The Patina battles Cassidy’s foe and tries to avoid going over the cliff.
The Patina battles Cassidy’s foe and tries to avoid going over the cliff.
Cast:
- Marathon Messenger is played by Pen Prairie-Larson. She can be found on Twitter and Bluesky at @acquiredchaste. Pen is a teacher and indie TTRPG designer whose most recent work includes the X-Bike Ruleset, a high-risk fantasy sports game from the world of AKoSaP. Check out faer other work at pennharper.itch.io.
- Cassidy Shard is played by Sydney Whittington. She is our wonderful editor. Sydney can be found on our Discord server, which is linked in the show notes, and on Bluesky at @sydneywhitt.
- Emma Blackwood is played by Cameron Robertson. Find her on Twitter at @midnightmusic13 and on Instagram and TikTok at @reading_and_dreaming. Cameron was also a player on Tabletop Squadron, a fully completed Star Wars Edge of the Empire actual play podcast.
- Birdie Foundling is played by Kit Adames. Find her on Instagram at @venusvultures. Kit can also be found in the Discord, along with her collection of AKoSaP art that grows whenever she’s not facing art block.
- Our GM and narrator is Nick Robertson. Find him on Twitter at @alias58. Nick was also the GM for Tabletop Squadron and can also be found as a player on the Orpheus Protocol.
Music & Sound Credits:
- 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.
- old radio Channel search sound effect by Garuda1982. Link & License.
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- Foley class » metal screech and scraping.wav by Halleck. Link & License.
- COMTelm_Data Transmission Or Read Out Signal 3.Artificial_EM.wav by newlocknew. Link & License.
- Lac des Arcs by Julia Kent. Link & License.
- Big Water by Sergey Cheremisinov. 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
Season 4 Episode 4: In The Loving Embrace
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 –
Pen: Pen Prairie-Larson as Marathon Messenger.
Kit: Kit Adames as Birdie Foundling.
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:
It’s Halloween Eve Eve today, the day where you run out and buy candy and start putting your last minute costume together because you’ve been peer pressured into going to your friend’s Halloween party and don’t just want to go as a serial killer [creepy voice] who looks just like everyone else [/end]. The good news is, there are more costumes left than there would be tomorrow, and you’re rad enough to be listening to the latest episode when you do so.
And if you need any more ideas for said last minute costumes, consider backing our Patreon, which gives you access to bonus episodes, campfire conversations, and other fun rewards.
And with that, we wrap up today’s announcements and head into Season 4, Episode 4: In The Loving Embrace. 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]
Cameron (as Emma): Last time on a Knight of Shreds and Patches, we came across a bridge with a random really tall guy standing in front of it telling us that we could not pass. Like really tall - inhuman levels of tallness caused by what appeared to be some sort of lower body exo-suit, at least that’s what it looked like when the wind blew his giant floor length cloak a bit. Little intense for everyday wear, but it was probably warm. Marathon and I went out to try and make friends to see if we could get across the bridge and learned that he was an Advantia member named Secant who had some sort of deal with the settlements on the other side of the bridge to not let strangers cross over. Marathon asked about his research project and then I science nerded my way into his good graces and we were able to make a deal for him to let us pass if we let him examine Cassidy’s headset. Apparently there are numerous frequencies it’s sending waves out in and then as he was telling us this…Cassidy’s spider friend showed up and um, impaled him. [deep breath] Luckily I had my sword with me, so I started taking on the spider while Marathon raced Cassidy back to where Birdie was waiting in the rig. Not sure what their plan was back there cause this spider is very fast and very strong and I am already quite tired from keeping its attention and trying to avoid getting crushed - I was able to grab Cassidy’s headset from where Secant dropped it and that seemed to get me pretty much all of its attention - at least until Birdie hit it with the rig, which didn’t phase it as much as I would have liked…I can hear the Knight starting up though, so hopefully Cassidy can make sense of all my instructions and can come give this thing something of its own size to fight.
[radio static]
Episode Start:
Nick: The grinding crash of metal on metal echoes across the gorge as the rig smashes into this gigantic mechanical spider. Two of its rear legs are chewed up under the tires and rip free as the spider clambers up onto the hood of the vehicle and begins tapping and smashing at the front windshield, attempting to get at Birdie. Marathon is off to the side of the rig, attempting to release the exosuit. Cassidy is in the rear of the rig, trying to boot the Knight, and Emma is off to the side after having been slammed by the spider. And we are to the top of the Initiative order.
Sydney: Cassidy has been reading labels within the Knight and is slowly following along the startup sequence, flipping switches, turning knobs, and otherwise physically interfacing with the instrumentation to try and get it going while she has been shaken around by the rig suddenly starting moving and abruptly stopping moving as it hits the spider, or what she suspects is hitting the spider. She, again, reflexively reaches for where her headset normally is to ask for clarification and doesn't find it before going back to her task of getting the Knight going.
Nick: It was hard last time, but you already tried it once, so this is gonna be an average Wild Tech check. You had a blue die for having seen Emma do it and her beautiful detailed instructions, so you can have a blue die again.
Sydney: Then I am rolling two greens and a blue against two purples. One success.
Nick: Nice. You are able to accurately input the startup sequence, and you feel the Knight beginning to rumble to life around you.
Sydney: Cassidy, with the Knight beginning to boot, immediately punches the radio button in the cockpit.
Sydney (as Cassidy): [over radio] Anyone out there have their radio on?
Kit (as Birdie): [over radio] Yeah!
Sydney (as Cassidy): [over radio] The Knight's booting up. What's it look like?
Kit (as Birdie): [over radio] Ahhh, spider scrabbling on the hood of the car?
Nick: Through the radio, you can hear the smashing of metal into impact-resistant glass.
Kit (as Birdie): [over radio] Ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew.
Nick: The Knight begins to stand as the boot sequence continues and tears the canvas cover on the back of the rig free as it starts to pull itself to its full height.
Cameron: Out in the snow, Emma face palms.
