Welcome back to Legend Lunchbox. Last time, a swarm of swamp scarabs sent everyone scrambling across Rumia Outpost. Four brand new almost friends barely made it aboard the only ship still available, the S.S. Distress. The good news is it flies. The bad news is nobody is entirely sure how to control the ship or whether it will just fall apart around them. So now let's see where the drift lines lead.
Guide (Chris):You watch planks from the aft section of the S.S. Distress torn loose from the ship's impact with the treetops tumble end over end and disappear into the swamp below. As you gain some height, the full scope of what just happened comes into view. Massive swarms of red and orange hued swamp scarabs blot out large portions of the marsh. Another structure from the outpost tilts and then sinks on its supports with a rumble and collapses into the mud.
Guide (Chris):You see creatures below scatter darting across the surface. Some launch themselves up into the Azure. In the distance, you spot two of the other ships already pulling away from the moon in different directions. So what are you guys gonna do as you're taking off into the Azure?
CAM (Tito):Who's steering this thing?
Guide (Chris):Right now, nobody. You guys are all up on the deck. It's pretty decent size. It's you know, the deck's a little bit uneven. There's a couple spots when you step on it, it sags.
Squawk (Madeleine):Mhmm.
Guide (Chris):There is a big mast and sail in the middle. It's a little bit off center, and it's patched. And then you've got kind of rigging lines kind of scattered all over the place. There is a helm, but it's basically just like a crude wheel with some ropes and pulleys that kind of go down into the deck. And then there's, like, one big rigging line right next to the wheel that looks like it's kind of the primary control to pull the sail up and down.
Guide (Chris):And then a little bit on the forward part of the ship, there is a big cover that covers the cargo hold, but it doesn't really seem to, like, match up right. So there's kind of a big gap. And if you look down, you can see all the way down into the hold.
Lysander (Jay):And is there anything in the hold?
Guide (Chris):Right now, you look down, and that was where Rolo was. So you do see some broken equipment.
Squawk (Madeleine):Mhmm. Oh, yeah. Okay.
Guide (Chris):And components of the ship laying on the ground, but there's not a whole lot down there.
Rolo (Phil):Oh, I know. You there. Haul on the yardarm.
Squawk (Madeleine):What's a yardarm?
CAM (Tito):What's a yardarm?
Lysander (Jay):Who are you yelling at?
Rolo (Phil):Well, I don't know. Any of you. I I guess what's your name? Lysander. Lysander, please haul on the yard arm.
Lysander (Jay):I look at my arms. They're not quite a yard.
Rolo (Phil):No.
Lysander (Jay):You want me to haul them? I don't know what a yard arm is.
Rolo (Phil):It's like the rope.
Lysander (Jay):Oh. I just grab a rope and start pulling on it.
Guide (Chris):There's like 40 ropes on the deck.
Rolo (Phil):Nice.
Guide (Chris):So you start yanking on the rope, as you do it, you hear, like, some clanking, and you see, like, an anchor start pulling itself up over the deck.
Squawk (Madeleine):Oh.
Lysander (Jay):I did it. I got the anchor up.
CAM (Tito):We probably needed to get that out of the way anyway.
Rolo (Phil):Okay. Good job, team.
Lysander (Jay):Thank you, sir.
Rolo (Phil):Now, we need to haul who's hauling the yardarm again?
Squawk (Madeleine):Me. Me. I'll do it. I'll do it. I'll do it.
Rolo (Phil):Oh, okay. Great.
Squawk (Madeleine):Same rope...
Rolo (Phil):I'm sorry. I didn't get your name.
Squawk (Madeleine):Oh, it's Squawk.
Rolo (Phil):Okay. Squawk, nice to meet you.
Squawk (Madeleine):Nice to meet you.
Rolo (Phil):Yeah. So okay. So haul on a yardarm. Go.
Squawk (Madeleine):I'm doing it. I'm pulling on I'm pulling on it so hard. I'm so excited. It's really hard. It's I'll get it. Just hold on.
Guide (Chris):So you pull on it, and as you're pulling on it, like, you hear, like, and then, like, this little tiny sail on the side of the ship goes boink, and it pops up.
Squawk (Madeleine):Oh, that was so hard. Gotta lie down.
Rolo (Phil):Good job.
Squawk (Madeleine):Alright. So where are we going?
CAM (Tito):Right now, we're heading towards that big moon, it looks like. But I I don't think we wanna be going straight at it. It's does anybody know how to land this thing?
Rolo (Phil):Yeah. Well, to be honest, all I know is that I heard someone say, haul on the yardarm once.
CAM (Tito):Are aren't she the captain?
Rolo (Phil):No.
