Meet Cassidy as she and Pallie take a day off and climb.
Meet Cassidy as she and Pallie take a day to take a day off and climb.
Transcript: https://www.akosap.com/post/transcript-episode-2-climb-me-to-the-moon
Content Warnings:
- Discussions of death of a loved one
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 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.
- Gravel » Pushing some gravel off a small hill by jorickhoofd. Link & License.
- Black-capped chickadee - Mesange a tete noire.flac by micndom. Link & License.
- ping ching ring sword-clang thing (long tail).wav by Timbre. Link & License.
- breeze.wav by keweldog. Link & License.
- Inside the Moon by Stephan Siebert. 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:
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A Knight of Shreds and Patches Transcript
Episode 2: Climb Me to the Moon
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.
Sydney: Sydney Whittington as Cassidy Shard.
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]
Drew (as Wyatt): Last time on A Knight of Shreds and Patches, Pallie and I, we went into town lookin’ for some supplies for the Knight. There were some punk kids that came up tried to take it from us and we, uh, made sure they didn’t. And really that’s about it. [pause] Yeah.
[radio static]
Episode Start:
[birds chirping]
Nick: Cassidy. The day has finally come. The breeze eases its way through the open flaps of your tent, and like a siren song you can tell the weather has finally changed for the better. Why don't you describe yourself and what the inside of your tent looks like?
Sydney: Sure. So Cassidy is about five, four or five, five. She's very wiry. She's got long brown hair done up in a crown braid wrapped around her head with a couple of flowers interwoven through it. She's got a friendly open face, pretty strong features. Each of her ears has several small piercings in it. There's a thin old faded scar running vertically through the edge of her right eyebrow. She's got on a brown wax canvas jacket, some gray flexible but sturdy pants, and some brown leather work boots. Cassidy looks really cheerful. She's excited that the weather has turned. She sees the sun gleaming in the not quite closed flap of the tent and gets a big smile on her face. Her tent is somewhat sparsely decorated. There's some drawing supplies and a couple of in progress maps spread out on a little folding desk. And neatly placed at the foot of her bed, there's a small trunk, a little bit bigger than a briefcase. From the outside, it just looks like storage, but Cassidy knows that inside there is a projected light piano that she plays on the rare occasion that something needs a little bit of soundtrack and she's in the mood to provide it.
Nick: As you step outside your tent to admire the weather, you notice that the mud has finally dried enough that you don't squelch when you step onto the ground off of your tarp. This is another good sign. As you step out of the tent, you see the receding figure of Wyatt walking into the woods alone. Pallie you're standing with Zee-o. What do you look like right now?
Rhi: Pallie is in her early 50s, has lines around her eyes and at the corners of her mouth. Her hair is steel gray, cropped pretty short - looks like it was a rough crop, like she did it herself or somebody with a knife helped her do it but it was a little raggedy. She has the sleeves of her shirt rolled up to the elbow so you can see that her right arm is a robotic prosthetic. And both hands, the metal one and the flesh and bone one, kind of have those scuffs and dings and scars that are the mark of somebody who works with their hands a lot. She's also wearing very kind of pragmatic, practical, sturdy clothing, good boots, pants with a lot of pockets, a tool belt that she just has a few things stuck on to. She's got her arms folded, frowning into the woods after Wyatt and glances over at Zee-o and it's just like,
Rhi (as Pallie): Don't get too close. But uh, keep an eye on him, all right?
Nick: Zee-o's face, which does not move and shows no expression, turns to you and looks back to the woods. And they nod silently and stalk off after him. Cassidy you see Zee-o head out after Wyatt, and Pallie standing there alone in this clearing of the camp where you've settled. The snow has mostly melted, the ground has begun to dry in the warmer spring sun and the garage that you found, nestled within the hill of this camp, is sitting dark and silent behind you.
Rhi: Pallie after a moment kind of shakes her head and turns away from the woods and like runs a hand through her hair and is walking back towards the camp with a little more purpose and focus.
