The Troubleshooters - The U-Boat Mystery, Episode 3

[00:00:01] Speaker A: Hello, friends, and welcome once again to another single serving table top adventure from Queenscourt games. I am Aaron, and tonight I will be your director of operation as we finally solve the U boat mystery. This is a scenario for the troubleshooters written by Krister Sunderland. You can find it by putting exclamation point scenario or exclamation point game in chat. Every time I invent a new exclamation point, command, V has to go make one. If you have new suggestions for commands that I can mess up the intro by introducing, let me know. I'll get her right on it. And because she is right on it, that is where we will start as we introduce our outstanding cast. She is the console command commander, the streambot, supreme architect, art czar of the court. It is v lock V, how you doing? [00:00:51] Speaker B: Great, thanks. [00:00:54] Speaker A: Hanging out not far away, playing the race car driver, Sonya Volkov. It is the, I wanted to say audiologist. That's a real thing. So I have to keep going to, like, audiogician or like audiographer of the court. It is. Aubrey. Aubrey, how's it going? Yeah, pretty good. How are you? I've been so much better if I hadn't flubbed so much of this intro, but I'm gonna just power through it. Speaking of powering through it, there's a physics equation for power that's like speed times impulse. And the only person on this team who knows that will be our engineer, Frederick, who is being played by Lola. Lola, how are you doing? [00:01:32] Speaker C: I'm good. [00:01:35] Speaker A: And lastly, but not leastly, from the RP, Deeksee as Kat Berkler, Katerina Bear. It is Chamonix. Chamonix, how are you? [00:01:44] Speaker D: Great. Just noting down that rebrand there. Rpgeeksy. Thank you. [00:01:49] Speaker A: I feel like I've made it too posh. Right? [00:01:52] Speaker D: Geeksy. [00:01:53] Speaker A: What? Geeksies. [00:01:54] Speaker D: I love it. [00:01:55] Speaker A: It's great. Geeksie is a very small, fluffy dog's name that is like walking through Chelsea, right? [00:02:00] Speaker D: Possibly. Possibly. [00:02:04] Speaker A: Well, that is our castle. [00:02:05] Speaker C: Geeksie. [00:02:06] Speaker A: Oh. [00:02:07] Speaker D: Oh, yeah. You have to like that a little bit. Geeksy. Come along. Geeksy. [00:02:15] Speaker A: Oh, that's perfect. Soundboard that, please. If I need a. If I don't have Chamonix phone number. But when I do, that will be the text message notification that I get. Are we starting at five? And my phone just goes, come along, gigsy. But, like, not in that accent. In the better one. Anyway, this is a perfect segue to our content warning because there is the possibility that today's game will involve drowning, which is what everyone here wants to do for me after that joke, you might also experience gun violence, anxiety, claustrophobia, and if those are the kind of things that you're not so keen about, don't worry about it. We've talked about it as a team, gone through our lines and veils. We want you to stay safe as well. Well, there's not much more to say on those facts. People have their chat commands. We have our safety tools. Are we ready to take to the streets of New York and then the straits of Si to Myang and then the bottom of the ocean to find out what's in the u boat? [00:03:11] Speaker C: Yes. Hi. [00:03:13] Speaker B: It's already. [00:03:16] Speaker A: Then let us continue our story. When last we left our delightful group of international freelance spies, they had left the Metropolitan Art museum in New York City, a little bit of information in hand, entered into a cab, only to discover. Oh, my God. What did they discover, Emma? [00:03:45] Speaker B: That it was definitely not a New York City cab driver, and it was definitely a little bad for us. [00:03:54] Speaker A: How many hot dogs did they have, Aubrey? At least three. Yeah. Three level hot dogs. [00:04:00] Speaker D: Horizontal hot dogs. Oh, yeah. [00:04:03] Speaker B: Yes, yes. [00:04:05] Speaker A: Righty. Well, for the sake of not narratively throwing you into a terrible situation, I will say let's make awareness rules and see if anyone happens to notice the hot. Oh, I said hochtopus, like hot dog. Octopus. Octopus. If anyone notices the hoctopus before you get into the car. I know that Emma and Sonia have the highest awareness, but I'll take roles from anybody if you'd like. Not the highest awareness. You mean alertness? Yes, I apologize. I was looking for awareness, and I couldn't find that, but I was like, find alertness. [00:04:44] Speaker B: Well, even though mine is the highest, I don't know why I roll this terribly every single time. That is a 97, so flipping it doesn't even help. [00:04:55] Speaker A: You know what it is? Emma just doesn't really engage with circus people. [00:05:01] Speaker B: Well, I mean, obviously. [00:05:04] Speaker C: Obviously, I shouldn't have bothered rolling. I rolled a cri. I rolled 100. [00:05:13] Speaker A: I got eight. But then ombre kiss. So Sonia is the one. [00:05:20] Speaker D: Thanks goodness. [00:05:22] Speaker A: So I will ask in turn, Emma, what are you distracted by? And, Frederick, what are you distracted by? Before Aubrey, I will let. Sorry. Before Sonia, I will let you grab, like, one person by the collar and be like, wait, there are octopuses. [00:05:36] Speaker B: You know what it is, is I'm hungry, and I know that Frederick has snacks, so I'm like. I have, like, the. The tummy gurgles where I'm just like, oh, my God. We've been running around. We haven't had time for snacks. Wait, Frederick, you have snacks, right? [00:05:52] Speaker C: Yes, but I didn't get much of a chance to restock whilst we were on the planet. Okay, fine. Here, we'll reach into. Let's take out a. What do you want? Sandwich. [00:06:05] Speaker D: What do you have? [00:06:06] Speaker C: Cheese. [00:06:08] Speaker B: What kind of cheese? It doesn't matter. I mean, cheese is good, but, like, what else do you have? [00:06:13] Speaker D: Like, you have any platters in there? [00:06:14] Speaker C: Like. [00:06:15] Speaker D: Like, fruit platter, cheese platter? Something laid out on. [00:06:18] Speaker C: I do have some quite nice cheeses. I've got this really lovely caramelized onion and ricotta. I've also got a, like, red lemon, like, a plain red luster. And gruyere. [00:06:32] Speaker D: I love it. [00:06:34] Speaker C: And then, of course. [00:06:34] Speaker D: And crackers. [00:06:36] Speaker B: Well, you have to have a crackers. [00:06:39] Speaker A: So let's say this is the moment. This is the kind of happening. And Aubrey's like, wait a minute. That's not cheese. That's a hot dog. And it's on his neck. It's the octopus. What do you do, sonia? Um, so it is kind of the idea of. I imagine we were walking towards the cars as this is happening. Uh, and it's like, I realized this, and I just had grabbed somebody, like, by the collar and just, like, pull them back and being like, I have a really bad feeling about this. I have seen, uh, people like this around, like, trying to shake down other race car drivers before. Um, I I don't think that's a cabbie. [00:07:25] Speaker C: You know what might be an opportune time to find somewhere to stop and actually lay out this feast? Maybe not in. In the car. That's like a wave them off. No, it's fine. [00:07:40] Speaker D: A small picnic. Do you have a blanket with you? Because I don't really do grass. Okay, great. [00:07:46] Speaker A: This is why people hate tourists in New York City, because they're all trying to go about their business. Like, imagine being downtown London, and some American just flops down a blanket on the sidewalk. Anyone who's tried to leave the tube station at Piccadilly Circus knows exactly the mood that I am trying to summon. [00:08:04] Speaker C: Yup. [00:08:07] Speaker A: So then there's this tense moment because, like, you're making eye contact with them, and they're making eye contact with you, and, like, you can see the one of them kind of, like, reach over to a radio in the car or maybe an earpiece and be like, they think they've got us made. And, like, calling back to some kind of octopus HQ, but they know there's too much of a crowd. They can't start anything. But that doesn't mean they're going to let you leave their site. So the cars do depart. If you look around, I don't know, does this crowd feel more tentacle y to you than it did before? Now they're not going to do anything. They're keeping an eye on you. They want to see where you go. And then when the moment is right, then the little suckers will come in and do what they do. That's the problem you will need to solve. [00:08:52] Speaker C: I think it's perhaps time to make another call. Perhaps we switch with the crew for the better getaway. Yeah, maybe a bit of a distraction. [00:09:08] Speaker A: Borrow someone's car. [00:09:10] Speaker D: Oh, oh, oh. Can I have. Can I. Director, can I have lots of fake cash? [00:09:19] Speaker A: I think, yeah, that's a story point item. But I think also Emma just does have a ton of cash. [00:09:24] Speaker B: I do. I do have a wad of cash. And what's great is that because it's. I mean, I assume it's not us dollars, so it's essentially fake cash here. [00:09:36] Speaker D: So how much. How attached are you to your financial wealth, Emma darlingen? [00:09:43] Speaker A: I think, fictionally speaking, the wad of cash is real cash, and it just happens to be whatever cash you need. Like, there's no rulebook part where you have to go to the exchange office. [00:09:52] Speaker B: I. Look, I just. I was just making a joke about international currency being fake cash in the US. Yeah, I mean, I guess it depends. [00:10:04] Speaker D: What do you think? I just really feel like being that person who, like, throws a bunch of money in the air and is, like, free money for everyone, and then everyone's like. And everyone's screaming, and then we just, like, suddenly slip away because we're rich. [00:10:17] Speaker A: And cool. [00:10:20] Speaker D: And, like, we're so glad it's nothing to us. [00:10:26] Speaker B: We could do that. [00:10:29] Speaker D: Do you want to do the throw? Do you want to be the throwing person? You have to, like, give off rich vibes. [00:10:35] Speaker B: I mean, I'm not really dressed for that, but you know what? You know what? Because I think. I think maybe it should be Sonia, because Sonia is, like, the international race card, right? So, like, oh, my God, Sonia's celebrating, like, her, like, her decent win, and she's just throwing winnings out to adoring fans. And we can use that kerfuffle to escape. [00:10:59] Speaker D: Okay. At that point, I'm gonna scream really loudly. Does it get any of that? [00:11:12] Speaker A: Nope. Yeah, I peek so much. The. Oh, my God, it's Sonia Volkov. [00:11:17] Speaker D: Oh, my God, it's Sonia Volkov. Sign my boobs. That was the important part. And I'm gonna make, like, be pointing at her and just be being like. So, like, a really excited fan. [00:11:34] Speaker A: Imagine, Sonia, the attention you are getting now, because, like, I want. So imagine the typical Formula one race fan, right? This is like, a very, like, they come in two flavors, like obnoxious Americans or very serious Germans, I guess three. They're very smug French. Right? So we're in America. Most of them are obnoxious. It's also the 1960s, and you're a famous woman in a male dominated field. So using that information, imagine the kind of attention that you are getting now as people who maybe didn't recognize you or whatever are now, like, piling around. Yeah, yeah, no, do the thing where, you know, shake hands, being like, yes, yes. It's wonderful to meet you. You know, things like that. Lean into the, you know, try to be big and noticeable while I get slipped with a lot of cash to do. You yell something about, uh, I don't know, what's the like? Yeah, I know. What wins for everybody. Like, is there a line that comes as you hurl the cash into the air? Uh, I think it's more of something along the lines of, you know what? I feel like celebrating with everyone. [00:12:48] Speaker D: Ah. [00:12:52] Speaker A: And then this cloud of cash comes sailing into the air, flittering down like a ticker tape parade. And if there's one thing that people love more than celebrities, it's money. So all of a sudden, the crowd just explodes into folks grabbing and, oh. [00:13:08] Speaker B: My God, sign the dollar. [00:13:10] Speaker A: And then, like, people scraping at your feet, picking up, well, you signed the dollar you gave me. Oh, my God. [00:13:13] Speaker B: So near the past. [00:13:15] Speaker A: And you can see the goons now, like, they can't, obviously, like, start digging in because that'll take their eyes off you. But they also can't look too suspicious, and you've short circuited their little lackey goon brains. Yep. [00:13:27] Speaker D: I think we pick, having kind of known roughly where they are, we pick a gap between some of them and slip out during the commotion. [00:13:35] Speaker A: Anyway, you go, well, I don't. There's not a role for, like, cause public panic, but I like this idea enough that I think we can just say that it has worked. Story points. [00:13:47] Speaker D: That's a great plan. [00:13:50] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:13:50] Speaker D: We can throw story points at it if you like. [00:13:52] Speaker A: I think you'll need those later. I don't want to get too spendy with them so far. You'll just kidnap us again, and we'll get them all back. Hey. So we've extricated ourselves from that position and unless there's anything particularly pressing in New York we want to do, I think the next move is the airport, right? [00:14:10] Speaker B: Yeah. I have a feeling that the longer we stay here, the worse it's going to get. So I don't want to give octopus any more chances. It was already too close for comfort. [00:14:22] Speaker A: Totally reasonable, by my book. [00:14:26] Speaker C: Let's go see to my own. [00:14:29] Speaker A: Back to the airfield. Of course, the institute being who they are, the turnaround times on these are quick. This isn't Ryanair, where it takes a while and you gotta go, right. They are. Boom. Back to it. It's like flying in the fancy airlines, which means, among other things, the mystical science beverage machine will have been recharged. [00:14:47] Speaker C: And restocked this time. It does have marshmallows. [00:14:55] Speaker A: That's the difference between a four star hotel experience and five star. The four star, you have to ask the five star, they remember and make sure you don't need to ask the next time. So you return into the decadent arms of institute air and begin sailing along the silver skies on your way to sitome. Contextually, this is a scene where we're getting Indiana Jones red line. Just some information for you about Sita Mayong. Like I said, it's in the indonesian archipelago, the southeast Asia, part of the world. In the universe of the troubleshooters, it was formerly a colony and then released after World War two. It exists somewhere at the intersection of javanese and indonesian and malaysian cultures, kind of in that area. The capital is. I'm not going to pronounce this correctly. The capital is. Oh, sorry. Yeah. Is Selangit. Selangit. And that is where you will be landing. So the institute craft comes down to the Runway. It's a. You can tell it's one of those ones that got built during the war. It's way too big and too long for commercial aviation. V knows what I'm talking about, because the airport in Iceland was a us bomber base, so it's got, like, three more miles of Runway than it actually needs for commercial airplanes. And that's the kind of field you land at. There are two things you will notice fairly immediately after the door opens. One, it is like getting hit in the face with a hot wetland gym sock. Holy shit. Is it hot and is it humid and it's sticky and, like, you want to sweat, but you can't sweat because there's too much sweat on you and there's no room in the air for the water to go. Second, you will notice there is somebody in a. In a car, like not a Land Rover, because I don't think those were around. But a Land Rover style vehicle burning up along the tarmac. It's not paved all the way across. There's, like, a cloud of the dirt coming up behind it. Coming to meet you there. There's a woman behind the wheel. She is a bit short, like, five foot five. One very short black hair with little bobcat bangs, and is wearing what you would probably describe as a generic explorer's costume. So it has, like, the olive drab pants, the white button up with the kerchief, and then a nice little travel. Not safari hat, not a pith helmet, but something in that range. [00:17:39] Speaker B: I was gonna ask if this was octopus, but, yeah, this doesn't really have octopus vibes. Oh, well, now with that shrug. Now, I don't know. [00:17:52] Speaker D: Can we vibe check octopus? Usually that well dressed, and it's hard to say. [00:18:00] Speaker A: You've seen them in all kinds of different forms. The thing I think you would notice, getting to Sonja's point, is that you never really noticed octopus would travel alone. [00:18:09] Speaker D: Also, has anyone seen. Got a good. I mean, her neck seems fine, which is currently our main technique. Right? Check the neck. [00:18:16] Speaker B: No. Yeah, she's wearing a kerchief, so she might be hiding, like, four hot dogs back there. You don't know. You don't know. [00:18:23] Speaker D: Let's find out. As we kind of, like, pull up and patiently waiting for the people to open the door. They haven't even walked the stairs yet. And I'm like, hello. Hi. Sorry, darling. Do you work for octopus? Darling? [00:18:41] Speaker A: There's this blank, blinking confusion when someone asks you something to help in case. [00:18:48] Speaker D: She doesn't speak English. [00:18:50] Speaker A: When someone asks you something that is so out of left field, you have to empty out your brain and then refill it and go through the steps again. Right? You can see her doing that. And then she's got, like, head tilting, and she just says, no as she lifts up a small white card that has your names on it. And then on top, the letterhead of La Republique. [00:19:17] Speaker B: What's that? [00:19:18] Speaker D: Newspaper. Newspaper. Magazine. [00:19:20] Speaker B: What is it? [00:19:21] Speaker A: It's a newspaper. [00:19:24] Speaker D: It's fine. No, gang. I think she works for a newspaper or something. They are. [00:19:29] Speaker A: Wow. [00:19:30] Speaker D: They knew we were here. They slipped someone with a car and a little sign. This is quality service. I am loving this. [00:19:40] Speaker A: Yes. La Republique is the newspaper that Pierre worked for or still works for, ostensibly. I don't think they fired him for being kidnapped. I don't know how you know that. Would be really shitty. No. To be like, sorry. Sorry, man, you got kidnapped. You can't. [00:19:54] Speaker B: Oh, God. Well, see, I went dark with it. I thought that you were saying that he worked for. Because he's no longer working. [00:20:04] Speaker D: That was some past tensing of Pierre that was happening there. [00:20:06] Speaker A: Oh, sorry. [00:20:09] Speaker D: All I meant this was that kind of an adventure. [00:20:11] Speaker A: But I'm not familiar with european labor laws. But I don't think they can fire you for being kidnapped. I think there's a protection somewhere in. Especially in France. There's gotta be a law that. Specifically for kidnapping. After the. You know, after the Third Republic, they had to get a little more specific. [00:20:28] Speaker C: If they know that he's been kidnapped. Maybe. If they don't, well, it's just unannounced sick leave. [00:20:35] Speaker A: Right, exactly. And look, he doesn't ever go into the office anyways. Yeah, sure. They might not even know he's missing, to be honest. It's like. God, yes. That Pierre just, you know, out there finding those stories, disappears for months at a time, shows up with an article, and then off into the woods again. [00:20:56] Speaker B: Yep, yep, yep. [00:20:57] Speaker D: I say, darling, do you want a hot chocolate from the machine before we come down? [00:21:04] Speaker A: And you can see her kind of craning her head up into, like, look at the machine. Yeah, I just. [00:21:11] Speaker C: I'll grab one and bring it down and kind of shove everyone off the plane, sort of. [00:21:19] Speaker A: There's a bit of, um. There's marvel, of course, that, like, normally, like, if you want hot chocolate in. In Southeast Asia at this time, it's. It's a bit more of an ordeal. And it certainly doesn't come out of a machine like that. [00:21:31] Speaker C: It was made by. [00:21:32] Speaker A: It was made. [00:21:34] Speaker C: It's all little people. [00:21:36] Speaker D: They live inside the machine. They're great. [00:21:38] Speaker A: But I think the second amount of confusion is that, like, it's 110 and 90% humidity out here, and you've given them hot chocolate just kind of looking at it. But eventually, as all this is happening, as the excitement comes out, she will introduce herself as Marie Dufresne. She is the local correspondent for La Republique. And because I assume at some point, you will ask how she knew you were coming here, she has been contacted by the professor friend back in New York, who sent ahead to say, these people are coming to investigate the Pierre and the U boat thing. Marie was supposed to have made contact with Pierre at some point and has not and is worried, and that is the genesis of her arrival. [00:22:24] Speaker D: Now, Marie, I know this must be a very concerning time for you, worried about poor for Pierre's safety. I just want to assure you that his heisting is our number one priority. [00:22:40] Speaker C: Yes. [00:22:41] Speaker D: Heist is so good. We're going to show Octopus and we're going to heist him right under their nose. And also get a lot of gold or something. I don't know. [00:22:51] Speaker A: I heard you all were coming, and I mean, like, no offense, you didn't really look like the academic types, according to what the professor was saying. So I assumed that, you know, someone. You were talented, capable. Did the newspaper send you. [00:23:04] Speaker D: A look at Emma? [00:23:08] Speaker B: Not. Not la Republique. And I'm gonna hold up my press credentials, which I have, but are not, you know, as useful probably as la Republique ones in this instance. But I say, yes, we are here. We know, you know, here. Missing, obviously. And we are. We are very, very concerned. But we have reason to believe that he is here or on his way here. Perhaps. [00:23:39] Speaker A: She'S not skeptical of you. There's. If that's what you want to go with, she'll believe it. No reason to think otherwise. Frederick, as the conversation is going on, you will notice more about the vehicle, which, having returned to my notes, is a Toyota Land cruiser. Marie affectionately refers to it as Mashari, but you would probably refer to it more as a beat up piece of shit. This Land cruiser has seen way better days and does not appear to be especially reliable. [00:24:15] Speaker C: Are you. Are you sure that we can count on this? You know, let me just have a quick look under the. [00:24:24] Speaker A: Sure. So then I also think, like, Frederick doesn't even have to ask permission. Just sees that it's broken and starts rooting around in it while they're all talking. But in either. [00:24:33] Speaker C: All of this is in tunnel. [00:24:37] Speaker A: Another case. Yeah, if you want to knock out an engineering or a vehicles role, either one of those works. [00:24:52] Speaker C: So I rolled a 92. I am, however, going to flip that. But, yes, which should be fine, because. Wait, no. Can I win on pips with my toolkit? [00:25:10] Speaker A: Yeah. Your toolkit gives you plus two pips. Yeah. [00:25:14] Speaker C: Yeah. So I don't even need to flip it. Fantastic. Okay. [00:25:20] Speaker A: The pips thing is actually pretty cool. It sounds clunky when you first explain it, but then, like, you get into the game and it makes rolls a lot more interesting. Cause, like, I rolled a lab. Shit. Negative two pips. Right. Or, you know, so I like that little tension in it, but, yeah, no, you have your toolkit out. You take the cheese toasty off the top and then get the tools underneath that, and then go through and start messing around. I will say that based on your result, you have the expertise required to really get in there and fix what's going on, to the point that if you need to make drive checks in this vehicle or someone needs to make drive checks in this vehicle, they will get plus two pips until such a time as, like, something happens that would. That could break the engine. Right. So if you get into a crash or it gets shot up, then those two pit bonuses are gone. So it's temporary, but useful. Great. Where do we think is our best place to start? [00:26:16] Speaker B: Well, and while Frederick has been busy with the car, I've been pulling out, you know, all of the information that we have because we're here, we're looking for Pierre, and perhaps Marie has a little bit more information that she can give us, because, you know, we are here following leads and looking up on or following up on things that we found. So I I'll mention the fact that, you know, we are here. We're looking into. Into this u boat, because we know that that's what Pierre was looking into. We have a couple leads to follow. We know that there's an art collector here. The name. Oh, my God. I'm so sorry. The name escapes me, and I cannot see it in my notes. Booty, booty body. [00:26:58] Speaker A: Booty, booty, booty beauty. [00:27:00] Speaker B: Booty who, you know, has a copy of a piece of artwork that we found in New York as well. And we have reason to believe that that might have come from the U boat. So we were hoping to speak to him if Marie happens to know off the top of her head where that is so we don't have to go find that art gallery. [00:27:24] Speaker A: Can I make one small suggestion or change to this? That this competition is happening in the car so that we're not just sitting on the tarmac sweating our respective genitals off. [00:27:33] Speaker C: Oh, sure. [00:27:34] Speaker A: Excellent. So then you will be grateful, then, those of you, as you pile in for the breeze, windows down, it's still sticky, but at least you have that nice, cool air. And you are mentioning the art collect. There's a bit of information that comes out all in the context of this conversation that you mentioned, that you're looking for the U boat. And that is actually one of the things that Marie has been pursuing here. Pierre mentioned he was going to kind of push this