Mayday Plays - Chapter 1: "Dont Eat The Fruit" | The Happy Eater | Tales from the Wildsea

Episode Date: June 24, 2026

The Wildsea is an award-winning, post-fall fantasy tabletop roleplaying game set on a rampant ocean of living green. Players take on the role of wildsailors, carving paths through the verdancy aboard chainsaw-driven ships. The Happy Eater is the first campaign in Tales From The Wildsea, our new actual play series. In this introductory episode, you'll meet the crew of The Godsinger, a humble hauling vessel with ambitions of glory. They hold a chart to a secret treasure far to the north, but before they can chase after it, they’ll need the right parts. Kezza, Bebo, and Zin, alongside their Tzelicrae captain Tzenko, set their sights on Redcrown, the oldest island in Rivenwake, in search of a job big enough to change their fortunes. You'll never expect where things lead in this gonzo adventure. This campaign is inspired by a year-long playtest of an original reach called Rivenwake, a jungle expanse defined by divergent tree currents, strange economies, and the greatest race on the verdancy. Rivenwake wouldn’t exist without the support of Mayday’s patrons who took part in our Patreon-exclusive campaign. Thank you to everyone who helped bring it to life. You can download a free PDF supplement that helps you follow along: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1F04-OvyIBDbeMsryzUDvqWQzdwwsgSb3/view?usp=sharing Our playthrough focuses on immersive roleplay and cinematic storytelling. While mechanics are visible for clarity, you should not expect much "out-of-character" discussion. Sergio describes the successes and complications, and the players describe their failures. Twists are described by the player who rolled them. Disclaimer: This episode contains profanity and violence. Viewer discretion is advised. CAST • Darryl Dorsey (he/him) as Zin (he/him) Corron Slinger • Allison (she/her) as Bebo (he/him) Gau Wordbearer • Caleb James Miller (he/him) as Kezza (he/him) Ketra Hacker • Sergio Crego (he/him) as The Firefly VIDEO, MUSIC & SOUND EFFECTS • Recorded, Edited, and Mixed by Sergio Crego • "Uncharted Passage" written by Sergio Crego and composed by Kyle Moore • Epidemic Sound • Soundly • Envato • Beneos Battlemaps WILDSEA LINKS • Get your copy of The Wildsea today and use promo code MAYDAY for 20% off!

Oh for uncharted passage to Mecca, reaching foot and sea, tracing one. Tales from the Wild Sea is sponsored by Mythworks. Visit them at myth.works and use promo code Mayday at checkout for 20% off. We're also sponsored by our Patreon. You can join at any level and receive early access to ad-free episodes. behind-the-screen content and merch discounts. Join the fun at patreon.com forward slash Mayday RP. Ah, the wild sea!

She speaks to those who know how to listen. In the creek of holes riding on lignan tides, in the flashes of a conflagrant swarm, and in the migration of pin wolves before storm is yet to form. The greatest crews aren't the fastest or the strongest, but the ones who notice what others dismiss as jungle noise. Today should have been a great day to listen. A steady wind, kind currents, warm sun on your backs. But instead, the crew of the godsinger, a hauling sloop, sits idle among a large.

line of other vessels. Their engines rumbling, banners furled, waiting for permission to enter Red Crown. The helm door swings open and Zanko, your Zellecray captain, steps out placing a rotting blue hand on the rail. From beneath the bleached fabric it calls a cape, a thousand voices speak in unison. Must we visit Red Crown? I know a great spit nearby. Probably still around. It has the best jellied grubs I've ever had.

Listen, I'm not happy about it either, but this is going to be a temporary stop. And when we're out, we'll have a solution to our little problem here. So all we have to do is stay low. Stay inconspicuous. Make no moves. make no waves, get what we need and get out. Can we all do that?

Standing behind you, Bebo curls up upon himself. He was standing about mid-height to you. And when you say stay low, he begins to double over on all fours. His kind of fibrous limbs made of mushroom and different strands of just fungus and fiber begin to kind of crunch in on themselves and he is a dog height now at your knees with his big floppy hat over his head and he kind of tips it up to look up at you. I can do that. I'm good at that. Okay, Beba, babe, and he reaches down to pull back the brim of your hat just a little so he can make eyes with the many thousands of eyes on the mycelium maybe a little less literal. We're talking here about a group of people who might not like the way we look,

might not like the way that we came in here. We made a lot of noise with that new engine, and a lot of people who are going to look the other way to a lot of bad things happening to us here. So just meet our expectations, yeah? Right. You're absolutely right. Hold on.

He begins to stand up with the same kind of creaking, disjointed motion and his hat is now flipped backwards at a rakish angle and when he's again his full height of all four feet nothing tips it down i can stay incognito i think good good that's all that i'm asking zin how are we feeling zen has been standing completely still something that you are all used to but it still freaks you all out when he suddenly moves because it just looks like he shut down. And I turn and I look at you. I don't believe any waves will be made.

I see no water. Ha ha, that was a joke. I'm fine. Okay. Yeah. Good, Zen. This is the attitude we need going into this awful, awful place. Yes.

I will try to be as humorous as possible to break the ice, as you all say. Good thinking, buddy. That's good. I'm loving this attitude. Guys, this is what we need to go into this. We have a singular purpose, a singular goal. We have the map. We need parts to get out of this place and make it in through, and the rest is history. We do this last job, and we can move on our separate ways. Zanko giggles, always in one last job.

And he looks over the side, recognizing that along the sides of the other ships, including your own, burntbacks, the lowly individuals that live in the scorch, the outermost district of Red Crown, are wave walking in between ships, their arms outstretched begging for scraps, some of them tapping on the hulls before moving on to the next ship. Zinn, I haven't checked the cargo in a while. Do you think we have anything we could spare for him? We only have things enough for us, unfortunately. Wow.

