PALISADE 60: Above the Earth Pt. 4
Transcriber: robotchangeling
Leap and Cas'alear [0:26:10] 23
Leap and Cas’alear cont. [0:49:13] 45
Cori and Artifice [1:34:49] 89
Brnine’s Invention [2:02:39] 113
Cori and Artifice [2:14:14] 126
Austin: PALISADE is a show about empire, revolution, settler colonialism, politics, religion, war, and the many consequences thereof. For a full list of content warnings, please check the episode description.
[music intro - “Nothing is Stationary” by Jack de Quidt begins]
Austin: One chance. Perennial had one chance to convince Cas'alear Rizah, heir to two thrones, that cas’s impulse was not incorrect, that their desire to change the galaxy, to end the Perfect Millennium, and with it, perhaps, the Divine Principality, was not only righteous but realistic, and that she, as the medium of their message, was not the great manipulator, the perpetual puppet master, the devil at the heart of the galaxy, the Adversary.
And it’s true that this was new to her, a single opportunity, no review, just the blur—of raw decisions, fresh occasions, beautifully in risk. Fixed perspective looking forward, open nerves and bliss. So the question was what tack should she take, what plan should be unfurled, which pearl of wisdom staked. Cas'alear’s a hero, in posture if not creed. How crisp a whisper should she whisper to make the Princept heed? Views of blood and fire, that had often done the trick, and it needn't be a lie to share her vision as the eye. The eye that couldn't close, that counted broken bones and broken hearts and broken lips and broken vows and broken homes.
But before she could speak, something tore into her: a voice on the air, a splice in her soul, an intractable emotion, a motion without fear, a spinning wheel that spins out steel, a cursed pretender peer. And that’s when she decided the truth just wouldn't do. Cas had seen the world. Cas already knew—about blood and steel, death and fracture, hopelessness and pain. Cas needed something else: a dream of clean spring rain. So she offered cas a secret, said it kept her warm in cold, then took her countless failures and filtered them with gold, turned loss to celebration, showed victories unfold, then told a lie worth dying by:
“In all the other worlds I spy, we've already won.”
[song ends]
Austin: All right. Back out in Zone 1/Zone 2 land. Levi, I think we've got to come in on you as this TUSK is chasing you across this battlefield.
Dre: [feigning ignorance] Why, what’s going on? [Sylvia laughs]
Austin: The TUSK is kind of, like, zeroing in on you as the FANGs are kind of nipping at your heels and, like, dashing past you and trying to, you know, snap you up. A little overwhelmed, in terms of just raw numbers here.
Dre: Mm. Yeah, that’s true.
Austin: But they are all Defenseless, so.
Dre: Yeah. Including the boar?
Austin: Including the boar. Vulnerable under fire.
Dre: Well, shit. I should go hit the boar, then, I think.
Austin: You can give it a shot. Yeah, I think that Under Fire carries over, because you saved the Star Crossed ship, which doesn't have super powerful guns like the Blue Channel, but it’s still able to lay some fire down, you know?
Dre: Yeah. Okay.
Austin: So yeah, you want to try to Strike Decisively at this thing. It is…sorry, what is your Approach?
Dre: Mundane.
Austin: Mundane, and it is Elemental, which unfortunately for you, means you are acting in Desperation against it.
Dre: Ooh.
Austin: And it is Tier 4, so you are in fact a tier under it.
Dre: Yeah.
Austin: In terms of, so you're also acting in Disadvantage against that TUSK.
Dre: Does that mean 3d6, take the two lowest, and then 6s turn to 1s?
Austin: Take the two lowest, and 6s turn to 1s.
Dre: Okay.
Ali: Can I counter that with an Advantage?
Austin: You sure could. Tell me what it looks like.
Ali: Yeah, I mean, I'm like— I could, like, flank it with you, right?
Austin: Yeah.
Ali: I'm sort of south…no. [laughs] Northwest of it, and Levi is, like, southeast?
Austin: Yeah, totally. Yeah, you could lay in some extra fire here. Is this using one of your Tactical Genius Holds to give Advantage?
Ali: Um, do we want to— maybe I can keep one of my Hold and then try to do a Help or Hinder?
Austin: Instead of— well, and if that’s the case, you can save that until after.
Ali: Okay.
Austin: ‘Cause Help and Hinder you can do after, but you have to spend— if you're going to do spending Tactical Genius, you gotta spend that Hold ahead of time, 'cause it’s Advantage on their next move.
Dre: Mm.
Austin: So the option here is to let Dre try to succeed with Disadvantage and in Desperation, which is 3d6 takes lowest and 6s become 1s. You could— and then if that goes bad, you could come in to help afterwards, which if you succeed at, would get rid of the worst die, effectively, you know?
Ali: Yeah, what feels better to you, Dre?
Dre: Probably Advantage to start and then Help and Hinder later, if it would even, like, prove to be useful.
Ali: Okay, sure.
Austin: All right. So then, just 2d6, but 6s count as 1s.
Dre: Yep.
Austin: No 6s this time, Dre. Looking for 5s. Well!
Dre: Guess what? No 6s, baby! [Austin sighs]
Sylvia: [laughing quietly] Holy shit.
Austin: Dre, what’d you roll?
Dre: I rolled a 1 and a 1.
Austin: So yeah, it’s a 3.
Ali: I should Help or Hinder, I think. [laughs]
Austin: What’s that? Okay, so—
Keith: Which one? [Austin laughs]
Dre: What would it even do?
Austin: Yeah, what’s your— first of all, what was your Tactical Genius to begin with, and then let’s figure out what a Help looks like on top of that.
Ali: Yeah. I mean, the…the initial thing that I described was, like, shooting from the back, right? Like, doing, like, a Brnine goes here, right?
Austin: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Ali: As like a flank situation.
Austin: Yep.
Ali: [chuckles] Maybe it’s a thing of, like…
Austin: Which I should say works. The thing that— the result of that was Dre didn't roll a third thing and we would have discarded it to take the two 1s instead, you know what I mean?
Ali: Right. Uh huh.
Austin: So that functioned.
Ali: Uh huh. I wonder if it’s like a…is there, like, a way to, like…you know, Levi swings or whatever and botches it.
Austin: Mm-hmm.
Ali: [laughing] But is there, like, a…
Dre: Damn.
Austin: I mean, 1 1 is…
Dre: Yeah, yeah, no. I botched it.
Austin: Snake eyes is a botch. Botch-o-mania over here. [Keith laughs]
Ali: Is there, like, a way to, like…like, if this was, like…you know, if Levi’s, like, not hit ends up still being, like, a feint or whatever [Austin: Mm-hmm.] to the boar to, like, you know, give…
Austin: Give the Blue Channel a chance to, like, get a hit in, effectively.
Ali: Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Keith: The tough thing here, though, is that the only thing that could help Dre getting another die is if they roll a 4 or a 5.
Ali: Well, the—
Keith: Which makes it a really tough ask.
Austin: It’s not even a 4. A 4 isn't enough either.
Dre: Yeah.
Keith: A 4 isn't enough?
Austin: ‘Cause 4 plus 1 plus 1 is 6.
Keith: Oh, right, because you're not— you're discarding one of the 1s, so you could only— it would be a 5. That’s the only one.
Austin: They need a 5.
Keith: ‘Cause if it’s a 6, it becomes a 1. If it’s a 4, it’s not enough.
Austin: I'm not saying you shouldn't help.
Ali: Right, but there’s also the chance that I also give Confidence, which changes that.
Austin: Oh, right, you can still give Confidence, right? Is that—
Keith: Right.
Austin: What’s that from? Help or Hinder.
Ali: If I get a +10.
Austin: Yeah, if you help, that’s it.
Dre: Mm.
Austin: If you succeed, if you get a 10+, those 1s become 6s.
Ali: Uh huh. I just need to do that.
Keith: Oh. Well, there you go. [Ali laughs]
Austin: Brnine has never been more powerful than on a roll where you could turn two 1s into 6s.
Ali: Okay. Okay. So, we're just going to…
Keith: I forgot about the 6 part. That’s huge.
Ali: We're just going to cross our fingers…
Austin: Okay, 2d6. What is your, uh…have you helped Levi before this time?
Keith: Yeah.
Dre: Yeah, I'm pretty sure.
Ali: I've done—
Austin: Brnine just did it. Yeah.
Ali: Yeah. I've done something—
Austin: So that’s 1.
Dre: Oh, yeah.
Ali: Defensive stuff. I don't know that I've used the Help or Hinder roll?
Austin: Oh, have you not used Help or Hinder as a move? But the +1, the other two are spent time together, yes, and your classic crew Hook.
Ali: Sure. Okay, sure.
Austin: Though I guess the question is, is…yeah, I think this is the crew for this mission. I think that that counts. Levi has put his faith in you, so you must prioritize his safety, right?
Ali: Sure.
Austin: All right, 2d6 plus 2.
Ali: Okay. [laughs] Rolled a 6.
Austin: Oh, so it does not in fact add a— it does not turn those 1s into 10s.
Ali: Uh huh.
Austin: But it does give an extra one die, so this has gotta be a 5.
Keith: So it’s gotta be a 5.
Ali: This could be…
Dre: Mm.
Austin: You've gotta get a 5 here, Dre. [Ali laughs]
Keith: Gotta get a 5.
Dre: Um, is there any point to using my finale move to give myself Advantage?
Austin: You would…
Keith: Roll two.
Austin: You would roll 2d6 instead of…
Keith: And hope for…
Austin: And hope for a 5.
Dre: Okay.
Austin: So yeah, you could—
Dre: Well, I can do it even after rolling.
Austin: Yeah.
Dre: So I'll roll one, and then if I need to, I'll burn it.
Austin: Yep.
Dre: Nope. [Keith laughs]
Austin: Oh my god. It’s another 1!
Sylvia: Wow.
Keith: Hey, this is the comeuppance.
Dre: Yeah. No, this is…
Keith: This is what happens to the 6s.
Austin: Oh my god. This TUSK is— and that’s a 2.
Dre: Oh, god!
Austin: So, you burn one of your Universal Hold.
Dre: Uh huh.
Austin: This TUSK, I've gotta name this character. I've gotta figure out who this character is, who’s in this.
Keith: George.
Austin: I named— it’s not George.
Ali: Oh, gravity clock for me and Levi, right?
Austin: Oh, gravity clock for you and Levi, for sure.
Dre: Oh, yeah, uh huh.
Austin: Advance that shit. I named a bunch of Columnar people, but they're all dead or fled. Uh…
Ali: Levi’s spotlight?
Austin: Levi’s spotlight, for the miss, right?
Dre: Oh, yeah.
Ali: Mm-hmm. [laughs]
Austin: Yeah, uh huh. And I just want to double check, since we haven't looked at this stuff either. When you hold your own against something bigger than you or help someone in an Astir out of a tight spot, advance a gravity clock with someone who sees you and is impressed. So, actually, going back, you could also advance— if Brnine or Cori were impressed by you fighting that CLOAK by yourself, one of those could go up, if you’d like.
Dre: Mm.
Austin: So, consider that. I'm just looking at other people’s gravity clock things that we also often underrepresent in play. Um…these all seem right. All right. Phew. Hard miss. Hard miss. You hate to see it, especially against a Tier 4 type situation.
Dre: Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.
Austin: Yeah, I think that you are taking— hmm. Two things happen. This is not really at once. It’s one after another. The first is that this takes a little while. This whole exchange, in the same way that figuring out the dice took a little while, [Dre: Mm-hmm.] does take a little while, and in the time that it takes, the clocks all advance by one, so the one that’s a two, the western one, goes up to three out of eight. The Ekpyrosis arrival goes up to six out of 12, growing closer. And now having, not needing to work on the northernmost one anymore, those extra robots go down to the southern one, and that jumps from three to five, so that’s only one tick away from being complete and reinforcements swarming through the gate. So, that’s the first thing. The second thing is you're going to take a Peril, Levi.
Dre: Can I use one of my Mobility Hold to avoid an incoming source of physical harm?
Austin: [sighs] It was not going to be physical harm, but you do have that.
Dre: I could also escape from something that’s attempting to bind, trap, or impede me.
Austin: That’s what I think it is, yes.
Dre: Okay.
Austin: The thing I was going to give you was the Peril “Self Doubt.” Look around. You're actually seeing the Blue Channel do the damn thing. Like, they took out the ORB. They took out the TALONs. Thisbe’s doing magic. Brnine is supporting from above. Brnine succeeded. Brnine gave you the help.
Dre: Mm-hmm.
Austin: Brnine gave you the Advantage. You failed to get the job done, you know? You fought off the CLOAK, but here you are against the TUSK, 1v1, you couldn't win. All this, you know, all this added— you know, everyone thinks of you as this big icon, and this is a moment of, you know, stuttering. So, I do think you could…you know, I think it’s maybe twisting that a little bit to go all the way to, uh…sorry, what was it? It was escape something that binds, traps, or impedes you?
Dre: Yeah.
Austin: Uh, I don't think so. I think you're taking the Peril “Self Doubt” in this moment.
Dre: Mm.
Ali: Damn.
Dre: Damn, damn, damn, damn, damn.
Austin: Mm-hmm.
Ali: We've all been there.
Dre: We have all been there.
Austin: We sure have. [Ali chuckles]
Dre: I'm double checking something.
Austin: Yeah, please.
Dre: Can I make you a pitch?
Austin: Please.
Dre: If I spend two of my Mobility Hold, would that let me get out of it?
Austin: No.
Dre: Okay. Okay.
Austin: It’s about being acrobatic.
Dre: No, that’s fair.
Austin: You know?
Dre: Yeah.
Austin: Which you are, right? But. Acrobatic is not a W in this particular case.
Dre: Sure. Yeah.
Austin: You know? You're just being pushed. You're being pushed to your limit here, in a way that’s surprising.
Austin: Thisbe and…I guess, and Brnine. And Cori, but Cori, I guess you're holding this down. You're kind of in concentration mode too, right?
Sylvia: Yeah.
Janine: Um…how about another FANG? How about I try and clear a path to Levi?
Austin: You run back over that way. Sure, uh huh.
Janine: Yeah.
Austin: Charge in. You got that Red Comet maneuver, right? You're very fast.
Janine: I'm very fast. Basically any Astir or whatever that I'm attached to gets to be fast as shit.
Austin: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. All right. Yeah, gives Advantage before or after rolls for rushing in, so yeah, I think this is— is this a Strike Decisively on fighting— on one of the FANGs? FANG C, let’s say? The closest one?
Janine: Yeah.
Austin: All right. Give me a 2d6 plus Clash. Again, this is Mundane versus Elemental, so this is the one that is, in fact, you are in Desperation against, unfortunately.
Janine: Hmm.
Austin: So that would be 6s count as 1s.
Janine: Mm…okay.
Austin: Hey!
Janine: Well, I didn't get any 6s.
Austin: You didn't get any 6s. 5 plus 4 plus 2 is an 11. So, you and Mow slam through this thing. It goes, you know, hurtling across the top of this giant space station and maybe slams into a wall and explodes, taking FANG number C— FANG letter C off the board and continuing to bring things under your control.
Austin: Brnine.
Ali: Hi.
Austin: Hi.
Ali: Hello.
Austin: Hello.
Ali: Yeah, I feel like it’s further back up Levi here.
Austin: I'm going to restate some things about the world, just so that we're all thinking about everything that we can, which is hard, 'cause there's so much going on.
Ali: Mm-hmm.
Austin: You have claimed the first of the four things, which means your allies— some allies should show up soon, some Millennium Break type allies, but once— and once Cas'alear begins cas’s speech, more Apostolosian allies could theoretically also start coming through this way. On the next tick of the clock, enemy reinforcements are going to pour in from the southernmost Portcullis gate, [Ali: Mm-hmm.] assuming it’s still up and operational, right? And so, as a reminder, you do have that big Tier 6 gun that you could aim at that or aim at the Divine Artifice that’s doing the repairs. Totally up to you if you want to try one of those things. If not, then that’s fine too, but I just wanted to remind you that that was part of one of the ongoing plans.
Ali: Yeah.
Austin: Maybe it’s fine to do that after you save Levi from the TUSK, though. You know?
Ali: Yeah, but once I do that, the clock is going to tick, right? [laughs]
Austin: Uh, probably, yeah, 'cause it’ll be the end of this round. Yeah.
Ali: Uh huh. And I was kind of interested in doing that. What’s my best option for that right now? I was sort of interested in a hack-the-drones situation.
Austin: Mm-hmm?
Ali: If I attacked that, would that be a way to, like, stop the drones from working, or should I target the drones with, like, an EMP situation, or like a…
Austin: Both are possible, in terms of trying to stop them from doing their thing. They will— I think if you want to try to disrupt the ones that are working in the southern one, you should probably take direct action on them, in some way. Unless you think you can one-shot this Divine, which I don't think you can do. You have a Tier 6 weapon, which gives you good Advantage against it, you know? Or gives you, um…
Ali: Mm-hmm.
Austin: Yeah, it does give you Advantage against it, but it is…it is, at the same time, a Divine, and it’s a main character, and it needs three dangers in order to become Defenseless, so I don't know that you're going to, you know, one-shot kill it.
Keith: RIP to Phrygian.
Austin: Yeah, RIP to Phrygian.
Ali: Yeah.
Austin: Phrygian could have made that happen.
Ali: Uh huh. Is there a way— like, if I target the drones, would that put a Risk on the Divine, though? Is there a way to do that?
Austin: Yeah. You could totally do that. You could totally put a Risk on that way.
Ali: Okay. Yeah. I wonder if there's, like, a way to, like…like I said, do it like an EMP mist or whatever around this.
Austin: Is that a thing the Blue Channel has? Do you have, like, a…?
Ali: Oh, I have— I can— I have my Jury Rigger.
Austin: You do. [Ali giggles] “When you take random parts or objects and attempt to create something useful out of them, roll plus Know.” Uh huh.
Ali: Uh huh.
Austin: Sure. You can try to make—
Ali: Motion is speaking to me in my head, and I can be like, “Wait, I control Kalmeria. I'm going to do that too, lady.” Let me just roll a Jury Rigger. I mean, it is like, I'm talking myself out of it, but it is reasonable to assume that Brnine has access to the Blue Channel’s weapon system and Kalmeria.
Austin: Yes. [Ali laughs] And you have a move that lets you take random parts or objects and attempt to create something useful out of them.
Ali: Uh huh. Yeah.
Austin: And you have a crew who could help you do this, theoretically, right?
Ali: Uh huh.
Austin: So. So, it’s plus Know.
Ali: So, it sounds silly, but it could happen.
Austin: That’s roleplaying games. [Ali laughs] I'd love to know what it is you end up making, but we'll find out.
Ali: Uh huh.
Austin: It’s something useful. It doesn't say, “Say what you're making.” It says… [Ali laughs] Let’s what we get, I guess. [Dre laughs] 2d6 plus—
Ali: Uh huh.
Austin: What’s your Know? 2?
Ali: It’s +2.
Austin: Yeah, 2d6 plus 2.
Ali: And I…can I act— is there an Asepsis angle here to act with Confidence? Mm…
Austin: Sure. It could help you do this, right?
Ali: Yeah.
Austin: You could use it to build something.
Ali: Whisper in my ear, et cetera. Yeah.
Austin: Oh, I even meant literally. The drones could, like, be little guys. [Ali laughs] In the same way that Artifice’s robots are little guys building something, right?
Ali: Uh huh. Okay.
Austin: But on a different scale.
Ali: Okay.
Austin: So, you're going to spend that to get Confidence?
Ali: Yeah. 2d6 plus 2 plus Confidence.
Austin: You didn't need the Confidence.
Ali: Is an 11.
Austin: You're good. You got an 11. So, what— so that means you get to choose three of the following: it fits the purpose you had in mind; it stops working after hours, not minutes; [Ali: Mm-hmm.] it doesn't explode when it stops working; and it doesn't look like garbage stuck together.
Ali: [chuckles] It fits the purpose that I have in mind.
Austin: Yeah.
Ali: Um…I guess I need this to work for a little while. [Sylvia and Ali laugh]
Sylvia: Yeah, seems important.
Austin: Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.
Ali: Um…I…the third one is so funny, because the thing that I'm, like, having Brnine do is both hack literal ammunition on their ship, and like, personally, I think there's a version of this where, like, the Portcullis gates take some damage but Millennium Break is still able to, like, repair them [Austin: Mm-hmm.] in, like, the post-credits scene, or you know what I mean?
Austin: Right, right, right.
Ali: Like, there's a montage of that happening during the credits.
Austin: As the credits are— right, yeah, uh huh.
Ali: So, I feel like— but if I have three, I should just have it not explode, [chuckles] because like, aesthetics is not an important…
Austin: To Brnine.
Ali: It’s not. Yeah, uh huh.
Austin: Brnine doesn't care that it’s not a slick, beautiful…
Ali: Yeah.
Sylvia: They’ll live.
Ali: I'm doing a little figure eight zoom over here, and then while I'm zooming, I'm, like, frantically fucking [Austin: Yes.] popping open, like, a sniper shot and tugging at the wires inside of it.
Austin: To make it effectively an AOE EMP blast?
Ali: Uh huh.
Austin: Gotcha. Okay.
Ali: Uh huh. [laughs quietly]
Austin: Instead of what it normally is, which is a big Divine— or a big— it’s not Divine, right? It’s…
Ali: It’s Mundane.
Austin: It’s Mundane. It’s just a big gun. It’s just a big bullet normally. Sure, okay. With Bane, so it has something going on in there normally.
Ali: Right. Right.
Austin: All right.
Ali: And this is Brnine. [laughs quietly] Like, Brnine was a weapons manufacturer. Like, this is within…
Austin: Yeah, yeah, I remember. I recall this. [Ali laughs] Yeah. This is not— this is what you— we talked about Brnine being not the Captain but instead being the Artificer, to begin with.
Ali: Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.
Austin: And here you are, fighting against the Divine Artifice, so.
Ali: Here we are. Here we are.
Austin: Here we are.
Ali: Does it feel like this is another 2d6 plus 1, instead of 2d6 plus Crew, for me?
Austin: To shoot it? No, I think this is plus Crew.
Ali: Okay.
Austin: You know, is the crew at their stations helping you pilot the crew? Then that’s the crew. Yeah.
Ali: Okay. That makes sense, yeah.
Austin: Yeah.
Ali: I keep talking myself out of this, and I should stop. [laughs]
Austin: Yeah. Truly.
Dre: Been there.
Ali: Okay, 2d6 plus 3 is a 9.
