953 – Steam Genie | Land of Tomorrow Ep 4

Episode 953 – Steam Genie | Land of Tomorrow Ep 4

 

[START OF RECORDING]

 

SCOOTER:    Hey everybody, it’s Scoots and we’re here with our episodically modular…which…with optional seriality, meaning you could listen to these in any order or you could listen to them in order depending on your preference.  But if you’re already drifting in, you could…don’t worry, we’re gonna catch you up on everything.  This is a look-in at an actual play game…roleplaying game based in another world.  We’ve gotten this through the transverse plane, a future world much like our own, but even moreso like a different series in Sleep With Me podcast.  In a future world not that different than our own, there will be a group of friends playing a roleplaying game and adventuring and having…well, I think having fun together.  Sounds more like they’re really focused.  They’re playing the game or they take the game somewhat seriously; not too seriously thus far.

 

Oh, and before we get…before I turn things over, I want to recommend another podcast; DM to GM, because one of the people on that show is one of my favorite people in podcasting, Sean Howard.  It also features Russ More and they answer your questions or hopefully our Dungeon Master’s question about being more comfortable playing the games you want to play.  So, a great podcast if you’re new to being a DM or a GM.  Check it out on…you can use the link in our show notes or anywhere you like.  Here’s everybody’s favorite Hollywood announcer, the renowned…is that probably…I could call you renowned; would love to see you in a crown.  You even make my heart palpitate when you frown; Mr. Antonio Banderas.  Friends beyond the binary, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, it’s time to journey into The Land of Tomorrow.  Space sounds.  Yeah.  Thanks, everybody.  Thanks, Antonio.  That was wonderful and yeah, here’s Journey Into the Land of Tomorrow.

 

Okay, yeah, no, no, thank you.  I appreciate you being on time.  I do, but I didn’t know if I needed…okay.  Yeah, okay, let…everybody…I’m ready to get started if everybody’s ready to get started as I said, as part of my being DM, is that I’m gonna turn the floor over.  Who’s gonna do our recap and check-in of where everything is?  Who is taking on that role this…?  Oh, Zell is.  Okay.  Hey, I’m…yeah, this is Zell.  I’m a fighter, warrior, and I’m here because…I’m sorry, I’m a little distracted, though.  Are you gonna level us up or did you level up our sheet?  I didn’t mean to break recap but before I get started in character…oh, well, did you get my e-mail that…?  Yeah, with the…I thought we leveled up.  All the character sheets are updated.  Oh, I’m sorry.  Lord von Chill summarized that e-mail in a different way than portrayed.

 

I should have read the e-mail myself.  I’m sorry.  Yeah, just wanted to keep the game flow.  No, I understand.  So, my name is Zell.  I’m an adventurer.  I’m here with my other adventurers and as we start this morning out, I wanted to…as the other adventurers wait and I finish up my shift watching over where we are right now, I thought I’d go through the who, what, when, where, and how and why.  Who are we?  A group of adventurers.  I’m Zell.  This probably isn’t appropriate but I felt a bit lost; something’s been calling me my whole life, calling me to something more.  I can take a lot.  I’m comfortable.  I’ll take risks.  I consider myself a powerful…but I think the world’s in need of change and I guess I’ve always been looking for something to believe in or someone to believe in, maybe somebody that passes on messages in an active or accurate way.

 

But yeah, I pack a greatsword and a longbow and a mean streak sometimes, but…though right now I’m excited to continue our adventure with my fellow adventurers.  Eleanor, a Florencian nurse and healer has been extremely effective with Eleanor’s war hammer and throwing hand axes, thus far proven to be a apt companion even though…most recently joined our party, and intriguing with what Eleanor offers.  Grenada of Darmok; nimble of finger have we seen and quick to act.  Chose someone to work with that I still don’t quite understand but I know there’s something…secrets are kept.  All of us keep secrets, some secrets even in our hearts.  But Grenada of Darmok, when we need stealth, when we need lockpicks or trap discovery, thus far you’ve been very effective.