I do have this, though, and I pull out... He just has a mango. None of you have seen Zinn eat. He does not actually have an actual mouth. It's just a little mouth slit with a light that lights up when he is actually speaking. Bibo's on it with a lot of frenetic energy. Oh, oh. Is it fresh? Does it smell good?

Where did you get it? Where did you keep it? Much like myself, it does not age. It was with me in the amber. He sticks his face near and just inhales from all of the pores on the mushrooms, and you just hear this sound. Coming from like his entire face and all of the spores that were floating around his head begin to inhale slightly into his own crevices and then... blows out a bunch of spores.

Smells great. When the spores come out, you see he moves it out of the... Zen has become very used to just kind of moving things out of the area of your spore exhalation. The burntbacks at the bottom of your hole see this mango being held out and are calling out for it, screaming. A whole collection of them have begun to congregate.

I'm so sorry it's his mango. He was born with it. We really... You know what? I've got a few rations. I'm going to go back into the cargo hold as fast as I can and using one of my tentacle mantrales out for me like an additional limb and picks up my next two days of rations, essentially. And we'll come out and the two tentacles off of my head as I'm walking back. to the bow and reaching over the railing there. We'll split the food into as many pieces as I can to drop down to them. Sorry about the mango. Consolation Prize.

Good luck to you all. They begin wrestling amongst themselves desperately trying to capture as much of the rations as possible. Almost feels as if you've made things worse. Oh, Saz. But past the traffic is the totality of the choked bed. welcoming you with these large earthen arms, Red Crown is a crescent mountain range that pokes out of the verdancy. Its edges curving round and up into steep, jagged cliffs that give

the island a regal silhouette, the deep red soil visible from this half-mile way. The center and the biggest spire is cleaved halfway to the top, rendered into a smoking volcano by some centuries long ago calamity. And above it all, a lenticular cloud, flat like a plate or the eye of a god watching the island. You two know anything about that thing? Doesn't look familiar. I mean, I love a good cloud, he says, as he kind of like shakes himself off and little spore clouds begin to congregate around him.

But it doesn't seem like something fungal. Huh. Doesn't feel good either. Zim stares off at it, searching through his mind, attempting to remember any bit of lore. Nothing about Red Crown and its long history being one of the first islands ever settled in Rivenwake. to remind you anything of a lenticular cloud. And Zanko even speaks up and says, Huh, that's news to me too.

I wonder if there's something good behind it. I like to hide behind my own clouds. Maybe it's hiding a secret. Yeah, maybe, Bebo. You're so right. And you are such a good cloud, buddy. And he reaches down and he shakes the hat on top of Bebo's head. But we are not going to solve.

any of that. We're not going to be here long enough to find out whatever the fuck that is. We have things to do. So, Zinn, you are studying the cloud. When something catches your mechanical eyes, a dot that emerges from the smoke emitting from the central cliff of Red Crown, and it's speeding towards the long line of ships waiting to get in. I try to focus on the dot, attempting to see if I recognize this ship, or whatever it is coming towards us. You mechanically push out the noise of your long jaw, muffling the sound of almost everything else around you, including the constant sound of the wild sea, creaking and moaning. It's the sound of an engine, bits of smoke coming out from it, some kind of sky ship, and it's moving fast. It's flying so haphazardly it could easily crash, but it seems to be maintaining its altitude.

Something falls from it. Four ships up, something explodes on the deck. Huge puff of black smoke. Keza moves to the railing there, sort of perching himself up to get the highest view on what has just fallen from the sky and see if he can make for anything out of the plume of smoke that comes from the wreckage. The deck of the ship cover. in this dark cloud of black, the other ships ahead of you panic

begin to maneuver themselves out of the line. Gaging the distance, Keza is trying desperately to find a path. I'm looking for a way that beelines across from the traditional trajectory to this smoke that I could carefully acrobat across to get a closer look.

Just as this sky ship, M-Z-Z-G-G-G-G! Come screaming overhead. Something drops onto the deck of your ship. An explosion of black. You are all suddenly covered in dark. Ebo coughs with a bunch of holes that once functioned as a nose, now his mouths, just all these little, like, flaps moving.

I hate it and I love it. What is it? He begins to pat himself down and, like, starts to sniff and lick the dark substance on him. Bebo, you hear the sounds, something dropping onto the deck. Mm-hmm. Hello?

Bibo begins to scuttle forward, trying to make out any visible signs of what's arrived on the ship. Oh, oh. You begin scuttling along, load the deck to find what it was that just dropped, and you stop. At a boot, your eyes tracing it up to see some kind of ardent woman, dark-skinned, white-haired looking down at you. And they have some wooden shield or maybe a kite?

They lift it up and push you back into the darkness before you hear them scuddered. I am going to take the mask that is down by my collar and, pull it up around my ears as it starts to sort of suction into the ooze of my face, but at least blocks what passes for that mutated mouth. The Grecian statue behind now masqueraded by this gas mask. On the back of my hip, I hit this large red indented button on the sort of like cello sheath that sits across my hip, exploding out of an end. engineed draw. My saw comes free enough that I can then extend it out from the full hip.

I now have this big lumbering saw in two hands, and I'm going to rev the edge of it, causing this chainsaw to disperse some of the black smoke around me, and try and target in to what scuttle I've heard between Bebo and this force that has just knocked him back. So I'm looking for wherever this target is. Build a pool with a cut of one. Your saw begins to clear the air around you as you move through looking for whatever just landed. Another land behind you.