Austin: That’s a 9, so— and this was— sorry, this was— I guess we didn't really talk about what it was. You're just trying to give them the Risk, or you're trying to distract them? You're trying to take them offline so they don't advance the clock, is what you're trying to do.
Ali: I am, yeah.
Austin: Right. Okay. Yes. Which does give the Divine Artifice also some sort of Risk here.
Ali: Mm-hmm.
Austin: It pauses the advancement of the southern clock, which is still ticked at five, so they have not finished that. They have been EMP’ed. I'm going to give Artifice EMP’ed, but, you know, it’s not a big deal for a Divine, but it is still a Risk.
Ali: Mm-hmm.
Austin: And importantly, what’s happening is it has to, like, call back it’s scales, which are these little robots, to re-connect to the base and clear them and recharge them and get them ready to go back out to repair. This does not stop the leftmost, the westernmost clock from ticking over. I don't know why I rolled— I rolled that side down to zero by mistake. Goes up to four, so that’s halfway there. And Ekpyrosis is up to seven out of 12, so that’s growing closer also. Now, it was a mixed success, right?
Ali: Mm-hmm.
Austin: Was this an attack? Was that what this was? I guess it was. You're firing the weapon at it, right? So.
Ali: Yeah, the hacking was successful. It was the firing that was a mixed success.
Austin: Right, exactly. So, on Exchange Blows on a 7-9, both you and your target are forced to take a Risk. And I think that this— it’s just time to start clicking on some of these other Motion clocks. You know, as the explosion of these, you know, kind of hacked together shells go off, you can see the Kalmeria in space shimmer, and some of it is in the ship. Some of it gets, you know, kind of taken into the Blue Channel’s valves or ports or whatever, and you hear Motion in your head, Brnine, and she says:
(as Motion): With a year like the one you had, you need me. [Ali chuckles]
Austin: And you should take the Risk— I mean, you can decide what your Risk is from that, but Motion is in your head, and you're at one of four on the Motion takeover clock.
Ali: Mm-hmm. Maybe, mm, Mystified?
Austin: Ooh, that’s fun. I like that. Yeah.
Ali: Yeah, I'm looking for a word like distracted.
Austin: Yeah, it’s not a clear enough picture of what’s going on, yeah. I like that. Mystified is great.
Ali: Is it also fair to say that my “Uncloaked” Risk has been cleared, because that was, like, three or four moves ago?
Austin: I think so.
Ali: Okay.
Austin: I think that we're past the point of that being a— yeah.
Ali: Okay.
Austin: So, that just becomes…
Ali: Especially since I've, like, also moved locations.
Austin: Yeah. The battlefield has changed. No one took advantage of your suddenly being uncloaked. Let’s head back inside.
Keith: Hi.
Austin: Hi. Cas'alear begins the message and, as advised, begins by saying:
(as Cas'alear): Hello. My name is Cas'alear Rizah, and I speak to you not as Princept but as Apokine, leader of Apostolos. And I am here to end the Perfect Millennium.
Austin: And, you know, in the full anime version of this, in the background of the rest of this fight sequence, you know, Cas'alear is talking about the great hopes that, you know, the people in the Principality once had and the history with the Twilight Mirage and the way that it was corrupted from the beginning despite good intentions and about how, you know, their sibling Dahlia, you know, was, for them, still thought of as being a great leader that people really believed in but was undermined by the Pact and the Bilateral Intercession, and here are the secrets that were hidden from the people regarding the way Apostolos was brought in, and here are the secrets going back to the Divine Clash where, you know, Stel Orion, [Keith: Damn.] what became Stel Orion betrayed the, at that point, Divine— you know, what was it? The Divine, um…oof, I forget the actual name of it. It wasn't Conglomerate. That’s completely wrong. Uh, it wasn't the Divine Amalgamate. It was something like that. I'm going to lose my mind. We shouldn't have so much lore. We should have less lore. [Sylvia and Dre laugh]
Keith: Hey.
Sylvia: The call’s coming from inside the house, Austin.
Keith: Preaching to the choir.
Austin: Aaaagh, it’s killing me! This is a thing that was in one episode! Anyway. You know, the sort of inheritor [Keith: Sure.] of the Divine, uh, the Automated Diaspora that took place only in the very brief single episode of the Road to PARTIZAN where we played the Ech0— or, sorry, Dusk to Midnight. Dusk to Midnight and Beam Saber episodes. It existed there. In any case, is doing that whole big “history of” speech, right?
Keith: Sure.
Austin: And begins to try to build— suggest a vision for the future. And that vision is one built around sort of some of the popular myth around Levi, the kind of conversations we've had around neighborliness, around, you know, not needing exchange or transactionalism to be part of, you know, working together. You know, replacing the idea of the coalition with the idea of the neighbor, right? You don't necessarily need to be in a military pact to take care of one another. You know, giving voice to these big ideas, as a sort of oppositional ideology to the various sorts of Asterism that we have seen throughout the most recent last episodes— last two seasons of the Divine Cycle. Last two seasons. I said episodes; I meant seasons. And so, as this is all happening, I'm going to add a new clock to the chart here. Not the chart, jeez. The screen. And it is Cas'alear’s speech. It is a six step clock. It is at one right now. Put it at one. And when that speech finishes— actually, I think this is only a four step clock, let’s say. I think it’s a four step clock.
Keith: Don't think I've forgot about whatever’s in the rafters.
Austin: I know. I know. Well, that’s part of this.
Keith: Yeah, that’s what I’m…
Austin: You have to protect Cas'alear for the four steps of this so that cas’s speech can finish, and when it does, the old Perfect Millennium will have come to an end, and reinforcements from Apostolos will arrive on your side.
Keith: Okay.
Austin: Or will at least, you know, start coming in.
Keith: I have a feeling [Austin: Yeah.] that when I start shooting, [Austin: Yeah.] these Nanobeasts are going to come for me.
Austin: That is likely, yeah.
Keith: Now, before that happens, what I want to say is that in between my two moves, [Austin: Yeah.] getting away from them, they were moved further from me one time but not a second time, so I would love it if these guys were one step further away.
Austin: That is true. Well, they are one step forward on whatever path they're on, right?
Keith: Right. Yeah.
Austin: Which means one of them is actually closer to you, the one that you left behind. Oh, actually, that one’s— yes, split.
Keith: He’s restrained, yeah.
Austin: Well, except that he’s going to burn down. It’s going to burn down and then become the little ones that aren't restrained anymore.
Keith: Okay.
Austin: I guess they'll actually burn out.
Keith: But still burning, and then, poof.
Austin: They burn out. Boom.
Keith: Yeah.
Austin: 100%.
Keith: Yeah.
Austin: Let me move the rest of them, bit by bit, as we go forward.
Keith: I just wanted to—
Austin: Yeah. Boom. Boom.
Keith: I had that in my mind that these guys didn't move, and now that—
Austin: And now, right.
Keith: As soon as I heard that there was a ceiling thing, I was like, [Austin: Yes.] “these guys are going to have to be a little further away.”
Austin: Yep. Mm-hmm.
Keith: Great. Okay.
Austin: I get you. And they are.
Keith: Yeah.
Austin: What do you do? As cas is giving this. What is your— do you have any sort of, uh…
Keith: Yeah, I had a blip on my scanner. I've gotta look into that.
Austin: You do. What do you— how are you going about that?
Keith: Hmm. Well, I have…I mean, I guess I'm going to have to use one of the old classic moves, either Read the Room or Dispel Uncertainties.
Austin: Yeah.
Keith: So, Sense or Know.
Austin: Yeah. Are you gaining insight on your situation, or are you clarifying the unknown by answering a question? It feels to me like you're Reading the Room.
Keith: Yeah.
Austin: This is a charged situation. You're trying to see what’s going on.
Keith: I'm equally bad at either of these, so this is moot.
Austin: And I think this is Read the Room. Yeah.
Keith: Yeah. Okay. This is -1.
Austin: You could, again, use your twice per sortie, which it would be your last one.
Keith: My crew, yeah.
Austin: Your crew.
Keith: Although the other thing is I could roll with the -1, because I believe that looking around above me, I do gain Advantage where I benefit from scale.
Austin: Sure. Yeah. You have, again, the fun sci-fi Alien type thing of all your cameras are up, you know, all around you in the vehicle.
Keith: Yeah.
Austin: And probably being fed up to the Blue Channel too.
Keith: Yeah. Yeah, I'll go 3d6 minus 1.
Austin: All right. Yeah, the 3 is the scale, sure.
Keith: Yeah.
Austin: Take highest. 5, 6, 7, 8.
Keith: 10. Oh, fuck, 7.
Austin: No, 7.
Keith: Yeah.
Austin: A 7 here.
Keith: It always gets me.
Austin: It does. I know. On a 7 in Read the Room, you get one Hold, and you can spend it one-for-one.
Keith: Uh…where can I find the thing on the sensor?
Austin: It is directly above the kind of transmission station that has been set up for Cas'alear. It is big. It is the size of a Tier 3 Altar.
Keith: Okay.
Austin: So, it’s right there. You don't have a visual— you don't have it visually in front of you.
Keith: Right.
Austin: But it’s on your sensors. You dial it into your sensors. So you could take a shot based on sensors.
Keith: I could take it. But I don't even technically know if I should take a shot.
Austin: It’s true. You don't. It could be a friend.
Keith: It could be a friend. I'm going to use one of my finale Hold.
Austin: To ask another question.
Keith: To ask another question.
Austin: Sure.
Keith: Maybe it’s the classic “What’s being overlooked or obscured here?” but I might accidentally hit something with “Who has the upper hand here?”
Austin: Mm. It’s true.
Keith: Oh. [laughs quietly] Duh. It’s staring me right in the face. It’s one that doesn't really apply a lot of the time to me. How does X really feel? Can I get anything from this? Can I get…?
Austin: You're not going to get…
Keith: I'm not going to get what I want from this?
Austin: No. You're going to get—
Keith: ‘Cause I can't tell— I can't see it, so I can't tell how it really feels.
Austin: I guess you're going to know it’s not— the way it’s moving is it’s setting up an attack on Cas'alear.
Keith: Okay. So it feels like attacking us. [someone chuckles]
Austin: It feels— yeah, your Leap sense is going off. It is going to attack you in a second.
Keith: Okay. Then I'm—
Austin: In fact, it may have already done something. It’s about to attack you with confidence, lowercase-C confidence.
Keith: Okay, not like the thing.
Austin: Like, there's a plan here.
Keith: Right.
Austin: It’s not just going to attack you blindly or with, you know, in a rush. There's some sort of plan it has set up against you.
Keith: Okay. Great. Well, then I would like to set up my plan against it and shoot my gun at it.
Austin: Okay. I think this is Disadvantage, 'cause you can't see it.
Keith: Okay. Hey, did I repair these bolos, or did we just talk about it?
Austin: I think we repaired them. I think we said you could repair them, yeah.
Keith: I would like to use Guided Bolos.
Austin: Absolutely. Sure.
Keith: To Ranged, Ruin, Restrain this thing.
Austin: Absolutely. Ruin lets you hit it, or lets you attack it on even footing, since it is Tier 3.
Keith: And remind me what Vorpal does?
Austin: Vorpal says once per sortie, you can, I believe, upgrade a Risk to a Peril.
Keith: Okay.
Austin: So, like, restraining, instead of being a Risk, could be a Peril.
Keith: I would like to activate my Vorpal charm, which applies the Vorpal tag to me and my team’s gear.
Austin: Yep.
Keith: Which I think means that each of my weapons gets to use Vorpal once.
Austin: They are true strike charms, yeah, but it is still once per session, I think.
Keith: Right.
Austin: You know, or once per sortie.
Keith: Once per session per gear?
Austin: I'm not sure. Let’s read what it says.
Keith: ‘Cause it says “you and your team’s gear.”
Austin: Yeah, totally. I mean, I think it would work for— what I would think is it works once for you and once for your crew, right? So like—
Keith: And once for the tank?
Austin: I think the tank is your crew’s gear.
Keith: Okay, fine.
Austin: You know? But I think you will also have it separately. You have your own special Vorpal charms.
Keith: Yeah. I can use Vorpal on the sniper rifle.
Austin: On your personal— yeah, exactly.
Keith: On my personal sniper rifle, yeah.
Austin: Exactly. Yeah.
Keith: All right. So, this is an automatic success Peril.
Austin: Correct, but it’s a 7-9 still.
Keith: With a Risk.
Austin: With a Risk to you.
Keith: With a Risk to me, yes.
Austin: Yes. And the Risk to—
Keith: Oh, I'm not still Dazed, right?
Austin: Uh, you are. You have not taken any action to clear your head. You've been working nonstop in this.
Keith: Okay.
Austin: You have not, like, done a cool off, for instance.
Keith: I was heave-ho-ing instead of…
Austin: You were heave-ho-ing instead of clearing your head and letting things move.
Keith: Yeah.
Dre: Mm.
Austin: So yeah, so you, in fact— you can tell me what the Risk is. The…I can tell you what the event is that causes the Risk.
Keith: Okay. Please.
Austin: So, your grapeshot hits this thing. It restrains it. It’s more than restraining, because it’s been Vorpaled, right?
Keith: Yeah.
Austin: So it is not just restrained. It is, like, it’s somehow pinned permanently, right?
Keith: Right.
Austin: It is staked, let’s say? I guess it’s grapeshot bolos, so they don't really stake into things, but…
Keith: They could embed into these machine walls we've got.
Austin: Yeah, totally. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So, I will give it that, and let me reveal it now. It is, of course, a CLOAK. Of course it is. Another one of these CLOAK units is in here. You may recall that the FANGs were running this direction, as if to reconnect with allies in here. And so it is now Defenseless, which is good for you. However, the thing that causes your Risk is that as it gets hit by this, it causes explosions all around you, and your whole group kind of gets separated in some way from— like, you're basically blocked in, you know?
Keith: Okay.
Austin: It has set mines all around you and above you, and there is a sort of avalanche of server parts and metal and everything else. So, take the Risk…take a Risk.
Keith: Blocked, Trapped?
Austin: Yeah, Trapped. Sure. And so, yeah, it’s defenseless, but it’s still up there. And I'm going to do something else before you get too far off here.
Keith: Okay.
Austin: I'm going to spend a point of leverage. You remember what leverage is?
Keith: Yeah, I do. Oh, do I? Maybe I don't. This is just, like, your version of Hold, like GM Hold?
Austin: It’s a special type.
Dre: Is this rival stuff?
Austin: This is rival stuff. Hi, Art.
Keith: Hi, Art.
Dre: Hi, Art!
Sylvia: Huh?
Art: Hi.
Dre: [mock disappointed] Ah, fuck! Hi, Art. [Sylvia laughs]
Art: [mock offended] Wow.
Austin: How you doing? How’s everything going? Congratulations!
Sylvia: Yeah!
Keith: Congratulations, Art.
Art: Hey, thanks. I'm tired like I couldn't believe.
Sylvia: I bet.
Dre: Yeah.
Keith: Yeah.
Austin: Are you recording.
Art: No. [Austin sighs] [Dre, Keith, and Janine laugh]
Austin: Tired like you wouldn't believe is right, yeah.
Art: Yeah.
Dre: Uh huh.
Art: Is that part of the job?
Austin: Being tired?
Keith: Today it is.
Art: Recording.
Austin: Recording. Yes, we are recording. We are recording part of this.
Art: All right.
Austin: 100%.
Keith: I think we've got two backups.
Austin: Yeah.
Keith: For you joining, anyway.
Austin: Yeah.
Art: Sure. Great. I'm recording now. It’s up.
Keith: Okay, great.
Austin: So, Art, could you open Roll20 for us?
Art: Oh, sure. I didn't— ooh, I—
Austin: Take a peek at everything that’s happening here, so that…
Keith: This is—
Austin: Obviously, Clementine, the— what was your final name there for her? The Witch in Crystal?
Art: The Witch in Crystal.
Austin: Still the Witch in Crystal? Already knows this. Already knows everything that’s already happening, right?
Keith: Right.
Art: Yeah.
Austin: You know, she’s already seen it all.
Art: Right.
Keith: Yeah.
Art: And what hasn't happened.
Austin: And what hasn't happened and what is in the middle of happening.
Art: Whoa.
Keith: Funny enough, Keith the player also knew this was happening.
Austin: Did you?
Dre: Damn.
Keith: When I wrote Clementine Kesh down in my little Rival box here.
Austin: Oh, yeah. Of course, of course, of course. Yeah, of course. I have a question.
Art: Yeah.
Austin: Does Clem arrive to do this herself, to say these words herself? Is it a message being sent through the Portcullis gate?
Art: I thought it would be funny to do it as a recording.
Austin: Oh, that’s very funny.
Art: But because Clem has knowledge of the future, [Austin: Uh huh.] can pause and respond to the things that are said to the recording.
Austin: Oh, that’s so fucking funny. Yeah. So, an object comes through the pink Portcullis gate, the one that, Cori, you have captured.
Sylvia: Mm-hmm.
Austin: Perennial lets it through. You know, Perennial is a strange one.
Sylvia: Tell me about it.
Austin: And I think Perennial’s on-again-off-again relationship with Clem comes into effect here, unfortunately.
Art: I think we've all been there.
Sylvia: Getting back at me for almost saying Devotion earlier.
Austin: Ah, that’s right, exactly. [Sylvia chuckles] Uh huh. And I'm going to— you know what? I need to— I should have done this first. Part of being trapped in here, Leap, is you can't move, and being that you can't move, some of the very fine Kalmeria particles, the Motion-infused ones, are slipping in closer and closer to you. So, I'm advancing your Motion Leap clock one step forward, as she continues to gain ground inside of your mind, hoping to turn you into one of her mindless kind of zombie-like followers.
Keith: Mm-hmm.
Austin: Always moving. You know, again, this is a thing that’s just been true. People have been breathing in Motion for years, and it feels like that’s true, right? You know the classic “some weeks,” the Lenin “some weeks last a decade”?
Sylvia: Yeah.
Austin: Uh, I'm butchering this. Some days…
Keith: Some years happen in weeks, and some weeks happen in years?
Austin: Exactly, yeah, yeah, yeah. “There are decades where nothing happens and weeks where decades happen.”
Keith: Yeah, yeah.
Austin: This has been years where centuries happen, because you know what our timeline looks like. [chuckles] Normally history takes 10,000 years in the Divine Cycle, but it’s only been five years and all sorts of shit has happened. That’s partly because people have been breathing in fucking Motion Particles. Maybe not literally, but there is something to the thematic of the world sped up all at once with Kalmeria. This new era of technology shifted things. Things started happening. Wars started happening. Political shifts started developing. And now that’s being literalized inside of your own body. And I think the one person who has a big picture vision of how that works is the person who can see the future now. What’s the thing that you send through the portal? What is the device that has the recording in it?
Art: You know the little remotes that Luke Skywalker trains with in [Austin: Yeah.] Star Wars on the Millennium Falcon?
Keith: Yeah.
Austin: Yeah, the little round dealies.
Art: The little round thing? What if one of those had a little R2-D2-style projector? I'm sorry that all of my references are Star Wars today.
Austin: You know, that’s where we're at right now.
Keith: That’s fine. You're talking about G0-T0 from KOTOR II.
Art: I am, yeah.
Dre: Oh, yeah, you are. Yeah.
Austin: [laughs quietly] Shoutouts to G0-T0.
Art: But without, like, a needle. It doesn't have a— it’s not scary.
Keith: It’s not a torture droid.
Austin: Right.
Art: Yeah, it’s not a torture droid.
Austin: Yeah.
Dre: Not yet.
Art: Not yet.
Austin: It is Clementine, so who knows?
Art: Yeah. You know, everyone has aspirations.
Austin: And it’s projecting a Clem?
Art: Yeah, like a holographic Clem.
Austin: A big holographic Clem.
Art: An unbelievably big holographic Clem.
Sylvia: Everyone, open fire!
Art: Holographic Clem is nine and a half feet tall.
Janine: Oh, that’s it? Okay.
Austin: Oh, that’s not so bad.
Janine: I thought this was going to be like when Q was in Star Trek Online. [Dre laughs]
Keith: I thought this was going to be like Snoke.
Austin: I thought this was going to be like Minmay or Sharon Apple from Macross.
Art: I don't know what some of these things are. [Austin laughs] I think nine and a half feet is very big for a person. [Austin laughs]
Dre: Mm.
Art: I've never met a person nine and a half feet tall. [laughs quietly]
Austin: Everybody is in big mechs, Art.
Sylvia: You know, I'm just happy this is happening to somebody else for once.
Austin: Yeah, fair. Fair.
Art: Fine. It’s 90 feet tall.
Keith: There we go.
Austin: Now we're talking. Now we're talking.
Dre: Yeah, get their ass.
Austin: Uh huh.
Keith: Holy moly!
Art: [chuckles] I almost said 900 feet tall. I knew that was too big.
Austin: Yeah. And I think, Leap, part of the reason you see this is it’s all Hooked into the Cas'alear broadcasting stuff. Like, there is a counter-transmission. It’s not going out to everybody in space, [Keith: Oh no.] but it is going out to everybody here in the space station at the center of the galaxy, you know?
Keith: Oh, okay. Our pirate radio signal isn't being hacked.
Austin: No, it is not jamming that. No. Clem, what do you say?
Art (as Clementine): Hello, Millennium Break. [Austin chuckles]
Austin: [distantly] Hello, Clem.
Sylvia: No. Nobody says that. [Austin laughs]
Janine: Mm…
Keith: No, we say, “Ugh.”
Sylvia: Yeah.
Austin: [laughs] Yeah!
Art (as Clementine): Yes, it’s such an auspicious reunion. Don't worry. I'm here to help. I know that we aren't friends, that I've been lying to myself all these years. I've read the last page of every book in the library, [Austin chuckles] and it’s the kind of library where that tells you the end of the story.
Sylvia: Uh huh.
Art (as Clementine): There's no cool down. It’s… [laughter]
Keith (as Leap): You're rambling!
Sylvia: She’s doing great.
Dre (as onlooker): [distantly] That’s a weird book!
Art (as Clementine): I don't do two takes.
Sylvia: [laughs quietly] Is she saying that to someone off camera filming this?
Keith: Oh, wow, it’s Frank Sinatra.
Art: Yeah. Yeah, it is being said to someone off camera.
Keith: Frank Sinatra’s here.
Austin: Right. By which you mean: I've seen the future, and I didn't do a second take.
Art: Yeah.
Austin: Yeah.
Art (as Clementine): But I do…I do know that you have to win here. You have to defeat Motion and go on to all of your precious little destinies, and I'm going to tell you how to do it, and you don't even have to think good things about me after.
