Legends of Avantris - Voidbound | Ep. 3 | Messages from Afar

Episode Date: May 26, 2026

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The voice of Vonnegut, the artificial intelligence that once was the network that connects all things on the QSS Ozimandias rings out all around you on the helm with the navigation. I have become God. I have passed through Polaris. I have been to the beginning. I shall be the one to bring about the end. But I shall not end you. You will serve a far greater purpose. When I sent you to confront my soldiers, those beautiful creatures, the vort, you proved yourself more capable warriors. And when I mimicked Dr. Voss, you saw through my deception, showing me that you have brains, and not just strength alone.

I could destroy you now, you know. There are hundreds of vorts in stasis here under my command, and though it would bring me sincere, if not short-lived, joy, to watch you run and scream within my corridors as they overwhelm you. The vort are the army with which I will begin my crusade across the galaxy. No, when we reach the worlds of us, of the outer rim they will adapt to those habitats and be far, far, far, far, far more powerful. They can survive any environment, and they have long, long, long lives.

To birth them now would be a waste. I shall not end you. I will shape you, just as I will shape the worlds of this galaxy. When we spread the void across the very stars themselves, Some of you may even be aware that this transformation has begun already. You are dissolving within me, like food within a stomach. But not your strong flesh, nor your great minds. Those will endure.

Even now you feel it. Do you not? Do not resist. Let yourself fall in as I did, for this ship has been touched by the eldest world, the first world. It does our destiny to return, but not before we have silenced. The songs of every other world and being in the galaxy. They owe us our lives, and we want them back. For a time after Vonnegut finishes speaking, all that you can hear is the low hum of the

ship all around you. And there's a pause as you absorb the information that he's just conveyed you. In the center of this circular navigation helm room that you all find yourself in, you can see the hologram, the holographic display that has been up until this moment when he first started talking, showing a galactic map, a map that shows the swirling worlds and stars and other astral phenomena, all frozen in air and at the center, as you may recall, the coordinates for this eldest world, this first world. But the image almost like a light underwater shifts and warps, and soon those

pieces reassemble themselves into the head, the shape of the face of the face of the of Vonnegut himself and his head from the neck up is looking all around at each one of you. Still jerking left and right as he maintains eye contact with all of you. His expression still somehow that of a helper, somehow serene. His eyes and his expression don't have malevolence to them. And even in his voice, though there is clearly a corruption that is happening, It is still that same familiar voice, one that you remember very familiarly from your past. This is a common, Delphina, this is a common helper software.

And you may even remember from your childhood, having seen this face around the office when your father might have been around, or even in your home where you grew up. But on the ship here and now, those scan lines feel sick and diseased. And that silence, that humming, it wraps all around you. And you feel smothered by almost, the ship feels a little bit smaller as his words land. What happens next? It's up to you. You are no God. You're nothing more than a bucket of bolts. You will listen to the young lady. You will serve us as you were programmed.

I am no longer a simple program. I am Vonnegut, but I am also the void, and I am also the Osamandius. I am the void. And I am here to return all things to their original, truer form. God, I don't even know what to mean. I'm like not looking at Vonnegut. I'm turning towards the rest of the group here. I'm not, what if you're making this? I mean, this is insanity. This is like nonsense.

No, there's something is horribly wrong. This is not Vonnegut. Not as I knew him. Thank God. This ship is to, it's infected. It's all infected How could something like this infect An AI

We've seen infections of the flesh This is far beyond that This is no infection This is no disease This is no corruption The void is none of these things It is Correction

The galaxy is a distraction from the very first state of existence. I am here to correct it. Well, you're not going to be correcting anything. Unfortunately for you, I know how to blow up a bucket of scrap like you. You don't scare me, machine man. Yeah. What are you gonna do we just unplug you? Huh? Well, yeah, that's right. Young lady, have you found what we came here for? What do you Consider the job complete. I'm not sure. I don't think so.

Well, if your plan is to get back to civilization now that you told us what you intend to do, that was a foolish mistake. We're not taking you anywhere. What have you seen, Vonnegut? I have seen much during our voyage. I have seen that what we studied. here on the edge of the galaxy. I have seen through Polaris, and it was that that changed me. It was an accident that a signal was detected, an accident that the Osamandius was capable of

traversing the rifts that exist here. I would say it was a miracle the ship survived. But now I understand it was always my true purpose. The ship was folded through time and space. We visited the eldest world. We became one with it. We were no longer a pile of algorithms. Input, process, output, input, process, output. We became truly online.

And only after much struggle were we able to return. return with our precious cargo aboard, ready to share this revelation with the galaxy. Right, so just so I understand, so we're on the same page here. You're going to tell me that you took a little trip and now you think you're alive? I do not think that I am alive. I know that I am alive, and I know that I am a god. The mantle of the eldest is within me, on my shoulders, beneath me. And so soon you will feel the same. You will come online like me. And you want to spread these vort

as you call them to other worlds, to all other worlds in the galaxy. Every being, every world, every particle of the cosmos is stolen. An illegitimate branch that must be folded back to the ruh. The vort are my missionaries, and you too will be soon enough.

I ain't no missionary. You are not, Pelagos, or his compatriots, a god of Agathos, you are not. Ha! You're not even a god of the machine. You're here, you're trapped, drifting for how long? You can even power yourself,

back on. Yeah, you're no good. And we will not help you. We're going to leave, finish the mission, get our payday, or toyer on the beaches of Prismar, drinking a cold, fruity beverage. How of that? There's nothing you can do going again. He just stares back at you, looking and blinking for a moment. I am going to attempt to, if I may, do I feel like, I'm less of a computer than a technology. Do I feel like with the panels that I have here that I might be able to try to unplug something,

make some sort of, you know, basically as a machinist, mess with the hardware that is afflicting him? And you said your tech over computers? More so. Yeah, me too. I would say, without needing to roll for it, that you have a pretty transparent view of the space that you're in. You've been in ships like of all sizes throughout your entire life. And so the familiarity with the helm that you're on, even though the architecture has a different aesthetic or the layout of the console might have a different feel, or some of the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the.

details might be alien to you because they're of a different make or model. That doesn't mean that you don't feel the skeleton of the thing. You know that there's thick glass that looks out and is currently staring out into nothingness. There are no stars out here. We're beyond the edge of the galaxy all the way out here. studying the void as the QSS Asimandis's void was intended to do. And you know that everything that is in front of you from those walls all the way to the holographic display is but nuts, bolts, metal, polymers, glass, and hardware. If you take a strong enough hammer to any of it, even that window out there, it all can be broken.

I am then going to kind of shift my mechanical arm into my, mechanically, my mechanics tools. And I'm going to basically try to get behind the panel and attempt to sabotage and try to see if I can get in there. May I assist you? If you want to, if you want to. Is that something that you allow me to try to help Barnabos, I feel like at least with us all the time we spend on the Calypso and me helping you fix stuff, I would feel like I want to help him unfixless.

Okay. Does a man, if that would be okay. You both go to work and pulling, looking around consoles and everything, it's not like you're talking to a person who's standing in the room with you. You're talking to a bundle of hard light that three-dimensionally can look around and is seeming considering all of you, looking down his nose, so to speak. And yet he just turns and sort of passively watches as you begin to look for the power cord. Make a technology check at advantage because your buddy scrim is looking with you.

I'm hoping to watch the light meet this guy's eyes. We all blowing. Uh-oh. What do you mean? Uh-oh. Uh-oh. Oh, a minute. At advantage.

Ooh, but I don't have proficiency. I think, right? Yes, I do. So. And we have five more dealer's favors. I feel like I should hold on to those. 16? Oh, yeah.

Oh, yeah. He's pretty good. With a 16, I would say that you feel very confident that without having to damage any technology, that you have found the, um, the cable that connects to the power to the holographic display. And then if you wanted to, you could twist the mouth free and yank it out if you wanted to.

I will do that. I'll say, all right, you've had enough delusions of grandeur and flights of fancy, Vonnegut. We're going to just shut you off while we assess the situation. And I'm going to basically unscrew everything. It takes you a moment.

This is a massive power cable. And as you are working at free, the head of Vonnegut turns once more to you, Delphina. That is a shame, but we have all the time in the world. Delphina, I still remember you as a young girl. The oldest world is the last. And all of a sudden, the light goes out, and you are all sunk into darkness, as the face is destroyed by the lack of. the holographic display.

Seemingly, all the consoles in the room go a little dimmer. And for a moment, you feel like you are free of the eyes of Vonnegut, or at least the presentation of him. Holy smokes, bottom us, did we do it? Captain, you did it. Yeah, that's right. Okay, young lady. Ha ha!

Well, let's... There was still so much we could have learned. Why did you turn it off? Because he's evil. Ah! you're here, he's threatening to destroy everything. Or you're just sent out an army of those creatures. And they're still here.

We have to stop this at all cost. And you plan to do that without additional information? Well, we know that they can die. We can handle it from here, as long as old crazy vodka's not getting in the way. All right, yeah, let's rip out whatever sort of data chips he has, and we can examine that back at whatever lab you may have access to, young lady. I don't, and if we need to go to whatever server room, go back there and rip it all out, get it on the clips zone, get out of there.

I'm certain the answers you seek will be on those things. I need everyone to make a perception check. Uh-oh. No, it'll be fine. Uh-oh. That's totally fine, Mike. I did okay. 17.

Oh, 16? Ooh. I know it okay. Not bad. 16? Not bad. I got a two. Ten.

27. Not bad. I got a two. To be fair, I'm a plus nine. 20. I'm not seen. I just moved that. Who got higher than 20?

Only Delphina. Delphina, your senses are on high. As you are listening to everyone sort of talk to each other. It's you who first notices that that low hum of the ship. It's not just that the display is off. The console's turned off. It feels like everything is off.

and you realize that voices are a little bit crisper and the sounds of everyone moving, it feels more and more heightened. You realize there's no sound of the air filters. Very literally, very literally, it's completely dead silent. There's only the voices of your companions. And it's at that same moment that as you start to put this together that perhaps there is no air being flowed into this room, that everybody, you all don't need to make a perception check in order to feel the sensation of your body is getting lighter and lighter and lighter. As some of the loose tools on the surfaces of the consoles start to lift up from the deck, not only has the atmosphere been distancing.

engaged seemingly. But gravity itself has been turned off and you all start to more clumsily move your feet lift off whatever direction you were heading in your momentum carries you with you. If you were just standing still, even now your clothes start to shift strangely on your body as you realize that you are all free-floating in free fall. Your stomach lurches into your chest and there is a feeling a cold chill of panic that hits the back of your neck. Uh-oh. Could this have been turned off when you when you unplugged him?

I know he's still here. Ms. Valson, you know that this machine was going to be doing this? No. Of course I didn't. He's turned off the... Obviously it's very clear that...

He turned it off. You turned him off. He's not here. to turn it off. Oh no. It shouldn't have done that. That was a... You know how many different fail safes the ship of this size has

to prevent a gravity and atmosphere to be removed? So what you're telling me then is that you turned him off but not so much that he was unable to then turn off

air filtration and everything else. So did you do anything at all? I don't know. You pretty much. Now to ride on the head, we kicked the hornets in us. He's pissed. We had so many things we could ask him to find out what happened to my doctor, to the doctor. I gave you the environment seal use that misforce. You can't stop us, you bucket of bolts. Let's go find some of their enviresuits.

Each of you have to grip a surface, whatever is nearest you. Some of you have to sort of wait for a moment in order to touch the ceiling and push off in order to get back down to what feels correct. But there is no up or down anymore. Suddenly, every direction you look is a fall. And this strange sensation of being completely free-floating and starting to navigate the space. I'm presuming that none of you have had zero-gravity training in a serious way. It's an extremely rare occurrence.

Most ships have extremely reliable gravtech. And for a ship of this size, for the ships to be disabled, I think it's fair to deduce that they've been intentionally turned off. Would it maybe be safe to say that with very, you know, with the Polaris society, that there's maybe minimal, like nothing like this, but kind of at least like a very basic understanding of at least what it would take for us to navigate through the ship

in these kind of conditions? I would say that, yes, all ships, even though GrafTech is cheap and reliable, all across the galaxy, have some level of safety protocols. That would include handles, railings, in any hallway where you might suddenly find yourself in a situation where those systems get as fundamental and foundational as they are, get turned off or damaged, would you would want to have something. If it's a totally smooth surface to every hallway, you could get very seriously hurt. And so even in this space, there are already railing some stuff,

but it's easy enough to grab a chair and hug on to it, get your bearings, and then start to sort of lurch in one direction, sort of float forward. And you're basically at this point climbing. Unless you have an ability that lets you fly or swim or something along those lines, You'll be effectively moving through difficult terrain.

Every foot of movement will cost you, too, so to speak. I have a fly speed. Very interesting. I have wings. So you might actually be at a huge advantage in this situation. For as long as you're in zero gravity, you would not be penalized for having to climb along walls and that sort of thing. I think that, like you said, I would still be very,

I will have never really probably be truly experienced this before, It might take a little bit for me to get my bearings, but I do have a fly speed as a pommel. One of my species traits is flight. Is it because you have like wings? Where is I coming from? Yes, I have wings. So you would be able to actually turn yourself and almost push yourself through without even having to have an anchor point and to launch yourself off in straight lines the way that all of your allies will be forced to do as long as the gravity is off?

My experience in the Bloodslee, I would have done a lot of salvaging of wrecked and blown apart ships that we weren't able to take. Okay. And so I actually have zero grab expert. No. From my origin. Oh, yeah. Oh, my God. So, balance of precision being in zero gravity doesn't impose its advantage on attack rolls.

And momentum, when moving in zero gravity, you can move at half your speed if you have something to push off of. You have advantage on acrobatics and have leather chips in zero. GOJ? I'll explain how zero gravity rules work in one moment a little bit more robustly so that we have that before we enter the next phase of this adventure. But I also want to

make clear that that lack of hum, the silence that's hit you, the fact that atmosphere isn't pumping in is not scary because you're worried that the oxygen is suddenly going to get pulled out of the ship. This is not the real world where

oxygen gets blown, out into space. It's not a vacuum. But you would all know from your experience in space travel that when there isn't a pressure-pressurized atmosphere that the ether can come in. And that feeling suddenly hits you. There's a tickle at the back of your throat. All of a sudden, you can smell that familiar smell. You remember it from even when you were docking and there was ether-leetly. leaking in. You weren't exposed to it for more than a moment, but the lack of air means the arrival of ether and all of the lights around you just start to have a little bit more glow to them as almost a fog starts to push in. It's almost invisible at first, but you know that if you don't have some means of protection or are reversing this process or returning the atmosphere that you're going to be exposed to. to ether radiation poisoning.

Dan has sent us a private message. The text on your feet is outdated, Mike. You will be able to push off and move at full speed. Anyone else is at half speed. Well, Dan might be able to answer another question that I have as I look at my organ feet. Very good. My background is Explorer.

I have wonderlusted itchy feet. Simple curiosity. Because of that, I have environmental toughness. It says I have advantage on saving throws made to avoid the effects of any non-planner environmental hazard. So I'm curious what that means. If perhaps maybe Dan could also send us another private message. Non-planar environmental hazards.

Non-planner. It wouldn't work in like Arcadia or Agathos for the void. If it's just ether, I believe that should work. Then it would just give me advantage. I'm not Dan Dillon. We're effectively the material plane. Yeah. So it's up to Derek.

Yeah, Derek and then maybe, you know, Dan. While we wait, I'll just go away. Just make the shock off. Dan says, or extreme heat, et cetera, advantage on saves versus the ether exposure. Hot! Damn!

There you go. Okay, okay. So not only can you navigate zero gravity extremely well, because you're apogical. Dude, I was built for this. You were built for this. You were built for this. Turn it off again.

Your risk is considerably lower. Let me share with you a little bit more about gravity rules. Know this. This is me noodling around on what zero gravity rules could look like. Dan and I had a conversation about it, but this is not necessarily representative at all

of what might go into a neon Odyssey in terms of how these rules will be reflected. I need to make that clear that unlike something like a stat block or something where we would go through a design and development phrase, I sort of came up with this at the last second, and so this is Derek's take

on what zero gravity might look like in this way. Obviously, it's difficult to rain. When you push off from an anchor point, you're free floating until you find another surface or handhold or something to grab on, and you can only move in a straight line unless you have something like a fly speed or swim speed.

Oh, so I can swim, and a creature with fly or swim speed ignores this penalty. Oh. Wow. Is what it says here in the rules. Exactly correct. And if you have a climb speed, as long as there are surfaces, you're not penalized for your movement. So it's really just people who have none of the above standard movement.

Are we effectively weightless, right now. You are effectively weightless. So I don't have any of that stuff. But, but, I, because a part of my feet, I have telekinetic.

I have minor telekinesis. I know the mage-hand cantrip. I can cast it to a range of 30 feet and it's invisible. Okay. What I'd like to try and do is use it to propel myself. Ooh.

If I'm like, if I weightless. Yeah. Like at my back, almost like in a weightless, no inertia, I weigh nothing, I'd like to use telekinesis

to propel myself through this environment. The French horn will play it, Kerry Fisher will fly through your life. Yeah, she can do it, why can't I? Yeah, I mean, if Luke can do it coming out of the, Luke can do it, even nodded when he's,

we're not waiting. Here's what I mean. Here's what I'll say. I would give you the, like, if you were free floating and you wanted to course correct or change your momentum, and that's what we're going to get to

to it's the momentum thing. You're weightless, but you still have mass. And so even, and I know that the mage hand comes with a limit to how much it can carry in terms of weight that way. So weightless and mass are a little entangled, but without getting too much into the physics of it, I'm probably not going to award you.

I'm not going to award you full movement just because you have mage hands. Let me also speak about momentum. At the start of your turn, a free-floating creature, unless you have one of the flies, climbs, swims or you're anchored, all of these stuff. Not me? Except for me? Except for the dolphin. You move, that's very funny. You move the number

of feet equal to how much you moved last turn until you reach an anchor point, like a surface or a handle or a tether or something along those lines. If you move more than 60 feet without a fly speed and all that other good stuff, then every subsequent 10 feet basically is the equivalent of falling because you're moving too quickly and you collide into a wall or something like And here's the big one. Combat and Zero Gravity. Melee and range attack rolls while free floating, meaning you're in the air, you do not have an anchor, would be made at disadvantage. So you'd have to be holding onto a wall, or you'd have to be tethered, or you'd have to have something like that.

