Lieutenant Kane Halifax was having a particularly
bad week. Not only had his targets, the Dusklights,
completely evaded him, but two of them had been
publicly featured in news stories, something
that indicated very clearly to his higher -ups
that he was not doing his job very well. At the
very least, the lieutenant could say that Joseph,
the emergent personality, should be dealt with
by the SUEPD, but that was not the case with
Sunlith. No, just the other day, in this very
city, that dolphin had killed one of his officers,
and then injured and killed dozens of civilians
in a high -speed chase throughout the streets.
Kane, at the time, had been eating at a restaurant,
trying to clear his head. He had heard the sirens,
but how could he have known his quarry was so
close, that he would be so thoroughly humiliated?
On any other mission, he would never have let
this happen. His intuition would have put him
in the spaceport right next to the late Reggie.
There was something rotten about this planet,
something throwing him off of his game. That
horrible, metallic, bloody smell couldn't be
escaped. The whole city was steeped in it, a
great red dumpster full of corpses. Maybe, he
conceded, it was time to retire. He wasn't a
young man anymore, and no doubt his failures
on this mission would stop any hopes of transfer
or promotion. As the lieutenant mused on this,
he heard the distinct crack of gunfire in the
distance, towards the western checkpoint. Then,
he felt the unmistakable shaking of the ground,
the footfalls of something very large moving
closer. A radio report crackled into his ear.
The clusterists were massing near the western
end, not advancing yet, but waiting for something.
That smell burnt back into the lieutenant's nostrils,
stronger than ever, almost enough to bowl him
to the ground. He reached for his pistol and
stepped out into the street, waiting for what
is to come, waiting for the end of it all. Hello?
and welcome back to all that you know, our Beam
Saber campaign. My name is Colin, and I am the
Game Master. Joining me today are Brian. Hi,
I'm Brian, and I'll be playing Hex the Bureaucrat.
Ewan. Hello, I'm Ewan. I'm playing Loyal the
Empath. Zach. Hi, I'm Zach, and I'm playing Geist
the Ace. And Adam. Hi, I'm Adam. I'm going to
be playing Joseph the Infiltrator. Awesome. You
have now all returned from your exciting vignettes,
and you have had about two days to recuperate,
which has already been reflected on your character
sheets. I reduced your stress and damage. In
that time, a couple of things have occurred,
or more clearly, you've heard about a couple
of things that have occurred. First, Geist has
returned with a cuffed, clustrous scientist who
seems extremely unhappy to be here, and we will
get to that in a minute. Oh yeah. Secondly, two
news stories broke over the last day, which are
substantial, and they shed light on what two
of your squad members did over their vignettes.
The first details a chaotic incident that happened
in the city in which Sunleth, a member of the
Dusklight Squad, shot and killed four peacekeepers
as well as one military police member. And that
is in addition to stealing a violent terrorist
and pilot, Maze Mourner. After that, Sunleth
led a high -speed chase through the city, resulting
in the injury and deaths of dozens of civilians.
Sunleth is currently at large, which is no surprise
to you, since he is right here with you all.
Surprise. The second story is about a brutal
killing which took place in the town of Greywood
Sands. Footage recovered from the crime scene
shows Joseph, an emergent personality, also a
member of the Dusklights, killing a civilian
in the apartments with what appears to be a chess
piece. It is unclear of the motive here, as the
roommate of the victim was left with minor wounds
and nothing was stolen. A guest specialist in
emergent personalities speculates that Joseph
has gone completely rogue and has lost any moral
programming or sense and should be considered
extremely dangerous and killed on sight. Wow.
That's only one death. Just one death. Just saying.
Talk about a weekend. Do you guys wonder if maybe...
Uh, the whole purpose of Contrition's big mission
was just to make Joseph completely incapable
of integrating into human society so he never
has second thoughts. I'm convinced! What can
I say? It's a little thought I had. Yo, my coworker's
weird. My coworker's weird as fuck. Uh, you know.
Uh, let's go on to dreams. We're gonna talk about
dreams, if you don't mind. I love to do this.
Never mind. Loyal, your sleep is dreamless, and
when you awake, there is something off about
the world. It's like reality is as still as a
calm ocean, but today there are great waves emanating
from somewhere in the distance. The veil feels
thin, and the spiral on your chest aches, as
if called to something just ahead of you. There
is a feeling that the crown is ever so close
to you now. that should the opportunity present
itself, you may very well be able to pluck it
from the air out of some other place and make
it real. Or real again, because you already kind
of did that. Geist, your dreams are filled with
fire. You feel your skin burning and awake red
and sweaty in the cockpit of the changeling.
You feel a sense of finality come over you, a
feeling that should you call out at the right
moment with the right intent, that you may get
an answer from martyrdom, and that loyal... as
is his role, may be able to anoint you as the
king returned from beyond. And with that, we
will leave you with each other back on your hidden
ice base, waiting to hear back from Nyla regarding
the information you sent her from your last mission
at the teleporter warehouse. I think I have a
quick question because I feel like this is something
that Geist would have been doing. Probably since
we got here at the base, actually. So he's having
these dreams. Does the changeling move while
he sleeps? Because he's definitely looking at
it. He's conspicuously parking it in front of
a security camera or something, or setting one
up if we don't have one, just because he wants
to see if it's moving at all while he's sleeping
in there. Do you want it to? I'll leave it up
to you. I don't think I, like, I don't want it
to be, like, run around, like, doing, like, kung
fu practice in the hangar. I like the idea that
maybe even with, like, safeguards active, it,
like, shudders or twitches a little bit, like,
you know, like that, um, you've seen Paranormal
Activity, right? Like, the first one? I have.
Let's pretend I have. It's like there's a point
where because it's like it's all like a found
footage kind of movie and they show like sped
up footage of like the one woman being possessed
and like standing outside of her bed. And it's
really eerie. It like speeds like a few hours
in the span of like a minute. And it's just like
really fast footage of a person standing, but
not perfectly still. So it like it's just like
moving and like just like kind of with the breath
or whatever. I imagine it just like sometimes
doing that being with the safeguards. It never
goes anywhere. I like that. Yeah, I was just
curious, but yeah, I think that's it. I don't
think Geist would talk to Joseph about his murder.
I think after learning about Loyal's little rampage,
he might just sometime at the base just be like,
hey, I just want to make sure you're okay after
everything that happened in, you know, Terabrea,
Terabrea City. I mean, Are you good? I think
that any time Geist or anyone else asks him about
this, he just gets this far away look at his
eyes and is like, the mission did not go as planned.
And he kind of just floats off. Alright, Geist
wouldn't push it farther than that. He's not
going to ask Joseph about the chest piece thing.
Let's talk about the scientist, Geist. Yeah,
I got this guy, my new friend. Where are you
holding him? Do we have a jail? Our boat out
of the ice. Ice jail. I don't even know if that
is an upgrade you can get. I would have to look.
I think it is. I have the sheet open. There isn't
one. That's really strange. So I think Geist
would probably keep him in because we have this
place is kind of like it's got like weird. I
got like resort vibes from it just because of
the weird fucking robot. But I imagine, like,
we just, like, keep him in a stateroom that has
been, like, swept for bugs after making sure
that he doesn't have any technology on him or
anything, and then we just have, like, some of
the raptors posted as guards, and they, like,
bring him his meals and stuff. Okay. Let's talk
to him. Sure. Geist is going to have Loyal come
with. He'll be like, look, I want to squeeze
that scientist we nabbed for some information.
I just want you to make sure he's being honest
with me, if that's okay. We'll make sure everything
he says is true. Cool. Does anybody else want
to come? Is Harold or Joseph interested? Yeah,
Hex wants to come. Cool. Yeah, so what's he doing
when we walk in there? I guess he's probably
spinning in a swivel chair. Just kind of like
left to right. He doesn't want to get dizzy,
but he's just kind of like really bored. He doesn't
have any activities. Yeah, that's fair. Unless
you gave him, like, a fidget cube or something.
You probably gave him something. You know, gave
him maybe like a pen and paper or something.
He's writing his will. I don't know. Hey, I mean,
I told you I was going to have some questions
for you, and this is it. A couple things before
we start. This here, you might know who this
is. This is my squad mate, Sunliff, and he can
tell if you're Lyme or not with absolute certainty.
Don't lie to me, and if you try to lie to me
anyways, I'll probably hurt you. I haven't decided
yet. I'm kind of just playing this by ear. But,
I mean, you don't really have anything to lose
at this point anyways, so you might as well cooperate.
If I help you, will you let me go? Yeah, probably.
I mean, I don't really have any reason to hold
on to you after that. I don't know. Like I said,
I'm winging it. He looks still loyal. That was
true. Nothing he says is a lie. I just stare
down at him and I make some of the servos in
my exosuit whir louder. Hell yeah. That's very
comforting. Yeah, I want to know about the virtues.
I want to know what you know about them. Like
all of them? Anything you know about any of them.
Maybe focus particularly on retribution and the
ones that are still alive. OK, well, you might
want to take a seat. I'll take a seat. I'll sit
on the bed. I got all day. You got all day. So
he starts. He says, so as far as I was the lead
researcher on the retribution system, primarily,
that's where most of my knowledge is. I did work.
With some of the other teams early on, we did
a little bit of collaboration. So I can tell
you a little bit more about those, but I'll start
with Retribution. All the technology was acquired
through Tyrell Cryan's connections. And I was
trained by some of her people, people who aren't
around anymore. Not that they're dead, they just
left. They were definitely familiar with the
technology, but there was a lot they weren't
telling us. They only cared about operation.
