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Avery/GM: Welcome to episode 30 of Beyond the Furthest Stars.

(Intro plays, fades down, ambience fades in)

Avery/GM: Y'all boarded these… This little transport and start heading towards the city of Ambrosia. Uh, it's a pretty sizable metropolis. There's lots of traffic going on, you know, lots of big, tall skyscrapers going all the way up to the sky and y'all are transported to a branch of the Ornate Dreams Hotel featuring the Sapphire Tree Restaurant.

Bee/Polaris: That sounds familiar, what was the other restaurant called?

Avery/GM: That was the Hotel on Bragos.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah.

Avery/GM: Yeah, it's just a chain.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, sick.

Avery/GM: It's nothing special.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, okay, cool.

Zach/Zahn: I keep picturing... Olympia to be Coruscant when in reality it looks more like Alderaan.

Avery/GM: Yeah, it's very much, uh, it's not all one giant city for sure.

Zach/Zahn: No, which is nice.

Avery/GM: This is the, yeah, just don't go to the desert.

Bee/Polaris: Okay. Oh yeah, the Desert of Exile, that's it, that sounds like a tourist trap if I've ever heard it.

Avery/GM: Yeah, you are shown to a very nice suite of rooms, you know, everyone will have their own individual room. Even Ollie, you have a whole bed all to yourself.

Bee/Polaris: Aw, I'm glad they gave my dog a room.

Jenine/Marty: Yes!

Avery/GM: The Colonel that... Walks you into the hotel, just says, uh, to bill it to Fort Zeus, which they will do. And yeah, y'all are in this hotel room for the next few days. Is there anything anyone wants to do while you're in this city? Any shopping, any activities, anything you're looking to accomplish while you wait for your ship to be repaired?

Zach/Zahn: Zahn is gonna be very preoccupied with fixing.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, just fix all of our broken shit. Players are probably gonna go to Zana's room to help fix all the broken shit.

Avery/GM: Sure.

Chris/Ollie: Ollie as well!

Avery/GM: Okay

Jenine/Marty: I send a postcard home.

Zach/Zahn: Awww.

Caden/Bruce: Awww.

Avery/GM: Is this, is this Marty's first time in, in, in this big of a city?

Jenine/Marty: Yes. It's like, you know those shirts that say like, my, my daughter went to this place and all they got me was this shirt. I want that, but in like, a postcard form.

Avery/GM: I love it. I love it.

Zach/Zahn: My daughter was on Olympia and all she sent me was this postcard.

Jenine/Marty: Oh, and then like, I write in the message just like, So I might've done a medical research thing and I'm really excited. And like other things that happen, but like, that's what I make and send it to them.

Avery/GM: Sure. Is this like a classic postcard? Like you have to send it in the mail and

Jenine/Marty: Yes.

Avery/GM: It's going to get like shipped interstellarly. Okay, cool. Anyone can send an email.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah. Speaking of sending an email, it should probably send one to the Custodians so they don't blow up Olympus or Olympia.

Zach/Zahn: They're already in hyperspace on the way here.

Bee/Polaris: It's like when the Death Star enters atmosphere.

Avery/GM: Bruce, what are you doing?

Caden/Bruce: I would like to go food shopping, please.

Avery/GM: Okay, sounds good.

Jenine/Marty: Could I join in on that trip? Because I feel like that's me going out to also get a postcard. And I also want to help with shopping.

Caden/Bruce: Absolutely.

Jenine/Marty: Shopping episode for food, yay!

Avery/GM: Sounds good.

Zach/Zahn: As you guys are leaving, Zahn's like, Bring me back something good, please.

Avery/GM: Like Bruce would bring back anything bad.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah. As they're leaving, Polaris, like, considers going with them. Because, up until now, he's been taking, like, the security role. Where he makes sure that no one gets murdered.

Zach/Zahn: Me and Ollie got this if, uh, if Polaris wants to take off.

Bee/Polaris: But, the thing is, his helmet's not fixed and so, going into a big, crowded city, with a lot of noise and lights and different stuff.

Caden/Bruce: Oh, gosh.

Bee/Polaris: Cause this is his first time planet side, really. Like, with a, with a big city.

Zach/Zahn: Like legit planet side, yeah.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah.

Chris/Ollie: I mean, Ollie's been working on the helmet. Can I, uh, roll to see if it's a dunzo?

Avery/GM: Yeah, go ahead and roll, um, intelligence fix.

Chris/Ollie: That is...10

Avery/GM: A 10? Okay. Yeah, Polaris, you're kind of eyeing the door as you're seeing Bruce and Marty, uh, start to slip out. And you just hear Ollie coming up behind you, holding your helmet in his mouth.

Bee/Polaris: Is his tail wagging?

Chris/Ollie: Oh, yes. Ollie, uh, is gonna approach with, Once again, my sincerest apologies. I did not estimate the effect that losing this would have on you.

Bee/Polaris: It's… I mean, it's alright. You saved our lives. So, I think it's a pretty fair trade off.

Chris/Ollie: Ollie's holding it in his mouth. He's gonna hand it over and say, Unfortunately, I was unable to keep it slobber free.

Bee/Polaris: Why do you, your, how did you have...

Chris/Ollie: He just held it by like, the lip on the bottom.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris is like,

Avery/GM: oh my gosh

Bee/Polaris: He like, looks at the slobber confused, cause you're a dog. Like, you're a robot dog. Why would you need slobber, but, yeah. Does that mean you have to replace your like, slobber tanks?

Chris/Ollie: I probably just absorb, absorb moisture out of the air.

Avery/GM: Moisture from the air, yep. Condenses it into...

Bee/Polaris: And looks at it, and it like, looks at the slobber and he's just like, thanks. And like, he starts wiping it off. Well, Polaris pats Ollie on the head. Hopefully he has like, pet sensors that makes him happy.

Chris/Ollie: Oh yeah.

Bee/Polaris: When he gets pet.

Chris/Ollie: The tail starts going double time.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris says, thanks. Uh, do you need anything while we're out?

