Cloudfall | 32 - We Ship It

Last time on Cloudfall. Just a few days ago, Doran and Aaron asked the bourgeoisie of Baxi for an airship And to everyone's surprise, including the GM, the elites of Baxi agreed to it. And now, the party owns a flying vessel called the Shatterhorn, a name that taunts the blight with every skyline that they pass. Poppy and Doran have agreed to become co captains. They hired Kesher as a navigator, brought on Sir Bo to help with maintenance, and of course their traveling companions, Mikey, April, Bobka, and Benjamin.

That doesn't seem right. Captain Field said it'll get us to farewell and back, multiple times, so it it it shouldn't be burning that fast, and I don't have any illusions going or anything.

I mean, it is, like, new technology, so you could have miscalculated. It's possible there is some sort of drain happening that we're unaware of. I don't think anyone within the crew would do so intentionally, but I I I can't pretend to know or understand exactly how all of this works.

Maybe we should, call Journey in, and and she and I can kinda look at the the magic together, see if we could figure out where it's going.

If you want to, I could send Serbo with you to do a scan as well. Maybe Rune can make sense of some of it. I mean, he I don't think he's worked with Bismite a ton yet, but he would be interested.

Yeah. I think that's a good idea. As many eyes as possible, I guess.

Poppy? Yep. Why did you wanna be captain?

I mean, I don't know. It's not really about power. It just kind of, it's that entrepreneurial spirit or something. Yeah. Just like I like knowing where we're going and and making decisions. Okay. Why?

I did I guess I was just wondering because I don't really know why I'm here. I don't

know why you wanted to be captain.

I mean, it makes sense for there be to be one captain. Right? Usually, there's one captain of the ship and a first mate.

Who who says? Who makes the rules?

I guess we do.

We're out in the clouds. Anything goes.

I did wanna run something by you.

Okay.

You're close to Guy.

Yeah.

He had a lot of respect and kind of knew the ins and outs of what it means to be a leader. You know, the way he revered captain Yarhar. I just kinda noticed it kinda brought a twinkle to his eye to you know? He's he's very serious. You know? And I just wonder if maybe it should be him.

Oh, in instead of me?

Instead of me, at least.

There's a small knock at the door. A really timid one.

Just a second. Doran, I I think I wanted you to be co captain because you already kind of have leadership in your blood. You take charge of this group, and it's comforting. Hi. I opened the door.

Cashier steps in, and she is 0% who you expect Cashier to be. She says. I can't make sense of it. I've I've looked over the bismide a few times now and I I just I don't understand. Captain Zai had never seen anything like this when we were on the heavenly feather. The I've I've been charting the decay ever since I noticed, and it's it's not working out. Something is weird.

I I think we have to take a closer look.

Yeah. I I'm sorry. I know this isn't a good look for my 1st week aboard the ship, but I promise nothing like this will happen again.

It's not on you, Cashier. Like, we're all learning here. And we also have a lot of magic at our disposal. So we're we're not gonna drop out of the sky anytime soon. How many days do we have before that's a risk, though?

I wouldn't expect us to make it too far after tomorrow afternoon. Wow. That's closer than I thought. And Small Castle is between 6 hours and 48 hours. Somewhere in there. I'm sorry. I I wish I could do better, but with the shifting of the clouds.

Is the are there any islands closer that we could land on?

There might be. I mean, we've certainly seen those before. Right?

Let's, maybe we make that a priority. And when when we're on solid ground, we can figure it out.

You all hear a crack, but we're not there yet. Oh. Oh, great. No. In fact, it's day 1 on the Shatterhorn. This was the first day after you had taken off from backseat. You all spent the rest of that day going from lunch into dinner into drinking into sleeping kind of all in a pile in the lounge. Now it's the first morning after that. You all woke up on the Shatterhorn. You woke up on your own schedule.

Bam, bam, bam.

Yes.

Doran, it's not too long after you woke up late today, that you hear the bell. Maybe that's what even woke you up later in this afternoon. But hanging up from a little wooden peg on the wall, you hear the echo bell go off again, and for some reason you just take those 6 minutes again. Why not? There's a lesson you learned on Lord.

I can start. It was a couple spells. I took greater invisibility, which essentially allows me to, cast invisibility on a creature, and they are able to attack without losing invisibility as long as concentration is maintained.

It's kind

of like watching your kids go to college and, like, like, everything's gonna be difficult now. Yeah.

I'll follow that up with I took greater invisibility as my 4th level spell.

That's too much. Turns out not being able to see us is pretty good.

I'm the only visible party member.

Yeah. That's how we want it, though.

So yeah. And then my second spell, I took a dimension door just, which which allows me to move myself and an ally up to 200 feet, I believe. There's some other text here, but it's just a much improved, misty step.

So Yes. Good. Yeah. More teleporting. Mhmm. Teleportation and invisibility.

It's a tele party.

Yeah. Let's go that direction. Poppy, what'd you get?

Well, I gained 1 4th level spell, which is greater invisibility. Nice. And I believe I switched out some spells.

It's a good thing this is a medium where they don't need to

See us.

Visually see us. We just they hear our voice. So we're good there. So we can be the invisible invisible crew.

So I should not have taken greater silence. No.

Greater visibility.

Yeah. I cast silence and then there's just like 20 minutes of dead audio.

It's a podcast. Alright. Erin.

Yeah. I got a couple of hit points. Not as much as I feel like I should have gotten, but that's fine. And then the only thing a rogue gets at level 7 is evasion. So when I am subjected to a effect that allows me to make a dex saving throw to only take half damage. Instead of getting half damage, I would get no damage. And if it's a success from the attacker, I get half.

Alright. So A

little safer from, like, fireball and big explodey, things like that. Yep.

So I'm very basic. Alright.

I got a feature at this level for my swarm keeper subclass, and I can kinda fly.

Kinda fly?

Yeah. I can kinda fly.

With your swarm? Yeah.

It's called writhing tide. You can condense part of your swarm into a focused mass that lifts you up. As a bonus action, you gain a flying speed of 10 feet and can hover. It lasts for a minute or until I am incapacitated. Cool.

You said writhing tide?

Writhing.

I like that it's

Roll tide.

It's like rising tide with a lisp.

Everyone fears the rising tide.

Yeah. It's pretty cool.

And, Guy, what'd you get for level 7?

Well, I hit 6th level of paladin, so I have the aura of protection. Myself and anyone within 10 feet of me gets a plus 3 bonus to all saving throws.

Hey, Nick.

I love that.

So hang out with me, guy.

Oh, I sorry. I switched something for alter self,

apparently. Just

Oh, I see. You should've

shove that in there.

Took that spell on as well. Nice.

Oh, I got

a spell too. I forgot. It doesn't matter.

I took the spell ceremony which is literally worthless.

Oh my god. You did take that. Please marry someone.

I can do it.

In addition to the aforementioned stuff, 2 more things. 1, Poppy had some, pretty quick thinking and some pretty high octane creations back on Backseat. Poppy, I'd like to add 3 advanced recipes to your arsenal. Dark chocolate coffin cakes, buzzybee cake pops, and big fish taiyaki.

Oh, here we go. Hell yes.

Your 3 creations from the Bake Off competition. All of these are what you consider advanced recipes, and so they all require a level 3 spell of any description. The dark chocolate coffin cakes, allow someone to become ethereal and go through walls. When you say boo, you will reappear. Cool.

So fucking cool.

Big fish taiyaki, up to 3 people, cast the enlarged spell on themselves. Their booming voices can be heard from up to 300 feet away, and any of them can choose to become smaller, making the remaining large one larger.

Oh. Very cool.

As you left backseat, you all got the, gifts and grace and gold of the elites and the people of backseat. Suffice to say, you are supplied well. Pretty much anything you need, anything you want is at your disposal. Every person at this table will get one gear flashback, as I call it. At your disposal, you can choose to flashback have a flashback to a shopping experience or being bequeathed something or whatever the story is, you get something.

I think all 5 of us need to commit to making Tim regret this as much as possible.

So we are rewound in time. Things are not yet stressful. You're not yet out of fuel.

It's not a concern.

There's no reason for you to check on the engines. Engines. But, yeah, captains, you see people walking around the ship. Everyone's kind of enjoying their own morning. What do y'all do?

I've never been a captain before.

Speak up, Poppy. I don't think they heard you.

I've never been a captain before.

