1.06 Scratching The Surface

Left on their own, the crew searches high & low for answers. Fran & Ibra seek wisdom at the Pachonko Parlor. JJ & Gordon hit the books. Everyone’s a little jumpy.

-- links --

Website: wanderingpathpod.com

Support our show: patreon.com/wanderingpathpod

-- cast & crew --

Created by Mischa Stanton

Produced by Bex Taylor-Klaus, Lyn Rafil, & Mischa Stanton

Gamemaster: Mischa Stanton

Ibra: Bex Taylor-Klaus

JJ: Lyn Rafil

Gordon: Ian McQuown

Fran: Mayanna Berrin

Sound design: Mischa Stanton

Cover art: Lyn Rafil

Transcript assistance: Darby Summers

Music: Independent Music Licensing Collective

Production & House Manager: Erin Bark

-- about --

The Wandering Path is an actual-play podcast putting complex characters, resonant themes and engaging new mechanics at the heart of immersive adventures. We’re making the stories we want to see in the world, one game session at a time! Join us for our first season, as we dive to the heart of the City of New Prosper: a techno-magical metropolis on the rise, where those who seek to craft themselves a new future will first have to settle the debts they owe the past. New episodes every other Monday.

— Transcript —

Lyn: Previously on The Wandering Path.

[Theme music begins in background of recap].

Mischa: After taking down a dangerous excavator at the construction site, Fran and Gordon found a strange crystal of rough Astra at the bottom of a laser drilled crater. Clearly, this is the thing the awoken mech was hunting for. But now that we have it, do we really trust it to Inspector Ravona? Fran says no! That lady’s got some secrets of her own for sure. But parting ways with Ravona leaves our crew on their own to tackle the city’s crisis, and that’s a lot to handle for a waitress, a baker, and a couple of students.

All caught up? Okay. Let’s see what’s around the bend today on The Wandering Path.

[Theme music plays and then fades out].

[Music begins: low ambient synths].

Mischa: There's a phenomenon that happens in New Prosper in the late morning, sort of coasting into noon where the sun passes behind the hovering fortress that makes up Upper Prosper, and it casts a shadow over the ground. There's a little moment of transitioning into darkness before the lights of the underside kick in and create artificial daylight. It's almost like a sunset. But there's a big difference, because when the sun sets, the colors warm, and it feels like the warm caress of the end of a long day. This one is cold and bright, and a little bit more immediate, and the cutoff between light and dark is a little sharper. That shadow crosses your faces, the four of you, as you reel from the emotional and mental showdown with Inspector Ravona. There's a lot going on. There's a lot to think about. It's a little bit of an ending, but the day's only half done. 

[Soundscape begins: Wind, perhaps a car passing every now and then].

Ian: Oh, wow. Sunset in the middle of the day. 

Mayanna: I love that. 

Mischa: What do you guys do? 

Bex: My stomach starts rumbling. 

Mayanna: Yeah, I think my stomach also starts rumbling. 

Lyn (JJ): Um. Do y'all want to get lunch? 

All: Yeah. 

Lyn (JJ): And maybe a coffee or several?

Ian (Gordon): Let's go to Boggins! 

[Disappointed groans].

Bex (Ibra): Have any of y’all been to Jenny's? 

Ian (Gordon): Ooh, Jenny’s.

Mayanna (Fran): Oh, I could go for Jenny's. 

Bex (Ibra): Jenny's is good. 

Lyn (JJ): Jenny's? 

Mayanna (Fran): Oh, a stack. A hot, like, stack of pancakes. 

Bex (Ibra): That'd be so good right now. 

Lyn (JJ): Mmm.

[Soundscape ends].

Mischa: Okay. Tell me about Jenny’s. [Laughter]. I don't know.

[Music begins: energetic, playful beats].

Ian: Wait, wait, did you say tell me about Jenny or tell me about Jenny's? 

Mischa: No, tell me about Jenny's.

Ian: Okay, the place, not the person. 

Mischa: You can tell me about both. 

Bex: Well, Jenny, Jenny is an actual person. Jenny started Jenny's, the founder of Jenny's. 

Mayanna: She’s an inspiration, a girl boss icon. 

[Laughter]. 

Bex: Truly. 

Mischa: Great.

Bex: She's amazing. 

Mischa: Go on.

Bex: She feels like she's been alive forever. She might be. She's probably an elf. 

Mischa: Okay. 

Bex: And she–

Mayanna: So it's (in a French accent) Jenny's.

All: (in a French accent) Jenny's, Jenny's, Jenny's. 

Lyn: Jenny sais quoi.

Bex: But everybody calls it Jenny's. 

Mayanna: Yeah. It was short for “je ne sais quoi.” 

Ian: Yeah. 

Lyn: Exactly. 

[Laughter]. 

Mayanna: But then everybody just started calling it Jenny's. 

Ian: Graduate of the Baking Guild, I might add. 

Mayanna: Oh my god, that's why she's so amazing. 

Ian: Like 10-10, 15 years ago, you know, like legends of the past. 

Mischa: The only place besides yourself that you might trust in this, your moment of need, your hour of need. 

Ian: Jenny’s. 100%. It's either Boggins or Jenny's. 

Mayanna: Yes. 

Ian: Or my own kitchen. 

Lyn: Is Jenny's like a franchise chain now? 

Mayanna: Absolutely.

Bex: She has her few, you know. 

Mischa: I would say maybe there's like, there's one on the other side of town called Jenny's 2, but it's T-O-O. But it is a second franchise of it.

Mayanna: That is such good branding. 

Bex: Je ne sais quoi too.

Mayanna: I love it so much. 

Lyn: Deux? (Laughs) (in a French accent) Jenny's Deux.

Ian: Jenny’s Deux is–

[Laughter]. 

Mayanna (Fran): They say Jenny's the original is the best one. I'm biased and I think Jenny's Deux. It's kind of like Jenny's Deux. It's like the, I think there's just like 

Ian (Gordon): You like Jenny's Deux? 

Mayanna (Fran): I do like Jenny's Deux. Granted, it's on the other side of town. We're not gonna go there. 

Ian (Gordon): It’s so far. 

Mayanna (Fran): Like, look, it's a hot take of mine. I'm telling you that as friends. I know that it's, I know that it's like an unpopular opinion. 

Ian (Gordon): I just don't like Jenny's Deux because of the like, the furniture and stuff. You know, I don't like that. 

Mayanna (Fran): It's a different vibe for sure. 

Mischa: That reminds me.There's something special I want to show you guys today. 

[Gasps].

[Music ends].

Ian: Wait, what? 

Lyn: Oh, yeah. 

Mayanna: What?! No way, what!

Bex: I am excited! 

Lyn: Hold for fun! 

Mayanna: Oh my god! 

Ian: I’m so excited, What's happening? 

Bex: Hold for content! 

Ian: Okay, Mischa's running away, Mischa's running back! 

Mischa: I drew a map!

[Cheers and yelling].

Ian: Oh my god! 

Lyn: (amidst cheers continuing in the background) That we will reveal on our social media and Patreon later! 

Mayanna: Oh my god! 

[Excited cheers and giggles].

Ian: Mischa, like, scurried away. And pulled something out of a binder. Oh my god! Oh shit.

Mayanna: It's so cool! Love it.

Bex: And they come back with this adorable rough sketch. 

Mayanna: I love it. I'm so excited. 

Mischa: Listen, we'll make it nice before we put the podcast out. I promise. 

Mayanna: Wee! 

Ian: You know what's crazy is I forgot that there's a big fucking sinkhole under the–

Lyn: That's the mine.

Mischa: Oh, directly under? In the center of the city? The center of the city is a big, giant hole with a mine in it? 

Ian: Yeah, I forgot that it was directly under. I thought it was like elsewhere. 

Mischa: Oh yeah.

Ian: But the fact that the floating top city is just over the abyss. 

Mischa: So if Jenny's is here, then Jenny's 2 is like over here. Do you know what I mean? 

Mayanna: Yeah. 

Lyn: Yeah. 

[Laughter]. 

Mayanna (Fran): it feels like the area that it was built in kind of influenced the aesthetic. 

Lyn (JJ): Oh, closer to the suburbs. 

Mayanna (Fran): Yeah, it's got that like stark, I see what you're saying about it. 

Ian (Gordon): It's just a different vibe. 

Mayanna (Fran): It's a different vibe, and I get it. Again, I love a little, a little zhuzh, a little different, but Jenny's Une is like–

Ian (Gordon): Original recipe.

Mayanna (Fran): The original recipe is– 

Lyn: (French accent) Premier.

Mayanna (Fran): is, is great.

Bex: J-OG is great. 

Ian: (French accent) Jenny’s Premier?

Lyn: Yeah, Jenny’s Premier.

[Laughter]. 

Mischa: So you guys head from the Overpass site, over to Original Jenny's–

Mayanna: Original Jenny’s. Mhmm.

Mischa: –over here in West Mine Town. 

Mayanna: Yes. 

[Music begins: light, cozy synth].

Bex: J-OG. Sorry.

Mayanna: No, don’t.

Bex: JOG. I’ll see myself out.

Mayanna: That's a good acronym. Jog.

Bex: Jog.

Lyn: Jog. 

Mayanna: We're going to jog.

[Soundscape begins: door opening and bell chiming as patrons come in, occasional soft clattering of dishes being put down, some muffled chatter in the background].

Mischa: You guys walk in, [SFX: door opens, bell chimes]. It's a very, kitsch little establishment, there's like a lot of homey touches because this was the original location. It’s existed since like the early days of the city, so there's like a ramshackle feel to it, and sure it's been maintained and like upgraded over the years, but there's still like original, you know, corrugated roofing, like underneath the nice roof, just like for that feeling of home.

Bex: Part of the charm is the hole in the wall nature of it. 

Mischa: Exactly, exactly. So you guys, Walk in? 

Lyn (JJ): Table for four? 

[Music ends].

Mischa (waiter): Oh sure, y'all, we just, we got a table right in the middle there, is that all right? 

Mayanna (Fran): Do you have a booth? 

Ian (Gordon): Yeah, booth would be good.

Lyn (JJ): We can wait for a booth. 

Mayanna (Fran): Yeah, we'll wait for a booth. 

Lyn (JJ): When one opens up? 

Mischa: Mayanna, will you roll a d6?

Mayanna: Absolutely. 

Bex: Yay!

[Laughter]. 

Mischa: Actually, roll a d4. 

Mayanna: A d4? 

Bex: Oh no.

Mayanna: Okay, oh boy. 

Mischa: No, that's okay, that's better for you guys. 

Mayanna: Oh, is it better? All right, hang on. 

Bex: One hour or six hours? 

[Dice rolls].

Mayanna: That is a one. 

Mischa: Great. It's only a 10 minute wait. 

[Cheers].

Mayanna: Oh yeah! I remember in my hostess days, cause I'm pulling from personal experience with Fran, that they always told us to give a window of time. So you'd be like, “it'll be 10 to 15 minutes” because a guest is more likely to be like “10 minutes.” Even if it's not 10 minutes, you just, you give them a range and they go like, “Oh yeah, I can wait the low amount.” 

Mischa: That's how they get you. 

Mayanna: Yeah. That's how they get you. 

Mischa: Well, it's a, it's a short wait for your guys’ booth. You guys get in. 

Mischa (waiter): Coffee? Water? Juice? 

Mayanna (Fran): Yes, please, coffee. Please.

Lyn (JJ): Coffee, please. 

Ian (Gordon): Espresso.

Bex (Ibra): I think I need tea. Everything hurts. 

Ian (Gordon): (Acknowledging hum).

Mayanna (Fran): Oh gosh, yeah, you took a lot of damage. 

Bex (Ibra): I must have, cause I– (painfully trails off) 

Mayanna: I'm gonna like, rub Ibra's back, just like, tenderly. 

Bex (Ibra): Oh, thank you.

Mischa: Sure. You know, going to a diner counts as a short rest if I've ever heard one. 

Lyn: Mhmm.

Mayanna: I like that. (Laughs)

Bex (Ibra): Yeah, that feels better. 

Bex: I need to expend some 

Bex and Lyn: Hit dice. 

[Laughter]. 

Lyn: It's bad. 

Ian: Yeah, we finally get a look at Ibra and it's like, black eye. Big ol’ bump on the noggin. 

Bex: A big ol machine rolled over on me while I was stuck to it. 

Mayanna: Yeah. 

Bex: There's, there's some significant (wheeze).

Mayanna: I think I go to the server and I go, 

Mayanna (Fran): Can you just get me just like a bag of ice?

[Laughter]. 

Mischa: They signal back like, you got it. 

Mayanna (Fran): Thank you so much. 

Ian: We look super ragtag sitting in this booth at Jenny’s right now. 

Mayanna: We returned our little construction worker equipment? Or are we still in our little reflective vest? 

Mischa: I honestly, I think that's up to you. 

Mayanna: I think I didn't return my reflective vest. 

[Laughter]. 

Lyn: Or your hot pink hardhat.

Mayanna: Or my hardhat!

Ian: I'm gonna roll for it. Evens, I'm in a vest. [Dice rolls]. I returned my vest. 

Mayanna: I think I just forgot. 

Mischa: Put Hi-Viz vest in your inventory. 

Mayanna: Hi-Viz vest? Oh my god, okay! 

Lyn: And a hot pink hard hat?

Mischa: Hot pink hard hat. 

Mayanna: Hot pink hard hat. [Laughter]. 

Mischa: So Hi-Viz vest will definitely get you some like, [Laughter]. stealth points towards trying to go into further construction sites.

Mayanna: Oh my god, amazing. 

Mischa: Hot pink helmet, probably not so much. 

Mayanna: Oh my god, amazing. 

Lyn (JJ): How, how are you? Good on health? Is everyone..?

Mayanna (Fran): I'm good, I didn't really take that much damage because we were doing evacuation stuff. 

Lyn (JJ): Honestly, that came in clutch. Thank you for doing that. 

Mayanna (Fran): Please, Ibra did all the work. 

Bex (Ibra): (Groans).

Mayanna (Fran): We just waved people away.

Bex (Ibra): It was absolutely a team effort. People would have gotten hurt if it weren't for y'all. 

Mayanna (Fran): Yeah, but you got hurt, and that's not cool. 

Bex (Ibra): I… It's okay, I still barely even know what happened. It’s a blur.

Mayanna (Fran): Yeah, what did happen? It's–oh my God, that's right. You lost consciousness. 

Lyn (JJ): Yeah, that was scary. Don't do that again. 

Mayanna (Fran): JJ, you came in clutch.

Bex (Ibra): Yeah, what did you do? 

Mayanna (Fran): Well, you healed Ibra. 