CAM (Tito):You're you're on the ship. You're wearing this captain hat. You're...
Rolo (Phil):Oh, right, the captain's hat. I found the captain's hat because I was supposed to be taking the ship apart. I run a hotel.
Lysander (Jay):We all wide eyed look at him like... How did you get? How far did you get taking it apart?
Rolo (Phil):What you see here is about as far as I got. Yeah. I run a surf hotel. Oh, hey. Look. You can see it from here.
Guide (Chris):And you see, like, this little slump of, like, a small stone structure just slowly sinking into the ooze.
Squawk (Madeleine):That's a really good try
Rolo (Phil):Ugh.
Squawk (Madeleine):At a hotel.
Rolo (Phil):Yeah.
Squawk (Madeleine):Just you worked hard.
Rolo (Phil):Dude, I should've researched before I bought the place because it it said waterfront property, and I thought that meant, you know, like ocean, but turns out it was a marsh. No surfing on a marsh, it turns out. Uh-huh.
Lysander (Jay):Uh-huh.
Guide (Chris):So as you all are standing around trying to figure out what's going on with the ship, you feel like it start to shift under your feet. It's not like a bump or, like, turbulence, but it feels like the whole ship kinda leans.
Squawk (Madeleine):Woah.
Guide (Chris):But then just doesn't really correct itself.
CAM (Tito):Oh. I think we're catching one of the currents.
Rolo (Phil):Nice.
CAM (Tito):We're need we're gonna need to steer into this. I'm just go grab the wheel.
Guide (Chris):So who who's near the helm?
CAM (Tito):I don't know.
Rolo (Phil):What is a helm?
Guide (Chris):The big steering wheel.
CAM (Tito):The steering wheel.
Rolo (Phil):Oh.
Squawk (Madeleine):Me.
Rolo (Phil):Oh, yeah.
Squawk (Madeleine):I'm near the helm.
Rolo (Phil):Nice. Go, Squawk. Okay.
Guide (Chris):So, Squawk, you're standing there, you see the wheel starting to kind of vibrate a little bit, and the rigging line is just kinda alternating. Like, it gets really, really taut and then it goes slack.
Guide (Chris):And it gets really taut, and then it goes slack again.
Squawk (Madeleine):Cool. Is it supposed to do that?
CAM (Tito):Yes. But we have to catch the right current. If we don't catch the right current, we're gonna get flung all over the place.
Squawk (Madeleine):Okay. Here I go. And I just start spinning it frantically in a circle.
Guide (Chris):Alright. So as you try and do it, it feels like it's trying to resist being pulled. It's just, like, really sluggish. And then as you're like, you're like, and then all of sudden, like, overcorrects. Woah. And then the whole ship just kinda shifts completely the other way. And as you guys do that, so, Lysander, as you're you're kinda standing over near side and suddenly you see, like, this splurge or something, like, shoot up over the side and you look over the edge and you see, like, a thin stream of, like, steam with some sort of dark gas kind of venting out from just below the side of the hull, like, right around the curve where you can't see.
Lysander (Jay):Guys, we're leaking something, I think, out the side of the boat here. There's steam coming out.
Rolo (Phil):Okay. That means it's working.
CAM (Tito):What's working?
Rolo (Phil):The steam engine. Right? Isn't that how this...
CAM (Tito):This thing has a steam engine?
Lysander (Jay):We have a steam.
Rolo (Phil):Oh, dude. I sure hope so.
Guide (Chris):I mean, you guys can go look around the ship. You haven't discovered anything.
CAM (Tito):Ah you sure it's not just on fire?
Rolo (Phil):No. I'm not sure.
Squawk (Madeleine):It's okay.
Lysander (Jay):So I as I'm gonna try and hang on and lean over the edge to see if I could see where the steam is coming out.
Guide (Chris):So you kinda lean over the edge. And as you lean over the edge, you do see, like, a bunch of the ship is definitely kinda beat up, and some of the the timbers are missing from the side. And you look just you can just barely see over the edge, and it just looks like there's a crack in the hull, and there's just this, like, spurting out of the steam. And like I said, some sort of black goo or fluid is kinda flying out with it. So it looks like it's about halfway down the ship.
Lysander (Jay):Captain Rolo, I do believe we have a problem. We are leaking something out the bottom of the ship.
Rolo (Phil):It's just Rolo, dude. I only found the hat. But you are right, and we should probably, I don't know, fix, whatever's going on. So, I'll do it. I'll, head on down the stairs and, see what I can find.
