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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!
Last time on Cloudfall. Just an hour ago, Doran chose to fuck around and has subsequently found out. He made his assault on the leader of the blight, but retaliation followed him back to his friends in the gardens almost immediately. With Bobka and Serbo joining the fight, the party took on their old friends from Farewell as well as a couple more of those cranky shadow creatures. But this time, they recognized the face behind the shadows.
Tim / GM:It was Harley and she was out for blood. But the party saw past it. Journey was able to restore Harley at the cost of a Faye Bud's life. The party came out on top. And now there's a few less blight on the streets.
Tim / GM:Danger's over. Right? You're all standing around the fountain in the center of the Gardens of Back Sea. A few wagons around you are smoldering, but not burning. And you see the slain bodies of Ribbo, the Dragonborn, Mercy, the Fire Wizard, and a shadowy fiend.
Tim / GM:You can see the brass, the police officers of Backsy are dispersing a crowd of onlookers that are all recording you, as Doran finishes up a speech and turns back toward his party. What do you all do?
Hannah / Eryn:How close are Ribbo, Mercy, and the shadow fiend bodies? Are they, like, relatively in the same area? They're kinda spread out. I can't remember kinda where
Tim / GM:they're at. They're all, like, somewhat near the fountain. I believe Ribbo is probably in the fountain. The shadow fiend was cut down in a crowd outside of the fountain, just a little, kinda closer to the wagons. Mercy was kind of, like, front and center making her last stand as she tried to burn down the rolling pin with a delayed blast fireball that never exploded because she was knocked unconscious.
Maggie / Poppy:Also, a note. The shadow fiend is the impound guy. Yes. Oh, that's what
Hannah / Eryn:I was gonna oh, Aaron was gonna go investigate.
Maggie / Poppy:Yeah. The oldest cat in the world.
John / Doran:Yes. And Harley is in what shape now?
Tim / GM:Harley is awake, and she is, for all intents and purposes, she's recovered. She's with you guys again. She had just confessed to going to talk to Baloran immediately after talking to you, and that struck a chord last we spoke.
Maggie / Poppy:Mhmm.
Tim / GM:You also know that Sir Beau is still face down in the water as well.
Maggie / Poppy:I'm going to break away from the party and try and fish him out.
Tim / GM:Okay. You, get up to him and splash your way into the fountain. You see that he's not, like you didn't turn him off. You didn't kill him. His his life force doesn't depend on Bismite, but his ability to fly does.
Tim / GM:So he's kind of, like, coming to after getting the wind knocked out of him, and he looks up and uses
Tim / GM:Oh, thank you for stopping me, Poppy.
Maggie / Poppy:You're welcome. I'm I'm sorry you ended up in the water. Are you okay?
Tim / GM:I'm he, looks around and makes some weird servo noises and looks back at you and says, no.
Maggie / Poppy:Well, how about we get you out and we can check you over?
Tim / GM:Much obliged.
Maggie / Poppy:Try and help. I'm not strong or tall. I'm probably like head above the water.
Tim / GM:Yeah. He, he stands, fairly gracefully until he gets to a certain point. You can see that some of his joints are a little messed up, and they won't, like, fully extend, and so he's kind of hobbling with you out of the fountain.
Maggie / Poppy:Start patting down his legs with a tea towel. Okay. Yeah.
Tim / GM:Yeah. He's just quizzically watching you do that as, the 2 of you kind of rejoin the party a little bit.
Hannah / Eryn:I think Aaron is injured a little bit and kind of just, like, has some cuts and scrapes on their arms. But as they hold their wounds, they're gonna walk over to, Mercy's body on the ground and, like, kick them over and take a look. And, I'm gonna just, like, do a quick search for any things of interest on Mercy's form.
Tim / GM:Yeah. Give me a quick investigation.
John / Doran:Doran sees Aaron doing this, and he's gonna kind of stand in front of Aaron to try to, like, divert give her a little more time to investigate.
Tim / GM:Okay. Yeah. Take advantage on that investigation.
Maggie / Poppy:Okay.
Hannah / Eryn:I got 18.
Tim / GM:Okay. You find, a couple things. You find a small bandolier of vials of blood. You don't know who it belongs to or what it's really for. You find a kind of shitty copy of your carving, Aaron.
Tim / GM:That carving of 2 elven faces that you keep on you, one of your only non lethal possessions that you keep with you. There's a a crude copy of it in her pocket. It seems to be made out of clay.
Tara / Journey:Got it.
Tim / GM:Oh, and finally, there's a, scroll of delayed blast fireball.
Tara / Journey:Another fire trick for us.
Hannah / Eryn:I'm barely surprised to find the copy of the wood carving. And I look at it in my hand for a few minutes and flip it over a few times, and I take out, out of one of my pockets, the actual wood carving.
Maggie / Poppy:Mhmm.
Hannah / Eryn:And I place it, and I can see that it was a pressed copy, like a mirror image almost. And I'm gonna crumble it in my hand, the clay one.
Tim / GM:Yeah. Easy.
Hannah / Eryn:I stand up, and my face is just, like, angry.
John / Doran:Can I roll an insight looking at the brass, trying to get a read on how they might confront us if they see us?
Tim / GM:Yeah. Go ahead.
John / Doran:26.
Tim / GM:Oops. Okay. Yeah. You, you catch a couple things, that are being said here. You can see the guards are kinda doing this nothing to see here sort of routine.
Tim / GM:They're actually protecting you. They're keeping people away from you. Mhmm. They're not they're not keen to rush you.
Tara / Journey:Journey has been kneeling in the fountain Mhmm. In front of Harley. And after Harley is done kind of explaining how she got to where she was, Journey takes a beat and kind of does a miniature version of that full body shake to dry off
Tim / GM:Yeah.
Tara / Journey:Just to kind of emotionally Shake it off. Shake it off and then reaches out to help Harley stand. Harley, are you alright?
Tim / GM:As you pull her up, she's so weak that she actually falls forward into your arms when you pull on her, and, she kind of climbs up you to stabilize yourself.
Tara / Journey:Yeah. I just fully carry her.
Tim / GM:Okay. She, she's trying to let herself walk again, and then she eventually just gives up, and settles into your arms. Mhmm.
Tara / Journey:Yeah. We'll get you out of here and and get you cleaned up.
Tim / GM:I I knew he was involved, but I I didn't think he was the end of it.
Tara / Journey:Couldn't have known. None of us knew.
Tim / GM:I'm sorry.
Tara / Journey:Don't be. It's it is what it is.
Tim / GM:Serbo is also kind of hobbling with you. Babka is quietly standing, with his lover, the guard. You see the 4 of them kind of barely speaking, Looks real happy all the time. Just got his mouth hanging open, drooling a little bit, staring at all of you, and then all of a sudden, you see 2 of those 4 turn in towards each other and do a high five, like a double handed high five. Both of them just suck into each other, and it turns into 2 of these.
Tim / GM:And they both kind of close their mouths and nod at each other, and they go, good work. And then they high 5 again. It becomes one cat. Sorry. One Tabaxi.
Tim / GM:Excuse my rudeness. That Tabaxi kind of shakes their expression a little bit and looks at Bobka and says, darling, is everything quite alright? Oh. Bobkin says, don't want to worry. Our friends are highly capable.
Tim / GM:Let's, let them take the lead.
Thomas / Guy:Guy's gonna walk over to Poppy and Sir Bo. Poppy, it seems we are in the clear now. Do we What happened to the rolling pin? Did it make it out okay?
Maggie / Poppy:Oh, I, like, stand up on my tiptoes and I peer Yeah. See where it ended up. You look
Tim / GM:down the way and you see Cindy Buns is helping usher the rest of the survivors out of your wagon. It's unharmed, you know, aside from taking a couple anymore. Not moving anymore. Yeah. They, they don't need to retreat anymore.
Maggie / Poppy:I think it's okay. I I was my first priority is to get it out of harm's way. So
Thomas / Guy:Understood. I'm glad it is safe.
Maggie / Poppy:Thanks. Me too.
Thomas / Guy:In the heat of things, I seem to have, stolen this pile of bismite from that wagon over there. I think I should return it.
Maggie / Poppy:Which, which wagon was that?
Thomas / Guy:It was the scrum diddly sweets
Maggie / Poppy:wagon. Oh, I mean, we could probably use it, but oh, no. That's that's not okay. Right? Taking it from from someone who needs it?
Thomas / Guy:I think the owner of this car did nothing wrong. I think I should return it.
Maggie / Poppy:Yep. That's probably right and and moral and just, and we really need that, basically.
Thomas / Guy:Well, we are heroes now. Shouldn't we be able to procure its mind if we need it?
Maggie / Poppy:Well, that's true. I have to assess our funds.
John / Doran:Serbo, Doran, are are am I able to speak to Rune?
Tim / GM:Yes. At once. Contacting the maker.
Tim / GM:You see him kind of like straddle his legs out super wide, just kinda like spreading his legs in front of you. And then he, like, gets low on his haunches, and you see his head spin around displaying this sort of grid of bright lights again. And that grid turns into a smiley face, and you hear this connecting noise, this
John / Doran:Hello? Rune, hey.
Tim / GM:Doran. Oh, my god. He found you.
Tim / GM:Yeah. Wow.
John / Doran:Couple of times, actually. Yeah. Say,
Tim / GM:How was oh, my god. God, this is such a relief. I mean, the the fight with Diver was one thing and oh my god. I can't believe you guys survived everything and just the whale and getting it back.
John / Doran:Oh, you've been keeping tabs on us. That's okay. Say, are you on backseat right now?
Tim / GM:No. I I'm not. I I couldn't modify enough to get me out there too, but we can talk about that later. But okay. I had this testing module on for the echo bells that I gave you, and I couldn't get it to turn off.
