The crew leaves Graafa.
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Find more about Stillfleet at https://stillfleet.com
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@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 Torres
@mikerugnetta is everything else
--
This episode of Float City was recorded in various locations across Brooklyn New York. It was produced, edited and sound designed by Mike Rugnetta.
Once a dream did weave a shade,
O'er my Angel-guarded bed,
That an Emmet lost it's way
Where on grass methought I lay.
Troubled wilderd and folorn
Dark benighted travel-worn,
Over many a tangled spray.
All heart-broke I heard Pixlriffs say.
O my children! do they cry,
Do they hear their father sigh.
Now they look abroad to see,
Now return and weep for me.
Pitying I drop'd a tear:
But I saw a glow-worm near:
Who replied. What wailing wight
Calls the watchman of the night.
I am set to light the ground,
While the beetle goes his round:
Follow now the beetles hum,
Little wanderer hie thee home.
Our music is by Sam Tyndall - https://www.samtyndall.com/
Remy's flute playing is by Jake Fridkis - https://instagram.com/flutebros
Our art is by Tess Stone - http://notdrunkenough.com/
Float City's art is by Ethan Gould - https://www.instagram.com/spectralhouse/
Our Discord mods are Olivia Gulin, Kelly McKew, Kit Pulliam and Kestrel
And the voice of Artemis is Molly Templeton
[ 00:00:00 ] [ Intro Theme begins ]
> Molly Templeton / “Artemis”: [ IC ] In the far future, faster than light travel is possible via portals called stiffworks. Human and alien civilizations travel this way for millenia. Trade, war, and technology proliferate. Countless societies rise, thrive, fall, and vanish. Eventually, almost everyone forgets the secrets of the stiffworks... almost.
Three hundred years ago, the Worshipful Company of Stillfleeters is formed on Spindle, a space station of unknown origin. They send fleeters into the void using stiffworks in search of profit.
It is one hundred million years in the future. Welcome to Float City.
[ Intro Theme ends ]
[ Main Theme begins ]
> Mike Rugnetta / G.M.: Previously on Float City: The crew arrives on the pirate island Graffa to assist Zeshdano Navelle (the company refactor Vynos saved from certain death) in her quest to assure the weaponry the pirates have been squirrelling away for her, for years, aren’t suddenly sold for great profit now that Kakudun is on the brink of war.
Grand Shandy, the pirate king, says he may be able to convince the other members of the piratical convocation of the utility of this position, but only if the crew steal his eggs held in the house of his main political rival, Théyé Draffad, thus removing any leverage she has over him.
The team executes a daring heist, wherein Oat presents Beta as Alpha, a wealthy arms dealer interested in purchasing Théyé’s home, all while other members of the crew infiltrate from the sewers to steal the eggs. They’re successful, but to avoid harm, Merkis must take a pill that sends him melting through the centre of Graffa, only to encounter some terrible force.
We join the team the next morning, post-heist, at the Grand Shandy’s house, prepping for their next move and teasing out the conspiracy to kill Zeshdano and frame them for the murder.
[ Main Theme ends ]
[ Early morning bird sounds play ]
> Mike / G.M.: So, yeah, you can all regain pool. You also all had a chance to level up and so you wake up this morning not only feeling renewed but feeling slightly more powerful. So shall we go around and just very briefly find out what everybody feels newly capable of?
> Nick Guercio / “Vynos Lysumptuara”: [ OOC ] Well, a couple things have happened with Vynos recently and I think this has, kind of, come to a head here and now and a good night’s rest certainly did help, but one of the things that happen whenever he was - when he Called Weird and was in his Weird state for so long was - he noticed an ability that he had to affect people’s behavior and make them, kind of, miss and just be off in an important moment, and this ability is called Detune. With this ability Vynos can burn six GRT and make someone, anyone, fail a roll at any time. This is a free action, this can be done anytime, which was kind of an interesting thing for him to notice that he could do. The other thing is something that’s been stewing inside of him for a long time. Vynos has been with the company longer than anybody else here, he’s very very old, older than he even looks, and has lived longer than he is old - [ Nick laughs ] - because of his really - his unique relationship with time. [ Mike laughs ] Throughout the years he has done things that he has questioned and he has wondered the true intention behind and has served the company and given them the information, or the thing that needed to be retrieved and hasn’t asked questions, or many questions about why or what, but the thing that allowed him to sleep at night has been that the Company is good people. Not good in all the ways that we think of as good, but ultimately is a force of good and stability of some sort, in a chaotic universe. This whole entire situation has made Vynos question all of that. If Chragcht could be part of a plan to literally start a war and have millions of people die so that he could profit from it, this is something that has made Vynos, sort of, more than incensed or livid or anything, just burning with deep hatred, essentially. Not only that there’s just one bad egg, but the possibility that the company is turning it’s back on it, that murder and genocide is something that this whole enterprise is okay with, and more times than once he has promised vengeance and felt a burning need for it, but he woke up this morning with new resolve, and he has learned the ability: Promise Vengeance. This is the ability to burn GRT and designate one target, everything is inflicted upon you game-wise, good or bad, happens to your target as well. This becomes obvious to the target as soon as you or they take damage. This is an ability, this isn’t something that’s just happening between me and a target right now, this is - when the time comes I can Promise Vengeance in sort of a formal, kinda, power way, but the ability to do this was - I think - found in that hatred, and in that strong desire for vengeance. So that’s, kinda, what’s new with Vynos.
[ 00:05:49 ]
> Mike / G.M.: I picture promising vengeance as, like, smacking someone with a gauntlet. I know it’s not that, - [ Bijan laughs ] - but, like, in my brain it’s like the Time Wizard gauntlet smack.
> Nick / “Vynos”: [ OOC ] Yes. Well, it’s actually a very dark ritual that children shouldn’t watch. [ Cast laughs ]
> Mike / G.M.: Not for the faint of heart. > Nick / “Vynos”: [ OOC ] No.
> Jenn de la Vega / “Merkis Imeldar”: [ OOC ] Merkis wakes up groggy, still wearing this burlap robe and he has the hood up, and he takes of the hood and he’s just got scratch marks all over his - before - very cute snout. He looks pretty beat up and pretty dirty from rolling around underneath Graffa, and I think the experience - this mysterious experience that he had underground - required a lot of mental fortitude, and just, sort of, gritted his way through it and kind of remembered a lot of, just, technological secrets about being a banshee, just a lot of flashbacks from watching brothers tinker, watching brothers tack, go through training, and so it was kind of like a big mental review of, like, the rulebook, or like, the manual.
> Mike / G.M.: He had to use it all.
> Jenn / “Merkis”: [ OOC ] Yeah, he had to use it all and when - y’know - when you’re taken over or a vessel, you’re kind of still there - [ Jenn laughs ] - like in an empty room, like - okay [ Jenn mumbles to herself in thought as Merkis ] - and so he developed Hold Tricks, which is: Every game, not every adventure, every game we are playing, he can deploy a number of minor techno tricks equal to his level minus one, so now that we’re level three, twice a game Merkis can, like, play a trick and get plus two to any single roll, or get a clue. So this is very similar to Insight or Beta’s Find Clue. And then, I think because he hasn’t really gotten to tinker so much, he has some unused technical skills like Jack, he’s just been more angsty and more -
> Mike / G.M.: Kinda frustrated?
> Jenn / “Merkis”: [ OOC ] Yeah, pretty frustrated with how everything’s been going, he woke up, like, still hurting, he looks terrible, like, we’ve been through so much and all he can think about is family and home and so he just has this new frustration with technology because he’s distrustful of the Co. but they taught him everything he knows about tack-ing and technology and so he also developed Kick Fix overnight. So if he ever fails to hack any sort of technology, can burn two GRT and literally kick it, and it will work. [ Shannon and Jenn laugh ]
> Mike / G.M.: I love how Merkis is now willing. He’s, like, done with finesse. He’s like - > Jenn / “Merkis”: [ OOC ] Yeah.
> Mike / G.M.: - there’s no more finesse, I’m done being patient, I’m just gonna kick things now.
> Jenn / “Merkis”: [ OOC ] Not Tom Cruise in Top Gun, but now Randy Quaid in Independence Day. [ Mike laughs ]
> Bijan Stephen / “Remy Tester”: [ OOC ] Incredible. > Mike / G.M.: Very good. Very good.
> Taylor Moore / “The Cool / Interesting Characters”: Oat can now Disarm and Soak. What does Soak mean? Motherfuckers, you’re gonna have to wait and find out. [ Jenn and Nick laugh ]
> Nick / “Vynos”: [ OOC ] I didn’t know this was an option. [ Cast laughs ] Mike, can you just replace mine with “You’re just gonna have to wait and find out.”
> Jenn / “Merkis”: [ OOC ] Nooo - [ Mike laughs ]
> Bijan / “Remy”: [ OOC ] Kinda love that, though. Remy’s time in the trenches has - in the trenches of that mission that he just did - has, y’know, he had an uneasy night with weird dreams, and I think a lot of those dreams had to do with protecting himself. So I think he was sort of in his - he was having anxiety dreams and he came out of it, he woke up sweating - came out of it with some new stuff that his nanites can do, ‘cause instinctively it’s like, oh yeah, how do I protect myself, well it’s these fucking things. And so now he knows this thing called Cam Trap which is - I wanna be mysterious but Taylor already took the mysterious - [ Shannon laughs ]
> Mike / G.M.: You can do - you can take it again, it’s all right, you can also -
> Bijan / “Remy”: [ OOC ] I don’t feel like - it feels - it would feel like plagiarism - [ Mike, Bijan, and Shannon laugh ] You can’t plagiarize a joke, that’d make me no better than Carlos Mencia. All right.
> Mike / G.M.: Heyo - Real topical humor on Float City. [ 00:10:03 ]
> Bijan / “Remy”: [ OOC ] Yes. [ Shannon and Bijan laugh ] Anyway Cam Trap, it basically a bunch of nanites fly out of Remy’s nose, create a camera that is also a tripwire. And he also, in his sleepless night and uneasy morning, learned Flechette, which - that one you will have to find out. But you can probably imagine what it does.
> Mike / G.M.: We’ve seen Remy in action, I can imagine what Remy plus Flechette looks like. Excited to see it though -
> Jenn / “Merkis”: [ OOC ] Terrifying. > Mike / G.M.: - for myself.
> Shannon / “Beta”: [ OOC ] So Beta wakes up with a giant headache because she spent all day yesterday connecting everyone’s minds for a long time, and she hasn’t really sustained that kind of connection for that long, so she’s still feeling that a bit. But she’s kinda just thinking about her time and getting to observe - so she was pretty much quiet besides her speaking in Late Tephnian, she was pretty much quiet that whole mission and she was just watching Oat use his words and convincing people and moving people to make actions without any kind of force or violence, and with that she learned a little bit of charm, and so she gained a dice in her charm roll, which was very low, it was only a four - [ Cast laughs ] - a for sure fail with anything she does, she gained another dice roll with that. And then, also, y’know, for Beta this - her whole life she’s always been kind of searching for answers in history, right, she’s so curious about the past and kind of knowing what was going on in the past even though she is really old and kinda was around for a long time, she has trouble remembering that -
> Mike / G.M.: That’s canonical, like, Shoodthas are, in the book, described as - they really don’t know where they came from, no one else remembers -
> Shannon / “Beta”: [ OOC ] Exactly, ‘cause she’s been around for so long, but she’s so curious about her past as well, and a little bit more recently she’s been searching for love, constantly searching, searching - and now with the group she’s searching for answers with what’s going on with the company, and with this, she wakes up and she realises that she has the power of Extend Self, which is: She can create an ethereal hand and move something, an object, a very small object, extremely, extremely slowly, towards another person - [ Jenn and Shannon laugh ] - we’re talking slow, we’re talking days. [ Mike and Bijan laugh ]
> Taylor / “The Cool / Interesting Characters”: No.
> Shannon / “Beta”: [ OOC ] Yes, we’re talking days. We’re talking literal days. But she can
move it.
> Mike / G.M.: Is it 4d4 days? Is that what it is?
> Shannon / “Beta”: [ OOC ] It is - oh what is it - it’s 4d6 days. [ Shannon and Jenn laugh ] > Mike / G.M.: That’s so many days.
