A Clockwork Crew Rendezous is the ninth episode of season 26, Cloudward, Ho!.
Recap[]
"Last we left off... Hey, hey, for you watching at home, strap in 'cause these projections are not changing for a good eight to 10 minutes while we recap the lore dump of all lore dumps, so strap on in. Last we left off, our heroes were victorious against the Legio Rex, and Dromarcus, the Legatus Dromarcus and the Imperasaurus that were defeated in the Myconimus Magnamensa-filled power station charging room where we saw various kinds of energy at play, and our intrepid heroes managed to best these imperial dinosaur-ified army members and go further with these sort of beetle... What is happening?
"Heading deeper into the Ramansu Power Station, you discovered that indeed, this had been a worksite for your old leader, Professor Comfrey MacLeod, the grandmother of Olethra, the beneficiary of the Gotch family fortune, and the former captain of Monty, Marya, and Van and the former wife, the ex-wife of one Daisuke Bucklesby. The first thing you guys found was the launch site, right, with the doors closed over it. You found crashed penny-farthing bicycles and sort of gear there. You ventured further in where you found the sort of disanimated body of who you now know to be Torse, a Zernian warrior. Perhaps our biggest sort of cosmic revelation of the last episode was that Zern is not merely an energy, it is another place. That Zood is not a globe. It is instead a hoop. A tube that loops back around on itself, braided with the other land tube of Zern, a land of harsh fire and forges and rust and waste that exists in tandem with the brilliant land of Zood, twined together forever in the cosmic sky. You saw the site of battle between the House of Fehujar and those that were stationed here. The guardians of Ramansu Power Station have woken up, these sort of beetle-bodied stone constructs. And you discovered Torse leaning towards a golden heart on the ground. There was a lot of debate over what to do, but most importantly, Marya heard voices commanding her to fix the creature in front of her. And going to step towards it, Van unwillingly led with her prosthesis, with her combat gauntlet, and boom, grabbed Marya and hoisted her up. Were broken apart and much was revealed about the energies swirling in this place.
"Further in, you found the radio station and got the full broadcast that had been corrupted in its spinning cylinder, but you saw the notes that Comfrey had taken when she recorded it that talked about the thing that was losing oxygen rapidly and was potentially gaining krill and methane at an unsustainable rate was a thing called the Langosta Five. You learned all about the 40 knots vex nef from the Ectic Research Station, talking about the true temple, talking about Zood being real, mentioning Daisuke in Gulch Canyon. Make your way to the Effulgent Biangle. Captain's log in the Zephyr. You see you found more of that radio broadcast. So really learning the importance of this Ectic Research Station. Looking for clues as to where that could be, you discovered some sort of more, not going deeper into that inner stone tower, you instead discovered more of the sort of day-to-day offices. Van went down to the launch office where you found that the log books had been stolen with a little note over them saying "Remember, Monty knows the way." Though the log books that would have been the coordinates of that Ectic Research Station had been taken, presumably by the House of Fehujar. You also found a puzzle concerning how to open the launch door that was a sort of glass disk having to do with one of the letters in this ancient Ramansu, Illangan Empire language.
"Upstairs, Monty discovered a ton of stuff. Schematics for Van's gauntlet. Notes that Comfrey felt that perhaps she had misled or betrayed Van, didn't communicate the full level of risk to her. Now she can't come to Zood because she's the last piece of their puzzle. Harsh words shared about Montgomery LaMontgommery and whether he was indeed a Wind Rider, which, Comfrey said he is not. You also found, I believe, some notes to Daisuke. You found a portrait of her and Marya with Ludmila cut out of the portrait, Marya's old protege, which Maxwell spoke to Marya about. We found, in a different, in Comfrey's office in a secret compartment that we discovered, we found letters from Cadswitch about Maxwell and being rebellious, obstreperous, and even a bit of a rowdy. It looks like Comfrey had, maybe, you know, cooked some of the books here and there a little bit. There were notes from Onion St. Clay, one of her former crew members that you all know, about Zumhara being on to you. They're not gonna allow this meddling. Notes about Olethra overcoming being like, her dull and dreary life and coming aboard the adventure. And finally, you saw that map of Zood and Zern.