Guide (Chris):Okay. So, Rolo, you've been on the ship before, and you know so there's the deck that you guys are on. And then kinda midship, there's, like, stairs that go down, and there's, like, a cabin area where there's, like, a common area. There's two hammocks kinda hung between timbers. There's a table that's bolted down and a few mismatched chairs.
Guide (Chris):Then there's, like, a small cooking area that's just a little tiny stove with a couple of pots and pans. And then shoved up against one wall, there's a desk that has some shelves, and there's a bunch of, like, crude instruments, some gauges, and just other stuff that you think might be navigation, but you're not sure. And then there is a big panel on the side, which you had been messing with while you were pulling apart the ship where you it's like when you pull it off, you just see, like, a whole bunch of lines and controls and weird levers kind of all tight and cramped and, like, between the hull of the ship and the sidewall. So that's kind of the mid deck area.
Rolo (Phil):Okay, dudes. I found what looks like a lot of really important rope that probably works stuff.
Squawk (Madeleine):The steam thing?
Rolo (Phil):No idea.
Squawk (Madeleine):This or this
Rolo (Phil):Alight. It's just a panel with rope in it. Probably works some stuff. Should I pull it?
Squawk (Madeleine):So who votes he pulls the rope? I raise my wing.
CAM (Tito):We we don't know where the rope goes.
Rolo (Phil):I'll leave it to you guys.
Guide (Chris):It's up to you guys.
CAM (Tito):We we gotta find out where this leak is coming from.
Guide (Chris):You can't see it from right where you are. I mean, there also is a ladder going down into the hold.
Rolo (Phil):Hey, guys. I just found a ladder that goes down into the hold. I'll go down there.
Guide (Chris):So you go down the ladder, and, again, this is the area where you started and where were working on, and there's a big cargo area. It's about two thirds of the the bottom of the ship. Mostly empty. There's a couple of old crates and barrels. Doesn't really look like it can hold a lot, but it does look like, you know, people you can load stuff in from that opening in the top deck.
Guide (Chris):And then there's a whole bunch of sections with, like, exposed panels and some sort of, like, metal or covered wood. And then, of course, there's a bunch of broken tools and wires that you had ripped out of the wall laying on the ground. And as you look in the pile of wires, you see, like, this dribble of black liquid slowly kinda coming across the floor from the wall.
Rolo (Phil):Yo. Don't remember that from before. I'm gonna follow the trail of black liquid and see if I can figure out where it's coming from.
Guide (Chris):Okay. So you do see there's a a, like, copper pipe that just goes, and it's kinda bent in, like, these weird awkward zigzag angles.
Rolo (Phil):Oh, dude. Is this the toilet?
Guide (Chris):I don't know. But on one of the zigzags, you see, like, steam and, like, this little black stuff kinda shooting out of the side.
Rolo (Phil):Okay. If there's steam, it's not the toilet or at least not not a model I'm familiar with.
Guide (Chris):So what do you wanna do? Do you wanna try and fix it? Or...
Rolo (Phil):Yes. I fix it.
Guide (Chris):Alright. Give me a give me a D20 roll.
Rolo (Phil):Okay. I rolled a two.
Guide (Chris):So that's considered a failure.
CAM (Tito):Your fixing is the hammer again, I guess.
Lysander (Jay):Yep.
Rolo (Phil):So I was rolling two all the way along so far then.
Squawk (Madeleine):You should have asked your new friends for help.
Guide (Chris):So basically, as you're kinda bashing on it, trying to hinge around it, and as you do it, like, a piece of the the copper tube snaps. And suddenly, like, more steam starts shooting out. And, like, just this black and suddenly, like, this blue liquid start bubbling over.
Rolo (Phil):Uh-huh.
Guide (Chris):And as it does that, the blue stuff starts dripping on the floor, and you see that it's starting to, like, sizzle and burn into the wood.
Rolo (Phil):Everything is fine here. I'll be with you in a minute.
Guide (Chris):So, Squawk, as you're up there kinda at the wheel trying to, like, angle it, you suddenly start feeling the wheel is, like, jerking really hard one direction.
Squawk (Madeleine):Woah. Okay. Yeah.
Guide (Chris):Seems to be going the direction opposite of the leak.
Squawk (Madeleine):Opposite of the leak? The leak that I can't see that's down down and okay. Alright. I don't think I wanted to do that. Can I ever someone come and help me at the wheel, please?
Squawk (Madeleine):It's too hard. I mean, I'm really tough, but I'm kinda I'm just a bird. So can I enlist a pal to help me steer the wheel more effectively?
Lysander (Jay):Sure. I'll I go running over to help
Guide (Chris):So you guys run over and...
Lysander (Jay):I grab the other side of the wheel.
