A Knight of Shreds and Patches

An Informal Education

Episode Summary

Meet Emma as Pallie makes a quick stop in Thunder Bay for parts.

Episode Notes

Meet Emma as Pallie makes a quick stop in Thunder Bay for parts.

Transcript:  https://www.akosap.com/post/transcript-episode-4-an-informal-education

Cast:
- Wyatt Fisher is played by Drew Mierzejewski. 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. 
- Pallie Fisher is played by Rhi. Find her on Twitter at @rhiannon42 Rhi is the GM and producer of The Magpies, a Blades in the Dark actual play podcast, and the owner of Skill Check, a document accessibility service for the RPG community. 
- Cassidy Shard is played by Sydney Whittington. They also edit the show. Find them on Twitter at @sydney_whitt
- Zee-o is played by Aly Grauer. 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
- Emma Blackwood is played by Cameron Robertson. Find her on Twitter at @midnightmusic13. and on Instagram a @reading_and_dreaming. Cameron is also a player on Tabletop Squadron, a Star Wars Edge of the Empire actual play podcast. 
- Our GM and narrator is Nick Robertson. Find him on Twitter at @alias58. Nick is also the GM for Tabletop Squadron, which you can support Patreon.com/TabletopSquadron.

Music & Sound Credits:
- This podcast features the musical talents of Dora Violet. You can find Dora at facebook.com/doraviolett
- old radio Channel search sound effect by Garuda1982. Link & License
- old_dodge_truck » t_start1.mp3 by roscoetoon. Link & License
- Tools in a tool box by OpenWillem. Link & License
- FORD LTL 9000_engine start and idle.wav by Broken_Head_Productions. Link & License
- FORD LTL 9000_back up and engine shutdown.wav by Broken_Head_Productions. Link & License
- Mating Silver Crane (ID 280) by Lobo Loco. Link & License.

Art Credits:
- The official artwork for this podcast was created by Rashed AlAkroka, who can be found on Instagram and Artstation @rashedjrs.

Find Us Online:
- Our Website
- Twitter
- Join our Patreon
- Join our Discord

Episode Transcription

A Knight of Shreds and Patches Transcript
Episode 4: An Informal Education
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 -

Rhi:  Rhi as Pallie Fisher.

Cameron:  Cameron Robertson as Emma Blackwood.

Drew:  Drew Mierzejewski as Wyatt Fisher.

Nick:  Nick Robertson as GM and Narrator.

Join us as we follow the Patina: a motley band of traveling mercenaries crossing the land in search of work and resources, combating bandits and wild tech monstrosities along the way.

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]
Aly (as Zee-o): Previously on A Knight of Shreds and Patches, it was snowing.  I assisted Pallie with technical adjustments being made to the Knight and we discussed the complications of sibling relationships. Then we turned the Knight on.  I was able to communicate with it in a new and unexpected way.  Pallie was very excited. 

[radio static]

 

Episode Start:

[truck engine rumbling]

Nick:  Pallie. You've leaned against the thick plastic window of the rig. Trees creep by as Wyatt guides the half track north. The old logger road is soft after a recent rain and you can feel the front tires slip occasionally. Wyatt is hunched over the steering wheel peering down the road and Zee-o is silent in the backseat. Cassidy and Iokua are creeping behind in the rattily jeep. It backfires, and you can hear that it doesn't have much time left.

The air in the closed cabin is stuffy in the early spring warmth and the large truck engine squeals as Wyatt accelerates. There's a belt that's about to go; and you've retightened it more times than it should have survived. You need a new part. There's no way around that. You can't help but sigh with relief, as the outskirts of a sprawling town become visible through the thicket ahead of you. Wyatt is as silent and focused as Zee-o as you pull up to the edge of this town. A hand carved and painted sign says "Welcome to Thunder Bay" in big friendly letters and a half open barn sits by the side of the road, where inside you can see someone working on what looks like half of a tractor. Pallie, as you're sitting in this rig, what do you look like, and what are you thinking?

