Bigin secure log. Director Kilo Germain. Between
the Peacekeepers' first landing on Terra Brea
and the siege of the central city, a lot changed.
In the beginning, we had funding. We had talent.
We had the moral high ground. We were winning
the media war around the conflict. The Moon Devils
were stars. People saw us as heroes. Even some
of the undecided natives of Terra Brea... They
believed that we were here for a good reason.
We were effective, we were discreet, and we had
a reputation for mercy. Me and Geist, well, he
went by Joker then. We were good at what we did,
us and the rest of the devils. But as the conflict
dragged on, things changed. Collateral damage
was always a problem, that's just war, but it
almost became an expectation for us. Every operation,
there was something. A frame taking cover in
residential areas, anti -armor in a hospital,
a fuel depot next to a water source. You used
to be fighting in deserted areas, and it's easy
to look good doing that. But then, every goddamn
operation had a story to it. Dead families, pollution,
starvation, always something. We were still winning,
I guess, but we were taking media casualties.
The moralists of our group started walking out.
Two -step, grey howl, not to mention gnat. That
was a messy one. Of course, HQ didn't tell any
one of us that. They said they were transferred,
that they found better postings. They were replaced,
and life went on. I got promoted. But I can't
help but wonder if one of these days... Those
old ghosts are going to come back to haunt us.
Okay. If everyone's ready, I will get into that
recap. I am, yes. I have my sheets open, my rulebook.
Great. So, last time you were sent on a morally
dubious assignment for the Corporate Council.
to eliminate four offshore extraction platforms
and everyone on board. After that, you are to
frame the Clusterists for the job. Right now,
it is unclear if the people you are killing here
are necessarily associated with the Clusterists.
That is what you were told, but things were weird.
You've proceeded to do the job regardless, because
that's your duty. That's your job. And when we
last left off, you had destroyed the first platform,
the east platform. Joseph had stopped an evacuation
craft by being thrown onto it by Geis. Joseph
then proceeded to dump all the passengers into
the sea from Lethal Heights. And via his live
feed, you all saw that there were some families
on this craft, all of which have now died. There
weren't all families. Well, who's to say, really?
Yeah, I mean, you don't have like a genealogy
list. Family subjective. Is there a guy with
a gun in there? Yeah, probably. Justified. Maybe
one of the kids had a water gun. Okay, then that's
definitely a lie. It can be confusing. Loyal
took a level 2 harm called Extreme Guilt. Hex
took a level 1 harm called Guilt because of their
morality. Now Joseph is in control of this empty
ship. and the rest of you are planning your next
move to eliminate the other three platforms.
To remind you of the clocks to keep an eye on,
we have one called No Witnesses, which is at
1 of 4. You want this to be 4. And there is the
Alert Clock, which is at 2 of 6, and you want
this to be not filled. Yeah, we're in big shit
if that gets filled, I think. Yeah. Yes, you
will fail your objective if that gets filled.
So, what are your next steps? I think... So,
Geist is on the platform, Joseph's in the ship,
and then I think Hex and Loyal are in the water,
right? No. Everyone's okay now, right? Everyone's
on the platform, except for Joseph, who is in
an aircraft. Yeah. I think before we left last
time, we said that I was gonna fly back and,
like... Was it two of you were going to hang
on to the sides of the ship and then someone
was going to go inside and we're going to fly
over to the next platform? Does anyone remember
this? Guys can fly on his own. Oh, okay. Yeah,
the Changeling has its own flights. Yeah, and
I took propellers so I could swim. I was going
to say, can we have the diagram that shows the
spacing and the information about the platforms?
Show planes. Whoa. So we just dealt with one?
You dealt with three, which is the eastern platform.
And what it was, the two of them between one
and four or one and two, there was like some
fog that was like specifically made it impossible
to see across some of them. Yeah, so right now,
because of your planning, you are striking when
it is morning. There's still fog obscuring all
platforms visually from each other. If the fog
cooks off, only... one and four will not be able
to see each other. That is the north and south
ones. Because of the curvature of the planet.
So we should hit two next. Yeah. Right? Is that
correct? Because then the last two remaining
platforms will be out of visual contact. Yes.
Anyways. Yeah. Okay, so I think we gotta, I mean,
we gotta haul ass, so Geist will fly, and I think
we just gotta... I don't know. We played with
the idea of maybe just like straight up destroying
one of them. I still think that might be a good
plan for quickly dealing with at least one of
these things. I would agree. I think, you know,
we shouldn't spend any time on it. The faster
we blow this stuff up, the better. I just don't
have any like big because we can't fire rockets.
We don't have any ship that does that. We have
some prep that we haven't spent yet that we can
use on whatever we want. And we can also flashback.
You can use some stress to flashback to make
any sort of preparations or things, you know,
that you did in the past. I flashback to strap
bombs to all the Nautilus creatures, the cuttlefish
that are down here, and they're planting them
on all the pylons. Oh, they're planting them.
They're not suicide bombs. Yeah, that was another
option, too, was getting the kaiju monsters to
destroy the platforms. Yeah, we'd have to offline
some sort of repeller hardware, I think. Yes,
there is a repulsor that is activated that you
would need to find. Or have a flashback of you
having found it and turned it off. Or, and you
know what? I was actually thinking about this.
You know who's really good at flashbacks involving
just, like, greasing people's palms is Hex. That's
his whole fucking deal. Right? You're the bureaucrat.
You can... You can do whatever you want. I could.
I could, but I like this whole megafauna thing.
That's what I mean. Flashback to bribing a guy
to turn off the inhibitors or something. Flashbacks
are so versatile. You can attempt basically anything
your little mind can dream of. All right. How
do we do this? Walk me through it. Let's try
this. First, you would say, I want to do a flashback.
And then you'd say what the goal of that flashback
would be. In this case, I mean, tell me. Yeah,
so goal of this flashback specifically is Hex
is going to get in contact with whoever manages
those megafauna repulsor arrays or whatever we're
going to call them. And, you know, he requisitioned
a little extra off the top. You know, last time
he was filing post -mission reimbursement forms
with Nyla, and he wants to use some of those
funds to just say, hey. When you go to work tomorrow,
don't turn those on. We've established they're
already on. We can't retcon that they've ever
been on. But you can have it be so that he sets
them up to turn off at a certain time. At a certain
time? Yeah. Okay, let's do that then. The trade
-off is that this has to be a scene. And I may
make you roll. Oh, shoot. I like rolls. I'm going
to give you the scene for free because that is
what you're spending your prep on. So let's say
you tell me. Where do you meet this guy? How
do you, like, where do you meet him? I'm not
going to be boring and make this all virtual
because that'd be lame. So Hex doesn't want anyone
to see this. So it's off base in probably like
a dingy alley, I guess. I don't know, whatever's
on shore from these oil rigs, assuming that this
guy can get there. Hex goes out on his own. encrypted
message told him, hey, meet me here at the time,
and text is waiting. Sure. A guy shows up. I
think his name is Mosea. It's pretty good. Mosea
with an M. I like it, sure. And he saddles up
to you and he says, alright, let's make this
quick. You got the money? That depends. Are you
Mosea? Yeah. All right, I got what you want.
You're the guy. Of course I'm the guy. Who else
comes out here? So how can I know you're going
to do this for me? Well, yeah, I mean, I'm a
man of my word. You know, I'll just do it. All
right, I'm happy to give you this. I'm happy
to give you this, but I need some guarantees,
all right? Okay. Got a family? Yeah. Shouldn't
bring them on board, that's all I'm saying. You
do this. I'll give you the other half later.
And Hex offers him half of whatever briefcase
he brought over. I don't know how currency works
here. So, like, with money, you can spend your
actual resources, like materiel. You don't have
to do that yet. Right now you're offering what
is essentially petty cash, like stuff you don't
have to mark. But roll consort. That's what this
is, I think. Let's go. Position? Controlled.
