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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. The party has arrived at Backsy, a towering vertical city skyline that spans every layer of the clouds. With more influential style icons per capita than any other skyline, Backsy and its cat like inhabitants are constantly buzzing with life, vibrance, and entertainment. But, of course, the party was intercepted by the local authorities. As they were being escorted to the dungeons, an intervention from their old friend, sir Beau, gave them a chance to dish the heat.
Tim / GM:Beneath the island, there is a burning industrious heart. At the bottom of Baxi lies its precious bismide core and a Genasi man named Oscar nominee who's willing to do anything to get to it.
John / Doran:Did you see it? Did you see the crystal at
Tim / GM:the end? That's where I need to get to.
John / Doran:I saw something. Are you sure you wanna go down there, Oscar?
Tim / GM:Yeah. It's it's the only way. He turns around and appeals to the rest of you, and he says, like I said, it's for love. If if I don't have Mabel, I mean, what do I got?
Maggie / Poppy:I'm inclined to believe him. Never experienced it myself. But
Tim / GM:You'd like to think it's out there?
Maggie / Poppy:Yeah.
John / Doran:Well, we would have this cool ring of keys that we found.
Tim / GM:Yeah.
John / Doran:Your crystal.
Tim / GM:Yeah. Yeah. I mean, that's great and all, but I don't love these keys. I don't love this crystal. And I'm not so good with words.
Tim / GM:I wish I could just tell her, but I'm telling you, this picture, it's gonna say a 1,000 of my good for nothing words if I could just get there. Just one little video, one little clip, one hologram, and she's gonna know.
John / Doran:And you have to be in the picture for this to work?
Tim / GM:Well, yeah. I gotta prove I was there. Right?
Maggie / Poppy:What if we faked it?
Tim / GM:Faked it? I don't wanna fake nothing.
John / Doran:You can't fake a picture, Poppy.
Maggie / Poppy:You can't fake love.
Tim / GM:I You don't know nothing about love.
Maggie / Poppy:I read enough books.
John / Doran:Can I so did it like, what sort of feeling did it give me when I was looking down the pipe and saw what seemed to be movement of some kind?
Tim / GM:It was confusing. It seemed almost like, there was a sudden river just flowing, and then it stopped. Some kind of constant movement.
John / Doran:I think we should help, Oscar.
Tara / Journey:What what did you see down there?
John / Doran:Not really sure, but I think it will be of interest to you, Churney.
Tim / GM:So Oh, you don't know? That substance is called bismite. It's a magical crystal that makes things float, and it's full of power. And a lot of people out here are very concerned to get the bismite.
John / Doran:Because this
Tim / GM:You see, bismite causes all of the islands in the clouds to float.
Maggie / Poppy:Can I investigate the pipe again? Sure. See if I can get it to turn right while he's talking. Yeah.
John / Doran:Yeah. I get all that, but this isn't a a natural skyline, is it?
Tim / GM:No. It is. I mean, wasn't always this big. 23.
Tara / Journey:Poppy has sit on the floor. She's straddling, like, in the pipe and just, like, turning. Yeah. Like, hugging it.
Tim / GM:Poppy, you can tell that there's no mechanism on this pipe that causes it to turn. It's somewhere else in this room. Like I was saying, the the island wasn't always this big. I mean, yeah, we do have the lava flows that allows us to continue to build upwards, of course.
Maggie / Poppy:I like the pipe.
Tim / GM:Alright. Now Poppy's a person who licks pipes. Aaron investigate the room? Yes. Aaron can investigate the room.
Maggie / Poppy:I was trying to When you wanted us to look around the room?
Tim / GM:No. No.
John / Doran:I guarantee you do it.
Maggie / Poppy:16 to investigation.
Tim / GM:Amazing. With the 16 investigation, you see a nearby panel of controls. Hives. Interesting.
Maggie / Poppy:Don't get mad at us. You didn't explain to them.
Maggie / Poppy:Hey, someone look. Someone who's smart. There's a panel over here. Maybe it controls the pipes. Maybe you pipe in.
Tim / GM:When you say that, Oscar points to everyone else in the room and goes, anybody? Anybody? Smart? No?
John / Doran:I vote for Dora.
Tara / Journey:I thought you worked in the paps. Wouldn't you know how to run them?
Tim / GM:Yeah. But not this sector. I mean, I actually work in the upper ups, you know, cleaning up after all the rich folks.
Tara / Journey:So you don't do any of the mechanics of it?
Tim / GM:No. I've seen maps of this place, but I don't know how to run it.
Tara / Journey:Alright. Well, Doran?
John / Doran:Okay. I head over and look at the panel. Okay.
Tim / GM:What you're looking at, Doran, is 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 levers. They are very poorly labeled, All 6 of them. What you notice right away is that one lever is preventing all of the others from being pulled. There's one lever that literally creates this metal bar that blocks all of the levers from being pulled and that first lever is called safety. There's 5 levers after it are called master, air, ash, purge, and open.
John / Doran:Hold on. Master, air, ash. Purge,
Tim / GM:and open.
John / Doran:Alright. It's mist time, everybody. Yes. Oscar, what does purge mean? Purge?
John / Doran:Yeah.
Tim / GM:Usually, that's how you get rid of the ash.
John / Doran:Where does the ash go when you get rid of it?
Tim / GM:Usually off the side of the mountain.
John / Doran:K. And, where does the ash come from?
Tim / GM:Inside the mountain, and it gets pushed. It's a whole thing. We get a lot of ash rain, and so it rains on all different levels. And then we actually shove it back through the pipes down to the bottom of the island, out the bottom of the island so that if we cast it off the side, sometimes it has a tendency to come back on the lower levels. So we bring all the ash to the bottom of the island first, then we eject it.
John / Doran:And, k. So
Tim / GM:I think
John / Doran:I got this all figured out. Yeah. We're good.
Maggie / Poppy:You asked one question.
Tara / Journey:What was the last lever called?
Tim / GM:Open.
Maggie / Poppy:He's an engineer now. It's fine.
John / Doran:Alright. Well, so we need to go down to the biz mite first. Right? And that pipe's open.
Tim / GM:Yeah. We gotta get down this one. He points the one that Poppy's been working on.
John / Doran:Oh, so you can't fit down the one we peeked through.
Tim / GM:No. No. No. Yeah. That that pipe is horizontal.
Tim / GM:It's only, you know, like, 10 inches across.
Maggie / Poppy:Oh, okay.
Tim / GM:More of a telescope. Alright.
John / Doran:Well, clearly, I gotta take the safety out first. So I gotta move that lever?
Tim / GM:So sorry. The safety is actually in the off position right now. Oh, okay. Yeah.
John / Doran:Okay. But it
Tim / GM:does prevent you from pulling all of the levers. So What did
Maggie / Poppy:they all say?
Tim / GM:Oh, we got safety, master, air, ash, purge, and open.
Maggie / Poppy:Okay. What is master then? Poppy, I
Maggie / Poppy:thought Guy was your master. What?
John / Doran:If anything, it's the other way around.
Hannah / Eryn:Oh, that makes actually a lot more sense.
Maggie / Poppy:I have to
John / Doran:do a bake off or something to settle that. Anyways, Poppy, I'm not sure what master does. I feel like air is a really safe thing to pull, and I'm gonna pull the air lever.
Tim / GM:Did you do safety first?
John / Doran:Safety's off. Right?
Tim / GM:It is in the off position, but you have to turn it on to use any of the other levers.
John / Doran:Okay.
Maggie / Poppy:It's
Hannah / Eryn:not how safety works.
John / Doran:Not what I thought safety meant. Indeed. Indeed. Indeed. It's badly labeled.
John / Doran:That's fine. So, okay, I pulled the safety
Tim / GM:You're getting the theme here. Yeah.
John / Doran:Safety is now on.
Tim / GM:Okay.
Maggie / Poppy:It's opposite day.
Tim / GM:Give me a strength check.
John / Doran:Okay.
Hannah / Eryn:2. Wow.
Tim / GM:You can't push it forward. It's jammed. Stuck.
John / Doran:Guy? Yes, Dorn. These are really hard levers. I don't could you pull this one down? Pull this one down.
John / Doran:Well The one that says safety. Pull down for safety.