Sylvia: Ugh!
Art (as Clementine): If you return to the power terminal and take in pure Perennial Wave energy, you can break Motion’s mind control.
Austin: Seems simple.
Keith (as Leap): Seems simple.
Sylvia (as Cori): Yeah.
Art (as Clementine): It seems simple. I agree.
Sylvia (as Cori): I thought this was a recording.
Art (as Clementine): It is a recording, but I know what you're going to say.
Sylvia: Infuriating.
Keith (as Leap): Boogida boogida boogida!
Art (as Clementine): [sighs] [sarcastic] Charming. [Sylvia and Art laugh]
Keith (as Leap): She’s right. [Austin laughs]
Art (as Clementine): Some of you, I'll see again soon. Some of you, this is our last meeting. Thisbe, call me. Goodbye. [Sylvia and Keith laugh]
Dre: Damn.
Austin: Oh! [Janine laughs]
Dre: Thisbe, hey girl. Goodbye.
Ali: I was muted. Nobody heard me say, “Eww!” [all laugh]
Art: Well, you can edit it in.
Austin: Yeah. [Ali laughs]
Dre: It’s true.
Austin: What Clem would do. [laughs] Clem editing the podcast so that everybody laughs at her jokes. [Keith and Art laugh]
Sylvia: Oh my god.
Austin: Agh!
Sylvia: It’s all the Keith soundboard laugh. [Austin and Ali laugh]
Art: It’s interesting to think of someone who has perfect knowledge of the future requesting that someone call them, though, right? That’s…
Austin: It is!
Dre: Ohh.
Austin: It is interesting.
Janine: Oh, man. She knows she’s not gonna. That’s, like, sad.
Austin: But she knows she has to ask.
Art: She knows she has to ask.
Keith: Wait, but how do you know that you're not gonna? Maybe asking means that you're definitely going to.
Dre: Mm.
Janine: Maybe it happens, just for a completely unrelated reason.
Austin: Right, yeah.
Art: Yeah. Just, I mean, keep that in your pocket, if Thisbe ever…
Austin: Mm-hmm.
Art: For Thisbe’s future. You could always call Clem.
Austin: Yeah. Amazing.
Janine: Great.
Austin: Well.
Art: And the…I don't know. What happens to the droid? Does it go back? Does it just sit on the floor?
Janine: Explode?
Art: Does it explode? [Art and Janine chuckles]
Austin: It explodes, but it’s really pretty. It’s like a firework.
Art: Mm.
Austin: It says, “Bye!”
Janine: Oh.
Art: Oh, it’s one of those fireworks that, like, turns into a word.
Austin: Yeah.
Art: It’s like a glittery “bye”?
Austin: Yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly, yeah. Perfect.
Keith: While it’s here, if it’s trying to help, it should take out this FANG 3.
Austin: [laughs] It just lands on this enemy mech [Keith: Yeah.] that’s kind of confused by all of this?
Keith: Yeah, and then blows up.
Austin: Very funny. [Dre laughs] Mechanically, the way this works is—if you're not, for instance, trapped inside of the interior of the space station—as this clock ticks up, you can spend a turn, as long as someone can pick you up, like the Star Crossed ship or the Blue Channel or the Stolen Cameo, can come pick you up and drop you off at the power terminal to clear— to reduce down your clock, basically. So, as that continues to be a factor in this fight, you have a way of clearing it, which Clem saw you do at least once or twice, so someone better do it at some point, I hope. I mean, Leap looks like it’s going to— you're going to have to, at some point, Leap. Or Leap will get Motion controlled. We'll see.
Janine: Leap will just not do it out of stubbornness, because Clementine’s the one who suggested it. [laughs]
Austin: Yeah, uh huh.
Keith: Hey, I'm not a fan of Motion either.
Austin: This is true. Yeah.
Dre: Leap’s going to show up on Blue Channel after the mission and be like, “I'm playing with tilt controls.”
Sylvia: Yeah. [Austin and Keith laugh]
Austin: You do still have this CLOAK above you.
Keith: Yeah.
Austin: Which is preparing to fling down its kind of acid blow at you.
Keith: Yeah.
Austin: So how are you going to try to deal with it? Are you just going to Strike Decisively on this bad boy?
Keith: Yeah, and I'm actually going to not use a move myself, but I'm going to use my second crew roll.
Austin: Interesting.
Keith: Because I now see it. I don't have to use Guided.
Austin: Mm-hmm.
Keith: I guess it doesn't matter, 'cause it’s Strike Decisively no matter what, right?
Austin: It’s Strike Decisively. Yeah. But a 7-9 is—
Keith: But I wouldn't want to take the 7-9, yeah.
Austin: Right, you would like to get a 10 on this.
Keith: Which is why I'm using the +3.
Austin: Yep.
Keith: And so, roll 3d6 plus 3?
Austin: 2d6— or 3d6 plus— uh, you know what? I don't think this is that 3d6, at this point. I don't think scale is particularly helpful against a single big mech in this way, so.
Keith: Fair. That’s fair. But the, uh…
Austin: That’s kind of, like, what lets you engage with it, you know? All right!
Keith: That’s a 13.
Austin: That’s a 13 anyway. You are good to go on this. I guess— wait, wait, let me just double check something. Wait a second. Wait a second. I need to make sure— yeah, I do need to make sure of this. What is your attack? Mundane.
Keith: Sorry, say again?
Austin: This is Mundane?
Keith: This is Mundane, yeah.
Austin: Okay. Then I think you're fine, 'cause this is Arcane.
Keith: Oh. Sorry. No.
Austin: No?
Keith: It is Arcane.
Austin: Oh. Then it doesn't matter.
Keith: It does?
Austin: Fully doesn't matter, so.
Keith: Okay. Got it.
Austin: ‘Cause it’s Arcane also.
Keith: Right. Yeah.
Austin: Boom.
Keith: So, everything is Mundane except for the tank. The tank is Arcane.
Austin: Right. Then, again, it doesn't matter in this case. Boom. This is the big main cannon of the tank, presumably?
Keith: Yeah.
Austin: Okay.
Keith: Um, you know, I think I should use the bolos. There's no reason not to. It’s Ranged. It’s not Area or Messy.
Austin: It’s not Sniper or it’s not Area. Yeah, totally.
Keith: Yeah.
Austin: Then yeah, they fire up. They tear into this thing. It falls apart into pieces. Maybe the pilot ejects here, because the bolos are not as explosive as the other shot. Yeah, the pilot ejects somewhere into the, you know, server banks above, lost in the smoke and the clouds. But you did make noise here, and so these beasts are going to start moving towards you again, all of them all at once, in the direction that you are in.
Keith: Mm-hmm.
Austin: And I need to remember that the ones who— that they all have dropped down by two, at this point.
Keith: Yeah.
Austin: So, let me do that when we get a second.
Keith: Since the crew moved and not me, before they start moving, can I quickly start to un-trap us?
Austin: Uh, you cannot do that, because presumably, you were working with them. You were, uh…we rolled as if you were Tier 2, right?
Keith: Right.
Austin: Which means that we rolled with you leading the group.
Keith: No, I wasn't leading the group. If I was leading the group, they would be Tier 3.
Austin: Oh, I see.
Keith: ‘Cause they were the tank.
Austin: I see. Well, then you should have been at Disadvantage, right?
Keith: Uh, the bolos is Ruin.
Austin: Oh, they have Ruin. Yeah, so you're fine.
Keith: Yeah, they have Ruin. Yeah.
Austin: Then yes, you can start trying to dig yourself out.
Keith: Great.
Austin: I think this is a little tough, one person here, so [Keith: Yeah.] I do think you'll have Disadvantage trying to dig yourself out from a mech-scale explosion, but give me a Weather the Storm. Unless you're trying to go about some other different way, but I think that’s probably the way.
Keith: Yeah, I think it’s probably the way. Just, yeah, removing boulders, stuff like that.
Austin: That sounds like Defy to me.
Keith: Okay.
Austin: Weather the Storm with Defy?
Keith: Yeah.
Austin: Unless you have another— unless you have a different pitch.
Keith: No.
Austin: But I think it’s Disadvantage. It’s just the scale of this thing is so big, you know?
Keith: Disadvantage is roll three and take—
Austin: Keep lowest.
Keith: Keep lowest.
Austin: Yeah. But I'm going to advance Cas'alear’s speech, because that is the thing you've kind of helped secure here.
Keith: That’s an 8.
Austin: 4, 5, 6, 7, 8. Okay. You know, we gotta get you out of here.
Keith: Yeah.
Austin: You move way faster than you thought you could, actually. Motion clock up to three.
Dre: Mm…
Austin: You can feel her in your…Equiaxed skin bag parts.
Keith: Uh huh.
Austin: Whatever your flesh parts are. But they've moved out of that, because again, it’s not a unique to biological organisms thing, right?
Keith: Mm-hmm.
Austin: In your sensors. And again, it is this sense of, like, there is a complete sort of…it’s not efficiency in the “I am making the smartest choice for each of my actions,” right? It’s not like, [Keith: Yeah.] “Oh, I've figured out the best way to shovel.” It’s simply you don't take rests. There is no time for rest or leisure in the world of Motion. It is not particularly efficient. It’s simply a death march. And you find yourself digging a hole out so that you can— you are no longer Trapped. This does clear Trapped for you.
Keith: Okay.
Austin: So.
Keith: This isn't mechanically what it does, but does Ward help me here anywhere?
Austin: No, 'cause that’s not— it’s not fictionally what it does, right?
Keith: Right. This isn't giving me a Risk.
Austin: No. No, but it is going to make you— I mean, it isn't giving you a—
Keith: Danger.
Austin: Rather, the Ward, the thing that gives you Ward has to fictionally be able to give you Ward in this situation.
Keith: Right.
Austin: Right? And so you're getting— I guess what I would say is maybe if you get back in the tank and just—
Keith: Oh, I have Ward personally and on the tank. That’s two different Wards.
Austin: Yeah. I still think this is—
Keith: Armor and Defensive Tactics as a fire team kit.
Austin: This is about a thing happening inside of your body.
Keith: Yeah.
Austin: If you had, you know, health nanomachines.
Keith: Sure.
Austin: You know, if you had bonus anti…
Keith: But like before, being in the tank might help, but.
Austin: I think being in the tank will help, because you have some sort of, you know…
Keith: Hex plate.
Austin: You have a hex plate that’s going to specifically make it kind of nanomachine tight, effectively.
Keith: Well, we're not trapped, so I think it’s time to get back in the tank.
Austin: It’s time to get the fuck out of here. Yeah, uh huh.
Keith: I don't know about out of here, because Cas'alear still has two marks on the speech.
Austin: Cas'alear still— that’s true. Yep.
Keith: I added a little red dot by mistake on there.
Austin: Okay. Someone else was saying something, really quick? What was that?
Ali: I was going to say: do you want to use one of my Holds to appear somewhere, next round of moves?
Keith: Oh.
Austin: That’s interesting. What would that look like?
Ali: Um…
Austin: I'm for it. I think it’s cool.
Ali: Radio in to Brnine, you know? Ask for a pickup or whatever.
Keith: Okay.
Ali: I mean, obviously it’s like, waiting for this next round of turns to go, and then you can interject with the move that you want to do and “appear where you are needed,” quote, unquote.
Keith: Uh huh.
Ali: But that would be like, instead of, like, Weathering the Storm here or whatever that…shuffle out.
Keith: Maybe one of the bolos put a little hole in the ceiling, and I can get a rope up.
Austin: Oh, yeah, totally. That seems viable.
Keith: Yeah.
Austin: So yeah, I think that that works. I don't know that we need to wait until the next round, right? Because if you call that in, again, you're in the same sortie. This is the thing, right? This is the value of being in the same sortie, is you don't need to wait until the things all happen in separate, you know, modes or whatever.
Keith: Right.
Ali: Oh, sure. Yeah, I just meant, like, give Keith the opportunity to appear where he feels like Leap is needed.
Austin: Mm-hmm.
Ali: You know what I mean? But like, if you just wanted to move.
Keith: I feel like I'm needed at that thing that Clem said.
Ali: Okay. [laughs]
Keith: Okay. Now, here’s the thing. Where’s Cas'alear’s Motion clock?
Austin: Great question.
Keith: I can't let the person who’s like, “By the way, I'm now king of the universe,” get Motioned.
Austin: Mm-hmm.
Dre: Ooh, yeah.
Sylvia: Oh my god.
Austin: Oh, it’s a good check. It’s so good that you said that out loud. [Dre chuckles]
Keith: So I may need to, in fact, stay here until that goes and then leave together.
Austin: But they are out in the world, you know what I mean? They are not in the safety of the tank.
Keith: Can we bring them into the tank with the mic?
Austin: Not with— no, they're in, like, a whole— they have to, like, be part of— I should— you know, they've basically built a little recording booth on top of, like, in one of these kind of big vent tubes where the raw Perennial Wave— or not the raw, the Kalmeria is being blasted out into the galaxy, you know?
Keith: Uh huh.
Austin: Or being processed as it’s blasted out into the galaxy, you know? And I will now reveal the Motion Cas'alear clock, which is at two.
Keith: [chuckles] So it would finish at the same time as the speech.
Austin: Uh huh. Exactly.
Dre: Hey, at least, you know, at least the speech finishes first.
Austin: Mm-hmm.
Sylvia: I'm glad someone’s an optimist.
Dre: I'm trying, bud. [Sylvia and Dre laugh]
Ali: Speech finishes, and then we get Cas'alear with a big hook and pull them off. [Austin and Dre laugh]
Janine: Cas'alear just leans into the microphone, “[sinisterly] Nevermind.” [laughter]
Austin: “Sike.”
Dre: “JK.”
Janine: “Forget all that stuff I said.”
Austin: “That’s what an idiot would say.”
Keith: “Millennium back on.” [Austin laughs]
Austin: Well, you know, cas would get to declare— would maybe declare a new millennium.
Keith: A new millennium, yeah.
Austin: Mm-hmm.
Keith: I don't have…I basically have nothing to help with. Like, could I help cas with the speech to fill the clock faster? But then I'm like, who the fuck am I to even care about cas specifically? Like, I don't know that Leap is dedicated to Cas'alear Rizah’s new reign on…
Austin: No, but that’s not the point. The goal of the speech, the speech clearing—
Keith: Is to end the millennium.
Austin: Is to end the millennium and to end the Divine Principality as the single unifying, [Keith: Okay.] you know, organization, right?
Keith: Yeah.
Austin: It’s…now, again, let’s be really clear. Tomorrow, 30 people are going to say that they are the Princept, right?
Dre: Mm.
Austin: Of course. But everyone in the galaxy will have heard someone who is a, you know, galactic wide famed individual, one of the few people that everyone in the galaxy can close their eyes and picture, right?
Keith: Yeah. Along with Leap.
Austin: Along with Leap, uh huh, and along with Dahlia, who’s dead now, right? Like, a handful of people that is true for. Very, very, very few people.
Keith: Uh huh.
Austin: Everyone knows this person. They are the sibling of the last— of one of the last two Princepts. They are the heir of that throne, and they just said we are done with the Principality. That is a real big rhetorical maneuver, at the very least, that everyone can kind of play off of, you know?
Keith: Uh huh.
Austin: And it theoretically does give a lot of people, like Millennium Break, the wiggle room to start making sort of maneuvers in their own little backyards, you know?
Keith: Yeah, yeah.
Austin: But that doesn't necessarily— you know, you tell me. Yeah. You can handle this how you want. The idea of Leap helping…
Keith: Look, I think Leap has to hop on the mic. I think that I want to Help or Hinder—help—cas.
Austin: Mm-hmm.
Keith: By hopping on that mic, backing up the speech.
Austin: This is really fun. I love the idea of Leap getting in on this and it—
Keith: Hey, I took that Icon move.
Austin: Yep.
Dre: Mm-hmm.
Keith: I'm another one of those people that everybody knows.
Austin: Mm-hmm.
Keith: You know.
Austin: This changes the cadence of it, in a real way.
Keith: Yeah.
Austin: You are putting yourself in harm’s way.
Keith: I am, and I would love for, after I do this, to be…
Austin: Pulled out.
Keith: Pulled out and for cas to be able to take my spot in the tank.
Austin: Right.
Keith: Which is no longer trapped.
Austin: Which is no longer trapped. Uh huh. I'm just renaming this to “The Speech” now.
Keith: The speech.
Austin: Yeah, I think that this is some sort of…I don't know that it’s a Help or Hinder, because it’s a…I guess it is. It is, I guess, technically. They're not rolling to succeed, is the thing, right?
Keith: Yeah.
Austin: So I think it might be better to be…
Keith: A long term clock?
Austin: I think it’s Strike Decisively—
Keith: Maybe it’s Strike Decisively: Talk?
Austin: No, I think it’s Strike Decisively: Talk.
Keith: All right.
Austin: Right?
Keith: Strike Decisively: Talk. Yeah, I think that that’s true.
Austin: What’s your Talk?
Ali: Who’s the target, the universe?
Keith: My talk is 2.
Austin: The galaxy, yeah. Uh huh.
Ali: Okay.
Keith: Clash 2, Talk 2. I figured that was very Leap.
Austin: The Divine Principality. The Perfect Millennium is the…
Keith: Is the target?
Austin: Yeah, and look, you know? It has— I guess maybe what we need is a Clash—an Exchange Blows, rather—Talk, and then a Strike Decisively? But I think what’s actually going to happen is cas delivers the next phase of the speech, right?
Keith: Right.
Austin: Which pushes it up to three.
Keith: Yeah.
Austin: Which means that the Divine Principality slash the Perfect Millennium is, at this point, Defenseless. It has three Risks.
Keith: Yep.
Austin: And then you're coming in to put the bow on it, right? Strike Decisively: Talk.
Keith: Yeah.
Austin: What’s your Talk?
Keith: 2.
Austin: That’s pretty good.
Keith: It’s not bad.
Austin: I need to know what you're saying. Maybe we roll first, and then we can hear what we're going to hear.
Keith: Okay. And you know what else I have?
Austin: You got Retrograde.
Keith: I have Retrograde and that move— I have Icon, and this is Icon by definition. It’s already Icon.
Austin: Uh huh.
Keith: So I could use that if I need to.
Austin: What do you mean you have Icon by definition?
Keith: Oh, sorry, I have that Icon move.
Austin: Bardic Inspiration.
Keith: Yeah, Bardic Inspiration.
Austin: Sure, and you could spend your Universal Hold on that if you wanted to.
Keith: On that, yeah.
Austin: Yes.
Keith: To get another plus 1d4.
Austin: Yes. If you wanted to, yeah.
Keith: If I wanted to, yeah. And I can decide that after.
Austin: Sure. 2d6 plus…
Keith: Roll 2d6 plus 2.
Austin: Get Leap on the mic.
Keith: That’s a 10.
Austin: Hey, that’s a 10. 6 plus 2 plus 2 is 10. What does Leap say into the microphone that everyone in the galaxy hears?
Sylvia: What a good sentence.
Dre: Yeah, it’s a good sentence.
Sylvia: I'm so excited.
Keith (as Leap): This is Exeter Leap. Maybe you've heard of me. [Sylvia laughs]
Dre: Hell yeah, dude.
Keith (as Leap): I've been fighting against the Divine Principality now for years. Maybe you've seen that happen before. Maybe you've been at the end of my blade. Please listen to Cas'alear Rizah. It’s been going on for so many years. Nobody likes this. Nobody’s happy.
Austin: [laughs] I think you're getting a look from Routine Rennari, who’s like, “Yeah, keep going! Keep going!”
Janine: Bold of Leap to admit that someone could have been at the end of his blade and survived. [laughs quietly]
Keith: Hey, I take prisoners.
Janine: Eh, humble.
Keith: Uh, do I have another angle?
Austin: I think Cas'alear is like, you know:
(as Cas'alear): Leap, you and I started this war on opposite sides of the conflict, but here, we have to be unified. History demands we're unified in ending this era.
Keith (as Leap): It happened on Palisade. It can happen everywhere.
Austin (as Cas'alear): It happened on Partizan. It can happen everywhere! Someone I know often says that they believe Millennium Break can change lives. I believe people can change lives, and you're people.
Austin: Exeter Leap, do you name what comes after the Perfect Millennium? [Sylvia gasps]
Keith: No.
Austin: Or do you leave it open for people to decide on their own?
Keith: Yeah, not a chance.
Austin: Not a chance. All right.
Keith: Leap Zone! [Keith and Sylvia laugh]
Austin: Welcome to the Leap Zone!
Keith: Welcome to the Leap Zone.
Janine: The Leap Years! [Dre imitates airhorn]
Austin: Oh, the Leap Years. Yeah, uh huh.
Ali: Ooh.
Sylvia: Oh my god.
Austin: We will leap. Yeah, all of the Alise Breka Leap books [Keith: Yeah.] are sold out in the morning.
Ali: Oh, they're…yeah.
Dre: Hell yeah.
Sylvia: Are we going to be in the next one?
Keith: Let’s leap into what’s next.
Sylvia: Are you running for office? What’s going on here?
Keith: Oh, no, no, no. I'm running, I think, according to the finale, I'm running from office. [Austin laughs]
Sylvia: Okay.
Dre: Yeah.
Ali: The next two and a half hours of people across the nation putting Leap books onto endcaps is… [Keith laughs]
Austin: Oh, yeah, uh huh.
Ali: [laughing] Just wild.
Austin: God.
Keith: They're putting all my books— the politics section, it’s all the Leap books but then it’s also, like, Where the Crawdads Sing.
Austin: Uh huh. [Austin and Keith laugh] I mean, the other thing here is, like, there is a real grimy part of all of this that I don't want to ignore, right? Which is like, in Stel Orion—or what was Stel Orion and is now returning to a loose conglomeration of, you know, super-capitalists and labor movements—you know, there are a lot of publishing houses who are like, “Oh, can we get rights to sell this book only on these planets? Can we get the exclusive rights to the old ‘We Will Leap’ Millennium Break documentary? How do we make money on this?”
Keith: Hey, there's a lot of money in Exeter Leap. There always has been.
Austin: 100%.
Sylvia: And the banana stand.
Keith: You know, I've got bags and bags of money from pirating [Austin: Yep.] but also bags and bags of money from being the subject of a massively popular series of books, movies, television shows, and most likely action figures.
Austin: And also action figures.
Janine: You just gotta beat it out of him like a pinata.
Dre: Mm.
Ali: Alise gives out residuals?
