Last time on Cloudfall. The party made the long walk home from the brawl in the gardens soaking wet and carrying a barely alive Harley Brumlumlum. But after they went to bed last night, everything changed. The next morning, Doran, Aaron, Journey, Poppy, and Guy awoke as celebrities. Their heroic deeds the night before caught the fanatical fascination of everyone on backseat.
Their viral popularity catapulted them to candidacy for best in backseat, but it wasn't all gravy. Simple things like walking the streets and staying anonymous are no longer simple. With Phenom's help, they followed Phenom to Phenom and they finally got answers about the blight and Libera and the fast approaching, inexorable fate of the clouds. And there's a bake off later. It is the morning of the bestival on a dying island filled with 20,000 Tabaxi and tourists.
It's 9 AM. Do you know where your party is? Sorry.
No. Download cookie. We clearly don't.
You wouldn't download cookie.
We do not know where anyone is.
You all just finished talking with Roland and Phenom, and they're waiting in the wings for your next move. Your conversation converged on 3 important upcoming events today. The Bake Off in the Gardens, The Race at the Ring Light, and The Great Beast in the Core Chamber. You're all minor celebrities at this point. There's a little bit of contention as to whether you're the good guys or bad guys or if Balorin's the bad guy or what's going on.
But you've got the interest of everybody. What would you like to do? You've got several hours before the bake off starts.
Where is the baking competition being held?
Same place that you guys fought actually in that central fountain area in the gardens. Alright. Yeah. You can all be where you want to be if you wanted to head back to the scratching post and, tune up the wagon for the race tonight or prepare for the bake off or get weapons for the core. Who knows? It's up to you.
Could we do both at the same time? Like, can can we work on the pin while I'm baking?
Yes, Poppy. I believe we will both be making use of the rolling pin this evening, so perhaps we should check that out.
I can get some intel. I better go now, though, to scope out the other teams for the race and the bake off. I'll try to be back by the scratching post before it all starts. What time does it start? And, Aaron looks at phenom.
Bake Off starts around, 5, 6 o'clock. I'd have to double check. But my show starts at 8, and you all better be here. It's a big deal. I'd be personally disappointed. Wouldn't
miss it.
I I would love to see.
And the race is right after, so you'll be in a good spot to watch that too.
Just be careful and try to avoid the Blatt.
Erin nods. Do you have an echo bell?
No. Now you do.
Do I have to talk to Poppy?
Excuse me. I'm right here. I can hear you.
One would be so lucky.
Well, I got 2. I got one to Poppy and one to Doreen. What would you prefer?
I'll take I'll
take Dorn.
Poppy's just Poppy is no offense. You're just really loud. When you come through the echo bell, like, it's like fucking everyone can hear you. So I just it's not good for sneaking
is all I'm worried about. So Well, tell me how you really feel.
No. I think I think that makes sense because, I'm gonna go look and see if I can figure out what's going on with that tree and maybe go visit the core again. Under less invasive circumstances, maybe Sesk will be willing to talk or connect in some way because he's gotta know the island's in danger too.
The great beasts?
Right.
Right. Look, everyone. Before we all depart, I want to apologize again for yesterday, and I will try to be less rash and,
Less shitty. You promised this
That was very poignant. Yes.
Like, 2 days ago.
Well, I mean, well, you'll see, Poppy. I I gotta go to my room. I probably need to apologize to Ganymede. I'm going to attune to this, and I hold up the echo bell. So I'll be back. But, Dorn What?
Before you go, I I am also facing off against this Valorant breeze this evening. Anything you learned about the man, I suppose, might come in handy.
Well, he's extremely powerful.
But is he guy powerful?
I it's hard to say. If it comes to melee and exchanging blows, I'd probably say you got a good shot, guy.
Sadly, I do not believe that is a major component of racing. Speaking of which, do you know anything about racing?
Well, I was just going to ask, Phenom, historically, at the races here. Mhmm. What are the rules exactly?
He, gestures to the track all around you, the luminous race track that lights up. He says, it's pretty simple. You're just going around in a big circle here. Any number of people are allowed to sign up, unlike the baking competition. They only take a select number of contestants.
But, yeah, it's, just the first two, three laps is the winner. Flying vessels can only go so high, or they get disqualified. They have to at least, compete with the, ground born people, so only about 30 feet up. It's not very high.
Okay. Well, that leads to an obvious way to beat Balorin, I think. If we can get Balorin disqualified, you don't have to be the fastest.
It's a good avenue. This race is typically pretty dirty. You can hurt other vessels too.
About casting spells?
It happens.
Very clever. I will see if I can work with Rune's machine to come up with a plan.
Great. Okay. I'll be back. Good luck, Aaron. I'll talk to you all in a bit. And I, leave with a waffle in my hand and head off to my quarters.
Great. Where'd the waffle come from?