Tim / GM:9.
John / Doran:Wow. Can I help guy?
Tim / GM:Yes. Okay. Guy, you also can't get it to move.
John / Doran:Oh, you're right. That's really stuck. Yeah. Let me let me also grab it with you.
Maggie / Poppy:Okay.
John / Doran:To give you advantage.
Tara / Journey:Yep. Okay.
Tim / GM:To take advantage.
John / Doran:So am I rolling twice now? Roll one more time.
Tim / GM:Roll one more time. Yep.
John / Doran:13.
Tim / GM:Okay. With that, the 2 of you wrenching on this thing, you just barely get it to cross over, and it feels like it's gonna break before it does. But you do pull it over, it doesn't break, and the doors to this place close, locking you all in here. The safety is engaged.
John / Doran:I feel safer already.
Tim / GM:Okay. All of the other levers are now available.
John / Doran:Alright. Can can I look at them and just see, like, is there any are there ones that look like they get used a lot, like they're more, like, worn or basically, can I investigate
Maggie / Poppy:Is it? Or if it was like you know how like, you can look at a keyboard and see what keys are used the most and, like, figure out a password.
Tara / Journey:Yeah. You wanted to taste if anybody else had licked it.
Maggie / Poppy:Yeah. Not if anyone
Tara / Journey:else had
Tim / GM:noticed it. It looks like master and open are the most often used ones.
John / Doran:Okay.
Tim / GM:The master is in the on position right now. The rest of them don't have ons and offs. Okay.
John / Doran:Let's try the open one.
Tim / GM:K. Alright.
John / Doran:I don't see why not. I would like to use athletics this time instead of just strength.
Tara / Journey:Okay. I'm a lever athlete.
Tim / GM:Yeah. He does it athletically this time, guys.
John / Doran:And can I help can I help you? Very different.
Tara / Journey:He has Power stance.
John / Doran:I'm holding on to guy
Tim / GM:sudden. Oh my gosh. Wow. Please, I'm gonna miss this. 12.
Tim / GM:Wow. Again, just barely enough to, to pull it. You pull the lever that says open, you see one of the largest central columns starts to rotate. That's actually lowering a little bit. And when it does, you can see it open a sort of, slot on one side.
Tim / GM:And when that slot is exposed, it begins shooting a continuous gout of flame into this room against all of the other pipes, Mhmm. And it's just blasting the wall, and you see the brass start to heat up red hot. And this room is rapidly becoming uncomfortably, lethally hot.
John / Doran:Close it up. Close it. So open means Let's close it.
Tara / Journey:Fire. Journey goes to close it. Journey's gonna close
Tim / GM:it. Yeah. Go ahead.
Maggie / Poppy:Oh, yes. Oh god.
Tim / GM:What is it?
Tara / Journey:5, but I rolled a natural one.
Tim / GM:Oh my god.
Maggie / Poppy:We're all rolling bad.
Tim / GM:Journey scrambles over to push it back. And Journey, you push it way too hard, and it snaps off.
Maggie / Poppy:Oh, no.
Tim / GM:It is stuck in the on position.
Tara / Journey:Oh, no.
John / Doran:Cool, Journey. Cool for thanks for killing us. Sorry.
Maggie / Poppy:It doesn't have any open. Like like the whole thing snapped off? There's nothing Yeah.
Tim / GM:You'd have to, like, reach down into this terminal to try to move the nubbin a little bit, and there's not enough leverage to move it.
Maggie / Poppy:Everyone just push them all.
Tara / Journey:Oh my
Hannah / Eryn:goodness. No.
John / Doran:No. Get away from the dial. I'm trying to do this. Okay. So I'm gonna What about air?
John / Doran:Put out the flame with more oxygen. Let's close this first.
Tim / GM:It is it is hot in here. It's like it's like a 120 degrees and climbing. Doren, you're fine. You're not bothered by the heat in here. You can see everyone else sweating and looking nervous and breathing heavily, and you don't feel it.
John / Doran:I'm still gonna be kinda panicked. Yeah. And I'm going to try to take my rapier out, and I'm gonna try to, like, try to jam it in and try to, like, pry the lever up.
Tim / GM:Okay. Yeah. The one that's broken? Yeah. Okay.
Tim / GM:You feel the steel of your rapier start to you can do this. You will destroy your rapier. It's a magic weapon. Take it or leave it.
John / Doran:Yeah. I'll go for it. I'll I
Tim / GM:guess I'll
John / Doran:break it.
Tim / GM:Woah. You push your rapier, but at the same time, this thing clicks over. The flames stop. The redness is still there as these warped pipes are cooling down, and you see the rest of your party taking deep breaths of oxygen as it starts to fill this room again, your sword is broken about halfway up. You've got this jagged steel that can still hit for 1 d 4, but it's broken.
Tim / GM:Still magical. Still works as a rapier of warning, but less functional than ever.
Maggie / Poppy:I don't understand why why would you have a lever that does that?
Tara / Journey:Darn, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean for that to happen.
John / Doran:It's alright there. I was never really very good with it anyways. So I am sorry about your sword, Darden. This does not make you less of a man. Thanks, guy.
Tara / Journey:Do you want do you want my mace?
John / Doran:Let's let's get out of this hellhole first
Maggie / Poppy:and then
John / Doran:yeah. So thank you, though.
Tim / GM:Oh, yeah. That was spooky. Alright. What's next?
Maggie / Poppy:I'm gonna play a game with you, Oscar.
Tim / GM:Yeah.
John / Doran:I'm gonna write down a word, and you tell me what it means. I write down the word open, and then I show it
Tim / GM:to him. Open. It's like a door.
John / Doran:And what does the door do?
Tim / GM:It opens up.
John / Doran:It doesn't shoot fire into the room?
Tim / GM:Yes. I see the misconception. Okay. Okay. I see what you're going for here.
John / Doran:I was just curious. I don't know if there's, like, a mistranslation or something.
Tim / GM:But Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
John / Doran:Well, let's not open that one again. Weird that that one's used a lot. I would be careful about opening your heart up to this purpose. Okay. Alright.
John / Doran:There's not that many left. I think we're okay. Let's try the master one.
Maggie / Poppy:Wait. Can I try something? Yeah. Erin's gonna go up to the panel and try to see if they can loosen the lid of the panel. I'm trying to see if I can see where it's connecting.
Tim / GM:Give me an investigate check for that.
Maggie / Poppy:10, but I was trying to do lock to, like Yeah.
Tim / GM:I would say this this functionally qualifies as a trap. Okay. I'll
John / Doran:Clearly. Yeah.
Tim / GM:Well Yeah. Quite literally. So you have proficiency in thieves tools, I would guess? Yep. Yeah.
Tim / GM:So I would add that into this. So you add your proficiency at least.
Tara / Journey:Okay.
Tim / GM:What does that total have to?
Maggie / Poppy:It'd be 13 13 total.
Tim / GM:Yeah. Approaching this terminal, you see all of these, again, levers sticking up out of it. You can of course, there's one lever that's actually a sword sticking up out of it
Tara / Journey:for the time being.
Maggie / Poppy:But you
Tim / GM:can see a little bit where these things lead off. You can tell that both open and master go to the same pipe. That's as much as you get from this.
Maggie / Poppy:I point to the 2 that go to the same pipe and say, these 2 are attached to the same pipe.
Tara / Journey:And that was the pipe that just flung a bunch of fire at us?
John / Doran:So we don't wanna open that one, probably.
Tim / GM:Well, that one, so you've done open was the one that got you in trouble here. The other one that's connected to it is labeled master, and it's on right now.
John / Doran:The one that opened, is it a place where we want to go? No. Okay.
Tara / Journey:Master is set to the on position? Mhmm. Maybe we turn master off.
John / Doran:K. Okay. Yeah. Let's let's try that.
Tim / GM:Yeah. Give me a strength check or athletics.
Maggie / Poppy:I'll
John / Doran:help you. Yeah. 16.
Tim / GM:16 plenty. Yep. No problem. You switch master to off, and you feel this room cool significantly. You also hear the end of a sort of rushing noise that you didn't really notice was there until it's gone.
Tim / GM:But the fire that was piling up this brass column is no longer active. You've still got air, ash, and purge that are unexplored.