Chris/Ollie: Ollie will say, I am having an intense craving for a bone right now.

Bee/Polaris: Consider it done. Employees will go follow the other two. Leaving Dief so that Dief can help too.

Avery/GM: Sure. Cool. So... Bruce and Marty, you shut the door and then as soon as you shut the door, uh, the door opens again and Polaris is standing there helmet back on?

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, and he throws a thumbs up on the visor.

Caden/Bruce: Bruce will throw a thumbs up in real life.

Jenine/Marty: Marty will also throw two thumbs up.

Avery/GM: And y'all continue into this. City of Ambrosia. You get some nice directions to a good little nearby shopping district from the front desk and y'all head out. Polaris, as you turn on your helmet and it reboots its systems, you have a just flurry of messages from your custodians and they're all a variety of like, at first, like, okay, I get that you're upset, but please don't turn your helmet off just to make us worry and like, you know, at first like, okay, stop joking.

Avery/GM: You know, we're like, Hey, can we talk about this? And they're just getting like, progressively, like more worried, which, you know, these robots aren't known for like their feelings or anything.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah.

Avery/GM: but it's definitely like there is some concern going on.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah. Players will text back. He'll just say he'll give like a short summary of the situation that happens, like with coil and the EMP and stuff like that, and apologize for that.

Avery/GM: Bear replies back, understandable, researching EMP counter defenses.

Bee/Polaris: Yay! Once we get that, uh, players will send that over to Zahn.

Avery/GM: And, um, Alioth says, are you ready to have our chat?

Bee/Polaris: Not quite yet. Have to do shopping.

Chris/Ollie: Busy shopping.

Avery/GM: You get a thumbs up… Okay, and back in the room with Zahn and Oli and Deif, uh, go ahead and roll. Some intelligence fix checks to see kind of how this day goes…

Zach/Zahn: how many you want?

Avery/GM: two from each of you for right now Polaris if you want to roll Dief’s Intelligence fix go ahead

Bee/Polaris: Two intelligence fix for Dief?

Avery/GM: Yeah, and it would be plus two plus two to fix and plus one to intelligence

Chris/Ollie: there we go I'm gonna use Processing to use augmented cognition to make my intelligence 18, so I can get those…

Zach/Zahn: God, you're so naturally good at everything… So I rolled a 7 and then a 9.

Avery/GM: Okay. Polaris?

Bee/Polaris: Oh, for dief I got a 9 and a 6.

Avery/GM: Okay.

Chris/Ollie: And I got a 12 and a... 13.

So Ollie just fixes all of it.

Avery/GM: I was going to say, so Zahn, you're working closely with Deef to kind of fix some of these, like you're fixing the laser blades up real quick, you know, trying to get them working again and all that stuff. And it's kind of a Slow process. There's lots of really tiny parts there that you know, are just hard to work with.

Avery/GM: And you hear just like a bunch of mechanical sounds coming from behind you and you turn around and you see there's like four arms sticking out of like the back end of, um, or like the, like there's like the opening in like the middle of like this dog chassis of Ollie's and Ollie is just like sorting and like fixing a whole bunch of like multiple items all at once really fast and just kind of like outpacing both of you.

Zach/Zahn: Zahn is concluding that he is very tired. Should probably nap before tackling this some more.

Avery/GM: Yeah.

Zach/Zahn: If he's getting outpaced by a tiny little.

Avery/GM: Sure. Okay. Let's go over to Polaris, Marty and Bruce. You arrive in this kind of shopping area and it's probably about midafternoon or like three o'clock or so. And it's a pretty busy. Pretty busy shopping day. There's lots of people coming and going. There's just a huge variety of different shops here. Unlike our last shopping trip, which was kind of more limited in the selection of what was there, pretty much anything you can find in the book is something you could purchase if you needed to.

Avery/GM: There's a big grocery store, Bruce, that you notice called Cosmo’s, and it's, it's a pretty popular chain. You know, nothing too crazy. There's a computer hardware store and cybernetic augmentation facility called Tech: No-Logic. There's a ship and ship upgrade shop called Blastoff! There's a shop that is very familiar.

Avery/GM: It's called Doc's Dox, Vox, and Pox and it's designed to look kind of like a front porch with a big tent in front of it. And an old man in a rocking chair is selling his products there.

Bee/Polaris: Wait, what?

Avery/GM: So, at Bragos,

Bee/Polaris: Yeah

Avery/GM: at Bragos, there was a, there was this shop, Dox's Dox, Vox, and Pox.

Bee/Polaris: No, yeah, I'm confused as to why he's here. Like, uh,

Avery/GM: Yep.

Bee/Polaris: Wait, is it,

Jenine/Marty: is it a chain?

Bee/Polaris: Is it the same dude?

Jenine/Marty: Is it a chain? Is it a chain?

Avery/GM: It looks, it looks exactly like the same dude, Polaris.

Bee/Polaris: What the?

Jenine/Marty: It's the Cabbage Man. It's the Cabbage Man.Is this the Cabbage Man from Avatar The Last Airbender? Is it that kind of situation?

Avery/GM: Not exactly, but close.

Bee/Polaris: Does he have some wheat in his mouth too?

Avery/GM: Yep. He's got some wheat. He's chewing on it.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris is so confused.

Avery/GM: And the… there is also a big billboard in this area. That just says, coming soon, Big Phred's Anime Shop.

Bee/Polaris: Yay!

Jenine/Marty: Yay!

Avery/GM: And it gives an address.

Zach/Zahn: Aww.

Jenine/Marty: Oh, that's so exciting! Look at him go!

Zach/Zahn: Big Fred took the, he, he took, we let him keep the prize money, right?

Bee/Polaris: Yeah. we gave him the money.

Avery/GM: Yeah.

Zach/Zahn: Yeah.

Chris/Ollie: And we got a real life anime girl right here with us.

Bee/Polaris: Oh no!

Avery/GM: Oh no!

Bee/Polaris: Wait Are you talking about Miku?

Chris/Ollie: Yeah.

Avery/GM: Oh, and I assume Rho probably came with you, Marty, just to stay out of the way of the Repairs going on. But yeah, so where would y'all like to go first?