Tim / GM:So, I've just kinda been tuning in to your adventures and, you know, if I knew how to turn it off without breaking it, I would have. But I'm I'm caught up. I I can help.
John / Doran:I appreciate it, Arun. Is there any chance that anyone else would have been able to find us with
Tim / GM:Nope. No chance. I put these together myself. It's just those two links and my little testing module.
John / Doran:Okay. Broon, it I hate to ask, since you do quite a bit for us already. Would you potentially be able to try to get into contact with Libera at any point?
Tim / GM:I I don't know how I'd really go about that, darn. I'm not exactly Well, first buddy.
John / Doran:Yeah. I know. But just take a shower first, and then if you go, to the headquarters.
Tim / GM:Yeah. I it's been hard without Sarbo around to do grocery runs and stuff. I'm not sure if I can get out there, Dorian. You know how it goes. I don't like it out there.
Thomas / Guy:Okay.
John / Doran:Yeah. That's fine.
Tim / GM:What what did you need me to tell her? Maybe I can get a message to her some other way.
John / Doran:I'll think about it. We we had a lot that happened. I was just curious if we had a potential hideout that you had here on back seat. Could we maybe have come with us? Or is
Tim / GM:Yes. Okay. Definitely. And that's kinda my whole plan. Sir Bo and I, we can work together, like, long distance like that.
Tim / GM:Okay? And that rolling pin, it's already kinda falling apart. I I think we can help you guys out in that respect a little bit.
John / Doran:Go on.
Tim / GM:Well, I mean, sir Beau, he's kinda like a tool belt all by himself. I think we can really fix that thing up. Make it something special. Okay. Expand a little bit?
John / Doran:Yeah. Thanks. We got a lot to sort through. We'll have to cut it short here, but, yeah, we'll stay in touch. Thank you.
Tim / GM:As you hang up, you realize that, captain Garth Field is approaching all of you. Says, good evening, fine mainlanders. I understand you've experienced quite a lot very recently. We'd like to escort you back to wherever you need to be. Consider yourselves honored guests of Vaxei for your services here.
Tim / GM:We we, apologize for the miscommunications on the front end. Clearly you're not the minors we were looking for.
Thomas / Guy:Thank you, captain. I am glad we can put this misunderstanding behind us. Does, does does Garth react to see me again in any sort of way?
Tim / GM:What was the exposure to Garth we had earlier? Was that in that crystal area?
Thomas / Guy:I used cause fear. Cause fear.
Tara / Journey:I think I pushed him.
Tim / GM:Yeah.
Thomas / Guy:Yeah. I think it was just to get him out of the way to get to
Tim / GM:the Okay.
Thomas / Guy:Big crystal. Right?
Tim / GM:Yeah. He, yeah. A guy, when he looks at you, he kinda grimaces, and you seem to take a step back, and he says, well, it Yeah. It seems we actually may have had a number of, interactions. He like shakes out his hands really quick and just kinda sees Journey too, and he says, but nonetheless, we understand what side you're all on, and we appreciate it.
Maggie / Poppy:Thank you very much. You guys impounded my cart, and I would like compensation, please.
Tim / GM:Oh. Of course. We'll get something worked out. Unfortunately, the, impound lot is also under an investigation for a recent, death. The disappearance, actually.
Tim / GM:So horrible. We'll, we'll be able to help, but it might be a few days.
Maggie / Poppy:Take your time.
Hannah / Eryn:Excuse me. Why do you let the blight run rampant in this city? Why don't you stop them? You don't do anything.
Tim / GM:Looks back at one of his lieutenants, and they look back at him. He says, we you don't let them. We're we're trying. We're trying. You see him kind of like take a little bit of a turn where it looked like he was about to give you some real truth or honesty and then he just gets aggressive again.
Tim / GM:He says, we're doing everything we can, and it's not up to outsiders to judge our effectiveness. We appreciate your help, but anyway, we'll have protection for you tonight, but that's all we've got planned so far. If any of you wanted to come talk to us, we'd also appreciate that.
Hannah / Eryn:Well, with your impound investigation, you might wanna look into Balor and Breeze. Just a little tip.
Tim / GM:Yeah. About your little show you've got going on, a lot of the people got kinda worried. That was a little intense, even for backseat standards. I understand there's a a need to, you know, really up the showmanship, but a lot of people are thinking this was, you know, real real.
Tara / Journey:This is it is real real. I just I just hoist Harley up in my arms a little bit.
Tim / GM:You see that last, like, holdout of hope in his face, and he goes, yeah. He looks back at his crew, and he says, circle up. Let's get them out of here. Let's keep eyes off all this. He dismisses all of you.
Hannah / Eryn:I'm gonna walk next to Doran as we're leaving this area and kind of quietly say to him, it's not surprising the brass or this enforcement. They're not doing anything. I mean, I expected it in farewell because the city was so new and, like, just kinda crazy, wild. But I don't know. For some reason, I thought a developed place like this, there'd be people that would listen to Sense, but, I mean, I don't know.
Hannah / Eryn:I guess I shouldn't be shocked.
John / Doran:Yeah. I'm not even sure I feel better about them watching us. It's been pretty unpredictable how they'll treat us since we've been here.
Thomas / Guy:At least we no longer have to tiptoe around them.
Maggie / Poppy:Is isn't it the the guard's job to take care of their citizens? That's just how it is. Right? That's their job?
Hannah / Eryn:I don't know. It seems like they're so quick to arrest us, just random people that came into their city, but the ones that are actually doing harm, nothing. Mhmm. And they won't listen to us after we've saved Harley.
Tara / Journey:Well, we might have an avenue in now now that we've saved Harley, and it seems like captain Fields maybe is willing to listen, we could try. But it seems like this whole place is so focused on theater, maybe it's not just the populace. Maybe it's the brass too. Yeah. Well, I wouldn't
Hannah / Eryn:hold your breath for this captain to do anything.
Maggie / Poppy:It just doesn't seem right.
John / Doran:Their job is to follow orders, and the people running this Skyland, at least 2 of them are totally corrupt and evil. So I think that we're at least in talking terms with the brass. But
Maggie / Poppy:You think if the citizens were paying their salaries, they would, you know, protect them.
Thomas / Guy:Perhaps sometimes it is easier to see something new as a threat and ignore the danger right under your nose.
Hannah / Eryn:Well, I guess let's get back to the scratching post.
John / Doran:Mhmm. By the way, we have a couple new party members I should probably introduce as we're walking here. You all remember Sir Beau.
Tim / GM:Hello, everyone. Yes. We met on
Tim / GM:the bridge where we all nearly died.
Maggie / Poppy:Yeah.
John / Doran:Well, a
Maggie / Poppy:lot has changed.
Hannah / Eryn:Days ago. Yeah.
Maggie / Poppy:I'm just kidding.
John / Doran:A lot has, yeah, a lot has changed since then. I I did connect with Rune. Servo might be able to help with the rolling pin a bit.
Maggie / Poppy:What do you mean help?
John / Doran:Well, everything needs maintenance.
Tim / GM:And fixing and complete rebuilding.
Maggie / Poppy:But but
Thomas / Guy:Well, we just souped it up, did we not?
Maggie / Poppy:Right. It goes like 10 miles per hour now.
Tim / GM:The soup is part of the problem.
John / Doran:And, I think you all remember Babka as well?
Tim / GM:Everybody, it's good to see you under even these circumstances. Please, let me introduce as well, mister Benjamin Butterhug, my better half.
Hannah / Eryn:Benjamin Butterhug.
Tara / Journey:He is a butterhug. What a boy.
Tim / GM:Truly lovely to meet all of you. I, hope I didn't make a poor first impression. My countenance, my demeanor, I I work with magic items. You see, and I have one I'm quite favorable of. And he shows you these 2 special gauntlets that he's wearing, and, he does a little, like, patty cake with himself, and he splits into 2.
Tim / GM:And all of a sudden, those 2 are just kinda smiling at you, like,
Tim / GM:and, it's just good good to be around you guys, You know?
Tim / GM:And then he, like, high fives again, turns back into one person. He's like, it comes at the cost of some of my, mental acumen, but makes me a little more brutish and a little more everywhere all at once.
Maggie / Poppy:That's pretty cool.
Thomas / Guy:It's quite a trick.
Tara / Journey:Thanks for your help, both of you, with everything we were dealing with by the fountain.
Tim / GM:Thank you for offering us a new home.
Thomas / Guy:So,
John / Doran:yeah, that was the other part of the the thing I wanted to say. You know how I made a deal and promised Babka I would take him up on a favor, should he ask?
Maggie / Poppy:Right.
Thomas / Guy:Sure.
John / Doran:Babka wants to come with us.
Tara / Journey:Oh, alright.
Maggie / Poppy:There's at least one extra bunk in the in the rolling pin.
Tim / GM:On this matter, you do not need to worry. You're all kind of walking the, evening streets of backseat. You know, it's roughly 10 o'clock getting dark. It's been dark since you were at the Gardens, actually. Do you guys have anything else to do before you get back to the scratching post?
Maggie / Poppy:I would like to go get the pin.
Thomas / Guy:For sure.
Tim / GM:Yeah. I mean, you got the pin with you, and you're being protected by the brass on your way back.
Thomas / Guy:I'm dropping that, Bismite back in that cart Yeah. That I stole from.
Tim / GM:Okay. They do see you come back in with it, and they're a little kind of curious as to what you're doing.
Thomas / Guy:Oh, my apologies. I thought, you know, it was Bismite that caused some of this trouble in the first place, and I thought it might be helpful to have some. So I I mean I meant no ill will to take yours. It was just readily available. I would like to return it.
Tim / GM:We, appreciate your honesty. You said you stole this from our cart when we weren't looking?
Thomas / Guy:Or yes. There was a batty on top of it and
Tim / GM:Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. We all hid them.
Thomas / Guy:Yeah. You probably saw the blood on top of there. Yeah.
