Geist. In your dream, you stand in the palm of
the changeling's hand, held up above the vast,
bloodied sea beneath you. The frame stands waist
-deep in the blood, looking down at you. Its
sensors glow with awareness and intent. Around
its head is a vast, barbed red crown. Though
you know this cannot be reality, it does not
have the same feeling as the dreams you've shared
before. Rather, it feels as if your entire body
is swimming, your body, your thoughts, submerged
in warm fluid. You are sluggish, buoyant, and
disintegrating, and the world is still and silent.
Uh, do I have any sort of input in this dream?
Can I speak? Yeah. When I try? Absolutely. I
mean, I say that. I don't think Geist would say
anything. I think he would just look back up
at the changeling and then look around. Is there
anybody around or is it just an infinite sea
of blood as far as he can see? Not even a sea,
I guess, if the changeling's only waist deep.
Yeah, there is a sea. There is... I guess you
might see some tipped over buildings poking out
of the blood. Some, like, urban ruins. As you
look around, the hand beneath you kind of shifts.
You feel, impossibly, the flexing of tendons,
the rush of blood as it carries you kind of higher
up towards the cockpit entrance of the changeling,
which slowly opens up with these sticky strands
of thick blood pulling apart as the orifice cracks
apart like a big... Within, in the pulsing darkness,
you see a version of yourself sat inside the
cockpit, stitched into the controls and the chair
with that same red barbed wire. The augments
and prosthetics on that other Geist, both limb
and flesh, have likewise been formed from this
twisted cable. What is inside, which looks vaguely
like you, stares at you blankly, an expression
neither of expectation or curiosity, as if it
cannot know what you will say, or if it already
does. Can I look at my own hands? Mm -hmm. Are
they red and sticky, or are they normal? What
do you want them to be? Oh, fuck. I don't know.
I think... I think that they are also red and
sticky. And then I think Geist is going to, if
he can move, he's going to climb in. He's going
to try and sit inside of himself. Sure. I think
that's a roll. I think actually that is a roll.
Oh, Lord. What do you want to call that? I guess
that depends on what the source of conflict here
is. What is making this not simple? You're trying
to merge with a different part of your own mind,
I guess. Okay. Yeah. I'm looking at the skill
list here. They're not exactly designed for sublime
ego combination. Yeah, I don't even know what
that would be. What does Geist feel like it is?
Even if it's really abstract. I feel almost like
it's like it's command. Like he's trying to force
himself to accept himself so that he can become
himself. You know what I mean? Yeah. Sure. Let's
see it. See you command yourself. This is a sheer
act of will. And I think I miss a partial. Okay,
I'll take it. So I guess with a partial, I'll
let you decide. Do you, in this sticky red space
you find yourself in, with this barbed wire version
of yourself, does Geist feel like he is pushing
towards fulfilling the role that is kind of being
pushed upon him here? Or are you trying to claw
yourself away from it? I think... At this point,
especially after the little breakdown, the little
mental breakdown that he had during the fight
with Sacrifice, if you could call it that, he
realized that at this point, everything that
Loyal said was true, and if he doesn't end up
taking it... somebody worse probably will and
I think the only thing he really has left now
is trying to win the war and I think that he
thinks that this is how it has to be because
if he doesn't if he doesn't become martyrdom
somebody else will and then the Dusklights will
have to fight them and they'll probably all get
killed so I think that's kind of where he's at
with regards to this whole situation so he's
like he's just stepping up to the plate he's
like fuck it I'm gonna do it somebody's gotta
do it It might as well be me. Okay. Yeah, you
sit on yourself. It's like you're just kind of
sitting in the changeling seat. The seat is,
it's like wet and sticky and prickly. Like you
just put a bunch of thorns in a pile of fucking
strawberry jelly almost. And they cut into you.
It almost feels like they're barbed, like they're
sticking. uh you like you're stuck in this seat
now these voices come out of it almost sounds
like it's coming from inside your head not like
you're speaking but like like you're speaking
with your mouth closed and it's not you speaking
um just like a voice from like not behind not
either side but like right on top of you and
the voice says the time fast approaches you are
chosen you are willing You will come to the incarnation.
You will save them. There is no other way. The
shape is laid. The corners are sealed. I think...
I don't think Geist says anything. I think he
clenches his fists, and I think the changeling
also clenches its fists. Images flash in your
mind. You see Sunleth kind of veiled through
a red haze. And he's holding the crown in his
hands and lowering it onto your head. And that
voice says again, Call upon thy magiter to bestow
the crown. He shall be the gate which we shall
pass. And the cockpit closes up and kind of...
The screens don't come on. It's almost like...
Someone is painting on the inside of the cockpit,
like an oil painting of their impression of what
is outside, if that makes sense. These brush
strokes, which almost seem to carve themselves
into the glass screens on the interior of the
cockpit. And this paints the night sky above
you, above this bloody ocean. And the voice says,
You must look upon what is to come. And you see
that in this painting, the stars are almost on
fire. That there is this vast bleeding column
casting itself down from the stars, plunging
into the sanguine sea all around you. And this
vast tidal wave erupts outward from it, dwarfing
even the changeling. And you kind of feel yourself
as you look into this painting and you see these
like... burning stars, your body begins to burn.
Your skin turns red and cracked. Wires start
creeping down from your head and into your eyes,
and you are filled with this unfathomable pain,
and you see Brea City from above through a veil
of iron and fire. You hear voices in your ears
from far away, whispering the secrets of the
universe, not to inform you, not to warn you,
but to welcome you. And then with one last surge
of pain, those wires seem to reach the base of
your skull, like boring through your mind, your
jaw. And you awake in the cramped confines of
the changeling, drenched in sweat. And you swear
that as you awaken, you see that the screens
of the changeling all turn off as if they had
been active while you were asleep. Fuck. Is this
the first time Geist has woken up in the changeling
after not going to bed there? I mean, did you
go to bed here? I guess maybe he did. In this
moment, he probably can't remember. I mean, you
usually do. Yeah, I feel like he has been sleeping
in here. But if you didn't, you didn't wake up
here. Yeah, no, I forgot. Yeah, that's the only
place where he's been able to rest lately. So,
yeah, I think he did. The screens being active,
I think, is maybe a disturbing development, but
not anything else. Yeah, I guess he just... Takes
a few minutes to catch his breath and compose
himself. And then he probably looks around. That
just like turns the readouts on to see if anybody
else is in the hangar. And if they're not, or
I guess even if they are, he just kind of has
to make himself presentable and then pops out.
How do you feel? I imagine probably pretty disoriented.
But also like kind of like a general sense of
anxiety, you know, like that feeling that you
have when like, you know, that something really
unpleasant that you're going to have to deal
with this coming up and you're like maybe scared
of it or like you don't want to do it, but you
know it's going to happen. So you're kind of
just like that anxiety of like inevitably having
to. Yeah. Do something bad. So probably just
like that. Probably just unease more than anything
else. With the nightmares out of the way, I guess
we should talk about what we're doing here, which
is that you filled up two drive clocks, which
means you have taken the steps necessary to permanently
remove your rival, Retribution, from his life.
Yes. This was your drive for Mission 1, and provided
you want to do that, Still, now is the time.
Yes, Geist, I think his motivations have definitely
changed and his outlook has definitely changed.
But I think he knows that at this point, one
of them is going to have to kill the other one.
And he feels like, I think honestly, he feels
like he's the only one who can kill Retribution
and doing so would be... It would be a kindness.
It really is the only way to atone for what he's
done. It's not really... It is revenge. I feel
like there's a part of him that still inevitably
wants that, but I think he's under no illusions
anymore that it's actually going to change anything
or make him feel better or bring her back. I
think it's just something that he feels like
he has to do now because he's the only one who
can. Awesome. So where we're left from all your
groundwork or legwork is that you have finally
located the place where the frame seems to always
teleport back to after it's been defeated or
has run out of time. It is not that far from
Clearwater Crater. It's kind of deep in the river
valley. Presumably that is where either the actual
frame is or where it teleported back or where
the pilot is. And you mentioned kind of off mic,
I think at the end of our last session, that
you wanted to ask Loyal for help. And I think
that would be a good conversation to see. Yeah,
absolutely. Where is Loyal right now? I assume
this is whatever passes for mourning in our little
secret ice base. Geist is going to go looking
for him. I think Loyal would be... Where's a
place where you can do covert communications
in our base right now? The radio room? I think
maybe he's in there. Sure, what's he doing? I'm
still trying to figure out how to complete my
own drive clock, which is getting Maze off the
planet, and I feel like he's trying to organize
that. I have a question. He's our flyer, what?
Yeah, he's our man. I was just thinking, before
in the dream, I didn't want to interrupt the
telling, but you said that Loyal was putting
the crown on Geist's head. With his hands. Was
it like the hands of his exopod? Or was it like
in his flippers? It was in the hands of his exopod.
