This transcript is colour coded for ease of use. Please download the PDF.
Tobe as played by Liz
Myx as played by Nina
Mhurren as played by Vinny
Narrator/Scraw/GM/Everything else as played by Ray
[Audio Description]
{Tone Guide/Sarcasm etc}
Ray:Host: Hello, travelers and welcome to Tails from the Dark Dragon’s Inn: Sidequests Technoir edition. Before we get started, I’d like to thank every single one of our listeners. This weekend, we reached over 2,000 downloads, which for us is monumental in the short space of time our show has been running. So, thank you one and all for lending us your ears.
When we first started out, I had every intention of transcribing this show from start to finish to make us more accessible for the hard of hearing and Deaf communities out there. Sadly, due to time constraints, this wasn’t possible. Now that the first season is complete, however, we’ve hired someone to transcribe the entire thing. Moving forward, this is something we want to have available for every single episode and our intention is to release this no later than a week post audio release. To ensure this is something we can do for the foreseeable future, we’re launching a Patreon. You can check it out right now at https://patreon.com/darkdragonsinn.
Season 2 starts in just a few short weeks on June 10th. But, worry not, we’ll be delivering new content through Side Quests each week until then. This week, it’s most of our usual crew. We have Vinny as Mhurren, Nina as Myx, and Liz as Tobe. However, I’ll think you’ll find that things are just a little bit different.
Narrator: As you walk into the inn this evening, the tone is unusual. The sconces are dimmed and the audience is hushed. You are not greeted by the usher. And standing on the stage is not the Doomsinger, but a halfling woman, smiling warmly.
Tahina:“Hello and welcome to the Dark Dragon’s Inn. Tonight, I bring you a tale that beggars belief, a fanciful yarn that takes place in the world quite outside our own, in a realm beyond the stars.”
[Synth music]
Narrator: The Chosen, a race of clones who believe they exist for the grace of God, populate the surface of Mars. But this is not their story. Today we learn of another group that live on that sandblasted rock in space, in secret, and unknown to The Chosen, below the surface, deep in the bowels of the planet, because this story is all about the Sixers.
Back in the time before Mars was habitable, the first colonies were formed primarily of the working class, riggers mostly, pilots of huge ass rigs used for mining the essential materials for terraforming straight out of the core. The Sixers were one such colony, working in slavery, until, tired of being pushed around, the Sixers rose up against their tyrannical Chosen masters and tore them down using the very machines they were beholden to.
Centuries have passed since the colony went dark. Now, forgotten to time, the Sixers live in the shadows. Things are usually pretty quiet in the old, abandoned lava tubes of Gru Country, but tonight, well, tonight’s the start of Whistle Week, a week-long celebration commemorating The Uprising. And what better excuse for fights, food and good, hard ale?
GM: Let’s start with Myx. What does Myx look like?
Myx: Myx’s hair is shoulder length and she has a side shave.
GM: How tall is she?
Myx: She’s 5’10”.
GM: Does she have any cybernetic enhancement?
Myx: Yeah, her eyeball. It’s her left eye. So, she dresses a lot like, you know, in Resident Evil 3, that post-apocalyptic desert look.
GM: Mmm-hmm {affirmative}.
Myx: That’s the look we’re going for. I’d say skin color and hair color are roughly the same, only I’d say in this world, her hair is much more vividly purple.
GM: Light skinned Latina.
Myx: Yeah.
GM: With vivid purple hair.
Myx: Yeah, pretty much. And I’d say that where her little nubbins would normally be, she just has little scars there.
GM: Okay, so Tobe. What does Tobe look like as a human?
Tobe: Tobe is 6 foot tall. He still has short, purple hair. No one’s ever going to escape the fact that he has purple hair in any universe. He’s pale. He dresses quite simply.
GM: You say he dresses simply, but what’s one of his primary objects that he owns?
Tobe: Flight suit.
GM: Yeah. {laughs} So, he’s permanently wandering around in a EVA-esque flight suit.
Myx: Aw, yeah.
Tobe: It’s purple.
GM: Of course it is. Mhurren.
Mhurren: Okay, Mhurren is just under 6 foot. He is of like a dark skin, Asian, kind of vague.
GM: Okay, so he’s ambiguously Asian. He just has a darker skin tone.
Mhurren: Yeah. Mm-hmm {affirmative}.
GM: Okay, cool.
Mhurren: I would say they’re maybe like a mix, yeah.
GM: A mix of various Asian.
Mhurren: Mm-hmm {affirmative}.
GM: So, Filipino meets Japanese.
Mhurren: Yeah.
GM: Yeah, okay, that’s cool. I like that.
Mhurren: Okay. Hair, i want to give him a bit of lengthy dreads.
GM: Okay. I like that.
Mhurren: That goes down to just below the shoulder.
GM: If I’m not mistaken, in this world, he has a few cybernetic enhancements as well, which he does not cover in synth skin.
Mhurren: Uh, no {laughs}.
GM: So, what does he have.
Mhurren: Um, so, he has two cyber arms.
GM: Okay.
Mhurren: Mm-hmm {affirmative}. They are not synth skinned, so he’s going to be wearing trench coat. I’m envisioning Hellboy.
GM: Okay, he’s trying to hide it, but not artificially. He’s low key about it.
Mhurren: He’s trying to be kind of discreet, yeah.
GM: So, he wears a flight suit as well. He wears the flight suit underneath his trenchcoat I guess.
{laughs}
Myx: Inspector Gadget.