Caden/Bruce: Not to ruin your beautifully described scene, but is there like a more local like bakery or like a smaller brand, like local, like fruits and vegetable market? Like Bruce isn’t against big…

Bee/Polaris: Like a farmers market?

Caden/Bruce: yeah.

Avery/GM: No you’re totally fine!

Caden/Bruce: Bruce isn’t against like big stores, but it's the kind of thing where it's just like, instead of going to like

Bee/Polaris: Walmart?

Avery/GM: Yeah

Caden/Bruce: the Walmart

Avery/GM: Yeah

Caden/Bruce: he wants to see if there's anything more local.

Avery/GM: Yeah, totally fine. Um, yeah, of course. Go ahead and roll a, a constitution notice check.

Caden/Bruce: That's a nine.

Avery/GM: Yeah, you. And I only did notice, or I only did constitution because I'm like, okay, you're kind of using your senses. You catch a whiff of some, like, very fresh produce coming from just a couple streets away. Like, there is like some very pungent, like, very pungent something. coming from over there, along with like some very like strong mint scents coming and you start to wander a couple streets down and you see this kind of medium sized tented area with a variety of like vegetables and fruits on it and there's like some like clearly like freshly made homemade bread

Caden/Bruce: Perfect!

Avery/GM: here as well and it's being tended by um they're not a small but a a family of of probably three or four beings.

Caden/Bruce: I love it. Bruce is going to go shopping there, please.

Avery/GM: Yeah, totally.

Bee/Polaris: Hell yeah.

Avery/GM: Marty and Polaris, uh, are you following along or are you going your own different ways?

Jenine/Marty: 100%

Bee/Polaris: I follow Bruce.

Jenine/Marty: 100%. Are you kidding me? I'm here. Listen, we're at a cool new place. We're trying cool new food. Let's go.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah.

Avery/GM: Yeah. Definitely.

Bee/Polaris: Do they have like different types of like breads? Like do they have like stuffed breads and herb bread and stuff like that?

Avery/GM: Oh, yeah, totally. It's it's the whole the whole gamut. There's you know, you got your your cheesy garlic bread Your olive focaccia's all kinds of good stuff.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris is getting cheesy garlic bread for Zahn and Ollie.

Zach/Zahn: Awww

Avery/GM: Awesome, you you tented off area and there's a young teen, probably like 12 or 13 years old. And they're just like, um, uh, thank you for shopping with us today. Is there anything you're looking for in particular?

Caden/Bruce: Oh, absolutely. And Bruce is gonna get probably, like, one or two of everything.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, let's I'm gonna leave a tip!

Jenine/Marty: Let's go!

Caden/Bruce: Like, like, he's just he's just going for it. Like, he sees these different vegetables and he's just like, Okay, this would make a really good root vegetable stew. Like, okay, we can make, like, a curry one night. We can make a stir fry another. Like, he's just He's going to town and then he sees the bread and he's just like, oh, they don't have like Kraft singles cheese. They have real cheese here. And he's like, okay, I'm going to make Zahn like a proper grilled cheese sandwich. Like he's just, he's going to town.

Bee/Polaris: My motivation behind the cheesy garlic bread was that it's a real cheese.

Caden/Bruce: Real cheese.

Avery/GM: You start like filling up, like they have like little baskets that you can kind of fill up and take, you know, and you start filling this thing up. And this person this this kid's eyes just kind of get wider like the more stuff you put in there

Caden/Bruce: Oh Bruce has like one in each hand and one in his tail like he is He is multitasking.

Jenine/Marty: I also, I'm also following behind with a basket.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris is also helping with the basket.

Avery/GM: Yeah, y'all are piling stuff into these baskets and one of the adults comes over and is just like, are you sure you, you need that much stuff? I, I mean, that's, that's a lot of stuff.

Caden/Bruce: Yes. Don't worry about it. I've been away from for a while and I uh, I need to stockpile some food in the ship just in case that ever happens again because I can never let Polaris eat what you considered food beforehand. No offense.

Bee/Polaris: As, as they were walking down the street, Polaris pulled one of those out and was gonna eat one and then Bruce started going towards the stand and Polaris slowly put it back in his pocket.

Avery/GM: You finish filling up these baskets, let's see, you've got 5 baskets of fruits and vegetables and breads.

Caden/Bruce: I do, I do want to be clear, I'm not buying them out. I still want them to have, you know, stuff.

Avery/GM: No, totally

Caden/Bruce: I just.

Bee/Polaris: One of everything.

Caden/Bruce: One of everything.

Avery/GM: Yeah, You're doing a good, yeah. You're doing a, you're getting a good amount of food. And the child is ringing up your baskets and is just like, that'll be 300 credits please.

Caden/Bruce: That's it?

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, Polaris will throw in like a hundred extra credits.

Avery/GM: The… one of the adults speaks up and is just like we can't afford to sell on the main street So we have to you know kind of sell at bargain prices back here and just hope that someone finds their way down here once in a while.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris throws in…It's 300 total?

Avery/GM: Yeah

Bee/Polaris: Polaris is gonna throw in an extra 300

Caden/Bruce: Yeah, Bruce is just gonna be like saying I mean like is there any place in Ambrosia that does? advertising I mean I'm sure if more locals knew that they would probably support you instead of the bigger brand stores.

Avery/GM: Yeah, the bigger brands kind of have a chokehold on the, the local advertising and, uh, you know, they, they get the most premium spots and they get the, you know, kind of the best traffic and stuff. So we just kind of have to make do with what we get. But it's not bad, we have a nice little farm outside the city.

Caden/Bruce: What's the name of, what's the name of this store?

Avery/GM: Red River Farms.

Caden/Bruce: Bruce is going to look at them and be like, Do you sell Chef Jamie's beans?

Avery/GM: Oh no, we only, we only sell what we grow and what we make.

Bee/Polaris: Hell yeah, love these guys.

