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Lantern in the Smoke
102 Plays1 year ago
Craving adventure? Look no further! The Fixer, Maeve, & Calamity Hap land on the Sigourney, the incredible space station orbiting the gas giant, Clo Silook. At the request of some HelperBots, the Time Lord & company quickly discover the gas mining operation is more than meets the eye!
Find out why in part one of Lantern in the Smoke!
Enjoy thrills, chills, and laughs galore with Brand Osorio, Cate MacCoyne, and Pandora Beatrix, along with GM Casey Jones. Stick around for interviews with the players, including our special guest star, Amy Flanagan! Your ears are in for a treat!
Be sure to subscribe and leave a question or comment! Don't forget to follow us on Twitter and BlueSky for more updates! And you can come say hi on our Discord!
Send your questions and fan art to AnywhereButNowPodcast@gmail.com!
And if you'd like to run a game of Doctor Who of your very own, find Casey on StartPlaying!
Music by Tabletop Audio
Theme by RJ Pirchinello
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction to the Podcast
00:00:05
Speaker
Time travel, sci-fi adventures, and risky rolls of the dice lie ahead. Hello and welcome to Anywhere But Now, a Doctor Who actual play podcast. I'm your host and GM, Casey Jones. The next hour and a half or so holds a thrilling adventure in time and space. So let's dive in.
00:00:24
Speaker
With us is the daring crew of our time-traveling machine. Playing the Fixer is the ever-resourceful Bran D'Zorio. Hello, Bran. Hello. And joining him is Maeve Sullivan, played by the ebullient Kate McCoy. Welcome back, Kate. Hi there!
00:00:41
Speaker
And finishing the TARDIS team is Pandora Beatrix as the unpredictable Calamity Hap. Hi. Greetings and salutations. Greetings and salutations. And joining us today is a special guest star, Amy Flanagan. Oh, you folks are in for a treat. Hi, Amy. Hello.
00:01:02
Speaker
You all excited? You feel that energy? I hope so, because it's cracklin' over here.
Game Mechanics Overview
00:01:07
Speaker
We play with the second edition of Cubicle 7's Doctor Who rule books. That means the dice are magic. Rolling double sixes bring extra bonuses, while rolling snake eyes spells disaster. House rules mean our players begin the game with five. Count them five story points each. So they're not empty-handed, but don't have an embarrassment of riches either.
00:01:28
Speaker
At this time, players, all previously mentioned bonuses and penalties have expired. All stats restored to normal.
00:01:36
Speaker
Get ready for a collaborative, immersive storytelling experience, because that's what I've brought to tables for over 10 years. Stick around after the game for interviews with the players. A bigger on the inside thank you to our listeners. Time is truly a gift, or it wouldn't be the present. We thank you for spending yours with us.
Adventure Title Reveal
00:01:56
Speaker
If you like what you hear, follow us on Twitter at anywhere but now with an underscore at the end. Links to everything in the doobly-doo.
00:02:04
Speaker
This fine TARDIS crew have no idea what they're heading into. For today's adventure, they have not been told so much as the title of the mod. Until now, that is. Welcome to Lantern in the Smoke. Brought to you wherever you're listening, and time and space. This is anywhere but now.
Maeve's Email and Plot Development
00:03:01
Speaker
We open on morning aboard the Fixer's TARDIS. We begin with Maeve in your room. Your latest story on the collapse of Ruption and the start of a Whoopsian church on Planet Zabar, the Planet Bazaar, has sparked a lot of interest. You've gotten an email from your editor, Pawn Jerry, congratulating you on the great work. How's Maeve feeling after Ruption and everything?
00:03:25
Speaker
I think she's feeling very accomplished. I think a lot of her goals and dreams are starting to come true. There have been a few bumps along the road, but I think she's quite happy with where she is.
00:03:36
Speaker
Once your email has cleared, you do get a little news articles on your pocket reporter. In other news, artist and polymath, Artemiese McCovec has emerged from a decade of seclusion. A collaboration is forthcoming with the Fansington-Pence Arts Foundation. Details are pending.
00:03:56
Speaker
In other news, Snackums has leased an entire planet in the Bernese system, delivering the once destitute kingdom of planets a much needed infusion of capital.
The Fixer's Intuition and TARDIS Sadness
00:04:06
Speaker
Details are pending. We cut to The Fixer. Amid the countless glass pipes, switches, and levers are books on TARDIS maintenance and other reading materials of a Time Lord in training. The TARDIS hum almost seems a touch slower of late, as she sighs and wheezes her way through deep space.
00:04:41
Speaker
Definitely feeling it quite deeply.
00:04:44
Speaker
Despite the fact that the leg is fully healed and even checking it multiple times, that everything is healed properly, there's just a bit of an alteration in the Fixer's Gate as he walks, as if he's leaning heavier on the other side. I feel that. Give me an awareness roll and throw in Intuition and Time Lord for the points those are worth for our first challenge of the day. This is going to be a difficulty somewhere in the ballpark of 12.
00:05:14
Speaker
We started with an interesting beginning with a 6 and a 1 and a total of 15. That is fine. That is good. 6 and 1 cancel each other out. You put a hand on the console and find it inconsolable. The ship is sulking. The ship is sad. It has lost someone it looked up to.
00:05:36
Speaker
the Dodger TARDIS. It was one of those ships that you hear about that stole a Time Lord and ran off and dammed the consequences and
00:05:47
Speaker
didn't work out. So the TARDIS is sad a little bit right now. So there's a bit of a sigh in the wheeze of the TARDIS as it pushes through space. You do notice that from a practical standpoint, the TARDIS's supply of story points is diminished. You spent them all building a time machine out of spare parts the last time, and the ship has not had the energy to regrow those parts.
00:06:15
Speaker
So the TARDIS itself does not have story points to contribute to miracles today.
Emotional Farewell and Accountability
00:06:22
Speaker
Yeah. Placing a hand gently on the console, just say out loud, it's going to take some time. And if you need some time to grieve, I completely understand. We can go wherever you need to.
00:06:35
Speaker
You hear footsteps emerging from the tunnels of the TARDIS. The auditor arrives with a well-used travel bag that just might be bigger on the inside. Post gazing into the rift, the shock of white in his hair has settled into a single streak at his temple. That's Time Lord's scalps for you. He gives you a nod on his way through to his workstation, a few steps away from the console, where he starts packing notebooks and a half empty container of walnut bread into his sack.
00:07:04
Speaker
Are you gonna be okay? You know we can go with you if you need. He gives you a grateful smile. I wish it were that simple. Unfortunately, it could not be feathered from the truth. There is a and a long hiss as a canister slides out of one of the countless glass tubes in the walls and lands in the dispatch. The doctoral program's means of getting messages to you. The cylinder rolls down.
00:07:33
Speaker
and it appears to be for the auditor. Walk on over, pull it out, hand it over to the auditor. While you're away, we'll try to make you proud. Well, that should be quite simple because I already am. He unscrews the canister and shakes out a jewelry box, essentially. He opens it and inside is a red and bronze ring with the emblem of rassilon on it. He's like,
00:08:00
Speaker
time to go. He slips it on his finger and just double-checks and throws his rucksack on his back and everything. Fixer, strictly from a bad news, good news situation, you were told not to pursue Tripshine, and instead you disobeyed and built him a time machine. So there's that. You've also saved dozens of lives with the help of your companions, and that
00:08:24
Speaker
That matters a great deal, but there are things to answer for and the program deserves a debriefing what's waiting for us. Throw my arms around his shoulders, give him a huge hug, and whisper in his ear, it's okay. Make sure to be honest and put all the blame on me for what happened. You and the companions don't deserve any of it. I will give the best report that I can.
00:08:52
Speaker
And he clears his throat and he looks away a second and certainly not because a bit of dust has gotten in his eye. Do you mind terribly lowering the temporal shielding so I can have a clean path of exit? Absolutely.
Pandora's Mysterious Package
00:09:06
Speaker
Head over to the console and begin initiating the lowering of the temporal shielding.
00:09:10
Speaker
Cut to Pandora in your room. Your room still looks like a tornado swept through because that is essentially what happened. You are the tornado. There is just the slightest in the lights as the power gets a little higher because something was shut off. When suddenly there is a... A column of light quickly
00:09:34
Speaker
materializes and dematerializes as a Kerpow guy. A subsidiary of Kerblam, which we have seen deliver things onto the TARDIS in the Vortex no less. Kerpow are their postal service subsidiary. A full-sized
00:09:51
Speaker
Ambulatory Robot with a friendly smile holds out an envelope and a small box says, Greetings! Sure! From Helperbot Union rep 01, you have been extremely difficult to locate. Okay. The Kerpowbot hands you the box and the envelope, and in like the second it is out of its hands, it's gone again. Huh. Alright.
00:10:19
Speaker
The box is under the envelope. The envelope has a Snacums logo on it. So inside the envelope is a gold card from Snacums with workers compensation and an incredibly generous settlement agreement for your very brief stint on Joybellant.