Rhi:  So, Pallie, is a older woman in her early 50s. She's got gray hair that has been recently cut with more skill, than previous times we've seen. It looks like it had grown out from that really short, hack job with a knife and somebody, probably Zee-o, did a better job this time around.  But her hair's pretty much solidly a silvery gray. She's got laugh lines and crow's feet on her face. Her right arm is robotic, and she's got a lot of scuffs and dings and scars on both hands. She's a person who does a lot of work with her hands. 

And I think that it's warm enough that people don't really need jackets at this point, and as she hops down from the truck, telling Wyatt, that he can wait here, while she heads into town to track down the part that they need, I think mostly she is just glad to be on their way again? The winter was... given how the season started, losing Owen and having to flee from one place to another and hunkering down in the woods. The winter wasn't as bad as she had thought it would be; discovering the Knight kind of changed everything. But it's still good to be out and doing things and to have a job again. Something that gives everybody some focus. So mostly yeah she's just glad that they're on the move again, and wants to get the engine fixed so that they can keep being on the move.

Nick:  As the camera zooms away from the rig and Pallie looking out the window, Wyatt grunts as he cuts the power and tries to see where to drive the truck next, you can see he's debating whether to try and go around through the woods or whether it's worth going through this town and being a little bit more high profile. And the camera zooms away from the rig, and towards this opened barn. And we see Emma, working on this piece of tractor, digging around, elbow deep. Emma, what do you look like?

Cameron:  Emma is in her mid 20s. She has the look of someone who has spent a lot of time outside working outside. Probably you would guess from the surrounding fields in a farm or some sort of similar situation. She has light brown hair, that's pulled back in a loose braid that comes about midway down her back. And is medium height, all of the farmwork looks like it's made her sturdy and strong. And she is rooting around in this tractor and lifting out different pieces and just gently setting them on a side table.

Nick:  As you hear the familiar rumble of the large engine cutting off on the road next to your barn, you look up to see this large rig, and what looks like the hint of a jeep that should not run. Just from a distance you know that jeep, you don't know where it came from but somebody must of pushed it, there's no way. And sticking out of this half track which is half painted dark green and half rusty, you can see what looks like the edge of a large mechanical foot. Maybe a landing gear, maybe something, but it's technology that's beyond anything that you've ever seen before. And hanging off of the side of this truck, you can see what looks like a combat exosuit, much like your uncle's logging exosuit but with armor and reinforced joints and more horsepower. And it's just hanging there on the side of this truck. This truck is probably one of the most interesting things you've ever seen.

Cameron:  Emma abandons the tractor, because that's boring now, and makes her way towards the entrance to the barn and is just staring intently trying to determine what other cool things are with this group that just pulled up because if they've got an exosuit, and there's a giant foot sticking out the back, we've got something going on that's interesting.

Rhi:  Wyatt is very obviously looking from the road leading into the town and over the woods and Pallie just pats him on the shoulder with the back of her hand and is like,

Rhi (as Pallie):  Oh, you don't have to make a decision about which route we're going first. Uh, stay parked here for a couple minutes, I'm gonna go check over at the barn there. See if uh, they know about a mechanic in town.

Nick:  He grunts, and sits back in his chair seeming to look more tense rather than more relaxed as he slumps away from the wheel and just waves nonchalantly at you. It's been a difficult drive.

Rhi:  Pallie just shakes her head and will hop down from the rig. And I think at this point since Emma has come to the front of the barn, Pallie can see her now, will do the bigger wave since I imagine there's a little bit of distance to cover, so that she can see pretty clearly and will half jog over.

Cameron:  Emma does a big wave back, and then just stands awkwardly by the entrance to this barn.

Rhi:  So thinking we're like we've seen each other but we're too far away to talk so now we're just going to look at each other weird while we get close enough. But once they're kind of within comfortable talking distance Pallies gonna be like,

Rhi (as Pallie):  Uh hey, um Miss - I uh, was hoping, um,

Rhi:  and she kinda looks past Emma into this barn and is like,

Rhi (as Pallie):  Oh! Well, was gonna ask if uh you knew where in town I could find a mechanic but looks like I've already found one.

Cameron (as Emma):  Oh, um...

Cameron:  Emma looks behind her to see what was just seen in the barn that determined this, and sees all of the tools and the tractor parts,

Cameron (as Emma):  Well I'm not, I'm not actually the town's mechanic.

