Cloudfall | 22 - Souped Up

Last time, on Cloudfall. As the party explored backseat, they came upon the cultural center of it all, a giant floating crystal where holograms get uploaded and shared with the masses. Oscar showed up and tried to push his way through the crowd to upload at the crystal, streets of Baxi together and checking in with Ganymede. That evening, back at the inn, they told Harley everything. Lore falling, diver's death, everything.

Man, the soup is kinda spicy.

Yeah. It's not very good, is it?

I don't know what the flavors are. I've never cooked really, but it's just, like, got a weird flavor.

Right. Found a hair

in it.

The bread's very good, though.

No. It's not. It's underproofed.

And, Dorn, it's not a hair. It's like a whole, like, clump of fur.

Okay. Hair ball. A ball of hair. Yeah. It's not a meatball. Okay.

If it weren't for Poppy, I'm afraid most of our food would be quite unpleasant on this whole journey.

Yep. I don't know how to fix this, though. This is awful. Maybe I'll have a a chat with the cook.

We're gonna be staying here for a while. It might be worth it.

You could also just see if you could use, like, a side kitchen or something. Yeah. Say you have a food allergy and we need to cook our own food. All all 5 of us have a food allergy combined.

You want me to lie?

Don't look at me like you've never lied before.

I try

not to.

I feel like that is a lie in itself. So

My mom always said that if you lie, then you, go to the the infernal planes when you die.

And you

burn for eternity. I don't wanna do that.

You don't even tell, like, nice lies, like, oh, you look good today.

Well, that's not a lie. That's just being nice. Right?

Oh, what if you don't actually think it? But I I do.

Would you rather tell the cook that they're terrible at their job? No. Absolutely not.

You don't you don't go into somebody else's kitchen and criticize how they anyway

I could handle that part.

Well, we have a lot to think about, and I don't know what this Harley stuff is gonna do for us, but at least we have the information out there.

I mean, do we know if her publications reach a lot of people? Is she reputable? Do we know that?

Short of, getting a message onto that giant crystal, it might be our best avenue to warn people of the impending danger on this island.

It's true.

You guys could always just look her up on instant Greyhound and find out how many followers she has.

Surprises me we haven't thought of the crystal as a way to get info out.

Yeah. I just thought of it.

I mean, we've really we literally just bought one though.

We did? Okay. I forgot about that. Okay. Yeah.

I thought we didn't wanna do that because we didn't wanna cause a panic. We wanted to start at the top.

That's a current plan, certainly.

Maybe that's like a backup plan to use the crystal.

It's good to have a backup.

Seems okay.

Maybe we just, gather evidence for now and and try and work our way up the ladder.

I think there's a lot of reasons for us to think we are known entities here. There was rumors of a shapeshifter that is wanted. We know that blight is after at least us, and now we know that Harley is getting this info to someone. I do trust Harley, but I think we do have to be careful if we are walking about with our actual names and our actual identities.

Well, they're after the wrong shapeshifter because it sounds like they're after Aaron, but Aaron isn't the one that's really causing trouble.

No offense, but do we know that?

It it kinda sounded like it, but I don't I don't know how they wouldn't have known. I mean, I've tried to hide my shifting as much as possible since we've been here.

But it sounds like there's blight here.

Yeah. So it's probably the blight behind looking for a shape shifter.

Mhmm.

The way to try to find me.

Does this mean the blight has

influence in the law enforcement here that they could tell them to

be looking out for That doesn't seem right to me. Is

it possible?

I mean, That doesn't seem right to me. Is it possible?

I mean, the best in backseat is 10 people, and people have their own motivations for things. And there's one name in that list that sounded awful familiar. Brunhilde Flann.

Oh, I thought you meant phenom.

Oh, phenom. Yeah.

You know?

All of us are thinking of a different name.

Let's all say let's all say the person at the same time.

Ready? 1. 23. Bruno. No. Nope. I mean, no.

Rot. Did you say Flan?

Rot. That that's the the fire wizard. Rot, the fire wizard is isn't that its mercy?

Oh, she almost killed you, Jurney.

