S1E1 A Rough Start

In this episode, our unflappable crew lands at Dock Station Theta to find that their boss has done something *hella*stupid. Can they get to him before he self-sabotages to death?

Transcript

SPEAKER_04 0:00

The new sketch is coming together.

SPEAKER_08 0:02

It is.

SPEAKER_07 0:03

I like the ears. Thank you.

SPEAKER_04 0:06

They're very wildcat lynx-ish.

SPEAKER_07 0:10

Yeah, that was the plan. Oh. Oh, I love the Tufts.

SPEAKER_05 0:16

Thank you. I wanted her to be fuzzy. Oh my god, I want to nuzzle her so badly, right?

SPEAKER_07 0:23

As I was drawing them, I was like, oh, what to hug her.

SPEAKER_05 0:28

Well, you know you've been successful, right? When you want to have your own pencil drawing and with that, let's cue the music.

SPEAKER_02 0:38

Let's do it. I am Ian, your GM, and welcome to this week's episode of Colossus at the Crux, a Never Fear campaign presented by The Witch Key March.

SPEAKER_05 1:41

Joining me around the table are I'm Breed Run and I play Glitch, the ship mechanic aboard the Ryzen.

SPEAKER_07 1:50

I'm Audrey and I play Tabitha, the um quartermaster of the ship.

SPEAKER_00 1:56

Hey, I'm Garrett, I'm playing Tegan St. James, the uh pilot of Horizon.

SPEAKER_04 2:00

And I'm Eugene, I play Qualu Nassim Dusabi, the science officer of the Horizon. And my genitals have questions.

SPEAKER_02 2:12

Uh man, that's gonna be hard to follow. But uh, I'm going to follow that with uh, you know, every good story needs some voiceover. We begin in the Empyrean. The Empyrean is the endless sea sky between and adjoining all other places. Countless beings and countless forms inhabit this in-between space, each just trying to scrape by, not unlike their world-bound counterparts. The press of the Great Void is an analogy for both freedom and suffocation. To the plucky in Stalwart, the Empyrean is an endless playground of exploration and adventure. To almost everyone else, well, it's best not to stare too long at the sea sky, lest it stare back. Alright. Aboard this ship, the Rhizom, we find our pilot in the pilot's chair. Tegan, can you describe to everyone what you look like?

SPEAKER_00 3:04

Uh Tegan's a human. He's uh looks mostly like a cowboy. So he's got kind of a sweat stained hat, um, you know, old dusty clothes, kind of an older guy. He's got, you know, kind of dark weathered face and uh kind eyes.

SPEAKER_02 3:21

Okay. And you are looking out at the sea sky as you guys are pulling into Dock Station Theta, where you normally unload gear, and behind Dock Station Theta, but filling your view, is the city at the crux. But can I get you just to describe the sea sky that's like out stretched in front of you?

SPEAKER_00 3:46

Uh well, yeah, okay, so out past the City of the Crux, it would be this kind of like endless color shifting hues, a lot of blues and purples and uh splotches of kind of oranges in there. Little things wink in and out of existence, kind of on the horizon, you know, far out where it's really difficult to see. Um, and there's at least one big creature way off in the middle of nowhere. Uh it looks like a big worm that's just snaking its way through.

SPEAKER_02 4:18

Okay. You see this giant creature coiling and uncoiling, and you know that, you know, from your distance that it has to be probably hundreds, thousands of miles long as it moves through the sea sky. On the bridge with you is your science officer, Qualo. Can I get you to describe to the audience what you look like?

SPEAKER_04 4:40

Qualo is a halfling elf, but you wouldn't know it from looking at him. I'm tall, taller by about a head than most humans. I'm pretty skinny. I have big pointy ears that uh droop a little bit but are fairly animated. I have all sorts of jewelry, ear piercings, rings, that kind of a thing. Um kind of bronzish skin and light gold and blue hair. Half his hair is light gold, the other half is blue. And I'm wearing a multicolored outfit that looks like it came from maybe four or six different species. Meaning it's the clothes worn by different kinds of species, not made out of them.

SPEAKER_02 5:28

That is a wildly different wildly different description. Could you use a favor and describe your eyes?

SPEAKER_04 5:37

They're solid gold. Or at least they look like they're solid gold. Delicious.

SPEAKER_02 5:44

Alright. Uh you all are pulling into Dockstation Theta. Can you describe to us, Kuala, what Dock Station Theta looks like?

SPEAKER_04 5:53

Dockstation Theta looks like someone wanted to make a donut, but didn't know what a donut looks like, and ended up with uh a twisting ribbon that is hard to describe, but you know it when you see it.

SPEAKER_02 6:08

Okay. It's a doughnut. A doughnut. There we go.

SPEAKER_00 6:12

A doughnut.

SPEAKER_02 6:14

Awesome, awesome. All right, so in another part of the ship, we have Tabitha. Tabitha, what uh what do you look like?

SPEAKER_07 6:24

I am a Katari giant hybrid. So I'm very large, very tall. I have three eyes. Um, I have very fluffy fur that is tiger striped, but instead of orange, like it's a dark gray uh with golden eyes. And just big, big, fluffy muscled cat giant.

SPEAKER_02 6:48

Nice. So you are in the storage bay of the ship, and you all have a big hull from getting back from scrapping. What is the hull that you guys managed to scrap?

