Twilight Mirage 05: The Sunlight of Knowing
Transcribed by: Iris (@sacredwhim)
[MUSIC - "The Twilight Mirage" by Jack de Quidt begins]
AUSTIN (as SATELLITE): Report 88.
I'm getting worried, Primary. There's this little display box right over in the corner of my work grid. It shows the status of the team I'm watching, and it's been stuck on the same image ever since they reached Quire's surface. I can see them, eyes full of hope, and concern, and curiosity. One of them looks a little distracted. But... the picture is supposed to be live by now, and it's not.
Everyone's in the right place and there's been more than enough time, so what's keeping them from throwing the switch? We were sent all this way and with all this tech, and we can't even get a decent visual on Quire before the new arrivals set up their network. [sighs] Sorry, it's just… what happens if they fail? I mean, I know we're not supposed to ask questions about mission-critical premises, but, well, this is more… mission-tangential, at least by my readings. What happens if they get hurt? Or captured, or if the node gets destroyed and then they can't fab up a new one?
I gave up a stable existence for a chance at adventure, Primary. But it's just me, and this capsule, and this little picture in the corner of my work grid. And all I want to know is, what happens if this picture of them never changes?
[MUSIC - "The Twilight Mirage" by Jack de Quidt ends]
AUSTIN (as JANEY ERRANIA): I'm just gonna say it one time, and… you're gettin' yourselves in up to your heads. Ah…
KEITH (as GIG KEPHART): In what? In opportunity?
AUSTIN (as JANEY): Oh, buddy. It's… It's a big world here, and there's still a lot of space—
KEITH (as GIG): Yeah.
AUSTIN (as JANEY): But there's a lot—
KEITH (as GIG): That's great news.
AUSTIN (as JANEY): [exhales] But there's a lot of people who like things the way they are, or who want them to be more one way than another way.
KEITH (as GIG): Uh-huh.
AUSTIN (as JANEY): And there is going to be a lot of opportunity, and you're the opportunity. For them.
KEITH (as GIG): [hesitant] Huh. That's not a great thing to hear.
There is—I mean, we did hear that there's a whole section of this continent called the Savage Mandate. That doesn't sound ideal?
AUSTIN (as JANEY): [overlapping] Oh don't call them that, they're not savage, that's some…
KEITH (as GIG): That's what—we just learned that word!
AUSTIN (as JANEY): [stammering]
DRE: Wait.
AUSTIN (as JANEY): Surge—
AUSTIN: And he's like, "Well that's what the Crown call—that's what the Crown says!"
KEITH (as GIG): [overlapping] He did—Hold on, to be fair to Surge, to be fair he did offer that as a secondary name.
AUSTIN (as JANEY): Okay. Just don't use that word around here.
KEITH (as GIG): Okay. How come?
AUSTIN (as JANEY): 'Cause it's bullshit. They're just people what have cars, and airships, and sometimes they live inside of weird machine-wrecks or whatever but they're not—they're not savage.
KEITH (as GIG): Mmkay. But they are Mandati?
AUSTIN (as JANEY): They call themselves Mandati. I call them Mandati. No problem.
KEITH (as GIG): Okay.
AUSTIN (as JANEY): Anyway…
KEITH (as GIG): I mean, I bought the whole Savage Mandate thing just 'cause they—they looked like they were lookin' to, you know.
AUSTIN (as JANEY): You can't judge a book by its cover. If there are some people near here who happen to be part of the Mandate who are lookin' for a fight, that doesn't mean all the Mandati are out for a fight.
KEITH (as GIG): So it's not like one big gang.
AUSTIN (as JANEY): Ain't nothin' like one big gang out here.
KEITH (as GIG): Okay.
AUSTIN (as JANEY): [overlapping] The Crown is the closest—the closest thing—
KEITH (as GIG): To a big gang.
AUSTIN (as JANEY): —and even that's got factions and subfactions and allegiances and bullshit.
KEITH (as GIG): [overlapping] Micro-factions?
AUSTIN (as JANEY): Micro-factions.
ART (as GRAND MAGNIFICENT): [overlapping] Sub-allegiances?
AUSTIN (as JANEY): Sub-allegiances. All the different words you're sayin'.
KEITH (as GIG): Macro-factions.
AUSTIN (as JANEY): That's just a big one, yeah, that's—
AUSTIN: "Oh, shit," she says, like, "That's the Crown. It's—"
KEITH (as GIG): The Crown's the macro-faction?
AUSTIN (as JANEY): [exhales] She's coming back. She's on her way back, she's on her way back.
AUSTIN: And she just like stands up and leaves the kitchen, and heads out into the big main room and grabs like a cloak from the wall.
AUSTIN (as JANEY): The Doyenne is coming back from the Garden. That's what's happening. That's what those—Ah, shit.
SYLVIA (as ECHO REVERIE): [confused] Who?
AUSTIN (as JANEY): Uh, the Crown herself.
SYLVIA (as ECHO): Y--
AUSTIN (as JANEY): Don't—It's around the same time every year, she goes out to the garden, she passes right by here. She's gonna be here in—
AUSTIN: And then that's when you hear the explosion from outside. [silence]
Down at the road. What do you do?
KEITH (as GIG): Should we go help, or…?
SYLVIA (as ECHO): [emphatic] Yes.
DRE: Yeah, Even's already like out and running toward the explosion.
SYLVIA: Yep. The second that explosion happens Echo's out the room.
KEITH (as GIG): Wait, but we don't even know whose side we're on!
SYLVIA: Nope. 'Cause people are gonna be hurt.
KEITH (as GIG): Hey, guys, whose side are we on?
ART: My exit was more light jogging than running.
AUSTIN: [laughs] Uh, I think Surge looks at Jane and is like, "Janey. Don't go out there. You don't need to see—" and she's also already out.
KEITH (as GIG): Surge, whose side are we on?
AUSTIN (as SURGE): Oh… Your own.
SYLVIA: Um—
AUSTIN (as SURGE): You get back here safe and sound and I'll have dinner ready.
SYLVIA: Austin, I think this would be a good time for me to do the, um—what's that move called?
AUSTIN: I don't know.
SYLVIA: Freedom?
AUSTIN: What's that do?
SYLVIA: Freedom, I'll just read the text: "When you lead people out of danger, name up to three people you wish to save. When you save all of them, you generate two Humanity. When you try and fail to save anyone you name, generate one Humanity."
AUSTIN: Let me give you the scene before you actually name anybody. Okay?
SYLVIA: Okay, cool.
AUSTIN: So you're all just rushing back to the road, basically.
KEITH: Yeah.
AUSTIN: Who is going, who is not going?
DRE: Even's going.
KEITH: I have to go.
ART: Yeah. Going, but again, going just a touch slower.
AUSTIN: Okay.
KEITH: I can't miss this footage.
AUSTIN: Fair. That's fair. Okay, so I'm bringing us back over here really quick, and I'm gonna keep using this little mini canvas I have which I like a lot.
KEITH: How are they gonna know whose side we're on?
AUSTIN: They have their own whole situation, don't even worry about it.
Alright, so... There is just, like, a long road, right? And y'all are coming from the north, and there's like, the plateau to the south, and there is—As you leave the church, you see an explosion as one of the Glintwings—like, they're all up in the air, and what happens is one of them discharges its wings, like its glowy plasma wings, that turns into a huge plasma blast? And it just like, [imitating blast] fwoom! crushes down to the ground, [imitates explosion] blows up, causes dust to fly up in the air. And then like, it doesn't have wings and so it's like gliding, or like nose-bombing, basically, like dive-bombing before its wings sputter back on and it can take back off. So it's like, it is both their way of flying and also what their attack is, what their bombs are, is the plasma energy.
So what the caravan you see is, is about... There are like three kind of trucks of—that are filled with material of some sort? Like big, huge 18-wheeler style transport trucks. Probably with like hover, they're probably like maglev also. Then there is a front vehicle that is actually kind of, it's almost like—it's not an elephant but it's like a turtle almost, do you know what I mean? It's like a big shelled back, that is—the shell is like transparent glass? And it walks instead of driving. It has like four, maybe six legs. Maybe it's like a beetle, actually. That actually is cooler. So it's like a big beetle that has a transparent, translucent glass back. In fact, you see that one of the plasma shots hits that, and it deflects it. The glass deflects the plasma burst. And it flies off into the desert and explodes.
And then you see spread throughout this group, four humanoid mechs. They are like big suits of armor. Each of them has a different weapon, and each of them kind of pools together to keep that main—I guess maybe two of them stay with the main front beetle-walker and the other two stay back with the trucks. And one of them pulls up—it has like a long cloak, and almost like a bishop hat, basically, built into the top of its armored head, and these are probably two or three stories tall. One of them has a huge rifle and it pulls it up and begins taking pot shots up at the sky, one of them has a hammer, one of them has just like a sword and a shield, and the last one I actually do have to look at my notes for, one second. [pauses] What are you all doing while this is happening?
KEITH: I'm, uh… I think I'm—
AUSTIN: Oh, the last one has like cool drill fists, basically. And it is like spinning those drills up and is charging—is running towards the southern plateau, and on the top of the plateau you can see that the rest of that party is coming towards the edge, and it just starts punching those claws, or those drill hands, into the side of the plateau and begins climbing up it that way.
KEITH: I feel like I have a story, a lead, and a source at this point.
AUSTIN: Yeah. I agree. So is it time to broadcast?
KEITH: I think what I'm doing—yes—is planning out the broadcast in my head while we're going. I might even—You know what, I'll start the broadcast, even.
AUSTIN: How's that work? What's the—So Curiosity of Millions says: "When you become a Telepresence and broadcast to the world in order to tell a story by way of your perceptions in the moment and what you're thinking and feeling right now, describe the story as the audience experiences it, then roll."
