Enzyme Omicron is a gaseous, yellow compound
which was originally used to preserve non -animate
organic materials for long -term transport prior
to the invention of the Maw Drive. The enzyme
binds to a plethora of materials, ranging from
oil to meat to vegetation. Primarily, it was
used to keep food stable and fresh without the
need to use cryogenics, which had a tendency
to compromise the quality of foods. Though it
was effective at its given purpose, it was exceptionally
dangerous to living organisms. The enzyme would
latch onto skin, causing temporary paralysis.
Then it would typically penetrate the dermis
and enter the bloodstream, coagulating blood
and attempting to stabilize any organs it came
in contact with. Even a small exposure would
result in a slow, painful demise. A particularly
terrible leak of enzyme Omicron caused the death
of an entire colony ship, resulting in regulation
which banned the use of the enzyme and called
for its immediate destruction. Most people agreed
with this and switched back to cryonics. There
were, however, exceptions. In factory backrooms
and biohazard disposal facilities, canisters
go unaccounted for. Destruction manifests are
falsified, money changes hands, and factions
discover it has more effective uses. Welcome
to All That You Know, an actual play Beam Saver
podcast. My name is Colin, the GM, and joining
me today are Brian. Hi, I'm Brian, also known
as Harold or Hex. Adam. Hi, I'm Adam, also known
as Joseph or Mirage. Zach, also known as Wyzak.
Hi, I'm playing Garrett Hart, callsign Geist.
And Ewan. Hi, I am playing Loyal. with the Empath
playbook. Thank you, everyone. So, it has not
been long since your trial by fire in the East
City, and already you have all been sucked into
the lives of pilots. Your days are filled with
maintenance, drills, tactical review, and a few
moments of free time. For Geist, this is all
too familiar, perhaps even pleasant. You return
to your old routine as if you hadn't spent half
a decade in a coma. Joseph, for once you're given
direction, a strange sense of normalcy where
you are, with few exceptions, performing the
same tasks as your human counterparts. Hex, surprisingly,
being a pilot involves a significant amount of
paperwork. Every round of ammunition, every spare
part must be requisitioned and accounted for.
That is, assuming you get them through the proper
channels. Your ability to bend the rules makes
you invaluable to the Dusklights, though it's
a little too familiar. Loyal, having been in
the pilot division already for the last year,
this is just business as usual for you. There's
no denying that now you have far less resources
than you used to. Even something as basic as
diagnostics tools or spare parts requires you
all to borrow, scrounge, and sometimes bribe.
You're all going to receive your briefing soon,
but before we get to that, I want to know what
you're all doing when you receive it. Like, where
are you and what are you doing? And I'll start
at the top again with X. Hex is handling some
of that mind -numbing paperwork that's all too
familiar. He doesn't let his disappointment show,
though, and he seems almost happy to be kind
of in familiar territory. And where are you?
I imagine. Is there, like, I don't know, a library,
but, like, an admin area? Yeah, I'm sure there's,
like, some offices. Yeah, he's chilling at a
desk. It's pretty unremarkable. Standard computer
station. Geist. So Geist is when he receives
the call, he is in our. I believe it's called
the repair bay. It's like whatever, whatever
upgrade we took for our playbook that like gives
a bonus to the enhance action. And he's there.
He's tinkering with the changeling. He's like.
He kind of is very particular about doing a lot
of stuff with his frame himself, especially a
lot of things that are normally handled by. like
whatever routine maintenance people we have.
So he's like loading up his own ammunition belts
and like performing final system checks. And
he's kind of always just tinkering with it. And
so he is in there keeping himself busy when he
does get the message. Great. Loyal. So Loyal
is in his shitty little human apartment that
anytime someone sees him inside of it, he looks
extremely out of place. And he is in front of.
what is known to some dolphin kind, as a cymatic
reliquary. And this reliquary is an object that
has a lot of different containers that contain
water from different significant places that
are significant to the dolphin who owns the reliquary.
And he is using it for the purposes of divination.
And he is asking it some pointed questions, looking
for guidance. If someone was in the room listening,
all they would hear is echolocation, clicks and
whistles. He's not using his translator to talk
to this. And how is the divination going? He
looks frustrated. He's not getting what he wants
from the somatic images in these waters. And
Joseph, what are you doing? I think Joseph's
in the cafeteria fiddling with a very familiar
chess machine when he gets the call. That's in
the pilot lounge, not the cafeteria. Is it really?
Okay. Let me do that again. So Joseph, he's,
you won't fucking believe what he's fucking doing.
All right. He's hanging out. He's jacking off.
He's going crazy. He's getting numb. No. Okay.
He was in the pilot's lodge. Yes. Great. I'm
excited to work with that audio. He was in the
pilot's lounge, fiddling with the chess machine,
and then someone said, let's go. When did he
jack off? He definitely jacked off. You didn't
see it, okay? Robots are pretty quick. It happened
off camera. Jack in, jack off. It was like for
one pictosecond. So you all receive your briefing
summons. either on whatever electronic devices
you have or heads -up displays. I imagine it's
a little different for everyone. For Joseph,
it might just be built into your brain. My eyes!
Ow! School time, Joseph! Wake up! And you go
to the usual conference room, the one you've
been into one time before, and Miss West Edge,
Nyla, is there, and she lets you all sit down,
doesn't really say hello to anyone, just... Kind
of jumps into it. She says, This is going to
be a lot. So just listen carefully. There are
two main phases to this plan. Recently, Clusterist
-affiliated eco -terrorist groups have been sabotaging
a chemical refinery in the Alcas River Valley
owned and operated by members of the Corporate
Council. While this would typically fall under
the umbrella of corporate security, a vortex
in the ice desert has prevented effective troop
transport from the Caldera Lake region. As a
result, we have brokered a deal with the corporate
council to provide a squad for them to use in
this operation, and in exchange, we will receive
a donation of supplies to help our efforts. At
this point, Nyla places a flare gun on the table.