angle. Could she do some legwork ahead of time? And she has, in fact, identified that the locals. It was about 25 years ago when the war was. Went on the beach to watch this naval battle between like, allied forces and some invisible enemy. They didn't know what a submarine was at the time, and it's not clear that they understand naval warfare in that way. But they could see the allied ships circling around and I. An explosion thrown out in the air and all that. Then the island is liberated, things kind of go back to normal. There are many, many, many, many shipwrecks in the area, both from before the war, a lot more during the war. And, like, even now, something gets knocked across a sandbar or whatever. But based on the location of the battle and kind of everything goes. It's most dense near this coral reef, which is only 14 ish miles off the coast. They have never, like, no one's, of course, been diving to look for. There's no salvage operations. Local fishermen just know you don't throw your nets there if you like your nets, because they're going to get caught on something and go away. That is about as far as she's been able to narrow it down. When you mention the art dealer, you get this, like, just disgust eye roll. Imagine the same kind of face, like, someone you would make if someone, like, reminded you of an ex you're not proud of, and like, hey, vy, remember that one time with a little jimmy? And you're like, that face, and she's very quick to say, like, yeah, look, I mean, after the war. Yeah, I get it. In Germany, it's not super popular to be a Nazi right now, but there are all kinds of people who just, like. It's like a fetish for them, and they just collect things. But he's mostly just weird. I've been keeping an eye on him, but no, aside from having incredibly questionable taste in art and a kind of misguided sense of history, he's mostly just a rich guy. [00:30:02] Speaker D: What about the coelacanths, Emma, tell her about the coelacanths. They're probably super important. I think we have the document. Wave the document at her. [00:30:15] Speaker A: Wave the document. Oh, I didn't think we were going to the ships. I thought we were actually going to talk about the coelacanth. And I was like, how do I get myself out of this situation? [00:30:25] Speaker D: I mentioned the general context of that there might be a marine expedition. [00:30:31] Speaker A: Yes. [00:30:33] Speaker C: Have you been keeping an eye out on the. Any of the, well, non fishing ships or none of the local ships? Because we have the information that there's a research vessel heading out. [00:30:48] Speaker D: Research vessel? [00:30:50] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:30:51] Speaker A: That causes her to arch and eyebrows. She doesn't know a ton about the vessel specifically. She knows nothing at all about coelacanths. You'd mentioned that, and it's just like, in one ear, you can see the light in the eyes go out as that fact passes through her head and then comes out the other side. But she does know there's only one dock in the area that would be available for that again. So this is post World War two cities like this that the allies came in and built enormous infrastructure, but only enough that they needed. And then the towns and the countries afterwards can't really maintain the whole american industrial complex that requires. So there are only a few piers left in service that could host a vessel like that. Everything else has been kind of left to ruin or taken over by fishermen. So she'd be happy to show you where that is if you wanted to go check it out. [00:31:42] Speaker D: I feel like we should. Do we think they're octopus, or do we think they're rivals to Octopus? Because Pierre was investigating the ship, and then Pierre got heisted. Right. So I feel like they're all in it together. And if we find that ship, we find octopuse and we find Pierre. [00:31:59] Speaker C: So though there was, gosh, the contact that Pierre came was indeed coming to look for through the warhouse. [00:32:12] Speaker D: Johann Fresno. Yes, the survivor. He'd know. [00:32:22] Speaker A: Whether or not the people on the expedition are working for octopus or are just nazis. It's a bit like if you are sitting at a table, twelve people and one member of octopus, you're sitting with 13 members of octopus. Right. Same kind of thing. So even if it is independent, it's not that far away, would be your guess. Also, recall that the woman who. I wanted to say sword fight, but it was actually this chicken feather with you was definitely octopus. So. So that's all that tied up. [00:32:52] Speaker D: Marie, do you know a chap called Johann Fresner? [00:32:57] Speaker A: She's heard the name. [00:32:58] Speaker D: I can all cry. [00:32:59] Speaker A: She's heard the name because Pier had put it forward. She hasn't actually been able to really pin him down and find him. But that's also an area that you could explore. She knows the area, so she can get you to locals and she can take you to different places, but she has not been able, as of yet, to locate Johan. [00:33:22] Speaker D: I say we sneak aboard that boat and search it and then hide. [00:33:29] Speaker C: Yes. If it hasn't already left. I think that's probably a good idea. It'd be interesting to see what they're. [00:33:35] Speaker D: Up to on the boat if it is just leaving. Like, if we were arriving as it was leaving, I could maybe, like, backflip. Onto the boat from the dock. No, I'm not going to do that. That sounds terrible. [00:33:48] Speaker A: I retract on the boat. [00:33:50] Speaker C: I'm not much for backflipping. [00:33:53] Speaker D: I just wanted an opportunity to backflip, but now that I think about it, that would be backflipping across open water, and I'm not going to do that. I'm not going to do that. We're going to scratch that. Scratch that plan. Maybe we don't need to go see a boat at all. Do boats really need to be involved? Is this. Is this really a mystery that that involves boats? I don't think so. [00:34:11] Speaker A: We're looking for a boat apart from that. [00:34:14] Speaker C: Yeah. It's perhaps on the boat is the thing. [00:34:18] Speaker D: Yeah, right, fine. Okay. A little bit of boating may be involved. It's probably fine. [00:34:23] Speaker A: So I'll tell you that whether or not Pierre is on the boat, the Ms. Adonia is the vessel that octopus has kitted out to go find this. So if there's any information that octopus has that you don't, it would be on the boat. If your intent is to stop octopus from getting it, you could deal with Theodonia that way. Sabotage it, ruin their equipment, whatever. Stop them. You as silicors then have to go to sea because, yeah, you don't want to. You don't want to just be like, all right, we've sabotaged their one boat. Surely that is the end of their effort and they will never go again. Right. [00:34:56] Speaker D: But find gold before they do. [00:34:58] Speaker A: Yeah, but that is definitely an option. I will post for you in the chat what the Adonia looks like. You can get a proper sense of the scale that is for you. Maybe a boat might be a thing. We can sneak on and hide out and ambush when it's the right time. [00:35:26] Speaker D: Marie, to the docks. [00:35:30] Speaker A: Very well. Is this the kind of thing you want to do during the day or waiting for night? I think it would be best at night, especially if they haven't set out yet. [00:35:40] Speaker C: The COVID of night falls. [00:35:42] Speaker D: I would like to check that they're still there. [00:35:46] Speaker C: Situations indeed. [00:35:49] Speaker A: Yeah. The boat hasn't left yet. Some more context information that you would have been able to get. Well, actually, maybe not because things like the manifest and the shipping records you really wouldn't have access to. That's the kind of thing that would be in the harbor master's office. [00:36:05] Speaker D: Ooh, I thought you said there's only one. One dock and the rest of the shipping boat. [00:36:11] Speaker A: So we could see. [00:36:12] Speaker D: We can see if it's still there. Right? [00:36:13] Speaker A: Yes. You can see if it's still there. But what I meant was, if you wanted to know, like, the cargo manifest or the history of the vessel, who it's registered to, all of that would be in the harbor master's office. [00:36:22] Speaker D: Can we. Can we go to the dock? We see that it's still there. Can we ask around and try and find out what time it's leaving? Can we do a call before. I just don't want to go off doing a little sneaky sneak into the hub. Must often come back and it's gone. And we're like, God damn it. [00:36:42] Speaker A: So you. Would you be able to tell they're. [00:36:45] Speaker D: Not ready yet, right? They're still loading? [00:36:47] Speaker A: Yeah, there's crates and stuff around. [00:36:52] Speaker D: Okay. Do you think getting into the harbour master's office would need some backflips? [00:36:59] Speaker B: Oh, most definitely. I mean, how else do you get into the harbour master's office? I mean, I guess you could walk through, but, like, backflip through so much better. [00:37:08] Speaker D: I do some backflips. What's the harm? I saw it. [00:37:16] Speaker A: Are. Are you all going together? So it's like, it's Sonia, Frederick and Emma. [00:37:20] Speaker D: Yes. [00:37:21] Speaker A: And then Katarina backflipping? Yeah. [00:37:24] Speaker D: Yeah. [00:37:27] Speaker A: Is Katerina backflipping in the front of the line or at the back of the line? [00:37:30] Speaker D: Next? We're all walking in a row, and I'm just, like, next to them. [00:37:33] Speaker C: Just. [00:37:34] Speaker A: Excellent. [00:37:36] Speaker C: I think I'm probably gonna knock and draw out the harbor master. If I. They are in there, I quickly stand. [00:37:44] Speaker D: Up from my last backflip so that. [00:37:46] Speaker B: They don't see me. [00:37:49] Speaker A: If we're going in. That was the d ten just escaping. If we are going at night, the harbor master, that's a nine to five job. It's a union job. Not going to be there unless something else going on. But we will say there's a couple of guards patrolling around, not with any particular urgency. These are just folks like, to keep kids from getting into trouble. So one stealth check for the group would. If someone wants to lead that endeavor. [00:38:16] Speaker D: I would like to. Once again, I would like to stop backflipping and go, you know what? Actually, I just remembered, backflipping is not the most stealthy way to get around. [00:38:25] Speaker A: Exactly. Could I spend some story points to say, like, I don't know if there are, like, lights around here, that they're having some problems. [00:38:35] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:38:35] Speaker A: So it's a little bit easier to stick to darkness, if you'd like. Yeah. You'll get plus two pips on your on your roll. In exchange for two spins. [00:38:46] Speaker D: I'm gonna spend two story points to flip mine. Oh, no, I don't need to. It's a two ends in a 292. Okay, good. [00:38:55] Speaker A: I will say that I'm so counting as password roll. We're good. Like I. Oh, God, this. We're not gonna roll four times. And then one person fails and then it was all for not. That's, that's some ridiculous D and D. And we don't do that here. So the. Yes. And I also wanted to say, katerina, there's nothing in the rules that says you cannot backflip stealthily. So you can you can I do. [00:39:18] Speaker D: One extra little cheeky little stealth backflip? Because I can't resist. [00:39:23] Speaker A: So that will get you to the harbor master's office. It is locked, but not in a meaningful way. Again, is there anything of value here? No, it's locked to keep the honest people honest and the adventurers not being adventurous. So quite easy to go inside. Can I get a search? [00:39:41] Speaker D: Sorry, I was just going to say I think Katarina sort of makes a big deal. I was like, don't worry, everyone. I will tackle this fiendish challenge. It may take me some time. And then it's just like, I'm like, oh, no. Okay, nevermind. Open the door. [00:39:55] Speaker A: Peeks open. It's also, like, wooden. It wouldn't have been that hard to just bash it down if you needed to once you're inside. Because it is. Again. So on the bright side, it's not a professional harbor master's office. So it's very easy to get inside. On the not bright side, it's not a professional harbor master's office. Shit is everywhere. So I would take investigation or search to find the actual information you're looking for. [00:40:22] Speaker C: Decent enough search. [00:40:23] Speaker A: I got a 45 in search. [00:40:25] Speaker C: Got 65. [00:40:27] Speaker A: Yours is better than mine. I go to 45. [00:40:36] Speaker C: So apparently I can only roll high and this is another 100. [00:40:43] Speaker D: No, what are you doing? It's not doubles on a t 100. It's not technically a cryptical fail. [00:40:50] Speaker A: No. ESP doubles through that. I think the problem is that it's unorganized and that just like Frederick, you know, when you like, you've let laundry Frederick. [00:41:00] Speaker C: Frederick is me and has ADHD and is like, oh, but this should really go here. And now is organizing this. [00:41:08] Speaker D: Oops. [00:41:10] Speaker B: Can I make an argument for red tape? [00:41:16] Speaker D: Oh, it's admin, right? It's like. [00:41:18] Speaker B: So yeah, so it's, it's kind of like it. I know this isn't exactly. Searching archives. But we are looking for, like, documents on, like, the ships and stuff in the harbor. If not, that's fine. [00:41:34] Speaker A: Yeah. Because I think red tape would be good if it were organized bureaucratically. [00:41:41] Speaker B: Okay, all right. I just. I had to ask. [00:41:43] Speaker A: No, I appreciate the energy and under almost any other circumflex. Yeah, sure, whatever. But this is. [00:41:49] Speaker B: But this is now. Yeah. [00:41:50] Speaker C: Okay. [00:41:51] Speaker A: This is a lot less like trying to find something in an organized sock drawer and more like there's a pile of laundry in the center of the room, and you're looking for the one t shirt, right? [00:41:59] Speaker C: Mm hmm. [00:42:02] Speaker D: Do you want to roll something or should I? [00:42:06] Speaker B: I assumed you had a high search. You'd be wrong. You'd be wrong. Investigation, investigation, investigation. Yes, I can. I can. I'm great at investigating. I'm terrible at searching. [00:42:20] Speaker D: Yes. [00:42:23] Speaker B: That is 61. [00:42:27] Speaker A: Does that pass? [00:42:28] Speaker B: It does, yes. Apologies. Mine is 65, so yes, it passes. Just barely, but it passes. [00:42:34] Speaker A: Then it's a combination of effort, because what has happened is that Frederick is getting distracted trying to organize the place, and that is actually helping you process of elimination things because, you know, everything that's in a proper stack is nothing. What you're looking for. And the two of you, like, not working together on purpose, but ending up in like, a symbiotic kind of system located. [00:42:55] Speaker B: Love that. [00:42:56] Speaker A: So what you will find is that the Ms. Adonia is a Royal Navy surplus vessel. It was released after the war. It used to be a minesweeper, and then it was donated to the University of Hamburg after the war and then converted into a research vessel. This information is not in the documents, but will be good for you to know. It is 42 meters long and then 7.6 meters across at the beam. So the fattest part, side to side, has a crew of up to 27 passengers, and it will be. It is currently anchored in the harbor for resupply. It is due to depart sometime after noon tomorrow to go out on its mission. [00:43:49] Speaker B: What exactly is it resupplying right now? Are there manifests that tell us if there's anything aside from food or water, anything interesting? [00:44:04] Speaker A: Yeah, there's the normal equipment that you would expect. Right? Like canned peach or peaches canned comma 40. Right. The other information is that they are taking a diving bell with an airlock on board that had to be registered and brought in. That specific technology is on loan here from Adwinar Schifart GmbH. It's a german company. It's not important. Don't bother writing it down. The point is that they had to bring in special equipment that got customs warehouse moved to the thing. And along with that diving bell, there are pressurized diving suits, a deep sea air compressor, scuba gear, and underwater cutting torches. In addition to those things, which are obviously not coelacanth related, there is no fishing equipment or lab science equipment. They are loading up people, food, and underwater fuckery equipment. [00:45:06] Speaker C: Is there anything on the manifest about where those items are located before they get on the ship? [00:45:16] Speaker A: I guess. Do I know enough about this to improvise? I think that. Okay. It would have come in on a crate. The crate would have been numbered or labeled, right? I don't know if you've done serialized yet. So either it's on the boat and you could find it already installed or is on the dock, and you'd be able to tell based on the crate number, right? Yes. Does that sound plausible? [00:45:38] Speaker C: Yeah. Yeah, I think so. I just. I'm just thinking perhaps we can thwart them in a way and secure some of this stuff for ourselves. [00:45:48] Speaker D: I stitched. I'm very pro heisting, of all things, while this has been going on, talking about heisting, I am trying to, like, climb up to the most awkward point to reach in the ceiling of what I assume is quite a small office, so there's not a lot of creativity to go with. And just, like, tying a white ribbon to maybe, like, the, like, bare plastic of a light bulb. [00:46:12] Speaker A: Excellent. I'm the lookout. [00:46:16] Speaker D: Good idea. Sonia. [00:46:18] Speaker B: The harbor master is gonna come in. He's going to find his office completely reorganized and then see the white ribbon and be like, oh, how that white ribbon to organize my office. [00:46:30] Speaker D: You know what? I am happy to be known for a wide variety of deeds. I mainly just want to be known. That's. I've got to admit, that's. [00:46:40] Speaker A: That's a mood. We all just want to be known. [00:46:42] Speaker D: That's what I'm really going for. [00:46:44] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:46:45] Speaker A: Some people it's steal from the rich and give to the poor. Katarina. Steal from the rich, for sure. I don't know about giving away to the poor, but I will help them with their admin. [00:46:56] Speaker D: No, no. I will get Frederick to help them with their admin. I don't do that. Frederick, if this takes off, we're going to need to become a double act. Okay. [00:47:08] Speaker C: Really ignoring you because is far too engrossed. [00:47:11] Speaker A: Yeah, well, yes, if you'd like to heist the equipment. That is hilarious. Oh, my God. Happy to do that. If you wanted to just sabotage it. So, like, they load it up and. [00:47:23] Speaker D: Then it'll so much easier, but less fun. [00:47:26] Speaker A: So I think the argument would be equipment. Yes. [00:47:29] Speaker D: Oh, yes. [00:47:29] Speaker A: Yes. So I will say it's gonna be harder for you to get away with the equipment because that is a benefit that you get. If you just want to take a benefit away from them, that's going to be narratively easier. So we'll handle that. [00:47:41] Speaker C: Can I. Can I just spend some story points to blah, blah, blah, blah for there to be another ship on this manifest that we could possibly get it onto that is reasonably nearby, just to give us a. [00:47:55] Speaker D: So it would look like we're just going from here to there. Is this a ship that you say dock? [00:48:01] Speaker A: Is this a ship that you just want to stash it away on so they don't know where it is or one that you want to, like, commission for yourselves? [00:48:07] Speaker C: And, yes, I do believe we might commission this ship as well. And just in case. [00:48:13] Speaker A: Um, yeah. You understand story points because there are other ships here. There aren't, like a ton earlier when I said the Adonia would have to be at this dock, this is the only dock that can hold those ships, but it is also a port where bigger and smaller ships are coming. And you would be able to locate something. I would say that your. Your story point. Spend. There would be. There's probably an old trawler, right? Like, this is a Royal Navy mine layer. There's also, like, a Royal Navy putter around in the water, like coast guard y kind of one surplus or like an old american tug that you could get. And if you wanted it to be perhaps more sophisticated or more seaworthy, then that would be something to. [00:48:54] Speaker C: Yeah, yeah, I'm happy to spend them. Is that a two or a six? [00:49:00] Speaker A: Kind of depends on what you want out of it. [00:49:04] Speaker D: I think. Assuming that there's another finding and obtaining a boat happening, I think if Catrina looks at the little less swanky ship while you're there, Frederick, she might nudge you towards, like, yeah, that's. That's. That's a little small, isn't it? Oh, his little. Little ickle. [00:49:30] Speaker B: Look at that little ickle chip. Have you. [00:49:32] Speaker D: Have you considered, is there a cruise liner available? Some sort of transatlantic type vessel? [00:49:40] Speaker C: Katarina, we don't necessarily want to draw all of the notice. [00:49:45] Speaker D: Something sort of big and very, very stable, something unsinkable. But actually, this time. [00:49:51] Speaker A: Well, let's. Let's abstract this for a moment. So you have this. This kind of, like, you have this, like, leaky rust bucket trawler, right, for two story points. We can say that it's still going to be cramped, but it's incredibly more seaworthy in a way that will make Caterina feel better. And if you wanted to go to six, then it was actually like a proper military. Vestival. Vestival. A proper military vessel. It will have vestival. It's a. It's a holiday where we all just, you know, it will have. It'll be faster, it'll be more resistant to explosions. That's the kind of thing that happened. More. More horsepower in the engine, more stuff like that. So we can go from those levels. [00:50:28] Speaker C: I'll spend the six. [00:50:30] Speaker D: Why don't I spend the six? I was the one who was pushing for it. I'll spend six. [00:50:34] Speaker C: Okay. [00:50:38] Speaker A: Can I pause, though? Because what we've done chronologically created a little bit of a pickle, because as it is now, you're going to heist these things onto their boat and then show up the next day and be like, hello, we're the people who heist things onto your boat. We'd like to hire you. So do we want to, like, kind of, like, do a flashback? It's a good idea. Yeah. [00:50:57] Speaker D: Remember when we hired that really seaworthy, very stable, very large, unsinkable ship earlier? I loved that. That was good times, wasn't it? [00:51:04] Speaker A: Such a wonderful, nice captain. Man of a captain. [00:51:08] Speaker D: Oh, he was so sweet. [00:51:09] Speaker A: He's a nice man of a captain. He is not a generous, work for free kind of a captain. And Emma has already used the Emma cash. [00:51:17] Speaker D: Why did you give away a wad of cash? [00:51:19] Speaker B: Wha. Yeah. I'm gonna shove you into the water. [00:51:25] Speaker D: You. [00:51:25] Speaker A: Actually, I do. I don't think. I don't think she's going to. [00:51:35] Speaker B: Not yet. [00:51:38] Speaker A: Sonia, you were saying? I have. I have stat in status. So, like, you know, like, I am relatively famous. Like, lean into that. I don't know how much I have in the way of assets, but you can roll status on the idea. Like, I'm good for it, right? Yeah, I'm good for it. [00:52:02] Speaker B: Oh, hold on, hold on. I have been everywhere. Can I spend a story point to happen to know somebody with a boat at this location? [00:52:14] Speaker A: Know this very nice captain? [00:52:16] Speaker D: Can it be this particular nice boat? Because I like this one, this specific one. [00:52:22] Speaker A: We've gotten so many different things tangled up in order, so it had to be like, yes, you can spend a story point to know this captain. And then. And Katarina has to spend the story point and be like, also, by the way, his boat doesn't suck yes. [00:52:34] Speaker D: Yes. [00:52:34] Speaker A: And then we get to Sonia saying, like, okay, cool, yeah, I know you. I can't put fucking knowing people into the engine of my ship to make it go. So then, Sonia, you'll get plus two pips on the back of Emma's connection on your status role to say, I'm good for it. We'll get you paid. Does that make sense? [00:52:52] Speaker B: I love that. Yes. Yes. [00:52:56] Speaker A: This is blades in the dark. It's going my own flashback on. A flashback. Oh, God. Yeah, we're doing inception. And, yeah, there's. It is a 41 out of 45. Yeah. Okay, there you go. Passes underneath your pips, too, so that we're good to go. Then that meeting, which we have just, like, blitzed through, but that's okay. Is, uh. So to set the narrative, how. How did we get here? We got off the plane, we gave a very confused woman a hot chocolate, we drove into town. As you're going, you ask above the art gallery. Nah, just a nazi pediatric. No big deal. Do you know where Johan is? I mean, no, I kind of. What about the boat? Yeah. And, like, also, hey, Emma says, I used to know so and so. Is he around? Or you can say, oh, so and so is probably at the bar. Like, he has been. Whatever. You go, you meet so and so. He's like, of course, I'd love to help you with a boat. Like, yeah, you know, we go way back. Remember that one time, some people on that whale watching cruise? And then it was like, wow, this boat's a lot shittier than I remember. And Katarina goes, I wish this boat was better. And then, as if by magic, it is better. [00:54:06] Speaker D: Not what happens in the narrative, is it? [00:54:08] Speaker A: Yeah. Oh, no. So Emma's like, wow, this boat looks a lot better than like I remember. He's like, yeah, I've been doing really good business, so I've been able to upgrade, but my operating costs are higher, so I can't just take you around for free. And then Sonia says, it's okay. I'm Sonja fucking Volkov. I'm good for it. And he's like, oh, wow. One of the only foreign names that I remember from the newspapers coming in, reporting race results. Okay, that all makes sense at this point. Do you intend to tell him that? You're gonna be like, oh, yeah, we'll pack our goods on and then just not mention the cargo bit like, let that be a thing he discovers. [00:54:47] Speaker