With dangers potentially lurking around every corner, the Patina continues to explore this long abandoned facility.
With dangers potentially lurking around every corner, the Patina continues to explore this long abandoned facility.
Cast:
- Alli Nesbit & Kira Nesbit as Renn & Ciphera. Alli and Kira can be found on their show RPG for You and Me, a duet actual play podcast. Their website rpgforyouandme.com has tons of art from the show, character bios, custom setting rules, and more! You can also find Alli and Kira on Sounds Like Crowes: Terminus and The Night Shift podcast, not to mention Alli now helms Dark Matter Magazine podcast and Apex Magazine podcast. You can chat with Alli on twitter @youseethehat and @rpgforyouandme, but Kira is accessible through the show's Patron exclusive discord, found at patreon.com/rpgforyouandme.
- Marathon Messenger is played by Penn Van Batavia. She's an indie TTRPG designer who just launched a new game, Wasmannian, a solo RPG about bees, wasps, and otherness in a binary world. You can find Penn on Twitter at @acquiredchaste.
- Cassidy Shard is played by Sydney Whittington. She also edits the show. 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.
- Our GM and narrator is Nick Robertson. Find him on Twitter at @alias58. Nick is also the GM for Tabletop Squadron, which you can support at Patreon.com/TabletopSquadron. Nick 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.
- 20060727.kitchen.jet.wav by dobroide.Link & License.
- Tramontana 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
- Twitter
- Join our Patreon
- Join our Discord
A Knight of Shreds and Patches Transcript
Season 2 Episode 23: Solutions Out of Thin Air
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.
Kit: Kit Adames as Birdie Foundling.
Cameron: Cameron Robertson as Emma Blackwood.
Sydney: Sydney Whittington as Cassidy Shard.
Alli: Alli Nesbit as Renn Dare.
Kira: Kira Nesbit as Ciphera Vex.
Nick: Nick Robertson as GM and Narrator.
Sydney: Hello listeners, this is your editor, Sydney, with today’s messages:
Welcome to spring! Or, if you’re a southern hemisphere resident, welcome to fall! Thank you for joining us post-equinox, and as always, thanks for listening! Our hearts are warmed and our bellies are filled by your virtual presence.
And if your presence is overflowing your virtual form, consider backing our Patreon, which gives you access to bonus episodes, campfire conversations, and other fun rewards. For instance, we just published the final full-length episode in our Sasnak Traveling arc, featuring Kit as GM over a game of Blades in the Dark, and set 15 years in the past with a separate character lineup which is very irresponsible, and yet somehow still successful.
And with that, we wrap up today’s announcements and head into Season 2, Episode 23: Solutions Out of Thin Air. 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, okay. I gotta be quick. We're running out of oxygen here, um so so we broke in, we snuck in, we did something anyway - we waltzed into the secret lab trying to find something to decode Ciphera's tattoo. Well, the A team smarted their way in while, you know, I picked up a new friend. Oh god the joggers in here too. I can have jogger blood on my hands. Marathon focus. Um we dealt with some tech riddles, exploding little robo guys before I don't know, Emma and Birdie and I we were exploring and we got stuck in this fire suppression vault that's like slowly draining our air supply. Dirt. I think I'm kind of feeling faint.
[radio static]
Episode Start:
Nick: We find Renn, Ciphera, and the Patina deep within a facility that they have unlocked at the behest of the grandson of a friendly knitting lady in the town of Glaishelf. Meyer the apprentice net weaver sent you all to this place on a quest to get information related to Ciphera's tattoo of undecipherable patterns. You were able to get further into the facility than anyone seemed to have been able to in many years, but as you were celebrating how smooth the delve had gone so far, a series of bulkheads slammed down out of the ceiling, trapping Emma, Birdie, and Marathon inside as a fire suppression system, long forgotten, begins to fill the room with a gas that is certainly not oxygen as Cassidy, Renn, and Ciphera look on.
Penn (as Marathon): Oh welp. The door just uh - [yelling] Renn!? Cassidy!? Ciphera!? Can you hear us?
Kira: Ciphera charges forward and slams a fist against the door and she just yells
Kira (as Ciphera): [yelling] Soot and scrap! Can - [annoyed sound] Are you okay? Is anything happening?
Cameron: Can we immediately tell that the oxygen is leaving this room?
Nick: Yes. So from small grates in the ceiling that you did not notice before, a misty white gas is descending and pooling around your ankles. If you breathe in this cloudy mixture, your lungs feel empty. You can tell there's no oxygen and much like if the room was filling with water, you can see the air going away essentially as this new cloud starts to fill the room. You all can hear each other very faintly through the doors though.
Cameron: Okay, well, not wanting to suffocate again, while on a journey with Cassidy, Emma starts taking deeper breaths to just try to get as much oxygen into her system as possible and rushes to one of the doors on either side of this little room we're now trapped in with these bulkheads on either side - what is the panel for the door situation?
Nick: So there is a door sectioned off in this bulkhead. Unfortunately, it looks like whatever was beyond that door has been completely collapsed in by the ground shifting over time. There are large pieces of concrete piled around and debris. The panel itself appears to be in a workable state but does not have power. Could I get a Perception check at hard difficulty from Marathon, Birdie, and Emma please?
Penn: Cool. Three greens, three purples.
Kit (as Birdie): I'm rolling three yellow, one green and three purple.
Cameron (as Emma): I am rolling two yellows, a green, and three purple.
[dice rolling]
Penn: A wash and three threats.
Kit: I got two successes and one threat.
Cameron: One success and a triumph.
Nick: Great. So this door that you were looking at, you think you might be able to get it to function, but you're not sure how far back into this room you would be able to go and it could potentially fill with this, not poisonous gas, but certainly a gas that you can't breathe. Everyone in this small space except for Marathon, what you do notice is that there is an air vent that looks big enough for you all to fit in if you could get up to it and get in. What would you like to spend that triumph on there Emma?
Cameron: How far off the ground would you say that this air vent is?
Nick: It is probably about eight feet off the ground.
Cameron: All right, cool. In that case, my triumph is that in the slow crumbling of this building, there's a pile of debris underneath where this air vent is so that we can climb up to it easier.
Nick: Great. I'll also throw in for the triumph that these air vents do try to seal when fire suppression is activated, but this one it is too rusted and wasn't able to, so you have a clear way to get out.
Penn: Marathon is currently preoccupied with her little jolly jogger friend that has accompanied her so far into this dangerous situation. She's just checking to make sure that it's staying calm, holding it tight against her chest and scritching at it while kind of panickedly looking around.
