Transcriber: Anachilles
0:00:01.0
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.
[recap]
Austin: The train could try to get away, still, so you could try to put a finishing hit on the train, you could start trying to get the supplies I talked about. Uh, and most importantly, you could try to help by preventing the escape of Codename Gem, your target, who is currently, again, in this kind of third compartment, which also is where some of those supplies are.
[MUSIC - “Nothing is Stationary” by Jack de Quidt begins]
Austin: As you're trying to clear your head, you get that, like, heavy pulse of Devotion, like, pressuring you. What it feels like Devotion is telling you is that you shouldn't have wasted time on this. You should have continued. Your first priority is to spread the reach of Devotion, no matter the cost, you know?
Sylvi: Ah, yeah. Mm-hm.
Keith (as Phrygian): What was that?
Ali (as Brnine): What Mourning just said, or...
Keith (as Phrygian): No, the building.
Ali (as Brnine): Oh, oh, uh, uh, it... I think it, uh... you've heard of the Afflictions, right?
Keith (as Phrygian): Yes.
Ali (as Brnine): Yeah, I think, I think it was —
Keith (as Phrygian): They have minions.
Ali (as Brnine): …Yeah.
Sylvi: [chuckles]
Austin (as Jesset): Is that what we're calling them, minions?
Keith (as Phrygian): We're calling them minions.
Austin (as Jesset): They’re minions.
Dre: Banana.
Austin: And you realize, in retrospect, that you did mention being part of the Blue Channel, and that like, you revealed a few other key details that like, “Oh, shit, they did get me to talk. They just didn't, it didn't, I didn't realize I was talking. I didn't realize I gave up part of my identity...”
0:01:46.3 You get a text, from Gucci.
Ali: Oh.
Austin: Now, finally, no longer left on read. And it says, “I'm sorry. They wouldn't let me tell you until it happened.”
Austin: Huge explosion, because all of your fuel got hit at once here, that's just like a plume up in the sky, and the second it does, sirens start to blare across — it's almost like the, you know, the nearest base has its sirens blare, and then the one after that, the sirens blare, and the sirens blare past that. And like, anybody inside of this entire region suddenly is hearing this sort of like, air raid warning, uh, sound play. Uh, and at the party, uh, briefly, you see, Brnine, you see August Righteousness step away to take a call.
0:02:37.0 As you begin to lift her, small tendrils, thin cables, all, like, a ton of these begin to like, extend and protrude out of her body, made of this kind of liquid glass, uh, uh, and — she looks up at you and makes eye contact in this moment, and her eyes are twirling, like, it's the space where her eyes should be, where the kind of glassy, uh, kind of glassy eye area, not quite a socket, because there's no depth there. Just the kind of indentation of where eyes would be on a human head.
[MUSIC - “Nothing is Stationary” ends]
Austin: Uh, and they begin to change colors and twirl, and, uh, uh, it's very funny that she's doing this to you. Because you are not human, right? And you imagine that this effect —
Janine: Yeah, it’s like she’s trying to Hypnotoad me, and that's not gonna. [chuckling]
Austin: Uh, there's a degree of that. Uh, but there's also a degree of like... I don't know that I—she will begin to talk to you. Uh, uh, as you lift her, and as these kind of like, tendrils begin to whip at you. Is your shield like, literally like an electromagnetic, like, shield thing around you? What, what is your shield? What's preventing these things from hurting you as they snap at you?
Janine: I think we'd originally described it as kind of like an energy barrier.
Austin: Yeah.
Janine: Because I remember the, the scene where Thisbe, god, it was kind of like a — I leveled up mid-mission, and I thought that narratively it would be interesting if Thisbe like, took this big hit and then afterwards, like a second afterwards, her shield flickered to life, and she's like, “Oh, right, that's a thing I used to be able to do.”
Austin: I have that. Yes, yes. So, as these things are trying to snap at you and breach through this shield, and as you're kind of holding her at a little bit of a distance to prevent those kind of snapping things from getting in on the shield, she begins to grow in your hands. And she was tier 1. Now she's tier 2. Uh, and as she grows, she says,
(as “Gem”): I was like mist held in evening’s dark concrete. How could you think to contain me?
Austin: Uh...
Janine: Am I supposed — should I answer that? [wheezes]
Austin: I don't know, you tell me what Thisbe's reaction is to this strange, growing shape that she's holding.
Thisbe: I do not think to contain you. I do contain you.
Austin: Uh, all right. Outside the, the train, uh, we, uh, Cori, Figure is in a bad fucking way.
Sylvi: Yeah, I mean —
Austin: And the alarms are, are ringing. The bells are truly ringing in this moment.
Sylvi: I [sighs] yeah, I'm, a little... the alarms are kind of secondary to me. A friend of mine just got, I believe the word was scorched, is what we were going with?
Austin: Yeah, yeah, we were going with scorched. Peril.
Sylvi: Yeah. Uh... so I gotta take out some of these Bouquets, I think.
Austin: Mm-hm.
Sylvi: Does it really matter which one I pick? Like, which one's nearer to —
Austin: They're both, I guess I should move Figure over there, right?
Sylvi: Yeah, Figure's right there.
Austin: Figure's there. Also, that explosion definitely also like, singed them. It's close enough, I think following the fiction means that, there was this huge explosion where they were both right up on it, they should both also — so I think that they both have gotten their second danger at this point. So, either one of them is, is ready for, uh, to be decisively hit.
Sylvi: Didn't I specifically get the like, Devotion, like, sort of admonishment after one of them did something, like to the —
Austin: You did.
Sylvi: Front train car?
Austin: Uh, you, you got, you got the admonishment for them sending their, their kind of emergency signal, because you took too much time to heal yourself up.
Sylvi: But, that was one of the Bouquets, right?
Austin: Yes. That was the left-most Bouquet.
Sylvi: Then that would be my target.
Austin: That makes sense. I love that.
Sylvi: Uh...
Austin: Go ahead and give me a strike decisively, clash.
Sylvi: So, I am also, actually, I'm going to use my move here!
Austin: Mmm.
Sylvi: Uh... this move is called Penance. Take a risk to gain advantage on your next roll. Uh, and then in brackets, “The pilot will feel everything.” We'll get into it, depending on how this goes.
Austin: Go ahead. Take, so what's the risk you're taking?
Sylvi: Uh... uh, so because this is sort of like an overdrive for my mech, uh, and we can sort of get into... some of the mechanics as we go. The, the risk I'm taking is anemic.
Austin: Ooh. Right.
0:07:10.6
Sylvi: Yeah.
Austin: Is, how literal is this?
Sylvi: Very literal.
Austin: So your mech is being powered by you.
Sylvi: By me, yeah. So, the way that this works is being using the life of, uh, the Devoted. It sort of supercharges things. I mean, in general, it's what's fueling stuff. But —
Austin: Right. If this was Gundam Seed, the most flashback, uh, uh, devoted show in the world, we would get a flashback of Griesel, in the previous episodes, saying, “We'll get — the, the current pilots won't have to take that on their shoulders all the time. We're going to recruit new people, right?” And this is clearly what he was talking about, was that, to be one of the Devotees, to be, to be piloting for Devotion means to be tapped into in this way.
Sylvi: Yeah, there is, if we're in the — you know, here on Friends at the Table it's very rare for us to do this, but if we're in our referencing mech anime moment here —
Austin: Oh, yeah.
Sylvi: There's very much, in the film version of Vision of Escaflowne, uh, Dilandau's mech has, it isn't the exact same mechanism, that one's a lot grodier of just sort of like, jabbing him in the neck.
Austin: Mm-hm.
Sylvi: But it is very much inspired by that sort of thing, and is also why I've been like, yeah, no, her suit has veins and shit on it, isn't that weird?
Austin: God.
Sylvi: Anyway, I'm going to roll this, and then we can get into what it looks like after I roll.
Austin: Yeah, sounds good.
Sylvi: So, 3D6 plus 1, right?
Austin: Plus... your clash is 1, right?
Sylvi: This is — strike decisively?
Austin: Strike decisively.
Sylvi: Okay. That's a...
Austin: Oh, that is a — that is a —
Sylvi: 9.
Austin: That is a 9. 4 plus 4 plus 1 is a 9.
Sylvi: Yeah. Yeah.
Austin: Here we are again, strike decisively. Uh, you succeed as above, but choose one: you overreach or underestimate, take a risk. You waste ammo or words, losing your 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.
Sylvi: It's that last one. Uh, because I'm not taking another risk right now.
Austin: Mm-hm.
Sylvi: Uh, and also, I don't have any other weapons other than the mace that I'm swinging.
Austin: Uh, are you sure? Are you — okay, are you sure about this?
Sylvi: Listen. Why not? Let's get bad with it. Let's [chuckling]
Austin: All right.
Sylvi: Let's fuck shit up.
Dre: Let's get bad with it!
Austin: So you, tell me what this looks like on your end, as you charge ahead to strike decisively against this Bouquet.
Sylvi: Uh... yeah.
0:09:47.6 I think that... [pause] It's a very strange sensation, because it is like having, uh, [chuckles] the mech stops feeling like a thing you're piloting and starts feeling like an exoskeleton.
Austin: Mmm.
Sylvi: Uh, like you feel your pulse in it.
Austin: Mm-hm.
Sylvi: Uh, and so it is very hard to adjust to. This hasn't been a thing she's done in live combat, really, that often.
Austin: Mm-hm.
Sylvi: Uh... I think that, like, it's almost like, the plates of it are almost like, of the mech itself are almost like vibrating or like rattling a bit while this happens.
Austin: Sure.
Sylvi: Like, everything looks like it is about to, like, explode [chuckling] in all of the ways. Uh... and it is just, like, I think it's just like... after seeing, uh, Figure get scorched, it's just like repeated, just like, smashes after... it's like, because everything is amplified, including Cori's emotions, when this is happening, uh... it's just pure, like, we're going bash mode. It's whack-a-mole time.
Ali: [chuckling]
0:10:59.9
Sylvi: Uh, and maybe while she's swinging, she doesn't pay that much attention to her backswing with her big fucking morningstar.
Austin: I mean, I actually think it's, yeah. I think that's exactly it. And on one of those backswings, you catch the Figure in Bismuth square in the cockpit. Figure, take the risk, uh, uh, stunned? Concussed? Like, what's the...
Dre: Yeah...
Austin: Staggered?
Dre: Yeah, I —
Austin: Concussed is probably a peril.
Dre: Think staggered is better than concussed.
Austin: So staggered? Let's go with staggered.
Dre: Yeah.
Austin: Which, now, makes you... defenseless.
Dre: Let's go, let's go let's go.
Austin: Uh-huh. Look — oh, that's so sick!
Sylvi: Sorry...
Austin: Do you see what just happened?
Dre: Uh-huh.
Austin: Everybody should look at Figure in Bismuth's sheet right now. The second the third danger got put in place. It now says —
Sylvi: Yo!
Austin: Defenseless.
Dre: Defenseless, in big red letters.
Ali: Ooh.
Austin: That's so good.
Janine: That's cool.
Dre: Hey, really quick, can I start a gravity clock with Cori?
Austin: Oh, yeah. 100 percent.
Dre: Uh...
Austin: Go ahead and advance it by one.
Dre: The wording I have in my head right now is, uh...
Austin: Sorry, Cori should say yes. I said yes, but, Cori?
Dre: Oh yeah.
Sylvi: Oh, yeah, absolutely.
Dre: Yeah.
Austin: Uh...
Sylvi: By the way.
Dre: Cori also moves like she is just a weapon.
Sylvi: Ooh!
Austin: Mm-hm. Uh, go ahead and set that at 1 and then actually advance it by one, because I feel like, uh, I feel like that was making a move involved, I think this makes sense.
Dre: Yeah. So is that a 1 or a 2?
Austin: It's at 1, but it has 1 tick.
Dre: Okay.
Austin: Remember that you have to like, the little — gravity plus 1, tick plus, you know.
Dre: Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. Okay. Yes.
Austin: Uh... incredible. Love it. Uh, and it is under this, or in this moment that we get a shot of, uh, uh, Palisade has two moons, uh, and it has one kind of regular scale, you know, moon, or regular-shaped moon. And then it has another one, uh, uh, that is almost like a wasp's nest in shape, in the sky, kind of like, almost like it's like a big, fucked-up asteroid. Uh, uh, and that is, that is famously called Chimera's, the Chimera's Lantern, uh, uh, that has always, it's just been there for, I don't, you know, as long as anybody who's alive now has ever, they've always lived under Chimera's Lantern, uh, and there's like a lot of, kind of like folk sayings around, you know like, uh, uh, the sort of like, uh, the folk sayings around like the moon's color. Uh...
0:13:32.9
Janine: Red sky at night, sailor's delight? Red sky in the morning —
Austin: Delight... yeah.
Janine: The other one.
Austin: The other one. Yeah, exactly.
Keith: Sailor's boring.
Austin: Sailor's —
Janine: [chuckles]
Austin: Boring — there's a lot of those with the Chimera's Lantern, because it sometimes lights up at night, as though someone has lit a lantern, it's part of why it's called that. Uh, and we kind of get a shot of it, and there is, you know, flying towards you, silhouetted against the Chimera's Lantern, is like an X shape. Uh, and as it gets closer and closer, we realize it is not, in fact an X. It is two kind of long banners of cloth, uh, that are, that are moving in perfect unison towards y'all. And, uh, in the distance, well behind them, you can kind of hear and the camera is able to go see huge amounts of Nidean uh, uh, you know, war machines, rumbling up and starting their engines, and beginning to head in this direction, as they rush to try to save Constantina Malady, who was being, uh, transported undercover, or at least that's what they felt was happening, that's what they believed was happening here, uh, uh, who now it is revealed, you have been coming to stop from getting to her own coronation.
0:14:54.3 And so, the entire northeastern, or I guess northwestern of the entire planet, but the northeastern part of the Bontive Valley, the entire military infrastructure is now bearing down on you. And the closest two units to approach you are these two, like, ribbon-like cloth mechs, each one piloted by one of the Swordbearers of the Divine Crusade. Uh, uh, they are piloting, uh, two very scary mechs. Uh, it's the same, it's the same model. Uh, these are called Billhooks.
0:15:27.2 Uh, and what I've written here is, “The Billhook might be confused for a conceptual sculpture to the uninitiated, at least when they are constantly in motion. It's a humanoid design with, with five, uh, uh, upper body limbs. Five arms, two on the left, three on the right, though the right central one always crosses its body to cover its heart. The special thing about them is that the entire machine is made by a special material that when, when filled with a sort of, uh, charge from the Kal'meria particle, can change at an atomic level, switching between elusive, clothlike silk, and dangerously sharp stained glass. And as such, it can be a loose flag on the wind, or a terrifying whirlwind of violence. Unimpeded, its textile restraints can reach up to 100 yards away. And close up, its many arms can do untold damage.” Uh, so, uh, two, two people who attend to a divine and its elect, uh, are charging towards you from the north, flying through the sky, uh, like a pair of crossed banners forming an X. Uh, they are very dangerous, and approaching quickly. Along with, behind them, the entire weight of the Nidean military in the sector.