B: Yeah, I think I. Cause, you know, since I know him, right? And we go way back to that whale watching cruise. I think is what you said. I'll say, you know, we do need to leave tomorrow, and I know this is very short notice, so we will take care of getting all of our items on board and ready to set sail tomorrow. [00:55:10] Speaker A: Excellent. Okay, so then totally fine. He writes up a little, like, a little contract, a little bill. Sonia signs it. Then you go, more stuff. Wait until nighttime, have some drinks, see the locals, go to the beach, whatever, however you want to spend that time. Then we arrive at the back flipping stealthily into the Harvard masters office, loading the thing. And now Frederick has said, wait a minute, we can steal all their very expensive shit and put it on. Emma, what's the captain's name? [00:55:39] Speaker B: The captain's name is. Well, I call him Marky Mark. You know it? Yeah. [00:55:49] Speaker A: I like this because I want him to have been, at one point, a marquee, like an actual french marquis, and he was here doing, like, viceroy shit. Kind of like, like third son. Not important. So his name is Marc, but it's Marquis Mark, and now it's Marky. [00:56:04] Speaker B: Marky Mark. Exactly. Yes. [00:56:07] Speaker A: At some point, he's going to form a band with some very funky gentlemen, and they're going to take off, but not. Not today. So Captain Mark signs the bill. You say, we're going to load this stuff up. Frederick, this is where we arrive. Now we can get to loading these things up. The crate's fairly big. Diving bells are super heavy, so we need some machinery. There are forklifts around, of course, but there are also guards. So what's the next move? [00:56:38] Speaker C: You know, this is a wide look. Quite a large dock. Quite, yeah. So, you know, one of those lights that just kind of went out a little bit. Maybe it didn't just go out. Maybe it sparked a little bit, and maybe something might have caught a little fire. And the guards are going that way to investigate that as a bit of a distraction for some story points. [00:57:09] Speaker A: So if you want to get to the point where you're just completely ignoring the threats, then you got to go all the way up to six. For that. Two gets you an advantage. But if you just like, I don't want to fucking deal with this problem, that would be six. [00:57:20] Speaker C: I mean, that's the kind of thing that Frederick would specifically try and engineer. [00:57:26] Speaker A: They are not one for worth saying, like, if. Look at. So if you're ever stuck in any game, this works as advice for anyone watching. If you're ever stuck in the game and what to do, look at your character sheet, find the things you're good at, see how you can make that work in the situation? [00:57:44] Speaker C: Oh, no. Frederick will very literally jury rig something to break or blow up to create a distraction elsewhere. [00:57:54] Speaker A: Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. You can do that without story points or the cadre Amazonia, if you something on your shit. We're like, wait, how would I distract these guards? You, like, you can just choke them out, kill their car. That happens all the time, right? Like, you can find a way to make the narrative happen without being like, I'm just gonna spend three points because I don't have anything else going on. Right. So, Frederick, if you want to, like, sabotage a generator somewhere. I'm sorry, a Jenny somewhere, then by all means, have at. But if other folks want to jump in on it. [00:58:24] Speaker D: I think you should go for it. [00:58:26] Speaker C: Yeah, I think I'm sabotaging with Jenny. [00:58:30] Speaker A: Okay, so machinery or mechanics. I don't recall top of my head, what the skill is called. [00:58:37] Speaker C: There is one. [00:58:38] Speaker A: Or engineering would work. [00:58:39] Speaker C: Engineering. Engineering is my better skill, but by rules, they're always terrible, so. Oh, I say that and I get a 29, so. Right, either one is fine. It happens, happens. So, good. [00:58:56] Speaker A: Outstanding. Then, yes, you are able to effectuate the outcome you are looking for. [00:59:01] Speaker C: I'm gonna assume in such a way that I am nowhere near it when they come towards it to look. [00:59:06] Speaker A: Oh, yeah. Oh, no. You took timed fuses in engineering undergrad like you are. You know how to put a time delay switch on something. Something fun. I also assume that you let everyone else know that this was happening. [00:59:21] Speaker C: Oh, yes. [00:59:23] Speaker A: So then we have Frederick sets it up, sets the timer. You all sneak out of the harbor master's office. Three of you are doing a little sneaky, sneaky, Katarina, still very stealthily backflipping. You get to another crate, the guards are pathing, and you're all stacked up against it. A bit like the Three Stooges where you're all peeking around. Head, head. And then what noise does the generator make when it goes off, Frederick? [00:59:49] Speaker C: It's this. I won't make it because that would be awful for everybody. But it's this kind of whine that gets louder and louder and almost as if it's going to start shaking off its platform. And then there's just this really loud crash and explosion like that, like you've. [01:00:13] Speaker A: Taken off, like the rate limiter. So it's the sound of the gear spinning faster and faster and faster, and then eventually, like, goes out of tolerance, and then the gear flies off the edge and the machine just kind of comes apart. Excellent. So, yes, a proper industrial cacophony coming out. And that is the signal. Now, again, crates. Very heavy. Bless you. How are we gonna get him on the boat? [01:00:41] Speaker B: I'm not forklift certified. Sorry. [01:00:44] Speaker A: I can drive, am I? Forklift? Yeah. There is no subset of forklift skill. So I assume the author's intent is that if you can drive a race car, you can drive a forklift. Don't let Reddit know. But that's actually where Sonya came up on the racing circuit. You don't get to start at Formula one, so she actually got her start in the local forklift racing circuitous. Exactly. I'll take it. Yeah. Are the keys in it? I don't know. Story points? Yeah. Keys. Doing it. Else you could do, press the digitation to hotwire a forklift, because we are. Well, well, before. [01:01:24] Speaker C: So much more fun. [01:01:25] Speaker A: Sorry, I mean, I don't have great prestigitation. I happen to know people here who do. [01:01:33] Speaker B: Mm hmm, mm hmm. Had arena did to do with. [01:01:36] Speaker D: Is it to do with locks and keys and breaking into things? Can I break into something? Please? [01:01:41] Speaker A: Hot wire a forklift. [01:01:44] Speaker D: Okay, where do I leave the ribbon in that scenario? [01:01:47] Speaker A: Or hide on the steering wheel? [01:01:51] Speaker B: Oh, in the place of the crate. I like that. [01:01:54] Speaker D: Okay. Okay, great. [01:01:55] Speaker C: Okay. [01:01:55] Speaker D: That's fine, then. Okay, I'm gonna try and hot wheel for. Not my usual hospital. [01:02:01] Speaker C: Oh, no. [01:02:06] Speaker D: As an 81 over 65, you not. [01:02:10] Speaker A: Have a lock picky thing that gives you pips on unsecured? [01:02:13] Speaker D: No, but I can spend one story point for lockpicker, if you will allow me. Oh, yeah? Precision or engineering? I should spend one story point to make that an 80. [01:02:24] Speaker A: It is not the most interesting or prestigious prestige you've done, but it comes across, and then. Sonia, this is not a pass fail situation. This is a see how long it takes situation. Will you make your drive check. Sure. How long has it been since you've driven a forklift? It's been a couple of years. At least. Are forklifts like bicycles? Wait a couple of years? Whoa. I haven't. I was thinking it'd be way longer. You know, sometimes you gotta get back to your fork with racing roots. [01:02:55] Speaker B: Look, she. She had to do something when she was, like, off the. Off the circuit. [01:03:00] Speaker D: Right? [01:03:00] Speaker B: Like, she had a job. Okay. [01:03:01] Speaker D: Yeah. [01:03:02] Speaker A: Before she started winning money, she would race Formula One and then the off season was forklift driver and some doc. Yep. Yep. [01:03:11] Speaker B: Absolutely. [01:03:12] Speaker A: Yeah. You gotta earn money, especially when you don't have those sponsors. I understand. Completely expensive. You know, I don't have, like, Red Bull paying for my, you know, car. And I got a 64 out of 75. Okay. So it's not going to proceed, like, exceptionally quickly, but it's not going to take a long time. I have to follow procedure. Right. If you. If you fucked around, they would take your license away. So that's. I got to have that backup job. We'll get you. That will cover the diving bell and the airlock. That is the big stuff that requires the forklift. The rest of you are. You're the ones that be handling the compressor and the scuba gear and all that stuff. [01:03:58] Speaker B: Mm hmm, absolutely. [01:04:00] Speaker A: So, that being the case, we can do, like, a strength check to haul the entire thing together. If you just want to pull stuff out, I'm getting that. But Sonia is going to be tied up with the diving, Bella, and we only have so much time before the guards are done with that rattling machinery. [01:04:17] Speaker D: Yeah, I say we prioritize the. Not the scuba gear, but everything that they were going to do down there, which must be hard to get, right. The underwater cutting torch and that sort of thing, because they could replace scuba gear quite easily, I imagine, compared to the other stuff. [01:04:38] Speaker C: Yes. [01:04:39] Speaker B: Okay. All right, well, let's say this. [01:04:44] Speaker A: There are three of you. Any reasonable skill that you can come and think of a way that it would help you get the stuff. If you want to carry the torches, that's fine, but how are we going to get in the crate? Anytime someone fails, you will have to pick one item off the list that does not make it onto Mark's boat. [01:05:03] Speaker B: Oh, no. [01:05:04] Speaker C: Can I. Can I jury rig some kind of. [01:05:10] Speaker A: Words, like a dolly or a handcart? [01:05:13] Speaker D: Yes. [01:05:13] Speaker C: Or I could just find one, I guess. [01:05:16] Speaker D: No, make one. [01:05:19] Speaker C: Okay, I'm going to reinvent the wheel. [01:05:24] Speaker D: These donuts would be perfect. [01:05:27] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah. By all means. Vehicles, I think, is most appropriate. Engineering also works. [01:05:37] Speaker C: 25, so. Yes, absolutely. [01:05:40] Speaker D: Nice. [01:05:40] Speaker C: It's even better than anything they could have possibly had. [01:05:43] Speaker A: Gonna come back and be like, damn, this is nice. Emma, Katarina, what about you? [01:05:54] Speaker D: I am going to use my very relevant skills. Can I? Because the most useful thing that I could do is, like, keep an eye out and make sure we don't get got, like, using, like, security and stuff like that. But does that. That doesn't quite count as, like, lifting and carrying things. While. While I'm lifting and carrying things, I. [01:06:20] Speaker A: Don'T want you to think about something I have to do to lift and carry. I'm saying we're having a seat, like, in this big narrative. [01:06:25] Speaker D: Oh, okay. [01:06:26] Speaker A: Sony is hauling the thing, and then Freddy made a cart. How are you contributing to, like, this little ocean's eleven moment? [01:06:32] Speaker D: Yeah, I'm keeping an eye out for the people who I'm basically. There are going to be some people who are still around, people who are looking. I'm, like, occasionally shouting, like, freeze, and then everyone just, like, freezes where they are without moving. Yeah. [01:06:48] Speaker A: All right, assault security, then, from you, Emma. Did you come up with anything 52 under 75? [01:06:57] Speaker B: Uh, unfortunately not. Not really. Um, I'm. I'm super useless, unfortunately. I apologize. [01:07:08] Speaker D: Why don't you form your red tape into a sort of basket and then put the scoop gear in the basket? [01:07:16] Speaker A: Not for nothing, customs is red tape. So rolling red tape to, like, be able to. I don't to take, like, the custom seals apart without causing trouble or to replace them with something else so that doesn't, like, things been stolen. All of that is definitely in the universe of red tape. I know you're in the import expert business. [01:07:37] Speaker B: Yeah, I haven't. So. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you. I was like, I. [01:07:41] Speaker A: That. [01:07:41] Speaker B: I was like, well, how can I use red tape? Could not figure it out. Sure, let's attempt that, because that is probably gonna be the best way that I can be useful. That is a. Oh, God. Okay, well, that's an 82, so less useful, then. [01:08:08] Speaker A: I will let you decide. [01:08:11] Speaker B: I can spend one story point to flip red tape because I'm not home. Okay, so I'm going to do that. So it is a 28 instead, which is much better. 28 under 65. [01:08:25] Speaker A: So then we have assembled this. This scene where Sonia has the forklift, and then she's driving it up and getting it settled exactly on the marks, you know, proper load balancing. She didn't spend six weeks in that class for nuts. And then Frederick has the cart, and then Emma has procured a clipboard from somewhere and has the pencil and is like, yeah, now that one, that one, and that one. And Frederick has the cart and is getting it. And then, like, the two of you are pushing it behind, and Katherine yells, stop. And then you kind of freeze in place. And then a guard, like, walks by, and then she's like, and then the cart wheels behind the guard now, right? And you manage to get all of these loaded up on Mark's shit. At some point, I'm going to ask somebody what the name is, so I'm not gonna be on the spot right now because that's hard to do. But between the four of you, like, thinking of boat names, because I'm gonna grab somebody in the future, and then you extricate yourself from the situation. You have stolen the gear from the octopus. I think in our flashback land, it makes sense that you have stolen it. You want to leave at the right time because if it's on the boat still in 8 hours and, like, you're having breakfast, octopus is gonna be like, hey, that's our shit on that boat. Right? You need to be taken off ahead of time. So do you want to say it's in the morning? That happens. [01:09:46] Speaker D: We want to leave early. [01:09:47] Speaker A: Right? [01:09:47] Speaker D: Early. [01:09:47] Speaker A: Early like. [01:09:49] Speaker B: Well, yeah, because if they're wake up. [01:09:51] Speaker C: If. [01:09:51] Speaker B: Yeah, if octopus is leaving in the afternoon, we should get there before them. [01:09:56] Speaker D: We're going to get there before them. We're going to find the goal. We're going to be super rich. We may or may not heist Pierre back at some point. [01:10:05] Speaker C: I don't know. [01:10:06] Speaker D: That's. Yeah, but gold. [01:10:07] Speaker C: Oh, yes. If we get it before them, then whilst they're down there looking for it, they. [01:10:15] Speaker D: Then we can hike in. Pierre. [01:10:17] Speaker C: Yes. [01:10:18] Speaker D: That's so clever. You're so smart. You're so smart. Also, we'll be really rich. So I love this plan. [01:10:26] Speaker A: None of you have very good strength. And gold is heavy, so I'm looking forward to that. [01:10:29] Speaker D: Yeah, boy. Oh, also I left white ribbon. [01:10:32] Speaker A: I mean, I got you. I got a 45 strength. [01:10:36] Speaker C: Nice. [01:10:37] Speaker A: It's not amazing, but it's not horrid. [01:10:39] Speaker C: When you don't have strengths, you have. When you don't have strength, you have pulley systems. [01:10:44] Speaker A: Oh, yeah. You don't need to be strong. That's Frederick's like, I don't need to be strong. I have a mastery of simple machines. [01:10:51] Speaker B: Mm hmm. Mm hmm. [01:10:53] Speaker A: Ah. All right. Um, then we're gonna head off in the morning. It's gonna be on your navigation to find the u boat if we're leaving without going. [01:11:03] Speaker C: No, wait. [01:11:04] Speaker D: We forgot to get any information about where it was. We know a coral reef. All we know is coral Reef. [01:11:09] Speaker A: Yeah, we know coral Reef, where they say, don't take your net. [01:11:12] Speaker C: Oh, yes. We were going to sneak onto the boat. [01:11:15] Speaker D: We did sneak onto the boat. [01:11:17] Speaker C: Wait. [01:11:17] Speaker A: Took their equipment. [01:11:18] Speaker D: Instead of figuring out, we forgot to search. Can we do a little bit of searching of their boat as well as during their birthday? Sorry, I forgot to search for information. [01:11:29] Speaker A: You want to search the Adonis? [01:11:32] Speaker D: Yes. [01:11:33] Speaker A: Okay. [01:11:34] Speaker D: While we're stealing things. [01:11:36] Speaker A: Yeah. We don't need to rewind because we can just say once you have loaded up the equipment, that's stage one. Stage two is then going to be to dip onto the. Sorry, the Odonia and take care of things. Now, I will say the Adoni is big. As you've seen the picture. There's actually room for a helicopter on it. So it's not a small boy. It would be. I'll put it this way. It's got like a D and D. This is what all the rooms are and what you find in them list in the adventure book. So going that way is a thing. You could. Ooh. You could. You could try to go find. You don't know where Johan is. Never mind. Hmm. I was gonna say you could make like a willpower check to stay awake and get that. Or you can just try to find it. It's kind of up to you. [01:12:28] Speaker D: I wanna. I wanna go onto the ship and try and find where, like, the nicest cabins are and look in, you know, whoever I think is probably Doctor Erwin Yeager's cabin. But, like, if it's not there, then it's not there. But that's because we've got limited time, right? So. [01:12:46] Speaker A: Well, first things first, we'll start with a little bit of information gathering, right? Because you want to. What's on the boat? What's the situation? So we can take alertness to kind of get an eye of the deck activity. [01:13:04] Speaker B: 46 under 65. [01:13:07] Speaker A: Cool. So the situation on the deck. You know what? I think this might be much. How much time did Emma spend with Marquis Mark? [01:13:21] Speaker B: You know, a decent amount. We were friends. He spoke the same languages that I spoke. So, yeah, I would say that we had, if nothing else, a very enjoyable weekend. [01:13:38] Speaker A: Okay, so you were on the boat long enough to kind of actually get a sense of sea life, right? Not like expertise. You're not a certified able seaman. But, like, you get the routine of it. And by watching, then you can get some sense of how the Adonia is operating. For one, based on the activity on the deck, most of the crew is probably on a shore leave. There are only a couple people up at the top are on the top deck. One of them is kind of patrolling around the edge of it. The other is smoking cigarettes on the gangway. So if you come, if you want to walk onto the boat, you're going to deal with him. If you want to sneak onto the boat, it's going to involve some water and some climbing. But the person is walking around. Most ships don't do this. It's like, it's particularly like a military vessel thing. But if, like, the captain is on the ship, it will have a flag. Kind of like how if the queen is home. They're the king now. The king has a special I'm home flag that flies over the castle where the king is. Right? Same way on ships. So you would be able to see that the captain is on board, which could be good news or bad news, depending on how you want to go it. Remembering the cars that were in the parking lot around, there might be, like, two or three or four people on board total, but most of the crew is not. So I don't know what kind of perspective that gives you on your desires. [01:15:07] Speaker D: Oh, I don't like it. [01:15:12] Speaker B: Are you getting a little cold feet over there, Kettle? [01:15:17] Speaker C: No. [01:15:18] Speaker D: I'm sure from everything you've said that I could heist anything that was on boat as long as I didn't have to go near the edge. And maybe not from the captain's quarters, but anything else totally, I could do. And also, if you wanted, I could probably get into the captain's quarters while the captain was there, just in bed, and they wouldn't even notice. So just. Just point me, Adam, really, whatever you like. I'll just backflip over there. Be fine. [01:15:55] Speaker A: We can up the ante with a question. Right. If Octopus has Pierre and they flew him here, and Pierre's the one who knows where the U boat is, where do you suspect Pierre is? [01:16:08] Speaker D: Don't know enough about boats for that. [01:16:10] Speaker B: I was gonna ask, so we. Yeah. Slightly above table question. I know you sent us the blueprint of the boat. Is this a thing that. [01:16:23] Speaker D: Absolutely not, we have? [01:16:24] Speaker B: Okay. I didn't think so. All right. [01:16:26] Speaker A: No, the top part. The top one. I wanted to get a sense of the size of it, because you can see the helicopter and, like, human for scale, but you do not have the information on the inside. And I don't mean, like, where on this boat is Pierre. I mean, Pierre's probably on the boat. [01:16:39] Speaker B: Yeah. [01:16:39] Speaker A: Right. [01:16:39] Speaker B: Yeah, of course. Of course. [01:16:41] Speaker D: Maybe we just. [01:16:44] Speaker B: We don't need to find the paperwork. We don't need to find out what they know. We just need to find Pierre. Well, if. Honestly, there doesn't seem to be that many people on board, and I think that a quick look around, we might be able to locate Pierre. And I think our. I think he's probably our best bet. [01:17:05] Speaker A: Find a room that locks from the outside. [01:17:09] Speaker D: Yeah, we just go around and find. [01:17:11] Speaker A: A locked door, or one that just locks from the outside, not the inside. [01:17:16] Speaker D: But how would you know? Well, most locks sort of go through the door and could lock them on both sides. Unless the key is literally in the lock on the outside. You wouldn't really know. You just. [01:17:25] Speaker A: Or they're all bathroom doors. Right. There's a lock on the one side, right? [01:17:29] Speaker D: Yeah. [01:17:29] Speaker B: Like, we have a. Yeah, exactly. [01:17:31] Speaker A: I mean, by Nanak. [01:17:33] Speaker D: Do you know what? Let's. Let's try it. [01:17:34] Speaker C: I don't know if a person could be in them, but I know on, like, naval ships or whatever, there are these incredibly heavy doors that you have to, like, release from the outside, but whether there would be somebody on the other side of it is a. I don't know. [01:17:50] Speaker A: Well, without getting. Without getting bonged into the weeds of naval engineering and architecture, if the plan is to get on the boat and search for Pierre and rescue him, then we kind of know where to start. That there is one patrolling guard on top of the ship and then one at the gangway. [01:18:05] Speaker B: Mm hmm. Mm hmm. Well, do we want to deal with the guard on the gangway? Do we want to sneak up the side? [01:18:15] Speaker D: Up the side. [01:18:17] Speaker B: Okay. Wait. [01:18:18] Speaker D: No, no. [01:18:19] Speaker C: I didn't know. [01:18:20] Speaker D: I'm sorry. That was supposed to sound incredulous. Not. [01:18:22] Speaker B: Oh, not approving. [01:18:25] Speaker D: Oh, my incredulous voice, darling. [01:18:27] Speaker C: Oh. [01:18:28] Speaker B: Oh, I'm sorry. I I'm so sorry. They all kind of sound the same once in a while. [01:18:33] Speaker D: Let me try again. Oh, snot. [01:18:35] Speaker B: There we go. There we go. Yes. Do you. Do not. Okay, well, then how would you like to deal with the guard on the gangway if you don't want to go off the side? [01:18:46] Speaker D: Well, maybe someone could just sort of. Yeah, Sonia could push him off the. [01:18:50] Speaker B: Edge just a little. That sounds like he would then yell, and then we would have a bigger problem on our hands. [01:18:58] Speaker D: Maybe he'd be in the water, so. [01:19:00] Speaker A: Spoosh. Spoosh. [01:19:04] Speaker C: Yes. Suggesting drowning ships can swim. I would. I would believe. [01:19:10] Speaker A: I remember that you were in a 1960 comic book movie. If you can sneak up on him and then give him the old hata in the back of the head, like, there's no screaming. That was my plan. Yeah. It's just wait for a time where he's walking up. Just take whatever, and just bonk on the back of the head. [01:19:28] Speaker D: Little bonk. [01:19:29] Speaker A: He's gonna take a nap. [01:19:30] Speaker C: Yeah. [01:19:30] Speaker D: Okay. Okay, great. Yes. Thanks, Sonia. If you could just sort of take care of that, that would be great. Thank you, darling. [01:19:35] Speaker A: We need two things, then, to make the situation come. First, we need a distraction or a sneak to get the drop on this person. And then we need a melee to actually land the blow. We need a combination. [01:19:48] Speaker C: Can we not say that they're somewhat distracted by the situation that had occurred. In terms of the jenny, we did. [01:19:57] Speaker A: Smaller story points on that end, and it's actually not their generator. They don't give a shit. Right? Like, remember, this is forces of octopus. They are guarding this boat. So if you want to, like, kind of, like one set of story points per obstacle kind of thing. [01:20:10] Speaker D: Could I try a cheeky security in order to get the timing right when he's sort of facing away and then, you know, get soldier to move here, here, here. So she's close and then turns away suddenly out of nowhere. [01:20:23] Speaker A: Yeah, I mean, he's not pathing, but security to have some kind of information, like, to do. Like they do call and response, right? To lure him somehow or to know when there's going to be a change or something. That's fine. [01:20:33] Speaker D: I'll try rolling it, see what happens. Wait, is that the good one or the bad one? Got a double zero and a one. [01:20:45] Speaker A: That is a one. [01:20:46] Speaker D: And it's a one. That's the good one, yes. Great, I got a one. [01:20:51] Speaker A: So Katarina gives you information. The fruit of the knowledge vine ripened over decades of watching guards path around while perched in the rafters of buildings. And then it comes time for Sonia to do what? Grab, like, one of Frederick's wrenches and sort of just move up behind? [01:21:13] Speaker C: Oh, very, very