Flight of the Kingfissher Ep 2 - "Try Anything at Least Twice"

Flight of the Kingfissher Ep 2 – “Try Anything at Least Twice”

[The hum and crackle of a radio]

Radio Free Frontier DJ (Robert)
Well folks, it’s an exciting time to be out on the frontier. Everyone is getting ready for the Port Solar Classic, with visitors coming from as far away as the old worlds to watch those sea skimmers race. But if you can’t make it here in person, don’t worry. We’ll be covering all the action, right here on your long-range crystal transceiver. In the mean time, keep your eyes on the stars and your ears tuned into Radio Free Frontier.

[Flight of the Kingfissher theme]

Robert
Esperanza. Having successfully dispatched the guards of the mess hall and peering inside, you see a group of about eight scientists, huddled, sitting on the chairs around the dining tables. And another soldier inside with them. He doesn’t’ seem too distressed or involved. He obviously hasn’t noticed your actions yet. But beyond that, you also notice that there is, on one of the tables near the kitchen, a pile of a local fruit that, while it tastes delicious, when it is crushed gives off a noxious odor. And that is an Asset: a native fruit that when crushed gives off an overwhelmingly unpleasant odor.

You are, however, somewhat exposed as you are peering in through those windows. And a new shuttle has just landed behind you. A man in a ridiculously gilded military uniform has disembarked, and is now heading not towards you, but towards the dig site.

Natalia
Zeta ducks behind the building and waits for him and his cohort to walk past. As the crunching of their boots grows far enough away, she moves back to the window, to just double check everything inside has stayed the same, that hasn’t changed in that span of time. She sees the pile of fruit and she starts to put a little plan together. But there’s really not enough time for it to be a solid plan, and she’s very much a “run and gun” kind of person. She throws the door the open, the shoots directly at the pile of fruit, and just yells…

Esperanza “Zeta” Cruz (Natalia)
Scatter!

Robert
The smell that arises from the lasfire burning through this pungent fruit reaches your nostrils, but only after it reaches the nostrils of everyone inside the dining hall. The soldier guarding the people, you can’t quite tell if they’re throwing up or not, but they might as well be. The archaeologists have a little more experience with this smell, and they know to take your advice when you say “Scatter,” and so they do.

I do want you to take the Condition: An Unpleasant Odor.

Natalia
[Snorts]

Robert
As a bit of this fruit’s juice lands on you, and gets its smell inextricably from your clothing.

Esperanza “Zeta” Cruz (Natalia)
Ugh, I’m never gonna get this out…

Natalia
I start running.

Robert
Captain Valentine. Valen-teen? Valentine.

Wes
Just don’t call me late for dinner.

Robert
[Laughs] Captain Valentine, you are aboard the Kingfissher, buzzing the Azure Dragon, a much larger gunship than you. Quite successfully, at this point. What is your plan going forward?

Wes
Captain Valentine Dekk is gonna look back over at Dr. Chapman.

Capt. Valentine “Shuffle” Dekk (Wes)
You doing alright back there?

Dr. Diana “Daredevil” Chapman (Robert)
This is exhilarating!

Wes
I’m so glad you’re having a fantastic time. Okay. So typically I charge for people to fly on this thing, but you’re gonna do something for me that I think would cover all the expenses from the fuel utilized, and everything like that, Dr. Chapman. So there’s gonna be, like, some Sonar type of equipment. It’s really archaic and everything like that. Can you point us out to the proper dig site, and maybe we can try to figure out maybe if there’s an alternate route in and out of that place? Maybe there’s like strategeric places where we can plant some demolitions to collapse the thing in on itself, to protect the integrity of this ancient site, or anything like that. Maybe anything that you science types like to participate in.

Dr. Diana “Daredevil” Champman (Robert)
Absolutely. No, I’ve seen aerial photos of this, so I can easily direct you from here. We just need to go this way, and then this way…

Robert
And that sounds like you are also trying to roll a Recon Move. If you could roll me that Recon Move using Reason.

Wes
Okie dokie. And because I’m an ace pilot, I get to roll with advantage!

Robert
You do indeed.

Wes
[Rolls dice] That is a 6 and a 5, +0 – cause I’m not that bright, as the captain – is an 11.

Robert
Avery. Having seen the commander of this gunship make this big entrance and head off towards the dig site, what are you up to?

T.
I turn to Dr. Kim and say…

Dr. Avery Swann (T.)
Do me a favor. Could you go and find my attaché Miss Cruz and let her know I’m heading to the dig site?

T.
And I head to the dig site. En route, I would like to see – cause I likely have been poring all over these ruins that we’ve bene unearthing. Can I construct a mental map in my mind of… I’m picturing, like a ziggurat or a tomb or something. Like there’s catacombs when you go inside.

Robert
Yeah. That’s actually a pretty good description of these ruins. It’s a complex of several stone-like buildings, connected by a series of tunnels, with a few points that rise just up above the jungle canopy. It’s largely flooded, due to the shifting of the river and whatnot. And has been largely consumed by the earth. But you are pretty familiar with it.