That's okay, Bobby. It's gonna be alright. I think it's gonna be pretty straightforward. We're all same people we were before.

So far so good, seems like.

Okay.

Chip's still fine.

Yeah. Yep. I mean, that's like a bare minimum, but yeah. Good job.

Thanks, Erin.

I do think something that could be fun and helpful if we took a moment and, try to see who's the best shot with some of the cannons maybe.

Yes. Yeah. So Oh.

I'll I'll leave that to you guys.

Aaron runs to the nearest crossbow bolt cannon

thing. What are

they called?

Yeah. They're like mounted harpoon guns.

Harpoon gun. Yeah.

Yeah. They called them boarding harpoons.

Kesher? Yeah. Captain. Please.

She's not a moving target.

No. She's not where I was going. Do you feel like flying today?

Always. Yes. Sweet. Where am I going?

Well, you know, after we emptied out some of the lube barrels, I was wondering if we could maybe we wanna try dropping those and just giving a chance for you know, out of the out of the inferno room. Where?

Lube barrels? Did you say

lube? Lube barrels?

Lube? Lube lube barrels

from the infernal room.

Barrels. Oh, right. God.

There was

Lube lube barrels.

I totally forgot.

I heard lube barrels, and I was like, just dropping barrels

of shit. No. No. No. I had lube

A little bit of lube.

Which is

what he said.

That's an

actual kind.

Yeah. Okay. Sixturing.

Thomas and I both had a moment of am I deaf?

The problem with lube

barrels is, like, after you empty it, you can't use it for other stuff.

So Too slippery.

That's true.

So That's so much lube.

Once a lube barrel,

always a

lube barrel.

Yeah. Just if you put the

lid on fast enough, you can still hear it spinning around

with all the inside.

There's no such thing as lube barrel whiskey or something.

I sure fucking hope not.

What? That's the Shatterhorn specialty.

Lube barrel whiskey.

Lube fail.

Well, it goes down smooth.

Straight through. To be fair

It's a colonic. Tequila lube.

To be fair, the term, lube barrel is a little generous. They're more like casks.

Okay.

So what is a cask if not a small barrel?

Small barrel. Yeah. But I think for a cashier to fly with a barrel of lube would be a little absurd.

Oh, no. They're

empty, by

the way.

We'll forward them

over the side.

Sure. Kesher grabs the lines up a few lube barrels and, gets ready to glide off

the edge. So yeah. I think we should all just get a shot at it, you know. And, Kesher, since you are kind of flying the ship most often, I think it's less likely that you'll be shooting the is it ballistas or cannons or what was the

These are harpoon guns.

Harpoon guns. Giant crossbow guns.

Nice. Okay. Yeah. Let's give it a shot. Can we? Yeah. Of course. I'll, I'll just get up there. Just be really careful not to, you know, shoot me.

Oops. Sorry if I accidentally hit you. Bye. Have fun. Fine. Okay. 1st order is captain. No shooting our friends. I can't make any promises.

I second that as co captain.

Well, that sounds official. Yep.

That's 2 captains.

Just to be safe, Guy, do you mind summoning Steed to just have him around in case think something goes alright? I don't see why not. Great.

Come to me, Steed. Oh.

Blue's already here, I guess.

You're really on the ball with that one.

Yeah. I wouldn't go far. I mean, sometimes I do.

Sure. Sometimes I go far too.

I just I just happened to be here. Isn't it? Hey.

Hey. A yes, dude.

I was just saying hi.

Oh. Hello, Steve.

What can I do for you?

We are about to engage in some target practice, and Doran here wished to summon you. Not, I presume, to be a target.

Oh, wouldn't be the first time. But, yeah, I'm willing to help. What can I do?

What would you like Steed to do?

Just, if Kesher, you know, catches a stray giant cross bull, which will not happen. Kesher will be on the watch here and be careful. Just, you know, just a precautionary measure, you know, as we do some target practice.

You say all of this to the dragon winged donkey, and then you see it kind of nod at you a little bit. Guy, you hear Stede say, understood. Can do. But, Doran, from your perspective, he's just like

Not slowly.

I, tussled his hair a little bit. Okay.

Well, let's get this show on the road. Great.

Okay.

As this is being set up, I've gotten a roll of, like, parchment paper and nailed it to the wall and have started writing, like,

rules

for the ship. K. There's only one rule, and that's don't shoot your friends.

Okay. Okay.

Because there's room for murder.

Them as we go. Yeah. That's perfect. Yeah.

Yeah. Is stabbing our friends on the table?

I'll put stabbing and

promissory. Okay.

Journey, what does that thing say?

It just says, don't stab or shoot your friends.

Okay. Good. Kesha's not my friend, so that's fine.

Slash shipmates.

Alright. While you're writing those rules, you don't notice that Mikey is the first one to approach the crossbow. He has grabbed it from behind. He spins it fully around to aim back into the ship as he's up on the railing of the ship, and he goes, it goes all the way around, guys.

That's great, Mikey. You are not part of this company.

He's pointing it at Doran.

Why would it do that?

Step away

from the no. Mikey? What? You got important work to do. You need to stay working as an apprentice under Poppy in the rolling pin. Please don't kill me. Because we're always so laid back on the island. Vied.

He gets down just fine. Okay.

Great. Oh, no.

Aaron's gonna run up there.

Okay.

And give it a little swirl.

Yeah. It's a fresh brand new gun and so it's like shiny and kind of like begs to be shot at something. Kesher is, standing up on the edge. She is binding up her hair so that it doesn't get in her face when she's gliding. And, she's just kind of, like, standing tall up on the edge. She looks, like, precarious and bold all at the same time.

Let's go. Can't take all day.

I give a pat on the shoulder to catch her. I'll get the next couple.

She gives you a pat on the shoulder, pulls her goggles down, and she jumps off the edge with her glider. Alright. You all see her disappear kind of below the ship and then swoop and rocket back up from below. Begins spiraling with that first loop barrel in hand. She's looking down at Eren passing by the ship and dropping it. And she goes, Aaron, I want you to give me a roll with advantage. You main

a crossbow.

Well, is this okay. So it's a harpoon, which means it's attached.

Yeah. Those are rope attached.

Okay.

I don't

like Oh, great. We won't lose the ammo.

I like this. Yeah.

That was a tar concern,

but not a journey concern,

so I couldn't say it.

That would be a non natural tint.

Yeah. Jeez. That hits the barrel. It explodes when you shower a residual lube glistening in the morning sun.

I thought these were empty.

You see all the slimy lube just kind of glop up and and spritz out into the sky, and as you're flying through the clouds, of course, a little bit of it sprays back onto the deck, and Mikey gets a little slippery.

Careful, Mikey.

Oh, this stuff is cool. Sliby. Okay.

Well done, Aaron.

Thank you. That was awesome. Nice.

Yeah. Kesher continues to drop back into the ship and grab more barrels. Yeah. Let's do Journey.

Okay.

No advantage. The mechanism's a little unfamiliar to you, but you would add your proficiency index.

Okay.

Natural one.

Oh, no. Oh, no.

Well Rip catcher.

The The first harpoon shot from Aaron, went straight out, hit the barrel, and kind of, you know, went, taut as it, like, drops to its maximum distance, and you all reeled it back in. Something happened with the tether to this as you were reeling it back in. It sort of loosened as soon as the weight was off of it. Journey goes to shoot it, shoots the harpoon, completely misses. Like, doesn't even look like she was trying, like it fired too early or something.

Not as easy as it looks, Jurnee?

I've never shot anything like this before in my life. Maybe I should practice for a while before I take it on for real.

Looks like game's over. There's no more harpoons.

No. There's another one

over here. Backup. Yeah.

When Catcher returns, I'll give a nod and, like, I'll I'll take the next couple.

Okay.

And, yeah. I'll grab a couple lube barrels and empty lube barrels and lube barrels.

Just keep saying lube.

Lube barrels. Barrels disease.

Sean has it all. I was thinking lubega. Yeah.

Okay.

Guy, now on the, starboard side.

Sure. Yes.

I I

didn't say what the first one was. Who cares? Yeah.

Alright. Barrel dropped.

Barrel dropped. Guy, go ahead and give it a shot.

Old guy's turn. Well, then that's a solid 9.

Okay. Yeah. Ranged has really never been your thing.

But a little closer to our

you want another goal?

Yes, please.

Okay. Alright. Yeah. I'll drop another.