00:10:36
Speaker
All you have to do is press your thumb on a little red circle on the gold card. That is your way of saying I accept this agreement not to discuss what occurred on Joyblend with outside parties. And if you press your thumb on that, you have a new gold card to put on your character sheet. She's thinking, I don't know, that seems hard.
00:10:59
Speaker
Not talking about things is not really how I roll. I better hang on to that and not press it quite yet. Maybe I'll ask someone else. It's fine. Super. I guess I'll go to the control room then. You start opening up the actual package.
00:11:13
Speaker
And inside is a little polo projector of a helper bot. Your assistants are purgingly requested aboard that Sigourney. Coordinates attached. And please bring your technical assistant to consult. Please come at once. And it vanishes. All right. That was a thing that happened. A little bit of a thing that happened.
00:11:40
Speaker
Nice. I think Snacom's buying a planet is enough for Maeve to be like, wait a second and start heading to the console room. Yeah, Calamity and Maeve reach the console room just as the fixer and the auditor are standing together semi-near the console room. The auditor says, just know that I'm proud of you.
00:12:09
Speaker
proud of all of you. Don't worry, this is only temporary, I will be back. I believe in you. And he twists the ring on his finger and fades completely out of existence of the TARDIS console room.
00:12:24
Speaker
All right. Force a smile on my face? Turn towards Calamity and Maeve? Well, how's your day going? Well, I came here to tell you some news, but this seems more interesting. So where'd the auditor go? Yeah, so what is it we're not supposed to worry about? Um, well... Because I wasn't actually worried until he said that, and now I'm a little worried, but not really. I mean... I'm currently worried.
00:12:48
Speaker
Is it more of an amorphous worry right now? Cause that might be helpful. It's more sort of a targeted curiosity. Ooh. Um, hmm. I wonder if we could redirect that curiosity. Probably not for me. That's fair. You remember how we rescued Tripshine? Yes. Clem, just thinking about it. The handsome man with the jaw that goes on for miles. Oh, right. Yeah, sure. We... I...
00:13:17
Speaker
broke the rules when I did that. The auditor is trying to explain away the mistake I made, and hopefully he doesn't get in trouble for it. Why would he get in trouble? We rescued a lot of people. Yes, and we broke a couple of rules to do. I broke a couple of rules to do it. You guys didn't break any rules. I've been told any rules. Should I know? No, we had rules.
00:13:43
Speaker
Technically, you both don't. And that's okay. There are certain things I'm not supposed to do, and one of them is when that little shoot in that corner shoots out a little thing that says I'm not supposed to do something, I'm supposed to follow that instruction. That's a pretty vague rule, honestly. Do what we say. Gosh, seems a little limiting, but whatever. Or what? Maeve has had zero interest in studying the rules of the doctoral program. Like, the rule books just flip nothing, it means nothing, and just drops it.
00:14:12
Speaker
Boring. Boring. Don't bring time travel to societies that don't have time travel and things like that, you know, don't negatively impact the flow of time and space as we know it, etc. Wow. Negatively. Right. Define that. So vague. I may have had a negative impact. I want to take responsibility for that. Well, that's weird, but you do you.
00:14:38
Speaker
Excuse me? What? What about trying to do right by people is weird? No, that was the good part. Wanting to take responsibility for things is weird. Oh, okay. I mean, if you're meant to have responsibility for something, it will land upon you. Huh. There's a helpful little ring from the pocket device.
00:14:58
Speaker
Oh yeah, I completely forgot about this. A robot teleported onto the ship and gave me this, something about come to a something. Didn't say ship, just said Sigourney. I think it's very clear. Press the button so it plays, because I just can't remember it. Your assistance is urgently requested aboard the Sigourney. Coordinates attached. Bring, please bring your technical assistant to consult. Come at once. Ooh, the Sigourney. What a beautiful name.
00:15:27
Speaker
Yeah, it did say a bold. That was the thing that made me think it was a shit. It does sound like a shit. Start checking the records we have on hand and use our scanner to see if we can locate something at these coordinates that corresponds to something called the Sigourney. Give me an ingenuity and technology role since you're using the TARDIS computer. Plus two because the coordinates wirelessly self-insert to the computer. Can I check through my news reporter to see if there are any news articles on the Sigourney?
00:15:57
Speaker
Absolutely you can. For Fixer, the role is going to be a 12. For Maeve, the role is going to be a 9, because her device is predisposed for search engine-like searches for keywords of Sigourney, her name system. That is going to be the same ingenuity plus technology.
Snackums Project Discovery
00:16:14
Speaker
Well, I definitely hit that target number at 12. Unfortunately, it was with a one and a three. Vis-a-vis the magic dice. A one on the die means you get a yes, but. So yes, you are able to get a fix, haha, on the station. The but, however, is that it will not assist you in actually traveling there. Maeve, you do the search on your pocket reporter for Sigourney.
00:16:44
Speaker
And you get a couple of notices about how the formerly destitute kingdom of planets called Brynnen. Sigourney was a project of Snacoms that has to do with a gas giant that is one of the planets in their system. Snacoms appears to be leasing the planets in Toto.
00:17:08
Speaker
the project of the Sigourney is being run by someone named Dr. Vera Luton. It's a snack of this project. Maeve says that out loud and looks very annoyed. Maybe they're putting the gas like from the planet into the into beverages.
00:17:24
Speaker
Possibly. You don't know. Fixer. So yeah, you are able to get the time zone coordinates and the locational coordinates of this giant gas mining facility that is in sustained orbit over a gas giant. My hand goes over to the lever to pull, but I stop. The minute Maeve says this is a Snackums project, look directly at Maeve and say, excuse me?
00:17:49
Speaker
They're leasing the planet this thing is orbiting around? That's what I came here to tell you before the whole thing with the auditor happened. Snackum's bought a planet. Huh. That is more than a little concerning. Does anybody have any stylish suggestions on spacesuits? I mean, there's no reason you can't land in the thing.
00:18:12
Speaker
Absolutely, I am not putting these two wonderful people onto a Snackems product without at least onboard oxygen.
00:18:22
Speaker
That is appreciated. I do like breathing. Fixer, Maeve, and Calamity all add one story point for leaning on experience and thinking about things warily. The coordinates are in the console. It is going to be a difficulty of 18 to pilot the ship.
00:18:42
Speaker
This is going to be transportation, this is going to be ingenuity, this is going to be a plus two for Time Lord. Maeve, you have as your short-term goal to learn how to pilot the TARDIS. Do you want to give the Fixer a hand with the steering of the ship? Absolutely. You are at a disadvantage. Go ahead and both of you please give me your rules. Absolutely. Got a five and a four on the dice for a total of seventeen. Thirteen.
00:19:09
Speaker
So the 17 is good enough to get you most of the way there with a solid yes and the 13 doesn't really help, but it's not so bad that it doesn't drag you down either. The TARDIS materializes inside the Sigourney processing plant. It lands neatly. Considering that's one of my smoothest landing yes, I'm going to put a hand on the console. Thank you so much. I know you're going through a lot right now.
00:19:38
Speaker
The TARDIS gives you a grateful little... On the view screen...
00:19:44
Speaker
is what appears to be a docking bay that now, in addition to having massive tanks being moved around by shipping machines and helper bots, now is also host to a small red watch repair shop. Nearby, just waiting outside is a tall blonde man and a ginger-haired engineering genius. The blonde guy looks delighted to see the watch repair shop materialize. I don't know where.
00:20:13
Speaker
Make sure all of our wonderful companions are fully dressed in spacesuits with enough oxygen for when snackums snackums. And then let's head out with a big smile on our faces to greet these wonderful people waiting for us.
Spacesuit Debate and Snackums Tour
00:20:29
Speaker
Okay. You know what? Since you're actually looking for space suits that would give you benefits out there, let's give an ingenuity roll since you're actually looking for something. Calamity. You, Maeve, and Fixer all give me ingenuity rolls, please, with intuition for finding three working space suits. I do want to have air, but I also want to be able to reach my pockets. An eternal dilemma. That's a four and a five verse 16 for me.
00:21:00
Speaker
One and a six for a 13. And I have a one and a five for 14. Maeve follows her nose to the right cubby hole and locates the three spacesuits that will fit you all. Fixers and Pandora's will take just a little extra fixing of the things into place.
00:21:20
Speaker
calamity gets distracted and asks fixer about the card because she was going to do that anyway so they're both like not really looking do you do you know anything about like i guess it's law trade agreements whatever they gave me this card it's a gold snackems card but it doesn't start working unless i put my thumb on it which means that i won't talk about what happened on joyfulness i think maybe because i technically got a job there
00:21:44
Speaker
I'm not clear on that, but I just wanted to know what would happen if I did talk about it inadvertently. Would they just take the card away or would they like shoot me? I am definitely flipping out the Sonic Stylus and bringing up all the data on that card to check what the fine print is while saying to Calamity.
00:22:05
Speaker
If they're willing to give you money to keep your mouth shut, it's a good sign they've done something horrifically wrong.
