Thresher: 2-Part Underwater Epic | Episode 1, From the Deep Part 1

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greetings crew it's your game master jasper william cartwright and welcome to critical roles new two-part miniseries thresher in this expedition the motley crew of the thresher vessel must work together to explore the abandoned ranbior station resting in the ocean's unforgiving depths battling claustrophobia paranoia lurking behemoths and hidden horrors only one thing is certain from the deep power rises Now this voyage is extra special because Thresher is a homebrewed world using Candela Obscura game system by Darrington Press.

Homebrewed by who, you ask?

Well, me.

New episodes of Thresher air on Thursdays at 7pm Pacific on Beacon, Twitch and YouTube, with the VOD uploaded to YouTube on the following Mondays at noon.

Prefer your expeditions in audio form?

The podcast version arrives here on Critical Rolls Podcast Network with a one-week delay from the original broadcast.

You're currently listening to part one of this episode, and part two will be available this upcoming Tuesday.

If you want instant access to the podcast content and an ad-free listening experience, check out Beacon and get full access to the audio version right when Thresher airs at 7pm Pacific on Thursdays.

Now, let us prepare for a harrowing journey into the abyss.

Hello, and welcome to the first episode of Thresher.

Thresher is a homebrewed world using a framework of Candela Obscura and Illuminated Worlds system.

I want to say a huge thank you to Matthew Linton and Jacqueline Emerson for letting us use this world.

And by us, of course, I mean me, Jas William Cartwright, and my amazing cast.

Hello everyone.

We've got No Shea Della.

Jane Douglas.

Abuba Castleim.

Mark Sherlock Cubes and Mara

and Jacqueline Emerson.

Wow, wow, wow.

This is going to be a very, very special little thing we're doing today.

So, if everyone is feeling pretty good,

so if we're all about ready, sitting uncomfortably, maybe,

we can go ahead and get started.

SS France embarks on Maiden Trend.

ocean needle opens today at the World's Fair on

Beetles.

Get the charts with Love Me Do, music's newest sensation.

Tonight, General Dynamics prepares Ranger 3 to photograph the ocean's surface.

Experts back.

Graph Cousteau's Con Shelf 1 experiments begin.

Humans living beneath ocean waves.

Human missile crisis deepens.

Disturbing wizards.

Operation Fishbowl launches nuclear tests over Pacific waters.

Strange sea creatures spotted near Super

Super

This is Admiral Anders of the Atlantic station Ran Beyond.

Systems are failing, the crew is mutinous, and there appears to be something down here with us.

I understand the protocol demands that I get as much information off of this station as possible.

However, due to the perceived threat to the outside world, I have made the decision to initiate the abyssal lockdown of protocol, destroying the station.

Dr.

blackwell agrees

three

two

right crew listen up

we have a very rare opportunity thanks to the sharp eyes of a fishing boat that picked up a distress signal from one station Ranbior.

A geothermal power station at the bottom of the ocean, this facility has been lost to us for over a decade.

But fate, or perhaps something stranger, just joking, has brought Rambior back to our attention.

And our generous benefactor has not only financed this expedition, but has uncovered a piece of communication that actually escaped the station.

That video of Admiral Anders that you saw earlier.

Since this message, there has been no communications with Rambiore and we haven't been able to locate it until now.

Your mission is very,

very clear.

Investigate the Rambior station.

We need to ascertain what actually happened and if it can be salvaged, put back into a serviceable status.

So each one of you have been brought here with a unique skill that will help you achieve said mission.

It's at this point that you, all of you, find yourself sat in front of these big windows aboard the Thresher.

You sit around this dimly lit table, there's lots of gears and wires and things, as Captain Atticus is kind of droning on, perhaps a little bit too much, going into illicit detail.

You get the feeling that maybe Captain Atticus one day wanted to be a performer and instead ended up doing this.

He's really taking the spotlight.

As your attention sort of comes back,

Emily.

Yes.

You are our leading expert on Atlantic.

Been studying all of this for a number of years and I understand that you actually think that you have some sort of layout or an idea of the layout of this station.

I believe through my research I've put together a couple of papers that could be very useful in this.

So, she'll be indispensable when it comes to navigating the the station itself.

Then we've got Damon.

Damon Adams, you're the muscle of the operation, so if things get hairy down there, which they won't, but if they do, stay close to Damon, you'll be fine.

I got a question.

Have you got a cripple with us today?

Oh,

well, okay, listen.

It's very important that everyone here gets through the mission, okay?

And you'll have I'll have you know that this is actually Hercule,

a renowned explorer.

He's done this millions of times.

I appreciate the support, Captain Attikas, but

I think my work speaks for itself.

It's gonna make me life much harder.

Fine.

Fancy gentleman.

I'm sure you'll make do, Damon.

Then, Valerie.

Valerie has an unparalleled master of those fancy doodads and gadgets that light up and make things.

Val is fine.

Right, okay, sorry.

Val, yeah.

Val knows the doodads and stuff.

I don't pretend to know, but I reckon if you're going to get around, you probably need some.

If it's got vows, if it's got a keyboard, I'll get you in.

Okay, right.

And,

well, last but not least, we have Beatrice.

