Mayday Plays - Chapter 6: "The Blackbound Marauders" | The Happy Eater | Tales From The Wildsea

Episode Date: July 29, 2026

The Godsinger is wrecked. The Screw Loose hit hard and didn't hold back, and now a second ship, the Little Rascal, is bearing down on what's left. Kezza, Bebo, and Zin scramble for a new play. Their survival earns them an audience with the infamous Captain Aurek, commander of the Happy Eater, the galleon they were commissioned to find. What the crew learns aboard it reframes everything they thought they knew about the fate of the ship and the job they thought was almost over. Disclaimer: This episode contains profanity. 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 🎙 Listen to us: 🟣 Apple Podcasts : https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/mayd…ys/id1537347277 🟢 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5vdTgXoqpSpMssSP9Vka3Z?si=97a6a19d71cf4be0 🟠 Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/mayday-roleplay 🌟 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 #fantasy #indierpg #tabletoprpg

Oh for uncharted passage to reaching foot and see 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 no sighting.

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. You hear a soft groan and Captain Zenko leans back. Oh! Small patches of spiders.

falling from beneath his white bleached robe that begin to quickly skier back up and he turns his plank face to you and says maybe it's time to play coy and let him catch us oh there he is he starts like patting the sides of uh of zanko's face he remembers that he's all spiders so he starts to wipe the spiders back home very carefully. Yeah, that's it. We play diplomacy. And he looks to Zen.

And bizarrely in all of this, there is like a classic Kazza smile on his face. I guess the godsinger's the decoy. And he runs off before Zen can kill him. I'm gonna bring it, Bebo. He gives one look back at Zen to make sure

that he's not about to be shot in the back. For the briefest moment, his eyes flash red. and then go back. So, I'm not to kill them as they try to board the ship. Captain Zanko speaks up, says, it might work to our advantage

if we pretend we're weaker than we actually are, Zin. There's two of them and only one of us, and we're badly beat up. I'll stay in the back then. Kese, as you run out into the deck, the second ship is approaching quickly, and you suspect in the next couple of minutes, it'll be within striking distance.

Yeah, I'm moving to the rigging, basically, and finding anywhere that we've run cable and flying surrender, essentially putting up in that flag speech, the sign of no harm, essentially. And I'm going to stand out there on the bow and wave them down. My arms swinging up and high and showing no harm.

I'm going to take my saw, off its sheath and drop it down on the floor there before they've even arrived, just to be the beacon. I do keep glancing over, though, at the dinghy and singing, seeing if those boarding wenches have brought them in yet. Bebo Lee has been able to pull the dingy, the decoy, close enough, that now he's assisting you and getting it back up onto the godsinger. Bebo takes the assistance and lands on the deck, but immediately scrambles for his nearest hiding place. He knows this ship far better than he does the dinghy, and he finds a similar crevice, but much more lived in, less spiders,

and crawls inside in the same manner he did before, trying to find a place to hide and stay out of sight from the borders. Lee runs straight to the bow where Keza is, and he's huffing and puffing and... It's a little rascal. He'll be honest soon enough. Is Bebo already hiding? Hearing his name, Bebo pipes up from the shadows.

I can hear you, and yes. Should I give Bebo my weaponry so that, at a fortuitous time, he can give it back to me? Or should I go ahead and hide myself? I think giving it to Bebo is a good idea? Two mushroom hands extend from the darkness where Bebo hides. And Zin? for a second. When was the last time you gave those away?

Never. You see the hands make this motion. Give me, get me. Take them, hide them. Give them back. Give them back. Give them back. Bebo pulls gently as the armaments

are transferred to his grip, but he feels you not letting go, and there's just this slight tug as he's like, you, okay, you got to. When he finally lets go, you feel like weightier than you thought they would be. The arms stretched downward slightly sagging with the weight, and you see him fortify the limbs by sending more spores into the stalks,

and puffs of smoke and spores come out as they begin to bulk up and begin to lift the gun up and into the crevice where he hides. Oh, very shiny's in. Captain Zanko is stepping slowly down, the steps clutching one side and he says, all right, have never given up the ship before. Let's hope they're at least not in the mood to strip us for parts. Kesa goes to Zenko's side and sort of assists him with that sort of, it takes his arm, takes his arm to assist him, help him walk and gets him out onto the deck.

The little rascal gets closer. It's not little, but it sure looks like a rascal. It's a very oddly shaped ship, seemingly made out of some kind of gigantic piece of driftwood, asymmetrical. The engine on the back pouring out smoke, two sawprows underneath in the bow and the stern, and in the center a kind of fabricated hole, this big metal sheeting covering the middle portion and it begins to circle the godsinger, almost like a predator. And you can see this minuscule crew of the little rascal kind of running across the deck,

getting their rigs ready. And Lee says under his breath to all of you, if I remember, the captain of this ship is Captain Entente, and he's got a little man complex, so don't sell him short. Don't even say the word short. And as the ship kind of completes its 360 around the godsinger, two winches fire out from the bow and the stern of the ship and crash down onto the sides of your hole.