Guide (Chris):Yep. And you're basically able to hold it straight, and the ship is still moving at an angle, but it's sort of going straight. CAM, as they're doing that, you look back towards the other ships and you notice that they're smaller and they're getting smaller. Like, you're not just drifting. You're starting to move away from them.
CAM (Tito):Go way off course.
Guide (Chris):Yeah. You might be able to angle back toward them if you can get better control of the ship. So what are you gonna do? And we'll go around it for everybody. So, CAM, what are you gonna do first?
CAM (Tito):Do I know about the equipment that's on the, like, the lower area, the gauges, and all that kind of stuff?
Guide (Chris):You have not been down there yet. So you don't I mean, I don't think Rolo yelled up about it. I mean, you would assume that a normal ship would have mechanical stuff downstairs.
CAM (Tito):So I'm gonna run below deck then real quick. I'm gonna start looking for some of that equipment.
Guide (Chris):Okay. So you run down to the cabin or you run down to the hold where Rolo was?
CAM (Tito):The the cabin.
Guide (Chris):Okay. So you run down to the cabin. And as you run down there, you look, and you do see that table with a bunch of gears and some gauges and stuff. And as you run up and you look at them, they seem more like navigation equipment, kind of direction finders.
CAM (Tito):So I'm gonna grab that equipment and run up to the top. So, you know, CAM's got a little bit of studying for navigation for charting out migration patterns of those scarabs from one island to another. So he sees that we're going off course, and he knows that there's currents around here. So he's gonna try to figure out how we can catch a current to get back to where the other ships are before we get too lost off course.
Guide (Chris):Okay. Rolo, what are you doing down in the hold?
Rolo (Phil):Nothing. Everything's fine. Okay. So there's, like, this stuff coming out of a pipe, and it's falling on the floor, and it's kinda burning a hole in the floor, which I assume is bad. So if only I could, like, fix the pipe or or something. Or maybe I could, like, wrap wrap the pipe with something. Oh, I used my hat. Can I use my hat?
Guide (Chris):Trying to wrap it around the pipe?
Rolo (Phil):Yeah. You know, like a like a bandage.
Guide (Chris):Okay. Sure. Give me a give me another D20 roll.
Rolo (Phil):Oh, here we go. Oh, I rolled a 17.
Guide (Chris):Nice. You basically take the captain's hat and you bend it and kinda curl it around the pipe, and then you see it almost get, like, on one of the as the steam's coming out, it suddenly, like, soaks into the hat, and the hat just kinda gloms itself down into the pipe, and it seems to stop it.
Rolo (Phil):I happen to know that when you steam a hat, it takes the shape.
Guide (Chris):Yeah.
Rolo (Phil):Yeah.
Lysander (Jay):Nice.
Rolo (Phil):I don't know anything about ships, but haberdashery is one of my skills.
Lysander (Jay):Don't worry. Just because you don't have the captain's hat, you're still captain to me.
Rolo (Phil):Oh, wow. Now I'm kinda reconsidering using the hat because if I don't have the hat, I'm gonna lose all my authority.
Guide (Chris):Are you gonna pull it off?
Rolo (Phil):No.
Guide (Chris):Alright. So Squawk and Lysander, you guys are holding the wheel, and it's resisting. And it just feels very heavy and sluggish like the ship is fighting you. And then suddenly, it jerks really hard. And right beside you, the main rigging line snaps tight with, like, a creaking sound, and you hear the fibers, and it's starting to give. So you guys can try to steady the wheel, grab the line. What what like, what are you guys each gonna do?
Lysander (Jay):I say to Squawk, can you hold the wheel? I'll grab the line.
Squawk (Madeleine):Okay. Alright. I was gonna oh, yep. That's what I'm gonna do.
Lysander (Jay):You got a better plan?
Squawk (Madeleine):Nope. Nope. That it was a I had a worser plan. I'm gonna hold the wheel. Go grab it, and I'm gonna give you a quick hug in the meantime because I'm so excited to meet a new friend. And I really wanna you to feel encouraged, and I believe in you.
Guide (Chris):Alright, both of you. Give me a D20 roll.
Guide (Chris):Oh,
Lysander (Jay):boy.
Squawk (Madeleine):For my hug?
Guide (Chris):No.
Squawk (Madeleine):Oh! I got a one.
Lysander (Jay):And I got a two.
Squawk (Madeleine):I really wanna show everyone it.
Lysander (Jay):We're just we're just there hugging.
Squawk (Madeleine):We're just hugging.
Guide (Chris):Like, occasionally, Squawk, you let go of the wheel to give them a big hug. And as you do that, the wheel starts spinning.
Squawk (Madeleine):And then I Squawk.