Failure. Oh, boy. Okay. Here's the thing. He
says, you know, a lot of people are going to
fucking die if we do this. Like a thousand people.
I need more. I need more than this. I need something
more substantial. I need to be able to get off
planet. I need to retire. And I need it up front.
I'm not doing any of this half now, half later
shit. I know how this works. You'll come back
and you'll shoot me in the back of the fucking
head, okay? So what he is asking for is he wants
you to give him one materiel. Why is that? How
many we at? Let me take a look at the old bank
account. Hex is pulling up his Chase account
right now. We have two material and one personnel,
so we could spare it. Hex takes a deep breath.
You know, you're a shrewd negotiator. I like
that. Alright, I'll get you what you want, but
you just make sure you get me what I need. Yeah,
whatever, man. And he takes your money. Alright,
I like this. I like this whole mechanic. That's
a lot of cheddar. Yeah, that guy's gonna be able
to retire. Good for him, you know? And he's doing
a good thing. Destroying oil drilling, you know,
or whatever they are. Yes. Let me just make a
note that you failed this roll. Oh, does that
mean experience? No, it's worse. It's a consequence.
Fuck! We don't know that for sure. Yeah. I know
everything. Oh god. Spoilers. You know that Hex
is gonna be killed off next act. Okay. So, let's
say the repulsor turns off now. What do you want
to start happening? Alright, I think this is
Loyal's Yeah, I really like that this is happening.
I just wrote some notes to myself for the future.
This goes well with the story. Yeah, like, I
imagine that we get onto this platform. We have
just witnessed families with children fall into
the sea. Sunlit's mech is just standing there
motionless. He's not been speaking for some time.
He's looking on in horror at what it is exactly
they're doing. And then the seas, they just start
to, like, look like they're boiling. As all these
dark shapes start rising from the depths around
them. And it is the cephalopods from earlier.
Because they have rallied around knowing that
this has happened. They are finally able to attack
these people who have been polluting their waters.
And they have vengeance in their hearts. And
Son that's just standing here realizes there
is nothing he can do to stop this. Hell yeah.
Okay. They're gonna do things while you do things,
so where are you heading? Or are you waiting?
Here's the thing. We could just let the Kaiju
take out Platform 2, but the problem with that
is that if we aren't there, there will not be
a haze field up, which means that they can call
for help, which could make things complicated.
So it's probably for the best if we go with them
to two and then go from there to one. So we're
fighting alongside them. What do these guys look
like? Again, refresh my memory. They are like
giant cuttlefish, but instead of having stretchy
skin, they have, like, bone -like chitin. Like,
if they just attack without a haze field, though,
wouldn't that be the perfect cover? It's like
a false flag. It's like, hey. That's what I was
wondering. They're going to send people regardless,
right? That's what I mean. They could call the
mainland for help. And they won't be able to
get very far because a 42 kilometer swim for
these guys will take a while. We need to help
them if we are going to use them as an asset
in bringing the rest of these down. That's 4
.2, not 42. Oh. Where's the point? I see it's
really small. I was like, this map is not to
scale this whole time. It makes more sense. 42
kilometers, yeah. So I guess Geist is going to
say, like, look, if we're going to let the sea
monsters do this shit, we need to go with them.
We need to haze field up. Agreed. Let's go. And
Geist fucking takes off. So I was thinking, do
you think maybe, like, should we swoop in from
you know the sky and like take out the radio
towers first you know like we go in and that's
our main objective if we can do without being
seen like i assume that We attack the same time
as the megafauna attack. Like, we do it in unison.
So it's like, oh shit, we're under attack, and
then a missile comes and destroys the radar.
It's like, oh, we can't even call anyone. Okay,
so you're saying we destroy their communication
equipment, and then we can leave while the kaiju
break the thing off. We might still have to fight
the mech that's there. Exactly. We observe from
the sky. Yeah, let's do that. Let's do that,
because we can try and just cripple their ability
to communicate. Let's get on over there. Who's...
Who's getting... Are you trying to load the other
two? I don't know how much your ship can hold
is the only thing. The ship can hold all of you.
Okay. Well, I'm going to fly on my own. Okay.
I'm going to get my mech or my frame. So I'm
putting it in and I touch down. If anyone else
wants to go in the big ship, you can join me
because I can't fly. Okay. Let's get over to
the platform two. Okay. You go on the ship. You
fly towards platform two. Underneath you, the
creatures. You see them in the water. Dark shapes,
big shapes. Not as big as the platforms, but
big enough, you think. Yeah, you see the platform
first. It looks like the rest of them. What do
you want to do? It is within your striking distance,
so to speak. You are not spotted. Okay, what
I want to do is... Well, we want a Geist. I imagine
it's kind of front -running. He's flying ahead.
I want to... I might actually tick off some new
gear. My idea is that I will actually also check
off a rack of missiles or rockets and say that
Geist brought along a little bit of extra heavy
ordnance. And I want to basically try and destroy
their communications equipment from afar, because
I imagine they have some sort of central antenna
or whatever. So I basically just want to cripple
their ability to communicate from a distance.
Would that be a bombard, perhaps? That would
actually be a destroy. Oh, fuck me. But bombard
would work. It would have less effect. Well,
that's the thing. I have two dots in bombard,
but I do have one dot in destroy if I'm in combat
mode. So I could still make it happen. I could
still destroy. The problem is I cannot push myself
or I will wreck because I have no quarks left.
No trauma -ing out. Not allowed. Well, I only
have three stress left as well. So I really,
I just can't, my options are limited. I'm in
straight up, uh, I'm in a straight up role. Maybe...
Maybe I won't do that. Because there are people
on the team who are, does anybody have dots?
Is anybody a destroyer? Any destroyers in the
chat? No, I have two in bombard. That's it. And
one in battle. Nobody can distract. Because I'm
wondering if maybe I should just fly in and try
and smash and grab the, like, any more significant
defense on the platform. I wish I had one to
destroy. I should. Can I actually... So we've
spent our prep, right? Yes, and I should mention,
if you are out of quirks, you are going to start
taking breakdown whenever you... No, I have one
left. Okay, cool. I have one core club, I just
can't spend any. Or I will, I'll get that. Which
I'm sure is going to bite me in the ass big time.
Maybe... Does somebody want to help me destroy?
I was going to say, I have that big sniper laser
that I use. I could use bombard. I mean, so could
I. But we need the big effect, because if we...
I can help with my drill. Is that assisting,
though? What do you mean assist? Like, maybe
somebody could, like, scan and, like, plot, like,
the firing solutions for my missiles or something.
You know what I mean? Oh, okay. It's just, like,
giving me an extra value. Yeah, yeah. Okay. How
much stress does it take to assist? Because I
have three left. It depends on your bond with
the person. Bond level, how many ticks you have.
I think we all have one bond, right? So it should
just be one. Not all of you. Some of you have
two. Okay, well, but with one bond, it's only
one stress, isn't it? Or is it two stress? If
you have two beliefs checked, it is two stress
and you get two benefits from aiding. Okay, what
if you only have one? Then it's one. Oh, okay.
Well, I only have one with everybody because
I don't have any friends. Yes, but it's not your
connection that they get stress. It's their connection
with you. Does anybody have the connection with
Geist, though? Because it's one way, each way.
I have a one with Geist. Yeah, I think everybody
does. Either way, I mean, this feels like a loyal
assist to me because loyal's got all the, you
know, like the sonar and the scanning stuff,
but I mean, technically anybody can do it. Also,
I was wrong about how much stress I have. I have,
like, no stress. Oh, no. I mean, I have no stress
as in I can give as much as you need. Okay, good.
Yeah, help me out with that. Perfect. Cool. I
will do a scan, or is that required? No, you
just spend the one stress, yeah. So Geist is
flying ahead. As soon as the thing comes into
view, he gets the targeting data from Loyal,
and the changeling kind of shifts and changes
and becomes a little bit less aerodynamic, and
it slows down, but there's now a big -ass missile
pod on the top, and I'm going to say two of the
four missiles streak out and strike at targets
on. The platform to try and sabotage the communications
equipment. Come on. This is destroy, by the way.