And as you whip around, you see two individuals, one ironbound, seemingly made out of the pieces of a airship and a gow, red cap the mushroom. both of them wearing similar attire, but almost like a uniform. They brandish two Jags series and engage with you in combat quickly. They're fat. You're able to defend yourself, but one of them nicks you and take one aspect damage. I think the damage comes through and the saw that has just come out,

manages to come up just in time for that blade to slay. slice off into the ooze that makes up my hands but manages to damage the hilt on my jags area. As soon as the deck was covered in black, I brought out Ebony Mistress, my long rifle, and began to scan around from the perch that I was at, searching for the other sounds that I heard, which I assume are now enemy combatants dropping onto our ship. and the first movement that is not recognizable as Bebo or anyone else that is part of my crew they are simply going to receive a shot in the face, neck or chest. Roll with a cut of one.

Without realizing it, whatever was dropped upon the ship clogged the barrel of Ebony Mistress. And so when I go to shoot. Nothing happens. There's too much space between the pen and the bullet inside of it, and I have to quickly clear it out. While you are clearing it out, you can see two individuals emerge from the dark smoke and run into the hull, into the storage of your ship. You hear all three of you, Zanko, yell,

It's Sky Pirates, and his sword shing! pulls the heart, the heart, they want the heart? I have so many treasures in there. All of my fungus collection is in there. My new spores. I'm coming, Captain. I follow the three individuals. Yeah, he is going to follow Zin,

kind of tracking the glint of the metal through the darkness. But he is going to stay close to the perimeter of the ship as he moves forward, casting his own kind of dense cloud of spores around him. him. All of his little mushroom sacks begin poofing out with the production of a small factory on his shoulders and limbs. And the air around him becomes kind of heavily obscured and slightly odorous, if he happened to be close enough. And he's going to be moving quickly and steadily through the whole he knows so well towards his treasures and towards the intruders. Inside the hull, the Raiders have what appear to be kites fastened to their back,

and they are rummaging through the crates that are inside. You hear one of them say, how they have is rations. There's nothing valuable here. Rations are still valuable, cries the other one, and they start shoving some whatever they can, fistfuls into satchels that they have on their hips. knowing that these two individuals are still embroiled in combat with me, feeling the slice of that plasmid form of myself splitting and watching in between

as the hand severs and I now can see in between to the target in front of me. I'm going to run the saw in a circular motion to run off the other jags area against me to break the guard. and then almost in a hop, skip, and spin, I'm trying to hew into both targets at once, but really just take out the man in front of me with my Jagsary as the saw begins to fully spin on its rotor, and it's about as loud as our ship is.

I'm going to make an attack. Your weapon strikes true, slicing across one of the individuals, their instinct to lift up a kite that is shielded, but it's completely cut in half by your weapon, and they stumble to the ground. The other one says, we don't want any,

we don't want to harm you, we just want your supplies. That is harm. That's harm. That's what harm is. And I pull up the saw and I'm now chasing after him. Following me once that went inside where the captain is, as I enter, I re-holster my rifle and bring out

My revolver since I'm in close quarters and don't want to fully deafen everyone in here. And I state to them, I find it curious that you drop onto a ship simply to lose your life. Why did you do this? And then I shoot the closest one to me before they can answer. Roll. Quickly, you draw your revolver and fire at them. The thigh of one of the individuals explodes and they crumple to. to the ground, screaming in pain, the other individual.

This one, an ardent man, looks at the two, their partner in you, grabs a final handful of supplies, of rations, and tries to dart out of the room, rushing past you. They drop to the ground this blob of green goo, which as soon as it makes contact with the deck, begins to go. grow quickly. You and Bebo make reaction rules. The blob begins to grow at a surprising rate.

Just the tip of your foot, Zinn, is caught and you have a hard time pulling yourself out. But you and Zinn, you and Bebo are able to pull yourselves out of the way as it grows and then immediately hardens some kind of almost like a stone. Before it was able to harden, I see. stepped on it without realizing it and it slipped me forward out of the heart out of where it was actually hardening and they kind of propelled me right into a direct line of sight as they're going back into the darkness as the individual who dropped this ooze runs past from his hiding place covered in concealing spores near the entryway bebo reaches out of out with stock-like oyster mushroom tendrils that end in little caps that split open into

probably like 15 fingers on this unearthly hand. And as he's going past, he's going to try to reach into his pockets and grab something of his and say, you took Bebo's treasures, I take yours. As he's running past. The mycelial arm reaches into the pocket and with the inertia of the inneriae of the individual running back up and out of the hole spins them like a top. And most of what they're carrying comes falling out, smashing onto the ground. They kind of dizzy look and realize what you've done,

and they just desperate run out and past you, having lost most of what they've tried grabbing from you. What's the twist? Most of their treasures fall that they tried to take from us, but something personal to them from, like, deep in their pocket falls down and has a bunch of spokes on it. Key shaped, but doesn't look like our ship's key, but looks like very personal to this individual.

Add a wooden pulley to your inventory. Just that one individual left, the saw is now housed up over Keza's head. He comes in quick over the guy, and as he's just about to hew down, on him and take him like he did his friend. He stops high in the air and he says, okay, last shot. You said you don't want to do harm? I won't kill you. You won't kill me. Deal, deal. Okay, throw your fucking kite thing over there. Throws the kite just off, out of reach. I'm going to walk over and kick it even further. As you kick it, you see another individual,

A final fifth one that had been hidden in the dust kind of emerges. This one holding some kind of pistol of some kind. Put it down, put it down! Oh my fucking God! Okay, we're gonna do the thing, okay? We're gonna do the thing. If you shoot, I kill your man. If I kill your man, you shoot. We know these rules?