They really did not want us to understand exactly
how things worked or what powered them. As far
as how retribution worked from what I could tell,
the system transferred control of the host body
into what we call the projector, which you saw
that big frame -like statue in there. This is
accomplished. I assume by some sort of psychoelectric
bridge, which to us humans is mostly a speculative
technology, but it seems that someone figured
it out. Whether that is a human or something
else, I can't comment on. Once the pilot is in
there, they can project this phantom to locations
far from here. You fought it a couple times,
I know, so you understand how that works. The
farther away it is from us, the weaker it gets.
and it can only sustain it for a limited amount
of time before it collapses and the pilot comes
back. We noticed that the more damage that the
pilot sustained, or the projection sustained,
the more difficulty we had transferring the consciousness
back into the body. Something about the bridge
held on to the pilot. We were not trained on
this process, we were not able to alleviate it.
My assumption is that it's irreversible, and
we hid this from the pilot as long as we could
to avoid any... And as far as the greater mechanics
at work, like I said, there's no clear power
source for allowing the transfer to take place.
I'm guessing there's some sort of high -level
psychic control that is beyond our grasp, especially
because of the limitations that were put on us
regarding our psychic communions if we worked
on these systems. Yeah, that was my other question.
If these virtues... aren't really inherent to
clusterism, if it's just technology that you've
been granted, presumably from an alien source,
given serial crimes connections and the level
of technology at play, then why is it that when
we killed Doody, it sent out a psychic shockwave?
I mean, I read the reports. It was mayhem. If
this is alien technology, why did it touch every
single clusterist mentally in this way? I wish
I could tell you concretely. The running theory
in my field is that these alien technologies,
they blur the line between what we consider to
be the realm of the mind and, you know, psychic
techniques, which we still don't understand very
well, and the realm of technology and engineering.
Maybe there's just so much... energy in duty
or so much attachment to it. Duty was one of
the most well -liked virtues, at least as far
as propaganda goes. It was kind of the poster
child of the revolution. Maybe there is a larger
connection with others, how they perceive it.
And there's a smaller almost bridge between the
virtues and the people. But this is speculation.
You're right that duty had a big effect. An effect
that Many of the other virtues didn't when they
died, save for, well, I don't have the data to
back anything up. When I killed Retribution,
did you feel it? Well, I was there, so I felt
it, yes. I do not, I haven't really had contact
with the outside world, but if, I would assume
there would not have been as much of an effect.
Retribution was not seen as a very virtuous virtue
by the people. I don't know. I don't know. That's
my answer. Okay. What about sacrifice? What do
you know about him? I don't have a lot of data
on any of the other frames, except for maybe
martyrdom, because I did some advising for them.
But we noticed that all of the other virtues
utilized, like I said, a psychoelectric interface,
a psychic connection with its pilots. Sacrifice
did not. It didn't seem to utilize any of the
advanced technologies that the other frames did.
In many ways, it was the most normal virtue just
from the readings we have on it. From what I've
heard, and this is just kind of a rumor more
than anything because I've been so isolated,
allegedly Sacrifice didn't even receive orders
through the normal channels. It was like it either
made its own orders or it was getting them from
somewhere else. Hmm. And what if I told you that
sacrifice was an artificial machine intelligence?
We're the ones who cracked it open. We killed
him. That would be disturbing. I'm presuming
this isn't hypothetical. No. Well, that would
mean that there's another party involved that
provided sacrifice. The rest of the Virtues,
while they're all very strange, even compared
to each other, they all... seem to have the same
general principles behind them. It would suggest
something else. I don't know what it would suggest.
Another manufacturer? Another involvement in
the whole resistance? I don't know. Why do you
think so many external parties are so fucking
interested in the Clusterist revolution? This
is just... I'm just looking for your opinion.
I know you don't know a fucking thing. Yeah,
that is definitely outside the range of my knowledge.
You may be surprised to know this. I know that
a lot of this must seem hypocritical given the
positions of the Clusterists, anti -alien, anti
-artificial intelligence. I certainly don't think
that our original leader, Panamenta, would have
agreed to the use of these things, but I'm in
no position to judge. I would guess... that there
is a common enemy. That is the most simple explanation.
It's that Tyrell Cryne, who is an outsider, has
reason to want the downfall of the Soul Union,
if what the Union claims about their whole end
times prophecy is in fact true. All right. Well,
the last question I had is, do you know anything
about where Faith and Attachment are? As far
as I know, Attachment... Has it been on standby
for an operation? I don't know where. I know
Faith is in the Silt Valley. It's never been
in combat. It's just kind of sitting there. I
don't know why. Your people secured the martyrdom
frame, didn't you? Your squad was involved in
that? Yeah. I'm assuming you're doing research
on it. Yeah. Have you had any luck with that?
No. We learned nothing. Geist looks back to Loyal
as if... He looks back to Loyal and gives him
kind of an unsure look, like he doesn't know
if he should be completely honest with this guy.
He's looking for Loyal to... Yay or nay. Yeah,
he just shakes his head and is like, no. Nothing
at all. Yeah, the previous team was trying to
revive Martyrdom. Allegedly, the spark hadn't
gone out. But, as you know, it didn't really
go well for them. Yeah, we saw the child scavengers
getting their hands bloody rifling through piles
of machine parts right before the frame itself
fucking dusted them. That is a tragedy. Communion,
allegedly, from what we've been told and from
what we've experienced, our participation in
communion helps alleviate some of the worst side
effects of exposure to these things. But that
team that you busted, I believe they weren't
even... doing any communions for a long time
because they've been quarantined because of some
concerns. Yeah. Geist looks back to the rest
of the squad and he's like, I don't know, you
guys got any questions for this dickhead? I think
that was all I wanted to know. Not me. Hex shakes
his head. All right. Well, unless... You have
anything else you think would be useful that
you want to provide to me in exchange for improving
your chances of surviving this ordeal with all
four of your limbs intact? I think we're done
here for now. Okay. I don't think I have anything
else for you. If I can think of anything, I'll
tell you or I'll tell the people holding me.
Please do. Look, I don't want you to, like, blow
your brains out or chew through the arteries
in your wrists, so... I mean, if you need something...
To avoid going fucking insane. We're not barbarians.
I don't know. Go shrugs. Or some books. We good.
Yeah, I'll see what we can find. If you try to
pull a fast one, though, I will kill you, and
I won't hesitate, even for a second. I have no
interest in that. I am a scientist, not a assassin.
You can look at Joseph. Fair enough. Joseph winks.
Yeah. All right. Yeah, Geist, I think it's just
gonna nod and leave and maybe see about getting
this guy some books because, I mean, he looks
to Loyal before he leaves and he's like, no,
that was a lie. He told us everything he knew.
Okay. Good shit. Yep, we'll leave. I mean, I'll
leave. Anybody else can do what they like to
him, but Geist, I think, is... interested in
honoring what he said, we'll find a place to
drop him off. Maybe on our next drop, if such
a thing is even possible or practical. Yeah,
Hex is good with it. He leaves. Cool. Yep. Okay.
You get a message from Nyla. To prepare for a
briefing in three hours, and to prepare your
frames and fire teams for immediate deployment.
Oh boy. I feel like, uh, you know, we're gonna
let Gopher, no. Are we still calling him Gopher?
I think we are. I feel like we need to give him
a cooler call sign. Ground dog. Ground dog, yeah.
A much more dignified rodent, for sure. Prairie
dog. Prairie dog, yeah. Prairie dog's better.
We'll get the whole base on high alert. Anytime
this happens, I imagine that there's like...
Big flashing red sirens that are, like, flaring
in our ice anger, you know what I mean? People
are running around. Yeah, yeah, running around.
Hither and thither. I don't know. That's what's
going on. So, yeah, I think Geist is just going
to go perform some checks on the changeling and
then go to our, like, communications place where
we receive our briefings. Sure. The fuzzy audio
connection sparks to life in the communication
room. It's pretty cramped in here. It's not really,
uh... a proper briefing room. Like you have Nyla
or you have been used to Nyla's voice comes through
and she says, Joseph loyal. I don't have the
time or the means to deal with you too, but I
sincerely hope you know what the hell you're
doing. And that is all I am going to say on that
matter. Joseph nods to a microphone, I guess.
Moving on. We've managed to crack the information
that you provided from that device in the warehouse.
Much of it was beyond our resources to understand.
However, we came away with two important pieces
of information. First is that the teleporter
had been operating for a long time, since shortly
after the start of the conflict, sending God
knows what to the same location over and over
again. Secondly, and most importantly, is that
we've discovered where that second location is,
and that is in the planet's orbit. An old defense
platform that we had disabled during our initial
orbital battle before we landed everything on
the planet. We haven't exactly had control of
the orbit, as you know, but at the very least
we would have noticed if someone was flying back
and forth between this platform and the planet
itself. They must have counted on this. If I
had to guess, I'd say they're trying to bring
it back online. Maybe to stop any reinforcements
from coming in, though they'd probably need much
more than one platform to do that. Maybe there
was another transporter we missed, or maybe it's
linked somehow. We don't know. We don't know
how these things work. You need to go up there
and check it out. If they did reactivate the
platform, destroy it, that won't be easy. It's
meant to stand up to much larger weapons than
your frames have, so be methodical. Get inside,
something like that. I'll keep a comm relay open
down here, so as long as there's no haze field,
we'll be able to communicate. That's all I have,
unfortunately. Do you have any questions? Do
you think they could be rigging it online to
fire it at the planet's surface? Maybe wipe Brea
City off the map? We know they were trying to
move Clusterists out. Defense platforms can't
fire on ground targets. The rail cannons are
designed to penetrate hulls and are too thin
to survive atmospheric re -entry. That being
said, it's been almost a decade. I don't know
when they first got up there to start working
on it, but... It's possible. It's certainly possible.