I am destroying right now. Very good. Destroy.
That's a fail, I think. Nope. No! Oh, thank fucking
God. I just saw the six and you have to click
it open to see what the individual numbers are.
Okay. Nick's success. I'm going to move you to
risky position. That'll be your consequence.
But you do, you hit the target. The communications
tower, at least the visible one that you can
see, is destroyed. And the, what was I saying?
Yes, you hit the communications thing. The cephalopods,
if we're going to call them that, show up and
they get to work. They start tearing, like they
kind of push their head pieces, their little
crustacean tentacles out of the water. and slam
to the side of it and start pulling it down in
unison. And you see the entire structure start
to keel over towards them. And you see one of
those corporate frames that you fought last time
just sliding down, grabbing onto a piece of debris,
holding on for dear life, while the workers and
other soldiers just start falling into the water.
And you see them starting to get eaten. But suffice
to say, you think this platform is... Probably
handled. Two down. Good one. The changeling morphs
back into speed mode, and let's burst away to
position number one. Number one. The no -witnesses
clock is now at two ticks. Okay. What's your
plan now? The cephalopods are busy. Yes. We might
be able to regroup with them later, but for now,
I don't think. I'm trying to think of a creative
flashback. I have an idea, and it stops after
my first thought. My first thought was, we have
this ship. Could we do a surprise visit? The
ship touches down. They think it's one of them,
and then the thing opens up, and it's Geist,
and he shoots everyone. Surprise attack them
that way? Yeah, because it's their ship. It's
one of their ships, so I imagine if we flew in,
they wouldn't fire us. Because when we were flying
towards the other ship, we didn't get any contact
or no one was like, like, what's your who are
you? You know, why are you coming over here?
I don't know if that would help our no witnesses
clock. I mean, how many people are on each of
these platforms? We would have to kill everybody
like we did with the first one. Yeah, we're going
in regardless, right? So, I mean, they're going
to see us regardless is what I was thinking.
Yeah, I mean, we could we could definitely try
like a like a false flag close up. But also that's
like. That's just because I want to be fun and
cool. I don't even see how that even goes at
all. This is a game about being fun and cool.
Let's do it. In fact, I think it even puts us
in more danger. No, it helps because we get a
surprise attack on them. We get in nice and close,
and that's where Geist loves to be. And apparently
that's where Hex likes to be, too, because he
blended up a whole lot of people on that first
rig. Yeah, followers. Let's get into it. Let's
do it. I like that idea. All right. We might
need to do a little radio bluff or something,
so be prepared to laugh. All right. I can't do
that, but someone else can. Sure. Oh, you drive.
You drive up in your whip. You know, as you approach,
you know, someone I say, you know, a lot. I've
been realizing that listening to these recordings
all day. Never noticed it, ever. I know. That's
how it goes. Someone hails you over the radio.
It's like, cargo vessel 8B6D, why are you heading
over here? What's going on? Do you see the repulsors
down? Everything all right? Hex? You're good
at talking. Who can lie? All's fine over here.
Wait, let me take a look. What do you do? What
do you do in this situation? That's really weird.
We're coming over just for a routine drop -off.
You try restarting your communications arrays?
Why would we restart our communications arrays?
Well, obviously you're not picking up signal
from there. He's mentioning the thing that stops
the megafauna from going, which is just like
an ever -present sort of humming device. Oh,
is there not an individual one for each? Have
you tried restarting the device? No, it's like
one big thing. That's how I'm answering it anyways.
Okay. I'd contact the other platforms then. I'm
not sure. I'm a pilot. Yeah, you know, I tried
contacting platforms. I tried contacting your
platform. I didn't get anything. Are you experiencing
communications difficulties? Yeah, I'm not hearing
them either. I'm midair, though. I haven't seen
them since takeoff. Oh, shit. All right. I should
probably launch the emergency beacon then, just
in case. Yeah, go ahead and land if you want.
Are you sure you want to rile up the troops,
though? I could turn around and find out. Here,
let me just drop off this cargo and I can go
check for you, because, you know, if we call
in the big guns, we're wrong. All right, give
me a swipe. You're so right. Joseph has given
you a thumbs up during all this. And a wink.
Yeah, exactly. Will I win a single role? I feel
like I'm setting up these lines perfect, but...
What do you... What's your sway? It's zero. Let's
go. What if... Okay, here, this is maybe a bit
of a long shot, but could Geist help you? Could
Geist assist by just, like, feeding you lines
about, like, you know, like, if you, like, run
this up, because he knows, he's been in the military
for a while, he knows, like, the... Yeah, the
chain of command is like, if you run this up
the chain, the CO's going to get pissed, and
he's going to have to go to his boss, and that
guy's probably just, you know, grab a lesson
for a promotion, so he's going to take it out
on the guys below him, try and save his own ass,
and it's going to be one big mess, and you're
the one who's going to get shit on. Yeah, Geist
just joins the call and is like, I'm a soldier,
and that's a bad idea. Let me tell you why. Here's
my five -step program. Have my one piece of service.
Would you like... An additional dot. Do you want
to push yourself? Or take a devil's bargain?
Where's my actual stress set? Let me look at
the Google thing. Yeah, I could... Oh, wait,
I can't fill up those last three, otherwise I'd
scar. I should not push myself. What have we
got for our collateral? What have we got for
our devil's bargain, our collateral die? Yeah.
I need to think of one that I enjoy. I need to
think of one that I enjoy. What if I don't want
you to enjoy it? What if I want to enjoy it?
Yeah. Enjoy the same things. The collateral will
be something that someone will be on one of the
other platforms that we don't know for sure if
he will be there, because that depends on how
you roll, but you will guarantee that he is there
with this devil's bargain. I don't understand
what that means. What do you mean? there will
be someone on one of the other platforms who
you don't want to be there, but will be there
now. He might be there anyways, because if you
roll badly, I might introduce him. That's how
the game works, right? Okay, yeah, yeah, yeah.
So in this case, taking it means I'm guaranteeing
that person will be on the next platform. So
we might have to murder one of our friends. Or
it's a super bad guy, right? Like a really strong
super bad guy? It could be a traitor -wise act.
You ever think about that? Yeah, what if it's
a nice guy? I guess. I don't know. It's up to
you guys if you want to take the bargain. I wouldn't
take it, only because if it is a big issue...
Like, we fought two kind of big baddies, and
they've almost owned us completely. Hey, I could
just roll. Third time's the charm, right? One
die is not very good odds. This is not... It
won't be a virtue. I'm not going to, like, throw
you up against a boss fight or anything like
that. Okay. If I was going to do Retribution,
I'd be like, yeah! We meet again. This guy wants
to fight Retribution. He does, but he's far away
from all of these metamechanics. One die is not
very good odds, and I think we will lose, but
that's the nature of the game. I'm fine either
way. Me too. Let's see it. Let's get it. Oh,
I think you forgot to add your bonus die. I think
that was a zero die roll. It wasn't Jared Arrow.
Well, okay. It was still a fail. Yeah, it was
a three. So you get a three, and the consequence
is that guy's gonna be there. Oh, fuck! Oh, it
wouldn't have mattered. It wouldn't have mattered.
It wouldn't have mattered. Keep telling yourself
that, buddy. No, it's true, because it would
have been a three and a two anyways. Yeah, so
he says... That's true. You know what? We got
extra security on base anyways. I'm not too worried.
Yeah, come by, drop off your cargo, and you can
check it out. Let's do it. We're doing it. I'm
flying down. Bring us in. Yeah, you land. They
got a little landing pad to clear it out for
you. That's perfect. You know, some people come
up, like the dock workers, to unload your cargo.