0:16:49.0 Uh, it's bad.
Dre: Mm-hm.
Austin: Uh, who, who wants to go next? Uh...
Dre: Me?
Austin: God. This Bouquet is dead. I'm going to kill this one Bouquet. You, you did manage to take that one out, Cori, so flip it upside down, move you in close. Yeah, Figure.
Dre: Yeah.
Austin: What's up?
Dre: Uh, I just need to make space.
Austin: You do.
Dre: I think at this point I do, like, try to flip over the train. And I think the way that I get around being too tall is that literally, like, I am like, I'm flinging myself onto the ground, and like rolling through the dirt to try to —
Austin: Yeah.
Dre: Get this fire out.
Austin: Love that. Give me, uh, an act under fire, I think. Because you're —
Dre: Uh, actually, what I was trying to trigger was a cool-off.
Austin: You, you can try to — if you — hm. If you try to cool off while you're in melee combat with this thing.
Dre: Mm-hm.
Austin: It is going — I'm going to need you to bite the dust first.
Dre: Ooh, okay.
Austin: You need to make distance before you can cool off, right?
Dre: Sure. Okay.
Austin: Right?
Dre: [chuckling]
Austin: So, the way that it works specifically is, you need to take a few minutes to fix something about yourself or someone else's situation. And so, you can't just do that while you're already under fire and in combat, you know what I mean? You need to get yourself to safety, so you can cool off, right?
Sylvi: There's like, no move, to like, provide cover or —
Austin: Totally, absolutely.
Sylvi: Anything for this is, is there? Okay, cool.
Austin: You can absolutely, uh, uh, help here, right? We even talked about it that for this season, we're going to let you decide to help afterwards if you want to, as kind of key to our kind of bigger thoughts around Millennium Break and collaboration and stuff.
Sylvi: Mmm.
Austin: When you attempt to, actually, I just, I'm remembering now the way help and hinder here is not a roll, right? It is —
Sylvi: Yeah.
Austin: Actually, it is a roll. It's just not a roll based on the normal things.
0:18:40.4 When you attempt to lend aid to someone or interfere with their ability to make a roll, you are trying to help or hinder. When you do so, roll plus 1 if you've spent meaningful time together during downtime, plus 1 if they've helped or hindered you previously this sortie, and plus 1 if you're, if they're part of one of your hooks. So, Cori, you would have at least a plus 1. Did y'all spend meaningful time together last downtime?
Sylvii: Uh...
Dre: We went to the arcade together.
Austin: You did. Yeah. Yeah.
Sylvi: We did go to the arcade together. We played Time Crisis.
Austin: You played Time Crisis.
Sylvi: I'm retconning that.
Austin: Yeah, yeah, of course. So yeah, you would roll 2D6 plus 2 to help or hinder here. Uh, but again, I will let you wait to roll that if you'd like to. You can do it ahead of time, that's kind of fun. But...
Sylvi: I mean, fuck it. I'll roll it.
Austin: I guess that's the other thing. If you roll it ahead of time, your gravity clock will advance, because you're making that roll here, right? So, so yeah. You get that as, as a little extra bonus to that. So, go ahead and —
Sylvi: Okay. So, we'd settled on plus 2?
Austin: Plus 2, 2D6 plus 2. All right, that's an 8.
Sylvi: That's an 8.
Austin: Uh, on a 7 to 9, as always, you become entangled in the consequences of their action. So you take advantage on this roll, Figure. That's the, the — if you succeed, you take advantage.
Dre: Sure.
Austin: So, so — 3D6 plus, uh, your... defy, again, presumably?
Dre: Yeah. I mean —
Austin: Unless you want to try to use channel again, but that's a, that's a big risk at this point.
Dre: Yeah, yeah. I mean, here's the thing. I'm just, I'm thinking through this mechanically.
Austin: Yeah.
Dre: Without also — like, trying to both, like, think through this mechanically, not power game, but like —
Austin: No.
Dre: Live to the fiction. I mean, if I'm rolling defy, that's the same thing for bite the dust. I know that getting a 7 to 9 on bite the dust is much worse than getting a 7 to 9 on weather the storm.
Austin: Correct.
Dre: Although.
Austin: Uh, you know, it's a bad situation — the — getting the 7 to 9 —
Dre: It's bad, either way.
Austin: Getting the 7 to 9 on, if you got a 7 to 9 here, you would, I would have you bite the dust, right?
Dre: Yeah, sure.
Austin: So you shouldn't just default to biting the dust. Right?
Dre: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. Okay, yeah. So we'll do weather the storm, we'll do it with defy.
Austin: Yeah.
Dre: Uh, I guess I'm already getting advantage from, from Cori.
Austin: Correct.
Dre: So I can't get like, double advantage from also —
Austin: This is a situation where you would get confidence if you were fighting someone who was weak against your shit, which you're not, right?
Dre: Right. Yeah. I was just thinking 'cause of the, my monowheels move, where I take advantage when making a move that relies on speed.
Austin: Yeah, there's no rule that's like, there's no rule that's like, if you already have —
Dre: Stack 'em.
Austin: I don't believe, I don't believe you stack advantage —
Dre: No, that makes sense.
Austin: If you get advantage from multiple places. I think it's, I'm pretty sure it's, you take advantage once, you know? Uh, I'm double-checking, just to be sure.
Dre: No, it's okay.
Austin: Uh... uh... let's see. No, no, no, no, no.
Dre: Mmm?
Austin: If you have advantage from two sources, you roll 4D6 and take the highest two. So, yes. The fact that this is a speed-related thing does absolutely also help. These do stack. So roll 4D6. Take the highest two.
Dre: So that's a 6 and a 4.
Austin: 6 and a 4 and a 1. So, yes, you are able to dodge the incoming rounds from this Bouquet, who is, who is themselves, not in a great position, uh, and get yourself to safety, laying down in front of the train car where Thisbe is currently hauling Constantina Malady under her arms. [chuckles] I'll move Thisbe to the front here.
Dre: I wonder if it's not even that I'm actively moving, I wonder if Cori hits me so hard —
Austin: [laughing]
Dre: That I go flying over the train, and then I land, and then I'm just like, tumbling through the dirt, and —
Sylvi: [laughs]
Austin: That's very fun.
Dre: Or starts to put out the fire.
Sylvi: Home run!
Austin: Starts to put out the fire. Do you want to roll cool off, to see if you can get rid of the stuff that isn't scorched?
Dre: Yeah. Mm-hm. Uh, let's see. I want to get rid of the risk staggered, I guess.
Austin: It's staggered, right?
Dre: Yeah.
Austin: Yeah.
Dre: Uh, roll whatever trait seems the most appropriate. Uh, it's probably like defy, or maybe sense, but they're, they're both plus 1. So...
Austin: Yeah, either of those I think would make sense, yeah.
Dre: Okay. 2D6 plus 1. Woof.
Austin: That's a 6. That's a, that's a 6. That's no good.
Dre: Uh-huh. Getting a spotlight though.
Austin: You are getting that spotlight. Hey, everybody should remember this.
Dre: [laughing]
Austin: Keep getting that spotlight up. Uh, if you fail rolls, mark that spotlight. Uh... this was cool off, right? Yeah. Uh, uh, let's — can I pause on this for a second and let's go into Constantina Malady and see how this all plays out? Because, Thisbe, you're leaving with her to try to regroup with Mow, right?
0:23:27.5
Janine: Oh, yeah.
Austin: And is Mow, like, meeting you by the door? Are you running out to where Mow is? What's the —
Janine: So Mow, I can't move Mow, but Mow should be closer.
Austin: Okay.
Janine: Because remember, Mow grabbed the train?
Austin: Oh, you can't — Mow, right, right, right. Yes.
Janine: Like Mow physically grabbed the train, so I kind of —
Dre: Mow too big, can't move Mow!
0:23:45.5
Austin: Oh, okay. I, yeah, he was like here, so, yeah. That's fine. So yes, he's here. So, are you calling out to him to regroup with you? What's the — does he automatically, what's your ability at this point to get Mow into position? What's that look like, is really all I'm saying? Is, are you trying to sprint out to him? Is he sprinting up to you.
Janine: Uh... so, I think when Thisbe got on the train she sort of hopped off his back and went in, like in. So, I think this is, this is about, like, probably getting the cargo thing open.
Austin: Mm-hm.
Janine: Which, I think maybe there's like an external catch or something.
Austin: Yeah, that makes sense.
Janine: That she'd have to, to run up and grab, and then stuff, uh, [chuckling] this person inside.
Austin: Uh-huh! Yeah, I remember Mow used have some sort of cargo component —
Janine: Yeah, we used it to evacuate people once, I think.
Austin: Uh-huh. All right, uh, this is definitely weather —
Janine: [laughing] We used to be so noble.
Austin: [chuckles] This is definitely weather the storm, I think. Or it's, or it's...
Janine: So, I was wondering if...
Austin: What are you, what are you trying to do?
Janine: Because if I, if I do something to her, that would be her third thing, right? And she'd be defenseless?
Austin: She would become defenseless at that point, correct.
Janine: So at that point, is it worth just trying to like, I don't know how you knock out a glass person. Uh, but, is it worth just like —
Dre: Oh, I’ve played Elden Ring. You can do it.
Austin: [chuckles] Yeah.
Janine: Trying to, to, do something to subdue her, so that I can then stuff her in the cargo?
Austin: It might be worth that, yeah.
Janine: I'd be better at than than weather the storm, mostly. Uh...
Austin: Yeah, totally.
Janine: And, and also it's just... I, the idea of her, she's right there. She's basically defenseless, and that's... helpful.
Austin: Try to push her over the edge, yeah.
Janine: [sighs] Yeah. Uh...
Austin: Uh, and again, her, her weird tendrils are very much, and they're like coming out of her mouth at this point, they're like —
Janine: I wonder if this is when sparking touch really plays in.
Austin: Mmm.
Janine: Just like —
Austin: I mean, it literally has to.
Janine: Fucking stop.
Austin: Because she is now a tier higher than you.
Janine: Mm-hm.
Austin: And if you, if you didn't have sparking touch's ruin, you would be at disadvantage —
Janine: Yeah.
Austin: Against her at this point. So, uh, so yeah. Give me a, give me an exchange blows, 2D6 plus clash.
Janine: All right.
Austin: Clash is plus 2, which is pretty good.
Janine: Do I have any other... did I ever use my hold for this sortie?
Austin: I don't think so, but remember, hold is —
Dre: Fuck, I forgot I still had that too.
Austin: Remember, we realized that —
Janine: Oh, right, right, right, that's for questions — yeah, yeah, yeah.
Austin: It's not a plus-1, it's a, if you have a move that says spend hold.
Janine: Yeah.
Dre: Yeah.
Janine: Oh, I do have advantage re: guise and Gem marked here.
Austin: You do, from —
Janine: I don't think I used that.
Austin: Knowing something?
Janine: From when I, when I, uh, looked around. When I read the —
Austin: Right. You read the room or whatever.
Janine: I forget the exact move. Yeah.
Austin: Yeah, yeah, yeah. That makes sense. So yeah, take advantage from that. 3D6. Take highest plus 2.
Janine: If not now, then when?
Austin: Mm-hm. Oh my god.
Janine: [laughs] Didn't matter. I need to screenshot that, hang on, hang on.
Austin: 6, 6, 6, 2. Uh-huh.
Sylvi: Let's fucking go!
Dre: [chuckling].
Janine: I just need to screenshot this so I have it and remember that it happened.
Ali: [giggling]
Dre: [laughs]
Austin: Uh-huh! We have a real interesting moment here, which is — you shocking grasp her. What's that, what's that look like?
Janine: Uh... I — I'll be, I think it's a thing where like, if you... aren't Thisbe, or, or, uh, I forgot her name. Uh... I just wrote it down a second ago.
Austin: The person that you're trying to capture?
Janine: Yeah.
Austin: Constantina Malady.
Janine: Constantina. I keep wanting to say Cassandra. Uh, I think if you weren't Thisbe or Constantina, you wouldn't notice it, uh, because it is happening where they're already connected.
Austin: Right.
Janine: Uh, I think it is, it is just like a... a magical electrical sort of discharge, that kind of thing. I think it's like, it is the arcane sort of... enhanced powers of, of Thisbe that just kind of get blasted [chuckling], blasted out a little bit.
Austin: Mm-hm.
Janine: It's just a thing that she can sometimes just do. Uh, I think maybe the only sign of it is that like, her eyes glow a bit brighter. Uh, but it's not obvious, which is, I think, a little scarier than if it was [chuckling] obvious.
Austin: So once again I have to ask, peril and risk? Or just risk?
Janine: Uh, just risk this time.
Austin: She's taking the risk, revealed. Uh, she is defenseless now, but she's also going to be tier 3. Uh, as you send this charge through her —
Janine: The fuck.
Austin: Her glass-like skin does shatter. Uh, and some of it still remains, like, as if it it was armor covering an interior body. And that interior body oozes around your hand —
Dre: Ew.
Austin: As it continues to grow. It was, you remember, she was tier 2, which, you know, she's as tall as Thisbe at this, at that point. And now she continues go grow, and, uh, sort of melt into a, a gooey, amorphous blob-like shape. She still has a face. The tendrils are still coming off of her. She still even has hands and arms. She's like something from Akira if, if it was made of paint. And she says, in a voice that kind of, you know, uh, uh, it, it, it shuttles between authority and pain. Uh, and she says,
(as “Gem”): [uneven voice] Like mist held in evening's dark concrete, 5,000 years held in concrete, I sought freedom. I was chained before concrete, chained to the deceiver.
Austin: And the, you were worried about how to open up the cargo, uh, hold on this train. Don't, you don't need to do that anymore. She's expanding, she's blasting the top off with her own body.
(as “Gem”): I, we, sought truth.
Austin: She says.
(as “Gem”): But serve a pretender undermined by its own gravity. Not truth, not truth, just another icon.
Austin: She says, and grows larger.
0:30:26.7 She is defenseless, but also, as big and powerful as any machine now, and even being near her is a threat to you, Thisbe. She says,
(as “Gem”): We move through internal light. We are the whispers on your lips. We will move through the cosmic light. We will spread beyond your reach, and yet travel with you too. We, we are in you already, because you are asleep, and we are the canvas of dreams.
Austin: And I have a question for everybody who sees this, which is, what's the last thing you dreamt of? And I guess this is for Cori and Figure and Thisbe, who I know maybe has a different relationship to dreams, all said.