Sorry, did you prefer Betty?

Yeah, Betty, Beatrice.

You know, only my mum and dad really call me Beatrice anymore, so Betty's fine.

Betty's fine.

Sure.

Hey, hi, everyone.

Well, Beatrice, here is the mechanic, so if we're going to get this station back online, I reckon, you know, you're probably going to have something to do with it.

Yeah, I'm not as fancy as Val here with like all the knowledge and stuff, but if it's got sprockets and gears and can be done with some oil grease, I'm your gal.

So make them turn.

Yeah, nice.

So

does anyone have any questions, thoughts, feelings?

No?

Marvelous.

Great.

And we can get going.

No, I'm joking.

Does anyone actually have any questions?

I would like to know more about this abyssal protocol.

We don't have any more information on this station.

Atlantec, it seems we're pretty secretive about all of that stuff.

Literally, all we have to go by is a location and that.

So we don't even know if the station's still in operation?

We don't even know if it's still there?

It could be in tatters, yeah.

You did say something about a mutinous crew.

Maybe one of them was acting all crazy or something.

It's possible.

The pressure does have strange effects on people.

And it's at this point you hear a little...

Hi, everyone.

I'm Matthias.

I'm going to be the doctor.

So if anyone gets in trouble, let me know and I'll get you fixed up.

Great.

So as you are

as the sort of briefing starts to wrap up, if anyone has any more questions for either Atticus, the doctor, or anyone else, then all sort of essentially free to wander about the ship as you're making your descent.

You see outside these big, vast windows

now

here that like you can see the occasional kind of like rock formation or kind of coral

and light is sort of slowly getting dimmer and dimmer as you're nearing the point where even light itself can't penetrate any further.

Madame Wasworth, you've been doing research on Atlantic.

Not Atlantec specifically.

Well,

have you heard of the Forgotten Spirit?

No.

You haven't heard of it?

This is a journal I run.

I travel around the world researching

the spiritual realms, the occult.

And I've reason to believe that something about Atlantech is at the heart of it.

I've been putting together an expose.

That's why I'm here.

You think that this

corporation is somehow involved in

spiritual?

It is not something I think, it is something I feel.

As is everything in these matters.

What are you, a doubter?

Oh, no, no, of course.

What you feel, that.

You know, like a hunch or something like that, you know?

There are things around us that are not just what we see.

In the study of the mysteries,

I mean, this is where humanity finds answers.

Oh my god, I thought you worked for a proper paper.

You worked for a ghost.

It is a proper paper.

Thank you.

We have many followers.

You've seen a little ghost down at the bottom of the ocean waiting for us.

Perhaps.

And you have no way of knowing, do you?

Well, we'll find out soon enough.

No one is attacking you here.

I can certainly understand that at the bottom of the ocean, sometimes

you will see things that you cannot explain with science.

Yes.

Have you been down there before?

Most of my work has been deep ocean benthic diving, so yes.

I've never been to this base, though.

So you're a real like underwater explorer?

Yes, madame.

Oh, kind of like our own Captain Nemo from 2000 Leagues Under the Sea or something like that.

Ah, yes, the Captain Nemo.

Close.

Anyway, anyone want a coffee or anything?

I can go get something.

It sounds like, you know, something to break the pressure in here or something.

Yeah, I could do a team building exercise or something if you guys want.

A what?

Team building, you know, like

and they just sort of see picks a sort of small ball out of his pocket and just sort of throws it at Damon.

Catch it.

Look at it.

What do you want me to do with this?

Uh, you pass it to someone else, and then uh, and then they uh catch it,

and then they throw it to someone.

I don't, I don't, I don't know if I'm calling me a dog.

Oh, no, no, no, no, no.

If anything, I'm the dog.

It's me.

Rough?

No, oh, God.

Just pass it to Betty.

No.

Thanks.

Uh,

I'm uh okay.

that's how he introduced himself.

Whew

will we need a doctor?

I think it's probably a good idea.

I mean, when they talk about these mutinous crews, like, you know,

they're not gonna be like, they're not gonna attack us or something, are they you know we're coming to help them right so well how how long has it been abandoned yeah not to be morbid or anything but it's been over ten years so they're long dead finding anyone down there alive no but they they would have had supplies and stuff right i mean they were they were

if the station's not operational they wouldn't have had power

oh

without power you cannot filter oxygen

If they did not starve to death, they most certainly suffocated.

So yes, go so there might be ghosts.

We talk about no ghosts and nothing.

Me the jitters.

It's alright.

Emma could fight ghosts, right?

I'll tell you, son.

The worst monsters that we're gonna find down there are gonna be ourselves.

Live humans.

The darkness can do to you.

Just do your job, huh?

Yeah, yeah.

I'll do my job.

Don't worry about that.

Or are you here to ensure that we do our jobs?

Do your job and you'll be safe.

I see.

You don't mind me asking who hired you?

Wouldn't you like to know?

Yes, actually, I would.

I would just like to point out, you are all being paid a handsome sum, and part of that contract that you did technically agree to was that certain questions wouldn't be answered.

You're paid enough to not know the answer to certain questions, and I do think that perhaps some level of anonymity for those involved is

ideal for the mission's success.

