A fortuitous concourse of memorys accumulated & lost.
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Find more about Stillfleet at https://stillfleet.com
--
@funcityventures is the show on twitter
@funcityventures is the show on instagram
@bijanstephen is Remy, the Sleeper (human) Blooder
@randwiches is Merkis, the Jalasti Banshee
@nicholasguercio is Vynos, the Conscript (human) Tremulant
and @shodell is Beta, the Shoodtha Pir
@taylordotbiz is Oat and Canary
@mikerugnetta is everything else
--
This episode of Float City was recorded in various locations across Brooklyn New York and Cape Cod, MA. It was produced, edited and sound designed by Mike Rugnetta.
It plows the Earth in its own conceit. it overwhelms the Hills
Beneath its winding labyrinths. till Pixlriffs
Stops it in midst of its pride among its hills & rivers
Our music is by Sam Tyndall - https://www.samtyndall.com/
with a track this episode from Will Savino - https://wsavino.com/
Remy's flute playing is by Jake Fridkis - https://instagram.com/flutebros
Our art is by Tess Stone - http://notdrunkenough.com/
Our Discord mods are Olivia Gulin, Kelly McKew, Kit Pulliam and Kestrel
The voice of Artemis is Molly Templeton
--
CC-BY LICENSED SFX USED
https://freesound.org/people/adcbicycle/sounds/14129/
[00:00:00] [Eerie Music]
> Taylor Moore / ”Oat”: [OOC] Oat’s mind screams, and through the connection Beta has opened between you all, you feel as if you’re a sponge or some kind of fabric or cloth, and a fire hose of emotions and sights and sounds is being pushed through you. You’re in a blacked out carved bubble in stone and you know immediately it’s spin. There is no light and then suddenly there is too much and it’s in your face. It subsides and your new clients are gathered in a semi-circle around you. Each figure is a rectangular column of ratcheting cylindrical gears and wire helixes. At the bottom of each figure, are octagonal wheels or battered tank treads or repulser hover engines or a baker’s dozen of flickering plastisol strand beast feet. And atop each one varying from your knee to just about head height, is an organic head, like a flesh vase on a plinth of churning, whirring artifice. Their mouths open and they speak in unison.
[00:01:07] > Taylor / ”Gouse Mutitunda”: [IC] We are the Gouse Mutitunda. We offer you the perfect delight of employment to our ends
> Taylor / ”Oat”: [OOC] You feel your mouth moving. You hear yourself saying:
> Taylor / ”Oat”: [IC] Yea, okay. Quite down, Quiet down. Just tell me, what do you want me to get?
> Taylor / ”Gouse Mutitunda”: [IC] Behold the Orgamin Postulate
> Taylor / ”Oat”: [OOC] And a sharp gem of green stone like a star appears in the air.
> Taylor / ”Gouse Mutitunda”: [IC] And it’s current possessor, thief of illegitimate spoil.
> Taylor / ”Oat”: [OOC] Another hologram of a figure appears.
> Taylor / ”Gouse Mutitunda”: [IC] The postulate is the instantiation of the theoretical consummation of our endeavor into the hypothetical translation of indementionaltional precipative matter intersectional [Fade Out]
> Taylor / ”Oat”: [OOC] They go on and on. But you're not listening. You can’t take your eyes off that second towering figure. You feel your wings twitch. The hair on the back of your arms stands up.
> Taylor / ”Oat”: [IC] Whoa Whoa Whoa Whoa Whoa. Wait Wait Wait. What was that? You said you were gonna give me how much?
> Taylor / ”Oat”: [OOC] The number they say makes you sweat. And then it’s a waterfall of colors and sounds and emotions. And then you are on a field in front of a writhing limestone castle. Above you there is an entire other world in the sky. You are introducing yourself to an angel. You are lying. You are saying a fake name. And it feels like biting on metal. And then you see it. She’s wearing it. It was supposed to be in the vault but she’s wearing it. Time seems to slow as you take your finger off the trigger in your suit pocket. She invites you inside, and you go. You have never felt more and less yourself.
Another catapult through colors and scents and the experience of touching and being touched. And the following memories have been redacted for Oat’s sake and because this is a family show.
[00:03:08] [Laughter of Cast]
> Taylor / ”Oat”: [OOC] And then all of a sudden... time… your, your body feels incredibly differently and everything around you is normal now. The world and the sky, the moving walls, the trophies, all of it. And now you think, after all this time, of the number. And you look it up, and you look up at all the other worlds in the sky. And she sleeps silently like a wide still lake. And so there is no sound from the other room as that room slides down the hallway to rejoin some other floor. You pocket the six pointed star, swing your other leg over the balustrade as it lowers perfectly on schedule to the lawn.
And then blackness, and stars, and the sound of gates opening and closing and there’s laughing and there’s drinking and you’re in a ballroom with fancy fake gravity. It’s got that sizzle of the fake gravity that only the really rich can afford and the really smart can steal. The ceiling is a panoramic transparent dome and through it you see a phantasmal glittering Teffnian hulk orbiting above a great storm over a glowing indigo gas giant outside the space station where you have come to, from very far away, for a party. You have never been around this many Harajun at one time and you are loving it. Everyone you see, you know, and they are happy to see you. You are exactly one and three quarters servings deep into the Wasp Paste. Everyone is licking it. Everyone knows that one and three quarters servings is the sweet spot for Wasp Paste.
[00:04:41]> Mike Rugnetta / D.M.: [OOC] It’s true. It’s True.
> Taylor / ”Oat”: [OOC] A young guy… wait, who is that? Is that, is that, is that the guy you were with during the peace keepers thing right after you got the boot from spin? Oh My God! It is! You stride over and then Space opens up in front of you. Someone else’s severed arm falls to the floor. Klaxons sound, people scream and through the sudden ring of flickering plasma, she is standing. She holds a sword in front of her and then you see black and hear the cold eat your body.
And then nothing
And then you are approaching Torivault’s body. There is talking and jokes to your right. Could be a foot or three million miles away. You touch her and she doesn’t move. You press the clasp at her breast. The frozen quicksilver iris opens and you feel the synthetic slickness of the emerald star. You feel the other world in the sky. You feel it sitting in your chest. You stand, you look at your rescuers. And for you all this is an extremely strange moment because you see yourself. You see Remy and Beta and Merkis and Vynos standing in The Aanverder’s fortress. And you feel like your mouth is full of earth but you hear yourself say:
> Taylor / ”Oat”: [IC] Alright. Let’s go.
[00:06:12] [ Intro Theme begins ]
> Mike / G.M.: Previously on Float City, the crew arrives in Nolaster to find company fleeter Zeshdano Navelle dead. Vynos goes back in time where he saves her life. Eventually reunited in Navelle’s apartment, the team begins to unfold the apparent conspiracy against them to take the fall for her death and are confronted by the Nolastrian guard who claims someone has called in a murder. As everyone attempts to reach and understanding, local pirate Canary and two of his mates bust in demanding Zesh explain the disappearance of Duubuuli "Boo" Restuulna, a Mulruk accelerationist from their ranks whomst came to kill Navelle and who was in turn killed by Vynos.
The guard demands everyone come along quietly, but Oat, now with a brand new uncontrollable Waiten arm, accidentally starts a fight. After not long, a fourth challenger appears: The Emissary. A dangerous beast from beyond time and space summoned by Remy’s use of “open mind”. Things are not looking good when The Emissary winds up and attempts to go through Oat to get Remy, but is stopped and literally unraveled in space as the crew has a vivid set of visions. Carried between them, thanks to Beta’s power “etherspeak”.
[ Main Theme ends ]
[00:07:40] > Mike / G.M.: Everyone sees Oat basically collapse onto the ground in Zeshdano Navelle’s apartment onto the various parts of the Hanna that was previously there, half on the arm of the human guard that’s still scrambling to stand up. I think, what has just happened is extremely unclear but what you do know is that The Emissary tried to connect to Remy through Oat and something stopped it and you were then flooded with all of these memories of Oat’s history of seemingly The Aanverder, her estate, and the green jewel that I think you all saw him take from her armor when you left Rigamont B. The next person to act, because we are still in initiative, is Merkis.
> Jenn De La Vega / “Merkis”: [OOC] Oh! Uh.
> Mike / G.M.: Merkis, you are, you are out on the courtyard with Zeshdano Navelle who up until this moment has been trying to escape you. Has been sort of pushing and you know, kind of maybe slapping you away a little bit to try to get back to her apartment to the fracas. [Sirens Begin] Everyone in and outside the apartment hears the very familiar sound of the only vehicles that are allowed to drive on the peninsulas of Nolaster, the Nolastrian Guard. They are rushing towards the apartment.
[00:07:18] [Sirens Fade Out]
> Jenn / “Merkis”: [OOC] After feeling and seeing the memories, Merkis, like, just takes a step back and let’s go of Miss Navelle, loosens his grip and just wasn’t sure, like, just what that was.
> Mike / G.M. / “Zeshdano”: She stops trying to get away because she saw it too and that was very intense. She’s also, like, hugely confused because none of that has any context for her. She knows Oat just from having seen him a few minutes ago and she, like, you know, is kind of woozy. And she looks at you and she’s like, [IC] Did that mean anything to you?
> Jenn / “Merkis”: [IC] Did you s… you saw that too?
> Mike / G.M. / “Zeshdano”: [IC] Yea
> Jenn / “Merkis”: [IC] I don’t know what it means.
> Mike / G.M. / “Zeshdano”: [IC] Do you know any of those… do you know that tall lady in the armor?
> Jenn / “Merkis”: [IC] Yes. The Aanverder
> Mike / G.M. / “Zeshdano”: [IC] Okay
> Jenn / “Merkis”: [OOC] [Laughs] Talking to you as if you know what that is.
> Mike / G.M. / “Zeshdano”: [IC] Well, What are we gonna do?
> Jenn / “Merkis”: [IC] Ah. We have some transportation. I think we should get in the get away car. [OOC] before he turns, Merkis pulls out a letter and says: [IC] This is for you.
> Mike / G.M. / “Zeshdano”: [OOC] She takes it. This the letter that you found in the mailbox?
> Jenn / “Merkis”: [OOC] In the mailbox.
[00:10:35] [Sirens Fade In]
> Mike / G.M. / “Zeshdano”: [OOC] She opens it and she reads it and she says [IC] Listen. I have an idea. Millen is gonna be here soon, um, and if we wanna hide there’s, uh [OOC] and she looks around and looks at all the people who are standing around you and she gets, she like, gets closer and gets kind of quiet. She says [IC] I don’t wanna say too much but like, he… there’s a place that we can go that we can hide and your friends can meet us there.
[00:10:56] [Sirens Fade Out]
> Jenn / “Merkis”: [OOC] [Scoffs]
> Mike / G.M. / “Zeshdano”: [IC] If we get into the conveyance do you have a destination in mind? Do you have a destination in mind that doesn’t require us to pass through a checkpoint?
> Jenn / “Merkis”: [IC] Oh. No. I was hoping you would know a safehouse. Somewhere for us to go.
> Mike / G.M. / “Zeshdano”: [IC] Um, I do. We don’t need to drive there. It’s in the city and I’m pretty sure no one will be able to find us there and, uh, I can tell your friends how to get there if, if you wanna do that.
> Jenn / “Merkis”: [IC] This sounds like a good plan.
> Mike / G.M. / “Zeshdano”: [IC] Okay
> Jenn / “Merkis”: [IC] It’s a good plan.
> Mike / G.M. / “Zeshdano”: [OOC] She’ll make an action on her turn. The next person to act is the human guard who is gonna stand up finally and looks up, turns around, looks at the… Taylor, what does the Emissary look like now that it has been derendered? Did it just disappear?
> Taylor / ”Oat”: [OOC] No. No no no no no.
> Mike / G.M. / “Zeshdano”: [OOC] Okay
> Taylor / ”Oat”: [OOC] Let’s think about it, let’s think about it rationally. If we were taken into 2-D space, we would be, we would be cut in half.
> Mike / G.M. / “Zeshdano”: [OOC] Yea, you would see a, you would see a cross section of us.
> Taylor / ”Oat”: [OOC] And the two halves of our body would just fall apart split by our esophagus tract… uh... our digestive tract.
> Unknown Case Member: [OOC] [Ech noise]
> Taylor / ”Oat”: [OOC] [Laugh] so, you know. Maybe that’s like, if one toroid shape of the human body splits into two when it goes from three to two, maybe someone in eleven whose brought down to three splits into like 800.
> Mike / G.M. / “Guard”: [OOC] So, they stand up and they look at the derendered Emissary and it just looks like a pile of just very long, like, strips of us, magnetic tape that are like, just a pile of modius strips essentially that are just shredded and interconnected and woven together. There are some flat sheets that kind look like a basket weaving and some parts that look like braids and they’re all just in a pile. And they turn and they see Oat on the ground and they realize that their Mulruk partner is very injured. They’re commanding officer (The Hanna) has been blown up. There is just destruction all around them. They are going to try to pick up their Mulruk partner. And try to just shoulder them through the Big Drink Wrangler that is trying to free Canary and they’re just gonna try to leave cuz they know that backup is on the way. So I am just going to have them roll their movement to see if they can do that. And I’m gonna make that difficult because it’s slippery and NTS did leak lubricant everywhere, there’s a lot of people around. Here’s what they’re gonna do. They’re gonna do two things because they have a power that’s a free action that I’m gonna use. The guard looks at Remy. Remy, what do you look like right now?
[00:13:30]> Bijan Stephen / “Remy”: [OOC] He’s just staring at the door, or where the door was. Very obviously trying to get out
> Mike / G.M. / “Guard”: [OOC] The guard sees that you are eyeing the exit and that you are trying to leave and he levels his eyes at you and he gets this very serious look on his face and he says [IC] Don’t even think about it. You are staying right here. [OOC] Remy, roll Will.
> Bijan / “Remy”: [OOC] This isn’t gonna go well. I mean, he, his Will is 4, he can’t beat a check.
> Mike / G.M. / “Guard”: [OOC] Okay. Well, we’re gonna see cause he has to, he has to roll to see how he does.
> Bijan / “Remy”: [OOC] That’s a natural one! [Shannon Laughs]
> Mike / G.M. / “Guard”: [OOC] Maybe he’ll roll a natural one. No, he rolled a six.
> All: [OOC] Ooohhh
> Mike / G.M. / “Guard”: [OOC] Okay, you have just been, you have just been commanded. The Nolastrian Guard have a power that is called “Command Presence” which is if they pass a standard charisma check they can make a simple movement related command like “get on the ground”, “drop your weapon”, or “stay where you are” which a player must follow if they cannot pass a standard Will check. So, for the next round, you have to do what they said, which is that you can’t leave.
> Bijan / “Remy”: [OOC] Okay
> Mike / G.M. / Guard: [OOC] And he looks at you with a serious look on his face and then rushes over to his pal to try to pick him up and just shuttle him out of this disaster. I don’t think he’s gonna be able to do it but he’s gonna try. Oh My God! He does it. By the skin of his teeth. He basically steps over Oat and doesn't even pay any mind to the Waiten that is trying to free Canary.
> Taylor / “Canary”: [IC] Pig. You take that boy outta here I’m gonna hunt you down and I not gonna stop until you’re dead or I am.
> Mike / G.M. / “Guard”: [OOC] It’s a bloody scene but the guard manages to pull his just barely conscious friend out of the apartment and you see the hobble down the stairs slowly. Merkis, you see this with Zeshdano from the courtyard. It seems like the final two Nolastrian guards are attempting to leave. The next person to act is Beta. Beta, the only people, the people who are left in Zeshdano’s apartment are you, Remy, Oat on the ground, a Waiten who is trying to free his ostensibly boss from strange polymagnetic manacles that have attached him to the ground, and Vynos.
