COUNTER/Weight 14: We’ve All Killed People
Transcribers: rosalyn/@fivegoldeens [0:00-16:20] Lu [from 16:20]
AUSTIN: Cass and Mako were infiltrating a Horizon Tactical Solutions base...
KEITH: In my head, if she turns around and we’re gone--
[MUSIC - THE LONG WAY AROUND]
KEITH: We’re just-- we just went back upstairs. We can just sneak away if Art rolls Cool and I roll Help.
ART: And the way you should be helping is by making it sound like that other elevator is going up.
AUSTIN: Uh, and Audy is just, uh, what are you, in a coffee shop?
JACK: I think Audy’s phone is face-down on the table in front of them… that they’re sort of occasionally, nervously turning the phone over and checking to see if anybody has contacted them.
AUSTIN (as Fangirl): Oh my god. (ALI laughs) Aria Joie, oh my god! I need to--
AUSTIN: Like, starts dialing a thing on her hand.
ALI (as Aria): Do you need to, uh, hi! Hi! Hey! Hello!
AUSTIN (as Fangirl): Let me take a picture with you, PLEASE!!
ALI (as Aria): S-sure!
AUSTIN: Almost instantly your phone starts blowing up, Aria.
AUSTIN: You hear, like, a very brief struggle and then a loud bang.
AUSTIN (as Security Guard): She killed him! I-- (whimpering) She didn’t say she was gonna kill him!
ALI (as Aria, overlapping Austin): What did she take? What’d she take?
AUSTIN (as Security Guard): She has it. (ALI sighs)
KEITH (as Mako): Cass, we just missed it! It was right in that statue.
ART (as Cass, overlapping KEITH): Can you-- how do you tell where it’s going?
AUSTIN: It’s off the Net for this second, at least.
AUSTIN: You’re face-to-face with a very tough lookin’ lady named Jacqui Green.
AUSTIN (as Jacqui): Don’t do this. (ALI laughs) You don’t want this!
AUSTIN: And she has like, a very playful smirk, almost like when she says like, “Don’t do this,” what she means is like, “I cannot wait for you to fucking do this.” She like, cocks her right arm and the weird goo that was on the rafter to your right explodes, and the rafter falls to the ground.
And then she pushes her hand into a different rafter and like, cocks it again and is like ready to go. [00:01:34]
[MUSIC stops 00:01:44]
AUSTIN: Audy, on your screen, it cuts from “Aria Joie Found With a Fan” to “Explosion at Aria Joie Concert.” What do you do?
JACK (overlapping AUSTIN): Okay. I guess Audy just stands up and carefully, carefully puts their phone inside their pocket…
[ALI laughs]
AUSTIN: Huh.
JACK: And just walks out of the, [laughter] walks out of the coffee shop.
AUSTIN: Okay.
JACK: Can I, can I contact Aria? Can I call Aria?
AUSTIN (overlapping JACK): Sure.
AUSTIN (as Aria’s Phone): Beebeebeep! Beebeebeep!
AUSTIN: Oh hey wait, w-what was Aria’s, her, her ringtone? Was it one of her own songs, right?
ALI (laughing): Yeah.
AUSTIN: Good. So like, there’s suddenly--
[JACK laughs]
AUSTIN: --another Aria Joie song playing in this scene.
JACK: Does the mercenary do anything when Aria’s phone starts ringing?
AUSTIN: N-no, she’s like, setting up these explosives now and like, trying to make distance between Aria and her, and then trying to position herself so she can get to the door.
JACK: Alright.
JACK (as Audy): Uhh, Aria?
ALI (as Aria): Audy!
JACK (as Audy): There’s been an explosion at your concert.
ALI (as Aria): Y-yeah, there, there’s a lot of them…
JACK (as Audy): Do you need help?
ALI (as Aria): Yes! She-- There’s a woman here, she’s… she has the virus, and she’s gonna take it.
JACK (as Audy): Okay, I'm on my way.
ALI (as Aria): Okay, good.
JACK: And then I guess, just, Audy hits a button on their chest and a table inside the coffee shop upends itself as The Dog unfolds itself. (Laughter) Just, leaves the coffee shop at speed, scattering people. I guess I'm just making for the ship, right? How far out from the Rethal Spaceport-- okay.
AUSTIN (overlapping JACK): I guess… yeah, totally, yeah, pretty close. I think you’re pretty close.
JACK: Essentially, I am going to try and just get to the ship and the concert as quickly as possible.
AUSTIN: Awesome. Uhh, yeah, you can be there in, in… soonish. So you’re on your way.
JACK: I'm on my way. (Overlapping AUSTIN) Oh, and I let Aria know. I think I let Aria know that I’ve safely gotten onto the ship.
ALI (laughing): I appreciate that.
AUSTIN: Yeah. Uh, and we can have that scene happening intercut with like, moments of this kind of fight playing out, of you like, trying to get in close, and her continuing to blast apart these rafters as music spirals out of control. You notice, her ear lights up. Like, the actual cartilage of her ear lights up briefly. And she goes--
AUSTIN (as Jacqui): dealIng with it!
(Laughter)
ALI: Aww, we’re both having like, frantic phone calls while we’re fighting with each other.
ART: Oh, she doesn’t have any of her own music as her ringtone?
AUSTIN: No, no…
ART: Or another Aria Joie song?
(Laughter)
AUSTIN: That would actually be the best. She has a third Aria J-- no. I, aw, as much as I love it, she doesn’t.
ALI: She’s a secret fan.
JACK (interrupting ALI): I don’t think she is!
AUSTIN: Hmm, maybe.
(ALI laughs)
ALI: She like, knows my callsign!
AUSTIN: She really-- here’s the thing, here’s the thing: she really likes your new stuff. And that’s really sad.
(ALI groans)
ALI: God.
AUSTIN: Uh, what do you do?
ART: She knew it was your callsign because the terrorist group she’s a part of has been spying on us the whole time.
(Laughter)
JACK: Ah, god…
ALI: How… So what are these rafters connected to?
AUSTIN: What are the what connected to?
ALI: The rafters?
AUSTIN: There’s like… there are like, rails on the very top of the ceiling that are like, configuring and reconfiguring themselves for the rails to like, again, like, move back and forth on. Or like, the rafters to like move back and forth on.
ALI (sighs): So they’re just connected to the ceiling?
AUSTIN: Yeah, yeah. And to each other occasionally, you know. It’s this weird intermingling of metal that connects and disconnects.
ALI: So if the Brilliance like, cuts a hole in the wall, they’ll still be (laughing) there?
AUSTIN: Yeah, sure! If the Brilliance cuts a hole in the wall (ALI laughs), sure. Yes. Is that a thing you want to happen? We could do that. That sounds kinda dope.
(ALI continues laughing)
ALI: I think that’s what… I'm unarmed.
AUSTIN: Y-you are. That’s true. I mean you still have your whip.
ALI: Oh, okay.
AUSTIN: You didn’t lose your whip, you just got it-- yeah.
ALI: No, I just know that it doesn’t work. Essentially.
AUSTIN: Okay. So you wanna use the Brilliance to do that?
ALI: Yes.
AUSTIN: Okay. Um, I’ll just let you do that. That’s kinda cool. (ALI laughs) I don’t really think it’s like-- nothing’s opposing it, and, other than… oh, you know what? Maybe that’s an Act. That’s an Act Under Pressure.
ALI: Well, should I be using Hot Shit Driver here?
AUSTIN: Now this is Hot Shit Driver, yes.
ALI: Yeah, okay. Um, cause this is definitely a high-pressure situation.
AUSTIN: Yeah.
ALI: So I'm gonna roll that.
AUSTIN: Yeah, so roll Hot Shit Driver, and then you’re going to use… So, Hot Shit Driver is a move that you have that says, “When you’re driving a cyberlinked vehicle in a high-pressure situation, roll Edge. Gain 3 Hold on a 10+, or gain what you got. You may spend 1 hold to do one of the following: 1) Avoid an external danger: a rocket, a burst of gunfire, a collision, etc. 2) Escape 1 pursuing vehicle. 3) Maintain control of the vehicle. 4) Impress, Dismay, or Frighten someone. Do you wanna spend one of those immediately to do that?
ALI: Uhh, yes please!
AUSTIN: Okay, so maybe that’s the thing, is like, you’ve like, been chasing Jacqui around and, and the explosions are going off, and finally it’s like.. She’s like, almost to where the escape is, and then just like (JACK laughs) laser blade cuts through the wall, and just like cuts a big fucking hole and then pushes it forward, and it falls down. Or doesn’t she-- maybe she doesn’t push it forward. What do you do?
ALI: No, I think it’s just… (sighs)
AUSTIN: Like, what do you do with the wall you’ve cut out?
ALI: I, I… I'm not gonna push it in, cause there’s like, people in there. So I definitely pull it out and it like drops on a few cars.
AUSTIN: Yeah. [imitating car horn] Bromp, bromp, bromp, as the alarms go off. There’s screaming from outside. The Brilliance’s sensors--
ART: There’s no one here. Who’s car is outside?
AUSTIN: People live in the city! Uh…
ALI: There’s like, there’s the eight people who’re parked outside. They were like, probably pretty close.
AUSTIN (crosstalk): Those people got driven here. Those people are super rich, they did not--
ALI (crosstalk): Oh, okay.
AUSTIN: Uh, but like, you know, it’s like the janitor.
ALI (crosstalk): Aw…
AUSTIN: Who is a robot and has a car, and a little house somewhere. Uh, the Luna mechs that you followed in here do pop up on the Brilliance’s radar display once the Brilliance makes itself known.
ALI: Are they active?
AUSTIN: Two of them activate, like they’ll just pop up on your screen as like-- uh, does the Brilliance have like, a vocal AI? Like some sort of AI system that speaks to Aria? Is there like a calming voice? Is there like a-- like, does it have a Titanfall OS?
[ALI laughs]
ALI: No. But it does-- so, her bracelet works like an alert system.
AUSTIN: Okay.
ALI: So like, if there’s something that she needs to know… So I guess if they’re coming up on her radar, there’s like a little, like a little display suddenly shows, and it’s like flashing red, and then it shows that the two of them are out there.
AUSTIN: Great, exactly.
ALI: So that’s a thing. But--
AUSTIN: That’s a thing!
ALI: So how is Jacqui reacting to this?
AUSTIN: Uh, she’s dismayed, and like, doubles back towards the exploded area and away from the door. You’ve kind of like, cut off her path of egress. And the Brilliance is kind of floating there, outside. She’s like…
AUSTIN (as Jacqui): Hngh, this is too much! [ALI laughs] There are people here!
AUSTIN: And she just sets them off, and more of the rafters start falling down below. (Pause) Uhh, let’s cut back to Audy, cause that’s the person who like, we don’t really know-- Cause we know where Mako and Cass are at this point, theoretically, still doing a thing. Also we have to keep that door open for if Cass wants to (laughter) teleport into this scene.
[KEITH laughs]
AUSTIN: Audy, you-- So one of the things with the Blue Sky domes is that they have exterior entrance points, ports, which is how the-- it’s how the Brilliance and the Lunas got in. They kind of like, cover up with clouds on the inside, and then like, kind of ports open up outside.