Build a pool to convince him. Alright, as long as you don't hurt anybody, we just want to get off the ship. You don't have anything valuable anyway. Hey, well, we're working on it. Have you seen the ship? It's very, there are plenty of things you could take from this ship. I've seen bigger. Bigger? Have you seen? I'm not doing this with you. Okay?

Put your fucking pistol down and throw the kite overboard. He holsters the pistol. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. I don't think... Did we listen in school? Take your fucking pistol, throw it on the floor, serve the kite overboard. He's moving towards his ally in a wide sweep, trying to get to them. Oh, my God.

I'm just going to hew down on the one I have then. He's not a very good listener. Cut of one. I think the talking was just too much. I couldn't keep my eye on two balls at once. God bless, usually I'm better at that. When I come down with the saw, the guy rolls completely out of the way. And I miss him completely.

and I just lodged my Jagseri into the deck of the bridge. The time is just enough for that fifth person to redraw their weapon. A huge net is fired from it, and you are engulfed, wrapping around you two times before you suddenly find yourself unable to move. Bevo uses all of their available limbs, including some newly grown, to pick up as many things, as they can, clutching them in each hand. And moving out of the darkness of their own spores

emerges from the hold, kind of like a multi-armed visage in the doorway, holding aloft the new item that they have with their central limb yelling, I got it, I got them all! And then immediately sees the net launch and drops every hand. drops everything at once with a clatter and just kind of begins to scuttle across the deck, making squelching sounds as all of the mushrooms impact with the wooden deck below, moving at great speed to attempt to, I would say, just get in the way of what's happening to their companion. The familiar sound of the airship approaching doing a flyby.

The pirates scattered around the deck of your ship. One of them, the white-haired, dark-skinned woman kind of panting, says out loud, Kitengales, fly as you will. She opens up, pulling out her kite, and is immediately lifted up into the air with the wind. Unfortunately, I don't feel merciful today that I take a shot. Two individuals backing up, desperately looking for a gun. dust of wind to flee or shot, crumbling to the ground.

There's only one individual left who listens to their seeming leader. They assemble their kite and then they take off into the air as well. What's the twist? Because of how hastily they put their wind suit together, it doesn't fully unfold. So they take off with the wind, but then like immediately they like ram and through the deck of another ship because it didn't fully take off. They land on the other deck and the crew immediately jumps on them and starts punching them and tying them up. Only one individual, the white-haired woman, you watch as they pull back into the sky,

and then the plane flies past and they're gone. The plane is now lifting up, trying to escape the area. The smoke clears, and it seems like the threat has passed. People listen to me. I made a mistake. I'm so sorry. I was merciful. You need to remember in the next life.

I'm not going to be here for very long, but you need to remember, never fucking listen to them. They're liars. They're liars and they're cheats. Never fucking listen. Good. Got it.

Good. There is still one upstairs that I shot in the leg. We can question them about what they were attempting to do, or why specifically they chose this ship. Or we can put them out of their litter. I don't really care. Either way. Great ideas, Zinn. And killer shooting back there.

I mean, I know I'm in the net right now, but we're killing it. As Zinn is processing, Bebo has begun to kind of saw away at the net, assuming that there's no easy way to get it off. Otherwise, moving, like, bit by bit to shrug the net off of Kese. That's a good man. That's my Biba. at the helm says damn sky pirates. Well, it was exciting at least. You watched. You watched that whole thing, and I know you did. You didn't move once. Well, that's what I hire you for. You took out your sword. Like you were going to do anything with that sword. I rattled it around. It was good enough. And look, the trade lane has opened. We'll be in Red Crown in no time and he, before you can

argue any further moves into the helm. Captain's a strategist, Bibo says, as he finally gets their last piece of nut off of you. So he keeps telling me, Keza's going to pull himself up out of the netting and kind of slough it off and help Bebo collect our goods back up and everything that we got while we're waiting for Zinn to process.

Every single thing you touch, Bebo tells you a story about it. That one I found in a big tangle of wood. Oh, this is the thing that I found back there when we stopped at that port, remember? And then we went into the town. Oh, and this one? I was there. Let's take a break to thank some people.

First, there's Benio's Battle Maps. They were cool enough to allow us access to their entire video and audio catalog, and some of their amazing assets are sprinkled throughout the show. If you want to blow your players' minds, Benio's has you covered. With stunning, animated battle maps, fully prepped intro sequences, location-specific ambience sounds, animated tokens, custom spells, and magical. items, all rendered in Unreal Engine 5. And it works online or right at your table.

If you're not convinced, they offer free stuff to sample all the time. Subscribe through their Patreon for instant archive access or shop individual releases at Benio's battlemaps.com. We'd like to also tell you about CharSmith, the only app Mayday uses to play the Wild Sea. Char Smith is a web app built by two developers who fell in love with the game and and kept adding features until it became a full campaign support tool. If you want to run Wild Sea and don't want to deal with a full VTT setup,

CharSmith is your answer. Character creation, ship sheets, dice rolling, random tables, a full compendium and GM-focused tracking all in one place, all shared with your table in real time. You can start your free account today by going to wildc.charsmith.com. And if you love it as much as we do, you can support them at patreon.com forward slash charsmith. Kindred, this is a call home. We built it as an escape.