> Jenn / “Merkis”: [ OOC ] Oh my god.
> Shannon / “Beta”: [ OOC ] Or hours, G.M.’s choice. So -
> Mike / G.M.: But you can move any small object from any location on one planet to any location on another planet, so...
> Taylor / “The Cool / Interesting Characters”: Ah. > Shannon / “Beta”: [ OOC ] Yeah.
> Mike / G.M.: Yeah, but it just takes days.
> Shannon / “Beta”: [ OOC ] It just takes a while.
> Jenn / “Merkis”: [ OOC ] Wow.
> Mike / G.M.: It just takes days. That’s great. Okay. So, as you all wake up and you are realizing what new things you are capable of, or what new dangers you are willing to confront, and what risks you are willing to take, what parts of you have been unlocked after a good night’s sleep, after a dangerous mission. You’re rubbing your eyes, maybe you’re finally gonna try some of the Wetan baked goods that have been foisted upon you in the last couple days, y’know, you put something in your mouth and you chew on it, and you’re like - it tastes all right? But, like, you’re still not really sure if it’s “food”. One of the Grand Shandy’s messengers comes in - doesn’t knock - just, like, busts through this tall rickety door that’s in this, sort of, perfunctory room that you’ve been staying in. You probably recognize him from the last couple days that you’ve been around, y’know, he’s been coming and going in the house, he’s like, tall, thin, has these horizontal orange stripes on his back, and he busts in, and without even waiting for you to acknowledge him or say anything, he just starts talking to the lot of you, whatever it is that you’re doing, and he says: [ IC as Messenger ] Uh, the, uh - the Grand Shandy has requested that I deliver to you this message. [ OOC ] And he holds up a small, silver rectangle, like, sort of - I dunno, kinda looks like a big zippo lighter, kinda like scratched and dull, it’s about the size of a paperback book. And he clicks a button on it’s side and it starts whirring and, like, vibrating a little bit. [ Soft whirring sound effect ] And you hear, coming from it - from something inside of it or on it - very clearly, Steady Hand Dealer’s voice. And it is distant at first, and then after the first bit, it is very clear.
> Wythe Marschall / “The Grand Shandy”: [ IC over recording ] - yes, I know. But it’s also important that I send word to these fleeters, so if you’ll leave me be for two minutes, I’ll deal with Shifty’s latest scheme in a tick. Right. Gonna cut to the chase here, I know you’re a
suspicious bunch, so I thought it best to send word by the sound of my voice, rather than the post. There’s good news and there’s bad news. As you know, today is the piratical convocation, we’re meeting to discuss - among other things - what to do with the guns. Now, I have my colleagues over a barrel, as I control both Théyé’s kin, and Shifty’s eggs. Thanks for that, by the way. Love a crew that don’t be asking too many questions. They’ve both agreed, the guns will stay in a storehouse underneath Graffa for now, but there is a wrinkle. Shifty, Théyé, and a number of the smaller-time advocates have been approached directly by some off world type dealer, not through the piratical government, this is brutally irregular. The dealer goes by Shashō, they’re a golden skinned character, apparently, who talks slowly and strangely. They have powerful allies, sounds like, and a serious operation at their command. Thought you’d wanna know that all sooner rather than later. You’ve bought yourselves some time, a few days at least, but those of us who don’t want war are in short supply around the table, and frankly, most of us could look the other way if the take is good, which, it do be. Since the ferries will be tied up hauling diplomats to and fro, the Late Tephnian stiffworks in the holes will be your fastest way of getting off Graffa, which is what I’m guessing you’ll want to do next. I’ll have a carrier take you to a convenient entry cave on the shore if you like, but the rest is up to you. Oh, and do clean up a bit before you leave, yeah? You look like a bunch of manky brain rats on their way out. Right. All the best, Shandy. Holder of the cork sword. [ Soft whirring sound ends with a click ]
[ 00:16:18 ]
> Jenn / “Merkis”: [ OOC ] Merkis bristles at the mention of brain rats. [ Mike and Shannon laugh ]
> Taylor / “Oat”: [ IC ] Wait, who’s eggs?
> Jenn / “Merkis”: [ IC ] I think we stole Shifty’s eggs -
> Shannon / “Beta”: [ IC ] Ahhh...
> Jenn / “Merkis”: [ IC ] - not Théyé’s eggs. I think they each had leverage over each other, and we gave it all to the Grand Shandy.
> Mike / G.M.: The messenger puts the little recording device back in one of his vest pockets and is waiting dutifully, but is obviously, like, waiting. Like, he’s looking at you, like, okay you heard the message.
> Jenn / “Merkis”: [ OOC ] Yeah, Merkis stuffs an armoire full of clothes and pillows, like a booby trap, because he’s still a little irked at the Grand Shandy for pranking them with the drinks. But as he’s doing this, he has a little bit of, like, a - like, he twitches his snout like a
familiar smell - he remembers, at the sound of that name: Shashō, he remembers the smell of burning atmosphere, and the image of, like, a sword tearing through dimensional space and walking through the escheresque for, like, the first time. And he just, like - [ IC ] Who is that person that the Grand Shandy mentioned? Do we know that person?
> Bijan / “Remy”: [ IC ] I think it’s that fucking guy. > Nick / “Vynos”: [ IC ] It is that fucking guy.
> Taylor / “Oat”: [ IC ] Who?
> Bijan / “Remy”: [ IC ] That fucking guy.
> Taylor / “Oat”: [ IC ] Who?
> Bijan / “Remy”: [ IC ] The guy who - remember the elf? I’ve only met one gold guy ever. > Nick / “Vynos”: [ IC ] He spoke slow and deliberately.
> Taylor / “Oat”: [ IC ] The void elf? He did not speak slow or deliberately.
> Nick / “Vynos”: [ IC ] No! The gold guy, what’s his name? Shashō. It’s gotta be the Shashō. > Bijan / “Remy”: [ IC ] Shashō.
> Nick / “Vynos”: [ IC ] How many gold people have you met?
> Shannon / “Beta”: [ IC ] How -
> Bijan / “Remy”: [ IC ] Yeah, I mean, for me the count is one.
> Jenn / “Merkis”: [ IC ] Me too.
> Shannon / “Beta”: [ IC ] It -
> Taylor / “Oat”: [ IC ] Ohh.
> Shannon / “Beta”: [ IC ] - makes sense. It follows exactly what you were saying, Vynos.
> Nick / “Vynos”: [ IC ] These orders are coming directly from the Saffron Anax, and he plans to get new arms to these pirates within a couple of days. We don’t have time.
> Bijan / “Remy”: [ IC ] I mean, it’s good business, I - you gotta hand it to him. At least for that.
> Taylor / “Oat”: [ IC ] Who’s side are you on? > Nick / “Vynos”: [ IC ] We need to get to Spin.
> Bijan / “Remy”: [ IC ] I’m just appreciating the business of all of this. Anyway, yeah, we should go kill that guy. Someone should kill that guy. It may as well be us.
> Nick / “Vynos”: [ IC ] Yes.
> Jenn / “Merkis”: [ IC ] Mmmmmm.
> Nick / “Vynos”: [ IC ] I think we need to start by going to Spin.
> Bijan / “Remy”: [ IC ] Oh, so you’re in on -
> Nick / “Vynos”: [ IC ] Aperson -
> Bijan / “Remy”: [ IC ] - so you’re in on the killing the guy part of this. > Nick / “Vynos”: [ IC ] Yes -
> Bijan / “Remy”: [ IC ] Oh. Excellent.
> Nick / “Vynos”: [ IC ] - we’ll get to that, - [ Mike laughs ] but - yes, we’ll definitely get to that, but, we know - we have better contact with someone on Spin who was actually in on this. I say we take this directly to Chragcht. We can start -
> Bijan / “Remy”: [ IC ] But first -
> Nick / “Vynos”: [ IC ] - by finding out what Algar knows. > Bijan / “Remy”: [ IC ] Yes!
> Taylor / “Oat”: [ IC ] Oh! Beta’s boyfriend?
> Bijan / “Remy”: [ IC ] Torture, right? Torture? Yeah? [ Mike laughs ]
> Shannon / “Beta”: [ IC ] Oh... we’re not official yet, y’know, we’ve just written a couple
notes... well I’ve mainly written the notes... but - [ Bijan and Mike laugh ]
> Bijan / “Remy”: [ IC ] Beta, I’m sorry to say, if he has anything to do with this, he may not be your boyfriend for very much longer.
> Shannon / “Beta”: [ IC ] [ Shannon sighs ] That’s - > Bijan / “Remy”: [ IC ] That’s a threat.
> Shannon / “Beta”: [ IC ] - for sure... that is -
> Bijan / “Remy”: [ IC ] That is a threat.
> Shannon / “Beta”: [ IC ] [ Shannon sighs exaggeratedly ] No one said love was easy!
> Bijan / “Remy”: [ IC ] Do you know how long it’s been since I’ve eaten a guy? [ Jenn laughs
]
> Shannon / “Beta”: [ IC ] Okay, let’s - we gotta make sure that Algar was not a part of this, we gotta get to Chragcht.
> Mike / G.M.: As you guys are planning, Zeshdano is in the room, she’s listening quietly, she’s listening to you all plan and when you say “We’re gonna go to Spin, we’re gonna confront our bosses” essentially, she waits for, like, a small lull in the conversation, and then she puts her hand up and she says: [ IC as Zeshdano ] Friends, I think this is maybe where we part ways. There’s a lot for me to deal with here on Kakudun, I can’t really justify leaving, and also when I left Spin, [ Clock tower bells ring in the background ] I said that I would never go back, and I intend to keep that promise, so...
[ 00:19:58 ]
> Nick / “Vynos”: [ OOC ] Vynos turns and looks directly at her and says: [ IC ] I understand. How can we be sure that you’ll be safe? You know that you’re wanted.
> Mike / G.M.: [ IC ] Don’t worry about me. I’m gonna wait until the piratical consortium is over, I’m gonna wait and see what Shandy says, what comes out of it at the end because, y’know,
I know these things can sometimes turn on a dime. Once that’s done, I’ll wait for the ferries to clear up and I will just get a boat. I’m gonna go meet Millen in the villages north -
> Nick / “Vynos”: [ IC ] Ah, yes.
> Mike / G.M.: [ IC ] - and then we’ll go from there. Whether or not I need to hide out until things calm down, like, maybe? I dunno. I really don’t wanna do that, I wanna get back to Nolaster as soon as I possibly can and just start trying to put the pieces back together. I dunno. Let me worry about me. I do wanna say - [ OOC ] And she’s, like - just, sort of, looks at all of you - and she’s like: [ IC ] I can’t thank you enough for making my priorities, your priorities.
> Taylor / “Oat”: [ IC ] And Vynos saved your life!
> Mike / G.M.: [ OOC ] She looks at Vynos and she says: [ IC ] And I, literally, owe you my life. I don’t think I could repay you if I wanted to, I mean - having seen what you go through, and what time travel causes - I don’t think I would want to. So, uh, yeah. Thank you.
> Nick / “Vynos”: [ IC ] Yes, yes. Well don’t worry about all that, this is just what would have happened if something else happened. That’s all.
> Bijan / “Remy”: [ IC ] That’s a good way to put it.
> Nick / “Vynos”: [ IC ] Yes.
> Bijan / “Remy”: [ IC ] What would have happened if something else happened.
> Mike / G.M.: [ OOC ] As you’re saying this back and forth at one another, Zeshdano is, like, pulling out the tangle of chains from around her neck, and she’s picking through them, and she finds one necklace that has a gold ring on it with a little purple stone in it. She unclasps the necklace and takes it off, and she hands it to you - she hands it to Vynos. And she says: [ IC ] This is just a small token of my appreciation.
> Nick / “Vynos”: [ OOC ] Vynos takes it, he looks at it -
> Mike / G.M.: [ OOC ] She says: [ IC ] It’s not - it’s not magic or anything. It’s not - it’s a ring.
It’s just a -
> Nick / “Vynos”: [ IC ] No I -
> Mike / G.M.: [ IC ] - it’s just - yeah.
> Nick / “Vynos”: [ IC ] I understand.