It would make some amount of sense. But there
are a lot of Clusterists in the city. So that
would be quite the move. I mean, their plan was
to move them all out of the city. We knew that
from the documents we swiped when we snagged
the Martyrdom frame, and we fucked that plan
up real bad when Harold here turned Crater City
into a... Well, an underwater attraction. Yeah.
I don't know. They've been warping, what, Tungsten
up there for ten years? Make a hell of an orbital
drop slug, that's all I'm saying. Fuck. Alright,
we don't have any information on this place.
I mean, they don't really have a lot of virtues
left, but I guess, you know, they might have
Pierce up there. Right? Maybe... Adji? I don't
know. Could that be where the rest of their command
is? This is like their super secret stronghold
or whatever? I don't know. All I know is that
the Preacher is on the planet. We know that much.
Adji probably is. They wouldn't be able to do
any sort of regular broadcast or communications
from up there. We would have noticed. So we haven't
heard from Pierce in a long time. So maybe him.
Maybe Tyrell. We haven't heard from her in a
long time. If ever. But, you know, we can't know.
I just... I don't know. This whole thing, it
fucking stinks to me. Like, sure, a teleporter
is pretty fantastic technology. But, like, if
they're using the technology they're getting
from these outside sources to do something as
simple as moving materials... Like, I feel like
there's got to be something more at play. I don't
know. None of this matters. I'm fucking speculating.
It doesn't change what we have to do. It doesn't
change the mission. I don't even know why I'm
saying it, to be perfectly honest. We're ready,
and I mean, I think we'll either be able to handle
it or we won't, and the whole thing's moot anyways.
Okay. Well, on my side of things, as for the
plan to end all of this, we've begun discussion
with multiple mercenary groups. They are unsavory,
but they don't mind doing dirty work, and we
need them for that. If all of this turns out
all right, in the next few weeks, we should be
able to get them over here, and then the end
will be in sight. They'll be able to do what
they do. So just finish up this work, and you
might just be home free. If there's not anything
else, you're dismissed, and good hunting. Can
Worthy's ship get us up there? Yes, it can. Okay.
They got a big slingshot. You ready? It's always
a slingshot. Fuck yeah. Okay. A couple things
happen. As you begin preparations, Loyal Spud,
Captain Spud, the raptors and the sparrows are
all assembled in the hangar, and Spud approaches
you and says, Hey, man, seems like you're going.
We're not going to be sitting this one out, obviously.
So what's going on? What's the operation? Hello,
Spud. Have you not had any briefing yet? Uh,
no, no. We just, you know, a lot of the time
you kind of leave without us. And we don't get
to, like, do anything. So I'm just trying to,
like, kind of get ahead of that on this one.
We are disabling the orbital defense station
around the planet. Oh, fuck yes. Zero gravity
maneuvers? Are you kidding me? Oh, fuck. I had
these mag boots for so fucking long. Oh, my God.
They're going to be so stoked. Okay, great. Thank
you. We'll get ready. I guess. Geist, they'll
probably have to go to Gopher and be like, hey,
uh, I'm gonna have to be flying in space. Does
my, like, jet mix gotta be different for that?
Because there's no oxygen up there? Or, like,
can you handle that? Can you do that? Um, in
like, in like three hours? Well, yeah, yeah,
in like three hours. You'll be fine. Your frame
is great for that. Um. I need to look at everyone
else's gear. Nobody else can fly, so I don't
think it matters. Well, it's important that because
they can't fly. Yeah, I guess. That's a quick
look. I guess the rest of the squad is also going
into space, so you'll need to make their frames
also void capable in three hours. My boss asked
me to make my whole team's frames. He's posting
on the internet forum somewhere. I'm so fucking
mad. Last door. You have no gear on your frame,
Brian. Oh yeah, because did you not declare anything?
I don't think I did. Well, no, because you had
your melee weapon. You used it on Retribution.
I remember that. So you should at least have
that. I could have sworn you declared things
when you fought. Retribution. Let me look at
the history here, but I don't think I did. I
got disabled real quick. Maybe the cannon? Because
you fought Retribution before Sacrifice fucked
you up. And I know you whacked him with a baton.
Were you tracking it in the foundry? Because
there's a rack of missiles, a melee weapon, and
a cargo container in there. I don't remember.
Let's see. Because you got to clear everything
when you refitted your frames. Yes. Well, we'll
figure it out. It doesn't matter that much. I
know Joseph's is probably a little bit full because
it's a light frame. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. So Joseph's
is full except for one, but one can't buy. Oh,
wait, no, you get a light mobility suite. No.
You'll be Gucci. Can I take off my cargo space
for that? No, you can't take anything off without
paying, and we're out of money. Yes, we are flat
fucking broke, sorry. Why did I put cargo space
on? I don't even remember. Why would you have
cargo space? I know. You put teleporter parts
in your frame. Oh. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. And then
let me look at loyals. Oh, that costs money.
Yeah, and you're poor as fuck. Loyal, you have
room for a mobility suite if you need it. which
you will you might just want to go ahead and
check that off now yeah is that just like the
um like the rcs thrusters you can get in like
kerbal space program they let you make little
adjustments they're not like yeah well like jet
engines but they'll give you a little push in
one direction or another so you can yeah it's
a full it's a full flight system that's that
is going to let you do zero gravity uh stuff
bullshit so you're all fine you're basically
all fine all right mobility suite i guess gopher
would say Well, luckily, with the refits, it
made it much easier to slap things on. So I can
rush it and just get that set for you. Hey, man.
Hex, we talked about this a bit before, but how
are you feeling going into this mission, considering
that you basically have everything lined up for
you already? Hex is a bit shaken, just given,
I mean, not just that, but... with Loyal's little
rampage and Joseph's little rampage. About a
little rampage. What Joseph might be doing in
the background, but he's still following along.
He wants to see it. Okay. Time to pile in? Yeah,
let's fucking, let's get it. Put me on the slingshot.
Yeehaw. Worthy checks you all in as you get in
the ship. He gives you a little reminder saying,
I don't know if you remember your zero gravity
training or whatever, but that's what's in space.
I know it's been a while. Just, you know, keep
that in mind. Yeah, good luck. And all the fire
teams are now in the hangar with you. They're
wearing, like, these dusty armored space suits.
Spud is giving instructions on using mag boots
for traction and, like, about... Just general
tips running him through a little training seminar.
What are you up to? This is a long ride. It takes
a while to get to space. Yeah. I'm impressed
that where these little ship can achieve escape
velocity. I guess that's probably fairly standard
for a military deployment craft in the far future.
I don't know. I think Geist is just probably
sitting in the changeling. That's his favorite
thing to do. He's just thinking. I feel like
he's been real ever since he killed Retribution.
He's just been very pensive and he's spent a
lot of his time thinking about stuff. And so
he's just sitting in the Changeling thinking
about stuff. X is attending the Magbook seminar.
How long does it take us to reach Zero -G? One
sec, I'm googling how long does it take to get
to space. Cool. Okay, so this isn't, as you know,
As listeners will know, spaceships go straight
up and they have a giant fucking thruster on
them. That allows them to do that. Everyone knows
this. That doesn't take that long. I'm guessing
Worthy just has very strong thrusters, but he's
going up at an angle. Because he can't go straight
up and down. That wouldn't be possible. Let's
say... And there's also, like, the curvature
of the plane. I don't know. Okay, hours. It's
taking multiple hours, let's say six hours, just
for the sake of it, to get into striking distance.
I just want to know when we can start to float,
because as soon as that happens, I'd be going
to some empty -ish room and just, like, experiencing
zero -g still in the exopod. Maybe just doing
things, meditating. Yeah, at a certain point,
you feel the transition into microgravity. The
weight kind of gets removed from you. Anything
unsecured begins floating in the air. They're
like old shell casings that had rolled under
like crates in the hangar. Little drops of sweat
from, I don't know, some spud with his helmet
off. Dog tags stick on people's necks. Hex in
the microgravity training seminar. Spud is extremely
excited. It's always saying it's a lot like swimming,
but the water doesn't stop you. You can just
keep going. The bullets don't drop. You don't
have to really account for that. It's really
sick. You can really feel the vibe. Hex is learning
a lot. You're learning a lot. He gives you some
mag boots. He's like, hey, you want some mag
boots? I know you're a pilot, but it's cool.
You never know. Great. These are plot important
mag boots. You're the only one who gets to live.
What's Joseph up to? I don't know what Joseph
would be doing at this point. I feel like his
head's empty, which if we want to continue with
that thought, I feel like Joseph is like he was
looking at people in the hangar, probably alone.
I assume no one wants to talk to Joseph and he
probably feels that. So he's probably just been
standing in front of his frame. And then like
an hour in, if people are looking at Joseph,
they realize that he's gone rigid and he's not
moving almost like he's been turned off. And
Joseph is just waiting. Joseph is waiting. I
think I changed my mind a little bit as we're
flying and escape velocity. I think that still
in the changeling, Geist is going to try and
open like a radio communication to Joseph, if
you will accept. OK, I think Joseph maybe tilts
his head from his stillness. And kind of like
looks over the changing as you do that. Look,
man, I mean, I know this is just my curiosity
getting the best of me, but I mean, did your
buddy tell you to kill that woman? The one who
wiped sacrifice out like it was fucking nothing?
Yeah. Cool. I just. It's really none of my business
when somebody kills a clusterist. I certainly
don't think you're a raving fucking lunatic,
but I just need to make sure, you know, you're.
good for what's about to happen. That's all.