Nick: Up next is the spider. Cameron, can you please roll me two yellows and two greens, please? Against three purples.
[dice rolling]
Cameron: One success, one threat.
Nick: Hmm, nice. The spider stops what it is doing, and Birdie, from where you are, you see a vast majority of all of the cameras all point off to the side in unison, and the spider scrabbles off the hood of the rig and starts to charge at Emma where she's standing in the snow.
Kit (as Birdie): [over radio] What? No, no, no, no!
Nick: And the spider is going to attempt to grab Emma with most of its legs and restrain her. So that's gonna be a Melee check at four yellows against two purples.
Cameron: I have three Melee Defense, adding three black dice, and I'm gonna suffer two Strain to use my two ranks in Dodge to upgrade the check to two reds instead of two purples.
Nick: How much Strain do you have left?
Cameron: I'm at four, it's fine.
[dice rolling]
Cameron: Just a Despair?
Nick: Huh. What do you think a Despair on it trying to grab and wrap you up is? It could be that you are fully within its guard now and are gonna have a very powerful hit on your next turn, because you're under it.
Cameron: Yeah, I think that's what happens because the previous hit hit the snow pile directly underneath her and caused her to fall backwards into the snow. So I think when the spider diverted its attention away from the rig back towards Emma and started scrabbling after her, it was aiming for where she was at on the ground. And by the time it reaches her, she has stood back up already and the spider finds itself hugging empty air with its front legs as it plows into the snow where Emma had been laying down and Emma is now underneath the belly of the spider.
Nick: You find yourself poised for a critical strike as you can see the spider's underside. You can also see up close that the body is covered in very small robots that make the skin look almost fluid as it is continuing to leak out of the damaged parts of its legs and where you cut it before in the main chest.
Cameron: I would just like to call attention to the fact that Emma 100% has not even thought about turning her radio on during this time. She didn't have it on when this started and she has not had a moment to think about the fact that that would probably be useful. Even though she has her radio and Cassidy's radio, no radio has been turned on. Cassidy's is in her pocket, but she still has hers very easily accessible to turn on. Just, she's very focused on not getting eaten by a spider, so.
Nick: And it is now a PC slot again.
Penn: Marathon can hear the radio conversation between Birdie and Cassidy going on as she reaches with her full wingspan to try and release the combat suit from the side of the rig, barely hanging on and swinging back and forth as Birdie has pulled forward and shoved this giant vehicle into the robot spider. She barely gets her fingers on the lever once before having to readjust and jumping a little bit to pull down the lever. And she slides her big green coat off as she gets herself ready to jump into the combat suit now that it's separated from the rig. Marathon, as it opens and she tries to step inside, she's like,
Penn (as Marathon): Oh god, how do I turn this on again? You got this! Punch the spider! Exosuit, on!
Penn: Marathon's six-foot-in-some frame becomes an even gianter, intimidating stance as she's entered the exosuit.
Nick: Marathon, as you say, ‘exosuit on’, the armor closes around you, and the screen begins to boot.
Penn (as Marathon): Oh, thank god! Loudspeaker, on!
Cameron: Us as the audience can tell that this is an auto boot sequence because someone stepped into the suit. This has absolutely nothing to do with Marathon speaking to it.
Penn (as Marathon): Loudspeaker, -
Cameron (as Exosuit): Authorized user recognized, Nana's Girl.
Penn (as Marathon): - on! Oh, hey, that's me. Yes, yes, thank you, exosuit. Loudspeaker, on.
Nick: Nothing happens.
Penn: Marathon, meanwhile, looks perplexed at the UI before swiping at the air a couple times trying to figure out how to get her loudspeaker and other attributes going inside the combat suit.
Nick: The suit moves readily with you, so you are fully interfaced, although the jury's out on if you can figure out how to turn on the supplemental features, like the radio or the loudspeaker.
Penn (as Marathon): Ah, whatever, I don't even... Time to go punch!
Penn: Marathon springs forward, ignoring the other features as she's too frustrated to continue to try and hack into this system.
Nick: And as Marathon charges across the snow towards Emma and the spider, it is now the spider's turn again. It's going to try again to wrap up Emma and restrain her, so I need another four yellows against two purples, please.
Cameron: So, the four yellows against two purples. I have added my three black dice for my Melee defense. I am flipping a Story Point to upgrade the difficulty by one. Can we turn the Despair from the last thing into a mechanical assistance for this?
Nick: Yeah, probably just another upgrade. You could turn a purple and do another red if you want.
Cameron: Okay, so then without impacting my Strain again, that's four yellows, three blacks, and two reds.
[dice rolling]
Cameron: Two successes.
Nick: Yay! So with two successes, Emma, it doesn't hurt you, but this thing has so many legs. And as it looms over you, it seems to have even more than you originally saw as additional limbs sprout out of its main chassis. And a majority of them wrap around you and pin your arms to your side and pull you off of the ground and up against the spider's undercarriage. You find yourself pretty thoroughly restrained and unable to move as you are plucked from the ground, and the spider's cameras all refocus in multiple directions as it looks to see if there are any other threats nearby.
Cameron: Emma goes,
Cameron (as Emma): Ah!
Cameron: And once she is fully restrained, she then, I think, realizes that, Ooh, it would be helpful if I had my radio on right now, but now there's nothing she can do about it.
Nick: And we are to the next PC slot. Everyone who can see Emma just saw her get scooped up by the spider, and she is now hidden behind a tangle of legs and cameras.
Kit: What Cassidy hears over the radio is,
Kit (as Birdie): [over radio] Oh shit! Fuck! Cassidy, the spider has picked up Emma! I can't hit it again with the truck unless I want to hit Emma with the truck too. So just letting you know, don't go crazy.
Sydney (as Cassidy): [over radio] Okay, thanks.
Kit (as Birdie): [over radio] Yeah.
Kit: Birdie is now questioning how useful it would be if she got out of the truck, considering that everyone else is armored except for Emma, and she doesn't necessarily want to give the spider an opening to take two of them in this manner. Because of how big this spider is, how far away is Emma from its head? Like where its cameras are?