KEITH: So, I guess the scene is… The broad story is the node, but the scene I think is shots of us running up on these mechs, and the explosions, and the sort of—I guess the loudness of combat when there's, you know, big heavy robots involved.
AUSTIN: Mhm.
KEITH: Cut with scenes of us on our way to where we are now.
AUSTIN: Okay.
KEITH: Starting with landing on the planet, our first steps on the planet—
AUSTIN: [overlapping] Right.
KEITH: —seeing from the top of the canyon, the view—
AUSTIN: [overlapping] Mhm.
KEITH: —finding Even, seeing scared—Sorry, finding Echo, seeing scared Grand Magnificent, meeting the people in the church.
AUSTIN: Mhm.
KEITH: And I think that's the set-up to it.
AUSTIN: Okay. How do you feel? And give me a roll.
KEITH: I feel, um… Daring.
AUSTIN: Interesting.
KEITH: Yeah. I think this is the most dangerous thing—this is like the most adrenaline-inducing thing that has happened to Gig probably?
AUSTIN: [overlapping] Yeah.
KEITH: Right? 'Cause like, his job is kind of dangerous because his job is to like do—go with other people to do their jobs to make sure they're not dangerous?
AUSTIN: Yeah.
KEITH: Which could be dangerous?
AUSTIN: [overlapping] Yep.
KEITH: But I don't think—I think this is the first sincere moment of violence and—
AUSTIN: [overlapping] [exhales] Yeah.
KEITH: —death that he's ever experienced.
AUSTIN: Alright, give me, um…
KEITH: [overlapping] And so I… Yeah.
AUSTIN: I think that's Joyful. I think daring is—It's either Joyful or Powerful.
KEITH: It's… Joyful. Yeah.
AUSTIN: Okay, go ahead and give me a Joyful.
KEITH: Twelve.
AUSTIN: Okay, there we go. So on a ten plus, choose two: your stream suppressor does not fail, which means you maintain creative control of your broadcast without intervention...
KEITH: Yeah.
AUSTIN: ...the broadcast goes viral, you make as much credit as the highest dice in your roll, which in this case would be a six...
KEITH: Yeah.
AUSTIN: ...you manage to maintain control of your own body, feelings, and memories as you link with the audience.
KEITH: Yeah, so this is—I choose all three, not two.
AUSTIN: No, it says on ten plus, choose two.
KEITH: Well, then I guess that—I guess I, uh… I guess it doesn't fail and I retain creative control, and I also retain control of my body, feelings, and memories.
AUSTIN: Okay. Which basically means you can continue to act in this scene, like what I would basically be saying is if you didn't do that one, what you're doing this scene is filming it, and also not having it blend into your weird memories and stuff—you know, like. So that's the…
KEITH: Yeah.
AUSTIN: That's the thing. Um—
KEITH: And, so I think—so over that, so just like for his own style, right?
AUSTIN: Mhm.
KEITH: So as that is happening, I think you're also getting Gig going like, "Hey guys, sorry I haven't updated in a while! Um…" and then...
[GROUP LAUGHTER]
KEITH: And then sort of explaining it in that way to the people who are watching.
AUSTIN: What is the explanation? Is it like, we came to this place and here's what we're here to do, and here's what happened?
KEITH: Yeah, yeah. I think that like, as those scenes that I picked out as like the flashback scenes, I think that I'm sort of—that's like the CliffsNotes version of what happened that I quickly explain—
AUSTIN: [overlapping] Right.
KEITH: —quickly explain what the factions are, like, "Yeah, we don't know, like, if we're on a side, but we just know that there's, like, explosions out here, and it's wild, and we just gotta go."
AUSTIN: [overlapping] Do you basically have like a version of the—Oh, you know what? Hey, I got it wrong. I got it wrong.
KEITH: What's that?
AUSTIN: I'm looking at the—
KEITH: I get all three?
AUSTIN: You get all three. I just double-checked it.
KEITH: Yeah, okay.
AUSTIN: You're good to go. Awesome.
KEITH: Great. Alright, so it's also viral. That's great.
AUSTIN: Yes.
KEITH: I make six cred.
AUSTIN: You make six cred, which is a lot of cred.
KEITH: How many cred do I start with? None?
AUSTIN: Like, uh… I think none. I think none or two, but I don't remember where I'm getting that from, so.
KEITH: 'Kay.
AUSTIN: Mark six, though.
KEITH: [simultaneous] I don't know how to fill that in. [muttering] Probably down here...
DRE: [simultaneous] You get two cred, according to your sheet.
KEITH: What's that? Oh, two? Okay, so I have now eight cred.
DRE: [overlapping] The Telepresence book says you start with two.
AUSTIN: [overlapping] There it is, yeah, two.
KEITH: Awesome. Great.
AUSTIN: Cool. Yeah, okay, cool.
So, everybody else, as this camera starts rolling...
KEITH: Eye's out, by the way. I—
AUSTIN: [distressed] Oh.
KEITH: I can cut between the two cameras.
AUSTIN: Okay. Multicam. Got it.
SYLVIA: You've got a tricaster in your head.
AUSTIN: Yeah, basically.
KEITH: [laughs] I literally, yeah, I have a tri—yes, yeah.
AUSTIN: What is the thing that you do have? Because one of the things you have to write is like, it's soft ROM or something? Or moist? Moist chip? Dry ROM?
KEITH: It's—Yeah. Soft ROM, yeah. Soft ROM.
AUSTIN: Okay. Their suggestions were moist disc, optic cube, or dry ROM.
KEITH: Dry ROM.
[AUSTIN scoffs]
KEITH: But I'm using soft ROM. I had soft RAM, but ROM just sounds better.
AUSTIN: Sounds better, yeah. Soft ROM's better. Alright, cool.
Everybody else, as these explosions go off and the camera flies up above you, what's everyone doing?
DRE: Who was the name of the woman who also left? Was it Janey or Joney?
AUSTIN: Janey is what Surge was calling her.
DRE: Um, I think—
AUSTIN: And she's on like a robot horse, with like a duster—with like a long cloak on, basically, that looks like a duster but it's a cloak.
DRE: Well, that's pretty sick. Um—
AUSTIN: And she just has like a rifle.
DRE: Okay. Well, I was gonna try and run next to her and ask her how we could help, but I guess she's probably ahead of us at this point.
AUSTIN: Oh, she's like—yeah, she's gone from being kind of, like, cool-headed and a little bit detached, to being—like, there's a fire in her eyes.
DRE: Mm. Um… I guess as I'm running out the door I yell out to Surge, "Can I borrow your car?"
AUSTIN (as SURGE): [stammering] I'll drive, you stand back.
DRE (as EVEN GARDNER): Okay.
AUSTIN: And he like runs into the church and slams his hand on a big button that drops the dune buggy down, and he hops in, it's—you could never fit in the driver's seat. He's a big boy.
[DRE laughs]
AUSTIN: And so then it like peels out. Grand and… [hesitates]
SYLVIA: Echo.
AUSTIN: Echo. Thank you, sorry. I was looking at the screen and your name was not there.
SYLVIA: [overlapping] I was actually—No worries. Could I get in on the dune buggy or is there not enough space?
AUSTIN: You would like hang onto it, basically.
SYLVIA: That's exactly what I want, so.
AUSTIN: [laughs] Good.
SYLVIA: Also for the Freedom thing, I think I do know the three people I'd name?
AUSTIN: Okay.
SYLVIA: To get out of there safely. It's: Surge and Janey...
AUSTIN: Okay.
SYLVIA: And then Janey said the name of her and I'm blanking on it now.
AUSTIN: The Doyenne.
SYLVIA: The Doyenne. The Doyenne would be the third.
AUSTIN: Okay. Cool. And so the way that works is, can you read that to me one more time?
SYLVIA: Yeah, sure. Let me just get my character sheet up. "When you lead people out of danger, name up to three people you wish to save. When you save all of them, you generate two Humanity. When you try and fail to save anyone you name, generate one Humanity."
AUSTIN: Jeez. Okay. Cool. So like it's that middle area where you get nothing, which is interesting.
SYLVIA: Yeah.
AUSTIN: Cool. So who gets there first? And also wait, Grand, how are you getting there?
ART: I mean, I don't have a way anymore. So…
AUSTIN: So you were just running with… Gig?
ART: I was like trailing Echo and then Echo... I guess I was—no, Gig was behind me, but I was trailing Echo and then Echo got in the car—
[AUSTIN laughs]
ART: —and I can't fit in or hang onto the side of the car, so... I guess I'm just gettin' there when I get there.
AUSTIN: You're not that far. Yeah, you're not that far off. You guys could take the maglev, you could drop the node and take the maglev.
ART: Sounds like a terrible idea.
SYLVIA: [whispering] You should do that.
DRE: [laughing] Sounds like a terrible idea.
AUSTIN: Fine, if you don't wanna ride a cool maglev, like over the desert, that's fine.
SYLVIA: I didn't know that was an option, I would have done that.
[AUSTIN laughs]
ART: Isn't it slow?
AUSTIN: Right now.
KEITH: [overlapping] Oh, man, that would—hold on, I'm taking it. That is a perfect smooth dolly for the camera.
[AUSTIN laughs]
KEITH: It's built-in stabilization, it's a hovering vehicle. So, that sounds pretty good.
AUSTIN: [exhales] I think you could jack it up, you could give me a—someone—You're a weird mechanic, right?
KEITH: Me?
AUSTIN: Grand.
ART: [confused] N-no?
AUSTIN: Okay. It—
ART: I'm not a mechanic, I can't like—
AUSTIN: Yeah.
ART: I build new things.