Rat.

I have a vial of her blood, and Eren just pulls out of her pocket and, like, puts it on the table.

When did that

I forgot about that.

Dishing up vials of all of our blood?

I don't know.

Is she related about it to Judge Flynn?

Who's that?

Well, she she's renowned in Tildry for bad things. She tried to blow up the school of magic. Not a good person.

Runs in the family then.

So you're saying they're related? I mean This evil judge and Mercy.

There's not a lot of plans, I don't think.

It's not surprising.

So Mercy is one of the 10, and we know that Mercy is also a blight member. Mhmm.

Right. She also knows full well what my wagon looks like.

She'll probably take care of that too.

And she knows what I look

like. Was our, wagon not disguised by phenom during that whole encounter?

It was during the tacos, tacos, tacos.

That's right. So maybe we're okay.

I'm not.

I mean Yes.

She did try to kill you.

She got a good look at me. Yes.

They were definitely after us.

She seems like the type of person who, if she tried to kill you and didn't do it, she would really want to do it again.

I didn't get the feeling that she was willing to let it all go.

Does anyone who knows magic know if we could do something with this blood? Curse someone or, you know, cast a spell on them.

It's not really my area.

I wouldn't know how to I wouldn't

Let me give it a whiff.

You wanna smell it?

I don't I don't know. I'm good at smelling now.

It's probably, like, what, a week old now in this vial or so?

Honestly, it's actually only been, like, maybe 3 days.

Since we've been at

Yeah. That's fresh blood, baby.

It's probably, like coagulated. Yeah. It's gonna

say drinkable. Yeah.

It's just a little bit for that was on the sword that I stabbed Mercy with. Yeah. And so it's just, like, kind of crusted on the sides of the spile.

Dried flakes.

Yeah. Give me a perception check. I'm gonna give

you dis With it wow.

I'm gonna give you disadvantage on this for the time it's time.

Oh, and

then okay.

So it'll level out to just regular roll. Yep.

14. Okay. Wow.

So it's it's, I mean, pungent. It, like, smells like iron and and somehow also like like sweat or like a body at the same time, but it's not giving you much to go on. It just kinda feels like a common, you know, unfun odor.

And, I recork it and then sniff the air again.

Cleanse the palate?

No. See see if I can pick up her scent.

Yeah. You don't. You smell the room. You smell way too much sage. Yeah.

Ganymede. I thought I would be like a bloodhound or something like that.

Well, tell me this. Do you feel like you want to fight right now?

I could fight. I could fight.

And he's kinda onto something. Actually, the scent of blood kinda gets you charged up a little bit. And this is kind of hearkening back to a feature that you got recently where when you smell blood in combat, your critical strike range improves a little bit. Don't forget about that next time.

Spicy.

Toe to toe. Picy. Cool.

Nose to nose even.

One might say.

So tracking down Mercy with Mercy's blood might not work right now, but if we did find Mercy, what would we do?

Well, I I don't know if I shared this last time we ran into Mercy, but, I mean, she's truly pure evil. She was set to raise the kids in the blight, and she would raise us by teaching us how to endure pain and hunger and suffering. She was sort of just in charge of all the kids and one of the meanest adults in the whole gang. So, kept us in line and made us very afraid to break any rules. But, I mean, everyone in the blight's kinda terrible, but I feel like she just really enjoyed it.

Erin, I don't I don't mean to put you on the spot, but is this gonna be the same situation with Diver? If we do run into her, are we gonna be able to do what we need to do?

I mean,

I guess this is so much bigger than I thought. You know, I lived in Farewell my whole life, and I didn't know the blight was even outside of the city walls. So I thought I could escape Farewell and escape them, but they're everywhere.

I know this is a personal thing for both of you, but I I feel like we're also being affected by it. And I'm worried that if you go after her, things could end up worse for all of us.

I don't disagree with you, and I my thing I'm starting to realize is that the blight, it never ends. It's like you can't get away from it. So hurting one piece of it, it's pointless.