17.

Cracked it. Nice. Nails the barrel. You see splinters of wood go flying in every direction and glistening lube in the sun.

Just like a rainbow

effect. Yes. Yeah.

Good job, Skye. Satisfying.

A globby, iridescent rainbow.

Yeah.

Poppy, Tick, anyone else wanna give it a go?

I guess I'll try for her camaraderie or something.

Alright. I'll I'll tap and catch her.

Yeah. She gets back on her glider and drops one for Poppy.

Crossbow is listed under weapons on my character sheet.

Sheet. Yeah. I have to trust that. Right?

Okay.

Your parents had a really tiny crossbow at home for protection.

Your dad made you get a license?

Yeah. The bolts had suction cups on them. Seventeen, I guess.

Yep. Also cracks it. Just as good as guy, except you get it on the first try.

Oh, wow. Maybe I do have it cut out for this kind of thing.

That's mine, captain.

Should I

give up baking?

Please don't.

The entire ship goes, no.

Oh, god. No.

Get away from that.

Doran, would you like a crack at this at well?

No. I don't think so.

Really? It's quite fun.

Yeah. Yeah. Sure. Fine. Okay. I'll give it a go.

Steve and I can take a barrel and drop it for you.

Oh, yeah. That fast moving. Sounds good. Alright. Fuck. Even with proficiency,

9. Nice. Yeah. The heartbloom goes essentially straight forward steed. You, preempted the target by way too much, and, it's almost going to be a direct hit on steed. And he just kind of accelerates. He's got enough control to dodge out of the way or something like that, but he's definitely giving you some nervous big black donkey eyes on the way back.

That was unintentional, Stede. I I'm sorry. Not my strong suit.

Doran, maybe it's best we leave this to the professionals.

I agree. It was fun though, except for the part where I almost hit Stede.

Yeah. Too bad it wasn't cashier.

And I point to

the the one rule.

The one rule.

I grabbed the

Aaron looks confused at Poppy and was, like, shrugs her shoulders and, like, what?

We gotta teach you how to read. Yeah.

No. So, as a co captain and Poppy, if if you are inclined to agree, I think how many, harpoon guns do we have on this ship? 2. I I nominate Aaron for sure based on that performance to be our, lead harpooner.

Oh, yeah.

For sure.

I mean, I thought that was obvious when we got on the ship.

Yeah. If only there were 2 of her.

And then, I guess it's done to you and Guy Poppy. Who would like to person the harpoon?

Thank you for being gender inclusive.

Of course.

I think Guy

should. Well, I certainly can. I also have the option of, mounting seed here and heading into the action if I need to.

I mean, I I know I missed, but I could practice and really work hard, and then I could be the other person on the other harpoon if it's necessary.

Yeah. Actually, that's a really good idea. Sorry.

That's okay. I know I really let you all down.

No. It was that was meant to be fun.

I've seen you be quite deadly with a bow, so I think with some practice, you can do the same with this harpoon.

All in favor?

I

I'm in favor.

Hi. Great.

Hi. I I don't know if I was supposed to be in that vote. Sorry. I just came in to see what all the hubbub was about.

April, do you know how to shoot a harpoon?

Heavens no. Okay.

Well, great. So, you know, I mean, I do want us to enjoy ourselves and relax. We've had a long stressful week or so, but this was good to figure out. So should we face any danger, we know who to stick on the main guns. Guy will be on steed. Poppy, myself, and Kesher will try to, direct the ship and try to help where we can. I hope it doesn't come to that. I hope we can get to a small castle safely and soundly.

Aye aye, co captain.

Alright. Aye aye.

As the group is dispersing a little bit, April off handedly asks Kesher what day it is, and Kesher responds because Kesher journals all the time. And, Erin, you catch the date. What's the date? It's in the early September at this point. You guys spent all of August in a back seat just about.

Yeah. I think even as a little kid in our world, the only thing that's fun is birthday. Right? You look forward to it for, like, your whole year. And so I feel like in the blight, it would have been Aaron's one of the things they really, like, made them smile at least on that day because it was always made it through another year.

I think what happens then is not long after you have this conversation on the decks with the harpoon shooting and everything, Tic actually comes by, with a kind of closed fist, but he's got something in his hand to give you.

Oh, hi, Tick.

Good morning. Birthday, Erin.

Oh, god. Here we go.

Think that makes a lot of sense.

Yeah. Yeah. Like, you pick it up even if you're not trying.

Yeah. Doreen, even if you didn't want to, all of a sudden you can hear ticks say that. Got something for you. Birthday Aaron? And then you just maybe hear like a word or two out of Aaron.

Dorn gets a little anxious about that.

Okay. Well yeah.

Tick, you I mean, we're not in the blight anymore. You don't have to do this.

Oh, no. Really? It's just, actually, it's something I stole and modified, so it's a little different than usual. But, yeah, just something I've been tinkering on thinking about you.

Aaron puts their hands on their hips and says, alright. Cough it up.

He opens his fist and lets the item drop into yours. It's a a small silver cylinder. It says, you look into it. It's just a a pretty thing.

Aaron, slowly hold it up to their eye. And before they put it on, they say, is this a trap?

It's not gonna blow up in your eye. I told you, they only need that once.

I touch my finger to it, the eye hole first.

No real reaction there.

Okay. Then I put it up to my eye and look into it.

You can still just barely see tick through it, but it's a kaleidoscope. Oh. It just creates a kind of mesmerizing pattern, and it actually kinda looks like bismite.

Oh, wow.

Wow. Tic, this is amazing. What is this? Is this magic?

Partially, maybe. I think there is actual bismuth in there. It's where the patterns come from.

Oh, my God. It, like, changes too.

Yeah. You just kinda twist the thing on the end there. Anyway, just something.

I love it. Thanks.

-Maybe you can actually keep this one, you know, since Dibba's not gonna find it. -

Yeah. I'll keep it safe.

Happy birthday.

Thanks. I kinda I kinda forgot, because it's been a little crazy lately, and thanks for remembering. You're a good friend.

Yeah. Doesn't take much to be a friend in The Bligh. You know, just you were always good to me, and you got it worse than anyone.

Halfway decent, mostly friends. Good thing.

Did someone say birthday? Sorry. I was just over here, and I heard the word birthday, and I just got really excited.

Oh, man. Nope. Nothing to see here.

Oh, okay. Well, mine's in, like, 3 months if anyone's wondering.

Cool. How old are you gonna be? But no. Let me look at my case. 24?

24. Wow. Yeah. I know. I'm getting pretty old. Okay. Well, I'm just gonna go back over here. Turning. What? I think it might be Erin's birthday.

Oh, okay. We should do something.

Yeah. I was well, don't tell anyone, but I I I thought I would make a cake or something.

Oh, that's a great idea. Okay.

Can you help me figure out what to make?

Sure. What do you want? What do you what can I do?

I mean, maybe find out their favorite color or something or flavor.

Alright. Oh, okay. I can do that.

I would ask, but I I don't think Erin likes me very much.

I'm sure that's not true. But I'll I'll ask. I'll go ask. Okay. Yeah. Hey, Heron.

Not right now. What?

Never mind.

Don't be suspicious about it.

Having a day. Bye.

I like how you gave yourself a natural one.

Doran slipped away and is trying to find Babka.

Oh, okay. Yeah. Yeah. He's, up on the main deck just kind of looking over the clouds. Say, Babka? Good morning, captain.

Good morning. You can just call me, Doran. I, but, anyways, I I had a question for you.

Shoot.

Are you are you heading back to the mainland, to your shop, or do you have anything with you?

Oh, I'd, certainly can. Is there something you needed?

I'm I've been in a pinch here. I know your shop is on the mainland, but and there are certainly some good gliders there, but do do you know if you could get your hands on a nice one?

Lotem is not known for its gliding, you see. The kingdom of Dawn's Edge, it, much more common. But I I might have one in my collection. Perhaps, I can look.

Yeah. If if you don't, no big deal. I just thought I'd check.

For the friend, Thorin, for you, of course.

Thank you. Okay.

He, disappears back to, where they have the rug stowed, which maybe isn't one of those closets in the dance hall. They just have an empty closet with just the rug, and that is their room. He disappears in there for a while, and he, comes back with, 2 choices. 1 is what you'd call a class coal glider. It's very, like, ornate, like, old wood, kind of a yellowed, crimpled, crimpled, yellowed crimped fans to it.