> Shannon Odell / “Beta”: [OOC] Beta seeing Oat fall, immediately, what comes to mind is that she wants to get out of NTS and run over to Oat to try to heal him.
> Taylor / “NTS”: [IC] Would you like to take a quick survey
> Shannon / “Beta”: [IC] Exit! Exit! Exit! Exit! [Nick Laughing]
> Taylor / “NTS”: [IC] Would you rate Nearer The Sun Than Is Advisable a three, a four, a five, a six, a seven...
> Shannon / “Beta”: [IC] NTS! Not now! I love surveys but not now! [Mike Laughs]
> Taylor / “NTS”: [IC] “Not now” accepted. [Shannon and Jenn Laugh]
> Mike / G.M.: [OOC] The hatch opens and you see… your proprioception returns, your sense of identity, and self returns. Phenomenologically you know have a body and all the things that entails again and you can step out of the strange nano-robotic shell that you were previously inhabiting.
[00:16:42]> Shannon / “Beta”: [OOC] So she steps out and runs over to Oat, turns him over, and starts performing heal.
> Taylor / “Oat”: [OOC] And as you turn him over, you see that the wo… tentacle… whatever that thing that shot out of The Emissary hit him squarely in, what for humans at least would be his solar plexus. And the fabric of his clothes have just sort of been eaten away almost it looks like by some kind of heat, like a laser thing, and underneath it you can see that like there is a, it is the same emerald star stone that you saw in the wave of memories that came out of Oat. And that you saw him take from The Aanverder’s fortress all those many weeks ago. It has been pushed into his chest. It is like an inch or two in the skin of his fle… it has been punctured into him but you can still see it there. And he says [IC] [gasps] Oh! It hurts! It hurts real bad! Help me Beta. Help!
> Shannon / “Beta”: [IC] Ooooh!
> Mike / G.M.: [OOC] Taylor, just to put a number on this, Oat has taken 30 damage. [Shannon Gasps]
> Shannon / “Beta”: [OOC] Beta seeing Oat struggling, you know, she doesn’t get this flustered that often is still feeling like this is somehow her fault, from you know that, that past, that memory or future prediction she saw so she begins to start healing Oat for as much as she can which is not that much. [scoff] So she burns two grit and they regain two health. But you can also burn an additional X grit where X is equal to or less than your level. We’re a level two?
> Mike / G.M.: [OOC] Yes
> Shannon / “Beta”: [OOC] So she’s gonna do that, so that’s four… I’m gonna burn 4 grit to give Oat four health.
> Taylor / “Oat”: [OOC] Four?
> Shannon / “Beta”: [OOC] Four
> Taylor / “Oat”: [OOC] Well, Okay.
[00:18:37] [Cast Laughs]
> Bijan / “Remy”: [OOC] Don’t spend it all in one place.
> Shannon / “Beta”: [OOC] Listen I…
> Taylor / “Oat’: [OOC] Sh… Standing over an open chest wound and dropping a Flintstones vitamin gummy in there. [Cast Laughs]
> Mike / G.M.: [OOC] Beta is, Beta is over the extremely traumatized, extremely hurt Oat saying “Gonna kiss it make it better” [Shannon and Jenn Laugh]
> Shannon / “Beta”: [OOC] Well, I feel like she’s so… Like normally she knows she’s not that great at heal. [Mike laughs] She normally just offers everyone Gunch. She just is so flustered though that she performs heal, kind of as much energy as she can.
> Mike / G.M.: [OOC] You gotta do what you gotta do. The next person is Zeshdano who looks at Merkis and says [IC] Okay. We’re gonna go to [Sirens fade in] Millen’s Slip. It’s one peninsula over. I think I understand this thing that you guys do now enough to tell everyone where it is. [OOC] and you all hear this distantly; cuz she’s speaking with her mouth and not like, thinking it at you, [Shannon snort laughs] you can still hear it. And then it sort of becomes focused and you hear Zeshdano more clearly and she says [IC] Meet us here [OOC] And you all get, kindof similar to what happened with Oat, [Sirens fade out] a very strange series of images of you walking to a very particular location in Nolaster, a city that you do not know. You’ve never been here before. You cannot navigate it. You do not know where the landmarks are. You do not know your way around except for one building, one small hut in the marina, one peninsula over that you have perfect knowledge of how to get to. You just now feel like you’ve walked to it a hundred thousand times. And Zeshdano thinks at you [IC] I know it’s strange, just, it will make sense when you get there. Come as soon as you can. [OOC] Yea. She has effectively dropped a pin in the group chat.
[00:20:29] [Cast Laughs]
> Bijan / “Remy”: [OOC] Nice
> Taylor / “Oat”: [OOC] Wow Mike. Big windup for that one. I love it.
> Nick Guercio / “Vynos”: [OOC] Why didn’t you just say that? [Cast Laughs]
> Mike / G.M.: [OOC] The next person to act is the Big Drink Wrangler Pirate “Speedy Pocket Digger” [Mike Laughs]
> Taylor / “Oat”: [OOC] Pocket...
>Jenn / “Merkis”: [OOC] No… [unintelligible]
> Taylor / “Oat”: [OOC] Scrap or something
> Mike / G.M.: [OOC] Scrapper...
> Shannon / “Beta”: [OOC] Scammer…
> Mike / G.M.: [OOC] Tiny Pocket Scrambler?
> Shannon / “Beta”: [OOC] Yea. There you go.
> Mike / G.M.: [OOC] Tiny Pocket Scrambler. Tiny Pocket Scrambler is still rubbing the strange shell over the manacles and manages, kind of at great cost to himself, to figure out how to get it to work and Canary is no longer attached to the floor. [click] Tiny Pocket Scrambler bends over, and kind of like, tries to hoist him up but as their coming up and as they’re trying to stand, he’s hobbling, he’s wincing, because his leg has been basically, you know, almost blown off from the Hanna’s laser pistol. You can see that they both notice the very large shiny green jewel that, yea, is on Oat’s person after Beta flips him over to heal him. Who knows how interested they are. We’ll find out soon enough. The next person to act is Vynos.
> Nick / “Vynos”: [OOC] Vynos takes a look around. He sees that most people, you know, are either fighting each other, in terms of the pirates and the guards. I don’t think any of them are actually trying to stop them because the only one who did just left the room.
> Mike / G.M.: [OOC] Yea. The Guards, The Guards have left.
> Nick / “Vynos”: [OOC] Right
> Mike / G.M.: [OOC] So it’s just you, you guys and the pirates. The remainders of your crew and the remainders of the pirate crew.
> Nick / “Vynos”: [OOC] Right. And the, and the pirates seem preoccupied. So Vynos looks at everyone and says [IC] We must away! At once! The guards! They're upon us! [OOC] And he motions for everyone to follow him and tries to leave.
> Taylor / “Oat”: [OOC] Which direction do you head? Do, do you go towards the big gaping hole or do you go towards the blown apart door to the hallway?
[00:22:40] [Nick and Mike Laugh]
> Nick / “Vynos”: [OOC] In my head I don’t know… I picture them on the same wall, is that incorrect?
> Mike / G.M.: [OOC] They are on the same wall.
> Taylor / “Oat”: [OOC] Oh, Okay.
> Nick / “Vynos”: [OOC] So he goes through the gate big… he goes towards the big gaping hole… yea. I guess that would be closest to him is the big gaping hole. He would have to walk a little bit further to his left to go into the door I guess. Is there… the door isn’t there but is… is…
> Mike / G.M.: [OOC] Yea. It’s kind of, it’s kind of just one… [Shannon Laughs]
> Nick / “Vynos”: [OOC] Is there a tiny piece of wall that is keeping a door whole?
>Jenn / “Merkis”: [OOC] This poor door.
> Mike / G.M.: [OOC] Yea. Basically, basically [Mike Laughs] it’s like a sliver of wall [Shannon Laughs] that, you know, you could probably push down if you really wanted to [Mike Laughs]
> Nick / “Vynos”: [OOC] So my decision is really, do I take a half a step left while I’m walking towards it [Mike Laughs] or half a step right. I guess I just kind of take a half a step right go through the, go through the big hole.
> Mike / G.M.: [OOC] I’m… I’ll let, I’ll let Taylor decide if Canary is interested in Vynos, but
> Taylor / “Canary”: [OOC] He’s, he’s fucking....! [Nick Laughs]
> Mike / G.M.: [OOC] Yea
> Taylor / “Canary”: [OOC] Canary is done!
> Mike / G.M.: [OOC] Yea [Taylor Laughs] Yea. Vynos, you are basically able to just walk out of her cuz everybody is so hurt or preoccupied.
> Taylor / “Oat”: [IC] [Gasps] Vynos! Vynos! [Shannon Laughs]
> Nick / “Vynos”: [OOC] Oh! Yea, Well, Yea, I’m thinking of Oat now because I, I, I was so relieved he was alive I was just like “Let’s Go!” but then I think maybe Vynos starts towards leaving and then realizes that someone’s gonna have to help carry Oat [Mike and Jenn Laugh] and he grabs Oat’s arms maybe...
> Taylor / “Oat”: [IC] [Yells in Pain]
> Nick / “Vynos”: [OOC] And looks at Remy possibly to have him grab the legs.
> Taylor / “Oat”: [IC] Vynos! Do science on, do science on me! [pained voice]
> Nick / “Vynos”: [OOC] Well I guess, I guess canonically wouldn’t Beta be the strongest of us?
> Mike / G.M.: [OOC] I think so!
> Nick / “Vynos”: [OOC] Yea, I mean, she’s a ro… she’s a machine [Bijan Laughs]. And then it would be…
> Shannon / “Beta”: [OOC] But so so skinny! She… her legs are so so skinny they frikin hav…
> Nick / “Vynos”: [OOC] I don’t think it matt… I don’t think it matters with machines
> Bijan / “Remy”: [OOC] they’re still made out of metal
> Shannon / “Beta”: [OOC] No calves on this Beta. No calves.
> Nick / “Vynos”: [OOC] I think maybe… I think what’s happening maybe is Vynos is, is putting on a big show like he’s gonna carry, carry Oat but he’s looking, he’s looking longingly at Remy [chuckle] and Beta, hoping they will take over the job for this feeble old man.
> Bijan / “Remy”: [OOC] Well, Remy can’t leave
> Nick / “Vynos”: [OOC] Is that true… he can’t leave even though they left?
> Mike / G.M.: [OOC] You can’t leave for one, one round, yea.
> Shannon / “Beta”: [OOC] This round, yea
> Nick / “Vynos”: [OOC] Well, he’s not leaving this round anyway. He’s, it’s gonna be next round when he’s gonna actually gonna be able to leave unless initiative goes away.
> Mike / G.M.: [OOC] Can’t leave for, can’t leave for one loop, so, like basically Remy… in Remy’s next turn that comes up he’ll be able to take any action but won't be able to leave the apartment.
> Nick / “Vynos”: [OOC] Oh, I see, so, I see, so one of his, one of his loops he just gonna stay?
> Bijan / “Remy”: [OOC] But, I mean, so how close… how close are we to leaving initiative is the question
> Nick / “Vynos”: [OOC] Yea, doesn’t it end with initiative?
> Mike / G.M.: [OOC] We’re gonna, we’re gonna find out in the next two or three turns pending on what Canary wants to do.
> Nick / “Vynos”: [OOC] I see.
> Bijan / “Remy”: [OOC] Cuz Canarys’ still in the room.
> Shannon / “Beta”: [OOC] Right
> Mike / G.M.: [OOC] Canary is the sole aggressor as of this moment.
> Nick / “Vynos”: [OOC] Vynos starts to leave then realizes that Oat will not be able to leave on his own so he, he gestures towards Oat and requests Remy and Beta to help him get Oat out of here as quickly as possible.
> Mike / G.M.: [OOC] Alright. We’re at the top of initiative order and the first to act is Oat.
> Taylor / “Oat”: [IC] [Maons] [OOC] Beta, you can see that by touching him and by doing your heal stuff, it looks like every rib is broken [Mike Ugs] in his torso. Guess you would have heard the crack too when The Emissary hit him but there was a lot going on then. There is blood coming out. He’s having trouble breathing and he, he can’t really talk anymore. It, its somewhat… Vynos did you say you were trying to lift him up?
> Nick / “Vynos”: [OOC] Yea. I mean I, I’m starting to… whenever, I’m asking Remy and Beta to help.
> Taylor / “Oat”: [OOC] You like, go down, and like, I’m imagining you like kindof grab him by the arms and he comes up. He tries to put his arm also around you but it’s the new machine arm [Shannon Laughs] and it goes backwards [Cast Laughs]
> Shannon / “Beta”: [OOC] Oh No
> Bijan / “Remy”: [OOC] Bug arm. Bug arm. Bug arm.
> Taylor / “Oat”: [OOC] Oh! Sorry! Sorry! Sorry! It’s his new Waiten arm and it just kind of goes backward and he tries, he almost falls to the ground again.
> Mike / G.M.: [OOC] He’s slapping Beta, Beta’s Legs
> Shannon / “Beta”: [OOC] Yea. Awww
> Taylor / “Oat”: [OOC] You can, you can, you can like, he is conscious, he is not going to die in a couple of seconds… there’s not that much blood coming out but there’s blood coming out. You can hear the liquid beginning to build up in his lungs
> Bijan / “Remy”: [OOC] Awww
> Mike / G.M.: [OOC] Next to act is Canary who, just to be clear, has been freed from the manacles, is standing, leaning on his friend the Big Drink Wrangler, both of whom were making eyes at the very shiny thing in Oat’s chest.
> Taylor / “Canary”: [OOC] Yea. Alright. So, Canary and his Little Pocket Scrambler helps him get up and he’s like, standing on one leg and using the little guy as a sort of crutch with his elbow and he looks at you all and he pulls out this pistol wrapped in rope and you can see he’s kind of having a hard time keeping his eyes open, and he says [IC] This is what we call a wash. We’re gonna go and you're gonna go. And I don't wanna see you on Kakudun again. [OOC] and he begins to hop out the door
[00:27:12] [Cast Laughs] [Sirens Fade In]
> Mike / G.M.: [OOC] As he hops out the door you hear now very very close to the apartment the sirens of the Nolastrian Guard backup that was called last round. They are going to be here very soon.
> Taylor / “Canary”: [OOC] And as he begins to walk out of the door, which is really not a door… it’s just another gaping hole in the wall [Cast Laughs] he turns around and he says [IC] But if I were you I’d recommend get’n out of town as fast as you can. There’s about to be a rumble. [Cast chuckles] [OOC] And he goes…
> Mike / G.M.: [OOC] They trip a little bit as they get, start going down the stairs [Sirens fade out]
> Nick / “Vynos”: [OOC] He just sounds like he’s wearing a bathrobe and has a cat and a cigarette [Shannon, Mike, and Jenn Laugh]
>Jenn / “Merkis”: [OOC] Yea
> Taylor / “Oat”: [OOC] Hey, if he wasn’t at work…
>Jenn / “Merkis”: [OOC] Missing a leg.
> Mike / G.M.: [OOC] Yea, you don’t know what Canary’s lifestyle is like.
> Shannon / “Beta”: [OOC] Yea, right.
> Nick / “Vynos”: [OOC] I don’t! I’m saying that with praise [Cast Laughs] and admiration.
