Title: Cloudward, Ho!
GM: Brennan Lee Mulligan
Players: Emily Axford (she/her) as Marya Junková (she/her). Zac Oyama (he/him) as Daisuke Bucklesby (he/him). Siobhan Thompson (she/her) as Vanellope ‘Van’ Chapman (she/her). Lou Wilson (he/him) as Montgomery ‘Monty’ LaMontgommery (he/him). Ally Beardsley (they/them) as Olethra MacLeod (she/her). Brian Murphy (he/him) as Maxwell Gotch (he/him).
Streaming Service: Dropout
If you missed them, catch up on our review of the first, second, third, fourth, and fifth episodes!
Returning to the mythical land of Zood, our Intrepid Heroes begin right where we left off. Haunch Saxon, a former crew member of the original Zephyr, lays dead. Images of Straka cover his home, and their best lead suggests Mordecestershire was responsible though no one has any idea how he managed to cross from Gath into Zood without the Biangle.
The group fear that Mordecestershire wants to use them to hunt down Comfrey. However, they can’t agree whether he followed them to Zood or has another gateway onto the continent, which would explain Comfrey’s work at the South Pole. Either way, with a weakened gait, Monty can only diagnosis that something is wrong with the man.
Making a hasty exit, the group returns to the port. Some of their crew has abandoned ship, discovering long lost twins and romance in Tabira City. They successfully abscond without issue. Traveling out, they follow Marya’s map, finding rough terrain that won’t permit a safe landing. Daisuke spies some ruins. Massive quartz obelisks stand, rooted near the top of the mountains surrounding the thick jungle. Studying the plateau, they elect to send down two lifeboats into the thick canopy.
As they make their way toward the temple, they discover that the temple might be a fake. Still, they continue their approach. Large lizards and terrifying creatures hunt all around them.
The giraffe isn’t an ideal predator. It seems caught mid-evolution with characteristics not ideal for a giraffe or a meat-eating animal. This suggests that the mushrooms must be close. Things shifted at random, and as the animals stuck to their behaviors in different bodies, those which survived selected for particular characteristics, drastically swinging the evolutionary path for these switched creatures.
A cry in the dark pulls Marya’s and Monty’s attention. When they divert from their course, they are almost immediately intercepted.
Slowly, his legion slowly appears, surrounding them. While others dance around Dromarcus’s questions, Maxwell and Monty are straightforward and honest. Monty reveals the fall of the Legio Rex’s original Gathi empire, and the immediate attack underlines the loyalty remains in them. Despite his honesty, Maxwell immediately suspects a trap.
Though many of the legion are descendants of the original members, the most important members are transferred into new bodies to prevent their deaths. The cry in the dark which brought the crew from their path is the new body awaiting transference of the consciousness of the Emperor Imperasaurus Dei. However, according to Dromarcus, they no longer have access to the magnamensa, which may result in the Imperasaurus’s final end.
After sharing some wine, which the crew only fakes drinking, the two groups agree to help one another. Once slightly sloshed, they head into the temple. All around them, the quartz lights up. Raptor bones litter a space before them. Van translates the signs, recognizing a risk calculator. Marya finds invisible ink left behind by Comfrey. The secret message says, “Wind Riders, you know when we go.”
Dromarcus requests for the Zephyr’s crew to disable the device. Gathering around, the raptors push the baby rex closer to Olethra who finds. The second it turns high, Monty raises forward, grabbing the baby dinosaur as the rest quickly follow. Behind them, the raptors rage. Eight hundred velociraptors brute force their way forward. Monty gentles the baby, and they discover a massive collection of magnamensa.
Exploring their side, they find a breakroom, further supporting the building being a power station of some sort.
Recognizing the system before her, Marya instructs the crew, guiding them to redirect the moonlight through crystals, but caught upon the pillars, they’re caught as the Legio Rex attacks, leaving us in the thick of it as the episode ends.
Highlights
With the recent release of Jurassic World Rebirth, dinos were already on my mind. Maybe if they had considered exploring human minds being transferred into raptors, they could have hit the gore and mutant horror that they aimed for with Distortus rex. A deadly mix of the overwhelming organizational dominance of a Roman legion and the predation prowess of velociraptors, the Legio Rex walks the line between comically absurd and abstract horror that grows darker the more you consider the philosophical fallout where our Intrepid Heroes often do their best work.
The Legio Rex were incredible, and I loved seeing feathered velociraptors. Once drunk, Dromarcus lamented their attempts to regain thumbs. He might be my favorite NPC so far this season. Then again, I’m just a bit biased toward Italian accents.
Final Score (4 out of 5 Stars)
Any season with the Intrepid Heroes can basically be broken down into a few simple phases:
- Character Introductions
- Team Construction
- Mysteries Upon Mysteries
- Pursuit of Truth
- The Click – A.K.A. Dots Connected, Now What?
- We Have A Plan! (which may be followed by a 6B of “We Have A Better Plan!”)
- The Climax
- Emotional Fallout
- Wrap It Up / Epilogue
Sometimes, the phases overlap, but they generally follow this order. It’s a solid basic storytelling structure, and we’re in Phase 3. This is usually where I get a bit critical as there’s a lot of exposition and details being dropped which are sometimes ignored for the bits. In past seasons, Siobhan and Murph often helped urge the plot forward, catching bits and pieces which might’ve otherwise not been noticed. Emily, Zach, and Lou are pretty fantastic at keeping the bits going and catching details only to pretend they don’t for laughs, which is hit or miss in my book. Ally is an absolute wild card. Their work in A Starstruck Odyssey proved they can strategize like nobody’s business, and their luck is insane! However, they also are really good at distracting Lou, which inevitably ends with Zach and Emily joining which can be absolutely hilarious but also lead to Brennan tossing out key details that the whole group misses, which sometimes ruins an episode for me, but it was a wonderful balance this go around.
Rumors remained where we left them:
- There’s a kill switch in the MechLeod.
- Olethra MacLeod is a robot.
- Pappy was lost at air for six months.
- Van is secretly working with the Confederate Republic.
- This rumor came from a member of Marya’s and Van’s old crew.
- Van denied it, noting her family money means she would never need to take a bribe.
- Van won the Grand Kabilian Toe Wrestling Championship.
- Confirmed by Van.
Let us know what you think in the comments below or go over to our Discord channel to join the conversation.
Featured Image: Dimension 20
The Boss Rush Podcast: The Flagship Podcast of Boss Rush Media and the Boss Rush Network
The Boss Rush Podcast – The Boss Rush Podcast is the flagship podcast of Boss Rush Media and the Boss Rush Network. Each week, Corey, Stephanie, LeRon, and their friends from around the internet come together with other creators, developers, and industry veterans to talk about games they’ve been playing, discuss video game and entertainment based topics, and answer questions solicited on social media and the community Discord.
New episodes of The Boss Rush Podcast release every Monday morning on YouTube and all major podcast applications like Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Patreon supporters gain one week early access.
Listen on your favorite podcast application or watch on YouTube!
Anchor | Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Google | Twitch | Overcast | Pocket Casts |
Follow The Boss Rush Podcast on Social Media:
Twitter | Discord | Instagram | Twitch | YouTube | Facebook Group | Facebook
Leave a Reply