Kit (as a Jolly Jogger): [smothered fish noises]
Penn (as Marathon): [quietly] It's okay. It's okay, bud- it's okay pal.
Kit (as Birdie): [much concern] Uh, Emma?
Cameron (as Emma): [much concern but distracted] Yeah?
Kit (as Birdie): [uncomfortable laugh]
Cameron: Emma, having gotten to the door and realized, this is not a good path [laugh], has turned back to face the rest of the group.
Kit (as Birdie): Maybe uh -
Penn (as Marathon): [much panic] We're not gonna die, right?
Kit (as Birdie): [said far too fast and high for you to believe her] We're going to be fine.
Cameron (as Emma): [hard to tell if she's lying to you or not] Yeah, we're fine.
Cameron: Emma's just spinning, looking at all of the walls.
Kit (as Birdie): [slightly panicked brainstorming] I could I could set up um an - I could set up an explosive or something but we're in a pretty small room. I don't know how much other damage it would do and the structural integrity of the building doesn't seem too reliable.
Penn (as Marathon): [much panic, but more pissed about it] This wasn't on the list of like mercenary things that might kill me.
Cameron: Emma's still spinning and has just been looking in just circles that are slowly working their way up around the wall starting at the floor level and is just standing there spinning slowly while having this conversation with Birdie.
Cameron (as Emma): Yeah since I don't know what the gas is too, the explosion’s probably bad. I don't think the room is big enough.
Kit (as Birdie): And I don't know if the gas being pumped in is explosive or flammable or -
Cameron (as Emma): [excited and interrupting] Ooh! Ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh, Up there! Up there.
Cameron: [laughing] And Emma takes off to the other corner and starts climbing rubble to reach an air vent.
Kit (as Birdie): Marathon uh, vent. Come on.
Penn (as Marathon): [back to regular panic] Vent? Uh okay. [clears throat] Yep. [deep breath]
Kit (as Birdie): You might want to shift the little, little guy to your back.
Penn (as Marathon): Oop sure, sure.
Penn: And Marathon starts pushing it still under her sleeveless flannel onto her back as she starts hoisting Birdie - just shoving everybody along into the vent.
Cameron: What's the vent seal look like? I know you said it was rusted so it hadn't sealed itself up but are there like screws holding it to the wall?
Nick: It looks like it was once a solid steel grating that could shutter closed when needed. There must have been some humidity in the air system because it is mostly rusted to a thin skeleton of what it once was. You can hear the low whine of servos as it tries to close but there's nothing to close anymore. You could basically punch your way through if you needed to. This is sharp tin foil at this point.
Cameron: Emma having made this analysis after she reached it, pulls her sweater up so that it's covering her mouth and nose, turns slightly so that she's not fully facing the grate anymore, and has her sword out and says
Cameron (as Emma): [muffled through sweater] All right, cover your faces.
Cameron: And then is going to try to bust through the grate with her sword just like using it as a battering ram.
Nick: And as you are doing that and the group backs up, you can hear Ciphera pounding on the other side of the door speaking in a muffled tone. Roll me a Melee attack at average difficulty and you can have a blue die because it is a grate that is not moving.
Cameron: Okay, so I've got two yellows, a green, a blue, and two purples.
[dice rolling]
Cameron: Three successes.
Nick: Yeah, you pulverize this grate. You are able to clear the way in such a way that there are not even any sharp edges that would hook people as they climb into it. As you look back down the pile of rubble, you can see that Birdie is up to her chest in this fire suppression gas and is looking very pale, Marathon is not as deep in it being taller, but you are quickly running out of time.
Cameron (as Emma): [very fast] Okay, come on, come on. Come on. Come on.
Kit (as Birdie): [ever so slightly out of breath] Okay, okay.
Cameron: Emma is going to go into the grate first, not knowing where it's going, her sword out in front of her to use as a skewering stick if necessary.
Nick: Okay, so jumping back to outside, Cassidy, Renn, and Ciphera - you can hear muffled shouting inside, maybe a couple of clanks and the hiss of gas There was the automated voice declaring that fire suppression had been activated and not only is the way blocked, but you are separated from half of your group.
Sydney: Cassidy immediately looks around the room for a console or something to try and reverse this and also hits the button on her radio headset to open communications.
Sydney (as Cassidy): [over radio] Emma!? What's happening?
Nick: You hear no response through the radio, just a gentle hiss of static. You know that being underground surrounded by concrete and steel, radio waves are going to be kind of spotty, but with the location you're at, you would expect to hear at least something. You do not see any convenient panels or terminals to work on this door, however, this is not a security measure. This is a fire suppression system. So there are exposed hydraulics and seals that have divided this room that you could get into and attempt to reverse or somebody versed in this kind of technology could.
Alli: Renn is seeing the flurry of activity around her with Ciphera banging on the door and Cassidy just looking for options and she for heavy moments that feel so much longer than they are she's just fear paralyzed. Because it's happening again, and she never thought she'd be in this situation.
Kira: While Renn is paralyzed and Cassidy is looking for a console of some sort, Ciphera is examining the door itself to see if there's any physical mechanism, which you already detailed and described, but I think seeing that there's nothing that she herself can do about it - like there's nothing that she feels she can affect, she's gonna immediately turn back to Renn, and then perhaps seeing that Renn has frozen, she's gonna go over to her and just put hands on both of her arms and give her a very small shake and just say,
Kira (as Ciphera): Hey, come on. We need you here. You got this.
Alli (as Renn): [scared] Put on your respirator. If it's already trying to gas us...
Kira (as Ciphera): Okay.
Alli (as Renn): [mumbled stuttering] We gotta- are they-? Okay.
Alli: And she just walks over to the door mechanics and is going to start noodling about with them.
Nick: Yeah, so roll me a hard Mechanics check. You can have a blue die because this is not a security system. It should be pretty easy to override and cause to release, especially for evacuation purposes. But you do have two black die because you notice that the room beyond has gone suddenly silent, and that's very distracting for you.
Alli: Would my Knack for Mechanics benefit me in any way?
Nick: Yeah, because it's a black die and Mechanics check, yes, but I think the way that that works is that you are operating on autopilot to an extent and muscle memory, so while your brain is being filled with images of terror, your hands are able to keep moving.
Alli: I have two green, two yellow, and a blue.
[dice rolling]
Alli: One triumph, three successes, and three threats.
Nick: I'll set those threats aside for now. You are able to get this door open. How do you do that? And also, what would you like that triumph to do for you?
Alli: If I could clear fire suppression systems in the immediate area, that would be pretty cool for a triumph.
Nick: Yeah, absolutely.
