Legends of Avantris - Waltz for Eternity | Ep. 5 | Taste of Battle

Episode Date: May 14, 2026

Episode 5 of our NEW Gundam-inspired mecha campaign, Waltz for Eternity! This brand-new cast of characters are members of a program of mech pilots within the Cavalon Empire! Neon Odyssey, our 1,400+ page Space Opera trilogy for D&D 5.5E, is live now on Kickstarter! Become a Backer today at https://avantr.is/neon-rpg-yt   🎃Terrify your friends in D&D with *The Crooked Moon,* our 632-page Folk Horror tome for 5E: https://thecrookedmoon.com   🌎Join our *Patreon* to get thousands of hours of content including Avantris & Chill, unedited campaigns, a weekly game stream, 4 exclusive campaigns, monthly movie nights, and much more: https://avantris.com/patreon 👕 Get awesome, beautiful, or hilarious *merch* of your favorite characters including Chuckles, Bitsy, Torbek, and more at the Avantris shop: https://avantris.com/shop 👾Join the Avantris community on *Discord* to chat about your favorite campaigns: https://avantris.com/discord 🔴Watch us play D&D LIVE every week on *Twitch:* https://www.twitch.tv/legendsofavantris 🔗 *All other links:* https://linktr.ee/legendsofavantris   Watch the full episode here: https://youtu.be/xDwJaAQ0l6U?si=YtDAy7dMZhvK_ye4

We are legends of Aventris. Pilots to your stations. Sink your cores. Fire up the engines and prepare for launch. This is Walt for eternity. The rapid march of rolling drums echo through the highest hangar of Castle Ascalon. What is typically a chamber for rooks has been transformed into a chapel. The lights are low and the banners of the 12 great houses hang from the upper gantries unmoving.

Along the far wall, the surviving rooks stand in their berths with their heads lowered. At the center of the hangar, beneath a column of light, sits a steel coffin. Engraved on each side are the sacred crests of Durgan's world and the great house that sponsored him. On its face, engraved letters read Sir Durgan Welbar, Knight of the Cavalon Empire, lost beyond recovery and loyal defiance of the enemy. You stand with the officers of Operation Waltz and formal rows. Sergeant Margath is on one side, cigar absent for once. Dr. Crescent stands with his hands clasped, looking even smaller than usual.

The surviving members of Ash Squadron stand in the front line, as still as the rooks and the banners. The great doors open, and General Sigurd enters in black ceremonial armor, his medals replaced by a single white sash marked with the crest of the Cavalon Empire. He walks alone to the empty sarcophagus and stops before it. When he does, the hangar is filled with the sudden report of every officer

standing at attention. Every commander who wears a clean conscience is lying to themselves. I have given orders that placed good men and women in the path of fire. I have watched names very. vanish from active rosters and appear on memorial walls. I have stood before mothers, fathers, husbands, wives, children, squires, crews, and houses,

and I have told them that someone they loved will not return. It never becomes easy. If it ever does, remove me from command. We do not gather here because Sir Durgan died. All men die. All women die. Every knight who kneels and takes the oath knows the sword may someday fall upon their own neck. We gather because in the moment when fear had every right to command them, Sir Durgan did not obey.

In the moment when survival would have been easy, he chose duty. In the moment when the enemy reached out its hand to claim what was ours, Sir Durgan closed his fist around fire and took it with him into eternity. General Sigurd draws his sword. By the authority vested in me as commanding officer of Operation Waltz, and in witness of the officers, knights and sworn servants of Castle Ascalon, I commend Sir Durgan to the eternal honor of the Cavalon Empire. For his courage in battle, for his loyalty to his squadron, for his obedience to the charge placed upon every knight of the Cavalon Empire,

and for his final act of loyal defiance against the enemies of the enemy, empire, I enter his name among the honored dead. No grave receives him, but this stone shall bear his name. No body returns to us, but his oath remains. General Sigurd raises his sword. For Sir Durgan, for the Cavalon Empire, for the Empress. For we have the Empress. General Sigurd turns his face grim and resolved.

He repeats. for the empress for the empress for the empress for the empress for the empress the empress the emperor the empress

the funeral ceremony concludes and the hangar empties as the column of light remains fixed upon Durgan's coffin which rests assuredly empty only hollow words and vague notions of gratitude will be sent home to his family in a metal box many of those in attendance

walk up to the coffin to pay their respects. But as you all watch the murmuring crowd return to their duties, you notice that the entirety of Oak Squadron has already left. You watch is... Oh, no, please. No, sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt you. We know that Rina as Ash Leader.

Yes. Do we know which one are two, three and four and which one Durgan was? I think he was three. Yes, I believe that that's correct. He's that three. And do we know what Peyton Olena or Olena? Olena? Olene.

Olean? Olean? Excuse me. Pate would have been to and Olean would have been for. Okay, because Jace would know, and I just don't want to fuck it up. Thank you. You are all standing there watching as the general and Dr. Crescent are exchanging a few words with Ash Squadron. And more and more people are beginning to file out. Many walk up to the steel symbol that represents the fallen warrior, the fallen knight, the fallen lord, Sir Durgan, and may put a hand on it, perhaps speak a quiet prayer and then move on. You find yourself standing there, absorbing this information.

It's been more than a few days since you returned home from Morsib, and this ceremony. has taken some time to put together. And there's been something of a haul on those few days. You've recovered your wounds. You're no longer in any danger. But this ceremony has relieved some of the tension, but not all. I think if given the opportunity, I would try to be the first one over to Ash leader, as Elm leader, to, try to address her and the remainder of her squadron with condolences.

If I feel like I can find her relatively easily and have a moment with the rest of the squadron, I would take that opportunity when it presents itself. I think it's understood that the Ash Squadron, they seem to be standing there, talking to General Sigurd and Dr. Crescent, but they're remaining present. almost as though it's part of their duty. And as the moment that the general and the doctor, exchange a few parting words and themselves, peel off and start to make their way out of the hangar,

to have whatever discussions they've been locked away for days, I'm sure, talking through what's been happening and unpacking and debriefing, you're able to approach, the four of you are able to approach, and the squadron leader, Raina, a beautiful flambay. turns, sad expression on our face. Before we approach, there would be kind of a softer reserved more so than you guys are probably used to from Jace, just to Elm Squadron with me, as I would lead us over to what remains of the Ash Squadron.

With Hugh. As soon as we are within a respectable distance, I would, Ash leader. I'm leader I would like to offer my deepest condolences from Elm Squadron to Ash Squadron Ash 3 was brave loyal noble

selfless and it is because of his sacrifice and his duty that we were successful he was a true night and he remembered his vow and the words and what they mean

he's a better night he was the best of us it's hard to look on Raina's face in this moment it is being held up by what strength

she has left to not break her composure or perhaps there are no more tears left she nods and says there again was the best of us in many ways. I was honestly surprised when I was chosen as leader. Durgan was in many ways a father to us. He was the one who was so capable of being firm, but firm in such a way that

always felt like he had our back. Do you know? And he had your back until the end. And I'm sure in that last moment he felt the warmth of the hearth mother before he did what he had to do. Pate is also standing with the rest of Ash Squadron and he has a more frustrated expression. His face is one of reliving that experience over and over and you can tell even just by his expression that he's replaying moments. How could it have gone differently? in his head, and he is merely tolerating the fact that he's standing here rather than going back and grieving in his quarters. We're going to be okay.

Raina turns to each of you. Ash Squadron is still strong. We will do everything we can to honor Durgan's memory. We will continue to fight. Durgan would have hated all of this pomp, to be honest. Dying in the name of the Empress, in the name of the Cavalon Empire, which the greatest honor a knight could have. Even though he was a knight for so short a time, he'll never be forgotten.

He'll be a night forever now. Thank you. Thank you, truly. And, Raina, I... I keep thinking back if there's anything that... we could have done and I know we were halfway across the world but I wish if I had prayed harder I should have said an extra prayer for Durgan he may no longer be with us but it was thanks to him that we were able to successfully complete our mission so your prayers did something I think the hearth mother she's the guiding light

and protecting the community, the home, the town, the family. And when this is all done, all of our families will finally be safe, just like the general said. Raina,

I'll step forward closer to her. I'll reach into my pocket. Yes. I'll say, my sister sent me a care package, and I don't know if you're source could get this, but it's not a lot, but it's the last one I have. And I will hand a very pink wrapper that is Fluffy Pop brand sweet cup and cakes, but it's very berry flavor. And it's very bright

and pink and extra delicious with sprinkles on it, with extra sprinkles. She accepts your gift softly. not trembling and there's no moment where you feel like she's being overwhelmed. She accepts the cup and cake and looks down at it and a small, just a small smile, curves the edges of her lips. Thank you. I, this means a lot. Would you like a hug? Yeah. And it's not going to be like a big bear hug, but it'll just kind of be very soft. And I'll just kind of give her a hug. and I'll hold it as long as she holds it.

I'm doing like the Disney World rules. That's very funny. Don't break first. And she gives you a quick squeeze and you feel the tension in her body and she releases and you feel like you've given her some solace. But you can tell that there's a lot of pentabombo. emotion within her.

I will quietly think of a prayer and would try to, you know, use not mechanically like calm emotions. It's like this cheesy D&D stuff, but, you know, basically whatever kind of I will pray to quietly and silently to the hearth mother, to Vestaya to hopefully ease, bring the comfort. Because I know that it won't bring Durgan back. I know it won't necessarily ease the pain, but at least bring the solid. and the comfort that there is this community that she still has. Thank you.

Your words, your actions are of a true night. As I said, we will not back down, we will not break, we will, we will be strong, we will, we will fight on. And he'll fight even harder because he's going to be with you guys now. Yeah. Yeah, we'll fight. even harder and we'll we'll pray that none of us suffer this kind of loss ever again. The rest of us are going to make it to the end. Ash leader if there's anything at all that the Elm Squadron can do please let me know.

I think that we have licked our wounds and I think I believe that the rumor is we will be unpacking what happened on Moore Zeb and looking on to what we'll be doing next very soon. Yes, there's to be a debrief. We'll be there. I'll basically, I'll look back at her and I'll say, there's anything that you need. I'm right down the hall. Of course.

this entire time the squadron the ash squadron has been engaging with each of you there's been eyes shifting from face to face reading emotions looking around you can feel the bitterness

exuding from Olean you can feel that guilt and frustration in the body language of Pate and Raina is trying her best to keep everyone held together,

none of them look back to the steel coffin as you find that time is right to peel away yourself and let the next group come and say their kind words. Would we be able to have time with the coffin first? Are they at the coffin or are they kind of off the side? I would say that they're 10, 15 feet from the coffin. So it's not like they're standing right next to it. You wouldn't be able to reach out and touch it in this moment,

but you would, if you wanted to go to it first or if you'd want to go to it now, you'd be able to go. I would have been after I left right now. I would basically. I think we would all stop by the coffin. You all turn and make your way to the memorial object, this steel sarcophagi that represents Sir Durgan's surface. I've been kind of like hyper-focused on the coffin during that exchange.

It would sort of just been kind of, you know, I said my words, but I've just been kind of, of looking at it, and I would approach with my squadron. I definitely, depending on how everybody's moving or reacting, I assume I'm probably leading. As I approach the coffin, I would, would it be inappropriate to put a hand on it? No, many, many, including the general, have placed a palm on the side or the surface of the steel to feel it and feel the engraving. that sort of thing. It's, it's. No, no, then I would just do the same. And

is it cold? It is. I think that would like almost shock me. Like I would, I wouldn't try to let show on my face and I wouldn't recoil, but I think that it would kind of freak me out a little bit, that it's so cold. And I would think to myself, I wouldn't say anything out loud, but I would think to myself about how actions have consequences. decisions in the heat of battle have consequences,

and how all of our lives are in my hands to some capacity when making decisions and calling the shots. And it would be just a moment, but I'd whisper a silent goodbye and a thank you. And then I would step out of the way for whoever would want to be next. Your hand is shocked by that brief moment of coolness, the metal beneath your palm. And in the time that it takes you to say your prayer and think of your duty, it warms.

The contact underneath your hand absorbs that heat from your own body. And by the time you pull it away, there's a brief ghost image of your hand, which evaporates very quickly. I'll approach next to Jace, and I will place my own hand on the coffin. And I'll say, when the time comes, will I be ready to make that sacrifice with any of us? Will I be as ardent as Dürgen, as chivalrous, as unbound? I think all of us would have made the same decision. You especially, Veris. I believe so. I want to believe so. He is of the harmony now.

He is faceless as we all will be when our time comes. I will never forget his sacrifice. It is a reminder of our duty. My eyes are kind of like almost unfocused, and I'm like staring at the coffin. And I'm like, after saying that I kind of like lock in. Duty. Like so many before him, he has fallen.

Given his life for the empress, for the empire, told that it was good, that it was right, and now we honor him with his name carved in stone. I bet he'd trade that carving for sunlight on his face one more day. Do you forget your vows, friend? No. Ferris, I don't, but I want to live to see them fulfilled. Not buried in a coffin. Not even that.

Scattered like ash on a distant world. I know you don't hope for that either. None of us do. As this box stands empty now, in the end, that's all we are. We're all just one piece of the grand harmony. And what matters is that the empire stands. that every citizen,

every knight, every peasant, every lord, every empress is safe. It endures. That's what matters. That's what you've been told, matters. Since you first served your house, do you think the lords would do the same for you? At the mention of this, I'm like looking around to see if anybody can hear this conversation. This is a part of the ritual.

There's that column of light. And when someone is in there, it's intended to be a private space. And so the closest is just beyond the perimeter of that beam, the Ash Squadron. But they're without a shot. They're not able to hear as long as you're not openly yelling this out. No, I was assuming at this point that we're right. I think that to pay your respects, you're all being given a private moment. Mine are said is we're having a quiet moment.

Absolutely. Facing the coffin, not near anybody else. Still, at the mention of this, I shoot you a look. And I say, I don't too you forget yourself. Show some respect. Keep your opinions to yourself until we're back at the barracks. Very well. I dreamed of this coffin.

It was my name. My sisters were there and my parents and the rest of the town. They had a ceremony on the, the landing strip and my mother brought purple flowers and they were very pretty and the weather was warm but the box was cold and i don't know if i was in the box or not if there was anything left what these the nightmares that you were telling me about it was a dream i don't know the box was cold and the flowers were pretty listen we are all still here because of his sacrifice We get to live another day. Because of Sir Dürgen, don't take it for granted.

I won't. And regardless of his own wishes to feel the sun upon his face. It matters not. Will we all be certain when the time comes? Will we all be measured? Yes. Yeah, because we're knights who won't forget our vows. and I'll reach into my coat

and I'll pull out a little envelope but the same kind of envelope that you all saw when you first when you first arrived to Castle Ascalon and if it's any kind of place where there's cards or anything I would just place it very gently on top

and it would say for Durgan there is a handful of memos and letters many of them addressed to Durgan's family, but not enough. And you place your kindly written message for Durgan down on the side.