I thought it would be really funny. It was the
exopod. Okay. I figured as much. But I just wanted
to clarify. Yeah. I guess guys still be like.
Hey Loyal. You got a second. I need a favor.
I think he. turns to Geist like a little too
eagerly. Like, I don't even know if he was on
the radio yet. Maybe he was just going over what
he was trying to say before even doing it. And
he says, oh, Geist, sure, what do you need? I,
uh, I'm gonna go kill Retribution, I think. You
think? Yeah. I mean, I know where he is. I imagine
he's probably in pretty bad shape after that
last drop. And if I don't, you know, he's just
going to keep going up and causing problems and
trying to kill you all and trying to kill me
while we try to see this thing through to the
end. So I gotta deal with it. Sunlit kind of
looks around Geist to see if any of the rest
of the team is there, expecting them to be there,
half expecting them to be there. And he says,
You don't intend to do this alone, do you? Not
exactly. I just want you there, you know, on
standby in case shit goes south. Only me? Why?
Yeah. I don't know. I don't want to bring the
others into this. I don't know how much I can
trust them. I don't know what the fuck Joseph
has going on. And it... You know, this... This
thing was something that I created, ultimately,
and it... Just, it has to be me. Sunlit nods,
slowly, thinking about his and Geist's shared
experience in the Clusterist communion pile.
Whatever that was. And he, like, looks down into
the machine parts of his exopod, basically, like,
He's looking at the floor, but he can't see the
floor, so he's just looking into his exopod.
He looks back up and says, I will help you, but
first I need to get Maze off of the planet before
she becomes martyrdom. I don't even know if I
can, but I have to try. I don't think she's going
to become martyrdom. I appreciate your vote of
confidence, but I would rather not leave this
up to chance if I can avoid it. Her rage will
be the end of everything, I fear. Okay, consider
saying more, and then I think he decides not
to. Alright, what, I don't know what that's going
to take. I don't think we can afford to, I can't
afford to wait on this. I think I have everything
I need. It just has to be set in motion. It won't
take long, I promise. Okay. But I will help you.
Just wait for me. Okay, thank you. He nods again
and turns back to the radio. I was just gonna
say he watches Loyal fiddling with the radios
or whatever for a second and then turns and leaves.
So you're gonna do Maze first, then? Yeah, I've
decided. Just at the beginning of this recording.
Alright, sure. So I guess all that's left really
is... Geist for you to try to arrange some transport
with Worthy. Worthy's going to be shuttling a
lot of people around. He is. I guess you both
really need to talk to Worthy technically. Yes,
we do. So I guess we can have that. You both
run into each other at Worthy again. We bump
into each other at the same time. Fancy meeting
you here. What's he doing when we walk up on
him? He's tuning up the ship. Like, adding some
new plating on one of the wings. Okay. Hey, Worthy.
Is this a bad time? No. It's great. Hi. Hello,
Geist. Hey. I got Lucen to take care of. Kind
of an important one. I was wondering if you could
take me for a drop over the river valley. You
too? Yeah. What do you mean, me too? Joseph's
already scheduled me to take him out that way.
Like, a couple days from now. Oh, fuck. So, uh...
I mean, he's heading out to, uh... Greywood.
Greywood Sands. So that's kind of on the same
trajectory. So I guess you're going to be carpooling
then. I have to take... Yeah. Yeah. Fuck. Alright.
Fine. Yeah, that's fine. Did he say what he was
doing out there? Personal business? What are
you doing out there? Oh, uh... Yeah, it's personal
business. That's what Loyal just told me, too.
There's a lot of personal things happening right
now. Aren't you supposed to be not leaving the
base? Wasn't that the whole thing? I can't speak
for anybody else, but this is real important.
Well, you're carpooling. Loyal, I can't take
you into the city. I can drop you off outside
of it with a vehicle or something. But you'll
have to figure out from there. I can take you
tomorrow, and then I can take Joseph and Geist
the day after. Or something. Fine. Okay. I can
work with that. Thank you, Worthy. Worthy gives
a big sigh. Okay. Thanks. Thanks. Our poor shuttle
driver. Ugh, yeah. Geist, uh, Geist seems like
he's, uh, he's mentally grappling with this new
information, but he storms off while muttering
to himself. Hex, while your allies are tending
to more personal matters, you've decided to look
for something far more important. Job security.
You've expressed interest in two potential employers,
the first being September Bluth, who is the head
of the corporate council, and the second being
Tyrell Crine, the financier for the Clusterist
Resistance, and a representative of a number
of shadowy interests, which at this point are
mostly unknown to you. You have Bluth's email,
and let's assume that Tyrell has given you new
contact information. With Bluth, I think it's
an easy pitch to kind of explain what you're
looking for. But in Tyrell's case, I think she'd
need a bit more reason as to why you need to
have this meeting now as opposed to after the
conflict is over, which was her original pitch
to you, which was like, once this is all blows
over, let's get lunch or something. As Hex stares
at the empty email draft, his pitch is he wants
assurances. He doesn't know how this is going
to end, frankly. He's shaken with his confidence
in the Peacekeepers, but he doesn't necessarily
want to give that away to Tyrell over an email.
So the way he's positioning this would be he
knows this is nearing an end, and I think Tyrell
knows that as well. He just wants to front -run
any potential fallout after this fact. I mean,
Tyrell probably already knows he's a war criminal,
so why not speed up the... this process and anything
else he'd feel more comfortable talking about
verbally. Great. So we'll, we'll, you sent out
that email and we'll get back to that later.
Uh, but let's talk about Bluth. Um, you reach
out to him, you probably get like an email for
like a, an interview time on like a remote video
call. I mean, when you, when you reached out,
was it a similar thing where you're like, I'm
just looking for options for when this is over?
Because you probably remember last time Bluth
talked to you is that he said he probably wouldn't
be hearing from you again for a while, given
like the whole war criminal thing. So you reaching
out to him may be a bit unexpected. Is this after
Hex's initial reach out or more positioning for
the initial? Because I could see Hex addressing
that up front. Let's talk about the addressing
up front. Yeah, Hex knows that Bluth... This
is a liability. But the pitch to Bluth is he's
not going to have another Dusklight after this
conflict. So having a Hex on tap to do whatever
fun work the corporate council needs doing is
Hex's pitch. Okay, sure. Okay, so you have this
call. You join on time. And for a good 10 minutes,
nobody shows up. But then someone finally joins,
but it's not Bluth like you may have expected.
Instead, you see the face of Generator E, your
old associate who now serves as Bluth's executive
assistant. And he says, oh, hey, Harold, sorry,
Bluth got caught up with something. So I can
do the interview, I guess. Sorry, I don't have
the notes in front of me. What position was this
for? All right, I think I get the message here.
No, like, really, it's important. It's just I
kind of got thrown into this last minute, you
know? It's nothing personal. No, that makes sense.
Well, listen, if Bluth wants to forward you the
rest of what you need, we could just reschedule
this. I just think it's really important. Uh,
that would get it out of the way now. Uh, just,
just so I can like present it to Bluth and he'll,
I'm sure he'll reach back to you or HR will or
something. No, that's all right. That's all right.
Uh, you sure? Appreciate the time, Jenny. I hope
Bluth is treating you all right. Oh yeah. Well,
not really, but he pays. Okay. And that's, I
guess the most important part, I think. Yeah.
Yeah. Um, well, hey, that's great talking to
you. Uh, Uh, we'll, uh, we'll be in touch, I
think. Alright. Take care, I think. Uh, yeah.
Bye. And, yeah, the Zoom call closes. You, I
think, like, soon after the call closes, uh,
you receive a message from, which you presume
to be Tyrell Crine, and you receive some instructions
from, from her, and it says, tomorrow, At 3 p
.m., you're going to head out into the ice desert
outside the base. At the same place you handed
off the teleporter parts. And that's where she'll
meet you. So you have that in your calendar,
right? Yeah. Hex writes that down and puts a
reminder for, obviously, 12 hours before. You
know, it's a long commute to the ice desert.
Yeah, of course. Yeah. The time comes. I forget
what I said it was. I think it might be like
a 10 -minute drive from the base. It's like beyond
the weather control area of the base, like in
the actual blizzard. I assume you're driving
and not walking unless you really need to get
your steps in. Yeah, he's driving. So you drive
out of the weather control area. The blizzard
immediately kicks in. It really hampers your
vision. And as you are approaching this meeting
point, perhaps surprised to see a a structure
come into view a a bar with a gently glowing
sign above the entrance naming it dyad overflow
and this was not here before no last time you
were here there was a small ship uh with some
mercenaries who took the teleporter parts there
was okay there was no bar and this is like a
full building like I guess to put in perspective,
relative to a Shell gas station in real life,
how big is this? 2 .5 times the size. Holy shit.