SPEAKER_07 7:01

Um so it's various bits and pieces of a ship that didn't avoid uh another ship. And so it's like bits and pieces of these two ships that have collided together. So it's a bunch of like twisted uh metal and shattered wood and various things that we might be able to sell or um uh salvage for other materials.

SPEAKER_02 7:28

Spectacular. And then finally in her workshop, we find glitch. Glitch, could you describe to everyone what you look like?

SPEAKER_05 7:37

Glitch is a half clank, half human hybrid first appearance, at least from the neck up, you would see her as human. She's wiry, maybe five, three, slight but muscular, uh, and petite with a messy snow white pixie cut that's shaved on the right side. She wears huge tinted steampunk style copper and leather goggles over her eyes, but would she were to lift them up, you'd find that they are a pale violet that pulses with her heartbeat. As do the augments, the esymmetrics, these steampunk-style gears that writhe along the lower parts of her arms and hands and along her spine. She is currently standing on the ceiling of a cramped room with pipes and pulsing violet veins, and she is arguing with a blocky small duck drone.

SPEAKER_02 8:34

Okay. Uh the duck drone uh begins to chirp at you angrily, and it's spraying fluid in several different directions.

SPEAKER_05 8:43

Stop that, just just go down. It's shaft seven. Mango said there was a problem there. If Mango said it, I know it's happening. I can feel it, I can feel the pulse. The ship is not happy right now, and you can fit there where I can't.

SPEAKER_02 8:58

Uh, Mango, the ship's cat, is going to extend several long talons pointing toward shaft seven, and then is going to admit tones that sound like uh someone playing the harmonica.

SPEAKER_05 9:14

You hear Glitch hiss, turn her back on the drone, and flip upside down to land back on the ground.

SPEAKER_02 9:24

The uh robot, the duct robot, and Mango begin uh spurting fluid at each other. Uh and as a quick aside for the listener, essenetrics are the essentia-powered uh what would be cybernetics if this were a regular science fiction setting. And essential uh comes from the campaign frame or Colossus of the Drylands. It's crystallized god blood that's used as the power source for most things out here in the Imperium. Back on the bridge, uh, as you guys pull in, behind you, Tegan, uh sits a tube that uh connects floor to ceiling, it has fluid in it, and inside is the ship's Nava Dreamer. A creature whose job it is is to direct the ship. And technically any creature can be a Nava Dreamer, but this particular Nava Dreamer has been with this crew for a long time and she's very good. Uh Tegan, what is the name of the Nava Dreamer?

SPEAKER_00 10:26

Ah, her name is Josephine.

SPEAKER_02 10:29

Fantastic. And Qualo, could you describe Josephine for us?

SPEAKER_04 10:34

Yosephine is um in her tube, it's uh there's a milky substance and it obscures her, so it's hard to make out the details. But you do know that her you do see that her eyes are much larger than they you would expect them to be, and her fingers are much longer than you would expect them to be. And sometimes she looks like an orc, sometimes like a fungrel, sometimes like an orc fungrel. And sometimes a little different.

SPEAKER_02 11:02

It's never really entirely sure. Awesome. Uh so she blinks these overly large eyes and says, um, Tegan?

SPEAKER_00 11:13

Uh y y yes, darling?

SPEAKER_03 11:16

Um, we'll be pulling into port in approximately 45 seconds. Should I should I ping the towers?

SPEAKER_00 11:27

Yeah, that'd be great if you could. Uh I'll I'll keep us steady while you're doing that and just guide us on in.

SPEAKER_03 11:32

We'll be leaving faster than reality drive in 30. 29.

SPEAKER_02 11:39

All of a sudden the ship violently rocks as you leave faster than reality.

SPEAKER_03 11:44

Okay. Sorry about that.

SPEAKER_02 11:46

Uh For those of you who are below decks, you you feel the ship uh shake and you know that you've entered uh close enough to dock station theta that you had to leave faster than reality drive.

SPEAKER_00 11:59

I'm like, that's that's okay, darling. And I get on the comms and I'm like, uh hey, Glish, do we can we do a quick systems check and make sure nothing shook loose when we came out?

SPEAKER_05 12:09

Yeah, no shit, Sherlock. The wake stabilizers are having a problem. We're gonna need to pick up new pads while we're in theta.

SPEAKER_00 12:16

Uh alright. Well, I mean hopefully we can sell the hall for enough. Uh everything looks fine up here, Koalo. You just say anything wrong.

SPEAKER_05 12:26

Alright, well, I'm taking I'm I'm taking a look. Making sure we don't have any gremlins sticking around. I'll be up in a second.

SPEAKER_04 12:33

Uh so you hear I I go through channels. I I was actually in my room. Uh hey, uh Tegan, did did you want me on the deck?

SPEAKER_00 12:43

Uh yeah, if you can while we're coming into Theta. And just making sure that the sensors say everything's good.

SPEAKER_04 12:50

Okay. I uh I walk over to the deck. I'm in my station. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 12:56

You hear a channel open up and you hear a uh this is Dock Station Theta 45. Well, what's your uh call sign there?

SPEAKER_00 13:06

Uh Theta, this is the Ryzen. Uh looking to dock in at five.

SPEAKER_01 13:13

Dock in at five. Fantastic, fantastic. What you hauling there?

SPEAKER_00 13:17

Uh, scrap salvage from a collision uh between two different core blazers. Uh standard insurance claim job.