 

You’re not technically a sidekick but more of a hireling working and played with by Lord von Chill, our other warrior, our other fighter who knows better than most, goes first not just in battle but in life, powerful, and looking for even more power with a powerful great axe and a javelin throw that does make my back sweat sometimes when I see it.  Dreams of people singing songs of glory in his name, Lord von Chill.  Finally, the quietest member of our party who has been good with a shortsword, interestingly enough, Emwatta, a wizard and acolyte assigned to our party by the Wizard’s Council that set us on this path.  We’re in The Land of Tomorrow.  It was once a theme park enjoyed by families in the old world and the before-time, but for years it’s been abandoned and there’s some powerful magic at work here.

 

There’s rumors of a portal hidden somewhere in the whole theme park which was a giant…they called it a…the World of Wonder or something.  Oh no, it was named after someone, kinda like Lord von Chill.  Lord von Chill World; that sends shivers down my spine in a different way.  But this is a land within a theme park where we know, according to the Wizard’s Council that assigned us here, that they’re the only ones that know…and that it’s somewhere in this part of the land.  There’s other forces looking for this and if they discover it first, it could be a disaster.  We’ve been tasked with finding the portal and then using Emwatta to shut the portal forever, or…I don’t know.  I guess I don’t totally understand that but finding the portal, we gotta do that.  We checked one attraction and we found a clue.

 

We did some…we had to be fleet of foot and quick with the…quick on the action, but we discovered a clue; talk to the genie, which led us here into this World of Steam.  We’re in a…we’re resting.  We’ve been resting, we’re actually all recovered.  We’ve eaten and we’re going to meet with…oh, ‘cause it…because of the magic, this theme park had old, decrepit attractions that seemed to be coming back to life.  Some we suspected the work of the wizards and some we’ve discovered just came to life on their own.  So, it’s a strange world.  This is some sort of moving animatronic-based attraction, The World of Steam, hosted by the Steam Genie.  I did look at a park brochure that I found that said the Steam Genie will explain to you the wonders of The World of Steam.  This is more of a reality-based steampunk genre attraction.

 

There’s giant steam…steam giants and different sort of steam bots for cleaning, I’m guessing, and well, I watched the whole night.  I was on guard shift so I was observing, of course.  There’s one that will vacuum up stuff, one that’ll sweep stuff, one that carries stuff around.  Technically, they’re powered by steam and I don’t think they real…they’re powered by [00:10:00] solar rays on the roofs of the buildings.  I think these particular…or maybe magic…at this point, I don’t know.  I don’t see any actual steam activity over the four hours I was up.  But we’re gonna talk to the Steam Genie this morning.  The Steam Genie had promised to watch over us and let us rest and stayed true to the Steam Genie’s word.  So, oh, who, what, where, when, why, and how?  So, we’ll do this as a team.

 

We’re gonna work with the Steam Genie and see if the Steam Genie…oh, and the Steam Genie’s listening, so…hi, Steam Genie.  So, we’re here and I did watch last night a lot of the…it seems like when your steam people are resting, they go into their modes from the show.  Even you; you were…did you know you were talking in your sleep, Steam Genie?  Thank you.  Welcome to The World of Steam, adventurers.  It’s so good to see you.  The World of Steam’s in need of your help.  Well, thanks, Steam Genie, but I was gonna ask did you know you were talking in your sleep about steam?  Well, I did, I did know that.  Oh, well, yeah, I go through the…oh, well, adventurers, I’ve been observing you as well and I was told you would come.

 

I was left with a…would you like me to…so you don’t need me to go through all the wonders of The World of Steam?  I could take you on a journey to another world, a world powered by steam, and set aside your preconceived notions of what technology could be, and see what technology could be with steam.  Some people talk about soot and smoke, grime…well, Steam Genie, I’m sorry, but we’re kind of on a quest here and you actually said that about forty-five times last night.  Oh, I’m sorry.  Thank you for listening.  Would you be interested in The World of Steam?  I would be interested in it but yeah, we gotta get to this…we were told to meet with you because you would have the information we seek as a part of our quest.  I don’t want to say what the information is because I don’t…just in case…oh yes, well, I have a quest for all of you as well.

