Daniel Andrlik (00:00:30):
Welcome to Explorers Wanted. We are a weekly Numenera actual play podcast. I will be your humble GM, Daniel Andrlik. With me today is Sampson Davis.

Sampson Davis (00:00:41):
God I'm so tired.

Daniel Andrlik (00:00:42):
Stace Babcock.

Stace Babcock (00:00:43):
God cannot help you Sampson.

Daniel Andrlik (00:00:47):
And Alex Finn.

Alex Finn (00:00:48):
I literally just moisturized my bird of paradise.

Daniel Andrlik (00:00:54):
Okay. And we are also joined today by special guest LaTia Jacquise.

LaTia Jacquise (00:00:59):
I'm just happy to be here.

Alex Finn (00:01:01):
Hell yeah.

Daniel Andrlik (00:01:01):
Latia is a variety and TTRPG streamer, you'd know her from shows like Rivals of Waterdeep and Temple among others. She is also the Community Relations Coordinator for Monte Cook Games. But most importantly, you'll probably know her for her Twitter Lore Olympus alerts.

LaTia Jacquise (00:01:21):
I was expecting that at the least. Love it. 

Stace Babcock (00:01:25):
I feel like Alex and Sampson were just like Lore Olympus alerts.

Sampson Davis (00:01:31):
Yeah, Lore Olympus. Hey, what a time to take a fucking break person who makes Lore Olympus. I need to fucking leave me on that.

LaTia Jacquise (00:01:38):
Oh my god.

Sampson Davis (00:01:40):
Also, fuck Apollo. Fuck Apollo. Fuck him.

LaTia Jacquise (00:01:43):
I'm so glad she's taking a break. But right there, right now? Come on.

Alex Finn (00:01:48):
Yeah. GD

Daniel Andrlik (00:01:50):
Who remembers what happened last time?

LaTia Jacquise (00:01:52):
Ooh, Me. Me. Me.

LaTia Jacquise (00:01:54):
No, I have no idea.

Daniel Andrlik (00:01:56):
I'm going to pick on Sampson.

Stace Babcock (00:02:01):
Oh, yes. We want this to be good products tonight.

Alex Finn (00:02:05):
Yeah.

Sampson Davis (00:02:07):
All right. Let's see what happened last time. Last time, we just watched that NPC Audria, just walk out and then get picked up by a giant bird. And then we're just like, "Okay, that was the thing. We're going to stay in this game for a little bit." So we took a long rest, Dili learned that is illusions, that also Vlad can be solid but he needs to learn that. And he learned that during that long rest that we took in the cave.

Sampson Davis (00:02:29):
After that two or three days I think down the mountains. No real problems there. And then once we got out of the mountains, we split ways with the other NPCs and Vlad gave Dili and Nix kind of a summary of like the structure of the Guardians of Knights Hope. So we learned about the Proctor's and they're kind of management's thing. We also learned about the callers, the recruiters, the guides who educate the noobs and the guardians and special guardians who kind of run the cells and do like kind of like the groundwork, the beat cops of Guardians of Knights Hope kind of.

Sampson Davis (00:03:06):
That was actually a lot of last episode, just a big old Lore dump. One of the biggest competition that the Guardians of Knights Hope have is the Amber Prophecy. Specifically, there is quite a lot of disagreement in terms of the strategies and the use of the Newman era and ciphers around this "ninth" world, ninth in quotation marks. We also saw Ceecee talk to a Wraith horror, didn't really write down a whole lot about that. But then Nix's mom teleports in says, "They're coming. They said your name, we're not safe." And that's where we ended it.

Stace Babcock (00:03:39):
Yeah, suspense. And I remember that Nix and Vlad like almost had a moment. They were so close to achieving some level of understanding.

Daniel Andrlik (00:03:47):
Almost, almost.

Sampson Davis (00:03:48):
And then nothing would happen.

Alex Finn (00:03:52):
Oh wait, what was ChaCha doing?

Daniel Andrlik (00:03:54):
ChaCha I think was talking to her wraith horror person.

Alex Finn (00:03:58):
Okay.

Stace Babcock (00:03:59):
Not buddy cop, I think.

Alex Finn (00:04:00):
Yeah. Not Buddy cop.

Daniel Andrlik (00:04:03):
Yeah not buddy cop.

Alex Finn (00:04:03):
Okay. One day we'll name these people.

Stace Babcock (00:04:06):
That is their name.

Alex Finn (00:04:07):
Oh yeah.

Alex Finn (00:04:08):
I make good names for people.

Daniel Andrlik (00:04:10):
So I have some XP to award because you guys explored those ruins and the Mountains of Thaimar.

Sampson Davis (00:04:16):
Fuck yeah we did

Alex Finn (00:04:17):
Beat the shit out of them.

Daniel Andrlik (00:04:18):
Yes you did. You each get two XP.

Alex Finn (00:04:21):
Heck yeah.

Daniel Andrlik (00:04:21):
And Dili gets an extra XP because he's been leaning into his metal sons automaton nature inside of him.

Sampson Davis (00:04:28):
Hell Yeah.

Alex Finn (00:04:29):
His metal son's embrace.

Sampson Davis (00:04:31):
LaTia, if it doesn't make sense, that it's working as planned.

LaTia Jacquise (00:04:35):
Perfect.

Daniel Andrlik (00:04:36):
At this moment, at the beginning. Nix, your mother has just appeared and said those things and then she immediately fits us out. It's just that same sort of quick teleportation that she's been doing for so long and she's gone.

Stace Babcock (00:04:51):
Guy's that seemed bad, Dili. Dili, that seemed bad.

Sampson Davis (00:04:55):
Yeah. Is there anything we can really do, though?

Stace Babcock (00:04:58):
I mean, I think we got to get to Qi. Check on them, make sure.

Sampson Davis (00:05:03):
He is Catholic. It's literally on the other side of the stedfast, right? What if she's not there? Do you think we can make that in time to do anything?

Stace Babcock (00:05:12):
It kind of seemed like she thought so. She teleported here to warn me. Which also bad, does that mean the teleportation attacks are ongoing?

Daniel Andrlik (00:05:23):
Of course they are. She's not being treated anymore.

Stace Babcock (00:05:28):
Who let this happen?

Daniel Andrlik (00:05:33):
And Nix, you would know that it's at least two to three months to travel to Keith from here.

Stace Babcock (00:05:39):
Guys. We're going to have to steal a ship again. Like there's just no way.

Sampson Davis (00:05:43):
Steal a ship. Hey Vlad, do you have a ship in your pocket?

Daniel Andrlik (00:05:46):
No.

Alex Finn (00:05:46):
You're just happy to see me.

Sampson Davis (00:05:48):
Okay.

Daniel Andrlik (00:05:48):
And we need to get Race to a safe house.

Sampson Davis (00:05:52):
Oh, yeah.

Daniel Andrlik (00:05:53):
To take him out of his stasis pod.

Sampson Davis (00:05:55):
Hey, I forgot about this.

Daniel Andrlik (00:05:57):
Right here.

Stace Babcock (00:05:58):
Honestly, it's a stasis pod, its stasis. So he can really stay in there.

Daniel Andrlik (00:06:03):
Vlad is just looking at you with just a dead eyed stare.

Alex Finn (00:06:05):
Again.

Daniel Andrlik (00:06:05):
Then he looks back at Dili and ChaCha says, "We need to get down the mountains."

Sampson Davis (00:06:11):
Right yeah.

Alex Finn (00:06:12):
So we could just push him down the mountain and one person rides on top. Just tie yourself. That's fine.

Daniel Andrlik (00:06:18):
But the problem is, it's frictionless. Dili already showed that he slipped right off when he tried to get on it.

Alex Finn (00:06:24):
So could we open it up, shove a rope in and kind of jet ski.

Stace Babcock (00:06:28):
It's frictionless. So you can't sit on it and have it move. It'll slide right out from under you.

Alex Finn (00:06:32):
No, no, no, no, no. When you're going on a boat and then there's that one person who is, "Hey, you know what's totally cool, Let me hang off the back of the boat. I've got a rope. It's fine. Don't worry about it." But like 50% of the time that person gets eaten.

Sampson Davis (00:06:46):
But definitely not. We're definitely not doing that. For sure. I don't want to get dragged down a mountain.

Daniel Andrlik (00:06:50):
So, it's at this moment where you guys hear a loud burst of thunder. Or it's sort of like thunder except it's got a high pitched whine next to it. It's almost like its thunder but if it was being played through a terrible speaker that's of course weren't shielded and it's close. And there is these other weird rumblings.

Daniel Andrlik (00:07:15):
And as you guys look, you can see down where the cloud cover is below the mountains where you are, you can see that it has turned a familiar shade of dark green with jade green, wrapping through it. And you can see, like the way you would probably go down the mountain that there's wildlife down there. And as soon as the storm reaches them they start shifting and changing, like mutating, and crisperfying, very similar to what you saw outside of Doc Taraz home when you blew it up.

Stace Babcock (00:07:55):
I heard crisper flying, and I feel like that cannot be what you said.

Daniel Andrlik (00:08:00):
Crisperfying. Yeah.

Alex Finn (00:08:01):
Making crispy.

Stace Babcock (00:08:03):
Crisperfying, not crisper flying.

LaTia Jacquise (00:08:05):
A fine distinction. Alright.

Daniel Andrlik (00:08:08):
So you see this on ChaCha, you would immediately recognize it as a void storm. And Vlad says, "That's not good."

Alex Finn (00:08:16):
Question. Do we have the battery or no.

Daniel Andrlik (00:08:20):
You still have that battery. But you have to go down to the cloud cover. It's a hike down to get to the edge. Although you do know that void storms can last for days. Just because you've traveled the mountains so much.

Alex Finn (00:08:34):
Okay Dili, here's a question. You think we can use the battery on this and make it go away?

Sampson Davis (00:08:39):
I think the battery is charged. Unless you have a way to discharge it. But then I think that'd just be like using a small glass to take water out of a large boat at that point. I don't know if that'd be something you could do.

Alex Finn (00:08:52):
Can we plug you into the battery and charge your son?

Sampson Davis (00:08:56):
I don't think that's how either of those things work. So no.

Daniel Andrlik (00:09:01):
It's at this moment where I would say Dili, you're probably close enough that you hear Vlads voice just a little bit behind you and you hear him just sort of under his breath say "Fuck."

Sampson Davis (00:09:14):
Yes. Vlad. Do you have something to share with the class?

Stace Babcock (00:09:18):
Spicy up for Dili.

Daniel Andrlik (00:09:19):
You turn around and Vlad is nowhere to be seen.

Sampson Davis (00:09:23):
Hey Nix, I think you got your wish.

Daniel Andrlik (00:09:25):
And coming out from around this bend on a trail. You see a figure that seems to be riding what looks like almost like a manta ray except it's floating about four feet off the ground.

Stace Babcock (00:09:39):
Dope.

Daniel Andrlik (00:09:43):
And that figure, what does that figure look like LaTia?

LaTia Jacquise (00:09:44):
That figure is dressed for the occasion. That is riding a manta ray four foot off the ground near a void storm. The kind of striking thing about them is that their skin is like this, opalescent amber color, reflecting off the crackling lightning. The closer you get it's just like she's made of crystal, amber crystal. And her manta ray is kind of afraid of the storm. So can you please just, we've done this before, it's not the first time. Come on, come on, come on.

Daniel Andrlik (00:10:22):
And I would say LaTia, this has been a long suffering problem because your manta rays afraid of the storm. And you also know that this creature is theoretically capable of flying at the level of a bird. You just happen to know that this creature is scared of heights.