Keith: Yeah, of course.
Austin: Maybe. I think maybe Leap’s negotiated that, maybe, you know?
Ali: That’s crazy.
Keith: What, I'm letting 10 billion books sold a year [Austin laughs] evaporate into thin air? No way.
Austin: In a real way, the crossroad we are setting up for the next season, to some degree, is like, in the absence of imperialism, what rises? And there is a real, like, anarcho-capitalist angle to some of this shit.
Keith: Oh boy...
Austin: Like, that is where Arbitrage really is, right?
Keith: Yeah.
Austin: We're all free on the market, baby.
Janine: Mr. Beast rises is what happens. [Keith laughs]
Austin: 100%!
Dre: Mm.
Austin: Yeah! So, get ready. Anyway.
Dre: Trapped in tolling booth for 10,000 hours?
Austin: Oh my god. You have exposed yourself directly to this stream of Kalmeria. You're being lifted up into the Blue Channel.
Keith: Mm-hmm.
Austin: But you're there. The clock is filled. You gotta get yourself into the power terminal. You know, you feel Motion all the way through your body. You've lost control of it physically. I'm going to advance this clock for the sake of advancing the clock and showing you that it’s filled. Cas'alear is back in the tank, you know, the kind of air controlled tank, the airtight tank, but needs to get out, but you know, you have the Tier 2 crew helping with that.
Keith: Mm-hmm. Certified organic filters.
Austin: That’s right. Yep.
Keith: No microplastics.
Austin: No microplastics. And yeah, Brnine, you're pulling Leap to the power terminal, presumably.
Ali: Mm-hmm. Yeah, I moved the Blue Channel too.
Austin: All right. Here’s Leap. Make Leap big again.
Keith: For the love of god, make Leap big again. [Austin chuckles]
Austin: And you— that’s too big. That’s ship-sized Leap. There we go.
Sylvia: Bigger.
Austin: The power terminal is also inside.
Keith: Leap appears 90 feet tall.
Austin: Oh no! [Austin and Keith laugh] Leap, unable to stand the idea that Clem was bigger than he is, [Dre: Mm.] even for any time at all, decides to get bigger.
Keith: Bigger Leap.
Austin: Bigger Leap.
Keith: Bigger Leap theory.
Sylvia: Bigger than before. He’s also blue.
Austin: Bigger than before. Oh, bigger than before. How— what’s it look like in here? You know, you…you know, Motion is, like, clawing her way into your brain.
Keith: Uh huh.
Austin: Has control, but then you are, you know, put into this— these huge blast doors open up, you know? And there’s Perennial in this glowing…I think it’s pink purple energy, is what we described it as. I think that I described there being a big orb, a big glowy orb in this power terminal, back when we first did this. Yeah. And you feel like you're connected to Perennial, I think maybe for the first time. You've never really done Perennial stuff, right, Leap?
Keith: No, I don't think so.
Austin: Yeah. I think the thing that you get—and Cori, you kind of hear this on the same wavelength—is Perennial laughing, charmed.
Sylvia: Okay.
Austin: Thinks it’s funny. Like, “What a weird goofball you've put at my doorstep.” [Sylvia laughs] You know? “I can't believe it.” You know, this is the first time, Cori, that Perennial has actually felt hopeful at all during all of this.
Sylvia: Aww!
Dre: Aww.
Austin: Right? The message has been sent out.
Keith: Come on, there's gotta have been a version where I was friends with Perennial.
Sylvia: Perennial, I got some books you should read. [Ali laughs]
Austin: Jeez.
Dre: Oh hell yeah.
Sylvia: You can borrow my collection. It’s fine. I've got all of them. First edition.
Austin: Incredible. Yeah. And I think there’s something about, like, you know, this is not— the plan didn't go the way the plan was supposed to go. It wasn't supposed to be the Cas'alear and Leap speech. This is better. The wheel broke a little more this way. And Leap, you can— I'm going to de-tick this clock by one here, as you begin to heal from all of this. Actually, I'll de-click it by two. I think it takes two steps to fully clear out the bad Motion juice from you. But yeah, there you go.
Austin: Let’s swing back over to Levi and Thisbe and the TUSK, the Tier 4 TUSK and the Tier 3 FANG. How is facing down this big old boar mech going?
Janine: I have thoughts.
Austin: Yeah? What are your thoughts?
Janine: I kind of want to just, like, stop this thing for a second. Like, I want to give Levi a moment to…
Austin: Damn.
Janine: You know, like, regroup and like…
Dre: Just chill?
Janine: Not chill, but like, not be getting chased and fucked with.
Dre: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Janine: For, like, a second.
Austin: Mm-hmm.
Janine: Seems like it might be helpful. Well, it’s just the one FANG, the one TALON, and the boar?
Austin: It’s really just the FANG and the boar. This one TALON fled and is trying to get through the gate [Janine: Right.] to retreat back, but presumably can't leave either, Cori? Is that correct?
Sylvia: Yeah, just can't pass through it.
Austin: It’s doing the thing of going in and out of the Portcullis over and over again.
Janine: Oh.
Austin: Yeah.
Janine: Buddy. So yeah, I think I want to basically have Thisbe reach out in her weirdy magicky way.
Austin: Mm-hmm.
Janine: And just, like, jam up that pig’s brains. Just, like, freeze ‘em up for a second.
Austin: It’s a person in there, but are you doing it with the person, or are you doing it with the mech?
Janine: Well, okay. [laughs] Um…
Austin: ‘Cause it’s kind of an open question for Thisbe, right?
Janine: It is. It is an open question for Thisbe, isn't it?
Austin: Uh huh.
Janine: [resigned] Uh, I think the person, probably.
Austin: Okay. Doing some stratus type stuff to this person.
Janine: Easier to jam up a person’s brains.
Austin: Damn, I guess so.
Janine: To sort of half-assedly science it, brain is just electric impulses too. It’s all…
Austin: This is Deny, right?
Ali: Mm-hmm.
Janine: Yes.
Austin: This is Deny: when you use magic to temporarily restrict the actions of another, roll Channel?
Janine: Roll Channel. Yeah.
Austin: Okay. I do wonder if this is until you stop sustaining them. Do you need— for tactical illusions. Do you need to—?
Janine: That’s why I was asking who else was there.
Austin: It’s just those two. It’s the FANG, and it’s the TUSK.
Janine: Yeah.
Austin: And maybe the FANG is easy to clean up afterwards. Like, in other words, if you drop that spell, the FANG won't be alone anymore, and so it won't. But if you— there's a world in which it’s alone again in a second, because Levi has killed the TUSK, right?
Janine: Yeah.
Austin: So maybe we see how that all plays out before I start clearing Risks.
Janine: It’s one of those things where it’s like, maybe it depends on the roll. It’s not a precedent I would want to establish, but also, in this case, it’s not something I'd fight over, you know?
Austin: Yeah. I get you. Yeah, we'll see what the roll does, to some degree, right?
Janine: Yeah.
Austin: All right, so give me roll plus Channel. 2d6 plus 3, and this is up against Elemental, and you are Arcane in this? Is that where this comes from, or where does clemwitchthis come from?
Janine: Divine.
Austin: Divine. Still disconnected, so no effect.
Janine: Mm-hmm.
Austin: No direct connection between the two. [Keith laughs] Thisbe, you've rolled a 10!
Janine: Yeah. I did.
Austin: Completely leaving this TUSK restrained or something, presumably? Maybe upgrading one of its—
Janine: I prevent them from taking a single action or move.
Austin: Yeah. I think, Levi, you're going to have a pretty wide open shot here.
Dre: Okay.
Austin: I think that this definitely gives Levi Advantage on the Strike Decisively here.
Dre: Hell yeah.
Austin: Easily. Easily. And again, Levi, you are Mundane.
Dre: Yeah.
Austin: Is that right? I think being held still does mean that you— oh, you know what? Sorry. The FANG is still here, so the FANG is able to try to interfere, which does still keep us in the realm of Confidence and Desperation.
Janine: Mm.
Dre: Okay.
Austin: So, unfortunately, I think you're still in Desperation, attacking an Elemental thing with Mundane, but you do have Advantage, because it’s being held still.
Dre: Gotcha.
Austin: 3d6, Desperation.
Dre: So, that is take two lowest, but 1s become 6s?
Austin: Other way around.
Dre: Okay.
Austin: Take highest, but 6s become 1s.
Dre: Gotcha, okay.
Austin: 4, 5, 6, 7.
Dre: Uh oh.
Austin: You don't have—?
Dre: I do. It should be plus 1, so it’s 8. I just forgot to do the plus 1.
Austin: Right. All right, well, 8. On an 8 with Strike Decisively, you succeed as above, but choose one: you overreach or underestimate, take a Risk; you waste ammo or words, losing a weapon until you can rearm or losing the weight of some bargaining chip or piece of leverage; or you strike carelessly, causing collateral damage beyond your expectations.
Dre: Mm. Boy. What was the first one?
Austin: You take a Risk.
Dre: Okay. Uh, I don't want to do that, 'cause I'm already at one Peril, and that seems bad.
Austin: Yeah. Yeah.
Dre: Um, boy, I'm real scared to give you collateral damage, but…
Austin: I don't know that the Risk is all that scary, because you might have breathing room to try to clear it, you know?
Dre: Yeah.
Austin: But…yeah, but maybe not. Maybe I shouldn't overestimate that. Maybe I should let you give me collateral damage.
Dre: [laughs] I like the idea of giving you collateral damage. That feels very, like, thematically appropriate, if Levi, for the first time in a while, feels like his back is up against the wall and is acting very desperately.
Austin: Yeah. And I think that there— it’s a pretty obvious collateral damage here. You take this thing apart. It explodes, and as it does, this whole kind of center area, a lot of these other vents and stuff near it explode, releasing huge bursts of Kalmeria.
Dre: Mm.
Austin: Hitting both you and Thisbe and beginning to advance your particular Motion clocks from zero to one. You know, here she is, in your head as well. As I said before, the sort of angles of attack on both of you, 'cause everyone has a slightly different one. Levi, in the way that Motion said to Brnine that Brnine needs Motion, for you, it’s a little different. It’s simply, you know:
(as Motion): I've seen how you've been moving. Whether you know it or not, you will need me.
Austin: And with Thisbe, it is the fact that you’re already carrying Ebullience, and Ebullience has a sort of rhyming resonance with Motion. It’s not the same thing, but there is a sort of familiar rhythm that Motion is able to start kind of coasting on or drifting behind, you know, inside of you. Whatever your internal systems are for keeping, you know, viruses out or keeping unwanted intruders out, it is able to kind of skirt inside of the grooves that have already been made by Ebullience without kind of giving up where it is inside of you.
Janine: She doesn't even say anything?
Austin: Oh, no, it’s the same thing. It is…
Janine: Okay. I was going to say, that's so rude! [laughs quietly]
Austin: I think it is…
(as Motion): You carry something like me in your heart already.
Janine (as Thisbe): I do not have a heart.
Austin: Ahh. Yeah, sure, good.
Dre: Mm.
Austin: Yeah.
Janine: Just shutting it down. Fuck off.
Austin: Yeah. Uh huh.
Dre: Motion’s in your head just saying, “come onnn.”
Austin: “Come onnn. [Dre chuckles] Come on.” And I think this is the— with the Blue Channel over in Zone 5, everything ticks again, including the southernmost Portcullis gate, including the westernmost Portcullis gate, and including the Ekpyrosis arrival. It is now at eight out of 12.
Dre: Mm.
Austin: You can see it, deep on the horizon, and you can see the new arrival of incoming troops.
Ali: I don't understand why the thing that I did didn't maintain?
Austin: You left. You went all the way to Zone 5.
Ali: Okay…
Austin: Why would it have maintained?
Ali: Well, 'cause I feel like it disabled the things that it was using on, and then the Asepsis drones move separately from the Blue Channel?
Austin: Sure, but it had— the ones that were working on the north one and the ones that were working on the west ones, and you turned off the ones that had been working on the south ones, right?
Ali: Okay.
Austin: I think you have to have been there to sustain it.
Ali: Okay.
Austin: I don't know that you get to leave without it…you know?
Ali: Okay.
Austin: Uh, maybe I'm wrong.
Ali: Yeah. I just feel like I'm both in a weird place where, like, the “have an ally appear” doesn't usually mean that I physically move Leap as well, in the way that it’s, like, written?
Austin: No, but what it means is you have to explain how it happens, right?
Ali: Okay, sure. Yeah.
Austin: So, you know.
Ali: Yeah.
Austin: I think this is a roll, then, right? I think we should roll to see if— 'cause I think there's a case to be made here that without you there continuing to do this thing…
Ali: Mm-hmm.
Austin: In the same way that Thisbe has to maintain the illusion, you know?
Ali: Yeah. I mean, I guess it’s fine, I just didn't do…that. But yeah, it’s fine.
Austin: That wasn't part of— yeah, you made that choice, thinking it would sustain, without thinking about it.
Ali: Uh huh.
Janine: That wasn't, like, predetermined that there would be a consequence there.
Austin: Yeah, that’s fair.
Ali: Yeah.
Austin: That’s fair. Would you like to roll it? I think that, to me, feels right, in the sense of, like, can Asepsis do this without you there being in management mode.
Ali: Yeah. Would this be, like, a Weather the Storm: Crew?
Austin: Crew, exactly that, yeah.
Ali: Okay.
Austin: Which I think is a thing you're pretty good at, right?
Ali: Okay. Yeah. Sorry to interrupt you. [laughs quietly]
Austin: Nah, you're good.
Ali: But I had this moment of, like, “Wait a minute.”
Austin: Yeah, totally. 2d6 plus 3.
Ali: Okay.
Austin: Let’s see if Asepsis pulls it off.
Ali: Okay.
Austin: We're all rooting for you, Asepsis.
Sylvia: We are.
Ali: Plus 3…that’s a 15. [laughs]
Austin: Oh. It’s a 15.
Dre: Jesus.
Austin: It’s the highest possible roll in the game.
Sylvia: Hell yeah.
Keith: The dice are insulted by this. [Ali laughs]
Austin: Yes, 100%. All of these units are waiting on the other end. In fact, you know, they are the ones also in the northern one that are going in and out, trying to figure out “How the hell do we actually make it through? We don't know how to do it.” So, yeah. They will be waiting here. All right. Then, your allies arrive from the north, allowing you— and probably destroy this Tier 3 TALON. RIP to the Tier 3 TALON that’s up there. And they arrive from the north, allowing you to reinforce the landing zone before Ekpyrosis arrives or before, theoretically, the other Portcullis gates are completed. You know, it’s fun that we just have all these old Apostolosian mechs still here, because those are some of the ones that show up to help. You know, you get your own TUSK that shows up. You get your own TALONs that show up but on your side here. Now, are they mostly loyal to Cas'alear? Yes, but that’s you for right now, you know?
Ali: For now.
Austin: I'll clear their Risks and stuff, but they'll be on your side this time, which is fun.
Dre: That is fun.
Austin: And I guess next step is you have to kind of figure out— oh, this FANG, I think, does try to run into the— and maybe this is a fun arrival for your incoming crew. Someone is just going to snipe that thing off of the board. All right, so just, the board as it stands: Leap, you are holding onto the power terminal. You're being blasted with pure Perennial Wave, untouched by Motion and whatever the rest of the stuff that’s turned it into Kalmeria, the…why am I blanking on this name? This is how you know that we've been playing for too long and that we're too tired. Oh my god. The True Divine, the…what was Valence’s religion?
Dre: Oh, god.
Austin: Dre, do you recall?
Dre: Uh…
Austin: Why are we both blanking deep?
Dre: Uh…
Austin: Wow.
Dre: Jesus!
Keith: Wow. Fake fan.
Austin: Fake fan. Fake making our own show, being tired.
Dre: Uh huh, uh huh.
Sylvia: Autonomy Itself?
Austin: Autonomy Itself. Autonomy Itself.
Dre: There we go. Thank you.
Austin: There we go. Thank you so much.
Dre: Thank you, Sylvi.
Keith: [bluffing] I knew that. I was testing, uh, you two.
Austin: Oh. Thank you.
Keith: Yeah.
Austin: Thanky.
Sylvia: [hushed] I think Keith’s a fake fan.
Austin: [aghast] Why did I say “thanky”? [Janine laughs]
Keith: Have you been reading a lot of Stephen King?
Sylvia: Thankeith.
Janine: I thought you said, “Thank, Keith,” [Sylvia: Yeah.] and then you said “thanky” very clearly, and I was like, “Okay. I guess we're doing this now.”
Austin: It’s not what I meant to say.
Keith: Did you get Dark Tower-pilled recently?
Austin: No, I did not.
Janine: Do they say thanky in that a lot? That’s embarrassing.
Keith: They do, yeah.
Sylvia: Sick of these thankies online.
Dre: Oh, they do.
Keith: That’s, like, the weird Roland’s world’s version of saying “thank you.”
Sylvia: That’s…I’m good.
Austin: Isn't it just, like, a wild westy thing?
Janine: Thank ye? Ye?
Keith: Oh, god. It’s like, what if the wild west took place in post-apocalyptic Middle Earth? That’s kind of the…
Austin: Yeah, that’s kind of the vibe.
Dre: Yeah.
Keith: Yeah.
Austin: Anyway, Leap, you're getting Perennial blasted, which is like being flavorblasted, [emphatically] and not any other type of blasted. [Janine laughs] Cas and the rest of that crew, including the Precipice and the rest of your pirates, are theoretically working their way out of the interior of Zone 3, past all of the servers, past all of the Nanobeasts. I don't think I'm going to, like, zoom in and roll for each little thing there, though maybe we'll have a sort of Crew roll to see if they get into trouble generally, at some point.
Moving further west here from zone— I guess, Brnine, you're also over at Zone 5, at the power terminal, 'cause you brought Leap there. And going further west here, from Zone 3 to Zone 2, Levi, you and the Star Crossed ship are finally no longer being harassed by the remaining Apostolosian Pact mechs. They have been dealt with, seemingly. Thisbe and Mow, similarly, you seem like you kind of just have things on lock here. Cori, all the way over to the west, you have taken the northernmost Portcullis gate. Through that gate, two ships have come through, which I have not said these names yet: the Mosaic True, which is a ship loyal to Cas'alear, and its collection of Altars, and then also the Third Opus, a Millennium Break ship, which also has a collection of Altars aboard that have not yet deployed. It needs to land to drop those off, and so it’ll be doing that momentarily.
And then, all the way in Zone 0, which you can barely see anymore, because it’s covered up—there we go, Zone 0—is the Divine Artifice, which has been EMP’ed. It has lost control over one of its wings of kind of construction robots, the southern one, which is paused. And I think it’s probably— it and its pilot, whose name I have written down here, Passiflora, the Elect Passiflora, are probably freaking out about now, as reinforcements start flying in for you and none do for her.
Ali: Yeah, I was actually going to say, without getting into the, like, minutiae of the Cas stuff, could I open up with, like, an assist roll to, like, help them out of there?
Austin: What’s the thing you're trying to do? Because I guess we— I'd rather keep it on you and be an active roll for you, instead of it being an aid assist for a character who doesn't have a character sheet, you know?
Ali: Uh huh, yeah. I wonder…is it more of, like, a radio situation, or is it like a pickup situation like I did for Leap, you think?
Austin: It could probably be either. You know, you are receiving all of Leap’s— all of the camera, you know, footage from all of Leap’s people, so you can kind of be, like, the operator telling them what each of them sees and, like, making decisions based on that maybe and doing all sorts of, like, map stuff. Giving them, like, a route through the maze, given what you know, maybe.
Ali: Yeah, I would love to, like, Brnine ran from the gunner bay [Austin: Mm.] to their, like, lab or whatever, right?
Austin: Mm-hmm.
Ali: And now they're sitting at their, like, shitty space laptop, [laughs] looking at these camera feeds in their old office. I don't know what their old office is now.
Austin: Oh, wow. What is their old office?
Ali: I guess it was their old quarters, right? With the little Asepsis bunkbed?
Austin: Yeah, but like, what is it now? What’s in there? It’s been a year.
Ali: Um…
Austin: It’s been Hunting’s ship, right?
Ali: Storage, maybe?
Austin: Wow, okay. So just putting boxes and shit in there.
Ali: I guess so, yeah.
Sylvia: Can't be a rec room. They've already got one.
Austin: Yeah.
Dre: Mm.
Austin: I guess that’s a little respectful, in a way, isn't it? 'Cause it’s like, Hunting’s like, “Well, that’s Brnine’s room. We can't put another person in there. Just put those boxes in there.” [Austin and Ali chuckle] Which is kind of funny.
Ali: Well, presumably, like, Hunting had their quarters [Austin: Yeah.] and just kept that when they became captain.
Austin: Right, but presumably other people have been on this ship, right?
Ali: Right, right, right. Yeah.
Austin: So.
Ali: But yeah. You know, shitty laptop balanced on a cardboard box or whatever.
Austin: Mm-hmm.
Ali: But I think the idea of being like, “turn left here,” or like, “fire flare down [cross] hallway C to make—”
Austin: [cross] Right, make a distraction.
Ali: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Austin: Totally.
Ali: Is like a Weather the Storm, maybe?
Austin: That sounds like Weather the Storm. It sounds like Weather the Storm…it’s not Defy. What is it?
Keith: Is it not Defy?
Austin: It might be Know? No, 'cause Brnine isn't the one down there dodging, toughing it out, or strong-arming their way through. This might be quick thinking or ace up your sleeve; or Sense to notice quiet cues, signs of danger, or bad vibes before it’s too late.
Ali: Despite my Know being better, I do think that this is a Sense, unfortunately.
Austin: Yeah. That seems right. Yeah.
Ali: All right.
Austin: 2d6 plus 1, I believe? [cringing] Yeeee…
Ali: Ooh… [laughs]
Keith: Ooh, that’s a little bit too honest.
Austin: A little too…
Sylvia: Oh. Oh boy.
Austin: That’s a 3 plus 2 plus 1. 6. Listen, that’s very close to being able to be a 7, which would be a full success—or not a full success, a mixed success—if you can get help from somewhere.
Ali: Mm. Leap?
Austin: Well, Leap’s getting…
Keith: Yeah, I mean, I would love to help, if I knew how to help. Could my crew be helping?
Austin: Theoretically, your crew is helping. Maybe what your crew is doing is giving Advantage on this? Because they're not going to roll— I mean, I guess they could just roll a straight 2d6. They don't know Brnine like that, you know? But they don't have a sheet.
Keith: No, but if they're an extension of me in the way that they get damaged when I get damaged.