reluctantly given over. [01:21:19] Speaker A: Not to say I need to. If this were through Cthulhu, we'd have Frederick roll composure, taking the damage. This is psychic damage of having to give up the good wrench. Very well, then. [01:21:28] Speaker C: Oh, no, it's not the good one. [01:21:30] Speaker A: Right. Wait, hold on, Frederick. They're all good wrenches. You don't own bad wrenches. [01:21:34] Speaker C: I know. [01:21:37] Speaker A: Well, let's see if Frederick's good wrench does the good work. Sonja, what was your melee roll? Um, 6006. So there you go. Uh, Katerina and Emma, like, squatting down, waving with bated breath. You've done everything that is. And Frederick is like, doesn't even care at all about the guy. I hope the wrench makes it. And then Sonia gets right into position. Smack. The guy goes falling off. That's one guard down. There's another one who's pathing. He hasn't heard you yet because no one has made me mistakes. Are we gonna get. Is everyone gonna up on the boat? [01:22:11] Speaker D: Go. [01:22:11] Speaker A: Go. [01:22:14] Speaker D: Very carefully on the gangplank. Try the same trick again. Try the. Wait for it, wait for it, wait for it. Boom. [01:22:22] Speaker A: If it works once, it works fine. Let's try it again. [01:22:24] Speaker D: Right, right. This time. [01:22:27] Speaker A: Surely you just need my melee roll, whoever's doing it. [01:22:32] Speaker D: Yeah, I'm good cogs. I got 61 under 75 for security. [01:22:38] Speaker A: For the timings, and I got a 14 for melee. Okay, so two bodies. What are you doing with them? Is there, like, a tarp or something? That's, like, covering something on the deck? Probably, yeah. We can just put them right under there. They're all snuggled up together, taking a nap. Mm hmm. And then it is the question of searching the vessel. It will take us literally years if we roleplay going room by room by room, so let's not do that. We all agreed. [01:23:14] Speaker D: I feel like we're in a time limit, so we've got to, like, also just literally limit the amount of space we can search. [01:23:23] Speaker A: That being the case, then let's kind of, like, click zoom back a couple levels and then talk about how would you think to find Pierre? Let's break the boat into, like, three sections, right? There's, like, the deck and the stuff that's immediately, like, above and below the first deck. There's deep boat, and then there's, like, bridge, captain's quarters boat. So who would search where? What are you going to? What's, like, the overall gist of the search? Are you being, like, loud and quick about it? Are you being sneaky about it? What's the vibe there? Who's going where? [01:24:00] Speaker D: We, like, split up and use completely different tactics in different places. [01:24:04] Speaker A: Yeah, if you want. [01:24:06] Speaker D: It's just, like, take a section of the ship and just. [01:24:09] Speaker A: I think Sonia would have done to, like, the bottom of the ship, like, where, like, possibly the idea of, well, maybe, you know, he's, like, tied to a pillar in the cargo hold or whatever. [01:24:20] Speaker D: Katrina's gonna go for the nice cabins, but not the nicest cabins. She's gonna go through and, like, assess from the outside cabin quality. Because, you know, octopus, you know, if I was an evil villain, I wouldn't want to put someone in a really horrible cabin, because, like, that would be cruel and, like, un, you know, gentlemanly. So I'd pick a sort of mediocre cabin and lock them in there. So that's where I'm going. I'm just trying doors until I find. Once they're locked. [01:24:54] Speaker B: I don't assume that Pierre would be up top either. But if Katarina is checking cabins, then I can check the bridge and the operational areas, see if maybe they. Instead of having to hold him somewhere else, they've just decided to keep him. [01:25:10] Speaker D: Close to those things there as well. Look out for maps, probably we're checking. [01:25:16] Speaker C: Out the electrical engine. Oh, that's funny. [01:25:21] Speaker A: If they've kept him in the engine, that's fucked up. But you know what? Frederick's gonna find him. [01:25:25] Speaker D: Yeah. [01:25:26] Speaker A: Look, maybe you just take a couple of really important pieces out of the engine while you're there. All right? Then I need dice to fly. Tell me the skill that you're rolling and roll it. [01:25:39] Speaker C: Okay. [01:25:40] Speaker A: Search. Something like, yeah, search is going to be leaning more towards finding it, but not really being sneaky. Right. So, yeah, I mean, I'm not sneaky. I've got a 15 in stealth. I have got heavy footballs. When you're imagining the role that you're about to announce, just consider, like, the aspect that it calls to mind when things go wrong. So if you roll, sneak but fail, then, like, that's different than if I rolled search and failed. [01:26:07] Speaker B: I mean, to be honest, I have. I have an equal chance at failing both sneak and search. [01:26:18] Speaker A: So you can also not. Right. And you can be like, yeah, fuck, no, I'm not cut out for this. I'm gonna stay on the fucking gangway. [01:26:27] Speaker B: Yeah. [01:26:28] Speaker A: That just limits the ability total to find. Yeah, I got. I rolled a 90, but I wanted to spend those points to flip it so I don't just fork myself at the bottom of the boat. [01:26:42] Speaker D: I think. I think it's sneaked, but I'm not sure because, basically, as I said, what I'm doing is I've picked a set of rooms, and I'm going through and opening each door one at a time to see if it opens. And if it opens, I'm probably just closing it again quickly. But I rolled a 94, and I'm not gonna spend any more of my story points to fix that totally fine. [01:27:10] Speaker A: Yeah, Frederick, you are. You also have the same aftermath. If you're like, I don't like any of this, then you can just wait and then be eating a sandwich while other things happen. [01:27:22] Speaker C: So I think I. I guess mine is kind of like a bluff. Like, I'm dressed in engineers clothing. I'm going in the mechanical and engineering areas. The sky is very, like, but I don't have anything. It's more of a, like, I need to look like I know what I'm doing, and I do know what I'm doing. [01:27:46] Speaker A: I think that it's actually quite good having an engineering disguise, but also being able to back it up with the engineering poll. So I don't. I imagine you don't have the disguise skill, so we can use engineering. [01:27:57] Speaker C: You don't have substitute 87. [01:28:05] Speaker A: Okay, so we'll say that these things wrap themselves together accordingly. You all find something which is going to make life really interesting for Emma, because we're going to end up a little bit Scooby Doo, because Sony's the one who passed. So we decided that Sony is the one who finds where Pierre is. They have one of the crew staterooms, and, like, you're kind of walking down, and you're like, wait, wait, wait, wait. Like, those doors, some of them are open. Some of them, whatever, that one is secured and, like, has a door, like, positioned. So opening it up. Indeed there is, Pierre, but comic book style. I want to be the case that all three of you are opening a door at the same time. Right. So we see, like, one panel divided into three, and we're looking, like, over Frederick's shoulder, over Sonia's shoulder, over Katerina's shoulder. You lean forward, and you twist, and then all of you open up at the same time. And then Sonia, center panel, has Pierre going. Like, Sonia. And Frederick's panel has a hot dog goon being like, Katarina opens the door and has a tall, blonde haired german man with a monocle and a captain's hat spinning open. So, Sonia, next panel is these characters. Dialogue bubble. Pierre, thank God you found me. Frederick, dialogue panel. Who the fuck are you? Irene's panel, the white ribbon. I am so nice to see you. [01:29:50] Speaker D: Always nice to meet a fam. [01:29:53] Speaker A: Now we're in trouble. So we can do one or two things here. We can fight or we can run. And based on how this has been a giant mess of chronology, if you would like to be the case where, like, marquee Mark is on the boat and, like, ready to fire up those engines and get out, we can do that. But I do need to know how people are going to get themselves out of here. [01:30:22] Speaker C: Edric is running very much. [01:30:26] Speaker D: Yeah. I'm very keen for there to be, you know, like, a puff of smoke and some, like, skid marks. [01:30:34] Speaker A: Endurance, because I'm gonna sprint for it. Mm hmm. I'll take endurance. I'll take agility. If. If you have another skill where you want to create some kind of distraction or. What's the word? Looking for obstacle for your pursuer. Just something so we know, what can I do? [01:30:53] Speaker C: I'm running, but, like, because I'm really bad at agility, I'm actually just gonna spot something as I walk by and knock it and make some steam. [01:31:02] Speaker D: Yeah, yeah. [01:31:03] Speaker A: Do machinery. [01:31:05] Speaker C: Yeah. [01:31:08] Speaker A: That is an excellent use of skills. I got a 52 out of 65. [01:31:25] Speaker D: Katarina, 18 under 75. [01:31:28] Speaker A: All right, so you do get the puff of smoke, the whole. Open it up. He's. And then by the time he finishes his villain monologue, it cuts back to the other shoulder. But Katarina's not there anymore. It's just like the outline of a Catarina cloud of smoke. Sonia, you've got Pierre hot on your heels. He's not interested in wasting any time. So you are coming up the stairs at the same time that Katarina is coming down the stairs onto the deck. Emma, that's what you see, Frederick. You are being chased. And there's the bonk from somewhere inside and the steam cloud comes out. Okay? So I'm not gonna have you be captured. That's gonna make it really, really awkward for the rest of the game. But that just means that you're gonna hit the steam valve and it steams probably sooner than you would have liked it to steam. So I think it's three D. Six is the damage. For improvised or otherwise stuff, I don't have good dice either, so I did not roll a single point of damage. So clothing ruined, hair very uncomfortable. But no, no, nothing that. I mean, like, you're still a little burned, but it rises to the level of actually peeling skin off. Four of you. Now, the five of you come pedaling down the gangway. Katarina, backflipping or not, Katrina is backflipping. [01:32:56] Speaker D: Everywhere except that particular gangway where she's walking very slowly and carefully straight down the middle, away from the side. Thank you. [01:33:04] Speaker A: I like this. So, Sonia, Taryn, down first. Frederick is coming, has Pierre. Emma is like a third basement being like, go, go, go. Frederick comes up and then sees Katherine. A backflip, backflip, backflip. And then, like, very slowly, dinky steps down the gangway and then backflips again with Frederick on the heels. Mark has heard the commotion. He's looking around. Emma, you're screaming to your old friend to get things going is those big diesel yurbally engines. So you can feel the. You know, the water's churning and all that. You slide on board and he. You don't floor it in a ship. You like, forward it with the throttle. And it's a big boat, though, so it's. It does not like, lurch into action. It's very much like, oh, we're going 1 km an hour. Holy shit. 1.2. [01:34:00] Speaker D: Onto the boat. You see, this is what happens. [01:34:04] Speaker A: Good news is that as slow as it is for him to get off the pier, it'll be even worse for the Adonia. However, at this point, the goons that you did not knock out are being roused running up to the deck. We're just gonna see if any of the random gunfire coming in from the deck of the Oedonia. You or the boat. [01:34:27] Speaker D: Oh, I need us and the boat. [01:34:31] Speaker A: Uh, Emma, higher low. Okay. Frederick, higher low. [01:34:42] Speaker C: Hi. [01:34:45] Speaker A: Okay, higher low for Emma was determined whether it was person or ship. You've got shipdez, Frederick. I was looking for, like, engine or electronics, and we ended up at electronics. So all the stuff coming in, you're all ducking down. Sonia throws Pierre to the ground and the bullets rattle in. You will make it out of range in time to look up and see that the radio console has been shot through and destroyed. [01:35:13] Speaker C: Oh, that's okay, because what a Ydezenhen the devices I have is radio. That is my gear. [01:35:22] Speaker A: So then we'll see how that plays out when we come back from our break, because we all need to give these folks a chance to get their heart rates to come back down. We need to push the reset button on the chronology and have all the panels pop back into the right place. The riders room is like, yeah, this is. Yeah, but what about that? And then the artist gets it and is like, who the fucking? Having to put them all in order. And we are going to give the ship some time to make its way out to sea because who wants to be here for 15 minutes of just burbling and watching the horizon get further and further away? We will come back in about ten minutes. We will then, I assume, be ready to investigate a mystery in a U boat. Don't go anywhere. We'll be right back. Welcome back, friends, to the South Pacific. We are, in the words of the lonely island, on a boat Marquis Marc hauling us off in a research special, a fishing trawler, whatever the story points have said, into the Straits of Si Tomayang, where we are on a hunt for what? Treasure. [01:36:33] Speaker D: Treasure. [01:36:34] Speaker A: Coelacanth was the answer I was looking for, but those are all acceptable as well. I hope you are hydrated because we're going to be out on the ocean. Do not drink seawater if you are thirsty. It will not end well for you. The travel time is actually quite significant in terms of a few hours to get out into the water. This is not a speedboat. It's nothing super fancy. So you are not. You're not churning across the waves at Sony Volkov speeds. You are just humble bumble fumbling along with a nice little alliterative on amount of P. I was really happy. That made me feel good inside. Which gives you enough time to collect your bearings and de stress from the events that are on the docks now, we've established that marquee mark is the pilot of the boat. We've established that the boat is much better equipped and in better repair than it was in the beginning. But that does not make it a state of the art vessel. So we'll say that a few hours have passed. As far as you can tell, there's no octopus on the horizon, either the animal or the agents of the evil conspiracy. I would like to know that as we start to wind the engines down and coast our way towards where Johan Fresner told Pierre Martin the U boat might be. How are things going with folks on the ship? Also, I don't think we mentioned this before. Did we name the boat? [01:38:08] Speaker B: So obviously, Marky mark, being the man of class that he is, I think he has named his boat the classy scamp. [01:38:17] Speaker A: Oh, I like that. [01:38:19] Speaker B: That's such a cute name. When he bought the boat, it was the classy scampi. But he's like, they took off the eye at the end, and now it's the classy scamp. [01:38:32] Speaker A: It was a joke where it was classy with an eye. Scampi with an eye. They took the second eye off, but now it's classy scamp, but it still has the eye. Mm hmm. [01:38:41] Speaker B: Yeah, exactly. [01:38:43] Speaker A: So, Emma, you started. Let's continue with you. What are you doing? [01:38:52] Speaker B: Oh, gosh, what am I doing? I was just excited about the boat name. I'd probably be catching up with Mark and then writing down information, kind of like interviewing him. Because obviously, if we find this u boat, it's going to be a huge, big deal. Mark, as the captain of the vessel that led us to the boat, surely he wants to be written about. So, yeah, I'd be interviewing him about his thoughts about his involvement in the mission, what he thinks we're going to find, speculations, things like that. [01:39:25] Speaker A: Another call. Did you tell him much about what you were doing before we started? We were flashbacking. In a flashback? In a flashback at the time. I don't remember the details being, hey, can we borrow your boat to go thwart the forces of octopus? [01:39:40] Speaker B: No, no, but I think he would have figured that out as they were, you know, yelling at us as we were trying to get on the boat. So he kind of, once we were a safe distance away, he definitely pulled me aside and said, emma, you want to talk about what's going on, what are you getting me into? And then, of course, I had to divulge over the last couple hours what we've uncovered and where we're headed. [01:40:09] Speaker A: I like the idea that he uses the opportunity to do a reverse interview where you get out your little micro recorder or your notebook and you're like, so, mark, it's been a really eventful day. And he's like, yeah, it really fucking has. And then gets out, just does his thing, like, Emma, live on the street interview. What the fuck is going on? You. [01:40:28] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, that's. We have a really playful relationship that way. So. Yeah, absolutely. [01:40:34] Speaker A: And what about Frederick? Katerina? Sonia? Playful. The mood will use to describe what's going on with you all. [01:40:41] Speaker C: I think Frederick is both excited and quite stressed, happy to have avoided the situation that they encountered on the, the other ship, but is possibly very. If anyone is talking to Pierre or will be listening very closely and possibly chiming in with some questions. [01:41:09] Speaker A: There'S plenty of time to talk to Pierre about what has happened. Unfortunately, most of his time has been while you were jet setting the world, looking for paintings and professors and enjoying hot chocolate, Pierre was transiting the air with a bag on his head and then staying in a prison cell. And yes, he's been interrogated. No, it wasn't that bad. He's recovered quite well from the tickling, thanks for asking. But on the whole, has lacked a bit of information. He's grateful, of course, in a very masculine. I would have gotten my way out of it eventually, but this is a really interesting story that we're telling you kind of way. You mean, you know, Pierre. Uh, but in terms of new information, not a whole lot going on in Pierre's brain except for being really happy. Uh, Frederick, I assume you still have your. Your picnic. [01:41:58] Speaker C: I do, yeah. I replenished it on the last plane journey. [01:42:05] Speaker A: So have you. Have you ever been in a situation, a social situation, where, like, you have a, uh, a pack of crisps or some kind of candy and your friend is having a conversation with you, but their eyes are continually referring to the thing that you're eating and they're like, I'm not gonna ask that be rude, but, like, if I intuit long. [01:42:22] Speaker C: Oh, yes, yes, yes. And in fact, in fact, let's, let's. Let's set it up. We've got a couple hours yet till we hit the coordinates you, you provided. So, uh, yeah, so we'll lay out the picnic map, set up this tea and, like, fancy sandwiches and, and so on. [01:42:50] Speaker A: You have never in your life seen anyone be as grateful for anything as Pierre is for a properly good picnic sandwich. Like, this is a man who's used to the finer things in life, and now, like, the situation has arisen where this sandwich is one of the fine. Not under normal circumstances would a picnic sandwich be the kind of thing you get excited for. [01:43:10] Speaker C: But consider the sandwiches are fantastic. [01:43:14] Speaker A: You know what? You are right. I did not mean to negate your contribution to the story. [01:43:19] Speaker D: How many story points are you spending on making those sandwiches? [01:43:22] Speaker A: Fantastic. [01:43:26] Speaker C: I'm not spending a few story points. [01:43:28] Speaker D: We need them. [01:43:30] Speaker C: But they were off a fancy plane that has a machine that gives you marshmallows. Now, that was right. [01:43:36] Speaker D: That was great. And, like, the contrast between Pierre's actual gratefulness and, like, you know, the rest of us is just sort of interested yet entitlement, you know, we do deserve marshmallows. Yes. This is the way we should be treated. [01:43:52] Speaker A: I mean, the picnic's great, but there's not a hot cocoa machine inside of it. So, I mean, is it that great? Well, Katarina, Sonia, how are the high seas treating you? Probably all right, I imagine. I've been on boats before because, you know, cargo planes aren't really a thing that aren't pretty expensive. [01:44:21] Speaker D: You have to, like, take your. Your car around the world for petitions. [01:44:27] Speaker A: But we do know that Sonia is not one of the top tier racing drivers. They're fairly. Not in the circuit. So the french person who we slandered but did not name at the beginning of the scenario, he probably has a cargo plane. Yeah. Sonia has to. Has to take boats and whatnot. Yeah. So I spent a lot of time on boats, so it's probably going to be a bit of. I don't know. Does anybody need a hand doing anything on the boat? Does Frederick need the hand setting up any of the diving equipment? Uh, let me do something physical. Well, let's. Let's hold off on the. The preparing for the dive. That's going to be a whole other thing. Uh, that leaves one person. [01:45:10] Speaker D: Katarina, um, has a lot of energy. She's been walking around a lot and talking a lot to anyone who will listen. She's very sort of conspicuously staying away from the edges and just sort of pronouncing to various people, like, inspecting the suits and. Did we nab the diving bell? Did we only nab the suits? We didn't. Didn't take it. Yeah, no, we had inspecting it and being like, yeah. So obviously I could probably just go and heist the treasure by myself. You know, I have amazing high skills, so really, no need to worry. I'll just. I'll just pop down there under the sea. The sea. Sea. It's a lot of sea, isn't it? But I'll just. Nobody needs to worry. I've got this all totally sorted. [01:46:09] Speaker A: Narrator. She did not have that sort it. I know. Katherine not handling the waves all that well. I think you can. You can hear the nervous energy in her voice pitch up every time the boat rolls. It rolls, yeah. Getting a lot of that. Left, right, front, back, all. All kinds of new axes of motion, story points. [01:46:33] Speaker D: What I need to. [01:46:36] Speaker A: The seas is a yemenite. There's a fickle mistress that does not respond well to the metaphors of this game. For more on how unruly the sea is, that's a Simon question. Actually. That would be the climate change and the currents. That's assignment question. [01:46:53] Speaker D: Time o'clock, if anyone wants to know about the sea and why it's quite. [01:46:58] Speaker A: Warm now and so wobbly. Wobbly, definitely not the word that I. [01:47:04] Speaker D: Wanted, but that's fine. Making the sea wobblier. Outrageous. [01:47:10] Speaker A: But in good time, you will arrive near enough to our locations. You'll remember that we have a general idea of where the battle happened. And the local fishermen have talked about nets that they've lost. Keep your boat away from these reefs, things like that, and you can kind of zoom in on a little bit of an area. I'm going to. This game is not really kitted out well for a really deep. A deep dive, I fucking did to myself. A deep dive into the negotiate. Like, how do you find a boat? Roll sonar. So, understand that it is a process, but it is not a process that we're going to spend a ton of time getting into the weeds on. Montage. Montage. A montage, the result of which is an ever increasing amount of tension for katarina, for obvious reasons. But, Frederick, the equipment is. It is sophisticated. It is uncomfortable to work with. It is unwieldy. You don't have a full crew. You kind of have a sonia to help you, a katarina who cling to the center of the boat, and an Emma who is talented in a great many ways, but turning wrench is probably not one of them. Still, eventually, you will be crawling along, marking the twain, fathoming the depths, whatever nautical words you'd like to use. And then you'll get that tug on a rope somewhere or the pang on an electronic sensor of some kind that lets you know you have found something metallic in the water. All of this happening, of course. While one of you, or occasionally all of you, at different moments, scan the horizon, wondering if there is someone else on their way. [01:48:55] Speaker D: Yes. [01:48:56] Speaker A: Now, the operative word of you, boat is you standing for untersee. So who is going to. Who's gonna be the one suiting up? Whatever's down there, you gotta go get it. It's not coming to you. [01:49:12] Speaker D: So Katarina's been loudly claiming that she will go down there by herself heist. The huge amount of gold that she assumes is what we're here for. Gold was mentioned, and I think around the point where we arrive at the location, she just, like, disappears. She's just sort of not there anywhere. Not there anymore. [01:49:35] Speaker C: Frederick will obviously be going down because, yes, he is there for the golden. [01:49:46] Speaker A: Take the gold and take the gold out of Octopus's hands. [01:49:49] Speaker D: Yeah, you can pick something other than the gold. [01:49:52] Speaker C: Frederick. [01:49:52] Speaker A: Gold. What's happening? [01:49:53] Speaker D: I don't understand. [01:49:55] Speaker A: I like this because Frederick is being really coy, like, oh, yeah, I'm definitely here with gold. That ridiculousness down there. [01:50:00] Speaker C: Yeah. Not interested in anything else at all. [01:50:07] Speaker A: Think of how many race cars I could buy with gold. Gold is also very heavy. Oh, no. [01:50:15] Speaker C: Oh, actually, that is a good point. One thing that I would have tried to do once I'd finished talking to Pierre, or at least attempted to try and see if there's any way of jury rigging a pulley system to arrange something on the. The side of the boat or somewhere, or maybe fashion something out of what was already on the boat that we've got. [01:50:42] Speaker A: Yeah. As Emma was describing. Marquis, Mark. It seems that the kind of boat that would have a crane or something like. Right. At least a boom arm that you could put a poly on. That seems totally reasonable to me. [01:50:54] Speaker D: That's presumably the diving bell would need that if you wanted to take that. Right? [01:50:58] Speaker C: Yeah. [01:50:58] Speaker D: And how they work. But I presume big