Well, it can end one way, can it not? You once talked of Diver like he was a insurmountable, unbeatable foe, but he's not. We beat him. He's dead.

Yeah. You killed your dad. I think you could probably kill your mom.

All of Aaron's skin starts to shift and get cloudy when you say that, Poppy, and, like, darkness starts encompassing Aaron.

I'm sorry. It was a joke. It was a really bad joke, and I'm so sorry. I didn't mean I

am Diver wasn't my dad.

I know. I'm yeah. I know. It was a joke. I'm so sorry. It was it was poorly timed.

It takes just a minute, and Aaron slowly starts to shift back into just normal looking Aaron, but they calm down after a couple minutes.

I think what you're saying is right, Poppy. Saving Skylands should be our number one priority as a group. I won't lie. This is personal, me and the blights, but I I don't want to unnecessarily involve you. They are looking for me and Aaron in particular, and there's nothing we can do about that. The best thing we can do to protect you, Guy, Journey, and our greater mission is to address that on some level. I don't know what that will look like yet, but I I do understand what you're saying.

I think it's a giant problem, and that's only the tip of it. And I I feel like if we work our way up and, like, kinda figure things out a little better, we might be more prepared to face them at some point.

I I agree. I the blot in the grand scheme of things, the blot doesn't matter if the whole skyline drops out. There's nothing left. If all these skylines start falling out of the sky

There would be nothing left.

There's nothing left for them to blight across.

Well, I agree that the blight is not the greatest threat to the people of this island, but they may be the greatest threat to us. If we go about our business here pretending they don't exist, they'll get the jump on us, and we'll be in a position that is not advantageous.

Okay. Here's a thought. We need to know who's behind the islands falling, and we think the blight might be involved. Right? And we know they're here. And I feel like the best way to gather information is to kind of work our way into the culture here. Someone might have information.

That still takes us to being best and bestie and getting in good there. I think you're right.

And if any blight getting our way along the journey, I know I can take them out. And Erin, pulls a dagger, one of the new ones from Babka. Just, like, sort of wipes it on a napkin on the table, like, letting it shine in the light a little bit.

You don't have to do that alone.

Yes. You have the rest of us.

Also, I think the Blight now is aware of all of us. They know who we are. So the skies might be a a good way to go for that. Yes. And I was thinking I could try and work my way into the gardens.

Do you not wish to take on this other baker, the best in vaccine?

Well, yeah. But I have to know what the competition is like. Right?

I'd I'd be interested in going with you and seeing what they've got going on.

I'm worried about the rolling pin.

Well, we got it tucked away, don't we?

I was thinking a good way to observe and and start working my way in is to set up shop.

Oh, right. Okay. Well well, if you and Guy are gonna set up and sell some cookies, I could tag along and

sneak around. I think that's a good idea.

What are you guys thinking?

I think our best bet is to find Phenom. He's already someone we know and

It would be good to have another ally on the island.

So a late night tonight is what we're thinking.

I guess.

After this wonderful meal and Aaron dumps the rest out the balcony.

As you dump it, you see a clump of sage, like like, 8 ounces of sage just fall out of the bottom. Oh,

that's expensive.

It's actually catnip.

No.

Alright. Well, disguises and, yeah, let's hit the town.

Who should I be tonight?

Do we still we still have our glamours on?

Yeah. So because some of you got physical costumes and not Glamrs. Anyone who was at, Better Than You, the, like, cosmetic shop, those were physical changes. So those are still in effect.

Okay.

And that would be which characters?

I believe that was Guy, Doran, and Poppy.

Yeah. I imagine Aaron just like, who should I be today? And then opening like an empty closet. Yeah.

Just full of skin.

Erin. Erin keeps walking into a closet and coming out in a different form, and then you all just shake your head and give a thumbs down. And then she'll go back to the closet and come back. Yeah.

I think Erin's just gonna be a Tabaxi again. Like, a white white and cream colored female tabaxi. A little bit different, but

I'm just gonna be hooded until we get there. And then while we're there, I'll do disguise self excite we have an hour of that. Okay.