Alex Finn (00:10:40):
Oh, man.

Daniel Andrlik (00:10:43):
What is the manta rays name?

LaTia Jacquise (00:10:44):
You know, it's just called manta ray. Because, this is not my first manta ray and I've just gotten used to disappointment.

Alex Finn (00:10:56):
Kind of like roach.

LaTia Jacquise (00:10:57):
Yes. Exactly like roach. So I'm coming around this bend on my manta ray and do I see these three?

Stace Babcock (00:11:04):
Can I ask a couple questions?

LaTia Jacquise (00:11:06):
Yeah.

Stace Babcock (00:11:07):
So is your character kneeling on the manta ray? Are they surfing the manta ray?

LaTia Jacquise (00:11:13):
Given the storm, kneeling.

Stace Babcock (00:11:16):
Okay. All right.

LaTia Jacquise (00:11:18):
Like crisscross applesauce, kind of.

Stace Babcock (00:11:21):
Oh, awesome.

Daniel Andrlik (00:11:23):
So what you see Lachlan is, as you come around the bed, you see three figures and what looks to be a long, egg shaped, golden pot of some sort floating off the ground about a foot. That upon itself is about eight feet in length and about four feet in height. The figures you see, a tall woman with green hair, a bright blue jacket and what appears to be on, I think you stole some pants so your machine leg isn't showing.

Stace Babcock (00:11:57):
She's wearing the leathers zip off shorts Pants.

Alex Finn (00:12:00):
Yes.

Stace Babcock (00:12:01):
She actually traded out the top. She's wearing an eel shirt. Whatever came off the eels in a cloak.

Daniel Andrlik (00:12:09):
Okay. You see a short man with dark hair and dark green eyes. You see a very small, maybe a woman. It's not sure, she's about the height of a child just wearing like a lime green, short legged romper and a flamboyant red cloak with a hood. And she's blond haired, blue eyed and even from a distance you can tell there's something weird with the way she looks at things. Like she seems like she's always got 1000 yard stare.

LaTia Jacquise (00:12:40):
Okay. What are you all doing out here?

Stace Babcock (00:12:42):
Hey? Whats up? So funny story, we were exploring the ruins that are just over there and heading back to town and we saw this storm and then our supervisor disappeared, thank God. So yeah, we're just sort of thinking about what to do about this void storm, my mom's in danger I think, so were just trying to make some decisions. What brings you here? I'm Nix, this is Dili.

Sampson Davis (00:13:13):
You see this short man kind of looking at the tall woman just like what?

Stace Babcock (00:13:18):
And this is ChaCha.

Alex Finn (00:13:20):
Are we supposed to use those names?

Stace Babcock (00:13:23):
Oh shit. I'm Carlisle, that's Bork, and this is Baby Pack.

LaTia Jacquise (00:13:31):
So the look on my face is just very calm. Like in the midst of trying to handle manta ray and the oncoming storm, her expression doesn't really change. Okay, Carlisle, Bork and ChaCha Baby Pack.

Alex Finn (00:13:50):
Just Baby Pack like Cher.

Stace Babcock (00:13:52):
Yeah, we're not that formal.

LaTia Jacquise (00:13:55):
Okay, Baby Pack. I am on my way to the Cloudbridge. There's a Cloudbridge. Did you know there was a Cloudbridge?

Sampson Davis (00:14:02):
No.

Alex Finn (00:14:02):
Literal Cloudbridge or like figurative we've made it look like clouds.

LaTia Jacquise (00:14:08):
No, not actually made of clouds. You can't walk on clouds that I know of? That I know of.

Stace Babcock (00:14:14):
Nix writes that down, Nix writes that down.

LaTia Jacquise (00:14:18):
Yeah, I'm going to cross the Cloudbridge. I'm looking for someone.

Sampson Davis (00:14:23):
What's on the other side of the Cloudbridge?

LaTia Jacquise (00:14:27):
Well, I'm going to a place called Osmus.

Sampson Davis (00:14:28):
Does that strike a bell with any of us?

Daniel Andrlik (00:14:32):
I don't think there's really any chance Dili would know anything about it, but ChaCha and Nix could roll to see if they know. It would be a 15 intellect.

Stace Babcock (00:14:43):
Would navigation or recent events apply?

Daniel Andrlik (00:14:45):
Navigation I would give you, so that'd be 12.

Stace Babcock (00:14:48):
11.

Alex Finn (00:14:48):
I got 19.

Daniel Andrlik (00:14:52):
You've heard of it. It's a rather relatively remote village in the mountains. Osmus is regarded as, at least at some point in history, a pretty wise and powerful ruler who may have controlled quite a bit of land but nothing in your guy's lifetime that you recall. And most of what you've heard is rumors.

Stace Babcock (00:15:13):
Rumors you say? No, I'm Just kidding. I got nothing to roll right now.

LaTia Jacquise (00:15:17):
Rumors. Hearsay.

Daniel Andrlik (00:15:21):
But Dili, you do hear a voice in your head that says, "Osmus." Imagine that with three ellipses after it.

Alex Finn (00:15:29):
He's dot dot doting us.

Sampson Davis (00:15:30):
Internally, Dili will say, "Dude, are you familiar with this place?" It can't be real.

Sampson Davis (00:15:36):
And why not? Spirit of a robot that's inside my brain?

Daniel Andrlik (00:15:40):
You just get silence.

Stace Babcock (00:15:42):
Nice exposition.

Sampson Davis (00:15:43):
All right.

Daniel Andrlik (00:15:46):
Yeah. So Astor leaves you on read.

LaTia Jacquise (00:15:49):
Rude.

Alex Finn (00:15:50):
You didn't raise him like that.

Sampson Davis (00:15:52):
No, that was probably me. That's probably my side.

Stace Babcock (00:15:54):
Nix will pull out her map and hold it up to-

Stace Babcock (00:15:59):
Have you shared your name?

LaTia Jacquise (00:16:00):
No.

Sampson Davis (00:16:01):
Okay.

Alex Finn (00:16:02):
Wait, can my minor effect be it's not a no, no zone.

Daniel Andrlik (00:16:05):
Yes. It is not a no, no zone. ChaCha has never been kicked out of there or been there.

Alex Finn (00:16:13):
Sweet.

Stace Babcock (00:16:13):
So is Osmus, closer to Qi than here, point on the map.

LaTia Jacquise (00:16:16):
I do a point.

Daniel Andrlik (00:16:18):
Okay. It's in the Black Riage, just a little to the south of where you guys are. Or at least that's where she's pointing. However, on your map Nix, you see what looks to be just a crack in the Riage. Like this huge drop. That's what's noted in the elevation like an impassable valley.

Stace Babcock (00:16:39):
That is a bold statement, stranger.

Daniel Andrlik (00:16:42):
And Lachlan you would know that, that span is one of the places where the Cloudbridge can move into position.

LaTia Jacquise (00:16:49):
I suppose you all give me your names. My name is Lachlan.

Sampson Davis (00:16:52):
Hello.

Alex Finn (00:16:53):
Hi.

Stace Babcock (00:16:54):
All right.

LaTia Jacquise (00:16:55):
Well, I point to the slash on the map. Well, the Cloudbridge can move here, the Cloudbridge, it moves. This is one of the places the Cloudbridge can be.

Sampson Davis (00:17:03):
So it can attach to other places, not just this Osmus that you mentioned.

LaTia Jacquise (00:17:14):
It generally just goes into the valley.

Stace Babcock (00:17:18):
But where can I go out of the valley, the other end the moves?

Daniel Andrlik (00:17:23):
Lachlan would know that one side always connects to Osmus. It moves around it like it's a hub.

LaTia Jacquise (00:17:29):
Oh, okay. Oh, no, no. So it always does connects to Osmus but the other end of it, she takes one hand with her finger up and she moves her other hand around it and then realizes that she can't get her hand all the way around it and then comes back around.

Stace Babcock (00:17:48):
Yo guys, this may be like the fast travel solution that we are looking for, to get to key.

Sampson Davis (00:17:55):
I don't think it's going to get us to Qi, I think it's only going to get us to different parts of the mountain or the mountain range.

Stace Babcock (00:18:00):
Dili I never thought you had an incurious mind.

Sampson Davis (00:18:04):
What?

Stace Babcock (00:18:05):
I'm just saying, Let's check it out. Let's go, you do your Numenera thing and ChaCha does her Numenera thing and we see where we can take it.

LaTia Jacquise (00:18:12):
What are your Numenera things?

Sampson Davis (00:18:16):
I'm a Wright by trade.

LaTia Jacquise (00:18:17):
Okay.

Alex Finn (00:18:18):
Are we stealing the bridge? Is this a heist?

Stace Babcock (00:18:21):
No, we are not stealing the bridge, ChaCha. And Nix is just like side eyeing Lachlan.

Alex Finn (00:18:29):
Remember the last heist?

Stace Babcock (00:18:31):
Baby Pack, oh my god. So sorry.

Sampson Davis (00:18:33):
Dili just sighs.

LaTia Jacquise (00:18:41):
Is my manta ray big enough to move this stasis pod?

Daniel Andrlik (00:18:45):
It looks like it could be.

LaTia Jacquise (00:18:48):
Does it look like they would have difficulty moving the status pod?

Daniel Andrlik (00:18:51):
Give me an understanding Numenera roll of twelve.

LaTia Jacquise (00:18:57):
Understanding Numenera. 19.

Daniel Andrlik (00:19:03):
You can tell as it's floating there, it strikes you that you've seen this kind of device before maybe not this exact thing. But the way that it's hovering, you would recognize that it probably actually defies inertia. So it can be pushed easily, it's frictionless and it also, because it defies inertia it only moves while it's being pushed so it can't like slide away or anything like that. But as long as somebody pushes it, it will slide along light as anything until somebody stops applying force to it.

LaTia Jacquise (00:19:37):
Fancy. Okay. Well, I don't know what you three plus Numenera are going to do, but I'm going to the Cloudbridge. You're welcome to join me.

Alex Finn (00:19:49):
If it's mobile. We could steal it.

Stace Babcock (00:19:51):
Baby Pack. We are not stealing the Cloudbridge. Wink.

Alex Finn (00:19:57):
Right.

Stace Babcock (00:19:59):
Daniel, what is the situation, if our characters were good characters, like good people, and we were trying to get race back to Mountains Bone is the void storm blocking our way?

Daniel Andrlik (00:20:11):
Yeah. You cannot get down to the safe house that Vlad was talking about. that void storm is there, you would literally have to go through it.

Stace Babcock (00:20:20):
Yeah. So Dili sidebar.

Sampson Davis (00:20:22):
Hello.

Stace Babcock (00:20:23):
I mean Bork.

Sampson Davis (00:20:25):
Oh, right. Shit.

Stace Babcock (00:20:31):
Baby pack, sidebar.

Alex Finn (00:20:32):
Sidebar to Bork sidebar or joint sidebar.

LaTia Jacquise (00:20:36):
I'm just going to turn around and move away about 10 feet and let me know when you're finished.

Alex Finn (00:20:43):
We deserve this.

Sampson Davis (00:20:44):
Okay, thank you.

Stace Babcock (00:20:46):
Yeah, so we're going to go try to steal this Cloudbridge. Right, guys?

Sampson Davis (00:20:51):
I don't understand why you guys want to steal a Cloudbridge all of a sudden, that seems inconvenient for us.

Stace Babcock (00:20:57):
Why? It seems like a shortcut Dili.