Lyn (JJ): Oh shit, my Astra! 

Mayanna (Fran): Yeah. Oh, oh! 

Mayanna: And I, I look at your Astra again and I, I just, cause it's all cracked. Right? You like stressed it. 

[Music begins: curious, plucky synth beats].

Lyn (JJ): (Distressed) Oh no.

Bex (Ibra): Wait, what's going on? What happened? Why does that look weird? 

Mayanna (Fran): JJ's, JJ's Astra. I, I've never actually seen this up close before, but JJ over stressed their Astra.

Bex (Ibra): You can do that? 

Mayanna (Fran): And I think it's–

Mischa: It's in pieces. It's like shattered. 

Mayanna: Yeah, yeah, it's shattered. 

Mischa: So like, when you said you take it out, I was picturing like taking out a bunch of pieces of that. 

Mayanna: Because I thought it was in your watch, right? 

Lyn: Yeah. 

Mayanna: And I think I had looked at it. Is it like when you break a watch and the shattered pieces are still kind of embedded in it?

Lyn: Yeah.

Mischa: Yeah, but when you try to take it out– 

Mayanna: I think I just like, I grab your wrist. Just involuntarily. 

Lyn (JJ): (Sad groan).

Mayanna (Fran): Sorry. 

Mayanna: And I'm just, I'm just like looking at it. I don't, I don't think I take the pieces out, but I just want to like look at it again just to get a sense of like, I want to look at where the source of the fracture started. Like, is it in the center? Is it off to the side? 

Mischa: Oh, Yeah. You want to roll Arcana? 

Mayanna: Sure, I’d love to roll Arcana for you. Let's see here. [Dice rolls]. That is an 18. 

Mischa: Oh dang. Okay. So yeah, it's split directly out from the center. All of the, the fractures like sort of meet in right in the middle and then they… 

Mayanna: The center of it, so like the heart almost. Like, whatever the core core is, and it just, like, split right from that. 

Mischa: Yeah, it's– there are, like, pieces in the device that are, like, wedges that, like, they're, like, almost, like, cones or pizza slices that reach directly into the center on all, like–

Mayanna: Oh my god.

Mischa: It cracked from the middle point out. 

Mayanna (Fran): What happened? 

Lyn (JJ): : I don't know, you went down, and I was like, “that's not good.” And so I… thought and felt really hard about… making you not unconscious, and then it happened. 

Bex (Ibra): You d–you did what?

Mayanna (Fran): You pulled a spell out of Astra that didn't have any left? 

Lyn (JJ): Yeah, well, okay, so I thought… Well, I didn't think. It was subconscious. 

Mayanna (Fran): It was involuntary. 

Lyn (JJ): But, based on the research I did… Was that this morning? 

Mischa: Yep.

Mayanna (Fran): Yeah. 

Bex: It's been a long day.

Lyn (JJ): Based on the research I did this morning, you know, Astra and magic is based on willpower and intention, and that'd be my guess as to why I was able to do it. You know, Astra is a magical conduit, not necessarily…I don't know. I… I, uh… This broke.

Mayanna (Fran): It's okay. We'll figure it out. 

Lyn (JJ): It's essentially a power surge. I fried the circuit. 

Bex (Ibra): So you fried your circuit to bring me back up? 

Lyn (JJ): Yeah… Yes…

Bex (Ibra): Okay, then I owe you a new circuit. That's it. I owe you a new circuit. 

[Music ends].

Lyn (JJ): No, you don't have to do that. 

Bex (Ibra): That's how it works. I owe you a circuit, at very least. 

[Music begins: gentle piano].

Lyn (JJ): (Deep sigh). 

Mayanna (Fran): JJ, take it. 

Lyn (JJ): Okay, thank you. 

Bex (Ibra): Yeah, thank you.

Lyn (JJ): Yeah, of course. I'd do it again. 

Mayanna (Fran): Any of us would.

Lyn (JJ):  I should probably not do that again, though.

Mayanna (Fran): Of course. 

Lyn (JJ): But… I would. 

Bex (Ibra): I can't believe that you did that for me. 

Lyn (JJ): I wasn't gonna let you die! 

Bex (Ibra): Well, thank you, but also, holy crap! 

Lyn (JJ): I don't want you to die! Please don't die! 

Mayanna (Fran): Any of us would have made that choice. You are our friend. We would do anything to protect you. 

Bex (Ibra): I want to be able to do the same for you guys. 

Lyn (JJ): I mean…

Mayanna (Fran): You have. 

Lyn (JJ): You did. 

Mayanna (Fran): So many times. 

Lyn (JJ): You actively did. 

Mayanna (Fran): So it's even.

Lyn (JJ): We’re even.

Bex (Ibra): I went down. You had to save me. 

Mayanna (Fran): No, but you–Stop. 

Lyn (JJ): You killed the thing. 

Mayanna (Fran): You need to stop it. I'm not even–

Lyn (JJ): You killed the other thing. 

Mayanna (Fran):  I'm not even entertaining this conversation. 

Lyn (JJ): You killed two things in two days. 

Mayanna (Fran): Can we get more juice over here? 

Lyn (JJ): How's everyone's blood sugar?

[Laughter]. 

Bex (Ibra): So low. 

Mischa: I think the server comes over a little, like, scared. It's like–

Mischa (waiter): Yeah, you got it. 

Mayanna (Fran): Sorry, We– Sorry, glucose. It's, it's, it's draining. I'm sorry. Thank you. Thank you. You're a gem. You're a treat. I really appreciate you. 

[Music ends].

Ian (Gordon): Sorry, real quick, before you leave, can we put in an order? 

Mayanna: Oh, yeah, 

Mischa: For sure. 

Ian (Gordon): Sorry, I haven't been paying attention to anything you guys have been saying– 

Mayanna: (Laughing) Cause you’ve been studying the menu?

Ian (Gordon):  –I've been just reading the menu this whole time. 

[Laughter]. 

Mayanna: (Laughing) I love that so much!

[Music begins: jaunty, playful elevator music vibes with light percussion].

Ian (Gordon): I think if everyone trusts me, we're just gonna get two wedge salads, four elvish onion soups, the oxen prime rib for the table with the roasted carrots and crispy potatoes, hot garlic rolls, if you guys like the hot garlic rolls. 

Mayanna (Fran): Yes. Yes.

Lyn (JJ): Oh absolutely. 

Bex (Ibra): Always.

Ian (Gordon): And then we'll get two ice cream sundaes for dessert.

Mischa (waiter): You got it! 

Ian: Are we old enough to drink wine? 

Mayanna: I think so.

Lyn: Yeah.

Mischa: Yeah!

Bex (Ibra): Yeah.

Ian (Gordon): A bottle of elvish wine, please. 

Mischa (waiter): I can see what we got. 

Lyn (JJ): We'd also do mimosas if that's not an option. 

Ian (Gordon): Ohh.

Mischa (waiter): Mimosas I can do. 

Lyn (JJ): Yeah.

Ian (Gordon): Mimosas…

Mayanna (Fran): I like that.

[Overlapping agreement].

Lyn (JJ): I think, can we switch that to mimosas? 

Ian (Gordon): Yeah, mimosas sound great. Wait, actually, I forgot we were at lunch. Do we want to do roast chicken instead of prime rib? Prime rib feels kind of dinner-esque. 

Mayanna (Fran): Let's do roast chicken. 

Ian (Gordon): Let's do the whole roast chicken. 

Mayanna (Fran): I like that. 

Ian: Gordon, Gordon pulls out a very small notebook and puts it on the table with a small pen and then you, he opens it, and maybe you see that it says like Jenny's and then the date that we're at– 

Mayanna: I love this.

Ian: –And then, so it's a very subtle like cataloging of how good the food is. 

Mayanna: I love this. 

(Overlapping excitement).

Lyn: You're a food nerd. You're a little baby gourmand! 

All, overlapping: baby gourmand!

Bex: Gord-and

Mayanna: I love it. And that sounds like an incredible order.That like–That's incredible. 

[Music ends].

Mischa: That was really great. 

Lyn: Did you say Elvish onion soup? Cause that's very funny. 

Mayanna: Yes. Sounds amazing.

Ian: Well, because yes, French onion.

Lyn: Yes, exactly. That’s really clever, I really enjoyed that.

Mayanna: I love it. That was truly so brilliant. 

Bex: It was so subtle and so well done. 

Mayanna: Great job.

Ian: I'll take all the compliments. I appreciate it. 

Mischa: With that order. I think you have a while that you won't be disturbed at this booth. 

[Laughter]. 

Ian: Oh, great. And we can chat. 

Mayanna: Perfect. Heck yeah. 

Ian (Gordon): So wait, what were we talking about? I missed everything. 

Mayanna (Fran): So we have to get JJ some new Astra. 

Ian (Gordon): Yeah. 

Mayanna (Fran): And then we were just trying to figure out like… What, what is going on? 

Lyn (JJ): What do we do…?

Mayanna (Fran): I think is the biggest question. We saw someone at the top of the overpass, right? Like there was someone and then, and then the mech came alive and then they were looking for, 

Mayanna: and I like kind of gently like point towards my bag where the, where the piece is.

Ian: And we all nod and we're like (understanding hums).

Mayanna (Fran): So what the fuck is going on? Why are they looking for this? What is so important about this? 

Ian (Gordon): I don’t know.

Mayanna (Fran): That they're willing to kill civilians over it. 

Bex (Ibra): And that the police are willing to shut down Boggins’ over it. 

Mayanna (Fran): I can't. Oh my God. 

Bex (Ibra): Sorry.

Mayanna (Fran): No, it's fine. It's good. It's good. I just, I don't like not having a job and I like having something to do.

Lyn (JJ): Oh wait, this is technically a job. We should get paid. 

Bex (Ibra): Technically it is a job.

Mayanna (Fran): Ah, we need to get paid. Yeah. 

Mischa: Yeah, all you have to do is submit your tickets to any of the number of bursar's office depots around the city. 

Mayanna: Bursar's office depots. Okay. 

Ian: Amazing. How long were you sitting on that? 

Mischa: Today. 

[Music begins: ominous synths]

Ian: (Laughs) okay. So here's my question about it regarding what's going on. It's been the same type of bluish electricity that's animated the mech, and that was flowing around like the Spectre, right? So. Are we familiar? Like, have you guys experienced that? Do you have any experience with that type of blue electricity? Or is this brand new to us? 

Mayanna: Can I do an Arcana check to see if I'm familiar? Any, some of the infusions I've seen? 

Mischa: Yeah, yes. Everybody who wants to can roll Arcana about it. 

Mayanna: Okay, sounds great. [Dice rolls] 12. 

Bex: 11. 

Lyn: 13. 

Ian: 20. 

Mischa: Whoa. 

Mayanna: Wow. 

Ian: Remember that time Gordon asked a question and knew the answer? 

Bex: Asking the question can sometimes spark it in your own brain. 

[Agreement].

Mischa: Gordon, you're like a smart guy. We've talked about this a little bit. It's like, where does the magic for your magic muffins come from? We've talked about your stand mixer or your kitchen equipment, having Astra slots in them to make magic food with, or stuff like that. You know, maybe part of your guild training is maintenance of the equipment that you need. So yeah, I think you have like a decent background knowledge in normal everyday magic stuff.

Ian: Yeah. Right.

Mischa: I don't know if you know enough about where magic, like the origins of magic, high science. This would be like you being a casual expert in particle physics. 

Ian: Right. 

Mischa: You know what I mean? But one thing you do know is like you're around electro-magical devices all the time and this felt different.

Ian: This feels different than the normal thing. 

Mischa: It just like some, like, it feels different. Like something inside you feels different. It's different about this, like, like the energy that came off this mech, the, the, that ghost that passed through you.

Ian: Right

Mischa: Like that, there's a feeling that like–

Ian: –it’s different. 

Mischa: Maybe it doesn't have words yet, but it's different and you know it.

Ian: So where my mind goes is wondering if we can find out anything about this, if we read up on like, the types of monsters and beasts that were, that were prevalent around that time. 

Bex: But would it be written down if nobody remembers it? 

Mayanna: Was Thorgunn there? 

[Music ends].

Ian: Was what?!

Mischa: Well, one thing you know about Thorgunn is that he was, he was definitely active during the final days of the war.

Ian: (pained muffling of screaming).

Mayanna (Fran): I might know somebody, you guys have, I've told you a little bit about Thorgunn. my mentor? 

Ian (Gordon): Thorgunn Boomslang. 

Mayanna (Fran): Yeah.

Bex (Ibra): The one with the, with the liquid Astra.

Ian (Gordon): The crazy guy.

Mayanna (Fran): Ye– Hey! He's–

Ian (Gordon): I’m sorry.

Bex (Ibra): He's not crazy, he's just cuckoo banana pants. 

[Laughter]. 

Mayanna (Fran): He's an eccentric genius, who is difficult to understand, except for me.

Bex (Ibra): Yeah, that's what I said. Cuckoo banana pants.

[Laughter]. 

Mayanna (Fran): No. He's a brilliant, brilliant man who I have yet to understand, because I am not as smart as him.

Mayanna: And I start like going through my little notebook of all the things he says. It's like.

[SFX: pages flipping].

Mayanna (Fran): Because his knowledge can only be shared at the pachinko-pachonko parlor because. 

Ian (Gordon): Yeah, he's just a smelly guy at the pachinko parlor. 

Lyn: Pachonko!

Mayanna (Fran): No, no, no, no! He's just, he's just, that's just like, that's just where he does his best work.

Mischa: Yeah. You see one thing written down in your notebook that says, (in French accent) “when you two cherries, you must wait for the third cherry.” 

Mayanna (Fran): Yeah. You gotta wait for the third cherry. Obviously!

[Laughter]. 

Ian: And then I look, I look to you two, I'm like, what's happening right now? 

Lyn (JJ): I don't know. All the really smart people I know in my family are also a little hard to understand.

Mayanna (Fran): See? See? 

Lyn (JJ): I think it comes with the territory. 

Mayanna (Fran): For sure. 

Bex (Ibra): All three of you are smarter than I am, and I find you all hard to understand, so I'm just flying with it right now. 

Mayanna (Fran): Thank you. 

Lyn (JJ): Thank you?

Mayanna (Fran): We should talk to Thorgunn. Maybe he'll know something. 

Ian (Gordon): Mhmm. 

Mayanna (Fran): He hasn't, he's a little, I mean, he's a little secretive, obviously, so I'll have to like, warm him up or whatever. But yeah, oh my God, you guys have to meet Thorgunn. He's amazing. 

Bex (Ibra): What kind of stuff does he like? Should we bring him a gift?  