So now that I'm this fabulous Tabaxi, which my name be tonight, this is a new one for me, and Erin does a little twirl around the room.

Very nice.

Tabaxi names.

Can't be too on the nose is what I found.

So not fluffy?

No. That's That's like a pet name.

Oh, are we not doing pet names? It is

pretty fluffy, though.

Fluffy whiskers. I mean, I

feel like it's not that's not what they would name themselves, though. You know? Right. Kinda blend in.

But don't their parents name them?

I don't know. I guess.

I am unfamiliar with Baxy culture.

Right. Naming culture in general is a little bit weird to me.

Well, what would Yeah. What would, what about Chelsea? What?

I think Aaron would be kills with beak.

Well, right now, you'd probably be fights with paws or what what what do you see this cat creature doing? This Baxi being doing as a profession or a

A dancer.

Dancer?

You guys can

call me dancer.

Yeah.

Got it. That's cool.

Cat dancer.

Well, it's nightlife. Right? We're going out.

Chelsea is a beautiful name, Doran. Thank you. Yeah.

We'll save it for another

situation. Yes. Yeah.

Doran's gonna go into his wardrobe, look at a mirror, and, just kinda brush up, make myself look a little less tired.

Scroll through all the hair options. Yeah.

And then I'm gonna take out a ring that I got earlier, and I'm just gonna look at it. So this is the singing bling ring of spell storing. Mhmm. And it says I thought I read something. Oh, yeah. It glows violet and hums when it's charged, and I was just wondering if it's just looking mundane or if it has any sort of Mhmm. Situation going on with it.

I think among the hustle and bustle of the marketplace, you didn't notice that kind of feature to it. But here in the calm, quiet hotel room, you do feel that it's buzzing and glowing.

Can I tell what spell is on it? Or

Not until you put it on.

Okay. I'm gonna slip it on.

And Experimenting with shit right now?

Yeah. Why not? It's like pre

gaming, you know? Pre gaming right before you go out for the

night, obviously.

It has 2 spells in it.

What? That's such a bargain.

The spells are in the ring. BOGO. Sorry. BOGO.

It's actually called the BOGO ring. BOGO.

The first spell you have is level 1 spell called jump.

Okay. Hey.

Classic.

Solid. The second spell is the second most used spell in the offensive magic world. The spell is known as fireball.

Ah, fireball.

So that's 2 items so far that Tim has given us that have fireball.

Yep. Really? What was the other one? Hot rod.

Hot rod. Hot rod. Hot rod has it too? Yeah.

Don't you have that?

Had You do double fireball.

I thought you sold it

to Now keep in mind keep in mind Yeah. The bling ring, once you expend the spell, it is gone. It needs to be recharged.

Right. Yep. Yep.

And then it, like, randomly adds another spell?

No. No. Oh, somebody has to That's a gotcha ring?

You have to load it. Okay.

Is so the hot rod has to be attuned as well. Right? Correct. So I I'm gonna have to and how long does a 2 minute take?

I'm I'm Half an hour. Short rest.

I'm going to unequip the block stock dagger. K. Ganymede.

Requires a 2 minute. Yeah.

So, yeah, I I have to pick 1. So I will not do the hot rod. I will do the, the loot and then the, bling ring.

I don't think you need double fireball. As fun

as it would be.

Bananas. If you're trying to blow some shit up, bring the hot rod.

Fuck.

Oh, that was a joke, but you said fuck. Like, you were serious about that.

I'm thinking about it. Do we have and have nowhere? Okay. Yep. Gotta be in a Missy buddy, but I I just need to. Wow.

What do you mean? You're going to miss

come back.

We'll talk to you later. See you. And then I yeah. I just, pocket echo bell, and I'm going to attune to the hot rod and the bling ring, and then I have the loop. Doran Yep.

When you, unattune from Ganymede from your special echo bell, you notice a lot of sound that cuts out that you didn't know you were hearing before. You could hear, like a soft breeze and birds chirping, and you can't hear that anymore. All you hear is like a couple like, you know, a hymns and scuffling feet inside this inn and you didn't realize how much you were taking in before. Well, I

don't need to hear much tonight.