Caden/Bruce: Bruce will smile and like, just, I, I mean, I don't I, I, I know like we have a lot of money, but Bruce is like, what, you're just going to give them a thousand credits and just be like,

Bee/Polaris: Hell yeah. So they have 1300 credits cause we're playing this game of 3300.

Caden/Bruce: Yeah. And just be like, and just, and just, and just like look at them and just be like… I'll be back.

Avery/GM: Yeah. Their, their eyes get really big and they're like, are you sure? This is a lot of, of credits. We, we can't really sell… Like we don't have enough to really sell you, you know, to, to make up for that.

Bee/Polaris: It's fine.

Caden/Bruce: Trust me, this is probably, honestly, what I have bought is worth

Avery/GM: one of the other adults comes over from, they were like, kind of like making like a, a small bouquet of like flowers, uh, to kind of display and they come over and, and, and pat this person on the back and they're just like, honey, just. Just take the money. It's fine. They're doing something nice. Just let them do it. And, uh, this other person's like, Yeah, I know, I just, it's hard to take charity and, you know. And they start, like, kind of having, like, their own private conversation as, as, uh, you sort of leave this scene.

Caden/Bruce: I was gonna say, that is our cue to get out of there.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, we skedaddle.

Caden/Bruce: But, like, as Bruce is walking back, he's gonna look at both Polaris and Marty and be like… I know it's not our life mission to, you know, take down corporate businesses and bring up those that are local. But, um, I really have a thing for local farms and I would like to try and help them as much as I can.

Jenine/Marty: As you're saying this, you see Marty, I hope her data, her tablet's not working. Is there... Oh wait, for her to search on the webs for open retail space, slash if I know where a potential

Bee/Polaris: Oh, can we buy them a spot?

Jenine/Marty: Yeah, if we know a certain chef that we don't like is trying to buy a spot, can we buy it before a certain chef? Or if they do, can we buy them out? Smiley face.

Avery/GM: Y'all don't seem like you would foolishly go out and not be able to communicate with each other. Maybe that's giving you too much credit, I don't know.

Bee/Polaris: No, for sure.

Jenine/Marty: Yeah, yeah, we got some smarts!

Avery/GM: Yeah. Y'all are smart. Um, so yeah, so you, you could definitely search up some real estate on Ambrosia. Um, go ahead and roll an intelligence-know check.

Jenine/Marty: I got a seven.

Avery/GM: Okay. I will give you this. You don't find anything like pending for like coming soon Jamie's beans or anything like that. But you do find a, like, you remember the address on that billboard advertising Big Fred's Anime Shop and you do find a adjacent building that is actually a pretty good bargain right now. It's only 100, 000 credits for a 5 year lease.

Bee/Polaris: You said it was 100,000 to lease for five years?

Avery/GM: Yeah.

Bee/Polaris: How much is it to buy it?

Avery/GM: There's no sale price listed, but in the posting that you find, Marty, you do see property for sale based on negotiations.

Jenine/Marty: Amazing.

Bee/Polaris: Let's go. Let’s go!

Jenine/Marty: Because I have a thing that I have not used yet, but I'd love to use.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah! Let's go do some bureaucracy!

Jenine/Marty: Because I have... Well, I have the Authority, uh, Fo… Foci? Foci. Yeah, I have the Authority Foci, which I gain lead as a bonus. Once per day, you can make a request from an NPC who is not openly hostile to you, rolling Charisma or Lead, Skill, Difficulty, uh, at the difficulty of the NPC's morale score. If you succeed, they will comply with the request, provided it is not harmful or extremely uncharacteristic. So, I would like to utilize this skill if I can to bargain either price or owning this building for this group.

Avery/GM: That sounds like a perfect use of that skill, so let's get to that scene. While I think up a voice and a personality for this real estate agent, let's go back to the hotel room. Y'all are plugging away at fixing your stuff.

Zach/Zahn: Oh, Zahn is napping. He's power napping.

Avery/GM: Oh yeah, Zahn, you're napping, that's right. Ollie, there is a knock at the door.

Chris/Ollie: Well, yeah, Ollie doesn't really have any much reason to be suspicious right now…

Avery/GM: You can have whatever reasons to be suspicious if you want. It's totally fine. , you did just almost get ambushed by a…

Chris/Ollie:

Well yeah, I’m just thinking whether Ollie Ollie would wake Zan or just go for the door.

Avery/GM: Oh, I got ya

Zach/Zahn: Zahn is a light sleeper, so he probably heard the knocking.

Chris/Ollie: Then, uh, Ollie will look to Zahn, make eye contact with him, and, uh, turn towards the door and move towards it. I mean, he's gonna attempt to like, open it with one of his Robo arms sticking out of his back and like, retract it super quick so he looks like a normal dog. Just open it. Door opens on dog. Hi.

Avery/GM: Sure, just roll like a straight dexterity, uh, check.

Zach/Zahn: Zahn is going to push the, uh, manual release button on his, uh, leg holster and have the, his gun pop out.

Avery/GM: Just ready in case?

Zach/Zahn: Yeah.

Chris/Ollie: Are you, are you like pretending to be asleep?

Zach/Zahn: No.

Chris/Ollie: Okay.

Zach/Zahn: He's sitting on the edge of the bed.

Chris/Ollie: I got an eight.

Avery/GM: Yeah, you, you do it then. That's fine. I wasn't making it too hard. Yeah. You open the door real quick and it opens and standing in front of you is a blue and black striped tiger furry.

Bee/Polaris: Oh no.

Jenine/Marty: No!

Avery/GM: You recognize them as,

Zach/Zahn: Oh, is it lapis or lazuli?

Avery/GM: Not Lazuli. You recognize them as Lapis from,

Chris/Ollie: Was Lapis also they?

Avery/GM: Yes, and Lapis was the one in the booth with you at the race and they just say oh, I'm sorry I'm looking for Ollie. I'm here on behalf of my cousin Avi

Zach/Zahn: Zahn's gonna glance at the dog And then he's gonna say, Oh, sorry, uh, Ollie's currently undergoing, um, required maintenance.

Chris/Ollie: Yeah, um, Uh, my chassis should be in the room. My old one. Just like, busted up, laying against the corner.