Mhurren: That’s probably a bit much.
GM: Well, you are in a flight suit. So, you got to use it. {laughs}
Mhurren: Yep. Let’s go for it.
GM: You all work for an agency. Now, the way that the society works in this particular part of the world, on Mars is, well, the society of the Sixers is operated by an automated system called Tally. And, it’s a bit like a social network, but you put into it the figures about what you’re doing in terms of workload, how you’re contributing to society, and it rates you as a person.
Tobe: Wow.
GM: It keeps everybody honest. Everybody is contributing at a similar level. Slackers don’t last long here. So, you guys work for an agency. I think maybe you guys are mediators. You often are called in to be the impartial adjudicators, I guess, in situations where there’s a disagreement and neither side can come to an agreement about what should be done about it.
That’s what you do. And you work for an agency that you own, basically. It’s called Scales of Justice. And that’s why you are private adjudicators is you bring justice where justice cannot be decided upon.
Myx, you are in what passes for your office in a Gru country. And none of you are really working today. You’ve been blowing off some steam or getting ready to blow off some steam because it’s the beginning of Whistle Week and it is going to be crazy. There’s going to be fighting. It’s organized fighting, not like street fights. There’s going to be big rig matches. And there’s going to be food, there’s going to be booze. There’s just going to be partying for a week. It’s going to be crazy.
You were in your office, just getting ready to go when you received an incoming call on your comms.
Myx: Okay. Do I have anything like caller ID on my comm?
GM: Yeah, absolutely. And you see that the call is coming from your good friend Reapo.
Myx: Oh, okay. In that case, I’m gonna answer the call. “Yo.”
Reapo: “Hey, darlin’.” Your holoscreen pops up and you are looking into the face of a warmly smiling black woman with her hair tied up into the most extravagant updo. And, she’s smiling at you.
Myx: I’m smiling back.
GM: And you know Reapo well enough to know that as warm as this smile is, what this smile really says is Reapo wants something.
{laughs}
Myx: Yeah, I would expect that at this point in our relationship, I’d know that.
Reapo: “Hey, darlin’, how are you on this wonderful Whistle Week?”
Myx: “I am doing fantastic. I-I can’t wait. How are you doing?”
Reapo: “That’s, it-it’s, I-I’m glad you asked. Um, not great right now, actually.”
Myx: “Oh, what’s wrong?”
Reapo: “I-I could use some help.”
Myx: “Okay, what can I do?”
Reapo: “Um {clicks tongue}, I have a job that I might like you to do if you’re free? Now, I know you’ve probably got all sorts of plans, but it-it’s real important.”
Myx: “I mean, I always have time for you.”
Reapo: “Well, of … {laughs} I’m glad to hear you say that. You owe me a thing or two and I think with this particular job, I’m gonna need to call it in.”
Myx: “Well, you have helped me out of a few tight spots.”
Reapo: “And let’s not forget that eyeball. {laughs} That didn’t come cheap.”
Myx: “Well, I {sighs} … I’m never going to live that down, am I? But, yeah, sure, I’ll, yeah, let’s do it, okay.”
Reapo: “Okay!” [claps] “Well, I hired someone to collect a package for me, and they have not shown up. It’s a very important package. It is an extremely expensive package. And, {clicks tongue}, I need you to go look for it.”
Myx: “Okay, well, can I ask about the contents of the package? Um, m-more specifically, size wise. Is this a big, small?”
Reapo: “You know, no, no you can’t. I need you more importantly to find the person that I sent to collect it. Are you familiar with the Chimes?”
GM: {laughs} Of course you are. They are a notorious set of problem causers. The Chimes are the extended family of cannibalistic gamblers, thieves, scammers and smugglers.
Myx: Okay, “Yes, yeah. T-they’re not real right? Like, they’re, they’re just, you know?”
Reapo: “I mean, they’re real. Of course they’re really, honey. Everything down here is real. I mean, we’re kind of a closed circuit. News doesn’t exactly get in and out too easy. And that’s, that’s really the crux of the problem here. I ordered something, you could say, from off-world and they were supposed to make sure it arrived safe and sound and, uh, well, I don’t have my package.”
Myx: “Okay, where was the package last seen?”
Reapo: “I don’t know, because I didn’t see it. I sent them to go get it.”
Myx: “Or rather where did you send them to go pick it up?”
Reapo: “Well, you’re familiar with Gru country. Your office is based there, right?”
Myx: “Yeah.”
Reapo: “The meeting spot, the drop off, was in the complex outside of the, the city.”
Myx: “Okay, gotcha. And, I-I hate to ask this, but is there any reason why someone would want to intercept the package?”
Reapo: “Yeah, I mean, it’s valuable as hell. {laughs}”
Myx: “Okay, th-yeah, just, just checking.”
Reapo: “I ordered … Okay, this is just between you and me.”
Myx: “Yeah, of course.”
Reapo: “I have gotten my hands on a specialty piece of equipment from Earth.”
Myx: “Oh, my god.”
Reapo: “It is a one of a kind set of reflex stimulators and it is called the Cadmon Circuit and unlike the regular, old reflex stimulators that just make you a little faster, there’s this real, old, like, historically old history about … So, if we go into the, the lore of the old world, there are, there are tales of a, a guy called Superman and …”
Myx: “{awed whisper} I’ve heard of Superman.”
Reapo: “Really? You must … That … You must be an incredible historian, because they say he was capable of a lot. And, the Cadmon Circuit, it’s meant, if you can install it right, it’s meant to turn you into someone capable of feats you could not imagine.”