Lyn (JJ): I honestly thought that you were kind of making up a guy for a while. 

Mayanna (Fran): Well, um…. [Laughter]. Okay. Say more about that. Why don't you? Well, okay. You thought he was what, like my imaginary friend? Like that he wasn't real? 

Ian: (laughing) Imaginary mentor.

Lyn (JJ): No, I thought that he– I–

Mayanna (Fran): –thought like, I’d just make up a guy? I'm just like making up a guy? 

Bex (Ibra): I mean, it's, it's, it's, it's hard to believe that there's a guy who never leaves the Pachonko seat for two weeks at a time, two months at a time. 

Mayanna (Fran): It’s where he does his best work!

Lyn (JJ): It's less than I thought that you're making up a guy, but I thought that there were some embellishments to a real person.

Mayanna (Fran): Why would I embellish such a brilliant man? 

Ian (Gordon): Well, because he's the smelly guy at the Pachonko parlor. 

Mayanna (Fran): Again, sometimes when you're like, when you're really in a flow on something, you just like forget to shower. Okay, it happens to the best of us. 

Lyn (JJ): Yeah I.. I do that.

Mayanna (Fran): Not me because I have a skincare routine, but like generally speaking. 

[Laughter]. 

Lyn (JJ): How many steps is your skincare routine? Cause you look stunning. 

Mayanna (Fran): Thank you so much. It's actually just water, soap, and genetics. 

Lyn: [Cackles].

Ian: Also I just really loved the concept of like someone who's not making up a fake boyfriend or girlfriend or a partner, but like making up a fake mentor. [Laughter]. Like, “Oh my God, I was hanging out with my mentor the other day.” 

Mayanna: “He's so cool and strong and smart and like he tells me all his wisdom and yeah.” 

[SFX: clinking of dishes].

Mayanna (Fran): No, he is very real. And he is a, he is a force of nature. 

Ian (Gordon): Okay, so we definitely have to talk to Thorgunn. 

Mayanna (Fran): Mhmm. 

Ian (Gordon): A part of me also wants to– You just reminded me that like, no one really remembers the war. 

Lyn (JJ): I don't know, like my family was alive during the war.  A lot of people remember it. 

[Music begins: pensive synths].

Bex (Ibra): Yeah, a lot of people remember the war. It just seems like a lot of people don't remember the last time that the spectres showed up. 

Mayanna (Fran): So that's weird, right? Yeah. So does that mean that if this is happening about this, do people also not remember things about the war?

Ian (Gordon): Right

Mayanna (Fran): If this memory thing is happening, is this the first time? 

Lyn (JJ): Or there might be parts about the war that–

Mayanna (Fran): –people don't remember. 

Bex (Ibra): They don't remember they don't remember. 

Mayanna (Fran): Exactly. 

Ian (Gordon): What if we split up, and some of us go talk to Thorgunn, and then I kind of want to go to the library and see what I can read up about the war.

Mayanna (Fran): Okay. 

Bex (Ibra): You, you said that Thorgunn is good with magic, right? 

Mayanna (Fran): He's the best with magic, is what I said. 

Ian (Gordon): I see what you mean about the embellishing, it does feel a little embellished.  

Mayanna (Fran): Yes. Okay, yeah, yeah, of course you can. 

Bex (Ibra): I'd love to come meet him.

Mayanna (Fran):  I think, I think he's gonna just love you. I think he will, yeah, absolutely.

Bex (Ibra): He sounds wild. 

Mayanna (Fran): He is an enigma wrapped inside a riddle, bent over into a question mark, that is, that is a haunting nightmare that I will never fully understand. And that is why I, that is why I must keep trying. [Laughter]. When you meet him, you will understand. 

Lyn (JJ): Well, okay, Gordon. 

Ian (Gordon): JJ. I don't have access to the same section of the library.

Lyn (JJ): Yeah, I was gonna say, do you need an escort into the library? 

Ian (Gordon): Yeah, will you go with me? 

Lyn (JJ): Yeah. 

Ian (Gordon): That'd be amazing. 

Lyn (JJ): I love the library. It's nice there. 

Ian (Gordon): Sorry, the reason I'm so low key right now is because I'm really anticipating the wedge salads that are gonna be coming soon. 

Mischa: Yeah, the server comes back with the salad course.

Ian: Fuck yeah. I'm going to roll and see if it was good or not. 

[Music ends].

Mischa: Ooh, do you think rolling is going to change the outcome? It's good. 

Ian: I don't know. It could be an off day. 

Mayanna: Oh. 

Bex: I think rolling is going to determine whether or not Gordon can recognize that it's good or not. 

Mayanna: Or like what he thinks of it. 

Ian: Evens. It's good.

Mayanna: Okay. 

Ian: It's good. 

[Laughter].

Lyn: I like that you just decided it was 50 50. 

Mayanna: I love that. No, cause honestly, it is a toss up. 

Ian: Chef could be having an off day or not.

Lyn: Salads are also a tough one. A sad salad is really sad. 

Mayanna: Yeah. And a good salad is like, wow. 

Ian: But the iceberg is really crisp and the, and the gorgonzola blue cheese dressing is like really, really umptuous. And then there's crispy bacon on top. I rolled for the rest of the meal and everything was great except for surprisingly, the hot garlic rolls. 

Mayanna: No, no! 

Lyn: Were they burnt?

Ian: I don't know. They were, yeah. Maybe they were a little burnt or maybe they were a little undercooked. 

Bex: They're just not as good as gorgonzola. 

Mayanna: yeah they were like soggy in the middle where you go like these needed a couple more minutes.

Ian: But everything else was evens all the way. 

Mayanna: That is gorgeous. 

Ian: Oh, wait, I didn't do the wine, hold on. 

Lyn: Mimosas

Ian: Oh, the mimosas. Mimosas were good. 

All: Yeah!

Mayanna (Fran): You have to order for me anytime we go anywhere now. Like, I, I trust your judgement. 

Bex (Ibra): I no longer have free will at restaurants. It's all Gordon. 

Mischa: So it sounds like we're splitting the party a little bit.

Ian: Buh buh buhhh!

All: oooh…

Mischa: But like not in a dangerous scenario where they always talk about it. Like in a nice way where it's a city and you guys can do multiple things. 

Mayanna: Yeah. 

Ian: You never know, libraries have a lot of dark corners in ‘em. 

Mayanna: (Singsongy) Ohh, forbidden section.

Mischa: I think I have one question for you, if we're about to split the party, who's taking the crystal you found at the worksite?

Mayanna: Ooh, I'll hold onto it for today. I did want to talk to you guys about this. 

Mayanna (Fran): I do think this is obviously a really big responsibility and I don't want any one person to feel like they're in danger, so I was thinking maybe we could do some kind of, like, hand off system? 

Bex (Ibra): Okay, yeah. 

Mayanna (Fran): Like, maybe we pick days where one of us holds on to it, just so, like, One, if someone's looking for it, they won't know who has it. We can come up with some kind of, like, randomized schedule, just so that we can all, like, split the responsibility. Because I don't want any one person to feel responsible for this. 

Ian (Gordon): That's a great idea. 

Lyn (JJ): No, that's really smart. 

Mayanna (Fran): Oh, thank you. 

Bex (Ibra): Do you want me to take a shift? 

Mayanna (Fran): I can take it today if we're gonna be together, and then I'll give it to you at the end of the day.

Lyn (JJ): Can you pick up a lead box to put that in? 

Mayanna (Fran): Yeah. 

Mayanna: Remind me again, how big is it? 

Mischa: It's big. It's unprocessed, right? So the processed ones, they're either like engine sized, so they're like a basketball sized thing that goes in a wheel well, or they fit into like wristwatches. This one's like softball sized, but it's also not perfectly spherical. It's like got crystalline faces on it still. 

Mayanna: Okay, cool. Yeah, so, yeah. Probably like a medium sized one. 

Lyn: Like a large dragon fruit. 

Mischa: Yeah. Yeah, just like that. 

Mayanna: Ooh, a large dragon fruit. I love that. Amazing. I love that. 

[Diner soundscape ends].

Ian: I thought that you were describing a box that way and I was like, that's fucked up. 

Lyn: (Laughs).

Mayanna: A large dragon fruit shaped box.

Bex: That box would hurt. Is there like a spot on the way to just stop by and grab a quick Astra thing for JJ or should I do that later? 

Lyn: Like a Radioshack? 

Bex: Yeah. An Astrashack. 

Mayanna: Astra Quick!

Bex: (Delighted scream).

[Laughter]. 

Mischa: Yeah. there are–

Bex: Quick Astra.

Lyn: FASTRA. 

All: FASTRA!

[City soundscape begins: wind, cars going by, occasional horns honking, people walking and chatting].

Mischa: Yeah, that's pretty good. yeah, you go to a FASTRA depot. They're little sort of automated, vending machines. They're like very well–they're almost like ATMs. You know what I mean? 

Mayanna (Fran): I always feel weird going to these. Yeah, it's just like Where's the, where's the romance? Where's the like, where's the salesmanship, you know? But I get it, we're in a rush. 

Bex (Ibra): Yeah, I get that. It's nice to be able to choose. 

Mayanna (Fran): That's fair, yeah. 

Mayanna: It reminds me of those cupcake vending machines. 

Lyn: Oh, yeah. 

Mayanna (Fran): And which one is it? Is it 8? Is it, which one are we… 

Lyn: An 8 gig. 

Mayanna: An 8, oh. 

Bex (Ibra): I’m gonna get two 8 gigs and just hold on to one. 

Mayanna (Fran): Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's smart. I like that. That's great. 

Mischa: Basic Astra crystals are 50 gold.

Mayanna: Dang. Oh my god. 

Bex: Can I use my parents credit slash finance it? 

[Music begins: tinkering chimes].

Mischa: yeah, you, as a noble born can use your parents credit, but you know they get the bill. 

Bex: They do. 

Mischa: Okay. Then yeah, you can put it on their credit card. 

Mayanna: So I watch Ibra do this, have I, I don't think I've ever seen you do a transaction before. So I'm like, 

Mayanna (Fran): (concerned) Uh. Um…

Mayanna: Because I saw how much–

Mayanna (Fran): What is going on? What's going on? 

Bex (Ibra): I, uh…

Mayanna (Fran): You are in a bee costume. 

Bex (Ibra): It's not my money. It's my parents’. 

Mayanna (Fran): Okay. That's cool. That's nice. 

Bex (Ibra): Until they turn off this card, I'm gonna use it. 

[SFX: ATM machine buttons].

Mayanna (Fran): Why would they turn off the card? 

Bex (Ibra): I don't know. I just feel like it's always a possibility if I don't do exactly what they want me to do, and that's getting harder and harder to do every year.

Mayanna (Fran): Yeah, cash that in. Cash that in right now. Yeah, yeah, yeah. 

[Laughter]. 

Bex (Ibra): So I'm just gonna ride this while I can. 

Mayanna (Fran): I get that. 

Mayanna: I think I kind of have a flashback to like, when I was living at home, and just thinking about like, counting down these days until like, I could move out. 

Bex: Yeah. 

Mischa: Yeah. 

Mayanna: And just, and I feel for you in this moment.

Bex: Yeah. You can sort of see. Just written all over Ibra's face, the debt that they owe is not financial but it is deep. 

Mayanna: I feel that, for sure. I think I recognize that in you, definitely. 

Lyn: Generosity is the sunny side of control. 

Mayanna: Mmmm…

Ian: What the–What? Woah.

Bex: That was beautiful. 

Mayanna: I'm gonna write that down.  

Bex: (while noting) “Generosity is the sunny side of control.”

Ian: Oh my god, I feel like I'm bleeding. [Laughter]. Wow. 

[Music ends].

Mischa: Yeah. Well, I have to move on from that moment, even though I'd like to sit in it just a little bit longer. [Laughter]. Yeah.

Lyn: Sorry

Bex: I love that.

Mischa: that's okay. So you, you punch in, you know, a number on the thing and out pop, like it pops out like a little, you know, pinball into the bottom of the vending machine. [SFX: Astra rolling down into the bottom of a vending machine].

Bex: Also, how much are bags of holding? 

Mischa: Ooh, great question. Hey, Fran, do you want to tell us about that? 

[Music begins: energetic techno synth].

Mayanna: I would love to tell you about that. So, now that I'm at level three, because of the subclass I've chosen, one of the items I'm allowed to craft is a bag of holding. 

Ian: Whoa! 

Lyn: Holy–! 

Ian: Lead boxes left and right.

Lyn: That’s better than a lead box!

Bex: I think if we have a lead box and put it in, or even without the lead box, just put it in a bag of holding then...

Mischa: I think while you're on your way to the Fastra Depot, Ibra, you ask about bags of holding, like how much do you think one is, and you start looking in store windows, and the prices are insane. 

Mayanna (Fran): Oh my god.Oh my god. Oh my god! No, mm-mm, we're gonna make it ourselves. We're going to make it ourselves. 

Bex (Ibra): You can do that?

Mayanna (Fran): Um, well, I'm going to try. 

Bex (Ibra): Sweet!

Mayanna: And I just start, I, I whip out my little notebook and I start like writing down little specs that I see. And then I just start kind of like doing like little equations or just like thinking about infusions and stuff of like, okay, so like, what is it like spatial? And then like, what kind of magic is a bag of holding based in? 

Mischa: I think it's enchantment magic, right? I think a lot of stuff is, is when you lay, when you're laying spells on objects. 

Mayanna: Cause it's a normal object that becomes magical. It's not like. Yeah. 

Mischa: Right.

Mayanna (Fran): I think I can do this. 

Bex (Ibra): I, I know you can. 

Mayanna (Fran): Well, I appreciate that.

Bex (Ibra): If anyone can, it's you. 

Mischa: Yeah, I think, but like, you know, you have a couple of vials of, like, that little synthetic liquid stuff that, like, Thorgunn has tossed off to you in occasional moments, and I think you've been observing Some pretty magical stuff in the past few days. You, you know, you could probably do it. Maybe you just have to ask Thorgunn one or two questions. 

[Music fades out].

Mayanna (Fran): Yeah, I think I'm going to ask Thorgunn a couple questions. Now, the bigger question is shoulder bag? Is it like a pocket size thing? Is it a backpack situation? Is it like a messenger situation? You know, we'll talk about that later. We'll workshop that later.

Bex (Ibra): Absolutely. 

Mischa: You pocket it and you're on your way to the Barra, although let me consider my map here for a moment. 

Mayanna: Consider your map. 

[Music begins: low ambient synths].

Mischa: turns out the bridge collapse was over in West Minetown, right near the Barra, so it's like one district over. 

