Ep. 30 - Layover: Tears of the Sunfall

The city of Sunfall was built around the volcano known as Rakhan, or "The Burned King". Worshipped as a now Forgotten God, Sunfall's volcano kept it warm through the dark nights after the cataclysm and the the city's people continue to be grateful to the deity they never truly got to know. The volcano is also a premiere spot for the flashy cremations of the nobility, and was the ultimate destination of the members of the Ministry of Preservation who have ridden the Pride of Duskwall. Pippin is alone with his thoughts. Drix makes an important delivery. Andrel gets a sudden proposal.

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For the full transcript, go to https://ghosts-on-a-train.captivate.fm/episode/ep-30-layover-tears-of-the-sunfall

Ghost Lines by John Harper. Music by Sebastian Black. Art by Yoshiko Agresta.

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TRANSCRIPT:

Radio Announcer Greg 0:00

While much of the Shattered Isles is made up of various peoples clinging to their culture within the confines of Empire, the Iruvian city of Sunfall is one place that even the Imperium cannot make homogenous. Rakhan, or the Burned King as he has known in Akarosi, is the massive volcano around which the city of Sunfall is built. The volcano both is and is not the Forgotten God that shares its name, and a temple to both is built along the volcano's top. Though the Princes maintain sovereignty over Iruvia and the Emperor makes his forces known, none can truly dethrone the Burned King, for he is a part of the land itself. Even with his Divine form forgotten, Rakhan's volcanic insides are used as a safe way to dispose of bodies, and throughout Sunfall, the king gives light and warmth where the pitiable sun fails. The Pride of Duskwall arrives, its own jet of fire and smoke meek and deferate in comparison, as it announces itself to Sunfall and the Burned King.

Greg 1:26

Hello, welcome back to Ghosts on a Train! This a podcast where we play Ghost Lines, an RPG by John Harper. I'm your conductor Greg, who runs the game.

Hannah 1:35

I'm Hannah, I play Andrel Anderson, dorg owner.

Guy 1:41

I'm Guy, I play Pip McKeel, who is dealing with some shit. I will never go first, either.

Hannah 1:47

I mean, I always go first.

Guy 1:49

Exactly.

Stefen 1:52

I'm Stefen, I play Drix who is... head empty.

Greg 1:59

No thoughts!

Guy 1:59

Head empty, heart full.

Andrel 2:01

Oh.

Stefen 2:02

Yeah, that reads.

Greg 2:03

Yeah, heart full! That's a good way to describe all himbos.

Stefen 2:07

That's true. Head empty, heart full.

Greg 2:09

Otherwise you're just a jock.

Stefen 2:11

Gotta put that on a shirt.

Greg 2:13

Head empty, heart full. Put that, you heard, you heard it here, Amie.

Guy 2:20

I think Jaci's probably gonna hear that first.

Greg 2:21

You heard in here, Jaci. Anyways, our Line Bulls have just said good - just, just said goodbye to Miss Genevieve Paquet, the Elysian reporter played by our friend Jolene, who is heading off now. You're on the Iruvian, in the Iruvian city of Sunfall, so named and famous for its large volcano that is within the lightning barrier, the source of this area's warmth and, probably not light, huh? But yeah, the source of this area's warmth. For the most part.

Guy 2:37

I mean, like, volcanic rock does glow. Like...

Greg 3:01

Actually yeah, what, for what I'm trying to do here, now I think about it, yes, there is actually a glow. You guys can see there's, there's a bright glow from around the volcano, actually. But, alright.

Guy 3:14

I just like volcanoes, okay guys?

Greg 3:16

No, no, no, I gotcha. So who departs the train? I think nothing particularly big about your chits and stash for this. Although maybe Candace, Candace as she hands you your pay for this line -

Candace 3:29

All right, yeah, Genevieve seemed to be pretty happy on her way out. And I see none of you guys are scheduled to be hollowed. So thanks a lot for whatever you did over the course of this, this ride.

Andrel 3:41

You're welcome. The hollowed thing is really... I'm happy about that, too.

Candace 3:46

Yeah, yeah. You know, it's personally why I hate the whole business of working with the Ministry.

Andrel 3:51

Yeah, it feels like they shouldn't be allowed to do that.

Drix 3:54

Yeah, the fact that that was a threat is kind of disconcerting, if you know what I mean.

Candace 3:58

Well, it is unfortunate, but by becoming Line Bulls you have offered your bodies in service of the Imperial Railways and His Majesty the Immortal Emperor. And he... well, let's just say he has eminent domain on those meal sacks yours, unfortunately.

Andrel 4:18

Cool, very normal. Extremely normal world this is.

Drix 4:22

Um...

Pip 4:23

I prefer flesh puppet, please.