Are there any of the big mechs? Can we see at
least the cork mech? anywhere on the platform
there there is one corp mech on the platform
just you know looking over the edge like looking
for uh wildlife oh oh i want to do something
really fun but i just i was like the last one
to take a real action so i don't know if i don't
know i want to know what it is because i think
i might know I want to shoot out of the ship
really, really fast and try and push him into
the water. I just want to hit him in the ass
and have him fall. What do you guys think? I
really don't want to dominate the scene. I know
I did just... I would have done that if it were
my turn. You can do that. It is anyone's turn
at this point. I would like to hear from Joseph
or Hex or... Let's get somebody else in the mix.
Somebody else go push him off into the water.
What are you talking about? Yeah, I don't...
The issue is I don't know if I have a good...
Like, I'm not a good fighter. So, like, if I
roll to shoot this guy, I don't think it's going
to go well. Loyal should psychic in his head
and just, like, make, like, the, you know, the
call of the void jump in the forefront of his
brain and just be like, jump off! And then he'll
do it. Can you do that? Or is that too negative?
Yeah, I don't know what... Loyal's doing right
now. He's kind of in a state where he's just
following everyone else, so whatever Geist does,
he's just gonna do what needs to be done until
this is over. At Joseph, I could see this being
a maneuver. Which you're... Okay. Yeah, because,
like, just... You're not, like, fighting him.
You're kind of just tripping him into the water,
right? I was kind of expecting it to be a maneuver
as well, yeah. Well, I thought we were shooting
out from the ship onto him. Like he doesn't.
Oh, I meant shooting as in like the metaphorical
sense, like moving very quickly. Oh, I thought
you meant like through the metal, just a laser
hits him in the back and he falls. That would
actually also be really funny. Literally like
flying out really, really fast and pushing him.
OK, yeah, that that makes sense. I suppose I
could try that. I don't know. It seems like a
bad idea. Why does it seem like a bad idea? Because
the last time we were on a thing and we were
fighting one of these big mechs, I realized Joseph
probably shouldn't be up against these guys right
in their grill. I think he'd get torn apart.
So it's like, I should probably be fighting from
afar. And if I do get into trouble, I barely
have any stress to give. So I'd be like, essentially,
if I fuck this up, then I get really fucked up.
You have all your quirks, though. Which are what
you use with your mech. Not my stress? No, no.
That's only for aiding. Yeah. Okay. So you could
push yourself, which is just you check off one
quirk of your four that you have, and then you
get an extra die for whatever you try to do.
Okay. Yeah, I guess we'll do it. And the point
of the game is to take risks. That's what it's
all about. Yeah. I suppose so. Like, if you fail,
I will fuck you, but if you succeed, you will
not be fucked. That's just how the fiction works.
Yeah. Yeah. All right. Risky standard. Three
dice, because you're going to get a bonus for
pushing yourself by checking off a quirk. So
that's a maneuver, risky, standard. No modifiers,
right? One bonus die. Okay. One die. Yeah! Success!
Oh, Jesus. Okay. I thought you were just going
to grab me and rip me in half. It's with standard
effect. Actually, it's a great effect. I kind
of set it up. He's just totally fucked. Yeah,
I think he's just in the water now. What does
that look like, Joseph? Like as the little hatch
is opening from the ship, Joseph like goes totally
flat and flies like through the little crack
in the thing out onto the center of the oil rig
and then like bounces, does a twirl. And I think
he just like both feet kicks the guy right in
the back, like super hard. He's like, he's like.
He's totally... He's just going for it, okay?
Very acrobatic. Yes. Yeah, you kick him off.
Surprising amount of air with how heavy this
thing is. But it's a very big splash. Nice. He's
filled up, by the way, as soon as the door drops.
Oh, yeah, of course. Yeah. Okay. You've used
your surprise, I would say. Yes. What's your
next goal? I mean, we've taken out the corpse
security. We were told that there was another
security guy around, so maybe we should try and...
We were told that the guy said over the radio
that there was extra security, so... Mm -hmm.
I'm with you. Loyal's kind of, like, in passive
mode right now, right? Like, he's kind of, like,
reeling from all of the horrible things that
we've done so far. Oh, yeah, for sure. That's
level two harm, extreme guilt for you. I think
Geist realizes... Um, because he's probably seen
soldiers crack under stress before, so he'll
probably just bark out, like, uh, Loyal, focus!
Find direction security! So, maybe you could,
like, I don't know. I don't know what it is.
What does Loyal get at? Loyal's got a decent
scan, right? Yeah. My skills are, what are they?
I've got two in sway, two in maneuver, one in
hunt, one in survey, one in struggle, one in
interface, one in battle. One to manipulate and
one in scan. We only have one in stuff. I thought
you were more of a scanner. Yeah, I'm not sure
why I'm not. I'd be a super scanner. You could
push yourself if you have quirks to spend. I
don't know. I'm not trying to... I'm trying to
have Geist assume a leadership role on the team,
but I don't actually want to tell people what
to do. No, that works right now. That works in
the fiction. I like it. Great. Are you scanning?
Yes. I'm going to scan and push myself using
my 360 -degree sonar. Great. By the way, Joseph,
I checked off one of your quirks for you. Okay,
thank you. Flexible. I've got to remember to
do my quirks actually in Google Sheets. Yeah,
in the Google Sheets. It's far superior. It is.
It's very well -designed. Thank you, Austin,
for making this. Oh, he made it. He did. Oh,
nice. Google Sheet? Champion. Yeah, I think he
did. Spreadsheet? Did someone say spreadsheets?
I'm pretty sure. So I just need to check off
this quirk and not need stress, right? No, just
check off the quirk and you get a plus 1d or
greater effect, whatever you prefer. Cool. So
I'm going to do another dice because I love dice.
And we are in a what kind of position? An effect
standard. Yes. Let's scan this place. Success!
Yay! I think that's the first time you've used
your sonar and something really bad has not immediately
happened. I know, right? I just need to be traumatized
and take orders from Geist. Alright, so you scan
and there is another frame here. It is about...
two decks down, like on the more catwalk area,
not this big open deck. Right now, it is actually
unmanned. There is a pilot, presumably, next
to it with a little box lunch, eating a sandwich.
And he's looking forward, up, seeing his compatriot
fall off the roof. Yeah. Oh my god, I want to
do something. Can I do something? Yeah, I saw
this convey it to Geist, and Geist does something.
I want Geist to transform into his secondary
mode and fire his railguns through the decks
and hit the guy. I'm gonna try to shoot the pilot
before he gets in with this scan data. Yeah,
okay. Roll whatever you want to roll for that.
I'm pretty sure that's bombard. I don't think
I can really realistically justify battle because
he's attacking somebody from far away and like
through. Yeah, and indirect fire is like the
whole thing of bombard. So, yeah. All right,
let's bombard. I got two dots. You can get an
extra just because I'm going to count this as
a setup action for this purpose. Okay, okay,
okay, okay, okay. Okay, three dice bombarding
him through the thing. What is it? I can't see.
A three, a six, and a one. That's a success.
Oh my god, okay. That's great. So Geist, as soon
as, like, so the door opens, Joseph blasts out,
Sonar Ping scans the area, then Geist follows
up, but he's not flying, he just, like, stomps,
because he's in his heavier mode, and he immediately
just aims his railgun down through the decks
and fires, because this loud crack in the shell
just goes right through the plating, right down
to decks. Yep. One second, the guy is there on
your scan. Loyal, the next, there is just a hole
where he used to be and some particles in the
air. And his frame is completely intact. Isn't
that great? That doesn't really mean anything
to me, but I don't know. I wanted to comment
on it. Isn't it great? Hopefully it doesn't reach
over and grab one of the random passersby and
start eating him. Happens more than you think.
Yeah, it really does. Okay. Hex, the situation
is basically that the security, the main security,
there's some infantry around still, is removed.
You kind of have the surprise a little bit still.