Tim / GM:Yeah. Yeah.
Maggie / Poppy:Do you
Tim / GM:know how to get blood out of wood?
Thomas / Guy:Well, you could cover all of it in blood that way.
Maggie / Poppy:It looks like there's no He
Tim / GM:looks at a couple colleagues and
Tim / GM:they start nodding. Well, thanks for returning this.
Thomas / Guy:Yes. Stop by the rolling pin at any time for one free treat.
Tim / GM:Oh, no. You've you've done plenty already. In fact, you hear this
Tim / GM:and he breaks off half of what you would give him back. And, he he hands you back some of the bismite.
Thomas / Guy:Oh. Well, thank you.
Tim / GM:It's the least we can do, really. We would've been next to burn down.
Thomas / Guy:I suppose that's true. Thanks, folks. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Tim / GM:Yeah.
Maggie / Poppy:I I would like to just, like, if Cindy Buns is still around
John / Doran:Yeah.
Maggie / Poppy:Interact with her
Tim / GM:a little bit. Yeah. Yeah. She's kind of, like, turning back over the keys to the the rolling pin, talking to you, and she says, well, I mean, all is well that ends well. Right?
Maggie / Poppy:At least in in in my case. Yeah. Sorry about your car.
Tim / GM:Hey. No. Don't even worry about it. It's gonna be fine. Everything is gonna be fine.
Tim / GM:Yeah.
Maggie / Poppy:Well, hey. I know we got off on a a rough foot.
Tim / GM:I'm so sorry about that. I was so rude, and you turned out to just be the sweetest.
Maggie / Poppy:Oh, well, thanks.
Tim / GM:And you're just so great, and you're you're just so lucky.
Maggie / Poppy:Lucky?
Tim / GM:Thank you. That's what I meant to say. Thank you.
Maggie / Poppy:Well, yeah. No problem. I'm I'm glad you're safe. If you ever need a space to set up shop while you're rebuilding, let me know. What?
Maggie / Poppy:I mean, you can use my kitchen.
Tim / GM:Are you serious?
Maggie / Poppy:We could share. Yeah.
Tim / GM:After I tried to shut you down.
Maggie / Poppy:You tried to shut me down?
Tim / GM:Well, I mean,
Maggie / Poppy:I don't know.
Tim / GM:If anybody comes to you asking me about permits, you can just blow them off. But
Maggie / Poppy:Oh, oh, okay. Well, good. I mean, I can't have a rival if she can't bake. So
Tim / GM:She's, like, biting her lip and kinda staring at the floor, and she looks up and goes, thank you. I mean it. Thank you.
Maggie / Poppy:You're welcome. I'll just, like, pat her on the arm and then walk away.
Tim / GM:Yeah. At that moment, you kind of get back to the the cart and you see a guy standing in there with an extra bit of biz bite in his gauntlet.
Maggie / Poppy:I thought you were gonna bring it back.
Thomas / Guy:Oh, they gave they gave half of it as a reward for stealing it and then returning it.
Maggie / Poppy:Do you
Thomas / Guy:think this works with other stuff?
Maggie / Poppy:I mean, I prefer to earn things, but
Thomas / Guy:Yes. I suppose that's easier.
Maggie / Poppy:But I'm I'm not gonna question it.
Thomas / Guy:Job well done.
Maggie / Poppy:Yeah. Good job.
Tim / GM:With, with plenty of fuel in the pin, you all take an escorted walk back to the scratching post by Sunbeam. And it's there that Babka explains what he was talking about. Babka, et al, do not take up much space. That rug that they have has a special fold in it. Through that fold is where they can escape to their private palace.
Tara / Journey:Oh.
Tim / GM:It's not far outside the Plains of Lotem, back on the mainland. They have their own little villa. That's where they'll spend most of their time. Should you ever need their services, their magic items, their council, you just need to find that magic carpet.
Maggie / Poppy:A portal to the mainland.
Tim / GM:They just need access to the clouds that they can trust is going to be safe when they need to use it.
Thomas / Guy:So if we ever forget we're traveling with Bobka, we can just say they're in the carpet.
Tim / GM:You're welcome. Alright. You all arrived back at the scratching post exhausted. Some of you bruised a little bit. Who actually, took real harm during that fight?
Tim / GM:Did anybody really get battered up?
Tara / Journey:I took some damage.
Hannah / Eryn:Yeah. I got a little hit.
Tim / GM:Well Yeah.
John / Doran:I don't think so.
Tim / GM:Sounds like you guys got out okay then. Yeah. So we'll say exhausted, nonetheless, from the the stress. And, really, the density of action over the last week has been absolutely insane. Keep in mind, you were in Farewell maybe 3, 4 days ago, if that.
Tim / GM:Things have been moving fast. Now, back at The Scratching Post, all of that starts to settle into you, just how quickly things are moving and how dramatic these days have been, and when the brass leave you to your own devices, it feels like for the first time in a while, you don't have anything pushing on you. What that causes is the immediate sensation of needing to rest, and that's what you all do. You all take a long rest back at the scratching post, and you wake up to, kind of near the crack of dawn, a murmur outside. Any of you that check the window see there is a small crowd Outside the scratching post, all looking up quizzically towards the windows, kind of shuffling among themselves, a few members of the brass holding anybody off from getting inside.
Tara / Journey:Everyone, there's a whole bunch of people outside.
Maggie / Poppy:It never ends.
Thomas / Guy:Can't we get a day off?
Tara / Journey:I don't know what they want.
Thomas / Guy:But it can't be us. Right?
Tara / Journey:Well, I mean,
Maggie / Poppy:who else could it be?
Thomas / Guy:Yeah. We do a lot.
Maggie / Poppy:I say we send someone to go down and figure it out, but not Doran.
Thomas / Guy:Not Doran? What? I was gonna nominate Doran.
Hannah / Eryn:Not Doran. Poppy, maybe, they want some breakfast?
Maggie / Poppy:Well, I didn't plan for that. There's so many restaurants here. Why would Maybe I just wanna bake.
Tara / Journey:Maybe you could bake some cookies and sell them.
Hannah / Eryn:Do you do you have supplies even? Yeah.
John / Doran:Yeah. Yeah.
Tim / GM:Mikey. Mikey and April remunitioned your entire cart.
Maggie / Poppy:I just I mean, no. I didn't tell anyone where to find the cart, so I don't
Thomas / Guy:It's alright, Poppy. I can go down and see what is happening.
Hannah / Eryn:Erin goes and opens the door.
Tim / GM:You open the door and see a bright, happy, young Tabaxi kind of flicking her ears with a huge grin. She says, hi. Your breakfast is ready downstairs. Don't worry. We didn't let anybody in.
Hannah / Eryn:What's your name?
Tim / GM:What? My name is, Macy.
Thomas / Guy:What is all of the hubbub down there?
Tim / GM:Well, have you guys watched any holograms this morning?
Maggie / Poppy:No. No. We've been here.
Thomas / Guy:No. We only have one of those things. Right?
Tim / GM:Well, maybe this will answer your question. Could I have your autograph?
Hannah / Eryn:Sure. But what? You need to tell us first why all these people are here.
Tim / GM:Well, people are really into your series. I mean, everybody saw the first episode last night, the the battle in the gardens, taking down some of the gangsters out there and and even going after one of the 10 in Backsy. I mean, that we've never seen drama like that. You guys are everything. You're everywhere.
Tim / GM:I mean, I mean, look at it. You guys look out those windows and you can see there's, like, little kids that have, like, big wooden swords and they're just kind of waving them around. You look down and see there's a kid that has, like, springs in their hair that have, like, little colorful details on the end of it. Like, they have their own Faye buds.
Maggie / Poppy:Oh, no. That's
Tim / GM:so cute. They're all dressing up like you.
Thomas / Guy:Oh, dear.
Hannah / Eryn:So Aaron was a Tabaxi yesterday.
Tim / GM:True. Yep. So they're just copying that.
Hannah / Eryn:Okay.
Tim / GM:What they saw.
Maggie / Poppy:And I think we were in disguise. So, like,
Tim / GM:little Wednesday Adams. Yep. Exactly.
Hannah / Eryn:Okay. Great.
Thomas / Guy:Perhaps it would be best if I removed this form.
Maggie / Poppy:So that they don't recognize you?
Thomas / Guy:Yes. My legions of adoring fans don't
Maggie / Poppy:recognize me.
Hannah / Eryn:Yeah. Eren would've changed back into, like, their more comfortable Erin form when they went to sleep. Yep. Might be answering the store to a person as Erin.
Tara / Journey:Yeah. I mean,
Tim / GM:Erin, they clearly don't recognize you. They're not asking Aaron. Got it. Although, now that
Thomas / Guy:the brass are no longer looking for us to arrest us, I suppose there is no harm in basking in a little fame.
Hannah / Eryn:I'm so glad that I wasn't in this form when that all happened.
Maggie / Poppy:Don't like attention?
Hannah / Eryn:Yeah. It's not really my style.
Tara / Journey:You might need to leave separate from us then if you wanna stay under the radar.
John / Doran:Let's have breakfast. Let's have breakfast first.
Maggie / Poppy:That's how
Tim / GM:I say it.
Hannah / Eryn:Let's have breakfast.
John / Doran:But I think we need to figure out what we're doing. Are the windows covered, or are we gonna I don't like being watched while I eat.
Tim / GM:Yeah. You all follow down the stairs. You see a hot breakfast laid out on the table. You're the only people in this hotel. They've asked every other guest to leave.
Tim / GM:Oh, wow. When you look outside, the window is wide open, and you can see guests or people outside are pushed up to the window, like, their faces pressed against it. And you see his cheek wide against the window, his face pressed up against the side, staring at all of you, Roland. Oh. He just with what little he can move his wrist with the crowd pressing from behind him, he just gives you
Maggie / Poppy:like a tiny wave.