Avery/GM: Just slumped, slumped to one side.

Bee/Polaris: Does Ollie say bark? Like the word bark?

Chris/Ollie: Uh, no, Ollie's just keeping silent for now.

Zach/Zahn: Just sitting there panting?

Chris/Ollie: Yeah.

Avery/GM: Well, may I come in? I have something I needed to speak with him about, but if he'll be around later, I can leave the message with you, if that's okay.

Zach/Zahn: You can give me the message from the doorway there.

Avery/GM: Oh. What's the matters on? Are you afraid I'm going to bite? And they, they smile a little bit at you.

Zach/Zahn: His hand grips. The, the handle of his handle a little tighter. It's like, well, since you know my name without introduction, yes, actually.

Avery/GM: Well, if you could tell Ollie that Avi was hoping that he would join her at the Winston estate tonight for dinner, we would be… most appreciative of his presence and you… and all of your other friends Polaris and Marty and Even… even Bruce. I hear Bruce is back with you all can all join us too

Zach/Zahn: Zahn's Brow furrows even more than it already has and he asks Why would any of us want to come within spitting distance of your estate, given our obvious history?

Avery/GM: There's only one way to find out, and they turn around and leave your doorway.

Zach/Zahn: Okay.

Chris/Ollie: So while we're still in the hotel room, though, the thing that Ollie's been working on was like a little, um, dummy body that I can plug, uh, Hermes Crystal into. Uh, if that's done, I would like to plug him in and run full diagnostics.

Avery/GM: Yeah, with your big ol rolls earlier, that's easily done. You pop Hermes into this body. And, Hermes says, Oh, thank goodness. I need to warn the others that there is a bounty hunter after the ship. Wait, what is going on? Why am I in a body? Excuse me, who are you? Uh, looking at you, Ollie.

Chris/Ollie: Ollie will, uh, respond with a big long lick right up whatever constitutes this, uh, junk pile's face. And just say excitedly, Oh, I'm so glad you're okay. I was so worried. Ah. While he's wagging and licking.

Zach/Zahn: Yeah, he's gonna say in response to the question, uh, if you run like a simple diagnostic of the dog in front of you, you'd probably pick up that it was, uh, it was, it's Ollie.

Avery/GM: Oh, thank you.

Chris/Ollie: I died.

Jenine/Marty: I died.

Avery/GM: You died?

Chris/Ollie: The other me died. And I'm gonna look over at the chassis, all slumped over and, uh, electrically burnt.

Avery/GM: Oh, I see. You activated the kill switch.

Chris/Ollie: Uh, yes. The bounty hunter never knew what hit him.

Avery/GM: Excellent. I apologize for not being able to alert you all sooner. They put some sort of communication jammer on the ship. I was unable to communicate with anyone. It was so lonely.

Chris/Ollie: The only thing that matters is that you are okay.

Avery/GM: Does this body have a gun?

Chris/Ollie: Not yet.

Zach/Zahn: Not in its hands.

Avery/GM: That is disappointing. Will we be on the ship soon? I do not like being in a body.

Zach/Zahn: It's gonna probably be at least a day or two. Ollie's kill switch, he like, glares at the body and then Ollie,

Chris/Ollie: Ollie will just wag his tail happily at you.

Zach/Zahn: His kill switch burnt out pretty much every bit of electrical wiring in both the ship and a lot of our personal equipment. And all that's getting fixed, uh, at Machamp's expense.

Avery/GM: Oh, that is very helpful. I considered self destructing. And blowing up the ship, but realized that both Bruce and Polaris had ordered me not to self destruct. So I implicitly obeyed their orders. Should I have self destructed instead?

Zach/Zahn: No, because you would have, uh, disappointed both Bruce and Polaris. Especially now that Bruce is back.

Avery/GM: Oh, Bruce has returned.

Zach/Zahn: Indeed. It's a little, little silver lining to our current situation.

Avery/GM: I am excited to see him again and to watch him make cake.

Caden/Bruce: I love Hermes.

Zach/Zahn: him and the others shouldn't be gone too much longer.

Avery/GM: How long was I out for, Ollie?

Chris/Ollie: Yeah, how long has it been since they left?

Avery/GM: Probably been like 45 minutes.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, is Zahn's helmet working?

Zach/Zahn: Yeah. It would be the, the thing that, with my low rolls, it's the only thing he has working at the moment.

Bee/Polaris: Okay, excellent. Then at some point, like, during this conversation, Polaris has sent a picture of the garlic cheesy bread, just like really hot, like it was warmed up, and it's like melty and delicious, and he sent a picture and he said, uh, for you and Ollie, when we get back.

Zach/Zahn: Currently he doesn't, unless he like, I guess he can speak into it, text to speech it, he's gonna put his helmet on and he's gonna say, Awesome. Looks great. All in lowercase because he's not, he's, you know, currently concerned about the whole Winston estate being right down  the street thing.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, we are in their home city.

Zach/Zahn: And he's going to be like, I have big news to inform you of when you guys get back. Best to say in person.

Bee/Polaris: Good news, bad news, question mark?

Zach/Zahn: Puts the, uh, slanting face and a thumbs down.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris will turn to the rest of the crew and say, Zahn has bad news when we return.

Caden/Bruce: That's, um, unfortunate.

Bee/Polaris: Indeed.

Jenine/Marty: Did he break something?

Bee/Polaris: No, uh, he said it's best to say in person. And Polaris is going to type in chat, K, be back once we finish buying this property.

Zach/Zahn: You get ellipses. Send ellipses. Send, all lowercase, what. Period. Not even question mark.

Bee/Polaris: A poor family! smiley face. And then the thing where someone has left the chat.

Avery/GM: Hermes does also pipe in to the chat and just says. Do not worry, I have not died.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris puts in all caps, HERMEEEEEEES! And Polaris will...

Zach/Zahn: Is there a separate chat? You just said you left the chat.

Bee/Polaris: Well, but, did Hermes send that before Polaris left?

Avery/GM: That was before you... Yeah.

Zach/Zahn: Oh, okay.