Okay. Hex raises his eyebrows as he pulls into
where the parking lot for this building would
be. Yep. On the ice desert and steps out of his
car. You enter the bar through a pair of double
doors. Immediately, the temperature jumps from
below zero into a far more room temperature temperature.
The air is filled with the smell of liquor, soaked
wood, fried food, and a lingering smell of cleaning
chemicals. The interior is cozy, very classical
in design. There's wood floors, recessed booths
along the outside of the room, a kitchen door
in the back, and in front of it is a large steel
bar lined with cushioned stools. One and only
one of which is occupied by a person, Tyrell
Crine. She's wearing kind of just like a simple
black blazer, some slacks, and tennis shoes,
oddly enough. Nothing too formal. The bar is
otherwise empty, but bizarrely, there are sounds
of people in it, as if it was at capacity. There's
like a murmuring of intermingled voice, which
kind of seemed to come from all around like they
would in a full bar, but they lack any source.
Well, Hex approaches Tyrell, and I assume there's
another seat for him to sit in, or is this intentional?
Oh, there's plenty. There's a full row of stools.
Got it, yeah. Hex sits next to her and says,
Was the bar necessary? She kind of gives you
a grin. And as you sit down, the kitchen door
opens and a robot comes out and walks up behind
the bar. And it looks a lot like Joseph in general
design. Kind of tall, spindly, with a single
eye atop an almost like columnar head. It's wearing
almost kind of comically a classic vest over
its metal body with a name tag on it that is
labeled Abraham. And it approaches you and asks,
May I take your order, sir? I'll have what she's
having. Very good, sir. And the robot very quickly
produces a beverage, which it's probably... I
gotta think about what it is. I should have predicted
that you would have ordered what she was having.
I think she's having a gin and tonic. With like,
instead of like a lime, it's a blood orange.
Okay. I think very classic. With a little twist
on it. She looks at your drink and takes a sip
of her own identical one and says, good choice.
I could say the same to you. He says after taking
a first sip. I am surprised by your boldness,
Harold. Following up. with the meeting after
falling through on your bargain for the teleporter
pieces, though I must admit I respect it. I'm
sure you can also respect that I want this to
end cleanly, if that makes sense. Or at least
as clean as it can. And by this, you mean your
situation in this whole conflict, or...? An astute
observation, yes. Before we start, Harold, would
you... Be so kind as to tell me what did happen
to that last teleporter piece. How it was destroyed.
I'm not even going to pretend to know what happened.
But I can tell you that the lack of professionalism
there is why I'm talking with you today. Were
you doing some experiment on it? Were you using
it for target practice? Are you familiar with
Loyal? Yes, I know the dolphin. The dolphin did
something. I don't know what. In the sense of
like a psychic thing? Exactly. That is too bad.
Too bad for Loyal. Too bad for me. But it's good
that it is at least destroyed. I am afraid a
similar effect might have been placed on Loyal,
but that's his problem, not yours. Well, thank
you for the description. Of course. As I have
said before, I am interested in working with
you. There is still much I cannot tell you. We
can do a preliminary discussion here to judge
your aptitude and your willingness. You can provide
me with whatever assurances you need. And I think
it'd be best to hear that up front. What do you
want from me specifically at this point? Well...
I don't think you're stupid enough to think that
I'm only after protection. I mean, someone who
wants that wouldn't necessarily do something
as bold as this. What I do know is whatever part
of the broader plans we're a part of, you're
playing in, is something that I want to be a
part of. I don't know if the aura were involved,
but all I know is that you have access to tech
and backing that, frankly, I haven't seen any
of here while being part of the Peacekeepers.
And more importantly than that, I want to know
what's really going on and some answers to those
questions you said we couldn't talk about quite
just yet. Interesting enough? Hmm. I see. So
even with the little knowledge you have of what
I do, or what you think I do, it's about knowing
for you. It's why I'm here on Terebrae to begin
with. Okay. That's a satisfactory answer. Let's
move on to the next one. Tell me about your squad.
What are your opinions on them? I feel that they
are not so high as of late. Well, I think any
of my issues with them are pretty observable
from the outside. You have Loyal, who, frankly,
I can't read and never seemed dedicated to our
cause whatsoever. Getting Loyal to focus on the
objective has always been difficult, and lately
I question his judgment. He says, no, there's
no tablet or anything to gesture about the teleporter,
but he's implying the teleporter incident and
what happened there. Joseph, I can't trust him.
As much as I like him, I feel a little out of
my element working with someone I can't understand.
And lastly, Geist. The man's a hell of a pilot,
but I think that's all he is. I see. No interest
to take them along with you then, I presume.
Good luck getting them to come along. That's
true. That makes things easier. Next question.
How did your squad destroy Sacrifice? You're
not going to like my answer, Tyrell. Okay. I
don't know. We were out of our element. I'm sure
you have some sort of footage of what happened
there. I was disabled seconds after stepping
out of that facility. I don't think Geist could
do anything. And somehow Joseph pulled us through
that. Did you say Joseph pulled you through it?
At least he claims to. I didn't see what happened.
What did he say exactly? Shit, Hex rolls from
memory? I don't know. I think what Joseph said
is that he called in a favor, basically. All
right, Hex says something alluding to that. He
phoned a friend. Tyrell's face kind of contorts
into a... An uncharacteristic expression of confusion.
I see. Well, at the very least, I'm glad that
it spared you. I was honestly half expecting
sacrifice to kill all of you. Remember what I
said about not understanding Joseph? Yes, this
is troubling, to say the least. I'm not used
to being in the dark, especially when it comes
to some of our more important assets. Try being
me. Yes, I'm sure it's probably stressful for
you. Moving on. What is your ultimate goal in
life, Harold? And how long are you willing to
wait to achieve it? Ultimate goal? That's a good
question. I'm not like Geist anymore. I feel
like I was driven by vengeance like he was. At
this point, I want to know the big picture. I
want to pierce the veil, so to speak. And I'm
willing to wait however long it takes to get
there. Frankly though, sitting next to you, I
think that could be a lot faster. You might think
so, but there are layers to this. I myself had
similar goals when I first came into this. And
you might be surprised to find out that you can
wait a lot longer than you think. Oh? Let's just
say the typical lifespan of a human. is so much
more malleable than we think it is with our current
technology. That doesn't surprise me. How old
are you, Tyrell? Well, that's not polite, Harold.
We haven't exactly been cordial to each other
this whole time, haven't we? Suffice to say,
I have been waiting far longer than I thought
was possible when I first came on board. Not
that I regret it. I've learned so much. And there's
still so much left to learn, too. Anyhow, this
will be perhaps a trickier question. And I'm
interested to hear what your answer is. Based
on what you know, on what you've seen, why do
you think my organization is funding this war?
What is our goal? Well, let's start with... Something
I think is undoubtedly true, and that's that
the Oro are involved. When I first came here,
I had a feeling this was some sort of strategic
resource conflict. They wouldn't have refused
to give up Terebrea if it didn't hold something
valuable. Initially, I thought that might be
some sort of resource, something tangible, but
after being here for as long as we have, I don't
think it's something just purely economic. That
doesn't make sense. they could have bartered
some sort of sweetheart deal with the Soul Union.
After all, it's not like we have any leverage.
So with that, my second theory is that it has
something to do with our Maw Drive usage. For
some reason, the Aura would want to undermine
the Soul Union so that we'd be in a position
weak enough. We're tossing us just another form
of technology that's more compatible with their
views. Might make sense here. After all, why
give them something that we could destroy them
with? But I'm not too confident in that one either.
So the final one, I think this is something bigger
than even the factions that I'm lending on. What
that is, I don't know, but there's too many unanswered
questions for me to give you a confident reason.
All I know is I view you as being on the side
that can tell me more about these things. And
so that's what I think. She gives you a coy little
smile and says, One of those is close, but that's
all I'll say for now. Interesting. To finish
off, Harold, I think I should probably ask the
most important question, which is, are you sure
that you have the stomach for it? For instance,
when you destroyed the dam in Clearwater Crater
and condemned all those people to death, you
had a decent reason for it. It was a tactical
decision through and through. position you may
be seeking, you could be asked to do the same
thing on a greater scale with far less clarity.
It might come down to signing the death warrant
of millions purely to set up a plan that won't
come to fruition for decades. At times, it'll
even be mercenary work whose only purpose is
to increase our organization's capital. The reasons
for the plans themselves may not be clear to
you either. It may be a directive from a higher
part of the organization, one that you will not
be in a position to question, or even know the
purpose of for a century or more. Because of
this, you'll need to have a sort of faith. It'll
be a faith in the organization, or faith in a
greater plan for the universe. It could be faith
in the market, or it could be faith in the transformative
power granted to you by your paycheck. So...