It hit by the light from directly above produces a dark shadow beneath it until it lays flat. I'll place it down and then I'll put my hand on the coffin and I'll say, Yeah, it was about that cold. And then I'm going to turn around and walk out. Before we leave, I'd probably be the last one there because I'm like really fixated on this. Unless there's anyone else, anything else anything else. I would leave. I wouldn't touch the coffin, but I would leave.

And once Milo walks away, I'd remove myself and just basically wait by the exit for all of my squad mates to take as much time as they needed. wait for you guys to be ready to go before we all... I think it's fair to say Jace, Milo, Ren, Ferris. Yeah. And the three of us start moving. No, so no rush. We would wait for you as long as you need. I put my hand back on the coffin again. I really feel that there's nothing in there, right? That he's not in there. You feel like if you knocked on it, you might hear a reverberating hollow boom.

Durgen. Sir Dirkin. You may not rest on the mausoleum moons with the great heroes of old. But you were a knight of the Cavalad Empire, and the glory of your sacrifice has gained you immortality all the same. We may be joining you.

Soon enough. Goodbye. I'll lift my hand up. Join my friends. As you walk out of the Circle of Light, a pair of officers, you recognize to be, intelligence officers who would have known Dürgen well step into make their own goodbye and the four of you are able to assemble and seeing that this space will be open for visitation

for the remainder of the day many others are just taking their time speaking to each other thinking their thoughts looking up at the rooks that stared at down at the banners and absorbing this period of time as officers like yourselves are allowed to do to try and process this sort of information. Time passes and you make your way back to your quarters and it isn't much more time before you get the summons the summons for a debrief and a fresh mission briefing. Because it feels right, I'm actually going to say, let's take a quick break. Okay.

Damn. The top brass of Operation Waltz are already assembled around a massive hollow table. Tactical projections showing fleet movements and Sarak Dynasty insignias flicker in the layered light. Dr. Crescent stands near one side of the display, hunched over a data pad with red and tired eyes. The general steps forward. The enemy believes that they have built a weapon that can end the age of the Cavalon Empire. They believe that they have studied us, measured us, and found the shape of our defeat. They are wrong.

Despite the loss of Sir Durgan, for all intents and purposes, the mission on Morsib was a success. Critical Harmonite stores were completely destroyed by Oak Squadron. The Cavalon Empire secured enough Brinzeum to make a huge impact and is already being partitioned for applications across our forces. And the intel gathered by Elm Squadron revealed the existence of a supermec. An operational prototype moved to crater intended to be deployed against this very station. You all are sitting in this briefing room, bathed in the, uh, in lighten all directions.

I'm going to turn this down because it's much more intense than I anticipated. And you've all been briefed on the particulars of why you're here. It's this debriefing, unpacking what has happened, but it is looking forward. And Dr. Cresson swipes a few gestures on his data pad and immediately returns to an image of Crata itself. The possibility of a direct attack, unfortunately, is something that would be quite impossible, quite impossible. No, no bad idea, very bad idea, terrible idea, in fact.

Unfortunately, it is where the, for lack of a better term, supermech exists. He pulls up a display, and you can see the same information that you were able to pull from the computer. terminals on the surface of Morsib. You see this massive mex ship. It's absolutely towers. You can even see on the display one of the rooks,

and you can see that this ship is three times the size of one of the mecks that you yourself pilot. This is quite a challenge all on its own, but the Cavalon empires never made a direct attack on the whole world. of the Saurak dynasty, the crater, it's a tremendous amount of defenses. And that is not just because of the technology that they now wield in this supermec. No, it is because it is possible for their capital ships to warp directly to its defense.

There are two other worlds that are, they have tremendous harmonite crystals that allow them to effectively teleport if they need to come to the defense of any of those core planets, back and forth. We have quite a bit to unpack here, but it is going to require a coordinated effort. He looks around staring at the four of you, staring at the rest of the squadrons who all sit, are flanking either side. You can see Ash Squadron is sitting there. They are the three of them sitting very attentively. You can see that there's a glimmer of detainting. termination in their eye. Yes, the events of today sort of made real for them the disastrous results of the mission on Morsib, but they are as present as anyone else in the room. To the other

side of this mission briefing room, you can see the Oak Squadron all sitting there. Zaro has his feet up on the hollow table, his arms crossed, sort of leaning back with a small, mile, kind of getting excited for the next big goal. As I was saying, the coordinated effort will require us to attack on three fronts. We will have to not just be, uh, attack on a crater in order to try to get the supermec to come out, but we will have to also attack Viradar and Lithora in order for us to keep those forces at bay in order to make sure that we are not overwhelmed. This is a terribly dangerous endeavor, I'm afraid.

It is something that will require the utmost precision. And we can't send all three squadrons to all three planets. The power of this supermec is challenging to describe. As you can see, it takes the shape of one of Cray's most deadly predators. And it is covered in the same bridge. The armor itself is reinforced. I believe L Squadron, you yourself, came into direct contact with mecs that wore this very same armor.

The defenses. The fortifications are formidable. On top of that, you can see the crystals running down here from the back of the neck, down the spine, all the way to the end of the tail. This indicates that despite its massive size, that it is extremely fast, extremely fast. It is brutal.

It is monstrous. It is enormous. and we've been unable to identify a weakness. That is why we have begun work on programming a simulation. All four of you, all three squadrons, will begin work immediately in simulation, attempting to pilot your rooks to see how you might face off against such a terrible monstrosity.

Any questions on that point? No, sir. Dr. Creston? Yes, yes, yes, Milo. If all of the squadrons are going to be heading to Crayta, what will be the force to go to Viradar and Lithora? We have support ships, squadrons. We may be able to send a capital ship, but it is going to largely be a skirmish. The goal is merely to distract, not to try to destroy those forces.

That way they will not be able to respond, arrive at Crayta, and defend the Supermec. is that by preventing the arrival of the capital ships that the supermec will be forced to be drawn out and that is where you will come in. Thank you, sir. Unfortunately, we anticipate heavy losses on the side of the distraction forces, but it is without question that these, a weapon, the size of this, one with the power to destroy a space station, is sizable, as Castle Ascalon cannot

be allowed to exist. The general steps forward and puts both of his fists on the surface of the hologram. Dr. Creston is right. There is no way for us to protect all that we hold dear as long as this

machine, this terrible dynasty force exists. If we are to defend ourselves, we must take the initiative, only by taking a, making a direct strike against the supermec. Will we be able to protect those that we hold dear? The many lives of not just the people of this fortress,

but the people of Uthin and the rest of the core worlds, if they were able to build more of these, if they were able to fight their way through and reach our defenses, there's no telling how much damage they would do. We must attack and we must take the initiative. Is that understood? Yes, sir. Yes, sir.

Understood. Question. General, sir. Beres. The plan is for us to stand by then when the fighting begins. We do not engage until the weapon appears? Correct. He fiddles with the controls of the hollow display in front of you

and a simulation of their attack. pack begins. You can see that there are sort of three planet objects that are in the display, and you can see how they're intending on distracting with the other two planets to prevent those forces from combining by teleporting into KREDA. And then you see a smaller fleet move, roll forward. Your rooks, all three squadrons are represented in a second wave, but a first wave goes forward and starts to move forward, making feints and coordinated attacks designed to create a corridor where hopefully they'll be able to draw out from the surface, not just the surface ships and defenses and orbital defenses that would exist around a planet such as Kreda,

but the Supermec itself lifting off. And it's within that window of opportunity, a brief as it is, according to the way that it's being displayed, that you would be able to rocket forward and engage with the supermec in close combat. Just as you see here, these ships will move forward, and once they've created a lane, that is when you and the other squadrons will attack. Thank you, sir. Now, are there any other questions before we begin training? How many of us will it take to bring this thing down?

Our initial calculations, our simulations, they are only guesses, and based on the success of your work within the simulations, we'll be able to know for sure. But I want no question. I do not want there to be any risk that we do not take this thing out and end the threat to the Cavalon Empire once and for all. I am sending not just Elm Squadron and Oak Squadron, but As Squadron as well, all 11 rooks. It is our hope that that will be enough to take down a machine with this level of power. Understood, sir. Sir.

And there'll be no civilian vessels engaged. We have ordered the... We will command the other forces that we send along not to engage any civilian ships. They are only there to cause trouble and to make a perceived threat so clear that, the Sorok Dynasty has no other option

but to send this and that is when we will strike. Understood. Thank you, sir. I see what's happening. This one song has been repeating over and over. I'll stop that now. How strange. The

rest of the mission briefing continues. If you have any more question. No, this is actually a good time to ask a meta question. Yeah. So you had mentioned that the Sauric dynasty capital ships have the ability to show up for instant reinforcement. Yes.

Would we have known that until this moment? I think that you would have, in your academic education classes, you would have gone through all of the sort of Sorak dynasty known technologies. And because of the abundance and their access to and their privileged knowledge regarding Harmonite, you know that there are these massive crystals that float in orbit around many of their core worlds. The three core worlds that he's described are adjacent enough that any sizable enough ship that can attune to those kinds, can resonate with those kinds of crystals, would be able to move from planet to planet almost instantly.

That would have been known knowledge to you. They're repeating all of this information as part of the briefing to make sure that that's clear, but it is well known, at least among military elite such as yourself. So we're hoping that the force that we bring with plus the 11 rooks is enough to bring the capital ship reinforcement but to naturally draw out the super weapon. The goal is to make sure that the other two planets can't send reinforcement. Thank you.

Just for a setting thing, for folks at home and for folks that have been as involved, the Sorak Dynasty has three seats of power. three different worlds that are pretty far apart across the galaxy. Right. But they have these locations are not close to it. Yeah, like giant, they have limited ways to teleport from world to world. And that's pretty established. Usually capital ships have some way to kind of use that technology.

And it's very rare. You know that the Cavalant Empire's equivalent are these warp gates. You travel through one in order to reach the outskirts of Morsi. And then you would have had to make your journey back a few. days ago, certainly. But this, we understand to be instantaneous. This is, this is like... We don't have to go into warp speed. It's another level. Star Wars

or DeBoss style. Totally different thing. Right. And so in order for, so they're going to send forces to those two planets. To prevent the war. So that, so they can't get reinforced. If Crata goes, oh shit, we're in trouble, they're like, we're dealing with our own assault. We're dealing with our own war. We're dealing with our own problem.

No, that's why I wanted to ask. I just want to clarify the actual order of operations. That's fine. Case would know, but, you know. No, no, no. That's really important. It's important. Are there any other, and if there are any other meta questions, so that I don't have to

RP, uh, Chris and I'm going to ask one in question. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, yeah, yeah. Sorry, yeah, in character. Veris, go ahead. Excuse me. So, of course, I'm sure the doctor in his brilliance

has thought of this, but we did experience Brinzeum armor on the surface of Mosey, that even though I landed a crushing blow against my enemy glanced off and did not

strike as true as I was expecting. Are we accounting for this, or do we just hope for the best? Apologies I was multitasking. Can you see? I was asking more mechanically about how my crit got negated, even though it was really cool, but I didn't

do grit damage. And, uh, you know, just, uh... That is, that is exactly why we wanted to collect the brimseum. We will be able to use that, and I assure you that we will be considering equipping the works that you pilot with this same kind of fortification. However, there's a lot of work to be done. We have to learn how to use it to the same degree. But to your point, yes, the remarkable strength of this metal.

You saw the demonstration. I watched in the hologram recordings of your fight. that it did exactly as what's written on the brinsium, as they say. Thank you, sir. Thank you, sir. I'll not have both of them. And you can go back to how to character. I have any character question. I'm going to ask you.

Back to character. Back to the character. We are in our opinion. I love that. How dare you, how dare you try to? Why not? Why not? Why don't you try and do this?

General, is there any indication that they're aware of the events on Morsi? they know the intelligence we have and should we expect enhanced resistance on Crater. I am certain that they are fully aware of what happened on Morseep. There's no question that they would be in communication, and it's been days now. Whether or not they would expect a strike or whether they're aware that we would know that their supermec is on the surface of crater, that is unknown. We have to be ready for anything, which is why we're. are hoping to spread out their forces as thinly as possible,

draw out this supermeck, and destroy it. If there are no further questions. No, sir. He nods to the others, and he dismisses the mission briefing. You can see Ash Squadron immediately run up to the general to ask a few questions. Dr. Crescent immediately goes back into sort of hyper-fixated mode,

writing on his data pad, doing calculations, tapping his finger against his lips, and then looking back down again and continuing to jot down notes. And Oak Squadron, they are, for lack of a better word, pumping themselves up. They're bumping chests. They're slapping each other's hands. They're revving themselves up for But must be another exciting mission.

You said that Dr. Crescent have like red eyes, that he was like, does he look rough? Yeah. He sounds tired. Yeah. He's been working on top. He's been a couple red eyes. He's been with this data analyzing and programming and talking to engineers,

talking to the general, figuring out what strategy makes sense. He's the nexus for so many critical functions within this arm of the military. the red eyes look to you to be not just exhaustion, but it looks like also that he was affected by the outcome of Morsi. And in all that time, in all that work, he's determined this has no weaknesses. Not that they've found so far.

So the look on his face isn't a good one. There's an air of frustration and like... He's a little yorner. It's not good for... Not good for morale. I would like to approach him if the other squaders are kind of dealing with like the general.

And I'll say, Dr. Christen, are you sleeping? Are you all right? You're looking. I appreciate your concern. Milo, I always have appreciated your sympathy in this way. I don't need a cup and cake.

But. I hit that one right off. Mix that one in the blood. You're not you and you're talking about. You are correct. You are correct. I've been working overtime to make sure that this mission is success. There is no time for me to take a few zees, as the kids say.

It is the utmost important for us to. I heard anyone say that. For us to strike and strike quickly. If we reach crater, if this mission is a failure, then think of what harm could be done with such a, terrible weapon. But we'll do whatever it takes. I just want to make sure that you don't,

that you're the brains of this entire operation. You need to make sure you're taking care of yourself. Girls were all lost. He sort of squints and squeezes just underneath his eyes. Lifting his glasses up, he de-stresses momentarily. I appreciate the import of my position, but I am supported by a team of fantastic Cavalon engineers. And we are doing our very very very very very

best to make sure that if there is a weakness, we find one. If we can equip you with all the knowledge that we can in order to ensure this mission's success, then we will make sure you are equipped with it. I will not rest until I see that you are all safely home and that this threat to the Kavanaugh Empire has ended. Dr. Crested, if I may. I understand that you're still looking for a critical weak point, an opening for us. may be so bold as to ask

if you've considered the critical mass self-destruct. That is a tool that still exists in your arsenal, but understand that the option for you to

self-detonate your rook is only there if you believe that your rook might fall into enemy hands. It is not a weapon in that sense. we do not want you to fight without honor. We want you to go there and kill it

the way that it needs to be killed. This is war, yes. But to overwhelm it with our... The nukes that we've equipped your rooks with is not a consideration. I would say to best it in battle would reflect best on the empire and the empress. Understood, Dr.