Candace 4:27

Andrel, don't worry. This is why I, this is why I don't do a regular route. We, if we just keep moving, if we're all over the place, the less chance we have to deal with these people. I want you all three to know that you are on my train, and I will take care of you.

Andrel and Drix 4:42

Thanks, Candace.

Candace 4:44

All right, yeah, well, yeah. Take your pay, have fun in Sunfall. We're supposed to be heading to Severos next. So I guess you should be excited for that, eh, Colburn?

Drix 4:55

Yeah, should should be fun to visit home, you know.

Greg 4:59

So who would like to describe themselves first as they leave the train? I know Pip is doing something, so maybe he'll go last.

Hannah 5:07

Okay. Uh, Andrel, Andrel will hop off. She is a young woman - extremely young, 13 years old child.

Greg 5:20

A child, in fact.

Hannah 5:22

You know, woman was probably a misnomer. She's a, she's a little girl. She should turn 14 eventually. I say that every time you ask me to describe her. A young girl, 13 years old, from Iruvia. She is copper skinned, has short, kind of messy dark hair, a mischievous little grin. Recently someone asked me, like, what Andrel wears and I decided she wears, like, Victorian orphan boy clothing. Um, which -

Stefen 5:59

That is the best choice.

Hannah 6:00

Like, Google that if you want a, if you want a better description. It turns out there are lots of Victorian orphan boy Halloween costumes out there.

Greg 6:09

Oi mister!

Guy 6:11

That's, that's, there's something real twisted about that.

Hannah 6:13

And, yeah, she's also followed by a, a dorg, her dorg Ji'mani, who is a, he looks like a German Shepherd but he is hairless. And he has, uh, was it two legs in front and one in the back?

Greg 6:31

Two in back because he's built for speed.

Hannah 6:32

Two in back and one in front. And he's got a handlebar mustache. That is his only hair. He is a good boy.

Ji'mani 6:39

Yorp yorp!

Andrel 6:40

Yes, Gemini, yorp yorp.

Greg 6:42

Yeah, Andrel, as you're leaving the train, you smell something. It smells like, like a forest. Which is something that you, you haven't smelled much of naturally.

Hannah 6:53

Yeah, I'm not even sure I would recognize that.

Greg 6:55

Yeah, maybe not even, I'm not even one hundred percent sure you'd recognize it. But for listeners, it's like a forest, like a, like the woods. Not in a musky way. Also departing the train is Greta, dressed very nicely. She's got a vest on. She's got, like, a tie. But she's getting set, she, she sees you with, with Ji'mani. Gives a, gives a little nod.

Hannah 7:00

I nod back.

Pip 7:17

Hey guys, is this a legally appropriate time to give a slay queen?

Hannah 7:23

Slay queen indeed.

Guy 7:26

Slay, queen!

Hannah 7:27

Oh my god.

Guy 7:30

I had to make sure.

Greg 7:33

Ji'mani gives a little yorp, and Greta gives Ji'mani little pets.

Hannah 7:38

Yay.

Andrel 7:39

Are you going somewhere, Greta? You look, you look... nice.

Greta 7:44

Well, I was going to meet Miss Paquet.

Andrel 7:47

Oh!

Greta 7:47

And have dinner while we are here.

Andrel 7:48

That's fun.

Greta 7:49

Yes.

Andrel 7:51

I'm not going to ask any more questions about that.

Greta 7:57

Certainly, yeah. Oh, uh, that, yes, I... you're a good kid.

Andrel 8:02

Thank you.

Greg 8:07

And yeah, Greta leaves.

Andrel 8:11

I feel like I should start another, another conspiracy board. I don't know for what exactly, but for something.

Greg 8:23

All right. Next up, Drix.

Drix 8:26

All right, all right. So Drix saunters off the train. He is a tall Severosi man with a dark skin, black hair that's kind of curly, but most of it is hidden under a large black cowboy hat with a red band. He's broad shouldered and on those shoulders is a vest over a button up shirt. He's got a nice big belt with a gold buck bettle - belt buckle, not buck bettle, belt buckle, that says "yee". You can presume the backs of "haw".

Hannah 8:58

Oh my goodness.

Greg 9:01

Yee!

Stefen 9:03

And yeah, he's wearing some trousers and some boots. He's, he's got the whole cowboy gig. But yes, um, he's got his sleeves rolled up and he seems to be kind of, kind of really relaxed right now.

Hannah 9:16

Love that we're all having a very nice good time except for Pip, who is deeply - Pip just took all of the trauma this arc.

Stefen 9:25

He did. He did in fact.

Greg 9:26

Well -

Guy 9:26

It had to happen eventually.

