S1E7 The Beginning of the End of the Beginning

In this episode, our unflappable crew makes some frankly irresponsible choices about new crewmates. Can the crew get back into the seasky in time to save a greasy pittstain?

Transcript

SPEAKER_04 0:00

Oh, this sounds like it's going to go well for us.

SPEAKER_07 0:05

It's gonna be fine, it's gonna be great, it's gonna be fine. Like I said, if I TPK you then your characters will probably all still be gonna wake up super concussed.

SPEAKER_08 0:18

Just like six or seven concussions. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 0:21

You can't really TPK in this game, right? Not unless the players want to.

SPEAKER_08 0:26

It's a faculty fact. But I can knock unconscious you all. Alright, is everybody in? Oh no. Hold on.

SPEAKER_03 0:34

I'm finishing my triskets. Oh, no, my triskets!

SPEAKER_02 0:38

If the triskets are done. You good, Audra? Trisket free?

SPEAKER_03 0:42

Yeah. Yeah, I I I finished eating my triskets.

SPEAKER_02 0:47

Fun and Trisket free.

SPEAKER_07 0:48

We're gonna hear the music. Welcome to this week's episode of Colossus at the Crux, a Never Fear campaign presented by the Witch Geek March. Ian, your GM, and joining me around the table are.

SPEAKER_04 1:44

Hi, I'm Bree. I play Glitch, the ship's mechanic.

SPEAKER_03 1:48

Hi, I'm Audre, and I play Tabitha, the ship's quartermaster.

SPEAKER_02 1:52

I'm Garrett, I played Tegan St. James, the ship's captain. Oh pilot, really.

SPEAKER_05 1:57

I'm Eugene, I play Qualo, the ship's occasional science officer. And if I've said it once, I've said it a thousand times. Frogs look better in suits.

unknown 2:09

What?

SPEAKER_08 2:10

There is an entire genre of frogs and suits.

SPEAKER_02 2:13

There is. I remember you shared that with me like a week or two ago. Nothing like a Dapper Toad. Dapper amphibians.

SPEAKER_08 2:23

Alright, so last episode, the group had split up.

SPEAKER_07 2:28

One was following a couple of what seemed to be tame gremlins, who are leading them to something that would be Tegan and Glitch. And the other group was following Alan and Rinch. Um mostly Alan because Rinch is deeply concussed, to somewhere on the docks after having been given instructions to find his way back to the Temple of the Lost Colossus. And I'm gonna start with the following Tabitha group. So how far away are you guys keeping from Alan as he sprints to through the docks? Like, are you trying to remain unseen?

SPEAKER_05 3:07

So he's at least a little drunk, yep. Still concussed, still beat up, and running quickly. So I'm thinking it should be pretty easy to hide from him. But yes, we're trying to remain unseen.

SPEAKER_08 3:19

Yeah, he's myopic right now, right? He's got a mission and so he he's not his situational awareness is is pretty degraded at this point.

SPEAKER_07 3:29

Okay, he's going to sprint up to the docks, and a couple of CPA, the Port Authority, are going to come over. His boisterous manner is causing suspicion, as you might imagine it would. And he is going to hold them over hard. He takes a look around the docks, and he sees that there is like a ship that's almost done loading. People are, you know, moving the last of a bit of cargo onto the ship. He is going to sprint to that ship, grab one of the members, uh, like the crew, up by like their neck, and drag them into the ship, screaming. And CPA are going to like start swarming the ship. And this is all over the course of like a minute or two. Uh, is there anything you guys would like to do while you see Alan stealing a ship?

SPEAKER_05 4:18

Can we write down like the ship's marker or anything that would help us track it?

SPEAKER_07 4:23

Sure. So you get out a little uh pad of paper, a little grease pencil, and you write down the uh the ship's you know, marker or whatever it is.

SPEAKER_05 4:31

Call numbers or whatever.

SPEAKER_07 4:33

Sure. Yeah, you you get that information down. Uh do you do you do anything else?

SPEAKER_05 4:37

Yeah, I'm gonna call Josephine. Hey Yosefine, there's a ship number leaving the document. Get it on your scopes and keep track of where it's going.

SPEAKER_01 4:49

Um, Kwalo, did did Tegan talk to you yet and tell you that um someone's breaking on on board the ship?

SPEAKER_02 4:57

Uh oh, I hadn't had a chance to talk to us about Barody Callum.

SPEAKER_05 5:02

Okay. We're nearby. We'll be right there.

SPEAKER_08 5:04

Okay.

SPEAKER_05 5:05

We'll catch up as soon as we can. Alright, Tabs, this is your thing.

SPEAKER_03 5:10

Okay. I'm gonna like take off running, like like in a Scooby-Doo fashion, where like you see my legs go before I actually like gain traction and take off. Like, I'm on all fours and I am just bolting to the ship.