Mayanna: Oh, nice. Oh, great. Could, could we, do we walk it or do we like… 

Mischa: The thing about the Barra is that it's, it was built out of a need to get away from work during the early days of the mining city, right?

Mayanna: Yeah, that makes sense. 

Mischa: It's a site dedicated to, like–

Mayanna: – It's a very Gold Rush of them. 

Mischa: Yeah, it's a little bit like, there's this section where the Goddess of Delights watches over us and lets us have a good time and put our work behind us. So it is like, kind of off on its own little offshoot of the city, like you do have to go down a, like, most, it's mostly like a really long strip and then a cul de sac at the end.

Mayanna: That makes sense. 

Mischa: So you do kind of have to like, go around. you can take a bus. 

Mayanna: All right. 

Bex (Ibra): Did you want to take the DACR? 

Mayanna (Fran): Yeah, let's do that. Yeah, that sounds good. 

Bex (Ibra): Ducati-ass crotch rocket. It'll get us there fast. 

Lyn: Oh my god. 

[Music ends].

Mischa: Are we I don't Okay, I do think we're gonna get demonetized by Ducati if we keep calling it this. Can we- Can we go- 

Bex: That's why I switched to DACR. 

Mischa: (Laughs). No, I mean, it's the same. Can we come up with a name? What does Ibra call their bike? 

Mayanna: Ooh. Yeah. Yeah. What is your relationship like with the bike? What does the bike give you? 

Bex: Freedom. 

Ian: Freedom. 

Bex: Yeah. Her name is Frida. 

Mayanna: Frida. I like it. 

Lyn & Ian: Frida. 

Bex (Ibra): You want to take Frida?

Mayanna (Fran): Frida. Yeah. 

Bex (Ibra): She's fully charged. 

Mayanna (Fran): I love it. 

Bex (Ibra): Cool. 

Mayanna (Fran): Frida's a beautiful bike, by the way. 

Bex (Ibra): Thank you. 

Mayanna (Fran): You're welcome. 

Mayanna: I put on the pink hard hat. 

Bex: I put on my, I put on my cracked motorcycle helmet. 

Mischa: Yeah. 

Mayanna: Okay, so I am staring directly at this crack and trying to figure out how to fix it. 

[Laughter]. 

[SFX: Electric bike powering up and zipping off].

[City soundscape ends].

[Music begins: suspenseful, humming synth]

Mischa: You zip out and around down side streets, in the direction of the Barra and then glide Frida down that strip until you reach the little offshoot from the main drag of the Barra that only people who live there and are seeking it out tend to know where it is.

Mayanna: it's The Pachonko Parlor. 

Mischa: The, that, that Pachonko Parlor, it's like, down an alley that's off an alley that, like, is usually closed off by barricades that somebody put up ten years ago, and people have left up because it's convenient to have the privacy, but like, you know where the hole in the gate is.

Mayanna: Yeah, it feels like at some point someone was like, maybe if we just create a little bit of an obstacle, people will be like, more likely to avoid it. And then it's like, in the classic with any vice, the obstacle is not what's stopping you. 

Mischa: No. 

Mayanna: It's, it's, it's, you're gonna do it if you want to do it. 

Mischa: Exactly, exactly. And you know who really wants to do it? 

Mayanna: Thorgunn. 

Mischa: Thorgunn. So you walk in over to what you know is his machine. 

Mayanna: Mhmm, yep. Yep. 

Mischa: And there he is, just poppin copper pieces in, pullin the lever.

[SFX: Slots machines being cranked and spinning]. 

[Music fades to low ambient synth].

Mayanna: Is he up or down today? 

Mischa: Ooh, let's roll for it! 

Ian: Roll for it! 

Mischa: Oh, he's up today! He's up a little bit! [Gasps]. He's like, like, enough that he'll come back tomorrow, you know what I mean?

[Casino soundscape begins: people occasionally talking in the distance, slot machines giving techno trills, wheels spinning mechanically, coins clinking]

Mayanna: Yeah, yeah, and that's all he needs. I think I pull up a little, cause there's like little stools around, so this is normally what I do, is I–We'll pull up a little stool, sit next to him. And then I think I, 

Ian: Is it a shorter stool? 

Mayanna: It's a shorter stool. Of course it is. 

Ian: Amazing

Mayanna: Yeah. I'm like a child sitting next to a parent. It's not a good situation. 

Mischa: You said stool. All I'm imagining is one of those blue chairs. 

Mayanna: Yeah. Just a little plastic. It's like, it might, you know what? You know what it is. [Laughter]. It's not a chair. It's one of those little steps that you use to like reach a high shelf. 

All: Yes. 

Mayanna: And they're just around. And so I'm sitting on that, and I kind of slowly start to hold the cup of coins for him, which is usually, like, the role that I take on in this situation.

Lyn: Oh no.

Mayanna: And so I kind of wait for him to take notice that he is no longer holding the coin and I am holding the coin. 

Mischa: Sure. Can you roll a charisma save? 

Mayanna: A charisma save, you say? Oh, let's see here. 

[Dice rolls].

Bex: Can I support? 

Mischa: You can support or you can make your own roll, what do you think?

Bex: Umm… 

Maynna: (Cackles in the distance). 

Bex: I think I'll help. 

Mischa: Yeah, okay. 

Bex: I only have a plus two, I don't think that'll help. 

Mayanna: That's fine, you can like tug on his sleeve. 

Bex: Yeah, I think I wanna like,

Mayanna (Fran): (whispered) He's in the zone. 

Bex (Ibra): (whispered) But I feel like he should know before you grab his money. 

Mayanna (Fran): (whispered) Well, this is what I normally do. 

Bex (Ibra): (whispered) Yeah, but he normally knows you're here. 

Mayanna (Fran): (whispered) Well yeah, I'm the only one who talks to him.

Bex (Ibra): (whispered) Let me just–(clears throat)

Mayanna (Fran) and Bex (Ibra): (humming as if they aren’t acting super shady)

Mischa: Yeah, go ahead, roll again. 

Mayanna: Okay, oh, thank you. [Dice rolls]. Ooh, that is a 17. 

[Laughter]. 

Mischa: Yeah, yeah, so when Ibra clears the throat, Thorgunn goes, 

Mischa (Thorgunn): Fran, you must tell your friend, when I am in this zone to not disturb. 

Mayanna (Fran): Gee, I told, I tried to tell, I'm sorry. 

Mischa (Thorgunn): You are always looking out for me, my dear one. 

Mayanna (Fran): Of course. 

Mischa (Thorgunn): What can I do for you today?

Mayanna (Fran): Oh my gosh, wow, thank you. Well, this is my friend, Ibra. And, Ibra wanted to learn a little bit about your line of work, and I had a couple questions for you because I am trying to craft a Bag of Holding. 

Mischa (Thorgunn): Oh, the Bag of Holding. You are, you are dabbling in the magical enchantment side of things. (Chuckles). Oh, I love it. I love a good enchantment. 

Mayanna (Fran): Oh, good, good, great. Would you perhaps have any wisdom you would want to impart to help me with this? 

Mischa: He makes to, start divulging secrets and then he looks at Ibra again. 

Mayanna: Ooh.

Mischa: I'm gonna roll something for Thorgunn. 

Bex: I still look very bloody. I'm only at half health. 

Mischa: Yeah, and I think that the bumps and bruises on your head and like maybe, you know, a cut that's like stopped bleeding, does a little bit to obscure your birthmark. And Thorgunn takes a scrutinizing look at you for a moment and then just goes, 

Mischa (Thorgunn): Your friend seeks the mystical secrets of the ways of magic. 

Mischa: And he like, prestidigitates, like a, like a couple of sparks. [SFX: electrical sparking].

Bex (Ibra): Whoa. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to talk. 

Mischa (Thorgunn): All this and more can be yours, if you study the dark ways. 

Mayanna (Fran): (whispered) The dark ways. The dark ways.

Mischa (Thorgunn): No, I'm just kidding. 

[Laughter].

Mayanna (Fran): Look at the look on his face. Classic Thorgunn. 

Mischa (Thorgunn): You treat magic this way, you are not ready. Magic is a science, a science you can learn. Anyone can learn the secrets if you study long and hard enough. 

Mayanna (Fran): Mm-Hmm. Mm-Hmm. 

Bex (Ibra): (Stuttering) I'm ready. I'm ready. I want to. 

Mischa (Thorgunn): Step one… 

Mischa: (aside) Takes coin. [Laughter]. 

Lyn: Oh no. 

Mischa (Thorgunn): Persistence. 

[Laughter].

Mayanna (Fran): We're gonna be here for a while. 

Mayanna: And those are the moments that I'm like waiting for like, like hours and hours and hours of stuff that doesn't make any sense and is like whatever. And then every once in a while it's just like a little bit of something. 

Mischa: Yeah, I agree. I think he's, he's pulling, he has a run of like a couple in a row where like nothing's happening. [SFX: lever pulls, machine whirs and chimes]. And he, he gets back into like a flow state and he, he goes, 

[Ambient music ends].

[Music begins: ominous and apprehensive synth]

Mischa (Thorgunn): why is he suddenly interested in magical ways? You have always been crafter of fine garments.

Mayanna (Fran): Well, you were around during the war, right? 

Mischa (Thorgunn): Many of us were around during the war. 

Mayanna (Fran): Right. We might be dealing with some stuff that's not… what's the word? Normal? We have sort of started interacting with a lot of magical sort of encounters lately. And I, I think I need to take my studies somewhere that I can use what I need to protect people.

Mischa: He stops mid motion, putting a coin into the slot, and looks at you dead in the eye, and his eyes are a little, like, rheumy and watery on the best of days, but like, through the little bit of teariness, like, he's looking dead at you, which is, you know, usually he's like, kind of–

Mayanna: Yeah, he's not, yeah. 

Mischa: He's looking dead at you, and he goes, 

Mischa (Thorgunn): (Under breath) They return…

Mayanna (Fran): What?

Mischa (Thorgunn): (raising his voice) You tell me what is going on right now, right now!

Mayanna (Fran): Okay, okay, okay! 

Mischa: He starts getting super agitated.

Bex (Ibra): Whoa hey!

Mayanna (Fran): Whoa, whoa, whoa! It's okay, it's okay, it's alright. It's alright, it's me. It's okay, it's me, it's Fran. 

Mischa: Go ahead and roll persuasion. 

Bex: Whoa

Ian: Oh my god whoa.

Mayanna: Okay, great. 

[Dice rolls].

Lyn: Spicy, so spicy. 

Mayanna: 21.

[Cheers].

Ian: Boom! 

Bex: Yeah, excellent. 

Mischa: Yeah, so you, you sort of like, grab him by the shoulders and. 

Mayanna (Fran): Thorgunn, it's okay, it's okay, it's me. It's okay, it's okay. It’s alright. What happened just now? Where'd you go? Where'd you go? 

Mischa (Thorgunn): I was back there. The kinds of things we see, we pray we do not see them again. 

Bex (Ibra): What did you see? 

Mischa (Thorgunn): Tell me what is going on. You two, tell me right now. 

Mayanna (Fran): Okay. 

Mayanna: I tell him about the Boggins’ Bistro encounter. 

Mischa: Uh-huh

Mayanna: And then I tell him about the mech, and then I kind of gesture to Ibra of like, 

Mayanna (Fran): As you can see.

Bex: And I explain what happened with overpowering JJ's Astra, and how that's the only reason I'm here, and how I have a deep need to understand more about magic now. 

Mischa: He points at his temple and points to you, Ibra, and he goes, 

Mischa (Thorgunn): Ah, that is the problem. I think–we do not know the source of these things!

Mayanna (Fran): Okay.

Mischa (Thorgunn): We meddle. We are troublesome. We fool around with these crystals like we know what they do. They create wonders. Do we know where they come from? No. We do not know. I warned them, I tried to warn them all! 

Mayanna (Fran): Wait, who, wait, what? Wait, who did you try to warn? 

Mischa (Thorgunn): Those fools who build an entire city upon a phenomenon we do not understand.

Mayanna (Fran): The Constellation? 

Mischa (Thorgunn): This whole place. 

Bex (Ibra): The Astra? 

Mischa (Thorgunn): The, the Constellation, the Low Town, the Deep Mines. 

Mayanna (Fran): Yeah, we built it on top of an Astra reserve, that makes sense, that's where all the magic comes from, that's what powers the city, what, is that, what is, that's, that makes sense! 

Bex (Ibra): Wait, does, do you not use Astra?

Mischa (Thorgunn): No, my friend! 

Mayanna (Fran): Thorgunn has something else. 

Mischa: He reaches deep into his, his like ratty shirt, and you hear like, the clunking around of like a big chest of tools rattling around, [SFX: metal clattering], and then he pulls from his shirt another vial of the liquid synthetic stuff. 

Mayanna: Yeah, and you've seen me use these. That's what I dipped the bullets in.

Bex (Ibra): That's where you get this from?

Mayanna (Fran): Thorgunn was the original innovator in this space. You figured out how to do something nobody else figured out how to do which is like harness raw magic and put it in things. 

Mischa (Thorgunn): Yes, I distill the raw magic into this form. It comes from the ground in this crystalline form. Yes, sure It may be a little more “stable.” Maybe a little more “reliable day-to-day,” who am I to say? What I know is, I know where these come from. 

Mayanna (Fran): Where does it come from? You've never told me before. 

Mischa (Thorgunn): It’s a long and complicated synthesization. 

[Music stops].

Mischa: Synthesization is a hard word to say in a French accent.

Bex: Yeah it is! 

All, attempting in a French accent: Synthesization, synthesization, synthesization. 

Mayanna: Cause there's so much Z and R and yeah. 

[Music begins again: suspenseful plucked synth strings]

Mischa (Thorgunn): The method to synthesize is a long drawn out process, known only to me.

Mayanna (Fran): Would you teach me, please? 

Mischa (Thorgunn): I try to teach people once. They shut me down. They lock me away. 

Mayanna (Fran): Wha–?

Mischa: And he looks around the Pachonko parlor. 

Mischa (Thorgunn): I have learned the price of sharing my secrets. 

Bex: Fran would never. You know that. You know, Fran. 

Mischa: Ibra, roll persuasion. 

[Dice rolls]

Bex: Dirty 20. 

Lyn: Yeah!

Mayanna: Boom! 

[Synth string music ends]

[Music begins: melancholy horns with a reversed-play effect]

Mischa (Thorgunn): You know, Fran, you are not my first student. Many have come here to seek my wisdom from the Pachonko Parlor. But do you know that you are the one who keeps coming back? Perhaps... Perhaps I can teach you my ways. You must improve your base of knowledge. 

Mischa: And he reaches back into his shirt, more clunking around. Pulls out a business card. 

