Transcriber: RoboticHousewife (RoboticHousewife#9179) 0:00:00-0:10:31
Giovanni Biasotti
AUSTIN: When Millenium Break’s request arrived, her instinct was to reject it on the spot. Even now, after remaking herself in renegade shape, she found that some loyalties beat like hearts, independent of one’s own free will. And this, for the Witch in Glass, this was infuriating. When she called her late mother to mind, she thought first of all the harsh words, and then the even harsher silences. The judgmental jabs at how she dressed, spoke, lived. The feeling of insecurity that she’d never even reach the edge of her mother’s shadow, let alone crawl out from under it. So why, after all of that, should she feel any hesitation in a betrayal like the one requested by those naive revolutionaries in Millenium Break? Was there some buried childhood memory of one good Summer? Some moment that made her miss the shape, if not the sharpness of her mother’s voice? No. In fact, her mother was anything but sentimental about trading things for power. Whether it was state secrets, the lives of others, or the rare small droplet of her affection, Crysanth was the definition of transactional. And yet, there was a lesson from Clementine’s mother that still pulsed through her veins, lied next to the sprouting Russian sage. Never let someone you give something to feel like they’ve earned it. They might spite you. They may hate themselves for dealing with you. They will swear to never walk through your door again, but they will. Because, if you make them really pay? They’ll never forget: They couldn’t do it without you.
AUSTIN: Welcome to Friends at the Table, an actual play podcast focused on critical world building, smart characterization, and fun interaction between good friends. I’m your host, Austin Walker, and today we are continuing our game of Beam Saber by Austin Ramsay, a hack of Blades in the Dark by John Harper. I am joined by Keith J. Carberry.
KEITH: Hi, my name’s Keith Carberry, you can find me on Twitter at @KeithJCarberry, and you can find the Let’s Plays that I do at youtube.com/runbutton.
AUSTIN: Art Martinez-Tebbel.
ART: Hey, you can find me on Twitter at @atebbel, and, uh, go to Fangamer and buy our new merchandise.
AUSTIN: Do that. That’s a good idea. Uh, Andrew Lee Swan.
DRE: Hey, you can find me on Twitter at @swandree3000.
AUSTIN: And Jack de Quidt.
JACK: Hi, you can find me on Twitter at @notquitereal, or buy any of the music featured on the show at notquitereal.bandcamp.com.
AUSTIN: Today our goals are to ensure that everyone at the table is safe, to fill the world with detail, uh, to convey the world honestly, and to play to find out what happens. Umm. Let’s start by going over our drives and bonds. Sovereign Immunity, how’re you doing?
ART: I’m doing okay.
AUSTIN: [Crosstalking] Did you ever figure out a new drive, or are we just punting on it because we know we’re so close to the end?
ART: I didn’t figure out a new drive.
AUSTIN: Okay, good.
ART: I doubt you did one for me.
AUSTIN: I would never do that.
[Some chuckling]
AUSTIN: Literally never.
JACK: Not how the game works.
AUSTIN: Nah.
ART: Umm. Look, I haven’t had internet in two weeks. It really makes Google Sheets. Google Services difficult. Umm.
KEITH: [Crosstalking] Seems like a problem with Google.
ART: So my drive is “question mark, question mark, question mark”.
AUSTIN: Sure.
JACK: Uh-huh.
ART: We’re just going to reveal it at the proper time.
AUSTIN: Oooh.
ART: We’ll be like “That’s my drive.”, and they’ll be like “That’s not how drives work.” We’ll be like “fair”.
AUSTIN: Houseruled it. Yeah, who cares? [crosstalking] So let’s go over...
ART: Yeah. Um. I have zero ticks on it anyways, so, like, who cares?
AUSTIN: Yeah, like the chances of you at this point getting four ticks on a drive clock seem. It’s impossible, far as I can tell.
ART: Yeah. Umm.
AUSTIN: Um. Actually, the thing is, if you already had known what it was last time, there was stuff you would have done that would have gotten you a tick, you know what I mean? Like. If your drive had been, you know, “Dethrone the Witch in Glass”, I think getting access to Past would have given you a tick towards that, for instance. You know?
ART: Sure. Um. But that seems like a silly way to come up with a drive.
AUSTIN: Uh-huh, sure.
ART: Um. Whatever. [crosstalking]
AUSTIN: Anyway.
ART: Whatever. We’re doing. This is. This is basically it, right?
AUSTIN: We’ll see.
ART: Alright.
AUSTIN: I don’t know, listen. We recorded the other half of that thing that I originally sat down to plan as like a one and done, we’re out, and the way that that went...there’s an open door there is what I would say. Um. Or….
ART: Yeah.
AUSTIN: Yeah. I think that’s how I would say it. Anyway. We’ll see.
ART: Um. But I do have drives for all of these people that I….
AUSTIN: [crosstalking] Or...or beliefs.
ART: ...definitely had when I went to bed last night.
AUSTIN: Okay, good. I’m glad, yeah, uh-huh, you slept on them.
ART: Yeah, um. These are really deep in the core of my being.
AUSTIN: Mmhm.
KEITH: I like this new slacker Art that we’ve stumbled onto this week.
ART: Uh-huh. Um, has anyone else been kind of stressed out this week?
[JACK laughs]
AUSTIN: No, I feel like we’ve all just been pretty normal, that this is a normal week. Not the most stressful week so far of the year. [crosstalking]
KEITH: No. [crosstalking]
ART: Mm. Well.
AUSTIN: ...of a terrible year.
ART: I found it hard to focus this week. I don’t know about y’all.
AUSTIN: Um.
ART: Um. For The Figure
AUSTIN: It is...we are recording this on November 8th, listeners.
ART: Yeah. Uh we’re in between the media calling the presidential election, and whatever is happening between now and when you’re hearing it.
AUSTIN: Yeah. Smash cut!
ART: [crosstalking] I assume
AUSTIN: ...yelling in the streets.
[Laughter]
ART: I assume telekinetic monkeys rule the country now. All hail King Gorilla Grod.
KEITH: Okay. You got me there.
ART: Um.
KEITH: It’s not ideal, but I’m interested.
ART: Yeah, I mean. They really had the backings of the Federal Judiciary, so.
[More chuckling]
ART: Um. You gotta hadn it to those monkeys. Uh for Figure….
AUSTIN: Yeah.
ART: ...my bond is: I believe Figure deserves my kindness. Kalar is an old ally I never knew I had. And, um, oh. I still hate trying to pronounce….Phrygian [mispronounced as “Frig-ian”]?
KEITH: Phrygian. [overlapping with AUSTIN]
AUSTIN: No, Phrygian. [overlapping with KEITH]
ART: Phrygian [pronouncing it correctly now].
KEITH: Phrygian. Like refrigerator. Phrygian.
ART: I don’t. It’s. I mean. You’re….it’s fine. It’s just, it, it...it hits my brain weird.
AUSTIN: What if you, and only you, switch the “g” to a “j”?
ART: Okay, yeah. Just gonna do that. Um. Just for the name. Not for the, the bond. But, Phrygian deserves vengeance - I can help.
AUSTIN: Love it. Great.
KEITH: Nice. That works.
AUSTIN: Phrygian, let’s come over to you.
KEITH: Sure. I’ll start with my uh, my um...I’m in the wrong. I’m in Thisbe’s. It always defaults to Thisbe for me.
AUSTIN: Weird.
KEITH: Umm. Uh. Let me….let me start with my Sovereign Immunity bond, Sovereign Immunity is a hero against the Principality. Umm. I also have a new one for Figure here, Figure helped save the people in Millenium Break, and would help us again if we need it.
AUSTIN: Okay, and what is your Kalar one. I guess you’re still missing….you need a second Kalar one, huh?
KEITH: Oh! Oh I didn’t even notice that, so I’ll come up with a second Kalar one, but I have my old Kalar one, which is Kalar seems dedicated to their work and Millenium Break.
AUSTIN: Yeah, okay. That was. That second one to come up with is tied to the time you cut loose by asking everyone what the fuck is going on.
[JACK chuckles]
KEITH: Okay, yeah. [crosstalking]
AUSTIN: ….back in Oxbridge. Uh, I should also note, you have two stress, Phrygian, uhm, and of course Sovereign Immunity has the scar paranoid. Uhm. Kalar?
JACK: Umm, my drive is to bring my children back to Partizan. Um, and I have beliefs with uh….everyone now, I think?
AUSTIN: Mmhm.
JACK: My belief with Phrygian are Phrygian’s motives are unclear and concerning, please don’t let this be a work[?]. With Sovereign Immunity, I had an old bond that was Sovereign Immunity and I have been a thorn in the side of the Principality for decades, we can rely on oneanother. Umm. And I have a new bond, which is in turning to Clementine in desperation, Sovereign Immunity handed her a lot. I believe that he can take double back.
AUSTIN: Love it.
JACK: Um, and I have a new bond with The Figure, which is The Figure’s loyalty is highly questionable, their abilities are not. What’s to be gained by working with a spy?
AUSTIN:Okay.
JACK: Um, also I have. Um. You see I have two beliefs marked with Milli here, Austin.
AUSTIN: I do.
JACK: Does that mean that I need another Milli belief?
AUSTIN: It does, I mean. Yes.
JACK: It does. I didn’t write “TKTK” [?], which maybe. Oh, no. I have one already. I wrote one in case I needed one.
AUSTIN: Oh, gotcha, gotcha.
JACK: Um. Let me put that in. Which is, uh, Milli boarding the Reflecting Pool took courage, but I wish she hadn’t left once we needed her the most.
AUSTIN: Oooh. Okay. Uhhh you have two stress, and the level 1 harm, scarred, which I don’t….
JACK: I also leveled up.... [crosstalking]
AUSTIN: Oh, you also have leveled up, that’s true. I just want to note, if anyone has harm or damage currently, we are keeping it, even though we’ve done a time jump here, um, and the reason for that is mostly mechanical. You spent a lot of resources to get to where you are, and I don’t want to almost make those….that expenditure worthless by clearing the rest for free...you know what I mean?
JACK: Oh, sure.
AUSTIN: What I would say is if you wanted to change scarred to something else to represent something that has happened in the interceding six months, that would be fine. But scarred also specifically sort of works, explicitly in this way, right?
JACK: Right, yeah. Do...do you remember off-hand what wound this was from? Um.
AUSTIN: Probably falling off a giant robot, or being hit by a giant robot, or….
JACK: Probably….falling or getting hit. [crosstalking]
AUSTIN: ...or one of the many explosions Kalar took.
[00:10:31, paused]
AUSTIN: Uh, good stuff always. Um, and yes. Yeah, you did level up. Did you put that into a attribute? Or- or a trait or-
KEITH:[crosstalking] I have a new- I have a new move. Um...
AUSTIN: Oh! ok, you- Save it, you know, busted out when it's time to bust it out. This is what I would say.
KEITH: Yeah, uh-huh. [Overlapping] Yeah, it’ll be fun.
AUSTIN: [Overlapping] Yeah. Well, that'll be a nice surprise. Yeah. Yeah. Alright. Figure in Bismuth.
DRE: Yes. Um, my drive is... sorry. I had to re-scroll on the page- uh, prove that Millennium Break needs the Witch in Glass.
AUSTIN: Ooh, I love that. [Jack chuckles] That's great.
DRE: Uh, my connections, uh, with Sovereign Immunity. Sovereign Immunity seems quite affable and amenable.
AUSTIN: Yeah!
DRE: Um, for Phrygian- Phrygian and I might share a bond over our distinct appearances. Um, and Kallar... his heroism is quite striking.
AUSTIN: I love these. [Jack laughs] These are so good at being [JACK: This is-] surface level first impressions. I love it. Go ahead Jack, what were you saying?
JACK: This is so kind! The bonds are just very jolly.
AUSTIN: Yeah! The Figure in Bismuth is great!
DRE: I'm just here to help.
AUSTIN: Yeah! [Chuckles]
JACK: Yeah, uh-huh [Chuckles]
AUSTIN: Um, so speaking of helping and speaking of needing to do- actually, before we get into like, I have- you know, there's a mission, right? And the mission is coming, we've already teased with this mission is Sovereign Immunity picked up this kind of through-line of there being something at the north pole at the Chosmata- ugh, not Chosmata, Jesus, Chasmata Quarry, uh, and- and, you know, whatever that is, is so dangerous and so weird or something, right? That it doesn't- that, you know, despite having all of, uh, past's records here, there's no clear indication of what it is. That's how careful any sort of communication about this has been it's that it never even saw its way into past, um, uh, or maybe those files were destroyed and passed, came down, uh, and- and were not recoverable or something, but like, you don't know what it is. And the way it's talked about is clearly, um, built in such a way that it's like, uh, or talked about in such a way that it's hard to identify what it is outside of extremely dangerous and something that anyone who is powerful would want to have.
