Cloudfall | 30 - Cloud Save
Last time on Cloudfall. Doran, Aaron, Journey, Poppy and Guy did everything they could to get the message out about the Skyland falling. It may have cost Guy the race, but he was able to save Stede while Poppy and Air managed to sway the entire stadium into a calm and orderly evacuation. In the core chamber, Journeys effort to heal the heart of Maxi was interrupted by Lirion Hale himself. He has shown his true form, a monstrous fawn born of the most spiteful lands in the Feywild.
Tim / GM:Though terrifyingly powerful, the party managed to stand up to Lirion and beat him back until Parsippen came to his rescue. But unless something changes, Baxi is still destined to fall. It's lore all over again. Or is it? You're all standing in the core chamber of Baxi, and you're among friends.
Tim / GM:You're with Oscar and Phenom and Stede and one new face, Holly Hyacinth, the most celebrated witch in the world of trade. She had just appeared out of nowhere and shattered your Venus crystal into a 1,000 tiny Venus crystals. She imbued them with her own magic. I mean, being the inventor of Venus crystals in the first place, she can create these things pretty rapidly. She sent them all throughout backseat to help spread the message.
Tim / GM:Everyone needs to evacuate either by ship or by her portal. Though she had opened up near the docks in the bazaar. Also important to note, Doran Jurney and Oscar each have 6 copies of themselves to command around during this time if they so need to. Holly had just stood up after, she had, like, quaffed a potion, read a scroll, you saw her veins go black. It would it's clear that the effort she is putting through to save these people of Backsy is something that she probably can't do time and again.
Tim / GM:You had all just given some sacrifice to the heart of Baxi and you saw results. Just a moment ago, when you had each given up your spell slots and the magic and the energy that you had left, you felt the dying thirst of the island. You felt the hunger of the land beneath your feet. And when it asked for you to give, you did so freely. And that effort made a visible change.
Tim / GM:The bismide crystals in the room which were a dull, crumbling silver before have been rejuvenated by some degree, and they now have this greenish gold color to them. You can see that what you did had an impact, but it's just not quite enough. The island is still shaking, and you can tell it's still going down. What do you all do from here?
John / Doran:My name's Doran. Holly, you said?
Tara / Journey:Who are you? And Aaron has 2 daggers pointing at Holly. That's Holly. Hi, I said Who Holly what?
Tim / GM:Holly points at Poppy.
Tara / Journey:She she just put the crystals in the the
Thomas / Guy:All this crystal nonsense. Yes. Her name was attached to them.
Tim / GM:Perhaps you saw my face on some
Tim / GM:of the, she looks over at Aaron and kind of like touches her crossbow and makes her put it down.
Tim / GM:You may have seen my face on some ads around town, perhaps. I'm, fairly well known. I also happen to have a, deep connection to this island and the trade that happens here. It's a bit of a cash cow as it were. So I
Tim / GM:have a vested interest in saving each and every person who lives here.
John / Doran:Yeah. It seems like you have a plan. We'd love to we had a good one. It's well thought out, but let's just use yours from here. What do what do you need us to do?
Tara / Journey:We'll really wait until
Hannah / Eryn:the last second to show up when your cash cow was dying.
Tim / GM:I'd I'd had only just recently heard about this. I I had to make a literal bargain just to be able to cast multiple portals in a day to be here. Okay. It's a lot. I understand.
Tim / GM:But we need to talk to people. We need to get the word out. We need to get all of Baxley onto these ships or into the portal.
Tara / Journey:But part pardon, miss Hyacinth. Big fan. We kinda did that already. Oh. We we sent out word on all the the big, you know, the crystal the thing.
Tara / Journey:We we told everyone to go.
Tim / GM:She takes a second to regard you, Poppy, and she sees you're kind of, tired attire. You know, you had a long day. You're in the core chamber of backseat. You have been through a lot, all of you, you're dirty and tired and haggard a little bit, but you're also fully equipped with adventuring gear, with weapons, you know, with obvious power about you, and you see that Holly realizes she's not the only power in the universe. She says, perhaps you could be a little more useful than I originally thought.
Tim / GM:Great. Okay. Great. Let's all head up. Shall we?
Tim / GM:I trust you
Tim / GM:all have your own locomotion. She takes the broom by her side and just very casually sits upon it and begins floating away.
Tara / Journey:The the the pin is out there and it's passed. We can if you wanna okay.
Thomas / Guy:Come, Steed.
John / Doran:What's the weight capacity on that?
Tara / Journey:The Steed?
Thomas / Guy:I don't know.
Tara / Journey:Yeah. Does Steed have a towing capacity?
Thomas / Guy:How are you feeling, Steed? Do you think you could take 1 or 2 extras?
Tim / GM:This would probably be a good time to get some ground rules across as well. Here's the deal. You may not remember everything, but we have a stipulation. I have no master. You understand?
Tim / GM:I'm a friend. I will be there whenever you need me, but I have no master. Whenever you call for me, I'll be there. But the time in between don't count on
Thomas / Guy:it. Very well, Stede. This arrangement, sounds very equitable.
Tim / GM:In game terms, Thomas, going forward, this means when you use find Steed, Steed will suddenly be there for you. Nice. All other times when you go to look for him, he may not be there whatsoever. And, that's just how it works.
Hannah / Eryn:I love it.
Tara / Journey:Find Stede becomes very specific. Mhmm. I feel like that this works in the game mechanic of us forgetting that Stede is Exactly. Like us. Yeah.
Tara / Journey:And that's perfect. I love it.
Tim / GM:Stede goes, I can probably take any 2 of you at the same time. That's about it.
Tara / Journey:So are we gonna go or what? Guy, you've been kind of quiet.
Thomas / Guy:Yes. Let's go. I can take one more with us. Oh, right. You can't hear them.
Thomas / Guy:Yes. I've been talking to Stede, my friend. Not I am not its master.
Tara / Journey:Right.
Thomas / Guy:I know what you are all thinking.
Tim / GM:Holly looks down at Stede and smirks and goes, Stede?
Tara / Journey:Miss miss Hyacinth, why do we need to go up? Can't we just try and I don't know. Can we talk to the people here and try to try to, before they leave, try to get them to give more to the to the island? I don't want it to fall.
Tim / GM:What do you mean give more to the island?
Tara / Journey:What we just did, all of us, we we gave some of our magic back to keep it alive. That's why it's glowing now. If more people helped, maybe we could keep it from falling.
Tim / GM:She, like, furrows her eyebrows and gives you kind of a deeply
Tara / Journey:It was empty and we filled it back up just a little. But it's not enough.
Tim / GM:I Listen, I would give you all that I can. I just I need it right now. I need to go help you.
Tara / Journey:No. Not not you. Everyone. But if everyone leaves, then it's too late. But if you think that it I don't know.
Tara / Journey:I'm not an expert, but if you think that maybe it's already too late.
John / Doran:Depends on your reach, Holly. I mean, you're practically a a goddess for this island.
Tim / GM:Yeah. I know. Okay.
John / Doran:Well, yeah. Glad that's established. But, yeah, if we can convince everyone, you know, it's possible we can keep this thing aloft, I was skeptical too until I touched hands and yeah. I mean, I think we did have a meaningful impact, just a small group of us. If we had everyone help.
John / Doran:I don't know.
Tim / GM:She wheels around and looks at the crystal again and looks at all of you. Dorn, I need you to make a persuasion check.
John / Doran:K. Can
Tara / Journey:I have helped? Oh.
Tim / GM:Yeah. That's fair. You made a good argument too. Mhmm. Yeah.
Tim / GM:I mean, you kinda started the whole thing.
John / Doran:Natural
Tara / Journey:20. Woah. Woah. Woah. Wow.
Tara / Journey:Okay. That's
John / Doran:we need an overtop cam just to, like, prove that this
Tara / Journey:is happening.
Tim / GM:No kidding.
Tara / Journey:Yeah. We roll. Density. Yeah. Every night.
Tara / Journey:Everyone get a second phone so that one phone is pointed at your face and one point is pointed Mhmm. Yep. You know? Pointed down. You know?
Tara / Journey:One phone is pointed. One phone is pointed.
Tim / GM:Doran, she looks back at you and she says, you're right. I am?
John / Doran:I mean, we are? Yeah. It it could work. I don't have a lot of confidence that we can convince everyone to do it, but it is the best of all. So maybe we can spin it as, like, a, hey, everyone.
John / Doran:Let's join hands and close-up the best of
Tim / GM:all. That's good.
Tara / Journey:Would it help? I mean, having the best baker on your side might help.
Tim / GM:Speaking of which, do you know any of the, those top 5 top 15, whatever they are?
Tara / Journey:I'm Bess Baker.
Tim / GM:Okay. Yes. Yes. Exactly. Do you do we have any more?
Tara / Journey:Enam?
John / Doran:Enam's here.
Tim / GM:Oh, yeah. Yeah. That, he was, sorry. Phenom. Yeah.
Tim / GM:I know him. Yeah. We should get Phenom.
Tara / Journey:He's already here.
Tim / GM:Oh, perfect. Okay.
Tim / GM:Been a long time. Okay. Yeah.
John / Doran:How old did you know phenom? Never mind. No. Okay.
Thomas / Guy:We we
Tim / GM:don't Yeah. It starts rumbling again. Yes. Okay. That's good.
Tim / GM:That's all good. If any of you need locomotion, I
Tim / GM:can help you fly for
Tim / GM:a little bit. Who needs that?
Tara / Journey:I think we can all get up in the pin. Right? Yeah. My cart should be fine.
Tim / GM:Good. I'll see you all
Tara / Journey:up there then. Oh, where are we meeting?
Tim / GM:Meet me at the portal, in the bazaar, near the docks. We can work from there. We have to stop people from getting in that portal. Oh. Okay.
Tim / GM:We can just gather them there, and that's where we can deliver the message, or or do I close it? No. Do I stop them from leaving if they need to give back?
Hannah / Eryn:Well No. Let people have a choice, I think. That's that matters in this case.
Tim / GM:The island begins to shake again, and you're all kind of, like, staring at each other, waiting to talk, waiting for the rumbling stop so you can get more out, and you don't know if it's going to.
Tara / Journey:Go now. Who's with us again? It's Phenom.
