Roll For You: Arcane Train! Episode 2 - 1 Year Later...

A year after our reluctant party of misfits learned that they and thousands of others were trapped on the Roiber, we check back in to see what each of them has done with their time while confined...

We are so excited to share this with you all, as this project is truly a labor of love for all involved. Our cast is as follows...

Game Master: Ross Bloedorn (He/Him)

Mallan Monko: Sam Maxwell (He/They)

Fern Hollinger: Katie Lynn Sinicki (She/Her)

Gor-El: Nic Mains (He/They)

All music in this episode is recorded and produced by the incredible and multi-talented Sam Maxwell

If you feel like supporting our show, check out our patreon at patreon.com/rollforyoupod for bonus content, after show talk backs, monthly live streams and download links to the original music used in this show: Patreon

Transcript

0:15

(Transcribed by TurboScribe.ai - Go Unlimited to remove this watermark) Previously on ArcaneTrain, we find ourselves at an immense platform, housing an even vaster tower, hovering train suspended out over nothing but a set of floating railroad tracks. I'm Fern Hollinger. You find yourself holding this press pass. That's me! That's me! That's me! I'm press everyone! Don't worry Smith, there's a story to be told here and I'm going to find it. I see, that's just not what I want to hear from you right now. My name is Malin Monko. Essentially Malin created another plane of existence in his bedroom one night and now the train is built around it. I think your mission here to recapture the blueprints to your pocket dimension invention. My name's Olivia. Hi, nice to meet you. This is Princess Olivia Cremira. You see a very large, partially rotund Bowerman. His name is Gorel of the Deep Woods. As he opens his hands, there's just like a lovely flower that has bloomed from the twig. This is a party as previously explained to be for the end of the inaugural voyage, but it will mark one revolution around the world. Excuse me, you Mr. Gorel have been invited to sit with Mr. Smiles. Mr. Smiles kind of has a grip on law enforcement. Every once in a while I just think, God, there's something I like, you know. Gorel, there's something I like. You two weren't even called over and somehow this man is just like, and I actually know their deepest kind of like secrets going on. The number goes to zero and suddenly everyone realizes the train is still kind of going full speed and there is this voice that comes over the intercom. I've gone ahead and locked the door to the conductor's quarters. No level of security clearance can open it and if you get past that door, by some means I have overlooked, the whole train has been rigged to explode upon the unlikely event that someone were to begin to stop the train and then all hell breaks loose. It is night. A full and unnaturally large moon hangs in the air above the roiber. The bright light shines down on the clouds, giving you a rare opportunity to see clearly. Gorel, as you and you alone stand here on top of the roiber, looking out over this scene, go ahead and give me a nature check and go ahead and add your proficiency to this roll. Alright, you said nature? Nature and add your proficiency. That's gonna be a 10. Or actually, 11. Yeah, makes all the difference actually. You are here on top of the roiber. Like outside? Outside of the train. Oh cool. Standing on top, the wind whipping your hair, standing there. Tell me a little bit about what Gorel looks like right now, what he's feeling. I think he is strangely calm, but he doesn't know why he's feeling so calm. But I think most of all, he is transfixed by the moon and is almost in a strange, like, trance. Like, as I said before, the moon is unnaturally, it's almost like they pulled the moon closer to you and it has almost this yellowish, orangish hue to it. As it encompasses the sky above you. And I think on that nature check, while not being incredible, you see down the way of the roiber, you can tell you're towards the back half, a bright golden light blinking in the distance and pulsing. And as you're standing there, you feel pulled to it. How close is the moon? You know, it's in the sky. Do you try to reach out and touch it? I think so, yeah. You reach out to touch the moon and you are struck with an unbearably hot, hot burning sensation in your hand. Go ahead and give me a con saving throw. Uh, 12. Yeah, on that 12, I think you start to feel the skin peel back from your hand, leaving the muscle. Go ahead and take six radiant damage. I think Gorrel, like, groans and, like, falls to his knees and looks at his moon burnt hand and, like, clutches it close to his chest. He looks up at the moon and then looks to that golden light in the distance and decides that he needs to move towards that because he can't stay here. Right. So go ahead and give me an insight check as you're burned by what is effectively, I mean, you don't have a patron, but something that you have always had a civil relationship with. Right. It's going to be a nine. Yeah. Oh, no. You're confused, you're hurt, literally and figuratively. You don't know on that nine what could you have done to have deserved this when you've only given your respect and admiration towards this entity? And I say entity truly with a question mark in this instance. Right. I think Gorrel, you know, standing on the train, holding his wounded hand close, looks up at