A beautiful place to disappear. Ocean views. Empty rooms. Old money. The dead came here to rest. But something has changed. Omen stir. here. The rain won't stop and something waits for us beneath the waves. A city of elders with

no answers. That is why I need you. Welcome home. Port Argent by night. A play-by-post VTM Chronicle. This episode is made possible by our Patreon. Every tool we use to bring you this show. Epidemic Sound for music, Canva for graphics, Soundly for sound effects, and the Adobe Creative Suite for editing and mastering runs on a subscription. And this year, we made a commitment to compensate every performer who graces our tables. None of that happens without you. Our Patreon keeps the lights on and the cast paid. You also get access to a friendly Discord and early access to everything we put out. Most importantly, you know your money goes directly to who and what you see on your screen.

If you've been thinking about joining, now is a great time. And to everyone who's been with us since the beginning, our sincere thanks. Visit patreon.com slash Mayday RP. Finally, we're running a Wild Sea contest, and you could win some incredible prizes just for being part of the show. To enter, do any of the following. Subscribe to us on YouTube, share us on social media, or leave a comment under any episode. Then, send us proof by DMing or emailing us at Mayday Rollplay 7 at gmail.com, and you're in. Here's what's up for grabs.

Runner Up receives a 100 card set of Squirrel's Primal Menagerie, a 5E supplement featuring stat cards for every beast in the D&D Monster Manual and original art by Aaron Miller. Third place wins physical copies of the scenario's one-armed scissor and red right hand, as well as the Wild Sea expansion Ship Gardens. Second place wins a set of cathonic dice and a MythWorks tote bag. First place wins a hardcover copy of the Wild Sea Core Book and a Firefly screen. The contest runs through the final episode, so subscribe now and send in that proof. Special thanks to MythWorks, sponsors of the show who provided these amazing goodies. Good luck.

And now, back to the show. Your ship, finally, the engine begins to roar back to life as your long jaw begins spinning faster and faster, biting into the verdancy. Your ship now slowly cruising towards what appears to be two very large galleon-like vessels that are facing each other. as ships kind of funnel into a single file line deeper into the bay. Keza, take a welcoming fleet as a whisper. Zin take blood on the wind as a whisper. Zin moves back inside to where the individual he shot in the leg is and stands over him, revolver out, slowly reloading the shots.

You see a trail of green Icar. Following it, you see that the individual, a ketra, green iridescent skin, their bones would appear to be thin bird bones and gas canisters, dragging themselves towards a port. They're about to reach it when you enter. I would be willing to let you leave with your life if you answer a few questions. Otherwise, we're going to have a very unfortunate game of target shooting. Then I warn you, I rarely miss. They paused their backs up against the hole, breathing desperately. What do you want?

We just wanted some supplies, that's all. Did you target this ship specifically, or was it simply an act of random chaos? Random. We were just told to attack some random ships, get what we can, and go. Please. Told by whom. Our captain, our leader, the leader of the sky pirates. A name would be most appreciated.

His name, Pharaoh. Pharaoh, I will remember it. And then I slowly bring my gun up. But then I spin it on my finger and re-holster it. Go. Rejoin your friends. Hopefully I will not see you. again because it will be the last thing you see.

The kitengales don't forget mercy. Thank you. And he starts clambering up to the porthole and trying to work his way out. His Ketra body slithering through the circular hole easier than a typical person. I watch in fascination and slight disgust. Eventually all that's left in the porthole is a slight bit of grime left over from them. I'm going to have to clean that. I then return back to the deck.

Their ship captain's name is Pharaoh, and they refer to themselves as the chitengales. I think they did shout that at me right before they netted me. I chose Mercy. That one actually listened. Okay, okay, so we're kind of 50-50 on Mercy today, I guess. That's pretty good for us. Apparently, there is a tone in my voice that makes me incredibly. scary

yeah I've been meaning to talk to you about it it is it's harrowing sometimes I sleep and I hear you I watch you

while you sleep I'm sorry that was another joke to break the tension ha ha ha you you scare me

Bibo just sits down on the deck throws his head back and laughs and Eventually, the massive galleons come closer and closer. At least your ship comes closer to them. And as you pass slowly, all that happens is the individuals on board watch you.

They say nothing. They're dressed in the familiar red crown guard, leather armor, and these kind of intimidating goat helmets with these rams horns that twirl on the sides of their head, but they simply watch you as you go, maybe more of an intimidation tactic more than anything, but your ship clears and you see yourself now in midway, the central harbor and main point of action here in Red Crown, the massive mountain looming ahead of you, but all around you a cacophony of noise and sound. sounds and smells, music playing somewhere in the distance, ships slowly finding their ports,

and Zanko maneuvering the ship to find Jerome. Zin takes to clearly the deck of whatever substance they use to coat it in black, as well as cleaning himself and unfortunately the porthole that that individual went through. in every area that Zinn has been working in. Bebo unknowingly kind of tracks little footprints of the soot around the clean areas of the deck because they are running back and forth across the deck to look at everything with just this childlike glee kind of like pulling onto the railing, every new site, even the intimidating presence of the goat-headed, helmeted folks,

just like taking it all in, all of the holes and crows. crevices kind of widened into like this big kind of surprise-eyed look all across the visage. As he's like waving to people that see if they wave back and just like all of these footprints everywhere he goes. Wow! He says everything he sees. Bebo, something's going on today. People that you wave to not only wave back, but they're wearing these kind of colorful hats. some of them wearing bright colored scarves.

