A Knight of Shreds and Patches Transcript
Episode 12: This Is What a Team Is
Transcript by Cameron Robertson
Note: Zee-o is a synthetic humanoid being and primarily speaks in a robotic, monotone voice.
Intro:
[hurdy gurdy music begins]
Nick: Welcome, listeners, to A Knight of Shreds and Patches. An immersive actual play podcast. This episode features the talents of -
Drew: Drew Mierzejewski as Wyatt Fisher.
Aly: Aly Grauer as Zee-o.
Cameron: Cameron Robertson as Emma Blackwood.
Sydney: Sydney Whittington as Cassidy Shard.
Nick: Nick Robertson as GM and Narrator.
Sydney: Hello listeners, this is your editor, with today’s messages:
Thanks for being listeners and liking our show! If you ever want to have more interaction with the cast, a link to the show’s Discord can be found in the show notes, and we’d love to have you drop in and say hi. And of course, if you’re enjoying what we’re doing, spreading the word makes a huge difference for people who haven’t found us yet.
And with that, we wrap up today’s announcements and head into episode 12: This Is What a Team Is. And so...
Join us, for now our tale to yours attaches
To carry hope: a Knight of Shreds and Patches.
[hurdy gurdy music ends]
[electronic beeping]
[robotic powerup noise begins]
Distorted Robotic Voice: Power restored. Systems online. Reconfiguring audio connection.
[robotic powerup noise fades to radio frequency static]
[over radio]
Sydney (as Cassidy): Last time on A Knight of Shreds and Patches, the unexplainably provoked cloud of drones descended on the town of Wawa. We fought back. Wyatt with his combat rig,
Zee-o with their freshly acquired and integrated saw blade, me with my nice rifle, all while Emma got the mech up and running.
[radio static]
Episode Start:
Nick: Emma - the cockpit of the Knight smells of old musty leather and the burning dust smell of when you turn on a heater for the first cold fall night of the season. The grips of the controls fit your hands so well, your fingers automatically find the buttons and triggers. Your feet find the pedals and though you've never piloted something like this before, you intuitively know how. This marvel of design feels made for you.
The rest of the group sees the Knight push its way out of the back of the rig. It stands to its full height, making the buildings around it looks squat and unimpressive. It reaches back behind it and pulls a large cobbled together steel blade out of the truck. It's multiple fragments of shattered armor and salvage metal, but it's strong, and it can cleave through most things with the help of the Knight's strength. The Knight itself is patched together from various pieces of armor and superstructure. One of the shoulders looks like it's even the front grille of an old jeep. And it stands tall, behind the rig.
Cameron: First off, it's all my wildest dreams come true. Because like this is even better than a mech suit. It's amazing. But also, I don't know how this thing works. [laugh] I woke up this really big machine that I have been studying at night while I'm hanging out in the back of the truck with it, but that means I know how its elbow bends. I don't - I haven't looked at any of the controls. I was not thinking that I was going to end up in here. I did not think this through necessarily.
Cameron (as Emma): [over radio] Oh no.
Nick: The 'oh no' that she does. I would love to be broadcast from the intercom.
Sydney: Does Emma hit the button and accidently send the 'oh no' over the radio too or is Cassidy close enough she can just hear it?
Nick: I think you're close enough you can hear it. It's like the public address loudspeaker thing.
Sydney: Cassidy hears this exclamation of not too much excitement coming across the square from the speaker of the mech. And she double takes at the mech and then goes back to watching the drones down her sight, but she makes sure her radio is live.
Sydney (as Cassidy): [over radio] Hey Emma! I see you have the mech working. Do you know what you're doing?
Cameron (as Emma): [over radio] [laughing] Absolutely not.
Sydney (as Cassidy): [over radio] Well, at least you have the radio on. Um - I can't really help you, but you know, good luck. You're a good mechanic. You'll figure it out.
Cameron (as Emma): [over radio] I don't see what piloting a mech and being the mechanic have to do together.
Sydney (as Cassidy): [over radio] They both use machines.
Cameron (as Emma): [over radio] There's a lot of things that use machines, Cassidy!
Sydney (as Cassidy): [over radio] Yeah and you're good at all of them. It's fine.
Nick: As Emma is saying that the mech stomps a foot and gestures frantically with both hands, one of them holding the sword.
Cameron (as Emma): [over radio] Oh whoops.
Aly: Zee-o is right there by the mech and takes a step back as it stomps its foot and they look up at the mech and over that comlink says
Aly (as Zee-o): [over radio] Emma. Do not panic. I can assist.
Cameron (as Emma): [over radio] Okay.
Aly (as Zee-o): [over radio] Move normally.
Cameron (as Emma): [over radio] All~ right, I figured out how the foot works.
Aly (as Zee-o): [over radio] Yes. Move normally the mech will respond.
Cameron (as Emma): [over radio] Ohhhhkay.
Nick: Emma that doesn't quite make sense to you from what Zee-o saying. You're sitting down. This isn't something that latches onto your arms and senses all of your motion, you're holding two joysticks, your feet are on pedals. But as you think about it, and you push your leg forward, like you're going to take a step, you feel the mech respond in some combination to the input and what you're thinking. And it steps forward as well. It seems to run off of some sort of intuition of what you want combined with mechanical input. You find the more you think about it, the harder it is to do and the less you think about it, the smoother this goes.
Cameron: I'm definitely thinking about it too hard.
Sydney (as Cassidy): [over radio] Emma just think about what you want to do. Don't think about the mech. I've been able to drive the thing. Pilot the thing?
Sydney: Cassidy's making faces while still surveying the [laugh] battlefield through her scope. It's fine.
Cameron (as Emma): [over radio] It is really hard not to think about the mech. [long sigh] Okay.
Cameron: The mech turns so that it's facing the side of the square that the general store is on and then takes a hesitant step forward.
Nick: The toe catches in the ground just a little and digs a big furrow before stomping down. Your chair judders just a little bit.
Cameron (as Emma): [over radio] Mhhmm. Don't think. Don't think. Walking...
Cameron: Like the mech is still just talking out loud as Emma's talking to herself.
Nick: That's broadcast over the speakers. [laugh] And so you have these displays inside the Knight, Emma, and some of them are a little pixelated, some of them seem to short in and out, but the inside of this armored cockpit that slammed shut as the Knight activated has screens that allow you to see out in stunning detail. And the view zooms in on the shattered roof of the shop that you were facing. And two drones come out of the shop. You can see sparks and something going on inside. But these two drones, leave the shop and start to head towards a row of houses where you know, there were other drones earlier, they must have left, and these to start to do something just out of eyesight and you can hear screaming, transported by the speakers of the Knight. And you zoom in on that, and you begin to step in that direction. And you step over Modem who's squaring off against these four drones in the square and we get this shot of him staring up open mouthed. And Emma, I think it's far enough away that even in the Knight, you're going to use your movement to get to that row of streets. And you can either burn strain to have an additional maneuver to get there and still in action or just spend the time running in this Knight.
Cameron: I think I'm going to spend strain, because I like the idea of Emma has kind of figured out this walking thing, since she got distracted by the screaming and is no longer thinking about it. And then the mech steps over Modem and continues to the corner of the square where it can get around to where the houses are that the drone is attacking. The mech picks up speed and starts jogging. It's like a very gentle jog, Emma has already established she does not like running.
Nick: So you are able to break into a run you can feel the system heating up around you Emma, but in a good way, like an animal stretching its legs and you run around the corner very quickly. And you can see these two drones are picking apart the front door of a house and that there is a small family huddled inside just screaming because they have nowhere to go. Their windows are blocked by debris and these drones are coming in at them.
Cameron: So as part of my jogging over movement, once I reach this street, the mech doesn't quite skid, but it stops abruptly as it enters the street, and then walks intimidatingly towards this house. The right arm of the mech lifts up in front of where the screen is within the cockpit and looks at the sword and sets it down slightly and then brings it back up. And then the other hand comes up and grabs it and brings it back over the shoulder like a baseball bat and swings it sideways. So hitting the side of the blade against the drones that are at the door.
Nick: Roll me and attack. It's going to be average difficulty. The mech has a Brawn of 5, but your sword is Inaccurate 1 so that's a black die. And there's an additional black die because these things are so much smaller than you; they're two silhouette sizes smaller.
Cameron: All right, so I've got 5 greens, 2 purples, 2 blacks?
Nick: Yep.
Cameron: All righty.
[dice rolling]
Cameron: Just a success.
Nick: Because this is a mech size vehicle fighting a person sized machine, this does a unbelievable amount of damage to this and you destroy one of them without even having to try hard or follow up.