I assume we were sitting around having breakfast. It's not Aaron's
at the ring light.
You had breakfast together. It could be that Doran had it in his pocket this whole time.
So back up. Sorry. Yeah. I'll be back. I'm just gonna head back to the scratching post
and Can I make an insight check?
Against Doren?
Yeah. Yeah. I want the waffle to be canon, personally.
Yeah.
Release the waffle cut.
8.
I'm sorry. Just fuck.
Doran is acting just as suspicious as last night. You're almost positive he's about to do something just as stupid as what he just did. Poppy, there's no way you'd let him get away.
Stop right there. Oh. I'm coming back with you.
You're coming? Oh.
Yeah. I have to go back to the pin anyway. So we'll we'll go back together.
Okay. Yeah. We can stick together. That's that's fine.
Thanks. I grab his hand.
Great. Doran, you almost have to hunch to keep her hand held.
Okay. Yeah. Okay. Lead the way, Poppy.
I start pulling.
I guess I'll join you as well. I don't know. Dorn, were you planning on coming with me to the core?
Yeah. Definitely. I just needed to make up with, Ganymede.
Okay. Fair enough. Yeah. I'll I'll head back to the post, and, I'll take my time and maybe look around to see if there's anything around this area that might be helpful getting to the core. Some of the heat resistant maybe. I don't know.
It's a good call.
Last one unaccounted for is Guy.
I will be following these 2 back to the pin. Perfect. So we're all going to Right. Great. Guy's gonna take Doran's other hand. Perfect.
Yay. I'm
going to pull my back, like, holding Yeah. Hand low, high high. Yeah.
Awesome. Okay. Let's flip back to Erin by herself.
As usual. No. Just kidding.
You said you were going to explore, Baxi a little bit, keep an eye on some things. What do you wanna hit up first?
So I think the bake off is first. Yeah. So I will go find an overlook that looks down on the area of where all of the carts were last night, and just see if I can scope out anyone down there first before I head down using my Ganymede eyes. Yeah. Oh. Yeah.
It's pretty perfect, actually.
You kinda take the place of the onlookers from the night before when you guys were fighting, and that, you know, big cheering crowd were all up on these ledges, on these railings, and they were watching you fight. That's where you are now. So you can see what they saw. There's a ring of wagons and a huge audience that is kind of forced to stay away from the wagons. So you can see the contestants are kind of setting up and getting ready in their positions.
You can see there's quite a few bakers that want to enter. You can also see the rules posted for the Bake Off. You don't know what the rules say, but you see them. Fuck.
Oh, yeah. I've been I've been teaching Erin how to read a little bit. You have not.
You've learned how to read one minute,
like, 3 days.
I think
you have, but Erin hasn't. But Erin's paying attention.
She's like, I know that word. Strawberry waffles.
Yeah. Erin, like, uses her Ganymede vision to kinda, like, look at them, look at the rules posted, and it's all just looks like squiggly lines. Like, Erin can't read. And so, except for waff the word waffle, from brunch the other day. But, okay. Ganymede? Ganymede, are you there?
Yes. Hello.
Hey. Do you can you read that?
Yeah. Of course. Yes. What do you need? Do you oh, of course. Yes. I can do that for you. These are the rules of, the bake, bake off, competition. Yes?
Yes. Can you read it to me? Or
Yayes. It says I'm 4 contestant. Okay? Mhmm. You get, 3, recipe to make, half hour per recipes. And you don't know what it is until you are part of the competition. There's a secret ingredient.
Only only 4 contestants?
That's correct. Four contestants. Three rounds of play, and someone gets kicked out every round.
Okay.
Does it say anything about teams, or is it just individuals?
Yeah. It says you may have a crew of, up to 10 peoples.
Up to 10? Oh, it's
so many.
Great. Does it have any anything else about how to sign up or get in?
It says the, entries are at the discretion of the tastemaker.
What's the tastemaker?
It doesn't say.
Any anything else, Gamamine?
How have you been?
Alright. Thanks. Erin cuts off. Oh my god. Erin tries to cut off communication.
That's so good.
Alright.
What's what's your Ganymede item?
It's a copper bangle that she's stolen for
in for
a while.
Yeah. Yeah.
It's like It's
like the only object she
has. Yeah.
He's like, what objects does Aaron have? Dagger? Dagger? Crossbow?
Yeah. Alright.
He's
like, alright. Well, I can be your underwear or a crossbow.
Aaron doesn't have underwear.
Oh, probably definitely not.
Couldn't afford it.
Yeah. Definitely not.
Can I get a, perception check from you involving sights of advantage? Mhmm. But this is you looking at the wagons. Big one.
For suction.
K.
Hey o.
25. Oh,
god. I love that. Okay. Oh.
Oh, juicy. Oh. Oh. What a roll.