And slowly you begin being dragged towards the little rascal. Yeah, I think Keza settles in, he puts himself closest to those winches, knowing that'll be where the rascal sets in on the godsinger. and he tries to look as professional as possible. He pulls the coat on him closer and the hoof is kicking at the back at his ass. The Godsinger is rumbling, leading towards the little rascal,

and eventually the winches stop pulling. One enormous plank, 10 feet long, comes swinging down and crashing onto the deck of the godsinger. It masks the noise of a gun being a... assembled and set up inside the darkness of Bebo's hiding spot as he attempts to set his eyes in the scope and watch the goings on from behind Zinn's gun. Your perspective zoomed in. You see a massive gow walking down the plank. Zin and Keza, what you see is a two-foot-nothing gow with a top hat, a little, um, red with white polka dot mushroom cap making up most of its head comes stepping down the plank and he stops and lands in a very powerful pose and says,

And you have been captured by the blackbound marauders. And the whole crew behind him. Ah! Begin clapping and cheering. I think Keza looks first to Captain Zanko to see if Captain Zanko wants to take proceedings on this. Zanko steps forward and says, as you can tell from the flag,

we unconditionally surrender. We are your, and his blank expression looks towards you and Zinn, and then back your captives. And then again, Captain Entente. Yes, yes, it gets easier every time. He starts kind of strutting around, taking the godsinger in for the first time.

Hmm, pretty good, pretty good. What is this, Leviathanier ship? No. No, no, not quite, but we get that a lot. Thank you. Hmm. Doesn't seem like a lot of crew, and you look pretty scraggly to me. He's kind of looking you up and down.

Yeah, I'm decided on a bulk season after this. Yeah, well, can you get one of these? And he flexes his arm, and there's barely a difference in the size of his mycelial arm. Keza gives him a sympathetic flinch away from the arm, as though it was like he was afraid of the aggressiveness of this creature and he's like, whoa, put those things away, man.

You're going to hurt somebody. About a dozen members of the little rascal, various forms of red crown ardent men and women, some of them missing limbs or eyes, replaced some with mechanical arms and limbs, come running down the gangplank. They seem, less aggressive. They're sort of kind of taking the space in and regarding the two of you,

the three of you that they can see, not getting too close, but also not peering as aggressive as Captain Entente. Captain Entente, I just wanted to commend you. I mean, when we saw the first ship, we thought we could get away for sure and we were going to. But the second that this baby came over the horizon and Kesa puts out his arms out to the little rascal. I mean, Zinn, didn't you think? I mean, the first thing you said to me, Zin was,

wow, we can't do this. I agreed. I mean, geez, how long you've been driving something like this? Captain Entente kind of looks at you and says, I knew that when you saw our ship, you would give up. Everyone always does.

He's kind of strutting around. I've been on the ship. He kind of stares off as if he doesn't know the answer. 25 years I've been on this ship. And they're all scared of me and they'll do exactly what I say. Okay, so don't even think about doing something funny. No, no, no. You're going to find that our disobedience is on short,

small supply around here. one of the members of the little rascal, the crew, is looking out in the direction of the storm and he turns back and he says, it looks like screw loose is coming up. Captain Entente walks up to Zinn and looks him up and down. You're a big hunk of scrap? What's your name?

The eyes brighten up. I am known as Zinn. Zinn. Hmm. You'll make good. good person who can swab the deck. He turns away from you. Captain, a question for you.

If I could just pick your ear. I asked the questions around here. Are you ready to take on the role of a blackbound marauder? I am. Absolutely. But I'm a little worried about the other ship there. And he jerks a thumb to... The screw loose.

Ah, they'll be fine. Well, don't you think they're going to want to take responsibility for the kill here? Don't you think they're going to try and steal your glory on this one? I mean, it was kind of a group effort. It's always a group effort with the blackbound marauders. I don't have to worry about that. Let me have my telescope.

I want to see how far away they are. He starts walking away from you. And as he does and he turns, you can see now his top hat hides something just below his mushroom head. Some kind of growth. Bebo zooms way in with the scope, zooms like way into it. It's throbbing, pulsing. Looking at the other crew members,

do they seem to have that on the back of their hands as well, these less aggressive individuals? Most of them keep their eyes on you, but those that turn and follow the captain have nothing other than sunburns on their necks. Captain, I'm so sorry to call this out or anything. Are you aware? There's something on you, sir.

He lowers his telescope and looks back and he says, What are you talking about? My outfit is perfect. Don't I look exactly like a badass pirate? Yes, you're the most badass. I mean, better than anybody here, am I right? And he gestures at Zanko. But there's, on the back of your head, sir.

A crew member steps in. Hello, sir. My name is first mate Quinton. Could I speak to you for a minute in private? Sure. Leads you away from the capital. who immediately goes, puts a boot up and allows one of the crew to start shining it and clean it. And he says in a hush tone to you, uh, what's your name, sir?