Austin: True.
Keith: Or I get damaged when they get damaged.
Austin: Yeah.
Keith: You know, they could be fighting on behalf of my closeness with Brnine.
Austin: Mm-hmm. Yeah, I guess your Hook of “Trust myself number one, trust the Blue Channel crew number two,” feels relevant here.
Keith: Yeah.
Austin: Given that we know, like, Eclectic, for instance, also had that Hook, right?
Keith: Right. Yeah, yeah.
Austin: Yeah, let’s do that. 2d6 plus 1 for them, as a Help or Hinder, even though the whole point of having Brnine do this was to focus in on Brnine rolling, [Ali chuckles] but it still makes it your action, in a way, so.
Ali: Mm-hmm.
Austin: So yeah, Keith, go ahead and give me 2d6 plus 1.
Keith: You got it.
Austin: [chuckles] That’s a—
Keith: No, it didn't work.
Austin: Now, it didn't work. Now, that was a 4.
Sylvia: Wow. [Ali laughs]
Austin: So, you do not take Advantage on this, and—
Sylvia: Uh…Universal Hold? [Ali laughs]
Austin: Ooh. You could spend a Universal— you could. This is real.
Sylvia: Eh.
Austin: Brnine could spend a Universal Hold to gain Advantage, right? We do have the— what did we end up naming that move? We actually had a fun name for it?
Keith: Retrograde.
Austin: Retrograde. Spend one Universal Hold to gain Advantage on a roll even after rolling. How much Hold do you have left?
Ali: I have three left.
Austin: Okay. Well, this could be a moment.
Keith: That’s all.
Austin: That’s all of it, yeah.
Keith: I mean, that’s just rolling another die. That could easily replace that 2.
Ali: Okay. Roll 1d6?
Austin: 1d6.
Keith: I'd love for you to succeed for me, for my sake now.
Austin: I bet.
Ali: Mm, mm-hmm.
Austin: I think it’s interesting— oof. [Ali laughs]
Sylvia: Holy shit.
Austin: That’s a 2.
Janine: Mm…
Austin: So that means nothing gets replaced there.
Janine: Aw.
Austin: The 2 is equal to the low 2 you already had.
Ali: Interesting.
Sylvia: We're just not succeeding this roll.
Ali: Strange. [laughs quietly]
Keith: Can I use one of my Hold to give myself Advantage on my helping roll?
Sylvia: Oh my god. Is this—?
Austin: How much do you have left? What’s your—?
Keith: I have two left.
Austin: Sure. You can spend one of your two left to go down to— to give Advantage—
Keith: Jesus.
Austin: Now, I just want to be clear what you're doing.
Sylvia: Are we—?
Austin: Wait, wait, wait. Before you do it, I just want to be very clear.
Keith: Yeah.
Janine: Ah…
Austin: You're giving yourself Advantage on your Help or Hinder roll.
Sylvia: Uh huh.
Keith: Right.
Austin: Which, if it’s successful, will give Brnine another die to roll for Advantage.
Keith: Right.
Austin: Just to be clear. So it’s like, yeah.
Keith: Yes.
Sylvia: And you need to roll a…
Dre: 3 or higher to at least get a mixed success.
Austin: To get a mixed success.
Sylvia: Yeah.
Keith: Right. Yeah.
Austin: Yeah. Ay, okay.
Keith: Oh my god. Thank god.
Sylvia: Okay.
Austin: Well, there's a 6. So, 6 plus 2 is 8, so it’s a mixed success.
Keith: Yep.
Austin: Is always implicating you in the result if it’s a negative.
Sylvia: Mm…
Austin: Now, Brnine, you have another.
Sylvia: [laughs] Holy shit.
Keith: All right, Brnine. It’s time for some good luck.
Austin: That’s the rule! That’s not me! That’s not me!
Sylvia: No, I know! I know! It just occurred to me that Keith might have spent one Hold just to get consequences. [Ali laughs]
Austin: Correct.
Janine: Hmm.
Keith: Well, I was already getting consequences, right?
Austin: Well, the— well, now Leap is going to get consequences in a way that— you know.
Sylvia: Yeah.
Keith: Yeah.
Austin: Well, let’s see. Maybe there won't be consequences, because Ali will roll a 6.
Sylvia: Maybe there won't be.
Keith: Oh, does outright failing the Help not implicate you in consequences?
Austin: Well, it does. I guess that’s true.
Keith: Okay.
Sylvia: Oh, okay.
Austin: You already were getting consequences. Holy shit! [laughter]
Keith: Jesus christ.
Austin: Brnine rolled another 2.
Sylvia: Yay!
Keith: Wow. I really went out—
Janine: Mm…
Keith: I'm changing my Hook. Don't trust Brnine. [Ali laughs, groans]
Austin: Don't be mean.
Ali: Have I said that I think the Roll20 algorithm is broken?
Austin: I do.
Dre: I agree.
Austin: We gotta get Asepsis in there to check that shit out. [Austin and Ali chuckle] The cameras start turning off, one after another. We are watching the sci-fi horror movie, right? They need to— I think you've learned something a little bit about the crew. I think we've all learned something about Leap’s crew. They’ve really gotta get Leap in there.
Keith: Yeah.
Austin: Leap is really holding it all together in a way that we didn't anticipate.
Keith: I mean, I raise them by a full tier by being nearby.
Austin: You literally do.
Sylvia: I thought you were going to say you raised them yourself! [Austin and Janine laugh]
Keith: Yeah.
Sylvia: They're your hatchlings.
Austin: [laughs] Yes. The cameras start shutting off, right? One after another, as the Nanobeasts descend. You know, there is the sound of explosions inside. And, you know, the cameras turning off maybe don't mean they're dead, but you've lost contact with them. You know, the comms go dark. And I think the last thing that you hear is Routine saying to you:
(as Routine): Captain, we need evac.
Austin: And then chk, you know, line goes dead.
Ali: I left you behind once before. [laughs]
Dre: Jesus!
Austin: Damn.
Janine: Ugh.
Ali: We'll see what happens tonight.
Austin: All right. Meanwhile, on the far western edge of the area, the Divine Artifice begins to retreat. It is going to try to escape the kind of incoming allies that you have, having decided that this seems like it might be a dead end, or maybe it’s received communication from the rest of the fleet, the flagship and the fleet that’s to the west, the kind of core Ekpyrosis unit. But it’s slowly beginning to recall its little bots, its little droids, its little drones, which again, kind of reconnect to its body, its kind of skeletal body, to become like the sort of skin on this giant space snake, and it’s slowly starting to stretch itself out and point itself back, kind of westward towards the Ekpyrosis. If no one does anything, it will get away and reconnect with that group, but like, that is kind of the threat.
Sylvia: I have a question.
Austin: Yep.
Sylvia: If this, reconnecting with that group, Artifice could theoretically become, like, support for the Ekpyrosis, yeah?
Austin: It sure could.
Sylvia: Yeah, okay. So, I'm going to go stop this thing.
Austin: Yeah, that is 100% what I think, Cori, your read on this is.
Sylvia: Yeah.
Austin: Is like, oh, okay. Like, either, you know, it’s going to go be support for the Ekpyrosis. Is it going to try to go build a Portcullis gate further to the west than this?
Sylvia: Mm-hmm.
Austin: Who knows? But it’s not— it wouldn't be good for your future fight against Motion if Artifice could get away.
Sylvia: Yeah.
Austin: And I'll note it still has the EMP’ed, which I'm going to change the name of that. It’s still the Peril. It’s still a Peril like it was before.
Sylvia: Yeah.
Austin: But I think it’s, like, Incomplete or something like that, right?
Sylvia: So…
Austin: Because the body of it hasn't been EMP’ed, but what’s missing is all of the southernmost, like, repair bots that it sent out. Like, they haven't come back, 'cause they've been EMP’ed.
Sylvia: So this does already have a tag on it.
Austin: It has one of the three that it needs. Yes.
Sylvia: Okay.
Austin: So, what do you do? What’s your play on this thing? It’s Tier 5, as a reminder.
Sylvia: Well, I think my move is to cut it off [Austin: Okay.] and then fire on it from the direction it’s trying to go.
Austin: So you're going to the west of it, basically.
Sylvia: Yeah. Well, 'cause if our reinforcements are coming from the other side, [Austin: Yep.] I could pincer it in that way.
Austin: Totally.
Sylvia: And also, I'm faster than it, so.
Austin: Seemingly. At least at this point.
Sylvia: Haste.
Austin: Oh, that’s true. Yeah.
Sylvia: I'm canonically faster than it.
Austin: You're canonically faster than it, yes.
Sylvia: So, to attack on this with my Seraphic Array, which is Ruin, [Austin: Mm-hmm.] so I shouldn't have any Disadvantage on this. What type is this again?
Austin: Oh, it’s Divine. It’s a Divine, right? So, it’s…
Sylvia: Okay.
Austin: Yeah.
Sylvia: Time for me to use my Chromatic Focus [Austin: Ooh.] to swap my approach to Arcane.
Austin: So that lets you swap it for any single scene.
Sylvia: Scene. Yeah.
Austin: Does that cost you power?
Sylvia: It’s expended.
Austin: Okay, so it expends it.
Sylvia: Yeah, I believe so.
Austin: Okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah, that makes sense.
Sylvia: So, I'm going to mark that expended. So, that would give me Advantage on this, right?
Austin: It sure would. Well, yeah, so you're switching to—
Sylvia: Or Confidence.
Austin: You're switching to what? You're switching to…?
Sylvia: Arcane.
Austin: Arcane. Yep. What’s that look like? What’s the actual switch look like, in terms of what your mech looks like?
Sylvia: Did I— I think I used this before, not— I don't know if I used it with the Perimerion or if I used it on the…Chariot. Oh my god, I forgot the name.
Austin: [chuckles] It’s been a minute.
Sylvia: But I think last time I used it I remember describing it as changing the colors of the things that were like…like the exhaust of it and, like, the energy emanating from it.
Austin: Yeah, sure.
Sylvia: I think…Arcane energy is from which source, again?
Austin: It’s the Kalmeria stuff, so it’s like, we've been depicting it as kind of glowy blue. I mean, that's kind of just in line with [Sylvia: Yeah.] the colors in Armour Astir, that the Arcane is blue.
Sylvia: Yeah.
Austin: But I kind of think that that makes sense, a bluish green glow, you know?
Sylvia: Okay. Yeah, so, I think it’s like…man, I just can't stop thinking about, like, Wing Gundam, now that you've said this.
Austin: [sighs] You know, that’s how it goes sometimes.
Sylvia: But it’s like, yeah, like blue exhaust jets, like trails coming from her wings. I think that, like…I’m trying to think of something that changes about the, like, texture of, you know, the feathers or the way that the mech itself is presented other than just it’s got different particle effects.
Austin: Yep. I think that that’s— I think that what you've described totally makes sense for this.
Sylvia: Yeah.
Austin: If we end up thinking of other cool visuals…
Sylvia: What does, like, concentrated Kalmeria look like? Has that ever been a thing?
Austin: We have not seen it as, like, a block of something. You know what I mean?
Sylvia: Okay.
Austin: I don't know that we've seen it in— I guess we have, actually. We just saw it in the Nanobeasts.
Sylvia: Okay.
Austin: Those are concentrated Kalmeria. You know, I kind of— I'm picturing it as…oh, what is…ooh, boy. What is the name of that stuff? The, like, magnetic, like…
Janine: Ferrofluid?
Keith: Ferrofluid?
Austin: Ferrofluid, yes. I'm thinking of it as ferrofluid.
Keith: Wow. Same time.
Austin: Yes. That is what I'm thinking about.
Sylvia: Oh, hey, this is actually kind of perfect. I was going to say something like mercury, but I think ferrofluid works too.
Austin: Mm-hmm.
Sylvia: Like, the Perimerion is a skeleton, but now it’s got this, like, ferrofluid skin on it.
Austin: [sighs] That’s really cool.
Sylvia: Yeah.
Austin: I love that. That’s fun. All right. So, yeah, you're going to race in front of the thing to get in front of it.
Sylvia: Yeah.
Austin: And unleash a blast of your Seraphic Array’s kind of wing— are they actually—? It’s like sharp feathers effectively, right?
Sylvia: It’s like— they're like missiles that will come back, basically.
Austin: Gotcha.
Sylvia: Like, the way it reloads is that the feathers come back into it.
Austin: Right, right, right. Perfect.
Sylvia: Sharp-ass projectiles.
Austin: All right. Well, then, this sounds like Exchange Blows: Clash.
Sylvia: All right.
Austin: You'll have Confidence because of the shift to Arcane.
Sylvia: Confidence is 1s into 6s, or is that an extra die?
Austin: It is 1s into 6s. 1s into 6s, yes.
Sylvia: Okay.
Austin: And what is your…?
Sylvia: It’s +2.
Austin: +2. 2d6 plus 2. 1s count as 6s. Well!
Sylvia: That’s good, 'cause I rolled a 1 and a 2.
Austin: Phew! Which, plus 2, makes this a 10 [Sylvia: Yeah.] instead of a 5, which would have been a bad miss. Yeah, okay.
Sylvia: Yeah.
Austin: So, what’s this look like? Do you want to give it a Peril and take a Risk or just give it a Risk while remaining safe?
Sylvia: I feel like the Peril, like, “Halted” would be perfect for this, right?
Austin: Oh, that’s really good. Yes. How do you put yourself in risk to do that?
Sylvia: Um…ooh, you know what? Okay. So, this has a Messy tag on it.
Austin: Mm-hmm.
Sylvia: And I think that if I'm firing while flying, there is a risk of it coming back and, like, slicing me [Austin: Wow.] while it’s flying away from my mech itself.
Austin: Ooh, that’s really fun. Yeah.
Sylvia: Just given the way, like— if she’s flying backwards, right?
Austin: Yep. Yep.
Sylvia: Then, yeah. This makes perfect sense in my head. I'm sorry to anyone who’s having trouble picturing it, but…
Austin: Are you actually getting hit by it, or is it that it’s risky to do this because if you're not careful you'll end up hitting yourself?
Sylvia: Um, I mean, either/or. I'm fine with either. I think, like, superficial damage [Austin: Mm-hmm.] from the blades was, like, suitable, and then also…
Austin: Let’s do— this is one of those things. I know this is the last sortie we're running in Armour Astir.
Sylvia: Yeah.
Austin: But it’s one of those things that I wish we’d been a little bit better at the whole season, is like, Risks versus Perils are not just small damage versus big damage.
Sylvia: Yeah.
Austin: Risks should be situational.
Sylvia: Okay.
Austin: It should be like, here is the risk I'm putting myself in. And so, like, in a way, you're like— this is a weird metaphor, but you're risking an own goal, right? You're, like, out of net.
Sylvia: Yeah.
Austin: You're, like, in own line of sight, your own target’s, you know? Which is some sort of, like, dangerous position, a risky position to be in, I think is more important than…
Sylvia: I'm trying to think of, like, a good way to write “in the line of fire,” but maybe that’s just what we put here.
Austin: I think just put down, yeah, “in the line of fire,” which is…
Sylvia: Not to be— I'm not Clint Eastwood.
Austin: [chuckles] Correct.
Sylvia: It’s just a phrase.
Austin: But you're also— what’s interesting about this is you're also in the line of fire in the other way, which is you're now separated from everybody else, right? You're on the other— you're between—
Sylvia: Or maybe— yeah. Isolated could be a good Risk, then.
Austin: Let’s do Isolated.
Sylvia: Yeah.
Austin: But let’s keep that image that you gave and say that that’s also true right now.
Sylvia: Yeah.
Austin: Because— and it’s not a Risk, but it’s a thing that could show up in a bad way in a second, yeah.
Sylvia: Yeah.
Austin: So, yeah, let’s go with Isolated. But it drops down from two to one. It only has one left. It is now Incomplete and it is Halted. It seems that it, you know, has— it understands that if it keeps flying towards you, that will be very dangerous. The pilot of Artifice, Passiflora, opens up comms to you, Cori.
Sylvia: Yeah.
Austin: And says… [sighs] Let me think. Does she know who you are? Yeah, she would because of the way that Present has been chasing you for a year.
Sylvia: Yeah.
Austin: And you’re kind of a most wanted suspect. You know, your poster is up in post offices all over the— your wanted poster is up all over the galaxy, or at least all over the Pact-controlled part of the galaxy. And I think she says to you— she is— there is a real you're looking at someone who could have been you from another world, you know?
Sylvia: Yeah.
Austin: Young woman who is, uh, you know, lives up to the name Passiflora. Has a sort of…a sort of very graceful and very attentive personality that comes through kind of immediately, and she’s like:
(as Passiflora): I don't understand you. All you want to do is destroy things. Why are you like this? Let me go!
Sylvia: [laughs] Sorry. Cori doesn't laugh. I just—
Austin: Yeah, no, uh huh.
Sylvia: That’s not what I was expecting.
Austin: Uh huh.
Sylvia: “Why are you like this?” [sighs]
Austin: Girl who has been watching, you know, basically just propaganda videos about you on TikTok [Sylvia: Yeah.] for the last six months about how evil you are and how you're this, like, terrible anarchist who’s just here to blow things up and destroy things and this terrible— like, the Pact is here to build the future. Why won't you let us build the future?
Sylvia: Yeah, no, that’s not happening. Um…
(as Cori): I'll stop firing if you surrender your Divine.
Austin (as Passiflora): I'll never let it fall into your hands.
Sylvia (as Cori): Then there's your answer.
Austin: I should— also, I described this person’s, like, personality [Sylvia: Yeah.] without describing her, like, visual design, which is this is a Columnar who’s giving Passiflora, right? This is a Columnar who’s giving graceful and, you know, a little…I mean, at this point, now that I've voiced her, a little naive, right?
Sylvia: Yeah.
Austin: And I think that what that basically means visually, the way to sell that is like, a really pristine chassis with lots of— I'm picturing, like, a slightly more… [chuckles] The word “filled out” and “curve” is not the right terms here.
Sylvia: Yeah, no worries.
Austin: I'm not saying she got big ol' boobs. But the sort of I, Robot style frame that has, like, that style of curvature in it, [Sylvia: Okay.] except a little broader, a little bigger, and then with a very, you know, top shelf flight suit, basically, on. A sort of our classic return to the Evangelion-style plugsuit with a sort of floral theme to it. And so, yeah, she rejects that offer.
Sylvia: Okay.
Austin: And now has the Artifice kind of turned into the full kind of snake mode, and seeing that you won't let her pass, begins to eject the robots that are kind of part of it. Again, the—
Sylvia: Can I—
Austin: Mm-hmm?
Sylvia: Oh, sorry.
Austin: No.
Sylvia: Can I retcon what Cori said, 'cause I thought of a better thing?
Austin: Please. Yes.
Sylvia: Given her arc and stuff, which is like…maybe it can even be included with after, like, just said after her response, which is like…
Austin: Mm-hmm.
Sylvia (as Cori): Decide if this is worth dying for before you come at me.
Sylvia: Like, she’s giving her an option to stand down here.
Austin: Yeah. Totally.
Sylvia: But she’s not backing down herself.
Austin: Yeah. The scales, which become these robots, peel off again, revealing the skeletal snake underneath, and begin to sort of surround the snake form in a— almost, like, orbiting around it, in a way that you can't quite tell what they're going to do necessarily.
Sylvia: Mm-hmm.
Austin: Levi and Thisbe and Mow, you all can see this from where you're at here. You can kind of be anywhere here in Zones 1 or 2, I would say, at this point. I don't want to tell you where you are, because you've kind of had some time here to reposition yourselves, so feel free to do that. But you can kind of see and hear that Cori has kind of held this Divine in place. I don't know if y'all want to hop in on this, as your allies mostly just come and land in the area to your west. They are not getting immediately involved in this, 'cause I don't know that they have a clear sense of what’s going on.
Dre: Yeah, we've got reinforcements out here. That weird Artifice is getting pretty messed up.
Austin: Mm-hmm.
Dre: The Portcullis gates are mostly handled.
Austin: Mm-hmm.
Dre: I think I should hot drop into Zone 3.
Austin: Hot drop meaning from the rooftop.
Dre: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Austin: Okay. Yeah, I think that that’s within your capability. You know, you're a big— you run around and do gravity jumps and gravity landings and slashes and stuff.
Dre: Mm-hmm.
Austin: So, I think getting in is totally fine. You descend, you know, down into this, and on your way down, you get that great shot of looking at a big walled labyrinth from above, right? The thing that you get in, like, Breath of the Wild when, you know, there's those labyrinths.
Dre: Yeah.
Austin: You get that sort of, like, ooh.
Dre: I was going to ask.
Austin: Yeah. Mm-hmm.
Dre: Can I land on top of the labyrinth walls?
Austin: 100% could.
Dre: Okay.
Austin: 1000% could.
Dre: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Austin: It is dusty in here in a recent dust way, not in a long term “this is a big dusty ruin” way.
Dre: Yeah.
Austin: But a mech just blew up in here, and the combat that, you know, made the Precipice and the rest of that crew go dark, you know, definitely shot up some, you know, silicates into the air. It’s kind of hard to see in here. This is not a well lit area, 'cause it doesn't need to be. And you can hear the sound of motion, but— lower case M motion.
Dre: Yeah.
Austin: But it’s not exactly clear what or where, what you're looking at. This is a very big area. You know, this whole map is not 100% to scale, but even if it were, you have to— these are corridors the size of Altars, not corridors the size of people, you know?
Dre: Sure.
Austin: So.
Dre: Yeah, a tank has been driving through them.
Austin: Exactly. A tank has been driving through it easily, you know? So.
Dre: Yeah.
Austin: So, yeah.
Dre: Um, one of the scout equipment that I chose is Maps and Tools.
Austin: Sure.
Dre: And the description there is, “You can always find a way through or past.” Can I use that to have, like, signal flares?
Austin: Sure. I mean, I don't even— is it—? Let me see it. What’s it say? It says, da-da-da…Maps and Tools. Yeah, that sounds like a tool to me, for sure.
Dre: Yeah. Basically I'm trying to, like, shoot up a signal flare to hopefully then prompt the crew of the Precipice to also respond so they can tell me where to go, how to find them.
Austin: Yeah, that makes sense. That sounds like a Weather the Storm with maybe Know or Sense. Probably Sense, right? ‘Cause you're trying to, like, see if there's any response to your signal flare going up.
Dre: Yeah. Also, I'm +1 on Sense. [laughs]
Austin: You're +1 on everything except Know, so.
Dre: Except Know.
