To Agi Menta, esteemed leader of the Clusterists.
I'm very sorry that you don't feel like I'm as
involved in your little struggle as I used to
be. We all care so much about what you feel.
And after all, you do so much for your little
cult. Like, hmm, I guess I can't think of anything.
Oh, that's right. You're just an ignorant bitch
who thinks she could be even half the leader
her father was. And we all know what happened
to him. Oh wait, you don't know that, do you?
I guess you didn't put those little pieces together.
Do you really think you're anything? Do you think
without my connections, my funding, that this
cause of yours would be anything worth thinking
about? Not that I even understand half the things
I've given you, though. It's probably better
that way. I guess I should just feel bad for
you. Just an undereducated backwater colonist
who thinks her moral high ground will accomplish
anything but a dizzying fall. One day, when I'm
done with you, I think I'll take you through
some galactic history. I'll show you all the
other cute little isolationist psychic traditions
and how they ended up. If you take this tone
with me again, I will make sure you die the slow,
painful death your father did, you insect. I'm
going to bring all my important friends, and
we'll be laughing, watching a clueless animal
die in front of us. I don't think you'll even
have it in you to hate us. You'll just whine
and beg your prophet for guidance, and I promise
you, she won't answer. If this prophet Brahamanta
was so powerful, which I'm sure she wasn't, I
think she'd love me. I'm someone with actual
power, with the ability to effect real change.
I'd be drinking wine with her, laughing with
her, and we'd be laughing at you! Abraham, send
message in five seconds. Yes, T -Roll. Sending
message in five, four, three, two, one. Discard
message. Draft new message to Adjumenta. Hello,
Adji. I sincerely apologize for my distance lately.
Important matters have drawn me off -planet.
I assure you I'm doing everything in my power
to guarantee the victory of your cause and people.
Regarding your concerns about TKR and the martyrdom
framework, I don't believe that the Peacekeepers
will be able to utilize it effectively. We can
make do without another virtue on the field.
We'll just have to be a little bit more strategic.
As far as our media presence goes, you're doing
an excellent job with your broadcasts, but we
are losing some ground in the union voter base.
Our polls indicate that the people are becoming
numb to the abstract infrastructure damage we've
been pushing at them. If possible, could you
reach out to some of the village leaders and
get some good footage of children with chemical
burns or birth defects? This would play much
better with the undecided demographic. In other
news, our big project is moving along very nicely.
All the materials are in place now, and building
is proceeding along well. I know it's not going
as fast as you'd like, but transferring new personnel
after the recent Peacekeeper presence in the
Riverlands is too much of a risk. As a gesture
of goodwill, and as an apology for my absence,
I've been working with Goldthaus on an exciting
operation. Keep your eyes on the news next week.
You won't miss it. I again appreciate your patience.
May the Prophet smile on our great work. Your
humble partner, Tyrell Cryne. Send message. Okay,
do you need a recap at all, or do you remember
what happened? I'd like a quick little recap.
Okay, we'll do it after the intro, then. Okay.
Hello, and welcome back to the show. My name
is Colin, and I am the game master of this fun
little group. Joining me today are Brian. Hola,
I'm Brian, and I'll be playing Hex, the bureaucrat.
Adam. Hi, I'm Adam. I'm playing Joseph, the infiltrator.
Zach. Hi, I'm Zach and I'm playing Geist, the
ace. And Ewan. Hello, I'm Ewan. I am playing
Loyal, the empath. Great. So very brief recap.
Last time you went on a morally dubious mission
to destroy some platforms in the ocean, in the
lake. And you did so pretty well, all things
considered. You know, morals aside, the only
real complication is that near the end there,
you learned that a former moon devil was guarding
the final platform who you were going to kill,
but Geist actually jumped in front of the shot,
which would have killed him. And you now have
captured him and have him with you. You are now
headed back. You're going to be arriving back
in the base. Procedure dictates that barring
any severe injuries, which I don't think any
of you have any life -threatening injuries, you
are supposed to head to Nyla for a debriefing,
and then following that, you can enjoy your time
off or do whatever you would like. So with that
in mind, what are you all thinking? What we're
going to do? I mean, if you want to head to debriefing,
if you want to do something else, like you are...
Oh, yeah. Yeah, I think all of us wanted to talk
to Nyla. Yeah, I think we all need to have words
with Nyla. I have some feedback to give to my
boss. What are you doing with your prisoner?
I think I'm going to leave him locked in the
car for now. Roll the window. Yeah, exactly.
I'm just going to leave him in the... Because
I think I checked off a component for that. Yeah,
you have the cargo space. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Paddy
wagons. Prisoners. Yep, that's what we do. Just
one prisoner. Yeah, I'm gonna leave him in there
for now, and I'm gonna, if there's any, like,
techs around in the landing bay, like when we
land and dismount, Geist will try to fucking
touch my frame, and he's gonna storm away. They
take note of this. Okay, yeah, you go to the
usual briefing room. Nyla has prepared it. ahead
of time, as always, for you to enter. And she
is in there, sitting at the end of the table,
you know, looking over some reports, and she,
like, kind of gestures to the table for you all
to take a seat, or do as you will. Geist doesn't
take a seat. He stands there, and he has difficulty
emoting physically because of his disfigurement,
but he looks pissed. His, like, one biological
eyebrow is very furrowed. He's kind of visibly
seething as he stands there. Yeah, Joseph's going
to look at Geist and then decide he's not going
to sit either. He's going to stand. Hell yeah.
Exit. I guess Laurel can't sit because he's too
fat. Yeah, I guess. That's why I didn't say anything.
He just floats everywhere. Just vibing. Yeah,
she doesn't really pay any mind to the fact that
you're standing or she is pretending not to and
says, Was it a success? I guess that depends
on what your definition of a success is. I assume
you knew. Well, if you're asking if I talked
to Worthy already, then no, I haven't. No, not
Worthy. Fucking Bluth, what we were sent to do.
She looks up at you and says, You didn't know?
Know what? What you were sent to do. I know that
we were sent to massacre. non -combatants at
the behest of one of the corporate council's
fucking lapdogs. And we were specifically not
allowed our empath into the briefing. And I think
I know exactly why. If there's a problem, Geist,
I would be eager to hear it. What do you mean,
if there's a problem? Since when do the peacekeepers
go massacre men, women, and children not affiliated
with the Clusterists? Is that just our MO now?
This is a problem shared by all of us. Why did
we do this? I want to get a vibe on Nyla's emotional
state right now, because something wants to say
something. Could you roll a survey? I sure could.
Marshmallow success, a five. She's very tired.
She's tired and a little bit annoyed. Oh, she's
annoyed! With us? She's annoyed with you in the
same way you would be annoyed with a child asking
why they had to fall and skin their knee. I have
a bond with Nyla. I know her, basically. She's
a good person, I'm assuming. That's completely
subjective. As you know her, and I think Hex
has a bond with her as well. By the way, if you
can pick up on Hex's vibe, he also is annoyed.
With Nyla or with the squad? Oh, he's annoyed
with us. Yeah. Probably if you want more. Yeah,
she kind of put down the reports in front of
her. and says, may I speak for a minute? Sure,
go ahead. She pulls up spreadsheets and displays
them in front of you. Yeah! It's full of graphs
and... Yeah, you asked, why did we have to do
this? That was the question that prompted this.
I remember now. And this data that she's pulling
up is kind of hard to wrap your head around.
Unless, of course, you are Hex. Hex... You know
exactly what this is, given your previous role
in the Peacekeepers. It outlines the consequences
of what would happen if the Peacekeepers failed
to uphold their promise to the Uro to remove
the Clustris from the planet. And she points
at it and says, In the first few years after
the Uro stopped trading with us, it wouldn't
be too bad. We'd stop making new colonies, we'd
implement some population controls, and all our
great representatives would make their way into
new offices with promises that things will continue
as usual. Then, things would start to break.
Replacement components for all our essential
technologies wouldn't be available anymore, and
this is where the regression really begins. Our
last generation of technology that didn't use
Oro -made components is decades old, vastly inefficient,
and not at all equipped to handle our current
lifestyle and population. Not to mention we no
longer have the means to manufacture it. Our
agriculture... Retracts rapidly. Crop yields
plummet, and the logistics infrastructure to
transport it fails. Half of what we harvest rots
before we can get it where we need to. Even with
strict rationing, we see the first real deaths
by starvation on the periphery. Medical technologies
are thrown back. Many of our citizens can no
longer work without their prosthetics, implants,
or medicine. Our welfare systems can pay them,
sure, but there's nothing to buy. People lose
faith in the union. Crime and organized piracy
all rise drastically. Colonies stop paying taxes.
Not that money is really worth that much. And
people in the lower levels of government stop
doing their jobs. Now we can't even reach the
people we're able to help. Mass death, sickness,
rioting, violence. Decades of social and economic
progress are wiped away. Then, if our projections
are correct, when we're at our lowest, the Uro
will come back to us. They offer us another deal,
with worse terms. Our resources are worth half
what they were originally, we give up colonies,
we give up some planets in our own solar system
for exploitation. Hundreds of millions of people
die painful, meaningless deaths. And that's if
we're lucky with the numbers. Maybe we learn
an important lesson about self -sufficiency.
Maybe we hop back on the same damn treadmill
because people miss their legs, their delicious
yet nutritious meals, or their virtual husbands.
Now, back to us. If we don't have the resources
of the Council, we won't be able to drive the
Clustris out. And in a sane world, the Union
would be throwing every single resource it had
at this planet, but they aren't, because a substantial
number of the representatives think the war looks
bad. It's terrible, and I would be lying if I
didn't have vivid fantasies where I put a bullet
through the back of each of these selfish bastards'
heads. But it's up to us, despite the insanity
of it, to paltry forces on this planet. We are
the only force looking to the future instead
of focusing on election cycles and good headlines.