Certain ships you pass are painted with almost neon-like colors. It's a festival today. This place is beautiful, he calls over his shoulder at everything he sees. Yeah, it's all right. Don't get too attached, okay? Don't worry, I have no roots. He begins to wiggle all his appendages. That's good, but keep that energy.

and despite Keza's insistence of not putting down roots, Keza is putting together right by Bebo, this very elaborate tripod setup, and then three separate mechanical apparatuses to put together this flashpan camera that he has been keeping with him on all his journeys. And he does have to genuinely telescopically position it just the right way to find the focus

and then hold that flashpan. Bebo, do me a favor, yeah? Could you hold this? Ah, yes, yes. Hold it like you're holding it? Yeah, yeah, give me a hand, buddy. Okay. He goes over and takes it

and kind of more appendages come to kind of totem pull their way up to hold it perfectly still. Okay, so you know the strategy here. It's going to go off with a big boom. Close all thousand on. when it goes off, yeah? And he gets behind that little hooded area

and trying to find the perfect perspective of that festival in landscape takes almost like a tin-type smoked, like gun-smoked version of the festival in motion. And that big flash of light goes off of the flashpan in Bebo's hands and probably blinds the poor sucker.

The Longjaw, the God-Singer, eventually comes to an abrupt stop. The engine powering down, the sawblade slowing until they finally come to a stop. You throw out the cabling and the more lines, tie them down as the dock workers fastened ship to the dock. And waiting at the head of the dock, seems to be a dockmaster, writing something down, scribbling something down, observing your ship and waiting for you. Zenko, I'm guessing you want us to take this one? You can take it or I can take it. I have plenty of experience.

I was going to ask if you want me to come along. Well, I figured you wanted an opportunity to sit on all 2,000 of your asses up here. Always a joker. I love the good jokes. His blue arms twitching underneath that bleached canvas, kind of position themselves into a prideful stance. Yeah, I think Kesa will march down in these old muddied workboots that have seen far too much and are like pierced through with thorns of SESA and all of the plant-like materials that have come through years of being a hacker and march up to the dockmaster with the others.

The Doc Master is an ardent man scribbling something down on a handmade writing paper and he, without even looking up, says anything to claim. Oh, no. No, not this time, no. Just rations? Mm-hmm. Reason for visit?

Business. Mercantile. He looks up for the first time. Hey, you're wild sailors. He has wild. You know. Let me guess, your Leviathan ears, he points to the ship. You think that, what are you?

Oh, yeah, with an name like the godsinger, I bet you're, how many Leviathans have you caught? Bo, how many is it? Bibo has scuttled down behind them and kind of sidled up behind Kaza, the wide brim hat poking out from behind them, and pumping a dress kind of slinks around the side. tilts the hat up. At least zero. And then puts the hat back down.

His smile fades. Oh, you're joking. Hmm. Well, it'd be a good ship for a Leviathan ears. Anyway, I get the sense you guys were attacked in that raid, huh? Yeah, what's the situation with that? It's quite the welcome.

Yeah, yeah, damn air pirates. They've been getting more brave. these last couple of weeks and made one or two runs against us. Listen, the Red Crown is willing to do some atonement for that, so make sure to stop in at the Red Crown Caves. They'll give you what is your dude. If we were to talk what we're getting in kind. Well, it kind of depends.

Usually losing a limb is the most valuable thing, but if you explain the situation, they usually can try to help you out with something you need. Rations, equipment for the ship, any basic repairs. Maybe some ship parts? Ship parts, uh, that depends. He looks around at all of you. I don't see any missing limbs.

Bebo immediately severs off one of their arms. It just falls under the ground right next to them. Zim's is, just his, all of his attention is now on Bebo after that, because that was probably the most decisive. disturbing thing he's ever seen. And then it gets really creepy because he's fully still again and he's just staring at you. You can always state your case with the court, but it looks like something you can just do. You gower, weird like that.

Bibo immediately retracts the arm. It was kind of hanging on by thin, fibrous threads, and it just slurps back up and reattaches. But I mean, if you do need ship parts, there's. is the gilded keel. It's the shipyard, uh, not far from here. They can do just about anything. Okay. Thanks for the information. I appreciate that. Yeah, don't cause any trouble.

Uh, respect the rules around here and you'll be just fine. If you need anything, the name's Buckley. Buckley. Thanks, Buck. Appreciate it. Good luck, Leviathan ears. And you winks. Bebo's all of the eyes wink back. I'd simply just tip my hat to Buckley. Buckley, before we go, I noticed so many beautiful people celebrating.

Where can I go to celebrate? Oh, yeah, that actually reminds me. He pulls out a red, bright red handkerchief that he kind of ties around his neck. It's the festival of sacred ground today. We're celebrating the fact that red crowns one of the only places you can have Cresorin-free fruit. We call him heirloom fruit. Lots of activities to do. but make sure to grab yourselves a hat or a scarf, otherwise you'll be out of place.

Ah, that's exciting. I will definitely get one because today I'm going to be very normal. Thank you for the invitation. He smiles and kind of chuckles to himself as you pass. Ha, normal. Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha. It isn't very long after you step away from the ship that a group of individuals kind of dancing together, dance over to your direction and just kind of start draping things over you.

They drop a hat on top of Zinn's hat. They wrap a blue and yellow scarf around Kesa, and then they continue kind of dancing along, singing to themselves. I can't believe they got a whole festival for this sort of shit. There's no such thing, Bibo. Zin has a Greseren free vegetable. They're fucking bullshitting you. It's all

a method of control. I want you to remember that. A method of control to get you to believe that this is a good place to be. Bibo is dancing with like no music. Just like, just move into the music in his head as Kese is saying that and he's like, method of control. Got it.

As you walk, there are stalls of people handing out fresh fruit. Get your heirloom here. Get your heirloom. And they're just literally He's tossing it out, these different multicolored fruits. Do not eat that shit, Zinn. It is bad for you. Yes, I will not eat it.

And I just point at the... You don't have to worry about that. Good man. Stick to that manga. Midway is a cacophony of sights and sounds, now even more so with the festival of Sacred Ground happening. But you can see the shipyard. There are several other kind of junction houses.