Rhi (as Pallie):  Oh,

Cameron (as Emma):  They-they’d be further in if you wanted to see them.

Rhi (as Pallie):  Um, well... honestly, if we could avoid taking this whole rig through the town, uh that'd be better for us, so um...Do you do uh trade? See if you got the part uh that I need, um I can pay you for it.

Cameron (as Emma):  Um yeah sure. I have, I have a, a lot of bits and pieces around here. Um, what are you needing?

Rhi (as Pallie):  It's just the main sequencing belt on the rig out there is about to go.

Cameron:  Emma kind of nods, slightly glassy eyed, and then just turns and walks into the barn. 

Rhi (as Pallie):  Pallie will follow her and is just looking around with interest at what the setup in here is like - how things are organized or not organized.

Cameron:  So, Emma's workshop is what looks like two horse stalls, where the wall was knocked out in between them and this space has just been given to her, but the rest of the barn is still fully functioning as a barn. But within her space, there are a lot of small bits and pieces of mechanical items that look like they're either in the process of being taken apart or being put back together. There's half of a tractor that she was working on. It's just mainly the body part in the front - it's missing anything that would allow you to sit on it or it to move, but it looks like she's been digging into the engine of it. And everything within the space, appears very well organized, there seems to be an organization system at least, and everything looks well used. Nothing appears to be new. These are all tools that look like they may have been cast off by someone else when they were maybe nearing the end of their lives, but Emma has picked them up and they're now in here and she's using them. And so she is in the back corner of the stalls, and there's a large crate that she is leaning over into digging around in.

Rhi:  I think Pallie's attention kind of gravitates to those tools because I think she can recognize both the age and the wear on them and also that somebody, presumably Emma, has put work into making them usable again. And so yeah I think she's just studying those and gets this sort of almost nostalgic little half smile on her face. It's not exactly happy, but it's just sort of like recognizing something.

Nick:  And Pallie as your vision sweeps through this familiar scene, your eyes catch on an old brown cow that's behind the stall wall just nonchalantly chewing its cud and staring at you as you enter.

Rhi:  She just sort of gives the cow a nod. [laughs] Animals, not her area of expertise.

Nick:  The cow doesn't roll its eyes but it definitely seems to outright dismiss you and go back to its chewing and staring into space. The cow is unimpressed.

Rhi:  Yep that's fair.

Cameron:  So after rooting around in the crate a little bit, Emma pops back up, and turns and walks towards Pallie and has just an armful of all sorts of different kinds of belts and lays them out on one of the side tables that was clear of tools and projects. And is like,

Cameron (as Emma):  Okay, these are the belts that I have. Which one did you need?

Nick:  Oh, so this is a very interesting proposition there, Pallie. You very much got a feel from the way this workshop is organized and the way the tractor had been disassembled and there's cubbies of parts all set into the walls, that this was somebody who knew what they were doing. The belts that Emma has set out are from vastly different mechanical apparatus, some of them aren't for engines, some of them are like windmill belts, and things. And this just shows a fundamental lack of understanding in the terminology you used, which doesn't jive with the way this workshop is set up.

Rhi:  So, Pallie kind of glances at Emma side long, and immediately points to one of the belts in the middle is like,

Rhi (as Pallie):  Ah, this is, this is the one that I need.

Cameron (as Emma):  Oh, great. Here, here you go.

Cameron:  Digs it out of the pile.

Rhi (as Pallie):  Are you uhh, you self taught?

Cameron (as Emma):  Yeeesss. What gave me away?

Rhi (as Pallie):  [deep sigh with laugh] If you'd had formal training, you'd know that about half of these are meant for things that aren't trucks.

Cameron (as Emma):  Yeah some of them did seem a little bit small, but... figured it was worth bringing them over.

Rhi (as Pallie):  No, no that, thats

Cameron (as Emma):  Since I wasn't sure exactly [tongue click] what you were needing.

Rhi (as Pallie):  That's a much better approach than just trying to fake it and act like you knew more than you did.

Rhi:  I think Pallie will pick up the belt and kind of look around and be like,

Rhi (as Pallie):  Well I'm not just gonna walk off with some of your equipment. Anything you need in trade?