the moon and tries to call out, like, how have I wronged you? And I think, unfortunately, on that low nature check, all you hear is the billowing wind around you and, again, that low insight. But what you do see is that golden light off in the distance that you were paying attention to earlier begins to start fading away in the distance. But, like, it's not disappearing. It looks like it's going somewhere. Is it, so it's moving away from me? It looks like it's moving downwards. Into, like, into the train? It looks like it's digging. Yeah. Can I run towards it? Sure. Yeah, you begin running using full dash, I assume, to get there. It gets to the point where you feel like you're running forever. Like, how long has it been? Ten miles? Fifty? A hundred? It's impossible to be able to say. And as you get there, you see what can only be described as a bear glowing and pulsing this golden light as it's scratching down into the floor of the train, trying to get through the ceiling. Gorrell, can you go ahead and give me just a history check to know where you are in the train? Yeah, so that's going to be a four. Wow. This is not, this is not Gorrell's day. You, like I said before, you don't know. You were running so long. It's hard to say how long you've been running. The only thing you know anyone would be able to tell is that you've been running towards the front of the train. Like, that's all I can give you on that. And this bear is digging in through the floor. What do you do? I think, I think Gorrell tries to help. You, uh... Tries to help dig? Mm-hmm. Yeah, I think the golden bear pulsing next to you, you begin to feel strangely comfortable with this bear. It's almost like he is not surprised by your presence here, and somehow you not being surprised by his presence here is a comforting feeling. Like old friends. And you begin helping him dig. No questions asked. Go ahead and one more time on that decision, give me a nature check. No, come on. Add your proficiency again. It doesn't matter. I got a natural one. No, no! Yeah. The bear gives advantage. The bear likes him. He sniffs him, he gives him advantage. I need new dice right now. You, on that nature check of a natural one, feel a strong, billowing wind as the bear turns its head to you and yowls and roars at you, careening you off the side of the roiber. And you begin to fall. You begin to fall down, down onto the cloud layer. And when you hit the cloud layer, go ahead one more time and give me that con save. Okay. Take note of what's around you. I'm just praying to not the moon, clearly, because she is not on my side. She did turn the meldons blue, so like... That is true. I swear to god. Very sussy. Sussy moon. Okay. You said a con save. One more con save. Oh my god. It's a 21. Yeah, baby! You are the clouds. Yeah, so you're falling through these clouds. I wish I had more good news for you. Truly, this is just a matter of not burning up in the clouds, because as you hit these clouds, you begin to feel like you're on fire as you touch the clouds around you. It is like the world itself has been trained to treat you like a virus that needs to be taken away from the body. And you are falling through the clouds, and eventually, after withstanding with your thick Bowern skin the incendiary quality of these clouds, you fall through to what no one has seen before. Beyond. And... You're in the dark. Past the clouds. You're no longer seeing any white or greys or storm clouds of any nature. It's all just dark. Can I... Cast Fairy Fire? Uh, yeah. Each object within a 20 foot cube within range is outlined in blue, green, or violet light. And any creature in the area is also outlined in light. And I assume that this would apply to myself. So as of this moment in time, nothing else but you gets this glow and outline to your figure. So you know nothing, but you are still, you would say you still feel like you're falling. You haven't become suspended in this darkness, but there's definitely nothing in a 10 foot radius of you at this moment in time. But what I do want is, I would accept either perception or investigation from you. I'll do perception. That is going to be a 19 perception. You see, on even a low roll, what you see is something that is hard to miss in this black void. In the distance, you see a giant white visor. How far, it's hard to say, as you don't have any frame of distance, any frame of reference for what span we could think this is. But as you're standing here, no, falling here, you see this blinding white visor growing and expanding outwards. And you feel it growing and hungering and eating and its tendrils leaking out into this dark void. And on that 19, you see, despite how far away it is, at the center of it, on below a 20, I'm going to say what you see is something in the center of this void. But as it's growing, you can't tell what it is due to the distance, but you see something at the heart of it. And I think, as the white consumes more of this void, you see, for the first time, something that just enters your verifier. Somehow, unbeknownst to you, a enormous, larger than life, black scaled dragon. And it roars a white, void-like scream as it takes over you and your body crumbles away. And you wake up to Linden shaking you in your bed, screaming at you, Get it together, Gaurel! Get it together! Oh, slap, slap! He's just slapping you silly, just like, what are you doing? I immediately