A Knight of Shreds and Patches Transcript Episode 29: Services to the City Transcript by Cameron Robertson
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 –
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, Sydney, with today’s messages:
We’ve now hit a year on the air! Thanks for being with us as we make this milestone. And with that, we actually have another major announcement: we’ve launched a Patreon! If you just can’t get enough of the show, we’d love to share even more content with you. This will include exclusive Discord channels, bonus episodes, Getting to Know You questions (remember that scene in episode 17 with the animal avatars?), behind the scenes info, and other fun rewards. If that sounds interesting, check out the link in the show notes, and consider supporting our show.
And with that, we wrap up today’s announcements and head into episode 29: Services to the City. 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, we got jumped by a group of motorcycle bandits on our way back from the mine. Between us, Emma and I crashed four bikes, had our sidecar crashed in return, though Emma did a great job patching it, and ran our bike out of gas, just in time to have to kill the last guy myself. So now we just go give Shawn his ore and get rewarded. [radio static]
Episode Start: [radio static] Sydney (as Hollister): [over radio] And that's our sports round-up. Thanks for listening to K-EGG, I'm your host Hollister, and next up, our evening traffic report, brought to you by the Raspberry Royals, ruling family of the northeast quadrant of the city. They're known for their fantastic textile work and wonderful tapestries, so if you're ever in the area, go check them out. They're located down by the wharf, just east of the Jeffries baseball diamond.
We've got one pretty noteworthy incident today: looks like there's been a bit of a commotion where the Pike heads into Eagle Hill proper. A motorcycle has been thrown through the window of our local favorite bakery, Micah's. Fortunately, no one was hurt, but witnesses say two other vehicles were seen speeding off, and the driver responsible has yet to be located. Traffic through that area is slowed, and I'd personally recommend taking the long scenic route. You won't be getting there any faster if you try to go directly, so maybe stop and appreciate the river flowing by. The Parliamentarian, as always, will see to the shop repairs, as we voters push for such public safety nets.
That's really it for this evening, it's been a quiet night otherwise. Again, that was the traffic report, brought to you by the Rasp - well, listeners, as I get handed this update, it looks like it's that time again. This traffic report has been brought to you by the [slower reading] Viridian Vernacular, ruling family of the northeast quadrant of the city. They're known for their wonderful poetry and prose, so if you're ever in the area, go check them out. They're located down by the wharf, just west of the Jeffries baseball diamond.
Again, this is K-EGG, and I'm your host Hollister, and we’re back to some smooth jazz, followed by the weather.
[static fades]
Nick: Cassidy and Emma are in a dim room. They left their motorcycles outside of the fabricator building, one of which looks to be about to fall off of its own wheels. Shawn throws his arm along a large workbench, scattering metal scraps and tools and clearing a space for you to place the sum of your findings, the silica ore. He slides out a old looking spring scale and begins to pile sections of your haul onto it, doing math in his head. Once he's finished, he nods appreciatively and turns to the two of you.
Nick (as Shawn Ward): So what happened?
Sydney (as Cassidy): Your toll collectors on The Pike - apparently toll collecting isn't their first instinct anymore. They would rather just clothesline us with a chain and take everything for themselves.
Nick (as Shawn Ward): Toll collectors? Normally, that's something that the Parliamentarian would have stopped. They must have recently gotten into the business. If you're still here, I guess they weren't very good at it, though. So that's good, right?
Cameron (as Emma): They were effective enough.
Cameron: Emma is leaning against a wall. The walls are metal so they're cold. So she's got her back up against the wall and is just lightly, not leaning putting weight against it, but getting some coldness on her massive bruise across her back.
Sydney: Cassidy has her arm on the workbench that Shawn cleared and is standing fine, but there are spots of her canvas jacket that are tinged with blood that's mostly hers.
Nick: He's taken out a jeweler's glass and stuck it in his eye under his heavy brow and has a tiny little hammer and a tiny little chisel that he's holding between thumb and finger on each hand and is chiseling into one block of the silica ore looking at it very carefully. He's definitely listening but still trying to evaluate what you've brought him as well as he can. And he looks up the eye with the jeweler's glass looks giant in the reflection as he looks at you blinks ponderously and then pulls it out says,
Nick (as Shawn Ward): You know, there's probably 150-160 pounds of silica in here. This is gonna keep this place running for a really long time, even more if we can get back out there. You'll just have to let me know how you got into the cave and how you got back out.
Cameron (as Emma): Hmm so about that...
Sydney (as Cassidy): Well the good news is the way we got into the cave should be okay maybe. The bad news is the cave itself may be less okay.
Nick (as Shawn Ward): Well.
Cameron (as Emma): Uhhhh the amount of rumbling I heard as I left, I think the majority is still probably okay. Like the main cavern at least is still up, so you could start a new tunnel. And you don't have to go in the way we did because I found an elevator for you that I graciously left out so that it is easily accessible again. You will need someone to redo the wiring because it may have caught fire a little bit, but uh oh and you're going to need fuel for it to make it go again, but you should be able to actually use that and so like you can have someone larger than Cassidy or I actually make it into the mine.
Sydney (as Cassidy): Yeah, I wouldn't recommend anyone bigger than Emma try to go that way. Also, do you have a first aid kit? Because this hurts.
Nick: He blinks noticing the blood on your jacket for the first time. You could tell he was very focused on the resources that he needed and looks apologetic at you and says
Nick (as Shawn Ward): Yeah, hang on I'll- I'll go get it. We don't have a lot of injuries or anything here but it's pretty standard practice.
Nick: And he walks off into the darkness of the workshop. You can hear him clanking around and you take a look at this workshop itself. It's dimly lit but not from lack of electricity. There are dim orange bulbs strung around this place, large industrial machines with big incomprehensible gears and cogs and spools. You can see bits of metal wiring and drips of melted metal adorning the various machines and he comes back with a simple black canvas bag and drops it next to the ore on the counter that you're leaning on. He says
Nick (as Shawn Ward): I'm not the best at this but d-do you need some help?
Sydney (as Cassidy): Emma - Can I get you to do it as our [light laugh] currently Patina medic?
Cameron (as Emma): Yep.
Sydney (as Cassidy): Based on Shawn's utter confidence.
Cameron (as Emma): I'm collecting all titles that begin with an M I think.
Sydney (as Cassidy): Medic. Mechanic.
Cameron (as Emma): Mhmm.
Sydney (as Cassidy): M-baseball player.
Cameron (as Emma): I don't think that one fits but you can keep trying.
Nick (as Shawn Ward): Uh majorly talented baseball player. I was gonna say m-melodioust? Melodist? Are you getting into singing?
Cameron (as Emma): No, not really.
Sydney: Cassidy during this is unzipping taking off her jacket and her first insulating layer getting down to the point where Emma has a chance of actually pulling this random pile of shrapnel that had embedded itself into her out of her.
