The rising sun reflects off of an android staring out into the crumbling sands of Nos.
They wear tactical gear, a sniper slung over their shoulder.
They call into the inn of neutrino downs.
There is none of them on the horizon yet.
Perhaps they thought better of the attack.
BK.
You know that's not the case.
Alistair, you humans have a tendency to back out of promises.
Or perhaps that is wishful thinking on my part.
I didn't know you could think.
Another human, cropped black hair, a homemade rifle in her hands, walks in dressed as a classic cowboy.
That must be hard for you.
Sammy, you look ridiculous.
I'm just looking the part.
We're having a showdown after all.
Behind Sammy walks a vesque, pink and purple scales cover the top of their head and frill out, covering their head in a mane of spines.
She's also been doing the cowboy voice for the past hour.
She refuses to let it go.
The townspeople were all very confused.
Artemis is currently down there apologizing.
They enjoy my whimsy.
I'm gonna get this shipment to New Moors.
We're leaving this dust bowl in the morning.
Where is Pancho?
I thought he'd be up here.
I believe he was talking to the bartender.
They have become quite enamored with one another.
Well, they may as well get their flirting in now.
What I do with the bartender is my business alone.
However, yes, I am quite sweet on her.
I knew it. I knew that you were. You two make a handsome couple.
Thank you very much. And Sammy, your outfit looks just fine.
It looks great. And the accent. I'm a real GY cowboy.
Indeed you are.
Y'all ready?
Yes. All prepared.
I'm gonna turn back now.
Here's the chance.
As I was just telling Aleister, organic beings are ones to back out.
I am made of stuff.
BK-907's head jerks to the side.
Machine parts litter the room.
They fall down.
head half missing.
The next few hours are
cruelly,
awfully
impossible to forget
as the Barron's men
rolled in and
took arms against neutrino downs.
Poncho, you wake with a start.
In your cabin, it's night.
Poncho sits up in bed.
He starts up a pot of coffee,
pours water into Thistlebrush's trough,
pulls out a bucket and dumps like a big ol' mess.
Looks kind of like, you know, like chum that you feed to sharks
and puts that in another trough.
Pours themselves the pot of coffee after it's done and then
sits down on that front porch in the rocking chair
that's facing out towards the vast desert area
and just, they take a long sip of coffee.
They really do remind me of the old team.
Now Thistlebrush, they're only doing their business here
and then they're gonna be moving on. You can't be making friends with them.
Now don't, now don't, now don't get mouthy.
We told you you gotta work on your swears, alright?
Looking out you see this big hunk of scrap.
This skeleton of a ship, just these huge, huge metal girders
bent into almost a wagon.
A tarp lazily thrown over it.
On this mechanized wagon, a one-armed Yoski rat
sits next to a teenager, looks around, Skye's age
nursing a wound on that leg in there, chatting.
Like, oh yeah, that makes sense to me.
I just kinda realized it one day and...
Hey there!
Hey there! Is that what's, that's what's left of your ship?
Yep, it's about it.
Thank you so much for coming out to search for us.
You genuinely saved us.
Well I wouldn't be much of a sheriff if I did not help out those in the...
Is this your town?
I wouldn't call it my town more if I'm just the protector of this town.
Well the rest of your friends all found some residence at the inn.
You can park your... that outside of the town and reconvene with your crew.
Hey, you hop on into town.
Scrap and flash to stay with the patchwork wagon.
This opportunity for anyone else to jump in, being awake if they want to be.
Does anyone want to go first?
The hat me and Momo can go first?
Yes.
You know?
Okay, so Sky...
Off screen, has had a makeover.
She's got a very good hat, a very good blouse, shaps, and some good pair of boots.
She's gonna stroll into the middle of the town and say...
Howdy, partner.
You ready to make hay while the sun shines?
I definitely don't have a list of cowboy phrases written on my hand.
Did I... did I get the wrong boots?
No.
Or something?
No, no, no.
Come on, your boots are fine.
He reaches into his back pocket and he pulls out a handkerchief.
You need to finish the outfit.
With a handkerchief?
Yeah, you gotta put it around your neck.
And then when it gets really dusty, you put it up on your face.
It helps you protect yourself against the sand and the wind in the desert.
Oh, okay, thanks.
Oh, I forgot one bit of the outfit and out of my pocket I take a bandit mask.
Alright, now that is counterproductive to what exactly you're trying to display here.
What I'm trying to display is I look cool.
You know what? You're absolutely right.
You do look real cool.
I'm ready for rootin'. I'm ready for tootin'.
Let's get our gang together.