Alli: I think how she does it is she goes to her belt and pulls out a - I guess it's kind of like a hunting knife and she twirls it in her hand one time to get it going the right way and just slashes through some tubes and depressurizes the chamber within.
Nick: Yeah, the tubes are full of black semi coagulated hydraulic fluid and they whip around like snakes spewing this oily substance up to the ceiling and around the hallway, but the door does pop open from its seal and it doesn't retract back into the ceiling - that mechanism is now damaged, but it is a lot lighter than you would expect. You can feel it move slightly when you lean against it and you could lift it open if you needed to.
Alli: Renn gestures at it quick and says
Alli (as Renn): [rushed] I think we can do something with this.
Sydney: Cassidy sees it pop and immediately is down squatting to try and lift the door open.
Kira: Ciphera gets down there with Cassidy right away because this is something she knows she can do.
Nick: As you lift, white roiling misty clouds begin to pour out from underneath this door. If you breathe in any of it, it doesn't make you want a cough; it just feels like your lungs are full of not air. That feeling of having your lungs full but still needing to breathe is extremely uncomfortable and you find yourselves having to hold your breath and take breaths away from this cloud while you breathe. The door is very well counterbalanced though - you're able to lift it open almost like a garage door. It just slides back up into the wall and as you are doing that, something about the way that these hoses were slashed by Renn, the other door also begins to retract up into the wall and you seem to have cleared the fire suppression system at least in the immediate area. Another automated voice says
Nick (as Facility): [over speakers] Fire suppression system damaged. Disabling fire suppression system.
Nick: And you have this moment of triumph having opened the door followed quickly by the realization that there is no one in front of you or anywhere in this hallway. The space is empty.
Alli (as Renn): [terror] Oh my god they dissolved.
Alli: Renn says on gut panic instinct. Definitely not related to her previous traumas whatsoever.
Sydney: Cassidy, seeing the room is empty, retries the radio and goes
Sydney (as Cassidy): [over radio] Emma? Are you guys ghosts? Did you vanish? You better not be goo on the floor - I'm gonna be upset.
Kira: Ciphera begins edging forward with her respirator just checking the ground, waving her staff through it to disperse it.
Nick: The cloud disperses quickly now that it's not sealed and besides the hydraulic fluid now liberally sprayed all over the hallway and maybe partially on Renn,
Alli: Oh absolutely on Renn.
Nick: - the hallway is totally clear and uncomfortably quiet as Cassidy's calls on the radio echo ahead of you into silence. And we will jump back to Emma, Birdie, and Marathon. The three of you are climbing down what you at first thought was an air vent, but is actually it appears to be a utility access. There are bundles of wires and pipes in here. This appears to be a main passageway for power, water, various vents, but then they will sink down into the walls to go to other parts of the facility. As you climb further through the vents, the wires and piping gets thicker as though you were approaching whatever these are all leading to. There's enough space for the three of you to crawl on hands and knees but not to stand up or crouch. Birdie as you are crawling through this vent, you notice that this is not like most vents or passages you've crawled through. There is absolutely no echo, so this would appear to have been carved through solid earth or encased in cement or something that makes it so that you're going is a lot quieter than it would normally be.
Kit (as Birdie): This is too much like being back on Sasnak. Like a lot like being back on Sasnak.
Penn (as Marathon): I don't think I've ever been this cramped before.
Kit (as Birdie): Oh~.
Cameron (as Emma): Oh~. I have. [flashbacks to the Eagle Hill mine] This is actually quite roomy.
Kit (as Birdie): At least it's like lovely, eerily quiet.
Cameron (as Emma): Marathon, can you see any of the mist behind you?
Penn (as Marathon): Um, I can't see much of anything. It's pretty dark.
Cameron: Emma turns so that her flashlight is pointed back behind Marathon.
Kit (as Birdie): [blinded by the light] Ahh!
Penn (as Marathon): Uh Birdie I know you gave me one job to hold the flashlight. Um.
Kit (as Birdie): Did you drop my flashlight?
Penn (as Marathon): I dropped the flashlight.
Cameron (as Emma): Oh no~. [laughing]
Kit (as Birdie): God damn it Marathon. [laugh] You dropped- It's okay. I gave you the small one because I thought you’d drop it.
Penn (as Marathon): Nooow - [sad laugh]
Penn: Emma's light temporarily picks up Marathon as she attempts to form words and then just kind of ducks her head down and continues crawling forward.
Kit (as Birdie): [remorseful] No I'm sor- Marathon. I'm sorry! I just keep making the situation worse.
Cameron: Is Marathon crawling on one hand and two legs so that she can hold the fish? [laugh]
Nick: If the fish began to wriggle free, would you try to stop it?
Kit (as a Jolly Jogger): [wriggling fish noises]
Penn: Marathon probably would stop the fish from totally wriggling. Yeah.
Nick: So Marathon, I am going to need a hard Coordination check from you with a black die because you are also trying to crawl at the same time.
Penn: So I've got three purples, one black, two yellows and a green.
[dice rolling]
Penn: Three successes, a triumph, and four threats.
Nick: Great. So you are perfectly able to keep this fish in your shirt so it does not get out. It actually manages to get tangled in your shirt in such a way that it is much more secure now. Your flannel is more of a papoose at this point. Do you have anything you would like to use that triumph on? Or you could also hang on to that until I put you in the next place if you would like it, use it there, but
Penn: I think that this jolly jogger has, as it's kind of entangled itself, has started to cozy up. It's embracing the warmth of being trapped within Marathon's shirt and has started even to nuzzle Marathon a little bit as if it's really, really starting to calm down and be much more comfortable with Marathon in this situation.
Nick: Yeah, Marathon you feel the slight sandpaperiness of this jolly jogger as it nestles in kind of under an arm where it's very warm.
Kit (as a Jolly Jogger): [cozy fish noises]
Nick: And also an increase in humidity and sliminess just as a side effect of having this thing tucked in your shirt,
Penn: But it's purring! And so Marathon is like,
Penn (as Marathon): Well, I guess I'm doing something right.
Kit (as a Jolly Jogger): [cozy fish noises]
Kit (as Birdie): Marathon are you -
Kit (as a Jolly Jogger): [cozy fish noises]
Kit (as Birdie): - purring?
Penn (as Marathon): No? Well, yes, yes. Sorry. I am just excited to be safe. Um. [cough] [clear throat] [very bad imitation of cozy fish noises]
Nick: As you all are climbing through this vent having this conversation, Emma I think that you had your flashlight trained on them and then being conscious of shining light directly into Birdie and Marathon's eyes plus the fact that you're trying to crawl forward you turn around and after a surprisingly short time of continuing your journey through this corridor, you come to a another vent looking out into a large dark room. So do you kick open the vent? Do you try to see what this room looks like?