Yes, Captain

Dead men cannot spend money.

True.

On the bottom of the ocean, there are no mistakes,

only tragedies.

So perhaps it is worth it for us to work together in this case.

If only for survival and our own personal interest, yes?

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I would like you to meet Aries, the ultimate AI soldier.

He is biblically strong and supremely intelligent.

You think you're in control of this?

You're not.

On October 10th.

What are you?

My world is coming to destroy yours.

But I can help you.

The war for our world begins in IMAX.

Tron Aries, dated PG-13.

Maybe inappropriate for children under 13.

Only in theaters October 10th.

Get tickets now.

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We now return to Thrusher.

So as you all

now kind of filter out of this main briefing room.

Is there anything that anyone would like to do, anyone would like to go

before we arrive at the next point?

I would like to walk around taking photos.

Of course.

I'd like to document the ship

as well as anything I see outside the windows.

How are we supposed to navigate if you hold all the cards and now you are dead?

I must

also say that while I know some, I don't know all.

I just have what I've pieced together for my research.

I don't know how accurate it is, I haven't yet been able to put it into play.

That being said, I'm happy to give a bit of a debrief.

Um, so are these plans based on your research, or is this more of your

intuition

with a journalist here?

You or her?

And I would say with any journalist, it's a mix of both, no.

I see.

If I were to sit everyone down and give a bit of an explanation of the layout,

can I roll for how.

Yeah, for sure.

Yeah, let's absolutely have our first roll.

Give me a

focus.

Give me a focus roll.

Do you want to spend a drive to add dice?

You You can spend a drive if you would like to add some dice.

I will spend a drive to add dice.

Go for it.

Might as well.

Can I ask, given my understanding of how

nautical layouts work,

can I watch what she is doing and contribute the drive if perhaps I see something that, for example, doesn't make sense that we're about to add a drink?

Yeah, 100%.

Yeah, absolutely.

So you can take another drive.

All right.

Oh, one, six.

Okay, and what were the others?

One and one.

One and one.

Okay.

Thank you.

So you got the six.

Amazing.

So I think as you're kind of recalling or piecing things back together, what you have essentially is like a collection of areas and sort of an idea of like what they did.

And this is all from kind of pieces of sort of random like journals or things like that that kind of has made their way back up to the surface.

So you kind of know the description of like an area.

So for instance, you know that like where you will go down into is called the Hevarin Ascent.

And it's this like long, it was sort of described as this long vertical

almost like transport hub that connected it to

the sort of next layer up and things like escape pods and like hatches and stuff that was like intended to be very easy for you to get in and out

and obviously out of the water.

And I think with that as well, you'll probably also know two other key areas were Billow's Reach.

Billow's Reach was an area,

I think maybe it's unclear exactly how it worked or what the purpose was, but essentially where it could redirect ocean currents

with these sort of

like there was a set of controls essentially that allowed you to redirect ocean currents.

And then the Dover Well, and the Dover Well was the water purification

like center.

So I describe that for everyone and I draw out a loose representation of sort of what I'm imagining.

There are some big patches of emptiness where I don't know how things connect, but the big things you see are the ascent, the escape ports, the Billows Reach, and the Dover Well.

That's real handy.

Thank you.

So I believe we'll be entering through the Hoverin Ascent.

Okay.

Do we know exactly what kind of are we going to have to go out in like diving suits?

Is there gonna be like, you know, are we gonna connect to this thing?

Do we not have any knowledge of what equipment we might need to take with us?

Uh the the captain will say

we

unfortunately don't really know exactly what we're gonna find as and when we get there.

Obviously if we get there and it's just a bunch of rubble then you know kind of

just exploring it'll be suits, etc.

We'll try and take the thresher as close as possible and then

if there's not a clear docking point something that's compatible with the ship will have you go out in the in the suits yeah

which does remind me as well make sure to pack light any gear it's unwise as I've been advised by Hercule for you to pack too many heavy objects keep it simple and just to what you need

Even if it turns out there is an airlock that is intact nine years I don't know how much damage has been done by salt water to the seers

I would certainly recommend that we are all in diving suits in case we do have to go extravehicular or perhaps we lose pressure inside.

So I think that you're all kind of floating around.

The doctor comes and checks on each of you, clears you, give you a clean bill of health.

As you can hear someone over the tanner say, I think we've got something, we're getting pretty close.

As you can see, the light outside is becoming extremely, extremely dark.

You all,

I think, feel that sense of like the pressure.

This ship does a good sense of equalizing it, but as you're getting down into this darkness, into this blackness, the sort of slightly oppressive nature of the ocean itself and that endless blue kind of beyond,

especially for

probably the four of you who haven't really done this before,

it's sort of

something quite

extreme to look at and to see.

So, I would love actually if I could get the four of you to make me a

we're going to say a sense

check, please.

So, if you don't have any die, if you don't have any die, then you roll two and you give me the worst of the results.

Oh, well, that's fine.

Five.

Oh, wow.

Okay, next success.

I got a three.

Three,

three.

Failure, failure, and then six, and then

mixed success.

Okay, perfect.