Back to the question, do you think you have what
it takes? Do you have the stomach for it? Yes,
I think I do. Beyond the dam, I'm sure you've
seen I am efficient when it comes to following
orders. If it means I get to understand more
of the bigger picture, and more importantly,
at least be a part of it, I think I can hold
some beliefs. Or some faith, rather. You should
understand as well, Harold, that this... You're
walking away from the peacekeepers. They don't
have much reach. They don't have many methods
of punishing you for deserting. But this organization
is a little harder to walk away from. It's a
commitment. You won't be able to interview at
other places. You won't be able to weigh your
options anymore. You will be locked in for good,
or at least until you earn your way out. Can
you live with that? Can you live with that for...
for longer than you could even imagine. Tyrell,
I'm already locked into this path as it is. Of
course I am. I don't think I could just walk
away to begin with. If anything, I think that
makes me the perfect candidate for this. That
is a satisfactory answer, Harold. And one last
thing, this time for real. Is there anyone on
Terebrae you can't stand to lose? Hex thinks
deeply for a moment. Honestly, I'm not sure anyone
on Terra Brea is someone I can't afford to lose
at this point. That's the right answer, Harold.
And she kind of raises her drink to her lips
and finishes it off and says, Unless there's
anything else, I think I've heard enough. provided
you live through this next part, we will be in
touch. Looking forward to it. Hex raises his
drink and takes a sip. It's a good drink. Very
good drink. Yummy. Almost too good. What the
fuck? Hex keels over. Hex gestures to the door
and says, I'll be on my way then, and begins
leaving and goes home. You walk out of the strange
bar, and when you get into your vehicle and look
ahead, you see that the bar has completely vanished,
with no trace left of its presence except your
footprints in the snow to where the door just
was. Hex feels reassured in his decision. loyal
it is I think at this point with the chronology
which is kind of weird it's a day or two probably
like a day before your operation with Geist you
have spoken to Worthy and arranged for him to
take you outside the city and drop you off with
a car so you can go inside because he's not going
to fly into the city because it's too high profile
because you're going to say goodbye to Maze Maze
Mourner the prisoner who you've been working
this whole time to free you've gotten your two
drive clocks you have you've spent them uh and
you know she'd be good to go but you are sentimental
you want to say goodbye to her make sure she's
all good which is going to require you to sneak
in to the city you hired some like smugglers
from bluth who you've arranged they're going
to steal her from a prisoner transport that was
undergoing to take her to like an actual prison
off planet uh which you arranged And that's the
window they have. And they're going to take her
somewhere else, which we'll talk about when the
time comes. You have to meet them at one of the
auxiliary docking areas in the spaceport in this
capital city. Unless you have anything you need
to do in the base, we can just leave you off
with... Worthy has just dropped you off with
a vehicle, probably just like a whatever civilian
car can fit a dolphin in it. Probably somewhere
outside the... the east side of the city, which
is not the ice desert side, which is a little
more... You don't really get traffic through
there. So we'll start off with you kind of driving
into the city. The city isn't fully walled off
on the outside, so it's pretty easy to get into
those eastern city outskirts. And let's just
talk about your plan here. As you were driving
in, is there any special preparations you've
made? I'm imagining that this vehicle is like...
A van with a big area in the back that can contain
Sunless Exopod. And, like, maybe he hooks into
it somehow to drive this by himself. But I think
the plan would be to switch vehicles. I'm assuming
there is a main road that, like, takes goods
in and out of this space port. And maybe at some
point he goes to some switch -off point. somewhere
along this main road to be put into like a shipping
container truck that is inconspicuous going into
the spaceport and that's how he would get there
oh interesting okay um so you would have arranged
for someone to smuggle you into the spaceport
basically under like the guise of this is cargo
exactly just along with blue smuggling group
this is part of it Awesome. I think... I wasn't
going to have you do an engagement roll, but
I think that is actually a perfect opportunity
to do one because this is basically... I mean,
let me pull it up. Because this sounds a lot
like something that an engagement roll is appropriate
for. Yes, it does. There's an engagement type
which is called smuggle. And in this case, it's
like you're just having yourself smuggled in.
Yeah, exactly. Let's do it. So you start with
one die. Mm -hmm. Is the mission bold? I think
so. Yeah, I think it's pretty bold. You're going
to the one place that it would be very easy to
catch you, and if you did get caught, it'd be
very hard to get out. Yes. That's very bold.
So that gives you two dice. Is the mission overly
complex? I don't think so. I... I don't know.
There's not enough, like, vehicle switch -offs
to say that it is overly complex. It's a little
complex, but... It's pretty straightforward.
It is. Yeah. Does the tactic exploit the target's
vulnerabilities? I don't think so, especially
with the Beast Keepers kind of being on high
alert because of threats from the Clusterists.
Yeah. I think, you know, cargo inspections aren't
out of the question. Mm -hmm. And I'm sure he's
taken measures against that, but we'll kind of
see how the... The roll shakes out. Does the
squad have external support? You do. You do.
You arrange that. That is the smugglers in this
case. I'll give you 3D. And is anyone interfering
with the mission? Yes. Someone is interfering
with your mission. So you're going to take minus
one dice here for a total of two. Spoilers. Got
two dice. Okay. Yeah. You can't push yourself
on an engagement roll. No. So roll two dice and
we will just see how this ends up. We will see
what the fates have in store. My little dolphin
here. Okay. Five. Partial success. I wish you
could roll a seven. Five and a two. So partial
success, you're going to start in a risky position.
You can't really tell exactly where you are,
but from just the sound of the road, maybe you
have a little camera feed to see outside or something.
It's not a big deal if you do. You have gotten
through the main outer checkpoints of the city.
A lot of these are placed along the kind of boundaries
between the kind of outer parts of the city and
the inner parts where a lot of the Peacekeeper
infrastructure is right now. And you get through
there pretty much unscathed. You kind of hear
some guards at a little checkpoint ask for ID
for the people driving you right now. You're
in, like, the back of this big box truck, basically.
What do they say they're carrying? Like, what's
on the cargo manifest? You know, I imagined that
Sunlit was in, like, a large animal crate that
has, like, little holes. Like, mostly it is just...
pure metal that you can't see through. There's
little breathing holes at the top, but I thought
it'd be very thematically appropriate that it's
just like, this is like a cage for a tiger that
you would put on a big tanker to keep it in the
dark and quiet to keep it from panicking. So
I don't know if there is like exotic animals
on this planet that go into a zoo trade or anything
like that, but maybe it would be full of just
like off -world exports of natural resources
of this planet yeah i mean do you want it to
be a zoo transfer i i would love it to be a zoo
transfer uh yeah i think uh the you hear the
discussion where it's like yeah we've got a terabrayan
wild beast back there uh you know really really
sensitive you know or you gotta keep it sedated
and you hear like a brief exchange and like kind
of voices raise a little bit and you hear Like
one of the guards say, yeah, sorry, since you're
doing live fauna, we got to do a second customs
check just to make sure everything's above board
with new regulations. So we're going to redirect
you to our like secondary screening area down
that way. And then you can get to the spaceport
from there. The driver kind of just like. He
tries to argue a little bit, like, oh, are you
sure we're on a tight deadline? And the guy's
like, yeah, sorry, nothing I can do. And they
start pulling away to the secondary screening
area. And the truck kind of stops. And it's kind
of like one of those border inspection checkpoints
where the truck gets pulled over. They start
looking underneath it with mirrors to make sure
everything is all good. And then, unfortunately,
you hear the back clasp of the truck opening.
As someone is coming inside to inspect the cargo.
What do you do? How many people are coming into
this truck? Just one guy? Just one. Just one
guy with like a little flashlight and a clipboard.
He looks really bored. He's not armed. Yeah,
I want to let him get a little bit closer. He's
closer now. He's like shining a light on your
little crate. Like kind of trying to get a look
inside. I want... to open a psychic link with
this man and I would love it if he has like a
family and some children because I want to broadcast
a very very strong emotion of my family is in
danger right now and I need to go look at them
and be with them immediately And that's broadcast,
which is you can do that when you push yourself?
Yes, yes it is. Okay, I think that's sway. So
take two stress for pushing yourself. So you're
going to get 3d6, and do you want an additional
die? Because you're pushing yourself. Yes, please.
Sure, you're a risky standard. 4d6. Oh, that's
a critical success. Yes, it is. Okay, awesome.
yeah the guy gets close uh the the light is just
about to like reveal that there's a dolphin in
here in an exopod presumably right you know he
gets this this feeling you feel it connect with
him um just just overwhelming feeling of like
of worry like impending doom uh full full panic
attack and like you see him like visibly his
face just drop and goes pale and he he like speaks
into his radio and like uh yeah it's all good
in here I have to go. I think something's going
on with my family. Just ignore the paperwork.
