Legends of Avantris - Waltz for Eternity | Ep. 6 | Us and Them

Episode Date: May 21, 2026

Episode 6 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/KDE3GmV-fTQ

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 barrel of a gem tech blaster is levied at you as the Saurak pilot glares at you. The panels and equipment in the cockpit she stands on is broken and sparking. The impact was brutal.

You now see a torn pant leg and long, deep cracks run along her right sheet. shin. She seems to wince in pain as she speaks. Don't get any closer, empire, scum. All right. Don't do anything hasty. You might be able to take out one or two of us before we get to you, but you'll never survive. Don't make a move, or I'll put a round right through your forehead. You're an enemy of the empire. Why should we not attack you? You're in the middle of the crater jungle. You'll be torn apart in seconds, and reinforcements will be

Here any moment. Put your pistol down. You're outnumbered. Do we have like sidearms on us? Do we have like our weapons? What's the situation there? You would have, I think, on the side of your Rook pilot suits. You're probably like a light pistol, a knife in one belt, right?

But all of your equipment, your preferred weapons, the things that you would take. into a training jungle on Castle Ascalon would be in your cockpit still. You all pulled yourselves out of the wreckage of each of your rooks and came here, and now this sudden confrontation is upon you. The things that you might have if you felt fully equipped are but a sprint away, but not on your person. I would just have a hand on the hilt of my own pistol then, and I would be very slowly creating a little bit of distance between me and everybody else. And in a move to kind of like fan out a little bit. So we're not standing shooting close together.

I think probably we'd all maybe like start to motion into form. I would be like trying to get in front of Jace and Milo if I can as you like move to the side. As you start to fan out, she will take her pistol and aim it at a flank. clearly not trying to hit any of you and firing a shot it rings out this laser blast flies forward

hitting the muddy surface of the jungle floor and creating a splash which rings out amongst the trees even a flock of birds from one canopy disappear into the sky as she don't move! Stay where you are!

Easy now, easy. You don't want to do this. I would like to ask a question. Yeah, what does Milo do during all of us? As soon as I see her, fire her round, given that my species is blessed by the paragon and has an inherent biological connection to weapon use, do I feel like I could attempt to draw my sidearm and levy it at her head

in that moment as quickly as possible? I know enough pull the trigger, but I basically want to use my I want to draw on her. I am very furious. This person killed the whole rest of Elm Squadron. Not Elm Squadron. Ash Squadron.

Yeah. I don't know what I'd have to roll if I'd roll in acrobatics or something or something like that. No, I think that in the with where Milo's heads at, the moment she starts to turn the gun away from the group,

everyone else perhaps has their eyes on that laser, but by the time she trains her gun back on the four of you, you've got your pistol in your hands and up, and I won't even make you roll for it. I think that you could very quickly. You're trained military officer of the Cavalon Empire. Now it's a standoff, and she points her gun directly at you.

Don't you dare. You don't move if you don't want your head to your crater. for stand down you kill our friends drop the gun you I was defending this planet and now you've doomed it

what's a few lives to this to this world we didn't do anything we are protecting our home and you killed our friends for it it's a heavy laser pistol it's in my it's in my

it's in my equipment I have a handker it's in my Oh my god. Oh, geez. You guys don't want to know what my character. I have the worst handgun of all time. Elm four, I need you to calm down. Take a breath. Why don't we just kill her?

There's four of us. Baila, we're stranded on another world. We're behind enemy lines. We need every bit of assistance we can get to survive here. You studied the jungle the same as I. You know what lies beyond the canopies. She's an enemy combatant. She was trained to destroy Castle Ascal.

And for that reason, she has information. Information that may be valuable. We are not going to kill her. Not yet. She could have communications live in her mech. She can know the lay of the land around us. Enemy combatant or not, that doesn't matter right now. We can take her prisoner.

She shouldn't be alive. I dealt a decisive blow with Valerwin. It should have killed her. just like it killed Rina, and Eileen, and Pete. Look at her. Her construction, her suit. Her technology clearly, twisting the harmony to her own will. She churns her gun and trains it on you, Vera.

What do you know about the harmony, Empire Scum? What do you know about the harmony? You must know the countless lives you sent there today. I'd send them all there again in a heartbeat trying to defend this planet. How close are we? I don't think that close. I don't think, yeah. She's standing up on the, turned on to its side, the facsimile of a Tyrannosaurus Rex,

the head of the mech, the supermec that you all collided with in ether space. and that already puts her perhaps 15, 20 feet up. It's a massive structure and she's standing up there on the high ground looking down at you. You're also not

right up against the mouth of this thing. So with Pythagoras being what it is, you could be I don't know, 50, 55 feet away at a diagonal. So there's a crater, but she's on top of it. It was like the top half of the skull. all the cannon and stuff is all gone.

It's just like the top half of... She's like standing in the cut. The bottom is completely gone. What you can see underneath shrouded in shadow would be the throat would have been where the throat of the cannon would have been and the teeth almost make

a jagged because these are brilliant harmonite steel teeth designed to shred mecks of your of rook quality and creating almost like a cave-like entrance directly underneath this huge construction.

I know this is going to be a semi-odd question. If you need to figure it out, that's fine, but I promise it's relevant. How tall is she and how much this is just look like she weighs? Oh, what the hell? I would say that she is probably 5-1, 5-2. She's not a tall. She's not a very tall. However, you're not familiar.

with... It's probably hard to judge her weight. To call... Density. Density being what it is. And so you have no idea if that looks like a buck 35 or $2.

400 pounds or... I mean like... Okay. All right. I want to call it Wizard's comment because this is literally what I thought too. So she on a cue bone helmet. That is exactly what I bought it too. Perfect.

That's what I bought it. Perfect. Yes. At the end of last session I attempted to survey where we were to see if it looked like there were any signs of anyone coming In this moment, obviously it's tense Do I get any Does it feel like anybody's coming? Make a

Any sounds, anything like we're in immediate jeopardy Make a perception check Mm. Mm. Mm. Ten. The D.C. was high. And the reason the D.C. was high.

Water rolled low. I know, but I'm just explaining to you that since the moment your cockpit opened and you were able to make your way out into this crater, and even the shouting is difficult to hear over the cacophonous sounds of how alive this jungle is. There is the sounds of birds. and animals and insects in all direction. And so while this choir of life is alive all around you, you are unable to perceive the sound of Chet's,

the sound of, for the podcast listeners, Ritchie's got headphones on, and he's jamming out to these fresh jam. I hit the letter of the wall to play the straw. We're on natural wonders right now. This song didn't end up being as in terms. It's great. I love it. No, that's perfect. It's absolutely fucking perfect.

All right, all right. All right. All right. Yes, you don't hear the sound of coming foot traffic, or the sound of jets or engines in the air. All you can hear was that the sound of the flock of birds that disappeared into the sky, these kinds of details. And I saw no evidence of anywhere nearby any kind of settlement.

or any kind of like city or civilization. It would be impossible without getting up above the canopy. The trees around you are so dense that it's dark when you when you look around. As you glance left, right, and you remember what you've seen since the crash. It's light almost barely penetrates to the jungle floor, the true jungle floor proper. It is a The only illumination that you're enjoying right now is because clearly many trees were felled

by the impact of the wreckage that surrounds you in this crater. So we're in a clearing, but only because all of these giant mecks crashed and crushed and so to one side there might be the enormous trunk fallen over with still alive. Yeah, yeah, yeah, but like green... A random tree here and there that just got me a sound out.

Green branches are bent and warped rather than... But we still got swallowed by the jungle because of how big this jungle is. Basically, for sure, for sure. You were asking a question about how far we worked. Was there something you wanted to do before I, like, stumble over there?

Before we asked a million questions. Yeah. This is important, because this is very important. Yeah. To understand the scene. I would say, not yet, but what I would, as we're talking about, the harmony, I would just be starting to approach.

Okay. And I don't have a gun drawn. Even though I have my hand in at my head. I said, stay back. And just as a way to basically deflect, if he's going to shoot, I want her to shoot me as opposed to any of my friends. Okay.

This does get her attention, and she trains her pistol on you. But as you approach, make a perception check. Home three, not too close. Five plus zero is five. She looks at you with grim determination, and you have...

You feel the hate in a face that is otherwise very beautiful as she continues to look down at you. But you've definitely gotten her attention. Don't move, murderer. I warn you. Don't make me do this. If it didn't look like you were approaching to say anything. No, no, no. No, I'm interposing myself between her and you and I want to just basically...

I'm holding this combat knife and tensions are high. Yeah. I'm going to take the knife around and hold you. and hold it from the blade, basically raise back and throw it directly into the ground. So it sticks into the ground. Okay. And in that moment, I'm going to shout, Elm Squadron! I need everyone to calm down. That is in order. Don't let your guard down, but do not act with hot heads. Do you hear me? I haven't killed it yet, have I? Calm down, Elm for her.

She's just killer right now. Before she can do anything, before she can do Sorok tricks. I agree with Jace. Yes, sir. I'm not going to move, though. I don't have weapons drawn. If I was, I don't know how the sun is right now, but if I had an opportunity to ride Vericus's wake in his shadow,

I'd be moving up as stealthily as possible almost, like, appear as if I wasn't taking steps, but in a mirror to approach in a similar way. It's late afternoon. and so the sun is hitting the jungle at a pretty extreme angle and there's some long shadows. It's the sun in her eyes or our eyes?

We're in the jungle. What's the silent of us? You know what I mean? Yeah, fair enough. The answer could be off to the side. I want to know. I'm a tactical genius. Yeah, I'm thinking about this. I'm thinking about this. This is fun. We're slowing down

so that we can get all of these details correct. This is a tense tactical moment. I'm actually gonna roll a die. If the answer is, it's just the canopy's too thick, that's fine. But this is very point. I would say that if this to call is your north, that the sun is on to the east, maybe at a slight angle.

And it would be coming towards you, but again, that canopy being so tall, has you relatively in the shade. Got it. Um, she continues to, uh, uh, shout out. If you want any chance of surviving, you'll stay where you are until reinforcements arrive. You are like us. Tools of an empire or a dynasty.

No one is coming. Look at the skies above. They didn't descend to save us. They didn't descend to save you. when we crashed here. You have been abandoned. As have we. You believe this jungle to be dangerous, don't you?

That's my understanding. This jungle swarms with beasts, you wouldn't understand. Creatures that can eat you in one bite. And they haven't abandoned me. They haven't abandoned me. No. No, it's only a matter of time.

And how many days, do you think before they get here? How many days could you survive on your own without our help? And your one pistol? The top half of the head of your mech? You need us. And we need you.

Because I believe that there are things in this jungle I wouldn't understand, but you know them. I have a better chance of surviving than the four of you. And if they do come, all they're gonna find is a corpse. I think it would be at this point.

At least three corpses, maybe four. I might not be able to kill all of you, but if you make any moves, I swear, I'll pull this trigger. And it's got a lot more firepower than that little thing you got there. I've already thrown my weapon down. As like a show of good faith that at least like I'm not trying to shoot her. And I'm going to slowly start to walk towards Milo and not make any like crazy furtive movements

to like draw her ire, but also like, I'm gonna just try to gently put my hand on your shoulder to try to get through you. Because what I'm saying is clearly not getting through. And if I, if you would let me approach you and just put a firm hand on your shoulder, that's what I would attempt.

I think of a second. Oh, shit, I get darts. You said we're about 60 feet away, though? 50, yeah. Okay, 50 feet. I got a natural 20 for 25. Oh my god. You should have said disadvantage.

He's being assistant. Oh, listen to me. Hey, it's all right. We're here for you. None of us are gone. This is going to be okay, but I need you to listen to me. All right? Oh, drop the gun as she does.

Okay. She's lucky. I don't blow her. fucking head off. Hey, did you hear that? We'll lower our weapons if you lower yours. We're all the way down here. We can't get to you right now. I'm gonna look to rent. Reasonable? Make a persuasion or deception check depending on your, uh, oh no, I'm being, I'm being sincere here. Okay, make a persuasion check. As an attempt to defuse the situation. 21. And I'll take my hand off my on shoulder. I'll put my hands in there. You would have felt

like the immense, like the most tenth you've ever felt by-low. Oh, yeah. And I've slept on top of you, like, many times. Like, and so you would have felt me at my complete relaxness. Oh. And I think you would have immediately felt almost an instinctive, at least in my shoulders, my upper body, although my hand is staying tense.

My shoulders, and there is a level of tension that does release, and my breathing does calm a little bit. Hey, no one has to die today. Listen, let's make this easy. My name's Chase. We can have a conversation. We just need everyone to lower their weapons. All right, Chase.

Tell your friend. Three. All right? Does that sound good, Milo? Yeah. It's better than you deserve. you can thank him. I'm going to count to three,

and on three, we're putting our weapons down. One, two, three. She pulls her hand back like this and lets the loop of the gun hang over her thumb, but it rotates and swings down harmlessly and holds her ends up like this. All right. Then she puts a hand on her hip,

and looks out at at each of you. Chase? Yeah? We're not going to kill each other. But when reinforcements arrive, I swear. You'll have the Sarak dynasty

to answer to for all your crimes, everything you've done. If they show up, yeah, that probably will happen. And we'll deal with that when that time comes. But for now, yeah. We all have to just survive another day, all right? She, uh, seems to calm a little bit, and she lowers her hands and looks down at you.

So what next? Yes, I'll bea, what next? If we let it live, what do we do with her? This is kind of like, a little bit of an aside, I kind of lead in and say, at the very least we need to talk to her. She has information that we don't have. Yes, she's an enemy. Of course she is. But killing each other out here in the jungle isn't going to do us any good right now. We should see what condition her mech is in as well. She might have active comms.

And at the end of the day, there's four of us in one of her. It's gonna be all right. Okay? Do you understand? Do you hear what he said? Say it again? I was basically as kind of an aside being like, you know, she may or may not have been heard it. Oh, I definitely lowered my voice a little bit. Over the, no, she, she wouldn't have not have been able to hear Jason as he, is he leaned in for that aside. She's just looking down.

at you trying to assess the situation and her eyes are starting to sort of dart behind her towards the cockpit that she emerged from If there's any chance that we think that you mean us harm We won't hesitate to execute you I won't hesitate to defend myself I won't hesitate to defend this planet Her eyes actually flare for a moment this gold light burning as she as she stares around There are many wild creatures here, untamed, hungry creatures. It's hundreds of miles in all directions.

I saw as we crashed through the atmosphere. That answers your question. Number three, what we're going to do first is make sure that we, all of us, don't get eaten tonight. Is it not ironic that she claims to defend her home when that is all we were doing? defending ours yet you wish to annihilate a space station

that could have held thousands of young trainees tens of thousands without mercy you had no mercy when you brutally murdered our comrades our friends

you didn't even give them the chance your comrades your friends were my invaders. This space station you speak of? It is a it is thousands of lives, you say? What is that compared to the millions of people on crater? We didn't do anything to the people on crater. We just stopped the weapon you were building to destroy us. I was, this weapon is built to destroy that space station. That space station, that space station, is a weapon.

No, it does not. It's a home. It's a fortress. Yeah, it's a place where people live. It's a training ground. It's a beacon of hope and the strength of the Empress and the Cavalant Empire. A weapon. It's certainly a symbol of your empire. I quite agree with that.

Okay. Things are starting to get tense again. Let's all just take a deep breath and remember what the goal is here. We can deal with the hate we have for each other or whatever you want to call it later, when we're not being viciously ripped apart by the wildlife, okay? Seth the Faceless would be disgusted by that abomination she stands apart, twisting the harmony to destroy young people defending their homes. And we're four knights of Operation Waltz.

We have the highest clearance of the ongoings of Castle Ascalon. And our mission was not to harm anyone on Craita. No innocence. We all have sworn to protect the innocent. Our mission was to destroy that abomination. You have been lied to then. If what you say is true, you have been lied to. That space station is designed

to destroy a place. You must know. You must be lying. You saw it yourself on Morsib. What do you mean? Morsib? What do you mean? You didn't see anything on Morsib.

We lived on that space station. Ascalon was nowhere close. Were you not one of the squadrons who pierced through the world, broke through the surface? It certainly didn't destroy the planet. And that wasn't the castle. That was the technology.

The cast- is that exactly. But on a scale, deserving of this, and she stomps her foot twice, and indicates the supermeck she stands upon. I would like to discern

the veracity of her speech, if I might. If I may attempt. Please. Twelve. Twelve. You are filled with a lot

of conflicting emotions and you are struggling with the surges of rage that hit you and then the sadness for Ash Squadron and then the exhaustion of the post-adrenaline rush of combat. You are experiencing these furies within you and you listen to it and there's a part of your mind that wants to hear more, that might have curiosity, that might, that might think that perhaps she's not lying, but with everything that's swirling and swimming in your mind right now, it's hard to say, whether or not these are just words of deceit, or if these are truth. You're a liar. If it was, we would know. We succeeded. We're the Knights of Operation

Waltz. We know what our mission is. And our mission is to protect the innocent. Protect our homes from those that will destroy with that thing. Even if you don't believe that, the empire doesn't go around destroying whole planets. That's ludicrous. Even if we don't, the lords don't uphold every tenant or every vow.