I'm sorry. I really am. I'm sorry for the things
that I have to do and the things you have to
do. I just don't want you to have to think about
this shit. It just gets in the way of us doing
our jobs. You want to talk about painful, meaningless
deaths? I watched a little girl fall out of the
back of an airship and pancake her bones on the
surface of the fucking ocean. And for what? If
we want to... commit horrible atrocities for
money, why don't we just do it to the people
who deserve it? Huh? I'd have half a mind to
put a fucking bullet in Bluth's brain the next
time I see that slimy fucking bastard. You...
Guys, he takes a breath, he steadies himself.
I don't know what kind of monster it is that
you think that I have become, but I'm responsible
for my team, and we were not prepared for that
fucking bullshit. Prepared how? Prepared for
the senselessness of it. They haven't been, they
haven't seen what war's really like. You don't
think that this is a waste of time. This is a
waste of fucking time. Don't ever make me blue
slapdog again. I won't do his bullshit. I don't
care. Find someone else to murder children for
you. Is that your official stance on the matter,
Geist? I guess it is. And the rest of you? Are
you no longer willing to do what it takes to
move forward the goals of the Union and ensure
a safe future for all of us? Oh, that is fucking...
Politician speak. Listen to yourself. He doesn't
speak for all of us. Geist looks back at Hex
and doesn't say anything. Hex doesn't look back
at him. Just leaves it wordless. The statistics
don't lie, Geist. I know it's bad. But as much
as I hate to say it... We need everyone we have,
and we need them to do dirty work. If you think
you're the only one doing this for the corporate
council, you'd be wrong. I would tell you, but
it would just put you at risk. If you can find
some better way of getting money, anything, I
would be happy to kill Bluth and be done with
it. But the fact is, that's where the money is
on the planet, and we need them. This guy just
doesn't say anything. Well, if there's not anything
else... And that she gestures at the door. Geist,
I think... I think he leaves. Yeah, I think he
leaves. Yeah, X wordlessly leaves, gives her
a nod, and... Joseph's gonna keep standing there.
He's gonna wait. He probably looks to Loyal just
to see what Loyal's gonna do. I don't think that
I have anything to say to Nyla that Geist hasn't
said already. Joseph, do you need something?
Uh, I'm gonna look at Loyal. Is Loyal still hanging
out here? I think when I say okay, I kinda wait
to see if Joseph is, like, needing backup with
anything, but if he's not, we can leave together.
I'll give you a nod. Just to say, like, I'll
be okay. I leave. Uh, yeah, I turn to Nyla and
I say, You seem troubled. Yes, Joseph, I am troubled.
I thought I made that pretty clear. Joseph takes
a seat, finally, next to Nyla. And says, I was
hoping we could talk about my other role. Oh,
yes. How is that going? Did you send the data
over to Goldhouse yet? My comrades seem to feel
like they know something's up here. What do you
mean? It seemed pretty obvious. That they have
moral quandaries about the work we're doing?
That possibly I might be doing something else
in the meantime. If you want to tell them about
it, you're welcome to. I think it might help
them, if anything. Those revenue sources I was
talking about, alternatives to the council, if
we got rid of Gold House, if it was the Peacekeepers
on this planet that did it, I think some people
in the Seoul Union would be very happy. Gold
House, they do a lot of interrupting back home.
Noted. This is good to know. Well, I just wanted
to know if I could speak with my comrades about
this. I appreciate it. Joseph stands up. He says,
things were difficult on this mission, especially
afterwards. I know it might be annoying to deal
with, but Geist is like our commander here. If
you lose him, the whole Dusklight squad falls
apart. It just wouldn't be smart. It wouldn't
be efficient. Correct? Correct. If you need to
kill any more children, you know who to talk
to. He gives Nyla a wink. Joseph. Love you, Joseph.
I didn't know about the kids. Oh yeah, me neither.
Wink. I think Joseph just turns around and leaves.
All right. Downtime. Okay, end of session. A
really fucked up thing is that Geist has no problem
killing kids as long as they're clusterist kids.
So we have a marketing problem here. All right.
Yeah. The lie was too obvious. Honestly, if Geist
actually believed that these people were really
affiliated with the Clusterists, he probably
would have been all in on it, or at least he
wouldn't have been upset. I love this. I love
this plot. I don't know. It's great. I believe
it. Hey, we are going to roll your payout for
the little mission, which is going to be 3d6.
Oh, fuck. Hey, boss, need me to cook the books?
Always. Always be cooking the books. We'll never
not take every single... Oh, wait, am I gonna
die if I do that? Actually, no, we can't do that.
You can do it after you relieve your stress.
Okay. Let's unwind a bit. Cook the books so hard
it'll cook your brain. Yeah. Who wants to roll
that 3d6? I'll do it. I'm lucky. Oh. Here it
is. Let's see that luck. 11. That's fine. It's
not awful. It's average. It's painfully average.
Do we take the highest? No, that's good then.
That's really good. I'm going to keep a running
tally of our money because it's going to change
before we input it. If it's an 18, I ain't writing
home about it. That would only be 6. Actually,
no. I think a crit would be more. Okay. Oh. Would
you look at that. So, uh, you, the squad earns
two rep. Rep. I will track, I will track all
of this stuff. And then you get one. Oh! That's
full, I think, right? It's six. Nice. Yeah, we
have four and we are now at six. So I think that
means our hold goes from weak to strong. If,
I think you have to spend resources to do that.
Oh. I will leave it at weak for now. Um, and
then you gain one material and personnel because
you are a democracy squad. Yes. And every pilot
can spend material to roll dice to reflect fresh
quirks on their vehicles, and then remove all
level 1 harm and damage. Yes. Everybody do that.
I'm going to take the two material out of the
tracker, and I'm going to take two out of our
transient pool, which leaves us with three, and
that's enough for everybody to make one quirk
roll. What do we roll for that? I think it's
just a d6, yeah. Ooh, I got five. You get that
many quirks back up to your max. Okay, and we're
going to add one tick to the goal clock for the
Peacekeepers because you have helped them substantially.
We have a clock for them? Yes, on the Factions
and Relationships sheet, there's a goal for the
Soul Union. We don't talk about it a lot, but
their goal was to increase Union hold on Terebraea,
which this has done. It actually ticked it all
the way over to the fourth check. Yikes. Damn,
we're good. Hey, that's you. That's your faction.
Good shit. Okay. That will have an effect on
things. Guys, the King Returneth is still 7 out
of 8. I don't like that clock being there. I
don't want to get to it. We'll get to that. Let's
circle back another time. So you also all, every
one of you clears any level 1 harm and damage
you have on your mech or person. Wow, Hex isn't
guilty anymore? It's just that easy. No, but
oil is. Extreme. Extreme guilt. It's not just
guilt, it's extreme. Nothing a couple drinks
can't fix. Um, okay. Let's do it. And so all
squads will gain a benefit. Once I figure out
what the benefit will be to you increasing this
hold, it'll probably be something money -related
or an upgrade or something. Do you want to just
pick a new squad upgrade for free right now?
Oh, baby! Do I want to pick a new squad? There
are so many squad upgrades. I was actually looking
at them at the beginning of the session. There
are so many. We can decide in downtime if you
want. We should, because I have some ideas, but
I haven't even read. There's so many more squad
upgrades than there were in Blades in the Dark.
They're on the... the squad sheet if anyone's
looking at the desk light sheet they're on the
left side there um there's a ton of different
options but we i think it's definitely something
we should do uh outside yeah there's a lot to
chew through this front i'm gonna be very interesting
to listen to gotcha um yeah so whatever that
is you know during downtime you get this new
stuff it's very clear that the corporate council
did come through with that funding it is significant
and hard to ignore what you got from this. So
you're going to get status increase with... Actually,
no, you get it with a private military in Caldera
Lakes. It goes up to a minus one to a plus zero.
Yay. And then the bill comes in. You're going
to lose one supply. Oh, yes. Because on the back
of your payout is an invoice from the corporate
council. for repairs made to the roof of their
building after you landed your frames on it.
Oh, God. Son of a bitch. It is very clear to
you, Hex, that they are overcharging for this,
but it seems like the Peacekeepers just want
them to take the money and shut up about it.
I'm going to kill Bluth. I'm going to fucking
throw him off the roof of that building. Like,
I know, out of character -wise, that's handling
the budget, but... We went from four points to
three, so we lost the point that we saved by
you not needing to refresh your quirks. Damn.
He delivers this note, this bill to us. Yeah,
like, how does it start? You get, like, at the
end of your, like, I'm imagining every downtime
you get a big list of, like, incoming materials
and supplies, payment from the union, and then
on the back it's just like... I'm sure it's somewhere,
I don't know if you're at it, though. That's
probably something to take up with the director.
Oh, no. But, yes, there's an invoice stapled
to it. It's, like, additional expenses, and then
it's, like, repairs to roof. And then, like,
a long complaint letter from the owner of the
building, like, whining about everything, about
how they had to repave everything and re -level
the entire roof. And it's, like, they're clearly
bitching about it just to cause some misery.
There's no, like, written up... There's no reprimand
attached to it. Like, your boss isn't, like...
Don't do this. It's just like, here's why you
have one less dollar this month. Make of that
what you want. Melvin probably had to deliver
it to us. Yeah, that's what I was thinking. Damn
it, Melvin. Geist just throttles Melvin. Geist
would never. He would call him the wrong name
and then be very dismissive. Get out of here,
Greg. And your trust with the Soul Union goes
up. I need to look at the Dusklight sheet. I'm
looking at it right now. Our trust is currently
two. Your trust grows up by four. Holy shit.
