy, puts his hand on Makita's shoulder and says, we don't really know the technical stuff. We just like to hear the benefits.

Speaker 4:

Of

Tim / GM:

course. Yeah. It's, it's it's ludicrously fast now. Ludicrously. For 11.

Thomas / Guy:

Did you hear this, Bobby?

Speaker 5:

My dad's gonna kill me.

Speaker 4:

Yeah. I think it'll be safe as long as you don't push it over 10.

Hannah / Eryn:

Alright. Okay. Cool.

Speaker 8:

But it can go over 10 if we have to. Right?

Tim / GM:

Well, I I wouldn't recommend it, but yes.

Speaker 4:

Thank you so much. Of course.

Speaker 8:

Oh, gosh. I'm sorry. I do have to find the restroom. Erin, you show me where that's at?

Hannah / Eryn:

Yes. Erin stands up and, takes the last bite of dunker and then off their plate and then, looks at Poppy and, like, do I have to bring this anywhere? And it's holding the

Speaker 4:

plate. Oh, no. I'll I'll get it.

Hannah / Eryn:

Yeah. Oh, thank you.

Speaker 4:

You're fine.

Speaker 8:

We'll be right back.

Tim / GM:

You hear a kind of clanging of silverware as Roland stands up along with you 2, and he says, I have to sorry. And he sits back down.

Speaker 8:

Oh, we'll we'll be right back. Plus, I can't have too many stalls, I imagine, so catch you in just a moment.

Tim / GM:

You can see him just kind of, like, searching the table for answers. He's very distracted. Okay.

Hannah / Eryn:

Aaron leads the way to the hallway outside. I think, the bathroom is down this way from what I found, and Aaron's looking for some sort of closet, that they can enter and get into, and just walks really quickly down the hallway.

Speaker 5:

For the listeners, I am wiggling my eyebrows.

Speaker 8:

Darren checks, behind, his shoulder real quick. Just a quick glance to make sure we're not being followed.

Tim / GM:

Yeah. You're not being followed.

Speaker 8:

Okay.

Tim / GM:

Aaron, you open a closet door in the hallway here, and very peculiar, you just see, like, a coiled rope that's, like, 8 feet tall. Like, it's just a stack of coiled ropes that goes, like, all the way up. That's the only thing in this closet.

Hannah / Eryn:

Is it connected to the wall at all

Speaker 4:

or just on the floor?

Tim / GM:

Nothing. It's just a loose, like, 1,000 feet of rope.

Hannah / Eryn:

Okay. Great. Aaron quickly goes into the closet. It's like, in here.

Speaker 8:

Great. Okay. I just, I actually don't have a way to make light. I don't think

Tim / GM:

I can

Speaker 4:

It's fine.

Hannah / Eryn:

The dark is fine. Listen.

Speaker 8:

Can you see?

Tim / GM:

There's enough light coming in this door crack

Thomas / Guy:

that you

Tim / GM:

can Okay. See some stuff.

Speaker 8:

I I can see. Sorry. I just took a second to adjust.

Hannah / Eryn:

Aaron says, listen. I I don't know what's going on, but I did some exploring earlier, and Yarhar has secret passages up and down the ship, every level he can get to without being seen. So just something to keep in mind. I know where they all are, but he also caught me. I needed to ask you.

Hannah / Eryn:

They're gonna guard my room tonight. Yeah. And I I don't want that. So

Speaker 8:

Okay. One one thing at a time. Yeah. I feel like we're kind of in a bit of a pickle, but real quick, could you check my shoulder? And then I I could just kinda lean in.

Speaker 8:

I I don't know. I just

Hannah / Eryn:

Is there, like, a bug? I can't I don't see anything.

Speaker 8:

I don't know. I thought you said you could see.

Hannah / Eryn:

Well, I mean, I can a a little bit. It's, like, very dark.

Tim / GM:

Oh my god.

Hannah / Eryn:

I look at his shoulder.

Tim / GM:

I mean, yeah. It's pretty dark in here. You can't see much.

Speaker 4:

Just gotta get a little closer.

Hannah / Eryn:

I, like, brush his shoulder off a little bit, and I'm like, what the fuck, dude? Like,

Speaker 4:

what are you?

Tim / GM:

When you do, you feel a tiny lump on his shoulder.

Speaker 4:

What is it? Can I tell what it is?

Thomas / Guy:

It's Get that checked, man.

Speaker 4:

It's a

Tim / GM:

small round object, like, scarcely larger than a marble.

Hannah / Eryn:

There's there's something here. And then I take his hand and put it on his own shoulder. Can he feel it?

Tim / GM:

Yeah. You can feel it too, Darren.

Speaker 8:

What what is it? Let's not take it off, but I I'm just can you tell what it is?

Hannah / Eryn:

I'll investigate. Yeah. You,

Tim / GM:

have him crouch down towards the crack in the door so that there's more light on it, and you can't see it. You can feel it, but you can't see it.

Hannah / Eryn:

Can I try to perceive it or do an some sort of check on it?

Tim / GM:

Yeah. You can do an investigation.

Tara / Journey:

What's on your shoulder?

Hannah / Eryn:

11.

Tim / GM:

Yeah. It's a lightweight metallic object. It's as best as you can tell.

Thomas / Guy:

It's a smaller Doran head.

Hannah / Eryn:

I I can't tell what it is. It seems almost like a marble.

Tim / GM:

It's literally invisible when you hold it.

Hannah / Eryn:

Can I remove it from him?

Tim / GM:

Yeah. Yeah. There's almost like a kind of, like, Velcro tear as you pull it away.

Hannah / Eryn:

Is this magic?

Speaker 8:

I'd assume so. Let's, reconvene with the rest of the group. I don't think we have a lot of time.

Hannah / Eryn:

Wait. How did you know this was here?

Speaker 8:

I don't want

Hannah / Eryn:

It's Roland.

Speaker 8:

I don't wanna jump to conclusions. We might not be able to talk right now, but let's, figure this out after dinner.

Hannah / Eryn:

Erin is going to try she doesn't think Doran can speak, these can't, but she's going to try to say, which way does the wind blow today and see if he can, like, pick up on anything.

Tim / GM:

Yeah. Doran, give me a, a quite high check. Let's just do insight.

Speaker 8:

Insight? Okay. Okay. It's 11. Yeah.

Hannah / Eryn:

He doesn't know it.

Tim / GM:

You can tell that she's trying to tell you something, but you can't. Like, you there's too many variables.

Hannah / Eryn:

Okay. That's fine.

Speaker 8:

Let's get it in writing.

Hannah / Eryn:

Does that work? Erin shakes their head and says, never mind. Okay. Let's go.

Speaker 8:

Not quite cool enough yet. Okay. We'll, head on back. I'm gonna make sure it's still stuck to my shoulder.

Tim / GM:

So Erin had this thing in her hand. Like I said, small metal object. You can kind of roll it around in your hand. How do you re affix it to Doran?

Hannah / Eryn:

Is there gum in this world?

Thomas / Guy:

Bert had gum.

Tim / GM:

That's true. Yes. There's gum in this world.

Hannah / Eryn:

Aaron's gonna check their shoes and Dorn shoes for gum. Ew.

Tim / GM:

Oh, there's gum. Great. We've got gum.

Hannah / Eryn:

On whose shoe?

Tim / GM:

Yours.

Hannah / Eryn:

Okay. Great. Aaron picks up, their boot and yanks it off really quick. And in between the heel and, like, there's, like, a little indent and then it goes to the rest of the shoe. There's a piece of gum just wedged in there.

Hannah / Eryn:

It's a little old. After pulling off the shoe, Aaron spits on it and makes it pliable again.

Speaker 7:

Gross.

Hannah / Eryn:

Kinda stretches it out really thin and then, like, reattaches it.

Speaker 8:

I flinch as Aaron goes, says stick gum on my nice Just

Hannah / Eryn:

hold still. Stop. I don't know. Just say, like, a bird shit on you or something, because now you have a stain on your coat.

Speaker 8:

I know.

Hannah / Eryn:

Okay. Now let's go.

Tara / Journey:

Alright. As you come back to the table, you see Journey drinking her marinara.

Speaker 4:

Oh, god. It's really good. Right? I use a special ingredient. And it's, guy, you can't tell anyone what it is.

Speaker 4:

I don't want anyone to get my recipe.

Thomas / Guy:

For the marinara.

Speaker 4:

Right. For the marinara. The other one is yeah.

Thomas / Guy:

My lips are sealed.

Tara / Journey:

It's pretty good.

Speaker 4:

It's a special blend of herbs and spices.