00:22:23
Speaker
Okay, I rolled a 5 and a 1 for a total of 16. With a 1 on the dice, this is going to be a yes but. So yes, you identify all the code on this card, but you cannot alter or edit it without destroying the value of the card. That little red thumbprint pressing it would activate a lorem ipsum.
00:22:42
Speaker
that would be just a little brain worm. Should you decide to talk about Joibeland, the words that would come out of your mouth instead of, oh yes, well it was a cracking adventure where so and so happened. The minute you tried to share anything proprietary, glibberge, flarglfarg, marxarg, org, plibberbede, did you understand that? And the same goes for trying to type it up. It's benign, it's nothing. At which point I would turn to Calamity and say, huh, looking at this, it appears as though it is mostly benign. Great, I press the button.
00:23:15
Speaker
You press the button, there's a little deet, a cooching noise of a cash register opening. Give a little congratulations. Calamity, you now have a gold card. You can add it to your equipment. It will essentially pay for anything from here on out. There are so many zeros on that thing, you're pretty much set as far as like, oh no, we need to pay for something for an odd reason. You particularly no longer have that problem.
00:23:44
Speaker
Cool. How much do planets cost? I didn't know they were a thing you could buy, actually, but... Given that one of the people outside the TARDIS is wearing a suit, that the lapels of which are a sheen of metallic gold, that might be the person to ask how much a planet costs.
00:24:02
Speaker
As long as they are safely in suits, let's head on out. The docking bay is a massive hub of activity. The bay accommodates ships from miniature loaders like the helper bots and the larger warp hogs floating around.
00:24:18
Speaker
If you weren't wearing helmets, the air would be cool and smell strongly of processed oxygen singed by electricity and faintly of cheesy crisps. Ships pass through a force field in and out of the bay, facing the gas giant close to look. Crew run like a well-oiled machine this way and that on the colossal two-tier bay. The TARDIS has arrived in one piece. Outside, the TARDIS is waiting a tall, thin blonde man
00:24:43
Speaker
by an engineer who could describe herself if she were so inclined. A shorter woman with red hair looking a little perplexed and displeased at the sight of you, especially she looks up and down at your spacesuits and says, and nothing else. Fixer, maven, calamity, you are going to be at a minus two for social interactions with
00:25:10
Speaker
this engineer until you are told otherwise. When you step out in your spacesuits, the tall blonde person, picture Steve Merchant with about the same level of intelligent wit in his eyes. He sizes you up in the spacesuits. He's got a little electronic noisemaker and he's about to blow on it, but he's like, oh.
00:25:32
Speaker
Oh, is that the fashion now? Is this the fashion now? Are you making a statement? That's impressive. Paul's a little noisemaker and it pops and gold tinsel falls at your feet. You made it. Welcome. Brandable. Smoked it. Charmed. Nice to meet you. Naturally. Of course, your honor. I am the acting VP of public relations for Snackums. Thank you very much. Biggest question. Super important. Did you bring the giant scissors?
00:26:03
Speaker
I look at the fixer. Oh, I'm sorry, the efficiency experts decided this would be less costly. Oh, oh, oh, that's brilliant. If you put the camera really, really close to them, they will look big.
00:26:24
Speaker
You are brilliant. You are brilliant. So he turns and taps annoyingly on the engineer's shoulders like, didn't I tell you? Didn't I tell you they'd be brilliant? Oh, it's so nice to have more intelligent people around like you and me. Ah, ah, job.
00:26:40
Speaker
Anyway, uh, Captain couldn't make it, safely busy, up on the bridge, told not to bother her. Please, allow me. This is Dr. Luden, Dr. Vera Luden. She's, she's the big brain bar in all this with Miss Katika Pintrey around here somewhere. Yeah, through the door. It is such an honor to meet you, Doctor. Thank you. Of course. Pleasure. Of course, of course. Hi, uh...
00:27:10
Speaker
I'm Calamity Hap. It's a pleasure to meet you. I'm sorry about the spaces. We're only wearing them because last time we did Snack'em's things. There were a bunch of zebra waffles eating chisored of squints.
00:27:21
Speaker
I'm Maeve. I don't know what's going on there. We're wearing these suits because we don't dress snackums. I'm sure you're fine. Apple sauce, Lisa. Dr. Luden looks at all of you with this look of annoyed despair while tolerating the poking of the man next to her. He says,
00:27:45
Speaker
You realize, of course, every precaution has been taken. Those suits, you know, are not necessary at all. Why don't you take them off and then we can speak properly? We've only just been introduced. You're asking us to undress. I'm pretty sure that the suit isn't over my mouth. We'll be fine. All right. Please keep your suits on. But I would like to show just a modicum of honoring the doctor's request and I will pull the suit off.
00:28:12
Speaker
A helper bot descends after handing off tanks to a work hog transporter.
00:28:20
Speaker
and lowers helpfully to the side between Brandable Smockit and Dr. Luden. And it says, Welcome. Hello. It's true. Oxygen levels are currently at optimum levels for all bipeds. A helper bot. It is so joyful to see you. How is your day going? The helper bot scans the fixer's face and then scans Maeve's face followed by Calamity.
00:28:44
Speaker
and shifts its focus so that it's clearly facing calamity. Welcome, Sean. You got our mass-mass message. Thank you so much for arriving, punctually. Right. Guess that meme, uh, made in the fixer on my technical assistance.
00:29:02
Speaker
It gives a thumbs up emoji on its face. So these helper bots, it has been at least a couple of decades in real time since the events of Joyblend. The helper bots here are bulkier. They look like they can do more of the heavy lifting. Their response time is just a little bit faster. And just below the collarbone, where a collarbone would be on a biped,
00:29:25
Speaker
is a little embossed seal that has been stenciled into the chassis of this thing, says Helperbotts Union. Doctor, it's so joyful to see that they're actually unionizing. Are they being given good care here? Oh yes, joyful. They're making sure they get excellent care. Not that we would have done otherwise. But of course, yes. Ah, by the private, Dr. Luton has been super helpful in making sure we have all of our needs met.
00:29:54
Speaker
I will brighten up with that. Well, that's good to hear. That's a nice change from Ambulatory Petunia Castle. You did this to you, by the way. I'm gonna nod with emphasis when Calamity says that, looking directly at the doctor to see her reaction.
00:30:12
Speaker
I'm going to continue to just look at calamity. Like what are you talking about? You are rapidly flummoxing someone that is not easily flummoxed and she's desperately trying to hide it, but her eyes are going back and forth between the three of you and sort of looking you up and down. Like you might be getting dirt on her floor.
00:30:36
Speaker
beautifully put, braindable claps his hands together clearly the dossier did not do you full people justice this is this is magical do you want to see the place there's so much going on it's just oh it's just a marvel we can't wait to cut the ribbon and get things started because we spent a lot of money here and we don't need to start making some of it back if we stick up
00:30:59
Speaker
Maeve pulls out her note taker and grins and goes, Oh, I can't wait. Absolutely brandable. Do you prefer a VP or your name? You know, it's really with me that I've really, I've really enjoyed being called Mr. Smokert by the employees. But
00:31:19
Speaker
Fandible sounds nice, and it's just special consulting and everything, you know, techy-ate, you know, techy-ate you, that's darling. Who wants creme brulee? Ooh, creme brulee. And he just reaches into a pocket and starts throwing a flame, a pocket little lighter, just like, whoo, whoo, whoo, whoo, whoo, whoo. He's like, added a stone, specifically in the kitchen, it's gonna be great. Does anyone have any objections to being taken on a whirlwind tour of the Sigourney? Not at all, that sounds delightful. Let's go.
00:31:48
Speaker
I'm a little disappointed that it was just fire and not a creme brulee. But I will be keeping an eye out. I'm not eating any food from here.
00:31:57
Speaker
Creme Brulee will be available in the mess hall. Can you all see this lovely map? You pass through the doors and enter into a network of hallways. The Sigourney is the size of several city blocks. From any direction you walk in, there's the constant thrum of power running at maximum efficiency, running like a Swiss watch. This thing is a masterpiece.
00:32:26
Speaker
in engineering and function. Brandable just does a little whirlwind about the place. It's like, ta-da, isn't it something you would not believe? The man hours, the woman hours, the alien hours, the robot hours, just so many hours.
00:32:40
Speaker
He explains as he walks you guys around, the gas giant below is called Closaluc. It is made of a gas called Ditridium, which is used in the preservation of snack foods. Every time you open up a little cellophane wrapper, reach in for your cheesy crisps, and that air is the preservative, and the entire planet is made of this thing. Brandable explains,
00:33:03
Speaker
What did we do with our largest? We came in and we just leased the whole thing. They don't even care. They're paid through the nerves. It's beautiful. Wait until the coronation. At the end of the season, he takes you to a great big sciency room where they control the optic channels. Big old laser cannons are pointed at the gas giant below, passing through a force field.
00:33:30
Speaker
attached to the laser cannons are tubes which run to more pipes. The laser cannons create holographic tunnels of hard light drilling straight into the gas giant. The process is fast, it is elegant, and low impact on the gas giant itself.