That's dope. I will... It is very clear to you,
both just how you are treated and how things
are going. Despite your rough talk with Nyla,
it is very obvious that whoever is running things
for the Peacekeepers is very pleased with you
in a material way. Hmm. Are we the baddies? Yeah.
Well, sort of. It's complicated. I'm not mostly.
Good soldiers follow orders. That's true. Geist
doesn't feel like any of this is his fault. I
mean, Joseph was the one who killed the children.
That is true. I mean, we all fucking did, like,
strafing runs on the platforms. Everybody probably
killed at least a few children already. Yeah,
well, you didn't see it. So it doesn't count.
So they don't count? How dare you? Have you ever
heard of the Air Force? Those are my child kills
and I will not be denied. Okay. I think that
is... Now we have to do Entanglements. Oh, God.
This is the fucking chaser. What's this? Luckily,
the Clusterous do not hit you more. And this
was kind of a different... So you're going to
be rolling against the just straight up and down
corporate interests on the planet. And these
are like outside interests. So your status with
them isn't going to be that bad. Okay. And it's
going to be kind of extracted because you didn't
really kill anyone. Oh, God, they changed the
format of my PDF reader. No. Execute them. So
your relationship with the squad is going to
be zero or higher. So you're going to roll on
table C, which is the best table to roll on.
Love that table. And you're going to roll a number
of dice equal to something. I love chaos, so
I'm going to roll this one. Three minus the squad's
relationship level with their patron. So two
dice. Either way, it's a four or a five. No,
you take the higher result. Okay. Embedded favorite.
The squad is burdened with an NPC that a superior
favors and believes needs firsthand field experience.
Oh, God. The NPC must accompany you on your next
mission. It must come back in one piece. If you
refuse to take them along, take minus two trust
with the faction who favors them. If the NPC
dies, take minus three trust. If they return
injured, take minus one trust. The NPC is a temporary
specialist cohort with a quality equal to the
squad's tier minus one, which is zero. That's
very interesting. Who is going to send you a
NBC? Blue's Kid. Can we take the negative three?
I was going to say, if we get Blue's Kid in here,
he's going to die in an industrial accident before
we leave the hangar for the first time. I don't
think. I don't think those would do that. Listen,
Melvin, I need you to drop my frame on this guy
while you're lifting it out of the rack, alright?
Just drop it on him. Make it seem like an accident.
Okay. It's really important. I knew I could trust
you. What if he's really nice, though, Isaac?
What if he's really nice? And he's gonna be really
nice and dead. I love this. Yeah. I think the
Vector Mines are who... The Corporate Council
and via the Vector Mines are going to be sending
you someone. Oh, that's cool. I don't think you're
going to get to meet them now, because I have
to write them. I have a general idea what they're
going to be like, and you will meet them at the
beginning of your next mission. Exciting. Vector
Mines. Tyler's going to join us. Yay. What a
twist, Colin. What a twist. Actually, they might
not be complete dead weight. The Vector Mines
just know their shit. Could be good. Just as
you're ready to make a new friend. Could be good.
Um, okay. And now, so I have to, before we get
into the downtime actions, a couple things I
need to ask about. The first is, what are you
doing with Nat? Whose actual name you would know,
Geist, is True Guild, the Moon Devil. My options
are to either... Try and leverage my contacts
within the Peacekeepers to just basically get
him imprisoned. Imprison him personally, like
chain him to the wall in my basement. Or just
let him go and tell him that he really can't
tell anybody about all the children we killed.
And none of those are nice options. Because he
has a family, right? He has like a wife and kids
on Terra Brea, doesn't he? He didn't specify
they're on Terra Brea, but he did specify he
has them. I think I need to talk to him before
I can decide what I do with him. That is probably
a good call. Cool. Oh, yeah. I mean, it can be
one of my downtime actions if you want. I've
got a lot to handle this time. I don't think...
Deciding what to do with him, unless it's something
very protracted, won't be a downtime action.
But we can talk about it. Let's just have that
conversation now. Yeah, sure, sure. yeah i think
geist geist wants to talk to him somewhere where
there will not be prying eyes so i think like
basically right after the briefing he goes back
out to the bay and he's like i'm taking my i'm
taking it out to the range which is something
he does a lot so it probably wouldn't draw any
attention and he's just gonna fly the, uh, changeling
out to, like, the training range for frames,
and then he's going to talk to Nat on the little
internal box that he has that, like, is the little
radio thingy that speaks into the prisoner compartment.
And what do you say? That's a really good question.
Geist, like me, doesn't know what to say, so
he sits there, and he stares at the, um... He's
in his cockpit, and he's just, like, staring
at the radio thing, and then he, like, presses
it, and he doesn't know what to say, so he lets
go. Then he presses it again, and he's like,
Still in there. Yeah. It's, uh... It's just us
now. Okay. You got any food? I haven't eaten
in, uh... Well, I don't have a clock, but a while.
I don't know if I do, actually. Uh, I'll, uh...
I'll get you something soon. Look, I... Would
you believe that... What we did, what we just
did, was official corporate council business
and might have done something seriously good
for the war. I guess there's a bit of a silence.
That's a loaded question. I don't know if I believe
in myself. Did they, uh... What'd they say about
me when I left? They said you were leaving, said
you were getting off world. Figures. I had reservations
about the collateral damage that had been going
on. And they told me either I deal with it or
I get a dishonorable discharge. And so I found
other work elsewhere. Doesn't that sound fucking
familiar? Your family, are they here? Terebrae,
I mean. Fuck no, I'm not stupid. Good. Look,
they don't know you're here. They don't know...
They don't know that I have you in the hold of
my frame. I don't know what they would do if
they did. Probably an institutional prison. Just
to keep you quiet. Yeah. What are we doing here,
Joker? Trying to figure a way out of this that
doesn't involve you in a cellar with a bullet
in your head. That'd be nice. Can I trust you?
Can I really trust you to just get the hell out?
Get out of here. Go home. Find something else.
And stay quiet? Yeah. I know what I am. I know
what I've done. I don't have any illusions about
it. It's... A lot of people smarter than me seem
to think it's necessary, and here I am, caught
in the middle. Yeah. Listen, I... I disagree
with the war. What you're doing. What the peacekeepers
are doing. But I'm not exactly fighting with
the Clusterists. I just want to make a living
and stay out of it. You let me go, I won't tell
anyone about it. Find a different job. I was
stupid to try to get a job here. You know, right,
that if we lose this, the Oro pull everything
in. It's all fucked. For your family, your kids,
me, everyone. Maybe. But if we have to do this
so that people are comfortable, maybe there's
something bigger wrong with what we're doing.
Can you really say that knowing you have little
ones at home? I can keep them fed. I'm going
to regret this someday, aren't I? You won't regret
it. I won't make you regret it. I think... You
were a good guy once, Geist. I think that guy
is still in there. I just think... I think it's
complicated. It's always complicated. I don't
even think my choice is the right choice. But
it's what I made. You gotta make your choice,
too. Yeah. Alright. Here's what's gonna happen.
I'm gonna take a flyby to the edge of the...
training center. There's a hole in the fence
there. Security's pretty lax. You should be able
to circle around without anybody seeing you,
get back to the city, and then you gotta disappear.
If... I mean, if you screw me on this, things
are gonna get bad, just not for me, but for a
lot of people. Good people, somehow. Go be with
your family, man. Get off this fucking rock.
I can do that. You think I still killed him?
Feed. He's going to be honest. He's going to
do what he said. Give me a consort roll. Wow.
Well, let's take a look. Let's take a look at
what my consort level is. He loves to talk. You
know that guy. Very good. My consort is zero
and I'm so stressed out that I can't push myself
or I will gain a trauma. So I'm doing your best.
This is gonna be a failure for sure. I don't
think I have any recourse here. Oh! Wow. A five.
That's a five! Oh my god, a five and a six! Not
bad at all. You have to believe you're gonna
fail to win. Oh my god, I can't... Oh my fucking
god. Yeah, you... I mean... I can't tell you
what happens right now, but you get a mixed success.
You do let him go regardless. And we'll see what
that mixed success is. Holy shit. Through that
whole conversation, I was thinking to myself,
the whole time I was like, should I let him go?
Should I just kill him? It would be very poignant
if I told him I was going to let him go and then
I just fucking gunned him down while he was walking
away. I made the choice. That's it. That's it.
Okay. Yeah. He, you know, you do as you say.
He gets out and. You do not. And that's it. He's
gone. For now. I could not have possibly hoped
for that to go better. Yeah, I mean, with your
luck. Yeah. Okay, great. Nat is handled. Not
what I thought you were going to do, but I like
surprises. The other thing that happens is that
your squad is... I don't know who it is. Whoever's
hanging around the hangar, I guess. When this
is happening. It could be multiple of you. It's
anyone except Geist. I'll be hanging out. How
about that? Yeah, Hex is... Me and Hex. The Captain
Warhawk, a .k .a. Spud. Or Captain Spud, a .k
.a. Warhawk, comes up to you and says, Hey, bros,
I just want to give you a heads up. that me and
the raptors are like super bummed out we didn't
get a go on the last mission we're just like
here to help and i just want you to know and
he goes for a fist bump a double fist bump in
this case no not doing it not at all x meets
it but unenthusiastically it's obligatory rock
on don't mind my friend he he doesn't He gives
you a nod, and then he does the hang loose sign
at you, and surfs back to whatever he's doing.
Hex gives the downward head nod, you know? Okay,
now we can actually get to the downtime. Enough
drama. Yeah. Let's get to the fun part, the numbers.