SPEAKER_05 5:25

I follow her on my scooter.

SPEAKER_07 5:27

Alright, we'll we'll make a roll here in a second to see. Actually, no, let's let's make the roll now and we'll adjudicate it after the group. So go ahead and give me an agility challenge roll.

SPEAKER_03 5:35

Me?

SPEAKER_08 5:36

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_03 5:37

Okay. Clarifying there's multiple people in this situation.

unknown 5:42

Nice.

SPEAKER_03 5:42

21 with hope.

SPEAKER_07 5:44

Oh my gosh, get that hope. Uh, and you are generally left alone. A ship being stolen is a really good distraction. So you guys call cat while the other group is following the gremlins. You guys were moving around the dock, and you get to a alcove where Tegan, right before you get here, you realize where you're headed. Uh so you have a friend that lives at the dock in the garbage, a transient known as Slim Jimmy. Oh, we're Slim Jimmy's. Okay. We've never described Slim Jimmy. Could you describe Slim Jimmy for us?

SPEAKER_02 6:26

Uh, yeah, he is a rail thin ribbon in a suit. It's not a great suit anymore. It's kind of tattered at the side, but you could tell at one time it was a it was a really nice suit. Uh, but he's he's super skinny and tall.

SPEAKER_07 6:42

Okay. So uh yeah, you come around the corner, and you can see he's got a uh stovepipe top hat, and then the very top of it is broken so that it's like up. Looking good, Jim. Oh, hey there, Tegan uh and glitch, and he's gonna give a really deep bow after he scrambles to his feet. How did you all how did you all know I was looking for you?

SPEAKER_02 7:06

Uh we didn't have a coincidence. Uh as I'm like one eye keeping an eye on the trash mound that the gremlins are making.

SPEAKER_08 7:13

So it stopped right above uh Slim Jimmy's encampment.

SPEAKER_07 7:18

So he's going to pull out a spindle and open it. And as he's opening it, he's like, so I got a weird visitor early this morning. It was uh our friend, Mr. Glampweasel, and he said that I should find you and give you this. And he is going to open his spindle, and inside is a brand new shiny transponder.

SPEAKER_02 7:41

Oh Jim, I appreciate it. You really are a good pal. We we were we was looking for this. I am so glad the clamp weasel came by and dropped it off. And then I will uh give him a handful of gold. Oh for your trouble, you know, and to get some sandwiches and things. You know, maybe a little bit of grandpappy's old cough syrup, you know. He says I could never as he takes the money.

SPEAKER_04 8:07

Glitch grabs the transponder out of Jimmy's hand. Uh cool, cool, cool, cool. Uh ship just called to say it's being murdered. We've been on a scavenger hunt left by uh weaponized hair, and we need to go. Great to see you, Jimmy. Thanks.

SPEAKER_07 8:21

Well, I I was actually gonna ask if you all were looking for uh a hand for your ship. You know, I I I'm pretty good in the kitchen and uh Say less, Jimmy.

SPEAKER_02 8:30

Let's go. Grab him by the hand. Like, we got it, let's gotta go. First roll being on the crew of the horizon, you gotta be flexible. Let's go.

SPEAKER_07 8:39

Well, I I do need to pack, uh, and he's gonna grab a pole with another spindle on it. Alright, I'm ready to go.

SPEAKER_02 8:46

At a boy, Jim. And we take off at a dead sprint. Uh, as I'm like uh like very quietly, I look over my shoulder and I'm like, thank you, Mr. Dickens. Thank you, Chonkosaurus Rex.

SPEAKER_07 8:58

Uh they're still following in the garbage, like following after you. Oh, they are? Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 9:05

Get rid of the void rats. You know we cannot take them on the ship.

SPEAKER_08 9:10

You can't keep them, man. I wasn't trying to.

SPEAKER_04 9:14

Well, they're trying to keep you.

SPEAKER_02 9:16

Uh so like as we go, I'm trying to like uh lose them, but I don't know how we can do that with why we're we're trying to go straight to the ship.

SPEAKER_07 9:25

Uh if you want to lose them, I'm gonna need some kind of role.

SPEAKER_02 9:28

Uh so what I'd like to do is wait until like the ship's just in sight. So it's like the scene from from Star Wars when like Obi-Wan Kenobi and Vader are having the fight, and then like, you know, Luke and the rest of the gang are running for Millennium Falcon. And so like as it's happening in the background and whatever is happening to the ship, I can turn around and have a heartfelt moment with both of the both of the gremlins.