Cameron: I would like to try to look through the vent as much as possible before kicking it open, please.
Nick: As you shine your flashlight through the room is very, very big. You can't see the ceiling and you can barely make out the floor. It looks like you're still about eight feet off the ground. There is not a handy pile of rubble below this vent. It's hard to make out through the bars and the haze of this room but there appear to be very large glass tanks. There is one about the size of the rig if you stood the rig up on its back tires, that stretches up to the ceiling that is dark. It's black, you can't see into it and then lining the walls are smaller - they look like fish tanks, like round cylindrical fish tanks, on pedestals against the walls and there are lots of conduits and piping stretching between all of them.
Cameron (as Emma): Okay, well, it doesn't look like anything's moving.
Kit (as Birdie): That's -
Penn (as Marathon): No traps?
Cameron (as Emma): [laughing] Well I didn't say that. Okay.
Kit (as Birdie): I mean, I could toss something into the room and see if it does anything.
Cameron (as Emma): Yeah, let me let me see if I can get this vent off quietly first.
Cameron: I'm going to attempt to take the vent off quietly.
Nick: You're able to. This is something that occasionally maintenance people may have to have climbed through here to look for breaks or things like that. There's a little handle you can pull and this side isn't nearly as rusty. So it's far enough you would be able to lower yourself and then drop and not hurt yourself. It would be hard to get back up into here through the same route.
Cameron: Emma very awkwardly due to the space limitations re-sheaths her sword on her back and kind of rotate so that her butt is facing out into the room so that she can lower herself down.
Cameron (as Emma): All right, I'm gonna go ahead and drop and then Birdie we can get you down, and then Marathon you come last?
Kit (as Birdie): Yep.
Penn (as Marathon): Thumbs up.
Cameron (as Emma): All right.
Kit: Birdie is going to do the same weird shimmy and start turning around and then lowering herself and then as she has her arms still folded on to the floor of the vent she's like
Kit (as Birdie): Emma could you help me
Cameron (as Emma): Yup.
Kit (as Birdie): Please?
Cameron (as Emma): Yup.
Kit (as Birdie): Thank you.
Cameron: Emma pulls the cheerleader hands locked to hold the foot up above her head to help lower Birdie down.
Kit (as Birdie): Thanks.
Kit: Birdie gets down.
Penn (as Marathon): You need any help Marathon?
Penn: Marathon gets herself up to the edge of the vent as you guys aren't focusing and yeah, she's just whooped herself over everybody and her feet slam down as you ask.
Nick: There is a frantic scrabbling under your shirt as the fish attempts to steady itself and resettle after that.
Kit (as a Jolly Jogger): [freaking out fish noises]
Penn (as Marathon): Oh, it's okay. Hey, y'all, um, I have something to entertain now that we are in a more dangerous situation that requires maybe some more honesty. Um I have -
Penn: Marathon shifts her shirt.
Penn (as Marathon): I have a jolly jogger with me. Um.
Kit (as Birdie): [overlap] [overly dramatic] No~. [giggle]
Cameron (as Emma): [overlap] Oh~...
Penn (as Marathon): I just wanted to be straightforward about that. So
Kit (as Birdie): [laughing] I can't believe you didn't say something Marathon.
Penn (as Marathon): Yeah uh. But uh.
Cameron: Emma's look of shock turns into looking at Birdie with the look that an older sibling gives a younger sibling when they just like flat out lied to the parents about what happened.
Penn (as Marathon): We kind of bonded, so
Kit (as Birdie): [not convincing] I had no idea. [laughing]
Cameron (as Emma): Marathon have you had a fish under your shirt this whole time?
Penn (as Marathon): Uh yeah.
Cameron (as Emma): [sighs in responsible adult]
Penn (as Marathon): Well, not a fish - I hear they're called jolly joggers.
Cameron (as Emma): Oh, hmm. Okay.
Penn (as Marathon): Say Hi, buddy.
Cameron (as Emma): Oh my gosh. Um. Well, you can have fun telling Cassidy about th- [sudden realization] fuck we need to tell Cassidy that we're okay.
Cameron: Emma turns her radio on.
Nick: So jumping back to Cassidy, Ciphera, and Renn. You have looked around. There's no evidence of the three that were locked in here. The gas has dissipated, and the hallway stands in front of you, dark and quiet.
Sydney: Cassidy starts scouting down the hallway takes a couple of steps, because there's not weird puddles or anything on the ground. There's just nothing. So she's trying to look around and go, where did they go? And then looks back to see where Renn and Ciphera are.
Kira: If Cassidy takes it upon herself to start moving forward, Ciphera is going to stay near Renn right now just because Renn is on the verge of some sort of episode perhaps.
Alli: She's fine. She's fine.
Kira: Totally fine. Totally normal behavior. Yeah. So Ciphera is probably examining the room in which they were trapped just to look around and see if there are any traces as she bides time for Renn to sorta rally back again and keeping an eye on her.
Nick: Ciphera you are focused on Renn, but still looking around trying to get some more information and have a good view of where that airlock is. Make me an average difficulty Perception check.
Kira: Okay, I have three green diamonds in Perception.
[dice rolling]
Cameron: Three successes.
Nick: Yeah, very quickly now that the adrenaline of the moment has begun to fade, Ciphera you see that there is a small pile of rubble leading up to a smashed vent that leads into the walls that probably people motivated by the terror of suffocating could have fit into in an attempt to escape.
Kira (as Ciphera): Hey, there's some ductwork here. I think they did a scurry.
Sydney: Cassidy spins around and sees the duct that Ciphera is indicating and immediately climbs up the thing and sticks her head up into the opening to investigate.
Kira (as Ciphera): Yeah you want to follow them, I'm not going with you.
Nick: Cassidy, the vent was pretty easy to miss as you were looking around. It's tucked back into a shadowy corner there's a lot of cobwebs and dust around it, but now that you knew what to look for, it does pop out at you. As you scramble up to look down this passageway, you do see the small pinprick of a light within arm's reach and if you reach out to grab it, it appears to be the small flashlight that Birdie trusted Marathon with.
Sydney: Cassidy grabs it and yells down the thing.
Sydney (as Cassidy): [yelling] Marathon.
Nick: Your voice is mostly swallowed by the darkness but you hear a slight empty echo back to you and no additional answer.