Cameron: Emma just hits a beautiful home run and it just shoots off.
Nick: And it leaves a trail of glistening carbon fiber behind it as it disintegrates in its path too, so at least a comet streak. And it's really interesting seeing the body of the Knight do a perfect swinging follow through, but it does so your offhand hangs on to the sword and the tip of the sword touches just barely onto the ground behind you as you maintain that pose for just a second and then settle back into a fighting stance again. And this last drone stops disassembling the door and turns towards the Knight and seems to be assessing if there's anywhere that he can start disassembling the Knight.
Sydney: Cassidy comes in over the radio and just goes
Sydney (as Cassidy): [over radio] Nice hit!
Cameron (as Emma): [over radio] Thank you. I that - that worked surprisingly well.
Sydney (as Cassidy): [over radio] Yeah figuring it out.
Cameron (as Emma): [over radio] Yeah.
Sydney (as Cassidy): [over radio] Just got to stop thinking about it.
Cameron (as Emma): [over radio] Well now you've reminded me. Thank you, Cassidy.
Sydney (as Cassidy): [over radio] You're welcome.
Nick: So up next is another PC slot. Wyatt and Cassidy you still have not gone this round yet.
Sydney: Yeah, so Cassidy does the survey. She saw Emma just smack that drone out of the park and is a lot less concerned with Emma's safety now that the mech is up, moving, and it's shown that combat capabilities exist. Cassidy's seen the mech in action and she knows these kinds of drones are not too much of a threat. She looks at the building where she knows that Wyatt is fighting, but there's not a clear shot because he's inside. She looks at Modem where he's got four of them buzzing around him, but there's also two down by the docks that are closer and an immediate threat to her safety. Now that everyone else in her crew that is capable of getting protection from her high spot is either safe, or she can't help them so Cassidy is gonna aim for the two other docks. She moves up onto her knees, and then just goes back prone in the other angle, looking down at the dock to the other side of this lighthouse. Relines up, deep breath, time the heartbeats, breathe out, shoot.
Nick: These are only medium range from you because the lighthouse is closer to the docks, so it's only going to be average difficulty.
Sydney: Okay. And do I get those same five blue dice? [laugh]
Nick: One of them was you got advantages passed on to you so you don't get those, but it's high ground, you aimed -
Sydney: And then two from the Accuracy of the sniper rifle.
Nick: Yeah.
Sydney: Okay.
[dice rolling]
Sydney: Three successes, eight advantages and a triumph.
Nick: Oh. [pause] Well, three successes would have been 12 damage, which was enough to kill them both. You also crit multiple times, which means that you're able to destroy two of these with one bullet.
Sydney: Cool. So I think what happens is Cassidy's watching these things, they're just flitting around through the fireball and the plume of smoke. She's patient. She's sitting there, she knows where her breathing is, she knows where her heartbeat is, she knows this is - she can be patient for a few seconds waiting for a shot instead of rushing it because bullets are not cheap. But these drones fly out of the smoke and Cassidy actually gets really lucky because they're flying in weird patterns, but there's a point in those patterns where they intersect and Cassidy has just been tracing the path of the closer drone as it flies around and she sees that point where they're about to intersect and she takes a shot. And this bullet, it's a high caliber bullet, it's bigger than the shots that were fired by the hunter in the woods. It's bigger than the bullets that were fired by Wyatt's rifle in the truck. This is made for this kind of shot, and it pierces clean through both of these. It doesn't impart a lot of momentum, not with these ones. It just basically puts a hole through but it puts a hole through the circuitry that is important to keep these things flying. And the other one that she hit had blown into pieces, these ones basically the rotors just stop and they fall. They fall into the plume of fire and smoke.
Nick: There's a moment of pause after the shot echoes off of the far side of the lake and back and they seem to float for just a second before the rotors stop in unison and these two things tumble into the flames and you have eliminated these enemies.
Sydney: Cassidy then comes in over the radio.
Sydney (as Cassidy): [over radio] All right we got three more down. I got two, Emma's got one. So that leaves five left that I'm aware of. Hopefully everyone's doing all right. Hey, Wyatt, how's uh, how's it going in there?
Drew: There's just static.
Nick: And we cut into the shop. It's an NPC slot so the drone is going to attack Wyatt, but Wyatt what does it look like in there as you've been tussling with this thing?
Drew: So we see the inside of the shop and it's now just a complete mess. There's huge gouges taken out of the walls and the ceiling. We see Wyatt's swords stuck into the wall. And we hear tussling literally, he is in his rig in close quarters with this thing, trying to keep it off of him. We see the drone move around him comes down at one point he puts his hand up and palms it for a second. And we see his left hand go back and the blade comes out of the forearm. And he tries to attack it but it glances off and goes in a different direction as it comes back for an attack on him.
Nick: And this thing is just up in your face flying. It's attacking with more inertia than it should be able to while hovering and this sawblade is just coming towards your face again and again. And it's going to be an average difficulty check with one yellow and two greens.
[dice rolling]
Cameron: One success, one advantage.
Nick: So this saw blade has Pierce three. It is designed to go through things. So you're going to have a black die on your attack against it as it manages to cut some of the supports in your arm that make it harder for you to do what you're trying to do.
Drew: Ooh - Which one left or right?
Nick: I think right.
Drew: That's my sword fighting arm, so...
Nick: Mmhmm. It doesn't injure your arm but it injures the suit.
Drew: Yeah. So it's going to be difficult to lift that sword and do what I want to do.
Nick: Mhmm. And then you take five damage, but it's Pierce three, so three of your soak doesn't apply.
Drew: Okay~. That's just one soak. Five damage, so that's four damage total.
Nick: It actually does manage to get a chunk of your arm - not enough that your arm is hurt, but you can tell something went wrong with the suit and it suddenly feels a lot heavier on that side than it did. And we are up to a PC slot and Wyatt I believe it's your turn.
Drew: Perfect. So we see the blade dig in *bshzzzzz* into the side of the arm. We watch Wyatt pry the thing off of him, the thing falls back *vshhhh*. But as it's trying to recover, Wyatt pounces at it. I'm gonna say this is a Brawl?
Nick: Yeah, this feels like a Brawl.
Drew: So I get a black die, I get two yellow, three green...
Nick: And two purple.
Drew: Cool, and I get a blue?
Nick: Yeah, you get a blue die as well.
Drew: Cool cool cool.
[dice rolling]
Drew: Three advantages and a success.
Nick: Okay. With a Brawl check, that is almost enough damage to destroy it, but you don't because of its armor. So you're able to hurt it, but you can't destroy it. If you were using your sword right now, that would have been a crit and it would have but because you're using your hands and this wrist knife, you're not quite able to finish it off.
Drew: So Wyatt pounces on this thing, and we see him wrap it up in his big mechanical hands that he's got right now. He goes for a stab at it, but it moves out of the way. But he catches it in the other hand, and we see him dig his hands into it and try to rip it apart. But his hands don't catch in the middle of it attaches to the side. And so it just rips off one of the props instead as it moves out of his hands. So it's damaged, and it's limping, but it's not done yet.
Nick: And if it was possible for a drone with no face and two glowing lights for eyes to look angry, it does. The blade increases its speed of rotation, and it comes at you even faster. And that's going to be the end of the round. And up at the top of the round we have another PC slot.
Aly: So the mech heads off into town. We have that beautiful slow mo shot where it steps over and past Modem, whose jaw drops open in surprise. And then I think time snaps back into focus and Zee-o comes running up with this sawblade arm that they've acquired as a weapon and arrives in the vicinity of Modem and these four drones, and just goes for it to the nearest drone.
Nick: Yeah, you do a spinning lunge and attack one of these things as its approaching on the side of Modem where he's not holding his staff defensively, and go ahead and roll that attack.
Aly: And it's Melee because I'm armed now, right?
Nick: Yep.
Aly: So I don't have any ranks in this so it's just my Brawn which is three, so that's three green?
Nick: Yep, three green versus two purple.
Aly: Great. Okay, that's one success and one threat.
Nick: Nice. We already said that they're Pierce three, so you do enough to destroy one, actually. The threat is that another one sees you doing this and is absolutely going to get the drop on you. But describe how you disassemble one of these things with the arm of its compatriot. [laugh]
Aly: Zee-o comes running in and does this spinning lunge maneuver at one of the drones that's closing out on Modem's side. And I'm picturing it being like, you know, those videos where people chop fruit in half with a katana or something? It's like that except while slicing into this logging drone with the arm of one of its brethren, Zee-o also reaches out with their other hand and grabs the shoulder joint of this new ones arm and yanks on that as leverage as well in a sort of way of slicing the fruit midair but also disarming literally this other drone.