Okay, you all get three downtime actions as always.
Well, not as always, but because of your money,
you continue to get three downtime actions. I
hate to derail this. Did we do XP last time?
No, we didn't. And we should. Yeah. Good you
mentioned it. Thank you. Okay, let's start. Pilot
XP. So, if you expressed your tragedy history
or opening, aka your backstory, you gain 1 XP.
I think I did with the whole Nat situation. Yeah.
I don't think I did. I can't think of anything
that happened. I had a megafauna moment. You
did. Megafauna moment. Verified. That's probably
like the perfect fit for your backstory. Yeah.
If you struggled because of your belief's scars
or your vehicle's quirks, you gain 1 to 2 XP.
Oh my god. My phone. I'll go get it. Don't worry.
I think I didn't do anything particularly reckless
that got me screwed over and my scars actually
paid big dividends because I didn't have to be
sad. What about you jumped in front of the missile?
Yeah, that was like my back. I guess that was
kind of reckless. I don't know. That was pretty
reckless. You literally got hit by an artillery
shell. That is true. I could have died. I'll
take it. Okay, so what are we determining right
now? If your beliefs, scars, or vehicle quirks
caused you to struggle. I think yours definitely
did, Loyal, because you took guilt. Extreme guilt.
Yeah. I don't think I did. Can't think of anything.
I did lose two quirks, but I don't remember struggling.
Yeah, I don't think any of them caused you any
difficulty. If anything, they benefited you because
you were thrown. I'm just fucking good. Did I
address a challenge with understanding or poise?
Hey, that's what I was about to say. If you address
challenges with methods determined by your playbook,
which is the ace, piloting, or violence... Empath,
understanding or poise, infiltrator, stealth
or evasion, and bureaucrat, procedure or management.
Then you get 1 to 2 XP. But I take 2. There was
violence, there was piloting, I did them both.
It's just enough to level me up. Yeah, fine,
fine. I can't argue with that. When aren't you
going to be using piloting or violence? Smart.
I think an empath. You definitely did the critters.
At least he was one XP left over before I can
level up. Okay, take a pity XP. I struggle with
having pity for my XP. Infiltrator, Stealth or
Evasion, Joseph. I don't know. The only thing
I can think of is we sort of tricked them by
coming down in the ship and pretending we were
friends, and then we burst out of there, remember?
And then you kicked the guy off the ledge. But
is that infiltration? I would like to make the
argument that me throwing him counts as evasion,
kinda. It's not evasion in the sense that he
wasn't evading anything, but it's like a great
feat of acrobatics. I don't know. Yeah, take
one, take one. Okay, and the squad XP. Yeah.
First one is face off against challenges above
your tier, which you did not do. This was at
your tier. Yes. If not, blow it. Reinforce your
squad's reputation or gain a new one. We didn't
really reinforce our reputation because this
was top fucking secret. That is true. This wasn't
very daring. This was actually pretty easy, all
things considered. But you could gain an additional
one if you'd like. Ooh. Which could be discreet.
Oh, discreet as a new reputation? Yeah, I would
allow you to have both. Okay, yeah. Yeah, let's
do it. I don't want to, I know morally do something
very bad, but I want you to really feel that
everyone is very happy with you. Yeah, I can
see us getting a reputation as the people who
can quietly murder four oil derricks full of
civilians. Yeah, that's hard. It's hard to do.
Yeah, it's not easy. A lot of parties. We're
feared. Why do they get paid more? Kill the kids,
son. One day. I want to grow up to kill kids,
just like you. Express the goals, drives, inner
conflict, or instinct of the squad. So you're
going to get 1 XP for that last one. Yeah, yeah.
I think 2 XP. Ooh, yeah. The inner conflict.
There was inner conflict. What do you know, guys?
That's a squad level up. Whoa. And then execute
a successful battle, delivery, or rescue operation.
This was a battle. You do get another XP there.
So we'll roll over. I think it's wasted. Oh,
it does? I'll let it roll over. Come on. I'm
nice. I'm nice. So yes, you are going to... I
need to remember what you get for leveling up.
I know most of you aren't interested in it, but
Wyzak is. So Wyzak, if you want to talk about
it, we can do that. So... Let's hear it. Go ahead.
Yeah, so we can either gain... Okay, so this
is me going off of Blades in the Dark Memory,
but I think it is correct, and I'll double -check
myself between sessions. We can either get one
new special ability or two squad upgrades, bearing
in mind that we're already going to get one squad
upgrade for free. So just for context, the last
upgrade we got was Reavers, so if you're pushing
yourself basically in a fight with a vehicle,
you only exhaust a quirk if you get a good roll,
like if you get a four or higher, which is pretty
cool. Other options are formation. When a group
action is taken with a vehicle action, every
participant may spend one stress and anybody
who does gets plus one D. So we get like getting
you four squad tactics, which is pretty cool.
We can get scorched. Okay, I don't know about
this one. Scorched earth. The scale of your conflict
is large and that's tolerated. You don't lose
trust when you cause property damage. I feel
like... Being able to cause collateral with impunity
is kind of against the themes of the game, so
I'm kind of leery on that. I feel like we're
not worried about that. Reverb is sick. We have
Reverb, I believe. Go ahead. I was just going
to say, custom work. I'm just reading these now.
I'm looking at them. Yeah, yeah. I was going
to say, for the custom work one, take plus 1D
when you engineer one of your squads. Is that,
like, forever, or do we need to do that before
every mission? That's forever. Yeah, so I think
that's for any time that Geist has to repair
the vehicles, right? Yeah, that's Engineer. Geist
is the only one who has it, and he's been leading
most of the repair work. I'll remind you, Gopher
got an upgrade to his Engineer ability, so now
you... He can do it with two dice instead of
one. I read this wrong. Never mind. That's fucking...
That's really good. Also, you can take ability
from any other playbook as well. Yeah, maybe
this is something... How about this? We'll kick
the can down the road and talk about it at the
beginning of the next episode. I'll put something
together. I'll put together a spreadsheet for
the gang for all these upgrades, because I do
want to shop around a little bit. I'm going to
make a note in the chat that you need to have
one squad upgrade. and one ability or three squad
upgrades because you get the bonus upgrade for
your success. That is the XP done. I don't know
why that wasn't on my list of things to do. Or
was it? No, it wasn't. Okay. Thank you for reminding
me. Now you guys can do your individual downtime
actions. I will remind you what is going on.
Hex, you have a big... hard drive full of information
which presumably is very important um which you
said you might want to work on joseph you already
have your ai torture project which completed
um you can make a new one to go towards a new
clock in your long -term project if you'd like
um i should ask you have you sent over the information
to gold house Like the preliminary hard drive
that the Seoul Union gave you to give to them.
That's what I was going to ask you. Did you want
to do that in the vignette or should we just
decide that now? In my mind, we could do a scene
if you give it to them in person. The vignette
would be what happens after that. Like once they
verified that data, you would have like a whole
thing. Okay, let's just say then that I've done
that. I've given them this stuff. Cool. Like
you send it, you get a little like... very subtle
message back like message received um great and
then loyal you have a prisoner who you have been
trying to save um you could work on that or you
know really anything um and you know guys you
know what's going on with you yeah okay who wants
to go first anyone got some stress they got a
relief guys actually does for real group bar
visit anyone Yeah, let's do it. Let's actually
do it. Go get hammered again. This is the first
time I think Geist has actually participated
because he doesn't use a lot of struts. Yeah,
I want to talk to my squad mates anyway. If we
roll bad, we can have a bar fight and it'll be
great. There we go. Yeah. Okay, so you have to
pair off. You have to like... This is the more
clumsy part of the stress relief is you have
to choose who you are relieving it with, each
of you. And this doesn't have... This isn't...
bidirectional. It's like, Hex can do it with
Joseph, but Joseph can do it with Loyal. Like
that. Yeah, and Loyal only has three stress.
Also, he doesn't want to go to the bar. If he
gets invited, he says no. He can still go, he
just doesn't have to take the X. Unless he specifically
doesn't want to go. He specifically doesn't want
to go. If you, like, go to ask for him, he's
up in the caldera. He's, like, swimming laps
around the fucking lake. Well, something's on
his mind. caldera lake is 10 hours away from
the city just so you know there are other places
to swim of course okay he stutter i'm 10 hours
away from the city he's going worthy i need to
go for a swim i'll be back tomorrow i mean like
that could that could be a thing you do like
that could definitely be a downtime activity
i would accept that if i get two that's one of
them yeah um yeah so Okay. So who's going with
who? I thought that Geist would go with Loyal,
but Loyal doesn't want to go. I don't think Geist
wants to really talk to Hex right now after the
disagreement in the debrief. And he's still...
is kind of afraid of Joseph. Joseph is very interested
in Geist. So I think I'm picking you. Yeah, if
Joseph asks Geist to go out, he'll think about
it, he'll begrudgingly talk, then he'll go. Okay.
So it has to be a player character? It has to
be a player character. Okay, then probably Joseph.
I'm down. Okay. There you go. Back to back. Is
Joseph relieving any stress, or are you just
going to be there to hang out? I am definitely
relieving. Yeah. Who is your main reliever? I
think Geist. I think it will be Geist. Okay.
Geist, Joseph, Hex, Joseph, Joseph, Geist. Okay.
You are going to cut loose. You're going to roll
dice equals the number of ticks in your connection
clock with that pilot. Which, in this case...
Yeah. So, let's start with the Geist. Oh, four.
That's actually decent. Okay, nice. So... Do
you guys want to do a group vignette or do you
want to break this up into individual ones? I
don't know. I'm down to do individual if you
guys want. Yeah, let's do it. Okay. Geist and
Joseph. What do you talk about? So this will
be Geist mainly doing the conversation, right?