SPEAKER_01 13:26

That sounds rough. That sounds rough. You already checked the uh the cargo for gremlins?

SPEAKER_00 13:32

Yeah, yeah, yeah. We did the gremlin check. We're doing a secondary one. Our our mechanics on it right now to do a purge if we need to.

SPEAKER_01 13:40

Need to remind you that the fine for bringing in gremlins to dock station theta has doubled. But if you're sure, you are clear to land.

SPEAKER_00 13:47

Roger that, thank you. Uh, and then I get back in the com like, uh, glitch, yeah, we really need to make sure there's not uh any gremlins on this on this tub right now, because the fine's doubled, and I definitely don't think we got enough to cover it.

SPEAKER_05 13:59

Yeah, well, she's still ugly, but she's clean. We're good.

SPEAKER_00 14:02

Ugh. Thank you for the thing in the appearance.

SPEAKER_02 14:05

Alright. Okay, cool. So uh you all do indeed land. Um after you do, and uh the other crew members are making sure everything's is getting buttoned up, Josephine from behind you, Teagan, is gonna say Um Teagan? Yeah Yeah, yeah, darling. She presses one of her hands against the glass of her tube.

SPEAKER_03 14:30

Do you think uh this time maybe after you unload everything that you all could come back and get me?

SPEAKER_00 14:40

Yeah, I mean, uh we've got some some business to uh do with the boss, but uh yeah, I think that'd be definitely do we can look into it. Uh he just gets kinda sad.

SPEAKER_03 14:54

I just you all talk so fondly of the oyster tub and it would be fun to go see it this time.

SPEAKER_00 15:03

No, we'd l I mean I'm not sure uh a nice lady uh such as yourself really wants to go into a place like that, but I mean we could we could we'll see what we can do.

SPEAKER_03 15:14

Okay, Tegan. Thank you.

SPEAKER_02 15:17

I'm just gonna um I'm just gonna close my eyes now for a And she doesn't even finish the sentence before she falls back asleep, and she sinks into the Milky Fluid so that you can no longer see her.

SPEAKER_00 15:29

And Tegan kinda like he knows that it's really difficult to try to get her out of there, and it's somewhat dangerous, so he kinda just sighs and says, probably mostly to himself, he's just like, uh, sweet dreams. Uh then he gets up out of the chair and he's all business.

SPEAKER_02 15:45

Okay. So, uh, you guys open up the ship, and haulers begin to help you guys pull the material out. Um you can see somewhere down the bay that you guys all landed in, that there is cargo that people are picking over, and they have flamethrowers, and one of them catches a gremlin. Uh gremlins in the Empyrean are creatures that look, I would say, almost exactly like Chihuahuas. Except that they have five-fingered hands on their like where their paws would be, on their front and back legs. And even though uh they are not known to have any sort of uh intelligence beyond what you might expect from from vermin, they all have beautifully coiffed hair that's done differently. And they express their they seem to have some some sort of system of like displaying individuality and status through the hairstyles that they do. Um and so a gremlin with a beehive hairstyle tries to uh run out of some junk that's being brought in and gets flamethrowered, and it just makes a bunch of like shrill chirps as it's being burned. So as you guys are unloading the gear, your boss, the person who owns the ship, is an orc named Propus Fox. And every time you have ever landed in Dock Station Theta, which is where you all are situated, that's where your office is, uh, Propus has been there, and he claims it's just to double check things, but you all know that he believes secretly you guys are trying to skim, and so he checks over the cargo to make sure that uh he knows how much money is supposed to be brought in. And conspicuously, he is absent today.

SPEAKER_00 17:38

Well, I would say that like Tegan and uh maybe Tabitha are both kind of walking off of the big end, and Tabitha as the quartermaster. Like you'd have like a big list that we're like talking over, and you'd have to explain most of it because Tegan really cannot read very well. So you show things to him, and he's like, Yep, all right, we got uh 16 dulcets of uh crystallinium, okay. Uh and like he points at the the the word on the page, he's like, That's that's the crystallinium, right?

SPEAKER_07 18:12

Uh yeah, it is. Good job.

SPEAKER_00 18:14

Okay, I tried really hard. Uh, and like he's trying to like put on the show because he knows that the boss is gonna be right out there, so he's like, Yep, 16 uh crystal tanium, and where is he?

SPEAKER_02 18:26

Uh indeed, he is not there. Um, there is, however, the dock manager. Uh Glitch, could you describe the dock manager to us who's walking around pointing at things and ordering people around?

SPEAKER_05 18:39

Bellatrix Belmont, the Theta 6 Dock Master is a halfling as wide as they are tall. They're moving around overly dressed for any dockmaster in finery that does not speak to their position whatsoever. Little stubby legs churning as they make their way slightly faster than you think they would towards the ship.

SPEAKER_02 19:07

Oh, the Ryzen, my favorite ship.

SPEAKER_05 19:12

Glitch appears at the doorway. She's put on a dark cloak that covers and black leather gloves, covering up uh every bit of anything on her skin that might appear to be electronic. Really, all you can see are some tufts of white hair and the tint uh of reflection of her goggles out. And the moment she sees Bellatrix, she tries to eke back into the shadows.

SPEAKER_00 19:37

She went full jawa mode.

SPEAKER_02 19:40

Yeah. Are you gonna actually try to hide from him uh like we need to make a roll, or are you okay with him catching you because he's going to try to talk to you?