rope. [01:51:02] Speaker A: I have to rig up the top of it, attach various tubes and hoses to take air in and out. Oh, full on. Yeah. [01:51:11] Speaker D: Okay. [01:51:11] Speaker A: Yeah. I'm not an expert in uter c things, but whatever. I've seen sixties movies. Right. We don't have to be accurate. We have to be cool. So. Yeah. What is the. What is the coolest way. Yeah. Pipes. Every. It's like. It's like a fucking steam. [01:51:28] Speaker D: Punk dials. Yeah. Super steampunk. Yeah, yeah, yeah. [01:51:31] Speaker B: Absolutely. [01:51:32] Speaker D: Steam coming out of the diving belt for some reason. [01:51:37] Speaker A: It's supposed to do that. [01:51:40] Speaker B: Yeah, exactly. Well, then, as Fred's getting ready and Kat is nowhere to be found. I am gonna try and find her because, you know, she's been so loud. Like, I was. I was with Mark, like, far away from all of this stuff and I could hear her the entire trip. So, like, where is she? [01:52:06] Speaker A: I think this is the perfect opportunity to pit your search against Katarina's. [01:52:12] Speaker D: Oh, no. [01:52:15] Speaker B: My search is awful, so I don't think I'm gonna be able to find her. [01:52:20] Speaker D: I would like to. Yeah. [01:52:22] Speaker A: Alertness. Alertness or surge would probably be. Okay. [01:52:25] Speaker B: Okay. Okay. Alertness. [01:52:26] Speaker A: I can do alternate and then sneak or subterfuge out of catarina. Both of those things seem like they. [01:52:33] Speaker D: Might take subterfuge because it's lower and I want her to find me, but I will also. This has to be. Can I take minus two pips for. It's not quite it, but this is my phobia complication, which is not right here, right now, but it is what we're talking about. [01:52:58] Speaker A: Yeah. And I assume that you do want to be found, but I just want to see how quickly it happens. [01:53:02] Speaker D: That's fair. That's fair. But I feel like she's under a bed somewhere. Oh, yeah, I failed that doubly. I doubly failed it. I rolled an 82, which is both above and a two. [01:53:16] Speaker B: That's hilarious. I rolled a 28 under 65, so it was. [01:53:25] Speaker A: So it's not going to take terribly long countering. Where is it that Emma discovers you and why. [01:53:33] Speaker D: You actually disappear? It's quite good. [01:53:36] Speaker B: That was good. [01:53:36] Speaker A: Yeah. [01:53:37] Speaker D: I'm under a bed. Any bed that I could get under. [01:53:43] Speaker B: Cat. I'm gonna, like, pull at the blanket that she's got covering her face. Are you okay? [01:53:52] Speaker D: Hi. Yeah, that's fine, darling. Just doing some wellness exercises. Breathing, you know. Got it. You got it. You gotta remember to breathe. Can't do that underwater. Can't do that at the sea. But. But right now, lots of breathing. [01:54:10] Speaker C: Yeah, breathing is good. [01:54:11] Speaker D: I really like breathing, Emma. Like, it's just. It's just something I've always found. Just come really naturally and I'm good at it. [01:54:19] Speaker B: I'm good at a lot of things. [01:54:20] Speaker D: I'm so good at so many things. Are you gonna write that in your article? Write it in your article? I know that I'm good at a lot of things. [01:54:26] Speaker B: Yeah, I will. I'm guessing it's. She's not doing a super. I mean, she's doing as well as a job as she's presenting right now at hiding the fact that she's incredibly worried and upset about what's he fine to you? [01:54:45] Speaker D: What's not fine about this? [01:54:47] Speaker C: No. [01:54:47] Speaker A: I don't get the impression that she's trying to hide it at all. [01:54:50] Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah. You know, I think. I think, you know, because we're limited on space and stuff, that it's gonna be better for the story if I go down. Not because I don't think that you can do it, of course, but because, you know, then I have, like, firsthand, instead of you having to try and remember all the details. [01:55:26] Speaker D: Right, right. [01:55:27] Speaker B: I wouldn't be able to describe what. [01:55:29] Speaker D: It'S like at, like, the bottom of the sea with, like, the darkness and the crushing weight and being able to breathe. I couldn't probably do as good a job of, like, how would you describe that? You'd use, like, metaphors and things, wouldn't you? [01:55:45] Speaker B: Yeah, I would do it in a lot less terrifying way. I think just the words generally would be more positive than that. So how about by yourself? No, I thought I saw Frederick hanging around, so I think me and Fred can handle this, and then you can lend your skills to making sure that everything is good up on the deck. [01:56:16] Speaker D: Wow. Emma, I just think you have such expertise in journalism and writing. Like, that's your thing, right? You're so good at it. You're so good at it, and I just trust you completely. And I just think, God, you're so clever, and you just, like, know how to get things done. And I. Yeah. You'll put in your story that it was very important that I had to stay here and do other important heisty things, right? [01:56:50] Speaker B: Oh, absolutely. 100%. Your presence is absolutely needed on top to make sure that everything runs smoothly for the rest of us. [01:57:01] Speaker D: She sort of crawls out from under the bed and throws herself on Emma, who I assume was on the floor, to kind of look under the bed, sort of, like half under the bed, just, like, hugging you. Just be like, I love you, Emma. [01:57:15] Speaker B: I love you so much. I love you too. I love you too. Okay. [01:57:20] Speaker D: You're so great. [01:57:22] Speaker B: Oh, yeah. I know. [01:57:23] Speaker D: Emma was surrounded by sea. [01:57:26] Speaker B: I know. I know. [01:57:28] Speaker A: Journalism and metaphor is two skills traditionally associated with underwater diving. That's a very excellent compliment. He's dropping the middle of that. [01:57:38] Speaker B: We'll see. [01:57:39] Speaker D: These tactics are so sensible. Emmy, you're the best. [01:57:43] Speaker C: Best. [01:57:43] Speaker D: Will you be okay? What? If something happens? Will you be okay? Like, do you know how to breathe under the sea? [01:57:52] Speaker B: You know, I have watched a ton of Aquaman cartoons, so I'm sure I've picked something up. [01:58:01] Speaker D: If anything goes wrong, I'm coming down to find you. Okay, just send me a signal, like, I don't know, tug on a rope, like, a certain number of times, and I'll be there. Okay? [01:58:10] Speaker B: Okay. Deal? [01:58:12] Speaker C: Deal. [01:58:12] Speaker B: Promise. [01:58:13] Speaker A: So it sounds to me like the arrangement will be that Sonia and Katerina stay on the ship with Marquis, Marc and Pierre while Frederick and Emma descend into the depths. Years. [01:58:31] Speaker B: Yeah. I'm not sure if this is a great idea, but I don't want Kat to feel bad. So here we are. [01:58:40] Speaker A: There are compelling reasons for many combinations. Right? Have to ask yourself, where am I going to need the mechanics more? Is Sonia diving? Is it endurance feats? A strength feat? It's an agility feat. Who is the best for that kind of thing? Presumably the forces of octopus are hot on your heels because, like, duh, genre. [01:59:07] Speaker D: We didn't do anything to their boat, did we? We just stole their stuff and left no time. [01:59:12] Speaker A: Was a bit of a yes. [01:59:13] Speaker D: Yeah. [01:59:13] Speaker C: Yeah, I sabotage it. Rolled really badly on that one. [01:59:20] Speaker A: So whoever's on the surface has that to worry about as you decide who is going to go. This is if you've played computer role playing games, and there's always that moment where, like. Or mass effect two. Right? Who's going to get in the giant tube, who's going to hold up the biotic barrier, and who is going to. I forget the third thing. I'll lead the other team back to the. To the. The Normandy. Right. So thinking about your skillset, just to give one last chance, make the best decisions you think are the best decisions. [01:59:52] Speaker C: It's not the best diving, but it is my job. [01:59:59] Speaker B: Yeah. I think we need to split the folks that have a little bit of, like, mechanical knowledge, like someone down below and then someone up top, and I don't have either of those, so that can't be me. So, yeah, I have a little bit. [02:00:14] Speaker A: Of machinery, so, like. [02:00:16] Speaker B: Yeah, so I think Sonia being up top, if there's immediate issues down below, Frederick can handle it. I don't know. I'm a body. If. If a shark comes, I'll just jump in the way and me and Fred will be fine. [02:00:32] Speaker A: Look, look it. [02:00:33] Speaker B: I do like two things well, and apparently one of them is being shark bait, so it'll be fine. This will be fine. We'll be fine. [02:00:39] Speaker A: Where is that skill on your sheet? Because I'm super familiar with these tastiness. [02:00:47] Speaker B: I'll find it later. I'll show you. [02:00:50] Speaker A: All right, well, we will have another montage moment as everyone pile. Not everyone. As two of you pile into your suits. There is the breathing regulator, the mask that goes over. You have the big, cool 1960s style goggles. It would not be a 1960s underwater movie if you didn't have like a harpoon gun, right? Or some kind of thing. Plus the big old tank on the back of you full of precious, precious air. To begin to understand how well this works, let's start with a mechanics, or machinery rather, to get the dive bit set up. And I will say it's a matter of time at this point, it's all a matter of time. So if. Frederick, if you want to hold out and do both of them, that's fine. It's just going to require more time. But Sonia did mention that she also has machinery, so you could help. And each of you make a roll trying to pile people into the suits as fast as possible. [02:01:56] Speaker D: I'm not helping anyone. I'm freaking hiding somewhere, occasionally peeking out at the horrors before me. [02:02:03] Speaker C: Yeah, I think if Sonia was to. [02:02:06] Speaker A: Help and some assistance, like, um, machinery. [02:02:12] Speaker C: Truck. [02:02:13] Speaker A: Machinery, yeah. [02:02:14] Speaker C: Oh, dude, poop. I got a 75. [02:02:21] Speaker A: I got a 35, which is under a 65, which is ten under my 45. Okay, so both of us passed. [02:02:29] Speaker C: No, no, no, sorry, mine is over a 65. [02:02:32] Speaker A: Okay, whose suit were you working on, Frederick? Was it your own or was it Emma's? [02:02:39] Speaker C: I think it was probably my own. [02:02:42] Speaker A: Okay, keep that in mind. It's going to have some negative consequences as you go through in the future. I do like the Katarina said she was fighting. So I think the panel for this particular scene is Emma, Frederick and Sonja on the deck, all like suiting up and stuff. And then you just see like the headband and the eyes peering up from one of the portholes, watching from the background, wincing and shuddering a bit like where's Waldo? Or where's Wall E, depending on which part of the Commonwealth. And then the diving bell. Oh, boy, it's a big, fun, cool thing. I love diving bells. I wish they were still in vogue. So you hear the machinery just chunken, crunching big industrial noises as it swings out, wobbling endlessly over the sea. And then the chain starts to crank and crunch as. As it sinks into the water. And you get that really satisfying, like as the bottom hits. And then it tilts a little bit and you see the bubbles coming up as it starts to settle in. And then the whir of the ox. Not the ox, the air pumps coming to life. That high pitched air compressor noise starting to fill. And then the moment is upon you. Katherine appearing nervously through the portholes as Emma Backdez and Frederick and Desjardins, you have to do the cool, like, infiltration, fall backwards off the boat under the bell thing, right? [02:04:15] Speaker B: That is the rule. I think so, yeah, pretty sure. [02:04:20] Speaker A: So then with a sploosh and a sploosh under you go, Sonia. With your machinery skills being the one who operates the bella descending downwards into the aquamarine depths, the U boat has, in fact, sunk near a coral reef, which means there's beautiful shades of red and orange and blues and yellows just clinging to the rocks and little anemones doing that little anemone thing where they. [02:04:51] Speaker D: Do like this other coelacanths. [02:04:55] Speaker A: Uh, so, yes, hold that. Uh, we roll for fish. There are a shitload of coelacanths. [02:05:04] Speaker C: Really? That's. That's somewhat terrifying. Imagine what. What's going on with them. [02:05:09] Speaker A: Uh, well, we was found before that sometimes, uh, scientists discover things that people eat, and in this case, the. The number of them is why it is so that they are plentiful. It is a buffet. The island of Si to my young is doing quite well on the sea. Low cans, economy. But one thing we did not appreciate, we didn't tell the folks, we didn't manage to communicate before, is that these things are pretty big. You know how, like, copy bars are actually quite bigger than you think they are? So, like, a coelacanth is not like this fish. It's like your granddad fish. They are. They are almost like, would you say, like the size of, like an adolescent? Quite large. [02:05:47] Speaker D: I want to know whether they're bigger than a capybara. What I thought so. [02:05:52] Speaker A: That's the question that if Google is. [02:05:54] Speaker D: I'm googling right now. [02:05:57] Speaker A: Okay. Or depending on brand preferences. Siri, a steel account's bigger than a capybara. Buying tickets for. [02:06:04] Speaker D: Yes, they are longer anyway. Longer than a capybara. So big. How big we're talking. [02:06:11] Speaker A: So does it give you an actual length for the median coelacanth? [02:06:16] Speaker D: Around four foot for a capybara, maximum six and a half feet for a coelacanth. They would probably vary more as they continue growing. [02:06:26] Speaker A: Bigger than me. How much do they weigh? How many kilos of coelacanth weighing? [02:06:32] Speaker D: I don't know what this means because it's not in metric, but 198 pounds. [02:06:38] Speaker B: 90. [02:06:39] Speaker A: 90 kilos. Yeah. So weighs about as much as me. And they have roughly the dimensions of a sausage roll in terms of, like, length to thickness. If you imagine an aquatic sausage roll that is six and a half feet long and weighs 90 kilos, but it's not that nice crisp pastry color of light brown. It's actually that dark, like seaweed roll, dark brown color. And there so many of them to the point where I want you to imagine like those. That little mermaid scene, right? You're expecting all the little cool fish to be around. It's not just a shit with coelacanth. It's actually kind of terrifying. Especially when you realize that coelacanths have those old fossil jaws. They have. If you go. If you're in chat right now, go google sea Licanth. We will not tell you how to spell it because that would reveal some embarrassing things about my lack of knowledge. But they have little just like bang teeth all around, clamping on to the reef fish they hunt on. So, yeah, your little reef vacation not going super well so far? Made worse as the bell descends and you get a better view of the U boat by the situation that it is in. The U boat has crashed into the reef, so a large part of it is actually down into the coral. And that part where they said there were nets and things is not wrong. So you have a situation where there's rope and fishing line and nets just snared all over this place, forming it almost. It looks like legends of the hidden temple. Do you remember the room that had all the nets in it? There you go. That kind of situation. I do not know an appropriate. If there's a very net based obstacle in the crystal maze, maybe that will help you in the UK. But it is a tangled mess with a U boat underneath it. And most of the normal routes of ingress either blocked entirely by a reef or dangerously located within it, because the thing they don't teach about coral is its sharpsheen. Mm hmm. [02:08:54] Speaker C: It is. [02:08:56] Speaker A: So with team under the sea, we have a series of questions that need answered. What are we going to do? [02:09:06] Speaker D: Ok. [02:09:09] Speaker C: I imagine that Frederick will have, like, a smaller version of her, what's it called? Her mechanic's toolbox. I mean, she doesn't like going anywhere without it, so I imagine that she's. [02:09:29] Speaker D: Got a smaller version, the let's proof sandwich inside. [02:09:33] Speaker C: Of course, I don't know why only water in sandwiches. It's probably not a good idea for that, but yes. So I would likely have some kind of cutting tool in there because it would have anticipated that if there weren't nets to cut, they would need some way of being able to pry open or kind of reduce, equalize, basically some way of getting things open. [02:10:06] Speaker A: You're an engineer, you know what you're doing. Sometimes not always. Let's start here with Frederick. If you'll make a search roll, and we'll see if we get the basic indication of how things have landed, what would be the best place to access this u boat? You did have the blueprints. I'm giving Frederick credit for studying them. So you have a general sense of the layout of the ship to work with. [02:10:30] Speaker C: I don't know where to go now. Uh, yeah, that's a 73 over 65. Keep failing these rules. [02:10:45] Speaker A: Well, we're just getting them out of the way early, so law of averages say that you'll make it up on the back end. Uh, so the trust. So it seems to you the most obvious way is going to be through the, uh, conning tower. The top. It's a little place where they pop out and they wave hello. Radio masks and stuff on top of it. The default entry into the submarine would be the default entry into the submarine. It's tricky to get the diving bell to wobble over into that direction. I don't want to be a radio because it's much more fun to me if you have one of those sound powered talkie tubes that you're speaking through. So you get that nice, like, coppery, hollow sound as you're talking back and forth to one another. Right. Keep them to steampunk. So Frederick giving commands to Sonia, who's moving the levers and wobbling the boat over in that direction, to which then the bell sinks down, and then, like, just the most deafening clang as metal hits metal and it forms like, an uneven, imperfect seal on top of the conning tower. Gonna need that cutting tool, though, because this u boat was locked up tight when it sank. They did not leave the front door opened. [02:12:09] Speaker C: Okay, so do I need to roll for that again, as in just to cut it open? [02:12:20] Speaker A: Yeah. In this case, it would probably be machinery. I'd also take engineering. [02:12:34] Speaker C: I'm gonna vote on engineering just because if I roll in the seventies again, at least that one, I guess. I did not, however, roll the seventies. I rolled a 57. [02:12:46] Speaker A: Excellent. Yes. Machinery is knowing what, how to cut. Engineering is knowing where to cut. Do you manage? It's got to be an underwater welding torch, right? That's the coolest thing, right? [02:13:00] Speaker C: Yeah. [02:13:01] Speaker A: So, Emma, you have your. Your swimming goggles, and then you pulled on the visor. That's the thing. And then Frederick is floating, like legs in the air kind swimming downward. To do that, you get the little bubbles coming off of it, the big red light scaring off the coelacanths. Who go scattering, and then kind of curiously start to come back as they're swirling around. That's what's going to be happening on the ocean floor. However, we have not forgotten nor run out of use for the people up on top of the surface, because, Sonia, you are heads down in that machine. This is, uh, very much the kind of situation where if you look away, you don't know. You gotta be watching the thing, talking to Frederick. If something goes wrong up here, they don't have that long, air wise, so you are. You're kind of pinned, which means, Katarina, I'll need you to make an alertness roll for me. [02:13:55] Speaker D: Um, I'm gonna make an alertness roll. Oh, is that. [02:14:00] Speaker C: Should I? [02:14:01] Speaker A: Hmm? [02:14:02] Speaker D: Should I. I'm pondering whether to just keep. She's very nervous about. About they might die. They went under the sea. It's not great. I'm just wondering whether I should just take minus two pips for this scene and gain three story points. [02:14:22] Speaker A: Sure. [02:14:24] Speaker D: Okay. [02:14:24] Speaker A: I mean, it's your budget, your choices, but I'll take that away. [02:14:29] Speaker D: Okay. Alertness, massive fail. [02:14:40] Speaker B: Anyway. [02:14:40] Speaker D: 89. [02:14:42] Speaker A: Okay, so, Katarina, very, very distracted. The boat is loud. It's making machine noises. It's rolling in every direction. This is not an ideal environment. You are like, you know what's not noisy and shitty and smells of oil and might drown you if it breaks? [02:15:00] Speaker D: An art museum. [02:15:01] Speaker A: Right? Or a bank vault. [02:15:04] Speaker D: How much I like art museums. It's so calm and peaceful and dry. So dry. [02:15:13] Speaker A: So dry and quiet. Right. You would never get away with this kind of noise in an art museum. [02:15:19] Speaker D: I'll just imagine. I I'll just take calming breaths and imagine I'm in an art museum. [02:15:25] Speaker A: Yeah. You're sitting. Well, not sitting, because you're at work, right. You're imagining yourself safe. If counties imagine themselves in an art museum, they imagine themselves stealing something from art museum. There's no other canon that I'm willing to accept. Right. [02:15:37] Speaker D: It's true. [02:15:38] Speaker A: So, like, aside from the sound of, like, the amazing soundtrack that's playing in your head and the clip clop of the guards and their very polished shoes that they walk around, there's no other sounds, right? So, like, you're slinking along the wall and you're dodging the laser beams, and then you get your. You have your pull out of your. Where does. You don't have pockets. [02:16:02] Speaker D: Oh, I haven't explained this yet. She's got this big, thick, white plastic belt over a little black dress. But that white belt is reversible when you flip it around. It's black on the inside and just has all the little pockets of all the little. [02:16:16] Speaker A: Okay, so you flip open your utility belt. Glass cutter. Yeah. And. And then, like, you're reaching in to grab, like, the faberge egg. And then there's that sound of the helicopter and then the sound of people falling into the water from several feet above the surface of the water. And then the people yelling in german microphone wait a minute, that's what the art museum. That's real life. And you look up out of the porthole, and the helicopter from the back of the adonia has followed you out. There are octopus divers tumbling out the side of it, landing in the water, and things have gone. Not diving bell shaped, but pear shaped. Sonia, for your purposes, we will say that you also become aware of this at the same time. [02:17:08] Speaker D: Oh, man. [02:17:09] Speaker A: Yeah, makes sense. [02:17:12] Speaker D: Oh, man. Um. Um, I'm gonna. [02:17:20] Speaker C: Oh, no. [02:17:20] Speaker D: Is everything. Is all the furniture in the ship just, like, bolted down? Because it's a ship. [02:17:25] Speaker A: Um, some of it I'm gonna try and grab. [02:17:28] Speaker D: I'm gonna go over to a chair and try and, like, move the chair, and then I'm gonna run outside. [02:17:47] Speaker A: I. Don't you peek that whole sentence. [02:17:50] Speaker D: Sorry, sorry. I'm a bit overexcited. [02:17:54] Speaker A: I'd like this, though, because we can roll with it and say that the noise of the helicopter, the noise of the engine. Sonia doesn't hear anything, but does see that face, right? And then it's just like, oh, that's a problem. And then through the speaker, underneath it, just a comically evil german accent. Very like Hogan's heroes, you know, various attention troubleshooters. Please return to us, Pierre Martin, and you will not be harmed. Right. [02:18:29] Speaker D: I histed him, and you shall not hide him back. I shall shout, trying to get over the sound of the helicopter, which they're much closer to, so really they're not gonna hear me, but Sonia might hear me and then tell Emma about it later. [02:18:43] Speaker A: So it's a comic book, though. So the German, what did they say? And then, like, I don't know, boss. I just can't hear anything on the sound of this. It does not seem as they are cooperating. Should I ask them again? Rude gestures? Oh, no, no, I don't think you'd ask him again, sir. Now, that's, uh. [02:19:08] Speaker D: I would like to try and attack this helicopter. [02:19:12] Speaker A: Oh, with what? A wrench. [02:19:17] Speaker D: A wrench? I wasn't thinking of a wrench. [02:19:22] Speaker C: Frederick is going to be regretting leaving the rest of the wrench. [02:19:26] Speaker D: Not perfect. [02:19:27] Speaker A: We'll say, that would be a hell of a throw. [02:19:30] Speaker D: I would like to. This is going to be a hell of a throw. Anyway. I would like to unspool my dangling down mission impossible style in the middle of art museum's rope, maybe try and, like, make a little bit of a lasso so that I can get a throw going. And, I mean, I. It's a bit extreme, but I kind of like to try and tangle up the blades. I wonder, does the. Does the chopper have the tail one. [02:20:03] Speaker A: That they all have to. [02:20:05] Speaker D: Yeah, I mean, because it has to counteract something. Right? May I go for that one? That'd be easier. [02:20:10] Speaker A: The distances involved are going to make that kind of crazy. Yeah. I am not a throwographer by any means, but I can. [02:20:18] Speaker D: And I'm not a lasso specialist. I'm an art thief. God damn it. [02:20:23] Speaker A: They are. They are high enough and far enough away. Plus, trying to lasso into the tail, the rotor wash, I mean. [02:20:29] Speaker D: Yeah, yeah. I'll just get blown away. Yeah. God damn it. [02:20:33] Speaker A: I don't know. It would be extremely difficult. Cool. If you could pull it off, but a very kind of high risk situation. [02:20:38] Speaker D: Okay, in that case, I'm going to take the wrench. Sorry. And I'm going to throw it at one of the people in the water and try and conquer with a wrench. [02:20:48] Speaker A: Frederick, are you the kind of person who names your tools? [02:20:51] Speaker D: Oh, boy. [02:20:52] Speaker C: Probably, yes. [02:20:53] Speaker A: So which wrench did Catarina just