Um, and so that- the mission today is going to be about that. Right? And, you know, I have a whole thing and we'll get into that, but first I just kinda want to talk about these- this kind of time jump and to get a picture, a little bit of where people have been, you know, when we left off with- with this group of people, y'all were on the Reflecting Pool, uh, you know, evacuating two hundred- four hund- four hundred thousand- four hundred thousand people from Oxbridge, um, uh, you know, broadly for my part as the person who can talk about what happens with, uh, the Witch in Glass, um, what she and the other leadership decides to do. Um, you know, the- anyone who wants to get off that ship can get off that ship, but it is the kind of... [Sighs] there was that prediction that was, these people are going to see the Witch in Glass as a savior. Um, and many of them do, and also they just don't have other places to go. Uh, despite being, um, you know, a world with all five of these major nations on it, a lot of people don't have like, family across the planet [Chuckles] somewhere else, you know? It's not like you're in Oxbridge. And then you also have people in Vigil City or something up in Columnar territory, you know, some people do, but that number is not huge. And so maybe that four hundred thousand has come down by tens of thousands, but that's still a city sized city, you know? In- in the sky that you live, that- that, you know, you- you moved all those people into, and many of them, the- the vast majority of them remained there.
Um, um, but I'm curious for y'all like, how much of the time in between then and now have you spent there, what's life been like for you, if you have questions about like, how does X work or whatever, we can raise them and talk through them. Um, but I just want to get like, at least, AT LEAST a snapshot of life, uh, in the interceding, uh, period, uh, you know, on- on the table.
[Short silence]
KEITH: It's a city sized city. Does it have city stuff?
AUSTIN: Yeah! Totally. It's a city- it's a glass and bronze and, you know, like, exterior and then inside, there are buildings and there are hallways and there are parts that feel like they're underground or like- like, almost like, cata- catacombs, catacombic, um, in terms of there being like, tight, you know, like, aliens style, um, or like, alien style ship architecture, you know, really tight hallways with- with, you know, piping and stuff.
KEITH: Mmm.
AUSTIN: But then there is also just big open spaces. Um, I think a lot about it in- in- even though the- the, um, the aesthetic isn't right, because what I'm about to describe is like, uh, it's- it's Browns and it's, um, a stonework, um, who here's played Morrowind ever?
KEITH: I have played Morrowind just a lot.
DRE: In a while, but yeah.
AUSTIN: [Crosstalking] You know- you know- you know uh, Vivec City? You know, when you go [KEITH: yeah] in the Vivec City [JACK: Oh! sure] and there's like, the big open areas at the top inside, and I'm like, "oh, hey! Like, there's like a courtyard inside of this building".
KEITH: [Crosstalking] Yeah, there’s like a- yeah
AUSTIN: But then also sometimes you go into like, some fucking weird underground skunk work shit. And you're like, [DRE: right] I don't know where the fuck I am. [Chuckles] Um, [KEITH: Yeah] the Reflecting Pool, which is the Witch in Glass's name for- for the city, has both of those things, if that makes sense. But instead of being just like the roof- I mean, some places are just completely enclosed in that way, but other places do literally look up onto a glass roof out into the sky, you know? There is like a top level. Um, and that way it- it reminds me a lot, a little bit of something from Twilight Mirage.
KEITH: [Crosstalking] there are places that feel like outside.
AUSTIN: Yes, totally. Totally. In fact, there's places where the glass is still broken and you can feel the breeze coming in, you know? Like, um, uh, we're like, we- we haven't had time to build a panel of divine glass to replace, you know, over here, so this is just like an open air, [KEITH: right] you know, the sector of the- of the city is open air. Um, like a deck, almost.
KEITH: [Crosstalking] And one more question; who is- who is living here before we all got here?
AUSTIN: Um, people who the Witch in Glass had recovered, uh, fr- either- either from people who are wounded in battles, uh, whether that they were soldiers or refugees, or, you know, people, uh, civilians nearby battles or explicitly refugees who were fleeing from the fronts of the ever expanding war.
Um, the Witch in Glass has this very.... There- there is something... underneath it is absolutely the sort of like, terrible utilitarianism. Um, and I say that to someone who's probably a uta- [Chuckles] utilitarian. Um, but there is a like, the more people who are here, the better I can make the city run, uh, aspect of it for her, but the way that that has played out is, oh, I mean, there's also a, like, I'm not going to turn anybody away. I don't care if you're Apostolosian or Nidean, I don't care if you were a general or a farmer, you know, uh, an indentured farming servant, you know? Like, you're gonna come on the city, you're going to get a new life and a new role here. You don't necessarily get to [Chuckles] keep your hierarchy. I'm gonna- I'm gonna put you somewhere where you're useful. We're going to put you somewhere where you're useful. Um, but there is a- there is a sort of like, anyone who works can stay, anyone who stays can eat, you know? Type thing.
Um, and- and that is the- that is kind of the collection of people here. Um, and it's- I think it's very strange for the new arrivals to see this group of people who have left behind what their previous lives were because you end up getting people like the Figure in Bismuth who was a history or english teacher or, you know, kind- you know, literature teacher, I think it was history, right? A history. Um, who is now-
KEITH: History of literature.
AUSTIN: Who is now a mech pilot, right? Who is now like, the right hand of the Witch in Glass. And you have the opposite probably too, right? You have people who were frontline soldiers who are now full-time gardeners. Um, uh, and that is- is- and, you know, obviously probably also have people who continued to doing similar things to what they were already doing. Um, but you know, perennial- [Interrupted]
KEITH: What is that based on?
AUSTIN: Perennial being weird. Um, I have probably some- a collection of people who help advise the Which in Glass make decisions. Um
KEITH: Ok, so these are being- these are assigned seats.
AUSTIN: They're assignments- um, I would- I would defer to- to, um, the figure here, if someone came to you and said, I would rather be doing X, my guess is that the Figure in Bismuth would try to make that happen. Um, uh, and no one here is kept here in the sense that like, you have a curfew and if you're not bad- you know what I mean? Like, if you dock somewhere and leave, you leave, that's it, you know? Um, um, what's harder is- is, I think, um, folks who- it's almost harder for- for people who have full lives elsewhere and who do not, uh, who are not coming just from a recent battlefield or something to get on board. It's like, you know, you can't just come and- you can't just be a merchant who decides I want to sell stuff on the Reflecting Pool. [Chuckles] So I'm gonna start a franchise here. Um, um, the Witch in Glass has framed a lot of this in- in terms of, I don't think she's used these words, but in relation to trauma and, um, and escape and not necessarily in terms of opportunity, which- which I think differs her from the other emerging powers on Partizan, like the pact and- and Millennium Break, right? Which- which actually build particular visions of the future and say, "Hey, come help us build this". The Witch in Glass is much more "hey, leave the wounds you have behind", right? Um, um, she has not been particularly forthcoming on like long-term plans. Um, whether that's because [Chuckles] she doesn't have any, because she's Clementine Kesh and is making it up as she goes along, or if it's because with the influence of perennial, what tomorrow brings is only ever more nebulous and tangled, uh, is not something that is clear necessarily, you know?
[00:20:10]
KEITH: Right. Okay.
JACK: I think-
AUSTIN: And- and I think this is probably worth underscoring something else here just briefly, which is always important to remember that basically everyone on board has been living with Kings their whole lives, right? So this is not a shift from like, uh, into a new mode of being [KEITH: right] for a lot of these people. um, al-
KEITH: These are not- these are not like, dedicated, uh, D- Democrat- democrati-
AUSTIN: Right. Uh-huh.[Chuckles]
KEITH: What do you- what's- what's someone who likes a democracy called?
AUSTIN: Uh, uh, it depends on when, right? Because-
KEITH: parliamentarian
AUSTIN: Sure [Laughs]
KEITH: Dedi- cause these are dedicated parliamentarians.
AUSTIN: There we go, uh-huh. There are of course some parliamentarians on there, but like, remember like, Kesh is a parliamentarian system and is it? Is it really? You know?
KEITH: Sure, yeah.
JACK: Ooh, very parliamentarian.
AUSTIN: There are five wings. We can go over what the wings are and like, it doesn't, you know. Um, so yeah, but- but, you know, these are all people who fundamentally believe that they- maybe they've traded a CEO for a queen or they've traded a Guild leader for a- for a queen. Maybe they've traded a, you know, a- a- some sort of AI that plans their day for a- for a witch, uh, here, but they haven't necessarily, um- these are not dedicated revolutionaries, uh, the bulk of the people on board.
Um, anything else? So yeah, again, for me, I would just like to know a little bit about like, what your daily life looks like; how long you stayed here or- or stayed on board, um, uh, if you're still there, etcetera.
JACK: I think Kalar has been- has been there from- from the off- from- from boarding with those people, I think has sort of left to when is docked in a city, like, when a- a ship docks in a city and you get off and do something before the whistle blows and you get back on. Um, I think Kalar has spent their time using their skills as a- a builder and maintainer of- of large or tall buildings, um, on bits of- of it that are broken.
AUSTIN: right.
JACK: Um, or unless it's so dangerous, right? Because- because the line between the two is quite slim, but less trying to rebuild the divine and more like, "oh, does this place- do these people have a roof over their heads? [AUSTIN: right] Is this, um, is this thing that, uh, where a- a spire is half constructed actually like a wind risk as we move, so maybe we need to actually take that down." Um, and there's something kind of delightful on one level to this about Kalar, because- because he is- he is part of the body of a divine that is not being used as a weapon, at least right now. [AUSTIN: Right.] Um, there is a bit of Kalar that is like, "okay, this is a floating city where tens of thousands of people live", you know? if- [interrupted]
AUSTIN: We sh- we should underscore, again, one of the things that we- we didn't specifically mention this, but the value- you value your home, but then there's also this part of you, your character as the giant killer that has this kind of ethos, and that is that you believe that divines should not be used in combat, right?
JACK: Yeah. Kalar is definitely not an anti divine person. In fact, I think that probably in moments like this, the border floating city, Kalar goes, you know, "what are Divines for, if not this". Um…
AUSTIN: right, right.
JACK: But I think as the six months grows. There is definitely this ulterior purpose, which is the- the- the- the giant killer is also at work, right? Which is like, even as I'm rebuilding this, where is it weakest? [AUSTIN: Mm, right] What can I- what can I work to, uh, to shut down something or to make something difficult in the event that as we're planning, if we want to do a double cross at some point, [Austin laughs] what are the- what are the areas of weakness? What are the pressure points even as I'm rebuilding it.
KEITH: [Crosstalking] ooh, I forgot that you were pitched a double cross?
AUSTIN: Oh yeah.
KEITH: I don't think I was there for that. I- I was never pitched a double cross.
AUSTIN: I don't think you were. No.
KEITH: I don't think I even- [Overlapping] I might not even know about this.
AUSTIN: [Overlapping] Kalar, SI, Milli, and A- A.O. Rook. And like that was the kind of double cross potential crew.
KEITH: This is- the thing that never happened- the thing that ne- Thisbe was the closest, but, uh, no one ever articulated an anti Clementine Kesh position to Phrygian in the entire- the entire time. [Laughter] It never happened; no character ever tried to be like, [JACK: ooh] this is why people don't like Clementine Kesh. Um, uh, So I don't have- I don't have that. Um...
AUSTIN: yeah. That's fun. That's- that's very funny.
JACK: [crosstalking] Good luck. I'm sure it'll be- I'm sure it'll be fine.
AUSTIN: Uh-huh [Laughter]
JACK: Yeah, she seems cool. She's looking out for these people. It's a little weird.
AUSTIN: [Crostalking] but like, god! I fucking love that she's fucking haunted forever because it means [Keith chuckles] she never gets to have a conversation with someone like Phrygian where Gur isn't whispering in her ears to not be fucking rude and- and burn the bridge with Phrygian. Uh, or, you know what I mean? It doesn't mean she won't do it anyway, [KEITH: yeah, right] but it does mean if you had no idea, it's easy to conceive of why it would- you'd be able to be around a person like that for six months and still not pick it up. You know [laughs] You know?
JACK: It's like the, you know what the "fuck him up, Socrates" meme? Where Derek is hiding behind Socrates [AUSTIN: ofcourse] and says "fuck him up, Socrates".
AUSTIN: Yes.
JACK: This would be like that, except Derek is saying "now hang on. Socrates".
[Laughter]
KEITH: Aah, that's- Socrates always needed a voice of reason, I think.
[Laughter]
AUSTIN: Oh God. Um, okay, so that's- so that's- so Phrygian, what do you- what have you been... you just-
KEITH: Um...
AUSTIN: Like, hanging, also.
KEITH: I'm doing tourist shit, I think.
AUSTIN: Okay. [Chuckles]
KEITH: Well, cause I ca- [Overlapping] cause I’ve been, I don’t know-
AUSTIN: [Overlapping] Did you say tour shit? Like, giving tour-
KEITH: tourists?
AUSTIN: Tourists, tourists. Yeah. Okay, yeah.