Gas Extraction Process Explained
00:33:48
Speaker
The person that is overseeing other people
00:33:51
Speaker
working the controls is the Chief of Optics, Kathika Franklin-Pittery. She sees that you guys all come in and she stands a little taller, tugs on her jumpsuit and the engineers working on the optics things also just as you guys come in. This looks amazing. Yeah, so what exactly happens in here? I look to Kathika St. Pittery to see if she's going to answer before I say anything. Kathika says, well,
00:34:20
Speaker
It's very interesting. We fire a whole bunch of power at the planet and create tubes out of hard light that suck the gas that we're leasing straight up off the planet. And we bring it up here for processing. It runs over the whole ship. Vera, you've been...
00:34:36
Speaker
absolutely incredible just just the most inspired wait until you see what this place does and as she talks you see that the laser cannon powers up and an entire shaft of light forms and
00:34:51
Speaker
shoots towards the gas giant. Just a straw from this perspective and this distance sucks an entire milkshake's worth of gas up from the planet's surface. It passes through siphon control. The gas, you actually hear it hissing through the pipes as it moves around you and through the rest of the station to other departments around the space station. Doctor, how is the team filtering the gases they collected to make sure there aren't any living things in it?
00:35:20
Speaker
sensors and filters that take care of all of those things. It's really quite simple when you get down to it. Certainly anything that was living would contaminate the gas, so we have taken several precautions to make sure that that is the case. So what would happen to those living things? What living things? Any living things you would find in a gas giant.
00:35:43
Speaker
Cathika taps through some of the scanners attached to siphon control and shows that there are no significant solid objects down there. There's nothing swimming through the gas. There's no floating space whales hiding out underneath the cloud cover. It is a gas giant. I'm going to say that, well, that's very three-dimensional of you. Dr. Lewton snorts.
00:36:09
Speaker
Would you like to say more, Dr. Linton?" And I hold out the note-taker. Not at all. Cathika St. Pittery is doing an excellent job explaining. Cathika just looks at you guys and says, look, if you're worried about what's in the gas, talk to Filtration and Processing, OK? That's a totally different department. It's over on the west side of the ship. And she looks at mildly annoyed with Brandable. Are you taking them on the rest of the tour? Or are you just going to be wasting more of our time? Honestly, it's kind of disappointing there aren't living things in there,
00:36:37
Speaker
do a second laser tube thing that sort of had a twist in it and then they could just come up and then slide back down and it would be like... Brendal, if you're ever in need of that service we'd be happy to offer it.
00:36:50
Speaker
I just love the gibberish that comes out of the mouth. Give me things made of gas. Slides. Ah, daffodil castles. It's magic. He just whisks you around, brings you back up the hallway, and the gas continues to whistle through the pipes as you go-go. The corridors from section to section are about four adult people wide. Pipes run along the one corner of the ceiling as far as the eye can see.
00:37:18
Speaker
As we're walking towards it, I'd like to ask, Doctor, the hard light technology you're using to create the siphon, is it something proprietary that Snackems has developed, or is it something you've picked up a common competitor? Now you see her kind of light up and shift into her own element. She says, well, you know, of course now it's proprietary to Snackems, but
00:37:38
Speaker
I did have a great deal of play in creating the science and engineering that goes along with ensuring that all of any living beings that were there were protected.
00:37:51
Speaker
Brilliant. Brilliant work. I'm happy you were looking out for them. You mentioned living things and Branable is like just chuckling. You have no idea how many probes and things we sent down there. There's not even little crew. There's not even little space shrimp in there. There's just a great big cloud. There's nothing to take in. It's great. There for the taking.
00:38:09
Speaker
he brings you about straight ahead is the sickbay and rather than go straight he's like oh no you should see this is this is wonderful and rather he pulls you off to the right into the mess hall the galley where clearly a sad little party has been set up by corporate do they have party hats do they have creme brulee i think is the real question
00:38:34
Speaker
It is a galley big enough to serve the crew decent meals, care of snackums, racks for work belts and security gear, snack machines with a little cart readers so employees can get their daily rations for free. Chef Andre is behind a little station where he is indeed whipping up ingredients for creme brulee, which Brandable immediately goes over to him with a little spoon in one hand and his little torch in the other. He's like, already, about one o'clock.
00:39:00
Speaker
The place has chairs and tables, engineers in jumpsuits of different colors, sitting at various tables just watching and, you know, enjoying their midday snack. There are banners up. It's been three days since their last accident. The racetrack of progress of a little helper bot crossing the finish line for last checks has been passed. There's a buzz in the air of excitement that it's go time. But yes, would anyone like creme brulee from Chef Andre?
00:39:27
Speaker
Yeah. No, thank you. I learned my lesson. Brandable is right next to you, tap, tap, tap, crunch. He's like, hmm, that was so good. What lesson was that? What lesson? What'd you do? Crap, crap, crap. Oh, when somebody from Snackums offers you something, you say no. I was on Joyblint. Bring your own food, bring your own air.
00:39:53
Speaker
That's incredible. There's a little bit of a hush in the galley, like people stop talking quietly or just looking at you now. You've walked into shark's territory and loudly announced you're a jet. Essentially. Brandable is the first to notice of like, oh, it's awkward and has it just you? Well, consider this your chance to re-earn my confidence. That's the spirit.
00:40:17
Speaker
Uh, Brandable, how is it that internally Snackums talks about the whole Joy Belinton set? Oh, yes. I've been delighted to answer that question, but I'm not going to, because there's people around who don't have the clearance for it, so find another time. Completely understood, completely understood. Mm-hmm. Because of this one thing Brandable Smoget does, is put the pro in proprietary. Lean into Maeve and whisper. At minimum, they don't want the majority of their staff to know what they've done.
00:40:47
Speaker
Hmm, I'm not eating that creme brulee. But more for me. And he just drops the entire dish, the ceramic dish itself, which could easily be cleaned and used again, but just chucks into the trash, pulls up the next one's like, crack, crack, crack. After me then, because I don't give it a tool. This is wild. Yeah. Does it appear as though the doctor is eating the creme brulee? I mean, calamity definitely is. The doctor is not. It's sort of like throwing a glass in a fireplace, right?
00:41:17
Speaker
You don't see any fireplaces around because it's a space station. Because you're in space and that's not great, so it's just a trash can instead, but you know, it's the same concept. Instead of just smashing it on the floor, although I suppose one could, vis-a-vis the vibe of the room. Most of the engineers just sitting around taking a break from the hard work they've been doing. They give Dr. Luton the respect and the nod when she comes in, like, you know, she's the one in charge here.
00:41:47
Speaker
and they just tune out Brandable. Does it look like any of them actually have any of the gas in any form, sample or otherwise in this room? No, the galley in the mess hall is basically just a central location in the ship. There are pipes that, you know, in the upper corners, but there's no kind of like gas scanning stuff that's all in processing. If you ask that aloud, Brandable's like,
00:42:13
Speaker
oh yeah it's right this way it's super fun you're gonna love it and then and then oh it's the best and he turns you will see the bridge first and the door opens to the bridge and you just hear a no yes no that was just calamity raising a finger
00:42:38
Speaker
I mean, you can go anyway. That's perfectly fine. Brandable's gonna lead the tour. Calamity, are you sticking with the tour or are you gonna go ahead for the bridge? What did he do to open the door? Moves towards it. It's proximity.
00:42:50
Speaker
Oh, what did I want to do? I do want to see if it works for me. Just, just, just to test. You head for the bridge as Brannable just leads the way. You turn right and head toward the bridge and the door just opens. If Maeve saw this, she would be highly interested in, like, following.
00:43:12
Speaker
As Brandable leads the Fixer and presumably Vera, the Helperbot is going to stick close to Calamity. The door opens and you guys see an impressive command center with all the features of a top-of-the-line starship combined with the operations of a deep-sea mining vessel.
00:43:29
Speaker
The view screens show the outer hull against the orbital view of the gas giant that is in the middle distance. Captain Dorothy Redmond is on the bridge, just glances over her shoulder when Calamity and the Helperbot and Maeve come in, and they are not joined by Brandable, so she's like, you're the consultants, right? Yes, and I am the technical aide. I thought you'd be taller.
00:43:54
Speaker
Give me an awareness roll with ingenuity or technology, whichever is higher, against a difficulty of 15. That's a one and a four for a 13 for me. Okay. Man, a lot happens on this bridge. Don't think too hard. I got a one and a two and a seven. A lot happens on this bridge. That is so impressive. There are screens and there are buttons.
00:44:24
Speaker
That'll seem very exciting.
00:44:26
Speaker
Wow, look at all this. This is amazing. There are people at stations doing things. It's incredible. When the captain sees that you guys are not actually getting close enough to actually be a bother to any of the stations and just looking around, she just goes back to her things and steps her coffee. The helper bot hovers a little closer to calamity. Thank you, sure, for answering our message. Was it just about the scissors or was it something else?
00:44:55
Speaker
that you wanted specifically my help with.
