Cloudfall | 5 - Pinned Down
Last time on Cloudfall. Our adventurers got a little bit of retail therapy and who doesn't love that, especially after a night like they just had. They took a walk around town with the help of phenom's illusions to stay hidden from the blight. With the limited funds they had, they settled on visiting a discount magic store where they procured tools for their journey and a bow for their journey. They made their way to Lake Orthea where Poppy picked up her mobile bakery known as the Rolling Pin.
Tim / GM:They finally made one last stop to check on Doran's old friend, Rune, but they were spotted by the blight. Looks like it's time to set sail, provided they survive. Okay. Last we left off, 3 of you are in the wagon, Poppy, Guy, and Aaron, while Doran was saying goodbye to Rune in his basement salvage yard dwelling. It is time to go.
Tim / GM:The blight are on you. Journey, you are en route. You see the bad news. It is not far away from you, but, of course, you're invisible with the help of
Tara / Journey:Hidden step.
Tim / GM:That's right. You can see Doran in the distance, but the other group is closing in on your wagon in the wagon. What are the 3 of you doing?
Speaker 3:Should should I go? Should I wait? Should I I they're coming after us.
Hannah / Eryn:You recognize you recognize them from from last night? I mean, it was car to sea. Everyone was just, like, clamoring for cookies, and and then there was a boom and and and everyone fell. They're they're from the blight. I think they're after me.
Speaker 3:Great. Just great. Thank you. I'm gonna have my shop destroyed and all of the stealing will be for nothing. And and and and I just don't
Thomas / Guy:They are probably after all of us as Phenom said.
Hannah / Eryn:Aaron is scoping out the or the street we're on. Are we in the middle of the street? Are we near one side of it?
Tim / GM:You're parked in front of Rune's shop, so there are some nearby alleyways you could sneak into. It'd be a tight fit for the rolling pin, but you'd make it.
Hannah / Eryn:Quick. Poppy, is there a hatch?
Speaker 3:What do you I mean, there's, like Can
Thomas / Guy:I get
Speaker 3:to the roof? There's a vent above
Hannah / Eryn:the vent. Erin's gonna immediately, climb up above the oven and shove, her shoulder against the vent to try to open it.
Speaker 3:Well, don't I mean, don't break it. There's a latch. Yeah.
Tim / GM:You hear a violent as it opens up.
Speaker 3:I paid so much for that.
Hannah / Eryn:I'm gonna climb out and try to shuffle onto a nearby roof. I'm gonna jump off the rolling pin onto a nearby roof and try to climb up
Tim / GM:the roof. As you're heading up, you feel a hand grab around your ankle, and you hear Phenom says, where are you going? Everyone stays inside this wagon.
Hannah / Eryn:Nope. They're coming for me. I have to get out of here. They're gonna destroy Poppy's home.
Tim / GM:Trust me. It's fine if they come for you. They won't get past me.
Hannah / Eryn:They're gonna keep tracking me no matter what. I knew I knew it was a bad idea to go with you guys.
Speaker 3:I don't know what kind of establishment you think this is, but I did not prepare for attacks. There's no, like, shield or anything.
Tim / GM:Listen to me. There's not gonna be any attacks. We just need to all be together. Don't make this difficult.
Thomas / Guy:2 of us are already gone, Phenom.
Tim / GM:2? He, like, looks around, doesn't see Journey.
Thomas / Guy:What sort of trickery do you have planned for this cart?
Tim / GM:He pulls down the, like, Venetian blinds and looks outside at the crowd approaching, and he says, a whole lot. We just need to get together. Damn it. Where are they?
Thomas / Guy:Guy touches his echo bell and says, Doran. Doran, can you hear me?
Speaker 3:Oh, guy, I think I have
Thomas / Guy:the other trying to call Doran.
Speaker 3:I only I think I have it.
Thomas / Guy:Though these are the only 2.
Hannah / Eryn:Yeah. I'm sorry.
Speaker 3:There's, like, a feedback because we're right next to
John / Doran:each other.
Tim / GM:Cutting over to, Journey.
Thomas / Guy:You are at the top
Tim / GM:of the stairs. You can see Doran. He is kind of on his heels. It looks like he's hesitating to leave.
Tara / Journey:Yeah. I'm gonna run right up to him and, Doren. Doren, I'm invisible. We gotta go. We gotta go.
John / Doran:Okay. Let's go.
Tim / GM:Extremely trusting with the disembodied voice behind him.
Speaker 3:Dharma. Dorma. Dorma. Dorma.
John / Doran:This is, Journey. Right?
Tara / Journey:Yeah. It's me. We gotta get going. The blight is here.
Tim / GM:Okay.
Tara / Journey:Yeah. I'd try and pull him along. Still invisible.
John / Doran:Okay. Doran has pulls out his new dagger and is kind of, like, playing with it, like flipping it around, but doing it for the intention of having it on the ready.
Tim / GM:Okay. Yeah. And keep in mind, you're both still disguised. I believe you all look like vagabonds at the current moment, thanks to Phenom's illusions. Doran, not invisible.
Tim / GM:You hobble your way back towards the wagon Journey, you can see the trio approaching you from the other side of the wagon. You're about equidistant, kind of racing toward it. What do you do?
Tara / Journey:I am going to cast thorn whip at whoever is in front of the trio.
Tim / GM:K. That would be Mercy.
Thomas / Guy:Mercy. Mercy. Mercy.
Tara / Journey:My intention is to, grab at our ankles to try and trip her and, like, disrupt their movement and their momentum towards the cart while we keep running. That's an unnatural 21.
Tim / GM:Awesome. Okay. You grab her right around her ankles, and you drop her to the ground. She kind of, like, lands on her butt. You didn't intend for this to happen, but she also happened to land in a whole lot of mud in the cobbles here.
Tim / GM:She is instantly filthy and extremely upset. She begins standing up, and you can see little sparks start to shake out from her fingertips as she brushes off her clothes.
Tara / Journey:She takes 4 damage.
Tim / GM:Oh, okay. Real damage here. See where that gets you.
John / Doran:I see we're going that route. I'm gonna pick up pace.
Tim / GM:Okay. And, Journey, I believe that would break you out of invisibility. Is that correct?
Tara / Journey:Yep.
Thomas / Guy:Okay. You are visible as well.
Tara / Journey:And running.
Tim / GM:And running to keep pace with Doren. Aaron, your ankle is still being held by Phenom. He is kind of, like, looking out the window while he's
Thomas / Guy:got you. He looks up at you. He lets go
Tim / GM:of your ankle, and he says, please.
Hannah / Eryn:What are you gonna do?
Tim / GM:He actually smiles at you, and he says, just give me one chance.
Hannah / Eryn:Fine. But you have to get that crystal from them or break it. They're gonna keep following me.
Tim / GM:He he looks concerned. He kind of, like, searches the ground for answers and looks up at Roland, and he says, what do you think? Roland looks back and says, yeah. I can do that.
Hannah / Eryn:Aaron will drop back down into the rolling pin.
Speaker 3:Oh, careful. The there's a stack of
Hannah / Eryn:no. Never mind. I knock a bunch of pots and pans off of
Speaker 3:my mouth. I had those so organized.
Tim / GM:There's a bunch of dust and wood splinters that fall from the ceiling as she comes back down
Speaker 3:too. Sorry.
Tim / GM:Roland says, Poppy.
Speaker 3:Yes.
Tim / GM:As soon as you hear the kick, I need you to punch it. You understand?
Speaker 3:Is that correct?
Tim / GM:He's, like, almost out the door, and he goes, yeah. He closes the door, and he goes, hey, long time no see. Kind of muffled outside, and you hear Mercy. And you can hear this as she's winding up a bigger and bigger gout of flame between her hands. You will all look into the center of the room and see Phenom.
Tim / GM:He gives you one word. Showtime. When he opens the door, you see all around this alley from every shop door, from every alleyway, from every rooftop. 100 of people are jumping down. A throng, a meshing single direction.
Tim / GM:The trio is lost among this crowd. Phenom is now outside of the thing with Roland. They're trying to create
Thomas / Guy:the biggest spectacle they can to give you cover. Out the
Tim / GM:window, you can see Roland and you hear him kick it from behind to give it a little speed.
Speaker 3:Go. Are they back? We just go?
Thomas / Guy:Go, Poppy. They will catch up.
Speaker 3:Oh, I'm okay.
Tara / Journey:Good driver's time
John / Doran:to say.
Tim / GM:And and, Poppy, it's unfortunate that nobody mentioned it until now that the rolling pin has a top speed of 5 miles per hour.
Speaker 3:I'm going. I'm going. Yay.
Tim / GM:The extra weightlessness gives you a little bit of, pepy in your steppy, but it's not going that fast anyway.
Thomas / Guy:Would it help if I got out and pushed?
Speaker 3:Yeah. It might.
Tim / GM:Dorn and Journey. Outside, you can hear 100 of phenoms are rushing past you. Each of them Sorry. Excuse me. Sorry.
Tim / GM:Excuse me. Sorry. What, curve? It is just flooded with people running past you.
John / Doran:I think they're buying this time. Let's get into that rolling pin.
Tara / Journey:Yeah. Let's go.
Tim / GM:As you're moving, they're kind of almost like making a little, like, part the sea kind of path for you between all of them gesturing. They're like, Megan's over here.
Thomas / Guy:Over here. Over here. Over here.
Tim / GM:Over here. Over here. Over here. Over here.
