Riptide Episode 2: Chipwrecked!

"'Our crew ventures out into new waters after liberating the town of ZERO. After some time sailing, The Big Chipper ends up in woodchips and leaves the crew stranded. Not sure how they're gonna manage with this one but they are just going to have to roll with it.' –Episode 2 Official Description"

Summary
After a successful escape from the island of Zero, the crew finds themselves on the open sea. However, a mishap involving gunpowder and some Dancing Sea Lemurs destroys their ship, the Big Chipper, and leaves them stranded on an unknown island. There, they meet a strange old man who can’t seem to stop laughing.

Episode Events
The episode begins with Jay observing the whirlpool forming near the ship before fearfully calling her crew over. Chip, assuming it to be the same anomaly that the Black Rose Pirates encountered, orders that they turn towards the vortex in hopes of finding his childhood crew — however, he quickly realizes that this is smaller than the storm that occurred a decade ago.

Rather, this whirlpool is being caused by a group of Dancing Sea Lemurs frolicking in the water. Gillion entices some onto the ship with an apple, and then attempts to offer one gunpowder as a snack despite Chip and Jay’s warnings. As a result, the lemurs breathe fire onto the powder and cause an explosion that throws the crew off of their now wrecked ship.

While a distraught Chip watches his ship sink, Gillion rescues Jay from drowning before asking that Chip “lay upon [him] a mighty blow” as atonement for the boat’s destruction. Jay reasons that it was the lemurs’ fault, but Chip remains angry and unconvinced. Exasperated, he comes up with a plan to have Gillion carry him and Jay to land. Gillion asks a nearby fish where the nearest island is and follows it as it begins guiding the trio.

After four hours of Gillion swimming, they arrive at sunset to a somewhat rectangular island covered in tall grass and thick foliage. The crew ventures into the forest in search of a place to sleep, but gets sidetracked when Gillion is startled by the chirping of insects. Chip and Jay prank Gillion by telling him that the bugs are dangerous and must be avoided by crawling. Now convinced of the insects’ wickedness, Gillion comes face to face with one of the beetles and immediately kills it with his sword.

The three set up camp but are interrupted by a rustling in the bushes and a ringing in between the trees. Chip spots a wolf stalking the party, and the crew attempts to sneak away — though Gillion spots another bug and foils any attempt at stealth with his shouting. When a leaf cracks nearby, Chip ducks behind a bush as Jay and Gillion investigate.

The source of the noise turns out to be a halfling old man with a bald head (save for one hair on the middle of his head), a messy, tattered white muscle shirt, stained khaki shorts, and bare feet. Jay reflexively shoots a nocked arrow and misses, and the man begins uncontrollably laughing at her attempt on his life despite proclaiming that the situation isn’t funny (much to the concern of the crew).

When the halfling asks what the crew is doing in the forest, Chip lies and says they’re on a mission to find an artifact. Believing him, the old man says that there is no artifact on the island, nor is there “anything funny”. He asks that the crew tell him a joke so he can have a reason to laugh, to which Gillion responds: “I only know fish jokes, I don’t think they’re going to land.” The session ends.

Transcription
A Google Doc of this episode's transcription is not currently available.

Transcriptions are made by Cavebees and their transcription team on Discord.

Trivia

 * The crew had 5000 gold on the Big Chipper that they lost in the explosion.
 * The coin Chip received from Arlin is first mentioned in this episode.