Bee/Polaris: So, Polaris was about to hit, uh, leave chat when Hermes left it, and then, uh, Polaris is gonna type that and also say, HERMES, out loud.

Avery/GM: Very monotone

Bee/Polaris: yeah

Avery/GM: in, in, in voice, but

Chris/Ollie: as exuberant as Polaris gets.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah.

Avery/GM: Perfect. Let's get to this real estate office. Oh yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You, you track down the address to this place. Um, it's kind of an unassuming building, you know, nothing too extravagant. It's operated by a fox alien person. She is just like, Oh, welcome, I was actually just about to close up for the day. How can I help you? Are you in the market for some real estate? Perhaps, uh, opening a new shop? That's seems to be the bulk of my clientele recently.

Jenine/Marty: Yeah. Hi, my name is Marty. Really nice to meet you. Um, so we... We're actually interested in purchasing the building, building, building?

Bee/Polaris: Yep.

Jenine/Marty: Is that what we're looking at? Um, the building next to Big Fred's, if possible. Not renting it, but like actually just buying the building and negotiating a price?

Avery/GM: Oh, of course. You mean the, uh, yeah, the little shop that's, that's next to that… soon to be built, let me see, and she like checks her notes, she's like, anime store?

Jenine/Marty: Yes.

Avery/GM: Okay. Yeah, tell me a bit about your business. What are you, what are you interested in selling?

Jenine/Marty: We are actually thinking about being investors for, um, a local business here known as... Red River Farms. We were just so enthralled by their entire business, and we think that they should actually have their own, like, storefront and we think that is the best location for them. And we want to help provide for the local economy here.

Caden/Bruce: As Marty is talking, Bruce, like, opens one of the shopping bags and, like, puts out, like, one of the loaves of bread, a thing of fruits, like, maybe, like, an orange, an apple, and, like, a pomegranate, showing the different things that they sold, but also things that, like, this fox could try. I don't know what foxes are. I don't think foxes are actually herbivores, but whatever! Things that this fox could try! It's fine!

Jenine/Marty: It's a snackie! It's a snackie!

Avery/GM: It’s a space fox, its fine.

Zach/Zahn: I think they're omni.

Bee/Polaris: Cartoon, like, smell lines waft over from the bread into their nostrils.

Avery/GM: Totally. Yeah, uh, yeah, this, this fox person, she's sniffing the air, she's like, Oh, that, that bread smells heavenly And, and you say they're a local business? I've, I've never heard of this farm. Do they already sell on the main, on the main strip?

Caden/Bruce: They do not sell on the main strip. They're about two blocks over, so, um, they don't get very much foot traffic there, um, but I can guarantee if you take a bite out of this bread roll, you'll see why we want to endorse them.

Avery/GM: The little, the little claws on, on her fingers kind of waggle and she picks it up. She's like, oh, thank you, um, and tries a bite and then tries another bite. And then within a few seconds, the whole roll is gone and she's like, licking her fingers like, Hmm, that is excellent. Yes. Yes. Um, okay. Sorry. Back to business. so you're wanting to purchase it. You don't want to sign the five year lease. That's usually a good, a good way that investors kind of can gauge the performance of a business.

Jenine/Marty: Well, I believe based off of how well their first impression is investing fully now. Is the best option. Smiley face.

Avery/GM: Okay. Um, well this is a pretty spendy lot. let's see here. She starts like scanning through some documents on like a data pad in front of her.

Jenine/Marty: Mm hmm.

Avery/GM: She's like, hmm, let's see, let's see. 385 Main Street. Okay. Uh huh. And is just like, okay. So this particular property is valued at 500, 000 credits. And I... Would like to turn a profit on it a little bit. So I think if you could meet me at 700, 000 credits, I think that would be doable for me.

Jenine/Marty: Now here's the problem. This is Jenine not knowing how to barter in this situation as I am a child that has never owed real estate.

Avery/GM: Hey, same here.

Bee/Polaris: I too have never owed real estate.

Caden/Bruce: affordable housing. Say what?

Jenine/Marty: Oh, affordable housing in this day and age

Zach/Zahn: in this economy.

Jenine/Marty: In this economy. Yikes. Um, okay, cool. What is the best course of action here? Because I don't. I feel like we can barter her down.

Bee/Polaris: Oh yeah. Barter.

Caden/Bruce: Oh, oh yeah. Just come back with a different number.

Avery/GM: I think there is a trade.

Bee/Polaris: What?

Avery/GM: I think there is a trade skill. Um, a, a skill role for trade.

Jenine/Marty: There is?

Caden/Bruce: Mm-hmm. It’s under talk

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, there is.

Zach/Zahn: Yes.

Jenine/Marty: Okay. But, Hmm. I can get this to connect, I can get this to a connect situation. . I could certainly try. Okay.

Avery/GM: Yeah, of course.

Bee/Polaris: What if we just

Jenine/Marty: make a deal?

Bee/Polaris: What if we, yeah, what if we make a deal with, uh, the fox lady and the owners of the shop and she gets free bread?

Jenine/Marty: A day, every day.

Chris/Ollie: Forever.

Bee/Polaris: Forever.

Jenine/Marty: Yeah.

Chris/Ollie: could you psychically...Impress your feelings for the couple on to this fox woman?

Jenine/Marty: Wait, I think I can?

Bee/Polaris: Yes, underhanded tactics finally!

Jenine/Marty: Marty only uses her powers of evil for good!

Chris/Ollie: We gotta live up to that space pirate ship we got.

Bee/Polaris: Yes, earlier Bruce said that it wasn't our mission to dismantle like, corporations and whatnot and bring up a little guy, but actually that's wrong, that's exactly our goal.

Caden/Bruce: It's 100 percent our goal.

Jenine/Marty: Okay, wait, wait, wait. Sophisticated… I can read thoughts. I know I can do something. Is it suppress cognition? Nope. Wait.

Bee/Polaris: Removed capitalist feeling from her body.

Jenine/Marty: Okay. Okay. I think I can use suppress cognition. Is that correct? Resist power…

Bee/Polaris: We could also always use, like, buzzwords, like, Well, turning a profit over investing in the community. You know, that sort of thing.