Nick: And the way you cut into it, the rotator blades of the various props that keep it in the air pull the different pieces into different directions as it disassembles and you managed to turn one into dust. And up next is an NPC slot. The remaining drone by the Knight is going to attempt to latch on to one of the exposed pieces of the infrastructure of the Knight and cut into it. So I need you to make me a roll of one yellow and two greens versus two purple please. The only way it's going to do anything to it is if it crits.
Sydney: Oh it gets a blue die because it's small too.
Nick: Oh yeah, it gets a blue die. Thank you.
[dice rolling]
Cameron: A success and three advantages.
Nick: So with the success even with Pierce three, the Knight has armor three which is equivalent to 30 soak so it doesn't do any damage. But three advantages is enough to crit, so we need to roll on the vehicle crit chart.
Cameron: All right.
[dice rolling]
Cameron: An 11.
Sydney: An 11 is Rattled: the vehicle suffers three system strain and its pilot and each occupant suffer three strain.
Nick: Okay. So Emma, you take three strain and the mech takes system strain as the sawblade digs into a side of the cockpit and we see sparks on the inside and the mech juddering and you're barely able to keep it under control as the controls spasm beneath you. It's hit something important in the control harness. And next up would be the group of NPCs that were destroyed by Cassidy, so we have another PC slot.
Cameron: So as the drone is still attacking the Knights armpit, we don't see the Knight's head - doesn't really have a head - it's where the display would be on the inside, we don't see that section shift at all. But within the mech, Emma turns and looks at the drone, and drops the sword from the right hand, reaches over, grabs the wrist of the left arm, and then pulls it towards the Knight's body and is going to crush it.
Nick: All right, roll me a Brawl check with the Knight stats.
Cameron: Okie dokie. It's the same as with a sword, but I don't get the Unwieldy because I didn't use the sword. All right.
[dice rolling]
Cameron: A success and an advantage.
Nick: So you are able to crush this thing exactly like you described. It turns to dust. You can hear the whine of the saw as it tears itself apart, suddenly not having the space to run correctly, and the rotator blades that keep it airborne are crushed. And there's a moment of silence after a sickening crunch. And then the drone just falls as little pieces of shattered plastic and carbon fiber to the ground at the feet of the Knight.
Cameron: And the Knight's arm lifts up and kind of shakes out to knock all of the other pieces that were still trapped between the torso and the arm off.
Nick: [laugh] It makes the sound like throwing bits of plastic into a trash can. And these kinds of gestures look a little strange because the Knight itself isn't super humanoid, but it takes on a much more human demeanor when Emma is piloting it.
Cameron: Once it's done shaking its arm, the Knight kneels down in the superhero landing pose and picks up the sword.
Nick: And you stand. We get a shot of the sun behind the Knight. It was setting before and it's gotten really low. So there's red light silhouetting the Knight holding the sword looking back towards the town square, where Modem and Zee-o are fighting for their lives. And I'm actually going to insert Modem in here to let him try and do something. And so Modem is going to make a Wild Tech roll with his staff. He spins the staff above his head, the detector that is tied to the end clacks on its lanyard and slams the staff down into the ground and says
Nick (as Modem): You are of knowledge that I understand. Listen to me.
Nick: And I need you to make a hard Wild Tech roll. So it'll be three purples and three yellows.
Cameron: Can he have a blue die from my advantage?
Nick: Yes.
[dice rolling]
Cameron: Three successes and one advantage.
Nick: Great. So he's able to hijack one of these drones. You see him angle the staff in so he can reach the sensor and it is now blinking very quickly and he grabs a knob on the side and starts to turn it. And as he turns it one of the drones drops towards the ground and lifts back up and the lights that are hovering in front of it change colors to a dark green. And he says
Nick (as Modem): Yes~! I control this power.
Nick: And we're to another PC slot.
Drew: I'm just going to try to destroy this thing. That's what I'm doing.
Nick: Mhmm.
Drew: So I will gather up the same dice from last time and roll.
[dice rolling]
Drew: Two successes and one advantage.
Nick: That is enough damage to finish this thing off. You've already damaged it some and you just continue to pound the fight home.
Drew: So the thing has kind of moved away and Wyatt moves forward to get into this things circle of death. And it moves towards him and he dodges to the side and takes his right arm, which is kind of the broken one, and puts it up like a shield so the blade is on it and it's sparking. And he reaches out with his left one, and just skewers it with the arm blade that he has on there and then wrenches it to the side and takes it apart.
Nick: It makes a high pitched squealing noise as you stab through some moving mechanical parts and lands on the ground and it very much looks like a bug after you've stamped on it. It curls in on itself and goes still and dark.
Drew: And then Wyatt stomps at it a couple of more times.
Nick: Crunch crunch, crunch.
Drew: Wyatt goes over, he takes the sword from out of the wall and goes over to see the shopkeep.
Nick: He is down on his back. There is a widening pool of blood around him. To your eye Wyatt, he looks mortally injured.
Drew: But he's not dead?
Nick: No. Not yet.
Drew: Wyatt is going to reach down with his good arm, he's got his sword in the right bad arm, reaches down, picks up this guy in his left arm, fireman carries him over his shoulder, kicks the wall open. And he's gonna take him to -
Nick: Can you take him to the city hall?
Drew: Absolutely. That's the biggest building and Wyatt thinks if anything's gonna be there, like a doctor or anything, it would be there.
Nick: So you kick open part of the front of the shop and run through the far side of the square. And one of the drones that's remaining turns and starts to fly at your exposed back as you run towards the far side and the city hall. And up next is an NPC slot. So currently remaining, there is the drone controlled by Modem squaring off with the last remaining drone in the square. And there's one more drone skipping across the ground heading towards Wyatt, who's running with the shopkeep and the other drone in the square is going to try to attack Zee-o because it just cut somebody in half and it hasn't really realized that one of the drones isn't on its team anymore. So I'm gonna need a yellow and two green versus two purple, please.
[dice rolling]
Cameron: A success and an advantage.
Nick: So that is four damage coming at Zee-o, uh Pierce three. What's your total soak?
Aly: Three.
Nick: So you take four damage just straight up.
Aly: So I am at six now.
Nick: You take a pretty solid hit and it impales you through whatever natural armor you have. Where does it hit you? What does this look like?
Aly: Last time the drone got me on the side of the ribcage. So I think it stabs me through the middle of my torso above where a stomach would be but below where a heart would be I guess. And that's with its saw blade, right?
Nick: Yeah, so the blade goes through right center of mass and we see a camera angle of it piercing through the back of Zee-o's poncho. There's the grinding of sparks as the saw blade runs and pulls loose. There's no blood. There's no lubricant. There's no fire. There's just now a ragged hole in the front of Zee-o and they continue to function as if nothing's wrong. And we are to the last PC slot of the order.
Sydney: While Wyatt was fighting this drone in the store, Cassidy's still been trying to raise them on the radio and getting a lot of static. We heard Cassidy try to hail him earlier just to say that the drone was about to hit him and she says it like 10 times expecting to get through once but she hasn't gotten through it all and she's thinking that hmmmm he might not have a working radio anymore. And that means that this drone that's chasing him through the square while - is he carrying a person on his shoulder? And Wyatt's not gonna see this. Wyatt's not gonna - if this person is worth saving, Cassidy's got to be the one that makes this shot to cover Wyatt while Wyatt does whatever he's doing. So Cassidy scopes in on this drone that's quickly approaching and times her breathing and takes a shot.
Nick: And this is on the very farthest side of the square on a moving target. This is a extreme range shot, so it will be four purple's.
Sydney: Fortunately, this sniper rifle does work at extreme range, so I'm not getting added difficulty. But extreme is basically line of sight. Is it still one from being a high, one from aiming, two from rifle for blue dice?
Nick: Yep.
Sydney: I'm gonna flip a story point. So that will upgrade one of my greens to a yellow. All right, so I'm rolling three yellows, one green, four blues against four purple.
Nick: Mm hmm.
Sydney: All right.
[dice rolling]
Sydney: Three advantages, a triumph with no success, and a failure.
Nick: Oh, so here's the thing. You don't hit it, but with the advantages and the triumph, you can tangentially still succeed, so what do you hit? Or how does this shot protect Wyatt and the shopkeeper?
Sydney: Mhmm. So Cassidy takes this shot, and it's really far away. And I mean, honestly Cassidy's a little bit - her heartbeats not as slow as it was. Just doing target practice with someone like Zee-o that's fairly tolerant of taking damage is one thing, but this civilian that Wyatt's carrying suddenly means that there are lives at stake and the circumstances are harder for this. Cassidy flashes back to just a a brief moment of looking down a sight at people she cares about, and a time that she made two of her shots and didn't make the third, and one of her teammates paid for it. And she goes to pull the trigger instead of gently squeeze it and she misses.