KEITH: You're—You're like a mechanic's cousin, though. You have like an overlapping skill set.
ART: [sighs] Yeah, I don't know if it does this. I mean, I guess it makes it easier if I say yes it does.
AUSTIN: Yeah. It makes it easier if you say yes it does. I would still make you roll for it to make it like, a fast thing. Otherwise you're just gonna be not there for the first like two rounds, so to speak.
ART: Yeah I guess I'll try to f—I mean, yeah I guess. What are we saying that is?
AUSTIN: I think risk. This is risk.
ART: Sure. Yeah.
AUSTIN: How do you feel while doing this?
ART: Uh… Rushed? Is rushed here?
[AUSTIN chuckles]
ART: Panicky?
AUSTIN: Scared?
KEITH: That sounds Scared.
AUSTIN: That sounds Scared to me. Give me that Scared.
ART: Frenzied?
KEITH: Anxious is close.
AUSTIN: That's a seven. That's not bad. So I think—Let me look at your stuff really quick. Grand… [pauses]
ART: Yeah, two cred, stuff that—'cause this is all "portable visual modifiers that plug into your cybernetics", and then "choose one weapon" and I have a venomous folding knife—
AUSTIN: [overlapping] Oh, right. Okay.
ART: —which I have decided is part of my larger swiss army knife.
AUSTIN: Right. It's one of those. I think that that gets stuck in—You have to like, cut a wire, and it's stuck in scissors mode. You'll have to spend a round when you get there like, un-scissors-ing it, basically.
ART: Sure.
AUSTIN: So basically it's like you need to reload this knife, basically, even though that's not a thing you traditionally would do.
ART: Alright.
AUSTIN: But you're able to like boost it, and it just like [imitates vehicle charging], and it just takes the fuck off across this desert and it's like a landspeeder. And you all get there. All of you get there. And the drill mech has climbed up to the top and is being like—straight up kicking trucks over and shit, but a lot of them are like—a lot of people are now like paragliding down from the plateau. A number of them are firing shots off in this general direction. The big knight mechs are doing their best to protect the stuff and also the Doyenne, but none of them can get a shot off on the big, um… The Glintwings up in the sky. What do you all do? [silence]
KEITH: So is that the number one threat right now is the Glintwings?
AUSTIN: It is hard to tell.
KEITH: Okay.
AUSTIN: There's a bigger—there's like a big—from what you can tell they're the biggest immediate threat, especially for personnel, but there is also a big truck that is like, um... kind of skidding its way down this hill from the plateau with like, weird—
KEITH: [overlapping] Okay.
AUSTIN: —like, claw-breaks. It's like falling down and then it will claw itself in and whip itself around as it falls down, almost like a weird—one of those weird sticky hands. Do you know what I mean?
KEITH: Ohh, yeah.
AUSTIN: And it actually does that past the knight that has climbed up, and is like, "Fuck it, I'll deal with the things up here instead." [pauses] So that's the most obvious threat, again, without any sort of analysis. What's everybody else doing? As—
KEITH: Um—
AUSTIN: 'Cause I think this is the moment that, Gig, you're setting up your camera and stuff. So you get there, you turn it on. So—
KEITH: Yeah, yeah. I did the monologue while we were riding, is what I have.
AUSTIN: Yeah, perfect. Perfect.
DRE: How far away are we from all this stuff?
AUSTIN: Y'all are all here. Like, you're here now. Boom.
DRE: [overlapping] We're in it? Okay.
AUSTIN: You're here. You're like over a dune, you're right here, you're within reach, basically.
DRE: Okay. Um… I guess I yell out to Janey? And it's like, "What do you need us to do?"
AUSTIN (as JANEY): Y'all should have stayed back. [sighs] Just be careful. Don't get in any of their ways.
AUSTIN: And she has a lever-action rifle and she like pumps it, and she keeps pumping it, and then aims up in the sky and is trying to get a bead on one of the bird things.
DRE: Okay. I take the Amprunner's homing beacon out of my pocket.
AUSTIN: Wait. What's the Amprunner?
DRE: Oh, that's my mech.
AUSTIN: Tell me about your mech.
DRE: So the Amprunner is—
AUSTIN: This is the mech that Grand designed for you.
DRE: [laughs] Yeah.
AUSTIN: So I think we should just talk about how that was designed. So this is like we're getting—not a flashback, but you've built this mech a while ago, right?
DRE: Yeah. I mean I think like, when Even got called on, he met with Grand Magnificent—
AUSTIN: Yeah.
DRE: —and they like figured out, like, okay, we're going to a new planet, you know, what is—what do we need, like, what's the—yeah.
AUSTIN: So this is—I think is... I guess it's… So I guess you've already built it, right? Sorry, I was looking at the move Beauty is Truth, Truth is Beauty, which is one of Grand Magnificent's moves. I think that's what will happen when they see your mech, Even. Have you two talked about what this mech looks like?
ART: We briefly did in the chat, I don't think we really got anywhere.
AUSTIN: Okay.
DRE: No, the uh—
ART: Although, I will just reiterate what I said earlier. Have you thought about it being a Picasso?
[GROUP LAUGHTER]
ART: And then I posted a really good picture of a Picasso.
AUSTIN: Uh-huh.
DRE: I mean, what does a Picasso mech look like? I'm not opposed to this. I'm into it.
ART: I mean it's just like super angular and exaggerated, right? Instead of being like a sleek person like you think of a gundam, think of like, you know, the one where the eyes are square, and the body is, you know, is not right. It's a striking piece.
AUSTIN: Right.
ART: It's asymmetrical, it's…
KEITH: Have you thought about it being a Goya?
[AUSTIN laughs]
DRE: Wait, now I have to google Goya.
KEITH: It's a mech that's eating the head off a smaller mech. [laughs]
AUSTIN: Uh-huh.
DRE: Oh, okay, yeah, no, I see. Yeah. I remember you've posted this before. Okay. [laughs]
AUSTIN: And one of the things that sounded like it was important for you, Dre, was that Even's mech not just be a person, right?
DRE: Right, yeah, and I actually like the idea of it being, like, quadrupedal.
AUSTIN: [overlapping] Yeah, you said like a centaur, almost.
DRE: Like it's built like an all-terrain vehicle.
KEITH: [overlapping] Like a hypercat.
AUSTIN: If there's ever a season for a hypercat—
DRE: [overlapping] Yep. Mhm.
AUSTIN: —this would be the season.
DRE: I mean, look, I'm not opposed to having a Zoid.
AUSTIN: [overlapping] Right, no, I gotcha.
DRE: I'm just saying.
AUSTIN: It's up to you. Listen, you're designing this thing. So.
KEITH: Yeah, do you want a Liger Zero?
DRE: [laughs] Um… Yeah, I don't know. I mean, I kind of wanted to do this with Art because I did want it to be like Grand Magnificent made this thing, so I want—
AUSTIN: [overlapping] So yeah, let's imagine this. I want this scenario.
DRE: —his weird touches on this.
AUSTIN: I want the image of Even meeting Grand Magnificent. Have you met before you made this request? Have you like gotten dinner? Is this over dinner, is this at like a nice restaurant that you're having this conversation?
ART: Yeah, almost certainly, right?
AUSTIN: Yeah, we like, get the cuts of you two describing it, and then we get cut from like eating a meal to in the workshop as Grand Magnificent draws it in the sky and like—and the machines all start building it and putting it together.
ART: Yeah. And it might even be happening while we're talking, right?
AUSTIN: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
ART: Like, oh you want this? And then it, like, yeah, it happens.
AUSTIN: Right, yeah, totally. So what's that conversation look like? Let's just have that conversation straight-up. You're eating. What are you both eating?
ART: Um… noodles.
AUSTIN: Okay. So you're at a noodle shop or you're getting noodles from a place that also has other things?
ART: I think it's like this ship—it's on the ship, right? The ship has to be sort of capable of anything, right? If you want a steak, it's got a steak, if you want a...
AUSTIN: I guess? You tell me, yeah. This is like the ship, the colonization ship. The first ship, not the colonization ship, but the ship that you've taken. This is the Myriad that you're talking about.
ART: Right.
AUSTIN: Okay.
ART: Yeah.
AUSTIN: Yeah, I think it can cook a bunch of stuff. I think it's probably like a wide range, but a limited array. Do you know what I mean? Like yep, it has twenty different meals. And they go the gambit, but there are twenty different meals.
ART: Yeah it's probably like, oh, you want a steak? This is the steak. It's not like there's five steaks.
AUSTIN: Yes. Right. So yeah, tell me what that conversation looks like. You're sitting on the ship in the dining quarters, you can see the Twilight Mirage behind you, which means that it's like, today you're catching it on a nice—it's like an early morning version of the Twilight Mirage so there's just, like, it's mostly dark but there's this little bit of blue and early orange at the bottom kind of peeking up. And you're eating noodles.
ART: It's like…
ART (as GRAND): Okay. I understand what you want it to do. But what do you want it to be?
DRE (as EVEN): Uh… Huh. [pauses] I mean I get this is how you work, and this is how you think, but, I guess I've only—you know, I've only ever thought about it in terms of utility. Um...
ART (as GRAND): Okay, okay. Let's just do it a different angle. When your enemies see this, what do you want them to feel?
DRE (as EVEN): Um…
ART (as GRAND): Are they afraid of you?
DRE (as EVEN): I want them—
ART (as GRAND): Are they impressed by you?
DRE (as EVEN): [overlapping] No. I want them to underestimate me until it's too late for them to realize their mistake.
ART (as GRAND): Okay. What if it was…
ART: And he's sort of like, sketching as the thing behind him builds it.
ART (as GRAND): What if it was small? What if it was… compact? And it...
ART: He like, gestures and it goes away, and you see the robots behind just like take it apart.