T.
I know there’s one bit that we are trying to unearth, like a main one. I wanna basically construct a mental map of this site, because I plan to take the commander and lure him underground, to buy some getaway time.

Robert
That absolutely sounds like a Recon Move. If you could roll that for me, also with Reason.

T.
Robert, am I able to do this with advantage? My special move is Xenoarchaeologist: when trying to understand or utilize Precursor knowledge, all associated rolls are made with advantage. Would this be considered…?

Robert
Yeah. I think so, trying to understand how and why they built their buildings this way. Go ahead and roll with advantage.

T.
Dope. That means that 6 and 3 is 9, +2 is another 11.

Robert
Esperanza, last we saw of you, you were escorting some of the scientists back to the boat house. You do this without much difficulty.

Natalia
Zeta pulls up to the boat house, and is just shoving archaeologists in here, trying to get them to get on the boat. She’s counting how many were in the dining hall, how many have made it here, the ones that she passed earlier… Looks around. Doesn’t see Avery fucking anywhere.

Esperanza “Zeta” Cruz (Natalia)
[Sighs] James, where is… Where is Swann?

James Kim (Robert)
Yes, um, they went off to try and deal with the people at the dig site. Um…

Esperanza “Zeta” Cruz (Natalia)
[Sighs]

James Kim (Robert)
Sorry, I don’t mean to upset you. But there are one or two – three, to be specific – scientists still down at the dig site. They were working there when this all went down.

Natalia
Have I seen our ship yet? Would I know that going down river, we wouldn’t find the ship?

Robert
Yes, I think so. I think at this point, you’ve probably been able to see the Kingfissher buzzing the Azure Dragon.

Esperanza “Zeta” Cruz (Natalia)
Okay. James, stay here. Don’t go anywhere. I’m gonna… [Sighs] Okay…

Natalia
Do we have comms? Like, to talk to…

Robert
You do not.

Natalia
No? Okay. Didn’t think so.

Esperanza “Zeta” Cruz (Natalia)
Just stay here. Don’t go anywhere. I’m gonna go get… [Sighs] Avery, and then I will come back, and… Don’t… The ship is here, so don’t go down. Just stay in this building, close the doors, bar yourselves in. I’ll come find you. Okay!

Natalia
As Zeta runs out to go find Avery, out of the corner of her eye she sees the two ships that have landed in the river. And while she doesn’t necessarily trust Avery to take on all the people who went down there, she also knows they are smart enough not to directly take them on, and they’re probably not gonna fight them. So she turns her attention to trying to mess with the escape route of these people, who landed here. So I’d love to go investigate one of the ships, whichever one is closer…

Robert
Yeah. So there’s two on the river right now. One is a fairly small military-grade shuttlecraft, really just meant to have soldiers jump on and off. The other one is built with a little more luxury in mind…

Natalia
Yeah, fuck that one.

Robert
Okay. So you approach one of the shuttles, still sitting in the river. At this point, the guards have largely abandoned them. They figure things are either locked down, or they are moving towards the camp to lock things down further there. Your way is unimpeded.

Natalia
I would love to dismantle whatever mechanism I think I can find, that would cause lift, so that they can get back up into the air.

Robert
Sure. That sounds like a Day Move to me.

Natalia
Yeah.

Robert
What are you afraid will happen if you fail?

Natalia
I think failure here would mean I get on the ship and I simply don’t know how it works. And I get on here, and I just can’t find anything that is actually going to stop it from leaving.

Robert
Okay. If you would roll that Day Move with Reason.

Natalia
I keep doing things with my brain! I’m no good at those…

[Rolls dice] Oh, baby. I don’t need it, though. That’s an 11 on the dice.

Robert
Valentine, skimming the ship out towards the ruins, your temporary copilot has arranged some of the odd mismatch of radar, lidar, whatever sort of detection systems that you can manage to get working on this ship, towards the jungle where the ruins are. They manage to actually get a pretty good topographical depiction of it, with some highs and lows. And even a few potential spaces, further out into the jungle, where there might be more ruins. So the Asset you got from that is a detailed survey of the ruins and surrounding jungle, with markings showing where other ruins might be buried.

The other thing they determined, though, was that while you could potentially land the Kingfissher, the dense foliage is going to make that very challenging.

Wes
I think, in conjunction with kind of, like, having that full topographical survey and everything, and noticing the dense foliage, it’s gonna be hard to land… The captain is going to wheel back around, after kind of maintaining a hover pattern around, so that we’re not just completely stopped and we’re kind of continuously moving around the dig site, and everything. Look at the doctor and say…

Captain Valentine “Shuffle” Dekk (Wes)
How comfortable do you think the nerds are gonna be with climbing up and aboard this ship with like a winch or something?

Dr. Diana “Daredevil” Chapman (Robert)
Um… I mean, we are archaeologists, so we are a little bit more physically fit than, you know, your average scientist.

Captain Valentine “Shuffle” Dekk (Wes)
Good at the pull ups?