But I think what happens is she misses and the drone sees this projectile incoming with its sensors and temporarily flicks them over to point in Cassidy's direction. And those sensors pick up the tablet that she had grabbed out of their wood chipping pile that started this whole event. And whatever that tablet was doing that had attracted them to it in the first place. Whether it's serendipity or it was just quiet in relation to the amount of radio signals and everything else going around. The drone goes 'eehhh' and turns and starts flying away from Wyatt straight at Cassidy.
Nick: And that's the end of the round. So we're back at the top with a PC slot. As it stands, there is one drone remaining fighting Zee-o and Modem. Modem has his own now pet drone, and one drone flying straight at Cassidy.
Sydney: So this drone is coming in towards Cassidy from a fairly long distance, but it's actually going not too far away from where Emma has been cleaning up all of these drones. And Cassidy shakes off missing the shot and is cycling the bolt and comes in over the radio and goes
Sydney (as Cassidy): [over radio] Hey Emma! I got another one for you. I uh, I didn't quite hit it and it's coming right past you~ now!
Cameron: So I think Emma's standing in the street that connects up to the square and - so I want to just reach the sword out and it just runs into the sword.
Nick: You can have two blue die from all of Cassidy's advantages.
Cameron: Cool. But then I also have my two black die.
[dice rolling]
Cameron: One success, three advantages.
Nick: So you are able to put the sword directly into the path of this drone. And it skewers itself onto the blade and falls apart to either side. So we get a shot of the arm of the Knight and then two pieces of drones slamming to the ground on either side of it and skidding into the dirt and falling still.
Cameron: And then Emma steps around the building and looks towards where Cassidy is on the light house in the robot. [laughing]
Sydney (as Cassidy): [over radio] Thanks~! I see you're figuring it out.
Cameron: The Knight waves.
Nick: And up next is an NPC slot. And so there's one drone left and it is assuming that it's back is covered by the other drone and it goes to attack Modem having seen that anything that gets near to Zee-o gets shredded. That's one yellow in two greens versus two purple but it does have a black die against Modem.
[dice rolling]
Cameron: Literally nothing.
Nick: A total wash?
Cameron: Total wash.
Nick: The reason it isn't able to hit is that Modem maneuvers the drone that he's taken control of in front of him to take the blow and the other drone peels off before it can hit it. They have a lot of ingrained programming to not attack each other which is how they've lasted this long and it is unable to hit him. And up next is a PC slot.
Aly: So Modem has a pet now, yeah?
Nick: Yeah.
Aly: Mmmm I don't love that for him. So Zee-o has been stabbed by the one and it has now backed up off of having stabbed them.
Nick: And it attacked Modem, but wasn't able to get close.
Aly: Yeah, I mean, I guess Zee is just gonna step forward back into the dance with the drone that had stabbed them. And now its focuses on Modem, so they are just gonna step into it. I think they want to try to pull it down. They want to ground it and then stab it through.
Nick: Okay. Go ahead and roll.
Aly: So that's three green, two purple yeah?
Nick: Yep.
Aly: Three successes, one threat.
Nick: Wow. Okay, so here's the thing, since you have Pierce three,
Aly: Mhmm
Nick: That is enough damage to kill both that one and the pet.
Aly: Cool.
Nick: So...
Aly: Since I'm physically focused on the one that stabbed me, Zee is going to take a page out of Emma and the Knight's book and baseball bat the saw blade arm that they have at the one that stabbed them. And it's going to not only slice through it and send the pieces flying forward, but those pieces are going to fly into the pet one and the follow through of the baseball bat swing is going to slice through the pet as well.
Nick: So both of the drones fall to the ground in a heap. And Modem goes,
Nick (as Modem): What have you done, that one belonged to me!
Nick: And then as they're sitting on the ground those two burst into flame.
Nick (as Modem): Well, thank you for protecting me, stranger.
Nick: And he turns to get a look at Zee-o.
Aly: And Zee-o looks terrifying right now. Zee-o is standing feet shoulder with apart. The saw blade still whirring as they bring the follow through of the baseball bat swing back down to their side. Their hood is still up, because I think there's a magnet on the edge of the hood so that it stays pinned to their forehead for reasons. And the wind billows through this hood and the partly shredded poncho that they wear. And the blades come to a whirring, humming stop. And their chest has been torn open and there's bits of them sort of coming out a little bit. And they look at the bits of the logging drones on fire and then they look with their blue-ish white eyes at Modem and they say,
Aly (as Zee-o): That one did not belong to you. They do not belong to anyone now.
Nick: And Modem's jaw drops open and that's the end of combat.
Drew: We see Wyatt running across the middle heading towards the town hall. Cassidy firing the gun doesn't even faze him. We see on the inside of his heads up display it track the bullet like it blips up that the bullet is coming from his left side. He doesn't even recognize that that is happening. He just marches as quickly as he can across the courtyard, up the steps and into the town hall. Is there anybody there?
Nick: Uh the first person that you make contact with is Wilfred, the alderman. He is standing on the stairs that lead up to his office just looking torn about what he's supposed to do.
Drew: How long has this fight taken?
Nick: Probably six minutes.
Drew: So literally, by the time the people of the town realized something was happening, it was pretty much over.
Nick: Mhmm.
Drew: So Wyatt moves into the foyer and looks up and again he has no distinguishing features on his helmet. So it just looks like this combat rig walked into the middle of the foyer with this sword in its right hand and the bleeding shopkeep the other. And he points the sword up at Wilfred and through the speakers there's a
Drew (as Wyatt): [over speaker] Hey! Wilfred!
Nick: Wilfred pulls a revolver out of the back waistband of his pants and aims it at you says
Nick (as alderman): Don't, don't do it. You may be bandits but now you've killed. This isn't okay.
Drew: To which there's a *dt dshh* as the heads up display pops off and it's Wyatt and he's like,
Drew (as Wyatt): Put the thing down, you idiot.
Nick (as alderman): Oh, thank God.
Nick: And he holsters the pistol again.
Nick (as alderman): Weren't even bullets in it. Ahhh I thought I was gonna die. Oh, no. What happened?
Drew (as Wyatt): The drones attacked. Do you have a healer? Do you gotta get a doctor? Anybody in town?
Nick (as alderman): We've got somebody who can do basic first aid.
Drew (as Wyatt): All right that's gonna be good enough.
Drew: And he puts down the shopkeep onto the floor.
Drew (as Wyatt): He's hurt pretty bad. You help them out, I gotta go back out there.
Nick (as alderman): Are-Oh, ok-okay,
Drew (as Wyatt): What what what what, what is it? You hesitating? Do something! Come on!
Nick (as alderman): Okay!
Nick: And he runs down to the shopkeeper and starts to gently drag him down the hall towards what looks like a small clinic and there's somebody inside. You can't really see who they are, but there's an outline and hopefully they will be able to help him.
Drew: We see the medic come out and look down the hallway at Wyatt and Wyatt looks at them. And we have the camera come up to Wyatt and the heads up goes *dsh dush* over him and he holds up a thumbs up to that person. He puts the sword on his shoulder and jogs out into the sunlight, stepping out into the sunlight to go back into battle. And as he steps out, we see it's done.
Nick: And so in the square there's this smoldering wreckage of drones. Cassidy are you still up in your lighthouse or did you start to climb down?
Sydney: No yeah I think Cassidy is still up there looking. Breathing now basically the battle trance had broken with that last shot and she's she's looking for other people. She had her count of dudes and they're all dead and accounted for now. But she's gonna take a moment up here away from the crowds, away from the watching eyes, to get herself back under control.
Nick: And there's this moment of silence with just the crackling of electrical fires. The whole town has gone quiet. There's no bird song. Even the lake shores sounds muted and the burning fire has gone down to embers at the shack next to the lakeshore. And then there's a loud *pstssssss* as the Knight runs out of fuel, and it sinks down onto its front knees and the front cockpit pops open to show a disheveled and sweating Emma and the lights on the inside all flicker and go out. And the Knight is now kneeling on the edge of the square on that side road next to the wreckage of one of the drones.
Cameron: Emma just flops back into the chair and lets go of the controllers. Just stretches, puts her hands behind her head.
Nick: And the angle is fairly uncomfortable from here and for some reason the chair just doesn't seem to fit you as well now that it's out of fuel. Like the handles don't seem to be right where they were supposed to be anymore. It just feels a lot more uncomfortable than it did even 30 seconds ago.