Nick: Shawn sees skin as you're down to an undershirt and the spots of blood and blushes.
Nick (as Shawn Ward): [mumbling interspersed] Oh, hey. Yep, hang on
Nick: And turns and covers his eyes with one hand and is looking up and away towards the ceiling.
Nick (as Shawn Ward): Sorry. Uhh. Yeah, you should you should get that looked at. It's It's fine. It's fine. Uhhh so...
Sydney: [laughing] Cassidy just looks at Emma with an eyebrow raised that she takes off her last base layer leaving her just in a sports bra.
Cameron: Emma is digging in the first aid kit, just looking down trying to find tweezers and is just shaking her head.
Nick: Yeah, you find tweezers, you find gauze, you find bandages - it's pretty much everything you would need. The antiseptic is just ethyl alcohol. So that's gonna hurt.
Cameron: Emma takes a quick step outside, having grabbed a bowl or some sort of container, and just scoops up a big thing of snow from where it's all drifted next to the building and brings it in and makes a snowball and hands it to Cassidy to hold against some of the deeper spots on her chest where Emma's gonna have to work out a screw or something that's in to numb the area a little bit before that happens.
Nick: And while you're working on Cassidy, Shawn has been just stammering to himself. But as you set to work in earnest, he says,
Nick (as Shawn Ward): So after you left, I was thinking with this amount of silica, I could pay you what we agreed.
Nick: And he points behind him kind of vaguely and you can see a fat envelope sitting half piled under some mechanical pieces.
Nick (as Shawn Ward): But I have another suggestion.
Cameron (as Emma): Shawn, if you're already facing away from us, you don't have to cover your eyes, bud.
Nick (as Shawn Ward): Look, I'm just more comfortable.
Cameron (as Emma): Okay, okay, that's fine.
Nick (as Shawn Ward): Not I just, I just want to make sure everybody's comfy.
Sydney (as Cassidy): Sure. But I'm still covered. And aren't you the person who's friendly with everyone in town because your hardware makes its way into the hands of so many people.
Nick (as Shawn Ward): [laughter] That's really funny. Look it you get to be friendly with people by being respectful of their boundaries and giving them privacy when they need it. Okay? so
Sydney (as Cassidy): I'm not sure I really need it here, but...
Nick: He puts his hand down and turns around and sees that since he's turned around, you're just
at a sports bra and goes
Nick (as Shawn Ward): Nope!
Nick: And turns back around. He's not covering his eye anymore, but he's just not gonna let himself be that distracted.
Nick (as Shawn Ward): Look, look, this isn't about me. I have a proposal for you. What if I take a majority of the stitch that I was going to pay you and use it to grease a few wheels? That plus the amount you were able to bring back and help you cut to the front of the line on the Fabricator?
Cameron (as Emma): What??
Cameron: I think Emma accidentally pulls out a piece of shrapnel a little bit too fast.
Sydney (as Cassidy): Ow! Emma!
Cameron (as Emma): Sorry! I'm sorry.
Sydney: Cassidy holds the snowball up to the spot real fast before Emma can slap it with disinfectant.
Cameron (as Emma): Wait, what did you say about cutting the line?
Nick (as Shawn Ward): So you know that the Fabricator supplies the entire city with things that can't be repaired or remade parts?
Cameron (as Emma): Uh huh.
Nick (as Shawn Ward): Junctions, circuit boards, -
Cameron (as Emma): Uh huh.
Nick (as Shawn Ward): - a lot of things that we don't have another way to make.
Cameron (as Emma): Uh huh.
Nick (as Shawn Ward): So the line for private use could be hell years long.
Cameron (as Emma): [getting more excited] Uh huh. And?
Nick (as Shawn Ward): But you happen to know somebody who works very closely with the people who procure things.
Sydney (as Cassidy): Yes, and we've saved the city or something.
Nick (as Shawn Ward): And yeah, you've saved the city or something. So I might be able to make that happen. You can get whatever you want made. Maybe uh some new parts for the rig, you could get a weapon, we're able to make a lot of really cool things.
Cameron (as Emma): Could we do that Knight upgrade I was showing you?
Nick: He stops for a second. His posture, even though he's facing away from you, was very self-assured, like he knew this was a cool thing to surprise you with, but he freezes for a second.
Nick (as Shawn Ward): You mean the the launcher?
Cameron (as Emma): Yeah.
Nick (as Shawn Ward): Ooh.
Cameron (as Emma): Could we rig that up?
Nick (as Shawn Ward): High tension spring, cross beams, miniaturized - well sort of miniaturized.
Cameron (as Emma): I would help put it together and everything. I just can't make those parts.
Nick (as Shawn Ward): Yeah.
Cameron (as Emma): [excited gasp]
Nick (as Shawn Ward): I think we could that's gonna cost of majority of the stitch because that's multiple jobs, but they're small jobs, relatively speaking. You're not asking me to build, I don't know, like a car from scratch. So yeah, I think we could make that happen.
Cameron: Emma claps gleefully, and spins back around and takes deep breath sets her hands down. She's like [calming long exhale] refocusing, and then starts back on tweezing things out of Cassidy's chest in a more excited but calming herself purposefully so that she hopefully doesn't hurt Cassidy again.
Sydney (as Cassidy): So there's pieces in that upgrade that we just couldn't have done? How would we have done it without this?
Cameron (as Emma): Uhh~. I would have had to find the right pieces and then get a welding torch and then it still would not have been as strong. But I could have made something work, but I probably would be repairing it fairly often. Um...
Nick (as Shawn Ward): The high tension spring is the real kicker there.
Cameron (as Emma): Yeah, if we can get pieces that are like solid pieces that we can integrate in, that's going to hold up so much better.
Sydney (as Cassidy): That's That's true.
Cameron (as Emma): Otherwise, it would end up kind of looking like our sword [Cassidy starts wheezing] with kinda haphazard assortments...
Sydney (as Cassidy): No, that was, that was built - Pallie built that very purposefully to do the purpose of hitting things with a sword.
Cameron (as Emma): Yes.
Sydney (as Cassidy): Just like the Jeep did Jeep things.
Cameron (as Emma): Uh huh. And you know, it works great. Which is why I'm more interested in doing the slingshot thing than upgrading the sword because the sword still functions. We don't need a nice fully cast black smithed sword for the Knight. It's large enough, honestly, that it's not really big deal.
Sydney (as Cassidy): Just big force.
Cameron (as Emma): Yeah. So..
Sydney (as Cassidy): I guess you could hit someone with a tree if you needed, if the sword was not feeling up to it.
Cameron (as Emma): That - That's a true - Yep, valid point.
