RQG Not Far to Bermuda Special

## Content Warnings

Part 1 Thalassophobia, cliques and politics, being trapped, dwindling supplies, alcohol consumption, smoking (vaping), romantic tension, innuendo, rejection. Mention of: drugs (marajuana, cocaine, heroin), addiction, alcohol as a coping mechanism.
Part 2 Thalassophobia, cheating on a partner, innuendo, partial nudity, abuse of a relative, elderly person being deliberately injured, hints of past trauma
Part 3 Manipulative flirting, comedic violence, discussion of poisoning and choking, poisoning, swallowing acid, nonconsensual nudity, mass nudity, trapped in a pit, alcohol

## Plot Summary

Join Helen and Lydia with special guests Sasha Sienna and Lowri Ann Davies on Day 294 of their cruise to Bermuda! We meet Rainbow, Elliot, and JJ as they get ready for the on-ship talent competition for the final bottle of champagne. Elliot and JJ fight over the attentions of Dyfan, the spin class instructor, whilst Rainbow does whatever it takes to win.

## Character Summary

#### Rainbow Smith

Rainbow has poorly-dyed hair and carries a heavy, unwieldy suitcase full of crystals. She definitely knows what yoga is.

#### Elliot Spiffington

Elliot has dated most of the ship and has his eyes set on Dyfan (Jazz' boyfriend). He's a Very Talented Poet.

#### JJ (Jazz Jenkins)

JJ is dating Dyfan, the spin class instructor, and uses her first aid training to her advantage when it comes to eliminating the competition.

## Synopsis

*Welcome to the Wanderlust cruise liner, taking a tour of the Atlantic Islands. It's been 294 days since you last saw land. But that's OK; the captain says you'll be arriving in Bermuda any day now...*

The characters are all members of the on-board crew, and have been hired (or at least assumed to have been hired) to run the onshore activities when they get to Bermuda. Jazz will be running outdoor pursuits, Rainbow will be leading a yoga retreat (despite not knowing what yoga is), and Elliot will be leading a poetry retreat. During the cruise, cliques have formed (see Cliques section) and the characters must navigate these.

### Episode 1

**BREAK**

Elliot is sitting at the bar of the sunset Lounge, writing poetry. Ray Martini's song comes to an end and he announces to the lounge that, in eight days, the lounge will be hosting a talent night. The prize is the ship's final bottle of champagne. Elliot goes to tell his current love interest, the spin class instructor Dyfan (pronounced Devin). Dyfan is also JJ's boyfriend, and is currently practising couples' sunset yoga on deck with JJ. Rainbow is in the background trying to copy the poses, but her heavy quartz jewellery is weighing her down, and that's definitely why she can't do the poses.

Elliot hangs out by the rail, ostentatiously blowing clouds of vape smoke spelling Dyfan's name to get Dyfan's attention. JJ inhales some of Elliot's vape smoke and notices him. Elliot tries to seduce Dyfan even in front of JJ, then proceeds to tell them about the talent show. JJ isn't convinced, since Ray will be judging and she once offended him, but both she and Elliot consider themselves to be individually talented enough to win on their own. Rainbow then falls over from the pose she was failing to hold, and rolls into scene. She asks what the prize will be, and when Elliot says it's the last bottle of champagne, interest is heightened. JJ says to Dyfan that they can share it on their 3-month anniversary, while Elliot says he could find someone very special to share it with too, looking straight at Dyfan. Rainbow is more interested in not having to experience being trapped on the ship, surrounded by water, sober.