[ Dramatic Music plays ]
[00:28:08] >Jenn / “Merkis”: [OOC] It’s ya girl Jenn and I’m here interrupting the show to tell you about Patreon. If you are loving our story, production value, and god-damn incredible sound design, become a Chummer for just five American dollars per month. That’s 4.28 Euros, 523 Yen, or 106 Pesos. For .00037 Bit Coins you get access to Fun/Float Chatty; our inside baseball show about every episode, an invite to our discord which has channels called “Chumbler” and the “Cone of Bonus Conetent”, and Top-Secret cold storage archive and cyberpunk themed Spotify playlist that I personally update every Tuesday. Come-on… why don’t you join us a Patreon.com/funcityventures. Again, that’s Patreon.com/funcityventures
[ Dramatic Music plays ]
[00:28:58] [Siren Fades In]
> Mike / G.M.: [OOC] As Canary and Tiny Pocket Scrambler leave, you hear the sirens approach, but there are no aggressors in the immediate vicinity. So, you’re out of initiative.
>Jenn / “Merkis”: [OOC] Yea!
> Nick / “Vynos”: [IC] [Pants in relief]
> Bijan / “Remy”: [OOC] Yeeesss. Remy booking to a window and jumps the fuck out.
> Nick / “Vynos”: [OOC] Not gonna help us with Oat. Thank you Remy.
> Shannon / “Beta”: [OOC] Well the, Beta takes the legs. Actually, Beta sees Vynos with the… kind of pushes Vynos away and picks up the arms [Vynos Grunts] and tells him to take the legs. [Sirens fade out]
> Nick / “Vynos”: [IC] Thank you
> Taylor / “Oat”: [IC] [Gasps in pain] Oh Shit! [Cast Laughs] Oooooh! Beta! You gotta help me!
> Shannon / “Beta”: [IC] Yea
> Taylor / “Oat”: [IC] AAaaaa. Vynos! Vynos!
> Shannon / “Beta”: [IC] You can, you can talk in… you don’t have to use your words, just talk in your mind. [ Oat Pants] [Jenn Giggles]
> Taylor / “Oat”: [OOC] Oh yea, in his mind you hear [IC] Ugh! [Cast Laughs] Help Me! Oh Shit it hurts so fucking bad. Oh god it hurts. Vynos, do science on me.
> Nick / “Vynos”: [IC] You don’t want what I have.
> Mike / G.M.: [OOC] All of you are getting these bright white sort of flashes of pain and like, some bits of Oat’s childhood on Ghyzu. [Jenn Laughs] Just like [Nick Laughs] whipp’n around the trees as his life… doesn’t flash before his eyes but like, reminiscing maybe.
> Shannon / “Beta”: [OOC] As they move out of the apartment Beta, you know is holding, is like, takes one arm and kind of, and goes through her pocket and she actually has one piece of Gunch that she’s been hiding from Remy and she give it Oat as they walk out.
> Mike / G.M.: [OOC] I can roll it. It’s four. You get four. [Sirens fade in]
> Taylor / “Oat”: [OOC] Oh Yea! Oh, that almost gets me back up to zero.
> Nick / “Vynos”: [OOC] You gotta roll for addiction though, right?
> Mike / G.M.: [OOC] Yea
> Shannon / “Beta”: [OOC] Yea
>Jenn / “Merkis”: [OOC] Yea
> Taylor / “Oat”: [OOC] Oh... It’s bad.
> Mike / G.M.: [OOC] Oat is addicted to Gunch. [Crew laughs]
> Shannon / “Beta”: [OOC] Noooooo! [Sirens fade out]
> Bijan / “Remy”: [OOC] One of us! [Cast Laughs]
> Taylor / “Oat”: [OOC] You only do it one time, it’s gotcha.
>Jenn / “Merkis”: [OOC] Oh my god.
> Mike / G.M.: [OOC] I’m assuming that… I’m hoping that Oat had Grit, right? Cuz otherwise he would be dead.
> Taylor / “Oat”: [OOC] Oh! Yea. Yea. Tons of Grit left over.
> Mike / G.M.: [OOC] Okay
> Taylor / “Oat”: [OOC] [Laugh] And what happens, everything below zero I was at, I take out of my Grit.
> Mike / G.M.: [OOC] Take out of your Grit, Yea.
> Taylor / “Oat”: [OOC] Okay. I still get some Grit left, a little bit. [Sirens fade in]
> Mike / G.M.: [OOC] Basically you die when everything goes to zero and you get attacked again. Okay. Let’s talk about what everybody wants to do. Remy, as soon as initiative is over, and I won’t even charge him the three seconds that he might have to think about whether it was wise for him to leave, just books it. Jumps out the window, jumps down a whole story. Maybe clouds a little bit upon impact, but just get’s out of that apartment. Remy, when you get down onto the ground, you see, it’s dark out. It’s night. There’s a bunch of people who have crowded around in the courtyard and are looking up at all of the commotion… This huge, almost burning hole of an apartment that’s in the building. You surprise some of them as you land and you see off to your right the Nolastrian Guard approaching in three small conveyance with flashing purple lights. Purple and white light on top of them. Yea, they’re on their way. What do you do? What does everyone else do? You have a clear picture in your mind of this place you have to run to.
> Bijan / “Remy”: [OOC] Remy just books it the opposite direction of the Nolastrian Guard. [Nick Laughs]
> Mike / G.M.: [OOC] Okay
> Bijan / “Remy”: [OOC] He’s not really thinking still. His main goals are to run, hide, Gunch up [Shannon giggles] then maybe he can think about other things.
> Mike / G.M.: [OOC] Great. If you run in the opposite direction of the direction the Guard is coming from, you’re basically running north on Nosse, which is the opposite direction that you want to be going, but like, you know, that fine. If you keep running north, Yea, Nolaster’s very dense. There’s a bunch of side streets you can duck into.
> Bijan / “Remy”: [OOC] Yea
> Mike / G.M.: [OOC] Some people saw you run in that direction but you know, who know’s what they’ll do with that information.
> Bijan / “Remy”: [OOC] And I guess Eatherspeak is like over infinite distance, if I’m not mistaken?
> Mike / G.M.: [OOC] As far as we have established, it does not turn off with distance. So, you are still connec…
> Bijan / “Remy”: [OOC] So I guess the team could keep tabs on Remy. Cuz his mind is still going like “survive, survive, survive, survive”
> Mike / G.M.: [OOC] And I think we had…
> Nick / “Vynos”: [OOC] How many more minutes do we have left on our phone plan for Eatherspeak?
> Shannon / “Beta”: [OOC] The Eatherspeak, it was six plus two, so it was eight minutes so…
[00:33:10] > Mike / G.M.: [OOC] So I’m gonna say you probably at this point have about five and a half / six minutes of it remaining. Like, that battle was probably only about two or three minutes. [Jenn Laughs] Everything happened very very quickly.
> Bijan / “Remy”: [OOC] A very long battle though, let’s be honest.
> Mike / G.M.: [OOC] So, yea, everybody perceives Remy, kind of, just booking it away from what he perceives as danger and more aggressors, to safety. What’s everybody else gonna do?
>Jenn / “Merkis”: [OOC] I think Merkis and Zeshdano are heading straight to...
> Mike / G.M. / “Zeshdano”: [OOC] Yea
>Jenn / “Merkis”: [OOC] the slip but on the way he’s talk’n to her about Deep River...
> Bijan / “Remy”: [OOC] Awwwww
>Jenn / “Merkis”: [OOC] cuz he [Laugh] saw the letter and he’s just like, [IC] Oh… Millen, hu?
> Shannon / “Beta”: [OOC] [Laughs] Awwww
> Mike / G.M. / “Zeshdano”: [OOC] Yea. As you hear the Nolastrian Guard approach, Zeshdano looks at you and is like [IC] [Whispers] okay… just play it… just play it cool [OOC] and just starts walking in a direction and is just, you know, keeping an eye on the Nolastrian Guard and everybody who is around. And is walking briskly but not suspiciously and just, you know, looks at Merkis and just starts having casual conversation. Is like [IC] So! You ever been to Nolaster before? [OOC] And eventually maybe what they get to is… [IC] So, do you got a partner?
>Jenn / “Merkis”: [IC] Yea. Her name is Deep River. [Laughs]
> Mike / G.M.: [OOC] [In funny voice] She goes to another school. [Cast Laughs]
>Jenn / “Merkis”: [IC] Yea. I’ll find my way back.
> Mike / G.M. / “Zeshdano”: [IC] How did you and Deep River meet?
>Jenn / “Merkis”: [IC] Oh, Well! It was on our last mission, before we were here. And, gotta say, it was love at first sight.
> Mike / G.M. / “Zeshdano”: [IC] Sounds like a typical Fleeter romance. [OOC] And her eyes are darting back and forth along the horizon. I’ll describe what it’s like getting to the slip in a sec. Let’s talk about what everybody else wants to do and how we want to deal with Oat.
> Shannon / “Beta”: [OOC] So, the Guards are where and is there any like, woods or like, dense areas or buildings with alleyways or anything like that?
> Mike / G.M. / “Zeshdano”: [OOC] Yea, you’re on Gnöss which is one of the peninsulas. It’s the main residential peninsula so it’s kinda like the closest thing that Nolaster has to suburbs. So, there’s just a lot of residential buildings around. You’re on the second floor of, kind of like a big apartment building thing. There’s a bunch of people in the courtyard in front of you and the Nolastrian Guard is approaching very quickly from the south.
> Shannon / “Beta”: [OOC] So I think…
> Mike / G.M. / “Zeshdano”: [OOC] Which is also the direction that you have to go to get to where you need to go. But like, there’s a lot of buildings around. There are a lot a dark alleyways that you can sneak into. Nolaster’s a very densely built city. You know, it’s sort of like Venice meets Rotterdam.
> Nick / “Vynos”: [OOC] Just remember all of your favorite alleys in Rotterdam [Cast Laughs]
> Shannon / “Beta”: [OOC] So I think rather than going in the opposite direction, maybe we should go, like, straight through to just try to like… but not towards the Guard but, to like…
> Nick / “Vynos”: [OOC] Perpendicular or something?
> Shannon / “Beta”: [OOC] Perpendicular to try to…
> Nick / “Vynos”: [OOC] Okay. Yea, Vynos is only carrying the feet [Sirens fade in] so Beta’s really driving here [Shannon laughs] with the bulk of the weight so Vynos is happy to follow wherever you’re taking us.
> Shannon / “Beta”: [OOC] And, Yea, And I see, you know, like an alley between two apartment buildings and I am directing us towards there.
[00:35:51] > Mike / G.M. / “Zeshdano”: [OOC] Okay, Great, Yea. So you like, Hup Hup Hup Oat down the flight of stairs. [Siren fades out] Beta is navigating, Vynos is carrying Oat’s feet, and you kinda just try to duck down an alleyway. You turn just before the Nolastrian Guard pulls up and you hear the doors on their conveyances open [thump sound] and close and you hear them start to shout. They start telling people to clear the area [thump sound] and they start putting up, you know, [Siren fades in] barricades and tape to block everyone out. And you hear them sort of shouting at one another about looking at the apartment and making sure there aren’t any people around. [Siren fades out] You hear them... just within earshot you are able to hear them ask a couple people if they saw where anyone went. “Did you see anybody who was here go off in a direction? Did you see anybody leave? Could you describe anyone who was involved?” and you can’t hear any answers but, you know, cross your fingers I guess. And you all make your way to the thing that you… the place that you know only because the memory of it has been implanted by Zeshdano Navelle. Bijan, let me know what Remy does when there’s something that Remy does, otherwise I’m just gonna go forward.
> Bijan / “Remy”: [OOC] Yea, Remy, you know, I think he probably put about… I mean he runs maybe a mile or something. He’s just going...
> Mike / G.M. / “Zeshdano”: [OOC] Yea
> Bijan / “Remy”: [OOC] ducks into an alley, hides behind some trash cans and uses some Gunch. Just Gunches up. Cuz he’s hurtin pretty bad. He’s not in a good way. Two health. Great. [Cast Laughs]
> Mike / G.M. / “Zeshdano”: [OOC] Oh no. Poor guy.
> Bijan / “Remy”: [OOC] The other thing he wants to do is try the very complicated bandage device that he has?
> Mike / G.M. / “Zeshdano”: [OOC] Oh Yea! Sure!
> Bijan / “Remy”: [OOC] So I think he’s just gonna like, press it to his stomach and use it.
> Mike / G.M. / “Zeshdano”: [OOC] Okay. Hold on one sec. Let me find it. This is the… you don’t know that it’s called this… but it’s called the Portable Vomeronersaverer Afixer - Sport edition. Okay. [Shannon Laughs] So. [Bijan Laughs]
>Jenn / “Merkis”: [OOC] I wanna know the other editions.
> Mike / G.M. / “Zeshdano”: [OOC] Yea, Right? [Nick Laughs]
> Bijan / “Remy”: [OOC] Yea, there’s gotta be a classic edition [Mike Lauhs] There’s gotta be [Jenn Laughs] like an edition that's...
>Jenn / “Merkis”: [OOC] Retro [Shannon Laughs]
[00:37:58]> Bijan / “Remy”: [OOC] Yea, you know.
> Mike / G.M. / “Zeshdano”: [OOC] Okay. You stab it into… you like… so it sort of looks like someone crossed a very fancy gamer’s graphics card/sports car with one of those stamp deals… like, one of the very dramatic address stamps. Roll…. Oh, nothing. It just works. [Cast Laughs] Okay. [Cast Laughs] Yea. Tell me what you do. Tell me where you stamp yourself and I’ll tell you what happens to your body.
>Jenn / “Merkis”: [OOC] Oh No.
> Bijan / “Remy”: [OOC] He just sticks it in the middle of his chest and stamps.
> Mike / G.M. / “Zeshdano”: [OOC] Okay. [stamp sound] You hear the adhesive backing come away from one of the bandages that you saw inside when you opened it up on Gnarcossa and you hear a slight buzz and humm as whatever mechanics inside of it activate whatever that thing is. And when you remove the Vomeronersaverer from your chest after you have affixed it, you see this sort of dull gray square, almost like a tattoo. Like it’s not a bandage, it’s like, it’s ink and it just seeps into your chest. And suddenly you feel like you can… your sense of taste goes nuts. You can taste cardinal directions. Like, you can taste north and you can taste the brick wall that you are looking across from. And you swear in a very strange sense, you’re even able to taste the locations of your friends. And the locations of the Nolastrian Guard that you are hiding from. In game terms, this is something that makes your sense of taste extremely sensitive [Cast Laughs] and it becomes a way for you to gain knowledge. [Cast oohhs] And so you have to roll… you can roll to understand the world through various ways through your sense of taste. And that is D-Will, plus D-eight, plus your level. And depending upon how well you do, you learn more or less by tasting the environment, by just existing in it. [Jenn Laughs]
> Bijan / “Remy”: [OOC] Well, Remy’s pissed [Bijan and Jenn Laugh]
> Mike / G.M. / “Zeshdano”: [OOC] Yea, unfortunately it is not… even though it looks like bandages, it is not bandages.
> Bijan / “Remy”: [OOC] I guess he’s Gunched up… I think he’s gonna take another hit of Gunch and then use his fucking pin and try to go that direction now that he’s calmed down a bit.
> Mike / G.M. / “Zeshdano”: [OOC] Yea, Great.
> Bijan / “Remy”: [OOC] Cuz I feel like this super sensing thing is like, a shock to the system.
> Mike / G.M. / “Zeshdano”: [OOC] Yea, it’s probably a little unpleasant.
> Bijan / “Remy”: [OOC] Yea, he’s not having a good time generally speaking. So yea, i guess he’s gonna hit that Gunch and then head toward the party.