I think as you're looking out of this window,

that kind of endless blackness is almost like that moment where

your depth perception suddenly gets a little bit warped and strange, and I think you feel almost like your mind gets like pulled somewhere slightly out of your own body.

And I would like the two of you to take a brain mark, please.

As you can feel a sense of like

the pressure sort of gets to you and you have a moment where it's hard for you to actually stay focused on what you're doing.

And I think for the mixed success, you feel

something...

I think you feel it's maybe in a slightly different place.

It feels more like rooted in your body.

And I think that because of that, you're able to resist any sort of damage or...

effect but there's something deeply uncomfortable which sits as you're slowly descending.

And I think you've got enough to be getting on with on the on the ship, you know, making sure that it's maintained, that maybe you're just not actually paying as much attention as you need to.

Looking out and actually seeing it's quite beautiful in a way, kind of admiring the beauty of it.

So, as we are circling the base,

is the thrasher using spotlights to highlight?

I'm assuming it's pitch black out there.

So, as the ship descends, you

feel that you see these spotlights do come out, and the Thresher gets to the edge of this giant, what seems to be like a cliff face in the ocean, below darkness.

There's a moment just as the ship kind of tips over the edge and starts to descend out even further, spotlights lighting the way.

There's a rather slightly alarming moment as suddenly the pilot has to sort of pull back all of a sudden as you meet this rocky sort of floor almost.

You can see there's a couple of holes in this in the ocean bed here.

And off to one side, you see this giant, kind of billowing, kind of like bubbles and like sediment all kind of filing through so aggressively, a giant hole.

And I think absolutely as part of the brief, and also any information that you have, you know that when the station is fully operational, that

sort of geothermal vent is like closed essentially.

So you know looking down that that the station is underneath this like almost like layer of rock and sediment.

The captain looks buried.

It seems to be whatever it is like underneath a layer.

Maybe there's like a sort of a cave or something like that.

The captain say, Okay, yep, good news and bad news.

We're pretty confident we found it.

The only issue issue is

this is as close as we can get.

We could

in a pinch try to get through that vent, but we'd risk destroying the ship in the process.

So I think the best course of action is we'll get you to suit up and head down these

hatchways, if you will.

AQ?

Any advice before we go?

This geothermal vent proves to be very challenging for us.

That hot water is coming out superheated,

and the water surrounding it is very cold.

You will have massive turbulence outside.

We will probably be relying on the strength of our protector here to keep us safe.

Did you serve in the Navy, good sir?

So many questions.

I'm simply trying to find out if you have experience

this level of benthic diving, you know how to keep us safe out here.

Don't worry.

We got your back.

I'm gonna use my reed.

Do it.

And I'll add my gilded.

Yeah.

Mixed success five.

Mixed success, okay.

With a

mixed success, how

confident and assured does Damon feel?

I think he's

there is definitely a a sense of um

nerves that I think you can you can gather, but there's also you don't know whether those nerves are

excitement

or fear.

So as the uh ship is being prepared for the five of you, six of you, disembark, including the doctor, you'll be diving in pairs.

The main reason for diving in pairs is so that you can keep an open line of communication with that person, and that if someone, for whatever reason, should start to panic, they won't then cloud the

communications for the rest of you.

So you all suit up.

And I'm going to introduce the first of our sort of different mechanics that we've got going on.

It's less of a mechanic, more of an optional thing, which is that in this world, because as you perhaps have sensed, there are some

different opinions and feelings at the table.

So I'm going to invite the players at any point to hand me a note or

to sort of essentially, whether it be a feeling that they have or something they would like to do specifically.

So as we go to leave the ship, is there anything that anyone would like to do, whether they want to tell me out loud or pass me a note, you are more than welcome to

thank you so much

okay i would like to do something inside the submarine before yeah i exit

so currently the submarine is hovering yeah and the spotlights are out yeah they're sort of searching you see they're still kind of trying to search for like a larger opening that they might be able to get the sub through but but it's sort of completely in vain at this point.

Alright, uh,

Erki de Potan

limps his way to one of the windows

and asks the captain

Captain Atticus, can you turn off the lights inside the cabin, please?

Uh

yeah.

Can you turn off the spotlights as well?

As well?

We'd be blind out here.

Can I ask why?

I just want to take a look for myself.

Okay, but briefly.

20 seconds?

Understood.

He sort of walks off, and then you feel the kind of ripple down the sub itself.

And then

the lights go out.

underneath.

What is going on?

And you all find yourself in complete darkness.

I would love, let's say, a survey roll from the four of you.

Oh, good.

Unless anyone specifically is in the room and has heard that conversation.

And I'm going to use a gilded on that.

If you, yeah, if surveys were gilded, yeah.

Five.

I'm going to spend a drive.

Yeah.

Five.

Five.

And I'm going to recover.

Okay, perfect.

How high stakes was that?

It's not super high stakes.

It was just a little moment of three?

Okay.

This is actually a good opportunity for me to introduce

a second mechanic.

This is called, this is going to be a new panicked condition.

So when something shocking,

scary, monumental happens, I will ask you to roll a relevant roll.

And if you fail or get a mixed success, you have a chance of becoming panicked.

And this is where you start to breathe.

rather heavily.