They all decide to enter the talent show together as a group and suggest doing a poetry-yoga routine augmented by crystals. Elliot takes the amethyst because it's his birthstone, as he's a Pisces (amethyst is in fact not the birthstone of Pisces), and Rainbow invites him to her room to talk about crystals and so on. Dyfan is very uncomfortable by this point and is shooting furious glances at Rainbow for chasing Elliot as a love interest (despite him being with JJ). JJ offers for Rainbow to do the yoga choreography, because she definitely knows what yoga is. Rainbow also adds that if there were a way to include 'a shuffleboard' in the routine, so that she can invite her shuffleboarding grandma Grananan to the team. *[Discussions amongst the players of what shuffleboard actually is is a common theme in this special.]* Rainbow says that Elliot can come with her on a journey towards a dangerous and exciting experience (shuffleboarding?), and she can help him with that (wink wink). Elliot looks from her to Dyfan and back again, and says that he's not busy tonight, so why not?

Dyfan isn't happy at that and asks Elliot if he remembers that he's "working" tonight. Elliot replies that he'll be working on his poetry with Rainbow, unless Dyfan wants to help him? Dyfan is suddenly very keen and says he's a very great poet, then realises JJ is right there and tells her he'd only be going to "work on poetry" with Elliot for the art; he's working on a poem for JJ, in fact. Elliot questions this, and Dyfan updates that to "for all lovers, everywhere". Elliot and JJ are both impressed with Dyfan. Elliot says he thought he and Dyfan could work on the talent night poem while the ladies sorted the yoga. JJ asks when she will be able to hear the poem Dyfan is writing for her, and he says it'll be a special surprise on the night of the talent contest.

JJ is very upbeat about all of this and suggests the group name be LoveFlow. Everyone is down with that. Rainbow suggests going to talk to her Grananan about yoga and shuffleboarding.

### Episode 2

JJ and Rainbow head to the sport deck to find Grananan on the shuffleboarding... board? It turns out that Grananan is at the top of the Boarder hierarchy, and could be a useful person to talk to to acquire black-market items. JJ asks Rainbow if Grananan is in with Cosmetology, since she is running out of plasters and bandages for her first aid kit. Rainbow tells JJ that they need to wear socks and sandals as a sign of respect to the queen of the Boarders, Grananan. The sports deck has a higher average age than other parts of the ship. They find Grananan on the shuffleboarding...court?, broom? and ball in hand, looking for... maximum points. Rainbow greets Granananananan, and she asks how she can help Rainbow. Rainbow asks if Grananan might join their group with her shuffleboarding skills. Unfortunately, Grananan also has eyes on the champagne on behalf of the shuffleboarders. They need it as a bribe for the teens in order to gain control of the indoor pool from the deckers. Rainbow tries to convince her to defect to their group instead, saying that the champagne would get the teens rowdy (nobody wants that) and that all pools should be drained anyway- she's afraid of water. Grananan isn't convinced, saying she trusts the tens to get the bribe to the Deckers.

Grananan goes on to say that she's been taking salsa lessons for the talent contest for her own entry. Rainbow is suspicious: the contest was only announced that day- has Grananan got inside information? Is this a conspiracy, with Grananan at the top? Rainbow and JJ decide to go and find Elliot and Dyfan and discuss this new turn of events.

**BREAK**

Dyfan and Elliot are in Elliot's room, 'writing poetry'. He has draped two sarongs from previous flings from the top bunk to the bottom, creating a sexy den. It turns out, though, that Dyfan needs to actually write some poetry. Elliot tries to seduce Dyfan by sexily removing his own shirt. Dyfan looks at Elliot's chest, bites his lip, but manages to look away and insist on writing poetry. Elliot is crushed and puts his shirt back on, and helps Dyfan with poetry instead.

JJ and Rainbow walk into Elliot's cabin, and finds them both in Elliot's sexy den. Elliot's shirt has only been half buttoned up, and he's leaning in to Dyfan, saying how his heart is so deep, just like his love. A hand is on an arm, although it's unclear whose. JJ remarks that it looks rather cosy in there, and Dyfan and Elliot manage to convince her that it's easier to write poetry in an enclosed space, and that they're working on poetry theory at the moment. Elliot asks how they're getting on with the choreography, and rainbow says that since her Grananan betrayed her, she needs to be destroyed. Rainbow isn't coping well, and says she's going to go off and write a damning dance about Grananan. JJ is devastated that Rainbow would break up Love Flow when there's only seven, or eight, days left until the contest! rainbow comes back to herself, and agrees not to break up the group.

