Mayday Plays - Chapter 5: "The Postman's Caldera" | The Happy Eater | Tales From The Wildsea

Episode Date: July 29, 2026

The Snarl lives up to its name: a maze of razor reef and sunken ships. The crew of the Godsinger has set their trap, the decoy is in place, and the Mesoreia pirates are sailing right to it. All Bebo, Kezza, and Zin have to do is hold their nerve. Easier said than done when Kezza won't stop reminding the crew he's not sticking around for long. With the trap set and the pirates closing in, it's the worst possible moment for the Godsinger crew to question whether they're even a real crew at all. Disclaimer: This episode contains profanity and violence. Viewer discretion is advised. CAST • Darryl Dorsey (he/him) as Zin (he/him) • Allison (she/her) as Bebo (he/him) • Caleb James Miller (he/him) as Kezza (he/him) • 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 @ https://myth.works and use promo code: MAYDAY for 20% off! We're running a WILDSEA CONTEST! To enter, do any/all of the following: - Subscribe to us on YouTube. - Leave a comment under an episode (video or audio). - and/or mention the show on your socials (Reddit and Discord count). If you've already subscribed to us, that's fine, you can still send us proof by DM'ing us or emailing us @ [e-mail] Runner up will receive: A 100 card set of Skwirl's Primal Menagerie, a DnD 5e supplement with stat cards from every beast in the monster manual plus original art by Aaron Miller. Third place: Physical copies of the scenarios One-armed scissor and Red Right hand plus the supplement Ship Gardens. Second place: A set of Cthonic themed dice and a Mythworks totebag. First place: A hardcover copy of The Wildsea core rulebook plus a folio screen. Good Luck! -- 👕 MERCH: http://ko-fi.com/maydayrp & https://mayday-merch.printify.me/products 💵 Patreon: http://www.patreon.com/maydayrp 🌟 Other Socials 🌟 🐦 Twitter: http://twitter.com/maydayroleplay 📸 Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/mdrp.gram/ 🔴 Website: http://maydayroleplay.com/ 🎵 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@maydayroleplay 👾 Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/maydayroleplay Thanks for your support! #mayday #roleplay #actualplay #ap #ttrpg #thewildsea #wildsea #tabletoprpg #indierpg #mythworks

Oh, four uncharted passage to 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% on. 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. We have finally begun our mission to dispatch with the pirates haunting the mesarea. While on our way, we just so happened to pass by an outrider carrying a man named Lee, formerly of the happy eater.

He was not in good shape. With the young board, we continued on, until we ran directly into the path of a stampede of creatures seemingly running away from a large fire, while attempting, to avoid the fire, we noticed a ship in the middle of it and used our winch as an attempt to save the crew. This led us to nearly dropping off into a riff. Thankfully, we managed to stop before dying. It was then that we discovered there was no fire, and in fact the ship was comprised of ranchers gathering conflagrant swarms, insects that simply mimic the appearance of flame. Keza, of course, got the idea to use the swarm for our pirate hunt. The rest of the rest of the ranchers were willing to trade in exchange for some of our cargo.

Unfortunately, the swamp feeds on Cresorin. Bebo and Keza took on that task, and again, unfortunately, were met with some mutations. Once we had gathered these materials, Lee was finally able to give us information about the happy eater, informing us of a large monster in the cargo hold. That gave me a bit of pause. and, of course, the apparent shift in personality of the captain. The combination of the two caused him to leave, which is where we met him, in his very, very disturbed state.

Now he is a part of our crew, as if he had a choice. Right in time for us to sail through a storm. And now we find ourselves right at the snarl. And admittedly, I am approaching a mood close to, frightened. The rocks and the crashed ships that have noticed, they do not fill me with hope or joy. That combined with the chaotic nature of two of my crew names. I will definitely be sure to keep them in check. Bebo, get away from the edge, and I walk directly over to Bebo.

Why? It's so beautiful. Look at everything you can see from here. It is not beautiful. There are crashed ships everywhere. Think about all the treasure on those ships! Think about all the people who died. As the two of you stare out past the ship, it's not just shipwrecks. There's something in the thrash, in the top of the canopy. Individuals, maybe former wild sailors, their bodies pierced by the canopy, and similar to the burnt backs of the shallows reaching out to you as your ship passes by,

There are patches of dozens of them in different places. And Zanko calls out, Don't mind them. They're the pinned. They're not really human. At least not anymore. Keep your eyes out. And he goes back to the helm.

Pinned. Keep your hands in your pockets. I do not believe it is a good idea to go down there. He was stretching his hands out, all six of them that are available right now over the edge of the ship, mimicking the emotions of the... pinned below and kind of parade waving at some with the lower hands and kind of grasping at the open air with the others.

Ow. Okay. He searches for his pockets on his outfit and finds purchase for four of them, but there's not enough pockets for the other two, so he just puts him in the air like this. Good job, Biba. Where's Keza? I'm sure he's going to do something odd. And he just walks away to where Keza, wherever Keza is.