What's the wood on this newer one? I haven't seen this before.

Something strong, perhaps a sort of, ebony hardwood. Okay. Inflexible, but strong.

Yeah. I kinda, like, rub my thumbnail on it, and

Yeah.

Seems really this is nice. How much

how much for this one? Doran, I I owe you a lot.

You don't you don't owe me anything. You gave me this loot.

Sorry, Doran. I owe you a lot of things, which is why I'm allowing you to purchase this from me.

Oh, okay.

I was getting ahead of myself there. Okay. How much does it cost? For

a good friend, this would probably run a 150 gold.

Yeah. Yeah. That I can do that. Okay. I just gotta check with Poppy. K. Do do you believe me? I'll get you a 150 gold, and can you keep it between you and me this purchase? The of course. Yes. Okay. Awesome. Alright. Thank you. I appreciate it very much.

You see him with, like, he's taken out these tiny, tiny glasses on his nose, and he's writing down, like, the money that you owe him. Like, Bob is a shrewd businessman. Like, he's not gonna

say times 0.09% per day

is, like, what

is that? He winks and puts it away.

Okay. Alright.

Fun Poppy talking to Guy. Guy, do you, do you know what kind of things Aaron likes? Like, like, knives and stabbing people?

Yes. Killing, she seems to be fond of. Stealing.

Okay.

Mhmm. Stealing then killing.

Right. How do I no. No. That's this is good. I can work with this.

In what context are you asking, Poppy?

Oh, it's, it's Aaron's birthday, I think.

Oh, a birthday?

Yes.

Oh. So you are going to kill someone for Erin's birthday?

I wasn't gonna no.

I think she would love it.

I don't really do that, but I was like, you know, how I made the the the coffin cakes and they look like there's blood inside of them. And I I was thinking, that would be cool. Right?

Oh, a cake. That is more traditional for a birthday celebration.

Right. Wait. Wait.

Wait. May maybe once we know each other better, I'll consider killing someone.

Oh, well, that's that would be a big step for you, Poppy.

What the fuck?

Hey, cult captain.

Oh, sorry. I didn't see you there.

It's okay. Don't kill me. I just need to withdraw

captain business. Don't mind me.

Eddie's guy. Poppy, I just need to make a withdrawal for expenses leadership expenses. Oh, right.

This corruption is so deep already.

It can come from Doran's reserves, of course.

Right. What are you buying out here in the clouds? That's No. Not my business. I it's fine. How much do you need?

Gotta replace all those loot barrels.

Just 200 gold is fine.

Oh, just, yeah, just 200. There you go.

Thanks. Thank you. Okay. Great.

Don't, maybe spend it wisely.

I am.

We don't have, unlimited funds.

I know that, Poppy. I, yeah, I think this is worth it.

Remember all that stuff we bought before we left?

That's right.

At the conclusion of that guy, Poppy and Doran, kinda go their separate ways, literal different directions back to where they need to be. You actually don't track them as they move away from you because your brain is immediately stolen. You just suddenly see a vision as if you were deep in the drift weed, but you're not. And this is new. These have not come back to you for no reason.

That was where is Stede? I must talk to my Stede.

You, start ambling off towards the main deck. Journey is still in the lower decks of the ship trying to keep a peripheral on Erin, trying to suss out her favorite flavors.

Hey.

Hey. How's it going?

Good. What are what are you up to?

I'm just, practicing some knots. See? And then Erin does an elaborate knot, but then accidentally ties their hands together.

Oh, do you like knots?

Around a ship, so I thought it was cool to do that on ships. Mhmm.

Mhmm. Mhmm.

What if, like, a knot had a a a flavor?

This is the best thing I've ever done.

What would what would you want it to be like? Journey looks like she's in pain.

Do you feel

like eat not?

No. Yes.

Perception check.

You can do an insight against,

Deception. I

guess, deception. Yeah.

Me. 21.

7. Accurate.

Jurnee looks like she's in pain and is lying. She

ate too many knots.

Jurnee, are are you okay?

I'm okay. I'm what's going on? I'm just trying to figure out what flavors you lack.

Oh, flavors? That's, like, a weird way to think about food.

Well, like, if you had all the money in the world and you could buy any type of, I don't know, like a cake.

Erin eyes get really squinty and shifty, and they're like, is Poppy making me a cake? Don't say anything. No.

Deception with disadvantage for failing the first time. Insight again.

Okay. 20?

9.

Oh my god.

Oh, okay. Well, I guess if I were gonna eat a cake that Poppy made me I don't know. I I kinda always like like something with apples in it. Apples? Yeah. Alright. I remember eating apples from when I was a kid, and I think we must've had an apple tree or something. I don't know. So I always liked apples.

Oh, that's so nice. Alright. Well, cool. I will just that's good information for me to

have because You can talk to me.

Okay. Thank you. Yep. Thank you.

Erin goes back to tying trying to untie their hands from knots.

Yeah. Journey starts to walk away and then turns around and comes back over and then unties your hands. Oh, thanks.

Yeah.

Okay. And I keep practicing.

Journey heads over to Poppins. I got it out of them. It's apples.

Oh, that's I wouldn't have expected that. I can do something with that. I'll be

back. Can Dorn do something?

Yeah. Please. No.

For the first time, Doran's going to cast Greater Invisibility.

Doran, you feel no different. But you look down to examine your hands and the effect of it, and you see nothing, which is honestly startling. It is alarming to look at yourself and see

nothing. Yeah. I, there was a mirror in the captain's quarters. Yeah. I look into it because, like, it's like I almost don't know if I, like, read the spell right. Like, it first time doing it, I always have a little bit of anxiety, and, yeah, don't see anything. So the glider that I bought from Babka, I look it over, a bit and start to head towards the door and then stop and then grab an ink pen. Mhmm. I'm gonna attempt to draw a cloud kip along the, like, underside next to the wing.

Good at art?

No. I mean, we'll see.

It's hard to, like, quantify this into a skill. Maybe dexterity? Let's call it sleight of hand.

Yeah. Sleight of hand.

Yeah. I almost touch it, and then I, like, go back and double dip on the ink. Mhmm. Side of hand, I got a 19.

Yeah. So is this, like, a small decal you're putting on or, like, a motif that goes throughout the whole thing?

Small decal. Yeah. Like, you'd have to look carefully, to see it.

Yeah. You feel like you're getting lucky with every stroke. Know how sometimes when you're, like, just writing words that sometimes you go, damn. That's a perfect a. I just made the most perfect a or the perfect perfect d. That's what

I was avoiding anyway. I'm gonna give iron that

perfect d. Perfect d.

No. And, you

know, we stepped on it. Anyway, it comes out perfectly. It comes out professionally beyond what you expected. You got lucky. Wow.

Okay. Still invisible. I'm gonna try to sneak, like, tiptoe up. I don't know if Poppy's in the captain's quarters. I'm gonna just try to make my way up to the, crow's nest.

Okay.

Yeah. Do I make it up there?

Easy for you to make it up there. And I think with greater invisibility, the conditions of this place, it'd be tough for Poppy to notice you. Poppy, you can give it a perception check against Doran's advantage.

Wow. Fuck me. Goddamn it. 15? I rolled 2 twice, so I got 5.

Do I just see, like, a floating glider?

It's it's on my body. I think it's invisible too.

Fair Fair to say because your equipment also becomes invisible. Yeah. I think what actually happens is, like, Doren, as you're passing through the room that Poppy is in, she just happens to, like, yawn or make a noise or something, and you look at her and go, what was that?

Oh, sorry, Poppy. I'm just practicing greater invisibility. Sorry. I didn't Oh. Sent new spell I got.

Oh, you took that too?

Yeah.

We'll have to, battle that out.

Can you see me?

No. Nice. It's working. But I think, you shouldn't speak when you're invisible. Yeah. Because that yeah. It kinda caught on pretty quickly.

Yes. Okay.

I'll I'll work on that. Thank you for the tip.

Carry on.

Yeah. You make it up to the crow's nest? Okay.

I'm going to, just kind of, set it down gently up there, and then

leave. Nobody saw you. Okay. And then Poppy. Who knows you're up there?

Poppy doesn't care or

Yeah. She's thinking bad cake.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's it. Alright.

Guy, you're out on the main decks, and you see, a sort of dark v shape off in the distance, and you see its Stede returning to the ship. He had been out on a little fly and just kind of landed next to you.