Myx: “No way. Whoa.”
Reapo: “And I, I managed to get my hands on it, but, well, I haven’t got my hands on it. That’s, that’s my problem. Now, the Chimes were being paid very, very well to get this to me and they seem to be missing. So, it would be real appreciated if you could track them down. I know you’ve got contacts and people you can rely on. Just … Lean on some people and find out where they are.”
Myx: “Okay.”
Reapo: “And if you, if you can, you go on and get that back for me.”
Myx: “Yeah, of course. One last question. Do you know the name of the person that was meant to bring it to you?”
Reapo: “Honey, I don’t deal with names of trash.”
{laughs}
Myx: “I should’ve known better. Sure, okay.”
Reapo: “You’re special, but mostly, I, I’m not real concerned about who. I’m mostly concerned about when and where.”
Myx: “Okay, gotcha.”
Reapo: “Look. I like you. And I don’t think you should do this on your own, so you should probably get those, uh, those colleagues of yours to go with you.”
Myx: “Yeah, I mean I’ll definitely ask them. I don’t doubt I can convince them to help.”
Reapo: “Well, I’m sure that all it’ll take is a smile.”
Myx: “Aw, you’re a sweetheart. Yeah, leave it to me. I’ll let you know as soon as I know anything more and do my best not to keep you waiting too long.”
Reapo: “Thanks, darlin’. As soon as you know anything, you just let me know. If I can help in any way, well, then you just give me a call.”
Myx: “I will.”
GM: And she hangs up and the screen disappears. For the sake of expediency, I’m going to say Tobe and Mhurren are also in the office preparing, they’re just in different rooms.
Myx: So, in that case, I’m going to excitedly run over to them and relay what was told to me. “So, guys, do, do you want in? Do, do you want to find this thing?”
Tobe: “Uh, I mean, it’ll help you out.”
GM: Did you tell them what was in it?
Myx: No, I was trying to make that clear.
GM: I was going to say, because she did explicitly say that was between the two of you.
Myx: Yeah, no. I have not told them what it contains, no.
Mhurren: “Well, if you think it’s important, we should do it.”
Tobe: “I just have one question. We’re not looking for anything dangerous are we?”
Mhurren: “Yeah, I mean, well this thing isn’t going to blow in our faces is it?”
Myx: “{scoffs} You think she tells me anything? I don’t think she’d send us to, for something that would kils us?”
Mhurren: “But you trust her, right?”
Myx: “Oh, yeah, absolutely. I mean, I-I know not everyone does and u-understandably, but I do and I can’t see any harm coming to us.”
Mhurren: “Well, that’s good enough for me.”
Myx: “Yes! Tobe, you in?”
Tobe: “Of course.”
Myx: “Yeah!”
GM: What’s your first course of action?
Myx: Would I know where the Chimes normally hang out or where I could find them?
GM: No, probably not. You’re gonna have to reach out to your contacts if you want to try and get that sort of information.
Myx: “What do you guys think? Where should we start? Should we go straight to the complex?”
Tobe: “Well, we could either go to the complex it was supposed to be collected from or we can ask around about the Chimes and see if we can reluctantly get in contact {laughs} with them to find out what happened?”
Mhurren: “Yeah, I mean, if we did want to ask around, we could probably call in at the bar. I know Softy, who runs it.”
Myx: “Yeah, why, why don’t we go to the bar and see what we can find out before heading over to the complex.”
GM: It’s called The Endathaline Pub. Who el- …
Mhurren: “I think the Softy may know one or two things that could point us in the right direction.”
Myx: “It’s worth asking, right? Because I don’t know about you guys, but I don’t know where to start, so that sounds like a good place to do that.”
GM: You guys head over to The Endathaline Pub. You make your way through the old evacuated, abandoned lava tubes that make up a good portion of Gru country, which is the name of the colony that you live in. And you find yourself at one of the cornerstones of society, The Endathaline Pub. It is hollowed out from within one of the sides of these tunnels. And it is actually a huge cavern. It’s lit dimly inside with various sconces and despite the futuristic vibe of everything, you get the impression that the flame lights in here might not actually be genuinely burning, but Softy has set them up for a tonal thing.
This is just the vibe he wanted to go for and he has a real thing for old-school taverns, in the history books what he has read. And so you guys make your way inside The Endathaline Pub.
You look around, there’s quite a few people here. Given the time of day, you wouldn’t necessarily expect it, but because it’s the beginning of Whistle Week, the place is hoppin’. However, despite the fact that the bar staff are running ragged, behind the bar you see, standing back and leaning against the wall, a large, Latin American looking guy. He’s got thin, brown hair on top of his chubby face and he has a 72-hour shadow.
Myx: Scruffy.
GM: Yeah. He’s pretty scruffy, but he’s wearing an old duster-style shirt. So, it’s just really simple clothes. It’s the kind of thing you would expect to see on perhaps a Seventies workman in some way, shape, or form. And he’s just leaning back and his bar staff are running around. He actually sees you when you come in and I think, you know Softy as well, Myx?
Myx: Yes, I do.
GM: As he sees the two of you come in, he gives you a little mini salute with two fingers and …
Myx: “Softy! Great to see you.”
Sam: One of the barmen walks past you, “Sorry, could you get out of the way? I’m kind of trying to serve drinks here.”
Myx: “{indignant} Well, excuse me!”
Sam: “Hey, look. We’re busy. It’s Whistle Week. C’mon. {snaps fingers} You ordering?”
