Daniel (GM): 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. Unknown Speaker: Hey, V Sauce, Michael here. Have you ever wondered what would happen if your bones were replaced with water? It's not a question anyone asks. Daniel (GM): Stace Babcock. Stace (Nix): Is this what happens when you plan what you're going to say? Daniel (GM): Marietta Jones. Marietta (Atalia): I'm happy to be here this evening. Daniel (GM): And Alex Finn. Alex (Chacha): I heard Arm & Hammer and my brain broke. I'm pretty sure that's one of my mishearings and I'm just... My brain's gone now. I hope you're happy. Sampson (Dili): If anybody watches V Sauce videos on YouTube, that got a laugh from those people. Unknown Speaker: That one guy. Daniel (GM): So who remembers what happened last time? This time, I'm going to pick on censorship. So the last time, we got to the grove where the caravan went missing. Apparently, the grove sprung up very suddenly and has impaled all the caravaners that were accompanying it. Dili used a Cypher, asked some questions, Chacha killed a dude out of mercy, but she still killed a dude. And then with the questions, we were able to find a giant tree with a hollow underneath it that we believed had the statues, which are the objects that is the source of the grove and the thing we're trying to find. Daniel (GM): Before we got in there though, we got attacked by this tentacle [inaudible 00:02:08], is what I wrote down. Rather than killing it, Chacha befriends it, well Chacha and Nix in tandem. So we befriend it, we find it's an ex gen. It is trying to just bring friends to its home dimension so it's not lonely and they're now our friend. Now that we've befriended it, it takes us through their dimension as a shortcut to the three statues, which we then deactivate. Dili made a crap, built a cart. Then Atalia and Chacha, while Dili was building the cart, went around and euthanized the rest of the bodies and also saw a fucking bee demon coming our way. What? Stace (Nix): A beemon. Daniel (GM): Beemon, thank you, yes. Alex (Chacha): Point of order, did you say, "Dili made a crap?" Daniel (GM): I kind of fumbled the word, "cart." Dili made a cart. Crap did a cart. We're off to ... Alex (Chacha): Okay, because I was just like, "Did he just drop a deuce in the corner?" And I was like, "Oh, and now I'm going to make a cart." Daniel (GM): Dili's outside of the city. He doesn't have time for those people tools. We never stop to go to the bathroom. I haven't pooped in a month. Please, God, let me poop. Marietta (Atalia): He'll only poop around toilets. He hasn't learned the squat yet. Daniel (GM): He's so constipated. Stace (Nix): Yeah, what do you mean? We stab every night, Dili. Put your ass over a fallen log. Daniel (GM): It doesn't count for pooping or pissing unless there's a creature smell involved. Unknown Speaker: Any who's all ... Daniel (GM): We start with Chacha and Atalia at the edge of the grove, these bees buzzing in this huge figure that seems to be made of bees coming in your direction. Alex (Chacha): So point of order, is this a line with Chacha's bee vision? Or was her vision just rando bees, not bees bees? Daniel (GM): Her vision was of a swarm of bees. I don't know if there's really enough information from her vision to decide one or the other. Marietta (Atalia): Oh, wow. That's a twelve foot tall bee creature demon thing. That's twelve feet. Daniel (GM): It seems to be walking your way. Marietta (Atalia): Are we leaving? Alex (Chacha): Maybe we should leave. Marietta (Atalia): I don't know. Alex (Chacha): I think we should leave. Marietta (Atalia): My only Cypher tells me if someone's lying. I don't feel like that's going to be effective. Atalia's going to side step so that she's behind a tree and see if there's any way she could sneak away. Daniel (GM): Okay. So give me a stealth role. Your stealth role is going to be 15. But you are specialized so that is a nine for you. Marietta (Atalia): 17. Daniel (GM): Atalia blends into the trees. What is Chacha doing in her bright red tape amongst these translucent trees? Marietta (Atalia): I forgot the trees are super. Alex (Chacha): I guess Chacha is also going to try and blend with the trees. Daniel (GM): Okay. So that'll be a stealth role of 15. Alex (Chacha): Against all odds, 18, so I don't understand how Chacha keeps being sneaky in a bright red cloak but she does. Daniel (GM): She does, okay. That works out well because you get an 18 so even if I gave you a hindrance with a bright red cloak, it wouldn't matter. So you guys match a high but this figure comes over and you hear all this buzzing around you. It's these trees ... Marietta (Atalia): Can I scan it from behind the tree? Daniel (GM): Okay. Let's do two things. Let's start with the stealth role. It's not going to be difficult but I just feel like we should start implementing some sort of stealth check since your scan involves a cloud of stealth. Marietta (Atalia): It does, it is like a cloudlike smoke. Daniel (GM): Yeah, I'll give you some assets on it beyond what this thing's perception normally is. So we'll say it's a nine. For your specialization, it brings it down to a three. Marietta (Atalia): 16. Daniel (GM): Okay. So this will definitely be unseen. So your scan tells you a few things. So your scan, the rules of scan give you some mechanical information that's not easy to put in story form. This is a sort of artificially intelligent biomechanical being. It is level five. It is intelligent. And it does appear to be made of some sort of biomechanical mixture of honeycomb and bees, the bees that it seems to be following, tending, owning, it's unclear. It is also very clear to it that it is unable to speak in terms of sound. Marietta (Atalia): Okay. Daniel (GM): The other mechanical thing that your scan gives you that doesn't fit in the story is that it can direct the bees to some degree and it also has... But it doesn't necessarily have any armor per se. Marietta (Atalia): Okay. But it can't converse. Daniel (GM): At least not verbally. Marietta (Atalia): Do I think it can hear? Daniel (GM): It definitely can perceive. Marietta (Atalia): Okay. Daniel (GM): Whether or not it will understand what it hears, your scan won't