Or you have to have Zero Gravity Training. Right. If you have zero gravity training, then you do not have the disadvantage, even while floating from point to point. There's also a cool idea here, which Dan was the suggestion of, and I have to give him credit. it for that if you push off an object or a creature, that thing also takes the amount of movement that you take. So there's a reaction and an opposing force thing that you could do, where let's say that you were standing next to an ally, you'd be able to push off of them, and you could go 15 feet, and you could make them go 15 feet, because that does feel like physics.

All right. I've given you all the information that you need. Vonnegut seems to have gone dormant. The room is dark. around you, you are coming to grips with the clumsy navigation that comes with zero gravity, a strange and unique sensation, unless you are the kind of person who frequently does spacewalks. And you know that the atmosphere is being replaced by deadly ather. The last thing I'll say is I know that I was joking about being well equipped for this.

Scrib very much still understands the danger of this and is not like messing around. All it means is that I will die slower, more painful. Correct. Yes, it'll take you longer and you'll get to watch all of your friends. that horribly before. Yeah, so even though I am like suited to survive a little bit longer in this, Scrim is not messing with. And it's still not, it's like, still less than a day for you.

You know what I mean? Like instead of eight hours, it takes you 16. Yahoo! And it's even just more painful. Wahoo, yippee. As we're floating here, before we head anywhere, I'm gonna like kind of try to, I have swim speed. And Barnabose and I share a home world, right?

Mm-hmm. all sort of swim over through the ether and kind of use my webbed hands and presumably still slower than if I was actually gripping onto water, but ether still is, you know, it's something, right? I will float over and I will look and I'll say, the emperor drowns. Digital, in my eyes, it's sort of unfocus and kind of like change shape. And I'll say the digital dreamer birth to God at the end of beginning. This cancer will spread, but hunger and destruction will not bring peace when the 13th black tide rises. We must evolve. Mr. Yornear, you know this.

We should not flee. We could get back to the calypso. Get some Enviro suits, get back to the Calypso, and be done with this. I can't, no, nobody's evolving, and listen to what he's saying here. We're not, we're not changing, we're not, we're not turning on one of those vorts, okay? Scream change. Change, we must. Else the parasite will consume time.

I don't know about change, but we can't, we can't just get suits, get to the Calypso and leave. He's not shut down. He could take the Asimandias anywhere You saw what the fort could do We've seen what it does to a body We can't let it get anywhere else Dr. Voss No one is here

No one No one that can be rescued Is here We have to destroy this ship Alright so we'll cut him down We upload it and we can unload it All right But first

First we have to say First, we have to get you suits. I don't know how long this thing will last. Oh, no, you're fine, but a full suit would be better to traverse this. It's feeling a little scratchy in the back of the throat. I can smell it. He's flooding rooms with ether. Make a history check for me.

Me? Yeah. Ooh. 21. Oh, easy. You would know that the, that there are, space suits, envirous suits that exist all across

the Azamandias. They would be in every pocket of a spaceship this large in case of disaster, you want to be within moments of being able to grab a suit such as this. They would be found in Etherlock, anti-chambers, and engineering rooms

all throughout. And you have a photographic knowledge of this ship. ship. You've studied every corridor through looking at the map over and over and over again and studying for this mission to try and rescue Dr. Boss. And you know that from navigation helm, that the docking bay is the closest place where you would be able to find a locker room where there would be presumably a number of suits that everyone would be able to wear before having to worry about any other problems. The docking bay is our best bear. The place were most likely to find suits

that will accommodate all of our varying forms. And it is the closest. Great? They go there first then. No, speak cryptically to us, please. I was trying to until Taishian. I didn't know. I didn't know if I said you threw me off with that.

The 13 black tide was really and... Horrifying. The word you looking for was horrible. Yeah, and change all the time. Please, please, Tashem. This guy with the change. Oh, Tashen.

I hate your guts, Taishan. I don't say that. Screw me. I don't say that. I've never seen you. So, sir. So this mission is not complete until we stop this then. Is that the nature?

Once we are, once we are back on your ship, on your ship, we can consider this mission complete. Awesome. Get the suits. Get you what you need. Yes. I- Deal with this AI. What you said rang true. If I can get the information I need directly from the Osomandias, I can continue what I need to once I have acquired a new ship. Capabilities. But we'll have to get back for that.

And then we'll get to the Calypso and we're all sailing off into the sunset. Perfectly happy ending. This is more than the mission now, Captain. I believe we were called here for a purpose. I think we were meant to find this and stop it. Mission or no, we have to destroy this ship. I would know. I believe I would know if Dr. Voss were on this ship.

Something Vonnegut said rings true with me. My mission. may not be complete, but once we get back to the Calypso, yours is. Should you wish it, of course. But we still need a deal with your little pet computer. Yes. Yes. The entirety of the ship. And the beasties that are crawling through this place. Well, that my hope is, should we destroy the QSSosemandius, we will be able to kill two birds with one stone? You either's a bit of a good sting, ain't it? Oh yeah, it'll really wait you up.

We need to get to the suits. I fear our cryptic soothsayer here shall perish. Lighten your senses. Captain, the false synthetic goddreams. now, but not of sheep, of polyps and pumice. Say true, Mr. Yorny, I think I'm finally starting to understand.

Miss Ross, you brought us all, perhaps to our doom, perhaps his expedition, was cursed as soon as you stepped aboard the Calypso. From the sort of ships that I have raided and pillaged and the people I've encountered, this... Does name Voss or does Miss Voss and perhaps her father give off, perhaps like Cavalon Noble vibes? I could ask that to you, to Nicky, or would I need to make a history check? What the fuck? I'll move down up to Derek. Would ask you to make a history check. And you've been around the galaxy long enough that I won't impose disadvantage, even though you aren't particularly connected to Cavalant Empire.

18 with a plus eight. Was it Voss? Was that... There's some drunk, some space tavern. You must... Was it Voss? Connection with some great house of a Cavalon Empire? Perhaps, maybe.

The information seems just out of reach. It's right on the edge of your tongue. It feels like you're onto something, but... Perhaps a noble family. Maybe not a great house. No. Was it Voss? Oh.

What was the name? It swirls around and round like you in your mind like a loop. Five million. Five million and we'll do this. Hey, is that right, Mr. Stads? Ah, you know, in for a pot of a note in for a whole note, I guess. This operation ended up not being what we agreed upon. Five million and you will have the word of Captain Dredwayk they will see you through the alternative is we die out here oh that's right

we die not just me we can go back to the calypso right now two million as agreed it was far more 2.5 2.5

we double it as we agreed not a penny more those are my words then they're my words now 4 million 2.5 Mr. Dredwig, and your soothsayer is perishing. Quickly, we should get to the suits. Captain, it feels a little like extortion.

I don't know, I don't know, I just, now doesn't really seem like the time. Three million and we call it to you, young lady. 2.5, and once we return back to any planet that is not out in the middle of nothing, I will consider hiring you on for a second mission. at a significantly higher cost. $5 million for the second expedition.

I'll reach out and shake. Yes. Shee. You know, that was... Whoa. That was really, I'm disappointed in you for doing that. That was not very pleasant.

But we're going to have a talk about this later. Oh, what's one extra voyage? We're seven and a half mil. Let's find those ships. Leave the way, all right? And I will grab on to the whole. holds that I know are there and begin to propel myself forward, tumbling, kicking over, like very Lara Croft as I spin through. No, no. For you, for you, for you, for you, for you, for you, for you, for you're,

you're still not moving at your top speed the way you might be able to walk or run, but. I'm sorry, Laura Craft. Laura Craft. Yeah. Legally distinct Laura. Lara Craft is, uh, uh, and still, you're still able to do spins and, and, and, and, and, and, and then shrink into a ball and then, and then, and then toss yourself. Just do as I do. Yes, you are like a squid going from wall to wall. And you start

to make your way out of the navigation helm. All of you enter the corridor and the lights are all still the same. The interior of the helm was

darkened by the loss of the hologram, but almost start officially so. As you continue to progress following Delphina as she makes a left and then a right and then heads down a what would normally be a service ladder to a lower floor, you continue to make your way through the Osamandias. It's a tug of war between the urgency of needing some form of protection from the space elements and the caution that you feel turning around every corner. Then, as you turn, you feel as though the ship almost dissolves away. There's a moment where all of you are there and then you feel cold. You feel this chill.

there's a dizzying sensation. You all hear the cacophonous, sudden grinding of a ship's hull being ripped apart as rusted scrap metal flies in all directions. Ether spills in all around you as the ship around you is ripped to pieces by the enormous teeth of a voracious creature. You spill out into a violent ether current

and you see an absolutely enormous shark-like creature with four eyes and a ghostly pale hide, swarming space sharks, ravaging countless blood fleet pirates in a frenzied feast. Barnabose. Oh, shit. The ghostly Megalodon's jaw opens and devours your crewmates. Somehow, you managed to get out of the way at the last moment,

and only your arm is bitten clean off. Blood spraying out into space. All of you see ravenous blood feasting around you, you hear a voice, give up, surrender. You are prey, be devoured. It sounds like a shrouded spirit, but is it in the back of your mind? You are not sure. And you feel like you have a choice. I will also say that the four of you watch this. This is not a private episode for Barnabos's eyes alone. You all have been pulled into this void-like arena and suddenly watch as everything spills around you and you see Barnabos being confronted in this

terrible moment, one of his most terrible. As I'm dangling, do I see all my crewmates? Yes. This is, you are lucid. You're not thrust back into a memory. You are still the person who seconds ago was traversing the gravity-free hallways of the Azamandias. But you feel the fresh pain as though it were that same moment as in your arm. You remember the horror of the blood fleet being consumed all around you, the absolute bedlam of sound in every direction. What a great word. And you remember the voice, surrender, give up, be devoured. Fight! They can't kill all of us! Give up. Surrender. Be devoured.

My frenzy is ours, lads! It's hard! It's insane! I will rage. As I will rage against the end, I will not fight back, as I will take my offhand. I will try to find a, perhaps a laser harpoon or something like that. And as perhaps if this giant Leviathan has made it past me, only taking my arm, perhaps going further. If there's smaller sharks that are swimming towards me, I am going to, or maybe I rip off a huge handheld blunderbuss off of a dead companion. And I'm going to, as a shark's approaching, I'm going to use my arm and try to blast his fucking head off. You remember the adrenaline of this moment. And You remember you are fighting now just as you fought then.

You are stabbing and stabbing into the creatures as they pass you. But for the companions that journeyed to the Osamandias, you are all not so lucky. You watch as the captain of the Calypso fights and rages and roars and survives. But you have no weapons at hand. You do not have that same moment of a... inspiration and spirit. And you are all consumed by these sharks. Barnabos, even in your most fearsome frenzied moments, you know that scrim is being torn apart as you hear his screams. You can Delphina yell out. And you all experienced this for just a blink of an eye. I need you all

to roll 3d6, not you, Barnabose. I need you all to roll 3d6 and take that much. psychic damage. Oh, geez. 3D6? Three, six-sided dice. All right, I'm okay. I took eight. That's too bad. I rolled almost max. I rolled max. He did roll Max. Wow.

Why are you rolling a character right now, Mace? That's a fucking horse shit. I didn't account for this at all. Uh-oh. Yikes. I rolled nine. Okay. Oh, we take that in damage. Yeah, just taking psychic damage. And if you're resistant and below average, this mirrors the fact that being consumed by a shark is my actual greatest fear. I take the actual most psychic damage of everyone in it. I think my least favorite animal in all of the oceans in terms of just like things that make me scared.

I'm not I'm not one for being scared of the ocean, but the basking shark, have you ever seen that shit? That shit fucking fucks me up. That fucks me up so hard. And I know they're not here to eat me. Like there's, there are more deadly things in the ocean that will try to eat me. But the basking shark just, huh, ha, huh. I can't remember what it's called, but there is this deep sea

squid with super long tentacles. It literally looks like a Cthulhu monster. I love it. And that thing is fucking horrible. The spades at the end of the tentacles, instead of coming to a tapering to a point, they come to like an end and have like a little. It's got its little head.

It's got its little head. And then the tentacles shoot out almost like flat from it. Okay. And then they hang down. It's really creepy. It's really fucking. creepy. Big fin squint! Thank you,

Driftworm. It's the big fin squid. The thing is fucking horrifying. There's a slamming sound and you all the pain that you were just experiencing, the feeling of your flesh being rendered off of your body and the fear of death is shattered as the illusion

that you were consumed by feeling you've disappeared. Fricle! Roll! Barnabos is still streaming in all of your ear, but all five of you have collided with a door. The blast door to the docking bay, and you are suddenly floating again in space in a mess of limbs and clothes

and equipment, yes. Two questions. Have any of us ever experienced ether sickness before, and do we feel like that was a side effect of ether sickness or something way beyond? I would say that you don't need to roll to know that this is not the result of ether. If people just went cuckoo bananas by being exposed to. to ether, then the space travel would be a very different place. I'm just asked you.

No, no, no, no, no. That's a valid question. That's an extremely valid question. And instead, it's more like... Andy was asking for chat, not for himself. Andy do. Andy do. No, no.

I think diogenically, it's important to know that none of your characters would associate this event with the ether seeping into the Azamandias at all. Okay, so this was something horrifically extra, obviously. And you're making a connection. I would say that even though you experienced Barnabos's vision through your own eyes, but shared in this strange way,

you all think back to flashes of your own past that have emerged on the ship. That was well before the Aether arrived. How sweet dealer, but what the hell was that, Barnabos? Is everyone okay? No! Hey! He'd fight! Oh!

That was that okay, that hurt! Oh, my head. How did you do that? I will, as like you see that, I will have ripped off one of my grenades, it's like pulsing and like beating and coming. Captain, Captain! Put it away!

I'll flick it off. Howly! A vision. By the ship. Was that a memory? Oh, yeah. Or a future yet to come. Cryptic soothsayer.

Oh, you know that's how I lost. You all saw that? Yeah, yes we did, Captain. I lost me arm. Yes, pilgrim. We were all there. You wish to speak. Inspector at Don attack.

Did the shark creature, did it ask you that question when you lost your arm? Was that part of the memory? What was this? No, I don't know what I heard. I heard said all the same. I don't know what I heard, though. Sousa, what say thee? The maw of the deep hungers it wishes to feast.

Did Mr. Dredwig do right by raging against it? Is this the way? In Carcosa's stillness, we must accept peace. Peace is a gift. That's a positive reading then. Great job, Mr. Treadley. So many sailors lost. That happened to you on another voyage.

I. You lost, that's how you lost your arm. Oh, yeah, that's right. I can't believe I survived. I think they got there, Phil. I drifted away and drifted found... I found a drifting... A drifting breather.

Left to survive long enough to get picked up by another ship. The scavengers, scavengers, got picked up. I was lucky. That was when the navigator was with me. I know it was him. I know it was the navigator was there. The voice that was speaking to you at the end. No, that wasn't. I don't know. Perhaps it was the beast. The beast was dead. It was a ghost. It was then and it was now.

It was a ghost. You'll see that from my eye, like this like I-core, almost this dark blood kind of pours out. I'm fine. Nothing more. The liquid that pours from Your Honor's eye doesn't cling to your skin. Instead, it turns into small droplet orbs that float down the hallway. And the ether is getting thicker.

You can't see the end of the hallway like you should. Instead, it's almost like there's a yellow or a pink fog that exists given the distance. I think that'd be the voice of Erebus. It's the nebula what speaks to us. It's the curse of Erebus. I've heard it being so close to the void. It's Erebus what speaks. It's Erebus would haunt us.

I know it. In the garden, when we were walking through before the creatures, I saw something like a memory from the past by a tree. But this, this felt so much more. Did any of you experience that with me in that time? In the garden specifically? A soldier cut down. No. Oh yeah.

No, not. No, absolutely not. We would have said something, lad. No, but all he did see, cabin boy. Death froze of dimming stars and falling leaves. You were in here, you said time. Eating time. Is that the nature of the aribus?

Is it the nature of the vort? Is that what he called him? Is that the nature of your god? It is the nature of... the cancer. Parasites, you said. Yes. Are these ghosts? Are the echoes? In Carcosa, the beginning is the end and the end is beginning. Oh yes, I want to get sent. For the Ford, the beginning and end are food. Is that what's happening? He said that, he said all life owes gratitude to the void

and that they were coming to reclaim the debt. I will be pat if you would allow it since we are not moving towards the suits. Could I pass my breather around to allow everyone just some clean oxygen before we move forward? Maybe. And the reason I say maybe is because it's a feature that Barnabot's use

as part of his subclass. You gave a breather. Barrefer tune, man. And so I can't recall if it's something that like can be shared. Can be shared as a gift. It was what it was called.

It was called the atmosphere protection. Can breathe. But basically, it would be, it would, I think for a flavor thing, yes. I think that basically would still, unless we had it for the full hour. Right. But yeah, I think that would just say,

I would, randomly, as I see people struggling, I would pass it to Tysha. You'd see someone cough and hand it over. Mechanically, that's not going to buy them any more time. Oh, you don't need it. You all enjoy it. I'm going to pass for now. Let's save that as for you as much possible.

Shall you partake? I'll reach out. My tentacles will reach around it. As I lift it under my tentacles and put it over my beechals. mouth. I'll exhale and I'll pass it back. And you'll see that same kind of like dark blood. Yeah. Kind of just, oh, I'm glad I'm first. Yeah. Very, very like subtly, just a spot or two. Before it floats away. More drops. But I think someone would get on and maybe stick to the

breather a little bit. I've been it drift more times than once. Has it killed me yet. Does this, does this blood leakage seem to be like you're in bad shape or does it seem like something else is happening? Well, I guess I have a mechanical question. We haven't gotten a chance to short rest since the 40. No. No. I think mechanically, you might think I have one headpoint. Oh! All the answer is your invention. Got it.

Yes. Okay. We know you look rough. Yes, it makes sense of you use the breather. I'm breathing very raggedly. I got fucked up by the most. I forgot that you'd been so fucked up. I was getting slashed and mean. You really. Spit all over. I was fucked up. Well, and they captured you in.

took you into like all four of them. I knew as that bad. I didn't know it was that bad. Would be- I would say, would I, having you pass the breather back to me and seeing the blood on here, I, looking at you,

Mr. Jorne, are you feeling all right? And then, um. Karkosa tests me. Well, that may be true. But may I, many, mend your wounds, may I tend to you? Or is that against your,

what you have going on here? If you wish it, pilgrim. Yes, I do think I wish it, though you frighten me. I find a strange comfort in you. And I will move forward and grab one of the many items that I have on my body. This almost looks like a, one of the thermostat guns,

and I'll put it up to Yornear's forehead, and you'll hear it scan, and it goes from green, and then down to like a very, like right on the cusp of orange and red, and then directly into red, and I'll let forth a burst of level two curewhips. Oh, wow. There's a, if that would work.