Sydney: Cassidy sees Pallie walking back, not bearing Wyatt or Zee-o, and her smile continues to be big.
Sydney (as Cassidy): Good morning, Pallie. I think you should ignore everything else that's going on with the Knight and take a break to come climb today.
Rhi (as Pallie): [laughs] Uhhhhmmm
Rhi: Pallie kinda shoots a look at the garage and then will look over at Cassidy.
Rhi (as Pallie): Where’d you have in mind for climbing?
Sydney (as Cassidy): So, I've been exploring basically everything that's anywhere around here. And I scouted a particularly interesting monolith that I've been saving for the past five months for the day when I could actually use you know, bare fingers on it umm and actually feel the rock instead of having to stab it with ice tools. Um so I have a great spot. And I'm sure we can have Iokua watch the camp and make sure nobody gets up to anything.
Sydney: And Cassidy throws a glance at Iokua.
Nick: Iokua is a large man with dark tan skin. Some tattoos peeking out from under his tight shirt, he's tall and looks like someone you would describe as lithe and quick but the more you look at him, you realize that he's actually extremely well muscled, has long hair pulled back in a ponytail, a chiseled face, just an Adonis of a man, and he's wearing a tight black t shirt with the sleeves rolled up and just straight black jeans. And he's crouched by the fire and he looks up he goes,
Nick (as Iokua): Oh, you're just going to leave me here. Fine. You go do what you do.
Sydney (as Cassidy): You're a responsible young man.
Nick: He smiles real big, which shows off his rakish eyebrow scar in a fun angle and says,
Nick (as Iokua): Umm responsible is not usually the word that gets used, but sure yeah, I'll watch the camp.
Sydney: Yeah, and saying young is a little bit of an interesting word choice for Cassidy, because she's probably the youngest person in this crew. She's only early 30s.
Rhi: Pallie kind of glances between the two of them and is like,
Rhi (as Pallie): Well, with the camp in such good hands, how can I say no? Uh, you want to grab something from our stash for breakfast or see if we can't forge something up on the way?
Sydney (as Cassidy): You know what? I'll just let you take care of it and I'll go start prepping the climbing gear. So find something good, or at least not terrible, because I know what we have left.
Rhi (as Pallie): Yeah, I think we ate through all the good flavors earlier in the season, but I will see what I can do.
Sydney (as Cassidy): You know if Wyatt wasn't so opposed to fish, fish is still pretty good.
Rhi (as Pallie): Fi-yeah-well. [deep breath] He's... grew up on a lot of fish. I think uh, the first 16 years lost his taste for it. I'll see what I can find though.
Sydney (as Cassidy): Cool. Then I will appear with a pack for you to carry. [laugh]
Sydney: And Cassidy disappears off into the tent and there's a bunch of jangling.
Nick: Cassidy disappears into the tent and begins packing her two backpacks strung with rope on the outside hanging with carabiners, all of the gear you would need. And Pallie disappears off into the garage where you've kept some of the most long lasting rations as the winter ended, to grab something to munch on as you travel to this climbing site. So you meet up on the edge of the camp. Iokua from his spot where he hasn't moved by the fire gives kind of a two finger wave as you all head out.
Sydney: Cassidy smiles and kinda does the one hip out, little *CHING* with her teeth.
Rhi: Pallie will pass him some breakfast as well before heading off.
Nick: He goes,
Nick (as Iokua): You're just trying to get me to eat through the fish before Wyatt gets back, aren't you?
Rhi (as Pallie): Yep.
Nick (as Iokua): Well, I guess this is a bullet I can take for the team.
Nick: And he takes a large, tearing bite out of the dried fish. So, you all begin to walk through the forest. Cass, you know that you found this climbing location on one of your longer pilgrimages out into the woods when you were exploring. And you set off at a comfortable pace knowing that this will probably be a couple hours hike through the woods to get to where you're going. You each shoulder a pack and as you go through the woods, tell me one thing about nature that you notice as you walk together.