> Mike / G.M. / “Zeshdano”: [OOC] Okay.
> Bijan / “Remy”: [OOC] Three more health. Okay… he’s at a respectable ten.
> Mike / G.M. / “Zeshdano”: [OOC] Zeshdano and Merkis are up in front of everyone and you are continuing your casual conversation. Zeshdano looks very tense and is walking with purpose but is trying very hard to just make it appear as though the two of you are just friends out for a stroll. Is Merkis, sort of like, matching that energy?
>Jenn / “Merkis”: [OOC] Merkis is uncharacteristically calm [Laughs] and sort of has the walking gate of Matthew McConaughey in True Detective.
[00:41:18] > Bijan / “Remy”: [OOC] Jesus! [Mike Laughs] [Jenn Laughs]
> Mike / G.M. / “Zeshdano”: [OOC] is he saying anything about the nature of time or perhaps flat circles?
>Jenn / “Merkis”: [OOC] Yea. [Laughs] He is just saying slowly [IC] So, we’re on Gnöss? [Shannon Laughs] [OOC] Just to no one in particular. [Laughs] But still engaging in the conversation.
> Mike / G.M. / “Zeshdano”: [OOC] You ask this question as you reach the border road and Zeshdano says [IC] Well, I mean, not anymore. [OOC] and she turns right and then after a couple paces turns right again and starts walking up the next peninsula over, which is called Arbide. Yes, and you’re walking against a flow of people. It’s very late in the evening. It’s probably like, early, early morning now. You know, like, the early shifts for work are going to begin in probably the next two or three hours. But you’re walking against a flow of people. There’s a small trickle of people who are walking down Arbide and going back in the direction you came up Gnöss; ostensibly to see what all the hullabaloo is about. [Sirens fade in] It seems like maybe word has traveled about some doings that are transpiring. It’s a ten or so minute walk up Arbide until you get to the marina. It is a sort of mixed industrial and residential zone. But after a little while you get to this huge branching, almost like, fractal collection of piers [Sirens fade out] and walkways and small edifices that just reaches out and out and out onto the bayou. You see all of these boats. All of these like, small skinny gondola-like ships. [Sirens fade in] All of these huge yacht-like monstrosities… Boats and vessels of all sizes. Zeshdano is leading you very confidently down these very narrowing walkways and boardwalks past… you know, this thing that you don’t… you recognize only because the memory has been implanted that… it seems like all of these slips each have their own little hut that’s associated with it like a small house or closet or workshop or something. It seems like this is ,like, a common thing. And then she stops, after, you know… it feels like a short walk. You realize now that you are kind of out in the middle of the bayou on this weird pier walkway. She stops in front of one of those small huts and it has a handmade sign on the front of it that says “M. Ptoleny”. And she opens the door and steps aside for you to walk in.
>Jenn / “Merkis”: [OOC] Merkis nods and walks in.
> Mike / G.M. / “Zeshdano”: [OOC] So inside, it’s like a double wide outhouse. It’s not [Jenn Laughs] huge. It really is just like, kind of just a walk in closet, but not a big walk in closet. But it’s cozy. It’s sort of dark wood construction. There’s a tiny workbench to the left. There’s a shelf on the far wall with, like, boat and engine repair manuals and maps on it. There’s a small footlocker. There’s like, a little refrigerator that’s similar to the one she had in her apartment. There’s a few paintings just like around. One of them on the right hand wall as you walk in is very notable. It’s large and it’s black and white… it’s high contrast and it’s this weird tangle of stair and pathways with this blue sky orb in the middle and you can see a man standing straight… you know, standing straight up atop a flight of stairs looking into the horizon of this orb in the top left corner of the painting. And then you see a woman, also standing, looking at the horizon of this thing upside down at the top of her own inverted staircase in the bottom right hand corner. And it’s just like…
> Taylor / “Oat”: [OOC] Hot!
> Mike / G.M. / “Zeshdano”: [OOC] Like a very strange striking piece of art that doesn’t really [Jenn Laughs] like, fit.
>Jenn / “Merkis”: [OOC] In a very humble..
> Bijan / “Remy”: [OOC] You know…
>Jenn / “Merkis”: [OOC] Yea [Laughs]
> Bijan / “Remy”: [OOC] Mike, I’m just glad it took us this many episodes to mention that there’s an orb in this story.
> Taylor / “Oat”: [OOC] Yea! Ug! [Shannon Laughs]
> Mike / G.M. / “Zeshdano”: [OOC] Took long enough.
> Taylor / “Oat”: [OOC] The Orb is the chorus of every tale. [Mike Laughs] You wanna get to it as soon as possible.
> Bijan / “Remy”: [OOC] Yea! [Jenn Laughs] I feel like… have we gotten to orbs in Fun City regular… classic yet? [Taylor Laughs]
> Mike / G.M. / “Zeshdano”: [OOC] That’s a good question. I’m gonna put it in the notebook...
>Jenn / “Merkis”: [OOC] No, I don’t think so.
> Mike / G.M. / “Zeshdano”: [OOC] as soon as we’re back. “Orbs. More Orbs.”
> Bijan / “Remy”: [OOC] Great. Thank you.
>Jenn / “Merkis”: [OOC] All Orbs
> Taylor / “Oat”: [OOC] Morbs [Jenn Laughs]
> Mike / G.M. / “Zeshdano”: [OOC] After you walk in, you know, there’s enough room Zeshdano walks in behind you, closes the door, and she walks right past you, straight to the back wall of the hut which is the wall that on the other side of it is the bayou so you know, there’s water on the other side of it. She bends down, like, sort of rummages behind some things, you hear a clicking sound [jangling noise and click] and as she stands the wood panel [sliding sound] wall that is there just disappears into the ceiling with a clattering sound…
[00:45:57] >Jenn / “Merkis”: [OOC] Woah
> Mike / G.M. / “Zeshdano”: [OOC] like it’s one of those roll top writing desks. And she reveals behind it… behind this false wooden wall, and ashy white stone wall with a small hole in the middle [Jenn gasps] And it’s got a single blue stone set into it, right above the hole. And she reaches under her blazer and under her shirt and she pulls out this big handful, this tangle of necklaces that she’s been wearing. And she starts picking through them. She’s got all these little charms on them and she finds one and she pulls out, and it looks like it's, you know, kind of shaped like an axe and it’s got a similar looking blue stone on it. And she very carefully removes it from the clasp and takes it off of her necklace and shoves the bolas of necklaces under her shirt and she turns back to Merkis and she holds up the little Axe thing with the blue stone in it… she looks at Merkis and she says [IC] Don’t Blink. [OOC] She turns around and she places the charm in front of the blue stone puts it in the hole
>Jenn / “Merkis”: [OOC] He’s been dismissively, just, kind of puts his hands on his hips like “What do you mean?” [Laughs] And then...
> Mike / G.M. / “Zeshdano”: [OOC] Nothing happens. And then nothing happens. She pulls it out and she goes [IC] Fuck! Ummm. [OOC] And she like, breathes on it [Bijan Laughs] and rubs it against her shirt, [Jenn Laughs] puts it in again.
>Jenn / “Merkis”: [IC] Should I hold my breath?
> Mike / G.M. / “Zeshdano”: [OOC] And nothing happens and she goes [IC] Sorry, this is kind of, like, Millen’s area of expertise. He built this. Umm. Ahhh. I don’t know, you guys were like saying lines back at the apartment. I thought it would be cool if I said a line. Umm. Sorry, this is sort of anti-climatic. Uhhh… hold on. Ummm. [OOC] And she, like, looks kind of flustered like she doesn’t know what to do. What’s everybody else doing? Yea. You guys are walking against a sea of people. Every once in a while someone gives you a weird look cuz you’re carrying someone who appears to be unconscious. Is Oat making a lot of noise? Is he quiet? Like…
> Taylor / “Oat”: [OOC] He’s trying not to but he is groaning and letting out little “Arg”, when he’s gotta lift his leg over a thing.
> Shannon / “Beta”: [OOC] And Beta keeps on saying [IC] Appendicitis. Ech. We’ll deal with it when we get home. [Cast Laughs]
> Bijan / “Remy”: [OOC] That’s not a home disease!
> Nick / “Vynos”: [OOC] No.
> Shannon / “Beta”: [OOC] Oh, we’ll take care of the appendicitis at home.
> Mike / G.M. / “Zeshdano”: [OOC] As you say this to a group of people who are giving you a look like “What the hell is going on here?”, as they pass by you, you hear one of them say [IC] Hey do aaaaaa… do Harajoon have appendices? appendices? appendixes? [OOC] And you do not hear what their friend’s reply. I rolled to see whether or not any member of the Nolastrian Guard see you and find you suspicious and at this point the answer is, no. You see some conveyance blast by you with the sirens going but they do not stop and pay you any mind. Remy, are you just bookin it towards Arbide?
> Bijan / “Remy”: [OOC] Yea. Sprinting. [Laughs]
> Mike / G.M. / “Zeshdano”: [OOC] Merkis, back in the hut,
>Jenn / “Merkis”: [IC] Are you sure it’s that one? [Siren fades in] Do you need help untangling the rest of them?
> Mike / G.M. / “Zeshdano”: [OOC] She looks… she pulls out her necklaces and she’s like [IC] Yea, it’s definitely… it’s definitely this one. [OOC] and she holds the two things next to one another and she says [IC] I… You know, Millen explained it to me once. It like… sometimes it gets unst… it has to do with the resonances between the two stones and the way time and space work and the… [arg] I don’t know. To be perfectly honest, when he explained it I kinda tuned him out a little bit. I, uh, it usually just works. Ummm… [Siren fades out]
>Jenn / “Merkis”: [IC] Time and Space? Can I try?
> Mike / G.M. / “Zeshdano”: [IC] Uhh… Yea? [OOC] and she hands you the little golden axe with the stone in it.
>Jenn / “Merkis”: [OOC] Yea, Merkis is just saying [IC] Time and Space. Time and Space [OOC] [Laughs] He just holds it up to the wall and sees if that makes a difference.
> Mike / G.M. / “Zeshdano”: [OOC] As you’re holding it, you get a very similar feeling that you got when you were holding the map that The Aanverder handed you. The four dimensional, spherical, like, projections map. You know that feeling that Banshees get when they look at a TAC map? Which is like, this sort of mental calculation that’s hard to describe but happens. When you look at the coordinates that get you to where you need to go using a stiffworks? You got that similar thing when The Aanverder handed you, weird spherical projection map. You get it again holding onto this thing except instead of this every-shifting four dimensional map for an estate, This is just a map from one place to another place, just always evolving through this maze of like, weird indescribable causality. You have a feeling that you know how to use it.
[00:50:31] >Jenn / “Merkis”: [OOC] Merkis does his thinking noise. [IC] [Strange mumbles] [OOC] [Laughs] Does anything happen when he’s just, like, rotates it like ninety degrees or something?
> Mike / G.M. / Zeshdano: [OOC] Please spend D-Will Grit.
>Jenn / “Merkis”: [OOC] Okay. My Will is… uuuhhh D-eight… four. Gotta spend four.
> Mike / G.M. / “Zeshdano”: [OOC] When you turn the little axe in the hole you feel some effort expended by your body and your mind.
>Jenn / “Merkis”: [OOC] Uh-Hu
> Mike / G.M. / “Zeshdano”: [OOC] With no pageantry. With no sound. With no force of any kind, the wall in front of you just disappears. [chime sound] Just blinks out of existence. And you are looking into a small cave… cavern. Probably about twice the size of Zeshdano’s apartment. The rock is light colored and dusty. It’s geometric with, like these, straight up and down, vertical plinths rising from the ground, descending from the ceiling. Small ridges have been turned into makeshift shelves and little storage nooks for more things that look like they came out of this hut that you’re standing in. There are some tools that are scattered around. There’s no other discernible entrance or exit into the small cave that you’re looking into. The rock itself seems to emit a kind of dull light. Zeshdano starts to walk… get’s this look of, like, sort of surprise but also appreciation and she says [IC] I mean, you could’ve said you were a Banshee [Jenn and Taylor Laugh]
>Jenn / “Merkis”: [OOC] Hummm. [Taylor Laughs] And he just hold up the thing and says [IC] We’re in [Mike Laughs]
> Mike / G.M. / “Zeshdano”: [OOC] She starts to walk into the cave and then puts her finger up and turns, goes back into the hut, goes over to the painting, and spins it by it’s center, so that the woman is now in the top left corner and the man is in the bottom right corner and she says [IC] If we hide in here, no one will be able to find us.
>Jenn / “Merkis”: [IC] Amazing [Shannon Laughs] [OOC] He’s just so fascinated by this. Lot of technical marvels in the room.
> Shannon / “Beta”: [OOC] But does he go back into his young voice when he says that? I actually love that.
>Jenn / “Merkis”: [OOC] No. [Laughs]
> Bijan / “Remy”: [OOC] That’s so funny
>Jenn / “Merkis”: [OOC] I just can’t control my voice. [Shannon Laughs] I don’t know. Maybe it’s like puberty for him I think.
> Shannon / “Beta”: [OOC] Yea
> Bijan / “Remy”: [OOC] Remy probably pulls up at this point. Cuz he’s been sprinting for like the last thirty minutes.
> Mike / G.M. / “Zeshdano”: [OOC] Yea, you get to the hut that the memory of which has been inserted into your mind and when you walk through the front door you see Zeshdano and Merkis standing in this strange cozy workshop but one wall of it extends into a cave that is far too large to be contained in this tiny room and Zeshdano is spinning a painting and she looks at you and she says [IC] Just in time.
> Bijan / “Remy”: [OOC] Remy walks forward and just collapses
>Jenn / “Merkis”: [OOC] And Merkis just looks down [IC] Uh… uhhh… Uh Oh.
> Mike / G.M. / “Zeshdano”: [OOC] Zeshdano points, just like, [IC] I feel like that’s been kinda a long time coming.
> Bijan / “Remy”: [IC] Just help me, help me, help me, help me get in
>Jenn / “Merkis”: [OOC] Yea, Merkis gives the trinket back to Zeshdano and goes to help Remy up to sit somewhere.
> Mike / G.M. / Nolastrian Guard: [OOC] Back to Beta, Vynos, and Oat. I rolled again just to make sure you do not have and encounter with the Nolastrian Guard and one of them, as you’re walking, you’re getting close to the marina, you know that you’re probably only about three minutes away from getting to the hut, and on Arbide is one of the Nolastrian Guard main precincts. So you’re actually walking towards where a lot of the conveyance is coming from and where the guards are sort of like, piling out the precinct to head to Gnöss to see what the commotion was about. And one of them pulls… up next to you, you know, is driving towards you and you’re walking forward, and sticks their head out. It’s a blue skinned human man like Canary and he says [IC] You, Ahhh… you folks havin a good night?
> Taylor / “Oat”: [IC] [Ghasps] [Breaths hard]
> Nick / “Vynos”: [OOC] Vynos acts surprised [IC] Oh Wa Th… Oh, Hey! Good evening officer. [chuckle] You startled me there. Ha ha. Oh, Yes. We are well. How are you?
> Mike / G.M. / Nolastrian Guard: [IC] I’m doin okay
[00:54:46]> Nick / “Vynos”: [IC] Oh, Good. Good. Good.
> Mike / G.M. / Nolastrian Guard: [IC] How’s your… friend?
> Nick / “Vynos”: [IC] Our friend is not well. He partied a little bit too hard. [chuckles]
> Shannon / “Beta”: [IC] Ha ha ha.