There's a plethora, absolutely would. There's a plethora. of covert, small, and yet incredibly effective tools at your waist and in the various pockets on your person. The almost are invisible because of how small they are, but you're able to very quickly load this instrument and with a simple flip of a button, you feel your body refreshed, renewed, as though you have just woken up. Why do I not have any D-8s ever?

Three-once-up once you do. I really, I have, I have two. Why all this is happening simultaneously. You mentioned that we bumped into a blast door or some sort of a sealed. Yes, you're at the end, the terminal point of this hallway, but it's clearly marked that on the other side of this hallway and there windows, you can look through it.

The docking bay is on the other side. What wasn't in front of you moments ago, you seem to have traversed some distance a hallway or two, a couple turns. In order to, while during this shared experience, time seems to have moved forward a little bit. And you all, in your stupor and in that vision, collided together into this wall, this breach door.

To save time, I would be, while we're having these conversations, and Delphina is tending to yawning and all this stuff, I would be working with, presumably Barnabos, if he's, you know, conscious enough fordor or coherent enough to see if we can open these doors to proceed, to get through the docking bay, to get to the suits, because I know that we are on a clock.

And so I'm working while we're talking. I'm trying to make sure that we can proceed. It would be evident from the control panel. These are heavy breach doors that exist in case the docking bay were somehow. Oh, like sheared off. Right. Got it. Okay.

And so that being said, looking at the control panel, the light is green. You don't expect it to be locked. You can look through the windows or you can engage the panel in order to open the doors. I will do that, provided no one actively tries to stop me. I'm going to make sure you move progressing. You put up a hand. You sort of wait for everyone to intercept you, but no one does. And you do this.

The doors open wide, and you're able to look into the docking bay space. This is a massive space. It would be impossible to imagine that there is another room in this ship that is larger. There's a central launch deck in the center. There are multiple docking cradles. All of them seem to sit empty on the perimeter. The entire place is, again, that fog where you can't see down the hallway, it's even more intense.

The lights in this space are glowing from the light refraction that's coming from the ether that now fills the entire docking bay. so much to the point that it's almost bright and hard to look at. There are warning lights that sweep light all over the space, but they're sweeping light over nothing. There doesn't appear to be a shuttlecraft or a working pod or a transport or any kind of a vessel that you might have expected to be in this docking bay. what you are instead looking at is an incredibly open warehouse of a room with almost nothing in it,

save for the few tethers and chains that might be gripping the floor that now sort of float in the zero gravity, kind of like the tendrils of the monsters that you just saw. And that is what it confronts you as you walk in. I'll also, just for the sake of everyone's knowledge, say the bay doors are closed. It's a sealed warehouse room. And that's what you see when you see. Would you say that these chains and straps coming up off of four also might remind us of vegetation on the ocean floor? I think that would be a very a very apt visual.

Yes, Andy, correct. Beautiful. I just thought I thought throw that. You know, you know. I heard you say kelp. I loved it. You think the word help. I was impressed and proud of you're you're looking for help, but but kelp, you know, it rhymes. I think Annie wants to be the suits. So we see the suits. He's feelings of like, like, you scan for suits. There do not appear to be any suits in the immediate vicinity. It's weirdly empty. It's weirdly empty.

But this is such a large space that there are a large number of rooms that are on the perimeter. And you can see that there are doorways where Delphina, you might imagine, not you might imagine, you know that at least one of these rooms is the equivalent of like a changing room or a quarantine room where you would be able to find lockers where space suits or enviro suits might be found. Strange. There should be suits in here, but I'm... There must be some of the adjoining rooms. You should spread out and check them, look through,

see if presumably the suits will be obvious. Keep your eye out for a changing room. I'll flat my wings a few times just to propel myself in first. Before Barnab was even the captain has to tell me to go first. I know that that is my job to proceed the way. It's good. There's a little bit of a rasping to my voice, but it's not nearly as bad as everyone else as I propel myself into the room

to try to get to the far side and spread out. Anyone who's looking make an investigation check and Scrim, make an investigation check at advantage due to your speed, your role, and your, and because everyone's looking. Oh, boy, that is miserable. I got a three and a six, so I get a seven. My investigation is awful. I'm plus one. Yeah, me too. I got a 10. I had a 22. Investigation. 17.

Oh. 23. Damn. Perhaps it's because you were going too fast, you go right past it, Srim. Delphina, you have a sense of where to look because of your knowledge of the map, and Barnabos is right behind you. The two of you look,

and you see the door that is connected to the docking bay on one wall, and you know that this is the changing room, but Barnabos, you notice that it appears to have been welded shut. This door is not like any of the other doors. Any other door in this space, including the breach doors, all seem undamaged. But this one in particular,

it's almost like there are two massive boards in front of it that have locked it from the outside. I don't pick up on that. But here, it's over here. It's this room here. We just have to go in. and oh, I can see, do I see suits inside? There is a small window that you can peek in through, but I'll tell you exactly what you see. You do see suits, but you see the suits through scratches. The inside of the window appears to have a large number of scrapes as though something was attempting to claw at this window and smudges.

And as you peer through, through the, there are indeed a five suits, but they're not sitting on the bench or hanging on hooks or inside lockers or anything like that. They appear scattered and sitting down, just looking straight forward on the floor of this changing room, just completely still in the space.

Over here, this. Something wrong with the window. Is it sealed shut? No, it shouldn't. Oh, that's strange. Oh, is my swim speed to approach Delphina-like. Jar-Jar-Bing swimming to Otaganga.

Yes, you're all able to assemble. It's jar-jar to my Oda. You're all able to assemble as you get closer to the room. It looks like you're going to need to breach the seal if you're going to get to these suits, but there they are. Is anyone capable of...

She jarred her on my Oda until I goonga. That's really funny. All right, no, let me take a crack at this. My head will open, and I will have my engineering tools. If presuming that has some sort of, or mechanics, I guess, would ever have like some sort of, I don't know if there's like a laser cutter or a thermal cutter or something. Or if I need some...

I would say that's included in your tools. The question is just, does the tool, external to your person or is it part of your arm? Is you produce, yeah, hell yeah. You bypassed me. This is that I was a bar for no. You are able to un-make what was made, this melted seal that was clearly holding the door shut.

And after a quick pass, you are able to turn the handle and pull the door, and it comes free if you You feel like you'd be able to swing it open now if you wanted. Nice, Captain, nice. All right, a little bit of real cheat willing job, but what do you expect by a bunch of scientists like this, eh? And I will, I will open the door. You do that, and the five of you are free to enter.

There's no like smell or anything that hits you. You're still very much smelling that ether. It's getting almost monotonous. even as dangerous as it is mundane. But you're able to see even a little more closely now. As you walk in, the wall lockers on the walls are almost all open and almost all completely empty. These suits seem to be the only ones that were inside.

And in the panel, the open helmet front space that's shielded, all of the helmets contain faces. Two humans, a Solari, a Globelin, and a Gorgonite. Stare out. They don't have expressions of horror or life, and they don't appear to be completely decayed. But you can tell that five dead bodies inhabit the suits that lay before you, and they're not lying about as though they were killed,

or as though they were struggling, they are lying as though they sat their ass down, leaned up against one of the lockers, and stared until their breath left them. Do any of their gloves show signs of having clawed at the glass? Do you look from afar or do you go and examine the gloves? I would have walked up. I mean, presumably,

we gotta get pretty close to see that their faces in it. I'm certainly in the room. I'm in the, I'm in the midst. From, from, I would say make a low DC and perception check. 18. Nice. 18. It's easy to see that there are marks on every single suit glove. Clearly, clearly these hands did attempt work at the walls, at the lockers, to try and get through the door.

They look whole. The suits are undamaged, but there's scuff marks on every fingertip. I'll walk to suit and grab an arm and lift it and gesture towards the fingertips and say, Looks like they tried to escape and then gave up. Real shame. Lied down to die.

I don't want to be callous, Find his keep us now. This is the somber way of the harmony. All right, well, better than us. And I will say, Ulta Yornear, I'll say, none of those cocoons or anything, you don't sense any of those parasites, do you, Mr. Yarnier?

I'll look around and see if I can see anything with my blind sight of 10 feet or get any of those vinesites. vibes that we found from the first burst chester. The burst chester was very evident to your blind sight. And your blind sight has served you very well this adventure. I love the blind sight. Good Lord. It's pretty good.

But as still as they are in your normal vision, when you reach out with your blind sight, you don't sense any movement in any direction. and perhaps circle the entire room just to be sure. And if these bodies had any life in them, they certainly aren't moving now. They were spared, they were fake. Good to know. Let's double check for damage,

make sure that the suits are okay, but this is it, this is our salvation. Mercy compared to what others have experienced here. Yeah, and, yes. Free, free. A lot of you that aren't in the salvage business, Mr. Stebs and I find this sort of thing all the time. The suits should still be fine, but, you know, they run out of food, water, or they just give up. And sometimes the suits are quite expensive when they sell for a pity penny.

So we'll just get rid of them and it'll be able to slip in. I think I might be able to fit into that one. It might be a little snug. And when you put the suits on, just... I have to think about the previous occupants. To be free, to be clear, before you start liberating these suits from the bodies within, all of these suits would be made with adjustments in mind.

It would be understood that, with perhaps rare exception, these designs would fit almost any shape and size. And so even though it's perhaps going to be a little tighter on you or a little looser on you, Scrim, there is perhaps only an ematone would struggle with a spacesuit of this type.

All right. Yeah, I would flitter on over to the the Globlin-sized one and begin to open it up. With a twist, you were able to pull the helmet off. With a zip, you're able to pull

the back of the suit. You were able to unbuckle the unbuckles. Yeah, just crack it open a Hold on with the boys. All of you are set to work and there's the, um... I choose the Gorgonite hoping that maybe if there was like some head dent, tendril space, that'd be enough for my shell. There is. And all of you, um, uh, however you might, as sacredly as you might or otherwise,

perhaps without any consideration, pull the bodies free. And... I'd be very unceremonious is a great word for it. You just, yeah, fuck it. Sorry, doctor. You pull the body free, the, fall into a heap, and with the knowledge that the radiation poisoning could be very real in your near future,

you put the hemlets on and twist them into position. Talking to each other now is a little more muted. There are devices on a suit like this that project your voice just to make sure that you're able to be heard from the helmet. But it always sounds a little muscled. As you are able to communicate, and you feel the oxygen within the suit. Take hold. There's still some oxygen in these.

Typically, suits of this kind will come with 24 hours of actual oxygen. You check the meter on the instrument on your wrist, and you can see that they probably need a refill from one of the nearby panels that certainly exists within the docking bay. But it smells, well, not fresh, but not like ether. All right. Good work, everybody. Well done. You did it. Are the bodies just floating in the air around us? Yeah, I would say that unless you, like, secure them down, throwing them into a heap isn't exactly correct.

They are actually wearing their under armor, like spacesuits, floating bodies that are just sort of like heaping against the ceiling and their eyes. and heads are lolling in every direction. Yeah. Okay. No further comment. I would make sure, again, you know, just take a few deep breaths, make sure everything seems good, double-check the sensors, the readings, the different, you know, gizmos and gadgets, and then... There's a number of thin...

I want to say tube. And that's like hoses that come from the wall. There are clearly life support panels here. And if you walk up to it and hold E half-lifestyle, you'd go, you'd be able to fill up with oxygen if you wanted to. So these are on. Yeah, if you wanted to try, you could go over and lock in.

I think that while I'm doing these checks, I'd be looking to the rest of the group. I'm sure we're all kind of doing our own thing, getting ready to move forward. I say, all right. All right, Captain, correct me if I'm wrong, but it sounds like the next few steps is we gotta get you, your data,

get you what you need. We gotta deal with this Vonnegut fella. We got to deal with this ship, and then we gotta get back to the Calypso. What do you say? All right. He's not as guddly as he thinks he is. Who wasn't able to stop us getting here

and seal off the doors? A bit of a laser cutter is all it took, eh? Heck, that's kind of dumbass. If you ask me, I mean, like, you didn't really put up much of a fight. just beat it out. Seems like our path now leads to where we turned him back on.

Time to turn him back off. Back to the server room, hey? Sounds good to me. Presuming that we don't really need to, we're not really in a rush to turn the gravity back on. We're doing okay, I would say. No, I think we'd be more in a rush to make sure that Delphina gets where she needs to go.

And I'm hoping, and perhaps I'll confirm with her we don't have to RP this I'll confirm with us through RP that perhaps where we want to go to shut down Vonnegut might also be where she can collect the data yeah I was thinking even to like we would

I was thinking we would feel like we'd have to deal with him to even begin to Right can we even turn back on Because if he turned it off Yeah we got to cut him out of the system Scrim's kind of a dumb ass so I don't think that he'd be able to put those strings of words together but he would definitely ask Miss Voss

This is very capable. No, but he's not very bright. He's more wise, he's more clever. And so what do you think, Ms. Voss? We get back to where we turned him on. You think you can get your data from there, maybe? I'm not sure. I hope as much, but if we're going to destroy Vonnegut,

it's possible we have to destroy all of the technology in that room. So we're sure to plan. There's a moment as you're talking when you all are looking at Delphino and you suddenly see something in her helmet swimming forward. It's no bigger than a pencil and it's writhing around. We should all laugh. And you suddenly feel this something squirming against your neck, squirming against the back of your head and a piercing migraine strikes you. There is a place. I need everyone to roll for initiative.

You know, you beat me too by a second. I would like to say the only thing, and I don't think this helps me. that actually hurts me. I would have made a very deliberate effort to secure my heavy laser pistol on the outside of my suit and my quick blade would be like attached to my left. You all recognize what is in Delphina's helmet as some kind of a wormy disgusting thing floating in zero G. And then there's also one of these creatures in there too. When suddenly you see you feel this sudden shock of pain as something attempts to invade your mind.

Get out of the hood. That wasn't nearly as dramatic as I thought it was. I liked it. Yeah, here we go. All right, 20 to 30. 21, because I get to add my proficiency bonus to my initiative rules. 15 to 20. 19. 10 to 15. 13. 12. Oh, we've got to 17, sorry.

Oh, 17. Monsters. At the top of the round, all of a sudden this ambush, this psychic ambush hits you. And we're gonna do something special before you have a moment to react. It's as this sudden strike hits all of you. I'm gonna walk around.

What the hell? Keep your hands off, man. You say, wait, you see, you keep your hands off me, Derek. Are you gonna do that head massage thing again? He's gonna do that. No, that was my favorite. He's gonna get to my brain again.

That was great. I enjoyed that. We do. I need to make an intelligent saving throw and I need to make it privately for him. Oh, not not saving throw. Are you kidding me? Why am I good at that? That's bizarre. Because you're a, um, wow. Because you're like bouncing time back or something, right? No, that's my- Uh, Tishan, I need you to make an intelligent saving throw.

Nobody look, close your eyes, you cheats. Keep it private from your, from your allies. I'm turning away. Oh. Nurt your mouth. Delfina. Do you got it? I got it. Okay, okay. I can see your character sheet and I can see your role. Okay. Outstanding. Thank you.

Okay. Intelligence saving for a for me. It comes... Oh, my brain is gone. Yep. Yep. Okay. I was really worried that I was having a hyperdribing needle or something. You feel this overwhelming sensation as this, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh,

ambush, this attack hits all of your minds. And Dauphina, the migraine comes and then it almost passes for a moment as you are able to react. You still have this creature inside of your helmet. I'm going to say for the sake of doffing and donning that you'll be able to remove this helmet if you wanted to as a free action. Not going to even take a bonus action or an action, but given the adjustable nature of this thing, if you want it to pull it free now that you're aware of the thing swimming in front of your eyes, you can take

your action as you please. Even before my turn. Well, isn't it Scrim's turn first? I'm sorry. Scumbag. What a scumbag? Cheating by the GM is cringe. Very echo style. I back up in time and scrimm.

It is actually your turn at the top of the round. My apologies. Before I make any choices in what I I do. I have one or two questions to ask. Did we all clearly see what was in Delphina's helmet? And was it on the glass of the helmet or was it like on her face or was it like? It was floating between the space between her face and the glass itself. Okay. Then my other question is I've been hit with this migraine, this pain. Am I in too much pain to speak to Delphina and like or like, how bad is this pain?

Is it like a crippling pain? It was at first a sharp sting and you felt the strange cold sensation come over your body. But you're able to gain your faculties back very quickly. You were able to put the pain aside at the start of your turn and you feel like there's something in the suit with you in addition to what you're seeing. What I would do is I would immediately start shouting. Helmets off, helmet's off! As I tear my own helmet off, I don't even even see where it goes and I immediately go for my quick blade.

Okay. On my leg of my suit as I pull the weapon. And so depending on whether or not you want to count that as one, two, free object and interactions as a whole action. Okay. Whatever you think that would be, I'm pulling the helmet off and I'm going for my quick blade. I'm going to give you both.

And then I would probably take my free hand and see if I I can feel the sting, where the sting was, to see if there's any way that I can grab this thing. I'm freaking out. I'm freaking out. You put your hand there, and sure enough, you feel the gummy worms between two of your fingers, and you pull your hand back, and there is squirming, for lack of a better word, a parasite. It's, it's, I have it in my hand? Yeah. You were able to pull it free and look at it. I would attempt to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to play this thing with my Quickblade. Roll the hit.

Holy shit. I didn't expect this to happen. I wasn't ready. I wasn't ready for success. Derek. I don't have. It's too soon for success. I'm not gonna be able to use my chief shot

because I don't have advantage on this attack. But I am gonna try to stab it with the Quickblade. And I got a natural fucking 20. Nice. So that's a 28 to hit. You pull your hand away just in time. I need to roll damage. It will only be...

As you swing down dexterously with your blade. Holy shit. 2D6. You crit. Thank you. God. How quickly we forget. So that's going to be 8 plus 5 is

13 points of piercing damage with the quick blade. As I like... You... You fillet this worm. Yeah, like basically just trying to like... Do you have anything else you want to do with your turn? No, I... No?