Tim / GM:Oh, yeah. Phenom is here. Yeah.
Tara / Journey:And Steve. Aaron yells over to Oscar, like, hey, Oscar.
Tim / GM:Yeah.
Tara / Journey:Where if people were evacuating, where is the best place to find a huge crowd of people? Oh, I
Tim / GM:mean, they're all gonna be pressed up against the docks trying to get out on those ships, I bet.
Tara / Journey:I think Holly was right. We should head that way where her portal was.
Tim / GM:I appreciate what's happening here, but I gotta get to Mabel. Thanks, everybody.
Tara / Journey:That's what I'm saying. You should find Mabel.
Tim / GM:Yeah. Yeah. I'm going to.
Tara / Journey:Find Mabel and have her spread the word too.
Tim / GM:Oh, yeah. And save everybody else. Yeah. We can do that.
Tara / Journey:Tell her tell her that we all have to give back to the island.
Tim / GM:Okay. Do you think she'll understand
Tim / GM:what that means?
Tara / Journey:Yeah. I think she'll know.
John / Doran:Oscar? Yeah. I know we don't have a lot of time here. I need to give you some unsolicited advice. Okay.
John / Doran:Mabel seems nice. Yeah. It's clear you're both in love.
Tim / GM:Yeah. We are, actually.
John / Doran:Yep. Glad we agree on that. I my concern for both of you, you you wanna be with each other long
Tara / Journey:term. Right?
Tim / GM:Yeah. Yeah. Of course.
John / Doran:She has shied away from accountability, and she's brought harm to everyone here. I'm not saying this to speak poorly of your betrothed, but what I would say, Oscar, is this is a major moment for you and her. If she can show courage and strength when it really counts, you'll make it. I'm trying to just manipulate him a little bit in persuasion. Interesting.
John / Doran:Yeah. Yeah.
Tim / GM:I would definitely say persuasion rather than deception because I think you actually hit the nail on the head with the truth of the matter. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Alright.
Tara / Journey:Look who's preaching about being on it.
Tim / GM:Before you announce it, I wanna try to start doing some more, like, upfront DCs just to, like, keep the stakes where they ought to be. But
Tara / Journey:I think 15.
John / Doran:Okay. I'm gonna use silver tongue, which, basically allows me to treat a d 20 roll as a 10 if it's lower than 9. Oh my god.
Tim / GM:I should've said higher than 9. Glad you said it first. Yeah.
John / Doran:Okay. So yeah. 10. So 21.
Tara / Journey:Wait. You have a plus 11 to those?
John / Doran:The lowest I can roll is at 21 for
Tara / Journey:What did you do?
Tim / GM:Oscar takes a couple steps forward towards you, and he extends a hand to shake yours. I understand. I'll I'll talk to her.
John / Doran:I give him a wink and a and a smile From from handshake too. Yeah.
Tara / Journey:Just Tripling down.
Tim / GM:Yeah. He goes, good. Okay. And he, goes to a horizontal pipe in the wall, and he begins just kind of like army crawling out of here, like, out into the open sky. And you see him kind of disappear and float upwards.
Tara / Journey:Alright.
Thomas / Guy:Now, what about all the rest of you? These are more journeys and and doors than I remember.
Tara / Journey:And they
John / Doran:all go, yes.
Tara / Journey:The pin is bigger on the inside, so everyone just go.
Thomas / Guy:We'll go.
Tim / GM:Yeah. You all disperse. Everybody tell me where you are, or what's your vehicle? How are you moving about?
Tara / Journey:I'll go with Poppy and the pin. Yep. I can write on Steve.
Thomas / Guy:Yeah. Cool.
John / Doran:Good call.
Tara / Journey:And the rest of my copies can be hanging onto the pin. Yeah.
Tim / GM:They can have it. Yep. Yeah. They're way less anyway. Mhmm.
John / Doran:I'll crawl onto the pin too.
Tara / Journey:Hold onto a car while you're skateboarding.
Tim / GM:It's kitchen. Yeah.
Tara / Journey:Yeah. They're all skitchen. I'll love them.
Tim / GM:Okay. Yeah. So there's 12 Journeys and Dorns skitchen on the wet.
John / Doran:Skitchen on the kitchen.
Tara / Journey:Yeah. Wow.
John / Doran:Well, that's an episode title.
Tim / GM:Yeah. Kitchen skitchen. Yeah.
Tara / Journey:I've never heard the term skitchen before, but I it makes perfect sense
Tim / GM:to me. It's great. Yeah. You all explode out onto the night scene, and it is chaos when you start to see the streets here. The closer you get to the bazaar and the docks, you can see indeed it is just pressed throngs of people in absolute panic.
Tim / GM:You can even see that there's some looting going on, you know, some unfortunate, like, exploiters of You're starting to see lava flows being exposed in different places here. You're starting to see lava flows being exposed in different places here. But you can see the majority of people are gathered up by that portal. Some of them are starting to funnel through. A lot of people are on the docks trying to get into the biggest vessel that they can find.
Tim / GM:People are trying to be generous, but even these ships have weight limits.
Hannah / Eryn:Dorn, do you think you can do something like a projection with your magic?
Tara / Journey:I feel like you've done some crazy visual things before. Maybe you
Hannah / Eryn:can project Holly and Journey or something. I don't know. Once once they get here.
John / Doran:Yeah. I I I the very least, I could maybe help Phenom. Did Phenom write in the Yeah. Rolling pin
Tim / GM:Stay with you. Yeah.
John / Doran:Yeah. So we just need to get their attention, basically.
Hannah / Eryn:We just need a big image, like,
Tara / Journey:in the sky to draw everyone, tell them what to do. Uh-huh. I think
Hannah / Eryn:that's what we need of whoever's gonna instruct them or give them direction.
John / Doran:Yeah. I, stick my head out the window and catch Stede with Guy and Journey on it. Mhmm. I point at that. I'm like, Phenom, can we can we make that more prominent?
Tara / Journey:Mhmm. Yeah. I'm sorry. You're they're both nobodies to the island. No offense.
Tara / Journey:Oh. Do we want someone with clout?
John / Doran:Yeah. Poppy, that's great. Yes. It should be you.
Tara / Journey:Oh, that that would I wasn't saying that. Poppy, listen to me. Erin grabs Poppy by both shoulders, and we're, like, sailing in the rolling pin as fast as it can go. And I'm, like, Poppy,
Hannah / Eryn:listen. This is your moment, and you need to show everyone what we can do together. We're all behind you. It's not just you, but you need to convince them and tell them. Right, Dorn?
John / Doran:Absolutely.
Tara / Journey:That's an awful lot of moments for one night.
Tim / GM:It's okay. Poppy, I can go with you. He Ben's down at you, and, he is actually, I need you to make a wisdom save.
Hannah / Eryn:Wait. Was that phenom?
Tim / GM:Phenom. Okay. A
Tara / Journey:wisdom saved?
Tim / GM:Yep. Sorry. Wisdom save, DC 14 on this one. Okay. Basically, he's, leaning down to you, and he's, kind of, like, flashing his eyelashes, and he is just, like, glamoring you into trusting his natural charisma.
Tara / Journey:Oh, I'm gonna, Yeah. I trust him.
Tim / GM:Okay. He leans down to you, and he echoes the words of the, song that he sang earlier. He leans down and says, Poppy, take my hand. I'll fly with you. It's okay.
Tim / GM:Okay. And he very delicately touches your hand, and he's got, like, the warmest, smoothest, velvety hands. And, Poppy, you kinda feel
Tara / Journey:Some Howl's movie castle bullshit.
Tim / GM:And as you do, as you float up into the sky, you're also enlarging at the same time. And you can feel yourself an icon of a person kind of floating above everyone else. And even people that are moving through the portal to Tildry all stop to turn back and look at this marvel of a spectacle going on. And Phenom looks at you, and he nods.
Tara / Journey:Good evening, people of Baxi.
Tim / GM:You hear a hush roll throughout the crowd.
Tara / Journey:I know I know we said to evacuate, but we have one last favor. The island is falling, but but you can all save it. I think we just need you to believe in the island. If you could just think really good and everyone. What helps to be safe?
Tara / Journey:You gotta give back to the place where you live. We need you to to give back. The island has has served you all for a very long time, and and now you can you can serve it.
Tim / GM:Bobby, there's a rather long silence at the end of your speech. The only thing you can really hear is that portal just kind of tearing through the air, looking out over the moonlit bazaar, over the docks, and see a portal large enough to swallow a whole tavern. The edges are tearing at the night sky in brilliant color. You can see a farm field on the other side dotted with lamps and a big walled city with magnificent towers beyond. But the people who were moving there have stopped to listen.
Tim / GM:And you see some of them slowly begin to walk back through the portal to Baxi with curiosity painted on their faces.
Tara / Journey:This is your home. We want to save it. We wanna save everyone, of course, but but if we just try, I think I think this doesn't have to end in disaster.
Tim / GM:People are nodding, but then the obvious question gets raised. What do I do?
John / Doran:Just to add and try to help how I can, Doran climbs out of the window and gets on top of it. Mhmm. Yeah. And is just, sitting with babka's lute and just strumming along, just kind of, like, more droning, like, sort of like calm sounds to try to, like, get people kind of acclimated to the introspection
Tim / GM:here. Mhmm.
Tara / Journey:Every time you use magic or or wish for something or feel the sun on your face, there's just a feeling inside of you. If you reach out for that, I think you can feel it. Just just let it take back what it needs. Erin is going out into the crowd, from the wagon and grabs a little girl's hand in her left hand and finds just their mom or their parents standing next to him and grabs their hand and says,
Hannah / Eryn:we can save the island together,
Tara / Journey:and hoping that people kind of see them and start to follow their her lead. Jurnee does a similar thing. She kind of moves into the crowd and touches people's shoulders and just says, like, try it.
Tim / GM:You like
Tara / Journey:it. It
Tim / GM:could apply to this too.
Tim / GM:Oh, that's
Tara / Journey:so fucking funny. Try it. You'll like it.
Hannah / Eryn:Try it, you like it.
Tara / Journey:Just yeah. Like, just listen to that island.
Hannah / Eryn:Yeah. Try how you like it.