> Nick / “Vynos”: [IC] Not used to the um… [OOC] What is that drink here called? Ummm…
> Mike / G.M. / Nolastrian Guard: [OOC] The Rock?
> Nick / “Vynos”: [IC] He’s not used to the Rock here. Ummm… [Chuckles] Um, yes. He definitely smelled what the Rock was cooking [Cast Laughs] If you got my meaning. Ummm...
> Taylor / “Oat”: [OOC] A million years in the future that phrase has survived.
>Jenn / “Merkis”: [OOC] Aww Shit. [Cast Laughs]
> Nick / “Vynos”: [OOC] It means something totally different. It’s a different reference. Don’t worry about it.
> Taylor / “Oat”: [OOC] Total Coincidence!
> Nick / “Vynos”: [OOC] It’s a coincidence.
> Bijan / “Remy”: [OOC] I mean…
> Nick / “Vynos”: [OOC] Don’t worry about it.
> Mike / G.M. / Nolastrian Guard: [OOC] When you say that he has partied too hard and that he has hit the sauce a little bit too much, he lightens up a little bit and he says [IC] Oh. We’ve all been there. We’ve all been there. Okay. There’s a lot going on this evening. A lot of trouble makers out there. So, Uhh… You just, you be careful and you get your friend home to rest real real quick. Where are you headed?
> Nick / “Vynos”: [IC] Oh! Just a few blocks away actually. Yes, we’ll stay out of that trouble for you, and you be safe, Okay?
> Mike / G.M. / Nolastrian Guard: [IC] Okay. You as well. [OOC] And he motors off
> Shannon / “Beta”: [IC] Ahh. Ugh [Cast Laughs] Good save Vynos! I was gonna immediately say appendicitis, but it doesn’t seem to be…
> Nick / “Vynos”: [IC] Yes, that’s something that the police officer would be required to call a hospital for I believe.
> Shannon / “Beta”: [IC] Right…. right right right right right right right right. We better get going.
> Nick / “Vynos”: [IC] Yes. We don’t treat that… we don’t treat that at home like I’ve told you many times. It’s not something that you do. You need to have it removed.
> Shannon / “Beta”: [IC] I have no appendices.
> Nick / “Vynos”: [IC] I know…
[Music Fades In]
> Mike / G.M.: [OOC] Zeshdano and Merkis help Remy into the inexplicable blue/white cavern and Zeshdano pulls down the wooden roll wall. Through the still disappeared hole in the rock, they can hear the boathouse creak and sway, the light morning wind, and the distant hum of the barges in the bayou. After a short while, they also hear footsteps; uneven and labored. Two people carrying something heavy. Vynos and Beta, with Oat, arrive at the hut, and it’s far wall retreats into it’s ceiling revealing an impossible room on the other side; though, a room filled with friendly faces. Zeshdano beckons them in and, after a few tries, seals the door. The sound of the Nolsatrian morning cuts out suddenly. For now, they are alone. And, apparently safe.
[Music Fades Out]
> Nick / “Vynos”: [OOC] Vynos is ticked off. He doesn’t carry heavy things. He doesn’t like carrying heavy things. [Shannon Laughs] He’s old. He’s time travel ridden. He’s not made for carrying, you know, dying people. And, so, he comes in with a huff, places Oat down gently, and then glares straight at Remy. Remy… if Remy’s in the area. I don’t know if he’s still in the ah…
> Bijan / “Remy”: [OOC] I think Remy’s passed out against one wall.
> Nick / “Vynos”: [OOC] Okay, well, he stares at him still even though he’s passed out. [Shannon, Jenn, and Mike Laugh]
[00:58:16]> Shannon / “Beta”: [IC] Incredible place you got here.
> Mike / G.M. / “Zeshdano”: [IC] Sorry. I should have explained. Millen… this is Millen’s slip. He’ll be here pretty… He’ll be here pretty soon I think. He’s coming in from the north where work in the Unwinter on something you probably haven’t heard about. It’s called the folded city. He was able to… I barely understand it myself. He describes it as “borrowing” a part of it and has connected it to his boat house. And we just sort of use this as, like, a hiding spot sometimes when we need it. Or just like, you know, a private get away like, hangout. Right now you’re not in Nolaster. You’re in the Unwinter, very far in the north, in a part of it that you can’t get to from any other spot other than Nolaster.
> Bijan / “Remy”: [IC] Um, Yea. I mean… I feel [chough]... somewhat… I mean, I didn’t feel like I was traveling. But then again, it’s hard to feel much. I’m so tired.
> Mike / G.M. / “Zeshdano”: [IC] Millen says everyone should have a hideout. I don’t know if that’s true… he thinks it’s really cool. He did a lot of work to try to make this work and I guess I’m glad we have it. Hey! What was the deal with the monster? So you guys… [Bijan Laughs] know what that thing was?
> Bijan / “Remy”: [IC] Oh… The Ah… [OOC] Remy would know what this is, right?
> Mike / G.M. / “Zeshdano”: [OOC] I probably… Yea.
> Bijan / “Remy”: [IC] Oh Yea, that guy. That’s The Emissary.
> Mike / G.M. / “Zeshdano”: [IC] Is that like an old school buddy of yours?
>Jenn / “Merkis”: [IC] The Emissary?
> Bijan / “Remy”: [IC] Yea… Don’t worry about it. [Cast Laughs]
> Shannon / “Beta”: [IC] Are they coming back?
> Bijan / “Remy”: [IC] Ummm… well… It’s depends on… you know, to explain what happened. So remember when I was like, “Aw, we gotta find Zeshdano, so I’m gonna call her on the spiritual telephone”... I didn’t use those words exactly.
>Jenn / “Merkis”: [IC] Yeaaa….
> Bijan / “Remy”: [IC] I didn’t use those words exactly. Yea. So, that’s what happens when I do that.
> Shannon / “Beta”: [IC] Oh!
>Jenn / “Merkis”: [IC] It Does!?!
> Nick / “Vynos”: [IC] Hum. Well.
> Bijan / “Remy”: [IC] Yea.
> Shannon / “Beta”: [IC] Well, maybe… maybe maybe, discuss with the group before you use that phone line again.
> Nick / “Vynos”: [IC] Yea. Hardly seems orthi…
> Bijan / “Remy”: [IC] Well, it was pretty desperate. Vynos, you know… you know like, beings beyond space and time, that sort of thing…
> Nick / “Vynos”: [IC] Well, yes I do. But I don’t know what stopped it except for the star that Oat carries seems to have undone it somehow. Oat. Oat!
> Taylor / “Oat”: [IC] Ooohh. [Groans]
> Bijan / “Remy”: [IC] This is not heaven. This is hell. You are in hell.
> Nick / “Vynos”: [IC] Beta, he needs help.
> Shannon / “Beta”: [IC] Uuhhh… I have Nothing left in me to help heal him more.
> Bijan / “Remy”: [IC] Hold on. I got something for ya. [OOC] Remy walks over and shoves some Gunch in his mouth
> Taylor / “Oat”: [IC] Remy...
> Bijan / “Remy”: [IC] Gunch up buddy.
> Taylor / “Oat”: [IC] Remy… just, unbutton the top button of my pants. [Nick Laughs]
> Bijan / “Remy”: [IC] Yea, Okay… Yea… Okay.
>Jenn / “Merkis”: [IC] Beta, does your phone line do that? Does it summon things?
> Shannon / “Beta”: [IC] Oh, Not yet.
>Jenn / “Merkis”: [IC] What do you mean “Not yet”?
> Shannon / “Beta”: [IC] I mean, now it’s got me thinking. I never really had an issue but…
>Jenn / “Merkis”: [IC] Uooohh… how many times have you used that with us? [nervous laughter]
> Bijan / “Remy”: [IC] I just, I just, you know… it seemed like a desperate situation and it seemed like a desperate measure. You know, so it… made the phone call.
> Nick / “Vynos”: [IC] Yes. Yes. You did it before in the other timeline too. But…
> Bijan / “Remy”: [IC] Excuse me?
> Nick / “Vynos”: [IC] It doesn’t matter. Oat! Oat! Can you hear me?
> Taylor / “Oat”: [IC] Yea. Thank you Remy for unbuttoning the top of my pants. It just makes it easier to breathe. [Gasps]
> Nick / “Vynos”: [IC] Oat. We need to get you some bigger pants.
> Taylor / “Oat”: [IC] I smart all over.
> Bijan / “Remy”: [IC] You sure you don’t want some Gunch buddy?
> Taylor / “Oat”: [IC] Oh No. I’ve still got some in my cheek. Thank you
> Bijan / “Remy”: [IC] Okay. Alright.
> Taylor / “Oat”: [IC] I get it by the way. I GET Gunch now. Thank you. [Shannon Laughs]
> Bijan / “Remy”: [IC] Yes! You understand. Finally, someone on my side.
> Taylor / “Oat”: [IC] Yea. It doesn’t just look cool. It also feels good.
> Mike / G.M. / “Zeshdano”: [OOC] Zeshdano just puts a quick hand up like she want’s to ask a quick question and she says [IC] Um, do we think we’re gonna stay here for a few minutes? We’re not about to head back out, like, immediately. Is that right? [Bijan Laughs]
> Bijan / “Remy”: [IC] Zesh… where the fuck are we gonna go?
> Mike / G.M. / “Zeshdano”: [IC] Yea… Okay great.
>Jenn / “Merkis”: [IC] I don’t think it’s a good idea to leave.
> Nick / “Vynos”: [IC] Yea. We have much to learn here from Oat.
> Mike / G.M. / “Zeshdano”: [OOC] Great. So then, she says [IC] Okay. I think I can help. [OOC] She goes to a small section of the rocks and she, like, pulls the top off of them [clanking noise] and reveals what is like a little storage container and she starts to pull out bottles and cans and bags of food and she starts handing them out to everybody.
> Bijan / “Remy”: [OOC] Hu!
> Mike / G.M. / “Zeshdano”: [OOC] As long as you guys promise that what you’re about to do takes an hour, then everybody can gain a bunch of health because Zeshdano is using one of her powers, which is called “Feed”.
[01:02:56] > Nick / “Vynos”: [OOC] Yay!
> Mike / G.M. / “Zeshdano”: [OOC] Which she literally just hands people, like,... The language in the book is “Jerky and Booze”
> Nick / “Vynos”: [OOC] Alright!
> Bijan / “Remy”: [OOC] YEaaa!
>Jenn / “Merkis”: [OOC] Awww. Yesss!
> Shannon / “Beta”: [OOC] Amazing!
> Nick / “Vynos”: [OOC] This is Great!
> Bijan / “Remy”: [IC] Zesh. Zesh, baby. This is it.
> Nick / “Vynos”: [OOC] Okay, do we roll for how much we get or just heal up?
> Mike / G.M. / “Zeshdano”: [OOC] No. I roll. And, Zesh is a level ten character so...
> Nick / “Vynos”: [OOC] Nice!
> Bijan / “Remy”: [OOC] Whoah!
>Jenn / “Merkis”: [OOC] Whoah!
> Shannon / “Beta”: [OOC] Whoah!
> Taylor / “Oat”: [OOC] Whoa. Zeshdano…
> Mike / G.M. / “Zeshdano”: [OOC] Everybody can heal twenty four pool...
> Nick / “Vynos”: [OOC] Wow.
>Jenn / “Merkis”: [OOC] Wow!
> Mike / G.M. / “Zeshdano”: [OOC] However they like
> Shannon / “Beta”: [OOC] Damn!
> Taylor / “Oat”: [OOC] Oh. Wow!
> Nick / “Vynos”: [OOC] Nice!
> Bijan / “Remy”: [OOC] THAT is what I want to hear.
> Nick / “Vynos”: [OOC] Twenty Four Poooooooool!
> Bijan / “Remy”: [OOC] So I’ll just give myself twenty grit and take that four health Babyee. Maybe less.
> Nick / “Vynos”: [OOC] That give me full
>Jenn / “Merkis”: [OOC] Back at Full. Yea.
> Shannon / “Beta”: [OOC] Yea.
> Taylor / “Oat”: [OOC] This is just because we’re eating?
> Nick / “Vynos”: [OOC] And boozing!
> Taylor / “Oat”: [OOC] Alright. Great. [Nick Laughs]
> Mike / G.M. / “Zeshdano”: [OOC] This is a Refactor power. She can spend an amount of Grit and then she rolls her Charm plus… and then adds her level and her Charm is her highest stat and her level is ten. So…
>Jenn / “Merkis”: [OOC] Wow.
> Bijan / “Remy”: [OOC] Wow.
> Nick / “Vynos”: [OOC] The fact that we are feeling better doesn’t really surprise Vynos very much. Everybody’s just, like, really enjoying this jerky and it’s got a nice kind of, spice to it and they’re warm spices and it really is great. It feels like home. And the booze is nice. But when he looks at Oat, and Oat is just like in this almost dead state going from, basically, the worst person you could find in a hospital, [Shannon Laughs] to basically, like, the most healthy sort of monkey man you could ever see [Bijan Laughs] it really is truly like looking at a miracle.
> Taylor / “Oat”: [OOC] Well, I think that Beta’s healing saved his life…
> Nick / “Vynos”: [OOC] Right.
> Taylor / “Oat”: [OOC] And now he’s getting his energy back.
> Nick / “Vynos”: [OOC] Uh Hu.
> Taylor / “Oat”: [OOC] So he’s sit’s up [IC] Oh! Thank you. No. This smells so good. Thank you. Oh, Yea. No. I’m feeling much better.
> Bijan / “Remy”: [IC] Yea!
> Taylor / “Oat”: [OOC] And he leans over and you hear a [Pop] and the green star jewel that had been pressed into this chest by The Emissary pops out and beneath it is just like a pink imprint in his flesh. It’s like, you know, he’s covered in hair, but not here. You can just see a few baby hairs starting to grow back [Bijan Laughs] from Combot’s… from Beta’s healing. And he holds the stone in his hand.
> Bijan / “Remy”: [IC] Wow. That’s that top button hu?
>Jenn / “Merkis”: [IC] Mr. Oat. What was that about back there?
> Taylor / “Oat”: [IC] [Sighs]
> Nick / “Vynos”: [IC] Yes. What is that that you hold in your hand?
> Bijan / “Remy”: [IC] Yea. How’d you… you sent it back dude.
> Taylor / “Oat”: [IC] Ahhh. I didn’t do anything. I just wanted to help Remy. But, Uh… Yea. I guess ummm… it… I saw it coming at me and it was… It happened really fast, but it was gonna go through my chest and then it hit The Postulate and just stopped.
> Nick / “Vynos”: [IC] The what?
> Taylor / “Oat”: [IC] I mean, it hurt like hell [cough cough]
>Jenn / “Merkis”: [IC] The Postulate?
> Nick / “Vynos”: [OOC] Vynos is looking around like, [IC] The Postulate? Does everybody know about The Postulate? What Postulate?
>Jenn / “Merkis”: [IC] Like Math?
> Taylor / “Oat”: [IC] Uuuuhh… I think so. [Shannon Laughs]
> Bijan / “Remy”: [IC] So you’re saying… you’re telling me math did the thing to the thing and deflated the noodle?
> Nick / “Vynos”: [IC] Ummm….
> Taylor / “Oat”: [IC] Yea. This is ummm… it was The Aanverder’s. And, Um… A very long time ago, Gah, it’s hard to remember details but I got hired to steal it from her and that’s how we met.
> Nick / “Vynos”: [IC] Aaaa. So, those were memories that we saw.
> Bijan / “Remy”: [IC] What did you think they were?
> Nick / “Vynos”: [IC] Well, I didn’t know until just now. He saying that this is true. He was hired to take this Postulate from The Aanverder? Is that correct Oat?