Sydney: Yeah, so this is very early spring, the snows are finally melting. The hints of fresh greenery on the trees are starting to show. So you can still see the sky and everything all the way through. But it's starting to shade in the direction of vibrancy instead of just winter hibernation.
Rhi: I think kind of to that end, there's a lot more birdsong. The migratory birds haven't all made it back yet. It's too early in the season for that. But the birds that don't migrate, that stay here over the winter are coming out and flying around and being a lot more active. And yeah, you can see I think at a few points, some birds are gathering materials to start building nests and soon there will be eggs and more birds returning. I imagine that there's not a ton of conversation as they're walking. They're both just kind of like taking everything in.
Sydney: Cassidys pretty used to just going off on these adventures by herself so she doesn't have an immediate need to start a conversation. She probably have one if one gets started, but until that point, she's just gonna walk, observe nature, looking around like watching a bird drift past. Underneath her backpack full of climbing gear, there's a compound bow in a quick draw sling with a hip quiver hanging on one hip, in case either a good hunting opportunity for some big game presents itself, or a self defense opportunity demands to be dealt with. And she's also slipped on what looks like a minimalist radio headset that sits on her left temple, and there's a little transparent plastic screen that's sitting in the top left corner of her view.
Nick: And you continue through these dense woods, they're just becoming green. I think that the ice broke a little early this year so that it exposed a lot of the still dormant plant life and it's just beginning to bud out underneath where the snow used to be. And you're called onward by that gentle breeze weaving through the trees. And you're lulled into the kind of meditative state that the pace of your breathing and your steps make as you brush through the undergrowth. Just enjoying the hike in each other's company. After a time, there's some small talk, but mostly you're focused on the journey. You come to your rare prize Cassidy. Something that you discovered, like you said five months ago. A moon shard nestled into an impact crater in the woods. This one must have fallen fairly recently, within the last 80 years or so. The pale basalt is still sharp against the sky where it sticks out of the trees, and the 1000 foot impact crater has begun to regrow. But the blasted skeletons of dead trees still reach bleakly to the clouds above. The shard itself rises maybe 50 feet or so from the base of the crater. And you already know that the impact left cracks and chips on the largest face, perfect for climbing. You stop on the edge of the crater as the birds chirp around you and survey your prize.
Sydney (as Cassidy): So Pallie, what do you think?
Rhi: Pallie just lets out a long impressed whistle. Is like,
Rhi (as Pallie): That sure is a prize.
Sydney (as Cassidy): It's not every day you get to climb a piece of something that's, you know, not from here.
Rhi (as Pallie): No, I don't, huh. Can't say I've ever climbed on a chunk of the moon before.
Sydney (as Cassidy): Well, fortunately, that will be your job today.
Sydney: Cassidy says that she skips down only like twice before switching back to walking and then just proceeding normally towards the closest face.
Nick: It's like carefree to the point of almost sarcasm, but it isn't. It's genuine. And it's, it's endearing. [laugh]
Rhi: Yeah I think Pallie laughs and shakes her head and kind of a "ah kids" sort of thing. [laugh] And will follow after and is looking around this crater with a lot more... focus? Before she'd just been kind of looking around observing nature, just taking things in. Now there's a lot more curiosity of what happens to a place after this kind of event. How have things recovered and what hasn't recovered?
Nick: So the undergrowth has begun to regrow, you see saplings, some as much as 15 to 20 years old, so beginning to really be recognizable trees. There's moss on the shattered dirt, but there's also strange strata of thrown up stone and soil from layers that have come from as deep as the moon must have struck. You can tell that the trees that were here at the impact were vaporized closer to the impact zone, but that a lot of them, while losing their branches, the trunk still stood and you can see vines and smaller plants growing up the tree trunks that remain and you can see that birds have made their homes there. Some small rodents have as well and that it's really become this sort of bustling but still devastated looking metropolis.