Guide (Chris):Lysander, as you reach up to grab the rope, the rope yanks tight and pulls you about three feet up off the ground. And Squawk's still holding on to you because she's got you wrapped in a bear hug.
Lysander (Jay):So now I'm stretched.
Squawk (Madeleine):Oh, it's on my fault. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry.
Guide (Chris):So just then, boom, you hear this big crash. And, Rolo, you hear it, like, right behind you. The whole ship kinda lurches to the right, and the whole deck shifts to the starboard side, which is right, just so we know. And it just goes steep under your feet, like, suddenly you're an angle. Oh, well, actually, Squawk and Lysander, you guys swing kinda like a pendulum because you're hanging on the rope above the deck.
Guide (Chris):So unless you were holding up to something, which that would be Squawk and Lysander, give me a roll to see if you guys stay on your feet. So that would be Rolo and CAM.
Rolo (Phil):Six.
CAM (Tito):Alright.
CAM (Tito):20.
Guide (Chris):20! Okay. So, CAM, you're just like, oh, yeah. This is nothing. I'm like surfing surfing the ship.
Rolo (Phil):Surfing? Oh, come on, dude. I'm so jealous.
Guide (Chris):That's right. So, Rolo, you think you have it, and then suddenly you look and you hear what the big thud was. It's this is parts of scrap metal and dismantled parts shifting from one side of the ship to the other. And it, like, slammed up against one side, and then it comes this way. And it slams right into you and pushes you right into the side of the ship. And, like, as you do that, like, your elbow pokes out one of the the holes in the side of the ship.
Rolo (Phil):Okay. Uh, hello? I don't mean to alarm anyone, but help! Help!
Squawk (Madeleine):We gotta go help him.
Lysander (Jay):I'm kinda busy right now.
Squawk (Madeleine):I I gotta go. I can't I can't not. Someone said help. I gotta go help.
Lysander (Jay):You're just gonna leave me flapping in the wind?
Squawk (Madeleine):He said help.
CAM (Tito):I'm close enough that I I would have heard him. Right?
Guide (Chris):Yeah. Yeah. And and you were downstairs. Alright. So you run downstairs, and you basically see Rolo jammed up against the sidewall of the ship, and there's just this giant mass of wires and metal and components just pushed up against him.
Rolo (Phil):Hey, dudes. Fixed the leak...
CAM (Tito):You look a little stuck there. You need a hand?
Rolo (Phil):No. No. I'm fine. Of of course, I need a hand!
Squawk (Madeleine):Am I there too?
Guide (Chris):If you want to be, you can let go of Lysander and start running down there.
Squawk (Madeleine):Will you be mad at me, Lysander, or if I let go? I don't want anyone to be mad at me.
Lysander (Jay):I... Help?
Squawk (Madeleine):Oh, no.
Guide (Chris):He said help too. Two people said help. What is Squawk going to do?
Squawk (Madeleine):My worst nightmare. I'm just gonna hug him a little bit harder in my panic. That's all.
CAM (Tito):So I'm gonna try to just digging out Rolo.
Guide (Chris):Okay. So as you guys are trying to regain control of the ship and save everybody, something just kinda feels off. The wind doesn't really feel steady anymore. It kinda shifts, and it feels like it's coming from a completely different direction. And as that happens, Squawk and Lysander, as you guys are sitting there, suddenly you start swinging like a ball on the end of the...
Lysander (Jay):The tetherball?
Guide (Chris):Yeah. You're like a tetherball swinging around. And as you do that, the the mast and the sail bottom starts swinging too. So it's like you guys go around, and then the mast swings, and it almost hits you like a baseball. And you keep, like, going around in circles towards each other.
Squawk (Madeleine):This is such a fun game!
Lysander (Jay):Where where does our the rope that I'm hanging on go to again?
Guide (Chris):It goes up to, like, a big pulley up on, like, maybe about 10 feet above, and then it reaches over to the mast.
Lysander (Jay):And is the and and I'm holding it. The the rope is not connected to anything on the bottom beneath me. Right?
Guide (Chris):Not right now. It it was, but it seems like it might have sheared off or something.
Lysander (Jay):And it's just me and then Squawk.
Guide (Chris):Squawk that's hugging you.
Lysander (Jay):And we're just oh, boy.
Squawk (Madeleine):We're having a fun ride. Yeah.
Lysander (Jay):I'm not feeling so good anymore. Shouldn't have ate that burrito before we left.
Guide (Chris):Alright. Rolo, what are you doing?
Rolo (Phil):Okay. So I got a plan. So nobody's, like, really digging me out because there's a lot of stuff and things, and there's this hole right beside me. Right? So I figure maybe I could get out the hole, climb up the outside of the ship. Good plan. Right?