SPEAKER_05 19:49

He's gonna catch her. She is just it is an instinctive uh move that pulls her whole body backwards like she's been gut-punched.

SPEAKER_02 19:59

If it isn't my favorite mechanic from my favorite ship, glitch, oh, come give me kisses. Come give Bellatrix kisses.

SPEAKER_05 20:08

Always a delight, Doc Maxter Bellatrix.

SPEAKER_02 20:14

I love it when you say my whole title.

SPEAKER_05 20:17

Oh. If anyone can try to move their soul outside of their body during a hug, this is what you see glitch do as Bellatrix wraps their thick little arms around her.

SPEAKER_02 20:30

Okay. And he's gonna do the like cheek cheek kisses. Um, we simply must go get tea. Do you have time for tea, darling?

SPEAKER_05 20:42

Just such a shame that we don't today, but Tabitha and I have some repair equipment to pick up. Can't waste propus' time. Time is money, I know you know.

SPEAKER_02 20:58

Oh, yes. Uh speaking of Propus, that old coot, uh, I saw him earlier. He was around here somewhere, but he's gone, and he didn't even say goodbye. Uh, he's gonna put his like hand to his forehead with like, oh glitch finally jerks her body away from the grasp.

SPEAKER_05 21:23

I know Koalo can catch you up on everything that's going on. See you in a few, and darts off towards Tabitha.

SPEAKER_02 21:31

Koalo, my favorite science, science officer from my favorite ship. Um, and he's going to scuttle around looking for he can find me. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 21:42

You're ready for kisses.

SPEAKER_04 21:44

I'm I'm standing around I'm standing around at the bottom of the ramp, uh, not really knowing what to do outside the ship.

SPEAKER_03 21:51

Koalo, oh, come give Bellatrix kisses.

SPEAKER_02 21:55

He's gonna scuttle over. Uh, he moves his feet back and forth in a way that like. Like, you know, cartoon characters where they don't move nearly as fast as their feet are scooting underneath them as he walks to you.

SPEAKER_04 22:07

As he walks to me, I I uh I walk to him and I do my best to imitate his foot movement.

SPEAKER_02 22:13

It's hard. It's it seems like it would take years of practice to like really nail it.

SPEAKER_04 22:18

I'm gonna I'm gonna embrace him and be like, Bellatrix, oh my god, how are ya? You're my favorite. Let's walk over here and move him away from the ship. Because I just assume they're up to no good and I need to get him out of here. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 22:33

Um so you all unload your cargo, and with Fox not here, uh again, part of his scheme for keeping you all from skimming is that uh he's the one typically who has arranged for someone to pick up the load so that there really isn't any way for you guys to sell it out from underneath him. And with him not here, you unload it and it's sitting next to the ship, but now it's just sitting next to the ship. No one is here that you're aware of to pick it up. I also should describe the dock, I think. So there are bays for the ships to land, and then spaces between them for them to unload or for maintenance to happen, and so uh a space behind you for the ships to pull in, and then in front of you uh are an area for customs, and then an area behind that where there are different businesses that are part of the scheme of moving salvage in and out of this place. The primary purpose of Dock Station Theta and the stations like it are to uh check and make sure that salvage is good before it is moved to the surface at the City of the Crux. Now I said at the beginning of the game that as you guys were pulling into Dock Station Theta, that City of the Crux was behind it. In the Empyrean, the City of the Crux is the place that people believe is the center of the Empyrean, if such a thing is possible. And the city there is enormous. The size of a planet, probably even a large planet. It is shaped like a doe decahedron. Is it do decahedron or duodecahedron?

SPEAKER_00 24:10

Ooh, I don't know. I'm gonna have to Google it.

SPEAKER_02 24:12

Yeah. 12-sided. Yeah, it's a doe decahedron. Nice. So, um it's do-decahedron shaped. And each of the faces has a uh wildly different architecture. The city of the crux is a place where everything and anything can happen. Um but because they uh, you know, they don't want anyone to bring in like weird sea sky diseases or uh equipment that might like destroy the city, they have stations that orbit around it that check things before they come in. And so you'll see that there are all kinds of businesses associated with maintenance or trading scrap or having your scrap appraised. Um now that you guys don't see propice here, what all what do you all want to do?

SPEAKER_00 25:04

I want Tegan wants to get the job kind of wrapped up and finished so that he can, you know, that everybody can get paid. So he will um he's gonna say, Well, uh he's not here. I'm gonna go check the shop and see if he's in the shop.

SPEAKER_02 25:18

Okay. Uh do you all go with Tegan?

SPEAKER_07 25:22

Um I'm gonna go to the scrapyard and see if there's any cool things that we could use on our ship or just cool things for me to collect.

SPEAKER_03 25:31

Okay.

SPEAKER_05 25:32

Glitch has already attached herself to Tabitha's side in search of something that can be used as new padding for the wake stabilizers. So wherever Tabitha goes, Glitch is following.

SPEAKER_02 25:45

Okay. So let's follow you two first. And so you guys go uh past Customs, where the Cruxy Import Authority, who operate uh as part of the system to keep things out of the city of the Crux, uh, you go past their checkpoint, and then you go to the businesses behind where the salvaging is done. Uh all around this area where the salvage businesses are is choked with uh old unclaimed salvage. And so this place has a lot of names, uh and one of which is Unclaimed Salvage. But you all go up to these uh businesses and you can see there's this large like lost and found area where uh a lot of things that people bring in that just don't get sold or just get left behind, sit back behind there. Um there is a fawn who is reading a magazine as you walk up. What do you guys do when you walk up to the fawn?