How about the clouds, Stede?

You see him kind of do a full body shake and says, wet.

I would not have guessed.

Something on your mind?

I was wondering if you might, tell me a little more of our destination of Small Castle and also this Maisie whom we are supposed to rescue.

Mhmm. Yes. Small Castle I've only seen from a distance. I wouldn't call it small, but castle. Yes. The entire island is a structure.

Interesting. So you've never been there yourself, just from a distance.

Correct. I haven't landed there.

And who is this Maisie? What sort of trouble is she in, and how do you know her?

She's a young witch. Lyrian had a deal with Mabel Mayby back in Baxi, and this is something similar to that. She's being used. Lerion doesn't interface with this stuff by himself. He always has someone do it for him.

The coward.

My thoughts exactly.

Well, I'm glad you're back with me, Stede.

You look back and Stede is not there.

Okay.

But Guy, as you look around for a steed, what you do see is a Skyland. Fast approaching. Oh,

guy kinda looks around deck to see if anybody else is seeing this.

I think Bobka is also out there, but he's not looking off the correct side.

Skyland? Skyland ho?

Bobka turns around with piqued curiosity, and, Guy, you see, in the distance, the smallest skyline you've ever seen. It's a single stony cliff that overlooks a small lake, creating a sort of crescent shaped cove, all ringed by a lush grove of trees, equal parts inviting and private. You can see a gushing waterfall supplied by an unseen source that pours into the lake and then off of one edge of the skyline.

Oh, where are our co captains?

You're summoned to the main deck.

Oh, sorry. I'm, like, dusting flour off me. Just just got the cake in the oven.

Doran, have you dropped invisibility?

Yeah. I Okay. I I, like, came out invisible, and I was, like, crap. And I went back inside, and then turned it off, and then came back out. Yeah.

We are swiftly approaching the sky island. I want to make sure we don't hit it, and also wondered if we might be stopping for any reason.

Kesha, do you wanna ease, speed here? Let's take a closer look at this.

On it.

Right. Did you see any, any threats or anything?

No threats. Mostly just, looks like an idyllic place to stop.

Aaron's gonna run up to the deck, as the ship starts to slow down and say, hey, what's going on? And Aaron has now both their arms, but tied behind their backs, behind their back. Can someone help me with this real quick?

What did you do?

Journey comes up behind and goes, Erin, what are you doing? Untie you again.

Thanks. I'm not very good at this. Oh, cool. Look at that. I was wondering why we're slowing down. Eren's gonna take out their bangle and see if, they can see anything with Ganymede eyes.

Perfect. You zoom right in, Erin. Give me a perception check with advantage.

24.

Yep. As your ship is drawing closer and, of course, as you can zoom in with Ganymede's super site, you kind of take in little scenes around the island. You see where that waterfall connects with the lake. It looks totally clear and swimmable and beautiful. You see a large grassy field where you guys could land the ship with ample space, a flat Sony peak on the top of the the cliffside.

Is it

cloud tips?

I think it might be.

You guys. You guys. You guys. I see this looks really cute on this island.

Look at that pool down there.

We could go swimming.

Could someone lift me up?

Here you go, Poppy.

Oh, wow. Is that a waterfall? Yeah. Can we go there?

What if we discover it and we, like, say it's our island we discovered? That'd be cool.

Sounds like a question for the captains.

Oh, I wanna go. Can we go?

I think we should, Guy. The only concern I have is how quickly do we need to get to small castle? Can we make a a stop, rendezvous

here? I think we are allowed a small stop on the way. Alright.

Go up to the bridge and, alert. Ketchup. Kesher.

Wow. Goddamn it.

Ketchup.

I grabbed some ketchup, and I squirt it into my eyeballs.

And then jump off the fucking system.

Does this help? Does this help? Oh my god.

Let's just rewind

a second. Yeah.

Oh, god.

I go up and alert. Kesher, Let's stop here for the night.

Oh, yeah. Love to. She slows it down, starts to decrease altitude. You all feel that strange stomach lurch of losing altitude like that, and as it slowly comes into the grass, you feel this soft hush and the door to the dance hall just kind of flops open onto the ground, letting in a bunch of sunlight.

It feels good to be on land again, Aaron says as they step off the ship, And their legs are just a little shaky like a little newborn deer. Gotta get my land legs back, I guess.

Last one

of the pools, rotten egg, and Eren runs off to the pool.

Yeah. You all, catch a warm breeze as you watch, Aaron kind of run off into the distance, and it's beautiful out here. That lake is shimmering in the sun. It's a warm idyllic afternoon, maybe a few hours from dinner by now.

Yeah. Journey runs after 2. Tara wants to check for traps, but Journey doesn't.

I'll catch up to you guys, and I'm gonna make sure the cake is doing

The poppy is everything in order for the birthday of Aaron.

Yeah. I just wanted to put some finishing touches on on the cake, and I was thinking I would make Italian dunkers again for dinner. Aaron seemed to like it.

That was a big hit. I'll tell the others that you'll be along soon.

Thanks.

Guy, as you trek out to meet the main group, you slip into another memory Oh, no. Another vision. They're coming rapidly now, and you do lose track of time when this happens. In this vision, you see Grand Executor Viren. The 2 of you are sharing a drink after a military ceremony, both of you still clad in your heavy, load them plate, but now without those weighty gauntlets and helms.

Oh. Guy, I almost ran into you. You just stopped suddenly.

Yes. I was just remembering. Poppy is coming along a little later. She had a surprise. Oh, okay.

Are you sure you're okay?

The water's warm. Really?

Yeah. I think it's just from the sun.

Great. Well, yeah. I'll I'll jump in. I'm gonna run up and just kinda shrug off that interaction and, yeah, hop into the water.

Alright. Yeah. Erin, are you also in the water?

Yeah. Erin's swimming around, middle of the pond, lake

Yeah.

Towards the waterfall, probably.

Journey has been doing this thing where she kind of floats head low in the water and tries to sneak up on Erin, but not really trying to sneak

up on

Erin, but just to dunk them. Yeah. Yeah.

Beautiful. You all see, April and Mikey, are walking with Babka and Benjamin. The 4 of them have, like, sunglasses on and umbrellas, and they're carrying just a bunch of totes full

of shit and, like, bags and

stuff and towels. And Mikey's kinda skipping along, and he's like, yeah.

Beach day.

I just am imagining, like, later on when we're all swimming and hanging out, the 2, turtles, like, find a a rock or a log, and they're just, like, land on it. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Babka and Benjamin, lay out on the sand. And then, yeah, you see Mikey and April kind of make for the rocks, and they just kind of, like, lay out, with their shells up to the sun.

I'm on my way now in a little bathing costume. Okay. Keep it. It's like stripes and bloomers and

Are you finished with the cake?

Yes. I figured I'd just kind of expedite it with magic.

Yeah. For sure. Are you bringing it with you right now? Mm-mm. Okay. Gotcha.

Is Tic swimming with us too?

He was hesitant to come out. It seems he's struggling to feel like part of the group, but he does come out just to see what it's all about. And then eventually, you see him roll up his pants and kinda dip his feet in the water.

Not much for swimming still, Tick?

It's just, kind of athletic for me.

Yeah. You don't wanna get all your bombs wet and then Aaron splashes them.

Literally, they will get wet, and it will ruin them. He kinda backs off to make sure they're all dry.

Thordan sets Owly free.

We saw Owly.

Just in case he get he yeah. He's been stuffed up for a while.

So Somebody might catch out of the corner of their eye. Thorin pulls out something and gives a little And it breaks free and does a big circle around the lake here. You see glistening in the sun, dropping little shards of rock candy over all of you in the water.

Poppy has her mouth open.

Poppy hits you in the teeth and be like

Yeah. Maybe I don't like rock candy.

Totally. Ollie just continues to hail down on all of you and everyone's, like, protecting themselves. Like, who let Owly breathe?

Owly Owly, get over there.

Stay over there. Owly triumphantly perches on a branch and just goes, oh.

Oh my gosh.

Cannonball contest.

Yes. Eren goes underwater and changes into, what's the elephant people called again?

Oh, yeah. Loxodon.

Loxodon. Loxodon. Okay. Okay. Eren changes into a Loxodon and, the the big fat one from when they were trying to cause a distraction back up back to you and, climbs up a rock really slowly and does a giant cannonball. Yeah.