 

Well, we…that wasn’t a…we just…we were supposed to see you.  We’re not exactly here to get involved in something else.  So, you’re all wizards, correct?  You’re a part of the Wizard’s Council?  They said you would come; someone would come.  Well, I’m a wizard; I’m Emwatta.  I demand to know where what we seek is.  Okay, don’t get all steamed up there, teapot.  I could tell you’re in search of something and I know exactly what you’re searching for, where it is, and I just need you to do a couple things for me.  Okay.  This is Emwatta again and I demand to know if you know what we’re searching for.  I do, I do know what you’re searching for and where it is.  You’re searching for a powerful gem imbued with magic to be constructed for something the wizards would not tell me.

 

They said it was a part of what you’re trying to put together, and that it’s hidden somewhere.  They knew I wouldn’t talk without…unless…so, and they said in exchange, we hid it.  So, they said…you know, if you’re gonna do it, it’s right where…the things I need you to do are on the way, so you’re gonna have to do it pretty much anyway.  So if you want to know where it is, I need your word that you’re gonna do what I need you to do.  Okay, this is Emwatta telling the party that it was…it is a gem we seek.  Okay, well, what part…a gem for what?  We don’t want to talk about it in front of a steam…the Steam Genie.  Well, why?  Because what if the Steam Genie has limited knowledge?  Yeah, but so do we, but we’re part of your party.

 

Okay, but it’s just a part of…we’re trying to put something together to find and deal with the portal.  This gem is a key part of that.  It’ll help us locate the portal but it’ll also help us deal with the portal when we find it.  Okay.  Okay, this is Zell; I’m still speaking to Watta.  Okay, I’ll take over, Watta, because you’re…okay, Steam Genie, what is it that you need and then let us talk about it, please, just to be polite.  Yes; I wouldn’t expect you to whistle…yes, I didn’t think of…I’m out of steam puns.  There was once a show called Steampipe Alley, starting Mario Cantone.  I don’t know if any of you are familiar with that.  No.  Okay, so here’s the thing; there’s…next door is an…another attraction, actually a ride, and I don’t want to give you the details of the ride but strange things have been afoot and wizards…when…they used to kinda keep things under control, but it’s been a long time since I’ve seen a wizard in here.

 

The other attractions are trying to take over.  Now, the attraction next door, they keep trying to come in.  We’ve managed to block the door where some of them are trying to get in but we know sooner or later they’re gonna work their way in here and we can’t get into their…the steam giants can’t get in there because it’s lower ceilings.  So, we can’t go in there and deal with it, so we need you to deal with this other attraction.  The other attraction is not nice like me; they’re unreasonable.  They have this much different view of the future there.  Actually, it was…what do they call that?  A retread or a redo of…so, it’s not even…we were an original…well, this…the superstructure of this attraction is repurposed but the story of this attraction of The World of Steam was brand-new and it was quite a popular show in its time because of the steam.

 

Also, I need you to turn the steam back on.  You’re gonna see…see this pipe above me?  It’s steam this way…into this room.  There’s a control room in there and our enemies in the room next…in the attraction next door have shut it down.  I need you to turn the steam back on.  Okay, this is Zell whispering to my party; I think that’s just a sticker on a plastic pipe.  I don’t think there’s any steam.  Yes, but I think…Eleanor, what do you think?  I think we should just humor and find out some…okay, so what are we looking at, Steam Genie, as far as these beings and the attraction?

 

Okay, so the attraction is…was originally an attraction called Buzz Tomorrow and it was about a great hero, Buzz Tomorrow, space adventurer, and part of the Space Force who was helping deal with…well, that was…so, that was the original attraction, and then when they redid it, they kept Buzz Tomorrow but they redid the attraction and then this thing of…an anti-dystopia is very meta, so it’s an anti-dystopian ride about the dangers of dystopia and Buzz Tomorrow, which is in character, is very positive.  So it’s also a tribute to a…it’s a move away from dystopia and hopelessness, so a theme of hope and tomorrow.  Buzz Tomorrow; tomorrow you’ll be buzzing.  So, I don’t know if I’m making sense.  So, there’s Buzz Tomorrow who’s a space ranger.  There’s the Emperor of…Emperor Dystopia…something.