And there are a lot of just people around now.
Well, we all know. We all know. People, you say?
The beep boop, the switch is on. My frame has
a button for that. Every shot fired is entered
into a spreadsheet automatically. Hey, you know
how in modern warfare it's tough to count confirmed
kills? Not in the future. So true. What do you
want to roll for that battle? Yeah, watch me
fail this. He fat fingers it. Yeah, let's do
it. He accidentally presses the kill all my squad
mates button. Why are they next to each other?
Oh, wow, that's bad. Wow. How did that even,
what does it mean? I have three dots in battle.
Fuck. Jeez. Yeah, two, three, and three. Okay.
So, can I propose something before you shit on
us from on high? Sure. Could it be argued that
that was a controlled position because all of
the serious opposition was gone? Or are there
factors I don't... I'm not saying I know everything.
I agree. It's just my thought. I don't know how
controlled... I see what you're saying. But I
just want you to know you're heard. Okay, I know
what that means. But there are multiple threats
here. And one of those threats is the alert being
sent. And that is because there are still witnesses
around. So two things is one, Hex, you are going
to get hit with a rocket from one of these infantrymen.
They have, you know, anti -armor. You're going
to take the level one damage dented by this explosion.
It's not a great rocket. Baby dented. It's probably
used for like shooting at the megafauna when
they get too close. Let the record show. There
are combatants here, all right? I know. They
shot first. You see what he did to me? And then
the other part is I'm going to check alert sent
one tick, putting it three of six. But you have
not killed anyone. I think that this rocket,
it really fucked up the calibration of your auto
-targeting and all the particles from the explosion
make it so that it is not functioning right now
and you'll have to try again later. Yeah. That
takes it back to whoever wants to go next. We
should get rid of the... Is there, like, a radar
tower here that is still operational? It's blazed
right now. I'd be more worried about a ship leaving,
but I guess we're on their launch pad. That makes
sense. Yeah, I mean, you know, Joseph is an infiltration
specialist, so I trust him to, you know, know
how to make something happen here. yeah i mean
if we're afraid of if we're good with the hayes
field then maybe you're right maybe we just start
like throw now we learn from our mistake and
we just get rid of the ships before people start
getting on them you know sure i mean that's that
seems reasonable there was no ship on this vessel
when you scanned oh so we're like super good
well i mean they still have fleet you know I
think right now it's like we can destroy because
we have to we're not just like killing the people
on these we're supposed to like damage them really
badly too right yes yeah so you can start mashing
shit up you can start I mean we can probably
handle the massacre um if you wanna I mean if
you could destroy some infrastructure too you
know whatever whatever you think you could probably
find something to interface with to fuck with
the systems as well maybe like you know disable
fail safes or like cooling or just like you know
find some way to interface with the machines
that they will very quickly damage themselves
yeah i yeah i have no idea well here's what's
going on right now also uh hex if you want to
you can use your armor to get rid of that damage
you just took i think you have armor do you have
armor no you don't question well You don't have
armor. Never mind. I thought you did, but you
didn't. But you could resist it with quirks if
you felt like it, but you already knew that.
Nah, I'll take the RPG. So the situation is that
there are still infantry here who are, like,
attacking you. Attacking you and the ship with
explosives and small -arm fire. There are people
around, witnesses, that need to be dealt with
according to the mission parameters. And there
is, like, infrastructure to destroy, you know.
whatever that means to you. Gotcha. So, I think
maybe I should just start killing people, you
know, dealing with them for the no witness thing.
I want to help. I want to help. Okay. I don't
know what that would be, though. It depends on
how you approach it, really. If you're fighting
them, it would be battle. If you're being sneaky,
it's prowl. Or actually, I don't think mechs
can prowl. No. Could I bombard, since I have
two in that? Can I maneuver and just step on
everyone? That one, not so much. No, okay, damn.
I think at this point, you can bombard, but you
are kind of at danger close for these people
at this point. It's not so much a precision shot
over long distance in front of you. I don't have
any automatic people -killing guns. I have a
one in battle. I don't know what that means.
Am I just like punching people then? Or whatever
weapons you have. Like your mech has weapons
on it, doesn't it? It has the one big laser.
I know I do have that. Do you have any gear left
that you can check off or is it all full? Flamethrower,
you know. Flamethrower would be really good if
you want to be terrifying. Okay, we'll go with
machine gun. I won't do flamethrower. You can.
No, if you think it's more cool, if you think
it's what Joseph would do, you should absolutely
have a flamethrower. I think that I'd just be
being needlessly cruel. I'd just be torching
people to death. That'd be too much even for
him. Yeah, I can't find an argument where that's
more effective than a machine gun. That's fair.
That's the problem. Okay, yeah, I'll declare
a machine gun and I will use it. Use my machine
gun. Something that I want to just tell everybody
about right now because it does matter. We have
the squad ability Reavers, so if you push yourself
while employing speed or aggression with vehicle
action roll, you only exhaust a quirk if your
result is four or higher. So you can push yourself
in combat and you don't lose a quirk unless you
succeed. So that gives you a little bit more
carte blanche to start spending those quirks.
Coolio. Okay, yeah, I'll use my machine gun.
Is that a destroy? What are you shooting at,
the people? Yeah, I'm just taking out anyone,
any witnesses on the top deck. Yeah, battle or
destroy. I don't know what to hear either. Would
be good. Okay, I have a one in battle, so we'll
do battle. And it's just risky standard. That's
partial success. Yeah, you shoot into the crowd
with your giant machine gun. The bullets are
pretty big, as you know. You know, just them
hitting the deck is basically like an explosion
if you're a person -sized person with all the
shrapnel and, you know. So you take out most
of the soldiers who are attacking you. You get
hit. You're going to take the level 1 damage,
dent it as well as this. The final thing this
guy does is fire a rocket at you before he is
turned to paste. A champion. And you can resist
that with quirks if you want. It'll cost three
for you, I think. Three quirks? Yeah, resisting
is very expensive. Actually, this would be two
quirks because you have two in expertise. Well,
now that I know I could use them like stress,
I probably shouldn't lose them. And you also,
if you have armor, which it looks like you do,
you could have two armor. It's one armor, but
it costs two. squares but you can yeah you so
just check next to damage uh check armor uses
one like right i'll just okay right here it looks
like that gotcha and so you don't actually take
any damage the explosion does not pierce your
armor uh some armor plating falls off you and
you are fine it is now mostly just civilians
which i will not Actually, there is a factor
here because they might warn people. Someone
has to do something. Someone has to do something.
I have an idea. So I was going to actually check
off my own anti -infantry defenses to say that
Geist has, rather than like an AI targeted shotgun,
it's just kind of like an indiscriminate shrapnel
thrower. Like it basically just like throws out.
jagged metal, and I was going to see if I could
make a maneuver roll to basically just activate
it and fly around as much of the royal rig as
I can at high speed to really saturate it in
anti -infantry projectiles. Sure. I could also
battle. It's all the same to me dice -wise, but
I think that's more fun to just be, like, super
fast trying to, like, get this steel, literally
steel ring. That's probably more like snow. But
yeah, it's a pretty horrifying way to die. Given
that these are civilians, I will say maneuver
is acceptable in this case. Yeah, because I'm
not really battling. No, there's no fighting
going on anymore. Yeah, so to avoid giving myself
a heart attack, I'm going to use the character
sheet to roll so I can see all the numbers right
away. Yes. Okay, maneuver, risky standard, no
extra dice. Hopefully I won't need it. We'll
see how bad things can get. Oh, that's a critical
success. Wow. I should be using this roller all
the time. Against the people who needed it the
most. Yeah, it's alright. What does the critical
even look like here? What do you want? I want...
I don't know. I guess I want it to get done.
I would say that the increased effect could be
that the shrapnel also damages the machinery
enough that we can just leave right away. Hmm.