Jenine/Marty: Marty, like, takes a deep breath, gives a smile, and goes, Alright, I understand 700… that sounds like a really good deal. You need to make a profit and everything. But, like, think about the community, and the importance of helping a business and I'm sure that you, as someone that lives in this community, working with a fellow community member, they will also offer some of their services to help you as well. If you would like, maybe bartering a deal of like, dropping back down to maybe 600, maybe 500, and maybe talking with… Did we get the lost names of these people?

Caden/Bruce: No.

Bee/Polaris: No. We've literally left… Yeah, we literally, after we bought most of their stock, we left and we were like, Let's change their lives forever!

Jenine/Marty: If you talk to the Red River Farms, maybe discussing future business plans with them to increase their footprint in this area. Maybe starting the investment now. I don't know the words that I said, but that feels right.

Chris/Ollie: Sure!

Bee/Polaris: Yeah. I mean, like starting an investment in the community and like bringing up other local businesses can turn up quite the profit and make the area. Cause real estate is largely based on location and the, you know, profitability of everything else around. So bringing up the value of the area with local, like, community markets and stuff will, yeah.

Jenine/Marty: We also know the owners of Big Fred's. We worked with him a little bit ago. We helped get that business up and running to bring here. So like, there's that pretty cool situation happening. So we're reliable.

Avery/GM: I see. So you, you are just some real movers and shakers in the, uh, in the business world, aren't you?

Jenine/Marty: Well, more along the lines of the business, more along the lines of the business of friendship and community.

Avery/GM: Hmm. That could be profitable. And she starts kind of like scrolling through her datapad some more. Uh, go ahead and make a Charisma lead check as you're kind of trying to influence this decision your way.

Bee/Polaris: Get it, Marty!

Jenine/Marty: Yeet! That's a 10!

Bee/Polaris: Let's go!

Jenine/Marty: And with The authority, I'm rolling against the NPC's morale score.

Avery/GM: Yeah, that definitely beats it. So, she's scanning through her documents a little bit more and she's like, Hmm, you know, I think this appraisal might have even been a little wrong. Cause, really with the, with the size and the, yeah, hmm and she looks up at you and is just like, Alright, how about this? We'll go straight at 500, 000. No profit, no extra money on my part, just the value that is listed for the property, and it's yours.

Jenine/Marty: That sounds like an excellent deal.

Zach/Zahn: I was waiting for the but.

Avery/GM: No, no but.

Bee/Polaris: Hell yeah

Avery/GM: And she's like, great, we just have some paperwork to fill out. If you could just stick around for a little bit. Or, actually, if you're really If you're investing to give this to the Red River Farms, you, you may want to let them know so they can come down and fill out the paperwork. That might be best.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah. Let's… yeah, let's, uh, let's get the deed and the paperwork and just the, hightail it over to 'em. We bought a property, Guys! do we get to write down that we technically own the, or are we straight up just giving it to them and paying for it? Um, yeah, I'm asking the rest of the crew. Are we investors or are we like, Uh, giving it to them outright.

Caden/Bruce: I mean...

Jenine/Marty: I feel like if we just are the investors, we'll just be in charge of like... I don't know. They don't have to worry about money part of the things. That's where I'm at. And we're never gonna change it. Like, we're not gonna change the rent. That's fucked up.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, we're not charging them rent.

Jenine/Marty: We're not charging them rent, but like, we can also just give it to them. I don't know. We'll ask them.

Caden/Bruce: I feel like asking them.

Bee/Polaris: Cause I'm torn, cause like, yeah, yeah, okay.  Let's ask them.

Caden/Bruce: We don't want to dictate…

Jenine/Marty: Cause they're already gonna have money. That business of like, that, and they're like, oh my gosh, we have to do the maintenance of things and like

Bee/Polaris: yeah, exactly, that's what I was thinking about.

Caden/Bruce: We don't want to dictate what their farm is like, it's just more of the, here's the stability, so you don't have to worry about living off of nothing, or potentially, you know, having to move, if this is where you've raised your family for like generations.

Bee/Polaris: Exactly. Yeah. Okay.

Jenine/Marty: Sick!

Bee/Polaris: So I guess we get the,

Avery/GM: Totally

Bee/Polaris: we give the money over, we get the paperwork and we, we go back. Yeah?

Jenine/Marty: Well, what time, what time was it now? Because this lady was closing.

Avery/GM: It's like almost four o'clock. So, Yeah.

Caden/Bruce: They probably don't close till like five.

Avery/GM: So yeah.

Caden/Bruce: It's fine.

Avery/GM: I mean, she, she probably closes when she, you know, runs out of, you know,

Bee/Polaris: clientele to…

Avery/GM: you know, if she goes too long without a client.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah.

Avery/GM: So, you know, she'll stay open long enough to fill out the paperwork for you.

Bee/Polaris: We could also put it in the drop box. Okay, so, uh, yeah, I guess we're just like, okay, give us a sec, we gotta go get this sign and run off.

Avery/GM: Sure. Yeah, you come to the, back to the farm booth and they're starting to like pack things up for the day. As it's, you know, it's been kind of a slow day except for your business and... The child is just like, Huh! You're back! Did Is something wrong? Do we need to refund you? Is

Bee/Polaris:  No.

Avery/GM: Was something wrong with the food?

Bee/Polaris: No. No. No.  Polaris kinda like turns to Bruce and Marty.

Caden/Bruce: We have a proposition for you.

Bee/Polaris: you. Is it really a proposition? Cause

Jenine/Marty: Yeah.

Caden/Bruce: Yeah, because they can say no.

Bee/Polaris: Oh true. That is true. Yeah

Caden/Bruce: we realized that you would probably make more business off of not being on this tree and being on Main Street and well, we happen to own an empty building off of Main Street that we would like to Give to you

Avery/GM: and the adults that are here. Just like are you just are you serious that that's a Mighty generous thing. I, I don't know that I could pay you for it.