tell you if it understands the language that you speak. Marietta (Atalia): Okay. I'll wait for it to hopefully pass before I share that information with Chacha. Daniel (GM): So it comes over to the edge of the trees. And you hear it's, it's remarkably heavy for what something that should be made of essentially honeycomb. You hear the buzzing of bees but you hear it's steps, these deep, thunderous... And it's very close to the treeline now and where you're hiding. You think of "Lord of the Rings" when they're hiding underneath that tree's roots when the Ringwraith is there. Marietta (Atalia): So spooky. Daniel (GM): Yeah, it's very much that kind of feel as it looks back and forth. Then it reaches out a hand and touches one of the branches and a piece of that branch just falls off and it pulls back and there is an increased buzzing in the air before it begins slowly walking away, the grove. Marietta (Atalia): But once I assume it's far enough away, I'll whisper to Chacha, "Yeah, I don't think it can talk but it's intelligent and it's like those bee things are biomechanical and they make it up. It's level five, it's not super weak. So would a level five character based on Numenera standards wipe out a tier one party? Daniel (GM): You have no idea. This is what you would know mechanically as the... A level five character is a 15 difficulty for most things that you try to do. Marietta (Atalia): Okay, so we may not die but we could. Daniel (GM): I mean you don't necessarily have to attack him. Marietta (Atalia): Well I'm not going to at the moment but options. The more data, the better, right? I'm just going to look at Chacha. I don't know. Should we keep looking for the other bodies? Alex (Chacha): I think we know what harvested the bodies. I think we found all four remaining bodies and it might not be a great idea to see why it harvested the bodies. Marietta (Atalia): Oh, I'm game with that. We still have to figure out how the heck we get this cart out of here. Daniel (GM): By the way, because you guys have solved the puzzle of the grove, every one of you has an additional two XP. Sampson (Dili): Yes. Alex (Chacha): Yes. Fuck yeah. Unknown Speaker: What? Unknown speaker 2: Two XP. Unknown Speaker: Oh, man. Daniel (GM): Merry Christmas, mother fuckers. Stace (Nix): So unrelated, Daniel, would you consider unarmed attacks to be medium bashing attacks? Because Nix's attacks are medium. Daniel (GM): In your case, yes. It would be. Stace (Nix): Okay. Daniel (GM): Since your... Needs no weapons so your unarmed attacks are medium attacks. Stace (Nix): If Nix was trained in unarmed attacks, would you say then that she's also trained in medium bashing attacks or are they two different things? I think they're two different things. I'll tell you why I'm asking because for tier two glaves, you get to pick a new type of weapon to be trained in that you're not already trained in. But at tier two, needs no weapons, gives you training in unarmed attacks. But I would... Medium bashing would include... Daniel (GM): Yeah, medium bashing would be more like if you wanted to grab a mace in that case, not a mace but ... Daniel (GM): A quarter staff or something like that. Stace (Nix): So it only applies when you're holding a weapon in your hand? Daniel (GM): Yeah. Stace (Nix): Oh, well forget that then. Daniel (GM): I'm not sure if there's a specific caveat [inaudible 00:11:16]. I'm not big on applying a skill, like two skills to the same thing. I'm fine if you've got two assets to apply on top of your skills and then if you want to apply efforts on top of that. But I'm not big on two skills applied to the same thing. Stace (Nix): And it wouldn't combine to be specialized? Daniel (GM): No, I'm not big on that. Stace (Nix): Okay. Oh, that's fine. Daniel (GM): Because then you get into the thing where people can try to, "Well I'm just going to create a broad skill that covers a bunch of things so I can double it up." Stace (Nix): Oh, yeah, no worries. I'll just do medium ranged then, that's not a problem. Daniel (GM): Mm-hmm (affirmative). So that was Atalia and Chacha. Dili and Nix, you guys have finished off this very pretty, translucent cart. You haven't quite solved for what's going to pull it yet. Dili, if you have an IO, you could probably build something that was a bit more automated. It did move forward but it would take more time. Sampson (Dili): Yeah, guesstimate roughly how long that would take. Daniel (GM): It would probably be 10 days if you had IO. Sampson (Dili): Yeah, all right. That looks pretty good. Nix, thank you. This is great. I feel so much better actually. I've been building something after so long. Where are the other two? Stace (Nix): They went looking for the other bodies, they said, Dili. Sampson (Dili): Oh, right. All right. They're dead now. Stace (Nix): How long have they been gone? Daniel (GM): [inaudible 00:12:34], it took you guys about 10 to 12 hours. Stace (Nix): Okay. Daniel (GM): They're not back yet. Stace (Nix): Yeah, we should definitely find them, I think. They're probably dead, it's fine. Although, honestly, anything they meet ought to be scared of them. Sampson (Dili): Yeah, yeah. I don't want to just leave the statues here. Although they were fine until they were buried more recently. Should we try to bring the cart with us? Stace (Nix): No, I think that if we had to redo all this, that would be fine. But we can't replace Chacha and Atalia. Unknown Speaker: Oh, so sweet. Sampson (Dili): Okay. What? Stace (Nix): So if someone steals the statues, we can just get them back but we should go find Chacha and Atalia. Sampson (Dili): Oh, that's fair. Yeah, all right. Daniel (GM): So you guys are leaving the cart behind? Stace (Nix): I mean ... Sampson (Dili): Well when you ask it like that. Stace (Nix): Yeah, geez. Daniel (GM): I'm just asking for ... Stace (Nix): Yeah, but why? Marietta (Atalia): Yeah, uh huh. Unknown Speaker: Mm-hmm (affirmative). Sampson (Dili): Show us the mind map, Dan. Unknown Speaker: Are we on the Queen Path or the Red Path? Daniel (GM): Those just deal with storylines, not whether it's good or bad. Unknown Speaker: Uh huh. Unknown speaker 2: Mm-hmm (affirmative). Sure. Stace (Nix): How big is this cart? Daniel (GM): I mean it's carrying three statues and presumably somebody to sit on it or a couple people sit on it. Sampson (Dili): Are the statues human size in terms of height? Daniel (GM): Yeah, they're roughly human size but with crab faces. If you must know, you're on the green path in the mind map. That covers quite a bit. Stace (Nix): So you're saying that in the 10-12 hours, they built a cart and stowed the statues? Daniel (GM): You got the statues up there with the help of your little extra dimensional friend. Stace (Nix): Oh, okay. Daniel (GM): The cart was the time consuming part to build because it wasn't something that you were just magically transporting it. You were actually building something to hold them. Stace (Nix): Okay, yeah, so Nix wouldn't leave it behind in the cart. So I think they're still separated. So what kind of harness situation do we have here, Dili? Daniel (GM): That is totally up to Dili. Sampson (Dili): I have a rope that I can tie around you and tie around the cart. I didn't really think this far. Stace (Nix): No, it's fine, Dili. Just give me the rope. Sampson (Dili): All right, not a nice rope. It's kind of partially river reeds and then trash. This is a rope he had made, he had to make. Stace (Nix): Yeah, all right, dude. You hang onto that and I'll use my rope. Sampson (Dili): What's wrong with my rope? Stace (Nix): Yeah, Dili, it's a terrible rope. Sampson (Dili): It's not ... Stace (Nix): I can tell you worked hard on it. Yeah, sorry. Sampson (Dili): Thank you, yes. All right, fine. Daniel (GM): But each one of you had rope in your explorer's pack. Stace (Nix): Well yeah, that's the rope that... So yeah, Nix will lash together a decent harness and to fix it to the cart and if I need to roll for how good that is, then I would like to use competent outlook for Nix to be trained in. Daniel (GM): It'll work. Stace (Nix): Okay. Daniel (GM): It'll work. Stace (Nix): And can be easily untied, okay. Marietta (Atalia): Those slipknots, man. Stace (Nix): Less than an action, as part of an action. Daniel (GM): To untie is going to be an action no matter what you do, if it's going to be in any way sturdy. Stace (Nix): Goddamn it, Nix is tied to a cart. All right. Unknown Speaker: This is life now. Stace (Nix): Nix takes a step. This is how it goes. Daniel (GM): It's slow going if you're trying to drag the statues behind you. But it works but you'll move slower than usual. But you can drive your cart. Stace (Nix): And she's not struggling. Daniel (GM): Right, she's not struggling. It's just it's slower going. Stace (Nix): Do you like this pace, Dili? Sampson (Dili): Yeah, it's great. Stace (Nix): Yeah, maybe you just hop on. Sampson (Dili): Just let Dili [inaudible 00:16:38]. Are you sure? I can... All right. So hop on and while we're going, Dili's going to keep an eye out for Atalia and Chacha while Nix goes. Daniel (GM): Okay. Okay, so yeah. Atalia and Chacha, the hive man has begun walking away and then you hear this creaking sound of wheels behind you. Marietta (Atalia): I'll turn around and find the source of the creaking wheels. Daniel (GM): You see Nix pulling a cart with Dili sitting on the cart, very clearly unnecessarily, just slowing Nix down. Marietta (Atalia): Come on, my dude, I know you don't want to run but you can at least walk, right? Sampson (Dili): What? Nix said it was fine. Daniel (GM): With the statues inside. I guess at this point, I'm going to offer Chacha an XP. Alex (Chacha): Take it. Sampson (Dili): Who will you give the other XP to? Unknown Speaker: Okay, so everybody's at tier two? Stace (Nix): Mm-hmm (affirmative). Well I haven't tiered up technically. But yes, I have enough XP for it. Alex (Chacha): Well you can comfortably. Stace (Nix): Oh, no, I'll let Nix die before I let her not tier up. Marietta (Atalia): I'm tier two plus two XP now. So I'm fine. Alex (Chacha): How are you sitting, Sampson? Sampson (Dili): At five XP and waiting for a good time to tier up. So I'm ... Alex (Chacha): Okay, then I'm going to give it to Nix so you have an extra. Stace (Nix): You're my goddamn hero. Alex (Chacha): Listen, we can't have you be this awesome snick and then die. That's not how life gets to work. Stace (Nix): Oh, yeah. Well thank you very much. I appreciate it. Daniel (GM): So Chacha, you see some of these bees that honestly remind you a little bit of the horrors in the sense that they're half phased heading back in your guys' direction in the sound of the squeaking. They are heading your way and as they approach, you see them shift out of phase and they almost disappear. Although you can still see them and Chacha, I need you to make a nine intellect defense roll. Alex (Chacha): Oh man. Daniel (GM): As one of them and their face thing flies into your head and attempts to control your brain. Alex (Chacha): Oh, God, that's horrible. Sampson (Dili): Oh, fuck. Alex (Chacha): [inaudible] 20. I'm like, "Is this a good time to level up? Because something tried to mess with Chacha's brain so it goes on autopilot and now she has mind reading powers?" Daniel (GM): Could be, could be. Alex (Chacha): Let's do that. I mean that's a good use of that. Daniel (GM): So what is the major effect that comes out of that? Alex (Chacha): Would it be too much to be like, "Chacha psychically pushes the bees away?" Daniel (GM): No, I think with a major effect, you could totally do that. Yeah, you push them out of your brain. Alex (Chacha): Yay, no more brain. Daniel (GM): But now it'll be initiative time because Dili and Nix decided to bring the cart. Marietta (Atalia): That was all [inaudible] fault. Stace (Nix): I can't be held responsible for Sampson's decisions. Sampson (Dili): Wow, way to just take me by the scruff of the neck and toss me beneath the bus. Stace (Nix): Hey, got to get that arm workout somehow. Sampson (Dili): I got 11. Unknown Speaker: Oh, we're rolling for initiatives. Alex (Chacha): I got a 14. Stace (Nix): 15. Daniel (GM): Okay, what about Marietta? Marietta (Atalia): Three. Daniel (GM): Awesome. Okay, so first up is Nix. You can see these strange phasing bees coming at Chacha. They go under Chacha and get pushed out and in the distance, you can see the hive man stop in his walking away motion. He