[AUSTIN and DRE laugh]
ART (as GRAND): Okay. What if it looked old? What if we—
DRE (as EVEN): Well, listen. What are you trying to say here?
[AUSTIN laughs]
ART (as GRAND): What if we put a hole in the torso? What if we made it look like, just the last thing anyone would take with them anywhere? This is, you know, the junk pile. And I want you to know that I'm not making you a junk pile, I'm making you something that looks like a junk pile.
DRE (as EVEN): No, I like it. I can see the technical advantage in that.
ART (as GRAND): Okay. We give you, you know, you have half of an arm but then, you know, that half an arm can be a sword. We put a hole in your chest, but that's where the energy cannon comes from. And it's very nice inside, I promise.
[AUSTIN and DRE laugh]
AUSTIN: This fucking guy.
DRE (as EVEN): I can see why they wanted me to work with you.
ART: And this is like, starting to look like—and it's, you know, coming together, and it's—he's starting to peek, he turns and he stops looking at Gardner, and looks at it while it's being painted.
AUSTIN: Mm.
ART: And it's—first it's like a distressed blue, and that's just not right. And so the whole thing gets taken apart again. And reassembled.
[GROUP LAUGHTER]
AUSTIN: You couldn't just paint over it?
ART: [indignant] No. That would look bad.
[AUSTIN laughs]
DRE: Yeah, come on, Austin.
AUSTIN: Sorry, sorry, sorry. I'm sorry.
DRE: [laughing] Jesus.
ART: Over time they can take the color off of that, and it's—we'll use those parts again, no one's throwing anything away.
AUSTIN: Mhm.
ART: But I—we're people of action, at this table.
ART (as GRAND): Do you have a favorite color?
DRE (as EVEN): Uh… purple.
ART (as GRAND): Do you have a second favorite color?
[AUSTIN and DRE laugh]
DRE (as EVEN): Ah, okay. No purple, huh? Okay. Um… Orange?
ART (as GRAND): Purple it is!
[AUSTIN and DRE laugh]
ART: And it's purple, but you know, the insignia is in orange, but it's all very weathered. There's, you know—I can't decide if I think it's better if they've gotten to the—No, no, it is better this way. Where they do—they paint it, and then there are tiny robots who just rub sandpaper at it as Grand Magnificent stares at it and sort of like, directs them. And they're not looking at him, they're not really—like they're taking direction from his implant, but he's like, a little over there.
ART (as GRAND): Not so heavy on the head.
AUSTIN: Is it still basically a human?
DRE: No. I do like the idea of it being like a mechanized, like… like a lion or a tiger.
AUSTIN: Okay.
DRE: I do like that idea.
ART: Alright!
AUSTIN: Does Gardner like stop him at one point and go, "Oh, no no no, I don't want a person mech, give me a cool cat."
DRE: Yeah. Well, and I guess that's like, he says like, "Oh, no no no, everything I've ever flown has had four legs. I need to have some sort of like, familiarity."
ART: Okay, so they just take it all apart again.
[GROUP LAUGHTER]
ART: But I think we can now jump ahead to it being…
AUSTIN: Yeah. So what are you doing with the Amprunner's thing?
DRE: Um, I think, so… You and I talked and one of the things that was part of this symbiosis thing that happened with Gardner is that his previous cybernetics are gone.
AUSTIN: Yeah.
DRE: So he used to have like a remote connection with whatever he was flying, that doesn't exist anymore.
AUSTIN: Right.
DRE: So now he basically just carries this like, this homing beacon on him.
AUSTIN: Yeah.
DRE: And when he presses it, the Amprunner gets launched.
AUSTIN: Is it—so where is it right now, Gardner? Is it in orbit?
DRE: I think, yeah it's in like a satellite pod, in orbit.
AUSTIN: [overlapping] Yeah, like you came with a satellite pod with the—on Myriad, that was attached to the back of it, when Myriad came into—like, landed, when it left the satellite pod, up in orbit waiting for you to send the signal. Do you yell anything when this happens? Is there like a cool slogan?
DRE: Oh, god. I should have known ahead of time to—I don't know. So, Gardner doesn't say a slogan.
AUSTIN: Okay.
DRE: But what happens is, is that as the Ampunner like breaks orbit and breaks atmo—
AUSTIN: Yeah.
DRE: Grand Magnificent designed it in such a way that there's like certain chinks and divets in the armor on the outside, so it’s like once it moves up to a high enough speed, it creates the noise of a giant lion's roar.
AUSTIN: Okay.
DRE: And so there's just like this deafening roar as what probably looks like a fireball—
KEITH: [overlapping] So it's just like a giant missile.
DRE: Yeah.
AUSTIN: I actually have a question about this because we talked about it being deceptively weak-looking?
DRE: Mhm.
AUSTIN: Does that go hand-in-hand with that roar? Because the roar to me sounds like, "Oh, shit. There's a big-ass lion here."
DRE: That's true.
AUSTIN: And then it's supposed to get down there and be like, disarming. You know what I mean? I like the big-ass roar, and we could be like, hey, flashback, actually it's just a big cool-ass lion. But I do like the bit of characterization where Gardner was like, no I want it to be kind of…
KEITH: [overlapping] You could have—
ART: [overlapping] It could be like a janky, digitally roar?
AUSTIN: Oh, that sounds good as hell.
[DRE laughs]
KEITH: Like a Pokémon call, like a Pokémon Red and Blue call.
AUSTIN: Yes. That's literally what I had in mind, yes.
DRE: Okay, perfect. Yeah.
AUSTIN: Alright. So, this is a moment, Grand, where you have to make a roll.
ART: Yeah, I have to roll Beauty is Truth, Truth is Beauty.
AUSTIN: Uh-huh.
ART: Which is, um… I think we said Powerful last time and I'm gonna roll with that.
AUSTIN: Yeah, I think that that seems true. So what that means is—goddamn good roll, is what that means. What that means is, Beauty is Truth, Truth is Beauty says... "When you take something you feel, a concept or an idea, and express yourself by way of your chosen art whether performed or presented"—in this case it's presented—"and it is experienced by others, roll ten. Er, roll. On a ten plus choose three, on a seven to nine choose two." So, the things you can choose are: "people understand what it is you intend to convey; people—"
ART: That's important, I'm choosing that one.
AUSTIN: Okay. "People—one person present must meet you, tell the MC who; you spike out the state of your choice in someone present; the experience either begins to change popular opinion or otherwise alter a sense of self in those that witness it, tell the MC what it is you hope for." And that consumes two choices. Or "it inflicts Humanity harm on all that experience it."
ART: Okay. Not that one.
[DRE laughs]
AUSTIN: Okay. We were gonna have to get into what Humanity harm is.
ART: I want one person—two witnesses to have to meet me.
AUSTIN: Cool.
ART: And I want that to be the head—I want that to be the most important person leading this attack.
AUSTIN: Oh, interesting.
ART: They don't have to do it now.
AUSTIN: [overlapping] Okay, no, that's fantastic.
ART: They don't have to like run to me.
AUSTIN: [overlapping] Yeah, no, yep, I gotcha.
ART: But they have to see this and be like, I wanna meet the guy who built that.
AUSTIN: Yep. That sounds good. Cool.
ART: Um—
KEITH: I am—by the way, I love the idea that the thing that you—one of the things is, like, that they understand what you're trying to get across, and the thing that you're trying to get across is tricking them. Is, I think, great.
AUSTIN: Well, the thing that gets across is "this thing is not a threat". Like, I'm not here to fuck him over on that. Like, the thing that is intended to be conveyed is a sense that "this thing is not my main problem", and it is their main problem. So like, it is their—
KEITH: [overlapping] Right. Right, that's what I'm saying.
AUSTIN: Okay. I wanted to make sure—
KEITH: That's what I mean. I love that the thing that the art is trying to do is trick people.
AUSTIN: [overlapping] Yes, totally. Alright, so you need two more.
KEITH: [overlapping] And when it works, it's a lie.
AUSTIN: Right.
ART: No it's—I have one more. Because it's what I want—I get three, right?
AUSTIN: Oh, so "intend to convey" is the first one.
ART: Yeah, intend to convey, one person must meet me, and I guess because I don't want to inflict Humanity harm I want to spike out the state of my choice in someone present. Would one of y'all like to be spiked out or should I try to hose the enemy?
DRE: What does spiking out do?
AUSTIN: So…
KEITH: It gives you plus two in that emotion and minus one in everything else? Right? Is that wrong?
AUSTIN: That—no, it gives you plus one in that emotion.
KEITH: [overlapping] It gives you one and minus two.
AUSTIN: [overlapping] Not an additional one. It sets an emotion to one and gives everything else minus two.
KEITH: Ohh. I thought it added one.
AUSTIN: No. So it's a negative—
KEITH: Oh, so it's just—it's pretty much just bad.
AUSTIN: Unless it's raising like a negative one to a plus one, you know what I mean? And then you're in a scene where you believe—
KEITH: Right, I guess that that's true.
AUSTIN: But yes, spiking an emotion is not a thing you necessarily want to have happen. Also, briefly, Echo, I've confirmed with Fraser that the highest armor is two.
SYLVIA: Okay.
AUSTIN: Period, like it doesn't stack half higher than that.
SYLVIA: That's fine.
AUSTIN: So, good to know. So yeah, who do you want to make feel a way? You could also choose one of these twice, you could also choose people meeting you twice, or something.
ART: Hm. Hm.
KEITH: You could have the most powerful person from both sides. Both want to meet you.
ART: Yeah, that's it.
AUSTIN: Okay, cool.
ART: People on both sides, they want to know who built this weird cat.