 

I don’t know, the emperor of the dystopian world, also kind of like a…I don’t know, it’s very…calling Hollywood to task for not doing enough utopia.  Remember that one story about James Cash Penny and Richard Warren Sears were in?  Are they in the ride?  ‘Cause they were in a utopia.  Steam Genie’s never heard of what you’re talking about.  Okay, anyway, Steam Genie, so there’s…so, and then any [00:20:00] other beings we gotta worry about?  Yeah, there’s the Dystopians.  Those are…they were little green people and they still kind of are but they’re the people that have…they kinda repainted them to look like people that are unhappy with…kinda to represent negativity.  Like brain bots a little bit?  I don’t know what you’re talking about, but…so, there’s a lot of them and then there’s Buzz Tomorrow and the Emperor.

 

Okay, and how strong are they?  Well, the Dystopians are very small and not very powerful.  They can’t do much harm.  As a group, they tend to go…travel in packs of six to twelve.  Buzz Tomorrow and the Emperor are probably working together, plotting…sooner or later…sooner, probably, to come in here.  Once one of them gets in here, then you know, we have the steam giants and…so, it’ll be kind of like, who could win between them?  So, Buzz Tomorrow’s as big as a steam giant?  No, but Buzz Tomorrow does seem to be powerful, but I don’t know if…powerful as five adventurers like you.  What about the Emperor?  Well, the Emperor stands guard in the room that you’re going to search into.  There was originally two ways in the room; you could go left or right when you go through this door we’re gonna open for you.

 

If you go left, it goes towards the beginning of the ride and then you could go in the back way through the exit, you know, where the unload is, or you could progress as the ride progresses.  The Emperor’s at the end of the ride.  Also at the end of the ride is a claw, a giant claw, and on the back of the claw is where the wizards have hidden your gem.  Like, the shining power button for the claw is your…actually your gem.  Okay, so not much else we need to know.  We’re at full…thank you, Steam Genie.  So, we need to turn on the steam and defeat as many of the Dystopians and then Buzz Tomorrow, and the Emperor.  Yes, I need you to…they’re attractions, so end the sentience that has been granted to the animatronics.  Okay, yeah, so make them non-functional.  Exactly.  Wow.

 

I don’t know, with steam, that’s…we’re much…built much hardier, so, yes.  You need us to come back here or anything?  Well, you could come back and we would watch over you.  If you go and you battle and you want a place to rest, just return.  What I’ll do is I’ll send some of my tiny steam bunnies to watch and observe and report back to me.  You won’t really notice them and they’re small enough that even the Dystopians should leave them alone.  Okay.  Alright, well, what does everybody think?  This is Zell asking.  Grenada, what do you think?  I think this is the next stage in our adventure.  Yes, Lord von Chill says that it would be…we will keep our word and defeat…this Buzz Tomorrow sounds like he’ll be on my nerves.  Eleanor?  I think, yeah, let’s…I’m ready.  Watta?  Yes, this is what we’re called to do.  Okay.

 

I do have one thing with…Emwatta, it’d be…I don’t know.  Then Eleanor, I’ve been thinking; you’ve been very effective so do you want to save all…do…I mean, this is your choice but do you want to save any healing?  Do you have any offensive spell?  Do you do any offensive spellcasting or do you want to just make sure to have healing ready?  ‘Cause I can’t imagine anything doing…I mean, you’re tough.  I’ve been really impressed.  Thank you, thank you, I pride myself on that.  Now that we’ve leveled up, I’m even…yeah, no, I have many…I have healing spells ready.  I could even cast aid right before we go in there and that’ll give us extra five hit points each.  Okay, that sounds good.  So, Steam Genie, I think we’re ready.