> Mike / G.M.: [ IC ] The purple, it matches your robe, uh -
> Nick / “Vynos”: [ IC ] No, yes. We learn, in studying hell science, that very rarely does magic come from rings. [ Mike and Jenn laugh ]
> Bijan / “Remy”: [ IC ] Wait, where does it come from? Do they tell you that? Or do they just do stuff to you?
> Nick / “Vynos”: [ IC ] It’s a long story - we have to get to Spin!
> Bijan / “Remy”: [ IC ] Okay! All right! I’m just - you know, you’re mysterious and I’m
always curious.
> Shannon / “Beta”: [ IC ] Beta -
> Mike / G.M.: [ OOC ] Zeshdano says: [ IC ] I’m gonna - I think I’m just gonna stay here. If you need me, please do not hesitate to do the weird brain thingy that everybody hates, but if I’m thinking about a big food lady when you call, then you have to disconnect immediately. [ Jenn laughs ]
> Taylor / “Oat”: [ IC ] What? [ Mike laughs ]
> Shannon / “Beta”: [ OOC ] Beta aetherspeaks really quickly, says - [ IC ] I’ll be in touch! [ Shannon’s voice has an ethereal quality here ] [ OOC ] in Zeshdano’s head. [ Mike laughs then makes a shocked / surprised sound as Zeshdano ]
> Jenn / “Merkis”: [ OOC ] Merkis pulls his hood up, just clasps his own hands together, just bows and says: [ IC ] Ma’am.
> Mike / G.M.: [ OOC ] She nods back at you.
> Bijan / “Remy”: [ OOC ] Remy sticks his hand out for a handshake.
> Mike / G.M.: [ OOC ] Yeah, she gives you a handshake. It’s a really good handshake. > Nick / “Vynos”: [ OOC ] Nice.
> Bijan / “Remy”: [ IC ] Good handshake. Thanks. Nice working with you.
> Nick / “Vynos”: [ OOC ] Vynos sees how good the handshake was, it’s got - it’s strong but nobody’s trying to make it strong, it sounds good - [ Jenn laughs ] - it’s like, how does a handshake sound good, and he just kinda gets slightly jealous and he wants one as well. [ Mike and Shannon laugh ] And he goes for one -
> Mike / G.M.: [ OOC ] You -
> Nick / “Vynos”: [ OOC ] - it’s definitely good, not as good - maybe it’s just the fact that he saw something that he never had before and nothing could measure up, but it was a good handshake as well. [ Mike laughs ]
> Mike / G.M.: Everybody gains an additional GRT - [ Cast laughs ]
> Nick / “Vynos”: [ OOC ] Yes!
> Mike / G.M.: - from a good handshake.
> Shannon / “Beta”: [ OOC ] Beta’s watching this weird handshake go on, she goes: [ IC ] Merkis, shall we head to stiffwork?
[ Transition theme plays ]
> Jenn / “Merkis”: [ IC ] Oh, yes. You say it was Late Tephnian? [ OOC ] And he just starts
scratching his head, tries to remember.
> Mike / G.M.: Okay. You guys follow the courier out of the Grand Shandy’s house and you go to the stiffworks.
[ Transition theme fades out ]
> Mike / G.M.: So the messenger waits for you to gather your things and he takes you up through Sawpockets and down the escape, you head down the stairs that you walked up when you arrived in Graffa, but instead of heading left towards the boat, you go right, and you stick close to the edge of the wide, tall, yellow island, following it’s steep sides on, like, chunky yellow sand, it’s just a meter or two of beach, almost, to a giant hole. [ Beach and wave sounds ] It’s just a huge hole in the side of Graffa. Just a big ‘ol, almost, tunnel. Massive dark cavern, and it’s, like, partially filled with seawater that’s waving into it. There’s, like, a little pool - or a pond, or whatever you wanna call it - extending inside of the landmass, and it just goes into the island,
and it fades to black. The courier, sort of, unceremoniously points from the hip and elbow, says: [ IC as messenger ] It’s in there.
[ 00:25:12 ]
> Jenn / “Merkis”: [ IC ] Mmm-hmm.
> Mike / G.M.: [ OOC ] And he turns around and leaves.
> Jenn / “Merkis”: [ OOC ] Yeah, Merkis shudders a little bit, having to go back into the caves - [ Shannon laughs ] - but he stands up straight, puts his fingers together, bulbous pop, pop, pop, you can hear. [ IC ] I am Merkis. Twenty-six brothers. [ OOC ] He’s just, kinda, grounding himself, reciting facts about himself, that he is himself, and leads the way into the tunnel.
> Mike / G.M.: Yeah, Merkis, you are somewhat familiar. Beta you also are somewhat familiar. You have spent a little bit of time escaping from Scabbards in the Holes - as Grand Shandy called them - underneath Graffa, but you still don’t, like, really know specifically which way to go, you just know that it’s in, and, y’know, it’s dark in there. You get in, the light fades very quickly, I’m assuming you guys have, like, sun rods or flashlights or torches or something -
> Jenn / “Merkis”: [ OOC ] Adventurer pack. Merkis has one.
> Mike / G.M.: Great. Okay, great. Yeah. So, lit by a sun rod, you can see the rough yellow stone and this giant plinth that Graffa sits on. It’s, like, rough and craggy, it’s kinda like pumice with lots of little holes in it. You walk in and you can see there are all of these branching passageways, and there are these round, curving tunnels, and through the big tunnel that you’ve entered in, you see maybe, like, six or seven, lit by your sun rod. As you move it around, you see all these openings kinda, like, bored into this hard yellow rock, twisting and turning and going up and down and whatever, so -
> Jenn / “Merkis”: [ OOC ] Can Merkis do Find Nemat? > Mike / G.M.: You most certainly can.
> Jenn / “Merkis”: [ OOC ] He’s gonna burn three GRT and a d12 for the reason check. I got a nine.
> Mike / G.M.: Great. I mean, you were gonna - the threshold on this was very low because you, y’know, spent some time in here, and kinda, maybe, like, got a feel for it. Maybe the nose piercing is now working in your favor a little bit -
> Jenn / “Merkis”: [ OOC ] Yeah.
> Mike / G.M.: - now that you’re used to it. You’ve had a night to sleep on it. > Jenn / “Merkis”: [ OOC ] More of a divining rod now.
> Mike / G.M.: Yeah. [ Mike laughs ] So, yeah, you walk through these tunnels, there are these - y’know, sometimes there are these really steep chutes, and occasionally you have to jump and hoist yourself up onto these steep ledges. Yeah, you have, y’know - you’re walking for at least five or ten minutes. [ Jenn makes heavy lifting and struggling noises as Merkis ]
> Bijan / “Remy”: [ IC ] You all right there, bud?
> Jenn / “Merkis”: [ IC ] No upper body strength...
> Bijan / “Remy”: [ IC ] Push ups, it helps.
> Taylor / “Oat”: [ IC ] Oh, come on, I gotcha.
> Jenn / “Merkis”: [ IC ] It’s all in the tail, really.
> Taylor / “Oat”: [ IC ] Come on, here you go, kid. Come on. [ Taylor makes struggling lifting sounds as Oat ]
> Jenn / “Merkis”: [ IC ] Thanks for the boost.
> Taylor / “Oat”: [ IC ] Oh, yeah! My pleasure.
> Shannon / “Beta”: [ OOC ] Beta takes Vynos to the side. [ IC ] Do you really - y’know - do you really think Algar is the kind of guy who’d be involved - I mean, I think I normally have a pretty good read on people.
> Nick / “Vynos”: [ IC ] Well, I don’t know whether or not Algar has anything to do with this, but I intend to ask him directly, find out exactly where his allegiances lay.
> Shannon / “Beta”: [ IC ] I -
> Nick / “Vynos”: [ IC ] What you need to be sure of is that you’re prepared to do what it takes.
> Shannon / “Beta”: [ IC ] I -
> Nick / “Vynos”: [ OOC ] And Vynos says this louder so everybody can hear - [ IC ]
Everyone. [ Nick’s voice echoes ]
> Mike / G.M.: It echoes a little.
> Nick / “Vynos”: [ OOC ] Yeah.
> Bijan / “Remy”: [ IC ] All right, woah, he’s serious.
> Nick / “Vynos”: [ IC ] I wanna be clear, right now we are on our way to commit what some at Spin will call treason.
> Bijan / “Remy”: [ IC ] True, but others at Spin will be like, yeah that figures. [ Mike laughs ] > Nick / “Vynos”: [ IC ] Yeah, well -
> Bijan / “Remy”: [ IC ] It’s a pretty big company.
> Nick / “Vynos”: [ IC ] - I think people that matter, will. I wanna be clear about this. If you’re not here to do what it takes, and find out exactly who was in on it with Chragcht and dispense justice where it is needed, and the elimination of him and his consorts if necessary, then you shouldn’t be going back to Spin. Not with me.
> Mike / G.M.: Vynos has two shotguns strapped to his back. [ Cast laughs ]
> Jenn / “Merkis”: [ OOC ] Yeah, at the mention of justice, Merkis feels a new emotion, I think. And it’s rage. [ Jenn laughs ] Like, he’s been - he’s exhibited violence before but this is just a whole new level of, like, his skin is hot and is evaporating that wet look. He’s drying out because he’s so angry.
> Mike / G.M.: Not only did Merkis get hard, he got dry. [ Cast laughs ] > Bijan / “Remy”: [ OOC ] Wow.
> Taylor / “Oat”: [ IC ] Look, I’m in. I’m in. I’m ride or die for this crew. And, y’know, look. Hey, it’s me! Deep V! You know, I’m gonna be there. But, hey, look, I gotta tell you all something, y’know, I was on Rigamont for a long time and the Aanverder didn’t really - she kinda kept me protected from, y’know - the thing that she called the other guy. And, uh, y’know,
I mean, I’ll tell ya, the Anax is the only - was the only thing she was scared of. And even as she was getting older, y’know, all the weapons that she kept on her, like, everything in her belt, every - like, everything she had on her? Like, that wasn’t to look nice. I mean, that was for protection, y’know? That was for him. He was the only thing that spooked her and so, y’know, just as long as you know what you’re getting into!
[ 00:30:26 ]
> Jenn / “Merkis”: [ IC ] Yeah. Vynos I’m with you.
> Nick / “Vynos”: [ OOC ] Vynos looks at Remy -
> Bijan / “Remy”: [ IC ] I mean, I - come on. Obviously. [ Mike laughs ] > Nick / “Vynos”: [ IC ] Yeah.
> Bijan / “Remy”: [ IC ] This is gonna be fun! [ Nick and Jenn laugh ]
> Nick / “Vynos”: [ IC ] Well, I -
> Jenn / “Merkis”: [ IC ] Are you hungry, Remy?
> Bijan / “Remy”: [ IC ] Are you not?
> Nick / “Vynos”: [ OOC ] And then he looks at Beta.
> Shannon / “Beta”: [ OOC ] Beta is looking at the ground, kind of wrestling in her head with this thought. She knows that if they do what they do, she’s obviously not gonna be an archiv- be able to go to the archives with archivists anymore. She’s gonna lose all of the work that she’s been working on, she’s thinking back to the memory that she had - or the future prediction that she had with Algar, and she’s seeing herself with this conflicting information, thinking: “Oh no. Is this what’s gonna happen? Am I going to throw my team - Is this when I throw my team under the bus?” And that future prediction comes true. And with that fear that she’s gonna do that, she gets this huge boost of confidence, and she says: [ IC ] You guys are all I got. I’m with you.
> Nick / “Vynos”: [ OOC ] Vynos says: [ IC ] All right, then. Even if it means losing a boyfriend?
> Shannon / “Beta”: [ IC ] Yes.
> Bijan / “Remy”: [ IC ] I mean, to be clear, he was never her boyfriend. > Nick / “Vynos”: [ IC ] I know - [ Shannon sighs ]
> Bijan / “Remy”: [ IC ] I just wanted to make that exceedingly clear.
> Shannon / “Beta”: [ IC ] [ Under her breath ] Yes.
> Taylor / “Oat”: [ IC ] It was - there was electricity. There’s something there. > Nick / “Vynos”: [ IC ] There was. There was.