Keza is laid out on the bow of the ship as close to the saws as you can get really packed in with those earplugs to make sure that the sound is not affecting them too much that new tentacle is slapping wildly just flailing from side to side along his head it's black and marbled compared to the next of them

but at least it gives him a little bit of a breakup in that bundle of tendrils he is sort of fascinated by the pinned off the side there, so much so that he's leaning off of the ship and looking in at them. And there's a sort of forlorn look in his eyes, and he's deliberate in making eye contact with some of them, even from this distance, even from this speed, trying to see as many of those faces as he can as the ship speeds by.

They're horrifying to look at, disturbing. Half alive, half dead. It's hard to imagine what they are and how they got here. Your refusal to look away from them. Itches a mire in the back of your head. Kesa is catching one in particular, and they are a Ketra off the very side there, and they're climbing.

essentially to this precipice. And it feels as though at that moment, both of them are mirroring the same physicality, Kesa hanging off of this ship to get the best look at them and this dead mind chasing off the side of that precipice to get the best look at Kesa. And for the half second that he recognizes that as maybe sentience behind dead eyes,

it then turns to this snarling, lost, lack of control and Keza is brought back firmly to reality. But that part of him that always needs to know and always needs to trust the intuition in the back of his mind says that he should look deeper into this, that he has to go deeper into whatever makes this world like this. He wants to know about the pinned and the call to travel deeper begins. in the back of his mind. He will go farther than he needs to right now.

I appear silently next to you. Oh, fuck. Oh, suck. Whoa. Ah. It's like you're made of so much metal. You'd think you would make more noise. Only would I wish to. You should stay away from the edge.

Sorry, Sam. I'm just trying to get these charts down. You can see that there's this manic sort of scrawling and this awful. handwriting that Keza has. And it's from this pen that is half diluged in his hands rather than gripped. And having no true finger bones outside of the marble hand makes for awful, awful writing. But in addition, you can tell that Zinn, he's like barely even looking at the charts. He's really just looking at these lost people. And he turns to Zin. He says, do you

know anything about these guys, Zinn? Or loan it. And then I go unearthly still as I start to go through my memory breaks trying to reach for anything that could possibly perform me, and that's going to be... The Wild Sea Zinn is a strange place, and unfortunately getting lost or run aground or shipwrecked forces sailors to do many things.

The thought of wavewalking all the way back to the next spit is the most terrifying thought because there is a million things between where you are and the latest spit that is trying to eat you or kill you. And the cast-offs are simply one of another possible, myriad of possible terrible things that can happen to sailors. especially in concentrated places like the snarl where so much death and loss could have happened. I'm afraid I have no deeper knowledge about the pinned, other than we should try to avoid becoming like them, preferably by not touching or delving any deeper than we have to.

I was just curious. I mean, I don't know. What's the difference between me and them other than a few years? years and he gestures out, you know, and then back to that Ketra body who had been mutated over so much time in a world like this. I believe the difference is our ship has not crashed. Not yet, says Captain Zenko. There's a very fatalistic view making its way through the crew. I am not a fan of it. I'm still optimistic. Bebo says to his free hands and pointing at his chest. I believe that we're doing really well. I mean, look at us.

We have a new employee. We found some bucket of mutated goop. I consider that a win. Ah, speaking of, is there still a hoof on the back of your jacket? Yeah, yeah, of course, yes. And he... Why?

Why are you allowing that to continue? I just haven't had time to shave it down yet. The coat's important to me. It's the last thing I have of my family, okay? So let's be a little careful around the huff, okay? It stays for now. Bebo has been circling around you, like a kid's at the schoolyard, not looking for an opening, but just kind of watching the action from different angles.

If he had popcorn, he'd be eating it. The ship lurches forward violently, and all of you go careening off to the side, almost falling over the side. And once the ship corrects itself, Captain Zanko calls out again. We are not going to be playing here for long, gang. Let's figure out what we're doing. Fair, fair, fair, fair.

Are we setting up the trap? The trap, yes. I'm maybe one step away from having a really good spot for us here. He gestures to that nearly completed laying the trap chart. If we could just scout out for even the smallest, I think I could set us up in the best possible situation. Very well, I will acquiesce to your plan. He walks away super ominously.

He continues to look at you, but he walks away backwards until he finally feels the need to turn. As soon as Zin turns, Bebo's hands fly out of his pockets and almost hungrily begins searching the air just for anything to grab. And he's like, ah, that was so hard. I hate when he makes me do that. Put your hands in your pockets again. Yeah, it's unfortunate because my hands are the best way I can find new things.

All right, Pivo. I'm going to go hit Zanko. It's just this northern part of the chart that we need to finish out here. And if I can get them to go high and fast, I think we can finish this out, and then we can call it done, plant the out-writers and wish for the best, okay? I think it's a great plan. Do you need someone to be on watch while we go out? Sure. Yeah. That works for me, kid. I think Keza runs up. He's got this sort of energy about him, this excitement, because he knows the job is on. He goes up to Zanko. He shows him his laying the trap chart just nearly finished and points to the emptied part of that particular zone. Zanko, you think you could pull us around, just run a circle and then come on back. This is the only part of our spot here that I haven't scouted out. I want to make sure that this place is perfect. You want to lay the land, huh, kid? Sure, I can do that. And he starts to kind of slowly turn the ship around to go wide and kind of back out of the snarl.

