Last time on Cloudfall. With Oscar nominee leading the way, the party has ventured deep into the island of Backsy and puzzled their way to the core chamber, conquering cinder snakes, 35 foot vertical leaps, and a whole mess of levers. At the end of the dungeon, they found a great beast known as Sesc the Coil, who protects the Bismite core of Backsy. The great beast drew on the power of the island to cause an eruption that would clear intruders from the core chamber. Journey managed to break away from the mesmerizing stare of the great beast just in time to follow a party into the brass pipes and out into the bright suburbs of back sea.
Time for a cool down. You step out from the rushing heat of the pipe into a completely vacant back alley. You can all smell fresh food, roasting meat and spices, and a dumpster full of discarded food
scraps. And bread?
Yeah. Pinch is not doing so hot. The pipe is kind of, has exploded out with bread that has sort of burst at the top and then wrapped around the outside of the pipe a little bit. You can also smell just like burnt bread, and there's little flakes of pinched ash in the air.
Oh, I'm sorry.
And I put my hand on his very large cheeks.
Yeah. You see soggy dough, a piece of him, that is just kind of, like, dripping off the main portion, and it falls onto the cobbles with a splat. Oh. And then you can see a little hand reach up out of the dough.
It's okay. You can let go.
I'll see you in the morning.
And Chesa dies so dramatically every time.
And it starts to wobble and, like, recedes into the cobbles.
It's so it's only chains now.
And then you hear, and he just pushes himself up, and you got, like, a tiny, tiny, mini pinch now.
Oh, thank god. It's just, I was really worried about you. You you're good now? Okay. Just get in my shirt. I don't really wanna attract attention. No?
Sorry. That was him getting in your shirt.
Oh, okay. Yes.
Pinch, you were a real hero down there.
Alright. Yeah. You were. Good job, bud.
And I, like, high fived my chest.
Splat. You all see Oscar kind of, look down the alleyway, look at the dumpster, and he's kinda figuring out where you are. He goes, yeah. Okay. I think we're behind the Demi's.
What's the Demi's? Or where?
What? Oh, it's just like a brunch spot. Do you guys like brunch? You never been to a Demi's?
I love brunch.
Perfect. Well, I gotta get this hologram uploaded to the mainstream, but I'm also starving. You guys want a bite?
Are you buying?
Yeah. Sure.
Oscar, that's great. Yeah. I think we should go.
Alright.
He, walks you around to the front of the building. There's a large blue door with kind of an arch to it, and above that is a great skull with crystalline eyes. And it says Demi's, d e m I. It's a brunch spot. As soon as you all walk in, you see a skeleton at the front desk, who kind of holds up a hand and kind of, like, rattles it in front of you, just to greet you. He says, hi. Welcome to Demi's.
Hello.
How many you got?
1, 2
of these.
Very good. What kind of
syrups do you need for
the tables?
All of them.
Well, we got 4 syrups. You can have 3 of 4. We got saffron honey, chanoka maple, local strawberry, and mainland marmalade.
I'll take everything except for the marmalade.
Agreed. Fair enough. Alright. I'll get you all fixed up with some menus. Sorry. We're, running with a bit of a skeleton crew today.
Wow. Up, Dittmies. Did the sign say demise?
No. I don't think so. The s was silent though.
He called it a demies. No.
The s was
guys spit skeleton joke. That was really good, though. Yeah. It would it was That was funny.
We should definitely tip them well.
Yeah. It gets old. They do it every time.
What's brunch? Oh my gosh. Journey. Brunch is the meal you have between breakfast and lunch.
Are you
There's a meal between breakfast and lunch.
Why would you do another one in the middle?
No. You don't do the breakfast one.
Sometimes you do.
Oh. Wow.
I was not a believer at first, but Poppy showed me the error of my ways.
I just really like to eat.
Alright. Yeah. I guess.
I love when you combine the sounds together to make a new sound.
This is more wordplay that I'm not familiar with. Right?
Yeah. It's, I don't quite know what the term is
for it, but when you combine things
Yeah. It's either a pun or a portmanteau. I'm not quite sure. Yeah.
I heard that.
Anyway, my name is Betty. I'll be serving y'all today. I got some menus for y'all. If you wanna take a look here, just let me know. I have texted you all a menu.
Oh. That's what I'm gonna say. Okay.
Erin takes a look at it, and kinda turns it side to side for a second, as we sit down and then, leans over to Journey. Can you tell me what what these are?
Do you do you just want me to read them to you? Or
Yeah. I I can't read.
Oh, okay. Yeah. This one is a banshee hoe hash browns.
Oh, I'm sorry. Is this all y'all's first time?
Yeah. We're new to the city.
Can you
tell us about everything?
Gosh. I should've known by the big laughs at the bone joke. Okay. Yeah. Sure. So, we're owned by a a Demi Lich, of course. Demi's, but Demi is a great person. You know, don't get it twisted. She's she's good.
Wait. So her name is Demi and she's also a Demi Lich?
Well, bit of an egomaniac, of course. But, yeah, she named herself Demi Lich in her afterlife, and she is a Demi Lich. Okay. She, you know, kinda thinks she's the it Lich. Anyway, so, yeah, here's our lineup. We got Banshee Howell hash browns. We got phallacter eggs and toast. We got panic pancakes, butter grape waffles, arcane bacon weave, freshly slaughtered fruit, and soul sit mimosas.
These sound great. Are they safe for
Oh, yeah. It's all just thematic naming.
Okay. I'll have the eggs.
Phylacta eggs and toast? You got it.
I would like the freshly slaughtered fruit, please.
Great choice. The arcane bacon leaves sounds great.
It is great. What hair is
best with the panic pancakes? Just out of curiosity.
Well, you're certainly gonna want something sweet to cut that. So soleset mimosas or freshly slaughtered fruit, I would guess.
Of course. I yeah. And as far as, the syrups go?
You don't wanna well, I would stick with the mainland marmalade for y'all.
No. No. No. No. I yeah. We're clearly from there, but I think we wanna try something more exciting.
Alright. Are these not
No. No. It's fine. I just a lot of these are kinda based on a saffron palate, which is pretty advanced. And I know all y'all mainlanders like to eat, you know, like potatoes and and and corn and and clothing and
Yeah.
Bedsheets and
I Oh, well. Am only if I'm really hungry.
Keep this up and I'll
have a bone
to pick
with you.
Excuse me.
I know what? That that's so charming, I think.
I I was just waiting for an opportunity to say that, but, no, I do wanna do the hip was it a hibiscus syrup or what was the
well, we've got chanoka maple, saffron honey, and local strawberry.
Local no. Sorry. The saffron.
You got it. Saffron honey. Yep. Of course, he would choose the most difficult one. Get ready, soldier.
I would like to try everything on the menu, please. Thank you.