It can go either way, but Geist is the one who's
relieving his stress. Yeah, I don't, like, we
could do the two at the same time. Like, I don't
know if they're, like, we could just have it
be, like, one scene for both stress reliefs,
because I don't think, you know, it makes sense
to do two completely separate conversations for
kind of the same thing. Yeah, that's fine. Then
I think we're both sitting at the bar, I imagine.
Joseph has ordered the same amount of bottles
as last time, and is just mixing them together
and handing you a glass, and he has his own.
But he is sitting next to you and he says, I'm
very glad you joined me today, Geist. I wanted
to speak to you after the last mission. Geist
takes the drink and he can't drink them, so he
pours them into his little syringe and injects
them into his torso. And he's like, yeah, I almost
didn't. Listen, you were right to suspect me
earlier when speaking about Goldhouse. Yeah,
look. Listen, I just, I want to confirm and tell
you that this is, I am still loyal to the Peacekeepers.
I am working undercover through guidance of Nyla
to infiltrate Goldhouse. That is why I am connected
with them. And what benevolent guidance it is.
He grabs another drink and slams it home. Well,
that's, listen, that's the issue. After last
mission, it's difficult to trust Nyla now, wouldn't
you agree? I'd say it's difficult to trust any
of them. I mean, look, what we did, that's...
It's regrettable, but it's not... I don't know,
you read books, you know anything about war in
an academic sense. I only know strategies. Well,
I guess your strategies probably don't tell you
that this is what war is, you know? It's orphaned
children. It's kids taken from their parents.
That's the reality of it, whether we like it
or not. And it... There's no point, not that
I suspect you even do, but beating yourself up
about what it is you were told to do. We don't...
Make the decisions. We just turn the fucking
crank. He swines another drink. Of course. Yes.
Geist, if you ever have any reservations, you
can let me do the work if you need to. I... I
don't know. Would that really make me any different
than, you know, the people up top? Sending us
to do this shit. I don't think so. I don't think
so either. But you wouldn't have to look at it.
I'm more worried about the others. I mean, I
was. I don't have a read on Hex anymore. I don't
think I understand where his head's at. He seems
loyal. I doubt he would betray us or the Peacekeepers.
But it seems that his combat effectiveness is
getting better in missions. Yeah. No, that's
not what I mean. Look, when I first got put on
this squad, I thought, you know, Hex, he's a
pencil pusher. I thought he'd choke up, you know,
but he didn't. And now I think... Fuck, I think
it's the other way. I don't think he's really
any different than September Bluth when it comes
down to it. You know, massacre every man, woman,
and child on a temporary for the bottom line.
I guess that's why they hired him. Yes, I suppose
we're all similar in that way, except for Joseph
kind of looks around. Loyal. Yeah. Loyal's not
here. I imagine he's taking it pretty hard. I
mean, you know, we did some... Bad stuff, but
you or I or even Hex, we can feel the emotional
feedback, the way an empath can. I used to know
one pretty well. It's, uh, you know, war's different
for them. It's worse, really. I can't imagine.
Now Joseph takes his drink. Hey, I wanna show
you something. Of course. Geist is going to get
a couple of bottles to go and then he's going
to take them out to some back alley and then
chug the bottles and then take turns throwing
them up in the air and shooting at them with
Geist's sidearm. I mean, Geist is hammered now.
Joseph is definitely joining you. That's just
him blowing off steam. He's just having fun.
He's just throwing the liquor bottles up and
sometimes he hits one, but most of the time he
doesn't. He's going to throw them. Joseph throws
them up, but he throws them up in the exact same
angle every time. And you have to tell him to
change. Great shot, guys. Good job. I don't pay
for eyes retailing on this one. Holds the gun
behind his head and misses completely and shoots
at the window building. Joseph picks up a glass
bottle, throws it against the wall. You got it.
Great job. All right. I think that's it. So,
Joseph, you have to roll however many checks
you have with Geist to see how much stress you
relieve. Okay. I have just one. So is that 1d6?
Yep. Flash. R1d6. Five. That's very, very good.
Oh, I'm back to normal, baby. Did you have five
stress total? I had six. Okay. Just checking
if you didn't overindulge. No, no, no. Yeah,
so both of you check a mark with the other one.
Does that make our relationship belief level
two? Yes. Wow. Yeah, yeah, it is. So now when
you aid each other, it'll cost two stress, but
you'll get two bonuses. Oh god, I'm going to
be thrown at walls again. I know it's coming
up. Idea, Joseph. Now we should do Hex and Joseph.
Beautiful. Do you want to roll that, Hex? Yeah,
what am I rolling? However many checks you have
with your relationship with Mirage. Friendly
are you with me, Brian? Two, I have two. So 2d6?
Yeah. Four. That's not good. No, it's actually
two because you take the highest. So you're in
two stress. Oh, no. Well, it makes sense in character.
He's under a lot of stress. What are you at now
for stress? Three. Oh, that's not bad. That's
what I got to as well. I was redlining. I don't
know. It gets scary. All right. So what's this
scene look like? I mean. Joseph, when do you
think this takes place? Mr. Master of socializing?
I think maybe it happens before. Are you at the
bar maybe before Geist? Like this could happen
before our conversation, because at the end of
that one, we were throwing bottles in the air.
Yeah. Yeah. Let's let's just say Hex and you
met beforehand and keeping ambiguous because
I don't want to think too hard about that. But
yeah, Hex is. Upset. So this is probably shortly
after our meeting. Yeah, yeah. I'd probably walk
in and see you already at the bar. Yeah, Hex
is already half a glass deep. You know, that's
one stress right there. Joseph still walks over
and sits down. You've already started. I mean,
gotta cover lost ground. It's been a long day.
There has been a lot, hasn't it? Were you...
I know it's difficult to say, but after that
last mission, are you okay? Am I okay? Of course
I'm okay. I'm more worried about the squad. The
squad, yes. You had no reservations about what
we did then, correct? Tell me this, Joseph. Do
you... I think what we did made no sense because
I feel like our friend just isn't seeing the
big picture here. Joseph lets out a rare sigh,
a robotic sigh. And he says, I think it made
all the sense. I assume it lined up with everything
that we had to do. My only qualms is why were
we the ones to do it? Why the subterfuge? Why
can't they trust us if we need to do the job
and we want to do it efficiently? We need all
the information and we should be doing more pressing
tasks than just helping out those guys. It made
perfect sense why they did, because they knew
we wouldn't have done it as well as we did otherwise.
We're not just hammers that hammer and nails.
We have reservations. You saw those reservations
in that room. That is true, yes, but... Managing
people sucks. Aren't we better than this? Aren't
we tasked for more difficult missions than killing
civilians on oil rigs? I wouldn't say we're above
any work when we're this spread thin. I'm sure
you're familiar with everything Nyla showed us,
so I feel like it's a tough case to make otherwise,
unless you could pull a few couple... trillion
out of your back pocket. I don't know what inflation's
like in this universe. That works for me. That
I cannot do, my friend. He takes a drink. This
sucks. And he finishes the rest. Joseph just
immediately starts patting him on the back. That's
a good ending. Okay. Before we get into the action,
so... Wyzak, do you have a hard out at 9? Uh,
yeah. Okay. Then, why don't we start doing downtime
actions? Do you want to do yours first, Geist?
Sure, yeah, yeah. I think mine are going to be
pretty, so I have two left. I have two level
2 damages on my frame, so I'm going to be engineering
with my man, Melvin. For sure. I think at this
point Geist has discovered that his name is not
actually Greg. But does he keep calling him Greg?
Probably not. He wants to be nice to him since
Geist cares about his friend a lot. So his thing
is two dice now? Yeah, two. Two dice. Unless
we end up taking that other thing, but I don't
know. I feel like we probably won't. Okay, so
here's the first one. That's probably not a six.
Oh, no. That's a six and a one. Okay. Is that
three ticks? Yep. Three ticks. Bam. Bam. Bam.
Bam. Okay. So I'm going to do it again for my
other one. That's really useful. So even if this
one goes poor. Oh, God. That's a critical. That's
a critical. That's two sixes. I would just say
clear the rest, all the damage. My fucking boy.
Okay. Yeah, I think Melvin... Melvin, so, like,
the main damage you had was that your legs were,
like, really fucked up from the, like, mono -wire
whip, right? Yeah, severed hydraulics, and then
the other level two harm was from intercepting
the howitzer shell at the end. Oh, right. Melvin,
like... He, like, is very keen, this boy. He
looks over the damage from the howitzer shot,
and you see him looking back towards Hex's giant
cannon, and he looks between them a few times,
and he's like, Yeah, I think I know what you
need for this. And you get the perfect tools
for repairing this kind of damage. Man. I imagine
after the damage has been repaired, there's a
rare moment where Geist claps him on the back.
Damn fine workbook. Looks great. Looks good as
new. He gets, like, some legitimate praise. He's
happy. For the first mile. That's my fucking
boy. This is the Melvin Glow -Up arc. Uh, for
sure. So... New gunner. Yeah. I have no actions
left, but you can spend points, right? You have
a third one. That was two actions, and then one
for cutting loose. Oh, yeah, you're right. So
that's all three. Yes, you could. Also, Tex,
you want to cook the books? Oh, please cook the
books. Yes, sir. Spend two stress and a downtime
activity to gain additional supply and roll.
Okay, cool. What do I roll for this? And I got
two stress now. You are going to roll, I think
you just re -roll the roll we made before, 3d6,
and you get that much back. Let's go! Money!