Tara / Journey:

I believe it. Yeah. It's super flavorful.

Thomas / Guy:

Very clever, puppy.

Tara / Journey:

Why do you call them dunkers?

Speaker 4:

Because you dunk you dunk them in the sauce.

Tara / Journey:

You see on Journey's plate, there is a bone dry piece of dunker, and she has been drinking the marinara.

Tim / GM:

My god.

Speaker 4:

Well, did you try dipping it? Oh, no.

Tara / Journey:

I didn't know I didn't know. I wasn't paying attention.

Speaker 4:

Well, okay. Here. Don't tell Erin, but I push Erin's try over Oh.

Speaker 5:

Because I gave Aaron extra sauce.

Thomas / Guy:

It's like I always say, there's no wrong way to eat a dunker.

Speaker 4:

That's right.

Tim / GM:

Really making up for your lack of dunkers more than last week.

Tara / Journey:

Alright.

Thomas / Guy:

I've eaten fucking a thousand of

Speaker 4:

these things. It never gets old, really.

Tara / Journey:

Yeah. Journey starts eating them the right way.

Speaker 8:

Oh, I forgot we had cheese bread as Dorian comes to sit down. Oh,

Speaker 4:

I was just investigating your tray. Sorry, Aaron. There was, like, a weird piece of lint on the that's fine.

Tim / GM:

You all hear the rattle of silverware again as Roland kind of half stands and sits back down, and he is staring at Doran. Doran, this time, there's no mistaking it. He's staring right at your shoulder.

Speaker 8:

So I got some birch shit on my shoulder. I I glance over at it.

Hannah / Eryn:

Well, I can help do some dishes. Aaron stands up and tries to collect dishes from the table and clanks about really loudly and then walks over to with all the dishes they can carry, drops a couple on the way, and, gets up to the front counter where what's his name?

Tim / GM:

The frog guy? Yeah. It's a great question. I don't think we gave him

Hannah / Eryn:

any No.

Speaker 4:

We did, I thought.

Tim / GM:

Chef Bowie.

Speaker 4:

Chef Joey Bowie. Chef Bowie.

Hannah / Eryn:

Aaron walks to the window with all the dishes and is like, where should I put these somewhere? Do what's clean?

Tim / GM:

You can just leave them here on the counter. Thank you.

Hannah / Eryn:

Oh, okay. Aaron smashes all the dishes down, like, really loudly. Just being kind of, like, obnoxiously loud.

Tim / GM:

Yeah. You see his, like, giant frog eyes

Hannah / Eryn:

I'm sorry. Just kinda

Tim / GM:

bug out for a second.

Hannah / Eryn:

Oh, oh, oh, sorry. I'm so clumsy.

Tim / GM:

That that's nothing barking. It's okay.

Hannah / Eryn:

Eren turns and an elbow swipes in a glass, shatters off the side of like falls and shatters off the edge of the counter.

Tim / GM:

You see him kind of like reach for it like futilely watching it crash.

Hannah / Eryn:

Oh, no. I I'll get a broom. Where's the broom?

Tim / GM:

No. It's okay. You can maybe just go back to your quarters.

Hannah / Eryn:

Okay. Are you sure?

Tim / GM:

Yeah. I'm sure.

Speaker 4:

Okay. Thank you. Way to go, Aaron. So sorry.

Hannah / Eryn:

I was just trying to help.

Tara / Journey:

Erin, you're not normally so,

Hannah / Eryn:

useful. So helpful. I know.

Tara / Journey:

Journey looks at the group with, like, panic, like, what do I say?

Hannah / Eryn:

Why don't you help after you're done with your meal as well?

Tara / Journey:

You took my plate, so I think I'm good.

Speaker 4:

Oh, I'm sorry. I thought you were done.

Tara / Journey:

Still have the cup of marinara because I was still drinking it.

Tim / GM:

Gotta give up on it.

Speaker 8:

Well, Journey, you could take my plate. I just finished up.

Hannah / Eryn:

Alright.

Tara / Journey:

Take Doran's plate, and I go with Eren.

Hannah / Eryn:

Sure. You just put it up here. Who's being mean to you? Frog guy. Journey, listen.

Hannah / Eryn:

There's something strange going on. With what? You need to just go along with it, whatever Dorn and I say? Just trust us. I don't know.

Hannah / Eryn:

There's something there's something up with Roland, something on the ship.

Tara / Journey:

With Roland?

Hannah / Eryn:

Yeah. Just I don't know why, but there's something with Roland and Doran going on that we don't know.

Tara / Journey:

Alright. Well, I guess, yeah, I'll trust you. I'll go with you.

Hannah / Eryn:

Okay. Cool. Alright.

Tara / Journey:

Jenny doesn't know what to do with her arms anymore.

Hannah / Eryn:

Just stop. Nope. Stop that. Arms

Speaker 4:

down. Alright.

Hannah / Eryn:

Alright. Put your dish here. Thank you, Doughie. Bowie. Doughie.

Hannah / Eryn:

Oh, that's the other guy.

Speaker 4:

Doughy is I just damn it.

Tim / GM:

Chef Bowie is giving you a big slow nod as he takes your plate and kind of sets it harmlessly, and then he is, like, stabilizing everything. Like, he's holding on to the plates and cups, so you can't, like, push them or break them. He's, like, thank you.

Hannah / Eryn:

He's got one leg also up on,

Tim / GM:

like, a whole bunch of frog leg just, like, pop up, like, 4 feet away from you? And it just drags a cup over to him?

Tara / Journey:

Yeah. Journey follows Aaron back to the table.

Speaker 4:

What is going on with you guys?

Hannah / Eryn:

Just sit down. We were just trying to be helpful.

Tara / Journey:

I'm just being real cool and casual.

Speaker 4:

Clearly, neither of you 2 have ever spent any time in public. That's true. We are on a

Speaker 8:

flying ship. It's strange circumstances. I I feel like I'm getting my sea legs here.

Hannah / Eryn:

So, Doreen, what's for after dinner entertainment?

Speaker 8:

Well, I did have one question for our new table guest here, Walter Makeda.

Speaker 4:

Mhmm. Yeah.

Speaker 8:

I was wondering, you know, we're gonna have a lot of time here. Like, is there anything we could help with with engine room stuff?

Tim / GM:

I mean, well, if you really wanted to, I mean, yeah. I'm sure we could find something for you. Anything specific you wanted to learn or do?

Speaker 8:

Yeah. The engine stuff was really cool and, like, do you know much about magic stuff?

Tim / GM:

Nikita knows a little. I I I can do some minor casting.

Speaker 8:

Very cool. Very cool. Well, yeah, I don't wanna speak for Guy or maybe even Poppy, but we'll we'll plan to maybe swing by one of these days or

Thomas / Guy:

Yeah.

Tim / GM:

Great. We've, we have to be a little weird when it comes to the Bismite stuff. So, you know, we just oh, somebody's always gotta be in the room with you.

Speaker 4:

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Of course.

Tim / GM:

Clearly. Yeah.

Speaker 8:

So after dinner entertainment, what what happens next, after dinner?

Tim / GM:

I mean, we've got a little more work to do, but

Speaker 4:

then it's everybody has their own time.

Hannah / Eryn:

Great. How about a moonlight stroll on the deck with everybody?

Speaker 8:

Oh, I bet it's gorgeous up there.

Tim / GM:

Sounds good. Yeah.

Thomas / Guy:

We should invite the captain, Yahar. We are so fortunate to be on this great vessel with such a experienced leader.

Tim / GM:

He's pretty busy. I think he even took his dinner in his office.

Thomas / Guy:

He won't be joining us at home.

Speaker 4:

Well, I personally am fine not trying to rise above my station I do my own thing and not bother the captain.

Speaker 8:

Let's invite the captain after things have settled a bit. And it's the 1st night. I'm sure there's a lot of captain stuff to do.

Thomas / Guy:

Yes. Very well, Doran.

Tim / GM:

Yeah. The the whole kind of cafeteria, like, slowly cleans up. Do you all kind of, like, stay here while everybody else finishes, or do you go to the, like, main deck kind of thing?

Speaker 4:

Let's go to the main deck. The 5 of us.

Hannah / Eryn:

Yeah. Sounds nice. I can already tell I'm gonna need the fresh air.

Speaker 8:

Well, yeah. It was great for you all to join us too, Walter, Nikita, Roland.

Tim / GM:

Roland's kinda looking around, and he's

Thomas / Guy:

like, yeah.

Tim / GM:

I was gonna go do, something else by myself. Yeah. Well, yeah.