The roll. Okay. Looking down at these wagons, this circle, you see someone in a long green robe. They have this kind of long white, like, scarf collar, and it takes you a second to realize that this is more or less a bib. It's a very, like, impressive, almost royal looking person with a very strange fashion that you don't understand or recognize, but they seem to have all this embroidery that hints at, like, food elements.
Like, this guy seems to worship food in some way. You see Cindy Buns from the other night is talking to this person, and you see Cindy reach into her pocket and hand a satchel of coin to this person. And then she just nods and pats their hand.
Bitch. Oh.
Sneaky little.
I see how this game is played. Well, that makes things a lot easier, actually. Aaron's gonna scurry away and hurry back to the scratching post
Okay.
And try to find Poppy right away.
It'll be a little bit. The rest of you walking back to the scratching post, hand in hand in hand.
I'm skipping.
So I guess Doran just kind of lifts you from time to time as you skip, and it's like holding, like, yeah, carrying you.
And like all 3 of them are kind of swaying back and forth Yeah. With, like, the height difference.
Yeah. I'm so excited. I'm gonna bake, and I'm gonna be best baker, and it's gonna be great.
I hope so, Poppy.
This, young teenager, lacking confidence in a pretty extreme way. They're way too tall for their age. They're very scrawny. Tabaxi walks up to you and says, do you guys like my Doran costume?
They smell nice and look nice.
Oh. Yeah. Cool. Cool. You guys are super cool. Guy's really cool too. I probably couldn't even do a sword like that.
Probably not.
I
mean, you have to train for years.
Not yet, though. How about you yeah.
Do you wanna hold hands with Poppy here and we can keep going?
What are you doing?
I'm just trying to be nice.
That's weird.
Poppy is not my favorite character.
Excuse me.
Anyway, I just wanna say I think Doran and Guy are really cool. I bet you guys could beat up any of the other, superheroes.
So so your favorite is Dorn? Really? Really?
Well, he did the he's like the hero. Right? He did the speech.
Actually
He's the main character. Involved.
It was a good speech.
I think you're really reading the lines very well. You're smart, young Tabaxi.
Just wait until my arc comes up.
Yeah. Pay attention to Guy for sure. There's a lot of cool things in flight here. Oh, I
think I'm a sleeper agent.
No. I'll keep watching. Thanks.
But autograph, you said? Yeah. Of course.
Yeah. From Dorn? Yep. Yeah. For sure.
I let
go of
Dorn's hand, and I keep walking.
Oh, I gotta sign real quick.
He literally just gives you a sheet of paper to sign.
Okay. I sign it quick and then hand it back to him.
Oh, nice.
I give him a wink, and then I'm going to try the sleight of hand. And do what? Let me see if I do it first. Alright. Okay. I suppose I'd probably have to tell you. Natural 20.
5. No kidding. Oh. Jeez.
Okay. Alright. So I'm I'm taking out a a gold piece.
Okay.
And then as we're walking away, I give him a wink and say, oh, I think there's is there something in your nose? Oh, no. I stuck that gold piece in his nose. Just a little bit.
You stuck a gold piece in his nose?
Yeah. I
in natural 20, I can't argue with this.
Oh my
god. He
goes, and he kinda like reaches up and he grabs something. He goes, oh, my God. And he looks at you and he goes, I'm sorry. And he just kinda, like, runs away. Sorry. What? He's just, like, I'm so embarrassed.
He's got a cat nose.
That's cruel. I'm not there. Sorry.
I thought
that was cool that I'm scrambled up to try to catch up with Poppy and Guy.
You find yourself at the scratching post.
Okay.
That's so weird. That's so fucking weird. Oh. What's up?
You guys have a whole host of friends back at the scratching post. Roland showed up here, but you also have Harley Brumblum. Mikey and April are here, Sir Bo is hanging around here. And guess who found Sir Bo if it isn't Makita and DeWalter? Hi. They came looking for you, but they settled for the fascinating warforged. So they're all just kind of talking shop together, sitting out by the rolling pin, sitting in the shade here.
They were the engineers on the ship? Yep.
Yep. Tons of familiar faces moving around where it's like this area actually kind of feels like a little community to you with the amount of familiar faces that you see here. It's kind of like your team or your home base almost. You also catch, Bob kind of popping in and out every now and then.
Good morning.
Yeah. Hi, everyone. Oh, hey. Hey, guys. It's good to see you all again. Say, did you you've met this guy. Right? This, Servo. Right?
Yeah. Honest opinion. What do you think of the craftsmanship here?
Servo, that is. Pretty spectacular. I mean, he's, yeah. He's got some, like, newer elements, but he's actually a he's pretty ancient. It looks like he's fixed up pretty well. Pretty cleverly too.
Well, yeah. I I happen to know the creator of Cerbo here. Really? I'll pass along the, compliments.
Yeah. Cool. It's, I mean, definitely more advanced than anything I saw back in Farewell. Looks like the, wagon's holding up pretty well. How how are you guys liking that speed?