Sydney (as Cassidy): While we're talking possibilities, is there anything else that this would give us access to? Because Shawn, you said this is the only Fabricator that's not Advantia owned, that's even publicly accessible?
Nick (as Shawn Ward): That I know of.
Sydney (as Cassidy): I admit, I haven't dug deeply into it in my travels. But,
Cameron (as Emma): Could you hook us up with some sort of ammunition for it? My plan had been to set it up so that we could just do rocks so that we never had the chance of running out, but if we could have a more purposeful ammunition set as well...
Sydney (as Cassidy): Reusable, if possible, but if something explodes, that's also situationally useful.
Nick (as Shawn Ward): I don't know about explosives, but I can make you some projectiles that are pretty hard and pretty durable. You might be able to salvage them, although I would imagine you want them going as fast as possible, so questionable. Depends on what you hit.
Cameron (as Emma): Mhmm.
Nick (as Shawn Ward): But I could probably make you a full box even. Like I said, you came back with enough to keep us running for quite a while. But you should know, every request you make is taking more of that stitch out of the payday and putting it into the Knight instead. So as long as you're okay with that.
Cameron (as Emma): Yes, but I feel like we can always make more money. We can't always access the giant workshop of mechanical magic.
Nick (as Shawn Ward): Yeah, that's a good point. Hard to find parts, hard to make parts. It's probably worth whatever you can pay. I'll try to keep you in enough money that you don't starve to death waiting for it to finish printing, but...
Sydney (as Cassidy): That would be great.
Cameron (as Emma): Appreciate it. And like I said, I'll help. I'll help. Please let me help.
Nick (as Shawn Ward): You're not going to get to help with the parts, Emma.
Cameron (as Emma): [sounding sad] Can I help attaching them to my giant robot?
Nick (as Shawn Ward): Oh, I was gonna offer to help you with that.
Cameron (as Emma): Oh okay. Okay.
Nick (as Shawn Ward): I'm not doing that without you.
Cameron (as Emma): Okay, that's good.
Nick (as Shawn Ward): It'll come out in a neat little package here and we'll have to unpack it and assemble it. That's gonna be a me and you job. Cassidy can help if she wants.
Cameron (as Emma): Awesome.
Sydney (as Cassidy): I mean, if we're trading all of our stitch for this then my helping might be working for food.
Nick (as Shawn Ward): Yeah, probably. I'm sort of under the impression that you're probably not interested in doing any more guard work or anything for the city for the foreseeable future.
Sydney (as Cassidy): [long sigh]
Nick: He turns around to look at where you're being worked on and then snaps his eyes back up to the far wall.
Cameron: Emma's in the process of removing a screw that had gone in. She's trying to not make a giant exit wound for this screw. I don't imagine it's fun.
Sydney: Cassidy is looking off into the distance over Emma's shoulder at a particularly boring patch of wall just trying to stay zoned out while Emma's removing the screw.
Sydney (as Cassidy): [hiss] [exhale] Ow.
Cameron (as Emma): Sorry. I know it's in there deep.
Sydney (as Cassidy): Who throws screws at people?
Cameron (as Emma): The bad motorcycle guys.
Sydney (as Cassidy): Oh~. Shawn, you said these guys like are not normally a thing?
Nick (as Shawn Ward): No.
Sydney (as Cassidy): They chased us all the way into the city.
Nick (as Shawn Ward): Well, and it looks like you stole their motorcycle so they're probably not a thing anymore.
Sydney (as Cassidy): It was a donation in trade.
Nick (as Shawn Ward): Did you kill them?
Sydney (as Cassidy): Yep.
Nick (as Shawn Ward): Well, there you go.
Cameron (as Emma): How many of them?
Sydney (as Cassidy): Hmm.
Cameron (as Emma): I don't think we killed all of them.
Sydney (as Cassidy): I don't think we killed all of them. We killed -
Cameron (as Emma): A few of them crashed. I'm not sure...
Sydney (as Cassidy): I don't think we can confirm any but the one.
Cameron (as Emma): Yeah.
Sydney (as Cassidy): So hopefully we've dissuaded them.
Nick (as Shawn Ward): How'd that self-defense training treat ya, Emma?
Cameron (as Emma): Uh you know, it's more useful when I'm not on the back of a speeding motorcycle trying to hold a sidecar that has detached itself on while we try to escape.
Nick (as Shawn Ward): Oh, well, uhh we could work that into the drills while we're waiting for the printing to finish, I guess.
Sydney (as Cassidy): Seems very situational.
Cameron (as Emma): Yeah you know, before this, I probably would have said there wasn't any use in knowing that as it seemed like a thing that would never happen. But
Sydney (as Cassidy): Maybe next time, you know, when we actually bring guns because we know there's going to be a fight. Maybe it'll be less of a problem. Ow!
Cameron (as Emma): It's out!
Sydney (as Cassidy): Did you-
Cameron (as Emma): Its out.
Sydney: Emma's holding up a bloody screw.
Cameron: She has both hands up, the screw and one hand, in the don't shoot stance.
Nick: Cassidy had stood halfway off the bench and then she sits back down because she knows she needs to let Emma finish.
Sydney (as Cassidy): [sigh] How many more?
Cameron (as Emma): There's just like three that I can see. And none of them are as bad as that one. That one. [Cassidy groans] That one is the worst. I'm going to go ahead and bandage that one right now because you're bleeding a lot.
Sydney (as Cassidy): Yeah...
Cameron: Emma is already applying pressure and is digging around for gauze.
Nick: So as Emma works on Cassidy's wounds, Shawn busies himself working in the far side of the workshop facing away from them.
Cameron: They probably start to recount fully the adventure to Shawn. The goal had been to just share further information about where this mine was located so they could find it again, but it ends up being Cassidy and Emma talking over each other about all of the stuff that happened while they were there and the state of the mine.
Sydney: It's a grand retelling.
Cameron: Yeah.
Nick: And at first Shawn is working with thin spools of wire and doing things to keep his hands busy, but pretty soon that stops and eventually even he's so enthralled in the story he's turned around and just listening to you all talk as you tell the story and finish with some first aid. And a while later, we see the sun has shifted in the sky and Emma and Cassidy, standing a little taller, walk back outside without their large haul of silica ore and floating next to your motorcycle and pile of motorcycle is one of those drones that you see around the city.
It looks kind of inflatable. The majority of it is a little blimp, it has a small box towards the bottom of it with what looks like a camera lens attached. It has a small fan on it but doesn't look like it would be enough to really make it go very quickly just to keep it still against the wind. And neither of you have gotten a pair of the glasses that the Eagle Hill citizens wear because you're not citizens, but you can see little markers all over the drone that you assume create some sort of display if you look at them wearing these special glasses, and as you walk towards the motorcycle a tinny voice says,
Nick (as Drone): You have been summoned to speak with the Parliamentarian.