Tara / Journey:Oh. We should let him in, rat?
Maggie / Poppy:Yeah. Nobody else.
Thomas / Guy:Isn't that that guy from Farewell?
Maggie / Poppy:I think so.
John / Doran:Yeah.
Tim / GM:I mean, is there
John / Doran:a backdoor that we could let that one in? Yeah. I don't know
Tim / GM:if he's gonna be able to get there, though. She, like, gestures, like, a tiny little point off to the side. And, you see Roland just kind of, like, almost effused through the crowd, just kind of squeezing through people and gets over to the door. You see some some of the brass, like, rough handle people so that they don't also slip in when he does, but he's brushing himself off standing inside the breakfast area.
Maggie / Poppy:Is there any chance we could take the food upstairs to our room?
Tim / GM:Of course. Yeah. Do what you need to. And, I'll just have you, the food's free, of course. I just I wish if you could just sign this receipt for the free food.
Maggie / Poppy:Of Almost?
Tim / GM:Yeah. Just all of you sign the receipt.
Thomas / Guy:Seems reasonable.
John / Doran:Okay.
Tara / Journey:What do I sign with?
Thomas / Guy:Yeah.
Maggie / Poppy:With this pen?
Tara / Journey:Well, where do I sign it?
Maggie / Poppy:Oh, your name. You put your name.
Tara / Journey:Okay. I guess. And you see, Journey holds the pen in her full fist
Tim / GM:Yeah.
Tara / Journey:And draws what could be a name.
Maggie / Poppy:K. Yeah.
Tim / GM:A unique little stylized scribble.
Tara / Journey:And it's in, like, Sylvan. It's not in common. K.
Maggie / Poppy:I do, like, cute little bubble letters, Poppy
Tim / GM:Yeah.
Maggie / Poppy:With, like, a little heart for the o.
Tim / GM:God. Good. Aaron?
Hannah / Eryn:Yeah. Aaron's grabbing the food and walking away because they're not a person that they want the autograph
Tim / GM:with. They say, and what about wasn't there a 5th?
John / Doran:Oh,
Tara / Journey:that was just some Tabaxi.
Thomas / Guy:They're the shy one.
John / Doran:Oh. It'll probably come up in future episodes.
Maggie / Poppy:She's kind
Tim / GM:of, like, pointing around all of it. She's, oh, okay. No spoilers. Yeah. Good.
Tim / GM:Good. Good. She looks at her list and says, good. And she, like, pockets it immediately. That's obviously not an official document in any sense.
Tim / GM:She gestures for you all to go up to your room and have some privacy. With Roland? Roland's following you. You know, he's he's very excited to see all of you and says, hey, guys. I I've seen a lot of you this morning, actually.
Tara / Journey:Why why are you here? I thought you were still traveling with the heavenly feathers.
Tim / GM:I am. They're here too. Everybody. Yarhar, everybody. Oh.
Maggie / Poppy:Oh, wow. Oh.
Tim / GM:Oh? We ran into a spot of trouble too, and, well, we we kind of emergency docked here.
Maggie / Poppy:Are you here to take us back?
Tim / GM:Might end up that way, actually.
Hannah / Eryn:What kind of trouble?
Tim / GM:You got time?
Hannah / Eryn:Yeah. Eren just has a mouthful of water.
Tim / GM:He explains that they had, dropped you on lore and then they were heading out to farther lands. Their destination was an island called Chenoka, but they didn't make it there. In terms of the timeline, it seemed just after lore fell, the heavenly feather was attacked by a great beast. The side of the hull was shredded, and they lost some of their crew. They also lost part of the engine room, and it needs some pretty severe repairs that they don't know that they can get serviced on backseat.
John / Doran:Well, you might be able to help with that.
Thomas / Guy:Was this the great beast we encountered?
John / Doran:Could you describe it?
Tim / GM:Yeah. I mean, I I know its name is Cree. It's a it's it's an ancient protector of the clouds and the mainland. Yeah. The bird.
Tim / GM:Right. Yeah. The big cyan and magenta long tail feathers, but I've never seen this guy in such rough shape. His feathers were frayed out, beak, broken. It looked frantic, desperate.
Tim / GM:It looked human in a way.
Tara / Journey:What color was its eyes?
Tim / GM:He's kind of searching the ground. He says, I don't know. They're either pink or blue. I don't know. The whole bird's kinda colorful like that.
Tim / GM:Right? The bird looked human? There was like a a sentience to it. Like, it knew what it was doing, or it wanted us out of the sky or it wanted something.
Thomas / Guy:It seems that since it lost its home, this Cree is causing further problems in the clouds.
Tara / Journey:I don't know if it's I don't know if it's the same bird.
Maggie / Poppy:Oh, the, like, peaceful one?
Thomas / Guy:Right. Oh, yes. We had hypothesized that perhaps the blue eyed man
Tara / Journey:Exactly. I'm wondering if maybe he took to the skies in that form to do some harm.
John / Doran:Or we don't understand motivations or desires of the great beasts, and perhaps Kree has done this on its own.
Thomas / Guy:The one we met here seemed quite protective, the territorial of the heart.
Maggie / Poppy:Right. For good reason at this point, I think.
Tara / Journey:And if Cree was protecting Lore and Lore is gone, maybe there's something else at play.
Hannah / Eryn:Should we loop him in on everything and see if maybe Libera has some knowledge of all the happenings? I don't know. I never know who to trust in these situations, it seems like.
Tim / GM:I heard about Laura. It's probably a good place to start.
Thomas / Guy:Do you trust him, Doran? Yeah. I
John / Doran:I trust Roland.
Maggie / Poppy:Do we trust Doran?
John / Doran:Poppy, you seem like you woke up on the wrong side of the bed today.
Tim / GM:Is everything okay?
Maggie / Poppy:Maybe you woke up on the wrong side of the bed.
John / Doran:Perhaps. Jesus. Poppy.
Maggie / Poppy:I Doran.
John / Doran:I don't I don't know how to make this right. I could say that I went and did those things because I wanted to get them off of our back for all of our safety. But
Maggie / Poppy:But you put a target on our back. Yeah. I just think we should stick to the plans that we come up with as a group.
John / Doran:Okay.
Maggie / Poppy:This is not the first time. That's all. And and you kinda you kinda went off the deep end a little bit, and it's it's scary. Yeah.
Thomas / Guy:Well, I, for 1, Doran, I didn't know you had it in you. I'm impressed.
John / Doran:Thanks, Kai. Feel like I broke even.
Thomas / Guy:I thought for sure you would die pathetically.
John / Doran:Okay. Ouch. Okay. Well, speaking of plans, I think everyone still doesn't grasp that the danger is real, and this is not a show. But maybe that's okay.
John / Doran:Perhaps we can take advantage of this and publicly challenge Allerin. We have enough rapport now that he would have to accept. If we can get him out of the best in, one of us can be in control. And I think we need to have that influence so that we can deal with the real problem, which is a existential threat to all of Skylands.
Tara / Journey:Well, we we have two avenues to get into the best. Right? We have Poppy and, the bacon, and then we have trying to race Ballerin.
John / Doran:The reason why it's better to race is if Poppy gets in, that means we just cancel out Balloran's votes.
Hannah / Eryn:Yeah. And it's way cooler.
Maggie / Poppy:Here's the options. 1, it's a sure thing that I beat Cindy Buns. Absolutely. Yes. So we have, like, a direct line into the top 10 or we try and race the fastest person in the world who's trying to actively kill us.
Maggie / Poppy:And we have no way of racing him because the rolling pin only goes 10 miles per hour.
Thomas / Guy:Do we not have a robot companion who can aid with that?
Maggie / Poppy:But we don't know how fast he can make it go.
Tara / Journey:Why not hedge our bets and do both?
Maggie / Poppy:I mean, I think that's a good plan. I'm worried about the safety of the rolling pin.
Tara / Journey:Sure.
John / Doran:Roland, I know you need help fixing up the heavenly feather.
Tim / GM:Yeah. Not my responsibility, really. They can truck back to farewell when they have to, and I think that's what's gonna happen ultimately. Like they said. I don't think this is a job for 1 person.
Tim / GM:If you saw the damage, it's it's big.
Tara / Journey:Is there Bismont missing?
Tim / GM:No. We got lucky, but if I'm being honest, that's what it looks like it was going for.
Tara / Journey:It was after the bismat.
Maggie / Poppy:That seems likely. If If it
John / Doran:can make its way back to the mainland in its current state, could we get some help from some of the engineers? Oh, yeah. Yeah. I think I agree, Poppy. I think you should compete for best baker, and we should also do this race.
John / Doran:And it doesn't have to be a race. He's trying to kill us, and we can try to kill him.
Tara / Journey:Yeah. I don't wanna kill.
Maggie / Poppy:You want to try and raise him so we can actively kill him in front of everyone in backseat.
John / Doran:Do you know who this is?
Maggie / Poppy:I honestly, we haven't spoken much about it. You just kind of flew off
John / Doran:the handle. Yeah.
Maggie / Poppy:Which is I mean
John / Doran:Valoran is the real leader of the blight.
Maggie / Poppy:That is terrifying. What?
John / Doran:Yes. Diver, the rest, all reported to him, still do. Well, not Diver instead. Dive instead.
Tim / GM:Yeah. Hold on. Valorant Breeze is not the name we have for the leader of the blight.
John / Doran:I Does it start with an l?
Tim / GM:Yes. I think we should rope in Phenom.
John / Doran:There's more I need to say. Could you have active communication with Libera? Yeah. Could could you send a message right now? For sure.
John / Doran:Yeah. Okay. Could you ask to have some food delivered to this address? Food and drink. To here from Farewell?
John / Doran:No. Have Libera send some Oh, in Farewell. To a
Tim / GM:contact of yours back in Farewell?
Maggie / Poppy:Yes.