KEITH: Tourists. No, taking tours.
AUSTIN: I thought you meant giving. [Overlapping] I thought you were like a tour guide.
KEITH: [Overlapping] Not giving it, taking-
AUSTIN: And I was like, oh, you know? [Laughter] Perennial wills it, I guess, you know? [More laughter] The wheel- the wheel turns.
KEITH: Um, you know, if I- if I've got- if I've got some kind of job, that's fine, but that's not interesting to me.
AUSTIN: Uh-huh.
KEITH: Uh, I, um...
AUSTIN: You're just soaking it in; you're just learning about this place and about... Partizan and about-
KEITH: [Crosstalking] Yeah. And looking in doing things like, if someone tell- if someone has a hobby, I go try it.
AUSTIN: Ok.
KEITH: Um, and, you know, Um, I, you know, maybe someone figured out like, "oh, this is the spot where you can fly a kite temporarily because there's no, uh, there's that piece of the glass is missing, so you can fly a kite for this month".
ART: Yeah.
KEITH: I was- I went right from, uh, being deck seven to being a soldier [AUSTIN: right] or whatever. Um…
AUSTIN: Well, now you hit six months of not having to be that. Uh…
KEITH: Right, and so a part of what I-
AUSTIN: [Crosstalking] When you- specifically you don't have a war form yet still, right?
KEITH: Right, and so- but part of what my, um, part of why I'm even in a principality space is to like, learn about [AUSTIN: yeah] the things that they do [AUSTIN: Yeah] and think are important. And so like, I'm also fulfilling that by like, poking around and looking at the like, what are the things that people buy in shops and also like why- what is, you know, what are- what do people do in the hangout out at the park?
AUSTIN: Yeah. totally. Sovereign immunity, uh, you know, it's easy to default to just like, you continue to go down this rabbit hole of like-
ART: well, but that's- that's not the- [AUSTIN: paranoia] that's not the... it's like, I think the- the way it really manifests itself is Sovereign Immunity spending all this time trying to get more and more out of past, but the like, the outward perception it's like, trying to make sure that everyone sees him every day. The like, the plausible deniability, like, Sovereign Immunity eating really conspicuous meal [Austin laughs] with lots of people and like, going on walks and saying hi to everyone that he passes, like, this like, desire to- to like, create this like, plausible alibi.
AUSTIN: Yeah
ART: So it's not like, "what do you think Sovereign immunity is up to?" and "oh, well, you know, I saw him earlier today. He seems- he seems like he's doing- I mean, he didn't- he wouldn't say anything that specific, but like, [Overlapping] he's around. You’re looking-
KEITH: [Overlapping] He was wearing a shirt that said “you saw Sovereign Immunity on a Wednesday. [Chuckles]
ART: Yeah. Um, but it's just like, it's- it's all just like, creating that- that cover to not be around a lot. [Chuckles]
AUSTIN: Mm hmm.
ART: The like, the illusion of being around.
KEITH: And what are you actually doing?
ART: Uh, studying- studying past.
AUSTIN: Reading about everything and everyone forever.
KEITH: Oh right! I forgot that [Starts laughing] that's him, you're right.
ART: [Crosstaliking] A great resource for a person stuck with- struck with sudden paranoia. [Chuckles]
AUSTIN: Yeah. And w- you know uh, absent uh, his- his biggest rival as, for- through most of his life to focus it on and now just kind of freewheeling; love it. Um, what could go wrong? Yeah-
ART: Ever noticed how my characters have a strong bent toward just really healthy coping mechanisms?
AUSTIN: Yeah, uh-huh. [Keith laughs] I always said that. Uh-huh.
ART: I- I think they’re gonna start teaching this in school [Austin laughs]
AUSTIN: Uh... Dre is gonna incorporate it, uh, [Chuckles] in-
DRE: Oh yeah, I already have, yeah.
AUSTIN: Yeah.
DRE: Uh-huh.
ART: this- this character. That's- that's the he- it's always the art characters that have healthy strategies [Austin laughs] on these situations. [laughs]
AUSTIN: Um, speaking of Dre, uh, let's talk about the Figure in Bismuth. Um, you know, we saw the Figure as emissary of the Witch in Glass, but we haven't seen the Figure day to day being a pilot, being the right hand of the- of the Witch and generally being someone who helps keep the city running. Uh, so I'm curious what that looks like.
DRE: Um... I almost imagine Figure as kind of being like... [Sighs] I've never had one of these; I've only ever seen these on TV, so maybe one of you all have had these, but like, I almost imagine them being like, the super in an apartment complex, but like, a good one?
[00:30:00]
AUSTIN: Mm-hmm [ chuckles]
DRE: [Chuckles] So like, he's just- it's kinda- he's just who you call when you need help with something.
AUSTIN: Ok.
DRE: Um, whether it's like, something serious, like, you know, where I live is falling apart [Austin sighs] or things are breaking or it's just like, um... there's- he's probably babysat for people.
AUSTIN: I could see it. I could see it a hundred percent.
DRE: Yeah. He's probably been like a substitute teacher. It's just- it's just whatever.
AUSTIN: Yeah, sure. Of course. Right. Yeah. That makes sense. Um, uh, and how are you adjusting to having, you know, hundreds of thousands of additional people around?
DRE: Uh, I think they love it. I think they're- they're enjoying like, having... they like having things to do.
AUSTIN: Yeah. That makes sense. That makes sense to me. Um, couple other small things; one: A.O. Rook is still here um, uh, has committed to staying here until um, until uh- uh, this big mission goes off and then plans on bouncing um, uh, ideally on like, a second mission to get off the planet um, uh, K.O. Rook uh, his mom uh, is probably operating out of Cruciat at this point um, uh, and is- is waiting similarly for him to wrap up, uh, whatever this big mission is, and then they're going to try to get the fuck out of Dodge. Um, they could not make it onto the brown escape vessel [Chuckles] uh, the- the Blue Channel, Broun's ship, um, because this mission hadn't happened yet. Um, uh, so that's kind of heavy, I think, on his mind. Um, I think he's doing... I think he is probably doing um, some stuff that is uh, not combat related at all, um, for the time being. Um… Maybe- maybe he's also- actually, I think maybe what he's been doing is, um, is actually- I- I had thought about this for a minute; I think he's probably stepped into a um, a role with the Swordbreakers; um, uh, training some of the people- or not training- training them, but training with and working alongside them as Cas'alear continues to recover.
Um, as a reminder, Cas'alear was wounded in that fight against Motion six months ago. Um, and has- has, you know, undergone Perennial surgery, uh, of the sort that, um, that the Figure in Bismuth, uh, has gotten sim- similar, I guess. Instead of being this sort of like, person made out of um, uh, you know, bismuth, ou- out of these kinda- these kinda crystalline structures. Um, you know, on the outside uh, or at a distance, let's say, Cas'alear probably looks very similar to- to how Cas looked, you know, seven/eight months ago.
Um, but upon close inspection um, uh, they have these marks that uh, are revealed to be like, little bits of sea glass; it's almost as if their body has been mosaicked with sea glass; which if you haven't seen sea glass, is this kind of like, [Sighs] um, um, what's the word I'm looking for? Like, irregular pieces of glass that have been kind of sanded down, eroded by um, uh, the sea, by the ocean. Um, and all have this kind of milky quality; kind of a translucent, but um, but still kind of um, you know, there- there's a degree of like whiteness inside of it, and is as if- if you look up like a sea glass mosaic, um, that is what the body of- of Cas'alear looks like at points basically; um, kind of spread out irregular pieces of this- of this glass implanted into their- into their body, um, that seemed to [Laughing] have recovered some- some amount of mobility. Cas walks with a cane now. That will be what cas does for the rest of their life. That does not stop them from being like, able to- to do the things that they like. Um, but right now they're still in the point at which they're recovering. Um, and so there's a- there's a degree to which they are trepidatious about taking back to the- going back to the battlefield. Um, Cas is- is um, uh, you know, still in that- that window of going through physical therapy, [Chuckles] making sure that this procedure stuck um, and- and hopefully, you know, coming out the other side of it soon. And so in Cas's absence, A.O. has become uh, tight with some of the Swordbreakers, uh, as a- as a sort of commanding figure. Uh, A.O. was still a- a sort of like, brought them on board as part of your Toughs squad, if that makes sense.
Um, I should also really quick note this, because- because this just came up, this kind of question of disability; earlier, I said that there was like a- if you- if you work, you can stay, if you stay, you eat. Um, the- what I should add to that is it's not only if you work, you can stay; it is if you stay, you eat, but there is space here for, uh, folks who are wounded and disabled, and/or disabled, such that doing physical labor is not something they can do. Uh, there is- there is space here for people who are, you know, uh, elderly and are passed to working age, um, this is not a work camp city. Um, but there is the- there is the sort of lean towards figuring out what people can do for the city. Um, that is not, uh, that- that is still like, a motivating logic or something. Do you know what I mean? Like, there's a foundational ideology here that it's like, "Hm, what can I do?"; Like, I don't care that this person can't walk anymore; of course they, you know, like, look around a lot of people here can't walk anymore. Um, how- how do we help them be useful for us? Um, and sometimes that can be very abrasive and very like, um, you know, uh, instrumentalist in terms of the outcome. Um, but- but it isn't, I just want to be a hundred percent clear that it's not like, "well, you can't come on board because you're disabled or you can't come on board because you're too old [Chuckles] to work for us" or something like that. People are not being turned away. Um, nor is the medicine and like, super technology that's able to recover people, something that means that they're like, snap- snap your finger; there was, there was a complete healing. Um, we didn't talk about this last episode, Dre; uh, before we started uh, before- uh, the Figure in Bismuth came onto the show, we sat down and talked about just like, what daily life is like for them in terms of having this body where there's all this upper weight [Chuckles] of crystal on the top of their body and like, the exercises you had to do to maintain the musculature, to try to deal with that. Um, which- which is interesting to me, like there's a degree of like, maintenance that has to go on to continue living the life that you live, because you have a big crystal [Laughing] head now. Right?
So, um, so yeah. Um, is there anything anyone wants to do that isn't like a downtime activity, but before we talk about what this big mission is? Like, outside again, outside of cutting loose or anything like that, or- or work- [Interrupted]
KEITH: That isn’t a downtime activity.
AUSTIN: Is not a downtime activity. Yeah.
KEITH: Ok.
AUSTIN: But just like, if there was a small scene or you wanna have a conversation with someone or you wanna do something like that, you know?
KEITH: Uh, I did- I did write in a, uh, a Kalar, um, bond, so I can read that off.
AUSTIN: [Crosstalking] Oh, great. What is it?
KEITH: Uh, Kalar is new to this crew like I am new to this crew and we'll either fit in or fit out together.
AUSTIN: That's good. [Jack laughs] I like that. I like fit out.
JACK: It’s such a good reality TV show vibes.
[Laughter]
AUSTIN: Looking into the confessional. Yeah. That's the confessional camera. Love it. Uh…
JACK: Uh, you know, I- [Interrupted]
KEITH: Kalar- Kalar is still like, extremely suspicious, or at least it was-
JACK: Yeah [chuckles]
KEITH: -two episodes ago.
AUSTIN: Yeah. Um, all right. So if there's something else, you know, it has been six months since the red light fell on Oxbridge. Um, and I imagine that this briefing happens in, actually in a room that Sovereign Immunity has been in before, which is a briefing room in the Winter Palace and Cruciat. Um, the, uh, Reflecting Pool is docked, uh, in the ocean there. Um, and you, along with the, you know, all- all four of you along with A.O. Rook, uh, Cas'alear, um, I would probably say... I guess the Figure is probably the Witch's representative here. I don't think Emiline comes. Um, um, and then from the- the millennium break side, I think it's just like, it's a lot of big people, right? This is Agon, this is Gucci. Um, Jesset isn't here because Jesset isn't here anymore. Uh, Tes’ili is here, Tes’ili Serikos, who is, you know, the kind of black market tier who can get you things, if you need things. Um, trying to think if there's anybody else big here. Uh, no one comes to mind, but you know, that- it's that tier of NPC, right? Is- is hanging out here right now.
Um, uh, and that is- that is- uh, you know, there- there probably is someone from, um, from the- the Oxblood Clan. Um, I'm trying to remember this character's name, one second. Uh... cause we had one other Oxblood person, uh, on- on screen at one point. Uh, and that was like, the very beginning of the show. Um, and I forget. Oh, there it is; Anchor Afton, who was an- a commander we saw from- from the Oxblood Clan.
KEITH: Ooh, yeah...