Nick: So the cameras cover the whole thing. There are just cameras poking out everywhere. It does have like a head on top, but the body is kind of Mento-shaped, and then there's a cylinder on top that is the head of the spider, covered in more cameras. So it has the body in between the head and Emma.
Kit: Okay, Birdie's gonna get out of the truck and go to the motorcycle on the side, and she's gonna try to distract the spider as best as possible, using that and whatever she has on her person, like little smoke bombs or firecrackers or whatever she probably has in her pockets, because she's a freak.
Nick: Okay, to keep in line with everything else, your turn is mostly gonna be releasing the motorcycle and starting it this turn.
Kit: Yeah, that's fine. She will immediately hop out of the cab and go for the motorcycle that is being stored on the side so that she can hopefully provide some cover that is fast and easy to maneuver, because the truck is very much not that.
Nick: So the motorcycle is on a release system, so you're able to knock it down and hop on and get the motorcycle started. And last in the order is Emma.
Cameron: Emma's gonna try and wiggle out of the spider's hold.
Nick: Okay, you can do a Coordination check to try and contort yourself, or you can do a Athletics check to try to just bust your way free.
Cameron: I'll be doing Athletics then because I am more Athletic than Agile.
Nick: It's going to be a hard check, and you are going to have two black die because you are pretty thoroughly entangled at this point. And I'm going to flip a GM story point to upgrade the difficulty.
Cameron: Alright, so that's two yellows, a green, two blacks, two purples, and a red.
[dice rolling]
Cameron: Two failures, three threats, and a Despair.
Nick: Oh, so with those three threats, you take three Strain damage as it squeezes you and keeps you from wriggling around. The failures mean that you are unable to escape, and with the Despair, the spider, seeing that the rest of the things that are attacking it are coming for it, takes off running away from the rig and from the rest of the patina with Emma bundled up underneath it as it starts heading for the woods.
Cameron: Emma is still conscious, but barely so.
Nick: And we are to another PC slot at the top of the order.
Sydney: With the boot sequence complete, Cassidy's finally able to turn around and sees that the spider has drastically moved from where she had last seen it, tangling with Emma and then halfway underneath the rig, although she only felt it get hit by the rig. And she immediately tracks, seeing where it is, takes a careful step off of the rig and begins chasing after it while lining up a shot with the cannon on the Knight's arm, aiming for high center of mass in an attempt to not get anywhere near where she now sees that Emma has been entangled.
Nick: Yeah, you're able to gain ground on the spider, but you wouldn't be able to catch it and close to melee this turn, so shooting it is a good idea, debatably. Go ahead and make me a Ranged Heavy Attack with the Knight, but add two black die because you are trying to hit a specific part of the spider and not hit Emma.
Sydney: What range am I?
Nick: We'll say medium range.
Sydney: So that leaves us with a pool of three yellows, two greens, a blue from the gun's accurate one when loaded with the Knight's ammo against two purples and two blacks.
[dice rolling]
Sydney: One success and an advantage.
Nick: Nice.
Sydney: So the cannon with the ball ammo that we forged in Eagle Hill does four vehicle-scale damage plus one success. And then I'd like to flip a Story Point to add my Agility to this damage using my Lucky Strike Talent. My Agility is five, so that will be 10 damage.
Nick: It is pretty wounded, but still seems functional. You can see you did a pretty big chunk of damage to it, and it has impacted the functionality, but it is not looking like it's dying. I think the ball probably hits the top and puts a big crater in it.
Sydney: We see the ball be launched at the high accelerated speed coming out of the launcher that Shaun had built, and it shoots across over the snow and hits the spider in the top center of mass, exactly where Cassidy was aiming. And the impact craters in a chunk of the top, and Cassidy watches the spider slightly stagger, but continues running. And Cassidy keeps up her pursuit afterwards, not particularly willing to let her friend be abducted here.
Nick: Yeah, so now it's the spider's turn. With the realization that it is on open ground and under fire, the spider is going to change directions and just sprint off the side of the canyon and disappear from view from everybody. And for its action, it is going to give Emma a little squeeze. It's not trying to kill you, it's just trying to knock you out by restricting your breathing. So it's going to squeeze down on your chest, Emma, pretty hard. And I need you to roll four yellows against two purples, please.
Cameron: I have three Melee Defense.
Nick: Okay.
Cameron: And I have no more Strain to spend. It's four yellows, two purples, and three blacks.
[dice rolling]
Cameron: Three successes.
Nick: Yeah, so that is 11 damage that it's going to do as Strain instead of Wounds, so, Emma, you are knocked unconscious.
Cameron: Emma calmly goes to sleep in the loving embrace of the spider's arms.
Nick: Emma, your vision tunnels to black and that's all you remember right now. We're gonna drop out of Initiative just because the spider has gone down the side of the canyon, out of view, Emma is unconscious, and the three of y'all are now on vehicles as you need to be.
Sydney: We see Cassidy and the Knight follow the spider as it abruptly changes directions, and then, slow, as she approaches the edge of the cliff where it has just jumped off of, and look with trepidation over the edge, half expecting to see that it has gone splat at the bottom with her friend in its arms.
Nick: Yeah, Cassidy, what you see is a couple of the trailing legs of this thing disappearing into the canyon wall. There must be some sort of overhang or cave down there that it already knew about and has retreated into.
Sydney: And we can see the Knight lift and drop its shoulders as if it was taking a deep breath, and it turns to look at the other two, and Cassidy says over the radio,
Sydney (as Cassidy): [over radio] The spider took Emma and it looks like into a cave. I think we're going down there after her.
Kit: Birdie by now has flipped on her radio so she can probably hear like her personal radio. And Marathon can now hear because of Exosuit, right?
Cameron: Emma set up an automatic protocol in the exo-frame to where if the Nana’s Girl admin is in use and no commands are inputted, just like after 30 seconds, it just turns on all the useful things itself, because she saw how this went the first time.