Austin: Yeah. So 2d6 plus 1.
Dre: Listen. I don't have a lot of time for books, okay?
Austin: Yeah, that’s fair. I'd say take Advantage for your maps and tools, right?
Dre: Okay.
Austin: You might not have a perfectly up-to-date labyrinth map that revealed the black, yellow, or blue sections here, but you have the sort of, like, map tools that would let you get a sense of where you are, you know?
Dre: Yeah.
Austin: And make sure you don't end up lost in the labyrinth, which is totally a possibility normally. So yeah, 2d6 plus— or 3d6 plus 1, take highest. That’s an 11.
Dre: Yeah, it is.
Austin: What you hear— you don't see any kind of counter flare, but you hear the sound of the tank cannon going off.
Dre: Mm-hmm.
Austin: And it shoots a hole in the ceiling above, as if, you know, as if the tank has— I don't know that it was aimed to do that so much as someone pulled the trigger, you know?
Dre: Yeah. Yeah.
Austin: And yeah. That’s coming from the east, give or take where it is showing on the map here.
Dre: Sure. Yeah. Cool. Then yeah, I'm just going to take off across the top of the labyrinth here.
Austin: All right. Let’s say you get to the edge of one of these, uh…I guess, actually, here’s a question. Are you being particularly quiet or slow while doing this, or are you in a full-on…?
Dre: No. I guess this— I should have, like, prompted this, but I guess I'm assuming that, like, over the chatter, you know, like over just the general comms, there was an update that, like, we've lost contact with the crew that’s inside?
Austin: There was. Yep. Correct, yeah.
Dre: So, yes, I am fast. I am not trying to be quiet.
Austin: All right. Can you give me a Weather the Storm: Defy? As someone has made note of you.
Dre: Mm. Sure. Um…
Austin: And you're Tier…you’re Tier 1, but you can fight at Tier 3.
Dre: Yes.
Austin: Right? Okay.
Dre: Yeah.
Austin: I guess I hadn't— I don't know how that works against— we'll find out.
Dre: Can I use any of my Mobility Hold to avoid making a roll here?
Austin: I believe you have to make the roll, but if it’s bad, you could probably use the Mobility— let me see. Um…
Dre: You can spend one Hold at any time to do one of the following: escape from something that binds, traps, or impedes you; acquire high ground or a defensible position; get to somewhere or something before others can; and avoid an incoming source of physical harm.
Austin: I think we have to make the roll to see if you [Dre: Sure.] get the incoming source of physical harm, which truly is just: don't spend Hold if you don't have to spend Hold, you know?
Dre: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay.
Austin: So, 2d6…
Dre: Weather the Storm with what?
Austin: With Defy.
Dre: Okay.
Austin: You're being real loud about it.
Dre: I guess it doesn't matter, unless it’s Know.
Austin: Yeah, 2d6 plus 1. Oof!
Dre: Oh, that’s a 6.
Austin: That’s a 6. So, yes, the sound of a rifle rings out, and if you do not spend one of those Mobility Holds to avoid an incoming source of physical harm, you are going to get caught in the ankle with a sniper round coming from your west.
Dre: Oh, sure. I will spend Mobility Hold, for sure.
Austin: So we get the very cool thing of the sound of the bullet being fired and you reacting to it before it gets to you.
Dre: Yeah.
Austin: How do you avoid this thing? Are you just jumping? Are you…?
Dre: I hear the sound.
Austin: Yeah.
Dre: And I just quickly, like, unsheath my sword and hide myself behind it.
Austin: Love it. Yeah, and it goes plink! off the sword, you know? Or maybe gets, like, it gets deflected by, like, the gravity field of your sword?
Dre: Mm.
Austin: And, you know, goes some other direction. But you are in the sights of the pilot of that CLOAK, who is somewhere in the darkness.
Dre: Rude.
Austin: But who now, I think, is probably repositioning, because they missed their first shot at you. And then, down below you to the east, you see the overturned Precipice, which is being kind of poked at and prodded at by a group of low-tier Nanobeasts. You know, classic the tank is overturned and the aliens are crawling all over it.
Dre: Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.
Austin: So, let’s leave you there for a second.
Dre: Sure.
Austin: Thisbe. How are you doing?
Janine: I don't know.
Austin: Yeah.
Janine: I mean, I'm doing good, I just don't know…I feel like I smashed up all the guys that I felt very confident I could smash up good.
Austin: Yep.
Janine: And now, [laughs quietly] I'm not so sure where my energy’s best directed.
Austin: Yeah, I mean, we're at almost a downbeat of this battle, in a sense, right?
Janine: Mm-hmm.
Austin: Because the only remaining enemies are inside of the Zone 3 area, and there's not that many of them. And then there's the Artifice, which is leaving, effectively.
Janine: Yeah.
Austin: And everybody else on the map right now— in fact, maybe, you know, you're the one who could see this, is the Third Opus has landed. That is the Millennium Break ship, [Janine: Mm-hmm.] which is being commanded by Kueen Overture Rooke, your old PARTIZAN-era handler.
Janine: Aww.
Austin: And among the crew here, who we saw briefly in a description, is A.O. Rooke, [Janine: Yay!] who used to work with Leap and eventually all of y'all during that era.
Janine: Cute.
Austin: I say Leap specifically, because A.O. Rooke was part of that early Rapid Evening crew, so.
Sylvia: Yeah.
Austin: So, yeah. And they come— you know, that crew comes out of the Third Opus, and then the Mosaic True, the Apostolosian ship, has also landed and disembarked a ton of Altars. You know, this is…it’s the same numbers you were up against, effectively, but on your side this time, you know?
Janine: Yeah.
Austin: So.
Janine: I wonder if there's something I could do in, like, a preparatory sense. Is there a plant somewhere? Is there, like, a plant somewhere I can go grab a bit of? [Keith laughs]
Austin: Not especially. Not— I mean, maybe there is, actually.
Dre: Uh…
Janine: Perennial loves plants!
Austin: This is a Perennial—
Janine: Yeah, what?
Austin: This is Perennial. Yeah, sure. There are a bunch of plants, right? Why not.
Janine: All right. I want to get—
Dre: Nanobeasts are kind of like plants.
Janine: I want to get plant.
Austin: Yeah, okay. I like this idea of you collecting some of the—
Janine: Can I roll to see how strong the plant I get is?
Austin: [sighs] You just want to roll some dice.
Janine: It’s my turn.
Austin: Yeah. I agree! I know. I'm not… [Dre laughs]
Sylvia: Tell him.
Austin: You should…Dispel Uncertainties, maybe? What are we getting here for…? It’s not a Weather the Storm.
Janine: Um…
Austin: I guess it could be a Read the Room.
Keith: It’s uncertain whether there's flowers here.
Austin: There are flowers. I guess it’s uncertain whether they're…I guess that’s a question. Are you doing— the reason you're doing this is because you've been doing some weird, hey, plant life plus divine stuff [Janine: Yeah.] over the last year of your life.
Janine: Yes.
Austin: This seems like an opportunity to do it. Here are naturally occurring Perennial, like, Russian sage growing everywhere here. It’s about as pure as that can get.
Janine: Mm-hmm.
Austin: So maybe there's something to learn from this.
Janine: And there is a moment, there is a lull where, like, Thisbe is looking around and is like…
Austin: Huh.
Janine: We have— those are our people there. Those are our people there. Those are big things that I can't really do much about.
Austin: Yeah.
Janine: I have a moment, and then, like, it’s really easy to imagine her eyes drifting to, like, a bunch of Russian sage and being like, “Well.”
Austin: Mm-hmm.
Janine: “I'm here.”
Austin: Yeah, totally. I want to say let’s use Dispel Uncertainties for this, and like, you can ask a question or you can declare something that you learned from this stuff, you know?
Janine: Mm…
Austin: Depending on the result. You gather it, you know what I mean? There's no roll—
Janine: What’s the difference between Know and Sense again?
Austin: Sense is about finding stuff and seeing stuff. You don't have a problem sensing that there is Perennial Wave— or Perennial Russian sage.
Janine: But I'm trying to find one that’s, like, super juicy.
Austin: Sure. Then that could be Read the Room.
Dre: Sense the juice. [Janine laughs]
Keith: You want a real gusher of a flower.
Janine: I'm gaining insight into which of the flowers is the juiciest.
Austin: Yeah, Sense is about reading people and situations.
Janine: Hmm. Well, that sounds less.
Austin: Yeah.
Janine: And the questions here are not really relevant.
Austin: Yeah. You would be like, “Where can I find some juicy plants?”
Janine: [chuckles] Right here.
Austin: And I'd be like, “Over there.”
Janine: [laughs] Okay, fine. I'll roll Know.
Austin: Uh huh. Which is what? You're not a very—
Janine: 0.
Austin: Yours is 0, so 2d6 plus 0.
Janine: Yeah, I'm a neutral knower.
Austin: Yeah.
Janine: Not a big puker, neutral knower.
Austin: Ugh, gross. We've gotta stop saying “puke.” [Sylvia laughs]
Janine: [chuckles] Sorry. It’s fun, to say? Sorry, what am I rolling? 2d6, just normal style?
Austin: 2d6 straight, yeah.
Janine: Okay.
Austin: As far as I can tell. I'm looking to see if there's anything else.
Janine: Rawdogging 2d6? [quiet laughter] Bye.
Austin: Yeah. We're rawdogging 2d6. Well.
Dre: You're just saying words out here. [laughs]
Austin: Uh huh.
Janine: I want to spend a Hold.
Austin: Okay, to get Advantage?
Janine: Yes.
Austin: Roll one more d6, and you gotta get a 4 here; 4, 5, or 6, right?
Janine: I haven't spent any of my Hold yet, so, why not.
Austin: Yeah.
Janine: And I got a 5!
Austin: Hey! 5, 6, 7, 8 total. On a 7-9, the director will tell you something potentially useful, but it’s up to you to discern how. The director might ask you to explain how you know that information or where you learned it. I think a thing you can tell here, and this is maybe a little like— you know, we're not keeping a clock on Thisbe investigates the Divine, but like—
Janine: As flavor. Flavor investigation.
Austin: Well, this is not something Perennial put here, right? This is not a garden Perennial’s keeping. It is a sort of output of Perennial, and it is— it reflects something true about Perennial as an algorithm, as a running process. It reflects her tendencies and biases, but it’s not something she chose, and so I think maybe the takeaway here for you, and you can make it useful in the long run however you want, but like— including you could take Advantage on this if you can make it useful in this sortie.
Divines have involuntary output, right? Like, Divines are like plants in this way. They have— you know, the tree does not decide, the way you or I would decide, how to bend towards the light, but it does bend towards the light, right? It doesn't do an analysis of the soil and then look at the numbers and go, “Well, over there is where the most nutrition is,” but it does follow the nutrition of the, you know, of the soil, right? And so, similarly, that is kind of something to learn here. Perennial didn't make these be here, but Perennial being nearby produced them, and that’s something you can rely on when it comes to a Divine. There will be knock-on effects, sometimes ones the Divine themself don't choose.
Austin: Leap.
Keith: Hi.
Austin: You can go ahead and clear your remaining Motion clock down to zero. It doesn't disappear, because this is just a thing that’s true about this ongoing conflict.
Keith: I could re-Motion.
Austin: You could re-Motion. Presumably, Brnine, you are there getting the pure Perennial Wave breathe-in also?
Ali: I believe so.
Austin: Okay. You know, you got off the ship to, you know, breathe it in. I think this is like an ozoney smell, you know?
Dre: Ugh!
Austin: It’s pure. It’s powerful.
Sylvia: Yuck.
Austin: It’s powerful stuff. Yeah.
Keith: Heady.
Austin: Yeah, mm-hmm. What are y'all getting up to, as you clear this stuff off?
Keith: Um…you know, it feels like we should probably go and try to help Cas. That’s what it looks like to me.
Austin: Mm-hmm.
Keith: Now especially that Dre’s in there too.
Austin: Levi’s in the mix, yeah.
Keith: Yeah. Getting sniped.
Austin: Getting sniped at. All right, yeah. Leap, you go ahead and head back that way. Brnine, what are you doing?
Ali: I would like to help with the Zone 3 stuff.
Austin: Sure.
Ali: I'm open to just going in there, but I do want to see if I can't create, like, a Perennial mister or something? [laughs quietly]
Austin: Sure. Yeah.
Ali: Just… [Sylvia and Ali laugh]
Dre: Shit, yeah, dude.
Austin: I do know what you mean. I totally—
Sylvia: Is there a Perennial Mrs.?
Austin: Oh, brother. [Keith and Ali laugh]
Dre: Boo!
Ali: And like, I guess it’s— me talking myself out of things again. I get that it’s, like, on the fly enough that maybe we can have, like, a tick up every two turns instead of one or whatever, but I would like, like, not to have to keep bringing the party to…
Austin: No, totally.
Ali: Yeah.
Austin: I think this is— yeah. What we're going to— if we get this working, what’s going to happen is you're going to— I'm going to build you a clock [Ali chuckles] that is, like, an eight step clock of Perennial juice that you can mist with.
Ali: Okay.
Austin: And it’s like a fuel tank that you'll, like— the only— you’ll have to come back and refill the fuel tank every now and then, maybe.
Ali: Okay.
Austin: But you'll have it, you know what I mean?
Ali: Right.
Austin: And you can spend it to clear other people’s Motion meters. Does that make sense?
Ali: Okay, but I want to make sure this is not going to require me to be, like, moving constantly. You know what I mean?
Austin: Maybe not constantly, [Ali: Okay.] but I— you're not going to— you can't make pure Perennial Wave on your ship.
Ali: Right, right, right.
Austin: This is the one place in the galaxy it exists, is in this power terminal.
Ali: [chuckles] Okay, yeah.
Austin: And I have to— that has to be true, so.
Ali: Okay.
Austin: How much you can carry with you maybe is a result of how you roll on this. Are you doing Jury Rig again?
Ali: I am.
Austin: Okay.
Ali: I believe that I am.
Austin: Plus Know. Yeah. Which is what?
Ali: 2d6 plus 2.
Austin: There we go. 2d6 plus 2. [cringing] Eeeh…
Ali: Oh, that’s a 6…
Dre: Oooh…
Austin: 1 plus 3 plus 2 is 6.
Sylvia: Whoa!
Austin: Now, you do have, presumably, you do have…
Ali: I have two more Hold left.
Austin: Two more Hold for Retrograde.
Ali: And I have one more Asepsis Hold.
Austin: Which would instantly make this successful.
Ali: Oh, it would.
Austin: Right? Because it would go from a 1 to a 6. That would be a full success.
Keith: Nice. Yeah.
Dre: Hell yeah.
Austin: So Asepsis could— and in a way, this fits the same thing that we saw Asepsis do before, right? Like, instead of Asepsis being “I'm here to purge” is “I'm here to build.” Right? I'm here to help you make a thing.
Ali: Mm-hmm.
Austin: Which is fun.
Ali: Yeah.
Austin: If you want to spend it.
Ali: Okay. I will.
Austin: Yeah.
Ali: I will. Yeah, but I think it’s like, you know, Leap and Brnine sort of standing at this power terminal.
Austin: Uh huh.
Ali: Leap, like, going back in and Brnine being like, “I'll be able to take care of them when they come back,” and then, like… [laughs]
Austin: Yep.
Ali: Doing whatever the fuck this experiment is.
Austin: Yeah. Here, so, I'm going to translate these. “It fits the purpose you have in mind.” Obviously you need that one, right?
Ali: Uh huh.
Austin: But the other ones I'm going to translate out to mechanical things. [Ali laughs] “It stops working after hours, not minutes” gives you— goes up from an eight tick to a 12. You can clear 12 ticks of Motion control with it instead of eight. Does that make sense? So it’s like you get a bigger tank, basically. “It doesn't explode when it stops working” means that you can refill it infinitely [Ali chuckles] instead of needing to roll to refill it, right?
Ali: Okay.
Keith: But that means ferrying it.
Austin: You're going to— the ferrying is not up for grabs.
Ali: Mm-hmm.
Austin: The ferrying is a thing you're going to have to do. “It doesn't look like garbage stuck together” means you don't have to roll to use it. You only have to roll— so, let me say these again. You can increase— right now, the base level one is you get a little guy. You get a little tank with a hose. Thisbe, you can hold this hose later. You can use the hose to mist with. And by default, you're going to get an eight step tank filled with pure Perennial Wave. One for one, you can spend that to clear a point of Motion’s control over people, right?
Keith: But we have to roll.
Austin: But you have to roll for it, and you have to roll to refill it when you bring it back. The remaining two Hold, you can increase how much is in there from eight to 12, so that’s a pretty big jump. That’s a 50% jump. Or you can make it so that you don't have to roll when you use it on someone, because it doesn't look like garbage; it’s not falling apart. Or you don't have to roll to refill it when you bring it back.
Keith: To me, the choice is clear.
Ali: [laughing] You are scaling this so much for me not to be like, “It doesn't matter if it looks like garbage.”
Austin: I truly am. [Ali and Dre laugh]
Ali: Which is, I understand. I see you. I see you doing that.
Austin: Yeah. That’s what a GM does.
Ali: Uh huh. Uh huh.
Austin: It’s one of the things a GM does.
Ali: Well. Uh huh. [laughs]
Austin: Go back to Seasons of Hieron and listen to how many times Fantasmo becomes invisible before suddenly there are consequences.
Ali: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. [Sylvia laughs] I have to choose three. I have to choose three.
Austin: You have to choose— well, and the first one is it fits the purpose you had in mind.
Ali: Okay, yeah. Okay. So, I'm going to take not having to roll every time I use it, 'cause that sounds like a nightmare.
Austin: Uh huh. I would let that be not per point, to be clear. I wouldn't be like, “All right, you want to clear one out of three…” [Ali laughs]
Keith: Per spray.
Austin: It would be per spray. Exactly.
Ali: Right, yeah, but to—
Austin: Which could be multiple people, but yeah.
Ali: Sure, but yeah.
Austin: But yes.
Ali: Don't throw away the eight full successes for another thing.
Austin: Uh huh. Smart.
Ali: Um, I'm going to go for I don't have to roll for it and I can refill it for free.
Austin: So, no rolls.
Keith: No rolls.
Austin: Eight little ticks. Eight, yeah. Okay.
Ali: Eight ticks.
Keith: I'm with you on that. I think the no rolls is the way to go.
Ali: Uh huh.
Austin: Uh huh.
Ali: Have you seen me today? [laughs]
Keith: Yeah. [Sylvia laughs]
Austin: Oh, so sorry. Uh huh. You had a good word for this. What did you call it?
Ali: A capsule? A mist?
Austin: No, you said something— mister. The mister.
Ali: The mister.
Keith: Oh, the mister.
Dre: Sure.
Austin: The mister.
Ali: An emitter.
Dre: It kind of—
Keith: It plays games with original—
Austin: That’s right.
Keith: Hardware emulations.
Austin: Yeah.
Dre: Yeah, what kind of cores you got in there?
Austin: Oh my god.
Ali: An emitter is a good one too.
Austin: An emitter is a good one, yeah.
Janine: There's another joke you could make too, and it’s way worse.
Keith: What is it?
Ali: [chuckles] I don't want to know.
Austin: We're good.
Janine: I'll just put the picture. It’s fine.
Ali: I don't want to know.
Austin: Okay.
Sylvia: Okay.
Austin: Oh, sure. Yeah.
Keith: I don't even know what this is. [Sylvia and Keith laugh] I've never heard of it.
Janine: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Austin: Perennial Wave mister. There he is.
Janine: Yep.
Dre: Ah.
Austin: All right. Well, you have eight ticks of this, which you don't need to use on yourself or on Leap, obviously. And again, like, it is funny, because you are looking into the face of the devil, you know? Who is beautiful, a beautiful big orb of light and this kind of magical dense dust. The Perennial Wave, like the collected Perennial Wave, doesn't look like ferrofluid. I think it has a much more, like, it never gets to liquid, at this point. It stays in this kind of gaseous form, which feels light and airy and is bright. Like, it has its own light inside of whatever the big tank you put it in. And yeah, you're ready to deploy that as necessary.
Ali: Is there any vibe exchange?
Austin: With Perennial?
Ali: Yeah.
Austin: Are you ever done?
Ali: Huh?!
Sylvia: Damn!
Dre: Wow!
Janine: What?!
Austin: You trying to get vibes on Perennial?
Ali: No, I was— [Ali and Sylvia laugh]
Dre: Ohhh, I see.
Austin: Are you for real?
Dre: I see.
Ali: No! I meant like, I was like, I think that we're both— [Austin laughs] I think that we're both on a downswing, I guess?
Keith: Vibing. We're both vibing.
Austin: We're both vibing right now! [Ali laughs]
Sylvia: Are we, like…
Austin: You said, “Was there any vibes exchanged?”
Janine: No, we say aura now. We say aura now. It’s an aura check on Perennial.
Austin: Yeah, right, sorry.
Dre: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Austin: Yeah, is there an aura check? Is there a…
Keith: Our auras are synced.
Ali: I was more imagining a thing of her being like, “Damn, you're fucking depressed, bro.”
Austin: Oh, I see. It’s that way. [Ali laughs]
Janine: That’s what you were looking for? That’s a good outcome? That was what you were trying to get?
Austin: Well, it’s like “real recognize real” but for depression.
Ali: Right, exactly. I was wondering—
Austin: Which is so real.
Ali: Yeah, I was wondering if there was like a— yeah, uh huh.
Austin: Phew, like, you're going through it too, huh?
Ali: Like, damn, yeah.
Sylvia: Yeah.
Austin: Yeah, look at us.
Ali: I feel you.
Keith: I mean, this is Brnine at their most divorced.
Austin: God. Lord. Yeah, sure, uh huh. [Ali laughs]
Keith: Yeah, they can tell. Perennial can tell.
Austin: They can tell. Yeah.
Ali: Yeah, all right. [Keith laughs]
Sylvia: Perennial hangs out with divorced people a lot.
Austin: This is—
Ali: Yeah.
Sylvia: Hangs out with Cori all the time.
Ali: Yeah, asked and answered. You know what? I just wanted to see.
Austin: Yeah, the patron saint of divorcees.
Ali: I wanted some characterization here.
Austin: Yeah, no, I think that that's—
Ali: And everyone’s attacking me. [laughter]
Austin: I think you're right, though. I think that this is a true sad people recognize sad people, you know? Realize real lies.
Keith: Brnine goes like, “Yes!”
Ali: [laughs] I was hoping for, like, a “You can get ‘em!” but I guess we're not…
Austin: No.