SPEAKER_07 9:51

Okay, alright. So um Kabitha had uh sprinted through the docks, just running around the outside of the whole station with Wallow in tow. And when you get to where your ship, the Ryzen, is at the docks, it is conspicuously empty of CPA. The guards are not there in a way that's very strange. But there are some Void boys who are in the middle of using a very large using a very large saw to physically remove the door of the Ryzen. And they look like they're like halfway through sawing the door off. So Tabitha and Qualo, one of them is like on lookout. Are you trying to approach stealthily or are you gonna come in like guns blazing?

SPEAKER_03 10:35

Guns blazing. I don't slow down.

SPEAKER_07 10:38

Guns blazing! Alright, so there's a long dock, and then the Ryzen is uh floating in some like exposed sky sea that's like right against the dock. What do you do? Uh there is Grim Gray who's standing and supervising one guy watching and two guys sawing the door open. What are you doing?

SPEAKER_03 11:00

I'm going to continue running, and with a giant roar, I'm going to leap onto one of the guys that's using the saw, and I'm going to uh forceful push him.

SPEAKER_07 11:15

Uh, Red? Give me uh an attack roll.

SPEAKER_03 11:21

A nine with hope.

SPEAKER_07 11:23

A nine hits? All that damage.

SPEAKER_03 11:26

Nice. Oh, I'm also gonna spend a hope to make them vulnerable. Hold up.

SPEAKER_07 11:30

Ooh, so vulnerable.

SPEAKER_03 11:32

Five?

SPEAKER_07 11:35

Okay. So uh you are going to take out two of these guys. Describe that to me.

SPEAKER_03 11:41

So, like like how you would imagine a giant cat hybrid roaring and leaping at someone. I'm just going to like absolutely body these guys, like catch each of them and like clothesline in my arms. I stop, but then they continue to be flung forward from the momentum. Nice. And like they just tumble end over end uh across the floor.

SPEAKER_02 12:05

Nice.

SPEAKER_07 12:06

Uh so that was a uh a success with hope. Kola, you wanna do anything to follow that up? How many of them are that are still standing? Still standing? Uh two of the lackeys and grim gray.

SPEAKER_05 12:18

Are any of them small by any chance? Or are they all medium in size?

SPEAKER_07 12:22

One of them is small.

SPEAKER_05 12:23

Okay. Why not? Uh in that case, I'm gonna uh whip out my woven net.

SPEAKER_02 12:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 12:30

Uh I can make a finest roll using the net to trap a small creature.

SPEAKER_02 12:35

At you now.

SPEAKER_05 12:38

Fifteen with fear.

SPEAKER_07 12:40

Fifteen with fear. So you definitely capture one of them. There's a hapling who now is netted, you know.

SPEAKER_01 12:46

I'm gonna kill you when I get out of here.

SPEAKER_05 12:49

It's sort of a docky situation, right? Can I roll him over the side and then tie off the net so that he's just dangling?

SPEAKER_07 12:55

Sure.

SPEAKER_05 12:55

Okay, I'll do that.

SPEAKER_07 12:57

Okay. Uh weird but effective. Okay. And you rolled with fear. So Grim Greg is a bit of a coward, so he is going to try to attack you, Quolo. Nice. 14 hit you.

SPEAKER_05 13:14

Yes, barely.

SPEAKER_07 13:16

And then five damage.

SPEAKER_05 13:17

Uh I'm gonna spend an armor. Okay. And I take no damage.

SPEAKER_07 13:21

He has a club, and he's going to uh whack your armor with it. Uh, you guys are now. The CPA's on my side, and I'm gonna take this ship.

SPEAKER_05 13:31

If the CPA was on your side, they'd be here. Mass.

SPEAKER_07 13:36

What? Nuh-uh. And then I'm gonna spend a fear to highlight the lackeys as well. So, uh, two of them are gonna jump onto your or try to jump onto your back, Tabitha. 14 hitcher um invasion? Yep.

SPEAKER_03 13:54

Yes.

SPEAKER_07 13:54

Okay. Then they're gonna do four damage. They jump on your back and they're whacking you with clubs.

SPEAKER_03 14:00

Can I spend an armor slot for that?

SPEAKER_07 14:02

You definitely can.

SPEAKER_03 14:03

Okay.

SPEAKER_07 14:04

So around the corner, we see Tegan and Glitch. And you guys come into view of the dock. And like the others, you have noticed that the CPA is conspicuously missing, and it looks like the dock has been emptied. There are very few people around. Uh, and the ones that are, like when they see like a scuffle has broken out, they shuffle away, whistling loudly. Bellatrix Spellamot is also conspicuously missing.

SPEAKER_04 14:26

Well, this isn't suspicious at all. Are we within far range yet?

SPEAKER_07 14:31

You are within far range.

SPEAKER_04 14:32

Okay, I'm gonna make a spellcast roll and attempt to unleash chaos, which allows me to make a roll against a target within far range, and uh, on success, channel raw energy with 2d10s against them.