Helperbot's Warning and Data Discrepancy
00:44:59
Speaker
The head on the helper bot does a very slow 360 scanning the room to see who is and is not present in it. And then the mouth on the emoji of the screen shrinks and it talks a little quieter. Give me a persuasion roll. Is it gonna be present and convinced, please? All right. You do have a plus two because they were expecting you. They didn't invite you.
00:45:23
Speaker
Oh, all right. Well, then it's a 16 with no special things on the dice. Okay, great. The helper bot explains the project has been going on now for like close to two years, just building this place up from nothing. The data that has been coming up from the planet versus the data that makes its way to filtration does not match 100%. There is a 0.06% discrepancy. Okay, okay.
00:45:53
Speaker
And you thought that I was the best person to help with this. Not, not, not, not. When you show up, things go wrong. And then they go right, right, right again. Oh, that's fair, I guess. Well, it's reasonable then. I will walk over to a console and press a random button. What are you trying to do?
00:46:11
Speaker
I am trying to make something bad happen, but not specifically, I'm just pressing a random button to see if something bad will happen. I mean, this was the plan, according to the helper bot. I mean, I don't really want something bad to happen, but it's fine if it does, and especially if it turns out to be interesting and nice afterwards.
00:46:32
Speaker
So do you see the picture of the bridge here? Mm-hmm. And the mouse slowly moving around? Mm-hmm. When you want to push a button somewhere, just say stop. All right, all right. Keep going. No whammies. No whammies. Keep going. No whammies. Oh! Okay.
00:46:50
Speaker
You head over and push a button over someone's shoulder, and you immediately get looks, both from the person running the station, but also the captain. When you have pressed the propulsion diagnostic button, and there's just this quick...
00:47:13
Speaker
And just the slightest propulsion jets keeping the station in orbit over close to look as they are like, yep, still working. The desk monkey looks up and he was like, can you please not damage our orbit? Excuse me, she is the technical lead on this project, specially communicated with in order to fix your ship. And here you are telling her what she can and can't do. Do you want her to fix your house or not?
00:47:46
Speaker
Dr. Luden doesn't quite put her head in her hands, but she really wants to. Calamity, at a story point for pushing things and seeing what happens, Maeve, at a story point for role-playing and intimidating someone from like, I'm sorry. What happens if you hold that button down?
00:48:04
Speaker
Did it just cut it off completely? Because that seems like a safety problem. Well, people don't usually just come in and poke buttons and he taps a few others and that button shuts off. What if you dropped a really heavy, like, cup of coffee on it or something? Like, fail safes. Look around and the captain's like, yes, we have redundancies, but yes, we are in orbit over the gas giant. It helps that the rockets work.
00:48:31
Speaker
Well, that's fine. For the record, I am very uncomfortable with the term failsafe. It is religiously insensitive, but I'll let it go this time. That's flipping gorgeous. Okay. Meanwhile, in gas processing, there is a... As the doors open and brandable, without noticing at all that you've lost three humanoid-sized people, walks you in to gas processing.
00:49:00
Speaker
Can I just say, I love that our like thing is that we just immediately split the party. Pipes and tanks, as far as the eye can see, it is warm in here.
00:49:13
Speaker
Everything is spotless because that's how Dr. Luden likes things kept. There is a somewhat overweight gentleman overlooking things, visibly maintaining the site, looking around and basically just keeping on top of people. Not quite micromanaging, running a very tight ship, and glances over at you when the door opens and he rolls his eyes the second he sees Brandable in the mix. He's like, oh, no, it's just service. Hello, welcome.
00:49:41
Speaker
I'm the Chief of Gas Processing, Richard Schlieffy. How can I help you? A pleasure to meet you, Chief. How are things going today? Well, they're going quite smoothly. Any tap, tap, taps on one of the readers on a console. So you're the technical wizards that the robots were so insistent with, gave the place a once-over before we cut the big ribbon, right?
00:50:02
Speaker
Oh, yes, absolutely. We are so thankful that you were excited to have such, what was the term you used? Technical wizards, summoned to this place. Schlafly gives Dr. Luden just a quick look of like, are these people, are they up enough? How does Dr. Luden respond to a look from Chief Schlafly?
00:50:24
Speaker
Considering that we've known each other for a while, I give him a look that he can interpret as, I really have no idea. Without saying, I really have no idea. Gotcha. Okay. Completely read. Schlafly explains that gas is extracted from close to look via the optic channeling and siphon control. They have analog controls here. They have digital. Everything has backup redundancies.
00:50:48
Speaker
So the gas is filtered and purified and processed in the pipes into here before it is transferred into these massive tanks. Readings track gas moving around the entire system. If you've ever had a chance to look at a cross-section of a human body,
00:51:08
Speaker
and seeing how oxygenated cells flow through the capillaries and the veins on a trip throughout the whole body and back again or the side view of an engine a combustion engine pushing gases and igniting them and moving them along that is basically the beating heart of this place it is a technical wonder it is a
00:51:28
Speaker
a masterpiece of engineering. The project itself, they are trying to wrap up last looks so that Dr. Luton and Dr. Pittery can move on to the next projects and that Chief Schlafly and his staff can take over the operations once the actual installation and everything has been finished. He crumples up a ball of paper and shucks it hard and says, Thatcher, wake up!
00:51:53
Speaker
Check the oatulias! A guy that was resting his eyes in one of the seats sits up. Alright, keep your air on ground, Dad. Goes off to check some levels on the pipes. So Chief, Doctor, I notice you have a certain percentage of impurities that you're bringing up and that you're filtering out. Packed into tanks or they get, poof, back to the giant.
00:52:14
Speaker
Okay, so very clear from as I'm looking at it, they're separating out the impurities, they're not just destroying. Nothing is getting destroyed. This thing has all the efficiency of a living body. Like it's not going to destroy something until, you know, the term is not useful. Gas comes up the pipes, they scan for the contents. Dictridium, which is the super valuable stuff they are after, makes up like 99.6% of the volume of the gas that they're working with.
00:52:42
Speaker
and the impurities that are also in the gas get filtered out along the way and either packed into canisters to be taken back to the planet. Excellent. That's the bit of info I needed. That was exactly it right there, Casey. I would like to use the sonic stylus to scan the impurities contained.
00:52:59
Speaker
So ingenuity, technology, plus two for your Sonic and plus two for Timelord. Meanwhile, on the bridge, the captain and the crew that Calamity has been bothering, for lack of a better word, basically just giving looks. Is there anything else I can help you with? Are we keeping you from anything? I look at me. Did you have a schedule? I don't think there was a schedule. We were just taking a tour of the ship.
00:53:27
Speaker
so that we could further understand the technical specifications. I did have a quick question, though. We noticed in the cafeteria that it's been three days since your last accident. Have there been a lot of accidents here? No more than would be normal on a station this size, trying to come up to something this massive of an undertaking.
00:53:49
Speaker
Can you tell me about the last accident that happened? She taps on one of the screens. There was a warthog lost a canister, gripping one, and the canister fell, damaged some things in the loading dock, and one or two people, a person was killed when the tank fell on him. Like, that's just, you know, mundane engineering mechanical error. It was a faulty claw on the warthog, not in a kind of
00:54:20
Speaker
malicious evil doing. Okay, well thank you. Any other, anything strange that you've noticed on the ship barring what our technical lead has spoken to you about? Give me an awareness roll. This is your focus, so roll three dice, keep all three. Awareness intuition. So that's a six, a one, and a two for a total of 16.
00:54:43
Speaker
Yeah, there's just enough of a hesitation before she answers. Her eyes dart to a screen and back to you. No, it's all fine, just growing pains, getting this thing to its feet. You also hear a rattling in the pipes overhead. The pipes go everywhere on this station. Meanwhile, Fixer, you approach one of the canisters that has been slated
00:55:11
Speaker
for quote-unquote impurities with your sonic stylus. Go ahead and give us a roll. Dr. Luden, this person that you personally did not invite on your ship is now second guessing your work to your face on opening day.
00:55:29
Speaker
I'm taking out my own gas analyzer, sort of tapping it against my hand. I look at him and say, you know, really, there isn't anything to worry about here, and I seem to be taking up a lot of your time. Is there something else you'd like to see? Finish the scan. I got a 21 with a four and a five. Nerd fight! Nerd fight! Wow.
00:55:53
Speaker
Nerdfights! Oh, you know it. If you're gonna get into a nerdfight, you gotta have the numbers to back it up. So yeah, with a 21 on the dice, that is beautiful. And may I say, about frickin' time. Dr. Luton is now double-checking you, double-checking her, as your Sonic.
00:56:18
Speaker
takes a look at the canister in question. Starting at the top, the contents of the tankard are moving about inside the tank. They are not stationary, they are not acting like ordinary inert gas. The pressure is building significantly at this very moment
00:56:39
Speaker
Because you rolled that well, that you are able to identify. There's some confusion from the scan. It can't identify what species might be in there, but there is definitely some form of vaporous life rattling around. Okay, finish the scan. Look up at the doctor and say,
00:57:02
Speaker
So you're absolutely sure there's nothing in this tank? There absolutely couldn't be. Are you getting at something? Possibly. Share the data regarding the fact that I'm picking up at least some form of life inside there onto the closest screen that both the chief and the doctor can see. And very carefully watch their reactions. This is the moment where I need to know who knows this is real and who's just simply having a moment of like, oh, we didn't have the science to scan for this.