AUSTIN: Um, and so she's around, um, and it is like, you know, this is your like, Star Wars look at the death star mission briefing type thing, right? Like, darkened room, you know, big screens with- with loose images- Oh! Someone else who was here is Sloe Uplight, who was the, um, the, uh, information broker that a couple of you met from Marengo during the summer uprising- millennium break uprising stuff, uh, who no longer is there because- because that whole corner of your expansion has been, uh, you know, it was attacked. Um, and is now in Cruciat, uh, uh, and I think [Sighs] God, who would open this? Um, I'm gonna give it to Gucci; to at least set it up. And I think that she kind of steps forward, um, and pulls up a map of the Quarry, which is a, um, [Clicks tongue] it's sort of like, on first blush, it looks sort of like the- a map of a city, uh, inside of a wall, uh, up against a mountain.
So here- let me pull you over to this. Um, you know it's a Gucci map cause it has Gucci- Gucci operational point [Laughing] um, names on it.
[Laughter]
AUSTIN: Um, uh, this map, again, was generated with that same city generator that I use on itch.io by Watabou, um, which is great. Uh, and for the purposes of what we're doing, instead of thinking of the thing of the north as water, think of that as a mountain; imagine that it goes up in el- in elevation instead of being like, isolines on the water map, does that make sense? Uh, and then- and then that like, little line that goes up is like a- it's like a- a dwarf fortress tunnel being dug into the- [Chuckles] into the mountain.
Um, and then secondly, imagine, instead of all these buildings inside this kind of huge, uh, building inside of the- the wall, the kind of- there's a U shape- okay, so there's a mountain to the north and then there's like a U shaped wall that boxes in the Quarry. Uh, the things that look like buildings are instead the kind of depressions into the ground of various parts of the Quarry and the- the lines, the kind of like, avenues between them, you can think of those as parts where like, the material from down in the quarry are wheeled up and then moved throughout the facility, right?
[00:41:35]
KEITH: Okay.
AUSTIN: Um, [overlapping] does that make sense?
KEITH: [overlapping] So these are like various mined areas [AUSTIN: exactly] in the pathways.
AUSTIN: In the pathways between them. The thing over Point Beryl, these are buildings. So things outside [chuckles] over here are buildings that are lighter.
KEITH: Got it
AUSTIN: Maybe that helps keep it straight. And then this is just a big wall. Um, uh, and then last thing, these lines to the south, uh, here and there, that's kind of like where the edges of the jungle, um, give way to the snow and the ice, and it's almost more like icy swamp land. It's miserable. Between, um, the kind of edge, so it's like, almost like all the- the- the lines here are all these kinds of like, um, you know, just- where the jungle gives way to the cold, but the jungle still exists. And so it's just like swampy, but also freezing. [Chuckles] Um, it's just not fun. So, and then everything- everything else was like snow and ice and etcetera.
Um, Gucci, I think first, you know, kind of step forward and says, um:
(as Gucci): Thank you all for coming here today. Uh, it is time to talk about operation Lodestone. Um, I would like to thank first and foremost, uh, Sovereign Immunity for putting this on our map to begin with, frankly, uh, I am impressed that, um, uh, anyone caught wind of it to begin with, um, and- and knowing that you brought it to us, uh, and, uh, gave us this opportunity to intercede and what seems to be a big play is, uh, impressive. Um, I'd like to, uh, offer, uh, Sloe Uplight, some space to talk about the information on hand here.
Um, as a reminder, uh, Sloe, uh, Uplight is- is played in my mind or the- the kind of, um, fan cast, uh, is... um, God, what is...? Is, uh, Sung- Sung- Sung Kang, the actor of Han [Chuckles] in the Fast and Furious trilogy, but like, dressed the way he dresses at fancy events in real life, which is to say in nice suits. Uh... [Chuckles] um, and, uh, uh, Uplight kind of- kind of, again, extends a sort of thanks to Sovereign Immunity, uh, and thanks to everyone who's been here. Um-
ART: Sovereign Immunity completely no sells [AUSTIN: Oh, good] all of this. [AUSTIN: good] It's just like- like a thousand yard stare, a t- a ten thousand yard stare. Just like, uh-
AUSTIN: Yeah.
ART: He- like not- not there [AUSTIN: yeah] in terms of social graces right now.
AUSTIN: Yeah. Um, and so, Uplight, you know, runs fi- run some fingers through his hair and says, uh:
(as Uplight): [Sighs] So look, I make it my job to know everything that happens on this planet. Um, and this is something so secretive that it may not be happening on this planet. Um, it may as well not be, rather. There is damn near no mention of what's going on in the- in the Chasmata Quarry, in any file public or private, in any conversation we've been able to overhear, in any communication we've been able to intercept; and not just us. With, uh, some of the, uh, intel provided by Exeter Leap, we know that it's not even talked about on the interior systems of the Curtain or Nideo, this is completely off the grid or damn near. But, [Clicks tongue] the, um, the absence of communication itself can give things away. Uh, it's sort of like long noise, even very quiet long noise can be just as important as loud noise. Patterns emerge, um, a missing shipment that repeats or a common clerical error or the amount of time between messages or the amount of space between the amount of time between messages, uh, it's like solving for X. Uh, and the thing is we didn't have not just X, but we didn't have any of the things around X for my whole life at least. But when Sovereign Immunity gave us some of the stuff that he recovered from the Reflecting Pool, um, along with, again, some additional help from people throughout millennium break, we've got something like a proof for X. Here is what we know:
One: The Chasmata Quarry is at the north pole of this planet, and unlike the rest of Kesh territory, it is still behind snow and ice, miles of it. Two: despite not being the highest ranking house on the moon, Chasmata has always had authority here. Three: they've had that Quarry a long time. And four: any attempt to get close has failed; some of our greatest spies, scouts and thieves, uh, have tried to break in. They've all failed. Either, uh, to find any weakness in defe- or def- any weakness in the defenses to get in, or we lost- we lost sight of them altogether. Um, that seems to be true for every other intelligence group on the planet. What we believed, one: because the quarry has been running for centuries, you would think that whatever was there would have been dug up by now. Um, you know, so we believe that that means that whatever they're digging has to be big or fragile or especially dangerous. Um, I'd like to thank Commander Ortlights for that insight, by the way, I'm not very hands dirty with digging things up. Uh, and the company of the spade understands that stuff a little bit more than me. Two: uh, it remained obvious that, um, you know, because, uh, whatever is- is, uh, there is- has been untouched by that explosion of new life, all of the jungles, then whatever is there, um, must be connected or protected from whatever happened to cause that. And three: another thing we believe, no one has ever- [Soft cough] no one has ever tried a direct attack on the Chasmata Quarry. You know, everything inside of it is a black box, but if you marched an army there, there would be evidence of that. Um, which brings us to the third category of things, the category of things we know now, or at least things that we believe to an actionable degree. One, we think a concentrated attack would provide opportunity for a small team to get in and out. Two, I believe that the so-called green miracle, the new jungles and Kesh territory was predicated by something inside that facility, something powerful. And three, [Sighs] whatever that thing is, might be tied to what some members of Millennium Break call autonomy itself. I'm not a religious person. My guess is it's an unaccounted part of, uh, what, uh, the late Valence and Gur Sevraq called the Exemplar.
Um, and I think at this point that there's kind of, you know, Sloe steps back and kind of just as back to Gucci. And Gucci kind of says:
(as Gucci): What we need to decide here is what to do about this. Um, if we can take this thing or destroy it, it will be a significant gain from Millennium Break; either one, I'd like to have it because, uh, if it cause life to expand on this planet, then it's something powerful. Um, if it's a weapon then destroying it would be best. Um, and the question is what we do about this.
[00:50:00]
[Clicks tongue] Um, I think, again, gestures towards Agon and Gucci says:
(as Gucci): Commander Ortlights says that a number of you, um, Sovereign Immunity, Kalar…
I’m sorry, Kalar was not there
(as Gucci): Sovereign Immunity, Phrygian, uh, and the Figure in Bismuth, uh, had- had helped her as part of the emerging phenomena committee. And, um, suggests that maybe you should spearhead this thing, because if this has something to do with the strange phenomena that have been emerging, uh, here on Partizan, then you are the people who understand it enough not to be scared shitless when you see it. And if you're not scared shitless when you see it, then maybe you'll be able to make a good call about it. [Short silence] How we go about this, I'm leaving up to discussion.
[Silence]
AUSTIN: Um, I guess one last thing is, I think, she says, um:
(as Gucci): You see, I've marked a few points on the map. Um, and- [Sighs] by the way, there's something strange here, which is... [Sighs] this map was- was got by hacking into a, uh, navigational satellite, um, that is able to provide very basic information about what's there. And the thing is past has historical data for this thing. And it's looked like this for hundreds of years. Before that, the mountain, there was more of it and they dug it away and they built the quarry, but then a few hundred years ago they stopped. They stopped! I don't know if they're just digging deeper in the places they already have, or if they're digging inside of the mountain without- without rev- you know, destroying the- the kind of top of it. Um, but this map has looked like this for hundreds of years now. Um, and that is weird and scary to me. [little chuckle] Um, so just putting it out there. Um, I've marked a few key points on the map. Point diamond, we believe is that, uh, interior tunnel that goes to whatever the interior quarry is in the mountain. Point Agate, uh, is, uh, the export, um, route, uh, anything that is dug up, we believe leaves through there. Um, any sort of materials that get used somewhere. Uh, we see trucks leaving there. Um, we know that things get brought in at Point Beryl, uh, over on the east. Um, they have to go through a, uh, a scanning facility, that facility is also home, that- the kind of huge hangar, is also home to defenses. Um, and also some- some sleeping quarters that is sort of the operational base. Um, and also again, the sort of, uh, you know, the border, uh, the kind of- the kind of guard house or for things coming into the Quarry. And then point Citrine seems to be a large space in the center.
Uh, here's a guess if I was trying to defend this, I would certainly have some sort of artillery set up. They're educated guests. Other than that... [Struggles] we need to figure out what to do.
JACK (as Kalar): How high are the walls?
AUSTIN (as Gucci): [Sighs] Um...
Looks over at Agon.
(as Gucci): Um... that's a good question. Um, based on what we have, we think something like 100 feet.
JACK (as Kalar): Jesus.
AUSTIN (as Gucci): Yeah. [deep breath] It turns out when you have a quarry, you can pretty quickly turn around a wall.
JACK (as Kalar): Yeah. I suppose they- they got all the stuff you need. Um,
AUSTIN (as Gucci): yeah.
JACK (as Kalar): Tells us something about materials too, right?
AUSTIN (as Gucci): Yeah.
JACK (as Kalar): Um, okay. [Deep breath] Right. Um, Sovereign. What have you got?
ART (as Sovereign): I mean, a lot of what I have is on the map, you know?
JACK (as Kalar) Uh-huh, okay. S-
ART (as Sovereign): I mean, we can... [Pauses]
[chuckles] I was gonna say we can get through a wall. I didn’t do really good at getting through a wall last time.
AUSTIN: No.
JACK: Mm
KEITH: Mm. Disguises.
ART: Yeah. [Chuckles]
[Laughter]
ART: [while laughing] Disguises.
KEITH: [Chuckling] It’s like… uh-huh.
JACK: Yeah, we’re not- [Interrupted]
KEITH: Right, so we haven’t done a good disguise thing recently.
AUSTIN: did you-
JACK: I don’t know if… [Interrupted]
AUSTIN: Wait, were you making a joke? Just now, about-
KEITH: No, I was. [Overlapping] No, I was.
AUSTIN: [Overlapping] Oh ok, ok, ok.
KEITH: it’s both- it’s true though, [AUSTIN: ok, ok] we’ve not [chuckling] done a lot of disguises.
AUSTIN: [Laughs] Um, I think- I think, you know, in what follows, just to abstract a little bit, what you know for- for, what was that again? Just to underscore, it's like, this is a heavily defended facility [JACK: yeah] being caught would probably mean- [Struggles] you can try to sneak in, that is on the table. All of the traditional ways of getting into a place are- are, you know, on the table. Um, but I do want to emphasize the degree of military might that is here, um, which is very high. Um, which you know from losing everyone you've ever sent there, you know? Um, rather- whether that's exploratory, you know, reconnaissance units or if that's, uh, individual spies, like, no one gets out. Um, which means that there is, you know, that's- it's tough.
JACK: So-
KEITH: So we've decided to send more people.
JACK: So is that- yeah, we're going to make a feint and then...
AUSTIN: I don't know, I- that was one of the things Sloe said that- that he believes...
JACK: we might have a chance to like-
AUSTIN: that no one should try to attack it directly with an overwhelming- with a large force, um, before, and that- Hey! Maybe just a direct attack could fucking work, [Chuckles] but Sloe Uplight is a- is- is a private historian and shadow broker of information, [JACK: Yeah, I don’t-] not a military strategist, you know?
JACK: No…
AUSTIN: Um, but, uh, I guess I should say again, just to not have to go in and out of character voices right now, you know, um, maybe this is a make good, but Gucci is willing to supply you with soldiers. Like, [Jack sighs loudly] if you want an army to hit point whatever and you wanna- [interrupted]
JACK: Just throwing people at it is…
AUSTIN: Uh, yeah listen, I have a- I have an R.O.E. here specifically about minimizing casualties in terms of operational time, if you do a free- if you do do that style of feint attack thing.