Janine: I can answer for Thisbe while everyone else is thinking.
Austin: Sure.
Janine: Uh, we talked about this briefly offline, where, I don't think Thisbe dreams, but I think what she experiences is sort of like a mechanical explanation for dreams. Like, the, the explanation — the scientific explanation you'll get about dreams often is that it's your brain processing things. Like, experiences and feelings and stuff like that.
Austin: Mm-hm.
Janine: And I think for Thisbe, it is literally when she is recharging, or getting maintenance, or anything like that, whenever she has that sort of downtime.
Austin: Mm-hm.
Janine: Uh, I think it is just a thing where... her, her processor, I guess, is just sort of going through and cataloguing, and sorting through experiences, and it's sort of like, you know, how she's learning and evolving is, is just like —
Austin: Mm-hm.
Janine: You file this data away. You put it, you know, you're cleaning up your desktop, kind of thing.
Austin: Mmm. I love that, that's really fun. Cori, Figure? Even just loose images.
Dre: Mmm.
Sylvi: Eyes? I, uh, she, I, the image I got for her last dream was being surrounded by massive, burning eyes.
Austin: Yeah.
Sylvi: Uh, yeah.
Austin: Figure?
Dre: Uh... I'm digging a grave with my hands, and I'm so tired that it takes several minutes for me to realize that these aren't my hands, but they used to be my hands.
Austin: Mmm. You each see something in this moment — I guess, let me frame this, a more important, uh, very important small detail. All of those little tendrils are exploring the entire space for lids, and buttons, and doors to open. Uh, some of them are reaching back for the original trunk that she was trying to open when she was still in her undercover Gem form. Some of them are reaching for trash cans to flip over. They're trying to rip the tops off of these train cars, as if they were, you know, tin cans. They're looking to open things up. Uh, each of you in this moment, in seeing her true form, are going to need to make a defy danger, channel roll. And she hit — and let me tell you, if you didn't have channel and saw this, like many of the people around here, you fail it automatically. It just overwhelms. So give me a defy danger, plus channel, each of you. 12.
Dre: That's also a 12.
Austin: That's a 12.
Sylvi: Hey, that's the same roll.
Dre: Damn, it is the same roll.
Austin: Uh-huh. Which, Figure, you're up to a plus 3 channel because of having 3 dangers at this point.
Dre: Mm-hm. Uh, really just 2, but.
Austin: Well, right. Even at, right right right, sorry. You got rid of staggered, right? Or no, you didn't, you failed it.
Dre: No, I still have it.
Austin: But —
Dre: But my channel is normally at 1.
Austin: Right, right. But it caps at 3.
Dre: But it can't go past a 3. Yeah.
Austin: So yeah, Thisbe, 2D6 plus 1, that's a 10. So you've all succeeded at this. Uh, you would, if you had failed, be taking, uh, uh, a peril. And that peril would be, Iconoclastic nightmares.
Janine: I knew it.
Austin: Uh-huh. In your dreams —
Janine: Motherfucker.
Austin: In your dreams, retroactively, she is already there, they are already there. Figure, your hands dig until they reveal the Witch in Glass in the dirt, already dead. And there's an offer made to you. That that could be real. If you let Constantina Malady, whose, I guess not real name, but — not true name in our, our history here, but one true name for her is in fact not Constantina — I mean, Gem, Constantina Malady, these are also names, but, but in truth, she is the Usher of Truth, uh, in her own, in her own mind. An Iconoclast, to the degree that one such being could exist. For those of you who do not know the Iconoclasts, they once were the minions of a being called Volition. Uh, they once sought to bring about a world without subjectivity into reality. They feel as if they perhaps were betrayed. There's a throwaway line, at the very end of Twilight Mirage, where a character is talking to a member of the Rapid Evening, and the Rapid Evening at this point has been defeated, and he says something like, “You know, we're going to stick around. We're not going to go anywhere. We still have things to do. There are, there are still axioms on the loose. The, uh, the Iconoclasts are in the dreams now.”
0:36:09.6 Uh, and what happened is, they got them. The Rapid Evening got the last of the Iconoclasts and they contained them in a special, in a special concrete, in a sort of cement prison that rested for 5,000 years, until the Bilateral Intercession found it and got curious and opened it. Uh, and so, that's your offer, Figure. And it's an offer because you succeeded. For you, Cori, you become aware retroactively, you remember the dream you had, and you remember the eyes, and then you remember that there is a larger eye beyond the flaming ones. And it is cool. And it is welcoming, and it is... [sighs] there's something, there is something about it that you don't get from your relationship to Devotion, as you pilot your mech. There is something calming about it. And the Usher of Truth offers you to connect, offers to connect you to that other Devotion, the Devotion of, of love, the Devotion who is maybe devoted the other way, that, that perhaps the Divine of Devotion doesn't have to be about, uh, people being devoted to it. It can instead be about being devoted to its own people. Uh, and she whispers to you that she could be a bridge. I have in my mind that image that's been going around this week, that illustration from NASA of the, the black hole [chuckling] that has this, like lane of 200,000 light years of stars.[1] I don't know if y'all have seen this.
0:37:44.3
Dre: Mm-hm.
Austin: It got like, flung out of its own galaxy by a third, by like an — it was two, two black holes were orbiting each other, and a third one showed up, and it ricocheted, or like, you know, threw one of them away. And it, it like, it left the galaxy it was in, and for 200,000 light years, left this bridge of light and stars behind it as they were formed. It's gorgeous. I mean, it's really just like a, a line on the Hubble Telescope, but the artist interpretation is gorgeous. And it's something like that, this line of light connecting you to this, to this, uh, it's an eye with a single teardrop swelling in it, looking down above all of these other fiery eyes that you're haunted by. So that offer is made to you. And then, Thisbe, you already make sense of the world through your, through your, the kind of dreamlike process of sensemaking and, and defragmenting, uh, and I think the thing that, uh, the thing that she offers to you is that, she will help you, she will help others see the world the way you do, in a way that makes sense, that's cleaner and more direct, and more... you know, less caught up in strange, not, not just she'll get rid of emotion for you, right, but she will let others communicate to you the way you communicate to them.
0:39:08.4 She will be a sort of bridge, or the Iconoclasts will be a sort of bridge between you and others, that lets them stop reading things into you that aren't there. Uh, or, or stop misunderstanding. Uh, uh, and, and that could be other human beings, that can be other mechanical — and she could connect you to everything the way that you're connected to Mow right now, where you understand how Mow is a person in a way that other people don't, that can be with, with kind of everybody. Uh, those are all offers. Again, she would stick around as a peril for you, if you had failed this roll. But, do any of you take her up as an offer?
Sylvi: It's kind of hard to be like, “Yeah, totally!” When someone is offering an idea that is like —
Austin: Mm-hm.
Sylvi: 100 percent reversing your entire worldview, in a lot of ways. Uh... so I'm, I'm not going to accept it, but it's going to come up a lot.
Austin: Yeah. Mostly, Cori, I wanted to introduce this possibility to, I wanted to introduce this possibility to Cori's mind, the idea that there's another interpretation of Devotion, needs to come from somewhere. And here is where it comes from.
Sylvi: It does. It's [chuckling] sure as shit not going to come from anybody she knows. [laughs]
Austin: Mm-hm.
Janine: Uh, I think —
Ali: Hey...
Janine: [chuckles]
Ali: [snorts] [laughing]
Sylvi: I meant in the church. You just show me a little bit of that oontz-oontz, Brnine, and I'm going to be like, I'm going to renounce everything.
Ali: [laughs]
Janine: Uh...
Austin: Thisbe or Figure.
Janine: Uh, I think Thisbe almost doesn't recognize it as an offer.
Austin: Mm-hm.
Janine: Uh, because I think, you know, because, because she doesn't have like, dreams, it's kind of like, something is being inserted into data, right?
Austin: Right.
Janine: So I think more than anything, she's like, “Oh, this is a virus.” [chuckles]
Austin: [laughing]
Janine: Like, I think it's that kind of, I don't know if Thisbe gets viruses, but I think, or it's corrupt data. I think she at first is like, “Oh, there's a, there's a sector error or something.” And is like, “Oh, right, it's probably this, this thing is doing it.”
Austin: Mm-hm.
Janine: Uh, but either way I think she like, internally kind of flags as like, “Hey, uh, run your, do a full scan real soon,” or something like that. [chuckling]
Austin: Mm-hm.
Janine: Uh, instead of the quick scan. Uh... actually —
Austin: Yeah you scheduled a deep — mm-hm?
Janine: I was going to, I was going to say, I think her eyes [chuckling] I think just because it's funny in this moment, when everyone's getting this offer, I think her, her going on eyes switch from that sort of cyan blue color, to red. Because it's like —
Ali: [gasps]
Janine: Very [laughing] it's very like, “Oh, no, the robot is evil.” But it's not actually that —
Ali: [chuckling]
Dre: [laughing]
Janine: Okay, anti-virus scan, you know, in, in —
Austin: Safe mode, yeah.
Janine: In, yeah, safe mode is a good idea.
Austin: [chuckles]
Janine: It's something like that.
Ali: Don't go Sith.
Austin: [cracks up]
Ali: Don't be Dark-sided.
Austin: Sith Thisbe, Dark side Thisbe.
Janine: Ugh...
Sylvi: Thisbe already rolled six 6s.
Ali: [laughing]
Austin: That's true.
Dre: That's true.
Janine: Mm-hm.
Sylvi: [unintelligible]
Ali: And her eyes turned red, oh my god, this means she’s a demon!
Janine: She would, she would, she would go purple. She wouldn't go red, she'd, she'd go for purple crystal.
Austin: Oh, sure.
Ali: Okay.
Dre: Mmm.
Ali: Okay, okay, okay.
Austin: Yeah, that makes sense, that makes sense.
Sylvi: Double-sided lightsaber?
Ali: [giggling]
Janine: Mmm...
Sylvi: The only shit I know.
Austin: Figure?
Dre: Oh, no. Are you kidding me?
Austin: Uh-huh.
Dre: You think I need your help to kill her?
Austin: [chuckles]
Janine: [chuckles]
Austin: All right. Well, she is here, she is still tier 3, uh, she is a massive — and she is like, trying to find a new shape. Having been rejected by you all, she again is like, flipping open containers, and coming from the containers is more of her, as if she's opened them as portals to somewhere else. Uh, and, and there's like, extra stuff pouring into her, uh, uh, and I think it's around this time that the two Swordbearers land, uh, uh, up near the like, farm area. Uh, uh, and, uh, as a reminder for people maybe who haven't listened to the, to the faction game in a few weeks, because it's been a few weeks, uh, these are Ramondra, or Ramondre, uh, she/her pronouns, and Ignadiah, he/him. They have kind of a constant bantering and sniping at each other —
Dre: Oh, yeah...
Austin: Slash flirting relationship. Uh, and, uh, between the two of them, they are like, kind of blown away by whatever the fuck you're doing. As far as they can tell, you have deployed some sort of strange bioweapon at this train station.
Dre: Aw...
Austin: And I think one of them kind of calls out to, to y'all over comms, and is like,
(as Swordbearer): I knew you were always up to no good, but this is uncouth.
Austin: And the two of them, who are in mechs that can switch between being cloth and sharp, crystalline glass, begin to charge down towards y'all. Uh, as, I'm just going to add this gem icon as, as Gem, which I prepared just in case, you know, we needed a gem icon, but in retrospect I probably should have prepared a, uh, a more, uh, you know, oh, that's too big. That's bigger than it should be.
Janine: Goopular?
Austin: A more goopular —.
Janine: A more goopular icon.
Dre: Mmm.
Austin: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Sylvi: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Dre: Sure.
Austin: Uh, and then these two are... are Billhooks, which are the Nideo mechs here. Uh, y'all almost — I mean, in some ways you've, you've succeeded at your mission, as far as —
Janine: Yeah.
Austin: The people in the Cause are concerned. Uh, she's not getting there.
Janine: I was going to say — it feels like it's time to go, especially, especially if they've made it clear they think that she is a thing that we've done. Where it's like, this might be a get while the getting's good, situation, because —
Austin: Mm-hm.
Janine: They might get occupied with her. And then —
Austin: Right.
Janine: Bye!
Austin: Mm-hm. Uh... that seems —
Janine: [chuckling] I don't know how keen everyone else is to, to get goopy, but —
Dre: Can't.
Janine: Mmm... mmm.
Austin: You said you can't?
Dre: I can't.
Sylvi: [laughing]
Austin: Because you have to capture her.
Dre: Yeah. And I think if, if Thisbe like says that —
Janine: [laughing] Good luck.
Dre: I think that is, that is what I say, is,
The Figure in Bismuth: I can't. The witch demands her.
Janine: Uh...
Keith: This, this is the first anyone's hearing about that?
Austin: Uh-huh!
Dre: Uh-huh.
Thisbe: The witch demands the impossible.
Keith: This is going to be, uh, a great episode for Twilight Mirage, Partizan, Palisade power scalers.
Austin: [laughs] Ha-ha! Yes, 100 percent.
Dre: Yeah.
Austin: Oh, god. Uh, as you're debating this, she, of course, begins to bellow,
(as the Usher of Truth): We are the mountain's shadow. We are the echo behind the avalanche. We are the budding orchid. We are the final floodwater.
Sylvi: Uh, really quick, can I just get a refresher on like risk numbers for her, basically?
Austin: She's defenseless. Yeah.
Sylvi: She's defenseless?
Dre: Yeah.
Sylvi: Yeah, I thought so.
Austin: She's also growing. Uh...
Sylvi: Can we kill her?
Janine: She's huge.
Austin: She is now, she is now tier 4, uh, as she continued to open up these things.
Dre: Aw, fuck.
Austin: So, I mean, you could still —
Sylvi: Yeah, but I, I got that can-do attitude.
Austin: That can-do attitude.
Keith: So, in order to attack a tier 4, since we are tier... 3?
Austin: By fault, you will be, uh, you will be at disadvantage, unless — sorry, yes, you will be at disadvantage, uh, unless you —
Sylvi: Yeah.
Austin: Have ruin or bane weapons.
Keith: Now, here's a question.
Austin: Mm-hm.
Keith: If we were to go, cut back to the party —
Austin: Yep.
Keith: You spend, uh, a hold to complicate things, to give someone on the fight side a, uh, roll with confidence.
Austin: Uh-huh.
Keith: If a 1 were to be rolled, which one would trigger first: taking the 1 as the lower number, or turning the 1 to a 6?
Austin: To a 6. I think you, I think we play fair. I think we play towards the party on that, right?
Keith: Okay.