[KEITH and DRE laugh]
AUSTIN: Yeah. Okay. I think that there's like—so there's this moment when it roars, it does its digital Pokémon roar and it lands. Do you like jump up to it in that moment too, Gardner? Like do you get in it?
DRE: Yeah, I mean I have to climb in. I think like what it is, is like a—like a compartment of the chest opens, and it's just like a little rope with a step on the bottom.
AUSTIN: Right.
DRE: And Gardner like puts his foot in it—
KEITH: Oh, he doesn't like scoop you in with a paw?
DRE: No. Gardner puts his foot in that little rope hook—
AUSTIN: Cool.
DRE: —and like, rides up.
AUSTIN: And, so I think in that moment two things happen.
There's like, the Doyenne—so the Doyenne, at this point you're close enough to see her and she's like… She's like Grace Jones, like super high cheekbones with incredibly dark skin and a very high angular high-top—or, flat-top cut, who is wearing... She's just like, in this moment inside of the glass, she just seems nude. Like, just completely nude inside of this glass tortoise shell. But like, not—it's blurry, but not because the—it's hard to see if she has something around her, but there seems to almost be like an aura that is, not censoring her necessarily, but that makes the features of her body seem distorted from like a clean, crystal-clear view. But it's just her skin tone. And it's just like, even at night, in the shades of the bluish-teal light of the plasma blast as they're flying by in slow motion, it just paints her skin and it's just fucking gorgeous.
And then there—so we get her head turning very slowly. First at the sight of the Amprunner breaking through the atmosphere, and then at Gardner getting into it, and then she like scans everyone around, and her eyes match with yours, Grand. And there's—in that brief moment, you realize she built the tortoise that she's standing in. And she probably designed those mechs that are here, too. And there's just like, recognition of work well done. She is not tricked by this. She knows that you've tricked everyone else, right?
ART: Sure.
AUSTIN: And then there's a second thing that happens, which is that you hear like, the sound—the viewer just hears the sound of a bolt action rifle being bolted, like [imitating bolt] pa-kink! And then like [imitates shot firing] and there's a single shot that goes through the air, and it is—a single bullet pierces the chest cavity of one of these knights.
I should describe these knights really quick, because they're not just big armored knights now that you're close enough to see them. They actually have cockpits that are also made of this hard glass. They are like... I'm trying to think of the best way to describe it. There are people in there, in bodysuits, who have—who are moving their bodies to move the knights. And part of their leg is disappearing down into the knight armor in the legs, and out into the arms, but then the center is just this hard glass shell. And their heads kind of go up. So it's just their body. You just see their torso in the middle, almost like where the heart is. There's just a glass heart there.
And you just hear this one shot, and it rings out, and it pierces one of the knight's hearts, and it just drops to a knee, and then falls over, and it drops its big-ass hammer, and in that moment the other—all three of the Glintwings fire their plasma stuff all at once. And start hitting way harder without that one extra knight there. One of the trucks blows up. And all of this material goes in the air, which is like, you can see it now, it's like fruit, and it's like vegetables, and wheat, and a bunch of other stuff that was clearly—basically gardening, or not gardening, but like agricultural product? That's all you can tell from here, anyway. What's everybody do?
KEITH: I think that Gig's mood has changed?
AUSTIN: Mhm.
KEITH: This is going viral, and I know how many people are watching—
AUSTIN: Mhm.
KEITH: —and it's way more people than have ever watched anything I've ever done before.
AUSTIN: Yeah.
KEITH: And I think that this is like the weight of "oh, I'm now doing a thing that the entire fleet is interested in seeing" dawning for the first time.
AUSTIN: Right.
KEITH: And I think that he's scared and probably, like, takes out his rifle, he also has a sort of weird bolt action-y rifle thing, um… And I don't know if he uses it yet, 'cause he's—I still am not clear on like—
AUSTIN: Who's the goodies?
KEITH: If we're on a side, yeah.
AUSTIN: Right.
KEITH: All I know is that the people that I am here to like, see what they do, are all here.
AUSTIN: Right.
KEITH: And so I have to be there. But I am ready to use the gun. I think I say that. I'm like "Hey guys, I have this gun, um—"
[AUSTIN and DRE chuckle]
KEITH: "—and I might have to use this."
AUSTIN: Yeah.
KEITH: And I think I say it out loud. I don't have to say it out loud but I think it—I feel like—aka Gig feels like—it adds something when I'm saying it instead of just narrating it in my head.
AUSTIN: Right. Um… Echo. What are you doing?
SYLVIA: So, there's the Mandati forces we saw earlier on foot here too, right?
AUSTIN: Yeah, there's a bunch of 'em.
SYLVIA: Alright.
AUSTIN: And they're probably engaging with like a handful of—like, I think the knights are basically taking on the bulk of them, but there are like a handful of other guards who are probably guarding this, like, beetle-walker. And are like, in combat with them, also. And then there's just the big truck that has finally made its way down the side of the plateau, and it is, like... You see what happens is that truck hits the ground, and then it kind of bolts itself into the ground, and begins to unfold something from the top of its shell. From the top of its like, tab, basically. And that thing is like, maybe a big old gun.
SYLVIA: Alright, then I'm gonna go deal with that. Are there like—
AUSTIN: Okay. You just like take off sprinting?
SYLVIA: Well, are there people guarding it?
AUSTIN: Yeah, there are like three people around it, who have rifles. Of their own.
SYLVIA: So, what I kind of want to do, is because Echo's on the back of this dune buggy...
AUSTIN: Yeah.
SYLVIA: ...is use the momentum to basically jump off of it into this group of people and attack them that way.
AUSTIN: Okay. I'm gonna say—you don't have anything that like, lets you do better with groups, right?
SYLVIA: No. I just have the thing—the style that lets me have more armor.
AUSTIN: Okay, well that's useful. So I'd say that, I think that this is Neutralize with disadvantage, basically. Which means you roll 3d6 and take the lowest two, because you're outnumbered.
SYLVIA: Okay.
AUSTIN: How are you feeling about this?
SYLVIA: If it's a fight Echo feels Powerful about it. Just straight-up—yeah.
AUSTIN: Okay, mark Powerful and roll 3d6. You can actually—there's like that little downward arrow right next to—and you just roll that.
SYLVIA: Yeah.
AUSTIN: Oof.
SYLVIA: Six.
AUSTIN: Does anyone wanna help? I think maybe Even could help here?
SYLVIA: [whispering] Please help.
DRE: Yeah, okay. So you're going after like, this truck?
SYLVIA, AUSTIN: Yeah.
AUSTIN: Like, specifically the people guarding it.
DRE: So I think what I do to help is that like, um... I think I just start firing with the railgun that's on the Amprunner.
AUSTIN: Okay.
DRE: And I don't even know if I'm trying to hit any of them in particular, but I'm basically just trying to get their attention.
AUSTIN: Right.
DRE: You know, I might hit something, but I'm not taking my time to line up a shot, I'm just dumping on them to try and create a diversion.
AUSTIN: Sure. Give me a help roll. How do you feel while doing this?
DRE: Um…
AUSTIN: This is the first time you've worked with—This is the first combat you've been in with any of these people.
DRE: Yeah. I think I'm scared. Like—
AUSTIN: Okay.
DRE: Not like terrified scared but like, shit, this could go bad.
AUSTIN: Mhm. Totally.
KEITH: Is this also the first time you've been in—like, used the mech?
DRE: Yeah, probably.
AUSTIN: Oh, wow. You've probably used simulations before but not for real, right?
DRE: Yeah, this is the first physical time in the cockpit.
AUSTIN: Rad. Okay, so I think there is—so you got a nine, which means that you're able to help, but also that you are—you expose yourself to response, basically. So with Neutralize, it says…
SYLVIA: Generate hold, and then you just hold—
AUSTIN: And then spend it.
SYLVIA: —in a bunch of different ways.
AUSTIN: But also on a seven to nine I think you take damage, right?
SYLVIA: I will take harm in the doing, yeah.
AUSTIN: Yeah. Okay, so, I think what happens is, so immediately you take harm from all three of those guys, you're gonna take three harm here.
SYLVIA: Okay. So that would be one harm with my armor, right?
AUSTIN: Yeah, so what's your armor come from?
SYLVIA: So the armor comes from—I think in fiction it comes from a mix of both the fighting style and I have these steel arm guards that Echo wears.
AUSTIN: Okay, cool.
SYLVIA: The fighting style in particular, the way I see it is actually being armor in that Echo is just quick.
AUSTIN: Okay.
SYLVIA: And instead of things being like heavy hits they become glancing blows.
AUSTIN: I gotcha.
SYLVIA: With this style at least. The style is the, uh, Hand-to-Hand Martial Art, Aubade, A-U-B-A-D-E.
AUSTIN: Yeah, so what are your—you have two styles, basically?
SYLVIA: Aubade and Elegy. Elegy is the sword that I have that I am not using right now.
AUSTIN: Okay. So what's it look like when you get in there and start fighting?
SYLVIA: Um… I think the way it starts is like, so these guys are all armed with rifles, right?
AUSTIN: Mhm.
SYLVIA: I mean, should I pick the two things I'm spending the hold on first to flavor it at all?
AUSTIN: Yeah, you can go for that.
SYLVIA: So I think one is inflict harm.
AUSTIN: Yep.
SYLVIA: Which would be two harm, just so you know.
AUSTIN: Yeah, so I think you basically kill two of these guys. Or take them out of the fight. It's up to you if you kill them.
SYLVIA: I'd rather take them out than kill them.
AUSTIN: Okay.
SYLVIA: And then—
AUSTIN: But what's that look like? Like how do you do it?
SYLVIA: So, with that, I think what happens is that—So Echo literally leaps in and I think starts with like roundhouse kicking a guy, basically.