Sampson Davis (00:21:00):
It seems like it'd be huge also,

Stace Babcock (00:21:03):
Well, we're not trying to steal it, steal it we're trying to steal where it goes, we're trying to redirect it and then use it to get to Qi.

Sampson Davis (00:21:10):
But she made it sound like it's only really going to be like in the mountains. So it only just can get us to other parts of the Black Riage.

Stace Babcock (00:21:17):
How big was the circle she made with her finger on the map?

LaTia Jacquise (00:21:21):
I didn't make a circle with my finger on the map. And I actually realized I could have done this instead of trying to go below. But I made a fixed point and showed that the bridge only moves around the fixed point.

Stace Babcock (00:21:34):
So you're just demonstrating it with your hands?

LaTia Jacquise (00:21:36):
Yes. Not on the map.

Stace Babcock (00:21:37):
I think it is more funny that you-

LaTia Jacquise (00:21:39):
It's hilarious.

Stace Babcock (00:21:40):
Yeah. It's great.

Stace Babcock (00:21:42):
And none of us say anything of course. We just nod very sagely while you're doing that. We can't go back to the safe house I say we see, let's just check it out. If it's stealable we steal it, if it's not we don't. Life is full of possibilities.

Daniel Andrlik (00:21:57):
We're going to Osmus, Dili

Sampson Davis (00:21:59):
Talking me, okay cool. We are going to Osmus, Osmund. Is it Osmus or Osmund?

LaTia Jacquise (00:22:04):
You wrote Osmus in my notes.

Sampson Davis (00:22:06):
Osmus. Osmus Jones. That was a non joke. You don't need to laugh to that.

Stace Babcock (00:22:14):
In that movie all I can remember. It was funny but the zit exploding.

Stace Babcock (00:22:21):
Yeah.

Alex Finn (00:22:22):
That's stuck with me.

LaTia Jacquise (00:22:23):
It stuck with a lot of people clearly.

Sampson Davis (00:22:28):
I blocked out that part and now I'm just-

Daniel Andrlik (00:22:30):
You we're saying Dili?

Alex Finn (00:22:31):
What if we absorbed the bridge?

Stace Babcock (00:22:33):
No. We will consult each other before anybody absorbs like anything. I think that is a good crew rule moving forward.

Daniel Andrlik (00:22:44):
Lachlan, one thing I'll let you know is that as Nix's has been talking, you have noticed occasionally just a little bit behind her front incisors you can occasionally see fangs extending out underneath them kind of like serpent fangs.

LaTia Jacquise (00:22:59):
Okay. I make a mental note but I am honestly attempting to let them plan whatever crimes they're trying to plan but I'm trying to calm down manta ray.

Daniel Andrlik (00:23:09):
Okay. Give me an intellect roll of nine to try to calm down manta ray. I'll give you an asset since you've been together for a long time. So it's a six.

LaTia Jacquise (00:23:18):
Nice. I rolled a five.

Daniel Andrlik (00:23:21):
Manta ray is very upset and is starting to get a little bit lower to the ground and almost trying to curl up their flaps.

LaTia Jacquise (00:23:31):
It's okay manta ray, do you want to go solo. I won't hop on. I'll just walk with you.

Daniel Andrlik (00:23:37):
It just makes this weird sort of whimpering noise which it's a little hard to hear because their mouth is on the bottom of them so it has to hit the ground and then bounce back up to you.

LaTia Jacquise (00:23:47):
Okay. Well, we'll be out of the storm soon. As soon as we hit the Cloudbridge and get to Osmus. I pad it on the top part of its body.

Stace Babcock (00:23:59):
I'm going to look up a manta ray to refresh my memory of what exactly a manta ray looks like.

Alex Finn (00:24:03):
It's got the little derpy smile.

Stace Babcock (00:24:05):
Does it got little antennae?

Alex Finn (00:24:06):
No, no didlyboops.

Sampson Davis (00:24:11):
It's got kind of mouth scoops.

LaTia Jacquise (00:24:11):
It's got kind of mouth scoops. No didly boops but it's got mouth scoops.

Stace Babcock (00:24:14):
Yeah. I see the mouth scoops.

Alex Finn (00:24:17):
And you see how it smiles?

LaTia Jacquise (00:24:18):
Right now, I don't think manta ray is smiling because it's sad.

Daniel Andrlik (00:24:23):
Right.

Stace Babcock (00:24:25):
We got aliens on this planet, it's wild. I'm looking inside of manta rays mouth right now. All right. So Nix will turn to, unless there's more to this scene. You have something?

Sampson Davis (00:24:36):
Yes. I don't think Cloudbridge is actually going to be that interesting. Just going to say that, so don't steal the Cloudbridge because you're going to be sad, you're going to be sad and disappointed.

Stace Babcock (00:24:44):
Yeah. I think you're right Dili. We're thinking too far ahead. I think we should just decide if we're going to take the Cloudbridge.

Sampson Davis (00:24:52):
Oh my god. We're going to get to the Cloudbridge and there's going to be a fucking ladder.

Stace Babcock (00:24:57):
No, I mean are we literally going to travel on it Dili? Are we going to take it?

Sampson Davis (00:25:01):
I think we should, because here's the thing Asters get a little bratty, but he wants to go to Osmus because he says it shouldn't be real. And I feel as, ChaCha earmuffs

Alex Finn (00:25:10):
Okay.

Sampson Davis (00:25:11):
As Guardians of Night's Hope, this actually might be a good thing for us. Okay ChaCha I'm done.

Alex Finn (00:25:14):
Okay.

Stace Babcock (00:25:15):
All right. So quick thumbs up thumbs down, do we travel the Cloudbridge. Ready guys? three, two, one.

Sampson Davis (00:25:23):
Dili does a thumbs up because this is an audio format.

Stace Babcock (00:25:26):
So does Nix.

Alex Finn (00:25:28):
ChaCha does that sideways thumbs up.

Stace Babcock (00:25:31):
ChaCha don't care as long as she gets paid. Got it, yeah. Nix gives ChaCha a hi five for that.

Alex Finn (00:25:36):
ChaCha accepts the hi five. Wait do we do a strength check to see who wins.

Stace Babcock (00:25:41):
Girl.

Sampson Davis (00:25:45):
ChaCha loses an arm.

Stace Babcock (00:25:46):
Nix's has one thing. Two things. Okay. Lachlan.

LaTia Jacquise (00:25:51):
Are you finished?

Stace Babcock (00:25:52):
Yeah. Yeah. We're going to go ahead and go with you. If that's still cool.

LaTia Jacquise (00:25:55):
Sure. The more the merrier.

Stace Babcock (00:25:57):
Sweet

Daniel Andrlik (00:25:58):
Safety in Numbers.

Stace Babcock (00:25:59):
Yeah. We also have two additional members of our party to introduce you to. And next will pull a fur ball out of her shirt.

LaTia Jacquise (00:26:06):
What is that?

Stace Babcock (00:26:09):
This is Hubert the second. We found him in a locked box in the ruin. This is possibly one of my best friends.

Alex Finn (00:26:19):
ChaCha looks offended.

Daniel Andrlik (00:26:20):
He does like a spherical fluffy ball.

LaTia Jacquise (00:26:23):
Tribble.

Stace Babcock (00:26:24):
ChaCha. I mean, Baby Pack you're family. You're family.

LaTia Jacquise (00:26:27):
Does it have a discernible face?

Daniel Andrlik (00:26:29):
It has two dark eyes that always look a little bit moist, like a puppies eyes. But no nose or mouth that you can see and it's mostly spherical.

LaTia Jacquise (00:26:41):
Okay.

Daniel Andrlik (00:26:42):
With no obvious legs.

LaTia Jacquise (00:26:44):
It's cute.

Stace Babcock (00:26:45):
Yeah, no totally. Yeah. It appears to be like its main function and it also keeps me warm when it's cold. So that's nice.

Daniel Andrlik (00:26:52):
It kind of cuddles into your hand a little bit.

Stace Babcock (00:26:56):
ChaCha, you want to?

Alex Finn (00:26:59):
Who is this ChaCha you keep referring to?

Stace Babcock (00:27:02):
Oh yeah. Someone who like looks just like you and Nix is like looking. Sorry, I just get you mixed up all the time Baby Pack.

Sampson Davis (00:27:13):
Lachlan, I have a confession to make these aren't our real names.

LaTia Jacquise (00:27:18):
Really? I had no idea.

Sampson Davis (00:27:21):
I know. We're very good at it now.

LaTia Jacquise (00:27:25):
I'm completely fooled.

Sampson Davis (00:27:28):
I'm sorry. I just felt like we should get that off our chest if we're going to be traveling for a little bit together.

LaTia Jacquise (00:27:34):
I appreciate your honesty, Dili.

Alex Finn (00:27:36):
Are you pro Charmonde or anti Charmonde? These are important questions we ask.

Stace Babcock (00:27:44):
But maybe we could ask them while we're moving.

LaTia Jacquise (00:27:48):
We're doing a walk and talk now.

Stace Babcock (00:27:49):
Walk and talk.

LaTia Jacquise (00:27:50):
It's happening.

Sampson Davis (00:27:52):
And by the way we have another companion in the pod. He's fine in there. Don't worry about him.

Alex Finn (00:27:56):
He's better in the pod because he-

Sampson Davis (00:27:58):
It's a lot better that he's in the pod.

Alex Finn (00:27:59):
So much better that he's in the pod yeah.

LaTia Jacquise (00:28:01):
I was going to say the fact that he's in the pod suggests he might not be okay. But that's okay.

Alex Finn (00:28:08):
He's a little troublemaker.

LaTia Jacquise (00:28:10):
I know enough about Numenera to know what this thing kind of does. My specialty is more finding them than using them.

Stace Babcock (00:28:18):
Hell yeah. All right.

LaTia Jacquise (00:28:21):
That means I'm a delve.

Daniel Andrlik (00:28:26):
We all look at the camera.

Stace Babcock (00:28:29):
Lachlan, if you had to describe yourself in one sentence.

LaTia Jacquise (00:28:37):
I suppose I'd be this kind of serene Delve who emerged from the obelisk but that's neither here nor there.

Stace Babcock (00:28:46):
Yeah, no I get it. I get it. Cool. All right. Onward.

LaTia Jacquise (00:28:51):
I'm walking alongside manta ray because manta ray is too low to the ground to make flying palatable.

Stace Babcock (00:28:57):
I don't know if Nix knows where she's going but she confidently sets out in a direction.

Sampson Davis (00:29:02):
Dili's pushing the pod.

Daniel Andrlik (00:29:03):
It's definitely the wrong direction by the way, Lachlan. You know the direction where the Cloudbridge is supposed to be. Nix has definitely started going in a way that will eventually lead the wrong way.

LaTia Jacquise (00:29:12):
Unless you left something back there, Carlisle whose real name I don't know.

Stace Babcock (00:29:16):
It's Nix. Yeah.

LaTia Jacquise (00:29:17):
You're going the wrong way Nix.

Alex Finn (00:29:19):
We left some people, two people.

Sampson Davis (00:29:22):
No we didn't, they left us.

Alex Finn (00:29:24):
Did they also get killed by birds?

Stace Babcock (00:29:27):
Well, first of all we don't know she got killed. Second of all, no, they went to their own village remember? So we only have Wraith, Vlads missing, great. And then Hubert the first remaining un-introduced. This way, Lachlan this way?

LaTia Jacquise (00:29:44):
Yes.

Stace Babcock (00:29:45):
Alright alright

Daniel Andrlik (00:29:47):
Do you put Hubert the second back in his?

Stace Babcock (00:29:49):
Yeah. Well, because it's cold right? Nix is?