Kit (as Birdie): [over radio] Uh, you can lead the way Cassidy, I can't get down there. I'll figure it out though.
Sydney: Cassidy looks over the edge of the cliff for a second, trying to gauge how hard of a climb that she thinks this is versus the ability to try to get the rest of the crew down there, and weighing against the amount of time that she's spending waiting, letting the spider potentially get further away, if there's more than just a small alcove tidying in. How hard does it look to climb?
Nick: This is a pretty craggy rock wall, you could do it. The one thing that makes you nervous is you've never climbed in the Knight, so you're not really sure how the rock wall will hold up to that kind of weight being put on it. It definitely looks like it would hold you fine. It'll probably hold the Knight, but that's the thing that your mind can't help but drift to, is the idea that this might crumble under the Knight's weight. But you also feel like you could maybe punch yourself some good handholds on the way down. It's climbable, it's not a sheer wall. There's just a couple of things that make you a little nervous about it.
Sydney: Is there any cable or something in the rig that would be strong enough to support the Knight's weight?
Nick: The thing definitely has a winch, and the winch is strong enough to drag the rig. If you were to like say, fall onto the weight of that cable though, you don't think the cable would necessarily hold up. 50/50 shot, maybe? There's also a chance it would just drag the rig over the cliff.
Sydney: Cassidy looks at Marathon, having just disconnected from the rig and the exosuit, and over to Birdie.
Sydney (as Cassidy): [over radio] I think I'm gonna just climb down, be prepared to help me get Emma back, once I'm... get her out.
Kit (as Birdie): [over radio] Okay, just keep us updated, um, I guess via radio, uh...
Sydney (as Cassidy): [over radio] Yeah, hopefully I've got signal when I'm in a cave.
Sydney: And Cassidy begins to slowly squats down, puts her feet out behind her off the edge of the cliff, and starts testing to see how tough the rocks are relative to the weight of the Knight.
Nick: Yeah, go ahead and make me a hard Athletics check to climb down the wall in this giant combat robot.
Sydney: With the Knight's five Brawn and Cassidy's four ranks in Athletics, I am rolling four yellows and a green against the three purples.
[dice rolling]
Sydney: Three successes.
Nick: Alright, you are surprised at your luck, Cassidy, as the rock wall holds. It seems very stable, and you are able to slowly climb your way down to where you saw the spider disappear.
Sydney: It's a weird feeling for Cassidy, because she doesn't get the feedback physically of having her toes tucked into holds, or the weight, like the percentage of weight on each limb, but if she just thinks through the well-practiced motions of how she climbs every time she climbs, it goes pretty quick even with that.
Nick: You also see from watching the instrument panel that you are definitely burning fuel and resources to do this because the knight is not designed to do this. So you're using a lot of supplementary systems and not its main mode of propulsion, which is much less efficient. You would not want to do this on a regular basis, probably. But it is working for now, and that's what's important. So you make your way down to the cliff and find yourself at the mouth of a cave that goes back into the wall of this canyon and looks just tall enough for you to enter with the knight. But before we do that, Marathon and Birdie, what are you doing in this situation?
Penn: The automatic timer that Emma set for Marathon's personnel profile on the exosuit goes off, releasing her radio without her having to mess with the UI. And she can hear the crackle on.
Penn (as Marathon): [over radio] Oh, thank god. What's the plan? Or do I just punch?
Kit (as Birdie): [over radio] Don't punch anything right now. What would you punch? Anyways, okay, it doesn't matter. We're letting Cassidy handle this and if the spider comes back up, then we're gonna chase down the spider and if Cassidy kills the spider down there in the knight, then we're just gonna wait for her to come back up. So she's gonna keep us updated via radio and that's all I got.
Penn (as Marathon): [over radio] Should I jump down there?
Kit (as Birdie): [over radio] Hmm, I, you can if you, if you feel inclined to do that, then do as you please. I'm gonna go prep some bombs.
Penn (as Marathon): [over radio] Looks like quite the decline. I'm down.
Penn: And Marathon starts rushing for the same path that the Knight took down.
Kit: Birdie is going to go and prep some explosives in case the unsavory party comes back up.
Penn: Marathon's experience in the exosuit is a little breezier than usual. She's noticing that there may be not as many layers on the exosuit. And she steps forward to climb.
Cameron: I would like to trigger a failsafe that has been set up for this user profile, just as a safety precaution, using my How Convenient Talent, where once per session, I can make a hard Mechanics check, and if it's successful, one device involved spontaneously fails, either because of something I did or just lucky timing. I would like this to be something I did, that I have programmed the exosuit to essentially act like a robot vacuum, where it senses that it has come upon, like, the edge of a stair or something, and just notes abyss underneath it, and refuses to continue moving forward.
Nick: Okay, make me that roll.
Cameron: So, I am rolling three yellows, and a green, and three purples.
[dice rolling]
Cameron: One success, three advantages.
Nick: Okay, so what happens?
Cameron: From Marathon's perspective within the exosuit, she's very breezily making her way towards the edge of this cliff, and as soon as she reaches the point where the sensors for the exosuit can see that they are coming to a drop-off, it's like the exosuit gets caught, like, frozen in a tractor beam, where there's probably one leg still up, as if it was going to continue walking, and it just freezes, and the automated voice comes on and says,
Cameron (as Exosuit): Abyss detected.
Penn (as Marathon): [over radio] Wha- wha- wha-
Cameron (as Exosuit): Please move exosuit to safe location.
Sydney: Marathon hears over the radio,
Sydney (as Cassidy): [over radio] I'm going into the cave, and the signal begins to fade out.
Penn: And Marathon tries to step again.
Kit (as Birdie): [over radio] What are you doing?
Penn (as Marathon): [over radio] It's frozen! It won't let me climb!
Kit (as Birdie): [over radio] It's... Emma baby-proofed it?
Penn (as Marathon): [over radio] Oh, damn. Okay.
Kit (as Birdie): [over radio] Shit.
Penn (as Marathon): [over radio] Birdie, is there anything for us to do up here?