John / Doran:Well, this seems good. Let's go with, its opposite day. Purge sounds like the worst. Let's try opening that one. K.
John / Doran:Very well.
Tim / GM:Athletics?
John / Doran:24. Wow.
Tim / GM:Alright. You, you know what to expect. These things are tough to push. You go to push that one, it snaps right in half. You turn it on, you see all of the columns around this room open up a small slot and begin just dumping ash into this room.
Tim / GM:K. It's just filling with ash, like, up to your knees. You guys have to kinda climb over this stuff.
John / Doran:Does this stop at any point?
Tim / GM:It does kind of, like, pitter out into just dust eventually.
John / Doran:So purge actually does purge.
Maggie / Poppy:But it doesn't purge where he said it would purge.
John / Doran:Yes. It is supposed to purge at the bottom.
Tara / Journey:Why would they put a pipe that puts ash into the room you're in and locks you in? This building seems completely bananas.
Tim / GM:Yeah. Do you know where you are right now?
Tara / Journey:I'm on Cat Island, and I don't know how I like it.
Tim / GM:That's right. You're on Cat Island.
John / Doran:I'm starting to think the dungeon might have been pretty nice, actually.
Maggie / Poppy:Yeah. Alright.
John / Doran:Well, we already have the ash, so what harm could pulling the ash lever do? Okay.
Hannah / Eryn:Seems great.
Tim / GM:Athletic.
John / Doran:Good logic, Jordan.
Maggie / Poppy:Athletics.
John / Doran:Am I doing this with advantage every time? I'm gonna be helping you every time.
Tim / GM:26. Are the rules of advantage such that you have to take the high end roll?
Maggie / Poppy:Didn't you just break the other lever from this too high?
Tara / Journey:I didn't
John / Doran:even think about that. Well
Tim / GM:We'll say yes for now. So, you push the lever, and it is the one you were looking for.
Maggie / Poppy:Okay.
Tim / GM:It was ash all along. You push the lever. You see the pipe begin to rotate. The lever breaks. With the lever broken, the pipe continues to rotate.
Maggie / Poppy:Oh my god.
Tim / GM:You hear Oscar say, well, that's the pipe we need to get into, but it's kind of a spinning death portal now.
John / Doran:How fast is it going?
Tim / GM:You know, you get about, like, a second and a half of solid, like, I can get in this
John / Doran:and then
Tim / GM:it turns to the other side.
Hannah / Eryn:Oh, incredible.
Tim / GM:Says, well, no time like the present. He takes a very misguided couple steps towards that opening, and he just jumps in head first. And you see him down the pipe.
Tara / Journey:Oh, no.
John / Doran:Oh, he makes it seem easy.
Maggie / Poppy:So we going?
John / Doran:I'm gonna pat each of you on the shoulder, but let's see how many can I do?
Tara / Journey:Already have one.
John / Doran:Okay. Good luck, guy. Good luck, Poppy. Good luck, Eren. Don't get cut in half.
John / Doran:We can do this. So party get inspiration all around.
Maggie / Poppy:Can I see into the pipe when it's turning? Yeah. Like, further down the pipe? A
Tim / GM:little bit. Yeah. Okay.
Maggie / Poppy:I missed you step in.
Hannah / Eryn:Okay.
Tim / GM:Yeah. You're on the ground. It's about 15 feet down or so. K. You are right next to Oscar down there.
Maggie / Poppy:Hello.
Tim / GM:Oh, hello. How did you do that? That's pretty cool.
Maggie / Poppy:Baker never reveals her secrets.
Tim / GM:Oh, you're a baker?
Tim / GM:I didn't know that.
Maggie / Poppy:Yep.
Tim / GM:Very cool. Very cool.
John / Doran:Poppy, did you make it?
Maggie / Poppy:I'm down here.
Tim / GM:She did. Yes.
Maggie / Poppy:Just close your eyes and jump. Wait. Maybe don't do that.
John / Doran:I failed to see how that would be an advantage.
Maggie / Poppy:Failed to see. Put your eyes closed.
Maggie / Poppy:What? I don't I can't really imagine the pipe situation, but could I try to jam it with something to get it to stop so we could just have a solid opening? Would that be plausible with what I'm seeing?
Tim / GM:Yeah. You actually have, at your disposal, go ahead and make an intelligence check to try to jam those in the right way.
Maggie / Poppy:Not my strong suit. Intelligence.
Tim / GM:I try to make it
Maggie / Poppy:a lot
Tim / GM:of things intelligence checks so that people understand the value of learning.
Tara / Journey:Oh, yeah?
John / Doran:Too bad our one intelligence user just went down the tube.
Maggie / Poppy:Me? I'd like
Tim / GM:to think we're all intelligence users. Maybe not.
Tara / Journey:Journey's end is negative one.
Maggie / Poppy:I'm actually not bad at intelligence.
Tim / GM:I I would say this falls into your kind of thieves' tool stuff. This is sabotaging a trap. Okay. So proficiency.
Maggie / Poppy:So 22.
Tim / GM:That is a pretty apt take on what's going on here. So you actually just hold out one of the levers horizontally as this thing is rotating and just kind of inch it closer and closer to the opening. And eventually, it catches on the opening and just slams into it. It's just sort of grinding and grinding, and then it stops. And it's just dead quiet.
Tim / GM:It's stuck in that position.
Maggie / Poppy:Alright. Let's go. I don't know how long this is gonna hold. Go. Go.
Maggie / Poppy:Go.
John / Doran:Great work, Erin. Let's go.
Tara / Journey:Yeah. Journey hops down.
John / Doran:Alright.
Maggie / Poppy:So jamming that open and turning off, master, that can't be.
John / Doran:Guy pops down.
Maggie / Poppy:Bad. Right? No lasting effects on this island?
Tim / GM:Oh, they'll figure
Tim / GM:it out.
Tim / GM:They got plenty to deal with in the suburbs right now anyway with what I set up up there.
Tara / Journey:We heard something about an ash thing happening up there.
Maggie / Poppy:Yeah. Was that you?
Tim / GM:Yes. Guilty as charged. That was me. Alright. Can we continue?
John / Doran:Yep. Hop and down.
Tim / GM:This next chamber is small. It's almost like crawl on your belly small. The ground here is natural stone that's buried in fine ash. It seems this tunnel was carved or blasted out a long, long time ago. You're almost moving through it like, what the hell?
Tim / GM:Like, this doesn't look like it leads anywhere. This feels like a chasm that's about to close off or something, but after a little bit of crawling, you do kind of make it through. Not a fan of that.
Maggie / Poppy:It was just like walking for me.
Tim / GM:It pretty much was. Yeah. You've all crawled on your bellies enough through the ash such that you're all completely filthy, except for Oscar, who seems to be able to deal with it no problem. When you reach the end of this crawl, you're standing up in another pipe. This one is sort of like being in a corn silo.
Tim / GM:You can see it run up and up and up and up, like, really high, like, higher than you can see. And about 35 feet up from where you are, you can see this ledge and an opening, and that's where you need to get to. Oscar kind of disregards all of you and you see him start to glow again, and you see this heat ripple pick up around him, and he starts floating like burnt paper up to that ledge. And he touches down, kind of weightless. He says, alright.
Tim / GM:You guys gonna be a while, or what's the deal?
Maggie / Poppy:You said
Tara / Journey:it was 30 feet?
Tim / GM:35. Exactly. Come on. 10. Exactly.
Tim / GM:35 feet up.
Maggie / Poppy:Somebody throw me, and then I'll cast
Tara / Journey:Misty's head.
John / Doran:Hold on. 1 of us has to have a rope with us. Right? I
Maggie / Poppy:don't know. I do not have a rope this campaign.
John / Doran:I have a hempin' rope. Hey. Oscar, could you come back down for a sec sec and then Sure. Head back up? Yeah.
John / Doran:We got a rope if you just wanna do us a solid. Oh,
Tim / GM:Yeah. That's tough. See, you know, I I I can float like that because I don't weigh nothing when I do all the heat business. I can't,
John / Doran:You can't carry a rope? I
Tim / GM:he grabs onto it, and you see him start to ignite again. And then he starts to lift, and he is going, like, you know, an inch every 10 seconds trying to go upwards. He's like, it's hard enough with my clothes, man.