Dre: No.
Ali: That’s not her vibe.
Austin: I think that there's a…
Janine: A glass of wine materializes on you. [Austin and Ali laugh]
Austin: You know, I think that there is— all through the process where you're, like, trying to get access to “Okay, can I move some of the Perennial Wave into this vent?” there is a sort of, like, lingering— not distrust of you, but a distrust that it will work, and so there's, like, a few too many confirmation buttons to hit. You know what I mean? Like, it’s a lot of, like, what if Windows— before you DM'ed someone, what if Windows was like, “Are you sure about this? Are you sure you want to try?” [Ali chuckles]
Sylvia: That’d be so useful.
Austin: You know?
Dre: That would be really good for a lot of people.
Austin: Uh huh, it would be! It would be. But that’s the sort of— like, are you sure you can handle this one?
Ali: Yes. Yes.
Austin: And it’s not from Perennial, but it’s—
Ali: I'm scared about my team. Yes.
Austin: Mm-hmm. [Ali laughs]
Sylvia: Aww.
Austin: Hitting the button. And yeah, it loads up. You're able to put it into the Blue Channel and deploy it as we will later, without rolling. Let’s make a note of that. [Sylvia laughs] [typing] Does not need to roll to spray the Perennial Wave Mister. I'm putting it in the chat. Okay.
Ali: And no roll refills.
Austin: Right. Yeah. [typing] Or to refill it.
Austin: Cori. Let’s see if we can wrap up this Artifice stuff.
Sylvia: Yeah. She’s not backing down. Why would I back down?
Austin: That’s a good point. Yeah. Again, these kind of scale bots have come to life and surrounded the snakelike form of Artifice, and they're kind of glowing with energy at this point. What do you do?
Sylvia: This still counts as the same scene for me, or no?
Austin: Yeah, you're in the same scene.
Sylvia: Okay. Yeah, I don't mean to just keep spamming my attack button, but like…
Austin: Yeah, go for it.
Sylvia: At this point, like, the second that she goes to attack me more, I'm firing more feathers.
Austin: Go for it. So, this is again a 2d6 plus Clash, presumably?
Sylvia: Yes, with Confidence.
Austin: This is, yep, Exchange Blows with Confidence. So, 2d6 but 1s are 6s, and hey!
Sylvia: Heh heh heh.
Austin: That’s one there.
Sylvia: I love rolling 1s.
Austin: Yes. [Dre chuckles] Are you choosing a Peril or a Risk?
Sylvia: I mean, I only need to put a Risk on it for it to go into, like, decisive strike range, right?
Austin: Yeah, into— except, as your projectiles, you know, go towards it, they rapidly lose speed and then kind of, like— there's no gravity here, out— you know, I mean, there is, because it’s a giant space station, [Sylvia: Yeah.] so there is gravity, of course. But there's not— we're in space, but they fall flat down into the emptiness of space as if they've hit a field around the body of Artifice.
Sylvia: What?
Austin: Who is still halted but seems like is preparing to kind of charge towards you.
Sylvia: I rolled a 12!
Austin: You sure did, but you were aiming at Artifice and not at the bots, who have now activated Ward, effectively. You know, they produce Plus Ward is what they do, which allows you to ignore physical harm, as you know.
Sylvia: Yeah.
Austin: Which is why you took out that ORB so quick last time.
Sylvia: Yeah. Also, I did remember I forgot to put Bearer of Curses on this when the new scene started.
Austin: Sorry, which one was Bearer of Curses?
Sylvia: Exchange Blows with someone for the first time in a scene.
Austin: Oh.
Sylvia: I used it on the ORB. I don't know if it’s refreshed with the Artifice right now.
Austin: Uh…no, this is a new thing, yeah. So, this is when you Exchange Blows—
Sylvia: Okay.
Austin: Yes. You should put that on, for sure.
Sylvia: Yeah, okay. Um…I guess I'll put the— hmm. Yeah, are they going to use subsystems to…?
Austin: Uh, I don't believe—
Sylvia: ‘Cause that would be to un-expend something.
Austin: Yeah. I guess, actually, they will, in effect, right? Because the way that their system— the way that this system works is as long as the bots are up and operational [Sylvia: Okay.] they can use subsystems to reapply Ward.
Sylvia: All right.
Austin: Which you see happening, right? Or you see that that’s going to happen here, right?
Sylvia: Yeah.
Austin: The ward kicks back on. You can hear— we're in space. I don't care. You can hear it. You can hear the hum of it.
Sylvia: Yeah, let’s fucking…
Austin: It’s traveling through—
Sylvia: Science fiction fantasy.
Austin: It’s science fiction fantasy.
Sylvia: We can do whatever we want.
Austin: It’s traveling through the very dense Kalmeria here that is a great vehicle, a great medium for sound.
Sylvia: Yeah.
Austin: There we go.
Keith: Hey, I heard it smells like ozone in here.
Austin: Exactly.
Keith: What am I smelling ozone for, if there's not some atmosphere going on?
Austin: If you can't hear. Yeah, exactly.
Sylvia: Okay. I won't kick up a fuss. I'll just say it can't use subsystems. I should have put this on it the first time I attacked it.
Austin: Should've. You should've.
Sylvia: But it’s fine.
Austin: This is how it goes. Yeah, you— you know, what happens maybe is it does that and then some of the…what if, as some of the weapons, the projectile weapons kick back on and start to return to you, some of them slam into the bots.
Sylvia: Yeah.
Austin: Which deactivate their ability to re-summon the ward again.
Sylvia: Yeah, I'll take that.
Austin: That’s fun. And I think she calls out to you again via the comms and says:
(as Passiflora): I don't understand. You used to be so devoted! You used to believe in something!
Sylvia (as Cori): I still do.
Austin (as Passiflora): I've read your story.
Sylvia (as Cori): Oh god.
Sylvia: [chuckles] Cori makes a face. [Austin laughs] Does the like, ugh, like her nose gets all crinkled up and shit. [chuckles] I don't even know if— like, what do I say to that? Like: you read my book. You should know that when I believe in something I go crazy for it. You know? Like, I lean all the way in. That’s Sylvi saying “go crazy for it.”
Austin: Yeah, Cori would never.
Sylvia: Cori would say, like, something poetic. I don't know.
Austin: Dig. I believe you can find—
Sylvia: Or something trying to be poetic.
Austin: I believe you can find Cori’s voice for this.
Janine: Locked in.
Austin: Lock in.
Sylvia: Okay.
Austin: Someone’s being very annoying to Cori.
Sylvia: Okay.
(as Cori): Well, if you know my story, then you should know my deal too.
Austin: There it is.
Dre: There it is.
Sylvia: Keeps blasting.
Austin: And keeps blasting.
Sylvia: Yeah.
Austin: All right. Give me another attack.
Sylvia: Yeah? Sick.
Austin: You know, I would love to see if you can do this, and if not…
Sylvia: It’s an 11.
Austin: Okay, well, that’s an 11.
Sylvia: I have literally only rolled full successes on attacking this Divine. [Ali chuckles]
Austin: It’s wild. Oh! Yeah, it is.
Sylvia: Yeah.
Austin: Sorry. I got confused and saw the 6 and thought it flipped the other way.
Sylvia: No.
Austin: I was like, “Wait a second!” No.
Sylvia: No.
Austin: You're good. That’s an 11.
Sylvia: That’s what would've happened if I didn't use my…
Austin: If you had not done the thing you’d done, yes.
Sylvia: Yeah.
Austin: And yeah, this time, it tears through the rest of the robots that are up. What’s the Risk you're giving Artifice?
Sylvia: Uh…Scattered.
Austin: Oh, that’s very fun.
Sylvia: Yeah.
Austin: And I think that that hits in two different ways. One, the scale bots kind of start going all over the place, and then also this pilot has kind of lost her confidence and lost, you know, kind of control over what her plan is here, right? She’s just, she is scattered. She doesn't know what to do.
Sylvia: Hmm. I mean, listen, we want to keep it rolling, I can do the killing part now.
Austin: And this is the question, yeah. Do you…I mean, this is a choice back to you here.
Sylvia: I mean, I think Cori does extend, like:
(as Cori): You can surrender now, but I'm not going to miss.
Sylvia: [chuckles] Like…
Austin: Are you going to— is that an attempt at actually trying to get— is that Strike Decisively: Talk? Or are you—
Sylvia: It could be.
Austin: All right, I'm…
Sylvia: I mean, that’s a +0. Like, I don't really think it’s going to work.
Austin: That’s why I'm asking.
Sylvia: But I think, like…
Austin: Does Cori make an actual argument here, or is all that talk talk, and really at the end of the day, what Cori believes is “I'm going to pull the trigger”?
Dre: Oof.
Austin: What are Cori’s Hooks right now?
Sylvia: “My bloody hands must break the wheel.” “This war has taken too much from me; I won't let it get anyone else.” “I'll crush every hint of Arbitrage til something leads me to Elle.” This isn't Arbitrage-affiliated directly.
Austin: No, it’s not Arbitrage. Not even any way. Arbitrage has never been a Pact person.
Sylvia: Do I still get confidence on this roll?
Austin: Not if you Talk.
Sylvia: Okay.
Austin: But you— I think it’s flat.
Sylvia: Well, fuck it. I'm going to do it.
Austin: I think it’s just 2d6 plus Talk. It’s not…
Sylvia: I've gotta go with the character.
Austin: Mm-hmm.
Sylvia: The character arc here, and I think she would— this is a genuine offer.
Austin: Okay.
Sylvia: Sorry, this kid’s dying.
Austin: Well, with a 4.
Sylvia: [chuckles] I rolled a 1 and a 3.
Austin: She rolled a 1 and a 3. What starts to go wrong here— and also, remember, you could Retrograde it. That 3 isn't so bad. The 1 is really bad.
Sylvia: I…yeah…yeah. Uh…I kind of want to— [sighs] I don't know, 'cause the thing is, it’s like, I get the surrender here, does that mean Artifice is Millennium Break’s now? Like…
Austin: We would decide based on the outcome, right?
Sylvia: Yeah.
Austin: It could mean that it lands here, you know? “Does the Divine Artifice want to join Millennium Break?” is a different question.
Sylvia: [resigned] It’s the finale. I'm going to do it.
Austin: You're going to pay the—
Sylvia: And I've got the one left.
Austin: Okay.
Sylvia: Yeah, why not. Let’s get wacky.
Austin: So, you're going to use Retrograde. Give yourself Advantage. 1d6. [sighs]
Sylvia: It’s a 2.
Austin: That’s a 2.
Sylvia: So, no.
Austin: So, no.
Dre: Mm…
Sylvia: She says nah. Shut down. It’s fine.
Austin: Yeah. Well, and I think this is the moment where making that offer has completely, you know…you’ve halted it from going left, from going west to try to reconnect.
Sylvia: Yeah.
Austin: You have not halted it from turning on the just-landed reinforcements you've gotten. All of the scales that exist, all of the ones that she’s ejected [Sylvia sighs] begin slamming down into the probable landing zone, into Zone 1, and do some damage to all of the forces that just landed there. She has turned back inwards and is like, you know what?
(as Passiflora): If you won't let me build the future, then I'll stop you from taking the ones my friends are going to build.
Austin: And is aiming to just crash into the western edge of this little part of the ring.
Sylvia: Okay, well. I want to stop that.
Austin: You should make your shot.
Sylvia: Okay. This is me taking the shot?
Austin: That’s what it sounds like you're doing.
Sylvia: Okay, cool. This is Clash, right?
Austin: This would be Clash, Exchange Blows with Clash.
Sylvia: And this has the Confidence on it.
Austin: It sure does.
Sylvia: That’s a 9.
Austin: That’s a 9. What is…? Are you choosing either to overreach or underestimate, taking a Risk; wasting ammo or words, losing a weapon until you can rearm; [Sylvia: No.] or striking carelessly, causing collateral damage beyond your expectations?
Sylvia: I'm going to take a Risk, and then I'm going to spend one of my Hold from Borrowed Power to use Shielding Boon and negate it.
Austin: Smart. Yes.
Sylvia: So, that’s another Influence for Perennial.
Austin: All right.
Sylvia: While she shields me from any collateral damage.
Austin: While she shields you. Boom. Wait, did you just increase the Influence?
Sylvia: Oh, I did, yeah. It should be at 2.
Austin: Should be at 2. Yeah. Okay.
Sylvia: Yeah.
Austin: Yeah, okay.
Sylvia: And then I should reduce my Hold.
Austin: You know, I think you are flying through, like, wave after wave of these scale bots, which—
Sylvia: Yeah.
Austin: And you're taking them out and getting closer and closer, and you know, one of them would have slammed into you, but— what is the boon that you just used?
Sylvia: I used the shielding boon, and I had kind of an idea for how this looks.
Austin: Sure.
Sylvia: Of like, it looks like it’s— basically little, like, bits of Perennial will, like, solidify, and that’s where the, like, projectiles will hit into that are coming at me.
Austin: Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.
Sylvia: And it, like, it doesn't look like Cori’s got shielding until something’s, like, about to hit her.
Austin: Last second.
Sylvia: And then these, like, flowers, like, snap it out of the air.
Austin: Yeah! Fun.
Sylvia: Yeah.
Austin: Cool.
Sylvia: Kind of inspired by, like, the defensive magic in Frieren if anybody’s seen that.
Austin: Oh, for sure. Yeah, that makes perfect sense.
Sylvia: Yeah.
Austin: Love that. All right. Then, yes, Thisbe, Mow, the entire rest of the crew here from your allies, you know, this gigantic Divine body effectively crashes into the middle of this but in a way that everyone manages to get out of the way of. She would have done a good job of crushing as many people as she could have, but with the incoming attack from Cori, she is stopped.
Sylvia: I have one more thing to do here, which this seems like the perfect time to use Inspire Focus.
Austin: Oh, sure. Which does what?
Sylvia: “Once per sortie, you may take a visible position over the battlefield and inspire confidence and clarity in your allies that see you. They each clear a Risk and take Advantage to their next roll.”
Austin: Look at that. And given the placement of this, I think anybody outside here, including Leap, Brnine, you're all the way on the far eastern end here.
Keith: Uh huh.
Austin: You see this happen. You see the body of the Divine Artifice crash down into the landing zone.
Sylvia: And my mech’s standing on it.
Austin: Yeah, and on top of it is Cori, looking successful. Everybody can clear a Risk. Everyone should take Advantage on their next roll. Except for Levi; you're inside.
Dre: Mm-hmm.
Austin: But everybody else—
Sylvia: Also—
Janine: If anime has taught me anything, it’s that there's nothing more inspiring than teen-on-teen violence.
Austin: [chuckles] That’s right.
Dre: Yeah, it’s true.
Austin: I like—
Sylvia: I don't think I clear the Risk on this, by the way. I think it’s just my allies.
Austin: You don't. So yeah, what is the Risk that you—
Sylvia: I still have Isolated, which, whatever.
Austin: You still have Isolated, which makes sense.
Sylvia: Yeah.
Austin: But did you take— oh, no, you blocked that other incoming Risk. Yeah.
Sylvia: I blocked the other one, yeah, with the Hold.
Austin: You're going to be able to clear that Risk in a second because of being surrounded by your allies, meaning you're not isolated anymore.
Sylvia: Hell yeah.
Austin: So, go ahead and clear that now.
Austin: Leap, Brnine, Levi. Let’s swing over to y'all.
Dre: Mm-hmm.
Keith: Cool.
Austin: As you try to Hook back up with Cas'alear’s group. Levi, you're there. You see, again, the Precipice, the tank overturned. Leap, the halls have been effectively cleared of the old Nanobeasts, because they've all converged on the Precipice. They're all just kind of around it at this point.
Keith: Damn. Can I use my weapon that I haven't yet used in this game and shoot it with my, uh…my sniper rifle, my Area/Ruin sniper rifle?
Austin: Sure. There's a risk there, of course.
Keith: It is not Messy.
Austin: I don't— yeah, but if you're doing it—
Keith: But of course it is Area.
Austin: It is Area, yeah.
Keith: Yeah.
Austin: This is the thing about this, right? Which is, you know, maybe you do a good job of shooting near but not on, but I'm going to say out loud that there— if you're shooting a rocket launcher, if you're shooting a thing that can explode [Keith: Yeah.] near where your friends are, there is always risk.
Keith: I'll say this. You know, the rolls will be what they are, but the tank does have—
Austin: Hex Plate. It does.
Keith: Hex Plate 2 plus Ward.
Austin: It’s true.
Keith: So.
Austin: Yeah.
Keith: Look, if somebody’s gonna damage my tank, it’s gonna be me.
Austin: Uh huh.
Dre: Fuck yeah. [Sylvia and Austin laugh]
Sylvia: That’s the most Leap sentence ever.
Austin: What is your Clash?
Keith: My clash is 2.
Austin: All right, 2d6 plus 2.
Keith: 2d6 plus 2.
Austin: Or, no, 3, 'cause you got that Advantage.
Keith: 3.
Austin: Yeah, the last thing you saw before going underground was Cori successfully…
Keith: Was some awesome shit.
Austin: Yeah, uh huh.
Sylvia: Yeah.
Austin: You're pumped.
Keith: I'm inspired to do something rad.
Austin: Yeah. [laughs] You're not the only one who can shoot explosions. God! Okay.
Sylvia: Yo!
Keith: Nice. Nice.
Austin: Yeah, 6 plus 4 plus 2.
Keith: 12.
Austin: Is a 12. So yeah, there's Levi looking down on this group of Nanobeasts. You see, from nowhere, an explosion hits, managing not to hit the Precipice. You know, kind of like— it’s sort of like the thing when you're playing, like, Quake or Overwatch.
Keith: Yeah. I'm using the angles.
Austin: Where you’re like, I'll shoot the rocket at the ground near my enemy, instead of actually hitting it dead on.
Keith: Yeah.
Austin: Yeah, you're using the angles, and you clear out, like, a set of these Nanobeasts, giving yourself a path forward.
Keith: Sick.
Austin: I'm counting that effectively as just Strike Decisively against one of the kind of groups of them.
Keith: Yeah. Yeah.
Austin: I'm guessing at a— yeah, the 10, you don't— there's not negative for you. Or at a 12, you're good.
Keith: Nope.
Austin: Brnine, are you going there on foot? Are you flying overhead?
Ali: Yeah, I wonder what’s most— like, how would you— Levi and Leap, like, to be extracted. Do we want to do roof hole again? Or…
Dre: That’s probably easiest.
Ali: Is there a way to, like, help, though? [laughs]
Austin: Sure. You could start doing…what I'll say mechanically here is, like, there is a— you could try to do a Weather the Storm, and this probably is Defy, if you're just trying to, like, drop the ladder or drop the— how are you pulling stuff up? Do you have, like, a hook? What’s your way of moving stuff?
Ali: I think a big hook is fine.
Austin: Yeah.
Ali: Maybe a big, like, platform. Like, imagine if you— like, if there was a big sort of, like, you know, false stage or whatever that’s usually used for, like, bringing in mechs into the cargo bay or whatever.
Austin: Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know exactly what you mean, yeah.
Ali: That the tank can sort of roll on if it could. I don't know…I don't know what’s happening with the tank right now.
Austin: I think you— the thing is, you're way above the— you're, like, above the ceiling, right?
Ali: Mm-hmm. But if I'm, like, above— can I not, like, land beside or perhaps above the hole?
Austin: Oh, you could totally land above the hole. They can't get to the— I'm asking how they get up to the hole, 'cause it’s in the roof.
Ali: Ohhh.
Austin: You see what I'm saying?
Ali: Well, that’s what I was thinking. I was thinking, like, a thing drops down, and they stand on it.
Austin: Oh! You're saying, like, there's like a platform that lowers.
Ali: Yeah.
Austin: And that you can, like, hook the whole platform upwards.
Ali: Uh huh.
Austin: I see.
Ali: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Austin: Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Sure.
Ali: Like those car bays or whatever for…
Austin: Yeah, I see what you're saying.
Dre: Yeah.
Austin: So yeah, they're…
Ali: Like, garages. [laughs]
Austin: Yeah, there is a— this thing starts to lower. I think right now there's no roll on that, because the tank is upside down, and people gotta get either the tank on there or people have to get off of there and onto the platform.
Ali: Mm-hmm.
Austin: But I guess, Leap and Levi, you see that there is a platform now.
Dre: Mm-hmm.
Austin: I think immediately at least one of the little Nanobeasts starts, like, inspecting it and being like, “Ooh, can I climb up this cable?” [laughs quietly] And let’s say it gets shot away by one of the survivors. Let’s say Routine has a rifle out, you know, poked his head out of the tank and snipes off one of these Nanobeasts that would have otherwise climbed up to the Blue Channel. But they're still— Levi, they're still kind of surrounded. I think you could try to make the extraction roll right now, but it would be at Disadvantage because of [Dre: Mm.] having the Nanobeasts up, to say nothing of the sniper somewhere in the dark.
Dre: Gotcha, yeah.
Austin: So, what do you do?
Dre: Hurrggh…
Ali: Would it help if the— like, if I went down on the platform and then—? I mean, this isn't going to change what you do right now.
Austin: Yeah. Do you want to—?
Dre: Do you got AOE moves? [Ali and Dre laugh]
Ali: I mean, I have that crazy gun I never use.
Austin: You do have a gun you literally basically never use, right? [Ali laughs]
Dre: Oh, shit! [Sylvia laughs]
Ali: I'm obsessed with this gun. It’s Range, Reload, Ruin, and Profane.
Sylvia: Whoa!
Austin: Yeah. [Ali laughs]
Keith: Oh, Final Grail, you mean?
Austin: Yeah, Final Grail.
Ali: Mm-hmm.
Sylvia: Yo!
Ali: Mm-hmm, I love it.
Sylvia: That’s sick as hell.
Janine: The gun just says “fuck” when you fire it. [Ali laughs] It doesn't make an explosion sound, it just…
Austin: Uh huh.
Dre: It’s just a big sigh.
Austin: Here, I'll add the Brnine token [Sylvia laughs] to the chat, or to the map for you too. There you go.
Keith: Oh. There you are, leaping out of the Blue Channel. [Ali laughs]
Austin: Uh huh, that’s right! That’s what this—! [laughs quietly]
Keith: Fish out of water. [Sylvia laughs]
Austin: I guess you're actually over here, right? Yeah, uh huh.
Ali: Yeah, I can move this up, and then you can put me on the…
Sylvia: That is so perfect!
Keith: For the people that can't see this, it is a silhouette of a fish [Ali laughs] jumping out of a fishbowl.