They don't wipe whole peoples out. The empire is very old. escalations, de-escalations. What we saw in Morsib was your true face. The empire's face. Those worlds, none of them were truly yours to begin with. Not like the birthplace of crater. This beautiful cradle.

Even this jungle is older than your empire. Look, look, we can sit here and argue until we become Dino Chow, okay? war is ugly. We've experienced it firsthand. It doesn't matter that we sit here and point the finger at each other for the next three months. We don't have to like each other. In fact, I actively discourage it, but we do have to work together, and we've got to figure out some sort of a truce or something for now. Okay? If you'll stay back, do not approach what's left. of my Empirosaur.

Then we can have a truce. Fine. We'll set up a perimeter. We'll give you a space. But that sun's getting real low. And I don't want to be caught out here unaware, okay? Chase, I believe she's lost her mind. Listen, I... Ferris, I'm with you. What she's saying is insane. Nobody's blowing up planets.

I don't know why she thinks that the Empire would do something like that. But it's not possible. Wren said it himself it's ludicrous. It's not possible, exactly. The world pierces, they are just tools, technology, to aid us in our mission to protect the empire against those traitors on Morsib. Thousands dead.

Not just from your initial attack, but thousands dead. They sealed their fate when they allied with you. Your aggression is the only reason that they would ally was us. Your aggression, everything, the mecks building these rooks In order to defend themselves, in order to be sure that you would not expand like you always do Of course, they were very friendly, and then you showed up and showed them exactly What you do to someone who tries to hold up a shield?

Has she said her name? No. How dare you make such an accusation against the Empress, against the Cavalant Empire. How dare you slander our home. The place where we met became brothers. I'm sure you believe that. But how dare you be the sword

that tries to pierce this galaxy's heart? How dare you, if it were, if I hadn't stopped you, and if I can't stop, that station, the blood of every living soul on this world will be on your hands you've lost your mind

what's your name pilot Kiri to believe something like this about Castle Ascalon do you have proof I can show you proof where I'll need to repair my

my cockpit the power is down would you believe anything she says now she can show me any kind of proof and it could just be lies. Of course it could, but we're going to hear her out anyway

because information is valuable. All right. And look, you're right. We don't have to trust her as far as we can throw her, which isn't very far. And how do we know that she doesn't have a comms link open

to the Sorok Dynasty right now? Well, if I could get in the cockpit, I could probably determine. That's a good way to get shot. So let's not necessarily rush to that. It's still the four of us, Jace. We have the numbers. Yeah. If we're gonna work together and survive, we can't stay 50 feet apart.

But we're making progress here, okay? I feel like we're doing something, so let's just give her a little space. If we do not kill her, execute her for her crimes, then we should take a prisoner. I'm not opposed to that. I'm not against saying we don't kill her. But I'm saying we don't kill her yet. Ren is right.

She's valuable to us right now. And even if we do take her prisoner, I don't want her to know that we're going to do that. So let's just calm down. Nobody's going to make it 100 feet into that jungle without getting ripped as shreds. Okay? What if she sent a signal? What if she called for a fleet? Then there's nothing we can do about it.

What are we going to do against a fleet? One of them would have landed after the scuffle. Even if... Even if it takes them a week to get here. What are we going to do against a fleet? Nothing. We'll die. So in the meantime, we're going to take this one problem at a time and figure it out. Then we execute her.

And that's it. And there's nothing left of us. Exactly right. And it's cold boxes for all of us. It's not my plan to die in this jungle. That's why we need her. She can help us survive. Do you hear what she just said?

She can repair her Empirosaur. She can work on mecks. That's far more advanced than our rooks. Is that true? Are you an engineer? The best. I designed this. You're standing upon,

I'm standing on the wreckage of my own, my own work. Oh, that's crazy. You've worked about all that. You might be fucked. I'm about all that. Hold on. Time.

Can I also attempt to discern the veracity of this information? That seems. insane to me. Absolutely. Insight? Ooh, okay. A little hot plus two. Ooh. Not 15. 15. You're not sure about many, the veracity of many of her claims. Yeah, that's fun. But she has seemed so sincere. And it's, if she's putting on an act, then it's because she truly believes that there will be reinforcements. here any moment. Just so I understand. Keri, it was. Keri. You were telling me that you designed that. Yourself. Just you. We know that Morszibian scientists designed that. You sure know how to pilot it well enough, well enough to kill my friends. The Morsibians provided the

match of the raw materials to help me build this. But they were my scabians. They were my designs. I have been building and tinkering, engineering, my entire life. You understand why that might be hard for us to believe, right? It's hard for me to believe that you did not understand that the place you were trained where they filled your head with all of these ideas was not built for the sole purpose of destroying the world that you are now all. that you are now on. You've still done nothing to prove that

beyond the shadow of a doubt. You've merely claimed it. And it's outrageous claim at that. I will prove it to you. Once we settle down, if you'll back up a little, perhaps I can spend some time working on my power cells

and making sure that things come back online, I can show you. This is just a ploy to buy more time. She's waiting for reinforcements to activate your communication systems. You know, they do have a point. If we give her free range, just fix whatever she's got there and she calls it in a distress signal, then we're definitely dying on this planet. Let me go up there with her.

This turns into a hostage situation. What are you going to do about that? Then we might be forced to kill her. If she takes me hostage? Is that what you asked me? Or did you land? Have you lost your mind? If she takes me hostage...

I find this similarly amusing. I take out my pistol and hand it to Jace. There's no chance of that. That's not possible. I'll take the pistol. You with two pistols couldn't take me hostage. You think she can? You know what? I'm gonna let you go.

You're an overconfident, pompous ass. And when she kicks your ass, I'm gonna laugh about it. you're going to be quiet for some time. Is it obvious to me that she's made of stone? Even at this distance, I would say that her, the way the light hits her, in the, you know, her shin having a crack in it, which she's still sort of nursing. She's doing her best very evidently to stand with confidence.

But I'd say all of you would recognize that she has a severe injury. And that she's just trying to, without even rolling an inside check, that she's trying to white-knuckle the pain while stalling for time, perhaps? She shattered. Go ahead. And if things go south, don't ask me for help. Because there's two other members of Elm Squadron here that'll gladly come help you. I wouldn't.

I'll turn back and address her. You must appreciate that we can't let you stand up there and just repair your imperialist. while we're down here at a disadvantage. I have entirely unarmed myself. I have no weapon, but I know of machines, I know of computers. Allow me to approach, allow me to stand with you as you fix it so we can ensure that you

don't double cross us. I'll do nothing but observe. What's your name? Wren. Like, like the bird? Like the bird? I suppose. I'm going to keep my gun on you,

at least while you come up here. Then you can observe and I'll be able to get in touch with the dynasty and we can take it from there. As you wish. I'll slowly approach up to attempt to get... You take it just a few steps. When she looks above you and her eyes glow a little bit more and you hear her mutter on her breath,

damn. And don't worry about it. If you want to keep him, we'll give him to you. Because he sucks. Before you go off, before you go off, I would say,

wait, Ren, and I'll kind of, like, touch your shoulder. I'll say, be careful. You can't trust her. She's lying.

And I cast guidance on you. Oh, thank the gods, because I thought you were going to waste another cupping cake on the guy. before he just waltzes over there and then doesn't get captured. This happens. I'll respond really quick.

I don't have any way to go up on cakes anymore. Let me know when you approach. I don't trust her, Milo. But I'll do whatever is needed to get us all out of here alive. And I turn. And then I see her eyes go wild. Then her eyes go a bit wild and she looks into the tree line

and you hear her mutter, damn. I spin her. If I can hear and see that, I spin around. You all feel this as the entire crash site shakes, as a cacophonous bellow booms from the nearby foliage. Followed by the rumbling stumps of an enormous creature approaching you all. Branches snap, the ferns rustle violently

as a huge shape emerges from the jungle, a Tyrannosaurus, with a gem-encrusted hide steps into the clearing, with huge sharp teeth, deep-set eyes that are hungry and vicious. You have but moments as you register this massive sight. And Kiri dives behind into the cockpit, disappearing almost completely. As soon as she said damn, she vanished. You want this back, jackass?

And I throw the pistol back at you. She's covered who monsters again? She's misread us. She's betrayed us! The creature starts to lumber forward. When suddenly you see a burst of prismatic, gem-colored light crash into the beast. Sending crackling gem-tech energy over the dinosaur, and you realize that Kiri has reemerged, inserting a crystalline ammunition into her pistol, firing a special shot.

The beast lets out a furious bellow before its jaw, before, opening its jaws and charging forward. I need everyone to roll for initiative. I still think it was her? Oh, no. The moment that she does this, and I see this happen while we're rolling for initiative, I would shout, Elk Squadron, to your rucks, your standard issue weapons now! I know what I got.

Let us begin. I ain't going first, let me tell you. Not bad. I'm going to be T-Rex chow on a second here. This is a wonderful map that Andy drew so that everyone at home understands, let me just walk through it real quick. Let's walk through it. Let's walk through it. This is roughly the clearing, and then each one of the rooks is represented by their space combat scale miniature. They're not that big.

They're just off to the side. I don't know if the T-Rex came down. They would be obviously much bigger. They would be kind of scattered apart, potentially in pieces. So we have Bitterfang here, Iron Wall here, we have Valer Wing there, and then we have Great War over there. The Empirosaurus is in a big crater over here, so we're standing kind of roughly here. And then the Gem T-Rex. This is like a friendlier version, obviously.

Yeah. That's like suited up and we're living in my side. Yeah. That's what we hadn't visited. So we hadn't vis-down. This is not the actual art for the gem. Yeah. That's a friendly Sorok-like, yeah.

Friendlier. But the beast of burden. Yeah. It's going to work, though. It's going to work for tonight. Yes. Oh, God. What you may see in Zah.

A spare mechanical pencil anywhere. I have two. Thank you. Apparently. Great. I had one and I finished. They do that. They do that.

Yes. As a Clauderan, if I may, because we roll for initiative. Oh, my God, this is so good. If I may use eager advance to move. One of my favorite things, you absolutely may do that. Even, and then we'll do the top of the round, we'll do the initiative. And what I will say is that you guys were cooking, so I kind of held off on this. But as soon as Kiri mentioned Morzeeb and the people that died,

I think the ferocity in Milo's eyes, his kind of hackles and all of that, would have been tempered a little bit as he seems to have been lost in thought a little bit as he dwells on it and his tail would have gone down slowly and I think Milo is shot probably seeing this bolt fly over him he would have ducked

but then seeing that she has blasted this dino thing he's now ready to listen to Jase's order and I'm going to start bolting back to Valor Wing And I'm gonna say, Yes, sir. And I just move my movement.

One, two, three, four. And just for the folks at home, how do you spell Kiri? And for us. Oh, K-I-R-I. K-I-R-I. Very, very, very simple. Thank you.

Very simple. Q-I-R-I. You, 20 to 30. 20. 24. T-hoo! I guess you are in the dose.

Oh, shit, I hear you guys. Oh, we got. I got an 18. Damn. I got 11. No, 17, 17, sorry. 11. Okay.

So I'm last, I assume. Yep. This is what the initiative order is, but at the top of the round, the creature lunges forward. And it crosses the entire span, even though Milo is fast enough, darts away in a massive jump, and starts to race towards his

his rook, the two-rises forward and just to to Jace. What? It arrives right here before it leaps up and lands on the surface of the downed supermeck.

What did I do? Crashing over here like so clearly antagonized by Kiri's probably here. Yeah by Kiri's I don't even have time to get my blast.

Its gems are glowing brightly with the adrenaline of battle, but they seem to sort of almost short off and on. And you can tell that whatever Kiri blasted it with is no special shot, perhaps even a special munition designed for this kind of ferocious attack, as it bites down and she dives into her cockpit again, narrowly adjoining the, uh, narrowly avoiding the massive jaws as they clap close.

And that is what you are presented with as Wren. You take action. What, uh, just totally tell my help. That's better. There we go. Nice. And we still have the texture.

Seeing this thing come in, the shot go out. I would have been stunned for like at least 30 seconds. like when this is happening. 30 seconds, it's like seven rounds ago. Three seconds. I was like, oh my God, three seconds. That's the whole combat. But when the shot, I think like when the shot rings out

and it roars and it starts moving, I would be bolting. So I'm gonna go to Bitterfang. One, two, three. I'm going to bonus action use my flowing step. Okay. You can take the dash action as a bonus action. Um, and... Hang on, let me see how this works.

One, two. three, four. I'm a better fang. You race forward. You are already nearly across the entire crater, but only by the time you're on the other side, then your footprints appear just because

you're moving at such high velocity and you're able to dive into the cockpit of your downed rook. I get my weapons. You know exactly where they are. There's any a locker on the side of your cockpit where you're able to dive in and quickly grab rip open the chest, grab my combat blade, slap it onto me, and run back out.

Like, if I can keep going. There's a plethora of survival gear inside of these lockers in addition to the combat gear. But you grab your... You grab your blade, and you're able to hop out. use the remainder of your movement if you so desire. One, two, three, four. How far can I jump? Can I jump? Like, jumping cost

movement. It's not like, yeah, yeah, yeah. Basically, you jump instead of like, yeah. Oh, so it's not extra. No. It's never additive. Got, got, got, got it. It has to be within your existing movement. Otherwise, we don't be hopping all over the place. Yeah. Well, that's some half-like one bunny hop on shit where you just start,

yep, flowing stuff just says it can, it can double my jump distance for the turn. So that would just be like, let's say you're, right now you can only jump 10 feet, it'll allow you to jump 20 feet. But it would still cost forward. So does it help you move forward at all? Okay.

All right, so I'm geared up and I'm coming back in. I don't, I've already dashed with my bonus action. I can't dash again with my action. Absolutely. I can. Absolutely. Oh my God. All right, I use my action. Your cybernetic enhancements kick in and you race back.

Immediately crossing this fast distance, and you slide. I just went from here to my Mac and I'm back. Yeah, that's actually insane. You slide into place getting ready to combat with this massive beast. Do you do anything else? I think that's all. I've used my bonus action, my action. I'm good. Milo, you're out.

I'm good. I'll kind of clutch my chest and I'll say, I'm sorry. Sorry, Hunt Mother. I'm sorry, Vistaia. I'm trying. I know you're here. Please protect my friends. The way I couldn't protect Raina and Ash Squadron. As I am going to use my action. Oh gosh, hopefully I'm not too fucking far. Bless, 30 feet? Oh no. Were you here? I moved you. Were you here or here? Might have been here. I think it was there. You could, yeah, so you're within 30 feet of J's. It's more important to get all you guys.

I'll run back this way. Oh. I cast blast on the three of you. Holy shit. That's one, two. That's huge. I spent 10 feet. That means I have 20 feet left.

That's what? What is that? That's 15 feet. 15. Five more. I have five more. And I run towards that. I don't think I don't have any bonus actions I can use. Just double check.

Yeah, take a time. Oh, this is so close. It's so fucking cool, man. Okay, that's right. It'll work out. Don't work out. I have a lot of tactical decisions to make. I'll think about it. And actually, as I stand back up, I'm running and I'm following Jesus's command. And I will kind of, I will pray to the hearth mother and I'll say, you are my weapon, hearth mother. As are my friends. As a little bit of Milo will return. And I at least will resolve to use my powers as an oracle.

in this fight. I am not going to be the one to kill this thing. That's my, with my spear. And that is my turn. Can you make it to your back and back? That's far because it's at an angle. Me?

Yeah. No shot. I didn't think so. No shot. It's one. Because it's three. Four. Yeah.

And I would dat one, two, three and a half. God damn it. like that. If I dash as an action. No, right, right, right. Okay. Yeah, what I will say is, and I'm Various. You know what I mean?

I am not going to be worried about grabbing myself and be back and melee attacking in a single turn, not happening. No, I didn't want you to attack. I just wanted to give back. No, T-Rex is, they're ambush predators. We're medding. I'm trying to be the tactics guy, so I'm thinking about this very medit. Basically what happened was is that he pressed Z, so he was doing the slow walk.

And you're like, his four-walk. Rorwalking. They're dead. They're going to use orwalking, and they're dead silent when they were walking. So he waited until he used his special op speed boost that only T-Rexes and I think one other dinosaur get. That's very fine.

That's not a thing. That's from the aisle. Vero is your turn. Oh, God. Sorry. Sorry, I just sat in it. Sorry. So could I...