Tim / GM:Journey almost as a coda to what you had said. You can feel that pulse kind of go out again, and it's the island begging for its life. You can see it hit the people of Baxi for the first time, and you see them grappling with that concept, to give and not to take. You all see an adolescent among them, one awkward teenage Tabaxi, one that you had shared some kindness with.
John / Doran:An autograph. Who are we nice to?
Tara / Journey:It was an autograph and also I remember.
Tim / GM:You did shove a coin
Tara / Journey:with his nose. Nope. His little cat knows.
Tim / GM:But you were initially very kind to him. Oh, okay. He steps out from the tightly And he lets out this heavy, as if he's, like, exhausted, almost passing out from the effort. And then he looks back at the crowd, and you see Captain Garth Field step forward, and you see Harley Brumlum. You see Cindy Buns and Brody Tatum and Ruby Christmas from The Bake Off.
Tim / GM:You see Demi the Lich. You see Bobka and Benjamin, and goddamn it, you see Thomasy Matterfax.
Hannah / Eryn:Goddamn it.
Tim / GM:And they all give freely and nearly collapse after doing so.
Thomas / Guy:I think Brody could solo this, but
Tara / Journey:He's got so many good vibes.
John / Doran:So much hard to do. Yeah.
Tim / GM:You see more and more people in this crowd start to give up that same little inkling. Whatever they have left, whatever they have to give in the first place, some people, almost nothing, but others, quite a bit. And then it comes to Oscar and to Mabel. You see Oscar, who gives whatever little magic, you know, whatever tiny bit he ever had, easily gives that away, but then he looks to Maple. Maple says, Oscar, everything I have, I I took it for us.
Tim / GM:All the magic I got stored up in me, it was so that we could go out together, you and me. We could do whatever we want and we would always come out lucky. I don't know if I can give that up.
Tara / Journey:People of Backseat, it is time to return what you've taken.
Tim / GM:Oscar is looking up at you, Poppy, and he smiles, and then he looks down at Mabel, and he says, we don't need it. I don't need it. I got all the luck in the world, Mabel. I got you right here, right now. Shit.
Tim / GM:I'm the lucky one. Mabel hugs Oscar, and you see from her a river of pink light explode forward and charge towards the center of Baxi, and it just sinks into the stones, and you see that same glossy shimmer flash throughout the entire island, and you feel it rumble like never before, and then something explodes from the bottom of the skyline. What you see is a thick flow of magma jetting out from the side of the island, and it takes the form of a giant serpent. You see Sesk reborn in his full power, spilling infinitely from the pipes near the core. His glowing, magmatic body begins to coil around the island.
Tim / GM:This Skyland will not fall.
Tara / Journey:Oh, yay.
Tim / GM:Its magic has been restored.
Tara / Journey:Wait. Did it. Wait. Don't make me cry. Don't look
John / Doran:I'm trying
Tara / Journey:not to cry. I'm trying not to cry. I am trying to suck the tears back into my eyes. Thank you, everyone.
Tim / GM:That rumbling has gone silent. And, Poppy, you know the consequence of this. You know what everyone has earned at this point, and it's another chance to live symbiotically with their island to start a better cycle. You hear a single clap go out in the middle of the night. Surely, this person that started the slow clap in the gardens just added again.
Tim / GM:It's not one guy. But this time, it's not 900 Tabaxi. It's 20,000 inhabitants clapping, cheering for the heroes of the Clabbos. That's us. That's you.
Tim / GM:And that new vibration doesn't stop. It carries you through the rest of the night. You are the heroes of the clouds. You're the heroes of vaccine. And that's how this story is told.
Tim / GM:Doran.
John / Doran:Mhmm. Hello? Yep.
Tim / GM:Your head is buzzing with the memories of this evening. You had just crashed into your bed. Tell me about how the rest of the night went for you after you and your friends saved the people of vaccine.
John / Doran:Well, shortly after we did some of the obligatory, you know, like group hugs and, you know, being available to the people and, partying. Doran had a realization in a moment, and, he broke away from the rest of the group and went over to the market looking for, a glider, actually. He hasn't used one really since kind of the big events of, his past. Yeah. And, he, tried to find a spot to fly up, I guess.
John / Doran:I don't know how it went. Should I roll for it? Or
Tim / GM:Yeah. Let's do that. This might be the end of Doran.
Tara / Journey:Okay. Alright.
John / Doran:Shall we say I have proficiency? Or Oh,
Tim / GM:definitely. You do. Come on.
John / Doran:So But
Tara / Journey:it's canceled out by PTSD.
John / Doran:Yeah. So acrobatics, I guess I just have, 3, 8, 10. Assuming I'm able to fly a bit. What I've kind of wanted to do is try to catch any glimpse of any remaining bright bulbs. I wanted to get closer and understand maybe a bit more about what they might have been doing.
John / Doran:When the skyline's falling, they approach, and he was just curious about that.
Tim / GM:Yeah. It takes you a while to get started. You are up about as high as you can easily get on backseat and some of the, upper ledges here. You're looking out over the garden, which is far below you. That fountain is pretty distant in the night here.
Tim / GM:It's long after the partying. It's about 3 o'clock in the morning, and you're alone up here. And feel that wind against you, and it takes you a while. But eventually, you jump and you glide like you always have. You go right through some of those crowds, those swarms of, bright bulbs.
Tim / GM:And when you do, you notice they're clustered around this glittering dust in the air. Give me a history check.
John / Doran:11? You've seen
Tim / GM:this before. You saw it on Laura around the same time. This is the result of the island disintegrating. It is literally falling apart or it was, and when that happened, the magic of the bismite was being sort of loosed into the air, not unlike a whale fall in the ocean when it falls to the bottom. Simpler creatures will come by and feed off the bones of a fallen whale and, you know, sustain themselves on the easily available protein there.
Tim / GM:In the same way, when an island begins to disintegrate, these bright bulbs will come by and soak up the available magic that's drifting out into the air there. And that's what you learn.
John / Doran:Are bright bulbs like magical creatures or are they basically mundane, but just can sense this? Give me a, nature check. K. Seth. Starfall.
Tim / GM:You're not sure. It seems very yummy yummy to them.
John / Doran:Okay. Great. Yeah. Okay. He Doran, for, like, a moment after kinda stabilizing, is starting to enjoy flying again, and lingers a bit longer than than he needed to because he's not really gleaming much anymore at this point.
John / Doran:But he's just kinda paying attention to the bright bulbs eating the remnants of the the bismite magic and lands his glider back down. And, before you do Oh, shit.
Tim / GM:That 10 ungliding. Oh, fuck. Wasn't exactly dextrous. What happens here is when you come back in for a landing, and you're about to settle, one of those brass pipes, you fly straight over it. Okay.
Tim / GM:And a burst of heat sends you spiraling back up into the sky, 200 feet that you didn't intend. Oh, no. And you're suddenly plummeting back down trying to catch yourself.
John / Doran:Okay. Shit. Out of spell slots.
Tim / GM:Okay. When the air is rushing past your ears and you see the pavement of backseat beneath you, do you try to shove yourself out of the way to give yourself more time, more open air beneath you, or do you accept the impact that it is now?
John / Doran:I'm gonna try to shove myself airborne in any way I can. Okay.
Tim / GM:Yeah. You shunt off to the side, opening another 200 feet of open air beneath you into the gardens. You're still kind of tangling with your glider on the way down. What do you do?
John / Doran:I've had some issues like this before. There's actually usually a safety mechanism to, like, kinda, like, stick a broken wing in another spot temporarily because this can happen. They they get dislodged. So I I try to do that. I didn't actually look ahead of time.
John / Doran:I probably should have, but I'm gonna try to just be able to, like, jam them in place, and then it's gonna be a rough landing, but at least I won't be in total free fall.
Tim / GM:Sure. This might be a little mislabeled, but give me a survival check.
John / Doran:Okay. Oh, got a 8 to 19.
Tim / GM:Wow. You see the cobbles fast approaching beneath you. And, Daren, You're sitting in a small stone kitchen.
Tara / Journey:There's a
Tim / GM:bucket of unpeeled potatoes at your feet and a huge iron cauldron sits over a fire waiting for those very potatoes. But instead of doing that, you're playing your lute. You know? Just empty minded plucking. And then you hear a thud come out in the hallway.
John / Doran:I quickly shove the loot, under one of the prep tables. Like, I have a sack that says potatoes on it, but it's where I stash my loot.
Tim / GM:Nice.
John / Doran:And then I, quickly get up and then, like, look for the knife and, you know, like, start immediately trying to, like, pretend to be cutting.
Tim / GM:Yeah. You've got one poorly peeled potato in the bin when you should have a 100 already. Yeah. And the door flies open to the room that you're in, and you can see a glimpse out into the immaculate palace hallway. You can see dozens of candles glimmering on the wall and a navy blue rug that runs down the center, and you see a palace guard poking his head in.
Tim / GM:He's got Erinael, the young prince, your best friend, by his side. They're heading straight for you. And this guard, he looks familiar, but for some reason, you don't know what his name is.
Tara / Journey:K.
Tim / GM:Aranil says, Doran, we're on a secret mission. The guards are being cool for once.
John / Doran:No way. Nail, where are we going?
Tim / GM:The guard kinda steps in and he says, I just let young Aeronail know that the winds are going to be particularly powerful tonight. Seriously, like once in a lifetime kind of gliding. You both should really get out there.
John / Doran:Awesome. Yeah. I I can just get up early and do this. Yeah. We don't need this until tomorrow.
Tim / GM:Most excellent. You boys, go on. I've got your gliders already. Some You and Nail pick up your gliders, and with wins like this, with the permission of the guards, you're gonna have a night to remember. This guard actually helps you slip past all of the other guards on the way out.
Tim / GM:You got out of the palace with no issue. As soon as you started on the short road out to the edge, you noticed your guard friend disappeared. He wasn't with you anymore. When you arrived at the edge where the clouds begin, on the eastern side of dawn's edge on the pavilion overlooking the clouds, you're greeted with absolute stillness and a timidness in the breeze like you've never felt before, utter disappointment. There's just no wind out here whatsoever.
Tim / GM:Neil looks at you, and he says, man. Oh, well. You brought your loot. Right?
John / Doran:No. I I didn't, actually.
Tim / GM:Oh, man. Oh, well. I guess we can just hang out.