John / Doran:Here. Let me let me try to give you a boost, and I get down and I try to, like, push him up,
Tim / GM:give him some momentum. Give me an athletics check.
John / Doran:Alright. I can I can do this? I can okay. Athletics. I got a 11.
John / Doran:11.
Tim / GM:You give him a little boost. You kinda throw him maybe 10, 15 upwards, and then he slows down, and he still rises, and he goes, yeah. Yeah. I can make it. And you see him scrambling, trying to, like, grab upwards.
Maggie / Poppy:Give me the rope.
Tim / GM:He drops it.
Maggie / Poppy:Okay, guy. Throw me. And
John / Doran:I activate
Maggie / Poppy:the the shoes of levitation. Awesome. Okay.
Tara / Journey:When you have fly?
Maggie / Poppy:Yeah. But it's a spell slot.
John / Doran:I can help, guy. This is kinda fun.
Tim / GM:Alright. Group athletics.
Maggie / Poppy:Because that makes me weightless, but I can't move myself. Mhmm.
John / Doran:Copy up. Matt, 20.
Tim / GM:Oh. 24. Alright.
Maggie / Poppy:Poppy gets into perfect diving position.
Tara / Journey:Yeah. The
Tim / GM:2 of you, kind of working together, grab Poppy like a football and throw her with a perfect spiral.
Maggie / Poppy:And she
Tara / Journey:just went up
Tim / GM:to the ledge, holding the rope.
Maggie / Poppy:Stuck the landing.
Tim / GM:Poppy, when you get up there, there's a highly convenient sort of chain link for you to tie the rope around to help your group up.
Maggie / Poppy:There you go.
John / Doran:Great work, Bobby.
Tim / GM:Oscar is getting extremely impatient as the rest of you have to climb this freaking rope Just keep up with
Tara / Journey:him. Yeah. Can I look around the chamber really quick to see if there's a ladder or anything Yeah? You're interested. Embedded in the wall?
Hannah / Eryn:There's fucking ladders.
Tim / GM:12. You find 2 things. You find a rusted sort of ladder pegs coming out of the wall. A lot of them are missing. The rest of them look untrustworthy.
Tara / Journey:Okay.
Tim / GM:You also see slither marks in the ash on the floor.
Maggie / Poppy:Don't like that. Don't love that.
John / Doran:Just ash snakes.
Maggie / Poppy:Ashnish. It's a basilisk.
Tara / Journey:Would you say that the core is within a mile of us?
Tim / GM:Yes. Absolutely.
Tara / Journey:I'm going to expand a ranger spell slot to use primeval awareness quite quickly. I just wanna get a feel whether there are any aberrations, celestials, dragons, elementals, fey, fiends, or undead aside from this one that I already know about.
Tim / GM:You're not getting hits on things like fiend. You're getting strong hints on really strong hints on Faye, not near you, a good distance away, but you can tell that they're coming from 2 different places. You can't tell their numbers specifically, but you know that there are at least 2 strong face signals on backseat. Okay. And one curiously strong undead signal, like, these things should not be mingling with society undead.
Tim / GM:Yeah. You're all about to move into that next chamber. What you're looking at in here is a soft floor of ash just plush, like your feet just kind of sink into it.
Maggie / Poppy:Cozy.
Tim / GM:And the, the forward wall here is made of stone bricks, like they were, you know, placed there by working hands. You can see pipes in the walls. They're only about 2 feet wide, so enough for very small people to crawl through. But normal folk, even Doran, it would be an impossible adventure for you. But there's there's a number of those pipes all kind of stacked vertically on top of each other, roughly 15 feet apart, going all up this wall, and you can see a little bit into the next room through those pipes.
Tim / GM:That's all you've got to work with here.
John / Doran:Which way, Oscar?
Tim / GM:According to the maps, we got to go straight through here, but it it looked like it was actually a hallway, not these pipes. Maybe I don't know.
Maggie / Poppy:How old are these maps?
Tim / GM:I mean, they're accurate.
John / Doran:I mean, clearly not.
Tim / GM:Okay. Yeah. Clearly not. Yeah. They're old.
Tim / GM:They're inherited maps. What do you want me to do about it? Come on.
Tara / Journey:I wanna look into the pipes.
Tim / GM:Yeah. There's a fairly large room ahead of you. Just it's filled with a ton of brass pipes. Every inch of the wall is covered with these things. It actually looks like a sort of meeting point of all the brass pipes in the next room.
Tara / Journey:And this is just brass pipe end to end, room to room?
Tim / GM:Yeah. If you were able to shrink down and walk through this pipe, you'd be perfectly in the next room.
Maggie / Poppy:How small would one have to be?
Tim / GM:Poppy, you can actually crawl through these pipes.
Maggie / Poppy:I guess I could do it.
Tara / Journey:Do you wanna check to see what's in the other room?
Maggie / Poppy:Yes. But I'm gonna tie this rope around myself.
Tara / Journey:Alright. Yeah. We'll yank it back if anything happens.
Tim / GM:Fair. Yeah. I think everyone is just physically too big to fit through the pipes. So Poppy, with a rope tied around your waist, you start crawling through this pipe and it's not too far through, only about 15, 20 feet or so, but when you get to the other side, it's actually quite a drop. It's, like, 30 feet down.
Maggie / Poppy:And what's down there?
Tim / GM:You can see a huge pile of ash that is spilling out of a doorway directly below you. You can see pipes all around this room, but when you look back at where you came from, you can tell that your friends are actually standing on piled ash inside of a silo, and that if it were cleared out, they'd be able to walk out of that doorway below you.
Maggie / Poppy:Oh. You're too high up.
John / Doran:Who are you talking to, Poppy?
Maggie / Poppy:All of you. Who else would I be talking to?
John / Doran:I don't know. What do you want us to do about it?
Maggie / Poppy:I don't know. But you're very high up, and there should be a door down.
Tara / Journey:Like, below us? Yeah. It's all ash?
Maggie / Poppy:It's all ash.
Tara / Journey:It's ash all the way now.
John / Doran:Oh, did anyone bring a shovel?
Maggie / Poppy:Excuse me. Oscar? Yeah? Do you know what happens when ash reaches capacity?
Tim / GM:Well, usually, yeah. There's like a threshold if it gets too high then it'll just kind of automatically hit some of the air pressure and then it kicks it all out the main gate.
Maggie / Poppy:Are we in danger?
Tim / GM:I don't think so. I think it's gotta get a lot more full than this.
Maggie / Poppy:Okay.
Tim / GM:Poppy, looking into the that next room, you do see, much like ones that you've seen hanging from toilets before in civilized areas, you see a giant pole chain in the center of that room about 20 feet off the ground.
Maggie / Poppy:Oh, giant flush. If I could just do you think that that evacuates us
Tim / GM:all? What?
Maggie / Poppy:Oh, sorry. It's like a big chain.
Tim / GM:Oh. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That would, that would clear all the ash out.
Tim / GM:Do that.
John / Doran:What? What? It clear us out as well?
Tim / GM:Well, yeah. But we would just go with yeah. You know, out there.
John / Doran:Okay. Not, like, into the clouds.
Tim / GM:Oh, no. No. No. Great.
Maggie / Poppy:Okay. How do I reach it?
Tara / Journey:Yeah. How far away is it?
Tim / GM:So it is in the, you know, smack dab middle of the room, so about 30 feet from you, Poppy, and about 20 feet off the ground, really high up.
Maggie / Poppy:Oh. And how how big is it?
Tim / GM:Like, normal, like, toilet chain size. Yeah.
Maggie / Poppy:So a puppy sized person could pull it?
Tim / GM:Yes. Yep. Okay.
Maggie / Poppy:I'll see you down there. I untie myself.
Tim / GM:K.
John / Doran:Guy Guy pulls the rope back. She's gone. I'm so sorry, Guy.
Maggie / Poppy:And then I cast fly
Tim / GM:Okay.
Tim / GM:Nice.
Maggie / Poppy:Myself.
Tim / GM:Cool.
Maggie / Poppy:Thank you. New spell. Way stuff. 3rd level spell slot. Yeah.