SPEAKER_07 14:50

Do it. Are you targeting the lackey or grim grey?

SPEAKER_04 14:53

Uh, I am targeting both. I'm gonna send a stress to target two.

SPEAKER_08 14:58

Ooh.

SPEAKER_04 15:00

Unleashing chaos. 17 with fear. Does that hit?

SPEAKER_07 15:08

17 with fear definitely hits roll the damage.

SPEAKER_04 15:13

And that is a flopping three. Three damage? Yes.

SPEAKER_07 15:19

Okay, well, you take out the last lackey, and you scuff Grimgrake's boots. So he takes a little bit of damage and he turns to see the source of the blast. Um, well, what does it look like when you take out the lackey?

SPEAKER_04 15:33

A violet stream of light sputtering at the edges shoots out from my wrists, braving Greg and hitting the lackey straight in the chest.

SPEAKER_07 15:46

So the lackey that had been on your back tap of the he just spins off of you, and as he goes, there's like a will held uh scream. But yeah, uh Grim Greg sees the you know his last lackey get hit, and then you know, he turns and he sees the the two of you coming. He realizes he's outnumbered, and he's like, Oh, why didn't I bring more henchmen? And he's going to uh make a run to like sprint off the edge of the dock. You guys let him do it?

SPEAKER_02 16:16

Um Well, I mean, the last roll was with fear, so is he gonna like make a roll to do it or so when I move him, I don't have to make a roll to move him, but that's all he's doing.

SPEAKER_07 16:26

So he's just making a full roll, and I'm gonna give somebody the option to do something if you guys want to try to stop him, but it's just gonna delay when you leave.

SPEAKER_02 16:36

Uh I'll take a quick shot at him. So I'll unfold the carbine from my back and like peer down the edge, and I'm gonna try to hit him square in the butt cheeks.

SPEAKER_07 16:45

Alright. If you do anything less than severe damage, he's gonna get away. I'm just letting you know now.

SPEAKER_02 16:50

Okay, so uh I'm gonna go ahead and spend a hope and use my uh Ranger class feature, Ranger's Focus. Oh yeah, we'll see if we'll see if we hit him. On a success, I get some normal damage and I make uh temporally make target my focus until the feature ends. I get some a bunch of cool stuff for this. So we'll we'll see if we hit him first. Well, that's gonna be a 20 with hope.

SPEAKER_07 17:18

Yeah, I guess that hits.

SPEAKER_02 17:22

Uh so this guy really needs to stop coming for us. That's 12 damage, and he needs to mark a stress.

SPEAKER_07 17:31

Right, 12 damage is a lot, but it is not a severe wound. So you will hit him uh square in the back, and he's gonna like and as he falls off the dock. Uh but he's gonna fall into the sea sky, and where he goes after that. Probably to reappear some other time very soon.

SPEAKER_06 17:50

Damn it, Greg! You best get gone and stay gone!

SPEAKER_02 17:54

And then I turn around to have my emotional moment with the gremlins.

SPEAKER_07 17:57

Um cool. So you turn around to have an emotional moment with the gremlins, which is good timing because I was about to spend a fear, which I'm going to, to have them launch out of the trash and both of them latch onto you, and they grip their tiny hands, hands and feet, into your clothes. Just like like a baby chimp onto its mom. Like they're just locked in.

SPEAKER_02 18:19

Okay. Uh yeah, so uh they they latch onto my legs, and I like squat down, and I pet them both on the back. I'm like, Alright, boys, it's it's been good, but I can't take you with us. If they if they find you down on the at the city of the crooks, it's only the worst of things are gonna happen. You get a much better chance here. And there's still numbmy things to eat in the trash piles. And Slim Jimmy's whole place is yours now. He doesn't know that, but it it's yours now.

SPEAKER_07 18:45

Okay. Um, I just met another fear. Give me a presence roll with disadvantage.

SPEAKER_02 18:50

Okay. Um, I have nothing to counter that. So. Here we go. Oh, it's a 10 with hope.

SPEAKER_07 19:01

Yeah, that's not high enough. They're going to crawl into your pants. Hey, oh, oh, oh, whoa. Alright, guys. Uh, hold on. Alright, so your options are to kill them or take them with you.

SPEAKER_04 19:14

Alright. At this point, Glitch is gonna attempt to step in because what is happening is unholy and against whatever religion she has. Um, she's gonna reach into her backpack for the assortment of mechanical items that were given to her at the Lost and Found when we first arrived on the dock and attempt to hurl them past Tegan so they land on the opposite side away from the ship. Just a bunch of random mechanical components.

SPEAKER_07 19:45

I love it, I love it, I love it. Your options are to kill them or take them aboard the ship.