Rhi: Pallie looks skyward, can't see what's left of the moon at this point in the day but still looks up and then kind of looks around and goes like,
Rhi (as Pallie): I wonder what brought it down. [pause] Up there all that time, floating around with the rest of it and then it just fell off.
Nick: And so you get to the base of this shard. The soil surrounding it is a mixture of the natural stone and pulverized basalt from the impact and the actual moon shard itself. There's plenty of space to lay out your gear and prepare. What does that look like?
Sydney: Cassidy throws her backpack down, gently, uh starts unraveling all the carabiners and everything. Takes the rope out, puts it in a pile on one side, runs it through her hands to make sure there's no tangles and no frays. Gets her harness on, gets the rack of all these carabiners and cams and nuts and all the tools that stick things in small spots in the rock that will hold a rope and hold your weight, so that if you inevitably fall nothing bad's gonna happen. And you can enjoy this recreational activity without getting anything broken.
Sydney (as Cassidy): Yep. So Pallie, uh it's gonna be - I mean, we've done this a couple times. I think it's been a few months because ice climbing is really hard.
Rhi (as Pallie): More than a few months. I definitely wouldn't mind a refresher.
Sydney (as Cassidy): Yeah, so the best way for me to do this to make it easy on you, is I will lead climb this. I will give you a pile of rope, make sure we're all hooked up, make sure all the knots and everything are good. I will, you know, basically climb this thing. I'll leave a bunch of gear behind, and then I'll set a rope anchor and stuff at the top and make it easy for you to come up after me. And if you want, you can collect all the gear that I'm leaving and if you don't want, I'll just pick it up on the way down.
Rhi (as Pallie): All right.
Sydney (as Cassidy): And I figure we can, you know, hang out at the top a little bit and see what's going on up there.
Rhi (as Pallie): Yeah.
Sydney (as Cassidy): Obviously, this shard is pretty big, so if you wanted to, or if I want to, after I set my rope up at the top, I'll repel down and go climb up in a different spot because you know, climbing is fun.
Rhi (as Pallie): [laughs] Well if nothing else that's got to be a hell of a view up there.
Sydney: So Cassidy's laid out all the gear she looks up at the wall and goes,
Sydney (as Cassidy): I think it's gonna be warm enough that I won't need a jacket and that's why I waited until today.
Sydney: So she undoes the buttons on our canvas jacket, lays it gently on the ground to reveal just a black tank top. Muscles very defined on her shoulders. And her arms have climbing ivy tattoos running all the way up from about the wrist to tapering off around the shoulders on both arms.
Nick: Are they black ink? Are they a dark green ink?
Sydney: They're dark green yeah, and there's a couple of occasional blooming flowers on them in varying colors. And the flowers in her hair today match exactly one flower on her arm.
Nick: Pallie, you begin to put on your harness and the ropes and you play the slack out for Cassidy as Cassidy begins to climb the largest face. It is at a slight angle away from you. So while it is the longest face with the most handholds, it isn't inverted or anything that's going to be super challenging. The hardest part will be that this is a new wall you haven't climbed before you don't know where the handholds will be, you'll have to be scouting as you go. And it's still very tall, so it will be a check of your endurance to see how you get up. So to get started, Cassidy, if you could roll me an Athletics check at, mm, average difficulty but with a black die because this is a new rock wall you haven't climbed before.
Sydney: Well, conveniently, Cassidy has a rank in Knack For It Athletics, which removes two black dice from any Athletics check. So I will immediately knock that black die right back off.
Nick: Ah, that's handy.
Sydney: And I will roll two yellow and two purple.
[dice rolling]
Sydney: I have one success. And that's exactly what I needed.
Nick: Hey, you know, like thematically though, that makes a lot of sense. So you do this climb, exerting exactly the amount of effort to get up without taking any unnecessary risks or making yourself too tired. You're successful. You do it by the book.