Tim / GM:Yeah. We can arrange that. Sure. Okay.
John / Doran:And I give the address to, Rune's place.
Tim / GM:Is this family of yours?
John / Doran:In a way, I guess.
Tim / GM:Yeah. Seems like a small ask. We can definitely do that. Thanks. But I'm serious.
Tim / GM:We should consolidate power. Phenom is number 4 here. We we would benefit from that.
Thomas / Guy:Yeah. There's a good chance if Phenom did not know we were here before, he knows now.
Hannah / Eryn:Right. Well and
Tara / Journey:he was just arriving. Right?
Tim / GM:Well, we'll get to that.
John / Doran:And we also did wasn't our intent originally, but, one of the 10 is dead. What position was that again? The one held by Mercy?
Tim / GM:Oh, yeah. Brunhilda Flann. Yeah. That was, pure corruption. Quick rise.
Tim / GM:She just got put on the top ten and knocked out the, best gymnast in backseat. It's a weird coo.
Maggie / Poppy:What, what position was she, though?
Tim / GM:Called the best wizard in back seat, which I don't know if I even believe that.
Maggie / Poppy:I mean, all she did was throw fireballs around.
Tim / GM:Right. So basic.
Thomas / Guy:And then she died.
Maggie / Poppy:And then she died.
Tim / GM:That's effective.
Maggie / Poppy:And she didn't even get one off this last time.
Tara / Journey:So is there a power vacuum?
Tim / GM:Tonight is the monthly festival. I mean, they revote every month. There's a big show, a big race, and judges come out to taste the food, and the whole thing kinda resets.
Maggie / Poppy:That that's that's tonight.
Tim / GM:That's today. Yeah. Did you hear about the race and the concert and the bake off?
Maggie / Poppy:We we knew it was happening. I didn't know heard about them in the didn't know.
Tara / Journey:Heard about them in the abstract. We didn't put together that it was a full event.
John / Doran:Oh, yeah.
Maggie / Poppy:Oh, I'm not prepared.
Hannah / Eryn:What do they call this event? What's the dog show called? Westminster?
Thomas / Guy:Dog show.
Hannah / Eryn:But what could we call it Westminster?
Tara / Journey:The best backseat best show.
Tim / GM:It's just called the best the best the best the best of you.
Maggie / Poppy:The best of all.
Tim / GM:Oh, yeah. Okay. Yeah.
Tim / GM:Best of
Thomas / Guy:all is pretty good. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Tim / GM:It's, it's the monthly best of all.
Maggie / Poppy:Yeah. Monthly?
Tara / Journey:Oh, God.
Tim / GM:Monthly. These cats never stop partying down. Oh, shit. Puts his hand over his mouth and he goes, don't tell him I said cats. Yeah.
Tim / GM:We learned that one. Yeah. Oh, and the smell thing too? God. Yeah.
Tim / GM:It's like they need to be complimented just to start a conversation.
Tara / Journey:And they never say that we smell good. Yeah. They only ask
Maggie / Poppy:that we tell them that
Tara / Journey:they smell good.
John / Doran:We wanna keep our volume down.
Thomas / Guy:I'm glad I'm not alone in these thoughts.
John / Doran:I think we should probably alleviate the crowd surrounding this establishment. Who wants to announce our running in the race and the bake off?
Thomas / Guy:Is there documentation or something that we must complete?
Tim / GM:Oh, no. It's all in their hands at this point. I mean, the votes will just start pouring in. You didn't gotta announce anything. There's no candidacy.
Tim / GM:Oh.
Maggie / Poppy:So you just you just show up and you
Tim / GM:The people choose. Doesn't matter if you even know you're getting voted
John / Doran:for. K.
Maggie / Poppy:But there's, like, a bake off?
Tim / GM:Yeah. And the judges, their opinion matters more than anybody for that.
Maggie / Poppy:Who are the judges? Do we know?
Tim / GM:I don't know their names. They rotate, but they're sent straight from saffron. They're members of the palate.
Maggie / Poppy:The palate. Guys, I don't know if I can handle this one. Maybe we just wait a month or something.
Tara / Journey:No. You're gonna get it. You're gonna get it right away because there's no way that they're not gonna recognize the good flavors. Uh-oh. If they're from saffron.
Maggie / Poppy:This is like a a nightmare and a dream come true.
John / Doran:Well, yes. How can we get in contact with Phenom?
Tim / GM:He's at the ring light. They're just getting ready for the stage presence tonight. Let's go talk to him. Okay. It'll be tough getting through the streets, but they respect, stardom here.
Tim / GM:Celebrity. Trust me. If you ask him to move, he'll move. If you ask him to jump off the edge of the island, don't ask him to do that. Okay.
Thomas / Guy:Let's hope it does not come to that.
Maggie / Poppy:I would never ask that.
Hannah / Eryn:Roland, do you think it would be better if I be something else?
Tim / GM:Might not be bad to have a anonymity sometimes. Okay.
Thomas / Guy:Well, they will wonder, will they not why this young elf person is suddenly traveling with the group?
Hannah / Eryn:I'll just stick by rolling and keep an eye on him.
John / Doran:Someone should check on Harley before we leave. I think
Tara / Journey:I will. Okay. Is Harley staying in the I
Tim / GM:think so. It's kind kinda the only safe place for her right now Mhmm. Just being with what happened.
Tara / Journey:Yeah. I'm gonna go check on Harley and make sure she's okay.
Tim / GM:She actually slept in through this whole thing. She doesn't know what's
Tara / Journey:going on. She's pretty groggy when you wake her up. Harley, we're gonna be, going to meet with Phenom Green and talk to him about what our plans are, but seems like we're gonna try and use our new celebrity status to get some stuff done around here and try and make it into the best and bestie. And so there's a lot going on, but I just wanted to make sure that you're doing alright, and that you're feeling okay.
Tim / GM:And that whole time, she's actually avoiding your gaze. She's staring at the floor, and she kind of nods to what you're saying, and then she does flick her eyes up at you just momentarily, and, you know, that normal, cheery, bright, blushy face is teary eyed again, and it looks like something is really hanging on her.
Tara / Journey:Can I do an insight check?
Tim / GM:Yeah. Go ahead.
Tara / Journey:Natural 20.
Hannah / Eryn:Woah. Oh. Bitch.
Tim / GM:Yeah. Harley's got something she didn't tell you, and she knows and she wants to tell you.
Tara / Journey:Harley, I I know you've been through a lot, and kinda dying is, if you need to talk about anything, I I'm here for you. I I really just wanna make
Tim / GM:sure you're okay. I'm so stupid. What do you mean? I went straight to him. I I'm so sorry.
Tim / GM:I still don't understand what that was, what he turned me into, but all I wanted was your magic. I just wanted to eat it, and I could see who had it, who had some and who had a lot, and it's all I could see. It's all I cared about, and I I think I killed someone. And Valoran, he took my stuff when he turned me. All my notes, all my crystals, my whole conversation with you.
Tim / GM:He knows everything.
Tara / Journey:Well, I'm so sorry. It's not your fault. It's really not your fault. I know it's not gonna feel that way for a long time, but you didn't know and you couldn't have known, and you stepped into something that you had no way of knowing would hurt you so bad.
Tim / GM:Her face crumples up, and she starts sobbing.
Tara / Journey:Who was it that you hurt?
Maggie / Poppy:Do you remember?
Tara / Journey:She
Tim / GM:shakes her head, and kinda between sobs, she just mums out, wizard. And you all remember there was some, scholarly caster person in the crowd that she he was murdered in an instant, that Harley just dove into him.
Tara / Journey:Harley, you weren't in control, and I I know I know it's gonna hurt for a long time, but really try to remember that you weren't you. You really weren't. Valorant took something from you, took everything from you, and there's nothing you could've done. You weren't set up to to face that in any way. It's not your fault that your stuff got taken.
Tara / Journey:We'll we'll deal with that as it comes, but he would've known stuff anyway. He had his fingers everywhere in this island.
Tim / GM:I just wanted to do good.
Tara / Journey:I know, and and you still can. You could help us now. You can help us find a a way to use this infamy that we somehow got, and you know this place better than we do. We're still struggling to figure it out. We really do need your help, but but don't push it.
Tara / Journey:Just take a little time and heal.
Tim / GM:She lays back down and nods and doesn't have much more to say.
Tara / Journey:I'm just gonna kneel next to her bed for a minute and hold her hand, I guess, her paw, in my two hands. And I'll just, like I'm not trying to cast anything in particular, but I want to kind of bow my head over her and let my fey buds just kind of, like, swirl around
Maggie / Poppy:Mhmm.
Tara / Journey:And hope that that gives her some amount of comfort and just kind of reach out magically without doing anything in particular.
Tim / GM:About spending the spell
Maggie / Poppy:slot. Don't want to spend
Tara / Journey:the spell slot because I only have 5.
Tim / GM:Yeah.
Tara / Journey:Or 6. But, yeah, I just I just wanna give her some comfort. Not actually I don't expect her to need any, like, true healing for me. You know?
Tim / GM:I think all it takes sometimes is just the idea of spending time with someone that you didn't have to. And, kind of, entertaining her with Feybuds there and giving her a glimpse of that magic that she was so hungry for before seems to calm her so much now.
Hannah / Eryn:It's like the magic of being with a friend.
Tara / Journey:You know? Yeah.
Hannah / Eryn:It's not actually magic, but it's real. Friendship is magic.
Tara / Journey:Yeah. I'm giving her my focus and my my sense of calmness and my sense of peace. Yeah. Giving her no judgment, I think, is really what it is. Just acknowledging that what happened happened and making sure that she knows she's still worth time.
Tim / GM:Yeah. And I think over the next few minutes, you just see her occasionally just start sobbing again and then breathe deep and get over it, and that rhythm continues until Journey meets you all downstairs. You're all at the front door. You can still see the writhing crowd outside. You're about to burst out into the world and face the music as it were, and then you hear something impossible.