> Bijan / “Remy”: [ IC ] There was electricity, that’s true. I mean, look, if we kill him, he’s the one that got away, right? [ Jenn laughs ]
> Taylor / “Oat”: [ IC ] I’d like to be the one that got away! I mean, I said ride or die, but that’s not like a coin toss. I prefer ride! Just saying. I’m just - but I’m in! I’m in! I’m in. I’m in.
> Nick / “Vynos”: [ IC ] All right. Then on we go. [ OOC ] And Vynos starts to climb up another rock.
[ Cool transitional music begins to play ]
[ Cool transitional music fades as Mike is talking ]
> Mike / G.M.: You guys go. You go further, following Merkis’ direction as he points at various tunnels bored into the bottom of Graffa. It doesn’t seem to have any rhyme or reason, but Merkis just knows where to go. You walk for about another five minutes or so, you get to this larger, like, almost room? It’s not quite a hallway, it’s a little bit bigger, and you hear this, like, rustling sound - [ Menacing music begins playing quietly, getting louder ] - sounds like someone dragging a wet plastic bag full of wigs.
> Jenn / “Merkis”: [ OOC ] Merkis puts a hand up to make everybody stop behind him, ‘cause he can hear.
> Nick / “Vynos”: [ OOC ] Vynos stops.
> Mike / G.M.: It’s like tough plastic-y hair being dragged through a puddle. And, Merkis, you know this sound immediately.
> Jenn / “Merkis”: [ IC ] Ohh...
> Mike / G.M.: You know exactly what this is. > Jenn / “Merkis”: [ IC ] We meet again!
> Mike / G.M.: Followed by a kind of chittering noise, it’s like a million toothpicks tapping on asphalt. And then, this smell. It’s, like, yeasty. Like bread, or old oats, but it’s also sick and kind of acidic -
> Nick / “Vynos”: [ OOC ] Ugh.
> Mike / G.M.: - it’s thick and it feels like it’s replacing the air that you’re breathing, and it’s
getting a little hard to think. Why are you down here? To serve... the horde?
> Bijan / “Remy”: [ OOC ] Oh, Remy’s super -
> Mike / G.M.: No. It’s to get to the Tephnian stiffworks. It’s to get -
> Taylor / “Oat”: [ IC ] No, it was the horde, remember? We woke up and said, “Let’s make a list of what to do.”
> Mike / G.M.: You start to see a sea of rats.
> Jenn / “Merkis”: [ IC ] Hmmm...
> Mike / G.M.: They advance on you. You can - it’s hard to pick out an individual rat in the circle that’s surrounding you, it’s this undulating, kind of, sea of hair and small black boxes. They don’t move like individual beasts across craggy rock - though that’s definitely what they are - they kind of move like - you know those birds that move in, like, a - what do they call it? A murmuration?
> Bijan / “Remy”: [ OOC ] Hmm-hmm. > Mike / G.M.: Is it starlings?
> Taylor / “Oat”: [ OOC ] Starlings.
> Mike / G.M.: You know, this, like, beautiful kind of uncanny swarm that’s borne of a decentralized coordination that’s very difficult to understand. And they’re just kind of swarming
around you, and they’re, like, climbing all over one another, forming this giant mass rat. And in front of you, it grows into a shape. It’s like they’re forming together, working together, to become something, and they become a lasagna. [ Crew laughs ] I’m just kidding, they don’t become a lasagna. They become something that looks like a bear, or a sasquatch. And it, like - it’s this hulking figure with these weird arms that are entering and leaving its body, and it opens its mouth - just, like, this wide, shallow indent in the middle of this big thumb shaped body, and dozens of small voices fill your brain. And they all say: [ IC as The Horde ] Join. Be fed. Feed. Join. Become us becoming you. Join! [ OOC ] And all you can think of is: “Serve The Horde. Serve The Horde.” Everybody roll reason or will, whichever is higher.
[ 00:36:10 ]
> Shannon / “Beta”: [ OOC ] Oh, this is maybe the scariest thing we’ve - in any game - have ever -
> Jenn / “Merkis”: [ OOC ] Yeah. [ Nick laughs ]
> Shannon / “Beta”: [ OOC ] - encountered. I’m just gonna say that.
> Nick / “Vynos”: [ OOC ] Not good.
> Jenn / “Merkis”: [ OOC ] Merkis rolled a nine.
> Bijan / “Remy”: [ OOC ] Nine.
> Taylor / “Oat”: [ OOC ] Oat rolled a one. [ Jenn gasps and the crew laugh ]
> Shannon / “Beta” [ OOC ] Oh no, Oat!
> Nick / “Vynos”: [ OOC ] Vynos rolls a two. [ Jenn laughs ]
> Taylor / “Oat”: [ OOC ] Oh, yeah. Oat’s -
> Shannon / “Beta”: [ OOC ] I rolled a twelve.
> Taylor / “Oat”: [ IC ] Guys, look, I think they got some good ideas! [ Crew laugh ] Y’know? Let’s just - let’s hear ‘em out! Let’s Hear Them Out.
> Bijan / “Remy”: [ OOC ] I think Remy’s just going to try and punch Oat in the face and knock him out.
> Mike / G.M.: Oat and Vynos both, all you can think is Serve The Horde. It’s just all-consuming -
> Jenn / “Merkis”: [ OOC ] Oh my god.
> Mike / G.M.: - like a chorus. A discordant, not in-unison, chorus in your head just shouting Serve The Horde. Merkis, Remy, and Beta, you’re like: “Oh this is gross and scary, but definitely don’t Serve The Horde.” [ Shannon laughs ]
> Jenn / “Merkis”: [ OOC ] Yeah. I think through the chanting, Merkis just pulls his hood down and just, like: [ IC ] I am Merkis!
> Taylor / “Oat”: [ IC ] Vynos. You get it.
> Bijan / “Remy”: [ OOC ] Does Remy have one of those lead tablets? I think still, he does.
> Jenn / “Merkis”: [ OOC ] Yes.
> Bijan / “Remy”: [ OOC ] Great.
> Jenn / “Merkis”: [ OOC ] I think? Right? Or did you -
> Bijan / “Remy”: [ OOC ] Yeah, ‘cause I think - ‘cause we split them up when - I think Remy had one, Merkis had one, and somebody else had one?
> Jenn / “Merkis”: [ OOC ] Yeah, Merkis - Zeshdano gave hers to Merkis. So I never had my original.
> Mike / G.M.: The shape of the rats is growing and it knows - you can tell - it feels that Oat and Vynos are suggestible and it looks at Vynos, and you can tell it - in a way that -
> Jenn / “Merkis”: [ OOC ] Oh nooo...
> Mike / G.M.: - is hard to describe, but, like, is inarguable - realizes that Vynos is the powerful one and Vynos is the one that will serve the horde best. And grows, it crests, like a wave, and is - in slow-motion - moving, with this mouth open, towards him. Taylor, what do you want me to do here?
> Taylor / “Oat”: [ OOC ] I’ll take over.
> Mike / G.M.: Okay.
> Jenn / “Merkis”: [ OOC ] Oh! Shit! [ Taylor laughs ]
> Taylor / “The Cool / Interesting Characters”: The wave of rats opens its maw and it is about to crash down upon Vynos, and then you almost smell it before you see the colour change. You smell, like, burning hair and bad bacon, and you see smoke and steam begin to, sort of, whistle out of the middle of the rat wave - [ Bijan laughs ] - and then the air in front of it becomes wavy as, like, an extremely powerful beam of concentrated mega-peak - [ Taylor and Mike laugh ] - a hyper-peak laser -
> Jenn / “Merkis”: [ OOC ] Oh no! [ Loud laser sounds ]
> Taylor / “The Cool / Interesting Characters”: - just, like, burns a three foot swath - like just a spotlight burns across the rat thing, and the rats that are hit, immediately begin screaming. Their flesh and their hair is on fire, and the psychic link energy completely stops. The rat energy is dissipated and they begin screaming and running and burning. And the smoke from the rats is choking the passageway and the rats clear off, and just when the rats clear off, the smoke just dies enough for you to be able to see again, and standing on a rock just behind the rats - [ IC as Torres the Vat Gnome ] Come with me if you want to live! Oh, hey! It’s y’all! [ OOC ] It’s Torres, the vat gnome!
[ Menacing brain rat music fades ]
> Jenn / “Merkis”: [ OOC ] Aaaa!!! [ Crew laugh ] Aaaaa! Sorry, I screamed. > Bijan / “Remy”: [ IC ] Okay...
> Jenn / “Merkis”: [ OOC ] Torres!
[ 00:40:04 ]
> Taylor / “The Cool / Interesting Characters”: [ OOC ] He’s wearing an eyepatch, his head is shaved, and he’s got - he’s carrying, in his hand - there is, like - it’s almost like a giant glass fly’s eyeball. It’s like a quarter of a sphere of these, like, tessellated glass shapes, and you immediately recognize it as, like, oh this is part of the machinery that you fought in the top of the plots when you were with the gnomes on the moon. And this is part of that heat ray apparatus, and he’s got it in one hand and the electronics of it are, sort of, smoking and it’s running to a bunch of small batteries that he wears in a bandolier across his bare chest.
> Mike / G.M.: Suddenly, Oat and Vynos now remember. Tephnian stiffworks, Spin, trade deals, the Saffron Anax, the Co., Zeshdano, etc. Serve The Horde dissipates like so much burning rat hair. Yeah -
> Nick / “Vynos”: [ OOC ] Yes, it dissipates, but there was - there is a thing of, like - Torres’ first impression for Vynos is that he was killing his horde. [ Mike and Jenn laugh ] Like, for no reason. Like, he didn’t see the greater purpose at all. And he was just wasting lives for no reason. And as it dissipates, he realizes that’s silly, but, there is still something about, like, your first impression of someone is just someone wantonly just, y’know, throwing away lives - valuable horde lives - that just is harder to shake.
> Taylor / “The Cool / Interesting Characters”: Wantonly. > Nick / “Vynos”: [ OOC ] Yeah.
> Mike / G.M.: Nick are you trying to say horde lives matter? Is that what this is? [ Jenn is laughing ]
> Taylor / “The Cool / Interesting Characters”: Oh!
> Nick / “Vynos”: [ OOC ] Horde lives matter!
> Taylor / “The Cool / Interesting Characters”: [ IC as Torres ] You got a problem, grandpa? > Shannon / “Beta”: [ IC ] Torres!
> Nick / “Vynos”: [ IC ] Oh, no, no. No, not at all, thank you so much for - for helping us. I’m afraid some of us would - may have been taking in - taken in now. But, anyway, oh! Wow! Thank you! [ OOC ] Vynos is embarrassed.
> Taylor / “The Cool / Interesting Characters”: [ IC as Torres ] Anytime. Gamma? Am I saying your name right? Gamma? Is that what it was?
> Shannon / “Beta”: [ IC ] Who?
> Taylor / “The Cool / Interesting Characters”: [ IC as Torres ] Gamma? You. > Shannon / “Beta”: [ IC ] Me?
> Taylor / “The Cool / Interesting Characters”: [ IC as Torres ] Yeah.
> Shannon / “Beta”: [ IC ] Torres it’s so great to see you. No, Beta. I’m often -
> Taylor / “The Cool / Interesting Characters”: [ IC as Torres ] Beta, right!
> Shannon / “Beta”: [ IC ] - people mix that up.
> Taylor / “The Cool / Interesting Characters”: [ IC as Torres ] Yeah, Torres is my name and saving your ass is my game.
> Shannon / “Beta”: [ IC ] Torres, where have you been?
> Bijan / “Remy”: [ IC ] Yeah, I feel like last we saw you, you were falling out of the sky? Something like that? You fell into a hole in the ground, it was a stiffworks that was moving and you - we thought you died.
> Taylor / “The Cool / Interesting Characters”: [ IC as Torres ] Well, I didn’t. > Bijan / “Remy”: [ IC ] Okay, well -
> Taylor / “The Cool / Interesting Characters”: [ IC as Torres ] Looks like you’re not too good at thinkin’. [ Crew laugh ] What happened to me is a long story, a story I will tell you in its entirety, right now. [ Mike laughs ]
> Mike / G.M.: You guys start walking - do you continue walking down the - yeah - > Jenn / “Merkis”: [ OOC ] Yeah.