Tara / Journey:Yeah. Journey runs up to the cart and sees that it's going at its top speed. And instead of hopping on, she grabs the back and starts, like, Flintstoning on the ground to try and give it a little bit of kick of speed.
Tim / GM:Yeah. Give me an athletics check.
Speaker 3:Meet the fur bolt.
Tim / GM:Oh, that's good.
Speaker 3:16.
Tim / GM:Okay. Yeah. To your surprise journey, you're actually doing, quite a bit of difference here. You're you're really pushing this thing along. Maybe 7 miles per hour.
Speaker 3:Oh, wow. Interesting.
Thomas / Guy:Journey, journey, new.
Speaker 3:We're gonna break the sound barrier.
John / Doran:Good job, Journey, as I step in.
Tara / Journey:Do, like, a little hop skip to
Tim / GM:there is, Doran and Journey, as soon as you step into the wagon, there is a hand reaching through the back door, and it says, little help.
Tara / Journey:Yeah. I reach behind me and grab.
Tim / GM:Yeah. You grab the only solid hand among the hundreds of illusionary ones, and you help the real phenom back into the wagon. Strangely enough, during all of this, phenom dropped the illusion on himself. When you pull him into the wagon for the first time, you see him with no illusion magic.
Speaker 3:Butt naked.
Tim / GM:Yeah. He never wears clothes. He's he is handsome, but he's not as ludicrously perfect as his illusions make him all the time. But he's also scarred. Like, his face and his arms have all these like discolored raised lines and he's got kind of a bony angular face but it looks really tired he's also wearing armor all the time He's got studded leather underneath everything he wears, and he's got 3 short blades that all look the same that are going up, the middle of his back.
Tim / GM:You see, like, a little flicker, and he kind of turns it all back on to look pretty again. He goes, oh, excuse my rudeness.
Thomas / Guy:Is that everybody?
Tim / GM:Not quite. He's, like, looking out the back door for Roland. Roland.
Tara / Journey:Well, Roland can flack, can he?
Tim / GM:No. He looks back at you and he goes, kinda.
Thomas / Guy:Just float. Alright.
Tara / Journey:Is there anything we need to do, or do we just keep watching?
Tim / GM:No. We keep going as fast as we can. We can trust him.
Hannah / Eryn:I'm on it. Aaron's just looking nervously out a window, and pulls their crossbow out and sort of aims out a window just preparing if they need to take a shot. They're ready.
Tim / GM:K. At that moment, Aaron, you see Roland emerge from the crowd. And when he does, he throws out a hand, and he throws the crystal into the wagon. And then he stutters and falls. No.
Tim / GM:What do you guys do?
John / Doran:Anyone else see that or just Aaron?
Tim / GM:You all saw it.
Hannah / Eryn:Except for me because my eyes are Yeah.
Speaker 3:You're on the road and my hands are at 10 and 2.
Tim / GM:There you go.
Hannah / Eryn:Phenom Rollins down. We need to help him.
Tim / GM:No. He he'll be fine. He's been through worse.
Hannah / Eryn:If you say so.
Speaker 3:No. Just kidding. Alright. Cool. Bye.
Tim / GM:He he looks a little shaken when you say if you say so.
Hannah / Eryn:Aaron didn't actually say that. That was a Hannah joke.
Tim / GM:Fair enough.
John / Doran:Insight on Feenal just to see, like, yeah, if he natural one. Wow.
Tim / GM:As soon as he says Roland's gonna be fine, you're like, okay. Good. And you start looking at the road ahead of you again. Oh
John / Doran:my god. I really wish I didn't roll.
Tara / Journey:How close is Roland to the cart?
Tim / GM:You don't know. You, I mean, you're not very far past him because you're not going all that fast, but you lost him in that crowd of illusions again after he fell.
Tara / Journey:Phenom, you better part the sea again, and Journey hops out.
Speaker 3:Do I keep driving or what?
Tim / GM:Yes. Keep driving. And he has the illusions separate from each other so that you can see Roland. He's got his back to the wagon now, and he is, like, actively fending off the Blight that are attacking him. When he turns back to you, you can see he's got blood on his clothes.
Tara / Journey:I run up to him, and I cast cure wounds.
Tim / GM:Okay.
Tara / Journey:And then I take out my bow and start backing up again to try and provide cover.
Tim / GM:Okay. Yeah. Give me a healing on that, Kirowind.
Tara / Journey:Yeah.
Speaker 3:That better not be your own blood.
Tim / GM:4. As you draw the bow back, they stop running after him and kinda look at you. You know, they're about to get shot. They don't know what to do. Roland takes your cover, and he starts advancing towards the wagon again.
Tara / Journey:Yeah. I'm gonna start walking backwards and just pointedly looking at each of them in the eye and saying, remember me? I killed a bunch of your friends. I won't even hesitate.
Tim / GM:The red haired one looks at you and says, you remember me?
Tara / Journey:Can't say that I do.
Tim / GM:Well, you're gonna.
Tara / Journey:Alrighty then. And then I book it. Alright.
Hannah / Eryn:As soon as, Aaron sees Journey and Roland turn to come back towards the wagon, Yeah. Eren's gonna shoot. Okay.
Tim / GM:Yeah. You've got a clear shot all the way back to Mercy.
Tara / Journey:We're taking turns covering each other's exits.
Hannah / Eryn:Bad. It's bad. Oh, damn. Yep. So that is gonna be 7.
Hannah / Eryn:Okay.
Speaker 3:It's a warning shot.
Tara / Journey:It's a distraction. Yeah.
Tim / GM:You shoot your crossbow off into the crowd, and one of phenom's illusions catches it right in the heart, and it kinda puts its hands over his chest and goes, and, like, holds its hand out towards the wagon, and it's like, I've been shot, and then it falls over to it.
Thomas / Guy:Erin, you've killed Phenom.
Hannah / Eryn:Oh, it's it's an illusion. I don't yeah. I'm trying to load another crossbow bolt.
Tim / GM:Yeah. It distracts the Blight for a split second before Mercy 17.
Tara / Journey:Yeah. That hits.
Tim / GM:Natural 20.
Tara / Journey:Yeah. That hits. And crits.
Tim / GM:14.
Tara / Journey:Yeah. That hits. I'm gonna die, y'all. How close did I get to the cart though in my bad dash?
Tim / GM:I'd say you're a mere 10 feet from the cart. Okay. Yeah.
Tara / Journey:Yeah. I'm gonna a day.
Tim / GM:Yeah. That's 42 fire damage. Fuck.
Speaker 3:What is your max health?
Tara / Journey:25. You see the
Tim / GM:scorching ray start off, and the blazes into the cobbles and carves a line of molten rock up to you and scorches your boot, kind of finding you, the second one knows exactly where you are and catches you in the chest. The third one gets your shoulder as you turn to run, and everything fades to black. You're down.
Tara / Journey:Yep.
John / Doran:Can I act? Yeah. Doran says, feel better soon, journey, and cast healing word. Oh. Yeah.
John / Doran:So
Speaker 3:Okay. Chatwell soon.
John / Doran:2nd level. So 2 d 4 plus 3.
Tim / GM:K.
Thomas / Guy:5.
John / Doran:5 total? 5 total.
Tim / GM:Okay. Cool. Journey, almost as soon as you hit the cobbles, you are suddenly awakened. It almost felt like a bounce, and you're back on your knees.
Tara / Journey:Yeah. I start hobbling back to the cart.
Tim / GM:You hear Mercy from far behind you, Journey. She goes, what the fuck? And Journey looking up, Doran is leaning half out the back of the wagon, like, with his hand towards you.
John / Doran:Gesturing, like, come here.
Tara / Journey:Yeah. I'm gonna run and reach out to Doran. Okay.
Speaker 3:Are you on fire?
Tara / Journey:I'm a little bit on fire.
Speaker 3:Okay. There's a flame retardant blanket right next to the stove.
Tara / Journey:I, like, grab onto Doran and kinda, like, launch myself into the cart, like, fully laying down.
Thomas / Guy:Yeah. Guy drops the blanket on. Journey.
Hannah / Eryn:Thanks, Guy. Aaron, as all this is going on, they are going to run to the door and shift into, a duplicate of Phenom's duplicates and, run out into the crowd. And I'm going to take out a dagger, and
Tara / Journey:We gotta stop getting out of the cart.
Speaker 3:The cart is not moving too fast.
Hannah / Eryn:Yeah. Not fast enough. You know, I think I think Aaron realizes the cart isn't gonna be able to run the blight. They don't have the crystal anymore. So perhaps can try to do a sneak attack, hurt Mercy, and just distract them enough to let everyone else escape.
Hannah / Eryn:So I'm gonna try for a sneak attack, pretending to be one of the crowd.
Tim / GM:Yeah. I mean, you're one of, you know, 400 illusions running around in this place right now. They've got no earthly way of perceiving you as a threat. Go ahead and make an attack with advantage.
Hannah / Eryn:I hate that dice. You're dead to me. It is a 14 to hit.
Tim / GM:That hits Mercy.
Hannah / Eryn:Yes. And a stab. Yes.
Tim / GM:And a sneak attack as well.
Hannah / Eryn:Yes. So it is 1 d4 +3+7. Fourteen total damage to Mercy with my stab. Oh. A stab from the crowd.
Tim / GM:And that's not the first time she's been hit either.
John / Doran:Punch in
Speaker 3:the knife since she Punch in the knife.