JACK: Mmm
AUSTIN: Um, uh, but we don't have to. We can a hundred percent go other ways. I have some other stuff planned also. So,
KEITH: Wha- what page are the different engagement types on?
AUSTIN: Good question. [inaudible]
JACK: Do you want us to make an engagement role here, Austin?
AUSTIN: You would do that when you engage.
JACK: Oh, no. I mean like you want us to go through this process?
AUSTIN: What do you mean?
JACK: Of- of finding a way to infiltrate this place, or like-
AUSTIN: Every mission [overlapping] begins- sorry, every mission begins with an engagement
JACK: [overlapping] I’m not sure whether or not you’re- I didn't know whether or not you’re saying to us.
AUSTIN: Right.
JACK: I didn't know whether or not you just want us to try and hit this with soldiers.
AUSTIN: No, no, no, no, no, no, no. This is- this is- this is- it's Beam Saber, you know? You figure out what you wanna do.
JACK: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
KEITH: Technically we could pick the diplomatic one.
AUSTIN: Yeah, totally. You totally could.
[Laughter]
JACK: Holy shit.
AUSTIN: You absolutely could.
JACK: That would be…
AUSTIN: And listen, [JACK: wait a second] you can do some light- and you can do some light work moves to try to do that. Um, you believe that- that the Chasmata Quarry is tied to the Curtain in some way. Um, I dunno who you would reach out to, to try to make this happen, but I would let you try to do this. You roll the dice,
JACK: The idea of just sending people in is [laughing] fucking wild, [AUSTIN: uh-huh] just sending someone in like, Greetings.
AUSTIN: Yeah.
KEITH: We don't know what this is. We don't know why it's there. [Overlapping] We think it's important, and everyone that's seen it dies.
AUSTIN: [Overlapping] There are some funny things that you don’t know yet that would make that a very funny tech-, you know, opportunity or very funny technique.
ART: Why- what are we...
AUSTIN: Uh, that page by the way-
ART: What- what are we thinking in terms of tone here?
[Austin and Jack laugh]
AUSTIN: That page, by the way, Keith, is 42.
KEITH: Sweet.
AUSTIN: And I'll just remind; assault is open violence against the target. The detail that you need to provide is the point of attack. Deception is luring, tricking and manipulating the target. The detail is a method of deception. Scientific plans are engaging with technical power; for us, that includes weird magic-y things, um, and divine stuff. The detail is the unusual procedure used. Social is when the squad negotiates with and bar- uh, and bargains with and persuades the target. The detail is a social connection that you might have. Stealth is for taking action undetected. The detail is the point of infiltration. And transport is carrying cargo and people through danger. The detail is the route and the means.
KEITH: Ok.
ART: Mmm.
AUSTIN: Um-
KEITH: So, you know, just to- just to- just to, you know, solidify this as a real idea, if everyone who has tried to sneak around there has been killed, why- maybe we should try letting them know we're coming.
[Silence]
ART: Well, you're- you're assuming the- the thing that gets them killed is the- is the mystery and not the arrival. [Chuckles]
[Humming]
KEITH: Well, but I mean "Hey, can we come over? Don't shoot." [Austin laughs]
JACK: [Overlapping] I think I’m gonna shoot you.
ART: [Overlapping] Yeah, I’m not- I’m not dismissing this out of hand, but- but I- I- I'm just- I'm not sure that the evidence supports your conclusion. [chuckles]
JACK: I think Kalar just gives a big, heavy shrug and says:
JACK (as Kalar): I can't fucking sneak. I- I've never been- it's never been my MO.
KEITH (as Phrygian): I can sneak!
JACK (as Kalar): No, I know. I'm- I'm sure you can sneak. I'm just saying that if we want to try and do this, I can't- I am not very good at talking to people and I'm not very good at sneaking. So...
DRE (as Figure): I also struggle with those. [Art laughs]
KEITH: I like deception; luring, luring, and manipulating.
JACK: [chuckles] Is this in character [chuckles] just like Kalar's eyes narrow?
[laughter]
KEITH: I- I assume that in character, we're all looking at a sheet that says "Hey reminder, these are the types of ways to do your job" [Laughter] And I'm pointing in deception saying, deception is good. That one will- that one could work
JACK: Yeah. I mean, it's like, we can- we can- um, what is deception. It's like, we are the reserve team. [Sighs] But I feel like, [Overlapping] if-
KEITH: [Overlapping] creating-
ART: [Overlapping] we’re real conspicuous. Is a problem for most deceptions. [Dre laughs]
[01:00:10]
JACK: Uh-huh, uh-huh.
KEITH: The deception, I think, so my idea of what deception looks like here is- is creating some sort of like, uh, the- a computer is saying that there's people coming from X direction [AUSTIN: Ooooh...] and we use that to get in from Y direction.
ART: A feint without the feint.
KEITH: [Overlapping] Right. Exactly. Yeah, yeah.
JACK: [overlapping] Without [chuckles] all the people. Yeah. [Chuckles] You don’t think their spies have tried this already?
KEITH: [Overlapping] So yeah, exactly. So, we’re in assault, we might do that and a bunch of people would die. In deception we would do it and they wouldn't die. Cause they’re not actually there.
ART: Yeah, but they also wouldn’t be there. Which is, uh…
KEITH: but we could- but we could plant mines in the snow.
ART: Whoa, what are w- when- [laughing] when are we going to do that?
KEITH: We're going to do it before the mission. [Overlapping] Part of the method of deception.
JACK: [Overlapping] It’s a fucking snow field, they’ll just see us planting the mines.
KEITH: Drone mines! Under w- you know, digging mines, that dig their way to where they need to be. [Jack laughs]
ART: Are these things we have? [Chuckles]
JACK: [Overlapping] I don't know that these are things we have.
KEITH: Yes!! This- it’s the sci fi future!!
DRE: Yeah, I mean- [Overlapping] yeah! Just an acquire asset roll.
KEITH: We could have a mine that’s also a snowmobile.
DRE: Yeah.
ART: Yeah.
KEITH: [Overlapping] We have whatever we say we have.
ART: [Overlapping] A stealthy snowmobile mine drone. [Chuckles]
KEITH: Out of character, just to remind us, this is all fake. We have whatever we need.
[Laughter]
JACK: Oh god… Um- [Art and Keith chuckle] I just feel like the best spies of millennium break have probably tried all this shit.
ART: [Overlapping] I don’t know, Counterpoint-
KEITH: [Overlapping] No one’s tried snowmobile mines.
[Jack chuckles]
ART: The best spies in Millennium break are worse than us. [Everyone agrees] If they're so great, why aren't they played by one of us?
JACK: Right, uh-huh. [Chuckles] Good, this is, uh.
DRE: point.
JACK: That's more Dungeon World, I suppose, but, um…
[Laughter]
AUSTIN: Yeah, yeah. This is more sprawl rules, I think.
ART: I know where the camera is, is what I'm saying. [chuckles]
KEITH: So tho- tho- I- those are where my votes are. My vote is social, figuring out some sort of social thing to do, or a fake feint, um, deception thing. I think that that is something possible.
JACK: Could we have...
KEITH: And low- and low casualty alternatives to assault.
JACK: Maybe we could do a sort of a combination where we- we- we have Gucci move troops. We have people begin to move in that area, but not close enough that it would warrant retaliation, but it's like the, um, the- what did you call it, Austin? Slow noise?
AUSTIN: Long noise.
JACK: Long noise. Maybe we, uh, maybe we start to use that to our advantage here, where it's like, they get word that people are moving in the area. Um, they get word that shipments have been delayed. Maybe we take down, uh, we take down a ship, we shoot a ship out of the sky, um, nearby [Overlapping] so they know that things are… challenged
KEITH: [Overlapping] So this is… You're compounding onto my deception.
JACK: I'm saying that we get some people involved, right. Not enough people to actually have a risk of- of a lot of bloodshed, but people to kind of sell the deal almost.
KEITH: And even more convincing things.
AUSTIN: And then- okay, wait. I just- and then we get there. Let's say that works. Let's say the dice go well enough to put you at the edge of the jungle.
JACK: Oh, we're here in Icy Swamps. Yeah.
AUSTIN: You're here in Icy Swamps. They believe an attack is coming. Then what happens?
KEITH: [Overlapping] Well, they’re all looking-
ART: [Overlapping] We go in the other side.
KEITH: Yeah. They're all looking at where the attack looks like it's going to come from.
AUSTIN: You think what they would do is move all of their- their watchment to one side?
KEITH: [Overlapping] Not all…
ART: [Overlapping] Or what if they thought like a lot of people were coming?
AUSTIN: Okay.
JACK: I don't- now. Well, now see [Chuckles]
AUSTIN: I just want to be- I just want to be clear because I- I- there's a part coming up where I have to read the question "does the mission exploit the target's vulnerabilities is the tactic ineffective against the target?". And what you're attacking [JACK: right] is a base that they've been building for five or for- since- since being here, [Chuckles] which would have been thousands of years ago. Um, [JACK: I'm-] and I'm just- I just want to emphasize that I will not pull punches on this.
JACK: No, we're- we're late enough in the season now, right?
AUSTIN: Right, right.
JACK: Yeah.
KEITH: I wanna go back to something that Austin said when I first brought up a diplomatic option, which was it that you said something- there was something that you had that would make that funny or interesting?
AUSTIN: I have something for each of these that will make it funny and interesting. Or interesting.
KEITH: Ok
AUSTIN: Interesting. Not funny. Uh, I laughed because I laugh at interesting things. [Art laughs]
KEITH: Okay, we- you s- okay. Well- [Interrupted]
AUSTIN: There are- yes, there are things- I- what I said was there are things you don't know that make that funny and interesting. So, yes.
KEITH: Okay. So what greater weakness is there trying to get into [JACK: it really is] a place like this than if they open the doors for us.
JACK: I know, unlike- [interrupted]
AUSTIN: The question with the social one for me then is: who is your contact? Cause the detail you have to provide for a social plan is a contact who would do that for you.
KEITH: [Crosstalking] That sounds like for work.
AUSTIN: [Crosstalking] It does, totally.
JACK: [Overlapping] Do we lean on somebody in Beryl or Agate? You know, people have to go... I assume that with a base that has been built for a- for a millennium, [AUSTIN: mm-hm] there are places to eat inside Beryl and Agate. So it's not like they would be in- in neighboring towns, [Overlapping] but maybe we could watch shipping patterns.
AUSTIN: [Overlapping] If there are no neighboring towns.
KEITH: Do we know anyone alive from The Curtain?
JACK: [Overlapping] Oh shit, hang on.
AUSTIN: [Overlapping] Mourningbride.
[Silence]
KEITH: Is that- and is that something? [Austin chuckles]
JACK: [Laughs] No, it’s not. [Chuckles]
AUSTIN: [Crosstalking] You know where she is; she is in Oxbridge.
JACK: Oh, yikes. No incentive. [Austin laughs] I mean, if we spent the last downtime fucking selling our souls to the Witch and now we're going to go sell our souls to Mourningbride. Um, does Clementine have anything on Chasmata? As a Kesh house. As a lower Kesh house.
AUSTIN: So then your connection will be Clementine.
JACK: Yeah. [Dre laughs]
AUSTIN: Um-
ART: [Overlapping] I don’t like that idea.
JACK: [Overlapping] Or the, like, the machine of Cruciat, right.
KEITH: [Overlapping] I don’t see any problem with that idea. [Crosstalking] No one has ever given me a reason to…
JACK: [Crosstalking] Well, but it’s better the devil you know, right?
AUSTIN: Anyone loyal to Chasmata is not in, uh, is not in Cruciat anymore.
JACK: No, but used to be, right?
AUSTIN: Yeah.
JACK: Like the families would've...
AUSTIN: Yeah. And they're probably, you know, moved out off to other Kesh like, the estate lands or something now is where they probably are.
[Silence]
KEITH: Is- [interrupted]
JACK: the fucking- anything that goes in gets scanned.
KEITH: Is there- is there a way- is there a way to leverage, um, Chrysanth in this?
ART: [Overlapping] Go on.
JACK: [Overlapping] She’s dead. [Chuckles]
KEITH: She's- she's dead, but who, I mean, is there a way that like, the- maybe the executors of her will could get in there at- on some sort of- [AUSTIN: you brought-] guise of-
AUSTIN: Right. Right.
KEITH: Like, or- or like, we are- [JACK: oh shit] hey, we are, like, we are something- we are, in some way, related to Chrysanth Kesh, like business relations. And-
AUSTIN: I mean- yeah.
JACK: He’s a Sovereign Immunity.
AUSTIN: He's a Sovereign Immunity. Yeah, but, no, but he's- he's a famous Sovereign. There's not a [Struggles] I wanna be a hundred percent clear. We call him Sovereign Immunity. He does not have that standing [Jack chuckles] in the world of the world.