Mayanna: Oh my god. Okay.

Mischa: At one point it was really pristine and white and just had like a nice, like, one calling card, but it's been crumpled up into a shirt pocket for so long. He kind of has to 

[Laughter]. 

Mayanna: Just like a little wiggly. 

Mischa: Yeah, and like the, the integrity of the card stock is like a little bit, for how many times it's been folded.

Mayanna: Yeah, it's like, it's like could dissolve if you like touch it for long enough. 

Mischa: Exactly, yeah. And he, he like tries to smooth it out on his pant leg a little bit. 

Mayanna (Fran): Careful, careful, It might rip. 

Mischa (Thorgunn): You tell them Thorgunn sends you for deeper knowledge. 

Mayanna: I take it. I, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm beyond. Like, I am, I, I feel, I feel incredible right now. Like, like, yeah, this is what I've wanted, like, for so long. 

Mischa: Yeah! 

Lyn: What does it say? What does it say? I'm not there. What does it say? 

Bex: What does it say? 

Mayanna: What does the card say? 

Mischa: It has an address on it. 

Mayanna: And nothing else? 

[Laughter].

Mischa: Nothing else. 

Lyn: Whoa. 

Mayanna: I'm like, I think like, Ibra look to me like visibly shaking, like I like, I'm so excited.

Bex: I'm gonna take a picture of the paper just in case it falls apart. 

Mayanna: That's fair. 

Mischa: The address is– you look at the address and you're like, “Oh yeah, that's in West Minetown. I know exactly where that is.”

[Music: horn music fades out, leaving behind suspenseful strings]

Mischa: And then, maybe because it was such a recent event, it only occurs to you like a second later that, now that address is in the middle of the Dustpan, right underneath the Broken Heart where it fell.

[Strings music ends].

[Music begins: melancholy piano].

Mischa: Thorgunn looks at you, and I think, Fran, that you get a sense that, like, maybe he's finally seeing you for the first time. 

Mischa (Thorgunn): There are dangers. You must find them. You must not fall victim to them. You must not fall for their wiles, the things they can promise. Swear to me, girl. 

Mayanna (Fran): I swear. 

Mayanna: And then I do a little pinky promise.

Mischa: He like, furrows his brow and kind of like cocks his head to one side and like around your pinky to the other side and then like tentatively takes your pinky in his. 

Mayanna: Yeah. 

Mischa: And you shake it and he's like, 

Mischa (Thorgunn): What is this? What is this new gesture the kids are doing?

Mayanna (Fran): It's a pinky promise. 

Mischa (Thorgunn): The pinkies promise? Okay, whatever. 

Mayanna (Fran): It means that, it means I'll do it. 

Bex (Ibra): You promise to cut off your pinky if you don't. 

Mischa (Thorgunn): In my day we just give our word, but this is also fine. 

Mayanna (Fran): I will give you my word. 

Mischa (Thorgunn): I'm not going to cut off your pinky, but don't do it. 

Mayanna (Fran): I won't do that. Yeah, I give you my word. I will. I will. Thank you.

Mischa (Thorgunn): You bless me with a glimmer of hope this day, girl. Perhaps, our city is not as destined to fall as I once believed. 

Mayanna: I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm losing it. Like,, I'm keeping it cool, I'm keeping it cool, but inside I'm like, (screeching) “OH MY GOD! WHAT?!” Okay. Mhmm.

Bex (Ibra): Thank you, Thorgunn. sorry for startling you. 

Mischa (Thorgunn): And you, ami de Fran, you, you are only now just starting your path upon the magical secrets. One thing I tell you, find an alternate source. The astra is dangerous, this is why I come up with alternatives. You follow my latest student. Find other ways. 

Bex (Ibra): Yeah. Okay. I'll be Fran's student. Cool. 

Mayanna (Fran): Cool. Great. Amazing. Thank you Thorgun.

Mischa (Thorgunn): You are welcome. 

[Music ends].

Mischa: The first time he's probably ever acknowledged you saying thank you. 

Mayanna:Yyeah, yeah. Oh my god. Ahhhh! Sorry. 

Lyn: This is so hype. 

Mayanna: I'm so excited. 

Bex (Ibra): I think I get the hype now, he's pretty cool. 

Mayanna: In the back of my brain, I'm thinking, like, “thank the fuck that this went well” because I remember, like, even just the last time I saw him, where it was he ripped the shirt I gave him, [Laughter]. and he had, like, my blueprints stuck to his sweaty chest, and I'm like,

Mayanna (Fran):  Ooh, yeah, he's pretty cool, right? Pretty cool. Pretty cool guy. 

[Casino soundscape ends].

Ian: He's inconsistent. 

Mayanna (Fran): : He's always, he's always that cool, actually. 

Bex: You get a text saying, 

Bex (Ibra): [SFX: staticky filter, indicating a text] Fran wasn't lying. 

Lyn (JJ): Oh, that's kind of nice. I want to meet him at some point. 

Ian (Gordon): I, I'm still kind of half out. 

[Laughter].

Lyn (JJ): I, I need to know who this dude is actually. It is killing me inside.

[Laughter].

[Midroll theme music plays then fades out].

Mischa: Hey there, it’s Mischa. This is the rest stop. Come take a break beside the path with me, just until we catch our breath. 

First up of course, a big shout out to our patrons over on patreon.com/wanderingpathpod. To our newest patron, Hannah C, and as always to our voyager level patron, JWX, thanks for helping us keep the lights on and the blanket fort over our heads. We hope you’re enjoying this week’s blooper reel, our ad-free feed, and whatever else we cook up. We’re working on getting together an illustration of New Prosper from above, and our patrons will be able to see it first. So, if you want any of those things, or if you just want to bring us life, sustain us, and bring us to new seasons, one more time, that’s patreon.com/wanderingpathpod. 

Another way to sustain us is by reaching out and letting us know you like the show! Podcasting is weird sometimes in that you just kinda toss audio files into the void and hope somebody out there finds them. So if you did find us and you like us, we love to hear that. You can reach out to us with questions and comments at the contact form at our website, wanderingpathpod.com, you can leave us a review on whatever platform you listen on–preferably five stars, if you please–you can find us on social media. Bex has been posting Wandering Path memes on our Instagram, and I know there’s such a narrow band of audience out there for them, but I think they’re really funny, and if you like our show, you probably will too. Please get in touch, we cannot wait to keep hearing from you. 

The Wandering Path is sponsored this week by Shaker and Spoon, the subscription cocktail service that helps you learn how to make handcrafted cocktails right at home. Every box comes with enough ingredients to make three different cocktail recipes developed by world class mixologists. All you need to do is buy one bottle of that month’s spirit, and you have all you need to make twelve drinks at home. At just $40-$50 per month, plus the cost of the bottle, this is a super cost-effective way to enjoy craft cocktails, and you can skip or cancel boxes any time. My local drinking spot is a gamer bar, and they have a mixologist on staff that makes custom nerd-themed cocktails every month, and they usually have some kind of hot pepper cocktail on the menu, and y’all, I love a spicy cocktail. Every time I go, I just want to be able to make those drinks at home, and liquor is easy enough to find, but it’s all those finishing ingredients that I’m missing. So truly, thank goodness for Shaker and Spoon. Invite some friends over, class up your nightcaps, or be the best houseguest of all time with your Shaker and Spoon box. Get $20 off your first order at ShakerandSpoon.com/wanderingpath. One more time, that’s ShakerandSpoon.com/wanderingpath for $20 off your first box.

Okay, that’s it for now, let get back on the path, and back to the show.

[Midroll theme music plays then fades out].

[Soundscape begins: cars driving past].

Mischa: Meanwhile, across town, JJ and Gordon. 

Lyn: Do we take your tuk-tuk or did we take the bus? 

Ian: Tuk-tuk. 

Lyn: Okay, cool. 

Ian: Tuk-tuk for sure.

Mischa: I do like how we sort of have, like, among the four of you, we do have two vehicles that can kind of go different places. It's pretty good. 

Mayanna: Oh, yeah. 

Lyn (JJ): I do miss the bus, but this is fine, too. 

Ian (Gordon): Do you want to have taken the bus?

Lyn (JJ): No, you have, you can't leave your tuk-tuk here. 

Ian (Gordon): That’s true.

Lyn (JJ): And then, if you take the tuk-tuk, you'll be there so much sooner than I will be. 

Ian (Gordon): Oh yeah, we're not gonna separate. I'm not gonna put you on the bus and me take the tuk-tuk. That would be the shittiest of friend moves. 

[Laughter]. 

Mischa: On your way around to the come up, you run into some bumper-to-bumper traffic.

[Soundscape shifts: horns honking, motors rumbling, cars moving short distances]

Lyn: Beep, beep, beep, beep. 

Ian: (Imitates motor rumbling).

Mischa: And you know I'm gonna do it later. 

Ian: I know. I know, but it's just so fun for us. 

Lyn: Yeah.

Mischa: Alright, go. [Laughter]. I'm gonna give you five seconds. Do as much traffic noise as you want. Ready? Go! 

[Soundscape fades for player-made soundscape].

Ian: I’ll be the tuk-tuk.

Ian (tuk-tuk): (Tumbly car noises)

Lyn (Various drivers): Hey, get out of there! Move, move! You can't move this! Do you see what's happening? Move! 

Mayanna (Fruit vendor): Do you wanna buy this fruit? 

[Laughter]. 

Lyn: What fruit was it? 

Mischa: That's how you can tell that New Prosper's in California. 

[Laughter]. 

[Traffic soundscape resumes].

Ian: Okay, so we're sitting in the tuk-tuk in traffic. 

Mischa: Yeah, people are honking, beeping, getting pretty, agitated. JJ and Gordon, will you roll, perception to see if you can see what's going on? 

[Dice rolls].

Ian: Wow, shit. 

Mischa: No. [Laughter]. 

Ian: 6. 

Lyn: 23.

Mischa: Whoa!

Mischa: Gordon, I think that, you're a little bit worried. Like, the tuk-tuk does not have a great engine, and leaving it stalling in traffic is, like, not what it's designed for. 

Ian: Yeah. 

Mischa: this thing really wants to, like– [SFX: stalling engine].

Ian: Brbrbrbrbr. 

Mischa: Yeah. JJ, you Lean out the side of the tuk-tuk and kind of like, Oh, you're, a half dwarf, you're a shorty. Maybe you, you like, get out and like, clamber up a little bit. Like, lift yourself, like, chin up yourself to the roof a little bit. [SFX: footsteps thuds on metal].

Lyn: There's a little ladder on the side. 

Mischa: Yeah, and I think you spot, way down the way, a traffic signal, like, at an intersection, going haywire. Blinking bright lights, flashing like, different colors, almost blinding. Clearly malfunctioning. 

[Music begins: suspenseful, energetic synth]

Lyn: Yeah, it's like a rave light. 

Mischa: Yeah, a little bit. 

Lyn (JJ): There's something wrong with the light up ahead? Yeah, that's not right. 

Mischa: You can see one lone traffic guard in, white, big white gloves and another hi-vis vest, sort of overwhelmed by the amount of traffic trying to run through this intersection.

Lyn (JJ): Oh. 

Ian (Gordon): JJ, what's going on? What's happening? 

Lyn (JJ): I got this,.

Lyn: And I clamber down. 

Mischa: Yeah? 

Lyn: Also with my–I put on my high visibility vest. 

Mischa: Okay. 

Lyn: To, like, safely walk through traffic. 

Mischa: Yeah, sure, sure. 

Ian: I just get out of the tuk-tuk and you hear me as you walk away and go, 

Ian (Gordon): (as if yelling from a distance) What do you mean you got this?

Lyn (JJ): I think it'll be fine. You might want to turn off your engine, though. It doesn't sound very good. [Laughter]. We'll still be here for a bit. Hold on. Excuse me. Pardon. S-sorry. Sorry, 

Lyn: I'm ducking like under, like, mirrors, side mirrors and stuff. 

Lyn (JJ): Sorry!

Ian: Gordon turns off the tuk-tuk and like gets out and starts running after JJ. No hi-vis vest. 

[Laughter]. 

Mayanna: I'm obsessed.

Lyn (JJ): excuse me, pardon, okay. Getting under, no, stop your car, stop your– Okay. Um, hi officer! 

Mischa: They take the whistle out of their mouth and they go, 

Mischa (traffic officer): Please return to your vehicle. 

Lyn (JJ): Do you need help? With the light? 

Mischa: The minute they stop to turn to talk to you, two vehicles try to go and they like low key collide in the center. [SFX: cars collide].

Ian (Gordon): Oh!

Lyn (JJ): oh god

Mischa (traffic officer): Okay. I'm sorry, excuse me. Who are you?

Lyn (JJ): oh, I'm with the guild's engineer–the craftsman guild, I can take a look at it. 

Mischa (traffic officer): Yeah, will you please take a look? 

Lyn (JJ): Okay. 

Lyn: I take a look at the light. 

[Traffic soundscape fades out].

Mischa: Okay. This gets into your, like, a little bit of your mechanist training, right? 

Lyn: Yes

Mischa: Do you have proficiencies that you can apply here?

Lyn: Let me see. I have Tinker's Tools proficiencies. Yeah. 

Mischa: Yeah. Go ahead and roll Intelligence with proficiency. 

[Dice rolls]

Bex: I'm so obsessed with this group of smart people. 

Lyn: 8 plus…

Ian: Man, that almost bounced to like a 19, and then it rolled as an 8 at the last minute. 

Lyn: Yeah, I know I know.

Mischa: Man, the die has so many faces, and it could really be any one of them, couldn't it?

Lyn: What's 8 plus 5, 13?

Ian: 8 plus 5 is 13. No, yes. 

Lyn: Cool. 13. 

Mayanna: 8 plus 5 is 13, yeah. 

Lyn: Great, thank you for double checking my math everyone. 

Mischa: Yeah. With a 13, you crack open the control panel for the traffic signal off to, off on one of the street corners. There's, you pop it open, [SFX: opening metal control panel, electrical crackling and whirring begins, occasional screeching of car breaks] it's a pretty complicated, like mesh of circuitry and a control board and wires and like it–there's no Astra crystal in it because it leads down into the grid the circuits on the board light up where they are powered and, similar to the traffic signal above, the circuits inside the board are like crackling and lighting up different patterns where I mean, you're pretty sure they should all just be lit up. 

Lyn: Yeah.

Mischa: You can smell a little bit of ozone as you look at this thing. The way it crackles, like it, it gives off like a couple of sparks here and there. 