 

What does everybody think; when we go in, should we look at the room and then assess things or go left or right?  Is anybody feeling anything?  Lord von Chill says let’s assess things in the room.  Anybody else?  Okay, I guess that’s a group consensus.  Okay, follow the steam bunny through…you’re gonna need to crawl through that crawlspace and then one of the steam giants is gonna lift over and pull up a blockade.  It’ll be in front of whoever’s…oh, whoever’s in the lead with your group.  I’m gonna go first, Zell, then what if we keep going the way we’re going?  Zell, Von Chill, Grenada, Watta, and Eleanor.  Does that sound good to everybody?  Okay, great.  Yeah, let’s go.  Okay, so you’re crawl…you crawl through a crawlspace and then a big piece of metal that has been kinda pushed into the crawlspace is lifted up.

 

It’s not exactly…you wonder if you can trust the steam giant but you crawl quickly through, all of you.  You come out into a room that was called Dreaming of Utopia.  You see there’s a cutout…it’s like a billboard of Buzz Tomorrow, so you get a good look at Buzz Tomorrow; kind of a shining space adventurer in kind of like a space suit that can be also an exoskeleton, and saying “Tomorrow is gonna be amazing.”  You do see some of these Dystopians.  They have big eyes and they are watching you and kind of vibrating a little bit, but none of them are moving or anything.  They have…part of the attraction was you were going through and you were trying to add some joy to the Dystopians, so this was cool.  In fact, when they had it, is they would change colors from this kinda grey monotone or sepia to cool, like neon colors when you gave…’cause you had this Hope of Tomorrow ray.

 

This is the entrance to the Dream…Utopian Dream or something.  I don’t know.  Now it just looks like some of the…that’s probably all you need to know.  Okay.  Zell, you’re leading today, it seems like.  Okay.  I would say let’s go in the back way if we can.  What does everybody think about that?  So we’d go left which I guess is…I don’t know, left towards the back…towards the beginning of the ride.  What does everybody think about that?  I mean, it sounds good, sounds good, yeah.  Okay, so we could look left.  What can we see?  Okay, you can kinda see that there’s doors that are barely on their hinges that would have let you into this room of the ride.  You could kinda see through the cracks in the doors that there’s another part of the ride.

 

The Dystopians, they’re still watching but none have really moved from their places.  Okay.  I’d say Eleanor, keep an eye on them as we proceed.  Keep an eye on the…our backs, okay?  Okay.  So, we’ll go up to the door and should we check to see if the door’s…has anything we need to worry about?  Yes, I’ll check it.  I’ll check it, Grenada.  I’ll also check it for traps.  Yeah, there’s no traps.  You don’t detect anything at all.  Well, I don’t detect anything at all or there’s no traps?  I’m confident there’s no traps?  Yeah, you’re confident there’s no traps on the doors.  Okay, no physical traps.  Emwatta, could you see…do you have a…yeah, yeah, okay.  Okay, so you detect no magic traps on the doors but there is something powerful but not dangerous in the next room, something.  Maybe it’s what we’re looking for.  Maybe it got relocated.

 

Okay, let’s…I’ll listen at the door.  Okay, you listen and you even look through the cracks.  You could see more Dystopians kinda behaving the same way the Dystopians in this room are.  [00:30:00] You just see another thing which is this…yeah, you don’t see anything that catches your eye, really.  Okay, let’s go through the doors slowly and cautiously while Eleanor watches our backs.  Okay, so you go into the next room and it’s like a backdrop of the Hollywood Hills, and the Dystopians have kinda taken over, so some of them are dressed like movie stars, there’s a red carpet, and they’re all kinda…it’s like a kinda farce about profiting from Dystopian…I don’t know.  The ride…this was not a popular redo of the ride but it’s like anti-Dystopian propaganda, I would say.