Daniel Andrlik (00:29:51):
Yeah it is. You're on a mountain top.

Stace Babcock (00:29:52):
Cold blooded.

Daniel Andrlik (00:29:55):
You are feeling sluggish Nix, by the way. In this cold you are hindered. So, it's not that long a track, it takes about a day to get to the edge of this valley, this huge drop off. But the one thing that is not on the map is a massive stone structure stretching easily 3000 feet across this ravine. It's very wide too. So when you get to it, it's structured like a tunnel almost. So like there's an opening in this rock that seems to lead into a wide space, this thing is probably about 300 feet wide.

Daniel Andrlik (00:30:39):
And the opening is 500 feet tall. It's this massive opening and you guys can see is this bridge spans the area that at the center of this bridge, is a tether that seems to be tying it to a large boulder floating in the air and that tether almost, it doesn't seem like a supporting tether. It's like that tether is trying to hold the boulder from going away.

Stace Babcock (00:31:03):
I just want to say throughout the walk here just for flavor. Nix's was definitely sprinting ahead and then sprinting back as she normally does. And when she wasn't doing that she was regaling constantly everybody with her stories of travel. So Lachlan got the full mix experience.

LaTia Jacquise (00:31:18):
Fascinating.

Daniel Andrlik (00:31:19):
Dili has heard most of the stories three times by now.

Stace Babcock (00:31:24):
Dili's mouthing along.

LaTia Jacquise (00:31:25):
I was going to say Dili's mouthing along and Lachlan finds this amusing.

Stace Babcock (00:31:31):
Yo, this it? This it?

LaTia Jacquise (00:31:32):
This is it.

Stace Babcock (00:31:35):
I expect it to be made like out of clouds I guess.

LaTia Jacquise (00:31:37):
I said when I met you all that you can't walk on clouds. You wrote it down.

Stace Babcock (00:31:41):
See that's why I wrote it down.

LaTia Jacquise (00:31:46):
Well, this is it.

Stace Babcock (00:31:48):
Hell yeah.

LaTia Jacquise (00:31:49):
I mean, it makes sense if you're trying to use it to cross into a city and there are void storms, you don't want something that is flimsy. That would you know, get you hit with void storms.

Sampson Davis (00:32:01):
Yeah, for sure. What business do you have in Osmus if that is appropriate to ask?

LaTia Jacquise (00:32:07):
Well, we've been traveling for a day which means I know everything about you all.

Sampson Davis (00:32:10):
Right.

LaTia Jacquise (00:32:11):
I'm looking for Osmus.

Stace Babcock (00:32:14):
Right.

LaTia Jacquise (00:32:16):
Osmus the person the town is named after.

Stace Babcock (00:32:21):
Got a bounty on him or something?

LaTia Jacquise (00:32:25):
No.

Stace Babcock (00:32:26):
Oh.

Sampson Davis (00:32:26):
Just the fan?

Alex Finn (00:32:27):
Do they own part of the door?

Stace Babcock (00:32:29):
ChaCha, ChaCha? ChaCha.

LaTia Jacquise (00:32:31):
The door?

Stace Babcock (00:32:33):
We do not concern ourselves with doors Lachlan, that's the secret that we have to keep. I hope you understand.

LaTia Jacquise (00:32:39):
Does that mean that you don't go through doors or that doors mean nothing to you so you always go through them?

Stace Babcock (00:32:45):
See, I can't answer that question Lachlan, due to a code or oath or something. So I'd appreciate if one, ChaCha if you would stop talking about doors and Lachlan if you would stop asking about doors so that this doesn't get awkward.

LaTia Jacquise (00:33:06):
Fair enough.

Alex Finn (00:33:08):
I think it's pretty awkward right now. Just going to put that out there.

Stace Babcock (00:33:13):
Well look at you. No, I'm just kidding ChaCha. Look at you with your new social skills, ChaCha. That was Stace.

LaTia Jacquise (00:33:25):
But yes, I am looking for Osmus because a friend told me that he might know something about the obelisks.

Stace Babcock (00:33:34):
That you emerged from?

LaTia Jacquise (00:33:36):
I came out of one but there are lots.

Alex Finn (00:33:39):
Is it like your parent or is it the obelisk that raised you?

LaTia Jacquise (00:33:46):
I have to remember that this is an audio format because the journey my face just went on.

Stace Babcock (00:33:53):
It was perfect.

LaTia Jacquise (00:33:57):
Lachlan's face is confused in the sense that she honestly doesn't know how to answer that question.

Sampson Davis (00:34:08):
There's no right way to answer our questions, just do your best.

LaTia Jacquise (00:34:11):
Well, I spent a bit of time in an obelisk but not as a kid. The obelisk is the reason I tap my cheek and you hear the tink tink tink of amber crystal, it's the reason that I'm, and she gestures to herself, it's the reason I'm like this. So I suppose in a way the obelisk I emerged from made me who I am today.

Alex Finn (00:34:35):
So, it is your parent.

LaTia Jacquise (00:34:38):
Sure.

Sampson Davis (00:34:39):
You're trying to find a cure ultimately to at least have the option to go back to not crystal.

LaTia Jacquise (00:34:45):
No, being made of crystal is pretty neat.

Sampson Davis (00:34:48):
Okay.

Stace Babcock (00:34:48):
That's what I'm saying. Transformation can really rock.

Alex Finn (00:34:53):
We can play the transformation game.

Stace Babcock (00:34:55):
No, no.

Sampson Davis (00:34:55):
No, nope.

Alex Finn (00:34:56):
No chat.

Sampson Davis (00:34:57):
No. We're not doing that.

Stace Babcock (00:34:59):
Lachlan just full disclosure because we accidentally killed a guy this way one time, but ChaCha can kind of mutate people on command. Do not play the game.

Sampson Davis (00:35:08):
Well hold on, not quite out command.

LaTia Jacquise (00:35:11):
Lachlan just takes three steps away from ChaCha.

Stace Babcock (00:35:13):
She does have to be physically touching you, so bare skin to bare skin, hence the gloves.

Alex Finn (00:35:20):
Is it bare skin to bare skin or is it just my bare skin to somebody in general?

Daniel Andrlik (00:35:26):
I don't think you've done empirical testing.

Alex Finn (00:35:28):
We have not tried it on trees.

Stace Babcock (00:35:30):
And we will not. We'll just keep that in our pocket ChaCha.

Alex Finn (00:35:35):
I mean, it's good to know.

LaTia Jacquise (00:35:37):
We should get on the Cloudbridge before it continues to move.

Stace Babcock (00:35:42):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Sampson Davis (00:35:43):
Right. Yeah, yeah.

Stace Babcock (00:35:43):
Nix steps on to the Cloudbridge.

Sampson Davis (00:35:46):
Dili follows.

Stace Babcock (00:35:47):
Honestly, it seems like this is a stone bridge or like a rock bridge or-

Sampson Davis (00:35:51):
Oh my God Nix, that's not the point.

LaTia Jacquise (00:35:55):
It is made of mountain rock. Yes.

Stace Babcock (00:35:56):
Mountain rock bridge. Here we go. All right.

Daniel Andrlik (00:35:58):
As you guys walk in, you can see that there's vast ceilings in here. But along the side of this bridge are, they're not familiar or shapes per se, but they're the kind of thing that you look at them and you think these were houses or buildings. This place is lined with the ruins of buildings but very unfamiliar structures to anything you guys have seen in the ninth world.

Daniel Andrlik (00:36:25):
But it looks like you're not sure if you have the right basis for comparison for it but if you had to guess it looks almost residential. But it could be anything, the buildings are odd shapes. Nix is gushing and jotting into her journal.

LaTia Jacquise (00:36:41):
From what Lachlan knows of current ninth world, civilization doesn't look prior world.

Daniel Andrlik (00:36:48):
It definitely would be prior world, I think Lachlan would know that for sure.

LaTia Jacquise (00:36:52):
I'll point that out as we're walking like, "This is definitely prior world construction."

Stace Babcock (00:37:00):
Nix is just writing out exactly what Lachlan says and drawing. She's not a good artist. I want to make that clear these drawings are not actually reflective.

Daniel Andrlik (00:37:09):
Is Nix also drawing little stick figures, like imagining people in them?

Stace Babcock (00:37:13):
No. She's drawing the party next to them.

Daniel Andrlik (00:37:16):
Okay. Okay.

Stace Babcock (00:37:19):
Yo Lachlan, how do you even know about this Cloudbridge and that this is prior world?

LaTia Jacquise (00:37:24):
Well, I know it's prior world because I've seen enough prior world stuff on my delves to notice I suppose. The Cloudbridge, and she's been holding a book in her hands this whole time and just glancing at it as we've been walking. I got this from a friend who told me how to get here to Osmus.

Daniel Andrlik (00:37:46):
And it's at this moment you guys hear a loud rumble. And the light behind you from the entrance goes away. And you're just in this dark space with all these ruined buildings.

Sampson Davis (00:37:59):
Did your friend tell you about this?

LaTia Jacquise (00:38:01):
Does this denote that the Cloudbridge has moved away from a light source?

Daniel Andrlik (00:38:05):
I think that Lachlan would have concluded that, yeah.

LaTia Jacquise (00:38:09):
Okay. So and then she opens the book to a certain page and she holds it up as she's walking and points. The Cloudbridge, obviously it moves. So we've moved away from a light source.

Daniel Andrlik (00:38:19):
Okay, good. Lachlan, you notice that this dark area, it's not completely dark but in this dark area you notice that Dili's skull has shifted a bit and his eyes have popped out a little wider as he's looking in the shadows.

LaTia Jacquise (00:38:35):
So can you see?

Sampson Davis (00:38:36):
See what?

LaTia Jacquise (00:38:37):
How many fingers am I holding up, and she's holding up an amount of fingers.

Sampson Davis (00:38:40):
Four.

LaTia Jacquise (00:38:41):
You can see.

Sampson Davis (00:38:42):
Yes, I can see you. Yeah, I can see just fine.

Alex Finn (00:38:44):
Yeah, I did that.

Sampson Davis (00:38:45):
Yeah.

LaTia Jacquise (00:38:46):
That's the transformation game?

Stace Babcock (00:38:48):
It is not the only transformation game, so Dili got night vision but our friend Huey got his spine ripped out and bony spines through his jugglers and tentacles out of his mouth or something like that.

Alex Finn (00:39:03):
Disclaimer, that wasn't me.

Sampson Davis (00:39:05):
That's what happened to him.

Alex Finn (00:39:06):
Yeah.

Stace Babcock (00:39:07):
Oh, yeah. It was brutal.

Alex Finn (00:39:10):
But was that me?

Stace Babcock (00:39:12):
Yeah, totally you. I was there, remember?

Alex Finn (00:39:14):
Alternate timeline?

Stace Babcock (00:39:17):
Alternate timeline.

Alex Finn (00:39:18):
Okay, we're fine. We're fine. Then technically it wasn't me.

Stace Babcock (00:39:21):
Yeah, we undid it but the potential is there.

Alex Finn (00:39:24):
That guy lost an arm.

Stace Babcock (00:39:26):
That one guy lost an arm. It's really a crapshoot Lachlan.

Sampson Davis (00:39:29):
Yeah, I got lucky. That's fine. Boy, it's hot on this Cloudbridge.

Daniel Andrlik (00:39:36):
It is oddly humid in here.

Stace Babcock (00:39:38):
So Nix is nice and warm now?

Daniel Andrlik (00:39:41):
Yeah, Nix is feeling pretty good in the Cloudbridge.