JACK (crosstalk): Oh yeah!
AUSTIN: And I think that like, the things that look like clouds from below are actually a weird collection of gasses that prevent the outside bad atmosphere from getting in. It’s like a weird, like, gaseous--
JACK (crosstalk): It’s not just an aesthetic thing, it’s like a--
AUSTIN (crosstalk): Right. Its actual form does not look like pretty clouds, like there was lots of science and technology poured into making those look like pretty clouds instead of another gross-looking collection of gas. So yeah, you’re able to pull the Kingdom Come in through there, but it is also going to get you attention. Like, it’s, it’s a big spaceship.
JACK: Um… okay, sure. I kinda feel we don’t have a choice at this point.
AUSTIN: Uh, you know, you can tell me if you’d like to try to do some, some other way of doing, of getting there.
JACK: No, I think I’ll take the, I’ll take the heat.
AUSTIN: Okay. Um… in fact, what I’ll-- I think this is a point where you might wanna roll, uh, if you want to not take the heat, you can just give me a roll of, uh… I guess when you’re acting under pressure, Cool plus your vehicle’s Power.
JACK: Okay, so that is uh, Cool plus two. So I'm just gonna roll Cool-ish.
AUSTIN: And then we’ll just add two to it.
JACK (crosstalk): Got ‘em!
AUSTIN: Good, that’s an eleven. So yeah, I think you’re able to like, pull the Kingdom Come in and then maybe move it in such a way that it like, goes through… It’s just like, people are like “Oh yeah, it’s another, it’s a weird, uh, uh…”
JACK: Like a freighter or something?
AUSTIN: Like a freight-- yeah, exactly. Exactly what I was thinking. Like, “Oh, they must be bringing in new supplies first, for this thing or that thing.” [inaudible 00:10:49] The Blue Sky part of this dome just got opened up, there’s new supplies coming in every day. You move it in a pattern that’s very like, workmanlike.
JACK (crosstalk): Yeah.
AUSTIN: So it’s like, not a big deal. Um, and yeah, you’re able to see in the distance-- I'm kinda picturing this as being like, um… In my mind, I'm thinking about being like, in Manhattan and looking uptown from downtown, or vice-versa. It’s like being in a big city and like, “Oh yeah,” like you can recognise the structure of this one landmark from this other landmark (JACK laughs) from way far away, from like, a mile away. But it’s still like, a mile away. Which isn’t that far with a big spaceship, but it would-- but you can’t go full throttle here, either, you know?
JACK (crosstalk): No, because I'm trying to keep this masquerade of being just a ship, right?
AUSTIN: Right. So you see, but you see the Brilliance, like, fly up as soon as you get in. And then like, “Bvroom!” You know, beam saber, wall, and you’re getting closer and closer.
JACK: Can I call Aria?
AUSTIN: Totally!
[ALI laughs]
JACK (as Audy, crosstalk): Hey, Aria…
AUSTIN: Her, her, your song rings again as all of this is happening.
JACK (as Audy): Aria…
ALI (as Aria): Hey! Hi!
JACK (as Audy): What-- where do you want me?
ALI (as Aria): Uh, um… Uh, close? How far are you? (Laughter)
JACK (as Audy): Uh, probably about a, like, a space mile?
[Laughter, crosstalk 00:12:00]
AUSTIN: --In a couple minutes.
, JACK (as Audy): Yeah, I'm like a couple of minutes up.
ALI (as Aria): [Sighs]
ART: Probably two clicks. If we wanna--
[All chatter, laugh, agree enthusiastically]
JACK: Clicks! Clicks! That’s what I am!
JACK (as Audy): I'm two clicks out.
ALI (as Aria): There’s another agent who has the, the virus, and I'm having trouble [someone laughs] securing it.
JACK (as Audy): Do you want me to open fire?
[Pause]
ALI (as Aria): No!
[Laughter]
ALI (as Aria): The, this building is full of people and you might hit me! [Laughter]
JACK (as Audy): Okay.
ALI (as Aria, crosstalk): Just--
JACK (as Audy): Uh, I’ll try and get as close as I can to, to your transmission.
ALI (as Aria): Just, ah-- Open the dock. Cause if I need to get the Brilliance in there quick, then… I’ll need to do that.
JACK (as Audy): I can do that. Okay.
ALI (as Aria): Okay.
JACK: And then I hang up, I guess
[inaudible 00:12:16]
AUSTIN: Uh, you’re getting closer. Um, y-- do you open the dock?
JACK: Yeah, totally.
AUSTIN: Okay. Oh, that’s, that’s interesting. Okay. Hmm. Hmm.
KEITH: JACK, you said the wrong thing!
AUSTIN: Huh. Huh!
KEITH (crosstalk): I know whenever he does this, it means you made a mistake!
JACK (crosstalk): Aria asked…!
AUSTIN (crosstalk): Huh.
JACK (crosstalk): It means I did a… I dinged it!
AUSTIN: You di-- ya done dinged it! Ya done goofed. Uhhhh....
JACK (crosstalk): Aria asked me to do a thing! So I, I do it!
ALI (crosstalk): I had the worst idea…!
AUSTIN: Let’s zip back into Aria…. It’s not a bad idea. It’s just, there’s other things happening that you maybe didn’t anticipate.
ALI (crosstalk): Right!
AUSTIN: S-so to go back to Aria, what do-- what do you do?
[Pause]
AUSTIN: So you hung up with, with Audy here, and the Brilliance is there. She… Are you just kind of holding her in place for now?
ALI: I… [laughter] was going to try to grab her with the Brilliance’s hand?
AUSTIN: Okay, that’s definitely Mix It Up.
ALI: Okay.
[JACK laughs]
JACK: That’s a hundred percent fighting!
AUSTIN: Definitely mixing it up, I think.
ALI: Okay… [laughter]. I don’t want her to explode my mech!
AUSTIN: That’s totally good… yeah! Mm-hm!
ALI: But like…
AUSTIN: So, Mixing It Up with the mech is uh, it is, you’re rolling, you’re not gonna roll Meat there. You’re going to roll um, Edge, plus-- Oh, sorry! Not Edge, uh, Synth, plus your vehicle’s Power.
ALI: Yeah… Cause like, the other thing I could do is like, close the s-- like, use the hand to like, close a space for us? But like, she’s gonna kill me. I'm gonna… (laughter) She will fight me! (laughter) With her giant hands.
AUSTIN (crosstalk): She might do that, totally.
ALI: The, the way that we’ve established this, that like, anyone who gets into a mech can pilot that mech, right?
AUSTIN: For the most part. I think there’s like a weird universal thing, yes.
ALI (crosstalk): Okay. Right.
ALI: Cause if I like, grabbed her and then put her into the cockpit, she would be able to (laughter) just get away!
AUSTIN: Uh, n-- I think about like, you’re still actively piloting it, right?
ALI (crosstalk): Right.
AUSTIN (crosstalk): You’re still in control of the thing.
ALI (crosstalk): Yeah, I could disable the like…
AUSTIN (crosstalk): Yeah yeah yeah, this wouldn’t be a situation-- She would have to, (ALI and JACK laugh) she would have to hack you, in a weird way. Right? Which--
ALI: Okay. Um…
AUSTIN: So yeah, gimme… That sounds like a Mix It Up, so…
ALI: Yeah…
AUSTIN: It is Synth plus whatever your, your, the Brilliance’s Power is.
[00:15:00]
JACK (interrupting AUSTIN): So are you just going, “Yoink!” and putting this lady inside your own mech?
[Laughter]
AUSTIN: Seems like it.
JACK: Didn’t we try this with Orth?
ALI: Yeah, and it worked! Me and Orth got away!
KEITH (crosstalk): Yeah, it worked!
JACK (crosstalk): Oh yeah, that’s true actually. Well, that’s good.
KEITH: Just to, just to clarify, ALI doesn’t have the virus, right?
AUSTIN: No.
KEITH: Right.
ALI: She’s holding--
ART (crosstalk): But then we would have the person who has the virus (various laughter) locked inside a giant war vehicle.
AUSTIN (crosstalk): Right. Yes, that is what you would have.
KEITH: Correct. [ALI laughs] With ALI!
ART: No, ALI would be outside.
ALI: But controlling the mech!
KEITH: Oh!
AUSTIN: ALI is remotely controlling this mech.
ALI: Yes.
AUSTIN: Aria has that cool--
KEITH: Okay.
ART: Just like, forensic… neural link.
AUSTIN: Right.
ALI: Is this a bad idea? [Laughter]
JACK: You asked me to open the pod bay doors!
[inaudible crosstalk from ALI]
AUSTIN: We just need to, we need to make a decision.
KEITH: It’s definitely… This is, I mean it’s definitely, like a gambit.
[Laughter]
AUSTIN: Yes, good call. It is a gambit.
ALI: I just don’t think I, I have any ability to fight her…
AUSTIN: You do! And I mean that’s the thing with like, you do and, and you don’t. Like you can go either way on any of this stuff. It would…
ALI: Right.
AUSTIN: It’s all up to the dice. You know?
ART: Once you have her in your grip, why not just kill her?
AUSTIN: ‘Cause she has the virus, right?
ALI: Right.
ART: Yeah, we could probably get it off her body. It’s not like, in her.
ALI (crosstalk): Has she been holding like, a briefcase this whole time? Or is it like--
AUSTIN: No, she does not have a briefcase on her.
ALI: It’s not like a physical object? (16:20)
AUSTIN: I'm- she doesn't have a briefcase on her
JACK: [crosstalk] That's- no idea.
ALI: Okay
ART: She probably has pockets.
AUSTIN: She has pockets.
ALI: [amused] I'm gonna try to grab her with the Brilliance. [laughs]
AUSTIN: Gimme that Synth roll.
ALI: So this is Synth… (crosstalk) and then plus one, that's nine?
AUSTIN: (crosstalk) Plus one, so that's a nine.
JACK: (inaudible crosstalk) Oh my god.
AUSTIN: Alright, so- Mix It Up says… “On a 7-9 choose two. On a 7+ you achieve your objective”. So you're able to grab her- on a 7-9 you have to choose two. [amused] “One, you make too much noise, advance the relevant mission clock” PS, I need to advance that one already [ART laughs] From those explosions, there's no way that that's not an advanced mission clock.
ART: Yeah, it's been pretty loud.
AUSTIN: Yeah, pretty- pretty loud! So right now the mission clock is at 1800. Two- so choose two: one, you could advance the relevant mission clock more; two, you take harm as established by the fiction; three, an ally takes harm as established by the fiction; four, something of value breaks .
ART: Ohh, don't pick that one.
ALI: [laughing] Do I get to choose something of value?
AUSTIN: [crosstalk] You choose- no! [ALI cackles, JACK chuckles]
JACK: “Oh, my prop broke, sorry.”
ALI: [laughs] Um… I guess advance the clock.
AUSTIN: Sure, okay. We are up to 2100. From here on out, things will get bad.
ALI: There's all those slivers, we’re fine- and we’re almost done, it's fine. It's fine!