Yeah, I like that. The shrapnel causes spark
next to some sort of fuel tank that starts a
whole chain reaction, which actually totally
scuttles the internal mechanics of these drilling
platforms. And it is basically a Rube Goldberg
machine of failure where things start collapsing
on each other in hilarious fashion. Everyone's
dying and screaming. What a great time. They're
getting blended too. So like these things, I
just imagine they're like two little spouts on
the side of the changelix torso and they just
shoot clouds of like, like razor projectiles
that are completely ineffectual against armor,
but extremely deadly against any exposed flesh.
And he just scrubs the place clean and then lands
back on the deck and he's like, all right, one
more, let's go. Yeah, you go to the last platform.
It is slightly, 1 .2 kilometers longer of a flight.
Isn't that great? How are our kaiju doing? Can
they show up to guest star in the final battle?
Or are they still busy? They are busy. And sleepy.
They're busy and sleepy. If you want them back,
you have to do things. They're not just going
to show up. Okay, what's your method of approach?
I was just going to say these words are going
to turn to ash in my mouth, but maybe... Loyal
can use psychic powers to get the monsters riled
up. And maybe the king will returneth when we
roll five ones. I don't know. That would be fun.
I have a thought here where it's just like, he's
just in a state of shock, is relying on, honestly,
orders from Geist. He's gonna feel things about
that later. And if... The cephalopods arrive,
and in his state where he's psychically vulnerable
and he feels their rage, you get into a feedback
loop with them and egg them on. Oh, I want that
to happen! That sounds so fun! We're all changing
as people for the worse, because that's what
war does. Isn't that true? And as dolphins. And
as dolphins. And I guess non -human persons as
well. This is really complicated. Oh, thank you.
We're all non -human people here. I feel like
the whole squad's got to really bond over the
horrible thing that we have done today. Well,
I would say that maybe this operation is a pretty
solid argument that they actually are. Aww, I
think. Okay, yeah, we need another strategy.
We need another strategy. So we tried, the full
frontal assault went really poorly. Our other
two plans went pretty fucking kick -ass, other
than a little bit of damage from some infant
fruit. I don't know. We can try. It's hard keeping
it fresh, but maybe we can think of some other
wacky way. I don't really have any stress left
to spend. I don't even know what we could do,
like, wacky -wise. Would you like a proposition?
Cool. Proposal from the GM? You could crash your
plane. You no longer need it. We're the ones
that can pick you up. I was going to bring that
up, but I didn't know, like, if we did that.
I don't know. I'm also, like, worried that I'm
going to crash it and then either Joseph's going
to die or something, or we're going to be like,
shit, we shouldn't use airspace. You wouldn't
die. We're the player characters. Okay. Okay.
I have an idea. All right. Yes. I have an idea.
I flashback to say that before the operation
deployed, Geist was like, all right, we're destroying
stuff. It would be good to have some extra armaments.
So basically just stocked up on explosives, got
them loaded into the changeling. Maybe I have
a load left that I can check off for a cargo
space. So I've got all these bombs. Haven't really
found a good place to use them. But now as we
fly to the last platform, Geist has the idea.
What if I deploy... So we strap the ship with
explosives on approach. Everybody jumps out except
for Geist. But he uses his fine vehicle remote
control to have the changeling outside of the
ship as well. So it's just him. He's in there.
He's a very good pilot. He has three dots in
maneuver. I crash the ship with the bombs on
it into the platform and then jump out the back
of the shuttle and maneuver the changeling to
catch me. Is that too stupid? The only thing,
I can't swim, so, like, I will need to hold on
to someone, right? Or, like, I can't fly, excuse
me. Like, we're all jumping out. You can also,
as I've said last episode, you can be on the
platform. Like, it's not going to sink into the
sea. There will be places to stand. But in this
specific scenario, I wouldn't want to be on this
platform. No, not immediately. No, no. So I'm
wondering, like, when I jump out, I guess I'll
just have to hold on to either Loyal or Hex's
thing. You could hold on to the Changeling, because
your mech is tiny, right? It's light. Yeah, I'm
a little guy. He's just a little small guy. So
you could probably just, like, hold on to the
Changeling's leg. Also, these are huge platforms.
Oh, yeah, we could... We could jump off onto
the edge, sure, yeah. Does that work? Can I just
say that I jump off onto the edge? Yeah, yeah,
yeah. Okay, then sure, yeah. What do you think,
Jim? Is that too stupid? No, uh... Is it just
stupid enough? I'll give it to you for free,
but I want an engineer to see how well it goes.
Oh, to see how well the bombs go. Oh, so I don't
even have to pay... Okay. No, because you can
basically just declare bombs as, like, pilot
gear, so... Yeah, but this is a lot of... You're
going to have everyone declare sabotage tools,
demolition tools as gear. We just load the thing
up with bombs. Okay, I only have one dot and
engineer, but it's not bad. I don't have the
stress. I absolutely do not have the stress to
push myself. I will trauma out again, and I don't
want to do that. So let's see. Maybe it'll be
shitty. Maybe it'll be good. Let's flip a coin
and see how good my bomb goes. My bomb. Well,
it failed, which is basically what I expected.
Great. So, I'm not going to make you roll maneuver.
You're driving a plane. It's not that hard to
drive a plane into a building. I'm going to end
that sentence there. Keeping that in. Yeah, you
crash it in. The bombs go off. The payload's
a little smaller than you were hoping it would
go off. A lot of it's contained within the very
sturdy frame of the ship, and a lot of it, the
force gets blasted backwards instead of forwards.
If that makes sense. You land on the deck. You
get in the changeling. I think I imagine everyone
is in their vehicles at this point. I was going
to catch myself midair because I don't have like
a jet pack or anything. Sure. It probably looks
really cool. Definitely. Yeah, you land there.
You're admiring your handiwork and you hear a
broadcast go to you and a voice comes over your
communications. Geist, and it says, Joker, stomp!
Oh, fuck. Is this our devil's bargain? Oh, no!
It's your devil. You see a frame, which is surprisingly
familiar to you, because you used to serve with
it on the Moondevils before your coma. This is
the Contact Rain small model, live, nimble, deadly.
The rest of the Moondevils used to call the pilot
suicidal because it has no armor on it. It's
been modified a little since you last saw it,
but you couldn't mistake it. Last you heard,
the pilot, whose call sign is Nat, like the fly,
had been transferred off -planet. Okay, I thought
you were going to say it was Jupiter, and I was
going to fucking flip my lid because you specifically
said it wasn't going to be a virtue. Well, Jupiter
isn't a virtue, so... That's technically correct
in the worst way possible. Oh, no. I don't know.
I feel like in this scenario, I'm Krauser. I'm
the bad guy. We are. What the hell are you doing
here? What do you mean? This is... I resigned.
I started a family. I got a cushy corporate security
job in the middle of a lake where nothing ever
happens. What the fuck is this? This is a civilian
establishment. I guess. You guess? Oh, man. No,
this is... Sorry, that was not in character.
I got it. I'm just trying to... I'm thinking
of how to play this, but I think I know. I think
Geist is just going to be like, this is war,
and then I'm going to attack him. All right.
You've been moved into a desperate position.
Yeah. Yeah, that's about right. I'm going to...
I mean, I'm going to try and battle him. I don't
have... We got to go in fast, and we got to hit
hard. Because I do not have any quirks to spend.
So I'm going to get damaged pretty fast. So yeah,
I'm just going to fucking boost at him. Okay.
What do you want to roll? I mean, I think it's
probably a battle. His whole thing is that his
frame is light and fast. What are you using to
attack with? Oh, my... So my melee weapons. My
impact driver fists. Great. I don't know if I
want to succeed or not. The dice will tell the
story. Yeah, if I fail, I'm pretty well fucked,
so let's see. Well, the dice have told the story.
I failed. 3, 1, 1, 2. That's okay. How many times
have I failed with three dice? How many times
have we all failed with three dice? It's been
happening. It has been happening a lot more than
I expected. I put a new clock on the screen.