Tim / GM:Doran, the echo bell at your hip, the one that is connected to Huber and the bell tower that has long since sunk beneath the null substrata, below the clouds. You hear the bell. And even though you're all about to start on the next big adventure with your new infamy, your new lives and backseat, you think it wise to just take a minute, and reflect on how you've changed in the last 20 hours.
Maggie / Poppy:This is like speed run leveling.
Tim / GM:Uh-huh. Yeah. It, it is. You guys have had to grow out fast, in in no other terms. I think we'll just go around the table, and we'll start with Eren.
Maggie / Poppy:Mhmm.
Hannah / Eryn:Eren took level 6 rogue and is, just gaining 2 proficiencies. I took perception as a proficiency and insight as a proficiency, I think. Sorry. I was trying to remember.
Tim / GM:You must have, like, a lot of high skills at this point.
Hannah / Eryn:Yeah. I you know, the really thing that Erin is not good at is strength, is her one really weak spot. Yep. Also not very good at, like, animal handling, medicine. Like, those are just things that Erin never learned
John / Doran:Sure.
Hannah / Eryn:And kinda surviving on their own, like, survival skills. So those are some of her weaker spots, I would say. Yep. But very strong in persuasion, stealth, and, deception.
Tim / GM:So Sounds like a city urchin.
Hannah / Eryn:Yep. So that's where
Maggie / Poppy:we're at.
Tara / Journey:Journey. Level 6 rangers get to choose an additional favorite enemy type. Mhmm. And over the past less than a week, she realized that, though there are plenty of Fae that she's interacted with that were had her best interest at heart and were friendly and are kind of a part of her in a lot of ways. Mhmm.
Tara / Journey:She's also realizing that there is a fey presence that is very malevolent. So I chose Fae as my new favorite enemy type. Yeah. I also got to learn a new language.
Maggie / Poppy:Mhmm.
Tara / Journey:While she was trying to decipher the words on the wand of identification Yeah. Yeah. She realized that her her ancient language knowledge of Sylvan wasn't really getting her anywhere here in the, the larger world. So she has asked Doran to help her learn Elvish.
Tim / GM:Uh-huh. Should've learned Spanish, but you took Latin.
Maggie / Poppy:I know.
Tara / Journey:Actually, my life. My real life. Yeah. I did take Latin. It did not help me.
Tara / Journey:And I think I think that's about it. Yeah. I didn't get any spells. I didn't get really anything. But at level 5, I got an additional attack, so that kinda covers me.
Tim / GM:Yeah. Okay. So just some downtime and Duolingo. Alright. Thomas.
Tim / GM:Sorry, guy.
Thomas / Guy:I got a 5th paladin level since I'm multi classing.
Tim / GM:I was very afraid you were gonna say I got a 5th attack. I'm like, what the
Maggie / Poppy:heck? Yeah.
Thomas / Guy:It says I can attack as many times as I want until DM begs for mercy. Yeah. I got an extra attack so I can attack twice per round. I also got some second level spells. Should I say what those are or make it a surprise?
Tim / GM:Only if you wanna make it a big surprise.
Thomas / Guy:Hold person is one of them. That's a good one.
Maggie / Poppy:Okay. Alright.
Tim / GM:We'll watch out for
Maggie / Poppy:that.
Thomas / Guy:Although it's like 6 spells that can just disable enemies Okay. In various ways. So I don't know. Just total CC Yep. Build.
Thomas / Guy:Yeah.
Tim / GM:Mhmm. Okay.
Thomas / Guy:That's it.
Tim / GM:Oh. Alright.
John / Doran:Doran. Level 6 bard, in college of eloquence.
Tim / GM:You're still in college,
John / Doran:Yeah. Alright. So I think the most significant thing I gained was unfailing inspiration, which basically when I give a bardic inspiration die, the recipient can keep using it until it actually results in a success. So if you use bardic inspiration to help on, like, an attack or a skill check and you fail, you get to keep the die.
Tim / GM:That's incredible, and I didn't know that was an ability.
Tara / Journey:Yeah. That's so cool.
Tim / GM:Yeah. And satisfying.
John / Doran:Yeah. Mhmm. Cool. Other thing is universal speech, which is basically once per long rest. I can allow up to 5 creatures, understand me regardless of language as long as they can understand language.
John / Doran:Cool. One of their ability is counter charm. Spend an action to give
Tim / GM:I thought countercharm was when somebody was being really charming that you can just be like an obnoxious ass and ruin it for them.
John / Doran:Yeah. I can do that anyways. Counter charm is basically I can spend an action to give myself and, allies, advantage against, frightened and charm effects.
Tim / GM:Oh, wow. Oh.
John / Doran:And then I did get one spell. I chose a third level spell. And true to form, it's a non offensive spell for Doran, and I chose hypnotic pattern. Uh-huh. Okay.
John / Doran:Which allows me to essentially incapacitate a group of creatures. Awesome. Yeah. Poppy.
Maggie / Poppy:Poppy. Yeah. Poppy kind of reassessed her recipe book, spell book. I gained a 3rd level spell, so I took slow, which I am calling molasses.
Tim / GM:Oh, perfect. I love that.
Maggie / Poppy:I also went back through, one of my second level spells I realized I didn't actually need Mhmm. Which was magic mouth, because we have
Tim / GM:because you
Tara / Journey:got what the hell with magic mouth.
Maggie / Poppy:Yeah. So I I scratched out that recipe card, and I wrote invisibility over it and spent the night learning that. I'm also I just feel like I'm brimming with potential today. Yeah. But I don't know where that will take me.
Maggie / Poppy:K.
Tim / GM:And with that, you all, look at each other and take one big final deep breath. Roland goes, ready?
Maggie / Poppy:No.
Tim / GM:He throws open the door, and you see a small kind of bubble around you of excited fans. You look down and see that, yeah, they're imitating you guys as much as they can. You see little kids in like cardboard armor to look like Guy with these big fake swords. You see kids have dyed their hair blonde to look like Doran's and kind of like like had it all shaggy over their face. You even see some people that have, picked up Babka's dress, this kind of like dark cloak that he wears and the whip.
Tim / GM:The other thing you notice immediately is there's a lot of bright bulbs out today, places swarming with them.
Maggie / Poppy:Oh, no.
John / Doran:I will do some, autographs on the way.
Tim / GM:Yeah. The brass are doing the best they can to contain these people, but kids slip through, adults push through. Yeah. They're they're kind of, like, coming up to you, like, willy nilly, often pressing Venus crystals to your face.
Tim / GM:And they're just like, hey. Listen. My kid really likes you guys. It's their birthday tomorrow, and I forgot to do anything about it. So listen.
Tim / GM:Do you think you could really help me out of a bind? What are you guys doing today?
Maggie / Poppy:Do you
Tim / GM:have time to do, like, a kid's party?
Maggie / Poppy:Well, we
John / Doran:gotta stay focused on it.
Tim / GM:A gift. We need a gift for our kid. Okay.
Thomas / Guy:Okay. Well, we
Tim / GM:just need an Instagram. Excuse me. Sir, hey. Big guy. Big guy.
Tim / GM:Over here. Kid.
Maggie / Poppy:I'm tugging Journey down to me.
Tim / GM:Yeah.
Hannah / Eryn:And I say,
Maggie / Poppy:do you remember them telling us that when bright bulbs flock, the island is gonna fall?
Tara / Journey:I'm a little worried about that too. Can I do some sort of nature check?
Tim / GM:Yes. You can. I don't want the Knowledge nature, please.
Tara / Journey:17.
Tim / GM:Very good. Okay. Journey. Once at least once, maybe more than once, you had taken note of some of the foliage on the island of Back Sea. There is a tree in Hush Town downstairs
Maggie / Poppy:that
Tim / GM:had lost all of its leaves. You would notice trees seem to be in a different season up here, but seems that season has rapidly shifted. The trees that you saw in full bloom yesterday seem to be moving towards autumn today to the effect that you see falling leaves.
Tara / Journey:Yeah. Something's a little off here.
Maggie / Poppy:Are are we too late?
Tara / Journey:Maybe not. Maybe we still got time.
Maggie / Poppy:We could at least try and evacuate. Right? I just I thought you might have the most
Tim / GM:Poppy, somebody crashes into you. They go, do you have Cook Eve? Somebody fed you a Cook
Maggie / Poppy:not right now.
Tim / GM:Sorry. They actually reach into your pockets, and they they grab the ladle.
Maggie / Poppy:Excuse no. Do you have cookies or do you have cookies?
Hannah / Eryn:No. Eren grabs the person's arm
Tim / GM:Yeah.
Hannah / Eryn:And, picks them up with their arm Yeah. Shakes them and kinda
Tim / GM:be like, I don't care. Tabaxi. Yeah. There's a
Hannah / Eryn:And, like, stop. Get out of here. Get.
Tim / GM:There's another larger person kind of pushing themselves towards you and Roland goes, hey, hey, give him some space. And you see Roland just put both hands on him and this guy just starts to float away a little bit. He goes, hey,
Thomas / Guy:Hey. What gives?
Hannah / Eryn:We gotta go. Can someone carry me? Eren is gonna work with Roland to act as a guard, kind of, because Eren's in their normal Eren elf form. So they don't necessarily pester Eren.
Thomas / Guy:Poppy, up on my shoulders, please.
Maggie / Poppy:Oh, thanks, guy.
Thomas / Guy:Mhmm. Clear the way.
Tim / GM:Roland's kind of, acting as a plow to help get people out of the way. You guys passed, pass other people, other kiosks. There's a lot more out of towners today than there was yesterday. It looks like the population of Maxi has doubled overnight.
Maggie / Poppy:Must be here for the best of all.