Kit (as Birdie): [over radio] I'm getting bombs.
Penn: And Marathon continues to try and step.
Penn (as Marathon): [over radio] Umm...
Cameron: Marathon, you find if you try to step in any other direction... Works totally fine.
Penn (as Marathon): [over radio] Okay, okay.
Cameron: If you try to approach the cliff face again, it once again freezes.
Penn (as Marathon): [over radio] It just won't let me climb, for some godforsaken reason. Okay. Okay, exosuit eject! Eject!
Cameron (as Exosuit): Caution...
Penn: Marathon wiggles her way until she finds the eject button to pop herself out.
Nick: Yep, you're able to get out of the suit, that's one button you know where it is.
Penn (as Marathon): [over radio] Okay, Birdie.
Penn: Marathon calls into her watch.
Kit (as Birdie): [over radio] What?
Penn (as Marathon): [over radio] [overlapping] Am I staying up here, or should I go down there? Professional opinion.
Kit (as Birdie): [over radio] [overlapping] Yes, yes, what? Stay up here, -
Penn (as Marathon): [over radio] Okay, okay, okay, okay.
Kit (as Birdie): [over radio] - you can't get down there.
Penn (as Marathon): [over radio] I hope they do it good down there. God, don't like that helplessness.
Penn: And Marathon steps around and leans against the exosuit for the moment, drawing out one of her voyagers, her cigarettes from Sasnak traveling.
Penn (as Marathon): God, dirt.
Nick: Cassidy, you are able to stand on this ledge with the Knight and step forward. This is a pretty large cave system. You're able to walk towards the back. There's some branching paths that look very small, but on the main pathway, you're able to keep going. You come to a section that is low enough that you would have to lay the Knight on its front and drag it across. But from the other side, the sensors detect some sort of beeping that you could only assume is the spider.
Sydney: Cassidy double checks any of the supplementary sensors to see if, outside of visuals and standard human sensors, if there's anything that she can figure out how it works enough to give her any insight into what's coming up before she lays the Knight down. Because she knows she should still be able to shoot off the wrist if she has that arm forward.
Nick: Yeah, Cassidy, you remember a similar situation when you were in Iota, fighting the massive creature locked beneath the Advantia enclave and looking for seismic sensors or something that could see through rock. And yet again, the Knight does not have that capability at this time. You do see there is a sensor suite menu in the interface. Like, the Knight could potentially have that in the future, but there's no hardware right now.
Sydney: Cassidy takes another deep breath. It's a little easier to do this when it's not her being smushed, because she knows the knight is likely to be the one to win against the rocks if she does have to, like, if she starts scraping. Or at least it will be an even fight. And she makes sure to have her arm cannon forward as she gets down onto the Knight's belly and starts grabbing and pulling with the other arm and the feet.
Nick: The Knight barely fits, and it was also not designed to be dragged on its front. You can hear the metal scraping. It is not quiet. But you can see up ahead, the mechanical spider is up against the wall and the joint between the wall and the ceiling. This is a larger cavern. You'll be able to stand up again if you can make it through this crawl space. There's a little trickle of light coming somewhere in the ceiling where there's some sort of crack in the wall. And the spider has an antenna array that is sticking out of the top of it that you didn't see before. The cameras are all pointed up towards the light, and it is giving a periodic beeping. And you can see it is still holding Emma tight to its body, but appears to be interfacing with something wirelessly right now. As you are crawling through this crawl space, half of the cameras whip in your direction, and the spider scrabbles further into the corner of the wall and the ceiling, like it's trying to get away from you.
Sydney: As she continues to try to squeeze into the room, she punches the button on the cockpit for the loudspeaker.
Sydney (as Cassidy): [over speaker] Give me my friend back and I'll leave you alone.
Nick: The rest of the cameras whip towards you as you talk to it. And as you scrape closer, it starts to scoot back. You can see that the arms that are holding Emma, there are some of the big ones it uses to walk, but there are smaller arms that appear to be poking around at Emma in between where she's restrained, as though it's digging for something in her clothes and pockets. It does not respond otherwise, except to try and shimmy away from you some more.
Sydney: Cassidy hits the controls to chamber another round into the cannon. And at the same time, figuring it's worth a shot, toggles the loudspeaker and says to the Knight within the Knight,
Sydney (as Cassidy): If you know how to talk to this thing, it'll mean I don't have to blow it up right here.
Nick: As you talk to the Knight, some of the displays flicker, and the bluish-green light that lights the cockpit moves in sort of a wave pattern. And a button on the cockpit lights up red and blinking. You're not sure what the button does, but it sure wants you to press it.
Sydney: Cassidy presses it as she also wonders, Why did the Advantia guy get killed straight off and Emma got taken?
Nick: So you press the button, and you hear a high-pitched beeping noise. The sound coming out of the Knight sounds like Morse code, but isn't Morse code. You don't recognize the letters. It is simpler and faster than that. It sounds like it might be the same thing that you heard in the background of all the radio transmissions on Sasnak. There was always sort of a background electronic pattern going on, and this sounds like that. Maybe some sort of machine language, you might say, that the Knight appears to be broadcasting towards the spider. And the spider stops what it's doing. It stops beeping. The only thing still moving is the small arms poking around on Emma. And it releases Emma slowly so that her feet are dangling and crawls down to where her feet are touching the floor and slowly lays her down and crouches over her with the small arms still poking around. And then you see that it tears a hole in the side of her pants, grabbing something, and it backs away from Emma, holding something that it seems to have stolen out of her pocket.
Sydney: Cassidy reaches forward, keeping the cannon trained on the spider, and gently scoops up Emma with the other arm, holding her to the Knight's chest.
Nick: It's at this point, the smaller arms are passing whatever it's holding over the body and around the body towards the head. And you recognize that it's your headset that the spider seems to have stolen. It is holding it triumphantly above it as it moves back into the light from the crack in the ceiling.