AUSTIN: Okay.
SYLVIA: Like, through the air. Actually it's like a heel-kick. Like they're like spinning in the air and when they land their heel like connects with this guy's neck, basically.
AUSTIN: Okay.
SYLVIA: And then he like fires, just instinctually, but Echo's grabbed his gun and made him shoot another guy in like, the knee.
AUSTIN: Uh-huh.
SYLVIA: And those are the two guys that are taken out, I think.
AUSTIN: Yeah, totally. So that's your two hold.
SYLVIA: Yeah.
AUSTIN: Okay. So then—
SYLVIA: Well, do I inflict harm—well, it's two harm for—I spend one harm to inflict—
AUSTIN: Oh, you—Okay, yeah, totally. You could totally do two more harm, then.
SYLVIA: Okay.
AUSTIN: Or do whatever else you want to do with that remaining hold.
SYLVIA: Yeah, sorry, I misinterpreted by the—because when I said I do two harm, I thought you meant two harm to the group total, so I take out two guys.
AUSTIN: I meant, sorry, you do whatever your harm is in this fighting style. Which I thought was—which was—
SYLVIA: Okay. Two harm is for the fighting style, yeah.
AUSTIN: Okay, then, yeah. You're totally able to do—with one hold, you're able to do two harm. That's totally fine.
SYLVIA: Okay.
AUSTIN: These are nobodies, they are all one harm to knock them out, basically.
SYLVIA: Okay. And I think the other one I'm gonna take is "impress, dismay, or frighten your opponent."
AUSTIN: Okay. So I think—
SYLVIA: Because there is this unarmed person coming in and fighting this group of military men.
AUSTIN: I also think there's a moment when one of them almost shoots you, but instead that's the moment the railgun hits the side of the truck, or like goes near it, and they like [startled exclamation], and pull up their shot and just miss you barely, but then I think one of them shoots you. And that's where you take that one damage from?
SYLVIA: Okay.
AUSTIN: But then like, you're fine? Like, you just fuckin' hold it? And that's when you dismay or frighten them. You know? And they're like, "Oh, shit," and just like drops his rifle and runs away. But then the truck begins to unfold its huge cannon.
I think the moment that you fire your first railgun, too, you see the Doyenne inside of the beetle-walker make some motion with her hands. She just kind of like lifts upwards. And there's this very fine, like, silica, this very fine glass slowly begins to disperse out from her walker around her and everything else. But nothing else has happened yet, at this point. Just like, this is slowly going around. Um… Who has not done anything in a bit?
KEITH: I had a turn—
ART: I haven't…
KEITH: I had a move that I forgot I wanted to do real quick.
AUSTIN: What do you wanna do?
KEITH: Just a quick one. I want to do an Analyze.
AUSTIN: Oh, sure. Totally.
KEITH: Yeah.
AUSTIN: That makes perfect sense. Do that really quick.
KEITH: Yeah. So that is… I'm Scared.
AUSTIN: Yep. As you mentioned.
KEITH: As I described.
AUSTIN: Make sure you're marking that, because I don't see them marked. Oh that's the wrong person, I'm looking at the wrong person.
KEITH: It’s a 10.
AUSTIN: But also, Echo, you should mark Powerful. I don't see any Powerfuls marked.
SYLVIA: Yeah, I need to do that.
KEITH: Oh, and then we're supposed to unmark something when we do the opposite thing, right?
AUSTIN: Correct. Correct, and so they're marked by—they're paired out, so like—
KEITH: [muttering] So Joyful...
DRE: Ohh.
AUSTIN: Gig, if you're marking Joyful—
KEITH: Oh, man.
AUSTIN: —you should be unmarking Sad.
KEITH: Right.
AUSTIN: If you're marking Scared you'd be unmarking Powerful, et cetera. Alright, so, you totally get three on this Analyze. Awesome.
KEITH: Excellent. Oh, so I have a quick question. Because I have a move that adds to the Analyze move.
AUSTIN: Sure.
KEITH: Which is Instincts. "When you use Analyze you may ask 'Who or what here is relevant to my story' in addition to the other questions". Does that mean it adds it to the list, or I can ask that in addition to my roll?
AUSTIN: Yeah, that's—it just adds it to, you could—you may ask. It's not you also ask for free.
KEITH: Right.
AUSTIN: So it's just on that list. Just add it to that list.
KEITH: Um… Okay, so, I would love to ask, um… [exhales] Yeah, I'm gonna start with that. Who or what here is relevant to my story?
AUSTIN: [exhales] The Doyenne, obviously.
KEITH: Right.
AUSTIN: The three remaining knights. The fourth knight who is on the ground.
There is a… There is a—I guess you just get the glint of their goggles up on the top of the plateau. There's a sniper who is the one who killed that knight. And you can see he's taking aim at the Doyenne now. And he is intrinsic to whatever story is about to unfold. And then like, Janey and Surge. And then everybody else who's like, in your crew, basically.
KEITH: Okay.
AUSTIN: Actually, you can see that the sniper is actually—He is not taking aim at the Doyenne, sorry. My bad.
KEITH: Okay. Got it.
AUSTIN: He is not taking aim at the Doyenne. He is in fact, packing up his stuff.
KEITH: To go.
AUSTIN: Yeah.
KEITH: Okay. How vulnerable is the sniper to me?
AUSTIN: Not very. You don't have a sniper rifle, like, he's very far—he has like an anti-material—like, he's a super—this is his thing. The thing he does is kill people from incredibly far away.
KEITH: Okay. So I can't like, use the platform to jet over there.
AUSTIN: Nah, he's on top of this huge thing that it took you guys hours to get down. You know what I mean? Like—
KEITH: Right, yeah.
AUSTIN: They've used a weird special super-truck and a mech to climb it quickly, it would take you a long time to get up there.
KEITH: Yeah. Um… "What, if anything, appears out of place?"
AUSTIN: The knight with the gun. The knight with the gun is so—he's missing. Or whoever's inside, they're missing on purpose.
KEITH: Got it. Okay.
AUSTIN: Cool. Grand, it sounded like you had something.
ART: Yeah, um, I don't know how to use that information we just got, though, and I feel like I should. I feel like I should really be informed by that. I don't know, I'm not super good at—I'm not a good fight person.
AUSTIN: Yeah, fair.
KEITH: You have a knife. You have a swiss army knife. [laughs]
ART: A poison swiss army knife, which I think is significant.
KEITH: Yeah, against a bunch of robots.
ART: Who can I help?
AUSTIN: That's a good question. Um… No one jumps out at me, as being in trouble at this point—like, I guess the biggest trouble is that truck that's unfolding like a giant plasma cannon, basically. I don't know that you have a thing that's like, "oh, I'll take care of that."
ART: Um, not that wouldn't, like, really set me up to be grievously harmed.
[GROUP LAUGHTER]
ART: But I guess this is the time for that. But like, I bet—I bet there's shit there, you know, I bet there's hydraulics, I bet there's—
AUSTIN: Yeah.
ART: I bet there's stuff I could—and my knife is stuck in scissors anyway. [laughs]
AUSTIN: [laughs] It is. Do you wanna like, get under there and start cuttin'?
ART: Yeah, I think I wanna like, get under there and start cuttin', and I don't even think I care what I'm cut—
AUSTIN: Yeah.
ART: Like, I'm not gonna cut the thing that turns into a cannon faster, right, there's not like...
[AUSTIN snorts]
ART: You cut the safety gear on the cannon, and—
AUSTIN: Give me a risk for this whole thing.
ART: Um… Okay.
AUSTIN: How are you feeling? Is this Scared?
ART: It's probably Scared. I mean, I could—there's some of the things on this wheel I could probably justify for Sad, but Scared is probably most right. Like, I think miserable and inadequate could both… I don't like being in this situation.
AUSTIN: That's actually, I like that. I like that a lot, actually. Let's do—
ART: And I don't think I'm good at it.
AUSTIN: Let's do Sad.
ART: I'm so much worse at Sad than Scared, I don't know why I talked myself into this.
[GROUP LAUGHTER]
AUSTIN: 'Cause it's good. Hey, that's a seven. You're gonna lose this—you can do this, you can cut this thing... Okay. Maybe I'll give you—Alright, here's the thing, you can cut three wires. There's three wires you can cut.
ART: Okay.
AUSTIN: I'm gonna send the three wires to somebody else in this chat, so that they can hold me to it. I'm gonna send it to Dre.
[DRE laughs]
AUSTIN: There's a red wire…
ART: Okay.
AUSTIN: There's a blue wire…
ART: Okay.
AUSTIN: And there's a yellow wire.
ART: Okay.
AUSTIN: Alright. Blue, red, yellow.
ART: I cut one wire.
AUSTIN: You cut one wire.
ART: Okay. It obviously can't be yellow, because red and yellow go together, and blue and yellow don't go together, and I don't super care for blue and red, and I think that is how… that's something that would enter into Grand Magnificent's thinking on this.
AUSTIN: He's an artist, that's fair.
ART: He's an artist, yeah. And I think I prefer blue and yellow, so I'm gonna cut red.
AUSTIN: Fuck. Dre, what did I type?
DRE: [laughs loudly] So, let's start from the beginning and then get to red. Yellow—
AUSTIN: Okay. What I love is that you were like, "Well, it can't be yellow."
DRE: Yeah, yellow deactivates the gun entirely.
ART: I just—that's not how his brain works.
AUSTIN: I understand.
DRE: Blue, it will start driving in a direction and won't be able to stop.
AUSTIN: Uh-huh.
ART: Okay.
DRE: Red… it will start shooting and it can't stop or aim.
AUSTIN: So—
ART: Ah, well.
KEITH: [laughs loudly] That's the opposite. You did the exact wrong one.