John / Doran:I mean, we could still get some air. Like, how how is the weather this wrong?
Tim / GM:Yeah. I I don't know what that guy was going on about. This is dumb.
John / Doran:Well, I mean, if we get high enough, we can always we can always catch some some air.
Tim / GM:Yeah. I mean, I've returned from higher drops than this. If we just jumped off the edge, I think we'd be wait. Did you hear that?
John / Doran:Did you fart? No.
Tim / GM:I'm sorry. No. There it is again. What is that?
John / Doran:What are we hearing? A clacking noise.
Tim / GM:1 clacking hoof after the other. It sounded like a horse at first, but then you notice it only has 2 feet. And then the clacking stops, and you turn in time to see a tangle of shadows, A group of figures approaching in silhouetted starlight, and then all 5 of them abruptly turn into a fine mist, and reappear immediately before you, and you feel a sudden buzzing and numbness as the bricks explode beneath your feet. You're trying to stop yourself from rolling across the road as you tumble over and over again, begging inwardly for the momentum to please stop, and you scream out thinking that you might have been thrown over the
John / Doran:edge, but
Tim / GM:when you stop rolling, you're far from it. There's this strange purple fire everywhere. You manage to avoid a trail of violet flames rolling over the scene, casting all these figures in an otherworldly glow, but you can see in that moment that Nail is dead. You didn't even see what happened. The figures are talking to each other in a strange language you don't recognize, and you suddenly feel a stinging burn all over your body.
Tim / GM:Your shirt is practically melted off, and now you're only feeling the pain of the molten metal that's stuck to your body. You smell burnt hair, and your body starts to buck and wither as the initial shock wears off. What do you do as you hear them talking?
John / Doran:As quietly as I can. I still need to believe he still might be there. If Neil is still alive, someone will care enough to try to help us. So I I try to crawl towards him slowly without being noticed.
Tim / GM:You start to crawl over the cobbles, and the pain is immense, and you swallow those screams that are coming to you, and you wish you wish for the rest of your life that you had never looked up, because what you see is not your friend. You see just flesh. But what's next to him is his glider on hell unharmed.
John / Doran:Try to get to my feet, and it's just not working right. And then I, like, press on my thigh to try to give more support, and my hand just slips right off. Not sure if it's blood, sweat, or what, but I know I can't run away. I get to the glider and look for the nearest cliff and hope they don't notice me. I'm not really paying attention to what they're saying at this point.
John / Doran:My only thought is just try to fly away.
Tim / GM:You crawled on your belly until you got that glider. You crawled another 5 feet off the edge of the pavilion, and you rolled off the edge holding that glider. And you pass through the clouds, and you fly at speed through an infinite ocean of moonlight above and below, alone, through miles of cold open sky in an epic scale. You see lightning flashing, growing closer below you as the winds take you in, There's a freezing cold as you're instantly soaked to the bone, making it so much harder to hold on. You feel like you're practically drowning by the time you make it through the clouds, that cold water making your injury sting again.
Tim / GM:All that light around you in the clouds begins to dim around the edges of your eyes, and you can't tell if you're slipping into the null mists, or if you're actually dying, but you never let go. And, Doran, you're throbbing, and everything around you is just buzzing with pain as you kind of come to on the cobbles here after a rough landing. It was not gracious. You can feel you've got sticks and twigs all over you, but when you test for actual injuries, you're fine. You're in backseat, and you're in your twenties.
John / Doran:I noticed that I am crying, and for whatever reason, that makes me start laughing. And I, get up, pick up the remnants of what was a perfectly fine glider. Guess I'll have to pay for this. Look up at the sky. See that it's well past, well past my bedtime.
John / Doran:And I just look around and try to find my way back to the end.
Tim / GM:The next morning, the 4 of you are having breakfast without Doran because he's sleeping in. What do you talk about? What happened the night before?
Hannah / Eryn:Do you think Doran's okay?
Tara / Journey:I never know with him.
Thomas / Guy:No. Hopefully, he's not off trying to fight the baddies by himself again.
Tara / Journey:Yeah. I
Hannah / Eryn:mean, I pretty much feel like I usually am the one that sleeps the latest, so just kinda weird. I don't know that he's not here.
Tara / Journey:We all deal with stress in different ways. Yesterday was a lot.
Tim / GM:Yeah. Did we
Hannah / Eryn:get a full rest, Tim?
Tim / GM:Long rest.
Tara / Journey:Oh, god. Also, what happened to Holly?
Tim / GM:Holly was free to stick around. She is in charge of the brunch menu here. She says it's of the utmost importance that she manages the brunch menu.
Tara / Journey:I wanna talk to her. Okay. That's what I wanna do today.
Tim / GM:Yeah. She temporarily took a room at the same tavern that you're staying at the scratching post, and when she opens the door for you at her room she's been here, you know, 1 night, a few hours. It is already loaded with shit. Scrolls, you know, things she's working on. She wastes no time in making a home out of anywhere she has to set up.
Hannah / Eryn:She has one of those bags where, like, Mary Poppins, like, things just keep coming out?
Tim / GM:Just unpacks it. Yeah. She says, can I help you?
Tara / Journey:Oh, no. I just wanted to make sure everything was okay. Did you need help with breakfast brunch?
Tim / GM:Do I need help? No. No. But thank you. That's very kind of you.
Tara / Journey:Oh, I just usually
Tim / GM:You've done plenty. You've done so much. All of you. It's really incredible. You've practically saved the entire island, didn't you?
Tara / Journey:Okay. That's fine.
Tim / GM:What's wrong?
Tara / Journey:No. No. No. This is just what I do. I help prepare the food.
Tim / GM:Oh. Oh. Yes. Of course.
Tim / GM:Best baker. I should have known.
Tara / Journey:It's like my passion, you know?
Tim / GM:Of course. Sure. Here's the program I've got. Feel free to make any
Hannah / Eryn:edits. Program?
Tim / GM:You see that she during her stay at this tavern, she is in full control of the food. Okay. Yep.
Tim / GM:Anything you'd like to add?
Tara / Journey:What is it?
Tim / GM:It's very it's pretty meat centric. It's pretty pasta centric in the evening and fairly syrup centric in the morning.
Tara / Journey:Any baked goods in particular?
Tim / GM:Fewer than you'd like.
Tara / Journey:See. Yeah. I think you're missing one specific food group.
Tim / GM:Yeah. Food group,
Tara / Journey:Desserts. Yeah. If you'd like to add a a pastry, option.
Tim / GM:Certainly. I've I've also got, connections back in Tildry. Confectioners, bakers, chefs of all kind. Maybe we could make a deal.
Tara / Journey:What kind of deal?
Tim / GM:It depends. I've heard some things about your coffin kicks, I think they were called.
Tara / Journey:Oh, yeah. Those, I just made those up, like, 2 days ago. Mhmm.
Tim / GM:I'm pretty sure. Dark themed pop up shops that are coming to Tilder next quarter. I think those would slot in nicely.
Tara / Journey:Oh, I mean, I'm happy to do that. That's not my usual, what
Tim / GM:are your MOQs for q one?
Tara / Journey:My what?
Tim / GM:We can talk later.
Tara / Journey:Okay. Just let me know when you want me in the kitchen.
Tim / GM:Right now.
Tara / Journey:Oh, yes, ma'am.
Tim / GM:She points downstairs.
Tara / Journey:I would like to chat with her while we're making.
Tim / GM:Yeah. Yeah. She's more overseeing. She's not so into cooking it all herself, really.
Tara / Journey:Okay.
Tim / GM:Aside from the tea, she will do that. She is, in the kitchen with her arms crossed, kind of like watching you work, like, in awe of your skill and fluency here, and she's just, kind of nodding approvingly at everything you do.
Tara / Journey:Right. So then I just fold in the butter here. We wanna get a nice lemonade, layers. This is called a croissant.
Tim / GM:I've heard of croissants, but this is delightful.
Tara / Journey:This will be better than any croissant you've ever had.
Tim / GM:Have you ever been to, what's that called? Saffron?
Tara / Journey:Oh, no. Not yet. That's like a life dream of mine. Nope. Just spend most of my time in Tildry, and now we're here.
Tara / Journey:But, you've been kind of my, well, my biggest inspiration.
Tim / GM:Thank you. That means you must have, visited Tildry at some other time?
Tara / Journey:I'm I'm from Tildry.
Tim / GM:Are you? No.
Tara / Journey:I went Fantastic. A little magic.
Tim / GM:At the librarian? Yeah. What did you study?
Tara / Journey:Oh, a little of this, a little of that, dabbled in illusion. That was kinda my my parents' idea. But then I discovered baking, and and I thought, well, why don't I try and start my own small business? And I I just, again
Tim / GM:A lady after my own heart. You know, I came up in the transmutation track at the library.
Tara / Journey:Oh, okay. Yeah. Yeah.
Tim / GM:I did pretty well with that, and that helped me in my own craft. I actually started in shoes. I don't know if you knew that.
Tara / Journey:Oh, yes. I know. I, I have well, it's kind of embarrassing. I have all the the, latest publications
Tim / GM:Oh, really?
Tara / Journey:About You
Tim / GM:get the newsletter?
Tara / Journey:I I do get the newsletter.
Tim / GM:Wow. Okay.
Tara / Journey:Well I have, like, a special drawer in the the rolling pin.
Tim / GM:You know what? I've been meaning to ask more people. How does the newsletter come across grammatically? We have an editor. He's a little picky.
Tara / Journey:Well, I I think it's a little dry maybe.
Tim / GM:I'll have
Tim / GM:a word.
Tara / Journey:But, otherwise, very, very interesting subject. I am always curious to know what you're up to, and and well, actually, I, I also put magic in my my bakes.
Tim / GM:She winks at you and she says, is there any other way?
Tara / Journey:Well, I mean, not a lot of people do it where I Oh. Where I come from.
Tim / GM:The game's totally different here on the clouds.
Tara / Journey:I
Tim / GM:I was piss scared the first time I came here. There was magic illusions and everything. My shoes didn't really impress them at all.
Tara / Journey:I, yeah, I I kinda had a similar, experience. I was really surprised people actually do that here because because it was kind of, like, novel a novelty where
Tim / GM:Yeah.
Tara / Journey:Yeah.