She kind of crosses off what she had written before and just makes a big circle and goes, alright. Did I get everybody?
Oscar?
He goes, butter grade waffles, same as usual. She just nods, takes your singular menu that you've been sharing, and, continues back to kitchen
Thank you.
To yourself.
I hope it doesn't take
too long because of the skeleton crew. Right?
Yes. Elephants. So, you're all mainlanders. Right?
Rats. Yeah.
We're from the mainland. Very flammable.
Yes. Yeah. We covered that. Hey. We're all here. How about that?
Yep.
You didn't let us down, Oscar. Yeah. Thank you.
Oscar didn't do anything. Sorry. It was very nice of you to guide us out.
I gave it my all. Yes. My all is, you know, not a whole lot.
You really had us sweating for a minute. Right? Right? Right. Yeah.
Yes. We were almost down to a skeleton crew.
Oh my god.
They will ask you to leave.
I'll
ask you
job application. No. I don't know.
I'm not sure I get it, but I have a question. The creature down there Yeah. Why why is it down there?
People like me, I guess. Well, not like me, but people who really mean harm. People who wanna get in there and steal stuff. Take the Bismite. Zesk is down there for good reason.
But did did he choose to be down there, or is it something
Oh, I I never thought about that.
How long has he been down there?
Long as I've been here. Long as anybody's been here. I don't know what the deal is, I guess. I thought he wanted to be here. I thought he owned this place or something.
What did you think, Journey?
I got the impression that he's being exploited some way. But I I don't know. I don't know enough about it, and it's all a little fuzzy. It was real hot down there, and there's a lot going on.
I'm pretty sure he's like a god or something. If he wanted to leave, he could leave.
This was another one of the, great beasts. Is that correct?
Right. Like Kree that we saw before.
And the whale.
And the whale. Wow.
Well, the whale is doing a job. Maybe Sesk is doing a job as well. And Kree was just a big bodyguard.
I don't know if it's that simple.
Things did not seem to be well with Kree.
No. Not at the end.
What's wrong with Kree?
Well, we don't know.
Wait a second. Where are you all from in the mainland?
Oh, all over the place. I'm from Farewell.
No kidding.
I'm from Tildry.
Do any of you know Libera?
Yeah. I mean, the one that runs Farewell?
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
We we all met.
You do know her. So you guys are, like, big deals. No.
You can see that.
Oh. I think we're trying to keep a low profile, you know, Oscar. And we're actually not really big deals.
Oh, speak for yourself.
Mhmm.
Poppy is the best baker on the mainland.
Careful with that. She might be the best baker in the mainland, but she's not best in backseat, and that means something here. Best in backseat is a big deal. You understand? There's categories.
Are you do you know a lot about baking?
No. I don't know nothing about baking. I mean, I can bake myself a little bit, but
tell me more.
Well, I mean, if you're gonna get into the culinary side of it, you're gonna go wanna go to Starlight Street or just go visit some of the wagons in the gardens, but yeah. The top 10 in backseat. It doesn't matter what they're good at, but they all gotta be good at something different. But they're the 10 most influential people on the island.
Poppy would beat them all.
Well, I mean, I I could try. I I think I have a unique perspective.
Well, you might be able to take out the best baker, but you gotta stay in your lane. I mean, the one of the number one people on the island right now, it's Mabel. She's the luckiest person here. She's the best gambler on the entire island. And then there's, I don't know, there's Balor and Breeze. He's the best racer on the island. There's Phenom Green. He's the best performer on the island.
Oh, wait. Wait. Wait. Hold on. Phenom's here?
What? Yeah. Oh, no. Not right now, but soon, I think.
We should pay him a visit. Is he an old friend?
You know him too? Yeah. Well, hell, you guys are a big deal. I never met the guy. But, listen. If you do wanna stay on the down low, I would keep quiet about knowing Labira. He's not, beloved around here.
Why?
Well, Mabel, Lady Luck.
Sorry. Is this the same Mabel you're trying to spoon? Yes.
Swoon? Spoon.
Trying to spoon.
Spoon. Trying to swindle and spoon.
Little spoon and spoon. Who cares? Libera kinda cheated her way up the ranks to best in backseat.
At gambling?
At a lot of things. Kind of one thing after another. Nobody could keep her down. She's kind of impressive, but also kind of a bastard. Anyway, at the end of it, she stole a kiss from Lady Luck, and now, Lybira's got some of that magic. Whatever that was, she's got some.
Lybera has some magic?
Some of that luck. Everything just works out for her.
Who is this lady luck?
It's it's my Mabel. She was born with something special, but a couple years ago, it just went off the rails. She got real magic. She can make damn near anything happen just by wanting it to.
Doesn't that seem kind of like cheating also?
I guess, but it's Mabel. She wouldn't cheat.
Do you actually know her? Have you met Mabel before in person?
I grew up with Mabel. I've known her since I was 5 years old.
Let me ask you something, Oscar. That's interesting. Maybe we'll come back to that. But why was it such a interesting and important thing to show that you could get to the Bismite to impress Mabel?
Grasping at straws. I mean, she said we can't be near each other. We can't I can't be around her anymore, but she said she belongs to Backsy, not to me no more. I don't I don't get what she means, and she won't tell me. So I figured if I belong to Backsy too, at least we can be together.
That's actually really sweet.
Is it?
Something sounds weird about that, but we're new. So
Yeah. And we don't wanna intrude too much, Oscar. Like, thanks so much for the meal, and, I don't know if there's a place we can is there an inn nearby or a place we can rest up?
Yeah. You're in the right spot. I mean, you're in the suburbs. There's everything to be had here. I mean, every comfort, every thing you could wanna buy. I mean, yeah. Here, I'll write down some stuff for you guys to check out but you probably ought to hit the bass and the glamour boutiques, Maybe get some snacks, really take it in.
Will the guards still be looking for us, or are we good now you think of being up here?
That's kinda why you might wanna hit the Glamour boutiques. Maybe you look a little different than you do now.
Aaron nods stoically. That brings up my question.
What's that?
My cart is impounded. Oh, no. Oh. It's my livelihood.
Okay. Well, I'm going to be less than 0 help at the impound lot for reasons that are legal. But if it's within 24 hours, you should be able to get back for, like, a modicum of gold.
Wait. What is how much is that here?
Like, definitely less than a1000.
Great.
Definitely.
I definitely have even remotely close to a1000.
Well, what about so when we were in Farewell and we got into some trouble, we were able to get out of it by talking to someone real important, and they were able to help us out. Is there anyone that's like that here? Is that just kinda how it works in cities? Like, can we talk to maybe this lady luck person and say, like, it was a misunderstanding that we were in trouble in the 1st place and she could help us?