Sydney: Cassidy sees what it is, and while more concerned with looking at Emma through the Knight's ocular sensors to make sure that she is okay, says,
Sydney (as Cassidy): Why the headset?
Sydney: Which could be interpreted as a question to the Knight.
Nick: Looking at Emma, you see that she is alive. She is breathing. She is bruised and battered, and she is very unconscious right now. As you were asking that question to the Knight, the spider starts beeping again. Additional antennas extend, and your heads-up display on the Knight puts a little box around the headset and tags it with a label that says Transmission detected on it, almost as in an answer to your question.
Cutting away from that, Birdie, you are finishing up making some additional explosives in case they're needed. And Marathon, you were standing next to your exosuit that you had just exited. What are y'all doing? It has gone weirdly quiet down below. You don't hear any combat or anything, except for the whistling of the wind through the canyon.
Penn: Marathon has re-entered the combat rig and brought it over to the rig where she had exited again and is continuing to smoke while giving company to Birdie, maybe more for herself for peace of mind than anything.
Kit: Birdie is locked in on these bombs right now to just give herself something else to think about while they wait. I think she's just directly next to the rig and she's just pulled her stuff down from the inside and is just working close enough that she can jump on to either the motorcycle or get back into the truck if they need to make a speedy exit.
Penn: Then I think Marathon is smoking a little distance away from the bomb-making materials, but still leaning up against the rig a few feet away from Birdie.
Kit (as Birdie): So when do we go in after them or like throw something down there?
Penn (as Marathon): Um, we give a 15 minutes? I mean, I know I could climb down there. [overlapping] I can't do it in this thing.
Kit (as Birdie): [overlapping] Fifteen is so long, both of them could be dead.
Penn (as Marathon): [overlapping] Okay, well, 10 minutes. 5 minutes? I asked your opinion.
Kit (as Birdie): Five, five.
Penn (as Marathon): 5. Okay, 5 minutes. And I'll go down there and I'll take you with me.
Kit (as Birdie): You're not gonna go down there. How are you gonna go down there?
Penn (as Marathon): Okay, well, what are we doing after 5 minutes then?
Kit (as Birdie): I'm tossing down a bomb to make sure, I don't know, just to see what happens.
Penn (as Marathon): I'm pretty sure they, like, didn't just go down the gorge. There's like...
Kit (as Birdie): I know they're in a cave, I just, ah, I don't know. I, I, ah, I wish we could get down there.
Penn (as Marathon): Well, I get...[overlapping] Hey, nobody trusts me on this.
Kit (as Birdie): [overlapping] You got another one of those cigarettes?
Penn (as Marathon): The combat suit doesn't trust me, which obviously means Emma doesn't trust me. [overlapping] You seem to be not trusting me here.
Kit (as Birdie): [overlapping] Oh, don't take it personally.
Penn (as Marathon): I'm not... [overlapping] Okay, fine, I won't take my lack of...
Kit (as Birdie): [overlapping] I don't, I'm not saying that I don't trust you.
Penn (as Marathon): my complete and utter lack of faith in my skills personally.
Kit (as Birdie): Marathon.
Penn: And Marathon turns with a harumph to smoke in the opposite direction, but is still standing in the same spot.
Kit (as Birdie): Marathon, can I have a cigarette, please?
Penn: Marathon silently, without looking towards Birdie, continuing to look away from her, pulls the pack that she's smoking from out of her jacket and holds one sticking out from the pack towards Birdie.
Kit: Birdie gets up on her knees just enough to take it out of the pack and will light it while working on the bombs.
Penn: Marathon looks down at her watch and, outside of the radio setting, she flips on a little timer for 4 and 1/2 minutes and crosses her arms.
Penn (as Marathon): I just... I hope they're not dying.
Penn: She says, continuing to look away.
Nick: And on that note, we cut back to Cassidy, Emma, and the Knight, where they are hopefully not dying.
Sydney: Cassidy is, without taking her eyes from the spider, or her finger from the trigger, is going to open the cockpit and put Emma in beside/around/behind her in the very scant amount of room that is there, so that she doesn't have to worry about trying not to squish her when they're climbing back out or end up in a fight with the spider.
Nick: As you pop the cockpit open, the spider jolts and trembles and stares at you, looking like it's on the verge of trying to run past you or attack you, you're not sure, but it doesn't move and it continues to beep and send its transmission. You are able to basically sit Emma in your lap and across the rest of the control chair and close the cockpit back up without the spider doing anything else in response.
Sydney: Cassidy carefully maneuvers the sword, separate from Emma, into a corner of the cockpit to make sure that it doesn't jump out and attack someone unintended, which is a little bit of a challenge in such a tight space. And she's stuck not wanting to engage in a fight to the death with this machine in such a small space that probably favors the spider, especially given that she has gotten it to give her Emma back and wanting her headset. And so starts looking at sensors again to see if she can determine one of that either it has weak spots being able to be scanned this closely that would make this fight a lot less of an unknown chance, or to decode what the transmission that it's sending is.
Nick: So, the optical sensors on the Knight and what detectors it does have gives you pretty raw information. It doesn't have a module for processing that into a complete picture, so I'm going to need a average Classical Knowledge check to make sense of what you are getting from the sensors.
Sydney: Cassidy has a rank in Classical Knowledge, and so she'll be rolling a yellow and a green against two purples.
[dice rolling]
Sydney: No successes and a threat.
Nick: The threat is, while you're taking this time, the spider repositions itself to be slightly behind the cover of an outcropping of rocks and continues to transmit. You don't know what it's transmitting, but you do see that the transmitter is very strong, especially when combined with whatever it's doing with your headset. This is a signal that would not just be going locally. It seems to be a directional signal that is going to, like, space. It is a very powerful beam, which you can make sense of, but you don't know what it's saying or who it's talking to. But it appears that it needs your headset to be doing what it's doing, which is why it gave you Emma but kept the headset.