Tim / GM:I know the feeling. Yeah. But that makes us better in the end. We have to rise above. Don't you think?
Tara / Journey:I don't I wouldn't say that. I I think
Tim / GM:You didn't have any breakthroughs while you're on back seat? Nothing new about your magic at all?
Tara / Journey:Oh, definitely. I can I can do it a lot faster now?
Tim / GM:See? Would you have gotten that back home when you had no reason to?
Tara / Journey:Well, I everything I know how to do is self taught, so maybe.
Tim / GM:I'm just saying. New experiences and all that. Oh, that's not burning, is it?
Tara / Journey:Oh, no. Oops. Oh, sorry. You just a second. Back out
Tim / GM:in the, like, main room eagerly awaiting breakfast is the other 3 of you. We've got Journey, Guy, and Aaron.
John / Doran:I don't
Tim / GM:know that we've ever bottled the 3 of you together. What is this conversation like at the table?
Tara / Journey:We just grunt back and forth.
Tim / GM:You were informed 10 minutes ago that that breakfast will be out in 5 minutes?
Tara / Journey:I don't know. Maybe maybe they tell time differently in Backseat. I don't know. I'm not used to is
Tara / Journey:it just like a suggestion when they say a time? Is there a, like, a add on or a subtract depending on what's happening?
Thomas / Guy:If Poppy were running this kitchen, she would not stand for it.
Hannah / Eryn:I never knew when my meals were coming, so I feel kinda like anytime is fine, honestly. Yeah. Yeah.
Tim / GM:You hear a little jingle as Roland comes in through the door and and, stands near your table and says, hey, guys. Roland.
Tara / Journey:Oh, yeah. Where have you been hanging out? Did you ever get on the feather?
Tim / GM:Little bit. I mean, I was watching the games last night, and I was in the stadium, and I was just trying to help people with the evacuation. I didn't see much of you, but I did see the speech at the end. My god.
Tara / Journey:Poppy did a real good job of getting everybody to come together.
Thomas / Guy:Yeah. That's our Poppy.
Tim / GM:Journey, I was talking to Phenom too about what happened in the core. I think we all gotta talk about that. Yeah. You he leans in close and says, you kinda introduced a new piece to this whole game.
Tara / Journey:Journey looks at Guy and Aaron kind of askance a little bit. I may have said something that I shouldn't have in the either the moment, I was real upset about what Lirion had done to to his place and to lore. And, looking back, I I don't think it was a good call.
Thomas / Guy:I think Lirion deserved every, bit of that speech he got. Don't you think so, Eren?
Tara / Journey:Yeah.
Tim / GM:Not that either of you could tell what they said. Or no. Guy could.
Tara / Journey:Right? Could, but Aaron couldn't. Yeah. Okay. Wait.
Tara / Journey:I don't I wasn't remembering what happened.
Tim / GM:It was a speech in Sylvan. And what did you actually did you say
Tara / Journey:it was
John / Doran:like you guys?
Tara / Journey:All I said was, you're not the only powers that play here, basically. Yeah. You better watch your back. Yep. Okay.
Tara / Journey:Yeah. Aaron just says yeah, but then looks confused. They're like, what did they say before? Do I remember that right?
Tim / GM:Yeah.
Tara / Journey:I don't have all the pieces put together, but I do know that what they're doing is wrong. And I I felt really connected to something bigger that might be happening, and maybe it would be good to come talk to everyone about it.
Tim / GM:Yeah. I think he's on his way to come talk to you guys anyway. It might be a little bit, but, yeah, then we can talk next steps. Vinom and I are gonna go back to Farewell pretty soon here. You guys are welcome to do whatever you feel.
Tim / GM:You're not really agents of farewell, but it seems like there's a lot you could do.
Hannah / Eryn:Are you taking the heavenly feather back?
Tim / GM:Yeah. We will be. When it's repaired, D'Walter and Makita are kinda heading that up, but we can take our time now.
Thomas / Guy:Surely, there are, more forces than those in Farewell who feel the impetus to spread the word to other islands. We we know how to stop their fall now.
Tim / GM:Yeah. That's what's got me excited. Phenom too. There's a new avenue. There's no way we can fight back.
Tara / Journey:It's the way things should be from the get go. It's the way that we should be living.
Hannah / Eryn:Maybe if we go back to Farewell or wherever next, we could do the thing where you put the symbols on paper, and it communicates a message to others or one of the memory smoke recordings that Mikey does to pass along the message, even a Venus crystal, I guess.
Thomas / Guy:You refer to writing.
Tara / Journey:Yeah. Is there someone that's in charge of writing? I know Harley Bromamom, she she said that they don't do a lot of that now, that mostly it's the crystals. But is that true everywhere, or is that just here?
Tim / GM:It's just here. I mean, a lot of places are a lot more normal than backseat.
Thomas / Guy:That's a relief.
Hannah / Eryn:I don't know. I was just trying to think of, you know, a way to communicate what we've learned at least so people have a heads up. We can't make it to every skyline. That's all I'm saying.
Tara / Journey:Maybe we send messages aboard the ships that are going from skyline to skyline like the whale. Mhmm.
Tim / GM:There's a brief, almost startling moment as Poppy opens the kitchen door holding a plateful of food. Doran comes down the stairs, awoken from his his late sleep, and Phenom opens the door looking for all of you at the same time, kind of splitting your attention in 3 different ways.
Tara / Journey:Good morning.
Tim / GM:Hey, everyone. Hey.
John / Doran:Hey. Hey, Fino.
Tara / Journey:How's it going? Hey. Hi. Hi, Dorn.
Hannah / Eryn:Hi. Oh, you're okay.
John / Doran:Had to sleep in. Sorry. I has anyone seen Sir Ball?
Tim / GM:Has anyone seen this? And Phenom slaps a piece of paper down on the table.
Hannah / Eryn:What? I don't know what that is.
Thomas / Guy:I just saw it now.
Tim / GM:He looks up and he goes,
Tara / Journey:it's a
Tim / GM:piece of paper. And on it, you see the hastily scrawn You see the hastily written results of the vote from last night. The best in back seat. It resets every month after the best of all when the winners have been decided, when they choose who's, you know, really in control of the influence this month. Number 10, Oscar nominee.
Tim / GM:No. Best escapist. Great.
John / Doran:That's a new one.
Tim / GM:Mhmm. Number 9, Kesher, best racer.
Tara / Journey:Did she win?
Tim / GM:Beating out Timothy Matterfax by a hair.
Tara / Journey:Oh, my gosh.
Tim / GM:Timothy Matterfax was slowed down, he claims by someone in the audience.
Tara / Journey:Wow, that's crazy. Wow.
Tim / GM:Number 8, Phenom Green, best disaster. Ouch. Number 7, it looks like it was supposed to say something else, but they just cut off after best disaster. Number 7, Harley Brumblumblum, best reporter.
John / Doran:Oh. That's deserved. Sick.
Tim / GM:You guys start to see throughout the morning as well. Harley Brumblum is on her grind already, getting the word out. The corruption, the new way it has to be on backseat. Harley is busy.
Tara / Journey:April's been on her hustle
Hannah / Eryn:all the time.
John / Doran:Grandma Kush.
Tim / GM:Get that cheddar, baby. Number 5, Aaron. Best assassin. I'd say so. Number 4.
Tim / GM:Doran Driscoll. Best motivational speaker. Number 3, Guy.
John / Doran:Best Warrior. Oh, so it goes his his name, and it's
Tara / Journey:a yes.
Tim / GM:Number 2. Best guy.
Tara / Journey:Best guy.
Tim / GM:Poppy Kenmore. Best baker, comma, best wizard.
Tara / Journey:Wow. Oh shit, I got a double title?
Tim / GM:That's 2 bests. Number 1, Best in Backseat, Journey. The accolade simply says, the best of us.
Tara / Journey:Oh, no. That was really well earned to Journey. And I give her a giant hug around her thigh. I don't even know what this means. I didn't even do anything.
Tara / Journey:That's not true.
Thomas / Guy:We wouldn't even be standing here if it weren't for you, Journee
John / Doran:and your fae buds. Yeah.
Tara / Journey:I think maybe maybe this means that we can make changes for for everybody in the in the skylands.
John / Doran:Yeah. It's way too capricious to reset the government every month. I
Tim / GM:how do
John / Doran:they get anything to work?
Tara / Journey:The government?
John / Doran:Well, yeah.
Tara / Journey:I think that's probably a really terrible plan.
Thomas / Guy:Especially because we're, like, probably leaving.
Tara / Journey:Yeah. Got it. Bye.
Tim / GM:You do have, thank God, some time here.
John / Doran:Okay.
Tim / GM:The last few days on the clouds are exactly what they always ought to have been. Not only do you get to explore backseat without looking over your shoulder, you're doing so as veritable heroes. So many shopkeepers now refuse your gold, and every restaurant and tavern on Starlight Street begs for your company at dinner. The citizens of Backseat continue to cosplay in your likeness and recreate your adventures in overdramatic hologram recordings. Babaxi is also a fast and fickle place.
Tim / GM:The initial wave of autographs and stalking fans has smoothed out into However, there's a lingering darkness in your mind that prevents you from enjoying it fully. Baxi is essentially in your palm. You guys can do whatever you want, you can leave whenever you'd like. It's been 4 days since the event, that we spoke of earlier, you know, since the collapse of vaccine.
Hannah / Eryn:So I've been thinking we should, maybe try to gather some weapons, or just some some potion stuff that might be helpful. These people, they've they seem very giving now that we've saved them. They or help them save themselves, I guess, technically. But, maybe we can just prepare for what's ahead, I guess.
Tara / Journey:Well, I think, can I, like, retroactively have set up shop, like, every day?
Tim / GM:Oh, yes. Definitely. Yeah.
Tara / Journey:So, we have funds now we can use, and you can decide how much.
Tim / GM:So let's do this. Poppy, you are a name on backseat. Every day here for you is valuable. So what did I say? You guys have been here 3 days, 4 days?
Tara / Journey:You said 4 days.
Tim / GM:4 days. Let's do 4 rolls of 5 d 20.
Tara / Journey:Holy shit. Okay. Do we need to borrow a d 20?
Tim / GM:Let's do that. Everybody roll 5 d 20.