Lyn: Cool. I will send a quick pager text to my other dad who works in electrical. That's like,

Lyn (JJ): [SFX: staticky] There's a problem with the grid over in, 

Lyn: and then most, traffic signals and lights have demarcations, like a numerical system for them. That's real. [Laughter]. So I just like send that code over just as a things like, 

Lyn (JJ): [SFX: staticky] I'll try and do a quick fix, but this is probably a synchronization error as well. 

Mischa: Sure. I think it's a little more complicated than a 13 can totally fix. 

Lyn: Yeah.

Mischa: Can you roll me sleight of hand, please? 

[Dice rolls].

Ian: (mumbling) That’s not bad.

Lyn: 14. 

Mischa: Okay. you get in there. It's, it's a little more complicated than, than you can solve. You try like rerouting power. At one point, you know, from one circuit, like, you move a little, like, fiber optic cable from one part of the board to the other, and, like, a different part of the traffic signal starts going haywire, and you're plucking around, but, like, this is not really your area. 

Lyn: Hm…

Mischa: You're not gonna take any damage, but when you plug in one of the things, you get, like, just a little, like, burn mark on the tip of your finger. [SFX: spark zaps]

[Energetic synth music ends].

Ian: That feels devious to me, just saying. 

[Music begins: ambient synth chords]

Mischa: I think, JJ, you have a moment where the last time you took Lightning damage, electrical damage was during the fight. 

Lyn: Mhmm.

[SFX: electric crackling ends]

Mischa: something about the sensation, like, just puts you right back there for a little bit. 

Lyn: Yeah, my eyes start darting around just in case something else starts coming to life.

Mischa: Yeah, roll a wisdom saving throw. 

Mayanna: Oh my god. 

[Dice rolls].

Lyn: Uh.. 22. 

Mayanna: Wow! 

Mischa: 22.

Lyn: Cleric.

Mischa: For a moment, you're sent back into the fight at the construction site in the fight with the arcade, and your nose fills with the smell of ozone in the back of your throat. You taste a little bit of acid bitterness, the taste of adrenaline, and your heart spikes for a moment. But you calm down, you take a moment, you take a breath. [Music fades out and the traffic soundscape fades back in: car honks, cars traveling short distances and breaks squealing] You realize that nothing's attacking you. It's just a, it's just a control board. 

Lyn: Okay, I don't think I can fix this, but I do want to help the traffic flow– 

Mischa: Well, you may not know the intricacies of this control unit in their entirety, but I mean, you know where the power switch is.

Lyn (JJ): Yeah, I think it'll be better off if this is just powered down. 

Ian (Gordon): Okay.

Lyn (JJ): To avoid the lights changing and just let the crossing traffic guard be the only signal. Damn, I am not doing great in my studies right now.  

Lyn (JJ): Officer, I'm so sorry, I think this is going to be more complicated. I'll shut it off. I already alerted the Mechanist's Guild as well that there's trouble in the area, but I'll shut it off and at the very least it might be a little less confusing.

Mischa: Yeah, without stopping in the signal pattern, just sort of like, you know, salutes to you in a vaguely grateful gesture. 

Ian: Gordon hands you, a, what's the fruit that they're selling on the street? Cause while you were doing that, I walked across to the seller. 

[Laughter]. 

Mayanna: Sliced mango?

Mischa: I think it's a cubed zigfruit.

Bex: Nice.

Ian: Yeah, there it is. I literally hand you like a little, like, wax paper of zigfruit and my mouth is full and I’m like,

Ian (Gordon): With mouth full: cubed zigfruit? 

Lyn (JJ): Oh, thanks. 

Ian (Gordon) and Lyn (JJ): (appreciative mm’s with mouths full of fruit)

Lyn (JJ): A little under, but good. 

Ian (Gordon): Tiny bit. 

Lyn (JJ): Yeah. 

Mischa: Yeah. When it's under, when it's underripe, it has a little less zig, you know? 

Ian: Yeah, it was off. 

Mayanna: It's got more zag. 

Bex: Yeah thank you.

Ian: Yeah. It's a little bit of a zag fruit.

Lyn: Yeah. I, while turning off things like, 

Lyn (JJ): okay everyone, be safe, take turns. It won't make it faster if you rush. 

[SFX: car honks and speeds away while laying on the horn]

Ian (Gordon): Oh, jeez.

Lyn (JJ): It's fine. Everyone's just a little bit frustrated. 

Ian (Gordon): Back to the tuk-tuk! 

Lyn (JJ): I mean, we do. It is stopped in, now moving, traffic, so let's get there quickly. Excuse me! Sorry! Pardon! oh.

Ian: We get back in the tuk-tuk. It maybe takes me a couple key turns to get the engine to turn back over because it was so stressed. But it putts back to life. [SFX: engine whirrs up and the tuk-tuk starts moving off]

Mischa: And you’re back on your way, across the city, you get over to the Come Up with, no further delay. 

[Traffic soundscape ends].

[Music begins: light ambient floating synth chords]

Lyn: Bad intersection. 

Mischa: That one bad intersection. Seems like an isolated incident for today. you head over to the Come Up. Which library are you going to visit? 

Lyn (JJ): You wanted to look into, The past wars and stuff, right?

Ian (Gordon): The wars, yeah. 

Lyn (JJ): we should probably head to the School of Rhetoric. they'll probably have the most stuff about it there. 

Mischa: The School of Rhetoric is housed in buildings very reminiscent of like American government buildings that are like big dome on top and like large white columns that like, there's no, connection to ancient design principles. Like somebody clearly came up with this aesthetic and applied it to this building. It stands out a little bit from like the more ordinary student housing around it by trying to look as officious and stately as a building can. So, the first thing that hits you as soon as you cross the threshold [SFX: door creaks open then echoes shut] is like, silence in the library, strictly adhered to in this building. Like, the air almost like presses down, trying to keep you quiet. 

Ian: I I look at JJ with sort of a like, we–is it–what do we do, everything gonna be fine? Are we cool? Kind of look? 

[Ambient music fades out].

Lyn (JJ): [SFX: echoey filter, indicating the large rooms of a library] (whispers) Yeah, just, Keep your voice down, we can try and book a private study room. 

Mayanna (student): [SFX: echoey] Shhh!

Ian: We hear from, like, across the hall. 

Lyn: I wave vague hand signals towards the, I guess, like, the catalogue of, like, computers? Or are we doing card catalogue in this day and age? 

Mischa: Hmm, good question. 

Lyn: We haven't talked about this already? 

Mischa: I think there's probably a different answer for each of these different schools. 

Lyn: Oh, yeah, that makes sense. 

Mischa: I think For the School of Rhetoric library, yeah, I think they're probably still in the process of transferring their physical card catalog into a text database.] 

Lyn: Mmhm, yeah.

Lyn (JJ): [SFX: echoey] (whispers) Actually, Gordon, we might have to talk to someone at the reference desk. 

Ian (Gordon): [SFX: echoey] (whispers) Okay. That sounds–

Bex and Mayanna (students): Shh!!

Ian (Gordon): [SFX: echoey] (whispers) God, sorry. 

Mayanna (student): [SFX: echoey] (whispers) Jesus.

Ian: Like, I look across to the reference desk, and I lock eyes with you, and I like, do like a two finger point, you know, like, sort of like military style. 

Lyn: I salute back at you. 

Ian: Yeah. 

Lyn: And then we march over to the reference 

Ian: Quietly march. We march as quiet as possible. 

Lyn: Yeah. It's like our knees come up, but then like as our feet come down, it's really soft. 

Ian: Oh yeah, 

Mischa: sure. 

Ian: Very straight backs. 

Lyn: Mhmm. 

Mischa: yeah. There's a, capra librarian at the reference desk who, in a, like, a low sweet voice, kind of goes. 

Mischa (librarian): [SFX: echoey] (Very breathy voice) Hello. How can we help you today?

Lyn (JJ) : [SFX: echoey] Hi. we're–

Mischa: (whispered ASMR voice) ASMR going to a library. 

Ian: (whispered ASMR voice) Yeah. There we go. 

Lyn (JJ): [SFX: echoey] (hesitantly whispering)–we are looking for–

[Laughter].

Ian: No you gotta do it, you gotta do it!

Lyn: Hold on, hold on.

Ian: Everyone strap in. Here we go. 

Lyn (JJ): [SFX: echoey] (whispers) Hi, we're looking for materials on the war, information about the Balvero. And we'd like to know if there's a study room available that we can do some collaborative work in. 

Ian (Gordon): [SFX: echoey] (whispers) Yeah. 

Mischa (librarian): [SFX: echoey] (whispers) Sure, I can sign out study room three. If you'll just sign here. Sign the, sign the slate. Sign the, the sign out form here. 

Ian (Gordon): [SFX: echoey] (whispers) Thank you so much. 

Ian: Gordon takes a pen out from under, from the thing and signs it. And it sounds like 

[SFX: pen dragging on paper in two bursts and a flourish, echoing in the quiet].

Mischa (librarian): [SFX: echoey] (whispers) Okay, I'll have a page bring you some texts. 

Lyn (JJ) : [SFX: echoey] (whispers) Thank you so much. 

Mischa (librarian): [SFX: echoey] (whispers) Okay. 

Ian (Gordon): [SFX: echoey] (whispers) Which, which direction is it again?

Mischa (librarian): [SFX: echoey] (whispers) It's over there. And two stacks down, over to the right. 

Ian (Gordon): [SFX: echoey] (whispers) Thank you.

Mischa (ASMR librarian): [SFX: echoey] (whispers) You can't miss it. 

Ian (Gordon): [SFX: echoey] (whispers) Okay. 

Lyn (JJ): [SFX: echoey] (whispers) We appreciate it. Thank you. Have a nice day. 

Mischa: Hold on, let me just get, before we get out of this, little section of the scene, I'm just gonna get some quick library foley for you. (Rustles and turns a paper over) Okay. 

[Laughter].

[Soundscape ends. Echo filter ends].

Mayanna: I'm so happy. 

Bex: This was so much fun. 

Mayanna: I love it so much.

[Laughter continuing].

Mischa:  So fucking stupid. 

Mayanna: I love, I love an ASMR where it's like a receptionist checking you into a hotel. Oh my god. I love it. I'm so happy. 

[Laughter].

Bex: So funny. This made me so happy. 

Lyn: We can speak normally in the study room, correct? 

Mischa: Yeah, we can. 

[Laughter].

Lyn (JJ): Okay, I always forget. That the vibes here are– 

Ian (Gordon): Intimidating.

Lyn (JJ): Yeah, that's the right word. I was going to say, stifling. 

Ian (Gordon): Stifling, stifle- timid–nevermind. 

Lyn (JJ): Huh? 

Ian (Gordon): Nothing. 

Mayanna: Stifledating. 

Ian: There we go. 

[Laughter].

Lyn: Oh, yeah, yeah. 

Mischa: Yeah. About five minutes later, you hear a soft knock on the door of your study room [SFX: three light knocks], and then the door swings open [SFX: door latch clicks] and it slams closed [SFX: door closing] and, and someone comes in and goes, 

Mischa (Unknown entrant): What up, dorks?!

Lyn (JJ): (Surprised) Oh! 

Mischa: Samira brings in a bunch of references. 

[Laughter, cheers].

[Music begins: ethereal ambient synth chords]

Lyn (JJ): Why did you, oh my God. 

[Laughter].

Mischa (Samira): No, it's so, the vibe's so intimidating in here, right? I thought it'd be funny. 

Ian (Gordon): This place is terrifying. 

Mischa (Samira): I know. I love it here. 

[Laughter].

Lyn (JJ): What? Uh…

Ian: JJ is just holding their whole–shocked. Just absolutely shocked. 

Bex: Rubbing their eyeballs. 

Mischa (Samira): I'm working my off hours. Where you guys been? 

Lyn (JJ): I hate you so fucking much. 

Mischa (Samira): Girl! You guys looking at war stuff? 

Ian (Gordon): Yeah. 

Lyn (JJ): Yep. 

Ian (Gordon): We just need to we're– There's just some weird stuff happening around the city, and we really… I just want to know a little bit more. Do you have any recommendations on, like, books I can start with?

Mischa: Yeah, she sort of sorts through the stack with you. Yeah, she you're gonna she's gonna give you the help action on your investigation. 

Lyn: Nice.

Ian: Oh, yeah!

Lyn (JJ): So, how are you? How are you? You good? You chillin’? What's up? 

Mischa: Um, can you roll deception for me? 

Ian: Gordon reads in the corner. 

Bex: J Chillin. 

[Dice rolls].

Lyn: I think that's a flat 10.

Ian: Don't know about that. 

Lyn: Yeah, that is a flat 10. 

Mischa: Samira’s like, 

Mischa (Samira): I'm good. Classes, Library hours. Are you okay? 

Lyn: I… finger guns. 

Ian: No!

Bex: (quietly) Oh no 

Ian: You finger guns? 

Lyn: I finger guns. 

Ian: From the corner, Gordon looks over just saying goes,

Ian (Gordon): Oof.

Mischa (Samira): Yeah. It's like, is this for class or? 

Lyn (JJ): Yeah, I mean, you know, I got some independent study going on. Well, stuff happened at Boggins’ yesterday, and that was a lot.

Mischa (Samira): Yeah. 

Lyn: And I'm trying, knowing that she doesn't remember, and also remembering how scared she was, JJ, is like, trying to avoid saying too much. 

Lyn (JJ): And then there's the bridge collapse, and, well, we got a special assignment from Gwen to look into some of that stuff, and–

Mischa (Samira): Oh, that's sick! Congratulations! 

Lyn (JJ): Yeah. Thank you! It's a lot, but it's all really interesting, and, you know, learning about the history of the city I think is going to be really important for it.

Mischa (Samira): Yeah, I super agree. There's a lot going on in this city with people who are just sort of plowing into the future, and it, I mean, you know, I think it doesn't really respect the foundations all the time, you know you gotta build on what's there and a lot of people are just willing to knock stuff down. 

Lyn (JJ): You’re–I think you're right about that. I don't know like we're kind of grasping at straws for a lot of it We don't really know what's going on, but as far as I know, it's some stuff tied with maybe infrastructure and history and maybe there's some stuff from the wartime era that could be insightful about it, and we're really not working off much. It's kind of a lot. And the, oh my gosh, the bridge collapse turned into a whole thing. 

Mischa (Samira): Yeah, I heard that, like, more of it crashed? Is that real? 

Lyn (JJ): Yeah, there was a malfunction with one of the mechs and–we got everyone out though. 

Mischa (Samira): Whoa. Okay, that's good. 

Lyn (JJ): Yeah. 

Mischa (Samira): Do you think it's, it's gonna like take even longer to rebuild now?

Lyn (JJ): Probably, it took out an entire other top section of the whole thing. 

Mischa (Samira): Whoa. 