Yeah. I mean, you're you're onto something there. I don't know if it's her though, but you're gonna wanna climb physically and metaphorically. Oh. The higher you get in back seat, the better the clientele.
Just leave me here to die.
Poppy, we'll carry you. We gotta. But yeah. Is there someone that maybe we could talk to? We mean to talk to someone in charge anyway to tell them about the dangers.
Well, the real council, they don't really interact with the lower people. So the best in backseat, the top 10, they're kinda the people's liaison, our representatives. You gotta get with them if you want any chance.
So what if we became one of the top 10?
That's a good shot too, but it's tough.
I see. You just leave that to me.
Alright. Good luck, I
guess. Is there someone in the top ten that's, like, a top influencer or political person?
Now that you mentioned it, that Balor and Breeze guy that I mentioned, the, the racer, he does spend more time with the council than the others. Kinda feels like maybe racing is not his thing, or it's his second thing. I don't know.
Well, then maybe it's that easy. Like, we would just go make friends with this Valor and Breeze fella and and then just say, hey. It was a mistake. We are misunderstood, and that's why they took us captive. And we didn't mean to get up into the suburbs, but here we are now. And, also, can we get the cart back? It's easy. Right?
And also, the skylines are falling from the sky.
Right. We need to warn them.
Excuse me. What? We'll keep that down.
What? It's a it's a metaphor.
The last part. Yeah. It's a metaphor. About the skylines falling from the sky is a metaphor?
Yeah. It's something we say on the mainland.
Yeah. Roll out of deception.
24.
Got it. Yeah. Okay.
Yeah. We got a lot of idioms and stuff. Sure. Sure. Yeah. It's just like a little insulting, I'm sure. So I don't wanna
Yeah. How embarrassing for me. Yeah.
Is there a race happening sometime soon?
Yeah. Not today, but I think tomorrow. I mean, there's a big show tomorrow.
What about a baking competition?
You're gonna have to really get on your grind in the gardens.
It's just kind of a cycle because I
need my cart because my cart's my bakery, and I need my bakery to be in the gardens
so, you know, you get it.
I see the predicament. Yeah. And I I wish I could help you, but I I literally, I'm broke. I got no money whatsoever.
Not to get off track, but didn't you say you were paying for our meals?
You all hear a rattle. As Oscar abruptly stands from the table and tries to run away.
Get a pinch. Just kidding.
I can pay. I don't we don't need you to pay. I
No. I was just going to the bathroom. That's all that's
Oscar, you don't have to you don't gotta leave.
Of course not. I just, yeah. I don't like being on the inside of the booth. That's all. Can I sit on the outside?
Alright.
Yeah. Anyway, so who's paying? Who was gonna pay?
I can pay.
Fantastic. All of your food shows up including these syrups, the saffron honey. On average, the food here is better than anything on the mainland. The influence of saffron reaches far and wide here, and it's just a cut above. The pancakes are buttery and fluffy. The fruit is sweet and tart and cuts through. Doran, when you take a bite of the saffron honey, I need you to make a constitution save. Okay.
14.
Very good,
so Doran, you kinda finished up your pancakes and you feel your stomach rumble a little bit. Mhmm. And that's all for now.
Okay. Hate the haunting. That's it for now.
Cool. Cool.
Great. Good for us. I I did order 1 of each and I was planning on using my Ganymede
Oh, shit.
Gift to try and, like, really take it in and, like, learn whatever flavors I can from it.
Okay. Cool. Alright. So, Poppy, the plates just kind of keep coming and they're setting stuff in front of you and they're almost like there's not enough room on the table for everything. And Oscar's literally holding his plates so that you can have more room.
Betty just keeps setting down stuff and, like, taking them as you're finishing them, but the whole time you're just kind of quietly in mental conversation with Ganymede, and the 2 of you are just getting to work right away. Okay. Powdered sugar, but it's, it's almost like charred powdered sugar. I don't get it.
That's an interesting flavor.
But it's like a crystal dust. It's so sweet, so delicate.
It is very light. It's smoky?
Smoky. I've never had a smoky pancake.
I'm not sure I would keep using it for pancakes, but but I could work with this. Okay. Maybe like a a creme brulee cookie.
Okay. I see where you're going with this. Yeah. Now, let's, try something wild. Take a bite of the eggs, but I want you to wrap it in a bacon like a sushi.
Oh, what sushi?
I don't know. Let's try.
Okay. Do that.
Yeah. Poppy's just kind of like mumbling to herself and, like, nodding in agreement with things that you're not hearing and eating about 6 entrees.
It's best not to interrupt her now. This is like church for her.
My cheeks are shoved full of food
like a hamster.
Any leftovers you have, Journey just, like, nibbles on, like Yeah. Trying to get any semblance of what you're experiencing.
Oh, I'm not gonna finish any of this, please.
You all spend a little while after you had finished your meals just watching Poppy kind of, like, finish up and, like sample things and she's like taking notes as well at the same time. And Poppy, you learn a great deal from this. You learn kind of the basis of saffron flavors. They've got something equivalent to fantasy MSG that makes everything incredible and you're trying to pin down what that is. But as your meal finishes up, Demi approaches and briefly, wishes you all a good day.
Demi is a floating skull with giant crystal eyes that may well have been her on the mantle as you were walking in. She just says, thank you
all for your patronage. Thank you. Everything is photolipid.
Of course. To die for, I'd say.
She just kinda floats after you as you're leaving and she goes, come again. Of course.
Guy tips his head as he leaves.
Can I, before we leave, can I just take a little bit of the saffron syrup into a little vial?
Just to see
Make a stealth check, though.
Oh,
no. Those are not good for me.
I'll roll initiative.
I'm gonna
fight the glamour spell. Oh, yeah. 17?
Wow. You beat it by 1. Oh, shit. Yeah. You kind of, like, feel this, like, sweaty panic as Betty, like, moves by. You thought she caught you, but you just, like, swiped it into your bag.
Just
Okay. That was the saffron honey? Yeah. Okay. You got it. A vial of saffron honey.
How much, did that cost me?
Let's just bounce it out at, like, 15 gold.
Cool. For the
whole thing. Yeah. Alright. As you kind of leave the restaurant, Oscar is dusting his hands on his lap and rubbing crumbs off of his mouth, and he says, thank you all very much for your help, but I still have work to do. I'm still kinda in it, and I'm really not looking to modify my plans for 6. That's okay.
Sure.
That's
fine. Do you think we could get, contact, like, where to catch up with you if we had a question about the city? Just in, like, you're the only person we really know here, and
You
might be able to point us in the right direction in the future.
I'll be around Starlight Street tonight. I'm trying to make that upload. I'll see if I can get it to work, but, otherwise, I might catch you in the gardens. But I'll be around there tonight. I'm sure I'll find you.
If you can recognize us. And Aaron gives him a little wink.