However, due to the terrain of this area of the
river valley, sending you in with frames would
alert the groups and cause them to go to ground,
so we'll be sending you in first outside of your
frames. You will be briefed on -site by a member
of the refinery security team. Then you will
locate the clusterous groups in the forests of
the river valley, call in your frames, and neutralize
them quickly and efficiently. She shuffles some
papers and takes a deep breath. There is, of
course, a more important aspect to this mission.
This refinery is unique in that they use a proprietary
enrichment technique for incandescent rods. This
is a well -kept secret and exceptionally valuable.
While you're in the refinery, before you deal
with the terrorists, We'd like you to get documentation,
either digital or physical, for this technique.
The peacekeepers will be selling it to an off
-world bidder to help fund our struggle. Usually,
we would have our stealth teams handle this,
but unfortunately, your team was requested by
the council by name. In brief, your objective
is twofold. First, locate and extract the enrichment
procedure from the refinery. Second, locate the
eco -terrorists, call in your frames, and drive
them out. I know that was a lot. Any questions?
So, let me get this straight. Not only are we...
being called in to do a hit job on behalf of
the corpse, but we're also stealing from them.
Yes. Geist shrugs. Uh, Joseph raises his hand.
Yes, Mirage? We were requested by name? Yes.
After just our one mission. It does seem that
way. Laurel asks, How reactive are incandescent
rods? Are they fragile? Should we be afraid?
If they're not refined completely, then yes.
So any storage tanks in the facility will be
exceptionally volatile. But you won't be, hopefully,
doing any shooting inside of the facility. Avoid
shooting inside facility at all costs. Understood.
What is corporate security like inside the facility?
What kind of, uh... resistance are we going to
be looking at when we're trying to surreptitiously
steal their secrets? You will be undercover from
most of the personnel. Only the security team
will know your actual purpose there. They are
limited, to say the least. Most of their security
is on the outside, trying to deter the terrorists.
But, as I said, a lot of their forces have been
cut off, so it shouldn't be too difficult, especially
since The security knows that you are working
for them. Loyal also says, speaking of cover,
I have a, he kind of looks around, different
body shape than most other life forms on this
planet. Will this be an issue? No. Your cover,
and this is complicated as there are multiple
levels of your cover, but the corporate council
is sending you in under the guise of being off
-world inspectors. So, they're more used to these
variable body shapes, and luckily, your squad
isn't too publicized at this point. Good to know.
Will it be a problem, you know, going in there
strapped up for a battlefield role? Most likely
it'll draw attention to you. At least a couple
of you will need to pretend you are inspectors.
The others, I'm sure you might be able to get
away with a bodyguard cover story. Very well.
Head immediately to your hangar to prepare your
frames for flight. Your pilot will be there to
load them into the high -orbit transport vessel.
Tomorrow at 0700, you will meet with our cancel
contact in the Council High -Rise, Office 61
-91 -2. A private Council aircraft will take
you to the refinery under the guise of a regulatory
inspection at 0900. Wear your plane clothes if
you can. The Raptors will not be able to come
with you on this mission, but your scout squad,
the Sparrows, will be able to. And with that,
she lets you go. So you all get to the hangar
and just outside is this mid -sized VTOL transport
ship, which has clearly been through some shit.
There's a patchwork of mismatching plates that
are bolted on. The glass of the cockpit is almost
a mosaic of this melted together recycled glass.
You might even see like a brand of beer somewhere
on that glass. Outside of it is a stout fellow
wearing a flight suit and a loosely buckled pilot's
helm. He jogs up to you as you all approach,
and he says, Oh, howdy, pilots. Nice to meet
you. I am worthy. I'll be carrying your babies
in high orbit for when you need them. I'm mostly
going to be engines off, so nobody on the ground
will detect me, but once your flare goes up,
I'll be able to get your frames dropped pretty
fast -like. I was going to say, what can we expect
as far as estimated time of arrival after we
pop the flare? Oh, not many minutes. I'm a pretty
fast driver. We'll be counting on you. Loyal's
just floating around the side of this contraption,
poking at it with his creepy little robot arms.
He turns to Worthy and asks, How long has this
Star Drifter been in service? Well, it really
depends on what you consider the ship to be.
None of the original parts are really there anymore.
I see. A drop ship of Theseus. I love it. Worthy
gestures to a young mechanic currently installing
rapid descent thrusters on Loyal's frame, the
Nautilus. I'm sure you've all met Gopher, your
runner. If you need any assistance with getting
your frames prepped up, he'll be able to. The
kid is damn quick. I think I've got mine handled.
The Changeling has some fairly advanced boost
mobility suites built in, and I can interface
with them remotely. Unless you have anything
else you want to do or interact with, you can
just get the work on getting your frame set up.
All really you have to do is you're going to
outfit these rapid descent thrusters, which are
used for landing from high orbit without them
going to plat, and then just walk them into the
transport, sit them in their, I guess, drop seats,
and strap them down, and that's it. Yeah, Geist
gets his frame set up and then kind of boosts
it out, does maybe a little... A little burnout
or a little circle or something with his hover
boosters on and then walks it up into place and
gets it latched in. Beautiful. Anyone else do
any special preparations? Any kiss on the cheek
for your friends before they go away? I do that
privately when I'm piling it into the hangar.
My little communion. Harold just gives it two
little pats. The universal sign of, hey, you're
at rest. Actually, you know what? Geist does
do something, something that he hasn't done before.
So he walks the Changeling out to where the ship
is, and then he's going to transform it from
speed mode into combat mode because he's expecting
a hot drop. So it's kind of like clanking and
sliding of plates as the whole thing kind of
shifts and changes into a less maneuverable configuration
and what looks like a very large... high -tech
looking gun kind of assembles itself along like
the back of the frame um and then once it's completely
transformed he kind of a little bit more clumsily
uh stomps it over and uh gets it latched in because
ideally we're well not maybe not ideally but
i suspect we're going to be dropping right into
it so i might as well be in ass kicking mode
in preparation wait i have a cool little flavor
text that i can do for mine after sunlit or loyal
after loyal is done putting his frame in the
hanger and exits it through the latch in the
front. The, like, what are they called on a mech?