JACK: Sure. They’d just kill him.
AUSTIN: They would kill him.
KEITH: It's just that Sovereign Immunities have enough standing that when they get that title stripped from them, you still sometimes should call them that.
AUSTIN: Yeah, I gue- well, I think just internally inside of Millennium Break, it's like, who's going to be the one who says that "we’re gonna listen to the fucking Nideans, who we’re revolting against, about stripping that title." Do you know what I mean? Um,
KEITH: yeah.
AUSTIN: Anyway,
JACK: [Overlapping] Executors of the will is good.
AUSTIN: [Overlapping] the thing that comes to mind with this is just you know who definitely has some sort of like, emergency set of ideograms that mean "let me in" is Clementine Kesh. That has like the Chrysanth, like, "yeah, my mom is the top spy in the government and what she told me was 'push come to shove [JACK: oh shit], here is the emergency button'". You know?
KEITH: yeah.
JACK: I like this a lot because Clem- Clem can't read Kesh ideograms, or can't read Chrysanth’s, but I do love the idea for almost forging her mother's- like, this is the equivalent for forging her mother's signature, right? [laughter] It's like, what did you see on- in the same way that you as a kid mimic your parents' signature it's like, what did you see her do? What is the...
DRE: yeah.
KEITH: I was so close to her cause I was like, well, we need- we- they're related to the Curtain so we should use a Curtain thing. [AUSTIN: yeah] Unfortunately, Chrysanth's dead. Actually, fortunately Chrysanth's dead so we can do whatever we want. [Laughter]
AUSTIN: Right, right. And listen,
JACK: [crosstalking] We get-
KEITH: [Crosstalking] there is no- there’s-
AUSTIN: [Crosstalking] hey, Clem is back, how would they not- maybe- maybe fucking Chrysanth is back too, and needs to be, you know, debriefed or whatever. Who knows.
JACK: Yeah, we even say that. We can figure that out as we get in there.
AUSTIN: Right.
JACK: Um… yeah, get- [interrupted]
KEITH: Yeah. Let's definitely not plan what we're going to say. [Keith and Jack laugh]
ART: Yeah. When have we ever, have you heard this show before? [Chuckles]
JACK: Get the three ideograms.
ART: And we're like, gonna be lawyers?
AUSTIN: Yeah. What are you- what's the...
KEITH: lawyers or like-
AUSTIN: Like, what’s the- [Chuckles]
KEITH: Uh, like, we’re- [interrupted]
ART: I'd like a town car.
KEITH: Private- we're- we are Chrysanth's like, task force, private task force. Personal task force, I guess is what he says.
JACK: Jesus. I mean, at this point, that is such a dangerous thing to be, because at that point we are like mimicking high ranking Curtain... Chrysanth's task force are fucking nasty people.
AUSTIN: Mm hm.
JACK: Um… I mean, [Overlapping] we are nasty people-
AUSTIN: And one of you’s famous.
KEITH: We're- we're- yeah, we've got- we've got a- we've got a bird person, a crystal head, [JACK: and one of us is famous] a- a basically illegal alien. Um, and, uh, and Sovereign Immunity.
ART: [Overlapping] And someone famous for not liking Chrysanth. [Chuckles]
AUSTIN: [Overlapping] Who won- who won this- and who won the Olympics… [Chuckles] this year.
[Laughter]
ART: I forgot about that.
[01:10:00]
JACK: Oh, okay. Right. No, I think- [Interrupted]
ART: I'll stay at the car, [Austin laughs] you go in. [Chuckles, Overlapping] I’ll be the driver.
KEITH: [Overlapping] Just wear a disguise, wear- Oh, wear a disguise! Back to- [Chuckles] back to the original pitch-
JACK: No, actually I do think we might be onto something here where we send in the Figure and Phrygian, and they just unlock the- [Struggles, overlapping] I mean that sounds so simple.
KEITH: Who else would have a- a- a member of the Branch on their task force? than Chrysanth Kech. [Corrects himself] Kesh.
JACK: Ooh. Um, [Chuckles] yeah, honestly, if we can get you two in and you can then somehow get us in.
KEITH: You don't think uh, you two can make it in? I think that's possible. [JACK: no fucking way] I think we can do this in one step.
JACK: [Overlapping] Sovereign Immunity can get in.
AUSTIN: [Overlapping] Then you think- really quick, you think the Branch will be easier to get in then Kal- than you, Kalar?
JACK: [Deep breath] Um, [sighs] yeah, especially if it's Chrysanth, honestly. I- I- [Sighs] sorry if it's, um, Chasmata. Um, the problem is that I am really bad at talking to people, but in theory, I don't actually need to, [Overlapping] if I have the ideogram.
KEITH: [Overlapping] No, you- you stand there.
JACK: The ideogram should, [Overlapping] and I just let that speak for me.
KEITH: [Overlapping] Yeah, that covers it. I think so. [Overlapping] What we should need to-
JACK: [Overlapping] Austin, did you ever hear an argument for like, a menacing posture letting me roll something other than sway? [Chuckles]
AUSTIN: That would be command. [Short silence] Probably.
JACK: Yeah, yeah. I could do that, actually. I could really do that as the sort of like, the- the- the heavy guy who comes in and says "I'm here for so-and-so."
AUSTIN: Yeah.
JACK: "I'm not here to talk specifics with you."
AUSTIN: Mm-hmm.
[Cross-talk]
KEITH: [Crosstalking] We're not any better with command
AUSTIN: You could literally wreck something, uh, and get limited effect. But you have to act- [Cross-talk] That's not just- yeah, that's not just being big. You would lead- you would need to act with brutal force, you know? [Chuckles]
JACK: Yeah.
AUSTIN: Um, and that's stepping it up, I think. Been to a different kind of social situation. [Chuckles]
KEITH: Um, I feel like we're- are right on the- we're right on the brink of figuring out how to start this mission.
AUSTIN: Yeah.
ART: [Overlapping] It's only been two hours. [Laughs]
JACK: [Overlapping] I'm frustrated because on the one hand- well, it's frustrating, cause on the one hand I feel like we're stuck on the boat. And on the other hand, I feel like we're, you know, it’s like [KEITH: This is the fun ‘bout that] could God make himself a rock that's too heavy for him to lift. Like, could Austin make a fortress that's too- [Chuckles] too-
AUSTIN: I- I built a fortress and I said, what's this fortress- I, uh, what's the- what's the thing I said at the top of this game, uh, convey the world honestly. They have- yeah.
JACK: I know. Like, this is a fucking nasty place to try and break into. And so I think it does reflect that, that we are struggling. I do think Keith's right. We're close. We are really close. Get the ideograms.
KEITH: We almost have something.
AUSTIN: I like the ideogram thing. Yeah.
KEITH: Here's the key.
JACK: Force entrance.
KEITH: Here’s- I like the ideograms. I like the- I like leveraging our knowledge of Crysanth to- towards our favor using Clem, if we need to. Um...
AUSTIN: I, the thing that I wanted- the thing I encourage you to think about is what is the next step and what- [Overlapping] and- oh yeah.
KEITH: [Overlapping] That was literally what I was about to ask.
AUSTIN: And then- and then- because- then invent something to get you to that next step. Does that make sense?
KEITH: Yeah, cause we need to get there. [Overlapping] We have the ideograms we need to get there.
AUSTIN: [Overlapping] The next step that you walk into the place fin-
KEITH: And then they go like, okay, why are you here?
AUSTIN: Right. Correct.
KEITH: And we don't know.
AUSTIN: And then in your mind is the answer "we just want to hang out here!" Whatever- whatever it is, is the- is the outcome to that next step, we talk our way in and they give us free reign of the place. Then what? [JACK: mm, right] Because then what do you think happens and how do you- how do you build [JACK: Right] whatever that "then" what is. Because what I don't- what- what it- what I don't want you to do is to show up in a sedan, get let in, [JACK: and then go…] and then just get shot by, [Jack laughs] you know what I mean? Like, go to steal something. You don't even know what you're there to do. You don't even know what- what I would call operation or what lode- the lode stone is. What, you know, object lode stone is. You could get to it and it could be, this is the like, you get to the, you- you do- you try to do a heist and you realize the thing that you're trying to steal is 10 times bigger than you thought it was. Oh oh, what do we do with this thing? You know?
DRE: Yeah.
KEITH: I've got- I have a- I think I have something. I have something for like the what- what happens when you get in the gates and maybe it's like... cry- Crysanth do- how possibly do we think that we can convince people there that Crysanth is alive?
JACK: Really hard.
DRE: Really hard
JACK: She exploded in a pillar of- a pillar of fire. Right, Dre?
AUSTIN: Famously.
KEITH: But there- they're in a secluded- they're in a secluded-
AUSTIN: [Overlapping] They would know. They’re Curtain-based, they would know. Yes.
JACK: [Overlapping] There’s also spies.
KEITH: Yeah, right. Ok. Ok, so… um, [Overlapping] I think that we need to kn-
DRE: [Overlapping] We can just punch a big wall. It's the other thing here. And I know that's the thing we're kind of like dancing around here because we're- we're not wanting to get a bunch of people in the line of fire. Um, we can just blow up a big wall.
ART: Wait, we show up with our fake thing and then the feint starts. We get- we- we use the- the- [Struggles] What's the matter with me.
AUSTIN: Ideograms. The- the fake invite or whatever. Yeah.
ART: Yeah. The f- the fake sick note from- [Chuckles]
ASUTIN: [Chuckling] Uh-huh.
ART: We- we say where they're at official business, and then just like, we have some sort of like, device.
JACK: Oh shit. And they take us into protective custody.
ART: And when we get in- yeah. Then we get in, then the attack happens and they'll lock down.
KEITH: We're already inside.
ART: And then they won't be as focused on us because everything outside will be happening.
JACK: They might even take us to a panic room or something. Cause if we- if we really sell that we are- We are the- we are the big folks. Um, they might take us to a panic room or something. And even if they don't want to, they can't argue with the ideogram, which will be like a legitimate code phrase. Um, and then once we're there, that gives us a potential sort of like, what's it called? A forward base? Where we like, okay, we have a room that we are in. We can potentially start thinking about how to overpower people in that room. We can split up. We can, you know, diversify our methods from that point.
KEITH: Is the- that also gives us the opportunity to, if we're getting there and we're there- we're pitching ourselves as "Hey look, they fuck- they killed- these people killed Crysanth Kesh. We're here to make sure that you have this shit locked down here". And then there's as security breach. We could really big time. And then they go like, [Expressing dissapointment] "oh brother, these people..." [Laughs]
JACK: [Chuckles] Useless. I don't even know what these are. Combat archeologists.
AUSTIN: You have no idea. Yeah. You truly have no idea what you're up against.
KEITH: Yeah.
JACK: We know they're digging, and that's it. We know that they're digging and whatever they're digging is important enough that they keep killing spies.
ART: And none of this plan gets a Sovereign Immunity inside the walls.
JACK: Um...
KEITH: I think- I don't think that you're- I think that we can get you in.
JACK: [Softly] They just-
KEITH: Just have a mask, just wear a mask!
AUSTIN: You could acquire an asset for some sort of special mask.
JACK: Yeah. Honestly, [overlapping] just like a special mask.
ART: [Overlapping] A sort of special mask, alright.
JACK: I think that if the goal here was, well… the Curtain fucking love weird dark pageantry. Right, Austin? Like they [AUSTIN: sure] call themselves different- they have different names for like fabrics. They're like-
AUSTIN: Yeah, like they're a secret society in the...
KEITH: Different names for fabrics? How mysterious!
[Laughter and crosstalk]
AUSTIN: There- there’s like roles that have weird fabric names. Names like Gab- like the Gabardine or the Lace. You know?
JACK: Ooh, I suppose we have that too. [Chuckles and Keith laughs]
AUSTIN: Um, but no, I don't- yeah. I know what you mean.
JACK: Um, right. Yeah. Maybe we do an asset roll.
AUSTIN: Yes.
JACK: To get Sovereign Immunity to disguise. He doesn't need to speak until we're in a real problem situation. Like, until things get bad enough that him- that them realizing he's Sovereign Immunity is- is the least of our worries.
AUSTIN: Yeah, also really quick, just make sure no one just has a thing that is "I have a good disguise or something". You know what I mean? Just check your- your-
ART: I just wanna make up this thing that like, this world, this- this universe has some sort of super lawyer that wears an elaborate mask and never talks. [Jack chuckles]
AUSTIN: This world- so-
JACK: That would have been Twilight Mirage. [Chuckles and Dre laughs]
AUSITIN: That was- I'm thinking of a specific super lawyer who has that, right? That was uuh, Janus… What was the-
JACK: Red equity! Yeah.
AUSTIN: Red equity. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Um, yeah. Red equity Janus or [pronounces differently] Janus.
JACK: He died like fucking four thousand years ago.