Cameron:  When Pallie goes to pick up the belt, Emma's eye catches on her mechanical arm. And then catches on it, realizes she's staring at your arm, tries to stop and faces you again is like okay trade. You see her try to come back to the conversation but her eyes just keep drifting...

Rhi:  Pallie grins and shifts the belt to her other arm and just holds the arm out and is like,

Rhi (as Pallie):  You want to take a look?

Cameron (as Emma):  Ohhhh uh, may I? Uh that - it seems rude that I was staring at it and I apologize,

Rhi (as Pallie): Eh!

Cameron (as Emma): but that is so cool!

Rhi (as Pallie):  [laughs] Thank you. I, uh, built it myself. It's always nice to have somebody appreciate my work.

Cameron (as Emma):  Wow, how does it work it?

Cameron:  And starts looking around at the different connecting pieces of the elbow and the wrist.

Rhi:  It basically goes up almost to her shoulder so she can't see where it joins to Pallie's body, but yeah Pallie will turn her arm and back and forth so that she can get a look at it, it will explain some of how the wiring works and what some of the pieces are.

Nick:  Pallie you can see that this girl is really smart because you point out a way the wiring harness joins with the power source and your words are clearly not meaning anything but she's able to connect the context very quickly and connect what she's seeing to what you're saying and you can feel her absorbing knowledge from you like a sponge.

Rhi:  Yeah and I feel like there's points where like, Pallie will get halfway through an explanation and Emma will be like "oh it's this and this" and she's not using the quote unquote correct terminology, but she clearly gets how stuff is put together, and is anticipating what Pallie would explain about how a thing works.

Cameron:  Very much understands the systems being used, but has no idea what they're called. [laughs]

Rhi:  Pallie will slip in sort of, "oh yeah this is the whatever circuit" to just sort of try and give her that little bit of extra help. [laughs]

Cameron:  [laugh] A little bit of actual knowledge.

Rhi:  Yeah.[laugh] She has actual knowledge, she just doesn't have the,

Cameron:  Formal education knowledge.

Rhi:  Yeah. [laughs]

Nick:  Emma as you were talking about this arm and learning more about actuators than you thought existed, you hear a gruff voice calling from the far side of the barn.

Nick (as Uncle Hubert):  Heeyy Emma! Hey Emma - What are you doing in there? You said you were gonna come help me with some of the animals after you were done with that tractor.

Cameron:  Emma pauses, probably mid question to Pallie. Looks longingly at the arm, and is like,

Cameron (as Emma):  Sorry, one second.

Cameron:  And steps out of the little stall area to where she's now in the center part of the barn and can see her uncle.

Cameron (as Emma):  Hey, Uncle Hugh. Actually had.... still working on the tractor, but had some visitors stop by looking for a part so... just got a little bit distracted so I'll just be a little bit longer.

Nick (as Uncle Hubert):  Oh well, if they're looking for a part that you should send them back down into town you're Aunt Jackie'd be the best one for that. I don't know why you're taking up their time.

Rhi:  I feel like at this point Pallie also steps out has the belt slung over her shoulder and is just like,

Rhi (as Pallie):  Oh it's her time that I've been taken up. I've just been chatting with her about the work she's doing here - brilliant setup and had exactly the part that I needed. I actually still have some more business to conduct with her if you don't mind.

Nick (as Uncle Hubert):  Uh, ye. Well, she was gonna help me with the animal. [stretching words]

Rhi:  There is the steeliest of gazes being directed at this man over Emma’s shoulder. [laughing] Emma cannot see it, Pallie is just staring him down.

Nick:  Alright, well then Pallie how about you make me a Coercion check on Uncle Hubert. This is going to be average but with a blue die.

Rhi:  Okay.

Nick:  Because Hubert was not expecting to deal with anyone but Emma.

Rhi:  Yeah

[dice rolling]

Rhi:  Two advantages.

Nick:  Okay, so. Hubert seems taken aback. He scratches at his kind of scraggly dark mustache and he seems to second guess interrupting this. You could tell, he's a little oblivious but he's not unkind, and he looks at Emma and says,

Nick (as Uncle Hubert):  Well Emmabear. I'm glad you get to spend some time with someone from out of town. Uh just don't take too much of their time, okay?