Alex Finn (00:39:42):
But wait, ChaCha's going to take out the battery and see if anything activates with the battery.

Daniel Andrlik (00:39:48):
No. The battery looks normal.

Alex Finn (00:39:50):
ChaCha taps it on the wall.

Daniel Andrlik (00:39:51):
There is the sound of metal on rock.

Alex Finn (00:39:55):
I think we broke it Dili.

Sampson Davis (00:39:57):
I think you just haven't closed the circuit but don't do it because we don't really know what that does in battery form. Lachlan for context, ChaCha's holding a battery filled with void storm energy.

LaTia Jacquise (00:40:08):
Oh, fascinating.

Sampson Davis (00:40:10):
Yeah.

Alex Finn (00:40:10):
We saved some lives. Not a lot but some, with it.

Stace Babcock (00:40:15):
Our balance sheet is rough, it is rough.

Sampson Davis (00:40:18):
It's pretty bad actually.

Alex Finn (00:40:20):
If you look at it city by city, it's actually pretty good. Like cities we've helped versus cities we have not helped.

Stace Babcock (00:40:30):
Yeah, the ones we have not helped are definitely better off. No, I see what you're saying.

LaTia Jacquise (00:40:36):
Again, another incredulous look on Lachlan's face here.

Daniel Andrlik (00:40:41):
ChaCha, I will offer you an XP. Who will you give the other XP to?

Alex Finn (00:40:46):
Give it to Lachlan, so you have something to burn.

LaTia Jacquise (00:40:47):
Excellent.

Alex Finn (00:40:49):
Because we're going to be high jinks.

Daniel Andrlik (00:40:51):
ChaCha, in your pocket or not your pocket but your bag. So it's not Hubert the first. You feel a little quivering.

Alex Finn (00:41:02):
There's something in my backpack. Dili can you see because you have the night vision? Like I'll give you a knife to check.

Sampson Davis (00:41:09):
This is another game I don't like when we play.

Daniel Andrlik (00:41:13):
This is like holding out an alien face hugger egg to somebody and saying, Could you take a closer look at this for me?"

Alex Finn (00:41:17):
I looked at it as when you smell something bad and you're just like, "Hey, you smell this?"

Sampson Davis (00:41:24):
Alright, I'll take a look.

Sampson Davis (00:41:25):
Did you offer a Dili a knife?

Alex Finn (00:41:26):
Mm-hmm (affirmative)

Sampson Davis (00:41:27):
Dili takes the knife. Then slowly just peeks into the bag just not very close.

Sampson Davis (00:41:33):
What do I see then?

Daniel Andrlik (00:41:34):
You see what looks to be just ChaCha's belongings at first and then just as you're about to look away, you notice one item inside quiver. The jade egg.

Alex Finn (00:41:44):
Oh no.

Daniel Andrlik (00:41:45):
That ChaCha stole from Doc Taraz lab.

Alex Finn (00:41:54):
Oh no, oh, no.

Sampson Davis (00:41:54):
I Dili's going to look at it for half a second and just, "Oh," and then back away. The jade egg, it's hatching.

Alex Finn (00:42:01):
Is this one of those situations where we want to be close to it so it imprints on us and thinks we're it's parents or one of those situations where you want to throw it away so that it won't eat us thinking it's, it's parents.

Sampson Davis (00:42:12):
ChaCha you should drop the bag.

LaTia Jacquise (00:42:13):
May I attempt to use an ability.

Alex Finn (00:42:16):
Yes.

LaTia Jacquise (00:42:16):
I'd love to try to foil danger right now.

Daniel Andrlik (00:42:21):
Okay.

LaTia Jacquise (00:42:24):
I negate one source of potential danger related to one creature or object that I am aware of, which I'm now aware of as Dili said, the egg. I have to roll against the level of the attack danger or creature.

Daniel Andrlik (00:42:36):
Okay, six.

LaTia Jacquise (00:42:37):
Six. Okay.

Stace Babcock (00:42:38):
The egg is level two, noted.

LaTia Jacquise (00:42:43):
I rolled a 16.

Alex Finn (00:42:45):
Yeah.

Stace Babcock (00:42:45):
Hell yeah.

Daniel Andrlik (00:42:46):
Nice. Yeah. So you know that it's there and you make a plan for it. And I think Lachlan you would know that for whatever reason, you're not sure how you know, there's something that looks off about the eggs position. And you could move the egg and make the situation better.

LaTia Jacquise (00:43:05):
Okay. So I adjust the egg.

Daniel Andrlik (00:43:08):
It goes quiescent underneath your hands, it stops quivering.

Alex Finn (00:43:12):
So is this egg like a vibrator that we accidentally jostled while going through the tunnels.

Stace Babcock (00:43:17):
That's why you got to take the batteries out, for travel. It's 101.

Alex Finn (00:43:20):
Or it's like the rechargeable ones, some of them have a lock mode. Remember to lock them.

Stace Babcock (00:43:26):
Got to lock them.

LaTia Jacquise (00:43:27):
Anyway, how big is this egg?

Daniel Andrlik (00:43:29):
It's a jade egg that Doc Taraz was selling for personal uses. So about that size.

Stace Babcock (00:43:34):
It'll fit into a vaginal cavity.

LaTia Jacquise (00:43:38):
Fantastic. I see. Should I put this back?

Alex Finn (00:43:43):
I just took it.

Stace Babcock (00:43:45):
I wouldn't use it because they are highly addictive.

Alex Finn (00:43:49):
And they do explode.

Stace Babcock (00:43:50):
We are also concerned that they-

Alex Finn (00:43:53):
They explode right? Like when I lit that fire that was an explosion caused by jade eggs?

Stace Babcock (00:43:58):
I thought once incubated they hatched into a creature?

Alex Finn (00:44:03):
Was I in this conversation?

Daniel Andrlik (00:44:05):
I don't think you guys ever confirmed that. You saw those tanks with those creatures in it. The tanks were the same color as the eggs.

LaTia Jacquise (00:44:12):
So I'm really only good at salvaging Numenera, but what I know that this was a Numenera or do I suspect it might be a Numenera.

Daniel Andrlik (00:44:24):
Give me a nine salvaging Numenera roll to see if you could identify.

LaTia Jacquise (00:44:28):
Salvaging. I'm trained in that. Okay, these are clearly cipher system guys, because they don't treat me this well in any other TTRPG. That's an 18.

Daniel Andrlik (00:44:39):
Okay, cool. So you can tell that there's something about it that strikes you as it is biological but it is still Numenera.

LaTia Jacquise (00:44:48):
Interesting.

Daniel Andrlik (00:44:50):
It's stretchy like a biological construct. It could still operate in many organic ways, but it's definitely Numenera and if you chose To you could take it apart to try to look for bio or other components inside. But it is also once again organic. So whatever's in there that's quivering is probably alive.

LaTia Jacquise (00:45:14):
Right. And knowing that I'm not about to make an omelet in the middle of the Cloudbridge.

Stace Babcock (00:45:19):
Mountain Rock Bridge, Lachlan.

LaTia Jacquise (00:45:22):
Mountain rock bridge. Maybe I should hold on to it so it doesn't do that again.

Stace Babcock (00:45:32):
With your hands, yeah.

LaTia Jacquise (00:45:33):
No, no. I will continue to hold it.

Stace Babcock (00:45:35):
Right. Yeah, yes. Daniel isn't Nix's prosthetic made from the same jade?

Daniel Andrlik (00:45:41):
Yeah, it's got the same technology. It's why your diodes on your leg will occasionally go jade green, because that is Doc Taraz design that she contributed.

LaTia Jacquise (00:45:49):
Okay.

Stace Babcock (00:45:49):
So, the moment we've all been waiting for, Nix unzips her left pants leg into shorts and rolls it up to take a look at the device that holds her prosthetic onto her thigh.

Daniel Andrlik (00:46:03):
That would be difficult because that goes up higher than shorts. So that's closer to your hip.

Stace Babcock (00:46:10):
Then it's not the moment we've all been waiting for, Nix drops her pants. Far enough to see, far enough to see.

Daniel Andrlik (00:46:19):
Yeah, it has that same sort of green glow, but the material self isn't jade.

Stace Babcock (00:46:24):
Okay. Nix pulls her pants back up.

LaTia Jacquise (00:46:28):
I think ChaCha just looks at Nix's confused Like what?

Stace Babcock (00:46:31):
I was just checking on it, in case.

Sampson Davis (00:46:33):
Because same design, right?

Stace Babcock (00:46:36):
Or something. I don't know Dili, you know I don't know.

Alex Finn (00:46:38):
You worried something's going to pop out of your leg and just going to be like, "I'm baby."

Stace Babcock (00:46:43):
Yeah, kind of. Alright so Lachlan, you're incubating that. I think that's good.

Sampson Davis (00:46:48):
She's holding it.

Stace Babcock (00:46:49):
Right. Keeping it warm. Yeah.

LaTia Jacquise (00:46:51):
Okay.

Stace Babcock (00:46:53):
Cool. How long is this bridge?

Alex Finn (00:46:56):
Forever.

LaTia Jacquise (00:46:57):
Long. Really long.

Sampson Davis (00:46:59):
One whole cloud.

LaTia Jacquise (00:47:01):
One entire cloud.

Stace Babcock (00:47:03):
Guys, come on. We know it's not a cloud, we've covered that.

Alex Finn (00:47:06):
Or is it?

Sampson Davis (00:47:08):
But it's in the clouds.

Stace Babcock (00:47:10):
It's in the cloud.

Daniel Andrlik (00:47:13):
Can everybody roll perception for me. The target is nine.

LaTia Jacquise (00:47:20):
I rolled a 16.

Alex Finn (00:47:21):
I got 10.

Sampson Davis (00:47:23):
Dan, is this a visual thing and can I argue for it?

Daniel Andrlik (00:47:26):
It's not visual.

Sampson Davis (00:47:28):
Damn alright. Natural 20 for Dili.

Stace Babcock (00:47:31):
Damn Dili.

Sampson Davis (00:47:33):
The trick is to charge it on the one, when it's not.

Sampson Davis (00:47:35):
What did Nix get?

Stace Babcock (00:47:36):
17.

Daniel Andrlik (00:47:37):
Okay.

Daniel Andrlik (00:47:37):
Everybody hears this weird, distant and kind of echoing through here. Wheel and clicking noise. Dili, what would you propose as a major effect for your 20?

Sampson Davis (00:47:50):
For a major effect, how about Dili knows exactly what that sound is.

Daniel Andrlik (00:47:55):
From the sound, you're not going to be able to tell exactly what it is but it sounds to you like some sort of gigantic insect bellow.

Sampson Davis (00:48:02):
That's hurts again.

Daniel Andrlik (00:48:04):
If an insect was big enough to scream and you could hear it. And whatever it is, is big. And Dili, I would say that you especially since you had that actual 20, it sounds like it's more than one of them.

Sampson Davis (00:48:18):
With the natural 20, can Dili discern predator or prey.

Daniel Andrlik (00:48:22):
It doesn't sound like prey.

Sampson Davis (00:48:27):
Guys, I think those are some big ass bugs that might be hungry for us meat.

Stace Babcock (00:48:32):
I like bugs.

Sampson Davis (00:48:34):
They sound massive. Lachlan did your friend describe bugs, cloud bugs?

LaTia Jacquise (00:48:39):
No. No, no cloud bugs or mountain rock bugs.

Sampson Davis (00:48:43):
We should probably run.

Alex Finn (00:48:48):
To where? We moved away from where we were.

LaTia Jacquise (00:48:51):
Can we tell what direction they're coming from, with those rolls?