Austin: Uh, oh, you're saying — but yeah, I guess I don't — okay, let's see, let's see, let's see, let's see. Both are applied before you keep dice when rolling for advantage/disadvantage. You might, for example, be rolling with disadvantage and confidence, and roll two 1s and a 3. You upgrade both of those into 6s first, leaving you with the lowest of, two 2s and a 3.
Ali: Mmm.
Austin: So you would upgrade them, and then you —
Keith: Okay.
Austin: And then you apply advantage/disadvantage.
Sylvi: So you don't take like a 9 there.
Keith: Uh, I mean, it's still something we could do that might help. And we did —
Austin: Mm-hm.
Keith: Leave us at a fun spot to return to.
Austin: I mean, I would say, really quick, if you're doing that, this is, cut away from the sortie during a moment when time is precious, giving everyone room to think.
Keith: Oh.
Austin: So you have spend one of your holds to get back.
Keith: I've got 2 hold left, so —
Austin: So, go ahead and spend one of those to get it back if you want it.
Keith: Yep.
Austin: Uh, it's become clear, at this point, uh, I guess Brnine, the, the, the texts that follow are things like, “We have to keep it completely secret. I told you as much as I could. I know your team will pull through.”
Ali: After the like, “I couldn't tell you,” text, it's like, “Am I good?” Question mark. And then once it's like, uh, “I think your team will pull through” I just call Gucci.
Austin: Doesn't pick up.
Ali: Motherfucker! [chuckling] And I text that to her. Uh, “What's going on, —“
Austin: She's like, “I can't take a call right now.”
Ali: “Are they okay?” [wheezes] “What are you talking about?”
Austin: Uh, Phrygian, you overhear, uh, you, you are able to, where you are, uh, overhear August Righteousness, uh, again, on the phone, being like, uh, uh, you know, “Go ahead and use it. If not now, then when?” Uh, uh, and you get the impression, between the two of you at this point, I think, uh, through a combination of overhearing things and texts from Gucci vaguely explaining what happened, is that no one even cares about this coronation. Like, yeah, it's great to stop them from having a big party. Uh, and also it's very clear — no one in the party side knows that she was an Iconoclast. They all thought that she was an undercover [chuckling] mythical duchess. Which should have been the first, like, thing.
Keith: Right.
0:49:51.4
Austin: The key, what they were doing, was making you attack someone who was important, so that Nideo would move their military out of the northern part of the Bontive Valley, so that a combined force of, uh, uh, uh, our two northern factions, Jade Kill and Gray, uh, Pond, could move into the Bontive Valley, and begin to try to take extra territory away from the Bilats.
Keith: So this was bait.
Austin: You were bait. You were bait. 100 percent. 100 percent.
Dre: Uh... should Phrygian try to go to... it's too far.
Austin: I mean, we — remember, I said at the very beginning of this, I said — I mean, it is probably too far, because now we're talking about it in realtime, right?
Keith: Right.
Austin: I said, time's going to be weird there. It's pretty far. Let's take a look at the, at the map here. Uh, y'all are here at the Isle of the Broken Key. They are at, you know, see this little dot that's like, southwest of Eversin on the train line here?
Keith: Yeah.
Austin: They're like there.
Ali: Oh...
Austin: So it's pretty far.
Keith: Yeah. It's pretty far, it's a few hundred miles.
Sylvi: Oh, that's far.
Austin: It's probably more than that, because, remember, this is a whole continent. This is the whole world, rather.
Sylvi: Yeah, I thought —
Austin: Yeah, y'all are pretty far.
Sylvi: Yeah.
Austin: So —
Dre: Listen, I can get out of this very quickly. We just need to subdue her somehow. Because I have my chameleon cloak that I haven't used yet, that lets me turn invisible.
Austin: True, and you — I'm going to remind you all —
Keith: Oh, wait, before we cut back.
Austin: Yes.
Keith: Let's complicate things, to get that roll to...
Austin: Mm-hm.
Ali: Mm-hm.
Keith: So, I would, I would like to complicate things for myself.
Sylvi: Okay.
Austin: Mmm, mm-hm. Uh... let me look at, let me look at some Cause stuff really quick. Or, some Faction, sorry, sorry, some Authority stuff really quick. [sighs] Uh... I think the thing you wanted to happen has happened. Which is, Em has asked too many people too many questions, Phrygian.
Keith: Uh, yeah.
Austin: And, at some point, someone comes to ask you to come with them. Uh, I think it's probably... it's actually someone from, I know exactly [chuckling] who it is. It is Vesper, their name is Vesper... Basque, is that right?
0:52:22.9 Let me check my list... yes. They are six-three, uh, uh, black hair with kind of like, orange highlights, like, like bright orange highlights in a ponytail. Uh, broad-shouldered, uh, uh, in a, uh, kind of military, I mean, they're like, the truth is that they are sort of uh, a knight of the Dim Liturgy's order. They are, they believe in the Dim Liturgy stuff, but mostly they're here to crack skulls for the Dim Liturgy. Uh, and they show up and put a hand on your shoulder, and they go,
(as Vesper): You're Phrygian, right?
Keith: Uh... [chuckles] All of the eyes on all of the Phrygians —
Austin: [chuckling]
Keith: On the mask blink in a row.
Vesper: You were talking with someone all night?
Phrygian: Uh... yes. Yeah.
Vesper: Wore a robe... can you come with us?
Austin: And like, gestures with a number of other, clearly more military-focused Violet Cove people.
Vesper: We have some questions about what you maybe told them.
Phrygian: Okay.
Austin: And we're, we're going to cut back.
0:53:40.9 As you're taken to be interrogated, because of fear that maybe you talked to someone who wasn't supposed to be here.
Ali: Can I, uh, spend my last hold to hallways slash listening post that?
Austin: Oh, sure, 100 percent. Yes.
Ali: Okay.
Austin: Yeah. All right.
Ali: We can play that scene out later, if people want to move in the —
Austin: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Uh-huh. And they're, and they're not going to torture, you know what I mean? They are trying to, they, but, but, you were talking with someone who they now think shouldn't have been here this whole time. Uh...
Keith: Right, sure, and that's my fault that they let in a weirdo off the street.
Austin: That's, that — well, no, no — they don't know if you were talking to them because you were with them or not.
Keith: Oh, okay, sure.
Austin: You know? Like, were you talking with them because you were a target, or because you were a collaborator? Uh, so, yeah.
Ali: Also, can I... mmm. Can I tell the crew any of this? Do I have any — I'm not there, so I don't have any —
Austin: Yeah.
Ali: Plus crew rolls.
Austin: But you, I mean, you just spent your last hold, right?
Ali: [laughing] This is true.
Keith: I thought Ali had one more hold.
Ali: That would have been my last hold is to, to listen in on your interrogation to make sure that you're okay.
Austin: Yeah.
Ali: Because now I'm freaking out.
Austin: Okay. Is that what's happening, is Brnine freaking out?
Ali: Like, really! Like, for [chuckling] for Gucci to be like, “Yeah, I put your team in danger, and you're, know, three hours, or whatever —”
Keith: That's such an evil thing to text, because it didn't help anything to say now. All it did was—
Ali: [chuckling]
Austin: Gucci felt guilty. Gucci felt bad and was trying to be like, “I'm sorry.”
Keith: “I intentionally did a wrong thing, and now —”
Austin: Uh-huh!
Keith: “I'm here to apologize in a way that could only hurt you.”
Ali: [laughing]
Dre: And also not actually do anything to make it up to you, or fix the situation.
Ali: [snorts] [laughing]
Austin: Mm-hm. That's right.
Dre: I'm sorry if what I did hurt you.
Austin: [laughs] Ha-ha! 100 percent.
Ali: [laughing] Brnine calls again and gets a text back that's like, “I, I can't hold emotional space for you right now, Brnine.”
Austin: [cracking up]
Dre: Mm-hm.
Keith: “Our season of friendship,”
Janine: Oh my god.
Ali: [snorts] [laughing]
Austin: Oh, ho! Oh my god. So, I, I —
Keith: You know, Gucci got off so easy last season by basically standing next to Clementine Kesh the whole time.
Austin: Yes, a candle in the sun.
Keith: And being like, “That's not me, I'm not, I'm not her.”
Austin: And I just want to, there's a thing that happened here, but like, behind closed doors or offscreen over 5 years. Which is, y'all might remember [chuckling] I don't know if you — do you remember what the rules to Millennium Break are? Do you remember what your nine rules are?
Keith: No, I have no idea.
Austin: Uh, uh, the final episode of the Millennium Break arc, uh, The Storm over Cruciat, had y'all come up with a number of important, like, Millennium Break manifesto. And one of them was, “Free and fair elections will be held every two years.” So for two, maybe even four years, Jesset City was like, the person in charge, right? Inherited Valence's role as being a leader and a uniter among people. Jesset's terms ended, and eventually got voted out. And Gucci I don't think is even in control, it's, it's not that Gucci ascended, but that like, as part of that, you've turned over control to people who you aren't in with anymore, just through the natural extension of politics. Someone who wasn't like, one of your people is in charge now. And Gucci did the Gucci thing, which is, instead of ever becoming a leader, just stayed close to power. Just continued to be a functionary of the powerful, right?
Ali: [chuckling]
Austin: So this is probably not even Gucci's call.
0:57:07.9
Keith: Gucci's revolutionary deep state.
Austin: Right, yes, that is literally true, Keith! Literally, that is what she is. She has become someone who's important to who’s ever — and like, so important because she holds the institutional knowledge. She remembers what Jesset had set up in the previous administration. She's the person who like, you know, like, you get, uh, uh, an election and someone from the, the opposition party takes over, but like, there's someone in the, in the cabinet who stays on despite being from the other party, because they just know a lot, and for whatever reason they've gained the trust of everybody in power, regardless of what side they claim to be on. That is Gucci Garantine. She Garantines that she is going to be the one who's fucking there, no matter who is technically in charge.
Keith: [laughing] That's such a good, it's like the poster on the wall.
Austin: I Garantine it!
Keith: Gucci Garantine, I guarantee you.
Ali: [laughing]
Austin: Yeah, uh-huh. So...
Sylvi: Good god.
Austin: Yeah, that is the kind of backstory to [chuckling] to some of that. Going, are we now going back to train, to train heist, question mark?
Sylvi: Yeah. Uh...
Austin: Yeah.
Sylvi: Sorry, which tier was —
Austin: She's a tier 4 now.
Sylvi: She's a tier 4, and we're tier —
Austin: You're tier 3. Your Altars are all tier 3.
Sylvi: I'm tier 3, oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, cool.
Austin: That was a thing I was going to say, sorry. I do recall this now. Brnine, you are no longer, you, you, Brnine and, and Phrygian, you've now spent your last holds, right?
Ali: I... believe so, yeah.
Keith: Yeah.
0:58:32.5 Well, right. Ali theoretically is going to spend one, to listen in —
Austin: To listen in to you — yes. Correct.
Keith: To an interrogation that hasn't happened yet.
Austin: Uh, if the — so, the way the B plot works is, it says very clearly, like, as long as you have hold, you cannot indirect or direct help a pilot outside of your B plot moves, right? Uh, whether you're — even if you're there. Even if you're in the, even if you're nearby, you cannot directly impact it, because you're busy doing your own shit. You've now spent that last one, uh, it says, a key thing to remember is that using B plot enforces a level of narrative separation from the rest of the sortie. You could, on a physical level, be very close to the events of the sortie, but the effects of it cannot touch you until you run out of hold, at which point the two plots can come together whenever it feels appropriate. So, you could call in an order to the crew, for instance, but for that matter, so could anybody who's in the sortie right now. Anybody, as a reminder, can, can, up to the, I believe it's up to the number of times you have a crew, your crew score, which is 3, you can roll crew instead of, instead of your own shit. Uh, I'm going to double-check that.
Ali: Oh, okay. Even though it says replacement for your own —
Austin: You can do that, even without a captain, you can roll crew. But every crew, every party has a carrier, even if no one's explicitly a crew — or, a captain.
Dre: Mmm.
Austin: Right? I'm going to find the exact thing here. Mechanically speaking, a carrier's made of a few things. One of them is a crew trait, starting at plus 1. Like other traits, it has a maximum of plus 3. You can also work on a long-term project to increase crew by 1. It's a 6-step clock, blah-blah-blah blah-blah. Crew might be lowered if people get killed, or if the damage — if the carrier's damaged. When the crew acts in your defense or covers for you, you may make a roll — a move using plus crew instead of the usual value. They'll do this an amount of times per sortie equal to the trait. So, if it's plus 2, they'll do it twice. And the reason I mention this is, the carrier is tier 5. Because of how it's powered by a Divine. And it has —
Dre: And our crew is plus 3.
Ali: Mmm.
Austin: And your crew is plus 3.
Dre: Way to go, Ali.
Austin: Uh-huh. So if, for instance, you felt it was time for the Blue Channel to [chuckling] decloak and show up —
Ali: [snorts]
Austin: And use its Divine Weapon —
Ali: Yeah, those weapons are good.
Austin: Those weapons are [emphasis] Good.
Ali: I built those weapons out for y'all. For me, but for y'all.
Austin: Now might be a time —
Sylvi: [chuckling]
Austin: To blast this thing.
Janine: I bet Asepsis would not like this thing, huh. Like, philosophically.
Austin: Oh! We, in fact, we, in fact last downtime established that it still has, deep in its core, the like, targeting information from the Twilight Mirage era. Like, it didn't like New Earth Hegemony shit? You know it doesn't like fucking... the Iconoclasts! Ironically. There's a, there's a real, there's a real interesting thing here, which is your default — so, do you want to talk about the weapons the carrier has?
Ali: Oh, sure, okay. So, uh, —
Austin: Maybe start with the second one, and not the first one.
Ali: [laughing] Sure sure sure. Yeah.
Dre: [laughing]
Ali: So, the Blue Channel has, uh, a big sniper called the N3W Rules. N, 3, W rules. And the attacks that that has are bane and mounted. Uh, bane is, you suffer no penalty against opponents one tier above you when attacking with bane —
Austin: So you can hit a tier 6 thing, in fact.
Dre: [whispering] Jesus.
Keith: That's, uh, is that, uh, uh, the things – not the axioms, the —
Austin: Iconoclasts?
Keith: Icon — no, no. The new ones from this season.
Austin: Afflictions.
Keith: The Afflictions. Is that Affliction level? Is that, tier 6 is Afflictions?
Austin: Uh, we've not seen anything tier 6 yet.
Ali: [chuckling]
Keith: Okay.
Ali: I was really, I was really thinking through bane here, because like, the...
Austin: Uh-huh.
Ali: The Blue Channel is already pretty GOATed, but I think... it's a sniper, right? Like, it, it —
Austin: Mm-hm.
Ali: It does the thing that it does.
Austin: Mm-hm.