SPEAKER_06 26:42

Uh I come up to her and I'm just like, got anything cool and new in?

SPEAKER_02 26:48

Oh, um, well we have something new. I I guess cool is a matter of taste, but uh she points behind her, and there is a large ball of swords. And so it's a three-foot diameter ball of swords.

SPEAKER_07 27:05

Uh excellent. Uh like can I how much do you want for this?

SPEAKER_02 27:11

Um, I think we're gonna have a hard time selling this, so I'm gonna say if you can carry it out of here without hurting me, that you can just have it.

SPEAKER_07 27:20

Perfect. I go over there and I start like carefully picking this ball of swords up to like kind of heft it and see how heavy it is.

SPEAKER_02 27:29

Uh, it feels like a three-foot diameter ball of swords. It's it's extremely heavy, but you're, you know, nine to twelve feet tall, so I don't think it's an issue for you. While Tabitha is doing this, uh Glitch, what are you doing?

SPEAKER_05 27:43

Glitch has her head cocked. She's just staring sort of incredulous at Tabitha and the ball of swords. She shakes her head, uh, looks over at the clerk. Uh uh needs some components for wake stabilizers. Uh any flux mesh lying around, any attenuator coils?

SPEAKER_02 28:07

Um, I think somebody dropped off some uh gravitrons, and she'll motion behind her.

SPEAKER_05 28:16

Alright. Mind if I go dig around in there?

SPEAKER_02 28:18

That is awesome. Glitch, can I please get an instinct roll, which I believe is our first roll of the game.

SPEAKER_05 28:25

Alright.

SPEAKER_02 28:25

First roll. Hey everybody, we're playing a game called Daggerheart. Daggerheart, the resolution mechanic, so you may be familiar with a lot of games that use a d20, Daggerheart uses two d12, uh, of two different colors. One color represents your hope die, one color represents your fear die. If the value of the die on your hope die is higher, the player gains a hope. If the value on the fear die is higher, the GM gains a fear. Those are resources that they can spend to move the game along in different ways, and then if it is doubles, the player gets a critical success.

SPEAKER_05 29:01

Come on, lady luck. That is a 15 with hope. 15 with hope.

SPEAKER_02 29:10

Okay, delicious. Grab that hope, and then uh you do indeed find good weight stabilizers, uh, but they are like crusted over such that they look like trash. And you have no idea why anybody would would throw these out other than they just look nasty, but you know they're in perfectly good working order.

SPEAKER_05 29:29

Because clearly people are idiots. Glitch happily begins to wrench them apart and shove them into her pack.

SPEAKER_02 29:36

Uh the clerk at Lost of Found makes no effort to stop you. She's uh flipping through her magazine, and you hear her chuckle sensibly to herself at something she reads. Okay. Um so Qualo, I'm assuming at some point you broke yourself away from Bellatrix having promised to have tea with him soon. Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_04 29:54

Uh I mean, you know, I was polite about it, and I make sure that he thinks I'm a good guy. But at some point, uh, I probably notice Tegan walking away, and I think uh and I and I peel myself off and catch up to Teagan.

SPEAKER_00 30:07

Oh you're here, good. Uh sorry, Bellatrix, but uh we'll catch up later. Yep. All right, good. Goodbye.

SPEAKER_03 30:14

No kisses.

SPEAKER_00 30:16

No kidding. No time for kisses. Uh not today. Um wavies and I wave at him. Um like, yeah, uh, so uh qual's probably good enough time, isn't he, for you to actually meet the boss. I mean, I don't you've been on the ship for almost a year now, and you haven't met him. So we might as well I kind of start, you know, prepping Qualo to to meet propus. Are you sure that's a good idea? I mean, it's only it's only been a he's gonna find out sooner or later that you've been on this ship and like you probably should. Alright. All right. So yeah, that's that's kind of what we're talking about as we're making our way.

SPEAKER_02 30:58

So if the ship is uh shaped like a doughnut, uh, and the outer edge is the bays where ships land, and then that like interior of trash and businesses meant to service the docks, uh, just past that there is a layer of businesses, of every stripe and various bazaars that line the interior of the station. And it's down the streets of one of these that you will find the business. And Keegan, what is the name of the place where you all are employed?

SPEAKER_00 31:36

Uh Box is Scrap and Quality Salvage.

SPEAKER_02 31:40

Okay. So uh Fox is Scrap and Quality Salvage. Uh you are walking up toward it, trying to coach Qualo, and uh, I guess because you're coaching Qualo, you're gonna be distracted. Qualo, can I get an instinct reaction roll from you?

SPEAKER_04 31:59

Certainly.

SPEAKER_02 32:01

Um, there it is.

SPEAKER_04 32:04

I got a 16 with hope. Nice.