Could I... There's just getting a lot of emotions, right? So I'm feeling, you know, doesn't want to hurt her. Wren is making a good point, but she's the enemy. Did she summon this thing, but I just saw her shoot in? Like, what's going on?

And the dinosaur attacking, or do I feel it's sort of some elaborate ploy where she's about to jump on this dinosaur and start riding it around and killing us all? Or do I feel like this thing is right next to her? I see mechanically it's next an initiative.

Do I feel like this thing's about to bite her head off? Can I insight check to just And you can tell me... She shot it, and it was somehow enraged by pain, and it raced straight to the Super Mecca head, jumped on top of it, and rendered some of the metal off of the side of the face of this thing as she dove into the cockpit so that it could get access to her.

You imagine that in mere moments, it is going to attempt to try to bite down on her. And you remember that she dove underneath the clap of its jaws. I guess, can I... I'm not even going to make your role for it. You would know that this is not a deception. very evidently a raging wild beast and she is clearly levying her gun towards it to shoot and defend herself. Let me just get it. One, two, and I see her from where I'm at? Yes. I'm going to turn

following Jace's orders. One and a half, two and a half. And I'll pause for a second and look up and see that she's scared, see that she's worried. And I will yell. Let the harmony flow through you if you want to live! And I'll reach my hand up. And she needs to make a strength saving

throne and she can choose to fail. She will feel this pull of, and maybe she'll feel that it's harmony related. As she feels, Make a persuasion check. The pull of the harmony

start to basically pull her form. We're gonna have to let it ride. Make a persuasion check. Okay. You're blessed. I am blessed. Holy shit. No, no, bless doesn't affect.

You're right. Skill checks. Guidance does, not bless. You are not guidance. Oh, if you fail skill check, you know. 14. With a 14, she.

She might still attempt. I mean, she could still fail the strength save if she decides to admit to make. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. yeah. She's definitely gonna want to let the harmony flow through. It's the it's the word of the harmony that lowers the DC to hell yeah let's go to a success and she scrambles up not knowing exactly what that pull is but almost like a leap of faith surrenders to what whatever protective action or event is coming.

There's almost like this flash of like green and purple channeling from my hand as I reach out. We're surrounded by nature and life. And as I reach out, she will lift off of her feet and get pulled 30 feet towards me. Holy shit. One and a half. Two and a half. Thank you, music. Good job.

Plenty. Plenty. Four and a half. I'm going to basically pull her like here. Next to me to get her out of harm's way. Do you catch her? Yeah, if I can like almost like grab her and catch her. She's not light.

But you are able to, with your tremendous strength and the number of men, the many days that you've worked on, on, I mean, yeah. Chest. Oh, yeah. Chests. Shoulders. Back.

Traps. Back. Oh, God, it's full party day, Helweeder! You feel your boots of your suit sink into the jungle floor as she crashes into you, and you're able to stay balanced and stand tall as she lands in your arms. I'll catch her, and I will quickly put her down. Wash your leg. Hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, oh God.

And I'll say Seth is watching it'll turn and just let her be basically I don't want to say any more to her I'm just letting her know that I am sort of if she's

truly doing harmony stuff that I'm kind of on the same wavelength here and I'm going to use the rest of my movement to start heading my way towards iron wool one and a half two and a three um

four and half six. And I don't think I can do anything wild as a bonus action. That's my turn. And the feature that I use there is Harmony's grasp. I use the attack action or in place of an attack.

I can telekinetically move an object or another creature within 30 feet of me, up to 30 feet to an unidentified spous. That is so cool. It's a creature and they're unwilling. You catch eyes for a but a moment. And before she returned, her sights on this massive gem Tyrannosaurus rex.

And there's a look of thanks and gratitude. Then the adrenaline of war takes over. And you hear her, all of you, hear her shout out. The Tikal Revere, the dinosaurs, but not this one. This one is kill on sight. I only had one of those shots that weakens it, but it'll only be for a short time. We have to take it down.

She lifts up her pistol and you hear pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, as she fires and loads the rest of her clip into the side of this creature. It rears that and roars with a tremendous bellow and then turns down. And even though it was enraged by her and enraged by the shots that hit her,

hit this dinosaur beast, it goes into a ferocious rage and lashes out at the closest thing to it. Yeah. It races forward and attempts to bite down on you, Wren. I mean, shit. That's going to be a 23 to hit. Oh, that'll do it.

That'll hit, that'll hit in fact. We're gonna try this angle over here. Sorry. You take 10 points of piercing damage as the jaws close around you. The entire left side of your torso, it bites down, and you are now, grappled as it lifts you up into its mouth.

Uh, or I'm gonna activate my ability centered deflection. Okay. When an attack roll hits me and its damage includes, if it's a damage includes bludgeoning, piercing, radiant, or slashing, I'm gonna use my reaction to reduce the attacks total. Sorry, I probably goes this to me all the time. Okay, yeah, it was a 23.

Yeah. I'm reducing it by 18 points, which also means, I'm gonna redirect this bite at itself. You're, which I think I can do. So just, just make sure. I've reduced it to zero,

which means that I can use an essence point to redirect your attack. It won't redirect the whole attack. Well, you'll take, you'll take damage that I'll do. Yes. Yeah, I see. It redirects the damage.

So it does not hit you, is what you're telling you. Well, I think technically it does hit me. He still gets hit. It hits me, I take no damage from the attack. Right. So it'll still be grabbed. But now you're going to take damage. He's basically, like,

re-channeling the force of the attack. I see what happened. Like jamming a tooth or something in. So, yeah, or like, in, you'd like, in, like, you know. I would say, I would say that you're able to put the sword up and you're able to stab into the soft pallet

of the top of the mouth of this thing as you are bit down upon and grappled. Uh, theoretically, I believe you do make a dexterity saving throw. Yes. So you could, you could, um, I don't have a DC for you though. 19, that's the matter. I gotta imagine that'll beat whatever the DC could be.

So I think he just takes none of the damage, right? Correct. Yeah, okay. So you don't take that image. Okay. But I don't take the damage. And you're still grappled. But flavor is free and you're still stabbing into his mouth. It is going to, with you in its mouth, lumber forward and get into range with of Chase.

Fuck. It can't target you with its tail, but it can swing around and you watch as this massive tail comes swinging towards you. The size of one of the tree trunks that's around you, but you're able to dodge underneath it easily as it starts to flail about in a beastial rage. I think you'd see me standing in its mouth, Jace, with my feet on its lower jaw and my left

hand up holding the tooth. Love that. Like trying to push it open. It wasn't able to clamp down. It didn't do any damage. It's God of War. It's Ghost in the Shell. It's your turn, Jase.

So it didn't hit me? No. I rolled a natural three. Jesus, okay. All right, every plan that I had is absolutely fucking good. Yeah, this is really bad because now there's no way I can make it to the back and back. Especially if I can't pass. Oh, you got to go. Yeah, you got to go. If you're too small than that kit, can you? It's difficult terrain. It's difficult terrain. You can pass through it. So I should know this and we've just talked about this with random movement. I have the ability to energy reserves to take an extra action once per long rest.

But once I've used up my movement, it's not like I can dash as an action and then continue to move with another action. You would have your movement, and then you could dash, dash, as your action and your new and your second action. So you would have 30, 60, 90 feet a movement. 90 feet would do it, I think.

But then you would only have a bonus action. Which is okay, because I want to use a bonus action. 510, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, 40, 45, 50, 55, 50, 55, 50, 50, 5,000. 60, 65, 70, 75, 80. That would do it. That would do it. Yeah.

That's what I'm going to do. You're going to watch as this tail swings over and Jace Bolton. You're like, what the fuck? He left me as I've run for the meck. Classic. And I will run to the mech. I will use my energy reserves. Once your turn, on your turn, you can take one additional action,

except the magic action. Once I use this feature, I can't do so again until I finish a short or long rest. and I'm going to use it to basically double dash. I will go to... Yeah, assuming that I can get my combat sword and that doesn't take an action or anything like that. You hop in, you know exactly where it is. You whip the locker cover open.

All of the supplies are ready to go, but at the top, your weapon is right there. Easy access. I technically might take an opportunity attack because I'm running from the thing, but I'm assuming it can't grapple me because he's already eating. It'll use its reaction to make another tail attack at you.

That's going to be a 14, though. That'll miss. It makes a wide circle and spins. And just as fast as I'm gone, Ren, you notice that I'm back next to you. And I would like to use a bonus action to stand shoulder to shoulder with you. Oh my God. As a bonus action, I will expend a tactical die to choose a creature I can see within 30 feet of you that you can see or hear you. That creature and one of its allies within five feet of it, gain temporary hit points equal to two roles of the tactical die.

So you think that I abandon you. And you think, classic, jace, this guy fucking sucks. Next thing you know, I'm there with my combat sword standing shoulder to shoulder to you, bolstering you. As I do so. Hell yeah. We both get nine temporary hit points. Nice. Oh, we both get them?

Yep. Well, only because I chose you as the target and then an ally within five feet of it, I'm choosing myself. Because there's nobody else I could choose. So I was going to try to give it to you and him to be like, I'll be back. But anyway, it's fine. I told me his point. But that is everything that I can do, and I'm standing there with my combat sword in hand,

shoulder to shoulder with Wren as my brother, to help him take this thing down. The Tyrannosaurus Rex rears up as you are still standing in its massive jaws, and that inspiring bolstering that Jace does does fill you with renewed energy despite your plight. What would have been, and will be moving forward, a bonus action is going to be an action that I'm going to put at the top of the round. I need you to make a Constitution saving throw as the teeth of this Tyrannosaurus rex glow with gem-like light.

Does guidance work on Constitution saving throws? Sure does. It does? Not guidance, but bless does. Who are blessed. I think guidance has fallen off, certainly. Oh, how long does guidance last? A minute. Probably. I don't think there's any...

And it's concentration. Oh, you're right. So I would have swapped it. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. No. That's an eight. An eight. By merit of being in touch with these teeth, you look up and you notice that crystals, gem are starting to grow down your arm, budding out like those fast forward movies of crystallic growth in an aquarium tank. You look down and also up your boots. This fast growth continues to spread up your body as these crystal growth. Start to consume you. You are now restrained. I'm about to get king boomie.

You are now restrained? That is correct. What does that mean? It means that you can repeat the save at the end of your next turn. Speed of zero, your disadvantage on attack rolls. Can any of us take an action to attempt to like basically break him out?

Is that an option? You may. Okay. And I'll just tell you that the chrysal's can be destroyed by attacking them. But I was gonna abandon you. You are restrained, so you can take your turn with those limitations in mind, and then you'll be able to repeat your save immediately. Okay, man, just let the walls down. I'm here, buddy. Let me in.

Let me in. I'm here for you. So I'm also, I'm at disadvantage on all your attacks. But you do have bless. Okay. So even if it's... And there are three growths of gems slooping me into this thing?

Uh, yeah, their growths are emerging over you very quickly by merit of being in this gem Tyrannosaurus rex's mouth as it continues to bite down. You say I could attack them. How many things do I have to attack? How many targets are there

for me to like break out of these gems? Or like, if I just one attack on the gem and I hit, I'm broken out of the gems. Mm. Or, or, like, like in my hand in gems and I got to attack that and my legs in gems I got to attack that.

If you fail again, you'll be able to attack them because there will be some additional consequences. Right now. So right now, I have no hope. Right now you're just restrained. And you can take your turn normally but there isn't anything you can do with these gross

continuing right now. So I can't worry about the gems right now. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. Uh-oh. Lean on me When you're not long Glad to see you made it back. I'll be your friend. I'll say to Jace as he sings

songs as he walks back up. I become an icon. Not a care in the world. Yeah. I will, I mean, I'm gonna just strike at it. I think I just have, I think I can strike twice. Yeah, your feet is zero.

I think. Maybe I can't strike twice, actually. That's probably level five. All right. Oh, I'm a disadvantage. All right, that's gonna be garbage. Yeah, dang. I wanna use the first one misses.

It's a 12 to hit. Yeah. Oh, again. Yeah, that's misses. You are struggling to even move. For how fast you were just moments ago, these crystals are interfering with you. It's almost like you feel like you

You're on your home world. Stucked out in the cold. Unable to move. On the first attack, I was 16. Does that hit? Hits. Oh, okay. That bless y'all. I forgot my bless. That bless y'all. I rolled a 12. I rolled a 4 on my D4. There it is. There it is. So I will actually strike with the first one. I am going to hit and jamming essence point. I'm gonna stab into its mouth,

like trying to stab at the roof of its mouth to like let me go. You'll take 11 points of slashing damage, and then when the blade connects, I'm gonna energize it and it'll crackle with a slight bolt of almost electricity. As it hits, you're gonna take another seven points of lightning damage.

Damn! Okay. Dude, that's cool as fuck. It lets out a roar and you're hit by the breath of this beast as it screams from your blow. That's my turn. Then you may make another Constitution saving throw. So you didn't break out yet. You just took it.

You risked the attack. I'm attacking at it. I wasn't allowed to break out. Fair enough. Con saving throw. Yes, let's see if you can break out of this first ballot. Don't forget you get blessed. Okay, okay.

This is something. This is something. Any much, though. 14. 14. You are overtaken by this crystal growth completely. You are now... Completely? You are now petrified.

Wait, wait, wait. Did you make a saving throw? Yeah. As a reaction, I use rapid command. But I tell you, don't be a jackass and make sure you pat. No, I'm kidding. I basically, I can see that the crystals are growing. Because I have a different vantage point than you have. And you're trying, you're like going crazy, trying to like stab this thing. I shout to you and I say,

Wren, watch up! You have to move! And I basically try to walk you through like what's happening to draw attention from your attack to these crystals that are growing. And I'm going to expend a use of my tactical dye which will let you add

1D6 to the roll. Oh, same rule 1D6. So you were at a 14? When you... Oh, it's an ability check. Damn it. I'm sorry. I thought it said ability or safe. I'm so sorry.

You shout that. I look down at you. I go. This bitch ass. I go, actually, there's nothing I need to help you, and I'm not coming to save you. Damn. Damn, I thought it was saving those.

Oh, that was so cool. Just a good for... You scream out, and you watch as Ren turns into what looks almost like rock candy, as these beautiful prismatic crystals coat his body, and you realize that his stabbing has slowed completely to a stop, and he is motionless in the mouth of this terrible thing. You can tell me yes or no or go fluff myself.

Would I get any sensation that I'm being covered in Harmonite? Do we even, oh, we know of Harmonite? We know of Harmonite. We've been a mission. We'd a mission we've never liked. I don't think of like if this stuff does cover me or am I getting a sense of power from it? Or is it just like, is it like King Boomy gem candy? Make a quick nature check for him.

Rock kid. And while we're asking questions. Are you freaking? kidding me? 18. Now's the time. Probably even higher. Probably even higher. That would have been nice. Yeah, I don't know of four. You go 22. You don't get the sense that this is magical crystal.

This is a crystallic growth that just seems to be a magical consequence of this gem Tyrannosaurus Rex, but it is not harmonite. Now that he's petrified, do we still feel like we can attack it? Now that he is petrified, you can target the crystals. You can target the crystals. Well, I'm in its

You can hit it anywhere else. You can hit it on the legs or the body. I just don't hurt you if I'm gonna try to free you. You can target the crystals and whether or not that damage will transfer to the crystal within. Fuck you, Derek. I can't say. Oh, man. Oh my god. What is that cool-ass ability you had? Sorry I'm gonna break your leg! I feel like Zorro in season two.

You all watch. Get me out of this. As Wren is petrified completely, Milo, it's your turn. We're in a tricky situation. situation here, folks. Can I attack it with a spell as well? It's now target. You can, uh, it has an AC, it has HP, it has all kinds of features. Uh, I am going to, mm. I'm going to move in this direction. One, two, three. Get kind of in that direction. As I'm going to say, I'll get him out. You kill the dinosaur,

chase as I am going to hold my chest and I'll say hard mother these are the horrors of the night you kept me warm protect my community there are all I have left as a burst of warmth will erupt out of me as I cast starry wisp I am going to make an attack roll Ooh, I'm pretty good. 19 to hit? That exceeds the AC of the crystals. Okay. I'm going to deal some radiant damage. Oh, they're probably actually going to just absorb it. Another words it hits.

Seven points of radiant damage. Seven points of radiant damage. I'm out. I'm out of the mouth. I'm back in the fight. You don't know. I'm probably, I mean, come on. Come on, the hearth mother herself wants me here.

You're still restrained. Come on, the arth mother. You have one leg. Are you going to listen to a heart mother? Earth Mother or not! This radiant damage crashes into the crystals and it rings out.

You blast this magic forward and it doesn't do quite as much damage as you think it will. The crystals ring with and glow as the radiant damage is partially absorbed by the attack. And unfortunately, Ren remains petrified. The hearth mother abhers her gaze today. No!

I rely on no gods. Oh, man. I think that's really all I can do. Oh, fuck. Can he hear us? Who? Me? No, I got gems in my ears. Hold on.