throw? [02:21:01] Speaker C: I think they all have very practically impractical names, so it's probably something like sprocket. Even though that's the name for a completely different tool. [02:21:12] Speaker A: Frederick finds it hilarious. Other people are like, does Frederick know that's not a sprocket? I just don't understand. Frederick has a human. So, Katerina, you whip out, you get a good angle, you chuck it. The next panel shows the things, the wrench spinning through the air. There's a freeze frame of the word sprocket, like, stenciled very lovingly across the handle. Will you roll? That would be not athletics. That is not a skill. We'll take agility. We'll take strength. Those are both seemingly pretty relevant. Melee. [02:21:45] Speaker D: Take agility. I got nothing in strengthen. So, I mean, still on one, two doesn't help. Anyway. That's a 93. And I'm gonna let it be because it was more for the purposes of trying to save Emma and Fred from the evil divers. And really there's quite a lot of them. How many are there? [02:22:10] Speaker A: Four. [02:22:11] Speaker B: Four. [02:22:14] Speaker A: Armed in which will become relevant to Emma and Frederick in a moment. Two of them armed with spear guns, and then two of them carrying industrial equipment of some kind, the welding gear, the cutting torches, etcetera. You were gonna say carrion. [02:22:33] Speaker D: I was gonna say it would only cost. Because its agility. It would only cost me one story point to flip it. I guess it would be really valuable if I could take someone out, but actually, all I'm doing is throwing a wrench into the sea. [02:22:52] Speaker A: I like the gesture, but we both like that it's gonna hit, and it's gonna like to sink. Right? [02:22:57] Speaker B: Yeah. [02:22:58] Speaker A: I would hate for you to spend 40 points to flip the die for it to do, like, one point of vitality. [02:23:02] Speaker D: Yeah, that's kind of what I was thinking. [02:23:04] Speaker A: Right. [02:23:04] Speaker D: Yeah. They've already dived under, and there's water cushions that. Yeah. I shall leave it, then. [02:23:09] Speaker A: This has set up a delightful brick joke, though, that we will come back to. So, Frederick, Emma, you are in the bell. Sonia, I'm giving you credit for yelling into the copper tube that there are people coming. [02:23:27] Speaker C: Right. I thought we were in the belt. We were just. Oh, sorry. There's a. There's a hole in the bottom of the bell. [02:23:35] Speaker A: Yeah, the bottom of the bell is open. That's how you get in and out. Yeah. Okay. And so it's hovering over Frederick because you have to be in the water. Do it. But I don't think Emma's just, like, sitting real close, like, going. How's it going over there? Yeah, it's doing really good. [02:23:52] Speaker C: Just. I really love to be kind of the way that we're learning to. This is like, there is some garbling, but I can't hear it because I'm not anywhere near it through the thing. But, like, I. One of the. My wrench, Sprocket just comes and, like, slams on, and I'm like, what sprocket? [02:24:15] Speaker B: Oh. [02:24:18] Speaker C: The situation. [02:24:19] Speaker A: Sure, if that's what you want to handle it. How does Sprocket get there before the divers? I don't know. [02:24:26] Speaker C: Well, it's because they're controlling their dive, and they're trying to sneak up on us. Sprocket is an inanimate object that can't do that. [02:24:35] Speaker D: Well, so they're not sinking. They have to swim down, because presumably they've got some sort of neutral buoyancy. I don't know how diving works, but you have to, like, you don't sink. Right. [02:24:43] Speaker A: We've set you up as an expert scientist. If you say it with conviction, people. [02:24:46] Speaker D: Will believe absolutely neutral point. See, depending on that it's fine. [02:24:52] Speaker A: So there it is. Yeah. So, Emma, you hear Sonia making noises. There's. It's weird. It's very windy on the surface. All of a sudden, Frederick, you are just down in the making perfect cuts, and then there's just this, like, bong sound of metal on metal. And you look over and, like, Sprocket has landed perfectly, like a pinup counter, like, right. So is that. [02:25:18] Speaker C: Is that my wrench? [02:25:19] Speaker B: Sprocket? [02:25:22] Speaker A: And then I see them. Yeah. Seeing around, you see the forest shadows in the waters. Oh. Coming at you. Two of them, like I said, with spear guns and the other two carrying equipment of some kind. What happens next? [02:25:43] Speaker B: How. How close are we to getting into the U boat? [02:25:52] Speaker A: Narratively, appropriately close. [02:25:54] Speaker B: Well, so, Ken, what I'd like to do is give Frederick enough time to get it open so. So we can get in there, and then maybe, like, if they have a. To come in the same way. Right. Then maybe we can put them in a. Get ourselves an advantageous position, I guess is the best way that I can put this. So I am actually going to take one of the harpoon guns, and I'm going to duck out underneath the bell, and I'm going to fire the harpoon gun in the direction ideally hitting one of them or hitting one of the tanks or hitting something. I don't expect to actually hit something, but that would be great. But I would just kind of like to slow their descent upon us, if. [02:26:43] Speaker A: Nothing else, ranged combat. And Emma is not an underwater ologist, so it's negative. Two pips. [02:26:50] Speaker B: Oh, no, that's fine, that's fine. Let's see. This is gonna be bad. It's fine, it's fine. This is fine. That's a 35 over 15. So I definitely don't hit a mark. [02:27:06] Speaker A: But, yeah, it does look fucking cool, though. And it makes an amazing noise. [02:27:13] Speaker B: Good. [02:27:16] Speaker A: I'm getting the picture of, like, child using a crossbow. So, like, Emma has it, and then you kind of, like, fold up around it as it goes sailing off in that direction. You're like, oh, shit. That's not at all how I thought that would work. Goes springing off the divers who are coming after you. Much better trained in the art of using spear gun or, sorry, harpoon guns. So let's see how they manage their end of it. Not so well. There are two spears, so you shoot one off and you're like, yeah. And then there's two more that come by and, like, on one lamp, hitting the bell and flying in, and the other is spearing slightly below where sprocket is a collection of metal now forming on the surface of this U boat. They mean business. Frederick, you'll be able to wrench open the. You're not making. You're not cutting the hatch. You stop it. You are able to cut the entrance into. It's been sunk for 1015 years at this point. Right. So it's not gonna be the kind of thing you can open and then shut. You've made a hole. You can get inside. [02:28:34] Speaker C: I think Frederick has kind of stuck for, like, did I run away, or should I help Emma? So kind of stuck. [02:28:49] Speaker B: Um, I. Well, I think. I think I probably would have said something before ducking out. Like. Like, you know, get. Get into the U boat, or, like, I'm gonna try and distract them. Like, do what you gotta do. So you would have known to, like, get in there. I will come join you as soon as I can. But, like, just. Your goal is to get inside. [02:29:11] Speaker A: So all that communicated entirely with hand gestures, because you don't have telepathy or sound powered phones to each other. [02:29:21] Speaker B: So it's you down me out, and I just hold up the harpoon gun, and then I leave. It's very. Makes sense. [02:29:30] Speaker A: Yeah. Okay, so, Emma, you are going to remain outside the U boat, and frederick is going to go inside the u boat. [02:29:40] Speaker B: Um, well, I figure I will get back into the bell and then inside the u boat, the next turn. Um, but my turn was spent outside, like, getting out of the bell and shooting, and I can't. [02:29:51] Speaker A: Outside the u boat. Okay. Yes. Then we go back to the surface. Katarina, you have thrown the wrench, a spectacular defiance of the forces of octopus. They also throw something back at you. It is high powered automatic rifle fire raking the sides of the boat, where Sonia and katarina and pierre and marquis mark are scrambling about and going through their business. 73, not awesome. A 96, not awesome. Oh. A 22, not great. Okay, so this is. Again, it's incredibly cruel of me as a gm. I cannot possibly pick. So I'm going to roll one d. Four. There are four things on the deck of this boat that we could hit, and we'll see which one it is. Oh, it fell all the way. Okay, I've got good news, and I have bad news. Do you want to hear the good news first? Yes, you do. That makes the joke funnier. The good news is that none of the people on the ship have been shot. That's good. V has already figured out the bad news. Yeah. As. Yes. Just gunfire raking through some of the apparatus, it is hardy. It's not. It's nothing broken down equipment. But down in the diving bell, you do hear like the sound of something going wrong and the air pressure meter starting to wobble a little bit. Now, Marquis Marc is a sailor in SI to my shortly after the second World War. There's no way he does not have a gun. In fact, I think it's fun that this boat has a shitload of guns. Do you agree? [02:31:50] Speaker D: Yes. Yes, Aaron. We agree, Aaron. [02:31:55] Speaker A: So in that case, yes, then he is firing out. There'll be pistols for like, fending off borders. If you want to upgrade those other things with story points, that's on you. But your good friend Marky, well, one of your good friends. Now you've all become friends over the journey. You had time know another Marky mark will also fire getting a 15, which is enough to, you see, like the ping off the side of the helicopter. Not going to be able to shoot down with this pistol, but definitely able to. You see the. The exclamation point come off the head of the pilot as they wrench the helicopter around and start getting a little more distance. So Katarina and Sonia will go to you. [02:32:40] Speaker D: I hate helicopters. Crowdsourcing of ideas. Just because I'm a bit desperate. Can anyone think of a way for me to persuade this helicopter to get closer to us? Too far away. [02:32:52] Speaker C: I couldn't like it. [02:32:55] Speaker B: Is there a harpoon gun on the side of the boat? [02:32:59] Speaker D: I couldn't laugh, but I could half harpoon it. [02:33:05] Speaker A: Director of operations we didn't establish there was one, so if you want to add one, that would be a story point thing. [02:33:11] Speaker D: How many story points for a harpoon gun? [02:33:15] Speaker A: Two for it to be something small, or six for it to be something really fucking huge. Mad Max. Cool. [02:33:24] Speaker D: I guess. I'm not sure. What difference do you think the size would make to a helicopter? Like, maybe. [02:33:36] Speaker A: A little one would be able to, like, hold it in place, but like, you'd be pulling the ship around. It would still be maneuverable, but it wouldn't really be. It still wouldn't be able to escape if it were bigger. You run the risk on like a critical. That it just like, punches straight through something very expensive and the helicopter crashes. Or on a normal success, you'd be able to hold the helicopter exactly where it needs to be. It wouldn't be able to get away. Does that make sense? [02:34:03] Speaker D: I will spend two story points for a. Without going too near the edge for a normal sized harpoon gun. And what I'd like to do is. I'd like to. Oh, this is gonna be really tricky. Okay, well, first I'll see if I. [02:34:23] Speaker A: Can hit it for two story points that you've spent. It is not located right up on the railing that it's, like, on a platform on the back. Right. [02:34:32] Speaker D: Awesome. [02:34:33] Speaker A: So it's further away from the. From the water. That way you don't have to. [02:34:36] Speaker D: Thanks. [02:34:37] Speaker A: Thanks. That's a little gift from me to you. [02:34:39] Speaker D: Thanks. That's great. Actually, that's very useful because I presume I have to roll. Ranged combat, right? [02:34:47] Speaker A: Yes. Oh, boy. [02:34:51] Speaker D: Oh, boy. Oh, dear. There is no way to flip that to make that good. That was a 68. [02:34:59] Speaker A: You have plenty of harpoons. I'm. What is it? Just. I don't. They come in as, like, stacks. Do you reel them in? I don't know, but it. This is the turret section of a video game, so under your ammo counter just has the infinity symbol. Right. Yay. If you're gonna be okay. Sonia, you said you were also in to return fire of some kind? Yeah, whatever. Whatever. If this ship has got guns. Not great with guns, but, you know, we can maybe. Maybe I can leave, maybe not focus on so much of trying to hit the helicopter. Maybe I can try and shoot in a way that it might push them a little closer to Katarina so that she can. You know, if, like, Katarina's, like, on the left with a harpoon gun, I'm shooting at them on the right, so they have to go left to avoid my shots. [02:35:51] Speaker D: Teamwork rule. [02:35:53] Speaker A: Ranged combat. Well, that is a 29 over a 15. [02:35:57] Speaker D: Yeah. [02:35:58] Speaker A: Oh, a delight. So close, you get that you can see the spark. This. Maybe if there were more. Higher caliber, something like that. If the helicopter were closer. Different options, but it's hard to miss a helicopter. But pistol versus helicopter, that's. That sounds like a terrible, like, Discovery Channel thing, but, like, man versus bear and union, this isn't gonna work out. But. So no damage to any of you. The machine is starting to sputter. Bad situation that we leave up on top, back down at the bottom. Frederick, you're inside. Emma, it will take you a move action to get into the conning tower zone, but the action isn't working the way it is. You can fire one more time and still make it inside if you would like to. [02:36:47] Speaker B: Oh, sure. Let's go. I mean, it's not fun and cinematic if you don't make the shot, right, I shoot again, but it definitely goes wide, because that's a 49 over 15. [02:37:02] Speaker A: Yeah. Ice physics, right? Like, you're getting used to the controls. This video game metaphor is really building up in my head. So, like, a real section. But you are able to move back in before the shots come? No, we'll say it's more cool if you are moving in as they ricochet around you, but they don't get to roll because you're moving, right? So you shoot and then you're swimming, and then, like, the camera is looking up at you and you can see the octopus horses, like, behind, kind of looking down at you. And then your little feet, flippers push down into the U boat as the two spears, or harpoons, rather, just like, plunk, plunk off the side. While Emma was doing that, Frederick, what were you attending to get up to? [02:37:46] Speaker C: So if I had the blueprint of the ship, I would have probably gone. Okay. So I want to check. I want to keep moving away from this and get to the cargo hold, see what they have, because surely it'll be something. [02:38:07] Speaker A: So the overall layout of the U boat, when you get down to the conning tower in the center, will be like your. Your control room, right? It's got the periscope, it's got the radios. As you move forward, there's the engine compartment. Well, technically, there's the galley. First there's the kitchen. Then there's the engine compartment. And then there is the stern torpedo tubes all the way in the front going backwards. You have the radio room, the officers quarters, the enlisted quarters, and then all the way in the back, the aft torpedo tube. In terms of storage, this is very much like a shove. Shit. Wherever you can. But the most likely cargo places would be kept in nets above in these. In the motor rooms or stored in torpedo rooms around the torpedoes. So it's kind of a question of forwards or backwards. We head into the rear of the ship, or the front of the ship. Where do you think? Where do you think? [02:39:11] Speaker C: I think I'm gonna head towards the rear. [02:39:14] Speaker A: If I were secret nazi alien technology, where would I hide? Hide in the rear. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, I saw the pv just made a face that made me realize I made a joke that I didn't mean to. All right, well, search is the skill to trying to find something that you're looking for. Let's see how it goes. [02:39:41] Speaker C: Oh, oh, oh. It's a critical file. Wait, no need to double check. Yeah, my search is 65. This is a 66. [02:39:57] Speaker A: Well, then this is a good time to bring up that small penalty that happened with your suit. We said something went wrong with it, and as you are coming around like it's been sunk. There are sharp edges everywhere. There are things that should not be where they are. What happens to rupture the integrity of your dive suit? [02:40:22] Speaker C: I think given that Frederick is well aware that there are octopus, he's rushing way more, and so he's not very careful. So he might. I think as it crashed and upended, maybe things kind of broke apart from the ship. So he, like, as he's rushing down and inside the ship, he is running and stumbles over like a jutting piece of the flooring that is kind of now sticking out. And it catches and tears some of the thing around his leg. [02:41:07] Speaker A: Just like every Sci-Fi movie, right? You've seen the abyss, so you hear the ears kind of, like, pop as the pressure changes. And then there's the. The bubbles coming off below. And you're looking down. Emma, you come down through the conning tower swimming and look left, look right, and you just see Frederick kind of, like, awkwardly float forward and the bubbles coming up from the back of one of their legs. The people who are pursuing you, the underwater folks, it's gonna take their move action to get to the conning tower and then down. So in the next scene, you will have octopus agents inside the tunnel with inside the U boat with you. Much too close quarters for, like, harpooning range. It's all going to be melee at that point. Return then to the surface. Caterina, you are. Harpoon goes out. Pierre, valiant and excitable and not excited to be captured again. Scrambling over and helping you grab the thing and wrenching it back forward and just rattling off. Very rapid. Excitable French. So we'll say that it reloads the harpoon gun. Sonia, you don't need to reload because it's a pistol. You get more than one shot. But what are we doing now? [02:42:26] Speaker D: Oh, you're muted. [02:42:28] Speaker A: I noticed that as the thing popped up on my screen. You know, maybe second times the charm of trying to force this thing a little bit closer to where Katarina is. Unless Katarina had an idea. [02:42:49] Speaker D: I don't know if it'll work. I would like. So can I tell whether they're more interested in shooting at us at the diving equipment, at, like, the engine or, like, bridge area? Can I tell what they seem to be aiming at? [02:43:08] Speaker A: What you can tell is that they're not super aiming. They're more just, like, spraying to keep your head down to interrupt what you're doing. It's suppressive. The helicopter is more interested in keeping all of you tied up so the divers can do what the divers are gonna do? Yeah, let me tell you. They can't hit the engine. It's inboard, so. [02:43:29] Speaker D: Oh, great. Okay, good. That's nice. That's great. Um, I would like. Okay, so this is, this is like, a big, really difficult thing, but I feel like we got to stop trying to get, you know, a 15% chance on a range combat and use the things we're good at. So I would like to, first of all, get multiple people. So what I want to do is I want to get a bunch of people onto the other side of the boat so to where we're sheltered by the middle, upright bit of the boat. And all for the purpose of trying to draw that helicopter in to be like, shit, what are they doing over there? Something's going on over there. I need to go see it. They could do a big loop round, but easiest thing would be to come straight towards us. I want them as close as possible. It's just about whether. Yeah, that's persuasive enough, I guess. I don't know. [02:44:36] Speaker A: In this case, there's bulls that fly and then you dive, and he's like, yes, we have them now. And then orders the guy to fly directly over as opposed to the other piece that is part of the lure. And, Sonya, you haven't used your action. Do you want to attempt the harpoon? Yeah, I can attempt the harpoon. If Katarina is luring them, I can run over, grab that and try to harpoon it. Okay, so it's still ranged combat, but you'll get plus two pips for the range. Um, that's an eight. Okay, so, um, what is your ranged combat skill? A 15. Okay, so Sonya does not expect us to work. Right. There's no, I don't. I imagine that, like, you're scrambling, there's bullets flying everywhere, and you just kind of, like, point that thing up and then pull the trigger. And then, like, that panel of the comic is you just, like, kind of cowering over it. And then the next panel is the, like, eh? Because everyone is shocked as the harpoon just, like, thunks straight up into the bottom of it. So in eight. Yes, you have it wrangled. The helicopter is not going to be able to get away without, like, ripping something expensive off of it. And because it's directly above you means anyone who wants to shoot at you is going to be at a disadvantage because they have to, like, lean out and try to shoot, it's not going to work. See, you've not marginally. That. That's a small word. You have greatly increased your chances of surface survival. Congratulations on the topic of trying to survive. We are down in the U boat now very, very close quarters. Emma, you are fortunate because they cannot bother through that door. Anyone go to Chicago, pay the extra $18, take the tour of the U boat there. It'll make this part very like. It'll make a lot more sense. This is, like, if you think, like, cramped, way more cramped. Barely enough room for one person to get through any particular hatch. There's maybe room for two people to stand abreast in a U boat that has not been, like, compressed and twisted and full of shit. So the first of them is coming through. You still had your harpoon gun. I'll say this much, on a successful attack, you can make the choice to fire that harpoon. And whoever you hit is not. They're not going to be your problem anymore, but you will no longer have a harpoon. So that is a choice that you have to make. [02:47:19] Speaker D: If they have a spare gun, could you steal that? [02:47:22] Speaker A: Yes. Everyone has harpoon guns except for Frederick. So if you can get theirs before they shoot, if they shoot you, it's gonna be different because you're the hero, not a mook. Right. That is the lineup there. They cannot get past Emma to get to Frederick. So, Frederick, if you want to continue looking for things, you can. [02:47:44] Speaker C: I'm distracted by my suit situation. Like, if I. Or I would imagine that I would have noticed it, because I guess I can feel the water refreshing. So I'll probably be trying to do a. When I say a patch, like, something to kind of, like, tie it off or whatever. [02:48:10] Speaker A: Nothing that I'm very expensive. Institute brand duct tape. Can't fix. Right. [02:48:16] Speaker C: Of course. [02:48:18] Speaker A: Depending on the color, we could say that's a red tape roll. [02:48:25] Speaker C: Well, it's not really a machine, but mechanics would be creating, repairing machines for two pips. [02:48:34] Speaker A: Yeah, you can take that. Survival is appropriate. It is not. I wish it was vehicles like you were in a friggin underwater, like, alien suit, but it's not. Engineering makes sense because you have. It's essentially maintenance. Right? And 99% of engineering is maintenance. [02:48:54] Speaker C: Engineering is the best for me. So I'm gonna try that one. Oh, my gosh. Why? [02:49:03] Speaker D: What is wrong with my dice? [02:49:08] Speaker C: I rolled a 76. [02:49:10] Speaker A: Hey, it could have been worse. Can you spend the points to make it a 67? [02:49:17] Speaker C: Yeah, I think at this point, I have to, because I'm using my. No, you know what? I'm going to use Tecwiz, because it counts for engineering roles. That is one of my skills. Yeah, it counts for engineering, and I basically. I can macgyver it, so. Oh, well, yeah, that's. That's a skill, a thing that I can do. I'll just macgyver it real quick and as part of my regular action. [02:49:52] Speaker A: So instead of doing it the appropriate way, by using the seal kit and all that, what do you do instead? [02:49:59] Speaker C: I think that in a moment of panic, I see, like, maybe there's some tubing, like, lying around, and I'm like, just tie it off. Tie it off and get the hell out of here, because I'm like, I don't want to be around these. These goons. I'm not good at combat. I'm just not me. Yep. [02:50:27] Speaker A: Well, Emma is not super good at combat either, but doesn't have a choice in the matter. [02:50:33] Speaker C: Yeah, you don't have Frederick's combat paralysis, so it's either, like, Frederick going, ah. [02:50:43] Speaker A: Emma, what is your plan? [02:50:45] Speaker B: So you said that they can only come down one at a time, which is great. And I still have my harpoon, which is also great. But here's the thing. We've already established I'm really bad at ranged combat. What I'm not as bad at is melee. So I would like to take the harpoon. And because the genre is what the genre is, I want to try and stab at, like, their scuba tanks on the back and try and pierce the one of the guy in front of me. So then, of course, he'll panic and have to swim up, and hopefully he won't be a problem anymore. [02:51:16] Speaker D: Yes. Yes, Ella. [02:51:17] Speaker A: Okay. You can also stab him if you're making a called shot. It's at negative two pips. [02:51:27] Speaker B: It's worth it. I think it's worth it. I think if this works out, it's gonna be really freaking cool. [02:51:33] Speaker A: Yeah, it doesn't work out. It's gonna be really intense. Do it. I hope it works. [02:51:42] Speaker C: Oh, God. [02:51:43] Speaker B: It didn't work. [02:51:44] Speaker C: Oh, no. [02:51:45] Speaker A: How bad did it not work? [02:51:48] Speaker B: Over 45, you said. [02:51:51] Speaker A: What? [02:51:51] Speaker B: Really? 