It is the contact rain. It is a six -step clock
for this frame. He... He beats my ass. He's fucking
fast. Like, it's a really small frame. And he
has this, it's kind of like a whip more than
anything, like a mono wire. And just, you know,
you're fucking fast. But in this case, he's faster.
Kind of giving you a show here. And he cuts off
both your legs of your frame. And, you know,
you take the level three arm, level three damage
legless. So with level 3 damage, I'm, like, helpless,
right? Yes, you cannot do anything with your
frame without help. But, like, I can still do
stuff if I have no legs. I guess the idea is
that it's really damaged. So... Let me... Let
me take a look at my options here. I only have
one quirk left, so I can... I don't think I can
even spend quirk. Oh, I can jump! I can jump
gear! I can junk gear. Yep. Yeah, yeah, yeah,
yeah, yeah. Let's junk my missile rack. I believe
junking reduces by one level? I need to check.
It's like equivalent to armor. Yes. I'll also
say, as he does this, whatever it comes out,
he says, I don't understand what is going on,
but you can still back out of this. I think you
got some bad intel, man. Somebody else. Okay.
I was going to say, I could, bombard possibly
from afar or would that uh hit geist like is
that too much in range or like is he too close
you could still do it uh because i have i have
a two and bombard and i could also use a quirk
to give myself an extra dice right so i was thinking
i might do that if anyone else had any other
ideas but that was my plan oh what is my damage
called also real quick my level two damage oh
um severed... What's, like, a mechanical word
for leg? Severed hydraulics. Let's call it that.
That works. My hydraulics! Hydraulics. Oh, fuck.
But, uh, yeah, I can go ahead with that if everyone
else is cool. Yeah, sure. If we really want to
just fucking bury this guy, I think. We're three
platforms deep. I think it's too late to be like,
alright, let's hear this guy out. I think Geist
is just like, this is the mission. This isn't
our fault. This isn't our responsibility. We
are soldiers. We are tools in war. And if there's
a real problem, we can take it up with... Exactly.
That guy. Yeah, the corporate console dickhead.
We can actually... Geist is probably going to
try to kill him after this. beautiful um yeah
i'm gonna bombard uh of the plus one correct
yes plus one is gonna be desperate standard oh
desperate oh yes which means you get xp in this
category yeah yeah yeah don't forget that xp
wonderful yeah i think joseph sees he i think
he thinks you guys are just like messing around
he's like oh god you guys have history you know
we don't have time to listen to anyone So he's
like, I'm not even going to get close. I'm just
going to shoot you from afar and we can move
on. So he's going to roll his bombard. Oh. Hmm.
Wow. That's a success. Six, a two and a one.
Success. Yeah, you... And the quirk I was going
to use is codependent state. I don't know if
we need to say, but that's what I was going to
say. Yeah, you can. It's more fun to... Yeah,
it helps to kind of inform how it happens. Yeah.
Yeah, you... Such a powerful shot. I have no
stabilization. He's very preoccupied with Geist.
And you land a good shot on him. He doesn't have
any armor, so I can't say it lands front and
center, but I think it like grazes him such that
it is like melting some of his outer parts of
his frame. I'm going to tick two ticks on his
clock, but he does turn to you after this. He's
now aware of you. Bombard will not be as effective
now that he is in the game. Loyal and Hex. Loyal,
you want to defuse this first, or should Hex
go full kill? Yeah, I don't know. Can Loyal do
mental intrusions? I don't really know. Well,
I mean, it's probably more ethical than murdering
this guy. Because I just wondered if maybe if
Loyal got some inkling that maybe there was another
way out of this that he might jump on it. unless
he's like too far gone and he's just coming out
here to kick ass yeah unless something happens
to snap him out of just gotta get to the mission
just gotta survive this warzone experience which
is no different from any other warzone experience
except for the difference of this is killing
civilians which he has tried his whole life not
to do um yeah i can broadcast emotion in others
if I push myself to do so. Do you have anything
left to give? It is a powerful, undirected emotion.
I can paralyze a person by doing this. Not sure
if that helps us in this situation, but if it
does... I mean, we could take him prisoner. You
think we'd be able to subdue him? i mean if this
works otherwise i got a howitzer with his name
on it killing his clock doesn't necessarily mean
he dies it just means that you have defeated
him whatever you want that to mean or whatever
it would be you know i was gonna say it would
be cool if we could incapacitate him without
killing i think i'm imagining someone's like
nudging Loyal in his comms being like, I don't
know, can you do something psychic here? And
I was like, yeah, of course I can do something.
I would want to hear that. I would want to hear
that from whoever is urging you to do that. Probably
Geist, given the context. Mm -hmm. Yeah, Geist
might say something after he like... So I imagine
that they clash and he gets the worst of the
exchange really bad that his arm is all fucked
up and he slides to the side and he's like, Loyal,
stop him! Stop him? How? How do we stop any of
this? That's some psychic shit! I don't know!
Oh, my mind. Yes, I can do something. And then,
I'm gonna roll a sway. I see that the king returneth
clock with one slice missing out of it. Every
time psychic stuff happens, I'm afraid now. Pushing
myself is taking too stress, right? Yes. We're
taking too stress. Hello, king! And... Honestly,
I'm not sure if Loyal is able at this moment
to project a fixed emotion rather than what he's
feeling, but what he's feeling is do what other
people tell you. Be a soldier, fall in line.
So if he just projects that onto this guy...
We might be able to do something with this. So
I'm going to do a sway roll here. I know that,
like, on my character sheet, it is just special
ability broadcast. It doesn't tell me I have
to roll. It just says, when I push myself. Yes,
that is what is enabling you to do this. Yeah,
I think the idea is that it's not always going
to be the same skill. But here, yeah, I think
it's definitely sway. Okay, and what is my position?
We're desperate. It's not going great. Give me
an XP in this, and the effect is standard. And
we fail another three roll. Oh, it's only two,
but it's still two five. Partial success. I see
success. Partial success. Every time I will take
a partial success. Okay, two things happen. The
first is that I'm going to take two ticks. Yeah,
because it would be reduced effects if it was
one tick. Okay, you get two ticks in Contact
Rain. He... He's looking at Joseph now, I would
say. And then he does his gun, which he's produced.
He's produced a gun. I should have said that.
He's produced a gun. It's a... Not like... It's
not like a flintlock. It's kind of like a sawn
-off rifle, almost. Like, it's just kind of silly
-looking. high caliber single shot pistol and
as he feels this intrusion into his mind like
lightning quick it switches to you loyal and
he discharges it right as you finish this broadcast
um and you will take the level three damage oh
oh yeah um jeez poor loyal poor loyal indeed
blackout he destroys your sensors with a single
shot You can no longer see anything inside your
cockpit with this three damage. I would like
to resist that. Great. You have armor, which
will reduce it by one step each time you use
an armor chunk. I want to use armor and junk
a rack of missiles or rockets. All right. So
you checked armor already. Put a J in place of
the X with a rack of missiles or rockets. Okay.
And then you will take the level one damage.
Dented scratch sensors. Baby sensors. Now you
have less effect on future vehicle actions, which
means it'll be limited instead of standard. Okay.
All right. He staggers a little bit after shooting
you. I think maybe it hits him right as he's
aiming, and it just scrapes your sensors, damaging
them a little bit. Okay. Who has... Hex? Hex?
Hex hasn't gone yet. No, yeah, I was gonna shoot
him, but I don't know if that's a good idea now.
If you want to try doing something else, I could...
I have a way that I think I could probably take
him out. Okay. That's up to you. The question
is, what has been communicated between all of
you regarding this fight? Yeah, what does Hex
know? Because Hex might just be in kill mode
still. Yeah. I think... Yeah. I would vote for
howitzer use. I mean, yeah, it might just be
the most logical thing to do. Maybe... It's a
Joseph recommendation. He's a practical man.