doesn't turn his head yet but he definitely stops. What does Nix do? Stace (Nix): Nix is going to unattach herself from the cart. Daniel (GM): Okay, that's probably a good choice. Next up is Chacha. You are surrounded by three of these partially phased bees. Alex (Chacha): Oh. Chacha going to shoot a bee with the pew pew gun. Daniel (GM): Okay. So that will bring it down to a six. They're phased through so we'll bring it back up to a nine. So go ahead. Alex (Chacha): I got a 14. Daniel (GM): Okay. So you hit it and it does knock those bees... They're kind of like a little swarm so they don't like that. Alex (Chacha): Well they should have thought about that before messing with Chacha. Daniel (GM): Okay. So next up is Dili. Sampson (Dili): Just going to hop off the cart and just be like, "Is everything good? Are we fine? What happening? Are we good?" Daniel (GM): Okay. Sampson (Dili): I don't think Dili's really caught onto this is a fight, just that something's happening. Daniel (GM): Okay. So next up is these phase bees. Having not had any luck with Chacha, they're going to go over to Atalia. Atalia, please make a nine intellect defense. Marietta (Atalia): That's me. Unknown Speaker: Oh no. Daniel (GM): Okay. Atalia, please make a physical onslaught against Chacha. Marietta (Atalia): Can I roll to dodge since it's physical? Daniel (GM): Yeah, this is going to be a contested roll. So, Atalia, go ahead and roll your attack. Marietta (Atalia): I got a seven. Daniel (GM): Okay. So, Chacha, roll your roll speed defense. If you've got anything in speed defense, you can add a plus three or you can spend speed to get that extra plus three. Alex (Chacha): I just have to beat a seven? Daniel (GM): Yeah. Alex (Chacha): I got a 17. Daniel (GM): Okay, you dodged the physical onslaught that comes from Atalia. Okay. Next up is Atalia. Atalia, if you want to do anything, you're going to have to spend your action making an intellect defense roll. Marietta (Atalia): Yes. Daniel (GM): Okay. So beat a nine. Marietta (Atalia): 14. Daniel (GM): Okay. You managed to push the bees out of your brain. Next up is Nix. Stace (Nix): Nix got any bees in her brain? Daniel (GM): No, Nix does not have any bees in her brain but the hive man has started to turn around. He is a long distance away. Stace (Nix): And there's some sort of a visible, Nix can see the bees attacking everyone else? Daniel (GM): Yes. Stace (Nix): Okay. Since he's long distance or it's long distance, she's going to sling. She's going to use her sling. Daniel (GM): Against the hive man or against the bees that are attacking people? Stace (Nix): The hive man. Daniel (GM): Okay. So that is going to be a 15. Stace (Nix): Okay. It's speed so I'll spend this ... Daniel (GM): Is your sling long distance or short distance? Stace (Nix): It has medium kind of long rang written on my character ... Daniel (GM): Okay, so that's fine. Stace (Nix): I'll do one effort. You said it's a 15? Daniel (GM): Mm-hmm (affirmative). Stace (Nix): I'll do two efforts to hit. Daniel (GM): Okay. It brings it down to a nine and that'll cost you five before your edge. Stace (Nix): All right. 19. Daniel (GM): Wow. Do you want a minor effect or do you want the extra damage? Stace (Nix): Oh, in this case, wow, break with tradition but I'd like the minor effect of... If this is minor, if it's clear that attacking the hive man also would... If the hive man dies, would the bees die that are attacking separate from ... Daniel (GM): You don't think it's that kind of connection. Stace (Nix): So the bees survive? Daniel (GM): You could do something specifically to hinder him or something like that. Stace (Nix): Oh, I meant finding that out as a minor effect. Daniel (GM): Oh, yeah, I mean I would say that it's clear that the bees aren't hurt by the damage that you're doing to him. He is a separate entity from the bees themselves. Stace (Nix): Got it. Daniel (GM): Although he seems to have some authority over them. Stace (Nix): Okay. Nix would shout this out. Daniel (GM): Okay. So the bee man is going to advance back towards the guys. He is now a short distance away. Next up is Chacha. Alex (Chacha): So there's the bee man and we have three bees? Daniel (GM): Yeah, that are effectively operating like a little bit of a swarm. So they attacked you, you pushed them off, they attacked Atalia, they made Atalia attack you and Atalia managed to push them out. Alex (Chacha): Okay. I think Chacha's going to keep going after this bee swarm with her gun. Daniel (GM): Okay. So that is going to be a nine to hit. Alex (Chacha): 18. Daniel (GM): Okay, so it's plus two damage. So you managed to destroy this swarm of bees. They are gone. Alex (Chacha): Yeah, fuck them bees. Daniel (GM): Which some of you noticed the hive man look very upset about and now it goes to Dili. Sampson (Dili): All right. Dili, realizing that this is a fight fight will pull out the flam hand Cypher and step out a little bit and aim it at advancing bee boy. It does have a short range distance. Daniel (GM): Okay, cool. So at what level was his? Sampson (Dili): It is a level three Cypher. Daniel (GM): Okay. So you're firing the flame at him? Sampson (Dili): I am firing the flame. Is this ongoing? I don't think it's ongoing, spray this stream around. It's multiple targets that are next to each other in range. Daniel (GM): Mm-hmm (affirmative). Sampson (Dili): [inaudible 00:26:15]. Daniel (GM): Okay. Now it goes to Atalia. Marietta (Atalia): Okay. So I would like to attempt to use my new ability on the same creatures that Dili just attacked, which is flash and since Atalia is so light sensitive, in my mind, when she casts it, she closes her eyes as it goes off. So that's how she negates the flash for herself. Daniel (GM): Mm-hmm (affirmative). Okay. Marietta (Atalia): Yeah, okay. So you create an explosion of energy at a point within close range, effecting an area up to immediate range. From that point, you must be able to see the location where you intend to center the explosion. The blast inflicts two points of damage to all creatures or objects within the area. Because this is an area attack, adding effort to increase your damage works differently than it does for single target