The week passes, and JJ and Elliot spend all their time on trying to seduce Dyfan instead of working on their choreography or poetry Elliot holds 'poetry sessions' in his room every day and makes moves on him every time. JJ takes him on adventures, going dancing, using the climbing wall, and so on. Dyfan has a moment of revelation on the climbing wall and realises he wants to stay with JJ and stop cheating on her with Elliot. Meanwhile, Rainbow now has a vendetta against Grananan and plots to break her hip. She uses towels to dampen the shuffleboarding...course? racetrack?, causing Grananan to slip over and break her hip.

### Episode 3

It's the day of the talent show, and LoveFlow are doing what they can to mitigate the disaster that is their act.

Elliot flirts with everyone on the ship he meets (except the kids of course) to get info on the other acts. He finds out that the Raininacs are putting together a tribute act to Ray Martini; the Boarders are pushing on with their salsa dancing; a rival Shredder called Annie Rose who will be singing as an audition of sorts to become one of the lounge singers; the Cosmetologists will have an act, but nobody knows what it is. Elliot tells Dyfan what he's found out in front of JJ as a power play.

JJ has a plan to sabotage some of the other acts. She's going to use her zipwiring skills to zipwire from the highest point of the ship, at the same time dropping heavy objects on the cliques to take them out. Rainbow offers her suitcase of heavy objects for JJ to throw things from, including her crystals. Elliot is all for it. JJ sets up her zipwire, and aims for the Deckers and the Shredders with her heavy objects, aiming for Annie's drink so the rock makes her drink acidic and damages her voice when she drinks.

Meanwhile, Rainbow is planning her sabotage of the pool. Rainbow hides in a laundry cart under some towels whilst Elliot pushes her, dressed in his speedo, checking out the swimmers at the pool. They get to the button that should not be pushed, and the pool starts to drain. Everyone's swimming clothes fall off! Luckily the swimming clothes block the drains enough that nobody is sucked through the drain. The empty pool is now full of writhing naked (mostly wrinkly) bodies [there were no teens or children in the pool]. She uses the boltcutters from her suitcase to take out the pool ladders and trap the Deckers in the empty pool, rendering their act impossible.

The group arrives a little early to the Sunset Lounge. A judges' table is in the Lounge, behind which sit Ruby Bloom, head Cosmetologist, and Dr. Fern Sturgeon, ship's surgeon. The other chair is empty, for Ray. Fern immediately walks up to JJ and scolds her for dropping rocks on people. JJ breaks down, saying she was crying the whole time, bandaged them afterwards, and she only did it because of her love for Dyfan and her fear of being alone on Bermuda again. Fern says she understands- Bermuda is a dreadful place- and hugs JJ.

The group takes their seats and grabs their kit for their act, and Ray introduces the talent night. The first act is Anna (Rainbow's Grananan) and Archibald, performing the Tango. Despite her broken hip, this is an incredibly steamy tango. Annie Rose is on next, and she has a really raspy voice due to the acid burning. It works though- she's doing a jazzy number. Next on is the Cosmetologist group, doing a quick-change act, from one spa uniform to another.

Finally, LoveFlow is on, doing a yoga-poetry act. Rainbow is doing something that's definitely not yoga, whilst JJ and Dyfan do some couples' yoga moves. Elliot makes up a poem on the spot, staring at JJ the whole time:

*There's just something about you... Dyfan*

*When I see you, I am in...heaven*

*I haven't felt like this since I was...*

*Seventeen, when I fell in love with...Kevin*

*We should turn this up to eleven, Dyfan*

*I want to be with you for... forever*

*'N I beg you to leave me never'n, Dyfan*

*Because I can't just be...like... whatever*

Elliot then produces a rose and drops the mic. JJ launches herself at Elliot. They are equally matched in the fight, and eventually look up to see that Dyfan has run from the room. Elliot is annoyed and JJ is in tears, and they both race after him (JJ on a zipline). The audience thinks this is all part of the act, and the champagne is handed to Rainbow. She shakes it, opens it, and water goes everywhere (gasp!).