Well, we're not doing much farming here, so there's not a lot of rootin' that'll be going down.
Is that what that means?
Well, yes, you root up vegetables.
If you have some intestinal problems that you're going to be tooting a lot of,
we could send you over to the doc. He can give you something for your stomach.
Yippee-ki-yay!
Oh, before I forget, you have a couple of friends.
A young man and a fellow with a one-arm.
Oh, stellar. Are they okay?
Oh, yeah, they look quite fine.
Hey!
Blair, are you trying to whistle?
Yeah, it's dry.
That went on, like, a really long time.
I got it. I used to be able to do it. I've done it, like, a couple times.
Oh, I believe you.
Ah!
Scrap on the deputy! Scrap! Scrap on the deputy!
The fucking deputy? No way.
Who gave you that power?
It was my boss.
It's only temporary.
They have formed the fact that they have the gumption and know-how to help protect this town,
so I have deputized them and the other members of the crew.
Do we need to protect this town? Is something happening to this town?
Oh, I got to tell you what, Sheriff, why don't you go get the gang?
I'll fill in the rest of them, and we'll meet back at what's left of the patchwork.
I'll go ahead to the unit. That's probably where they're all at.
Hello?
Oh, words! Actual words! It's nice to hear those again.
What does that mean?
You were quite grumbly for a day.
Yeah, I was almost dead.
I'm trying not to panic about it, but I'm very glad you're not dead.
Now, can I ask you how much you remember about what's been happening since you...
I'm gonna put the... I don't remember how to say this word, the kibosh on that, because I feel inebriated.
I woke up, but I'm sleepy.
Oh, okay. If you need time to rest, that's okay.
No, I'm good.
But, um... what?
You know, you're great.
Doctor?
You're good.
Thank you!
You're good.
You're very great, too.
Anyway, I love you.
Are they asleep? Is that what just happened? Did they just conk asleep?
Yeah, they just conked.
Okay.
And she'll put the theariac on the skateboard, and we'll scoop the board out.
Is Asam either asleep somewhere inappropriately, or hasn't slept yet?
Either way, I think we need to find him.
He's been... had a big old piece of paper, a literal piece of paper, and a piece of charcoal.
And he's been wandering around the village, just like sketching out the vague structure of the place.
Which streets are bigger than which streets?
Like, trying to get a good idea in his head of where are the weak points here?
Where are the points of ingress? That kind of thing.
Yesterday, you met a blue velociraptor humanoid. As you walk, you see them on the farm, tilling some land and then planting some seeds.
What are you sketching?
A map. Your lovely town.
It's a nice field you've got there. How's your irrigation looking?
You know, the plants here don't need much. They grow okay.
This is purely for the town supply. We don't make enough to be able to take it out.
What do you sell here? What do you make here?
Neutrino towns have access to a mine which holds this ore that no other planet gets.
It's called terunium. It in itself like holds a charge of electricity.
Not like copper, where it's like a good conduit. It holds electricity itself.
It's a battery.
Like these natural batteries.
There's a company called...
It begins with this.
Sert...
Sert Energy.
They, a few hundred years ago, came here, soaked it all up, and left.
We are actually on quite stable ground, but if you go further in, it's ruins. There are all these huge, huge caverns and the ground itself, the planet's surface is crumbling away.
That's why it's called the crumbling sands.
If the Baron wins and takes it, then this town's done.
How much are you willing to lose to keep this place?
If this place goes, then we lose it all anyway.
You keep your lives.
We're all born here. This is our home.
We need to find anyone who needs to be kept safe and prepare them.
You don't want kids in the middle of all this.
They may not be children, but an adult man has only known the minds of their entire life and has an entire life ahead of them.
Still a child.
Some things could survive by themselves. Some things...
Need saving.
To good fun.
Hi, Doctor. Did y'all have a nice sleep?
I'm so sorry. Who are you?
I'm Sheriff Pancho, Sheriff of Neutrino Downs. I've helped your crew after they all crashed a few miles back that way.
Cool.
Yeah, that is very cool.
Um, are they okay?
Have you seen the rest of our crew?
I was coming to find y'all, actually. I encountered a couple of y'all friends over there coming over the hill with the...
Well, what's left of your ship.
Oh, we just got it fixed. Oh, that's so sad.
That is so sad.
Do you have any spaceship parts?
Well, Doctor, I apologize, but we aren't much of a port town or anything. As you can see, we're in the middle of a desert, so...
You are honestly the first ship we've even had in... who knows how long.
Do you have any... farmers?
Yeah, we have plenty of farmers here.
Who's your best?