Sydney: Cassidy scowls and looks at Emma.
Cameron (as Emma): Begging your pardon?
Nick (as Drone): You have been summoned to speak with the Parliamentarian.
Cameron (as Emma): What does that mean?
Sydney (as Cassidy): Why?
Nick: More of these drones are drifting down like old balloons from above the rooftops from various directions. You see three or four and in a slightly out of sync and tinny voice you hear from all of the drones,
Nick (as Drone): You have been summoned to speak with the Parliamentarian. You have been summoned to speak with the Parliamentarian. You have been summoned to speak with the Parliamentarian.
Nick: It's the same audio clip every time it's not particularly fancy. This is maybe the one clip that they have. People walking down the street, most of them appear to be involved in the Fabricator in some way, but there's others who are clearly just moving to other parts of the city, stop to look at you. It's starting to create a bit of a scene as more of these drones start to float down towards you. They don't touch you, but they're floating within about a foot or two of you. Pretty close. Very much getting into your personal space.
Cameron (as Emma): Cassidy, do you know where we're supposed to go?
Sydney (as Cassidy): [deep inhale and sigh] In theory, the Parliamentarian's building is next to the radio tower. I don't know why these things are buzzing around.
Nick (as Drone): You have been summoned to speak with the Parliamentarian.
Sydney (as Cassidy): Yes. You mentioned that. Why?
Nick (as Drone): You have been summoned to speak with the Parliamentarian.
Cameron (as Emma): I think this is the one voice thing they got.
Nick: Somebody walking by who's wearing a like newsy cap and a suit jacket over what looks like a torn up t shirt and blue jeans says,
Nick (as Eagle Hill Citizen): Hey, I think you've been summoned to speak with the Parliamentarian.
Sydney (as Cassidy): [maximum sarcasm] Oh, really? You think we've been summoned to speak with the Parliamentarian?
Nick (as Eagle Hill Citizen): Yeah, just trying to help.
Cameron (as Emma): Cassidy you can't make huge gestures like that. You're gonna mess up all your bandages!
Sydney: Cassidy shoves the closest drone a foot towards that guy.
Nick: It moves very quickly. But it only goes about a foot because of the wind resistance. And also, there's a lot more give in the balloon than you expected. It's kind of like trying to punch a two thirds deflated foil birthday balloon, where it just doesn't really go that far and it gets shoved back towards that guy. And he goes,
Nick (as Eagle Hill Citizen): Hey, hey, I'm, I'm leaving, I'm sorry.
Nick: And walks off, but in the space where that one got shoved out of the way two more have descended. You're probably surrounded by 10 or 15 of them at this point.
Nick (as Drone): You have been summoned to speak with the Parliamentarian.
Sydney (as Cassidy): Emma, this is stupid. And I also probably shouldn't have shoved that one that hard because ow!
Cameron (as Emma): Yeah, I told you.
Cameron: Emma is getting on the functioning motorcycle.
Sydney: Cassidy scowls at the two more that showed up and then in resignation walks to the pile of motorcycle to grab helmets before getting on the bike with Emma then starts it back up.
Nick (as Drone): You have been summoned to speak to the Parliamentarian.
Sydney (as Cassidy): What do you think Emma? Do we should we go speak with the Parliamentarian?
Cameron (as Emma): I think if you want them to stop saying that probably yes.
Nick (as Drone): You have been summoned to speak with the Parliamentarian.
Sydney (as Cassidy): [very annoyed] You don't know anything else?
Cameron (as Emma): I don't think they have another audio clip.
Sydney (as Cassidy): [overlapping] You have no other words??
Cameron (as Emma): I don't think they have another audio clip.
Sydney (as Cassidy): Why?!
Nick (as Drone): The next vote will occur at 5pm.
Cameron (as Emma): Oh.
Sydney (as Cassidy): [long sigh]
Cameron (as Emma): Okay, well, they have another audio clip, but I don't think they have more than that.
Nick (as Drone): You have been summoned to speak with the Parliamentarian.
Cameron (as Emma): There we go. Yep.
Sydney (as Cassidy): Alright, fine.
Sydney: And Cassidy starts on the path. She accelerates slowly because she doesn't really want to smack her face on one of these. Do they keep up as she weaves through?
Nick: No, not at all. The wind of your approach bumps them away a little and they try to get out of your way, but their little spinney fans move them very slowly. As you accelerate on the motorcycle like the turbulence knocks them up into the air and back towards the walls and they bounce off and then they start to toodle after you very slowly as you drive away.
Sydney (as Cassidy): [long sigh]
Sydney: They're still driving slow enough that she puts the face guard up as they get to the first intersection and they're clearly out running them. But she looks back over her shoulder and Emma and goes,
Sydney (as Cassidy): I mean, we don't have to go speak to the Parliamentarian. It looks like they can't really force us but I guess if we're staying here, it's probably a good idea?
Cameron (as Emma): Yeah, they're gonna show up again and you are going to find it incredibly irritating.
Sydney (as Cassidy): Uh, yeah, I already find it incredibly irritating.
Cameron (as Emma): It's just going to get worse.
Sydney (as Cassidy): I can hear them in the back. Let's just go. Let's go talk.
Nick: As you accelerate through the intersection, you pass a drone that's moving towards you and you hear
Nick (as Drone): You have been summoned to speak with the Parliamentarian.
Nick: It seems like most of them in the city are just slowly triangulating in on you. You could move much faster than they can but
Sydney: The two of them then head through town towards the Parliamentarian guided by the radio tower that peeks up over the buildings.
Nick: You can see as you drive through the city, various citizens are wearing their glasses and looking confused as they look at the drones like the displays have been interrupted. This is not something that happens very often. It's not a disaster. You don't see anyone panicking, but they do look a little baffled, and you head towards the radio tower. The closer you get, the more buildings are playing music from the radio station. Some cafes and restaurants have their windows and doors open even in the cold air and along with the heat coming out of the restaurants, you can hear the music filtering out too even over the wind of your passage.
As you get closer to where the radio tower is, you see the building that houses the Parliamentarian. It is a large Whitestone building. It's at least two stories tall with a really wide staircase that leads up to the front doors. There are some broken columns sitting above the main doors that look like they once held a large piece of architecture that has since crumbled away. There are bits of the salty kelp that they grow as a crop here climbing up the walls in the humid air, even in the winter. And it looks like parts of the roof have been patched by domes of coral that look similar to the wall that encapsulates Eagle Hill. And you arrive. As you do, you get off the motorcycle at the stairs. You can hear in the distance the echoing of the drone still calling to you that you've been summoned. [Sydney (or Cassidy maybe) sighs] But the door swings open on its own and you can see a faint blue light inside.
Cameron (as Emma): Someone should probably work on their programming so they know when a task is over.