Kezaazeh, Quinn. Um, I'm the first mate here. And I, I'm sure you're very curious as to what's going on. Um, the captain is, um, let's just say, occupied in some way. He, he isn't quite himself. Hasn't been for a couple weeks since we were captured by the happy evening. You're doing a great job of placating him. If you keep that up, I think things will be just fine. They probably want to bring it back to the happy eater. Do they? I think so, yes.

They've been talking a lot about gathering ships. They want to build a fleet of some kind. And, well, it looks like they've taken a liking to yours. Quentin, can you be honest with me, first mate to first mate? I can do my best. Are you at all being coerced, controlled? influenced by whatever pimple is on the back of your captain's head. I can tell you there are no voices in my head and no pimples on my neck.

So I think I'm in the clear. And as far as I can tell most of the crew is in the clear, it's just Captain Entente, Captain Legion, and he points towards the screw loose, and Captain Oric, and he points behind him. And in the rascal, you've gone below deck at all? Sure, yeah, I'm on below deck. deck constantly. Anything in there that you want to tell me about that we may or may not already know about? Well, we've got just some cargo. What are you referring to? I mean, not to give away

my sources or anything, but a lot of people are saying that on the hungry eater, there's a monster below deck. You've heard of what's going on there? Quinn, you've got to keep this between you and I, because we're going to come help you guys out a little bit. And I think if you play your cards right, you can get a Shorty over there, fixed up real quick, I promise. But only if you can cooperate

with us. You think you can, can I trust you, Quentin? Because if not, a lot of bad things are going to happen some of us. You guys seem like just regular old wild sailors and I don't want to make any trouble with you. We really just want to kind of solve all this weirdness and we've just been kind of

placating the captain because, well, we just don't understand what's going on. So if you think you could see us through with making sure captain's okay, you got a deal. We'll help you however we can. Okay. Get us to the hungry eater. We will solve this. We'll take the captain of the hungry eater alive, presumably, if possible.

Hopefully. And we'll go our separate ways. You keep your buddy, we keep ours. Deal? He tries to not make it obvious, but he puts a hand out. Deal. Shakes his hand. You can clearly see Zen is counting how many people are on the ship,

and you just see his trigger finger clicking every time he turns his head towards each of them every single time. And then he turns towards the captain, and it just keeps clicking as he looks at the captain because he just... Listen, when shit undoubtedly goes down, if it does, and you're worried, you're scared, whatever, you need help, go stand. behind that guy and he points out Zen because if you're in front of him things will go back. I'll remember that, although I'd like my whole crew to be in safety as much as that. Look, if I can give you any advice, this is all some kind of weird charade between the three captains. They're talking about building a fleet and sailing south to Raggedwood. I think that if we can just get them separated enough and maybe get that thing off his neck,

all of this will be solved. So just try to keep the violence to a minimum. It's worked so far for us. Yeah, yeah. Violence, minimum. Yes. And Keza says it like it's a foreign object in his mouth. Thanks, Quentin.

And he slaps him on the back real hard. Looking through the scope at the zoomed-in growth on the back of the captain's neck, Bibo furrows his brow and tries to think of where he's seen this or why it's familiar to him. It definitely does not look good. Gow, it's some kind of foreign object alive and under the mycelial skin. He zooms in on the scope to the maximum capacity and tries to see if there's any part of it that extends to the exterior. He's looking at any sort of glimpse of it. Roll.

Not understanding how the gun works that well, he thinks he needs to move himself physically closer to the scope in order to amplify the vision. His face collides with the apparatus, nudging it forward enough that the front of the rifle extends slightly out of the hiding spot. And he's just like peering through it without really having any magnification at all. The next time the rifle is used, there will be a cut of one due to all of the settings being altered by Bebo. Captain Entente whips around and says, Here is what's going to happen. The Screw Loose is going to join up with us, and we three are going to sail to the Happy Eater, while you will become a member of our party.

And anyone who says no or resists will be taken to the boss. And all the other crew members of the little rascal kind of shudder at the thought. Do you accept these terms? We the humble crew of the godsinger agree to these terms and bow before you, Captain Untaunt. Oh, great and tall leader, and Keza gets down to his lowest. And might I say, what a pair of boots. Thank you. I made them out of some tusk of a great Leviathan that I killed myself.

You're going to have to tell me all about it. I can't emote, but I look at Keza with the most. Get a load of this guy. Like, there's no emotion on my face, but you know what I'm saying is, Get a load of this guy. Kezo returns a look that says, I promise you very soon, very soon, you get to do exactly what you want to.

The crew of the little rascal begin repelling and detaching the winches that were holding you in place as you have agreed to their taking over of your ship. And a few moments later, the screw loose, this big metal jalopy of a ship comes, pulling up on your port side while the little rascals on your starboard, it drops a walking plank onto your deck. And marching down in a huff is a tall, lanky, ardent man

dressed in the most flamboyant pirate regalia you have ever seen. A children's story of colors and puffy jackets and long sleeves and dangly gold jewelry. This individual walks up and says, Yarr! Are these the Maities that nearly stopped the screw loose? I immediately dart my eyes over to Lee in a gesture that looks like, do I copy this? He's like nodding his head towards the captain.