The thrusters? Whatever gives it flight. Whatever
gives it thrust. Whatever gives it thrust. The
thrusters are attached to these fin -shaped metal...
Turbrances? Turbrances. Like Sonic the Hedgehog
spikes? Greebles? I feel like I need to go look
at a picture of an airplane and look at the words
on them to be able to describe this. Anyways,
there's some fin -shaped thrusters that emerge
from panels on the side of the frame and also
go into active combat position. So, you... Everything
go smoothly? you march your frames in the worthiest
aircraft, and you probably can't help but wonder
how it's even capable of holding these massive
frames without falling apart. Like the ship,
you can hear it rattle as you're walking in.
And then from there, all you have to do is you
have to wait till tomorrow morning, and then
you are going to be going to the council meeting
in the corporate council tower in central Brea
City. Do you have any... thing you want to do
prior to that any like pre -mission rituals last
mission like simulation trainings or anything
like that oh is there a simulation training place
there's gotta be that's cool i'm in that shit
uh and this is the same council that asked for
us by name just yes okay then yeah just just
back to the simulations yeah geist uh probably
hasn't Like as a pilot, he probably didn't fight
in the infantry sense too much, but he knows
that he's not really much of a talker or much
of a liar. So he just spends some time at whatever
our unit or even just like our military as a
whole has for like a training area. So he probably
spends some time renewing his familiarity with
the use of like some basic guns, like an assault
rifle or a shotgun. And then maybe. practices
just like some basic CQC techniques and maybe
kind of silently laments to himself that his
new shitty mechanical body isn't nearly as fast
or responsive as his real one was. But he's practicing.
He's trying. Joseph, anything? No, he's going
back to the chess table. He didn't like being
interrupted. He's going to keep going on that.
Great. Okay. Yeah. What are the simulations like
for soldiers? I imagine it was like flight sim
for the suits, but I'm curious. It's kind of
whatever you want it to be. I imagine there have
been budget cuts, so you don't have the top -of
-the -line stuff anymore, but you get pods almost
that simulate your exact frame that you pilot.
You upload all the schematics, and it simulates
it, and you can do target practice. There's probably
some pre -made scenarios like Extract the VIP
that are like combat games with realistic haptics.
Make you feel like you're really being shot.
That's sick. Hex loves this. Hey Hex, you want
to go to the training pods together? Give me
some Finn. Let's do it. I would if I could. Tongue
in cheek. He actually says that. Okay. You all
do that stuff together, or separate in many of
your cases. And you arrive at the council high
-rise the next morning, shuttled by an inconspicuous
private driver who works for the corporate council.
And inside the council tower is Deluxe, by far
the most ostentatious building on the planet,
if it wasn't for the crater in the lobby where
stray artillery had landed. It would be a pretty
high -class place besides for that. The front
desk checks you in, issues you these spiffy visitor
cards, laminated and all, and directs you to
a maglev elevator up to the sixth floor. After
that, it's just a short walk down a carpeted
hallway to office 61 -91 -2. A placard on the
semi -luminescent frosted glass stands out to
you, reading, September Bluth, Union Liaison.
If he whinged before, he whinged more at that.
And Hex, I think it clicks into place for you
just now why the Dusklights were requested for
this mission. Yep. He doesn't. He noticeably
looks tenser to anyone else in the group. Notices
this instantly because I am a psychic. Me an
empath. Hex looks pissed. Confused by this, I
thought the bureaucracy would calm Hex. It's
almost therapeutic. A little scanner on the door
scans all of you and says, Mr. Bluth will see
you now, and the door slides up into the ceiling,
letting you in. And you enter the office. It's
large, comfortable, and decadent. At the far
end of the room is September's desk, an imported
alien design with a stimulating fractal pattern
on it. He once bragged to you, Hex, that the
species that created these desks were now extinct,
and he even showed you a certificate that verified
this very fact. In the center of the room, of
course, is a recessed conversation pit, a deluxe
collection of xeno -leather furnishings which
are available to you. And in the center of that,
a whalebone table with a decanter of an exotic,
expensive, psychoactive beverage known as Township
Royale. September is already sitting down in
this center area and gestures for you to come
join him. He makes a very big grin at you, Hex,
and he says, Harold, it's so good to see you,
my boy. I'm sorry. Long time no see. It's just
all Hex replies. Now, imagine my surprise when
I called over to your office and I find out that
not only were you no longer a supply chain operations
manager, but had transferred to be a pilot. Quite
the horizontal move, wouldn't you say? Not all
of us are looking to move vertically, sir. He
just kind of looks around the room. He chuckles
again. Well, I hope your work in the fields is
as thorough as your paperwork, my boy. Please,
take a seat. He does just that. September makes
a gesture in the air, and the room dims and takes
a golden, almost candlelight ambiance. Holograms
appear out of the air and show a number of things.
You see the refinery, some fuzzy pictures of
masked individuals hurling firebombs at equipment,
and maps of the area around the refinery. And
September speaks up. Now, I know you've already
been briefed by your commander, so I'll keep
it brief. and he chuckles at his little joke
we're sending you to defend the refinery locate
the source of these clustered terrorists call
in your machines and wipe them out simple enough
our head of security will provide you with additional
resources and information as needed we've chartered
a private craft to take you to the refinery under
the guise of a regulatory inspection It's not
impossible we have a rat amongst the staff, so
don't mention your purpose to anyone except the
security team. Your craft leaves in two hours.
It shall pick you up from the top of this tower.
And with that, he gestures again, and the lights
come back on. He takes a sip of his drink and
points to the door, which opens at his indication.
Geist just kind of stares at him, starts moving.
He doesn't say a word. Loyal floats up to Mr.