Tim / GM:You're looking at all these, little chachkies and kiosks as you're passing by, and there's all these tiny cat statues. And now it really looks like all these little cat statues are staring you down as you walk by and it's a little overwhelming. You look up and hear the sound of all of those screens turning on again except this time it's not an ad and it's not an announcement for the concert. This time, it's playing clips of you. It shows Guy cut down a shadowy figure in a single strike
Maggie / Poppy:Yeah.
Tim / GM:And kind of zooms in on his face and his bloody sword. It spins around, and it shows Doran wincing his face, making a crushing motion, and you see a cockroach kind of splat. At the same time, you see Dorn kinda look at the ground. You see, Poppy, handing stuff off to Cindy, giving her the wagon. You see Aaron popping out of a trash can and shooting across worldwide.
Tim / GM:Well That's a back. Not yeah. Not Aaron, but the one you recognize is Aaron. This is what everybody's been seeing. This is what they've been watching overnight.
Tim / GM:Doran, you look out horrified and see a 7, 8 year old holding up their friend kind of play acting. They pretend that their friend is dead, and they hold them up like a corpse. And they're shouting with the corpse in their hand, and then they throw the corpse down, and both friends start laughing. Laughing.
Hannah / Eryn:Are there, Tabaxi children dressed in trash can hats?
Tim / GM:That's perfect. I think every time you go near a trash can, there's somebody popping out going bang bang bang.
Maggie / Poppy:I I feel like this is inaccurate. I did some cool stuff too.
Tara / Journey:Yeah. I don't know. This all is real overwhelming to me. What do we do with this?
Tim / GM:Poppy, at the mention of that, you see another one that's just showing a clip of open sky, and then all of a sudden you see this green trail of sparks and circle back. It zooms in on the face of you and Serbo kind of screaming at each other in the face. Like straight into the fountain.
Thomas / Guy:They also didn't show the amazing work you did disguising the rolling pin before the event.
Maggie / Poppy:That's true. Well, maybe that's for the best. I don't know.
Thomas / Guy:Perhaps we should talk with the director.
Tim / GM:As these crowds kind of press in, it's getting harder and harder to move. You didn't get as far as you thought you would. And you get stopped before 3 tall elven women with bare bellies kind of force their way onto the scene and they step between you and the masses, jingling with each step. They're shaking these chains of metallic discs hanging off their hips and they wear dark veils that cover their faces And the crowd begins to back up expecting another show. 1 of the women turns to your group and turns their veil aside, revealing the beautiful angular face of Phenom Green.
Tim / GM:Yes. He's grinning, but his eyes are serious and he says, eyes up here. Okay? Don't look down or you're gonna get left behind. The phenoms, as they are, begin to shake their hips, and it catches the attention of everyone around them, and Doran, you know exactly what this is.
Tim / GM:Phenom initiates a hypnotic pattern, And you see the crowd begin to follow their hips swaying back and forth, and you just see all of these Tabaxi heads left, right, left, right,
Tim / GM:left, right.
Maggie / Poppy:I slide my hands over my eyes because I I know that I'm
Tara / Journey:You're hip height.
Tim / GM:Yeah. Poppy's highly sensible
Tim / GM:to this kind of thing.
Maggie / Poppy:I'm on his shoulders, pal. Right?
Thomas / Guy:I put my hands over Poppy's eyes, and you put your hands over my eyes.
Maggie / Poppy:I don't I don't want this to happen again.
Tim / GM:You see the crowd go silent. All of the Venus crystals they were holding just go slack at their sides. And you hear the phenoms go, right this way, my little celebrities.
Hannah / Eryn:Yeah. We follow. Mhmm.
Tim / GM:You make it to the ring light. You're looking down that set of dizzying steps towards center stage, You see a few custodial workers cleaning the floors nearby, and you see that glassy black surface of the racetrack. And you see in the center of the track, Phenom is down there, and he's kind of giving directions in the middle of the stage. You see the track pulse with white light as it surrounds this entire area. Phenom is directing somebody who's arranging echo bells for the sound system in this place, and this technician, as they're crossing the way, kind of stumbles and falls, and drops the echo bell, and it rolls across the floor.
Tim / GM:Phenom slowly stalks up to them, stares down at him. He says, I can't believe this. All he wanted was a little bit of help, and this is what I get? And then you just see this apologetic look on the one that's kneeling. He says, what?
Tim / GM:What did you say? You're sorry? We're about to entertain 10,000 people, and I can't trust you to get from a to b without me holding your hand? The technician stares at the ground and then looks up at Phenom, draws a blade from behind their back, and runs him through. Straight through the heart, Phenom falls backwards on the ground.
Tim / GM:The one kneeling turns up and looks at you. It's also phenom. The custodians near you all rush in towards you. They're also all phenom. They each take you by the arm and lead you down the stairs faster, faster and too fast until you all lose your footing and begin to slide.
Tim / GM:Suddenly the stairs turn into a sloping golden slide and on your way down you can see all the dancers, all the people on the stage have turned into 2 giant circles that are all holding hands and spinning and running in circles. Every last one of them is Phenom.
Tara / Journey:Before you
Tim / GM:know it, you're at the bottom of the slide looking up at Phenom, breathing heavy, holding out a hand. He says, hey, guys.
Maggie / Poppy:Yes. That was magnificent. Yeah.
Tara / Journey:Was that for our benefit or is that part of the show?
Tim / GM:Yeah. Call it a warm up. I like to do those before I get started.
John / Doran:K. A bit of a emotional roller coaster for us.
Tara / Journey:Yeah.
John / Doran:But glad you're doing okay.
Maggie / Poppy:Are you the real one?
Thomas / Guy:Is that other phenom going to be okay?
Tim / GM:He looks back and you see, like, the bloody bleeding out dying phenom. He's like, no.
Thomas / Guy:A shame.
Tim / GM:But, yes, I'm the real phenom. He, goes to shake each of your hands to kinda prove it. It's really good to see all you guys. I heard you've been through a lot. Let's talk.
Thomas / Guy:And perhaps you have seen us as well.
Tim / GM:Yeah. Some of it.
Tara / Journey:We don't really know what to do with all this attention. I I guess you're more used to it than we are.
Tim / GM:Well, it's the thing they don't tell you about being a celebrity. It's actually pretty lonely. You, you can trust fewer and fewer people, and people you meet outside, they're all kind of they're after that surface version of you. So welcome to the fold, I guess. Yeah.
Tim / GM:We can trust each other, though. I heard a little bit about what happened on lore. I know lore is no more. Excuse the rhyming. Are you all okay?
John / Doran:No. No. We noticed that there are a lot of bright bulbs here. We have a feeling that this Skyland is in imminent danger. We know the true leader of the blight is here about to race today, Baloran Breeze.
John / Doran:I'm sure you knew since you're, you know, within the best and maxi.
Tim / GM:Phenom is stunned at the mention of Balerion. He says, what? Yes. Balerion Breeze is say the name. Lyrian?
John / Doran:And what's worse is he has some sort of power over me. What? Wants us dead.
Maggie / Poppy:What do
John / Doran:you mean power over you? He can do this thing that makes me incredibly ill and confused, and I can't even keep my head straight. So, anyways, I can't be near him.
Thomas / Guy:I did not go to the store.
Tim / GM:Oh, yes.
John / Doran:A lot happened yesterday. Sorry. I forgot to mention that. So, anyways, our immediate plan is for Poppy here to try for best Baker and Baxi and Guy are one of us to run the rolling pin, in the race to try to usurp Balorin.
Thomas / Guy:Balorin has also taken something from me, so it is personal.
Maggie / Poppy:Does the baking competition and the race are those at the same time?
Tim / GM:Baking competition would come first Okay. In the race. Yep. Phnom says, that is actually a really good plan. I just don't know about the timetable.
Tim / GM:Okay. You're right. There's not a lot of time here, and the resources do not exist in the clouds to save everybody.
Tara / Journey:What does that mean?
Tim / GM:Listen. Baxi has 15,000 people on it. We've got a few vessels like the whale, none quite as big. But even if we knew months in advance and everyone cooperated, evacuating the entire island is not feasible. They wouldn't go if we force them.
Maggie / Poppy:Is there another option? Can we save the island from falling?
Tim / GM:It's what we wanted.
Maggie / Poppy:Is it too late?
Hannah / Eryn:When you say we, do you mean, like, we as in the 20,000,000 phenoms, or we as in, like, you and a leader of this Skyland?
Tim / GM:We as in who Libera represents. Farewell, herself, the city, me, Roland.
John / Doran:So you're saying you knew that the Skyland will fall, and you didn't try to stop this festival from happening?
Tim / GM:What what were you thinking?
Tim / GM:It's not just this Skyland.
Maggie / Poppy:Are they all draining right now at the same time?
Tim / GM:He looks down, and he says, as soon as we found out, we did everything we could. We actively are. We are working to stop this, but we're up against it. We've been trying for so long to get Diver, and we can't even get him.
Tara / Journey:He's done. We did that. What?
Maggie / Poppy:Diver's dead.
Tara / Journey:Diver's dead.
Tim / GM:Big time. What? What? You see Phenom just break down, and he starts sobbing. He curls up on the floor, and all the illusions left in this room are gone.
Maggie / Poppy:Were were we not supposed to kill him?
Tim / GM:When he is able to collect himself again, he says, no, you were. I just didn't think anyone could.
Maggie / Poppy:Oh, so so this is like happy tears? Well, I'm I'm confused.
Tim / GM:Maybe we can do this. I'm sorry. I'm sorry to to have kept you on the outside. I'm he, leans down to his shoulder, and he grabs something, and he says, Libera, I'm I'm letting them in. I'm sorry.
Tim / GM:The clouds, the sky land, every sky land is facing a really bad situation. About as bad as it can get, actually. Diver and his associates, there were 5 of them. Each of them royalty. Unseel y royalty from the Feywild.