Oh, I've been ready for a while, I feel. Just
waiting. But how are you, Geist? I don't know.
I mean, I killed Retribution, you know, wiped
another virtue off the map. Go team. That's good.
Wow. Yeah, I guess. Impressive. I don't know.
Did you... fight this? Joseph's actually moving
now. Did you fight this in your frame alone?
No. Is that what you went out to do with Worthy?
It is, yeah. I mean, it's complicated. That's
kind of where we got that scientist from. After
our last fight, before we fought Sacrifice, I
mean, I fucked him up so badly that not only
was his frame really damaged, but I guess his
mind got stuck in there. So we infiltrated the
secret facility, but it was just a matter of
placing some C4 on a weird psychic statue thing
and blowing it to hell. But I don't know. It's
been weird since I did it. I mean, doing that,
killing him was like the primary drive for my
life. Basically, ever since I woke up from my
coma. But as it got closer and closer, I didn't
really think I wanted it anymore. You know, by
the time I was there, there was no satisfaction
to be had at all. It was just, it was like putting
down a sick dog. Just sad and kind of, I don't
know. I don't know. Didn't fix anything, did
it? No, I think I knew it wouldn't, but I still
had to do it for the war, if nothing else. And
I feel like I owed it to him, really. Yes. I
believe you did the right thing. It was advantageous
to all of us. And even if it didn't fix things,
well, it fixed things for him. Yeah. I guess
it probably did. I think that's all Geist has
to say on the matter. Alright. Justice is going
back into position. He's going to stand still
for the next seven hours. Okay. As you move through
space, Worthy pulls up. There's like a screen
in the cargo bay. This plays like a live feed
from the cockpit. And it turns on, and it kind
of zooms in, enhanced, on an object far ahead.
A half -destroyed orbital defense platform, half
-lit by the sun. Surrounding it is a field of
debris, which is a common sight in this formerly
conflicted orbit. The massive railgun barrel
extends out from a thick steel frame, nearly
one kilometer in diameter. The barrel, that's
just the size of the platform. That'd be crazy
though. When it was still operational, the facility
would have housed a full -time staff of about
40, soldiers, operators with extra room for temporary
residents. The defense platforms also served
as like a orbital base where ships and soldiers
could be garrisoned. It is very heavily reinforced.
It is meant to absorb incidental fire from ship
-sized weaponry, which is very big. Attached
to the main structure are these multiple smaller
compartments, presumably accommodations and amenities
of the platform for the long -term staff. And
further sunward, which is what we're going to
call that direction, are where the docking areas
used to be. And that area is damaged. The entire
sun -facing side of it was destroyed during the
first siege, and it's kind of no wonder that
the structure was overlooked. It looks really
messed up. As far as obvious landing places go,
The right side looks ideal, where that damaged
area is and where it used to dock. And that will...
It's bound to lead further inside. And getting
there or anywhere near the platform means navigating
the debris field first, because Worthy has parked
the car and asks you over the radio, All right,
pilots, how are we doing this? Well, shit, are
we planning the mission now? You are. Planning
the mission. Oh, shit. To be planning the mission.
We're not going to be able to clipboard this
one. Oh, no. I don't think this can be any way
except an assault at this point. And this is
us picking our point of attack right now. So
is the implication that he can't fly through
this debris field and he needs us to go in on
our frames? He there's not a strict implication
of that. He seems unwilling to. I guess he would
probably tell you like. I don't know if I trust
that debris field, and I don't know if they have
any weapons on that thing, and I am not as maneuverable
as your frames. This is not a strike craft. Does
it have any exterior weaponry? I don't think
it's ever come up before. I don't see anything
from my end. No, I'm saying your ship. Do you
have any guns? Oh, yeah, I have some, but they're
for... They're not good. They're not good guns.
Alright, fair enough. Well, Dusklights, you feel
like going for a little flight? I mean, this
is an old hat for me, but I know it's maybe a
little bit dicier for everybody else. Seems exciting.
Let's do it. We just going in? Going in hard?
Is that the plan? Should we go in with our units?
He kind of looks to the other guys. Not the team,
but the other guys. That's actually a good question.
Yeah, what do we got to deploy the raptors? As
you speak, Spud is... I guess like a lot of insects.
They've kind of crawled up to Loyal's frame and
have stuck these little magnet clamps onto the
back of it. And they're just like, oh, don't
worry about us. Just try not to pull too many
Gs or else we'll, you know, we'll die. Seems
better coming along. Yeah, Nautilus is big and
you have a shield. Or you've used your shield
in the past. And I'm also really good at maneuvering
in 3D because I swim. That's true. He's got that
dolphin instinct. Okay. I think this is it. I
think we just gotta go in. We gotta hit them
hard. Worthy. I assume that if shit goes sideways,
a haze field will immediately go up, so I trust
you to use your better judgment. If you see one
of our frames ejected smoking into the void,
do your best to pick it up. Absolutely. And as
long as we still have active communications,
I want you running sensor sweeps. You know, on
this whole thing. If a fucking airlock powers
up and you can sensor it, or you can sense it,
you tell us right away. Way ahead of you. Alright,
it seems cold. Whole thing seems cold. So far.
Alright, well, I guess this is it then. You guys
form up behind me. I'll try and lead us in. If
anything starts firing, I'll try and take evasive
maneuvers, but I mean, watch those rocks. They're
all over the place. It's dicey maneuvering out
here. Yeah, it's mostly, it's not rocks as much
as it is Like old frames, like bulkhead pieces,
and like crumpled munitions, like big ones. No,
no, Geist knows they're not actual rocks in the
sense of like big stones. It's just like big
chunks of slag and wrecked shit. Yeah, yeah,
absolutely. You know, maybe somebody else is
confused. Spud is really confused. I'm declaring
heavy pilot gear also for the first time ever.
Let's get out there. Let's go. Let's go. Let's
go have fun. That's the number one rule in the
dust. Yeah. Yeah. What pilot gear is everyone
else taking? Heavy. Heavy. Light. If there ever
was a time. Oh, except for Joseph. Yeah. Light.
Gotta stay light. Gotta stay light, baby. Gotta
maneuver, you know? You can't toast her if you're
heavy. Yeah, exactly. That's true. Okay. Engagement
roll. You start with one dice for luck. Is the
mission bold? Yes, it is bold. I'll give you
another die. That's two dice. Is the mission
complex? No, it's not. Does the tactic exploit
vulnerabilities? No, it does not. Is the tactic
ineffective? No, not really. Cool. Do you have
external support? No. Is anyone interfering with
the mission? No. Oh, that's not the answer I
was expecting. Is there a tier difference? Yes,
there is a tear difference. Yeah, it doesn't
surprise me. What does that give you? I think
one die. Yeah. I think that might be one die.
External support. Oh, no, they're internal support.
But you do, because you're doing an assault,
you get another die from your hyper booster.
Oh, yeah. Our frames are super juiced to whip
through this asteroid field. Yeah, goodbyes,
bud. Hold on tight! Dead. So that's two dice?
That was two dice. Who's feeling it? So my real
life, I think I mentioned before, I've been re
-listening to the whole series, and my real life
arc is getting really externally frustrated with
myself whenever I say that I'm too unlucky to
roll something. So I'm just gonna do it, and
if it goes bad, then it's just the you know,
it's the winds of a cruel, uncaring universe,
and I will not take personal responsibility for
it. No. Please roll good. I will, though. Here's
the thing. We're going to get double sixes here.
These box cars. Nope, that is a fail for sure
because the total was four. That is a failure.
That is a hard failure. That means we're pulling
that XP that we'll never be able to use. Time
to make things interesting. I promise. Time to
make things interesting. Okay. You proceed forward
through the debris field, dodging old scavenged
frames, bulkhead pieces, crumpled railgun bars.
And as you float forward, what order are you
in? What's your formation? I want to go in the
back. Changeling's probably in the front. X is
probably... I don't know, Joseph, where are you?
I'm with you, bro. I assume we're both behind.
Yeah, I'm assuming it's... Yeah, it's like guys
in front. Me and Hex kind of in the middle, probably
like side to side, and then our boy Loyal on
the back with the raptors. Diamond formation.
Exactly. Okay. As you float forward, dodging
around pieces of debris, Loyal, a sudden proximity
warning erupts onto the screen of your frame,
and you turn to face it just in time to stop
it from impaling you, but it knocks you out of
formation, sprawling into the debris field. It
is an angular frame. Limited armor, but it looks
extremely maneuverable. It is jagged and mean
-looking, with these black triangular struts
jutting out chaotically, and this beak -like
cockpit extending from the center of it. In each
hand, it is holding these circular curved blades
like a crescent moon, glowing with heat from
inside. They are pressing just on the outside
of your cockpit, and you are barely holding them
back with like a crossed arm. What do you do?
Do we recognize this frame? Is this in the data?
You do not recognize this frame, but it is broadcasting
a friend or foe signal now. Now that it's activated.
And this frame you can refer to as love letter.
I mean, I think more accurately, you probably
see it painted on the cockpit in like red paint.
It's very close to you after all, so you can
read it up close. Yeah, I want to activate my
shield and then ping everybody. They're like,
contact, contact. Okay, what are you doing to
stop yourself from being impaled? Yeah, I want
to get away. First and foremost, get away, and
then activate shields. So I'm assuming that would
be a roll to dodge away. Yes. Absolutely. Let's
see if I can back up my I'm really good at space
travel talk. Got two. Got two in maneuver, and
this is desperate? Mm -hmm, desperate. Alright,
let's do it. Let's get some XP. We love XP. I'm
not going to push myself. I want to save my stress
for other things. So let's do it. Yay! Six and
a five. Okay. You managed to make some distance
between yourself and Love Letter, I think. Are
you trying to get back to the group? Specifically?