Lee kind of rolls his eyes and says, May I present Captain Legion? And the captain bows with a flurry and then draws his sword and says, Who's the one that I can blame for killing two of me best pilots? Keza takes a step back and draws a step out for his in. It says, behold, the metal god of the god singer. From his hiding place, Bebo makes an amplification noise. of godhood.

Your best pilots. I'm back on me third pilot now. Hmm, any more. Oh, I've got a whole crew of them. Good to know. I get ever so bored. He walks up kind of chest to chest. He's tall, but he is not as broad and powerful as you as your frame is.

But then he says, I'm impressed. Good job. What's your name? And he puts his hand out. Zinn The arm comes up Oh, a good grip Zinn, nice to meet you So, Entaunt, are these

our new captives? And Entant nods His mushroom cap head Oh, righty, and he He begins his own spiel About, you know, Successfully Capturing you, even though you evaded them And tried to lure them into a trap

And as he's speaking, sure enough, On the back of his neck is a throbbing, pulsing growth of some kind, alive and alien. He finishes his spiel and says, All right, it's time to meet the boss. And there's this kind of hushed silence amongst the other pirates. The boss? Yes, the boss, the one that we serve.

You mean there's another captain? Another ship? Anton speaks up and says, The Happy Eater, the biggest ship out there. He turns to Zinn. Zin, I've heard stories about the Happy Eater. Oh, my God. The Happy Eater is here.

You hear from the darkness. Oh, wow. Oh, my, the Happy Eater. Oh, no. I guess it's good. We're on their side now, huh, Zinn? And he goes to Poeater. and then remembers those boundaries

and instead just jerks the thumb at him. Captain Legion steps back onto his plank and says who will be brave enough to view to make sure these guys don't try to mutiny on us? And some of his crew raised their hands, run down.

Some of the crew, including Quentin of the Little Rascal, also volunteer. We'll stay aboard, sir. Make sure we get the ship to the Happy Eater. All righty. Well, we'll see aboard a happy eater, my friends. Nice to meet you.

And he tips his hat towards you all and does a very flagrant spin before walking back up his plank. And Captain Ente does the same back towards a little rascal. Hey, gang. Kesek sort of puts himself in front of the gaggle of first mates

that are now dejected from those wild, wild people that we've just ran into. This new crew puts their hands. hands up. We don't mean any trouble. We just want to get you from point A to B. We're happy to explain things along the way. Upon hearing this, Bebo will tumble out of his hiding place. The gun kind of clattering down on top of him as he exits fairly ungracefully in a little pile underneath where he was hidden before. If that's the case, then I just wanted to say hello. I'm here too.

about half of the crew begin screaming at the sudden appearance of you from the shadows, but they calm down and they introduce themselves all to you. The first man that spoke from the screw loose introduces himself as quartermaster

Carter, and they willingly do anything that you need them to do to make sure that the ship gets working again. Captain Zanko says, I guess I'll go back to the helm, and he starts making his way back up the steps. A moment passes, the Godsinger is back operational.

It's long jaw screaming into the day as you begin moving forward. The little rascal turning and leading the way while the screw loose clamors behind you, just giving enough distance that it can still reach you if you begin acting out. And the ships, the three of you, begin heading south. In that time, while trying to get the ship back operational, I will do my best to make at least a patchwork job of the, armor. Trying to replace it all.

Repairing while traveling is not easy. It's going to require some cargo and most of the trip. I figure we've already made our way. We're about to find them anyways. Decoy is over if you'd like to use any. Using the star-polished cutlery, we'll say that during this trip I will essentially melt it down to replace any portions of the armor that I could fill in.

gaps with during the short amount of time. Zinn, you take your time through most of this trip to make these repairs, and it's time-consuming and difficult while the happy, while the godsinger is screaming along, traveling. But the other members of the crew see that you're attempting to do this, and they assist. Most of them are friendly and not in any way as over-the-top as their bosses. And you're able to make the repairs. You may remove that dot of damage to your armor. Upon seeing the repairs have finished, Vivo approaches you Zen,

and holds up your gun in the same way. A medieval knight would offer a sword to a king in both hands, and he kind of bows his head, his hat dipping low. I present to you the gift you gave me, and I even cleaned it for you. And he had spent time and, you know, wiping it with his mushroom hands, smearing a spore-like sludge across the entire body of the weapon

and into all the crevices. Thank you, Bebo, for taking such good care of her. You're welcome. Yes. Thank you. You're welcome, he says with the same inflection. On the third, thank you, his eyes go fully red. Bebo, chances of...

look up underneath his hat and sees the red eyes. You're welcome, he says and begins to scuttle backwards. It's the gun slowly comes up. Happy to help, he says as he rounds the corner. He doesn't quite aim it at you, but he is looking through the scope. 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

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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 VTN Chronicle. This episode is made possible by our Patreon. Every tool we use to bring you this show.