Cameron: So if the Knight is kneeling down, how high am I still off the ground?
Nick: Uh - when it kneels down, it folds down pretty far, you're probably like six feet off the ground.
Cameron: So it's kneeling and then continuing down to put thighs on calves?
Nick: Yes.
Drew: So I think Wyatt on the inside of his heads up display, hits the radio and goes
Drew (as Wyatt): All right team - sound off.
Drew: It's just static. And he's like,
Drew (as Wyatt): Ughh.
Drew: Hits the thing and it opens up again.
Drew (as Wyatt): [yelling] Who's alive? Who's not dead?
Aly (as Zee-o): Wyatt. I do not believe any of us are dead.
Drew (as Wyatt): That's good.
Cameron (as Emma): [yelling] Hi, Wyatt!
Drew (as Wyatt): Hey Emma! How was it?
Cameron (as Emma): [shuddering exhale]
Drew: We see way off in the distance, Cassidy because he doesn't - the radio is completely shot. He's like,
Drew (as Wyatt): Oh that looks like Cassidy.
Drew: And he's waving.
Sydney: Cassidy waves back from her position still prone down on the ledge of thing.
Drew: We see Wyatt go
Drew (as Wyatt): Okay. 1, 2, 3
Drew: And he taps his chest
Drew (as Wyatt): 4. Alright, we're good.
Aly (as Zee-o): Emma, we should make a note to repair Wyatt's radio.
Cameron (as Emma): Okay.
Drew (as Wyatt): Yeah, please do. That's completely out.
Cameron (as Emma): Consider it noted.
Drew: So we see Wyatt tap the side of the mech and he's like,
Drew (as Wyatt): Good job you. All right everybody. Let's get to work and move our Knight back into the truck. Emma, go get the truck. Alright, let's do it. Let's move let's work
Aly: Zee-o passes by Modem and just sort of leaves Modem where he is and heads over to where Wyatt is and the mech to assist with that breakdown.
Nick: And as you're walking past, Modem shakes a little bit of his stupor and surprise off and looks at the sensor on his staff. And it's reading six. It is added a bar as you walk close to him. And he says
Nick (as Modem): Damn things broken.
Nick: And turns and sits down on the rim of the dry fountain and puts his head in his hands. He's not used to this.
Cameron: Emma climbs down the front of the mech, using whatever she can as handholds and then drops to the ground when she's close enough to it and runs over to grab the truck.
Nick: We see a quick shot of Emma backing the truck and everybody cranking different parts of the mech to manually move the joints to get it to stand up and then to lay down into the bed of the truck.
Cameron: All of us grabbing the tarp and pulling it out so that we can put it back on as the roof once we get it in.
Nick: Yeah, we also see, that's intercut with Modem occasionally fiddling with his staff looking frustrated and going back to staring into the distance and different towns folk walking out offering bottles of water or some food and eventually the truck is packed up. It is now night and Wilfred walks out. He looks exhausted, and he walks out of the town hall and towards the group of y'all who are all standing in front of the truck. Now that it's been fully packed back up.
Drew: We see Wyatt, no longer in his combat rig, but he's got his sword on and he's got his revolver in its holster. And he looks over to Wilfred as he steps on out and he walks up to Wilford,
Drew (as Wyatt): How you doing?
Nick (as alderman): Not great, honestly. Bring someone wounded like that in the doctor needs help and I was the one there so...
Nick: You can see that there's splashes of blood across the front of his shirt. So let's see how this shopkeeper did. Cameron, can you roll me a story die please?
[die rolling]
Cameron: Two misfortunes.
Nick: Oohh. Wilfred looks kind of haunted and he just gives a little head shake. He says,
Nick (as alderman): He-He didn't make it.
Drew: We see Wyatt nodding.
Drew (as Wyatt): Okay. What was his name?
Nick (as alderman): His name was Ray. I don't know how he got mixed up in this, but he was just the shopkeeper in town, always took care of everybody.
Drew (as Wyatt): He got any next of kin? Family?
Nick (as alderman): He's got a wife, helps run the shop.
Drew (as Wyatt): Does she know?
Nick (as alderman): I don't think so.
Drew: And Wyatt steps closer and goes,
Drew (as Wyatt): Then it's up to you to go tell her.
Nick (as alderman): I was just thinking that.
Drew (as Wyatt): Okay.
Nick: And his shoulders slump.
Drew: And as he tries to walk by Wyatt, Wyatt puts his hand out and stops him. Puts his hand in his chest and stops him it goes,
Drew (as Wyatt): By the way, we didn't save your town for free.
Nick: He shakes his head and closes his eyes a little and then turns to face you and says,
Nick (as alderman): We appreciate all that you have done for the town of Wawa. And you will be paid.
Nick: And you can see his jaw tighten.
Nick (as alderman): But you're going to need to give us a little bit to sort through this.
Nick: And brushes past you, with suddenly a lot more backbone than he had before.
Drew: We see Wyatt smile a little bit and nod.
Drew (as Wyatt): Good.
Drew: Wyatt turns around to look at his team.
Nick: And Modem is loitering weirdly on the perimeter but not necessarily included in this group right now. Because he still wants his assistant back and he doesn't know where it is.
Drew: We see Wyatt walks up to everyone, puts his hands on his hips.
Aly: Zee-o has a giant gaping shredded hole in their chest. If their face could take on a shadow of frustration, it would be there. Zee-o has been pretty wounded in past skirmishes, but the drone got them in a big open visible spot. I think this is the most ugly wound they've had perhaps in a long time.
Sydney: Cassidy's got her crate on the side of the truck where this rifle lives, is folded down. And she's got out rags and cleaning supplies and she's just - it's the well practiced activity of a thing she's done very many times, but it's also the doing it to keep your hands busy while that conversation with the mayor was going on, because her weapon needed to be cleaned.
Cameron: When Wyatt got out of the combat rig, and we had said the way that it got back onto the trucks kinda we back into it and then you have to cinch it up,
Drew: Mhmm.
Cameron: Raise it off the ground. I think Emma stopped Wyatt once he attached it to the truck and didn't lift it and is working on the radio.
Drew: So we see Wyatt walk up to see everyone kind of sitting around and we can hear Emma tinkering on the other side.
Drew (as Wyatt): [yelling] Emma!
Cameron (as Emma): [yelling] Yes?
Drew (as Wyatt): [yelling] Emma come over here!
Cameron (as Emma): [yelling] Okay.
Cameron: Emma is holding a wire and is like 'uhhh' and just sticks it in somewhere and then runs around the side of the truck.
Drew (as Wyatt): How's everybody doing? Anybody hurt?
Aly: Zee-o looks down at their chest and then back at Wyatt.
Drew (as Wyatt): Holy hell.
Drew: And we will see Wyatt go over and put his hand into it. It's enough that half of his hand can go into it.
Drew (as Wyatt): Are you okay? Is that, *mumble* all your functions working?
Aly (as Zee-o): It is inconvenient.
Drew (as Wyatt): But it doesn't like hurt?
Aly (as Zee-o): I do not feel pain, Wyatt.
Drew (as Wyatt): That's very good for you, but you're - no like internal damage? Nothing? No, your systems are good? Your functions are good?
Aly: I think Zee tilts their head to one side, runs a diagnostic internally, shakes their head.
Aly (as Zee-o): I appear to be functional, but it is very inconvenient.
Drew (as Wyatt): Oh, thank the gods for little miracles then. Anybody else? Hurt? Otherwise?
Cameron (as Emma): I'm good.
Drew (as Wyatt): All right.
Aly (as Zee-o): Cassidy.
Sydney: Cassidy looks up with a start from where she was cleaning this gun and looks towards the group.
Sydney (as Cassidy): Hi?
Aly (as Zee-o): Cassidy. Did you sustain any injuries?
Sydney (as Cassidy): Nope. I am physically fine.
Drew (as Wyatt): All right. Well, it's getting dark. So what we'll do is we'll take the night rest. Then we'll head out tomorrow morning and we'll go look for Modem's assistant.
Aly (as Zee-o): Wyatt. Did you get paid?
Drew (as Wyatt): We got paid in the gas, yeah.
Aly (as Zee-o): Good.
Nick: Modem clears his throat very loudly.
Nick (as Modem): [clears throat] Have you? You have not found my assistant, but the drones came to town?
Drew (as Wyatt): Be not worried, good and mighty Modem. We will take care of it. We'll go out tomorrow morning and we shall find your assistant. We promised we would.
Aly (as Zee-o): Cassidy.
Sydney (as Cassidy): You're saying,
Sydney: Cassidy is back to fully involved in this conversation and she's looking very skeptical.