Crescent. Elm's squadron would never needlessly throw our lives away, but we'll also do exactly what we need to make sure that the mission is a success. I will admit, after the events on Moor's Eve, I consider disabling such function on your rooks. However, it has been made clear to me that protecting our technology is as mission critical as our ultimate purpose, the defense of the empire. so I ask you to use your discretion. Only use that if you are in dire need. Understood? Yes, sir. Yes, Dr. Cresson.

We will not allow this technology to fall under the enemy's hands. Are there any modifications you're making to Rook Vallowing or any of the rest of ours? If there were time, I wish we would be able to equip you with the Brindium. That might have given you an edge.

Certainly, it's its ability to to take such massive blows without cracking or denting and is significant. But it would take, well, it would take longer than we have. If we had just another week, or maybe even days, we might be able to do

all 11 rooks in the same fashion. Coat each of your rooks in this unbelievable technology, but I'm afraid all we've been able to do is repair your rooks. It'll be fully functional. And they should look as though they did the first day that you drove them. So without the Brindium, sir, then how devastating would a direct attack be from the super weapon? This super mech is already formidable.

It will be fast. It will hit hard. He pulls up that same display, and he's pointing out how it looks like it can do, you can engage in battle the same way you might engage in battle with your soul. with your rook or with your, I want to say Morningstar, but that's incorrect. You have your flail, your swords, your spears. The same way that you might have those sorts of attacks, this mech uses its claws. It has the ability to use its tail, the ability to bite down on its enemies. It is truly modeled after the same kind of ferocious.

intensity of the beasts that exist on the surface of crater. That is what they've learned is a very effective and intimidating a fighting stance. And he's demonstrating these things as he goes. It is a formidable, fast, powerful creature, and it is massive. It will take quite a number of attacks in order to bring it down. But the weapon that it can discharge and destroy a station of this size with, even a rook would stand no chance against a blast like that.

If you see this supermech start to unleash that kind of power, all I can tell you is to step out of the way. Understood, yes, sir. Yes, sir. I promise. When you get back, we will upgrade your rooks.

We will equip it with the finest brinsium technology, and you will be that much better for it. I ask you to train now as best you can, go through the simulations. And then we will be ready to deploy. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. We'll do our best.

Begin right away. Yes, sir. Understood. And we're going to do great. Dirk, Dirkin's going to make sure we do great. I watched you all. You were tremendous. I am so proud of each of you with the, the, the, the, the, the, ferocity that you brought to your mission. Each of the squadrons were, had utmost importance,

such utmost importance, and you clearly have skills. I have utter faith in all of you. Thank you, sir. I'll be here. I'll be working. And once you're away, I can rest. You won't let you down.

None of us will let you down. For the Empress. For the Empress. For the Empress. For the Empress. You all salute and you make your way. There's a bit more discussion in the room, but you know that you need to go back to your quarters,

eat, sort of debrief on your own, figure out how you're going to handle what is coming next, knowing that the decision to the command may come down to start this mission at any time. and that you have only so much time to read the dossiers, go back over the data that you were able to extract from Morsiab, again and again, memorizing that shape, those attacks, and sitting in a simulator, if you can,

pretending to be in your rook to try to train as best you can in the short time that you have. And I'm going to switch over the music, because I have that power. I would If we have the even Or I guess if we have time And we're going to share a meal

And we're heading back to our Squadron Bunks I would say that you would know that you would have A meal served It's about that time when Because of the station that you have The I guess I'll go with this one

Let's just try this Because of the Your rank within the the castle, that there's always hot food prepared to your tastes. They've learned your dietary needs and what you like and dislike. And so when you return to your quarters, there's already a spread laid out for you on the central table. In addition to stacks of papers with more information about the different coordinated efforts that are happening across this. larger strike.

Loaf of meat, my favorite. We've been here, but we've been here for like a couple days, right? Because the rooks have been worked at, we're not like just getting back day one. That's correct. Can I say that in those days, I've been purposefully moving through the squad room,

especially the shared common areas. And I am looking to try and discern if I find any like recording equipment or communication equipment. I'm looking for bugs. I'm sweeping the place for bugs. Oh, to see if they're like listening in on.

Make a... And I've been doing it over days. Make an investigation check advantage. And if you want to, if you have a feature that allows you to perceive that kind of technology, then you can certainly peek at that. Like cyborg in hands? Yeah.

I don't know. I don't know. So you have like a, like a robot. They're all six cents. We're all for killing people. Yeah, that's true. You're all for blowing people up. I don't think you're high enough level yet. If the room is dark, I have dark vision.

That ain't going to help. And I know signal the language of programs and bots. So if the, if the bugs are speaking, I can hear them. Exactly. What do you say to roll? Investigation? Six. Bologna.

I rolled a philop. Oh my god. That's brutal. Disgusted by you. They might be well-hidden. Sorry, that was your line. I'm going to assume, though, presuming I don't find any,

I'm going to assume if I've been searching for days that I would take away from that that there is not one here. You are... Here's what I'll say. I could be wrong. Here's what I'll say with this. But I don't think I would think that I would fail at this.

You wouldn't know? I would just assume they're not here if I can't find them. There's absolutely no way I missed a single bug. Yeah, absolutely. You feel very confident that there isn't additional bugs or surveillance technology in the quarters that you share with the rest of Elm Squadron.

You check behind paintings and you check fabrics. You check the walls to see if you can find those little marks where someone might have drilled a hole in, inserted a microphone, and then covered it up. You sweep the room. And when nothing comes up that jumps out at you, you feel pretty confident about that. But in the back of your mind, you're also surrounded by technology. There are communication tools in this very room. There's a wall where you can go and make a call or get a communication from the general or from the doctor,

where there's effectively a webcam and a display and a phone. Run with a tape over that day one. Right, right. And you could. In fact, I would say that there probably is a privacy. Privacy slides, right? But the ability for somebody to remotely turn that kind of technology on and listen in would be, you wouldn't even need to bug a room like this if you had control of the network. I hear what you're saying. That was a dumb idea.

Thanks. No, it's not a dumb idea. I hear what you're saying, Derek. No, no, no, I think it's an important question. but your suspicions focus on those existing technologies, and you know that if someone had access to the network, you feel very confident that they would be able to listen in. Got it.

You may now continue with your loaf of meat? Oh, I was just eating my loaf of meat. You did care for something. It's the most structured mince form factor. I don't know how you eat that. I've always liked Hamburg bleaf steak. Yeah, it's good. It's got a lot of protein.

You got to eat the extra sauce, though. The sauce doesn't prove it. Mine has onions. I thought you didn't like onions. I don't. But my lady mother told me it's good for me. Fair enough. Something about nutrients. Hey, Milo. Are you gonna be all right?

Yeah, why? I don't know, I just get the feeling you're gonna ask if you can stay in my room again. It's fine if you want to. I'm just making sure you're, you're gonna ask you. are okay. Why is it either are? And you tell me. I'm okay. There was room in my room if this bothers you, Jase.

No, I'm used to it. I'm just worried about the dreams I'm gonna have. You know, I'm starting to worry about them too. I'd never seen that coffin before. First time I saw was in my dream. I don't know. What if they're too powerful? What if we're just beat?

The Sarat Dynasty. was here way before us. What if we're just a blip on their timeline? Well, if that- We rise and we fall. That's true, and our falling will not be for nothing. The Empire will use the data. They'll improve. They'll find more knights, more rooks. Time will go on, and so will the war, with Thor without us.

With all due respect, Chase Failure is not an option. If we fail, then this supermec will destroy Castle Ascalon. And then Uthin is next. And they won't stop there. They'll spread their savage tyranny through the galaxy.

You're both right. Failure is not an option. My apologies. is irrelevant that we are the knights or others are the ones are defeated, but it must be defeated. And whether it is fate, the guards, the stars, the harmony or anything else, we were the ones that were chosen. And so we must fulfill our duty. We must bring an end to this technology. And I will do anything it takes. Destroy this thing. Are you with me? All of you?

Of course, Ferris. It has to be destroyed. All of those people, all the civilians, and Morsib, they would have died for nothing. We don't put a stop to this. Durgen would have died for nothing. Durgen would have died for nothing, and he's not going to die in vain. We'll be walk with Degin if we need to. Listen, Ferris, you know that I believe. I believe we'll win. I always do. I know we will. I hope we do. Because there's no other option.

Their weapon is stronger than us. It's more durable. It's faster. But we have one thing they don't. They don't have better pilots, except maybe Jace. I believe Jace is better than any of Sauron pilot. Yeah, I mean, they would have had to train, they would have had to train MEC pilots. And maybe just they're an experience. It's not part of their culture like it is a Cavalong culture. They've only just developed this weapon. They can't yet be comfortable with it.

That's going to be our best opportunity to find it in. Yeah. There's just no room for error. We can't make a single mistake. I mean, you heard Dr. Crescent. One slip-up and it's over. No mistakes. No mistakes.

We have to be perfect. Like I know we are. Like we can be. We have to be the best. Like I know we are. We've been training for months for this moment. The odds are low because they twist the harmony to their own aims. They abuse it.

They harness it for destruction. We will put an end to it. By the way, Wren, You gotta be careful what you're saying. You can't be saying that stuff when we're standing over one of our comrades' coffins. I don't even necessarily disagree with you. But that was out of line.

What are you thinking? What if someone overheard you? Tears aren't gonna bring Durgan back. We face down a super weapon that could destroy Ascalon, Uthin, who knows what next. Who knows what next? And we spend our time not burying him, carving his name into stone, we should be training, we should be focusing, we should be sharpening our minds, our blades

to gain every advantage we can get against this thing. Because we're only going to get one shot. We're only going to make planet fall on Kreda once, one time. Yeah, no shit, Wren. But come on. Read the room. If you have something you want to say and you don't want other ears to hear it, save it for here. We can be open here.

But don't do it in front of others. And that was a good thing that we did. Honoring Durgan. We're better than our enemy. We're better than all of our enemies. We take the time to honor he who is the most honorable of all of us. And a knight deserves the send off of a hero. He said the words that we did

May all of us be so lucky I'm gonna try to get some sleep All right I'm gonna pray for a while I'll pray extra hard for you guys, okay? Yeah, and if, uh, you know, when you're done If you

wanna come over to my room, that's fine, just let yourself in. It's never stop you before. I'll think about it. I'll get up and I'll push my chair and I'll head back. You each confront the possibility of this mission in different ways. Milo makes his way back into his room, a stack of mission details, dossiers,

the compiled and analyzed information about the supermec, sit next to a loaf of meat. In your own time, you eventually make your way to I would just, after Milo leaves, I would be leafing through. Maybe conversation has kind of stalled for a moment as there's kind of this awkward silence. And after looking through some things, I'd probably throw the dossier back onto the middle of the table for anybody who wants to. And I'd start to stand up and say, I'm going to turn in as well.

And listen, Wren, I know you think that I'm incapable of making intelligent decisions, that I might be rash. but I want you to understand that every decision that I make weighs extremely heavily on me. I understand the consequences, the choices that I make that have direct impacts on your lives. The three of you are my brothers. And I have to live with whatever happens out there. So yeah, I'm sorry that I fire on you.

But in the heat of the moment, I did what I had to do. to make sure that transport ship made it around. I need you to trust me, like I trust you. We're not brothers, Jace, or squadron. You know what's going to happen when we go to Crata? One of two things. We all die, or we're victorious. Do you know what happens if we're victorious?

Ferris does. He was trained. He understands. The leader of a squadron to take out the super weapon on Crater, you would be uplifted. You would be deemed one of the best pilots, possibly in the galaxy. You might be given a fleet. We might get our own squadrons. You know what would happen? They would rip us apart and it is their right. We'd be cast to the winds, not a family, but warriors for them to do with what they want.

And you would accept it because that's your dream. You would leave like anybody else would. So enough of family. We're here together, we fly together, we cut enemies down together because that is our charge. I'm sorry you see it that way, Ren. I'm gonna turn in. Ferris, don't stay up too late.

tomorrow's chest day. Oh, that is right. And I'm a fevered day. And I'm gonna turn, and I'm gonna head to my room. The two of you remain, reading, thinking, consuming the remainder of the loaf. I'll have a slice of loaf of meat. Red.

I slam the, oh. Oh. Oh, fuck. Oh, whatever you're gonna say. The loaf. Uh, I slam the dossier down on the table. after a couple minutes and I stand up

abruptly. I'm going to bet. You study the dossier. You. Everyone else is asleep. Oh, I thought you're going. I'm sorry. I don't realize you're still. It's just you ran in Veris. We both. We both did.

Yes, Varis. Yes, I have. Do you feel prepared to follow Elm leader's orders? I'll follow his orders. Like I on Morsib, when we fled. We may not be Blood Brothers,

but we are a squadron. And he is our leader. It is your duty to follow orders. As is mine. As is Milo's and as is Jases. I don't believe I need to remind you of that. But I will tolerate spits and spats at the dinner table. I won't tolerate it tomorrow.

To understand? I understand the way you were trained, DeVaris. I understand what you believe, what you stand for. And to an extent you might even say that I admire you for it. You need to understand yourself. The following orders without question is obedience. It's not discipline. I'll stay in formation.

And we will fight together as we have for months. And we will be victorious because I believe as you do that if we are not, everything is lost. And I won't stand for that. And we are aligned. Good night, Red. Good night, Veris. Beres, you, I left alone in a stack of papers

and a third of what was originally a sizable loaf of meat. I'll have a drink. Take a bite of black bread. Mm-hmm. Damn, it's a good black bread. Good bread, this. He says to himself. I say to myself, I finish my meal, and then I'll go to bed as well.

You all tuck in, but you do not enjoy long rest. You have had a long rest. It's been days since you arrived here, but it's not another hour and a half, two hours. This is incorrect. In the early hours of the morning, when suddenly... Let's do this. In the early hours of the morning,

suddenly a claxon alarms. Meow. Meem. Beem. The lights in your room automatically turn on, and you are forced awake by the deafening sound

as you hear the voice of the general coming on over the communications. Squadrons, to your rooks. We have intel that there is a demonstration, a test being done of the Supermec in orbit of crater. We must act now. Everyone is being coordinated immediately.

We do not have days, we have minutes. I need everyone to be ready to launch immediately. Get to your rooks, as soon as you can. can. They're training. Have no choice. The time is now. Let us go.

The only choice is victory as we get ready. I'll be suited up. Yeah, and I'm gonna start spreading to the hangar. You immediately pull on your rook suits and you, uh, uh, uh, run a hand through your hair as quickly as you can. Uh-oh. Feeling the lack of sleep as you punish yourself to get through the corridors as quickly as possible. I would, as soon, I would basically, as soon as,

As Varus and Wren leave, I would hold, I would put an arm on Jesus, a hand on Jesus' arm. It's like, geez, what is it? If this is it, I didn't say earlier, but if we're all supposed to be in the hearth mother's warmth, why was the box cold? Hey, hey, hey, hey, look at me. Look at me. Is the box going to be cold? Does that mean that the hearth mother's not going to be there? Milo, Milo, I need you.