Just fast -track this one to the port. Sorry,
just tell the boss I had to go. And with that,
not only do you get rid of this little issue,
I'm going to skip you past any additional security
you would have gone through. This cargo shipment
has been fast -tracked, and you're going to go
right, I guess, like... Where is this cargo going?
Is it going to the same place that mazes? Is
it going somewhere else? I would assume it was
going to the same place that mazes, yes. Okay,
great. Yeah, good time to crit. Always a good
time to crit. So the shipment gets forwarded.
The smugglers, you get offloaded onto a crane
at one point and kind of get transferred off
this truck into the... the the inner parts of
the spaceport one of these auxiliary uh ports
um i think you probably don't go right into the
port you're in because the the one maze is in
is not like a like a cargo area um it's a it's
like for a small passenger vessel if you think
kind of like a um like like those small passenger
planes how they have like small A tinier accommodation.
Yeah, almost like more like a dock than anything.
And you are pretty easily able to come out of
this unguarded cargo area, almost kind of like
where they keep those lost luggages at airports.
It's just behind a little metal screen. There's
a little gate on it that the smuggling people
have arranged to be unlocked. And so you're only,
like, a small stone's throw away from the dock
where Maze and your smuggler friends are. And
proceeding to it, there's, like, a small bulkhead
with, like, a couple of these casually dressed
civilians leaning against it who kind of look
at you. Are you wearing any disguise, or are
you just kind of out? Yeah, I forget. What disguise
have I used in the past to cover up my exopod,
if any? I don't even know. You had the holoprojector
from that one mission. Yeah, that was to disguise
me as a different type of dolphin. Yeah, and
I think it may have changed the appearance of
your exopod, since yours is very unique. Mm -hmm.
I feel like that is too risky at this point,
since there's not many dolphins on this planet.
I feel like they'd stop anyone that they saw.
There are dolphins. If security was around. Just
not military dolphins. Yeah. You're fine, basically.
Okay, then if I'm fine, that's no issue. Yeah,
like, I'm sure, like, if you walk through the
spaceport, I'm trying to think of an apt metaphor.
I'm not coming up with one. But if you walk through
the spaceport, you would be, you know, you might
see a couple other dolphins. Like, on a busy
day. Okay, sure. I'm an average minority race
at the spaceport. You are an average minority
race, yeah. Gotcha. Someone, like, you might
have more scrutiny because they're like, well,
we are looking for a dolphin and there's not
many, so be extra scrutinous. But you're past
that at this point. It's just so like people
walking through the hall, they're not immediately
going to go, hey, what the fuck's going on? I
know that exact face. Because you're already
past security. No one's going to be scrutinizing
you that much. Anyway, so you have whatever disguise
this is. Yeah, I'm using the same one that I
used at the Bluth party. Yeah, which we all remember
what that is. It's a dolphin, but different.
Yeah, I think I'm disguised as a common dolphin
with just a much less fancy exopod or standard
issue. These two guys leaning against the...
The doc, I kind of eye you, and they say, I use
sunlight. Am I who? Sunlight. We're looking for
sunlight. Yes, I say, yes, this is me. And maybe
we have some code word or something where I say,
the bubbles shine most brightly in the morning
light. Yeah, I don't know what that means. You
can go in, though. Okay, I go in. Okay, yeah,
they open up the bulkhead, they usher you in,
and inside you see two more of these smugglers
who are kind of casually dressed, just like civilians.
Behind them, kind of still in cuffs, is Maze,
and in between you and them are two corpses of
some of the port's peacekeeper officers. They
appear to have been shot in the face with a small
caliber pistol. Oh, wow. Laying out, nothing
covering them or anything like that? No, they
seem to be freshly dead. Wow. Okay. One of the
smugglers kind of speaks up and says, You've
got until these corpses are cleaned up. After
that, we gotta go. Okay? I see. And I'm assuming
you have all this taken care of. This is all
standard practice for this type of mission. What?
No, listen, we're on a timetable here. Just hurry
up. And they begin dragging the corpses into
the little, like, modest... passenger spacecraft
behind them pretty small thing that would seat
like maybe uh 10 people and that leaves you alone
with with maize who is kind of looking at you
with an expression of confusion with a subtle
amount of approval uh owing perhaps the two dead
peacekeepers uh in front of or who were just
in front of her and she seems a lot more cognizant
than when you last saw her uh you kind of similarly
you do not feel that same oppressive that same
oppressive presence of martyrdom uh within her
That's good. It's a good first sign. And I will
approach her slowly. Look at her expression.
How does she feel about me right now? Keeping
our typical open psychic connection if she wants
to communicate with that. She is, you know, about
as you read on her face. She's a little more
guarded psychically. She's... She's mostly confused.
She doesn't really know what is happening. Maybe
like, like she's glad that she's not being transferred
off planet, right? But she's essentially just
been kidnapped from one prisoner transport and
now being held prisoner by other people who just
killed two peacekeepers, which is a good sign
because she doesn't like them. But now you're
here as well, which is a little, a little confusing,
especially since she, she probably doesn't know
that you are. Even really allied against the
Peacekeepers at this point. I want to say hello
to her. Say hello, Maze. Is there anyone left
in this room? Can I ask for these cuffs to be
taken off of her? Because I imagine that he wants
that right now. Sure, let's just say they probably
wouldn't have given you the keys. You could have
asked for them to be taken off before they left.
Yeah, I'll do that. Let's just say they're like,
are you sure? I heard this one's dangerous. And
the first thing I say when I get in there is
like, what are these cuffs still doing on her?
You're getting her to freedom. Take them off.
All right. And they uncuff her before taking
the corpses away. So, yeah, she's like rubbing
her wrists a little bit. And I guess you would
say, what is this? I am making sure that you
don't end up in prison. We're taking you to Earth.
What? Yes. You can't stay here any longer. And...
And I have arranged for you to leave all of this
far, far behind you. Earth is a big place. Oh.
Where are they taking me? Alright, now this is
where we brainstorm. Where we are taking Mace.
Like, I imagine, like, in Sunless Mind, he's
just, like, envisioning this, um... Happy ranch
for disadvantaged little girls. Yes. Like old
friends, disadvantaged little girls sanctuary.
It can really be whatever you want. You know,
you're going to get her off the planet. It's
going to succeed. In terms of rehabilitation,
you know, there's no promises there. But she
is a killer. She's killed before. She's a troubled
young lady as well. Oh, yes. It's hard. It's...
Like, I can't... Off the top of my head, like,
if I think about someone in a similar position
in real life, you know? Someone who actively
is antagonistic against the place you're sending
her, basically. You know, Earth is the core of
the Soul Union, her enemy. Mm -hmm. And, you
know, I... It's an interesting thing to think
about. I don't even know that I have a good answer
for, like, where is the perfect place for a maze
to go. There isn't one, certainly. Yeah, like,
is it someplace where there's, like, powers and
control to prevent her from just bugging out?
Is it a place where it's like, here, I'm gonna
pay your rent, and you can stay here as long
as you feel like, or you can leave, you know,
it's not my choice, where you're just kind of,
like, letting her free and just let her choose
her own path, basically. What's important to
Sunless? Yeah, he wants to get her set up with
whatever the equivalent of a social worker is.
Whoever will be most equipped to handle her particular
case. Yeah, I guess one question is why Earth?
Yeah, what are my other options for planets here?
I mean, you can choose whatever you want. You
can make up a planet if you want. You can go
to fucking Melar 4 or whatever where Captain
Spud surfed all day. Europa, I don't know. But
you can choose whatever you want. There are lots
of colonized planets in the Sol Union. You know,
you send her to the moon. I'm sure there's moon
bases or whatever. Or a space station or something.
Or you could even, like, set it up so that she
has... Probably not a ship, because ships are
really expensive. But, like, just, like, a blank
check. Like, here, you can just bypass it to
wherever you want to go. It depends. Like, it
depends if... How structured you want it. If
you do think it would be best for her to be on
Earth. There are a lot of resources on Earth
for support, but it is also, like... Like I said,
it is the home of the Seoul Union, which could
have problems for her. I like the idea of sending
her to a space station where she could choose
where she goes from there. I gotta think about
this some more. Yeah, I mean, take your time.
I'm probably going to keep a lot of this discussion
in just because I think it's interesting. Yeah,
of course. I wish I knew more about Maze's personality
and her interests beyond killing peacekeepers,
you know? Yeah, I mean, she's a child soldier.
So, like, she doesn't really have that many interests,
unfortunately. Like, she didn't have a conventional
childhood. I just want to give her freedom to
just explore what there is in the world, in life
in general, things that... Feel good. Things
that you can spend your life doing besides killing
people. But I'm not sure if she would use that
freedom to just go back to killing people. Though
at this point, he's mostly sure that she wouldn't.
He just wants to give her freedom and some sort
of guardian, some sort of guidance that she can
turn to. Yeah, I mean, that's the hard part.