Speaker 8:

We'll we'll just be brief, and I'm I'm sure we're all pretty tired too. It's been a long, couple days, but, yeah, let's let's plan to meet up in the morning. Do you wanna do breakfast together? Yeah.

Thomas / Guy:

Great. Farewell Roland, our trusty traveling companion.

Speaker 4:

That'll be pancakes.

Speaker 8:

Yeah. Pancakes.

Tim / GM:

This whole time while you're talking, standing in the cafeteria about to depart, Roland has not taken his eyes off of Doran, and you can see he's in so much pain. Like, he wants to talk to Doran so bad that he's just like he's like trying to he's like clearly trying to make up a reason to talk to Doran, but he can't figure anything out. So as you're all, like, being like, okay. Like, let's go. You know, he's just kinda standing there lingering, and then eventually goes, yeah.

Tim / GM:

I'll catch up to you all tomorrow. Sounds good.

Speaker 4:

Bye, Roland.

Speaker 8:

Farewell.

Speaker 4:

Guys, what the hell is going on?

Tara / Journey:

What is happening? Jurney's still doing weird arms.

Thomas / Guy:

Well, it's good to see Roland recovering well from the earlier incident.

Tara / Journey:

Yeah. He still seemed quite out of sorts. When we were talking in the infirmary, it seemed like seemed a little lost, honestly.

Speaker 4:

He's not the only one.

Thomas / Guy:

I also do not know where we're going.

Speaker 4:

Yes.

Speaker 8:

I think we wanna find a nice quiet secluded spot on the the ship deck.

Hannah / Eryn:

I know a spot. Follow me. Erin brings them to, hold

Speaker 5:

on, to the rope cupboard.

Speaker 8:

Everyone It's so cozy.

Tim / GM:

7 minutes in the rope.

Speaker 5:

7 minutes in heaven's feather.

Hannah / Eryn:

Aaron is going to bring them down to the cargo room

Tim / GM:

k.

Hannah / Eryn:

Where you said there were the most tidy space spaces and not as many people. Yep. So, follow me just for a quick minute. I found something down here that is of interest.

Speaker 8:

Please don't be a body.

Tim / GM:

The 5 of you move into the cargo hold, and as you're going down there, you pass someone who is standing in front of a door. They seem to be guarding it. They are armed, but they they don't really acknowledge you as you all pass by. They have no issue with you being in the cargo hold.

Hannah / Eryn:

Did I recognize them from my walking around the ship and looking at the 55 crew members yesterday or this morning?

Tim / GM:

Yeah. I think you've definitely seen this person in this position before.

Hannah / Eryn:

Okay. In the same spot on

Tim / GM:

the spot. Yep.

Speaker 7:

Okay. Just wondering.

Hannah / Eryn:

Yeah. I bring you all into the cargo room, and there is it's maybe a medium sized room,

Speaker 4:

I guess.

Hannah / Eryn:

We didn't really talk about it.

Tim / GM:

It's pretty large, but so densely packed with, like, crates and

Hannah / Eryn:

Food and supplies.

Tim / GM:

Exactly. You

Speaker 8:

know So much trouble. Before we get too far down here, it's kinda warm. I'm gonna just change. I'm I'm just gonna hang this up. I I take off my, my top and I'm just kinda hanging on a hook Mhmm.

Speaker 8:

Outside of the ship deck. And, I do have an undershirt.

Tim / GM:

So Oh, god. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. You want it to be in a different room than you kind of thing?

Speaker 8:

Yeah.

Tim / GM:

Yeah. Okay. Yeah. You'll leave it behind.

Speaker 8:

To that sailor that was out guarding that door. I I know nobody's gonna touch us or anything, but I'll I'll be back. I'm not gonna leave you out here. So

Tim / GM:

I give you a slow nod. Yeah.

Speaker 4:

Okay. I don't know, what kind of lifestyle you guys lead, but I'm not interested. Thank you.

Tara / Journey:

What is happening? What is happening? I know I get confused a little bit, but this is ridiculous.

Hannah / Eryn:

Erin's doing a check of the room to make sure it's secure and we're talking privately.

Tim / GM:

Media investigation? While they're talking.

Hannah / Eryn:

16.

Tim / GM:

Unless somebody's hiding inside a crate, there's nobody in here. Okay.

Thomas / Guy:

Great. Yes. What did we come here to see, Aaron?

Hannah / Eryn:

So listen, I know I'm suspicious of everybody, but this whole situation is weird. Okay? No one offers people free flight on a sky ship. I just don't buy it. You know?

Hannah / Eryn:

Like, what do they need us to have all this hush money and shuffle us off to another city? Something is going on. And why did they send Roland to watch us? And he seems really interested in Doran, and there's was something on his clothes, maybe a tracker. I have a sneaking suspicion we might be bait for something.

Hannah / Eryn:

I don't know. I mean, maybe I'm paranoid, but I feel like they might be trying to lure diver to us. I mean, why would they do that so they can catch him outside the city because Diver's out here.

Tara / Journey:

I mean, they made it pretty clear what they wanted from us. It it seemed like they were pretty earnest about that. They wanted us out of town so we wouldn't die, and they didn't have to deal with it. They wanted us to not talk about it because they're trying to keep investigating what that situation is, and they gave us this opportunity because they wanted us out of town and safe. Roland seems out of it.

Tara / Journey:

It doesn't seem like he's on a mission to be here. I talked to him when we were in the infirmary, and he seems messed up.

Thomas / Guy:

Yes. I think it is best not to look a gift horse in the mouth. We have been invited here to be safe from the blight. Roland is interested in Doran because Doran is an interesting photo.

Tara / Journey:

Did you say there was something on his clothes?

Hannah / Eryn:

Yeah. Doran, do you know what that was? It looked

Speaker 4:

like gum.

Speaker 8:

You noticed?

Speaker 4:

Yeah. It's kinda gross.

Speaker 8:

It's clear there's more happening than we are aware of. I don't know if anyone means us harm, but certainly we should be careful and try to follow the rules here until we know more.

Speaker 4:

I mean, I like to operate under the assumption that everyone is good until proven evil. And if they wanna give us nice things, it's because we earned it. Erin,

Hannah / Eryn:

is just shaking their head and rolling their eyes on Poppy. Like, that's not how life works.

Thomas / Guy:

If you suspect foul play, Erin, perhaps we should take this to the captain.

Hannah / Eryn:

I don't I don't think that's a good idea. We don't know where his loyalties lie.

Thomas / Guy:

You do not even trust the captain of this vessel.

Hannah / Eryn:

My trust is hardly given, and I'm I hope that you all earn it. And Erin just looks everyone in the eye, kind of intensely. It's kind of a sad way to live. Well, it's just sometimes what you gotta do. I don't know.

Thomas / Guy:

If you can't trust the leader who is in charge, who can you trust?

Speaker 4:

Well, not everybody is as generous and kind as me. Just kidding.

Speaker 8:

Kai, maybe you should seek out the captain. Build a little bit of rapport. You know, it would be rude to not connect with him, but

Speaker 4:

I don't want to overwhelm him.

Thomas / Guy:

Should I mention these suspicions we have?

Speaker 8:

I wouldn't I wouldn't go that far. I think just building a relationship would be good. After all, he did take us in and Roland too. Everyone, I do think Roland knows about whatever was on my gambeson. And Your what?

Speaker 8:

So it's not, let's not worry about that. You should know this, Kai. Do any of you know how to identify magic items?

Speaker 4:

I studied at the school of magic in Teledry.

Speaker 8:

Okay.

Speaker 4:

I mean, I dropped out, but

Speaker 8:

Why did you drop out?

Speaker 4:

Because I was pursuing my passion.

Speaker 8:

Okay.

Speaker 4:

I really just hated school, and I like baking better. Sorry.

Speaker 8:

Okay. Yeah. If if you don't mind trying to take a look, Poppy, it would be good to know what it is. I was planning on asking Walter or Makita.

Tara / Journey:

If we're suspicious of Roland, us being on this ship, him without any allies except for us, might be a good time to get to the bottom of it. We outnumber him 5 to 1, if it comes to it.

Speaker 8:

I don't even know what we would be confronting him with.

Thomas / Guy:

You said just earlier that he was our traveling companion and should be trusted and we should watch out for each other.

Tara / Journey:

I was told to go with the flow

Hannah / Eryn:

hearts to Roland. I mean, let's not overshare. I just don't know him, and I feel like I barely know

Speaker 4:

all of you. Well, we can change that. But, if it comes to blows, I'd rather not face him in a in a turf where he might be stronger.