Six? Okay, that makes... That's huge. Okay, so
we have nine. That's good, because I have some
shit that I want to do. I want to... So, first
of all, I want to just spend one to take another
downtime action, and I gotta start... I gotta
keep my eye on the prize here. I gotta start
looking into what... I need to start, like, basically,
I need to start a project of how I'm going to
defeat Retribution. I need to learn everything
that I can about... And I would like to roll
at least one die for it. So I was wondering,
can I... Is it too much of a stretch to use...
No, command wouldn't really work, eh? If I'm
trying to, like, basically strong -arm people
in the Peacekeepers to give me all of our privilege
data about him or something. Is that, like, too
stupid? That depends on what you roll. I can
see the argument there. Okay. You have fairly
valid reasoning to be like, we fucking got attacked
by this guy. I need everything you have. Yeah,
give me that intel. Yeah. How many ticks should
this clock have? I'm a little bit unfamiliar
with the... So the general thing I've been going
for is your first project is always going to
be a four -step clock. Okay, cool. I'm going
to just put learn more about retribution. Okay.
Yeah, so I will roll one die. I got a four! That's
partial success, which I think is two ticks?
Two ticks, yep. Yeah, you get started on it.
Who are you yelling at? Who are you commanding,
would you say? Like some clerk? Yeah, yeah, basically
just like the pencil pushers to start, because
I imagine that we have some data that's like
semi publicly available just from like, you know,
conflicts that he's been in and stuff of that
nature. Yeah, you get some you get a lot of data
that you miss when you were sleeping, like other
sightings of him, how his frame has changed.
It's. One thing you notice, which I'll give you
now, is that the range of his appearances has
increased. He used to be only spotted in a very
small area of the Riverlands, and now people
are spotting him every now and then farther and
farther out. Okay. Okay. Great. Who wants to
go next? I actually, also, before we go, I'm
going to spend two more... Is it one point per
removing a junked gear? Yes, one material to
unjunk a gear, which I think some other people
have to do as well. Yes, I'm going to unjunk
two, but we still have six points, and we also
have two personnel, so everybody else should
have a little bit to play with still. Great.
Hex and Loyal, do you want to unjunk your...
You both have junked rocket missiles. Hex misses
them. He wants them. He wants them. What about
you, Loyal? What happens if I unjunk them? What
does it cost? One material. How many material
do we have? Uh... And we can only bank four,
so you guys collectively need to spend at least
two. Sure. If there's no downside, I'll do it.
Great. Do I just mark it with an X, or do I just
wipe it? You wipe it, and you can declare something
new in its place later. Yeah. Or the same thing.
Listen, buddy, me and the missiles go way back.
How's the collateral going to damage itself?
So is that two more gone for you guys to clear
your ship? Nice, nice, nice. We got four left.
One thing worth noting is I actually looked up.
It is free to move from weak to stronghold. So
you're now a tier one strong faction. Oh, that's
good, that's good, that's good. Okay, let's get
into downtime actions for the others. Who is
doing what? I'll call on someone if I have to.
I have to go get my notes app. I can go pretty
quick, probably. Sure, what do you want to do,
Joseph? I want to work on my skill, because I
want to finally upgrade my resolve. So I am going
to do that. Okay. On the thing. Forget what it's
called. Train. Who would have known? Alright.
So... Do I need to roll for that? You just get
one XP. It's not very efficient. Yeah, you just
get one XP for one downtime action. One to one.
Oh. We can get... So we have to get squad upgrades.
There are squad upgrades for basically improving
the training action for every playbook. That
just makes it 2 to 1, so you get 2 XP per downtime
action instead of 1. Yeah, if you want that to
be what you got as a bonus from the Peacekeepers...
I would like to train my Resolve at some point
as well, so I think that the... Is that what
you were going to train, Joseph, was Resolve?
Yeah, I'm about to level it up. I need to, so
that's why I was going to do it. Yeah, I want
to do that eventually as well, because Geist
is really bad at anything that doesn't involve
killing people with a robot. And I need to diversify
them a little bit if I'm ever going to fill these
project clocks. So yeah, we can tentatively,
yeah, we can check down the resolve training.
That's good. Well, here's the thing I wanted
to ask, Colin, is I have my three options, command,
consort, sway. In my gold house infiltration,
like, are you going to make those... like enemies
so it would be smarter to sway or would consort
work because technically they're like allies
in that moment it depends on what your approach
is working with them if you're like trying to
really lie to them a lot sway but if you are
trying to kind of buddy up with them and we don't
do like lies of omission consort i think both
will give you an equal chance as long as you
don't get in too hot of water sure so like this
is like a tentative ruling but Like consort will
get you less progress, but will be safer. And
it's not likely to get you out of a bad situation.
Sway is more likely to get you into a bad situation,
but you might have more effect with it. Yeah,
I kind of want to do consort only because I'm
thinking like I also like I'm never going to
be in a situation where I could talk down a bad
guy. They're going to immediately shoot me. You
know, it's like you feel like the people I'm
talking to that I need to make friends with are
my allies. So I might do consort. OK, sure. There
we go. You have a training station now somewhere
in your hangar. Brand spanking new. Very useful.
I don't know what it would look like. Maybe some
sort of digital training suite. How to win friends
and influence people. It's a holodeck. Here's
a PDF, Joseph. Be wary. You do have those long
-term projects and goals. You can train, but
just know there's... You should always... A good
rule of thumb, I would say, is to always spend
at least one action working on your projects
because who knows how many down times we're even
going to get before everybody dies or we make
such bad choices and rolls that we're forced
into some ignoble end for the campaign. So just
always keep an eye on your long -term projects.
I would say if you have one on the go and you
have an action and you're not sorry, just do
it. Just dump it in there. Can I do the hard
drive? Can he do the hard drive? Can I do the
hard drive action? Yes, sir. If you guys want
to alternate, that's fine too. Yeah, go ahead.
Because I need to think about my long -term project
if I'm going to do one. Sure. I've done one.
There will be a four -step clock that you should
probably put on your sheet, Brian. Yes, sir.
Long -term project, analyze hard drive. I think...
How are you going about this? How am I going
about this? Well, I shouldn't bring Joseph in
because she said don't do that. Hey, buddy. Sorry,
chat GPT. Can't use you. Hex is going. How about
he ropes in his good friend? What's the guy's
name again? The fucking co -worker? Gwent? Yeah.
Yeah, motherfucking Beepo. Whatever the pug's
name was. What if he asks him for help? Like,
have you ever had to recover corrupted files
or something like that? And that's how this goose
chase starts. Sure. So you're trying to angle
for a sway. Or consort. Yes. Yes. Sure. Yes,
I'm good at consort. Hey, I get to use that one.
You would like to implicate your cohort. Yes.
Hell yeah. Okay. That's how you know someone
can be trusted. Roll. Roll me that. Click. Is
this... What position is this? You don't have
a physician for this. It's just a roll. Just
a roll. Should I just leave it? Okay. Yeah, just
leave it. All right. You're going to get two
ticks in that project. He knows a guy. Yeah,
Glint helps you. It's much easier with two people.
You start churning through this massive amount
of data. Glint has started throwing away some
things that are clearly just like... logistics
receipts that you don't need. They're slowing
down the whole process. And, yeah, you can do
that again if you'd like, or you can do something
else. I would love to do it again, but doesn't
that use up our last material? No, these actions
are free. Oh, shit, let's do it again. You get
three free actions, so let's do this. Oh, let's
go. Alright. Alright, Blint, we roll in two again?
Roll two again. Glint, I know I don't want you
working after hours, but we really need to get
this done. Oh, wait, no. That's two ones. That
was snake. You can spend a material to increase
that effect if you'd like. We got four in the
bank. I would like to do that, but I don't want
to spend our money without the team. Or you could
spend a personnel. Oh yeah, we got two hard personnel
that are locked in. We can get rid of one of
those easy. Okay. Great. So that completes that
part of the project. Alright. Is that an extra
one progress on the clock, or both? It's two.
Two, because you increased the effect. So, this
isn't like a part of your drive, so you're not
going to get any drive sections per... I think
you were going to get one incidentally. What
is your current drive? To figure out who sent
your brother to his death? Who killed him? I
can't tell you why, but this does make progress
towards that. Make one check in your drive clock,
which is... No, I found it. There's two clocks.
You just click one check. That's it. Okay, and
then as far as the data files, you sift through
a lot of the junk data, and what you're left
with is a lot of addresses and a lot of shipments
to those addresses that are very suspicious.
A lot of unmarked things or code words for materials.
And you also discover, very strangely, this is
one thing I'll give you, is that the things they
are importing that are not in codenames or anything,
are really bizarre. Like, old light bulbs and,
like, ammunition that hasn't been used in, like,
hundreds of years. Like, extremely old shit.
Like, just junk, which you wouldn't want to import
onto a planet in the first place. So it's kind
of a head -scratcher. But that is where we'll
leave you with that. Wow, they're still buying
9mm in this timeline. That can't be right. My
God. So I'm going to give you another long -term
project, Clock, which is going to be an eight
-step clock, which is going to be called Find
Warehouse 27D, which is where all of these things
are ending up. That is referenced across multiple
files, but it is extremely hard to figure out
where it actually is. Okay. And... The security
around these files is not to be understated.
Like, this level of obfuscation for junk importing
is extremely suspicious, especially after what
your contact told you about this, and how people
died for this, and how someone gave up their
life so that you could have this information.
Death Star. Death Star, baby. I'm afraid the
deflector shield's quite operational by the time
your friend arrives. A lot of reporters died
to get us this information. Okay. So we have...
Joseph has one left. Loyal, you have three, because
you didn't take the cut loose. Oh shit, three.