Bluth, after having spent most of the time examining
the whalebone table. It's real. And asked. God,
how horrifying. And asked in a very polite, modulated
tone. Mr. Bluth, I am curious to know how you
got your initial connection with the Peacekeepers'
force, if that is not too much to ask. Now, what
do you mean? The Corporate Council and the Peacekeepers
have been in cahoots since the first, well, I
wouldn't call it an invasion, but a Peacekeeper
operation, shall we say. So you would call yourself
a philanthropist funding the end of this war?
Oh, absolutely. I am a kind -hearted man with
only peace in mind. I see. Thank you. And he
just starts floating away again. Any other questions
or comments for Mr. Bluth? Hex is just, you know
the Arthur meme where he's clenching his fist?
Just kind of that in the corner. Beautiful. It's
not quiet. There's something going on. I just
want you guys to know you're going to see this
guy a lot just because as soon as I figured out
I want to do an antebellum voice for him, I was
like, I want to talk to this guy as much as possible.
I feel like I'm watching Glass Onion right now.
What is his organization name right now? He works
for the corporate council specifically. He represents
a number of corporations as the union liaison.
Oh, he's a pro -union guy. Wow. Yeah. He must
be nice. I can't help but imagine him looking
like Everett from Disco Elysium. Fun fact, that
was his original voice. Hello, friends. Mr. Bluth
is helping me find my gun. So, you guys head
up to the top of the council tower. And when
the time arrives, the sparrows are here with
you too, your scouts. You know, they're just
hanging out. And when the time arrives, a sleek
private aircraft comes down and lands on the
top of the tower. A hatch opens up beneath the
craft and a pale blue beam of light illuminates
a circular area beneath it. Those of you with
a technology background or a taste for the finer
things might recognize this as a gravity lift.
an exceedingly expensive and advanced piece of
Uro technology, which does about what you expect
it to. It lifts you up. Hell yeah. Does this
use Europa technology? No, this is beyond Europa
technology. This is literally expensive alien
technology. Hell yeah. Like a citizen, would
you encounter this? Maybe like a fancy place
or no? No, this is like someone who lived in
poverty encountering a private jet. Okay. Damn.
so it's it's like this is like one percent shit
but like in the future so it's like the point
one percent yeah guys kind of looks around him
easily he's not sure what the hell to do it is
also exceedingly decadent because it would like
the stairs would be like three feet tall so the
fact that they bought a gravity lift to lift
lift you like six feet into the air is like almost
insulting um so the next you lead the way Yeah,
he whistles and he's seen how to do this, you
know. Watch it, bro. You've seen it in Forbes.
Yeah, he's seen it. It's more like, wow, this
is the real deal. And it gently pulls you up
into the aircraft with all your luggage. It's
kind of like the lifts from Halo, except much
more gentle. It pulls you up and gently deposits
you in the cabin. And everyone follows. The scouts
are kind of sent back to a, it's like the, I
guess it's like the coach version of this private
jet where it's like a little less nice. And I'm
going to explain to you why it's so nice. Another
very decadent scene, more Xeno leather chairs,
this impossibly deep black carpet, which is interspersed
with these luminous yellow stars that like glint
up at you. And, of course, a full -service drink
and snack bar, staffed by an autonomous robotics
servant named Reginald. A voice comes over the
comm system. Welcome aboard, passengers. My name
is Captain 922. We'll be taking off shortly.
Our flight time should be just under two hours.
If you have any questions for me, please use
the call button located above any of the sitting
areas, or have Reginald bring me a message. Geist
is kind of, I mean, so he's done up in like the
bodyguard security guy role, but he kind of sort
of uncomfortably sits down and looks around and
then he looks at Hex and he's like, these corporate
pricks always fly like this or what? Not the
kind I worked with. Hex is thinking of some of
his other colleagues and they're less than refined
tastes. Are there snacks like within reach or?
Does Reginald have to get them? There are both
snacks within reach, and there's like a menu
on like every side table saying things you can
order from Reginald, and this includes things
like fresh sushi. Hex turns to Geist, but we're
not paying for it, so take an inch of it. And
he orders some sushi. Hell yeah. Loyal is hovering
somewhat excitedly next to the sushi menu. He
doesn't want people to know that this stuff is
really cool. And he says, and he's Young fins
dream of getting that hover tech implemented
into their exopods, but not many dolphins are
rich enough to be able to say they've ever used
one. Geist doesn't... He kind of just sits there.
He can't really eat and he doesn't want to drink,
so he just kind of sits stiffly in the incredibly
luxurious chair provided and just kind of looks
around and maybe just like... repeatedly performs
little gear checks to keep his brain occupied.
The chair detects that you're feeling a little
tense, and so the automated massagers turn on.
Geist jumps up like, what the hell? Geist draws
his fire. There's Clusterus in the chair! He
just opens fire. Chair fired first. No, he does
kind of... Jerk forward in his seat though when
it unexpectedly starts to vibrate and he kind
of finds an excuse to stand up and walk around.
Do we know how long this journey will be? Just
under two hours. Are there movies? Yes. There
are movies that are like bullfuck. I mean, I
don't know if they have actually no, they definitely
do. They have like deep dive stuff. There's even
like things that say like one of the program
selections is like pass time which will just
basically cut out the entire flight for you as
long as it's on your head so you will just put
it on and then next thing you know you'll be
there damn i wish we had those in real life yeah
fuck that sounds amazing i hate flying so much
don't use those they delete your brain cells
is worthy is loyal telling us that yes yes your
sushi comes reginald prepares it for you expertly
Probably better than any human ever could. No
offense. Wait, Reginald does? Like, in front
of us? Yes. He pulls out, like, a local fish,
probably from the Alcas River Valley where you're
going, like, slices into it with, like, a little
knife that comes out of his arm and prepares
it right in front of you. Damn. Hex compliments
Reginald for his work. This is the nicest sushi
I've ever seen. Thank you, Harold. Loyal takes,
like... three or four slices of this freshly
cut sushi with his little arms and positions
them at a random point like above his pod and
in the glass this opening appears that's like
right above the water like not at a point where
the water would like spill out of his pod if
this was opened and then he drops the pieces
of fish into his pod with him and then kind of
like swims around and bites them and eats them.