It's gonna bite us in

my ass.

Oh, the fear.

I wanna make sure my

rip cord belt is fully

Okay. In order to reset that, you're gonna have to make a roll, and it should be on the item.

You just gotta wear a mask.

Sorry. It's

been a long time. Jesus.

Because if you pulled a ripcord belt

have it.

You will no longer have that.

Oh, you spend 20 minutes in

It's about.

It's about.

You can call the bell.

Here's what happened. I rolled a 1, which means the belt is activated immediately. Oh. A dense smoke fills the room. Everyone inside the affected area is deaf and blinded in a 20 foot radius of me and has total coverage until the end of my next turn. So I'm short.

You're all changing your clothes, getting ready for a night on the town, and you're all putting the final little bit of detail in your hair and makeup. And then Erin is finishing her progress with resetting the ripcord belt, and all of a sudden you see a little stream of smoke come from her belt, and then the rest of them, just 1 by 1. All around her belt, you see these crackling, flashing, spinning whiz bangs go all throughout the room, and you're all just instantly blinded from each other and deafening.

You can't

see her. Woah. We can't see her here.

Guy draws his sword. We are under attack.

Everybody, where are y'all? Go.

Wait. 6 seconds later, I'm like, fine.

I want to, reach out with my Ganymede ability to feel if everybody's still nearby.

Yep. Everybody's still in the room. You also sent somebody approaching your room from outside.

Well, this note clears in 6 seconds.

Oh, It's just 6 seconds? Are we still deaf and blinded?

I think you're coming back from it, but somebody's knocking on the door feverishly. Alright.

Alright. Everybody, Journey is What? Waving her arms to get everybody to settle down.

You get in costume.

You hear a key working at the door, and all of a sudden the door opens, and you see the hotel manager just throw the door open, and he goes, there's no smoking in these rooms.

Oh, terribly sorry. So so that's me. It was me. So we're getting ready for tonight. Went a little crazy with the smoke machine.

He gets kind of a quizzical look. He says, I enough with it. We're all I'll have you out of these rooms.

No problem.

Very stern man management here.

Aaron. It's Dancer. Don't sorry. Dancer, don't pull those inside.

I was trying to reset it. God, this thing sucks. Half the time, it explodes on me. Sorry.

Do you do you need help?

You wanna try?

I can try and help.

Well, I can I leave first?

Yes. I maybe wish to stand outside the room.

It's fine. We don't have time right now anyway. It'll take another 20 minutes. Alright.

You have to take another short rest. Yeah.

Okay.

Poppy Yes. Leaving that room and that trail of smoke. You head down the stairs and outside to find the rolling pin kind of tucked behind the scratching post, the inn that you're at. So it's pretty well out of view.

Did anyone come with me?

Up to you guys.

Yeah. Okay. Yeah. I came with I'm wearing a big old cloak with a hood.

Yeah. I went yeah.

I went Okay. Too. Doran's staying back, and he's going to get a coffee at the bar.

Okay. Do you

want me to be with you, Doran, or do you want to

Aaron. Yeah. If you wanna hang out for a sec.

Wanna be with me? Aaron blushes. Okay.

But you can't see it

through her fur.

Cat blush.

Poppy, as you step outside, you see, Mikey is walking towards the rolling pin carrying a big glass jar of, chocolate chips.

Hi, Mikey.

He kinda, like, looks at you like really startled all of us and goes, bye.

Hello. Thank you for restocking those because I'm going to need them for tonight.

You can

see chocolate all around his mouth, and he goes, no problem.

Have you been dipping into okay. I'm gonna trust you.

Good. I would I would never lie to you, puppy.

That's that's nice to hear.

He looks at the ground. You can tell he's just wracked with guilt immediately.

And and you know what they say about liars.

He nods you.

They they burn in the infernal plane for eternity.

Nods his head. Yeah?

Yeah.

Was everyone's mom like yours, Bobby?

Bobby, I don't think that's true.

I don't I mean, I they raised me, and and they are smarter than me, and they're more successful than me. Were they?