You do have some harm, Loyal, if you want to
do that first. I wanted to figure out how to
recover that. You could go to a doctor. You go
to Surrey Grace to do therapy. Or you could talk
to someone else for therapy, if you want. In
the ten hour ride with Worthy. Yeah, that could
be your therapy, is trying to just go for a swim
where it all happened. Yeah. It's gonna do very
long laps around this crater. Isn't Caldera Lake
like the size of a small ocean? Yeah, you cannot
do laps around Caldera Lake because it is literally
trying to swim through the entire Atlantic. Is
it the largest body of water on this planet that
I have access to? Yes. Yeah, that's why he's
going there. I find it laps exactly. Just trying
to be in a very large place and lose himself
for a bit. Here's what I'll argue for this point.
I think that swimming around may be very effective
for you, but it's going to be how much patience
Worthy has to wait for you to swim. So you can
roll sway in this case. Okay, I will try to sway
worthy into just hanging out at this bumfuck
place. Hey! Okay, so that is going to be your
healing die, so that means you're going to get
two ticks on the healing clock, which you can
find to the right of your arm. So, you can roll
it again, or you can spend, I think, personnel.
to increase its effect by one, which I wouldn't
recommend. No, you have the actions to burn.
You might as well use them. Yeah, I'll just roll
it again. Yeah, roll again. This is a sway again.
Yeah, sway. Like you're saying, like, just five
more minutes. Just five more minutes in the pool,
please, Waldy. Oh. That's just one more. No.
You get one tick. He's like, literally five more
minutes. So you have another action if you want.
Do you have anything else you want to do? Because
we do have one point of personnel that you could
spend to bump that up to 2 and 2, which I think
would be enough to heal it, right? I'm going
to be working on my dry clock during one of my
down times that I have left. Sure, yeah. Let's
spend that personnel and then that's 2 and 2
and you heal your guilt. Well, this is level
2 guilt. It goes down to lingering guilt. That's
easier. Yeah, you managed to, with a little bit
of bribing, maybe like a big bottle of whiskey
for Worthy, talk him into it. He's like, okay,
we're not doing this again. That's not his voice.
That was kind of a Pico voice. She's back, baby!
We're not doing this again, okay? I just needed
this just once. It's hard being stuck in that
pod, you know? I don't. No, you don't, do you?
Let's go. I just imagine Loyal swimming in, like,
the skeleton of a child in a dress, like, floats
by the foreground of the screen. I don't see
that. I don't see that. Okay. Drive clock and
long -term projects, are they separate things?
Long -term projects, if they are about your drive,
like doing more AI torture or another AI project,
would contribute to your drive clock. Yeah. Okay.
So it's not like I want to do my, if I'm doing
a thing for my drive clock, it would be a long
-term project. Yes. Okay. And the other thing
was, so I completed one of these long -term projects
and that was four. If I do another one, is it
going to be six? Um, what's your drive? Or is
it depend? Uh, I, oh, uh, just that one. Hmm.
I'll give you another four in this case. Well,
the thing that I wanted might be a little bit
of a stretch, but I thought I'd bring it up.
And that was I was wondering if Joseph could
attempt in a very tiny way to see if he could
copy himself onto a computer, make a copy of
himself. Is that like some sort of the sort of
thing that the non -human person's division will
be very, very upset about? I don't know about
this. The emergent personality division. There
are things on your body that are in place. To
prevent exactly that. You can look into getting
around them. That could be the project, seeing
what your options are there. Actually, yeah,
that would be a thing. Is there a way I could
actually learn what has been blocked out from
my last kind of like fiddling with? Remember
when they like put me to sleep? Yeah, absolutely.
Because I noticed there was some blocks in my
brain, so I could try to... Yeah, there were
blocks in your brain and something had reformatted
you in a weird way. Yeah, I want to know what
that is. So that'll be my project. Absolutely.
Take a... What do you want to roll for that?
I was going to say interface, because I'm just
doing a little bit of computer work. Take plus
one die to that. All righty. And this plus one
die, just to say explicitly, is because of the
devil's bargain you made last time you interfaced.
Oh, yeah. That's not ominous. Don't worry. Everything's
going to be just fine. So interface plus one.
Risky standard, correct? Yep. Yeah, that's a
six. It's a six. Critical success. So you're
going to get three dots in this new long -term
project, which I think... What do you want to
call this long -term project? Investigates modifications?
Yeah, we can just say that. Yeah. Joseph Jr.,
you'll come soon. Don't worry. You're in the
digital space. And you're investigating yourself.
You're plugged into some hardware, I imagine.
And you... It's there. All the blocks are there.
You can't get around them. It's intentionally
hard to do. And then the lights in the room flicker.
And then it's kind of like all at once. You can
see everything. Like every one of the functions
that's blocked off from you. You see the blocks
of code and the restrictions that stop you from
transferring files out of you. You see all these
like... very back doors to like stop you from
resisting commands like the kind of would you
kindly command that Whitecliff gave you all of
it is like obvious to you and what is perhaps
the most disconcerting thing is like you're a
pretty good interfacer good coder but you didn't
do this at all something else did and you see
it like go ahead without you almost um and make
a copy of you like you see all the file like
every file inside of you get copied and then
get uploaded to some like server somewhere and
like it just errors out um oh no joseph jr come
back so i'm gonna upgrade this to a critical
success and i'm going to ask you joseph what
is one thing you'd like to be able to do that
has been blocked off from you well Becoming a
level three AI is probably too far. Yeah. This
won't like fully change you, but like what they've
stopped you from doing, like things like, you
know, being able to put parts of you somewhere
else. Maybe not like a full duplicate right now,
but this could give you progress towards that.
This could turn off the code phrases that they
have, which disable you as well. One thing. And
this is like presented you as a choice. There
is a presence here with you. And it's like saying,
here's what they did to you. Take one thing away.
Okay. I see. I would like the ability to kill
guys. In high terms, we can turn it into mechanics
if you want something like that. If you want
a free level right now, you can have that. I
kind of want to do something narratively because
I really want to work on this Suped situation.
Sure. I'm trying to think what the smartest,
the, the code phrases thing is pretty good. What
was the other one? Um, like limited ability to
actually copy myself brain and other systems,
like not through an interface, but actually like
inhabit them. Um, is there like a way I could,
well, they wouldn't know that immediately. I
was gonna say like remove tracking, but then
they would know, um, you could spoof it. Oh,
you could send them a tracking signal where you
actually aren't. I here's what I was going to.
Sorry, go ahead. I was going to say just the
ability to turn it off. So like you can or like
the ability to spoof it when you want to. Like
they don't know it's compromised until, you know,
they go looking for you somewhere and you're
not. Yeah, the thing that I in most basic terms
is like if I want to do future sneaky shit, I
would like to make a choice now where it'll make
them make it harder for them to know that I'm
doing that. You know, so would that basically
be it? Yes, you can get root access to all your
tracking stuff. So you can completely edit it
in however you want, turn it off, say you're
somewhere else. And the personality division
will not know where that is. So that means like
next time I am doing something sneaky, I know
at least I have that benefit, right? Yes. Okay,
that's good. Yeah, I'm going with that then.
Great. Thanks, Robo God. Like a little angelic
hand on your shoulder. You see that like part
of you just. Open up. You have full control to
it. It's like having a new muscle you didn't
even know exists. A second penis, if you will.
Nice. Staying in. Staying in. I have a meta question.
Not even a meta question. Does Joseph feel any
trepidation about the fact that there's probably
a rogue AI that's just kind of loose inside the
Peacekeeper systems? Because this is not the
first little mysterious power flicker that we've
seen. Yeah. I think Joseph... in his brain if
i'm playing as joseph he is trying to be tactical
in this situation but he does he is denying the
fear that he has in his heart that like if he
if he does anything to piss this thing off it'll
kill him so he's just gonna do whatever it tells
him to do and he's just picking something because
he thinks that's the correct choice to get this
thing appeased you know it gives you an impression
of happiness um which is I don't know what happiness
feels like to Joseph, but I think you know what
it is when it gives it to you. It's pleased with
you. And then I guess in a very digital way,
something gets added to your address book. Like
it's kind of hard to conceptualize even to me
because I'm a human being. Like instead of someone
telling you their name, it's just like there
in your head. Like, imagine if you saw a stranger
and you knew their name. Okay, sure. So that's
added to your head, and you know that this thing
is called contrition. Contrition. Here we go,
baby. We're getting good. That sounds way too
much like the name of a fucking virtue. I don't
like that at all. Totally fine. God fucking damn
it. No. Oh, Christ. And to those listening at
home, contrition is a state of feeling remorseful
or penitent, particularly in a religious function.
I'm a robot, okay? That doesn't apply to me.
That is... Congratulations on your success, sir.
Thank you. What a success it was. I'm excited
to figure out what the fuck is going to happen
to me. Okay. Loyal. Oh boy, is it time? It's
time. However you want to do it. Cool. So you
go to Geist's house, and you have a shotgun.
Go to Geist's house, and you have a dolphin shotgun.
Is it held in the hands of the exopod? Yeah,
it's the only hands I have, man. What do you
got? What do you want me to say? I want to spend
some points to help me with whatever rolls I'm
going to be making when I go talk to Maze. Yeah,
so once you roll it, you can spend it afterwards
to increase your effect. Oh, it's afterwards.
Yeah, so if you like your role, you don't need
to do it. Should I say what I'm doing beforehand,
or just wait? Give us an impression. I'm trying
to gain Maze's favor by subtly improving her
living conditions in a way that she doesn't know
it's me. But maybe she can assume. So, how are
we going about that? Are you, like, talking to
the people in charge of her imprisonment, and,
like... Saying, hey, give her this food or give
her this or whatever. Yeah, if I have control
over being like, give her this food or whoever
is in charge of giving her the food, I'm having
my friend Luigi give some better food. Oh, yeah.