punch him in the face. He absolutely gets wailed on. Linden just flies across the room, hits the deck. I think I immediately reach for my sword, if it's anywhere near me. You absolutely have your scimitar back. And then I stab my own bed. Linden is not knowing what to do. I think he's going to try and just, he's just going to spend his time trying to keep his distance now that he sees you're awake. And I think once you're done stabbing your bed, I am just breathing heavily. I let go of my sword. I look at my hand. Is my hand still destroyed? No, you look fine. I mean, you're sweating beads, but you feel fine. I think I slowly, like my breath slowly returns to normal, but I don't turn to look at him at all. And I think now is an apt opportunity to say, Welcome. It has been a year since that fateful night that everyone found out that the Roiber would not be stopping. Time skip o'clock! Let's go! A brief period of chaos ensued, and for about a week or so, there was no order. So someone had to take control of the situation. So the running of the train was taken over by Prince Stratus Chimera in Sector 1. The first rule put into effect to put ease on the chaos and to stop any violent acts is that Prince Stratus closed off each sector of the train so as to not be able to have this weird, mosh-style chaos throughout the entire train because people in Sector 1 were afraid of people in Sector 4 and 5 and 2 and everyone was losing their minds. So Prince Stratus decided, Hey, I'm going to close things down. So now the only people who can get through these security checkpoints are people with special documentation or a high position status on the train. Effectively regulating even you, Gorel, a representative to the back 10 miles of the Roiber in Sector 5. My father will be hearing about this. It's been a year! The most Prince-like entitled statement we've heard from Gorel. Right now, everything runs on a need-to-fix basis. Unfortunately, that list is never-ending at this point. And now my bed is on it. Your bedroll is absolutely on it. You might have to use your bed finally. It's been a year. I have to use my nice, heat-changing bed. The audacity. Nice, temper-peated. It's so nice. My Casper mattress. Sponsor. What's more, the problems presented seem to be fixed backwards from Sector 1. Making Sector 5 the last to benefit from any major changes. What sector are we in again? You're in Sector 5. Oh, cool. Have we met Prince Stratus? So, no. He's been regulated to Sector 1. You know he is the cousin of Olivia. Who is, I believe, we established 10th in line to the throne last session. Due to things being a little rougher towards the back half of the train, you'll never guess who is taking control of the law enforcement back here in the power vacuum. Is it a Mr. Bramble? Is it Perkins Bramble? It's Kingpin Bramble. Kingpin Bramble. Supercop Perkins Bramble. Kingpin Bramble. He has like a full sleeve of tattoos now. You really changed it, man. You wanna know how I got the scars? No! Mr. Smiles has become the unnamed power of Sector 5. He was quick to take control in the power vacuum. And there's nothing really Stratus can do about it all the way in Sector 1, unless he wanted to come back himself. It is now an amusement park called Smiles Wonderland. We're all actually having a really good time. No one's miserable. Everyone's good. I'm sure that's true. Everyone's having such a good time. And that's the end of the campaign. Everyone lives happily ever after. Thanks for listening, everyone. This is a slice of life anime now. That's what we're doing here. Someone play the outro, please. Linden turns to you, Gorel, after you stop stabbing your bed and you turn away. And he says, Oh, man, you really... I mean, I'm gonna let bygones be bygones here since my job's still after a year to keep you safe. But I really thought, you know, I thought you'd kick the bucket there and I'd have to get a new job or something that actually requires me to work because this is the easiest position I've ever had until this moment. Gorel just, like, doesn't respond. I think Gorel is haunted by that nightmare. This scene is so funny. Hey, man, this job is great. You're having a panic attack on the bed. Gorel's, like, facing away from him and there's, like, a long pause and then he just slowly turns around and silently looks at him. I think Linden immediately is like, I mean, I really set you up there with, like, the whole kick the bucket thing. You know, I do this on purpose now because I think it's part of my fun. But, like, you didn't even say anything so you must be really... Are you all right, Gorel? There are no buckets in here. Yeah, we're past that. It's cool. I tried to fix it. Yeah, we'll get you some buckets, bud. We'll get you some buckets. But you kept looking at your hand. Is everything all right? Should I call a medic? No. I mean, yes, everything's fine. It was a terrible dream, that is all. Okay, I guess. I mean, wow. I've just never seen you like this, Gorel. I mean, and I think before he can even finish that sentence, he did not close the door as he ran in to help you because he was worried there might be a threat on your life with the screaming that was coming from there. You see in the doorway a large Bowerton man who is even taller than the regular Bowerton man and one you would recognize as the right-hand man of Mr. Smiles. Would I know his name at this point? So, this