AUSTIN: I think it just starts, like, [imitates cannon firing], and it shoots enough that the truck is backing itself up into the side of the plateau, and it just tears—
KEITH: Is it like, shooting into its own recoil? Like it just, like, [imitates shots firing]
AUSTIN: Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. And it's like, this is the super move for Ironman, right, in Marvel vs Capcom, like it's that proton, huge, blue-pink laser of death. And it's like, it is tearing into at first the one fruit truck that was already hit—and when I say fruit truck again it's like a massive floating 18-wheeler—and then the glass silica is raised higher into the air, and it disperses between all of these little tiny floating grains of glass. And like, zipping between all of them, and then ending in little puffs of nothing.
Like, it's the most dangerous—it's the loudest sound you've ever heard, like, Grand, your ears are not in a good place, you're so close—Echo, you too—and it just like hits these glass little balls and then nothing. And then it's just like, it's as if it's nothing at all. In fact, the knight with the shield just like drops the shield and runs through the glass silica in the air, and then just like jumps up over the remaining little bit of the blast and slams its sword down into the back of the gun.
SYLVIA: Damn.
AUSTIN: Echo—or not Echo, sorry, Gardner, what are you doing at this moment?
DRE: Um, so that one knight has already gone to attack the gun?
AUSTIN: Yeah, it's like slamming its sword into the back of the gun at this point.
KEITH: Does it happen to hit any of the birds, at least?
AUSTIN: No, like, when it disperses, it's nothing.
DRE: Oh, fuck. Birds are still happening.
AUSTIN: Those birds are still happening.
KEITH: Oh, okay.
DRE: Okay. Um, shit. So basically at this point we have the big cannon and the birds, right?
AUSTIN: Yep, yep.
DRE: Um… I'm gonna try to shoot one of the birds down with my railgun.
AUSTIN: Alright, go for it. That's definitely a Neutralize.
DRE: I don't know if this will do anything for me? But the utility tag on the Amprunner is magnification? Like, it'll zoom in on something.
AUSTIN: Oh yeah, totally. Give me—roll with advantage.
DRE: Okay. Um, I think I'm gonna roll Powerful.
AUSTIN: Sounds good. Why? Like, what's the…?
DRE: Well at first, I was freaked out 'cause I was like "oh shit, oh shit," but like, we're all still alive? And I've gotten used to, like I've—like, okay, I know how these controls work now, I'm settled in, like... It's time to just do this thing.
AUSTIN: Mhm.
DRE: Ten!
AUSTIN: Ah, that's a ten. Boom. Alright, so again, when you roll Neutralize you get a bunch of hold. You could just spend all three of your hold to destroy all three of those right now. They do not have the armor to withstand a railgun.
DRE: Um, sure. I'll just—yeah. I'll do that.
AUSTIN: What's that look like? What's the railgun like on the...?
DRE: Um, the railgun is—I think it's just like a—like, makes that charge-up noise like [imitates laser charging and firing] and it just like—there's probably like a bright blue kind of, almost like afterwave that shoots off from it when it fires.
AUSTIN: Yeah. So, there's a thing that I'm giving you here that is just to communicate something about the world. It actually takes four shots to kill them because the first one you shoot at an angle that goes through the glass in the air that—like, you can hear glass shattering as it moves through and it slows down the rail shot, until it just falls to the ground. But then you reposition and take the remaining shots, and get the kills. And then at that moment the knight who has the rifle drops the rifle down, looks over to you and nods. Like, "good job".
DRE: So, the glass came from—
AUSTIN: And at that point—Yeah, go ahead.
DRE: —the big cannon, right?
AUSTIN: No, the glass came from the beetle.
DRE: That's right. Okay.
AUSTIN: The Doyenne seemed to lift her hands and raise this glass up. And at that moment too, as the three birds are destroyed, I think one of them gets another plasma blast in, but again the silica in the sky keeps it from doing any damage, and then the knight with the sword finishes cutting and that is it, and like, it blows up. And takes the… like, walks away, the rest of the attackers flee into the night, and I think that the combat comes to a close.
Everyone is able to—I think one of them's running away and Janey just shoots them in the back, like, full-on attack mode. Surge pulls the dune buggy to a stop out in the—like, pulls out away from being in front of the beetle-walker. So that he's not blocking the Doyenne's path and is making sure he is very clear that he is not a threat.
[KEITH chuckles]
AUSTIN: And everyone is able to kind of like, reconvene.
The beetle-walker kneels down, and part of the glass just kind of like swirls open. And then the Doyenne steps out and she is completely nude, but as she steps through the glass it reforms as like—first these little bubbles around her, that are just floating around her—and then reforms as this incredibly form-fitting dress that is just opaque enough to cover her. And it moves like silk. Like, it moves around her like it's not a thing at all. And it has long, tight sleeves, and part of—as she walks through the glass, it changes the cut of her hair. Like, it cuts her hair slightly differently so that instead of being angled down and to the left, it's angled down and to the right and it gives her two dope parts on the side. And then she just like moves her hands a little bit and it moves around her. And she walks up to your group, and I think maybe makes eye contact with Grand.
AUSTIN (as THE DOYENNE): That's your design?
AUSTIN: And she gestures over to the Amprunner.
ART (as GRAND): Uh, yeah, I whipped it up on the way over. We, uh—this is its first, um, first real-world run, I'm glad to see it performed.
AUSTIN (as THE DOYENNE): Cleverer than a cat.
ART (as GRAND): Ha.
AUSTIN (as THE DOYENNE): What school?
ART (as GRAND): Oh, I'm self-taught.
AUSTIN (as THE DOYENNE): Self-taught? Cleverer than a cat. You should come see me.
ART (as GRAND): Um, sure, yeah, of course.
AUSTIN: And she like, turns away from you, just—she doesn't say anything else, that's it, she's done with you at this point. And turns and gives Janey a look.
AUSTIN (as THE DOYENNE): Brilliant Jane. Glad to see you're still loyal.
AUSTIN: And Jane just kind of looks down and to the ground and pulls her cloak around her a little tighter.
AUSTIN (as THE DOYENNE): You all have my favor.
AUSTIN: And like, she's ready to go. And just turns back, steps back into her weird beetle.
ART (as GRAND): That was nice.
[DRE laughs]
AUSTIN: Janey, by herself, turns the horse and starts to leave to go back to the church. The other knights begin to try to put—like, recover as much of the fruit and other—it's like, maybe one of the other soldiers tells you like, "I can't believe we lost a whole truck." And explains that like, it’s experimental—it's like new genetic fruit, it's like new test fruit from a new batch of artist-scientists, who are trying to figure out new fruit flavors. It's basically like that whole truck was someone's dissertation on the concept of sweetness. And it's gone now. It was like a prize, like award-winning.
KEITH (as GIG): Oh, that's not that big of a deal.
AUSTIN (as SOLDIER): Someone spent a long time on...
KEITH (as GIG): That's like, way—I thought that was food someone needed to eat.
AUSTIN (as SOLDIER): No, we have food to eat.
KEITH (as GIG): Yeah, no, this was art-food. It sucks, but it's like, no one's hungry. Because of the food.
AUSTIN (as SOLDIER): There are different sorts of hungry.
ART: [overlapping] Someone's never gotten a doctorate.
AUSTIN: [laughing] Yeah, someone's wasted the last three years of their life, like.
KEITH (as GIG): I'm sure there's enough fruit here to satisfy some sort of board.
AUSTIN (as SOLDIER): There's no satisfying a board, there's only satisfying the Doyenne, and she is hard to satisfy.
KEITH (as GIG): She was here, she saw what happened.
DRE: Um, is there anything left of these robotic bird things?
AUSTIN: Totally. Yeah. Robotic birds are still—there's remnants of everything that was here.
DRE: Oh, Austin.
AUSTIN: Uh-huh?
DRE: There's so many things for me to check out. [chuckles]
AUSTIN: Do we wanna actually maybe wrap and then open the next time with you—
ART: Setting up the beacon and checking out the birds?
AUSTIN: Well, I think we set up—we just get a montage, of—maybe that's the thing that we end on is like, a montage of you scrounging, you setting up the beacon and firing it off. I also think just for clarity, I think, Gig, that's when the first broadcast goes live. Like, the broadcast goes live when you fire off the node, when the node gets activated. Because otherwise there's no way for us to actually communicate it back to the fleet, right? So you went live—
KEITH: Oh, no, I thought we said that it existed outside of—It says in the thing specifically that it exists outside of the Veil.
AUSTIN: Right, but there's no way it would have left this planet, is what I'm saying.
KEITH: Okay.
AUSTIN: The only way anything gets off this planet is if this node is set up, so that's—
KEITH: Oh, okay.
AUSTIN: Everybody else—
KEITH: Alright, well, I have—there's sort of a plot hole then of me being like "Oh, there's a lot more people watching this."
AUSTIN: Well, there are.
KEITH: Right.
AUSTIN: The people on this planet. Which—
KEITH: Oh, they were watching it?
AUSTIN: Yes.
KEITH: Oh, and I didn't even—
AUSTIN: ‘Cause like—someone mentioned earlier, I think it was Janey, was like "Yeah, we have things like the Mesh here."
KEITH: Yeah.
AUSTIN: In their cities, right? So, that's what actually goes on—
KEITH: [laughing] So when I was like "Hey guys, sorry I haven't updated in a while" I was talking to people that I thought, oh, that's just, you know, my regs—
[GROUP LAUGHTER]
AUSTIN: Right, no, all new people.
KEITH: But no, it was a hundred percent new audience and it was already way bigger than anything I've ever had.
AUSTIN: Yes, exactly, it's a whole new audience.
KEITH: And it hadn't even gone to the Mesh yet. Okay.