AUSTIN: Uh-huh.
ART: [crosstalk] Everything's already really bad.
KEITH: [crosstalk] Each one of those little slithers is like a bad things that happens.
JACK: [crosstalk] We haven't completed any step of our mission yet! [laughs]
AUSTIN: [inaudible crosstalk]
ART: We’ve got the mission.
[ALI laughs]
JACK: Yeah, that's true. [laughs] [KEITH & AUSTIN cackle]
AUSTIN: [laughing] That is one! That's one.
KEITH: I feel like Art and I did like- very well-
AUSTIN: [crosstalk, ALI laughs] You did very well, guys. Y'know what- hey, heads up.
KEITH: I feel like-
JACK: [crosstalk] I've been extremely relaxed for most of the mission.
KEITH: I feel like I'm still gonna get shit for being like [mocking tone] “Oh, Keith’s plans are always crazy” all my shit always goes down like, almost perfectly! I bought too many robots one time!
AUSTIN: [amused] If you were a little bit faster, if you had been a little bit faster you would’ve caught it there. I will say that. But- you also were fine. Like- [laughs]
ALI: I just- that's mean!
ART: [crosstalk] It's fine, we know what we have to do for next one, is give Aria a gun! [everyone laughs] To shoot the bad guys!
AUSTIN: She doesn't kill people! Alright.
KEITH: That's not true! You've- she’s killed people before! [ALI laughs] She's- she's the only one of us that is like, a weird zealot!
AUSTIN: Audy also killed people.
KEITH: No, we’ve all- I think we’ve all killed people, [AUSTIN laughs] Ali is just- Ali is just the only one that's like a zealot about it! [ALI laughs] So for Aria to be like “I don't wanna kill somebody!” it's like “but before you had like a death slogan” [ALI cackles]
AUSTIN: She did have a death slogan.
JACK: A kill motto.
ALI: No, I shot a gun into the air- that's not killing someone, I specifically did not shoot somebody with a gun at me.
AUSTIN: That is true, also.
[ALI groans]
KEITH: It sounded like a death slogan.
JACK: Okay so- right, what's your next bad decision?
ALI: [crosstalk] What are my other...? [laughs]
ART: [crosstalk] Do you know how dangerous is that thing you have?
AUSTIN: [crosstalk] That's it, so-
ALI: - something of value.
AUSTIN: Break something valuable, take harm as established by the fiction- that would be a lot of harm- advance the relevant mission clock, or hurt someone else- hurt an ally as established by the fiction. You could do any of those, you tell me which one you want, I could do any of them.
[ALI laughs]
JACK: [laughing] Screw you, Austin.
AUSTIN: I know what you're thinking: which Ali could i- which ally could I hurt? [laughs] which ALI could I hurt? You, you're the Ali I could hurt.
ALI: Yeah… and you said that would be a lot of harm, [chuckles] if it was me.
AUSTIN: I think it'd be a substantial amount of harm, we’re talking about big explosions
ALI: Yeah…
AUSTIN: And you're like, on very high height, y'know? But you would get the thing you want, you're still getting the objective- you're grabbing her and putting her inside of the Brilliance, and locking it in.
ALI: Um…. Who wants to get hurt? [laughs]
AUSTIN: Well, it would be- I decide which ally.
ALI: Oh, okay.
AUSTIN: Yeah.
ART: And some of us are at the bottom of a military base. [ALI laughs]
JACK: I am flying a spaceship into the-
ALI: You have so many holes, you're fine. I really- like, I would take the damage to the Brilliance’s hand, but like- I don't think that's what Austin will pick!
KEITH: Is this not the time when Art pops in?
ALI: [laughing] Yes!
AUSTIN: We have to resolve this movie before that happens.
ART: Yeah
AUSTIN: She has to just pick two.
ALI: [laughing] I think- uh, someone else gets hurt, I'm sorry guys.
AUSTIN: And then what? You still have to pick another one
ALI: Oh- wait, that's two.
AUSTIN: [crosstalk] What's the first one?
JACK: [crosstalk] It was the mission clock and someone-
AUSTIN: Oh, right, the mission clock. Right
ALI: Yeah.
KIETH: Mission clock is maybe the worst one to pick.
AUSTIN: In some ways. Uh- okay-
ALI: It's fine! It's fine.
AUSTIN: Audy, you're hovering over, you've made it there. And for a brief second you swore you had like, the targeting- you're pulling over and it's like “Oh, let me go hit the button to lower my docking bay so people- so that the Brilliance can get in” and for the briefest second before that happens, there's a tone that's like “Oh, a missile locked on”. And then that goes away. And then… your head is slammed into the console of the Kingdom Come. um, take… let me think. Take two harm?
JACK: Okay, sure. How do I mark that? Oh, I have a harm clock.
AUSTIN: Yeah, you have a harm clock. And then you have to roll harm.
JACK: Okay, so I go up to 1800 harm.
AUSTIN: [crosstalk] So you'll be up to 1800 harm, right?
JACK: Is that 2d6…?
AUSTIN: 2d6 plus… so let me read you the harm move, 'cause this is new for us too. “Harm: it's a dangerous world out there-”
JACK: [crosstalk] I'm the first one to get hurt!
AUSTIN: You are the first one to get hurt! [ALI laughs] “When you suffer harm- even 0 harm or S harm, for stun harm- lower the harm suffered by the level of your armor” Do you have any face armor? Do you have any good armor- oh, you do! You're a gang, you count as a gang.
JACK: Ooh. Okay, cool.
AUSTIN: Right? Is that correct?
JACK: Yeah.
AUSTIN: What's that move called?
JACK: Um… Milspecs
AUSTIN: Milspecs-
JACK: Oh, no, I only count as a gang when I Mix It Up.
AUSTIN: [crosstalk] Oh, you're right, that's only when you Mix It Up. so no, this doesn't count. That's interesting. Um… so, roll harm- “lower the harm by your level of armor, if any, and fill the number of segments in your harm clock equal by the remaining harm, and roll harm suffered”
JACK: Oh! I have, uh… I have one armor.
AUSTIN: From what?
JACK: From my police jacket.
AUSTIN: I don't think that helps here.
JACK: [laughing] Alright, okay, sure.
AUSTIN: If she had like, shot you, that would have helped.
JACK: Okay so, 2d6 plus…?
AUSTIN: Plus two.
JACK: Great. [laughs] That's a nine.
AUSTIN: That's a nine. This is a situation where, ideally, you want to roll low. You don't want high here.
JACK: Great. So my response to that was rolling high.
AUSTIN: [laughs] Yes. 7-9… so, if you'd rolled a 10+, you'd get to choose one. You would have chosen “you're out of action, unconscious, incoherent or panicked”, [JACK chuckles] “You take the full harm of the attack before it was reduced by armor. If you already took the full harm, give it another harm”, “Lose a piece of cyberware until you can get it repaired” or “Lose a body part”. Instead, I get to choose one. “The MC will choose one: either you lose your footing, you lose the grip on whatever you're holding, you lose track of something or someone you're attending to, or someone gets the drop on you” One of those has already happened. [laughs] I think what you lose track of is Aria. your head gets slammed down, and then the Kingdom pulls up higher into the sky, away from the bri- higher than the Brilliance could get to easily.
JACK: Okay.
AUSTIN: And… your sensors are all like, jimble jambled [JACK chuckles], when you turn around there's a- when you get your bearings there is a fairly like, small, thin woman, with-
JACK: On my ship?? [laughs]
AUSTIN: Yeah! Straight, shoulder length red hair, with- you can just see, one of her eyes is covered by her hair, the other eye is kinda weird, cybernetic. Like, specifically not hidden. It's kind of like,a number of different metal and glass lenses? That have a depth to them, there's a few of them layered one on top of the other. And… she has a gun pointed at your back. Or- I guess you have turned around at this point, but pointed right at you, and it's a big, fuck off pistol? And she has a giant sniper rifle around her chest and back.
JACK: Okay. Um…
AUSTIN (as woman): You're gonna go land this thing somewhere else right now.
JACK: Is she making a move?
AUSTIN: She's just pointing- no, she's just- i, as the GM, am making a move, which is threatening you basically.
JACK: Don't I have a skill that means when I'm under time pressure I'm better at things?
AUSTIN: You tell me.
JACK: I- yeah, I can't find it on my sheet.
AUSTIN: I think it's cyberware, I think it's a piece of cyberware, actually
JACK: Oh, yeah. I have Synthetic Nerves “In a time crisis, add +1 to Act Under Pressure”
AUSTIN: You do.
JACK: [amused] Would you say this is a time crisis?
AUSTIN: Totally.
JACK: Okay, cool. Uhh, could you read me the rules for Act Under Pressure?
AUSTIN: It's just roll Cool. but tell me what you wanna do, before- what is Audy doing?
JACK: Um… I think Audy would like to- she's a human, right?
AUSTIN: Sure.
JACK: She's not a robot.
AUSTIN: Sure.
JACK: Or at least she’s not [laughing] visibly a robot. Okay, we’ve talked in the past that Audy can perform maneuvers that would 'cause humans to- that humans would not like.
AUSTIN: Yeah, totally.
JACK: So I think I would like to try to put the Kingdom Come into a rapid spin.
AUSTIN: Okay.
JACK: And we’re talking about an object the size of a building here? That's probably...
AUSTIN: [laughs] Yeah. What are you trying to do with that? Are you trying to-
JACK: Stun her. I want to essentially throw her against a wall or something.
AUSTIN: Okay. I think that's actually Mix It Up, which is- you're rolling plus Synth.
JACK: [crosstalk] Oh. well, I'm a small gang.
AUSTIN: Plus vehicle power- I don't think- I don't know that that- 'cause that's your vehicle doing it? You're doing it with your vehicle and not in like, a fisfight, y'know what I mean?
JACK: Okay, that's true, yeah. So I just--
AUSTIN: Plus your vehicle’s power.
JACK: Okay.
AUSTIN: Plus two.
JACK: Great, Synth +2 coming up.
AUSTIN: Boom! That's an eleven.
JACK: That's twelve, thirteen.
AUSTIN: Nice, perfect. Good roll. Uh, when you Mix It Up and you get a 10+ I think you just get the thing you were looking for… yeah, you achieve your objective. So yeah, you knock her- you like, slam- what’s the move look like?
JACK: So I think that Audy just reaches up, and in the same way that helicopter pilots have that rack of things above them, clicks a few switches on like your mixing desk, and just slams the stick to the left or the right.
AUSTIN: Okay. And just like, hard turn, like “BRRUGH” and she goes flying up I guess? 'Cause you made a hard turn left? And she slammed against the top wall. This is probably like… let me mark this, I think it's probably like, what, two or three harm? That seems like two harm to me, so I'll mark that.
JACK: Like, she's made of meat, probably. That doesn't like hitting things.
AUSTIN: It doesn't. And she drops the pistol, which slides down to the other side of the, uh… the floor behind you. Uh… alright, Cass and Mako.
KEITH: Hi!
AUSTIN: How you doing? Do you decide to wait to see if this thing gets re-leashed or do you leave?