Lyn (JJ): It was really bad. Cleanup is gonna be rough and I don't think my dad should be on site anymore, but you know him. 

Mischa (Samira): Yeah, I mean, that's probably a good call. 

Lyn (JJ): Yeah. 

Mischa (Samira): When does his paternity leave start? 

Lyn (JJ): I don't know, like, it should have started already, but you can't keep that man away from work.

Mischa (Samira): I know, that's Paul, though. 

Lyn (JJ): That's Paul. He's always at the grindstone. 

[Laughter].

Bex: Grimace. 

Lyn: Just like, big grimace. 

Mischa: She goes, 

Mischa (Samira): Okay, well, right on. I'll see if I I'll see what else I can find and bring you some stuff. 

Lyn (JJ): Yeah, and if you hear about anything weird, will you let me know? 

Mischa (Samira): Yeah, sure. You're the boss lady now.

Lyn (JJ): That's me!

Lyn: And I finger guns again. 

[Music ends]

Mischa (Samira): Is this, is this, are we doing this now? 

Ian (Gordon): (quietly) No! JJ…

Lyn (JJ): I don't know, it's, I, I, I was trying something new. 

Mischa: She, gives her finger gun a little kiss and then points at you and winks. 

Lyn: And then I, really melodramatically clutch my hand over my heart and fall over, but then actually trip over one of the chairs [SFX: a chair sliding against the floor and a thump] and actually fall for real. 

[Laughter].

Mayanna: I love that you give yourself obstacles. [Laughter]. I think that's such a beautiful thing as a player, to give yourself status differential. 

Lyn: You know, my charisma's at a flat ten. 

Mayanna: No, I love it. I love it. It's really good. 

Bex: It's so good. 

Mischa: Yeah, Samira's like, 

Mischa (Samira): (holding in laughter) Whatever, dork. 

[Laughter].

Mischa: Yeah, JJ and Gordon, go ahead and roll investigation for me.

[Music begins: investigative, mysterious atmospheric synth]

Ian: Here. We. Go. 

Lyn: If we have help, are we both at advantage? 

Mischa: Yeah, you both have help, so roll with advantage, please. 

Ian: Yes. 

[Dice rolls]

Lyn: Oh my god, so bad. Gordon, help me. 

Ian: 19. 

Mischa: Whoa, there it is! 

 Bex: Hell yeah. 

Lyn: Investigation…15. 

Mischa: That's not bad! 

Lyn: Yeah, I just rolled a 3 and a 10. 

[Laughter].

Ian: I'm looking for stories similar to what we're experiencing now, in ways that will give us clues as to like maybe where to go next or what to investigate. So stories of, you know, specters, or like blue electrical currents doing crazy things or anything relating to this magic that we're seeing. 

Mischa: Okay.

Lyn: And I'm going to be looking at the history of Astra. 

Mischa: We'll do Gordon first. Gordon, you're looking for phenomena from the warthat are similar to stuff you're experiencing now. 

Ian: Yeah. 

Mischa: Which is, hard to do because the city was built after the war, right? So like before the city was built, before the end of the war, life across the planet was pretty different. It was very much like a, sort of an apocalyptic scenario. People were like, almost all of civilization was retreating to these massive flying fortresses and like getting off the ground, fighting a ground offensive against a massive force. Like, life was just so different. With a 19, I think what you find is an account of some sort of mission to clear out a cave network that the Balverox lived in. 

Ian: Ohh.

Mischa: That was like on, it was before the fortress was founded here, it was before the mine was founded, like, this was a hundred years ago, kind of story, where a soldier was separated from their group and surrounded by a herd of Balverox, and the beasts cast some kind of spell between them, some kind of magic force that, as it's described, ran through this ring, their horns lit up a blue white and created some destructive force in the middle. 

Ian: That they were all working together to create, or sort of like, conducting. 

Mischa: Yes. 

Ian: Yeah. 

Mischa: And it's notable because when, you know, you're, you're reading through dozens of accounts of these things, but like the color, the description of the energy is specific and like, 

Ian: Blue-white.

Mischa: Painting something in your brain.

Ian: Yeah. Wait, sorry. 

Mischa: Yeah. 

Ian: More floating city, more floating cities than just ours over the planet? 

Mischa: A few. 

Ian: A few left over. A lot at the time, less now. 

Mischa: With a 19, it seems like there were some, and that over the course of the war, they lost touch with each other. They like, were in communication, and then over the course of the war, fell out of touch with each other.

Ian: Wow. So for, as far as we're concerned, really, we might be the only place with one left.

Mischa: As far as you know, I mean, there are neighboring towns that are getting bigger with the rebuild effort that sort of rely on New Prosper for industry still. But as far as, like, other cities with other fortresses- that were built out of other fortresses across-the globe, yeah, not in contact.

Ian: Right, might be on another continent. 

Mischa: Or something, yeah. 

Ian: Yeah, cool. Yeah, because I don't think we've gone, it doesn't seem like a world in which you do a lot of, like, jet setting traveling, it feels very local. 

Mischa: Yeah, I would agree, yeah. 

Ian: This war account with the Balverox and the ring, does it mention where that happened, and is that close to us?

Mischa: It doesn't. It mentions, like, again, this was during the war where everyone sort of fled the surface, so like, there wasn't like a solid map anymore, you know, like towns were overrun and destroyed, or like, remnants were left behind. This just says, in the course of the war, in some cave system. 

Ian: Oh, so that, okay, great. So that is something, like, because we do live, as described, on the precipice of a giant sinkhole. 

Mischa: Yeah. True. 

Ian: Okay, cool. Good, good, good. Good, good, good. 

[Investigative music ends].

[Music begins: uneasy, undulating synth]

Mischa: JJ, what you'll find is that the history of Astra is, it goes back to the war. It seems like in the war, during the war, it was a very well known substance that, like, it was in, like, people knew about it, that it was part of daily life. Maybe not built into, like, city/civilization/electronics/infrastructure, but, like, accounts from the time of the war don't treat like “and we found this new masterful substance,“ like it, like it was known to them. And then Samira starts looking for older texts from like before the war, if she can find them. Like, 

Mischa (Samira): I was thinking about what you said, and I went in, I went into the tier two section and I thought I might find something. I don't even have access to like a lot of the really old texts, but like this was the oldest one I could find. 

Mischa: And what you find is that Astra was a known substance for like, centuries. Like, the history of Astra is ancient. 

Lyn: Yeah, it wasn't like, “oh, this new material that has just suddenly cropped up.” It's…

Mischa: No, it's been around. 

Lyn: It's been around, and then we found new ways to harvest and manipulate it through the course of the war. 

Mischa: Yeah, when civilization retreated to these fortresses, when they took sort of a more wartime footing, a lot of, like, R&D around Astra, if you could call it that, like, a lot of experimentation by engineers was towards the war effort in trying to, you know, use it to save their own skins from the Balverox hordes. And one thing you both get, again, is that the war ended very suddenly. It was like one day somebody did something and the war was over. 

Ian: But we don't know what that thing is. 

Mischa: Yeah, I think, can you roll history for me? 

[Dice rolls].

Ian: It's a 20. 

Mischa: Whoa! 

Lyn: Dirty 20. 

Mischa: Whoa! 

Ian: Yeah, same, two dirties. 

Bex: Ooh!

Ian: Two DTs. 

Mischa: So what you guys know about it is, mostly, like, propaganda?

Ian and Lyn: (Understanding hums).

Mischa: You know, it's a lot of like, “we finally put all of our effort and all of our ingenuity into a last, final weapon” that we used, and just like that, we won the war 

Mayanna: Uh-huh, Sure. 

Lyn: Like a confidential, like it's confidential enough–

Mayanna: And just like that. Yeah. 

Lyn: It'd be like if we couldn't see the material ramifications of using like a nuke, right.

Mischa: Yeah. I would say it's very similar to a nuke. Because it's like, you know, they were working on that in the desert for three years. And then one day they were like, and now we have this thing, and now we're gonna win the war. 

Lyn: Mhmm.

Ian: Well, especially also if so much of the conflict is taking place, maybe underground. Right. And so you can't see what happened?

Mischa: Well, well, with those twenties and with the research you're doing now, like, let's. Let's bring these two checks into each other. You're looking at history of accounts from the war. This war took place around the entire planet. It pushed civil– like the forces of knowledge and civilization to abandon their homes into last ditch flying fortresses. And they set off one thing in one place and the war was over?

Ian: Yeah, that sounds fishy. That sounds fishy as hell. 

[undulating music ends].

[Music begins: tense strings]

Lyn (JJ): It would have to be, I think, something environmental. Like killing an ant colony, right? 

Ian (Gordon): Right.

Lyn (JJ): You either flood the whole colony, or you introduce something into the colony that gets transmitted throughout and they all die.

Ian (Gordon): Right, because one colony is one colony, and if we're talking about the entire world, that's a different thing. 

Lyn (JJ): Mhmm. So, what would that be? 

Mischa: Samira stares at the pile of books on the table in the study room in front of you. 

Mischa (Samira): Whatever that thing was, it's not gonna be in a library that the public can access. 

Lyn (JJ): I think you're right.

Mischa (Samira): I don't think they're just gonna leave this around, do you? 

Lyn (JJ): I don't think so. This is gonna be under really tight security. 

Ian: I write down on a piece of paper, “G-W-E-N?”, and I slide it across the table to JJ. 

Lyn (JJ): That's our one outlet, I think. Or other people who were around during the war. Thanks, Samira. you did not have to spend your whole work hours with us. 

[Tense music ends]

Mischa (Samira): Are you kidding? I got to spend my entire work hours hanging out with my buds. This was dope. 

Lyn (JJ): Okay. 

Ian: I high five. 

Mischa: Yeah, she high fives back, for sure. 

[High fives].

[Music begins: low, contemplative ambient synth]

Ian: Heck yeah. And then I think I turned to JJ. So I had already pitched Gwen, which feels like a medium pitch. And then I–

Lyn (JJ): We do have to, I do have to call her, actually, about today. 

Ian (Gordon): We should call Gwen. 

Lyn (JJ): Yeah, there are payphones right outside, because, you know, it's really quiet and terrible in here. 

Ian (Gordon): What about Ravona? 

Lyn (JJ): Well, Ravona wasn't around during the war. 

Mischa: No, absolutely not. 

Lyn (JJ): No she’s too young.

Ian (Gordon): But might she have access?

Lyn (JJ): I mean, she might, but I don't know. I don't really know how to feel.

Ian (Gordon): Yeah, 

Lyn (JJ): I'd rather explore other outlets first.  

Ian (Gordon): Great. Love that 

Lyn (JJ): I could maybe even talk to my parents or my grandma. Ibra’s parents were around during the war and then maybe even Paz's mom said some stuff? There are many options before we talk to Ravona, although we'll probably see her sooner than we'd like, regardless.

Ian (Gordon): Okay, so we've got underground, we've got white blue electrical magic, and we've got a weapon. 

Lyn (JJ): We've got a weapon. There's a lot there. We're really only scratching the surface, huh? 

Ian (Gordon): Yeah. 

[Music fades out].

Ian: And then my stomach grumbles again. I'm like, 

Ian (Gordon): I don't know. I'm kind of getting hungry. Are you getting hungry? 

Lyn (JJ): Yeah, there are food carts outside the library.

Ian (Gordon): Oh, what do they have? 

Lyn (JJ): They got hot dogs. There's one lady with churros, and she's the best. 

Ian (Gordon): Great. And is there a third? 

Lyn (JJ): And there is one that is kind of shawarma?

Ian (Gordon): That. 

Lyn (JJ): Okay. 

Ian (Gordon): Let's get kind of shawarma. 

Lyn (JJ): Alright. I don't recommend that place. 

Ian (Gordon): Oh, really? 

Lyn (JJ): Yeah. The guy's kind of a jerk. 

Ian: Wait, hold on. [Dice rolls] I don't know. Dice says it's good. 

Lyn: Okay. Even if the food's good, the guy– 

Ian: Oh, the guy's a jerk. 

Lyn: Yeah, the guy's kind of a jerk. 

Mayanna: The other thing too is I feel like Gordon doesn't care about the service if the food is good. 

Lyn: Yeah. 

Ian: Mm hmm. Mm hmm. Yeah. Give me good kind of shawarma. 

Mischa: You guys head back out of the library, you load your reference books back on Samira's cart to have her return to the shelves, and you head outside. [SFX: door creaks open].  Gordon, you head down to the food carts. Now the sun's setting for real, the sky's getting a little orange. this has been your afternoon. But JJ, you head over to the payphones around the side of the building. 

[Soundscape begins: ambient noise of cars going by]

Lyn: Call up Gwen's office, it rings a few times. [SFX: inserting coin, picking up phone, punching in numbers, a ring on the phone].

Mischa: Yeah, Megan picks up the phone.

Mischa (Megan): [SFX: staticky] Department of Labor Resources.

Lyn (JJ): hello, this is JJ Calderon–

Mischa (Megan): [SFX: staticky] Oh, sure. Hi.

Lyn (JJ): –Calling about our assignment– 

Mischa (Megan): [SFX: staticky] The intern. 

Lyn (JJ): –from Gwen, yes, but we received a special assignment from Gwen.

Mischa (Megan): [SFX: staticky] Yeah. 

Lyn (JJ): From the magistrate, our lady magistrate. 

Mischa (Megan): [SFX: staticky] Sure. 

Lyn (JJ): –Ma'am, boss. She asked us to call her when we had information. 

Mischa (Megan): [SFX: staticky] Um... okay, I will put you through.

Mischa: Can you roll insight for me? 

Bex: This is so wonderfully awkward. 

[Dice rolls].

Lyn: Ooh. 17 plus 5, 22. 

Bex: Whoa. 

Mischa: Megan is, like, kind of a problematic co worker. 

Lyn: Yeah? 

Mischa: I think, I think in this moment you can, like, when she says, “Oh, the intern,” I think you can hear a little bit of, like, jealousy. 

Lyn: Oh. 

Lyn (JJ): Thanks, Megan. How, how are you? How's your day going? Is it good?

Mischa (Megan): [SFX: staticky] (Terse) Going fine. I'm going to transfer you to Gwen now. 

Lyn: Okay. Have a good day. Thank you for your help. 

Mischa (Megan): [SFX: staticky] Yep. Please hold. 

Lyn: Even, even though JJ is really insightful about people, they don't know what to do about it. 

Mischa: Yeah, knowing what their emotions is and doing something about it is totally different. 

Mayanna: What would you do if you knew someone was jealous of you? Cause it's like, no matter what you do, you know that it's going to be perceived wrong. 

Lyn: Exactly, yeah.