Well, you'll find me. Let's say that.
Good luck with your fake girlfriend.
Good luck with your fake head.
Where do we go from here?
I got a lot of questions. I think I recognized sir Bo, that flying robot when we first got here. Yeah. We got a few contacts. So Rune might be here, and Phenom might be here, or at least coming soon.
It was recommended we disguise ourselves, but if phenom is here, I believe that is his specialty.
That's a good point. Yeah. Let's get some new clothes, at least.
Right. If nothing else, I can disguise myself to look not like me.
Cool. I didn't know that. I'll have my eye open for a, like, a newspaper stand or something like that to see if there's any events listing or anything like that Okay. As we're heading to get clothes.
Baths and glamour.
Baths and glamour. Why can't they just make it one store? Okay. Backseat is a beautiful island. Again, it is bright and crisp and sunny, and there's this pleasant breeze blowing through the whole place. This level of backseat is completely unlike the one that you were just on. That kind of dark holds dark, dark again.
Very dark.
Dark ashy atmosphere that was kind of, empty and harrowing and devoid of people. But up here, it's packed. Like a Disneyland kind of atmosphere where there's just people, like, inactivity all the time. There's buskers around every corner. There's beautiful cobbles and, like, well manicured bushes and cherry trees everywhere.
The buskers start to get thick after a while actually and kind of aggressive. A lot of them are kind of talented to some degree, but they're all trying to outdo each other and compete for your fractured attention. A few of them even stand up in, like, a coordinated act, and they use Poppy as a centerpiece for their little synchronized dance, preventing you from moving on while Poppy is trapped between them.
I'm doing an awkward little jig.
Okay. Yeah. Poppy, you suddenly have a whole crowd gathered around you, and they're all pointing hologram crystals at you.
Oh, fuck. Can I roll for performance?
Yeah, please. Okay.
Hi.
Yeah. Poppy, I think you kinda blank partway through, and you start watching other people for what to do. Meanwhile, you're just not moving.
I'm, like,
clapping my hands off feet. Doran, meanwhile, there are a bunch of people that are just pointing their crystals at your face and not saying anything. Same goes for the rest of you. There are people that obviously note your differences and are just pointing crystals at you constantly.
Doran, is this keeping a low profile?
I'm going to, like, feign a sneeze on one of the crystals.
Okay. Performance, I guess.
Alright. And I'm gonna say, yeah. Sorry. I picked something up, on the main lands. Might wanna stay back.
Oh, god. Okay. So Take advantage
on that.
Yeah. Okay.
17?
Okay. Yeah. From an aerial perspective, we see this bubble just form around Dorn where people just rappel like oil on water. And, yeah, Dorn, you've got this wide birth around you and your whole group actually. You've created a chance to get away.
Alright. Yeah. Let's cover let's cover our faces and let's, yeah. We we gotta get into the bass.
Are do we stand out because we're dressed differently or is it because everyone is, like, Tabaxi?
A little bit of both. This island is, like, 80% Tabaxi. Okay. So you're not the only, you know, humans and other races here, but that's part of it. Also, your dress and everything about you. Yeah. You're also covered in ash.
Yeah. Got it right. We cannot be on videos.
Excuse me. Erin just goes up to someone nearby and says, where's the nearest bath in Glamour? There's a couple up the street. There's All Clean on the corner. And then if you keep going, there's Steam Press. And then at the end of
the, like, alleyway, there's the vapor show. They're usually open.
Thank you. I'm just gonna head to the closest one, but hopefully, they follow. Yep. Yes.
Yeah. Sure. Cool. Your tactic worked except for 1. There is a Timexie still chasing your group, and she's going, excuse me. Excuse me. 1 of you. Hello. Excuse me.
Yeah.
Hi. My name is Harley Brumlum. You look over a gray Tabaxi. She appears to be blushing even through her fur. She says, I'm sorry. Did I catch you all at a bad time?
Tell her she smells nice.
You smell nice? And yes, you did. Only that, we've had a long journey, and we just want to, she is tall. We've all yeah. We've also been had a long, travel, and we just wanna hit the baths. Would you mind giving us just, like, an hour, and then we can meet?
Yeah. Absolutely. Of course. I'll give you an hour just real quick. I'm a journalist. Yeah. I like to cover the truth of things, the real truth, the actual truth. It's kind of a new movement out here in the Skylands. I had heard through the grapevine that some mainlanders had arrived on Backseat just today, and I'm putting some things together thinking that might be you.
Mainlanders don't come through often? I feel like we've seen a bunch of them.
Not not like this.
Well So what's your question?
Well, I don't have a question. I actually wanna act on your behalf. She kinda looks out at all of you. I wanna get the real story out there, the truth of who you are and what you're after. Okay.
We don't have a story.
We do, though.
Hold on. Can we get your paper, and we can just check it out? Oh, a paper?
No. We don't have a paper.
How can we know what you're talking about?
Oh, we use she holds up a hologram crystal and shakes
it side to side. Okay. Can we look at that when we take a bath?
Yeah. Oh, Yeah. Here. Let me give you, my nut reel. She pulls out, like, a little crystal and hands it over to you. Okay. This is all the good stuff.
Awesome. Yeah. We yeah. I promise we will hit the buzz. We'll be back out, and, we'll connect her as soon as we're done.
Yeah. Great. She, kind of, like, glances over your group, and then her eyes kind of, like, hover on Guy for a second. She goes, enjoy watching me in the baths. What?
Oh. Let's get in before we get bombarded more.
You all see, All Clean Steam Press and the vapor show, the 3 baths that they had talked about. The first two, however, are, like, packed. They have a line out the door. The vapor show, for some reason, does not.
Let's go with the one with the vapor show.
Yeah. You enter into a large room made of warm wood, and you can smell, hot water and steam and soaps and perfumes kinda coming from every little door in this room. You hear, hi. Welcome. How many?
5 this time.
Private room or public?
Whatever's cheaper. Oh.
That's public.
Sounds good. What does public mean? Well
You get naked around each other.
What she said.
Oh, well, I don't care. Okay.
My my mother always, told us that that was private.
How about me and Poppy do private rooms? You you all can
I would take a private room?
Oh, okay.
Yeah. I don't have any money. So
I'll pay for you.
How much is it?
It's, 5 silver for the public and one gold for the bath.
I'll get gold for the bath for all of us. It's okay, Journey. I can pay for this part. Alright.
Good. Okay.
Here's your tokens. Enjoy yourselves. Here's some towels and robes, sandals.
Do you do clothes too? We we just came in with what we had and don't have anything stylish.
Oh, suppose we could, although it's not typical of us.
Let's not do that then. Okay. 5 gold. Thank you. Very good. And here's an here's one for you.
What is this? Why why an extra gold?