Sydney: Yeah. And there's a big part of climbing and everything like this is you don't want to use muscles if you can get away with not. So it's always about pushing off with your legs, you know, don't do a pull up. It looks pretty.
Nick: So you climb about two thirds of the way up with this check, just doing it by the book. Do you want to describe that action in a little more detail?
Sydney: Yeah, so it's like mini problem solving. She looks up, finds a handhold, maybe a foot above her head, locks a finger in, brings her foot up to a spot maybe a foot above where it's currently resting, tests it with her toe and then pushes off repeats that a couple of times. Maybe about every 8 or 10 feet, she'll find a good crack or one of those good handholds and wedge in a cam to be able to hold her weight in case something goes wrong. Attach the rope through that to her harness and everything and then just continuing on up. She's done this a lot in her life.
Nick: You're about two thirds of the way up. The rope is trailing behind you hooked into these climbing snags and you're feeling very secure, and you get to this almost completely sheer piece of the stone. It looks almost like obsidian where it's glasslike must have fused in the heat of reentry and sheared off there. And you can see just enough of a handhold above you that you could get a grip, but you know you're gonna have to do a dynamic move and keep going and shimmy up just using your toes on the rock and grab at a better handhold further up. So we're going to do this one as a Coordinations check because this is leaning more on your grace and technique as a climber than your endurance, but it is going to be a hard check.
Sydney: Well fortunately Cassidy's a lot more Agile than she is Brawny. So where Athletics is more about the muscle, this is about Cassidy being graceful. So Cassidy for this one gets a yellow and three green but no Knack For It this time cause this is all natural talent.
[dice rolling]
Sydney: Four advantages.
Nick: Oh, okay, you don't make it. So you don't succeed in this dynamic move the way you want, but you do get something very nice and unexpected out of it. So what I think happens is you begin to scramble up this sheer ledge, you get just a single finger linked in to this very small handhold you were going to use to keep moving and it snaps away under your weight, [rocks falling] and you begin to fall, but you had just sunk a spike into the rock behind you into a crack right before you did this move, so you don't fall very far at all. You don't fall backwards, you just slide back to where you were and stop your momentum. But the shock of the sudden change in direction and of the tension on your arm being released by the breaking stone does take quite a bit of energy and make your adrenaline surge causing you to lose 3 Strain.
Sydney: That takes me from 12 to 9 so I still have a fair amount.
Nick: With the advantages you're safe. I think as you hit the end of the rope, you swing around a crack that you had been following and you see a much shallower path that lets you to almost bear walk your way up to the summit. It was hidden behind the fissure in the stone, and you're able to run the rope up that way making the rest of the climb much easier. And you make the summit.
Sydney: Yeah after that fall, Cassidy clings to the wall for a second, looks up, takes a few deep breaths, centers herself.
Rhi (as Pallie): You okay up there?
Sydney (as Cassidy): Everything's fine. Just you know, I'm just enjoying the excitement of the climb. I will try not to knock any more small rocks down on your head though. Sorry~.
Rhi (as Pallie): It's alright, I dodged them.
Sydney: Yeah having taken that quick breather, Cassidy will continue up the route that she may have seen in the beginning but wanted to try the hard way and since this is the first time that she's back to climbing with hands instead of ice tools, she's a little bit rusty.
Nick: Well and it's the kind of thing if you were to repel down and make another go at it you would try that face again.
Sydney: Yeah, definitely.
Nick: But since you're also trying to make a path for Pallie you're looking at that you're like we're gonna have to like,
Sydney: Yeah, and lead climbing the very first part to set the top rope really should probably be the easiest way to get up there. And that's what Cassidy did it by picking this face.
Sydney (as Cassidy): But sometimes you have to try the challenge.
Nick: And you summit the shard. You are at the top, there are several jagged outcroppings where you can easily affix the rope where it's not gonna go anywhere and make a solid belaying surface to help Pallie to climb.