Ultimately, that is the hard decision you have
to make, which is either you send her to what
is ostensibly another prison, even if it's a
nice rehabilitative situation. She might still
view it as a prison. But in that case, you can
guarantee that there will be people there to
help her. You can afford, with what you spent,
the resources you have, your drive clock, you
can afford to send her to a very nice mental
health facility or some sort of structured program.
I don't like let your mind go wild. It's this
all you didn't for its problems does have very
good resources. And there's a lot of discreet
private ones where her being a criminal would
not be a problem. Or you could if you don't want
to do that, then you just have to you could set
her up where there's like you have a job here
on this planet. There's a good guy there who's
going to help you out, but you don't have to
stay there. And then you run the risk of her
leaving, which which is a possibility. I don't
even know for sure. um which will work best i
would have to think on it and you know we would
cover it in like an epilogue or something i'm
imagining this like idyllic mental health facility
that has a step down program associated with
it like it's it's on the beach it's one of those
fancy malibu rehab style centers that is just
far far away from anything else and just imagining
that it's earth because earth is beautiful it's
more beautiful than europa the moon yeah it's
got it's got nature which sun that believes to
be very healing and just yeah it would be like
another prison unfortunately but the the situation
that mace has been in so far i don't know that
he would think She's ready to just immediately
go into society and be like, okay, here's money,
go get a job. That's not really how any of this
works. So yeah, like my initial instinct is just
idyllic retreat on earth. Many social workers,
many sorts of like yoga, Zen practice, meds,
anything. And then they help her get integrated
into society after she's done there. But, so,
in this case, she can't leave of her own free
will unless she's checked some boxes. Yes. Okay.
Okay, let's hear Sunleth tell her that. Hey,
what was the last thing she said to me? Just
like, what? Where are these people taking me?
Like, when we can just have the... I think you
said Earth already, and then we kind of went
on this whole tangent. But you can just start
from the top. Like, where are these people taking
me? And you can say, well, there's a place on
Earth, yada yada yada. He says, they're taking
you to a place where people can help you, where
people will help you, where you can experience
a life outside of what you have so far. Something
normal, something where you can choose who you
want to be outside of the violence that is this
planet. And I want him to send images, just like
a picture of this place that he has found. The
nature around it. The outside of it. He doesn't
know very concretely what the inside of it looks
like. I'm sure it has pictures online, you know?
All those fancy facilities got some really nice
staged pictures. Yeah, so he censored this. He
censored the... the beach at sunset. And kind
of leaves off that you don't have 100 % of your
freedoms there. Waits for her to ask that. I
think she would say, like after seeing all that,
she'd say, that seems too good to be true. What's
the catch? The catch is that it is typically
a four -month program that you are required to
stay on the facilities to complete, at which
point they will help you on your next steps where
you can live on your own, find work. I think
her face, like, drops a little. It's kind of
like a bit of a pessimistic grimace. And I think
she looks like she's about to kind of say something.
Maybe even like psychically you feel like it.
Like it's very, very, very bald. She's about
to say like, oh, okay, you're just putting me
in another prison. But in that moment, it's like
it falters. Like something kind of breaks within
her. Like the last bit of fight she had is just,
just falls flat. Like she's just looking at her
own rejection of this situation, looking at what's
in front of her, what she's coming from, and
just seems so, so lost. And she kind of says
in like this almost a scared little voice, why
are you doing this? What, what did I do to deserve?
This. This. This kindness. As soon as he feels
her disappointment, the brief feeling of disappointment,
or not the brief feeling, but just her realization
that it is somewhat like another prison, he just
says, I know, I know, but no one will hate you
here. You won't be stuck in a, however big room
it was that she was in before, like 10 by 10,
or assuming it was small. And then to her question,
he looks a little thoughtful for a bit. And then
says, let me pose a question to you. What does
any living being do to deserve kindness in this
universe? Kindness is a birthright, I think.
Something we are all owed a chance at. Something
that should be given to everyone, but isn't.
And it's not fair. And during all of my many
years here, I have seen just how little of an
impact that one individual can have on the evils
of life, of existence, of war. I cannot stop
this war. I cannot stop this fighting. But I
can do this. I can at least take one person away
from it. And that one person was simply fated
to be you. I feel we were fated to meet. I feel
that everything that has happened has happened
for a reason. For me to understand this place
better. To understand you better. To understand
the lives of everyone here. And I thank you for
that. You... You have given me more than I think
you realize. And this is simply a way of me to
give back. She looks emotional. Like, a little
teary -eyed. And... she's she's overwhelmed um
a big part of her not accepting that there was
destiny um i think you feel a large part of her
is it feels like she's not worthy of this sort
of this kindness she thinks that there's so many
so many better people who've done less terrible
things um who would deserve this chance who have
a better better odds of even succeeding to become
reformed than her. But she knows that those people
aren't here now. She's the one with this opportunity.
Maybe if she had asked sooner or she'd done something
different, maybe someone else could have been
in her place. But she knows that that isn't the
case. It's just her here now. And I think she
just says, I'll try. I'll try to put this behind
me. To, I don't know, forget about my hatred
of you, of this place. Even now, I look at you
and I see someone who kills my friends. But I
just... I don't see the point anymore. I just...
Maybe I should get out of here. Think about things.
You are deserving of this mace. All you have
done has been for your survival. And I am proud
of you for that. There is a gunshot. Of course.
Okay. At the door where you just walked in. You
hear some yells, a scuffle, and then the door
kind of opens up. And in walks a dolphin. In
a... Walks? Floats? No, walks. In a typical,
fully bipedal exopod. Very basic issue. Markings
on the exopod identify him as a member of the
military police. He is holding some sort of stun
pistol in his hand, pointed at you and Maze,
and he is accompanied by two human peacekeeper
guards. Not military police, just the spaceport
guards. It probably takes you a moment, but you
actually recognize this dolphin. Strangely enough,
this is Reggie, the admiring kid who not too
long ago you had been interviewed by before you
were assigned to the Dusklights. Oh god, yeah.
And he says, put your hands in the air, both
of you. Is he serious about this? You tell me.
Yeah, that would be my first instinct. Just,
he seems, his voice seems a little scared. So,
I want to do a read to see on, like, how resolute
he is in this if I can do something suddenly.
To disarm him, shock him out of it. What do you
want to call that? It sounds survey adjacent
to me. We love that role. We sure do. Yeah, let's
do a quick survey. In which I have one single
dot in. I feel like I should have more at this
point. I just don't survey enough. You want to
push yourself? Do you want Devil's Bargain? I
can probably think of one. Now I'll just push
myself instead. I can handle it. Failure. Things
go badly. You suffer harm. A complication occurs.
You end up in a desperate position. What does
this look like? Like you surveying. Yeah, I would
be trying to read his emotion. Okay. Just very
quickly in this moment. I think Reggie shoots
you with his stun gun. The two guards next to
him do not have stun weapons, by the way. They
have rifles with bullets in them. So you're going
to take the level two harm. Let's call it stunned.
As he shoots you with this device, which shocks
your exopod and kind of puts you into spasms.
I think Maze makes a run for the ship as this
happens. Can I resist that harm? Yeah, sure.
You can check off armor as well if you prefer.
Yeah, let's check off some armors. Two ticks
in your pilot gear. I'm going to reduce that
down to a level one harm for you. We'll call
that... Sparked? Shocked. Shocked, sparked, whatever.
So yeah, you get shot by this little stun gun.
It kind of hits you on your arm. or your leg,
and it kind of, like, jolts you a little bit,
but the Exopod mostly absorbs it with its armor.
Maze makes a run for the ship. I don't think
the ship is on yet. Maybe it's, like, it's starting
up. And these two, the two guards kind of raise
their rifles. They don't shoot yet, but they're
kind of aiming at you and trying to get a line
on Maze as well. And I think Reggie says, I can't
believe you. You killed all those people. He
defied your orders. What were you thinking? You
represented us. Every time people think about
dolphins in the military, you're going to be
the first thing that comes to mind. You've ruined
it for so many of us. Do you know how hard I
had to fight even to get this position in the
military police? This joke? And they're approaching
you now. Sunlit is just like sputtering at this
point. Reggie. Why are you... What is this? I
told you. I got approved for early recruitment
because of my aptitude. I thought I was going
to be a pilot, but things turned out differently,
it seems. I think they hired me just because
I might have some dolphin intuition about you.
And looks like I was right. Looks like there
was something about this prisoner. After all.
What are you doing? I don't know if I'm paying
much attention to Reggie's angry ranting at this
point, but I am very concerned with Mei's running
off and the people with real guns having them
aimed at her. I want to prevent them from shooting
her. It seems like they're just aiming at her.
She's running away. Presumably they're going
to shoot her, right? It's not clear. Well, are
they in the cargo container with us right now?