CAM (Tito):I'm not sure that's a good idea. You might get lost in the Azure.
Rolo (Phil):Yeah. Cool. Falling off the ship, definitely a downside, but it is faster.
CAM (Tito):Well, especially right now, the way this ship is moving, I I think we're at the edge of a driftline. And if we don't correct course very soon, we're gonna get off this is the main driftline for the evacuation. If we don't stay on that, we're gonna lose the other ships.
Rolo (Phil):Yes. All the more reason to do it quickly. And, also, this room explodes, and I don't wanna be in here anymore. So I'm just gonna head out the hole. Okay. See ya.
CAM (Tito):Alright. Well, if he does that, then I'm gonna run upstairs with the navigation equipment and try to figure out where we are.
Guide (Chris):Okay. So you guys do that. Squawk and Lysander. What are you guys doing?
Squawk (Madeleine):We're trying not to barf.
Lysander (Jay):Yes. Getting really dizzy.
Squawk (Madeleine):Getting dizzy. I barf in my mouth, but I hold it in because I'm a good friend, and I don't barf on my friends. And, eventually, I let go.
Guide (Chris):Okay. So you let go, and you just kinda I mean, you can use your wings a little bit and just kinda flap a couple of flaps and and land.
Squawk (Madeleine):Very gracefully. I actually slam hard into the ground. But I hop up, and I check that no one saw, and then I try to look composed.
Guide (Chris):Alright. Rolo, what are you doing?
Rolo (Phil):Oh, you know, I'm just climbing up the outside of the ship, which is actually a lot easier than I thought because, dude, there's a lot of pieces missing. Like, a lot of the planks are gone.
Guide (Chris):I know. It is moving very fast, but there are a lot of handholds.
Rolo (Phil):Yeah. So I can just, like, grab the ribs of the ship, and this climbing is going, you know, pretty easy. But I know what's gonna happen. You're gonna make me roll for this, aren't you?
Guide (Chris):I am. But I'm gonna give you advantage since there's so many holes, which means you get to roll two dice.
Rolo (Phil):Nice.
Guide (Chris):And get to pick the highest one.
Rolo (Phil):Alright. One at a time. I got a six. Oh, boy. Not good.
Guide (Chris):Okay.
Rolo (Phil):And a 16. Oh.
Guide (Chris):Alright. So you clamber up the side of the the deck and just stick in your hands and holes and grab it onto metal pipes, and and you flop over the top of the deck. And as you flop over the top of the deck CAM, you run up or you're down below, but you hear, like, a big thump on the deck. Squawk, you're standing there. You see Rolo, and then, Lysander, you're just kinda swinging on the rope.
Rolo (Phil):What the heck is going on up here?
Lysander (Jay):Is there a any way I could grab onto the mast or the sail as I'm swirling around?
Guide (Chris):You could just let go too. You're only about three, four feet up in air.
Lysander (Jay):Oh!
Squawk (Madeleine):I got you.
Lysander (Jay):That's it? I thought I was up higher. Oh.
Guide (Chris):Nope.
Squawk (Madeleine):I totally I'll catch you.
Lysander (Jay):I'll let you go.
Guide (Chris):Okay. He just lets go. Squawk, are you gonna try and catch him?
Squawk (Madeleine):No. I'm, like, six feet away.
Guide (Chris):He's much bigger than you.
Squawk (Madeleine):Yeah. He's I meant to. I really, really meant to. I'm sorry. I let him I totally let him down.
Guide (Chris):Well, Lysander, you kinda crashed down the ground. Kaboom. And then the ship shudders, like, really hard. And then suddenly, feels like you're not really drifting. You're being pulled forward, and you see this thick purple mist start to close in around the ship. And when you look back, the other ships are gone. The moon is just like a distant speck, and it kinda shrinks to nothingness. Then from below, you hear a bunch of rattling. And, CAM, as you're standing there, the ship starts to shake and shift, and then a whole bunch of the instruments fall off of the navigation desk and just smash onto the floor and just start scattering all over.
CAM (Tito):Oh, boy. This is not good.
Rolo (Phil):But good news. We're making great time.
Guide (Chris):You are.
CAM (Tito):Great time to where?
Rolo (Phil):Bruh, I don't have all the answers, man. No idea.
Squawk (Madeleine):I feel good about it.
Lysander (Jay):I'm still not too good about it.
Squawk (Madeleine):You guys be positive.
CAM (Tito):I'm positive that we're lost.