Daniel Andrlik (00:48:56):
Farther across the bridge.

LaTia Jacquise (00:48:57):
All right so, where we're going?

Daniel Andrlik (00:49:00):
Yeah, of course.

LaTia Jacquise (00:49:01):
Of course.

Sampson Davis (00:49:02):
Fuck.

Stace Babcock (00:49:03):
I can run down there and see what's up and then run back.

Alex Finn (00:49:07):
Wouldn't it make more sense for Dili to do it because he can see in the dark.

Sampson Davis (00:49:10):
I'm not very fast.

LaTia Jacquise (00:49:12):
We could also hide in some of these buildings.

Stace Babcock (00:49:15):
Whoa.

LaTia Jacquise (00:49:16):
What?

Sampson Davis (00:49:17):
Did you not see them?

Stace Babcock (00:49:18):
That's a great suggestion. I just had not thought about not fighting.

LaTia Jacquise (00:49:25):
You've never... Wow. If they don't see us, then they can just pass us by and we can keep going.

Stace Babcock (00:49:37):
All right. Yeah, yeah. That sounds like-

Alex Finn (00:49:40):
You've never tried that.

Stace Babcock (00:49:41):
That's something stealthy. All right. I can be quiet. She says as she clomps her metal leg.

Daniel Andrlik (00:49:50):
Yeah, it's definitely the sound of like synth on rock. Okay, so you guys want to hide the buildings?

LaTia Jacquise (00:49:55):
Are any of these buildings flat? Are they flat roofed?

Daniel Andrlik (00:49:58):
They are.

LaTia Jacquise (00:49:59):
Okay. So I tell manta ray to go pancake. He's just going to flatten itself on top of one of the buildings.

Daniel Andrlik (00:50:05):
Okay, they can fly themselves somewhere. But they're too scared of heights to go up to the top of buildings.

LaTia Jacquise (00:50:10):
So the buildings are too tall for that.

Daniel Andrlik (00:50:12):
Yeah.

LaTia Jacquise (00:50:12):
Cool. No. Love that.

Stace Babcock (00:50:14):
Is there internal stair access.

LaTia Jacquise (00:50:18):
I don't think manta ray can get into a building.

Stace Babcock (00:50:21):
Wait, how big is a manta ray?

LaTia Jacquise (00:50:23):
It's big enough for me to stand on.

Daniel Andrlik (00:50:25):
Yeah, it's pretty wide. The manta rays wingspan is about seven feet.

Stace Babcock (00:50:30):
Holy shit.

LaTia Jacquise (00:50:32):
Let's see. Have we practiced sideways pancake? Flat up against a wall.

Sampson Davis (00:50:37):
Have you practiced the crepe, just roll.

LaTia Jacquise (00:50:43):
We haven't practiced the crepe. I told manta ray to just get flat.

Daniel Andrlik (00:50:49):
They understand that it's like a trick to hide essentially. So they go over and settle themselves in between one of the buildings laying as flat as they can on the ground. And then you guys are trying to hide one of these buildings.

Sampson Davis (00:51:01):
Yes. And Dili will use his illusion to deepen the shadows around us as we hide.

Daniel Andrlik (00:51:07):
Okay, cool. So in that case, that's Dili is using his illusions to deepen the shadows. A couple of things, Dili give me an intellect roll of nine.

Sampson Davis (00:51:19):
Of nine. For your love and effort, bring it to a 6, 14.

Daniel Andrlik (00:51:24):
The shadows are darker and more real than you expected them to be. And so you guys get hidden and I need everybody to give me a stealth roll of nine as these illusions are aiding.

Sampson Davis (00:51:40):
Stealth, speed or intellect?

Daniel Andrlik (00:51:42):
Speed.

Sampson Davis (00:51:42):
Okay. Trying in stealth.

Stace Babcock (00:51:44):
10.

LaTia Jacquise (00:51:45):
10 also.

Sampson Davis (00:51:46):
11.

Daniel Andrlik (00:51:48):
Okay, you guys all feel very well hidden.

Stace Babcock (00:51:52):
No. Daniel, why do you say it like that?

Daniel Andrlik (00:51:55):
No, no, you guys do. You feel hidden enough that you feel somewhat secure, when you see this massive insect like creature wandering through this street. They move back and forth and make that cry again that chittering roar. And you guys notice, well Dili you can easily see this, on its back attached to its body are some desiccated humanoid corpses that are impaled on spikes in its shell.

Sampson Davis (00:52:29):
Reavers.

Daniel Andrlik (00:52:31):
And it looks around making that chittering roar again. And then there is an answering but softer in tone, chittering response back down the way it came and it slowly turns and it looks at the building you guys are in and it opens its ma with the pincers wide. And you can actually smell this weird fetid smell before it stops turns and begins walking back the way it came.

Stace Babcock (00:53:01):
I want to ride it guys.

Sampson Davis (00:53:03):
Nix no.

Stace Babcock (00:53:08):
We made friends with a dimensional dog, why not this?

Daniel Andrlik (00:53:11):
It is chittering down the way as it's as it's moving away. And then in the distance you hear those legs. It's something that almost makes an almost tinkling sound and it hits up like glass and you hear like skittering on glass before the sounds fade.

Sampson Davis (00:53:29):
I bet you it tripped and slipped on some ice.

LaTia Jacquise (00:53:32):
Smashed into a window somewhere. Interesting.

Sampson Davis (00:53:37):
This thing goes fuck, dammit.

LaTia Jacquise (00:53:42):
Wow. Well, for people who've never hidden before, you're very good at it.

Stace Babcock (00:53:48):
No, we've tried. Yeah. Historically bad at it.

Alex Finn (00:53:55):
Yeah. Like when that guy, that bug came and like it was like, "Rawr." That's usually when we pop out and say, "Fight."

LaTia Jacquise (00:54:02):
Good job on not.

Stace Babcock (00:54:04):
I really wonder if I could have eaten that.

Alex Finn (00:54:06):
Maybe if we had got some rope and tie it down, I think it would work.

Sampson Davis (00:54:10):
How big was this bug?

Daniel Andrlik (00:54:12):
This thing, each of its legs is probably about six feet long. And its thorax is probably four feet across. And it's probably got the length of the whole body is probably 10 feet.

Stace Babcock (00:54:25):
Is it like an ant or like a centipede?

Daniel Andrlik (00:54:27):
It's insectoid so it's got six legs, but its mouth is strange. It's almost like it's got a maw that's insect like but it also has beak like tendencies. From what you could see of its exoskeleton, the exoskeleton looks like almost sort of like a pale red, except for these desiccated bodies attached to it.

Alex Finn (00:54:47):
Fantastic.

LaTia Jacquise (00:54:48):
Well, I suggest we do that again when we get further down.

Stace Babcock (00:54:52):
I'm down to try anything twice. Yeah.

Sampson Davis (00:54:56):
Okay. Do you think we should try to stick to the outskirts of the Cloudbridge, kind of go as far one way to like the wall of the Cloudbridge as we can and then just-

LaTia Jacquise (00:55:05):
Through the buildings of sorts.

Sampson Davis (00:55:07):
Yeah, like stick to the back roads instead of the highway, that kind of thing.

LaTia Jacquise (00:55:10):
That might be good.

Daniel Andrlik (00:55:11):
Just parkour along the buildings.

Sampson Davis (00:55:13):
Nix parkour.

Stace Babcock (00:55:14):
Nix has running, she could do it.

LaTia Jacquise (00:55:17):
But I think we should, as much as we can avoid the main part of the Cloudbridge.

Stace Babcock (00:55:23):
I like this. You're bringing fresh ideas to the group.

Alex Finn (00:55:28):
And perspectives.

LaTia Jacquise (00:55:29):
Let's do it.

Stace Babcock (00:55:30):
All right.

Daniel Andrlik (00:55:31):
Something tells me that Dili is just realizing that this could have been the approach the entire time. And instead he's been listening to these two knuckleheads.

Stace Babcock (00:55:40):
These two experienced woods ladies.

LaTia Jacquise (00:55:44):
I thought you were going to say experienced knuckleheads, and that would have been even better.

Stace Babcock (00:55:49):
Missed opportunities, missed opportunities.

Daniel Andrlik (00:55:51):
You guys are making your way down through these houses. And then you reach a spot where you can see that the houses stop, and it looks like it's almost like a sudden shear stop vertically. And as you get closer, you realize that there is a transparent surface here and Dili you can see obviously, since you have dark sight and can essentially see in darkness as if it's perfect day, that there are a series of circular openings here in different spots. And they've got like a little ridge around them. They look like if you had transparent Mario pipes.

Sampson Davis (00:56:38):
So they definitely don't look like they were bored in by bugs specifically.

Daniel Andrlik (00:56:42):
No, this looks like a structure.

Sampson Davis (00:56:45):
Okay. I don't know if you guys can see it exactly, but some sort of structure made out of a clear material and pipes or holes, pipes or holes?

Daniel Andrlik (00:56:55):
More like pipes.

Sampson Davis (00:56:56):
More like pipes.

LaTia Jacquise (00:56:57):
Okay. So there's something there but it's translucent?

Sampson Davis (00:57:00):
Yes.

Daniel Andrlik (00:57:01):
Yeah.

LaTia Jacquise (00:57:01):
Interesting. Is it impassable?

Daniel Andrlik (00:57:04):
The openings, while they're not like a comfortable size, Dili and ChaCha could probably fit through them without really having to duck but you and Nix would have to crouch to go through them.

Stace Babcock (00:57:16):
Oh, they're walkable.

LaTia Jacquise (00:57:18):
Okay.

Daniel Andrlik (00:57:19):
Yeah.

Stace Babcock (00:57:20):
I was thinking like you really did jump down into them and get teleported, just like that.

Daniel Andrlik (00:57:27):
No, they're like the sideways ones.

Stace Babcock (00:57:33):
Now that Dili's pointed them out can everyone else see at least the hole.

Daniel Andrlik (00:57:38):
Yeah, you guys can make out the outline now. There are like five of them here. And some are a little bit off the ground like about three feet.

Stace Babcock (00:57:45):
Nix will go to the one that is the right mouse.

Daniel Andrlik (00:57:48):
Okay. You can see that there's this circular pipe going this way and you can see at a point where it kind of, to the best of your vision looks like it starts curving to the side and up. The insides look like a perfectly smooth surface.

Stace Babcock (00:58:04):
Curving in the direction we're trying to go?

Daniel Andrlik (00:58:07):
Well, if it still went straight it would be exactly the direction you want to go. But it kind of curves to the right and up.

Stace Babcock (00:58:13):
Nix will look in all of them then to see if there are any that are going straight in the direction that we want to go.

Daniel Andrlik (00:58:19):
They all appear to veer off at some point.

Sampson Davis (00:58:23):
Can Dili make out where they terminate?

Daniel Andrlik (00:58:26):
They don't terminate, they veer off in different directions. So Dili, you can see that some actually go a little bit down. Some of them go off just to the side. Some of them seem to reach a point and they take a 90 degree angle up.

Sampson Davis (00:58:41):
Dili, will point out the ones that veer off to the side. These ones don't seem to have an immediate drop or incline. So probably more passable for us.

Stace Babcock (00:58:50):
All right. Yeah. Like which one Dili? Which one do you want to take?.

Sampson Davis (00:58:55):
For Nix's sake Dili points out the right most of the ones that don't go up or down.