Okay. Aaron starts this off with a huge splash, and because of that, Aaron, you sink to the fucking bottom of this lake when you come down, and you actually kind of, like, mash your butt against the rocky bottom of this briefly, and when you do, when you're under the water there you briefly open your eyes and you see a hole in the lake in the bottom.

Oh, you had to add horror to this. Uh-oh.

Do I get sucked in the hole?

No. No. No.

It just seems it's it's funny big for you to go into.

Like, you could swim into the hole? Yeah. Yeah. I'm gonna swim back up to the surface.

Okay. You win. Yeah. I mean, I'll do a cannonball, but we're not being that.

I'm gonna spark my elephant nose of water up in the air to clear my nose. I'll say, Hey, guys. There's a giant, like, cave or a hole or something down there, like, kind of at the bottom of the lake.

I don't that doesn't seem like any of my business.

I'm gonna slowly transform back into normal air and Yeah. Elf mode. Okay.

I will remind you that very little good has happened when we enter the core of the sky islands.

Hopefully, there's not, like, you know, a creature moving in there. I'm not even gonna get out of the water for a little bit and

dry off.

Guy, do you need to breathe?

Let me check. Guy tips his head off and it drops into the water.

This seems dangerous.

Someone has to go get that now.

And then using his foot, he kinda rolls it back so the face is up and above water. Mhmm. And he says, no. I don't think so.

Oh, okay. Cool. I don't feel like we're in danger here, but I I'm curious. So

I mean, what could be down there? What what if it's something cool?

Right. Yeah. We gotta check it out. I'm sorry. I I got a good feeling about it. So

I mean, I support this endeavor, but I need to start drinking this wine. Right, Ganno?

That's right. Pour that shit.

I pour out some, cups for everyone that wants 1 sitting on the side of the water.

Wine. Wine. Wine. Wine.

Wine. Wine. Wine.

Let us

drink and then go spelunk.

If I'm being forced to go, I would like some wine too.

Aaron pours 1 out for everybody. It's been a few days. I don't know. So it's probably still a young wine. Right?

I mean, it's it's, well, I don't know if you really had any on Baxi, and Baxi was more than a month. So

Oh, really? Might have stored up

a little bit.

We did stay there a while. Yeah.

What do you have a cask one that always refills or something?

I don't know what that It's in my magic item. Mhmm. I got it in the cave, in Ganymede's cave. It was his magic bottle of wine. Yep.

Yeah. You all get a little wine buzz going and then go swimming and spelunking.

Seems safe and good.

Yeah. I would like to use alter self for aquatic adaptation.

Oh. Very cool. Fancy. Poppies of fish?

Gus, you'll have to sit this one out.

Yeah. You hear the, rapid, plate movements of Gus peeling himself off of you for the first time in a while. Yeah. I mean, nightly. Sure. But Stinky. Yeah. But it's not often that you guys really see a guy without his armor.

You know, we really needed this path, I will say.

You actually see Gus move over to the lake and begin kind of, like, giving himself a nice, like, polish and scrub down. I forgot Gus existed. No kidding.

I got this vine that I could use as a rope, and, Journey takes out this vine and just kind of concentrates for a while. And you see that the vine starts growing and kind of into a a swirly pile next to her as if a rope. Mhmm. Cool.

I think that's a good idea so we don't get separated.

I don't have any way to hold my breath that long.

Yeah. Dream, I

can just keep watch, maybe.

Can you turn to a fish person, like a mermaid? I don't know what a mermaid is. Oh, well, I used to read about it in my storybook that I kept hidden from my parents. They didn't like fantasy. Oh, no.

I'm so sorry.

Oh, no. But you are these, like, fish people with the bottom half of the fish and the top half is a person, and they can live underwater. And and I always thought it'd be cool to be 1.

Also, they're real.

Are they?

Well, yeah. They're real.

I've never met one before.

Yeah. I it's really hard to change into something I've never seen. That's okay. You guys go. I got my wine.

I will be with you, Poppy.

I didn't even wanna go in here in the first place.

Well, you and Guy seem to have this under control. I'm gonna give you both a pat on the shoulder, give you some Arctic inspiration.

Oh, no. It's a lot.

We all said, let's go, and Bobby got volun told.

Bobby, you can do this.

You're the captain. Wait. Wait. Wait. What if you turned into the shape I'm in right now with the gills? Poppy, I don't wanna go.

I don't wanna go. If we tie the end of this vine to you, you can just dive right on in there and give it a tug when you wanna come back up, and I'll pull you up.

Just don't get tangled in it because then you'll definitely drown.

Yeah. Why don't we tie it around your waist here and then your waist here?

Yes.

And,

then you'll both be in the vine. And if you give it a tug, then I'll know to yank you back up.

This will be great, Bobby.

You're gonna do just fine, and you'll get to see what's underneath. Isn't that cool?

So cool. I've always wanted to do this.

Alright. Here we go. And Guy runs in pulling the the barrel.

There's a cacophonous splash as Guy charges into the water here, And then you see him, like, abruptly slow down as he kinda makes that halfway point, you know, and the water starts to catch up with him. And Poppy tentatively follows afterwards.

I'm being pulled by the rope. Wow. I have no choice in the matter.

As usual. Guy, you head up the charge towards that hole. Pretty easy for you to exist underwater, not having to breathe. Right. You get up to this hole, and it's it's kind of on the side of the cliff face almost, so you can kind of go straight in there. And poking your head in, you look up and the hole is about 2 feet long and leads back to open air.

Oh, a guy turns around to Poppy and gestures to come in.

Okay.

So if you can imagine, this is a a subterranean little tunnel, but it just angles back upwards into the cliff. Yep. Inside here you see this bubble chamber that's above water level it just happens to be inside of a cave now. You swim up into this cave and it is covered in bismite and echowelks.

Oh, see, Poppy? That wasn't so bad.

I never wanted to do this.

Look at all this treasure we found. We can use this on the ship.

That is a lot of bismite.

And, the I believe these are the communication devices we have been using.

Do you see any pears? Can I look for pears?

Yeah. Go ahead. Just apples. Nice.

12.

Yeah. With a 12, you do immediately find a connected pair that you can break in half.

Awesome. One more apple.

Yes. Exactly.

Now how do we get all this back out of here?

I don't I don't think we should take it.

Yes, I suppose people taking bismide has caused a number of our problems lately, hasn't it?

What what is it that they always say? You either

die a hero

Or you live long enough to become

die. Yep.

Yeah. The villain.

That is what they say.

It's not what my mom says, but it's what I say.

In that moment, the 2 of you also converge on another hole.

No. Should've brought the lube.

Oh, Jesus.

No.

This one's quite large. But, actually, you can almost stand up in it, Guy. You just have to kinda hunch over. But it's perfectly circular, and this tunnel is certainly not stone. Not at all.

I will do a investigation check on this tunnel.

Wow. Wow.

That's an 8.

Not stone.

Can I?

You have

that inspo if you

Yeah. I do. What did I get before?

8.

10? Yeah. Yeah. Still not much for the 10. Poppy, you wanna give it a try?

Yeah. This, this doesn't look like stone.

You keep it till it works, though. Right?

Yes. Alright. No downside. 14.

Yeah. That is enough, Poppy. You notice this tunnel wall is the exact same material as the Echowelk shells. You also notice that this tunnel keeps curving inward like a circle. Mhmm.

Uh-huh. I think it's a I think it's a big echo whelk.

The water's a big what?

This hole is not a cave. That's that's a big snail.

Guy picks up one of the shells and kinda holds it up next to the hole?

Yeah. It's, same material, same curvature, certainly. This is a giant Echowelk shell turned on its side. It's kind of embedded in the wall almost, as if it had been there for millennia.

Do you think there's still a, welcome side of it?

If there was, you'd have seen

it by now. Hello.

Do you not hear anything?

I don't think this one had a pair.

Well, I can check inside a little further if it makes you feel better, Poppy. Guy's gonna take some steps inside. K. See what's in there.

Yeah. You follow this spiral tighter and tighter in this concentric curve, and it starts to feel a little claustrophobic when it's closing in on your shoulders, but the weirdest thing, Guy, is when you move forward from that claustrophobic state, it suddenly widens out again and everything behind you gets tight and you continue forward and everything begins widening out again.

Guy calls back.

Poppy, I, think it widens out back here.

Do I hear him?

You do. Okay.

Should I come in?