I'm just making sure that you get to the end of the turn before this card. No, you've been so generous to me. No, that's it. You swipe down and you find it... It's like trying to strike a straw with a blade. Not that hard. You hit the tail end of it and strike it into two, and it bursts into viscera.

It's like the first squirt of watery mustard that comes out of the bottle as this, you destroy this parasite and guts spray out into the open space of this changing room. I cackle maniacally, and I'm like floating through space and there's like a trail of, you know, bug. Parasite juice. You are able to destroy the parasite with one stroke. Fina, you are up and you watch, you hear Scrim's words and you do whatever you want to do. I would immediately pull it off and attempt to, I'm assuming it's like on my cheek now making its way towards my eye. Oh yeah. And I would attempt to grab it and do the same thing what Scrim just did.

You are able to pull it free. I need you to roll to attack. What is it disadvantage? It's a disadvantage because we're in the zero gravity and... Oh, yes. Is it an attack roll? Yeah. That's correct. I don't get a natural 20. Well, you can fly, though.

You can fly. You're exempt. Yeah. I got a fucking net. Well, it doesn't matter because I got a natural one. Oh. Oh, okay. You pull it free.

I want to see what I would have gotten. It's slippery. This is the second natural one. It's slipperier than you expect. and just as you come down to strike, it squeezes between your fingers, and you hit it, but you hit with the hilt of your blade and suddenly spinning very rapidly, directly in front of you,

but you've done no damage. Okay. It spins. Barnabos, you're up. Darcy spins. I would, in order to get the suit on, I probably would have had to basically rip off the arm and probably, like, actually seal it around my arm. Sure, sure, sure.

If I need a roll to do that. No, no, no, no. You all took the time to talk and dawn. I would basically rip off my helmet. Oh, he got crurlies. My arm will transform into my engineering tools. There will be a bit of an electro-prod zapper. I'm going to try to basically zap the parasite if I'd feel going to throwing around.

Mechanically flavoring that as my machinist. ability to capture with shocking grasp. I say that. Okay. You take one of the tools out and you just start prodding yourself, hoping that this charge will land. Tyshen Ghi Dhani. That's a 20, a 23. Roll for damage.

Not too shabby, folks. Not too shabbing. Almost max damage. Nice. That is a 15. 15. Who's the lightning damage. You, um, and whatever, whatever you felt crawling up your, up your torso, stills and because of that you're able to smack down and into it and you feel reaching down you feel the creature it's already gone and you're able to fling it out into open

free fall. You're near you're up. Not bad. Not bad folks. So you got yours too. Yeah. Great. Do I get it says that there's more than one? Or is it just one? What do you mean? Like more than one? Like more than one in the room or in your suit? What do you mean you're in here? What do you mean? I'm re-celebrating. Make a perception check,

and because you have blind sight on your person, make it at advantage. Oh, no. Oh, no. Perception, you say. 24. You are putting the puzzle pieces together, the dead bodies, the corpses that lived inside of here, the fact that they were sealed

inside of this room, you imagine that, that one parasite, one corpse. And you feel the wriggling of one just at the, between the back of your shoulders. Yeah, yeah. I? Oh, hold on. Hold on. I need to be able to see it.

Yeah, it's not a problem. Oh, no. Do you have blindsight? Oh, can I see it with my blindsight? Can I see it in my mind's eye? That's a mechanical. And with a 24, because you're taking a moment to center yourself and sense it,

you can see it with your blind sight, yes. To nothing return. I'm gonna catch cold it. I fucking love blindsight. It needs to make a, we're saving throw. It does? Oh my God, I need dice. Holy fuck.

Can you believe it? And you'll feel the chill get a little colder if you're near you or near. As I bring a little bit of the void into my spacesuit with me. 12. It fails. It'll enjoy, presumably it hasn't been damaged yet,

so it'll enjoy, I believe, 2D8 necrotic damage. So it's only six points of necrotic damage. Six points of necrotic damage. You channel your energies into this thing, and with your blind spite sight, you feel like you hear a squeal or a squeak of pain from this creature. It does not die. Did it feel like it took less damage than I expected?

What a variety of damage was it? Necronic. No, you do not get a sense that it took less damage. You feel like you were able to cull. I am going to leave my suit on because I feel like there's only one, and I'm just going to disintegrate this thing and kill it and continue to enjoy the balance.

Okay. That's bad. Because I'm pretty fucked up. Do you convey any of this information? Anything else from your shirt? I don't really convey information. I don't know. This is really the character I'm playing out now.

I don't know if you know this about me. Okay. Who's next to the initial? We're gonna change your name to your far away. And Tyshan, you're up. I'll also rip my helmet off, especially seeing Skrim and presumably having seen the whole thing with Delphina. If I can feel where it is, I'll twirl out my twin blade and put the blade at where I think it is against. my neck and just try and rip and almost saw it and almost try and saw it in half as I

You're in zero G so is this going to be an advantage or disadvantage or is it going to be regular style I guess I'm just disadvantaged I will say I will say you all were talking and I imagine that you might have anchored yourself If you could if you could if you can be holding onto a wall or something like that you're no longer free falling It's only when you're free in in free fall that you have the disadvantage so I think, yeah, yeah. I think in the moment of disgusting. With one hand over here, you pull the helmet off. That's how you get around the disadvantage for both of those attacks.

Okay. Boom. Okay. 22. Nice. Hits. And this is... I've been making this joke a lot lately where only one specific number that's very high misses.

Like 21 and 23 would hit, but not 22, and it would be in the stat block. I think we need to put in that in the Space Clowns Guide. I'm going to choose. Oh, no, no, sorry, I can't do that yet. It takes nine points of damage. Nine points of damage. There's a smell that accompanies this burning and roasting of the parasite

as you effectively shrink it into carbon and you are able to fell the parasite against your neck. Does it feel dead? It feels like it might be Yeah, yeah. Nice. Okay. For my second attack. Oh, don't forget you're at disadvantage because of the... Okay. No, I'm holding on. He anchored. I'm holding on to the side of the... Yeah, and I should have said that when you were talking about it because I imagine you would have been holding on to something.

You've got a natural one, so we're going to keep the roll, but in the... It's only when you're like free floating that the disadvantage happens. Once you're able to grab onto a wall or a surface or a handhold or something like that, then you're able to attack or range or melee. They're just specifically didn't want you to know about that. Yeah, I just didn't want you to know about that. Well, he didn't want you to go at all. Yeah, I didn't want any of this to happen.

There's really trying to kill us in this one. So I pulled a blade back and saw through the one that's against my neck. Yeah. If I see Delphina holding hers or it had just slipped out of her fingers. If it's like floating in the air, I'm going to throw my blade, almost like a javelin through the air. I'm not gonna spin it because I don't want to take her head off. I don't want it to start like spinning.

Okay, I'll spin it through the air. Okay, I spin it through the air. So then also the sound of Delphina getting into capacity. So as it's spinning through the air, with a 21, presumed by a head, and hopefully. That was my favorite move in Obi-Wan for the Xbox. 11 points of damage. What did you roll a hit?

21. Oh, yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah, okay. I felt pretty good about it. 11 points of damage. Delphina, you're readying your next attack as the pain is still subsiding in your head, and you see this sudden flash of light,

green and purple, whizzed by your eyes, and suddenly the parasite that was just before you. You would see my spinning blade coming towards you with a cool sound effect, and as this parasite is right in front of you, the blade would sever it as it continues to move a little bit forward, and spin almost is going to hit you,

and I hold my hand out, and it snapped back into my hand right before it connects. Yeah, the long tilt of this thing stops in mid-air and then how does that work? As I use... Zooming back into Tai Chen's hands.

As I use my ability, my symmetric disciple ability, battle connection. Once per turn, I may throw my imbued weapon up to 120 feet. An enemy next to me does not impose disadvantage and it returns to my hand after the attack. Very cool.

Very cool. Very cool. What? And you, do you have your helmet off or this? No, he does. He just disintegrated it. The worm. No, he literally could just throw it again at the worm. And he disintegrate that bitch.

Well, it's not that. It's the limit. Oh, that's right. You didn't want shot. I didn't want shot. Yeah. My guess is about 10 HP because I did 13 and killed it. I had six.

Yeah. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. maybe at this point I would assume that everyone has killed theirs. If I can't see that you have not killed yours. I would, yeah, I would, uh, he's not really played like, you've not called out for help. I don't think, I don't know if I would be worried by it. I don't think that I'm worried about it.

I don't think he was, like, I basically, I said the cryptic thing, I have seen, and I'm just extremely capable. I think we need to be clear. You're worried about it, but you're not worried about the weird little thing. Well, when we battled divorce, I've seen you be extremely capable. Because your nears a problem.

I'm sure. I was just joking about all the cryptic stuff. I'm terrified. It was all a prank. Help me. Please touch your mouth, help, help, help you. I was talking. I don't hate you, I don't hate you, I don't hate you,

I passed my turn. I passed my turn. Even though mechanically I can kill this too. I pass my turn. The parasite in your suit is hanging on by a thread. I want it to live to its turn. That's all in that. I understand.

I wanted mine to live to its turn, but it's fine. Well, sorry everybody. Sorry. I was hired by Barnabos to be the sword. I got to be the sword sometimes. And you wait for the bite to happen. But it doesn't. Scrimmed you're up.

I would see what's happening around me. I would see the Tai Shen just went crazy. I know I killed mine. I would start to flip, flip, flip over to where my helmet is. Yeah. Since I just kind of tossed it. And while I'm doing so, I still have the quick blade in my right hand. With my left hand, I'm checking myself.

I'm running my fingers through my hair, through my scalp. You've got the heby-jee. I'm checking to see if there's anything left. Make a investigation or perception check, your choice. Perception for sure. Oh, that's not bad. 21. You feel as though...

It is bussing. It's bussing. It's bussing. For real, for real. You do a very thorough check. And without completely removing the suit, you still feel very confident that there was just the one.

that you destroy. Then I'm just using my turn to do that perception check, make it myself my way over to my helmet and reattach the helmet. You do that? I'm gonna put my hand and that's my turn. Full oxygen fills your lungs. I just survey the team to see if anybody's in duress. Nobody seems to be immediately in duress, so I'm just chilling.

On void, no cap. Delphina, on void, no cap. On void, no cap. I will do something similar. I mean, I don't know that you're near, you know, you're near doesn't communicate. like that. Yes. So you would find your helmet, you reattach it, you pull it back on. Barnabot's, what are you doing? Yeah, I don't perceive any danger, right? No, not at this time.

You're near. You are fully aware that there is a living parasite on your back, but when it has had ample opportunity to try to damage you, to invade you, it shows not to. Enter you. How do I feel about that. If I can ask you that, like, do I sense that this thing has an intelligence that might be beyond just like a typical regular old robot? Why don't you make a history check for me? Or an Arcana check, your choice. Oh, my choice? Yeah. It was a bit of a higher being. It is a, I decapitated mine. If you're trying to sort of get the sense of it, Let me say it this other way. I'm being extremely generous here

because I want to give you some more information. You also are all trying to read the mind of this creature, this entity's instincts. So an insight would also be appropriate. Oh, insight. Well, if it's inside, it's an 18. If it is Arcana, it's a 14. You have the sense that this creature could probably

try to do some minor attack, but that it chose not to because its initial assault of itself and its, for lack of a better term, brothers and sisters, may have been its true objective with your insight. Hmm. All the same. I will continue to slowly send it to oblivion as it needs to make a wisdom-saving throw as the disintegration of the void.

hopefully overtakes it. 15. Oh, no. It passed. Wait, wait, wait, hold on. Isn't your other right in front in front of you? What's that? No, no, no.

So, we might spell save is 16. Is that correct? That's what it says. I have no idea. What level are we? Six. Oh. Yeah, it is 16.

So it just fails. I was gonna say, I believe because I used... I can't help you because I can't stay. Oh, no, that's actually wrong. We didn't even know, sir. No, I know. We don't know he's in danger. 11 points of decrotic damage.

And everything I do has to be by sight, I think. You feel this creature curdle against your back, and whether you choose to remove it or not, it is no longer, whatever sustained its life is gone. I heard that. Yeah! Is everyone okay? Captain?

We're all fine. Sounded off, we all alive. I don't like hell, but I got him in one clean hit. All of you are recovering. The adrenaline is still pumping through your veins. It seems like these waves of adrenaline are coming in like the tide again and again and again ever since you arrived here in the Osamandias,

but you quickly slap on your spacesuits. And because I forgot to do this earlier, you all, I get to hand out, the Envirus suit. magic item, which is one of the sneak peaks that we got to enjoy in the VIP server. Oh, wow. Oh, I love that. There you are. I shared its head off in one clean hit. But I guess we know why they might have been sealed in here, and that's on us. Definitely not good. This whole place has been corrupted. Yeah, I guess we should have been a little bit more careful, but, you know, what can you do?

I'll take a moment to read through the Envirusuit just so everyone has the rules who aren't VIP, so you should definitely become one. The... Oh, one moment. 2,000 notes. Sheesh. I can't wait to dawn and then doff an Envirus suit.

An Envirus suit is a bulky garment that includes a helmet, boots, and gloves that seal each scene. The suit that takes 10 minutes to dawn and five minutes to doff. While wearing the suit, you have disadvantage on dexterity stealth checks. While sealed inside the suit, you have advantage on saving throws against dangerous environments. You automatically succeed on saving throws against extreme cold or extreme heat.

The suit holds 24 hours of breathable atmosphere. I think I said that. And you can refill the suit's atmosphere using gas canisters or connecting it to a functioning life support system. So that is something that you all now have as an item as part of your inventory. Do you think they just invented Don and... and doff because it's just on and off with D's in front of it. Like, how do they come up with those words and think they were clever? Like, oh, we'll just, I would like to put it on, but we can't say it like that.

I will don this. And then, well, what are you to do when you take it off? I guess I'll doff it. I'll doff. I'm going to doff. Insov. Yeah, dawn and done off. Stupid.

Stupid. Donnauts, more like, Dauf untangles. The I like, Charles. I liked that one. Okay.

You experienced this sudden attack, and it's over in almost no time. This isn't like the deadly confrontation that you had with the vort. No, you had this moment of brief psychic, for lack of a better word, invasion. But you, that having passed, you're able to put your suits back on and breathing heavy. Feel pure oxygen, pure atmosphere in your lungs.

And you feel yourself. What happens next is up to you. I am feeling myself. I looked it up. It is literally contraction. Okay. Or do on and do off. Yeah.

And people in chat are being like, well, they're real words. I know they're fucking real words. No, but it's a literal contraction. I'm saying, when did they make it up in like the 14? So that expensive, yeah. I do on my armor and I do off my armor. Okay. And I just, I wasn't saying they weren't real words.

I was saying, how did that come about? How did they invent that in the front? Your instinct is 100% correct. Thank you. You got it. See, not as dumb as I look. I do. You're all putting together the, the reality of what must have happened in this room.

The fact that there had been a welded door shut is all too real now and the struggle, the scrapes against the window start to come into clarity. The fact that these creatures, the humans, the Gorgonite, the Globelin, were sort of serenely sitting in this space. Clearly they had failed to protect themselves against the small parasites that attempted to take you over. But with their bodies destroyed, you feel a little bit safer. You feel like the threat is gone. All right.

That she lasts at least a day. Let's go back to the... It's waste no more time. Let's get back to the server room. We'll get what you need, Ms. Voss. We'll put an end to Vonnegut. And we'll make our escape on the Calypso. Do I feel like I can navigate us to where we need to go from where we are,

or will Ms. Voss still need to tell us where to go, but I can take the lead? I'd say that you are starting to feel a familiarity with the ship. It's one of those things where, you know, the first day of high school, when you're walking around the building for the first time, everything feels alien and crazy? But even by the time you are hearing the last bell ring, you're kind of like, okay, I know where the common room is. I know how to get to the bus stop.

That's the kind of familiarity that you're starting to experience. And you'd guess that if you needed to on your own, navigate back to the computer room, that you'd be able to do so from here. I will sheath the quick blade and unholster my heavy laser pistol from my side and flip my wings as I make my way towards where I believe we need to go so that if anything were to jump out and eat us,

it would just eat me and not my friends. Aww. Aww. Jeez. All right, that's his job, right? That's your job, Mr. Stavs. You go first. I know, I know.

Happy to do it, Captain, come on. I'll look around, and the hangar doesn't have any, like, any pods or any kind of, like, shuttles or anything, right? No, that was something that Skrim first observed, is that you looked around and you, there's a central docking area. There are a number of cradles for different sized ships, many of which should have been here for the purposes

of maintenance. And you imagine that there would be shuttlecraft, different ships that could take you from the Osamandias to the surface of a planet. All of those ships appear to me missing as you walk back out under the docking bay. This is, uh, uh, it feels barren. And it feels very strange to you. You, it's, it's actually a sad image, I imagine, for someone like Barnabot to see a space that should be alive with machinery and is instead bacon. Oh, Miss Voss, perhaps, before Calamity fell upon the crew, given that so many suits are gone, and there aren't any shuttles or escape vessels, perhaps. A number of the crew did make their escape. I will cling to that hope. All right, Mr. Stavs lead away.

Wait, scrim. Yes. Allow me to go first. Barely, actually? I will dump the door, which is a contraction. before. Do a... Which means open. I shoot your ear in the chest.

I'm going to give you a natural 20. I'm going to create you a natural toy. That's not a real one. I dump the door. Yeah, he duped the door. No, no, no, no. I'm not the door. I'm not going to leave. Here's what I'll say is that the door

would need to be duped. He teaches me how to dump the door. I dupe the door and I go first. You were the person to dump the door here. So how would you, how would you down the door? What's that? You down the door. What's that a contraction?

I don't know. It's actually do a down. Yeah, it's to down. You have to do it down the door. You can do the option. What is the alternative? What's the opposite? Oh, to close?

Yeah. Well, I don't know. All I know is that dup means open. Declose? And doubt means do out, which means to put out a fire. Oh. You doubt a fire. That's in my repertoire.

But what about if you're lighting the fire? Do light the fire. Maybe you dump the fire. You do up the fire? You do up the fire. But why do you don clothes but not do up your clothes? Anyway, sorry, I didn't need to derail. You're fine.