Dr. Diana “Daredevil” Chapman (Robert)
I wouldn’t… I wouldn’t bet my life on it, though.

Captain Valentine “Shuffle” Dekk (Wes)
More sit up kind of folks, okay, got it. Alright. You know back in my day, there use dot be actually like a full suite of fitness tests that we used to od, that was like a full body thing and everything. I don’t know. Kids your age, they all just focus on leg day or something.

Anyways, I’m thinking a good way that if we have to, like, shuttle people out really quick, is maybe doing, like… You know how we did a flyby earlier, that was kind of to piss them off? Kind of drum up the hornets’ nest and everything like that?

Dr. Diana “Daredevil” Chapman (Robert)
Yes. Yes, I remember that quite distinctly.

Captain Valentine “Shuffle” Dekk (Wes)
Perfect. Well, we’re gonna do that again, but this time slower, okay? We’re gonna come in low and slow, alright? So we don’t piss off anybody or blow anything off with exhaust. What I’m gonna do is I’m gonna have the back hatch in the rear of the thing hanging open, and I’m gonna have maybe some rigging, or maybe some netting, maybe some rope… Actually, you’re smart. Maybe you can go in the back hatch of the hull and figure out if there’s many things we can attach together with ropes or winches or anything, to help people get up and everything like that. Without us having to, like, land and everything. Because there’s like trees. And also, there’ll be a fine put on the Kingfissher if we do any destruction to any sort of, like, flora or fauna that, you know, wasn’t necessary for the process of the dig.

Dr. Diana “Daredevil” Chapman (Robert)
You… You are awfully worried about regulations for a planet that I don’t think is… Anyway, that’s not the point. I think I can find something like that.

Captain Valentine “Shuffle” Dekk (Wes)
There’s a tenuous line and balance between being a person of wealth and a person that is in destitution in this galaxy, alright? And I’m not gonna have any sort of errant regulatory fines slapped on this baby, alright?

Dr. Diana “Daredevil” Chapman (Robert)
Understood. I will do my best to find a way to get the diggers up without damaging too much of the local fauna and flora.

Captain Valentine “Shuffle” Dekk (Wes)
Absolutely. Just the coolest way, the most efficient way, but with the least amount of damage to the ship or, you know, anything that would cost any kind of fines or fees or anything like that. Absolutely, alright?

Dr. Diana “Daredevil” Chapman (Robert)
Aye aye, captain.

Captain Valentine “Shuffle” Dekk (Wes)
It’s been a long time since I’ve heard that. Felt really good. Thank you.

Robert
Down below you, in the jungle, running as fast as their little legs will take them… Avery, you have a few moments to think and remember the various spots in the ruins that you’ve been to so far. And you remember that there’s actually a particular place in one of the spires that is almost impossible to see from the outside. But when you are there, you get a great view of the surrounding ruins, and even all the way back to the camp. That is an Asset: a hidden chamber in the ruins that provides an excellent view of the entire camp.

And basically as soon as you have this revelation, you find yourself at the site of the dig. As I described earlier, it is an enormous stone complex, the size of a small town. A lot of it has been buried underground, due to the shifting nature of jungle rivers and the looseness of the soil around here. The buildings are connected by maze-like corridors, containing countless small chambers. And a few winding spires that peek their way just above the canopy of the jungle.

Paint the Scene: while the purpose of this construction, like most Precursor ruins, might never be know, what clues have the dig team unearthed that might point in the right direction?

T.
Much of the remains of garments that have been found at the site have been identical, indicating that either this place required a uniform, or some sort of religious attire.

Wes
There are configurations of lines that at first you might think are just simple troughs carved into stone. That you realize are actually, to add off of the religious aspect, could be ritual circles. The language on them, for their purpose, is not clear. But it might have something to do with seasonal changes.

Natalia
And outside of the construct itself, they have found remnants of an exterior wall that most likely provided defense to the building.

Robert
Avery, as you step through the clearing and see this complex laid out before you, what do you do?

T.
I make a beeline for the diggers that are still on the site. And as soon as I get to them, I say…

Dr. Avery Swann (T.)
Rack them and pack them, but put the tools in the loadout cases, and put the relics in your toolboxes. We’re gonna od our best to fool them. It might not work. But at least it’ll give us something of a head start.

T.
And then I turn toward where the commander is coming from and, mopping a little bit of sweat off my brow, ditch my bag and then stride forward to meet them. Saluting the military salute of deference, which is bringing three fingers up and covering my mouth, and presenting it to him.

Robert
At first, two of his bodyguards lower their rifles towards you. But when you make that military salute, he waves a little hand, and the rifles are relaxed a little bit.

Dr. Avery Swann (T.)
Commander Thade, I presume?

Commander Thade (Robert)
That is correct. Here to surrender?

Dr. Avery Swann (T.)
No, no. There’s no need for surrender. You’re here to take what we’ve unearthed. I assumed the military council got my missive?