attacks. You apply a level of effort to increase damage. Add two points of damage for each target and even if you fail your attack role, all targets in the area still take one point of damage. Action. That was fun. Marietta (Atalia): So if they're not dead, I'm going to, hopefully with that dude in it, have my flash go off and I will put a level of effort in it to have additional damage. Daniel (GM): Okay, sounds cool. So it is a 15 hit. Marietta (Atalia): Okay. Actually, can I use two levels of effort and do one for damage and one to ease? Daniel (GM): Yes, you can. Marietta (Atalia): And that's a 19. Daniel (GM): Wow, okay. So do you want the extra damage from the 19 or do you want [crosstalk 00:27:39]? Marietta (Atalia): I think the extra damage. Daniel (GM): Okay. So let me go through this in my head. So you've got flash, which does two. Then your spending effort so that's a plus two in this particular case. Marietta (Atalia): Yeah, yes. Daniel (GM): Right? Marietta (Atalia): Add two points of damage for each target, yeah. Daniel (GM): Okay, and then you get plus three for the 19. So we're talking seven damage. The hive man does not look happy. It is Nix's turn. Marietta (Atalia): How close is the hive man at this point? Daniel (GM): He is still at short range? You would be in immediate range on his next turn, which is after yours. Marietta (Atalia): Okay, no worries. Sling again. Daniel (GM): Okay. So it's a 15 hit unless you're spinning your [inaudible 00:28:26]. Marietta (Atalia): Yeah, same thing, two levels. Daniel (GM): Okay, it brings it down to a nine. Marietta (Atalia): A six. Daniel (GM): Okay, so you miss. It is the hive man's turn. He is now within immediate range. There is a swarm of bees in his body that automatically defends him. So first of all, just by being within range of him, all of you are going to take one point of damage and you're wearing armor. Marietta (Atalia): Yay. Is that might damage? Sampson (Dili): Oh, no. Daniel (GM): Yes. Marietta (Atalia): My most plethora of pools. Daniel (GM): And he is going to swing at Atalia with his arm. Marietta (Atalia): Bye, guys, it was nice knowing you. Daniel (GM): Atalia, please make a 15 speed defense roll. Marietta (Atalia): That dice says seven. Daniel (GM): Okay, okay, so you will take five damage as he swipes at you with his hand. Marietta (Atalia): Five of my damage. Daniel (GM): Yeah. Unknown Speaker: Feels good. Marietta (Atalia): Feel invigorated, slightly wobbly. Daniel (GM): Next up is Chacha. Alex (Chacha): I guess Chacha is going to mentally onslaught the bee man. Daniel (GM): Okay, so that'll be 15 to hit. Alex (Chacha): 20, bitches. Daniel (GM): Wow, extra damage or major effect. Alex (Chacha): I mean unless the major effect is that the bees can't hurt us. Daniel (GM): I would say it's a major effect. It is an intelligent creature. So the major effect could be that he retreats in this particular case or that he wants to retreat. Alex (Chacha): Okay, so as a party, are we feeling okay with Lee being this bee person to just wander the wood? Daniel (GM): This bee person of who you know nothing about. Alex (Chacha): Yes. For all we know, they could be just chilling on their afternoon errands and we were just like, "Fuck you." Or they could be concerned about the ecosystem and we just killed a grove of trees. Marietta (Atalia): I did tell you that it was intelligent but probably unable to speak. Alex (Chacha): So do we want it to just get the fuck out and be like, "Nope, it wants to be gone." Marietta (Atalia): I mean it is sort of coming at us at this point. Alex (Chacha): Okay, I think for the major effect, we're going with the bee person know wants to retreat. Daniel (GM): Okay, cool. It is not its turn yet. Sampson (Dili): It just attacked Atalia, right? Daniel (GM): Mm-hmm (affirmative). Sampson (Dili): Then I guess Dili will respond to that by making an illusory duplicate of Atalia. Daniel (GM): So give me an intellect role to see how well you do this. It'll be a, target is going to be a 15. Sampson (Dili): 18. Daniel (GM): It is a very convincing duplicate. Sampson (Dili): Hell yeah. Daniel (GM): Atalia, you see a complete copy of yourself just a little bit away. Marietta (Atalia): I'm slightly creeped out but also really turned on at the same time. Unknown Speaker: As we all are. Sampson (Dili): Writing that one down. Daniel (GM): And it is now Atalia's turn. Marietta (Atalia): I guess Atalia will attempt to flash again if it won't hit us. Daniel (GM): So it's an immediate range of you so if you're going to include it in the blast, it's going to hit every one of you. Marietta (Atalia): Okay. I guess I'll just physically onslaught it. Daniel (GM): Okay. So it's a 15 to hit. Marietta (Atalia): Okay, and I will double effort that. Guys, I'm going to have to rest soon. Daniel (GM): To hit or are you splitting it? Marietta (Atalia): I'll split it. Daniel (GM): Okay. Marietta (Atalia): 11. Daniel (GM): So that physical onslaught misses. It is now Nix's turn. Stace (Nix): Okay, so we've established this guy as hostel or at least now hostel. Daniel (GM): Yes. Chacha technically probably has him ready to retreat but he hasn't had a chance to display that yet. So Nix would not know that. Stace (Nix): Yeah, so, yeah, Nix would... Immediate range now? Daniel (GM): It's in immediate range. Stace (Nix): Yeah, Nix would punch. Daniel (GM): Okay, so it's 15? Stace (Nix): This is might this time so I'll do two might efforts. At 20. Unknown Speaker: Nice. Sampson (Dili): Hell yeah. Daniel (GM): Extra damage or major effect? Stace (Nix): Major effect of not killing it if I'm going to kill it with all that. But I want to daze it. Daniel (GM): Ooh, okay. Stace (Nix): So that there's a chance that we could possibly not kill it. Daniel (GM): Okay, cool. Yeah, you managed to hit it very hard. It falls to the ground and it begins trying to crawl away from you guys. Stace (Nix): Aw. Sampson (Dili): All right. Daniel (GM): And that's what it's doing its turn is it's crawling away from you guys towards the next hill, towards the next area of foothills. Stace (Nix): Nix will... Are we still in initiative order? Daniel (GM): I will say this, you guys could stay in initiative order if you wanted