Hold on. I'm the shield. If I may, dungeon master. Yeah. I'm the Empress's shield. I say, no, it's not enough. Rank it out! As I use Paragon's blessing.

When a creature with, uh, when you hate a creature within a, oh, it's a creature. Damn it. Never mind. I'm really getting bugged for them. One time. Who do I got blamed for this crystal? Who is it? Was this Ammo?

Probably Ammo. Ammo likes to show up. Somebody. Never mind. Never mind. I can't do anything. I can't do anything. I message the writers and I say,

hey guys, what the fuck? Yeah, where's that writer's room? Yeah, you got to that writer's room. I got to drop a message. I'll use, uh, I've got the full one right here. You're taking damage, right? I've got the full one. Yeah.

I'm not taking damage. Oh. No one's taking damage that. No, okay. That's my turn. We got temp. H.P. That's my turn. I was hit, but I nullified it.

I don't do anything. Verif, you're up. If we damage Wren as a creature, would that also damage the crystals that are around him? I would say that by merit of him being totally petrified,

that Wren is almost barely a target. He has been completely turned into this crystallic substance for all you know. But I have, wanted to aEOM with the dinosaur. When you count? When you consider that one-ness?

Maybe I wouldn't even know. I probably wouldn't even know, but I would maybe try. Okay. Oh, man. What do I do? Just to be clear as well, we can't see Wren either. One and a half. He's still hanging out the side of this Tyrannosaurus is wrecks his mouth like a cigar. Seren is visible, but he can't hear us. Yeah.

God damn. That not hearing thing, really. I mean, I will say that I have to be able to give commands. Nothing about the condition says that he can't hear you. Well, I'm not covered in gems. I think it's, I'm going by the rules turned into an inanimate substance. You are transformed along with any noun magical objects, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. By that, I would say that he wouldn't be able to hear you.

I'm not mad at you. But it's not, it's not, it doesn't say he's deaf. Because there's deafness rules and blindness rules and all that. I'm here for it. I'm here for it. That's my ruling. I thank you. Fares, you're up.

I'll be running and I will use one and a half squares of movement and I'll run to Ironwall and I'll jump into the cockpit and I will take off the coat of arms that sits behind me. As I pull it off, it's like a shield that has the emblem and I'll pull it off and turn it around and there's straps behind. I'll throw it on my arm and I'll kind of extend out and turn into a shield. and behind it all I will pull out my mag flail that is sort of is attached to it. And I will sort of look at Ironwall and I will look up. Ironwall. They've abandoned us.

They were surrounded by monsters. Is this part of the God's plans? Is this what a true knight does? Or are we to become monsters? Like her? Like that thing? And I'll turn around, and I will use a few more squares of movement as I'm pretty much out. Let us be monsters then. And you will see, for the first time anyone has ever seen, my eyes kind of flash purple and go dark, like inky black.

And Milo and Kiri would feel cold. as, and you would hear sort of like this, almost like you're underwater, just for a split second, as darkness kind of consumes me, as this almost this miniature black hole envelops me and I disappear. And in an instant, I erupt here as I use wormhole slip. Hell yeah. My Nilari racial species feature.

That's what's fucking Let's go! I can teleport up to 30 feet to an unoccupied space. I can see until the end of the next turn, the area within 10 feet of my starting destination in my space is difficult to range from my enemies. Oh, sick. I can use this bonus action twice.

Yeah, that's badass. That's so good. And as I erupt a wormhole here now, you two, if you weren't petrified, you'd be able to feel this, but you probably don't. You feel this cold as this another world erupts in space and this black and purple sphere kind of with this almost ring around it as I rip through and my mouth is open and pouring the void itself out. As with my action, I will use my breath weapon. Oh, my breath.

Shit! Oh my God. That's so crazy. You're using void breath right now. after Saturday. The sky also has gone from this brilliant blue, from the moment you crashed into this unbelievable orange hue. And all around you, the colors of the shadows themselves seem vibrant,

except when you pull the void out, there's this desaturation as you release this tremendous breath weapon, as colors almost pulled from the void itself. Damn! Brock Indigo hates me to see me coming. Oh, I'm sorry. As I am, I'm almost like screaming. And any creature, it can be a lion or a cone.

I think dramatically this is going to be a cone. Okay. And I'm aiming for Wren and the dinosaur. Okay. And both of you need to make DC-13 deck save. I can't. Fail. The crystals will automatically fail by merit of being an object.

I will make a dexterity saving throw on behalf of the Rex. That's going to be a 10. They all fail. And you all take 10 points of necrotic damage. Hmm. And so my hope is that I can use this necrotic breath to unmake, to breathe the void in, and just like a void worm unmade half of Brockin to go.

Spoilers for Anthem. I hope to unmake the crystals that are entombing Wren and also damage the distance. Do you think I would take this damage in the crystal? I don't know. Pouring through the crystal? Well, it's up to the GM. Maybe you would be immune to the crystals.

There are features like the smothering rug. I can't remember. That's the exact creature name, but there are creatures that can grapple you. And while they're choking the life out of you, if you attack them, half of the damage that hits them transfers into the creature they're grappling.

However, you already were attacked by the Starry Whisp attack from Milo, and the crystals were affected, but I didn't transfer any damage to you. So that's a clue that you're safe inside this crystal cocoon for the duration. Yeah, in your mind, you're drowning, you're getting all of this stuff. You let out this void scream, and it crashes into the Tyrannosaurus rex and envelops its head completely. the void scream is done and the color begins to seat back into the world. You can see that you've damaged the wreck and the crystals are now murky and opaque. They're still barely hanging on

to the form of Wren. And he's not mechanically in the space, right? He's like in the jaw. I'm like in the mouth. I'm like in the mouth. Then I will use the rest of my movement to square up with Jace and stay. side by side. And you all almost see like my teeth are sharper than they normally are just for a second. And like my scales start to kind of creep up a little bit as my void

biology, my void worm biology expresses itself in a little bit. My horns get a little longer as it starts to recede. And I come back to myself. That's my turn. Kiri continues

to just yell, a battle cry of sorts. And she pop, pop, pop, lets out a few more shots from her pistol before you hear a click.

She reaches down and slams another clip into the GemTech pistol that she has. And yells out, I only have one more of these. One more.

I'm low. And she readies to fire again as she again hits the side of this creature with her attacks, and it goes into its continual rage as it spits, letting Wren drop petrified to the floor. It swirls around doing a 360. It's massive tail swinging around towards the U-Barras. She's scattered on it?

Right where, Mace read my mind. That is exactly where. Right by Jace's feet. Right at Jace's feet. and with a dirty 20, Veris, dirty 20 hit. Oh, that hits. God, I just don't have anything to. I deserve this.

I deserve it. 16 bludgeoning damages. You are hit by a tail the size of a tree trunk. Jesus. And you are knocked prone. The, once you land on your ass, the creature roars into the, the sky and comes biting down towards you, Jace,

as it gets an 18 to hit. Yeah. You are crunched by these teeth. You take eight, 13 piercing damage, and it's gonna use its bonus action to use its gem-like teeth feature as you begin to feel the same crystals start to crush into you.

I need to make a constitution saving throw. Sure, sure. That's fine blast, I blow. Constitution Saming Thrill? Yep. And now that it's been, now that's round two, I'll tell you the DC 16. Plenty. I got 17. Okay. You are still grappled, but you are able to resist the,

you are able to momentarily resist as you feel the massive teeth dig into your thighs and into your suit. And then quickly, you're lolling around. You see this massive tongue in front of you. You smell the meat-like breath of this creature as you're in the mouth of this. Oh, boy. You are now, you are restrained by merit of being. No, no, you're grappled, but you're not restrained. So that is what happens.

It's grapple or train, petrified. Correct. So now it is your turn. Okay. As I am in the mouth of this creature, I am going to shout a command. which this one says I just have to be able to see them. They don't have to be able to hear me, which is good. I'm going to use as a bonus action, bold advance,

expend one tactical die to choose two creatures that I can see within 30 feet of me. One target will add a tactical die to the attack roll it makes before the end of its next turn. And the other adds a tactical die to one damage roll. It makes before the end of the next turn. And I'm going to shout, to Baris and say,

I was going to free Red, but I'm stuck. Get to Red. I'll give you an opening. And that is how I'm flavoring this bold advance. So just remember, you get to add to your attack roll, you get to add damage.

I unfortunately now cannot free Wren, I don't think, because I will be a disadvantage to attack anything that is not the target that is grappling me. He's prone to the advantage. but you can attack the... Oh, well, I guess the question is, like, can he reach?

Yeah. Probably not. I'd say you're in the mouth. You're 10 feet up now while as it swings around, continuing to try to chomp down. So as I'm holding this T very much the position that Ren was just in, I'm going to attempt to just slash this thing's mouth. Okay.

The tongue, whatever I can get. And I'll just make one attack roll, which is, you know, unfortunate. My disadvantage is just straight up. Straight up, right? While grappled? Let me see. I know the answer to that question. And the answer is...

I just don't have any, like, range to anything to even, like, crack him out. So, like, you may not even get to use Bolt advance, but we're trying. We're gonna try. I'm not getting grappled condition. I need straight up. You speed is zero.

No, it's a normal attack against any other target other than the grappler, so just normal attack. 16? That's the AC. Perfect. I'm sorry, 15 is the AC. It's been around, so you exceed it by one. Close. That'll be 14 points of slashing damage. Oh, bad. Yeah, you hit gums and tongue, absolutely.

And then technically, I have the sap property on my weapon. He got tongue. Which I believe is disadvantage on its next attack. Let's see here. Laning attack on the enemy can flick. Disadvantage on the next attack roll before the start of my next turn. Disadvantage on the next attack roll. Yeah, so the first attack that the Dino makes on its turn will be disadvantaged.

And I am just wildly slashing at this thing. trying not to get eaten. That's my... The... Hitting the tongue, especially, covers you in gore. And you're not sure if all the blood

is of the creature that you're slashing into or if some of it is yours as you continue this violent back and forth. Ren. God, I was going to break you out and bolster you and like, it's all right, brother.

You hit the... You are... I'm on a moment. the ground. You're losing the blood. You're out of time and space right now. You're just sadly a rock candy on a carnival floor. You're petrified.

There's no actions and there's no way to save against this until you're freed from it. What I will say what I will say is that perhaps in the back of your mind a timer goes down as you realize that if you remain in this condition for a full minute

that the effect might be permanent. All I want to say is this dinosaur is real lucky that Jason doesn't have his actual sidearm, which is the old-fashioned 12 gauge, okay? You resist all damage, though. So that's good. Oh, okay. You don't take a buy that silver-lani sandwich.

Which brings us to Baila's time. Well, hang on, hang on, hang on, hang on. You don't know that. You don't know that. Okay. What would you like to do with your nut actions? I would, it's not a touch screen. Oh.

That's awesome. I should have thrown up. May I take a bonus action? Nope. I can't. It's a tax affected. I think it means no actions. No actions, including anything that,

a bonus action's an action. Yes, a bonus action is a type of action. Wow. Well. Do I get to re-roll the concept? No, once you've failed twice, you are now on a timer to doom. It's like a Medusa. This is literally final phoenix shit.

All right. Yeah, which is horrifying. Oh, I take the antidote to BASI. basilisk fang then. I take soft stone. Okay. I pop a soft stone. Okay. Just don't shake your pants because you're inside that crystal cocoon and Mila, you're up.

Did Mila get him out? Okay, so you've lost. Everything I do, everything I do literally deals radian damage. Literally every, every source of damage I have. But he just barely hanging on. He can't have any more than like two two hit points. Barely hanging on. He did ten damage. You had to have at least my guess has done two

if half. Get that spear in there like you're cracking a blue crab. Unless he's immune. Am I be immune. It's not immune. He said less damage than, well, maybe it's immune. That would be, that almost certainly immune. Zero is... Hit him with a spear! I don't have this spear. I don't think you got the spear. I didn't know what to the rope. Fuck, never mind.

That's right. Um, I'm gonna look around as I see... The signor. Pick a rock! Improvice weapon. I feel the cold after Varis has done that. No. It's cold.

Now, I look and I see that Wren is in his own crystalline box and then it's cold and I will say no shit no he can't go in the box we're not going home in the box

we're not going home in the box Horthmother please we all don't want to go to the box we're not going to go home in the box it's not going to be cold as a place as I will use my action to cast guiding stars

as a starry field in midst all around me as you'll see the constellations of Vistaya the Harth Mother as the Tower of Agathos, the Tower Quadrant of Agathos blesses everything around me in a 30-foot emanation.

And I don't care, I'm ignoring, I'm ignoring Keri. I can do things as a reaction when there is a field of stars, no one has a frightening condition. But the first time you take damage every turn,

It's reduced by 1d4. Nice. Because it's our. Oh, shit. And... That also means the crystals. No, I'm here. That's silly.

And I'm dropping Bless because it's done an absolute fucking... Actually, no, I'm gonna keep it up. No, it's been incredible. You have been... Okay. No, I've been no question.

It's been absolutely... Okay, never mind. I keep less. I keep less. All, that's my turn. There's like... I would have missed my con-saving fraud. I would miss my attack. Yeah, I hit my first attack.

We're all gonna go home. And we're going to be warm. And that's my turn. Top of the round. I'm sorry, top of the veris turn. Um, I, I'm like panting. And I'm feeling the effects of the void and the wormhole I just went through. You know, every time.

Who knows how many times in my life I've done this? Oh, God. Probably not many, right? And I'm feeling the effects start to fade. And I am about, I'm turning to swing on this dinosaur. Right? because I want to kill this thing, want to kill this monster.

And I almost register that Ren is Han soloed on the ground with his hands up like this. One arm is up from holding the... And I'm going to take the attack action, and my flail will erupt in this dark, harmonic resonance that takes from, that's pulling from all of the death. around us and the rot and the somber side of the harmony as I'm about to unleash this attack

against the dinosaur, but then I start to kind of get clear. I hear Jace give me the order of to free rent and not to attack this thing. I'm not a monster. We are not monsters. I am Elm Squadron's Lidenshield, and I will turn and I will say, be free him too, and I'm going to smash my flail down on Ren instead and take the attack action. You need an extra D6, you got it. And I'm using my cosmic conduit to channel the power of cosmic forces and I'm going, I'm in the somber side of the harmony. Jesus. And you're blessed, I'll forget if you need it. Hold on.

Oh my god. There's a 30 hit? Weirdly says here, unless it's a 30. I rolled the 19. Jace gave me four to hit. Shee. Les gives me three to hit. Being the sombre side gives me four to hit.

That's crazy. Uh, yeah. Roll for damage. Uh, and I just perfectly hit. I mean. Where this thing, the exact weak point, hopefully it's enough. It's like shooting crystal runs in a barrel, you know? Um, only have my shotgun.

And fuck it. As a bonus action as part of this action, I'm going to make it a cosmic smite. Because I get one for free. I want to make sure that this fucker breaks out. Okay. And it's going to pulse with this somber energy

and I crash into a weak point. Wait, wait, I didn't know you could do that. Attack the Bino. I'm falling in orders. We got to get our buddy out. I'm falling orders. I would have gotten you out if I didn't get gumbled up. But I'm just so tasty.

I'm just a snack. 22 points of Decrotic damage. 22 points of damage. It had 7 HP left. But instead of damage transfer, all overflow damage. No, I'm kidding. That would be a mess. What a nightmare. You lose your damage resistance.

I'm free and now I'm split in half. And then everything is just jelly. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. The sound of crystals explodes into the clearing that you all send in. Even overpowering the roars and grunts of the Tyrannosaurus wrecked. The sound of like a chandelier crashing against a stone floor

as there's this shattering effect and suddenly, Ren, you brought back into reality, not knowing what has happened for the last few moments. Ferris, what I miss? And I turn, and I am, not, this mechanical this doesn't do anything, but I, because you're right here. But I'm going to like try to interpose myself between Wren

and stand over him and embody the living shield. Flavis film squadron. That's my turn. Let's move Kiri as she moves towards the center of the... I can't end my turn in your space. Oh, got it, got, got, got, got, got. Shift Kiri, four spaces diagonally into the center of the Kiri as she continues to unload onto the creature.

You don't have gems, right? You don't have gems yet. Not yet. Oh, no, no, no, I resisted my first con. This next bite attack is at disadvantage on you, uh, Jace, and that's going to be 17 to hit. Get fuck. I had the EC 16. That's going to be 17 piercing damage.

Sond of a bitch. And the tail swings around and comes crashing again. You're J-Scream. It's not good. There's a lot of blocked. 17 to you run to hit. Huh? Me? Yeah, 17 to hit you.

You haven't had enough? No, it doesn't hit. Oh, no, no, you're prone, aren't you? Doesn't that? Oh, wait, don't worry about all this. Sorry, he was prone. He was prone. Don't worry about all this.

I wasn't paying attention. I'm sorry I should have been. Let's for one. As soon as this thing, this thing has Jason in his jaws, right? Uh-huh. As soon as this thing attacks, I'm going to say, Chase, we need you.

As I'm going to use my reaction to Jude's guiding stars, I'm going to subtract 1D4. Damage or from the... From the roll. Just needed two. Your EC 16? Yeah.

Minus four. Regardless, I know what to do beforehand. As soon as I hear the bite. I feel the teeth like crunching down on me, but you bolster me and I find strength within me to push back. I will say this is a moment where you make this prayer and the jaws closed completely. completely. And then they lift back up and there you still are.

As a, uh, No team, somehow, somehow. Soldier death! As though someone were watching over you, none of the teeth managed to collide with you and you are merely rolling around in the bloody wet mouth of this Tyrannosaurus. Gross. Thank you for saving my life.

17. Nice. I am prone, though. I am prone, seriously. So that's an advantage. This massive tail comes slamming down next to you, but you're able to roll out of the way just at the last second. And this Rex is

looking pretty bloody, is what I will say. And so... I didn't take any damage. Hit me attack missed. Did he see me attack miss? Still grappled, Jace. Yeah.

Lace Jazz. That's right. Call me Lacey. Call me Lacey Jazz. Let's see here. Well, Well, well, we're going to use another bonus action to, as this thing is still got me. I look over my shoulder.

I don't know how this thing didn't get me. Like, I feel the hearth mother's blessing. It truly feels miraculous. I look over my shoulder out of the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the strenosaurus Rex's mouth. I look right at Veris and, and I say, new command, get me out of here. and I cast bold I use bold advance again. So you'll get to add to damage

and you'll get to add to your attack roll, Rich. And I will use my action to attack roll. Yeah, your attack roll, he's damage. Because I figured he's got probably better shot to hit with multiple attacks. So my thought is to give him the damage to make sure that you win.

Absolutely crushed it. 26 to hit. Yep. Easy peasy. I mean, it's no 30. And 11 points of slashing damage. As again, I am trying to basically cut this thing's tongue off. It's the only thing that I can really like, you know what I mean?

I'm just trying to hack this thing apart from the inside. I mean, stabbing up, doing what you can. 11 for your turn? For damage. Total, I just want to make sure I did. Yeah, I don't even want to attack. Okay, that's very good damage. Again, there's these, each time you slash into it,

there's geysers of blood pouring out. And that is, even spraying against the crater floor, as it bellows that, it's almost belching up this violence. Uh, con or once I pass, I pass. Some the crystals. The teeth didn't hit. Oh.

What you? The, um, uh, uh, the mouth, uh, being so damaged. And the, uh, uh, crystals, uh, uh, don't seem to be forming on your, on your, uh, person anymore. Uh, there, there's go in all directions. There's, um, uh, it, and the gems are getting, uh, little, bright, the glowing, that flickering everything. As it's getting weaker, you realize that those initial attacks, probably part of its ambush-like tactics, doesn't seem to be happening, and you don't feel like you're getting, having to fight off that crystallic attack. Love that. Anyway, that's my final turn. Top of the round, Ren.

Various having blasted me out of this, I surveyed the field as quickly as I can. I see Jason is now taking my spot. I hear his call out to break him out. I just, I spin backwards over my shoulder, land on my two feet, and I leap up into the air as best I can to strike towards the mouth with my blade out

to slash it, its lips, its mouth, everything I can do to try and get him out of there. Nice, nice, nice, nice, nice. 16. That hits? You get one extra D6 damage. That's so cool. You're just like...

I'm just, I'm just, Old advance, baby. Oh, baby. That ain't bad. Hang on. 15 points of slashing damage. That's a lot. But my nemesis is in its mouth.

And by that I mean, my friend. But my friend of me is in its mouth. So I have to be my last essence point. Oh. And my blade once more crackles with lightning. As I fly through the air to strike it, this thing to try and cut Jace out. And I do an additional 12 points of lightning damage. Nice.

You at my shot. he's not your nemesis he's your nimma bro how do you want to do this I think just like that I spin back on my feet you'd see maybe Veris would even see this and potentially explaining how I got to the rook

so fast and back but it's almost like it's almost like when all my crowses with his feet or Midori when the you can tell the energy like pools towards the ball balls of my feet and I leap up into the air my blade my blade out and uh energy stored in the

balls and my uh my blade ignites with lightning uh as i see jes struggling in the mouth and i'll just uh owl i'll cut like straight up through its throat as i slash its throat open uh and blast like up through its mouth, ideally knocking, ideally knocking Jace out of it. I will say that you cut, not the throat, but from jaw to jaw, and its lower part of its jaw

actually falls free, its tongue lolling, as, Jase, you feel the floor out from underneath you, what was once mashing and attacking you, as you and the lower half of the jaw fall to the jungle floor. And this creature, I spin my blade and knock the,

and catch it, and knock the blood onto the floor. and I look over my shoulder and I say, that's what it looks like someone to freeze. That's what it looks like to free someone from the jaws of the beast. I hit the jungle floor with a disgusting, wet, slopping mess. I am covered

in dino blood and gore. It is a fucking nightmare. This Tyrannosaurus Rex falls to the ground and its gems go gray as it loses the life that held it together. And all is not quiet. The sound of birds and insects and beasts still surround you this jungle being so full of life.

What is a casual encounter, perhaps, in the jungles of Crayta? That's where we'll take a quick break. Oh, man. Oh, boy. God was it a pushover. Hey, everyone. Andy Flynn here, and I have huge news. Our next Kickstarter campaign is coming, and it's called Neon Odyssey.

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to unlock a free set of neon knights, sharp-edge resin dites, and more. It's only a dollar. Become a VIP now at neon-rpg.com. Thank you. The wrecks let out an agonized bellow that lowers in tone as the beast's movement slowed, and then it stumbled forward before collapsing into the jungle floor. Its breathing ceased.

You are all standing around alive. Some of you, much worse for the wear, breathing heavy in the hot, humid air, and hearing the cacophonous sound of the jungle all around you. Chase, Ryan, are you okay? Holy shit! Are you alright? Yeah, yeah, I'm all right. I think you saved me.

And I'm gonna actually reach up to see that'll help me up. I know it wasn't more than you. I am going to love. And I'm gonna kind of grab you and grab your arm. Are you wounded at all? No, I would have been. I look like, I'm just covered in blood. It does not look like my own blood.

And I'm okay. You know what, never mind. It's fine. That's fine, thanks. Thank you. I am disgusting. I'm sloped with Dino Gorm. Have there any more? They tend, uh, Kiri, uh, chimes in.

They tend to travel alone. There shouldn't be another, if this is this creature's territory from dozens, perhaps 100 miles in any direction. As I'm wiping my face off. I look at her and I say, is there any chance that the blood will draw on others? I think that most creatures would assume that the Tyrannosaurus rex is feeding now and will be okay for at least a while, perhaps a day. So we're safe for now. I'm going to walk closer to her and I'm not disgusting and I'm going to hold up my hand. We couldn't have done that without you.

Have we earned at least a little bit of trust? She holsters her weapon and looks at you, and then looks at your hand. You are indeed strong Cavalon warriors. She shakes it. Let me see if I can get... Let me see if I can get my cockpit up and running. She turns and walks back around the now defeated

body of the wrecks and starts to ascend the face the head of the imperator. Is everyone okay? Yeah. I mean, I thought it was a goner there for a minute, but well done

Elm Squadron. Nice work. You saved me. It was the hearth, mother. The two of you saved me too? It wasn't me. It was you. I heard your prayer. I felt it. I did two in the crystal, Milo. I felt your presence and yours as well.

Yes, I say friend, and I follow your commands. Make sure you stay with her. You escort Keri, and she jumped down, and you can see her trying everything, doing whatever she can to try and bring what's left of her Supermec back to life. She's pulling panels free. She's rerouting wires. She has a tremendous number of tools in here, you notice. Wrenches and multi-tech devices that allow her to very quickly assess,

troubleshoot, and fix what she can fix. But even after a few minutes, she lets out a frustrated sigh. The damage is more extensive than I thought. I can't bring her back online. How long will it take you? Or you believe you can't do it at all? Com's system is totally fried. I'd need to get back to civilization in order to repair this.

Our rooks landed just right by here. Do you think you can fix them? Why would I fix instruments of the empire? Designed to destroy us. We're not here to destroy you. We came to stop the Empirosaur. And you have yet to prove anything about Castle Ascalon, as you said. But if you can't fix this and we're miles from any civilization,

we're not going to get anywhere. We're not going to get anything done unless we can get our rooks up as well. She sort of rolls her eyes and, like, gets back on her back and then slides underneath the comments. console and continues tinkering. And in a moment or a moment or two passes, she's clearly pulled what looks like a data drive, a disc, a cartridge, a cassette from the bottom of this. comms may be fried, but what are you looking for is here? I can at least show you what evidence I have. This is evidence of Castle Ascalon. She sits back up and gets onto her feet. It is. And you want me to show you? you and your friends or not.

Do I have a way to verify it? It's authenticity or what this is? It would be like holding a zip disk or a hard drive. Without plugging into it or scanning it or accessing the data somehow, there's no way to know what the data is. But it's very clearly an information cassette. All shout down to the group. Milo, Jace, Ferris, up here.

the time it's taking you to get up there and have this conversation with her. I have already rigged up a line from the cockpit of Bright Roar down to like a tree. I've stripped down to my skivis and just my boots and my disgusting uniform is hanging on this line and I'm like trying to like clean it off with some water. I'm like scooping like gore out of my hair and I'm just because it's hot, right? I thought you were to see this one time you're zip lining. No, no, I'm just I've stripped down to my skivis and boots and I had to like dump, gore out of my boots before I like put them back on. Because you accessed your locker and you know that there's a tremendous amount of survival gear in there,

you can have a full access to what the Cavalon Empire would have equipped your rooks with. Should you ever need to survive on any world in the world of... Hell yeah, I knew there'd be synth line in here. Perfect! Yeah, exactly correct, exactly correct. So you've taken the synth line and you created a laundry line. line in order to try to dry out your rooksuit. So as soon as you look over and you're like,

you call outtuce, you say, like, come over here. I'm like, okay, but I'm like, I'm most, I'm just in my underpants. I would have walked back over to Valer Wang and I would have gotten in the cockpit and gotten to the panel that has my spear. I would have pulled it out and I will say, what are we gonna do, Valer Wing?

If we don't avenge them, how can we have even called ourselves their friends. Well, that'll turn back. Is it getting dark by now? Because I would definitely grab my flashlight as part of walking back towards. The sun is a brilliant hue of orange. I'm sorry, the sky is a brilliant hue of orange,

but the sun is already passed below the trees. And so even though there's a decent amount of ambient light, You know that it's very brief that golden hour before the jungle is submerged completely into darkness Man, I want to go camping so bad. I know. I use my flashlight. I make sure I have it at the ready as I make my way back towards when we're red called for me. Are you sure chase? How do you know, Ren that this is not some kind of trap? Do you wish to gather us all and then self-destruct? Just come up here, Veris

Listen, he's right. You know what they say. Live together or die alone. For now, just let's take it one day at a time. If she does anything, anything out of the ordinary, the four of us will be on her instantly, okay? I promise. All right, no, you're right, you're right.

I'm not going to let my guard down. I don't trust her for a second. I'm behind you, Elm, either. And I'm saying to this to you. I'm supposed to get my underpants on the flat. This has never been like, phase me at all. I feel like there's a million scenarios where stuff like this has happened. It's just so informal at this moment, but it's, you know, there's a commonness to this, I feel like.

Seeing that, I would probably, if our, like, plug suits have like a zipper that I can at least, like, let out a little bit just to get a little comfortable. It's hot. And it's hot. Oh, yeah, it's hot. And there aren't any immediately visible pools of water. in your vicinity. This would have been just true and proper jungle. I would probably pull it down off of my torso and then tie the arms around my face and it spins up.

But I don't have to go get changed, I don't want to get fully, you know, disrope. For all the survival gear that you have, this really is but the one suits that you all happen to enjoy. And they're already not just dirtied from the sweat of combat and the stars above, but the humidity is terrible. It's infecting your, your, your, every breath feels like you're breathing in a furnace almost. All I'm saying is I wouldn't have stripped down if I didn't have slop guts all of my plugs. Okay. That's true. That's true. No. It was very slop guts.

You had no choice. I had no choice. I would actually also pick up my combat knife that I thrown down into the ground. Sure. And just kind of like stick it in the waistband of my, of my undies and make my way up to rent. Big smile on my face. Yeah. What's you got for us?

I'll put my left hand on her mech. And though it's not powered, when I do so, I think thematically all the consoles that are there will light up. The mech will almost glow as I cast, illuminate, rendering Jason's flashlight useless, as I shed bright light in a 20-foot radius from the mech. get this hot head out of it as the jungle continues to submerge

into a shadow more and more and more the light from your rook actually her empiricor oh from the empiricor so I can use my touch to illuminate a surface to shed bright light and basically flavoring it like the panels come on and it's casting light around us

it's enough of a beacon to I'm going to extend the range just by merit of the darkness of this area and it actually is like turning the headlights of a car on at night where the immediate forefront area just in front

of the open mouth of the Empirosaurus head is comfortable as opposed to what feels like pitch darkness all around you as the sun completely recedes She said she could show us the evidence on Castle Ascalon.

I thought we should see it together. I'm not up with you. Oh. I've kind of, I've been walking around, and I am going through the pack that's in my, the locker of Valor Wing, and I am going to sit in, uh, You'll see me kind of going around the campsite or going off to the side, and you'll see me kind of like just digging these small holes. And I'm basically ignoring what you guys are doing.

After you've said this to us, I'll notice that Milo's not there, and I'll turn and I'll say, Hey, hey, Milo. Yeah. Kiri's got something to show us. You want to come up here? I don't need to see anything that she has to show me. She can show you guys. I'm gonna say goodbye to Raina and Pete and O'Lean.

And I have kind of pulled out my little pack that I would have kept of like a little travel art kit, of like markers and like little cards or whatever. Do you want us to wait for you? No, I don't. Chase, let us spare him from contact me. with the enemy. Yeah. Yeah, I think you're right.

And I'll kind of glance up and I'll say, no, and my eyes are going to be wide as I see J's. And I'll kind of look away very quickly. And I'm just kind of, I just start digging, I just start digging, uh, uh, quicker. All right, well,

if you need anything, let us know. Take your time, okay? Yeah, okay. You'll notice, too, I think everyone noticed that there is a extreme informality to my speech. since we've gotten through this. I'm not acting like Elm leader normally has been acting for however many weeks or months it's been since we've formed the squadron. I am trying my best to keep a

upbeat tone and keep things casual to lighten the mood. Yes. You continue to do that and you all with Milo's exception perhaps uh uh start to make, for lack of a better word, camp. Kiri identifies the under area of the Imperosaurus' massive steel

head, almost like a cave. And you realize that this could make a decent shelter without having to construct a roof over your head. The actual top of the jaws of this battle mech form a kind of

of a ceiling and could protect one from the elements. And she's sitting underneath there, sort of legs crossed, her arms up over her knees. Not looking and watching all of you terribly much now, but now just staring up and at the stars through the opening that you all crash through, up at a cloudless sky, as the color shifts from orange to purple to midnight blue. I think our fourth companion is gonna wait over there for a while. If you wanna show us what you've got, the three of us will take a look.

They really aren't coming. No, they aren't. I thought for sure that we'd be rescued by now. If I rescued, you mean you rescued, and us executed. I suspect you would have been eventually. killed, but not before. We learned more. It might have taken a few days for them to believe you, to believe that you truly are ignorant of everything that's going on, but

maybe not. I don't think you really know a thing. Perhaps none of us do. Here. She slides the data disk to the floor and punches in a few commands and it alights. And after connecting it to a device on her suit, she presses a few more buttons and a hologram is projected in the air, illuminating the space where you're all standing, leaning, sitting, watching. You see the shape of the familiar shape of Castle. Alaskalon before you. And you see the castle like shape, the adornments that resemble the eight-pointed star of the Cavalon Empire. And beside it, the world piercers used at Mourzeeb,

and the shapes identical. As you recall the device, the device. that penetrated the surface of Morsib crashing into it like a lance made of energy. You remember the size of that wound in the world. And you see the scale of Castle Ascalon. It's Titanic. And you see as it unfurls those same eight points that Castle Ascalon would surely have a retractable cannon within, just like those world piercers,

in the shape of a lance, something so massive that it might, on its own, possess the power to pierce into a world's core. This, Keri, motions to the hologram, is the best comparison I can show you. We have intelligence that suggests that this has been engineered specifically to destroy crater.