KEITH: [crosstalk] I'm going
ART: [crosstalk] I think we’re currently existing on a state of quantum flux? [ALI chuckles]
AUSTIN: Yeah, there's definitely a… what do you call it, what's the cat? Schrodinger's cat situation happening here.
ART: But you want us to open the box?
AUSTIN: I would like you to open the box.
KEITH: There's two of us, we can do both.
AUSTIN: You could, you could leave Mako here.
KEITH: Yeah.
AUSTIN: And you could leave. But them you're leaving Mako here and leaving.
ART: Well, I mean, the way- the way the move works, I don't think I have to make that call right now.
AUSTIN: no, no, you don't, but I'm asking you- there's a point at which- so, I'm now saying you're now back to time. We’re now back in time I think. Otherwise…
KEITH: I just watched Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure recently, so I think that I know the answer to this.
AUSTIN: Okay, what's the answer?
KEITH: As long as we remember to put the leash in this room later?
AUSTIN: [amused] Uh-huh [JACK chuckles]
KEITH: It will- it'll be here now [ALI laughs]
AUSTIN: [whispering] What doesn't sound right. But okay. No, I think- I would like to know at this point- there's definitely a window right now for you to say, Cass, that you're in this scene. But that window… that window will close, but it will mean that like, you- you need to tell me now that you want to make that move. Otherwise when you make that move in the future, it will have been from this moment forward, y'know what I mean? Like, you could be in this scene now if you want to? But if you tell me the next roll, like “Oh, I wanna be there now”? No, you would've had to have left by now. You're on your way now, you'll be there soon, but I'm kinda giving you the window here if you want to be there.
KEITH: I think I’ll be okay here by myself, if that's the…
ART: Uh… okay.
KEITH: I guess I have this question for Austin, is- if we both left, and we were there, and we got the situation under control, uh… where Ali and Jack are, do we need the leash, 'cause we have the thing.
AUSTIN: If you have the thing, you have the thing. You don't need the leash right now. Now, if it gets reconnected to a network, you will need the leash again. But right now, I think you are- but again, Cass and Mako don't know that.
ART: [crosstalk] Could I give our last Assess hold, which- one of the Assess moves is what's- [softly] what's it say, what does it actually say…? Uh, what's the best way out. Could I know that, point it out to Mako, and then be gone.
AUSTIN: Totally, yeah. Definitely.
ART: Okay.
KEITH: Okay. And also, can I use one of my Intel to know how long I have to wait here for the virus- can I have like a schedule?
AUSTIN: So you know that it- the longest you would have to wait- you know that at midnight it should be in its place, right? The thing was like- it goes into a place, sometime in the PM like, zone. So from your side, what this looks like is either Aria got it or it's doing it's jump to somewhere else as we speak.
KEITH: Right. But if I have another piece of Intel to burn, can I know what time in the PM it's going to make the turn?
AUSTIN: [crosstalk] Well, there's only a little bit of the PM left, I think we’re nearing midnight. So you just know- you don't even need to spend an Intel for that. You know that in the next 20 minutes, it should show up somewhere. If it doesn't, then there's a problem. Or then it's gone.
KEITH: [crosstalk] I’ll- I'll stay, if I only have to wait 20 minutes, done, I'm in. I'm staying.
AUSTIN: Okay. Uhh… so Cass, are you- and yes, you can totally say- the easiest way out from here is that there is just a… there's a tunnel that just runs cable. That just runs like, fibre- whatever future sci-fi fiber is to the Mesh. and that is large enough for maintenance drones to go through, and Mako isn't that much bigger than a maintenance drone.
ART: I always say that.
AUSTIN: Yeah. [amused] You call him your little maintenance drone. [KEITH chuckles]
ART: [amused] Yeah.
KEITH: It's 'cause I'm like, uh… I'm Cass’ go-to advice guy.
AUSTIN: [amused] Yeah, is that why?
KEITH: Yeah, yeah that's it. [ALI chuckles]
ART: [laughing] That's why you're small?
KEITH: No no no, that's why you call me maintenance drone [laughing] because I keep your life from falling apart!
AUSTIN: [laughing] People, y'know, are going to start shipping Cass and Mako, so get ready for that. [JACK chuckles] Uh, okay! So Cass, you bouncing?
ART: Yeah.
AUSTIN: Okay, sounds good. Uhhh…
ART: Although, I guess I have two Hold, so I could also just love- plan back together back-
[ALI laughs]
AUSTIN: [laughs] That- that is true.
JACK: Just oscillating, horrifyingly, between- [laughs]
ART: Cass is quadruplets, that's the twist at the end of this. [laughs]
KEITH: Cass is three of himself[1] standing in each other’s shoulders. [ALI giggles]
AUSTIN: Three! Um, so what do you- are you gonna show up in this scene now, or do you wanna hold it for when…
ART: I still wanna hold it for when things get worse
AUSTIN: Okay. Aria, what's up? [ALI laughs]
ART: So, very soon.
AUSTIN: [chuckles] Aria, what are you up to? How you doing?
ALI: I- I was fine, I'm doing well! I've contained, uh… Jacqui.
AUSTIN: Uh-huh.
JACK: Inside your killer car.
ALI: Right, that I'm controlling.
AUSTIN: Right. I just realized that I should have narrated something when this clock hit 2100. Uh… which is- this is an easy way to do this, which is, Cass? When you're leaving, on your way out, you see the Venus take to the air. Ahead of you.
ART: Well, that's probably fine [ALI and JACK laugh] That could be going anywhere!
AUSTIN: Uh-huh!
ART: It's a big planet.
ALI: And then- so, I… [laughs] I also look up and see, um… the-
AUSTIN: You're inside, you don't see that happen.
ALI: Okay, I don't see the Kingdom Come just spinning?
AUSTIN: No. [JACK chuckles] Thankfully.
ALI: [laughs] I mean- actually that's my plan, is to like, hop into the other hand.
AUSTIN: Right. Yeah, so is that what you do?
ALI: Yeah.
AUSTIN: Yeah. So you hop in, and- at that point, you do see that the Kingdom Come is like, near- you can't just jump to it easily here.
ALI: Yeah.
AUSTIN: And then it makes this really hard turn, that's terrifying.
JACK: Does it look like it's crashing?
AUSTIN: Yeah, definitely. Right?
JACK: I mean, I guess so, yeah.
AUSTIN: ‘Cause that's the sort of turn that it can take, and that you can take, but that a person couldn't take. So what do you do, Aria?
JACK: [crosstalk] A person...
ALI: [laughing] Um….
AUSTIN: Oh! Also those Lunas are in the air. Are like, hopping around from building to building, bouncing off the sides, trying to get into position. You can see them- they're each- at this point, they've kinda fallen back into- there's only two of them, the third one was piloted by Beck, who’s dead- who is dead! And the two of them are now bouncing from building to building, tearing off little side chunks off the wall, and trying to get to the rooftops- like, in weird flanking positions around you.
ALI: Cool...
AUSTIN: Uh-huh!
ALI: Well, I can stay outside of the Brilliance then [laughs]. The virus and Jacqui will die with it- no. um…
AUSTIN: So is Jacqui still in the grip? Or is she… in the cockpit with you? Or are you still in the hand?
ALI: I'm still in the hand, she’s in the cockpit. Um- I think I like… so- no. [laughs] This is a bad- 'cause if I open that cockpit she's just gonna jump out and that means-
AUSTIN: Uh- she's dealt with right now.
ALI: Okay.
AUSTIN: I think that you probably gave her a pretty- [reconsidering] Uh. Yeah, you can do as much harm or as little harm- like, you grabbed her with a giant robot.
ALI: Right. Okay, yeah.
AUSTIN: So you could have her unconscious right now.
ALI: Okay. Yeah! [laughs] Could I?
AUSTIN: She- you grabbed her with a giant robot.
ALI: Okay
AUSTIN: And you succeeded that roll, if you fail a future roll that's a problem, but-
ALI: Okay. I guess in that case I'll… I'll go into the Brilliance and prepare for all the stuff that's about to happen.
AUSTIN: Okay.
ALI: Um… am I able to get in touch with Cass though? Is there like a blip that he [sic] is like, signed on?
AUSTIN: [crosstalk] Yeah, let's say he [sic] pops back up.
ALI: Okay, so like, Cass logs back on, um… so I guess I… radio Cass. Um- no, 'cause that’ll open you up to being able to jump in here, but yeah, I get into the Brilliance and-
ART: Do you want me to do the dramatic entrance here? I can have- just have missile lock on those two.
AUSTIN: That's a pretty good dramatic entrance.
ALI: You could… that would help a lot- I mean, I still have the one Hold to like, impress, dismay or frighten them.
AUSTIN: And also just like, dodge stuff, and blah blah blah.
ART: I'll take it, I'll just shoot them, yeah.
AUSTIN: Okay, so what’s that do? What's the…
KEITH: It kills them. [AUSTIN chuckles]
ART: Four far area messy breach dangerous length-
AUSTIN: Sorry, but it's- you appear in the scene where you're needed right now?
ART: Yeah.
AUSTIN: [crosstalk] Is that the thing that you're using? Okay. so yeah, give me Mix It Up. you're- your objective here is to kill them?
ART: Yeah.
AUSTIN: Not to- you're not just threatening violence, is that right?
ART: No, this is real violence.
AUSTIN: Okay, give me Mix It Up then.
ART: But it's real- it's real violence with the mech, it's still Mix It Up?
AUSTIN: Yeah, but it's Mix It Up with Synth instead of with Meat. Plus your vehicle’s power.
ART: Alright, vehicle- so this plus two.
AUSTIN: Okay. Jesus, that's an eight.
ALI: That's a partial success!
AUSTIN: Yeah, partial success.
ART: It's probably a nine, but- it didn't add it.
AUSTIN: Yeah, sure. Totally. Uh… okay, so you choose two, you make too much noise, advance the relevant mission clock, you take harm as established by the fiction or an ally takes harm as established by the fiction, or something of value breaks.
JACK: Please don't make me take harm again. [laughs, ALI giggles]
AUSTIN: [amused] It's probably not you, in this case.
ART: Yeah, probably not you in this case. Uh…. I'll take harm and I'll have allies take harm, the other two are really not negotiable at this point.
AUSTIN: They're pretty rough, yeah. The action clock is at 2100 so. Uh… alright, so… let me look at what I wrote down for what this harm is gonna be for you.
KEITH: One quick thing- what things happen when the clock goes past 2100?
AUSTIN: Good question. So, at 2100 the thing that I did was deploy an internal asset appropriate to your threat. Uh- these are examples from the book, and they can change from mission to mission?
KEITH: [crosstalk] Okay. So we did hit a thing that is bad already.
AUSTIN: You did hit a thing that is bad, yeah. 'Cause each step is bad, like- at zero- at noon, at the beginning of the clock, everything’s fine. At 1500 the target is more alert than usual. On 1800 the target is on full alert, on 2100 an internal asset is deployed. At 2200 external assets get deployed.
KEITH: Okay.