Maggie / Poppy:Poppy, where are you? I'll see you later. I don't
Tara / Journey:know what she's doing.
John / Doran:I never suspected her. It was a long calm the whole time. She's after the bismite.
Tim / GM:It really was about the bismite after all.
John / Doran:Douche.
Maggie / Poppy:I I think I was pretty transparent about that from the beginning.
Maggie / Poppy:I
Maggie / Poppy:pulled the chains.
Tim / GM:Okay. Everyone can hear this distant howl like a waterfall at the end of a canyon. And then, Poppy, in this next room, you can see one of the pipes on that forward wall rotates and it exposes an archway into the core chamber. You can see it clearly. It's right there.
Tim / GM:You can see small rivulets of glowing magma creeping across the stone out there and warm air rushes in. There's a hyper compressed moment of silence before the air comes rushing out of every direction, blasting at your back and threatening to send you tumbling into the core chamber. And you should make a strength save.
Hannah / Eryn:That's my worst one. I have a negative modifier for strength.
John / Doran:Or you have a,
Hannah / Eryn:Inspo. Inspo. Do I?
Maggie / Poppy:You didn't give me a die.
John / Doran:It's literally right here.
Maggie / Poppy:Why is it in your quadrant?
John / Doran:Oh, this is my quadrant now, Yes. Good to know. I'm glad I can be here.
Maggie / Poppy:God.
Tim / GM:Well played.
Maggie / Poppy:I'm also still currently flying. Yep. So I don't know if that helps at all.
Tara / Journey:Helps you not fall. Yeah.
John / Doran:Don't help you hold on.
Maggie / Poppy:Please. That's not gonna help. That's a 5.
Tim / GM:Alright. Poppy gets tossed out with the bathwater. You are flushed into the core chamber, Poppy. That takes us back to the rest of the sufferers in the ash trap. Air is blowing through here at such an intense pressure that it's kicking it all up.
Tim / GM:I need everyone to make a constitution saving through that's still in there. Fantastic.
Maggie / Poppy:I'll use my bardic inspiration. 8 for Aaron.
Tim / GM:Nope. 12. K.
Maggie / Poppy:13.
Tim / GM:K. 6. Wow. Every single one of you fails.
Tara / Journey:Yikes.
John / Doran:We all get cancer.
Tim / GM:You are all blinded and coughing. Okay. To make matters worse, you feel something slithering against your leg No. That was disturbed when the air kicked on. No.
John / Doran:It's probably fine.
Tim / GM:You can feel this rapid scaly movement against your leg, but in addition to that, you feel this heat. A boiling heat. Like, don't touch me. Too hot heat.
Tara / Journey:Like, oh, ouchy.
Maggie / Poppy:Yes. Oh, ouchy.
John / Doran:Oh, ouchy.
Tim / GM:I'm going to roll a 1 d 4. Oh
John / Doran:my goodness.
Tara / Journey:To see how oo ouchie?
Tim / GM:No. Oh, no. That would be Guy.
John / Doran:That's me.
Tim / GM:Guy, that is a 17 to hit.
John / Doran:That's a miss, my friend.
Tim / GM:That's a miss. You hear the squealing of metal as it's rapidly heating and you feel something clamp around your calf trying to crush you and trying to in venom you. In fact, you do feel this boiling venom being pushed into your boot as its fangs pierce your armor. It's not injecting it into your veins like it wants to. It's it's running it down the side of your leg.
John / Doran:Oh, dear.
Tim / GM:You're still coughing and blinded and can't do anything about this, but you know there's biting cinder snakes in here with you.
John / Doran:Plural? Snakes.
Tim / GM:Again, Doran, the the heat of this doesn't bother you one little bit. You seem to be kind of immune to the effects of uncomfortable heat.
John / Doran:I don't know. He's a fire engine Aussie. I didn't even know that.
Maggie / Poppy:Thought you said fire engine ossy.
John / Doran:He's a fire truck.
Tim / GM:You're you're all subjected to this tornado of ash and wind that goes on for 30 some seconds as you feel yourselves also rapidly tumbling. You're sort of falling by the minute as the ash loosens beneath you and threatens to choke you out.
John / Doran:No. Can I try to do anything about this snake, or is it too chaotic right now?
Tim / GM:You can swing a sword or something in this little silo with all your friends right next to you. Go ahead.
John / Doran:I think I would just, like, grab it.
Tim / GM:Yeah. Pull it. Okay. Wanna make a grapple check? Yep.
Tara / Journey:Yeah. Yeah. Grab pull check.
John / Doran:Yes. 22.
Tim / GM:Hey. You take commanding control of the cinder snake immediately. You've held on to the hot rod before. This is nothing compared to that.
Maggie / Poppy:He's rattled a few snakes in his days.
Tara / Journey:Yeah. There's a snake in my boot.
Tim / GM:You have wrestled some hot snakes. You're fine. You all continue to ride this down. Guy, you're not at risk of getting bitten by the same snake again. You're holding this thing as you tumble downwards until all of you feel a hard stone beneath you and the wind at your back kind of pushing you into this next room.
Tim / GM:All the same, you see Oscar in a moment of blinking, you know, between, you know, teary gasping breaths. You see Oscar getting forced into the next room as light as he is. He's tossed into the core chamber as well.
John / Doran:I was pressed to digitation to try to, like, splash the ash out of my eyes. Okay. Anyone else get bit?
Hannah / Eryn:Bit by what?
John / Doran:This big snake I'm holding.
Tim / GM:Why why
John / Doran:is it still alive? Oh.
Tim / GM:Yeah. You look around and you can all see 3 mostly black charcoal looking snakes, but every now and again, you can see this ripple of cinders go down its skin, much like it does on on Oscar here.
John / Doran:Oof. I'm going to try to kill this
Tim / GM:one. Okay. Yeah. You can see and stuff now. Go ahead.
John / Doran:How would I do this?
Maggie / Poppy:You come into their home.
John / Doran:I mean, I probably just try to, like, throw it on the ground and step on it.
Tim / GM:Okay.
John / Doran:But that's, like, a d 4. You know what? I'm just gonna do that. K.
Tim / GM:Give you advantage for having just grappled and thrown this thing.
John / Doran:Okay. Is this another grapple? I rolled 2 thirteens.
Tim / GM:Not another grapple. This is more of an attack. So that would be you know, you've thrown it 20 ish. Yeah. You've thrown it to the ground and have begun stomping on it.
Tim / GM:It's, it's not exactly a challenge creature, so it's Oh. It's pretty much dead outright.
John / Doran:Yeah. Yeah. Don't me. Stop. Stop.
John / Doran:Oscar kinda looks like it in a way.
Tim / GM:There's a there's a similar effect where, you know, they these snakes and Oscar both occasionally send these ripples of cinders down their skin that looks like kind of the edge of burning paper almost.
John / Doran:Can I do an inside check on Oscar after guy just killed the snake?
Maggie / Poppy:Yeah. Oscar, king of snakes.
Tara / Journey:There was a trap.
John / Doran:So my role is a 16.
Hannah / Eryn:Okay.
Tim / GM:Yeah. You don't think Oscar is a snake. Yep. But as the, other snakes have kind of cleared away after seeing the one get stomped to death, the air is still pushing, but not as hard. Oscar is definitely forced into the next chamber, but is calming down about it a little bit.
Tim / GM:You see, Poppy has settled in the next chamber, kind of tumbling on her duff and now standing up and clearing herself off. She's okay, but she nearly landed in a pool of magma.
Tara / Journey:Yikes.
Tim / GM:The rest of you can see clearly into the court chamber now, and you can see the colossal Bismite beyond. This place is warm as hell, over a 100 degrees easy. But, Dorn, again, you don't give a shit. You can't feel it.
Maggie / Poppy:Is it a dry heat, though?
Tim / GM:It's a dry heat, so it's not quite so bad.
Tara / Journey:It's not quite as bad. You know? It's really the humidity
John / Doran:of the air zone. It's the humidity that gets you. Right?
Tim / GM:Yeah. It's really the humidity of a place.
Tara / Journey:Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
John / Doran:I agree. It's the humidity. Yeah. But you should make sure you drink plenty of water still.
Tim / GM:Plenty of fluids.
John / Doran:Yeah. Yeah.