It all really goes down to personal opinions. If you're looking for raising up the cattle and preparing them for food consumption purposes, we have one farmer for that.
But if you're looking for someone who's more of a vegetable farmer who's well trained irrigation and rooting, I'll definitely introduce you to them later.
Does that have to do with repairing your ship, or...?
Doctor Theriac here is very needed. I was wondering if somebody knew the kind of medicine that might work for them.
See, I'm certain if you ask politely and you explain your situation, they'll be more than happy to help.
You're gonna... you're gonna farm me?
Not remotely. I was just wondering if maybe they might have nutrition. Maybe something that'll help you heal faster.
Nutrition? Nutrino?
Nutrino downs! That's where we are. Oh my goodness. Awesome!
Something happened?
We were looking for you.
I had a drink.
Yo, I check this out. I'm practicing. Okay, you ready? Ready? Okay.
I am?
That's good.
That's fucking good. That's fucking good.
It's great.
I've actually been practicing too.
Oh no, keep going.
This might take a while. What's the plan for today?
Well, I don't know what the plan is, and I'm sorry if there already is one.
I thought maybe you might have an eye for this. So, this is what Verbal was able to help me find. These are the spots where I could be helpful.
Just to help his arm in the future, he's actually shading in the segments of high electric voltage.
I do actually have something that might help.
I reach into a pocket, and I pull out a pocket recorder that I picked up on the way here.
And inside, there's a small piece. Tiny, tiny battery. Of the ore.
It charges and holds charge.
It's what this place is made out of. I figured if you had a small sample, you'd figure out what you could do with it.
Well, you and Firiak.
I'll dig into this.
Also, thanks for my armor, because I would be dead in a second in this getup.
Did my note get it right? Right, colors?
It's extremely close.
Azam, does anything look different about me?
Well, first, I'd have to ask who you are, my dear. I don't recognize you.
Sky.
Sky? Well, first, I'd say there's some mighty fine stats in you.
Pardon, pardon.
You do like the kerchief.
Thank you. The sheriff gave it to me.
Nice work, sheriff. And your vest looks amazing.
And I feel like I should ask y'all, now that all of you are here, in six days, it's gonna be a bloodbath. It's gonna get violent.
Yeah, I hope they have good healers.
That is actually quite the badass thing for you to say, Sky, but...
Thank you, I know.
The last crew...the last crew that I had...I'm the only one left.
They all died that day.
This isn't your fight. Not one bit.
All of you have your own lives to live. All of y'all have your own paths to walk.
Y'all can leave, and I won't be offended or be upset.
I won't call you cowards or anything.
With what ship?
Girl has a point.
And also, no.
You did us a solid. This is a fine...a fine payment for your kindness.
You're not forcing us. You're not demanding things of us.
Rest assured, that's not a choice you are thrusting upon us. It is a choice we are making for ourselves.
Dang, it's a terrible day for rain, ain't it?
Are you crying?
Alright, since y'all are gonna help out, I'm certain you all wanna walk around this town.
Maybe build up some blockades or what have yous.
My thinking is we use these four buildings as safe houses, but if we do get to the mines, it will be a last stand.
Last last stand.
I agree.
What if with explosives we lock them in the mine and then just wait for them to start?
If the mine gets wrecked, that's pretty much our lifestyle. If we don't have that, we don't have anything.
Also, we don't know how well this all reacts to being exploded.
Estrella.
What if you had your own battery that you could draw from but nobody else could?
Is that a thing?
You get a chunk of that ore, put it in a backpack and strap it on you, you have the only power source in the area.
We could talk to our old antique dealer. He could probably whip up some nice little portable power pack for you.
But why are we just talking about how being close to the ore is very dangerous in case...
If she is able to, you know, duck around, dodge and keep herself safe.
That I can do. Dodging I'm good at.
I mean, all of us are in pretty bad shape. Could we test out like a portable healing thing?
Just in case things get particularly dicey? Theory I can, uh...
I'm not the most efficient at healing, but I can keep your aims better or just whatever you want to do. Make that...or keep the enemies less capable. Whatever.
Might, um...
Yeah.
Skye?
How many dudes are we expecting? Cause we're talking about a full on rumble, but there's like six of us. How good are our odds?
If our odds were good I wouldn't have given you that speech beforehand.
So did we want to have like a plan A of outsmarting them and then plan B kick their ass?
They are very smart.
So are we.
They will be coming in ready to kill. And ready to fight.
Well I was just wondering, you said there was an antiques dealer. Do you know if there's any like passing merchants?
Well actually it looks like maybe tomorrow Cletus will be coming through town.