Sydney: Cassidy climbs down off the thing and goes
Sydney (as Cassidy): Okay, so I guess they went through the vent. That seems like a good sign.
Kira (as Ciphera): Yeah, well, no corpses is typically a good thing. I don't think we should follow them. I think we should find a workaround or try to determine where the vent might come out.
Alli (as Renn): Yeah, absolutely fucking not, that could just crunch in on us.
Kira (as Ciphera): Yeah, I'm not really thinking that's a good idea.
Sydney: Cassidy hits the radio again and goes
Sydney (as Cassidy): [over radio] [annoyed concern] Emma? You around yet?
Sydney: And then just sits down on the floor next to Renn and Ciphera in like, well I don't know what I'm supposed to do now then gesture.
Kira (as Ciphera): It'll be okay. I'm sure they're fine.
Sydney (as Cassidy): Hopefully.
Alli (as Renn): [definitely still traumatized] We shouldn't stay here. We need to move.
Kira (as Ciphera): No. We should move. I don't want to get trapped in here by fluke.
Alli (as Renn): No let's - there was, there was another door right?
Sydney (as Cassidy): Yeah, the hallway keeps going.
Kira (as Ciphera): There's a lot of doors.
Alli (as Renn): All right. So if we just the doors are open, let's just hustle through these doors so they don't shut us in again. And if the duct works following these hallways, we might end up in the same place anyway. So worth taking a peek, and expediting are exit. [under breath and to self] Do you think that's why they call it expediting?
Alli: She mutters as she's getting up from her knees.
Kira (as Ciphera): Yeah, maybe. Here.
Kira: Ciphera will help her up.
Alli: Accepted.
Kira (as Ciphera): Let's just keep moving. Keep an eye out. Steady pace.
Alli (as Renn): Mhm.
Kira: As they're going down the hallway, Ciphera maybe even helping support Renn a little bit until she's on her feet and good. There's just some silence as they move and then Ciphera just says
Kira (as Ciphera): So um, you know, life threatening situations and all, bet it'll be nice to see Marathon.
Alli (as Renn): Got her!
Kira (as Ciphera): Bet you're worried. You seem pretty worried.
Sydney (as Cassidy): Let's yeah, let's let's make a lot of jokes about how my whole crew that I came here with is you know, I'm sure they're totally fine and there's no one in danger and we don't have anything else to worry about right now.
Cameron (as Emma): [over radio] Cassidy?
Kira (as Ciphera): Yeah you seem kind of on edge.
Sydney (as Cassidy): [instantly ignoring Ciphera & Renn] [over radio] Emma?
Alli (as Renn): People in danger don't drop flashlights ever.
Cameron (as Emma): [over radio] Hi. Uh are y'all okay?
Sydney (as Cassidy): [over radio] Yes. Did you just remember you had a radio?
Cameron (as Emma): [over radio] Uh no, we've been in a tunnel.
Cameron: [laughing] We cut to the room where the three of them are standing and Birdie is giving Emma the same look of looking at someone who just lied to the parent.
Kit (as Birdie): [over radio] [from farther away] Hi Cassidy.
Kira (as Ciphera): [smug] See, they're totally fine.
Kit (as Birdie): [over radio] We're all okay.
Penn (as Marathon): [over radio] Oh Cassidy we're - we're safe.
Sydney (as Cassidy): [over radio] Everyone's not dead? Everyone's intact?
Penn (as Marathon): [over radio] Just for complete clarity and honesty, I brought a jolly jogger into this whole situation [struggling fish noises start in the background] and I want to apologize, because I did not realize this would be a huge deal. Say hi. Say hi, little jolly jogger.
Kit (as a Jolly Jogger): [fish noises]
Alli: That perks Renn up.
Sydney: Cassidy just has the face of purest despair. Like she just heard that no actually, Marathon wasn't fine.
Sydney (as Cassidy): [over radio] Why~ did you - [struggling for words] Okay,
Cameron (as Emma): [over radio] It's been in her shirt the whole time.
Sydney (as Cassidy): [over radio] [groaning at the nonsense]
Penn (as Marathon): [over radio] I just I didn't know this will get dangerous. I'm sorry.
Kit (as a Jolly Jogger): [small fish noise]
Sydney: Cassidy drags a hand down her face and goes
Sydney (as Cassidy): [over radio] Keep me updated? Not on the fish - on where you are.
Cameron (as Emma): [over radio] I I think we found a lab?
Sydney (as Cassidy): [over radio] K.
Cameron (as Emma): [over radio] It's it we just got out of the vent though so we haven't, we haven't looked around at all, but it's a really big room with a lot of interesting things in it.
Sydney: [over radio] Well Emma, you know, you're the one who knows stuff about wild tech, so I don't know. Make it happen, I guess. [laugh]
Cameron (as Emma): [over radio] Okay. Yeah, I will do that.
Sydney: And Cassidy looks over at Renn and Ciphera like,
Sydney (as Cassidy): I eh
Kira (as Ciphera): Just got to keep active. We'll keep going.
Alli (as Renn): Keep moving, keep blood pumping.
Kira (as Ciphera): Just don't pump too hard.
Alli (as Renn): [stutter trying to find a response] Well, can you..[trails off]
Kira (as Ciphera): They said they're in a lab of some kind? Didn't we see something like that on the map?
Alli (as Renn): That wasn't at like the ass end of the facility was it?
Kira (as Ciphera): Well, it would make sense.
Alli (as Renn): [sigh]
Sydney: Cassidy shrugs in resignation and follows Renn and Ciphera.
Nick: So Renn and Ciphera and Cassidy, you continue down this hallway for quite a while. There are doors on either side. Some of them lead to what look like utility closets, meeting rooms. There are some larger rooms that appear to have been workspaces, laboratories, almost all of it is in very poor repair - collapsed in, the doors are fused shut, there is not a lot of real exploration or knowledge to be gained as you continue down this hallway. What you do see as you go is a set of stairs leading downward off of the main hallway and one of the few signs that is still intact, says Networking Lab. And as you look at these stairs leading off, it does align with what the map that you saw in the reception area shows as this being one of the much larger research areas of the facility. The downside is it appears that this whole area has flooded and there is just black water at the bottom of the stairs going who knows where.
Kira (as Ciphera): Well. I'm not going in there.
Sydney (as Cassidy): [despairing about the situation yet trying to poke fun at the situation] Look, it's perfect for Marathon's fish.
Kira (as Ciphera): Yeah.
Kira: Ciphera puts her left hand up on the words like Networking Lab and there's just sort of this longing there as she looks from it to the black water and then huffs a breath out.
Alli (as Renn): I mean, we could try to drain the water.