This is it? I need you to look at me. This is it? Snap out of it, buddy. I'm going to be cold. Come on. We're going to be all right. That's not going to happen.

Stay with me. Look at me. Come on. We're going to be all right. We're going to get through this. Yeah. Let's go. Yeah.

Come on. Okay, Jace. And then I follow. You all race through the halls of Castle Ascalon. And looking out through the window, you can see that a huge, Huge force has amassed. There are carriers and fighters and other support craft

burning into space all launching from, not just from the many hangar bays of the castle, but also emerging from the atmosphere of Uthin, as the force of the Cavalon Empire of the Center World is beginning to coalesce. And in no time at all, you are all sitting behind the controls of your rooks, knowing that the mission for the fate of the Cavalon Empire awaits.

You wipe the sleep from your eyes, and you hear the crackling voice again of General Sigurd come through the calm system. Knights of Operation Waltz, today the enemy learns that the Cavalon Empire will not abide by our enemies as they plan for the destruction of all we hold dear. Today, they learn why the Tyrannarch king knew only fear when he faced the first emperor. All squadrons launch.

The siren blairs. As one by one, all 11 rooks blast out of Castle Ascalon and head into space. A huge fleet of ships is left the other hangers of the space station heading towards the various warp rings that neighbor the core world of the Cavalon Empire. The three-pronged assault on the Saurak dynasty is underway. And you are a critical.

part of it. All of you make your way to the liminal ring that opens to the fastest route to Crata. As you pass through, all turns golden and you rock it to beyond light speed. Damn. Let's fucking go.

Shit, man. Is there somewhere in our manual that received how to report another cadet for, you know, psychic evaluation? Is there like an anonymous tip system? Shockingly, we would have some time in this limited space. Oh, for sure.

Yes. That's a joke. Jace would never, in a million years, rat out Milo. And this is actually... No, no, no, no, absolutely not. And this is actually an interesting world building question. As you're being

pulled through this, I imagine that it's sort of Star Wars style. Like you're in a space, but you're rocketing through together and you might even be able to communicate. Is that something that we can align on in terms of the way that's... Basically, it's Star Wars and

Keny Bob. Exactly. Yeah, like that. Yeah. Okay. So if you want to... We're shooting through... There's like...

We're tunneling. We're tunneling through space. Yeah, exactly. So this takes... It's not instantaneous. It takes some time. And you find yourselves rocketing forward. Seeing in the far distance,

the first wave of the fleet of the Cavalant Empire that's intended to distract and create the opening for the 11 rooks. Ash Squadron is to your left. Oak Squadron is... I'm sorry, Oak Squadron is in the center. You are on one flank and the Ash Squadron is on the other side and you're able to communicate to each other for these brief moments before you arrive near this planet

of Kratok. I would just, as I'm checking over things, monitoring my rook, making sure that he's good, I would press whatever button I would need to communicate simultaneously to the entire squad and just say, Elm squadron sound off. Everybody all right? Give me some updates. Elm 2 is here. Bitterfang is flying fine. Elm 3. Standing by. Elm 4. Everything's fine. Rook Vallowing's fine. Come on guys, be real with me. How are you feeling? I understand the mex are okay. How's the word feeling? We're feeling good?

I'll say. Hel leader. Elm 2, realm 4. No matter. No matter what happens. happens today, it's been an honor serving the Empress with you. And being a knight, fighting beside you, the pinnacle of Cavalant technology, is a glory I do not deserve. But I cherish it, hold dear, and if I'm remembered, when I am faceless, I hope it is our fellowship, our deeds, and the might of broke iron wall. That is remembered. Elm three, those are some valiant, true, and inspiring words, but come on, I want to hear you get fired up. Let me hear something good here. Come on, guys. How are we feeling? Let's get fired up. Come on.

How about we saved the mushy stuff for after we killed the super weapon? Elm four? You still with us? The hearth mother's warmth will keep us together and we'll ward off the terrors of the night, the terrors of our enemies, and in that fire of the hearth, our enemies will be incinerated.

And we will destroy the super weapon. And all those that would threaten to poison and destroy our family, and they will know that we are the Cavalant Empire. All right, after all of this, Jesus morale's an all-time love.

This is a nightmare. But Jason's going to try to, like, hold a brave face. Do I get a sense of this? Of Jason's morale? You're going to hear what I'm about to say a second. Then you can make your decision. Okay. I am,

I'm trying to get them fired up, and I'm not getting anything from these guys. This is like starting to worry. Meanwhile, the Oak Squadron, they're literally doing like circles around each other and like their rock max. Just give me this awkward pause as Milo like finishes what he says.

And I'm going to just radio over and say, okay, guys, look, whoever kills this thing, is drinking free on me for the rest of the night. Okay, guys, come on. We can do this. Who's gonna get that kill? Drinks on me, let's go.

I will aim to. I'll take you up on that. Although I don't think Wren will let that go by easy. There's a pause. Then you're... Even chocolate milk? Even chocolate milk, Elm 4. Oh, by the gods.

I'm gonna blow it up. All right, let's do this thing, and remember, don't get hit. You got anything to say, Elm, too? We cut through Brinzeum on Morsib. We'll do it again. That's what I like to hear. Get ready. Home squadron, like Milo said, we must not forget.

In the name of the heroes, we shall be chivalrous. In the name of the empress, will live, fight, and die for the Kavlon Empire. And we're all going to make it home. That's right, Ferris. All of us are going to make it home. 11 of us are going to make it home. For the Empress.

For the Empress. Feeling rallied. You... So you can feel about that however you'd like. You know, however you'd like. There are only, unfortunately, a few moments for you in the Warp Tunnel to share these moments. And Jace has done his very best to unite. How Warpawken Squad.

It's been... I mean, it's only... It's your equivalent of 1.30 in the morning. You leave the... warp tunnel and are confronted with the planet of Crayton. You see an enormous planet of green and blue. It's various moons shimmering with crystalline light. Already before you, it is war.

Cavalon and Saurak ships engage in battle as you rocket towards your target. You see various civilian vessels diverting their course away from the chaos. The sky fills with death and destruction, but it's You know it is all a diversion. As you see, you get a notification that your target is elsewhere in orbit and your course is set. Each squadron moves in tight formation, far enough apart to be able to split off for incoming threats. I would just radio over to the other squadrons just to basically check in and say, Ash leader, Oak Leader, this is Elm Leader.

The Elm Squadron is ready and information. Can I get status update? Over. We're on your far side This is Raina Asquadron is making our way We're going to stay low We're going to stay low and we're going to do our best to get in there We're going to hit them hard and fast

We're going to hit them hard and fast. You hear it Zorro Damn right! We're going to hit them hard and fast We're taking the center You just sit back and watch how it's done That's what I like to hear, Oak Leader Ash Leader Remember your formations

Remember the briefing? Stay tight Damn, those Cavalon ships are really giving them hell. Heard that, Ocleed, heard that. Over. They're already taking a lot of casualties. Their sacrifice won't be in vain. No one. As leader, Raina, you're going to do great. No one. Let's make this worth it. Let's get in there.

See if we can see this thing. Anyone pick up the, uh, the, uh, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, anyone pick up the super mech on their sensors yet? I'm not getting anything. I would just do a quick scan. I would check my negative squadrons. Nothing from us. You continue to rocket around. Staying at a distance from the absolute bedlam that is happening in near orbit above Kratah, you are watching these ships do their very best

to stir trouble effectively. And are we spreading out as well, like as their various squadrons? The squadrons are starting to separate. You had to obviously sort of cinch together in order to get through the liminal warp ring

but as soon as you came out I imagine that you actually sort of spread apart hundreds of thousands of meters flying around just trying to get a bird's eye view of all of the action and the hope

is that you don't see capital ships warp in from any of the other worlds that are controlled by the Tsaric dynasty and the hope is that that you, as you continue to make your way, that you will see the supermech. If it truly was correct intel doing its test, or not even on the surface of the planet, but somewhere in outer space where you'd be able to destroy it. If it's not being piloted, even better.

You can run and gun and try to destroy it without even a fight. This hope sits in your heart as you continue to rocket around, making your own kind of orbit around the planet of CRETA. I'm presumably there's no, we don't sense it on our scanners. No. I just assumed. Sorry, I should have done that. No, you're all right. Normally I would make you roll for it, but it is not evident to your eyes,

and it's not something that shows up on your scanners. And the other squadron leaders confirm what Jace asked. Until then you see the behemoth. Okay, there it is. Hard to miss, eh? Oh, no. You fly around and down, and it is near one of the moons of Crata that you see it. None of you thought that a mech could be built this large.

It is not in the humanoid shape of your rooks. This is bestial. Prehistoric, evoking the apex predator of dinosaur kind, forged from brunzium and harmonite, covered in massive weapons. It appears to have just finished his own test before the Cavalon fleet ambushed crater. Colorful Harmonite smoke billows from the enormous cannon from its jaws.

This is the perfect and only opportunity to attack. You feel the thrusters engage on the mecks of, on the rooks of Ash Squadron and O Squadron. They've cited it to and they fly in. It's not a matter of sensors anymore. your target is clear. What do you all do? Oh, I mean, the moment that we hear the, I wouldn't even have to tell them. It would be a formality of me, radio, and basically saying,

Elm Squadron, the time is now, strike! And they would know, because we all hear the engines go from the other squads. We know it's opportunity. And we would, we would... Your position. Elm forward gauging! You pour all of your strength into the engines, and you feel the massive amount of force

as the rooks take off, and you rocket forward. As you rocket through space, the behemoth turns toward all of you. It lets out a horrid, mechanical roar and turns its weapons in your direction. Then you get an alert in your systems as rapid beams of light erupt to your starboard,

and a huge squadron of Saurak fighters move to intercept you after teleporting in. Oh, fuck. Jeez. Immediately, Oak Squadron diverts their course as you hear Zorro's voice through your comments, Damn it, they were ready. As much as I want the glory here,

you guys aren't the fleet killers. We are. It looks like to be about 24 of them. We'll make quick work of them, and then we'll join you at the monster. Try not to hog all the renown down here, okay? Elm Squadron, good luck. 24.

We read your lab and clear. Oak Squadron, good luck. Oak Squadron moves to engage the ships, and soon there are only seven rooks heading towards this behemoth. Both of your squadron stills very far apart. Then you see the Empirosaur glow as its massive embedded harmonite gems flare

with colorful light. Then, it's gone. An instant later, you realize it is teleported directly in front of Ash Squadron. Raina's voice comes through the comms. It can teleport? We need backup. We need backup. I go through and I am not staying in formation. I know that Valor Wing is faster than everybody else.

I kick up the thrusters. I've got my fucking I've got my crazy bonus thrusters. I'm boosting. My wings span out all of the jets. I also ignite the jets on my lance as I am running forward. All four of you immediately pivot

and it's on a dime and start to race forward, but Milo's rook is incredibly fast and he bolts forward. But the distance between you and the squadrons is so spread out that you can already see an unreal clash happening between the three rooks of Ash Squadron before you and the monstrous behemoth, the Imperator. The moment that I'm able to maneuver bright roar and kick on the

jets to try to chase after Milo and get to Ash Quadron, I'm on the comms. Elm four, you're falling out of formation. Over. Elm 4. Elm 4. You're falling out of formation. Do you read me? Over. Fuck the formation. Raida needs help. Milo, you get back here. That's in order. Listen to me. I, uh, don't respond.

Milo, you're going to get yourself killed. And no response. Just a blast. The wings are going. I'm going, I'm going ham. I'm going to this fucking thing. It'll be moments before you arrive. But as you rocket towards Ash Squadron and the Imperator, you see Pate. rook eviscerated.

Turning to metal scrap in the enormous jaws of this beast. Raina and O'Lean don't miss a beat as they move in perfect unison. Dodging all the massive mex attacks as they make critical strikes against various weak points. And then a misstep. O'Lean lingers too long after an attack and a beam of gem-colored light erupts from the machine, fully engulfing her rook. Raina is barely able to get out of range of this immobilizing EMP effect, but Aline is

now a sitting duck. Moments later, she too is annihilated, and Raina is alone. I'm gonna radio to Ren and Veris and be, uh, uh, Elm 2, Elm 3. There's absolutely no way we can catch Milo. Be ready for when he stops. We will catch up and we will give him support. Do you read me? Over. Yes. They are giving their lives for the Empress. We must miss, we must stay in information. I am with you, Elm leader. Myla, and I say this to myself not over the comms. Milo, you fool! I won't you listen to me? Pity nor leader dead!

I'm coming, Rana! Hold on, I'm almost there! Milo, get back here! They're getting eviscerated! I am the Lance of Cavaloy! Your thrusters are overcharged as you attempt to engage in battle as quickly as you can, but it is now one-on-one. Raina versus the Beast. She gracefully dodges attacks, but she no longer seems to be attempting to strike.

Her voice comes through on your communication. This is it, guys. I failed Djergen I failed Pate and Olin I failed my squadron I won't fail you This should take out its immobilizing At least for a bit Maybe slow it down

As soon as I can get an opening I'll give you the best shot to taking this thing down No There's no time There's no time Milo Please I'm almost there Please! Milo Live! Go home

Have an extra cup and cake for me See you later Immediately Finally, Raina dodges a brutal tail strike. Her rooks spinning and glowing with destructive energy. She plunges her weapon into the throat of the Empirosaur and explodes into an impossibly huge fireball. The Empirosaur takes an enormous hit

as the shockwave blasts all of you back, and nothing remains of Raina. Do I get caught up in this blast wave? I would say that you were close enough that this is akin to the nuke you saw go off on Morzeeb. It is an orb of fire that explodes and expands out in the weightless gravity of space. And you are pushed back. You all see as Milo's rook tumbles, head over heels, backwards for a brief moment before stabilizing.

Milo's not centering the rook. My lamp gets to flip. It flows back. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Stunned by the impact of what just happened. It's not the explosion that shocks you. It's the sacrifice. Damn it.

Damn it. Elm Squadron, listen up. It's just the four of us until the Oak Squadron can deal with their threats and get to us. Don't do anything hasty. Milo, damn it, that was in order. Raina gave us an opening, Jace. We should move now. This might be the best opportunity we have.

You'll see Valer Wing's hand stretch as the jets on the spear burst to life as in a twirl, Valer Wing regains its position in space, wings outferled as the spear rockets back to my hand and clenches it. His tumbling is giving you just enough time to catch up and you are able to rejoin a long

side, Valer Wing. Red's right. There's no time. Don't hesitate. Strike! M4. Do you remember your vows? Raina did. I'll never forget. And I want to see what damage did it do to this thing.

You can see that there's a sparks are flying. There isn't fire like you'd hoped. There isn't a huge chunk missing or anything like this. But the enormity of the blast is clearly stunned this massive super mech for at least a moment.