Sydney (as Cassidy): You're saying that you knew the drones would chase your assistant?
Nick (as Modem): No. I'm just assuming they're no longer guarding it.
Drew (as Wyatt): Wait, wait so -
Sydney (as Cassidy): So they were guarding it wasn't just an incidental thing that they were there. That seems like knowledge you should have imparted to us.
Drew (as Wyatt): Wait a second.
Nick (as Modem): I would have if I was sure. It was a hypothesis.
Drew (as Wyatt): Hang on a second.
Aly (as Zee-o): I do not believe they were guarding the assistant at all.
Drew (as Wyatt): [yelling] I said, hang on! [normal volume] I sent you out to recon. What did you find?
Aly (as Zee-o): The drones.
Drew (as Wyatt): You found the drones?
Aly (as Zee-o): Yes.
Drew (as Wyatt): They chased you.
Aly (as Zee-o): Yes.
Drew (as Wyatt): So you engaged with them?
Aly (as Zee-o): No.
Drew (as Wyatt): So they attacked you for no reason?
Aly (as Zee-o): No.
Drew (as Wyatt): That was that's a lot of contradictions we're doing here.
Aly (as Zee-o): No, it is not. We did not engage with the targets. And they did not attack us.
Drew (as Wyatt): But they followed you?
Aly (as Zee-o): Yes.
Drew (as Wyatt): Why?
Aly (as Zee-o): I do not know.
Sydney: Cassidy slides the tablet out from her inside of her jacket, and holds it up like,
Sydney (as Cassidy): It was a very productive scouting trip.
Drew: The camera focuses on Wyatt's face. There's a moment where we would expect Wyatt to get just angry. His eyes widen a little bit. And then it goes completely neutral. And he puts his hand out to Cassidy.
Sydney: And Cassidy puts it in his hand.
Drew: He takes it. He looks at it. And he turns to Modem.
Drew (as Wyatt): Is this it?
Nick (as Modem): My assistant? Wonderful.
Drew: I imagine that Modem goes to reach for it and Wyatt it pulls it back. And he goes
Drew (as Wyatt): That'll be nine squares.
Nick (as Modem): Ah, yes. Your payment being mercenaries. This is understandable as you do not pursue knowledge, like the Advantia.
Drew (as Wyatt): No.
Nick (as Modem): Nine Tree All squares.
Nick: And he reaches into a pocket of his robe and pulls out a bag that looks weirdly angular, just kind of poking in various directions. And he hands it out towards you and with his other empty hand holds out for the tablet to do like a hostage trade.
Drew: There is a slow exchange of it. And they both let go kind of rapidly. He hands the bag over to Emma.
Drew (as Wyatt): Pleasure doing business with you then.
Nick: Modem bows over the tablet and says,
Nick (as Modem): The deal is done. Working with you has changed part of my life. Now that I have seen what this wild tech was capable of, I don't know what I'm going to do.
Nick: And he turns and looks kind of lost towards the lake.
Drew (as Wyatt): Well. We are headed to Eagle Hill. If you want to come along. It will cost you though.
Nick (as Modem): Eagle Hill, you say. Oh well, I could not impose upon such strong fighters as yourselves and
Drew (as Wyatt): You wouldn't be imposing because you'll be paying us.
Nick (as Modem): I will be honest. I do not have much money left, Wyatt commander.
Drew (as Wyatt): Well great Modem - What's your expertise in?
Nick (as Modem): I know of the signal within and more practically unfortunately I know of engines both diesel, biodiesel, and other things.
Drew (as Wyatt): Well, you can always help out Emma.
Cameron: Emma waves from behind Wyatt
Nick: Modem waves back kind of confusedly says,
Nick (as Modem): I will consider your offer. I must return to my abode and think things through. Will you be leaving tonight?
Drew: Wyatt looks over to the group.
Drew (as Wyatt): What do you say? We out of here now or later?
Sydney (as Cassidy): It's night and we just fought. Let's take a break.
Drew (as Wyatt): All right. That's a break from Cassidy. How about you, Emma? What do you say?
Cameron (as Emma): I would like to stay put for at least a little bit longer so I can get your radio fixed.
Drew (as Wyatt): That's good. How about you, Zee-o?
Aly (as Zee-o): I agree. It is sound logic for us to take time to repair things that need repairing.
Drew (as Wyatt): All right. Then we're sleeping here, Modem. If you want to come, we'll be heading out tomorrow morning.
Nick (as Modem): Then I shall consider my options. Thank you for your offer and I will see you off whether I come with you or not.
Drew (as Wyatt): All right. We'll see you tomorrow morning then.
Drew: And he swipes left.
Nick: And Modem swipes right and bows over the tablet again and says
Nick (as Modem): Thank you again.
Sydney: Cassidy shakes her head and scowls and goes back to cleaning her gun.
Nick: Modem says,
Nick (as Modem): A group such of yours, do you have a moniker? A name that you go by?
Drew (as Wyatt): Huhh. [sigh]
Drew: Wyatt looks at the group and goes
Drew (as Wyatt): We've been called the Patina for a long time. Do we want to change that or keep it? Patina was with Pallie and maybe we're still that or maybe we're something different. But this is the first time I've had to think about it.
Aly (as Zee-o): Wyatt. Are we called the Patina because it is a metaphor for the tarnish that metal acquires over time and use?
Drew (as Wyatt): Suppose so. Pallie is the one who came up with it.
Aly (as Zee-o): Then I think we should keep it.
Drew (as Wyatt): What do you say Cassidy?
Sydney: Cassidy turns back.
Sydney (as Cassidy): We're still doing the same things. We're still most of the same people. I don't see a reason to change it.
Drew (as Wyatt): What do you say Emma?
Cameron (as Emma): Umm I just got here, but I have been working on my we're walking into town speech, and that does have the Patina in it, so that's my vote.
Drew (as Wyatt): Well that settles that then. We're called the Patina, great Modem.
Nick (as Modem): Thank you, Patina for the service that you have done me, and I will see you in the morning.
Nick: Without another word, he turns and starts his slow walk out of town with his walking staff.
Aly: Zee-o turns and watches Modem go. Their eyes gleaming as Modem charges up dust and such on the road with the walking stick.
Drew: And we see Wyatt under his breath go,
Drew (as Wyatt): The old magic guide you. All right. Let's set up camp guys. We'll get some sleep.
Aly (as Zee-o): Wyatt.
Drew (as Wyatt): Yes?
Aly (as Zee-o): Is he aware that his assistant is only a tablet?
Cameron (as Emma): He is. I tried to tell him that, but that, that is what he calls his tablet.
Drew (as Wyatt): I think he knows.
Aly: Zee-o cocks their head to one side, shakes it slowly and then turns away and goes to help set up the campfire.
Drew (as Wyatt): All right.
Drew: So I think Wyatt waves his hands and people turn around to go start doing stuff. And he walks over and he puts his hand on Cassidy's shoulder and goes,
Drew (as Wyatt): Can I, can I have a moment? In private?
Sydney: Cassidy looks up into Wyatt's eyes and then nods.
Sydney (as Cassidy): Sure.
Drew (as Wyatt): Come with me.
Drew: Where do you think they go?
Sydney: I mean, Wyatt gonna know that Cassidy likes nature. Onto the far side, looking out across maybe the big lake, or the small lake of it's closer, but not on the side with a smoldering wreckage.
Drew: Yeah, down by the water basically. As we see them walking past the rig, Wyatt opens up his compartment. We see him take off his war belt and put it inside like hang it on a hook. And he reaches under his bed and pulls out a small box and puts it under his arm and closes it and steps down and goes,
Drew (as Wyatt): Come on. Let's go walk down by the water.
Sydney: Cassidy just nods and gestures, the lead the way.
Nick: It's late evening, the pieces of the moon are out. You can see where it's been shattered in the dusty glow that comes off of the areas surrounding it. And the water looks to reflect it and it's all is still there's just the smallest of embers left in the shack that burned earlier. And it's quiet. And you can hear the call of a single bird echoing over the water.
Drew: So we see Wyatt and Cassidy come up on this rocky little beach that's on the waterfront. And they're looking out over the water and there's a slight breeze coming off the water, little waves lapping at the shore. And they can see the shattered moon stretched out across the sky.
Sydney: There's a fish that jumps out in the distance, and you get a small gleam of the scales. And then there's ripples and the water that had been still that was showing the moon reflection is now patterns rippling across it.