Taking the time to do that, the snarl is currently covered in this kind of thin layer of fog, just the top of the canopy, right in the thrash, almost giving the illusion of the ship kind of moving on foggy water. But as the godsinger makes its kind of circle around the snarl, you see that it is similar to most other parts of the Mesariah, relatively flat, the many points of entry, both from the north, the south, the east, and the west. It's not so difficult to get in. The hard part is getting out safely without getting trapped on this debris. and you may fill that final chart, that final dot in your chart. I'm then going to take that chart, finishing it out and doing that last little ugly doctor's scrawl on the map. He's going to go take that chart over to Zanko, ask Zanzko to put it into autopilot, and work with the captain on looking for exactly the right spot in this chart that we believe we could drop the outrigger in.

his wooden plank of a face just kind of turns to you and says you know that Bebo he really looks up to you you really think it's so necessary that once we are all done with this you're just going to walk away

oh not you too Zanko hey you're good at what you do it's nice having you around yeah I'm sure it is that's why people pay me that's why we continue on to the next job that's why the name builds and that's why eventually we all got to grow up and move on uh and and that's gonna be true for keza and that's going to be true for people you

know if i stuck around he'd just find a reason not to like me and then that those things sour you know this way he walks out he walked to crez and eventually he remembers that guy with the extra tentacle who taught him some few things and we move on He takes a blue hand and kind of knocks it on the table and says, you know, it's always, you always run to the excuse of money. But if our plan works out the way we think it is, and we go to Shardfall and we find some big prize there, you won't have to have to have that excuse anymore. You can do whatever you want, like hang out with the people you like. Yeah, yeah, I guess you're right. I just, do you ever feel like you were born with a question that's bigger than everybody else's?

I think I know what you mean. Sure. I've got a question so big about myself that it means that I can't let anything be bigger. In the middle of this conversation, there's a small noise in the background at this point as Bebo, who had been climbing some of the rigging, preparing to go on watch later, had kind of been crouching behind one of the masks hanging on with some of his tenderly arms listening. And at this point, he just like slowly slides down, still trying to stay unnoticed, casting his little dark mushroom shroud spore of clouds to kind of conceal his presence as he just slips off into the shadows behind him. And you hear just like a muffled noise of discontent.

The fog below is a perfect active camouflage to my laying of the trap chart. And the combined understanding of this area, alongside this fog for cover and our fires for drawing in, there is this perfect, beautiful clearing amongst the rocks that forms almost a caldera of space within the crawl. But in addition, the sheer size of the rock facing on either side allow for these deep pockets of fog where Kesa becomes uniquely aware that the god singer could hide in. Meaning that the outrigger would be a big juicy piece in the center while the god singer, if it could stay quiet, would be nearly imperceptible in the fog. and this combination of the laying of the trap and the active camouflage, immediately Keza takes that chart,

slams it out in front of Zenko, brings his little plank face in and points tapping as hard as he can against where he draws the shaky little X. I think this is where we do it. So you want to lure them in and trap them there? Yeah, we put the outrigger in the center full of flame, we're here

where that fog sits and he points out from the observation deck where the fog is falling almost like waterfall. If we were there in the thickest, waiting, and they came from over top to stay above the fog line, we go a little

lower, they won't know we're there. And we'll be a little loud coming out of it, but we could throw the boarding lines and go from there. I'll certainly give him a good scare once I turn the engine on. And he kind of twitches underneath the shawl and says,

it's just crazy enough to work. One last job. Go let the others know, and I'll get the ship ready. He goes, and he goes to put his hand on the green light in their little caution system. But right before he does and right before he raises the flags to bring the other two to the observation deck, he holds just for a moment. And he looks back at Captain Zanko and he goes, you know, I know we don't talk a lot about what happened. But I didn't forget that guy, all the spiders who saved me on a day where I thought, I thought I was smarter than I was.

And when I leave, that'll be what I say of you. And we won't stick around long enough for us to hate each other. And so the two of us will always be good, Captain. We'd always be good, even if we did do something to get angry at each other. That's what friends are for. I guess we're going to find out because I'm going to piss off Zinn. And he hits the green line. The standard alarm goes off informing you all.

It's go time. Right before that happened, Zinn is currently cleaning his weapon. And he's not exactly sure why, but he just goes on alert as if something is wrong. The ship slowly begins to maneuver its way back into the snarl, avoiding these jagged rocks and shipwrecks that could easily render a hole into the hull. Zanko's a good captain, and he's able to find this area, this patch that you've pointed out, Keza, to lay the trap. The godsinger comes to a stop with the dingy, the decoy ship, still strung along behind it and sits idle. It's quiet in the snarl, almost too quiet. After the signal goes off to come above deck, Bebo waits an appropriate amount of time as though he's coming up from the engine room, even though he's standing right there in the shadows, clouding himself in a little spore cloud.

And so he kind of just pauses waiting from his eavesdropping position and then kind of runs up from the other entry as though he's been there the whole time. Oh, wow. Oh, those stairs get longer every time. They're pretty long, buddy. Come over. I want you to see something.