Hannah / Eryn:Stab in the crowd
Speaker 3:is worth 2 punches in the night.
Hannah / Eryn:It really is.
Tim / GM:You can hear Mercy kind of talking to Ribbo and Derringer under her breath as you're approaching her. She's like, I don't think they can keep up these illusions very long. And when it's over, she kind of, does like a hands going up motion. She's like, I can't wait. She's kind of, like, pointing to, like, who she's gonna kill first, and you get the chance to stab.
Hannah / Eryn:I'm gonna go for a kill stab and try to stab her in the kidney.
Tim / GM:Okay. Yeah. You, sink your knife into her all the way down to the hilt and pull it back out it's about as much as you can do with the dagger you hear a shriek of pain as she wheels around and looks for the assailant Her eyes are watering, and that she starts, like, blinking heavily, like she's kind of losing her footing, and then she just starts throwing firebolts in every direction. You see her take out a scorching ray and just spin it around in a circle such that she actually drags it across Derringer's face, and he, like, spirals out of the way.
Hannah / Eryn:I'm gonna duck down into a little turtle shell moment, and do my ripcord belt. This better work. And shut my eyes and
Speaker 3:pull it.
Tim / GM:Okay. Fun debut. You pulled the ripcord quite literally. This thing is lined with little silver capsules all the way around it. When you pull that half of the silver capsule start emitting a huge cloud of smoke that occludes the entire area the other half of the capsules shoot out these little You know, those little spinning fireworks that land on the ground and go Yes.
Tim / GM:It's those, but, like, 200 of them. And they're extremely bright, and they strobe. Everyone in this 20 foot circle is blinded and deafened.
Speaker 3:Sick. Cool. And did I avoid it?
Hannah / Eryn:Did I do enough to avoid it?
Tim / GM:You didn't know what it does
Tara / Journey:Yeah.
Tim / GM:Until now. I think you knew which direction to run and you had that in mind as your plan. So you emerge deafened and blinded from this. But you have this, like, ghostly image of where the wagon is right now.
Hannah / Eryn:Cool. I just dashed to the wagon then.
Thomas / Guy:Okay. It appears Erin has exploded.
Tim / GM:No. Phenom looks around and goes, Erin, where did she go?
Thomas / Guy:Guy points to the big cloud of smoke behind them.
Tim / GM:He puts his hands in his hair and he's like, oh my god. Stop leaving the wagon, please.
John / Doran:I'll go get her. Don't worry. No. No. I'm just kidding.
John / Doran:I was like, okay.
Speaker 3:Can you guys stop being on fire, please, for, like, 2 seconds?
Tara / Journey:I'm not on fire anymore. Right? The blanket put me out.
Tim / GM:Yes. Blanket put you out. You're still smoldering in places. The illusions are still there. They're still, you know, crowding the area.
Tim / GM:After that smoke bomb went off, you know, they're trying to find their direction again. Now, every time you guys turn a side street, Phenom is changing what the wagon looks like. He's also creating duplicates of you every time you turn and sends them in a different direction.
Speaker 3:Wow. That's so many rolling pins.
Hannah / Eryn:That was a really close call. I you just see blood on Aaron's hand where the dagger is. Tries to, like, wipe it off.
Thomas / Guy:How did it go back there?
Hannah / Eryn:I don't know. I I just ran for it after pulling the ripcord belt. I think if we can get further away faster, they don't have the crystal anymore to track me.
Speaker 3:Well, I'm going as fast as my dad says to go on residential streets. So You
Tim / GM:know, I'm just looking at you, like, with huge wild eyes. He's like, it's okay to go against your parents, Poppy.
Speaker 3:What are you saying? That's crazy talk.
Tim / GM:He gets up closer and grabs your shoulders and goes, this is life and death, babe.
Speaker 3:Okay. Okay. Okay. Fine. And I, like, shift something behind the steering wheel, and we go a little faster.
Tim / GM:Yeah. Yeah. Like, 2 miles
Tara / Journey:faster. Yeah.
Speaker 3:I don't even have seatbelts.
Tim / GM:The, action dies down such that when you near the spire, the illusions get very lazy and kind of tired, and phenom's, like, making a spectacle of having them look exhausted after chasing the wagon, so they're all kneeling over and breathing heavy, but you make it back. Intact and conscious, all of you. Roland's got some knife wounds that he's dealing with, even after the healing. Journey. Your burns are not entirely healed.
Tara / Journey:I'm in not great shape. I'm in very bad shape.
Speaker 3:Please don't give blood on anything. There is a sink with rainwater.
Thomas / Guy:It might be a little late for that puppy.
Tara / Journey:A lot of blood dripping, but a lot of melted, burnt pieces. I'm sorry for getting it in your cart.
Speaker 3:Probably a first aid kit under the under the counter.
Tara / Journey:I don't know if that'll do it.
Tim / GM:You pull out the first aid kit, and it's got bandages with, like, little cookies on them. Yeah. But the the bandages are, like, 2 inches wide.
Speaker 3:They're kind of me sized.
Tara / Journey:I've got big old patches of, like, burnt to a crisp skin.
Tim / GM:Yeah. Just putting one bandage on a third degree burn that takes up half your arm.
Tara / Journey:I think that hurts a little worse than just leaving a bee.
Thomas / Guy:Poppy, this is what I meant when I suggested we transform the rolling pin into a war vehicle.
Speaker 3:I know what you meant, Guy, but I don't think that a tank is gonna sell cookies. You know, armor is a little intimidating.
Tim / GM:I'd buy it. You all hear phenom start in. He says, alright. We're back at the spa. Alright?
Tim / GM:I need some air. He, steps out of the wagon and kind of shows the daylight of this place. You've all settled on to a bridge that will soon begin floating upwards against the tower, to raise you to the proper level where you will be boarding the sky ship. Phenom is kind of walking around the wagon, kind of like inspecting it. You can all see now that he kind of lost the plot at some point.
Tim / GM:Now the
Speaker 3:wagon is just called Taco
Tim / GM:Taco Taco. He was running out of
Speaker 3:ideas towards the end. And I
Hannah / Eryn:was just stuck on that.
Speaker 3:It's just blazing orange and, like, flashing taco.
Tim / GM:He's kind of looking at it with his arms crossed, and he says, a person only has so much creativity.
Speaker 3:Maybe I should sell tacos.
Tim / GM:As you're all lifting on the bridge, you can see the ship that you're gonna get down to. It's called the Heavenly Feather. It is the ship from Dawn's Edge or built by the rebels of Dawn's Edge, the people that came to Farewell. It's a beautiful craft. It looks a lot like a nautical sailing ship, you know, like a bulbous wooden under construction, some metal trim, and then giant white sails.
Tara / Journey:Journey's kind of, like, crouched slash seated on the floor of the cart with her elbows on her knees, and she grabs the crystal off of the ground and, looks at Erin. Erin, you can we destroy this? Should I
Hannah / Eryn:I mean, I don't really know exactly what it is, but it, it was used to track me. I mean, I'm all for destroying it, but I I don't know how, and I I don't know what it's tied to. I don't know if they have more. This is the only one I've seen.
Tara / Journey:Can I do some sort of this isn't gonna go well? My air can is bad. Can I do a check to see if I can understand if breaking this would make it stop?
Tim / GM:Oh, sure.
Thomas / Guy:Yeah. Can can Bert show up and do an Arcana check
Speaker 3:on this? Well, I should
Tara / Journey:look at
Speaker 3:it. Tibio? Yeah.
Hannah / Eryn:I've got good arcana. So if you well, Poppy should say something. Yeah.
Tim / GM:You can both take a look.
Tara / Journey:Yeah. Journey holds it up and, kinda looks at it and tilts her head and tries to get a sense of it.
Tim / GM:Yeah. Give me Arcana.
Tara / Journey:Natural 20.
John / Doran:Damn. Bullshit.
Tara / Journey:I don't make it a 19.
Thomas / Guy:Oh my
Speaker 3:god. You have a negative arcana?
John / Doran:Yeah. I do too.
Tara / Journey:What is it made out of? That's not all I wanna know, but that's a starting point. Candy.
Tim / GM:Yeah. It's it's not what you would call, like, a precious mineral. It's just quartz, but it's exceptionally clear, and it's enchanted. You can also tell that through, the kind of violence here that it was cracked when it was thrown. It might not even function correctly anymore.
Tara / Journey:Okay. You all see Journee's teeth elongate and her face get a little more feral and her, fingers turn into claws, and she just, like, tries to, like, crush slash scratch it to try and damage it more and, like, get it to just be pieces that can't be used ever again.
Tim / GM:Okay. I'm gonna say that would be a strength check, maybe. Let's do a strength check.
Tara / Journey:Yeah. I could do a strength check.
Tim / GM:Let's do that.
Tara / Journey:I I did cast that was me casting primal savagery.
Tim / GM:Okay. Let's do this. For the primal savagery, I'll have you take advantage on the strength check.
Thomas / Guy:Okay.
Tara / Journey:Yeah. Because, yeah, the primal savagery gives me acid damage.
Tim / GM:Yeah. Good angle.
Speaker 3:Got acid teeth. I got another nat 20. Bullshit.
Tim / GM:Alright.
Speaker 3:Fuck. Don't waste them all.
Tim / GM:You all see Journey grab this thing in her palm and try to crush it and let go, and it doesn't make any difference. She tries to snap it by kind of pressing it between her thumb and forefinger, and then she, out of frustration, puts it in her mouth, and she bites down on it, and you hear this crunch, and then she just spits out all the pieces on the ground.