Yeah. Okay, because you were separated. Yes,
you managed to not get the men on you crushed
as well, which is good and important. We don't
want the bud to die like that. That would be
very unnoble. Undignified. It would be very undignified.
As you kind of get your bearings loyal, I'll
give you this as your kind of reward for the
success. You notice that there are two more frames
in the combat area. I've put their clocks up.
They are a four -step clock and a six -step clock,
with Love Letter also being a six -step clock.
The four -step clock is callsign gallows. Mid
-sized frame, kind of your typical one. Looks
like hexes, you know, classic surplus. modified
with a thruster suite, and it has a big -ass
beam rifle attached to it with an external charge
pack. It is sat on a piece of debris, kind of
in cover, a distance away. And the second is
callsign Spoilsport. That is a six -step clock.
And Spoilsport is all the way back at the defense
platform, which is quite a ways away. A huge
four -armed frame with a boxy cockpit and squat
little legs. And this giant cannon it is holding
with all four arms. And that is where I will
put you. And now everyone else, you can decide
what to do. Loyal has kind of regrouped with
you as this other frame kind of darts into the
debris field to break line of sight. Cool. Could
I feasibly get to Spoilsport in one maneuver
action, or is it too far? If you roll a six,
sure. Otherwise, I think you'd come short. Okay,
and Gallows is closer than Spoilsport? Sorry,
I missed exactly what you said. Yes, so let me
draw, because we are kind of in 3D space, and
I'll narrate to our dear friends. Okay, so I'm
going to draw it at the top of the screen. So
for the viewers, basically, if you're thinking
of it as a top -down thing, even though it's
not because it's 3D, we have Lovelighter, who
is this little dual -sword assassin, off to the
right, kind of close. Gallows, who is this sniper.
kind of an upper left farther away, and then
all the way on the opposite side where the platform
is is where Spoilsport is, which is this, like,
cannoneer. Okay. I could probably get to Gallows
then, right, with one maneuver? If you succeed.
And he's got a big beam rifle. He's, like, more
feasible than getting to Spoilsport because he's
closer. You could definitely get to him. Okay,
cool. I'm going to try and do that. Because I
think that Hex especially has much better long
-range capabilities. So I think, yeah, Hex is
going to boost and try and close with Gallows
and basically get inside of his firing arc. And
I assume that would be a maneuver? Absolutely.
Cool! I wonder if it's worth using my favorite
ability, Advanced Prototype, that allows me to
push myself for increased effect and plus one
die. Am I at standard effect doing this or am
I at limited effect because he's so badass and
cool? Well, you're just you're just go getting
to him. So you're not going to be really doing
anything on his clock. OK. So I guess, yeah,
it's probably not worth it right now. Yeah, I'll.
Yeah, I'm just trying. I'm going to try and maneuver
up close to him and we'll see how it goes. Here
we go. Maneuvering. And where is this desperate
as well? Yeah. Yes, yes. They have the range
on you right now, so it is desperate at this
moment. Eric, failure! That's three threes, everybody.
Three threes. So you've rolled two twos and three
threes so far. Yep. Oh, four fours coming up.
Four fours coming up. That's good. Okay. I love
getting a desperate consequence as the very first
thing that I do. It's really fun. It's the final
mission. It seems like it should be pretty easy
to get to him. you're a pilot you're very good
at piloting like specifically maneuvering and
you kind of you rush the debris field like dodging
all sorts of little pieces of shit um and then
you clear a little chunk of armor and then as
you're like moving over it like a little warning
pops up and you see that there is a little it's
almost like a depth charge like one of those
naval mines has been like hidden in between the
debris and it just goes off And so you are going
to take... I don't want to just fuck you up,
because that's boring. Oh, no. Oh, two things.
Okay, so first, I guess it's more like three
things. So you're going to take the level two
damage. Concussed. Your frame is, like, all fucked
up. You're getting pushed back. Nothing too fancy.
You've been thrown... I guess in three dimensions,
you've been thrown up. Like, away from everything,
which is going to put you not close to anything,
so you'll have to maneuver again. And thirdly,
I'm checking your fragmenting clock. Oh. Which
will fill it up if you don't resist. As, like,
something gets this rattling, just as, like,
you are particularly sensitive, I would say,
right now, with everything going on. Okay. So,
first of all, I'm going to... What is it to resist
my fragmenting clock being ticked? I think it's
resolve. Okay. So resolve, and I get a third
die because of our new special ability, fortune
fire, which is cool. I'm just trying to think
of the damage. So I'm not going to resist being
thrown. I have armor, so I'm going to check off.
Do I have to check off both things of armor to
resist one? To resist level two damage? Yeah,
that's typically how we've done it. So I already
have armor, so I just use it, and that brings
it down from a 2 to a 1, is that right? And that's
like 2 load worth of armor? Yes. Okay. But in
this case specifically, I'm going to let it get
removed. Okay. It feels appropriate. Okay, sure.
So my armor is used up, so I'm no longer hurt
there, and I think... The thing is, I'm fine
with the fragmenting clock filling up now. I
think that this is a good time for it to happen,
but I'm worried that it might incapacitate me
for a time. That's not something that I'm allowed
to know before I decide to resist this or not,
right? Just to be clear. Well, I mean, this is
a collaborative game. Sure. I don't think it
will take you out of the mission. It will take
you out of the next turn at least. Maybe I should
just get it over with. Maybe this is ripping
off the Band -Aid. But I think it would be very
cool. It would be cool, but I... In my mind,
and I don't know, I figured there would be a
dramatic time where I would need to resist something
and I could manually fill the clock up. But...
It's your choice. I'm good at resisting with
stress. My stress bar is empty. I'm gonna save
it. I'm gonna save my fragmenting clock for now,
and I'm just gonna roll my 3D and take that much
stress, or, like, the inverse of that much stress,
and, you know, whatever happens, happens. Zero
stress. Boom! Big six. That's a good... Where
were you five seconds ago? Okay, so I don't fragment,
I fly away, and I don't take any damage. I've
just lost armor. Yeah, and you've been positioned
elsewhere. Yes. You have not made it to the target.
Okay. Hex and Joseph. Um, do you want to do anything
or do you want to, do you want to hang out? That'd
be fine too. Yeah. Maybe throw a ball around,
you know, hang out. Uh, I think this is a good
heavy cannon time. Maybe. Sure. Yeah. Hex is
going to try shooting at who's back middle. Is
that a love letter? Spoil sport. Spoil sport.
Yeah. I was going to go after this guy over here.
So let's pick that one. Oh man. Yeah. Oh, wait,
that was zero dice? Yeah, I meant zero dots in
Bombard. Oh, shit, man. Well, that's a six and
a four for everybody at home. That's not bad
for a zero dice. Good job. So, you're going to
do your damage to Spoilsport. You do two ticks
to him with partial effect, and then your consequence
is... I think your munitions cross each other.
You fire at Spoilsport, and then you notice that
he is fired back at you, and you hear this little
noise like, plonk, plonk, plonk, plonk, as these
tiny little magnetic spheres cling to your frame,
and they go off. And where's my description of
this? Oh, no! It's weird, my bullet's coming
back. I don't remember shooting that one. They
explode into... What is almost like a thermite.
And it starts to melt off all of the armor on
your frame. So you're going to take the... You're
probably in a risky position. Just because you're
all the way back here right now. So I will give
you just a level 2 damage as well. Yay. Which
will be melting. This is fine. Like the dog on
fire. That sucks. Thank you. Exactly. Yeah. Do
you want to resist that or check off armor to
reduce it? Let's check off armor. And that will
kick it down to level one. I'll just give you
that. Singed. Good. Good. Thank you. Joseph.
Joseph, let's snipe the sniper with a bombard.
What'd you say? Gallows? Yeah. Or not the cannon
guy? Okay, cool. Gallows. Oh, no. Another three
die failure. One, three, one. I'm going to look
right into the barrel here before I fire it off.
I think it's jammed. Yeah. Hold on. That laser's
in there. It's pretty deep. Let me pull it out.
I didn't turn it on. You line up a perfect shot,
but unfortunately you have forgotten that there
is a third frame in this fight. And Love Letter
comes up behind you and I think chops your gun
in half with the first strike. and then with
the second strike, kicks you back into a chunk
of debris. So you're just going to take the level
one damage dented, and you're going to take...
Your laser rifle is gone, so destroy it. Remove
it from your sheet. Can I resist losing the thing?
Yes, you can resist either of those, or both.
I should probably keep my laser gun. So what
does it resist? Can I resist with armor? Uh,
this is quirks. Okay. For, for this in particular.
So this is going to be an, I think, I think it'd
be an expertise. So you're going to check off
to your quirks down here. Okay. Like over here.
Yeah. Yeah. Over there. Okay. And so you've managed
to dodge your gun being destroyed, but you are
kicked away unless you want to resist that too.
Uh, no. Uh, so that's a level one damage. Yes.
Which will lower any effect going forward. What's
the damage? I'll probably just take that. I don't
want to lose everything. Dented. Debented. There
we go. Yeah, you do have armor if you want to
check it off, but that's up to you. Okay. Yeah,
I guess. Why not? We'll do that. Okay, I think
we can get back to Loyal. Loyal, you are with,
I guess, Hex, because Joseph's been kicked back.