00:57:29
Speaker
Yeah, give me an awareness and intuition roll. Because you got to 21, I won't make you roll for transferring the data from your Sonic to the screen. You are able to send the fairly vague information of a bluish greenish cloud of swirling gas inside the tank and the pressure is building. It is currently at 98% of capacity of the tank and it is building rapidly.
00:57:57
Speaker
Schlafly takes a look and starts, what in that blue pages is that? He glances over his shoulder and is like, where are you getting this data from? Fixer, give me an awareness role with ingenuity and feel the turn of the universe. This is that Time Lord hypersenses thing going on.
00:58:16
Speaker
Meanwhile, Calamity, this might be an opportune moment to beseech Woops for some insight, but
Gas Tank Explosion and Chaos
00:58:24
Speaker
Maeve, since you're paying attention to things and are like looking at the screens in the room, give me an awareness roll. Throw on your reporter senses because they are a tingling.
00:58:33
Speaker
Is that a plus two? Okay. Dr. Luton, give me a resolve roll because you're being questioned right now. So this is going to be your resolve against Fixer's presence. Fixer, give us an awareness roll, please. With intuition and Time Lord senses, you are trying to beat a difficulty of 15.
00:58:56
Speaker
Unfortunately, I don't even get close even with the extra plus two from the turn the time Lord senses I'm only ending at an eight with a one and a two I'm so panicked about the creature that I've just witnessed is being harmed inside that thing that I probably am not able to really tell
00:59:12
Speaker
how these people are reacting. Yeah, you are so fixated on the screen and the mounting pressure. You don't hear the rattling growing louder in the pipes overhead. Maeve and Calamity, can you please give me awareness rolls? Calamity, how's Woops turning you today? Well, let's check. Maeve, awareness and intuition and plus two for reporter sense since you're on the alert now.
00:59:42
Speaker
Awesome. I got a 5 and a 2 for a total of 16. Bully. Runokai, it's going well so far. Great. 16. You're looking around the control room and each station clearly oversees a different part of the ship and you catch a warning red alert.
01:00:06
Speaker
pressure building in gas processing. Dr. Lewton, give me an awareness role with survival. Do you have any points in survival? I got five out of three for a total of ten, I think. Do you want to spend one of your story points to increase the amount of success in the role?
01:00:25
Speaker
Yes, I do. Having built this place from nothing, the rattle and the warning on the screen, you get that half a heartbeat warning in your gut first that tells you to duck.
01:00:41
Speaker
Fixer what I would need from you the NPCs around you are going to be doing the same thing there is a kiss and the slight groan of Metal trying to contain more pressure than it ought to before there is just a peek and peek
01:01:03
Speaker
An explosion bursts out of the tank, tearing it open. Blue and green gas flies out and a pipeline overhead is ripped open by shrapnel as more gas shoots into the room from overhead. Please give me the coordination and athletics, if you've got it, against 16 to avoid getting caught in the blast.
01:01:29
Speaker
Oh hey, keep in mind, rule I just read in the rule book. You can spend one story point to get advantage on a roll. Yes. I would definitely like to do that, please. So go ahead and roll three dice for us. Coordination and athletics for survival. If it's higher. Versus 16. Dr. Luton, you are at an advantage because you've got that half a heartbeat warning to duck. So roll three dice and keep the best of two. Let me know. Coordination and survival to duck out of the way.
01:01:59
Speaker
12. That is not great. You take two points of damage in the fall. So if we look at your attributes, you are going to be down one point in coordination and let's say one point in awareness for the foreseeable. You have taken a hit. The tinnitus ringing is making it that much harder to be aware of your surroundings. You can still do all the things that you know how to do. They're just going to be that little bit more difficult.
01:02:26
Speaker
Is it too late, or can I grab the person nearest to me and take them down also? That's really sweet. Well, that's just the thing. The nearest person to you is the Fixer, even though you're not thrilled with him right now. Do you want to try and pull him down with you? Yeah. OK. So it's trying to do two things at once that's going to be slightly harder. Give me a strength roll as you try to grab him. Since you're trying to help someone else's survival, we'll justify throwing on the survival with that. Fixer, what did you get from that roll in the first place?
01:02:57
Speaker
Unfortunately, I got a five and a two in a dice for a total of 11. Dr. Luden, what did you get with the strength and the survival? I got a five and a two. That is not great, but I think it'll be enough at least to shave a point of damage off of the Fixer's landing. Thank you. Fixer, were there any magic numbers on your dice, one or sixes? Not on that roll though. And what was your total, forgive me? 11.
01:03:21
Speaker
11. Okay, so instead of four points of damage, you're going to take two. You don't have to check if anything's on fire. But yeah, you are now prone on the floor beside Dr. Luton. Dr. Luton, add a story point to your collection because you have just helped save someone's life.
01:03:36
Speaker
There is now a fire erupting from overhead that is shooting a jet of flame down. There are some bodies on the floor. Alarms are going off, essentially the next room not that far away. Calamity and mace. You just heard a massive explosion rattling in the pipes and screams. I say oh no and run in that direction because I'm missing it.
01:04:00
Speaker
Sounds like a job for the technical experts. Yeah, I follow. Technical experts. Okay, so you guys race down the hallway towards danger. Maeve and Calamity both add one story point for bravery and thinking of other people.
01:04:21
Speaker
It is going to take you a minute or two to reach the doorway which may or may not be open when you get there. It's just bravery enough because I do want to just be fair and say that Calamity is not thinking about the people. She is thinking that she is missing a disaster.
01:04:36
Speaker
I mean you are missing a disaster that's that's I just want to make sure why don't you guys both give me an awareness rule as you're making your way into towards gas processing let's say awareness and intuition
01:04:53
Speaker
That is a one and a four for a 12, but can I spend a story point? Absolutely. I've got a two and a four for a 15. As the explosion rocks the station, lights in the hallway flicker and shunt to a slightly darker level of light. Smoke is now wafting out of the open doorway ahead of you from gas processing. And because Maeve spent a story point and Calamity rolled 15,
01:05:22
Speaker
Your eyes are not deceiving you. A blue wisp of gas breezes its way out of the colorless smoke, tornadoes itself into something resembling a torso, and starts shrieking before it flies away in the opposite direction. And something blue and shrieking zips off down the hall away from you.
01:05:49
Speaker
Well, is it visually apparent where other people are in the place? Yes, that's a very good question. Well, you're in the hallway. Oh, so we can't even see in the room yet. Not yet, no. The hatch is filled with smoke and alarms and light changing the shade of the smoke as you get closer before a blue amount of smoke emerges from it, pinwheels itself around, looks at the two of you.
01:06:19
Speaker
shrieks at the top of its non-existent lungs. A person crawling for dear life out under the smoke is covering his poor
Specters' Hostility in Sickbay
01:06:30
Speaker
head as the blue apparition looks at you guys, looks down at Hit and
01:06:37
Speaker
It shrieks before it heads southeast down the hall. Meanwhile, inside the gas processing, alarms are going off, gas is still on fire, metal in the room is slowly getting too hot to touch, the air is thick with smoke, noxious blue and or green. Dr. Luton and the Fixer regain your senses on the floor under the smoke. Dr.
01:07:03
Speaker
You may now understand why I made sure our team was wearing suits when we arrived. We've had some unfortunate run-ins with Snackums unwittingly using alien threats while benefiting their profit margin. Now I'm just gonna wait to see if she can intake that.
01:07:18
Speaker
I just shake my head and say, there's no time. I grab him by the shirt and I start dragging us towards the door. You crawl under the smoke and head for the door. Fixer and Dr. Luton, give me quickly an ingenuity and technology role. Dr. Luton, you are at an advantage because you built this place. Fixer, you are at a disadvantage because of all the smoke and you have never been in here before.
01:07:42
Speaker
If I'm willing to spend a point, can I get it to where it's just even? Yeah. Fire! Okay, got an 18 with a 5 and a 5. That's dashing. That's wonderful. Dr. Luton, any better than an 18? No. I got 12.
01:08:01
Speaker
Your bell got rung a little hard, but so with the Fixers 18, you are able to see that the present crisis can be dealt with here. You have not visited the bridge, so you don't know about what they can do on the bridge, but the immediate crisis can be dealt with from inside this room. There are fires in the room, but you have analog options on one wall and digital options on the other of shutting the gas flow off so that hopefully the flames will go out.
01:08:30
Speaker
Doctor, I'm gonna need your help. We need to stop the flow of gas into those flames. Run over to the analog controls and begin utilizing them. Dr. Luton, this man you've just pulled to the ground is now telling you how to fix your own ship. I will help him. The two of you crawl under the smoke and head for the analog controls. Dr. Luton, you're our special guest today. Odds or evens? Odds.