## Cliques

On board the ship are several cliques that have formed, and each have jurisdiction over different parts of the ship:

* Hospitality: The ship staff
* The Shredders: The gymgoers. Control the gym.
* The Deckers: The people who sunbathe on deck. Control the sundeck.
* The Boarders: The people that play shuffleboard (and similar 'pub garden' games such as quoits). Control the Sports deck. Grananan is the Boarder queen.
* The Rainiacs: Superfans of Ray Martini and the Shakers. Control the Sunset Lounge.
* Daycare: Children; described as 'kind of Lord of the Flies'
* Cosmetologists: Control the Spa. Only people invited by the Cosmetologists get access.
* TeenZone: Controlled by the ship's teens

The indoor pool is contested ground between the Shredders, the Boarders, and the Deckers.

## Quotes

**Rainbow**: "So this is jade, it really helps with the flow of, um... yoga... this is amethyst, er... and like, I just... I find that it helps the flow of... of words... I'm not using it right now, that's why I'm struggling a bit..."
**JJ**: "Gosh, are you carrying all these things with you, always?"
**Rainbow**: "Always, yeah I never travel light...And this is, er, a blue one, I'm not sure what kind of stone it is, but it helps with flow. We're all ladies here, so we can... we understand what flow flow, flow flow"
**Elliot**: "Uhhh.... I'm not a lady, but I see what you mean."
―Rainbow explains her crystals to Elliot, JJ, and Dyfan.

**Lydia**: "There's a love triangle going on and I want it to be a square!"
**Helen**: "Ehhh, it could be a square if you catch Elliot at the right time!"
―Lydia and Helen discuss Rainbow's prospects with Elliot

**Fern**: "Several people saw you zipwiring and dropping rocks on people. I understand the urge, truly I do. But I really feel like I have to explain- this is the opposite of First Aid!"
**JJ**: "I was crying the whole time and I went back and I bandaged them all! And you know, I just felt like Dyfan was drifting from me, and I just loved him so much, like, we've been on this ship, we've been through so much together and I didn't want to lose him and I just knew that that bottle of champagne would make everything OK... I've been to Bermuda before, and I was alone, and everyone was in a couple, or some form of relationship, and I just can't face being there alone again! It's a really tough place to be!"
**Fern (hugging JJ)**: "I know. It's a dreadful place! I've been there too. I understand."
**JJ**: "Thank you, I knew we had a connection!"
―JJ explains to her mentor Fern about why she dropped rocks on people

## Mechanics

*Fate Accelerated is a system in which the dice consist of pluses, minuses, and blanks. The GM sets the difficulty value of a task and the total on the dice, added to any bonuses the players are using, give the player's score. If the difficulty value is met, the task is completed successfully. Players may also make opposed rolls to hinder each other. Events in the game also give characters additional Aspects, which can be used in rolls.*

### Episode 1

* Elliot tries to compel Dyfan (using Dyfan's Having An Affair aspect). Helen spends one Fate point?
* JJ also tries to compel Dyfan (using Dyfan's Having An Affair aspect). Lowri spends one Fate Point?
* Helen rolls for Elliot to get Dyfan's attention using their 3 in Sneaky: three minuses & 1 blank: -3, + 3 sneaky bonus: 0
* Lowri rolls for JJ to keep Dyfan's attention using her 3 in Flashy: two pluses and two blanks, +3 Flashy bonus: 5. Lowri wins.
* Sasha spends a Fate Point to give Dyfan the Aspect Hypocritical Jealousy.
* Lowri spends a Fate Point for Dyfan's Hypocritical Jealousy to come into play again after Elliot considers going to Rainbow's room.