Drew: There's an old firepit out here with a couple of stumps sitting around it and Wyatt goes and he sits down on one and he takes the box and he puts it on his lap, and he opens it. And we see inside the box, there's an old bottle and four shot glasses as well. The red velvet in this is super tattered and not well taken care of, like it's an old box. And there's a note on the top of it that says 'To Wyatt' in Pallie's handwriting and we see Wyatt put that in the top of the box. And he takes out the bottle and he holds it up and we can see through the bottle this kind of reddish amber liquid sloshing around in this cloudy bottle. And he holds it up and looks at it through the moonlight and goes
Drew (as Wyatt): You want to drink?
Sydney (as Cassidy): It's been a long time since we've had this.
Drew (as Wyatt): Yeah. You remember the last time we opened this bottle?
Sydney (as Cassidy): That was, what a year ago?
Drew (as Wyatt): Yeah. [sigh]
Sydney (as Cassidy): That was before... well, that was that was in Allium.
Drew (as Wyatt): Hmm. Yeah. You want one or two?
Drew: Cassidy looks across the lake for a second. And then
Sydney (as Cassidy): Two.
Drew: We see Wyatt pour one shot and hand it to Cassidy and then pour a second shot and hold it waiting.
Sydney: Yeah and Cassidy takes both of them and she sits 120 degrees around the fire. Not quite on the far side, but it's not close enough that she would have been able to grab the shot first.
Drew: As they're sitting around this fire, do you imagine that there's a fire there or is it just cold and dark?
Sydney: I think it's just cold and dark. There's stones and some ashes of logs.
Drew: And they're sitting across this ash circle, of what once was probably a big bonfire, but it's now cold and it's dark and distant. And Wyatt pours one and slams it, pours another one and slams it, and he pours a third one and slams it.
Drew (as Wyatt): [harsh exhale]
Drew: And then puts the bottle in the ground.
Sydney: Cassidy is, she actually shot the first one. She threw it back. But the second one she's sipping because I mean it's still, I mean, [laugh] it's pretty strong stuff.
Drew: And we see Wyatt take that third one, just go,
Drew (as Wyatt): [satisfied sigh] Yep. You know um, Pallie got this for me, uh [laugh] when we were in Tree All. We had just met Gwendolyn. We're at a tournament for the River King of Tree All [laugh] and uh he owned most of that land the entire land is called OIC. There's this tournament and I fought Gwendolyn in the end, it was down to the two of us in the sword tourney. Man. I was sure I had her. But uh, she got me good. At the end of that fight, she knew right where to hit my combat rig. And my actuators in my knees went out. Mmm. I don't think I saw straight for a week after that. But I remember I got out of that ring and Pallie was standing there. And she [laugh] had had this box and this bottle, these glasses all ready for me to win. And uh I came in second. And I remember I was so mad and I walked up. I remember she uh, she poured me one. She goes, 'That's for getting into the tourney at the end.' She poured me a second one she goes, 'and that's for coming in second.'
Sydney: Cassidy sniffs to herself.
Sydney (as Cassidy): Pallie was always so supportive of everyone.
Drew (as Wyatt): Yeah.
Sydney (as Cassidy): You especially I think.
Drew (as Wyatt): Yeah.
Sydney (as Cassidy): She really loved you.
Drew (as Wyatt): Yeah, she did. She did her whole life. She was there when I was born. She was there when I needed her and... but I'm not here to talk about Pallie.
Sydney (as Cassidy): What are you here to talk about?
Sydney: And Cassidy actually looks over and makes eye contact for a second.
Drew (as Wyatt): I'm here to talk about you. [sigh] You engaged them, didn't you?
Sydney (as Cassidy): No because we weren't allowed to.
Drew (as Wyatt): Cassidy whether you did it in the spirit of it or the actual letter of it you did it. You can at least be honest with me about that.
Sydney (as Cassidy): I expected that they would react, I did not expect that they would chase me all the way back.
Drew (as Wyatt): So just for clarification sake, you didn't do what I asked?
Sydney (as Cassidy): I had a whole conversation with Zee-o about what it means to engage -
Drew (as Wyatt): [interrupting] I said that is semantics and you know that. You know what I asked, but you you did something different anyway. Can you at least own up to that?
Sydney (as Cassidy): I did the correct action in the circumstances, regardless of your orders.
Drew (as Wyatt): Okay. Why are we doing this? This thing between you and me? I ask you to do something and you roll your eyes or you don't do it or you do it just enough to maybe, when you come back and look me in the face say that you're not lying to me. Why are we doing this? You do realize that this whole team is you and me.
Sydney (as Cassidy): The way that you give out orders you think it's just you.
Drew (as Wyatt): No I don't.
Sydney (as Cassidy): You- You don't trust that I know what I'm doing.
Drew (as Wyatt): [sigh] Do you know why I do that?
Sydney (as Cassidy): Because you don't trust that I know what I'm doing.
Drew (as Wyatt): [interrupting] That's not true. Of course I trust you. I know that the-
Sydney (as Cassidy): [interrupting] Then why do you have to give orders to me every time? I know how to scout a roadblock.
Drew (as Wyatt): [sigh]
Sydney (as Cassidy): I know how to set up an ambush. I know how to go to not stand by the rig and guard it when there's high ground.
Drew (as Wyatt): [sigh]
Sydney (as Cassidy): This is what I do. I'm a sharpshooter.
Drew (as Wyatt): And you're very good at it.
Sydney (as Cassidy): You've seen me in action for five years.
Drew (as Wyatt): I have and I trust you with that. You are incredibly good. You're one of the best sharpshooters I have ever seen. And I've seen so many Cassidy. You are very good. And I trust you to be my sharpshooter. This is what a team is: a combat rig and a sharpshooter. That's it. If I had no one else on this team, if I didn't have Emma, if I didn't have Zee-o, if I had to choose one of the three of you, it would always be you. I trust you. I don't give you orders because I don't trust you. I give you orders so that when something goes wrong and you do my orders, and someone dies or gets hurt or at all goes to shit, that it's not on you. That's on me. Because I gave that order.
Sydney (as Cassidy): No, because when I follow an order that I know is not the best course of action, then I know it's on me. It doesn't matter that I can take that I was following orders as an excuse. I've been here long enough. I've led my friends to go die.
Drew (as Wyatt): Yeah.
Sydney (as Cassidy): [talking over each other] And taking that responsibility, that's where this scar came from.
Drew (as Wyatt): [talking over each other] And that man that's in this town, right now? He is dead because of you today. [Cassidy stops talking] That is why that man is dead. Had you not done that, we would have had a chance to go in on our terms. And no one else would have gotten hurt. He-
Sydney (as Cassidy): And if we had waited than that assistant may not even be there.
Drew (as Wyatt): Then we don't get paid.
Sydney (as Cassidy): It could have been destroyed. I got it. It came out. I got out safely. Zee-o was there to help. Zee-o wouldn't do anything more because your orders.
Drew (as Wyatt): So what you're saying is nine squares was worth that man's life?
Sydney (as Cassidy): What I'm saying is I was doing my job. I got the thing. There was a situation that I could capitalize on. The assistant was sitting there out in the open. I had the information that they saw that wizard and they let him go. I had no reason to think that they would come back. You heard him admit that he thought they would come back.
Drew (as Wyatt): But you didn't know.
Sydney (as Cassidy): I didn't know that would either.
Drew (as Wyatt): I know but you didn't know either way. Had you just done what I asked... Look, look. You didn't follow my orders and someone died. That's the long and short of it. And I'm not saying it's right or wrong. It's what happened. But you also need to know, when it comes to Owen, that's on me.
Sydney: Cassidy scowls.
Sydney (as Cassidy): I missed that shot.
Drew (as Wyatt): But it was my orders. That's the point. You can beat yourself up about it for as long as you want. That's your right. But just know that I go to sleep every night knowing that and not just Owen. I have a long line of men and women behind me that I have killed [pause] not just by my own blade, but the things I have ordered them to do.
Sydney (as Cassidy): And you say that like you're the only one.
Drew (as Wyatt): No, I understand that you have people have died behind you too. I understand that. [deep sigh] Look - I want to trust you. And I do trust you to make your shots and I'm gonna give orders. It's what I do. How-how old are you anyway? I don't think I've ever asked.
Sydney (as Cassidy): 32.
Drew (as Wyatt): [disbelieving] Really?
Sydney (as Cassidy): In which direction?
Drew (as Wyatt): I thought you were like 25.
Sydney (as Cassidy): Wyatt I've been shooting people for 10 years. Five of them have been with you. I've been on the road for 20 of them.
Drew (as Wyatt): I didn't know that. I thought you were 25 years old. I thought we picked you up when you were 20.
Sydney (as Cassidy): I left my home when I was 11 [laugh].
Drew (as Wyatt): I never knew that. I knew you left your home, I didn't know what age you did.