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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,

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Good luck. And now, back to the show. Bebo, as you round the corner, a quartermaster carter kind of bumps into you and says, oh, sorry about that. Can I help in any way? Oh, hello. Well, thank you for helping my friend repair the armor.

That's the least we could do. We are aboard your ship for now. We're all in this together, after all. You seem quite nice for people that are commandeering us. Yeah. It's a very, it's a big embarrassment for all of us. We really don't mean to do this. It's just something's weird going on between our captains and, well, we're trying to figure it out.

We haven't quite completely solved it, but I'm sure you noticed the growth on my captain's neck, huh? We think that there's something going on with that. I think it might be another creature living under there. Maybe it does move once in a while. He is acting out of character. He isn't built like a typical pirate, but he really seems to be acting the part these days. He was always a very good captain, a straight-laced, mild-mannered, and now he's very flamboyant. So we're trying to figure it out, you see. That's why we're kind of going along with things.

We've also heard tell of a change in behavior of the captain of the happy eater. In that case, do you know if the captain of the little rascal used to be quite tall? Oh yeah, he was always tall. Physically, he hasn't changed at all. Okay. What about his personality? Yeah, his personality's definitely changed. Like I said, he was usually pretty mild-mannered,

and now he's like a, I don't know, it's like he's an over-the-top pirate. I don't know how to explain it. We're not a pirate vessel. Oh, I was referring to the gal captain. Oh, oh, Captain Entente. I don't know him as well. I've never worked under him.

Maybe the other crew could speak more to him, but they've mentioned changes in his personality, too. I see. Well, it sounds like whatever it is, it impacts the mind. We thought perhaps you were all doing drugs out here. Can you imagine? I could sure use some drugs after the month we've had, yeah. Oh, really?

He says, perking up immediately. You got any long bottom leaf? Oh, I have something even better. You want to see? Sure. Okay, follow me. Bibo scampers to the hold looking back to see if he follows. He opens up a barrel that has been sealed and resealed,

and there's a lot of nail holes and things tape, various things that kind of haphazardly keep this thing shut. And pokes his head in. dipping half of his torso in, so his legs are kind of kicking up into the air, and then uses his weight to kind of heft himself out and pulls out a few bits and bobs, some letters that have yet been unopened that he holds with great reverence, some shiny bits like watches and bibles and little rings and things. And then he pulls out the pouch with the brain pearl that they had picked up on Red Crown

and says, these are all of the treasures I have right now. Oh, you got a brain pearl. Yeah, I do. Do you, you guys don't do these, right? We, we, maybe were a little off face than that. In my younger years, I tried a brain pearl, and I don't know if I'd want to do it again. I wasn't sure what I was getting into, but too sad of a memory. It's really left a lasting impression on me.

As I mentioned of a sad memory, Bebo's face saggs a bit, and he kind of looks low to the floor and gets very quiet uncharacteristic for him and just has a brief pause. Yeah, I get those two. No brain pearl needed. Maybe it's not for today. And he kind of like slowly puts it back into the barrel holding onto it for just a little bit lingering until he drops it to the bottom again. I don't need more of that. Well, you know, I notice you do have some shiny things. If those are valuable to you, I'd suggest. you find a good hiding place because if there's one thing

these captains keep insisting on is that we nail a bunch of shiny things to our hull as you can probably see. Have they ever explained why? They always give roundabout answers, something about making the ships look as impressive as possible, but I don't know who they're trying to impress other than themselves.

Oh, this is mysterious indeed. Isn't it wonderful and horrible what the wild sea has? Yeah, that's one way of looking at it. Wonderful and horrible, for sure. Above deck, Keza, first mate, Quinton walks up beside you. It says, so what's the deal? Who's in charge here anyway?

Captain Zanko, can't you tell? And he jerks the thumb back at the injured spider. Well, just to give you a heads up, the captains of these ships that are captured by the Happy Eater, they tend to change a little bit. So maybe just anticipate it and let the other crew members know. It'll be fine. They're just going to be a little different.

When they're on the Happy Eater. On around. I don't know when it happens, but pretty much every captain that has come across, the Happy Eater has changed somehow. I know ours did. Are they going to? And he looks back at Zankup, you don't think they're going to try and do the same thing to our captain.

I don't know about they. I've never seen anybody do anything other than the captains just start acting differently. And there's no trigger. It just happens out of nowhere. There wasn't like, oh, we're all going to go party below deck for some reason. The captains do have private meetings from time to time. And when we were first captured, the captains insisted on having meetings. to parlay and try to find some kind of truths, and then at a certain point they stopped resisting and just started doing whatever Captain Orrick ordered them to do. At what point, and Zed just, per usual just appears out of nowhere. At what point in time did the growth appear?