You see little bits of, like, fish floating around
in his tank with him. I think Joseph is sitting
away from the three of you in the back and just
staring out the window the whole time, just looking
at it. The flight is incredibly smooth. You barely
feel the vessel take off. And as you fly, you
get a good view of the riverlands below, pockmarked
with tributaries, clusters of trees, some smaller
towns. And during the war, a majority of the
fighting took place here. You used to have a
fireblade base out here where you operated out
of if you were deployed then. And even now you
can see remnants of battlefields and these small
villages of scrappers that popped up around them,
you know, cannibalizing all the fallen frames
and debris left behind by each side. And after
the two hours is up, you arrive at the refinery
and exit through the grav lift floating gently
to the ground. The refinery is a large fenced
facility covered in pipes, smokestacks, conveyor
belts, and catwalks. At the center of the facility
is the primary structure, which serves as the
final processing plant, the packaging area, as
well as the offices. And this is where most of
what you're going to do is going to take place.
An attendant greets you as you come out of the
craft and tells you to follow her to your quarters.
And she tells you that once your bags are dropped
off, she'll escort you to the head of security
for your meeting. And this... I believe is where
we should discuss your plan for this operation
and roll your engagement roll. This operation
is going to be a little different in that you're
going to start in a controlled position regardless
of what you roll. However, what you roll will
determine the status of a clock that I have.
And you can actually see the clock in Foundry.
It is under player visible clocks and it is question
mark, question mark, question mark. Ooh. okay
i had forgotten about joseph's ai torture so
it's good to have a reminder that that's still
there that's still there all right cool i love
mysteries gamers so this is the engagement for
like the first part of this where we're like
trying to steal the fuel rod plans right yes
this has to be a deception or a sneak or whatever
it's called yeah so actually the sheet so this
be this um dual sheet that colin gave us is kind
of similar to the blades in the dark one and
that it has a lot of important game information
on it so if you scroll down below your uh vehicle
gear it actually tells you what the different
plans are right there in the box oh look at that
yeah so your options are assault deception scientific
social stealth and transport and you need to
provide a detail with each of those like for
deception it is your method of deception and
stealth it is your entry point We're not trying
to not be seen and we are trying to deceive.
Yeah, I think that since we don't, I mean, assault
would be stupid. Deception is probably good.
Scientific doesn't make any sense. Social only
makes sense if we know somebody who's in here,
which we don't. And stealth would be risky, but
I think is our other option, especially since
Joseph is a sneaky guy. That's me. That would
be our option. But because we already have a
fully established cover in place, I think deception
is the best one. But then the question is, what
exactly is our angle going to be? Because basically
we're in here as inspectors and we're trying
to basically steal the Krabby Patty secret formula
for mega uranium rods. What level of clearance
do we have as inspectors? Here's the thing about
you being an inspector. It is a cover so that
the corporate people, if they have a rat, don't
know what you're there for except for the head
of security who you have a meeting with soon.
And that person will be telling you what they
know about the cluster risks so you can handle
them. So you don't actually have any clearance.
It's just a cover to get you into the facility
and a reason why you'd be walking around to this
meeting. That being said... you're also not locked
into deception if it's just your starting thing
like you could both do deception and like send
joseph off um yeah while you distract um both
are perfectly valid options maybe we learn more
i was just gonna say are we provided with any
intel as to where this information might be housed
in this facility no but based on the layout of
the refinery that you've been supplied with it
would be bizarre for a server room or any plans
to be stored anywhere except for this main building.
Everything else is very industrial. So basically,
I guess that's up to Adam if Joseph wants to
go secret agent man while we kind of run interference
with our sort of inspector cover. I guess my
only other question is for the mission parameters
as the corporation knows them to be true, is
there literally any reason for us to be in this
facility at all? besides just going to this meeting
with the security? It is not entirely clear how
much they have disseminated this story. I think
the average employee has been told, you're inspectors.
There will be inspectors here today, so don't
worry if you see unfamiliar faces. Okay. So you
might be able to leverage that. We could get
far with that. But also, if you roll bad, I will
be like, you can't leverage it. Because this
is how the system works. Yes. How well your cover
works is completely dependent on what you roll.
I know what I want to do when I get in here.
So then I will help Joseph out, just like be
making a passive sonar map of every room I am
traveling through. It'll be shitty because we're
not underwater. I can be able to see through
walls minimally and see kind of what's through
the other side, depending on how well I roll.
So yeah, maybe we can two -prong it then. We
can have the stealth team, which is probably
just Joseph, because I don't think... I doubt
anyone else has prowl. I'm too big to sneak.
Yeah. Too bureaucrat. And I'm too loud and clanky
for all of my cybernet. So does, is Joseph okay
with the idea of basically trying to creep around?
We'll kind of do like a hybrid deception slash
stealth plan. We're like, our deception is that
we're, you know, we're. We're inspecting, and
then the stealth entry point would be... What
I find with my sonar. Yeah, maybe we find an
entry point for him. Maybe he starts off coming
in with the inspectors and then kind of just
breaks off and climbs into a vent or something.
What do you guys think? Put him in the laundry
basket. I could get small, so I could probably
go through a vent. Hell yeah, let's do it. Snake!
Okay. We're choosing deception to start. Let's
go. Okay. Wait, so am I getting uranium rods?
Is that the plan? No, the recipe. The recipe,
the Krabby Patty. They're not called uranium
rods. They're called something else. It's called
incandescent if it matters. Something much cooler.
Plutonium, unobtainium. Yeah, like the point
is that this is like some kind of like proprietary
corporate like manufacturing process that we're
stealing the info on, right? The only way to
make incandescent bulbs. Looking for files. Yes.