They also do not see your business acumen. I question their wisdom.

I I mean, I haven't seen them in a while. So

Also, the infernal plane is home to plenty of creatures, not all of them bad and not all of them good, but they're just like here.

I mean, I've never been there.

I haven't either, but I've heard about it.

I bet most of them are bad, though. Right?

I mean, that's what my mom always said. But, I mean, I'm an adult now, and I can make my own decisions. Mhmm.

You see April coming out of the wagon. She looks like she had just finished cleaning inside. She says,

should be in pretty good shape for you. I have to ask, though. How much are the rooms here? A little bit tired of being in that wagon?

I don't remember.

It was

I didn't pay.

Do you think this

would suffice? She opens a small chest with, like, 800 gold in it or so.

Yeah. Yeah. I think so.

Very good. I'll go speak with the management.

The you should probably offer less.

Oh, less than this?

Oh, definitely. Maybe, like, 22 gold?

2 of these? Oh, what?

Yeah.

You see her, plod along inside, and start speaking with the manager. You're looking over the rolling pin now. Looks same as it always has.

Now, be careful, April. There's no smoking in there. None of that drift weed.

And she goes, what?

I'd rather sleep on the streets.

Arch and fascists.

Okay. Okay. Okay.

Yeah. Phenom Green made it look easy. You know, he changed your wagon a 1000000 times over the course of 10 minutes. But

So here's my problem. I can cast Major Image, but it only lasts for 10 minutes.

Maybe you just disguise it on the way to the gardens and then let it be its true self while there and But at least they won't know where we're staying.

If the blight is anywhere nearby, they're gonna know. They know what to look for.

They'd know anyway.

Does the bloke know our wagon though?

I mean, that's why we disguised it in the first place. They knew to look for the rolling pin, and now they know to look for tacos and also tough cookies.

So many foods left.

Right. But

I'm gonna try something. I did take, like, a theoretical magic class at Tilderie. I kind of quit halfway through, but I think I got the gist of it. Bismite kind of acts as a battery.

Right? Sure.

Those tracks?

In a way.

Yeah. Batteries. We all know what those

are. Sorry.

You're not here, Dory.

Sorry. Sorry.

We've mentioned batteries so many times.

And videos and

Yeah. Yeah. It's fine.

Sorry. Sorry.

Well, it's like a a source of energy. I'm thinking if I tie this bell to the bismite, I can have it, like, maintain itself for longer than 10 minutes.

Well, it's worth a shot. We've seen this might do some weird things.

Right. And I think there's a lot it can do that we don't know about, so it couldn't hurt to try.

Unless it blows up the cart.

It's not gonna blow up the cart.

How if it blows it up?

It's not gonna blow up the cart. Yeah. I think you got a good idea. Why don't you go for it?

I mean, I put my whole life savings into that, and I just

It's not

gonna blow up the cards.

Sorry, Poppy. I was merely examining all of the possibilities.

It's good to be prepared, and I'm going to first cast the major image because it's a concentration smell, so I figured. Because I look like Wednesday Adams right now,

I

was thinking goth Lolita vibes. Mhmm. Like, everything

Hot topic cart?

Hot topic cart, but, like, frilly. Mhmm. It's all black with, like, lace detailing and, like, upside down crosses

and stuff. You've got this, like, black draping lace with these, like, black crystals and beads kind of hanging off at the crevice of every drape there. And, and, yeah, the whole thing it looks like, you know, it would be like a fancy, almost like Kentucky Derby kind of look, but all black. Yes.

Yeah. And the sign at the top changes to cross my hearth, and I think there's probably, like, a a heart with a bread knife stabbed through it. Cheers. And I'm going to start making little coffin cakes, which will be like dark chocolate filled with, like, a raspberry compote.

Mhmm.

So it bleeds when you cut into it.

Oh, very impressive, Bobby.

Thank you. Now let's see if this will latch. I'm going to try and use the bismite to keep it going.