SPEAKER_02 32:08

Cool, cool, cool. Um, so do not grab the hope, because it is a reaction roll. But you are going to see that coming up to the business um that Tegan has uh talked so much about, you can see that there is a member of the Cruxian Port Authority leaning against the wall of the business, and he looks like he's with that instinct roll, you can tell he looks like he's trying to be inconspicuous, but he's uh like looking out. And you can also see that the building has two floors. On the second story, there is a balcony, and there is another member of the Cruxian Port Authority that is up on the balcony trying to be unseen. So he's like trying to stand back from the edge, uh, but you catch him as he like adjusts. Now, the Cruxian Port Authority, because there's no formal government, uh the City of the Crux, uh formal central government, they all sort of pull their resources uh resources together to pay for this port authority. And that disparate leadership means that there's very little oversight for the port authority, the CPA. And so they act in a sort of legal gray zone and they act in a legally gray way. But this behavior is very strange for them, right? If they were going to say raid a place, they just kick the door down and ask for permission later, uh, or forgiveness later, rather. And so this like acting clandestine sort of thing is out of character for them, as far as you know.

SPEAKER_04 33:37

Um, well, that's that's worrisome. So I'm gonna I'm gonna grab uh Tegan by the elbow uh and slow him down and and point out the two guards.

SPEAKER_00 33:48

Hey, Teagues, that's so like I was saying, so Propus is an orc and he's got a really big nose. He doesn't like people to call attention to it. He's got a big ward on his nose, and he doesn't like people to call attention to it. He's got beady eyes, and he's breath stinks, and he doesn't like people to call attention. Wait, what were you saying?

SPEAKER_04 34:05

Yeah, that's port that's port authority. They're not acting normal.

SPEAKER_00 34:11

And what the hell uh what are they doing in this part of town? Normally stick closer to the docks. Uh I don't like that. Nope.

SPEAKER_04 34:20

Yeah, let's let's go around the back. He doesn't keep them as bodyguards, does he? No, he doesn't have that kind of money. Alright.

SPEAKER_00 34:28

I mean he bribes them like everyone else does. But no, we'll let's head around the back and maybe we can see what's going on. Does that mean you bribe them? Uh if I had enough money, I would. Robus doesn't pay any of the stuff.

SPEAKER_02 34:42

Okay. Uh you guys go down an alley and you come out uh behind the establishment. You don't see uh a uh CPA member here. What do you do in the back?

SPEAKER_00 34:56

I'm gonna try to go up to the back door and just kind of look in, one of like the rear windows, and see if I can see propus in there.

SPEAKER_02 35:04

Can I get is it finesse to hide? Yeah.

unknown 35:08

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 35:09

Control hide tinker. Can I get a finesse roll? Sure.

SPEAKER_00 35:15

Um, I'm just gonna check and see if any of my features or experiences would go towards this. And I'm not seeing anything that I'm feeling super comfortable about. So finesse roll. Oh, that's a 21 with hope.

SPEAKER_02 35:29

You guys are rolling on unfairly high today, and I need you to stop. Okay. Oh, yeah, we only loaded the digital dice before the session. Yeah. Uh so you and Qualo both like Peak Panther style, bada, bada, ba da, bada, bada, to the back of the building um and look in. You can see from the bottom floor uh movement in one of the rooms, but you don't see uh who exactly is doing the movement. Um it's you know, they're it's a shadow that they're casting. And then when you look from where you're at up into the second story, uh you can likewise see motion. You don't see propus fox, and you don't hear any um it doesn't sound like the place is being tossed, right? But you do hear like people milling about.

SPEAKER_00 36:21

Okay, so none of the shadows or anything kind of match the uh the silhouette of the orc with the big nose and beady eyes. That's correct. Uh okay. I'll look at Koalo and I'll shrug and be like, uh I don't I don't think he's in there. But I think there's more CPA in there.

SPEAKER_04 36:40

When he talks and he turns around to look at me, he realizes I'm already up. I I've climbed up the side of the building and I'm looking through the windows there to see if I can get a better look.

SPEAKER_00 36:51

Koalo, where'd you where where'd you go? I start checking in like trash cans. I don't know.

SPEAKER_02 36:56

Okay. Um, can I get a finesse roll from you? Qualo.

SPEAKER_04 37:02

Um yes. You may 17 with hope.

SPEAKER_02 37:09

God mother loving. Alright, get the hope. Alright, so you manage to uh climb up so that you can see into the second uh story. And you can see that there are CPA guards inside the house, and they are uh picking through things. They don't look like they're tossing the place, but they do look like they're being thorough. Um so they're not like cutting couch cushions open, but they are looking under all the couch cushions. Uh no sign of Propus Fox, though.

SPEAKER_04 37:38

Do they look like they're they're checking records or looking for, you know, secret uh compartments? Like secret compartments. I'll try to pay attention to see if there's a a place they don't spot, like an area of the room that maybe they overlook. Uh, and then I'll hop down.

SPEAKER_02 37:55

So after you hop down, you hear, you and Tegan both hear a whistling coming down the street. And Tegan, you would know that this whistling is the whistling of Propus Fox. And he's heading toward the establishment. Ooh. And I'm going to cut over back to uh Glitch and Tabitha. So uh Glitch and Tabitha, you all found pretty awesome stuff in the Lost and Found. Uh uh a good haul this time. Uh, and always a fun ritual when you get back to the station to see what's new. You've unloaded it in the ship and you come back out, and you can see further on to the dock, there are Void Boys. So the Void Boys are a salvage group that's half salvage company, half gang, and they styled themselves as your rivals, because not too long ago you broke up a bar fight and soundly beat the crap out of them and threw them out into the street. Uh, and since then they just have not been able to let it go. You can see that they are talking to people on the dock, uh including Bellatrix, and they are pointing towards your ship while they're asking around. What do you two do?