Sydney: Yeah, so Cassidy does a big fancy, all the proper safety checks, anchor for Pallie and rigs up the rope to be able to belay Pallie from above, looks off the edge and goes,
Sydney (as Cassidy): Alright, you ready to come up for yourself?
Rhi (as Pallie): Yep!
Sydney (as Cassidy): I recommend most of my line and then the second part of the line that I picked up at the top. [Pallie laughs] I think that's probably the easiest if you just want to come up.
Rhi (as Pallie): Sounds good.
Rhi: So yeah, Pallie will start up.
Nick: You will be doing an Athletics check, which will still be average, but you will have 3 blue die because Cassidy's belaying and the right equipment, and you got to watch somebody do the climb first.
Rhi: All right. And I'm not too shabby at Athletics either. Got a - what is that? I think a yellow and a green. Yeah.
[dice rolling]
Rhi: Two successes and a threat.
Nick: Ooh, you don't have to try to make the dynamic move that Cassidy did because the rope is leading you down the more easy line and you don't have anything to prove; you're coming up here for the view. So you don't have to do that kind of move and this check brings you all the way to the top. But as you crest over the top, the wind hits you, and you get the scale of how high you are, and that you're secured to this piece of stone that came from space by a piece of synthetic rope. And that knowledge is, as somebody who works in metal and gears and solidly on the ground, makes you a little dizzy and you take a Strain from just the realization that if you step the wrong direction, you could be very hurt.
Rhi: Yeah, I don't think there's a huge amount of outward sign of it. I think that she just kind of like plants her robot hand firmly on the nearest rock outcropping to steady herself and just kind of takes a couple seconds because like, she did want to come up here for this view. She's not gonna let herself get spooked by it.
Sydney: Cassidy sees that Pallie, made it up, and then goes to check her rope and make sure she's still tied in and then goes and promptly hangs her legs off the side of the thing.
Rhi: I think after a couple moments of kind of steadying herself, Pallie will follow suit, although I don't think she hangs her legs over the edge, I think she sits cross legged, next to Cassidy, but not all the way over the edge.
Nick: And this is a pretty flat and even stretch of rock, there is a small spire that rises off to one side that comes up to a very sharp point, you all didn't climb the small spire, it's another 10 feet up from where you're sitting. But this is the best place to comfortably sit. You can see out over the edge of the crater, past the blasted trees to the rest of the forest and past that to where the forest begins to rise in kind of a shallow bowl and cuts off your view of the large inland sea and where you had been camping. But you can see a vast stretch of the land. By this point with your long walk and your climb, it's come to be about late afternoon and the sun isn't setting necessarily, but it's slid behind some clouds and the evening light has grown pleasant, and there's a slight chill in the air. But you're still warm from your climb. And you have this moment to look over nature. You have done it.
Sydney (as Cassidy): Climbing is fun.
Rhi (as Pallie): Yeah. Yeah. Glad you uh, asked me along. I needed to get out of that garage for a bit.
Sydney (as Cassidy): How is the Knight coming?
Rhi (as Pallie): [sigh] It's, it's coming along really well. And when Wyatt and I went into town a couple weeks ago, I picked up some parts for the knee. So I've got, all the limbs are mobile. But the problem... Well, THE problem, a lot of problems. One of the ones I'm working on right now is trying to get basically the brain working again, it uh - I can plug into a leg or an arm or a hand and tell it to move by fidgeting with wires and tools. But I can't get it to run the way it's meant to yet. You're supposed to be able to give it commands from the controls and it'll go, but [sigh] I'm having to map out the whole nervous system basically and there's a lot of stuff that's missing or rusted or just not doing what's supposed to.
Sydney (as Cassidy): I'm always so, it's it's always, it's so impressive, just the level of mechanical expertise that you can throw at this thing.
Rhi (as Pallie): [soft laugh] It's uhh, probably the biggest puzzle I've ever had to solve. And I'm, I'm real glad we found it.