> Taylor / “Oat”: [IC] Yea. Yea.
> Bijan / “Remy”: [IC] Do you know what it is? Did you know at the time? What is that?
> Taylor / “Oat”: [IC] Aaaa… No. That’s really kinda above my pay grade. [Cast Laughs] Aaaaa… I am a guy who can get things. I am not a guy who understands things.
> Bijan / “Remy”: [IC] So, you’ve just been carrying it around this whole time?
>Jenn / “Merkis”: [IC] Yea. What happened to the people who wanted it?
> Taylor / “Oat”: [IC] Oh! Ummmm… I mean, first of all, I don’t even know if they’re alive or dead. But also, if I don’t give it to ‘em, then, like, I never finished the job. So, it’s kinda like an open thread for me, I think.
> Nick / “Vynos”: [IC] So, you still intend to give this to these people?
> Taylor / “Oat”: [IC] I wasn’t planning on it, No.
> Shannon / “Beta”: [IC] Well Oat, I am really glad you had it because if not, that Emissary…. Ummm… I don’t think we were headed in a great direction.
> Bijan / “Remy”: [IC] Yea. It really didn’t seem like we were gonna be able to…
> Taylor / “Oat”: [IC] Golsian somethin! They were called like, ummm… Gols… Golsi somethin.
> Nick / “Vynos”: [IC] Golsi something…
> Taylor / “Oat”: [IC] Maybe Goose?
> Nick / “Vynos”: [IC] Definitely not Goose.
[01:07:31] >Jenn / “Merkis”: [IC] Goose?
> Nick / “Vynos”: [IC] The Gouse Mot…
> Taylor / “Oat”: [IC] They were dorks. It’s just like… Absolute….
> Nick / “Vynos”: [IC] The Gouse Mutitunda?
> Taylor / “Oat”: [IC] What?
> Nick / “Vynos”: [IC] The Gouse Mutitunda?
> Taylor / “Oat”: [IC] Yes! You know them!
> Nick / “Vynos”: [IC] No. [Cast Laughs] I’ve only heard tell.
> Taylor / “Oat”: [IC] Well, yea. It was them. You know, weirdo math, science research freaks.
> Nick / “Vynos”: [IC] Hummm.
> Taylor / “Oat”: [IC] And they are freaks. Whatever you’ve heard, they are so much worse freaks. [Jenn Laughs]
> Mike / G.M. / “Zeshdano”: [OOC] [Laughs] It’s like a math cult.
>Jenn / “Merkis”: [IC] Math.
> Shannon / “Beta”: [IC] Well, hummm…
> Taylor / “Oat”: [IC] No. This was theirs and The Aanverder captured it in some battle or something she was in. I actually, I never spoke to her about it, because, you know, that’s just, that’s not what you do. Even if, even if, even if you break the rules, you know, in the back of your mind you still… you don’t wanna give up the whole game. So, I never actually asked her about it. All I know is that she wore it around all the time.
> Nick / “Vynos”: [IC] Oat. Do you mind if I speak with it?
> Taylor / “Oat”: [IC] Ummm…
> Bijan / “Remy”: [OOC] [Whispers unintelligibly] [Cast Laughs]
> Taylor / “Oat”: [IC] I hope that… are you sure that’s okay? I mean, we just saw what happened when that thing touched it.
> Nick / “Vynos”: [IC] Hum. I’m not sure.
> Taylor / “Oat”: [IC] But… Yea, but Vynos, I don’t wanna see that happen to you. But it you think it’s okay I mean, yea. Mi Casa es Su Casa. [Shannon Laughs] Spanish has survived One Million years! [Cast Laughs]
> Bijan / “Remy”: [IC] You know Oat, I think, you know, if anything is gonna deflate it’s that rock. Vynos is a freaky dude.
> Taylor / “Oat”: [IC] I don’t think so. This is a piece of serious business. They were going to pay me enough money to buy a small planet of my own if I was to give it back to ‘em. I mean, The Aanverder would put everything else in the vault but this she wore. And she did not take it off.
> Nick / “Vynos”: [IC] Hum. Well. I have questions.
> Mike / G.M. / “Zeshdano”: [OOC] You gonna do the thing to the rock that you did to the paper?
> Nick / “Vynos”: [IC] What? Yes.
> Mike / G.M. / “Zeshdano”: [IC] You gonna do the thing to the rock that you did with the paper?
> Nick / “Vynos”: [IC] Yes.
> Mike / G.M. / “Zeshdano”: [IC] You're gonna zone out for a little while and pretend like you’re talking to the…
> Nick / “Vynos”: [IC] I’m not pretending anything. Now…
> Mike / G.M. / “Zeshdano”: [IC] Sure [Bijan Laughs]
> Nick / “Vynos”: [OOC] So Vynos reaches out and gently touches it.
> Taylor / “Oat”: [OOC] Alright.
> Nick / “Vynos”: [OOC] And so, I am… I just need to burn one Grit. I will probably burn more than that because it’s Reason plus my level so I’m rolling fourteen but I wanna roll a twelve so I’m gonna probably burn six more Grit… Yea.
> Mike / G.M. / “Zeshdano”: [OOC] He wants to talk to the rock!
> Nick / “Vynos”: [OOC] I need to talk to the fucking…
> Bijan / “Remy”: [OOC] I mean, look. It’s gotta take a lot of stuff to talk to the rock.
> Nick / “Vynos”: [OOC] Um. Okay.
> Shannon / “Beta”: [OOC] Rocks are, you know, historically hard to talk to.
> Bijan / “Remy”: [OOC] It’s true.
> Mike / G.M. / “Zeshdano”: [OOC] Like squeezing. Like, you know the saying; It’s like squeezing conversation from a rock.
> Shannon / “Beta”: [OOC] Right [Bijan Laughs]
> Taylor / “Oat”: [OOC] Like, Oat is calling it a rock, like, in a bit of a sassy thing.
> Mike / G.M. / “Zeshdano”: [OOC] Yea
> Taylor / “Oat”: [OOC] It is an extraordinarily beautiful thousand faceted gem. It’s like, bigger than your hand. Like it’s,... [Laughs] to call it a rock is insulting. But, you know, that’s…
> Nick / “Vynos”: [OOC] Okay. Vynos rolled a nineteen which is more than enough to get all three facts.
> Shannon / “Beta”: [OOC] OOoooo
> Nick / “Vynos”: [OOC] Again, to remind everyone, when I speak with steel, I can either learn how the object was made, socially, not technically, so… who made it. Who last used it, or how it really works. And that’s more on the technical side less on the historical side like the first one. If you get a twelve or higher you learn all three. So I rolled a nineteen.
[01:10:48] [Electronic Music Fades In] [Voice Reverb Begins]
> Nick / “Vynos”: [OOC] Vynos reaches his hand out to touch the star and it feels like a thousand years between when he’s six inches away until he touches it. And then, out of respect for this object, it’s like waking up your parents… Um, when, you know, in the middle of the night when you really don't want to. Vynos speaks very gently and he says… this is in his mind [IC] Excuse me.
> Taylor / “The Oragamin Postulate”: [IC] Behold! The Oragamin Postulate!
> Nick / “Vynos”: [IC] Hello. I am but a humble traveler. I see to know how you were made.
> Taylor / “The Oragamin Postulate”: [IC] We are so glad you are talking to us.
> Nick / “Vynos”: [IC] Oh. Good. [Shannon Laughs]
> Taylor / “The Oragamin Postulate”: [IC] We have been quiet and alone for so long.
> Nick / “Vynos”: [IC] Oh! [Laughs]
> Taylor / “The Oragamin Postulate”: [IC] Was that you earlier?
> Nick / “Vynos”: [IC] Yes. Well, um, you mean the one who hit you really hard into a Harajoon’s chest?
> Taylor / “The Oragamin Postulate”: [IC] Yes, that’s a way to put it.
> Nick / “Vynos”: [IC] That wasn’t me, that was an interdimensional tentacle monster.
> Taylor / “The Oragamin Postulate”: [IC] Yea. We could tell. [Jenn Laughs]
> Nick / “Vynos”: [IC] Okay. Good. Good. Good. [Bijan Laughs] I’m so glad that you wish to speak with me. Sometimes…
> Taylor / “The Oragamin Postulate”: [IC] Oh sooo much!
> Nick / “Vynos”: [IC] Yes.
> Taylor / “The Oragamin Postulate”: [IC] We used to be surrounded. So many minds!
> Nick / “Vynos”: [IC] Yes. Oh! Alright. I take it that I’m in the presence of more than one.
> Taylor / “The Oragamin Postulate”: [IC] Are you a part of The Gouse Mutitunda?
> Nick / “Vynos”: [IC] No. I’m familiar though.
> Taylor / “The Oragamin Postulate”: [IC] You know them?
> Nick / “Vynos”: [IC] Well, I’ve heard tell.
> Taylor / “The Oragamin Postulate”: [IC] Oh.
> Nick / “Vynos”: [IC] Um, But, you know, as… while we’re on the topic, could you tell me about them and how they made you?
> Taylor / “The Oragamin Postulate”: [IC] The Gouse Mutitunda sought to do what no one thought was possible. We are pure postulation. Physical computation. The idea of process made steel and stone. We are the Oragamin Postulate
> Nick / “Vynos”: [IC] Ah. I see. I see. And what did they make you for?
> Taylor / “The Oragamin Postulate”: [IC] As great anchor. A great filter. It’s hard to describe like this. Your brain is very small.
> Nick / “Vynos”: [IC] Yes, I know. Umm…
> Taylor / “The Oragamin Postulate”: [IC] We are… [OOC] And you see, like, images, like, flickering in your mind. Vynos, when was the last time you had to follow written instructions?
> Nick / “Vynos”: [OOC] Ohhh… Umm… I’m sure there was a type of space snack that I needed to make sure that I ate right or I’d die. [Mike and Jenn Laugh]
> Taylor / “The Oragamin Postulate”: [OOC] Okay, Great. So, in your mind, like, you can kinda see…
> Nick / “Vynos”: [OOC] Right
> Taylor / “The Oragamin Postulate”: [OOC] You’re back in that spot and you got the package of the space snack in your hand.
> Nick / “Vynos”: [OOC] Yea. Yes.
> Taylor / “The Oragamin Postulate”: [OOC] Only the ingredients and the like warnings… “Don’t eat before you swim” or whatever…
> Nick / “Vynos”: [OOC] Right.
> Taylor / “The Oragamin Postulate”: [OOC] You know, those common warnings we all know…
> Nick / “Vynos”: [OOC] Yea.
> Taylor / “The Oragamin Postulate”: [OOC] You see them like, change around and they say, “Higher Interdimesional beings or objects who eat, devour, taste of this snack, might find themselves unfolded into three dimensional space. WARNING! This action is permanent. [IC] Is that better when we put it in chips? [Cast Laughs] Do you understand the chip language?
> Nick / “Vynos”: [IC] Um. I think it helps a bit. It seems like you are something that unfolds interdimensional objects into three dimensions.
> Taylor / “The Oragamin Postulate”: [IC] He’s getting it!
> Nick / “Vynos”: [IC] Okay. Okay. In a sort of irreversible way?
> Taylor / “The Oragamin Postulate”: [IC] That we know of, yes.
> Nick / “Vynos”: [IC] Oh! Great. Great. Great. Who last do…
> Taylor / “The Oragamin Postulate”: [IC] Perhaps a second Oragamin Postulate will be made. Until then, we cannot know…
> Nick / “Vynos”: [IC] I see.
> Taylor / “The Oragamin Postulate”: [IC] For a Postulate cannot know it’s sub, or later Postulates.
> Nick / “Vynos”: [IC] Well, how do you work? [Jenn Laughs]
> Taylor / “The Oragamin Postulate”: [IC] How are you with number theory?
> Nick / “Vynos”: [IC] I… [Chuckles] I’ve had to use it some in my science.
> Taylor / “The Oragamin Postulate”: [IC] We are an instantiation of a theoretical consummation dealing with the hypothetical translation of indimentional precipative matter, intersectional in common perception states. That is, perception states common to you. I.E., most perception in three dimensional space.
> Nick / “Vynos”: [IC] Ah.
> Taylor / “The Oragamin Postulate”: [IC] When we interact with higher indimentional beings or objects, we translate them into the indimentional space by which you usually perceive reality.
> Nick / “Vynos”: [IC] Hum.
> Taylor / “The Oragamin Postulate”: [IC] Imagine a piece of paper. [Laughs] [OOC] You are back in that place where you were and you’re holding a piece of paper and it just says “Chips” on it. [Cast Laughs]
> Nick / “Vynos”: [OOC] We go back to the chips, yes.
> Taylor / “The Oragamin Postulate”: [OOC] In, like,a big 48pt Time New Roman “Chips”
> Nick / “Vynos”: [IC] Yes
> Taylor / “The Oragamin Postulate”: [IC] Imagine a piece of paper. It has height and width. But now imagine turning that piece of paper on it’s side. A straight line. You have removed one dimension. Now, imagine that this is possible from forty-seven dimensions to four.
> Nick / “Vynos”: [IC] I see. And a being like The Saffron Anax…
[01:15:35] > Taylor / “The Oragamin Postulate”: [IC] I do not know what those words mean.
> Nick / “Vynos”: [IC] I see.
> Taylor / “The Oragamin Postulate”: [IC] But please, tell me about yourself. [Shannon Laughs] Tell me about The Saffron Anax. What are you into? [Jenn Laughs]
> Nick / “Vynos”: [IC] The Saffron Anax.
> Taylor / “The Oragamin Postulate”: [IC] Is that a kind of hobby? [Cast Laughs]
> Nick / “Vynos”: [IC] It is not a kind of hobby or a kind of chip. It doesn’t matter. I think you may come in good use for us.
> Taylor / “The Oragamin Postulate”: [IC] Oh, we definitely will.
> Nick / “Vynos”: [IC] Afterall…
> Taylor / “The Oragamin Postulate”: [IC] You should keep us around and talk to us often.
> Nick / “Vynos”: [IC] I will try. Thank you for your time.
> Taylor / “The Oragamin Postulate”: [IC] Oh. Wait. No! No! Stay!
> Nick / “Vynos”: [IC] Oh, wait, sorry. Who last used you?
> Taylor / “The Oragamin Postulate”: [IC] Oh. Well, Um… Ahhh. “Use” is strange.
> Nick / “Vynos”: [IC] Yes
> Taylor / “The Oragamin Postulate”: [IC] We last touched a being that was unfolded into four dimensional space…
> Nick / “Vynos”: [IC] Ah, Yes.
> Taylor / “The Oragamin Postulate”: [IC] ...just a few hours ago.
> Nick / “Vynos”: [IC] Oh. Right.
> Taylor / “The Oragamin Postulate”: [IC] Yes, we have a clock in here. [Cast Laughs]
> Nick / “Vynos”: [IC] Okay. Well. That will be all I need to know for now. I appreciate your help.
> Taylor / “The Oragamin Postulate”: [IC] Before that…
> Nick / “Vynos”: [IC] Yes?
> Taylor / “The Oragamin Postulate”: [IC] …We were only used in experiments by the Gouse Mutitunda. Do you know them?
> Nick / “Vynos”: [IC] I’ve heard tell of the Gouse Mutitunda.
> Taylor / “The Oragamin Postulate”: [IC] I know. I’ve already asked you that. [Cast Laughs] I’m digging a reas… I want you to stay around.
> Nick / “Vynos”: [IC] I understand
> Taylor / “The Oragamin Postulate”: [IC] Can you return us to the Gouse Mutitunda?