And if a mech could shake it off, the way that you've been able to read the pilot of another ship or the way that one might be able to read the pilot of a mech, you have a sense that the person within is themselves. stunned by what's happened despite the violence that they were just unleashing against Ash Squadron. And do you feel like you have a moment? I will attempt, probably having no way to patch, and maybe I am able, attempt to use my comm system to try to patch into whatever communications. The comps to this pilot, to the best of my ability. As I'm going to press on the and I don't know if it goes through. And I will say,

you are an enemy of the Cavalon Empire. And just as the first emperor slew the Tyrannark King, we will take the head from your shoulders. And I will click out. Do we hear them? Yeah, do any of us hear that? It'll go to you guys. Oh, shit.

Home four, in the name of the architect, are you disciplined? I am disciplined. Veras. Let us use the discipline. Let's listen to the train. Let's follow the training. They beat the discipline into us. They wanted us to be killers. Let's kill. All right, I'm four. You want to be like the first king? Then formation one, shining lance. Let's go. Shining Lance formation. Valer Wing is with you, brothers. Ironwall is with you. Let's take this thing apart.

kill this monster. You boost forward into formation and you start to approach and it's in this last second right before you get within really really close up enough to see what damage truly was done that you hear a click click on comms. You can tell that communication was engaged. A response was intempted but no voice comes from the other side. Get them, Rana. Despite Rana's sacrifice and the enormity of the eruption, the Empirosaur is damaged, but still functional. Along with nearly all of its weapons.

Oh, boy. Brinsium is bent, harmonite shattered along its neck and underside, but it isn't slowed down. It turns toward you and the roar it unleashes as sparking and strained, but its attempt to immobilize all of you fails. She has shut down at least for a moment, and there is no better opportunity. You close the distance as the behemoth prepares to turn you into prey.

The atmosphere of Crayta is just below you as you resolve to finish this operation and save the Cavalon Empire. I need you all to roll for initiative. Okay. We need our man. Hey everyone. Andy Flynn here, and I have huge news. Our next Kickstarter campaign is coming and it's called Neon Odyssey. It's a 1400 plus page space opera trilogy for Dungeons and Dragons 5.5E.

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Thank you. All right, I'm rolling in this, shift. You all make your way following Milo's lead as you speed towards the supermech, the Empirosaur, and you engage with this monstrous titan of a mech. It is absolutely massive, and Milo, you remember seeing much closer up than the others, the eviseration of Ash Squadron, as they were, they're rooks. strong as powerful as yours were shredded before the fragments floating in space. There are fragments floating in space and this creature is turning towards you. It assumes

a posture as though it is ready to pounce and darts forward and you are now engaged in open space. All around you there are smaller battles happening in every direction but your focus is not on the the explosions that the Oak Squadron are making, or the smaller skirmishes that are happening as the other forces are engaged. It is just U-4 and this mighty technological terror of the Saurak dynasty. 20 to 30.

Damn, that stands the reason. Is this fair? Would Milo be closer? Maybe we were further back? Milo's definitely the closest. You got caught up. I would talk to be tumbling. I got hit by the shock. and got blasted back towards you.

But it's also Shining Lands Formation, so he knows it's up front. Yeah. Oh, there we go. 20, 15 to 20. 16. Oh, thank God. Oh, sorry, I was 19. Sorry. Oh, damn it.

I forgot. I forgot. It's fine. I got 13. Less of the monsters got less of the 13. 15. Yeah, they got me. I got my shitty roll out of the way. I'm going ham now.

I'm going ham now. Is this reasonable? In your mind, what's shining Lance formation? You know what? You're the squad leader. You place us. Yes. Oh, I love that. That's actually correct. Okay. I ignore that. Actually, the only way I would swap these two.

Okay. Because I would hold my shield. Oh, sword and shield. Yep, yep, yep, yep. I love that. It's up front. Like a jousting. We're like a jousting knight. Yep. That's awesome.

Damn. Make sure that rent and get in there in one turn. We have power dice. We got boosted. also I got a power base to get there? No you might I don't know Oh my god, okay yeah I'm gonna This is the appearance Did you watch what you have? Cheech cheat cheat cheat cheat cheat cheat cheat cheat

I want to get in there Oh my My speech is pretty I Uh 50 How many hexes? Oh Dude you're fine are you kidding 10 hexes we all at least 10 okay He's 12

12 X's? Yeah. Oh, those are shield points. Oh, sorry. How were you making it sound like you were? I was like, okay. Oh, I was like a show. Okay. I'm moving us back. I'm moving us back to exactly where our leader placed us. Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't realize that my initiative was as high as it was. What? I was just adding the Dex mod. Oh, cheating. Oh, cheat. Cheatting. Oh, cheat, cheat, cheat. Oh, no! Cheaten. Oh, he's cheating too. It's not based of everyone, cheats. He tied with Milo. Oh my god. Holy smokes. Well, good luck, Shining Lance.

You're bored. Milo, however, you were adjacent to this massive explosion. And you can imagine how large that explosion is. For those of you watching at home, each one of these hexes is 1,500 meters. Feet, feet, 1,500 feet from edge to edge. And yet you were still pushed back and still now you are able to re-engrimpsed. your boosters and fly towards this, filled with whatever emotions Milo might be feeling at this time.

It's your turn, you're at the top of the round. As you will hear the click off for Shiding Lance, as it goes just completely silent. As I, technically, mechanically, I would back up and then rock it towards the same. As you see Valerwin just lunging, Lunging forward once again. All the wings expand.

Huge bursts of energies I rocket forward. All of the jets on the spear go, and a huge crackling lance emerges from my spear as I go in to this, going for hopefully the weak point that Raina that Raina made, as I will, you'll all hear in your comms,

almost a very quiet. quietly and it would be, it'll say, her name was Raina, as I then thrust my spear in. That's got a hit. 22. That hits. Thank God. Windspear should do 6D10 plus four. Oh, I forgot.

I needed all the D10s. I'm sorry. Everyone get your D10s ready. Oh, I did. I got my D10s. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Shit, shit.

Shut. God. You need some? No, no, no, I'm good. Oh, I thought you said. It's a matter of compiling them. Yeah, I said my side. Foolish, foolish, foolish, foolish.

Fulish. And you need a D6, you need D6 too for heat. I was prepared. Don't for yet. You need to use 2D6? Just in case. Oh, yeah, okay. Never know.

You'd like to shake it up. I want to make sure I get a... Sometimes they get a little stale. Exactly right. Okay. Sometimes they like to mock me like the gods above. The gods above? The gods below.

They mock me. They all mock me. Oh, boy. Okay, not terrible, not terrible. I didn't dare. I'm not. Here's, here's like random school, my that's shit. Oh, I'm not so. Oh, missed it. What? You stole my, I missed it what? I hit it under that cauldron. 29. What you said? 29. He's like, and he's like, I'm like, 34, 34, 41, 41, 45 points of beauty damage.

Mm-hmm. And the target is, oh, actually, yeah. And the target is technically moved away one hex from me. You smash into this. You are able to find the damaged exterior of this armor. You remember Dr. Crescent's words about not finding a weakness, but Raina seems to have made one for you.

But the shield surrounding this massive mech is still in, in place and you smash into it. The thrust blasted back and it gets pushed back hundreds and hundreds of feet flying backwards. Is that all you do with your... That's it? That's it. That's it. Uh-oh.

Breast yourselves. And then you'll all hear in your columns, the crackles, guys, I'm all right. I was gonna grab my ankles. That's my turn. Massive boosters. Behind this Supermec ignite and it flies forward

ready to return your attack as the Supermec flies forward. I need it to, yeah, just move it back into the space and it engages you, Milo. It's going to immediately bite down with one of its massive jaws. That's gonna be a 20-20-2. 22 to hit.

22 to hit. I use my bonus action. Two jam sensors. You're going to bonus actions. Sorry, reaction. Sorry, reaction. Right? I can jam sensors. As long as you can react. It's a reaction.

Yep. Reaction. When you were an allies hit by an attack, you can spend a power die to subtract from the attack rule. Subtraction, what is the, what is the power die? D6. And you take one heat to do it. Come on. Six. Minus six.

Minus six. Yep. And my AC 23. Oh. Then the 22 wouldn't. not have hit. Correct. The first time. Oh, I thought, wait, I think it's a 24. Did I say 24?

You said 22. 22 would have, it would have missed. It would have missed that. It would have missed. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm stupid. You're fine. You're fine. You're able to you're able to dodge to one side and these massive jaws. Jaws big enough to perhaps tear your torso apart clamp down just as you get out of the way. You were able to dodge. The next, however, it seems to have almost been a faint

and moving at lightning speed, it spins around and you watch as this tail seemingly made of huge floating crystals of Harmonite come lashing around at you like a whip with a 27 to hit. Okay, this time, I will do it. And I better roll a six again. Wait. I would need to roll at least a five?

I mean, oh, yep. Look, it's just, I'm just gonna crush you if you don't. Three. Okay. Okay, it might crush you. Oh my gosh. The side of your mech takes a massive blow as you take. I'm just gonna do this.

Did you get your mic close? See how all of ours are kind of like, you know? Like three times as far. Oof. Yeah, they'll lift it up a little bit, you know. Yeah, just off the ground. Sorry. You're all right.

Here. Yep. Oh my God, I'm so scared. Okay. Better? Better? Yep. These, I imagine your shields take the brunt of this impact, but it is a crushing blow. You are pushed in your seat as your mech takes 45 bludgeoning damage. And similar to your sphere, you are pushed one hex away.

Because it was a side swipe, I'm going to ask you to move it to the side, away from me. Oh, like here? No, the other direction. Yep, yep, yep, yep. as you are pushed by the strength of this massive blow, and this Empirosaur makes another massive roar in victorious triumph. Is that your mishap threshold? For shield points?

No, you only have to worry about that one in physical damage. So, Verris, you're up. I have five shield points left. No, no, you're good. I will overcomes you'll hear. Initiating shield breaker. Iron Rain! And I am going to jet forward with my shield at one, two, three, four, five, six.

I don't know how much speed. Seven, eight. But as I sort of reach my max speed, my, the missile pods on my shoulders will open up. And it's like they've done before, these sort of two weights of missiles, they're all kind of small, but one smaller and fastening. Those are bigger. They're going to erupt from my missile pods and scatter out and then attempt to collide

in with this Imperial Source. So I'm just going to roll the hit before I put a marker down. See if I hit. Come on. That's got a hit. Plus 12. That is a 28 to hit. This is a missile. These are missiles. Dumbet.

Dumbass. Is this a... For mechanics, it's a single-ness. Is it a warhead? Yes. Okay. It's going to use its reaction. Oh, no.

As the missile flies in, you are terrified by the speed of this creature as it turns and uses this sort of battery attack and a massive beam of energy swipes out. I'm going to make an attack roll against the warhead. That's going to be a 25 to hit. And I will... Presumably, you have the rules for if you hit or not.

The shard battery attack that it makes as it turns demolishes the missile in Miller before it can hit. And it crushes the missile before you're able to do damage. It explodes harmlessly, destroyed by the wave of energy that it's able to unleash with the slashing of its claws. Harmonize is strong! I am going to then... Well, fuck. What I'm going to do, I can spend heat to move faster, right?

Yes. You can do it up to three power dicer. I want to get in melee rage with this guy. Fuck, yeah. Because it's Harmonite blocked all of my missiles, so I'm going to spend one heat. heat to move one more square, giving my friends openings to get in. But that is my turn, and I have one heat. I have one heat.

About to have an 8,000 heat. Jesus. You use that just to get in closer? Yes, just get in the range. I already use my action, and I don't have a bonus action that I can use. So I am, unless there's something here that I want to be a. Um, do I just want to start sending my heat? Seeing this thing, I am going to bonus action.

And, uh, high end well, raise your shields. And I'll spend one heat and I'll roll it and add it to, um, I think it's very wise. My, I believe we changed it to roll two dice. Oh, if we did that, I never got the update. Updated. These are my- I'll roll a single one.

These are very old, uh, heat options. It's pretty good. Either way. If he confirms that it's not with it. It's either eight or it's six, but either way. Yes. He still rolled very well. So I have an extra eight shields.

And that costs me a heat to do. We'll just call it too. I'm at eight shields, or 50 eight shields, and I have two. We'll call it two. So it's still one heat to you roll two dice. I believe. You know, why don't you say one and I'll just call it six? Unless Dan says otherwise, keep it at six for now.

Yeah. Cool. Damn. You all watch. as the Empirosaur uses the first of its legendary actions to immediately the crystals glow on the surface of its carapace. And you watch as it shields. The one that had been pierced by Milo

seems to reinforce itself a little bit. And you imagine that it has bolstered its shields by some amount. What do you mean, Derek? I just told you that it used its legendary action to regain shield points. Perhaps fire was. Ren, you're up. Oh no!

I'll look forward at this scene unfurling before me. The imperious... The Empirosaur, as you called it. Quietly. The nights are dark, and the dates are gray. We have to try and surround it. Outmaneuven the pilot! Oh, nice, nice.

Wait, that's the bag guy, right? Yep, that's the bag guy, right? Things in between me and the... Oh, and as I fly up, I'll bonus action, and the bitter fang will go invisible from radar and any screen as I shimmer away into the, into the, into, into, into, nothing, into space. You become of ether and are indistinguishable from the sky, for like of a better word, all around you. I think that hits. It definitely hits, but does it crit? I rolled a something crazy, I think, like a 28 to hit.

I don't know, I'll find it later. I rolled 28 to hit. It hits. You can roll for damage. Okay. And that is 5D10. Plus 38 points of damage from that. Hell yeah.

Thank you. What is the nature of your attack? Is it your swords that you're slashing in with? Yeah, it's a badass blade. You slash in with your badass blade. and you once again come into contact with the considerable shields that surround this massive Titanic mech, and you know that you weaken them.

They are dimmer than they were before, but you feel that moment as you slash in. I hit it again. No, no, no, never mind. Well, what did you get? Four, I rolled a four. I hit the first time. That's probably not going to hit.

We can probably all. Without power to be! You guys could form Captain Blitz. He did great. The first one was really great. The first one was really great. This one just happened to be bad. Okay.

I blame fight. You flash in with the first sword and when you come back with your next attack, where the Empirassar should be, it is not as it is moving at such great tremendous speed. That your turn? Yes. Jace.

Just before your turn begins. What the? The legendary Empirosaur, you hear that same. Quick thing, just so you know, you have disadvantage on vehicle ability checks until the start of your next turn. We'll see. Oh, okay.

What about next turn? No, wait. I'll remember. Vehicle ability checks, that's good to know. Thank you. If that's relevant. This guy sucks. Could be.