And Cletus is our arms dealer. They're the one who supplies us any kind of weapons, tools, farming equipment.
We could all get new things and maybe pass them off to the townsfolk that want to join us.
You're right. If people do want to fight then we should give them the option.
But we will not take someone who doesn't know what we're doing. We don't have time to train people and more importantly...
No, we don't.
We are not going to bring innocents into this just because they're scared.
I could start a rumor that everybody's going to join the fight so that everybody thinks that they're the only person that wouldn't which would be really embarrassing.
Not a bad idea.
I've marked several zones on this map where I'd like us to stick to fighting too.
These are places that can survive an onslaught. I don't just mean, you know, we'll survive it. I mean the building structures will.
If we allow fighting to get willing, we might be careful with our shorts. They probably will not be.
And this place still needs to house people at the end of the day.
So you're saying we take advantage of the fact that they're just going to be coming in guns a blazing.
Bingo.
May I see the map?
This is a very well planned out map.
Because right here, this is where the old schoolhouse used to be. It's not active anymore.
We could definitely use that as a. You were saying you want to use one of these buildings as a medical area.
I don't remember saying so, but yeah, actually very good idea.
It's semi-central, but behind all the main streets, so you're not going to accidentally wander into fighting.
But you are close by.
Or we could lure everyone in there and then burn it to the ground.
How about we use that as a plan B?
To bring up.
Sky's point, how many buildings are we willing to lose? Is that something that you're comfortable risking?
And the answer can be no.
If we can lure them into the town hall. There.
We don't use that anymore. Old documents and records are kept there.
Pretty much just gathering dust.
I had an idea that was going to stay in my head because I thought it was way too dumb and we're probably not going to do it.
But this Baron is picking up Nerdy Wells wherever he can, right?
I.
No one there do well with a resume.
So if we wanted a double agent situation, if we wanted somebody to go in and be like, hey, they're keeping all the or in the old town hall and they're going to ship out tomorrow that I could get my friend.
Did you?
If your friend can get here in a couple of days time, then use that resource.
Sky, you think of pretending to work with them for a little bit.
I don't think they'll take you on this crusade so fast.
It's not me. I don't have a criminal record.
My friend. All right. All right.
Does she's young, idealistic cut fruit when she wants to be talented.
Pretty intelligent, intelligent.
Keep going.
But at the same time, it's not the worst option, but it is the most dangerous.
They're just going to turn around and you'll be ribbons within seconds.
Oh, yeah. No, if this goes really bad, they're going to walk into town with a gun to my head and everything's going to be over.
That's why I'm saying it was good. Stay in my head and it's probably a dumb idea and we probably shouldn't do it.
But it's high risk, high reward, and it's a very easy way to lure everybody into a building. But maybe we can think of something else.
If we were to sell it, you'd need to shoot one of these rebels in the street.
I just can I just puncho.
I am a okay with us defending this town.
I'm wondering if we are being a bit too cut throat.
There is a difference between defending the town and hatching a plan to lure everybody in and blow them up.
I agree. No, no, she is absolutely right.
I just want the Baron to leave us alone.
As you can see, there's there's not a lot of people left in this town.
And it's because of the people don't raise families here in the trino.
I kind of promised people the quiet life if every single couple of months this the Baron comes in threatening our lives.
Is what you're playing in cutthroat?
It's incredibly cutthroat.
But honestly, I'm dang tired of it.
I'm just just wondering how much you know about him.
Well, the Baron, what he's afraid of, what he wants, what he cares about, something we can use that might help us keep this plan as a last resort.
Baron, all he cares about is what's underneath this town.
If he had his way, all of this would be gone.
He does not care about us. He does not care about the people here.
And he doesn't care about his own crew, right?
Exactly.
I think we have a perfect solution.
We do everything we're planning, but we don't shoot to kill.
We don't believe in him because he doesn't believe in them.
We don't know that for sure, right?
Oh, no, I can I can assure you all the Baron does is buy these outlaws.
He's not giving them a good life or anything.
So his crew isn't particularly invested in this.
So we don't hurt them or we can try.
Are any of them going to be pissed they've lost out on a paycheck?
Of course.
Are there jobs in town?
There's plenty of places here that people can move in and start their own businesses.
Do you think the people of Neutrino Down would have some room for their former criminals?
Sure.
These people that he hires are murderers.
I'll be I'll be frank with you.
I'd rather not have any of these people living in my town because he hires the worst of the worst.
The only thing they respond to is money.
If I'm a friend of mine rather old friend of mine, their mercenary were was at least for a time.
But I made them believe in something.
