Secrets at the South Pole Station is the third episode of season 26, Cloudward, Ho!
Introduction[]
Synopsis[]
The Zephyr takes off from Bellenuit. Marya is fascinated by Olethra’s mech suit, named the MechLeod, of whose design she was aware but which she’d never seen with her own eyes. Olethra explains that there’s not much inside it other than her copies of Monty’s books and modeling clay she plays with when stressed. Olethra distributes the fruit snacks, keys and other treasures she found in the captain’s quarters. Van and Marya decide they’ll have to try the keys in every door to find the locks that the keys fit.
Marya takes Van aside to ask about a rumor she heard that suggested there’s a kill switch that will kill whoever’s inside the mech suit. Van says that will be OK even if it’s true because, as she heard it, Olethra is a little robot girl. Van acknowledges having changed Olethra’s diapers when Oletha was an infant, but she thus supposes Comfrey “updated” Olethra regularly to age her up from time to time. Marya agrees this must have been the case.
Captain Dawderdale and her crew are all extremely upset by the violence they just witnessed in the battle against Mordecestershire and his brutes. Van is disdainful of their brittleness, but Maxwell insists they’re solid. The Wind Riders express how impressed they are with Maxwell’s derring-do during the fight. Marya feels left out because Monty’s Pilby ’71-style friendly fire didn’t hit her like it hit the other Wind Riders.
The Rhythm of the Biangle[]
The group returns their attention to the objects Olethra discovered. Marya immediately and correctly guesses that a sextant device is “directional for a world with a different physics.” It points to four cardinal coordinates: vex, vim, nex and nef. Nex and nef feel very similar to east and west on a standard compass in that they’re directional and never-ending. Vex and vim, though, are absolute in a way that nex and nef are not, but they’re also not magnetic poles or otherwise fixed points. Marya reverse engineers this knowledge from the sextant but can’t fully understand the foreign physics of it without seeing it at work.
Olethra gives Marya the transcript of Comfrey’s message and suggests they use the sextant to look for her. Marya says she thinks the way to get to Comfrey is via the Biangle, adding that she wants to use the information from Comfrey along with the sextant to calculate where the Biangle will be next, and intercept it. Preparing to conduct this research, Marya asks for coffee. Maxwell tells Wealwell to make the coffee. Wealwell tells Ghost Dog to make it. Instead, though, Bert pops up and offers to make flat whites with custom latte art for everyone.
Marya hunkers down with the transcript and the sextant to attempt locating the Biangle. She learns that it appears steadily on a timeline of months to years, and the next time it’s going to be somewhere reliably is years from now. However, there’s a subrhythm to the formula whereby the Biangle appears in brief flashes much more regularly. Marya calculates that, four days hence, it will appear this way for less than 18 seconds in the sky over Eisengeist.
The Zephyr is badly damaged from the fight and needs repairs. The party considers the best place to go to make the repairs and resupply on the way to Eisengeist. Marya remarks that, wherever they go, they must remember to live their lives to the fullest, because they may very well die on their quest. Pappy says that “Life is for living” is one of his rules for living. It used to be No. 3, but now it’s No. 1, having swapped places with “When you die, you’re dead.” Rule No. 2 is “Sunsets are non-negotiable,” and No. 4 is “Move your body every day.”
Plotting a Course[]
The party elects to head for the Kabillian Isles for repairs. Marya shows to Pappy and Monty the written message that Olethra found, asking if they recognize anything about it. They don’t know the alphabet with which it’s written, but they do understand from its style and structure that it is a declaration or notice of some kind. Olethra examines it again but still can’t make heads or tails of it. She asks Wealwell to give it a try. Looking at the message, Wealwell chokes back spit-up as he lies that it says the secret to Goldbeard’s treasure is at the South Pole. No one really buys this.