> Nick / “Vynos”: [ OOC ] Yes.
> Jenn / “Merkis”: [ OOC ] Merkis is walking in the front with Torres.
> Taylor / “The Cool / Interesting Characters”: [ IC as Torres ] I said follow me if you wanna live, it’s this way. [ Shannon laughs ] Wait, you’re here for the stiffworks right?
> Jenn / “Merkis”: [ IC ] Yeah.
> Nick / “Vynos”: [ IC ] Yes, yes we are.
> Taylor / “The Cool / Interesting Characters”: [ IC as Torres ] Oh, thank christ - [ OOC ] Oh, wait, no - [ Crew laugh ] they wouldn’t have christ -
> Jenn / “Merkis”: [ OOC ] I don’t know if that’s the right one you wanna thank - > Mike / G.M.: Christ exists in this world - yeah.
> Taylor / “The Cool / Interesting Characters”: [ OOC ] Oh yeah that’s right -
> Shannon / “Beta”: [ OOC ] And now is when we introduce christ into the game. > Jenn / “Merkis”: [ OOC ] God.
> Taylor / “The Cool / Interesting Characters”: [ IC as Torres ] Oh, thank goodness, oh - I’m so lonely down here it’s been horrible. Well, yeah, I fell out of the portal and landed on the beach - y’know, just in a big ol’ hunk of - a big ol’ pile of junk, running around, tryna find stuff to eat and drink, obviously I can’t find my way back, portals are moving around, it was crazy! I thought I was gonna die! I ended up, y’know, sort of, hooking up with a bunch of - this gang of these big shrimps - the big drink wranglers, and, y’know, I just was doing, like, chores for them and favors and, like, just sort of telling stories at night, just earnin’ my keep, you know what I mean? And one of them poked me in the eye and that’s how I lost my eye. Although it might just be bruised, I haven’t checked in a couple days, it was hard to see but not impossible to see. Anyway! We were talking one night and they just got talkin’ about other stuff and they said that there was a gate on Graffa, and I’m, like, what’s Graffa? They were like, Graffa is a island full o’ pirates - obviously you already know, ‘cause you got probably here the same way. So I just hitch-hiked, I just - I found a place, people coming and going in boats, don’t have a lot of those but, y’know, just - first principles, common sense, you can reason it out, I’m a navigator. Y’know, the principles down here are a lot of the same as the principles up there. And, uh - found a boat, y’know, and just, sort of, washed windows, I helped cut some weird fruits up, for all the meals, and they gave me passage to Graffa. And then, y’know, I came here thinkin’ I’ll just waltz up to the gate and wait for the first person to come through, and then, y’know, I’ll just beg for a ride or whatever, I’m a navigator, maybe they can use my services. But I’ve been down here for the better part of the week, fighting these rats, it’s hell! [ Crew laugh ]
> Mike / G.M.: Torres is like every friend who is an extrovert who’s been inside for a year, and finally gets to hang out with people.
> Jenn / “Merkis”: [ OOC ] Yes. Me, basically.
> Taylor / “The Cool / Interesting Characters”: [ IC as Torres ] Yeah, but I gotta tell ya, after a week of fightin’ the rats, and hitch-hiking round a strange alien world... I’m different now! Not the same Torres you knew, just a short few days ago.
[ 00:45:02 ]
> Jenn / “Merkis”: [ IC ] I could say the same as me! Ah!
> Taylor / “The Cool / Interesting Characters”: [ IC as Torres ] Oh! Well! Merkis!
> Jenn / “Merkis”: [ OOC ] Yeah, Merkis stands up straight, and he says: [ IC ] We’re actually heading back to Spin.
> Taylor / “The Cool / Interesting Characters”: [ IC as Torres ] Oh, are you?
> Jenn / “Merkis”: [ IC ] Mmm-hmm.
> Taylor / “The Cool / Interesting Characters”: [ IC as Torres ] Is that - is that normal?
> Jenn / “Merkis”: [ IC ] Yes. That’s where we came from.
> Taylor / “The Cool / Interesting Characters”: [ IC as Torres ] ‘Cause you said it like it was important, but to me, that’s normal that you would be going back to Spin.
> Jenn / “Merkis”: [ IC ] Mmm-hmm.
> Nick / “Vynos”: [ IC ] I guess what’s abnormal about it is that we’re wanted, probably, by
many people on Spin and -
> Taylor / “The Cool / Interesting Characters”: [ IC as Torres ] What?? > Nick / “Vynos”: [ IC ] - we will almost certainly -
> Bijan / “Remy”: [ IC ] Well, we don’t know that for sure...
> Taylor / “The Cool / Interesting Characters”: [ IC as Torres ] Wait, what have y’all been up to since we came - y’know, no, no, wait - hold on. I don’t care what your story is, I only care about getting out of this place. [ Crew laugh ] Now Merkis, you’re the only one here that seems able to talk any sense, do you think you can protect the gang from these brain rats while I lead the way to the stiffworks?
> Jenn / “Merkis”: [ IC ] Oh, yes. I’ve dealt with them before.
> Taylor / “The Cool / Interesting Characters”: [ IC as Torres ] Yeah, you seem like the type. You can always tell a person that’s outsmarted the brain rats. We’ve got a certain... something you can tell about us.
> Jenn / “Merkis”: [ OOC ] He also just looks like shit. [ Jenn laughs ] > Mike / G.M.: A certain, je ne sais rat. [ Taylor laughs ]
> Bijan / “Remy”: [ OOC ] Thank you, Mike.
> Taylor / “The Cool / Interesting Characters”: [ OOC ] I was also gonna say that, but then I thought he wouldn’t speak french. [ Crew laugh ] [ IC as Torres ] Yeah, all right. The rest of you softies, get in line. Me and Merkis’ll lead the way. Try and keep up, am I right?
> Jenn / “Merkis”: [ IC ] Mmm-hmm.
> Mike / G.M.: And as you’re walking, you actually start to hear, again, the chittering, hair
dragging sound in the distance as the rats reform. You guys follow Torres? > Jenn / “Merkis”: [ IC ] Yes.
> Nick / “Vynos”: [ IC ] Yes.
> Mike / G.M.: Okay.
> Taylor / “The Cool / Interesting Characters”: [ OOC ] So, Torres takes you down one tunnel and then he’s about to turn left, and he looks back and says: [ IC as Torres ] That was a test, you turn left there, it’s certain death. [ Jenn laughs ] We’re going right, try and keep up. [ OOC ] And then he goes right, and you can tell that he’s, like - he’s walking like he’s traversed these tunnels a million times before -
> Mike / G.M.: I feel like Torres is maybe wearing a t-shirt that he has made somehow - > Taylor / “The Cool / Interesting Characters”: [ OOC ] Topless. He is topless.
> Mike / G.M.: Oh, so on -
> Taylor / “The Cool / Interesting Characters”: [ OOC ] In canon! He is topless wearing a bandolier of batteries. [ Crew laugh ]
> Mike / G.M.: I’m just imagining him - maybe he’s written on himself somewhere, “Try and keep up.” Like, this is his new lifestyle. [ Mike and Taylor laugh ]
> Taylor / “The Cool / Interesting Characters”: [ OOC ] Absolutely, yeah, and - > Mike / G.M.: It’s like “Frankie says relax” but “Try and keep up.”
> Taylor / “The Cool / Interesting Characters”: [ OOC ] And as you go through the tunnels you see these, like, intersections and you sort of, like - little bridges over these weird aquatic crevasses. You see that, like, he’s carved in little directions along the way, like, “ACROSS THIS WAY” crossed out “RATS THERE” “DON’T GO” and all these things, like, scratched on the wall. At one point you’re walking and a bunch of rats just begin to fall out of a tunnel directly on top of you, and he falls on his back he’s covered by rats, and then you hear the sound of, like, an old CRT monitor powering up and the sizzle sound fills the cave as the heat ray just carves a vertical column through the rats that have fallen into the tunnel. And then he stands up, dusts himself off, peels a baked carrot - like a baked skin strip of a rat off him, and you can see that some of his skin, kinda goes with it, and he’s like: [ IC as Torres ] Huh. Yeah. Around here we call that a Monday. Try and keep up. [ OOC ] And then he runs around the tunnel again -
> Jenn / “Merkis”: [ OOC ] Jesus.
> Taylor / “The Cool / Interesting Characters”: [ OOC ] - and then after a few more twists and turns, he takes you through a very sad little apartment - [ Crew laugh ] where there’s a cot made out of some blobs on the side of the wall, and on the cave wall he’s carved a picture of the other vat gnomes.
> Shannon / “Beta”: [ OOC ] Awww. > Jenn / “Merkis”: [ OOC ] Awww.
> Taylor / “The Cool / Interesting Characters”: [ OOC ] Like a child’s drawing, like with a - like, the kind you’d see with, like, a square house and the sun over it and a tree, and a swing in the tree, and, like, people with heads and arms and legs but no bodies, it’s like that level - like a four year old’s family drawing on the wall.
> Jenn / “Merkis”: [ OOC ] Merkis immediately recognizes Deep River and puts his hand on that one.
> Taylor / “The Cool / Interesting Characters”: [ IC as Torres ] Yeah, you think you’ll ever see Deep River again one day?
> Jenn / “Merkis”: [ IC ] I hope so. We’ve got a lot of other business to take care of first.
> Taylor / “The Cool / Interesting Characters”: [ IC as Torres ] You listen to me. You listen to me, Merkis. I don’t care how hard you are. You break her heart, I’ll hunt ya to the ends of the world, you hear me, kid?
> Jenn / “Merkis”: [ IC ] Loud and clear, and, fair.
> Taylor / “The Cool / Interesting Characters”: [ IC as Torres ] All right, let’s see if y’all can
keep up! [ Taylor and Bijan laugh ] [ OOC ] And he runs out of the room.
> Mike / G.M.: I love that Torres himself has acknowledged that he’s only been doing this for,
like, four days.
> Shannon / “Beta”: [ OOC ] Yeah, I was just gonna say: [ IC ] How long have you been here Torres?
> Taylor / “The Cool / Interesting Characters”: [ IC as Torres ] Long enough, Gamma. Long enough.
> Jenn / “Merkis”: [ OOC ] Merkis does know where to go, but he’s just shaking his head, like, letting Torres be the leader.
> Mike / G.M.: Yeah, sometimes Torres takes you down a wrong pathway, but you can still tell it will get you there, it’s just maybe slightly longer than it should be. [ Crew laugh ]
[ 00:50:00 ]
> Taylor / “The Cool / Interesting Characters”: [ OOC ] You get to the - you get to what might be - the sound sort of changes the way it does in caves, you can tell you might be near a larger space and Torres stops very quickly and holds his fist up in the air, motioning for you to stop. [ IC as Torres ] All right. It’s around here, I’m just gonna go make sure it’s clear. Merkis?
> Jenn / “Merkis”: [ IC ] Mmm-hmm.
> Taylor / “The Cool / Interesting Characters”: [ IC as Torres ] Cover me.
> Jenn / “Merkis”: [ IC ] You got it! [ OOC ] He tightens a boot. [ Jenn laughs ]
> Taylor / “The Cool / Interesting Characters”: [ OOC ] And you can - in this moment you
can tell that Torres has no idea what the phrase “cover me” means. [ Crew laugh ] > Mike / G.M.: He’s just heard Zapp say it.
> Taylor / “The Cool / Interesting Characters”: [ OOC ] He looks at you tighten the boot, and he goes: [ IC as Torres ] Bingo. [ Jenn, Mike and Nick laugh ]
> Nick / “Vynos”: [ OOC ] That’s what covering means to him? Is to tighten your boot?
> Taylor / “The Cool / Interesting Characters”: [ OOC ] He looks at Merkis: [ IC as Torres ] You got the goods, kid. You might just make it down here. And then we might just make it out. [ OOC ] He rolls out, and he rolls on the ground, jumps up, and he points the heat ray one way, he points the lenses the other way, and he points them up. [ IC as Torres ] All right!
> Jenn / “Merkis”: [ OOC ] Merkis is just calmly walking up behind him.