Ali: Uh, it's also mounted, which means a thing. I think that just means it's attached to the ship.
Dre: Such a good fucking name.
Austin: Mm-hm.
Ali: Do you want me to go over the Asepsis drones?
Austin: Sure.
Ali: [chuckling] Uh... pretty straightforward. We've spoken about Asepsis and it, it, you know, is a bunch of little drones that cleans things. Uh... I think —
Austin: Oh, it cleans things?
Ali: Yeah.
Dre: Yeah.
Austin: Is that what we're going to say it does?
Ali: Yeah.
Austin: Yeah, what are the tags on that thing that cleans things?
Ali: [wheezes] Uh, it is Divine, versatile, area, forbidden, distinct, and set-up.
Austin: Oh, it's forbidden? You said it was forbidden?
Ali: Well... yeah.
Austin: Okay.
Dre: Yeah.
Keith: It cleans them... to death!
Dre: You don't watch the, the forbidden cleaner Tiktoks? Where people accidentally make mustard gas when they clean their bathtub or whatever?
Austin: Forbidden objects are banned!
Sylvi: God.
Ali: Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah.
Austin: Right.
Sylvi: I have only seen the one where it's someone being like, “How are you doing this, it's been so long I transitioned since now.”
Austin: [laughing] It's a good one.
1:03:32.1 Uh, yeah. Sure. Uh... yeah. So, you could call in the Blue Channel at this moment to make a decisive shot. Or you could do it yourself. If any, if either, if any of you have —
Sylvi: I had a way to do it myself, but it might be — so, I'm — I have spell routines.
Austin: Mmm, hm hm hm.
Sylvi: Which lets me, I believe it's once per sortie...
Austin: I think it might be power-based, maybe. Tell me, tell me what it does.
Sylvi: Choose to take a result of 7 to 9 on a move of your choice before the roll. And I was going to do this with strike decisively.
Austin: Mm-hm.
Sylvi: On, uh, Gem.
Austin: On Gem Goop.
Sylvi: Here — she's got a lot of names.
Austin: Yeah. Uh...
Dre: Jemma Gooperton.
Austin: Her key name at this point is the Usher of Truth. You know, normal shit.
Sylvi: Oh, okay.
Austin: Uh, you can do that. And I just looked it up, it's a passive. So you can do it as many times as you want. Because after all, you are taking a mixed success, right?
Sylvi: Yeah. And then, because the, uh... Hauberk is their name?
Austin: Uh, these are Billhooks. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Sylvi: No, Billhook. Billhook. Uh, they're, are they also tier 3, or are they...
Austin: Uh, tier 4. Because they are — regular Billhooks are tier 3, but the Billhooks that uh, the —
Sylvi: Okay.
Austin: The Swordbearers for the Divine Crusade, uh, pilot, those are tier 4. So, dangerous. Dangerous, they're approaching. This is the mission in a JRPG where you have to get the fuck away, right?
Dre: Sure.
Austin: This is the like —
Sylvi: But, also we have a big ship that could shoot them, now. So...
Austin: That's true.
Sylvi: So... that's what I was thinking, we keep the Blue Channel to deal with that. But also, we can just get out of here, if that's what people are leaning towards. Uh, I like to do a big smacky with my mace. I feel like I've established this to be part of my character.
Ali: [chuckling]
Dre: Mm-hm.
Sylvi: This season.
Austin: You have. It's not wrong.
Sylvi: Uh, and I also like the idea of being kind of on autopilot right now, while I'm still sort of hooked into my mech.
Austin: Right. You're just like in berserk, you're like, you're like, the ZERO System has activated?
Sylvi: Yeah, yeah. It's like, the mech is piloting me more than I'm piloting the mech. Uh...
Austin: I love mechs. Mechs are so good.
Dre: Yep.
Austin: I love it!
Keith: They're horrible.
Sylvi: They're great.
Austin: I love it when the machine, uh, when I enforced, “Enter The Machine Zone,” and the entire UI/UX experience of the thing I've hooked into decides to drive me, instead of the alternative, it's great. It's perfect.
Sylvi: Mm-hm!
Dre: If you want to go for this, I'll help or hinder you.
Sylvi: It's just an automatic mixed success.
Dre: Oh.
Sylvi: That's why I'm doing it. I'm not, I'm like not fucking with a roll here. I'm going to just take a risk.
Dre: Yeah.
Austin: All right. So, strike decisively. On 7 to 9, you succeed but choose one — you overreach or underestimate, you waste ammo or ores losing a weapon, or you strike carelessly, causing collateral damage beyond your expectations. Which is it?
Sylvi: I'm taking a risk, uh, I'm taking the risk, uh... what I've got right now is exhausted. The way I'm picturing this is that —
Austin: Uh-huh? [chuckling]
Sylvi: The way I'm picturing this is that the joints on my mech are just really stiff, and like, not moving anymore. And I think it like, coincidences with when it's like, oh, I have to stop literally draining my pilot's life.
1:06:47.6
Austin: And are you just going at it, at this kind of big, goopy mess with your mace?
Sylvi: Yeah, yeah, no. It's like... I don't know how, how [chuckling] explicitly of this we want to go, but it's like... it's like, you know, really going at something with a meat tenderizer.
Austin: No, yeah, uh-huh.
Dre: Mm-hm.
Austin: Yep. Great. Incredible. Uh, that's happening, everybody. Cori — [chuckling] Cori is just, do you want to, do you want to snap a photo for this one, this one, too? Is this, is this like a moment you want to capture to film? No? Not as much?
Sylvi: No, I mean, listen, if someone did it, sure. But Cori's not really in any, uh, any state of mind to ask for it, you know?
Austin: No, no. Fair. Yeah. Uh, as you, as you, you're like, bashing away the goo, and eventually, the sort of like, uh, there is a, there is a human-scale body that feels like it's constantly dripping goo, uh, this is left kind of in the midst of it all, that you could reach in and grab, you know? Uh, so, you know? That's... that's — she is, she is — you have forced, you have striked decisively here, you know? She is... knocked out, effectively.
Dre: Mmm.
Sylvi: I did good.
Austin: You did.
Sylvi: Everybody say thank you.
Keith: Thank you!
Ali: Thank you, Cori.
Austin: One of the Bouquets is still shooting at everybody —
Sylvi: Here we go!
Austin: And the two Billhooks are getting closer.
Dre: Sure. I would love to just scoop up that body and use my chameleon cloak to turn invisible. And run.
Austin: That is the, it is, it is, it is time to give me that act under fire, that weather the storm.
Dre: Sure.
Austin: I'm going to say it, right, at some point.
Dre: Uh, I guess that is, defy?
Austin: It's once again defy.
Dre: Yeah.
Austin: Defy very important for moving around and doing shit.
Dre: Uh... can I roll with advantage because I'm trying to be quick?
Austin: I don't think this is using speed, remember, we — see, now, 3 hours ago, Dre, you were on the other side. You were like, “That's being quick, it's not being speedy.”
Dre: Yeah.
Austin: Uh, and now, yeah, I think we gotta stick to that.
Ali: [chuckling]
Dre: No, you're right, you're right.
Austin: Relying on speed is about moving fast. It's not about reacting quickly.
Dre: Yeah. Yeah, no, for sure.
Austin: Right? So yeah, I think it's just... 2D6 plus 1.
Dre: Hm hm hm... sure, I'm just double-checking all my stuff here.
Austin: No, I get you. I get you.
Dre: I could roll channel, plus 3 right now.
Austin: You could roll channel. Plus 3! It would do, it would be real bad, even on a mixed success, I'm going to tell you, it would be bad.
Dre: Oh yeah. It'd be real bad.
Austin: In fact, based on — whoops, I didn't mean to do that, I fucked that up. Uh, I would, I would give you a burden if you even do it.
Dre: Oh.
Austin: And a, a, because remember, using channel is like, you're you're doing a thing that isn't a thing you're used to doing, right?
Dre: Sure, yeah.
Austin: And as it said, if you even do it more than once — and a burden takes away one of your downtime moves as you attend to that burden. That's what a burden is.
Dre: Yeah, yeah.
Austin: And if you mixed failed — mixed success or failed it, I would make you bite the dust to do it. So that's the stakes of channel. But, hey, I'm going to make you bite the dust if you get a, if you fail this thing anyway, you know?
Dre: Sure. Yeah.
Austin: Uh, I might do it if you mixed success, depending on what the situation looks like.
Dre: [sighs]
Austin: So maybe channel's the right call, I don't know.
Dre: Let's, let's — huh. Huh. No, let's just, let's just, let's roll the defy. Let's do it. Let's do it.
Austin: Okay. Let me, let me give you the exact, let me give you the exact calculus, so that you can make a clear decision, and no one tells me that I'm being a piece of shit. If you get a mixed success on either of them, I'm going to make you bite the dust.
Dre: Okay.
Austin: If you get a — whether you succeed or fail on channel, you're going to take a burden. So even if you succeed you'll take a burden on that, whereas if you — you know, that's the tradeoff between the two. But maybe you get a, maybe you get a full success and then you don't have to worry about it.
Dre: I'm trying to do math in my head that I'm not smart enough to do.
Austin: That's how they get you.
Dre: Of like odds shit and everything.
Austin: I mean, the difference is a plus 1 versus a plus 3, right?
Dre: Yeah, it's a —
Austin: Uh, I don't know what those odds are off the top of my head. Plus 3 is better, but...
Dre: No, me neither. Let's just do defy. Let's just do weather the storm.
Austin: Okay. You're trying to just scoop her up real quick.
Dre: Yeah.
Austin: Yep. 2D6 plus 1.
Dre: [groans] Ugh... oh, let's go!
Austin: Yo! That's a 12.
Dre: [laughing]
Austin: She is scooped. You scooped her.
Sylvi: Wow.
Keith: Lot of 12s today.
Dre: A 12, Jesus.
Ali: Oh my god.
Austin: She's —
Keith: This is the 12iest episode of all time.
Ali: [chuckling]
Austin: But also there have been some like, low-ass rolls, so, it's been a fun mix. There are, you're, you're under fire as this happens. You're dodging bullets, you reach in, you pick her up, she's in hour hand. She's continuing, there's a, there's an emission of goop as you continue to hold her. It's just not sticking together. Like, she's constantly, like, there's an excess of the Iconoclast goop running through your fingers.
Dre: Eugh...
Austin: It just won't, she, it won't cohere and let her be big again, as she is knocked out. So, yeah, you got her in your hand.
Dre: Yeah. I would love to activate my chameleon cloak —
Austin: Boom, done. You are invisible.
Dre: And turn invisible and just get out of here.
Austin: You're invisible. Boom. Put yourself where you want to be.
Dre: Uh, and I communicate that.
Austin: The rest of —
Dre: I communicate that, that like, we can go.
Austin: Mm-hm. Cool. Uh, Cori and Thisbe?
Sylvi: Now, can — can we — I don't know if I can go yet! [chuckles]
Austin: You're defenseless.
Sylvi: That's why.
Austin: Mmm.
Sylvi: Am I able to leave like this?
Austin: You can again make a —
Sylvi: Or...
Austin: You can make a, a, a weather the storm roll to try to get distance and get away, before you get kind of sniped in between these two.
Sylvi: Okay.
Austin: Or, or, you know, pincered between the Bouquet on your southeast and then the two Billhooks to the north.
Sylvi: I will do that. Uh, I just want to make sure — actually, I probably don't need it but I just want to make sure. Do we have any mother. We don't, I know that all the hold's been used, but I don't know if, that we cashed in all the bonuses from them being used?
Austin: I think you still have one —
Sylvi: I'm pretty sure we did.
Austin: Regular-ass hold left, unless you spent that, from the plan and prepare roll. That was like a —
Sylvi: Okay.
Austin: You could spend that on a regular move, or a special move, where it's like, “Read the room, spend hold.” I think you might still have those, if you have it written down somewhere.
Sylvi: Mmm, I don't know if I do.
Austin: You might not.
Sylvi: It's fine.
Austin: Uh...
Sylvi: So I'm just going to weather the storm through this. I think it is like, a lot of just like, willing the, the chariot to move at this point.
Austin: Mm-hm. Yeah. Uh, and you're going to roll this, you're not, you're not spell routines-ing.
Sylvi: No, I'm just going to roll this.
Austin: Yeah, okay.
Keith: Is there any way that like —
Sylvi: And I'm going to fail it. [chuckling]
Austin: Oh my god.
Keith: The Blue Channel crew can assist or anything with this?
Austin: You can roll, you can roll plus crew to aid or interfere, to help or hinder.
Ali: And that's a plus 3, baby.
Austin: So... well, it's a, it's a...
Keith: 3... yeah, it is a plus 3. Yeah.
Austin: Well, that's the score, but when you help or hinder. When you help or hinder, you don't roll your score. You roll...
Keith: Yeah.
Austin: Plus 1 if you spent meaningful time together before this sortie.
Keith: But, isn't the, isn't the point of the crew, you roll crew instead of what you would normally roll?
Austin: It is, but help or hinder doesn't have a stat in that way anyway.
Dre: Yeah, I think that would override it.
Ali: Oh, sure.
Austin: I'm not sure.
Keith: Well, isn't it what you would normally roll is your, is your — is a gravity clock.
Austin: Instead of, it's a — yes. It says, well no, it's, it's not a gravity clock.
Keith: Oh.
Austin: It's, if you have, they're part of one of your hooks, if they've helped or hindered you previously, and if you spent meaningful time together. That's for help and hinder. Gravity clock can be rolled for other, different things. In fact, gravity clock can always be rolled in, instead of, in the same way.
1:14:53.1 But in this case, it does explicitly say, you may make a move using plus crew instead of the usual value.
Keith: Right.
Austin: So I think that still applies here for sure.
Keith: Right. Yeah. I agree.
Austin: So yes, it could be a plus 3, it could be 2D6 plus 3 if you want to cash this in, and tell me what it's like. It would still be a mixed success here, to be clear, because that bonus is only going to give you — oh, no, sorry, it wouldn't even be a plus — if they succeed, you would get to roll another die. You get to take advantage, so it would come down to another die roll, still, which is — it's possible.
Keith: It's a better than — it's like a better than a coin flip.
Austin: I think so. So yeah.
Keith: It's like a 66 percent chance.
Austin: Sylvi, do you want to roll the 2D6 plus 3 to see if they can give you advantage?
Sylvi: I would love that.
Austin: Give me the roll.
Sylvi: It's an 11.
Austin: That's an 11.
Sylvi: So am I just rolling an extra die, though?
Austin: You're rolling 1D6, and you'll add it to, to 4, basically, if it's higher than a 2, you know? 3, 4, 5, 6, 7! That's a partial success now.
Sylvi: It's a 7!
Dre: That's what we needed.