Monty asks Wealwell if finding Goldbeard’s gold was why he originally was heading to the South Pole. Wealwell says no and produces the deed Longspot gave him when he assigned Wealwell to travel there. Maxwell explains his family’s plan to repossess Comfrey’s property from around Gath. Monty examines Wealwell’s document and finds on it a long list of highly useful items that were requisitioned at this laboratory. Given this new information, the party decides to go to the South Pole next instead of the Kabillian Isles.
Maxwell produces the keyring Olethra found and wonders aloud if the six keys on it correspond to his six older brothers. Van is aghast to learn that Maxwell is a seventh Gotch son, insisting that everybody knows that all seventh Gotch sons are cursed. This is the first Maxwell has ever heard of such a curse, but Wealwell says he knows all about it. Then Wealwell barfs.
Everyone wonders how Maxwell and Wealwell can be so different if they were raised in the same household. Wealwell explains that they went to different schools. He went to Biffmore to learn reposed standing. When Wealwell strikes a pose, Maxwell credits his brother’s great talent, and Monty takes an etching of him. However, Pappy remains profoundly unimpressed by Wealwell and tries to push him over the side of the ship. Marya suggests that there’s a long-lost Gotch brother whose existence would make Wealwell the seventh son, which would explain a lot.
Maxwell tries to recall the locations to which his father sent his brothers, remembering that each location was within the Confederated Imperial Republic. Before now, he didn’t realize that Wealwell truly had been assigned to the South Pole; he thought that was just one of Wealwell’s flights of fancy like his personal quest for Goldbeard’s gold, in whose existence everyone professes to believe. Pappy flashes back to the time before any of the other party members were born when he killed Goldbeard, his former partner in crime. He is silently haunted by the memory.
As the party debates whether to bring Wealwell with them at all, he imperiously commands the Zephyr’s crew to head for the South Pole “on the double.” Monty and Van politely advise him to both “walk it back” and “pull it forward.” Pappy whispers in his ear, “If we’re ever alone, I’m going to kill you.” Wealwell is unperterbed, confident that his talent for reposed standing will make him impossible for Pappy to hit.
Marya tries each of the keys in every lock on the Zephyr, confirming that none of the keys match any of the ship’s locks. Meanwhile, the party starts working to repair the ship during the voyage. They have enough supplies for some repairs but not enough to complete the job. They’re low on resources but trust they’ll be able to replenish their stores with whatever they find in Comfrey’s lab at the South Pole.
To the South Pole[]
Maxwell consults with the Gotch family air crew. Jackway St. Niles wants to know if they really are headed to Zood. When Maxwell confirms it, Jackway requests that they stop at a post office so he and the rest of the air crew can write letters to their families and loved ones to let them know the air crew members will be “departing this world.” Haruki Norwich tells Maxwell that the whole air crew had been excited for adventure, but their enthusiasm completely evaporated when they saw the bloodbath that ensued when the Wind Riders fought Lord Mordecestershire and his brutes.
Maxwell admits to the air crew that he was not actually ordered to take the Zephyr in the first place, but he blames Wealwell for the deception. When the crew turn their ire on Wealwell, Maxwell confesses that he is equally to blame for the lie. Maxwell says anyone on the crew who wishes to leave will be allowed to do so. Wealwell offers triple payment to anyone who stays. Maxwell surmises that the wealth they’ll accrue from finding Zood will make this affordable, but Wealwell is still interested only in Goldbeard’s gold.
Olethra fangirls out over working with her hero, Monty, to patch up the Zephyr’s damaged balloon. Monty gregariously answers her questions about his adventures and the books he wrote about them. The conversation leads Olethra to talking about her strained relationship with her parents and her close relationship with Comfrey. Monty notices that Olethra has Comfrey’s captain’s log, and it reminds him of the first time Comfrey and the Wind Riders discussed the existence of Zood not just for fun or as folklore but as potentially scientific fact. He remembers sketching some of the fauna he theorized exists on Zood, and he shows these old etchings to Olethra, especially the one of a nocturnal zebra.