So should you be hooked up to your oxygen tanks right now, you might start burning through your oxygen a little quicker than perhaps you would normally.

So for this instance, we'll say that you, the sort of four of you,

it's not extreme.

You manage to kind of stay yourself, but you feel that kind of flutter in your heart and your breath quickens briefly, but you

kind of, you know,

let it go.

Great.

Is anyone of the four of them more agitated or anxious from this than anyone else?

I do do this for two reasons.

The first is to get you psychologically comfortable with the fact that you will be in the black most of the time.

Oh, Golly.

Your intuition will serve you well out here.

He walks to the glass.

I put my hand and my forehead to the porthole, and I just take a second

and

feel the ship.

And then he has these lightly blue-tinted glasses.

And he takes them off, folds them, puts them in his pocket, and

kind of shields either side with his hands to avoid any ambient light from the controls.

And I'm just going to take a long look.

And while I do that, I'm going to explain.

Your eye has two parts.

The center of the fovea uses cones.

This is how you see color.

That will serve you not at all out here in the dark.

The periphery uses rods.

They do not detect color, but what they do detect is movement.

If you find yourself in the dark out here and you want to see something, don't look at it.

Look aside.

And I'm just going to kind of soften my gaze and allow myself to just look out as far as I can.

I'm looking for any kind of movement whatsoever.

Okay, let's make this a survey room.

A three and a two.

Three and a two.

With

as you as you look out, I think that there is a moment of

not

doubt, but it's almost like, I think, struggling to actually understand what you're looking at.

Because the formation of the rock,

there's almost like a moment where, as you soften that gaze, you could swear you feel the rock start to like move and warp slightly.

And I think that as it essentially happens to your whole field of vision, almost like one of those kaleidoscopes where suddenly everything kind of shifts, you can't help but snap yourself out of it.

And as you do, the sort of rock seems to snap back as well.

What did you see?

I saw nothing, and that's the problem.

Talking about all those rods and cons, a smart guy to have on our side.

Oh, geez.

Okay,

so with that, we are going to get suited up into our diving suits.

As we go to suit up,

I will just stop by my bunk cabin and head inside, grab a few tools and things like that that I think I'm going to need.

And then part of it is I'm going to take out from a little kind of leather purse

two movie ticket stubs and I'm going to keep them in my jacket.

Can you make me a hide roll, please?

Yeah.

Okay.

Four.

Four?

Okay.

Thank you very much.

So, with that, you are taken through and you begin suiting up, putting on the suits as we begin our dive down to the Rambior geothermal power station.

We will return after this short break.

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We now return to Thrasher.

Right, diving pairs.

Damon, you're with Hercule, Betty, you're with Val, and Doc, you're with Emily.

Remember, keep it quiet, keep it calm, and you'll be alright.

Make your way down to the station, and we'll seize you on the other side.

Good luck crew

You can take the lead monsieur Adams I'm

slower now in my old age

Still don't understand why me got a cripple on me hands

Not everything is about physical might, Monsieur Adams.

I have already lived

far longer than most of the able-bodied seamen that I joined with.

I'm a bit worried about all of this, because, you know, everybody on that ship, it was getting pretty tense up there, right?

Wow, yeah, that's just people, you know.

You'll be alright.

You think so?

Oh, okay.

May,

you run with me.

Run with you?

Yeah, you'd be alright.

Maybe we should just keep talking instead, though.

You know, I know the quiet's good, but, you know, we should just keep...

Keep it going so I don't lose my mind.

Maybe.

You won't.

Just your soul.

Darkness.

Your senses feel starved.

No light.

Little sound.

Just the endless void.

of the ocean.

Your torchlight extends out and hits nothing.

Until eventually a fleck of bioluminescence drifts across your view and you see a door.

The entrance to Ranbior.

You find yourself emerging as these two doors kind of pry themselves apart.

See, still in your suits,

Out to this sort of dark room.

A few things float by, the occasional fish.

There appears to be like a pocket of air up right at the top.

And I think the first thing that you notice is it's very cramped, and there appears to be some little seats, like seated areas,

which

there's like one seat, two seats, one missing, and then like a fourth seat.

And as you make your way out and into this kind of dark and murky room, you can see now very clearly a door to the right and a door to the left

as

who do we think's feeling would we think would step out first out of this kind of shaft and it in the middle of the I think I probably would given that I believe I have a bit of a layout.

Okay.

As you step out

something immediately kind of like bumps into your side

as

sort of

parts of a skeleton

a skull just kind of bumps into you you see an almost perfect bullet hole in the center of the forehead and then i think as that bumps into you you see the other bones that make up this person now filling the room

the um at which point the doctor having changed the channel to make sure that you're all you know everyone can hear him goes i don't think there's much i can do for that one

Okay, sorry.

I don't like that.

It's just

there's got to be maybe a place that some people could still be okay down here.

Maybe a storeroom or something, maybe?

Maybe?

Maybe?

Yeah.

Sure.

Why not?

Um, anyone who would like to, go ahead and give me a survey roll.

I'll do that.

I'm not gonna do it.

I think I'm too caught up in some thoughts right now.

Absolutely.

Oh, well, well.

Okay.

So we have a three,

a five,

a three,

two, and a two.