Sydney: Cassidy, even having seen it actually commit an act of violence to get to this headset, the like years of having the spider be her shadow to a degree, there's a hesitation in that she doesn't just want to destroy it without trying to understand it. And she would have if it hadn't given back Emma, but she asks aloud to the Knight again,
Sydney (as Cassidy): Tell it I want the headset back too, but I can wait…?
Sydney: And she makes a face as she says that, like, Why is this such an impasse to her? Why is the spider worth seeing what happens?
Nick: The red button you pressed before lights up again.
Sydney: Cassidy hits it.
Nick: You hear more of that string of machine language come from the Knight to the spider. The spider doesn't move, but gives one long beep and continues to stare at you with all of its cameras. There's another string of machine language from the Knight, and the spider again gives one long beep before resuming its broadcast.
Sydney: Cassidy looks down at the unconscious Emma in her arms and decides making sure Emma's okay is more important than her heirloom headset, and begins to slowly back her way back out, still facing the spider, in the same way that you would back out of a tunnel that was a little bit too narrow to finish getting through, so you're climbing feet first.
Nick: Yeah, as soon as you start backing away, all of the cameras point up towards the crack in the ceiling, and the beeping increases in volume as the spider seems to focus entirely on whatever broadcast it's doing. And you're able to back out of the crawl space to the entrance of the cave and without any issues, as the broadcast fades behind you, climb back up the canyon wall.
Sydney: As soon as Cassidy hits the open air, she lets the team know that she has Emma and is on her way back up.
Kit (as Birdie): [over radio] Oh, thank fuck!
Nick: The next thing we see is the Knight crawling over the edge of the canyon and regaining its feet and making its way over to Birdie and Marathon.
Sydney: And then Knight gets close, goes down onto one knee, and then the cockpit opens, and Cassidy somewhat awkwardly maneuvers Emma out of the Knight into Marathon's waiting arms to help get her down.
Penn (as Marathon): Updates?
Penn: Marathon says, keeping her eyes on Emma as she carefully begins to walk back towards the rig to be able to set her down someplace.
Sydney (as Cassidy): Got Emma back. The spider still has my headset, and I propose that we camp out and wait for it to leave.
Penn (as Marathon): Just for your headset?
Penn: Marathon looks confused.
Kit: Birdie has already sprinted to replace the bombs with her med kit. She's kind of biting down on the cigarette a little bit as she sprints back out with the med kit. And she's not really listening to the conversation at hand in order to check over Emma as quickly as possible.
Nick: Go ahead and make me a average Medicine check. Let's see if you can bring Emma back to life.
Kit: Okay, I'm rolling two green against two purple. One success and a threat, and because I succeeded, I do get to use my Surgeon talent - it heals one extra Wound when making a medical check.
Nick: Okay, so Emma heals two Wounds, and we'll say she gains a Strain and regains consciousness, just barely.
Penn: Marathon had carried Emma to the back of the rig for a flat surface for Birdie to work. So she can wake up in a familiar spot, her workstation.
Cameron: As Birdie wraps up her assessment and medical work on Emma, there start to be slight movements in Emma's limbs, and she turns her head and groans. It's like,
Cameron (as Emma): [groan].
Penn (as Marathon): Oh, thank goodness.
Kit (as Birdie): Hey.
Cameron: And she opens her eyes bleary and looks at the rest of the Patina.
Kit (as Birdie): Just lay down. Just lay down. You're good.
Cameron (as Emma): Okay, thank you.
Sydney (as Cassidy): Welcome back.
Penn (as Marathon): Your back top side.
Sydney (as Cassidy): Do you know that you got taken into a cave and I rescued you?
Cameron (as Emma): Um, I...
Sydney (as Cassidy): And we gotta put this tarp back on.
Sydney: Cassidy looks around.
Cameron (as Emma): I- I- I remember going over the cliff. That's...
Kit (as Birdie): Yeah.
Cameron (as Emma): that's it.
Penn (as Marathon): Well, you didn't fall.
Cameron (as Emma): No, I remember- I remember the spider holding me.
Penn (as Marathon): And apparently, we're here waiting for it.
Cameron (as Emma): Why?
Sydney (as Cassidy): Yeah, we're not letting it leave. It still has my headset.
Cameron (as Emma): Oh.
Penn (as Marathon): Which we need?
Penn: Marathon says dubiously.
Cameron: Emma reaches and pats what is now a torn hole in the side of her pants.
Cameron (as Emma): Oh.
Sydney (as Cassidy): Yes, we need Marathon.
Penn (as Marathon): Hey, sounds good. I just, you know, it's a man-killing machine. We're staying for radio, but...
Kit (as Birdie): [overlapping] I mean, it's a pretty specific thing. I don't, I don't mind staying.
Sydney (as Cassidy): [overlapping] Yeah, I mean, it's a priceless artifact.
Penn (as Marathon): Okay.
Kit (as Birdie): [overlapping] And it, I mean, it really must have, -
Penn (as Marathon): [overlapping] Hey, no, I'm fine staying too.
Cameron (as Emma): [overlapping] It- it- it does seem...
Kit (as Birdie): [overlapping] - I mean, it must have wanted it for a reason.
Cameron (as Emma): It seems very focused on the radio or the headset.
Sydney (as Cassidy): It's transmitting something.
Cameron (as Emma): Um, because last- last time, last time we fought, it- it went just going after Cassidy only and chasing after her, and she had her headset. This time, it killed the Advantia guy who, um...
Penn (as Marathon): Oh, -
Cameron (as Emma): Secant?
Penn (as Marathon): - fuck, I forgot about Secant already. Sheesh.
Cameron (as Emma): Yeah, killed him while he was holding the headset, -
Sydney (as Cassidy): Yum.
Cameron (as Emma): - and then didn't come after me…
Penn (as Marathon): Poor guy.
Sydney (as Cassidy): He was holding the headset.
Cameron (as Emma): …until I picked the headset up, so...
Penn (as Marathon): Hey, now we can cross the bridge.
Sydney: Cassidy has a long, empty stare into the distance as she realized what triggered the spider to have killed the Advantia all of a sudden.