Mayanna: So it's like, I guess I'm just going to keep living my life. And that's advice to all of us. 

Lyn: True. Look directly into the camera. 

Mischa: Come for the story, stay for the life wisdom. [Laughs]. Yeah, Gwen picks up the phone after a couple of rings.

[Music begins: gentle horn music]

Mischa (Gwen): [SFX: staticky] JJ, hello. 

Lyn (JJ): Hi, we checked out the bridge site today. 

Mischa (Gwen): [SFX: staticky] Yes, how did it go? 

Lyn (JJ): Not ideally.

Mischa (Gwen): [SFX: staticky] Oh. 

Lyn (JJ): I think there is subterfuge and conspiracy afoot that is causing and accelerating infrastructural collapse. I think we have a lot more to tell you, but I think it would be best to do so in person. Can we set a time and date in your very busy schedule for a meeting?

Mischa (Gwen): [SFX: staticky] Sure, of course, very concerning. We'll get something on the books tomorrow morning. 

Lyn (JJ): Great, I’ll let everyone know. 

Mischa (Gwen): [SFX: staticky] Will Ravona be joining you? 

Lyn (JJ): Oh! (Pause). Probably not. 

Mischa (Gwen): [SFX: staticky] Okay, yes, she's very busy, of course. 

Lyn (JJ): Yep, it'll just be us. Thank you. 

[Laughter]. 

[Dice rolls].

Mischa: No? She rolled bad. 

Bex: Yeah!

Lyn: Just kind of frozen holding the phone. 

Mischa: She's, she goes, 

Mischa (Gwen): [SFX: staticky]  Excellent, well, I'm excited to hear your first report from the field.

Lyn (JJ): Thank you, yes, it'll be me and my companions. 

Mischa (Gwen): [SFX: staticky] Ah, yes.

Mischa: And you hear the flipping of a page, 

Mischa (Gwen): [SFX: staticky] Ibra, and, you said your friends, Fran Weaver and Gordon Baker, correct? 

Lyn (JJ): Oh, yes. I think so. That sounds familiar. 

[Laughter]. 

Mischa (Gwen): [SFX: staticky] I'm looking very forward to meeting them. I, I, I'm really looking forward to what you have to say. I know that I may not be able to retain certain information as we've discussed, but I, I still, I'm no less concerned and I still want to know what's happening as much as I can. 

Lyn (JJ): We'll obviously do our best. 

Mischa (Gwen): [SFX: staticky] I'm looking forward to hearing from you. 

Lyn (JJ): Thank you. 

Mischa (Gwen): [SFX: staticky] Tomorrow morning in my office then. 

Lyn (JJ): Perfect. We will be there. 

Mischa (Gwen): [SFX: staticky] Excellent. 

Lyn (JJ): Thank you. 

Mischa (Gwen): [SFX: staticky] Well, have a good evening. Rest up, I'd say, whatever it was, you probably earned it. 

Lyn (JJ): Thank you. Have a great rest of your day. 

Mischa (Gwen): [SFX: staticky] Goodbye. 

[SFX: phone being put back]. 

[Music ends].

Mischa: I almost forgot that Gwen ends every phone call with goodbye. 

Mayanna: Goodbye. 

Bex: Love clarity. 

Ian: Gordon walks back over with the kind of shawarma and a full mouth and goes, 

Ian (Gordon): Oh my god, the shawarma's so good. You're right, that guy's so rude. 

[Laughter]. 

Lyn (JJ): He’s so–Like, the food is really good, but he's so unpleasant, and he's yelled at me several times, where I just, I don't know if it's worth it. Give me a bite. 

[Laughter]. 

Bex: “Give me a bite!”

Mayanna: You just need somebody to order for you. 

Mischa: Gordon, I think you went up to the cart, and you, like, ordered something, and the guy was like, 

Mischa (Kind of Schwarma vendor): (in a French accent) No, you don't order that, I give you something better. 

Mischa: And, like, hands you, like, it's really good, but, like, it's not what you ordered. 

Ian: At all. 

Mischa: It is better than what you ordered. But also… You should give people what they ordered.

Ian: Poor customer service. Yeah.

Mayanna: One of those guys, I know those guys, yeah. 

Ian (Gordon): Good food though. 

Lyn (JJ): It's really good. 

Lyn: I text everyone, it's like, 

Lyn (JJ): [SFX: staticky] Meeting at Gwen's tomorrow in the morning. How are things at Pachonko? Did you win? 

Bex (Ibra): [SFX: staticky] She wasn't lying about Thorgunn. 

Lyn (JJ): Oh! 

Ian (Gordon): Sweet! 

Lyn (JJ): I still… am so curious 

Ian (Gordon): No, not at all. Crazy. 

Lyn (JJ): What do you mean, not even curious a little bit? 

Ian (Gordon): You'll see what I'm talking about. 

Lyn (JJ): What? Have you met him? 

Ian (Gordon): I've seen him.

[Laughing].

Ian: I got a party point, look at that! 

Mayanna: That's a party point. For sure. 

Mischa: Absolutely, yeah, 100%. 

Mayanna: “You've met him? I've seen him!” 

Bex: Better than meeting him. I've seen him! 

Mayanna: So funny. 

[Music begins: poignant ambient synths]

Mischa: The sun dips back down to bathe, Lower Prosper in orange sunlight as the day well and truly gets on. Y'all have sort of, been assigned individual tasks and are getting ready to do something about it in the morning. but for this evening, where are you guys going? 

Mayanna: I think I split off from Ibra and I give you the, the bread and say, 

Mayanna (Fran): Yeah, make sure it doesn't get too stale!

Bex (Ibra): Deal. 

Mayanna (Fran): Thank you for coming with me today. 

Bex (Ibra): Yeah. Thank you for taking me. 

Mayanna (Fran): You're welcome. I'm very excited about this. 

Bex (Ibra): Me too! I'm excited to learn from you.

Mayanna (Fran): (chuckles) Oh, yeah, that's, that's right. That's part of it. Yeah. And I got to think of what I'm going to like a curriculum or like a study guide. 

Bex (Ibra): Nah, you're natural. It'll be fine. 

Mayanna (Fran): You guys are too nice to me. (laughs). Please get some rest. 

Bex (Ibra): You too. See you tomorrow?

Mayanna (Fran): See you tomorrow. 

[City soundscape ends].

Mayanna: And I go off to my modest apartment. 

Mischa: Yeah, you catch the bus. Oh no, you guys were already in the Barra. You walk home. 

Mayanna: Yeah. I walk home and I think I, it's the first time I've been home in like two days. 

Mischa: Mm hmm. 

Mayanna: and I look at this cloak that I'd been working on, the showstopper, and I feel like it's so far away from, like, what I'm worried about now. 

Mischa: Yeah, you know, it's funny, the past two days have been so threatening.

Mayanna: Yeah. 

Mischa: That, like, before now, you were looking at this cloak, the pinnacle of style, like it was going to be your showpiece, like your entry into the fashion world, and now I think you look at it and all you can say is, “that cloak looks really flimsy, like it wouldn't protect anybody from anything.” 

Mayanna: Exactly. Absolutely. And then I think I immediately start, sketching out where I would put padding and armor and plates inside of the cloak. And I start, thinking about it more as something that I could use to protect my friends or protect myself. So I think I pretty much work all night on that. 

Mischa: Yea, for sure.

Bex: I love that. Ibra takes off on Frida and uses the whole drive back to the Come-Up to just think and evaluate and feel and really explore what they're thinking and feeling about magic and what that means. Taking in everything that JJ was saying about the power of will and everything that Fran and Thorgunn were telling them about Astra and where it can come from and finding alternate sources.

Mischa: I think as you do that on your way home with the bread boule with the rough-hewn, spark-fueled Astra in your backpack. I think, as you think about ways that magic can come from different places, and, and where it comes from, and finding it within yourself, and using it to protect others, like, I, I think that warmth, that, that home and hearth feeling that you first saw when you picked it up, like, as you ride your motorcycle you feel it envelop you a little bit. The, the cold wind rushing past you as you speed by on your bike, you know, slides off you a little bit easier on your way home.

Bex: Sick

Mischa: JJ.

[Soundscape begins: cars going by]

[Poignant music ends].

Lyn (JJ): Okay. Hot dogs, churros. 

Ian (Gordon): Mhmm.

Lyn (JJ): You need both before you go home. They're great people. 

Ian (Gordon): Really? 

Lyn (JJ): Yeah, they're lovely. And they're also–

Ian (Gordon): They're, they're great people, but how are the hot dogs and churros? 

Lyn (JJ): I mean, I survive mostly off them, so. 

Ian (Gordon): Well that's, I'm gonna go check those out right now. 

[Music begins: gentle, slightly jazzy piano].

Lyn: And then I think like happily is like chatting up both the hot dog and churro vendors, and then waves to Gordon. 

Lyn (JJ): I'm just gonna walk home. I live in the student housing nearby, so, will you be okay? Heading back? 

Ian (Gordon): Yeah. It's kind of strange that we're not all gonna like, lock in together again tonight. Feels a little bit weird, but it also feels like, everything's a little calmer than yesterday. 

Lyn (JJ): Yeah, hopefully it stays that way for a little bit.  

Ian: I give you some knuckles. 

Lyn: Fist bump? 

Ian: Yeah. 

Lyn: And I finger guns after, like, you know, a little explosion after the fist bump. Finger guns. 

Ian (Gordon): No… You can't be finger gunsing anymore, JJ.  

Lyn (JJ): I think it, I think it works. I'll practice it. You'll see. 

Mischa: God damn it. Yeah, JJ, you stay behind and chat up the cart guys. Roll persuasion. Roll just like a small little persuasion guy. 

[Dice rolls]

Ian: Just a lil mini.

Lyn: 19 plus, I don't think anything actually for persuasion. 

Mischa: Yeah, so they're, they're pretty easygoing and they, you know, you've seen them a couple times cause you've probably come here to meet Samira after a shift once or twice or something and again you live off of these guys. So they're happy to bend the rules a little bit for you and give you your real special delicacy. Churro hot dog. 

Lyn: Hell yeah.

Ian: Oooh…

Mischa: Churro dog. 

Lyn: Yeaaaah

Ian: What? 

[Music fades out and soundscape ends].

Lyn: Churro dog. 

Ian: Wait. Wait. Wait. Wait. Together. Wait. A hot dog and a churro together? Or it's a bun and a churro? 

Bex: Churro dog

Mischa: Wide churro. 

Ian: Yeah. 

Mischa: Cinnamon sugar, room for hot dog. 

Lyn: Mmhm.

Ian: Oh my fucking God. That sounds amazing. 

Mischa: Yeah. 

Ian: You should have made JJ roll deception cause they held out on me.

[Laughter].

Lyn: You gotta earn it.

[SFX: driving, the sound of the engine whirring, air going past the vehicle, other vehicles passing]

[Music begins: unsettling ambient strings]

Mischa: Gordon, you back up in the tuk-tuk and head back to the Edge. On the way home, you're alone driving in the tuk-tuk. Driving I think as direct a route as you can, owing to the fact that, like, the big mine is in the center of the city, and to get anywhere you kind of have to go radially around, but you're taking as straight a route as you can, which leads you underneath, like, major sections of Upper Prosper. Like, like, directly underneath the engineering core, the big, loud Astra processing facility. While you're driving, you hear a loud, high pitched screech noise. [SFX: metallic screeching] I want you to roll a wisdom saving throw. 

[Dice rolls].

Ian: Oh. Oh, no. 12. 

Mischa: Yeah, with a 12, I think, you jump in your seat in the tuk-tuk's driver's seat, and you screech skirt, [SFX: car breaking suddenly] like, pull the tuk-tuk over immediately.

Ian: I think I would be looking, like, around the, you know, the big bright, the emitters, right, that keep it floating. I think that's where I'm looking. 

Mischa: Yeah, they emit, like, a gentle low thrum that's, like, sort of, you know, not obtrusive on most days, but as you're looking at it. You hear from deep, like, within the structure, another high pitched screech. [SFX: metallic screeching] 

Ian: Within the structure of the underside. 

Mischa: It just reverberates, like, kind of off the underside and back at you. 

Ian: Uh, I'm terrified. 

Mischa: Yeah, what do you do? 

Ian: Fuck, what do I do? 

Bex: Do not go alone. 

Ian: I think I wa–How close am I to the edge of the–You said it reverberates up, so could it be coming– I think I maybe think maybe it's coming from the sinkhole and bouncing off? I think I get in the tuk-tuk and I drive… 

Mischa: You drive that way? 

[SFX: tuk-tuk starts up and gets rolling]

Ian: I change directions and I start driving towards the sinkhole. 

Bex: Oh. It's getting dark, buddy. 

Ian: I feel compelled. 

Mayanna: I love this. 

Ian: It's not the smart call. 

Bex: No, but it's the story call. You gotta do it.

Mayanna:  This is great. This is great. 

Mischa: You drive up to the sinkhole. The mine is still is shutting down operations for the night and the wind whistles over the top of it letting out like a low tone. 

[SFX: wind rustling]

Mischa: You're standing at the edge looking down into this deep dark hole and the wind kicks up and reverberates over the top of the mine up against the plate [SFX: metallic screeching] and as the wind kicks up you hear a high pitched screeching noise like fade up and fade back down with the wind. 

Ian: And I, so I exhale, 

Ian (Gordon): Just the wind.

Ian: And I slowly, like after exhaling that long breath, walk back to the tuk-tuk, open the door, but then at the last second I just look back towards the strip mine, the big sinkhole, one last time, and I just feel really uneasy about it, before getting in and closing the door.

[Music fades out]. [Wind SFX fade out].

Mischa: And it takes you A little bit longer to get home today. 

Ian: Uh oh, I don't like that sentence. 

Bex: Mm-mm. 

Ian: That doesn't bode well for me.

[End theme music plays].

Mischa: The Wandering Path was created by me, Mischa Stanton, and produced by Bex Taylor-Klaus, Lyn Rafil, and me. This story was game mastered and sound designed by me, Mischa Stanton, and was played and performed by Bex Taylor-Klaus, Lyn Rafil, Ian McQuown, and Mayanna Berrin. Cover art by Lyn Rafil, transcript assistance by Darby Summers, and music courtesy of the Independent Music Licensing Collective. Our production and house manager is Erin Bark. 

If you like what you're listening to, please tell your friends and let them know where to find us. Our website is wanderingpathpod.com, where you'll find links to subscribe and follow us wherever the path leads. We're also on Patreon, patreon.com/wanderingpathpod.

We're so grateful for anything you can do to help us keep making this show. Thanks for wandering with us. Till next time!

[Theme music plays and fades out].