Sydney (as Cassidy): I'm really looking forward to seeing it in action. [Pallie laughs] I hope we have a good action to put it into, I guess.
Rhi (as Pallie): Yeah...yeah I can't wait to see that thing up and walking around.
Sydney: Yeah and Cassidy just looks off into the distance a little bit, sees a bird and follows it with her gaze.
Rhi: I think Pallie will kind of let the silence linger for a little bit. She's kind of sifting through the chunks of loose rock scattered around next to her and is picking up good sized chunks, kinda a good palm sized pieces and slipping them into her pockets. She's just grabbing souvenirs for everybody cause like hey, how many people have moon rocks, right? [laughs] So she's just gonna bring them back to the camp for everybody. But I think after a little while when Cassidy doesn't start talking again, Pallie will look over at her and just study her for a couple moments and be like,
[soft piano music starts]
Rhi (as Pallie): It's uh, been a long winter, huh?
Sydney: Yeah - Cassidy sighs, doesn't make eye contact back just keeps looking out at the trees.
Sydney (as Cassidy): Yeah, there's been a lot of stuff.
Sydney: And she unconsciously runs her hand along that old scar on the side of her face.
Rhi (as Pallie): How you holding up? I know we're coming up on about six months since Owen.
Sydney (as Cassidy): It really sucks.
Rhi (as Pallie): Yeah, Yeah, it does.
Rhi: And I think Pallie will reach out with her left arm, so the flesh and bone one, and kind of squeeze her shoulder for a moment.
Sydney (as Cassidy): I'm the reason she's not here with us now, you know?
Rhi (as Pallie): No, I don't know that.
Sydney (as Cassidy): Wyatt makes a point of reminding me.
Rhi (as Pallie): [long sigh]
Rhi: Pallie is very clearly choosing her words with great care. There's sort of a long pause before she says anything else and is kind of working her jaw before she starts talking again.
Rhi (as Pallie): Wyatt is my baby brother and I am always gonna love him, but he also cannot, will not, take responsibility for a thing that happens to him or around him.
Sydney (as Cassidy): I mean, they went on a mission and I saved two of them. You think I could have saved Owen with, you know, that whole thing.
Rhi (as Pallie): [sigh]
Rhi: So I think Pallie will just kind of sit for a little bit and be like,
Rhi (as Pallie): When, I, I wasn't there. I didn't see what happened. And [pause] sparks, maybe it was your fault. But,
Sydney: Cassidy's slightly flinches at that.
Rhi (as Pallie): There's, situations like that, there's so many things happening and you have to make the best decision you can in the moment and I know you did that, as you always do. And everybody there was making decisions, including Wyatt. He could have done things differently too and maybe it would have turned out different.
Sydney (as Cassidy): But it's, I was brought in to be the sharpshooter, like, okay. I made two perfect shots, but I didn't make the third and, you know...
Rhi (as Pallie): But what did Wyatt do in the city that had them being chased out of there where we needed the sharpshooter? It was supposed to be a simple supply run. What, what did any of them do? Something happened in there to put you in a position where you had to make those shots. It's a lot of things all coming together at once, Cassidy, and you can't keep carrying the blame for all of it.
Rhi: And I think at that, Pallie will kind of scoot over a couple inches and put her arm around Cassidy's shoulders.
Sydney: Yeah. And Cassidy leans into it and closes her eyes for a second.
Nick: And you spend a little bit of time just being in each other's company and taking it in and feeling how you feel having talked through this grief. And Cassidy, you see, past the edge of this crater, past the first row of trees, maybe a full mile away, the glint of a familiar set of lenses as something inhuman and metallic and frightening down to an instinctual level, begins to climb out of the forest up a tree. Its head spins around as it surveys the surrounding countryside.
Sydney: Cassidy was just looking off into the distance thinking about things and she catches this glimpse and she snickers to herself a little bit and she goes,
Sydney (as Cassidy): [sniff] Pallie, our buddies here, you see him?