> Mike / G.M.: Yeah, as far as all of you can see, he has just, like, duck and rolled, and pointed
the laser beam into just a completely empty room.
> Taylor / “The Cool / Interesting Characters”: [ IC as Torres ] We are live, to strive, and five by five, mission accomplished! Stiffworks ahead. [ Jenn laughs ]
[ Exposition music plays softly in the background ]
> Mike / G.M.: And, yeah, as you approach where Torres is standing as he walks away from you, you can see a glint that is slightly different from what you’ve seen so far. On the far wall in this large room, there is a portion that is not dull, only semi-reflective yellow rock, but a portion that is bright, much more reflective, very smooth red. And you all recognize this color and texture immediately from what you saw on the top of Graffa. The pyramids and the fork shapes that Wythe described as, like, meeting places. Places that maybe, like, people are spooked out by a little bit, but which otherwise, like, no one really knows how to use, but that, Merkis, you recognized as Tephnian stiffworks.
> Jenn / “Merkis”: [ OOC ] Mmm-hmm.
> Mike / G.M.: At this point, I would like to point out that you could have just gone the pyramids up at the top -
> Jenn / “Merkis”: [ OOC ] Yeah.
> Mike / G.M.: - but Grand Shandy has, again, fucked with you and sent you the long way. [
Shannon laughs ]
> Jenn / “Merkis”: [ IC ] Ass. [ Mike laughs ]
> Mike / G.M.: And made you, yeah, root around inside the middle of Graffa. So, yeah, you - do you all approach the stiffworks?
> Nick / “Vynos”: [ OOC ] Yes.
> Jenn / “Merkis”: [ OOC ] Yeah, Merkis takes a walk around it looking for any interactive
parts.
> Mike / G.M.: So, yeah, so it - there’s no “around”, it’s just sort of set into a wall that you can’t find any - there’s no exit on this side. It’s like this blood red steel, almost, like, oval kind of shape, that intersects with the ground that looks like it’s been pushed up against the backside of a hole that’s been made in the rock. Like it’s been installed from behind. And it’s smooth to the touch, it kinda looks like, um - if you guys have ever been to Storm King it kinda looks like a Mark di Suvero sculpture. [ Jenn laughs ] Yeah. And, Merkis, you do see there is a small red pedestal that is standing directly to its left and it’s got a slanted top on it with a small black circle.
> Jenn / “Merkis”: [ OOC ] Okay. He heads toward that and just, kind of, trying to remember, huh, how do I tack a Tephnian. How do I tack a Tephnian? It’s much more difficult because he doesn't have a tack-map and it’s usually just prescribed. Like you’re going from here to here. But because there is no map he has to, sort of, maneuver a little bit more -
> Taylor / “The Cool / Interesting Characters”: [ IC as Torres ] Well, well, well. [ Shannon laughs ] If there’s one thing I know how to recognize, it’s brain rat urine and faeces - [ Shannon and Nick laugh ] - but if there’s two things I know how to recognize, that that I just said and somebody who needs a navigator.
> Jenn / “Merkis”: [ IC ] Oh?
> Taylor / “The Cool / Interesting Characters”: [ IC as Torres ] Pretty lucky for you that the gnome that knows how to navigate was the one that fell through the portal. [ Jenn and Mike laugh ]
> Jenn / “Merkis”: [ IC ] Guess I’m lucky. Torres, you have any insight about this?
> Taylor / “The Cool / Interesting Characters”: [ IC as Torres ] Yeah! I mean, my whole plan was to come here and offer my navigation services to somebody who - look, I know how to go - sort of - I have machines that know how to go, I just can’t drive the dang thing. Here, uh - Gamma - hold this. [ OOC ] And he gives you the lens array, and he takes off the bandolier of batteries, and he hands you this. And on one of the many other straps that he’s wearing, he spins it around so that the gear that it was carrying is on the front of his body and he brings out this thing, and he sort of, like, slides open the - it’s almost like one of those old phones that you slid it out, y’know?
> Mike / G.M.: Mmm-hmm.
[ 00:55:00 ]
> Taylor / “The Cool / Interesting Characters”: [ OOC ] And it’s like - but this thing has, like, multiple, and each one, like, slides out at a weird angle and some are round and some are square, and it looks like several different navigation devices of some sort have been, like, assembled together all, sort of, attached to a larger, stranger-looking device that he seems to keep in the pocket of his torn dungarees. [ Crew laugh ] And he wipes a lot of - he wipes some brain rat faeces and urine - [ Jenn retches ] - off the screen and he starts it up and it makes the start up chime song, I’ll let Mike put that in now - [ Whirring sound ] - [ IC as Torres ] It just takes a minute. [ More whirring with weird vocal sounds ] I just updated it, so - oh here we go, here we go - [ Vocal ding sound ] [ Crew laugh ] All right. Now, where you tryna go?
> Jenn / “Merkis”: [ IC ] Going to Spin.
> Taylor / “The Cool / Interesting Characters”: [ IC as Torres ] Oh! That’s like the second easiest place to navigate to. All right, but now look, I know we’re all friends here, but I just gotta double check, I give you the directions, I tell you how to tack, you send me back to Gnarcossa, right?
> Jenn / “Merkis”: [ IC ] From here?
> Taylor / “The Cool / Interesting Characters”: [ IC as Torres ] Yeah! Give me a ride home! Are you kidding? Help!
> Jenn / “Merkis”: [ IC ] Mmmm.
> Taylor / “The Cool / Interesting Characters”: [ IC as Torres ] Help me!
[ Menacing brain rat music starts up again ]
> Mike / G.M.: In the distance, in the room that you are in, you start to hear a chittering and hair rubbing sound.
> Jenn / “Merkis”: [ IC ] Hmm. Well, let’s see if I have enough energy. What do I need to do?
> Taylor / “The Cool / Interesting Characters”: [ IC as Torres ] Uh, well - okay, look, I gotta work the navigation stuff. Beta, uh, look - that thing’s pretty easy, just point and click, all right? Uh, give me a minute. [ OOC ] And he starts typing furiously away on his -
> Mike / G.M.: The smell -
> Taylor / “The Cool / Interesting Characters”: [ OOC ] - navigation machine.
> Mike / G.M.: - is getting really strong. Can everyone roll either will or reason, whichever is higher? Taylor you can also roll for Torres if you want.
> Bijan / “Remy”: [ OOC ] Eight.
> Nick / “Vynos”: [ OOC ] I got a ten.
> Shannon / “Beta”: [ OOC ] I got three that time.
> Taylor / “The Cool / Interesting Characters”: [ OOC ] He got a seven.
> Jenn / “Merkis”: [ OOC ] Got twelve.
> Mike / G.M.: Beta. [ Nick laughs ] Beta. Beta.
> Shannon / “Beta”: [ OOC ] Mmm-hmm. Mmm-hmm. Mmm-hmm.
> Mike / G.M.: It’s getting hard to think. It actually smells kinda good. [ Nick laughs ] > Shannon / “Beta”: [ OOC ] Hmm.
> Mike / G.M.: It’s, like - it kinda smells like the inside of a bakery. Whew. You know what would be nice right now?
> Shannon / “Beta”: [ OOC ] Or, like, a metal shop. Because she eats metal.
> Mike / G.M.: Sure. Right, okay. Yeah! Like a metal shop. [ Shannon and Nick laugh ] Yeah, it
smells like a -
> Nick / “Vynos”: [ OOC ] Actually baked loaves of metal.
> Mike / G.M.: - chop shop. Yeah. [ Shannon laughs ] And, man! Wow! You’re just feeling like maybe the thing to do right now is Serve The Horde.
> Shannon / “Beta”: [ OOC ] Mmm.
> Mike / G.M.: That’s just really seeming like a good idea. Torres, you successfully - everybody else successfully evades being mind controlled by the rats. I mean, this would be something that Torres would - I think - get eventually -
> Taylor / “The Cool / Interesting Characters”: [ OOC ] Yeah.
> Mike / G.M.: - so, I mean, he can roll for it or we can say that, like, it’s gonna take a few
minutes but he gets it.
> Taylor / “The Cool / Interesting Characters”: [ OOC ] I think it’s gonna take a few minutes but he’s definitely gonna get it.
> Mike / G.M.: Okay, so you’re all watching Torres type furiously, the rats are crawling on one another and a wall of them is slowly growing in front of you, blocking - as far as you know - the only exit for this room, it’s getting higher and higher, it’s not forming a shape of a creature, it’s forming - more like - a structure. Beta - what is Beta doing in this moment while thinking “Serve The Horde”?
[ Menacing brain rat music fades and combat music plays ] > Shannon / “Beta”: [ OOC ] Beta, suddenly -
> Mike / G.M.: Beta also holding a very powerful laser.
> Shannon / “Beta”: [ OOC ] Yeah. Beta suddenly is, like, loosening her grip around the laser, and staring ahead at where this wall is forming, and like slowly things are dropping - first - he also handed the bandolier to her, right?
> Taylor / “The Cool / Interesting Characters”: [ OOC ] Yeah, the battery pack, yeah. > Jenn / “Merkis”: [ OOC ] Yeah.
> Shannon / “Beta”: [ OOC ] So, slowly, the bandolier drops. So that’s the first thing to drop from her hand onto the ground.
> Taylor / “The Cool / Interesting Characters”: [ IC as Torres ] Hey, Delta! I said point n’ shoot. Merkis, you gotta control your squad.
> Jenn / “Merkis”: [ IC ] I think we might have lost Beta.
> Taylor / “The Cool / Interesting Characters”: [ IC as Torres ] What?
> Mike / G.M.: Beta, the wall looks very inviting and soft and - yeah, Serve The Horde, man.
> Shannon / “Beta”: [ OOC ] And - now drops the laser thing, and is beginning to step towards the wall.
> Mike / G.M.: It clanks and one of the lenses on the corner of it shatters. It’s not destroyed, but, it is now less of an effective weapon than it used to be.
> Taylor / “The Cool / Interesting Characters”: [ IC as Torres ] Rats got her! Rats got her! Rats got her!
> Bijan / “Remy”: [ OOC ] Remy takes the lead pill, runs in front of Beta and chucks it at the rats. [ Jenn and Nick laugh ]
> Mike / G.M.: The lead pill is the thing that Grand Shandy gave you? > Bijan / “Remy”: [ OOC ] Yeah.
> Mike / G.M.: Okay. Yeah, one rat eats it and then melts through the other rats. [ Shannon and Jenn laugh ] And melts through the bottom of the floor and you don’t see it anymore.
> Jenn / “Merkis”: [ OOC ] One rat.
> Taylor / “The Cool / Interesting Characters”: [ IC as Torres ] Great job, Remy! One down! > Bijan / “Remy”: [ IC ] You know, I thought that would be more effective -
> Nick / “Vynos”: [ OOC ] Vynos says -
> Bijan / “Remy”: [ IC ] - considering it looked like a mouth.
> Taylor / “The Cool / Interesting Characters”: [ IC as Torres ] Oh, you didn’t bring your lasso?
> Nick / “Vynos”: [ OOC ] Vynos’ shotgun barrel parts right between both of their faces as they’re arguing and he pulls the trigger at the mound of rats.
> Mike / G.M.: Which shotgun is Vynos shooting?
> Nick / “Vynos”: [ OOC ] Not the dangerous one. Just the regular normal shotgun. [ 01:00:00 ]
> Mike / G.M.: It’s really - it’s very loud -
> Nick / “Vynos”: [ OOC ] Yeah.
> Mike / G.M.: - in this cavernous room, there’s a big echo - yeah, all of your ears ring for a second afterwards. You are close enough that you can blow a hole in the wall of rats that is coming towards you. It is now making more, like - it’s like it made a wall, and now it’s making a pyramid, but the point of the pyramid is coming at you.
> Jenn / “Merkis”: [ OOC ] Aah!
> Mike / G.M.: So it’s coming to a point in front of you, and you blow off a couple of the rats at the front of that, they die, there are some bloody rats on the ground in front of you, but there are still hundreds, if not thousands or tens of thousands of rats in this room -
> Bijan / “Remy”: [ IC ] Okay.
> Taylor / “The Cool / Interesting Characters”: [ IC as Torres ] I need more time -
> Mike / G.M.: - and it is -
> Taylor / “The Cool / Interesting Characters”: [ IC as Torres ] - I need more time! I need
more time!