So you're in a docking bay. Ah, yes. Just out
in the open. The ship is behind you. It has a
little, like, bridge or a ramp that goes down
from it. Maze is, like, running up that ramp
right now into the ship. Reggie and the two guards
are approaching you. Let's say they're, like,
you know, they're a few steps away from you.
They're, like, kind of in, not within, like,
melee range, but they're getting there. Like,
Reggie thinks you are stunned and is going to
try to probably cuff you or someone is lock you
down or, like, shut down your exopod or something
to that effect. Yeah, I want to try to tackle
these guards. Sure. I'm going to try to push
past Reggie here. If I can knock him over on
the way, then sure. It's a good plus. That sounds
like a battle. Do you want to check off a weapon?
Yeah. You will have less effect if you do not
have a weapon. And you're already going to have
less effect because you're shocked, too. So you
definitely want to have that weapon. Can my spokes
count as a weapon? I've used them as a weapon
previously. You still have to check off a gear
just by how the fiction works. Yes, I'm checking
this as an unusual weapon. Yeah. Yes. For sure.
You can use your spokes. Why not? Yeah, as I
see Mei's bolt, and just ignoring Regi's ranting,
the spokes from my exopod for terrestrial...
Quick movement, just shoot out, thunk against
the ground, and I start barreling towards these
men with guns, yelling out, Maze, run! Get on
the ship! Okay, that sounds like a struggle.
I would wager you have one die in struggle. Your
position is risky, still risky, given this current
scenario. Risky limited because you have that
wound on you. Yes. I don't want to push myself
anymore because I want to still have some stress
left for helping Geist. Yeah. You're going to
get some stress back after this. I think maybe
two, maybe three. I haven't decided exactly on
the number just so that not everyone's screwed.
But yeah, just keep that in mind. I can give
you a Devil's Bargain. I can. You don't have
to accept it, but I can offer it to you. Yeah,
I think I'll take that at this point. Sure. So
your devil's bargain will be Maze is going to
come back and help you. Ooh. Okay. Yeah. Sure.
I like that. I like that. Let's do that. Collateral
die accepted. You're going to have two dice on
this struggle. Risky limited still. I got it.
It's going to go great. We're going to get a
nice roll. Success. Ooh, baby. Okay, cool. Awesome.
Okay. Yeah, you knock over. So you're trying
to knock over Reggie too? Yeah, I mean, you have
limited effect, so it's going to be mixed. But
yeah, they think you are stunned. So they are
kind of not expecting you to leap forward in
this way. You plow through them. Reggie kind
of gets knocked to the side. You barrel through
these two guards. Um, cause Reggie has the exopod,
he's a lot more stable, so he doesn't get knocked
over in the same way these, these two guards
do. They kind of go sprawling. Uh, you hear the,
the sounds of breaking bones, cause you are,
you're like a vehicle, basically. You're driving
a car into them. And as part of that collateral
die, um, Reggie turns to, to face you, um, with
his stun gun ready. Um, and it seems like he
might actually get a shot off on you. Uh, and
you hear a gunshot, uh, from the, the ship, uh,
and a, a bullet, uh, from a rifle, goes to the
back of Reggie's exopod and pierces his body
and his face. I don't really know what a dolphin
shock expression is, but that's what you see
as some water starts spilling out of his exopod
and blood starts to cloud it up as well. Yeah,
I imagine his eyes would go very wide. You would
see the whites of them. Yeah. Blowing some bubbles,
mouth open. Where was he shot? It's... He was
shot through. I mean, I'm not a master of dolphin
physiology. It's the equivalent of a gut shot.
If not attended to soon, he will bleed out and
die. Gotcha. Okay, where's Maze right now? She
is on the ramp of the ship, kind of walking down.
And she has the rifle now trained on the other
guards who are trying to get up from their supine
position. Yeah, something just yells at her.
Just get out. Not get out. Get on the ship. Get
on the ship. Get out of here. There's a familiar
look in her eye. You kind of saw it when you
first got in contact with her and she was fighting
you. She's in the zone. You're going to have
to try to sway her to get her to stop. I think
she wants to finish this to deal with the threats
in front of her before she's ready to go. God,
so broadcasting again would cost me too stress.
Yeah, you used to sway her. I think I just do
a regular sway. Says to her, over whatever clamor's
going around, just, you've done enough, Mace.
You've done enough. It's over. And I will note
that the guards are getting up near you. So if
you succeed, she'll stop, but there is a chance
they will turn on you. Well, not turn on you.
They will try to get you. You're next to them.
And they have guns. Just something to think about
when you roll this. And you are shocked. So,
risky limited. Where are my smugglers? They're
inside the ship. They're starting it up. Looks
like they want to... They probably want to leave.
And presumably the ones that are outside are
now either dead or incapacitated. What was my
method of egress out of this place? You tell
me. I guess it was just going to be like... Yeah,
I would want there to just be another van in
this small landing strip area. I imagine that
would not be conspicuous. Yeah, you still have
to get out, though. You have to pass through...
There is good security here. Less security on
the way out, for sure, than on the way in. Because
they don't care as much about that, but... They
don't want people smuggling goods into the city.
So that, yeah, you could have a, there could
be a cargo van where you drive out the back of
the dock, like across the tarmac, like cargo
area or whatever, and go back into the city.
But you'd have to do that. And there are, I think
an alarm has probably gone off at this point.
Okay. Do you still want to sway maze? Yeah. Okay.
Well, let's just start with that. It's just,
at this point, nothing else is important right
now. This is the thing that he has been focusing
on just this entire time, these entire past few
months, just get Maze out. And if he can't do
that, it was all for nothing. So we're going
to sway. Risky limited, no modifiers. Okay, let's
try it. And of course, if he fails, she'll kill
these guys, right? Let's see. Maybe. Partial.
I think before she's fully convinced, she kills
another one of them. Just like a quick tap to
the head. Great shot. And like one of the guards
just gets his brains evacuated from his head
in front of you. And she kind of looks at you.
I think the other one is still like trying to
get up. Like maybe that's when you broke his
bones. He's like really like trying to crawl
to his gun and get it. And Maze looks to you
and, you know, she tosses the rifle. Actually,
no, I don't think she tosses the rifle. Thematically,
I think she slings the rifle around her back.
And she says, Are you sure? Are you sure you
don't need my help? Yes, Mace. I'll be fine.
No, just get out. Get out of here before it's
too late. What did she say to you? What are her
parting words? I think she just says, Thank you,
Sunleth. I'll... I'll try to make it worth the
price. I promise. Don't... Don't die. Okay. He
nods to her. I guess the ramp starts to get pulled
up as, like, the smugglers inside kind of prepare
to take off. I think, like, the... I imagine
there's, like, some sort of, like, blast door
or, like, hood to the hangar that can be, like,
closed. And, like, as the alarms have gone off,
it started to close. She kind of just kind of
stands on the ramp as it starts to close, and
the ship starts to lift into the air. Like the
thrusters kick on and kind of just like looks
at you one last time. A look of kind of a pain
of like uncertainty. Maybe like she's like steps
forward to like try to jump down and then stops
herself and this turns on her heel and like marches
back into the ship and it closes up behind her
and goes off into the sky. That's good. What
do you do next? You got to get the fuck out of
here. Yeah, I'm like thinking, okay, the van
that I have as my escape vehicle is an armored
van. And then we're going to have like a chase
sequence through the city to get out of here.
It's going to be like an action movie. But then
I'm thinking, okay, like, how does he lose the
entire military police surrounding this very
populated area and not lead them back to the
base? I mean, I'm guessing you have some sort
of meeting spot with Worthy outside the city.
Yeah. I mean, the best way to do that is to go
fast. Yep. They may not be expecting you to go
out through that way instead of the way you came
in. That does mean, however, Reggie will die.
Mm -hmm. And you'll have to make your peace with
that, one way or another. God, okay. Isn't there
people around here that could find him? It's
not clear. It's bad. It doesn't look good, though.
You might be able to stop the bleeding, but that
would take time. And that's not something you
have a lot of. Yeah, I don't have the means to
go through his exopod and provide medical care.
It would be very funny if I just adopted another
war child at this point and took him with me.
But I don't think we have the capacity to do
that either. Can I just take one of the radios
from Peacekeeper guys who have been killed by
maze? And call in some help for Reggie here?
Before I book it? You could. You could do that.
Yeah, Sunlit would do that at the very least.
He would be moving to go turn around, see if
Reggie's saying anything, and then call in some
backup for him, or just say medical assistance
needed. Yeah, I think he just says, like, why.
He just keeps saying why, like, over and over
again. He's, like, in shock at this point. Yeah,
I don't think this is any particular skill. To
get help for Reggie. I mean, you're not a doctor.
It seems bad. I guess it's a luck roll. Which
I think is just your squad's tier. 2d6. Sunless
says to Reggie, You... You're too young to understand.