Softy: And {laughs} Softy just grins. He says, “Oh, Sam, don’t worry about it. I-I’ll step out.” And he walks down to the end of the bar, flips up the table and slams it down. He walks over and, “Myx it’s good to see ya.” And he puts his arms out for a hug.
Myx: “Ah, it’s good to see you, too.” And Myx hugs him.
GM:Softy: Pats you on the back. “Can I get yer a drink?”
Myx: “Yeah!”
Softy: “Mhurren! You having something? It’s Whistle Week.”
Mhurren: “Not something too strong.”
GM:Softy: He looks at you cockeyed. “Uh-huh {skeptical}.”
Mhurren: “Got a bit of work after this.”
Softy: “Since when has that ever stopped you?”
Myx: “I’d like some whiskey please.”
Softy: And he reaches out behind the bar, just reaches over, pulls out a bottle of vibrant green and he pops the cap and he pulls out three glasses and then he looks up, “Am I gettin’ one for your friend?”
Tobe: “Uh, yeah, please.”
Softy:GM: “Sure,” and he pulls out a fourth, fills them all up, put a shot in each, and hands them to you. And this is incredibly strong whiskey. It smells like olives and cloves and burnt wood.
Myx: {excited shudder} Do my eyes water when I sniff it? Because I feel like my eyes would water.
GM: Immediately.
{laughs}
Softy: Absolutely. “I’ve been holding on to this all year. Whistle Week is my absolute favorite time.” And he raises his glass and goes, “Fuck the Founders!”
Myx: “Yeah! Fuck the Founders.”
Tobe: “Fuck the Founders.”
Myx: [clinks]
Mhurren: “Fuck ’em.”
GM: And he downs it.
Tobe: I do the same, just knock it back.
Mhurren: Same.
Myx: Yeah.
Mhurren: I slam it on the table.
GM:Softy: He smiles. “There we go. Now, don’t tell me you’ve just come here to celebrate. Because if you have!” And he just pulls up the bottle again, he’s, “Eh? Eh?! Eh? {encouraging question sounds}”
Myx: “{sighs} If only. Mhurren, do you want to explain why we are not only seeing our good old friend, but what we’re doing?”
Mhurren: “Yeah, so, Softy. I was wondering if you had, um, heard anything about the Chimes?”
Softy: His face furrows and he frowns. “Chimes? Wh- You’re not getting mixed up with them are you?”
Myx: “Oh, no, no, of course not.”
Mhurren: “I want to say it’s business. Is that right, Myx?”
Myx: “Yeah, b-business is definitely the word for it.”
Softy: “Well, I can’t say I know much about ’em myself.”
Tobe: “Would you know where to find any of them?”
Mhurren: “Yeah, any particular places?”
Softy: “{laughs} As far away from here as possible is good enough for me.”
Myx: “You haven’t seen some of them, I don’t know, walk into your bar today or in the last couple days? Anyone looking suspicious?”
GM: What’s your relationship with Softy?
Myx: Dependent.
Mhurren: Respectful.
Softy: “Nope, not … I don’t. I don’t know anything about the Chimes, I’m afraid. Um, you’d probably have to ask around.”
Myx: “Do you know anyone who might know? Or even just somewhere like …”
Softy: “Look. There … I just … I don’t think that asking about the Chimes is a good idea, you know? I just think maybe if, if that’s your business, maybe you should think of taking up a different job? Might be, might be better. You know?”
Myx: “You’re not wrong.”
{laughs}
Myx: “But you know us, we like a challenge.”
Softy: He smiles and grins. He’s like, “Okay.” So, you’re not dissuaded.
Myx: “Why do you seem so insistent on getting us to change our minds?”
Softy: “I-I’m, I {stutters}, I just c- … I care about you. That, that’s all it is and …”
Myx: “Softy, look me in the eye.”
Softy: So, you have imposed the adjective compliant. “{exasperated sigh} Okay, Myx. What is it you want to know? Why do you, why do you care about where the Chimes are?”
Myx: “Well, you see, Momma Reapo asked me for a favor because everyone knows I give the best favors, and she’s, uh, looking for someone who happens to, you know, hang, hang with the Chimes.”
Softy: “All right, look. I-I don’t know anything about the Chimes, but there is, uh, there’s been a lot of talk lately in the circles, and, uh, well, you know me, I-I hear things. And the other day, that kid, there was a stupid kid. Uh, his name’s UpgrayD or some shit. And, uh, he was in here. He was bawling his eyes out. Y-you know me I’ma, I’ma {laughs} sucker for a sob story. I wandered over there and was just, we were chatting. I gave him a drink on the house because he seemed upset. He, he mentioned the Chimes actually.”
Myx: “Okay.”
Softy: “But I, after he mentioned the Chimes, {laughs} I didn’t really want to have anything to do with him, so I sort of just moved on.”
Myx: “That’s fair. Where could we find, you said UpgrayD is his name?”
Softy: “I don’t really know him, to be honest. The only reason I know him at all is because he’s famous, basically. I don’t know anything about him or where he lives or nothing.”
Mhurren: “Yeah, I know the kid.”
Tobe: “Yeah, same.”
Softy:GM: “Oh, well. This, g-good-good stuff. Is there anything else I can do for you, Myx?” And he holds up the bottle, shakey-shake-a.
Myx: “I won’t say no to one more for the road.”
Softy: “All right.”
Mhurren: “For the road!”
GM:Softy: He pours out one more for everyone. “FUCK THE FOUNDERS!”