I'm not saying it's possible.
I'm not saying all of these narrow duels should be welcomed in with open arms.
I'm not saying any of that.
I am saying some of them some of them will want a purpose out of this.
Some of them want it right now.
No, I'll think about it.
Maybe there could be one or two of those folk amongst them that do need a place afterwards after all this.
If they don't take it, you think I could?
You know, you know, Scott, why don't we why don't we why don't we sleep on that one?
Okay.
You got your whole life ahead.
You got a whole world to see out there.
This planet is just a desert.
I heard that retired ex-convicts often get into kombucha making.
I'm more of a of a sarsaparilla drinker.
I like my bubbly sodas and my fizzy water.
Technically, smog wine is just a what kind of wine?
That's a lower deck saga delicacy.
Wait, does the smog wine have alcohol in it?
Oh, does it?
Scott, Scott, how old are you?
I'm old enough to know if there's alcohol in something.
Speaking.
Of? I don't like that we're still one crewmate.
Oh, right, right. The irrigation farm. Right.
Head on that direction. Tell him I sent you.
Will do. Thank you.
You had this whole conversation in the middle of town.
You will decide as on Sky Poncho are going off to the merchant.
Ike, Theriac, Flare, Keelan and Scrap are all staying in town.
This is the plan.
It's risky and it is so incredibly dangerous.
A misstep will result in more bloodshed than you're interested in.
But in the morning as you all finish talking and then you go off and you kind of prepare yourself for the next day,
you will meet at the edge of town.
You have lizards that are going to take you.
Is there anything you'd like to say to each other before you leave?
Y'all two rode a road lizard before?
Riding a bike can't be that much different, right?
I've ridden a bird.
Oh, then you y'all two will be fine.
Doctor, Ag, y'all take good care of the place.
Yes, we'll be alright.
Sky...
We'll...
We'll be here when you get back.
I'll get back.
I couldn't save much of the pinball machine.
You fucking come back.
All right, because we're going to rebuild that together.
That ship.
That ship needs you to rebuild.
Why is everyone talking like this is my funeral?
Y'all are being bombers.
Come on, dude, have a little confidence in me.
Geez.
If there's any consolation, I don't care if you come back ever at all.
So I hope you die out there.
You know what?
I hope I die too.
It seems like a great time to mention that as a raccoon
sticky it falls in my back and if someone could just...
Oh, good.
Do you want to take that with you?
Oh, yeah.
Probably shouldn't.
Flare?
Yeah.
Seeing as how you are the least talented of the group
and will therefore have the shortest to do list, please take my raccoon.
Thank you.
I'll make sure the raccoon loves me more than you when you get back.
I'm just a little guy.
Hey, you're more than just a little guy.
You're my big guy.
Yeah, I'm just a little guy.
It's already working.
I'll be careful of our you.
He bites when your mouth is open.
All right then, sky is on.
Let's ride.
And with the let's ride echoing through the streets of Nutrilo Downs,
we're going to end our session there because I could not...
I will never be able to beat a let's ride.
That shit is the sickest thing in the fucking world.
Oh, my day is fucking coolest.
That's right.
Love it.
I promised you that I would do it and I delivered.
Honestly, I'm so stoked.
Hi there, beautiful souls.
Thank you so much for listening to the Atomless.
I have a few quick thank yous before I shout out the players.
We just like to thank me before for for sunny for 20 Daniel Neruda and Noah for joining our Patreon.
If you want to shout out, join the patchwork support tier.
But every tier has extra content and other wonderful things such as wild time stickers from Andre and our Discord where you can chat with the crew.
Our music today was provided by Artlist under their fair use license.
If you're interested in seeing our unedited actual plays, clips and animatics, please check out our YouTube channel.
And big news for people who listen to the Atomless and also enjoy being clean.
We have teamed up with the familiar shop to make some Atomless themed soaps.
Each member of the patchwork has collaborated to create a soap based around their character.
Sky is strawberry, Azam is bonfire and incense, Ike is cotton candy and Thiriak is eucalyptus and bergamot.
Fitting that the scents in Thiriak soaps are so hard to pronounce.
If you find yourself low on shower supplies, head over to the familiar shop on Etsy.
Our players today were Momo Bryan playing Sky, SuperDillon playing Ike, Nordin Ali who is the Werewolf Fiels and Socials who played Azam,
and Andrei Rivera-Arts who played our wonderful garlic Thiriak.
Our game master, or space god, was Matthew Eckberg and I think they're great, but I might be biased.
Thank you all so much for listening and next time we fly through the Atomless Sea, I hope you'll be there to fly with us!