or you could treat it as... It's intention is to retreat. If you want to pursue it to try to bring it down. If your intention is to continue to pursue it to do more damage, that kind of thing, you would stay in initiative order. If your goal is to just basically let it run away, then you could leave initiative. Stace (Nix): Not let it run away but Nix wants to figure out what it wants with the statues. Alex (Chacha): Does it want the statues or does it want human people to harvest? Stace (Nix): Yeah, well I feel like it's related, right? Because it's harvesting from the tree, which was made by the statue. Alex (Chacha): True. Stace (Nix): So yeah, so if we need to stay in initiative ... Sampson (Dili): It's too bad you guys don't have a way to telepathically link to it. Alex (Chacha): I guess Chacha is going to mind melt, I think, or [inaudible 00:34:20]. Stace (Nix): Do we have another one now? Alex (Chacha): Chacha teared up. Marietta (Atalia): She has a new ability. Stace (Nix): Oh, you teared up? Alex (Chacha): Yeah. Sampson (Dili): She can detect surface thoughts if she engages mind reading. Daniel (GM): Okay. So by doing that, you get from the creature, you can hear it thinking to itself in a language that's unfamiliar but you understand it all the same. "Must tend to the hive." Alex (Chacha): I think it's just trying to make the bees happy. I don't think it's actually trying to kill us. Daniel (GM): "Experiment seven, star four not complete. Must tend hive. Must record results." Alex (Chacha): But it is experimenting on something so ... Marietta (Atalia): Are we following it? Do we think it's nefarious? Alex (Chacha): We should probably follow it and we'll find the dead bodies. Stace (Nix): Nix saddles up. Daniel (GM): You guys taking the cart with you to do this? Sampson (Dili): Well wait, why? If it's done, then let's go. Let's finish. We don't need to follow this guy. Alex (Chacha): But what about the dead bodies? Sampson (Dili): What about them? Alex (Chacha): Why did it want them? Sampson (Dili): He said that he said it was to tend the hive. Alex (Chacha): It was also experimenting so maybe, I don't know. Sampson (Dili): I feel like we enough on our plate at the moment. We don't need to get involved with this one. That's just my opinion though. Alex (Chacha): I mean six people did die related to this whole situation, Dili. I think it might be worth ... Sampson (Dili): Well that was because of the grove and it just looks like this is a scavenger that just took advantage of this. Alex (Chacha): It's the experiments part that concerns me. Don't you think it would mean that they might still be alive? Sampson (Dili): Maybe. Alex (Chacha): And half our job is trying to find them if they're still alive. Sampson (Dili): Do you think this thing could have kept it alive after it removed the bodies from the tree? Because the trees were the thing that were keeping them alive. Stace (Nix): Chacha, can you ask it how it gets its experiment subjects? Alex (Chacha): No, I can only just hear it. Stace (Nix): Oh. Daniel (GM): Chacha, at this point, I will offer you an XP. Alex (Chacha): Of course. Daniel (GM): You hear another thought that's a little bit more structured and it says, "Experiment [inaudible] still incomplete." Alex (Chacha): Oh, we have to follow it. It's got that guy's friend. Marietta (Atalia): The guy's friend that was supposed to be somewhere else? Alex (Chacha): Yeah. Daniel (GM): I forgot to ask, who will you give the other XP to? Alex (Chacha): Oh, yeah. Let's go with Atalia. Marietta (Atalia): Oh, thank you. Alex (Chacha): Yeah, we do have to follow. Marietta (Atalia): Yeah, [Sunnis] was the other person... It's interesting that [Sunnis] wound up all the way here though because from the information that the dude gave us or [inaudible] gave us, whatever the heck his name is, was that they were not here at a different area, if I recall. Sampson (Dili): They're a bit North where they disappeared. Marietta (Atalia): Okay, well here we go. Are we leaving the cart? I feel like we should not bring the cart with us. Alex (Chacha): It might be a little loud. Daniel (GM): Meanwhile, the hive man is kind of dragging himself along the ground, blood gushing. Marietta (Atalia): We do need to follow him back though because I don't know where he's going. I mean I'm saying we could just kill him but perhaps follow to the source and then kill him. Stace (Nix): Atalia, could you sneaky scout? Marietta (Atalia): Oh, hell yeah. You want me to sneak ahead? Stace (Nix): Not ahead, well kind of, yeah. And then just come back and get us because I don't know about the statues. But not too far ahead, Atalia. Marietta (Atalia): Oh, don't you worry. Atalia will dramatically duck behind a tree or foliage, something to obscure herself and then stealth away. Daniel (GM): Okay. So give me a stealth roll of 15. You're specialized so it is a nine. Marietta (Atalia): That's an 18. Daniel (GM): Okay. Atalia and Jeskii basically disappear as soon as they go behind this hedge. So if you imagine it, Atalia says, "Oh, don't you worry." She steps behind a hedge and she is gone from your perspective, both she and Jeskii. She has disappeared. Sampson (Dili): All right. Daniel (GM): Atalia, since you are going ahead of Jeskii, you guys follow the hive man as it drags themself over these hills onto a massive hive insolation. By massive, I mean a hive the size of, we would think of as a five story building. Marietta (Atalia): Holy shit. Daniel (GM): And it drags itself up and leans itself against the hive and all these other worker bees seem to come down and start repairing the hive man and you see a tunnel nearby that's large enough that it could easily accommodate this 12 foot hive man leading into the rocky hills next to the hive. Marietta (Atalia): Great. Don't rush ahead, be pissed, I'm going to back it on up and head back to the party. You're like, "Well I have bad news and more news." Sampson (Dili): What you got? Marietta (Atalia): So there's a giant hive. It's massive and then when the bee man approached, a bunch of other bees came out and healed the bee man. There was a tunnel, it was five stories tall, it was massive. Sampson (Dili): Shit. Stace (Nix): Dang. Sampson (Dili): How far away is it? Marietta (Atalia): It was like five minutes from here. Sampson (Dili): Oh. Daniel (GM): Yeah, it wasn't far at all. Marietta (Atalia): It's around the corner, unfortunately. The bee creature did not immediately turn tail and come after us though after it was healed. Daniel (GM): Yeah, when you left, the bees were still trying to patch it up. Marietta (Atalia): So I could go try to ambush him now. I don't know. Sampson (Dili): Was he the only hive man? Marietta (Atalia): I didn't see any other hive men. I just saw a bunch of bees. Sampson (Dili): There were no hive boys that you saw? Alex (Chacha): The way you said that, I was just like, "Is this going to be a sexism lecture?" Marietta (Atalia): Surprise. I don't know about men but there were bees. Good times, good times, good times. Yeah, it was horrifying. It reminded me a little bit of the Xenowarrior Princess episode I've seen. Sampson (Dili): So what do we do? Do we just walk in? Marietta (Atalia): I feel like no. We could try to sneak in or just be like, "Hyah," and go for it. But it was a pretty big place and there were a lot of bees, not that a bee by itself is much of an issue but ... Alex (Chacha): A lot of bees. Marietta (Atalia): Yeah, I did see a tunnel saying that it could have fit in, that I imagine maybe that's where [inaudible 00:41:22]. Alex (Chacha): We could do ... Sampson (Dili): Or any of it's other experiments. Alex (Chacha): We could try and sneak in, sans guard. Marietta (Atalia): All of us? Sampson (Dili): Actually, could we call our ex gen pal and dimension door in? Marietta (Atalia): I honestly have those communication skills. I think it's more on their terms. Sampson (Dili): Oh, right, okay. I don't know what to do. Can we sneak past bees? Is that a thing we can do? Daniel (GM): You could try anything. Alex (Chacha): Let's sneak past bees. Marietta (Atalia): In their territory, okay, yeah, sure. Stace (Nix): I'm actually with Atalia on this one, you guys. Alex (Chacha): Do we fight the bees? Stace (Nix): I think that we just don't fuck with the bees, guys. Marietta (Atalia): A person that [Salah] was looking for is in there though, right? Alex (Chacha): Yeah, could be. Stace (Nix): Oh. Marietta (Atalia): Because she read the name in the surface thoughts. Stace (Nix): Yeah, whatever you guys want to do, it's fine with me. Sampson (Dili): Are you doing okay, Nix? Did you eat some bad berries in there or what? Stace (Nix): I got to admit, I'm a little tired. Sampson (Dili): What time of day is it? Daniel (GM): I would say it's getting close to night now. Sampson (Dili): Are bees active at night? Alex (Chacha): We could light a fire and smoke the bees. Marietta (Atalia): We could try smoking them, that is an idea. Sampson (Dili): Actually, yeah, let's try what dimensional smoke is. Daniel (GM): I just had this image of you guys trying to get high on bongs full of bees. Alex (Chacha): That is us. Daniel (GM): What do you guys want to do? Marietta (Atalia): Look, I'm not about to be the decision maker for this because the last three times I've just tried to do the thing and that hasn't gone well. So I'm here to do what the party wants. I just don't know what that is. Sampson (Dili): I say let's grab some extra dimensional wood, set it on fire, and just see if we can smoke our way through. I don't know. This is the first time I've had to deal with this. Marietta (Atalia): That seems like a plan. Stace (Nix): I mean yeah, it sounds like the best plan we're going to come up with for a five story bee hive. Daniel (GM): Okay. So you guys are going to try to smoke the bees with a translucent, extra dimensional wood? Okay. Stace (Nix): Nix knows a lot about bugs so I would like to use confident outlook and have Nix trained in entomology, is the bug one? Daniel (GM): Okay, you already used confident outlook. Stace (Nix): Oh yeah, but it comes back every time I make a recovery roll, Daniel. Daniel (GM): When did you make a recovery roll? Stace (Nix): During the, some time in the cart time. Daniel (GM): Okay, okay, that's fine. So I would say then give me a six. Stace (Nix): Oh my God. No, it's just me trying to get a D6, guys, don't read anything into it. I don't need a D6. I need to do 20. Guys, we're fine. We're fine. I already have the right die out. What am I doing? Okay, that's a seven. Daniel (GM): Okay. The hive man may or may not be aware of what you guys are doing but the bees stay out of your way as you go down this tunnel. Stace (Nix): So we just lit some extra dimensional trees, tree bunches, we've got tree torches. Marietta (Atalia): Yes. Daniel (GM): Yeah. In fact, it seems to be working fairly well because the bees that are ghostly bees that half phase seem to be effected by the smoke as well. Sampson (Dili): There's different kinds of bees in there? Marietta (Atalia): Well I think some are partially in and out of phase. Daniel (GM): So you guys make your way down this tunnel and go a little ways and you're not in the hive hive. You're in the tunnels around [inaudible] but it doesn't take you long before you come across a gigantic control room with huge Numenera devices, some of them at least two stories tall that have flickering lights running through them and you see a chamber that seems to be mostly, for lack of a better word, detritus and there are two bodies in there. But up against the wall, connected to these machines, you see the figure of a woman there with energy running through her and there is a designation there that I would say is going to be a gimmie for both Chacha and Atalia to recognize. That is, that presumably this is [Stannis] attached to the machine and when she sees you all walk in, she opens her mouth in a silent scream. That's where we'll end this episode. Marietta (Atalia): Well okay. Stace (Nix): Oh, listeners, we're sorry we're giving you nightmares. We're sorry. Marietta (Atalia): Atalia went from, "Oh my gosh, all the Numenera," to, "Well okay, [inaudible 00:46:16]." Daniel (GM): And Alex is full of shit. I'm not sorry at all. Sampson, Dili, something that Dili did this episode that stuck out to you? Sampson (Dili): Did Dili do anything this episode? Daniel (GM): Dili built a cart. Sampson (Dili): That