And Love Letter is right there with us. Love
Letter is right next to you and wants to chop
you up. What the fuck? They're pissed. Yeah,
I'm assuming that because I'm towing a bunch
of people, I'm not really combat maneuverable
right now, so I think my first priority that
I want to do is protect my passengers at this
moment. I would love to find just some cover
behind one of these slag heaps that I could get
a good shot off from, but I want to hide. I think
that is still a maneuver. You are in a risky
position now. Arsenal success. Okay. You do it,
but as a consequence, you suffer a complication
and curse. You have reduced effect, or you end
up in a desperate position. What do I want to
do? What do you have? What can I break? What
can I break on you? Don't break me. Okay, yeah,
here's what I'll do. You dart behind cover, and
you manage to close off the sight line between
Love Letter, who was kind of pursuing you, and...
You managed to shake her off. Unfortunately,
this allows Gallos to get a pretty good beat
on you. And he fires his giant laser rifle at
you, as he now has a good line of sight on you,
which is going to do the following. It is going
to do the level... Actually, I'll just have it
be your only consequence, because it's really
severe. Are there any clocks I can tick? I don't
think so. Looking for worse things to do to us.
There's an... Full disclosure, if you get a very
low consequence, it's because there's an invisible
clock I'm ticking. I should probably have told
you up front. Stay away from my fragmenting clock.
You're eclipsed your movement suite, so you're
no longer able to move gracefully in zero gravity,
which is a very big problem for you. Yeah, I
would like to resist that with one of my quirks.
Okay, that I think would likewise be an expertise
roll. Or not a roll. You don't do that. So you
just check off two quirks. Yeah, I'm going to
use my sonar to have anticipated this and not
have to deal with it. And my other quirk that
I still never actually named. I have two that
I couldn't figure out what they were. One interesting
thing I guess I should point out. There's no
Hayes Field up. They're not using one. Yo, relax,
relax, relax. Stop, stop, stop, stop. That makes
me feel like they don't want one to be here,
which makes me feel like I should put one up,
just as like a fuck you. Oh yeah, you don't like
a Hayes Field, motherfucker? You don't like it?
Make you upset? Make you a little sad? Do it.
Your choice? You can just do that anytime. Anyone
can do that. god is it worth cutting ourselves
off from worthy and potentially from each other
just to out of some kind of uh funny bit it's
not even a bit i feel like there might be a real
practical because they're doing some kind of
weird project up here and i wonder if we might
fuck it up a little bit you think they're like
talking you would you would still have short
short uh Not short -term. Short -distance communication.
Yeah. Like, within the field. Okay. With each
other, you'd probably be fine. I mean, like,
why would we need to contact Worthy right now?
Exactly. That's kind of what I'm thinking. It'll
also cut you off from Nyla, who you do technically
have a connection with. That's true. But, I mean,
assuming they don't put one up, it means that
we can just drop it if we need to. True, yeah.
So, yeah. Sorry, has anybody not gone yet? Is
that the whole... I think so. We're back at the
start, so any of you can do what you want now.
Okay, I think regardless of anything, Geist is
going to be like, these guys clearly have no
Haze Field up for a reason. I'm putting up mine.
So now everybody knows that we can shut it off
if we have to, but now there's a Haze Field up,
and these guys can go fuck themselves. Uh -huh.
Yes. That Haze Field is probably encompassing...
I forget the... I don't know if it's hitting
Spoilsport. Yeah. Anyways, that's all. It doesn't
matter that much. Okay. Guys, what do you want
to do? You're sprawling up in the air. You're
kind of distant. I'm still pretty far away. What's
his face? I could bombard Gallows, but I could
not battle him realistically with my effect intact
at this range. Is that correct? Yes. Okay. I
think I might have the changeling change. I think
I might try and fucking ding him with my railgun.
Awesome. So I will push myself to do this. I'm
going to spend overburdened with ordinance. I'm
going to spend one quirk for an extra die. What
will my effect be? Will it be standard or limited?
Standard. Well, unless you don't have damage,
right? No. Okay, so yes. Standard. Standard effect.
Risky position. And the good thing about this
is that if I fail, I don't spend the quirk because,
and this is something everybody should remember,
if you're spending a quirk to fight and your
action fails, you get it back. Because of our
Reaver's special ability, so don't forget about
that. Which we've never used. No, this might
be the time, because I have three dice and I'm
really good at failing three dice checks. Alright.
Plus one die, desperate standard. Let's get in
there. It's gonna be green, all green. That is
a 6 -7! Thank you, Brian. Let's fucking go! So
for one of the rare times the changeling morphs
and changes its shape, and rather than being
a sleek and very maneuverable thing, it just
turns into a gigantic gun, and a real gun slug
rockets across the debris field to hit Gallows.
Yeah, you get a very solid hit. I think you take
off Gallows' leg, which he's barely holding on
to this little piece of debris. I think it's
maybe spinning a little bit now, just from the
impact. And that is two ticks on his four -step
clock. Nice. Hex, there is a... big sword person
next to you. Oh my god. Oh my god, he's right
there. Joseph, you can also see this, so either
of you are kind of well -positioned to deal with
this problem. Hex is gonna try battling him with
the baton. Yeah. You're going into melee range?
Yeah. Okay. Do it. I'd say this is risky. It's
desperate. This is risky. Oh, is it risky? Well,
actually... You know what, Zach? Thank you. You're
right. In this particular situation, this is
desperate. Nothing desperate about it. Cool as
a cucumber. Watch it. All green. 6 -1 -1. You
don't even need those other dice. You don't even
need them. Yeah! What's your goal here? What
kind of move are you doing? Hex is just trying
to fucking hit the cockpit as hard as he can
with the baton. Awesome. Yeah, she does some
fancy shit. Looks like she's trying to chop you
up real good. And then you just, you don't fuck
around with any of that. You just do the most
predictable little bonk you could. She doesn't
see it coming. The cockpit like crumples a little
bit and she kind of dashes away farther back.
That's two ticks. Nice. Let's go. Although you
do have damage. There's actually one tick. Damn.
Unfortunately. You're pretty tough. Joseph, go
finish the job. I'm wondering if I... It seems
like you got that handled. I'm worried about
this gallows guy over here. He's just going to
start picking us off from afar. That's a good
point. Maybe I should try again with another
laser shot. A bombard, if you will. But can you
blow on the dice first, Brian? Can you give me
a little luck? You're in a desperate position,
just so you know, Joseph. Okay. I saw to it.
Don't worry. Desperate standard. Desperate standard,
baby. All right. Blow his ass up. A little bit
of Brian luck. Thank you, Brian. There it is.
That will do it for Gallos. Fuck you. You fucking...
I hate you. Fuck you, little man. I got nothing
clever to say. Just die. Just die. I hate you.
I hate you. I hate you. You haven't even, like,
got me yet, but I hate you. One laser man to
another. Yeah. It's pure hatred. There'll only
be one. Yeah, your beam crosses the entire battlefield,
and it strikes Gallos on the big battery pack
on his back. And that thing gets very bright
and very hot and it explodes. And where once
there was a frame and a chunk of debris, there
is just a couple or actually one floating leg.
It's all that's left. Jesus Christ. Yeah. Done.
Done, done, done. Donezo. Okay. I guess we're
back to loyal. Now that that guy is gone. Do
I have any sight line on scapegoat very far away?
Spoil sport? Spoil sport. I like scapegoat. Yeah,
that's good. That's definitely call sign worthy.
He's pretty far. You can see him if you want
to try to shoot at him or bombard. Love letter
is closer for sure. Yeah, but engaged in melee
with my good friend Hex. We're just hanging out.
I still don't have any in bombard, which is funny.
Let's see, I'm still very reluctant to go fight
since people are attached to me. You could ask
them to get off. Like a mother whale with my
umbilical cords. Or like a mother possum. Yeah,
like that. If you could swim. I would say that
I need them to detach. And if they want to stay
safe, then hang out behind this... Big hunk of
slag that I have sheltered us behind. Sure. Yeah,
they got off willingly. I want to go help Hex.
I want to help pincer this sword lady. Take out
the drill. Do it. With a battle. I think... I
guess you didn't get moved that far away. You
kind of just broke lines. So yes, sure. Go ahead.
Yeah, I check everybody out, and I zoom back
out. That's my position. Well, I have Risky.
Sander, do your outnumber her now. Excellent.
Six. Wow, he was on a roll. Holy fuck, man. This
is good. I'm not going to say it, Boatzilla.
It's fucking awesome, and we are cool, sexy pilots
who do dope shit all the time. Why would you
say Boatzilla? Why would you do that? No, no.
Brian, you got to keep it going. More than anyone,
Brian. Just be happy, Brian. Keep your fairy
dust, Brian. What does your attack look like?
If she's still distracted with Hex, I want to
just kind of either go underneath or above her,
take advantage of being in 3D space here, and
just come down on her with the drill revved up.
That's dolphin trick, baby. Yeah, you drill her
good. You take a big chunk out of probably the
sensor suite and part of the cockpit armor plating
snaps off. She goes down, I guess, relative to
all of you. 3D space is so confusing. And I think
at this point, I think Spoilsport fires like
a big cluster of... It's almost like fireworks,
space fireworks. Like these big... blue, like,
shining orbs. They blow up and they, like, shoot
off all these bright little particles in every
direction. And I think Love Letter kind of makes
some distance between the three of you and says,
over comms, We've been given the order to withdraw.
No need for this to continue unless you're so
eager for blood. Interesting. Are they lying?
That's the truth. Yeah, I wouldn't say anything
about that if they're not lying. Um... What the
fuck do you... We're attacking you. We're attacking
your position. You don't get to just call fucking
timeout. That's not how this works. I agree.
