The Patina charges into battle and begins wreaking havoc.
The Patina charges into battle and begins wreaking havoc.
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.
- "Ricochet" by ValhallaProject. Link & License.
- Parking Garage - Metal Door - Slam by soundadvices. Link & License.
- Metal_heavy_punch_with_crunch_and_glass_debris_sounds_08242024 by Artninja. Link & License.
- Won-t-Be-Stoppin by Ketsa. Link & License.
- Whoosh by Crowander. 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 3 Episode 55: Size Differential
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:
This is your periodic reminder to take a deep breath and drink some water (not while taking the deep breath). It’s important to take care of yourself, especially these days. And hey, you’ve got some parasocial company with us and our characters coming up, so enjoy the show and then come out guns a-blazing to tackle today’s problems. You got this.
But if you don’t wanna have to “get this” just yet, you can always consider backing our Patreon, which gives you access to bonus episodes, campfire conversations, and other fun rewards to procrastinate further.
And with that, we wrap up today’s announcements and head into Season 3, Episode 55: Size Differential. 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]
Kit (as Birdie): Last time on a Knight of Shreds and Patches, um… [pause] Well. [pause] I got pretty mad at Marathon. I think it was pretty well - I think I handled it pretty well considering how mad I was and how much this kinda affects us all cause the Ramp Girls are kind of a massive entity of the [ugh] of keeping the order of Sasnak. Um. And I might not be able to see my family again, so you know, hah, good things all around, but I sort of let Marathon have it and um, we just - we had to keep moving because, you know, problems don’t cease just because Marathon punches a Ramp Girl who is kinda your girlfriend who is kinda not your girlfriend. Um. So Juno is taking care of Karma and then we went to go get the Knight and I think I made enough of a truce with Marathon that we can sort of hash everything out afterward and it should be [pause] [deep breath] fine. For right now. I [trails off into pause] Everything is gonna be okay~. [sigh] We’re hopefully not gonna all go to jail after this.
[radio static]
Episode Start:
Nick: The Patina hears the battle before they see it on the Ramp. You all are able to leave the parking area without anyone bothering you, which is not surprising considering how armed for war everybody is. The Ramp itself is not too far, and as you get closer, the sound gets louder and louder until there is the open roar of battle, and you find yourself standing at the top of the Ramp, looking out over what once was a scene of routine customs and paperwork and is now an outright war. You can see Ramp Girls clustered behind traffic barriers under fire from mercenaries making periodic charges up the Ramp, and out in the distance on the ground under the city of Sasnak, you can see vehicles and more mercenaries as they cluster and rearrange into different formations, either wandering deeper under the city or finding cover behind vehicles, waiting for their chance to charge.
Emma, you have the best vantage from inside the Knight, but Marathon, Birdie, Winifred, and Cassidy also have a pretty clear view of everything going on. And you see that this battle is large - larger than you thought, even seeing how many mercenaries had already made it into the city. You won't be able to end the fight just by killing mercenaries. You're going to have to do something more. You're going to have to get the city running and change the situation in its entirety, or eventually the Ramp will fall. As you get to the edge of the Ramp and you are greeted by this vista, you can see crouched behind what is normally used as a gate house, somebody in a Colonel uniform, much like Karma's, yelling into a radio. They're a very slender person with a buzz cut, and there is blood running down a gash on the side of their face. They see you all with your exosuit and the Knight, and their eyes widen before they run over to you, keeping low for fear of any stray bullets, and address the group.
Nick (as Ramp Girl): Well, I guess you're the reinforcements. I didn't know we were getting any, but I am not one to look a gift horse in the mouth.
Cameron: Emma says into her personal radio, not the Knight's speaker system,
Cameron (as Emma): [over radio] Hey, one of you people down on the ground should talk, so I don't scream the plans.
Penn (as Marathon): [over radio] [yelling] Mic on!
Cameron: The Knight face palms.
Sydney (as Cassidy): That's right, we're here to help.
Kit (as Birdie): Yep, that's us. We're gonna be pretty spread out, so probably last time we'll see you.
Penn (as Marathon): [over radio] Mic off! Nice job, guys.
Nick: As you all say that, the Colonel says,
Nick (as Ramp Girl): All right, well, take the war machine and the exosuit and create a wedge up the middle of the Ramp. The rest of you get to cover and provide first aid or additional fire.
Nick: You can tell they are not expecting you to have your own plan. They are just treating you like reinforcements right now.
Kit (as Birdie): Sounds good.
Kit: And Birdie gives two thumbs up and a really big smile.
Cameron: The Knight does a saucy salute.
Kit: Because that's mostly what they were going to do anyways. [laugh] Birdie will look to Cassidy as they'll both be the two members of the Patina to stay sort of above everything and try to keep a longer range.
Kit (as Birdie): Any preference on where you want to go? Higher up than me, I suppose.
Sydney (as Cassidy): Yeah, I'm going up. Winifred, which way are we looking for this thing?
Nick: So from the Ramp, the device is closer to the middle of the city, so it's going to be quite a hike. The best way to get started is at the hinge of the Ramp in the city, there is a gantry that you can get to on foot that you can climb up and start climbing on the underside of the city, down and across and Winifred would be able to - the Foundlings have probably more than once had to use that kind of access way to get to the underside of the city without going through the Guts to do it.
Sydney: Is the Ramp in the way of the sight lines? Like, is it behind the Ramp?
Nick: Yeah, so it'll be behind the Ramp. If Cassidy climbs up to the starting gantry, she would have a good overview of the whole battlefield anyway, and that wouldn't be too complicated for her.
Sydney: Winifred looks around, taking in the scene, and then points up the Ramp a little bit, and then off to the side.
Sydney (as Winifred): There's an access gantry that we can take to get up behind everything. And then there's a lot of catwalks out where Emma says the intrusion device is, so you're not going to be able to see it until you get at least onto the gantry.
Sydney: And Cassidy looks at the battle and up at the Knight and then down at Marathon's exosuit.
Penn (as Marathon): [over radio] Need me to clear a way? My radio is on, right? Y'all could -
Cameron (as Emma): [over radio] Yeah.
Penn (as Marathon): [over radio] - hear that, right? Okay,
Cameron (as Emma): [over radio] Yes, Marathon. By default.
Penn (as Marathon): [over radio] I would be happy to clear you a way.
Sydney (as Cassidy): This is behind the line, like they're fighting down there. We're going up there. So
Penn (as Marathon): [over radio] Hey -
Sydney (as Cassidy): I think -
Penn (as Marathon): [over radio] I'm just looking for a way to help.
Penn: Marathon gives a salute in the exosuit.
Sydney (as Cassidy): I mean, I - probably your best plan is to do what the Ramp Girl said and run down into them, and it will pull interest off of us.
Penn (as Marathon): [over radio] Perfect.
Sydney (as Cassidy): Just be safe.
Penn (as Marathon): [over radio] What I do best
Penn: Marathon, holds out a fist bump to Emma in the Knight and says to herself,
Penn (as Marathon): [over radio] Fist bump activate.
Cameron: The Knight squats down slightly and pokes the exosuit's fist with a finger.
Penn (as Marathon): [over radio] Hell yeah.
Sydney (as Cassidy): Birdie, I guess cover them and make sure no one like gets up behind them.
Kit (as Birdie): Yep, you got it.
Sydney (as Winifred): And be safe. Birdie.
Sydney (as Cassidy): All right, let's get to it.
Kit (as Birdie): You - be safe Winifred.
Kit: And Birdie's gonna jog off as best she can, heavy limp still going, to a place where she can sort of split the difference between where Cassidy is and the ground level to cover any areas that Cassidy may not be able to with her explosives.
Sydney (as Cassidy): All right, well, lead the way.
Sydney: And Winifred nods, and they start jogging up towards the gantry at the hinge of the Ramp to get around behind it.
Cameron: The Knight barrels down the Ramp, as much as the Knight can barrel down the Ramp without squishing any Ramp Girls, so like way more fluid than is comfortable with this electronic body being.
Penn: Marathon has her loud speaker on, and it's just shouted.
Sydney: What do the Ramp Girls have? Is it just people? And then what kinds of things out there are going to be hurting our armor?
Nick: Yeah, the Ramp Girls, it's mostly just people. They don't have a lot of other technology. What they do have is that the Ramp is very well fortified. It is hard to drive vehicles up there, and they also have anti vehicle weapons. So if someone tries to drive a Jeep up the Ramp, it tends to get 'sploded pretty quick. They have the best advantage as far as just fortification goes, and they have lots of ammo. That is a benefit that they have, because the city keeps them very well armed, so they don't have to worry about running out. But they don't have a lot of technology besides that.
So the way we're going to do this is I am going to just give you all a chance to take action, and then in between each of your actions, you're going to run into some sort of obstacle or problem that has to also get taken care of. So starting off as the Patina splits up to try to tactically address the situation, Emma, what is your plan first? Are you going to charge down the Ramp? Are you going to help fortify them?
Cameron: Emma in the Knight carefully steps around her friends to not squish them, and then starts a slow jog that, as the Ramp Girls hear her footsteps echoing on the Ramp, and they step out of her way, speeds up more into a run, and her aim is to just plow through, basically become a bowling ball, to hit all of these mercenaries that are serving as the pins in this situation, to just take advantage of size initially to get herself into where the fighting is happening.
Nick: Yeah, so as you charge down the Ramp, you're going to have to step fairly carefully not to crush any Ramp Girls at the start of this charge, but you can see that there are two Jeeps slowly rolling their way up the edge of the Ramp. You notice the Jeeps have flat tires, but are still going, and that there is a group of mercenaries using the jeeps as rolling cover trying to get to a advantageous firing position against the Ramp Girls. Go ahead and make me a hard difficulty Brawl check - and you should know up front, threats for you are going into the virus acting up again.
Cameron: So my Brawl check in the Knight is going to be two yellows, because Emma has two ranks in Brawl, and then three greens, because the Knight's Brawn is five, and then three purples.
[dice rolling]
Cameron: One success, two advantages and a Triumph.
Nick: Damn. Yeah so you are wildly successful here. Describe how you clear the Ramp of these enemies and put yourself in a good position to start bringing this battle to them.
Cameron: So the Knight comes speeding down the Ramp as quickly as Emma can without squishing people she doesn't want to squish, and probably as she nears the halfway point on the Ramp, and so the Knight's weight starts being on the edge of the Ramp farther away from the city, so it's making more of an impact whenever she lands, the jeeps start shaking a bit with every one of her steps, which is causing them to roll backwards slightly, even on their flat tires, and the people using them as cover are having to start pushing against them to keep them from rolling backwards on them. And one Jeep on the Knight's non-sword side, which would be her left side, is slightly further ahead than the one on the right, and so as she begins to approach that first Jeep, she reaches down with her left hand to catch it underneath the bumper slash engine block, and just flips it off to the side so that it will go flipping off the edge of the Ramp, most likely taking some small humans with it. And then she reaches the Jeep on her right, she's going to stab into it, kind of on a diagonal, directly behind the engine block, so going into the cab of the Jeep with her sword, and then bring that up in the air, and kind of slingshot the Jeep off of the edge of the sword, and then curtsies. Obviously.
Nick: Do you have anything you want to spend that Triumph on?
Cameron: I would like to be extremely distracting for my friends who are getting up into the underside of the city.
Nick: You pounding your way onto the scene is definitely going to draw a lot of fire, which was the goal anyway, and for this first round, I don't think anyone is going to shoot at Winifred, which will help her get underway quite well. So you've gotten far enough out onto the Ramp that you can see a smattering of vehicles that are down below the Ramp and providing additional cover. You can't see how many are under the city, because the Ramp is still in the way, but you do see that one of the vehicles that is able to draw a bead on you is a military half track that looks a lot like the rig, but with a heavy machine gun on top, and it is going to draw a bead on you and shoot at you. So go ahead and roll me two yellows and a green at hard difficulty.
[dice rolling]
Cameron: A failure, a Triumph, and two threats.
Nick: Huh? So the bullets ping off of the Knight's armor. They don't do anything. What does happen is, with that Triumph, the half track and associated mercenaries all fan out in a firing line, and they identify Marathon coming up behind Emma as a threat that they can do something about, and they are going to have a downgraded difficulty shooting at Marathon when they attempt to because they are very well coordinated. It's like these mercenaries have dealt with armored vehicles before, and they know that they need to get rid of the support before they can start trying to chip away at this big vehicle, and that is their plan. So who would like to go next?
Sydney: Cassidy and Winifred, as the Knight has made its flashy entrance into the battle for Sasnak, have reached the hinge of the Ramp where the path around it is, and Winifred gestures to Cassidy as she leads the way out onto the first of the series of narrow gantries. It reminds Cassidy a lot of the path that they took down in the Guts from the octopus room over to the smuggler's side door of a lot of verticality, not a lot of safety, not a lot of cover, and she's happy that she doesn't have to do it, but then watches how quickly Winifred is bounding across these unprotected, narrow walkways, and has second hand vertigo for a second before taking a deep breath and starting to scan the area and making sure that there's no enemies up directly in Winifred's way, and looking for if there's any path that she could point out to either for it to be easier or faster to get to wherever Winifred is going, and if she can see the thing that is the source of the Sasnak disruption.
Nick: Yeah, go ahead and make me a hard Perception check, please.
Sydney: So I am rolling two yellows and a green versus three purples.
[dice rolling]
Sydney: Two successes and a threat.
Nick: So I would say you aren't able to see the device. That's not necessarily a result of your check, so much as just where you're located it would be extremely difficult to see the device. You can see the general direction that it would go based on what Emma had said before, of where it needs to be. And I would say, with two successes, you're able to give two blue die to Winifred by helping spot her path going forward.
Sydney: Cassidy settles in in a low crouch at the corner of where the gantry comes around behind the Ramp. She can't keep eyes on Winifred and on the rest of the crew that's engaging the main force behind her, because they are in 180 degrees different from each other. Cassidy quickly relays the couple of pieces of pathing intel that she has to Winifred as she scans through using the scope of a rifle as a telescope, and then looking up and squinting to relay the path and then seeing that there's not any immediate threats, and rather than sitting and scanning the underside of Sasnak for minutes looking for the disruptor, she turns back to watch as the Knight ruins two different vehicles and gunfire starts to be incoming towards her crew mates, and looks to see if there are any targets of opportunity that she could try to take out between needing to cover Winifred.
Nick: Cassidy, as you find somewhere with the best point of view, unfortunately, it is also somewhere that is a bit exposed. One thing that you do see is, as you're the first person who's able to see around the Ramp and to the rest of the underside of the city, you get a good view of this mercenary force for the first time. This force is even larger than you would have expected, but you knew it had to be big for the amount of mercenaries that have made it up into the city so far, and just as a function of people who would attack something as big as Sasnak without being completely foolhardy and doomed to failure, they needed force of numbers. You see different vehicles beneath the city. Some are moving. Some are parked. There are mercenaries moving around in formation. There are some very long ladders and cherry pickers that are up near the top underside of the city or hanging from entrances to the city that appear to have been either cut with plasma cutters or patches that were blown open. This is a big invading force, and they have a fortune in hardware. There are jeeps, you see some have tracks, large trucks, and even a couple of armored personnel carriers. This would be the resources of a medium sized town that is on wheels and has decided to attack Sasnak. It is probably the biggest assortment of military force outside of one of the Seven Cities that you've ever seen.
Sydney: Cassidy absorbs this thinking back to the last time that she saw this amount of forces arrayed, which would have been in the Patinas conflict, in the attempted revolution of Allium.
Nick: And Cassidy, as you are taking all of this in, you can see that there are - you wouldn't necessarily assume that they're sharpshooters, but there are people with rifles with scopes, and one of them sees you and takes a shot at you, and I need a hard difficulty check, Cameron, two yellows and a green, but with, we'll say, two black die because of the cover that Cassidy has.
Sydney: So I have two Ranged Defense, which will add two more black dice, and I'm going to spend two Strain to upgrade the attack difficulty twice with my Dodge Talent.
Cameron: So that puts us at two yellows, a green, two reds, a purple and four blacks?
[dice rolling]
Cameron: Two failures, a Triumph and one advantage.
Nick: Huh. So the Triumph is that even though they missed this, rifleman has a good bead on Cassidy's current nest, and more people will be shooting at her next time, unless she moves to a new location on these gantries. Basically, the Triumph is that they will have a big advantage shooting her again next time, because they've got the range down now and they are organized. You guys are not used to fighting people who are well organized, but this group is.
Sydney: Cassidy feels the gantry vibrate with the ricochet before she hears the bullet be fired, and jumps back instinctively to break the line of sight and get back around the corner, but she realizes if she does that, she can't see Winifred anymore, and she's stuck having to make a hard decision about what to do next, because they apparently that quickly had already honed on our position, which says something very dangerous about their level of organization and skill.
Nick: Who would like to go next? We've got Winifred, Birdie, and Marathon still to go.
Penn: So if I was chasing after the Knight down the Ramp, at what point would have the Knight outpaced me?
Nick: The Knight probably would have outpaced you pretty quickly, but then it stopped to punt two Jeeps off of the Ramp, so from that point, you would be able to catch up pretty quickly.
Penn: Now that the Knight has paused to knock around a few jeeps, Marathon is charging up behind it in the Exosuit has just been shouting out, making sure she doesn't run into anyone and is gonna go a clobberin for the nearest enemy, whether that's a vehicle, whether it's a person, but to just act as a little support puncher for the Knight right now.
Nick: So Emma and the Knight have cleared the two Jeeps off of the edge of the Ramp, but that does leave a crowd of mercenaries who were using the Jeeps as cover that are now standing there and charging towards the Knight, because the Knight is better cover than standing in the open to get shot by Ramp Girls. So there is a nice crowd of mercenaries that you can charge into to protect the Knight.
Penn: Marathon is going to charge these mercenaries in the Exosuit, maybe shouldering some off of the Ramp, not thinking too far ahead on the implications of sending someone tumbling down off the Ramp. And she's gonna shout
Penn (as Marathon): [over radio] [yelling] Can't use us as cover!
Nick: So go ahead and roll me a hard difficulty Brawl check, Marathon.
Penn: With this exoframe, adding one to my Brawn, I will be rolling five yellows and a blue die against three purples.
[dice rolling]
Penn: One success with a Triumph and three advantages.
Nick: Nice. You managed to force this group to retreat from you. You take out a few of them. Would you like the Triumph to be that because they're being forced to retreat, they can't attack you back?
Penn: I would love that. No offense towards me, only offense towards them.
Nick: Sounds good. So go to town. You definitely kick their asses.
Penn: As Marathon charges in, she knocks one person almost off the Ramp and goes wide eyed, grabs their wrist before they fall off, and uses them to swing into the rest of some of these mercenaries, knocking a bunch off. She definitely hears some bones breaking in a way that might not normally happen when she would perform a move like that now that she's got the support of the Exosuit. And as she is tromping around, sending flurries of punches throughout and accidentally stepping on some of these people, there is a lot more bone breakage and carnage than she's used to, but because no one looks like they're dying, she's maniacal with it right now,
Penn (as Marathon): [over radio] [yelling] I feel like a god!
Nick: And you route this group of mercenaries. They are basically running back towards the half track rig trying to get away from you and the Knight, this charge has been completely broken.
Penn (as Marathon): [over radio] Hell, yeah, I got him cleared off you. Emma, you don't have to worry about anybody else trying to use you as cover. Over.
Cameron (as Emma): [over radio] Oh. Were there people down there?
Penn (as Marathon): [over radio] Yeah, you just couldn't see 'em. Don't worry. I'm your mini bot. I'm your mini bot.
Cameron: The Knight starts lifting up its feet like someone told you there was something under your feet.
Penn (as Marathon): [over radio] Oh, careful though! There's a lot of people with broken bones down there already.
Cameron (as Emma): [over radio] Oh
Penn (as Marathon): [over radio] I don't know if you want to crush them. I'm just gonna face forward and keep moving. So I don't have to look back while you smash them if you do.
Cameron (as Emma): [over radio] Okay I'm going to tell you - I can't see my feet. So if I do squish anybody it's not purposeful.
Penn (as Marathon): [interrupting and overlapping] [over radio] What did you say? Sorry, over. Ha haha.
Cameron (as Emma): [over radio] I said you look so cool in that exosuit, Marathon.
Penn (as Marathon): [over radio] Yeahhhhh. Fuck yeah. Right? And you look so coo-
Sydney (as Cassidy): [interrupting] [over radio] They're shooting at you guys. Pay attention.
Penn (as Marathon): [over radio] Oh, sorry. Over. Okay, Emma, point me in the next direction. Let's get them.
Cameron (as Emma): [over radio] Um, continue down the Ramp.
Penn (as Marathon): [over radio] Yes, ma'am.
Cameron (as Emma): [over radio] Go forth, Punch Machine.
Penn: And Marathon just starts dead sprinting down again, trying to stay at least ahead of the Knight for now.
Nick: Yeah, your next obstacle, you two, is probably going to be this big half track truck with a heavy machine gun on top. That's probably something you don't want to leave near the Ramp before you continue onward. Birdie, you're up.
Kit: Birdie is adjacent to Cassidy, where they're covering different areas. And just paid attention to wherever Cassidy was going in order to best compliment her own position with her teammates, and has been carefully watching the Knight and any of the bigger obstacles that have made themselves to be bigger problems that you know, Emma just doesn't need to bother herself with right now. And as she sits in wait and prepares her first explosive, she'll eye the big rig next to the heat of the fight and go into her radio,
Kit (as Birdie): [over radio] Um Emma and Marathon, I'm gonna throw an explosive down on that big truck. Okay?
Cameron (as Emma): [overlapping] [over radio] Most excellent.
Penn (as Marathon): [overlapping] [over radio] Dodging big truck, over.
Kit (as Birdie): [over radio] Um what'd you say, Emma?
Cameron (as Emma): [over radio] Most excellent.
Kit (as Birdie): [over radio] Okay, perfect.
Kit: And Birdie's pulled out a bottle with a bit of fabric stuck into the end from a jacket that was shed somewhere along their path that she's repurposed as a fuse for several of her explosives. And as she lights the tail of this fabric, she's going to angle herself as best as possible so that running is not as harmful on her wounded leg as it will probably wind up being either way. And anyone who's listening to their radio hears
Kit (as Birdie): [over radio] Ow ow ow
Kit: As she runs down and is going to use the momentum of her jog to lob the explosive into the truck.
Nick: Okay, make me a Ranged Light attack at average difficulty, but you will have a black die because you are doing this on the run and under fire.
Kit: Birdie is rolling three yellows, one green, two purples and one black. A Triumph, a failure, and an advantage.
Nick: Okay, so you can probably still hit the truck if you're within throwing range, but it doesn't do enough damage to it to distract it or anything or take it out of this fight. What would you like your Triumph to be?
Kit: Are there people sitting in the chairs for the guns on top?
Nick: Yes, there's somebody aiming the gun.
Kit: If it explodes above the truck because Birdie misses, could the Triumph be that those two people are forced to take a dive for it and abandon their posts on top of the truck?
Nick: Sure, so they won't be shooting immediately, but they can climb back up there again.
Kit: I will take that simply so that there's less gunfire for a while.
Nick: Works for me.
Kit: Advantage, meh.
Nick: You can give somebody a blue die on their next attack, if you would like.
Kit: Yeah~.
Nick: Okay. So the truck is currently not shooting at anyone, but I think the driver is going to drive forward, basically trying to run over Marathon. We're gonna do this backwards, so Marathon make me a hard Athletics check to not get run over.
Penn: Marathon is rolling with the plus one to her Brawn for the Exosuit, four yellows and one green against three purples.
[dice rolling]
Penn: One success, which includes a Triumph.
Nick: Wow. Okay, so you do not get run over and you have a Triumph. So paint me a word picture of how you don't get run over and tell me what she would like to use that Triumph for.
Penn: Marathon, feeling empowered by being in the Exosuit, maybe a little too empowered, as this truck moves towards her, she makes a quick dash off to the side to avoid getting hit by it, moving quickly and deftly is not one of Marathon struggles - that's pretty easy for her, but what she tries to do in this state is she tries to lift this truck, even though that's not necessarily possible with the size of this truck and the size of the exosuits she's in, and she's tried to pick it up by one of the tires, and in doing so, seems to have bent one of the axles a great deal, sending the wheel as it's been bent, stuck facing out in a 45 degree angle. And with a massive grunt, she gives up on trying to lift it and scratches the back of her head with the Exosuit before realizing it's the Exosuit again, slightly embarrassed,
Penn: [over radio] I readied it up for you, Emma. Over. I think.