> Bijan / “Remy”: [ IC ] All right, fine. Fine. [ OOC ] Remy picks up the laser that Beta has dropped and attempts to shoot it at the rats.
> Mike / G.M.: Roll combat.
> Bijan / “Remy”: [ OOC ] Ugh. Fuckin’ -
> Shannon / “Beta”: [ OOC ] Beta is thinking, “Vynos, that’s not very nice to my new friends.” [ Jenn and Nick laugh ]
> Mike / G.M.: Beta is, like - I mean, you tell me, Beta. Like, how close are you to the rats? > Bijan / “Remy”: [ OOC ] Fuck. Wait. Oh - wait, sorry. This - oh no, it was a five.
> Jenn / “Merkis”: [ OOC ] Oh no!
> Mike / G.M.: It’s a five, that’s fine, I was looking for a four -
> Jenn / “Merkis”: [ OOC ] Oh.
> Mike / G.M.: - because there’s a literal wall of rats in front of you, it is not hard to hit. [ Nick and Bijan laugh ] I wanted you to not shoot Beta and you successfully did not shoot Beta. [ Shannon laughs ]
> Bijan / “Remy”: [ OOC ] Yes!
> Mike / G.M.: So, yeah. Remy, the effect is roughly the same as what happened when you saw
Torres use it, so you tell me what happens.
> Bijan / “Remy”: [ OOC ] Yeah, Remy’s just, like, he - y’know - shoots it, sort of expecting recoil and, y’know, jerks it backwards attempting to compensate for the recoil that’s just not there, so it just, sort of, carves, like, a line upwards through the rats.
> Mike / G.M.: And you - it’s like Akira, you cut through the advancing wall of rats and it smells another kind of terrible, there are flaming rats running around, you’ve disintegrated the
portion of the sideways rat pyramid that’s coming at you, but they’re just flooding into the room through that door that you came in through - you have stemmed the tide at the moment, but you have not fully stopped them. This is a much bigger group than what you saw when you saw Torres. I’m gonna ask - has it been long enough to now ask everyone to roll reason or will again? What do you think Taylor?
> Taylor / “The Cool / Interesting Characters”: [ OOC in a sing-song voice ] One more time!
> Nick / “Vynos”: [ OOC ] Let’s do it.
> Jenn / “Merkis”: [ OOC ] I don’t know.
> Mike / G.M.: Yeah. Okay, yeah. Okay, everybody please roll reason or will, whichever is higher, again.
> Taylor / “The Cool / Interesting Characters”: [ OOC ] Oat got a three. > Nick / “Vynos”: [ OOC ] Nick got a nine. I mean, Vynos got a nine.
> Jenn / “Merkis”: [ OOC ] Oh no. Merkis got a two. [ Nick laughs ]
> Shannon / “Beta”: [ OOC ] How’d I get a three again?
> Bijan / “Remy”: [ OOC ] Four. [ Bijan laughs ]
> Taylor / “The Cool / Interesting Characters”: [ OOC ] Torres is okay.
> Mike / G.M.: Everyone, except Vynos and Torres, it’s getting harder to think. Wait - > Jenn / “Merkis”: [ IC ] I am Merrr - Horde - I am Horde.
> Mike / G.M.: You are here, you’re on Graffa, and what is it that’s on Graffa? It’s the brain rats. So you must be here to Serve The Horde. Why else would you be on Graffa if you weren’t here to Serve The Horde? Vynos, Torres, everyone else gets sort of, like, glassy eyed.
> Taylor / “The Cool / Interesting Characters”: [ IC as Torres ] Rats got ‘em! Rats got ‘em! Rats - Vynos! Grandpa! Rats got ‘em!
> Nick / “Vynos”: [ OOC ] So, Vynos is now the only person who can act here because Torres needs to continue his work in order for us to get out of here, we can’t get through the door we
came in. There is one other weapon that Vynos has with him, other than his magic. And this is a weapon with a rule, and the rule is: Don’t fire this weapon at anything that isn’t water. It has to be water.
> Shannon / “Beta”: [ OOC ] Oh no.
> Nick / “Vynos”: [ OOC ] That’s the only rule of this weapon. [ Shannon laughs ] And Vynos is repeating this rule in his head as he takes out this shotgun that has, basically, like, a TV monitor in front of it - [ Jenn laughs ] - it’s the only thing with a big enough diameter, because after he plugs a couple more shotgun shells into this writhing mass, he realises, y’know, that’s, like, y’know, a rat in a rainstorm. And he sees the approximate diameter of this mass is definitely bigger than the ten foot or so - or ten metre, he doesn’t remember - diameter of the effect of this gun but he says it’s better than the shotgun shell. He hopes for the best, but he doesn’t have any other choice, before these rats get close enough to his friends to entangle, he has to pull the trigger. He points the reverse gravity gun near the base of the rat pile and pulls the trigger.
[ Combat music stops abruptly ]
> Taylor / “The Cool / Interesting Characters”: [ OOC ] All right! That’s a total party kill!
Goodnight everybody! [ Crew laugh ]
> Nick / “Vynos”: [ OOC ] Goodbye!
> Bijan / “Remy”: [ OOC ] Game over!
> Taylor / “The Cool / Interesting Characters”: [ OOC ] That’s a wrap! That’s a wrap!
> Mike / G.M.: I love this.
> Jenn / “Merkis”: [ OOC ] Oh, this is horrible. This is gonna be horrible.
> Mike / G.M.: So, here’s what I’m gonna say. Here’s my reasoning. Wall of brain rats in a cavern, not unlike fish in a barrel. Roll combat -
> Nick / “Vynos”: [ OOC ] Yep. > Mike / G.M.: - don’t get a one. [ Combat music starts up again ]
> Jenn / “Merkis”: [ OOC ] Oh my god.
> Shannon / “Beta”: [ OOC ] Don’t get a one!
> Bijan / “Remy”: [ OOC ] Or do. Fuck it, why not?
> Nick / “Vynos”: [ OOC ] Get a one.
> Shannon / “Beta”: [ OOC ] This is just - “And that concludes Float City!” [ Crew laugh ]
[ 01:05:00 ]
> Nick / “Vynos”: [ OOC ] It’s not my favorite ending, but it’s not a bad ending.
> Bijan / “Remy”: [ OOC ] Yeah.
> Shannon / “Beta”: [ OOC ] The end credits is just the Anax with Chragcht being like, “We won!”
> Jenn / “Merkis”: [ OOC ] [ Jenn is imitating Chragcht’s voice ] Huahahahaha! > Nick / “Vynos”: [ OOC ] I got a three. [ Bijan laughs ]
> Shannon / “Beta”: [ OOC ] Oh my god.
> Jenn / “Merkis”: [ OOC ] Oh fuck.
> Nick / “Vynos”: [ OOC ] That was a natural two by the way, plus one. So that - > Taylor / “The Cool / Interesting Characters”: [ OOC ] Woah.
> Nick / “Vynos”: [ OOC ] - that would have been bad if I got a one plus one and rolled a two, so I got a three.
> Shannon / “Beta”: [ OOC ] Oh my god.
> Mike / G.M.: In the biz we call that a near whiff. [ Crew laugh ] > Jenn / “Merkis”: [ OOC ] Wooo!
> Bijan / “Remy”: [ OOC ] I mean, look, hey. He didn’t even try and use any GRT to boost the roll he was just like, nah.
> Jenn / “Merkis”: [ OOC ] Yeah. [ Jenn laughs ]
> Nick / “Vynos”: [ OOC ] You know what, I thought that - what good is GRT gonna do me -
> Mike / G.M.: If it’s - [ Mike and Bijan laugh ]
> Bijan / “Remy”: [ OOC ] Yeah, you gotta save it for when you really need it right? Not now.
> Mike / G.M.: “What good is GRT gonna do me.” Famous last words.
> Jenn / “Merkis”: [ OOC ] Yeah.
> Mike / G.M.: Okay.
> Nick / “Vynos”: [ OOC ] I actually just forgot about boosting rolls - [ Crew laugh ] - and I just fucking did that. So stupid.
> Mike / G.M.: No, that’s great.
> Jenn / “Merkis”: [ OOC ] You could have just ended the show.
> Bijan / “Remy”: [ OOC ] Incredible.
> Nick / “Vynos”: [ OOC ] That’s fine because, y’know, if you’re about to die and you’re getting encroached by brain rats, you might not properly boost your roll, and I think that’s fine.
> Mike / G.M.: Yeah.
> Bijan / “Remy”: [ OOC ] This is the - this is like - that could be the non-canon ending to the
show, y’know. Just for warheads.
> Nick / “Vynos”: [ OOC ] Yeah, that’s true.
> Mike / G.M.: Vynos just tears everyone in half. [ Crew laugh ]
> Taylor / “The Cool / Interesting Characters”: [ OOC ] Oh my god, y’all are killing me, what happens! [ Taylor laughs ]
> Mike / G.M.: Okay, here we go. Vynos, you level the shotgun and your hands are shaking, it is heavier than you remember it, and the situation is more dire than when you were escaping Nolaster. This is a huge, terrible, nearly unthinkable threat, and your friends are in much more present danger than they were when you were being chased by the guard. You level the shotgun as Torres is typing away, you click the button, the little readout that you see clicks down from one to zero, and it’s a very familiar feeling, it feels like something is pulling the gun out of your hands. Feels like there’s some unseen force that’s trying to take it out of your grip and fling it towards the rats, there’s a light click and it goes away, and the floor starts to shake. And small bits of rock start to levitate off of the ground, and the shaking gets more intense, and some of the rats at the end of the pyramid that’s pointing at you start to float upwards and kind of spin slowly as they do it, and more of them start to float upwards, and more of them start to float upwards and they’re pinned against the top of the cavern, and the floor of the cavern cracks. And the ceiling cracks. And you start to see bits of stone crumble from between the cracks that are above you and you look down and you can see the water. You can see the sea below Graffa in an open cavern that’s below you, and the floor is shaking and shaking, and it’s like you’re in an earthquake. It’s becoming more and more intense, the rock that is around the stiffworks is starting to crack and break. The ceiling towards where you pointed the gun starts to lift away from you, and you swear, in the distance, you can hear a large number of people screaming.
> Nick / “Vynos”: [ OOC ] Oh god. [ Jenn gasps ] > Jenn / “Merkis”: [ OOC ] Oh no!
> Taylor / “The Cool / Interesting Characters”: [ IC as Torres ] We gotta go. We gotta go right now. [ Nick laughs ] [ Background screams from the city above ]
> Jenn / “Merkis”: [ OOC ] Shit.
> Taylor / “The Cool / Interesting Characters”: [ IC as Torres ] I got it! [ OOC ] There’s a ding, there’s like a toaster - there’s like a mechanical “the toast is done” ding out of this machine and Torres says: [ IC as Torres ] I got it!
> Mike / G.M.: The rats are screaming as they’re pinned against the ceiling of the cavern, and they’re - some of them are trying to come towards you, they are trying to advance on you, but there’s a point at which they cross and they’re just lifted and almost thrown up against the ceiling and there are these disgusting splat noises that are happening and there’s just this upside down writing mass of rats on the ceiling, and the rift between your half of the cavern and their half is growing, and things are starting to fall through the crack in the ceiling. A bit of street food. Someone’s hat. You definitely hear the sounds of people screaming. The floor beneath you is
starting to crack, not because of the effects of the weapon that Vynos has used, but because you have caused - you have upset the structure that you’re in and the floor where you are is just thinner than other parts, so you can feel it below you, it’s starting to writhe and it’s starting to shake and you can feel some portion of it is changing. You have a tack-map. You have not opened the stiffworks.
> Jenn / “Merkis”: [ OOC ] Yeah.
> Mike / G.M.: Merkis, you know -
> Jenn / “Merkis”: [ OOC ] Merkis turns around -
> Mike / G.M.: - you know that in order to open a Tephnian stiffworks, you need a comm - which I do not know if Torres has one of those, but as far as I know, Merkis does not - or you need a single drop of nanite infused blood.
[ 01:10:10 ]
> Jenn / “Merkis”: [ OOC ] Merkis says: [ IC ] Remy, I need you!