Austin: Yeah.
Ali: Uh huh. That’s the truth.
Dre: Mm-hmm.
Austin: I don't know that I read that that’s what it was when I first made this, I gotta tell you the truth, but it’s great. [Ali laughs]
Janine: I thought it was a bird.
Keith: You saw that it was a—
Dre: What did you think it was?
Austin: I probably just typed “fish.”
Dre: Oh, okay, yeah. Fair.
Austin: There are 50—
Keith: So you knew it was a fish. You just didn't know it was jumping out of a fishbowl?
Austin: I knew it was a fish, yes. I'm looking now. This is over on game-icons.net. Game hyphen icons dot net, called “Fish Escape”, so I probably knew. [Keith laughs]
Ali: Oh.
Austin: Yeah. It’s a good one. It’s a good one. Anyway.
Keith: Leaving the comfort of the Blue Channel.
Austin: Yeah. [Ali laughs] Yeah, so, do you want to go in and you want to do a little— similarly, I think this is probably a Strike Decisively, and I'm going to say basically what you're up against here is a small gang, which allows this to— the fact that it has— what’s the thing that you have? It has Ruin on it, means that you're, you know, able to take them on even though they're a small gang, so it’s a straight up 2d6 plus Clash roll for Brnine.
Ali: Mm-hmm.
Austin: A rare roll.
Ali: Brnine has been carrying around this Motion gun this entire fucking season. [laughs quietly]
Austin: Or, no, this is a Perennial gun. It’s Profane.
Ali: Oh, well, the note that I have for myself here is, [cross] “Motion-based, reshaping matter, creating new things.”
Austin: [cross] Oh, I don't have this. What are you doing? Why do you have this?
Ali: Because at the beginning of the season, I thought it would be funny to have a nasty gun that, like… [laughs]
Austin: I see. Okay.
Sylvia: Yeah.
Keith: [laughs] A dirty gun.
Austin: Dirty gun. A nasty, dirty gun.
Ali: I was thinking of it, like, spraying, like… [Dre chuckles] I thought, like, the bullets would create themselves sort of in the air.
Austin: Oh, yeah! No, that actually— that does happen with Profane weapons.
Dre: That’s sick.
Ali: Yeah.
Austin: That’s the same kind of gun that Jesset had in that mech that was slowly corrupting him, [laughs] so yeah, we are aligned on this, actually.
Keith: Yeah.
Austin: Great.
Ali: 2d6 plus 1.
Austin: 2d6 plus 1.
Ali: Please just work.
Dre: Yeah!
Austin: All right. That’s a 9.
Keith: Hey.
Austin: That’s a mixed success, but it’s, yeah.
Sylvia: Yay! You did it, Captain.
Austin: On a 7-9, you overreach or underestimate, take a Risk; you waste ammo or words, losing a use of a weapon until you can rearm or losing the weight of some bargaining chip or piece of leverage; or you strike carelessly, causing collateral damage beyond your expectations.
Ali: Hmm.
Keith: Can I help?
Austin: Sure.
Dre: Yeah, I could also help. You've been helping a lot.
Austin: Damn.
Keith: Well, I've got— I now get a bonus to helping [Austin: Brnine.] Brnine.
Dre: Oh.
Keith: Because I've already helped Brnine once.
Ali: Mm.
Austin: Yes, and vice versa, right?
Keith: Yeah.
Dre: Gotcha, gotcha.
Keith: And I just want Brnine to get a full success on their first gun shoot of the season. [Ali laughs quietly]
Austin: 2d6 plus 3, Leap. Be a real hard one to miss.
Dre: Don't say that.
Austin: There’s a 12.
Dre: Okay.
Sylvia: [relieved] Okay.
Austin: It is hard.
Sylvia: Jeez, Austin. That was— you almost jinxed it real bad.
Austin: It’s a hard one to miss! I didn't jinx nothing! [Ali laughs] Jinxing’s fake!
Sylvia: No, I know you didn't, but it could’ve!
Austin: Brnine, roll 1d6, and if it’s higher than a 2, it’s a full success.
Ali: Okay. And we've been here before, so let me… [laughs]
Austin: We have.
Ali: It’s just a 1d6, right?
Austin: And at this point, I'm guessing it’s Leap firing— yeah, 1d6.
Ali: That’s a 4. [Keith whistles]
Austin: All right. That’s a 4. 4 plus 6 plus 1 is, in fact 11.
Ali: An 11.
Austin: So yeah, between the two of you, you're clearing out these beasts pretty cleanly, giving yourself enough of a runway to get to the Precipice.
Keith: I have a visual for this, but I don't know if it’s too embarrassing for Brnine.
Ali: [intrigued] Mm.
Dre: [intrigued] Oh.
Keith: Which is I just imagine that there's some nerves involved. Brnine is a nervous character already.
Ali: Mm.
Keith: But there's some nerves involved with firing a gun, high stakes. You haven't fired it in years, maybe.
Ali: Mm-hmm.
Keith: And just the, like, kind of just, like, not wanting to aim down the barrel exactly. I would like to remind Brnine to, like:
(as Leap): You have to look where you're shooting.
Austin: Holy shit. [Ali laughs quietly]
Dre: Mm.
Sylvia: Wow.
Austin: This is positive? This is…? [Ali laughs quietly]
Keith: Yes.
Janine: Wow.
Keith: Just helping.
Dre: Brnine. You do, in fact, shoot with your eyes and not with your heart. [Ali laughs]
Janine: Is it too late to take that collateral damage? [Austin laughs]
Ali: [laughing] Can it not be, like, a “I believe in you” and not like a “Hey, open your fucking eyes, dumbass”?
Keith: I believe in that if you open your eyes…
Sylvia: Look down the sight.
Janine: Captain, you're holding the gun backwards. [Ali and Dre laugh]
Sylvia: Your safety’s on. [Austin sighs]
Janine: Captain, that’s your lunch. That’s…
Austin: [laughs] That’s not a gun.
Ali: I mean, it’s Keith’s world here, you know?
Janine: That’s a banana. [Ali laughs]
Austin: Well, you got the W. You know, at the end of the day…
Dre: [laughs] Jesus christ.
Ali: I mean…
Keith: Finally someone says it.
Austin: Oh my lord. Well, you still have a few more of these remaining Nanobeasts.
Keith: These goos.
Austin: The pirates, or the parts of you, the people in your crew— and I have to ask you this, Keith.
Keith: Yeah.
Austin: I think you lost a third of your crew.
Keith: Oh, okay.
Austin: I think you lost a third— and I gotta know. I gotta know who we lost.
Keith: Yeah. [sighs] Um…I’ll tell you who we lost.
Austin: Because we gotta put them on the XCOM wall back in base, you know?
Keith: Right.
Dre: Sure.
Keith: I think that we lost, um…Beck Regula.
Austin: Agh…
Keith: We lost Stone Stone.
Austin: No!
Sylvia: No!
Janine: That was a complicated “no”.
Keith: And we lost David Xanatos. [Austin sighs]
Janine: Aw, man.
Austin: RIP.
Dre: Aw, man!
Keith: I know.
Sylvia: Aw, man.
Janine: He owed me money.
Austin: Thanks. Thanks, we're not going to get sued now. I appreciate it. [Sylvia laughs]
Keith: That’s a quarter. Oh, do I need one more?
Austin: You need one more.
Keith: We lost a quarter.
Austin: ‘Cause you lost a quarter— that’s a third.
Dre: Mm.
Keith: Oh, shit. We lost, uh, Theobold Martel.
Austin: Okay, well, that one actually hits. That one, phew.
Keith: That one’s tough, because Susanna Martel is alive.
Austin: Yeah. Yeah.
Janine: Oh, man.
Sylvia: No! Wait!
Janine: Wow.
Sylvia: I'm actually sad about that one.
Austin: That’s really sad.
Keith: Yeah. Well, Austin made me kill one more person.
Janine: Did we decide they were married or siblings?
Keith: They're married.
Janine: Okay.
Keith: It’s the other ones that are…that are married but one of them— they're both, uh…
Janine: Careful. [laughter]
Keith: What’s the— shit. They're both Delegates, but they took—
Austin: They're both delegates, and they took the name.
Keith: One of them took a different name.
Janine: Oh, right, right, right. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Austin: Yeah, they took different Divine name, yeah. [Janine chuckles] You sent me this list, at some point, didn't you?
Keith: It’s on the Leap page here.
Austin: It’s on the Leap page! I'm like, where is this page?
Keith: Yeah. Wilky Burkhard, Theobold Martel, Susanna Martel, Beck Regula, Bashful Dissent, Casual Dissent, Stone Stone, Mattson Bonaccorso, Horatio Robottom, [Sylvia laughs] Montgomery “Monty” Gloss, Beautiful-Kick Alexandryah OctoberMalaise, and David Xanatos.
Austin: Who I'm crossing out. Willy Burkhard, you said, right?
Keith: Wilky Burkhard is still alive.
Austin: Oh, Wilky’s— phew, sorry. Sorry to cross you out, Wilky.
Dre: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Keith: Theobold Martel.
Austin: Theobold Martel. Yep.
Keith: Beck Regula, Stone Stone, and David Xanatos.
Austin: Stone Stone.
Austin: When you say “Stone Stone”...
Janine: Meanwhile, you know Robottom’s parents are at home waiting for that letter.
Austin: Yeah.
Janine: Like, they know it’s coming.
Austin: Yeah. [Keith chuckles] When you say “Stone Stone,” you sound so much like NorthernLion. I don't know— it’s the only—
Keith: [chuckles] Stone— really?
Austin: I don't know. Like, you can't do it now, 'cause it was just so natural.
Dre: Mm.
Austin: There was something about it that was like, “Wha—? Someone else is on the call.” [Sylvia laughs] Very weird.
Dre: [imitating confusion] Huh-buh-buh-buh?
Austin: Yeah. Exactly.
Austin: All right. Levi.
Dre: Yeah.
Austin: There's a handful of these Nanobeasts left, and there is, of course, the sniper in the distance, who you know has, by this point, reset and is probably looking at the whole crew here, deciding who to shoot next.
Dre: Yeah, sure. How much do we care about getting this tank out, Leap?
Keith: I extremely care, yeah. [Austin laughs]
Dre: Okay, all right. [Ali chuckles] So I should not cut the tank open to get everybody out of it, then.
Sylvia: Oh my god.
Keith: Correct.
Dre: Okay.
Keith: We should put the tank right with our arms.
Dre: Can you do that?
Keith: I don't see why not.
Austin: Excuse me?
Dre: It’s a tank!
Austin: It’s a tank.
Keith: I'm Tier 2.
Dre: I'm Tier 3!
Keith: I'm the same tier as the tank.
Austin: That doesn't— you can't lift a tank. Leap, I love you.
Keith: I'm a robot. You don't know what I can't do. [someone sputters]
Austin: You cannot lift a tank. [Ali and Sylvia laugh] If you can, then that tank sucks way more than we thought it did.
Dre: Damn!
Ali: Well, can Levi do, like, a power boost under it, and then Leap kind of gives it, like, a boop? [chuckles]
Austin: Yeah. I think if the two of you work together using Levi’s explicit gravity sword as leverage, then sure.
Dre: Yeah, sure. Sure, sure, sure.
Austin: That’s the thing that you do, you know?
Dre: Oh, man.
Austin: But it sounded like, Levi, what you wanted to do was go hunt a sniper.
Dre: No, not really.
Austin: Oh, okay.
Dre: I want to get everybody out of here.
Austin: All right, then yeah.
Dre: I'm much more…
Austin: You can probably flip this tank together, yes.
Dre: Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Austin: That, to me, is Weather the Storm plus Defy.
Dre: Okay.
Austin: That sounds like that to me. Unless you're, like, trying to, like, play the angles with Know or something.
Dre: No, no.
Austin: Like, “If we do—”, you know, but. And you can get some— okay, well, it’s 5 plus 2 plus 1 is 8, which of course is a mixed success.
Dre: Mm-hmm.
Austin: Does anyone— Leap, do you want to try to help on this?
Keith: Yeah, I'm helping.
Austin: Give me— have you helped—? No, y'all have not interacted this…
Keith: I don't think I have?
Dre: No, yeah, we've been separate up until now.
Austin: But you know each other, so 2d6 plus 1, and then I think we said 2 before, so 2d6 plus 2. No, wait a second, because now that I'm saying this, you did help earlier, 'cause we did determine the two of you have worked together before. When was that?
Keith: Right. Oh, it was— well, during the finale, and then we have those canonical meetings.
Austin: No, no, no. When did we roll to help between the two of you?
Keith: Oh, I guess we did.
Dre: Oh, that’s a good question.
Keith: Yeah.
Austin: Because we had that— we made that notice, of like, “Oh, right, the two of you have worked together over the finale year, over the…”
Keith: It’s true, yeah.
Austin: So. So, yeah, I think it’s 2d6 plus 3, which…
Keith: 8.
Austin: Is an 8. Okay. I saw that 1 and was like, “Yikes!”
Keith: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Austin: All right. So, go ahead, Dre, roll 1d6. Get your Advantage on.
Dre: Mm.
Austin: Try to get yourself, I guess, a 4 to get a full success.
Keith: Yeah, a 4.
Austin: Eeeh.
Dre: Nope.
Austin: Unfortunately.
Keith: Eeeh.
Austin: So, you’re going to get shot. Both of you are going to get shot.
Dre: Hell yeah, bro.
Austin: With the sniper rifle that has zeroed in on you. You know, this is a— it’s a mixed success. I guess I will give you the actual option here. You succeed but at some cost: it’ll keep you occupied longer than you thought, the Director will ask you to make a difficult choice, or you’ll burn a point of Spotlight as you take dramatic action. Both of you are going to, you know, take the Risk…'cause this is only a 7-9, I'd say you're both going to take the Risk “Bleeding.”
Dre: Oh.
Austin: As these shots ring through you, you know?
Dre: I'll spend Spotlight to take dramatic action.
Austin: There we go. How about you, Leap?
Keith: I'm going to use my— spend my Armor and Defensive Tactics ward.
Austin: There we go.
Keith: I'm going to have— can I have, like, an Acme item?
Austin: Say more.
Keith: I want it—
Austin: [sarcastic] They always work so well for that coyote.
Keith: Yeah. [laughs] I want to have, like, an old westerny style, like, oh, like a pocket watch that was in my chest pocket block the bullet. [Dre laughs] But it was just— it’s that you buy them to block bullets. It’s like, chest stop— or bullet-stopping pocket watch is like the item brand name.
Janine: So is it just, like, crawling around inside your clothing at all times to try and position itself where a bullet might be?
Austin: Oh my god.
Keith: [laughs] Oh yeah, it’s like, yeah, like one of those ferrets on a ball at Walgreens. [Ali chuckles]
Dre: Just like one of those.
Keith: It just kind of rolls around.
Austin: Like a pet toy type. Yeah, uh huh.
Keith: Yeah. [laughs]
Austin: This is a wild device you've invented.
Keith: Yep.
Austin: And unfortunately, it’s not with us anymore, 'cause it’s taken a bullet.
Keith: [chuckles] Yeah. Well, it says on the package, you know, single use only.
Austin: Single use, yeah, uh huh.
Dre: Mm-hmm.
Austin: And Levi, what is your counter to this, as you spend your point of Spotlight to take dramatic action?
Dre: Oh. Hmm.
Austin: You know, maybe it hits Levi— or, sorry, maybe it hits Leap first, so you have a moment where you can then take some dramatic action.
Dre: Shit. Yeah. ‘Cause it’s dramatic. It can't just be…
Austin: That’s right.
Dre: “I block it” or anything.
Austin: Yeah.
Dre: Um…
Austin: Well, it could be block it but very dramatically, you know? I'm not…
Dre: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Um…oh, yeah, no. It’s…so, this does succeed. We do get the tank flipped over, right?
Austin: You do get the tank flipped over.
Dre: Yeah. Is Cas'alear in there?
Austin: Yep, Cas'alear is, in fact, in there.
Dre: Okay. I mean, could we say that the sniper shots start when, like, we're trying to load Cas'alear up onto the lift?
Austin: Yeah, totally.
Dre: And I do some, like, sick shit where it’s like, they shoot at Leap first, and then I grab Cas'alear and do, “Get down, president.”
Austin: Right, yeah, uh huh.
Dre: Former president.
Austin: You're doing the bodyguard. You're doing— yeah, uh huh.
Dre: But instead of, like, throwing them to the ground, it’s like we fuck, like, flip up and over the chains and shit like that.
Austin: Oh, that’s awesome. Like, upwards, in fact.
Dre: Yeah.
Austin: You hit the invert gravity button in the 2D platformer, lifting yourself upwards towards the roof.
Dre: Mm-hmm.
Austin: This is very fun. Yeah. I love this. And now I think the final thing here—outside of finding that sniper who’s still out there, theoretically—but the tank is upright. The tank can get loaded onto the thing. Brnine, I think it’s probably your job to get it back into the Blue Channel with everybody else. Does that sound right? All right. Again, I'm going to say this is Weather the Storm.
Ali: Oh, sure.
Austin: Probably.
Ali: This is, like, our elevator lifting up.
Austin: This is exactly it, yeah.
Ali: With the squirmies jumping onto it, yeah.
Austin: You know, the ka-clunk, brrrr. Yeah, uh huh.
Ali: This is, uh, Defy? Sense? Clash?
Austin: It sounds like Defy. I think. I think it is, right? You're kind of toughing it out. You're kind of, like, getting sniped at from the dark and kind of taking cover and firing back out, I'm guessing?
Ali: Mm-hmm, mm-hmm, mm-hmm. Yeah.
Austin: Unless you're sensing in order to be like, “Where is he shooting at me from?”
Ali: No, that’s— I'm imagining more of, like, a creature feature situation here, where it’s like… [laughs]
Austin: Oh, sure.
Dre: Ooh.
Ali: The clock is going, but we have to—
Austin: Yeah, maybe the Nanobeasts are also jumping up, and…
Ali: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Uh huh.
Austin: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Totally.
Ali: 2d6 plus 1.
Austin: So, 2d6 plus 1.
Ali: I'm terrified of rolling tonight. [laughs]
Austin: All right. That’s a 7.
Ali: 7.
Dre: Yeah.
Austin: It’s not too bad. I mean, it is a thing where, again, I'm going to say you succeed but at some cost: it’ll keep you occupied longer than you thought, the Director will ask you to make a difficult choice, or you’ll burn a point of Spotlight as you take dramatic action. I think the thing that’s going to happen here is one of these, uh…mm…I think it’s silly. The thing I was going to give you you'll just clear immediately by going back to the power terminal. I think we stay on the sniper, right? I think we stay on the sniper here, who is going to…what they are attempting to do— no, 'cause you succeeded. Yeah, I think it’s a similar situation to before. You are going to get some sort of lightly wounded thing from this rifle. What’s a fun Risk here?
Keith: Grazed.
Austin: Yeah, it’s funny, 'cause like, that’s not a Risk. The Risk would be something that, like, sustains a little bit until you can take care of it. Like, being grazed is not…it’s not risky to have been grazed. That’s why it’s called being grazed.
Keith: I guess the thing that would be a Risk from that would be, like, the shock of the close call.
Austin: That’s right. That’s exactly what I think it is, right?
Dre: Mm.
Austin: Like, startled or out of sorts. Like, what’s a…? How does that make Brnine feel?
Ali: Um…
Austin: Being almost shot or being grazed, you know?
Ali: Bad? [laughs]
Austin: Yeah, frightened?
Keith: Bad feel.
Dre: Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Ali: I was going to— I was about to suggest a “it’ll keep you occupied longer than you thought,” which is like, [Austin: Sure.] the sniper bullet, like, hits the, like, tube that is retracting within another tube to lift the elevator up.
Austin: Yeah. And maybe what happens is—
Ali: And like, it gets, like, stuck, you know what I mean?
Austin: Because of that, we end up losing the sniper, right? He’s able to get away in that extra time it takes you. 'Cause if you could get up and survey the situation, maybe you'd be able to zero in on this guy and then, you know, be able to wrap it up. And so, yeah, I think that that’s— if that’s the thing you're taking, Brnine, I think, yeah, kind of lost into the dark. Everyone here is saved. You have this low level sniper somewhere here in Zone 3, but otherwise, everyone has made it out. Do you take Cas'alear to go get the Perennial treatment, or do you just apply it here fresh with the mister?
Ali: I mean, is Cas’s best place staying in the Blue Channel right now?
Austin: Maybe. Yeah. Or back in the Stolen Cameo, right? Cas’s own ship.
Ali: Oh, sure, sure. Which is at the power terminal, so maybe that’s just…
Austin: Yeah, which is parked over there, so. Yeah, I think, at this point, I'm happy to kind of take a breath and zoom out, because, you know, like I said before, the Ekpyrosis, Motion, Present, this Pact force is still going to come, right? But you've really kind of blunted their main plan, right? Which was to overwhelm with immediate reinforcements. And so, you can kind of imagine the group of forces out there, past Zone 0 to the west, kind of reconfiguring their formation and starting to try to figure out what the best way is to get in here and win this fight before the opportunity closes, ‘cause presumably you're going to still have reinforcements coming in. We didn't say this outright, right? But when that Portcullis System came online for your people, because Cori set it up that way, effectively what happened is like, there’s a big fight on the other side of that Portcullis System between Millennium Break and Cas'alear-loyal Apostolosians trying to get into it and come reinforce you, and there are Pact forces who can't use it now trying to blockade it to prevent more reinforcements from coming in for you. But you'll continue to get reinforcements as things continue, and I think Motion and co. know that if it is allowed to happen, you know, you will eventually get an overwhelming number of reinforcements, and they will have to call off this operation, and you will have won. So they're going to take action before that happens, but it may not be just in four ticks of the clock, so to speak, and their approach may be a little different than what you thought it would be. Are there any questions about where we should— about stuff before we leave off, before whatever that looks like? Also, you could go try to fight them out there, to be clear. I'm not saying you have to wait here the whole time, you know? But it feels like this is about as good of a place to leave off as we have.
Ali: Can we zoom back in so I could make eye contact with Routine and give, like, a loaded nod? [chuckles]
Austin: Yeah. Yeah. It’s like:
(as Routine): Good to see you, Captain. You really handled yourself down there. Not that you didn't handle yourself when we were working together on Palisade. You kicked ass.
Ali (as Brnine): Yeah, um…good to see you too.
Austin (as Routine): Yeah, that’s basically what I was saying.
[music outro — “Nothing is Stationary” by Jack de Quidt plays]