Digital or physical, but probably digital considering
the setting. Okay. And let's get into the engagement
roll. Also, before we make the roll, you all
need to decide what your load is. It is like
your mech load, but it varies from mission to
mission. You're going to either choose light,
medium, or heavy. I was thinking medium for Geist
because I am kind of just the muscle. I was thinking
light to make myself less conspicuous for when
I invariably roll terribly and have to lie. matters
if that helps me in some way it does not having
guns on you does matter yeah i don't have guns
on me do you get one gun if you're light or do
you get nothing but you get three load and you
can spend it on whatever you want yeah load matters
for you because it's not like it's how conspicuous
you look but i think it's also supposed to be
like how nimble you are right so we have medium
for guys light for joseph light for loyal and
what about you light as well Now let's get to
the engagement roll. Exciting stuff. We're going
to do good, right? Of course. First, is the mission
bold? No. You guys don't think this is bold?
We're kind of double -crossing the people who
are giving us all of this insane help. That seems
kind of bold. That's bold to me. It's less bold
than jumping in a burning building, but you know
what? You're right. I don't know. I would say
it is bold. It is also especially complex. That
is true. So you're back down to 1D base. Does
the tactic exploit vulnerabilities? I would say
yes. You have a cover. You have a good cover.
And they are not expecting you to have a spy
robot with you. And they're not expecting something
from inside. They are hardened against an attack
from outside and you've already gotten it. So
that takes up the 2D. Does the squad have external
support? Not really. Unless you want to do a
flashback or something, but... I... Especially
not for this segment. No. Is anyone interfering
with the mission? Yes. Someone is. Why are you
going to tell us like that? So I think, unfortunately,
you are going to be at 1D. Oh, man. Can we argue
our dice up at all? No, we can't. You could.
You can. There are flashbacks in this system.
If you want to, like, say you have a contact
that somehow could help you with this or do a
flashback where it's like, I don't know. Does
Hex have a contact here in bureaucracy world?
Oh, also, just so you remember, the sparrows
are with you. Your scouts, they are dressed down
to look just like, I don't know, like inspectors,
but they have gear stashed. And he has a colleague,
but I don't know if he would be here. We could
make a new one up right now. The sparrows might,
well, we could just make it up. Yeah, you can
flashback and spend stress to do something like,
I know a guy on the inside. At least I think
that's how you can do it. Right? Why is that
got the thing? So it is... See, here's the problem.
I've read a lot of these Forged in the Dark style
systems, and some of them put class -specific
restrictions on what kind of flashbacks you're
allowed to do, but I don't know that this one
does, and I don't see it in any... playbook so
i think yeah you basically can it's like blades
in the dark where you can basically flash back
to well i mean you can flash back for literally
anything that is feasibly possible but then colin
gets to decide how much stress it costs like
if it's something okay those are complex or costs
a lot of stress and sometimes how effective it
is might require a role that you do like right
now all right then high level and i feel like
this fits the playbook or uh is What if Hex knows
the receptionist? They were nice. And now Hex
just kind of has a high level overview of the
layout of the place already since the artillery
show. Great. So I'm going to say you have to
roll consort. All right. Just to determine how
that goes. Hex is good at that. And it's going
to cost you one stress to just even make this
roll. All right. Added. Great. Consort. Partial
success. You get a five. Yeah! Which, I think
in this case, it's fine. You get what you're
looking for. She does not give you digital plans
or anything, but she loves to talk, and she tells
you all about the layout. You put it together
after she complains about work and how the tech
guys always want to go to the server room, but
they never update their clearance, so she has
to go to the office manager and get him to let
them in. So you know what the server room is.
It is... Somewhere near the middle of the facility.
It is off of the main factory floor, kind of
out of the way. It's actually pretty quiet, and
there's not a lot of security on it, because
the process to get into the plant is so rigorous,
it's almost only people flying in, except for
the workers. So, you know that now. So you're
going to get another D, so you'll have two D.
Thank you, Christine, the receptionist. Okay,
so who wants to roll the two dice? I shouldn't
do it. My luck for these sorts of things is absolutely
cursed. It should probably be somebody else.
I'm feeling lucky. I'm feeling lucky. Oh, he's
pushing it! Oh, is this a critical? Let's go!
Let's fucking go! Oh my god! Let's have Harold
do all our roles now. Another clutch critical.
So, you are going to start in a controlled position.
uh you are going to start with the question mark
question mark question mark clock with zero ticks
in it out of six that's great um and so i mean
this is the scene you are i guess led to your
rooms uh basically immediately um but tell me
how you want to be set up like what's your ideal
situation here folks because you're going to
get what you want um i mean i feel like basically
we're kind of just rolling in and then the idea
is to sort of Make a show of inspecting things
and then in such a way that we can get Joseph
as close to the server room as possible and then
have him like start doing his infiltration. You
basically tell the minder, can we inspect some
things first? And she's like, sure, of course.
And you walk around a little bit, make a show
of it. And at some point, Joseph just peels off.
I think so. Unless anybody else has any. And
I am scanning the fuck out of everything that's
near me. Yeah, the sonar map. I go into the facility
because like how sonar works for me when I'm
just like in my exopod floating around with no
water on me is like this little like dish comes
up out of my exopod from some flap somewhere
and starts like spinning around this little like
radar dish basically. And I'm using my bio sonar
to get a accurate as I can map of my surroundings.
everything that's bouncing off the walls from
my higher than human hearing like clicks and
whistles so other people can't hear this is captured
by my little spinning dish and i'm sending that
off to joseph with some like tips if we're in
like communications somehow if i'm able to communicate
with him silently i'm being like ignore the weird
artifact in this part of the tunnel that is wrong
because i'm using this human technology it actually
looks like this i just imagined loyal as a dolphin
has like a different audible range than humans
do and so like loyal thinks that it's not audible
to humans but really the mech just walks in and
starts going sonar blasting if it's big enough
maybe organs of a nearby fly no more nearby flies
but yeah uh you do you you get this You start
inspecting. You know, the minder is very patient,
doesn't even notice that Joseph leaves, probably
assumes it's just like a he's just like an autonomous
assistant, not even like a person. And yeah,
Joseph, you managed to get away while they are
doing this. Do you just make a beeline for the
server room? Yeah, I'll probably use the map
that I got, but finding the best entry point
and getting through there. We got from our info.