AUSTIN: Or, get ready to be deployed, and there's a lockdown put in place. And at zero you lock out, you have to leave. You have to bug out, there's no more- you can't win. You failed the mission when it hits midnight.
KEITH: [crosstalk] It's GTA 3 hide in a dumpster… there's nothing else you can do…
AUSTIN: Yeah, exactly. There's dumpster hiding in that game?
KEITH: I- I hid behind a lot of dumpsters- like, in alleys behind a dumpster?
AUSTIN: Yes, totally. Man, that game was pretty- okay. Uh…
KEITH: It was pretty good.
AUSTIN: It was pretty good. It was kind of a big influence. Um… so yeah, give me- did you make that roll? You did, and you're doing damage to you and to Aria also, right?
ART: [amused] Well, anyone really, but yeah, it sure looks that way.
AUSTIN: [laughs] I could do it to Cass or to Mako instead, actually.
KEITH: You could, but that would look weird for that repercussion to reach all the way to me.
AUSTIN: Yeah, totally. So let's just make it Aria and you- Aria, you're still like, in the hand, and- so, Cass, you show up and missiles just start firing in like, cool Macross style, Itano circus, just like- [missile noises] flying all over the place. And they… uh, I think they kick out one of the Lunas just like, instantly? Just like [explosion noise] on the side of a building. And the other one manages to get off their own like, counter missile shot before you take them out? Which is… take- this is weird because it's like- I guess you make the harm roll? Yeah, I think it's three harm each.
ART: It's two d6 plus three?
AUSTIN: So… it's- let me read the Harm roll so we can talk about armor again. It is-
ART: Oh right, armor.
AUSTIN: Yeah. So, when you suffer herm, even zero harm, lower the harm suffered by your armor. So it's three d6 minus any armor. So, in this case I think your armor is your robot’s armor.
ART: Right, which is two.
AUSTIN: Right, so that means you're rolling one harm. Aria, does- oh, Aria, are you not- you did get in, you got in, right?
ALI: Yeah.
AUSTIN: Okay, so does the Brilliance have armor?
ALI: Yeah, it has one armor.
AUSTIN: Okay, so you're rolling harm of two. Uh… lower the harm suffered by the level of armor, fill the number of segments in your harm clock, you roll the remaining harm and harm suffered.
ART: Do we have harm clocks in here?
AUSTIN: [sigh] Y'know, I didn't add harm clocks for your robots. And I haven't decided really- and I should've done this earlier- had a talk about the way that harm gets in on you from robots, y'know?
ART: Sure.
AUSTIN: For now let's treat it as if they have their own clocks.
ART: Okay.
AUSTIN: Uh… which gets complicated for a thing in a second, but- yeah, let's just in your notes section? [pause] Is there a note section? I guess in the tag section, just write what the current thing is and I can mess with it in between sessions. So roll… so, Aria will be rolling two d6 plus two, and- yeah Art, you're rolling two d6 plus one. Six is not bad, six is what you want there.
ALI: I got a nine.
AUSTIN: Nine is less good. Um… [laughs]
ART: Less what you want
AUSTIN: Less what you want [laughs] Okay, so… you get slammed with the missile, Aria? I think the armor just soaks it, Cass, I think the megalophile just takes the run of the hit- or just like, knees down, shoulder out, missile just slams into the side shield into the megalophile, no big deal? But the Brilliance takes it kinda hard, so take two segments on the Brilliance.
ALI: Uh-huh.
AUSTIN: And then… [pause] you lose your grip on whatever you're holding. As you're hit by this missile the Brilliance has to land for a second? Otherwise it would just fall out of the sky? And in that moment Jacqui slams you in the chest with an elbow and like, pulls on the emergency eject lever? [laughs] and you- the- I guess you have to tell me, does the Brilliance have an eject thing or does it just have an open the cockpit thing?
ALI: I think it just opens the hatch.
AUSTIN: And then she elbows you with that big metal arm, pulls the hatch and then rolls out, and does a tuck and roll onto a building [ALI giggles] and starts to flee.
ALI: [laughing] My perfect plan!
AUSTIN: It was a pretty good plan. That missile kinda fucked things up though.
ALI: I guess I panic and tell like, uh… Cass like, that's her, she has it.
ART: Can I hit people with mech weapons?
AUSTIN: [sigh] We kinda established no? Especially the sort of giant mech- or that it was difficult to do so.
ART: Sure
AUSTIN: Um… you could try.
ART: I mean, I'm not gonna catch her, this is a-
AUSTIN: Yeah, you're in a big slow mech.
JACK: Ooh. I think I have an idea.
AUSTIN: [amused] What's your idea?
ART: [crosstalk] I mean, I'm faster that a person right? Like-
AUSTIN: Totally, but she's on the rooftop, right? You can't- you decided- you can jump up there and stuff, but you're not il like- you're not in a Brilliance.
ART: Right
AUSTIN: Audy, what's your plan?
JACK: Um, I think I would like to Play Hardball with- oh, is this person alive?
AUSTIN: The person with you?
JACK: Yes
AUSTIN: Yes, she's scrambling to her feet once you pull up out of your turn.
JACK: Can I Play Hardball with her?
AUSTIN: Sure. I mean, how are you doing it? What's Audy doing?
JACK: Alright, so I'd like to deploy the shotgun inside my arm and point it at her and say.
JACK (as Audy): If you don't follow my instructions, I will throw you out of this spaceship.
AUSTIN: Okay. Give me a Hardball.
JACK: Okay. Uh… what roll is that?
AUSTIN: It is just- it's the one that says Play Hard- it's Edge.
JACK: Okay, fingers crossed… I'm really hoping this goes well.
AUSTIN: That's a nine.
JACK: Okay.
AUSTIN: Pretty good.
JACK: Do I have any- I don't have any additions to that, do i?
AUSTIN: I don't think so.
JACK: No. Okay.
AUSTIN: Uh… on a 7-9 I get to choose one. They attempt to remove you as a threat but not before suffering the established consequences, they do it but want payback, add them as a threat, they do it but tell someone about it, advance the appropriate mission clock. Um… I think- hm. [pause] She- [laughs] okay. She's going to attempt to remove you as a threat, but also take the consequences here [JACK chuckles] So she's like-
AUSTIN (as woman): Throw me
AUSTIN: And… you just walk her out? To the open dock? Shotgun at her face?
JACK: Uh-
AUSTIN: Or is the threat that you shoot her?
JACK: I guess the threat is- I said that I would throw her out of the ship, right? So like- I Played Hardball, so you have to pull in my bluff on that, right.
AUSTIN: [crosstalk] Yeah, okay. So you lead her into the thing- yeah. Totally. And, uh…. As you throw her out, you hear a- not a big mech sized explosion, but there's an explosion from the Kingdom Come’s control room [JACK laughs]. And she goes flying through the air.
JACK: [laughing] How was that a partial success, Austin?
AUSTIN: I- she attempts to remove you as a threat, but not before suffering the established consequences.
ART: Which was falling out of a-
JACK: [crosstalk] Ohhh, I see. Okay, I see.
ART: She's probably not gonna do great out there.
AUSTIN: No no no, she's fucked- like, she's probably dead.
JACK: Okay, I'm gonna just turn and run back to the control room.
AUSTIN: Totally-
JACK: Which I guess is- we’re talking about a Normandy thing, so I'm going through rooms here.
AUSTIN: Yeah, there's definitely rooms and there's smoke coming from the…
JACK: There's no auto-pilot either, we've just been moving this whole time.
AUSTIN: Yeah, there's like- there's cruise control, but not auto-pilot.
JACK: Ah, yeah.
AUSTIN: So you're just hovering level through the sky, and now there's smoke coming from there. Uh, how do you put out fires? Is there like a fire extinguisher?
JACK: [crosstalk] There are fire extinguishers, yeah! So like, I just pull a fire extinguisher off the wall, and it breaks, and I pull another one off.
AUSTIN: Totally- it is- the Kingdom Come is slowly descending towards the ground, because you can't- it got messed up, so it's like, slowly gliding towards the ground in the middle of this entertainment district- there's a park ahead of you with a nice lake? And you're heading right towards it, people are out having a good time…
JACK: [crosstalk] Do we have speakers?
AUSTIN: Yeah, yeah, you definitely have speakers.
JACK: Can I get on the speakers?
AUSTIN: Sure [laughs]
JACK (as Audy): Uh, there's a fire and I'm going to crash the ship. Leave the area. [ALI and AUSTIN cackle]
AUSTIN: Okay. Um… Mako, it's midnight- you should leave. It's not coming back.
KEITH: It's not coming back- something horrible is happening!
AUSTIN: Something horrible is hap- or good!
KEITH: Or good.
JACK: No, horrible. Horrible. [laughs]
AUSTIN: Um… when you log out, there is a brief moment when you think you see yourself. Like, you pass one of the ice statues, and- like, on your way out the door, so to speak? And the reflection doesn't move with you. And then you turn back and look, and there's another person- there's a you on the other side of that ice statue, like around it- and then you blink for a second and it's gone.
KEITH: That's creepy!
AUSTIN: That's pretty creepy. But you're able to get out.
KEITH: Oh, okay.
AUSTIN: And now you're just in-
KEITH: They don't stop me?
AUSTIN: They don't stop you at all. Nothing stops you. You're Mako trig. Cass?
ART: How- how dire is this, is she- are we gonna lose her?
AUSTIN: You're a few steps from losing her, you're also a few steps from getting her for good.
ART: I mean, I guess what I'm considering doing is burning my other Hold and- oh, I was controlling the megalophile by remote, I'm on that rooftop.
AUSTIN: Can you do that? Is that a thing you have with the megalophile? I don't know that you have that.
ART: Yeah, I have the Regalia!
AUSTIN: Oh, you totally do!
ALI: Yeah.
ART: [crosstalk] I had it in the old days, I don't know if I have it now.
AUSTIN: Yeah, totally. Yeah, burn it.
ART: Okay yeah, I'm on the roof and I'm pointing a gun at her.
AUSTIN: Alright! [deep sigh] Cass has the gun on Jacqui Green. It's just when in the distance the Kingdom Come has done it's hard turn and it restabilizes, and then it Jill being tossed out of the back of the Kingdom Come, and then a second later the explosion from the front and the smoke is going up. And then it's just like, a kind of like, a handycam shot of Jill falling, and falling and falling, and then a shot of Jacqui’s face, and then Jill falling again for a few more seconds- and then Jill’s face and her ear light up, and you hear her get the call, and she says-
AUSTIN (as Jacqui): Alright, bye.
AUSTIN: And then she looks at you and says-
AUSTIN (as Jacqui): What do you want?
ART (as Cass): I want the virus.
AUSTIN (as Jacqui): Alright, take it.
AUSTIN: And she tosses it to you. And she reaches in her back pocket, and tosses you like a little cube that- like a USB drive, basically.
AUSTIN (as Jacqui): Can I go now?
ART (as Cass): Yeah.
AUSTIN (as Jacqui): Alright, good.
AUSTIN: She like- [laughs] stomps off, like- slow at first and then [pause] takes a few breaths, and then runs and leaps from that building to another. And then another. And then she's down some firescape and she's gone. Um… before you can all regroup, Cass, you get a call from Koda.