Austin: That's a 7, that's what you needed. [chuckles] Uh, so —
Keith: Wow.
Austin: So what's this, what's this look like, as they — I mean, again, I'm going to, you're going to get hit here again in some way as you —
Sylvi: Yeah.
Austin: As you try to weather the storm on a 7 to 9. Uh, but tell me what the, tell me what the ship decloaking to help you looks like.
Sylvi: Uh... I think that like, looking at just the positioning of things, I feel like I'm taking a lot of fire from the back, uh, with the bouquet, just like, blasting.
Austin: Yeah.
Sylvi: And I'm wondering if what the ship does is... not necessarily get in the way of that, but like, get in the — like, because it's decloaking and getting in the way of the Billhooks, or like —
Austin: Mm-hm.
Sylvi: Taking aim at them, the Bouquet starts, like, shooting at that, but it's like, not enough to really affect the Blue Channel.
Austin: Right, right. It's able to like, take those shots in from you without it being like a big deal, basically?
Sylvi: Yeah.
Austin: Yeah, that makes sense to me. However, on your 7 to 9 on weather the storm, 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'm going to ask you to make a difficult choice.
Sylvi: Okay.
Austin: Either you make it on the ship but get hit in the back as you do, and you will be safe, but I will ask you to bite the dust as you take your landing, like as you land onboard the ship, as a stray round — actually, it's not a stray round. It's a, it's — Ramondre or Ignadiah will have hit you with this, like, this extended, like, cloth whip thing that they can do. Uh, uh, as you land. Or, the, uh, the ship itself will be hit, and take, uh, a peril from one of these, uh, uh, one of the, the Billhooks.
Sylvi: Ooh...
Austin: So either you bite the dust, or the ship takes a peril. As they start tearing into it.
Sylvi: I'm going to bite the dust. I'm going to bite the dust. I think that sounds fun.
Austin: Okay. All right.
Sylvi: So this is defy, right?
Austin: This is our first bite the dust. I'm going to read the full bite the dust descriptions.
Sylvi: Please do.
Austin: When something dangerous slips through your defenses, you're caught off-guard, or someone delivers those perfect words to tear you down, you're at risk of biting the dusk. When you do so, roll plus defy. It's roll 10 plus, roll the plus defy, and see how it goes.
Sylvi: I got a 9.
Austin: Okay, you got a 9. On a 10-plus, they miss, hesitate, or you're saved by sheer luck. You rally and clear a risk if you have one. On a 7 to 9, retreat from the sortie safely or be put in peril, uh, which at this point is, it seems pretty clear, you're retreating, right?
Sylvi: I mean... [laughing]
Austin: On a fail —
Sylvi: Yeah.
Austin: Just so we know, that strike sure was decisive. Decide with your director the consequences of what has happened to you, what was damaged, what have you lost, who and what is changed by your defeat. If you survive, you are changed by your defeat. As well as the above, then you would choose to deepen hooks, loosen hooks, take a burden, or choose a new, uh, play book. What I'm going to ask you here is, I mean, again, I'm guessing you're not going to be put in peril. You've already, I already, at, you're already defenseless, and if you take another danger at the point at which you're defenseless, you instead take a burden.
Sylvi: Mm-hm.
Austin: So this will mean you're out of the sortie. You will not be able to help, you will not be able to like, man one of the guns of the Blue Channel. You're out. Is that, is that fair?
Sylvi: Yeah, no, that's fine, man. I need a blood transfusion.
Austin: [chuckling] Yeah, what's it look like as they, they wrap this like — they fire off, uh, I think I'm going to say it is, honestly, it's both of them. One of them grabs one of your legs and the other one grans the other, and they're like, trying to pull you, yank you off of the Blue Channel's —
Sylvi: Don't wishbone me!
Austin: [chuckles] They're trying — out of the Blue Channel's, like, big, uh, the rear hangar. Uh, and they're trying to like, rip your legs off, right? And you're hooked into the, the pennant system right now. So this feels terrible. And the, the Blue Channel's doors —
Sylvi: Mm-hm.
Austin: Like, the hangar doors closing, uh, and I think at this point little Apepsis drones are trying to like, carve the, the textile, the cloth banners that have you tied up, they're try to like carve them away, so that you can safely, so they can close the door safely. And they manage to do that, but you are in intense pain, and, and collapse inside of the hangar, and lose consciousness.
1:20:23.5
Sylvi: Yeah, I think I — I like the idea of her straight-up falling out of the cockpit afterwards.
Austin: Uh-huh.
Sylvi: Yeah.
Austin: Love it. Uh... that leaves us with Thisbe, and Mow.
Janine: Uh, I'm hitting the bricks.
Austin: [laughing]
Dre: Sure.
Austin: All right, I similarly will need you to make a weather the storm to get out of here.
Janine: Okay. Uh...
Austin: I don't have a Blue Channel icon, I gotta get a Blue Channel icon going here.
Janine: Uh... I do.
Austin: Uh, what is your defy? I'm guessing you're using defy here again and not channel.
Janine: I'm using channel!
Austin: You are using channel, what's your channel?
Janine: Yes, because that's what my weather the storm, that's, I got the thing. I got —
Austin: Oh, you do.
Janine: I got input channel, which lets me use channel for weather the storm, because my defy is zero.
Austin: Because your defy is zero, yes. And your channel can be higher depending on what you take from stuff and what you don't take, so —
Janine: Yes. My channel can be from 0 to 3.
Austin: All right. So, 2D6 plus 1.
Janine: 12!
Austin: Oh, that's a 12. 6 plus 5 plus 1. Uh, with everything else happening, I think you're able to slip away here —
Janine: Yeah...
Austin: Without, without too much —
Janine: It's funny, like, Mow is like, the least spectacular of everything happening here, other than maybe the train.
Austin: Uh-huh. The train —
Janine: Like, he's more spectacular than the train, but — he's big farm equipment with a milk truck paint job, and there's a big goat lady, and there's a lot of other more impressive stuff happening right now. [chuckling]
Keith: I don't know why big farm equipment with a milk truck paint job isn't spectacular.
Dre: [singsonging “Ice cream paint job”] Milk truck paint job...
Austin: I was going to say, Dre, like —
Janine: [laughing]
Sylvi: Yeah. Yeah.
Austin: It has the most, like, Houston hip-hop flow — “big farm equipment with the milk truck paint job.”
Janine: [chuckling]
Ali: [laughing]
Austin: Like, I'm in it, let's go.
Sylvi: I love it. I ride with Thisbe.
Austin: I ride with Thisbe.
Dre: And so does Paul Wall.
Austin: [chuckling] And so does Paul Wall! God. All right. Uh... and, and I think at this point, you know, I'm not going to make the crew roll here. I think the Blue Channel continues to get hit a little bit, but is able to recloak and pull away from this sortie, disappearing into the Twilight Mirage clouds. Though you do now still have a conversation to have, maybe, uh, which is — you've kidnapped the Iconoclast, uh, what are you doing? Figure seems to have a desire. Figure, are you, are you insisting that you go to the drop-off point? What are you doing?
Dre: Yeah.
Austin: Uh, I think Hunting, who's at the controls of the ship, is that correct, Brnine? Is that who would be piloting the ship at this point, or would somebody else be piloting it?
Ali: Uh, probably. He'd at least be in the... yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Austin: Okay. Uh, uh, he is piloting it, and he's like,
(as Hunting): You want me to go where? No, we have a, we have a rendezvous point already.
Figure: Oh, yeah, that's fine. I don't need the ship to come with me.
Hunting: You're just going to go by yourself, across all of the Bontive Valley while everybody's, while the whole military's activated and looking for you? What are you doing?
Figure: I did not think about the whole military being active and looking for me... I mean, yeah, if the Blue Channel is cool with picking me up and taking me where I need to go to drop this person off.
Hunting: I need to clear that by Brnine first.
Austin: Brnine, you're overhearing the interrogation of Phrygian, and your phone keeps buzzing.
Ali: [chuckling]
Janine: Can I add to this also? I —
Austin: Please.
Janine: I think once Thisbe is, like, once there is some safe distance, I think she — [sighs] would she, how — could she, she must be able to send Brnine a text internally or something, right? Or like through Mow.
Austin: I think so. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Janine: Because I feel like she would, once they were somewhere safe, rather than, like, dealing with the ship or anything, uh, telling people, talking to people on the ship, I think she would specifically just text Brnine like, uh, — “Operant — Figure in Bismuth?” I never figured that out, huh.
Austin: What, whether they're operants or not? Or, oh, figure.
Janine: How, you — would it be like, Operant Figure? Operant Bismuth? Operant Figure in Bismuth?
Austin: Right.
Janine: Uh... Operant Bismuth sounds the least weird of all those, but I don't know. [chuckles] That feels like a conversation we would have had 5 years ago. Uh...
Dre: [laughing]
Janine: I... yeah. I, so she, she texts like, “Operant Bismuth received orders from the Witch in Glass to retrieve our target.” Just as a like, hey, here's some info. Not that friendly, but, you know.
Ali: [giggling]
Janine: It just feels like a thing where it's like, chain of command stuff of like, yeah, Brnine should know that this... yeah.
Austin: Mm-hm.
Ali: While simultaneously getting a text from Hunting that's like, “Hey... am I allowed to do this?”.
Janine: Yeah. [chuckles]
Austin: Uh-huh. Yeah.
Janine: Yes, exactly.
Austin: Also, I said your phone, but is this the sort of information that would pop up in your scouter? [chuckles]
Ali: I don't think I'm wearing the scouter to the party...
Austin: Oh, good, sure, right.
Dre: Oh, sure, that'd be very gauche.
Austin: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Ali: Uh...
Keith: I think it would be a really awesome statement.
Ali: It would be a really awesome statement. But I didn't —
Austin: But I think it would clash with your neck visor.
Ali: [laughing]
Janine: Isn't it a masquerade party anyway? So it's like wearing glasses to the masquerade party. That's not a mask.
Ali: Sure... but then I'm so identifiable by my visor, usually, you know what I mean?
Dre: Mmm...
Austin: [chuckling] I guess.
Dre: Yeah.
Ali: [giggling] Uh, anyway, so I think that, uh, I can do this, this is... great. Because I can, I can listen in on this interrogation by leaning against the wall and texting a bunch of people at once, because that is apparently what my day is now.
Janine: [chuckles]
Dre: Heavy is the head that wears the crown, Brnine.
Ali: [giggling]
Austin: Yeah, that's management.
Ali: [laughing] And I think the responses that Thisbe gets back is... because, Thisbe is the one who specifically mentions the Witch in Glass, uh, is, “Fuck that. Oh, wait. Doesn't Figure have a thing with her?” Uh... and then —
Dre: [laughing] Yeah, a thing.
Ali: [laughing]
1:27:06.2 Uh, and then I switch to the Hunting chat, and Hunting is just like, “Hey, do I have permission to go to the Crown of Glass?”
Dre: Oh.
Austin: The dropoff point, uh, is, uh, is to the west. I'm going to pull us off of the combat map and back over to Operation: Midnight Lapidary. Uh, it's this little, like, this little nubbin here. I'll just circle it really quick. It's here.
Janine: Operation: Midnight Nubbin.
Keith: So we —
Austin: Uh-huh.
Keith: We are taking, or they — everyone, everyone that's not me and Brnine —
Austin: Yeah.
Keith: Are taking Gem to the Witch?
Austin: It seems like that's happening right now.
Janine: I would not want to — [chuckles] if Thisbe finds out about that, like, if that, if that crosses in front of Thisbe, I, I I don't know.
Austin: Who, wait, actually, wait, who heard, wait, who did you just tell about that, Figure, or did you not say who you're bringing it to? You just said you have to drop her off somewhere?
Keith: No, I thought, I'm pretty sure that —
Dre: No, I said, the Witch, the Witch needs —
Janine: They, they said on the radio —
Austin: Yeah, you did. Yeah.
Janine: Or on the thing. Straight up.
Keith: Yeah, to Thisbe, I thought.
Austin: I think, yeah, I think everybody knows at this point, unless Thisbe, you've not told people.
Dre: No, that's, I think — yeah. Everybody knows.
Austin: I imagine Hunting is listening into all your radio comms, do you know what I mean? So I think at that point, yeah.
Dre: [unintelligible]
Austin: And you know Hunting, yeah, Hunting [chuckles] immediately messaged, at that point messaged the rest of the crew, uh, messaged Routine and Midnight, and was like, “Uh, do we have a special thing going with the Witch in Glass? Why are we... Figure just said...”
Ali: [laughing]
Austin: “They just said that we're going to take our target to the Witch in Glass???” Question mark, question mark, question mark.
Keith: The words were, “The Witch demands her.”
Austin: [laughing] That was the words, yeah.
Dre: Is that chill? Is that what we do now?
Austin: Is that chill? Are we doing that?
Keith: I thought, I thought, I thought we had slid into that we were definitely going to do that a little easy.
Ali: Hm?
Austin: What do you mean?
Keith: Well it just, it felt like, if everyone was like, oh, yeah, we're just going to take her here.
Janine: The, the thing that happened —
Austin: Oh, oh, oh. No, I don't — that's what we're, we're figuring it out.
Keith: Oh, okay.
Janine: The thing that happened is that Figure knew, Figure knew that one parent would say no, and the other parent might say yes, so they just —
Austin: Uh-huh.
Janine: Skipped to asking the parent who might say yes.
Ali: [laughing]
Austin: Uh-huh.
Dre: Yeah. Duh. I want to go to Blockbuster.
Ali: Hunting is the, the rookie babysitter at the helm of the ship.
Austin: That's exactly right.
Ali: Is like —
Austin: Yeah. Substitute teacher energy.
Ali: Can you drive me to Blockbuster? [chuckling]
Dre: [laughs]
Keith: Uh, we were supposed to watch a movie today.
Janine: Figure said —
Dre: Yeah, on Fridays we always watch Bill Nye.
Janine: Figure said we have pizza for dinner, I guess I have to get pizza now.
Ali: [laughing]
Austin: Pizza.
Ali: I mean, if you're going to make this be Brnine's decision instead of arguing amongst yourselves... uh...
Austin: I mean, Brnine could just not answer. Brnine could be busy. I mean —
Dre: Yeah, you could pull a Gucci.
Austin: Make the decision, Ali, that you the writer wants to make here.
Ali: Sure sure sure sure. Yeah.
Austin: Because it would be very easy for you to just not answer your phone while you're trying to overhear Phrygian's interrogation. Especially because you're already mad at Gucci, and so it would be very easy for us to, to frame it such —
Janine: [laughing]
Austin: That you think it's Gucci texting you.
Keith: True. But we also have established that Brnine is freaking out over the crew.
Janine: That's true.
Ali: Yeah.