Kira (as Ciphera): With what?
Alli (as Renn): I don't know, I could, I could rig something up maybe.
Kira (as Ciphera): Make a pump?
Alli (as Renn): If it's, if it - yeah.
Kira (as Ciphera): Well it's gotta go somewhere.
Alli (as Renn): Well sure into the hallway and we're -
Kira (as Ciphera): [sigh]
Alli: Renn might not be having the most cohesive ideas right now.
Kira (as Ciphera): That's that's a good backup. We'll come back to that.
Alli: I do you have Inventor. Nick, I want to make a sump pump. [laugh]
Nick: You can absolutely try to make a sump pump. So Renn you know that this idea seems a little out there, you don't know how much water there is, you know that the math that goes into moving fluid is pretty unforgiving as far as how long things take, but at this point you want to try. So make me a hard Mechanics roll, you will have two black die because you're going to have to also scrounge for parts to try to put something together here and I would like to flip a Story Point to upgrade one of those purples from the difficulty to a red instead.
Alli: Okay, so my Mechanics is two green, two yellow, and then whatever the extra stuff was.
Nick: You have two purple and a red.
Alli: And I get to remove that black die on account of my Knack For It and I'm using Inventor so I get a blue die.
Kira: We see Ciphera just watching Renn as she's sitting there doing these mental tabulations, and there's just a small smile at the corner of her mouth because this is Renn in her absolute element, just pulling solutions out of thin air seemingly.
[dice rolling]
Alli: That's four successes and two threats.
Nick: Well, tell me what you're able to put together to drain this flooded lab out because you are able to do it quickly and efficiently with just the parts and tools you have on hand and what you're able to salvage around you.
Alli: She is absolutely just stripping those corrugated pipes, like for a dryer vent - She's just ripping those out of the walls but they're slightly more sturdy, which is great and she takes great joy in running them outside into the air that is not claustrophobic and hooking them up to Servo and just giving them a little pat pat get going. And after hopefully in a short while we see water starting to pour out of his tiller attachment just onto the ground. It's going to be a fucking swamp out here.
Kira: Ciphera looks smugly over to Cassidy like
Kira (as Ciphera): Pretty impressive, huh?
Sydney (as Cassidy): Sure. Now they -
Kira (as Ciphera): [instantly very defensive] Oh yeah, go ahead. Go ahead and act unimpressed. Go ahead. It really suits you.
Sydney (as Cassidy): I was gonna compliment that we're gonna have this nice big pool for Marathon's fish when we're done.
Kira (as Ciphera): Okay. Very supportive.
Sydney: Cassidy is holding back a smile.
Kira (as Ciphera): Well, you get to be the one to toss it. I'm not telling her that.
Nick: And yeah, so Renn you hook up Servo and water begins to be sucked out of this facility at surprising volume. You see that the point of failure is the strength of the piping you used because of the just wild amount of energy that Servo is able to pull into this. And as you glance outside on your way back in, you see that the water is being pumped out at the speed of a fire hose just aimed straight at the ground, so Servo is digging a small trench with the water pressure.
Alli (as Renn): Good boy.
Nick: Servo wags his tail spraying water in a wide arc and knocking some dirt off of the hill before hunkering back down.
Alli: Oh my god he's still wearing that sun hat too.
Nick: Yeah, he is still wearing the hat. Yeah. And by the time you make it back down the hallway to Cassidy and Ciphera, the water has been pretty much drained out of this area. The piping that you had hooked up is following the water down and you are able to go down the stairs. The ceiling is dripping. There is mildew everywhere. Everything's a little slick. But there is not water in the way anymore.
Kira: Ciphera is practically vibrating with excitement, but also trying to keep it on the down low. Like be cool about it.
Alli: Renn pats the back of her bicep and she's like,
Alli (as Renn): Go for it.
Kira (as Ciphera): We need to find the others.
Alli (as Renn): But what have your thing's down there?
Kira (as Ciphera): Well, maybe it is.
Alli (as Renn): What if floods again? What if Servo can't get it drained again? Go look!
Kira (as Ciphera): That's very convincing, okay.
Alli (as Renn): Yeah go!
Kira: Ciphera gonna go down the stairs.
Sydney: Cassidy is also going to go down the stairs.
Nick: And Renn is staying behind?
Alli: Uh yeah. Well, she's gonna follow behind, but making sure there aren't structural issues that would potentially separate people again.
Nick: Yeah, fair enough. You all are able to walk down the stairs. The hallway continues at the base of a couple of flights of stairs, and with the sediment on the ground and dampness leaking from the ceiling because this whole area was once submerged, it feels like you're walking in a cave more than a man-made facility. And you get to the end of this hallway and find yet another of those high security bulkhead doors. This one is sealed shut and locked and the control panel is completely corroded into just a mass of soggy wires. And we're going to cut away from you all back to Emma and Marathon and Birdie in their room full of strange glass tanks.
Kit (as Birdie): Well,
Penn (as Marathon): Damn, that's a lot of strange glass tanks in here.
Kit (as Birdie): Should we explore them?
Cameron: Yeah. I think Emma is walking around with her flashlight.
Penn (as Marathon): So we're looking for a patchy cube still, is that right? Or like treasure?
Kit (as Birdie): I mean, maybe the patchy cube like is treasure though.
Cameron (as Emma): We're not looking for the patchy cube, we're looking for a way to interpret the patchy cube. Um, do I know what that looks like? No. So
Penn (as Marathon): Do we think the answer is in any of these strange glass tanks?
Nick: As Marathon looks at the main central tank, you all see as you shine your flashlight on it this thing is absolutely filthy on the inside. The outside is covered in some dust but the inside appears to be covered in this black stringy slime that doesn't let any light through to the interior. Occasionally some of it will float or twitch a little bit as though in some sort of current. It is just totally full of gunk and mess and you find it pretty repulsive.
Penn (as Marathon): Well,
Penn: Marathon is ushered to the tank as the lights have moved on to it.
Penn (as Marathon): Do we think there is an answer in the gross tank?
Cameron (as Emma): As in like we should go in the tank? No~.
Penn (as Marathon): Okay.
Kit (as Birdie): Yeah. If there is then I'm not getting it.
Cameron: Are there any control panels or anything around these tanks?
Nick: What a great question. Could the three of y'all give me a Perception check please?
Penn: Well, what's the difficulty?
Nick: Average.
[dice rolling]
Penn: So I rolled two purples and three green and I got one success and an advantage.
Kit: I rolled two yellow, one green, and two purple and I got five successes, a triumph, and two threats.