Daniel Andrlik (00:59:01):
So if you guys start going down that way, you go down that path and you reach a point where it sort of veers off to your left and then veers off to the right. For the most part, there's no deviation going on here. One of the things you do notice though is that after you make a turn, you can't see backwards through it. The surfaces mostly look transparent, except that there's like a depth to which you can perceive and then after that, it's just more darkness.

Daniel Andrlik (00:59:27):
As you're making your way through it, you reach a circular like it appears to be some sort of junction, but instead of it being a junction that would like feed the pipes at different directions like if it was pipes for water, it appears to be like just a junction where multiple of these paths are. Some go up and some go to the sides but most notably like in this middle spot here you see what looks to be sort of discarded, desiccated corpses

LaTia Jacquise (01:00:01):
In the pipes?

Daniel Andrlik (01:00:01):
Yeah, it's like in this junction there's almost like a waste pit.

Stace Babcock (01:00:04):
Yo, are these bug tunnels guys?

LaTia Jacquise (01:00:08):
I have a question that I'd like to backtrack a little to answer. Are these pipes see through?

Daniel Andrlik (01:00:14):
Sort of, yes. They're mostly transparent.

LaTia Jacquise (01:00:17):
Okay.

Daniel Andrlik (01:00:17):
But there's a limit to the depth that you can see.

LaTia Jacquise (01:00:20):
Okay, but something outside could see inside.

Daniel Andrlik (01:00:24):
Yes.

LaTia Jacquise (01:00:24):
Okay because I had questions about how manta ray was going to get through here.

Stace Babcock (01:00:29):
Fair.

Daniel Andrlik (01:00:31):
Manta ray can follow along. Manta ray is not happy about the situation because his wings are a little cramped but they can kind of hover along.

LaTia Jacquise (01:00:39):
Of course. Okay.

Daniel Andrlik (01:00:40):
A little claustrophobia with that fear of heights.

LaTia Jacquise (01:00:42):
Yes. Manta ray's a special child.

Sampson Davis (01:00:48):
I think maybe ray should meet manta ray. I think they'd get along, seems like it. Similar issues, you know?

Alex Finn (01:00:53):
Yeah. I could see that. We could kick him out of the pod and be like, "Hey, deal with your issues."

Sampson Davis (01:01:01):
No, no, he's good in there, for sure. If we get to Osmus and it's safe and not full of bugs, which sorry Lachlan it seems like Osmus might be full of bugs.

LaTia Jacquise (01:01:10):
That's a possibility that I had not considered until right now. Thank you. But I don't mean Thank you.

Alex Finn (01:01:16):
There.

Sampson Davis (01:01:16):
Is that sarcasm. I can't tell.

LaTia Jacquise (01:01:19):
The first one was and then I was serious. I don't want Osmus to be full of bugs.

Sampson Davis (01:01:23):
Right. Got it.

Alex Finn (01:01:26):
But what if they're intelligent bugs and they've made it more prosperous?

LaTia Jacquise (01:01:31):
Then I'll take it with a grain of salt. But so far the bugs we've seen have not been intelligent.

Alex Finn (01:01:36):
That we know of. ChaCha gives that look a lot of.

Stace Babcock (01:01:39):
So do these desiccated corpses have possessions.

LaTia Jacquise (01:01:49):
I feel like this might be some kind of record for the amount of time that it took to ask.

Daniel Andrlik (01:01:53):
Roll me 1d6.

Stace Babcock (01:01:59):
Okay. Three.

Daniel Andrlik (01:02:01):
Rounding down. You find one cypher.

Stace Babcock (01:02:07):
Hell yeah. Good because I have zero cyphers. Either because I forgot to write them down or because I used them.

Daniel Andrlik (01:02:15):
I believe either. You find what looks to be some sort of injector, you guys are able to identify it as a body injector. It injects a fluorescent protein gene into the user causing her to glow with bioluminescent light that illuminates the area around her with a close range as though it worked a light for an hour.

Alex Finn (01:02:37):
Only an hour? Boo.

LaTia Jacquise (01:02:41):
Permanent or nothing.

Alex Finn (01:02:42):
Yes.

Stace Babcock (01:02:45):
ChaCha would totally take that if it was permanent.

LaTia Jacquise (01:02:48):
Yes, she's not as obvious enough.

Daniel Andrlik (01:02:50):
So you guys definitely hear skittering in the distance. It's hard to tell with this spot where the skittering is coming from because you've reached a junction where it's echoing.

Alex Finn (01:03:01):
Shit.

Sampson Davis (01:03:01):
Anybody got a good vibe on a direction?

Alex Finn (01:03:04):
Left?

LaTia Jacquise (01:03:05):
I was just going to say, can we-

Stace Babcock (01:03:07):
Hold on a second. Nix is actually trained in navigation. I know this hasn't worked out well in the past but-

LaTia Jacquise (01:03:14):
It has not.

Daniel Andrlik (01:03:15):
Lachlan actually has some special features around that.

LaTia Jacquise (01:03:17):
I do have some special features around navigation that I'm looking at my character sheet to try and discern.

Daniel Andrlik (01:03:24):
It's almost like this scenario was designed for you?

LaTia Jacquise (01:03:26):
Oh my gosh.

LaTia Jacquise (01:03:28):
Yeah, I'm going to use find the way.

Daniel Andrlik (01:03:31):
Okay, cool.

LaTia Jacquise (01:03:32):
So I'm going to attempt some navigation.

Daniel Andrlik (01:03:35):
It would normally be a 15. What does your find the way give you?

LaTia Jacquise (01:03:39):
I can apply a free level of effort.

Daniel Andrlik (01:03:43):
Okay, so that brings it down to a 12. If you want to spend more effort, you could have add intellect.

LaTia Jacquise (01:03:48):
I will add an intellect because these guys have been good to me but also I'm wearing.

Daniel Andrlik (01:03:53):
Okay, that's a nine.

LaTia Jacquise (01:03:55):
And then I'm going to use my XP.

Stace Babcock (01:04:00):
Yes. Yes, yes, yes. Turn and burn that XP.

LaTia Jacquise (01:04:03):
Okay, so I rolled a two. I used my XP and I rolled a three.

Alex Finn (01:04:08):
Do you want another one?

Sampson Davis (01:04:09):
That's how it goes.

Stace Babcock (01:04:11):
Hey, I will donate XP to the cause.

LaTia Jacquise (01:04:13):
All right. It's on five.

Stace Babcock (01:04:20):
Is that good? Does that work? Does that mean we won?

LaTia Jacquise (01:04:23):
No, it doesn't.

Alex Finn (01:04:24):
Do we want to do one more? Let's do one more. One more.

LaTia Jacquise (01:04:26):
Yes. Burn all your XP on me.

Stace Babcock (01:04:30):
No, never.

LaTia Jacquise (01:04:33):
Okay, that's a 14.

Daniel Andrlik (01:04:37):
You think that this place is arranged almost deliberately like a maze. But you think based off of the way you guys have passed, you think you're detecting a pattern to this. So there's like two pipes that could theoretically lead you in the direction you want to go on the far side. One of them could be the source of the skittering. The other one could be the way to go. It could be a dead end, but it's definitely down those two things. Either one could at least get you farther through the space.

LaTia Jacquise (01:05:12):
I have some unfortunate news for all of you. One of these tunnels lies. One of these tunnels tells the truth. We have to pick a tunnel.

Stace Babcock (01:05:24):
So I know this one. Okay, we got to ask one tunnel what the other tunnel would say. And then we know which way.

LaTia Jacquise (01:05:34):
The problem is the tunnels don't talk.

Stace Babcock (01:05:36):
Yeah.

LaTia Jacquise (01:05:38):
Well, technically they are talking, we do hear skittering we just don't know which tunnel they're coming from. That's talking in a way.

Stace Babcock (01:05:45):
So Lachlan, we got a little bit of a rule. I want to make it clear that Nix has Race, and has this entire time.

Daniel Andrlik (01:05:54):
Okay.

Stace Babcock (01:05:54):
All right.

Daniel Andrlik (01:05:55):
You're pushing the pod around.

Stace Babcock (01:05:57):
If we don't know, which is often we just go to the right, whichever ones on the right. It simplifies decision making.

Alex Finn (01:06:04):
And we murder things.

LaTia Jacquise (01:06:06):
I'm okay with both of these things. But typically, I'm a left person but I will go with the majority on this one.

Stace Babcock (01:06:13):
We went left one time.

Alex Finn (01:06:14):
Yeah, I remember when we went left.

LaTia Jacquise (01:06:16):
How'd that turn out for you?

Sampson Davis (01:06:18):
I think it was fine. Obviously. We're here. And living.

Stace Babcock (01:06:21):
Yeah, we did survive. Bad for Race I think maybe. All right.

LaTia Jacquise (01:06:27):
Let's go right.

Stace Babcock (01:06:27):
To the right.

Daniel Andrlik (01:06:29):
So, you guys go right. This path continues for a while, like a long while. And it does kind of curve around a few times. But it also seems a bit more of a straight shot than the others. Like there's less of this kind of going up and down and things like that. And you guys feel like you've walked a long way. Like this is a long bridge to begin with. It was like, probably 3000 feet across. But you guys have walked a long, long way. You've probably had to take some breaks along the way just to rest. Maybe not Nix, maybe Nix is running ahead and coming back-

Stace Babcock (01:07:00):
Yeah, totally.

Daniel Andrlik (01:07:00):
But you reach a point where there is again, sort of a junction. You can see there's a pipe across the way that seems to lead to something that looks a little bit like that city street again. But not the same one. And there is sort of a junction of pipes there. And it's at that moment when you hear a clicking sound of giant legs in the tunnel's kind of moving down. What would you guys like to do?

Stace Babcock (01:07:29):
You guys know I want to fight it, right? Stace wants to fight it.

Sampson Davis (01:07:34):
Well, here's the thing we might be able to push through maybe, I do have a murder globe.

Stace Babcock (01:07:39):
The one with legs Dilly?

Sampson Davis (01:07:42):
The one that I set up on a tripod.

Stace Babcock (01:07:43):
Oh shit. Yeah. Yeah.

Sampson Davis (01:07:44):
So, that's an option.

Alex Finn (01:07:46):
We do have guns.

Stace Babcock (01:07:48):
Lachlan, how are you in a fight?

LaTia Jacquise (01:07:50):
Not great.

Stace Babcock (01:07:51):
All right.

LaTia Jacquise (01:07:51):
But I do have this fun little thing that I can throw and do some damage.

Stace Babcock (01:07:56):
How far away is this bug?

Daniel Andrlik (01:07:57):
Getting closer, and the skittering is getting louder like it's more than one, maybe two.

Stace Babcock (01:08:03):
Could Nix pick it up on her telescopic view port on her wrist?

Daniel Andrlik (01:08:08):
No, it's not in visual range because of the way the pipes curve, so you can hear it but you can't see.

Stace Babcock (01:08:12):
We can hear it coming down the street, not through the pipe?

Daniel Andrlik (01:08:17):
Coming through one of the other pipes through the junction right before.

Stace Babcock (01:08:19):
They are bug tunnels, holy shit.

LaTia Jacquise (01:08:21):
And I think that being able to see a street in front of us as a straight shot. We should take the straight shot. And that way, if we have to encounter bugs, we're encountering them coming out of the funnel.

Alex Finn (01:08:34):
Yes.

Stace Babcock (01:08:35):
All right. Yeah, sure.

Daniel Andrlik (01:08:39):
Okay. So you guys are running across the junction as fast as you can or as stealthily as you can, which of the two?

Stace Babcock (01:08:45):
Yes. Fast and stealthy.

Sampson Davis (01:08:47):
By the way Dili puts up a shadow illusion, either way.