Nick:  And turns and walks off and Pallie you could see Emma visibly freeze at that nickname.

Cameron:  She kind of freezes and then as her uncle turns to leave immediately slinks to where all of her weights now rested on one side, the side that's towards the wall. Looks down and is very red. And is just not looking at Pallie right now. [laughs]

Nick:  The cow sniffles at your hair and goes to chew on it a little and then changes its mind.

Cameron:  Emma lovingly pushes the cow nose away.

Rhi:  Pallie looks around the little workshop again, it's just like

Rhi (as Pallie):  So... Your Aunt uh, run a mechanic shop?

Cameron (as Emma):  Yes. She would be *the* mechanic in town.

Cameron:  Emma's just kicking the dirt looking surly.

Rhi (as Pallie):  Uhh, sorry if this is out of line, but why aren't you there apprenticing with her? Certainly got a talent for it.

Cameron (as Emma):  Yeah, I I tried originally, but I don't, I don't know why, but everyone just thought that I would be better suited to working on the farm and helping with the animals, rather than being in the shop and apprenticing with her. So, one of my cousins Kyle is apprenticing with her. So... but I mean - it's okay. I have, I have this part of the barn. And I can still, I can still mess around with things and my Aunt gives me things to work with and stuff when things wear out at her shop or something is very broken so that I can mess with it, but it's really more of just like a fun hobby for me rather than a professional type thing.

Rhi (as Pallie):  Do you want it to be just a hobby?

Cameron (as Emma):  Noooo.

Rhi (as Pallie):  I don't think so. You don't put this much time to patchin' up tools like this if you don't love it.

Cameron:  Emma has a slight glow of pride that Pallie noticed that she fixed the tools up.

Cameron (as Emma):  Yeah, I've always been really interested in it. it's... I love figuring out how things work. And what makes them work. And like the all the different ways they can stop working. And it, it's super, super interesting but that's, that's just not what I'm meant to do apparently. I will, I will hang out with Bessie.

Cameron:  Gestures to cow.

Nick (as Bessie the cow):  Mooooo

Cameron (as Emma):  And I...I I do, I like helping with the animals, they're... they're friendly I guess?

Rhi (as Pallie):  No offense to uh Bessie here, but um, that sounds like a terrible waste of skill to me. It [sigh] I got into this line of work similarly, I mean I was lucky enough to have somebody I could apprentice with, but I got into it the same way, you just look at something and you can just see all the parts and you want to take it apart and see how they fit together and how to make it better.

Cameron:  Emma's just like nodding enthusiastically along with everything Pallie's saying. [laughs]

Rhi (as Pallie):  And I uh, well Thunder Bay is a hell of a lot bigger than where I grew up, but you can outgrow pretty much anywhere. I ended up leaving town, moving to a bigger place and starting my own shop. Seems kind of like maybe you've outgrown this place too.

Cameron (as Emma):  I, I have never considered leaving. All of my families here and we have always been here - The Blackwoods are founding members of this town and it's something I'm very often reminded of by everyone. Um...I don't, It just... it doesn't seem like a... a thing I'll have the chance to do.

Rhi (as Pallie):  Well, it's a big decision to be sure and not something you should do lightly, but it sounds like there's an awful lot of your family here and uh, they'll probably continue to be in this town, carrying on the line if you decide to go out and see the world a little bit.

Cameron (as Emma):  Yeah.

Cameron:  Emma wistfully looks out the doors of the barn.

Nick:  As you look out of the barn doors, you can see from the slight rise where your Uncle Hubert's barn is set up, bits and pieces of the town of Thunder Bay sticking out of the trees and sprawling farmland and large thick forest where you know that some of your family harvests wood and maintains the land, and you can just see in the distance the large dam that harvests the hydroelectric power, leading into Lake Best. And Pallie you look out as well and you hadn't really thought you were this close to yet another inland sea but it looks beautiful in the late afternoon light.

Cameron (as Emma):  Yeah, well... was the belt, the only thing that your truck needed? The jeep did not sound good. I don't know if that's rude to say.

Rhi (as Pallie):  No, no it is an accurate and honest statement that it is incredible that that thing is still moving, honestly. I have put as much work as I can into it but I don't think I can do much else for it.