Sydney (as Cassidy): Let's make sure we have someone with eyes on that cave, -
Kit (as Birdie): Okay.
Sydney (as Cassidy): - or we can set a snare or something up to alert us, [overlapping] but we gotta make sure we know where that spider is.
Penn (as Marathon): [overlapping] Yeah, probably somebody we trust to climb around there.
Kit (as Birdie): Um, yeah.
Sydney (as Cassidy): I'll get my climbing gear out and rappel down. I can get to it. It's not a climb that I think makes sense to do without safety gear when there's not someone in the spider's clutches.
Sydney: As Cassidy gives Emma a nod and goes to ready the equipment.
Cameron: Emma has started moving slightly more, has the hand that had reached for her no longer exist in pocket, just rubbing across her lower ribs, rolling her back around slightly, as if she has been slightly crushed.
Kit (as Birdie): Yeah, just, just be careful. I don't think anything's broken, at least, eh?
Cameron (as Emma): No, no, um, I don't- I don't- I don't think really any of this blood is mine, um...
Kit (as Birdie): Oh.
Penn (as Marathon): Secants?
Cameron (as Emma): Mm-hmm.
Kit (as Birdie): Oh.
Cameron: He kind of got impaled at us, -
Penn (as Marathon): And, uh, he wasn't that bad of a guy either, -
Cameron (as Emma): - um...
Cameron (as Emma): [overlapping] No, we were unfortunate timing.
Penn (as Marathon): [overlapping] - so, real shame.
Kit (as Birdie): Well, uh, he wasn't that bad of a guy. We did know him for like a minute and a half.
Penn (as Marathon): Yeah?
Cameron (as Emma): I mean, we talked- we- Marathon and I -
Penn (as Marathon): Need a chat?
Cameron (as Emma): - talked to him for longer than that, and he was- he was gonna let us cross the bridge, so...
Kit (as Birdie): It's upsetting no matter what, I'm just saying, like.
Cameron (as Emma): Yeah.
Penn (as Marathon): Hey, Aranibus got him or whatever, -
Kit (as Birdie): Ugh.
Penn (as Marathon): - I'm sure, you know?
Cameron (as Emma): I- I mean, if-
Penn (as Marathon): Another one.
Cameron (as Emma): - if- if one of us here had to get killed, I'd- I'd prefer the non-party member.
Kit (as Birdie): Well, yeah.
Cameron (as Emma): But I'd prefer the spider just not kill anybody, really, so...
Penn (as Marathon): Mm-hmm.
Kit (as Birdie): Preferable, yeah.
Cameron (as Emma): Ow, my ribs hurt.
Kit (as Birdie): Yeah.
Penn (as Marathon): Think I'm gonna set up camp for y'all.
Kit (as Birdie): Okay, -
Cameron (as Emma): Thank-
Penn (as Marathon): [overlapping] Let me get your tents up.
Kit (as Birdie): - we should...
Cameron (as Emma): [overlapping] - thank you, Marathon.
Penn (as Marathon): Yeah. We're gonna talk about how you, uh, maybe baby-proof the suit later, but that's for later. That's for later.
Kit (as Birdie): Ah.
Penn: Marathon says with a smile plastering over some hurt feelings as she goes to set up some tents.
Cameron (as Emma): What do you mean, baby-proof?
Kit (as Birdie): It wouldn't let Marathon jump off the cliff, so she's upset.
Cameron (as Emma): Oh, yeah. Obviously.
Kit (as Birdie): Um, well, I think we should have two people on watch at least, just throughout the night.
Cameron (as Emma): I- I volunteer to not be on watch.
Kit (as Birdie): I think that's the very, that's the correct thing to do.
Cameron (as Emma): Okay, good.
Sydney: Cassidy, throughout this, has been setting up a rope anchor at the top of the cliff to be able to rappel down, and gives a glance over at the blood stain on the bridge where the spider had taken Secant out, before looking back to the crew.
Sydney (as Cassidy): I'm going down.
Kit (as Birdie): You're going down?
Sydney: And Cassidy jumps off the side of the cliff, strapped into this rope.
Kit (as Birdie): Cassidy!
Penn (as Marathon): For all the flippant stuff.
Cameron: Emma flips on her radio, finally.
Cameron (as Emma): [over radio] That was so dramatic, Cassidy, oh my goodness.
Sydney: Cassidy can't hear you because her headset's in the spider.
[hurdy gurdy music swells]
Outro:
Welcome back folks, you’re listening to Going the Distance: Traveler’s Guide with M. Messenger on road dial 1558. That’s all for today’s transmission - we’re set to repeat after the following bulletins. More in-depth info can be found in the show notes.
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:
Kit Adames as Birdie. Kit can be found on Instagram @ venusvultures. Kit can also be found in the Discord, along with her collection of AKoSaP art that grows whenever she’s not facing art block.
Pen Prairie-Larson as Marathon. She can be found on Twitter and Bluesky @ acquiredchaste. Pen is a teacher and indie TTRPG designer whose most recent work includes the X-Bike Ruleset, a high-risk fantasy sports game from the world of AKoSaP. Check out faer other work at penharper.itch.io.
Sydney Whittington as Cassidy. Sydney can be found on our Discord server, which is linked in the show notes, and on Bluesky @ sydneywhitt.
Cameron Robertson as Emma. Cameron can be found on Twitter @ midnightmusic13 and on Instagram and TikTok as @ reading_and_dreaming. Cameron was also a player on Tabletop Squadron, a fully completed Star Wars Edge of the Empire actual play podcast.
And Nick Robertson as narrator. Nick can be found on Twitter @ alias58. Nick was also the GM for Tabletop Squadron. Nick can also be found as a player on the Orpheus Protocol, a cosmic horror espionage actual play podcast.
This podcast features the sonic stylings 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. To further support the show, consider joining the Patreon at www.patreon.com/AKoSaP, where we’ll be bringing you weekly content including bonus episodes, campfire conversations, and other fun rewards.
Until you catch us again…
…keep being the bravest you.