I pray that you do someday. That's all I can
say to you. And then he goes on the radio to
be like, Medical care needed at... Anger Bay,
whatever this is. Enrolling a 2d6. See how lucky
I get. Martial success. Five and a five. Mm -hmm.
You call it in. We'll get back to that later.
He looks at Reggie and he sees just a pre -Maze,
basically. Someone who could become what Maze
did and then what he tried to undo. He just feels
this sense of this wheel of time spinning forever.
and fights back a feeling of hopelessness with
it, tries to accept it, and leaves. All right,
you get in the car. You get in the van, which
is armored, I suppose? Yes, wanted to be an armored
van. I had that much foresight, at least. Why
not? Okay. You are driving across the tarmac.
I mean, okay, so I'm just imagining an airport,
personally. There are definitely like, there
are emergency vehicles coming to this hangar.
I think at the very least you have to get through
a checkpoint. Like there's some sort of fenced
off part of the road where there are guards on
it with weapons. And there's like a big, like
bollards, you know, little things that block
cars from going through. And you need to think
of a way to get through there. Is there any way
to get out that does not involve going through
this checkpoint or is it just walls all around?
I don't think they're walls as much as they're
like kind of like reinforced kind of like steel
pylons more than anything. You could always do
a flashback. What if there's like an empty truck?
empty truck ramp that is waiting at the bollards
it's like the kind that that carries cars and
it's got the ramp down and we're gonna do the
action movie thing where you drive up the truck
and just leap over the bollards i mean that's
great i love that I need something from you,
though. They can't just be there. I feel like
I need a flashback. I feel like I need a flashback.
At least some explanation of how you knew this
would be here or got it to be here. Mm -hmm.
What kind of friends do I got who could be driving
this ramped truck right now? I mean, it could
just be a part of the smugglers, right? Where
we have a flashback where you are putting this
in place. I'll just give that to you. Sure. Let's
just call it two stress. I'm going to call for
a roll, but it will be two stress. Okay. And
now, given that you have this method of egress
here, I think you need to roll maneuver. Yeah,
I am in a vehicle. You are in a vehicle. You
are piloting it. All right. Let's fucking maneuver
this jump. Let's go. That's my positions. You
are desperate. Standard. I'll give you standard
because you have this set up. Partial. Okay.
I imagine this fucks up the car once I land.
Yes, I think that's what I'll do the damage to,
is this vehicle, because I'm nice like that.
Yeah, you floor it. A couple of these emergency
vehicles, noticing that there's a flooring van
going towards the exit, kind of turn around to
try to follow you, and you hit this truck with
its things down. The smugglers have arranged
it to kind of be here, just kind of parked off
to the side of the fence. And you go right over
it. You're sailing over this barrier on the outside
of the airfield tarmac that the spaceport is
connected to. And that deposits you back on the
roads. This truck was not really meant to be
jumped. In addition to that, you probably get
some gunfire at you as you charge near the checkpoint.
I'm going to combine two things. I'm going to
combine a level two damage with a level one harm.
So you're going to get level two damage on the
vehicle. This will be temporary, which will just
be, you know, like jacked up axle. Uh -huh. And
then you're going to get another level one harm
grazed as a bullet like goes through the windshield
and grazes your exopod and damages like some
of the arm. So I'm steering one -handed with
this steering wheel that is not cooperating very
well. Yes. See, and you can resist those if you
want, but you might trauma out. Yeah, I'm not
going to do that right now. That'd be your final
trauma, which would be bad. Okay, you are in
the city. There are alarms going off behind you.
No one is following you yet. There's no cars
on your ass as you peel off into the city, but
this is the center of the city. There are lots
of Peacekeeper forces here. It won't be long
until people are looking for you. What is your
next move? That would be in a panicked, adrenaline
-fueled mad dash to just do a high -speed city
escape to the best of my ability. Okay. Let's
see. Is that another maneuver? Do you have another
plan? What are my options of coming up with stuff
that are not based on stress? Very limited. Gear
and... Can I... This is a vehicle. Can I check
off my vehicle gear for this van? Usually...
I mean, what do you have in mind? Let's talk
about it. I want to say the van has a holoprojector
and make it look like a different vehicle. Can
I just drive away? But that makes it a little
too easy, doesn't it? It does make it a little
too easy. But you do have a holoprojector that
you have used before on your frame. So, like,
technically... these vehicles have quirks, like
temporary vehicles do have quirks that you can
use to push them. Ooh, okay. Okay, well, I'll
leave it here. You can push yourself using a
quirk. It'll let you at once, just because you
didn't really pay anything for this fan, I kind
of just gave it to you. We'll say it as medium
vehicle gear. I think the holo projector would
be a stretch. However... As an offer to you.
Okay, so the Dusklights, the Dusklights squad
sheet, you do have one material left. If you
want to pay for it from there and take that money
from your squad, you could do that. I would accept
that as a resource. Oh yeah, totally then. Let's
take that money from the squad. Yeah, it's a
good money. Okay, you have this device. You have
the holoprojector. I think... So let's say you
disguise yourself as another vehicle. Now, your
axle's still kind of dragging. Are you trying
to just still rush out of the city? Yeah, I'm
just trying to leave. I imagine that I had the
foresight to think that getting out of here would
be more difficult than getting in. That's just
why I have all this stuff. And just like, I want
to disguise this as a taxi. So I'm just a crazed
taxi driver, which is... normal in a city and
i'm going going fast trying to leave whatever
the shortest route is out of here so the the
main obstacles that i'm contending with just
so you to fill you in so there is security in
the city you would probably have to pass through
a checkpoint of some sort like as long as there's
no more impassable bollards i would be still
just driving through fences Maybe changing the
appearance of the car multiple times after I
crash through each one of these checkpoints.
Let's get one more maneuver then. Let's get one
more maneuver. Yeah, we're doing it again. Okay.
Since you have the holoprojector, I will let
you keep your standard position. You do have
a jacked up axle, though. Yeah. So I'm going
to put you risky standard. Minus one die, though.
Okay. That's one dice. Unless you want Devil's
Bargain or something. Or push yourself. I could
try to think up of something. Yeah, give me a
devil's bargain. Okay, here's your devil's bargain.
I think that in doing so, you cause so much chaos
that Reggie... You cause a traffic incident that
prevents Reggie from getting to a hospital on
time. Oh my god, he just dies anyway. Maybe.
Maybe. Maybe. That's your devil's bargain. Your
collateral die. Save one life at the cost of
another. And that's not counting the humans that
died. Exactly. Save one child life at the cost
of another child life. Yeah, that's sad. It's
very sad, but it's fitting. It's incredibly fitting.
Okay, I'll take your devil's bargain. Okay. Roll
me two dice. Let's hope that he didn't die for
nothing. Partial. Here's where we'll leave it.
You drive like a maniac. People often can't see
you coming because you're constantly changing
your... Your form. It's very confusing for everyone.
There's a lot of traffic accidents caused by
you. I think there's a lot of, like, other injuries,
too. Like, bad car accidents of civilians who
are just, like, going about their day because
of this. Maybe you even plowed through one with
your armored car. Who knows? You can't control
it. Your axle's all messed up. And as a result...
The general chaos, you know, you don't know it
immediately. You'll probably figure it out in
like a newscast down the line, maybe even tomorrow
before your deployment with Geist. That Reggie,
a promising young recruit from the military police
who had come here to arrest the war criminals
and the Dusklights, had an altercation with one
of them and was shot and killed by you, is what
the news says. But you do get out. Your consequence
is just that, that you have to, you hurt a lot
of people. Man. And you're already awful reputation.
Anyone who may have been like, okay, well, Hex
is the war criminal. Everyone else is just caught
up in it. It's like, no, they're all bad. Like,
look at what they did here. Like, all the people
who died. And for what? Like, what was the point
of it? And your car limps out of the city. You
ditch it quickly, transfer to another vehicle,
get out to the rendezvous point with Worthy in
the River Valley. It's probably like a couple,
a long, pretty long drive, like a couple hours.
So just like, it's quiet. It's like so much quieter
than it was on this mad dash out of the city.
And you just like, I think you just know that
the price you paid, that other people paid, was
so much greater than what you got. But you have
completed it. You have saved one person. Your
drive. You can remove those two drive clocks
now. It is complete. Maze is off planet. We will
get back to her. I sure can remove that. There
you go. You get on the ship, Worthy. He flies
you back. He doesn't really talk to you much.
He's anxious to get out of there. What shot do
we want to leave Loyal on here? At the point
where we take off and start flying, can you still
see the city from there? Yeah, sure. You could
just be looking out the back. One of the windows
are at the back ramp. Yeah, I'm looking out the
back, and maybe there's just some search helicopters
happening. The city's obviously just in this
state of chaos, and it's just silence staring
at the aftermath of what he has done. And they
fly away.