### Episode 2

* Sasha gives Grananan the Aspect: Boarder Queen Bee
* Lydia rolls for Rainbow to convince Grananan to defect from the Boarders and join their talent group. Target difficulty: 5. 1 blank, -3 + 3 logic bonus: 0 (fail)
* Sasha gives Grananan the Aspect: Part of a Conspiracy(?)
* Helen rolls for Elliot to convince Dyfan to sleep with him instead of writing poetry. Target difficulty: 2. -1 from dice, +2 flashy bonus: 1 (fail)
* JJ rolls a straight roll with 4 dice. The higher the number on the dice, the more clothes Elliot and Dyfan are wearing when Jazz walks in on them. -1 (reasonably undressed- they're in a compromising position)
* Sasha commences a Challenge, in this case a montage for the next seven days. The players write down what they intend to do to prepare for the show, then rolls decide how much time they put into them, and thus how good their act is. there are seven days, so the group has a maximum of seven rolls between them. Lydia suggests blind bidding between Lowri and Helen for how much time their characters will spend seducing Dyfan. Lydia wants to sabotage Grananan, Lowri and Helen want to vie for Dyfan's attention, Lowri wants to find Dyfan's poem as JJ is suspicious that he's actually just having an affair, and they also need Rainbow to work on the yoga choreography. That's five things on the to-do list, and seven rolls.
	+ For the blind bidding, Lowri bids four days and Helen bids three. All the days are now taken up, and Sasha charitably gives Lydia one day to do one thing- they choose Sabotaging Grananan.
* Lydia plans Rainbow's sabotage of Grananan: Rainbow will use items from her suitcase, using the Aspect Never Travels Light, and utilise 'walking carefully' and 'knowing where the towels are' for her experience as a former lifeguard. Target difficulty: 3. 0 from dice, +3 clever bonus. Success
* Lydia spends a Fate Point to add a +2 to the previous roll to 'succeed with style'.
* Sasha gives Grananan the Aspect: Broken Hip.

### Episode 3

* Sasha will offer Fate Points to each player, so they can use their Aspects to try and prepare for the show. However, each sugestion will also have a catch. The players could also choose to refuse the offer, in which case they pay a Fate Point into the centre.
* Helen is offered using aspect: Onboard Gossip to get information about the other teams. Helen accepts.
* Lowri is offered the chance to injure other acts, using the bandage shortage to her advantage, using Aspect: Designated First Aider. However, if JJ's mentor Fern Sturgeon finds out, she'll be very disappointed. Lowri accepts.
* Lydia is offered to use aspects: Scared of Water and Former Lifeguard to sabotage the indoor pool so teams lose the incentive to compete. Lydia accepts.
* Lowri rolls for JJ to zipwire across the top deck, dropping rocks on people. Target difficulty: 4. Lydia uses a Fate Point to add +1 to the roll using Aspect: never Travels Light. Roll = -2. +1 from Lydia, +2 for using her Stunt (ziplining), +2 for approach (Forceful). Total = 3 (fail)
* Lowri spends a Fate Point to add +2 to her roll, using Aspect: Designated First Aider (to know where to hit people). New total: 5 (success)
* Lydia rolls for Rainbow to successfully reach the pool draining button. Target difficulty = 2. roll = -1. +1 from Elliot helping, +2 from being sneaky. Total = 2 (success).
* Lydia spends a Fate Point to use Aspect: Never Travels Light to use bolt cutters to remove the ladder out of the empty pool.
* Lowri rolls for JJ to convince the ship's surgeon that dropping rocks on people is fine. Target number: 4. +1 from an 'augmenting crystal'. -3 (fail)
* Lowri spends a Fate Point to re-roll, using the Aspect: Has Actually Been to Bermuda Target number: 3. Success!
* Lowri and Helen roll to see who wins the fight, using the approach: Forceful. Lowri: 0+2 = 2; Helen: 1+1 = 2

## Notes

Alex was in the room for the entire recording to do the tech work, but wasn't allowed to speak or interrupt the gameplay, and was apparently crying silently to himself with laughter at several points.