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, fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth, and ninth episodes!
We return to the land of Zood as the Bank of Fehujar arrives in their long airship. Armed with weapons and briefcases, they are a mighty foe, coming in full force. With the failure of their ploy, our Intrepid Heroes must quickly play the odds, pulling every big of their legendary prowess to take down these beefy bankers.
With his long rifle, Daisuke shoots a man from the edge of the ship. It’s an excellent entrance before initiative even starts. Van follows up quickly. Though she fails to blind him, she does manage to hit him with her prothesis’s water attack. Her attack barely does any damage unfortunately.
Monty harpoons the canon, but he does not manage to harm it. Using the rope, he ziplines to the Fehujar ship, level his weapon at them. Daisuke quickly follows after his friend.
Meanwhile, Marya lights a flame to attack, planning to guide the Zephyr alongside the Bank to set the blimps on fire. However, the Bank of Fehujar has a stone center to their ship. They want to crash, leaving this a duel of pilots. Marya manages to broadside them, using the dragon spout at the tip of the ship to spread the flames. Though unable to manage anything integral, her attack lands, further weakening the enemy ship. As the Bank deals with which successful blow, they launch more fighters. Pennyfarthing gliders launch from the back.
They hit Little One and Maxwell. In retaliation, and on Van’s command, Maxwell grabs one of the airborn bankers and shoves him directly into one of the Zephyr’s wind turbines. The seventh son of the Gotch family goes dead-eyed, proclaiming the man nothing more than meat. Unfortunately, his brother witnesses it. Wealwell wails, projectile vomiting. Despite this, Maxwell grabs a second banker and does the same.
Two other banks leap into action. They beat Maxwell, clearly rattled by what has just happened. From the long ship, shields and briefcases resound, and the Bank of Fehujar prepares a collision course.
One of the Zephyr’s balloons tears. Ice falls down, wounding Little One and some of the bankers on the deck. When Van leaps to fix the balloon, tendrils like those they had seen with the eye-full hand become visible to Olethra as her fear after failure sends black ooze out of her prothesis to fix the balloon.
With a bridge made of a boxing glove, Little One crosses to the Bank of Fehujar with Monty on his back.
They quickly grab Daisuke, racing back to the Zephyr. Monty quickly aids his unconscious friend. After an absolute wreckage of rolls from Brennan, we tumbled into what might be the best music so far in the series with a dramatic repetition of rolling piano notes and ticking as Fehujar tries to retreat.
Van reels in Torse, zapping a balloon on the longship. Setting the ship ablaze, they send the Bank of Fehujar to the swirling sea below.
Highlights
Brennan was so convinced that Murph had made a stretch play with the meat-grinding action of the wind turbine. The moment when Murph and Siobhan revealed that the 6d10 damage he offered in the moment was less than the 10d10 damage offered in the design of the ship, which Brennan originally provided them, was a beautiful moment of brutal irony. This massacre wasn’t Murph’s lucky roll. From the moment the Zephyr took to the sky, this destruction was a matter of time.
If the scene was made all the better due to Murph’s history of horrible rolls, then thank the dice gods. Truly, he was made to play Maxwell Gotch.
Final Score (5 out of 5 Stars)
Though the whimsy remained, this combat-focused episode stirred straight into the brutal, embracing the dangers of the wind rider. Some seasons have more bloodlust than others, and Cloudward, Ho! has danced about horror with the body swamping of the Legio Rex, but when you’re dealing with Viking raiders turned bankers, there’s no choice but to go full Crown of Candy. Daisuke almost died. Little One almost died. Maxwell deli-sliced two men.
We also had a few interesting reveals. Van showed her first sign of a warlock class, or in game, more pointedly, her connection to the eldritch horror that the Eyeless Hand worships became all the more apparent. Despite falling from the sky, Rolfgar had legendary actions remaining, so while a crash might’ve killed anyone of the rest of the Bank of Fehujar, we might just see the Senior Vice President of Acquisitions again.
On that note, did it bother me that it was spelled ‘aquisitions’? Yes. Will I write the title like that? No.
Spelling aside, this was an incredible episode. From the first shot through the disaster of Monty and Daisuke’s rush, the combat flowed well, showing the divide between the Zephyr’s original-now-legendary crew and the legends in the making. It made their victory all the better.
Our Intrepid Heroes now have Comfrey’s notes, so with any luck, we’re well on our way to finding the wayward professor. But will we find MacLeod first? Or will the Eyeless Hand and other enemies have already taken the brave wind rider captive?
We didn’t receive any no rumors this week, so the rumors remain as follows:
- There’s a kill switch in the MechLeod.
- Marya finally told Olethra, but nothing was found yet.
- 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.
- Daisuke can hold his breath for an hour.
- Zach confirmed this to be a lie, but nothing was said in game.
Let us know what you think in the comments below or go over to our Discord channel to join the conversation. Reminder, next week is a break week for Cloudward, Ho! Boss Rush will return on Friday August 22nd with a review of the eleventh episode.
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.
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