Caden/Bruce: Oh, I, I, we don't require payment. With

Bee/Polaris: Polaris holds up the bread.

Caden/Bruce: The only thing is that you must promise to never, ever stock any of Chef Jamie's supplies.

Avery/GM: Oh, done. Done deal. I, no, I would never. That, that, no, thank you.

Jenine/Marty: How bitter is, is Marty of Oswald right now?

Bee/Polaris: Do we actually know who Jamie is? Has Bruce ever mentioned Jamie to us?

Caden/Bruce: No.

Avery/GM: No, You've only ever seen Bruce, like, Casually, like, Mess with Jamie related stuff. But like…

Bee/Polaris: Sick.

Avery/GM: I don't think y'all have gotten into it… So

Bee/Polaris: cool, we just pick up on the fact that Jamie hate Or, uh, Bruce hates this Jamie person and we're just automatically like Yeah, fuck Jamie.

Caden/Bruce: Basically.

Bee/Polaris: All my homies hate Jamie.

Chris/Ollie: Bruce is based. Fuck Jamie.

Bee/Polaris: Friendship ended with Jamie.

Chris/Ollie: Bruce is now my best friend.

Avery/GM: Thank you, but I don't even know y'all's names.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris kind of looks over at the other two like, should we tell them our names?

Jenine/Marty: I send a message in chat and I go, do we have a name for the crew? Can we just say that? Would that feel safer? Question mark.

Bee/Polaris: We, we don't…

Jenine/Marty: I’m gonna start doing acronyms. Why do we only have one vowel as the first letter? Wait. Oh, I forgot my letter. I was like, there's, there's five of us. Why do I only have four letters? I really like this because it can be...

Jenine/Marty: Bombs with a P and a Z.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah! Yeah!

Caden/Bruce: Love it.

Jenine/Marty: Wee! Are known as the POMBZ. Smiley face.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, I thought you said bombs.

Jenine/Marty: PombZ. Well, it's P. So like, you know, we're just gonna say bombs. But it's with, but it starts with a P. And ends with a Z.

Bee/Polaris: Oh. Okay. Ooh, sounds good.

Jenine/Marty: We're the POMBZ. Ba dum psh. Which works really well for our group, actually.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, Polaris looks into the camera.

Zach/Zahn: Oh my god.

Bee/Polaris: And has like a smirk on the visor.

Chris/Ollie: Yeah. Smirk on the visor and a wink with the sparkle.

Jenine/Marty: Yeah. We just, we just enjoy helping people and want to grow economies here. Also, you'll love your neighbors. Big Phred. Pretty awesome. Pretty awesome dude. Big Phred,

Bee/Polaris: does big Phred know our names?

Jenine/Marty: Yeah. Yes?

Bee/Polaris: Do we have A business card?

Avery/GM: Nope. You just gave Big Fred your email.

Bee/Polaris: Oh.

Zach/Zahn: Oh yeah, that's right.

Bee/Polaris: Uh, Polaris just like, takes out like a piece of paper, and like writes down our email, and Gives it to the family and says when big fred moves in show him this and let him know that you guys are friends of ours

Avery/GM: Yeah. This person you've been talking to says, uh, well, thank you POMBZ. We're  the Ashmane family. That’s silver and I'm, I'm Peter and this is Eleanor. wow, that's thank you. Wow and they're kind of starting to like get teary and kind of like not hyperventilate but just you know starting to kind of like they're like when do we when do we move in? oh there's so many questions

Jenine/Marty: do you need help setting up like we're here for like the next couple of days i think we can we have a pretty good i'm not really technically advanced So, but my friends are, who aren't here yet, but, I mean, they are here, but they're in, yes, do you, we could help

Caden/Bruce: We also should probably hand you the... Deed to the building and Bruce will just look at Polaris.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, Polaris just pulls it out from his jacket. And like, hands over the paperwork to sign and also the deed.

Avery/GM: Yeah, this person is freaking out in a very good way. Yeah, they, they take that from you, uh, Polaris, and they just say, uh, thank, thank you. Wow… Silver, I don't think you have to work at the stand anymore. And this teenager is just like, jumping up and down and like, super excited and they're just starting to like, celebrate kind of, you know, the packing up for the day, forgotten momentarily as they kind of celebrate this new life that they have been given.

Bee/Polaris: Heck yeah. I hope they take the time to celebrate as a family.

Avery/GM: And y'all head back out to the main street or... Stand here awkwardly watching them celebrate or what?

Bee/Polaris: We gotta drop off the paperwork.

Jenine/Marty: Yeah, we just, we go. We leave!

Caden/Bruce: Yeah!

Avery/GM: sure. Yeah. You head back to the paperwork… to the, the real estate office, you let them know where to pick up the official ownership paperwork, uh,

Bee/Polaris: and the address

Avery/GM: next week when it'll all be processed and yeah, you give 'em the address and everything. Totally. And yeah, you're dropping off the paperwork with, uh, this fox person who I have not given a name yet, so if anyone wants to name her, feel free

Bee/Polaris: Vulpix… Sorry. . .

Jenine/Marty: That's different from what I was, I had a different thing and I was like, that needs to stay inside brain.

Zach/Zahn: I was going to say, I was going to say nine tails, but it's called German nine, NEIN.

Avery/GM: So y'all have dropped off the paperwork with, with nine tails. Yeah. And y'all are turning back, uh, to maybe head back towards the, uh, Hotel room when Bruce, you see stepping out from a limo across the street from you, a figure that you met when you were masquerading as a caterer, you see Rhea step out from a limo, followed by what looked like several very important government officials, and they are walking into a big fancy government building.

Caden/Bruce: Uh oh.

Avery/GM: And that's where we're going to end it.

(Background music fades out, Outro plays, then fades down)

Avery/GM: Thank you for listening to our show. Beyond the Furthest Stars is a one up podcast network production. Intro and outro music produced by Dustin Carpenter. Background music provided by TabletopAudio.com and used under an attribution, non commercial license from Creative Commons. The track used today was Mega City Slums. We'll be back on October 1st with our next episode. See you out there, beyond the furthest stars.