97. [02:51:53] Speaker C: Oh. [02:51:57] Speaker B: Well, you know what it is? It's. It's the water. The water's messing me up, because I know when I. When I'm using, like, when I'm doing hand to hand combat, I know how quickly I can, like, move things, but people move differently in water, and the weapons move differently in water, and it just. I assume it just. It's one of those things where he kind of, like, swims, like, down, and I'm like, ha. And then it's, like, really anticlimactic. It's like the harpoon just kind of, like, brushes over the top of the tank, and I'm like, oh, no, I misjudged that real bad. [02:52:30] Speaker A: It's all happening in much slower motion than you imagine in your head. It's playing out super fast, but as in the audience watching it, they just kind of see it's like the Austin power scene where they're just slowly, you know? Yeah, well, he rolls a 62, which is above his. So we have a series where you are just kind of impotently clashing and tangling around, getting upside down, flippers everywhere. There's something vaguely kind of underwater ballet about it, but in a very violent way. The second person is not trying to fight you. They are departing to the front of the U boat, where they will use their search skill. [02:53:11] Speaker D: Oh, boy. [02:53:13] Speaker A: Which they have critically failed. So, uh, yeah, so, Frederick, your Emma's tied up kind of, like, literally in a limb sense. You fix your thing, you see that happen, and then we're just gonna call it like a film blooper, where the person goes to swim forward, and then you hear the plum of them banging their head on the. On the bulkhead because they don't appreciate how small the u boat is. So the person, like, is floating backwards with the motion, and you can see the water into the mask as my, like, mask fills up with. With the background. Right? [02:53:48] Speaker C: Oh, no. [02:53:49] Speaker A: So he's not in a good place and will be scrambling to get up to the surface because they do not pay you enough in octopus to just drown for no reason. Yeah. That is the situation at the bottom of the U boat, we return to the surface, where Sonia Volkov has wrangled herself a helicopter. And Katerina, having been instrumental in making this happen, gives a cheeky triumph smirk. [02:54:16] Speaker C: Like. [02:54:20] Speaker A: Now what? [02:54:21] Speaker D: That's my nemesis. [02:54:23] Speaker A: Can I use my incredible strength to rein it in? Like, today's big catch? Oh, that helicopter. Is that. Yeah, the harpoon. Big harpoon. Totally happy to let you reel that baby down in, little harpoon. It is staying where it is. And I appreciate that you are a swole muscle. Mommy. It's a. It's a helicopter. It's fair. I thought I could ask. [02:54:50] Speaker D: My actions may or may not help. Probably won't be able to get that far. But, um, Katarina is. Is backflipping onto the. Onto the roof of the cabin and climbing up the rope to the helicopter. [02:55:04] Speaker A: Oh, that is that. [02:55:07] Speaker D: Because, of course she is. [02:55:09] Speaker A: You know, you say it now. So obvious. But I did not expect it out loud. [02:55:14] Speaker C: Really? [02:55:14] Speaker D: You didn't expect it? [02:55:16] Speaker B: I'm seriously sitting here like, she's gonna climb the rope, she's gonna climb the rope. She's gonna climb the rope. She's gonna climb the rope. I knew it was. [02:55:22] Speaker D: Why do you think I didn't want the helicopter here? So that. So that we could just harpoon it. [02:55:27] Speaker A: How are we getting that agility in my head? And I wonder if this is something that Katarina also realizes is that she begins to climb. Make your agility roll, for one. That's what we're doing. And then I'll finish that thought once we have some numbers in hand. [02:55:43] Speaker D: 16 under 75. [02:55:47] Speaker A: Okay. Yeah. Because in my head, I was worried that Katarina was going to get halfway up the rope and be like, oh, shit, I'm over the ocean. [02:55:53] Speaker D: I was gonna ask you. She's not thinking about that right now, but I would be interested to know whereabouts that. [02:56:04] Speaker A: Well, you've done incredibly well. So it's probably the case that Katarina is very, very focused on up and will not realize that she is over the ocean until a later dramatic moment, if it matters. Right. [02:56:17] Speaker D: Right. [02:56:18] Speaker A: So then, yes, Sonia, from your case, you see Katerina backflip onto the rope, like, grab it, zhonya on the top in, like, a leg lock, and then hoist, and then just start climbing up the thing. [02:56:30] Speaker D: I would like to be able to throw someone down to you, Sonia, but I feel like that might take a while. [02:56:35] Speaker A: That's fair. Are any of them in there trying to shoot at her? Cause if they are, I may try to shoot at them first. Yeah, they're not specifically at her. Just with the physics, like, you have punctured thing right in the middle. So for someone to lean all the way out and then shoot down, that's gonna be kind of weird. Notice how I just left frame? So imagine instead of frame, it's the helicopter that I fell out of because I was leaning too far to try to shoot Katarina. But that does not say the same for Mark or Pierre or you or the breathing equipment or any part of the boat. So, yes, there are targets available for Sonia if you'd like to do firearms. Yeah, I will roll some arranged combat. It's not going great on that because I still only have a 15, but, you know, that's a nice. But just a 69 over a 15. Well, you don't shoot Katarina, but there is a moment where, Katarina, you are climbing up, and you're, like, eyes on the prize. And then, like, a ping ricochets off the thing, and you're like, okay, not gonna look down. I know it's down there, but not. Okay. Sorry, personal note. Have a talk with Sonia when I'm back on the deck of the ship. Ah, but, you know, it's going well. They do get to attack. $96. Ah, 40. Finally, I get to roll the dice. Yes. One of them manages to shoot. Same rules. There are four. Three of you on deck and then stuff. Actually, no, there's less, because they can't shoot Katarina. That's okay, because I rolled the big number again, which means another raking line of gunfire going across the breathing apparatus. And at this point, it's not like a hiss. It's like a high pitched, like tea kettle whistle as something is wrong with the pressure you all can feel on the bottom. It's like in the cartoon when someone's standing on the rope, and it's just things are starting to get weird. [02:58:52] Speaker D: Confirm with the setup whether there is the diving bell and their suits also have tanks, or whether their suits merely have pipes going to the diving bell. [02:59:01] Speaker A: They have. They have actual scuba tanks. [02:59:02] Speaker D: They do have tanks. Great. [02:59:03] Speaker A: Yeah. [02:59:03] Speaker D: Okay, so they're not dependent on the diving bell. The diving bell is the only thing that. That's, like, tied to the surface and has extra air. [02:59:11] Speaker A: Just depending on how much is in the tank. How will they get up? Do you get the bends from coming up? That kind of thing? Does something go wrong when a diving bell over pressurizes and explodes on top of a U boat that is inside of a civil reef or inside of a coral reef? Gotta try and fix that. Well, we will have to wait a moment because we are inside the unto sea boat. Frederick, you fixed your suit. The hissing is still happening, but it's a different kind of hissing. Whatever little air has escaped. Not a problem. You remain conscious, Emma. You are continuing to have an embarrassingly slow motion, but otherwise very amusing undersea combat ballet. What happens next? [02:59:56] Speaker B: I'm ready to stab this guy. I don't care where. I'm just going to kind of indiscriminately stab and hope I hit him at least once, maybe. That would be lovely, I think. Yeah. I swear to God. 68 45. It's really embarrassing. It's so embarrassing. This is the most embarrassing. [03:00:18] Speaker A: I think it's not yackity sacks, as that music is too fast, but it's very much like blue Danube, as the two of you are just kind of tumbling around each other. I don't know if they'll do any better. They've all been rolling. Well, no. Missed it by two. So, yeah, this game is really weird. When none of us pass our roles, it starts to get a little kind of awkward. Cannot really engage in the combat. A because you're you and because it's the U boat. But you have already done one search. The next one will happen at two pips. Plus, because you're starting to narrow down what's going around, it is up to you. [03:01:00] Speaker C: Uh, yeah, because the other person isn't much of a problem now. They're. They're on their own, kind of trying to escape. [03:01:09] Speaker A: They have panicked and are. Have like, oh, God, I'm gonna drown. I don't get paid to drown. [03:01:14] Speaker C: Okay, so I'll do another search and hope to goodness it will be better. It's a 47. [03:01:22] Speaker A: I don't know if that's good. [03:01:23] Speaker C: It's. I'm checking. I think it's good. [03:01:28] Speaker A: Tone of voice and number did not communicate the information that I need. The suspense is killing me. [03:01:33] Speaker C: It's 65 by. Yes, 47 under 65. So, yes, that was good. [03:01:40] Speaker A: So it is not the torpedo room. It is not the enlisted quarters. It is the officers quarters, where you find the target of your investigation, which you weren't really sure what it was, right. You knew there was something in here. But I want you to guess, collectively, everyone in the room, we've talked about so much so far, there are two things in this room, one of which you will not guess, and we'll talk about in a second. The other one, I'm sure you will. On the wall in the officers quarters, oh, there is a gigantic painting. Painting. [03:02:22] Speaker C: Oh. [03:02:22] Speaker D: Of a unicorn thing. Wait, what? [03:02:28] Speaker C: Wait. It's like Hitler's favorite painting. [03:02:31] Speaker D: His favorite painting. This is presumably not his copy, unless he was selling it to the japanese for sentimental reasons. [03:02:39] Speaker A: Frederick. This is the part where it becomes interesting because the painting is not fully attached to its frame. It's kind of floating, wobbling around, right. And it's sitting in front of it are two. I want you to imagine a car battery. It is not a car battery. And it's some kind of, like, waterproof casing. And then it has a curly, flexible electric tube that attaches to. On a handle, there's a big, kind of, like, parabolic, like, lens mirror, flashlight looking thing. So there's a handle on the battery that you can carry it around like a little, very heavy chemical purse. And then a curly bit that attaches. It looks like. Like ye olde timey flash photography, but much smaller. Much smaller. I will send you all a photo of this so you can see what I am talking about. Taking for granted that I am able to describe this correctly when it is one of those things, like, okay, Aaron, that doesn't look like anything. I don't know what the hell you're talking about. So I'm gonna show you this picture, and then you'll realize that I was describing it correctly. It just didn't look like anything you thought. Okay, so there are two of those, which. It matches the drawing on the back of the painting. [03:04:13] Speaker C: Right. Are there other, as. I. I will. No sense of art or whatever. Rip it further and see if there's any kind of language or anything on there, like, conveniently. [03:04:26] Speaker A: Oh, there are schematics. It's written in German you're looking at. It's got ohm symbols, and, like, the little thing that means, like, resistor. And your institute senses are going, woo. Because it has all kind. You know what this is? This is weaponized Vril tech technology. This is a parabolic projector that is capable of firing in theory, if this is right and it works. Capable of firing counter gravity bubbles capable of lifting cars and things smaller than cars. This is the good shit. This is the institute shit right here. [03:05:15] Speaker D: Really should have asked Frederick more questions about that whole suspicious backstory that they got going on. [03:05:23] Speaker A: Probably, yeah. [03:05:25] Speaker C: So I think what Frederick is going to do is tear away the schematics completely and is going to try and fold them up as tightly as possible to, like, hide them in their. Their toolbox that they've. They've managed to keep with them this whole time. [03:05:47] Speaker D: Still there. [03:05:48] Speaker C: Yeah, the little toolbox. Right. And they've stuffed in there, because I don't. They can't really get into their suit at this point. Yeah. [03:05:56] Speaker A: So the toolbox is a supporting character we've established after the dramatic rescue in the warehouse. Yeah, yeah. [03:06:03] Speaker C: There's definitely, like, a war waterproof pocket in there, even though, like, just to try and protect it somewhat. And then it's going to. They're going to trash one of these and then grab the other. [03:06:20] Speaker D: Oh, what if they need both? What if that's a two parter? [03:06:25] Speaker C: I don't know. [03:06:26] Speaker D: Is that clear from. [03:06:27] Speaker C: Wait, so there are two of the. There are two of these parabolic. Yeah. [03:06:33] Speaker A: Two batteries, two apparatuses. Apparatus. [03:06:38] Speaker C: Well. [03:06:44] Speaker A: How they work entirely, like, who knows? [03:06:49] Speaker C: Right? Okay. If they don't tell me how to build it, if they don't tell us how to build it, then I won't do that. I won't trash it. I will kind of somehow tuck the toolbox under the arm and, like, try and grab these to bring them with me. [03:07:09] Speaker B: Well, theoretically, I'll be able to help, depending on how the combat with this guy goes. Maybe won't be. Maybe you won't have to do it by yourself. [03:07:19] Speaker C: Yeah. [03:07:20] Speaker A: I will tell you that even in your underwater situation, like I said, it is waterproof, alien technology, so an engineering or electronics role would be able to get it to work. You don't speak German, which makes it harder, but if Emma's able to translate, that would give you plus two pips. Emma cannot currently translate because she is occupied having a very dumb slap fight with a hideously unqualified moon. [03:07:46] Speaker C: Octupied. [03:07:47] Speaker A: Octopiedhenne. [03:07:50] Speaker D: That's so good. Oh, that's so good, though. It's so good. [03:07:54] Speaker A: So we'll return to the surface, where Katarina has made it almost all the way up to the helicopter. What are you going to do when you get there? Punch someone straight. Straight point melee combat to punch. [03:08:12] Speaker D: Yeah, yeah, right. Would it also be melee combat to. To. Instead of go for a punch, to go for a backflip. The backflip engine. Anyway, to, like, grab. Grab whoever's leaning. Leaning out to shoot, pull myself in and try, and I want to throw them out the helicopter. [03:08:40] Speaker A: Oh, like. Like some air airborne judo. [03:08:43] Speaker D: Can I use melee for that? [03:08:44] Speaker A: That sounds more like agility to me, but. [03:08:46] Speaker C: Oh, okay. [03:08:46] Speaker D: I mean, agility. Yeah, agility. It's definitely. [03:08:48] Speaker A: You're right. [03:08:48] Speaker D: Oh, my, you're so right. It's agility. I'm doing that then. Oh, no, that was an 88 over 75. That's a critical fail. [03:09:01] Speaker A: Don't you have a skill that lets you, or is that all for lock picking? Don't you have acrobat? [03:09:06] Speaker D: I've got move checks at two pips. Spend a story point to flip. That doesn't help. [03:09:12] Speaker A: Well, you can reroll for two, right? [03:09:17] Speaker D: Yeah, I'm gonna reroll for two. How many people are in this helicopter? [03:09:21] Speaker A: Uh, there are two shooty goons. There's a pilot, and then there is, like, a comic book villain, nazi, like, monocle and everything. [03:09:31] Speaker D: My knight. [03:09:32] Speaker A: Not her. [03:09:34] Speaker D: Is it the guy I met in the boat? [03:09:35] Speaker A: The guy I met in the boat. [03:09:37] Speaker D: Don't know his name. I preferred. Preferred. [03:09:40] Speaker A: Anyway, you saw his name on the manifest. Captain of the ship. [03:09:52] Speaker D: I'm gonna do it. I'm gonna spend two story points to re roll this and hope. Again, not a critical foul. [03:10:03] Speaker A: Yeah, because you do not want to critical fall out of an airplane into the ocean or out of a helicopter. [03:10:08] Speaker D: Okay, that's much better. That is a 19 under 75 that I can cut with. [03:10:15] Speaker A: Yeah. So you grab, he falls, Wilhelm scream. And then I'll leave it to your discretion whether you want to end up in. Inside the helicopter or still hanging off of it. You can kind of set your. Your plan in motion. [03:10:31] Speaker D: I would like to end up inside, but to preempt for next time, I think the point at which I'm throwing someone out of the helicopter, I think Katarina thinks we're above the boat and I think she's trying to throw the nice person to Sonia who's then gonna finish them off. So I think at this point is when she looks down. [03:10:57] Speaker A: So freeze on that thought. Go to Sonia, who sees the Katarina climb all the way up and the ship is moving and the helicopter is moving. And this also very dramatically more interesting. If instead of falling to the deck of the boat, this person that Katerina has thrown out of the helicopter goes, I'm gonna say, like 20ft off the port side of the ship. Yeah. Ball splashes into water. That's while. So that Katarina has performed that set of actions. That is what you see. What is your plan? I hear all the really bad noises from the diving bell and all of that. So I'm going to rush over there and see if there's anything I can do to just stop it from making bad noises. Okay. So move action to get to that area. And then it would be machinery to. To get things moving again. Katarina, so you I basing this on the person I so far, there's a part of you, it's like, not only do I need to see what happened, I need to see if Sonya saw how cool that was. [03:11:59] Speaker D: Oh, yeah. That's what it is, isn't it? Yeah, God damn it. Yes, you're right. [03:12:04] Speaker A: And then you look over like Katrina, sir. Sonia, did you see that? It is beautiful. Blue, turquoise, watered meters in every direction. You are 15, 20 meters above the sea. And the only thing connecting you to anything resembling safety is this, like really, like, in hindsight kind of thing. Definitely not as laddery as you want it to be. Harpoon line. [03:12:40] Speaker D: Yeah, great, good, great. I'm just gonna take that in for a while. [03:12:48] Speaker A: Freeze frame on Katarina is just like making the gulp. Noise. [03:12:53] Speaker D: Yes, thank you. Yes. [03:12:56] Speaker A: Sonia, how did your mechanics roll? 40, 43 over 45. So, yeah, I succeeded just barely. But that will repair one level of brokenness to the machine. Break out the duct tape does not fully repair it. But there were two injuries, for lack of a better word to it, you've got one back under the way. Returning untersee Emma. [03:13:24] Speaker B: Yes. Yep, yep. No. Third time. [03:13:28] Speaker A: You got this. [03:13:30] Speaker B: It's better. What is that? What is that? All right, well, it's an 89, so I'm just. I'm gonna. I'm gonna. Just gonna change my dice out next. [03:13:48] Speaker A: Round for sure, and then we'll see what happens on that. Oh, no, that's a 99. So it is. It's really dumb if the three of you are just tickling one another, and then he accidentally knocks himself out. Right? So let's pretend that this critical fail and your fail, they resemble, cinematically a success. So, in a universe where you had succeeded on your attack, what would that have looked like? [03:14:25] Speaker B: You know, I am realizing that this harpoon is just not quite working. I'm gonna try, and I'm not very strong, but I'm gonna try and shove him back, like, into one of the items that are hanging, because, you know, they have, like, the nets and stuff. So I want to shove him back into this net, or I want to try and shove him back into this net, and it would have, like, started to, like, I imagined that the cables and things would have gotten tangled up in, like, the hooks and whatever items and stuff were there, and then, you know, they would have come, like, disconnected, and things would have just started to go pear shaped from there. [03:15:08] Speaker A: You're gonna tie this guy up underwater and be, like, your problem now, dude? [03:15:13] Speaker B: No, I'm trying to. What? [03:15:16] Speaker A: Not trying. You've already succeeded. Tell me what happens. [03:15:20] Speaker B: I I'm trying to. To get the cables out because, like, I'm not doing good at, like, actually hitting him. So, like, disconnecting cables and stuff to, like, stop his. [03:15:31] Speaker A: Like, his. Okay, okay. [03:15:33] Speaker B: Yes. Sorry. Cables, cables, tubes. Look it. I'm. I'm. I write. I write other words. I don't write mechanical words. [03:15:41] Speaker A: That's not, you know, that's a Frederick job. I have a nerd for that. You're not talking about k. Are you trying to, like, tie this guy up with u boat stuff? What's going on? You're gonna just ravage to the wall and be like, you got 30 minutes here, buddy. Tap, tap. See you around. That is, like, you must know. Okay, I'm with it now. All right, so, Frederick, you have the equipment. You are. You see this happening where Emma just. Yeets or yoinks. The yeet is a throw. Yoink is the. Pull the tube out of the back of the oxygen regulator. And the guy's just like, grab him behind him. Can't find it. You have in your hand, in each hand, a delightful car battery sized lunchbox. Bit of alien apparatus. What, now? [03:16:38] Speaker C: Yeah. Was there anything about saying whether it work underwater? [03:16:43] Speaker A: Oh, yeah. No, I mean. So it's waterproof. It's got. Yeah, yeah. [03:16:48] Speaker D: Need a plug because it's got, like, a battery on it. [03:16:50] Speaker C: Right, yeah. So tell me again. Gravity defying bubbles. Bubbles. Okay, so if I was to shoot or somehow aim it at the both of us, would we shoot back up to the surface so we could try and get away? Or would it be a kind. [03:17:16] Speaker A: You would levitate? Yeah. Functionally, it cancels the effect of gravity within a bubble for an amount of time based on the power of the device. [03:17:27] Speaker C: Right, right. [03:17:29] Speaker D: So it would turn it off again once you get high enough. [03:17:32] Speaker B: Rather just keep going. [03:17:34] Speaker C: Yeah. Attempting to get us out of the water very quickly, given that this diving bell is not doing very well. We can hear or. I don't know. I think experimental technology. [03:17:57] Speaker D: Yeah, definitely. Just shoot it at yourselves. [03:18:00] Speaker C: Okay. No, you know what? I think this is all the adrenaline is kind of left Frederick at this point, and it's like, okay, okay, what's happening? It's like, I will be shaking them at Emma and being like, I've got stuff, but you can't hear me. So it's just like, she has no. [03:18:25] Speaker D: Idea what they are anyway. [03:18:26] Speaker C: It's just, like, some boxes. [03:18:27] Speaker A: Emma's like, you have found camping equipment. That's a really big flashlight. I should. [03:18:34] Speaker C: I came to game. [03:18:35] Speaker B: Let's go. [03:18:36] Speaker D: I'm glad we came all this way. [03:18:38] Speaker B: Yeah. [03:18:40] Speaker A: Cool. [03:18:41] Speaker B: Hitler's sleeping bag. [03:18:42] Speaker A: Yay. Coulda just gone to Dick's sporting goods, but we went to sidomyang instead. [03:18:49] Speaker B: All right, good use of time. [03:18:52] Speaker C: We'll try and swim past or swim up. [03:18:57] Speaker A: All of that is totally fine. And if Frederick is confused at all about how these devices work, you and Emma will soon have an example, because do you remember when I told you the other people were carrying some kind of backpack apparatus? And as you begin to exit the conning tower, it is a noise, like. Like, ear piercing dolphin kind of sound. It has that. That very obvious Sci-Fi wind up, like, silence, and then a big, like, a piercing blue green, iridescent, literally like a bubble of force, like a. Like you imagine, like, very bad doctor who, like, imprint of graphic over the film, right. Floating in your direction. But floating is kind of misnomer. It's moving way faster than you would expect. That's how you know that it is some kind of ray, some kind of beam. It's not a projectile. It's moving entirely too fast through the water. On a 26, it does hit something. And the other one rolls an 83. So, Emma, will you roll your agility for me, since you get to defend yourself? [03:20:31] Speaker B: That's upsetting. I rolled a 20 over 15. [03:20:39] Speaker C: Flip it. Flip it. [03:20:41] Speaker B: I can't. I only have one story point. [03:20:44] Speaker C: Oh. [03:20:46] Speaker A: So in one moment, Frederick, Emma is next to you, looking very surprised at this shock of green. In the next moment, Emma is ascending rapidly upwards, just like yoinked on a puppet string, up towards the. Towards the surface. The second one, meant for you, doesn't hit you, it flies behind you, the coelacanth, which means several seconds later, Sonia Katarina, you see two things come flying up out of the air. Like, imagine, you know, in the movies, they get the shot up by, like, a geyser. The effect isn't permanent. So you have Emma once. First flying up five, 6ft in the air, 2 meters into the air, and then coming down and splashing. And then as Emma's coming down, like. Like a Bellagio Las Vegas fountain, the coelacanths come up around her and also splash down. All of this happening all at once. [03:21:51] Speaker C: Okay, so they have the tools as well. [03:21:55] Speaker A: Yes. I will let you know that to use this weapon is a science check. [03:22:00] Speaker C: Okay. [03:22:01] Speaker A: You can use science or ranged combat. [03:22:05] Speaker C: Yeah, it's gonna be a science. It's gotta be a science of my part. [03:22:13] Speaker A: The book says ranged combat, but it's not that hard to aim a flashlight. So it's the science part that I'm interested in. [03:22:19] Speaker C: Yes, science I can do, and I do so well with an eleven. [03:22:26] Speaker A: Oh, critical. [03:22:28] Speaker C: Yeah. Under. Under 65. So. [03:22:33] Speaker A: So you get a story point for your critical. But this means we've altered the narrative, because in order then, one Emma Beck flies into the air, landing amidst a. An explosion. A geyser of coelacanths. The coelacanths come flying down. And then Sonia and Katerina watching this, you're like, what the hell is that, Sonia? Is that a coelac? And then two octopus people flying up into the air, splashing back down. Have you seen the videos, perhaps on TikTok or YouTube, where, like, the idiggle koi pond, and then they throw something in the