Austin: Right, but now, Phrygian's being interrogated. I think we could go any way we want to here.
Dre: Yeah, yeah.
Keith: I agree.
Austin: Whatever the most interesting way is.
Keith: I think we do — anything could happen.
Austin: Yeah.
Ali: Okay, yeah. So I think — I, but I, uh... I think Thisbe gets the text that I said, which was, fuck that, wait a minute, doesn't Figure have a relationship with her, or a thing with her? Uh, and then says, “Are you okay?” And then looks at the Hunting texts and says, “Are you okay?” And then like, going to the Discord messages, goes to the like crew private group chat that like [laughing] Hunting was saying all those messages in —
Austin: God.
Ali: And says, sees like, 20 mixed messages. And then just puts their phone back in their — well, no no, like, waits for responses from Hunting and Thisbe with regards to, “Are you okay?” But once they're like, “Yeah.”
Austin: Uh-huh.
Ali: [wheezes] Puts their phone back in their pocket and focuses on this Phrygian thing.
Austin: So, does not give clear...
Janine: There's no answer.
Ali: Yeah, basically, no.
Austin: There's no answer. Yeah, perfect, love it. Fantastic.
Ali: [chuckles] I guess Thisbe could be like, “They said fuck that, and then recanted on it.” But... [wheezes]
Austin: Mmm. But didn't really lean for sure in one direction or another.
Ali: Right. Yeah, and I don't think that Thisbe is the like character who interpret that. Like, if Cori got those texts —
Austin: Right.
Ali: She would, she would maybe [laughing] think about it differently. But Thisbe is like, “Hm.”
Janine: I think if, if, if It Thisbe's in the room while it's being debated, I think she would read the texts out verbatim.
Ali: [wheezes]
Austin: Can I get that, please? Can I have — I think that's happening. That feels like it's happening.
Janine: Okay, so what's the — we need the, we need the moment of like, the conversation.
Austin: Yeah. Uh... it is, it is, Figure, can you lead into this? Figure, you're explaining that you need to do this, to Hunting. Is this where, you already said, “The Witch demands it,” once.
Dre: Yeah.
Austin: Hunting is confused and is asking for clarity.
Hunting: What do you mean, what do you — where do you have to take her?
Figure: She just gave me a dropoff point.
Hunting: I don't know that Brnine — I'm texting Brnine again.
Thisbe: I reported — I reported this to Operant Brnine. And they responded, “Fuck that.” End of message. “Wait.” End of message. “Doesn't Figure have a thing with her?” End of message. “Are you okay?” End of message.
Hunting: I think we're okay — I think Saffron's taking care of — look, let — let them know that Saffron's taking care of Cori. Cori got hurt pretty bad, but Cori's okay. We're okay. We're okay.
Janine: Thisbe sends a voice message that has that.
Austin: Uh, Cori, by the way, as you dream, you have the, there's the, uh, the big, as you dream, because you're knocked the fuck out, and Saffron, is attending — Saffron Septet is attending to you in one of, in her, uh, her operation, like her surgery body, she has like, a bunch of extra arms, some of which are humanoid arms, and some of which are like, cool, regular-ass, just like, claw arms that can hold things. Uh, she is like, attending to you and making sure you're okay. As you dream, you have that same vision of all of the different eyes, most of are on fire. And one of them is, is the kind of crying eye of Devotion.
1:33:46.0 And that one is being covered up by the sort of, uh, I imagine that the, the cloth banners of the Billhooks are sort of similar to when we saw, uh... Morning Bride piloting the, the kind of cloth banner Divine. What was that Divine called? Was that Order? No, that wasn't Order, that was Law, the Divine Law, I want to say, in Partizan.
Keith: Sick divine. Most normal Divine.
Austin: Most normal Divine possible. Maybe that was not Law. Maybe that was somebody — I forget the actual name of the one that Morning Bride was piloting there. Uh...
Ali: Oh, we just did a postcard about that, and I don't have any — oh, yes I do. Sorry. [laughing]
Austin: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Ali: Uh, that was... Law? It was a combination of Order and, uh, Courage.
Austin: And Courage. — oh, Courage. It was Courage, is it the one that she, she first shows up piloting, the Divine Courage. Yes. Which is the red cloth and flags. But in my mind this is similar to that, but also with a bunch of geometric patterns, almost like, almost like, uh, like ruglike patterns on them. And that sort of textile cloth, Cori, is covering up, is like, you know, wrapping around the crying eye of Devotion to hide it from you. Uh, uh, and you can hear, even now removed from the conflict, as if it's like, as if having the bits of the banners from the Billhooks on board, that are like, filled with Divine energy, are still connecting their minds to you. You can hear the two Swordbearers in your head, calling you a heretic and a fool, as you like, slumber in unconsciousness. “You don't even know the being you pray to,” you know, taunting you.
1:35:32.9 So by the way, you're — but Hunting is like, “I'm pretty sure Saffron's helping Cori. I bet Cori's okay. Don't worry about it.” Uh, [chuckling] et cetera on the long text back to Brnine. But yeah, it sounds like it's going to be the, the decision of the people left behind, instead of the captain's decision, about what to do with this person.
Sylvi: Cori's sending the, “I lived, bitch,” text when she gets up.
Ali: [laughing]
Austin: Uh-huh. Love it.
Sylvi: Except she'd censor it, she wouldn't say that.
Austin: She wouldn't, she wouldn't curse.
Sylvi: “I lived, buddy.”
Austin: [laughs] So, what's the decision being made? I think Hunting is now looking at the rest of you. You're the crew who have been on here the longest, looking to Thisbe and Figure. And I guess Cori's knocked out, so it's between Thisbe and Figure.
Sylvi: Yeah, I was going to say, I don't think I have an input here.
Austin: Yeah.
Keith: I, “fuck that,” is so definitive to me. Like —
Ali: [laughing]
Keith: “Fuck that. Wait.” Yeah, “fuck that, wait.” That means no.
Ali: [laughing]
Dre: Listen, follow up questions are important.
Ali: Yeah.
Austin: They are. But they're not coming, so what's this conversation look like? Thisbe, are you just going to... Hunting is looking to you, to make a call.
Janine: I think Thisbe, uh... mmm. Thisbe's going to say something to the effective of... they... [sighs]
Thisbe: They are very dangerous. I do not know that we are capable of containing them. I... am also wary of the Witch's motives in wishing to contain them. This is not a being that should be.
Janine: Or can be, I guess, is actually...
Austin: Mmm.
Janine: No, I think she sticks with like, you know, this... this being is not safe.
Figure: Thisbe, what is the most inconsequential tool you use every day?
Janine: Uh, my knee-jerk reaction is like, too, it's too deep. Uh... my knee-jerk thought was, was that like, would Thisbe say, “Me.” But I don't, I don't know that that's true.
Austin: Damn.
Dre: Yeah.
Janine: Uh...
Dre: Like, like an answer for, like if someone asked me this question, it would be a pen, right? Like —
Austin: You, Dre.
Dre: A pen is a completely inconsequential — yeah, me being Dre.
Austin: Right. Yeah.
Dre: A pen is a completely inconsequential thing, but I use one every single day.
Janine: I... ugh. I feel so bad, because Thisbe always kind of shuts people out instead of having moments, but I think she would just stare at this. Because I think like, given her relationship with tools, you know, Mow being an example, herself being an example —
Dre: Sure.
Janine: Like, farming equipment is something that she, like, relates to on a personal level. Uh... that's a hard, that's a harder question for her than it, than it maybe would be. But she's also not going to like, completely shut it down. She's just kind of like, waiting for more explanation, I guess.
Dre: Yeah. Uh, I think, then... then Figure like, redirects the question.
Figure: Hunting.
Hunting: Yeah?
Figure: What about you?
Hunting: Uh, it's, it's my — it's the clock. It's the clock. I use a clock. Everything has to be on time. Uh... if I'm a little bit late on an analysis run, if I'm a little bit late on a delivery, uh, if, if, you know, if I defrag something and it takes too long, it throws the rest of the day off. Uh, so I'm just always checking the clock. You know, I have — do you, are you like, do you like watches? I kind of like watches.
Figure: Sure.
Hunting: I have this watch, it has an extra chronometer on it, uh, that, we could — do you want to see my watches?
Figure: What's the cheapest watch, what's the cheapest clock that you own?
Hunting: Uh, I have a little — when I wake up, I like, I like it when we're traveling north-south, because then the windows can get the sun. Uh, and, uh, I can, I can see the sun. I have a little sundial on the dresser in quarters. And it doesn't really work, it doesn't show good time. But the sun can hit it sometimes, if it's lined up right —
Figure: Sure.
1:39:57.8
Hunting: Uh, and it’s sometimes like the first thing I see in the morning.
Figure: What if, while you're cleaning, you accidentally knock over your sundial, and it's chipped? And the part that catches the sun to create a shadow doesn't work anymore? What would you do?
Hunting: It wouldn't be a sundial anymore. I'd just get a new one. I mean, I wouldn't be able to replace this one, because this one was a gift, uh, it's a — I hope that doesn't happen, uh, but I, I'd replace it, or I'd set an alarm on my phone maybe, instead.
Figure: It's nice that —
Austin: That doesn't make any sense. Wait, doesn't make sense. That suggests that — maybe that's what it is. It's a sundial alarm clock. [laughing]
Keith: It's a digital sundial alarm clock.
Austin: It's a digital sundial, yeah, yeah, yeah. It can either use its own, the real sunlight, or it can use an internal clock function, uh...
Ali: [giggling]
Dre: [chuckling]
Austin: That produces its own little light, you know, thing? Anyway. Digital sundial's very funny.
Figure: What you need to understand, Hunting and Thisbe, is that I am her sundial. But she has no sentimentality for me.
Hunting: She wouldn't... try to fix you. If you broke.
Figure: Oh, that would be the kindest thing she could do.
Hunting: Not fixing you? That sounds... you're a tool. I don't mean that, I don't, you're not — I don't mean that you're —
Sylvi: [laughing]
Ali: [giggling]
Hunting: You mean she, I mean she sees you like one, instead of like a person.
Figure: That's what I am.
Austin: He takes a beat, and he thinks to himself: What would Brnine say? And he says —
Hunting: You're not a tool. You're a member of the Blue Channel.
Ali: [laughing quietly]
Hunting: You're a member of Millennium Break. I don't care what some witch says. I'm glad you're okay.
Figure: If I can't take this creature... I am... I will be useless to her, and eventually I will be useless to you, because I will be nothing. I might make a nice sundial.
Hunting: That's a pretty good case, Thisbe.
Austin: Ugh...
Figure: You might have to shave down portions of this.
Dre: And he like, taps his head.
Austin: Ugh. You get puppy dog eyes, Thisbe, from Hunting.
1:42:22.1
Janine: Thisbe looks back with [chuckling] with her big, red eyes.
Austin: [laughing] Oh, no, you're still in safe mode.
Ali: Ugh!!!!
Janine: Uh-huh.
Dre: Duel of the Fates starts playing.
Austin: Uh-huh. [chuckling]
Dre: [chuckling]
Janine: I think Thisbe looks back and forth, with those, with those big red eyes. Maybe there's like a subtle pulse to them, because it is kind of like, you know.
Austin: Mm-hm.
Janine: Uh, and then she says, uh...
Thisbe: Operant Bismuth is a person. The Witch in Glass is not worthy of you.
Janine: But it is with like a tone of like, this isn't saying, like, “Nah, fuck her.” This is, this is like a... uh, Thisbe is sort of like relenting.
Austin: Mmm.
Janine: Uh, and I think she just like, goes back to the cargo hold.
Austin: Right.
(as Hunting): Give me those coordinates.
Austin: Says Hunting. Uh, and I am going to make one more roll for the crew. Can someone roll a weather the storm for the crew, here —
Ali: Sure.
Austin: To see if they get away with this without being, without, you know, any sort of ill effects here. So, 3D6, or 2D6 plus, plus 3. Oh, that's a 13. Easy. Decloak. Land on the shoreline. Uh, you carry, you — how do you, how do you carry the Usher out of the ship, Figure? Is it by hand? Are you getting back in the Devil's Two Front Teeth? What is the —
Dre: I mean, I think I have to.
Austin: Yeah. She's back down to human size, at this point. She's just a goopy mess.
Dre: Yeah, but like —
Janine: Can you just leave her in a big paper bag on the front doorstep?
Sylvi: [laughing]
Ali: [chuckles]
Dre: And then light it on fire?
Sylvi: Oh, then you set it on fire!
Janine: Yeah, yeah.
Keith: Yeah, then you ring the doorbell, stomp on it. “Oh, I got, eugh —“
Ali: [laughing]
Sylvi: Aw, I got goop on my foot!
Keith: Third time this week I got gooped!
Austin: [laughing]
Dre: [chuckling]
Austin: Uh, yeah. You take her out there, and as promised, there is a receptacle. It is a large, stone, like, cement, uh, not a coffin, but a, like a — what's the —
Janine: A sarcophagus?
Austin: Like a sarcophagus, yeah. Uh-huh. Made of the concrete that she and the, uh, the other Iconoclasts that the Rapid Evening captured millennia ago had been contained in. Uh, and as you put her body in there and put the lid on, the lid, like, drips more of that, of like the material, the concrete, which then seals up in — it seals it up. It fills the crevice inside of the sarcophagus up with this fast-sealing concrete, uh, which we've also seen before, many years ago. But here, instead of being the kind of, like, the Concrete Town brutalist concrete, it's all, like, the sarcophagus looks like a cool, fucked-up witch sarcophagus, you know what I mean?
1:45:10.4 We are in Elden Ring sarcophagi land, we are in fantasy mode here. Uh, and you're, you, you've been told to just push this into the sea. Uh, and it somehow floats away into the ocean, and then dips behind a wave — and, I'm guessing you do that, Figure? I shouldn't just — uh, and it does, it floats away somehow, and then as if it's finally taken on enough water, you know, the concrete has been subsumed by the water enough, it's porous enough that it takes it on, it finally dips into the sea, presumably to be retrieved by another one of the Witch's agents later.
1:45:52.2 Uh... so —
Keith: Maybe, maybe they just want to get rid of it.
Austin: Yeah. Uh-huh. Yeah. Maybe the Witch in Glass doesn't want to use the Iconoclasts' power, maybe, maybe she doesn't see it as some sort of special key through which she can unlock more, more of Perennial's power for herself.
Janine: Definitely not.
Austin: Uh, maybe she just, maybe she just wants to do the right thing, and make sure no one else, uh, encounters this terrible thing.
Dre: Yeah! That'd be... nice.