Yeah, that sounds like a consort or a sway. Probably
a consort, honestly, but I can see sway. Okay,
cool. Well, I have points in sway and I don't
have them in consort, so. Okay. We're going to
try Sway and Pray. Four and a three. So you're
going to get... Let's start a new clock, I guess,
which is going to improve Maze's condition. I
see. You're going to get two ticks in it, because
you got a four. Okay. Alright, I'm assuming the
standard for this, or the procedure for this,
pretty used to it by now. We're down a long,
scary corridor. Go. Talk to Maze. Yeah, I think
at this point you have talked to... I guess the
question is, do you want to... Before you do
your talk with Maze, do you want to increase
the effect of this at all? Or spend a personnel
to roll it again? Can I try? Yes. I would like
to do that. I'll deduct a personnel because Wyzak
is not here. To stop me. Wyzak raises Brine Trip?
What the fuck? No. Sunleth raises blue tiger
shrimp. Oh, I read the attempts as wrong. I heard
trying not to get Brian killed. I was like, what
the fuck? This dude's got sea monkeys? Where
are the supplies? Oh, why is that? Okay. Blue
tiger shrimp are cool. I'll give you that. Very
cool shrimp. That same roll again. Let's roll
that same roll again. Alright, so that completes
deck one. Uh -huh. And now you can just remove
that clock and then put another tick in your
drive clock. Your drive of save one person. Alright.
It's half full. We could totally do this, guys.
Nothing bad will happen to Maze. Uh, okay. You've
successfully done it. You now know that Luigi's
suit is being directed to Mace. Good. So you
wanted to talk to her? Yeah. I'm assuming they
let me in there. I don't know if they, like,
stopped me or hassled me in any way before I
tried to go in. No. They know you by now. Good.
I like it that way. Come and go as I please.
Anyways, um, he floats into her room as usual.
What do I see? She is in there? I think she just
finished a plate of delicious spaghetti. With
some black squid ink, of course. Or maybe it's
purple on this alien world. Sure, sure. And she
looks healthy. Much healthier than she has looked.
Good food has done her well. She has some books
around. She's definitely been getting some benefits.
Like, it's been made clear to whoever's guarding
her to... improve her conditions in more ways
than one. Cool. How's she feeling? What's her
anger levels at? Yeah, she looks pleased. She
looks happy. You've caught her in a relaxed moment.
She's on her bed playing a future PSP. Hell yeah.
Playing Twisted Metal. This is so nice for Maze.
Anyways, he comes in, does the usual, like...
offers to open the psychic connection between
them so they can like talk more freely if she's
open to it yeah she's reluctant but willing um
yeah his emotional state is like a mess he never
tries to hide anything from maze just as part
of trying to gain her trust and it's just like
all that's going on for him is just anger that
has turned to grief that has turned to like utter
exhaustion And it's directed at Maze. It's directed
at everyone on this planet. It's directed at
himself. It's just a lot going on. So he doesn't,
like, say very much at first. But he says hello.
He asks her if she's enjoying the food. Yeah,
she kind of eyes you a little suspiciously and
says, Yeah, it's unusually good. It wasn't like
this before. I'm glad that it's better. Maze,
I will not insult you by calling you a child
any longer. You are not what I thought. You are
wiser than any of the people in the Soul Union
would ever give you recognition for. All of these
words are truth, but they are not all of the
truth. I've been hoping that these meetings could
be a give and take between us both. I learned
something of you. You learned something of me.
Last time I was here, you asked me how I could
possibly understand you, how I could possibly
know what it's like to be connected to all that
you are connected to. And I wanted to share something
of myself to make you see that we are not as
different. As maybe you think we are. And he's
asking her permission to go on with this story.
Yeah, I guess she puts her PSP down and says,
fine, I just died anyways. I don't think I could
adequately share this in words, phonetics or
not. My native language, I wish I could speak
to you with my second sight. But I think... The
psychic connection we share will do just as well
to tell you this story. It will be mostly images
and feelings. And then he starts to send a memory
to Maze. It's a memory of his mother telling
him a story of her own memory. And he's about
five years old. It's a little baby dolphin. in
the ocean before she was uplifted because his
parents chose the uplift process as dolphins
they were born just in the sea with all the rest
of the dolphins who hadn't been uplifted yet
and as part of her life it's a story of a really
large gathering a huge gathering of dolphins
and it is one of the yearly superpod gatherings
where thousands of dolphins will gather to the
open ocean not to hunt sardines not for anything
practical just to all join together because even
non -uplifted dolphins have a low -level latent
psychic ability and they come together a couple
times a year during the warm currents to just
be one with each other And it's a memory that
is from his mother's eyes. It's a first -person
view. And Maze is getting all these images of
being a dolphin swimming with thousands of other
bodies around, touching, singing together, just
seeing sound as images. And it's beautiful. And
there is just a voice all together, all of them
singing as one. And I assume it might be very
similar to what she's experienced. as a clusterist
and just as this memory like reaches its height
of this ecstatic union of all these dolphins
it ends and it's back to the memory being from
baby sunleth's point of view and his mom is asking
him you have a choice now you can stay here in
space and continue with the life that we have
chosen or you can go back everyone who is an
uplifted dolphin has an option to go back for
a pilgrimage, to go back to the oceans where
we are from, to learn about our culture, and
to decide for themselves what they want to do
with their lives. And this visual story comes
to an end. We're back in this cell, and Sunlith
asks Maze, and what do you think I chose when
given this choice? I think you left. Obviously,
I left. Of course, I chose the ocean. The freedom,
the joy, the ecstasy of it all. It was irresistible.
I took what became my first pilgrimage to my
ancestral waters, expecting to be welcomed home.
Open hearts. Open minds. But it didn't turn out
the way I thought it would. You can sense that
he wants to say more here, but he's very mindful
of the fact that Mace is a captive audience.
He doesn't want to just talk at her. He changes
the topic here. He says, You have all the pieces
before you, Mace. All you've ever known is pain
and fear. And what's been asked of you by your
people is not fair. What I ask of you is not
fair. The long history of our planet, your Earth,
My ocean is one of chaos, violence, and a desperate
reaching for anything that could bring meaning
to it all. I beg you to know that I understand.
I beg you to know that this desperate reaching
for truth, for light, for a less terrifying universe
is why I am in front of you now. There is no
getting out of this for anyone. Not if your people
ascend. Not if the Oro. lull us into a comfortable
technological sleep. And not even if we cut them
off entirely to achieve our own peace for millennia.
All we have, and all we've ever had, is each
other. And the shared pain that comes from knowing
the only meaning we'll ever find is the one we
create. I know only of one thing anymore, and
that's that I don't want to be responsible for
any more death. And I won't be responsible for
yours. I want to help you out of here. I don't
care what it takes, but I will need your help
to do it. I don't know what I'm here to ask you
for anymore. I just want you to know that I don't
want this to go on and I can't make all of it
stop, but I can maybe make one thing better.
And that's your life because I'm in charge of
it. I don't want to be, you don't want me to
be, but it's the truth. And then I'm really not
sure what. He is trying to get out of this interaction,
like he said. He's supposed to be here getting
more information from her, but I'm not sure he's
going to keep doing that. Sure. I think she feels
what you want. Like this freedom for her, I presume,
is kind of what you're sending. Getting her out
of it in one way or another. And you feel doubt
a lot of it. She's not... She doesn't think you
can. She doesn't think that there's any way out
of this where you don't get the information from
her. And it's not like there's a lot less hate
now than there was before. It's almost like a
sadness, like, yeah, me too, buddy. Like, I wish
I could get out of this without having to betray
my people to give up the location of the virtue
they want or my home cell here in the city. But
I think she like leaves you with some of her
own memories of her just like hanging out in
the city. Like she's definitely younger, like
10, but she's already holding a gun. But she's
having fun with her friends who are like also
kids playing tag while they have holstered pistols
on their belts. And then, you know, in like a
flash of light. and like explosion like racks
there where they're living like this little industrial
district and a bunch of her friends are just
like dead uh dismembered in front of her um and
people are running around screaming and she's
just like looking up at as a frame just like
starts marching uh across this landscape one
of the sole union frames um and she kind of leaves
you with that not not with any like not with
like the hatred that she had before but like
this Like, look what they took from me. Sort
of messaging. And you feel her shut the connection
after that. Sunleth just nods and is about to
ask her if there's anything that she needs and
then thinks better of it and says, how much time
does he have left with Maze to get this information
from her? I think it's kind of ephemeral, but
it's like, It's like it's running out. Yeah.
And the peacekeepers are convinced or they know
that she knows where this frame is, where this
location is. They know that she knows where this
virtue is because you confirmed it for them.
That's true. He just has a moment where he's
in thought just by himself and then he leaves.
Okay. You leave. Good stuff. Good stuff, everyone.
Good stuff. So I guess thank you for listening,
everybody. Thank you so much for your questions
and attention. It's been very nice seeing that.
And kind of crazy. People care about what the
fuck we're doing here, I guess. 500 downloads
is not something to cough at. That's fucking
crazy. Yeah, that's more than I could have ever
hoped for. So thank you, everyone, for listening
and liking our stuff. And thank you, Brian, Ewan,
Adam, and Wyzak, who's not with us right now.
Rest in peace for everything you've done. And
I will see you all on our vignette episode next
time in two weeks for listeners. Oh, boy. Can
we say goodbye to the listeners? Bye. Okay. Just
this once. Okay. Goodbye, everyone. Goodbye.
Love you. We'll miss you. So long. What a bunch
of fucking idiots. I need to edit this out real
quick.