Maggie / Poppy:Oh my god. Wear a sunscreen.
Tim / GM:You can all see the heart of Baxi. It is the largest bismite crystal that any of you have ever seen, full stop. You can see this deep blue near the center of the formation, but a lot of it is green and even a dull pink towards the edges. And that's true for much of this chamber. It's largely golden pink, casting it all in this romantic rosy light, but also indicating that it's near the end of its life cycle.
Tim / GM:Around the central spire that supports the heart of Backsy is this lazy river of magma and you can see small pools and rivulets that dot the chamber at random all around. Poppy, you're standing and cleaning yourself off, but when you stand up, something falls out of you. And for a second, you're like, my brain. But, no, it's just I would.
John / Doran:It's just pinch.
Maggie / Poppy:Oh, careful.
Tim / GM:He turns around and looks up at you, and then he looks all around with these wide eyes.
Maggie / Poppy:Yeah. It's like one big oven,
Tim / GM:He points at the giant bismite.
Maggie / Poppy:That's yeah. That's bismite.
Tim / GM:You see Pinch take a deep breath, and Pinch gets a little bit bigger. He runs over to a nearby cluster of bismite and he holds out his hands as if he's next to a campfire and then he looks back at you and he looks back at the bismite and then you see him get a little bigger by the moment. And you can see it's hard to tell with the coloring of the light in here, but he's also starting to brown around the edges a little bit with all the heat And before long Poppy, he's bigger than you, he's twice your size. And his doughy body forms this doughy simulacrum of muscle, He's got little bread abs. And suddenly, Pinch is looking a little more punch.
John / Doran:Oh. Who is
Tara / Journey:that Pokemon?
Maggie / Poppy:Uh-huh. Pinch
John / Doran:is evolving.
Tim / GM:He's looking around and press b. From from moment to moment, you can see little wisps of pink light float up towards Pinch as he breathes again and again.
Maggie / Poppy:What are you doing?
Tim / GM:He just kinda gives you a little smile, and he points down at the bismite.
Maggie / Poppy:He's got
Tara / Journey:a full set of teeth now.
John / Doran:Yeah. Oh, god. Just kidding.
Maggie / Poppy:Does he still have little clove eyes?
Tim / GM:Yeah. He's still pink. She's still cute.
Tara / Journey:She's She's buffing cute.
Maggie / Poppy:Stop eating the biz night.
Tim / GM:Kinda looks up at you like a like, why?
Maggie / Poppy:Because you're destroying it.
Tim / GM:You all look up and see Oscar is puddle hopping. He's jumping over all the little pools of magma trying to get to the core fragment here that's exposed the heart of Backseat.
John / Doran:Poppy, who's the hunk?
Maggie / Poppy:This French loaf over here, that's Pinch. I don't know what he's doing.
Tim / GM:Pinch starts doing, like, mister universe flexes, where he's, like, got one arm above him and one underneath him, and he's just kinda flexing in like an s pattern, turns around and shows you his back muscles and his shoulders and flexes again.
Maggie / Poppy:I was so buff. Mhmm. You guys, I don't I don't know where he learned how to do that.
Tara / Journey:Is he he's eating the bizmat?
Maggie / Poppy:That's what it seems like.
John / Doran:I did not teach him this technique.
Maggie / Poppy:I didn't either. As they're looking at pinch flexing, Aaron's gonna keep their eyes trained on Oscar as he's getting closer to the biz mite. And Aaron kinda has, like, a bad feeling in the pit of their stomach about Oscar, and just trying to keep an eye on him because every time we get close to Bizmates with a stranger, something bad happens. So
Tim / GM:very well. Totally rational way to be right now. Yeah. You watch Oscar jump over a couple little magma rivers and climb up that spire. There's a sort of column that looks like it fell over at some point and it kind of gets him right up to that giant bismite crystal.
Tim / GM:He runs up the slanted column and he holds out a hand towards the bismite. You can see in his hand he's got a Venus crystal. He sort of turns around to frame himself right in front of the crystal And he looks at a loss for words and you can tell the crystal's running and he says, Mabel,
Tim / GM:you say your heart is down here and it's tied to backseat now. Well, well, I'm down here too. I'm right here with you, and I'm always gonna be. Doesn't matter how high you go. Doesn't matter where your life takes you.
Tim / GM:I'm right here with you, Mabel.
Tim / GM:Journey. Everyone else has been able to go on with things since they walked into this chamber, but you're still standing back by the arch. And that is so clear to you now. It's not what Doran was hearing. It's nothing to do with Doran.
Tim / GM:It has nothing to do with any of that. It was just a coincidence cause what you're hearing, what you're feeling is the same thing you felt on lower. It's the heartbeat of backseat, and it's not an empty noise. It's calling to you.
John / Doran:Go seek. Go seek. Go seek. Go seek. Go seek.
John / Doran:Go seek. Go seek.
Tim / GM:And your own heartbeat syncs up with backseat. And it's so encompassing now, you truly can't think of anything else. Even if Jurney is unafraid in this moment, her heart is beating wildly, and it all becomes clear. This is it. You've taken an unconscious step towards the heart of Maxie.
Tim / GM:What do you do from here?
Tara / Journey:I take another step, and I reach my hands out with that same part of me that feels connected to the earth and to nature, and to magic, and all of those things that to me are the same.
Tim / GM:You all feel a single pulse move through this room, and your attention is stolen towards Journey, away from the Bizbite and Oscar, and the romantic gesture that's going on here. There's something so much bigger happening. The Fay buds that normally cling to Journey's hair have instead spread out into an intentional constellation that you can't make sense of, but there's a reason for it. And you can hear this melodic a chorus of so many voices, this beautiful harmony, But just as soon as it starts, it stops and the Fey Buds tighten back into Journey's hair and, did it just get darker in here? Journey, something huge just moved into your field of view and it's taking your brain a second to catch up with the size of it, the rest of you.
Tim / GM:The rest of you standing back saw it happen, but it made you no more prepared to act. That lazy river, the stream of magma, with one swift motion, the river begins to rise up up and up, and it cools into a coil around the heart of Baxi, and you find yourself face to face with the great beast, the colossal snake, Sesk, the coil, guardian of Backsy. The island begins to shake, but not like lore. You can see it in the snake's eyes. He's causing this.
Tim / GM:Oscar turns with his Venus crystal, clicks it off, and looks up at you and he goes, okay. That's the end of the show. It's eruption time. Man, we've been made. Alright.
Tim / GM:Yeah. We should just clear out of here as quick as we can. He looks at each of you. He looks at Poppy and darts to Doran back to Journey, Aaron. You see this look of horror come over his face.
Tim / GM:He looks at himself and he goes,
Tim / GM:oh shit, you guys are like super flammable, aren't you? This whole place is gonna get real spicy. I did not think this through. I'm sorry. What?
John / Doran:Well, it's been nice annoying you, and thank you for bringing us here to our death. Uh-uh.
Tim / GM:You see Oscar kind of like spin around and just take in this chamber. You can see, it's not like an earthquake where rocks are falling, but you can see that there's magma spilling out of these cuts in open air and the room is getting hotter and hotter and hotter by the second in Journey. The rumble is real. The heat is real. You will not survive this.
Tim / GM:Journey, you know that your party is shouting at you, but it's all kind of drowned out. There's a hidden voice coming from the great beast, and you're so close to being able to comprehend what it's saying that your ears are ignoring pretty much everything else that's coming to you.
Tara / Journey:Journey starts to feel the heat and takes a half step back, but still is kind of reaching out towards the snake. Mhmm. Magically reaches out and says, like, I'm sorry. We didn't mean to disturb
Tim / GM:trying to be much farther as best you can, you see a heat ripple start to kind of rip out from these magma cuts. You know that if you stay here much longer, you're going to start to quite literally burn. Journey, it's up to you whether you can break
Maggie / Poppy:away from this or not.
Tim / GM:You see the coil kind of narrow its eyes that you had understood what you said.
Tara / Journey:I think in that moment, Journey makes a choice that dying here is not worth it. Okay. But still gives kind of one last look to the snake and still tries to have that connection be understood. Like, I see you, and I'm not trying to hurt you before turning away and running back to the group.