Sydney (as Cassidy): I suppose we haven't spoken to the Parliamentarian yet.
Sydney: Cassidy takes her helmet off and tucks it under arm.
Cameron (as Emma): Yeah, but I feel like their job was to inform us that we had been summoned by the Parliamentarian and we're out front now so I can still hear them.
Sydney (as Cassidy): Maybe we go inside. And hopefully this fine.
Cameron: Emma takes her helmet off and does a dramatic swish of her hair. It's a long-ish pixie cut at this point because she hasn't cut it again, so its got of a little bit of a woosh, but it's not - there's not a whole lot of hair happening still.
Cameron (as Emma): Alright, let's go.
Sydney (as Cassidy): Did we do anything that the Parliamentarian would have wanted to talk to us about? Is it calling us to thank us for our services to the city?
Cameron (as Emma): Umm~. My guess would be it has something to do with the fun motorcycle chase.
Sydney (as Cassidy): Hmm. That's less promising.
Cameron (as Emma): It's okay, we were being chased.
Sydney (as Cassidy): Yeah.
Cameron (as Emma): By a gang. It allowed to exist.
Sydney (as Cassidy): Shawn said that the Parliamentarian normally takes care of those people, so
Cameron (as Emma): Mhmm.
Sydney (as Cassidy): If they were the problem, then we're the solution. But maybe, maybe uh you should lead the talking.
Cameron (as Emma): Are you feeling a little bit snarky?
Sydney (as Cassidy): Yeah, I got holes in me, Emma.
Cameron (as Emma): I know.
Sydney (as Cassidy): And I've had drones. [begin overlapping] You should speak to the Parliamentarian.
Cameron (as Emma): [overlapping] I know. I got, I got it. [overlapping ends] I got it. Don't worry about it.
Sydney (as Cassidy): [sigh]
Sydney: Cassidy claps Emma on the shoulder and then follows her in.
Nick: As you enter the building, you can't see much of the surroundings because of the blue glow. But the door swings gently shut behind you. You see the silhouette of someone in front of you gesturing in welcome. And the blue light begins to fade as you hear them say,
Nick (as Receptionist): Hello. I'm the receptionist. I will be bringing you to the Parliamentarian. I hope that you had a decent journey.
Cameron (as Emma): Yes, thank you. We received the summons.
Sydney (as Cassidy): [annoyed sniff]
Nick: As you respond, Emma, the light finishes fading and you see that you're not talking to a person. The receptionist kind of calls Zee-o to mind. They have a almost hollow looking cage-like and skeletal torso with long and flexible arms, a face that is immobile mask - this one set into a polite and listening expression, and from the waist down, they appear to be set on a Greek column with small wheels at the bottom. And the receptionist says
Nick (as Receptionist): I'm so happy to hear that. I'll be taking you to see the Parliamentarian now. I hope that there was not too much difficulty with your journey. It sounds like you've had an exciting day.
Cameron (as Emma): It has been and let's carry forth and have this discussion cause I believe we are ready to take a nap.
Sydney: Cassidy nods visibly holding her tongue.
Nick (as Receptionist): While I cannot empathize with that feeling, I can sympathize follow me.
Nick: And with exaggerated slowness, the column turns. The column is tall enough that this thing is probably six inches taller than you at the head even though the torso isn't very long. And it starts to wheel its way down the hallway. It's a slow walking pace. It's not obnoxiously slow, but these little wheels do not carry the receptionist very quickly.
Sydney: Cassidy lets out a deep sigh seeing the pace even though this is an uncomfortable area.
Cameron: Emma leans backwards a little bit and lightly thwacks Cassidy on the arm and is using this slow time to examine this receptionist who's in front of them - is looking at the mechanics.
Nick: You can see the structures and struts that reinforce it and allow it to move, but it looks like all the mechanisms that actually help with the gesturing and everything must be inside the column that it's based on. It's all just extensions out of there. The actual body frame has some electronics, but is mostly a puppet to allow people to have something to talk to. And you see as you roll through this building at a comfortable pace, however impatient Cassidy may be, that maybe this was once a museum. It has long open walkways and galleries. What does it look like on the inside of this place? The seat of government for Eagle Hill.
Sydney: In plinths up and down the halls there are printed copies of the current laws for reference. Giant physical tomes, but instead of being bound, they're clipped together or attached in a way that they can easily be revised and kept up to date for representatives or concerned citizens to come and see the results of the voting that they do every day.
Cameron: I think several of the galleries that we pass are set up kind of how a computer section of a public library would be set up, where there are varying types of ways that people can interface with the Parliamentarian to be able to cast their vote and get any information that's being shared through the glasses for the people that the glasses, either they don't want to wear the glasses or the glasses are not an effective way for them to receive that information. So there's some neural headsets, there's some just computer looking computers.
Sydney: There's a quiet narration going on in a room where they're conveying it via audio.
Nick: In that soft glowing blue light that was so prevalent when you entered seems to flicker on and off highlighting different things as you walk. It both draws attention to some parts of the building and obscures others, although not in a pattern that makes any sense to you. After continuing at this pace for a while, you come to a large open dais. It's a marble floor with a glass wall that bisects the room. You can see on the other side, there's some small statues and paintings along the wall. And as you enter a video image, flickers to life on the glass wall looking partially three dimensional, like a rudimentary hologram. And you can see a kind looking woman with black skin, with hair pulled back into a bun, wearing spectacles and a tweed coat and a pencil skirt. She looks like exactly what you would picture a tour guide at a museum to look like but she does not smile when you enter.
Sydney: Cassidy raises her eyebrows at this giant projection technology that is like the little tablet things that people occasionally have but scaled up to a enormous level.
Nick: Yep. And the wall covers the entire thing. It seems almost a waste that this is projecting one human sized image until the woman in the wall makes eye contact with you Cassidy. And while she does not smile, her eyes still look warm. But there's a depth to them that's surprising. It's probably a trick of the light.
Sydney: Cassidy tilts her head in query.
Nick: And she holds her arms out, looks to the two of you and says
Nick (as Parliamentarian): Hi, I'm the Parliamentarian. Thank you for coming to visit me on such short notice.
Cameron (as Emma): Yes, hello.
Nick (as Parliamentarian): You've been causing quite a few problems in Eagle Hill lately. I thought I would invite you here to talk about that a little bit. I'm a little concerned about what you've been doing.
Cameron (as Emma): Could you elaborate a little bit more please?
Nick (as Parliamentarian): Well, I have a list here.
Nick: And she pulls out of her pocket a legal pad and flips through it. The pages look crinkled and have pen markings and scratching out, it's not legible. But obviously this is well used, which makes no sense. And she says,
Nick (as Parliamentarian): Well to start you appear to have been in a high-speed chase through town; resulted in disturbing the peace, resulted in the risk of life to many of my citizens. And on top of that, you were seeing exiting a scene where a corpse was found shortly after. Obviously, that's a little concerning for me.
