Riptide Episode 44: Blossoming Trust

> "With a new friend in tow, the Albatrio has a “friendly chat” with the mob boss of the second layer of the Edison Kingdom, Boss Blossom. Jay has the worst commute. Gillion avenges his grandmother. Chip does a trust exercise." -*Episode 44 Official Description*
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## Summary

The party meets with the Blossom Boss, who asks them to kill the king for him. To ensure they will complete the tasks, he cuts of his own and Chip's pinky. His warforged, Alphonse, comes with them as they depart to the Crown District.

## Episode Events

The episode picks up as a mercenary waves his gun at the people in a casino, causing a panic. Jay throws Chip a casino chip with a recorded message, telling them to disguise themselves. Chip disguises himself as a grandma. Warforged bouncers burst in and restrain the mercenary, but fail at restraining Jay. Gillion casts fog cloud and they all escape with it, except the mercenary.

They bump into another warforged that says they have to come with him, or else. The Blossom Boss requests them. Gil tries to convince the warforged to stop working for an evil man and do the right thing. The warforged says that this is his current job and he’s just a freelance bodyguard. If Gil pays more, he will stop. They agree to go see The Boss. Chip persuades the warforged to let him and Ollie go as an unrelated grandma. They ride within a telephone booth onto a private train. Chip and Gil lose their sense of direction on the train ride, but Jay resists the effect and makes mental notes of the route.

They enter a huge mansion and find The Boss. He’s happy that they came willingly, but perplexed by the grandma. Grandma Chip offers him a caramel, but he’s diabetic, so he punches Chip in the face. Gil is enraged and tries to attack, but the warforged holds him back. Gil also doesn’t realize that the grandma is Chip. At The Boss’ command, the warforged Alphonse heals Chip. Blossom Boss says that he owns all the businesses that they caused a ruckus at, which cost him money. Gil takes this to mean that he’s the source of all the evil and they should fight him, but Chip realizes that he wants them to do something for him for compensation. Chip reveals that they’re going to steal from the king, so they can give him a cut. And Gil wants all the Blossom Boss’s future products to be ethically sourced.

This is in line with Blossom’s interests, but he needs something so he can trust them to honor a bargain. He says that Blossom and Chip will both cut off their pinkies and get them back at the end of the job. Chip wants Ollie to cut off his pinky, but Gil steps up and immediately does it. Chip drops the act to scream in pain. Gil realizes that it’s Chip now. Jay cauterizes his wound. Blossom wants them to kill the king. Gil won’t unless the king deserves it. Blossom tries to convince Gil that the king is evil, what with letting people be in poverty and being bad at exporting goods. Gil wants him to promise to put someone good in his place, and also use sustainable plastics.

They head out with Alphonse onto a train. Chip said he had a plan to not lose his finger, but does not elaborate on what it was. They discuss various plans for the heist. Ollie asks whether they’re actually going to kill the king, and Chip says no, while Gil says maybe. The train turns upside down and flies into an opposite-gravity floating city, the Crown District.

## Transcription

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

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