What... Where are they falling back to? Are they
falling back to the platform? It's not clear,
because Love Letter's all the way out there,
and 12th Ward's already at the platform. I mean,
they're not clear that you're gonna let them.
I guess if they stop attacking, we should just
follow them. Yeah, I mean, like, she's not attacking
you anymore. Maybe we can give orders. Tell them
to do stuff. I guess I'm going to fucking talk
to them. I'm gonna open my own comms and be like...
So Geist is... He's... preparing another attack
he isn't doing it yet he's staying his hand but
he's like still in fight mode and he's like you
realize this is an assault if you want us to
know if you want to preserve your own lives so
badly get the fuck away from the platform i'll
only ask once okay where do you want us to go
it's just as taken aback as i am gotcha What
exactly is the meaning of this? Why would you
let us just walk in? I... I think... I think
she just says... It's over. It's... There's no
need for us to fight anymore. It's in other people's
hands now. You want the bloodletting to end?
Let me see you jettison those weapons out towards
the planet and you park yourself on a piece of
rock. I'm not surrendering. I'm willing to stay
out of your way. I know you want to get in there.
Go ahead. But I'm not going to leave myself at
your mercy. Sorry. Hmm. Here's the thing, and
I think this is Geist's line of thinking as well.
It would be nice to preserve our resources, but
it would be not nice to get shot in the back
when these guys pile in behind us. Yeah, that's
why I think we could have the raptors watch them.
You have a human lie detector. That is true.
If we go in there, are you just going to come
up behind us and try and shoot me in the back?
No. Like I said, it's over. It's in other people's
hands now. You'll see. That's the truth. I actually
intend to follow through with this. Fuck. Look,
I don't know what the hell this is. Clearly they
think they have one up on us. I don't think we
have anything to gain by drawing this out. If
they're going to let us walk in, we should do
it. Guys, still drop the haze field. And he'll
actually message Worthy and be like, Worthy,
can you see these two frames? Yeah, yeah. What's
up? They're letting us go inside. I need you
to watch them. And if you see them do anything,
you message me. You check in every five minutes.
If I don't hear a check in every five minutes,
I'm going to assume something's fucky and we're
pulling out. Okay. And then I think Geist goes
back on the public comms and he's like, fine.
If you try and screw me over, just know it won't
work. Same goes to you, pal. That would be a
really funny time to just shoot Lovelater in
the face with my railgun. It would be so funny!
But I'm not going to do it because I'm grown
as a person and because Spoilsport still has
seven ticks in his clock, so I don't really want
to fuck with that. Yeah, let's get in there!
Whatever's in this station must be worse than
whatever they're going to do to us. I have a
feeling it has something to do with us winding
up on the planet somehow. I'm thinking it's some
fuckery, some psychic fuckery. Let's see. But
let's go in. It's always psychic shit. Yeah.
Is loyal able to maneuver in? Yeah. Yeah. Without
non -combat, you could, like, give it carry a
minute. It's not an issue. I'll do that. I didn't
actually lose my things. Did I resisted that?
Oh, yeah. You resisted it. Oh, yeah. Then you're
fine. You're good. Are you taking the raptors
with you? Yeah, I'm going to go hook them up.
And the sparrows. Okay, you bring them. I protected
all my baby birds. Yeah, all your baby birds
are fine. They're all asking for food. Are they
going to die? Yeah. They always do. This is something
else that I've realized as I listened through
the series again. The Sparrows have not once
completed a task. Not even a single time. Anytime
we send them to scout, they get fucking blown
up and then we just backseat them for the rest
of the op and it's happened like three times
and then we just stop using them completely.
It's time to redeem yourself. They're the ones
who died instead of you. That's what they're
there for. That's true. They're like ablative
armor. They regenerate, too. There's always more
of them. How does that happen? They do mitosis,
I think. You get to the platform's far side,
presuming that's where you want to go. Yeah,
we're trying to get in. Yeah. This used to be
a hangar, and it kind of leads through this big,
half -broken door into a barely -lit warehouse,
with the only light being kind of the sun coming
through in slivers through the broken bulkhead.
and some, like, these tiny shrapnel holes in
the ceiling, so these little tiny beams of lights
all around. Do you proceed? I think we have to.
I think Geist, he's got his, he's back in speed
mode, he's got his machine gun up, and he's just
like, all right, I'll take point. Spud, get your
guys out. You know, you're on intel. On it. Yeah,
see what you can find. Alternate exits. You know,
any functional machinery, whatever you got. Try
and stay out of the way if a frame fight starts.
Let's find out what the fuck's going on up here.
And I think a Geist is going to take point. And,
I mean, I think we can probably keep our diamond
formation, even if we're just, like, walking
in a hallway. Are we still in our frames, or
no? We're out? Yeah, yeah. This is a very big
room. You can form around in it. Okay, gotcha.
Anything on the sonar now that we're in here?
Quick scan of the place. Roll if you must know.
Roll if you must know. That goes really, really
well every time. It always works. You gotta get
Brian to blow on the dice. This one's gonna work.
He did it. That's good. That was absolutely gonna
be a one before you blew on the dice. I believe
it. I know statistics. You get to the, uh, you
move through the warehouse, um, scanning as you
go. And I kind of, as you move through, something
catches your eye. I guess I should start with
your consequence that that's, that's easier.
Loyal, there is an oppressive presence on you
now. It's always been there, you know, TKR, martyrdom,
whatever you want to call it. But it is so close
now. It is like it is stepping on your neck,
just pushing you towards doing what you're here
to do. It is so close now. And as you feel that,
you kind of almost stumble upon this thing that
you've scanned, which is an elevated platform,
you know, partially disassembled, covered in
hexagonal tessellation. And you understand what
this is. It is the receiving end of the teleporter.
And as you kind of look on it, The facility comes
to life, turns on, lights flickering, and there's
this loud thrum, and things kind of seem to be
moving in the facility. And at the far end of
the warehouse, you all see a solitary frame,
one that you have seen in perhaps training videos
or in historical records, and it is the infamous
Jupiter Cowboy, Pierce Sunspire's frame and namesake.
A white and orange geometric frame. Its center
mass is almost like a 20 -sided die. Its limbs
bear the same style, thick and metallic, with
these little pressed -in points, almost like
a roughly sculpted clay. It wields no weapons,
though you all know, and especially you guys,
since he trained you, that its armaments are
kind of hidden within those limbs and into the
outer layer of its cockpit. Does it have an active
call sign, like it's an active frame in the combat
area? Oh, yeah. Is he in there? Yeah. If you're
just looking at it, you hear a voice that you
guys are very familiar with, though it's been
a very long time. The man who trained the Moon
Devils, who trained you, Pierce Sunspire, and
he says, It's over, you four. There's no more
need for bloodshed. What the fuck do you mean,
Pierce, you fucking traitor? I just want you
to know, Garrett, that I... Everything I did
and have done and will do was for a good reason.
There was so much more at play than even we thought.
So what is it that you think you've accomplished
here, huh? The virtues are all dead. Clusterist
military command is... I mean, it doesn't seem
like it's doing so hot. The conflict is ending,
except for this little science project using
some kind of alien technology that you have gone
through extreme lengths to keep secret. But here
we are, and you expect me to believe you when
I say that it's over. Oh, hey, was that a lie,
actually? Does Loyal know if he's telling the
truth? That he thinks it's over? Yeah. Yeah,
that's the truth. He believes that he did everything.
Okay, for the right reason. I think before he
says, he'll leave you with this. That sounds
ominous. That's not the right wording. Anyways,
he says this. There, perhaps you've seen it or
felt it after these years, that there are things
at work here that we can't fully understand.
Adjumenta, before I defected, she showed me.
Them. The virtues are just a piece of the puzzle.
But they are dark influences. Even the virtues.
And the only way to resist them, the way that
the prophet Brahamanta, for all her faults, discovered,
was through communion and through this tradition.
And it's for that reason that I defected. And
as for everything else... I will just let you
listen and decide. And so two things. One thing,
that is all true. The other thing is that what
he said is kind of familiar to you. You feel
like you may have heard it in your psychic communion
at some point, though it's very distant. His
words are kind of ringing a bell. And then his
voice comes over the comms again. But this time,
it seems like it's almost... It's like a well
-rehearsed speech. He's not just like talking
to people. He says, and you notice that this
is not being just broadcasted to you, but everywhere.
It is going out. I now address the peacekeepers
in Brea City. It has been a long and terrible
war, one that we have all been scarred by. The
time for argument has passed. We have both tried
to reach a compromise. I will not retread. The
right of Clustris to exist. Nor will I allow
your excuses about this Uro doomsday of your
own making. No, now is the time for action. I
stand at the helm of the Resistance's final gambit.
A retrofitted defense platform which is now aimed
directly at the heart of Brea City. loaded into
it a suitable number of improvised tungsten munitions
capable of bringing a rapid and ruthless destruction
to the entire city striking it with the force
and fury of a nuclear bombardment as of right
now peacekeepers you have only one option Throw
down your arms and walk into the streets. Our
forces, alongside the Virtue Attachment, will
be there to take you into custody while we restore
our control. You will not be harmed and will
be allowed to leave this planet when the time
is right. If you do not comply, if the leadership
does not give the order to surrender, we will
fire this weapon at the city, destroying the
heart of the peacekeepers and the vast amount
of your military forces and ending this war.
The collateral damage, no doubt, will be great,
but it is well worth the freedom of these people.