 

I don’t know, it’s kinda saying that Hollywood made too…it’s strange and it’s hard to put together ‘cause some of the rides deteriorated and there’s still a decent amount…probably thirty Dystopians in different kinda costumes and stuff and they’re all…their eyes are watching you just like they were in the other room.  Okay, well, in the other room, if we didn’t approach them, they didn’t approach us, so let’s slowly proceed to the center of the room and then figure out what the magic thing is.  Watta, you want to be in charge of that?  Okay, so you proceed into the center of the room and you…Watta, you say it’s coming from near the Hollywood sign up on…so, it’s up about twelve feet off the ground.  The Hollywood sign is against a fake backdrop of hills and you know…you say it’s coming in between the H and the O and the L somewhere.

 

There’s something magic up there.  Okay, Grenada, you’re the most…you’ve got the moves.  Do you want to try to climb up there and get what there is to get?  Watta, does it seem…?  Yeah, it seems safe to Watta.  Okay, so I’ll climb up there and see what I can get.  Okay, so you successfully climb up to the H and the O and the L and you see…and even you sense the magic in between…on the back of the O is a crescent wrench which you know what it is ‘cause you’re…you’ve worked with tools before and it’s…but it’s very magical and you take it and you put it in your pouch or whatever but as soon as you do, eight of the Dystopians go after your party immediately.  So, it’s a total surprise.

 

Let’s see…and I worked out the order which will also be the order for once you regain your footing, but little…I was calling them little aliens ‘cause that’s what they were when…just when I wrote this out.  But they’re Dystopians.  Originally, they were little aliens in the original attraction.  Sorry, but the first…LA3 gets a ten, misses on…right on Grenada.  LA8 is also by Grenada, goes after Grenada, misses.  LA1 also by Grenada, up in the hills, goes after Grenada, fails.  7 goes after LV…Lord von Chill and does three but you had aid, so really, you still have two extra hit points.  LA5 goes after Eleanor at the back of the room and they just claw at your…mostly getting you in the thighs and jumping up in the cracks but does, yeah, claws at Eleanor, does three of damage but luckily you have aid.  LA4 also goes after Eleanor, misses.

 

LA2 and LA6 go after Zell.  LA2 is successful again, cutting your…the sides of your knees.  Three of damage.  LA6 is not…hits your shin pads.  Okay, so we should…let’s get to it, huh?  This is battle time, finally, here.  How’s our order looking?  Okay, it’s gonna be Emwatta, LA3, Grenada, LA8, Zell, LA1, LA7, LA5, Eleanor, Lord von Chill, LA4, LA2, LA6.  Oh, wow.  Okay.  I like those…okay, so Watta, what are you gonna do?  Oh, do we know how the armor class and stuff is?  You’ll see; don’t worry, Watta.  This is me talking to myself.  So, Watta gets fourteen…I’ll do it with bonuses, okay?  So, fourteen…oh, Watta, who were you going after with…?  I’m gonna use my shortsword; LA3, since they had…okay, so you go after LA3 and it’s…you slice it right in…no longer functioning Dystopian.  Great.  Grenada?  I’ll go after LA2?  LA1…LA8.

 

Okay, you got a eight…LA8’s gone, then.  Okay.  You got a eighteen, by the way.  Okay, LA8…4, so goes after Eleanor…no.  Zell, no.  You shoot with your bow and miss.  LA1 goes after Eleanor, fails.  LA7 goes after Eleanor, fails.  LA5 goes after Eleanor, fails.  Eleanor, you go after LA8.  Is that what…?  Thanks for writing that down.  No, you miss.  Lord von Chill gets LA8, or LA1.  I’m sorry, I’m mixed up here.  Yeah, so LA1’s now gone, so three down.  Is that right?  Watta took out LA3.  I don’t…yeah, I think that’s right.  Just keep going; you’re doing great.  Oh, thanks, Lord von Chill.  So, Lord von Chill took out LA2…LA1…L8, 3, 8, 1.  LA4 goes after Lord von Chill, misses.  LA2 goes after Lord von Chill, misses.  LA6 goes after Lord von Chill, misses.  Okay.  Watta gets a nineteen; wow, nineteen.  Takes out LA7.  Grenada; fourteen, LA5.