AUSTIN: Yeah, he probably. Well-
ART: I think I'm- who, says who?
AUSTIN: Yeah. Uh-huh.
JACK: I mean, maybe. The Mirage is a- is a wild place. Um.
ART: That's me. That's- I've- that's- [Jack laughs]
JACK: Yeah, I don't have any disguises. This- Um, I have something called subterfuge supplies. Oh shit! That's it!
AUSTIN: Yeah. A set of actors props [JACK: I have something called-] and make up with accompanying documents for making disguises. Yes. Everybody has that. That's correct. You can just declare that out the gate.
KEITH: I knew this would be disguise episode.
AUSTIN: Uh-huh.
JACK: [Overlapping] oh, one.
KEITH: [Overlapping] I just felt it in my bones.
ART: [Overlapping] How good is it?
AUSTIN: Uh, It's not fine, but it would allow you to do this plan. Again, if you roll poorly, then you roll poorly. But... it's-
KEITH: But you have the disguise.
AUSTIN: It’s the detail. Right? Yeah.
ART: Hold on. I need to delete all my stuff from the last-
AUSTIN: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Make sure not to do that for your Mech, but do do it for your, um... actually-
ART: Right, I don't need [AUSTIN: Go ahead and-] allowed paint mortar anymore.
AUSTIN: Actually go ahead and do it for your Mech. I'll let you clear an established gear.
JACK: It's been six months
AUSTIN: It's been six months for- look, for that, I'll let you do. For sure. All right, so this sounds like the idea here. Um, and I think- here's the thing is I do think that, um, in exchange for this, uh, Clementine wants to be at the table when you retrieve whatever this is, um, and wants to be cut in on whatever the outcome is. Basically.
ART: Wait, I need- I need more clarity on what table we're tal- she's not coming.
AUSTIN: No.
[01:20:00]
JACK: [Chuckles] Fuck no.
AUSTIN: Absolutely not. But if you were trapped, but if when you retrieve something, you know, she's instructing the Figure to inform her. She trusts that you will not betray the figure who has been nothing, but, uh, kind and generous, um, with their time and their skills, um, and that the Figure will inform her of what it is you have found. Um, and that to the degree, to which it can aid the people of the Reflecting Pool, um, the people in Millennium Break agree to share, uh, the- the reward to share whatever the- the, um, there's a word I'm looking for here, but you know what I'm saying... the spoils.
KEITH: Clout.
ART: Duh.
KEITH: [Overlapping] The clout, she wants the clout.
ART: [Overlapping] It’s really hard, they do what they do without knowing what it is. Um, but, um…
AUSTIN: But listen. Hey, if it's something that can only be in one place, uh, but what it does is effectively like, make it so that you can make a bunch of money because you don't have to buy electricity anymore. You don't have to buy fuel. Then she wants that money. If it's something that produces a lot of food, then she wants some of that food for her people, right? Like there is not- there are- there are ways to figure out what a material gain will be from something, you know? And if it's something that you have to destroy to save the world, then you make sure people know that the Reflecting pool and the Witch in Glass helped you do it. She's instrumental in your success.
ART: I mean, if consulted, I would say this is a fine thing to agree to, and it's a fine thing to go back on later!
DRE: That doesn't sound very amenable or affable. [Dre laughs]
JACK: Yeah, I think so. I think that the price here of the ideograms is a real doozy and- and worth carrying forward for future interactions with the Curtain.
AUSTIN: Mm-hmm. All right, so just a- quick plan again, you're arriving with some sort- are you sending words somehow first?
ART: I don't know how we would do that.
AUSTIN: Me either.
KEITH: Is it a two step ideogram?
AUSTIN: Is it literally...
KEITH: Or like a three-step. Like we send the first one at X distance and then the next one [AUSTIN: I mean,] when you're closer.
AUSTIN: Are you broadcasting it? Are you bringing something that just broadcasts like, an ideogram that basically says "I am coming. Crysanth Kesh" on some sort of open radio. Right? Like a number station, you know what I mean?
ART: Yeah, it go- or it's on every channel.
AUSTIN: Yeah yeah yeah. Exactly, exactly. Um, and then- and then when you engage- or when you presumably are brought inside. You will- at that point, a feint will be triggered, not a real feint. It's not- [KEITH: a feint of a feint] there's no real military coming to help you. You're turning that down. Or [Overlapping] are they nearby enough that you could send a flare gun?
ART: [Overlapping] Well, could we get like a- like a- like an air strike?
AUSTIN: No. Anything that you- not if you want [ART: Ooh] the air strike to not get shot down, do you know what I mean?
DRE: Hey, I know- I know what we could do.
AUSTIN: Mm-hmm.
DRE: Um, I do have fine remote vehicle control, which allows me to control my vehicle remotely without any degradation of intent.
AUSTIN: That's true.
DRE: Um, so I could just have my mech start, like beating down the walls.
AUSTIN: Dre, I need to say, you can do this. You will lose your mech.
DRE: Oh, that's a bummer.
AUSTIN: You- you cannot-
JACK: What, they'll just obliterate it?
AUSTIN: A single mech? Yes.
DRE: Yeah. No, that's fair.
AUSTIN: At the most well defended base on the- on the planet? Yes.
ART: All right. I guess it's a fake feint then.
AUSTIN: Or you can do that. Or you can do that, but I'm- but I- it will be effective. [Chuckles] you know?
KEITH: We will have one [Austin laughs] mech and it's me. [Dre laughs]
AUSTIN: True. Once you- well, no, because you haven't finished that yet.
KEITH: Right.
AUSTIN: Um, you can [KEITH: um] you can take that time before we do this engagement role. If you want to.
KEITH: I would- I am- I am going to take that time.
AUSTIN: Okay. That means a clock will tick because you're spending time finishing this.
KEITH: Yeah.
AUSTIN: Just so you know. Yeah.
ART: Wait, then how are we going to convince them that this attack is happening?
DRE: I- yeah. I don't think there's a way to do this without involving other people is the problem.
AUSTIN: [Overlapping] you can do this feint thing-
ART: [Overlapping] What if we just like- what if it’s just a small thing?
AUSTIN: Sure.
ART: What if instead of like a full-on feint attack, we use like a third, that number of people and they know to fucking bail right away.
AUSTIN: Right. Yeah. I just wanted to be clear that a single mech trying to do something here, like, you- there is not a way to engage. I mean, you could have it far away and shoot something and then, you know, there are things [KEITH: I...] we're going to lock down probably, but you w- you wouldn't get is them moving troops around and like, you know, [ART: Right] like that's- that's... the thing that would happen is the thing that's happened.
ART: Yeah. I guess we need- we need some sort of face.
AUSTIN: It can be automated, like march automated mechs towards. Like I- we- you [Struggles]
JACK: Snowmobile minds.
AUSTIN: Like totally. You could send snowmobiles that explore- Like a hundred percent could do that.
JACK: Yeah, like fire... the jungle burning on one side, like a loud, visible explosion.
AUSTIN: They could start shooting artillery shots. Like there's all- I just need something, [Chuckling] you know what I mean? [JACK: yeah, uh-huh] this is not- this is not me saying the plan doesn't work. It's just me saying I need a detail, you know?
KEITH: Yeah.
ART: Yeah. Maybe it's just- it's just like long- long range ballistics.
AUSTIN: Sure.
[Silence]
AUSTIN: [Overlapping] That works. That works.
JACK: [Overlapping] Like, uh, rolling barrage, try and hit us as hard as possible without actually hitting us.
KEITH: Throw- throwing things that are- that are- you know.
AUSTIN: Yeah.
DRE: Yeah. I mean, or even just artillery.
AUSTIN: Totally. Um, all right. This sounds like it's time to roll. Is the mission bold?
JACK: Mm.
KEITH: Yes.
AUSTIN: Is the mission-
JACK: Is that doggie fine?
AUSTIN: [Laughs] Is this mission especially complex?
KEITH: No?
JACK: Yes, we break-
[Cross-talk]
KEITH: Ok.
AUSTIN: All right. Uh, does the mission- you're at one; does the mission exploit the target's vulnerabilities?
KEITH: [Sighs] Yes.
ART: Maybe? We- it's hard to know.
AUSTIN: [Overlapping] It is. It is hard to know.
KEITH: I think that being let in with a code that we have by kind of by accident is exploiting a vulnerability.
AUSTIN: Is this- is the mission's target, uh, tactic ineffective against the target? I don't think especially, so you're at two.
KEITH: No.
AUSTIN: Does the squad receive external support for the mission?
KEITH: Yes.
ART: Yes
AUSTIN: Is anyone interfering with the mission other than the target? Yes.
KEITH: No?
ART: I don't think so.
AUSTIN: Yes.
KEITH: Yes?
ART: What? who?
AUSTIN: You don't know. You didn't do that leg work. [Chuckles]
KEITH: Fair.
AUSTIN: Um, are there any other factors that affect the mission? Take plus one d for each one that benefits the squad, take minus one d if it hinders them, this might include differences in squad, tier specialized equipment or unusual terrain. Um, I'm going to give you another one here from having both the ideogram and the diversion. I'm going to reduce one because of a tier difference. Chasmata Quarry folks are two tiers higher than you, so.
KEITH: Um, would- I guess I tactically have not done this, but we know that I only have one mark left, because- so it's an automatic success, but [AUSTIN: Yeah yeah yeah] uh, if- if, uh... you said specialized equipment, um, would- would it count that I can turn into a mech where normally we would not be able to have a mech in a plan like this?
AUSTIN: Yeah. I'll give you one for that.
KEITH: Sick.
AUSTIN: Um, so you should spend that material to do that, or whatever it is that you guys and personnel, to do your downtime action, basically.
KEITH: Okay, yeah.
AUSTIN: So spend that or I can- I can spend that, um...
KEITH: Okay.
AUSTIN: Papapa... Drops you down to six... so what's that look like?
KEITH: Um, well, I took a vacation from doing this, [AUSTIN: You did, yeah] I guess, because [Jack laughs] it was months- it was [Overlapping] over a half year ago.
AUSTIN: [Overlapping] Well, so this is not like you were doing this in the background the whole time. This is literally “I stopped”.
KEITH: No, cause I worked- I worked so hard and almost got it right away.
AUSTIN: Riiiight.
KEITH: And then stopped. And so like, I didn't have that much work to do on it. And I guess I don't know why Phrygian would have stopped, but it seemed like finishing it was not- see, I guess I didn't wanna finish it. I guess- we've established that.
AUSTIN: You could have finished it during that downtime and chose not to. Yeah.
KEITH: So you- right.
AUSTIN: Yeah yeah yeah.
KEITH: And so...
AUSTIN: but that can be- that was- Keith decided that Phrygian might not have, you know? Phrygian might be like "I don't have time right now because the Red Light is coming" and then you got up there and you're like "well, let me come back to it when I need to come back to it".
KEITH: Yeah.
AUSTIN: Right?
KEITH: But I really saved it to the last minute. Maybe it's nice to not have to have this thing. I think that we've established it's not fun.
AUSTIN: Yeah! Totally. Yes.
KEITH: Um, so I actually- I- so I ca- I have- I have a thing. I have an idea of what it looks like. I have a name.
AUSTIN: Okay.
KEITH: I forgot to write quirks. Um...
AUSTIN: Well, let's roll entanglement, and then we'll take a break and then you can write down your quirks [KEITH: ok] during that break.
KEITH: Okay.
AUSTIN: So it's 3d six. Who wants to roll it?
[Short silence]
JACK: [Sighs] I'll roll it.
AUSTIN: Okay!
KEITH: Way to go, Jack.
JACK: Thanks.
AUSTIN: He said that before the dice were rolled, just to be clear. All right! That's a five. So that means you're going to start in a risky position. So I need to know what the disguises look like. [Contains laughter] Just for fun.
KEITH: Uh, I'm not in- into disguise.
JACK: Oh shit.
AUSTIN: What?
JACK: [Overlapping] That's gotta be bad.
KEITH: [Overlapping] Is that bad? Is that wrong with me?
AUSTIN: [Overlapping] I thought you were all in disguise.
JACK: [Overlapping] They’ll kill you.
KEITH: What if I was in a- what if I was disguised as a Branched?
JACK: They'll kill you. They- these folks fucking [Overlapping] hate the Branch.
AUSTIN: [Overlapping] Yeah
KEITH: [Overlapping] No, I’ll tell them I’m- It’s a disguise.
AUSTIN: Keith, we already rolled in tank them, I thought everyone had disguises. I think [KEITH: okay] everyone should probably declare this. Also, I need to know what your loads are for this.
KEITH: Be a good disguise though, right? Saying that I was disguised [Jack laughs] as a Branched.
AUSTIN: No.
KEITH: To them.
AUSTIN: I get it-
KEITH: Saying "oh, it's a Branch disguise". Um...