Cameron: And I rolled the same dice pool as Birdie and got a success and an advantage.
Nick: Great. So Marathon and Emma, as you all start to look around this room, you are able to find kind of how this room works without too much trouble. It looks like all of these small tanks around the walls feed into the main large tank. The small tanks also have this weird black gunk in them and it looks like whatever was in here was fed into the main tank and was regulated by which of these extra tanks were fed in. You also are able to find a terminal but it is totally dead and has no power, so that's going to be sort of difficult to use. Although you might be able to figure out a way to bring it back online.
Birdie, with all of your successes, you find something that you are not really sure how to make heads or tails of - one of these tanks, one tucked way back in the corner, is not full of black gunk. It is filled with what you can now see as you run your flashlight on it, bright green algae. It seems to have filled this tank all the way up. It looks like a terrarium that has been untouched for decades and decades. It is just chock full of this green goop and seems to be glowing slightly as though this part of it didn't ever lose power.
Kit (as Birdie): Huh. Well, uh, this one's not gross. Guys?
Penn (as Marathon): Oh, it looks pretty.
Cameron (as Emma): That's green.
Kit (as Birdie): Yeah.
Nick: And if anyone would like to roll me a average Wild Tech check on this, you might be able to figure out what this room is.
Kit: Was that my triumph, too?
Nick: Is there something that you would like to spend the triumph on?
Kit: I don't know. Can I save it?
Nick: Sure.
Cameron: All right. So my Wild Tech roll is two yellows, a green and two purples.
[dice rolling]
Cameron: Two successes.
Nick: Great. Emma, where would you have heard about algae fueled reactors before?
Cameron: I don't know if I've ever seen one, but I probably did a tour of the Thunder Bay big power plant at school and it was mentioned as one of the other types of power plants and then we had a science fair and stuff.
Nick: So this is a much more intricate version of that science experiment you saw so long ago. You're not sure what all the different parts do, but seeing one of these tanks full of algae makes you realize that that's what was generating power here. There's two main ways to get power from algae. One is to cultivate it and use the gas and heat that it releases during photosynthesis to create power and the other one is to burn it because it burns pretty well once it's dried out. This facility looks like it might do both, but the problem is all of this algae is completely dead except for this one sealed tank. But if you could figure out a way to get this algae to culture in the main tank, you might be able to bring power back to the facility.
Cameron: So based on this analysis, is all of the gross sludgy stuff, dead algae?
Nick: Yes, all the gross sludgy stuff is dead algae.
Cameron: So looking at this tank, do all of them appear to be connected like they were on the same system before?
Nick: Yes.
Cameron: And are the tanks openable?
Nick: The tanks are able to be opened, they are not solid glass. They do appear to have tops that you could unscrew to take off but they are very large and appear to be countersunk to where you would need some sort of tool to open it and it doesn't look like normally you would open it to operate this facility. That being said, if you could open them that would really help you to one move this algae or two clear out the old and dead algae.
Cameron (as Emma): Okay, so I'm gonna I'm just going to talk through what my brain is doing right now. Um.
Penn (as Marathon): Mhm. Mhm.
Cameron (as Emma): I think all the gross sludgy stuff is dead algae. I think all the tanks used to look like this one.
Kit (as Birdie): Oh.
Cameron (as Emma): I think we have found the power plant, the power supply, for this facility.
Penn (as Marathon): [laugh] Because it's a plant get it? Sorry.
Cameron (as Emma): That-
Kit (as Birdie): [laugh]
Cameron (as Emma): That hadn't occurred to me when I said it out loud, but yep. So this one still running, so it still has some power.
Kit (as Birdie): We can just take it with us. That's how that works, right?
Cameron (as Emma): Take- take the tank?
Kit (as Birdie): Yeah.
Cameron (as Emma): I don't think we can move this Birdie. [laughing]
Nick: So the big tank is the size of the rig. The smaller tanks are at the size of a dentist's fish tank in their waiting room. So, like if you've got a big cart, you might be able to wheel it around but it is it is a little bit bigger than the paper cone water dispenser.
Kit (as Birdie): It can be like a little dome for - what'd you name your fish Marathon?
Penn (as Marathon):
Oh. Still workshoping. Uh Cassidy has not said I could keep it yet, so
Cameron (as Emma): To be fair, you also haven't asked.
Kit (as Birdie): Well, I'm sure she'll be very lenient.
Cameron: Emma is standing behind Birdie just shaking her head solemnly.
Penn (as Marathon): Hey. You don't have to lie to me, Birdie. Um. So Emma, what's the situation on the power? With this uh, power plants? These power plants?
Cameron (as Emma): Yes so these are power plants. Since this is still up and running, that's probably where the last remaining bits of power that we've seen have been coming from, but it seems very limited from over here. I think if we want to get big power going again, we need it in that big tank.
Penn (as Marathon): Just let me know if you need me to move something.
Cameron (as Emma): Yeah. Uh.
Cameron: Emma's just looking at control panels, trying to see if there is anything that looks to be set up to allow for transfer of contents between these tanks. Or if there's like an incinerate button on the big tank to clear it out.
Nick: Hey, you want to spend that triumph to have generator controls?
Kit: Yes.
Nick: It's either that or you could have the jolly jogger eat the gross dead algae. [laugh]
Kit: I kind of like the idea of Birdie lawn mowering this fish over the algae.
Nick: It would take a long time. But what it could do is you could if you manage to you could get it to clear out one of the conduits to unblock it or something like that. You can use the fish to solve algae related puzzles. I am okay with this.
Kit: Yeah, I'll spend the triumph on getting the fish to solve our algae related puzzle.
Nick: So Emma, you are able to in a combination of operating under the trace power from this one tank and manual levers and flushes to figure out a way to drain the main tank and transfer this good algae into it. What you realize though is that some of the piping is jammed - the largest main pipe is apparently completely clogged with old dead algae and you're going to have to figure out some way to get something into that pipe to get rid of what is blocking the flow. Everything else is good you have enough controls to get this restarted once the algae is transferred over but the pipe itself is jammed. And you find your eyes drifting towards the fish that has poked its head up out of Marathon shirt.
Cameron: So I think that this scene is Emma was kneeling down next to the pipe that comes out of this good tank and was realizing it was grody because it is also see through and was kind of measuring it, seeing how large it was, and then hears some meeps
Kit (as a Jolly Jogger): [fish meeps]
Penn (as Marathon): Hey! Uh.
Cameron: as the fish comes out of Marathon shirt or pokes its head out,
Penn (as Marathon): Okay!
Cameron: I don't know how this fish body is working.