Tim / GM:Okay. Yeah. You you see it kind of poise itself. It starts to rise higher and higher, and it almost looks like a cobra ready to strike. But in that moment, you also see it hesitate, and then Doran's voice comes piercing
John / Doran:through. Journey? Journey, we gotta go now.
Tara / Journey:Yeah. Yeah. I'm I'm coming. I'm sorry.
John / Doran:Oscar, get us out of here, please.
Tim / GM:Yeah. Okay. I got an idea. Follow me this way.
Maggie / Poppy:We follow? Yeah.
Tara / Journey:We all run. Yeah.
Tim / GM:You're all, kind of hopping off this, like, center island, jumping over little, streams of magma that are starting to get more intense. One of you even slams your boot down into soft rock and starts to scrape it off of your heel as best you can. Journey, as you're following Oscar, you're one of the last ones through the pipe. He's led you all to a giant brass pipe along the wall that goes straight up. You're all crawling through.
Tim / GM:He's kind of ushering you 1 by 1, and you take a look back at the coil, and it's still staring at you, the giant snake. And it narrows its eyes one more time, and you hear, child of Melis, why?
Tara / Journey:I I promise I'm only here to help.
Tim / GM:It begins to coil back around the center island, taking a restful position, and it utters to itself, friend of the
Tara / Journey:fae. I I nod and start to back up into the pipe.
Tim / GM:Yeah. You're all packed into this 10 foot wide pipe now, kind of standing shoulder to shoulder looking straight up, an infinite brass column that just goes straight up. You don't know what Oscar's plan was here. There's no ladder or anything.
John / Doran:Oscar, did you forget that we cannot float as well?
Tim / GM:Yeah. I'm I'm on it. I just, okay. I'm gonna give it a try. Here we go.
Tim / GM:You see Oscar's fingertips start to shed sparks, and you see this wave of cinders roll over his body again, and he starts to lift off the ground. He reaches down for Poppy's hand. He goes, come on.
Tim / GM:I think I can get you.
John / Doran:Go Poppy.
Maggie / Poppy:I'll put a I'll wrap a towel around my hand first.
Tim / GM:Yeah. Yeah. You see his hand kind of cool down actually. Just his hand. Okay.
Tim / GM:So you can grab right there and it's not too hot.
Maggie / Poppy:Okay. I grab on.
Tim / GM:Yeah. He's, yeah. He begins lifting you slowly slowly into the air. He goes, come on. The rest of you, come on.
Maggie / Poppy:Guy?
John / Doran:Hi. Guy grabs Poppy's hands.
Tim / GM:Okay. He stops dead here.
John / Doran:Yeah. I should've seen that coming.
Tim / GM:He just yanks on Guy and he goes, okay. Alright. Here we go. You see his skin just flare up and he's kind of glowing from within, like all over. He goes, okay, we can do this.
Tim / GM:And, Guy, you start to feel yourself pull off the ground just a little bit. At the same time, I need actually, there is no deck save. There's no saving from
Tara / Journey:this. Great. So cruel.
Tim / GM:Oh, that's a full 6 fire damage to everybody in this room as the heat cranks. Okay.
Maggie / Poppy:We have still flammable?
John / Doran:To me as well?
Tim / GM:No. Sorry. Doreen, you take 3 fire damage. Okay.
Maggie / Poppy:Has it been 10 minutes since I cast fly? No. I'm still flying.
Tim / GM:Perfect. Technically. Poppy just remembers she's still flying.
Maggie / Poppy:Oh, yeah. I'm not going anywhere because this guy is attached to me.
Tim / GM:Yeah. Okay. Yeah. That's a good, like, improvement upon the situation. Oscar suddenly sees you kinda float up next to him and goes, hey.
Tim / GM:What gives?
Maggie / Poppy:Oh, yeah. I can I can fly?
Tim / GM:You should be pulling me.
Maggie / Poppy:I'm not I'm not strong.
Tim / GM:Can you
Tim / GM:get any of them?
John / Doran:I
Maggie / Poppy:can try. Erin looks like the least heavy.
Maggie / Poppy:Yeah. Erin grabs on to Poppy Sand.
Maggie / Poppy:Okay. I'll try. Okay.
Tim / GM:Give me soon arcana check for that.
Maggie / Poppy:Oh, those are good. Okay. Yeah. I was like, strength is negative one.
Tim / GM:No. No. It's your it's your spell.
John / Doran:Right? Can I, additionally cast, enhance ability on Poppy? Sure. I don't know if this will apply, but I was I'm gonna give Poppy bull strength, which doubles her carrying capacity. Interesting.
John / Doran:I don't know if that's gonna help or not. Bull's famous for carrying
Hannah / Eryn:a lot
Maggie / Poppy:of stuff.
Tim / GM:Yeah. I know it's a mixed role, but let's just do advantage on the Arkana for that.
Maggie / Poppy:Without that, it was a dirty 20.
Tim / GM:Okay. And with?
Maggie / Poppy:Same number.
John / Doran:Same. Exactly.
Tara / Journey:Okay. Exactly.
Tim / GM:Alright. Dirty 20. Surprisingly, you are able to lift Aaron off the ground. It's not quick travel, but you're able to go. Guy, meanwhile, Oscar grabs your hand and is trying to lift you.
Tim / GM:When it's just you, he can get you off the ground a little bit, but you can see he is burning up. He is losing parts of himself. Woah.
John / Doran:Let's see. We don't have our mining equipment anymore. Right?
Maggie / Poppy:No. No.
Tim / GM:It all got the back of the
Hannah / Eryn:stick. I have web.
Maggie / Poppy:Oh, there you go.
Maggie / Poppy:Just make a little sticky web on your handzies.
John / Doran:And the wall catch fire
Tara / Journey:and explode. Oh.
Tim / GM:It is flammable.
Tara / Journey:It is flammable.
Maggie / Poppy:It is.
Maggie / Poppy:Oh, shoot. Maybe
Tara / Journey:not. I'm wondering if I can cast web so that we can climb up. It is difficult terrain, but it is climbable. Yeah.
Tim / GM:Yeah. Yes. That would work for a certain distance. You guys have well over 500 feet to go.
Tara / Journey:Okay. Maybe not. Oscar,
John / Doran:Oscar, I, am trying to lose weight here. I have this hot rod which emits fire magic.
Tim / GM:We do not need more fire. What's wrong with you?
John / Doran:I just wondered if I shot you with a fireball if it would, like, charge you up?
Tim / GM:Yeah. Probably it would, but then, you
Tim / GM:know, that's kinda it, I think, for me.
Maggie / Poppy:And the rest of the
John / Doran:True. True. True. Guy, just toss it on your head. That'll save some weight.
John / Doran:I can carry that. Oh, good thinking.
Maggie / Poppy:Is that, like, £6 or something?
John / Doran:Guy, clamps down onto the hot rod with his teeth k. And then lifts his head off and drops it down. Okay.
Tim / GM:Oscar looks down. He says, sorry. He's dead.
Tara / Journey:Is anyone good at investigation?
John / Doran:It's fine. He does that. Oh, you'll have to Oscar and then try to catch guy's head.
Tim / GM:Make a Dex. Ability check.
John / Doran:Oof. Oof, Guy.
Tim / GM:I'm sorry. 7. Oh, does not catch it. Guy, you land face first in the ash.
John / Doran:Pull up. Pick it up as fast as I can. Yeah. Just blow off the ash from his head.
Maggie / Poppy:It's blowing into his mouth.
John / Doran:I didn't know this would be so weird. I don't know where to put this.
Tara / Journey:Maybe there's something, around the tunnel. Maybe there's some switchboard like the controls for the other paths.
Tim / GM:Guy, when your head hits the ground, do you see the little, cutouts in the pipe where you guys entered through, the one that normally takes in heat or expels ash? Pinch is standing in front of that opening and since he's grown a little bit in mass, he's just stuck his butt in the opening and you can see you can hear flames rolling outside and you can just see Pinch's face start to bubble.
Tara / Journey:Oh. Oh, no. Pinch.
John / Doran:Pinch. Pinch my good man. Are you okay?
Tim / GM:He reaches out a hand to you and his hand just suddenly inflates 2, 3, 10 times its size. Oh, no.