AUSTIN: I think any time you're trying to go infiltrate a place telling anyone [Laughter in the back] that you're currently wearing a disguise it's bad.[Chuckles]
[01:30:00]
KEITH: Ok, I’ll wear a disguise.
JACK: Um, I'm going to take a... heavy load.
AUSTIN: Okay.
JACK: Because my disguise is going to be a non-speaking tough character.
AUSTIN: Okay.
JACK: Um, I'm gonna wear, [Overlapping] you know, like-
AUSTIN: [Overlapping] This does not excuse you of the fact that heavy draws attention to you. Do you understand what I'm saying? You don't- you don't get to say- [Overlapping] “well, in this case is a disguise”.
JACK: [Overlapping] Yeeeaaah, let’s knock it down to a medium.
AUSTIN: because what it would indicate would be "oh wow, that person is wearing the sort of things that they would use to infiltrate and kill us". That is like, [JACK: Sure, yeah. Okay] just- it’s just a balancing mechanism. I get what you're saying, but
JACK: Nevertheless, my disguise is still a big silent person. I'm wearing like, a slightly shabby ill fitting suit. Um, and dark glasses.
KEITH: Too small or too big?
JACK: Uh, it varies in the pants [Chuckles] and in the, uh, [Chuckles and Art laughs] the- the top.
KEITH: The Jacket's too small, but the pants are too big?
JACK: And, uh, yeah, uh, shoes like, shoes aren't made for the snow and we'll have like, dirt around them and a pair of- a pair of very expensive sunglasses, uh, and, uh, a wire in my ear.
AUSTIN: Love it, like a bodyguard or something.
JACK: I have a- I have a folder. I'm carrying a folder.
AUSTIN: [Chuckling] Okay. Um, Sovereign Immunity?
ART: Um...
AUSTIN: Is a wig? Is this a- what is this?
ART: I think I'm sticking with medium.
AUSTIN: Okay.
ART: And I think I'm trying to look like Pacino in Glengarry Glen Ross.
JACK: Oh! [Contains laughter]
DRE: Hmm.
AUSTIN: Okay.
DRE: That's very particular.
AUSTIN: I get it though. That hair [ART: yeah] is very specific.
ART: Uh-huh. And it's like, I mean, I know that that character isn't a lawyer, but like, it's, uh, someone who looks like they're there to do business, you know?
AUSTIN: Yeah, I get you. I get you. I do.
ART: I will not be doing a Pacino impression.
AUSTIN: Okay [Chuckles]
ART: I just wanna- [Interrupted]
KEITH: Can you get at- can you just do one real quick for us? At the top.
AUSTIN: Just real quick, just an- yeah. It doesn't have to be from Glengarry Glen Ross, it 'd be any Pacino.
ART: [In a rough voice imitating Al Pacino] "Every time I think I'm out, they pull me--" but there's- this- I'm doing Silvio from the Sopranos doing Pacino.
AUSTIN: You're doing Silvio doing Pacino!
[laughter]
KEITH: I heard Pacino in there, but I also haven't seen the Sopranos, so
ARTI: Um...
AUSTIN: No, I think we got- we got it. I got the character.
ART: Yeah, you got it.
AUSTIN: I got it. Yeah. Um, Phrygian and, uh, and- and Figure?
DRE: Mm...
KEITH: Uh, I've got- I've got mine. So, um, I've used in lieu of a traditional disguise… [Art laughs]
AUSTIN: Great. Go ahead. Uh-huh.
KEITH: You- do y'all- are y'all familiar with grain filler?
AUSTIN: No...
DRE: No...
KEITH: it's what you put- it's what you put on wood. You put- [AUSTIN: I see, yeha, uh-huh] it's like a thing you put into wood to fill the grains of the wood and then you sand it down so it's flush- it's smooth.
AUSTIN: Oh, yeah. Okay.
KEITH: Yeah.
DRE: I literally was using it earlier today and it's called wood filler. At least everywhere I've seen [Overlapping] it's called wood filler.
AUSTIN: [Overlapping] I also know this as a wood filler.
KEITH: It's- well, it fills wood grains.
AUSTIN: Yeah, I gotcha.
KEITH: So it's also called grain filler. [Overlapping] I’m pretty sure this is true.
AUSTIN: [Overlapping] That makes sense. That makes sense. Yeah.
KEITH: Um, so-
AUSTIN: No, it is called that. You're- you're- yes. that worked.
KEITH: Yeah. So, so I've got this thi- I've got it. And I'm, uh, I'm smoothing out my face with it.
AUSTIN: Okay. [Chuckles]
KEITH: Put it on, goop it in there. Uh, sanded down.
AUSTIN: Into a- into a human face? Or some sort of robot face...
KEITH: Yeah. [Overlapping] Yeah yeah yeah. Human face. Human face.
AUSTIN: [Overlapping] Okay. Human face. Oh, okay.
KEITH: I have a- I- I have a- I have a, what did I say, [Overlapping] plausibly human looking face alre- altogether convincing.
AUSTIN: [Overlapping] Yeah, you did. You did. So it covers up that- yeah.
KEITH: My face is al- al- already altogether convincing. And so you just gotta- just gotta smooth out the edges.
AUSTIN: Uh-huh. [Chuckles]
KEITH: Um, add some color and I need a wig.
AUSTIN: Gotta get a wig. Love it.
KEITH: Yeah.
AUSTIN: Okay.
KEITH: Um...
AUSTIN: Um...
KEITH: So I'm thinking like seventies hair. Like, long- like, we- like, long in a way that doesn't exist anymore.
AUSTIN: Right. Sure. All right! And, uh, Figure.
DRE: [Showing disappointment] Uh, okay. Well... Kalar took my idea. So now I have to think of a more ridiculous idea.
AUSTIN: Okay. [Keith chuckles]
DRE: Um, is there any sort of perennial magic that, uh, Clementine would give to help cover up specifically crystal zombie head? I think is the biggest hurdle point [Overlapping] here for me as a disguise.
AUSTIN: [Overlapping] Oh yeah. That's the big one. Um, I think she is at first, um, kind of judgy that you would want to cover up Perennial's gift and reminds you [DRE: that's fair] that Perennial is very, um, uh, selfish. Um, and will- will remember that you would like to hide what she's given you and- and that she tells you that as your friend and- and not to put pressure on you, but that she knows firsthand what it means to scorn a gift from- from the goddess.
DRE: Mm...
AUSTIN: Um, however, um, if you spend the material, you get the thing, right? If you spend the- if you- if you take this subterfuge tool, you do get this. Um, so you tell me what it looks like and how it works.
DRE: I mean, my other pitch, if- because I do think that there is a place where that appeal or like, really hits home.
AUSTIN: Mm-hmm.
DRE: Um...
AUSTIN: I- again, I do think you need to do this to get this- like, the engagement role- part of what your bonus was from was from the fact that y'all wear disguise. So, [DRE: yes] you do need something here, probably.
DRE: I wa- I got another disguise.
AUSTIN: Okay, okay.
DRE: Um, I think Bismuth, uh, puts together a very, uh, professorial outfit, but just also has a really big hat.
AUSTIN: [Chuckling] Okay.
DRE: Like just- [Austin laughs] just a very large like, stove top Abraham Lincoln hat.
AUSTIN: That covers the bulk of- that either physically or by shade covers your face.
DRE: Yes.
AUSTIN: Okay. [Chuckles] Okay. You already rolled it, so we know that you have risky. So let me narrate a little bit of what happens here. Um, you've been broadcasting the signal now for a day. Um, they know theoretically that you'll- you'll be coming you're in a, again, there's the Lincoln town car, Art, is what you suggested.
ART: Yeah, uh-huh.
AUSTIN: You're in some sort of very professional looking sedan, um, equivalent, um- [interrupted]
ART: Futuristic-y [Overlapping] though, you know? Don’t- yeah.
AUSTIN: [Overlapping] Yeah, it is. I- I- yeah, the- the-
ART: it’s probably not wheels, you know? [Chuckles]
AUSTIN: No, it's probably wheels. It's probably- we don't have hover cars in this world. Uh we've- we've been over this. Um, also, just real quick, wheels work.
ART: But if in the snows was a tread.
AUSTIN: Uh, yeah, it's probably a tread. That makes sense. It's some sort of treaded sedan, right? Um, which is a great visual in my mind. And it's going over some sort of road, right? There is a road here at Point Beryl that leads in. Um, and you were stopped at the edge. Um, you know, lights hit you when you are a mile out. Super powerful spotlights hit you, that actually kind of like, make it hard to drive the rest of the way; it's that blinding. Um, and it means you don't really get a good sense of what the location looks like from the outside. Um, and, you know, you eventually reach a point in which a number of people with guns come into view, um, and, you know, they let you approach. Their guns are not pointed at you, but they're being held, uh, you know, uh, fingers next to but not on triggers. Um, and, uh, the car, you know, is- is- comes to a halt at a gate. Um, and, uh, I think a guard, uh, kind of gestures to you all to get out of the car. Um, I'm guessing you go along with this.
[Everyone agree]
AUSTIN: And one of them says like, you know, um, uh, "Coronel Shine will be with you momentarily." Um, and, uh, leads you into a small- a small room. Sovereign Immunity, you know, again, that this has a certain Kesh quality to it. This- the kind of architecture here. Um, this has like a- a genuinely kind of humanists, uh, classical architectural style. Um, um, it is- it is perhaps more utilitarian than most Kesh art. Is not Cruciat where like, it's showy, but they can't help, but like, make the, um, the crown molding look nice. Do you know what I mean? They can't help, but have well tiled floors, uh, inside. Um, and you immediately recognize that- you- you will- I am gonna say you recognize two things. The first is that there is- you do see kind of curtain based, um, communication, uh... like, operations, the sort of stuff that you know from Crysanth from spending years working with Crysanth, were like protocol, right? Certain types of exchanges. Certain sorts of, uh, conversational cues. Uh, but there's also something else happening that feels like there's almost a translation happening with the other folks here in the Chasmata Quarry; to pass word along or to something else. Maybe that's because Chasmata is like, so far removed from everything else. Like, and it has its own internal, like, uh, patois or like, dialect, you know? It has its own like thieves' cant. Um, but- but, uh, you're not sure. Um, so you kind of pick up on that pretty quickly. And then after a few moments, um, I think a, uh, a Columnar person shows up. Um, their name is...
[01:40:00]
AUSTIN: Um... I have it down here somewhere, uh, Lincoln Shine. So, um, they use he/him. Uh, and he has like a big boxy robot head. Um, it's kind of like- it's- it's- it's angular and boxy, so it kind of like starts like, um, like where our chin would, like, it kind of comes down to a point where a chin would be but then kind of opens up to be kind of more broad. It's almost like an inverted triangle a little bit. It doesn't end on like a point [Chuckles] like a triangle, but it ends on kind of a squared off rounded top, uh, almost. Um, and that face is like, black with some like bright blue lighting. Um, and he says, um, um,
(as Lincoln Shine): We received your message. Um, we were not expecting for it to be not the Gabardine. Uh…
And I think it's at this point that your distraction hits. Um, the artillery starts to be fired. Um, and, you know, from here I think what we see is one of the incoming artillery shells hits something in the quarry. It lights up. I'm guessing you're doing this at night. In my mind you were doing this at night, is that right?
JACK: Oh, yeah.
AUSTIN: Okay. That makes- yeah.
JACK: With the lights in the snow, and like-
AUSTIN: Yeah yeah yeah, exactly. That's a hundred percent how I've been picturing this. Yeah. Um, and so the- so we get the shot of the facility at night and the other huge explosion and some screaming and then you could hear the artillery- the other artillery shells, um, uh, in the- in the sky, like whistling on their way in. And then there is a- like, a burst of gunfire from something in the airspace and the remainder of the artillery shells are shot down. And you don't know- we don't see what did that. There's a shape moving in the sky above.
JACK: hmm.
AUSTIN: Um, that kind of like, you know, blocks out some of the stars and you can kind of make out a flying shape, but that's about it. Um, and as soon as that happens, Shine says:
(As Lincoln Shine): Not now! Come with me immediately.
And does as you expected it and leads you to a small panic room.
ART: I think it's important that we like, be grumbly about this.
AUSTIN: Sure. What's that look like?
[Music begins: TANAGER. PERFECT. TOUCHPAPER. by Jack de Quidt]
ART: like-
JACK: Yeah. We're like, "Ugh".
ART (as Sovereign): Oh my Go- they- we're just here- who- what- how do you keep this operation going? This is amateur hour! [Austin laughs]
KEITH (as Phrygian): We were here to make sure you were doing things right, and it looks like you aren't.
DRE (as Figure): Oh, this- I thought this place was going to be safe.
AUSTIN: [Laughs] You're playing scared. Good. Um...
KEITH: [Laughs] Oh, that's good. That's a good angle.
AUSTIN: He says, um:
(As Lincoln Shine): Yes. Well, there've been some changes recently and well... we can talk about that. Follow me.
[Music plays to end]