"Additionally, the stone constructs also led you to the captured Freyja Ildisdottir who is now an associate of the Gotch Family Foundation, having been abandoned by her associates in the House of Fehujar due to her belief that she will never be tall enough or strong enough to be a truly great banker. Fucked up. We ventured further into the stone tower, awakened Torse, who put the golden heart in and said that the heart had been made for him by Comfrey with the inscription, "So beats a worthy heart." And talked a little bit about his people living in Zern and having resisted the Queen of Zern and being called the naughtomata who had given over their hearts to the Queen of Zern and were sort of an army of those sworn to the Queen of Zern. And we found a book that Van crushed a clockwork little spider thing in that was cast iron and rusty, and it looked like that had been given from the Queen of Zern to the Eyeless Hand to lead them.
"In this last sort of freakiest room, we found a jar with a hand full of eyeballs in it, lots of notes about the Straka, the Biangles: Effulgent, Calefactory, Obtenebrant. The Calefactory Biangle, this burning, fiery biangle, some of you have seen, bring recognized to Marya, having seen it in connection with the Straka, the massive crow. There were also notes from the ancient history of Zood about Zood being attacked in a war between Zood and Zern by the Corvus Excidium, a crow of destruction. And that the war had ended around the time of the creation of the flying Temple of Katur. Notes from the Eyeless Hand about opposing Comfrey or discovering Comfrey. Wanting to free their nameless god. Yes, there was some correspondence between some people where the Eyeless Hand was basically like, "When we recite the name of the nameless god, then we will break down..." There were things about diminishing the beacons. There were mechanical notes from Zernian technology that seemed much more practical and pragmatic about diminishing beacons. And a lot of the correspondence from the Eyeless Hand were sort of like "The shapes of the nameless ones are ineffable and unknowable such as tubes and tentacles." And then correspondence coming back saying "Well, a tube's not unknowable." And they're like, "No, no, think of an unknowable tube." And a response back saying "How would I do that?" You know, so that seemed to be the sort of Eyeless Hand correspondence going back and forth. You discovered more info about Mordecestershire having to join the Eyeless Hand. Something about reflections, the Obtenebrant Biangle being in reflections, and even a note from Comfrey being like, "Mordecestershire is here." Comfrey sharing a note back saying, "Well, that bodes well, doesn't it? It means they're already on their way to save us, in a sense."
"Lots of mystery but lots of information. And we ended with you in the skies, seeing the strange horizon and understanding the swell of Zern, getting to a high, high altitude and seeing the swell of Zern, ending on the understanding that Fehujar has the coordinates to the Ectic Research Station, and there was talk last time of a heist."
Synopsis[]
Van talks to Bert about him potentially leaving, as this adventure is much more than she thought; Bert confirms that he’s safest by her side. Olethra is very excited at the prospect of introducing Wealwell and Freyja to each other. She also tries to get Dawderdale to follow Daisuke when he goes to play the harmonica on his own, and even the rumor that her mech has a kill switch is not enough to dissuade her from it. Marya tells Olethra that if she is in the business of matchmaking, she should find someone for her, too, and Olethra immediately tries to pair her up with Bert, accompanied by death threats from Van.