Oh, it's it's, well, to be honest, it's terrifying. But Well Yeah. It's it's useful.
Speaking of speed, there may be something there we would like to inquire of you.
Okay. Yeah. What's, what's on your mind, Guy?
Well, Poppy here is, participating in the bake off tonight, but afterwards, I will be participating in a race, a speed race.
Ah, okay. A speed race. Yeah.
Yes. So I need this to go way faster.
He smirks, and he looks up at DeWalter. We might have something for you.
Oh, thank God. Because I didn't know what I was going to do.
Well, it's a little bit reckless, but, call it serendipity. He looks up at DeWalter and De Walter says, well, you know, we were attacked recently by by Kree, that big beast thing, and
I remember.
Did some damage, destroyed a couple of our engines, actually. So we had to, repurchase some elements here in Backsy, which means we've got some spare thrusters to go around. We're actually entering our own little thing in the race tonight just for fun.
Oh, well, apologies if I crush you.
Oh, no. It it did you ever meet Kesher? She's a a glider from our ship.
Oh, the cool one. Yes. Yeah.
She basically just asked us to stick an engine on her glider. So we're gonna see how that pans out. Now be sure
she doesn't fly too high.
No. Is there a reason for that?
It's, like, the only rule I know.
Oh, alright. Well, keep an eye out. Thanks. Anyway, we could do the same for you. Just stick some extra thrusters, maybe another spark engine in here, see what happens.
Will it be safe and still functional?
Absolutely not. No. Once we kind of take this avenue, all bets are off. I I have no personal responsibility for your well-being, but that is to say it should be fine.
Will the kitchen still function?
Of course.
Okay. That's all really that matters.
Wonderful. Thank you both for showing up and
We actually should be able to accomplish this on a pretty short timetable since we've got this wonderful little multi tool here, and they gesture over towards Serbo. Serbo puts both of his hands up, and then his hands just kind of like invert into his elbows, and a bunch of little tools just kind of stick out. He's got, like, a little, like, ratchet, a wrench, a little welder, like a live wire for testing things. I am ready to work.
Very cool. Terrifying.
I didn't know he could do that.
I do. I should ask though, is the heavenly feather airworthy? Should we have to leave in less than a day?
We're working on that part of it. We've got some help on the ship that's getting stuff installed. We'll need some finishing touches, but we're hoping by tomorrow maybe.
Tomorrow.
Well, the cog is certainly more important.
You're right. I I mean, I'm sure it'll be fine.
Yeah. Journey, you catch out of the corner of your eye. Harley is kind of, like, watching all of you. This is the first time you've seen her out of bed.
Journey walks over to Harley just kind of backing away from the general conversation. Hey, Harley. How are you feeling?
I'm I'm okay. I I had my little cry, and there will be more, but there's shit to do.
Yeah. Yeah. There is. I'm glad to see you're up and about. What what's your what's your plan here? I mean, you got a lot of information now.
Yeah. I do. I know what's going down here. And she looks at you and she says, it's us. These bright bulb swarms, it's exactly what you told me about.
Yeah. We we noticed, and
I
don't know. I'm I'm planning on going down to the core and seeing if I can learn more about how much time we have or any way to protect the island outside of what we're already trying to do and trying to get people aware.
That's a great idea. An exact timetable is exactly what we need. Did you notice something, though? And, she kinda looks out past the bright bulbs into the hazy distance at the hangar at the docks. She says, there's way too many people on backseat right now.
I thought it was for the best of all, right?
Yeah. But hear me out. There's a silver lining to that
I see.
Let's call those escape vessels. I think you're right. Was that for an open door?
Yeah. That's a that's quite the silver lining. You're right. Maybe, captain Field can talk to the captains and see if they can accommodate more more folk in case something goes wrong.
That's a really good idea. High level discussion, and it's not coming from us.
Yeah. And it's coming from someone who who has some authority around here and isn't just a a weird crystal celebrity.
Yeah. Good. Okay. That's brilliant, actually. I can track down Garth. And if we need to get anywhere else, I have a press pass that'll help us a little bit.
Okay. I think I'm probably gonna head down to the court pretty soon here. I'll just come back to the post with any information that I have, and hopefully, we can all connect before the bake off and the race and all that.
I'd be careful about going down there right now. I heard reports that Hush Town was just swarming this morning. Really? I'd be careful if I was going now.
Should I wait?
Maybe until there's more of a distraction, till security's more spread out.
Until the events have started.
Afraid so. I mean, right now, the only events going on are the best runner, the best cup of coffee, the best sleeper. Sleeper. Just morning events.
You could've done that one.
That would've been so cheesy. That's so good.
You guys just didn't fall in with that crowd when you got here.
Journey could've got best sleeper hanging out of some tree.
Oh, style award
for sure. Maybe you're at I'll wait on it and wait until there isn't so much of a guard presence around the core.