So I think as you're kind of now, all of you kind of dispersing, perhaps checking over certain areas, and you can see there are all these kind of, as was kind of alluded to by Val, all these sort of little dials, checks,

you know, little kind of gears and things like that.

There's still pockets of like air that seem to kind of, like bubbles that seem to like flow out of a pipe or something like that.

And nature has largely reclaimed this area of the ship.

It does seem almost like a sort of mini aquarium with just with bones floating in it.

And I think as you're checking around, you do,

I'll say that with the with the five, kind of like rub off a bit of a kind of

above this like little keypad on the door, there's a little thing that says billows reach on the left door.

It seems that the panel is a bit broken on the other side and you can't make out, but you would assume that that would probably be the Dover well,

based on the information that you got earlier.

Could I take up my camera and take a picture of that?

Yeah, absolutely.

Yeah.

And

I think something catches your eye.

There is a

almost like a a lanyard and on the end of it there is this sort of box that seems to be in some sort of like airtight, uh almost like leather pouch and it's just sort of slowly floating a little ways ahead of you.

I'll

gently reach out and grab it.

Is there any sort of inscription or anything on the case?

No, it seems to be sort of well worn and um and used, but it does seem that like it's still like sealed

sealed like airtight yeah so you'd assume that whatever's inside is probably unharmed

and may not be

something that i want to subject to water so i will wait until hopefully we find some place dry before i try to open it well um

You know, probably one of the first things we should do is get the power back on, right?

You know, that's gonna help us get around, maybe figure out what happened down here.

I don't suppose you would know exactly where something like that might be located.

As you say the word power, you hear a little like

as at the back wall, right in front of you, this little red light suddenly appears.

And then, what appears to be a sort of clean, almost like pulled torch sheet of like latex, you see a kind of face almost presses itself in and through

as this simple male's face kind of

hello

hi hi hi ha ha oh is there beep beep beep beep beep

and then i think as you hear some further whirs and clanks this strange sort of automaton like creature with this face seemingly like almost like there's metal behind this silicon kind of pressing the impression of a face into it

kind of lurk kind of lumbers forward

you are new I think maybe ha ha or you are new do I know you you know you maybe ha

Jesus Christ

Earth

We are on Earth, you say?

Ha ha ha.

Who are you, Tinman?

Do I am

Al, Al, Ow, Alvin, Alvin.

I'm the personal security of the Rambior.

You got something to do with this?

My point at the um skeleton.

What, what, no, no, no, I saw that was uh uh

uh gun, huh?

Bang!

Hmm, ah, sorry.

How long ago was this?

Da da da da da.

How long ago is anything I don't have a reference, I think?

think.

A long,

long time, maybe.

It's like goddamn Robbie the robot over here.

What the hell is this?

Uh, who, who, who, who, who, who, who, who is that?

It's just a guy in a movie.

What, what, what is a movie?

Okay, we're getting off track here, but.

I brought um a chunky, like, tablet.

It's ruggedized, right?

Waterproof.

Yeah.

Can I like interface with you?

Yeah, absolutely.

All right, make me a focus role.

I think you essentially, like, on this little kind of rugged-looking

tablet, you see there's like a number of cables and sort of dials on the outside, and all these cables, you're like filtering through, like, checking the kind of connection point.

Like, no, no, jamming different things.

Like we all do, trying to desperately find a USB-C and not being able to find one.

That's what's happening right now.

All right, I put it in the corner.

And then I turn it the other way, and

I turn it the third way.

Yes, and that's it.

I'm going to drive on this one as well.

Okay.

Oh.

Well, I don't like any of those.

Would you like to burn a resistance?

I would love to burn a resistance on that.

Go ahead and burn a resistance.

That means you get to re-roll.

You don't get to re-roll the drive.

You have to spend another drive if you want to.

All right.

Well, could I add a drive to it?

Yeah,

how would you assist, do you think?

That's a good question.

I could say,

you know, in my research, I came up with, oh, yeah.

I believe that there was, you know, something about these security robots that patrolled.

And do I have

a thought or anything that I may have come across?

Yeah, I think there's like enough of a

like you would have got enough research on just like general Atlantec kind of construction, I think, that maybe there's like stuff that makes no sense to you, but I feel like you're someone who's probably like who researches things to a point where like they know the words, but maybe they don't actually mean anything.

So I think it's essentially like you could offer up a few words being like, they mentioned like a this thing and a this thing, and then maybe it'll be like, oh, a bionar is.

You know what I mean?

A what?

A bionar

is it?

A collection quarter

choralling device.

A choralling device.

All right, okay.

All right, I'll look for that.

While she is working, I'm going to try to keep Alvin's attention so it's not necessarily paying attention to what Val is doing.

Yeah, yeah, okay.

Alvin, my friend.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yes, yes.

You have been injured, my friend, or perhaps just worn down over time.

I must say, since it looks different

in here.

Much, much different.

There are more of you now than there was, was what what was

because they all dead now.