Olethra uses her extraplanar radio to scan the eyeful hand, Torse and the Zernian book – the hand matches Van’s previously unmatched energy, while Torse and the book are all Zernian. Ludmila’s picture still has a vacant energy. Hearing it squeak, Monty takes a look at the eyeful hand the crew collected, and observes its eyes close when Van touches her prosthesis to it. Van inspects the eyeful hand and briefly suspects it is her hand, but cannot be certain. Observing the eyeful hand further as Pappy points a gun at it, Olethra is overcome with complete horror as her mech registers new eyes stretching away from the hand and upward through the glass as gigantic twisting tendrils. As the eyes leave the hand, they become suckers. Van says that if they’re headed toward the sea, they might need to look into what’s wrong with her arm. Torse takes a look at it and says he senses fear in her. Van argues that she is very brave, but appears genuinely frightened regardless. She says she’s not afraid to die, however – she is worried for her friends. When the Zephyr picks up a homing beacon, Marya investigates it, taking off in a lifeboat to protect the others. She then pretends it’s a bomb anyway.
We get to met Captain Goldbeard and The Gullfaxi Crew. After a bit of friendly fire from Daisuke. We learn the Goldbeard landed on a condor who dropped him into the Effulgent Biangle, landing him in Zood. At some point during his time in Zood, Goldbeard became a cyborg, replacing his torso with a barrel. The pirate theorizes Olethra could be his granddaughter – they did recently date for over three weeks, after all. After Olethra gives Goldbeard a Grandpa of the Year mug, Max tells her it was his – he had once given it to his grandfather and was appalled at seeing her give it away. Olethra promises to get the mug back. When Goldbeard asks about the party’s history with Comfrey, Van carefully asks if he means sexual or otherwise. Goldbeard does not notice this, but Monty does.
On the Pirate Junkyard, The crew of the Zephyr learns more information and gets some new weapon upgrades. The party shows Fierro Max’s watch and Fierro says they can build a baby out of it. Marya offers to do so, and Fierro says Marya and Max must love each other very much, given that they are willing to build a baby together. Van and Max go to find new weapons for the Zephyr together. Marya and Olethra go scrapping in the junkyard together, and thanks to Olethra’s extraplanar radio, they locate a large golden engine emitting the same energy that Van’s gauntlet emitted to recoil the energy of the deep. After that success, she seeks a cloaking device and manages to find a loud, dusty jack-in-the-box covered in rust. Pappy and Monty discuss tactics for taking on the House of Fehujar with Goldbeard, and at the end of it, Monty goes in for a hug to give Pappy an opening to take back Max’s mug. After Max makes more comments about Monty’s books, however, Monty tells Pappy to hold on to the mug and not give it back to him.
Back on the ship, the crew wants to get the attention of the House of Fahujar. Montgomery sends out a message looking for Comfrey Macleod. The party sends out a broadcast to invite the House Fehujar to them, making Monty seem as weak and fragile as possible.
"Hello? This is Montgomery LaMontgommery, adventurer of (coughs, then strained) Gath. I’m stranded here at [coordinates]. This message is for Comfrey MacLeod. (suddenly sobbing) I’m scared! I’m so scared! I, I, ... I found your power station at Ramansuuuuuuu. And I ... (sobbing) I saw that Montgomery knows the way. I ... (loudly sobbing) I’m Montgomery, but I cannot find the way! I’m on your old ship with a weak crew! They were the weakest people I could find! There’s one named Maxwell Gotch with the tiniest fists! (yells) Sorry, I’ve been bitten by a crab! (yells more) I have to pee, I haven’t eaten. Comfrey, find me! (Faster? Fast? Wait, which one? More pee?) I have to pee! I HAVE TO PEE! (Max: Say you were talking about Wealwell when you said his fists were small!) I was talking about Maxwell Gotch when I said -"
As the House of Fahujar surrounds the ship, Rolfgar Halvorson introduces himself and the crew gets ready for combat.
Locations[]
- Zood
- Saltu
- Pirate Junkyard
Featured Characters[]
Player Characters[]
- Daisuke Bucklesby
- Vanellope Chapman
- Maxwell Gotch
- Marya Junková
- Montgomery LaMontgommery
- Olethra MacLeod
New[]
- Goldbeard Explosio
- Clifton "the Face"
- Alma Zipperclasp
- Fierro
- Trigger
- Clockshund the Dachshund
- Revealed in Adventuring Party: