The Patina has a tense negotiation and the city fights back.
The Patina has a tense negotiation and the city fights back.
Cast:
- Marathon Messenger is played by Penn Van Batavia. She can be found on Twitter at @acquiredchaste and in drag as horror king JOHN on Instagram at @john.is.risen. Penn is an indie TTRPG designer whose most recent work includes SLICE *IT* OUT, a grisly carving RPG about cutting pieces of yourself out to fit in. Check out faer other work at pennharper.itch.io.
- Cassidy Shard is played by Sydney Whittington. She is our wonderful editor. She’s also a contributing editor and occasional guest player for the Orpheus Protocol, a cosmic horror espionage actual play podcast. Find her on Twitter at @sydney_whitt.
- Emma Blackwood is played by Cameron Robertson. Find her on Twitter at @midnightmusic13 and on Instagram at @reading_and_dreaming. Cameron is also a player on Tabletop Squadron, a Star Wars Edge of the Empire actual play podcast.
- Birdie Foundling is played by Kit Adames. Find her on Twitter at @venusvultures. Kit is also a voice actor and writer on Elevator Pitch Podcast, a queer genre-hopping anthology podcast that can be accessed on Spotify and YouTube.
- Our GM and narrator is Nick Robertson. Find him on Twitter at @alias58. Nick is 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.
- "Sekalaiset Miscellaneous » Sähköisiä räsähdyksiä / Electrical, short crackling, cracking, hissing sounds, like short-circuit, electric fault or electric shock, a close sound" by YleArkisto. Link & License.
- "Ricochet" by ValhallaProject. Link & License.
- Big Water by Sergey Cheremisinov. Link & License.
- Lac des Arcs by Julia Kent. Link & License.
Art Credits:
- The official artwork for this podcast was created by Rashed AlAkroka, who can be found on Instagram and Artstation @rashedjrs.
Find Us Online:
- Our Website
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- Join our Patreon
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A Knight of Shreds and Patches Transcript
Season 3 Episode 49: Not Suspicious at All
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 –
Penn: Penn Van Batavia as Marathon Messenger and Gwendolyn Rozenthall.
Kit: Kit Adames as Birdie Foundling and Vaus Foundling.
Cameron: Cameron Robertson as Emma Blackwood and Janus Foundling.
Sydney: Sydney Whittington as Cassidy Shard and Winifred Foundling.
Nick: Nick Robertson as GM and Narrator.
Sydney: Hello listeners, this is your editor, Sydney, with today’s messages:
Wait, huh, hold on… [in distance] hey have we seen the announcement fairy yet tonight? [back] Hmm… Ah crap, we didn’t leave out any offerings for her. I guess uhh no announcements today. We’ll have to leave out extra next time so she’s not mad at us.
And if you want to help contribute to the fae offering pool, consider backing our Patreon, which gives you access to bonus episodes, campfire conversations, and other fun rewards, in addition to making sure that we stay on good terms with our local fae.
And with that, we wrap up today’s no announcements and head into Season 3, Episode 49: Not Suspicious at All. 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]
Penn (as Marathon): Last time on a Knight of Shreds and Patches, we fucking took down this killbox. Some mercenaries were setup trying to take us out and Cassidy like shot them up right in front of my face - oh my god that was actually kind of brutal and actually kind of scary. And Birdie and Emma combo-ed to take out some gunners up front before doing some cool ass baseball trick with the bomb, like right into a machine gun nest and blew them up. And then I came swooping in and sliced one guy, beat up another, and then I’m keeping my guy alive on the ground. And I did all that fucking while I was shot! I was shot and I did all that. Meanwhile Birdie is shot too, while she was doing all that which is arguably more impressive because she was more shot than I am if you can be more shot - can you be more shot? Anyway, I’m on the hype and I dunno how much I got left, but we’re heading down to the bottom of Sasnak to get the city started again so that the stability of this city comes back and uh, hey - is somebody aiming at Birdie?