Alvin.

did the

last time in there was two people and it hit it hit it hit here

at least yes

six six yeah yeah yeah you um

sort of uh make a connection and i think you start to see kind of like data and things like that um sort of lots of zeros and ones start spilling down and you're kind of trying to read across the lines of code and you and you can see there's like parts that are corrupted but absolutely with you know a little bit of reworking you start to kind of place a few lines of code like back where they should be and there is a noticeable kind of shift self-like ah oh oh that i did

that thank you that feel feels better

so much better

all right alvin mate what can you tell us well well i i uh what was was was tasked with with uh making sure that nobody uh came or went that should should not

come or or go.

This is the only

personal

escape route from the the the station.

Otherwise you needed the

vehicular

support.

And Alvin, do you have any record of anyone entering or leaving?

Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.

There was two two two two people came came in and one.

One was was was shot.

Bang.

There.

And then one, one took

the seat and

left, left.

So that's the three versus the four?

Yes, that is

the missing one there.

Do you know the name of who got out?

I think it was.

Nope.

Maybe one more focus roll.

All right.

Can I add a

die because I'm using a computer?

Yes, absolutely you can.

This is one of your abilities.

Alright.

Five.

Five?

Okay.

You get a...

Black.

Ooh.

Well, well.

Blackwell, the science officer.

Dr.

Blackwell.

He went...

He's the one I went.

Black well.

And you see that the complication, this sort of mixed mixed success here is you go black well and just seems to kind of get stuck.

And as you start trying to, you know, interrogate or ask him, Damn it, come on, black well,

black well, I'm gonna hit it.

Make a strike roll, please.

I am going to make a distance from our fork.

Okay,

that's cautious from

you strike.

Are you sort of um

how are you pulling a punch here or are you just sort of

just like almost like giving it a little bit

No, come on, what happened?

Where'd he go?

It was making too much noise.

Master Boku, Mr.

Adams,

you have clearly helped us in our cause

Blackwell was the lead the lead guy, right?

He was the guy who did send that message.

He was the science officer, from what I understand.

Oh, that's right, the science officer i believe the the video is from uh

an admiral is that correct correct

admiral anders

anders okay well this doesn't

we still gotta find out you know where everything is and i think getting the power on still a really good idea because then it's gonna make it a lot easier for us to get around here i think maybe get some of the filtration systems and stuff going back on should we split up you know there's these two different buildings should we what do we do here?

Before we go anywhere, if you don't mind, Mademoiselle, I would like to ask, Vald, are you able to use your interface to perhaps extract information from this robot?

I can see what I can do.

I'll say, given your ability and the sort of information that you've already got there, I'll let you ask me two questions.

I think there's...

I reckon there's enough juice for a couple of questions.

Can I consult the party for questions?

Or

am I, is this.

I think, so essentially, the reason why I'm saying it's two questions is you're essentially like pulling apart the dates that, like, you know, you're like sort of ripping through files and having to like extract things.

And as you're doing that, it's becoming less and less stable, right?

So essentially, the more you do that, the less sort of coherent the information is.

So I think it makes sense if it's like a slightly

more instantaneous thing, but you're just like, I'll check this and i'll check this kind of thing okay i trust you

i look for a log about the flooding

like is there a record of what happened uh where the where the um

the the shell was like broken where the where containment failed sure on the station um

you uh I'll sort of give it to you in visual form.

So essentially you watch as

the you see these doors kind of slide close and then it's all from the perspective of Alvin kind of stomps forward and clearly is trying to like open the doors

like

you see these sort of two metallic hands coming up and trying to sort of pry the doors open but they're sealed by like several layers and then Alvin kind of stomps over to a sort of a porthole window and you can see this like little sort of individual pod kind of shooting up and you see it go up and through one of those holes in the top that you descended down through.

And

you see that Alvin just starts like hammering at the window.

And it probably does sort of essentially the file just goes on for the best part of like three months of just Alvin just like

attacking this window until eventually it busts, broke open, and Alvin eventually sort of found his way back to his

little

dog.

And is that one of

the windows in here in this room?

Yeah.

Hmm.

Alright.

Um

I'm scan I'm uh scanning the uh data for uh a blueprint.

A current blueprint.

Of the um

of the station or just any current blueprints?

Of the station.

Of the station.

Okay.

Um

yeah, I think that with uh a

With the roles and everything that you had, I think that you get uh you get essentially like the next layer that was previously revealed.

And so you can see

relatively accurately,

as described earlier, that the Haverin Ascent, and then we have Phillows Reach Off to the Left and the Dover Well.

Then beyond that, you see there is a place called the Colgrave Nexus.

It's like a, which I think you get like just a line of like sort of experiments or laboratory.

And then the other side is the Haven Glow Observatory.

All right.

Havenglow.

Observatory.

And what are they attached to?

Are they attached to the Billows and Dover?

It seems...

Yes, that's a good point.

So it seems that the Billows Reach is attached to the Haven Glow Observatory and that the Dover well is attached to the Colgrave Nexus.

I will say a crucial thing that you do get here is that

there appears to be a power source that then connects those two locations.

So there's a somewhere else that's that's attached to there.

Okay.

Brilliant, Val.

Hi.

Grateful for your talents.

Great work, Val.

That's real.

That's real sense.

Cheers.

What would the party like to do?

We got these two directions.

I mean, they all connect to the power source, but I don't know if it's.

I guess we got to explore the whole thing, right?