Van, Pappy and Marya happen by, and when they too notice the captain’s log, it jogs in them the same memories of that night they all discussed Zood seriously for the first time. Van recalls her theories that people on Zood have a different set of funky social rules and interesting hats. Marya says that what she’s responsible for in the captain’s log’s notes are the theoretical math; the concept of a place where everything that gets thrown away goes to find use again; and new metals.
The discussion sparks Olethra’s imagination about what Zood might be like, and she pictures a “naked summer polar bear,” a big, hairless, slimy polar bear that has evolved to secrete sunscreen from its pores. She sketches a graphically detailed rendering of this very wet creature. Being a less creative person, Maxwell doesn’t conjure any theories of his own, but he feels a surge of curiosity and awe about the infinite possibilities that Zood represents. Wealwell imagines a mouse with big hands.
That night, Marya and Olethra go to sleep at the foot of Comfrey’s bed while Pappy sleeps in it. Maxwell takes apart bunk beds to make a king size bed for himself. Van and Bert are in double hammocks in the crew quarters. Monty sleeps under the stars. In the morning, everyone wakes up to do old-timey exercise routines.
The South Pole Station[]
The still quite damaged Zephyr arrives at the South Pole low on fuel and supplies after about 12 hours of travel. A massive research station adorned with Comfrey’s personal flag sits on what appears to be an open ice floe. A tether attached to the top of the research station extends about a quarter mile to a shimmering heat field where it is held by a giant magnetic ball to the magnetic South Pole. Anchored this way, the research station rotates 180 degrees around the pole, measuring something unknown. Closer inspection reveals that the ice floe is generated by the station itself to provide flotation and security.
Van’s prosthetic arm emits steam, and its dials fluctuate. Observing the station through a spyglass reveals no sign of activity or life, and there appear to be no vehicles around. Marya tries a few of Comfrey’s hailing frequencies but only hears recorded music playing through one of them. She holds up the keyring, and the keys angle toward the magnetic pole. Finally, she uses her artificer’s tinkering skills to disguise the sextant as something that looks like a prize from a box of breakfast cereal.
The party decides against docking the Zephyr at the station itself, choosing instead to take the dirigible’s lifeboats. They take two so they can bring the mech with them, but they leave the air crew behind on the ship. The air crew give the party their letters in case there’s a mailbox in the station. Maxwell protests that even if there are mailboxes, the mail’s probably not getting out of here.
Before they depart, Marya takes a moment to compliment Maxwell again on the jumping ability he displayed during the fight. She tells him, “I want to see more of that,” then immediately administers an atomic wedgie, casting Jump. Maxwell screams and launches 40 feet into the air as Marya remembers that the spell lasts only a minute, so casting it was pointless. There is some further debate over whether Wealwell should be part of the group.
The lifeboats descend on parachutes to land on the ice floe. Wealwell is eager to search for Goldbeard’s cave, so Maxwell tethers himself to his brother to prevent him wandering off alone.
There appear to be several entrances to the station including a small subhangar warehouse area where small skycraft could be. Marya recommends approaching the hangar door quietly. Olethra’s mech is loud and conspicuously heavy on the ice, but the group collectively maintains stealth. The hangar is dimly and eerily lit inside, and there are no aircraft to be found. Snapped ropes are evidence that several aircraft left the hangar without untying. All things being equal, Occam’s razor would hold that raiders hit the station, but valuable tritumunous coal fuel left behind discomfitingly suggests otherwise.
Maxwell takes Van aside and asks if she’s related to an old sea pirate named Chapman, and Van confirms there are seafarers and pirates in her family history. She also tells Maxwell that he’s “not the only one that’s cursed,” but that no one else needs to know this. She adds that, now that Maxwell knows it, she’s considering killing him. Wealwell points a gun at his brother, offering to ice him for her, but it doesn’t come to that. As they head back inside, Van notices a glint on the water as if something made of glass or steel is out there.
Monty and Pappy try to climb a wall in the hangar to look out a high window, but they stumble. Olethra hops into her mech and activates one of its many buttons and levers, causing the mech to shoot off fireworks. After the brief resulting chaos inside the hangar dies down, the party hears a distant explosion outside. Monty runs to the door and sees a signal flare in the sky, fired from somewhere at sea.