[radio static]
Episode Start:
Nick: The city of Sasnak is being torn apart by conflict. It is stopped in its tracks. The taller towers are shaking and falling and the streets are filled with mercenaries and bandits and security, all fighting, from corner to corner and alley to alley. The Patina finds themselves at the tail end of one of these conflicts they've settled themselves. Marathon finds herself standing amongst the shot and unconscious bandits, Cassidy is in a window overlooking this grisly scene having fired into the conflict to protect Marathon, and Emma is crouched in an alleyway having taken out a bandit herself. Birdie, you were just saved by a bullet shot from a direction you were not expecting. The last mercenary has fallen, and now you find yourself looking down the barrel of a gun. Karma is outside of easy talking range, and she doesn't lower the gun as quickly as you would expect. You find yourself still within the crosshairs.
Cameron: As soon as Emma hears the shot, she takes off towards Birdie to help be a crutch.
Sydney: Birdie, you see Karma standing there with her dress uniform on that she had been wearing to escort the parade, now disheveled, and the gun is not aimed directly at you, but it is still shouldered and pointed down the street in your general direction. Her braids are down in her face. She takes the hand not on the trigger guard up to move her braids out of her face before tightening back up.
Kit: Birdie is in minor shell shock from what has just happened in front of her, and her first instinct towards Karma is not fear or honestly any sort of self preservation. She takes a few steps towards Karma, and her body language shows that she's incredibly relieved, especially as she leans some of her weight off of her injured leg and allows herself to look as injured as she is now that there's no more hostiles to her knowledge around them, and she'll call down the alley
Kit (as Birdie): [breathy] Karma. Ah, thank you!
Sydney: And Karma will hold on to that inscrutable expression as she slowly moves maybe 10 yards closer, putting them into more of a casual, if loud, conversation range.
Nick: Probably at this point, if Emma's very first thing to do with sprint to Birdie, has gotten to Birdie by now,
Cameron: Emma gets to Birdie's side and scoops her arm on her injured side, kind of like she's going to link elbows with her, but starts pulling up some of Birdie's weight from that point to be an additional stable, upright source that she can lean on to keep additional weight off of her leg.
Kit: Birdie's a little surprised by this, as she is really confused as to why Karma looks as armed and as antagonistic as she currently does. She'll adjust her arm to fit Emma's help a little bit better and go.
Kit (as Birdie): Karma? Are you okay?
Sydney (as Karma): A lot of mercenaries out here causing problems in my city. What are you doing?
Kit (as Birdie): [uncomfortable laugh] Well, trying to fend them off, I guess. Same as you. Isn't - I mean, I don't want them here either. [duh laugh]
Sydney: Karma, looks down at the blood wrapped bandages of Birdie's leg.
Sydney (as Karma): You should get that looked at.
Kit (as Birdie): I'll be fine for right now. We have every, every, everything to do. There's too much happening. Can you put your gun down?
Sydney: Karma brings it across her chest. It's still shouldered and able to be drawn up, but it's not aimed.
Cameron: Emma is just looking concernedly between Birdie's face and Karma in the distance.
Sydney (as Karma): Why are you out? It's dangerous.
Kit (as Birdie): Why am I out? Because we're capable of helping. Of trying to mitigate everything that's happening, and this is what we do, this is our job. This is my job.
Sydney (as Karma): Your job is to work for Opal.
Kit (as Birdie): No, it's - what? What are you even? What?
Sydney (as Karma): Far as I can tell, Opal is the one behind all of this, and you work for her. You're some of her most trusted contractors.
Kit (as Birdie): That's a pretty big accusation, Karma. Can -
Sydney (as Karma): You were on her parade float accepting a trophy in her honor just hours ago.
Kit (as Birdie): Yeah, the team is sponsored by her.
Sydney (as Karma): You can't tell me you don't work for her.
Cameron: Emma says under her breath to Birdie,
Cameron (as Emma): [under breath] I do think technically our contract is finished.
Kit: Birdie in response to Emma will squeeze her shoulder in thanks, because she is pretty scatter brained right now. She'll nod a little bit at what Emma says as also just the go ahead, because she's not going to be the most eloquent of people right now.
Cameron (as Emma): [under breath] Colonel? She's a Colonel?
Kit (as Birdie): [quietly] Yeah Colonel.
Cameron (as Emma): Hello, Colonel Karma. As Birdie is dealing with blood loss, I'm going to share the technical details of the arrangement. Our contract is complete as we did finish the X Bike Championships with Opal. We are no longer under her employment. We weren't employees, we were contractors. We're no longer receiving money from her - benefits.
Kit (as Birdie): Yeah.
Sydney (as Karma): Convenient timing.
Cameron (as Emma): It is when the race ended, ma'am. We struck our initial agreement with Opal for the X Bike sponsorship, so that concluded when the Championship was complete.
Kit (as Birdie): Why? Why? Why does this? Why is this any anything to you Karma?
Sydney (as Karma): You don't think that being in league with the councilor who brought in a bunch of mercenaries from outside of the city to take over the city, being mercenaries from outside of the city would be concerning?
Kit (as Birdie): Do you think I wanted this?
Sydney (as Karma): Money changes a lot.
Kit (as Birdie): [disbelieving laugh]
Sydney (as Karma): I know the Foundlings have been in conflict with the city before.
Kit (as Birdie): We have not been in conflict with the city before.
Sydney (as Karma): Lot of Foundling records say otherwise.
Kit (as Birdie): You're levying a lot against people you don't really know. You don't know our intentions.
Kit: And Birdie is obviously getting more tense as she starting to snark at Karma.
Penn: Marathon has slowly been gliding up fairly silently, up behind where Karma is in position and is going to try and lock eyes with Emma and Birdie as she approaches behind Karma.
Nick: Marathon, I'm going to need you to make a Stealth check to see if you're able to sneak up on Karma. It'll be a contested roll, so you'll be rolling against two reds and a purple, because I think Karma is pretty goddamn Vigilant.
Penn: Marathon is rolling two greens against two reds and a purple.
Nick: You should probably flip a Story Point. [laugh]
Penn: I'm gonna flip a Story Point to ensure that one of those greens becomes a yellow. So then now I'm rolling a green and a yellow versus two red and a purple.
[dice rolling]
Penn: Four failures and three advantages. [ending hopeful]
Nick: That's good. So I would say probably the advantage is that Karma doesn't snap fire and shoot her immediately. So Marathon is attempting to sneak up on Karma to provide cover for Emma and Birdie. What happens that just completely blows her cover? What loud noise does she make? What happens that just makes this completely un sneaky?
Kit: Birdie as she's sort of ranting and starting to properly argue with Karma has caught Marathon trying to sneak up on Karma, but she does not quite realize that she's trying to be sneaky, and obviously lets her gaze drift from where it is on Karma over to Marathon, and she just waves her hand off and kind of like a 'no, go' gesture [laugh], and doesn't realize the potential outcome of her actions, because she's in shock.
Cameron: Emma had been subtly shaking her head trying to deter Marathon after she spotted her, and when Birdie does this large gesticulation, Emma just clamps her mouth shut and just straight line face of 'well, never mind. It's fine.'
Penn: I think in that same split second, Marathon is gonna just slightly hesitate and freeze up as Karma maybe scans.
Sydney: Karma sees both people that she's interviewing react and follows their gazes over her shoulder to where Marathon had been making eye contact with the two of them.
Penn: Marathon stands frozen.
Sydney: Karma gestures with her rifle to get out from where she's sneaking and go down to the rest of the Patina.
Penn (as Marathon): Mmm.
Sydney (as Karma): Not suspicious at all.
Kit (as Birdie): This -
Sydney (as Karma): There's at least one more you.
Kit (as Birdie): Okay, just - [deep breath and sigh] hold on.
Kit: And Birdie will shake her head and scrub her hand across her face as she's trying to clear her head.
Kit (as Birdie): Why - have you always been suspicious of me?
Sydney (as Karma): I knew you were working for Opal.
Kit (as Birdie): That's -
Sydney (as Karma): That doesn't need suspicion until a councilor starts making moves like this.
Kit (as Birdie): How would we have known?
Sydney (as Karma): Because you work for her and you're part of this.
Kit (as Birdie): Why would we be privy? Why would we be privy to anything that she does?
Sydney (as Karma): Because you're mercenaries from outside of the city, -
Kit (as Birdie): Oh my god.
Sydney (as Karma): - and this is that takeover.
Kit (as Birdie): This is my city, too.
Cameron (as Emma): We've been here for months.
Kit (as Birdie): Nothing bad has happened. If I would have, if I would have suspected anything of what, oh, of this level, of any sort of security threat, I would have told you! You would have been the first person that I went to.
Sydney (as Karma): Then, let's say this -
Cameron (as Emma): Also you missed us taking out the sniper machine gun nest of the other mercenaries.
Kit (as Birdie): Yeah! You're - yeah you're welcome!
Cameron (as Emma): - and getting shot in the process.
Cameron: And Emma gestures with her non supporting Birdie arm to Birdie and Marathon where she's approaching.
Penn: And Marathon has stayed in place on the opposite side of Karma for now, maybe heightening tensions, but keeping her focus split.
Sydney: Karma takes four steps backwards to get them both more in her field of view.
Sydney (as Karma): If you're entirely innocent and you have nothing to do with any of this, then come back with me to the Ramp and help us defend the city. We have to get everyone we can down there.
Penn (as Marathon): Well, we've got a mission that's just as important right now, and it's - do I? Can can we just say it?
Sydney (as Karma): I bet it's just as important and it's for Opal, -
Kit (as Birdie): Karma!
Sydney (as Karma): - and it's to take over the city by doing whatever.
Kit (as Birdie): I [frustrated hum] I don't understand.
Sydney (as Karma): I'm giving you an out Birdie.
Kit (as Birdie): I don't understand why you think I -
Penn (as Marathon): We're gonna go restart the city downstairs in the Guts. That's the plan.
Sydney (as Karma): Bullshit.
Penn (as Marathon): I don't know the science to it. Some - Emma, can you describe it?
Cameron (as Emma): [under breath] You really need to pick better romantic partners, Birdie.
Kit (as Birdie): Okay, okay, okay! Yes, we're restarting the city, okay?
Sydney: During this conversation, Cassidy has been sneaking her way through the building at a much slower pace than Marathon took not having heard any more gunshots, but she is concerned that she hasn't seen any of her teammates come back around the corner.
Nick: Are you, like, trying to get up onto a roof or see out a window, or where are you trying to sneak to?
Sydney: She's going to the other side of the building that she was already in to hit the sniper's nest, so she's probably on, like, the second floor, like, just going to, like, the far side to look out a new window.
Nick: Okay, go ahead and make me a Stealth check. It'll be contested against Karma again, which is two reds and a purple, but you can have two blue die because you're not in direct line of sight.
Sydney: So because Cassidy is back in her not disco ball outfit, her default clothes have a plus one difficulty to spot, so that'll upgrade one of my Stealth dice, giving me an end pool of three yellows and two greens against two reds and a purple plus the two blues.
[dice rolling]
Sydney: Two successes, four advantages.
Nick: Okay, so Karma isn't going to notice that you're there, and I think with the advantages, if you decide to act, you'll have the drop on her. You'll have some extra blue die on whatever you're trying to do from here.
Sydney: Cassidy works her way up to a window and carefully keeps her silhouette out of the frame, but manages to crack it so that she can hear the conversation going on.
Kit: Birdie is getting more and more frustrated as this goes on. She's clenching her fists over and over again while going
Kit (as Birdie): Maybe I haven't always been completely honest with you, but yes, we're restarting the city. We need to because we have the ability to and I don't -
Sydney (as Karma): So do the city maintenance crews. We get the right people down there. We clear all the mercenaries out. We can do it ourselves. It'll take a couple days.
Kit (as Birdie): They won't do it in time.
Sydney (as Karma): What is in time? They're not gonna take the Ramp, especially if you go down there and help.
Kit (as Birdie): [slightly frantic] What am I - what-? This -
Cameron (as Emma): I mean I don't even know, would we even be trustworthy on the Ramp?
Kit (as Birdie): Yeah.
Cameron (as Emma): If we're not trustworthy unless you could watch us, then we're just in close quarters with you.
Sydney (as Karma): You'd be in front of our guns. Easy.
Penn (as Marathon): And as I understand it, it's every second that we're not moving -the city's not moving - things are becoming destabilized.
Kit (as Birdie): Yeah.
Penn (as Marathon): I think that's the rush.
Cameron (as Emma): Also call anyone. Call the First Sword.
Kit (as Birdie): [under breath] Maybe not the First Sword.
Cameron (as Emma): Call Councilor Wander. We're not working for Opal.
Penn (as Marathon): I'm sorry for sneaking up on you, by the way. I didn't mean to escalate the situation.
Kit (as Birdie): Just, just stop every, every, just just - Karma. I grew up here. This is my home. You've known me since I was a stupid teenager. Why the hell would I would I do something like this for - to destroy the place that I love for money? You think I'm that shallow?
Nick: I think it's probably time for a Charm check.
Kit: What's my difficulty?
Nick: Let's do two reds and a purple again.
Kit: Can I have a blue die for flirting with her for a couple months?
Nick: Yes, you can have a blue die. I would say this is probably a collaborative check, so if anybody can lend you.
Cameron: I can offer you, I believe, a blue die in this trying time.
Penn: Oh, I've got a Presence three and three in Charm, but I'm not very charming in this situation, so I'm gonna refuse to add to it. [laugh]
Nick: We'll say three blue die. Two blue die for pre existing relationship, one blue die for your friends trying to help with the conversation.
Kit: Birdie is rolling two yellow, one green, three blue, two reds, and one purple. Four successes and three threats.
Nick: Wow~. So Karma, the points that they are making makes sense, and you're starting to come around to this logic. And with all of those threats, Birdie, I think you start to lose consciousness as your heart rate is up as you're attempting to persuade this person that you've spent quite a lot of time with and is being very suspicious of you.
Kit (as Birdie): I'm, I'm, I'm not - [fades out]
Cameron (as Emma): Oh! Okay, we're going down.
Penn (as Marathon): Oh, Birdie, you okay?
Cameron: Emma slowly drops to a knee to help lower Birdie's weight down to the ground, and then as soon as she's down on the ground, she starts applying pressure to her leg again, where the wounds were.
Penn: And Marathon loses all concern over this situation and starts gliding quickly over to Birdie.
Nick: Karma you can't help but feel that you've somehow lost control of this situation. [laugh]
Penn (as Marathon): Birdie!
Cameron (as Emma): Marathon, could you grab her backpack for me?
Penn (as Marathon): Yeah. Do you need the bandages?
Cameron (as Emma): Yes.
Penn (as Marathon): Yep, here you go.
Penn: Marathon starts digging.
Sydney: Karma is going back through the information, trying to if she takes that their contract with Opal has expired, does that change things enough that she thinks that she doesn't have to basically assume that they're criminals immediately, even if this story about trying to restart Sasnak seems very like a bad lie.
Nick: One thing that you can't help but notice is that whatever you believe about restarting the city, what Marathon said about the city being destabilized and that being a rush, there are periodic rumblings and the sound of squealing metal as bits of the city continue to collapse in upon itself. Something about the city stopping has, in fact, destabilized quite a bit, and you suspect it's only going to get worse the longer the city isn't rolling.
Penn (as Marathon): What can I hold, Emma? What -
Cameron (as Emma): Here - can you apply pressure right here, and then,
Penn (as Marathon): Yep.
Cameron (as Emma): - I can prep the bandages.
Penn (as Marathon): Okay, perfect.
Cameron: Karma is being completely ignored by the Patina down here, at least now, while we just do wound work on Birdie.
Penn (as Marathon): Coming back, you're coming back. You're gonna say hi to your sisters. You got this Birdie. Come on.
Cameron (as Emma): Marathon it's fine. She just lost a lot of blood. She's just gonna - it - she's fine.
Penn (as Marathon): She's not dying?
Cameron (as Emma): She's she's fine. She's gonna be okay. She just got really agitated and has a massive leg wound.
Penn (as Marathon): Okay, if you say so.
Penn: Marathon looks very worried.
Cameron (as Emma): I do. She's, she's, she'll probably walk normally again.
Penn: And blood is trickling from her arm wound into Birdie's leg bandages now.
Sydney: Karma is just sitting and watching the team actions happening, because regardless of whose side they're on or what their greater goals are, there is no potential of hurting people as they're tending to someone that she is rather fond of in the middle of the street. She keeps an ear out for anything else approaching.
Nick: And Birdie, you regain consciousness. You probably don't feel very good at this point.
Kit (as Birdie): Ugh.
Cameron (as Emma): Good morning.
Kit: Birdie, never one to be kept down, does manage to yank her eyes open after a couple of these moments have passed, and she acknowledges what's happening with her wound, and then goes,
Kit (as Birdie): [mumbling] Yeah, hi. Uh.
Cameron (as Emma): Good morning.
Penn (as Marathon): You're alive! [relieved exhale]
Kit (as Birdie): Did I like, pass out?
Penn (as Marathon): Yes!
Cameron (as Emma): Yes ma'am.
Penn (as Marathon): Very scary.
Cameron (as Emma): Very dramatic. It was, it was mid sentence. It was very dramatic.
Kit (as Birdie): Oh, thank you.
Cameron (as Emma): Marathon could you support her back and help her sit up while I finish wrapping this?
Penn (as Marathon): Yep, I got you. Hey~. Hey, our blood mixed.
Kit (as Birdie): Uh, I Yeah, okay. What kind of blood do you have, Marathon?
Penn (as Marathon): Oh, and Karma is still here, by the way.
Kit (as Birdie): Ah, balls. Um, okay.
Kit: And Birdie peeks around Marathon's shoulder up and over to look at Karma, and then will settle back down because straightening up that much is a little uncomfortable.
Penn: And Marathon is helping prop her up now.
Sydney: Karma gives her that bird head tilt as she briefly makes eye contact.
Kit (as Birdie): You could at least say you're sorry for making me pass out.
Sydney (as Karma): The shot in your leg made you pass out. I already told you to get care.
Kit (as Birdie): You were pissing me off.
Sydney (as Karma): You know, who has good care? The doctors on the Ramp.
Cameron (as Emma): [quietly to Patina] I think I resent that statement. I think we did a great job.
Kit (as Birdie): Yeah, you did a good job.
Cameron: Emma is finishing tying off the much tighter bandage now.
Kit (as Birdie): Ow! Thank you.
Penn (as Marathon): Nah nah nah nah. Look, Colonel [derogatory], we don’t have time to go down to the Ramp right now okay? We’ve got a very important mission in the Guts right now
Sydney (as Karma): You couldn’t be trusted to do that even if there wasn’t an active battle on the Ramp that could use more guns.
Kit: Birdie will use Marathon somewhat like a lever to pull herself to where she can make eye contact with Karma and narrow her eyes and say,
Kit (as Birdie): Then come with us. Hmm? Then see what we're doing.
Sydney: Karma in her head is going through the if they're not up to anything, then this is safety for the thing that would restart the city. If they are up to something, theoretically, having herself with them would make that harder, if not impossible, and if they wanted her dead, the fourth member of their team, at least, who she hasn't yet seen, would probably have already shot her, and Karma tilts her head the other direction.
Sydney (as Karma): Okay, fine.
Kit (as Birdie): Fine.
Sydney (as Karma): I will.
Kit (as Birdie): Great.
Penn (as Marathon): All right, I guess let's do this.
Cameron (as Emma): [very unenthused] Great.
Penn (as Marathon): Birdie - do you want a piggyback? Sounds like the best course of action.
Kit (as Birdie): That would be very painful.
Penn (as Marathon): Oh, nope.
Cameron (as Emma): That'd be terrible for her leg and for your arm Marathon.
Penn (as Marathon): Oh well, my arm is mostly fine - it's just bleeding and won't stop. But
Cameron (as Emma): Yes -
Kit (as Birdie): Can you - [laugh]
Cameron (as Emma): Just rotate so I can get to your other arm, Marathon.
Penn (as Marathon): Okay.
Kit: Birdie is going to push herself away from Emma and Marathon so that Emma can patch up Marathon a little better and get herself up using Marathon shoulder of her good arm. She's just using Marathon right now to stand up and go over to Karma.
Kit (as Birdie): I -
Sydney (as Karma): You're really not one of Opal's secret pawns?
Kit (as Birdie): No. And I resent the idea that you would ever think that I would be so compliant to a counselor's needs like that, or wants, or their whatever stupid thing they want people to do for money.
Sydney (as Karma): You've done a lot of jobs for her.
Kit (as Birdie): We've done two.
Sydney (as Karma): How many X bike races was that?
Kit (as Birdie): X Bike races? Okay, you're being pedantic - pedantic? Whatever. I know that the city is your first priority and its security is your first priority, so if you're gonna come with us, then just please know that it's mine too. That's my priority as well, and that this is my way of do, of helping fix things. Okay?
Sydney: Karma takes a deep breath, in and out.
Sydney (as Karma): Okay. I'll protect you.
Kit (as Birdie): [suggestive mumbling]
Cameron: While that conversation is happening, Emma has taken advantage of the fact that Birdie is now distracting Karma and Emma and Marathon are down on the ground, working with the bandages and stuff so Karma can't really see what's going on. And Emma turns her radio on, knowing that Cassidy is going to be the only one who has her radio actually turned on and says,
Cameron (as Emma): [over radio] So I would like to do a proposition that every time she makes up some snarky comment about us working for Opal I get to hit her with my sword.
Sydney (as Cassidy): [over radio] That does seem like it would be -
Cameron (as Emma): [over radio][overlapping] Over quickly?
Sydney (as Cassidy): [over radio][over lapping] - counterproductive -
Cameron (as Emma): [over radio] I think so too.
Sydney (as Cassidy): [over radio] - to our trying -
Penn (as Marathon): [over radio] Yeah...have you seen Emma's sword arm?
Sydney (as Cassidy): [over radio] - not to piss off the Ramp Girls and be thrown out of the city for - before we can accomplish saving the city.
Cameron (as Emma): [over radio] I mean, as long, as long as I hit her in the right spot, she won't be able to tell anybody.
Penn (as Marathon): [over radio] Damn Emma.
Cameron (as Emma): [over radio] What?
Penn (as Marathon): [over radio] I'm - very callous today.
Cameron (as Emma): [over radio] She's very fucking annoying.
Penn: Marathon just holds her arms up and her hands up by her face.
Cameron (as Emma): [over radio] Put your arm back down. I am working on that Marathon!
Penn: And then realizes she's lifted her arm has to lift it back down.
Cameron (as Emma): [over radio] I don't think I can approve of Birdie dating her.
Penn (as Marathon): [over radio] Eh. I've had harsher women.
Cameron (as Emma): [over radio] I think she needs to go to therapy. I don't think this is healthy. Birdie needs someone who trusts her and I just I, I think that something probably burned Karma really bad in the past, and she has yet to deal with that, and it's showing really big in her human interactions.
Sydney (as Cassidy): [over radio] We can council Birdie on her relationship choices and the improvements to be made there once we’ve saved the city.
Penn (as Marathon): [over radio] Cassidy, are you coming out? Or are you gonna trail?
Sydney (as Cassidy): [over radio] Yeah, once we start moving.
Penn (as Marathon): [over radio] Okay.
Cameron (as Emma): [over radio] You gotta watch out, because if you come out, then she might think you're working for Opal, and then we might have to restart this conversation again.
Sydney (as Cassidy): [over radio][very matter of fact] We were working for Opal.
Nick: And so the Patina joins up with Karma, and they continue their way through the city, heading towards the Guts and their meet up with Juno. Throughout the city, we see different pockets of resistance against this mercenary threat put on by the citizenry of Sasnak Traveling. We see the mountain of a man, Atlas Bloodfeast, in a stand up running battle against a whole platoon of mercenaries. He is streaked with gore and wielding his battle ax, charging through the streets, and before long, we see that he has broken the morale of his opponents and they are running from him as he cackles loudly, portraying a bloodthirsty warrior, which is not his actual personality, but is one that he puts on to scare his opponents. Where do we see Janus fighting in a pocket of the city? What is she doing?
Cameron: Janus is using her sci-fi powers for good, possibly for once. And the scene that we see is another machine gun nest, like the one that the Patina just took on, but it's still full of living mercenaries. They aren't actively shooting at anyone at the moment, they're waiting for unsuspecting people to walk up their street. So we're just watching slice of life mercenary for a moment, and then suddenly, Janus glitches into the middle of this nest, and we see that she has upgraded the croquet mallet of her youth to a double headed warhammer. She obviously glitches in in the kneeling superhero pose and is wearing all black, so she blends into the ground, and then she stands and becomes a whirlwind of blunt force trauma with her warhammer. And then once she has completed her mission, she returns back to superhero pose and glitches back out of existence.
Nick: Further out in the city, where do we find Gwendolen? What is the First Sword doing to defend the city?
Penn: Gwendolyn's heavy, shiny armor is just soaked in blood right now, and she has got her scowl on as she pulls her giant sword out from someone behind her, and in one fluid motion, just sweeps it into another mercenary as she walks down the Ramp, being flooded with mercenaries, both firing and coming at her with melee attacks of many kinds. She takes a moment to use one finger to wipe blood from her eye, and sparks fly as a bullet hits her near the shoulder, bouncing off her armor, and she just directs her glare that way before starting to sprint down the Ramp even further.
Nick: Away from the Ramp and further into the city, we see Rye and the security forces that he had secured the loyalty of earlier. They are mounting a siege on a building that had been taken over by mercenaries. You can see Rye is standing on a crate and pointing and giving direction as the security forces set up some sort of catapult made out of scrap and they are preparing to breach the door. Rye is giving last minute advice to his troops and preparing to charge in and clear this building one way or the other. He appears to be in his element leading this group, and seems a lot more self assured than we've seen him in the past, as though he has been forged in the fire of conflict and come out the other side, stronger.
And towards the center of the city, in a rare pocket of quiet, we see Maria Bliss having organized a triage camp away from the fighting. People are being dragged in on stretchers. We see groups of Drain Boys running out to go and find other injured and bring back. Maria is in her element, organizing Patches and patients both, making sure that people are taken care of and that as many lives are saved as possible. She takes a minute to wipe the sweat from her brow and take a deep breath and looks wistfully towards the sky, and you can tell from her facial expression that she's worried about where her family is right now, but that they have to take care of themselves, just like she's taking care of herself, until she can get back to them.
Penn: We see dark figures hopping across building roofs and through the Eaves, swinging on rickety bridges that have fallen and bouncing off of scattered debris that has been created by the city stopping. As they hop between buildings and rooftops, we see the ScavengHERs decked out in their punk outfits and their twisted metal gear. They jump down onto these mercenaries with small knives, blades, large blades of different types as well, silently taking them out and protecting their city in their own way. We see one pink mohawk in particular moving quickly and directing these figures from one of the rooftops.
Nick: It is through countless scenes like this that the Patina and Karma make their way, as they attempt to get to the Guts and rendezvous with Juno.
[hurdy gurdy music swells]
Outro:
Penn (as Marathon): Welcome back folks, you’re tuned to Going the Distance: Traveler’s Guide on road dial 1558. That’s a wrap on today’s log and we’re set to loop after these considerations. Further detail for the following is cataloged 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 Twitter and Instagram @ venusvultures. Kit is also a voice actor for Elevator Pitch Podcast, a queer genre-hopping anthology podcast that can be accessed on Spotify and YouTube.
Penn Van Batavia as Marathon. She can be found on Twitter @ acquiredchaste and in drag as horror king JOHN on Instagram @ john.is.risen. Penn is an indie TTRPG designer whose most recent work includes SLICE IT OUT, a grisly carving RPG about cutting pieces of yourself out to fit in. Check out faer other work at pennharper.itch.io.
Sydney Whittington as Cassidy. Sydney can be found on our Discord server, which is linked in the show notes, and on Twitter @ sydney_whitt. She’s also a contributing editor and occasional guest player for the Orpheus Protocol, a cosmic horror espionage actual play podcast.
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. Nick can also be found as a player on the Orpheus Protocol.
This podcast features the musical talents of Dora Violet and Arne Parrott. You can find Dora at facebook.com/doraviolett. You can find Arne at atptunes.com.
The official artwork for this podcast was created by Rashed AlAkroka, who can be found on Instagram and Artstation @ rashedjrs.
You can follow the Patina on Twitter @ akosap_podcast or visit the website: www.akosap.com. 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 tune back…
…stay bold and stay kind