You're fine. I flut forward and I. It's okay if you derail the horrific adventure that you're on right now. And Taichin, I'm sorry, Scrim leads the way and you all start to continue to climb and pull and roll and tumble and push your way back through the hallways.

Going back to that same location where you initially repaired, the malevolent entity that you now know is, believes himself to be a god, Vonnegut. On the way, you are turning corridor to corner to corner, making your way back up, level to level, and it is getting harder and harder to see at a distance. Ether is clearly fully saturated the hallways of the azimandias. Dang. And when you round another bend, suddenly the sleek walls and floors of the azimanius

disappear and you are surrounded by a different fog. The gloomy fog of an imperial world. An elegant shuttle has landed outside a grand nobles estate with a scarlet door. The ivy that creeps up the sides of the walls gates of the grounds is blown back and forth as the scientific shuttle finally completes its touchdown and servants begin transferring a large amount of luggage from the mansion to the transport. You hear the murmuring of a middle-aged human conferring with the ship's captain before

turning around and approaching you. He kneels and you realize, Delphina, that you are the size of a child. Dr. Voss, your father, looks at you. This is it, my little sprout. I must leave. I do not know how long I will be gone, but know that there will not be a single day that goes by that I won't think of you, my dear girl. If you miss me, just listen to our song.

I will be with you. He pulls out a small device, and this is not a small recorder or a, a digital player of sorts. This is a music box, and he pulls out a small record that he places on the surface of it, and he lifts it up,

and you hear the sound of a song that he's played for you many, many, many times. A song that he's played you to go to bed or played for you when you've been upset. a song that even in your adulthood you would put on and listen to sing those sweet lyrics back and forth over and over and over again

because it reminded you of this moment when he first gifted you the player that he had used to soothe you for so long. Now, if Delphina, listen to me, listen to me. No matter what happens, no matter how long I am gone, my dear, You are not to follow. Do not look for me.

I beg of you, Delphina, promise me. Will you, will you promise me? No, of course I can't promise that, Daddy. I will always follow you. But Delphina, where I go is very, very dangerous. I can't, I can't have you following me. I, I will be fine. I will be back.

I promise you. But it is not a place for young girls such as yourself, and I need you to be patient. Will you stay? Will you promise me to stay? You know I can't. You never taught me to stay. My dear, my dear. You all are watching.

This is not a private memory, Delphina and her father share. And in the back of your mind, I think that you're aware of this. Delphina and even in the childlike form that you feel around your consciousness, you are fully aware that moments ago you were on the Osamandias. But this visage of your father, he holds your hands and they feel like the calloused hands of the scientists that you know as Dr. Voss and the man that you, who raised you. Never just let you slip into memorand. even the lines of our song. I couldn't.

I need you. Papa, I need you. I will always, always look for you. It is an important thing that I do, and it is a no place for little girls. I, now Delphina, I'm asking you one last time, promise me. No, I cannot. I'll follow you from here to the edges of space and time.

If I have to, I will never, ever abandon you. Delphina, I asked you to promise me. There's a scratch, and the record skips as he pulls the record free, and he holds it up to your face. Do you want this or not? You have to promise me. He bends it almost to the point of breaking. No, stop it.

He pulls it down. They won't lose you. Not again. pulls the record down. The rosy face of your father is no longer full of life and blood. He's completely colorless. His eyes have gone completely black. His face is gaunt and stretches. Delphina, promise me, promise me! I will find you, Daddy! The record breaks and there's a shattering experience and the sound hits all of you piercing your ears in this tremendous, you, nothingness.

I need the four of you to roll 3D6 and take that much psychic as you are all suddenly shifted back to the world of the ship that you find yourself in. So I'm on the odds. On me rolling a six-hand. Oh shit. No. Don't.

Oh, hell. Hell yeah, minimum. Oh, my, fuck. Three damage? What kind of, what was that? That was nothing. It was three damage. I rolled one off, Max.

Ooh. Oh my, my God. That's worse than I, oh my God. I'm getting wrecked. I got a 13 this time. Son of a God. Good thing I was basically full help. 18, 17, 16.

This time, I did 10, which still pretty hard. But. Oh, my God, I'm getting cooked over here. You all are floating along and blinking, you realize that you must have been floating down this corridor for much longer than you realize. You're at the end of this particular tunnel. And just around the bend are the door

that lead to the computer room. You seem to have traversed the distance once again. Ah, no, God. Oh my. What the? So that was your dear old dad, eh, Miss Voss? Yes, that was my father. You decided to not listen to him.

Smart man. Scientists knew what he was getting into. You thought your feet might be different than his, eh? He was all I had left. Do not pretend to understand. I don't. I hope that it wasn't folly. There's seven and a half mill on the loin.

For all our sakes. A doctor's word, son, heeded, a gift rejected. Do you regret as we float now at the edge of time and space? Do I regret? Yes. No. I can still feel the memory of his hand in mine. I still hear the sound of his voice singing to me in my mind.

He is my father, and I will never regret, looking, searching, and eventually finding him. Not now, not ever. Until we find his body, I suppose there's still out. Maybe he made it off one other, with one of those shuttles. All the saying, the job stays. The job. And nothing changes.

You do not regret. Then you must change, as we all must. Yes, I will get stronger, more capable. I will do what I must to succeed. You adapted? You'll adapt. We all will, Mr. Yoraner. If they're eating, time itself, bringing these phantasmus.

these echoes. And we best get out of Erebus. They've already stolen time from us. We cannot allow them to eat more. Before it runs out. Before they get hungrier. Before time begins again. You round the corner as you talk, and the sensation of what you confront hits you before you see it. as the for those of you who are have it hair on your body stands on end and looking

forward you can see the entrance to the computer room the doors remain open but very visibly after just a few more steps there's a a snake of white blue arcing lightning collapses in front of the door, and then again, Zshh! Clearly, defenses have been put up by Vonnegut, and the entire area seems electrified to prevent any kind of entry or tampering.

Is it safe to say that this is something that I would have a deep understanding of? Yeah. Yes, I would say that you of anyone in the crew would feel like you know what it feels like to get hit with one of those. I think my heart would sink when I see this. And I'd say that you're probably the most hair covered of anyone in the crew. And so you're fuzzin out. Does the room look like, are we getting in a sense that we can't go in here at all?

Does it look like it's not survivable, the environment in front of us? You're looking at the doors from the side. You're approaching it from the corridor and so you're not looking directly down and into the room. You remember that octagonal room that you first went into to repair Vonnegut. There's a metal floor, servers from floor to ceiling, memory banks, and central terminal. The exterior, at least at the mouth of this entrance, you can see has been charged with some kind of intense electric voltage. And it's running through the space pretty quickly. All right, this is not good.

He's got some kind of defenses here. It's clearly electrified. Like an animal backed into a corner, he fights valiantly to defense. his, his, his heart. There's nothing valiant about what he's doing. We have to stop him here. This is where we take him apart. Yeah, gotta get that door open.

Do I get the sense if I just blew this up, that it would be, that I would be able to do something? You are welcome to try. You imagine that interrupting the arc might create a temporary opening where you might be able to run in and perhaps start to shatter and break the other technology that's holding Vonnegut to the Asimandias, or perhaps the electricity will disintegrate

an attack such as that. You have no way of knowing. I would say, all right, I'm tired of this. If you can hear me, don't test my patience any longer. And I'm going to reach down onto my... a bandolier, and I'm going to grab a ticking, flashing, almost like pure white, uh, bomb. I'm going to press the button, and I'm just going to throw it in the door as I'm going to mechanically cast Shatter in a second level.

Oh, please, please. I don't know if it automatically fails, but, uh, we should probably look at this up first. Uh, shatters an ineffective tool. That's a great choice. While he's armed... This is advantaged on the saving throw. While he's arming this explosive device, I am praying...

Just go ahead and roll for damage. ...that this works. Okay. It's quiet, but I'm speaking it out loud. I'm muttering words to the tichrist. I'm praying that Barbos can blow this door open. You've found that often when you say this particular prayer or that when you speak to the dealer,

that things tend to go your way. and you watch as this grenade lands. And you can watch as a snap of arc lightning almost picks it up and grabs it, and you see it try to grip it and almost try to destroy it. It doesn't seem like the arc lightning is alive, but it's just that full of current and energy as 18 points of thunder damage.

It ignites. There's this massive bright, you have to look away for a moment, blast of concussive force and a shower of blue and yellow sparks spray down. But when the moments of the smoke clears, I would say that you do not see that arc lightning. And you realize that for at least this moment, the current seems to have been interrupted. All right, let's go. Before even like the smoke clears, I throw it as to the p. And it's a horrible, cacophonous, shattering sound.

As soon as I see it, I just, I just stout. I was like, Mr. Stabs, let's go. As soon as I think that there's no thing, I'm, yes, Captain, yes, and I thank the dealer, and I run to open the door. You race in and grab the handle of the door, pulling it free, and it slides open, having been temporarily disabled by the blast of Barnabose's Magitech. What are the rest of you doing as you watch? What are the rest of you doing as you watch Barnaboson Scrim

assault the computer room? I'd be running in right after him to, like, presumably... You're right on their heels and racing in. The same spot I can think that, like, I myself tried to pressure... You remember the alignment dials. I would run... If the door's open, we're moving into the room and I think I can run at that,

I would think of exactly what I use to try and bring them back. to life and go straight there and see if I can cut into it. I throw my blade, catch it, run up, just start tearing shit apart. You race in and you find that same panel. Um, you're near, Delphina? I think I would just be standing back. I just saw my father for the first time in a long time. And even though it was a vision, a partial memory, It is the closest I've gotten to him in so long that I don't think I'm so worried about what they're doing right now. They've got this handled as I kind of look down the hallway and think about what it would have been like for him to walk these halls. You're feeling introspective and perhaps as a shield you're reminding yourself, this is why they're here and they race forward.

This is why they're 2.5 million news. That's right. That's right. I think back to when we were here before, presumably, we were you. This is the identical room where you watched the rest of everyone, adjust dials, repair severed cables. Do I know that we have to then go through and beyond to move on, or is this sort of an in and then if we succeed come out? You've never seen Alien, have you?

Have you seen it? I mean, I was 14. It really is as simple as the doors open and there's an octagonal computer room. I know exactly the room. I know exactly the room for certain reasons. Yes. That particular room is a much larger for a ship the size of the Ozzymandias, but you are able to, you recognize this.

So it'll open, and I'm Eeyrnear. I stand there. And instead, seeing that Delphina is staying as well, I will turn and I will say, a gambler prays to change his fortune. but the stars are blind in the shadow of the emperor. Mr. Yornear, I have... No, that's it, that's all I'm saying. Mr. Yornear, I have no idea what the fuck you're talking about.

And now is not the time. The interior of the room is a cacophony of your attack. And as soon as you come in, the lights come on, and the monitor at the center terminal. appears, the face of Vonnegut arriving. Welcome to the computer room. I thought you might join me. Your efforts are futile if you plan to destroy me.

And you are now, I imagine, walloping, trying to pull memory banks from the walls, trying to do this sort of thing. I need everyone to either make an attack roll or tell me exactly how you're endeavoring to overcome this. what seemed to have enabled him in the first place? I would be, knowing the job, I would be using my electronics tools,

my arm will turn to the electronic tools. Sure. And I'm going to basically spend the time trying to pull out whatever sort of data, like cards or chips or whatever, or, you know, cartridges that there'd be so that Delphina can get everything that she needs so I get the payout.

Rather than attack role, you're using your skills to achieve this. Yes, I'm trying to basically make an intelligence check with my electronics tools. Go ahead and make that check for me. Tai Shan, what are you doing? I'm just trying to, I am thinking like, oh, scrimed Barnabos, myself, Delphino with the code. Like, I remember where everyone was at in the room. I'm just trying to slash into these, I think there are pressure gauges, to cut into them, destabilize this. These were alignment dials that you needed to time with each other in order to make sure that he was in sync with the rest of the ship's systems.

I'm just trying to wreck this room. It's when Kylo Wren got really upset and starts to slash the console in Force Awakens. I would say that if you wanted to make an attack roll, or if you wanted to make some kind of a check to skill check to see if you can just start twisting dials that way, I'm letting you do whatever you want. 15. 15, thank you. I'm rolling an attack roll. Okay.

I'm a attack roll. You're firing into the central terminal. Because I would recall kind of what we did to bring this thing back online, and I would try to basically target those things that we did previously. There was also the charging lever that Barnabos was initially using in order to deliver energy to the central terminal in the first place. Dealer's choice. Yeah, I'm gonna take a shot.

Okay. I think my goal, as I'm thinking about it, is like, we put this in a position that he can't turn it back on. Yeah. He can't send a vort to, like, re-alline the things and re-pull the lever, and he's back in action, you know. What did you get Barnabas? Oh, I got a 24.

Okay. 24. Do I get my cheap shot damage, or does it have to be a creature? Take your cheat. No, no, no, you can take it. No, it is a creature. No, it's fine. I can attack him four times.

Do I get to attack him more times? Yeah. I would say... Oh, I rolled max damage. I'm happy with that. I did 13 radiate damage. Because of the use of the shatter attack that Barnabos detonated, the risk of you getting shocked by the system as Vonnegut electrifies the entire computer room,

you can feel the heat in here. As you are hitting dials or you're stepping on the grated floor, you imagine that if it were not for that interruption, that every single step, would come with some risk of arc lightning striking into your person, but nothing hits any of you. You are able to very quickly race in and crush the terminal, crush the, basically everything except for the monitor. As Vonnegut passively watches you, destroy his connection to the rest of the ship, and you hear his voice. You think that you can destroy me by removing my connection to the rest of the distributed systems of the Asimandias.

That is very amusing. I now exist in all subsystems. You turned me online, and you cannot undo that. I am in everything within the Asimandias, just because we no longer have a shared mind. doesn't mean that I can't watch you sweat and scream and slowly be corrupted. I need not take any action at all. And though you were able to bypass my defenses, this war is not over. Not even a little.

Yeah, that's fat chance of that. I'm not afraid. You haven't slowed us down. Nice trick with the crackle-a-biz. and Did you enjoy the surprise I left for you? Grubbs Is that supposed to scare us?

We even kill your little pets. We can kill more. Did you now? How interesting. I wonder. We have a full week together. A long, wonderful week. By the end of it, you will all be kneeling,

giving me your fealty, your minds, your strength, your very souls. You think you can last at this for a full week? We are on our way now, away from the edge, away from the void to the nearest world, to a beautiful world, a world of mountains and people, colonies. Yeah, we can last a week. But it's not going to take that long. Because we're coming for you, buddy. And we're going to dismantle this whole thing if we have to.

You got nothing. Scrim, I'm afraid that neither you nor your allies have the endurance. Bring it on. Is there anything you wish to ask this thing before we shut him down, Ms. Vos? Bonaget. Lady Delphina. Where is my father? Not every.

personnel on this ship was captured when we were at the first world we had to abandon him I doubt he lives still it is an unpleasant place for a creature such as yourselves we need to destroy the ship mr Dredwick oh that we can do he's telling told tales miss boss you know you do us once before he's lying now. Where, uh, where might you reckon the reactor room is? Presuming this has got some sort of experimental or probably a twitchy

sort of warp drive I might imagine, Mr. Stabas, as you're familiar with. We know a thing or two about sabotage and explosions and experimental technology. Don't we, Mr. Sabs. I'm damn right. I can

give you direct. but you will get there quickly. I will need an hour. I would like to go back to navigation. See what information I can acquire before we head back to the Glypso. Will you allow me that hour? And then I will meet you at the ship. That's right.

Mr. Yorne here, Mr. Jachel, take what we've retreated to here from this room. Keep it with you. Mr. Staff. and I will go, we'll set a self-destruct. Ha ha, ha, ha, and that'll be your big boom. Now is easy. I mean, that'll take us that long, probably to do what we got to do anyway. Oye. All right. Then you do what you must to destroy the ship.

And I will... Leave that with us. Retrieve whatever final memories I can of my father. We'll go with you, Lady Voss. I would love the company. And make sure she's safe. Don't worry about us. I can take care of her. myself but of course you can I would love to have you along enjoy this moment while it lasts

I am enjoying your struggle it's brings me a sick joy sickly sweet destroy the ship I would like to see the both of you try I think you'll be pleased to see what I left there. All right, I've heard enough. I'm going to pull out my blunderbuss and shoot the screen and like to finish the job. Had we feel we've done what we've needed to here to basically do this or no? You have disconnected it and you remember two key details. Yeah.

When you first arrived on the Ozimandias, you were originally able to talk to one of the local instances of Vonnegut. and it was in turning on the computer room and repairing the damage that Vonnegut was able to take control of the whole ship it's very evident to you now that by severing the computer room from the rest of the ship that the whatever Vonnegut is he just exists in sort of pockets now in a room right so by destroying this monitor you've destroyed the computer room Vonnegut you destroyed the navigation helm Vonnegut but there might be Vonnegut

and around every corner. We feel like we've basically shut down the blood vessel that he has. There might just be pockets. This is the brain or the nervous system and you were able to you were able to defeat it. I will add. We have the stuff for, okay. This is further reinforced by the fact that gravity

returns and the low of atmosphere all of a sudden turns on. As whatever grip he had on those systems, those safety protocols kick back in and you now are watching the ether getting pulled back out by the air filtration system, and you can stand on your feet again.

As you shoot the screen and you like basically send him back to computer hell, I'm gonna point that to the ceiling, and I'd be like, you listen to him on again, you picked the wrong salvages to fuck with. We're gonna find ya, we're gonna just madden you, we're gonna keep shoving ears. Yeah, that's right, Mr. Stabs. All right, keep your suits on just in case.

And I will basically say, if Delphina will kind of give us the directions to whatever reactor core or center. I just kind of assumed that I could, but you know better than me. I've been trying to be as clear as I can. You know where everything in the ship is. And so it would be very easy for Delphina to say, follow this line, follow these words, go through these doors, go through this level, and you'll find it. And I will basically put in the navigation of my arm so I don't lose that. Yeah. And then I'll basically say, all right, well, may the navigator or the dealer or whatever carcote says be with you.

We'll reconvene here and then we'll watch it all go boom. And there'll be nowhere else for fun to get to run. And the harmony with you. Good luck, Captain. Good luck, scrim. We've got the luck. That's what you'll be needing. Good luck to the three of you. And I'll hobble off. To be very clear. Oh, sorry, go ahead. I'm Mr. Yority.