Tara / Journey:

Well, I don't think it'll come to that. I'm just saying let's talk to him. This is the best time to do it when we're all a little out of our element, so to speak.

Hannah / Eryn:

I feel like Doran needs to approach him. Doran, I feel like he knows that you saw him looking at you. Weird.

Speaker 8:

Yeah. I think, that was clear. He did wanna talk to me.

Tara / Journey:

He seemed pretty comfortable

Speaker 8:

my my top. And Poppy, why don't you try to take a look, and we can just talk about what we're gonna do tomorrow in case it's spying on us.

Speaker 4:

Yes. Wink.

Speaker 8:

Go on and grab it and give a nod to that sailor watching that door.

Tim / GM:

Yeah. They, watch you come back, and are you gonna put it on right then and there? Yeah. They look you up and now when you put it on, and they just go, looks good on you.

Speaker 8:

Smile and I wink and then head in.

Speaker 5:

I did forget you're canonically hot.

Tim / GM:

As you're about to enter the door, he goes, are you gonna be with us for a while? Or

Speaker 8:

couple weeks, I think. Yep.

Tim / GM:

Great. I'll, see you around.

Speaker 8:

Yep. Take care. Just head in.

Tim / GM:

He just kinda, like, flicks his eyebrows up a little bit as you leave. You step back into that room with the gum on your jacket.

Speaker 8:

Yep. I sit down next to Poppy and take off my top again and kinda just move it over towards her. So I

Speaker 5:

will do an arcana check.

Tim / GM:

Okay. Go ahead.

Tara / Journey:

Can I also use detect magic?

Speaker 4:

Sure. I don't wanna

Speaker 5:

roll poorly.

Hannah / Eryn:

Only we had a bard to inspire us and help us

Speaker 4:

with the gold. Do

Thomas / Guy:

that stuff.

Hannah / Eryn:

John, come on. We've been rolling so bad on some things. I'm like, isn't John supposed to help buffer?

Speaker 4:

I'm not

Speaker 8:

used to that. I'm used to only casting Eldridge Blast. So can I help Poppy?

Tim / GM:

Yeah. Absolutely.

Speaker 8:

Well, I guess help as in do Bardic inspo.

Tim / GM:

You get

Speaker 8:

a d 6 as well.

Speaker 5:

That was awful.

Tim / GM:

I rolled a 1 on my inspo. Poppy, for you, 13 is plenty. Hey. Even after just one day of holding your own echo bell, the shape of it is pretty familiar to you. It's invisible, it's covered in disgusting gum, but it's no doubt a tiny invisible echo bell.

Speaker 4:

So, what are our plans for tomorrow? I was thinking about calling a friend.

Hannah / Eryn:

Does Erin pick up on this even though it's not technically thieves can't?

Tim / GM:

I'm gonna say this is more on Poppy to code her language.

Hannah / Eryn:

Okay.

Tim / GM:

Erin will get it if Poppy succeeds at this.

Speaker 5:

Persuasion or performance? Performance.

Tim / GM:

Performance, definitely.

Speaker 8:

It's fine.

Speaker 5:

6. Nope.

Tim / GM:

You disregard the fact that you're also holding it, like, right to your mouth when you say that. So, like, not only is it, like, super nervous and uneven and doesn't sound right at all and Aaron doesn't get it, but it's also, like, directly into the damn thing.

Speaker 8:

Doreen, grabs the coat and walks it over the door, throws it out the door, shuts the door, comes back in. You were saying?

Speaker 4:

It's one of the it's, the the echo bell. It's an it's it's like that, but it's, like, smaller. I think it transmits sound. I don't know how much I can hear through the door, but it's another one of those things. Somebody is listening on the other side, I think.

Speaker 4:

I don't know if any of the rest of us have them on us.

Thomas / Guy:

Whom could it be? Holmes.

Hannah / Eryn:

Doren, who touched you in the last 24 hours?

Thomas / Guy:

Oh, dear.

Speaker 8:

I,

Speaker 4:

I went through the entire crew.

Tara / Journey:

Can I try to remember if someone slapped him on the shoulder?

Speaker 8:

Sure.

Hannah / Eryn:

Tim's like, no. Isn't there a because I

Tara / Journey:

okay. Hear me out. Hear me out. I have a favorite enemy, and that favorite enemy is humanoids.

Tim / GM:

Dora.

Speaker 4:

So and Dora specifically.

Tara / Journey:

So I can track them really well. So I pay close attention to humanoids.

Speaker 8:

Whereas most humans would have no fucking clue No.

Tara / Journey:

What else pays attention?

Tim / GM:

Like, what are they doing?

Speaker 5:

You also spent a good deal of time away from us.

Tara / Journey:

So I've been trying to pay attention to body language and, like, what is appropriate and not appropriate touching.

Tim / GM:

Oh, yeah. No. That's great. Okay. For that, let's just do a straight roll with advantage.

Tara / Journey:

With advantage?

Speaker 4:

Yeah. Who put their hand

Speaker 5:

in Doran's no no? That is

Tim / GM:

a much more salient point.

Tara / Journey:

15.

Tim / GM:

Right. So, what you noticed is when Libera smacked Doran on the shoulder Yeah. It seemed very out of place and too familiar for people who had just met.

Speaker 4:

Mhmm.

Tara / Journey:

So if this thing was on his shoulder, someone had to put it there. Right? And when we were meeting the the she's not a queen rat, the lady in charge.

Speaker 8:

Libera?

Tara / Journey:

Rat. Didn't she touch you?

Speaker 8:

Yeah. She touched me on the shoulder. Shit. I didn't even notice. Oh, that makes sense.

Speaker 8:

Sort of, though. Sort of makes sense. Why would

Thomas / Guy:

she I

Speaker 8:

should do that. On us?

Thomas / Guy:

She must have a good reason.

Speaker 4:

She only touched you. Right?

Thomas / Guy:

Everyone check your shoulders.

Speaker 8:

I can't remember.

Tim / GM:

Yeah. I think you all take a couple minutes just, like, touching yourselves everywhere. Yep. You find no other invisible echo bells.

Speaker 4:

So what do you know that she needs to know?

Speaker 8:

I have no idea. Now I think we have enough to maybe go to Roland.

Speaker 4:

Oh, you think he knows about it?

Tara / Journey:

Yeah. Is that what you meant by saying that he is super interested?

Speaker 8:

Mhmm. That's how I noticed. I just caught that he was staring at my shoulder, which was strange.

Speaker 4:

Did he seem, like, suspiciously interested, or, like,

Hannah / Eryn:

he seemed worried to me.

Speaker 8:

It was strange.

Speaker 4:

Why don't

Tara / Journey:

we just go find him and go talk to him?

Hannah / Eryn:

I'm probably gonna turn in soon, and I do feel like Doran he might do better with just Doran talking to him, but maybe we can keep an eye out.

Tara / Journey:

Alright. Where are we all sleeping? I went to the infirmary, and I didn't get all the

Speaker 4:

I was gonna sleep in my shop.

Thomas / Guy:

Yes. Me as well. That was by plan.

Tara / Journey:

Out on the deck? Alright.

Hannah / Eryn:

Seems a little cold out there.

Tim / GM:

And the rest of you had been informed that there's enough, vacant rooms on the ship for each of you to have your own.

Speaker 4:

Are they next to each other with, like, little doors? Like, are Yeah.

Tim / GM:

The little Next Yeah.

Hannah / Eryn:

Adjoining rooms. Adjoining rooms.

Speaker 4:

Was it like a you will stay in these rooms kind of thing?

Tim / GM:

Nope. He said, whichever ones don't have stuff in them, you're welcome to take.

Speaker 4:

Okay. So I'm fine sleeping in

Tim / GM:

Definitely.

Speaker 4:

Okay. It's the pins for us. Mhmm.

Speaker 8:

I'll try to find Roland tonight and check-in with you all.

Speaker 4:

Do you want one of the echo bells?

Speaker 8:

Sure. Might as well have 2.

Thomas / Guy:

Be careful, Doran.

Tara / Journey:

Do you want any help?

Speaker 8:

No. I ain't got this.

Tara / Journey:

Alright.

Thomas / Guy:

I can be there for backup if things go wrong.

Speaker 4:

Who do you want on the other end of the bell? The 2 of you?

Speaker 8:

Yeah. That sounds good. Journey, can I have the other half?

Tara / Journey:

Yeah. Absolutely. I'll hand over the echo bell.

Hannah / Eryn:

Your guy.

Tim / GM:

Thank you.

Speaker 8:

Alright. I go seek out Roland.