You don't know. This dude. Oh, bro. Jace, just before your turn, you are racing forward. You are watching your, squadron fly in and begin to try to take down this devastating Titanic as you begin to consider how you might attack you hear all of a sudden all of your

lights and your console on your deck all of a sudden lights start to flicker you are being scrambled your sensors themselves the target must subtract one d four from attack rolls and from ability checks and saving throws using wisdom until the start of the Supermex next turn. Oh, only wisdom. Okay. So I don't, that... So he's still a tax. 1d4 from attack rolls. Yeah. And any wisdom, uh, ability checks and saving throws as your sensors are affected by, uh, by the, clearly as the leader, you've been targeted by this machine.

What else is new? You know? It's your turn. That was the head that wears the crown. I fucking boost my engines, baby, before I do anything. I spent three power die to generate heat. But Actually, I take a step back, and I'm going to teach everybody a little thing today because I realize after 10 years of playing this game that I don't think about this game enough like a magic player. So the first thing I'm going to do when I pilot my Vecis see if I need to vent any heat. I don't have to at the start of my turn. The next thing I'm going to do is check my shield cycler. My shields are at max.

I'm good to go. I'm good draw. The next thing I'm going to do is move slash generate heat. Now I put my pedal to the metal. I gain three heat. Hell yeah. And because I can just do that. And so I'm going to gain three heat, which is going to give me three.

extra hexes of movement as I blast out. One, three, four, five, six, seven, nine, ten, 11, 12, 13. I can get right around the back here. Basically, I see all of my teammates blast off and I watch this thing to all this crazy stuff and I have to get into the mix and do what I can.

And then I don't really have any other ways to generate heat because my shields are tops so I'm not going to raise my shields. I'm going to save my, I don't think I have any other bonus actions too. Ray Shield. I mean, it could just do it. If you have a bonus action,

and you want to add heat. Yeah, I'll just do it. I'll generate a fourth heat, even though my shields can't go up any higher. So already the steam is pouring off of the bright road. It's already exhausting all of this pressure. And then I will just make one attack with my blaze sword. 16?

Doesn't hit. Do we know it's AC? I have to match. We do not know the A.C. Just yet. After our first round, I will tell you, if we haven't deduced it yet, but you slash in. I say that you hit the shield. You just don't make any damage.

I'm going to save my reaction then, because we're just warming up, literally. Rewing up, war on up. And that will be my whole turn. This thing's tough. Milo, top of the round, it's your turn. Milo. Now I got all my terrible rolls all the way. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Yep. Yep, poup. Uh-huh, uh-huh, uh-huh, uh-huh. I am going to, uh, uh, uh, uh, drift backwards. As I blot, drift this one, one, two, three.

Hold on. Nope. I just drift backwards. As, uh, I'll say, we've got this. It'll only take four of us. we are going to kill this thing, aren't we guys?

We're going to a Vendrana, right? As I press a button and you'll see the green crystal, the green orb in my chest, crackle to light, and for the first time, you will hear almost this coughinous boom as this arcing zap of plasma rockets towards this thing as I am going to make an attack roll. All right.

Come on. Come on. There's no way. as I just, as it black, it gets, what is it? A 10. A 10. Oh, boy. It goes wide.

It goes wide. It goes wide. It's always, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, by the time you blast backwards and you, and you unleash this attack, uh, it's already so engaged with, you, you, you, you, there's a moment of fear where you're worried that you might actually hit Jace, Wren, or Veras, and, uh, you try to, to try to attack, it goes, it goes low and underneath. as it misses. You'll kind of see my arms,

Valowin's arms drop as my wings kind of beat and I drift back a few more spaces. And I kind of go drifting in the space. The question of where my last how long does the scrambled stuff last? Until the start of its turn. Okay, not too bad.

Was it a return? Good thing it was on my shitty roll. It'll use its legendary action before its turn and all of you are engaged. You're swinging in in with your swords. You are flailing forward, trying to overwhelm this thing when it teleports.

Son of all. A wise man once said, what the ass? Exactly. Oh, no. This dude, I fucking, me and my homies hate this dude. I assume there's no opportunity at taxed. No, there aren't. It teleports to an unoccupied space that can see within five hexes and it Diogenically in the world, that's actually why we all miss.

Because all have them simultaneous. Yeah. 1000% thank you. It's all simultaneous, basically. Like that, you guys all surround this thing and flail in. You get one sort of attack with the second one and we all just... And Milo, it clearly has its sights set on you as it goes in for another one of these crushing bites. This time getting a 24.

If you don't have your reaction, I still have mine. He just recharged it. He just recharged it. I'm going to use my reaction then. Okay. Because I'd like to get to five heat anyway. You do you.

So I'm going to attempt to... Them's the rules. Jam targeting to see if we can subtract from the attack roll. I also cleared my heat. Minus six. 24 minus six gets us down to 18. Yeah. So the crushing bite does not hit.

However, however you're able to influence this moment, you prevent the crushing bite from attack. But once again, It seems to have been a faint as the 28 tail slams into the side of Milo, and I'm just going to roll it because there are too many for me to care about here. You have all six. 39 points of bludgeoning damages. You are hit from the other side and push towards me one hex as the tail slams into you.

So I was at 10? So... What was the second attack to hit? We couldn't do anything about that. No, no. It would have needed to be too much. It's legendary actions recharge and at the end of its turn.

Oh, boy. So you think 29 whole damage? 29 whole damage, yep. Oh! That's a mishap. Is that your mishap? Yep. Oh.

Oh, no. Go ahead and roll a D20 for me. I mean, that's almost, that's one of my... 19? 19. Let me find out. Let me find the table.

That might mean nothing. I don't remember. Or you instantly die. Or if you explode into war. The tail slams through your shield, and you feel it break. You know that you are exposed to the raw power of this Titanic. And there's a flash in your mind as you watch

the Ash Squadron being torn asunder, and you're terrified as you feel the true physical weight of this massive tail slam into the side of your mech. One of your engines is damaged, and your speed is reduced. by one. As it cracks one of my Vernier thrusters.

Oh, yeah. Some Gundam fan. Oh, yeah. Oh, hell yeah. I use my reaction. Oh, that wasn't me. That's as cool. As I...

Oh, hell yeah. I will get cracked. Oh. And I will try to once again come in. In the name of the heroes, I will be silorous.

And just like Sir Gart the Green, I will kill my monsters. I will use my reaction to counterattack. And thrust my spear into a... Hell yeah. And I am going to get a 24 to hit. That hits? And it's going to deal...

Could be worse. 22. 30. 38 points of piercing damage. Wow. Okay. It's going to be here that it will use the first of its legendary actions. And you hit cracking into this shield.

and the wound is obviously great. The shields seem to be barely like flickering and staying on after you manage to pierce through it with your spear. And where the whole occurred, you can see that some energy from one of the crystals on the surface of its armor zaps out and regenerates it just a little bit. But not fully.

That's going to be the conclusion of that action. Veris, you are up. Um, I will say, uh, I'll be totally taken aback by this teleporting mech. And I'll turn and I will see first my free turn. I'm going to move to face Milo and the Empirosaur. I'll say, Milo, stay in formation. I'm coming. One, two, three, four. Um, and I'm going to rush in.

And I'm going to try one more time. time. This thing has its reaction back, though. Give him hell, man. Do what you can, you know. I'm going to rush in and just with my shield and my flail, spin it up, and bring it down on this guy. I hope I hit. Yeah, you got.

It's almost a 20, but that's okay. That's okay. 12 plus 9. That's huge. It's 21. It's been a full round. I will tell you that it's AC is 17. Oh, that's a big, it's a big fucker.

Yeah. It's a big fuck, you guy. crack in and I deal 6010. All right. Two, three, four, five, six. 17, uh, 25, 29, 30, 31, 32, 32, 33, 33, 34, 35, 35, 37, 38 points of thunder damage.

And you have disadvantaged on attack rolls and ability checks until the start of my next turn. Nice. So. I have 11 hexes of speed. Nice. Fucking, fucking, Dino.

Oh, let me see if I cool off at all. I do. Nice. So then what I will do again is I'm going to, oh, shit. I'm full health, but I believe I can keep pumping my shields with the bonus action on top. Oh, hell, yeah. So I'm just going to take another heat, and I'm going to roll four more shields. So does you go above the max?

Is that one? I believe the bonus action does. I could be wrong. I didn't actually roll mine when I did it, so I should add to it then. And if it's not, we can adjust. Oh. For now, you put your shield up and remembering what happened to your missiles,

and you fly in with your flail, and you watch as its shield finally shatters. Oh my gosh. Breaking apart. And you are actually able to... The Empirosaur? Oh, yeah, the Empirosaur. And you're able to slam into the side of this superman.

You and I are going to put this motherfucker in a blender. You are horrified by how hard the surface of this... Brinsium and Harmonite built creature is, you smash into it, but you were able to actually hit the surface of this me for the first time. And that's your turn. That's your turn. Dungeon Master.

Do we get the sense of like the only reason why we're standing a remote chance is because of the massive like nuke that went off in its like throat? Yeah. Okay. Oh yeah. Seriously, it would have been like paid or paid. It's already like, it's already like,

It's already sparking, right? Clearly, if you're generating its shields, which is the only reason why you're even able to crack it in this moment, like you've been given a tremendous opportunity here to maybe take this thing down as a squadron. And looking up, if anyone cares to, you can see that Oak Squadron is still dealing with dozens of Dynasty ships.

Oak Squad more like Smoke Squad. Get out of here. That's great. I love that. Get out of here. Get out of here. Yes, I do. Your lights and your control deck all had been flickering, but after the teleport, they'd come back online.

Sick. Renn. Dungeon Master, I'm invisible. Oh. Just so you know. No, when you attack, you can... No, no, I was going off the wrong one. Oh, you're good.

On the attack, I go invisible. Oh, no, no, no, sorry. I make two of these, and then the bonus action has to go invisible. If you are invisible, you would not be on sensors, correct? That's a good question. You did bonus action before or after. You don't have the bonus action after your action. You can do any time.

Yeah. But you're invisible now? But I was already invisible when I got to him. So you attacked, came out of invisibility, and then ended his turn went into invisible. Correct. Because he went invisible the previous term. Oh, got it.

Okay. That makes sense. So I can't see you. sensors, which means that I do not target you with sensor scramble. Hey, L. Derek, be very careful. Be very careful. Uh-oh.

It doesn't make sense strategically for me to use Milo. He's just going to get it back immediately. That's fine. That's fine. Jace, your likes, continue to flicker as sensor scramble continues to affect you as he uses one of his... It's a really cool stat block. You want to see a vintage medieval slugger? That's really cool.

I love you, buddy. That happens, and, uh, Rand, it's your turn as you continue to enjoy invisibility. Get away from him! So he just targets me, I'm just cooked again. The same 1D4 and, uh... That's not going to matter. You get me minus D12, okay? Is he C's low?

You can't. You got bright roar is burning with the white hot fire of a thousand suns. It's just... The end-doubt, swir of all-kind. The acclion of giving a mecca rash. That's right. I blast for... None of us see this. Everyone sees the fire in my eyes. 18. 17's the 8c, you hit. Nice. I come out of invisibility and slash in with my first blade.

That's cool. Why, I put it back. That's cool. That's pretty, oh. 34, 38 points of damage. And actually, I was reading the wrong one before, so forget that vehicle mishap thing. Your damage threshold against my attacks is lowered by 10. And mishap threshold. Oh, okay. You're just able to get a mishap. That's cool.

That's neat. We're going to blend of this guy. Absolutely blend of this guy. I better. I better have some tricks every sleep, Derek, because I'm coming for that ass. You smash into it and you do damage to a system that you imagine. you've reduced its ship speed.

Oh, but I guess it just teleports all of the place. It doesn't fly anywhere. Well, maybe it's a retry to go for it. I try and hit again. I try and hit again. Yes! I saw this thing attack. Yeah, yeah.

Oh, I can't crit. Can I? Well, we'll see. Oh, it's Prinsium Armour's broken. Well, we don't know that. It's Princeton Marl's probably broken. The Sucing inflating feature still exists, however. I was so excited.

Because of the nuke, I'm going to, I'm going to make the, the way that it works. sprenzy implating. Critical hit against the Supermec becomes a normal hit, and then I would normally roll a D-10. I'm going to reduce that down because on a one, if I roll a one on that D-10, the trait won't function again

until it's literally repaired. So I'm going to roll a smaller dye, and we'll see if it repairs. But for the actual critical, it is a nine. You hear that same reverberating sound that you remember on the surface of Morsi, So now I have the opportunity

crit if it doesn't repair itself. Correct. He's got to... If he rolls a one, but that's got to be pretty much. He's got to roll one. I need to roll. I'm going to change that D-10 to a D-4. It was... You're so generous.

A nuke went off in its fucking mouth. Derek has something up his sleep. I don't trust his motherfucker. I can throw him. The nuke did go up in his mouth. Oh, you don't know what we... You're not going to tell it? No. I'm not going to tell you. Fuck! I'm going to tell you the next time you get a crit. Son of a bitch. Well, you're about to tell me on my turn.

You just know, you're calling it now. And I'm going... Hot knife through butter. Okay? Yeah, the guys, this is too easy. Something's wrong. Something severely wrong here. This is too easy. Too easy. 36. I think you get. 36? I think that's exactly what I did last time.

Very good. And the damage threshold is lowered by 10. There's not a chance this guy's got a face too. And miss that threshold. Okay. Thank you. All right. And I will bonus action and go invisible. Very good. That's important for you. you. I will remember that. Huses the fuck specifically, right? I'm doing a little target here, bro.

Don't even, don't look at my piece. Why you have my piece? I'll hold. I'll hold. You can never your turn. I don't think that to like say that again. Okay. Flip you the birds. Step one. Do I have heat? Do I want to vent it? No, because this mech and shoes did not roll

to vent either to start of my turn. That's right. I am pouring steam off of my neck as the sword bursts into flame. Having activated all of my extra stuff because I'm in max heat, I hold

the sword low as I fly with jets blasting at this thing directly, preparing to make a quick up and down slice because I have blazing strikes at max heat. I can make one sword attack. So I'll start by making attack number one. Ooh, that's going to be

a 12 to hit, which would be a miss. I am going to attempt 18. Six would be an 18. So you get five. Oh, and I have the minus one. I have the minus one D4. It's probably not worth it. We'll roll that first. I probably missed my first attack. Yeah, that definitely misses. I will try again. You got for sure. I'm not rolling very well. This one's this one's rolling bad. It usually rolls really well. That's going to be an 18 to hit mine. I do it on both attacks the minus D4. Y'all attacks. So I'm probably going to have to do the...

Okay, wonderful. That's enough. That's enough. Hell yeah. That equals 19 to hit. Thank God. God damn. But I had to use a heat to do that.

So I'm going to push the red line to see if I can make a DC 10 constitution saving throw. I need at least just a DC 10 to ignore that one heat game. Easy. The DC goes up to 15. The blazing strikes also increases a heat. I'm going to attempt to hold the red line. line to avoid that. Crushed it. DC goes up to 20. I'm still at five heat. I roll for damage. Two, three, five, six. I need seven D tens because I get one extra D10 at maxi.