Commander Thade (Robert)
Council. That’s a funny idea. We’re not quite like that. I don’t know who you’ve been talking with, but we go where we want and we take what we find.

Dr. Avery Swann (T.)
I see. Well, allow me to help you find it. My name is James Kim. I’m the lead on this particular expedition. We’ve been in the midst of unearthing what could be considered the greatest scientific discovery of our age. But more to the point, looks like it’ll fetch a wonderful price for the right buyer. Allow me to lead the way. It’s a bit heavier than we’ve been able to unearth, but your men should have no trouble.

Commander Thade (Robert)
Gladly. Men, follow Mr. Kim.

Dr. Avery Swann (T.)
Doctor.

Commander Thade (Robert)
My apologies. Follow Doctor Kim.

Dr. Avery Swann (T.)
I would be honored if you would see the site for yourself, Commander.

Robert
That, to me, sounds like you’re trying to convince someone to do something that they weren’t necessarily wanting to do, so that’ll be a Day Move.

T.
Mmhmm.

Robert
With Presence. If you fail this roll, what are you afraid will happen?

T.
If I fail this roll, I’m afraid that the men will go in with my team. With the team. [Laughs] I’ve already adopted them. I’m afraid the soldiers will go in with the diggers, leaving just me and Commander Thade, with me under guard.

Robert
Roll it.

T.
[Rolls dice] 1 and 1 is 2, with 0 in Presence is a failure…

Natalia
No, god…

Wes
Incredible.

Robert
We’ll come back to that and see what that means in just a moment.

Natalia
[Wails]

Wes
This is the absolute best thing that could ever happen.

Natalia
It’s literally not! It’s the worst!

[Robert and Wes laugh]

Robert
Esperanza, it is clear that this shuttlecraft that you snuck aboard was built for comfort, not for practical purposes. And so it’s pretty easy to figure out how it works, and how you could best disrupt its workings.

Natalia
Zeta makes her way up to the control room. She’s been in ships before, even if she’s not completely familiar with all of the technological stuff. But she is definitely smart enough to find wiring under a panel at the bottom of the control center. And she just starts pulling out handfuls.

Robert
As you’re pulling out handfuls of wiring, not only are you effectively disabling the ship, you also notice that someone has stashed something in the guts of this ship. As you find a plastic bag filled with a white powder. This is another Asset: you have found a stash of recreational narcotics.

Natalia
Oh, those are going in my pocket, baby!

Robert
So not only will this ship never fly again, whoever stashed those there…

Natalia
Won’t be flying either! I crack open the bag a little bit. What does it smell like? What is it called?

Robert
This is a container full of Smooth, a powerful recreational narcotic that puts one’s mind at ease and gives one a sense of confidence.

Natalia
Oh, yeah. No, I dip a finger in that. Rub a little on my gums, and just go on my way.

T.
No! Wait! You’re in the middle of ahigh-stakes situation.

Natalia
Yeah.

T.
You can’t do heroin and go be in a fire fight!

Natalia
Little bit! Tiny bit.

Wes
You better hope Space OSHA doesn’t find out.

Robert
Valentine. Dr. Chapman has given you an assortment of ropes, nettings, chains… Various things that you could possibly drag out of the cargo hatch of your ship, for people to climb up. She seems very excited about this new swashbuckling lifestyle that she is taking up.

Dr. Diana “Daredevil” Chapman (Robert)
Alright. I think this will be the best one if we get close enough. It’s the sturdiest. But this one might be a little bit longer, if you wanna hover higher. I don’t know exactly what your goal was, here.

Captain Valentine “Shuffle” Dekk (Wes)
So, walk with me a little bit here, alright? So what I’m thinking currently is that, uh, we’re going to utilize… Truth be told, a little bit of luck, little bit of gumption, some spit, and some dreams. Really, I’m just trying to get as many of the folks out of her as possible, on a ship that is not grounded and also does not have one of those blue dragons painted on it. If that means I have to hook up to something to grab people and reel them back up on here, maybe a winch or something? Whatever kind of great idea. Now if I also have to kind of bring myself down a little bit lower to help gate people up, that’s kind of where you come in. You’re kind of….

There’s an old cartoon show I used to watch with my daughter, okay? It was called Stinky and Big Brain, alright? And it was about two space weasels, alright? Stinky and Big Brain. And well, Stinky was stinky, and Big Brain had a big brain. Anyways. They had something similar to this where there was a bunch of moon rocks that were kept in this little base, and they had to sneak inside this little base. So we’re just gonna do like a reverse Stinky and Big Brain, right? They’re trying to use the ropes to sneak in, and we’re tying to use the ropes to sneak out. So essentially what I’m thinking is that we can utilize centrifugal force. So we go ahead, lean down, hook this onto somebody somehow, and then we bring up a little bit, but then we dip back and slow down, so we just kind of usher them in safely into this hull.