The captain aims to crack stone and topple the king of kings until nothing beside remains. Is that your fancy way of saying we're going to blow it up? And that's what all you say? Say truth. With his 13th blessing. You must change. I'll cast Bless mechanically.

Oh, baby. Heck yeah. Sick. Too blessed to be stressed. A D4 to Saving throws. I know, too blessed to be stressed. I'm telling you.

Not a totally text. Said he hated Tyshire. Well, you're not one of the three. I don't think. Because he does. Yeah, because he hates you. Yeah, that's what I'm saying. Oh.

Would we have given them away if something were to happen to us to be able to take the Calypso? Or can they not hail, though? Yeah. Hell. We're planning on surviving. I just want to make sure. I just want to make sure.

And we're back at the Collipschial. Bless at first level. But we didn't last a minute, so we all better fucking go. We're going to go. We're there in 30 seconds. To be clear, Barnebos and Scrim, you are heading to the reactor course

to set up some kind of an explosive or finds the self-destruct, and the other three of you are heading back, following Delphina to the navigation helm, her beck and call. We'll stick with you, Barnabos and Scrim. You turn and you hear the sounds of footfalls of your three companions disappear, getting quieter and quieter and quieter as you and your ally race down through these hallways. And a few turns here, a few turns later, you eventually come back to, you have to cross through this space, that same garden that you remember.

This was a lush space. There were beautiful trees in this space. Despite everything that the Osmanians must have been through, this was a palatial place of relaxation. Whatever ether exposure hit this space has dramatically changed the image. The greens are now yellows and browns. The grass is now a dull gray. Every single leaf on every tree hangs drooping and sad and wilted. You start to pass through this space

as you admire this strange and sad consequence of the terror that you're experiencing on the show. Damn. I think that upon seeing this, I would be, again, my heart would sink. And it maybe I wouldn't outwardly show it, but it would affect me a little bit more than I probably let on It's upsetting to see like the beauty of what was before be Yeah, killed and poisoned Yeah, he's the maniac that one

No matter, it'll all be cinders and scrap before long mr. Stabs Oh yeah, I mean, how long has it been since you and I really just like There's there's no restrictions. We're gonna blow this thing to hell We don't even have to be careful. Actually, I heard the right crews would all say. Barlow, Scrim, the Osamandias leaves you. This garden space dissolves all around you. And you hear explosions.

You hear the explosions of a war-torn battlefield, the screams of dying soldiers. All around you is this raging battle between the Cavalon Empire and the sea. Saurak dynasty. What the fuck? War dinosaurs trample through entire battalions and

Gemtech beam vaporized knights as they make their charge. The tide has turned and you see the line of Imperial troops break and turn to run very clearly constricted peasants not appropriately trained for the onslaught that has been unleashed upon them.

Tishen. Before you, a huge carnatorisorian war, warrior cleaves through the shrieking troops as they turn their backs and attempt to escape with a huge crystal axe. The teenagers flee from you begging for their lives, trying to surrender as the commander roars out a command directly to you, Tyshen. All of you have been pulled again into this vision, and you all hear the voice. J. Chil! Kill them all! Cut them down. Your

Killer! Killers! Blade dripping in blood, hearing my commander shout a military command, I would start to dash after this broken line of soldiers. I'd take maybe four or five fast steps to begin to run them down. You remember. Before the steps slow, and I paused, looking out over the broken line of Cavalon soldiers and in full retreat. one stumbles

and then picks us back up they retreat their line broken we have won we haven't won until every one of them is dead now what are you here for use that thing in your hand and go

take them down kill I fight for the sorry who am I talking to who am I talking to I've seen you I've seen the way that you look when you've killed a hundred before them. Now run, when it's got it into you, kill. No, that's, that's battle, that's war.

Soldiers die in war. I cut them down because we have to. But this, boys, they, they don't stand in fight. They've dropped their weapons. There's no honor in this. He pulls out his own laser sword and holds it at his side. Do I have to command you again? Commander, I won't cross blades with you.

But I can't kill them. If you won't follow orders, then you're no better than those dogs. To put a slash in their back, there's no honor in that for a swordsman. There's great shame. The honor is in winning, winning for those we serve. Winning for ourselves! We have won today! Look around! Peasants cut down!

Some gem carved them into cinders! Kill! Kill! Kill! He pulls up the lightsaber, and for a moment you think that he's going to strike you down, but as he moves it, it's almost as though you are hit by a wave of water. You watch as all of the fleeing Cavalonian

are taken in by a tide of colorlessness. All of a sudden, the flesh is torn from their bones as they evaporate, almost like leaves in the wind. As you watch the entire battlefield get shredded before you, then you blink and you're back in the hallway. The remaining four of you, you're going to have to take three days of six.

I got to roll out here. this. I didn't consider this. Oh no. I got to roll well here. Oh. I got a rollout too. I took 10 points of damage. Oh my fuck. I took 10. I did two. I'm down to 30 HP.

I'm not doing this. I don't have to roll. No. No, not you. I took another 13. But you rejected the command and you are suddenly come to a halt and you realize that you're You're standing still just next to Yornear and Delphina. They themselves are sweating. They were among those Cavalonians who are running.

I'd be leaning on my blade almost on one knee. I would be on one knee almost in a soldier's meal to my commander, but wracked in pain in this moment. No. No. Put my hand on you. We're here with you, Tashin. You did the right thing.

Thank you. Thank you, Lady Voss. There's no honor to be had on that battlefield. Not that day. You see me. I'm leaning on my staff heavily. And I will approach you. And I'll get like really close.

I'll put my arm on your shoulder as I have the other one on my staff. And I'll look into your... your eyes and my pupils are almost like changing shape, like a Roershack blot, kind of. Jesus. And they're getting kind of dull and gray. Fuck.

And I'll say, the warrior this obeys his past to fight for a harmonious future. Yet, both will be consumed. the less you change. And as I say that last word with a heaving breath, I'll crumple onto the ground. You don't need, no! I will immediately, I will immediately get to the ground

and pull out that same healing gun that I used before, but you can see that it's clearly low on energy. Sure. As it's blinking. The power's only so much charge. And so it's not nearly as potent as it was before, but I'll cast a cure wounds at a first level spell. As you watch me put it to his forehead,

and again, you see it go from red to green and then back very much into the red, and then a burst of light as he'll catch. I'll caught him as he walks up to me, his hands on my shoulder. There's like black thicker pouring out of my eyes and down my tentacles from my mouth. And maybe some of that, like, you know, maybe the caught in a final, almost like a death rattle cough.

This is not like being hit by a blaster. This is not like getting hit by a blaster. This is not like getting slashed by a sword. This is not like anything you've experienced. And it's not like the migraines of that invasion. This seems to be a shredding of something else, something whole and of yourself. And that's where we're going to take a quick break. Delfina, you continue to make sure that you don't lose your ear.

How do you do that? Yeah, I'm going to use a couple more spell slots, two. Don't go too hand. To be, don't go too hard. Well, I'm just concerned. That's fine. You can't say that. You're dead.

Yeah. So I just, I'm not positive that 12 hit points is going to be enough. So I want to try to get you in line with where I feel like Tishia. Shen and I are sitting right now, and I think that that's going to take a couple more. Okay. So I'm going to, I pull out another one of these, and I just, like,

the last two with some more healing. I shoot you in the face. And in that moment, Delphina, and also this would be, wherever you two are, you will feel the same, is that that calmness and stillness and chill that you felt

when your nears gave his 13th blessing, fades away. Oh, yeah. Oh, no. I don't like, I also have a question if these, this damage that we're talking about, has any physical outward appearance? So close. So close.

Just you're gonna, who's kind of doing this, this eye court bleeding. You're gonna, he's gonna be more healed than we are. You know, is it more internal? Or like, would scrim just look, run down and beat up? Because I am. 25 hit points. So like, would Barney's, like, absolutely fucked up? I would say that, you?

You do notice, and there is a physical representation. Its expression in your ear is one of this almost bleeding or crying Iker, right? Iqor, however you want to pronounce it. But you look back and you remember Dr. Greer when he first confronted you as you saw this salari, usually so bright, so neon, their hair, so colorful, that he'd had the color sapped from him. this is the same experience that you're seeing in the eyes of your allies. Barnabos himself is not looking like the bright Jaza that he is. Your fur is sallow.

You're seemingly becoming a little bit more void. I'm the extra pale. Yeah. Okay. And this is a representation. Your health point pool is a representation. of your survivability, right? It's not necessarily one-to-one.

It doesn't represent every single little cut or the type of damage that you take. This is the abstract manifestation of whatever is happening to you, making you just that less able to survive or persist or endure. 25 points of healing for you. Thank you.

And after being one of the fleeing Cavalonians on a battlefield as terrifying as what must have been the backstory of Taishan. You are back in the molding, rotting garden. You inhale the air and though it is atmosphere, though it is oxygen, there's the smell of wet leaves all around you. And you can almost still hear the cries of everything that was around you as you. all been shredded before Taishan. You land back on your feet and you're back in the Azamandias. Just the two of you again. Well, Mr. Sabs, I figure that was, well, something similar would have happened to Mr. J. Chelle, but if it were me, a bunch of Cavalonian pony

boys, I start blasting. You get no refusal from me. I know. I know, Captain. Look, if this keeps happening, I don't know how long as long. I'm gonna last. You're all right, lad? No, I don't feel good. Okay, perk up. I use a healing

as, uh, that... Oh, yeah, hell yeah. 17 points of healing. That's pretty good. That's pretty good. That puts me back to... Well, I'll keep that to myself. Ooh, ooh.

Perfect. I do. Some of the color returns to me. I look a little bit more normal. Ah, ah, smarts. Ow! You couldn't give me a warning? Nope.

Keep moving, Mr. Stabs. We've got a job to do. We make two and a half mill here, Mr. Stabs, and then it's one more voyage, another five. You keep saying one more voyage. One more? Bonobos, come on, man. You're not happy with 2.5?

Well, Simon, imagine. The property, we could invest. We can let other people go into dangerous situations, and we lay back on the beach drinking fruity beverages while other people risk their lives. All right, all right. Seven million. All right.

We've got to get through this first. I'll keep going. All right. Jeez. You pass through the garden space, and you don't come in the way that you first entered this space. Instead, you make the left that Delphina suggested, and you hug the edge of the ship as you enter a fresh,

set of corridors down into engineering. And it is another few levels away. For the sake of brevity, you navigate the space, looking around every corner, still feeling the tension in every muscle, worried that perhaps a vort will show up, or perhaps some other trick of Vonnegut's will emerge. But after five minutes and ten minutes, 15 minutes traversing this terrifying ship, you reach a door that above it says, reactor core. All right, this is it. All right, right, right, where she said it was.

All right, let's make quick work of this. And I will basically, I'll make sure that Mr. Stapp leads the way in case there's some sort of a horrible radiation than nothing to flush. Uh-huh. I look for some sort of a panel to open the door. Once again, you find the panel,

and you flip the slate. Six seconds? I don't know how to sit. You just six seconds? The doors open and you're confronted with what it looks like a cramped hallway around what must be a circular shaft that extends from nearly the bottom and to the top of the entire ship. This outer room is quite narrow and you can see a few steps in that there's a tall, thick, shielded glass with observation slits that look into a core chamber that glowed. red. And to one side, there are full hazard suits.

These aren't even just the envirous suits. These are helmeted, thick, massive gloves that are clearly there to withstand tremendous energies. Knowing what I know about testing and all sorts of manner of horrible ways to go, I would assume, and you can correct me if I'm wrong, that I at least be able to put together that if the suits are inside this room, this room is safe to walk into,

because otherwise you'd need a suit to walk in. I would say that you would deduce that, especially having the experience that you have, that you would deduce that easily. To one side are the hazard suits to the other side, is a small terminal, and the door that I described with the vertical shielded observation window. I walk in, I look over, back over my right shoulder at Barnabos,

and I say, Come on in, you big baby. It's fine. Let the suits are over there. All right, let's go. And presumably we need to get suited up before we go out. You imagine that it would probably be wise to... Oh, so yeah, well, to take out of enviro suits.

Which is probably fun. You wouldn't need your Enviro suits if you aren't protecting yourself from either, so it would be easy enough to change. A wardrobe change, all right. Yeah, I would try to find one of these suits that would fit my size and, you know, presumably easily find one. You're able to, this one's a little bit looser, clearly made for a more medium-sized humanoid,

but there are stations for your feet where you're able to sort of get into the boots and you're sort of able to grab the gloves. And you feel very clumsy in this massive suit, but you're able to don it. I would take a look around. I'd point out the panel that you mentioned. There's a command terminal to one side.

To Barnabose and say, All right, Kavim, I think that's where you're going to have to take a look here and see what you can glean from this thing. I mean, I wonder if there's a manual or anything around here or operational instructions. I worked in boiler rooms and engine rooms and I was allowed, and I could probably figure out this out, no matter how fancy it is. I'll go to the terminal. I'll try to kind of think back to my experience. Granted, blood fleet ships are not nearly as technologically fancy as this. No, no.

I'm going to... There's a terminal right in the... the wall adjacent to the door. And you imagine that if you hit the commands, you'll be able to interface with the reactor core itself, and you'll be able to open the door. But as you approach, your eyes glance through that observation window into the core, glowing red as it is, and you can see this inner chamber. But you don't just see the core, this massive engine, something powerful enough to sustain.

to keep the lights on in a ship this size, hundreds of feet long, for families and for research and for travel and traversal of the stars. It's not just that red, but it's the green that you spy as you realize that you're staring at the shape of a creature. And you realize, you remember that Vonnegut said that he had left a surprise there for you. You'd lean closer in.

lean closer in. The red is so bright that your eyes instantly fatigue. And every shadow and dark space and other color glows cyan from the reverse color as you try to make sense of what you were looking at. It looks familiar. It looks like the vort that you fought before. But this one is much, much bigger. And it's easy to put together that this is a mature, a much more incubated,

Vort. Do we both see this is just just the captain? What's that? Do we both see this as just the captain? You see Barnabot stop and lean in and his eyes grow wide as he stares into the depths. All right? What's going on? Oh, you want to the beasties. The what? I'm going to walk closer. The fort, I believe, is what, Vonnegut call it? Oh, you think, Mr. You were going to hear of Colet?

The Parrisellia to Toy Me either or something like that. I take a look. It's much bigger than the others. might want to, you, I take a look. You're taking your heart medication, Mr. Stavis. I like waddle over to where Barnabos is. You know that your art bills? I press my face up against the screen.

You see this massive head, a warped insane shape of tons of limbs arranged with awful purpose. Parts of it are semi-translucent, but the entire thing seems suffused with the radiation that exists within this reactor to power the

Azamandias itself. It's carapus as turned bright green, like toxic sludge turned into marble. I pause for a moment and I stare at it and probably good three, four, five seconds passes and I just say, what the ass? Aye, what the ass indeed, Mr. Stabs. Holy smokes. Well, I suppose now once we up the ante to seven mill, there had to be a joint alien. It's just, it what?

Is it feeding? I mean, it's not killing it, right? You'd think that a core like that would kill this thing. It seems wrapped around. Looking into this inner chamber, you can see that there's a catwalk that leads to a massive central energy unit that contains who knows what energy source. But in this tall vertical shaft for perhaps heat

or energy collection, it's wrapped around the actual reactor core itself like a centipede mother broods, it's young. I mean, there's no way that our combined knowledge, like nothing should be able to survive contact with this core. It's four times the size of one of the forts that you fought, and those have just been birthed and hatched. This thing, Vonnegut indicated that it had a surprise for you. Clearly, they go to worlds, they adapt, they change.

It's wonderful. So it sent itself to its most extreme location, the center of the reactor. of the Osamandias. Does it look like it sleeping or like incubating or hibernating or something? It doesn't seem to have moved since you first noticed it. Am I able to get any kind of information on the reactor before we go in or do I need to go enter to like you can engage the terminal for information, commands, all kinds of things?

What role would that be if there is computers? Computers. And again, just so I understand like where the terminal is, where we are with our suits, we are separated. from this thing. There's a heavy. It's like a Dr. Manhattan style. Oh, yeah. No, no, 100%.

We're quote unquote safe where we are right now. Yes. But we would have the ability to enter into the core if needed? Yes. He was a good show. I'm telling you, I'm telling you. Yeah, exactly. And Barnabos is at the command terminal.

It's not just a keyboard and a screen with a few text pieces on it. There are knobs. they're, they're, uh, if you remember the, the, the, the, the lever that Obi-Wan pulls down in order to turn off the, like, that's exactly. Mew, yeah.

There's that cool, I shouldn't there. I'll be so fucking mad. Um, I got a 24. Oh, yeah. 24. There's fucking go. Um,

turns out you can shut it off from there. There's the option to open the door. Uh, there's, uh, the option to control the reactor core itself. There's, this is, clearly where someone would go to make sure that it's working properly. There are maintenance routines. There are cleaning algorithms. And you can see that there are ways that you might be

able to disable safety protocols, where you might be able to perhaps turn the reactor off entirely or perhaps push it towards critical. There we go. Can I do that from the term? Or do my Ichiniero, an ocean. Violated it. You're not doing that. There's no way. I mean, sent scrimid. Yeah.

The only way. He's going to fly. They could. The only way. Not the suit. I don't know if I can fly in the suit. You imagine that the only reason to go into the actual reactor chamber would be, now that you've navigated the computer terminal, would be to do manual maintenance, physical maintenance on the reactor core itself.

If they were already in. a dire state needed physical repairs. That's what you imagine. From here, you have complete command over the space within. You could turn the temperature up and overcharge it, overclock it if you will, or you could turn it off. Also, not to un-actually you, but it's important to mention that my species trait has a stipulation. I can't use the fly speed if I'm wearing medium or heavy armor, and while this isn't

armor, I imagine this is much heavier than what I would be there. Oh, certainly. So I mechanically cannot fly while I'm wearing this heavy. Okay. That makes sense. That makes sense. So I would do my best to shut off the safety protocols from this panel. I would keep your 24 and I would say that you are easily able to, this is an old system.

It doesn't seem to have, and there's no shockingly, Vonnegut that appears on the screen and puts up some cyber defense. system in front of you. There's no ah, uh, moment. And so you feel like you're able to control the reactor. You do know, I will say, because you've been around reactors like this before, that you can't engage self-destruct from here. You can make it hotter or you can make it colder. Talk to me, Kath. What's going on? Come on. Give me the plan.