Tara / Journey:Oh. Drink.
John / Doran:Oh. 229 gold. All total?
Tim / GM:Yeah. Poppies subtract just 10 for supplies over that time. Oh. 219. 219.
Tara / Journey:Okay.
John / Doran:Margins on cookies are
Tim / GM:very good. It's like popcorn margins.
Tara / Journey:Yeah. So we don't have, like, a lot of money, but we have, like, a good amount. Yeah. That's better than the 10 gold I had. Mhmm.
Thomas / Guy:Most of these places, won't even let you pay. I tried to get some sword oil the other day. They wouldn't have it.
Tim / GM:Important to note, on top of that, is the 2,500 gold pieces that were donated to your estate by the people of Baxi. 2,500. 2,500. I'm putting that
Tara / Journey:k.
John / Doran:That's Hold on.
Tim / GM:Only one person writes that.
Tara / Journey:I wrote it down. I put it in my inventory.
Tim / GM:Not each.
Tara / Journey:Yeah. K. Are we
Thomas / Guy:sure the best of us doesn't get it?
Tim / GM:Well, probably Journey should get it.
Tara / Journey:Journey has proven that she's not good with money. She's great, which she is great.
Tim / GM:Outranks all of you.
Tara / Journey:She's rich. I have it for now because I needed it for supplies. Well, let's buy some stuff. How about that? Yeah.
John / Doran:Could I do something with Serbo and Yeah. Stuff?
Tim / GM:Yep. Okay. Yeah. He's around. Spends a lot of time with D'awaltr and Nikkita.
Tim / GM:Okay. Yeah.
John / Doran:I make a point to actually visit him when he's with Walter and Nikita.
Tim / GM:Yeah. Okay.
John / Doran:Hey, guys. Doran. Yeah. Hey, Serbo. Makeda.
Tim / GM:Doran, it's an honor to see you.
John / Doran:Don't don't don't ever say that. It's fine. We're we're all, we're all mortals here.
Tim / GM:What can we do for you, pal?
John / Doran:Actually, I wanted to, well, I had an idea, and I don't know if it's possible, but I figured you all would be the minds to
Thomas / Guy:talk with.
John / Doran:Sir Bo, I want you here too, but could I talk to Rune as well?
Tim / GM:No offense taken. He spreads his legs super wide in front of you just, like, spreading them out as wide as he can on down on his haunches, and you hear this new movement, like,
John / Doran:Last time. He didn't do that
Tim / GM:last time. Head kind of like spins around to show you that grid of lights again. Okay. And you see Rune's smiley face, and he goes, hey, yeah, Doran. What's up?
John / Doran:Hey, bud. Say, real quick. Do do all of you know what, bright bulbs are?
Tim / GM:Yeah. I mean, in theory. I don't know that I've ever seen them. Okay. Dwalter and Nikky are both not.
John / Doran:Yeah. So something I just noticed and, you know, we've been to a couple of sky islands at this point. Whenever they're falling, that's one of the first signs. We bright bulbs seem to
Tim / GM:be able to find it starts forming?
John / Doran:They seem to find the skyline. And I don't know. I've I was a little buzzed when I went out flying last night, but I I did notice that they're literally, like, kind of eating the just little glitter of bismite. It it it, like, releases it when it's dying, basically.
Tim / GM:Yeah. Actually, that makes sense. I'm looking at some research papers right now. Looks like these bright bulbs are actually related to flumphs in some way. There's a lot of magic in those creatures.
John / Doran:Okay. Flumphs?
Tim / GM:So Yeah. It makes sense that they would, like, absorb, you know, the magic of this place.
John / Doran:So yeah. Well, that's why I wanted to talk to you all. Like, there's a lot of sky lands out there. If we wanted a way to stop sky lands that are about to fall, there's a way we could also find this stuff in the air that could really help a lot of people.
Tim / GM:Yeah. Like, just find a, like, parts per million density for the, magic concentration in the air and kind of sense that between different islands. That might work.
John / Doran:Yeah. Whatever he said there. Yeah. Like, or yeah. Just something like that.
John / Doran:I don't know. It's just an idea, but, you know, I'm still part of the best in vaccine for another, you know, 17 days or so. So I can try to help in any way you need it. If you're looking for, some sort of puzzle, this would be, one that could help a lot.
Tim / GM:It's a head scratcher for sure, but, I mean, Rune's one of the greatest minds I've ever met, actually, and and Sarbo is it's you couldn't ask for more in a in a utility. So yeah. Mission accepted.
John / Doran:Awesome. Well, yeah, you you know where to find me? Don't be a stranger. Let me know if there's anything I can help and ruin if if you find being on a flat ground on the mainland to be too boring, let me know. We we can get a ship, bring you here.
Tim / GM:Things have been great, actually, Doren. Somebody showed up, like, this morning with a fuck ton of food. I'm talking, like, 2 weeks worth of stuff. They didn't say who it was from, what it was for, or anything. But it's, like, top shelf stuff too.
Hannah / Eryn:Like, I'm
Tim / GM:not just eating noodles every day, Dorn.
John / Doran:This is You're eating noodles every day. I told you not to do that.
Tim / GM:Well, you know, it's a full belly. But, I mean, there's protein in this. Good. Protein.
John / Doran:Yeah. Wow. Well, it's not in short supply here either. So, I mean, that's always on offer. Also, I think you'd have a good shot at getting, best machinist in backseat too if you wanted to run.
Tim / GM:Oh my gosh. Yeah. I don't know about that. Yeah. Maybe.
John / Doran:Okay. Well, yeah, I don't wanna keep you guys busy. Just let me know if you learn anything.
Tim / GM:They all nod emphatically excited to get to work.
John / Doran:Alright. Catch you later.
Tim / GM:Aaron, Harley is hovering around you most of the afternoon for a reason you don't understand. She's kind of been dealing just in crystals, trying to record things, rerecord things in other crystals. She has lately been dealing with the oversights and inaction from the high council of Vaxei and essentially auditing their whole process, and you're catching little glimpses of this as you're, you know, taking your own leisure. She leans over to you, and she goes, look at this. Look at this.
Hannah / Eryn:Erin Erin looks.
Tim / GM:She shows you a crystal. These are the meeting minutes from one of the high council meetings. She projects it onto the countertop at the bar of the scratching post. You hear this little, like, illusion back and forth, this video, this hologram start to play out. You can see these meeting minutes taken.
Tim / GM:Somebody is voicing. As the 3rd hour of the meeting began, the court proposed that counselor Muggins stood no chance of fitting 8 grapes in his mouth at the same time. Muggins then responded by saying that he could indeed fit 8 grapes in his mouth at once, that he had done it before, and that counselor Hamish saw it happen. And that should count as the record. The other counselors responded in an uproar stating that it only counts if the act is done during court and that he should have known that.
Tim / GM:And that it doesn't count that counselor Hamish claims to have seen it. This argument resolved shortly before the 4th hour of the meeting, At which time, they took an intermission to eat grapes.
Tara / Journey:Oh my god. Wow.
Hannah / Eryn:Seems This
Tim / GM:is leadership. Erin, these are the people in control.
Hannah / Eryn:Yeah. I I mean, I wouldn't know much about it, but they seem like idiots. You know?
Tim / GM:That's the whole problem. People like you and me, Erin, ought to be in control of stuff like this.
Tara / Journey:Erin, like, looks over their shoulder like me.
Tim / GM:Yeah. You. I mean, I've I've seen you work. She, like, looks back at her crystal in her notes. She goes, I've heard the things you can do, Erin.
Tim / GM:You're highly competent. I don't know what kind of experience you had so far, but you'd be in a better position to rule this place than they would.
Hannah / Eryn:I don't wanna rule. I just want a quiet life, honestly. If I could just stay out of the way, I feel like that's probably better for everybody.
Tim / GM:That's the problem.
Tara / Journey:There's gotta be people more qualified than me, Carly.
Tim / GM:That's the whole problem, Erin. People like you keep thinking that, and they don't rise. You don't take control over people like this.
Hannah / Eryn:I'm not even from here. I don't know this place. I'm surely, they can find someone more qualified. Bring me back to Farewell. I might have a thing or 2 to say, but I don't know this land.
Tim / GM:That's fair to say. I'm just frustrated. And
Tara / Journey:Why don't you take it over then?
Tim / GM:I will. I mean, that's the track I'm on. I, you know, I seek to make some holes and fill them. She smirks to herself.
Hannah / Eryn:I think you would be a great leader.
Tim / GM:And what about you? I mean, what are you gonna do?
Hannah / Eryn:Eren, glances over at Doran.
Tara / Journey:No. Just kidding.
John / Doran:Doran, like, chokes on his coffee.
Tara / Journey:No. Erin does. She, like, glances over at Doran and the
Hannah / Eryn:rest of the crew and kind of is, like, you know, I feel like I found my new group to be with right now, and I'm just trying to figure everything out. I mean, I I definitely don't have all the answers. I've only 17.
Tim / GM:That's fine. You don't have to have the answers at 17, for sure. But you've got a lot of that sounds cliche. You've got a lot of potential. You've got a lot of power, and I know, generally, what you can do that's unique.
Tara / Journey:Is it?
Tim / GM:Well, technically not unique, but changelings are powerful and rare, Erin. That's not to be ignored.
Hannah / Eryn:Have you ever met another changeling?
Tim / GM:No. But, I mean, I've done a ton of research on this stuff, and I had a really good teacher who taught me a lot about other worlds and people like you.
Tara / Journey:What do
Hannah / Eryn:you mean other worlds? Like, other sky
Tara / Journey:lands? Well,
Tim / GM:no. I mean, changelings are from the Feywild exclusively.
Hannah / Eryn:Erin looks confused for a second and says, my parents weren't from the Feywild. We live just outside of Farewell.
Tim / GM:Aaron, anyone talked to you about, like, your upbringing? I'm so sorry.
Tara / Journey:It's it's there's not a
Hannah / Eryn:lot to tell. I mean, I pretty much grew up in the blight, but before that
Tim / GM:I mean, you know you know how changelings work. Right? I mean, you know how you were born.
Hannah / Eryn:Erin, tilts their head to one side, one ear up in the air. No. I I mean, I didn't really have real teachers in the blight. No one really explained anything to me.