SPEAKER_04 19:50

Oh, I was trying to get them out of his camps.

SPEAKER_07 19:52

Yeah, I I know. I know what you're trying to do. So today.

SPEAKER_04 19:55

Um, Tegan, I'd shoot him, but I'm gonna hit you in the pants.

SPEAKER_02 20:00

You're gonna hit me in the pants?

SPEAKER_04 20:03

I'm getting pants you so hard. Drop your pants so I can see them.

SPEAKER_02 20:09

Oh god, not since primary school had this. Okay, it's like a bad dream.

SPEAKER_04 20:14

Not time to think! Take your pants off! Come on, cowboy.

SPEAKER_02 20:19

So, uh, just as I did at the dance studio, uh, none of the team have ever seen me do this, but I rip off the chap shorts. Forgive me! Like, now you're you're pantsless. Oh no, God still gonna I've I've got my corduroy jorts on.

SPEAKER_07 20:36

Oh, okay. Well, linking to his leg hair, again, like baby chimps on a mama, uh, they are ripped onto him.

SPEAKER_04 20:43

I'm now gonna attempt to unleash two bolts of chaos. Oh god! At the gremlins. Stand still!

SPEAKER_07 20:52

You're gonna kill the gremlins?

SPEAKER_04 20:54

I'm attempting to.

SPEAKER_07 20:56

Nah, I mean, if you say you're gonna kill them, uh, they'll just die. And you guys will kill the fan favorite gremlins.

SPEAKER_04 21:04

They're my mortal nemesis! Yeah, no, it's I can't. I'll go down as the antagonist of the series. I don't care. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 21:15

So, like, then the chaos bolts like lance through them, and I'm like, oh, and I go down and like hold onto them as they're dying, and I'm like, it wasn't supposed to be like this. You're going to a better place, Mr. Thickams and Chunkasaurus Rex. Gonna go where there's all the scrap and giant scrap pile in the sky. I'm gonna miss you.

unknown 21:35

I'ma miss you.

SPEAKER_07 21:36

They reach out tiny human hands to your face, having thought that they had earned your trust and then were killed, so that they can't get aboard your ship. I didn't know.

SPEAKER_06 21:47

I kind of knew, but I didn't exactly know.

SPEAKER_07 21:50

They reach out toward each other, but they like don't make like they just don't reach each other right before they die, like they're trying, but they just have a strength.

SPEAKER_02 21:58

I like play them gingerly. Down and like close their eyes. I'll see you in the next laugh.

SPEAKER_07 22:04

Man. So Jimmy is uh standing there and then he lets out a low whistle and he's like, wow, that was fucking weird.

SPEAKER_02 22:10

I grab my chaps and I'm like, get on the ship, Jim! Uh, and I I run crying to the ship.

SPEAKER_05 22:18

Concussions don't look so bad now, do they?

SPEAKER_07 22:22

No, no way that's gonna come back to haunt you guys. So you get to the ship. Uh the door takes a little work to get open, uh, one on account of it was sold for slightly.

SPEAKER_05 22:33

But um as soon as you get on board, you hear while they're doing open the door, I'm gonna retrieve my net and let the little guy go.

SPEAKER_07 22:43

Okay. Uh he's going to kick you in the shin hard before he runs off.

SPEAKER_06 22:49

I look at him, I'm like, it should have been you.

SPEAKER_02 22:52

Right. He runs away.

SPEAKER_08 22:54

We'll be back in the same size numbers next time. Thanks for the heads up.

SPEAKER_07 23:03

Alright, so uh you guys get on board the ship uh with the transponder, Slim Jimmy, and the corpses of two completely innocent grivelins.

SPEAKER_02 23:12

I didn't even realize I'm still holding them.

SPEAKER_07 23:16

No, you don't have to have the corpses. I just wanted to bring it up again to remind you guys that you killed them.

SPEAKER_02 23:20

Yeah, I I send the I send the corpses, you know, floating into the Empyrean.

SPEAKER_07 23:24

Okay. Alright, so you guys get on board ship.

SPEAKER_01 23:26

Josephine is like, oh, I'm glad it's you guys and not whoever I was trying to saw through the door. Um, it's a good thing they weren't stronger. They were taking a really long time. Probably should have brought better tools.

SPEAKER_02 23:39

Yeah, that was uh Greg and the Void Boys. They ain't too smart, uh, but I'm glad to see you're okay.

SPEAKER_01 23:44

Are we are we leaving again?

SPEAKER_02 23:47

Yeah, I think we're uh we're following this uh other ship. Qualod, you you you got the tags on it, right?

SPEAKER_05 23:53

Uh yeah. Josephine, did you get it on on your radar?

SPEAKER_07 23:57

I did. Uh who has the transponder? Glitch. Glitch, what are you doing with the transponder?