We'll say that, Makeda, DeWalter, and, Serbo are starting into the work in earnest. They ripped the levitator out of the wagon entirely, and they just set it on the ground outside of the wagon. And they're just, like, ripping up floorboards and, like, peeling apart parts of the kitchen.
Be careful. I need that kitchen ready in a few hours. Don't touch that. That's a really expensive piece of equipment.
And
Erin puts both her hands on Poppy's shoulders and says, Poppy. Oh,
oh, sorry. Crumbs.
I mean, I kinda tried to scare you, but I didn't think it would work that good.
It's just really, high tension this morning.
No. I understand. I got I got some good intel. Do you wanna talk real quick in the in the room? Maybe. Oh, yeah. Let's,
be careful with that.
We'll keep an eye on them, Poppy.
Thank you.
I pull Poppy, Doran, and anyone else who's free just into the into our room just so no one else can overhear. Mhmm. So I went and scoped out the baking competition down in the gardens today, just a bit ago, and I saw that only 4 contestants can enter. So I think you need to go down there and get entered as soon as possible. You can have a crew up to 10 people.
I don't know if you're gonna like this or hate this. It seems like you won't know what you're gonna bake. They're gonna tell you, make this, and then you have to figure it out.
That's that's not usually how I do my baking, but I could work with that.
Yeah. And then one other thing that's really good news, I think, they are accepting bribes. So I saw someone that looks like a judge and shut up, you
guys. I
saw someone that looks like a judge or something, very official looking and into food, has a lot of food symbols on him, and, well, you're gonna love this. The cinnamon bun girl, she gave him money, and so I think we need to do that, but more money.
You don't think I could win on my own
merit? And Erin, puts a finger to her mouth and says, I knew you would feel that way. So I think you just need to learn from me now how to be deceptive.
I feel just, like, really morally conflicted about the whole thing.
And Listen. If the other people are doing it, it's not a fair race anyway, so there's no point in trying to win fairly. You gotta use everything to your advantage, and I know Journey is sitting on a shit pile of money. So we need to use it to our advantage or you're gonna lose. Like, that's that's it.
Okay. Okay. Level the playing field and then win
because my bake is better. Yes. Exactly.
I think that's okay. Okay.
And this is how you give a bribe. And then Erin's gonna spend the next 10 minutes teaching Poppy, like, back and forth role play Mhmm. How to how to bribe someone.
Yeah. I think when, when it comes time for Poppy to, persuade this deal that Erin would be able to help that. Yes. I think is what that means.
Very
cool. So in the room with Erin, Poppy, and Journey. Yeah. That very good. Very good, bribery, Poppy. I'm kind of impressed.
Journey, you're okay with giving the funds? I mean, I just assumed, but
I just don't have that much left, I don't think. I mean, I gave some of it to Doran, and I don't know how much there is.
How much do you think they handed over?
Did I see how much it was, or was it in a bag?
It was in a bag. Probably gold, but in the realm of a 100 or so.
I have a 110 gold.
I had a 185. Okay.
I think if we go in with 200, I feel like the bag looked about a100, so I think doubling
down. I'll give 12 to this because I No.
I'm into 200. You said you have a 100. Mhmm. Poppy has a 100. Mhmm. We cannot have an uneven number. So 200 it is.
Okay.
And Aaron only knows how to count in, like, 10150. Yeah. I'm just kidding. I'm just kidding.
I I love this. I do gotta go. I got to, tune with Ganimete again. Mhmm. So I'll I'll catch you all later. Okay? And then I back out of the room, go into my quarters, and take a deep breath and pull out the, echo bell that is, has Ganymede Soul on it Mhmm. And a tune. Okay. So I'm just sitting there holding in my hand, just kinda waiting until the voice starts happening.
Yeah. You, you've after being in there for, like, a patient 30 minutes, like, well over what it normally takes you, the ritual, you're still not hearing anything.
Shit. Is this the right echo bell?
Oh, I'm sorry. What was that? Oh,
hey, Ganymede.
Look who comes crawling back like a baby on the ground.
You're right. I mean, I do feel bad about that.
Oh, I don't want that. I just want you to recognize I'm here to help you.
You are. And I gotta say, just just in all transparency, it's a bad idea to to drop our little bond here, Ganymede. I almost died a couple times and
Well, good. Sorry. Is he right? I'm sorry. No worries.
I can hear you especially well right now. So, yeah, I I won't do that again, or at least we'll talk about it if something comes up like that.
Wait a second. What? Do you hear
that? Listen in.
It's our friendship getting stronger.
Okay. I like that. Alright. You're my favorite echo bell now, I gotta say.
Oh, now, Yep. Well, I enjoy hanging off of you. You hear a lot of interesting things. It keeps my afterlife quite textured.