[jeep noises]

Nick:  The jeep outside is driving in a tight circle around the rig because if Cassidy stops driving it, it may not start again.

Rhi (as Pallie):  I think we are gonna have to uh let that one go before too long. Can't keep everything with ya.

Rhi:  Pallie watches the jeep, turn around the front of the rig to make another loop and just shakes her head and is like,

Rhi (as Pallie):  Well, I'm afraid I'm gonna have to get going before we run out of fuel for that damn thing.

Rhi:  And she glances at the tractor, kind of squints at it and is like,

Rhi (as Pallie):  You just uh pulling this apart?

Cameron (as Emma):  Yeah, it broke down in a field and some of my cousins brought it over wanting to see if there's anything salvageable for it, besides just melting it down. I haven't found much yet it seems kind of like a hunk of junk, which is, I mean that's normally what I'm working with. But, I dunno.

Rhi (as Pallie):  Well, even hunks of junk have their uses...

Rhi:  And Pallie leans down and squint into it and is like,

Rhi (as Pallie):  Huhh - You know, the manifold in here it looks like it's all right.

Cameron:  Emma leans over the engine as well.

Cameron (as Emma):  Which one is that?

Rhi:  So Pallie will point into the engine be like,

Rhi (as Pallie):  Ya see that that set uh there that looks like some some pipes that kind of curve down at the end.

Cameron (as Emma):  Yeah.

Rhi (as Pallie):  That's it. If you can pull that out that's a really handy piece to have around it's hard to manufacture those now.

Cameron (as Emma):  Yeah, this, this part under here that's the it's getting all of the air and the fuel into the engine.

Rhi (as Pallie):  Yeah. Yeah, exactly.

Cameron (as Emma):  Okay, that's called a manifold. [determined] Okay.

Cameron:  Jumps into the engine with a wrench.

Nick:  And I'm going to need a Mechanic's check from you.

Cameron:  Okay.

Nick:  To try to remove this in one solid piece, but you can have two blue die because of Pallie's guidance. Difficulty will be average.

Rhi:  And I think Pallie like specifically is, she's not giving Emma - leaning over her shoulder being like "okay now unscrew that and unscrew that" she's just standing back and watching and letting her work and just kind of see how she approaches things.

Cameron:  Alrighty.

[dice rolling]

Cameron: One success, two advantages.

Nick:  Nice. So, under the hands off approach of Pallie making sure that Emma learns what she needs to do kind of on her own. Emma you're very quickly able to pull this section of piping out. Normally it's welded directly to another part of the engine, but it looks like that part happened to rust through when this tractor died so that's a bit of luck. And I think for the advantages you actually as you pull the manifold off you notice that the spark plugs, which is a part that you're very familiar with because they tend to go out, there's a couple of them inset in the engine that are actually still good and you're able to take those as well, which is honestly more than you were expecting from this corpse of a tractor anyway. So overall, the day's been a pretty big win.

Cameron (as Emma):  Oh hey, these look good too.

Rhi (as Pallie):  Oh yeah, yeah those are in great shape. Nice work!

Cameron (as Emma):  That's rather surprising that anything was in good shape. [laugh]

Rhi (as Pallie):  Yeah, well I mean that's your instincts to take everything apart and look for the useful stuff are dead on.

Cameron (as Emma):  Well, thanks. Thanks for pointing out the manifold. I would... that I think I would have gotten there eventually. But I would have dug through a lot more layers before getting there.

Rhi (as Pallie):  [laughing] You definitely would have gotten it.

Rhi:  Pallie hefts the belt again it is like,

Rhi (as Pallie):  Uh, hang, give me just a couple minutes. I want to give you something for this.

Rhi:  And Pallie will jog off towards the rig, pauses to let the jeep go by again kind of shouts like

Rhi (as Pallie):  Yeah, yeah we'll be, we'll be going in a minute. Hang on!

Rhi:  I think sets the belt down and rummages around through her kit and grabs the spare set of needle nose pliers and I think a few other scrap parts that, it's stuff that she has extras of, but it's things that she can tell that like, Emma will find very useful. And so she grabs those and jogs back to the barn, and it's just like

Rhi (as Pallie):  Here. This, uh, I think, should be about equal, I hope.