Cameron (as Emma): [over radio] Thank you?
Penn: And then begins to realize, wait, there might be some guns on this machine, and starts to dart and move quickly around the truck, trying to pick off any rogue mercenaries still wandering about.
Penn (as Marathon): [over radio] I couldn't lift it though. I'm not that much of a god right now. I'm a tiny god. Big god take 'em out, over.
Nick: And Winifred is going to be up next.
Sydney: Winifred is with years of experience running through these catwalks, especially up in the Eaves, and even some of these specific catwalks, though, not with the urgency that she's moving right now - she's moving with a practiced stride. Though she isn't used to people actively shooting, and her adrenaline is definitely going as she makes her way across the catwalks towards where Emma had indicated the device is. She knows roughly in what part it'll be, but she hasn't seen any indicator of something hanging off from the bottom of the already rough surface of Sasnak that would be the target yet, so she just keeps moving.
Nick: All right, I need Winifred to make me a hard Coordination check as she makes her way across these gantries and pipes towards the center of the city.
Sydney: All right, that'll be two yellows and a green versus three purples and two blue dice from Cassidy.
[dice rolling]
Sydney: Four successes and a threat.
Nick: Okay, so Winifred makes it four successes towards the goal. The threat is that the first person to attack her next round will have a blue die if someone shoots at her.
Sydney: So Winifred is making reasonable time sprinting as much as she can across these gantries and vaulting over the occasional handrail down onto a lower one, or jumping and stepping up onto one that's a few feet higher, but she hits a point where there is a longer gap. It's maybe a four foot gap, but long enough that she can't really just reach and she's going to have to take this at a jump that leaves nothing under her. And so she gets to the edge, stops, takes a couple of steps back, and then turns and pushes off and gives a strong leap. And she actually overshoots the platform slightly and hits hard against the handrail on the other side, knocking a cable that had been attached to maybe the steps that were supposed to be between them loose, which falls down below and begins drawing some attention towards her, and she quickly keeps moving as the pathways get sparser, as they get further away from the Ramp and the more often maintained areas.
Nick: We had already established that Winifred wasn't going to get shot at this round because of Emma's distraction, so Winifred is safe. There will be no enemy action here, but that brings us back to Emma. Emma, what are you doing now? There is a group of mercenaries clustered around a semi, disabled half track truck.
Cameron: Emma would like to do the exact same thing Marathon tried to do, but actually be successful, [laugh] just due to size differential. So lift up the half track by the front bumper and flip it on its back and then push down to crunch to make sure that the gun is disabled.
Nick: All right, that would be a Brawl check. I'm going to say that lifting this truck is a daunting task. If you succeed at all, then you flip this thing over and crushed it, so,
Cameron: So I am going to flip a Story Point, so I am rolling three yellows, two greens against four purples.
[dice rolling]
Cameron: One success, one Triumph and one advantage.
Nick: All right, describe how you blow up this truck.
Cameron: Emma in the Knight very nonchalantly repeats the steps that Marathon took towards this half track truck and reaches down with her non sword hand and grips the truck very much like she did with the Jeep on the Ramp. This one, though, rather than flinging it as it is substantially heavier, she just lifts it and doesn't throw it over onto its back, but walks it over onto its back. So kind of leading it along its back treads, to guide it over, to flip it upside down, and then once it is upside down, she shoves down on it into the ground to crush the gun that was on top of the truck, to make sure that if they somehow managed to flip this thing back over, their gun's not useful.
Nick: And as you crush down on this truck, the fuel line ruptures and there is a gout of flame that wreaths the Knight, making it look even more intimidating as you turn to face the rest of the battlefield, secure in the knowledge that you, Emma, are the most terrifying thing there.
Cameron: The Knight snarkily turns to Marathon and brushes its hands off together.
Penn (as Marathon): [over radio] Okay, well, we can measure biceps next time. I guess.
[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