Good. Good. Well, I do let me know if you hear hoofprints because I'll fill you in on the walk, actually. I'm gonna tell Ganymede about the whole encounter with Balor and Breeze as we head downstairs again.
Poppy.
Yes.
You heard that there's an urgent need to register yourself at this bake off, and so even while the wagon is being worked on, it would probably behoove you you to get down there and get registered.
Okay. Were people, like, making this guy taste test to sign up?
No. It's not, like, literally tasting. It's their, like, perception of persona, actually, and your popularity that matters.
Popularity? Yeah. Perfect. I will press the digitization my clothes to be shinier. K.
And What is Poppy wearing?
This is still her Wednesday Addams outfit.
Yes.
Because that is how she's recognized in back seam.
I re braid my hair so it's neat and, like, it's like a little black, like, Lolita dress with a very straight clean white apron Mhmm.
On top. Yeah.
Do I
have the money?
Yeah. You've got their 200 gold and a little satchel. You approach gardens practically out of breath. People recognize you as you're coming in, so they actually kind of point you in the right direction to get to where people are signing up. You see pretty much everyone you saw last night and then some. There's a lot of people down here, and there's only 4 slots, and you are one of the last ones to arrive.
I I look for the guy.
Okay. You see milling about here is Timothy Matterfax. This motherfucker. You also see a fluffy white, just like very beautiful, very understated, down to earth looking Tabaxi, kind of watching everything go down. And, next to them, you see a another, let's say, a tall, green dragonborn standing next to them. These are the judges of the competition, Timothy Matterfax, Mabel Mabey, and Rob Rockley of Saffron.
Okay. Okay. And I do I know this is Mabel, or do I just
Not really. Yeah. Okay.
I will approach. Hey,
I know that face. Come right over here. Good morning, Tom. It's so good to see you again. Wow. Wow. What is all this with the dark hair?
Oh, you know, just trying out a new look. May I say, you smell lovely.
Somebody's learned their way,
Oh, you know.
That's pretty cool. Hey.
Try not
to talk when I'm talking. Okay?
Sorry. Oh, god.
So are you gonna enter into this competition? Is that the idea?
That is good.
I bet you could win. I mean, those cookies were pretty good on the ship. A little pricey, but, pretty good.
I nod.
Yes. So anyway,
yeah. You'll just have to talk to the taste master here, and he'll make his judgment as to whether you're, worthy, you know, of entering, and we're
off. Great.
He, just kinda nods his head over towards the taste master.
It was lovely to see you again. Okay. I I turn. I'm sure.
You see a half elf wearing these long beautiful green robes embroidered with, like, food icons on them, wearing a sort of bib scarf.
Good morning.
How may I help you?
I would like to enter the competition, please?
He, grabs some spectacles from, from his neck, and he raises them to his nose. And he takes a good squint at you, and he says, I believe I had seen, yeah, those dreadful holograms of you this morning. Oh, yeah. You're quite a big deal here, aren't you?
I mean, I'd really like my baking to speak for itself, but a little publicity can't hurt.
Indeed. Well, let's let your baking speak to all of Baxi, shall we? Ladies and gentlemen, we have our 4th contestant.
Me?
Supremely popular among backseat, I know this to be true. You're going to get a show today.
Oh, thank thank you very much. I I I hope I do everyone, service. I don't
know what
I'm trying to say.
You look around and you see you have captured the ire of no less than a 100 other willful contestants that are just cursing your name, and they all kind of turn and, join the audience to observe rather than participate.
I keep the smile plastered on my face, and I reach into my pocket for the gold, and I reach to shake his hand.
He goes to, shake your hand, and he says, excuse me. He furrows an eyebrow and is staring at you while shaking your hand continuously.
I was told this was the entry fee link.
Oh, no. Persuasion?
Make a persuasion check, and then Erin gets to help.
So you get to add advantage to
your role. No.
So you roll as well Me? With yep. With your persuasion.
Oh, no. It's be better than
Do I add my persuasion? Okay. Great.
21. Mine is a 5. So Alright.
With the 21, the bag slides out of your hand and says, and, how might we, accommodate you?
Shit. Can I have, like, a quick flashback to
Sure?
Yeah. Yeah. Flashback to Erin kind of coaching you what to do.
Yes. Alright. Listen. Bribes could go one of 2 ways. They can just say, okay. Great. And they're gonna rig it in your favor, or sometimes they might say, you know, what do
you want for this bribe?
Okay? And I really think, what do you want in this competition, Poppy?
I just wanna have the best flavor.
Okay. Yes. Yes. And you know what? Everyone else is just gonna wanna look good.
Oh. Then how might Slush forward. No. How might how might we accommodate you?
I just, this is a big deal for me, and and I'm not really up to date on all of the, like, aesthetic stuff, but I I really think that my baking tastes very good, and I I just wanna make sure that people can recognize that.
Ah, yes. I will, implore some of the judges to look the other way on your aesthetics and focus stood on the flavors.