Speaker 3:And a tooth.
Tara / Journey:Yeah. And they're smoking a little bit for some reason. Yeah.
Tim / GM:You can see it. Yeah. There's a little bit of, like, blue smoke, actually, and you can hear this, like, as the magic fades out of it.
Speaker 3:I didn't know people could do that.
Tara / Journey:We're not gonna have to worry about it anymore.
Thomas / Guy:There's plenty of food in the car. But,
Tara / Journey:yeah, Journey looks up at Erin. I got your back.
Hannah / Eryn:Thanks. Erin kinda slops into a chair and looks just relieved. I think that was how they tracked me for as long as I can remember.
Thomas / Guy:Can all members of the blight be tracked in this way?
Hannah / Eryn:I don't think so. I don't know.
Tim / GM:They have to have something, that you a physical object that you are very attached to
Thomas / Guy:or a literal piece of you, I e blood.
Hannah / Eryn:Okay. Yeah. I think they use blood of all the members. It's kinda part of what they sign up for when they join, those who join by choice.
John / Doran:Even the leaders then? Diver, would anyone be able to track him?
Hannah / Eryn:I don't know. I guess, like, if I were the leader, why would I give my blood for anything? When we were little, I just remember well, that woman you saw back there, Mercy is her name, she she kinda raised the kids in the blight that they took from their parents or orphans, you know, just she would collect the blood from everyone and keep them somewhere in addition to just being a generally terrible woman to be raised by. She kinda acted as a nurse, I guess.
Speaker 3:I'm I'm sorry. It must have been hard.
Hannah / Eryn:It wasn't nice, I guess. Last night was the nicest place I've ever slept in.
Speaker 3:Oh, me too. Wow. Did you sleep oh, I can't remember who had a bed.
John / Doran:Most of you chose to sleep on the floor.
Speaker 3:I slept in a bed, and it was so comfy.
Tara / Journey:Well, you're free of her now.
Thomas / Guy:Yes. It seems you have returned the favor by taking her blood.
John / Doran:That's right. You're daggered. Does it well, perhaps we don't need to track her now.
Tara / Journey:Well, maybe Phenom can use that blood to track Mercy. Maybe Mercy knows where Daver is.
Hannah / Eryn:Sure, I guess, if that's what they wanna do. Erin looks down at the bloody daggers. She's still clutching, and they say whatever they need, but I don't wanna be a part of it anymore. I just want out.
Tara / Journey:We're gonna be gone soon anyway.
Speaker 3:I think I have one in here somewhere. Hold on. Oh, here we go. Small jar for you. It's empty.
Speaker 3:You can put the, you could put the blood in there, I guess.
Hannah / Eryn:Aaron tries to, like, scrape some blood, I guess, into this jar, this vial.
Tim / GM:With the depth of the cut, it's actually pretty achievable. Even though you would wipe some off on your shirt, the other side of the blade, you can just run your finger down it and kind of squeegee the blood into the vial.
Hannah / Eryn:Gross. That's
Tara / Journey:so gross. That's dried, you could scrape off.
Hannah / Eryn:Aaron just takes the next, like, 5 minutes or whatever and tries to clean as much off of themselves as they can and get the blood into the vial.
Tim / GM:The wagon is kind of growing quiet over that next 5 minutes as Aaron works on this blood, and you're all kind of taking on the solemn idea of what that might mean in the future. And then you hear this muffled voice come back to the wagon. Here you have them your 5 brave adventurers and he opens the back door to the wagon and you can see about 40 to 70 sailors that are all lined up in a perfect row all wearing the same clothes. They've got like light pants and loose white billowing shirts. You can see on the ship itself, on the heavenly feather before you, there are sailors jumping off the masts like the crow's nest up top, and they're holding on to ropes as they do.
Tim / GM:And so they're, like, pulling up all the sails as they're raising. In true classic sailor fashion, they are getting this whole thing ready for you.
John / Doran:In the navy. Exactly.
Tim / GM:But what they reveal is a tired and bedraggled, nearly dead, group of 5 people. One of them maybe still smoldering, after all that action.
Tara / Journey:I'm singed. I keep putting out patches of my hair.
Tim / GM:And Aaron is actively scraping old blood into a vial. And phenom has introduced you as guests of honor aboard the heavenly feather.
John / Doran:Do all of these sailors look like Phenom?
Tim / GM:No. Okay. Good. None of them do. They look very distinct from him.
Tara / Journey:And each other?
Tim / GM:And each other.
Speaker 3:K. Yes.
Tim / GM:Phenom looks at all of you and goes What?
John / Doran:You only gave us 5 minutes.
Tim / GM:He shrugs and then he points at, your group and you all look a little bit prettier. Journey, you don't feel any better, but you look better.
Tara / Journey:Great.
Tim / GM:He trots you out of the wagon and he says, please please come meet your new crew. Attention? Not necessary.
Speaker 3:Okay. I don't know how this works.
Tara / Journey:Journey crouches on the ground again. Just everybody standing up and Journey's just like, uh-uh.
Tim / GM:Phenom kinda looks on. He goes, come on. Come on.
Tara / Journey:I'm real hurt, man. Just real hurt.
Tim / GM:Okay. Yeah. We can, there is a medic. Hold on. He, goes and talks to somebody and they bring them over to you.
Tim / GM:An old man kind of kneels down to you and he says, oh, hi.
Tara / Journey:Hi there. I'm real hurt. Do you have a place I could lie down?
Tim / GM:Yeah. We've got some comfortable accommodations aboard the ship. Maybe you'd be better off there.
Hannah / Eryn:What's the guy from the My Favorite Voice YouTube? This is the guy from the Ironworks.
Tim / GM:Metallurgy. Yeah.
Tara / Journey:Yeah. Journey looks to all of her fellow adventurers, and you guys are gonna be alright if I just go lay down? I'm just having a hell of a time.
Speaker 3:Yeah. Guy. Guy, give her the the the shell, the echo bell.
Thomas / Guy:Oh, right. Right. Yes. Journey, contact us with this at some point.
Tara / Journey:Okay. Should should I just tell y'all how I'm doing? Is there something I'm supposed to say?
Speaker 3:You can try hello, Poppy, because I'll have the other one.
Tara / Journey:Hello, Poppy. I I guess it's working. Yeah. I put it in a pocket and head away.
Tim / GM:The, older guy looks back at his crew of sailors and says could I get a stretcher over here and you see a wizardly person walk up close to you throw down a canvas with 2 little, like, wooden things on either end of it, and he cast levitate on it. He sends it underneath you so as to raise you and kind of carry you along.
Tara / Journey:Okay. I try to, like, sit on it, like, almost side saddle. Like, I'm not sure what to do with this. Yeah. So I kinda just, like, one butt cheek on it.
Tara / Journey:Like, it's what am I doing?
Tim / GM:The guy is so hesitant to tell you how to do it right that he's just kind of, like, making sure you don't fall off and just walking with you. He's, oh, okay.
Thomas / Guy:He
Tim / GM:takes you onto the main deck, but before he goes down into the, below decks, he has stopped. You see a man with a peg leg talking to him. He kinda nods and goes, okay. We're supposed to wait here for just a second. Is that okay?
Tara / Journey:Yeah. I'm not going anywhere. Okay. Good.
Tim / GM:This man at the very far back of the line of sailors, aeronauts, whatever you wanna call them, obviously the captain. He's got an eye patch. He's got a double jointed peg leg, kind of something between a warforged and a classical peg leg. He looks every bit a classic pirate.
Hannah / Eryn:Man, that guy looks really cool.
Tim / GM:He throws his arms out and he does a deep bow to all of you and then he raises back up and then he gestures out a long hand towards the tallest person in the entire lineup. It's a young elf boy. Very lithe. Very pretty. He starts walking towards you kind of gesturing to his crewmates on either side as he approaches and he sings.
Tim / GM:Welcome aboard the heavenly feather. We ride down the wind, whatever the weather, sing with me now from the back of your throats. And stay on your toes because we don't have lifeboats.
Hannah / Eryn:Air talkers.
Tim / GM:The, captain looks at him and does kind of a squinty, like, good job, and passes him up and walks towards your group.
John / Doran:We need to get one of those for our group. I don't know if anyone volunteers, but
Hannah / Eryn:Are you a bard? Wouldn't that be you?
Speaker 3:Do you not oh, you can't sing.
Hannah / Eryn:You look like you sing.
John / Doran:You look like you sing. Not as good as that one. We'll we'll talk about it. Yeah.
Tim / GM:Phenom looks down at each of you
Thomas / Guy:and he says,
Tim / GM:that was nice. So this here's the captain. Be polite.
Speaker 3:And the singing guy?
Tim / GM:Yeah. I I think his name's like Dan or Kyle or something. Why?
Speaker 3:I mean, I've just never been greeted with a song, I guess.
Tim / GM:Dawn said she never know with these people.
Hannah / Eryn:Oh, okay.
John / Doran:Do you like him, Poppy?
Speaker 3:No. I mean, no. I mean, I don't know him.
John / Doran:You will soon.
Tim / GM:Also, last minute change of plans. Roland's gonna go with you guys. Anyway, please, everyone, meet captain Yarhar. Oh my god.
Hannah / Eryn:How do you spell that?
Tim / GM:And a clump and a jingle as Yar har walks towards you. And then he kind of, like, looks over at your entire group, gives it a big smile, and goes, hi. How's everybody doing?