Sydney: As the Parliamentarian is enumerating their perceived sins, Cassidy's eyes narrow and she does a quick check of where their escort is and making sure that the doors behind them are still open.
Nick: The doors are open. You can still see the receptionist but they appear to be wheeling their way back to the entryway leaving you unescorted. It's just you and the Parliamentarian in here as far as you can tell.
Cameron (as Emma): So we do apologize about that -
Nick (as Parliamentarian): Well, I should hope so.
Cameron (as Emma): We were doing a job for the Fabricator Syndicate, retrieving some ore from a mine just outside the wall and on our return trip to hand the ore over to the Fabricators we were attacked by a group of - there were five?
Cameron: Emma looks to Cassidy to verify.
Sydney (as Cassidy): Five seems right.
Cameron (as Emma): We were attacked by five highway men on motorcycles and you can see the bloodstains on my friend's shirt, we were injured. And just being the two of us against five and being armed with a bow that was packed up and a pickaxe, we made the decision to come back to town where ideally, they would not have followed us because of you know the law and order that exists within the city. Unfortunately, that assumption was incorrect and they just kept following us. So while we did our best to avoid causing any harm to anyone or anything we encountered along the way, we were still trying to escape for our safety.
Nick: She shakes her head sadly, as you say, law and order and says,
Nick (as Parliamentarian): That's a good explanation and I can follow your logic. But unfortunately, in Eagle Hill, while we have plenty of laws, order is not always so easy to find. And you disrupted it, whether your intentions were good or not, whether you were helping the city or not, you caused damage and there are consequences.
Cameron (as Emma): I don't believe we did cause any damage. [mumbling] the only thing that was had any damage on our side was the side car detached from the motorcycle we rented, but we'll pay for that fine when we return it. But beyond that, it just ran out of gas. We didn't cause any damage.
Nick (as Parliamentarian): A shopfront was destroyed.
Cameron (as Emma): [defiant] Not by us.
Nick (as Parliamentarian): Numerous shipments and people's commutes were disrupted as well. The vote was delayed by a full 15 minutes because of the chaos. Whether or not the physical actions of you resulted directly in the damage you were the instigating cause. I am sorry.
Cameron (as Emma): I believe actually the people chasing us and attacking us would have been the instigating cause there. I apologize, I don't know how to address you. Is it just the Parliamentarian?
Nick (as Parliamentarian): You can just call me Parliamentarian.
Cameron (as Emma): Okay.
Sydney: Cassidy's stances getting tenser and her arms are crossed, but she is continuing to fight her instinct to say something.
Nick: At this point, Emma, can you make me a Charm check to convince the Parliamentarian not to punish you for the actions of this afternoon?
Cameron: I am flipping a story point.
Nick: This is going to be Average difficulty and you can have a blue die because you have a good point.
Cameron: Alright, so I'm rolling two yellows, a blue and two purples.
[dice rolling]
Cameron: A success and two advantages.
Nick: For the first time even though her face has been pretty expressive, you see the Parliamentarian relax into a more comfortable pose and look sympathetic.
Nick (as Parliamentarian): I understand where you're coming from. I really do. But if you reference Subsection C, paragraph 21 of the recent disturbing the peace mandates passed last year in the spring, the actions only give me so much leeway.
Nick: And the entire glass wall has filled with scrolling text in paragraphs in what looks like legalese behind her. And she nods to you and says
Nick (as Parliamentarian): But I think that I can come to a consequence that we find mutually agreeable.
Nick: She looks extremely sympathetic.
Nick (as Parliamentarian): You are planning on leaving after the winter is out. Are you not?
Cameron (as Emma): Yes, we are awaiting some friends who will be coming on the next train from Tree All Mountain.
Nick (as Parliamentarian): The Rondax line will be returning to Tree All Mountain as soon as the snows melt. And we'll be returning shortly after as it is our turn to create a trade packet for our mutual beneficiaries. This would put you into early spring when your friends would return.
Cameron (as Emma): Yes.
Cameron: Emma's not sure if she was supposed to respond to that or not.
Nick: The Parliamentarian appears to have frozen in place for a second. And she continues.
Nick (as Parliamentarian): I believe that the proper consequence here would be probationary banishment, as after all, since you were working on behalf of a syndicate of Eagle Hill, throwing you out in the winter could be considered inhumane. Would you not agree?
Cameron (as Emma): Yes, we would very much appreciate not being thrown out of the city this winter.
Nick (as Parliamentarian): Within seven days of the Rondax line returning to Eagle Hill from their journey to Tree All Mountain, you will need to be outside of the wall. Can you commit to this limitation?
Cameron: Emma glances over her shoulder at Cassidy and does a slight shrug.
Sydney (as Cassidy): What are the consequences, if we were to say no?
Nick: The Parliamentarian appears to grow slightly and even though she's projected onto a glass wall to lean over you. Her face suddenly looks a lot less friendly.
Nick (as Parliamentarian): I, the Parliamentarian, do not act directly. However, in the case of laws being violated, I have the ability to incentivize local syndicates to remove problems. I would rather not do this. I hope you understand.
Cameron (as Emma): Yeah, no, I I don't think we'll have any problem being gone within a week after the train shows back up. As you said it is a probationary banishment - is this the probationary time and then it is a full banishment from here on after to the end of time? Or is there a timeline there where we could return to the city at some point in the future?
Nick (as Parliamentarian): The probation is referencing the fact that if you were to make any violations of our laws before the Rondax line returns and incentive will be issued immediately to the syndicates to deal with you as they see fit. I would advise against violating any laws. The banishment will be for the period of one year. Once you leave, you may not return for one year or again, the syndicates will be notified and incentivized. Again, I would advise against following this course of action.
Cameron (as Emma): Yep, no, that that seems [sigh] more than fair.
Cameron: Emma's gonna go along with it at this point, because she realizes that it's no point. So she's going to be nice, but she obviously doesn't agree with what she's saying.
Cameron (as Emma): That's more than fair and I think that's as long as we are able to remain in the city until our friends arrive and we'll continue the good behavior that we've had up until this point until the unfortunate incident of being chased by highway men into the city. This this sounds great. Yep, very sorry for the inconvenience.
Nick (as Parliamentarian): There's no need to apologize. I do understand your motivation and I can see how you would believe that you are in the right and have done nothing wrong. And we do appreciate the work that you have done, Cassidy especially, on the radio tower in service of the city, and we also appreciate everything that you have done for the city as well, Emma. Go Maroon Sox.
Cameron: Emma does a big thumbs up and is like,
Cameron (as Emma): Yeah, our seasons going great. It's very exciting.