I I appreciate it.
It would only be to their benefit. Correct?
Oh, of of course.
Of course. Yes. Yeah. And this doesn't conflict with any of my other deals, so fantastic. Very well. You enjoy your time at the competition, and I will see you about.
About where?
He, is walking, you know, walking away, and then suddenly turns and looks over his shoulder and says, about 5 o'clock.
Oh, perfect. Thank you. And I, like, nervously curtsy and and bow at the same time. I'm just flopping. Yeah. Oh, wipe the sweat from my brow, and I hide the hell it back. Cool. I like wink at Cindy as I pass by.
She just smiles up at you a huge, way too bright, way too smiley smile.
I blow her a little kiss.
And she catches it and puts it in her pocket.
It's good.
And then when you walk away, she cuts it to ribbons.
She takes the imaginary kiss out of her pocket and shreds it.
Yeah. I wipe my mouth. Yeah.
When you arrive, you see, DeWalter, Nikita, and Sirbo working feverishly at your wagon. The rest of your friends still milling about. This is the rhythm of the afternoon they are working as quickly as they can to not only prepare you for the race but also for the bake off as best they can. You know, making sure that your oven's in working order and that none of the other upgrades are gonna interfere with what you normally do with this wagon.
Aaron wants to scope out the ring light before the race.
So when you arrive there, it's, much more heavily secured than the gardens were. Being that this is still in, like, setup mode, and they're literally building scaffolding and other things for the show to come. You will have to make a stealth check to get into the ring light to slip past the guards.
Can I tell if, like, other competitors are there at all?
Doesn't look like it. Nobody's been invited in to kind of, like, position their wagons quite yet. It's still very early in the day.
I might ask, just a passerby of, like, hey. Do you you know what they're doing over here? What are they setting up for?
You haven't heard?
There's a
race tonight.
A race? That's that's really cool. Are are you going?
Oh, I'll be there just to watch, but, not to actually race myself.
Oh, you're you're not one of the racers.
No. No. Not half as brave.
Oh, do you know where I could, like, maybe get an autograph beforehand? Like, where do they meet up?
You're seeking a baller and breeze, aren't you?
I mean, you know.
Yeah. He tends to make a bit of an entrance and nobody really knows where he comes from, but he'll come swooping down with his old star crunch right before the race, you see.
Gotcha. Awesome. Cool. Well, maybe I'll see you there tonight.
Yeah. Maybe. I didn't get your name.
It's Jenny.
Jenny. Jenny, what else are you doing tonight, Jenny?
What does this person look like?
They are a gray Tabaxi with a big white belly and, kind of like, old looking eyes, but a very kind smile.
I don't know yet my plans, but
So you're saying there's a chance?
I
don't know what you mean.
Well, I'll, perhaps I'll I'll see you around then.
Okay. Thanks. Bye.
Oh, yeah. Yeah. He just he kinda stands and waits for you to leave.
I just walk away. What to do with that?
Part of our grid of fucks and doesn't fuck. Yeah.
No. No.
Does not. Not for lack of choice.
Okay. Since there are no competitors around, I think Aaron will try to get a glimpse of what's going down in the track.
I mean, you see the the kind of, like, stalls where the racers are supposed to start from. Like I said, there's not really any competition here, so you don't exactly know what you're gonna be racing against. It's a little too early in the day. You do see Phenom and some of his assistants still setting up for their show.
Does the track just look like a big circle at this
point, or is
there any option? Black glass. Black glass? Yep. Okay. Aaron calls it a bust and starts heading back to the scratching post.
Give me a perception check anyway then.
21. Oh.
You hear, quite a few people talking about just their excitement over the race, and you can't tell quite if they're participating or just watching, until you do happen upon somebody who seems quite nervous about their contraption, about what they're going to try tonight, saying that they're just like,
I I think it's gonna
be a success. Probably. I'm a little worried about falling down. I hope I don't actually take flight with these things on. That would be scary. They're wicked fast, though. You can see her pointing to a pair of roller skates that she's wearing. Mhmm.
Is it a Tabaxi?
Yes.
I'm just gonna kinda watch from a distance.
You see her kind of demonstrating to some nearby people. She clicks a switch on her ankle, and you see the familiar sight of a small spark engine starting up at her heels. And she begins to kind of propel forward, but just one foot. And she goes, oh, shoot. I gotta turn the other one on.
And she reaches down and tries to turn it on. But by that time, the engine has started, and she's just spinning in a circle with one foot kind of like jetting around. She kicks down a foot, grinds to a halt, and then stops the switch and goes, okay. Well, hopefully, that won't happen. And yeah. Yeah. It'll be good.
Who's that? Erin says to just a random Oh. Person.
That is Darlene Filth.
Piause. Alright.
That's the name. Cool. Well, she seems like she's got a she's a shoe in.