SPEAKER_05 39:12

Uh Glitch notices them, immediately tugs at Tabitha's fur. Well, it looks like they're trying to start trouble again. Another pilot drift dust. Uh do we head them off or do we let them go?

SPEAKER_07 39:28

Maybe we should go see what's what's going on with them. Like, why are they pointing at our ship?

SPEAKER_02 39:34

It can't be good. Um, you would know that it's unlikely for them to try to like start violence here on the dock. That sort of thing is very frowned upon, and you're likely to get batoned down pretty violently if you were to start anything here. So you don't think that they're gonna like try to jump you right now. Um but do you go confront them or do you try to sneak around them or what are you guys gonna do?

SPEAKER_07 40:00

Well, if there's no immediate threat to like the ship with us like not being here kind of thing, then I'm just going to like ignore them. If they want to talk to us, then you know they'll like come and talk to us instead of like talking to other people.

SPEAKER_05 40:14

Glitch stops and pauses and looks up at you. R less running in with them. It didn't go well. If they're here, it's not a good sign. I feel like we need to find the rest of the crew and let them know they're hanging around.

SPEAKER_02 40:30

Yeah, that sounds like a good plan. Are you going to try to sneak past them? Uh sure. Okay. Paint me the picture. How do you guys get past them on the dock? Uh you're a you're a 12-foot tall, three-eyed cat. So what are you guys doing to uh so I'm I'm gonna go ahead.

SPEAKER_05 40:53

Sorry. I was gonna say it glitch is conspicuously trying to look inconspicuous in a large hooded cloak. So I think our best bet is to just walk and pretend we don't see anything.

SPEAKER_07 41:10

I'm gonna I'm gonna look around and see if there's any like um vehicles that are like maybe hauling some of like someone else's like load.

SPEAKER_02 41:19

Okay.

SPEAKER_07 41:20

I'm gonna, I'm gonna, and if there's something like going past, I'm going to try to like like do a little like hunker down some behind it and then just kind of like like walk behind it or walk, put it between you and them and then like walk as it goes. Yeah, and I'm and I and I'm holding my tail so my tail isn't like sticking out behind me and potentially giving my position away.

SPEAKER_02 41:44

Okay. Uh I I think this that's an agility challenge role. So I'm gonna have uh one of you give me an agility challenge role to try to uh to do that. Do you want to want to be the one to do it? I think you have the higher agility. Okay.

SPEAKER_07 42:02

Click on crit! You said a sad voice, and I was like, finally, like well, so uh so the fear color and the crit color are similar. And I saw that it was only a 13, so I was like, oh, I don't I don't know about this role, but then I realized that my little dice thing is uh hiding underneath the hope die again, and so that's why it took me a second.

SPEAKER_02 42:39

Uh all right, you monsters. So uh you you get behind uh or you know on the other side of this vehicle, and you and Glitch uh like um I'll say that there's like uh handrails, and so you're able to just like grab on to the side and you ride it like all the way out of the dock without being seen. Oh yeah, which is perfect, because in that case, what we could do is say that you guys are walking up behind propus, um, having caught a ride like out into the the bazaar into the businesses, and so propus is ahead of you, and he's like whistling, heading toward his place of business. Uh back to Qualo and Tegan. You guys are on the other side of Propus, hearing him coming down the sidewalk. What do you two do?

SPEAKER_00 43:35

I want to try to pull propus into an alleyway before he gets inside of this uh the port authority. I'm like, uh Kualo, can you make a distraction or something? Um is there anyone following us? No, no, just to make sure that they the the CPA ain't like look in this direction when I pull him in.

SPEAKER_04 43:53

Oh, yeah, sure.

SPEAKER_00 43:53

Um He's gonna make a real weird noise. He does it every time. That orcs full of weird noises. Um he doesn't he doesn't like to be reminded of it. Fucking carrot.

SPEAKER_04 44:06

I'm gonna go into an alley across the street from the alley that that Tegan's gonna pull Propus into, and I'm gonna hide. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 44:16

You're hidden.

SPEAKER_04 44:17

Okay. Uh I I'm gonna wait for the the weird noise uh from Propus and then I'm gonna do something louder to to grab their attention after.

SPEAKER_02 44:27

Okay. So then uh that's gonna be an agility challenge role from you, Tegan, to snatch him out of the alley before he gets uh seen.

SPEAKER_00 44:36

So uh what I'd like to do is uh as I'm sitting in the alleyway, I I'm trying not to uh I'm trying to make this as slick as possible. And so what I'm gonna do is take the lasso off of my belt and I'm gonna wait for him to get like within lasso range, step out, and then like rope him and pull him in quickly. Okay. And so like I take this like bundle of what looks like rope, but on like closer inspection, it actually is this like multi-segmented long, weird-looking alien worm that he calls little bubs.

SPEAKER_08 45:08

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 45:09

And uh he like throws a couple coils out and he like gets ready, make sure he has enough arm swing, and then that way when Propus comes through, I'm gonna like rope him and like pull him in.

SPEAKER_02 45:19

Okay. Well, uh make the I guess the lasso attack roll and then do it with advantage, uh, since Qualo, you're gonna spend a hope to give him advantage.

SPEAKER_04 45:28

Yes. I hang out. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 45:31

I am also going to uh use spend a hope and use my campfire cowboy experience, if you'll let me, if you think that's appropriate.