That's what we're here to do.

That's what we were paid to do, right?

And it's dark in here.

You're using spotlights or something to navigate our way.

The lights that are attached to your suit, that's the only thing that's drawing attention.

There was a very brief kind of red light above Alvin's little face, but that was it.

Oxygen check.

I want to know how everyone is doing.

Yeah, there are still about five and a half hours of oxygen remaining.

And you all have an emergency tank with you as well, a one-hour emergency tank.

Because I'm paranoid, I'm just going to do a really quick once-over on everyone and see if I see air bubbles escaping from anyone's suit or anything that implies any sort of potential failure or breach.

I'll say that you pretty quickly can, you know, as long as no one there sort of objects to you checking, like everyone seems

pretty good.

And would you pass this?

Thank you so much.

Is there a door or anything?

Like, I'm sure there is, but like, what's the door?

Yes, you've got two doors that you came through, and then you've got a door.

So if you're coming out of those doors, you've got a door to the left, door to the right.

The door to the left definitely goes to the Billows Reach, and you're pretty confident the door to the right goes to the Doverwell.

So

I'm going to go towards the

Doverwell door.

Doverwell door?

Yeah.

Okay.

There's a little sort of keypad on the door

and it appears that there's like a tube kind of on the other side.

Well, sorry, there's a like a

door, then another door, and then it's like a long tube which seems to connect to like another building.

And it's like a sort of pretty round tube with like a walkway platform on it uh but that sort of next room does appear to not be flooded

so it's sealed currently the door yeah could i do a possible um research check to see if i know anything about either of these rooms in my research well i think that you got already that um the billows reach was the one that directed currents and then the dover well was the one that purified um the water the water

all right

mademoiselle betty we are probably going to need to manually open these bulkhead doors, right?

They

would have been designed to withstand great pressure, so it must be some sort of

massive

mechanical lock or something like that.

Sure, I can take a look.

We probably need some sort of...

There should be a ranch or some other type of leverage nearby that we can use to...

Yeah, I mean, I've got something here I can probably get this open with.

Are we all going together or, you know, how do we want to do this?

I mean, Mr.

Damon looks like he wants to head towards the Doverwell.

Like, are we all heading there?

Is there something you are looking for that we can help you with?

I'm just trying to do my job, ma'am.

Uh, if I can, sorry, I'm still here.

I'm just kind of panicking a little bit.

Um,

the uh um

well the observatory could be useful if we're trying to get a lay of the land, or I guess if we wanna uh the I mean the lab feels like

less consequential, but I don't know.

You know,

I'm just here to make sure you're not sick

or anything.

Which actually does remind me, sorry, when you check his, he's absolutely burned through more oxygen.

He's on about four and a half hours left.

Listen to the doc.

Go to the observatory.

Metamatius, you are...

A nervous individual.

Ah, ah, well, uh...

No, I think I, you

I'm a little concerned that a doctor is so disturbed by dead bodies.

Uh, well, that's kind of my job, is to not have dead bodies, you see, you know?

Uh, and so far, I got a pretty good strike rate.

In that I don't have dead bodies, not that I do.

You know, yeah, I realize how that came across.

That sounded bad.

That sounded you're wasting time.

Which way are we going?

I'm curious to see the observatory.

Right.

We start making a move, and I start moving there.

I actually grab the doctor and kind of force him as well in that direction.

Okay, we're going that way.

I'll go up to the door and I'll start, you know, checking for the leverage system or whatever.

Matson, Mr.

Matthews,

use your box breathing.

You must calm down.

Your consumption of oxygen is getting low.

And if you run out of oxygen, it is going to slow all of us down trying to save you.

Yeah.

Okay.

We are all going home.

You understand?

Yep, yep, yep.

We're all going home.

We're all going home.

There's no place like home.

This is fine.

Three second inhale.

Hold for three seconds.

Exhale for three.

Hold for three seconds.

Focus on your breath.

Okay.

I'm so relaxed.

Thank you.

Monsieur Adams, we'll keep you safe.

It's so calming.

Thank you so much.

This concludes part one of this podcast episode.

Part two will be here this upcoming Tuesday at 5am Pacific Time.

We'll pick up this expedition right where we left off.

Until next time, and we'll be back on board the Thresher before you know it.

Thresher was produced by 12-sided studios and Paragon Pictures for Critical Role.

Original world created by Jacqueline Emerson and Matthew Linton.

Adapted and homebrewed for gameplay by Jasper William Cartwright.

Produced by Sam St.

John.

Critical Role producer Kirby Winslow.

Critical Role executive producers Ben Vanderflute and Annie Kruger, 12-sided executive producers Jess Jewell and Chad Peitel.

Starring Abubaka Salim as Damon Adams, Jacqueline Emerson as Emily Wadsworth, Jane Douglas as Valerie Sutton, Mark slash Mara Humes as Betty Callahan, Noshia Della as Hercule Dibodine, Travis Willingham, Marisha Ray and Sam Regal were all radio voices.

Ali Henderson, Owen Tunston and Jess Jewell as Screaming CCTV voice.

Multicam director John Cerdivan, 3D artist Owen Tunston, and production designer Gemma Alexander.

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