ART: And none of those people have ever seen you update, so it still kinda works.
AUSTIN: Yeah. You're also able to know that that is the—remember you caught that weird signal before that was like, "the church is amenable"?
KEITH: Yeah.
AUSTIN: That was definitely some of these soldiers talking to each other over radio about potential places to stop to refuel and stuff.
KEITH: Yeah.
AUSTIN: But they're not stopping. They're gonna continue on, after that attack, obviously.
KEITH: Mm.
AUSTIN: So yeah. So I think we get that montage of the thing opening up, and at that point I am gonna bring you back over to the map here. Which is… A map of Quire. And I'm going to give you all… Four spaces around the node opened up.
[muttering] Oops, I didn’t mean to… Wait, did I—? Yeah, that should disappear. Correct.
Four spaces in every direction open up on this map, and that is what you'll get every time you open a node. And obviously I think you'll be able to reveal part of this map in other ways than the nodes, basically, but… that is how we will slowly reveal what Quire looks like and fill it in ourselves, also. Like, it won't only be this.
DRE: Is G-35 the node?
AUSTIN: G-35 is the node.
DRE: Okay.
AUSTIN: I'm also gonna color it different. I'm gonna change this tint color so it's like bluish to show that it's online. Hell yeah.
SYLVIA: Love to be online.
AUSTIN: Love—Hm. Do you?
[DRE laughs]
AUSTIN: 'Cause I often do not.
SYLVIA: [emphatic] Love to be online.
KEITH: I mean you specifically do not love to be online.
SYLVIA: [overlapping] Even though that's the opposite of my character.
DRE: Yeah, right.
AUSTIN: So what is revealed—so I think—okay, so as you connect the node, again, we're getting this montage, we're getting Even picking through the scraps, and beginning to look at all the different technology; we get the node coming online, and when it does there is this last little bit of information that is stored in the Mesh that was already… There's like an echo of the Mesh—no pun intended, Echo—that is from when Curiosity visited this planet hundreds of years ago.
And, there are all of these spots—I don't know if you remember that Curiosity is the Divine from—it's not from The Sky Reflected in Mirrors, but The Sky Reflected in Mirrors is part of—is where Curiosity disappeared eventually. And it is… There are all these points, there are like fifty plus points on this map that Curiosity marked. With just, "Oh yeah, here's a thing that's interesting." And that's all Curiosity gives you. Curiosity doesn't give you, like, any information about what the thing is. That's it. And so that reveals all of that.
Off to the west, what is revealed is, that's where the Doyenne is going. To G-27. Which is the central city to the Crown of Glass. A city known as The Sculpture. And it is just like, the sun rises and catches the mix of like, glass and sandstone. It's like an art deco city made of glass and sandstone, basically. And it's just like, huge beautiful curves on its skyscrapers, and then also all around it, all around the city are like quarries of digging into whatever is all around it. Is there anything else? Are there any other pictures? What's everybody doing? What's the final shot of everybody in this little montage?
SYLVIA: I think that Echo is digging the bullet out of their arm.
AUSTIN: Good call.
SYLVIA: And stitching that up.
AUSTIN: Good call.
SYLVIA: Like, because Echo's a tailor, they are literally using the same needle and thread they use for that.
AUSTIN: Right.
SYLVIA: Because it's all they have.
AUSTIN: Do you let Surge help you, if Surge offers to help?
SYLVIA: Definitely.
AUSTIN: Okay. Um… Grand, what about you?
ART: I think—
AUSTIN: Oh, I actually have a thing with Grand, but go ahead. Let me hear yours first.
ART: Oh. My thing was gonna be because he finally has access to fabricators again.
AUSTIN: Yes.
ART: That he starts like—he like builds a prototype, like maybe a three-person tall wolfman mech. And then like looks at it. And then shakes his head and it just disappears and he's over that.
AUSTIN: He's done with the wolfman mech?
SYLVIA: Oh, thank god.
AUSTIN: Aw.
ART: Yeah, I need—we need to keep coming up with things, it can't be the same thing every time.
AUSTIN: Okay, that's fair. I guess.
[DRE laughs]
AUSTIN: So I think like as you do that—where are you when you're doing that?
ART: I think it's like, honestly closer to the center of town than is really polite to be building a like 18-foot—
AUSTIN: Oh wait, so do you go that city or are you just in the…?
ART: Oh, no I mean like, in this area.
AUSTIN: Oh, okay.
ART: Like where we were.
AUSTIN: Yeah.
ART: Just like, closer to people than is polite to build a 20-foot wolfman robot.
AUSTIN: So I think that there's a moment, once you finish it—yeah, maybe there's like another little—there's like a little village nearby that's close enough to get to, and that has the fabricator and stuff, and there's just like a man in a—what do you call it, not a poncho, like a, uh—what are the things that Clint Eastwood wears in The Good, The Bad and The Ugly?
ART: That's a poncho.
DRE: Yeah, that's a poncho.
AUSTIN: Is that a poncho? Not the whole long poncho. Just like a cape, I guess, is actually what it is, because it comes a little lower on the chest than normal.
DRE: Like a shawl?
AUSTIN: Like a shawl, yeah. A person with a shawl, and he has bright red hair that's like kinda fluffy and forward, and a pair of night vision goggles that just look like regular goggles that are up on his forehead. And has on like a short-cut brown jacket, like it's basically like a crop top jacket—there's a name for that, what are those actually called?
ART: Crop top jacket… I know exactly what you're talking about and I have no idea.
AUSTIN: We need to be better at fashion on this fuckin' show. He—
KEITH: 'Scuse me?
DRE: [overlapping] That's what the ship game's for. That's what the ship game's for.
SYLVIA: Hey, I'm doin' alright.
AUSTIN: We're doin' okay.
Anyway, underneath that crop top brown jacket, he has just like a black tanktop on, and a pair of jeans with cowboy boots. It's a look. And I think he like, as you erase the mech prototype, he makes eyes with you and you know it's the dude from the top—it's the dude who was like, not the leader of that group but was the most important person there, was the assassin. It was the guy who killed the knight. Those knights are called saints, by the way.
I think also you just hear in the news that Saint… That was Saint Glass. Saint Glass was assassinated. Or was killed in the fray. You do not hear the words assassinated, but given what you all saw, I think you have good enough reason to believe that was an assassination. And there's going to be mourning in the streets because Saint Glass is one of the old guard. One of the—not the founding members of the Canon, but one of the long-established members of the Formal Canon, is what it's called. Is what this specific canon is called. Which is what the names of these groups of knights are called.
KEITH: Speaking of the saints, did something happen, like—did anything ever come of the one that was missing on purpose?
AUSTIN: Nope, you—
KEITH: Did they like join up with the rest of the knights, or?
AUSTIN: Yeah, totally, and they helped clean up afterwards, it was totally fine.
KEITH: [muttering] They helped clean up. Okay. Fuckin' covert, huh.
AUSTIN: Uh-huh.
KEITH: Deep cover.
AUSTIN: Uh-huh. So I think that that's—I think maybe he makes eye contact with you actually, Grand, and he walks over and offers a hand.
ART: Um. Yeah, I guess—
AUSTIN (as ASSASSIN): Cascabal.
AUSTIN: His name's Cascabal.
KEITH: Casketball? That sounds like a sport.
AUSTIN: Casketball… Cascabal. Cascabel? Cascabal. Cascabal. [affirming] Cascabel, Cascabel.
KEITH: Octagonal.
[GROUP LAUGHTER]
ART (as GRAND): Grand Magnificent.
AUSTIN (as CASCABEL): You do good work. I hope I never have to kill one of yours.
ART (as GRAND): Uh, th-thank you. Me too. They're lovingly crafted.
AUSTIN (as CASCABEL): You're flustered, that's fine. I'll be seeing you.
AUSTIN: And he turns and walks away and is carrying a bag that you know has like, his equipment in it. And heads off to the side, and gets just a regular ass horse—maybe it's like a weird lizard horse? It's a weird lizard horse. And climbs on top of it, and rides off to the east.
ART: That's not really any much weirder than a real horse if you think about it.
AUSTIN: Right. That's exactly it. Right? Like, horses are weird already.
ART: Yeah. It's like a thirty times dog we ride on.
[AUSTIN and DRE laugh]
AUSTIN: Um… Okay. So we have Echo. Or, no, we have Echo, yep, we have Grand, we have Even, and how do you end your first transmission, Gig?
KEITH (as GIG): Hey there everybody, this is Gig checking in for the very first time planetside. It was absolutely gorgeous here until all the fighting, it really was an incredible experience and opportunity. I'm so glad that I got to come down here and I'm really looking forward to seeing what I hope is the best parts of Quire. There is a lot more than that happening today, again I do apologize for the sort of death-y shooting stuff 'cause it's not my scene, really at all—
[MUSIC - "The Twilight Mirage" by Jack de Quidt begins]
KEITH: (as GIG): —there's, you know, clearly a lot happening, I don't understand who a lot of these people are, and why they're doing fighting on each other—
[AUSTIN laughs]
KEITH (as GIG): Um, but, you know, we're here to make inroads, and that's what we're gonna do. I hope that we can find some sort of way to get ourselves into a position where we're not being attacked. 'Cause I don't like it. Obviously keep in mind that I don't know who the factions are, none of us really do, we're sorry if we're on the wrong side right now, I'm trying to stay as neutral as possible. I didn't have to shoot anybody and that was great, but uh, I hope that we can sort of emerge from the—under the cloak of ignorance into the sunlight of knowing anything about this world. Um, thank you so much for watching, I hope I get to know some of my new viewers, and, uh, thanks for kickin' it with me planetside.
[MUSIC - "The Twilight Mirage" by Jack de Quidt ends]