I named it after you. And he points at this perfect spot, the Caldera. And he says, this is the mailman's caldera. Oh, wow. Kese goes through the motions of pointing out exactly where we'd drop the dinghy, exactly where we'd hide in the falls, and bringing them up to speed. Upon hearing the name, Bebo claps with all of his hands, appreciatively, like someone watching fireworks. I can't wait to tell my Basu.

He's a mailman, too. It's just as much for Basu as it is for you, I guess, then. Basu comes zipping up from the stairs and then lands on your back, Bibo. Excited to hear the plane as well. He kind of nuzzles underneath the dragonfly's chin. Basu kind of zips up and then around does a quick little survey around the ship of the Caldera, taking in the multiple jagged rocks that form a kind of like a semi-cirple around the space. Clearly, there are maybe two obvious entries.

and much smaller entrances and exits. He looks to Zinn. So what do you think? Any good? The waterfall's pretty good, right? And he points to that geyser of fog coming out from the side there that the godsinger could make quick width on the fog line. It is good. You are very good at this. It is a shame that you intend to leave this life.

It seems as though you were made for it. Hey, who said anything about leaving the life? I think you gotta switch some things up every so often, right guys? Why? Otherwise, it gets stale. If you're not catching the ship on fire, then you're not finding out about the bugs. I don't know, it's a loose metaphor, but I think it worked. It didn't.

Okay, let's carry on the plan. What are we missing? We have to put all the shiny things on there as well, I think. Yeah, we've got to switch. Oh, you're right, the cargo. We're not sure what draws him, but if he's anything like me, he can't resist a good shine. Do you think we should put it in the cargo hold of the outrigg or cover the dingy in all of the shiny things?

Like, oh, where's your employee? I do not believe that Lee should be directly on the ship. I was saying more, does he have any input on whether we should tap it to the front or keep it in the cargo hold? We don't have to sacrifice him yet. I just think, you know, Lee revenge captain needs to be a part of the captain discussion, right? I can go get him. I think he doesn't really know our signs and signals yet, so he might still be in the hole.

I'll go check it out. Perfect. Thanks, Bibo. Bibo waves over his shoulder and heads down to find Lee. Checks his room first, kind of knocking on the door. While he isn't in the room, it's quick enough to find. he is in the engine room, kind of tidying up and getting things ready. He notices you walk in.

Oh, no, don't, don't touch those letters. Those belong on the floor. This is letters. It's literal like trash and stuff that I'm just picking up. That's my trash. Oh, oh, sorry, sorry. Yep, forgot it. House rules.

When the light goes off, you need to join us at the top. It's important. Oh, yeah, sure. I can do that. And he starts walking. towards the exit. Oh, Lee, you're so smart and brave and definitely my favorite person on the ship. And I'm definitely a big fan of yours, Lee, and I'm so glad you're here, he says, following

behind Lee, kind of trailing after him, a very close clip to his heels. He's not sure what to make of it and just says, well, that's very nice of you. Thank you, Bibo. I'm trying my best to be a good member of the crew. I think you're succeeding, Lee, he says. And as they get closer to the top, his voice gets louder and louder. making sure that everyone can hear. Because you're my absolute favorite.

And I pretty much don't even need to be friends with Keza anymore. Lee is nursing a bruise on his arm as he walks up and he says, So I hear there's a plan. The way I see it, and Lee, the big question was, do you think we should put the light, the shiny things on the front of the ship or in the cargo of the ship? What's going to be more enticing for the captain and his pet? Well, before I left, they were fastening a bunch of shiny things to their holes.

Maybe it would attract them. I don't know. Let's try it. And then the last bit is, I've finished everything up until they come here. Then it gets a little muddy in my mind. I don't know if we want to play in that far and jinx it more, or just sort of owing it when they show up. I could tell you I'd be surprised at the happy eater itself. showed up. So whatever you do, the important thing is to get to the happy eater.

If you just take down whatever ship shows up, you'll be dead in your tracks, basically. You've got to find a way to lure them back to the source. Bevo claps again as though fireworks have gone off, just enthusiastic rounds. Lee, what a brilliant comment you've made. Such a great contributor to our team and so much more put together than Keza, who I don't even need to listen to anymore, he says his voice rising with emotion. Well, I don't know about that, Bibo, but...

Kesa is taking it less like an affront and more like, okay, what the fuck? You know, it's more like a bad roast that is not landed with him. And instead barrels right through, okay, rude, but I've got something. Maybe this might work. Maybe even better than Lee's plan.

Oh my God, so good, Lee. Thanks, Lee. One of us is in the dinghy. Doesn't have to be Lee, but, and he takes a good long look at Lee again. One of us is in the rigor, hiding, full on the stealthiest they can be. They follow in. We hope they take that ship back to the fleet, back to the happy eater. And the godsinger follows until we get back to the eater.

know for a fact, we've made it. So that way, even if we lose sight of the outrigger, one of us is on there with communication and can at least give some sort of direction from the empty ship. And if the godsinger can keep up, we all converge at the Happy Eater together and we make our attack.

Whatever ship shows up, I could likely tap into whatever technology they have and figure out where they are going that way. No one would have to sacrifice themselves. Though, if someone were to sacrifice themselves, I'm sure Lee would be up for the task. Because he's so brave. I put a hand, and I put a hand on Lee.