was last episode. Marietta (Atalia): Wasn't that last episode? Stace (Nix): The smoke out idea was pretty good. Marietta (Atalia): Yeah. Sampson (Dili): Well that was Alex's idea. Stace (Nix): Oh well. Daniel (GM): Okay, if you don't feel something about Dili, what's something that stood out to you as a player from this episode, Sampson? Something that got you excited about the story? Sampson (Dili): Chacha tearing up in a way that made sense with the story was super cool to see. Coming in and that was this episode, "Where am I?" Yeah, okay, that was this episode. That was cool. I liked this whole mercy train run, that's fun. Unknown Speaker: We're trying mercy for once. Daniel (GM): Very cool. So we have a segment we do each week called player intrusions where we offer you, the listener, an XP to check out something that we think you would absolutely dig. This week it is Sampson's turn. Sampson, what would you offer our listeners next week to check out? Sampson (Dili): All right. So I'm going to talk about music this week and since I don't really have a whole lot of words to say about music, I like what I like and that's all I can really say about it. So I have two artists that I feel that you should listen to. First one is an electronic group called "Magic Sword." They're a techno group. I would describe their sound as that portion of the 70's where when you watch a fancy movie, wizards fighting dragons and all that, synth is just playing in the background and it's very just like, "All right, it's not what I expected." Sampson (Dili): So I would describe... That's kind of the sound they're going for. It's techno-y but also very fantasy based. Daniel (GM): Right, right. So more like almost 80's epic fantasy movie soundtrack? Sampson (Dili): Yeah, yeah. Late 70's, early 80's, I think. Yeah, that kind of thing. Second band I recommend is one called "Thank you, Scientist." Simply put, they are what would happen if you merged Coheed and Cambria and big band jazz and it shouldn't work but it does. They have a few albums out. I recommend listening to "Stranger Heads Prevail." That was the one I listened to that convinced me, "Okay, yeah, these guys are good." Daniel (GM): Okay, cool. Sampson (Dili): Super weird but super great. Daniel (GM): I downloaded "Magic Sword" because I saw your recommendation. I hadn't listened to it yet because I wanted to hear your pitch but I'll check out "Thank you, Scientist." Unknown Speaker: Toons. Daniel (GM): Very cool. If people wanted to reach out to us to tell us what they think about the podcast or to tell us about what they think of "Magic Sword" or "Thank you, Scientist," how would they do that, Marietta? Marietta (Atalia): Well if they were smart, they would start out by going to our website, which is ExplorersWanted.FM and then from there, they can see all the links and things like Twitter, where we're at Explorers Wanted or Instagram, where we're Explorers Wanted Podcast or Facebook, where we're also Explorers Wanted Podcast. And then if you really want to hang out with us, they should hop on the discord. Come hang out with us, we're the Explorers Wanted Podcast discord and we also have Patreon, which is the most concrete way to support us if you are able to. It would allow us to do more things in the future and helps us keep the lights on here, which is important for production. Yeah, if you're able to, that would be really helpful and we appreciate it. Daniel (GM): Awesome, yeah. Obviously if you don't have the financial means to support us through Patreon, we totally get it and honestly, at this stage in our podcast life, the most important thing, the best thing you could do for us if you enjoy the podcast is tell a friend and tell them what you liked about the podcast and why they should listen to it. The second best thing you could do is to leave us a five star rating and review on the podcast directory, Itunes, Podchaser, Stitcher, those are the ones that really make the most impact for us in terms of attracting new listeners. So especially a written review explaining what you liked about it makes a huge difference and we'd be so grateful. Daniel (GM): If you didn't like the podcast, if you just thought it was meh, well I've got some good news for you. I guess it means that you're one of those with the gift. If you haven't yet experienced your gift, let me give you a quick guide. First, get a white noise recording, an app, or even a white noise machine, one of those stand alone machines. You definitely want white noise so ignore those settings for brown and pink noise. Close your eyes and listen carefully. Focus on nothing but the noise. It will take time but eventually you'll begin to make out patterns in the noise that are incongruent with the rest of it. They may even sound like voices calling from far away. Daniel (GM): Now at this point, if you want to turn away, you can. I won't judge you for it, I won't think any less of you. But at the same point, you will not find your gift that way. But if you want to walk away at that point, you can. But if you do want to find your gift, listen closely to those calls. Eventually, you'll hear more detail. Maybe you'll even hear a voice that sounds familiar to you. Maybe it'll even be clear who that voice is or perhaps more specifically, who the voice was. Now at that point, it's too late to make any other choices. Your gift is here and there's no turning it off. If you want to reach out to us individually on social media, you can. You can reach me on Twitter at Andrlik, A-N-D-R-L-I-K. Stace (Nix): You can tell me what Nix should have did instead on Twitter at Stace Windu. Sampson (Dili): You can smoke an extra dimensional piece of wood with me at Slam Potato. Stace (Nix): Not legal in all 50 states. Sampson (Dili): Not possible in all three states of matter. Alex (Chacha): You can tell me what the extra dimensional bees did to your brain at Real T Unicorn. Marietta (Atalia): And you can tell me what you think Atalia should have done at [inaudible] on Twitter. Daniel (GM): Thank you all for listening. Have a good night, day, or whatever when you're listening to this. Bye. Marietta (Atalia): Bye. Sampson (Dili): Bye. Stace (Nix): Bye. Alex (Chacha): Bye.