Guide (Chris):So the instruments you do see are just kinda like, some of them are mounted on mounts, and they're just kinda spinning randomly, and and the dials are just moving back and forth. Some of the other ones are starting to fall on the ground, and then you start hearing, like, clanging behind you when you look in the pots and pans that were on hooks are starting to rattle around. And the whole ship is starting to kinda vibrate as it's moving faster. So let's go back to the deck. Squawk, Lysander, and Rolo, what are you guys doing?
Lysander (Jay):Is the wheelie thing still spinning?
Guide (Chris):It's not spinning, but it's just kinda, like I don't wanna say it's, just shimmying kind of back and forth a little bit. Like, it's not moving too far.
CAM (Tito):Oscillating?
Guide (Chris):Yes.
Lysander (Jay):Do we still are those sails up?
Guide (Chris):Yes. But they're they don't really seem to be, like, blown out, but they're just kind of flopping back and forth. And the wind is coming from couple of different like, it comes from one direction, then the sails starts to fill, and then it blows from the other way.
Rolo (Phil):Oh, okay. I use my inherent beach elf to to get a feel for the wind. Tap into the wind and the and the gusts and try to get the vibe of patterns gusts in the chaos. To figure out which way they're coming from. You see a a pattern in the chaos.
Guide (Chris):Okay. So you put your finger up in the air. You feel the wind. You kinda listen. And it's like, yeah. And so the wind blows, like, right into your face, and then it blows from behind you.
Rolo (Phil):And that's that's all I got. Okay.
Squawk (Madeleine):Nice try. Nice try.
Guide (Chris):Then it kinda swirls around you.
Rolo (Phil):Oh, no. Wait. Okay. So if it's going from the front and it's going from the back, if we turn okay. Get this. If we turn sideways, right, then then no matter if it's coming from the front or the back, it'll sorta, like, hit the sail broadside.
Squawk (Madeleine):So smart.
Rolo (Phil):Yeah. I I grab the wheel, and I turn it.
Guide (Chris):Okay. So as you grab the wheel, the pull suddenly feels like it gets stronger, and the ship suddenly, like, surges forward real fast. And whatever control you guys were starting to get seems to be slipping. You start moving faster than any ship you've really been on and definitely faster than feel safe aboard the S.S. Distress. And as if to prove the point, a big chunk of the deck railing tears free with a crack and then smashes into some crates, blowing them off the deck, and then, like, vanishes into the mist behind you. Now the wheel doesn't seem to resist you at all. It just doesn't seem to do anything.
Squawk (Madeleine):I think we need to abandon the wheel. No more wheel. New plan.
CAM (Tito):So as they're doing that, I'm gonna start walking upstairs, and I'm I'm just kinda jotting down on a piece of paper, mumbling numbers and and, you know, scribing. And and I get up to the top, and I'm like, alright, guys. I I think I think I figured out where we are. We're we're right in between two drift lines, and and we're in in what they call a drift vortex, basically, swirling around here. So we wanna make sure we don't go left.
Rolo (Phil):I'm not sure.
Squawk (Madeleine):Sounds yeah.
Rolo (Phil):There's something we can do anything about.
Lysander (Jay):But what if we already went left? So we can't go left again?
CAM (Tito):Oh, well, if we already went left, then...
Rolo (Phil):I let's grab the wheel, and I turn it to the right.
Guide (Chris):Okay. You start spinning the wheel, but the ship just seems to be chugging along down, like, a straight path.
Rolo (Phil):Yeah. See?
Guide (Chris):So you, Suddenly, the rigging starts to strain, and it starts to snap tight again, and the lines are whipping around. And it does seem like some of them are gonna tear free if you guys don't grab them. And then the ship starts to slowly rotate, like, around like, as you guys are moving forward, it still it just starts to rotate on its axis. Like...
Rolo (Phil):Oh, boy. I don't think it's supposed to do that.
Guide (Chris):Let's see.
Squawk (Madeleine):There's just gonna be so much barfing.
Rolo (Phil):I should've kept my hat.
Squawk (Madeleine):Alright. So I don't like these ropes, these flapping ropes. So I'm gonna grab the rope, and I'm gonna wrap it around my body really tight. And I'm gonna try and flatten myself to the deck to keep this rope from flapping.
Guide (Chris):Rolo, what are you doing?
Rolo (Phil):Sounds like a good idea. I'm gonna grab a rope too. Whatever rope I can reach and grab it.
Guide (Chris):Okay. There's a of rope.
Rolo (Phil):Tie it to the next closest thing.
Guide (Chris):Next closest thing is CAM.
Rolo (Phil):Okay. I reach over and I go, dude, hold on to this rope.
CAM (Tito):I just kinda grab the rope.
Rolo (Phil):And I tie it around this and give him the thumbs up.