I'll say. I've, it's a new concept, but she'll probably do okay. We've had worse.
Sure. Sure. How many people do you think will enter tonight?
We had over 20 last time, so hopefully around there. Cool. Full house?
Anyone ever try to, you know, rig the game?
It's kinda hard to rig a game with so few rules.
Well, yeah. I mean, rig I mean, you know, like, taking taking people out or, like,
people are some shady
shit. Yeah. Cool. Yeah.
People are blowing each other up. They're kicking each other off the track. Yeah.
I love that love that kind of stuff. What's the best one you've seen?
Well, somebody, messed with somebody else's, engine, kinda put it on turbo mode. This was, ugh, man, 3 months ago. But anyway, they went straight into the stands and, like, a whole crowd of people ended up in the hospital. Not funny, but fun to see from the other side.
Yeah. I mean, if you weren't in the line of fire. Am I right? Am I right? Am I right? Alright. We'll catch you later. Thanks, man.
Yeah.
Yeah. Aaron scampers off.
You're having this, like, super cool chat with someone and then they just, like, fucking
And then they got
all.
Alright. I'm just gonna head back with that.
Alright. The engineers are hurriedly finishing up their work, bolting down the last few things. At the last minute, Makeda realizes that he forgot to connect the cable that powers the entire thing. He gives it one slap on the butt and he says, good as new. Actually, way better than it ever was. So good as we made it.
I'm just gonna, like, peek at the kitchen, make sure everything looks normal.
It looks mostly the same, except a couple, like, wooden pieces that you had installed, a couple of old copper pipes, are now these, like, shiny chrome pieces. Makes you a little nervous.
Oh, I appreciate it. Let's hope for the best.
Okay. We wanna sabotage the other vehicles, but I wasn't sure how moral you are.
Nikita kinda looks up and he's like, I told you we should put weaponry on the thing. DeWalter looks down. He's like, we're not putting weaponry on this. That's not what wagons are for.
Yeah. Exactly. This is a bakery.
Exactly. It's a bakery.
Poppy has already been truly gracious allowing me to soup up this kitchen of hers.
At the memory of soup, I just kind of, like, shudder. Little gag. Yeah.
No. No. No. I mean, like, something that, like, all of a sudden increases the power of a of an engine, like a small small burst that burns out quick or something that, like, slows it down for just a little bit or banana peel that, like, they spin out all of a sudden.
Like, give me some strategies. Makita moves over to the thing and just shows you kind of a kill switch that will cause the wagon to abruptly halt in place, there's a good chance it'll throw the contents of whatever's on it or around it to go flying, but it will it'll do more than just turn the engine off. It'll really stop it.
Yes. Very good.
Well, you guys better know what you're talking about.
As for power, you could push it as far as you want, but the farther you go, the less control you have.
I will go just fast enough where I can still control it.
Hey, sir Beau?
Yes. Poppy.
I would appreciate it if you stayed on board, you know, in case of an emergency.
Confirmed. I will install myself in the corner.
Sounds great. Thank you.
He moves over to the corner and begins kind of bolting his fingers into the wall.
Oh, right now?
We do need to fit a kitchen crew in here.
That's
true. Who wants to be a part of that?
Oh, Poppy. I'm sure Mikey would love to participate. Do you or
I think Mikey might wanna watch from the stands.
Is is he here? Mikey is, like, looking at you from a distance, Doren, and he's, like, nodding at you excitedly. Like, did you ask?
I'm sure there's something that Mikey could do that would be both helpful and not not in the way.
Or, like, eating all the ingredients.
Right. Doran, if you remember, Mikey was one of the worst chefs this world has ever seen.
The worst waste of talent to not have him practice something he cares about. You know what? It's it's fine.
No. It's fine. He he could use the experience.
I agree. Yes. About the team, yes.
But if you sabotage me, you're out.
I would never sabotage you, Poppy.
Thank you.
Alright, Mikey. Let's get you full well fed before this, competition starts real quick.
Good idea.
That's a good idea.
I prepared this. Well, I didn't prepare it, but I grabbed it from the bar and I hand him a sandwich.
There's a lot of sage on this side, which I
yeah. What is that chef's deal? Anyone else?
I mean, I think we should all try to help if we can. I mean, we're a team, and that's what you need. Right? Is just a team? Yeah.
I don't see why not. I'm not gonna be able to go looking at the core until more attention is away from it, so I was thinking that maybe I'd go during Phenom's show.
Oh, yeah. Good idea.
Right before the race.
Yeah. That's good.
Alright. I need everyone on their best behaviors, and I reach into a cupboard and I pull out a stack of white aprons and little hats Mhmm. Kind of like hairnets, and I start doling them out.
Alright. Yes, Chef. Alright. So it sounds like the whole party's gonna be there?
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yes,
Chef. Plus Mikey. So
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.
Share the show with people you love, and we'll see you next time.