water and all of a sudden there's fish ever. It's that kind of experience. But instead of koi, it's Emma coelacanths and two agents of the octopus. That is the information you have at your disposal as we enter your. Catriona. Sonia, what do you want to do? Um. Can I. Does Emma need to be reeled in? I don't know that. Reeled? No. I mean, you can swim, right? Okay, then I want to. [03:23:39] Speaker B: Theoretically. Depends on what the role is. [03:23:42] Speaker A: Theoretically. I'm going to continue patching up this. This thing. Okay. Right, because Frederick is still down there. Yep. So that's a roll from you, Katarina. He looks down, but you're still. You're still safe, right? Helicopter's fine. It's not going anywhere. [03:24:04] Speaker D: I'm gonna. Katarina's like. Like there is a moment of frozen, and then there is a sort of, like, flinging back away from that. That edge into the. Into the sort of center of the helicopter. And I think as I'm sort of flinging myself backwards anyway, I'll suddenly realize, oh, there are, like, still two people plus the pilot left in the space. I shall elbow one of them as I fling myself into them while trying to escape the sea. So I'll melee just trying to elbow someone in the face, I guess. [03:24:50] Speaker A: The accidental elbow. [03:24:52] Speaker D: Yeah. That is a ten. That's good. That is a 1010. Yes, that's a ten. Great. Under 55. [03:25:06] Speaker A: Wonderful. Well, the good news. Two less nazis in this aircraft, one of them you'd already pushed into the ocean. The second one, you go stumbling back, right? And you collide with the gender equality in octopus woman. This time, go colliding back with this woman. She tumbles out of the aircraft. You turn out the other side. So, yeah, you stop and you turn. You're like, what did I just hit? Nothing. There's nothing there. Because Sonia sees this woman comes falling out of the other side of the aircraft. I like this. Because Sonia can't see into the helicopter. So you just think Karen is kicking ass up there? Yeah, exactly. I'm sure she's fine. I'm sure everything's fine in there. But it's actually just blind panic flailing around now that leads to a situation where the, of course, the villain moment, your arch nemesis, the octopus. Erwin Jaeger, number 497. It's not information that you have, but everyone in octopus gets a number turning around and says, the vice. Maybe I am tired of seeing everywhere we go. I will finish this personally. And clips out of their seat. And, like, the boss music starts to play because now you get to have a fist fight with the octopus Nazi in a helicopter. [03:26:41] Speaker D: I'll try not to go too near either that side or that side. [03:26:48] Speaker A: Emma beck. [03:26:51] Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah. Um, takes me. Takes me a minute. [03:26:56] Speaker C: Yeah. [03:26:56] Speaker B: Seal encamps everywhere. Oh, God. Um, uh, boat. Gonna, um. Gonna swim for the boat. Uh, Frederick. I don't know. Frederick should be fine. [03:27:08] Speaker A: The guys. [03:27:08] Speaker B: The guys are there. The guys aren't there with Frederick. Frederick may be fine. I'm gonna get to the boat. I'm gonna get to the boat. [03:27:13] Speaker A: Yeah, you start swimming towards the boat. You move, action. And then you hear, does the two people who you were worried about maybe Frederick in the air and splashing back down in a way that renders them unconscious in comic book fashion because they are red shirts, right? [03:27:29] Speaker B: Mm hmm. Exactly. Yes. [03:27:31] Speaker A: Which means Frederick kind of alone down here all of a sudden. [03:27:37] Speaker C: Was there anything else on the ship to find? [03:27:43] Speaker D: Fred's taking his time. [03:27:45] Speaker A: Katrina was something else on the u boat. [03:27:49] Speaker D: I assumed not, but I may have got the plot confused. I thought they were exchanging the gold for the tech so the gold would be on the japanese sum. Someone remind me of the plot, because I definitely want gold. [03:28:01] Speaker A: Dang. One would think that was what was going to happen, but there's a shitload of gold in the front of that u boat first. [03:28:13] Speaker D: Priorities, Frederick. [03:28:15] Speaker C: Okay. Okay. In which case, uh, yeah, can I raise the sub? Can I. Can I, uh, somehow submarine or. Actually, no. Well, no. You know, I'm going to shove all the gold as much as possible into, like, a massive bag, and then. [03:28:37] Speaker A: Gold. Gold's heavy. [03:28:39] Speaker C: Yeah, I know, but I'm gonna try and attach it to the diving bell and then shoot us up with this. [03:28:47] Speaker A: I don't remember the kilograms to troy ounce, but, like, this isn't a little bit of gold. This is. [03:28:53] Speaker C: But I can reverse gravity. [03:28:55] Speaker A: I know, but I'm saying, I guess what I'm leading to. Which of these things sounds more interesting to you? Playing pay to the heist and moving the loot one bag at a time or lifting the fucking u boat up out of the water with your anti gravity gun. [03:29:08] Speaker C: Oh, yeah. You know what? Let's get. Let's lift the u boat. It's a fun way of getting up there. So let's do it. [03:29:18] Speaker A: Yeah, you've got two of them. So it's the nerdiest, like, akimbo Rambo. It's not like Arnold Schwarzenegger with two assault rifles. It's Frederick with two anti gravity alien guns. And, like, the institute theme, national anthem starts playing behind you, and the institute flag is there. And, like the institute, national bird screeches in the distance as you just let loose with these things. [03:29:46] Speaker C: The institute is. This isn't a government agency. It's a private agency. [03:29:50] Speaker A: Okay, well, then a very bland corporate soundtrack that plays on repeat in the lobby starts going. And, like, the institute mission statement scrolls by in the background as you fire these things off, and there's a rumbling. It starts to shake loose. You see bubbles coming from around the U boat as the air shifts inside, which means, Emma, you're getting up onto the boat. The coelacanths are finally like, oh, shit. Going back into the water, Sonia. Like, twists that twists that last bolt into place, and then you're like, what is that sound? [03:30:32] Speaker C: What is this water that's being displaced? [03:30:34] Speaker A: There's this shape coming up from it, and then it's not like it doesn't come up flat, because that'd be boring as all hell. It comes up like a whale breaching and then just run in, first up into the air. If you've seen a picture of a submarine doing an emergency surface breach, that. It's beautiful. Google it now, because that's the image that's coming into the mind. Comes up and then smash lands down onto the surface. And you'd like it sunk. It should be sinking. And that's when you notice this green, blueish, shimmering, like iridescent soap bubble effect over the surface of it. Frederick, underneath. Look it up. [03:31:22] Speaker C: I wish I'd gone up with it so I could have been like, I got your gold. [03:31:27] Speaker A: There is only one thing that remains. The adventure. So close to being finished, Katarina. It is you and your nemesis. It is the white ribbon versus the third reich in the helicopter hellscape thunderdome battle for the end of the U boat mystery. How's this gonna end? [03:31:57] Speaker D: Katarina is freaking out slightly. Swatch her on all sides. It's just very close to being near where she is. She's like. She's failing to maintain her composure. She's, like, glancing down from either side of this helicopter. She's trying to think of something witty to say, but she didn't really. Wasn't really fully listening to what this guy said. What I would like to do. Could I say that? This. So he's got a gun, right? [03:32:47] Speaker A: Yes. [03:32:48] Speaker D: He's got a little handgun. Not the big. Not the thing that they were. [03:32:51] Speaker A: It's a mauser, the one with the. You have seen this pistol in World War two movie. It is the nazi pistol. [03:32:58] Speaker D: Yeah. That he would like to shoot me with. I would like. I don't have a gun. So the first thing I want to do is get very, very close to him, flick myself at him so that he can't shoot me with his gun. And what I would like to do is I would like to look as if I am flinging myself at him, sort of flailing wildly, sort of too freaked out and not very good at fighting in order to do a good job, which, you know, is not. Shouldn't be too hard to fake while doing that. What I actually want to do. Could I say. Could I say that he has handcuffs on him? [03:33:57] Speaker A: Sure. [03:33:58] Speaker D: I mean, I have. I've got two story points left, so I could spend them for me to have them, but I would like to pretend to be attacking, but actually, I would like to be pushing and use sleight of hand, basically, to handcuff his gun hand to a random bit of helicopter, because my specialty is not melee, but it is prestidigitizing do. [03:34:21] Speaker A: Prestidiggery do. [03:34:23] Speaker D: Yeah. [03:34:24] Speaker A: All right, I'll take that roll. Yeah. [03:34:27] Speaker D: Freaking out, right? That is a frame. Okay, fine, fine. Everything's fine. 54 under 65. [03:34:37] Speaker A: Yeah. So he's giving his big, long winded, nasty speech, and then you're like, I'm sorry, I wasn't listening. Ratcheting, sound of a handcuff. Yeah, yeah. What happens next? [03:34:52] Speaker D: I'm gonna try and take the gun easy. [03:34:58] Speaker A: So he's. [03:34:59] Speaker D: Yeah, I'll take the gun again, just, like, still. Just, like, very carefully in the middle of this helicopter, I'll keep the gun pointed at him, and I'll just sort of lean to the pilot. But say, I don't suppose you could land this thing on that. On that nice, stable looking boat down there, could you? Otherwise I might shoot you or something. I don't know. [03:35:31] Speaker A: Yeah. There's never been an action movie in the history of action movies where the hero does not point the gun at the pilot, and the pilot does not agree. Right. [03:35:40] Speaker D: Really carefully, though. Just slowly, carefully. There's no need to rush this. We're all calm here. Just safety. [03:35:48] Speaker A: There's a moment where you point the pistol at, and you're like, oh, no, no. It's like, oh, yeah. Right then, yeah. The helicopter comes down to the deck of Marky Mark's ship. The. Oh, it was the scamp. [03:36:10] Speaker B: The classy scamp. [03:36:11] Speaker A: The classy scamp. The helicopter comes down to the deck, landing. So the. The actual. The harpoon rope spooling up as it gets closer, landing down. Katarina, you have the time. By the time that lands, have you, like, put on the Katarina game face again? [03:36:28] Speaker D: Yeah, yeah. [03:36:30] Speaker A: Okay, then, Katarina. The skids hit the deck. Katarina backflips out of the helicopter just because she can. And, like, over the thumb, like. Yeah, don't worry. If you were Nazis, no big deal. [03:36:45] Speaker D: Yeah, love it. I will look at Emma like, with her, like, you okay, can I look? [03:36:54] Speaker B: Just gonna give a. Give a little bit of a thumbs up. Yeah, yeah, everything's fine. Oh, good. [03:37:03] Speaker D: I forgot something. I'm gonna backflip back into the helicopter, and I'm gonna take off my white ribbon headband and tie it onto Erwin Jaeger's head. [03:37:15] Speaker A: Nice. Is it like a kerchief or like a bandana? [03:37:20] Speaker D: Like, the same as what I've got. [03:37:24] Speaker A: Head tap. Scowling, shrieking in German. The usual. And thus we arrive in a sunset moment as the classy scamp turns back towards citoyong, the sun setting in the west behind you. We'll say you have this moment where you're on the bow, like, you know, captured Nazis, captured octopus. Pierre sets up the camera. You all get in a line together. You have that shot of the troubleshooters, all of your friends, some stolen nazi technology, and a shitload of gold. As the closing credits start to roll up from the bottom of the screen and the theme song plays. [03:38:18] Speaker D: As long as it's the actual camera that we're using and not the things that look. [03:38:29] Speaker A: So that is the U boat mystery. How did you all find it? [03:38:35] Speaker D: It was good. [03:38:37] Speaker B: I thought it was super, super fun. I really liked the. The exciting, campy nature. Quick question. Can I. Can I offer up one very short middle? [03:38:48] Speaker A: Oh, do you want an epilogue? Okay. [03:38:50] Speaker B: Yeah, just very small. As we're sailing away, have I got. Emma and Kat are sitting, not on the edge of the boat, obviously, closer towards the center of the boat. And we are recounting our tails, and I make sure to tell Katarina just how much ass I kicked when I was down in that boat. She would have been so proud. That fight was so intense and so good. And there was a left punch and a right punch, and, you know, I just. It was. It was. It was like an underwater. It was like watching an underwater ballet. I was so good. She would have been so proud. [03:39:33] Speaker D: I'm just gonna add on hearing all your exploits, that, you know, maybe you're. You know, you and Frederick and Sonia are pretty useful to have around, so maybe I can't manage everything entirely by myself all the time. [03:39:55] Speaker A: I, like, the two of you are, like, are lying to one another about how easy things were. You're like, oh, I catch so much sass in the submarine. And Kenny's like, and I was amazing. Like, you should have seen me, like, wham, wham, bam, no nazis. Just totally on purpose. [03:40:06] Speaker B: Mm hmm. [03:40:07] Speaker D: Yeah, exactly. [03:40:08] Speaker B: Yeah. No, we are. Yep. [03:40:10] Speaker C: Absolutely. [03:40:10] Speaker B: Absolutely. 100%. But no, but that's kind of what I love about this game, though, tbh, is that it is fun and kind of campy, and there's a lot of really good potential for fun little moments like this. Amidst all of the silly comic book ness of it all. [03:40:34] Speaker D: I feel like what I've really learned about how to play this game that I feel like could be applied to other ttrpgs, is this thing about playing to your strengths? Is this thing about don't think what the most sensible thing to do in this moment would be and try and do it. Think about what your. What your. What is your character's thing? How do I rearrange this entire situation? Make that the thing? I feel like this final, like, half of the episode, I finally got that. I was like, oh, I'll just set everything up so I can do what I'm good at. Like, I don't have to do what seems to be asked of me. [03:41:08] Speaker C: No. [03:41:09] Speaker D: And, like, I'm like, yeah, right. I should use that more. Like, that's great. [03:41:14] Speaker A: It also lends to the comedy of the game when you're like, okay, well, what. What mostly plausible thing can I do? Kenneth Haidt, amazing game writer. His name's on literally everything you've played at some point has this thing that if her knights blackguard. It's called the Bucharest rules. And essentially, like, ten. How to keep a scene going. How to play a game without getting bogged down. And one of them is like, when in doubt, look at your character sheet, find the highest number, and ask, how can I do that in this situation? And don't worry about being realistic, because, like, no one ever does. Right? Like, no, movies don't give a shit if it's realistic. They say, what'd be the coolest thing that happens? Let's make it plausible enough in this universe that no one's gonna make a YouTube video about it and go from there. Right? [03:41:57] Speaker B: I guess. I guess the hardest part for me, for the build that I ended up with is that my highest level thing was contacts. So that doesn't. I'm not. I'm not really sure how I would make contacts. [03:42:11] Speaker C: I mean, you got us Marky Mark. [03:42:13] Speaker B: That's true. I did get us Marky Mark. [03:42:16] Speaker D: It would have happened a lot more in a longer. Like, this story is supposed to be. [03:42:19] Speaker C: Played over a longer time. [03:42:20] Speaker A: Right. [03:42:21] Speaker D: I think it would have been much more relevant. [03:42:24] Speaker A: Yeah. It pushes more towards. You are in New York. How do you find out this book? In a very kind of call of Cthulhu kind of way, we kept the pace up because, like, no offense, but, like, if I'm watching an actual play and it's 3 hours of, like, searching the phone book with library use, I am changing the channel. So. [03:42:44] Speaker B: Yeah, true. [03:42:46] Speaker A: Frederick, Sonia, rather. Lola. Aubrey, your thoughts? I really like the story point system. Being able to create things and being like, no, this warehouse has a skylight now, or there's this thing here, and I declare it, that's always fun. And then the ability to flip a roll or reroll, always super nice. Where you're just like, I really don't want to fail this, but if I flipped it, I would succeed. Mm hmm. The currency story points. The one thing I think we didn't get a lot of use out of was activating abilities, and I think that would come more over the course of a longer game when you have more abilities. [03:43:31] Speaker C: Well, also, some of them are downtime things. [03:43:35] Speaker A: Yeah. [03:43:36] Speaker C: Like, it's like, yeah, you can do this thing in downtime. But, um, I. I really enjoy, I enjoyed the ability to, like the gear and the way that kind of corresponded with it and also the way that, like, there were many ways to succeed, as it were. It did say nothing of my terrible roles for the majority of this session. But, like, the fact that you can get plus two pips or, like, and they stack as well and so on, like, I think that's really. It's a really nice way of being like, oh, okay. As well as upping the tension when you roll something and the fact that you've got critical fails and critical. So quite good. Quite good. [03:44:20] Speaker B: I like that. [03:44:22] Speaker A: That pip system I was so worried about. I thought it was going to be so clunky when I read about it before. I. But, like, it adds a lot to the tension of the dice. [03:44:30] Speaker B: Yeah, I found the pip system. I absolutely agree with you. Like, it was really awkward when you were first explaining it, and then in practice, you're like, no, this is actually really cool. [03:44:40] Speaker A: Yeah, I'll have to ask some Deitz math magicians. What, like, probabilities? Yeah. How does it improve your odds if you have plus two pips? Because I think that'd be cool. If this sounds interesting to you, even. It doesn't give a shit if you like it or not. Go and give them search engine traffic so they feel good about having paid us to play this game. You can find the troubleshooters at the Lincoln chat. We're watching it right now. We'll hook you up if you listen to this in podcast. It is helmgast se en helm as in helm of a U boat, gassed as in gast to find your copy of the Troubleshooters game by Krista Sundalin. Also, I found out in any nominee the year it came out did not win. But there you go. Just that the crew of U boat is critical to the U boat succeeding on the great ship queen's court games. We will be sailing nowhere without this cast. So in order of my camera right now, we will talk about where folks are from, what they're doing, where you can find more of them. And again, any closing thoughts you have about your character or about you both. First, in order, she is the royal audiologist producer over at goblets and gays, currently making the huge mistake of inviting people to play in a the Masquerade Chronicle, which means when this is over, they'll be searching through roughly 700 applications from people who want to play the game as race car driver, machine repairer, story point spender, exchange extraordinaire Sonya Volkov. It is Aubrey. Aubrey. Pretend I've asked you the normal questions. I am Aubrey. You can find me everywhere on the Internet at Mad Queen cosplay. And yes, as Erin said, as I am the producer over at goblins and gays as well. And yes, I believe by the time that comes out, the form will be closed. But go pay attention to gobblets and gays for last of Eden devices, a vampire. The master masquerade, actual play coming to twitch at some point in the fall. Adjacent. Aubrey. Oh, I got that wrestling announcer thing going there for a second. I did not mean to go full on like. And then it's got arena with the steel chair in the helicopter, but it definitely just happened. Adjacent, adjacent. Ombre. We have the queen of the court. The. Oh, I wanted a word that run with artiste, but I only got to beast and that's a rude word. So I'm going to workshop that. Get back to the next episode because we play all the time. Because she is the co founder of Queen's court games and a regular on the cast as journalist Emma Beck is vlog. [03:47:39] Speaker B: Hi, that's me. I'm vy. You can find me everywhere on the Internet at V is four vampire because my name is Vy and I like the 700 people that are applying for Aubrey's game, like vampires. We're over on blue sky now, so you can find us there. You know, I'm also on Twitter and all of the normal places you can see art that I do over on Twitter. You can also find art over on our patreon that I just released for patrons. And actually, last month, we had a special guest artist do the wallpaper. Some amazing artist named Shamini did this really cool troubleshooters wallpaper with, like, the whole cast of the troubleshooters. And it's, like, really cool. I think she's, like, amazing. So, you know, if you like cool art that. That nobody else gets to see for your eyes only, go thumb to our patreon. Little as $5 will get you in the door. You get a whole bunch of cool stuff. So check it out. [03:48:45] Speaker A: But before you do that, also go check out one of our two incredibly special guests. And now they're panicking because they have not intuited which one is going to be the case. And they're like, is he going to call on me? I don't know. Well, I have bad news for you. Lola Brown, you're up next as Frederick and Tishardine with the supporting cast of a toolbox McTool face Institute jet, MVP of the show. Lola, if people want to see more of you, more of your games, more of the toolbox, more of the institute, where should they go? [03:49:22] Speaker C: I think the real question at the end of the game is, actually, did Sprocket come back up with us? But I don't know. [03:49:29] Speaker A: That's gotta be the very final thing. Like, after the. After, like, the, like, MPAA sag union card, the very, very bottom, the screen comes back up, and then there's just, like. And then sprocket floating, because there's got. There's gonna be, like, some kind of, like, little compartment in it that has, like, an anti sinking Frederick invention. Like, a little, like, gas canister. There you go. Yeah. Yep. [03:49:52] Speaker C: Yes. So I have been Frederick, and otherwise, I am Lola. And you can find me at third Volt yarns on the Internet everywhere. On the not so bird app anymore. I'm still calling it the bird app. Fuck, blah, blah, blah, whatever your name is. And also on blue sky and Instagram and threads and stuff at third world yarns. But you can find me over on itch IO with some of the games that I write because I kind of do that, too, sort of a little bit. And there aren't that many at the moment, but there are lots coming soon, and that is under Johnson Ofer. [03:50:45] Speaker A: And you're gonna let us run an actual play of them for this channel, right? Like that'd be a thing that you would do. [03:50:51] Speaker D: Yeah, yeah. [03:50:52] Speaker C: I mean, I did be like, hey, I have this game that you guys can playtest, so. [03:51:01] Speaker A: Watch this space for more information, including information like, what is a living fossil? How cool are coelacanths? Can I do a backflip here? These questions and more answered by Katarina fair, played by the brilliant and wonderful shamini bunda. Shamini. People want more of this stuff. And of course they do. [03:51:22] Speaker D: You want more. I just. I want to leave them wanting more. More backflips. I've enjoyed this character so much. I'm like, I need to make more characters that just so you know, I had a character floor called Overconfident. And I'm like, no, that's actually just fun. Just do that. Why not back up in the helicopters? You need to do that more. So I've learned a lot. Perhaps I shall put it into use in some of the other shows I'm on. I'm currently accidentally on three shows that all go out on a Monday. That's happened so earlier in the the day. If you're a live Twitch viewer, you can find me on rpgeekspgeeksdnd. We're streaming our apps on files Sci-Fi campaign at 07:00 p.m. uK time. So some hours ago now. And I am also currently briefly on, if you like, your special audio for your ears, realms pod, another sort of Sci-Fi cyberpunk cyborg campaign. It's sort of cheesy and sort of gritty and horrible. Find five parts. Find that over on realms pod. And you can find me on Twitter bluesky. Instagram search sharmini Bundell. It's just me. They're all me. It's me, it's me. Find me. [03:52:50] Speaker A: And if there's another Sharmny Bundell, they'll have worse search results because this is. This one is cooler. Okay, we went two very different directions. [03:52:57] Speaker D: Sorry, what you said. Yeah, yeah. [03:52:59] Speaker A: Algorithms. [03:53:00] Speaker D: Yeah. [03:53:02] Speaker A: In the meantime, I have been Aaron, your storyteller, your director of operations. You can find me at Aaron in words mostly. I will be, at the time of recording, complaining about the lack of themes in role playing games and actual play. Watch this space if you want to hear me get really up my own butthole about literary, like, foundational story elements. That said, all the many, many more interesting things I do at Queenscourtrpg on Twitter, Queenscourt games, literally everywhere else, mostly blue sky. Go get on blue sky because it's more fun there. I think the vibe is better. And like I'm tired of the little icon not knowing what it wants to be. Bleh. Else you can find me, Aaron and words on all of those platforms. We will return next week with the prune premiere of our chaosium sponsored Call of Cthulhu game Harlem Unbound, set in with an all black cast in a not racist retelling of the classic Lovecraft myth, featuring noir Enigma as RGM, with Laura Tutu as our producer and some more cast that will come. Do not miss it. It is going to be literally one of the most excellent things that happens this year on this channel, nay, on any channel. And that will start same time but 3 hours ago. One week for now. Until then, see you soon. [03:54:28] Speaker B: Bye for now.