01:08:56
Speaker
Okay, that is a 9. The fires that are going off are not currently making the analog access points any hotter. So, you are able to get to the controls and will not be at a penalty to use them. Meanwhile, outside, Maeve, you see one or two people trying to emerge from the smoke of the hatch as more smoke is wafting from the doorway.
01:09:22
Speaker
I think Maeve has this second where she's torn between helping the people and going after whatever that blue thing was. And then she pulls her air supply on, looks at Calamity and goes, can you help them? I gotta go. And runs after the blue thing.
01:09:37
Speaker
Yes, I was going to say that Calamity would have just glanced at Maeve and been like, you know, point to the point of the room and herself and say disaster and then point to the blue thing and her and say interview and then run into the into the scary room. Yeah, we're on the same wavelength. So just to confirm, Calamity and Maeve are both wearing your full spacesuits and have your own oxygen supply. Yes, apparently. I'm not sure which way I'm going. Am I going into the smoke or away from the smoke?
01:10:07
Speaker
I mean, smoke's getting everywhere, so I mean, you're gonna have to run past it at the very least. As Calamity starts to pull people crawling out of the hatch, out of the hatch, Maeve dashes off through the darkened hallways, through fading alarms and blinking lights as she presses further down after the sounds. The blue smoke has...
01:10:32
Speaker
wished away and around the corner and vanished. What you are able to detect, however, are the screams. There are screams coming from the sickbay around the corner. Some of them are normal humanoids with lungs and capillaries full of blood that are still going, oh, oh, oh! While other screams sound like they are being delivered on just a sheet of frozen wind.
01:10:58
Speaker
essentially. So you are traveling at speed into a situation. Give us an awareness rule. It's disadvantage because you are running in the dark, you are racing along, and you have a view screen on your thing that is going to put some glare or something to make it that little bit harder to see through. Okay, so that's a 4 and a 5 for a 16.
01:11:21
Speaker
So you race around the corner getting to a halt and grab onto the handlebar outside the hatch and get a glimpse. There are sick beds, there is a partition separating part of the sick bay, an alien doctor that looks like a frilled lizard with a beak and a mohawk.
01:11:41
Speaker
has her hands full with things as blue specters circle around the sickbay in shrieking terror cut to inside the gas processing where Dr. Luton and the Fixer have made it to the suppression controls that are analog
01:12:02
Speaker
Since you went for the analog controls, this is going to be strength and athletics and with your Sonic. I would love to be able to use other tools instead so I could move away from using strength and athletics. I'm happy to pull out a pry bar. I'm happy to pull out anything from the mini toolkit. I'm happy to spend story points.
01:12:22
Speaker
If you're willing to spend two story points, a Helperbot will descend from a compartment and assist with the turning of the usage of the controls. Yes, please. You now have a Helperbot helping you versus a difficulty of 20. Dr. Luke, we're on the other side of the wheel attempting the same thing, so please also give us a strength and athletics roll. We're looking at a three and a five on a dice with a total of 14.
01:12:51
Speaker
would be 12. I will say go ahead and throw the one on four survival because this is a matter of life and death and I think that tracks. So with your 13 total the robots 12 and so it takes all three of us considering none of us have done more than 75% of the job to turn it enough to shut the gas as the robot finishes turning the
01:13:19
Speaker
wheel. Its hand gets caught on a piece of shrapnel. The hand severs from the rest of the bumper bot. It doesn't appear to be in pain at all. This particular unit is now down a hand. The fires go out because they have lost their gas supply. The room is still filled with smoke.
01:13:38
Speaker
You can now hear very faintly one, maybe two people coughing or moaning, but alarms are still going off. The smell of charred meat lightly in the air. Fixer, Dr. Loon, give me awareness rolls. We're both at a disadvantage because of the smoke and the noise.
01:13:57
Speaker
Calamity, you have helped the two crewmen out of the doorway? I just wanted to go inside where the disaster is. They seemed to be really doing fine on their own because they were crawling, like that's what you do in a disaster. But yes, I wanted to be where the fire and explosions were. Give me an awareness roll as you fill the doorway in your creepy space suit.
01:14:21
Speaker
I'll spend a story point to give myself advantage too because I've got plenty. I've got a 4 and a 4 for 17. Wow, this room is littered with debris and even smaller bits of metal and coughing people and dead people and off to the far side of the room you can make out a damaged helper bot
01:14:42
Speaker
and a lightly singed fixer and Dr. Luton. You can see who's alive and who's not in here. Fortunately, the fixer is doing pretty decently, but as a safety function, the rest of the station, anything having to do
01:15:01
Speaker
with the gas systems has shut down. The station is now on standby mode. The fire in here has stopped as the quiet eats up the roar of the flame that is no longer there. You can make out under the coughing rather than traveling up the front and down the corner and away.
01:15:19
Speaker
Right, well, I'll go over and see if the Fixer needs any help, but kind of disappointing. I will ask, you know, when I get there... Does gas rattle? I'm not a science person. Yeah, I'd like to look squarely at the doctor to hear the official answer. No, gas does not rattle. Well, there's something in the pipe rattling. Also, there was a blue thing that I think was alive that sort of turned into a tornado person and then screamed and
01:15:48
Speaker
Maeve is going to interview them so we can check back later.
01:15:51
Speaker
Cut to the sick bag. Maeve, you have squealed to a stop on your feet. Dr. Cotswold, this blue-green lizard person with the mohawk, is trying their best to keep patients alive and away from the swirling, circling blue specters breaching in a wheel overhead. There are some beeps and things going off in the background that may or may not be part of the alarm.
01:16:19
Speaker
Maeve, specters, pinwheeling, overhead are scary and appear agitated. I'm going to take a couple steps closer and I'm going to try to look calm because everybody else is freaking out. That's entirely fair. And I'm going to try to get their attention. Do I think they can understand me?
01:16:40
Speaker
You have no reason to believe they don't. If they're alive and the TARDIS is here, then by that logic it should be trying to translate. For a fear factor, this is going to be your resolve and ingenuity.
01:16:53
Speaker
versus the Fear Factor and the presence and resolve of the spooky blue apparition taking shape. So please give me your resolve and ingenuity and I think throw on two because this is not your first spooky thing that you have faced up to with your experiences with the Fixer. A little used to them. The Fear Factor here to beat is 14 plus 8 is 22. The number you're trying to beat
01:17:18
Speaker
Uh, so I got a 5 and a 2 for a total of 18. Can I add a story point onto that? Two story points would let you keep your head beyond an even keel with this thing. One story point would have you intimidated, but close enough to like, new space to lead a chronicle. Two story points. I would like to take a couple steps closer and go, okay, we want to get you home. Just tell me.
01:17:46
Speaker
What's going on? Who are you? Give me presence and convince, because now you're trying to get its attention and persuade it to talk versus trying to kill things. So give us a presence and convince role, please. Sure. And again, add two, because this is not the first time you have tried to talk peacefully with aliens. So this is not your first attempt out the gate. That is a two and a one for an 11. Well, let's see how the spooky blue does.
01:18:17
Speaker
That's a one and a six. Well, yeah, no. We want to get you home. Just calm down and tell me what's going on. Are you from the planet? Because you did not succeed, it does not necessarily believe you, especially considering it is a state of high agitation. So what you hear from this blue shifting image that slowly takes on definition until it is a person.
01:18:45
Speaker
blazing blue eyes of fury over this humanoid shape with spectral claws and it fades into invisibility from the torso down as it says send us home send us home that's a laugh that's an absolute laugh
01:19:01
Speaker
We want to be left alone! And she briefly flares red before turning back into an absolutely icy blue, stares down at you, shouting, Don't need your help! Don't need your help!
01:19:19
Speaker
and vanishes behind the plastic curtain compartmentalizing off part of the sickbay. And you hear a rustle followed by...
01:19:32
Speaker
behind the sheets and through the plastic which is not too thick you are able to see one body lying prone on a gurney back there sit up and next to it another sits up the other way over your shoulder the lizard is like
01:19:53
Speaker
Now you've been paid for the 48 ass. Hands that are icy and pale pull through the plastic as two people who are corpses shamble towards you in the damaged jumpsuits of crewmen as this thing reaches for you and shouts, Don't need your help! Fear the death!
01:20:38
Speaker
And that is where we are going to stop today on Lantern in the Smoke.
01:20:45
Speaker
Ladies, gentlemen, it has been an absolute delight to bring you into the first part of a spooky trip into an honest-to-goodness space station in space! I would love to go around the table, really introduce our team, and deal out precious, tasty experience points. Kate, how would Maeve report on today's event, do you think?
01:21:11
Speaker
Maeve has not forgiven or forgotten joy balance.
01:21:16
Speaker
And she is ready to write the expose of a lifetime on Snackums. I don't know what it would take to publish such a thing, but that is where Mae's head is at. Let's find out their dirt and let's dig it up for everybody. Okay. You've tried to interview your first ghost. Didn't go well. But you never know till you try. Gaseous interviewees. They're not the most forthcoming.