But can you not see, can you not see that this is a weapon designed for only one purpose? And that those that you would defend would try to snuff us out? I'm going to take a really close look at it. And I'm listening to what she's saying. And as I'm looking at it, I kind of, I look up to Wren, I look at Varus, look back at it, take a step back, I take a deep breath. I look at my other Duke companions and I say, look, I see what you're saying, I understand.

I don't think I would have noticed until I saw those world pierces in the atmosphere of Morsi, but I mean, it's just, it's a shape. It's, there's some likeness. Sure, I'll give you that, but that in and of itself is, no, that's not evidence. This is not a simulation or an accident. What you are seeing here is you watch it unfurl that cannon. That was hard won, intelligence, data, that we were able to procure. Does it, does it feel like genuine?

Does this look like genuine? Intel? Make a... Maybe a computer check if I can verify its authenticity. I'm gonna say an insight check, but you can still use intelligence. Ooh. That's probably better for now. Computers is really high. That's still really good.

22. Nice. There's a... There are certainly facsimiles in the digital realm that are indistinguishable from reality, but, as anyone with a computer's knowledge, a digital display knowledge, and the intuition that one has with technology, especially someone like you, Ren, would be able to look at something like this and be able to see the flaws in the hologram projection being what they are. And as you look at it, more and more, you are beginning to be convinced that this doesn't feel like a presentation or a guess.

This feels like you're looking at the schematic of a ship or your own rook, like a battle plan. It doesn't have any telltale signs of fakery. This feels genuine to you. This is it? Jace. Paris. This is the technology that pierced Morsi

but a thousand times the size. Do you really think? think, though, that the empire would use something like this to just blow up a planet? Think about how devastating that would be. Think about what that would do to all of the surrounding sectors. I don't know why. I believe me. I know that lords can have their own schemes.

There's no part of me that thinks that the empress couldn't have her own agendas. But the empire is always always. wanted to spread what they call nobility through the stars, bring the tenets of chivalry to these lands. I would to destroy it. This is to destroy an entire planet. This doesn't make any sense. This is why I cannot believe what I see. The Empress would never.

Stoop so low there. There is chivalry. Snuffing out the billions of lives in an entire world goes against any form of honor or just warfare. There are plenty of those in power who don't have honor. That I can promise you. Yeah. But this is different.

Here's the problem. It's safe for a minute that we, Don't believe Keri. If she's right, and this thing is some sort of super weapon, we won't know until it's too late. If it is something that the empire is intending to use, and they do, by the time that we have proof that it's an actual weapon, Crater will be gone.

And we're standing on it. I wish. I wish there was some way. If we could just get enough power to even one of the rooks, we might be able to talk to somebody about this. Just any kind of more information might be better for us. Do we just end it all? Find a way to instruct the rooks?

To what end? No. I'm with rent on this one. I don't intend on dying here. especially if, again, just hypothetical's here. If she's right, then we gotta do something. I don't intend on dying here either.

And you speak of things like honor. And the harmony? I'll admit I didn't think Empire scum like you talked like that. There's no way for us to get to civilization on foot. There's no way, even with your skills that we could survive, the journey of hundreds of miles, and all the time that would pass.

But if I can repair your rooks, perhaps we can get your comms online. I mean, what level of repair are you talking here? Because I was just hoping for even some sort of alternate power source. Just something to get one of them up and running and see what we could do for... Why are you smiling like that? I... ...was put here in the Rhapsody for one purpose.

I am a very damn good engineer. I'd have to take a look. But I think I could probably repair at least the comm system. And if we could get it online, if you promised to take me home... Well, maybe we can help some of the... stop... what's happening, just as I've been trying to do. First, I'm still not sure you're telling the truth. Second, you get Bright Roars comm systems back online,

and we all survive this? I think we can make sure you get home. Well, it won't be overnight. And I'll need raw materials, harmonite especially. But when we've got a little more light, I can take a look. How do we know it will do as you say? You're not just buying more time.

To be rescued. How do we know that you won't just fix what you need to to let them know of our location? She tosses you her pistol. There are only three bullets left in there.

If you're going to kill me, then kill me. I want to go home. I want to save my family, my friends, this beautiful planet, this world. I want to put a stop to war. I tried to fight to do that. And I don't like it. Not one bit, but I'm a damn good pilot. I'm a damn good engineer.

And if that'll help us put an end to this thing, then... I'll help you. All right. There's some gumption. What do you think of that, Veres? You can fix iron. Let's not get ahead of ourselves. Let's start with the comms.

And we'll see if there's enough harmonite nearby to maybe put together the pieces that were lost and and I'll need your strength. I can't lift most of this stuff.

I can make a few machines maybe, and they can help along, but it's not going to be easy, but it's better than taking six weeks to get somewhere and dying along the way if maybe we can work together on this. Okay, tell us what you need. What do you ask in return? If... Confirm what I discovered.

What we know is true about Castle Escalon. And if you have your rooks again and you care about honor, you'll put a stop to her. She's right. I mean, regardless of how one might feel about the empire or, you know, even our other squadmates, we took an oath to protect people who are weak. Took an oath about honor, about doing the right thing about being true knights. What she's saying is true, then, we have a duty to stop this. We're talking about who knows how many innocent lives, an entire planet.

And what's to say that they'll stop? After Craita. If it is true. If it's true. If? It is our duty to do whatever it takes. to stop it. Yeah.

And damned if I live in the dead of a Sorok soldier. All right. Ready? Everything I can see says that those schematics are true. That they, that we have built a terrible weapon. Maybe it's not the goal to use it on Crata, I don't know. But what I know right now is if we work together we survive this jungle. We get the rooks back online. We get answers.

We get out of here. We're going to have to warm Milo up to the idea. But I think we'll come around. I hope you don't look at me. Because you ask me to do this, I believe it has to be you, Elm leader. Yeah, I'll talk to him. Maybe we figure out what we need to do. Let's get some rest.

We'll get a camp set up. Maybe a fire going. Is it okay to sit a set up? Start a fire? Yeah. And, uh, I've been told that uh,

wrecks like that is quite the delicacy. There you have it. Well, I don't know. Have a nice meal and maybe he'll come around over some, uh, dinosaur steaks. Not exactly. Leaf steak, but, you know. I'll walk her over to Bright Roar.

She can look at the calm, see what we're dealing with. That's okay? Yeah, just don't go through my stuff. Not stuff, you don't have stuff. I have stuff. You don't have stuff. You have plenty of stuff.

You have no stuff. Stay on my stuff. I'm not going to, you don't have stuff to go through. Does anyone know how to make loaf of meat? Probably gonna miss some of the ingredients. But, uh, I don't know. We'll figure it out together. I'm not gonna lie to you. I'm not really much of a cook.

I can try and carve it up, but beyond that. I can't help you. I'm no cook myself. They don't exactly put spices on supermex. All right. I'm going to talk to Milo. We'll get a fire going, and we'll worry about food and shelter. And let's just get through tonight.

Milo will come around. If I would have had time for this, you would have basically as soon as you said that, you would have heard kind of the crackling of a fire. Oh, perfect. Of where Milo, would have gone and collected whatever kind of dry wood that he could. And if not, you know, gotten it to a point where whatever,

presumer we have like crazy fire starters here, dry out the wood and get a fire going. Or perhaps some of your magic. It would be easy enough to find a way to get the energy going for a fire. And while everyone assumed that you were in. Certainly. I imagine. I imagine so. with a few prayers. While everyone assumed you were in your mech, you assemble that dry brush and

find a open space in the center of this crater. And you were all shocked to see the golden light of the fire illuminate next to Milo as you turn away from the cavernous mouth of the Empirosaur. fireplace in the middle of the darkest jungle. Nice! Hey, Milo, nice work! And I'm going to make my way out of this mouth of this thing. I'm going to have to jump over a little bit and, you know, duck under, whatever, and just kind of leave you to talk to her and, you know, Varys, if you're going to maybe, I don't know, I don't know, do various things. It was unclear what you wanted to do besides trying to make loaf of meat.

I would make my way over to Milo and in due time, have a conversation but feel for to do whatever you a little bit. I'll be kneeling down by the fire and you'll see if you approach. You'll see that they're kind of just on the edge of the fire that I've made.

You'll see three small three small hulls and there'll be a little mound of dirt on each one. And you'll see that there'll be a folded piece of paper in each one. And there will be also a singular cup and cake in each one. And you'll see in my hand, it's my last cup and cake because they come in packs of two. And I am kind of kneeling and I'm looking, I'm just keeping my on the fire as I hold this last cup and cake.

Hey, nice job. Thanks for getting the fire gone. Good work. Thanks. If Ren can carve up the dinosaur, I'll get it cooking. Yeah, I think he offered to do that, surprisingly. He just offered. No nice of him.

Yeah. I can't believe that this is what it took to get him to finally lighten up. Well, we'll see. He's, uh, Still a little abrasive, but you know, I think he's coming around too. Yeah. Is that for Ashwebren? Yeah.

I drew him a little picture. That's nice. For each of them. And I'll say some words if you and Varys and Ren want to be present. Otherwise, I can just do it on my own. Yeah. No, I. I'm sure we would all love to be present.

Um, this is my last cup and cake. Chase. For now. I didn't know how to get him. Raina got them for me. And I'm out of the pink ones that my sister sent. This is it. It's three for them, and I don't deserve this.

Why do you think that? Because I couldn't help them. And I couldn't stop it. Milo, none of us could have. It doesn't matter how strong, how fast, how armored, how deadly any of us were, that none of us could have stopped that. The Empire basically sent us into a meat grinder. Yeah. And it's not Kiri's fault, as much as I want it to be. She's just as scared as we are.

I think you're right about that, yeah. And in the end, it was Raina. end, it was Raina or her, wasn't it? That is unfortunately how war works. Either you get to go home or they get to go home. Sometimes it's neither. Do you think they have sweet cup and cakes from Fluffy Puff brand in the Sarac Dynasty? Ah, uh, maybe.

They might have an equivalent. Sure. Why not? Maybe Kiri would like this. I think that if you were to offer her that, it would be an extreme sign of maturity and a nice peace offering. I know this is hard on you. There's probably not much that I can say right now that's going to make it feel any better. Except for that, I'm here for you. And Ren, Ferris are here for you.

And we're going to be okay. I promise you. We're going to survive. this. We're tough. Okay? I don't know. I guess I'm just, I wish that people were cared more, that Raina and Peyton Olean are gone. But I guess it's your job to not let it bother you. Yeah, I would argue that that is my job. Yeah, but that doesn't mean it doesn't bother me. I know. I know that you guys care too. And And I'll kind of walk over and I'll pull out another like card of paper that I have from my,

my art kit and I'll fold it up and I'll put the, the cup and cake on it. I'll just place it at a certain point in the fire, away from the fire. I, it's true, isn't it? What's true? Ask a on. Well, we had a long conversation and I will basically give him the rundown of everything that we saw and the Hypotheticals they ran through and basically just lay it all out there to try to give him the facts, but also to get you up the speed and say, uh... I knew it was true as soon as she said it.

Well, if you believe that, truly in your heart. I had a dream, Jase. And I knew what happened on Morsey was only the beginning. It was supposed to be the end, but I knew it was the beginning. And I thought that... I thought that what was just beginning was what that monster machine was going to do. I didn't think it was going to be what happened if we didn't stop our home. I don't know what's making these dreams, Milo. It's...

Neither do I. It's a little concerning. But the purple flowers sure are pretty. Anyway, I'm going to... I guess I'll start... I'll start carving up this guy. Are you gonna be all right? Yeah.

I think once I say goodbye to my friends, I'll feel better. Uh, all right. I'm gonna talk to the others. I'm gonna help you get this ready. I'm gonna help get camp together, but before I do, come here. Come on.

It's gonna be alright, bye. It's gonna lean into it. I'm here for you, man. It's gonna be okay. I'm gonna hold you there for like a good 30 seconds. And I would just basically wait until you let go, and then I'll kind of like rock back, and I'll grab my knife,

and I'll just walk back up to the huge tyrannosaurus, and I'll say, well, this'll probably be tasty, at least for tonight. Yeah. And I'm just gonna go getting to carve, because presuming you're busy and what has been happening. Okay, what has been happening? Yeah.

I don't know what's been happening. Maybe it's part of that point. Roll play. I would as I'm sure Kiry overheard us explain motion that she began to move to Bright Roar

and I would walk towards, I would walk with her towards the edge of this impureaur and then pause and director keep going and I'd catch up with her. Indicating she can just go to the... Go to Brayrower.

Yeah. Is she walking to Brite? Are we off the thing? I'm imagining us still kind of like... I'm not sure what Beres was doing, but if it's the two of you escorting Kiri to Breit War so that she can check it out and start to get an understanding of the engineering, then you're there.

And while Milo and Jets are having this conversation, she's examining the interior of a rook. My intention is that we're kind of on the, like near the head of the Imperusore, where she showed us Castle Ascon. Varus is standing there. She and I began to walk away from it, at which point I pause and direct her to go to Bright Roar

and say, I'll be right there. I see. That's my intention, leaving Veris and I. She looks back at you. Her eyes brilliant. in the darkness of this jungle, even with the ambient lights that have been activated into the illumination of the fire. She stares at you and then sort of silently nods and turns with a posture of curiosity, almost in eagerness and saunters with excitement, confidence towards Bright Roar as she gets to

examine this marvel of engineering on her own. Leaving the two of you there out of earshot. I'll watch, I'll watch her walk away until I'm sure she's out of ear shot. And then with my back still towards Varus, I would have broken out of that crystal, you know. Would you have, Fred? No. I don't think so.

I was following orders. But saving you was... my top priority had allowed you to dispatch the beast with a flourish I bet that felt good it's glory

you could have had if you had, Veris if you had taken it before saving me what is glory does it mean anyway we received the highest honors that any common born could have hoped for

A gift you probably haven't thought twice about. Your whole life and you were born with it. And yet here we are stranded, abandoned. If we were following our orders, I'm sure General Sigurd wishes us to self-destruct, kill everything her and then ourselves. And then who knows what? What does it mean?

What good is it? Glory. I'd rather have my honor. It's interesting. I haven't thought twice about it, as you say. Born a lord, it's not what you'd think. They tell you. They want you to believe that that's where the honor is. That's where the glory is. You fight for the great houses. You rise and you fall the whims of lords. While you were born to kneel at a table that was meant to keep you starved. Do you feel justified now? All that spite in cynicism? If this is true, of course.

And will you write all along? I don't think so. This is, this is different, this. I know they said to come here I had to be stripped of my lands and title. The truth of it is that happened well before. The Lord of the Rhymeholds, unkind, and my brothers. Honor isn't born in the great houses, but I couldn't imagine any of them being a part of something like this. When we made our oath, we said in the name of the Empress, would live, fight, and die for the Cavalon Empire. Is it the Empress's will to create a weapon, to destroy an entire world? world to destroy not just one, two, three? How many? If it is her world, will you hold your oath? How loudly war voices call out for the Empress. The world is upside down. Everything I've ever known is inside out. I made a vow to be a knight. I made a vow to be chivalrous. I don't know what to believe anymore. But I will fight to stop this.

And I will fight to make good on my vow to her. If she can get us out of here, if she can fix iron. I am my word. I am my vow. And if not in the name of the Empress, then in the name of the heroes, of old. I don't know what comes next, but I know that even before today, in the iron wall, feet on the ground, you've charged headfirst time and time into battle. Maybe for the empress, but not just for the empress, to protect us as well.

Jace, Milo, myself, oath, or no oath. Had they knighted you to Ascalon or never, you're a truer knight than I've ever seen. Thank you for saving me. This was my duty. Don't mention it. I think Milo might need some help butchering them. Tyrannosaur. There's always work to be done. I'll keep an eye on the mechanic.

You hear Kiri's voice, yell down. You need some new pads, a rotor, your shocks are broke. No, no. She is clearly disappeared into what remains of Bright Roar and is fascinated during the process. You don't need to watch her with much suspicion. You can tell that she is looking at it the same way the technicians that you would have worked with during your training. treated the rooks during for regular maintenance

looking under panels and examining everything it is an alien and strange experience to watch the enemy do exactly what you were asked not to

do to show her the interior of technology that no one else but Dr. Crescent would have ever had their hands on, or those at the highest levels of the Cavalon Empire, including yourself now.

I... At this point, I think I know I probably don't have to watch her. I know that she doesn't have really a chance to run away, right? Like, she's stranded like we are. But, like, I won't really be able to contribute necessarily to the cooking of the meal. and I was a member of the house guard

for House Maycor, and so I'm going to do what I do best. I'm going to guard. I'm going to stand there, and I'm going to, almost as a way to, like, process a lot of change in the last day. And even as a way to, like, convince myself and get evidenced myself that she really is a mechanic and that she really can, does know her stuff,

and that she really can do what she says. My proximity to it is helping him that way. You are watching and waiting, and the smell of Tyrannosaurus hits your nostrils, as you know that Jace, Milo, and Wren work to start to put a meal together. And still, there's the clanking, the twisting, the ratcheting of her tools as she continues to sort of sort through

what technology is before her when suddenly you hear this and the lights of Brightwater's console come to life. Oh, I jump up. My head snaps. I mean, the light would be, oh, no way! And I run over. I'm showing my underpants and my boots.