SPEAKER_04 24:03

At the moment, I am panting in the entry of the ship, uh, but I am gonna pull it out of my trench coat to make sure it's still safe. And just mutter, uh, I'm taking this down to my my workshop. Uh, I need to take a look at this closer.

SPEAKER_02 24:21

Okay. Slide in the pilot's chair and start, you know, getting us out of dock.

SPEAKER_07 24:26

Okay. Does anyone want to do anything else before you guys go down to the city of the crux?

SPEAKER_02 24:32

Uh, I wistfully stare off into the Impyrean to think about friendships that could have been.

SPEAKER_07 24:36

Okay. Uh, as you look back, you can see Grim Greg is crawling along the bottom of the dock to try to get back to the dock proper.

unknown 24:46

Oh.

SPEAKER_02 24:46

Okay, when it comes like a uh Tabitha, could you go ahead and give him a little knock with the salvage arm?

SPEAKER_03 24:51

Aye, Captain. I I do like a little flicking motion. With the end of the little arm thing.

SPEAKER_07 24:59

Yeah. So he was like climbing up, and that's when you flick him. Uh when he lands, his pants are gonna fall down around his uh ankles. Damn you!

SPEAKER_02 25:11

And then we speed away. Alright, you speed away.

SPEAKER_07 25:15

Uh, it is not a long jaunt to the City at the Crux. Glitch, you get down to your lab. What are you looking for with respect to the transponder?

SPEAKER_04 25:27

I'm taking a look to see if it looks like it can be plugged in, if it looks like the fix he did was complete.

SPEAKER_07 25:34

It's totally ready to be slotted in to use. Okay.

SPEAKER_04 25:37

Well, after running a few texts and confirming that, I'm gonna head back up to the bridge with it. Alright, uh so we have it. Are we gonna use it? Are we gonna tell propus we have it, or are we gonna do something else?

SPEAKER_02 25:54

Uh, I'm halfway through re-buttoning up my chaps around my jorts. Oh, right, propus. I completely kind of forgot about that. Uh, you know what hit what doesn't hurt him. I mean, what he doesn't know doesn't hurt him. I think we're fine. Leave that alone. So we uh are we following the ship down to the surface or are we uh plugging the transponder in and seeing what the last location was?

SPEAKER_05 26:14

I'd like to follow the ship down just to see where it goes.

SPEAKER_02 26:18

Yeah, glitch, you think you can plug it in, just get like coordinates?

SPEAKER_04 26:22

I'm happy to wire it up.

SPEAKER_02 26:23

Let's wire it up and see what it were where at least where it went while we're following these uh near duels.

SPEAKER_04 26:29

For sure. Attaching strange pieces of equipment to the Ryzen could never possibly go wrong. And I will go ahead and do as asked.

SPEAKER_07 26:38

So as you walk over to plug in the transponder, Slim Jimmy had like taken to unpacking his spindle in the middle of the bridge, and he's like, oh, you want me to move? Oh okay, uh, and he starts to repack his stuff back.

SPEAKER_02 26:54

Sorry. Yeah, Jim, you can go sit up in the in the in the mess hall.

SPEAKER_07 26:57

Okay. He seems confused by that, but he does pack up and goes to the mess hall.

SPEAKER_02 27:02

Uh by the way, that's my friend Slim Jimmy. He's on the crew now.

SPEAKER_03 27:07

So what is he what is he doing? Like, what job does he have?

SPEAKER_02 27:12

I I honestly didn't really have time to do like proper uh interview, but that's how most of everybody came on the ship anyways. They just kind of like stumbled into it, so I figure we'd keep that going. Uh he's homeless and uh he cooks, he says, pretty well. I I don't know. It's no weirder than how Qualo got on the ship.

SPEAKER_05 27:29

Hey, I walked on the ship just like everyone else.

SPEAKER_07 27:35

So, Glitch, once you have it all plugged in, you can see the well I say you can see, uh I guess this is actually be the science officer's job normally, right?

SPEAKER_04 27:43

Yeah, Glitch is stepped back waiting to see what happens as uh as you I guess interface Yofsephine with it.

SPEAKER_05 27:52

Oh, so then uh I take it and I slot it into the sensor suite. The sensor suite interface is covered with essentially um like a kangaroo pouch on the side of the pool. Okay. So I just open the pouch, put it in there, a couple of little pseudopods, wrap around it, and interface with it as the pouch closes over the prison.

SPEAKER_06 28:15

Sure. Sounds good. And so you see it out, put it in a pouch. It's good. Just put there in a pouch.

SPEAKER_07 28:21

Uh how does the map of the Empyrean roll out to you?