Greg 9:27

Well, about that, about that. Yeah. So, so as you're heading out, Drix, so a ways away. There, it seems there's, like, a checkpoint outside of the train station. Like, the train station seems normal, but there's a little bit of a checkpoint going on. You see the I'Yalim, the Iruvian peacekeepers wearing leather armor with, like, falcons that are occasionally either, like, hanging somewhere, like, like, on them, or, like, flying back or from them, working with Imperial military. And it doesn't look like they're hassling anybody too much, but they're just sort of talking to everybody coming, coming in. And you see Laudius Dalmore the Second, who is passing through, along with the the party with a lot of the Ministry of Preservation members. And he does look back at the freight car as he heads, as he heads inside the city.

Drix 9:27

Well, that is going to, that's gonna be something.

Greg 10:21

But we'll do the little checkpoint explanation thing maybe after Pip's, this little bit of Pip. Pip, describe yourself and what you're doing.

Guy 10:29

So Pip, unlike the other two, has sort of, like, stayed back, like, on the train, he has not stepped foot off of it. He is a tall, fairly gaunt, fairly pale man with kind of a little bit of sort of, like, greasy, like, chestnut hair, and kind of a dower expression on him. He's got the beginnings of a gin blossom starting to form on his nose, and he sort of, like, normally looks a little bit flushed, mostly due to the alcohol in this system. In this particular instance, there is a... an added paleness, mostly because of the, the kind of grim determination that is present on his face.

Greg 11:17

Yes, and currently Pippin is still in the bullpen where the spirit bottles, which are normally, normally collected at some point, but some, one of you guys needs to bring them in. You'd normally sort of pass along that duty. So Pip is looking with that aforementioned grim determination at one of these spirit bottles, the most recent spirit bottle, of one spirit that attacked the train over the last last line, shouting hate towards someone named Crowl. Pip, what does it, what does it look like when you call forth this spirit?

Pip 11:54

So I think the first thing that Pip does is he rolls up his sleeves. In this particular instance, you can see now in sort of, like, full view at sort of, like, full glow, the tattoo that he has on his the inside of his wrist is a glowing kind of, like, pale, electric blue. The numbers are spinning, sort of, like, and shifting wildly. Three digits all the time, but they kind of just, like, shift and change, like, very rapidly one to the next, like an analog sort of, like, roll punch clock.

Hannah 12:34

Pip's on the Infinity Train.

Guy 12:38

By the way, watch check out Infinity Train.

Greg 12:40

Check out Infinity Train!

Guy 12:42

Not sponsored by Infinity Train. But if they'd like to...

Hannah 12:48

They're ending soon. I don't think they're giving out sponsorship.

Guy 12:51

It would be nice, though.

Hannah 12:53

It would be nice.

Stefen 12:53

Infinity Train AU when?

Guy 12:55

From one train to another.

Hannah 12:56

Infinity Train AU! That'd be great.

Greg 12:59

We could play Navigator. Navigator's the, Navigator, perfect little game on itch.io. I don't remember who made it. But it's called Navigator and it's the perfect game to simulate, like, either Cube or Infinity Train. Anyways...

Guy 13:14

Perfect. Pip goes to the spirit bottle and sort of, like, rolls up his sleeves, and with the sort of, like, grim determination of knowing what he has to do. This is a ritual that he's only ever seen done. It's not something that he's ever performed for himself. But there's, there's something sort of, like, nagging at the back of his mind, a ghost of a remembrance, if you could. Something telling him that this is what he needs to do if he wants to find out more. And in this moment, he wants to find out more.

Greg 13:49

So, yes, I can pick it up from here. Anybody can perform rituals, and sorcery. Anybody can interact with the the spirit world, as we've seen with our Bulls attuning to the Ghost Field. It's, it's, there's nothing inherently magical about human beings, not anymore. Nothing special about individual human beings from one to the other. Pippin, essentially taking one harm and one trauma as he gives up a part of his life force to call forth the spirit from the spirit bottle. It's not unknown that there's the spirit trade, and spirit bottles don't automatically liquefy any given spirit into plasm. But the spirit bottle has sort of, does sort of take the fight out of most spirits. Probably some amount of, like, hand cutting -

Guy 14:37

Oh, for sure.

Greg 14:38

But maybe instead of blood coming forth, something wispy and blue flying out, as Pip's lifeforce itself is what this ghost feeds on, and it, it sort of slips out of the bottle slightly, like a cartoon character being drawn by the scent of a pie, drawn to the scent of Pippin's life force.

Pip 15:00

See, I'm imagining, if you've ever sort of, like, given, like, a dog, like, a paper, like, a cardboard tube and their tongue sort of, like, just, like, kind of pops out at the edge of just, like, it's able to sort of like eke out just enough to, like, taste it, but