Yeah, we gotta get through this, alright? Geist
would have to speak up. If you wanted Hex to
not kill him, probably. Geist might just yell,
he's mine, over the squad vox when he sees him
stagger, but that doesn't necessarily mean that
Hex has to... Listen. No, yeah. Hex doesn't respect
that. He could get in there and blow up. He's
rolling battle. Hex is like, listen, buddy. Pride
is for you. I'm gonna shoot you. Alright. Would
this be battle? Is it battle? No, battle's like...
This seems like it's a battle. No, battle is
just any old fight. Battle is like... Bombard
is like taking a precision shot from far away.
Battle is just fighting. So one of the examples
is you might fire your Gatling gun in a dogfight.
Oh, okay. I never know any of these. They're
more abstract. Battle isn't any one thing. It's
basically any time you are in what you would
consider a fight. Yeah, and on the Google Sheet,
you can actually hover over each... Yeah, I see
that every time. Yeah, it's quite... Oh, don't
speak up. I read the comments. Thanks, Brian.
You're so good with spreadsheets. I'm in four.
Let's do it. Zero risky standard. Please work.
This is the desperate. Fuck. But you succeeded.
Reroll it. You don't reroll it. You succeeded.
You got an XP. You shoot him with a howitzer.
Geist, he staggered there. He's looking around,
shaking his head. He looks at you, Geist, and
he says, she would hate you now. And then the
howitzer hits him, and he explodes in two pieces.
Can I... Can I resist him dying like it was a
consequence? That is a very interesting question.
What if you got in the way of the shot? That's
what I mean. I don't want to stop his clock from
being filled, but I also don't want him to be
dead. And I don't know if those two things are
mutually exclusive right now. You can take...
With teamwork, like, one of the teamwork actions
is you can take a hit in place of someone. So,
I suppose you could take the hit. Like, that
is a complicated... Let's discuss this. Might
it still fill his clock from the shock of it?
I mean, as the GM, I am kind of fine with you
blocking it. with your body, and him just realizing,
like, he was about to die, it's over. And there's
no point in dying. Okay, lay it on me. That was
a full success. Is that a level 3 harm? Or damage?
Yeah, I would say level 3 damage, um, you know,
I'm not gonna give it a name, because I know
you're gonna reduce it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Unless
you don't, who knows? No, I'm not gonna dive
in front and fucking die. No, I'll, uh... I'll
junk my anti -infantry defenses to bring it down
to another level, too. Okay. Uh, yeah. X, you
fire your big -ass howitzer. You're like, oh,
fuck, this is so good. This is gonna be such
a good hit. And Geist just jumps in front of
it, blows off, like, the front of his, uh, frame,
taking his infantry defenses with it. Um, and
Nott, like, drops his guns on the ground and
says, okay, and it's your scene now. Do what
you want. Let the record show, Hex was thinking
as he shot, Geist's gonna be so proud. Oh, no.
Front and center. Check this out, buddy. What
the fuck are you doing? What the fuck? Geist,
um, out of his external box says, dismount. Yeah,
he dismounts, like, the, uh, his, like, tiny
frame, like, kind of recedes more than, like,
it opens up, and he, like, steps out of it. Kind
of like Anthem. Anyone play Anthem, the hit EA
game? Whoa, Bioware's Anthem? I don't think anyone
did. I played the beta. Oh, really? It's just
kind of neat. Anyways, yeah, he's out. Grizzle
-looking soldier guy. I'm going to check off
my final vehicle gear for a passenger space,
and I'm going to lock him up without a word.
I'm not going to say anything to him. I'm just
going to deploy it and be like, get in. Yeah,
he like looks back at the platform, which I think
is like starting to start slumping into the ocean
at this point from the ship. And, you know, just
climbs in. Cool. Geist turns to look back at
the squad, doesn't say anything. I guess we don't
even need to destroy it. It's all destroyed now,
right? It is all destroyed now. Cool. And I guess
everybody on this platform is going with it.
So that's no witnesses either. Easy money. Thank
you. This is going to be so happy, guys. Good
job. I am going to kill him. I think I'm going
to kill him. I'm making that guy happy. Great
job, everyone. Geist, yeah, so as the platform's
starting to list and sink into the ocean, Geist
doesn't say a word. His frame is really badly
fucked up. I've got like two pieces of junk here
and two level two damages. But the motive systems
still work. So he gets in and he's just like,
we're leaving. Mission over. Call worthy. What
was that, Geist? I had him. Geist doesn't respond
to anything that X says about it. Joseph probably
just says, I hope you know what you're doing.
And then he, like, calls Worthy and says, we
need to pick up. The job is complete. And then
he doesn't look at Geist. He kind of, like, walks
away and surveys the battle. All right. You get
picked up by Worthy. He, you know, his ship is
a little dented from the slack that he got hit
with, but it is otherwise working fine. You all
load in. Are you taking the contact rain with
you? One second. I would say, why not? Colin,
is there, like, in this universe, like, would
that be a bad idea? Like, is there some way that,
like, the guy can be like, I'm gonna connect
with my fucking ship, and now I could use it
in the hangar. Like, that's not possible, right?
The fact of the universe is, if you roll well,
everything will go well for you. If you roll
bad, that could be possible. The fact is, I will
always find a way to fuck with you if you're
all bad. It doesn't matter how careful you are.
Sure. I just want to know in fiction. Let's say
we got a guy to stand down and I'm like, don't
forget his gun. We'll take this and put it in
his name. I'm not going to make you look like
an idiot. If he gets one over on you, it's going
to be good because he's very cunning. Not because
he had a gun up his butthole. All my butthole
checking was for nothing? You fool. Okay. What?
Do you have his thing? There's an action where
you can scrap other people's frames. That's why
I asked. Or you can even use it if yours breaks.
That's fine. Let's bring it. Let's steal it.
That's a good frame. What if he's nice to us
after? Could be. I mean, he's going to try to
talk to you, Geis, as you may assume. Like, in
the ship. Yeah, I mean, so he's locked in his
little prisoner compartment, but I imagine it
has, like, a communications thing in it, and
I imagine that at least at first Geist didn't
have, like, the forethought to shut it off, so.
Also, just, I will say, you drop off the Clusterist
wreckage that frames it. Yes. That's assumed.
Non -point. You do it. Okay. Yeah, he says, you're
with the Clusterist now or something? It's complicated.
No. No. Not at all. War isn't complicated. It's
not. That's why I did what I did today. So what,
you gonna shoot me in the back of the head now?
I don't fucking know what I'm going to do. The
peacekeepers are into some bad shit. Yeah, why
do you think I quit to get away from this? Smarter
than the rest of us. Alright, that is what he
has to say to you. I guess he's just waiting.
So, it's a flight. It's a long flight. Do any
of you talk to each other about anything that
has just occurred on the flight? It was a quiet
flight home. I think it was. Geist definitely
wouldn't engage conversation about it. Or maybe
he would. Maybe he would. Maybe as we're all
flying back, he's since killed the feed so that
his former friend can no longer hear him speaking,
and he just says, look, Today was bad. Alright,
I took the lead. I took charge. I made most of
the decisions. It's on me. Geist, why did you
jump in front of Hex's shot? Who is he? An old
friend. Maybe I'm not as much of a monster as
I thought I was. We did bad. things today, alright,
but you don't charge a gun with murder. We're
following orders, and those orders will be answered
for. Agreed. Regardless of what happened, this
mission was a complete success. No one saw what
we did, and all oil rigs were destroyed. We can
feel good about that. like, inner vehicle voice
chat or, like, whatever. I thought we were all
just, like, sitting next to each other. Yeah,
like, what is this? Like, are we in our mechs?
I assumed it was the radio chat. Yeah, sure,
let's be out of our frames. No, because if it
was radio, Hex is going to just kill the feed,
but if it's out of frames, he's just going to
be silent. Luth's going to answer for this.