Maybe hold off just a minute while I go a little further.

Okay. You still got some rope left.

And Poppy, you could see his clothes in that moment, but as he walks away from you, you see him become diminutive. He is tiny, and then he disappears.

Kai?

You can hear.

Yes, Poppy.

I can't see you anymore.

I went into a little park, but now this is quite perplexing.

Does it keep going?

It keep going.

Guy, you keep going until you see this pinkish light play out on the wall, And as you round the corner, you see the open sky. You're walking out onto a skylight that is somehow even smaller than the one you just came from. The skylend is less than 20 square feet. It is just this snail shell, this echowelk, left here on its own little skyland. And you're looking over this field of towers this massive kingdom of stone and cobbles, but it's destroyed.

What a discovery. Poppy, are you still there?

Yeah. I'm still in here.

I don't know if I quite believe what I'm seeing, but I seem to be on a whole new sky land.

There's what? There's no way. I mean, they they figured out portals and stuff, but nothing natural like this.

Well, you know how our echo bells are very small and we pass sound through them.

Yeah.

It seems I have passed through this as well.

That is fascinating, actually. Why, where where are you?

Well, it's a very small island, some sort of deserted city, it looks like.

That's kind of mind boggling. Question. Yep. DM, sorry

to interrupt. You said the navi this is important for Poppy. You said the navigation thing had stones to identify different skylines. Are those stones just pieces of the other skyline or were they something special?

The pieces of the island.

K. So Poppy would probably know that by now. Mhmm. So sorry.

Good call.

Do you see any rocks around?

I could probably find one. What for?

Just, just bring it back with you. We might be able to track down that island at some point.

Guy's gonna look for a rock.

Yeah. This, small, tiny, tiny island doesn't have much to give, but rocks? Sure. And then Poppy, the conversation cuts out for a little bit. It's got you worried because this guy isn't hearing anything you're saying.

I'm listening, Viren.

Is that you do the right thing for Lotem. Build the dam here, and she taps on a map, right in the valley. Our workers will only have to travel a quarter of the distance. The masons can use local materials and it protects every tax paying township under Lotem.

You know I always seek to do what is best for Lotem.

And this would be what's best for Lotem.

But what of the people of Mako?

Well, yes, we absolutely, we could warn them. Take all of those hungry souls into our streets Or, we simply acknowledge that Mako is not Lotem?

I have heard of how low our food shares are this year, and I know what a burden that would be on the people of Lotem. Are you certain this is the correct course of action?

No, general. You are.

Very well. It is a difficult decision, but we do it for Lotem.

Thankfully, you're the only one on this island. This is probably the first time since this all started that you've caught yourself crying, not sobbing, but when you come back to this, your face is wet. Poppy's saying something, but you haven't caught the last who knows how long.

I think if you took the stone and we could just put it in the thing and then I think Keizer could figure it out and we could come back maybe and then Oh,

yes. Good plan, Poppy. That's why you're the captain.

Co captain.

Co captain. We'll take a step from there. The 2 of them come back to report their findings excitedly with the stone in their hand, knowing that someday you'll be able to actually track down that island and find that kingdom once again. All of you together on the beach, evening is approaching. Somebody's got a bonfire going. I wonder who that could be.

I do have a cantrip.

Poppy, you've been sneaking off in different huddles to, get ready for the cake presentation. And as things are kind of getting ready for the evening party on the beach, you all see Mikey walking around the beach. He's setting up echo bells.

Oh, boy.

He kind of placed them all around the beach, and, he finds a little stone surface, and he's kind of dusting the sand and debris off it so he can get ready. And then you hear the beat

drop. Mhmm.

And you

see him start to just kind of cut loose a little bit, start to dance like you would see him do, kind of rolling and tossing on his shell. And when he stands up, you can see him already just beaming from ear to ear. It's been a while since he's been able to do this. Hey, my king. He gestures for everyone to kind of crowd in around him. He says, Ub, hey, everybody. I got something special, for Aaron's birthday.

Yeah. Yeah. Oh, looks very

good, Mikey. Nice.

Mikey, that was awesome. And Aaron gives Mikey a big old hug.

He's like, I'm sorry. I beefed it on the last line.

I couldn't

give up with anything.

Mikey, that was so cool.

No one's ever written a song for me.

Oh, you're welcome. Thought it was kinda fun. Anyway, we should all dance.

Yeah. I we also have dinner Oh. At some point.

Let's see first, and then we could dance and throw them everywhere. Let's do it. Okay.

Oh, my god. Aaron's right here. Aaron immediately says, Aaron's a little bit drunk.

I put, a tea towel around Aaron's eyes. Woah. Just stay here. It's fine. Okay. And then I bring out the Italian dunkers and then brings out the cake tray. Beautiful. Okay. Okay. I take the lid off. Oh, it smells like food. It is food. Wow. Okay. I can't do much, but I wanted to do something special and and I don't think I've made anything specifically for you yet.

Aw. And,

like, little candy mushrooms and happy birthday. Thanks, Poppy. This is awesome. Yeah. Thank you so much. I didn't have much time to do it. So, I hope you like it. I love it. Thank you

so much. And are those the dunkers?

They are the dunkers. Oh my god.

And Erin takes 2 of them and just starts eating.

You all can have as much sass as you want this time. Oh, wow.

Now the party's really started. Getting lost.

A little birdie told me that apple was your favorite. So it's a an apple spice cake with, like, a caramel filling, and, like, cinnamon icing. Awesome. How did you know?

And then Erin wings at Journey.

Journey gives a really awkward smile knowing that she did not do a good job.

Her mission failed. It's perfect. Thank you. You're welcome. Dig in and then dance.

Mikey's doing both.

Aaron joins in dancing and eating dunkers.

I think Journey waits for Erin to take a break from the, eating and dancing, and comes up and says, happy birthday, Erin.

Thanks. Do furball celebrate birthdays?

Oh, yeah. Of course. We have big celebrations.

Cool.

I wanted to give you something. I don't have much, and I didn't think to buy anything. I didn't know that was a thing. But, in my family, we do this little thing just to, I don't know, represent friendship and another year of shared experiences and stuff like that. And she brings out a couple of blades of grass, like long prairie style grass, and she hands you one piece and she takes the two ends of the pieces and kind of twines them together and then just says, to another year.

Aaron is, like, delayed. He just doesn't know what doesn't know what's happening and then, like, almost let go of it. And then he's like, oh, okay.

And, when the two pieces are yanked apart, the little, like, seedlings on the ends kind of puff out into a little, like, confetti.

Cute. Wow. Yeah. It's a a

fae party popper.

Yeah. That's awesome. Show me how to do that.

Yeah. I gotta find a new couple ones, but let me,

Doran, you're sitting over by the bonfire kind of wiping your palms on your lap, And, Cashier comes and sits nice sits next to you. She goes, hey. How's it going?

Hey. It's going good.

Yeah? You look a little, I don't know, kinda dour for a beach party. The hell's wrong with you?

I don't know. Just a little disorienting, I guess. You know? Been very singly focused on some pretty grim things, I guess, and it's hard for me to kinda break out of that. Yeah. I I'm sorry. Don't don't let me bring things down a bit.

I just No. You couldn't if you tried. Trust me. But listen. Don't don't waste this, Doren. Look where we are. Look at this place. Look at us. Look what we have. Look what right now actually is. Yeah. I mean, come on. If not now, then, like, when? Are you just anxious about and she nods her head over towards Aaron. Come on. I number 1, you've been avoiding birthday Aaron all day. I have. Number 2, I see the way you look at them. I see how they look at you. Go for it.

I don't think I can handle this. Maggie, you gotta calm down.

I know.

Just shut your eyes.

She, brings her goggles down to her eyes, and she goes, I'm your wing girl.

Aw. That's so sweet.

Yeah. Sure. I'm really glad you joined the crew. Yeah. Me too. Way better, Pay. Better? Really? Oh, well, you're welcome.

That was.

I don't know. It's, everywhere we went for the last month or so. It has been an impending doom falling out of the sky, and it's hard to hard to let go of that. But you're right. I think I

don't know what to think. Just do what I do. Don't think. Don't think. Just jump. Jump off the edge of the ship.

I give her a push as I stand up. Good luck.

When Dorn comes over, Guy is teaching Aaron how to tie a complicated general's knot.

Oh, yes.

A general's

Confident general's knot.