I would say 24, 48 hours after we were captured? They grew, they were not attached. That's what you mean. They appeared one morning. What are the two of you thinking? You think there's a way out of this? I definitely think there's a way into this. I don't really think about the way out.

That's why we're here. I do have a fun new idea, and he looks to Zen. Have none of you tried to remove the growths? Unless. We've discussed it, but we're worried that if we do, we might hurt the captain. We definitely don't want to do that. And they don't like when the grocer brought up. How do they react?

Have you ever talked to them about it? We did bring it up, yes, and they didn't react positively to it. One of our members insisted on doing something about it, and when they brought it up to the captain, well, they disappeared the next day. Okay. We hope Lee's okay. Oh, Lee Revenge Captain. Okay.

You know Lee? Yeah, he's a part of the crew. He looks and sees Lee. Only the best part of the crew, Bebo says, stepping around the corner, clad, head to toe and rings and shiny things. Bengals and bobbles, dragging behind him. Lee is just dropping some rope and says,

what, you need me? No, Lee's mess. We're just speaking your accolades. Oh, oh, it's Quentin. Hey, Quinn. How are you? And they come over and begin shaking hands and seem friendly. Bibo clangs over, metal hitting the floor with every step. What did I miss?

Who'd you rob? Oh, these are just my treasures. I'm going to find a good place to hide them so that the captain doesn't take them. Oh, I see. Okay. Listen, they're going to try and turn our beloved, and he points over to Zanko. Did I get to kill people? I made a promise to Quentin that we want to do that unless absolutely necessary. Fine, I'm only, I will only aim for the pimple thing on the back of their necks.

I can't do that. If we can get either Zanko or one of us down in the ritual site, or Zanko goes down, we follow. I think that's the secret to seeing whatever this is. And they try and put the little growth in the back of his neck. And then we jump out. Oh, where's a monster? They go, oh, the monster's right here. And we'd kill the monster.

And then we'd pop the pimples, and they go back to their lives, and then we arrest the... Well, do we arrest them? I don't know. That's as far as I got. Again, I'm on the inn, not that out. We could simply blow up all of the ships and bring back the head as proof that we did this. Oh, Zinn, that's your plan for every mission. There are a lot of people on my ship, and it is very dirty, and I'm going to be the one that has to clean it.

It would be much easier if I could get rid of all the bodies now. Yeah, but if they stick around long enough, they might do the repairs for us while we're solving this whole thing. They are being very nice. And I guess that's why I'm so worried. I don't want their captains to die. And I don't want any of you to get hurt either. He says, kind of looking at each of them with a lot of wavering in his dark, vacuous eyes. Well, if the crews are simply worried that the captains will be hard,

We could convince them all, or rather, you could convince them all. I am not the one to do convincing at all. That by removing the growths that will return them to their normal faculties, and then we put all the blame on the creature growing in the bowels of the happy eater. I have an idea. We have bugs that eat crez. We have a monster made of crez. If we could take a bundle of the conflagrant swarm with us down.

to the belly of the beast, maybe they'll just eat the fucking thing. Lee walks up to the three of you and says, Hey, guys, what do you want me to do with these empty buckets of Cresrin? And he gestures out to the empty buckets. Oh, fuck. Behind him, you can see the decoy ship. And these little embers are just in droves flying off the back of it and disappearing into the wild sea.

Come back, Bibo says. And he dives towards his. satchel, all of his rings kind of sliding off of his mushroom fingers as he goes to grab the canvas suit. He's shoving a leg in, but it's the armhole, and he's just hopping around, frenetically.

Hurry! Hurry! He's yelling at himself. It's no use, people. We'll just go down into the belly of the ship and we'll shoot it until it's dead, and then they can take it out however the fuck they want. I don't care. The hours pass. The sun rises,

hits its zenith, and begins to fall. When finally, after several hours of travel, one of the members of the other crew point out, there she is! And the distance is the silhouette. It sits idle

waiting for you to come to it. Its definition becomes more obvious. It's a huge galleon. A hauling vessel like no other. The ship boasts three full sailing mass. and two massive impeller jets in the back with an impressive saw prow in the front.

Like the other ships, its outer hull is decked in strange shiny objects, mirrors, and shiny metal, and polished pieces. As the Godsinger rolls up on its starboard side, side, you can see that the ship is almost bowing at the sides at how full it is. Several portholes along both the port and starboard side have been blown out from the outside, and these tens of feet long tentacles are writhing mindlessly in the air, fleshy and pink. It is so large that a rope, a rope ladder is dropped down to your deck.

Captain Legion and Captain Entente appear on the deck of the Happy Eater and are now ordering you to come aboard. Y'ar me, matees, time to meet the boss. Following, uh, tepidly looking up at that beast and having a full understanding of how deeply and over their heads they are, Kaz does the only thing he's ever done and just steps out. He looks back at Zinn and back out of Bibo and says, I guess we'll wing it.