Speaker 3:I'm so good. Thank you so much. We're happy to be here. Oh, sorry. I'm Poppy.
John / Doran:I'm Doran. That was a lovely, introduction you gave us.
Tim / GM:The awful kind of you. He's still learning.
Thomas / Guy:I am Guy. You honor us to bring us humble stow
Tim / GM:get her below decks.
Hannah / Eryn:That's that's Journey. She got hurt on the way here.
Thomas / Guy:She did something very foolish but very brave.
Tim / GM:Heroic, you hear Roland say.
Speaker 3:Yeah. And that's Aaron.
Hannah / Eryn:Oh, yeah. Hi. I'm Aaron.
Tim / GM:His smile kind of doubles when he sees Aaron, and he goes, ah, Aaron. It's really nice to meet you.
Hannah / Eryn:Why does everyone know me?
Speaker 3:It's very straight. I mean, I I kinda thought everyone would know who I was, but
Thomas / Guy:I just know you as the cookie girl.
Speaker 3:And I really need to work on my PR.
Tim / GM:As you may know, this is the heavenly feather. We're proud to be taking you out to the clouds for the first time I hear. Some of you. Most of you? All of you?
Tim / GM:Has anyone been to the clouds before?
Thomas / Guy:Mm-mm. I have not.
Hannah / Eryn:Erin shakes her head no.
Tim / GM:Okay. Newbies all around. Well, just as well. It's gonna be very exciting. Very fun stuff.
Tim / GM:He turns around and starts kind of, like, walking away from all of you. As for me, it all started about 20 years ago. I was a pirate for much of my life. True. But I turned it all around.
Tim / GM:I almost died in an altercation in a city called Lamplight Landing. Some wizard there tore my sails to shreds and almost killed me. But ever since then, I had started drinking tea and I started listening to people, and I really turned things around. I moved to Dawn's Edge, and I had been kite gliding for years, and then I learned about the ships they were building, and I just caught on. So that's a little bit about me, tell me about yourselves.
Thomas / Guy:May we have questions about the captain?
Tim / GM:Absolutely. Happy to answer them.
Thomas / Guy:How many sky voyages have you captained?
Tim / GM:100. I mean, nothing on this scale, you know? And he gestures to the ship beneath shakes
Thomas / Guy:his head with a quizzical look and says, heavenly feather, my good friend.
John / Doran:Is this the first time flying with the heavenly father?
Tim / GM:He shakes his head with a quizzical look and says, heavenly feather, my good friend. Yeah. This is the maiden voyage.
Speaker 3:Will it fall out of the sky?
Thomas / Guy:Good question, Poppy.
Speaker 3:Thank you.
Tim / GM:A few of the sailors turn in and look at you like, we never asked that. Should we know? Yahar is kind of stunned and shakes his head violently. No. Of course not.
Speaker 3:Well, you just have to make sure with these things.
Tim / GM:They've been saying it for months. Unsinkable. Fuck.
Speaker 3:Shit. Johnny
John / Doran:has Titanic references. Lately. Doesn't bode well for us.
Tara / Journey:Journey is fully laid down on the stretcher now.
Tim / GM:Okay. She figured it out.
John / Doran:Mhmm. Yep. So maiden voyage, that's exciting. I'm excited. We actually haven't gotten much of a heading yet.
Thomas / Guy:I don't
John / Doran:know if it's a surprise or if there's anything you could share about the destination here.
Tim / GM:No. No. Not a surprise at all or it shouldn't be. You know you're going to lower. Right?
Tim / GM:A 2 week stay? That's what I heard.
John / Doran:I was just double checking.
Tim / GM:Sure. Smart. He points at you. Smart.
John / Doran:Yep.
Tim / GM:Anyway, I'd like to know a little bit about each of you. Who's the owner of this, establishment?
John / Doran:The Taco Taco Taco.
Speaker 3:Does it still say that or is it
Tim / GM:Phenom looks behind me and goes, oops, and changes it back to the rolling pin.
Speaker 3:Welcome to the rolling pin where you come for all your cookie needs. I'm Poppy. Shit. I forgot my note cards. Oh, I I make cookies.
Speaker 3:I used to have an elevator pitch and I I did
Tim / GM:Oh, don't worry about it. That's fine. We're thrilled to have you aboard, actually. I think some of our crew might know your work. You look back and see, like, 2 or 3 excited looking crewmates.
Speaker 3:Well, I mean, I have I have been here for a while. So
Thomas / Guy:as I said before, I am Guy. I am a regular old soldier, but I also moonlight at Poppy's establishment, the rolling pin.
Tim / GM:Very good. And, you my friend.
John / Doran:Doran, that's me. I, just, hunt down bad guys.
Tim / GM:Great to have. Yeah. And, if you need to go, that's that's fine, but, what happened?
Tara / Journey:There's parts of me that are still smoking and singed.
Tim / GM:I see that. Were you attacked?
Tara / Journey:Yeah. Do you have any healing I could have?
Tim / GM:We certainly do. Let's get you downstairs. He nods up at the man that was attending you before, and, he kind of, like, ushers you below decks.
Thomas / Guy:Nice to meet you. Be well, attorney.
Tim / GM:And Aaron, I've heard great things. I'm I'm really happy to have you aboard.
Hannah / Eryn:Who who did you hear these things from?
Tim / GM:I spoke with Lavera this morning. She said that, you are to be trusted and honored.
Hannah / Eryn:Did she say why?
Tim / GM:No. But she did pay me, so here we are.
Hannah / Eryn:Aaron shrugs her shoulders and was like, well, good enough for me.
Tim / GM:Well, great then. You all have the run of the place. Post up wherever you'd like. There's sleeping quarters on the furthest below decks. Any empty room that doesn't have stuff in it, you're welcome to take.
Tim / GM:There should be enough for each of you.
Thomas / Guy:When does the flying time begin? As soon
Tim / GM:as you're ready. He gestures to his crew and you just get this unified group at once. I'll just go.
Thomas / Guy:Wow.
Hannah / Eryn:This really is amazing, and Aaron walks up to, like, a banister on the edge of the deck Mhmm. And just looks out over the city. I would see sky ships, sometimes pass over. I'd never thought I'd get the chance to ride 1.
Tim / GM:But nothing like this. These spark engines, they're something. We can really fly with these, not like those personal craft. I mean, I've been on any number of 8 person missions before with those little scooters, whatever you wanna call them. It's nothing like this.
Tim / GM:The unity here, the the camaraderie, the power of this thing. I mean, look at it. Listen to those engines
Tara / Journey:They're great.
Speaker 3:It's just a modem, like, from the 1990s.
Thomas / Guy:It's good audio right there. It
Speaker 3:runs on DSL.
Tim / GM:Well, you guys let me know if you need anything. I'll be around. You can just holler for me. I'll find you. Should be having supper in 4 or 5 hours.
Tim / GM:Let me if you're hungry before then. He, does, like, a big sweeping gesture to kind of, usher you all onto the ship.
Hannah / Eryn:Aaron wants to do an insight check on Yarhar.
Speaker 3:Yeah. Do it. Okay. You're so evil with these names.
Hannah / Eryn:Yes. That's good. 20.
Tim / GM:He seems to be being very polite, but he looks eager to kind of get on with it and he's, like, at this point he is done with your Geisel's introduction.
Hannah / Eryn:Does he seem honest in everything he has said
Thomas / Guy:so far?
Tim / GM:Yes. It doesn't look like he's made any attempt to kind of, like, deceive or double speak anything or to give you, like, a half truth.
Tara / Journey:Okay.
John / Doran:And, Phenom, you said something about, Roland?
Tim / GM:Yeah. Roland? Right. I I'm gonna go with you guys. It's been a long time since I've been out in the clouds.
Tim / GM:I miss it.
Hannah / Eryn:Do you have to, like, recharge that and Aaron gestures towards, like, the clouds around him?
Tim / GM:He gives a big smirk and kinda looks at his own bare chest and looks back up at you. That's I mean, philosophically, yeah. I do need to recharge.
Hannah / Eryn:Is he naked and just wearing a diaper cloud?
Speaker 3:Because that's kind of what I'm imagining the way
Hannah / Eryn:you describe it.
Tim / GM:Nope. He's just got, like, a a big muscly torso, like, kind of, like, dusty, like, pale blue skin. But he is wearing, like, loose, like, pajama pant kind of things. Mhmm.
Hannah / Eryn:Okay. But they don't Genasi don't have, like they're not like a genie bottom. Like, they just have legs.
Tim / GM:They have legs. They
Thomas / Guy:I'm a genie with a bottom.
John / Doran:Doing squint set, Roland. Sudden change just being up here made you wanna stay or
Tim / GM:No. It was actually when I got back in the wagon. I need a break. He, like, gestures to the, like, blood spatter. I've been in the line of duty for a long time.
Tim / GM:It's wearing me down. Phenom looks at you and shrugs, Doreen, and he says, I suggested it, actually.
Thomas / Guy:K. Well,
John / Doran:I think we should check on Journey, make sure everything is going okay down there. Perhaps you should come with Roland. Look like you could use a little healing as well.
Tim / GM:Probably right.
Speaker 3:Yeah. Jenny. Come in, Jenny. This is Poppy.
Tara / Journey:I I hear you, Poppy. What what's up?
Speaker 3:Are you okay?
Tara / Journey:I literally just got down here.
Speaker 3:Okay. Sorry. Click.