 

Wow.  Zell; eighteen, LA4.  Wow, man.  These things don’t stand a chance.  Thank you for handling this, Dungeon Master.  Okay, what do we got next?  LA1’s gone, LA7, LA5.  Eleanor; six, sorry.  Lord von Chill, fourteen.  So, you take out LA2, so that just leaves LA6…gets an eleven on Eleanor, misses.  Oh, Watta again with the shortsword; third…that’s it.  So, they’re all malfunctioning.  The other ones are still watching but they don’t move.  Watta goes up to one and pushes it and it’s like, not attached.  Okay, Grenada here; quick question.  So, is this…oh, so we didn’t really lose…that was an easy battle.  Holy cow.  But so, is this the thing we’re looking for, Watta, this crescent wrench?  No, it’s not, but it probably serves some purpose.  I don’t know…I’d have to contemplate it.

 

After that battle, I’m not in the place to…I’ll probably have to sit down and contemplate it.  But you should hold onto it.  Okay, we’re…I think, yeah, we should keep going.  What can we see?  Okay, so there’s a slight bend to your right, so there’s no doors that…where you could see.  You can’t see around the bend but it’s like, tiered like…if you were on the ride, it would lead into this room, come around the corner, and then you’d see the Hollywood Hills, and then you’d get closer to them.  Okay, so should we just go into the next room?  [00:40:00] Well, I don’t…I think…this is Grenada; I think I should go ahead and see what I can find.  Okay.  So, you’re trying to find traps and you do find some that are kinda…and you disarm the traps.  I’m trying to pick and choose the details to give everybody, so I hope that’s okay.

 

We could talk about it off-week, but…try and keep to the important stuff, okay?  Okay, so what do I see in the room after I disarm the traps?  It’s pretty stark and empty in here.  There’s a couple ride vehicles and other than that, it’s just…there’s some natural light ‘cause there’s higher-up windows.  One or two of them are broken.  The windows aren’t big enough to really make you…put you on alert.  Okay.  What’s behind us?  Okay, so there’s another curve behind you, like the one you just did, and you can’t see it from where you are ‘cause you’re kinda in the middle of the room where it’s like the last part of the queue and then the boarding area.  Okay, so everybody could come in here, right?  Yeah, just…Eleanor, keep watching our back, okay?  I’m watching the back.  Okay, so you were in the room, everybody.

 

Zell’s in the lead again.  I disarmed some traps, by the way.  Should we proceed?  Should I proceed?  Yeah, why don’t you go ahead and see what you see?  Okay, so I go around the corner and what do I see?  Okay, you go around the corner and you see the unload area where there’s still a couple more vehicles.  One’s turned over on its side.  There’s a couple little aliens or Dystopians that are non-operable, that they look like they’d been through something.  Then in the back of the room is a lot of debris but you can’t really see much more from where you are now.  Okay.  Can I check for traps here, too?  Yeah, you don’t find any.  You’re pretty sure there aren’t any.  Okay.  Does everybody want to come in?  Is there anything else?  I observe the room; it’s just an unload room.  Yeah, nothing else catch…your attention.

 

It’s probably like…it’s mostly…was done up with glow painting that you can’t see anyway, or black-like painting.  Okay, so we’re in the room.  Let’s approach the debris…debris is at the back of the room?  Can we see who knows…who observes the most about the debris or anything else?  Okay.  Wow, your rolls are great.  Zell goes up to the debris and Zell, with a really good roll, what would you do?  I’d want to know how recent the debris is, can we get through it, and anything else I could observe or listen to.  Okay, and then how are you gonna approach the debris as you do that?  Very cautiously and quietly, obviously.  So, Zell approaches the debris and realizes that this is a recent kind of cave-in or something.  Something recently made this area impassible.

 

But Zell also hears some arguing happening on the other side of the debris.  A lot of the debris is metal and then panels, even parts from other vehicles.  It’s tough to tell.  It definitely wasn’t a cave-in.  It was placed maybe as something…I don’t know.  Maybe it’s a barrier to keep people out.  Okay, but I can…and we checked for traps, so I’ll…what can I hear of this argument?  Okay, so you’re listening.  You can’t hear it perfectly but you can hear something saying in a robotic voice, darn it Buzz, I’ve had enough.  It’s time to move.  Take some of them with you and find a way into that steam world.  Once you find a way in there, let me know.  But I’ll keep watch over this room so that nobody comes in the back way.  Then Buzz says the back way’s impassible.