So Doran, like, walks up a bit and then stops and, turns around and and looks off to the side, then glances back over and walks over a bit further. What are we making over here? No.

And then the bunny goes through the hole

and Oh, yeah. Okay. I I think I got it. Thank you so much, Guy. This was a great lesson, so I appreciate it.

I'll be able to tie up

those rigs in no time.

I hope your birthday is a happy one, Aaron.

Thanks, guy.

I don't know why they didn't make you captain, but you're great with this stuff.

Oh, thank you.

I'm sure there are reasons, but

Oh, Doran. Oh, captain Doran.

Oh, hey, Doran.

Hey.

Look what I did. An Aaron holds up their knot.

Nice. Why do they call it a general's knot?

It's one of the first knots you learn. It's kind of applicable to any situation.

I can't that's brilliant. So, happy birthday.

Thanks.

This really worked out nice, you know?

Was that guy wandering off?

Yep. Okay.

Guy leaves.

Yeah. It's crazy. It's been so exciting. I feel like we kinda forgot about those skykips.

Oh my gosh. You're right. Okay. I saw some. Okay. Dorn, don't tell anybody because people, they seem a little touchy about it.

Mhmm.

But I did see some when we were coming down, and I said, hey. Let's go to that, that Skyland. Yeah. The real reason I wanted to come here, There's some cloud kips, I think.

Yeah. Do you want

to help me try to find one? Please say yes. Please say yes.

I do too.

Yeah. And Aaron, like, shakes him

a little bit. Yeah.

Here. You saw some too?

I did. Aaron, I have my strengths, when it comes to this site.

Okay. I'm a

bit of a bumbling idiot compared to you. So, I'm just gonna do what I can to give you a boost, if that's okay.

Sure.

And I'll just watch. Okay. So I'm gonna, just put my hand on Eren's, shoulder and then just give a squeeze and cast enhance ability. She'll give,

I think you can do better than that. And Erend gives him a big hug.

Great. Yeah. Go in and give the hug. So that will be, Kat's grace. So just advantage on Dex checks.

K.

I am so dexterous.

Good luck.

Okay. I'm gonna go to where I saw some of the shadows of the cloud kits earlier, kind of off from the bonfire. Yep. And I figured Doran's just trailing behind, kinda keeping an eye out. And then, I'm gonna see if I can spot some. And I got some berries. Wait. What did I try to It was berries. It was berries? The guy was feeding them before? Okay. I'm gonna try to do the berries and just sit still where

when I find them, if I can find them.

Yeah. There's a single oak taller than the rest, that they seem to all cluster into. You come near that and hold out a handful of berries and look away, hoping that they'll take you up on it.

And I'm just standing really still like a statue.

Sure. Give me an animal handling.

I'm not good at that one.

15.

You kinda repeat what you had done on, lore, I think, is where you made the most progress with these little critters, standing perfectly still allowing them to come to you in their own pace for, again, about 10, 15 minutes. They eventually warm up to you, and one of them gracefully, lightly taps down on your arm. They're standing on your arm and kind of treating you like scenery, like an object, you know, using you to balance on while they eat out of your palm, and you can feel them, like, licking your palm with their, scrapey little tongue. When all the berries are gone, you see this black and gray little cloud Kip look up at you with this face full of red berry juice and just go like

Hello. Good little Kip.

And Aaron slowly takes their other hand and just holds it up to their face to, like, smell their hand.

Mhmm. You know that cloud kibs bolt at the slightest touch, at the tiniest movement. Give me a sleight of hand. Do not disturb the cat.

Natural 20. Nice. Best birthday ever.

Sorry. You

start to move to touch the Cloud Kip's face, and then you stop because you realize that's not the play. The Cloud Kip comes to you, and slowly, ever so slowly, Cloudkit pushes their face into your nose and brushes off to the side. With a lighter touch than when it came. In the first place, it bounces off of your arm back into the tree, clearly grateful for what you had given it.

Doran. Doran? I saw it. Doran? I saw it. Did you say

that? Yeah.

I don't think anyone's done that before.

Oh my god. It loves me. I'm a name it Kippy.

Kippy?

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That one's mine. Kippy the cloud kib. Yeah. Pretty pretty crazy. Best birthday ever. Thank you so much, Doran, for helping me.

There's something else too.

What is it?

It is your birthday, but, you're not off the hook as far as keeping watch.

Keeping watch on what?

Oh, we just need to, you know, check the surroundings and everything. Do you mind following me?

Sure.

Okay. I, lead Aaron up to the crow's nest. On the way, I grab my, glider.

Mhmm. Alright.

I, help Erin up to the crow's nest.

Yeah. Thanks. Yep.

She needs it.

I did not need it.

No. I mean,

as as she's crawling up after you, you, like, give your hand down to her, and then you, like, yes, you are touching her hand. She does not pull on your hand to bring herself up. Okay.

Alright. As I said, you know, we we still got a job to do, but we can make it fun. Have you done this before?

Gliding or sitting in the crow's nest? Because I have definitely been up here quite a bit.

Yeah. I've spotted that before. No. Gliding.

No. Generally, I keep both feet on the ground. Not not super into, like, just the open air so much, but I've never done it before, I guess.

It's a new year.

That that's true.

I shift, the sack over a little bit and kind of reveal the glider.

Erin, you see this, sleek, black, brand new glider. Wow. And with your Ganymed eyes, you can't help but see the little cloud kip emblazoned on the side.

Oh my gosh. Look at

this.

Is this is this for me?

I mean, yeah.

Doran, did you did you make this?

I didn't know. I didn't make the glider.

Okay. Good. Because I'd probably be a little stupid to use it if you mean it. No offense.

Yeah. No. I I understand. I right. I I did draw that on it. It's, yeah. Wow. It's a cloud cape if you can't tell.

No. I I can tell. Great. I love it.

You don't have to do this, but I think you'll like it. You know, there's something about it that's just so free and reckless. It's exhilarating.

Yeah. I I wanna try. Will you show me how?

Yeah. So just the basics. The main thing is just don't tense up. You know? You can tire yourself out a lot if you do that. I know it's gonna be a little crazy at first. Just, like, right here in your hands and wrist, just, like, focus there, and then the rest, just kind of go with the flow. Okay? Okay. Alright. And, if anything happens, I, you know, I I can, swoop in and catch you, so I'll just I'll just be following. Let's just see if we can make it into the pool, Shelley.

Okay. Okay. You just go?

Whenever you're ready.

Okay. Here we go. Is it safe to be

doing this at night? And Aaron jumps off. Yeah. Aaron jumps off the edge of the crow's nest.

I'll give you an acrobatics check both of you.

Oh, shoot. I'm real good at this.

Does Aaron still have the, like,

move Cast grace?

Yeah. Yeah. Non natural, 20.

22. Wow. On Aaron's first try, they gracefully swoop down towards the lake, and as they pull up to catch the wind under their sails, Doreen, you see this wake of dancing water in the moonlight as they skim gracefully across all the water and you follow suit in their wake.

About 10 feet, before I hit the water, I, just kind of, like, swing my legs and then do, like, a back flip and then dive into the water. Oh, right.

Just looks like riding a swim Yeah.

Off to the side.

Please roll a what now? Do I

have to roll an acrobatics for that? Give me

another acrobatics. Yeah.

Oh, great.

Was it

what? Did I do this?

What was it?

I got a 8.

Okay. Okay.

Yeah. You, you do 3 quarters of a back flip and you, kinda belly flop in that water. But everyone is too distracted by the glider to really notice what happened. Okay.

I choke on the water a little bit and try to, like, quietly recover as I surface again.

Aaron, you hear a terrible noise and you would look back to see what happened. And as you're focusing, your glider just completely tumbles to one side, catches the water, and you're just beefing into the lake.

Yeah. I swim to the shore with the glider, make sure Doran's okay, and kinda we're coughing and laughing maybe as we come up out of the water together.

The 2 of you are soaking wet moving back towards the back towards the bonfire to, dry off a little bit. And last thing we hear in the calling distance is miking on the rocks going, Doran, are you watching?

Roll my eyes a bit.

And I think we'll end it there. Aw. Thanks everybody so much for listening. I am Tim. You're a GM.

I'm Hannah playing Aaron.

I'm Tara playing Journey.

I'm Thomas. I am Guy.

I'm John playing Dorn.

I'm Maggie, and I'm Poppy Kenmore.

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