John / Doran:This is just like when I try to bake.
Tim / GM:Pinch is slowly nodding to you as he's getting bigger and bigger, and he's almost pushing you out of the way, guy. The rest of you, nobody can ignore this now. He's taking up most of the pipe.
John / Doran:Pappy, Aaron, this isn't gonna get you far, but here, and I had toss, Aaron the lock stop digger. Okay. You can at least get a little higher. You you seem to be heating up a little faster than me.
Maggie / Poppy:I try to catch it,
Tara / Journey:I guess?
Tim / GM:Deck safe. Yeah. Let's see if we lose that in the pipe. Yeah.
Maggie / Poppy:Okay. 16?
Tim / GM:Yeah. You're good.
John / Doran:You got it. So, basically, what this does is if you press the button, it locks in place. So you can potentially use it to start to, like, pull yourself up at least a little ways of the pipe just to get away from the heat.
Maggie / Poppy:Okay. I will try to do that and work our way
Maggie / Poppy:up. Yep. We're flying.
Tim / GM:Oh, that's right. Sorry. Yeah. Erin and Poppy are flying.
John / Doran:Oh, shoot. I'm sorry. Back up. Yeah.
Maggie / Poppy:Dorn, I don't need this stupid thing. I throw it back at Dorn.
Tim / GM:Throw throw the dagger.
John / Doran:I can't believe I threw it, like, 40 feet in the air.
Tim / GM:You threw a dagger at Erin 40 feet away, and you caught it. 12. You catch it, but just barely. K. Yep.
John / Doran:Sorry. Journey, same story. Here you go. And I tossed it over to Journey.
Tara / Journey:What am I supposed
Maggie / Poppy:to do with this?
Tim / GM:I'm on the ground.
John / Doran:Text you.
Maggie / Poppy:Oh my god. God. I
John / Doran:should just pass it. I should just handed it to you.
Maggie / Poppy:Can you, like, like, jump and click and then pull yourself up?
Tara / Journey:Muscle for it.
Tim / GM:17? Oh, yeah.
Hannah / Eryn:You got it. Nice.
Tara / Journey:Oh my goodness.
Tim / GM:You gonna try to do that? The air climbing thing?
Tara / Journey:I mean, I'll try it, but you guys gotta start looking for something. I'm not good with this technology. I don't understand this world, but all of you all of y'all know how to do it. Can you look around for something?
Maggie / Poppy:I have never been in an ash pipe before today.
Maggie / Poppy:Erin does an investigation check, please.
Tim / GM:Been in an ash pipe?
Maggie / Poppy:Before today, I'm investigating. Unless you count cleaning out the chimney on the shop.
Tara / Journey:Has Doran got an investigation?
Maggie / Poppy:That's a
John / Doran:I think I think Dorn Dorn is the only one on the ground right now.
Maggie / Poppy:You said Dorn, Dorn.
John / Doran:Dead. Shoot.
Maggie / Poppy:Your Gamison is made out of denim.
Tim / GM:I think Erin's a little too panicked to make a quality investigation right now.
Maggie / Poppy:I don't see anything. Just weird squishy marshmallow man.
John / Doran:Doran, put my head behind you. We can cover twice as much ground. You're right. Don't have sourdough. And if we spin really fast, we'll catch all of it.
Maggie / Poppy:Sourdough man. Jeez. Sorry.
John / Doran:All of you keep flying up, please. We'll figure this out. And I put a guy on the back of my head, and we start turning on looking to investigate. This is a joint investigation.
Tim / GM:Who? Let's have you both roll as, like, a pseudo advantage between the 2 of you. Okay.
John / Doran:Got a 15? I got a 9 19. Oh.
Maggie / Poppy:Nice.
John / Doran:I rolled a 19, which is an 18.
Tim / GM:Okay. Guy, you learn that these walls are made of solid, thick, quite hot brass. They are completely smooth, 500 feet up.
Maggie / Poppy:Nothing to be gained.
Tim / GM:You also noticed during this investigation, you are now standing on pinch or everyone on the ground is standing on pinch, and everyone above has a giant pinch pillow beneath them that is rapidly inflating. Oh.
Maggie / Poppy:Oh. He's over proving.
John / Doran:How much more do you think he can prove, Poppy?
Maggie / Poppy:We've never tried. I don't know. Oh. This is entirely new. I've never done this before.
John / Doran:Pop Poppy, what makes the yeast what wait. What Poppy, what makes the bread rise? More yeast. Do you have anything?
Maggie / Poppy:It's heat, I think. It's activating it. Do we want him to rise more?
John / Doran:I think we do.
Maggie / Poppy:I pull a jar of baking powder, I think, is the yes. Right? Can I double check that?
Tara / Journey:Powder or soda?
John / Doran:Soda and outer, like, opposite sides. They do the opposite thing.
Tara / Journey:But they're almost the same.
Maggie / Poppy:Makes dough, guys, not yeast. Baking powder. Okay. Or leaveners come in 2 main forms. I will I'll test down my jar of baking powder and my jar of baking soda.
Maggie / Poppy:Perfect. And say, sprinkle it on him.
Tim / GM:Dex is a catch.
John / Doran:I think I'm only one down there. So Okay. You're also holding a head. Yeah. I am holding that.
John / Doran:Disadvantage. Okay. Alright. 7.
Tim / GM:You don't
Maggie / Poppy:catch it.
Tim / GM:Okay. They both shatter on pinch.
Maggie / Poppy:That works.
Tim / GM:You see What the hell, Poppy?
Tim / GM:Looking down or standing on, Doreen, you see Pinch's face kind of in the center the bubbles up this pipe. And Doran, all of a sudden, he just knocks you on your ass and you are being, like, lifted out of this thing by a rapidly expanding dough ball. The rest of you that are flying, before long, it catches up with you and you're all suddenly being cannonballed out of this pipe by a bread ball. Oh my god.
Tara / Journey:I'm just holding the lock stop down.
Tim / GM:Like, do not be
Tara / Journey:trying to unpress it? Just Yeah. Clicking it.
Maggie / Poppy:I I think we can call that 1 Chibata.
Tim / GM:You see his face kind of warp and split over and over again in a bunch of, like, little bubbles that kind of blow up into a fish eye effect. And before long, that speck of of daylight that was 500 feet above you is suddenly in clean view and you can feel fresh air and you are all jettisoned out of a pipe into an alleyway. You all take 5 bludgeoning damage. Oh.
Maggie / Poppy:Oh my god. It feels so good out here, though.
John / Doran:Doran, we really need to work on your game of catch. Yeah. My son. I think that's
Maggie / Poppy:My son.
John / Doran:My son. Yeah. What?
Tim / GM:Out of
John / Doran:all the lessons we could have gathered from that, I think that is probably the the main takeaway for sure. We can practice with your head, and then I toss a guy his head back. Okay. 18.
Tim / GM:Oh, alright. You catch it.
Maggie / Poppy:I was
Tim / GM:I was really hoping for a low row and I could send it down the pipe.
Maggie / Poppy:End of the note. No.
Tim / GM:But the 6 of you have entered into a bright, clean day in the upperbs. You are in the good part of backseat.
Maggie / Poppy:Is that worth it for you, Oscar?
Tim / GM:He's kind of dusting the ash off of him. He's looking at some minor skin injuries from trying to lift people into the air, and he says, Yeah. It was. Thanks.
Maggie / Poppy:Well, hopefully Mabel, maybe appreciates it if she's even real. Oh.
Tim / GM:He looks down at the crystal on his hand. She's real. She's really real.
Maggie / Poppy:Erin just rolls her eyes. Okay.
Maggie / Poppy:And I
Tim / GM:think that's where I went. Thanks everybody for listening. I have been Tim, your GM.
Maggie / Poppy:I'm Erin playing Hannah. No.
Tim / GM:I'm every time.
Maggie / Poppy:Keep it.
Tim / GM:Leave it. I'm
Tara / Journey:Taran. I play Journey.
John / Doran:I'm Thomas. I am Guy. I'm John. I play Doran.
Maggie / Poppy:I'm Maggie, and I am Poppy.
Tim / GM:Thanks everybody for listening, and we'll see you in the next one.
Hannah / Eryn:Yay.