Now, if this is all crazy, you really gotta let me know. And so you’ll probably try anything else. Literally, I’m kind of like the pie in the sky person, that you gotta reel me back into reality. Because I will… The sky is the limit when it comes to ideas, when it comes to me. I always told the other two. Especially Swann, I’m like, “There are no bad ideas aboard the Kingfissher, alight? We will try anything at least twice.”

Dr. Diana “Daredevil” Chapman (Robert)
I think that idea sounds excellent. Just… How are we going to communicate to the team that this is what they are supposed to do?

Captain Valentine “Shuffle” Dekk (Wes)
Perfect. Alright. So that was I was thinking, as well. You’re spot on. You… Are you looking for a job? Is this like a contract thing, or like a temp thing, or maybe like the contract runs out and you gotta… Nevermind. Doesn’t matter.

So I’m thinking that maybe since you’re the smart science person, you can go ahead and handle all the centrifugal force and the handling the winch and operation, and everything like that. That’s easy. That’s easy street. But the complicated thing is gonna be utilizing a flag system, alright? To kind of communicate to folks down on the ground, or anything like that. That’s where I come in, too. So I’m gonna try to, like, use a way to, like, necessitate. Now I also have a blowhorn. And I can kind of just, like, shout down. But utilizing the bullhorn or the intercoms, the speakers on the ship, they might not be able to hear them on the engine. So… Both? Bit of both? Flags and intercom?

Dr. Diana “Daredevil” Chapman (Robert)
Sounds like a plan. I will leave this to your expertise.

T.
I love her.

Captain Valentine “Shuffle” Dekk (Wes)
Doesn’t really sound like much of a plan. Sounds like a summation of a plan. But you know what? I appreciate your confidence.

Dr. Diana “Daredevil” Champan (Robert)
Right. So… Do you have flags?

Captain Valentine “Shuffle” Dekk (Wes)
Actually, I do. So if you just go ahead and give me a moment…

Wes
And I’m just gonna go ahead and grab a trunk and pull it out, and everything, and open it up. And you will see that there are a variety of costumes and props from old movies, and everything like that.

And you will see that there is a set of two orange flags. It was from a very popular cult romantic comedy film. It didn’t’ bust down the doors or anything. It wasn’t a major blockbuster or anything. It wasn’t a Notebook, certainly. That wasn’t a romantic comedy. Whatever. Doesn’t matter. But it is about a traffic controller on a space station, who falls in love with a pilot of a ship. And the whole thing kind of centers around, well there’s a big storm, and the air traffic controller has to usher them in, and everything like that.

And so you will see these two little flags come up.

Captain Valentine “Shuffle” Dekk (Wes)
Hearts Under Control. You ever see it?

Dr. Diana “Daredevil” Chapman (Robert)
Uh, no. But I’m no tone for classic movies.

Captain Valentine “Shuffle” Dekk (Wes)
Oh, the Atraxian Point translation was something like… Flag Time, or, you know… Love without the E? I don’t know. I’m not really big on the translations, or anything like that. But I can probably use this to communicate, yeah?

Dr. Diana “Daredevil” Chapman (Robert)
Let’s do it!

Robert
This sounds like a Day Move to try and communicate your intentions to the crew beneath you. What are you afraid will happen if you and Diana fail in this attempt to communicate?

Wes
The exact wrong message is going to be communicated to everybody on the ground, and is gonna send them all off to maybe getting into the dig site to like hold down, bunker in the temple in the dig site, or have them all run into the woods someplace, or something like that. Just, the completely wrong thing. There’s a lot going on in this plan, and now I think Valentine is realizing that here’s a lot of moving parts, and maybe he should have simplified. Simple tools, you know. Maybe a ramp

Robert
Alright. Roll me a Day Move with Presence.

Wes
Absolutely. Oh, great. Hey, I love that. I’m gonna go ahead and use Advantage, for marking my movie prop from Love Under Control.

Robert
Absolutely.

T.
Of all the props you could have pulled…

Robert
A pair of semaphore flags.

Natalia
A cult classic. Everyone wanted them.

Wes
Everyone wanted them! That is 5 + 3 + 1.

Robert
Down on the ground below you, Commander Thade takes a look at Dr. Avery.

Commander Thade (Robert)
No. I don’t think we’ll be doing it that way. Men, why don’t you take the scientists into the ruins, and I’ll hold Dr. Kim here as a… As a bit of leverage.

Dr. Avery Swann (T.)
Leverage? Uh… Whatever for? We’re cooperating entirely.

Commander Thade (Robert)
A little too much, for my taste.

Dr. Avery Swann (T.)
This is the first time I’ve ever encountered a man balking at too much cooperation. Very well. Um… Taket hem to the find, gents.

Commander Thade (Robert)
You two, stay here with me. Make sure your guns are trained on him at all points. First sign of trouble, first shot from the ruins? Execute.

T.
Shit.

Robert
This is where you could always face a Shade and bump that up to a mixed success.

T.
Yeah. I’m gonna use a Shade. And I’ll be using a Shade of the Present.

Robert
Albright. If you will read the prompt, and then narrate.