Oh, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, 18. Nice. Uh, 27, 27, 37, 35, 42 points of fire damage for one attack. Okay. Because I suck it rolling today for some reason. That's a good single attack. I'll take it. I mean, I'm not I'm not complaining What's your average? For damage? You should tell you right there 37 plus 5 42 so I hit exactly average on attack Oh yeah, I'll take it and I need to do one of these Dances that's exactly average exactly right. Yeah, he nailed he knew it a sensible

It is sensible. I give a sensible chuckle as my sensible hit lands. What was, the threshold? Yeah, you managed to cross this damage threshold and I did roll on the mishap threshold as well. Okay. My shields were at tops, I don't have to worry about that. I don't have any more bonus action. Redline, I am good.

I'm sitting at max heat. I passed my turn. As I quick slash this thing twice and only land once. Because this die hates me. I'm going to switch it out. It's time. Time has come. You're steaming. Oh, I'm actually. And I've held the line twice already, so I'm pouring.

I'm venting out. Oh, my God. After its turn, you watch as the harmonite crystals that are inlaid in its armor into the brinsium, the ones that are jutting out from its spine and make up the majority of its tail glow. And you watch is even the slashing damage that Bright War is able to deal to this Titanic mech, heel a little bit. That makes sense. Even with the fireman,

that's how it works in DNA. It's like a troll. Yeah, it's like a troll. It is clearly a troll. It's burned his troll flag. No. It's a mechanical. I look, does it,

it still has like the cannon in its, like mouth, right? Like the big super weapon to kill. It has a number of weapons that are all sort of situated because of the shape of this thing, you recognize that there is a central canon. The big superist weapon.

There is a super weapon. There's a super weapon. Can retract. That would absolutely be part of like a roar-style attack. But it also has like nearby missile compartments and smaller weapons. We need to go for the cannon. I'm going to live. All of us are going to live.

Raina won't. But we will. As I am going to, I'm going to float backward. One. I don't even take an opportunity attack. Actually, first, I'm going to use my damage. control as my wings wrap around me, as I will regain 15 shield points and a mishap. And if I'm bloody, I don't think I am.

I'm not bloody here. Taking a lot of damage, but. I'm regating shield points, so I'm up to 20 shield points, thank God. Oh, wow, good. But I'm still getting within five, five hexes. Rich, can you give me five hexes away? away. Yep.

One, two, three, four, five. If he can take an opportunity attack, I'll take it. He's not using his reaction. It doesn't matter. He has a trait called reactive. He can take a reaction on every turn of combat. That's cool.

That's very mechak. And so, I believe the Dürge Knight had that. Oh, yes. Yes, I did. With his attack of opportunity, he is going to make an additional tail attack. Uh, actually, let's make it the crushing bite. That seems more correct. Uh, at 25 to hit.

Does that hit, Milo? I think, I know that it hits. It's just a question of this. There's going to be any power dice fucky. I will use my reaction. Yeah, I don't have mine. I'm saving it. I'm out for blood.

That's fair. Uh, as I will use shield pairing. This would have happened when he left the space. It would be what happened this here, presumably. Uh, this is macro one that's allies within, uh, within one hex when they are hit by an attack roll or fail a dex check. against a damaging effect, I will take my reaction and add five to your AC

against that attack or saving throw, possibly causing it to miss or succeed. 28 now. Unless he can lock target or whatever. I got a 25 now. Oh. All right. So as Milo runs and makes the stop, I boost my jets and my...

I'm still having momentum from coming over here. and I just spin around and throw my shield in front and it just bounces off my shell. It's probably a big old job. This is a huge thing. I mean, this is a massive thing, but your shield is just enough. The shield, even you imagine that at the bottom

and the top, as the teeth crunch in, there's a little bit of tooth dents that happen as it releases, but you were able to defend your ally. M4, I told you, formation! as I begin to charge the lightning zap cannon in my chest. We need to kill this thing. I'm getting a shot. Kill this thing.

Kill him. And that's my turn. Oh. You're charging up the lightning zap cannon. That's just a narrative thing. I'm playing on using it on my next turn. Oh, you're not using solar beam. Oh, yeah, I thought you had like a solar game.

I mean, that'd be cool. I mean, I don't have it. But it's... It'd be cool. Oh, and. my Vernier thrusters are repaired because of my use what you call it? Question, Milo, do we know the nature of this attack and being your squad mates and having

Yeah, it's my plasma mark? Yeah. Is it, does it fire in a line or is it just a range attack? It's a range attack. Okay, I just wouldn't want to know it's targeted. It's targeted. Is it a chain line? I'm precise. I'm precise. But I don't want it to be all up in my grill. I want to be able to get a shot for sure. I love it. Monsters turn. I love that. I love that. I'm

and I've called out, go for the cannon. Go for the canon. Yeah, yeah, yeah. We have to destroy this thing. That's the cannon. That's canon now. Chakou, check, chuck, chakou, check, chak, chak. Empirosaur starts to glow more and more, and you realize too late that this is not just it

recharging its shields or recharging its, or repairing, it's impossible brincium armor as its crystals go impossibly bright, suddenly flaring out in all direction. You have to shield your eyes as a charge emanates from this Titanic mech I need everyone to make a Constitution saving throw oh oh all of us let's go and anyone within ten hexes yeah that's everybody yeah con saving throw you say a yep oh boy I got a 15 I know that's gonna be

good enough oh I don't have my reaction oh no 20 19 oh what you get Tom? Yeah, God. Well, shucks. Com? That would be a 13. Those of you got 15 and higher. You only take one ion exhaustion.

Oh, fuck! That's bad. That's bad. As your mecks are V-Z- Your lights go down and off, and suddenly you're submerged in darkness, but you, they...

charge back up. Your mech is stiff to move, but you're still in control, still in power. What happens if you fail? Milo. The target shuts down and can't restart until the start of the supermex next turn. And how much iron exhaustion do I take?

You must attempt to restart your meck. Okay. Using a DC-15 intelligence technology check or the vehicle does not restart. So your mech completely shuts down. All the lights, the glowing chest of the valor wing, the lights in its eyes, everything, it's as though it has become like the debris of Ash Quadron that's floating all around you, as it goes completely stiff and just starts floating, its sphere leaves its hands.

I imagine this is really grim that there's a corpse-like nature. Oh, absolutely. Just like floating in space. Oh, absolutely. sort of turns over like he's in water. Yeah. Oh my God. And I've just gone from like shouting like james.

The comms would have been cut off immediately. And then you'll hear kind of, I want you all to live. As then you'll kill you as the lights will go out. The spear just out in space and I just kind of like just drift as my wings almost kind of wrap around me. Elm four. Elm four do you read?

Elm four. I think he's completely offline. Milo! Milo! Uh-oh. It will... What is it? I'm on exhaustion? It's like exhaustion, so anytime you roll AD20, you'll be minus two.

It's an exhaustion for vehicles. It'll use its next turn, the same... I'm just going to flavor it as part of its CMP effect, but Veris, you are now the one who is being affected by the censor-scramble, subtracting 1D4 from your attack rolls. I think that's fair. And it stays where it is. It's your turn. I just want to tell you that minus D4 has been devastating every time I'd roll.

I didn't go less of the three. Really? It's no good. Get worse D4s. I don't know. Yeah, I don't know. Can I get one with the ones on? Too good.

Cheating is based. Oh, man, only never sort of fucking chance. No, this is definitely. She didn't stand a fucking chance. No, no, no. The, I only, being able to turn off the whole look is a brutal. I mean, if you had all rolled worse, this could have turned very good. Yeah, imagine we all fail at that.

Two, three. I'm going to get in the way for five. I'm going to interpose myself. And is it clear that Milo's lost power? Like, would I have a status screen that would show? The screen would have gone dark. I mean, for all you know, there's no way to know if he's gone. I mean, there's no way to know.

It would appear like a corpse, too, Andy's earlier. Unforce gone dark. We must finish this fight! And you'll hear that crackling, because this guy's affecting my sensors and stuff. Lights are going on and off. The question is, seeing that Milo is, I know roughly, I can see him floating, right? Yeah. So I am going to... Milo, if you're there, if you can hear me. We will all live!

And I'll put my weapon down. And I'm going to hold my shield up and I'll hit a lever. And it's going to be like Obi-Wan pulling down the power reactor, but it's going to be the opposite. And I'm going to use my action shield wall. And so the start of my next turn, my neck has resistance to all damage and provides total cover for its allies instead of half-cover. So as long as I am between Milo and this.

guy. The shield's gonna be like Ryan Hart, where it's like the energy's going to shoot out and provide this massive energy barrier that will block you from even targeting Milo. Hammer down! And I'm going to bonus action again, keep pushing the heat. To try to build up shields, because he's not hitting me. And again, if we can't do this, I will take it all back. But I'm going to take the heat. And let me see if I cool down from the

Last turn. Beep. I do. I'm doing pretty well. Hell yeah. Iron wall's performing okay. That's my turn. Pretty cool.

You can jam my attacks all you want. That's going to chew legendary actions. I'm just going to let this ride run you're up. Seeing Varis create the iron wall and defend Milo, I'm just going to keep laying into this thing. I'm trying to cut it down. Hearing his call that we have to drop this and save Milo. I'm gonna lay into it as hard as I can.

And the burst you did, did that do damage? No, it was just a systems-wide attack. So that I'm, presumably, I am still stealthed. Because only damage breaks it out. Nice. 23. Hits. You are currently on this attack.

You are 20 lower on damage threshold and mish threshold. Thank you. I mean, it would be almost impossible for you to miss based on the like 40 and 35 damages that you're doing. So I'll here all average. Oh. Uh, 38 points of damage. Oh. And then I'll hit again, presumably.

24. This one's like a little. 33 points on the second one. Thank you. And how much was the first one? Oh. 34. 34.

Thank you. Thank you. And you're now 40 points lower on damage threshold and mish threshold to me. And then I'm just kind of like, you know, narratively, I'm blasting around this thing, trying to move deftly fast so it has a hard time blocking on to me. I'm bursting out of invisibility, striking twice, and then jetting back and going back invisible as I take my position. At this point, I'm just trying to, I'm striking from Milo calling out.

trying to target most of my attacks towards its jaw. I'm doing everything I can to strip armor plating or rip through Brinsium to hopefully give Jason opportunity to strike into its mouth and destroy the cannon. It is going to suddenly flare again, and for a moment you're terrified that it is going to release another one of these devastating EMP events. And instead of warps, it vanishes.

You manage to strike into it, and you see you rending through the metal and causing significant damage to this Titanic mech, hitting into its arms, its legs, and it vanishes. It's going to... Let's go north towards... Yeah, yeah. Let's get all the way onto the other side. It can move five hexes straight in that line direction.

One, two, three, four, five. It's actually correct. It moves all the way over there. And this is going to be a lot of fun because I misread one of its rules, so it's going to suddenly get a little more dangerous. What? And now it is...

I had a feeling Dan designed this to be... I don't know what I've been doing for two rounds. My apologies. Jase, you're up. Where's the front of it? The front of it is, sorry, it's this crystal... Okay, thank you. I'm assuming it's pointing at us when it teleports.

Yes. Okay. Man, that's a blessing. shit to say. Basically, I watch this and teleport and I get my bearings. And as I draw Bright Roars, Blaze Sword, and I jet off at it, I go right for the cannon. Which is our face? Okay, here's the top. Top. And here is how I misunderstood. It's point defense. When a starship moves within one hex of the supermeck, I can use the same reaction that I use to destroy the missile. that, and I should be able to do that every turn.

So I've been very, very gentle. Oh my. It's up, Rayna! A nuke when a- 25 to hit? The power's coming back. Yeah, it's coming back. I did this.

25 to hit? I have 22 AC. Yep. I haven't taken a single hit. Bring it the fuck. Yeah. I'll give it a fuck. You take 36 points of blood, sorry. piercing damage as it slashes out towards you as soon as you get into range.

And it seems to be getting desperate now as it's making more and more rapid actions. Its speed is truly incredible, but you are able to get within range, even though it slashes into your shields with its shard battery attack. I have shield points. And I will then make two blazing strikes. The first one will be a... Do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do Uh

15 I'm gonna use a die to make sure this hits It does 18 to hit That hits Oh my god Oh my god I fucking popped off 30 39 Uh 30 46

52 And I'm aiming for the cannon. I'm trying to slice the cannon apart. That's just my first attack. I rolled three tens and a nine and a seven. I'm rolling on the mishaps table. Yeah, get fucked. And then I got another attack on it.

This might be it, man. You slash into it and you see as I roll a natural one a eruption of fire starting to jet out of the side of where you can only assume the cockpit is. I am going to say that that was my bonus action blazing strikes. so I will generate one heat and attempt to hold to push the red line.

I need a 20 to do it. I do it. I got a... Hell yeah. I got a 20... Yeah. 23, 22. Nice. So now the DC goes up to 25. I'm getting at the point where I have to get a natural 20

to basically hit it, but I hold. That's my bonus action. And then I pull the sword and my arms back as the chest of Bright World begins to glow. Oh, yeah. Why wouldn't you do this? same wave and I try to aim it like down the barrel of this cannon. So I'm gonna need you to make a dexterity saving throw DC 16

and it's just gonna blast through like a break fire line as it goes through. This is too perfect. It gets a... What is it? What did you say the DC was? 16. It gets the 17. Okay, so it'll take half damage. And then I vent one heat. Yeah, I don't think we can make it. I don't think we can make it fail a saving throw.

I like where it's at though. This is going to be D12, 5D12. Ooh, 7, 10, 11. Nice. I just don't rip me apart now. 21, 27, 27 and a half is, what, 13? Yeah.

Yeah, round down. 13 points of fire damage. Unfortunately, It doesn't take any of that. And then I vent one heat. That's total 13? Yep, total 13. Thank you.

Okay. I'm really hoping that was my finisher move. So heat begins to pour off of Bright War. I don't have my reaction, unfortunately. And that's it. You pour your attack into this and it's able to dodge out of the way. Despite the massive scale and size of this thing, it is still incredibly fast. Sparks are flying off of it, and you watch as that fire that's erupting out of the side of its face goes out as it uses one of its legendary actions to undo a mishap.

That'll do it. That's pretty fucking good. Immediately corrects its own damage. But that's the last of its legendary actions is Milo. up. I can't attempt until it's the start of its turn, right? Dan and I have agreed that that's stupid and that you can use your action to make your role now.

That makes sense. You would see as if you were like, we had a look into the camera, you wouldn't see this. But if you were to film it, it would basically be totally dark and Milo would have like his hands on the controller

of the controls and his head would just kind of be slumped forward. His hair is falling over. Yeah. And he just slumped forward. sweating. As he drifts and he hears a but outside of

very faint and slowly he's going to basically come on Fahlew Ferreina Harthmother please it's so cold in here it's like the box

Harth mother I need you warm Bastaya I need your warmth. I will attempt to restart to power up. You go through the launch sequence and I need to make a technology, intelligence technology check. Dan says you

do also, though, to continue to drift to one of five more hex as you float off him to stays. Yeah, fine by me. Off the map. One, two, three. He's at the edge. Don't force him off. But like, four or five? No. That's crazy. He's off the edge. He did. Way out of here, wondering. Free floating.