> Bijan / “Remy”: [ IC ] Huh? What?
> Jenn / “Merkis”: [ IC ] We can only open this with some nanite blood, we only need one drop!
> Bijan / “Remy”: [ IC ] Oh, yeah?
> Mike / G.M.: You hear the scream of a wetan woman as she falls through the crack in the ceiling and you swear - if you wanna roll will I can confirm for you - that it might have been the woman selling the mugs on the garabacchan line.
> Taylor / “The Cool / Interesting Characters”: [ IC as Torres ] You better start bleedin’ kid! Let’s go!
> Bijan / “Remy”: [ IC ] Oh, yeah. Anyone got a knife? Oh, wait, no, I do.
> Jenn / “Merkis”: [ OOC ] Merkis guides you to the panel that’s slanted with the big circle on it.
> Bijan / “Remy”: [ OOC ] Yeah, Remy, I guess, takes out his big knife that he bought from - he got from Steady Hand Dealer and cuts his palm and puts it on the panel.
> Jenn / “Merkis”: [ OOC ] Just as, like, a safeguard, Merkis always touches the gate with the three fingers - the four fingers, he can hear it go “Boop boop.”
> Bijan / “Remy”: [ IC ] How’s that for a prank, Grand Shandy? [ Bijan laughs ]
> Mike / G.M.: A black circle opens in the smooth red wall of the Late Tephnian stiffworks. The
floor below you starts to crumble. Everyone roll movement. > Shannon / “Beta”: [ OOC ] Aaaaa!
> Mike / G.M.: This is a standard move check. The floor is disintegrating below you, I need you to roll a six or higher.
> Bijan / “Remy”: [ OOC ] Okay, I guess I’m gonna use six GRT. > Nick / “Vynos”: [ OOC ] You gotta burn GRT.
> Shannon / “Beta”: [ OOC ] I’m gonna burn -
> Jenn / “Merkis”: [ OOC ] Merkis is gonna, yeah -
> Bijan / “Remy”: [ OOC ] Right?
> Jenn / “Merkis”: [ OOC ] Merkis is gonna burn six.
> Bijan / “Remy”: [ OOC ] ‘Cause that’s -
> Shannon / “Beta”: [ OOC ] I’ll burn six.
> Bijan / “Remy”: [ OOC ] - that adds six to your final result, so - > Shannon / “Beta”: [ OOC ] So don’t roll one.
> Mike / G.M.: Taylor is making a bad face.
> Jenn / “Merkis”: [ OOC ] Oh god.
> Shannon / “Beta”: [ OOC ] Oh my god. [ Jenn laughs ]
> Nick / “Vynos”: [ OOC ] Ooh, got it.
> Jenn / “Merkis”: [ OOC ] Eleven.
> Bijan / “Remy”: [ OOC ] Nine. I got a two on that fucking roll though. > Shannon / “Beta”: [ OOC ] I got a twelve. Noooo. Torres? Oat?
> Jenn / “Merkis”: [ OOC ] Oh, who didn’t - ?
> Nick / “Vynos”: [ OOC ] I got eleven.
> Taylor / “The Cool / Interesting Characters”: [ OOC ] Oat rolled a one.
> Nick / “Vynos”: [ OOC ] Nooooo!
> Jenn / “Merkis”: [ OOC ] Nooooooo!
> Taylor / “The Cool / Interesting Characters”: [ OOC ] On a d12.
> Bijan / “Remy”: [ OOC ] Eesh.
> Taylor / “The Cool / Interesting Characters”: [ OOC ] It’s his strongest ability. He rolled a one.
> Bijan / “Remy”: [ OOC ] RIP.
> Mike / G.M.: Oat. You are standing on a piece of floor that just cracks below you. [ Jenn gasps ] It’s a triangle that is two feet by two feet by two feet, it’s like a little - a perfect little equilateral triangle that just breaks off and falls into the sea below -
> Bijan / “Remy”: [ OOC ] Remy yells: [ IC ] Oat, use your wings!
> Taylor / “The Cool / Interesting Characters”: [ OOC ] They don’t work.
> Mike / G.M.: If anyone else wants to roll movement to try to catch Oat before he falls to his death, you can try, but it’s difficult. It’s going to be nine.
> Jenn / “Merkis”: [ OOC ] Merkis is going to - is gonna hold tricks, he’s gonna pull one trick, which is add two to a roll, and then he’s gonna burn another six. So, yeah, he’s gonna roll a d12. Oooh buddy. [ Jenn laughs ] That’s an eighteen.
> Taylor / “The Cool / Interesting Characters”: [ IC as Oat ] Woah - oh - woaaaaah!
> Jenn / “Merkis”: [ OOC ] Merkis whips around and holds on to a ledge and extends his tail
down to whip around Oat’s wrist.
> Taylor / “The Cool / Interesting Characters”: [ OOC ] Merkis whips that tail down and snags the Nolastrean manacles that Oat took off the cops in Zeshdano’s apartment, and we see Merkis lift him up by that pair of handcuffs that was hanging off his belt loop.
> Jenn / “Merkis”: [ OOC ] Amazing.
> Bijan / “Remy”: [ IC ] Woah, that’s pretty cool, Merkis. Oat, you good? [ In character as Oat, Taylor takes deep breaths in rapid succession ] [ OOC ] Remy pats him on the back. [ IC ] You good buddy?
> Taylor / “The Cool / Interesting Characters”: [ IC as Oat ] Yeah, yeah, uh-huh -
> Bijan / “Remy”: [ IC ] Pretty fun, right?
> Taylor / “The Cool / Interesting Characters”: [ IC as Oat ] It’s another day for Oat! > Jenn / “Merkis”: [ IC ] Let’s go!
> Nick / “Vynos”: [ IC ] Let’s go!
> Shannon / “Beta”: [ IC ] Let’s get out of here!
> Taylor / “The Cool / Interesting Characters”: [ IC as Torres ] Go!!
> Jenn / “Merkis”: [ OOC ] Merkis falls into the gate.
> Nick / “Vynos”: [ OOC ] Vynos leaps in.
> Shannon / “Beta”: [ OOC ] Beta follows.
> Mike / G.M.: You -
> Bijan / “Remy”: [ OOC ] Remy salutes the debris and jumps in backwards.
> Mike / G.M.: As you run into the open stiffworks, into the black portal, you hear, increasingly, the screams of people as they fall through the rift that has been put through, basically, the middle of Graffa.
> Jenn / “Merkis”: [ OOC ] Oh shit.
> Mike / G.M.: As you retreat into time and space, you hear the sounds - very familiar to you from your time on Gnarcossa - of, just, untold destruction. Just detritus, building material, things, just being scooped up, torn and thrown.
> Bijan / “Remy”: [ IC ] Guess that’s why he said never point it at the ground... Only point it at water...
> Jenn / “Merkis”: [ IC ] Is that worse than war?
> Bijan / “Remy”: [ IC ] I think we may have just done a little genocide there folks. A kind of
halfway cleansing - ethnic...
> Jenn / “Merkis”: [ IC ] Did we just wage war on Graffa?
[ 01:15:00 ]
> Nick / “Vynos”: [ OOC ] Vynos is just quiet, he can’t think of - he can’t hear anything but the screams.
> Jenn / “Merkis”: [ OOC ] What is this stiffwork like, going through it?
> Mike / G.M.: So, very similar. You go down - you run, you escape down a black circular hallway, for the first time in a while, it feels like. Though really it’s only been, like, what? A week, maybe? A week and some days? The space feels inexplicably constricted, though it is infinite in expanse, and then inexplicably infinite in it’s feelings. You get to the end - you get towards the end of it and the way that you know this is not by sight, not by feeling, but by taste. You taste Spin before you really see it. Kelpy, salty, briny air. It’s damp, and then you hear the hum of the atmosphere system. You step foot from the infinite expanse of a stiffworks, into the grated floor of the bays.
> Taylor / “The Cool / Interesting Characters”: [ IC as Oat ] The Horde would never do this to me. [ Jenn laughs ]
> Nick / “Vynos”: [ IC ] Forget about the Horde, all right!
> Bijan / “Remy”: [ IC ] Yeah, I don’t think there’s ever gonna be more Horde. I think, maybe, there was an end to the brain rats. So that’s one good thing that happened after cracking that island in half.
> Mike / G.M.: You also don’t know - y’know, you didn’t go and try to find out where the guns are stored, so, like, who knows what happened to those.
> Jenn / “Merkis”: [ OOC ] Oh, shit.
> Mike / G.M.: They all maybe got spilled into the sea, or, y’know -
> Bijan / “Remy”: [ OOC ] I mean, look, I still think -
> Mike / G.M.: - cracked open like a easter egg -
> Bijan / “Remy”: [ OOC ] - the Grand Shandy pranked us so we destroyed his island.
> Jenn / “Merkis”: [ OOC ] The greatest prank.
> Bijan / “Remy”: [ OOC ] The greatest prank of all time.
> Nick / “Vynos”: [ OOC ] Well I’m hoping it’s just like a ten foot hole, but who knows. [ Taylor laughs ]
> Taylor / “The Cool / Interesting Characters”: [ OOC ] Uh-uh.
> Mike / G.M.: Merkis, Remy, Beta, Vynos, Oat - by the skin of his teeth - and Torres. You’re on Spin. You hear the atmosphere system, what you don’t hear, is Little Wetana. It is quiet. It’s night on Spin, or at least the clocks say that it’s night on Spin. The Bays are empty, you’re alone.
[ Main Theme begins ]
> Mike / G.M.: You are now leaving Float City, thanks for listening. If you like the show, and you wanna help us keep making it, head on over to Patreon.com/FunCityVentures. Five bucks a month gets 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 great deal. You know you wanna. Patreon.com/FunCityVentures. And of course, thanks to all of our current patrons for help keeping this ship afloat.
[ Main Theme ends ]
[ Outro Theme begins ]
> Bijan: Hi, I’m Bijan Stephen, and I play Remy Tester on Float City. You can find me online on Twitter at @ BijanStephen B-I-J-A-N S-T-E-P-H-E-N. On Twitch at the same name. And on Instagram at @ BijanCakes B-I-J-A-N Cakes.
> Jenn: I’m Jenn de la Vega, I play Merkis Imeldar. You can find me on Twitter and Instagram at @ randwiches, that’s the word sandwiches but replace the ‘S’ with an ‘R’.
> Shannon: This is Shannon Odell, I play Beta Commbot. You can find me on social at @ Shodell.
> Nick: 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 @ Nguercio on Instagram. You spell Guercio G-U-E-R-C-I-O.
> Taylor: I’m Taylor Moore and I play all the cool, interesting characters. You can follow me at @ Taylordotbiz
> Mike: My name is Mike Rugnetta, I am your G.M. and you can find me on Twitter and Instagram at @ MikeRugnetta.
You can find the show on Twitter and Instagram at @ funcityventures. Float City is played in a soon to be released system called Stillfleet, which you can find on Twitter, Instagram, and Patreon at @ Stillfleet.
This episode of Float City was recorded at various locations around Brooklyn, New York. It was produced, edited, and sound designed by me, Mike Rugnetta.
Once a dream did weave a shade, O'er my Angel-guarded bed, That an Emmet lost it's way Where on grass methought I lay. Troubled wilderd and folorn
Dark benighted travel-worn,
Over a many tangled spray.
All heart-broke I heard Pixlriffs say. O my children! Do they cry,
Do they hear their father sigh.
Now they look abroad and see, Now return and weep for me. Pitying I drop'd a tear:
But I saw a glow-worm near:
Who replied. What wailing wight Calls the watchman of the night.
I am set to light the ground,
While the beetle goes his round: Follow now the beetles hum,
Little wanderer hie thee home.
Fun City’s music is by Sam Tyndall. Remy’s flute playing is by Jake Fridkis. The Fun City art is by Tess Stone, and the Float City art is by Ethan Gould. Our Discord mods are Olivia Gulin, Kelly McKew, Kit Pulliam, and Kestrel. And the voice of Artemis is Molly Templeton.
[ 01:20:57 ] [ Outro Theme ends ]
[ Transcription by Juno Winter, @CapnMochi on Twitter ]