Olethra exits the mech and hastily searches the hangar for anything else valuable, finding a cache of artica iodide. Monty locates a store of gargantium. The party also finds a record player broadcasting over a radio beacon a holiday record for a holiday that occurred two or three months ago. As the mech goes about picking up supplies, the party uses the radio beacon to hail the air crew aboard the Zephyr. Captain Dawderdale says she noticed the fireworks in the hangar but can’t see any ships at sea. Just then, another signal flare goes up. It’s the same shade of red as the grenade Mordecestershire used, but it’s unclear whether he fired this flare or if it’s the Empire. The Zephyr descends to pick up the party and the mech carrying supplies.
Van uses her Elevated Sight ability to look under the ocean. She detects that the reason why Dawderdale can’t see the ship is that the ship is underwater, and that torpedoes are streaking toward them right now. She shouts at everyone to get into the lifeboats. Marya ignores her and runs to the station to try using the keys in all its locks. Maxwell follows her. Meanwhile, the Zephyr dives low enough to rip the roof off the hangar so it can use its crane arms to grab the coal silos and bring them aboard.
The first torpedo hits the ice, which cracks. Van, still standing on the ice, struggles to maintain control of her prosthetic arm as it reacts to something, emitting steam while its dials flash into the red. She runs and leaps into a nearby lifeboat. The party determines that it will require multiple trips to bring everybody and everything onboard the Zephyr. The lifeboats launch themselves back up to the ship on springs.
The Mysterious Well[]
Marya and Maxwell race around the station as torpedoes strike the ice outside. Marya discovers a stone wall covered in lichen, determining it’s from some ancient castle and was airlifted to this place. One of the keys is drawn magnetically to a keyhole in the wall. The floor of the stone chamber within is pure ice. In the center, a massive hole descends into darkness.
Marya jumps into the well. She sees something deep down at the base of it: light, fire, a burning furnace and beating wings. “How are you here?” she asks. Panicking, she activates her Boots of the Winding Step to send her back up to the lip of the well.
On the Zephyr, pain flashes through Van as her shoulder muscles swell above her prosthesis.
Maxwell observes Maryam who appears to be in a fugue state. She stands at the well's edge, firing her blunderbuss into the ocean and screaming about the beast being down there. Another torpedo strike sends Maxwell sprawling, and he slides toward the hole. Suddenly, something grabs them from behind and drags them back out of the chamber. They see Wealwell, who says dryly, “You have to be more normal.”
As he slid toward the hole, Maxwell saw deep within it what appeared to be a small piece of ceramic machinery. Still tethered to solid, expert stander Wealwell, Maxwell leaps into the well as his brother anchors him. He finds attached the side of the well at the water level a ceramic tile attached to a crystal slab encased in ceramic. It bears symbols that match the mysterious alphabet from the scrap of paper Olethra found. Grabbing the slab, Maxwell exits the well. Marya looks into the hole again but sees only water this time. The trio makes for the lifeboats.
Monty and Pappy are still out on the ice, and they’ve heard the gunfire from within the station. They see a swell of water coming toward them from about 80 yards away as Marya, Maxwell and Wealwell run from the station. They all jump into a lifeboat, which launches up to the Zephyr just as an Imperial submarine rises to the surface at the edge of the ice. Soldiers emerge from the submarine and fire on the Zephyr as it flies away.
Examining the Artifact[]
Olethra pulls Marya for a chat to see if she’s OK, and Marya says she thought she saw the Straka. She admits that even though she’s been waiting so long to get her revenge, she was a coward when she thought she was facing the beast again. Olethra wraps Marya in a blanket and gives her silkworms because she knows how much they mean to Marya. They’re a colony of the same silkworms Marya kept in the old days, and they recognize and remember her. The gesture gives Marya hope.