Myx:Tobe: “FUCK THE FOUNDERS!”
Mhurren: “Ffffuck ’em.”
GM: [slam]
Mhurren: [slam]
Myx: [clink] “Softy, you have been the greatest. Thank you so much.” Myx is giving him a big, squishy hug.
Softy: He gives you a little peck on the forehead. “Anything for you, kid.”
Myx: “Naw, you’re too good to me. Thank you, Softy.” Now, at this point, Myx’s cheeks are a little rosy.
Softy: “Uh, Mhurren?”
Mhurren: “Hmm?”
Softy: “Can I have a, can I have a word?”
Mhurren: “Yeah, sure. Um, just give me a second, guys.”
Myx: “Yeah, yeah. We’ll, we’ll, we’ll wait. Tobe!” And I’m going to interlock on my arms with Tobe. “Let’s go for a little stroll towards the door.”
Tobe: “Yeah, I think some air will help you.”
Softy: Mhurren, you and Softy once you’ve got some space, “Look, um, that debt, you’re, uh … You’ve not made any payments lately. I don’t like to be pushy, but, uh …”
Mhurren: “I know, Softy, but you know I’m good for it, right?”
Softy: “I do. I do. But, you know, I’ve got a reputation to uphold.”
Mhurren: “And I wouldn’t want to mire it.”
Softy: “You’re, y-you’re friend there. Uh, Myx. She says that you, uh, you guys are working for Reapo?”
Mhurren: “Uh, yeah. Is there a problem?”
Softy: “No, no, no. Just that Reapo owes me a few creds too, and uh, I heard recently that she’s been dealing with a few bits and pieces that’d probably be worth a few bob. If you happened to find anything that belongs to her, I’d consider your debt cleared if it were able to find its way to me.”
Mhurren: “Oh, you don’t say.”
Softy: “Just thought I’d lay that out there for you.”
Mhurren: “Well, I’ll keep an eye out.”
GM: “Well, I look forward to seeing you again soon, then.” And he pours himself another whiskey.
{laughs}
Softy: Puts the bottle back under the glass, he says, “FUCK THE FOUNDERS!” and slams it back. That time he says it so loud the whole bar just goes,
Whole Bar:“FUCK THE FOUNDERS!” They down their drinks. Suddenly the bar gets very busy because people don’t have drinks anymore.
Myx: Oh, dear.
Mhurren: “Okay, guys, we should probably go and find UpgrayD.”
GM: Did I say “he” that entire time? I mean to say “she”. UpgrayD is a girl. So, what’s your relationship with UpgrayD, Tobe and Mhurren?
Tobe: Protective.
Mhurren: Protective.
GM: So, you guys probably do know where UpgrayD lives. You make your way over to UpgrayD’s place. UpgrayD lives in the closest to the Upper Market part of town as you could possibly get in an underground colony made out of primarily rock. Building is actually carved out of the stone. Rather than being carved into the wall like The Endathaline Pub was, the building that UpgrayD lives in is actually hewn out of the rock in so much as it actually has an external structure. And, it looks, say old Victorian townhouse. It’s very, very stylistic. It’s very odd for this time period. You get the feeling that a lot of people in Gru country have a real boner for the past. And, not only is UpgrayD’s place fancy as hell, but it even has a door.
Myx: “Is that what I think it is?”
Tobe: “Yes, Myx. Marvel at the existence of an actual door. {laughs} ” And I knock on it.
Myx: Myx is both hands on it being like, “Whoa, it’s smooth.”
GM: And as you put both hands on it … [door creaking]
Myx: “Ah {surprised}!” And face forward, on the ground, as graceful as always in any universe {laughs} .
Tobe: I pick her back up.
GM: The door falls open. Myx falls through it.
Tobe: Would I find that suspicious that it’s open?
GM: I expect so, yes. Doors are meant to be closed. {laughs}
Tobe: Yeah, but if people on Mars aren’t use to {laughs} having doors they might not know that.
GM: UpgrayD has a door because he wants to keep people out. She’s pretty shy. She’s pretty reclusive.
Tobe: I look at Mhurren and I’m like, “That’s not a good sign.” I pick Myx up and …
Mhurren: “Yeah …”
Tobe: … cautiously head inside.
Myx: Myx yells, “I’m sorry I broke your privacy.”
Tobe: “[shushing]”
Mhurren: “Myx.”
Tobe: “That’s not supposed to happen.”
Myx: “Oh, that explains it.”
Mhurren: Just put a finger to the lips.
Tobe: I’m cautiously moving into the house.
GM: You take the lead on this. As you walk into the entrance, there’s a long corridor and it splits off into a few rooms. There’s actually a stairwell that leads upstairs.
Tobe: I am just pointing, not saying anything. I point to myself and then the stairs and point to Mhurren to look in the room down here and I start heading upstairs.
Mhurren: I nod.
GM: So, you have the negative adjective caught.
Tobe: Damnit! So, I’m caught, but I don’t know what I’m caught by.
GM: Mm-hmm {affirmative}.
Tobe: So, yeah, I, I continue up the stairs.
GM: You head up the stairs. Mhurren, are you investigating the other rooms or?
Mhurren: Yep.
GM: As Tobe heads up the stairs, you lean into one of the rooms downstairs. Are you taking the door on the left or the right?
Mhurren: Left.
GM: Okay. So, you open the door into what you know to be the living room. And, as soon as you open it, it’s immediately obvious that someone has been here and they were not pleased. The whole room has just been turned over.
Mhurren: Yikes.
GM: Tobe, you are upstairs. There’s only one room upstairs, and you find a similar state of affairs. You open the door to what is the bedroom and the whole thing has just been rifled through. There’s drawers pulled out. The bed mattress has been tossed off. Bits and pieces of crap just thrown everywhere.
Tobe: Is there anywhere in the room where someone could feasibly hide?
GM: Yeah, there’s probably a couple of different places. There’s the equivalent of a closet hewed out of the wall. There’s probably a couple of crawl spaces under the bed and stuff like that. If you want to investigate the room you’re welcome to do so.
Tobe: Yeah. Seeing the state it’s in, I draw my gun first and start to look in the closet and under the bed and anywhere someone could hide.
GM: Okay. You rifle through the room and you don’t find any signs of people that are in hiding, but you do find visible signs of struggle. On one of the pieces of furniture, you find a small amount of blood. Not like someone’s been cut open, more likely that someone has fallen and hit their head. You don’t see much else in here.
Tobe: “Mhurren!” {laughs}
Mhurren: “Yeah?!”
Tobe: “We have signs of a struggle up here!”
Mhurren: “Same down here.” But there’s one more room I should probably check.
GM: Yeah. You check the other room and it’s the same story.
Mhurren: “Same thing!”
GM: Stuff turned over. The other room is set up like a small surgery. And this room’s turned over twice as much as the room you were just in. It looks like, if anything can be moved, it has been picked up and thrown or rifled through or opened. There are bottles of various fluids lying around. There’s empty bottles of pills.
There’s all sorts. It doesn’t look like anything has been taken, but it looks like someone has definitely done a very thorough search of this area. Are you doing anything here, Myx?
Myx: Nope. Just been sitting on the floor, listening to Mhurren and Tobe investigate, still feeling bad about the door.
GM: We can see why you pay her to be in the partnership.
{laughs}
Myx: I mean, it seems like they got it and I’m still feeling bad about breaking their doors. So, it’s fine.
Tobe: I head back down the stairs.
Myx: “Did you find anything good?”
Tobe: “Uh, blood. There’s like signs of a struggle and blood it looks like someone probably like hit themselves up there.”
Myx: “Oh, that’s not good.”
Tobe: “No sign of UpgrayD or any assailants.”
Myx: “How well do you know UpgrayD? I know you, you said things didn’t look good, but was there anything that looked like it didn’t belong to UpgrayD.”
Tobe: “Not as far as I can tell …”
Myx: “Hmm.”
Tobe: “She’s not here and that’s concerning and the door was left open and that’s concerning.”
Mhurren: “I’m concerned that she’s run into trouble with the Chimes.”
GM: You, looking around, now that you’re all back in the corridor, you notice above the door that there is a small red light and it is blinking.
[synth music]
Narrator: Hey there friend, you look like you need a coffee. Why don’t you take a quick moment to settle down, throw the kettle on, get yourself a hot, steamy brew, and in the meantime, here’s something just a little bit different.
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[synth music]
Tobe: “Aw, shit.”
Myx: “What’s wrong?”
Tobe: I point at the blinking red light.
Myx: “What’s that for?”
Mhurren: “Is that a camera?”
Tobe: “I’d assume so.”
Myx: “Hello!” Waving to the camera.
{laughs}
Myx: Naturally.
Mhurren: “Um.”
Tobe: Facepalm as Myx starts waving to the camera. {laughs}
Mhurren: Can I try to hack it?
GM: Mm-hmm {affirmative}. You spend a minute or two trying to hack into the connection and before long, your holo-visor from your flight suit fills with footage from the camera. And you move your head and you see you and Myx and Tobe and you see you looking up at the camera and looking around. And you are now seeing what the camera is seeing.
Tobe: “Any success, mate?”
Mhurren: “Well, I’ve hacked the camera.”
Tobe: “Try going back through it. See if it caught anything.”
Mhurren: “Mmm, yeah, maybe I can try to search.”
GM: You start scrolling back through the footage and the first thing that you see is Tobe doing a thief walk down the corridor. You scroll back a minute, two minutes, nothing. How far back in the footage do you go?
Mhurren: I’m going to go back a couple of hours.
GM: You go back a couple of hours. It starts to seem like there’s just no chance you’re going to find anything, and then you catch a flash of movement. You stop the video. You reel it back. And what you see is two masked individuals dragging the unconscious body of UpgrayD out of the building.
Mhurren: “{sighs} She’s been taken.”
Myx: “Oh no! Who, who did it? Do they look familiar? Poor UpgrayD.”
Mhurren: What kind of masks are they wearing?
GM: They are wearing masks that look like hyenas. Not that you know what a hyena is, but they look very vulpine. I mean, I imagine, even on Mars you still have dogs.
Myx: So, some made up, imaginary dog-type creature. Like a unicorn, but in dog form.
Tobe: {laughs} Always the unicorns.
{laughs}
GM: They’re wearing some kind of hound-like mask.
Mhurren: Can I tell what color jackets they’re wearing?
GM: The clothes that they’re wearing really don’t seem to stand out. They’re just wearing body suits, the kind that you would wear to go to work in a rig.
Mhurren: Huh, damn. “Well, it looks like she was taken by two guys. Masks. Couldn’t get a look at their faces. They were wearing body suits, so I don’t know.”
Tobe: “So, she goes into the bar crying about Chimes and ends up getting kidnapped.”