So Bibo says and stomps down on the loose floorboard of the ship where he's hidden all of his little treasures. And he shoulders his pack where he has stored the brain pearl just in case it ends up being useful in a dire situation. or celebratory and steps out after Kesa, following his gate, almost literally walking in his footsteps.

I follow behind as well, staring at this abomination. Zanko following behind, and little by little, the rest of the crew that assisted you from both the Screw Loose and the Little Rascal. The deck of the Happy Eater is wide. there are dozens of

hammocks set up along the edges tents blankets a few of the men in the rigging kind of look down at you while the others on the deck of the ship kind of stand and watch as these newcomers approach on the main deck there is a opening

where the cargo can be dropped into the cargo hold that metal grating has been ripped open and visible just within a couple of feet is this enormous gaping, jagged-toothed maw as big as the hole is wide, just slowly flexing as if it's breathing and the flesh disappearing underneath the ship. Captain Legion and Captain Entente bring you to the helm

leading you at sword point and you walk up to the exterior wheel of the ship where this enormous rotund man with a grizzled black and gray beard long and scraggly to his chest, his big barreled chest, is sitting on a kind of makeshift throne of ropes and wooden barrels.

He stands and he walks over to you and he says, So, you're the newbies. It's so nice to meet you. And he lets out the biggest black-toothed grin that you've ever seen. My name is Captain Orick. Pleasure to meet you. Oh, no.

First mate, Keza, the illustrious crew of the godsinger, and our dear Captain Zankha. A pleasure to meet you, Captain. Captain Zenko bows politely and says, how can we be of service, Captain? Oh, you're all so polite. Everyone always screams at me when they meet me for the first time. You cares? What's your name, little one?

And he leans down to Bebo. It's nice to finally meet you. I hope my reputation proceeds. me and it's good. I do now. And he gestures towards the deck of the happy eater. Oh, and of course, well this is my

friend, Zinn, he says, pointing over to the metallic form of Zinn. His eyes, so Zinn's eyes are switching back and forth between the red and the yellow. He cannot

figure out what he's supposed to do and it's manifesting physically. as his eyes just switching back from murder mode to neutral mode. You all seem like very capable of wild sailors. Do you think I could ask a favor of all of you? We're here to serve. You and the Happy Eater, and he looks directly into the mouth of that thing in the center. He pauses for a second, almost kind of confused, and then,

Oh yes, I forget sometimes people don't know the difference between, well, we're the same. He gestures towards the happy eater and then he points at himself. And he starts scratching something in the back of his neck. Anyway, as I was saying, I've got this very important mission and I'm building a fleet, a fleet of powerful ships to impress my missus. Do you think you could come along with me on this mission and impress my missus? You're a missus. You have a partner?

A spouse? Not yet. I've got to impress her first. Hence why I've captured you. You, Captain Oric. want to impress a partner. If by Captain Orrick you mean me...

And he gestures towards the hole in the hole. Yes, me and Captain Legion and Captain Entente. We all want the same thing. Because you are the same thing. May I ask, what is your name? And thought about that. How about happy for short? A big,

semi-toothed grin with rotting teeth grows on this, what is clearly a grizzled sailor's face. And he says, I love it, happy. Happy. Call me happy, everyone. And he calls out to the crew and, yes, happy, and they go back to doing what they were doing.

happy can I ask we're interested in helping you in fact we want the best for everybody here and Kesa makes a big sweeping look and then comes back to happy what happens when you

meet your loved one and win her them over are you uh are you gonna have the fleet still or do you think maybe you and you could maybe give everybody back their things and live happily ever after, settle, retire.

I didn't really think that far. I just know in my gut that I need to meet her and I need to impress her soon. I suppose if everything works, she'll take me and probably take the ships as a prize. Her price. Oh, I'm so happy that you said yes. I've had to force everyone else to say yes.

Now I won't have to force you. Hey, how drastic is it? Captain Orrick can always just go back when you've got your misses back, right? I've never undone it, so I don't really know. I hope you'll be okay. He's been a lovely host. I hope he'd be okay, too. Listen, I think we've done enough talking.

Let us get acquainted with the happy eater. Maybe you got somewhere you want us to stay on board. We'll get to working. Godsinger's all you. Zenko's already on board, so we don't have to worry about any of that togetherness bit. And we can get headed out. That's wonderful.

Sphina! Sphanna! Can you hear we've got new friends? Across the helm, in a hammock of their own, is another member of the crew. There's no movement for a second, and he says, one moment, and he comes over and he pokes the hammock. All right, all right! And emerging out of the hammock is Sphirna, a Karchabora shark person. similar to the person that sold you drugs back in Red Crown. This one has a much lighter tone to their body. They are adorned in trinkets around their neck.

There are hammerhead-shaped eyes on either end of their skull. And she kind of stands up and stretches, takes the two of, takes the four of you in and says, eh, I'm supposed to show them around. If you wouldn't mind. Come on, and she kind of starts walking down the steps away from the helm. I check for four hungry pimples.