ART: Great! This will probably be nothing.
AUSTIN: Totally.
AUSTIN (as Koda): Cass, I'm following along on the news. What the hell is happening?
ART (as Cass): It's- it's a disaster over here.
AUSTIN (as Koda): Where are you gonna bring that thing?
ART (as Cass): Uh… we were hired, were bringing it to, uh… to-
ART: Who was it?
AUSTIN: Paisley, Paisley Moon.
ART: Right, yeah.
AUSTIN (as Koda): Alright, good. Good. do that, Paisley can be trusted. This is- this almost went really bad. You did a good job out there.
ART (as Cass): I mean, I hope our ship doesn't crash [laughs]
AUSTIN: [laughs, makes explosion noises] I think it crashes, but-
ART: [laughing, crosstalk] You did a good job out there [big explosion noise]
AUSTIN: [chuckles] Give me a roll- give me a roll, Audy, to not kill people with your crash. [ALI cackles]
JACK: [laughing] Oh! I'm going to do that.
AUSTIN: [laughing] And then we’ll wrap up.
JACK: What's the roll? [laughs]
AUSTIN: I think it's probably an Act Under Fire.
JACK: Okay…
AUSTIN: Most things are- here's the thing-
JACK: They are the ones acting under fire… [laughs]
AUSTIN: [chuckles] That's true. Uh- to be fair, you are literally acting under fire, right? [ALI cackles]
JACK: Yes- is that two d6-
ART: [crosstalk] Well, a little bit above fire, *he’s kinda- the fire’s over here, and *he is-
AUSTIN: That's true.
JACK: I'm in a room that is on fire!
AUSTIN: I think- so here's the question, are you trying to prevent damage to the ship, or are you- is this a roll for you to get the fire out, or is this a roll to get control while the fire blazes?
JACK: Uh….
AUSTIN: One will leave the ship damaged and people more safe, the other will leave the ship less damaged and the people less safe. Let me know, uh- your laws of robotics
JACK: Okay. So Audy goes to pull the trigger on the fire extinguisher and just throws it to one side, and without quite realizing why just sits down in the seat that is on fire and tries to put the control stick up. And they don't really know what's going on, and a control panel to their left just explodes? But they're holding on to the stick.
AUSTIN: Alright, so give me Cool plus your vehicle’s power.
JACK: Okie-dokie. [quietly] Please let this work.
AUSTIN: Uh- plus your power, right? What's your power? Two, yeah, you're good. So yeah, you manage to pull it up just enough so it slides into the water- it’s just fine, everyone is shouting and yelling, but totally okay.
JACK: Oh, god, can I float?
AUSTIN: Yeah, totally.
JACK: [laughing] Okay, good.
AUSTIN: Um… [laughs] Art notes in chat that AuDy probably has a really high melt temperature, that's true [ALI chuckles]
JACK: [laughing] I imagine so…
AUSTIN: Alright, so… we’re almost out of time, but this mission is basically over? So now the question is like, what do you do with this stuff, one. With this thing. Do you agree to go to the one place- and also, who is doing the getting paid roll.
KEITH: What is the- what is the modifier for that.
AUSTIN: Legwork, it's- you roll and add the number of unfilled legwork segments.
JACK: I don't have any legwork segments.
AUSTIN: One, two, three, four, five, six. That's a pretty good roll.
KEITH: That is a pretty good roll.
AUSTIN: No one- you guys didn't fuck up during legwork at all.
JACK: We just fucked up everywhere else!
ART: Yeah, we fucked up all that action-
KEITH: [crosstalk] Hmm, we didn't fuck up in the building at all… [ALI laughs] Art and I had it pretty well kept up- I mean, I saw myself-
ART: [crosstalk] I know that I blamed you a lot for the mech incident, but now that we had two big fuck-up sections it's the- the constant in the fuck-up section isn't you [ALI and AUSTIN laugh]
KEITH: No, you're right, it's not. [ART cackles]
ALI: [laughing] Excuse?
KEITH: And I would say where the mech thing broke bad wasn't signing the contracts, I consider that sort of like a neutral effect on the party itself, and more like a negative on only me, really.
AUSTIN: [crosstalk, quietly] Oh my god… uh-huh.
ART: Well, I mean-
KEITH: Sort of like an ambient negative, not even a- that broke bad when we got in a fight!
ART: Sure.
[AUSTIN chuckles]
KEITH: So let's do this roll.
ALI: Oh, well- oh.
KEITH: It's two- it's two d…
ALI: We have to figure out who we’re giving it to.
AUSTIN: [crosstalk] First you should decide where it's going. Also everyone take an XP for having secured the Gnosis Virus.
KEITH: I would like to give it to our original mission giver
AUSTIN: Paisley.
KEITH: Paisley.
ALI: Um…
ART: I would also like to give it to Paisley.
ALI: You wanted to go to the Apostolosians?
KEITH: Art? The Apostolosian? I think so.
ALI: But *he doesn't like them.
ART: Koda told me they could be trusted.
KEITH: *He doesn't like them but I don't think *he wants like, them to be blamed for a massive virus.
ALI: But they could use it.
ART: They probably won't.
KEITH: [crosstalk] I don't think they wanna use it. 'Cause like- the way that it was described to us was that- y'know, some regular dude in middle management noticed a thing and was like [laughing] “How do I stop this?? Paisley, help me stop this!” I don't even know if the Apostolosian government at large is even aware of the-
ALI: Once *he tells *his like, supervisor, they're gonna be like “Oh, nice” [laughs]
JACK: But didn't- wasn't it Jamil- Jamil had like a super weird tone about… stuff.
ALI: [crosstalk] Can I call Jamil?
KEITH: [crosstalk] Yeah, Jamil is a little bit racist.
ALI: I promised that I'd tell her, can I at least ask her who she's gonna give it to?
AUSTIN: You can totally call.
JACK: It's gonna be such an awkward conversation, Aria.
AUSTIN: It is!
JACK: It is gonna be so bad, but then I've just crashed a spaceship into a park so I have no room to talk. [ALI and AUSTIN laugh]
KEITH: [crosstalk] Could we know Paisley’s plan specifically or is it just a rando.
ART: [crosstalk] We know a doctor-
AUSTIN: One at a time here .
KEITH: Sorry.
ART: [crosstalk] I- I've-
KEITH: [crosstalk] Art, do you know-
[AUSTIN and KEITH cackle]
AUSTIN: Art.
KEITH: Art, please you.
ART: Well, I think it's related to what you're asking, but Koda, a doctor, said that these Apostolosians could be trusted, I don't think Koda’s gonna be like “yeah, give it to them, they're gonna commit a bio war crime” that doesn't feel consistent there? Although this could be where we find out that yeah, Koda is a criminal.
JACK: Koda is an Apostolosian, so.
ALI: Jamil said it would be destroyed and not like, held onto in case… a war broke out.
AUSTIN: That is what Jamil said. Yes.
KEITH: But I guess- what does Paisley wanna do with it?
AUSTIN: Give it to the Apostolosians.
ALI: Yeah- Paisley is just tryna get paid.
AUSTIN: Paisley is just tryna- that's what Paisley said. I'm not- I should just shut up and let you guys argue.
ALI: [giggles] I feel like I should at least- we should at least figure out who Jamil is gonna give it to
KEITH: I do- okay, so, I feel- I do like the idea of being destroyed, I don't like the idea that being destroyed by Jamil because they are racist [laughs]. And… Paisley’s hot.
AUSTIN: Paisley is pretty hot.
ART: Good points all.
[ALI cackles]
ALI: Could we just- we don't know enough about it to just destroy it on our own right?
KEITH: We would not get paid if we destroyed it on our own.
AUSTIN: That is correct, you would not get paid.
JACK: Let's call Jamil.
ART: [crosstalk] Also, we’re idiots! [ALI laughs]
JACK: Oh- yeah, that's true. [AUSTIN laughs] We could call Jamil? Do you wanna call Jamil?
ALI: I don't- I want to call Jamil.
AUSTIN: [crosstalk] Aria is calling Jamil, no one's gonna stop her from calling Jamil.
JACK: [crosstalk] Okay, don’t put it on a group call though, 'cause that's gonna be terrible.
KEITH: I think Jamil is either trying to- is being dishonest with us or is working for someone that is being dishonest to them.
AUSTIN: You call Jamil.
ALI: I call Jamil.
AUSTIN (as Jamil): Aria, thank god, that was crazy! Are you okay?
ALI (as Aria): [sighs] Uh- yeah, yeah, I will be. Um… so, you said that this would be destroyed?
AUSTIN (as Jamil): [hesitant] Yeah, I have someone lined up who will take care of it.
ALI (as Aria): Who are they?
AUSTIN (as Jamil): It's… bad. I can't tell you. Too much danger.
ALI (as Aria): Yes you can. I'm- I'm not giving it to you unless you tell me.
AUSTIN (as Jamil): Aria. This is serious, I wouldn't- if I needed you to do me a favor, and someone said “Hey, whos doing you a favor” I wouldn't tell them it was you. That's how this works. I have to protect my sources and my assets.
ALI (as Aria): This is too big of a deal for me not to know.
AUSTIN: Alright, so the things you can do here are roll Assess, and/or roll Fast Talk. Assess would be the figure to size her up, and like ask me some questions about her? And the other, Fast Talk, would be if you wanted to convince her to do the thing.
ALI: Um… I feel like I would Fast Talk her.
AUSTIN: Okay. Go for it. [pause] Nice.
ALI: So that was a thirteen.
AUSTIN: Alright, so she sighs and she says-
AUSTIN (as Jamil): It's the Angels, Aria, it's Counterweight's Angels. They'll get rid of it.
KEITH: [quietly] Are we not the Angels???
AUSTIN (as Jamil): They have… they have people. They're trying to make Counterweight better.
ALI: So- [laughs] it was like- it was a narrative thing but not a thing Aria knows, that going to Weight…. Like, advances their clock, right? She doesn't know the third enemy?
AUSTIN: No, she has no idea. Listen, these clocks don't mean that there are enemies. They mean- these clocks when they advance mean that you have their attention.
ALI: Um… because Aria’s opinions of Counterweight’s Angels have been very positive.
AUSTIN: Totally! And it- totally, yep.
ALI: Um… [laughing] so I vote give it to Jamil!
AUSTIN: Art? Mr. Tebbel?
ART: I think it's- I think Counterweight Angels are who hired the other group of people? I think that because that's how you do your callsign, because Counterweight’s Angels have intercepted our transmissions in the past, and I think if they hired those violent criminals, uh- to work against us, they are not who we should be turning over this virus.
AUSTIN: [laughing] We’re clear that Paisley also hired violent criminals, who are you.
[ALI and JACK cackle]
ART: Yeah!
AUSTIN: Okay, just wanna make sure we’re clear.
KEITH: [crosstalk] Yeah, we’re us, so we deserve a break!
ART: I wouldn't give it to us!