Tim / GM:She looks suddenly out of her depth. She says, well, changelings, they're born in the Feywild, but they can't live there long term. I mean, not when they're young, they They get swapped for someone on this plane. Typically. I don't know that's exactly what happened to you, but that's that's the ecology of it all.
Tim / GM:Changelings come to the mortal plane, they leave one of their children, they leave with a mortal child, and the exchange is made. I think if you grew up with parents here, Aaron, they I'm sorry if I'm the first one telling you this. They might not have been your parents.
Tara / Journey:Aaron just looks kind of, like, in shock for a minute.
Tim / GM:It doesn't mean they weren't your parents.
Hannah / Eryn:Oh, I barely remember them, to be honest, but I've always, you know, imagined. And Erin, pulls this wood carving out
Tara / Journey:of her pocket and shows it to Harley and says this this was them.
Tim / GM:That's you.
Hannah / Eryn:Yeah. I mean,
Tara / Journey:this, and Aaron gestures at their bodies.
Tim / GM:Like,
Hannah / Eryn:I it was a way to be close to my mom, to look like her all the time. Yeah. Her image. But I don't really remember them. All my memories are, like, made up, kind of, I think, of, like, daydreams when I was a kid and the blight, and I just you know, I needed to escape sometimes, and I
Tim / GM:I'm sorry. I didn't mean to crack all this open.
Hannah / Eryn:You see some tears welling up in Erin's eyes, and she just shakes her head and puts the carving back in
Tara / Journey:her pocket. And she says,
Hannah / Eryn:no. I'm I'm glad someone told me. I I didn't know.
Tim / GM:I can try to find out more or whatever you need. I I I can help as much as I can.
Tara / Journey:Sure.
Hannah / Eryn:You know, I happen to know someone from the Feywild, so I but I might ask you for some more info later, I guess. I don't know. I I just need a minute. Aaron walk gets up and walks away
Tara / Journey:and goes find a spot by themselves.
Tim / GM:During one of these calm afternoons, Guy, you're brushing steed,
Tara / Journey:out
Tim / GM:in front of the scratching post. Poppy's in and out of the rolling pin, resupplying her wagon with fresh canisters of flour and chocolate. And Guy Stede leans up to you and says, general.
Thomas / Guy:Yes, Stede.
Tim / GM:I have a request.
Thomas / Guy:Well, out with it then.
Tim / GM:I need a leave of absence. I'm sorry to request it so close to us reuniting.
Thomas / Guy:Oh, well, this is subtle.
Tim / GM:I've got a friend who's in pretty dire need of help, and, I might be the only one that really remembers where she is or what she's up to. I kinda took it upon myself to do something about it. So I'm not gonna do that.
Thomas / Guy:A friend and this is someone close to you then?
Tim / GM:Indeed. Very special to my upbringing.
Thomas / Guy:Is there any way I could help?
Tim / GM:He slowly looks back and gives you this weird donkey smile. He says, I thought you'd never ask.
Hannah / Eryn:So many teeth.
Tara / Journey:Why do they have so many teeth?
Tim / GM:Big square teeth. He says, she's on the island of a small castle, and I don't know if she'll be able to get out on her own. She's trapped there in the same way that, well, in the same way that I think that fluffy white Mabel was trapped here. She's bound to the bismite.
Thomas / Guy:Bound to the is that what happened?
Tim / GM:Her name's Maisie Muldrift. She's a talented powerful witch. She's in dire straits.
Thomas / Guy:Well, yes, Stede. I will help in any way I can. Should I tell the others, perhaps the 5 of us together? Well, the 6 of us.
Tim / GM:If it's not gonna interrupt your own plans, I I humbly request that we make a pit stop.
Thomas / Guy:Very well. It seems our time at On Backsy may be coming to an end. Poppy?
Tara / Journey:Yeah? Hold on. Put down a giant bag of flour. Mhmm. What's up?
Thomas / Guy:Stede here has just informed me of a, very important mission.
Tara / Journey:Oh, yeah. What it what is that? More adventures?
Thomas / Guy:An adventure indeed. A friend of his is, in need of help on the island of Small Castle.
Tara / Journey:Oh, do we need to go?
Thomas / Guy:If we can arrange it, I it sounds like it is of some importance. Now I know you all just met Stede, and I wouldn't ask you to put your lives in danger, but, well, I feel as though I owe a steed a debt. So
Tara / Journey:Oh, yeah. Of course. He's like family to you, and, that means he's family to us.
Thomas / Guy:Thank you for understanding, Poppy.
Tara / Journey:Let's gather the group and and discuss. I don't know how we'll get there.
Thomas / Guy:Well, great question. Maybe there's a maybe we can take the feather.
Tara / Journey:I know. They've been, like, working on on servo and the engine and stuff, tweaking it a little bit. We can talk.
Thomas / Guy:Yes. They might be ready to go. Let let's talk to the others. Mhmm.
Tara / Journey:Oren.
John / Doran:I imagine I'm at, the inn that's perpetually serving brunch and It seems that way. Yeah. Having some brunch, and look up and, see Poppy come, running through the
Tim / GM:Yeah. Caked and flower. Yeah.
Tara / Journey:Is everyone else here?
Thomas / Guy:Journey? Erin? Erin?
John / Doran:Oh, Erin's right at that other Erin, do you wanna join us?
Tara / Journey:Yep. Yeah. I'm here. Okay. Jurney was asleep on the roof, but jumped down to come hang out.
John / Doran:Yeah. I think we're all here.
Tara / Journey:How do you feel about leaving a little early?
John / Doran:Yes. Yes. I mean, what why do we need or what's the reason?
Tara / Journey:Guy, do you wanna
Thomas / Guy:Well, Stede was just telling me of a important mission, something personal he must attend to, but I believe it has some relation to the the cloud falls we have already experienced. He talks of a maisie who is bound to the heart of this other island, small castle, much the way, Mabel was here.
Tara / Journey:I wonder if it's about M and A. Well, if if we can help someone else reframe the way they interact with Bismarck, I think that's only a good thing.
Thomas / Guy:Is this alright with you, Erin?
Hannah / Eryn:Yeah. I'm I'm down to stay with everyone, and Erin kinda looks at Journey and get to know each other better too.
Thomas / Guy:Now I warn you, it could be dangerous.
Hannah / Eryn:Danger doesn't worry me. I'm pretty sure we're all
Tara / Journey:used to it at this point. Yeah. I guess now that we've got some clue of how to move forward and have been able to communicate that out, Do we all wanna keep traveling together?
Hannah / Eryn:Come up with a cool name? Yeah. Like Sky Warriors or a heart heart of heart of the sky.
Tara / Journey:Or like a blight's downfall. Yeah. Yeah.
John / Doran:Like that.
Thomas / Guy:No. It's not bad.
John / Doran:Not bad. I mean, so they called us, here's the clouds. So we could say we're hot sea, hot sea pirates.
Tara / Journey:No. I don't know what that's good. Okay.
Tim / GM:Yeah. Like Nazi
Tara / Journey:pirates. Alright.
John / Doran:Scratch it out. Okay. Yeah. That's not important. I had another thought percolating a few.
John / Doran:Sorry. I've been kinda busy around town. At what point should we have our own airship?
Tara / Journey:I I mean, can we afford that?
John / Doran:Probably not. Not yet. I I just I don't know. Does any
Tara / Journey:of us know how to how to fly 1? Is it the same as the pin? Where do we get an airship?
Tim / GM:I don't I don't
John / Doran:know yet. I haven't gotten that far into it, but I was, you know, just seeing what options are out there. And, with Servo and Makeda and DeWalter, we we got some friends that have the know how that might help us be able to pick something out.
Hannah / Eryn:Maybe, Bobka could help us. He sells and buys crap. Right?
John / Doran:Yeah. He'd be a better negotiator than me.
Tara / Journey:Our friend that used cars sales carpet salesman. Yeah. What do you say about expanding the pin, maybe? I know it's built for the ground. I I I understand that conceptually.
Tara / Journey:But
Thomas / Guy:we already saw it make, quite a splash on the race field.
Tara / Journey:No. It's I mean, I think it's fair that you would call it that.
Tim / GM:Over the multiple uses of death cage, the rolling pin lost roughly 20% of its parts in general. Yeah.
Tara / Journey:It's it's
Tim / GM:It's gonna need some changing.
Tara / Journey:Due for some repairs anyway.
Hannah / Eryn:Could we
Tara / Journey:What if we expand it?
Hannah / Eryn:We may get the floating pin.
Thomas / Guy:Oh.
Tara / Journey:Oh, I mean, we can we can maybe workshop the name or just keep it or
Hannah / Eryn:The sky bread maker.
Tara / Journey:The sky bread. Easy bake. Easy bake. Air fryer. Air fryer.
Tara / Journey:The air fryer.
John / Doran:Still better than heavenly feathers.
Tim / GM:I think we're, right
Tara / Journey:past it. Maybe we can talk to Makeda and D'Alalter and see if that's even possible. It's it maybe even isn't. So maybe we can hire a professional PR company to
Hannah / Eryn:come up with some names for us, so we're ready.
Tara / Journey:I think we have a lot of goodwill here that we could use.
John / Doran:We should go to the rest of the council and see what's on the docket for the last couple of days here.
Tara / Journey:Oh, yeah. Because we're in the top ten. Right? Mhmm.
Thomas / Guy:Well, thank you for agreeing to go on this venture. Stede is lucky to have friends like you.
Tara / Journey:Yeah. He's pretty cool. Hey,
John / Doran:So, high council. The meetings that we're all supposed to go to, and I know, I missed a couple, but
Hannah / Eryn:We're supposed to go
Tara / Journey:to meetings?
Tim / GM:There are meetings.
John / Doran:Who did go to the high council?
Tara / Journey:I'm going to some meetings, but they're really confusing. A lot of times, they're just eating snacks and talking about them. I might have I might have something to do with that. That's my bad. I wasn't sure if they were supposed to get more done, but they seem to be having a good time.
Tim / GM:They've just been trying to throw macarons into each other's mouths from across the way.
Tara / Journey:There's marshmallow guns. Yeah.
Thomas / Guy:Has there been any warrior business to report?