That was a joke, Lee. On the other side of him, Bebo has his hand on the other side of his body in the same manner as Zinn and says, I'm not telling a joke, Lee. I think you're the best and bravest and most loyal, loyal crew member we have. He says looking pointedly at Kesa. It's almost like you would never. abandon your duties and the people that you care about.

He kind of takes a step back from the crowd, getting a little overwhelmed by all of these emotions and says, maybe I should be on the ship and, you know, just, just, yeah, I'll act and I'll just happily get captured by them. And, you know, we can just go from there. And we have the communicators so that we won't lose track with Lee, because I'm sure Lee would never want to be separated from us. Yes.

but if Lee did want to separate, we would all honor his choices as he is an independent force. Lee, this is the time to walk away. I don't believe they're talking about you anymore. Yeah, yeah, this is beyond me at this point and he starts getting the decoy ship ready. As he moves to leave the group,

Bebo just takes the hand that he had on him and just wraps it around and kind of clings to the leg. He becomes a little barnacle on his leg. And he continues talking to Keza as he leaves. with each step kind of moving with Lee's gate. Yeah, well, you know, Lee's definitely going to come through for us and if he's an independent, whatever,

that isn't going to be overridden by the love he has for this crew. He says he kind of buries his face into the back of Lee's knee. I need to find a crew with less organics. Hey, Zinn, can I ask you something? Bibo was acting kind of weird there, huh? I believe Bibo is very upset. said that you want to leave.

Oh my God, not this. Everybody's on this today, aren't we? I'm not. I have no feelings about it one way or the other. 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.

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Good luck. And now, back to the show. Bebo's voice is muffled in the back of Lee's knee. So, Lee, we're going to meet the rest of your crew, right? The crew that you left? I guess technically, yeah. Do you think that they want a mutiny too? Or do you think that they're also all addled and he wiggles some of his extra limbs at his head

kind of with lots of noodley limbs kind of loose in the air? I'm not sure. There are a lot of weird theories going around as to what was happening. It's not too often that a wild sea crew as big as ours just mutinies or makes a decision of their own. We usually leave it up to the captain. I'd be very surprised by the time we got to the happy eater they made up their mind. It's probably going to take a little convincing. I was one of the only ones that decided it was probably best to just get the hell out of there.

It might get rough, though. I mean, what if you have to go against your own crew with violence? Can you do something like that? I certainly won't want to. I'm hoping that this whole following them to the happy eater will lead to a more peaceful outcome. I don't want to hurt my crew, and I'm not completely convinced that they all are going along with this mutiny, whatever it is. if it even is a mutiny. Like I said, with that whole monster in the hole of the ship,

there's something else going on. Monsters in the hold are never a good sign. The hold is the heart of a ship, in our case, literally. But if there's some darkness down there, then I think that speaks to something more sinister than just social issues, which I have my fair share of those on this ship. Let's hope that things work out one way or another.

I'm sticking with you guys because I do love my crew and I want to make sure that they're okay. Should we start moving the conflagrant swarm onto the decoy? Yeah, and I can help you with all the other shiny things too. I'm really good at that, he says, and begins to peel himself off the back of Lee's leg. You can actually just leave most of that to me. Sure, happy to do that. I'll start moving the Krezer buckets. Can I borrow that suit?

Will you fit it? A little taller than you, but I'd rather have the gloves than not have them touching Cresorin. Oh, sure. You know, well, I mean, if you need me to do it, I can fit in the suit, but you're welcome to it. How about we do that? Let's trade. You take the Cresoran and the conflagrant squirm on the decoy. I'll start grabbing the cargo.

He visibly sighs and his body sags. You get to touch all the shiny things. You'll be touching him soon enough. to nail them to the hole. Okay, he says, invisibly brightens all of his little crags and crannies that are in his facade, they look like little smiles. So it looks like he's just a ton of little black smiles all over his face. Wonderful, he says, as all of the holes begin to, like, kind of close and open, like,

their little mouths. Lee begins the process of going down to the cargo, grabbing large patches of metal sheets and other shiny objects that you have received from Red Crown and begins migrating them over to the decoy. Bebo sings a whistle while you work type song as he puts on his equipment, gloves, and all of the canvas suit recently patched. The hole is now sewn shut.

And he stomps over to the bucket of Cresoran and looks at it with trepidation. in his many eyes. He breathes deeply and his breath fogs up the inside of the helmet. Okay. Um, just like Kaza taught me, I guess. Oh. Oh.

He sprouts extra limbs and flexes them and they kind of like pulse with a weird myconid energy, little tufts of spores erupting like a volcano with smoke. And begins to, flex and pick up the bucket as best he can to transfer to the other ship. It's just a matter of time necessary to do the job. Keza. I think I'm working with Captain Zenko for this time and just periodically, you know, whispering over to him and being like, besides, you guys don't want to

keep you around and people, he's going to learn. He loves this Lee guy. They're going to be fine. And just it's different cycles of this over and over as he's trying, triangulating and pulling the different levees and pulleys to get us into that pocket of fog on the edge there. As the godsinger starts to become sort of ensconced in this beautiful smoke, and just enough so that the observation deck can sort of parse through and have the sliver of a view on the happenings out in front. But it's a lot of preparation from the observation deck and trying to make sure that we have a sight line on the outrigger in the center and then the exits to the north and south and trying to work with Zenko on where we think the ship's going to come from and how we can stay quietest up here at the top here and bitching, a lot of bitching. Zim is topside and pacing slowly. He has his rifle out. which does have a scope attached to it.