Sydney (as Cassidy): I was a tiny kid who was ignored by her-their family.
Drew (as Wyatt): Well you're acting like you're 25.
Sydney (as Cassidy): Aw, thanks. Look, I'm a scout. I'm a sharpshooter, I have to have autonomy. I have to be able to - you have to let me - You have to include in your captain decision making
Sydney: Cassidy's waving her hands.
Sydney (as Cassidy): Captain decision making that I'm going to make decisions at the point of contact because that is the time that the information is presented.
Drew (as Wyatt): So what you're saying is you don't trust me to give you good orders? Trust goes both ways here, Cassidy and if you think I'm not a good commander, that's different.
Sydney (as Cassidy): [sigh] So today, what would sitting by the truck have gained-
Drew (as Wyatt): Nothing.
Sydney (as Cassidy): Versus letting me go in the high ground?
Drew (as Wyatt): Nothing. That was a bad order. And I will admit that.
Sydney (as Cassidy): I mean, you don't have to be the one that is the one voice of order giving. I have all this experience too, like ask me. Ask me what I think should be done.
Drew (as Wyatt): Yeah, you're right. You're right. I should do that. [both sigh] All right.
Sydney (as Cassidy): I mean - We, I know we-we, things got a lot more with with after Owen and after Pallie. Like, we we had all those, we were comfortable. And then Owen, and then I mean at least with Pallie, I could talk feelings with someone who knew what you were thinking. But you're not the most accessible person.
Drew (as Wyatt): No, I know that. That's not -that's not me not knowing that. [both sigh] Okay, okay,
Drew: And we see Wyatt rub his forehead. Stroke his beard a little bit.
Drew (as Wyatt): All right. You did good work.
Sydney: Cassidy raises her shot glass and takes a sip.
Drew (as Wyatt): See it's stuff like that. Like it was a compliment
Sydney (as Cassidy): I'm toasting you.
Drew (as Wyatt): Yeah yeah. You're toasting me, but there's more behind it with. But you know what? Whatever, it's fine. It's fine. I will try harder to give you room to do your job. All right?
Sydney (as Cassidy): [deep breath] Okay.
Drew (as Wyatt): And I want you to please listen when I give an order. That's what this is about. If there's more than one person trying to do anything in battle, things get mixed up and people die unnecessarily. I don't want that. I don't want anyone else in this group to die.
Sydney: Cassidy runs her hand on that scar on her face.
Sydney (as Cassidy): [sigh] I don't exactly either. And by exactly I mean, [posh accent] I don't at all either. Just translating the sarcasm. Look, I give me orders. My part. I will if you give me something that I'm not going to follow, I'm just going to tell you.
Drew (as Wyatt): That's what I want.
Sydney (as Cassidy): Because we need to have pure like, flow of information, free flow of information. And yeah, I-me wandering off to go do my own thing when you're expecting something else is not good for the group.
Drew (as Wyatt): That's all I want. I just want us to be safe. I want us to be fed. I want us to work hard. That's all I want. And I'll do my best to do better by you. That's my promise. It's what Pallie would have wanted.
Sydney: And I think Cassidy looks over and puts a hand out.
Drew: And we see Wyatt look at it. And reach out and take it as well. And shake.
Sydney: Yup. Solid two pump shake.
Sydney (as Cassidy): All right.
Drew (as Wyatt): Look, I know you don't like me. I know you haven't liked me for a long time. And that's okay. We work together. And I trust you when you have that rifle in your hand and I trust you in battle. But if you don't want to be my friend, that's fine, too.
Sydney (as Cassidy): We used to be.
Drew (as Wyatt): Yeah, we did.
Sydney (as Cassidy): You remember when uh, oh it was probably three years ago now, the first, you know random bet we made?
Drew (as Wyatt): [laugh] Yeah you were a cocky little shit weren't you? Gosh...
Sydney (as Cassidy): See now now it's just confidence.
Drew (as Wyatt): [laugh] That's true.
Drew: And Wyatt picks up the bottle and takes a swig.
Drew (as Wyatt): How about another wager then? Let's start new then. We'll start with his wager. What do you say?
Sydney (as Cassidy): All right.
Drew (as Wyatt): All right.
Sydney (as Cassidy): What do you have- what do you got in mind?
Drew (as Wyatt): I bet you... let's say, I bet you that Modem shows up tomorrow and comes with us. And if he does,
Sydney (as Cassidy): I don't like that guy. [laugh]
Drew (as Wyatt): He's an Advant. They're all weird like that.
Sydney (as Cassidy): Yeah, but he's the wrong kind of weird.
Drew (as Wyatt): It's not for long and he can help us.
Sydney (as Cassidy): He doesn't have any money. He gave it all to me. I have it in a sack right here.
Drew (as Wyatt): I know.
Sydney: Cassidy pulls out the bag and hefts with a jangle.
Drew (as Wyatt): But he knows diesel engines. He knows engines. So does Emma, but Emma could always use a second pair of hands. There's always something breaking down.
Sydney (as Cassidy): You know? I bet you he doesn't. I bet you we're just all so intimidating that, having blown up these drones all over his village in an almost Incidentally, because we went to go grab his assistant, that he's gonna - the this fear of it is gonna keep them here.
Drew (as Wyatt): All right. All right. So if he does, you clean my rig. *sniff* Spotless. I want every bit of dirt taken out of it.
Sydney (as Cassidy): All right. I'll clean the rig. But if I win, I want to cook. I'm tired of your roasted random small game you always overcook it.
Drew (as Wyatt): Whoa whoa, that's that's a low blow there. I'm a very good cook.
Sydney (as Cassidy): Hmmm.
Drew (as Wyatt): [disbelieving laugh] All right, all right, fine, fine. Modem doesn't show up you get to cook. And you know what?
Sydney (as Cassidy): No Modem doesn't come with us. Hey, I - he said he'd show up. I'm not I'm not going to contest that one.
Drew (as Wyatt): All right. All right. I will. I will amend it then. Modem does not come with us. You get to cook it. I will eat every bit of it. I promise you, whatever you put on my plate I will eat.
Sydney (as Cassidy): All right.
Drew (as Wyatt): All right.
Drew: And I think Wyatt stands up and picks up the box. He puts the bottle back in, puts the shot glasses back in.
Sydney: Cassidy sips the last of her thing because she's been sipping on it through this conversation and it's now empty. She savors that last taste of it in her mouth before handing the shot glass back over.
Drew: We see Wyatt put them away, close the box. He puts his hand down to help Cassidy up. They like clasp hands and he like pulls her up and goes,
Drew (as Wyatt): It's a deal then.
Sydney (as Cassidy): It's a deal.
Drew (as Wyatt): Good talk.
Drew: And he turns and walks into the darkness.
Sydney: Yeah, and Cassidy just stays and looks out across this moonlit lake and at the empty fire pit.
[hurdy gurdy music swells]
Outro:
Aly (as Zee-o): End of episode. Commencing end credits. The following information will be placed in the show notes for your added convenience.
This has been A Knight of Shreds and Patches, an actual play podcast using the Genesys game system from Fantasy Flight Games. The show is edited by Sydney Whittington, and features the talents of:
Drew Mierzejewski as Wyatt. Drew can be found on Twitter @worldstoforge and is the showrunner for Skyjacks: Courier’s Call, an all-ages actual play podcast set in the world of Spéir, designed by James D’Amato.
Aly Grauer as Zee-o. Aly can be found on Twitter and Instagram @dreamstobecome. Aly is also a player on and audio editor for Skyjacks: Courier’s Call. You can support both Aly and Drew by joining their Patreon @ Patreon.com/WhimsyArtifice.
Sydney Whittington as Cassidy. Sydney can be found on our Discord server, which is linked in the show notes, and on Twitter @ sydney_whitt.
Cameron Robertson as Emma. Cameron can be found on Twitter @midnightmusic13 and on Instagram @reading_and_dreaming. Cameron is also a player on Tabletop Squadron, a Star Wars Edge of the Empire actual play podcast.
And Nick Robertson as narrator. Nick can be found on Twitter @alias58. Nick is also the GM for Tabletop Squadron, which you can support @Patreon.com/TabletopSquadron.
This podcast features the musical talents of Dora Violet and Arne Parrott. You can find Dora at facebook.com/doraviolett with two Ts. You can find Arne at atptunes.com.
The official artwork for this podcast was created by Rashed AlAkroka, who can be found on Instagram and Artstation @rashedjrs.
You can follow the Patina on Twitter @akosap_podcast or visit the website: www.akosap.com.
Until next time…
...Audio Offline.
[hurdy gurdy fades]