You approach the bismite furnace, the spark engine that you have in this thing. You open the little iron grate and you can see the bismite glowing inside this kind of whitish blue and it's floating in the middle of this chamber that's the way that spark engines work and you start to think of what you had seen so far. You had seen Parsonan, you had seen Kree, you had seen a few others do this, you even saw a diver do it, but it looked like they were breathing, but they were breathing something other than air, they were somehow drawing the magic of Bismite into their bodies. And you should make a I think it's gotta be an arcana check.

Okay. Can I pull pinch out? Okay. Hey, buddy. Hi. It's been a while. Do you remember when you when you got all muscly?

He looks up at you with kind of a curious face and, like, kinda wide eyes and, like, a little dot mouth, and then he turns around and looks at the biz mite and looks back up at you and then gives a big smile and nods.

Yeah. Don't eat this one. But I'm trying to kinda do the same thing. How do you do that?

Pinch kinda looks at the ground for a second and looks at you in the eyes, and then he puts both hands on his belly, 2 little round nubs, and looks at you and goes

So you just you smell it?

He, like, waves his hand to, like, clear the air in front of you, and then he kinda, like, rolls his hand and gestures and points at the bismite and just breathes real deep again.

Okay.

I'm gonna try to do that. Okay.

Give me an arcana check.

Advantage or anything? No.

Does that count as a help action from the familiar?

No. Go.

Damn it.

I'm pro bono rules lawyer.

Okay. What is it, Arcana? Yeah.

24. Hey. Nice.

Well done. I rolled an 18. Okay.

It kind of strikes you that Pinch is not only explaining to you how to do this, he's helping you do it. And Poppy, this is something that you forget on occasion because it's so automatic for you having Pinch out and alive and with you, but at the foundation of it at the very bottom, you can never really forget that Pinch is you. Pinch is your magic and extension of yourself. Pinch can't do or know anything that you can't do or know. And you've already done this before.

and

you know that as long as Poppy deems it so, this is what the rolling pin looks like.

Wow.

I did it.

Poppy, are you are you alright?

I I think so. I just I feel like I'm full of energy right now. I think we're good. Do you think I can still drive it?

Well, incredible.

If not, you got 2 strong folks who can push it for you.

That's true. Or I think I'm I think we're good to go.

Can I do I wanna say, like, nature check maybe to get a feel for how Journey would feel about this use of bismite? 6. It's terrible. It's a terrible world.

Journey, you know what they were doing to the island when you saw this. You know that it was draining it of its power, and that's obviously what's happening here. You know, the bismide is losing something. Right now, it's hitting you, like, Poppy's gonna destroy this bismide one way or the other.

Yeah. Okay. That makes sense.

Just didn't think it would work, and and then it and then it did. And I think I just knew it all along, but I didn't know it. You know?

A guy you're motioning around the, wagon to get the levitator moving again to actually get this thing in motion. When you throw the lever forward to begin moving, Poppy, you feel your kind of, sympathetic connection to the rolling pin be challenged, and you grab onto that connection really quick. Oh. It's being drawn from 2 different sources now for the engine and for the major image.

Oh, turn it off. Turn it off.

Turn what off? The engine?

The, just stop using it to move.

Oh, okay.

Should we just pull it?

Poppy, as you're saying that, you realize that the wagon's making tracks. Oh. With the Bizmates connected like this, this thing is cruising. I mean, guy had barely turned the lever and you were you probably, like, just gunned up to 30 miles an hour.

I don't think it's supposed to go this fast. Stop. Stop. Stop.

Well, I will. You throw

the lever back, and the wagon is now out in the middle of the street, kind of perched sideways.

Hubby, how did you do that?

That was so fast.

I I don't know.

I don't wish to speak out of turn, but that was almost race winning fast.

Oh, you think so?

Well

It did feel pretty fast.

Does the bismide look to be a different color?

Well struck, Journey. You don't have to roll for this. You check the engine again. You check the furnace, and you see rapid decay. Noticeable. Not not like it's gone now, but this does not happen from flying, normally.

I think pulling the energy out for 2 different things, consumes it real fast. Oh. So maybe we gotta be careful and just pull it. I think you're right.