Sure. You arrive at the server room, and there
is someone in front of it. There is a security
officer, which is not part of the plan. He looks
very bored, but he's sitting there. He has a
sidearm, like a basic baton, but it looks like
this guy never gets any action. He's just so
bored, like reading a magazine, just sitting
in front of the door. What do you do? Okay. That's
the most dangerous kind of security guard. Is
there any other way inside the place, like through
a vent or something? You could give me a survey
and see if you find anything. Alternatively,
Loyal could give a survey since you are sending
this. Yeah, that might be better. Yeah. I'll
tell Loyal that there's a guard in front of the
place and there might be, maybe there's a better
way to get in. Yeah. How far away are we from
each other right now? You might have to... I
mean, it's going to be... You're controlled right
now. You're in a controlled position. It'll be
a controlled standard. I think you can manage
to just trail off a little bit since you rolled
so well, you're getting a lot of wiggle room
here. You just walk around towards the corner,
which maybe is on the other side of the wall
from Joseph, and you can try to map things out.
Yeah, I imagine I get my little distress call
from him. Like, okay, I'll try to get a better
map. Give me a minute to float over there. So,
am I still in control position? You are. Do you
want to push yourself for an extra dice? Nah,
this is a survey. We're not pushing ourselves
yet. Okay. Parcel success. Nice. Let's go. So
I'm going to give it to you, but I'm going to
tick a tick of this clock. Yeah, you survey,
and you immediately discover there are some cooling
vents that lead into the server room to cool
it off. They're accessible from a utility closet
just a little bit behind where Joseph is. So
if he can get in there, get in the vents and
crawl through, which, you know, it's pretty flexible,
so he can probably do that. He'll be able to
get in there without noticing anything or being
noticed. Duck the security card. Go for the vents.
Going for it. Going for the utility closet to
get into the vents. Sure. Get into the utility
closet. You know, easy. It's unlocked. There's
some cleaning supplies. Climb up some racks.
and you get in the vent. And I think... I'm not
going to make you roll the prowl, because you're
just crawling through a vent, and I think it's
pretty easy. And you're going to roll off of
Sunleth's roll, and you get in... Actually, I
do need a prowl, because it's going to determine
something. Okie dokie. You're still in the controlled
position, though. Just so you know. Kuklunk is
the sound of the robot in the vent. Oh! I should
have said that. I should have picked on Tim.
So that's two ones. It begins. So I'm going to
give you... I'm going to tick this clock again,
and I'm going to put you in a risky position
now, instead of controlled. Because you come
up to the grate, and you look into the room,
and there's someone in here. There's this person
wearing like... It looks like a uniform, but
it's kind of hastily unzipped. And they have
a backpack. And they are plugged into the server
rack right now, doing something. And you don't
know what it is. Shit. Do they see me? No, they
do not see you. Because of my ones? Yeah. He's
the only one in here? He's the only one in here.
And then there's the security guard still outside
the door. okay uh well if he's plugged in he's
distracted i assume he's like yes he is looking
through files and stuff i guess i'll drop down
next to him and uh see if he wakes up then sure
you like make a show of it just like make sure
he hears you yeah all right let's cut back to
the others briefly um so you guys are exploring
the floor it's been pretty boring the minder
has been just filling you in on things as you
pretend to look around telling you no The Clusterists,
they think that we've been dumping into their
water supply, but that's not factual. There's
no proof of that. But they're very angry, and
it's very scary for all of us. That's rough.
Are you guys trying to do anything? I don't know
what you would do, but you are here. Geist is
just kind of... I mean, he's just kind of standing
around. He's just playing the part of, like...
bored guy who's there for security reasons, which
is very easy because he is extremely bored. But
yeah, I don't know what really we can get from
these guys unless we want to like pick this dude's
brain for any information on the Clusteris or
the plant or anything. You could also, I think
the minder is also being like, you know, we need
to really get you to the meeting. This is kind
of urgent. He just wants us out of his fucking
sight. wow good of piping here am i being called
back to the main group now after my detour to
the dolphin yeah i think i think you're you're
free to do it no one really interrogated you
there dolphin bathroom um but yeah she is pushing
for you to move this is gonna have to be either
you go with her or you have to resist somehow
by swaying her for instance uh can we try a sway
to stay around a little bit you can try a sway
what do you say What's around us? Is there, like,
something noteworthy that Hex can point to and
be like, whoa, is that a, you know, that thing?
Like, acting all fascinated. Oh, you mean the
vent manifold. I'm glad you noticed. An actual
vent manifold? Well, sorry, we used to have these
at the warehouse I would... Yes, and I assure
you that the safety paint, it wore off today.
We're actually replacing it later this afternoon,
and she chuckles nervously. Oh, shit. Can I roll?
that's a humble get her ass she fucking let slip
that safety paint is not up to standard all right
come on hex oh wait why is that a failure yeah
that should not be a failure that's a four she's
mad wait do you have a zero in sway i have zero
what i should have Son of a bitch. You had a
good sway. I just assumed you were good at it.
I feel cheated. He's just kind of standing around.
So I'm going to give you one tick of the clock,
and since I have moved you to a risky position
here, she says, as you know, we have one week
to correct that after it's inspected, so I think
it's best you just go to the meeting. She smiles
at you, saccharinely. Shoot her. Hex keeps it
together. His love for Osha compliance is overridden
by her persuasiveness. To the meeting we go,
I guess. Making a mental note to go talk to Hex
later and teach him how to sway. Yeah, you move
off the factory floor and into some back hallways
and are moved towards the meeting room. And we'll
switch back to Joseph. You plop down. in this
room, and, like, this person yanks a cord out
of the computer and, like, turns around to you
and says, oh, um, hey, what, who are you? I'm
gonna hold my hands up to show that I'm not holding
anything against this guy. And I say, I assume
you and I are looking for the same thing? Um,
he seems a little confused, but says, yeah, sure.