Nick (as Parliamentarian): While this is objectively not true, I do appreciate your optimism. Sean Ward is a talented and enthusiastic coach, if not a lucky one.
Cameron (as Emma): I think that is a very valid assessment.
Nick (as Parliamentarian): If there is nothing else you are permitted to leave, just remember do not violate any laws of Eagle Hill. Pamphlets of the full legalese can be seen on the exit or requested by pamphlet-ed instalments from any neighboring voting drones.
Cameron (as Emma): Fantastic. We'll get right on that.
Sydney: Cassidy turns before Emma is even done talking and starts leaving.
Cameron (as Emma): Was a pleasure meeting you. Hopefully we won't have to interact again and we will be gone whenever our friends show up on the train - within a week.
Nick (as Parliamentarian): Remember within a year you are welcome back. We appreciate all you have done for Eagle Hill.
Nick: And the screen flickers out leaving just an empty looking dais.
Cameron (as Emma): Okay!
Cameron: Emma spins around on her heel and follows Cassidy out.
Sydney: Cassidy grabs one of the pamphlets but grabs it in a fist so it's pretty crumpled.
Nick: And the pamphlet is labeled 'Southwestern Quadrant Ordinance 22.C.A Zoning Laws For New Construction. It's extremely specific. And you all are able to leave the home of the Parliamentarian. The strange synth on a column is back by the front door. The door opens as you approach the blue light turns back on. The synth says,
Nick (as Receptionist): It was so good to see you.
Nick: As you leave.
Cameron (as Emma): You too - have a great day.
Sydney (as Cassidy): I'm sure it was.
Nick (as Receptionist): Return soon, unless that's been banned by the Parliamentarian in which case do not return soon.
Nick: And it waves in a overly smooth way.
Cameron: Emma does an awkward uncomfortable wave back and then just walks away.
Sydney: Cassidy just keeps walking.
Nick: And you all are able to climb onto a motorcycle and drive back into the city. While there is a large cloud of drones between you and the Crochet Club, they're no longer yelling at you that you need to go see the Parliamentarian. They appear to all be motoring back to their region of the city. It just takes them a long time and they're blown by the wind. And time begins to move much quicker as winter progresses. What are some things that you work on during this time?
Cameron: Emma has been spending as much time as she can at the Fabricators watching the parts for the Knight get built. Even though she's not allowed to press the buttons to make it go go, she's very interested in the process and is soaking up as much info about it as she can.
Nick: Cassidy, are you also interested in the Fabricator?
Sydney: I think Cassidy shows up when she gets a break between jobs because now she's, in an effort to lay low and not do anything, she is having to take a slightly different slice of job that is even more antisocial. Go climb trees, go clean the bird poop off of the statues on top of buildings type jobs, so that there is no possible way to accidentally trip something having looked at the stupid pamphlet, which is now hanging up on her dartboard full of holes because they can't get thrown out before Wyatt and Zee-o get there. So she thinks it's interesting, but it's not her only concern at this point.
Nick: So we see Cassidy and Emma getting a good look at the Fabricator. It's a large room probably 30 feet by 40 feet with a small walkway around the edge the rest of it is enclosed in a Plexiglas case. There's a, what looks like a giant crane game arm, but instead of a grabber on the end, there's a nozzle that is feeding molten hot metals and plastics and silicones into these printing parts. It appears to be printing all of the parts you need in one go in the room, and we see Emma with her nose pressed up to the glass watching it move quickly and Cassidy looking interested. Shawn is in the background laughing. We also see another jump, and Emma is helping Shawn to run spools of specialized wires that he has forged into the Fabricator to make these parts. There's mixtures of carbon fiber and steel and even little bits of titanium that are being printed into this thing, making it as durable as possible.
And time continues to roll on. Printing the parts takes several weeks, you've ground the production of the city to a halt, but no one can complain with the amount of help that you've done for the city. Expeditions are launched to where you instructed Shawn there was still more silica ore to be had, but it looks like it will be a long process to make that mine functional on a big scale again, the good news is they have time thanks to you. And when the parts are done, Shawn shows up with a rattling Fabricator Syndicate truck, the parts in the back and him and Emma set about installing this piece into the Knight, this new piece of equipment. Emma what does that look like?
Cameron: So we're installing it into the left arm of the Knight. And the attachments are basically two, small in comparison to the Knight but so not that small actually, little posts that are stuck in on either side of the Knight's wrist that then have a wire that feeds back to around the elbow of the Knight that, there's a hook on the elbow so it can attach and it's a lot of Emma sitting there with Shawn holding the pieces in place while she tries to mess with the automation for pieces to make sure that where she's placing the hook can accurately go down, retrieve the wire and pull it back up to pull it taunt again. A lot of going through those motions over and over to get it as smooth as possible before finally attaching things in and removing several of the armor pieces from the top of the forearm and just indenting them a bit so that there's a small channel where we can store some projectiles so that you don't just have one shot with this, you can have a couple lined up. And this is all being done with the Knight turned off, so all of the moving parts are Emma and Shawn and occasionally Cassidy when she gets called in to have to hold a third thing,
Sydney: And even Dresden.
Cameron: Yep. Occasionally, we just got all four people around this massive arm, working the pieces to make sure that when the Knight turns on, everything's hooked up correctly, it's wired correctly. Emma occasionally hooks it up to a small like battery generator so that she can just run the power to this portion of the arm so that she can test out her mechanism without the Knight being fully powered up and it's a lot of the same thing over and over trying to perfect this idea that she had.
Nick: And the day comes where spring breaks over Eagle Hill. The Knight is tested. You know the launcher works and the Rondax line departs to Tree All Mountain. It's not the most efficient cycle but it heads back with only essential supplies and some messages before coming back a few days later for a full loading and a period of time where the train can be worked on and filled with actual supplies. So you know you'll have a couple of days before any passengers make it back to Eagle Hill.
And Shawn brings you a crate that looks incredibly heavy. He can't even lift it out of the truck, he has to go and get a winch and a small crane like you would use to pull the engine block out of a car and sets the crate down with a groan in the back of the rig. He cracks the crate open and you see what you can only think of as cannon balls. They're about the size of a full grown cantaloupe with small divots all around, like a golf ball to help it fly quickly and aerodynamically, even though it's spherical. And Shawn looks to Cassidy and Emma and says,
Nick (as Shawn Ward): A little gift from the city for keeping us running all this time.
Cameron (as Emma): Ooh~.
Sydney (as Cassidy): That's a big stack.
Nick (as Shawn Ward): Now, Emma?
Cameron (as Emma): Yes?
Nick (as Shawn Ward): There's about 10 of these here. And I know we specifically hardened the barrel of your launcher so that you can put rocks or other things that don't fit perfectly, but these suckers will fly straight and they're heavy. They'll put a hole in just about anything you shoot at.