There appear to be none. So, you've been working with Eater for a while? Don't ask any questions. Just let's get out of earshot of the captain. You can go about your way. I'm not going to show you around the ship. There's nothing to see. The goddamn thing takes up the entire whole of the ship.

Yeah, yeah, let's not worry about questions. I'm more about actions anyways. What we're going to do about this thing, right? What do you mean, what are we going to do about this thing? Well, you don't want this to be your forever, do you? Are you kidding me? I'm having the best time of my life. I've spent the entire day sleeping.

I haven't done anything in weeks, except pretend like I'm this thing's conciliere. You do. and I said was it meets its mate. The mate is going to take everything that you have gathered. That includes this ship, and perhaps you. I was asleep during that part. I didn't catch that part.

Is that what he said? He kind of doesn't have much regard for the whole living thing. He wasn't even sure if your captain comes back from the fucking pimple, man. Sphyrna sits down on a barrel and says, I was having such a good time. Can I at least write it out to the end? It's probably going to be another couple of days at least. Do you know where you're going?

And is there a destination in mind to meet this loved one? I don't know of a destination. I'm just, uh, I was a stowaway on this ship, and now I'm the second in command, basically. So, you know, I've just been enjoying it. Been eating good. Oh, bad luck to stow away on this ship. Yeah, yeah, I've got the lashes to prove it.

The first version of Captain Orrick gave him to me. I've been there, he says sympathetically. A few of the other crew of the Happy Eater begin kind of milling about and getting closer to you. Yeah, come on in, everybody. We actually want to talk to you guys. We understand that this is not tenable, right? That this is not, we had a nice vacation. I'm glad he's been taking care of you.

It's very clear that, like, obviously, captain sucked beforehand, and this feels like a better deal than the raw one you had before. But you understand... One of them in Ectus speaks up and says, you don't understand how bad he was. Captain Orick's great now.

That's not your captain. You do understand that, correct? Well, what do you mean? Tease the fucking mouth, man! Sphere and a... looks to them and says, they're right. That growth, it's some kind of mind-controlling thing, obviously. Yes, they are a hive, right?

Why are we talking like this? Do we not understand that this thing's going to fucking eat you? He hasn't eaten any of us yet, says one of the crew members. Kaza, I need you to understand this greatly. How you feel right now with all of them is how I feel constantly with you and Bibo. How do you live like this? Sometimes I sneak into your room. That's neither here nor there.

This one may not be willing to eat you. But it is offering these ships, and perhaps their crews, too, the one it wishes to impress. It is tantamount to a bird attempting to woo a mate, and it is willing to do whatever it takes to woo her. We're back to the ship, love again. Bibo says, kind of covering up some of his ears. Don't ever say I'm wrong.

And listen, before you make, what do you do? You know this, Fyrna, and he gives her a look. I eat. Exactly. Yes. That's you fucking idiot. That's you guys. The eat.

You're right. The right thing to do is to find a way out of this. But if we mute me, if we try to run out of it, out of here, there's a giant thing in the hole that will probably start lashing out. We're afraid to do it. Maybe there's an opportune time when we're closer to what it wants to get at. I think so too. But also, there are several other ships where it doesn't take up the entirety of the inner workings.

Exactly what I was thinking. We can get the rest of the crew on the two ships that don't have hungry, happy on it, and then leave happy on here. We can take care of him here and make sure that the captains get off before we do what we're going to do with them. You know, put them out to pasture. It is probably safest to get the crews off the ship, for now at least. You will still need a very small skeleton crew to operate the Happy Eater, but we think that most of the crew can definitely safely go to yours and to the little rascal and the others.

So if you all can keep our ships going, Will skeleton crew over here, he looks to Sphirna, do you think you could help us? You know this ship better than anybody else. I'll help you out, fine. Yeah, sure. Good. The captain stay here.

He'll want to keep his minds as close together as possible, I think. Or we can have Zanko start some sort of parlay between them tonight to keep them all on the eater. We take care of habit. Then we remove the growths. We jump to one of the other ships. And maybe we leave the last ship to her as some big goodbye. And then we beat fucking feet.

We only require to remove the growths. Without the growths, there are no pirates. And without happy... Oh, no. If we can convince... We need to take her out too. Well, if we can convince... Happy to no longer...

control. The captains. I don't know. There are no pirates. She seems to have, Happy has exactly what they want. I don't think anything could convince them. We'd have to convince his spouse there of not killing us on the way out.

But also, they're just going to do this again. The act, the ectus speaks up, but who's his spouse? There's got to be another one of him, right? I hope. I've never seen anything like it.

It's right around that time that you hear up on the helm, Captain Oric. Good news, everyone. We're headed to Ragged Wood. Full steam ahead. And he points forward. And just when you're expecting the impeller jets to fire, the tentacles begin to wriggle and shape and smash down on the canopy. And sure enough, they start pulling the ship, almost like a sled.

And before you know it, you, the little rascal, the screw loose, and the godsinger begin curving south and heading towards Raggedwood. We will leave the session there for now.