01:21:46
Speaker
We're gonna figure it out. We can make a deal. We can figure something out, I'm sure. Oh my yes. Dora, what do you think of today's bizarre turns of fate?
01:21:56
Speaker
Well, Calamity is always willing to forgive people and give them the benefit of the doubt even after the, you know, whole shoe electron pinafore. But it's got to be interesting, you know, and she keeps missing the disasters. Nobody's letting her cause one. And then she got there too late. It's very sad, honestly. She's going to have to deal with just wounded people, which is, you know, OK, that's sort of a disaster. So she can, you know, she can help them.
01:22:23
Speaker
But honestly, you know, really she might have to blow something up. I mean, you might get that chance. You say you've missed the disaster, but it's still unfolding. That's true. Only the initial stage of the disaster from Calamity's standpoint.
Snackums' Management vs. Staff Motivations
01:22:39
Speaker
Mm-hmm. Outstanding. Brand. Yes. Tell us, what surprised you most about today's mod?
01:22:45
Speaker
Ooh, that's a great question. I think the thing that surprised me the most was that it seemed like there is some distinction between Snackham's upper management and Snackham's rest of staff and that it isn't just a top to bottom, hey, we know we're doing evil and we're happy to do evil. Instead, it's very clearly like taking good-hearted scientists and turning them towards evil, which is kind of a relief, actually.
01:23:06
Speaker
Where are you getting all this evil stuff from? They're just making snack food, man. I know, but it's much like, uh, trawling an ocean, right? You just want to get your hands on some tuna or some salmon or something. No, damn it, salmon. Tuna or sardines or something. And you're pulling up all these other things that live there. If you don't have a system in place to get them back in the water to make sure they're alive, you're basically like, cool, we got our haul for the day. Screw the rest. Consequences? What are those?
01:23:35
Speaker
Amy Flanagan, that was a whole thing. How do you feel about it? That was definitely a whole thing. I think Dr. Luton is feeling as the person who built this entire thing from the ground up beyond blood, sweat and tears, that she's starting to realize that things happened without her knowledge, which is horrifying in itself, but that also she may have unwittingly set herself up to become the perfect fall guy.
01:24:05
Speaker
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. That's legit. I do want to say, Amy, you showed up. We immediately antagonized you. And I am so sorry. That is not who I am as a person, but that's what Maeve would do. Oh, that's OK. No, that's great. It's wonderful. It's wonderful. Yeah, I'm not that, you know, sniffy as a person either. So I totally get where you're coming from. That's outstanding.
01:24:31
Speaker
It's just the Snacums. Snacums is a red flag for us. It's just Snacums. We have a problem with them. Yeah, sounds like. Consider the scale of a galactic corporation, really. Like, 98% of their operations are probably fine. We just keep running into the other one.
01:24:54
Speaker
That is what the Fixer is really, really, really, really hoping. Dave is highly unconvinced. I feel like this has been a conversation aboard the TARDIS of like the Snackums evil continuum. Wow. But they're called Snackums. How bad could it be? It sounds so hard. It's just the Snackums iceberg. We're everywhere.
01:25:22
Speaker
Snackums as an entity, how evil or benevolent they are, remains to be seen. Has been a lot of fun to play with, but they've gotten a lot scarier as capitalism has continued to break down. Snackums was part of something 10 years ago I put together when I was putting mods together.
01:25:42
Speaker
And now the idea of an uber-powerful food conglomerate is not as pleasant as it might have been to play with ten years ago. Anyway! But yeah, having consequences to things you've done before, coming into this episode and turning things around and making it a little bit more interesting,
01:26:06
Speaker
I'm here for it. Calamity, dynamite job with the helper bots, and also mingling and confusing the hell out of the staff of this place. That's dynamite work. You gave me permission to spout nonsense. You did, I really did. I'm obviously going to do that a lot. Well, only as far as Joyblint comes up, but yeah, you took to it like,
01:26:33
Speaker
I'm sorry, I'm out of words. I use them all in the GMing. I took to it like calamity to chaos. You took to it like calamity to chaos. There it is. This is why you're on the team. Isn't she amazing? Kate, Dora, Brand, all of you, please take an experience point for today's
Praise for Role-playing and Teamwork
01:26:51
Speaker
adventures. You are all still alive and mostly in one piece.
01:26:54
Speaker
Please keep an eye, make a note of the status of your characters and the injuries that you're going to be carrying over into the beginning of our next round. Do we have any shout outs? Do you guys want to give each other any nods or bumps for excellent role play and beats that you really enjoyed? I actually want to give Kate mad props because I love the intensity of her
01:27:19
Speaker
dislike of Snackums and the possibilities of the dangers they're doing. That was so passionate and raw and beautiful. It was just great. Outstanding. I want to give Calamity a shout out for leaning into getting the Lorem Ipsum worm. That was amazing. Such a great beat. It was so fun. Seconded. Seconded.
01:27:41
Speaker
Uh, I, I actually, I wanted to, I wanted to say that, uh, that brand was really on point with the fixers, like mid-disaster surrounded by injured and dead people. He's, he's, he's gonna like, just a little bit. I told you so.
01:28:00
Speaker
Alarms are going off, they're calling toward each other. While we're doing this, you see how we were right? Yeah, I want to give props to all of you, your characterizations and your, you know, I came in knowing what I know, but expecting that I would be doing a lot more educating about what was happening. And you guys just came in and took control and it was really cool to see where it went.
01:28:25
Speaker
So props to all of you. It's a sprightly team. Oh, thank you. Everybody take an additional experience point since you all got nods for your wonderful teamwork. So yes, everyone takes two experience points for the day. Your story point levels stay where they are for what you've decided to be spending. This is fun. I'm having fun. I will have to move a little bit quicker in the future. It's like, oh, gas? Are there gaseous aliens in there?
01:28:53
Speaker
At this point, we are gonna go into just about any biome and assume life is present and assume that whoever's making money on it didn't bother to check. That tracks. We're a little genre savvy at this point. I mean, I would hope so. It is a survival trait at this point. I think between Joy Bolent and a couple others, it was just a little too clear that we have to be aware for that stuff. I am surprised by the spacesuits. Charmed, but surprised.
01:29:24
Speaker
And it's just that extra little bit of FU to Dr. Luden. Oh, yeah, no, we don't even trust you to get the air right in here. Yeah, that's exactly how it came across, too. I was just like, oh, we think we're cute, don't we? Once again, I am so sorry. Oh, it's great. It was great. It's important to make good use of the show's costuming budget.
01:29:52
Speaker
We really stretch the costume, the imaginary costume budget this week. That's a very good point. Yes. I know, three spacesuits. Wait, you want three spacesuits? All right, I'll get sewing. What if they're only visible from the front? Can we get the spacesuits pockets? They do. I mean, spacesuits on who traditionally have pockets. They're like covered in them, like they were designed in the 90s. Oh, that's true.
01:30:19
Speaker
Everything's got to have pockets. So yeah, the other thing was I wanted to experiment because as we're tracking along in A, FXB, FXC, FXD, I wanted to see what would happen if we took out the GM PC.
Experimenting with Game Dynamics
01:30:34
Speaker
There you go. The auditor is not going to be around for any additional explaining or sonicking or anything. And you guys go for it. Let's see what happens. Chemistry. It's beautiful.
01:30:44
Speaker
nave hasn't read the rule book and she's not sure what's in it but she's pretty sure she's not gonna follow it that's not nave's thing she looks at the time warp books and like what is this i don't i don't know yeah what's this a bunch of boring rules
01:31:01
Speaker
See, now that Calamity knows there is a rule book, she's gonna check it out because, like logically speaking, every rule in there is because if you break that rule, something bad happens. So it's good to have a list of those things just in case.
01:31:18
Speaker
That's one of the fun things about the doctoral program. As much as it is, go on adventures! Do the things! Save some lives! Do a third thing! You are also kind of being graded. Your performance is also kind of being studied in any measure kind of contrasted well with what would the doctor do. And I hope that that adds to some of the fun of it. Because you played hooky, and you got in trouble, and you got in so much trouble you got your TA in trouble.
01:31:49
Speaker
Which is fun for me. This is off the map. It's new ground, and it makes my cheeks hurt from smiling. I had a
Announcement and Listener Thanks
01:31:57
Speaker
wonderful time. Thank you all so much. Oh, thank you, Flanagan. Likewise. Yeah, thanks for coming. It was great to have you. Amy Flanagan, everybody, who will be back next week to return as Dr. Vera Luden.
01:32:11
Speaker
And finally, to our listeners, another big thank you for sharing your precious time with us. If you feel it's been well spent, please share anywhere but now with your friends who are looking to enjoy themselves. Feel free to leave a like or a comment, and you can find us on Twitter at anywhere but now with an underscore at the end. And wherever you get your podcasts, links to everything in the doobly-doo. From all of us, I'm Casey Jones. Thanks so much, and have a great day.