Yeah. And I'm like, I'm like, I'm brought it across this crater. Yes! I've got it. You did! I got it. I got it working. Yes!

I would climb up into the cockpit if she's still in there, just to see, to make sure, to look at it. She did it. Guys! Kerry, this is unbelievable. I... I... I'm turning into different voices with Carrie.

minute. It is a remarkable machine. This is not overbuilt like the other Cavalon ships or some of the soldier mecks that we've confronted. This is art. Whoever built this knew what they were doing. Were you able to get the communications online? I believe the communications are accessible. They can be powered. They, they, uh, I'm not a computer's. engineer. I can't tell you how you would use such a device in order to try to communicate to your world. It's obviously very far from here. And unless you want to alert the dynasty to your presence, I wouldn't recommend using the local network or any of the orbital satellites. Is there any way that you can use this now that the power is online to try to get back a message?

I can try. I would be like, you know, messing with the satellite. systems, you guys would be there, and I would basically just confirm. She's right, I got nothing. You, you have an idea? Who do you want to call? I can see if I can boost the signal and get some kind of secure line to somebody. Well, I have an idea, but I want to be really clear here, guys. This is it.

Wait, did everybody come? Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, okay, okay. I would have walked. I would have been basically make sure that all of the, they're the giant like Dragon Ball Z hunks of meat. Yeah. Of dynamite on the spit and they're all being roasted. And so I have it all set up in a contraption while it's roasting and then I'll walk over. You put it a secure distance away from the heat in case it's going to be more than a few minutes to not burn anything.

And pretty soon all four of you are staring down watching Jason Wren solve the problem with Bright Roar's communications. If we've been fooled this whole time, who can we even trust? Well, this is my thought. Who? I know who I want to call, but I want to be very clear with all of you. If we do make this call and someone picks up, and we suggest Castle Ascalon is some sort of super weapon, there's no going back.

Our lives change forever. What we're even suggesting doing is treason. That's it. So I want all of us to be really, really sure about this. And I'm not suggesting there's any other choice. But I wouldn't be doing my duty if I didn't make this known. Our lives have already changed forever, Jase. Yeah.

For however long we have them. Who? Who? I want to call Dr. Cresden. If anybody's gonna know, he's gonna know. And I honestly believe that he's the only person who's gonna level with us. If this is true though, is he not the mastermind of the whole program? Dr. Crescent would never agree.

I mean, he's the engineer, it is his technology, but I study with Dr. Crescent. I helped him when his assistants weren't good enough. I... We learn from Dr. Crescent. There's just something about the man. I trust him. I do. There's no way that he would build something

meant to kill millions, billions of people. Why would he build the rooks if he knew the lance was there? The purpose was they serve? As defense, as great weapons for the empire, I do not know, but... I don't have any other options besides perhaps my lady mother or lord father, but Do they know?

No, this is treason. Look, if you guys have any... We can't get them mixed up in this. If you guys have any better suggestions, I'm open to hearing it, but I think Dr. Crescent's our best shot. Is there any way we can get any kind of line that's remotely secure? I don't even align at all. I have to take the columns seem to be back. online if you give me a minute with them I can see if I can boost the signal I mean

yeah if you think you can do that absolutely as long as we're all in because there is no taking this back if we can't trust dr. Cresden then we can't trust anyone and all is lost and ask alone is just as much the dead of the beast is this place. I accept. Okay. I'm going to go check around in the jungle back there

while you guys do this. Don't wander too far. I won't be far. I'll stay in the light of the hearth. Thank you. If Kiri's come out of the cockpit and Keri, Kiri is

watching intently. She wants to see this machine in action. So she's, she is either in the cockpit or standing. I mean, this thing is still, you know, a downed rook, so it's at an angle. She's hovering, watching everyone's every move. There's a tremendous amount of risk for her, too, as you well know. And so she's listening intently as you, you know,

nailing the words Dr. Cresson as you speak a name and just trying to get a sense of how this is being played out. but the surprising trust that she's putting in you is keeping her from interfering as she watches. Please. She's doing us a solid, but this is still top secret treasonous stuff. So I will say, join me over here by the fire, Soul Rock Mechanic.

Kiri. Kiri is your name. name. I am Varus Volo of House Maycor, Vassal, and Knight of the Cavalore Empire. I am an engineer of the Sarac Dynasty, and if you are able to communicate with the Empire, how am I to trust that any message that you send isn't going to bring doom upon my people? I suppose you don't necessarily have a choice at this moment. The work is done, and And my squadron mates have the ability to hopefully have a line home. And given that your work is done for the evening in the name of the Cavalon Empire,

I'll sort of like approach and I'll clench my fists. I place you under the protection of Elm Squadron. That does not come with all of our secrets. Just as we will trust you, you must try. trust us. And if you're hungry, it looks like there is some roast Tyrannosaur by the fire. I will care to enjoy some now. And I'll go over because I haven't eaten yet. And so I'm going to let them handle their thing. I'm going to make sure that Tiri's not going to run away or like eavesdrop maybe or she clearly wanted to see and listen in. but your words strike a chord.

And she relaxes a moment. Fewer friends betray me. I will haunt you in the harmony until the end of time. And she goes and sits by the fire, but she doesn't partake of the meat. Just enjoying the warmth as you dig in. And you find that the meat is... far superior to bleaf steak or loaf.

There is a, despite being unseasoned, a tang and a juiciness is beyond description. So you guys walked away to the fire to get food? We're by the fire and I'll sit down and I'll be eating this meat and I'll say, like, there's no world where I'm going to be cool with her listening in to us calling Right, top engineer castle.

Thousand percent. One thousand percent. Derek gets it. And I'll just be saying. Attempts to haunt me all he will, but in a century's time, both of us will be faithless, faceless either way. So you and I will cease to exist. Well, it'll be a terrible century for you.

She warms her hands and shifts her feet a little bit closer, but she does not partake in any of the food. Are you hurt from when I pulled you earlier? I did my best to catch you, but... An incredible trick. How did... How do you do that? Seems my connection to the harmony might be superior. To you...

Wasn't hard to sense your presence, and with the somber energies of the day and this place, I connected with you, and moved you. I'm simply an arbiter of the vital ensemble. Nothing more. Superior, you say. Well, if you couldn't sense how I did it,

then yes. She scoots the leg out underneath her and stands. And she walks away from away from Bright Roar, towards the tree line, and looks around a little bit, left and right. And you continue to eating, just sort of watching her for a moment, until she finds what she's looking for, a nearby plant. With these small green fruits hanging from its branches. And she reaches out and she coaxes the leaf for a moment. her eyes burning golden

until that small seed turns pink growing growing into a yellow into a brilliant red and she breaks the fruit free from the branch turns around biting into it wiping the juice from her lips

she comes back to the fireplace and sits back down next to you superior That's a neat trick. Seems we're both skills in our own ways. I'll acknowledge that. I didn't want to build a weapon, you understand. You can save your excuses for the others.

Does not matter to me why you did what you did. You were following orders. That's right. You were doing your duty. I understand more than the rest. I am a very good engineer, but I wasn't put here in this world to make mecks and cannons. It was only years ago when I was pulled from my life-building machines that bettered lives that improved their world. when rumors of Kavanaugh Empire operations ramping up,

and my talent for such machines forced us together. If I had to sacrifice my life in order to defend so many, I happily did it, but I'd rather still be back there, not in the sky using the Empirsaur. I'm proud of what I built, but I just wish that none of this had to happen. That was a mighty weapon. But I found that our preferences don't matter. It doesn't matter what you or I would rather be doing.

Here we are. We all have our place in the harmony. We're all one note. And when we return, our preferences continue to not matter. But I am grateful. for your assistance. And until we are all safe, you have our protection. She scoots her feet a little closer to the fire.

When you watch this, she digs her feet into the soil of the forest floor. And she, her eyes sort of illuminate again as she listens to your words, clearly connecting to this world, to the jungle, perhaps, to the nature all around her, feeling deeply and drinking in the chance, the hope that you describe. Ren, Chase, Milo. The three of you sit in the cockpit of the Bright Roar.

Oh, I'm out from the jungle. My apologies. Yes, so I've been separate from the... Oh, but it's just that. Chase, Ren, you sit in the cockpit of the Bright Roar trying to figure out how to get the commuter communications going. I can't believe I'm gonna say this, Ren.

Bright Roar is all yours. I can't believe I'm gonna say this. Why are you naked? I'm wearing underwear and boots. I'm not naked. You wanna call Dr. Crescent and you're entirely naked in Bright Roar. Have you noticed the humidity I could basically swim through here? Look, move over.

Look at my uniform as you push me out of the way. It's disgusting. It's covered in guts. I haven't even. even found the extra uniforms yet. You know, I'm hoping Milo thought to even pack extra clothes. You're disgusting. You smell. Yeah. Yeah, this stink is never coming off me. How's Milo? If I'm being honest, not great. He says he's okay, but it's pretty obvious he's not. He seems to understand though that, you know, this isn't exactly Curie's fault either. So, you know, A little bit of growth there. I think everybody's slowly coming around.

Do you think he needs me to talk to him? Certainly don't think it would hurt. I think Milo could use all of us in this trying time. You know, when the trials were over and they made you the squad leader, I thought they were fools. I was a Lord. I studied with a master of of the blade, I studied military tactics, everything you could think of. I had the mind for it. And who are you? Nobody from a farm. But they made you squad leader. And in this, I think I've started to see why you get Really lucky.

Luck? You think it's just luck? I don't know what it is. Whatever it is, you haven't. I know that as much as I would want to, I couldn't comfort my love

the way you can. I don't think I know how. It's okay, Redd. Look, there's a reason why we're a team. We all have something that the others don't have. And listen, man, it is no secret that you're better than me. You're smarter, you're faster, you're better trained. But there's only one thing that I can think of that I have,

that you don't. No clothes? It's faith in you. You don't have faith in yourself, but I believe in you. And the only reason that I'm still here is because I believe in you. Come on a hug about it? Hug my little earlier. He seemed to like it. You may hug me. Bring it in, buddy. And I'm gonna give him a big bear hug. You bring it in. There it is. We're gonna melt that frosty exterior yet.

Let's make this call. All right. Let it rip. Let it rip. I'll extend out my left hand. And the one that I grabbed the Tyrannosaurus tooth with. Oh. And you'll see it almost separate at the center. You'll see my palm spread out and split apart, almost like opening a panel.

I'm like taking a back by this. You knew I had augmentations, but nothing, nothing like this. This is crazy. There'll be a metal connector that will extend from the center of my palm as I place it towards bright war and I plug in. I'll close my eyes. I'll roll a computer's check. I would like you to roll a computer's check. You know that this is no simple communication.

Kiri was not lying. You will need to extend, boost the signal, and effectively tunnel through the hypergrid in order to, reach the communication device of Dr. Crescent. Focusing on that target, focusing on the distance, focusing on the power, focusing on all of that is going to be a tremendous challenge in even someone of your skills will require a tremendous amount of exertion even if you do make a connection.

Am I so blessed? Not a chance. I love to ask that though. I love the ass that though. Please. Natural. I mean, 28.

All you need is a good hunt. That's like massive. I moved my palm towards the and I plug into bright where and I close my eyes and I start to and then my eyes will shoot open. You'll see my right is glowing neon blue, neon light blue as I put my hand to my temple,

almost pressing against pressure. Holy shit. Wren, are you all right? If I can connect this, you'll have to be quick. Okay, yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm ready, I'm ready. You watch as the displays are moving at a million miles per second. You're watching data flow on some of the terminal interfaces, and you watch as Castle Ascalon immediately appears a targeting reticle,

zooming, zooming, zoos, flying in faster and faster. Wren's cybernetics interface with the cockpit of Wright Roar designated as the lead rook of the Elm Squadron. I'm sorry. Your cybernetics interface with the cockpit of a bright roar. The comm system engages and through your connection to the hypergrid and you channel this power, weaving a direct line to Dr. Crescent's personal computer in his lab. Wren, you use the energy of your cybernetics to power this, and you are certain that you've established a secure line. But I need you to make a constitution saviary. Oh, shit.

Oh, I'm not good at these. Oh, and I can't even help. 11. I'll keep that in mind. Oh, geez. The connection is established. Hang in there, buddy. Come on.

We're through. All right, all right. And you wait. I placed myself in front of the console. Ten seconds pass. It's so tactical. It's connecting. It's connecting.

It's connecting. You're waiting. You're waiting. 30 seconds pass. You feel like you're tensing every muscle in your body as the energy is being pulled, sap from you. It's as though you are becoming the antenna itself. A minute passes. Jase, you continue to watch, readying yourself, hoping.

And it is hard to watch. It's like somebody right at the edge of muscle failure. A minute's 30. You're counting the seconds, hoping, hoping, hoping, hoping. Worried that Wren might collapse. Two minutes pass as he struggles to keep the line open. And then finally, you see a flash on the display screen of the Brooke cockpit. Dr. Crescent blinks at you as the video transmission is accepted.

Oh, Dr. Crescent, it's me! No, this cannot be. My word! Chase, my boy, are you alive? You and here. Yes! Elswashions are alive. Dr. Crescent, it's me! We're presumed dead, you know. We're in the jungles of Crata.

There isn't much time. Wren's managed to open a secure line, but it's severely taxing, and I'm worried about it. I'm so thrilled to hear your voice, and Ren is there, too. Listen, listen to me. Listen to me. Are you alone? I am, I am, but I cannot wait to tell everyone about your survival. Oh, we just said goodbye to four.

No, no, no, no, no. Listen to me. Don't tell anyone that we're alive yet. No one. What on earth do you mean, Jace? This is a cause for celebration. Where are you? Are you in trouble?

Dr. Crescent, please. We're downed behind enemy lines, deep, deep in the jungles of Crayda. The pilot of the Supermec. She lived. She's here with us. We've been talking with her, and she has devastating news. We've been informed with pretty serious evidence.

that Castle Ascalon itself is potentially a world destroying weapon. She believes that they're going to use it to destroy Crata. There's a lot to take in. I'm glad you all live, but to suggest such a thing that... I know. I know. It's bad. The fortress itself is a weapon. You know that I would never... I would never suggest this if I didn't believe it...

It was possibly true. I gotta know. What do you know about this? Tell me. You have to tell me the truth. I assure you that it is not. There is no question in my mind that the construction of the ship would be, well, if you were to. I don't.

There's no. There's no way for me to send you the evidence that we have. Look, war as good as dead, especially if that thing, is real. We're doing what we can to prove it. And yes, I know how severe this is.

I understand what we're doing by even suggesting it. We understand the risks. Chase, my boy, if what you suggest is true, then it can be verified. It can be tested. It can be confirmed.

I can see if it is indeed true this statement that you've learned from this the mech pilot, as you say? Yeah, yeah, she's alive. And look, we're gonna survive this. We're okay right now.

We don't have a ton of time. I don't know how long any of this is gonna work. Just listen to me. Don't tell them that we're alive. But we'll not be able to send any rescue. We'll not be able to find you. Is there any way that you can get back here to safety? Just like I told the Ump Squadron.

One thing at a time. We're gonna solve one problem at a time, and we're gonna figure out how to get off this place. Ash Squadron, they survive as well. No. All right. I will, I will be discreet. I will see if I can,

if you can communicate with me through Brett, or can I communicate with you here again soon? I, I look at Red. How's Redd doing? This is incredibly taxing on him. Yeah, he's no longer actually even in that screaming. Oh, yeah. He slumped over.

I basically, I see, let's plan on another time to talk again. How many days do you think you need? It could be some time, perhaps. Well, it depends on how quickly I can get access to the diagrams, the schematics. Here's what I'll say. I can put out a beacon,

a beacon where you can see that I am ready to communicate again with you. And if you can find this, then, then, I can't say if it'll be a day, a week, longer. That's fine. Listen to me. Dr. Crescent, I need you to swear to me. Promise me on everything that you've ever known in love that you don't know about this. You didn't know anything about this.

I swear on every skill that I have as an engineer and every mind that I have trained here in Castle, Ascalon, that I have no idea. Okay. Then if that's the case, be careful. I will be. Wait for my beacon. Then I'll be ready. All right. Don't worry about us. We're going to be okay.