Maxwell pulls Monty for a chat to tell him about Marya’s behavior and Van confiding in him that she’s cursed. Monty’s never heard about the curse, so Maxwell asks him to be discreet.
Pappy pulls Monty for a chat and says that he feels bad because he didn’t contribute much down at the station, he misses Comfrey, and he wishes he could’ve killed Wealwell. Monty hugs Pappy and reassures him that, since Pappy warned Wealwell, he’ll be justified in killing him should the two ever be alone together.
Van and Bert bicker about how the Zephyr’s kitchen is organized. They miss the Nut.
The party examines the artifact that Maxwell took from the well. Marya tells the group that it made her hallucinate Straka. She wonders, given Straka’s nature, if the artifact is discarded treasure that bears a grudge against those who didn’t value it — either that or antigravity.
Marya, who theorized the existence of new metals on Zood, recognizes that the device is made of a metal so new that it’s not metal but ceramic with the tensile properties of metal. Likewise, the crystal is unique, unlike any geology Monty recognizes. And the fruit snacks are flavored with a spice no one’s ever tasted before. Monty concludes that things from Zood have found their way to Gath. The party members suggest several theories about how that might have happened.
The Effulgent Biangle[]
Marya remembers that have about two days to reach Eisengeist in time for the next appearance of the Biangle, which should give them enough time to make two more stops for supplies and maybe new crew members if the Gotch air crew dips. The air crew says they’re fine as long as their letters were sent. Maxwell reiterates that they absolutely were not. The party determines that with the fuel and rations they have aboard, they won’t need to make any stops for supplies after all, but they will stop to send letters.
Marya continues to examine the artifact. As the tile slides back and forth across the crystal, she observes some kind of foreign energy, a spark of which seems to cause another, brief hallucination in her. She theorizes that this is the energy that powers Straka.
The dials on Van’s prothesis have gone from red to orange, not settling all the way back down. She stays awake working on deciphering the message that’s written on the artifact in the strange alphabet.
Monty’s still nervous about how quickly the Imperial ships arrived at the South Pole Station. He and Olethra investigate the captain’s quarters again — thoroughly — but find no additional information or clues. Maxwell wonders if the Empire was trying to send a message to his father.
As the Zephyr flies to Eisengeist, Marya interrupts Van’s code-breaking to ask her about a rumor Marya heard that Van was secretly working with the Empire. The rumor came from former Zephyr crew member Haunch Saxon, who suggested it as an explanation for Van’s sudden change of personality and lifestyle after the accident that took her arm. Van is incredulous to hear the rumor, insisting that the Chapman family is loaded, so she by no means needs to take money from anyone. She does, however, confirm the rumor that she won the Grand Kabillian Toe Wrestling Championship.
Gale-force winds buffet the Zephyr, and Imperial Wasps suddenly appear as the ship approaches the Biangle. Marya struggles to keep the dirigible on its course, but she holds it steady. The Wasps stay aloft too, but they can’t close the gap with the Zephyr.
Van finishes deciphering the message on the artifact and reads it aloud:
"The power of Romansu is not given freely. All must pay the price when the moon is full. The bill comes due for all who wield the light."
As she speaks the words, the artifact flashes to life and points directly into the Biangle, which forms a hovering plane of light intersecting from one world to another. Behind the Zephyr, the Wasps fall behind and are blown away by the winds. The Biangle opens, and light coming from all directions envelopes the ship.
The storm is suddenly gone. The ship’s compass spins, and the sextant point true vim. The clouds part and turtles fly by as the Zephyr descends into the world of Zood. The ship drifts down past floating islands and twisting sky, and as it touches down in a forest, a nocturnal zebra emerges from the trees.
Locations[]
- Gath
- South Pole Station
- Eisengeist
- Zood
Featured Characters[]
Player Characters[]
- Daisuke Bucklesby
- Vanellope Chapman
- Maxwell Gotch
- Marya Junková
- Montgomery LaMontgommery
- Olethra MacLeod
New[]
- Jackway St. Niles
- Haruki Norwich
- Goldbeard (flashback)