Tim / GM:

Doesn't take long. Okay. As soon as the 5 of you move out of that storage room, you see Roland's got his back to you, but he is kind of, like, walking down the hallway and he kind of, like, looks left, looks right, leans forward to kind of look farther down the hall, throws his hands down at his side again, and it's just like and then, like, spins around completely and he goes, oh, hey hey hey, everybody. Hey, guys.

Speaker 8:

Hey, Roland.

Tim / GM:

Yeah. Okay. I got it. I've been feeling so strange and I figured out why it is. It's because Well, I don't wear shirts, and you all have clothes on all the time.

Tim / GM:

Let's all take our jackets off and hang out.

Speaker 8:

Yeah. Sure. Roland, Yeah. Let's go for a walk. That sounds good.

Thomas / Guy:

As a soldier, we used to

Speaker 8:

do this all the time.

Tim / GM:

Also seems as soon as the words escape Roland's mouth, he looks immediately embarrassed. Like, he's like

Speaker 4:

Doran, do you want me to take your jacket for you? No. It's kind of warm out.

Speaker 8:

It's it's a little chilly. I'll take it

Tim / GM:

off in a little bit.

Speaker 4:

It is warm, actually.

Speaker 8:

Oh. Well, not not

Tim / GM:

to me. Don't you wanna take your jacket off?

Speaker 4:

Nope. I thought we discussed this. No.

Speaker 8:

It's just listen on the bell. It's gonna be great.

Tim / GM:

Okay. Yeah. Let's let's go hang out.

Speaker 8:

Yep. Yeah. I'll catch up with you all later.

Hannah / Eryn:

Good night.

Speaker 8:

Gonna hang out with, Roland here.

Thomas / Guy:

Have a good one.

Tim / GM:

As they're walking away, you hear, oh, just sounds great. Okay.

Speaker 5:

Yeah. I'm, like, ear pressed to the

Speaker 4:

the bell.

Thomas / Guy:

Pop Poppy and I are sharing. Yeah.

Tara / Journey:

Sharing an earbell.

Thomas / Guy:

But, if there's no one else in the hallway, I'll take off my head and lower it to Poppy level so we can share.

Hannah / Eryn:

I'm pretty sure the guard is still here, the guard that was just standing from that doorway. Is he still

Thomas / Guy:

Yeah. I I guess I don't wanna do that.

Hannah / Eryn:

It says someone there.

Speaker 4:

Yeah. Let's wait until we get back

Speaker 5:

to the rolling pin and

Thomas / Guy:

Okay. Yes. Yes. Yeah. Okay.

Hannah / Eryn:

Aaron's gonna go just find a room and, like, be loud going into it. And then later, just try to sneak out and see if anyone's guarding them

Speaker 4:

Okay.

Tara / Journey:

In the

Hannah / Eryn:

middle of the night, but that can happen later. Sure.

Tim / GM:

So let's follow-up to the main deck of the ship. Guy, are you guys gonna go up right away, Guy and Poppy?

Thomas / Guy:

Yeah. We're I thought so. Go to the cart so we can listen to the

Speaker 4:

Maybe that's extra bed if you want one Journey.

Tara / Journey:

It's a little cramped for me in there.

Speaker 4:

Well, guy sleeps on the roof usually.

Thomas / Guy:

Yes. Plenty of room inside still, I think.

Tara / Journey:

Maybe I'll I'll just sleep right outside.

Speaker 4:

Okay.

Tara / Journey:

And I I find some, like, rigging to drape myself over Cool. And fall asleep out there. Yeah. Mhmm.

Tim / GM:

So moving up to the main deck, Doran and Roland are kind of walking, chatting a little bit together, Guy and Poppy not far behind, kind of moving into the rolling pin. But, Doran, Roland takes you towards the edge of the ship, and he throws you right the fuck off.

Speaker 8:

No save.

Thomas / Guy:

It's gotta happen every episode.

Speaker 4:

He gets a save from the cloud.

Tim / GM:

Roland walks you to the edge of the ship and, there's kind of a moment of silence that passes between you as, the wind rolls across you. And and out here at night, the wind is actually surprisingly calm. The the heavenly feather, the ship is just sort of idling over the clouds as night has fallen. They don't go nearly as fast. In fact, you can't tell if you're moving at all or if it's just the clouds moving below you.

Tim / GM:

Mhmm. But there's moonlight on the peaks of the clouds. And if you look hard enough, kind of on the outer perimeter, you can see what look like city lights, but they're floating in the clouds.

Speaker 8:

So cool.

Tim / GM:

Yeah. It's it really helps me.

Speaker 8:

Man, it's it's good to just talk to you alone, Roland. Yeah. I I hope this isn't too forward, but god, Liberia kinda sucks, doesn't she? You know, I just want your honest opinion. Like, do you like working for Libera?

Speaker 4:

It's

Tim / GM:

got its ups and downs. You know? She she can be kind of, rough, I guess. Or, but Mean. Mean, kind of.

Speaker 8:

I just got,

Speaker 4:

like,

Speaker 8:

did not, like

Tim / GM:

well, she's gotta run a whole city.

Speaker 8:

I know, but, like, there's a lot of other cities in this area, and

Speaker 4:

they're way better. What is he doing? I just

Speaker 8:

don't know how to kinda, like, let things go, you know, with the blight

Speaker 7:

and stuff.

Tim / GM:

You know, nobody's perfect.

Speaker 8:

Nobody's perfect. Yeah. But, like, gotta have some standards. Right? Well,

Tim / GM:

she's really tries.

Speaker 8:

I guess I could give her a little bit for effort. Yeah. Sure. Anyways, yeah, it is kind of it is pretty warm up here. I'm I'm gonna take my take take out my top here, and I'm gonna walk over and throw it to the side.

Speaker 4:

Stop saying that. Stop saying your top.

Speaker 8:

It's weird to say gambeson too. I don't even say Jacket. Jacket.

Speaker 4:

Say jacket. It's too late though.

Speaker 8:

It's too late. It's

Tim / GM:

Fair enough.

Speaker 8:

Alright. So I I throw it off, well to the side and, head back and lean up against the ship with

Tim / GM:

them. Yeah. That was mean.

Speaker 8:

What? Oh, yeah. The whole little, thing on my shoulder.

Tim / GM:

No. You're yeah. No. You're right. That that was mean.

Tim / GM:

I didn't I don't agree with it.

Speaker 8:

People have their reasons. I'm willing to hear it out.

Tim / GM:

Roland is kind of, like, working his jaw a little bit, but you can also see there's, like, tears welling up in his eyes.

Speaker 4:

Hey. You made him cry.

Speaker 8:

What what's up?

Tim / GM:

Nothing. You didn't deserve that. We can get rid of it.

Speaker 8:

No. It's it's fine. Look. It's a little weird. I don't normally talk about this stuff, but I did actually kinda know Libera growing up, sort of.

Tim / GM:

Really?

Speaker 8:

Yeah. That was, good friends with her well, best friends with her brother. And yeah. So I I mean, I didn't really ever talk to her, but yeah.

Tim / GM:

Roland's eyes drift off to the clouds again, and he's just kind of searching back and forth, and then he looks back over at you. How old are you?

Speaker 8:

Let me check my character sheet. 26.

Speaker 4:

26.

Tim / GM:

It's a rough age to go through all that. So you'd be, what, 11?

Speaker 8:

Somewhere around there. Yeah. Years ago.

Tim / GM:

Yeah. I heard the revolution was worse in Dawn's Edge than anywhere else.

Speaker 8:

Revolution's a weird word to describe it, but I suppose

Tim / GM:

No. You're right. It was probably different for you than it was for me. Well, listen. Let's start over if we can.

Tim / GM:

Libera was tracking you. She still is. She wants to know what you're saying, and she really wants to know if you run into Diver again. That's what she's after.

Speaker 8:

We're not bait though, right?

Tim / GM:

No. She just wants to know if he finds you. This is the best we could do to get you out of harm's way. You're either in for a well or out in the clouds and there's a lot more clouds than there is farewell.

Speaker 8:

Right. You said something earlier. What was it like for you? What side were you on?

Tim / GM:

Well, people like me, us Genasi, didn't find a whole lot of acceptance in the Old Kingdoms. We were sort of a spectacle. It was just hard to break rank. Now we're not a one trick show anymore. We're actual people like anybody else, and Libera believed that.

Speaker 4:

I was

Speaker 8:

a little mean, wasn't I?

Tim / GM:

I'll recover.

Speaker 8:

Yeah. I agree with

Tim / GM:

It's complicated. I feel like I've already blown it with my no jacket party idea. I think she knows at this point.

Speaker 8:

Well, we figured it out. I I noticed when she placed it on me. So

Tim / GM:

He he kinda gives you, like, a, like, tilted head, like, did you? Deception? Alright. Okay. Questions.

Speaker 8:

Can I give myself inspiration?

Tim / GM:

No. Of

Speaker 8:

course not. So deception, I got a 10.

Tim / GM:

Okay. He just looks at you and he's like, wow. Wow. Yeah. We had you all wrong.

Speaker 8:

And, since we're being forthcoming, one reason I kinda knew what it was is because we have 1, 2. Well, 2 of them,

Speaker 4:

and I hold it up in my hand.

Tim / GM:

He kinda looks at it and goes, How about that?

Speaker 8:

This was just precaution. I didn't think anything would go wrong, but

Speaker 4:

Oh, what's this all?

Thomas / Guy:

He's blown our cover.

Tim / GM:

He, like, he he can almost see the vibration of the echo bell, and he kinda looks up at you and he goes, so it's public knowledge by this point.

Speaker 4:

Shit. I'm not a

Speaker 8:

couple in that group know, but, yeah.

Tim / GM:

He shakes his head and looks back out over the clouds. He says, well, I'm gonna stay with a heavenly feather when you all go to lore. That was the plan anyway. I really did just need to get out of Farewell for a little while, but we'll be back in 2 weeks and we'll come pick you up.

Speaker 8:

Okay. Well, yeah. Let's enjoy the time while we're all here together.

Tim / GM:

Yeah. I'll catch you all in the morning. I think I ought to turn in.

Speaker 8:

This isn't gonna get you in trouble, is it?

Tim / GM:

He's kind of walking away from you a little bit towards your jacket and he picks it up and he says, not for another 2 weeks. He rips the gum off of your jacket. He says, I'm sorry, Libera. The jig is up. They're smarter than we thought.

Speaker 8:

I take back everything I said. I do like Farewell, and you're an okay leader.

Tim / GM:

Right before you say you're an okay leader, you see him wind back and throw it off the ship.

Speaker 4:

Wow. Okay.

Speaker 8:

Well, yeah. Have a good night. And, yes. Thanks for that talk. Yeah.

Speaker 8:

Alright. I walk over to Guy and Poppy.

Tim / GM:

When you approach, Guy and Poppy are still huddled over, like, closely listening to the thing and you're like, hey.

Speaker 4:

We didn't hear anything, important about your past.

Speaker 8:

Oh, yeah. About that.

Speaker 4:

Well, you don't have to talk about it. It's okay. Okay. Cool. When you're ready.

Thomas / Guy:

Yeah. Guess your secrets are safe with us, Dore.

Speaker 8:

Thanks, Skye and Poppy.

Speaker 4:

Yeah. If you wanna know about me, I'm an open book.

Thomas / Guy:

If you wanna know about me, it's easy. I don't know anything.

Speaker 8:

Tommy, what's your secret recipe for the marinara?

Speaker 4:

Uh-uh. You just said That wasn't in writing.

Speaker 8:

Anyways, yeah, we we should probably, check-in with everyone else.

Tara / Journey:

Yeah. You fully see Journey up in the ropes totally dead asleep.

Speaker 8:

K. Journey's okay. Just Erin then. That's right.

Thomas / Guy:

Do we know where her quarters are?

Tim / GM:

Erin, once you got into your room, what was the first thing you did?

Hannah / Eryn:

Erin checked the room that they chose over just to see if there's any anything suspicious in the room. I'm not thinking there will be, but I'm just

Tim / GM:

Yeah. Just kind of like default equipment. So there's, like, a trunk and a nightstand and a bed kinda thing.

Speaker 4:

Okay.

Hannah / Eryn:

Does it seem clean?

Tim / GM:

Very.

Hannah / Eryn:

Okay. Great.

Tim / GM:

Brand new.

Hannah / Eryn:

Wow. And then Aaron is going to, I think, just sit quietly on the bed for a little while and listen to the sounds of the ship.

Tim / GM:

Making me do all that SFX work.

Hannah / Eryn:

Yeah. Just come in here and record one of these chairs. Yeah. Put Maggie in it.

Speaker 8:

Yeah. Put Maggie in it. Tell her to sit still.

Speaker 4:

Yeah. I can't. My legs wanna move.

Hannah / Eryn:

Aaron is just listening if any, like, footsteps are approaching or coming coming or going in the hallway outside kind of listening for people, I think too.

Tim / GM:

Yeah. You spend, like, a long time listening at the door, and eventually, you do hear a set of footsteps walk up to your door and then you hear someone put their back against the wall and slide down and sit.

Hannah / Eryn:

I'm gonna open the door.

Tim / GM:

K. You, open the door and look down to see a woman that you had briefly seen before. She was the one that cracked open one of those kite gliders and jumped off the ship briefly.

Speaker 4:

Mhmm.

Tim / GM:

She is now sitting, writing feverishly in a notebook sitting next to your door.

Hannah / Eryn:

Can I help you?

Tim / GM:

Hey. Hi.

Hannah / Eryn:

Why are you here?

Speaker 7:

Oh, yeah. Little little awkward. She kinda holds

Tim / GM:

up, like, a little pinch gesture. Oh, okay. Well, glad

Hannah / Eryn:

I brought

Tim / GM:

Oh, okay. Well, glad I brought this. She pulls out like a tiny little dagger.

Hannah / Eryn:

I'm in danger of dehydration. Can you get me some water?

Tim / GM:

I actually I can't leave this spot, but I can get somebody to grab something for you.

Hannah / Eryn:

I can get it.

Tim / GM:

I can go with you.

Hannah / Eryn:

I mean, you do you. I don't know.

Tim / GM:

Okay. Great. Damn. She's good. Anyway, I'm Kesher.

Tim / GM:

What's your name?

Hannah / Eryn:

You don't need to know my name. Okay.

Tim / GM:

Who's your friend? The, the tall guy with the give me one fucking feature, Doran, to go off.

Speaker 8:

Gambiton.

Speaker 4:

No. No. What? The tall

Tim / GM:

guy with the Gambiton?

Hannah / Eryn:

Stop trying to make Gambiton happen, Doran.

Speaker 8:

It's not going to happen.

Tara / Journey:

Literally hair. Hair would do it because guy is bald.

Tim / GM:

Okay. Yeah. Okay. She goes, who's that, handsome guy with you?

Speaker 7:

The guy with the nice hair?

Hannah / Eryn:

I am just ignoring Kesher and walking down the hallway to go find water.

Tim / GM:

Kesher goes, oops, and kind of, like, doubles up to, like, keep up with you.

Hannah / Eryn:

I saw you flying earlier.

Speaker 7:

Oh, yeah. Yep. Been kite gliding ever since I was little.

Hannah / Eryn:

Have you been in the clouds since you were little?

Speaker 7:

I mean, kind of. I've I've done, like, little 2 seaters and a couple 8 person missions, but nothing more

Tim / GM:

than that.

Speaker 7:

So this is like really big for me. I'm it's so exciting.

Tim / GM:

I could just jump off whenever I want and come back

Speaker 7:

to the ship and see new parts of the clouds. I don't know. Isn't it cool?

Hannah / Eryn:

It is cool. I've never flown before.

Tim / GM:

Oh, wow. So this

Speaker 7:

has gotta be, like, really cool for you.

Hannah / Eryn:

Yeah. Erin is heading towards the galley. Is that where

Speaker 4:

the Yeah.

Hannah / Eryn:

Kitchen was? Yep. Okay. To try to find, water station or something.

Tim / GM:

Yeah. They've got tons of barrels of fresh water in there.

Hannah / Eryn:

So yeah. I think Erin's just gonna keep walking around the ship.

Tim / GM:

Eventually, she, like, runs out of small talky stuff, and she's like, well, should we turn in?

Hannah / Eryn:

I mean, you're more than welcome to. Are you gonna sleep outside my door?

Speaker 7:

No. I'm not gonna sleep at all, actually. Okay. Captain's orders. You know?

Hannah / Eryn:

What exactly did Yarhar say to you?

Speaker 7:

Sorry. I think that kind of falls under, you know, privateer captain confidentiality.

Hannah / Eryn:

Yeah. I'm not gonna be able to sleep in there if I can't leave or someone's watching me.

Tim / GM:

I promise I'm not gonna be watching you. I'm just gonna be sitting outside. I'm actually writing something.

Hannah / Eryn:

What are you writing?

Tim / GM:

It's it's stupid.

Hannah / Eryn:

Probably. Alright.

Tim / GM:

She just stares at

Speaker 4:

the floor.

Hannah / Eryn:

Erin goes up to the top deck of the ship and tries to find Poppy and the rolling pin.

Speaker 5:

It's pretty obvious. We're very bright.

Tim / GM:

Yeah. You, see the rolling pin. It's still got a glowing light on inside.

Speaker 5:

Guy is Snoopy sleeping on top of it.

Tim / GM:

Just casting a silhouette against the moon out here.

Hannah / Eryn:

I think Erin's just gonna she they or Erin spots, Journey up in the Mass above

Speaker 8:

Mhmm. And

Hannah / Eryn:

sees Guy sleeping, and just kinda decides to sit down next to the rolling pin on the ground. Aaron wouldn't be able to sleep if

Tim / GM:

Yeah. You hear this. Wow. You're fast.

Speaker 7:

Okay. How are you sleeping under the stars?

Speaker 4:

Looks like it.

Tim / GM:

Okay. I am gonna get a candle.

Speaker 7:

I just gotta figure out.

Tim / GM:

And she's kind of, like, looking around. She goes, I actually don't have a candle on me. She knocks on the rolling pin.

Speaker 4:

What? Sorry. Sorry. I have to be up at 4 in the morning.

Speaker 7:

Oh, I didn't know. I'm sorry.

Speaker 4:

I was just wondering, do you have

Tara / Journey:

a candle or a lantern

Tim / GM:

or something I could borrow?

Speaker 4:

Okay. Okay. Hold on.

Speaker 5:

You hear like clanging on the inside, drawers being opened, and a tiny hand just shoves, like, a couple matches out.

Tim / GM:

Okay.

Speaker 5:

And I guess, mostly used candle. Okay.

Tim / GM:

She goes,

Speaker 7:

thank you.

Hannah / Eryn:

Whatever. While she's doing this, Erin's gonna sneak away.

Tim / GM:

Okay. We chop this.

Hannah / Eryn:

Natural 20. Yes. I'm also very sneaky.

Thomas / Guy:

Yeah.

Hannah / Eryn:

Aaron's gotta sneak. Plus 727.

Tim / GM:

Okay.

Tara / Journey:

Aaron's gotta sneak.

Hannah / Eryn:

Ain't no one gonna find me. I'm hiding.

Tim / GM:

Poppy, you close the door. You hear outside this muffled. Okay. Let's You hear a frantic knock at the door again, Poppy.

Speaker 4:

What?

Speaker 7:

Okay. Hi. It's me again.

Speaker 4:

Yeah. I can tell. Thank you.

Tim / GM:

You you came on board with Aaron. Right?

Speaker 4:

Yeah. What do you want?

Speaker 5:

Where'd they go?

Tim / GM:

Yeah. I was hoping you would know.

Speaker 4:

You can take a look inside. Nowhere in here. Just me.

Thomas / Guy:

Guy, peers over from the top of the rolling pin and says, they are a sneaky one. I do not think you will find them.

Speaker 4:

Okay. This is a problem. Why? Well, I just I was

Speaker 7:

really supposed to watch her.

Thomas / Guy:

On whose orders?

Speaker 4:

The captain. Captain Yarhar. He just. Oh, I do not envy you.

Speaker 7:

I don't

Thomas / Guy:

He will probably be very angry that you did not fulfill your mission.

Speaker 7:

Yeah. That's what I'm thinking.

Speaker 4:

That's why you should be self employed.

Speaker 7:

Oh, jeez. You guys really don't know where she is. I mean, you're her friend. Right?

Thomas / Guy:

Oh, we do not have any openings currently at the Rolling Pin.

Speaker 7:

No. I mean, like

Tim / GM:

I know where she is

Speaker 4:

and you hear Okay. Thank you for interrupting my sleep. Good night.

Tim / GM:

Erin, where are you in fact?

Hannah / Eryn:

I'm invisible. No. I'm just kidding. I

Thomas / Guy:

don't know what to tell you.

Hannah / Eryn:

I think Erin went up to the crow's nest.

Tim / GM:

Oh, okay. From up there, you see Cashier sprint across the main deck and take one of the stairs down. And yeah. I guess none of you actually know where she ends up to go look, but it's not up here.

Hannah / Eryn:

Yeah. And I'm just gonna hide in my hidey hole

Speaker 4:

k.

Hannah / Eryn:

The rest of the night. Okay.

Speaker 8:

Dorn is checking every open guest room, like, looking for Erin. Like, literally nobody in the entire party took an actual room as I shut the last door.

Hannah / Eryn:

I like to imagine you, like, just go into some random people's rooms. Like, who who oh, I'm so sorry. Excuse me. Excuse me.

Speaker 8:

Dorian will go up back to the rolling pin.

Tim / GM:

Yep. And,

Speaker 5:

so we're all in the site.

Speaker 8:

I see that they're all sleeping and, no errand in sight. Mm-mm. So, yeah, I just nod to myself and, head back down into one of the actual guest bedrooms.

Tim / GM:

Yeah. I think you actually wind up in the same one that Aaron was using very briefly and are able to rest there for the night. Okay.

Hannah / Eryn:

Long rest.

Speaker 4:

Long rest.

Tim / GM:

Long rest.

Speaker 4:

It's the long rest.

Tim / GM:

Alright. The next morning is kind of a misty one or at least you thought it was, but you're actually pretty close into the clouds, just the very peaks of them. The ship pulls up as the dawn breaks, and you can see the clouds laid out before you again. What are you baking today?

Speaker 5:

I'm trying to figure that out. Okay.

Speaker 4:

I have made 2 fiber field cakes and 1 Cinnabom.

Tim / GM:

Guy, you feel a familiar warmth on your back as you're laying on the rolling pin, and, it's the, oven. It's far beneath you that has started up, and it gets pretty hot up there actually while she's baking. Oh. It's usually your alarm clock. Puppy.

Speaker 4:

Good morning.

Tim / GM:

You hear a familiar voice coming down the chimney, puppy?

Thomas / Guy:

How was the oven running this morning?

Speaker 4:

It seems a little hotter than normal, but I've kind of accounted for it and I adjusted some stuff. Unless this batch burns, I think we're good.

Thomas / Guy:

Excellent. I think you'll find our modifications will be very helpful.

Speaker 4:

I am excited to test it out.

Thomas / Guy:

Where are the others? Journey Journey is still out there.

Speaker 4:

Yeah. I haven't seen the other 2. Has the sun risen yet?

Tim / GM:

Yeah. It's, like, just now. It's, like, 6, 7 AM.

Tara / Journey:

Yeah. So as the sun rises, Journey wakes up and swings down from the ropes to land in front of the rolling pin. Morning.

Thomas / Guy:

Good morning, Journey.

Speaker 4:

Good morning.

Tim / GM:

Good morning, says captain Yarhar.

Thomas / Guy:

Good morning, Captain Yarhar. What are you doing here?

Tim / GM:

He's near the rolling pin, and he says, I'm afraid we lost Erin. We literally can't find her. Do any of you happen to know where she might be?

Thomas / Guy:

I think you'll find they'll just turn up.

Tim / GM:

I'm sure that's the case.

Tara / Journey:

Why do you need to know?

Tim / GM:

Well, I'll be frank with all of you. I don't mean to slander your friend's name, but I did find her, where she wasn't supposed to be, in my back rooms, actually.

Tara / Journey:

That seems Bowrat. Is there a problem with that?

Tim / GM:

Well, there is, in fact. There's a high price tag on this ship and even higher price tag on the fuel that we run. We can't have people moving around where we don't expect them to be. There's tens of thousands of gold of bismide aboard this vessel.

Speaker 4:

Oh, I don't think they're interested in that.

Tim / GM:

I I think you're being honest, Poppy.

Speaker 4:

I always am.

Tim / GM:

However, I am hesitant to believe a career criminal is untempted by tens of thousands of gold lying about.

Tara / Journey:

Well, I have a question. Did you explicitly state that these bases were off limits?

Tim / GM:

I did not. For someone such as yourself, I could imagine that being a problem.

Thomas / Guy:

I do not think you need to worry, captain. Just the other day we were stealing subismite and Aaron No.

Speaker 4:

We never saw no interest in

Thomas / Guy:

it whatsoever. Oh.

Speaker 4:

No. We never stole anything. That's against the law.

Thomas / Guy:

We found

Speaker 4:

Yes.

Tim / GM:

I appreciate your candor, guy. I really do.

Speaker 8:

Thank you.

Tim / GM:

So you can see why I'm a little concerned. I'm afraid I have to change this from a humble request to captain's orders.

Speaker 4:

I mean

Thomas / Guy:

Well, I cannot turn down a captain's orders.

Tim / GM:

I think you can understand where I'm coming from. I think we'd all just feel a little more comfortable if we didn't have unaccounted for people somewhere aboard the ship.

Tara / Journey:

So is it alright if Aaron just sticks with our group?

Tim / GM:

That's fine.

Tara / Journey:

We don't need some other random person hanging about?

Tim / GM:

No. As long as I know where everyone is and that everyone is accounted for, we're in good shape.

Speaker 4:

Alright.

Thomas / Guy:

We can speak with Aaron, ask them to show a little more discretion on your vessel.

Tara / Journey:

Or a little less discretion?

Tim / GM:

A little more would be good.

Speaker 4:

Be even more discreet.

Tara / Journey:

Alright. Well, we'll keep all our eyes out for Aaron and, let them know what you said.

Tim / GM:

I'm not gonna pretend to know the full story here, but I would prefer that this happens immediately.

Thomas / Guy:

Well, as I said, usually, they just show up.

Tara / Journey:

Yeah. We're we haven't known each other all that long.

Tim / GM:

Yeah. Give me a persuasion check. Who? Persuasion?

Thomas / Guy:

Both of us, sir.

Tim / GM:

It's kind of like pseudo advantage, but, yeah, fine.

Thomas / Guy:

It's good. 21.

Speaker 7:

Mine's bad. Mine was a 7. Oh, damn.

Tim / GM:

Okay. I mean, even with that, yeah, he, very slowly moves into a nod. He says, alright. Okay. That's fine.

Tim / GM:

Let me know when you find her, and, please, just keep to yourselves since it's I hope that sounds fair.

Tara / Journey:

Yeah. We we understand. We we know better now. We didn't know the rules, but now we do. Great.

Thomas / Guy:

Thank you, captain.

Tim / GM:

We should be arriving at Lor within the hour.

Speaker 4:

That's very soon.

Tim / GM:

Indeed it is. At that, you feel your stomach start to kind of flutter. It floats inside you as the ship lowers. You're going through a break in the clouds. There's suddenly a new ceiling on the world, there's a canopy of clouds above you and a blanket of clouds below.

Tim / GM:

The feeling is like being underwater, but in a vast clear ocean. And down here, it's dark, it is almost nighttime dark in between these layers of clouds. There's little shafts of sunlight breaking through in some places, and a violent wind picks up as you reach the second strata. In the distance, on this lower blanket of clouds, far away from you, you can see flashes of lightning, almost constant from different areas. It seems this middle layer is always trapped in some kind of persistent thunderstorm.

Tim / GM:

Down here, the atmosphere is captain kind of, like, every moment has urgency to it. You see the captain kind of light up as you guys enter this next strata. It says exciting, isn't it?

Speaker 4:

The falling?

Tim / GM:

The clouds. I mean, where else in the world?

Thomas / Guy:

Wasn't one of your rules not to go through the clouds?

Tim / GM:

He gestures upward and you can see this kind of ovaloid break in the clouds, and he says, We didn't.

Speaker 4:

Wow. Stunning. Stunning.

Tim / GM:

Well, we might have touched into them a little bit, but we've got we've got a good pilot. Sorry. I just realized I didn't establish a pilot or

Speaker 4:

any way of

Tim / GM:

I'm actually directing these things.

Speaker 4:

Who's applying this shit? He's like, shit.

Hannah / Eryn:

The wheel has just

Speaker 4:

been spinning in the air.

Tim / GM:

And like time he comes to talk to you,

Speaker 4:

he's leaving the wheel.

Thomas / Guy:

I believe we are in good hands, captain Yarra.

Tara / Journey:

Journeys leaning off the edge. She didn't get the experience the first time, so now she's really just like dog out the window Yeah. Of the car.

Tim / GM:

And it's like adrenaline high, full body buzz kind of exhilarating.

Speaker 8:

Doran comes running up at this, from below deck. Are we crashing? Why why does it look like this? Why are we going down?

Tim / GM:

It's a controlled process. Don't you worry.

Speaker 8:

I'm a little worried.

Tim / GM:

Have you seen Aaron?

Speaker 8:

Nope.

Hannah / Eryn:

Aaron. Just Aaron's nose is peeping over the edge of the crow's nest.

Tim / GM:

And you're just like, uh-oh.

Hannah / Eryn:

I can't hear everything, I'm guessing, because it's pretty loud or

Tim / GM:

windy up

Hannah / Eryn:

where I am. So

Speaker 8:

Doren's holding on to some ropes and is wide eyed.

Tim / GM:

Yeah. You all see Roland, coming up from below decks. He is carrying a very large rope with him.

Tara / Journey:

Is it a 1,000 feet of rope?

Speaker 8:

About a 1,000

Speaker 4:

feet of rope.

Tim / GM:

He comes up and he says, this is tied to one of the main supports downstairs. He looks over the edge. I was a little afraid of floating away.

Speaker 8:

Good call.

Speaker 4:

Are we gonna float away? You didn't tell me we'd float away.

Tim / GM:

No. No. You're gonna be fine. It's just, you know, with my buoyancy, the decline is a little intense. He, he, like, lifts a foot off the ground, and then you see him kind of, like, float away a little bit.

Tim / GM:

And then he, like, grabs the rope and yanks himself down.

Tara / Journey:

You might wanna stay below decks rolling if that's how you're floating away.

Tim / GM:

He's silently nodding at you and pulling himself, like, back into the below decks.

Speaker 8:

See you later.

Tim / GM:

Poppy, you're experiencing much the same thing.

Speaker 4:

Woah.

Tim / GM:

As the ship descends, you take, like, a big step and you kind of float away like moon bounce a little bit.

Speaker 4:

Hey. You said I wouldn't float away.

Tim / GM:

He reaches up and grabs you and pulls you back down, and he goes, you really shouldn't. You're not a genasi. What the hell?

Speaker 4:

I don't know.

Thomas / Guy:

She is naturally very bubbly.

Tim / GM:

He was like, yes. And kind of like drags her ankle, like, back down to the floor and, like, pats her foot and he goes, stay there.

Speaker 4:

Oh, hey. I think I know why.

Speaker 5:

I take my shoes off.

Tim / GM:

Yeah. When you take your shoes off, they kind of, like, wobble a little bit and they begin hand, like, grabbing area and Roland grabs them and hands them back down to you.

Speaker 4:

Oh, stupid shoes. I didn't know, like

Tim / GM:

You might wanna go below decks too if you're gonna be wearing those.

Speaker 4:

I'm not gonna wear them anymore. Not on a ship.

Thomas / Guy:

We paid lots of phenom's money for those.

Tara / Journey:

Doren, come to the edge. Come

Speaker 8:

see. Why would I do that? Why are you leaning over the edge?

Tara / Journey:

It's so cool. Why don't you look at it?

Speaker 8:

Nope. I'm just gonna look up.

Hannah / Eryn:

Yeah. Does he see me?

Tim / GM:

Beautiful. You you look straight up to try to focus on something familiar. Clouds above you, that always happens. But when you look up, you also see Eren's tiny face just poking down and immediately, like, goes out of view. She is high up in the crow's nest peeking down at you.

Speaker 8:

I will say nothing.

Tim / GM:

The time passes quickly with all the excitement. And below you in the distance, partially peeking out of a cloud, you see a skyland, a large rock formation broken up into several pieces that are all floating in a cluster near

Thomas / Guy:

each other. And so many of these clusters have man

Tim / GM:

made bridges running between them, these sagging rope and wood bridges that connect them all. You can see hexagonal towers that rise 30, 60 feet into the air, and there's 100 of them on this island, but certainly not man made by the looks. If you've ever seen the Giant's Causeway, this island is largely built out of hexagonal basalt columns that kind of link together to form towers of differing heights. The lower half of this island is almost entirely in the clouds that seem to be permanently stationed around this place, shrouding it in mist. The captain turns to look at all of you, and in the wind, he shouts out, the Isle of Lohr.

Tim / GM:

Woah. I hope you're all ready to learn. Learn

Thomas / Guy:

what? Learn.

Speaker 8:

Oh, because it's lore.

Hannah / Eryn:

Thanks for listening to Cloudfall. I'm Hannah playing Aron.

Thomas / Guy:

I'm Thomas and I am Guy.

Speaker 4:

I'm Maggie and I play puppy Kenmore.

Tara / Journey:

I'm Tara, and I play Journey.

Speaker 8:

Hey. I'm John, and I play Doran.

Tim / GM:

And I'm Tim, your GM and all the other people. See you in the next one.