I look at Renus. His brain is frying. We're going to be all right. Be careful. Take care of yourself. Find a way home. And then I instinctively move my hand to my chin. and then I stop Goodbye Dr. Preston I hang up

I like I'm gonna catch you Like if you look like you're gonna collapse I try to like Ren doesn't yeah he doesn't He barely pulls his hands free And he slams into the console You take one exhaustion

As you are completely Drain of Of energy I take what? You take a point of exhaustion Oh no He's Holy shit.

Are you all right? You did. You got us through. I'll be fine. I'll be fine. I'll be fine. And once I realize that you are actually okay, I stand up in the cockpit of Breitroyd-Rour.

And I shout down to where I can see you guys at the fire. I don't know if I necessarily see you. I know you said, you're like, go back at this point. Yeah. And I'm like doing a dance like in. in the cockpit. You see Keri, uh, stand up. It went well.

Yes. Yes. One problem solved at a time. We're gonna do this. We're gonna do this. I will have Kant gone back, and I saw how kind of had that, like, almost empty look on my face.

And as I look up at Jason, he's, like, shouting and smiling, and you'll see, like, a tiny, like, flicker of, like, a soft smile come to my face. And you'll see that I, I have kind of in my hands these, a clutch of flowers and these beautiful purple orchids that I found in the jungle. And I'm going to step to these three holes that I've dug. And I'm going to place purple flowers in each one.

And I'm going to walk over to Kiri. and I'm going to kneel down in front of her leg and I'm going to say, do you give something to eat? I enjoyed a snack, but it was purely for pleasure. Well, if you think that was pleasure, I'm going to reach down beside her

with a little card and I'm going to pull up the sweet cup and cake. I don't know if they have sweet cup and cakes from Fluffy Pup brand on Kreda, but I think you'll really like this. She like squints at it for a moment and then reaches out and picks it up with both of her hands, holding it very gingerly, looking at it and breathes in the scent of the sweet. Looks like a baked good? Not just a baked good.

Try it. And I'll wait for her to to try to take a bite. It's Milo's favorite confection. Fluffy puff brand sweet cup and cake. It's the last one I have. Frosting is delicious. It's not really like frosting. It's more like a wax.

He gives them to everyone. She takes a bold bite. Her first bite is not a timid little paste. She consumes a good half of it in one bite, and her eyes close.

It's delicious. As she savors that bite, I'm going to use this opportunity to apply pressure to her cracked leg, which presumably will be extremely painful. Oh, that's right. I forgot about that.

And hopefully using that moment as I will hopefully kind of push the stone and the natural matter. Basically to set her leg and in that moment, dump a second level cure wounds. Hell yeah. As I use my Oracle powers. Shit.

In order to do what I can to seal it. I don't know if I've done any healing on any construct species on an animal. or anything or to call, I don't know if I have, but I'm going to do the best that I can in order to heal her leg. I can roll for it, which I believe is, what is it, 44? I think a little... Yeah, early... The second level is 44.

48. It's bonkers now. 48 plus 5. The moment that you put your hands gently on her wounded leg, she gasps. as the wound seal and you are your faith is once again rewarded by the hearth mother

as your magic channels into her leg and you find that the caring spirit that you believe in is agnostic to creatures of all types matters not that this is stone as you watch that crack seal completely, returning her shin to its original form.

Oh, what did you do? It's not me, it's the hearth mother. It's when the night is darkest, when her light, her fire is the brightest, and her warmth is the most comforting. You should finish your sweet cup and cake. It's very delicious. She slows down. And instead of taking as bold a bite, she just nibbles on each corner, looking into the fire and thinking about these strange allies that surround her.

And the Tyrannosaurus should be done. I'll pull it off the spit, and I'll wait for a wren and... Bears are getting parasites. I'll wait for Ren and Jace. Is it not done? We yeah, we would make our way over. I like it a little crispy. For the sake of brevity, you,

and I know that's ironic at 1.30 in the morning, but for the sake of brevity, unless there's anything else. I would like to say some words about my friends before we had once they come back to the fire. Yeah, for sure. We're all around. We're all there. You assemble around the fire knowing that sleep is. Well done. Yeah. Good job.

Yeah, we do like a, you know, like, yeah, we all, we all. And I know that it must be odd for you, Keri, but I want to say some words about the good nights you killed. And I will kneel before each of these three plots. and inside is a sweet cup and cake, a purple flower, and a sealed little envelope, just like I had left for Durgan on his coffin, or beside his coffin. And I will say, Pate, Olean, Raina, they were true knights. They were my friends. And now their lights are among the stars. Harth Mother, shine your face upon them.

Harth Mother, take them into your bosom. Harth Mother, guide them home. May your love keep them warm and protect them from the horrors of the night, until we gather around the hearth together once more. Goodbye. And then I'm gonna slowly kind of pull the earth over each hole. And I'll do it for a pate and then Olean and then I'll hesitate. And then for Raina, I'll cover it.

And I'll scoop up some of the ash from the fire and I'll sprinkle it on top of each one. I'll stand up. Hopefully they can hear it. In a burst, I'll stick my chest out and I'll say, For Ash Squadron. For Ash Squadron. They deserve that much, Chase. For Ash Squadron.

Keri doesn't salute. She hunkers down, and she puts her palms adjacent to the little sights that you've made. And her eyes steadily grow brighter and brighter as she pushes her magic into the soil. and you watch as the forest, the jungle floor comes alive. And greens shoots emerge steadily growing, quickly trembling, and spreading across the jungle floor. Sealing and honoring this small ceremony.

They were fierce. and skilled and brave. I'm sorry, Milo. It's not your fault. I really do mean that. I'm sorry for having the space in my heart to hate you. She looks at you, putting her nose up just a little bit,

considering, and then ditto. There's little gna. Would you like to split the Tyrannosaur liver with me, Jace? Yeah. Absolutely. And I, if, I would have used my knife to like, this thing's probably like this fucking big at least. Right.

And I'd cut it in half. A lot of meat. It doesn't taste good, but the nutrients in it, oh boy. And I'll, uh, there's a reason for the beefy boys. I'll live in half of it. Cheers. Cheers.

Cheers. Did you forge for any berries or anything besides dinosaur? You should probably get a little bit more protein, Ren. I can help you there. Curie would be able to guide you. And she pulls one of these same... It looks like a... a pomegranate and an apple had a baby.

And she's able to pluck a few of these large fruits. They're delicious. Thank you. For now, I'm glad we didn't kill you. It's pretty good. I'll have meat for now. The sound of the life of daytime in the crater jungle doesn't quiet at night. It is still humid.

It is still hot. And even when the fire is burned out, there's the constant, uh, let's get away from sadness. The constant buzzing of insects and cries from birds and the occasional shriek or a scream from some beast, maybe a predator, maybe a prey. but you are all eventually able to find your way to sleep. Thinking about the work that must be done, the tremendous amount of work that must be done while you wait for Dr. Cresson's beacon. And you all enjoy a long rest.

Waking the next morning. Thank the gods. You awake the next morning, and Kiri has slept on a plan on how to repair your rooks. The power sources are shot, and she needs Harmonite to work into their... construction. She tells you how to seek out the Harmonite stores that Crata is rich with as she breaks down the rest of the Empirosaur head into additional equipment to assist in her reconstruction.

You follow Kiri's guidance through the jungle, seeing incredible sights you only could have dreamed of. The false jungle at the bottom of Castle Ascalon did no justice to the grandeur of the jungles of Crata. You hear running water and find water, following a river to a roaring falls and then you see it an entire cliff face glittering with brilliant shades of lavender tangerine lilac and other shimmering colors as the falls are surrounded by enormous nodes of harmonite roughly two weeks pass you spend your days helping kiri however she needs defending against the scavengers and other creatures of the jungle mining and hauling harmonite and helping each other survive, and Kiri does what she does best.

All four rooks are nearly repaired and enhanced with the power of Harmonite. You're nearly ready to leave this jungle behind, and then Bright Roar receives a beacon, just as Dr. Crescent promised. Okay. First off, that was awesome. Second of all, I definitely feel like we basically just like, Dr. Stone to this shit, right? Like, we were sent back to the Stone Age essentially. Can I like, did we like build like vine pullies and use like logs, this big,

I'd like to rewind just for a second. Like shift and move stuff like the ancient pyramids and shit. There's the survival element of living in the, of being in the jungle like this. There is the day to day, getting to know Kiri and getting to know each other. And using tools, using her, uh, uh, uh, unbelievable talents, but she needs you to move pieces. You have to go out and find Valer Wing's wings. More building like simple levers and machines. And Zyrus is hauling, NJs are hauling like chunks of Harmonite back to the camp.

And not just digging out and freeing the Harmonite from this cliff and then finding a way to transport it and pulling it through the incredibly difficult terrain that is this jungle floor, but also finding what pieces of the wreckage you can to reassess. so that not everything need be remade and rebuilt. You find that Kiri has unbelievable talents, magical talents, that allow her to put back together this machine. And she seems dedicated to restoring your rooks. So I would ask, during these two weeks, how are you contributing?

It's not just the pulling of lines and doing all these things. Give me a brief window into What you're doing during these many days while waiting for this beacon and preparing the rooks for another flight, how you spend that time? I would spend the time doing what I can to improve our shelter, to be cooking, to be helping us stay tidy, of doing whatever it takes to make the place that we have feel like a home. just as what um just as what vestaia the hearth mother would want and i think probably at some point towards this you know before we leave i would have had gone to my personal effects my art supplies and i've done a little drawing and i put it in an envelope the last one that i had and i would

have given it to kiri and it would have had the same kind of illustration with the holding hands and maybe some dinosaurs over it and the junker's and that would have been the final act of me letting go. She accepts your gift with grace, gratitude, and thanks you. In the end, you find that you're able to connect on many levels. her interests are very different than yours, but she has a belief in technology, the way you have faith in the hearth mother.

And there's a parallel there that is shared respect by the end of this two-week journey. I think I would, obviously, all the physical labor, helping defend against any dinosaurs, you know, approaching the river and being eaten by a dynosucous and dying horribly now. You know, but I think that when we're not doing like the labor during the day,

I would be taking the opportunity to kind of connect with and get in tune with a harmony in a way that I'm not used to. My relationship with a harmony is from a very cavalonian perspective of the church and the 12 and the goddess Seth, the faceless, which is this goddess of death and life, right, and the balance of the two. and her mass, but like in learning about the way that the Sorok dynasty worships the harmony in a, Seth might be present in a way,

but it's not really about Seth, it's not about a God, it's about the harmony itself is what they, what they worship and kind of, you know, pledge fealty to. And so I would sort of learn about that

and even like maybe meditate, you know, really I'm just kind of like learning to paint with all the colors of the harmonious. You know what I mean? And just sort of see a different way. That's fucking awesome. Thinking about things.

Oh, God. I would say that even though that you are racing to try to ready yourself as much as possible, that one particular evening you are able to haul one of these massive harmonite crystals, these stones that are the size of boulders, into the crater to be used. But it's too late to break apart.

It's too late to break down and pulled into the construction or repair of a part of an iron wall. And Keri shows you how to look into the stone. And you have a moment of prayer where you're able to confront some of the memories of the people you've lost or the horrors that you've seen. And you both share a sacred moment of... looking into the harmony in a way that, through a lens that you would never have been afforded before. Wow. Awesome. I love that. I echo what Vera said about, you know, we spent dozens, if not hundreds of hours lifting together just for this moment. 100%. So we are definitely the workhorses of this. But outside of that, what I would be trying to do is basically just continuing my role as Elm leader, I'm trying to be the glue guy, right?

I'm trying to keep spirits up. Brown? Team leader. When we are absolute back against the wall, when things get really hard, I am having unbounding optimism in the face of adversity so that my friends don't despair. But at night, when I have time,

and I am alone, and I think that maybe the other members are asleep, I look inward, and I think about, what it truly means to be a true knight and and how everything that we seem to learn is a lie and i and i have to reconcile with that right i have to figure that out for myself and so i spent a lot of meditative self-reflective introspective nights trying to figure out how to reconcile these two things and what it means to be a true knight against all of this what feels like treachery

and betrayal and dishonesty, everything against being a true knight. I think that's hard for Jason. You find solace in successfully inspiring your friends, but even your ability to your your talents to inspire and lead and and hype your friends extends into Kiri. And when you find that energy is pouring into your allies that you've known for so long, you find that she's putting in her whole self. And so during those times of reflection, falling back and seeing the progress that is made every day, tremendous progress.

Bright Roar is repaired. You're able to turn it on and see it stand again. Ironwall is able to return, and it looks of the jungle. So does Bitterfang and Valor Wing, as each of these rooks are put back into fighting shape. And they look very much like the same symbols of chivalry and knighthood and the future that you've dreamt of, certainly. But where there were wounds, there are now beautiful colored repairs that Kiri has made, that shine with prismatic color. And it feels emblematic of your journey as you try to repair

and come to terms and come to grips with this strange pivot in your life. Ren. I think for a long time, the only thing Ren has cared about is not just survival, but growing stronger, being able to see. sustain on my own. And that's certainly shifting and changing now. I'm not on my own. I'm surrounded by my squad.

I have this extra person in Kiri here. And I think, obviously, I'm not moving harmony. I would be, I think, I think I would be with her as much as possible as like this untapped resource of ability to help with the mecks and try and get an idea of what she's doing to work on them. And I have some tech ability, but mostly that's only ever been used on myself. And what she's doing is a whole different kind of beast.

And so understanding the things that she's doing to kind of work and bring them online and not necessarily even from a Harmonite perspective, but just to get a deeper understandings of the workings of the rooks themselves. And then also similarly, I think a secondary part of that would be to stay very close to her as the main vulnerable person outside threat. So I'd be working to protect her as much as possible forever, but set upon. There is a moment in the early days of these 14 that you demonstrate one of your cybernetic abilities. and curious fascinated she's never seen a hybrid of machine and man like yourself and she asks you to show her what technology is built into your very self as an engineer she's

she's very excited by this prospect and seeing your talents there's also the need for food and and survival and when she she appreciates your protection and she appreciates your input into the systems of the rooks and she needs that in order to get them up and running There are a number of mornings and evenings where the best value you can bring to the group is ren go hunt and it's like practice for you every once in a while you go into the trees and lone wolf it and you come back with a bore or a rap having felled one of these beasts on your own, needing to bring meat after the Rex runs out.

I pull one of the Tyrannosaurus Rex teeth out, and I use it as a secondary dagger. Hell, yeah, yeah, yeah. And I halt with it so as not to chip my own blood. I hunt with the bones of the Tyrannosaurus. These are the kinds of activities you all share and the experiences that you live together before the beacon is lit.

and then you find yourself once again, all five of you, in the cockpit of Bright Roar, sitting around the terminal, readying to connect with it, to boost the signal, to try and connect with Dr. Crescent. Do I get the sense that it would be equally as taxing this time, or with them, like, closer to fully functional? Do I think that I have more ability to, like, conduit power through Bradroar? You will still need to make the connection, but you do not need to be the source of power. And so you do not think that it'll be as exhausting.

You're still the SIM card. Yeah, you're still the SIM card. We're with you, Wren. You connect to it, and it doesn't draw immediately from you. We're online. My guidance. Jase presses the button. I hold my breath for a moment.

I almost wince ready for it to... The line between Rook Breitroar and Crescent, Crescent's personal computer secures once more. And rather than waiting minutes, it instantly displays Crescent's face, looking panicked and sleep deprived. His glasses are crooked on his face as he stammers as he speaks to you with an urgent tone. Jase! Jase, my boy!

Let me speak. I don't have much time. You were right. You were right. It's so much worse. I have discovered the truth. Operation Waltz was a cover A cover for a different top secret operation

It's called Project Eternity What? Castle Ascalon is a cannon A world piercer at a cataclysmic scale No Oh my God's With the stolen brinsium the weapon can now survive Being fired

Crater is in great danger But its first target is Uthin What? I swear on all the gods of Agathos that I had no idea my research was being used for this it's General Sigurd only he and his most

loyal High Command are aware from what I can tell nearly all the personnel not loyal to him have been dismissed It is a coup He is seeking to depose the Empress and bring all of the great houses to heal He is

Then A golden energy blade ignites and rests against Dr. Crescent's throat. The darkness of the room illuminates, and you see General Sigurd behind the scientist. His face is as stone as it normally is, but there is a hint of disappointment in his eyes. Treachery, doctor.

You forget your pledge to this fortress, this operation, and to me. You are a man of this empire's people. So now that you know the truth, you will ensure that the eternity lance is fully operational and personally prepare for its first firing. The Empress, Herkert, and all of Uthin have turned their back on those who suffer the most when the nobles play at war. Now I will put an end to it. I will put an end to our enemies, from both without end within. I will usher in a new age of the Cavalon Empire, not bring.

and corrupted by the evil and arrogance of the highborn who have never known a day of hardship an age that will last in eternity What the first emperor started when he beheaded the Tyrannarch king Eons ago I will finish and that is where we'll end tonight's session Oh, Jesus like a like slamming on the on the