man... Go ahead and give me a history check because you know his name, but would you know what he's called around? Do you know what I'm saying? Yeah, it's a 19. Yeah, so people call him... His friends call him Drek, but he's been given the very morbid name of The Dropper for his responsibilities to Mr. Smile and makes people disappear by dropping him off the side of the train. Oh, so that's allowed. Oh, shit. So, remember that amusement park you were talking about where everyone's doing great? It's the best ride. Are you kidding me? Skyfall. Let it crumble. So, he's standing here, a fully tattooed sleeve down his arm, a vest, a very military kind of haircut which is unnatural for Bowerton men to have because it's usually longer hair. It's kind of like almost like a status of your braid, you know, just like your cultural roots. It's just very standard. But Drek here, and you don't know his aftername for the record. That has not ever been mentioned in any... Got it. Because as you are Gore, Gore L, you do not know what Drek's surname is. So, he has this clean military nature to him and as he's knocking on the door, he says, So, is this a bad time, Princey? How many times, Drek, must I tell you you don't have to call me that? Well, it just seems to be pretty popular around here to show some respect to the people who have the status, you know what I'm saying? Yes, but... We appreciate that. But surely, you must know that these people do not understand our customs. Uh, yeah. Well, no offense, but after a year of being here, I'm pretty sure our customs don't really matter as much. Perhaps to you. What do you want now? Well, uh... Because I'm assuming he's been here rather frequently. Yeah, he comes about every other week to remind you that Mr. Smiles would like to talk, as we remember from last session. And he just, he kind of like, he's like, hey, no offer this time. Just, uh, I actually come bearing gifts. Gifts? Yeah, a little update from the outside world. And you would know this is an insanely hard bit of information to get. Is it from our people? Well, uh... My father? Has he replied? Rumor has it the chief's gone a bit ill. What's more, uh, your, uh, what's that, good old Deepwoods back home seems to, for the first time in thousands of years, uh, be withering. Just a third of it, you know, towards the outskirts. Nothing around the village yet, but... It's strange how stuff like that works. It's always when you can't do anything about it that things get a little out of hand. Oh, but... I guess you could do something about it, right, Prince? And what is that? Come make a deal when you're feeling ready. And he begins to walk away. Tell me when. I think, uh, he's surprised at your insistence, uh, here. And he says, I mean, uh, Mr. Smiles, or, you know, you can call him Don, is always, uh, always at the Locomo Lounge. He's kind of, uh, made it his base of operations, so if you want to drop by any time, he'll be there. He already knows when I'm coming. And he nods towards that, and, uh, he's like, that's true. And as he begins to walk away, he seconds back, does double back, he says, you know, you think if I head back right now, I could secure a nomination for chief? Be a hero. Not really my style, but someone's gotta do it. Yeah, and not with that haircut. And, uh, he, uh, he, I think he laughs a little at that, uh, good-naturedly, and he, uh, walks away. Um, then, uh, we're going to journey on over, Nick, unless there's something else you want to do in this moment. I think the only thing left is that I think Gorrel politely gestures for Linden to leave, and then closes the door and just falls to the ground. Oh, hello, it's me, your guiding game master, Ross! I'm jumping in here quick to say thank you. As I have already said before, and will undoubtedly say again, your time is valuable. That you spend your time at all listening to this show is such an amazingly kind thing to do, and I can only hope that in return you find it fun and entertaining and at times a little bit spooky. If you feel so inclined to get some extra content from us, check out our Patreon at patreon.com slash Roll4uPod. You can listen to our after show, The Locomo Lounge, plus other fun content. All of the money we make there goes to being able to recoup the money that has already gone into this show, and being able to pay my amazing actors for their incredible hard work. Speaking of my actors, since we usually don't introduce ourselves at the beginning of episodes outside of our first episode, Gorel is played by the illustrious Nick Maynes, Malin Monko is played by the incredible Sam Maxwell, and Fern Hollinger is played by the incomparable Katie Lynn Sinekki. All of their handles are included in the episode description. I love all of these humans so, so, so very much, so any support and love you can send their way, please please do. Okay, that's my little spiel. Let's all get back to the show. We jump over. Fern, we join you on a long walk back from a scoop that you've been pursuing. Uh, you realize that it is too convenient that all these working class people are doing their jobs so obediently despite the situation. Almost like they're oppressed. Absolutely. That's when it all clicked for you. The rich and powerful Esmirans in Sector 1 and 2 have been putting a compliance drug in the boiler brandy. The only alcoholic drink the working class people of Sector 5 can't afford.