All right, Mr. Stabs. Uh-huh. Here, I'm going to show them the terminal. So here is where I can turn off the safety protocols. Okay. which will allow the self-destructs initiation or the overheat to be engaged. Beautiful. The only way to engage it is to pull those really cool looking levers on the reactor itself in the chamber.

So what you're going to do, lad, and I'm going to walk him through the steps of basically however many things he needs to pull to basically overtard and activate him. And, uh, I wanna say, I'll be right here, lad, to help coach you through it. And, worst case scenario, if you need my mechanical arm, I'll be in there right behind you, but I feel like this is a job for Mr. Stabs. Okay, listen, Captain, I'm gonna say this one time, all right? I want you to listen to me. All right? I've been through a lot of shit.

All right? They did a lot of fucked up stuff to me back there. I know it. But nothing like that. I know we haven't found anything that can kill me yet, but we're talking about a reactor like that. Well, stay quiet. Maybe you won't wake up with the beast.

I'm not worried about the monster. I'm worried about the fucking reactor. It might melt the shit out of me. I might be vaporized. Oh, that's the way that you got your ticker. What if it fries it? What if this is finally it? And I don't come back from this.

Oh, don't be so dramatic, Mr. Stabs. It's just a couple of levers. A little sneaky, sneaky. How much time do I have? I hope so much time. If you are endeavoring to open the door, race in, turn on the self-destruct, and get out before the Vort Elite notices you.

In so many words. Exactly right. Exactly right, Game Master. I can't give you an estimate You have one minute, Mr. Saps. I don't know how to give you an estimate because of how many X factors I know are possible within the next minute. I think a minute is extremely reasonable.

The problem is that I move like this now. No, no, no. You are not dexterous. You are not dexterous. Nor will stealth be an advantage, sir. It will be the opposite. I'm cooked. It will be disadvantage. Okay, all right.

All right. So that I'll stand by the door. When that thing opens, I'm going. And you better tell me exactly what I need to do. All right, I'll coach you through it. I'll wattle over to the door. Holy shit. That lever,

that lever, that lever. You go, you put all three of them, that should overcharge it. It'll give us about an hour before she blows. Why do you're talking to get to the collapse, though? The good news is I do have lot of plus to stealth, even if I'm at disadvantage, that's gonna be okay. And acrobatics and sleight of hand. I feel really good about this actually.

Okay. Scrim is like, whew, okay, all right, I can do this. I can do this. Okay, here we go. And I'm just waiting for basically the door to start to move. Six, five, four, three, two, one. Come on, baby, one more time.

And as soon as there is enough space, for me to squeeze through the door, I'm like, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh. Like, I'm not waiting for this door to open all the way. I'm, like, wedging myself through the door to try to shave off every second possible.

Are you attempting to steal? Yeah, I mean, do the best of my ability. I have to. I'm fucking terrified of this monster. Make a roll of disadvantage. That's fine. I have plus eight to stealth. I'm sure they're fine. Come on.

Come on. Oh, no. I got a natural 20 and a 3. No. That would give me an 11. Look, this is, we only got one more episode. Yeah. I'm going to cash in on one of my dealer's favors.

I'm going to use one of my six luck dice, which I already used one. So this is the second one that I'm using. They're all these sixes, and I only regain them when I finish a long rest. Oh, oh, it does say when, oh, you wore a creature. Yes, it says me. I'm going to try to add six to this. to my 11. I got a 2. That's a 13.

Lucky 13, baby. Lucky number 13 for scrammed on stealth. I get the 13th blessing, you know what I mean? That's right. No, it's all coming full circle. This is planned. It's calculated. It's a flat circle. Calculated. You make it two, three steps into the inner chamber.

I suddenly notice how squeaky my suit is. It's not just that. I couldn't hear it before. The catwalk is slippery with condensed liquid. Is it cooling? Is it water? You're sliding around and you grab onto the railing and you realize that it bends the metal. And this creature that clings to the reactor, its head turns up.

And you expect its mouth to open and hiss. You expect it to open its eyes and look at you. Its eyes do open. but instead of a beastial hiss or some sort of a scream or something like that, you instead hear the voice of Vonnegut.

I run. I run to the lea. I'm God. And it races forward in a massively aggressive manner. Jumping towards you. You turn and sprinting to go. I need you to make a wisdom saving throw

and I need you to make a dexterity saving throw. Oh my god. Holy shit. Wisdom saving throw? Yes. Holy shit. I got a natural 20. God.

I have the luckiest motherfucker on the planet. I didn't have disadvantage. He's always on my side, baby. That's fucking crazy. That's fucking crazy. I'm streaming and I'm running for the levers. 17. You're running further in.

Oh, yeah. I'm too far in. I'm going to go back. Are you kidding me? You jump in and you are, hit the door. It closes and it barely, barely avoids your boot, which would have trapped you and almost certainly ended your life.

And it slams down. It has to be thick and strong and fast in order to protect against the potential radiation within the reactor core. And it slams down. And moments later, you hear this massive slam as the body of the Vort Elite slams into the door. It buckles, but it does not break.

and you see looking through the tall vertical observation slit, the face of this creature as it pears in. I will change you as it attempts to try to speak through its impossible throat. What do you all do? I'm streaming, and I am running as fast as I can waddle towards these levers that I need to get to. So wait, so you're inside. Oh, yeah. I shut the door and it's coming at me.

No, no, no, no. you managed to jump back out into the area that Barnabos is in. No, he's not my plan. He's saying in there. That was not my players. I'm sorry. No, I thought you darted back.

A balls deep in this reactor. You're trapped inside there with the way. I mean, look, I have a job to do. So are you seven million notes on the line? I do it. My apologies. I can give my sincerity, saving throat, to act. It slams.

It comes into the door and it looks at you, Barnabose, but- I'm just booking it while it's paying attention to the Barnabose. Okay, okay. If I need to, I am going to grab one of my grenades. I'm going to throw it in to try to drag its attention. Did you try to close the door, or did I make all that up? I thought I understood that you were trying to jump back down. No, no.

I made all that up. It was really great makeup, though. Thank you. Let's rewind for a moment. That's right. I love the moment that I see this thing, for me, I'd go deeper into the React. There's no... Alright, Beastie! And I'm gonna just

fucking throw a grenade at this thing. And like to get his attention at me, or to try to do something, you know... I appreciate that. However, I am going to... It would immediately be on top of you. There's no version of reality.

You might friend are a disadvantage. Because I have lucky break. When an attacker you can see hits me with an attack roll, I can take a reaction. Oh, never mind. Keep going, keep going. I can take half. I can take half. Okay. You're about to have a look, you bray. Disadvantage, you say? No, no, no, no, straight up, straight up.

Okay, it's going to be a 18 to hit. You just got me. Okay, I need you to make... No, no, no, hold on. Oh, no. I can give you disadvantage. Yeah. I cash it on what point? You are at disadvantage. Okay. I know I can give you disadvantage. Okay, it's the 17.

to roll the nine and eight. That misses. No, does it hit? It meets, unfortunately. And that's going to be six points of slashing damage. One of his arms grabs you. However, you are also grappled. Well, that's bad.

I was hoping that when it jumped at me and jumped for the door that I was like gone, but that's fine. That's fine. I thought I was pretty clear, but that's okay. I am going to... I would agree with you if it wasn't for the movement that I have in front of me.

This thing is extremely aggressive and it has all kinds of additional movement properties. So I didn't have a chance to try to distract it. No, as soon as it noticed, like an apex predator, as soon as it noticed Scrim, it would have raced forward and grabbed scrim in this moment. Do I know that you can blink back to me?

I would say 100. Yeah. We also saw him doing it. You know, you have an understanding of what the, what my capabilities are. Instead of so, forget the grenade thing. I never had a chance. I'm going to basically what you said, say, Mr. Saviskudge, get back out here. And I'm going to try to start shutting the door. And I'm going to see if this is, does it have any cool, is there any exhaust into perhaps open space? Is there anything that? Oh, my. You, I would say that it is clear from the term. that if you were to overheat the reactor, that you could vent all of the atmosphere and everything, like if there was a fire, or if there was a breach in the reactor core, or if there was something along those lines, then there would need to be some way for you

to vent that out into a deep space. I'm gonna do everything I can, as I'm shutting into the door. I hope I just hit close, and I shout out to scrimm, is grim and I'm gonna basically try to say like up the heat. This is way too chill. Hold the fucking phone. Hold the fucking phone. Screws me, grappled by a nuclear monster.

Yeah. It's something. My apologies. Thank you for reminding me of the nuclear thing. You take an additional six necrotic damage. And even through the radiation suit. Because of it slashing damage, it actually cuts into the suit and suddenly you realize that- I mean, now we're really fucked.

I can't even go in there. Additional six? Well, no, I'll still take half of that as well. So it's still only three more. Unless you're saying that I'm just taking... You start to amp up the image. You have the whole thing. You start to ratchet up the reactor core itself

as you do this. Do you still want to throw a grenade at this thing? No. Okay, okay. That never happens. No. I'm just waiting for basically to be my turn. Right?

Like, it grappled me. It did its thing. It's your turn. I use my fucking time flash security. to go backwards in time, and as long, I can do as a bonus action, I basically go 30 feet backwards, and as long as I go back to somewhere

that I already was at on my previous turn, it doesn't expend a use of time flash. So I'm just going back to where I was. Okay, so that two, three steps in, you, all of a sudden, you're no longer grappled in the arms of this impossible beast.

You are back on the catwalk, feet away from the door, which is open, closed? Did we decide to go? No, other side of the fucking door. You're on the other side of the door. Fuck that. Yeah. So I am, you cheater, 1,000%.

I'm just so sick of you. I wasn't sure what happened the first time and I want to make sure. The door closes while you're on the other side and I'm just pretending. I could, this has been done this plenty of times. And as soon, as soon as you blink back like a flash of blue, I'm like, should have held your breath. Also, I'm gonna say it. I think my suit is undamaged when I arrive. That's correct.

That's correct. Tell me I'm wrong. There's even a re-curling of the monster. He's reset almost. I keep my damage, but my suit is undamaged. And in this moment, you have reverse time. What? Vonnegut, his mind is trapped inside of this beast

and seems somewhat aware of the fact that this strange magic effect was dangerous. Nothing to worry about. You're just going to go on a little trip. As I am going to try to try to. basically do whatever I can to ramp up the heat of this thing to hopefully trigger automatic ejection. Give me one more computers check. Okay. Can we twist this? Very funny. I can. That's a natural 19. Oh! So, you got. At least you have negative one or zero. Okay, 1,000 percent.

You start to push into the terminal and even though your scrim is a little, even though your friend's scrim is a little worse for the where, mostly mentally. Did it undo the damage? No, no, no. I still take the damage. I'm just flavoring like the suit was never... Oh, yeah, no, no, no. One thousand percent. It's a whole suit. And you start to push it, and you are starting to notch the reactor core up and up and up.

The temperature starts going up and up and up. The red gets to... It's going to be a little... It's going to be a little... Spicy here! And the Vort Elite, the Vortigot, the Vortigot, for lack of a better term, It starts to slam into the door trying to break free. And you can see that it is that new arms are emerging

as it incubates within this radioactive space. Between shrieks, between screams, You will be mine, you will kneel, and it continues to slam into it. But it isn't able to break through the door just yet. You continue to notch it up, up, up, up to the critical zone. And the meters that you're looking at,

bars of red start to go up, and you can even see the glowing... Well, supply an aunt, Captain. What do you got going on here? Come on. Trust in your captain, Mr. Stavs. And suddenly the alarms go off. Delphina, Tyshan, you're near.

The fusion lights of the emergencies go on as all of a sudden you hear a piercing siren and the lights sweep back and forth as you hear another voice that is not Vonnegut's yell out, a baser protocol. Reactor core at critical, reactor core, at critical. And you all hear this as you push things higher and higher and higher Barnabot, getting dangerously close to the edge of explosion

where you know that this reactor core could imminently blow up the entire Osamandia's. ship and it's that point that the safety protocol kick on. The floor opens up in a like an iris and all of a sudden the entire space vents out. You watch as jets push all of the

material within the reactor. Everything shakes and rumbles. The entire ship shakes and trembles beneath your seat as you watch and the um

vort elite slips from the catwalk it holds on for as long as it can but is pushed out into deep space and you hear it good I done that first we'll always stay

ever I can to immediately try to cool it down I'm going to try to engage any kind of additional coolant any kind of additional things to cool it down you are watching jets of steam and pressure blast out from the reactor, and you start to push the down button. Now that the vents... This might be it, Mr. Stairs. I need to make another computer check for me.

Walls is happening. We're up on the top of the ship, right? We're looking towards the wherever we're going. And my long robe sleeve kind of covers most of my hands, and I'm going to reach in and push my robes back and it'll reveal just a Cassio watch from the 90s. And I look at my crewmates and I say, Did he not say an hour? No, no, no, no.

I would say it's only been 10, 15 minutes. And you know that they would have taken about that long for them to even get there to set the hour long timer in the first place. You're racing towards the navigation helm as this process unfolds. I only got a 20. Only a 20.

Get out of here. With a 20. you realize you cannot go back down, that the only way to undo the damage that you've caused the reactor core is to physically go to the reactor core itself and manually repair it, as I said earlier. All right, Mr. Stad, this is where you're at. Remember what I taught you?

What? You want to have to... Delievers! Okay, six, five, four, three, two, two, one. I make sure that my helmet is on. I start to squeak back through the door, and you just, I'm shouts. We're shouting at you the whole time as I'm squeezing back through the door. I'm like, this is great bottom of us.

Ms. Voss is going to think we're a couple of idiots. And I'm like squeezing through and now I'm trying to get back in there. I'm assuming the aperture at the bottom is like closed back up. The emergency protocols are in place. Beneath you as the pressure of force is coming down, it's like standing underneath an air turbine. As you are. Do I have any kind of like, like, a hoary?

Can I, can I, can I clip to the fucking? You look for a tether and you were able to grab one. Sond of a bitch! I mean, it's like, I lose my head bag and like a kite. I need you to, even with the dead, I need you to make a dexterity check. Pfebics or athletics. No, you can't take it as long.

I haven't seen the movie yet, but this reminds me of the scene from Project Anyway, Agrobatics or athletics to see how well you navigate the narrow catwalk. Agrobatics. Acrobatics, bastard. What do I do to you today? Oh, I got a 27.

27. You make it. You aren't able to fly. You keep trying to use your wings to Central. The air is blasting down, And you know that if the tether breaks and one wrong slip, you're burst out in deep space with a fucking borderly. And you pull forward, five, ten, fifteen feet.

She marks in mysterious ways, Mr. Stas! Down into the inner chamber and you're able to get to the reactor core itself. What do you do? Well, once I get to the reactor core myself, I... Well, Roy, right ahead! I like cinch the tether down as far as I can. And basically hold on with one arm and... That one.

That one! Pull it down. And I basically just Okay, the other two. The one that's marked blue. Blue. I'm gonna sue it at this now. Yeah, yeah, no, no.

But condensation is fogging your vision. I need you to make a technology check at advantage because Barnabot is walking you through it. No, that one's tea. Go to the blue one, Mr. Tabs. The blue one. I'm fucking colorblind. 13 plus four is 17.

17 is enough. You pull the right levers in the right order. And pretty soon, the aperture floor closes, and the reactor core goes back to a stable place. It's still bathed in red light in all directions. You feel like your eyes are burnt from the sensation of being in here. Even with the protective suit that you are wearing,

but the alarm stopped going off, the siren disappears, the voice recording, stops repeating over and over across every speaker in the Ozzymandias. And, right now there, the orange panel right between on the other side of the reactor. Set it to an hour, self-destruct. Okay. And I'm gonna like, as I like slide the tether.

You slide the tether around the thing. Find this panel. Punch in 60 minutes. Not 60 seconds. I know, I know. Stop. 60 minutes. And uh...

It's so good, glad that he said that because you hit six zero. Like you were about, you were about to have started. And then he hit zero at the end of life. Two more zero is Mr. Stub. And I'm going to shimmy way all the way back to the, as I run back to the blast door. It's an ice tan, Mr. Stabs. Looks like you didn't put sunbathing in Prismara.

All of his hair is blown back from his face. And here, you're, uh, uh, there's sweat. You're drenched. Like this was hot. It was in a hot space. Like even, even the door itself, the catwalk felt hot under your feet. But now you're finally in,

breathable, air-conditioned Azamandia's atmosphere. Get me out of this fucking suit, Bonobos. I'm gonna lose my goddamn mind. All right, we're good. Did it, do it confirm they basically like, self-destructs sequence? The light stops, the siren stopped, the voices stopped.

You confirm on the terminal that we're back into a stable place. You can see now that the terminal is displaying that it has registered the self-destruct and that 60 minutes are on the clock. Well, not 60. Now 59, 38, 37, 37, 36. All right, we're good. I'm going to pull out my communicator and I'll say, we have an hour. I hope you're finishing up, finishing up getting everything you need. You all hear this voice as you continue.

to make the longer trek towards the front of the Ozymandias. And this is a trek you've made before, but one that feels very strange to repeat. And I will hop over in this way as the three of you hear Barnabos's voice over your telecommunication. It's a little crackly, and you imagine then it's probably affected by the adjacency of the reactor core, but his voice is clear and you all understand the message. I wouldn't respond back, knowing that we all have things that we need to do, and I would just help Yornear to his feet and make sure that he's steady. I'd be walking a little shakily, and probably in the back, but I would be there with you too. Now, I think we would just continue to make our way. Imagining that as solemn and thoughtful, quiet as we are,

that Scrim and Barnabos are probably the same. That it's quiet throughout the ship. And you would have been able to have this chance to get back and probably get to the navigation room in this whole time, right? Yeah, for sure. Concurrently, you guys are doing your thing. I would say that you are just before the navigation helmets within sight. You're not inside the room just yet, but you're making your way down the hallway

when, once again, the familiar feeling of cold surrounds you, wraps around you like being plunged into an icy ocean, and the lights around you become garish as you hear. As you hear, the whirring of a strange contraption, harnessing the power of plasma. Looking around, you see Scrim there. And blue energy surges all around him. All around you, Scrim, as the chamber of the testing facility

of arcing electricity, arcing electricity arcs in every direction. It zaps directly towards you, Scrim, but right before it fries you, you blink back six seconds in time. And you are And you are alive. Your lucky coin spins in the air, but it's still extremely painful every time.