Austin: Mm-hm. We don't have to do this whole Phrygian interrogation, because I don't think there's much to it. Uh... I mean, it's a long thing. They ask you to recount every step you took with this person, and any information you gave them. Uh, there's no evidence that they're a spy, but they weren't supposed to be here. The person you know as Em is really known, is really named Marlon. They don't like that they gave you a fake name, or that they gave you a fake name. They don't like that he was here to begin with. Uh, they — again, they are being aggressive, but not cruel with you.
1:47:04.7 Uh, —
Keith: Mm-hm.
Austin: And, and, again, I'm not making you roll for this, because you weren't secretly being, you know, you weren't secretly a spy here, right?
Keith: Right.
Austin: You have the right answers for everything.
Keith: Yeah.
Austin: Uh, and Millennium Break fundamentally, or, you know, the Cause fundamentally trusts you.
Keith: And this isn't Sangfielle.
Austin: And it's not Sangfielle. Right, that is the, that is like, truly there's a genre difference here. Uh, and we've already kind of hit the way in which you're being misused and abused by your own leadership here. And something important is, the person you're talking to, Phrygian, is not a leader. Uh, uh, —
Keith: Right.
Austin: Vesper is a, uh, is a soldier. And in some ways, is much more down-to-earth than the rest of the Dim Liturgy, uh, because their job is to protect the people here, and they believe in all the prophesy stuff, but that's not what they're good at. And they're not necessarily attracted to that part of the Dim Liturgy. The part that they're attracted to is, thinking about things in big picture ways. Uh, they are, and I think that they, like, tend to also be curious about you in a, in a — they, in some ways they have some of the, the same thing Marlon did, which is like, wants to know about what your, your deal is, but is open —
1:48:17.6
Keith: They ask me all the same questions, all saying the same thing, it's like, “Oh, that's right, I —”
Ali: [laughing]
Austin: Yeah.
Keith: I heard people talking about that, I'm pretty sure that that was —
Austin: I'm pretty sure — but they just aren't as invested in it, in the same way, you know what I mean?
Keith: Yeah.
Austin: And they're, and they are, uh, I think again, this is someone who doesn't have any of the predisposition against you as a Branched, right? And generally, in a weird way, this becomes part of the meet and greet for you? Is, at some point it stops being an interrogation, and starts being a conversation. They dismiss their two other guards, who, Brnine, you just barely miss. They end up pouring you a drink, uh, and like, sharing stories about the early days of the occupation. Uh, and, it ends up being fine, somehow. Uh... Brnine, what's the rest of your night like, at this point?
1:49:10.8
Ali: Uh, tough, I guess. Because, you know, I, I think it's worthy to spend the hold here.
Austin: Yeah.
Ali: To like, have Brnine like, leaning against this wall...
Austin: Mm-hm.
Ali: Very anxiously. Uh, and like, people can stop by and be like, “Oh, I, you know, I, I saw you during the speech. I just want to say, hey, what's up?” And Brnine can like —
Austin: Yeah.
Ali: Continue to sort of like, refuse to leave from where they're standing, and sort of awkwardly, only half listen in to all the conversations that they're in, right?
Austin: Mm-hm.
Ali: Uh, but, that's what Brnine's night is like. And like, even when the conversation is getting nicer, right? Because like —
Austin: Yeah.
Ali: That is somehow even worse.
Austin: Yeah.
Ali: Phrygian is having [chuckling] their dream of like, “I'm having a normal conversation at a party,” which, it's not a normal conversation, but like —
Austin: No, no.
Ali: At least there's this like, social ground here that's like, “Oh, it's fine.”
Austin: Yeah.
Ali: But like, I don't think that Brnine feels okay about this until Phrygian leaves the room and says that it was fine.
Austin: Right, and says that it's fine. Yeah. At some point, August Righteousness approaches you, uh, and is like —
August: I'm sure you've heard by now? Uh, my understanding is, your crew is okay. It's not the way I wanted to do it.
Brnine: Wait, what?
August: You haven't heard. Uh... the Blue Channel's crew was part of a diversionary maneuver. Uh... they were bait. We took Carhaix. We took the entire northeast of the Bontive Valley. We'll have food for months. But it's not how I wanted to do it.
Keith: Is, is Phrygian out of the room? Is Phrygian here for this?
Austin: Up to you.
Keith: Uh... yeah. Yeah.
Brnine: How would you have done it?
1:51:16.9
August: I would have asked you to make, to make the sacrifice yourself, or to make, to take the risk yourself.
Brnine: Hm.
August: I wouldn't have just commanded you to do it.
Brnine: Mmm. Well, yeah, I think they're fine, so... thanks. How's your night going?
August: It's strange. Uh... these people from the Twilight Mirage are so light-hearted. They live in a different world. Uh, and I know they're under the crosshairs, but we've been filled with bullets already. So the lightness in their step, uh, frankly pisses me off.
Brnine: Hm. Yeah, well... it's what we're fighting for, right? People to walk like that?
August: You know, I forget that, occasionally. It’s hard to imagine. A joy to meet you both.
Austin: Offers you both his hand, to shake.
Ali: Yeah.
August: If you, if you need anything, get in touch.
Keith: Uh, Phrygian doesn't shake it.
Austin: Says —
August: Wait sorry, I have — I have something for you both.
Austin: Uh, and, uh, waves over to somebody that, uh, that he's with, uh, someone else from, from, uh, Jade Kill, uh, uh, in fact, I think this is somebody who was briefly on your ship, off-camera. Uh, this is Tessence Rey, who was a character in the postcards during the Partizan season. Uh, someone who, uh, you helped transport. Uh, actually, you would have worked with Tessence very briefly during the siege on the Columnar city. Uh, uh, when you rescued all the Equiaxed. Tessence is an Equiaxed, uh, who helped, uh, support the Equiaxed, was like a pilot for them, uh, and an early Millennium Break supporter. And Tessence comes over with two little wooden boxes. Uh, uh, they're like wooden, uh, not like — I guess like jewelry boxes. Very simple, uh, they, the wood has been stained a kind of light, uh, like reddish brown. Uh, uh, very simple hinges. On the top, there's like a photo that has been just kind of sealed on top of the wood.
1:53:50.5 Uh, and it is a picture of the Blue Channel, on both of them. Uh, and Tessence says,
(as Tessence): These are, uh, these are from Kalar.
And gives you both these boxes.
Tessence: Just in case we saw you, he said, you know, he couldn't come, he was… busy tonight…
Austin: And Tessence realizes you might not know yet about the offensive in the north of the Bontive Valley, uh, —
Ali: [chuckling]
Austin: And then says,
Tessence: They're gifts. Uh...
Keith: Did everybody know about this?
Austin: These are high-ranking people, in the specific group —
Keith: Oh, this other person is also high-ranking?
Austin: If they're here, they're high-ranking, yeah.
Keith: That's fair. We're here, though.
Ali: [laughing]
Austin: You're high-ranking.
Keith: And we didn't know.
Dre: Not enough.
Ali: [snorts]
Austin: I, you were — you were the bait.
Keith: Right.
Austin: You don't tell the bait not to swim, you know? [laughs] Uh, so...
Sylvi: Damn.
Keith: I just, out of all the things that we've been asked to do, to think that we wouldn't do something is — is odd.
Austin: That’s how this shit goes, uh-huh.
Ali: Yeah, there's, I'm going to have, we're going to have another iconic Gucci phone call in the future, I think.
Austin: Mm-hm.
Dre: Iconic Gucci phone call!
Ali: Yeah.
Austin: Does she know?
Ali: [cracks up] Uh, uh, I think... you know. Brnine, uh... is touched by this gesture.
Austin: Mm-hm.
Ali: I think that they react, facial expression-wise, like, probably like bigger than someone might expect, but then like, fully goes back into like shutdown, like,
Brnine: [stiffly] Oh, thank you, this is really nice.
Austin: Mm-hm.
1:55:37.4
Ali: Uh, which reminds me, can I, can I, can I catch Cori's dad before he leaves?
Austin: Sure.
Ali: Uh, and...
Griesel: Hey, you're, uh, you're Brnine. You're little Cori's captain.
Brnine: Oh, yeah. Oh, you know. Oh, this makes this easier. Hi.
Griesel: Oh, yeah.
Brnine: Uh, I, she — she wanted me to give this to you, if I — I'm Brnine. Kalvin Brnine, great to meet you.
Griesel: Right, right. Captain, Captain Brnine — yeah.
Sylvi: [laughing]
Ali: Reaching into the — I guess I don't, I keep, like —
Griesel: How's she doing? I haven't heard, I —
Brnine: Great.
Griesel: I know it's busy. She hasn't called, you know? So I just want to make sure she's okay, she's good.
Brnine: Yeah, she's, she's settling in great. I'm really, I'm really happy to have her…
Ali: Does he know about this?
Austin: He doesn't... he doesn't, I mean, I don't know, you ask me. You ask her. You ask him.
Ali: [laughing] Uh... [wheezes] Just fumbling around, and then just like hands over the picture, right? Like —
Brnine: Oh, she, you know, she's doing great.
Griesel: Oh, wow. This is great.
1:56:43.8
Keith: [laughing]
Austin: Holds it up, like, as if — the motion in my mind that he did is like, when you get handed a 20-dollar bill and you hold it up to the light to see if it's counterfeit or not, you know what I mean?
Ali: [laughing]
Dre: Mm-hm.
Austin: Holds it up —
Griesel: Oh, wow. She's really laying it all on the line. I'm really proud of her. You let her know. You let her know I'm really proud of her. That's my kid! That's my kid.
Sylvi: God.
Ali: [chuckling] Cori, in a hospital bed.
Austin: Uh-huh! Bleeding.
Ali: [chuckling] Because...
Austin: Bleeding from how the mech that the her father put her in, uh, uses her blood as fuel. [chuckles]
Ali: Uh-huh.
Sylvi: Uh-huh!
Dre: Mm-hm.
Sylvi: He's so proud.
Austin: He's so proud.
Sylvi: He's so proud. Damn. What was it that Figure said about Cori?
Dre: Uh, hold on, let me, let me find it.
Sylvi: Or the, the, the gravity clock?
Dre: Uh, Coriolis moves like she is also just a weapon.
Sylvi: Damn. Weird.
Austin: Damn. We got some — this crew is —
Sylvi: And people have to — wield us?
Austin: Has some problems.
Sylvi: Huh.
Ali: [laughs]
Keith: I'm fine.
Sylvi: It's Friends at the Table, come on.
Austin: Uh, what's your, what's your —
Sylvi: Yeah, [laughing] Phrygian's the most normal guy here.
Austin: Yeah. Is that your —
Ali: Eh, Phrygian has a bunch of baggage. We don't go into Phrygian's baggage much because we don't —
Austin: We don't. We don't, we don't.
Sylvi: Phrygian has a lot of baggage, but is also, I still stand by what I just said.
Ali: [laughing]
Janine: I'm just saying —
Keith: I agree. I also think Phrygian's the most normal guy —
Janine: Does, does Saffron have a degree in social work? Because that might really come in handy.
Ali: [wheezes]
Austin: I, I think probably, actually, right? Like...
Janine: Well.
Austin: The Mirage is filled with people who understand health as a holistic thing.
Janine: Uh-huh.
Austin: Uh, and —
Ali: She's about to be the Ted Lasso therapist?
Austin: [laughs] I think that, like —
Sylvi: Oh my god.
Ali: [wheezes]
Austin: The closest person —
Ali: [snorts]
Austin: Like, we talked about, like, oh, there are engineers who are from like, the Gig Kephart school.
Keith: Mm-hm.
Austin: And the closest character-wise that we have someone who was like a Saffron was Signet, in terms of like, “I'm here to hold space for people, I'm here to help people.”
Janine: Right.
Austin: I'm the stitch, I'm here to heal people in whatever way — so I think that, yeah, she has gone through that broad sense of training. Uh, you know? We could [sputters], we could do some of those conversations, at some point. I'm curious. She's a resource available to you. She's on the crew now, you know?
1:59:01.1 Uh, in some ways, she's also why this was kept as a secret, why the mission was kept as a secret, uh, and maybe even you get some of those texts, if you finally check them, was like, “We couldn't be sure of the Mirage people. We didn't, we wanted, we weren't sure that they could be trusted. If we told people that you were doing this, it could have leaked out.” That's what they say, anyway.
Keith: But if everyone else here knew — we, we didn't have any Mirage people with us.
Ali: Mm-hm. And you could assigned her to be like —
Austin: You do. You do have a Mirage person with you.
Keith: Oh, we do have one Mirage person with us, sure.
Austin: Yes, yes. I couldn't — you know, I think she anticipates that —
Ali: We'll have, we'll have this conversation in downtime. [wheezes] [laughing]
Austin: She anticipates that, she says, “We couldn't, we were told we had to give her to you immediately. This is why I tried to tell you ahead of time that it would be dangerous. I tried my best to —” and it's just, it's wall of text. It's wall of text.
Ali: Read, read, read, read, read, read, read — [wheezes]
Austin: Uh-huh. Mm-hm.
Ali: [chuckles]
Austin: And that's, and then, yeah. Uh, you know. Middle of the night, the Blue Channel docks to pick you up, at the Isle of the Broken Key. Which, you know, it's nice that the dropoff point for the sarcophagus thing was almost on the way to the Isle of the Broken Key, y'all just had to keep moving that direction to go pick up Phrygian and, and Brnine.
2:00:10.6
Ali: Yeah, thanks, Clem!
Austin: [sighs] Any final things as you reboard the, the ship? And Cori, you, you come to over the sea. You know, like what's the, what's our final shot for this adventure at this point?
Janine: Uh, I have an idea. [chuckles]
Austin: Please.
Janine: Uh, Thisbe putting a little potted flower in Cori's recovery area.
Sylvi: Aw!!
Austin: That's very good.
Sylvi: Mmm.
Janine: I don't know what kind of flower, but I imagine like, those really short kind of bushy, like, baby roses.
Austin: That's very good.
Sylvi: Ah, okay. Well, the last thing for Cori is waking up and seeing that.
Austin: Mm-hm. Amazing. Uh, do y'all open the boxes from Kalar?
Ali: Oh, did we not do that at the party?
Austin: I was asking. I mean, no one said — you got them, I don't know —
Keith: Yeah, yeah, I open it. I want to open it.
Austin: There's a little wooden whistle that can be played like a recorder. It's like, it can be — it's too small to be a recorder, but it can be played like a recorder. Uh, uh...
Keith: So it's like a tin flute?
Austin: Yeah, sort of like that. But it's made of wood. It's like a hand-carved thing, that's impossible, but we're in the wake of the Twilight Mirage, and Kalar has taken up a hobby, and it's making little wooden instruments. Uh, and there's a little handwritten note in each, and it says —
[static plays]
Austin: If you need anything, just whistle.
[MUSIC - “Nothing is Stationary” plays]
[1] Austin is referring to an illustration by Leah Hustak.