You have five minutes to begin surrendering any
tricky business, and I will give the order. I
pray that you will make the right decision, because
if you do not, I will not hesitate. And loyal,
he is lying. He will not give the order to fire
this weapon, and he does not believe the collateral
damage is worth it. Let's fuck him up. Okay,
well, okay, so here's the thing. In the immediate
wake of that, Geist doesn't know that he's unwilling
to fire it, and he... Is there anything... Does
this room seem like it has any importance, or
were we basically lured away from any of the
vital systems of the platform? They would be
deeper in. Okay. I think... Ugh. Geist is going
to say... I feel like I think I have the best
scan. Does anybody have a better scan than two?
Uh... No. Nope. Does Loyal share this information?
If he has a moment to speak, he would just immediately
say, You won't do it. You won't kill all those
people. You won't kill your soul like that. You
won't. I think hearing that... Geist puts up
his haze field and Pierce can fucking suck it.
Okay. He doesn't move. He doesn't make a move
to attack. He's still standing still. Oh, but
the people outside. How do we disable this fucking
thing? He says, I think what guy, I mean, if
it's going to turn into a huge fight immediately,
that's fine, but he's not moving. Okay. I think
Geist is going to be like, Pierce, I know you
think. That whatever you're doing is the right
thing and the only way, but you... Give me something,
please. Why? We are like children in a river,
and we cannot swim. The Clusterists can at least...
They can... They can stay afloat. They... If
they die, Garrett, if they are scattered, that's
it. Their traditions will fall to the wayside
and humanity will be left at the whims of these
tides, of these things. Please. What is it that
you're preserving then? Their little communion
happy place? That's worth all this? That little
fucking bubble? I've been there, Pierce. It's
not real. It's a fucking dream. And you would
do all this? To try and save a fucking dream
from something that you can't even articulate.
It's not a dream, Garrett. It's... It's reinforcement.
It's armor against these things. These puppet
masters. Do you... It's not just a coincidence
that we got caught in all of this. The Clusterists.
Sure, I know that there are... greater things
at work here with Tyrell and all that, but they're
just pieces on the board. You have to ask, who
is moving the pieces? And it's not people. It's
forces. It's tides. It's so much bigger than
everything that anyone gives it credit to, and
no one will believe me, and I accept that. I
tried telling the generals this. They thought
I was crazy, so I defected. And... I will...
I'll do it. I'll fire if I have to. And that's
a lie. Uh, I guess, you know, do you have your
haze field up? I put it up. I would maybe be
amenable to dropping it if he feels like he has
to say something, but... So, what you would,
if, all this full disclosure, Annihila would
be saying something to you. Okay, I mean, if
that occurs to me, sure. I mean, he's already
said his piece. I'll drop it. Guys, I think especially
as this conversation is going on, maybe the Nyla
thing occurs to him and he drops it. Yeah. Well,
she would be saying to you, what the hell's going
on up there? I want to ask Pierce. Ask him, is
there anyone else on this station right now besides
you? Yeah, he would say yes. Yes, there is. And
they're waiting for my order. I assure you, if
you take one step forward... There's nothing
you can do to stop this now. Just surrender.
Even your railgun, Garrett, can't penetrate the
armor of those inner layers. You'd have to get
past me. You'd have to get past the frames outside.
Give up. Stop it. Do you want all those people
to die? Fuck. I think... Oh, Christ. I wanna
get closer to him. I wanna just... Okay. I want
to step towards him just like very non -threateningly.
If that's even possible. Just really slowly.
Roll it. Yeah, I want to try to do this while
opening a psychic link. I think that's a sway.
Yes. Brian? Yes, it is. Brian? Blow on those
dice. We need some more of that magic air, man.
Okay. Okay. What's my position? Desperate? Yep.
Got my free sway. Okay, it's partial. It's partial.
It's partial. Okay, so I'm just gonna, before
I say what I'm gonna say next, I just wanna make
it clear to you that your consequence is that
you don't have any consequence. I'm not gonna
give you one. Because I don't need to. And here's
why. Pierce drops to a knee and he opens his
cockpit and he says, I can't do it. I... It's
not... Maybe it's worth it, but I can't. I can't
do it. I'm sorry. And then another voice and
a face comes onto your cockpit screens. It is
a man, haggard and unshaven, with dark rings
under his eyes. And Joseph, you immediately recognize
him because you last saw him in a picture in
Marigold Marion's room shortly after you killed
her. This is her brother. And he says... I won't
let them get away with this. This is for my sister,
you fucking animals. And he slaps on something
on the control panel. Someone in the video tackles
him to the ground. Pierce whispers, no. There's
an electric thrum and the entire structure rumbles
as it fires on its target. Oh, fuck. And we resist
this consequence. It's not a consequence. That's
what happened from the narrative. Okay, oh, fuck.
Okay, okay, okay, okay. Hey, we didn't do it,
though. I think Geist closes his eyes and he
says just inside of his own cockpit, not even
with his communications on. I will put on the
crown right now if you can stop this, if I can
stop this. Does anything happen? Loyal, you hear
Geist's words, despite him not saying them to
you. A perfect clarity comes over you, and you
know that now, this moment, is the time. The
crown looms in front of you, floating. The sheer
gravity of the object is hard to resist. Its
influence is prying apart your mind, trying to
push you into completing this act of providence.
All you need to do is reach out, grab it, and
put it on Geist's head. I don't think there's
any conscious thought anymore. There's just like
as soon as those rods fired, it's just an overwhelming
sense of dread, cold chill over the entire body.
And as soon as that crown appears, he just reaches
out with his frame and... Turns around from where
he was trying to approach Pierce and starts to
put it on the changeling's head. So it is a normal
-sized object. Like, it's in your cockpit. You
need to walk over there. Looks really cute on
the changeling. Oh, I have to get out? Gotta
get out. Or you have to at least open your cockpit.
Sure, I'll open my cockpit. Yeah, when Pierce
opened his... I think I would have started opening
mine too, but yeah, I guess we put our frames
closer together so that we can actually talk
to each other. And just wordlessly, I have it,
gripping it in my little exopod arms. You feel
like it's a vision made real, and you feel like
a presence flow through you, like a gateway,
just like channeling itself into this crown in
your hand. It is thrumming with potential. Will
martyrdom stop this? Can martyrdom stop this?
Do I get that feeling? That's the only thing
that I'm feeling. That's a question. Yeah. I
don't know if you know. I don't know that you
can know. You could roll, and I could tell you
if you roll well. Or you might just have to make
a leap of faith. Yeah. Would this be a gather
information roll or a regular style consequence
roll? I think it's just gather information at
this point. Then we lose nothing by trying. Geist
believes it. I think Geist, maybe with some kind
of misunderstanding of the nature of psychic
phenomenon, assumes that because he said, I will
take the crown if you can help me stop this,
he assumes that it has to be able to do it, and
maybe that speaks to how gullible he is and the
fact that Pierce was right. But whatever. He's
in. He's in it. He knows that he has no other
way to save these people, and so this is his
only shot, and he really wants to do it. I don't
think I'm really asking. I feel like I'm more
just praying desperately, like, please stop this.
Please don't let this happen. Please. Please.
Please. Martyrdom, please. You are filled with,
like I said, familiar visions. Visions of you
placing the crown on Guy's head. The stars burning.
and that grand column of blood which filled the
city receding like a waterfall flowing in reverse
with the city being rebuilt beneath it. The time
has come to crown the new king. It is in your
hands. Your cockpits are both opened towards
each other, adjoined. Geist, you see loyal. You
see the crown in his hands. X is kind of backing
off. That's a great question. What are Joseph
and Hex doing? This is really fucked up. There's
a really bad vibe in the room right now. Even
for you, Joseph. What are you doing, Hex? Hex
gives Joseph a little ping and says, if you want
to be part of this mess, have fun. I'll be waiting
outside. As you say that, Joseph, like, opens
his cockpit and just kind of, like, steps out
and falls to the ground. And he, like, meets
your eyes as you're walking out and just gives
you a nod. And then he remains in his place.
He kind of puts his hand to his chin and he just
watches. Oh, my God. Popcorn. Yeah. It is being
lowered onto your head, Geist. Exopod hands shaking
like a leaf in the wind. Like a kelp in the tide.
Geist. Zach, this will kill your character. You
will have time to do things, but it will kill
you. I am aware, and I think Geist is aware.
I feel like you don't accept the mantle of martyrdom
without being aware that you're going to die,
unless you're a real fucking moron. Like you
said at the very start of this, what did they
expect to happen? It's called martyrdom. That's
true. Yeah, he knows. And I think he believes
that he has achieved his own completely worthless
goals and that saving all of these lives, even
of people that he once did not even believe to
really be human, is a worthy goal. And also Pierce
can go fuck himself. There's probably a little
edge of spite to it as well. But really, he's
just like, I got to stop this horrible thing
from happening. Sure. Loyal in the back of your
mind. And maybe... And yours too, Geist. There's
a small voice. A small pleading voice. It is
overwhelmed. It is drowned out. Ignored. There's
just too much here to hear it. The crown is lowered
onto your head. It is like a red hot halo being
put onto your scalp. Even before it makes contact,
you can feel this horrible heat emanating from
it. It's a miracle Loyal could even hold onto
it. And as you endure the pain, and it is placed
on your head, it burns you. You smell your own
burning flesh, a smell that you are well familiar
with by now. And the burning spreads, creeping
its way in through your skin, through the bone
of your skull, setting your mind on fire. The
flame's out of control. It takes your memories,
your thoughts. They're all burned away, reduced
for fertile ashes, for something new to take
its place. A blissful, warm darkness overtakes
you. The world becomes fleshy and red, and there
is stillness. And we'll leave it there.