> Nick / “Vynos”: [IC] If it is to be, it is to be. Thank you for your…
> Taylor / “The Oragamin Postulate”: [IC] Well, I mean, you would know if that’s something you could do.
> Nick / “Vynos”: [IC] I do not know if that is something I can do, as I’ve only heard tell of the Gouse Mutitunda. I do not know if I can get you back to them because I don’t know if they still exist. Or where they are.
> Taylor / “The Oragamin Postulate”: [IC] We did not mean to make you mad. I apologize. [Shannon Laughs]
> Nick / “Vynos”: [IC] Well, don’t apologize to me. You’ve been very helpful. Thank you very much. You will be with us…
> Taylor / “The Oragamin Postulate”: [IC] Oh. Thank you! Oh! Please don’t go!
> Nick / “Vynos”: [IC] Oh! What else is it?
> Taylor / “The Oragamin Postulate”: [IC] Oh. I don’t… I just… you cannot understand the loneliness we experience. Please stay. Where are you from?
> Nick / “Vynos”: [IC] Well, just kind of listen when we’re around. You seem to have some clue about what’s going on. You…
> Taylor / “The Oragamin Postulate”: [IC] Where are you from? Only a little bit. I can only know what approaches my least intimate barrier.
> Nick / “Vynos”: [IC] Well, Uh…
> Taylor / “The Oragamin Postulate”: [IC] What you are touching currently.
> Nick / “Vynos”: [IC] Can I give you a tip on making friends?
> Taylor / “The Oragamin Postulate”: [IC] Yes. And give as many tips as you would like to give.
> Nick / “Vynos”: [IC] Okay, I will give you one tip now and maybe one tip much later, okay?
> Taylor / “The Oragamin Postulate”: [IC] Not too much later though.
> Nick / “Vynos”: [IC] Okay, not too much later. [Jenn Laughs] Don’t be a burden immediately when you just meet someone. Alright?
> Taylor / “The Oragamin Postulate”: [IC] You said I was helpful.
> Nick / “Vynos”: [IC] Keep it pleasant. Yes, you were helpful…
> Taylor / “The Oragamin Postulate”: [IC] You said we were helpful.
[Electronic Music Fades Out] [Voice Reverb Ends]
> Nick / “Vynos”: [IC] Yes. Now you’re becoming a social hindrance to me. My friends and I have a lot to do, and we can’t be talking with things all this… [OOC] and at this point, Vynos is finding himself speaking out loud and he looks around and everybody is looking at him and then he just lets go… stops touching the stone.
> Taylor / “The Oragamin Postulate”: [IC] Wait!
> Mike / G.M. / Zeshdano: [OOC] Extremely needy, very powerful, beautiful gen.
>Jenn / “Merkis”: [OOC] So, just for clarification, how long was that for the rest of us? Like, was that in an instant for you or is it… was it like twenty minutes?
> Nick / “Vynos”: [OOC] I never really thought about how long this takes. I imagine it’s probably quicker than a whole conversation would take for me but… Mike, does the rule book or anything that you ever played have any comment on this, like, canon wise?
> Mike / G.M. / Zeshdano: [OOC] I believe this is…
> Shannon / “Beta”: [OOC] [stage whispers] Make it up.
> Taylor / “Oat”: [OOC] I think we can just decide.
> Nick / “Vynos”: [OOC] Okay.
> Mike / G.M. / Zeshdano: [OOC] Yea. I believe this is a standard action and so I think that it happens in real time.
> Nick / “Vynos”: [OOC] Okay. Then it happens in real time.
> Mike / G.M. / Zeshdano: [OOC] Yea. I think it just… it takes as long as a conversation takes.
> Nick / “Vynos”: [OOC] Yep.
> Mike / G.M. / Zeshdano: [OOC] And then I think that also explains why, like, in the past when you’ve been standing around talking to…
> Nick / “Vynos”: [OOC] Yea, that makes sense. Yea.
> Mike / G.M. / Zeshdano: [OOC] ...a full gate stabilizer or a piece of paper, the people who are with you are looking at you like, “What’s goin on dude?”.
> Nick / “Vynos”: [OOC] Yes. Yes. It does take as long as a regular conversation. I do not need to speak out loud but it is very easy for me to just slip into speaking out loud [Shannon Laughs] because I, you know, it does become like talking to someone, like, how real it is in my head. So, I often will go to mumbling, or like this in the conversation and kind of loud toned speaking.
>Jenn / “Merkis”: [OOC] Yea, not knowing how long this was going to be, Merkis settled in and like sat on the ground and asked Zeshdano for the bundle of necklaces so he could try to just untangle it for her.
> Mike / G.M. / Zeshdano: [OOC] Yea. She hands it to you. It’s like a… it’s maybe a dozen or more necklaces that are all just in a nest.
>Jenn / “Merkis”: [OOC] And he’s just going [IC] [Humms] We don’t know how long these conversations can last.
> Mike / G.M. / Zeshdano: [OOC] She says [IC] Oh, believe me, I watched him talk to a flier for about ten minutes.
>Jenn / “Merkis”: [IC] He did? He talked to a flier?
> Mike / G.M. / Zeshdano: [IC] Oh, um. He… when we had to move Boo, Vynos thought it would be a good idea to make sure he didn’t have anything… you know, just to check and see what he had on him. And one of the things that he found was a… actually, he might still have it. It was this flier from Pirate Island, that’s like this propaganda campaign that has been going on over there that’s like about how bad the Co is and how it wasn’t to become like a world government. Which is just like, total nonsense and I said to Vynos, you know, it’s so disappointing to see it on Boo. Like, he was so much smarter than that. And, you know, I don’t know. I can’t help but think that that’s part of what led him to do what he did.
[01:20:38] > Taylor / “Oat”: [IC] What did it say?
> Nick / “Vynos”: [IC] Well, it basically turns indimentional objects and beings into three dimensional ones irreversibly.
>Jenn / “Merkis”: [IC] What does that mean?
> Nick / “Vynos”: [IC] Well, That Emissary was obviously an indimentional being, a being that exists in more dimensions than three plus space. By touching the star, it became a three dimensional being and can’t go back.
> Mike / G.M. / Zeshdano: [OOC] Zeshdano looks at Merkis and says [IC] You ever see ham go through a meat slicer?
> Nick / “Vynos”: [IC] It’s like ham going through a meat slicer.
> Bijan / “Remy”: [IC] I mean… we… right… Merkis…
>Jenn / “Merkis”: [IC] Ohhh.
> Taylor / “Oat”: [IC] Did it say anything about me in particular?
> Nick / “Vynos”: [IC] It didn’t mention you at all, I mean…
> Taylor / “Oat”: [IC] Oh, Thank God.
> Nick / “Vynos”: [IC] Why? What were you worried it would say?
> Taylor / “Oat”: [IC] I just put it on top of the box where I keep my clothes and stuff when I’m, you know, just at home. So it’s seen… some… things…
> Shannon / “Beta”: [IC] Listen team; did we ever figure out why the police came to the apartment?
> Nick / “Vynos”: [IC] No
> Mike / G.M. / Zeshdano: [OOC] Zeshdano starts to nod. She said [IC] Yea. Did you hear what that Hanna said before the pirates showed up?
> Nick / “Vynos”: [IC] Yes. They were there because of a murder. Of you.
> Mike / G.M. / Zeshdano: [IC] She said someone called to report the murder of a missing fleeter.
> Nick / “Vynos”: [IC] Yes.
> Taylor / “Oat”: [IC] But you aren’t dead.
>Jenn / “Merkis”: [IC] That Boo was not a fleeter.
> Mike / G.M. / Zeshdano: [IC] No
> Nick / “Vynos”: [IC] The person that reported the murder knew of your murder [laugh] before they could.
> Bijan / “Remy”: [IC] They must have called that in.
> Nick / “Vynos”: [IC] They were involved at the very least. Yes.
>Jenn / “Merkis”: [IC] Is there any way you can trace that back?
> Mike / G.M. / Zeshdano: [IC] I do not have any contacts at the Nolastrian Guard, No.
>Jenn / “Merkis”: [IC] Oh. Different organization. Not the fleet.
> Mike / G.M. / Zeshdano: [IC] Very much so. Different. Yes.
> Shannon / “Beta”: [IC] Well it seems like Boo was involved and Boo… maybe we should ask someone who knows what Boo’s been up to.
> Nick / “Vynos”: [IC] Yes
> Mike / G.M. / Zeshdano: [OOC] She’s thinking really hard, she’s like, [IC] The Guard and the pirates are now going to report that a fleeter or a group of fleeters have killed a freedom fighter. Because by this point they figured out that Boo was in the apartment and is dead. They spread word; which they almost certainly will. Then that’s going to incite the accelerationists and probably some portion of the pirates. Which means that The Guard is gonna then fight back. Which means they’re gonna be incited even more and then probably The Company is gonna have to take a side or defend their outposts, which is gonna look like they're taking a side even if they don’t. They’re gonna have to defend themselves from whoever comes at them first. And then Thwoolf is gonna use this as an excuse to isolate because tensions on the continent are gonna increase. And then Hauktik is gonna suffer because trade with other states through Thwoolf is gonna be restricted. Arg. And this is just gonna cause everything that I have been trying to prevent…
> Nick / “Vynos”: [IC] Yea. [Sigh] It seems we’re in a pickle. What I can say is; One - the Anax appears based on our experience and your documents, to be in cohorts with the company and is most likely responsible for your assasination success, and then attempt, and then failure. It seems that we may have been meant to take the blame in some way for your death, thus absolving the company and the Anax from any responsibility of starting this war. With you alive, we have the opportunity now to prove that they were the one who sent the assassin. That they were the one who started this war for their own gain. I don’t know what leads you have, but I only have one. This flier. [OOC] and he shows the flier that was on Boo’s person. [IC] I spoke with this flier and found who made it and perhaps upon speaking with them we can find out who Boo was consorting with.
> Mike / G.M. / Zeshdano: [IC] I mean, going to Graffa… if word travels fast that we, you know, even in defense, offed a Pirate, you know, if things get tense quick, it could be really dangerous. However, while we’re there, I could try to get us audience with Steady Hand Dealer who is… he’s a pretty high up Pirate. He’s the guy that I’ve been working with to hide all the arms. You know, he holds a lot of sway. We could try to also, you know, if we have more evidence from wherever this flier came from… I don’t know, you talked to the flier so I trust you. I did not talk to the flier.
> Nick / “Vynos”: [IC] Yea.
> Mike / G.M. / Zeshdano: [IC] But yea, there’s more than one thing we could do on Graffa if we wanna go that route.
> Nick / “Vynos”: [IC] As you said, us killing a Pirate, even in self defence doesn’t look good. But, what about a pirate who was working with the Anax and the Company for their ends and not for the ends of the Pirates? A Traitor! I think that Pirate would come off very differently to the rest of them, and perhaps… War; another conflict could be avoided.
[01:25:22] > Mike / G.M. / Zeshdano: [OOC] She swipes the flier from you and she looks at it and she turns it around and she says [IC] Are you telling me that you think this is some kinda Co psy-op?
> Nick / “Vynos”: [IC] Perhaps. Unless you think it’s a coincidence that a Pirate came to assassinate you when the Company and the Anax were working together to have your work to be undone. Boo was trying to convince you to let the weapons be free… for how long?
> Mike / G.M. / Zeshdano: [IC] I don’t know how long he was serious for. He made what I thought were jokes, you know, starting maybe, a couple months ago. But, you could tell he was getting more shady over the last couple weeks.
> Nick / “Vynos”: [IC] And what was his tune before a couple of months ago? Did he share these feelings, or did he reverse them?
> Mike / G.M. / Zeshdano: [IC] You know, he was a Pirate. He got into it because he wanted to cause trouble. He wanted to stick it to the man. So, I mean, he always was a sort of antiestablisment kind of guy.
> Nick / “Vynos”: [IC] Yea.
> Mike / G.M. / Zeshdano: [IC] But, you know, it wasn’t until recently where he, like, really started to sing the accelerationist tune. And it happened, you know, like a lot of things, slowly at first and then…
> Nick / “Vynos”: [IC] Tell me this, what do you think the chances are of the Pirates winning this war?
> Mike / G.M. / Zeshdano: [IC] I mean, the Pirates are gonna win no matter what because all they want to do is profit.
> Nick / “Vynos”: [IC] Hum.
> Mike / G.M. / Zeshdano: [IC] Really, the thing I wanna try to avoid is a power vacuum where they see a good reason to release all the weapons that I’ve had them store up over the years. You know, if someone comes to them with an idea that conflict is profitable, and they can make a pretty penny selling the things that I’ve had them hiding, that’s just gonna make everything worse. They’re… some portion of them are gonna fight, yes, absolutely. But what some of them want to see is everyone else fighting amongst themselves. And, I don’t know, this was stupid of me, you know. I’m kinda the one that they know to talk to about this. It was, like, my deal, my project.
> Nick / “Vynos”: [IC] Yes. Well, it seems to me that we; the fleeters here, know too much and have meddled too much. There is no just going back to our lives for us. The people who most likely set us up for your murder are extremely powerful. There will be no hiding. There will be no running that they won’t be able to find us and finish the job. We need to find out exactly what they did and cram it down their throats.
> Bijan / “Remy”: [IC] So, you’re saying we gotta go back to Nolaster.
> Nick / “Vynos”: [IC] Well, Yea. I think we can just go through this door here and we’re gonna be back there.
> Bijan / “Remy”: [IC] Yes.
> Nick / “Vynos”: [IC] I don't think that would be hard.
> Bijan / “Remy”: [IC] Okay. You're right. You’re right. It’s just that everybody’s looking for us…
> Nick / “Vynos”: [IC] Yes, that’s true
> Bijan / “Remy”: [IC] ...and by everybody I mean the police, the Pirates can’t be happy cuz, you know, we killed some of them… I think…
> Nick / “Vynos”: [IC] Yes. True
>Jenn / “Merkis”: [IC] You knew that other Pirate. Was it Canary?
> Mike / G.M. / Zeshdano: [IC] Yea. Um. He’s kind of like the… I don’t know how you would describe him… he’s kind of like the Refactor of the Nolastrian Pirates.
> Bijan / “Remy”: [IC] Oh, so he’s like “The Guy”.
> Mike / G.M. / Zeshdano: [IC] He’s not THE guy, although I do know “The Guy” [OOC] and she like, kinda, makes eye contact with all of you she’s like [IC] I mean if… [OOC] She looks at Remy and Vynos and she says [IC] The city is gonna be very unsafe for us. We’re gonna learn a lot as soon as we open that door and step foot 5000 kilometers south and see what state things are in but, I am not gonna guess that it’s gonna be good; in general or specifically for us.
> Taylor / “Oat”: [IC] Why in the world would someone do this?
>Jenn / “Merkis”: [OOC] Yea. Merkis is struggling with this.
> Mike / G.M. / Zeshdano: [IC] Let’s just try to think through what our options are. If you want to go and talk to THE Pirate; Steady Hand Dealer, I can get audience with him but we have to get there which might be complicated. There’s a chance Millen could help and he’s supposed to be home soon. May he’s gonna be waylaid. Who knows if they closed the northern gate into the city. He’s a pretty high up Company researcher so, they’ll probably let him through. But, the question is, if we’re gonna go to the Pirates… if we’re gonna talk to Steady Hand Dealer, I mean, what are we gonna say? I mean, what do you want? What do you want to do? I can tell you what I want to do but…
> Shannon / “Beta”: [IC] Well…
> Mike / G.M. / Zeshdano: [IC] I’m just one person and I’ve only known you… I’ve known this guy for two days. I’ve known you for a very short, very hectic amount of time.