Tim / GM:Except Smilgrin. He's, I don't know, a pet along for the ride?
Tara / Journey:Smile grim might be dead.
Maggie / Poppy:He was on the island. He fell on
Thomas / Guy:the island. Lived. Right?
Tara / Journey:Right.
Tim / GM:Parsonan's still out there?
Tara / Journey:Yeah. Yeah.
John / Doran:We don't have a lot of time, Pheena. I'm sorry to cut you off. Sure. But what exactly have you been trying to do, and how can we help right now?
Tim / GM:We knew we couldn't take them on head on. They're more powerful than any of us, more powerful than anyone I know, more powerful than me. So we started to race them. Under Liberia's guidance, we went out to the sky lands, we made preparations, and we mined what we were allowed to mine for preservation, so that we could build a bastion of safety. It's a controlled burn.
Tim / GM:We're trying to stop the spread of the blight by taking their resources before they get them. I know it sounds cruel, but we're not duping anyone, we're letting them know what the risks are. We're we're mining bismite from the islands with consent. We're taking it back to farewell. Creatures on the Skylands, people like me, people from the Fae, they need to be around bismite or they die.
Tim / GM:So much life out here depends on Bismite, and we need a place to exist.
Tara / Journey:And the Blight is trying to take it for themselves?
Tim / GM:Yeah. I mean, it's it's crystalized power. I mean, you saw it back in Farewell. That's what triggered this whole thing. They know how to devour it.
Maggie / Poppy:They also seem to know how to use it without devouring it. Do you know anything about that? I've seen it in action now.
Tim / GM:Again?
Maggie / Poppy:They have a ship.
Tim / GM:That's probably how they've been outpacing you around the islands. Their ships are faster than any of ours.
Hannah / Eryn:So you said there's 5 of them, Diver, Balorin?
Tim / GM:Right. I know him as Leary and Hale. He's the worst of them, the leader. Harsimon is also a problem.
John / Doran:So that's 4. So who are the others then?
Tim / GM:The last one actually has been in the mainland for a long time, far out west. An Elidrin like me. Her name is Viren. She's held up in Lotem for quite a long time now.
Thomas / Guy:So lore falling out of the sky, this was merely an unintended consequence of these fey feeding on the Bismite. They have no measure of the consequence of their actions.
Tim / GM:They know what'll happen. They don't care. This isn't the real world to them. The Feywild is this is an inconsequential sandbox. They don't care what happens here.
Thomas / Guy:Since last we met Phenom, I have seen but fading glimpses of my past life, and I believe I have fought these fey once before. I don't know if they're the same ones, but this isn't the first time I faced them.
Tim / GM:Memories. What did you see? Where were you?
Thomas / Guy:This was on lore. I was able to relive some of my old memories, I suppose you would say.
Tim / GM:You think it's possible you were involved before all this? And he kinda points to your neck?
Thomas / Guy:I suppose from the evidence that stands before us, it seems perhaps I was and I failed.
Tim / GM:Listen. Today's a big day still. Please don't cause a panic. We just need to be wary if Lirion watches every step. Do not take your eyes off him.
Tim / GM:Find out what he's doing, and keep on him.
Maggie / Poppy:I assume he'll be racing.
Tim / GM:I think so too.
Maggie / Poppy:And he's got this really fast donkey.
Thomas / Guy:He's got wings. Is that even fair?
Tim / GM:Yeah. You can bring flying stuff. The, the ring light, it also has a vertical dimension. You can't go above a certain height.
John / Doran:We're not done here. You haven't told us anything about why you think Baxi is about to fall and how we can physically stop it.
Tim / GM:It's the symptoms. The bright bulbs. I've seen this before.
John / Doran:So the bismide is being drained, and there's a great beast guarding the heart of the Skyland?
Tim / GM:I don't know how they're doing it either. That beast should be defending that crystal. That's why they're here.
Thomas / Guy:The last beast we encountered couldn't exactly be trusted to defend their home either.
Maggie / Poppy:I don't
Tara / Journey:know that it's their fault. Maybe I can go try to talk to it. I don't know.
Thomas / Guy:Last time, you almost spontaneously combusted.
Tara / Journey:But I but I felt something.
Thomas / Guy:Maybe I just Spontaneously combusting?
Tara / Journey:No. I know I was in danger. I know we were all in danger, but there was something. I could feel some connection. I I'm
Maggie / Poppy:He said the people who live out here, the creatures, they depend on the bismite. If it's draining, do you think that drives them to madness or desperation or desperation? The great beast might sense it's draining.
Hannah / Eryn:They're starving. Journey and I and Poppy also saw a creature that had bright blue eyes that I don't know. Maybe you can describe it better.
Tara / Journey:It was something real powerful, and he was training the bismat before Diver and the rest even got on lore. He was at a different different level.
Maggie / Poppy:He would just breathe it in, and it would it would disappear.
Tim / GM:You know, he kinda puts his arms up on top of his head, and he goes, oh, come on. I I don't know. I don't know what that is. I haven't I haven't heard of anything like that.
Tara / Journey:But that's not one of the Fae?
Tim / GM:No. How can there be others?
Hannah / Eryn:I mean, he disappeared from the island.
Tara / Journey:Right? And he's able to look like anything.
Maggie / Poppy:Yeah. Shape shifts.
Tim / GM:Okay. I guess we'll keep a lookout for a shape shifting island destroying creature also.
Maggie / Poppy:Sorry. No.
Tim / GM:It's okay. Thanks for telling me.
John / Doran:If we do win some seats in the best of backseat, what exactly can we accomplish?
Tim / GM:Oh, we need to turn them against Valorant, and we need to exercise the blight from this island any way we can.
Thomas / Guy:And I propose we do not let any additional people onto the island if possible for this old man might be among them.
Tim / GM:I don't know about that. It's hard to make a call like that without starting a panic.
Maggie / Poppy:Can't just say no blue eyed people ever.
Tim / GM:Yeah. They frown on that.
John / Doran:I think we will have to split up.
Tim / GM:I want you guys to be aware too. The reason Learian is so hard to track down is he's a bit of an illusionist. Not nearly as good as me. In fact, he can only really cover the visuals of it. He's got a really hard time covering up the sound of his hooves.
Maggie / Poppy:Hooves? Mhmm.
Tim / GM:Hooves? Yeah. Lirion's a a fawn. He's about 8 feet tall. He's a big dude.
Tim / GM:He makes this awful clacking noise everywhere he goes.
John / Doran:Okay.
Tim / GM:So no matter who it is, even if it's a friend of yours, if you hear that, then you know.
Tara / Journey:If the island is poised to fall, I can go underground and see if I can maybe staunch the bleeding a little. Maybe I can look into it while y'all are trying to figure out how to get access to leadership and maybe make some changes up here.
Maggie / Poppy:I I have to prepare for the competition then. Mhmm.
John / Doran:Guy, who do you need to help with the rolling pin?
Thomas / Guy:Sir Beau was going to be of some use there. I still don't know how I'm going to defeat this man in a race. I would rather just cut him down Well, we know style.
John / Doran:Mhmm. Phenom had mentioned, if his flying mount reaches too high, he would be disqualified. Maybe there's something there. We have some engineers being sent to help with the rolling pin. Do you want any help within the party?
Thomas / Guy:I am worried about Journey going alone. When you tried to commune with a snake, you needed someone to pull you out of it.
Tara / Journey:Yeah. Maybe there's a safer way to do it or a a further away place, or maybe I can do it through a door. I don't know. But, yeah, it might be better to have someone with me. I don't know if Doren or Aaron.
Maggie / Poppy:Someone who's fire resistant, perhaps?
John / Doran:I can go. Erin, it's one thing that I noticed, if you wouldn't mind looking into. It was a candy or something that people were eating to give themselves blue eyes.
Maggie / Poppy:Mhmm.
Tim / GM:Yeah. A bubble tea drink, if you remember correctly.
John / Doran:A bubble tea drink. Maybe there's something there, that certainly complicates our ability to identify this old man, and maybe there's some reason or maybe there's some connection. It's something I've been thinking about.
Hannah / Eryn:I was thinking about spying on some of the competition and giving you guys maybe a leg up or just figuring out what other people are doing.
Tara / Journey:Yeah. And you're probably one of the only ones of us that can go around undetected at this point. That's right. Know who you
Hannah / Eryn:are. Really true.
John / Doran:Okay.
Maggie / Poppy:We need a way to contact each other, and I think we need to
Tara / Journey:redistribute redistribute our echo bells so they make more sense.
Tim / GM:Yeah. Elevator music while you all distribute
Maggie / Poppy:the music.
Tara / Journey:Yeah. Just fucking Goddamn it.
Maggie / Poppy:We'll figure out
Tim / GM:the echo bells. Yeah. Okay.
Maggie / Poppy:So it'll be, like, 1 party, 2 party, 3 party. Mhmm. And we have enough to do that, I think.
Tara / Journey:I think
Tim / GM:you do at this point. Mhmm. Alright. With the, whole group of you standing there, Phenom and Roland included, you've all got your heading. Poppy to the Bake Off, Guy to the races, Doran and Journey to the core, and Erin, where'd you end up?
Tim / GM:Sneaking. Sneaking. That tracks. You've got Roland waiting in the wings, ready to support you however they can. You've got Phenom ready to support you with the influence that they have.
Tim / GM:You've got about 50% of Backsy behind you. You've got the number one best in Backsy glaring down at you. And I think we'll end it there. Thanks everybody for listening. I'm Tim, your GM.
Hannah / Eryn:I'm Hannah, plain Erin.
Tara / Journey:I'm Tara, and I'm Journey.
Thomas / Guy:I'm Thomas, and I'm Guy.
John / Doran:I'm John playing Dorn.
Maggie / Poppy:And I'm Maggie, and I play Poppy.
Tim / GM:Share the show with people you love, and we'll see you next time.