GM: No more than a couple of hours ago. You would be aware that body suits like the flight suits you have, have very specific purposes and a rig suit, which is the kind of suit that they were wearing is only worn for the purpose of piloting rigs. There are a lot of people that pilot rigs here, but at the very least, you do know that they were wearing suits that would allow you to pilot a rig.
Mhurren: “Yeah, they had bodysuits. They could be rig pilots.”
Tobe: “Hmm. I think we need to find the Chimes. So, I’m not the only one here thinking UpgrayD got snatched by the Chimes, probably?”
Myx: “I mean, would that make sense? What ki- D-did, did she have ties to them?”
Tobe: “I don’t know, but the last thing we know is that she was in The Endathaline crying about the Chimes. And then, a couple of hours ago, was kidnapped by people wearing dog masks. I don’t think it’s like highly improbable that the two things are likely connected.”
Myx: “Hmm.”
Tobe: “What exactly is the thing that we’re looking for, for uh Reapo?”
Myx: “{I don’t know sound}.”
Tobe: I would like to coax Myx into telling me what it is that we’re looking for.
Myx: “Oh, you know, it’s just a brand new ocular upgrade. You know, sup-super hush-hush, ’cause it’s not even released globally yet.”
GM: I think lying is probably more believable to Tobe than saying you don’t know.
Tobe: Yeah.
GM: Because I think he knows Myx well enough to know that she can’t resist curiosity.
{laughs}
GM: I don’t think he’d believe that she doesn’t know anything.
Myx: “Some fancy, schmancy new tech gear that we’re not supposed to know about.”
GM: Which is a half-truth, so …
Tobe: “Okay. ‘Cause what i was thinking was maybe knowing that UpgrayD is someone who does splicing, they could have taken her to also to do that kind of shit for them.”
Myx: “Oh, we got to find UpgrayD, find out what happened. Who else could we ask for help, because I don’t know anything about UpgrayD. I don’t know …”
Tobe: “We’ve got a package to find and a missing child genius to find.”
Myx: “Yeah, I’m not going to lie. I’m more concerned about the child genius. So, who should we try speaking to next, guys?”
Mhurren: “Well, I guess we should go find some rig pilots to call, to talk to.”
Tobe: “Was there anything like particular about the rig suits, because otherwise it could literally be anybody.”
Myx: “UpgrayD’s pretty famous, right? So, she must hang out with some pretty high up there people.”
Tobe: “She’s a shy, reclusive, genius child with a camera above her door.”
Myx: “Well, that doesn’t me she doesn’t have connections.”
Tobe: “Well, no.”
Mhurren: “But she’s a good kid.”
Tobe: Do we know that? {laughs}
Mhurren: “She’s a good kid.”
Tobe: “She doesn’t really hang out. What part of the word recluse wasn’t a clue?”
Myx: “If she needed something, who would she go to other than Softy to cry?”
Mhurren: “Do you think we should go back and talk to Softy? I mean, Softy’s been in the game for awhile. Might still have a few contacts.”
Myx: “I-I’m not convinced that he’d be much more help. Do you guys know any pilots?”
Tobe: “I don’t know a pilot, but I know a fight fixer.”
Mhurren: “I mean, a fight fixer might know some pilots.”
Tobe: “I mean, he works as a bookie and a promoter as well, so, I’d hope he knows {laughs} s-some pilots and some stuff about rig fighting.”
Myx: “It’s worth a shot.”
Mhurren: “I mean, you could ask him if he knows of any pilots that wear, I don’t know, dog masks.”
Myx: “Actually, maybe we should speak to Red-Eye. These people are wearing strange dog-masky things and they’re not something usual. Maybe it’s something the smuggler got. Maybe it’s something a smuggler got specifically for a certain group of people.”
Tobe: “Good idea.”
Myx: “In that case, I’ll call Red-Eye.”
GM: So, you’re {laughs} standing in the corridor of UpgrayD’s house.
Myx: “Oh, wait, maybe I should stand outside of the house, because if that thing is still recording and someone hacks into that and comes after us …”
Tobe: “Maybe we should all stand outside the house.”
Myx: “{sucks teeth} Yeah, probably.”
Tobe: I go outside.
Myx: “Yeah, and this time, close the door behind us.”
Mhurren: Would I be able to check if anyone else was seeing the feed from the camera?
GM: There doesn’t appear to be anyone tapping into the feed right now, but you leave a little software program behind that will send you an alert if anybody tries to access it. You make your way outside with the others. Myx, you call Red-Eye.
Myx: [phone beep jingle]
Red-Eye: “Myx, it’s good to see, ya.”
Myx: “Red-Eye, sweetie. How are you doing?”
GM:Red-Eye: Thick-built, Italian, and big, square jaw, slick hair, swept back. “I’m doing just fine, peach. What’s up?”
Myx: “So, this might seem like an odd question, but I know that if I wanted something really unique, I’d speak to you about it.”
Red-Eye: “Yeah, of course. What do you need?”
Myx: “Well, it’s not so much something I need, but something I was wondering if you’ve seen or managed to maybe procure for someone else previously.”
Red-Eye: “Now, uh, Myx, Myx, Myx, Myx, Myx. You know, you know how this works. Client privilege.”
Myx: “{sighs} Okay, okay, but-“
Red-Eye: “I got a reputation to maintain. I can’t just be going around telling everybody who bought what.”
Myx: “Oh, no. Of course. A-and I wouldn’t expect you to. I respect your business. But, I just want to know because it was just such a, a strange item. I’ve never seen anything like it before. Well, I mean, I’ve seen the item. I-it was basically a helmet.”