Tara / Journey:Oh, okay. Bye.
Tim / GM:Journey, you see Roland come into view down there, and, the cleric that was attending you, has just been, like, asking menial questions about, like, the last couple days and if you've seen any good theater shows lately, and you see Roland walk in, he says, hi. Is this where I can get some, he points to his wound on his stomach. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Come here.
Tim / GM:Oh, are you still bleeding? Oh. Oh, it's not that bad? Okay. Sits him down and begins attending to him as well.
Tim / GM:Roland looks at you, Journey, kinda nods.
Tara / Journey:A nod back.
Thomas / Guy:Did you have red blood?
Tim / GM:Yeah. Okay. They're people too.
Tara / Journey:Heard you're sticking around.
Tim / GM:Yeah. I am. Phenom Phenom has told me to my face before that I'm not eloquent.
Tara / Journey:Alright. Is that something that he wants you to be?
Tim / GM:Probably. But the point is I I can't thank you enough, I don't think. There's not enough time in my life to thank you for saving me.
Speaker 3:Rolly.
Tara / Journey:Journey frowns. I mean, it seemed like Phenom was pretty ready to leave you behind there, and I just didn't think that was right. And all of this this group of people has been trying their best to help each other out. You helped us out. Couldn't do any less.
Tim / GM:The difference is I was doing my job, and you were doing what you thought was right. That matters a lot. And Phina made the right call. You were the priority, all of you, not me. Not us.
Tim / GM:But thank you. I'll say it as many times as I get the opportunity to to thank you.
Tara / Journey:Yeah. You're welcome. I guess only thing I can ask is you keep trying to help my friends.
Tim / GM:Back on the upper decks, it's a damn shame that Journey missed this, but the ship unceremoniously begins to move. It releases from the docking area. The rolling pin is still kind of standing on the main deck, just sitting up there, and the ship lurches. You can all feel it shutter as it detaches from the main tower, and it begins to angle downwards towards the clouds as if it's just free falling.
Speaker 3:Does the rolling pin move?
Tim / GM:The rolling pin starts rolling forwards
Speaker 3:very slightly. Oh, some
Thomas / Guy:Guy is gonna brace against
Tara / Journey:it to prevent it from rolling. I forgot to put the brake on.
Tim / GM:Yeah. Guy, it's like gently pushing you across the polished wooden floor of the main deck as you're trying to hold it in place.
Speaker 3:Oh, all of that.
Tim / GM:Uh-oh. You feel the ship begin to lean more and more into a nosedive going off the cliff.
Speaker 3:Somebody stop that cart.
Thomas / Guy:When does the flying start?
Tim / GM:You see all of the sailors here are grabbing ropes and rigging and railings and they're all holding tight with these mad grins on their faces. The
Thomas / Guy:top
Tara / Journey:of the roller coaster?
Tim / GM:Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 3:I don't like it.
Tim / GM:And then the ship catches itself and begins to write just as you're getting towards the base of the winged spire. It begins to level out and kind of skim right over the top of the clouds. You can feel the wind in your face. You're crying little tears as the wind kind of cuts into you and makes it difficult to see. But before you, bigger than ever, more in your face than ever, you see massive billowing clouds.
Tim / GM:You know, you've got the regular clouds in the actual sky high above you, but below that here in the crater at the surface level, you've got this extra blanket of cumulus clouds, all these fluffy giant storm cells, And sometimes there are breaks in the clouds. There are little gaps that are And, sometimes there are breaks in the clouds. There are little gaps that are kind of difficult to see from the city's edge, but when you look down through this gap in the clouds, you can see another layer of clouds beneath you, another blanket, almost half mile down. It seems there's strata to the clouds here.
Thomas / Guy:Is it clouds all the way down?
Tim / GM:Yaharra catches you looking and he says, Not all the way down. There's 3 layers.
Thomas / Guy:Have you been to all of the layers?
Tim / GM:As many as a person can. Up here, we've got the regular atmosphere that you're all used to. You've got the regular clouds high up in the sky above us, and you've got the clouds laid out before us here. That's the regular atmosphere but underneath that underneath these clouds and he points to
Thomas / Guy:the clouds below you he says
Tim / GM:that place is called Upper Cumula, between the first two layers of clouds.
Thomas / Guy:The one below it is upper?
Tim / GM:I agree. The jargon's a little misguided, but stay with me.
Thomas / Guy:I almost assuredly will not.
Tim / GM:Below that we've got lower Cumula. It's a little more rainy there. Wet, windy, dark. But at the bottom of lower Cumula is something that we can't really deal with. There's a fine mist about half mile down.
Tim / GM:We just call it the null substrata. Problem is it cancels out magic entirely. If our ships even touch it, they'll plummet.
Speaker 3:Right. Right. Right. And we never go there.
Tim / GM:Not for any reason. It's certain death.
Speaker 3:Okay. Good. Just making sure.
Tim / GM:It may look infinite, but it's actually fairly limited, the safe places.
Thomas / Guy:But will we be staying in the regular atmosphere for this trip?
Tim / GM:No. Not for all of it. In fact, the Isle of Lhor is in Lower Cumula. It'll be a little choppy coming in, but nothing I haven't dealt with before.
Speaker 3:Except for on a ship this size that you've never flown before.
Tim / GM:And that's the connection I didn't want you to make.
Thomas / Guy:I'm sure your expertise will get us there safely, captain.
Tim / GM:There's the confidence I hoped you would have. And do any of you have experience with kite gliders? Just in case.
Speaker 3:Nope. Not here. I'm a ground people. Thank you.
Thomas / Guy:Same. It's
John / Doran:definitely not a favorite hobby of mine.
Hannah / Eryn:Like I said, I I've never even been near an airship, I guess, until a couple days ago.
Tim / GM:Not a problem because there aren't gonna be any emergencies. It's just good to know if any of you do know how to use them you're free to take one out whenever you need to he gestures towards a stand up closet on the main deck and just then you see one of the crew members open it up grab a large flat it looks like a flute case but it's like 6 feet tall They unfold it and open it up, and then they stretch it out like a giant folding fan, and they jump off the edge of the ship.
Hannah / Eryn:Cool. Is it like Aang's glider?
Thomas / Guy:Yeah. Man overboard.
Tim / GM:Nope. Don't worry about it. He's fine.
Speaker 3:How does he come back?
Tim / GM:Oh, looks over the edge. Not even a man. You see, like, the person, like, swiftly whip back up and land on the deck, and you see a woman kind of, like, close the folded wings and set them back down.
Speaker 3:How does she come back? That was very impressive.
Tim / GM:She heard that, and she blushes and smirks. She looks at you and says,
Tara / Journey:I could teach you.
Speaker 3:But
Tim / GM:I'd have to charge.
Speaker 3:I can pay you in milkshakes?
Tim / GM:I like the sound
Speaker 3:of that. Actually, I think I'm I'm good just watching from down here.
Tim / GM:So many are.
Thomas / Guy:Yes. One step at a time, I think.
Hannah / Eryn:How close are the clouds to the edge of the deck?
Tim / GM:When you came like, when you first leveled out, you were actually very close to the clouds such that you were practically, like, bellying out on them.
Thomas / Guy:Mhmm.
Tim / GM:And then you had the ship kind of pull up again to give you some clearance.
Hannah / Eryn:Is it like cutting through cloud? Like, you can't see the bottom of the ship if you were looking at the ship from a far away.
Tim / GM:That's how it started, but it's not like that anymore.
Hannah / Eryn:Now it's just in the air. Okay. I'm just curious.
Tim / GM:Yarhair says, one last thing before I let you all go. I give this to everyone that steps aboard the ship. It's just my three rules for flying in the clouds. Do not forget these. One, don't touch down where you can't take off.
Tim / GM:That's a very frustrating situation to be in. Number 2, don't fly at night.
Speaker 3:How do you, I have a question.
Tim / GM:Mhmm.
Speaker 3:Are all of your journeys, like, during the day then?
Tim / GM:At night, you just idle. You do your best not to move too fast. It seems, again, infinite out here, but you'd be surprised how easy it is to crash into somebody else.
Speaker 3:Alright. Totally safe. That sounds normal.
Thomas / Guy:Number 3 is give it all you
Speaker 3:got.
Tim / GM:He gives you a little aside puppy, and he says, if pressed, you can fly at night. But 3rd You can break a rule. But 3rd and most important, stay out of the fucking clouds.
Speaker 3:I think that is going to be impossible.
Tim / GM:He points down, and he says, do not, for any reason, fly into a cloud.
Thomas / Guy:What's in there?
Tim / GM:Great timing. Any points? And you can see this huge, like, cumulus cloud. This giant silvery bulbous bellied thing that is moving away from you in the wind and as it does you see a giant cliff edge come out of nowhere. You see an entire island, the first Skyland you've ever seen up close now.
Tim / GM:It's called the High Shire. Halflings exclusively live here.
Speaker 3:My people.
Tim / GM:That's why you don't fly into the clouds. You never know what's in there.
Speaker 3:So you never touch down?
Tim / GM:You can touch down. You just have to be able to see where you're going.
Speaker 3:Oh, okay. Yeah. That I'm learning a lot about ships.
Tim / GM:Yeah. Sorry. I've taken up way too much of your time. You all have a great afternoon. I'll catch up with you later.
Thomas / Guy:Thank you, captain.
Tim / GM:He looks back and he says, yeah. Sorry. Yes. Absolutely. You've all been turned loose to explore the ship at your leisure.