Well. Uh, he's gonna walk a little closer. What
have you found? Uh, you know, these people are
up to a lot of bad things. Right? And he's kind
of probing you a little bit. Uh, Joseph agrees.
Uh, he says, that is why I'm here, to get some
dirt on some bad people. If you could make a
duplicate of what you found. It would further
both of our causes. That is going to be a sway.
I have a zero in sway. I'm going to pull a Brian.
Push yourself. You can push yourself for a die.
You can also, I believe you can get both. Correct
me if I'm wrong, Wyzak, but I believe you can
also ask for, yes, you can. You can push yourself
for two stress, which gives you another die,
and or accept a collateral die, which is, I tell
you a condition. Like, I'm going to tick this
clock again, and you get another dice, which
would bring up a 2D. I'll push myself. Do you
want the collateral die? No, it's okay. I don't
want to do that to everyone. All right. So you're
going to roll 1D. Well, there you go. Oh, no,
they hate robots. There's only one die. Fuck.
Might I suggest violence? I don't know why I
was trying to do this. I'm going to wait until,
like, Colin says. I won't interrupt you, Colin.
I'll let you do your thing first. He says...
It's good to know they sent me reinforcements,
buddy. And he slaps you on the shoulder and he
pulls, he like jacks back in and he pulls out
a flash drive and hands it to you and says, here
you go. And I'm ticking the clock twice. I feel
like I know what this clock is and it's on the
cusp of activating. Hmm. I'll just say, do you
think I could actually get my own information
just to be safe? Oh, you want to? I get it. Join
with you. Alright, I'll sit right next to him
and log in. Get what I need to get. Oh, you entered
into the digital realm. Uh -oh. 5 ,000 years
in hell. I'm burning. Poorly rendered 90s 3D.
Yeah, you're in. There is some security in this
system, but you're a digital being. You can handle
it. Do you want to roll and let me look at your
skills. I honestly forget what skills are. I
don't have engineer. I have interface. Interface
is good. I think that'd be a perfect role for
this. Yeah, I think interface is better. Yeah,
do you want to post yourself or use a collateral
die? I have two in interface, so I think I'll
be okay. Yeah, I think that's good. Yeah. Well,
good. Yeah, you get in there. And you find it
easily. It's like titled incandescent recipe.
Do not share. And you're like, Oh, okay. And
you, you pull it off. And since you succeeded,
I'll also say you do get some information about
what this person next to you is doing and what
they have been doing is they have been disabling
outgoing communications for this facility. As
well as copying the database. Okay. I guess that's
not an issue for us. You know what? I guess I'll
let him live. Scurry off outside the vent. Before
you leave, he asks, like, hey, I mean, you seem
useful. Do you want to, like, stay in touch?
Sure. What's your number? Oh, fuck. He gives
you, like, a fucking... Like his number. His
personal cell. Like his signal, basically. His
encrypted messaging app. His name is Glass New
Lane. It's crazy how Joseph immediately proved
everybody's beliefs about how he can't be trusted.
100 % correct. Joseph becomes a terrorist. I'm
gonna whip out my blade and I'm gonna flip it
in the air. and catch it, knife in my hand, with
a handle towards him, and I say, I guess I won't
be needing this, and I wink at him, and I'm giving
him the knife. Oh my god. Okay. This is good.
Yeah, mark a knife, a blade or two on your load,
because you give it to him, and he says, whoa,
is this, did you take this off like a Dead Soul
Union soldier or something? This is sick. It's
personal. I hope you give it some respect. He
winks again. What do I call you? Call me Joseph.
All right, Joseph. You know, I'll see you around.
Talk to you later. Of course. I'm going to fly
up into the vent again. He shakes his head and
he's like, that was... Okay. You know, you're
doing some corporate espionage. You come in,
a robot says hello to you, plugs into a computer,
and then leaves after giving you a knife. That's
an interaction. Adam just has to ask one question
and save the man's life. What have you done?
I think that's a very interesting development.
I like that. Yeah, this is great. So the rest
of you are in a meeting with the head of security
at this facility. He is just giving you the rundown,
basically everything you've heard before. There
are these clusterists who are causing havoc.
They're camping somewhere in the forest. They
don't know exactly where, so they want your help
to flush them out and then basically serve as
a deniable asset to wipe them out and then just
come back in. You know, this old union will make
a cover up about it. And you know, a little quid
pro quo. And the head of security says, okay,
any questions? I guess, Geisik, do we have any
sort of estimation on their full -scale combat
capabilities or what sort of defensive emplacements
they might have? Well, here. He pulls up a little
diagram and shows you that they don't know exactly
what they are. They haven't seen any heavy -duty
stuff from them. It's mostly firebombs and people
sneaking in, blowing up their external... What's
it called? External infrastructure? Like the
conveyor belts, stuff like that. They don't really
think they're a big threat at all. They think
they are associated with the Clusterists, but
it should be pretty easy to wipe them out once
you find them. They probably don't have any frames
or anything like that. Joseph, where do you head
after you get the information? Are you heading
back to the group? Yeah, I'll walk back. Sure.
You notice when you get back... into the hallway.
The security guard is gone. Any blood? Oh, that
rascal. He did what I couldn't do. No blood at
all. And yeah, I'm going to come back to Joseph
because there's actually, I don't really have
much more for the scene with meeting this guy,
as you may have judged from what I've been saying.
But Joseph, you hear a series of whistling noises
as missiles impact into the side of the building.
Each is followed by this terrible drilling noise
as the projectiles bore through the walls. Then,
and you see this happening right in front of
you on the factory floor, the missiles burst,
filling the room and adjacent hallways with this
sickly yellow gas. The room was filled with a
terrible noise, screaming mixed with choking,
as employees stagger into the hallways where
you are, clawing at their throats, with their
coughs getting trapped inside of them as their
airways close shut. They collapse to the ground
in front of you, seizing, their eyes bulging
and bleeding. As you witness this, you begin
to hear gunshots outside of the facility. And
with that, the clock is filled. And we're going
to end there for today. See you guys next time.