I just figured, you you've been very kind and professional in sharing us sharing with us some information. You know, we're new and
I don't run this place, though. I don't need extra gold. I mean, I get paid, you know, what I am valued for.
Okay. I'll take this back and just say thank you.
This isn't America.
You immediately understand that there was a misunderstanding in the payment, and you have all gotten one private room. Oh, k.
Great.
There is, fantasy Enya playing in the background. There are some small It's just Enya.
It's not just Enya.
There's small artificial waterfalls made of polished round stones, very obviously, like, artifice put together. But it all has the appeal of taking a bath in a zen garden, like a rock garden kind of thing.
Sure.
This, this private bath is about 20 by 15, so pretty spacious. And, yeah, plenty of room for all of you to chill.
Okay. Game plan. Everyone just face a different wall.
No problem. Guy, takes his head off and faces it. Sets it down on the
ground facing a wall. Okay. Poppy, how many walls do you think are in here?
Yeah. But guy is now shoved into a corner.
Okay. That's fine, I guess. Yeah.
Erin just strips down in front of everyone while Poppy is talking and gets in the water.
Same with Journey. Oh.
I mean, if it makes you that uncomfortable, I can change into any anything you want. I mean No. Whatever would make you more comfortable. I don't want anything.
What's going on back there? Hobby, if you want, we can all bathe with our clothes on.
No. Okay. I was gonna press the digitization everybody's clothes.
Journey is already, like, crouched naked at the edge of the pool and, like, scrubbing one of her, like, leathers. Just like
a I'm just imagining more of, like, a yeti situation, like, than anything.
It's all fur.
She's, like, washing herself and then shakes her
whole body.
Is Journey's furry? Yeah. Nice.
You know how it's just sometimes strange to see, like, a fully nude body working and just seeing all the weird muscles at work? Like yeah. Yeah.
So is Journey, like, kind of, like, short haired a little bit? Yeah. Like okay. I'm almost, like, a seal
Like, thick peach fuzz everywhere. Okay. Like, really short, really soft, but, like, colored in different, like, swirls of greens and browns and stuff. Got
it. Yeah. Okay.
Poppy, something catches the corner of your eye, and you look over at Guy's head, and you see movement. And when you look over, you see Doran. Doran, what state are you in?
I sheepishly kinda, yeah, stripped down, and I'm just kinda, like, easing my way into the into the bath.
Okay. Yeah.
Poppy immediately slaps her hands over her eyes.
Yeah. You hear that, Doran. You see Poppy, like, facing you with her hands over her eyes.
I'm so sorry.
Sorry.
Sorry. I didn't know which wall I was supposed to be looking at.
I don't know. It's
I'll just keep my okay. Everyone
Here. I'll make some bubbles and I put some soap in and go.
Okay. Yeah. Yeah. You get a nice nice, like, foam over the top of the pool. Okay.
Erin, don't you dare use your specialized. My specialized?
This, like, super sight. Right?
Body. Just bodies.
Yeah. I was gonna say too if it would make you feel more comfortable, I could be you, and then everyone could say,
fake you.
I think that's a good idea, Heather.
And then no one will look at real you.
We won't know which one it is. Yeah.
I don't I just thrown it out there. And if you want that
That's right.
At this point, Journey is, like, kneeling on the edge of the pool with her butt in the air and has her hair in the pool and is washing her hair while the Faye buds all swirl around. She does not care at all. I'm just
I I'm gonna turn around, like, clench my eyes. Clench your butt.
Clench my butt. I'm gonna strip off all
the outer layers, but leave my, like, little bloomers and tank top
on Okay.
And and get in the pool.
Yeah. Everybody waits until Poppy is firmly beneath the foam up to her neck.
I'm sorry. Carry on.
Alright. Everyone, gather around. Let's watch this crystal. Darren holds it up. Okay. Just wanna scope out this, reporter. This might be a good way to get a message out. Let me know if there's anything good.
Oh, yeah.
Guy, your face does kinda need a little Here.
I can help with that, and I just pick up
Oh, Joe.
Guy's head and set it next to the edge of the pool and start washing his hair.
Give me a a dexterity check, Johnny. Okay. Well
Natural one.
Perfect. Yes. I love it. Okay. You pick up you pick up Guy in your soapy slippery hands immediately. Oh, no. And you're just. And there's foam on the top of the pool, so none of you can see into the water. Oh, no. Guy is drowning.
Okay. This is gonna hurt.
I don't know
if I need to. Doran goes under and opens his eyes in the Toby water.
I'm covering all of my sensitive bits.
Yeah. Doran, you take a look around to scope the area, and it's you're yeah. I can't find them? Well, you're hesitant to just start reaching around and grabbing at stuff. Am I? And there's a there's a well, I don't know. I guess, I can't speak for that. But there's there's a lot of legs, a lot of bodies, a lot of parts.
I'm looking for a head shaped thing. You find 1? Okay.
And it's guy, and it's the correct head.
Dora and I don't know how to say this, but it's too late. I've seen everything.
It's alright. I think that'd be probably good. We should do some immersion therapy here. You know, we're gonna be a party and
I have a quick question. Doran, how old are you actually like, I will oh, like, what age do you look like, I guess? You don't have to give me your actual
Mid twenties.
Okay. Yeah. Aaron checks out Darren while all this is happening. Just subtle subtle ache.
Can we
do, like, a stealth and perception?
Yeah. Let's do it. Yeah. Stealth and Stealth from Eren, which, I mean, good luck doing. Yeah. I know. That's fine.
I did not roll good.
Is Aaron not trying to hide
it? I I guess not. Holy shit. It's still 16.
Wow. 10. Okay. Yeah. Yep. Yeah. Aaron, you you linger probably a little longer than a safe, but you're still okay. You, you got away with it.
So, anyways, this crystal, we yeah. This reporter might be a good way to reach 1 of the 10.
Should we have a crystal? Like, I know we have our echo bells and we're able to call each other, but should we have a crystal for stuff stuff like this?
I don't know if we can afford that.
It might help us blend in.
Well, maybe if we just had one for all
of us, a family plan. Mhmm.
I think this one, we just wanna check out this reporter and see what she's all about.
Do we do we want her to tell our story though? Aren't we supposed to be laying low?
I don't know exactly what a journalist is, but she said that she wanted to tell the actual truth, and I feel like that's really what we're trying to do too.
Yes. She said that.
Just because people say something doesn't mean they're actually gonna do what they say.
I guess.
Yeah. That's the first rule my mom ever taught me.
Really? The first thing?
Yeah. Okay. Oof. That and the bootstraps. Oof. Right.
She's a bit of
a piece
of work.
I take out the crystal, and I'm gonna try to figure out how to make it go.