And he's actively just keeping a lookout in the distance, making sure that all the things that could get us are not actively coming to get us. Lee finishes the final bit of cargo and steps onto the decoy, looks back at the godsinger and says, am I the only one staying on here or anyone coming with me? I'm a good stowaway.

I couldn't hide on the ship. I'm good at that. Oh, yeah, and you and Lee are getting along so well. I mean, he's your favorite person. Maybe this is the best. Maybe you guys can not, like, really get into it on the ship there, like a sleepover or something. Yeah, yeah, he says puffing his chest up.

Yeah, we're getting along so great. Lee helps Bebo into the decoy ship, and he unfastens the toe line that connects the two. Its sawprow begins moving it out to the center of the caldera, along with the sun occasionally breaking through the clouds, reflecting on the shiny material that has been fastened and nailed to the front and the sides of the ship, looking oblong and weird, but reflective and shiny. Captain Zanko maneuvers the god singer under this fog blanket and shuts the engine down.

And the silence is overwhelming here. minutes turn into hours of waiting. Do you believe that the pigeons got to their target? I don't know. I mean, Bivo sent that out like early last morning. Pigeons would be taking a long fucking time if they haven't got there already. What, you think Bivo's going to forget to send the pigeons? I'm going to do one more sweep to keep an eye out to make sure that we haven't been being watched this entire time. Hey, Zinn, before you go, I just wanted to say, thank you for always looking out for us.

You're always picking up the pieces that we're not, and I don't say it to you enough. I know we fuck up. I know we're crazy. I know I bought that ship and brought the fucking fire to us, but it's always nice that you got the gun on us. You're welcome. Without me, you have surely died. And then he couldn't. He just walked away.

And then as Zinn is walking away, Kesa is getting a little antsy as the tension is building, and it's just so quiet in here. The voices echo so easily. And now he's literally trapped in the fog with nothing but Zinn's scope to tell us if we're doing okay. And as his need to go further continues, he's so anxious and his body undulates with that black ink

over gray skin, He goes down to that communicator and sends a little page over to Bebo in Morse code that reads, Bebo safe. On the other ship, Bebo has found a small crevice that is above one of the storage areas that is built to open and receive crates and barrels and other things. and there's just a small area on the top that is dead space, essentially an attic to that area. And he's crawled into it, kind of mashing his flesh as he goes, almost flattening himself like a pancake so that he can fit in there,

crawling forward on his many elbows and dragging the other limbs behind him that aren't actively helping pull his weight. And he's found just the smallest area in the back where no light reaches him. And it's dark and completely silent and musty. And he's covered in spiders and millipedes and other.

bugs that have made their homes there undisturbed for quite some time. And he's in this silence, sadly just kind of humming a little song to himself, something that he picked up on another ship where he was a stowaway, hearing the sailors sing up above, just like he is in this area here, the stomp of their feet and the sound of their songs, learning how to be part of a ship before he was ever part of it. And he hums it, and it's during this side of the song. that the message comes in. And he pauses and looks and messages back in the Morse code. Bebo is just okay.

Kesea receives that and lets out a little huff of air. And just regards Captain Zanko for a moment as Captain Zanko is hard at work sitting on his ass and is just relating so much of the conversation back. but he goes back and he's just at the edge of that observation deck, waiting, waiting for something to break. I'm silently at the bow of the ship, kneel down, keeping my scope steady and scanning. There's a glimmer, something distant just on the edge of the horizon,

but then there's the trail of smoke, and no doubt it's a ship. Why the communicator? I in Morse code send to Bebo incoming. Bebo slithers to the entryway of his hiding spot and whispers Lee

incoming. Lee kind of straightens up and he goes top side and begins kind of just folding, rigging and cleaning up, tidying the deck doing his best to just look like he's on the ship.

Captain Zanko with Keza straightens up and he's leaning on the wheel of the ship and he says, here we go. Zinn, little by little, the ship cruises ever closer, testing the boundaries, curious as to what the flickering light in this caldera can be. A few minutes later, it's close enough that you can see. It too is covered in something glimmering

along the hole in the sides of the ship. It's not built like a normal sawprow. It's different. Blockier, maybe made of some kind of metal. In its silhouette as it approaches, it seems to be made of some kind of a series of mechanical arms that are moving it up and over the canopy, sometimes disappearing and then reappearing.

Kesa, I don't believe you will have any choice from this distance because I cannot hear anything but to watch and wait. You just give me the word we'll pursue. As soon as it's clear, we'll give chase. Keza, build a pool. One, your chart, the decoy, and any other advantages you think you might have. You'll have a cut of one. Zin, the ship finally gets close enough to see a good look at it.