Tara / Journey:Not that I know of. It's mostly mostly just snacks. Yeah. Kind of inane, but maybe if there was something important to talk about.
John / Doran:Okay. Leah, Erin, do you wanna go check it out? Go to the high council?
Hannah / Eryn:I mean, sure. I didn't even I didn't go to any meetings. So
Tim / GM:Cut to. 5 minutes has gone by on your way to the high council, the, upper reaches of back seat that you had actually never seen before in these 5 minutes have been pure silence between Doran and Aaron.
Tara / Journey:Their their arms brush once when they're walking next to each other, and Aaron just pulls her arm in and is like Every once in a while, they both go, no. Never mind.
Tim / GM:During after brushing arms, you accidentally kind of, like, look away and a sudden kind of spray of cherry blossom petals just hits you in the face.
John / Doran:It's in my eyes. Ow.
Tara / Journey:Oh. I didn't
John / Doran:know that would sting.
Hannah / Eryn:Are you okay?
John / Doran:Yeah. I'm I'm fine.
Tim / GM:Oh. I
John / Doran:think did I get it?
Hannah / Eryn:Yeah. Yeah. You're fine.
John / Doran:We're definitely going the right way. Right?
Hannah / Eryn:Yeah. I think so. I think it's just a little further up here from what Poppy was saying.
John / Doran:You seemed a little down earlier. I mean, you're talking to Harley. I don't mean to bring it up and dwell on it, but everything okay?
Hannah / Eryn:Oh, Yeah. I I mean, I feel like everyone maybe knew something that I didn't know and no one told me before, so it just feels like I don't know. I mean, I didn't know that changelings could only come from fae parents that traded out their young for young of this world. I guess babies. And I never knew that.
Hannah / Eryn:My parents, before the blight, they were elves. They weren't Faye. And Harley told me that they weren't my parents, basically. So, yeah, just kinda you know, I didn't I didn't know.
John / Doran:Yeah. I don't know. I I just kind of assumed you didn't talk about the Feywild much, just something you didn't wanna dwell on, but you remember being there. Right?
Hannah / Eryn:I I was really little when the blight took me and killed my elf family, I guess, not my parents. I don't know. I don't really remember much, so I've never been to the Feywild. I honestly didn't even know much about it until I met Journey.
John / Doran:Do you wanna go there?
Hannah / Eryn:I don't know. I mean, it's kinda weird. Right? Like, kind of people just leave their young and just abandon them even if my biological parents are alive? I don't know them.
John / Doran:I mean, I did a little bit of reading just out of curiosity. You know? I mean and I I know you're a changeling, and that's not all of what you are, but I I was a little curious too. Your biological parents did not leave you with the blight. Don't wanna forget about that.
John / Doran:Your family you had here is your family.
Hannah / Eryn:I mean, they'll always be my parents, I think, from my memories of them.
Tim / GM:Love, it's on the breeze. Can you hear it singing from the trees? A Tabaxi busker is coming down the way, holding, a lute in their hands and a stack of roses on top of that. They look to you, Aaron, and say, would you like to buy a rose for the handsome man? A rose for the handsome gentleman?
Tim / GM:One gold piece for a rose for the handsome man.
Tara / Journey:Will you leave if
Hannah / Eryn:I buy 1?
Tara / Journey:Indeed, I will. Alright. Sure.
Tim / GM:They hand over a rose. They kind of, like, twirl it in their hand again and again and then pass it off to Doran.
John / Doran:I've never had a flower purchased for me that wasn't for my mom. Thank you.
Hannah / Eryn:Aaron just nods and blushes a little bit.
Tim / GM:You're welcome. Can you smell the love on the wind? And they just begin to walk away.
Tara / Journey:I I
John / Doran:do Dorn smells a rose. Yeah. It's a
Tim / GM:real rose. Yeah.
John / Doran:Smells good.
Tara / Journey:Does it smell like love on the wind?
John / Doran:Well, it looks like we're here. I say as Doran picks up pace. Because there's a awkward bulb.
Tim / GM:Sure. Yeah. Yeah. You make it to, something you had only seen in a video clip before of Harley's, and it's the giant white pillars of the temple here. This looks like an, like, Grecian, like, Athenian temple.
Tim / GM:One of those steepled, like, column white heavy marble buildings. Behind it, a roiling caldera of lava in this giant pit, the very top of the volcano of Back Sea.
Tara / Journey:You all know we love a caldera. It's gotta be 1 in every Yeah. Every day. Mhmm.
Tim / GM:When you creak open these giant oversized doors to the front place, the first thing you see is a bare chested Tabaxi, that has toga around their waist, and they are literally dripping wine down their naked chest. And they kind of, like, look at you and turn away, and they go, oh, sorry. We were in the middle of something. What do we have one of those meetings?
John / Doran:We we wanted to call 1. We had a thought.
Thomas / Guy:That's great.
Tim / GM:We can do one right here. Proposal. Okay. Everybody. Sorry.
Tim / GM:It works better if you say we have snacks. We've got snacks in the foyer. And, like, you see Tabaxi just creeping out of different rooms, like, hungry for food. What is it you needed?
John / Doran:We neither of us really know how any of this works.
Tim / GM:Open. He's holding that little it's like an orange, like, cheesy ball. He goes open.
John / Doran:Open your mouth. Oh. Oh. Okay. Sure.
John / Doran:Okay. I opened my mouth.
Tim / GM:He did a 9 on his throat check so it bounces off your cheek onto the floor. Okay.
John / Doran:You've got a lot
Tim / GM:to learn before you can become a counselor.
John / Doran:Good thing that's not what we're here for.
Tim / GM:Great.
John / Doran:Not to become counselors.
Tim / GM:Yes. And what is it you came here for?
John / Doran:Is anyone here like as the treasurer of some kind? Or, Yep.
Tim / GM:Yep. A treasure right here. Yeah. Hey. Hey, guy.
Tim / GM:Fell off. What's your day?
John / Doran:Great. Yeah. I'm Doran, and this is Aaron.
Tim / GM:You eat a couple of bucks? So what's what's the deal?
Tim / GM:So
John / Doran:so, you know, the I I felt weird bringing this up at all, but, basically, you know, best in back seat.
Tim / GM:Yeah.
John / Doran:Back seat is here Yep. In large part for some of our efforts, and, obviously, everyone contributed. Cutting to the chase a bit, when
Tim / GM:you say everyone contributed, they all look at each other and start clapping to each other. Yeah. Like, oh, well, job well done.
Hannah / Eryn:And and we couldn't have done it without you.
Tim / GM:A louder round of applause. Oh, fuck. Yay for us.
Tara / Journey:Patting themselves on the
Tim / GM:bus. Yeah.
John / Doran:Beige hand. Yeah. So, you know, I think what what what happened that day is the Skyland needed everyone to give back for the Skyland to survive, for Susk to survive.
Tim / GM:Yes. Yes. The world
John / Doran:is bigger than Vaxei. And, So much bigger. Yes. What what I'm kinda here for what we're both here for is we think that it's time for us to step down as best in backseat. The festival is coming up soon, and we want to take what we did here and try to save other Skylands.
Tim / GM:So Nodding emphatically, and you see his eyes start to get red and glassy.
John / Doran:What we want from you as the high council is
Hannah / Eryn:We need a sky ship We
John / Doran:need a sky ship.
Hannah / Eryn:To save other skylines and help people just like you.
Tim / GM:That was so beautiful. The worst that you all set. Oh my god. Yeah. We could do a sky ship.
Tim / GM:We could figure that out. Right, guys? And he turns around and a lot of them aren't really paying attention. But he looks back and he says, yeah, We will. We will.
Tim / GM:Okay. Dormin, we will get you the sky ship.
John / Doran:There's someone scribing this. Right? I look around, like, nervous It's
Tara / Journey:all being recorded by a crystal.
Tim / GM:You do see actually one extremely sober attendant in the back that is just, like, holding a crystal to this whole thing.
Tara / Journey:Oh my god. God.
John / Doran:Well and I know what this looks like. I I know some of distortion. No. Maybe.
Tim / GM:I was kinda going It's okay. Yeah. It's the name of the game.
John / Doran:No. We're not extorting you.
Tim / GM:It's okay.
Tara / Journey:What? Think of it think
Hannah / Eryn:of it more as a font sponsorship.
Tim / GM:It's okay. You extorted us. It's okay.
John / Doran:Tell you what, we will contribute it as much as we can.
Tara / Journey:Yeah. No. We're just taking it. It's side guard. Just just Okay.
Tara / Journey:Okay. Well, thank you.
John / Doran:Let's just someone will spin it, and, you know, the ship is still Baxi's ship, but we'll use it to share the goodwill and then, like
Tara / Journey:We'll bring it back
Hannah / Eryn:if we don't die.
Tim / GM:Of course. Of course. For the heroes, the backseats, clouds, we then do the sky
Tara / Journey:ship. Alright.
Hannah / Eryn:Great.
Tim / GM:You go downstairs, we'll get your sky ship.
Hannah / Eryn:Thank you.
John / Doran:Right now?
Tim / GM:Yeah. Okay.
John / Doran:Okay. Well, great. Okay. Sweet. Well, yeah.
John / Doran:Thank you. I'll find you
Tim / GM:a sky ship. I love you guys.
Hannah / Eryn:We we love you too.
John / Doran:We do? Yeah. We love you.
Tim / GM:Someone comes up behind them with a whole, like, vase full of wine and just pours it over their head, Then he goes, oh, we won the game.
Tara / Journey:Oh my god.
John / Doran:I grab, Eren's, shoulder and just kinda, like, alright. Well, we'll see you, later. We'll stop at the hangar, and I'm glad it's all figured out.
Tim / GM:The door closes, and what follows you is a fine mist of an alcoholic haze as you leave the high council. And I think we'll end it there.
Tara / Journey:Odd. God. Hearty cat.
John / Doran:Thank you all
Tim / GM:so much for listening. I am Tib, your GN.
Hannah / Eryn:I'm Hannah, plain, Aaron. I'm Tara, and I'm Journey.
Thomas / Guy:I'm Thomas, and I am Guy.
John / Doran:I'm John. I play Dorn.
Tara / Journey:I'm Maggie, and I play puppy Kenmore.
Tim / GM:Share the show with people you love, and we'll see you next time.