Yeah. So this room is actually a little bit dim in comparison just to a relaxing degree so that when you light up this crystal and start projecting the hologram from inside, it's kind of casting this, like, whitish blue artificial light into the room and into the water as well. I'm a disciple of truth, and that's why I snuck into the temple. And she, like you see her, like, turn around and point up at this brilliant, like, Roman style marble column temple. And you can see this single massive cherry blossom tree standing next to it.
And behind it, this roiling caldera of lava. This is the top of Tabaxi, the tippy top. You can see in the distance, there's, like, these lines of Tabaxi guards kind of protecting the place, and Harley is walking in a slow circle around these bushes pointing up at this temple and she says, this is where it all comes from. All the corruption, all the top ten madness, this is where it starts and ends. There's something in there that they're hiding so deeply, so well, nobody can even get the first inkling of it.
But this is my mission. Bird, as my witness, I will find the truth.
I trust her.
You flip over to the next facet. She says, today, an ex pose. Baths. Do they cost too much?
Let's skip over that one.
You see her in a dark broom closet. She says, Demi the Lich, a long untrusted figure. Let's find out just how bad she is. She's holding up little documents and you see tax evasion, 5 years running. Who can really be trusted here? And she's tapping the pen with a pad. Tapping the you know what I mean. Yeah.
I put the crystal to the side. I mean, I think she's saying all the right things. I wonder how much of an audience Harley has.
She says she knows Bert.
Yes. The little man from the tower.
Rat. We met Bert. Rat?
Yeah.
Who?
When we were getting in the tower 13 and we went to go rescue you.
Oh, yeah. You mentioned that guy. I don't think we met him. He was
a very small man, and he did something.
Can I
roll the knowledge of history to know what kind of rapport Bert has? Had I heard of Engelbert?
Nope. Nobody here had heard of Engelbert before. Okay. Yeah. Tarn.
Would I have being from Tildrey?
I would say there is a chance.
Yeah. You probably, like, sat through a boring guest lecture that
I gave 11. From birth.
I also did drop out of school. Yeah.
Oh, yeah.
But because 11. Yeah. Academics. They they kind of describe this person to you and what he represents, and you're like, I met this guy, oh my god, you DID meet this guy. You were up all night, baking, and then you went to the lecture hall in the morning, you started Bert's lecture, and you fell asleep within 3 minutes.
I I definitely I think he was a guest speaker. Honestly, little boring. I did fall asleep. So but I've heard of him. Okay.
Oh, well, she said she might also know these top ten figures who may be important to our quest.
She also know how to get up there.
And maybe something with that tree. I know there's something weird about the tree that runs all the way through. I don't know. There's a lot going on.
What do you think,
Erin?
I don't really know why, but for some reason, she seems trustworthy.
Wow.
Okay. Yeah.
That's high praise, I think.
I think so.
I don't know if you can roll an insight check on a crystal. Probably not.
I think that's fine. Yeah. You can as as if you're appraising her actions in the moment. Yep.
Yeah. I'm gonna just do a little retro insight check, but I think Erin would trust this person for some reason. Oh, it didn't do very good on insight, though. So 8. So Aaron might be wrong.
Yes. You might be wrong, but that's the feeling you get anyway. Yeah. Yeah.
Tell you what, let me just go, check back with her. I think she could get us some clothes.
Yeah. If nothing else, maybe she has information that we can use.
Yeah. Well, we don't need to be recorded necessarily, like our image. Maybe we can share our story and, Oh, I've seen the, the, like you're just like a silhouette, like a
big question mark on your face.
Like, we can we can still warn people about the Skylands falling and what we saw with the biz night, but we don't have to necessarily give away, you know, our identities. So
I'm sorry. I can just picture Poppy being like, oh, yeah. It all started on lore. We were attacked.
Pinch comes out of her pocket. Look.
That's right, Pinch. I mean, nobody. At least she can give us some intel and help us along. I think I trust her, so I'm just gonna step out and then see if I can get a message out to her.
Oh, no.
What? Give me
your clothes for a second.
Oh, okay. Use my clothes?
I'll prestigitation them clean. Please put them on. Is Dorn out of the bath?
That's up to Dorn.
Yeah. I'm I'm gonna walk up the stairs and then put my clothes on and
I'm gonna use, like, animated eyes on his butt. I don't know if you want
that much detail.
Just to
see every little mole with
a resolution.
Okay. Aaron's a 17 year old. Okay? Just a horny teenager over here.
Aaron can see this, like, glimmer on peach fuzz on Dorn's butt in the candlelight. It's magical.
Just a little sparkle. Oh, god.
I do ship this. I'm glad
we have your approval.
So, yeah, I I basically just put on, yeah, like clothes, and then I'm going
to like, Danielson.
Like, clothes. Classic Gamerson. I'm trying to not say
that word.
Denim gambeson.
Jamieson. That's a
little too heavy to
put on.
It's just the undershirt.
No. It's like a chambray gambeson. A shamberson.
It's a Jamieson.
Jamieson. It's
all good. Please do a
full denim hill. Oh, wait.
I step out of the bath Yep. And I'm gonna head out to the entrance. The receptionist person, I'm just gonna say, I'll be right back. I just gotta get message out, and I'll be heading back to the bath if that's okay.
Sure. Weird. But okay.
Yep. Mainland thing. And then I step outside, and I look for, Harley.
Yeah. You, leave a few wet footprints on the wood as you're walking out and then on the front step. But when you're out there, you don't see Harley at all. She cleared out quick. Replacing her is a wagon that looks a hell of a lot like the rolling pin, but it's not.
Okay. You see that these types of food kiosks, these wagons, are pretty common on Backseat. This one, it is situated near this little mini park. It has exactly 3 trees, 2 benches, and 1 statue. The wagon itself, painted ocean blue and green, enchanted balloon decorations with long streamers coming off the balloons. In deep sky blue, the sign says, Bulble tea.
Yes. You went out without your jutes on.
What's a jute?
Your your denim boots.
Oh, I did. Yeah.
I step out of the bath, and I put on my Jamieson and George.
I need to draw this.
Oh my gosh.
Don't forget your jong.
Doreen, the cool breeze here is, pretty rough on your wet hair, and it's a little chillier than you expected it to be. Okay.
I shiver. I got goosebumps. And I'm gonna just step off to the side of the building, and I feel like Harley has to be out here somewhere. I'm gonna look even in the wagon a bit and see if I can see anyone.
Yeah. Give me an investigation. Okay.
I got a 15.
So you don't find her. You don't find any sign of her, but what occurs to you is that if that's the case, she tracked you down with intention and needs to be somewhere else right now, and that might be significant.
K. That's not good. How how close is the nearest clothing store?
Not far at all. You're in the same the right district for it.
Okay. I'll just head back to the path. Okay. It's chilly out there. Yeah. No. I couldn't find Harley. This might be more of an Aaron and Journey thing. Would you be able to get us clothes?