ALI: Also, they were so cool, I would hire them [laughs]
JACK: What if Jamil wanted to cover her tracks on both counts by hiring Counterweight’s Angels and us? We would be playing like 100% into her hands by giving her- [laughs]
ALI: [crosstalk] She's my best friend, it's fine.
KEITH: Can we- can we call Paisley and ask if the Apostolosians are gonna destroy this thing?
ALI: [crosstalk] I don't think he knows that, and I don't think he cares.
AUSTIN: [crosstalk] He doesn't know-
KEITH: He doesn't know…
AUSTIN: He doesn't know- how could he know.
KEITH: [amused] I have an Intel, can I know?
AUSTIN: No. You don't know what they'll do with it.
KEITH: No? I did- I did do some Matrix-like work in there.
AUSTIN: [crosstalk] Yes- so the thing- here's the thing that you know, is that the dude there who went to them, uh…. His plan is to get it looked at- y'know, kinda researched in a safe lab somewhere, far away from military eyes. Right? Like, a pure science lab, not a weapons research facility.
KEITH: I like this guy!
ALI: Yeah, but those like- if it's there, the military guys are gonna find it.
KEITH: Science guy!
AUSTIN: They, sorry.
JACK: I have a… ridiculous suggestion.
AUSTIN: What's your ridiculous suggestion, AuDy?
JACK: You might- [laughs] you might completely discount this, Austin, it's that ridiculous. I have a piece of gear left over.
AUSTIN: Okay
JACK: The virus is like a cube, right?
AUSTIN: [amused] Uh-huh.
JACK: What if- remember-
AUSTIN: You're fucking double dipping?
JACK: What if after Benny BABS- remember we talked to them and a vehicle pulled up with the box inside? What if Audy opened that box and wasn't sure what was inside, but it was just like a one by two cube?
AUSTIN: I mean, it can be- you can just have another one of these cubes. These aren’t like- yes. You could totally cash in that Gear to have a duplicate.
JACK: Should we Ocean’s 12 this, guys? [ALI giggles]
AUSTIN: Are you fucking double dipping?
KEITH: Is that what happens in Ocean’s 12?
AUSTIN: [whispering] Ohhh, they're gonna double dip.
ALI: Oh my god, that's-
AUSTIN: [amused] The chat doesn't see me but I'm looking at them [ALI laughs] There's no chat- the audience doesn't see me, because I'm on audio- I'm looking at you, audience: they're gonna double dip!
JACK: We could-
KEITH: I feel like- hang on, if we hand over-
JACK: [crosstalk] We could just hand anybody a duplicate, at this stage.
AUSTIN: No, so that's- it can't be duplicated.
JACK: Oh- I mean, we can give them-
AUSTIN: You would be giving them a fake thing.
JACK: Yes, that's what I mean.
AUSTIN: You could fill it with corrupted data, you could fill it with whatever you wanted.
JACK: Sure. We can hand them a duplicate- a visual duplicate.
KEITH: We could do that, but then we’d- we’d be getting paid double…?
AUSTIN: Yup! You sure would!
KEITH: But also- Aria’s reason for not wanting to give it to Paisley was purely we wanted to-
JACK: [crosstalk] I'm saying, what if we keep the other one?
ALI: [crosstalk] No no no- yeah, I thought we would double dip- give someone a fake one and then destroy it ourselves.
JACK: Yeah.
KEITH: Wait, give the scientists who are gonna study it the fake one?
ALI: Give anyone the fake one.
ART: [crosstalk] Yeah, that’s not gonna work.
KEITH: That's not gonna work. They're gonna know right away.
ALI: [crosstalk] Well, we’ll give-
AUSTIN: You only have two, so someone’s getting the real one.
ALI: Right. So we keep the real one and destroy it and then give the other one to Jamil, I guess.
AUSTIN: Do you know how to destroy this thing?
ART: [crosstalk] No! We have no idea how to destroy this thing.
KEITH: [crosstalk] Yeah, no. We have no idea.
ALI: Well, we have tons of Intel to spend.
JACK: I'm literally in a, like, we can just put it there. [ALI laughs]
ALI: [crosstalk] I'll spend the intel to know how to destroy it.
KEITH: [crosstalk] No, that never- they tried that in Jumanji and it turned out poorly! [ALI cackles]
AUSTIN: You can spend that intel, if you want to, and I'll tell you how to destroy it.
JACK: Should we do this, Aria?
ALI: I would like it to be destroyed.
AUSTIN: But that doesn't mean that you can destroy it, that means you'll know how to destroy it.
ALI: Oh, lord…
KEITH: I am anti the double dip, 'cause that means we’re fucking over one of our contacts.
ART: Yeah, I'm against this whole thing. I think we should just give it to Paisley, the man who hired us.
AUSTIN: So, here's the other thing-
KEITH: I agree with Art.
AUSTIN: This is a moment where- like, respecting the fiction? Cass has it right now. And that could mean shitty things for Cass’ relationship with Aria- like,this could be a nice moment of- it's almost as if like, we keep playing games where we end up with weird artifacts and [laughs] there are splits among… the players, among the characters [JACK laughs]. So this could be that moment. But- y'know, I want Cass to know that would mean acting- not unilaterally, 'cause Mako has your back on this, but you would be doing that by yourself.
ART: Sure.
AUSTIN: If you wanted to make that move.
JACK (as Audy): Cass. Switch the cube with me, and we can endanger as few people as possible.
KEITH: You mean give you to the scientists so we can keep the cube?
AUSTIN: That's- that's not what it means… [KEITH cackles]
JACK: That is- that is not what-
ART: I don't trust us with this.
ALI: We can learn how to destroy it and then destroy it!
KEITH: Okay, so- here's a thing-
JACK: [crosstalk] We have never messed up. [ALI and AUSTIN laugh]
KEITH: [crosstalk, amused] I feel like- we have all these clocks, right, and these clocks are monitoring other people’s attention to us. Do you really want us to have an army of mechs and a deadly virus that people kind of know that we have?? [ALI giggles]
JACK: We can spend an intel-
KEITH: [laughing] We’re not- this isn't Mother Base, we aren't all Solid Snakes [ALI cackles]
JACK: No but the thing is- [laughs]
KEITH: [amused] We can’t just be amassing nuclear weaponry, and it's not- that's not cool!
JACK: We have future sessions- if Aria spends the intel, and I spend the gear, we can learn how to destroy it, we can work towards destroying this thing. It makes us feel good about ourselves, we get paid, we don't hurt people in the future… [laughs]
ALI: This is checking out all of the boxes that we want.
KEITH: The only box that it's not checking off is not giving it- If we did that we would still not be giving it to Paisley, which is the only part that's important to me, because I don't trust Jamil [laughs]
ALI: I mean, if we’re giving whoever a fake thing, then we can give whoever a fake thing, that I don't care about.
KEITH: [crosstalk] Well- the scientist would get it-
ART: [crosstalk] I mean, I have ‘respectful’ for Paisey and ‘loyal’ for Koda? Koda told me to give it to Paisley, who I respect, like-
AUSTIN: Cass, you have perfect reason to give it- yes.
ART: Yeah, this-
AUSTIN: No one here is out of character, everyone here is doing a great job, I just wanna say that out loud.
ART: I also don't think we’re gonna destroy this, 'cause we literally mess up everything- [laughs, ALI cackles] and this isn't like, “oh, whoops, we like, broke that toy”, this is like “oh, whoops, we killed everyone on this planet”.
ALI: Nooo.
AUSTIN: Yeah, you don't even really know what this thing does!
ALI: We can destroy it…
JACK: That is why we must destroy it. [AUSTIN laughs]
ART: I think- I think-
AUSTIN: [laughing] Good, Jack, destroy things you don't understand! Yes!
ALI: Oh, Hella’s here!
AUSTIN: [laughing] What here is evil? What were you saying, Art? Sorry.
KEITH: Sorry, if Hella was here, [laughing] Ali would have shot that criminal from before [ALI cackles]
AUSTIN: Right, that's true.
ART: Yeah. We would’ve gotten in so much less trouble if Hella were here. [KEITH cackles] Maybe you’d have the cube then. Maybe this is a lesson for you. [KEITH laughs] Ali, the player.
AUSTIN: Shoot more people!
ART: Then you could have the cube!
KEITH: [laughing] No, not shoot more people, just be better at deciding who to shoot, because sometimes that person is my friend! [ALI and AUSTIN laugh]
ART: I'm gonna give the cube to Paisley.
ALI: Ugh.
JACK: Please don't do that.
KEITH: I support Cass.
AUSTIN: Cass can just do it, but it means there's a divide growing.
KEITH: I don't know-i don't know why, uh… Audy is not- is less in support of giving it to Paisley.
JACK: Because uh- it's a dangerous object that must be destroyed.
KEITH; The only person that has told us that it's not good to give it to the, uh.. Apostolosians, is, um- [laughs] is racist against Apostolosians. That's the only credit that we have, and then the person that would be destroying it is a secret underground organization that we know nothing about-
AUSTIN: I do want to-
KEITH: -except for that they hack into computers.
AUSTIN: Let's re-contextualize. My- so, I want to contextualize the ‘Jamil is racist’ stuff, which is- I'm not saying that she doesn't have her prejudices, but that prejudice is built on ‘we just finished war with those guys? Like a decade ago? And they might have a burr in their saddle over it.’ So it's not like “all Apostolosians are warmongers”, it's “right now, I don't trust Apostolosians not to be warmongers.”
ART: But it sort of sounds like ’all Bond villains are German’.
AUSTIN: It does, yes. [laughs] It is that.
KEITH: It also- like, what I remember about that war was that- like, Apostolosians, they kinda maybe got the short end of the stick the whole way through.
AUSTIN: They did. But were also shitty. Like, they started that war by being tyrants. And then they lost.
KEITH: Right.
AUSTIN: They lost because like, two also kind of shitty places teamed up, and put aside their own differences to turn on them. Um…
KEITH: This is a war of three tyrants!
AUSTIN: It's like a tyrant, an oligarch, and uh… a… what's the religious one? What's the one I'm forgetting?
JACK: Uh, orthodoxy…? No.
KEITH: [crosstalk] A zealot.
AUSTIN: -a zealot walk into a bar. And then- [laughs] and then the oligarch and the zealot beat up the tyrant. Call it a day.
ART: That's not a very good joke. [laughs]
AUSTIN: Boom. Our back! Get it? [KEITH laughs]
KEITH: Okay, so- we do the thing, we give it to Paisley, done.
AUSTIN: Alright, give me a-
ART: Koda says these people can be trusted, Koda-
ALI: He's- He said Paisley can be trusted and Paisley isn't gonna hold onto it at all!
JACK: [crosstalk] But we are-
AUSTIN: [crosstalk] Well, Koda said- well yeah, that's true, that is what Koda said. Uh… gimme a roll.
JACK: You've literally just described these people as tyrants.
AUSTIN: I did. Formerly!
ART: [crosstalk] Former tyrants!
KEITH: [crosstalk] Former tyrants.
JACK: These former tyrants must have a bioweapon!
ALI: And they're gonna send it to a science lab that no military guys are gonna know about, okay, sure, that’s how- [laughs]
JACK: [crosstalk] Hey, whose team are you on now, Aria?