We could just shift everybody this way. Let's do that. Let's do that. One, two. one, two, and then that should put him right on the edge. And then he's like that. So fucking good. Yep. That's 16? The DC was 15.

You flip a couple switches, manually pushing them up and down, hoping for some response. And it takes you two tries to go through the launch suite sequence. But click, click, click, click, click, snap, snap. You push the button. And Valer Wing springs back into life. Nice.

And I'll feel for a moment. Highmother? Following. You're back. You don't let me down. I won't let you down. As I'll extend my arm as the spear rockets to my hand. As I'm not going to forgo.

I'm going to try to get up close and personal. As I bonus action, use my boost. As my wings unfurl, all my jets ignite. As I will charge forward. As you will all, and I think I can just get here. 12. 12, yeah. I mean, I give 24 hexes.

Oh, yeah, 100%. You're kidding. Yeah. You get there flat back to the edge of the map and come back. Yeah, if you want to. Yeah. I'm like Garth the Green. I will slay the dragon as I...

This creature does not, and this is just the dice telling the story. I have my reaction, and when you enter the space, I should be able to make an attack against you. But it doesn't think that you're coming back. It used its EMP pulse. It's not focusing on you at all. As I roll a natural one, you are free to avoid your full turn. And you are Valerian the Maltun Doom.

And she was Raina! As I am screaming, as I thrust forward, as I do the best that I can here, that's going to be an 18 to hit. Oh yeah, that hits. I'm going down this thing through. I'm soaring around, trying to basically get to the perfect... Trying to find that critical spot where you know that super weapon exists. I decide Miles got this handle and I take a detour to boobies.

And I go get a... Hell yeah. We're all going to boobies, everybody. Yep, I love it. I love it. 12. 16. Not bad. 16.

21. 29. 29. Is that right? Yeah, 29. 36. What a fuck. 40 points of piercing and force.

damage. Very good. Just a quick check here. End him. Okay. It is barely hanging on. Sparks continue to fly out of its You pierce into the neck of this thing

and you see sparks continue to fly out but you are emboldened by the Ash Squadron sacrifice clearly having done such tremendous damage to it that making it possible for you to tear this thing apart. And I'm going to try to calms in and says, you're not going to get the glory you were hoping for.

I'm trying to talk this thing. Damn. You hear that click again, and you feel that it is heard but can't respond. Bastard. As this silent monster. Unleases its die move. I'll try to get up as girl.

It's going to make another crushing bite attack against you, Milo. Let's see how that goes. 28 to hit. Yeah, that'll hit. I don't think I can't even help you. Oh, wow. I rolled very low. That's going to be 23 points of force damage.

And then it's going to make its tail attack against who's my neighbor's house? I would like to use my reaction to counterattack. You may? Oh! Before the tail swipe! I have my reaction if you need... Yeah, somebody boost it. I can't do it.

Exactly 15. What? To hit? Boost it. I use my reaction. To jam it sensors. Valoring is back online. 17.

17 hits. Roll for damage. Oh my God. I'm two. I'm four. Do you back of mine! Oh man. I need to do math.

14. 19. 19. 20, 25, 29. 29 points of piercing damage. The tail flips around and comes swinging in with a 29 to hit as it would have immediately continued to try to pummel you.

It's almost felt like mono-a-mono. But how do you want to do this? And I will, I will, I'm screaming as I stab into this thing and it's not enough as it turns and it smashes into me. I don't try to dodge it at all. Valer Wings incredibly graceful. I take the smash as then I will then, I'm not. I'm screaming.

And I'll pause for a moment. In the name of the hearth mother, in the name of my friend, Raina. And I stab into the cannon, right down the beast's throat, just as Garth the Green did to Valerian, the molten doom.

You feel the spear, not just pierced the armor, but crunch, crunch, crunch forward through the neck of this beast's through the actual super weapon and you feel the head of the spear exit the other side as you pull back. Amidst the chaos of battle, you strike the decisive blow to the jaw of this beast. Finally, blessedly, it breaks the heavy brinsium plating and the cannon within its mouth splits. The immense power core within pulses with crackling energy as it destabilizes.

The beast lets out a horrific groaning bellow as the flashing crystal temporarily to save, by Raina seems to surge to life again in its one final act. The Harmonite surges, and all your rooks are bathed in that colorful light. Each of you see your systems power down as they spark and black out. And then you all feel the brutal burst

of the Empirosaur as it explodes. Your display screens are black as the entire cockpit flares red. Your body is jostled about, violently as your rook tumbles through space and you feel the intense gravitational pull of crater, and then you fall. Reserve power surges,

and flashing red lights are garish and blaring. Alert is cacophonous. An unsettling calm, mechanical voice repeats. Losing altitude, impact imminent, losing altitude, shock absorption protocol initiated. Losing altitude, impact imminent, Shock absorption protocol initiated and your rooks

through the atmosphere of creation. The reserve power attempts to surge to reactivate your thrusters. It fails. In the final moments of your fall, your sensors and cameras were back on and for only a moment you see the jungle on the planet's surface careening toward you

hundreds of miles a second. Then a minute. All of you, Make your impact. Pull up. Full up. And yet, you are all alive. You wake up.

Your entire body aches. It's in one piece. Present buttons and the cockpit of your rook opens. Growning, struggling, and you see dim sunlight drifting through the broken. canopy of the jungle of crater. You pull yourselves out of the cockpit and you see what can only be described as a burning crater.

The four rooks of Elm Squadron are in pieces and at the center of the crater is the top half of the enormous head of the Empirosaur like a dinosaur's skull. It is all that remains.

Are we able to get out? You are able to unbuckle yourself, hitting a few buttons, to release the cockpit and see that sunlight, you feel that you would be able to pull yourself up and out, but you're all at odd angles given the violence of your crash. If I feel that my legs and my arms still work, and I'm not severely crunched into dust.

It would take a minute. I would make sure that I can remove myself from the cockpit of Bright Roar, and I am out like a flash, trying to get to Milo, try to get eyes on rent, Wren and Varus, but trying to make sure that Milo is okay. Try to get to his cockpit as quickly as possible. You can still hear each other on and off

through the comms, but pulling yourself out into the humid, intense atmosphere of the, of crater. You're able to see Valer Wing and the other rooks just next to you, all seemingly have been crashed into this one enormous crater. I will shout from the top of bright roar as I get out of the cockpit.

Elm Squadron! This is Elm Leader, I'm alive. Sound off! As I jump down and try to, as loud as I can, over the burning, the wreckage, whatever it is, the sirens. I'll stand in the opening of Bitterfang, looking out, and presumably I'll see Jace maybe approaching.

You'd, from, you know, it's still dozens of feet, hundreds of feet, but you're able to see what is very evidently Jace's body already darting out. of the, you can hear his voice very faint in these moments. I'll look around and just see if I can see Varus and see if there's a, I'll start, I'll leap down and start heading towards them

and just say, call out. Is Milo okay? I'm getting to Milo as quickly as I can. I'm free here. Hyenwall is lost. And I'll sort of be crawling out, seeing that it's, you say pieces, like. Yeah, you're looking down,

you can see that even the iron wall is a leg is completely gone. The shield and the flail nowhere to be seen. It looks like a broken body on the surface of the scorched earth that your rook and the other rooks carved into the ground of this jungle terrain. the last thing that I would have seen before all of the cameras and stuff went off was YouTube being right next to this thing's exploded. And so I'm feeling like Ren's fearing better,

but do we hear Milo laughing? I think that you would have heard breaking in and out on the comms, you would hear that just before your rook finally shut down, you would have absolutely heard his laughter after the crash on the surface of crater. I would just almost like stand and just turn around and look at my Mac and say,

no. Ironwall. No. And I'm going to like start to kind of like grab. I'm probably not strong enough. This is huge. But if I'm strong enough to like move a leg over and kind of like at least collect pieces or look for the shield or anything.

I'm worried about that we are now on the home. world of the Sorok Dynasty and high-tech super classified important information and the leg of mech this size would be the size of like a Volkswagen bus. Right? So you go up to the leg after crawling through the sundered ground and you're able to get in front of it and you push or you're trying to shove it and it's rocking. It's rocking in the In the wet, muddy soil, it's going to take tremendous effort and perhaps the benefit of your companion's strength to even pull iron wall together.

Despite how big this crater is, the trees of the crater are massive. The canopy still shrouds much of the sky, but you can see just above and into the atmosphere. The gleaming white ships of the Cavalon, empire engaging in a retreat. Just before the three colossal Sorok capital ships appear in orbit and

attempt to pursue. Soon, there's nothing but sky. Just trails that vanish moments later. I don't even look at Bright War as I am trying to get to Valor Wing and make sure that Milo's

okay, but I do take note of what you've said. And And under my breath, I curse the empire. Like, just, damn it, they left. They abandoned us. Milo, I'm coming. Milo, hang tight.

I'm coming. And I'm just trying to book it over there. And I'm like, I'm overwhelmed with what do we do now? Like, I know that we're abandoned. It takes a minute to scramble. It's hot. Not only from the heat of bright roar, venting all of its tremendous amount of energy,

but in the suits that you're wearing, it's not meant to be for jungle living, but still you're sprinting across and through the mud, hopping over massive roots and plants as you finally reach Valer Wing and you're able to get to where Milo is seated, cockpit open, giggling to himself. Milo!

Jays! Milo, are you all right? Yeah. I immediately start to, I try to unbuckle you and see if it's damaged, I'd pull out a knife and see if I can have the restraints. Do you see me? I was Gart the Green.

I killed the monster with me. I did it. Yes, you did a great job. And I get all the chocolate milk and you got to pay. I'm like poking you in the chest while you're trying to like, and you got to pay. Fine, fine. Yes, you win. You won the bet.

Focus. We're in deep. shit here, Milo. Tams are weeping. Oh, son of a bitch. Am I able to remove the restraints? I would say it takes a moment. You probably have some

tools at your side and you're able to cut the straps from his cockpit and release Milo, pulling him forward into a hug. Once he's released and I see that he's crying, I will, I'll pick him up and I'll pull him into me. Yep. It's okay. It's all right, Milo. It's all right.

Breathe. Breathe. You did a really... You did a good job. You did what you had to do. Breathe. Pete is dead, Chase. I know. I know. And I'm...

If I can pick you up while you're saying these things, I'm going to attempt to get you out of the cockpit and make my way down. I crumple. I'm basically ragged down. I'll actually curl up and my tail will wrap around your waist. I would imagine it's not very hard for you to pick you up. Yeah. Not at all. Not at all. And so I'll scoop him up.

Yeah. And trying to just calm him down the best that I can as I try to climb my way back to out of Valer Wing to get to the rest of the squadron. It's okay. It's all right. I'm here. You pull him free and minutes later, you are standing before Varis who... And I'll throw myself on the ground. It's no use. Wren, you survey the scene. Looking at the jungle all around you,

there doesn't seem to be any sign of civilization. There doesn't seem to be anything but the smoking wreckage of the ship, but you know that that could be a beacon for any nearby, or even perhaps visible from space, and you join your friends. Is everyone okay? physically, I think we're all all right. No. Milo's struggling.

Look at Ironwall. What do we do? We have to get off this beach head. Helm leader. Do we set up a perimeter? If we defend them, perhaps we don't have to destruct them. If we can... Hope we're not found. Perhaps no one saw us.

Calm down. We're not blowing them yet. What do we do? We set up a perimeter. and we figure out why the hell they left us. Damn them. Our mission was complete. We destroyed the, we destroyed the weapon.

Perhaps this is our fate. Our duty is done. Look, we, uh, and I'm gonna try to like, see if I can set you down. If I feel like you aren't gonna let go, I'm not gonna, like, drop you on the ground. I'm absolutely not letting go.

And soon as you start to see, I'll like, Elmina, what do we do? All right. What is your next order? First, we do need to set up a perimeter. Red, I need you at high vantage point. Get as far sight as you can possibly see. And I'm going to take a look around to see...

You mentioned the wreckage of the... Yes. It's like you all hit at a strong angle and scraped a scar along the jungle floor. And so even though There's very obviously a thick canopy in this section of the jungle. Trees have been displaced and pushed to all sides, allowing the light in. And at the end of that long trail, you can actually still see what was very clearly the head,

the sundered, destroyed head that you pierced like a dinosaur skull poking out what once was the head of the Empirosaur. And then I say, wait, Brad, stay with me. Varus, listen to me. You do not hold the line. You are the line. As long as you do not step back, we will not fall. I need you to go forth.

Stay in front of me. Milo won't let go. We need to check the skull. Yes, Helble leader. I... Brent, stay close. Edgicide. While I still stand and draw breath.

And I'll look up at the sky. I am Elm Squadron's Living Shield and I'll sort of stumble forward kind of catch myself a little lightheaded and I'll write myself and I will slowly walk in front of you and we'll be a couple steps behind you. Is this a hot jungle?

I would say that the humidity makes the heat even worse. Yeah. I will suddenly I'll say guys, do you feel that? I'm just immediately squir. I'm trying to get out of your hands. I let you.

Guys. It's not cold anymore. I feel warm. That's the hearth mother's worth. We're warm. She came back and we're not cold and we're not in the box. None of us are in the box. We're all here.

Praise. Harthmother. Mechanically, I'm going to cast blast on my friends. Oh, shit. As I will say a prayer to Vestaya, as I will then start to kind of like maintain a level of lucidity, as I will then kind of register what's going on. All right. Together, with Ferris and the lead. Yeah.

If they have comms in that head or something, maybe we can see if they know that we touch down, if they're sending a war band. We need every advantage they get. if they send anything here, this isn't a defensible location. I basically just ready a simple combat knife as we like. That's all I have. Like, whatever I used to help get my out, I've got a simple combat knife, you know, field issue as we prepare to move towards the thing. Either the inventory that would have been in like an emergency box or locker inside of the cockpit

that you grabbed or what would have been attached to your suit is readily at hand. and the four of you start to make your way forward, walking down the impact zone, seeing Brightwater to one side, Bower wing to the other, Iron Wall in another direction, and Rends... The bitter fang.

I couldn't remember it. I'm sorry. And the bitter fang. All of them crumpled. Some in more disrepair than others, but all of them clearly lights out. You all approach the severed head of the destroyed supermec. When you hear a loud mechanical groaning and a hiss at the top of the hatch, it lifts up in the cockpit opens.

The pilot emerges. She twists her helmet, and you realize that you're staring at a young to call woman. and to your shock she is no older than any of you and that's where we'll call tonight's session thanks for playing

holy smokes this is really fun hot I like this campaign what does it mean