It reaches the edges of this caldera where it has the option of entering deeper or retreating. And it stops for a moment. And you see, it must be made of some kind of pre-reveillance. vernant machinery. It's mostly metal. This kind of dull yellow paint covering most of its hull. It doesn't travel like a typical ship. It has these long tracks on the bottom of it that crush the thrash and ride over it. And anything it can't simply ride over, it uses these four mechanical arms, these enormous crane-like arms to reach and then pull itself to higher or better positions. It comes to a stop this black smoke rising from behind it and it sits idle. You can

just barely hear the chugging of its engine. It sits staring at the decoy and then it begins to move away around the caldera to go behind it not inside but to circle around in a moment it's going to disappear behind one of the jagged spires. It's not taking it. I open my technology channel once again now that it is closer. Can you hear me? Can you hear me? There's a pause and then who's this?

Who's this? I'm pinned below. Please, please, please help, help. Silence. Then the voice doesn't return. Back on the decoy, Bebo, you hear Lee calling from above the deck. They're moving. I don't know if they're falling for it.

What do we do? Oh, no. Oh, no. I turned to Keza. It's prevergent. That ship is prevergent. It's intelligent. It's alive.

We could give chase. We could say fuck the decoy. Just ram it. There's no guarantee. It would lead us back to where we need to go. Unless the channels are open. Perhaps I can simply take the information, intercept the communications. I reach back out, using the surprise that it had that something reached out in general. I delve deeper into the consciousness

that I felt and I take whatever information I need from it. Your mind reaches back out to this intelligence that you felt aboard the ship. And it feels you inside. its mind, but it's not quick enough. And you're able to pull from it. This intelligence is aboard the screw loose. And the Happy Eater is only a few hours ride south from here. But immediately you feel the attention of this thing on you

and your connection is broken. As soon as the connection is broken, I immediately go to my communicator and I tap out, run. Keza, I've got the location. So we wait here, and you can see that Keza's hands are like hovering off of all of the pulleys that would immediately initiate the engine. Receiving the message in the hiding place, Ebo begins a frenetic journey towards the exit, army crawling, slithering as he oozes out of the crevice and tumbles onto the deck,

kind of like slithering and treading as well up the stairs towards Lee. We have to go. We have to hit. We got to drive. We got to go fast as you can. He says with every step. Absolutely. He runs over to the helm of the ship, gets the engine going, the saw prowl spinning, and the smaller decoy vessel starts moving away towards the exit, the closest exit of the caldera. Seeing the movement of the ship, Bebo feels. a little assuaged as that was Zin's instructions and Zin's never wanted to mince words and he feels like he did his duty

so he's going to kind of find a spare piece of rigging to cling onto and he begins to climb up to whatever crow's nest or platform is available to him to both hold on and also see what he can see with the movement of the other ship and the movement of the godsinger. Staring out, you scared, and the horizon.

Again, it's eerily silent. And that's when you hear it, this kind of thumping, thudding, thudding, crashing sound. You look in the direction of the godsinger, hidden half in the mist. And that's when you see it. Lights coming from below

in the direction of the god singer. It's right at that moment, Keza Zin, you hear the terrible crashing as two mechanical crane arms come exploding out from the body. of the thrash latch onto huge bark branches and begin lifting itself out right next to the godsinger. They've got to jump on you and you can hear this screaming of metal as the screws emerges right beside your ship. Immediately cannons, phew, phew, phew, pio, being firing off the side.

I need a reaction roll from the ship. Cut of one because it's so close. Our armor is busted through with those cannons as the godsinger is not prepared for a side attack. We're usually going so fast we can't be hit from the sides. But this surprise is awful for us. And I think the cannons coming through, pierce the observation deck, break our front facing windows, appearing out of the fog as these massive shrapnel bullets come through. And I think the captain is hit off his shoulder side and falls. free from his chair and to the floor as he has hit broadside off the left side.

It is unclear in the smoke and shrapnel as we're all coughing and the fog comes through and black fills the observation room between Kese and Zenko, and it's unclear of what exactly has transpired other than we've been hit awfully. And I think that's the twist. He's hoping to tilt the ship left and and bring it full off of the side here, off of port, and bring the saws at least to cut off the cabling and slide into the side of this enemy ship and shear its sides with those massive prows

and hopefully disconnect the two in the process. The ship immediately lurches to the side And this big square mechanical ship is, there's just enough of it that, yeah, your sharp front prow can ram into it, tearing both metal sparks flying, and one of the arms kind of swings wildly out to deal with the amount of pressure

that the godsinger has put on it. And a moment later, you're free, now running away from them in the direction of Bebo's decoy in deeper into the caldera. While we're riding away, I go to another portion of the ship and steady my rifle yet again, looking for a precise target. Whoever it appears who is driving the ship, that is who I'm looking for, and I want to snipe them as we're breaking out of here. This ship is shaped like a big square, but in the back there is the helm, visible, almost raised above and on a series of catwalks that lead back. to the more square ship.