Cameron: Emma approaches and leans down to grab the top one within this pyramid structure that they're in within the box.
Cameron (as Emma): How heavy are these?
Cameron: And then goes to lift it and reaches the point where her arms are fully extended and she would have started actually feeling the weight as she lifted up, and then goes
Cameron (as Emma): Oh, no. Ow.
Nick (as Shawn Ward): Yeah, be careful. Those are about 60 pounds, even hollow like they are.
Cameron: And Emma stands up and reaches around and rubs on her mid back a little bit.
Sydney (as Cassidy): Still a couple of funny colors there, Emma?
Cameron (as Emma): Little bit. It's pretty much fine, it's just there are certain muscle twinges that... yeah, ow. Okay. You said 60 pounds? Sorry.
Sydney (as Cassidy): So mostly human liftable then, Shawn?
Nick: He picks one up with one hand and holds it up.
Sydney (as Cassidy): [overlapping] Okay.
Cameron (as Emma): [overlapping] Okay, well, yeah,
Nick: You can see the bones on the back of his hand kind of bulging and his arm is trembling a little doing it. But he keeps a wide smile on his face, trying to make it look as easy as possible.
Nick (as Shawn Ward): Yeah, it's pretty human liftable.
Cameron (as Emma): I mean, I know the only reason that you're even having any issues with it at all is just because it's an awkward size to hold on to in your hand.
Nick (as Shawn Ward): Oh, yeah.
Nick: And he brings it down from where he was holding it into two hands and then sets it back down in the box, making sure to bend at the knees and keep his back straight.
Sydney (as Cassidy): Yes, we're all very impressed.
Cameron (as Emma): [sigh]
Nick (as Shawn Ward): I'm really strong. Just saying.
Cameron (as Emma): I know.
Sydney (as Cassidy): I was aware.
Nick (as Shawn Ward): Aww, thanks. I feel like we've really bonded over the last few weeks Cassidy, me and you.
Sydney (as Cassidy): [soft laugh] Any more luck in getting your hardware around town?
Nick (as Shawn Ward): No~, but I did find a new shortstop for the team which is more important.
Sydney (as Cassidy): [laugh] You never know.
Cameron (as Emma): Have you started looking for my replacement yet?
Nick: He looks really sad.
Nick (as Shawn Ward): No one could replace you, Emma.
Cameron (as Emma): I know, but you need another team member.
Sydney (as Cassidy): And we, not like we exactly how to choice.
Sydney: Then Cassidy looks over at the knife board - the dartboard.
Cameron (as Emma): Yeah we've got like nine days.
Nick: One of the voting drones floats by the dirty window of the warehouse.
Nick (as Shawn Ward): Well, it is what it is. You can always come back after the banishments over.
Sydney (as Cassidy): [sigh]
Cameron (as Emma): [doubtful] Yeah.
Sydney: Cassidy visibly stops herself from continuing to be bitter about this.
Nick: Shawn nods approvingly at this sign of growth.
Sydney: Cassidy flips him the finger.
Nick: He smiles wider. And he hops back into his rattily truck.
Cameron (as Emma): Wait wait wait wait -
Nick (as Shawn Ward): What?
Cameron (as Emma): Shawn before you leave, can you move this box to under this table on the other side of the truck, please?
Nick: He blows air out puffing his cheeks out and says
Nick (as Shawn Ward): Yeah, sure.
Sydney (as Cassidy): It's a good thing you're so strong.
Nick: We see Emma and Cassidy standing on the front side of the rig and you hear Shawn groaning and the grind of wood being crushed against metal as he pushes on the inside of the truck. The truck is rattling on its shocks slightly and then you hear a long pause. And then Shawn again goes
Nick (as Shawn Ward): [groan of effort]
Nick: And is pushing it.
Cameron (as Emma): I thought you would use the crane that you brought with you, Shawn.
Nick: He hops down out of the back of the truck. It's not enough that it's obvious, but if you're looking for it, the truck is now sitting slightly off center with where these cannon balls are seated on its shocks.
Cameron: That's fine. It'll even back out and we have the Knight sit down on the opposite side. [laughing]
Nick: Shawn wipes some sweat off his forehead and says
Nick (as Shawn Ward): Eblntsy preserve us. That's so heavy.
Cameron (as Emma): Shawn, you had a crane.
Nick (as Shawn Ward): I'd already put it in the truck. I thought I could slide it and I could. What's important is that I could.
Cameron (as Emma): Okay, well, thank you. I appreciate it.
Nick (as Shawn Ward): You're welcome.
Nick: He climbs back into the truck smiles, cracks his back by pulling his shoulders back. His bushy brows are a little droopy from sweat. He says,
Nick (as Shawn Ward): Anyway, I'll see you all before you go.
Cameron (as Emma): For sure.
Nick (as Shawn Ward): Toodles.
Nick: And he wiggles his fingers.
Cameron (as Emma): Thank you~!
Nick: And that hits the gas pedal it drives away.
Sydney: Cassidy grins at the pure machismo of the situation and then with the contrast of the finger wiggles.
Cameron: Emma heads back in to continue her work in packing up the back of the truck in an organized fashion.
Sydney: Cassidy makes sure that their travel stores are properly restocked. All of the dry goods and soaps, normal travel things, making sure that the tents are checking over the fabric making sure there's no holes or anything, that basically they're in good position to be on the road again.
Nick: And the next thing we see is Emma and Cassidy. They're back at Eagle Hills train station. The Rondax line has just pulled in. It looks to be in good repair. It wasn't attacked by bandits or anything and people are piling off of the train in droves.
Sydney: Cassidy is looking for a cloaked face, especially if there's glowing eyes but the cloaks, there are fewer of them and that's a marker of her friend that, it eliminates how many people she has to try and judge as they get off the train.
Cameron: Emma has gone the very cliche route of standing on the bottom section of a lamppost where it's slightly wider hanging on to see above the crowd at a train station. And so she's scanning from a higher viewpoint.
Nick: You see so many faces coming off of this train. They remind you of what it was like before, the last time you were here, the last train coming from Tree All Mountain to Eagle Hill, so many faces young and old. Everyone is dressed formally, as is required, but some look more comfortable in those kinds of clothes than others. All sorts ride the Rondax line, but as the porters finish unloading the bags and freight and people begin to find those who are waiting for them, family, associates, the train station begins to clear out and Wyatt and Zee-o aren't there.
Sydney: Cassidy looks across the now emptying train station at Emma making eye contact with dismay clear on her expression.
Cameron: Emma finishes a sweep of the crowd and makes eye contact with Cassidy and just looks lost.
Sydney: And Cassidy walks over in just walks up to Emma, puts a hand on her, just wraps her up and a hug, lifts her head up on Emma's shoulder and just says
Sydney (as Cassidy): We're gonna go find them.
[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:
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. 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]