Daniel Andrlik (01:08:51):
Again Dili, it seems like a more effective illusion than you thought it would be.

Stace Babcock (01:08:56):
Fucking Vlads with us right? Vlads invisible and Vlads with us?

Alex Finn (01:08:59):
Damn him.

Sampson Davis (01:09:00):
Yeah, can Dili do some sort of our karma check for lack of better word, to see if that's all him or if Vlad is kind of helping.

Daniel Andrlik (01:09:07):
You could use like perception or seeing through illusions if you've got anything like that. Since you are trained in your illusions, I would bet you have an asset on that.

Sampson Davis (01:09:15):
Okay, I'll just do a perception real quick.

Daniel Andrlik (01:09:18):
Okay, so it's a 15, that would be a 12 for you.

Sampson Davis (01:09:22):
Well, free level of effort. 13.

Daniel Andrlik (01:09:25):
He's very good. You can see him there being close to you guys, but keeping his distance from Lachlan flat shape, but he is masterfully shifting illusions around it. So he always looks at what's behind him. And he seems to be multitasking because he's doing it from multiple angles whenever somebody looks at him.

Sampson Davis (01:09:46):
Damn Vlad. Damn.

Stace Babcock (01:09:47):
But he's most concerned with Lachlan seeing him not the crew?

Daniel Andrlik (01:09:51):
He's keeping his distance from Lachlan.

Stace Babcock (01:09:53):
Oh man. Not that Nix knows any of this.

LaTia Jacquise (01:09:54):
But hey, kind of nice.

Stace Babcock (01:09:58):
Does Dili keep this to his self?

Sampson Davis (01:10:01):
At the moment, since we might get eaten.

LaTia Jacquise (01:10:03):
I think we should be a little quiet as we pass through the junction. And then once you've made it past the junction we can be free.

Daniel Andrlik (01:10:10):
Yeah. So you guys have an illusion with two assets coming from that. So that'll be a 12 stealth for everybody.

Stace Babcock (01:10:18):
17. Fuck yeah.

LaTia Jacquise (01:10:22):
I've got a 15, for me.

Sampson Davis (01:10:24):
I'm going to spend an XP and re roll a three, and get a two. Thank you.

Alex Finn (01:10:28):
Congratulations.

Stace Babcock (01:10:29):
Nice.

Sampson Davis (01:10:32):
I guess Dili just eat shit at the junction.

Alex Finn (01:10:35):
Don't worry, I got a nine. So you're fine.

Daniel Andrlik (01:10:37):
Okay, maybe you guys bump into each other and fall down. Like when you're trying to be extra sneaky and so you're not even paying attention to each other, and then you slip and fall.

Alex Finn (01:10:45):
Dili steps on ChaCha's cloak.

Sampson Davis (01:10:48):
ChaCha get out of the... What are you doing here?

Daniel Andrlik (01:10:51):
So there's definitely a bellowing roar from the tubes. And they pick up speed. First of all, what are Lachlan and Nix doing?

Stace Babcock (01:10:59):
Nix will scoop both of them up, one in each arm and run.

Daniel Andrlik (01:11:03):
Who's pushing Race, then?

Stace Babcock (01:11:03):
Fuck.

LaTia Jacquise (01:11:06):
So Lachlan was also going back to help one of them up but as soon as she sees that Nix's arms are occupied, she will push wraith.

Stace Babcock (01:11:13):
Hell yeah. Part of the team.

Daniel Andrlik (01:11:15):
Okay, so these creatures are coming quickly and you can definitely see it is two of them. You guys will get out of this pipe but they have clearly seen you and are tracking you. If you would like to stay ahead of them. I need you guys to make some sort of might based running role. I know ChaCha has trained and I think Nix has trained. Which makes it a 15.

LaTia Jacquise (01:11:39):
I am also trained.

Daniel Andrlik (01:11:41):
So 15 for you guys, 18 for Dili.

Alex Finn (01:11:43):
I'm sorry, I shouldn't laugh.

Stace Babcock (01:11:45):
Nix is not trained in running but she has her leg and she does have fleet a foot.

Alex Finn (01:11:51):
Can Nix give Dili an asset?

Stace Babcock (01:11:55):
No, Nix is carrying you guys.

Alex Finn (01:11:57):
So I don't have to roll?

Daniel Andrlik (01:11:59):
Nix you're not going to be able to run fast if you're carrying them. They have to start running on their own or you're going to get caught up with.

Stace Babcock (01:12:04):
Okay. So Nix will just scoop them up long enough to help them get back on their feet and then let them fly free.

Alex Finn (01:12:10):
Can she bowl us?

Stace Babcock (01:12:12):
No, she wants you guys to like be on your feet, she's not bowling you. She'll bowl ChaCha, because this is a collaborative storytelling game.

Daniel Andrlik (01:12:20):
So what did people get?

LaTia Jacquise (01:12:22):
16 for me.

Alex Finn (01:12:23):
I'm going to use a level of effort on my own.

Daniel Andrlik (01:12:29):
Two levels of effort for Dili. 14. That's enough.

Alex Finn (01:12:33):
Not 20? You just got to roll into it.

Daniel Andrlik (01:12:37):
And what did you get Stace?

Stace Babcock (01:12:39):
One.

Daniel Andrlik (01:12:41):
Okay.

LaTia Jacquise (01:12:41):
Wow.

Daniel Andrlik (01:12:43):
You going to keep it?

Stace Babcock (01:12:44):
Yeah.

Daniel Andrlik (01:12:45):
Okay. So ChaCha, what would you like for your major effect?

Alex Finn (01:12:50):
I feel like I need to help Nix with that one. I guess nullify the anti major effect.

Daniel Andrlik (01:12:58):
I'm not going to let you nullify that one, because that's boring.

Alex Finn (01:13:02):
I know. Nix gets an asset on her next role.

Daniel Andrlik (01:13:07):
Okay, that sounds good. Nix please make a speed defense roll. You're going to get an asset, so it'll be a 12.

Stace Babcock (01:13:14):
And then it'll be a six because of Nix usual. Alright. Two.

Daniel Andrlik (01:13:18):
And since you're a confident lady, that is also a geometers. Okay. One of these insectoid legs comes up and pierces into you, knocking you on the ground. You'll take six damage. And you are currently like restrained and can't do anything.

Stace Babcock (01:13:38):
Is next stuck on the leg?

Daniel Andrlik (01:13:40):
Yes. You'll have to get yourself off but there'll be one round where you can't do anything.

Stace Babcock (01:13:45):
Okay, that was might damage I assume and armor would apply in this?

Daniel Andrlik (01:13:48):
Armor will help.

Stace Babcock (01:13:50):
Sweet.

Daniel Andrlik (01:13:50):
And I guess unless people are just going to leave Nix behind, it technically initiative time. But as Nix's goes down, and this leg pierces into her, Nix one of the things you notice is that this leg that pierces into you doesn't just seem to be static. You can sense a sort of suction. Like it's trying to suck fluids out of your body. And that's where we'll end this episode.

Stace Babcock (01:14:20):
Good thing Nix hydrates.

Daniel Andrlik (01:14:22):
I didn't warn you about this LaTia so at the end of each episode I ask one of the players for something that made them feel awesome in this episode. So what was something that made you feel awesome as Lachlan?

LaTia Jacquise (01:14:35):
She didn't do a whole lot but provide logic.

Sampson Davis (01:14:37):
That's a lot.

Stace Babcock (01:14:37):
That's so important.

Daniel Andrlik (01:14:38):
That's a big part.

LaTia Jacquise (01:14:43):
What would make me feel awesome was the fact that I got you all to actually hide and that we did really well on the hiding.

Daniel Andrlik (01:14:52):
Yeah, very cool. So we have a segment that we do each week called player intrusions. That's where we offer you the listener an XP to check out so things that we think you would really dig. This week it is Alex's turn. Alex, what would you offer our listeners in XP to check out?

Alex Finn (01:15:06):
I would give our listeners an XP for checking out, let's go with the podcast My Favorite Murder.

Daniel Andrlik (01:15:16):
Okay, why?

Alex Finn (01:15:17):
It's one of those like interesting things where it doesn't sound like it should work because it's true kind of comedy podcast but the comedy doesn't come at the expense of the victims. It's like that awkward comedy when you don't know what to do kind of comedy and it's really focused on telling the victim's story rather than the perpetrator and they do a lot of good.

Daniel Andrlik (01:15:42):
Okay, do you have a recommended episode that people jump in on?

Alex Finn (01:15:46):
Honestly, anything is good if you want something really and just banana Foster's bonkers, check out a minisode. It's described as reading your stuff back to you. And it's like listener submissions and I love like their grandparents stories that they're getting. I just like badass grandparents.

Daniel Andrlik (01:16:07):
Oh. Cool.

Alex Finn (01:16:08):
So when you like bad as grandparents, how can you not like it? Unless you have a phobia of bad ass grandparents. Which is valid.

Daniel Andrlik (01:16:18):
Well, if people wanted to reach out to us to tell us about what they think of My Favorite Murder or tells us their favorite episode of My Favorite Murder, or to talk to us about the podcast, how would they do that Sampson?

Sampson Davis (01:16:28):
Well, we have a website from which you can get to all of our socials. The website is explorerswanted.fm. Our big socials on Twitter, we are @explorerswanted on Instagram and Facebook, we are @explorerswantedpodcast. And if you want to just hang out with us and talk to us directly, we're pretty active on our discord, you can find that ad exploreswanted.fm/Discord.

Sampson Davis (01:16:51):
And finally, if what we've done here you feel is worth money that you have to give. You can support us @patreon.com/exploreswanted. And I think 10 and above, you can get character journals. Five and above, you can listen to some additional stuff that didn't get published on the public feed

Daniel Andrlik (01:17:11):
Some bonus content.

Sampson Davis (01:17:12):
Yeah.

Daniel Andrlik (01:17:13):
And if you can't support us on Patreon, that's totally fine. We understand. The best thing that you could do for us is to tell a friend and tell them why you liked the show and why they should listen to it. The second best thing you could do is to leave us a five star review on a podcast directory like Apple podcasts. Those written reviews make such an impact with people trying out the show so that we can find more listeners like you.

Daniel Andrlik (01:17:35):
And if you didn't like the podcast, or if you just thought it was bad. Well, you should know that there are places in this world that are weighted down with memory. The sense that something terrible happened there once long ago. It's like looking through a window only to find an unexpected face pressed up against the pane. Our species and our world has a bloody history. And so you can find these abyssal spots almost anywhere if you look closely enough. So I guess I'm asking you, do you hear any teeth scraping against your glass? Do you want to reach out to us individually on social media you can, you can find me on Twitter @andrlik A-N-D-R-L-I-K.

Stace Babcock (01:18:11):
You find me on Twitter @stacewindu.

Sampson Davis (01:18:13):
You can find me and my teeth @slampotato.

Alex Finn (01:18:15):
Is it a crunchy kind of teeth? @realtywithaunicorn or we can talk about teeth physics on twitch @teawithaunicorn.

LaTia Jacquise (01:18:22):
I'm afraid and you can hear about how afraid I am @latiajacquise on Twitter.

Daniel Andrlik (01:18:31):
Alright, that's it for us. Hope you enjoyed the show. We will be back next week as we will for every week in the foreseeable future. Have a good night, day, weekend or whenever you're listening to this and bye.

LaTia Jacquise (01:18:41):
Bye.

Sampson Davis (01:18:41):
Bye.

Stace Babcock (01:18:41):
Bye.

Alex Finn (01:18:41):
Bye.