AUSTIN: [crosstalk, amused] That is what- that is definitely what the person who… got in contact with you, whose name I never gave you- which I'm really sad about- you want me to tell you what his name was, the person who got in contact with Paisley?
KEITH: Yeah, yeah.
AUSTIN: [amused] His name was Kevin Vacation. [JACK laughs, KEITH cackles] And it just never- you just never dug deep into him.
KEITH: [laughing] Okay, hold on. This person no longer sounds trustworthy [laughs] This person sounds like Van Wilder 2.
ALI: [laughing] No no no, his name is like, Jornas, you named him last time!
AUSTIN: [amused] Oh, did i?
ALI: Yeah, Kevin- [laughs]
AUSTIN: Oh, no no no- you sure Jornas wasn't the guy that- I may have gotten confused. Jornas, in my notes, is the person who dug it up to begin with, who got it out of the…
KEITH: I don't know why Ali is trying to stop someone from being named Kevin Vacation [ALI giggles]
AUSTIN: Exactly.
JACK: Kevin Vacation is a very irresponsible name.
KEITH: [laughing] It's- it sounds like-
ART: [crosstalk] If we can't trust Kevin Vacation who can we trust.
AUSTIN: Right. Cass, roll Getting Paid.
ART: Wow, that was bad!
AUSTIN: Holy shit- you rolled two ones! Holy shit! You have two d6 plus six and you rolled an eight!
ALI: [laughing, crosstalk] Two ones plus six!
ART: [laughing] Pretty sure it’s the worst possible roll.
AUSTIN: When you go to a meeting to get paid by your employer roll and add the number of unfilled Legwork segments. On a 10+, choose three from the list below. On a 7-9, choose one from the list below. Here's your list: it's not a setup or ambush, you're paid in full, your meeting doesn't attract the attention of outside parties, your employer is identifiable, you learn something from this mission, everyone marks experience.
ART: Do I automatically lose because we know the employer is identifiable?
AUSTIN: Y'know, that's fine, just don't choose that one.
KEITH: I'd say it's not a setup or ambush is probably the one to choose, Art.
AUSTIN: So, just because you don't choose it doesn't mean it will happen? But it could!
ALI: I think drawing attention is probably the… well, actually, we’ve drawn enough attention, that's happening right now [laughs]
ART: Yeah, everyone knows it's us. Remember when you were all over the news twice? [laughs, AUSTIN chuckles] In a row?
JACK: Wait, also- hang on, remember when we had careful, measured conversations about the Chime as a government entity, as just like- [laugh] These small government fixers, just-
AUSTIN: Yeah, but that changed. That changed when-
JACK: Yeah, that changed a lot!
ALI: [crosstalk] Yeah, Orth doesn't call us anymore, [laughing] so that's not who we are.
ART: Uh- uh… I'm sorry, can I have those choices again?
AUSTIN: It's not a setup- so, these are under the additional moves file? It's: it's not a setup or ambush, you're paid in full, your meeting doesn't attract attention to outside parties, your employer is identifiable, or you learn something from this mission, everyone marks experience.
ART: I think it's not a setup or an ambush, because I hope that that protects me against like, “Hahaha, it's a bio attack right now!”
AUSTIN: That would protect you from that, that's true.
JACK: Yeah.
ART: I'm gonna go with not a setup or ambush. And hope that Paisley doesn't just rip us off right now.
AUSTIN: [sigh] Yeah- hm…
ALI: He loves money…
ART: And I respect him. And I respect people who don't rip us off.
AUSTIN: Yeah. Hm… okay. Alright, so you… [laughs] oh, I'm trying to think how mean to be, sorry.
KEITH: You don't have to be mean!
AUSTIN: I have to be a little bit mean, you need to get a good roll.
ALI: [crosstalk] No you don't…
AUSTIN: I have to, that's the- it says it right here, if he doesn't roll a 10 or more, be a little bit mean, it says that. Um…
KEITH: Does it say that?
AUSTIN: Yeah, it says be a little mean! Just- hey, Austin, be a little mean. It says it right here on page, uh… 196.
JACK: Comma, Austin. [AUSTIN laughs]
ART: That's gonna make it into the final book now, that's what's gonna happen.
AUSTIN: [amused] It is. Thanks Hamish. Um… so, where do you meet him?
ART: Uh… that's another good question, I have no idea.
KEITH: What's that cafe that's not any good?
AUSTIN: Uh, the… Constellation Cafe? Is that right, is that what we said? Constellation Cafe?
KEITH: Yeah, uh-huh.
ART: Yeah, uh-
KEITH: [crosstalk] What's the joke name for it?
ALI: Consolation…
KEITH: Oh [laughing]
AUSTIN: Right, Consolation, yeah. That’s good.
ART: But like, y'know how- y'know how there's Starbucks that are always busy, and then there's that Starbucks on Varick Street near the Holland Tunnel, and there's literally never anybody in that one?
AUSTIN: There's never anybody in that one.
ART: Well, I go to that one.
AUSTIN: Okay. Uh- okay, it's safe, it's not a set up, it's not an ambush. And the exchange happens pretty quickly. I think you get double what you put in- what you staked? Let me double check that real quick. Yeah, if you complete the mission you get paid in full, you get back twice the amount that you staked. If you had gotten ‘the job pays well’, if you'd chosen that during your initial thing, then you'd have gotten back three times the amount of what you staked. Uh… Paisley pays you, so you get that pay-
ART: Oh god, I think I know what's gonna happen, I'm so scared.
AUSTIN: What you think is gonna happen?
ART: Uh…
KEITH: Don't give him any ideas.
AUSTIN: What you think is gonna happen, Art?
ART: Well, if the meeting attracts the attention of outside parties...
KEITH: [crosstalk] Don't say it.
ART: Y'know, I'm handing over a bio weapon… as a member of a former military force.
[MUSIC - THE LONG WAY AROUND]
JACK: [sighs] Oh, you said it!
AUSTIN: You did.
JACK: You said the thing we asked you not to say!
ALI: Told you not to do this… [laughs]
AUSTIN: You did.
KEITH: I asked you a couple times not to say it.
AUSTIN: That's true! That did happen, didn't it. Cass, after you hand it over, it's like three… days later? When the newspaper story hits. Where it says ‘Former Apostolosian military officer associated with incident of bio-terror in Krilham entertainment district’? And it's a picture of you handing that cube over.
ART: Sure.
AUSTIN: Uh- and you're officially wanted…
[pause as music keeps playing]
AUSTIN: Uh- and you're officially wanted by the CCT.
ART: I'm just glad- yeah, that's actually the kinder way that headline would have been written. [ALI laughs]
AUSTIN: Yeah? That was one example. Uh… Horizon Tactical advances-
KEITH: [crosstalk] That wasn’t the Post, that was the Times.
AUSTIN: [laughs] Yeah, exactly. Um…
ART: Yeah, the Post is ‘Former fish prince puts lives at risk’.
AUSTIN: [laughing] No, we have to do better than that, uh…
KEITH: [laughing] ‘Former prince-’
JACK: [crosstalk] Something smells fishy?
AUSTIN: Oh, there has to be something here. Send in your good, bad New York Post headlines [KEITH and JACK laugh]
ART: [amused] ‘Fishy prince has fingerprints all over-’ [KEITH and ALI cackle]
AUSTIN: [laughing] Yeah, there it is!
ART: ‘- all over entertainment district explosion’! [ALI laughs]
AUSTIN: Oh, we’re so close to it, this is-
KEITH: [laughing] Fishy prince has fingerprints……
JACK: It could be fishy prince has fishy prints. [laughs]
AUSTIN: [laughs] Alright, so- yeah, you're wanted at this point, for connection to this, and everyone knows about- that Apostolos was involved, because you were the one handing it over.
ART: Sure.
AUSTIN: Or thinks- they don't know, but they think that, certainly. Um… and yeah, so Horizon goes up because this whole thing has been against them, and they're like “oh, it was that guy. That guy said he was here to fix our heater” [laughs, KEITH cackles] CCT goes up, 'cause they're also all about trying to keep the peace here, um… and I think I advance both the big clocks, Hands of Grace and Oricon Expeditionary group both go up 'cause they also invested in- they don't see you as an element of Apostolos, so. That's good.
ART: Look, nothing is a problem until my sibling shows up on the planet, that's-
AUSTIN: [crosstalk] Oh, and it's new tech, so Rapid Evening.
KEITH: [crosstalk] I don't know how we switched over from me doing the roll to Art doing the roll, but I'm sour about it.
AUSTIN: It would’ve- it might have been the same roll. Anyway-
KEITH: I mean- yeah, well, there's a one out of 12 chance it would’ve been the same roll.
AUSTIN: Totally, yeah. So again, everyone should take four- at least four XP for the mission directives. I think everyone at least hit one of your personal directives, at least? If you think it's more than that, then let me know. Uh… where can people find you guys? Start with Keith, 'cause Keith has to go.
KEITH: I have to go 25 minutes ago [laughs]
AUSTIN: Sorry.
KEITH: It's okay. My name is Keith Carberry, you can find me on Twitter @KeithJCarberry, you can find the Let's Plays that I do at youtube.com/runbutton, uh- you can find our Patreon at contentburger.biz um…. And that's it. Goodbye, thank you!
AUSTIN: Thanks Keith, bye!
KEITH: Byeee.
AUSTIN: Ali, where can people find you?
ALI: You can find me at @Ali_west on Twitter, and then also on this podcast.
AUSTIN: Rad. Uh- Art, how about you?
ART: You can find me on Twitter @ATebbel, you can find stuff I write at comicmix.com, and in two to three podcasts I hope to have an exciting announcement.
AUSTIN: Ooh.
ART: Recordings, not podcasts. Whatever.
AUSTIN: Okay. Jack, what about you?
JACK: Hey, you can find me on Twitter @notquitereal and at my games studio website crowscrowscrows.com.
AUSTIN: Awesome. You can find me at @Austin_walker on Twitter, I am also at GiantBomb.com- or, by the time you hear this, I might- [loud noises] is everything okay?
ALI: Yeah [laughs]
AUSTIN: Ali just knocked some stuff over. By now, by the time you hear this, I might have done my Extra Life stream? But while I'm recording it's tomorrow, so I'm a little nervous about that. I have to record for 16 hours- stream by myself for 16 hours, for charity. So that's good, go watch the archives of that, I guess.
JACK: You can do it.
AUSTIN: I need to sleep. So that I have the energy or that tomorrow. I wish I could just sleep until then, but I can't, I have to go record another podcast tomorrow. Um… and that is all I have. Friendsatthetable.net, streamfriends.tv you already know what it is…
ALI: runbutton.net. .com?
AUSTIN: What was that? Runbutton….
ART: Just google run button [ALI laughs]
AUSTIN: Just google run button. I actually don't think that works, I don't know that they have that- anyway. Jack has to go to sleep too. Everybody have a good night, see you next week!
ALI: Byee.
JACK: Goodnight.
ART: Bye.
[1] Apostolosian pronouns default to they/them. This would probably include Cass.