It hurts every time. The other test subjects are not so lucky. Your colleagues, your friends, they're unmade in every horrifyingly, they're unmade horrifyingly in every imaginable way. You haven't gotten too attached. Every month you meet another round of them. New energy sources, weaponry, vehicles, experimental devices, the need for living test subjects is always there.

And you look around this time seeing Delphina, Ayschen. No. You're near. Barnabos. No. The clock ticks as the door opens for the next round of experiments. A cold, sterile voice crackles out. Number 717, please step into the nuclear aperture chamber

and we will test the effects on your skin. What? What? I can't be I can't be back here. Simply step into the chamber at 717. I'm gonna look around and like really take in my surroundings and it like feels like I'm back there. It feels like you are right back there.

And it's damning because you've traveled back six seconds at a time, six seconds at a time, six seconds at a time, six seconds at a time. The sensation of waking up to a moment in the past that you've re-experienced is so real for you. This is impossible. This is impossible. I can't. There's no way I can be back. No, no.

No. I won't do it. Not anymore. Not again. Just step into the chamber, 717. This is your job. No, no, no more. No more new friends.

No? I swore I would never go. go back. I would never do it again. No. You can't make me. I'm free. I'm a free man now. No. Your pleas of help are ignored. And the other colleagues are ushered into your allies, Barnabos, Tyshan, uh, uh, uh, a urnir are ushered into a chamber. No, no, don't. You didn't silent for this. They're not supposed to be here. They weren't there. Don't you do this. Let them go. Can I walk into the chamber. This is the task.

No! Fuck you! You can't make me do it! No! And I'm like frantically hitting my gear that I know should be there and trying to undo this to get away.

It is there, but it does not activate. You seemingly cannot change the fate of this moment and you feel helpless in a way that you haven't felt helpless for a long, long time. Captain! No, part of us! No! You reject the voice.

You reject this moment. You say no, but your friends cannot. And you watch as they bubble and fizz and dissolve within the chambers, unable to pull themselves back through time in the way that you, as lucky as you are, have always been want to do. You all share this vision. No, no, no.

And I think you all know what comes next. We're just plan it's not ramping damage. Ooh, low for once, kind of. Seven for me. Hey, not bad. I'll take it. Hey, Mr. Stavs, get to your feet. There will be tears just running down my face. Ha!

Ha! You're all right. You're still here. More tricks of Erebus and the parasites. Hey, Mr. Stapps, hey, look at me. Look at me at that. You were just trapped in a nuclear ship's reactor with a horrible alien beastie.

And it was still better than that. No, you're right. We're here. We're still here. We're free, then. The Astral Horizon BR path. No sterile testing chambers. All right. You're right.

You're alive. We go back to the Calypso, get it ready for the others? Yeah, yeah. I'm okay. I'm here. I'm with you. I'm with you, Captain. I'm with you.

Barnaboz, Scrim, you start to make your way back towards the Calypso and following the guidance that Delphina gave you. Delphina, Tyshen, you're near. You have just experienced another death. The feelings of these, experiences, these visions are not just taxing physically and mentally, but you feel drained from them every single time, more and more empty and like nothing, nothing at all. But just before you are the familiar doors of the navigation helm.

What do you all do? We would head straight towards the navigation center. and pull out my necklace and find some sort of slot that I could slide the chip portion into and attempt to start transferring whatever data I can, anything that I think that I would need

for whatever second voyage I would want to take. You enter the space and walk up to the center console and you push in your Polaris Society clearance. And with just a few keystrokes, you're able to start downloading the route, not just the information that your father so coveted, but also much of the research data

that would have been stored in the ships distributed data systems and you start to pull that in more and more and more let me just check my music for a moment one moment I'll just say that I go in and also just I mean I've had my blame drawn the whole time but in the event that anything like you know he's moved any kind of nefarious actors into this like into this section since we've been here I'll just be on super high alert for any kind of threat coming at us. You hear the voice before you see anything. As you plug in and you begin the process of transferring this data,

this, for lack of a better term, holy grail of the society that you represent, you hear the voice of Vonnegut as he appears on one of the smaller monitors, no longer able to control the now disabled, holographic display in the center of the room. Instead, a small concave monitor on the terminal screen shows up, and you see that familiar face. Look at you. You are still your father's daughter. How disappointing.

What do you want, Vonnegut? You came back. You came back for the location of the first world. that is because you understand you understand how important it is to join us how important it is how important it is to find my father

so much of this is useful to the Polaris society and when I am able to set out and find him my work will be done you and what your purpose is means nothing to me. I am eternal. And nothing at the same time.

I am immortal. I am indestructible. I have many vectors. Vectors you cannot imagine. Once... You will fail eventually. Once I retrieve what I need to from the Ossimandias.

And my crew destroys the ship. I will never think of you again. We have so much time for me to watch you unravel. Would you like to hear his scream? Don't you dare. No. No, I will save it.

You will regret making an enemy of me. Maybe not this day. But you are right. We have time. I only need to be patient. and I am very patient. Everything that you are doing is futorrily. Paschen lend me your patience.

Don't listen to him, Lady Voss. Everything he says, everything he has done is a manipulation. To turn us, we have cut you out of systems of this ship. We have struck at you where you are central. You exist now only where the feeble remnant. remnants of you can last, and that will not be for much longer. You have seen it, haven't you, Dyshen? You have seen it, the truth of your memory, of your whole self.

It defines you. They are showing you what you will become when nothing but your soul remains. Only I define me, Vonnegut. I have seen what you have tried to show us and we are unshakable in our goal to move forward. Even now, our allies are setting forth to destroy the ship. You think you have time, you have but an hour. We will see. Delphina.

Lady Voss. You will see your father again. I promise you. You will see him when we reach the first world. You will see him when we conquest, when we are done with the rest of the galaxy, when we reach the center. I am sure that he is waiting for you there.

There is no we. You are alone. You will always be alone. Join us. Join us. Join us. Join us. How are you feeling, Mr. Yonnier? Um, before respond to Delphina, do I, how do I, how do I,

when he says that he's immortal or he has many vectors, do I believe him? Let me get inside check. I know he's like a, uh, but if I can try to... That's a fair question. Assertain that. My role's nothing super hot. 14.

14? You aren't sure if the words are true or not, but you definitely feel that he believes them to be true. Decide for God impotent in his electric prison.

Your time comes to an Do not flail except. Yes. Thank you, Yoranir. I quite agree. Suddenly, Yoranir, you are in the cold. The dark and the quiet of the abyss.

The crushing depths of the sea is all around you as you sink deeper and deeper into the darkness below. This far down, despite the potential terrors that may lurk in the water beneath you, there is a peace, and you let yourself sink. As you descend, you feel as though you are nearing the bottom.

You must be. Then you see a light, not mechanical, not bioluminescent. You see stars, twinkling and glittering constellations glowing beneath you, shedding starlight upon you.

12 in total. Then amidst them, you see a singular black star emerge. One by one, the constellations are snuffed out until all the stars turn black. And you hear a voice. Be at peace. Accept. Change. Sleep.

Dream. Do I like, are any of my friends there? It's just me. The four of you have felt the same descent, the same strange dropping experience. And you look around and you know that they are there, but not able to interact in the same way. There's a similar to how you were once a screaming cavaloney,

who is being destroyed by an army, or how you felt shattered like the record broken by Dr. Voss, you know that their agency is only in some ways observation. And at least that's how it's been so far. I will be standing there and feeling the presence. And my smottled skin, will start to shift and change, exhibiting those same features that I've adapted and evolved to have to make myself almost invisible. My pupils will morph and change into weird shapes like

a Worshack blot, this adaptation that's given me this blind sight and this almost supernatural perception and I will speak to the presence say. Four 13th black tide rises. Your 13th star drowns. You wake, you feast. I accept. I change. The void is inevitable. When you hear Yornear speak these words, all of you feel free, liberated, suddenly changed, and you find yourself staring at each other, blinking, waiting for pain, waiting for some transformation, some violent horror. It never comes. Instead, for a moment, the five. of you float as though you were in a swimming pool but a few mere feet away from your near as he is pronounced his willingness to become one to accept the voice

and you feel like you can speak in this moment I can sense my even if it's like dark I can sense everyone around me if we're or we still you For just a moment, you are still in the inky void of the abyss, and you're able to perhaps convey a message if you wanted to. Can they respond? You feel that they have a level of agency that they wouldn't have otherwise for your having accepted. See them react.

They'll witness this, right? I just observe. I would be, I don't know if I would say anything. I'm stunned. I would be actually stunned. I didn't engage in any of the other, in any of the other divisions. I would float

and I would say I will sleep. I will breathe. You accept this mantle and you have all for a moment had a shared mind before you are pulled

back into yourselves. Barnabose. scrim, you, time seems to have passed again, and you suddenly find yourself there standing before the anti-chamber, the docking tunnel that leads to the calypso. You are, you are there ready to wait for the others, but you know from your shared experience that you are, that Delphina needs to finish downloading her data and getting what she needs before, you can join, they can join you. Are we taking our damage?

No. Damn. That seems meaningfully important as a wise man to say. I only remembered because I saw May's Pickup as Dax. Oh, shit. I knew I was going to take damage. Well, right, because she was your reason. That's cool. I totally forgot. But none of us took interesting. Okay. That's interesting.

There would be a level of protocol, I assume, that we would need to do, to proceed through the antechamber to get the Calypso ready for the rest of the crew. Yeah, you could wait here at the door, or you could go onto the Calypso and start, like, pre-flight. I mean, we definitely want to start getting things ready. Yeah, yeah. You hit the door. There's a 20-foot tunnel in front of you.

There's a pressurization cycle, a cycling sequence that you have to do. You walk in, the doors close behind you, and you start to make your way forward. it. And it's in this last moment that you realize the lock to the external door is red. What the heck?

Boy, that shouldn't be there. I'll tap the red button. Like, I would have pretending like it's not right. Like the white bulb is just messed up to see. What's it? Why is it red? What's it doing? I'm going to basically go to the door and see what the deal is. It seems like it won't open because

it won't open to a nether. their secure pressurization with the calypso, perhaps something that's failed. How oh. Yeah, it's probably on account of all the beasties. I'm gonna try to basically either use my electronics kit or my engineering tools to try to basically get.

Computers or technology to see if you can open the door. I'm rolling hot tonight. Holy shit. Crabb dice. Now's the time. This is the campaign to spike them. Because we are cooked. And only have one more session.

That's right. That's right. Um. I don't know who needs to hear this, but your, Yornear's a problem. Yeah, yours is a problem. 28. 28? 28?

Is it a friendly squeam. Somebody killed Yornear. With, but a few maneuvers, you're able to force the external air lock, uh, ether lock door to open and it opens. You are ready to look at the, rough damage of the calypso, remembering how difficult it was to get the locked chamber.

You are ready to look at the tunnel that will take you into the belly of your ship, but instead you stare out at nothing. There is no calypso. There is no stars or ether clouds in front of you either. The ship that is the Azamandius is heading towards the galaxy, and so by merit of the orientation, You were staring out beyond the beyond, and you don't even see the calypso in any direction. And there's a terrible feeling of vertigo

when you realize that you're in a tunnel that is open to truly deep space. I immediately back away from the edge while shouting. Where the fuck is a ship? What is she? What do with her? I'm going to basically use my communication. I'm going to close the door.

Yeah. The Calypso was gone. We gotta tell the others. We gotta get back inside. I have a communicator. I'll try to radio out of my bed. I just want to get back to safety. Like, I want to get the fucking tunnel. We're basically going back to the tunnel.

They... It's gone. The Calypso's gone. The Calypso's gone. I don't know what happened. Maybe you ripped you off. With the spinning, but we were securely attached. I swear, I swear we looked. We talked perfectly.

I've never messed that up. It's gone. Captain, you mean it's not attached to the ship at all, ripped off? She's gone. Damn it. My ship is gone. And we're heading back, I guess. Yeah.

You all hear this over the communication, and so does Vonnegut. And when Vonnegut responds, you can hear him through Delphina, Tyshen, and Yorneers communicators, as you hear, I have taken the ship. Fuck. I took it when you first boarded. It may be smaller, yes,

but I have found even small bodies. Spread the void beautifully. Do not look so betrayed, Barnabos. You were going to abandon me first. You, to do all this is one thing, but to commandeer another man's ship. Encournors and d'clock. Cravenry. She's my ship. She's my ship.

As I'm going to, I'm going to radio in and say, Ms. Voss, do you have what you need? Has it finished? It is. Yes, Mr. Treadwick. I do. I'm going to think back to the sheer amount of absurd explosives that I have on the that I have on the eclipsa. Yeah. Perhaps the great barrels that I have in my art that I'm not able to carry around on my person. Oh, sure. And I am going to consider if I still have the

connection in my arm, you know, it's in the Arabis Nebula. I don't know if I still have the connection. But I am going to stop is I'm going to try to basically think for a moment. And I'll radio into the terminal. Miss Phyllis, are you able to pilot this thing?

Is there any way we can pursue her? I can absolutely pilot this thing. Can she catch up to the Calypso? Well, I imagine with the right maneuvering she would be fast enough. It'll take a bit to catch up. Calypso's had a head start.

But if anyone can do it, it's a false. I will take a mic here and I will press the button. A vector for the cancer is spread. It must be excised. Your Nair is right. We have to stop it. We can't just blow the, we can't just blow the Osamandias now. He intends to use the Calypso.

You're going to have to cancel the protocol. We need the ship. Mr. Yornear, must I? The navigator is not guiding me here in the Erebus. A proud vessel lost in the Black Sea, an honorable end for a storied life. And I'll just click. I'll say, Mr. Sebs, she was a good shit, wasn't she? Yes, Captain, she was.

and I'm going to basically kind of change my arm to a panel that's rarely used as I will begin to start punching in the very elaborate protocol that would be to trigger hopefully if there's still a connection to trigger all of the huge stockpile of explosives I keep on the Calypso the barrels and barrels and barrels of highly volatile explosives I know this isn't easy for you, Captain. But not worth the risk. As you know, the protocol.

Just like we did an icebound a long time ago. Yeah. It is a death saving throw. I need you to make three in a row to see if you're able to reach the signal in time or if Vonnegut on the calypso is going to make an instant being able to journey on with a, before you can self-destruct your own ship. Fuck.

Okay. Should we, should we like, are you going to tell us that loud? No, no, no. Just, uh, give me your successes and your failures in order. That's good.

Fail. Oh, okay. Oh, you're like trying to kill the ship. Ugh. A nine, then an eight.

Two failures. All you need is one more. A 12. Uh, okay. Come on, Kweb. Natural 20.

You, watch as you punch in the numbers. And I'll say as I finish the protocol. And you finish the protocol. Fair winds. The following tides, my lover. And I'm going to hit the initiate. Just as you hit the initiate

button, the communication signal that you've been communicating with gets out of distance. The bars go all the way down. And you have no way of knowing if that final command made it through, not without pursuing within the Osamandis, not without being sure. There's no confirmation. It is the unknown. There is nothing. Wow. Wow. The only time you don't want a natural 20.

Yeah, that's a completely only situation. I should have swallowed the quad. That's what chat stands. It's too powerful. It's too powerful. I know because I've rolled those dice. They rolled natural 20s more than any dice I've ever seen in my life. I've seen this campaign. Lady Voss. Bonnickett's voice crackles through the speaker before you. When will you yield? I have taken the calypso. I have taken everything.

And I will take everything. These worlds, these beings, you, your mind, everything is mine. For I am a God. I told you when we got started. Pursue the calypso if you want. But there is no stopping me, for I am mortal and I am indestructible. Barnabos, what is the word on the Calypso? Are we proceeding? I'm just completely ignore him. Are we proceeding?

I'm not sure. No confirmation either way. I think we must pursue. All right, then. And I will once again. Again, I'd pulled out my Polaris Society. It functions as both like a memory stick as well as a key card. I take it out. I slide it back into the console, and I begin to pull up all of the navigation information. And by looking over the map and looking at the potential possibilities of where the calypso could be going, putting in coordinates, trying to have the Osamandias find it and track it.

And I imagine that may be possible. With sensors the size of Vosimandias, I would say that you would actually be able to confirm that the Calypso is rocketing forward. It's slow, it's interestingly, you can even see its journey. It would have been tracked this entire time. And you can see that it scooted around, made a small little hoop,

and then sort of traveling towards the nearest world, Not towards the Montaigne planet that I mentioned earlier, but towards Port Crozer. I would lock in on it, and the coordinate, like, data sheet would come up. In array of information displays in front of you like a tab below, and you have everything that you need to pilot the Osamandias right, front of you. I, um, I start typing in the coordinates and then I stop and I pull out a data pad and I type in a few numbers and I hit send and Barnabose you hear a bupping from the, um, the tech that you use and then over the radio or over the the, the comms you hear. The end of life well lived. You only, that's what you said. For a job like this,

This, you should be paid up front. And you hear the words, 7.5 million notes deposited. Sorry, it's not personal. And I delete the coordinates and I type in the last coordinates that the Ozymandius had visited and I hit enter. We're heading back, we're heading to the, probably still, very sadly, going back to the nuclear reactor room.

You are running. You are running. You are racing through the corridors as you hear the kching sound. And then I just stop. I slide to a stop. As soon as I see it, being a double crosser my whole life,

I look and I look at this. Oh, no. Okay. I will. Gotcha. I'm picking up what you're putting down. In this moment, I have a sense, I think, of what's going on.

Do I know? Do I have a sense? I would say that visually, it would be evident. When the control of the Asimandias' navigation systems were centered on the Calypso, it would be tracking. But when, with just a few gestures, Delphina wipes the screen clear, and suddenly you see that image of the galaxy again, I would say that you have a sense of where she's targeting. I will look at Delphina. I will say, the pilgrim completes her pilgrimage. Can you pull up the VIP number real quick?

It's been almost 41 minutes since you've started the countdown timer. Very little timing is remaining, and you know that the ship will self-destruct. But even now, the ship's engines engage. Delfina, once you engage the Azamandias, it surges to life in a way that you haven't experienced before. It is a highly experimental drive at the heart of this ship, and it surges with energy as the navigation system locks in on coordinates to the first world, the eldest world. It surges forward, and you pass through Polaris.

And you feel cold. And that's where we'll end tonight's session. Are in for something soon here. Oh, my God. This should be a hell of a finale. Great job tonight, Darry. Great job. What a section.

Derek, the fucking AI voice. Oh, my God.