Tim / GM:Yahar let you know before parting that, you would arrive at the Isle of Lor tomorrow morning, that you're going to spend a night out here. What are y'all doing?
Speaker 3:I'm gonna go find the kitchen.
Tim / GM:Okay.
Speaker 3:What is it the galley? What would you call it on a ship?
Tim / GM:Yeah. For fear of using the wrong word.
Tara / Journey:Galley is correct.
Tim / GM:Let's say galley. Yep. Okay. Galley it is. Yes.
Tim / GM:The galley is on the first floor once you start heading below decks. So this is a giant open room, a big, like, mess hall, but done with elegant finery. Everything is like a polished, shined, almost like glassy woodwork trimmed with, brass in some places with steel in others. Very classically assembled, but beautiful and warm. And there's a a large literally a stone hearth in here, which is, like, a bit much for a wooden ship.
Speaker 3:It is the Titanic. I'm just kidding. I haven't I haven't used one of these since I was at home.
Tim / GM:Yeah. There's there's 2 giant oversized tables and a bunch of comfy chairs, and, there's full food service in here. There's just a chef at the back of the room and a kind of, like, food service kiosk, and he just says, can I help you with something?
Speaker 3:Oh, nothing much. I was just wondering if you needed any help.
Tim / GM:Do I need help?
Speaker 3:Yeah. Do you?
Tim / GM:He looks behind him. There's like no other people back there and it's like a total mess. He says, yes.
Speaker 3:Alright. Poppy Ken, we're at your service.
Tim / GM:Are you for
Speaker 3:real? Of course, I'm for real. Why would I offer?
Tim / GM:Great. You you can get started right now. He throws an apron at you and he says, we've gotta get dinner ready for the crew of 55.
Speaker 3:Perfect. I'm not usually used to being the sous chef, but I'm fine with that. What do you need me to do?
Tim / GM:I'm not just a soup chef. We do a lot of you.
Speaker 3:You want me to chop? I'll chop. You want me to wash dishes? I'll do that.
Tim / GM:Yeah. Let's get cleaned up first. He, steps off of a stool. You notice it's a bullywug? It is a frog person.
Speaker 3:Okay.
Tim / GM:So he's got really long legs, so he can, like, stand up to, like, you know, get to the top of the counter. But when he squats back down, he's quite small.
Speaker 3:Cool. I, dig pinch out of my shirt, and I put him down. And I also cast unseen servant.
Tim / GM:He kind of he kind of mechanically automatically grabs pinch and, throws him into the oven.
Speaker 3:No. No. I grab him back out. I'm sorry, sir, but this is not food. This is Pinch and he is my right hand man.
Tim / GM:Sorry. I didn't see the face. Of course. It's it's your friend.
Thomas / Guy:Somewhere, a single tear falls down, guys. Change.
Tara / Journey:Oh, no.
Speaker 3:You're my left hand man.
Tim / GM:He's also staring with wide eyes at the unseen servant as it washes dishes.
Speaker 3:Yes. And I dust pinch off, and I'm like, you're just a little bit scorched. It's okay.
Tim / GM:He looks behind him and he's got like a little blackened crispy buns.
Speaker 3:Oh. And he
Tim / GM:looks back up at you and does like sad puppy eyes.
Speaker 3:No. They look they look very dashing. I think you can pull it off.
Tim / GM:He gives it, like, a little wiggle. And then he, like, waves to get your attention again?
Speaker 3:Yes. But
Tim / GM:He puts his hands on his knees, and he begins to twerk his butt with you.
Speaker 3:Oh my gosh. Get get to work, pinch.
Tim / GM:He smiles and begins getting to work.
Speaker 3:Okay. And the 3 of us helped the frog man.
Tim / GM:Yeah. Yeah. You do a great job at it, actually. You get the place, like, shining clean in a matter of minutes. He seems much relieved.
Tim / GM:He says, what is your name?
Speaker 3:Poppy Kenmore, like I said.
Tim / GM:I'm very forgetful. And who's this? And he looks down at Pinch.
Speaker 3:This is Pinch.
Tim / GM:And what is going on over here? And looks at the unseen servant.
Speaker 3:I didn't name that one.
Tim / GM:Rinse repeat for the next 2 hours. What are the rest of you doing?
Thomas / Guy:I think maybe Guy wants to check out the engine. Wow. Sure. If the DM is Sorry. I'm sorry.
Tara / Journey:I'm sorry.
Thomas / Guy:I'm sorry.
Tim / GM:I'm fine. Okay.
Thomas / Guy:I can do something else.
Tim / GM:No. It's great. It's great.
Thomas / Guy:Doran, would you like to accompany me to the engine room? Engine room?
John / Doran:It's
Thomas / Guy:where they keep the engine.
John / Doran:That sounds really cool. Yeah. Let's let's check it out.
Thomas / Guy:See, we have a little one of these in Poppy's carton. I've always wanted to find a way to make it run better, but I just do not understand the mechanics of it all.
John / Doran:Me neither. This is definitely going faster than the rolling pin. Room for improvement.
Speaker 3:Somewhere, a tear rolls down by the sheet.
Tim / GM:The 2 of you make your way down to the engine room. You actually have to go past what you thought was the last floor of this place. So it goes galley, living quarters, below that is storage, and below storage is the engine room. There's only 2 other people in the engine room when you get there, and all they're doing is feeding these 3 independent furnaces every now and then when they need bismite. In the center of the room is a hoard of bismite like you've you've never seen.
Tim / GM:It is a pile in a, metal container on the ground. There's probably nearly a £100 of bismite in this container. And I want to address something right at this minute. Pounds makes no sense for bismite because it's a weightless, magical, metallic crystal. We'll figure out a unit of measurement.
Tim / GM:I'm gonna keep calling it pounds.
Thomas / Guy:Okay. Yeah. Magic pounds.
Tim / GM:Magic pounds.
Tara / Journey:When it's stuck in place, it has pounds.
Tim / GM:Maybe. May it's got pounds of resistance, I guess. The 2 attendants down here silently acknowledge you as you enter and keep a very close eye on you as you move about about in here.
Thomas / Guy:Have you ever seen so much Bismite from one place?
Tim / GM:No. Seems to be exactly what they wanted to hear because they both smirk at each other. And they're like, yeah, we got so much biz mine.
Speaker 3:Biz boys. Biz boys.
Thomas / Guy:It must be worth, what's a large amount of gold, Dorn?
John / Doran:1,000. Wow.
Thomas / Guy:Yeah. Thousands of gold.
John / Doran:Just think how much you could do with all that gold.
Tim / GM:15,000.
John / Doran:15,000? Give or take.
Tim / GM:Yeah. It's no big deal. It's
John / Doran:an expensive trip.
Tim / GM:Well, yeah. These are expensive ships.
Thomas / Guy:Who pays for all this?
Tim / GM:They look at each other again. Libera?
Thomas / Guy:Wow. I don't know if
Tim / GM:I've heard
Thomas / Guy:of her.
John / Doran:Doran sits down and pulls out a ink and parchment and is kinda sketching this out a little bit.
Hannah / Eryn:Can you draw?
John / Doran:Schematics.
Tim / GM:One of them notices you doing this, saw the one that hadn't been talking. He says, excuse me. We're actually not supposed to let anybody, this is all proprietary information.
John / Doran:Oh, sorry. Okay. Understood. Yeah. We were just curious, you know.
Thomas / Guy:I am an operator of a small bismide engine myself.
Tim / GM:Oh. Are you working on the Mark Threes already?
Thomas / Guy:If there are any marks, I suspect there are just one.
Tim / GM:A Mark 1? Though an older model, but it's a good spark engine.
Thomas / Guy:It leaves some to be desired. It does not move very quickly.
John / Doran:I'm gonna couple up my parchment. Sorry. That was really rude. I should have assumed. You seem mechanically minded then.
John / Doran:You you don't just load this. You actually is a passion of yours?
Tim / GM:Absolutely. The 2 of us designed this.
John / Doran:You designed this? That's amazing.
Tim / GM:We hold on. We didn't design it. We we assembled this and, I mean, the configuration, and that's all us. Yeah. Sure.
John / Doran:That's amazing. I don't I you're really busy with this trip. I never mind. We we shouldn't even ask. Thanks for letting us,
Tim / GM:no. No. What? What was it?
John / Doran:Oh, glance over at guy. Well, okay. Tell you what. We got a small, well, guy here and and is the the the owner of the rolling pin. Anyways, guy and I were curious if perhaps Yes.
John / Doran:We we you could, maybe just take a glance at Yes. The engine we're working with and see if you could give us just any any free advice on how to just get it to move at a faster clip, so to speak.
Tim / GM:Absolutely. We can give you a tune up. Yeah. I'd love to. I mean, actually, things are pretty good down here with there should be good for another hour or 2.
Tim / GM:Let's, let's go. Really?
John / Doran:Yeah. Awesome. Wow. Yeah. I'm sure we can give you some free cookies and stuff at at the very least.
Tim / GM:They look at each other. That's right. You were the yeah. You were the cookie. Great.
John / Doran:Yes.
Tim / GM:Yeah. They follow you up to the upper deck where the rolling pin is still sitting, and as soon as they kind of pop the hood, so to speak, the one you had been talking to looks over at his friend and he goes, oh, it's, it's a Levitator, actually.
John / Doran:Not a Mark 1?