Sydney: And she points at this glint. It's bigger than a speck, but it's pretty far away off in the distance.
Rhi: Pallie like squints and has to bring up a hand to shield her eyes from the sun and is like,
Rhi (as Pallie): Oh, back again. Huh?
Sydney (as Cassidy): He's, you know, he's been chasing me longer than I've been with you guys.
Rhi (as Pallie): Yeah.
Sydney (as Cassidy): I mean, we had that whole thing.
Rhi (as Pallie): Yeah, yeah.
Sydney (as Cassidy): A couple years ago, you got to see him up close and personal.
Rhi (as Pallie): And that is as close as I ever want to get to that thing. [sigh] Think we oughta hit the trail? Get back? Make sure nothing's burned down?
Sydney (as Cassidy): He'll take a little bit. I mean, I want to I want to enjoy being out here for a moment longer.
Sydney: And Cassidy just leans back and puts her head on the ground behind her and looks up at the sky.
Rhi: Pallie will kind of chuckle and shake your head and be like,
Rhi (as Pallie): All right, now remember this thing ain't going anywhere. We can always come back.
Sydney (as Cassidy): How much longer do you think we're gonna stay? I mean, I know you have the Captain's ear.
Rhi (as Pallie): [sigh] I don't know. He's not been talking about moving on as much yet. I'm sure he will. You know, he can't seem to stay put. But uh, I figure we're gonna want to wait for the weather to get better and I'd like to be able to keep working on the Knight in a proper garage for a little while longer so, I'm pretty sure I can talk him into at least another month here.
Sydney: I don't know if Pallie is looking at Cassidy's face, but she sighs again, looking up at the sky.
Sydney (as Cassidy): I mean, Wyatt. We used to, arguably like buddies, I don't know. But after Owen like he doesn't, I mean we're civil. I guess? It's not enough to immediately drive me away.
Rhi (as Pallie): Yeah, I mean... you know, things weren't exactly uh, sunshine and rainbows between the two of us for a good long while, but he comes around eventually. And while it might not feel fair, sometimes he'll come around faster if you reach out first, but I reckon it might be a little different for you and him than it was for me and him. But Wyatts not the only person in this group. You have been, I mean, been here longest of almost anybody that's not me and Wyatt.
Sydney (as Cassidy): It's been a few years.
Rhi (as Pallie): You're part of this team, no matter what. And we would not have made it nearly as far as we have without you.
Sydney: Cassidy sits back up and actually makes eye contact with Pallie for a little bit.
Sydney (as Cassidy): I appreciate that.
Rhi (as Pallie): [shrug noise] Just the truth.
Rhi: And I think Pallie glances back out at the forest and then leans forward and looks around is like,
Rhi (as Pallie): Ahh, I lost track of your friend.
Sydney: Cassidy looks where he had been - squints.
Sydney (as Cassidy): Okay, yeah, maybe we should get a move on.
Rhi (as Pallie): Yeah, let's get going.
[piano music fades out]
Sydney: Cassidy collects the loose gear, walks Pallie quickly through the,
Sydney (as Cassidy): Here's how to repel. Don't forget, this is another fun part.
Rhi: Before Pallie goes down, she kind of stops and is like,
Rhi (as Pallie): You grab a rock?
Sydney (as Cassidy): It's not every day that someone gets to go climb on something from the moon. Of course I have five.
Rhi (as Pallie): Excellent. [laughs] That's what I wanted to hear.
Rhi: And so she will, yeah, I think then swing down over the side and start repelling her way down.
Nick: You know that you have enough time before there's any real danger to take your time and be careful, but much like cresting a mountain on a long hike and seeing a thunderstorm in the distance, you can't help but hurry as you repel down knowing that lightning could strike. And you quickly repel down off of the moon shard and retrieve all of your gear and pack it up and hike back into the evening light of the woods as you head back to camp.
[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]