T.
Touch of the Precursors. Narrate a scene in which you come into contact with a powerful piece of Precursor tech. It fundamentally changes something about you. Raise one ability modifier by 1, and lower another by 1. But because I am the Xenoarchaeologist, I’m actually going to raise two by 1.

Robert
Would you go ahead and narrate exactly how this happens?

T.
With the guns trained on me, these men being laid away, I’m…

Dr. Avery Swann (T.)
That’s.. That’s hardly necessary.

T.
And I subconsciously go to my bit of space rock in order to comfort myself. I’m gonna, like, rub it as a fetish. And as the part of my fingers that were burnt by the Precursor tech in my accordion case come into contact with this metal…

It liquifies, seeps under my finger nails, and crawls up my hand into my veins. Quickly coursing through. And then as it joins into my nervous system, becomes circuitry. The veins along the side of my temple arc out and darken and then, instead of their regular staccato lightning-like pattern, angle off and end in circuits. One of my eyes floods black. And I immediately see the layout of this ruin as it once was.

Robert
What is your stat change?

T.
I’m bumping Reason to 3 and Sensitivity to 0. I’m gonna drop Vitality to -1. This hurts. And as this happens, I collapse to the ground in pain.

Commander Thade (Robert)
Hold up. Hold up, men. I don’t think the good doctor here is gonna be causing too much of a problem, the state they’re in right now. So why don’t we all just, nice and friendly like, go into these ruins?

Robert
And Esperanza, as you burst through the jungle, catching up to your team, you see Commander Thade forcing the semi-conscious Dr. Avery into the ruins. And you see your ship, the Kingfissher, fly overhead, a pair of semaphore flags hanging out of the back cargo bay.

Esperanza “Zeta” Cruz (Natalia)
Why am I the only one taking this seriously? This is – every time. Every time, he’s doing some stupid shit on the ship, and the other one is collapsing to the ground… Okay. Okay. Okay. It’s fine. I’m fine.

Natalia
I rub a little bit more Smooth on my gums.

T.
[Chuckles]

Natalia
I see the semaphore signal. I grasp what Valentine is trying to do. I’d like to look for something in the camp that can help me get people higher, so that they can reach the ship easier.

Robert
As you take a look around this empty camp, roll me one more Recon Move, with Reason, to see what you find.

Natalia
[Rolls dice] Okay. That’s gonna be a 10.

T.
LFG!

Robert
Valentine, on your latest buzz of the ruins site, you actually manage to glance down and see three of the scientists and your compatriot Dr. Swann being forced at gunpoint, or being dragged, into the ruins. Not only that, you also see Esperanza heading back towards the camp. What do you do?

Wes
I think there’s that moment of, like, seeing the doctor’s doing okay for the most part. And then realizing it’s like – okay, we can maintain a holding pattern and everything like that. I need to get people in. The captain’s gonna look at the doctor and be like…

Captain Valentine “Shuffle” Dekk (Wes)
You’re sure you’ve never flown anything before in your life, right?

Dr. Diana “Daredevil” Chapman (Robert)
Yes, no. Never flown anything.

Captain Valentine “Shuffle” Dekk (Wes)
Well, in the words of Papa Dekk, there’s no time like the present to learn. So truly, kinda do what you’re doing right now. Get all of these good folks up here. I gotta go assess the situation down on the ground, okay? Best way I know how. [Chuckles] Alright?

Wes
And then the captain, kind of seeing the situation is like dispersing. The fucking doctor’s getting dragged to the dig site, Esperanza is running all over the place, it’s like…

Captain Valentine “Shuffle” Dekk (Wes)
Oh god, it does feel kinda lazy, being up here.

Wes
I’m gonna go and run to the ropes, and I’m gonna try to fast rope down, hopefully having a pair of gloves nearby, maybe? If not, it’s okay. We can both have ruined fingers, huh? How’s that?

Robert
I’m not even gonna call for a roll on this one. You scramble down the rope as Dr. Chapman does her best to hold you in a hovering pattern. And down there you meet Esperanza, who didn’t manage to find anything that would help get people up to the ship necessarily, but what you did find might be a little more interesting. One of the few large pieces of Precursor tech that had been taken from the ruins and brought back to camp has largely just been used as a mascot of this camp, because no one is quite sure exactly what it does. It’s fairly large – about 10 feet tall. And in the middle of it is a hollow chamber, that you’re not quite sure what it’s for.

This is an Asset: a strange device taken from a Precursor ruins, larger than a person. Its purpose is unknown, but it has a large, hollow chamber in its center. It could possibly be climbed up upon, or have someone shoved in it and lifted by a winch. But that line of thought is interrupted by the Kingfissher hovering over you, and your companion, Captain Dekk, quickly hand-over-fist climbing down a rope to the camp below.

Esperanza “Zeta” Cruz (Natalia)
Why are you on the ground? You’re supposed to be int eh ship! I’m bringing people to you, for the ship!