Yeah. Aaron changed into a Tabaxi when they were in the bath, and now is stepping out as a male Tabaxi. Mhmm. Although it's hard to tell. Yeah. Very furry.
Yeah.
I'm a long haired Tabaxi. Okay. So, I have long, kinda wavy, golden hair, and I'm gonna pull on Aaron's, like, loose fitting top but not wearing pants. I don't know. Did backseat wear pants?
Oh, yeah. Yep.
Okay. I guess I'll put on pants.
Yeah. You
don't have to, though. It's not
I wanted to be, like, poo bear.
Sure. You can do that. That's, like Oh, nice, baby. It it is not a cultural faux pas. It's kind of like men wearing shirts and not wearing shirts.
Okay. Yeah. So, like, just have a shirt on.
Yep.
And then says, we really need to work on our disguises a little bit, I think. I will go as Jordan.
Jordan? Perfect.
I can disguise myself. There anything in particular I should look like? Tabaxi? Okay.
I could shave my mustache.
No. I'm not doing that.
Too far. Too far.
Alright. And, I cast disguise self.
K.
And I am a brown cat.
Perfect.
Listen. I was thinking more about that reporter lady, and I was thinking next time we see her, we should make a deal. She gives us something, and we'll tell her our story. I still don't think we should give away our identities in a crystal that could be sent out to anyone, but she seems like she might have connections. And, you know, even though Diver was a shithead, he did teach me never give up anything for free. So
I think that's fair. Yeah.
My mom also taught me that. Yeah. Diver and your mom seem to have some commonalities, so
I see that.
And kinda the entryway of the bath here, you all hear, excuse me. I need a bath token just real quick. You all kind of turn to see a, a young very handsome Tabaxi with these sharp, piercing, almost glowing blue eyes. The person at the front desk says, Yeah. Of course. Did you want a private? He just kind of nods slowly. Hands over the token. As they're crossing through the room, they kind of catch eyes with a couple of you. He walks back into a private bath.
It's that Balerion breeze?
Balerion?
Valyrian?
No. No. Oh.
Who was it then?
I didn't get their name. I'm sorry.
Oh. It was
just a Tabaxi with pretty sharp blue eyes.
I cast primable awareness. K.
Oh, no. Blue eyes.
Blue eyes are my bad man.
Oh, no.
We don't know yet.
That's why I'm guessing primeval awareness.
Literally, no one can have blue eyes in this campaign or he's a bad guy.
What's the, what's the range on primeval awareness? Like, a mile. Yeah. Interesting. Yes. You are getting, pretty strong fey hits. You are not getting fiend hits within a mile. Okay. Yay. Alright. Celestial, of course, there's the undead register that always comes off guy, but that's about it.
Nothing celestial, nothing fiend?
Just a lot of heavy fey. Okay.
Well, now let me lead you to the glamour shops, and I kind of brush my hair with a claw.
Oh, yeah. I'm also a Temexe. Just I'm just brown cat. Like, I'm just so fucking brown. Alright.
Lead the way. Yeah.
Yeah. Aaron just leads the way out and kinda, like, sways as they walk. Just pooing it. Just pooing it.
Got that, like, long, like, tail side to side kinda thing. Yeah. Yeah. As you all turn to descend the steps, leaving the vapor show, the bathhouse, you see a a couple, a pair of Tabakse, walking up kind of towards you going into the bath and both of them have these piercing sharp bright blue eyes almost glowing again producing light from within. And they just kind of pass by you with a little gentle nod and they head inside the bathhouse here.
And then you all see the same, food wagon the kiosk that Doran saw earlier, it's called bubble tea. It is bubble tea made with bright bulb jellies. You just passing by, you can see there's 4 flavors listed. There's strawmelon, water fruit, pineapple, pine cone, and blue.
I have got to try this.
Poppy, before we do anything, let's get close and we can go back. It'll still be there.
How do you know that? It wasn't here when we got here?
We actually won't be here for very long.
So How long will it take to make one?
I mean, they're all ready to go.
Oh, Dorn. Alright. Fine. I would like your best flavor, please.
Our best flavor? Okay. They hand you a kind of pinkish reddish, straw melon jelly bubble tea.
How much was it?
It's just one silver for the bubble tea. Oh. Poppy, everyone looking at you can see that your cheeks and nose are starting to turn red, like a blush, like a kind of, artificial magical blush. You notice at that moment with everyone looking at you that there's a sort of legend on this kiosk. These jellies actually are magically potent.
You can see the effects listed here, straw melon, they give you a sort of like blush on your face, just to, you know, kind of like makeup but it's a natural effect, it's attractive to some people. The water fruit, moisturizes your skin and solves hydration for a day. The pineapple pine cone gives you spiky hair and a sharp jawline if you're going in for headshots. Blue of course just makes your eyes a sharp piercing blue. It's one of their most popular flavors.
Oh, got it.
Poppy, we're out of the bath now. You are you still embarrassed?
Oh, I I'm I wasn't embarrassed. I was just being modest. That's just what you're what you're supposed to do about your bodies. Right?
I understand, Poppy.
It's whatever makes you feel comfortable.
I've never taken a bath with other people before, so
Well, now you can check it off the list.
Yeah. My the bucket list I never had made before, but maybe I should start thinking about that.
As you all approach the, the glamour boutiques are where you know them to be, you see a row of tall stylized building in bright colors, but 2 of them are completely buried up to the eaves in ash. And you suddenly remember Oscar had started his little heist by causing an ash evacuation elsewhere in the city that drew the attention of some of the officials. This is the result of that. He completely buried multiple stores in Ash by causing it to evacuate at the wrong time. So your options are down to 1.
There's a glamour boutique called Better Than You.
Don't love the branding there, but let's check
it out. There's a little bit of ash in the doorway, but it's not much to get over, and there's a little bit scattered on the white marble floor on the inside. But when you walk in, you see these gold columns on a marble surface, and there's decorated mirrors everywhere, and you see this huge fluffy white Tabaxi walk out. You can't tell if she's, like, super busty or if it's just this giant, like, plumage underneath her, but she just comes out and says, hello. Hi. Hello.
How's it going?
Great. How can I make you look better than you?
What do you offer? You smell lovely, by the way.
Oh, bless your heart. Now, you little one, a brilliant blush, brilliant red curls, a lot of potential here. Yes. Let's get you in the chair first.
Okay.
They, pick you up by your shoulders and sit you down in the chair and kinda spin you around. The rest of you are, like, left at the entrance, like, wondering what's happening here. Where do you want to be?
Is this permanent?
It's as permanent as you want it to be.
Not not permanent then?
Oh, okay. Yes.
Just, just make me look different.
I can do different.