Tim / GM:The other guy goes, oh, yeah. No. These are these are still plenty powerful. Really fine piece of kit here. You got
Thomas / Guy:levitator.
Tim / GM:As for speed, I think there's something we could do. Yeah. He, leans down. They start whispering to each other. Yeah, I think I could safely take off the regulator here.
Tim / GM:That would give you maybe 10 miles an hour?
John / Doran:That's like twice as fast as it was going.
Tim / GM:Literally twice as fast. It's not rated to go that fast, but it safely can.
Thomas / Guy:I love it.
John / Doran:I'm sure Poppy would be totally fine with this. Right?
Thomas / Guy:Let's do it. No need to ask permission?
John / Doran:Yeah. There's no downside. Right? It's not gonna yeah. I'm just gonna assume there's
Thomas / Guy:no downside. See how fast it goes, she'll be like, why couldn't it go faster? Yeah.
Tim / GM:He starts quietly laughing to himself and he goes, yeah. I agree. Let's do it. He pulls out, like, a little metal piece and he just throws it off the side of the ship and he goes, that should do you.
Thomas / Guy:If only I had thought
Tim / GM:of that.
John / Doran:That's that's great. Thank you. I know you're super busy. It was really cool seeing the engine, and we we definitely appreciate the help. Please stop by, anytime after 4 AM.
Thomas / Guy:That's when we wake up.
Tim / GM:Oh, early. Early risers. Wow. Okay. Yeah.
Tim / GM:We'll be around. Of course, we'll be, you know, stuck in the stuck in the old engine room. But please give us a visit. We get very bored in there and, be happy to show you the schematics. I can't give you a drawing, but I can show you, you know.
Thomas / Guy:Cool. Thank you so much, sir.
Tim / GM:It's good to meet you.
John / Doran:Nice to meet you as well.
Tim / GM:We can do names later.
John / Doran:I didn't wanna put you on the spot, but, yeah. Engine guys.
Tim / GM:Engine guys.
Thomas / Guy:Joey engine.
Tim / GM:Erin, do you know what you would wanna do on this ship?
Hannah / Eryn:Is it easier or difficult to tell what time of day it is on the ship?
Tim / GM:Below decks, extremely difficult. Upper decks, pretty easy.
Hannah / Eryn:And the clouds don't mess with the light in a weird way that makes, like, telling time from the sun hard?
Tim / GM:They do a little bit, but only when you're down a layer. You know what I mean?
Hannah / Eryn:Okay. So
Tim / GM:it's like when you're above the clouds, you're fine.
Hannah / Eryn:So when you're in the regular atmosphere, basically, it's fine.
Tim / GM:Exactly. Yep.
Hannah / Eryn:Okay. That's what I want to know. What time of day is it?
Tim / GM:Not too long after you guys had taken off. It's coming up on suppertime pretty soon.
Hannah / Eryn:Okay. Aaron's still kind of up on the main deck just looking out, but as they are standing there, I just want to make an observation of how busy the deck seems kind of trying to match faces. I'm basically scoping out the place. So match faces to what they're working on, try to determine if they keep working on the same job, it seems like. Like, do they have assignments?
Tim / GM:Give me an investigate with advantage.
Hannah / Eryn:15.
Tim / GM:So you notice that some people are extremely proficient at what they're doing, others aren't. You make a note that it is the more, like, physically fit, like, the burlier people that have a little more trouble getting around. They don't quite know what they're doing.
Hannah / Eryn:Erin is going to just walk around the ship kind of being pleasant. You know, people greet her and stuff like that, but then as they're walking around, they are going to try to take note of hidey holes, secret places, good spots for Aaron to take cover.
Tim / GM:Yeah. The galley has quite a few good hiding spots. That's the eating mess hall banquet area.
Tara / Journey:Mhmm.
Tim / GM:The storage room is extremely easy to hide in because nobody ever really spends any time in there. Living quarters, it's usually pretty packed. There are some places to hide, but there's a lot of foot traffic in there.
Hannah / Eryn:And then is there only one main path up and down, or can Aaron locate any other, like, side stairwells or, like, little ways to get up and down? Are there ropes on the side of the ship? Like, I'm just trying to find alternate routes besides the main routes.
Tim / GM:Yeah.
Hannah / Eryn:If needed.
Tim / GM:So there are 4 up and down paths. So there's 2 in their front, 2 in the back, kind of flanking either side of this ship. You have noticed also that Captain Yahar must have some kind of secret access. He changes levels at places he shouldn't be able to.
Hannah / Eryn:Do I suspect he is using magic?
Tim / GM:No. You suspect his office has its own stairway.
Hannah / Eryn:Okay. I'm gonna watch captain Yarhar, and as soon as he is not near his office, I'm going to try to break
John / Doran:in to his
Hannah / Eryn:office. Okay.
Tim / GM:Let's do that.
Hannah / Eryn:Maybe, like, when he heads off to dinner or something.
Tim / GM:Perfect. Yeah. You hear, a melodic chime play out from the banquet hall, and you hear Everyone come, the food is ready. Come down here to fill your belly.
Hannah / Eryn:Yes. Christ.
Tim / GM:You hear Yarhar, like, opens the door to his office and, like, sprints out, and then, like, steps back a couple paces and closes his door and then runs back towards the banquet hall. And he goes, it's dinner time, everybody.
Tara / Journey:The singing intern. He's not getting paid. He's just singing.
Tim / GM:He's not very good. Yeah. Yahar disappears towards the banquet hall, leaving the door unlocked right in front of you.
Hannah / Eryn:Oh, great. I'm gonna, check for traps.
Tim / GM:Okay.
Hannah / Eryn:Not great. Investigation?
Tim / GM:Yeah.
Hannah / Eryn:Okay. So, yeah, only, 7 to detect any traps around here Okay. Investigation.
Tim / GM:None that you see. Yeah.
Hannah / Eryn:Okay. I'm just gonna slowly push open the door, to his unlocked office.
Tim / GM:Yep. Gives a
Thomas / Guy:little bit of a creak
Tim / GM:as you do so, but there's so much ravel from everybody, like, racing down the steps and up the steps to get to the banquet hall first before they run out of Italian dunkers.
Speaker 3:Italian dunkers. I'm better than that.
Hannah / Eryn:It's got baking, though.
Tim / GM:Yeah? Poppy, anything you wanted to throw into that meal to make it a little better?
Speaker 3:Well, it is Italian Dunkers. Okay. But I did like a roasted garlic spread on top.
Tim / GM:Oh, beautiful. Yeah.
Hannah / Eryn:And I noticed,
Speaker 3:a very special, like, robust dipping sauce. Okay.
Hannah / Eryn:Yum. I'm just
Tara / Journey:like to Google Italian Dunkers.
Hannah / Eryn:Oh, is this in a Minnesota?
Thomas / Guy:I was
Speaker 3:just not gonna know. Just Minnesota.
Tara / Journey:Is this a Minnesota? Italian Dunkers. That was a cheese bread.
Tim / GM:Yes. Cheese bread.
Hannah / Eryn:It's cheese bread and marinara that you get from elementary school and also high school.
Speaker 3:Yeah. But they put it on, like, quarter of a sub bun.
Tara / Journey:Yeah.
Speaker 3:So it was huge.
Hannah / Eryn:Yum. So good.
Tim / GM:Erin, you push open this door and gently close it behind you. You are in Yahar's office with no other people.
Hannah / Eryn:What do I see with my eyes?
Thomas / Guy:You see a large, kind
Tim / GM:of rounded window in the front that is reinforced with steel trim to help the glass not shatter when little things collide with it. In front of that, you see a large desk. You see on the desk a bunch of scrawled notes and papers. He had been writing something very recently. His desk has 6 drawers on either side, each of them having little brass keyholes.
Hannah / Eryn:The first thing Aaron wants to do is try to find the secret stairwell that she they think he's been using.
Tim / GM:Not hard to find. In fact, you see it right away. The door had been left open. The door is narrower than others, so it doesn't look like a real door. It looks like a sort of, like, broom closet kind of thing, but it's a narrow stairwell that winds through this entire place, so he can get to any level by himself.
Hannah / Eryn:I think I want to find all the entrances to this secret stairwell on the other floors real quick. Sure.
John / Doran:So I'm
Hannah / Eryn:gonna run up and down and do that.
Tim / GM:Yep. You notice that some of them are locked, but they're all built to look like wall paneling. Mhmm. There's no difference between them and then the other sections of the walls. Cool.
Hannah / Eryn:Have I unlocked secret passages now?
Tim / GM:Yes. You can move about this place, pretty well by yourself.
John / Doran:Got an achievement.
Hannah / Eryn:Yay. Okay. That is very important to me. And then I'm gonna just go back into Jarhar's office one more time. And you know I gotta look in those desk drawers.
Hannah / Eryn:Okay. I'm a thief. Okay. You know I gotta pick them locks.
Tim / GM:You come into yarhar's office, and sitting in at yarhar's desk, his face full of marinara sauce, is captain yarhar. And I
Tara / Journey:think we'll end it there. No.
Hannah / Eryn:Thanks for listening to Cloudfall. I'm Hannah playing Aaron.
Thomas / Guy:I'm Thomas, and I am Guy.
Speaker 3:I'm Maggie, and I play puppy Kenmore.
Tara / Journey:I'm Tara, and I play Journey.
John / Doran:Hey. I'm John, and I play Doran.
Tim / GM:And I'm Tim, your GM and all the other people. See you in the next one.