Captain Valentine “Shuffle” Dekk (Wes)
Y-yeah, but… I saw, like, the doc was getting carried away down into the dig site…

Esperanza “Zeta” Cruz (Natalia)
Yes! I’m dealing with it.

Captain Valentine “Shuffle” Dekk (Wes)
And you’re doing such a great job of just being like inspiring and running around and doing a bunch of stuff, and I just kind of felt like I was useless. Because the doctor up top is doing a fantastic job up there. I just kind of wanted to be in the camaraderie and the spirit of the – maybe you needed me to, like, punch somebody, or…

Esperanza “Zeta” Cruz (Natalia)
This is not the time! Oh, god… Okay. Let’s go then, I guess.

Captain Valentine “Shuffle” Dekk (Wes)
Okay. Fantastic. Yeah, yeah. Just think of this as like a ceremonial – I’m taking the captain hat off, and I’m handing it –

Esperanza “Zeta” Cruz (Natalia)
I don’t want the captain hat! I don’t want it. Take it back.

Captain Valentine “Shuffle” Dekk (Wes)
No! Like, we’re on the ground. So like, you’ve got your ground legs, and I’ve got my air legs, and…

Esperanza “Zeta” Cruz (Natalia)
Why would I want your hat?

Captain Valentine “Shuffle” Dekk (Wes)
Oh, it’s like a metaphorical hat. I’m gonna keep my literal hat on. You don’t want this thing. This thing has seen a lot of sweat stains, and, you know, you can’t just wash that off, you know? It’s just a really complicated process…

Natalia
Esperanza just walks away and starts telling scientists… Like, starts lifting them and showing them how to properly lift a person up onto this structure, so that they can then get up into the ship.

Esperanza “Zeta” Cruz (Natalia)
Okay. You all help each other. Scream if you need help.

Natalia
And then just grabs Valentine by the scruff of his neck and starts running with him down into the jungle.

Captain Valentine “Shuffle” Dekk (Wes)
Okay! Yeah, alright. That’s great. That’s great. That’s great. It’s all good. It’s all good. [Chuckles] You have a tight grip…

Robert
The shockingly capable Dr. Chapman is able to oversee the rest of the archaeologists climbing aboard the Kingfissher, while the two of you make your way through the jungle, back to the dig site.

Captain Valentine “Shuffle” Dekk (Wes)
Look, I was just trying to… You’re always saying that I should, you know, be a little bit more, uh… what is it? Uh… Entrepreneurial with our connections with folks. And seeing how we had a liaison that worked for the dig site, that worked along with us, I figured what the heck? Bring them on as a co-pilot until we get off the rock, and everything. And it’s working out perfectly fine. Bird hasn’t crashed once. Hasn’t got one ding in it.

Natalia
Zeta has pulled a flask from out of a pocket, and takes a deep swig, thrusts it into Valentine’s chest, and then grabs him by the shirt.

Esperanza “Zeta” Cruz (Natalia)
There is a difference between entrepreneurial spirit, as you put it, and putting people in fucking danger. Okay? When you make choices like this, people get hurt. I will not let people get hurt on my watch, okay? Not anymore. That’s not what I’m here for.

Captain Valentine “Shuffle” Dekk (Wes)
[Coughs] Okay. Yeah. That’s… Very intense liquor and emotion, coming from you. I just wanna say that I recognize your, uh… Your thoughts and your opinions on how we’ve been conducting ourself on the mission so far. I’m categorizing –

Esperanza “Zeta” Cruz (Natalia)
You talk like a fucking therapist.

Captain Valentine “Shuffle” Dekk (Wes)
It is not without, you know my own thoughts and, uh… experiences before. I used to be a rough neck like you, okay? I used to be a little bit rough around the edges, you know? I would drag people around by their ear. Why do you think I have a crew of contract workers and temporary folks bringing onboard the ship? You think if maybe I was such a decent, good, and kind captain, I would have maybe like a career, storied crew of folks, and I wouldn’t have had to hire on a security person. Or I wouldn’t have to be charging an exorbitant amount to an artifact-ologist to have a book space across the hall from me to, I don’t know, show me neat little tricks that they learned from books from three hundred years ago! And, oh, how does this music sound? And it’s just a bunch of toots on a horn, and everything! You know? Maybe I wouldn’t have gone into that. Maybe if there was, like –

Esperanza “Zeta” Cruz (Natalia)
Valentine, I am not asking you stop this… Just stop. I am asking you to stop. Just stop. Look, just don’t be stupid. Please? Just don’t be stupid. Okay? Stupid is how accidents happen, stupid is how people get hurt, and stupid is how people die.

Captain Valentine “Shuffle” Dekk (Wes)
Stupid is as stupid does… I can do that! I can do that. I can… Look, baseline? Should have said that from the start… But simply? I will stop being stupid. I will not be stupid.

Esperanza “Zeta” Cruz (Natalia)
I just need to know that you have my back, okay?