 

So, you determine this is Buzz in…or Buzz Tomorrow, yeah, and the Emperor.  The Emperor’s saying no, no, no, the carousel is coming, the carousel is coming.  They’re gonna try to get through there.  We have to…and Buzz says okay, okay, okay.  Buzz says alright, I’ll head out.  I’m gonna get ready.  I’m almost powered up.  The Emperor says good, good, good.  Sorry I lost my…then they kind of have an apology and even then, they kinda try to rebuild consensus, rapport.  So, you return to your party.  Okay, so it sounds like this Buzz is heading out and pretty soon.  This area is impassible so we’re gonna have to go all the way back around.  So what I’m thinking is we do the same thing that the LAs…the little Dystopians did to us, is like, we go back around to the room we came in.

 

If we can get there…and then Grenada, you scout out Buzz if you can.  Hopefully you get a good roll like we’ve been getting, and let us know when Buzz is coming, and then we’ll lie in wait for Buzz Tomorrow and hopefully have an advantage over Buzz Tomorrow.  Okay, okay, that sounds good to me.  Is everybody ready?  Can we do…can we just go back to the room and do we need to roll for anything to get back there?  No, you don’t.  Okay, one observation…Grenada here; when I went into…now, I’m not sure if we were…those little aliens came after me because we grabbed the wrench or because we went into their territory.  But if we are gonna hide somewhere in this room…’cause now again, how many little aliens do we see, DM?  In this room, probably like fifteen.

 

None of them…your memory serves that they don’t seem like they’ve moved other than their eyes and little vibrations.  Can we find spots where we wouldn’t be in the little aliens’ territory?  Everybody else in the party can hide somewhere, do you think?  Yeah.  The only problem is that the places without the little aliens is at the far end of the room, like the part of the room you came into, ‘cause they’re more gathered or assembled as a part of this…on the other side of the…you know what I mean?  So, you’re a little bit of a distance from the entrance to the room that you haven’t been through.  Okay, okay.  Well, everybody hide and I will stealthily attempt to look in the other room, observe, and keep going and see if I could spot when Buzz is on Buzz’s way.  Maybe hide…can I roll for all that?  You can.  Oh, wow.

 

Wow; seventeen with…okay.  Plus my bonuses, right?  Yeah, yeah.  So, everyone hides effectively behind different things.  Not important.  Probably not the greatest cover though, other than hiding.  It’s mostly plywood but a lot of plastic and fiberglass, just so you’re aware, you know that as adventurers.  Okay, so not a lot…hiding cover but not physical cover.  Grenada goes to the room which again curls around again and as Grenada goes in that room…that room’s a little bit of a…it was literally like a transition scene where there was gonna be…there once was these…you could see it’s all ripped off; projection mapping stuff, but you can see that that was there to hide a couple doors.  Then the…again, it wraps around like a U, so you crawl on your all fours, full stealth, and look.

 

You see down the hall, Buzz is talking to some little aliens.  Buzz does look pretty sleek and like a space ranger.  [00:50:00] What do you think you would do with that information?  Can I proceed back?  Can I wait and watch for Buzz to move and then head back to hide in the same room as my adventuring party?  You can, and I’d say you’re doing that, and you’re waiting.  Everyone’s waiting which is a great place for us to take at least a virtual nap until next time, just waiting for Buzz Tomorrow to move with the little Dystopians and waiting and resting until next week.  Goodnight, everybody.

 

[END OF RECORDING]

(www.leahtranscribes.com)

Notable Language:

• Shorn
• Reminiscence
• Spelunking

Notable Culture:

• DM to GM Podcast
• Steampipe Alley
• JC Penney's Florida Utopia

Notable Talking Points:

• Solar-Powered Steam Power
• A Meta Anti-Dystopian Theme Park Ride
• The Mixed Messages of Hollywood