Guide (Chris):Alright, Lysander, what are you doing?
Lysander (Jay):So I'm gonna say to CAM, is there any other propulsion? Like, what was that do you do you know what that steam was doing? Like, is there an engine? The last boat I was on had an engine.
CAM (Tito):If there is one, I don't think it's working very well. Or the sail is our main propulsion right now, and it all these lines are coming loose. We're we're losing it.
Lysander (Jay):So we should take the sails down?
CAM (Tito):No. Well, the sails yeah. The sails need to be down.
Guide (Chris):Right. The sails are up right now.
Lysander (Jay):They're up. So we gotta take the down.
CAM (Tito):I thought you guys took them down earlier.
Lysander (Jay):Well...
Guide (Chris):Do you guys know how to take the sails down?
Lysander (Jay):Ah, No.
CAM (Tito):It's one of these ropes.
Guide (Chris):Okay. So which who who pulls on the rope?
Squawk (Madeleine):Well, I've got one wrapped around me. So I start running as fast as I can to hopefully will pulling on the rope to bring the sail down?
Guide (Chris):So as you run, you start pulling on the rope, and CAM starts picking up off the deck.
Squawk (Madeleine):Okay. Alright. So stop that. I stop. And I'm embarrassed now, so I hand the rope to Lysander.
Guide (Chris):Okay.
Lysander (Jay):I just look at the rope. What do you want me to do with this? You gave me a rope last time.
CAM (Tito):And as she hands off the rope, all the weight of me pulls back down on the other side of the rope.
Guide (Chris):Pulls Lysander up off the deck.
Lysander (Jay):Whoo.
Squawk (Madeleine):Oh my, okay.
Guide (Chris):So you guys hear a big crash downstairs, and then the ropes are starting to come loose, but there's just a purple mist that's flying around you. Do you guys wanna go check on any the other decks, or you just what else do you wanna do?
Squawk (Madeleine):Are there any buttons we can push?
Guide (Chris):There are no buttons here.
Rolo (Phil):There were.
Squawk (Madeleine):Is there...
Guide (Chris):Yeah. There were in the hold.
Squawk (Madeleine):But then...
Rolo (Phil):Lots of them.
Squawk (Madeleine):Or levers.
CAM (Tito):Somebody dismantled them.
Guide (Chris):Rolo can tell you where the buttons were.
Rolo (Phil):Dude...it was my job to do that.
Squawk (Madeleine):Right? Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Right. Everything's destroyed. Okay. So.
Rolo (Phil):I know. I'm gonna take these sails down.
Guide (Chris):Alright. What are you gonna try? You just gonna try and start pulling ropes? You gonna...
Rolo (Phil):No. You see you see that axe over there?
CAM (Tito):Oh, no.
Rolo (Phil):What I'm gonna do is gonna take the axe. I'm just gonna start hacking at the main mast because it's the fastest way I can think of to take the sails down.
Guide (Chris):Okay.
CAM (Tito):But if chop down the mast, then how the sails gonna come down?
Rolo (Phil):They come down with the mast. They're all together, you see.
Squawk (Madeleine):I like this plan.
CAM (Tito):We don't need the mast down. We need the mast where it is with the sails down.
Rolo (Phil):Oh, dude, are you gonna micromanage everything?
Lysander (Jay):So as I'm flying up and down on the rope, can I see how the mast is connected to anything or the sail rather?
Guide (Chris):So, yeah, you do actually see there's a rope that is tied down to, like, a cleat on the one of the sides of the boat that looks like it's the main thing to pull the mast down.
Lysander (Jay):What I'm gonna shout to whoever's closest. Take the rope off that thing on the deck.
Rolo (Phil):I hit the thing on the deck with my axe.
Guide (Chris):Okay. So you hit it, and it slices through the rope, and suddenly the the sail just collapses down. And it's just kinda fluttering and and rolls around.
Rolo (Phil):I spread my arms out and take a bow.
Lysander (Jay):That's why you're the captain.
Squawk (Madeleine):And I hug Rolo.
Guide (Chris):Very nice.
Rolo (Phil):Nice.
Guide (Chris):Alright. So then just as you take a bow, the wind shifts violently and the ship lurches sideways. And you're pushed out of the mist and out into the open Azure. And you see a red Sol, one you don't recognize hanging low off into the distance. But before you can take in anything else, the wind shifts again and you're pushed back into the mist. Wind shifts again, pushing you downward, and then again, pushing you back upwards. There doesn't seem to be any pattern or or direction. It's just force driving the Distress in random directions. And the sky feels weird. It's almost like it's the sky is moving past you instead of you moving through it.
Rolo (Phil):Woah. That's deep.