Yeah. That's that's not good.

Yes. Just focus on the appearance for now, Poppy. We will handle

Just like old times again, guy. You get out in front of the wagon and grab the 2, anybody know what that's called? The tongue of the wagon maybe? Yoke?

The yoke? Yeah.

Oh, yeah. Grab the 2

oxen. Yeah.

Either under your arms, around your shoulders. I'm not quite sure how tall it is, but, yeah. You know, the the rolling pin's got 2 wheels in the back so that it can roll when it needs to and off you are. Thankfully, the streets of Backsy are well built for wagons like this as there are plenty around town. Easy to navigate the streets here. Are all of you going to the Gardens at this time?

So Doran and, Aaron were hanging out at the Excellent.

Back at the bar, they had a hard time fielding your request for coffee this late in the day. So they had to brew a new pot, but they're fresh and out for you. K.

Flip over some coins. Hey, dancer.

Hey.

Thanks for the coffee. Right.

So. You smell nice?

You smell nice too.

Thanks.

You're both just looking around the bar if anybody's noticing you, like Yeah.

I don't know if I ever talked to you about this. And, like, I leaned back on my bar stool, open up the satchel, and take out the broken rapier. Mhmm. Mhmm. So, essentially, it, was snapped in half, but, like, the, basket and everything is intact, but it's only at 10 inches long now.

I mean, that's a nice gesture. Sure. But maybe we can find someone who can fix it.

I would like it back. I do kinda miss having a sword.

But, yeah,

here you go, and I hand over the the rapier. Aaron, I don't want you to lie for me or anything. I'm not gonna meet everyone in the gardens right away. I don't want anyone to worry or anything. But if you don't hear from me after a few hours, then I think everyone should probably leave the skyline in the group.

Are are you leaving us?

No. I'm not going to try to, but Poppy's right. The blight is constantly after us, and we have important things to do. I want to try to get them off of our tail a bit. Okay? And

do you? Do you really want that?

Because I think that's bullshit.

Thorne takes a sip of his coffee.

Called out.

Listen. I know I know what it's like to want to hurt them, but going after it blindly and into the den is just suicide. So I think we should stick together.

You wanna do it with me? Well

no. But I think when they come to us, we can be ready. They're expecting people to attack them where they are.

I don't think they're expecting someone this stupid.

Yeah. That's probably true, actually. So

Look, Aaron. Sorry. Dancer. Yeah. I I'm not I'm not going to try to I'm not trying to do anything stupid. I I really am just trying to get some info and get some heat off of us if I can. This is something I'm good at. Again, I'm not asking you to lie for me or be supportive or any you you don't have to do that, but I I just wanted to let you in in case it does go bad so that everyone else can get out.

Darn, I don't know why, but for some reason, I really like you. And as a friend, I just think I don't know. It's not a good idea, but I also think people need to make their own choices. So I just hope you are okay. We'll see you in a few hours.

I squeeze a dancer on its paw, and we're young. We gotta make some stupid calls. Right? Yeah. I'll see you in a couple hours.

Dancer nods.

I'd sip the rest of my coffee and stay at

the bar.

Thorin, we're on the way to the gardens. Are you guys gonna try and find phenom?

I pick up the echo bell.

Poppy? Hey.

Hello.

I'm just sitting at the bar having some coffee.

At this time of night, you're not gonna be able to sleep.

It's not advisable. I know. Yeah. Not looking for phenom. I think Erin's gonna catch up. I I just need to hang back a bit, but I'll see you in a couple hours. Okay?

Sounds great.

Alright. Be safe. Alright.

Bye.

Alright. I guess we part ways at the bar.

During the last thing you see is April walking up to the bar, slamming down a giant chest of gold, and

going, Is this enough money?

What is why?

And I think we'll end it there. Thanks everybody so much for listening. I am Tim, your DM.

I'm Hannah playing Aaron. I'm Tara,

and I play Journey.

I'm Thomas. I'm Guy.

I'm John. I play Doran.

I'm Maggie, and I play Poppy.

Share the show with people you love, and we'll see you next time.