Shadow Springs, a smokehouse not too far away. Lots to see and do. And the path leads all the way around the perimeter of the island, reaching eventually to what looks to be a nicer part of town and eventually a cave opening farther, deeper. Bebo has the energy of a toddler and grab, Zin and Kesa's hands. He's in the middle like a little kid, like with his parents.

And begins to run forward, dragging them both forward. We gotta see everything. We gotta see it all. Ah, Kesa is pulling back the wrist of his jacket and checking where he has six full mechanical watches, all at different times, all at different concepts of time. He goes, I just don't know if we can do it, bud. There's a lot on the doctor.

pocket today. Oh, okay. Well, at least I can I try one of the fruits to see if it controls my mind? He looks back down at the watches. Okay, we'll see one of the fruits and see if it controls your mind and then we'll see from there. Bebo jumps up and down making little spongy splurts noises every time he hits the ground and spores are just puffing out. Oh, good, good, good. I guess that means you're in charge now, so where are we going?

Oh, no. I just want to try one, just one fruit, and then we can go do all the business. Lead us to it. He begins to do that thing where he just can't believe his good luck. He's like looking around like, oh, what could possibly take this away from me? And so he's running a full clip towards the vendors that are selling or giving this fruit away. kind of pulling from his own pocket some of the rations that he had recently recovered from the pocket of the pirate and looking back to Keza and saying, how many do you want?

Well, I'm not going to eat any of that organized fucking control. So none for me, thank you. I don't eat. You can add it to your mango collection. I'll get you one. He says not waiting for the answer. and kind of dashes forward with glee. A large rotund gow is tending to a stall of crab claw papayas,

these large fruits that look like closed crab claws. And they say, please, enjoy. Oh, fantastic. Thank you. Can I give you some dusty pocket mold and this half of a ration in return? Uh, no payment necessary. It's part of the festival. Oh, wow. Hey, Kesa, it's all free. Yeah, I bet it is. You know, could I ask you a few questions, actually? How do you source this exactly?

Well, we grow it on ship gardens and on the soil here. Yeah, yeah. And somehow you keep the Krezron out of it. It's a miracle of Red Crown. Right, right. And so, you're just, you're not. So the Kresrin spores in the air, how do you keep it out? I don't really know. We plant seeds and they grow without Kreser. And what sort of research backs up that this is free of Kreseran?

I need to go on my lunch break. Oh, oh, convenient. Okay, we started asking some questions and... I saddle up right next to you. Aren't you the one saying that we should stay low, questioning their job? day to day may draw unwanted eyes. And Zinn, baby, that's why we keep you around. Level head, calm minds?

Excuse me, sir. I love your festival. I think it's awesome the way that you do this to make people think one thing about everyone. Thank you. Enjoy yourselves. There's lots of competitions down the road. Bebo has taken a big bite right in the middle of the crab claw section of the fruit. Juice is just splashed all over his mushroomy flesh,

and part of it's, like, absorbing, and the other part is just, like, dripping down. And he waves and looks up at Kesan and says, it tastes pretty good. Yeah, yeah, I bet it does. Let's wait for it to control your mind. Exactly. And I just kind of, I lean forward to just stare at you, really.

He squintes up his face, and, like, little poofs, little poofs of spore kind of, like, eek out. with the effort he's making. Not yet. I'll let you know. Oh, it does change the way you smell, though. Oh. Is it better or worse? I don't know. It's wetter.

As you walk further down into Midway, you find that Midway is less of a single plane of existence on the canopy level, but a conglomeration of levels, made of rope bridges, and shipwrecks that have been reformed into passageways that go both above and below the canopy. You find yourselves often walking underneath the shade of the canopy

and then emerging back out up on top again. The most prestigious and perhaps well-to-do homes living directly on the stone of Red Crown itself, and then the rest, the more of the... the middle class life existing in the center of the shallows. There's a crowd just ahead making some kind of noise. Oh, I know I already got my fruit, but do we have, do we have five more minutes of this, this zone to, to spend here?

Just five, maybe ten. You know, Bebo, you did such a good job when we were looking for those charts. And I feel like you've been really putting a lot of work in here. And hey, this is the last job we're going to be on together. We might as well spend some time together. I'm going to let you have this one. You see on Bebo's face the same excitement,

getting what he wants and experiencing this place. But when you say this is the last job that we'll spend together, there's just this moment of deflation. Like it almost looks like he's dried out, like a dried mushroom. Just kind of everything just like is sapped from him for just the briefest moment. and his shoulder slumped down. And then he kind of pulls his hat down and says, Okay, good.

I'm glad that you've noticed. Let's go. Yeah, let's go. Parting through the crowd, you see now three of these air pirates all tied up back to back on the ground of the port. The crowd owing and awing at the story of four individuals. who are recounting how they stop the pirates in the middle of their raid. Everyone begins to applause.

Bebo, you recognize this crew immediately. It's your rivals. The rivals of Mass Romantic, their ship right next to you. Their captain, proud, stout, and short, with a huge beard, walks up and says, that's right. Remember the name Slowbeard because you won't forget it. Another round of applause. Because you are slow. We'll have a beard.

Slow beard looks immediately to the familiar voice and smiles. Ah, look who it is. The crew of the Godsinger. And many of the crowd kind of look in your direction, curious as to what you've done. That's right. That's right. Godsinger here, the superior ship. We had a pretty good time ourselves out there with the Sky Pirates.