Penn: It pokes its head out and then it [schlurping noise] and then drops onto the ground. [laugh]
Cameron: And Emma tilts her head looking appraisingly at this fish and then back at the pipe and back at the fish and then approaches the fish slowly as do not scare the fish and starts measuring the fish.
Nick: It is exactly the diameter of the pipe.
Penn (as Marathon): Wow, I this is okay.
Cameron (as Emma): Marathon?
Penn (as Marathon): Yeah?
Cameron (as Emma): Is your fish hungry?
Penn (as Marathon): My uh jolly jogger is probably, I don't know, I fed it a lot of like sesame sticks but
Kit (as a Jolly Jogger): [hungry fish noises?]
Penn (as Marathon): Oh, sounds like a hungry sound.
Cameron (as Emma): Hello. Yes, fish - do you like dead algae? [laugh]
Kit (as a Jolly Jogger): [fish noise]
Cameron (as Emma): That sounded like a yes to me.
Nick: The creature has been nudging at some puddles and appears to be trying to eat bits of mildew off of the floor. So
Cameron (as Emma): All right. Hey, buddy.
Kit (as a Jolly Jogger): [curious fish noise]
Cameron (as Emma): I've got a treat for you.
Penn (as Marathon): Oh, here. I'm gonna point it towards the direction of the pipe. Yeah.
Cameron (as Emma): Yeah.
Penn (as Marathon): Here you go. Here you go buddy. Here you go.
Cameron: Emma opens a side access panel to this pipe that's on top of it so that we can insert a fish.
Nick: It waddles over to this side access panel and squats down over the pipe and is basically scraping little bits of dried algae off of the pipe walls. The ends are currently closed because the access hatch is open, so it's basically just sitting in a little cubby right now trying to eat dead algae.
Kit (as a Jolly Jogger): [fish eating noises]
Penn (as Marathon): [concerned parent energy] Okay.
Cameron (as Emma): Marathon I think I need to lock your fish in the pipe.
Penn (as Marathon): Ah, okay, um,
Cameron (as Emma): I am reasonably sure I will be able to get the fish back out.
Penn (as Marathon): As long as you are reasonably sure.
Cameron (as Emma): If not it has an amazing supply of food.
Penn (as Marathon): I- yes. And I will break it free.
Cameron (as Emma): Sure, okay yeah.
Kit (as a Jolly Jogger): [fish meep]
Cameron: Emma closes the hatch and twists it to lock it.
Nick: There is a rattling noise as the pressure in the pipe equalizes and Emma you are able to open up the different parts of this pipe. Pressure gauges start to swing and there is rattling and scraping noises as the jolly jogger forces its way along the pipe and after just a few seconds, you see a glint of - what color is this fish?
Penn: It's hard to tell what color the jogger is because it's been covered in such like a brown residue since Marathon has picked it up.
Nick: After just a few seconds you see a flash of fins stirring the algae in the main tank as this jolly jogger seems to have made its way all the way from the access point to the main reactor. And Emma now that this pipe is clear, you know it's only the flip of a couple more levers to transfer the algae to the main reactor. Do you do it?
Cameron: Is there an access panel over by the main reactor where I can rescue the fish?
Nick: Yes.
Cameron: Okay, I'm gonna go rescue the fish before turning this into a working power plant.
Nick: Okay, how do you lure the fish out of a basically heaven filled with food.
Cameron: I just have Marathon go stand next to it and call to it. [laugh]
Penn (as Marathon): Come on, come on. [mouth clicks]
Kit (as a Jolly Jogger): [reluctant fish noises]
Penn (as Marathon): Come on little doggy. [mouth clicks]
Kit (as a Jolly Jogger): [fish noises]
Cameron (as Emma): That is a fish Marathon.
Nick: With the sound of a rubber boot being pulled free from mud, it plops out of the tank and into your arms. You are splattered with decaying dead algae and a very happy and much rounder jolly jogger.
Penn (as Marathon): Aww. Nice job. Nice job little buddy.
Cameron (as Emma): I can't believe that worked.
Kit (as Birdie): Well he got his vitamins in.
Penn (as Marathon): Mhm.
Cameron: Emma closes up this access point and goes to flip all the switches she needs to.
Nick: And as you flip the switches there is the sound of draining liquid and the slightly glowing healthy algae drains out of its tank through the pipes that you have cleared and into the main tank. What you weren't expecting is that this algae grows fast enough for you to see it happen. It was obviously engineered or bred over time that the dead algae is consumed very quickly and within just a couple of minutes the entire tank is full to bursting with this new fresh algae much like the smaller tank was earlier and the room gets 10 degrees hotter and humid as this algae begins to create power and the lights turn on and you all hear a mechanical voice say
Nick (as Facility): Power to the facility restored. Thank you for visiting Erie Data Transformation Incorporated.
Nick: And access doors open on either side of the generator facility. And we cut away to Cassidy, Ciphera, and Renn, who is staying nearby looking for any potential wall collapse or traps, as you all have been poking at this door trying to figure out how to get it open when the light is not as bright down here because all of the fixtures have been covered in mildew and mold from being underwater, but the lights turn on. You hear that power has been restored and the door to this lab slides open surprisingly smoothly, revealing a lab that must have been airtight because it was not underwater at all.
Kira (as Ciphera): It looks perfect.
Cameron (as Emma): [over radio] Powers back on.
Nick: The door slides open and the voice that announced that power had been restored, Renn, Ciphera, and Cassidy you hear coming from the lab that same voice saying
Nick (as Facility): Data archive unsealed. Partial connection to lunar servers established. Standing by for instructions.
[hurdy gurdy music swells]
Outro:
Penn (as Marathon): Welcome back to MTR 1153, that was just the end of today’s broadcast and we’ll be right back to the music after this little break. The particulars of the subsequent 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:
Alli Nesbit & Kira Nesbit as Renn & Ciphera. Alli and Kira can be found on their show RPG for You and Me, a duet actual play podcast. Their website rpgforyouandme.com has tons of art from the show, character bios, custom setting rules, and more! You can also find Alli and Kira on Sounds Like Crowes: Terminus and The Night Shift podcast, not to mention Alli now helms Dark Matter Magazine podcast and Apex Magazine podcast. You can chat with Alli on twitter @ youseethehat and @rpgforyouandme, but Kira is accessible through the show's Patron exclusive discord, found at patreon.com/rpgforyouandme.
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. Penn is an indie TTRPG designer whose most recent work includes Wasmannian, a prompt game about gender and wasps. 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 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, which you can support @ Patreon.com/TabletopSquadron. 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 next time…
…Signing Off