> Shannon / “Beta”: [IC] Well, based on everything you just said, you’re telling us that we, essentially, started a war.
> Mike / G.M. / Zeshdano: [IC] I mean, I wouldn’t lay this at our feet. I would say someone else has tried to start a war using us, but, yes.
> Shannon / “Beta”: [IC] And without us doing anything, that war is gonna happen.
> Mike / G.M. / Zeshdano: [IC] I…
[01:30:20]> Taylor / “Oat”: [IC] That’s good planning. That’s call… They call that contingencies.
> Mike / G.M. / Zeshdano: [IC] Um, Yea. And, Um, I have been working for a number of years, as I was explaining… as I have explained to Vynos; to not make that happen. So if we could stop it, that might be good but… [OOC] and she just looks really exhausted. Like, she sort of slumps and, like, her shoulders slump, and like, her eyes close. And it’s like, you know, she’s in this quiet room 5000 kilometers north of the trouble that she’s… that is currently unfolding, and she’s like [IC] I just, I don’t know. If you were to tell me that it’s… we should just let it happen, I don’t know if I would argue. It’s just been so much work and it seems like this is not what people want. They don’t want peace.
>Jenn / “Merkis”: [OOC] Merkis stands up and kind of adjusts the collar on his jumpsuit. [IC] Everybody… what were your previous crew’s like? [OOC] and Merkis starts telling a yarn about... just kind of how he started. The day of his finding, which is when a researcher took a branch from Darason. Of his twenty-six brothers. A flashback of Banshee school with his twenty-six brothers and his older brother Marcos gets knocked down and he goes to try to help him but two other twin brothers hold him back and shake their heads. And, his last story is of his crew who were trying to escape a burning hulk. And Merkins is running; running through the gate and holding someone’s hand and just emerges with a human hand. And, he finishes telling the story and he just says [IC] We were put together on this crew. This was on purpose. Were all of your crews disbanded in any way?
> Shannon / “Beta”: [IC] [Sighs] Yea. I would say the ending of my previous crew was somewhat similar to your ending.
> Bijan / “Remy”: [IC] I mean, I didn’t have a crew. This work business is pretty recent I would say, you know? Been alive for a long time, but only recently…
> Nick / “Vynos”: [IC] I haven’t been assigned to a crew in years. I’ve been involved in my research and no one saw much need for me until this very crew.
>Jenn / “Merkis”: [IC] This was not a mistake.
> Taylor / “Oat”: [IC] I spilled chocolate milk all over my application and Algar told me to not even worry about it [Nick and Bijan Laugh]
> Nick / “Vynos”: [IC] That’s the most suspicious thing I’ve ever heard. [chuckle]
> Taylor / “Oat”: [IC] No, No… [Cast all talks at once]
> Nick / “Vynos”: [IC] Algar only cares about paperwork.
> Taylor / “Oat”: [IC] Have you ever had milk with chocolate in it? It’s great.
> Nick / “Vynos”: [IC] Well, yes, I don’t…
>Jenn / “Merkis”: [IC] It goes up to Algar!
> Nick / “Vynos”: [IC] Algar cares about paperwork more than anything else, I don’t understand why he wouldn’t…
> Shannon / “Beta”: [IC] Noooo…
> Nick / “Vynos”: [IC] That’s all he cares about is paperwork.
> Taylor / “Oat”: [IC] I was also surprised, that’s why I bring it up now.
> Shannon / “Beta”: [IC] No. No. He’s just a forgiving… forgiving… forgiving refactor…
> Bijan / “Remy”: [IC] Well, you know...
> Shannon / “Beta”: [IC] ...with a heart of gold.
> Nick / “Vynos”: [IC] [Sigh]
> Mike / G.M. / Zeshdano: [OOC] Zeshdano’s just looking at everyone else like “What the?”
> Taylor / “Oat”: [IC] Merkis. Say what you’re saying.
>Jenn / “Merkis”: [IC] Somebody did this to us. We need to find out who.
> Bijan / “Remy”: [IC] You know, I like to think that every fleet is disposable, but I think you’re right.
> Nick / “Vynos”: [IC] You’re absolutely right. And Zeshdano, you might not care about the war that would kill millions, but you care about your own life. Because the people who attempted to kill you are not done yet. When they find that you’re alive they will try to kill you again. You’re a loose thread that needs to be tied up, as are we. We all were supposed to go down for this.
> Mike / G.M. / Zeshdano: [OOC] She’s like, nervously sort of, like, braiding and unbraiding her hair and she kind of snaps out of it. She’s like, [IC] Yea. You’re right. You’re right. I just… it’s hard to keep focus on such a huge problem and it’s much much easier to just give up. But, you’re right.
> Bijan / “Remy”: [IC] Yea, so, I guess to start at the beginning sort of but, who… do you know who would want you dead? I mean you were fucking… helping deliver weapons to some people? [Nick laughs] Seems like a pretty dangerous job. You must have some enemies.
> Mike / G.M. / Zeshdano: [IC] Uh. I mean, hide weapons. But yes. I mean, think about every venture that you have been on as a crew together and with your previous crew, if you had them. In this Company, doing these things that they ask you to do… I mean, you make enemies. It’s hard to not make enemies in this job. I mean, that’s part of why I did what I did. Like, I thought, what is it like to try to unmake enemies, if that’s even possible. So, I mean, to answer your question, you know, who would want me dead... [ppfftt] get in line.
[01:35:07]> Nick / “Vynos”: [IC] Well we know that The Saffron Anax and his business partner Archivist Chragcht wanted Zeshdano out of the way.
> Mike / G.M. / Zeshdano: [IC] Uh. That is the most immediate answer to the question I think. Yes. Ummm…
> Taylor / “Oat”: [IC] Oh, No. You don’t think it was like a grade school bully or something? Zeshdano?
> Nick / “Vynos”: [IC] It wasn’t a grade school bully Oat.
> Mike / G.M. / Zeshdano: [IC] It would be quite the convenient twist if this were happening at the hand of someone who I had pissed off during some field work twenty-five years ago. [Laughs] [Shannon Laughs]
>Jenn / “Merkis”: [IC] [Laughs] Machinations.
> Mike / G.M. / Zeshdano: [IC] I mean, the number one thing that I would like to do is to figure out how to stop this war from happening and the only way that I can think to do that is to do the thing that I’ve been doing for the last two and half years, which is to try to make sure that the… that a sea of weaponry is not release into the hands of people that are very very willing to use it. And that means just going to the people that have the keys to the locks on the doors that are in front of the guns. And that’s the Pirates. But, I mean, I think I would need your help getting there.
> Nick / “Vynos”: [IC] Well, our help you have. You’re a… your position in any official capacity is over. Any time you try to use your position for the Company or anything else, you will have to expose yourself. As of right now, you’re dead, and whoever’s replaced you has already signed those papers that allow the trade to begin. We definitely need to go to the source here and stop this cache but, these weapons that the Pirates hold, this is only a fraction of what will be moved when the trade lines have begun opening, as The Saffron Anax and Archivist Chragcht clearly intend to do. We saw the documents… many many more guns than any Pirate can hold. How will this help stem the tide of war?
> Mike / G.M. / Zeshdano: [IC] Um, I see where you’re coming from. I mean, sometimes you treat the symptom and THEN you treat the sickness. I think there's an immediate danger. And you’re right. There is then a longer term danger. But, to be perfectly honest… And maybe this was just a failure of imagination on my part, I never even considered trying to figure out how to stop guns coming into the planet. It just seemed impossible. So I just hid the ones I could get a hold of. If you… I mean, are you saying what I think you’re saying?
> Nick / “Vynos”: [IC] What I’m saying is that, perhaps it is necessary to stop these weapons from being released in the short term. The weapons that could start the war, that they can then profit on by selling more guns and more weaponry. But, ultimately, with those trade lines open, weapons will pour in, that will make this cache seem like the arms on a ship, or in a barracks.
> Bijan / “Remy”: [IC] Whoa. That’s a lot of arms.
> Nick / “Vynos”: [IC] Yes. [Laughs]
> Bijan / “Remy”: [IC] Uh… Uh… But Vynos, here’s a question for you. How long do you think it’s gonna take to reopen those lines? And also, do they know that they’re currently closed… I guess I’m confused as far as like… Okay, we know where one cache of weapons is. But, how long will it take to get another one? Or another one? Or another one? You know?
> Mike / G.M. / Zeshdano: [OOC] Zeshdano nods and she’s like; [IC] Yea, that’s ummm… It depends upon what the Company does. If they go into lockdown then it will be harder to get things in through the Company. But there are two other companies on the continent. There’s Orthrax. There’s Oucher. You know, there’s independent distributors. They could try to get to the Pirates directly and use them as a distribution arm. And, I mean, the thing about conflict is, people are gonna need, you know… if there’s large scale conflict, people will need a lot. They’ll need more than just weapons. The desire for finished goods in general will probably dip at first, but then it’s gonna increase significantly as everybody spins up, you know… as every country on the continent spins up whatever defense system they have, they're gonna just need things.
> Bijan / “Remy”: [IC] So we gotta get this done before that happens. This being… nebulous things that we’ve decided to do. Pirates? Pirates?
> Taylor / “Oat”: [IC] Remy, are you okay? Are you sunsetting? [Mike Laughs]
> Bijan / “Remy”: [IC] Yea, I...
> Taylor / “Oat”: [IC] Oh. Come here buddy. Come here.
> Bijan / “Remy”: [IC] I’m still… I’m discombobulated, man. I almost died too.
> Taylor / “Oat”: [IC] I know. We are having a day! Come here buddy.
>Jenn / “Merkis”: [OOC] Merkis hands Remy some jerky.
> Bijan / “Remy”: [IC] Oh. Thank you.
> Shannon / “Beta”: [IC] You mentioned you know the… how can I say this… Head of the Pirates?
> Mike / G.M. / Zeshdano: [IC] Pirate King.
> Shannon / “Beta”: [IC] Pirate King. Do you think some of this information that we’ve gathered might be, uh… a little useful to him before he gets himself into quite a mess?
[01:39:57]> Mike / G.M. / Zeshdano: [IC] I mean, I will say, that as far as groups of people being tolerant of being manipulated goes, the Pirates are not, yea… not on that list.
> Shannon / “Beta”: [IC] I thought so.
>Jenn / “Merkis”: [IC] What’s Graffa like?
> Mike / G.M. / Zeshdano: [IC] It’s an island off the Dark Sea coast. It’s off the west. It is very sandy, and the… it’s very high up. And, it’s very crowded. It’s been… it’s one of the first settled places on Kakudun so it’s gotta lotta just… It’s gotta lotta history and that is very apparent in most things about it.
>Jenn / “Merkis”: [IC] Do we need a vehicle? Or, how do we get there?
> Mike / G.M. / Zeshdano: [IC] If we need to, Millen could probably get us there.
> Shannon / “Beta”: [IC] Well…
>Jenn / “Merkis”: [IC] Oh, right. When is Millen arriving?
> Mike / G.M. / Zeshdano: [OOC] She puts her hands out. She points at the nest of necklaces in your hand Merkis and she… and when you look there’s one that’s got a… like a clock on it. And she looks at it and she says [IC] Oh. Right. Time doesn’t work here. So, I’m not really sure. I can open the door and check the watch if you want. Is everybody okay if I peek outside really quick?
> Nick / “Vynos”: [IC] Yes.
>Jenn / “Merkis”: [IC] Yea.
> Bijan / “Remy”: [IC] Yea. What’s it gonna do, kill us?
> Mike / G.M. / Zeshdano: [OOC] She puts the key in the door, waits a sec, and it doesn’t work. Then she puts the key in the door again and wiggles it and it disappears and when this happens, the door doesn’t make a sound but there is suddenly a sound. And it is a very very loud cacophony of what is obviously, like, groups of shouting people. [Crowd noises] And like, clashing and strife of some kind.
> Taylor / “Oat”: [IC] Can we have FIVE REGULAR MINUTES TODAY!!! [Cast Laughs]
>Jenn / “Merkis”: [OOC] Merkis is backing away from the disappeared door.
> Mike / G.M. / Zeshdano: [OOC] It sounds like a riot outside. And she makes a face like she’s been hit with a bucket of cold water. And she just sticks her hand with the watch outside and looks at it and brings it back in and puts the key back in the door and it closes again. [Crowd noises end] And she says [IC] Millen is scheduled [OOC] She makes a face like “Uch” [IC] to be here in about forty-five minutes.
>Jenn / “Merkis”: [IC] [Sigh] If he can get through that.
> Mike / G.M. / Zeshdano: [IC] I mean…
> Bijan / “Remy”: [IC] I can, I mean… does anybody else need a nap? I could take a nap.
> Shannon / “Beta”: [IC] Well, friends, I don’t know what you’re all thinking, but it seems like… all roads lead to the Pirate King
[01:42:46] [Main Theme Beings]
> Mike / G.M.: [OOC] You are now leaving Float City. Thanks for listening. If you like the show and want to help us keep making it, head on over to Patreon.com/FunCityVentures. Five bucks a month gives you access to a whole other show we do called Fun Chatty. It gets you access to our rad as heck Discord full of very weird, very nice and smart nerds. It gets you access to music playlists and more. It is a wild deal. You know you wanna. Patreon.com/FunCityVentures. And of course thanks to all our current Patrons for help keeping this ship afloat.
[Main Theme Ends]
> Bijan / “Remy”: [OOC] Hi. I’m Bijan Stephen and I play Remy Tester on Float City. You can find me online on Twitter @bijanstephen B-I-J-A-N S-T-E-P-H-E-N. On Twitch at the same name, and on Instagram @bijancakes, B-I-J-A-N CAKES.
>Jenn / “Merkis”: [OOC] I’m Jenn de la Vega. I play Merkis Imeldar. You can find me on Twitter and Instragram @randwiches, that's the word sandwiches but replace the S with an R.
> Shannon / “Beta”: [OOC] This is Shannon Odell, I play Beta Commbot. You can find me on social @shodell
> Nick / “Vynos”: [OOC] Hello, this is Nick Guercio and I play Luxe on Fun City and Vynos on Float City. You can find me @nicholasguercio on Twitter and @ngurcio on Instagram. You spell Guercio, G-U-E-R-C-I-O.
> Taylor / “Oat”: [OOC] I’m Taylor Moore and I play all the cool, interesting characters. You can follow me @taylordotbiz [evil chuckle]
> Mike / G.M.: [OOC] My name is Mike Rugnetta, I am your G.M. and you can find me on Twitter and Instagram @mikerugnetta.
You can find the show on Twitter and Instagram @FunCityVentures. Float City is played in a soon to be released system called Still Fleet which you can find on Twitter, Instagram, and Pateron @StillFleet. This episode of Float City was recorded at various locations around Brooklyn, New York and Cape Cod, Massachusetts. It was produced, edited, and sound designed by me, Mike Rugnetta.
It plows the Earth in its own conceit. It overwhelms the hills. Beneath it’s winding labyrinths, til pixel riffs stops it in midst of it’s pride amongst its hills and rivers.
Fun City's music is by Sam Tyndall, with a little help this episode from Will Savino. Remy’s flute playing is by Jake Fridkiss. Our art is by Tess Stone. Our Discord mods are Olivia Gulin, Kelly McQue, Kit Pulliam, and Kestral. And the voice of Artemis is Molly Templeton.
[01:45:35] [ Outro Theme concludes ]
[ Transcription by Kirsten Johnson, @coffeejunkie79 ]