SPEAKER_05 28:25

I'm so glad you asked. Uh, the ship's sensor suite is about six feet wide in diameter. Uh, and it's literally a shallow pool. There's six inches of water in it. Inside the pool is something that looks essentially like really, really amazing octopus skin. It's full of chromatophores and papillae that change color and shape, uh, working uh essentially like a biological hologram. So whenever I'm imaging the outside of the ship or coordinates, you get this kind of rippling organic effect as shapes come into focus and out of focus along the surface of the skin inside the pool.

SPEAKER_07 29:06

Rad. So all of the Empyrean, all of the infinite expanse of the known mapped Empyrean in abstraction appears on the surface of the skin, and way, way, way out to one side, in an area where it looks like there isn't anything in any direction for many units of imaginary distance, there is a ping to show the location of the other transponder. And then another ping for a transponder that matches the one you're using, close to you, much closer to you than this other spot, but moving quickly toward the spot in the middle of nowhere. So there's you all right toward the center of the map, since you're right next to the city of the crux. And then another transponder that's moving will say west, just to give you some sense of direction, even though west is a meaningless concept in the empyrean. And then way out to one side at the very edge of the Empyrean is the ping for the location.

SPEAKER_05 30:09

Well, as much as I want to find this temple, I think we're racing Ephelian to get to that ping. So I think we just need to do that.

SPEAKER_02 30:21

Alright! Turn to look at everybody. Litch, Tabitha, you you good with that? Jimmy? You good with that? I don't care.

SPEAKER_04 30:31

I'd call the plan idiot proof, but you all just keep evolving so quickly. Uh yeah, go for it. I need a nap.

SPEAKER_03 30:39

Yeah, I need to sleep too.

SPEAKER_02 30:42

We should have a little bit. Yosphine, go ahead and lock in the coordinates on uh that that far pin ball pulled up.

SPEAKER_07 30:48

Oh, I I was also gonna take a nap. But you want me to Okay.

SPEAKER_05 30:52

Um, it's before we enter the dream space, the slipstream, I'm gonna send an encrypted message to um what was his name? Clam Clam Glam Point telling him uh that Apelion is the Golden Eyed Lady and she's looking to wake up a Colossus.

SPEAKER_07 31:17

So when you say wake up a Colossus, um I mean I'm sure you have you know heard the word Colossus used in a sentence before, but there isn't like a list, a set of colossi that that you would be referencing here, right? So when you say waking up a colossus, you just mean like giant monster.

SPEAKER_05 31:40

I just mean the giant said that they were gonna either find the lost colossus or wake up the sleeping colossus. I'm not sure which one he said.

SPEAKER_07 31:51

He said that he worshipped at the shrine of the or sorry, he worshipped at the temple of the lost colossus.

SPEAKER_05 31:58

Well, I said what I said. Clampweasel can do whatever he wants with that.

SPEAKER_07 32:05

So you you send that message uh via comms to Clamp Weasel, and it's just static, right? So you get some kind of response, but it's indecipherable. Just a It's just a Yeah, a bunch of static.

SPEAKER_05 32:20

While we're resting, I'll put it through the ship's uh computers to see if um we can make sense of it.

SPEAKER_07 32:29

Okay. Uh give me a knowledge check, and it's gonna be a pretty high difficulty.

SPEAKER_02 32:34

Uh anyone want to help? Tegan is, as established, real dumb.

SPEAKER_05 32:39

Alright, no one's helping. And I don't have any hope. So, and I am not lore born.

SPEAKER_04 32:46

Oh, I I can spend a hope to help. Oh, what are you gonna help?

SPEAKER_05 32:51

I'm sorry, I am loreborn. Would this involve the history of a culture or politics or a prominent person or place? No. Okay, then spend the hope, please.

SPEAKER_04 33:02

Uh, in order to help. Yeah, Glitch Glitch comes over and and pulls off a glove and places her half human, half-mechanical hand on yours, and you just see this faint pulse of violet light as she gives you just a little a little jolt of uh some of the universe's juice.

SPEAKER_07 33:27

Some juice.

SPEAKER_05 33:30

I channel it to my uh anterior lateral cerebellum.

SPEAKER_07 33:35

Classic, classic maneuver. Alright, give me that roll.

SPEAKER_05 33:40

25 with fear.

unknown 33:43

Oof.

SPEAKER_07 33:44

Uh so the fear is going to be that you're going to take a stress. Fair enough. Um in the you know, up channeling is going to pull all that energy out of your left anterior ante thing.

SPEAKER_02 33:59

And uh you get a mild concussion.

SPEAKER_07 34:03

But uh you're you're gonna like be tuning the static, and uh, you know, each tune you do, it sounds um more and more uh like Clamp Weasel's voice uh until it finally comes into focus and you hear him say, I know help. Oh man. Okay. So uh you all you all rest.