Preferably still, upstanding and and respectable for,
Poppy, you are spinning. Woah. In the chair madly, and then you can see his paws. Like, this Tabaxi is working in a flurry, just kind of like dipping down scissors at weird angles, and you can see it reach for like dye and just splash it over your face.
Oh, no.
You can just feel hands all over you and just a whirl of fluff and fur. And then when you stop spinning, your hair is center parted and black and straight. Your clothes are a dark black and blue, and you've got this kind of lacy white, apron on the front of it. How's that for different?
This is quite different.
You essentially look like Wednesday Addams, just kind of miniaturized.
It's goth Poppy.
Thank you.
Do any of you need, transformation that dramatic? Wow. Hubby. Hey, Kai.
You're quite good at this. I can see. I would love to see what you could do with my friends here. And, I'm Jordan, by the way. Pleasure to meet you.
Charmed, I'm sure.
And this is my friend, Soma.
Soma. Journey looks behind her to see if there's a Soma there and there's not.
Journey, that's you.
Right. Yeah. I'm I'm Soma.
And, just a a little off the top, or what can I do for you?
I don't think I need anything, but I think that
no. Not Soma. Soma's good. Beautiful, in fact, and I stroke Soma's little whiskers.
Journey, like, does, like, one of those cat, like
Yeah. Oh, it's
a stink face.
The pre sneeze stink face.
The stink face.
Yeah. Okay.
Because the whiskers are not something she's used to. Sure. It kinda tickles.
No. No. I think these 2 over here.
Yes. I have a plan for the 2 over here. Oh, boy. You. Big boy. Big
boy. Big boy.
Come to mama.
Poppy help me.
Poppy's fine.
You're being pulled away from Poppy as you're seated into a chair. Doren, you're seated into the chair next to Guy, and you both start spinning madly in the chair, almost to the point of nausea as you can feel pause on you all over you. Doran, all over you. You can hear some jingling and clanging, and it's done. Doran, you are more weighted down than you felt in a long, long time because you're wearing a good bit of armor.
Guy, your hair has been smoothed into a quite nice comb over. Your face has been powdered. You look 30 years younger. Wow. And you cut an impressive figure, guy. Doran, you look like a soldier who should never have been. What does that mean? I think, Doran, you've got, some of that Gus armor on you, which Gus is kind of reacting to, as he's been placed on you. You can feel some of the panels start to jingle in confusion, and, Gus is sort of fighting against being put on you.
Gus, I get it. I didn't I didn't know about this either. Let's keep it cool, though. Okay?
Guy is checking himself out in the mirror. Wow. I I look just like I imagine I used to look.
You look so handsome.
Oh, thank you, Bobby.
You look about 50 now.
Yes. 50 is the new whatever I am.
All of you can see this have actually looking in the mirror with this huge self satisfied smile and just kind of nodding about their own work and going over the finer details. If you look down, a lot of you can see pieces of Gus crawling on the ground back towards Guy. Oh. And they start affixing to his shins and, you know, to parts of him. A few pieces stay on Dora.
So in the end, guy, you're somewhat armored, you know, to the point that will give you the effect of AC. Doran, I'm not going to give you the effect of AC, but you do have a couple plates of Gus on you. You've got like a single, like, pauldron. Okay. You've got, like, gauntlets on and, like, one part of, like, a, like, shin guard grief sort of thing. So sort of asymmetrical.
You got you
got a cloud strife armor.
Yeah. Yeah. Fashion armor.
Very cool.
Does he look any different?
That's up to you, Doran. Do you wanna change your face at all?
Yeah. I think so. Okay.
Now he
looks like Cloud Strife.
Oh. Spiky hair. Yeah. Spiky blonde hair.
Oh, I like that. Alright.
I don't know. Okay.
It's like I don't know.
Maybe we don't have to go blonde.
But No. Blonde's fine. I just don't wanna say Claude Strife for sure.
Sure. Yeah. I'm not gonna cut that. Yep.
Cloud. Everybody.
Jordan has spiky blonde hair that is flipping all over the place. Sweet.
Yeah. I I I can I can work with this? Pauldron's kinda heavy. Guy, do you is this the same pauldron you usually wear?
Oh, yes. That is mine.
Okay. Is this okay, Gus?
You feel a a vibrate that you have come to understand means yes. Okay.
We're good. Cool.
One more request, if you don't mind.
I suppose I have time. What is it?
We need some backseat clothing. What's the new trend right now?
Say no more. They disappear for a quarter of a second and appear again with outfits for Journey and, Aaron here. Are you going for high fashion?
Yeah. Okay. Baxi fashion.
They present you with the finest garments. They both have, like, a dark sash to them that is kind of the main, like, top piece. It has one diagonal direction that goes across your whole body, and the point of this is the pattern that's on there. And it seems the more complicated your pattern, the more impressive it is to the people of vaccine. Yours are both quite complicated.
Just like us.
The Tabaxi is looking in the mirror and then turns around and pulls their eyes off of themselves and says, let's talk pricing. Shall we?
Of course.
Right. Yeah. How much is does this all come to?
All told, kind of circling a single claw around all of you, she says, 45 gold. But should you cast your votes for best and backseat, and you cast them for better than you, 20 gold pieces.
I mean, this experience was quite lovely and fantastic. I I don't see any reason why we wouldn't cast our votes for you.
Very well.
Well, in order to vote for you, we will need your name. Shit.
I'm going to go with
Terry. That's a
normal way to introduce your name. I'm gonna go with Terry.
I mean, they do work in a glamour shop, so today, they're Terry.
Excellent service. Best I've had at, Abaxis. So, yeah, 20 gold.
And and who is paying up for this?
I will.
Alright. You all leave the boutiques feeling fresh and pampered and clean and better.
Blending in a little bit more.
Yeah. You're getting a lot less attention. Nobody's coming up to you with crystals anymore. You still get people, especially children, that are very interested in what you got going on just because you're a little bit different, but that's to be expected. Coming out of that conversation, you know, all of this talk about best in backseat, you find yourself seeing mentions of this everywhere and occasionally you see those flat canvases that are lined up everywhere and they light up with videos again.
You can see that there's hologram crystals suspended in front of these and they keep casting the images out onto the canvases. You see another advertisement from that pink haired lady again. Those seem to run kind of day in and day out. You see people talking about best in backseat and the kind of ongoing championship to be the best. And then you see a final announcement, and it just says tomorrow in giant green letters, and it says the ring light, and then it says phenom green.
Hey, we know him.
Tomorrow. That's tomorrow.
And I think that's where we'll end it. Thanks so much for listening. I'm Tim, your GM.
I'm Hannah playing Aaron. I'm Tara. I play Journey.
I'm Thomas. I am Guy.
I'm John. I play Doran.
I'm Maggie, and I play Poppy.
Thanks very much for listening, and we'll see you in the next one.