Sure enough, you can see somebody at the helm piling it. You watch in your scope as you fire, the glass shatters of the helm, and the person that was at the wheel drops. And for a moment, there's no one. And then someone else begins scrambling up towards the helm. It's only a matter of time before there's another person at the wheel. Seeing the godsinger in such bad shape,

Bebo composes himself. literally calms himself, but also takes form again to form that humanoid shape that is more familiar to the rest of the crew. And with a deep breath in, inhaling all of the spores that had exited his body in fear, he whispers to the air two words that were told to him a long time ago by a fellow stow away. Treturous waves, he says, feeling the weight of the hidden secret that he's. he is carrying and he directs it aggressively at the ship and pursuit of the godsinger. The canopy suddenly begins to shift and an iron root that seems stable suddenly gives and the screw loose as it's hurling itself towards the godsinger arm over mechanical arm trying to get at it

to grab it. Suddenly the iron root gives out and it disappears below the thrash disappearing from sight. Evil collapses against the side of the mast and decking on the lookout post where he had been standing with the weight of this whisper left his body. And the spores again begin to emit from him creating a dark cloud of confusion and worry as he lifts the brim of his hat. Hurry, hurry! The god singer is going to pass the decoy in a... a matter of moments. I put out the winch so that we can catch it in our drive. The winch fires and true grabs onto the decoy. Bebo immediately the lurch is felt.

He grabs onto the rigging nearest him and slides down with fireman's grace landing next to Lee. Hold on Lee. He says kind of like wrapping his limbs around Lee's leg again and kind of tying the rope hurriedly to the two of them. The godsinger makes its way out of the caldera, racing as fast as it can towards the exit of the snarl to clear of these jagged rocks and shipwrecks. I need a shiprating roll to see how you do. Cut of one. Keza looks back as the smoke is still clearing in that observation room and can only see that the captain is lurched over and free from his seat. The priority is on pure speed and maneuvering as Keza is making these tight, uh, uh, turns. The ship clears the worst of the snarl.

However, the speed manages to grind a couple of rocks as you are escaping. As you pass the final jagged rock, there is an explosion of verdancy, the cracking of wood, and the breaking of branches, and the screw loose emerges again from below the canopy, having realigned itself back to the surface and beginning its pursuit again. There's space between the two of you, but it's chasing. Immediately, Keza turns to the others and says, I've got an idea, just please, please trust me on this. And from the helm, he starts to veer the ship more towards the starboard end of the

Caldera, pointing almost northeast. And Zinn will see as the fog begins to clear and they're coming out of that line. and it becomes a pure chase. Kesa has just pointed us in the direction of the storm that is brewing in that side. He pulls us into full speed and takes us into the darkness that's brewing in that storm cloud.

The godsinger beelines towards the storm and is able to go inside. Immediately you are pelted by rain and darkness. There is the occasional flash of lightning. Another ship raiding roll with a cut of one to maneuver your way out. you do your best to work around the pelting rain and the heavy storm. Visible off the starboard side is a huge streak of lightning.

It hits a lightning rod attached to the silhouette of the screw loose. It's off course just a little bit, but it's in the storm along with you. You cross out of the storm and bursting out of the other side is the screw loose. Even more of a distance now. Never changing my post, I settle myself and I take aim once again at that exact same target, and I pull the trigger. Another shot, the screw loose, seems to come to a stop, and slowly becomes farther and farther more distant. Seemingly not pursuing. What's a twist? The problem with shooting from this distance is that I cannot tell where the,

I only know the target I intended to hit. I believe that the bullet ricocheted outside of the target and hit something incredibly vital for the ship. And as we fly off, we see just the smallest explosion through the storm. Could have been thunder. Could have been lightning. Could have been the back half of that ship falling into the waist. The sound of the wild sea returns to you,

the roar of the engine. And for a moment, it seems like you might be clear. Bebo appeals himself off of Lee's leg. He had created a few knots around himself and Lee, which probably would have resulted in them dangling over the side of the ship, the way he's tied them. But better than free falling as he undoes the knots and kind of looks up at Lee in the same urgency.

that he kind of had running up the stairs. This is not what we planned. And we didn't create a backup plan. We should try to reboard the ship if we can. As soon as they stop, yeah, absolutely. Okay, does this ship have weapons? He says, looking around. It's a small ship.

It doesn't seem to be rigged with anything. I suppose we can throw some of the shiny stuff at him if they get close. Yeah. Well, hopefully that took care of it. I think that was a Zinn special. If I know it from a distance, he says shaking three of his fists at the sight of the explosion behind. Lee's face goes slack. It's not over any points past your shoulder.

He whirls around following Lee's finger. Another ship closer coming. This one looks like a twisted branch of wood that has two saw prows on the front and back, and it's got a black flag waving on it, heading straight towards you. Assuming they can see it, but just in case, Bibo messages over the communications device, second ship and gives the locations in shorthand. As soon as that Morse code starts to beep out to Keza as he's trying to check on the captain, Keza looks up and over the observation deck sees what's impeding.

Knowing what he knows of the hungry eater, he's trying to rectify with whether this is their target or not, But in the flash of everything, he looks to Zinn and he says, we have no sighting. It took everything off the side of us. We're barely flying with tissue paper at this point. I don't know if we can outrun a second one. They're going to circle. They're going to try and take us. And they're going to win.

We got to be ready for when they board.