Rhi:  And she will hand over the stuff.

Cameron (as Emma):  Oh wow...

Cameron:  Emma starts opening and closing the pliers.

Rhi:  They've been kept in pretty good condition so it moves a lot more smoothly than probably a lot of the tools that she's worked with before.

Cameron:  Emma probably has pliers, but they're pliers that are hanging on to their useful life by a thread. So, it no longer has the spring aspect of it where, when you let go of it it opens back up. It is all manual moving at this point, so the fact that this one behaves as pliers should is just very exciting. [laughing]

Rhi:  Pallie will set the parts down. She's trying to do it in a way that's like more just casual and informative, not trying to be condescending about it, is like, "Okay, this is, this and this is, this and this is,” you know, “this is called this" and will explain what it's used for if Emma doesn't seem to recognize it right off. But just kind of very quickly will give her the proper names for the other scrap parts that she's brought her. And then I think Pallie stops is like,

Rhi (as Pallie):  And I have been talking to you for all this time and never introduced myself. [laughs]

Cameron (as Emma):  [laughs] Oh! You know. Yeah.

Rhi (as Pallie):  So I'm Pallie Fisher.

Rhi:  She will hold up her robot hand to shake.

Cameron:  Emma excitedly shakes the robot hand [laughing] 

Cameron (as Emma):  Emma Blackwood. It's nice to meet you. And you, you've met Bessie.

Cameron:  Gestures to cow again.

Nick (as Bessie the cow):  Moo.

Rhi (as Pallie):  [laughs] Well, it's been very good to meet you Emma, and uh keep working on this stuff. You've got a real knack for it. Don't give it up just because your family thinks otherwise.

Cameron (as Emma):  Thank you so much for the explanations for things. I have a lot more to go mess with, I think.

Rhi (as Pallie):  Yeah. Well I don't want to keep you from your tractor or the animals, and I need to go before that jeep falls apart on the road.

Cameron (as Emma):  Oh, yeah. Most definitely.

[engine starting]

Nick:  Uhh and you hear the rig rumble back to life, and see Wyatt make an impatient gesture from the steering wheel and rev the engine just a little bit.

Rhi:  Pallie flips him off.

Rhi (as Pallie):  Alright, I gotta go before my brother drives off without me. Uh, it was good meeting you Emma. You take care.

Cameron (as Emma):  It was good meeting you too. Thank you so much Pallie.

Rhi:  Pallie will grab the belt and haul it into the cab with her and I think pass it back to Zee-o who very carefully places it on the seat beside them. And then waves out the window at Emma again and then looks to Wyatt and is like,

Rhi (as Pallie):  Allright, we don't need to cut through town. Got what we need.

Drew (as Wyatt):  Pallie you traded a lot more than that belt is worth. You, you know that, right?

Rhi:  Pallie just shrugs and it's like,

Rhi (as Pallie):  Oh, I uh, I think I got a lot more than just the belt. Should I get, should I take on an apprentice?

Drew (as Wyatt):  [laughter] Oh gosh...but also no. No I I no, I don't think you should have an apprentice. No, that one more person that, we don't have the kind of resources you -  no, just no.

Nick:  And Wyatt starts to drive away from Thunder Bay and back into the woods off on whatever job they have going. You're not really sure what they were doing, Emma, and I think if it wasn't for the tools you held in your hand you'd worry that you had imagined this whole thing, until you hear the backfire of this rattily jeep barreling out of the woods and heading after the rig. And the late afternoon sun is glinting off of Lake Best and you're standing in the doorway of this barn and in the back of the rig, you can see the faint outline of what looks like a giant almost humanoid shape curled up outlined by the afternoon sun, and you can't help but wonder how that works.

[hurdy gurdy music swells]
 

Outro:
[Note: Zee-o is a synthetic humanoid being and primarily speaks in a robotic, monotone voice.]

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.

Rhi as Pallie. Rhi is the GM and producer of The Magpies, a Blades in the Dark actual play podcast, and the owner of Skill Check, a document accessibility service for the RPG community. Rhi can be found on Twitter @Rhiannon42.

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. You can find Dora at facebook.com/doraviolett with two Ts.

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]