SPEAKER_02 34:35

Yeah, I wish uh I wish Josephine's sweet dreams and she like slips into the dreaming.

SPEAKER_07 34:42

She's gonna put one of her hands against the glass and like reach out to you.

SPEAKER_02 34:48

Uh yeah, put my hand damn it. Yeah, I'll put my hand on the other side of the tube. My dreams, darling.

SPEAKER_01 34:54

Hey, Tegan.

SPEAKER_02 34:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 34:58

They did go to a better place.

SPEAKER_02 35:01

Uh, and I like look at her for a bit. And I'm imagining like the ship slips as like the two gremlins that are holding hands and floating the Empyrean in the in the background.

SPEAKER_07 35:10

Yep. So, uh, but yeah, then she'll push away from the glass, uh, into the Milky Fluid, and then uh you'll see the fluid gets like flushed down, and she you know goes below decks into the vault, where she begins to dream. And uh yeah, you guys begin traveling at faster than reality.

SPEAKER_02 35:31

Frontier goes down machine. Are we gonna short rest or long rest? Uh do we have any idea how long it would take us to travel to that location? It seemed like it was pretty far outside the normal path.

SPEAKER_07 35:44

Uh yes, no, it's gonna take a while. Uh it's it's at the edge of the known imperium. Like actually, like a little further than the edge of the known imperium. Like I said, there's there's nothing around it.

SPEAKER_02 35:55

Okay. And I would say a long rest and get all our stuff back, get nice and fresh. We seem to have the actual time to do it. Okay with me. Works for me.

SPEAKER_07 36:05

So you all long rest, and uh each of you is going to have troubled dreams. Tegan, you're going to dream of two gremlins that are uh dancing their hearts out that just tried to get by in a world where they're hated for their appetite that they can't help. Damn it. Tabitha, you're going to dream of a salon that's being bullied and is down on this luck, and it's without its protector currently.

SPEAKER_03 36:36

No.

SPEAKER_07 36:36

Uh glitch. You're going to dream of an emptiness, of a gulf that you're in. You don't even sense your own body in that gulf. Just this deep sense of misplacement. And you're going to hear Grimdorf's voice in the back of your head. I've never seen that model before, not used as prosthetics. I I would pay anything for it.

SPEAKER_08 36:59

And you can sense them just right behind you, staring at you as if you were just an object.

SPEAKER_07 37:10

And uh finally, Koalo, you're going to dream that you are sitting in a chair across from this information. She is sipping from a cup of tea, and she's going to say, Wow, you've been very busy, does she look like a felon?

SPEAKER_08 37:27

No.

SPEAKER_05 37:28

Does she have golden eyes?

SPEAKER_08 37:30

She does. She's a uh she's a fairy.

SPEAKER_07 37:35

A felion was of uh some uh as of yet unknown ancestry. So she's going to say uh also, uh Qualo, this is not a dream.

SPEAKER_05 37:46

Um I don't I don't know how I know your name. Your misinformation?

SPEAKER_07 37:52

Well, that's one of the bonuses of doing these things through dreams, is that I can sort of preload some context to you. It saves a lot of time.

SPEAKER_05 38:00

Can you tell me what Ephelion was doing?

SPEAKER_07 38:03

I cannot. Really. I don't know for sure, and it would be uh it would be potentially problematic to reveal anything I know before we know for certain, because if I tell you, and then it doesn't come to pass what I think she's doing, then we'll have to kill you. But if she is doing what we think she might be doing, and then you become privy to the situation, then we would utilize you. So everything is well, not exactly going according to plan, but we are making the best of a bad situation.

SPEAKER_05 38:38

Okay. I'm gonna pretend that all that made sense. Could you tell me one thing I need to know in the near future?

SPEAKER_07 38:46

One thing you need to know in the near future. Well, um, I will say that we are working to make sure that when you get back to Dock Station Zeta, that it will be safe for you to return to. And that has been a heavy lift on our part. But, um we we have been watching you, and I will say your ability to get mixed up in important events is outsized. Uh you're you're drawing attention. Good attention, Holo.

SPEAKER_05 39:20

Um, I'll spend the rest of the dream talking to her about uh how nice the tea is and the hydrodynamics of puzznuts.

SPEAKER_07 39:30

Okay. Cool. Alright. Well, uh you all uh go ahead and get your long rest stuff in, and we're going to end this week's episode. So I'd like to give a special thanks to our sound guy, to Garrington Press for creating Daggerheart, the awesome game we're playing, and to our incredible fans. Please don't forget to like, subscribe, comment, five stars, that whole thing. It's the number one way to help the show. Lost of the Crux is part of the Witch King March universe. If you're interested in playing in any of the associated games, you can find them on startplaying.games, and we will see you next week.

SPEAKER_02 40:09

We love them.