Captain Valentine “Shuffle” Dekk (Wes)
Shit yeah I’ve got your back, Zeta. I might be a little bit reckulous – reckless, okay?  I did things differently in my generation from your generation, okay? We’ve all got things to learn from. I could learn from you. You can learn from me. But thank you for establishing the fact that this is a boundary for you, and I will do my best to uphold it –

Esperanza “Zeta” Cruz (Natalia)
Gah! Talk like a person!

Captain Valentine “Shuffle” Dekk (Wes)
That’s a really fair critique, and I’ll work on it.

Esperanza “Zeta” Cruz (Natalia)
[Groans] Okay.

Natalia
Just starts taking deep breaths, like head against a tree.

Esperanza “Zeta” Cruz (Natalia)
[Inhales deeply]

Captain Valentine “Shuffle” Dekk (Wes)
You look like you could use this.

Wes
I’m gonna hand the flask back.

Natalia
Deep, deep drink.

Espeanza “Zeta” Cruz (Natalia)
Okay. You are doing your best, under the given circumstances. And I appreciate this. I’m just trying to look out for you, okay?

Captain Valentine “Shuffle” Dekk (Wes)
Shit, Zeta, that’s really thoughtful of you. I appreciate it.

Esperanza “Zeta” Cruz (Natalia)
Don’t…

Captain Valentine “Shuffle” Dekk (Wes)
And I’ve been thinking –

Esperanza “Zeta” Cruz (Natalia)
You don’t—

Captain Valentine “Shuffle” Dekk (Wes)
It’s related to the mission! It’s related tot eh mission. It has nothing to do with feelings or therapy speak, or anything like that. It’s related to the mission. How about I do what I do best…

Esperanza “Zeta” Cruz (Natalia)
Then you would be on the fucking ship!

Captain Valentine “Shuffle” Dekk (Wes)
I got other… I’m multitalented, alright? I’m a multidisciplinarian. I do have other merits than just fantastic flying skills. I’m also an eloquent speaker, alright? And I have a way with articulating words that seems to draw people’s attention. And you have a way of shooting bastards in the temple until they expire profusely. And so maybe we can put our skills together, to work towards a goal. And we can talk about my performance later, at our end of quarter review. Alright?

Esperanza “Zeta” Cruz (Natalia)
I… I don’t even know what that is…

Natalia
Just walks away. [Laughs]

Wes
I’m gonna follow after her real quick, and be like…

Captain Valentine “Shuffle” Dekk (Wes)
Just real quick, though. You seem really, like, hard nosed and like to the line, and… You, like, live on a live wire, you know? I was with a bunch of the guys in the force that were like that, and so I just, like… Everything… okay? With like… Just, is there some… Is there a way, maybe, in your military experience, maybe there’s a preferred way I could talk with you and chat with you? Maybe an example you could provide me that I could, uh, come across as a little more thoughtful?

Esperanza “Zeta” Cruz (Natalia)
Oh believe me, I know how very full of thoughts you are.

Captain Valentine “Shuffle” Dekk (Wes)
Thank you.

Robert
Well that was quite the Grounding move.

[Everyone laughs]

T.
Y’all feel grounded? I feel grounded.

Natalia
I feel so grounded!

Wes
I am grounded. I am calm. I am focused…

Robert
The Grounding move reads when you have an intimate moment with another crewmember when one of you is engaged in your little piece of home, you may each clear an appropriate condition. If it is your little piece of home, you can also stumble on an Asset relevant to the active adventure. Tell the Keeper what it is. The Asset cannot conclusively solve the problem by itself.

So, if you would like to go ahead and remove your appropriate Conditions. And Nat, since Esperanza’s little piece of home is mixology…

Natalia
[Laughs]

Robert
You are the one who finds the asset. What is it?

Natalia
Alright. So first, I’m gonna remove my Condition: Outnumbered and Outgunned, because I am no longer so outnumbered. I have a friend now, despite how annoying I think he is. And the Asset that I’d like to find…

As Esperanza and Valentine are up on this vantage point, looking down at the temple, she notices a ramp that leads from outside the temple, down into the depths of it.

Robert
Let’s call that a secret passage to the inner heart of the Precursor ruins.

And speaking of those ruins… Avery, you come to deep within the complex. A gun pointed at the back of your neck. The archaeologists that you have spent the past couple days with, all on their knees with guns also pressed to their necks. And the imposing Commander Thade standing in front of you.

Commander Thade (Robert)
According to your men, Dr. Kim, the greatest treasure in this building has not yet been removed. Why don’t you and I go pay a personal visit to it? And if you think of trying anything funny, my men will be holding yours as collateral.

[Flight of the Kingfissher theme]

Kim
Flight of the Kingfissher is a Kitten Marlowe production. This episode was edited and produced by Kim Dalton, and feature da theme song by Jason Myers. You can find out more about us by visiting KittenMarlowe.com, signing up for our newsletter, or following us on socials. For Discord access, exclusive cast talkbacks, ttrpg materials, and more, visit Patreon.com/KittenMarlowe and join the folks on the frontier, our Kitten Marlowe patrons, in supporting artist-driven storytelling. Thanks for listening.