I believe the last time I saw them, I was cutting one clean in half with this saw. And he clicks the button off and it shoots out and shows half of it with this big beautiful sheen of the saw. Zinn, I think I remember you right off the observation deck, rifle and hand picking them out of the fucking sky. And Bebo? Stealing from those who steal. Like any good hero gut. Yes, stealing from the thieves and giving to ourselves. That's us.

He says finishing the team pose, kind of like jumping in front of the two with a flourish. Half of the little fruit still in his hand, he smushes it and juice just runs down his arm. Aha! Zanko steps up and says, hello, Slowbeard. The two of them kind of eye each other for a moment. an attractive Ketra wearing a kind of flowery gown

steps forward and they say oh really and where's the proof and they look around to see and they gesture toward their captured pirates We didn't leave any Oh the crowd kind of pause of that response

Why would you take them alive It's as much easier to simply kill them You can get a lot more when you show proof of your bravery. The crowd, yeah, yeah. We're not in it for the winnings. Only good pirates at Dead Pirate. The crowd is now kind of watching back and forth at the two obvious sparring crews. And another person, a gal, kind of decked in in pots and pans, clearly the char of the group.

says, yeah, well, it's still not as good as us. Oh, my, sick burn from you. I can't believe it. You're not good at this. You should stick to cooking. Slow Beard speaks up and says, well, what are you guys in port for? You're here to escort somebody somewhere, here to wipe the asses of the court? No, no, no. We're just securing some ship parts before we go away to these.

largest find of our life. Slow beard, always the curious dredger kind of stiffens up and says, oh, really? Everybody get out of here. He kind of starts to disperse the crowd as they quickly go off to see some of the other events and things that are going on. And he pulls up close and says, what do you got? You found a chart? You found something interesting?

Willing to share? You know we don't talk about these things without some sort of quid pro quo. Yeah, well, uh, we got a great job ourselves, just recently saw it on the job board. Do you want to fill us in? You can fill yourselves in if you go to the job board. Let's just say it entails actually helping the mesiraya instead of whatever you got planned. Oh, right, because you believe that your saviors compared to us. Well, just remember that, uh, you know, the more you actually do for places instead of making selfish decisions,

the more famous you become. I think Keza completely overlooks Slow Beard for a second and looks to the other Ketra and says, you know, whenever you're done following this loser around, there's room on the godsinger. Oh, there's not, though. We're completely full. All the rooms are taken,

and I have a lot of stuff I need to store in the cargo hold, so. Listen, either way. You'd have to, like, share a room or something. The Ketra smiles and says, I think I'm happy where I am. We hope you enjoy the festival. If you need anything, we're parked right here

and they gesture towards their ship. If we need anything from all of you, then we've done something wrong. Don't go do anything too stupid while you're in Red Crown. They kind of giggle to themselves. Impossible. I'm incredibly smart. Unlike yourself. Don't choke on the fruit.

I hear it can control your mind. I immediately, like as soon as there's distance between the cool walk stops and he gets up to Zen and to Bebo and goes, what the fuck is this thing on the job work? What do they have that we don't have? I don't know. We were too slow to get to it. I'm sorry.

I needed to eat this fruit. He says, taking the mushed pulp in his hands and just shoving the rest into his mouth parts. Missing most and just most of it goes over his face. Look, I'm done now. Oh, buddy. He reaches in and grabs a handkerchief. from his lapel and starts like mopping up the millions of mycelium. Oh, it's in your folds.

Thank you. Kesa, he says as you're so close doing this, this, uh, domestic labor. Um, did you see that I almost had a roommate? Yes, you like very quickly denied any chance we had of bringing her on. Oh, no. Boy, do I have fruit out? my face. Yeah, buddy, yeah you do.

Zenko speaks up and says, from my experience, no jobs ever completely out of reach, especially if your competitor hasn't left port. Probably just a wager or two we have to hear too. Going up against them again, I mean, listen, we're better than them, but last time they eked it out, they've beat us once. I don't know if I'm ready to give them a second try.

They are better funded, I'll admit that, but if you want the parts that you're looking for for our future mission, we might just have to take the craziest thing this place offers. Yes, we do need funds to buy the parts, and then also we get to, to use your words, kick their ass. Did I say that correctly? Yes, and you're getting better at the delivery. Do we think job board first, or... Or hitting up the shipbuilder and seeing we could get a deal first. I wonder if we could do the job board just to see what we're dealing with. I know you think that they beat us once before, but honestly, it's just because they're riding our coattails. I mean, you beat up those pirates, both of you, and then they took all the credit.

We should see what we're dealing with, and maybe we can get the jump on them. I just have this bad habit being so good in the first half and getting netted in the second. Might I recommend you dodge the net next time? It is a simple maneuver. I could teach it to you. Yeah, but I gotta remind you, Zin. Here, I'll demonstrate it now. And Zinn just takes a step to the side.

The sidestep is an incredibly powerful maneuver. Yeah, yeah, you've shown me the sidestep before. I've seen the sidesteps in. It's just your brain works different from mine. For example, my brain is in my foot right now. Of musicians walks by, all of them playing different instruments, a crowd stopping to watch as they play their ajas and jocordians and trisk guitars and eventually make their way down on the opposite end, a different bridge,

disappearing off. God, they don't even seem worried about these pirates with this festival going on. You'd think they'd at least have some guard up. They're still marching in the streets. They must be really well protected. Yes, I doubt that they could make it past the horn-hound individuals, which is why they waited to attack while we were all waiting in a line to get into the vicinity. You got to figure, though, they're starting to test the walls.

I mean, that close to something like that, you're so close to the edge of the city that you're taking out tourists on the way in. And the festival's got a lot of people in one point. at one time, a lot of people looking away while there's things to steal. Maybe we should check out that job more.