[Do] Sunday Night Group - Episode 2

Actual Play of Do: Pilgrims of the Flying Temple
This is a story created by playing Do: Pilgrims of the Flying Temple.

» Previously... Episode 1

The Pilgrims

Pilgrim Hesitant Goggles gets into trouble by having a hard time deciding what to do and helps people by seeing things clearly. (Anders - Absent) [1]
World Destiny: 4
Temple Destiny: 3

Pilgrim Rolling Star gets into trouble by being clumsy and helps people by guiding them to new ideas. (David)
World Destiny: 0
Temple Destiny: 5

Pilgrim Yellow Moon gets in trouble by being afraid and helps people by shining light on their problems. (Jamie)
World Destiny: 3
Temple Destiny: 6

Pilgrim Shiny Pen gets in trouble by being too flashy and helps people by being a great writer. (Daniel - New Addition) [2]
World Destiny: 0
Temple Destiny: 0

The Letter

"Worlds Collide" by Colin Fredericks

The Story

Pilgrim Yellow Moon visits Yotta and tells him, "Yotta, maybe you should accept the words of your great sages, and learn to live in the moment."

Yotta exclaims in shock, "you mean we should all just bow down and accept the loss of all life, culture, and history on our world? You will die in the flood too you know!"

Pilgrim Flashy Pen writes a heartfelt poem to the Great Sages of Juku expressing the anguish that will fall on their world if the floods come.

Unfortunately, Pilgrim Flashy Pen's calligraphy is so ostentatious that the Great Sages of Juku are offended and incensed at his letter.

Pilgrim Rolling Star explains to Yotta and Yellow Moon that the two worlds might not crash together so much as merge together, and that it might be possible to save many lives.

Pilgrim Rolling Star doesn't notice that his calculations are just a few digits off, and that Ishita really will cause a cataclysmic collision between the worlds.

Pilgrim Yellow Moon talks Pilgrim Shiny Pen out of the funk he is in and they travel to the Water Planet together, and discover that the inhabitants of the Water Planet are working on a plan.

The Phloerals capture Yellow Moon immediately and put him in jail, explaining their plan to use their gigantic steam engines to steer their world into the Desert Planet and swallow it all under their water.

Evading capture from the Phloerals, Pilgrim Shiny Pen writes the updated calculations to Rolling Star in great ink strokes across the sky.

This is impossible to hide from the Phloerals, who capture Shiny Pen as he finishes his message, and put him in the cell next to Yellow Moon.

Rolling Star teaches Yotta his special Pilgrim Fu techniques and together they manage to rescue Yellow Moon.

Pilgrim Yellow Moon tells the Phloerals that their plan is against the will of nature and seeing the error of their ways, they relent and release Pilgrim Shiny Pen.

The Phloerals express their sorrow, as their engines are out of steam, and can no longer change the course of the water planet.

Pilgrim Shiny Pen writes to the people of Rova securing safe haven for any refugees from Juku and Ishita, including soft comfy bed in a safe, well-lit corner for the very frightened Yellow Moon.

During the evacuation of Ishita and Juku, pilgrim Shiny Pen's flashy clothes get caught on a tree branch, and he's stuck on the water planet.

Pilgrim Rolling Star trips on a wire in Ishita's engines, causing its orbit to be on a collision course with Rova, where everyone is taking refuge.

Yellow Moon is so frightened by the coming deluge that he wets his bed. [3]

Yellow Moon, embarrassed, takes the bedclothes to the laundromat.

Pilgrim Shiny Pen remembers a haiku by the great poet Broken Willow, who wrote of many ways to escape the prickly grasp of the worldly life, giving Shiny Pen insight into how to safely extricate himself from the tree's branches.

Pilgrim Rolling Star has great new idea: he can reverse-engineer the engines' power to bring Ishita into orbit around Rova instead of crashing into it.

Pilgrim Rolling Star falls on the throttle lever, creating an orbit that shifts Rova's tectonic plates and causes annoying tremors across the planet.

Pilgrim Yellow Moon is still in the laundromat when the earthquakes caused by the water planet strike, and he immediately sees the similarity between the action of the washing machine and the motion of the tectonic plates.

Yellow Moon is so overcome by the gravity of the situation, that he hides inside a washing machine. [4]

Pilgrim Shiny Pen corrects the orbit of Ishita around Rova by writing a poem across the sky that is so amazing, it causes everyone on that side of Rova to gasp at the same time, pulling the whole planet just an inch farther from Juku.

The stars themselves are so impressed by his poetry that they capture him, bring him to the heavens, and make him write poems for them.

Pilgrim Rolling Star talks to the stars and inspires them to write their own poetry in the style of Shiny Pen, so as to better express Shiny Pen's genius and also allow him to continue his pilgrimage.

Epilogue: Parades

Pilgrim Yellow Moon peers out of the washing machine - the immigrants to Rova seem to be happy now.[5]

Having seen their error, the Great Sages of Juku welcome Yotta as one of their peers.

Now that their planet has a new stable orbit around Rova, and their engines are no longer operational, the Phloerals return to their home world and dance and sing and cry with joy, and their happy tears rain down on both Rova and Juku for ages to come.

New Names

Pilgrim Yellow Eyes gets in trouble by being afriad and helps people by seeing truth. (Jamie)
World Destiny: 5
Temple Destiny: 13

Pilgrim Rolling Fist gets in trouble by being clumsy and helps people by fighting for justice.
World Destiny: 5
Temple Destiny: 13

Pilgrim Hungry Pen gets in trouble by being lured away from an ascetic lifestyle and helps people by being a great writer. (Daniel)
World Destiny: 5
Temple Destiny: 3

Notes

[1] Unfortunately Anders couldn't make it for this session. This was to be a useful learning experience, though. I have contingency protocols in the game for just this sort of situation. Basically, if a player can't make it to a session, their pilgrim got lost on a detour on their way to this world. If a player can't make it to any more games at all, she can jump straight to her Destiny with whatever World/Temple points she's built up so far.

[2] In the first episode with this group, I sat back as a facilitator, keeping track of stones and helping with Troublemaking. With Anders out, that left us one member shy of a full group. This was not something I planned for, the game text has contingency protocols for new players joining in the middle of the Pilgrimage. The quick character creation process makes it easy to write a new character. My wife looked around the room, found a shiny pen and wrote this quick character description. Thus, Pilgrim Shiny Pen was born.

[3] [4] [5] This was a sudden shift in the story, both in scope and subject matter. We kept the momentum going as best we could by drawing sharp contrasts between the high-flying cosmic poetry and mundane trip to the laundromat. It was probably the one moment in all the games that felt most like a Happy Birthday, Robot! non sequitor. It all ended up for the best and became a humorous anecdote later on.

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