SPEAKER_02 45:40

Uh, I mean you're you're lasso with somebody, I guess that's uh I don't know when would be a better time to use it than now, so go ahead.

SPEAKER_00 45:49

Okay, with advantage. Thank you very much, Wallow. Oh, and uh could you add plus two to that role? So that's gonna end up being uh 13 with fear.

SPEAKER_02 46:03

Oh man, you just got it. Okay, so I'm gonna take that delicious sphere to spend on something. But uh, so the one guard who was watching, he's looking down the other side of the road, and as his head slowly turns to see what the whistling is, there is a loud bang on one side of the street, and it it pauses his head for just long enough for a segmented worm lasso to go around Propus, and uh he goes to winkle as he gets pulled into the alley. Ska doinkle! Um I I should not I should have vetoed that. I should have told you no. Um okay. Uh so he gets pulled into the alley. Um ahead of you, uh Glitch and Tabitha, you were pretty sure you were looking at Propus. It was just far enough away where you're doing that thing where you're like squinting, you're like, is that him? And then you see him like vanish, just get like yanked out of view rapidly. Uh and then, you know, where he was standing, just a little bit further down, you see the CPA guard leaning against uh your place of business. And uh the CPA guard is going to like finish turning his head and look at uh you two, Tabitha and Glitch, having just heard somebody shout Skadoinkle. Um and you'll see him like cock an eyebrow looking at you two, but he doesn't seem any of the wiser that Propus is gone. Not not that you two are sure what's what exactly is happening. What do you do, Tegan, once you have Propus pulled into the alley?

SPEAKER_00 47:52

Uh I so I I put my hand over his mouth and I make sure he can see me, and I put like a you know, I make like a shushing motion, and I make sure not to call attention to his his cracked tusk, because I know he's he's sensitive about it. But I'm going to like everything about this guy, I don't know. I'm imagining he's sensitive about everything. Um but I'm uh so like my personal calm unit is uh it's uh it's slung around my neck and it's kind of like a um like a torque or a like a solid necklace. And normally it's kind of covered up by his bandana that he wears. Uh but I'm gonna cue up the uh communicator uh so that Propus can obviously hear me say this. Tegan. Yes.

SPEAKER_02 48:34

May I, as a GM, make a suggestion that your communicator is at Bolo?

SPEAKER_00 48:40

Oh, like a like a bolo tie? Yeah. Uh I love it. Yeah. Okay. No. Uh yeah, it it's uh it's super gaudy and it's got a giant piece of turquoise in the center. I love it. Um so uh yeah, he uh speaks into the the turquoise, you know, bolo uh thing. Full well that propus can hear what he's saying. He's like, uh hey everybody, um, if you're anywhere near the uh the the shop, uh there's CPA agents crawling all over it, and uh they're inside looking for something. I got propus with me right here, and uh we let's all let's all meet up and hash out what's going on. Over. I don't know how they work.

SPEAKER_02 49:27

Uh you stop touching it and it turns into a regular bolo tie. But um it transforms. No, uh yeah, do you all hear that over your communicators?

SPEAKER_00 49:38

And I'll like motion for Qualo across the alleyway. You can't see me, I'm hidden. Oh, my emotion. I motion with what I thought was Qualo, and it turns out it's a homeless guy. Uh Slim Slim Jimmy. Slim Jimmy waves back. Oh, hey Jimmy. But I take my hand off of propus's mouth.

SPEAKER_02 50:00

Tabitha, what does your communicator look like?

SPEAKER_07 50:04

Uh it is going to look like um hmm. I I think it's going to look like uh the a piece of a bone of like some large animal that I've hunted in the past, and I've like carved out the inside of it and everything, and I've like now fashioned it into my communicator.

SPEAKER_02 50:31

That's spectacular. I thought you were gonna go with ball of yarn, but that is also really good. Ball of yarn.

SPEAKER_07 50:40

I I honestly thought of that, but I was just like, nah.

SPEAKER_02 50:43

Okay.

SPEAKER_07 50:44

I'll do something cool.

SPEAKER_02 50:46

So uh you all hear uh that you need to meet up. Uh does anyone suggest a place to meet?

SPEAKER_00 50:53

Keegan will say, Oh, let's get together at the oyster tub.

SPEAKER_02 50:58

Okay. Do you all go to the oyster tub?

SPEAKER_04 51:02

Yes. But I'm gonna follow behind the group uh hiding just to make sure that we're not being followed.

SPEAKER_00 51:09

I'm assuming it's because he he doesn't want to meet Propus Fox.

SPEAKER_04 51:13

I mean that's the that's the real reason, but uh officially it's because explicitly it's because I want to make sure we're not being followed.

SPEAKER_02 51:23

Awesome, awesome, awesome. Okay, uh, and that is how we're gonna end the session. So I want to give a special thanks to Darrington Press for creating Daggerheart, the awesome game we're playing, and to our incredible fans. Don't forget to like, subscribe, comment, five stars, the whole thing. It's the number one way to help the show. Colossus of the Crux is part of the Witch Key March universe. If you're interested in playing in any of the associated games, you can find them on startplaying.games, and we're gonna see you next week.

SPEAKER_04 51:54

My genitals don't have questions anymore.

SPEAKER_00 52:27

No kisses. Oh, time for kisses. Uh, not today. Umavies.