GM: He’s feeling gossipy. What are you trying to pry out of him?
Myx: “I just, it was in the shape of this kind of, I don’t know, was it a dog? Was it like, I don’t know. I-it was, it was canine but I’ve never seen a creature like that. Have you seen or gotten helmets that look like weird-o fantasy dogs.”
Red-Eye: “{grunts} Uh, yeah. I-I’ve seen things like that. I, uh, I, I don’t remember who, uh, who, I, would, who bought them. But, those, it was a real, real, uh, niche interest that one. Uh, yeah, it’s real odd. Reminds me of, uh … It’s kind of like y-your wrestler identities. You know the way that they hide their face. I-I figured, and, you know, it was probably just, uh, what with Whistle Week coming on and the carnival, I figured it was probably just, you know, people looking for some fun, looking for something a little bit different.”
Myx: “Yeah, sure. Are there any more of them or d-did did you give them all away already?”
Red-Eye: “Well, I, I didn’t say I sold ’em, {laughs} but, uh, no, I-I don’t have any more of those.”
Myx: “Aw, shoot.”
Red-Eye: “I-I got some cool cats.”
Myx: “Mmm {disappointed}, nah. I mean, don’t get me wrong. I love cats, but I don’t think that, that dogs like cats.”
Red-Eye: “With their little whiskers and their, their …”
Myx: “Aw, that sounds so cute.”
Tobe: {laughs} I’m facepalming.
Red-Eye: “Now, I gotta, I gotta tell you t-that they’re pretty adorable.”
Myx: “Maybe, you know, we-we’re a bit busy right now, but …”
Tobe: “Myx.”
Myx: “Yes?”
Tobe: “No.”
Myx: “{whiny} Tooooooooobeeeeeeeeee.”
Red-Eye: “So, anyway, doll. Is there anything I can help you with, or what?”
Myx: “I-I, I have to be honest with you, like, we were … I’m hoping to find these weird dog people. I really … They seem like they might be having up to like some secret, underground club and I think, I- oh.”
Red-Eye: “Myx, Myx, Myx. Y-you gotta not get involved with this shit. You, you should back off.” You are now scared. “Y-you’ve gotta back off.”
Myx: “Oh.”
Red-Eye: “Those people are not to be messed with.”
Myx: “{stammers} Okay, Red-Eye. Well, I mean, that, that’s a bummer. I-I really thought it was, they were just going to have some fun and, you know, I like having fun, but, no, I don’t …”
Red-Eye: “Why don’t you go enjoy Whistle Week, Myx. Stay out of people’s faces.”
Myx: “Okay. Well, it’s keep one of those cat masks aside for me. I, I, I might hit you up on one of those when I’m done with today.”
Red-Eye: “Sure, I’ll make sure I get, uh, get one of my boys to bring it for you.”
Myx: “Thanks, Red. You’re the best.”
Red-Eye: “See you later, doll.”
Myx: [phone disconnect] “So, guys, um, the good news is that yes, I do believe Red-Eye had some involvement in procuring these weirdo masks. The bad news is, he won’t tell us who. He won’t tell me who. And more importantly, he told me to stay away. It sounded like they’re really scary and maybe, maybe I should listen to him. Maybe this job is too big and, and … But, you know who else told us to stay away? Softy. Softy wanted me to be scared too. So, you know what that means, guys?”
Tobe: “That we’re dealing with some bad shit.”
Myx: “It’s got to be the Chimes. It’s gotta be.”
Tobe: “Well, I was kind of working on the assumption that they took UpgrayD anyway.”
Myx: “Oh. Well, this proves it.”
Tobe: “Putting aside you doing a favor for Reapo, if these people are scary, then I don’t think I want to leave UpgrayD in their company. I don’t feel great about knowing that a group of scary people have kidnapped a kid and probably have hold of this kid and could be doing, mayhaps, unspeakable things to said child.”
Myx: “Well, I can’t let Momma Reapo down. Do you know what that would mean?”
Tobe: “Well, what are you more scared of, Myx? Are you more scared of Reapo or these people that you keep getting told to stay away from?”
Myx: “Reapo!”
Tobe: “I think we should go and give him an in person shakedown.”
Mhurren: “I like that idea.”
Myx: “Y’all can do the shaking, but I’ll come.”
Tobe: “If it gets to actual, physical shaking, maybe Mhurren can pick him up by his feet and shake him upside down for a while.”
Myx: “Oh, he’d love that.”
Tobe: “I don’t think he’d love that.
{laughs}
Tobe: “He might hate that, actually. Anyway, let’s go. {laughs}”
Mhurren: “It would get results.”
GM: So, you guys head to where you know Red-Eye likes to hang out. Where does Red-Eye hang out?
Tobe: I think Red-Eye hangs out in a dive bar.
GM: Mhurren, what’s the name of the dive bar that Red-Eye hangs out in?
Mhurren: Toad in the Hole.
{laughs}
GM: Okay, cool. So, you guys make your way down to the Toad in the Hole, and it is a real shithole. It’s called the Toad in the Hole, because the area that it’s hewed out of the rock from used to be the cesspits and has since been pumped out. So, it’s no longer completely a cesspool, but there’s certain parts of the bar where you try not to get too close to the walls because they still have that faint mildewy …
Tobe: {laughs} Aw {grossed out}.
GM: … men’s bathroom smell.
Myx: Ew.
Mhurren: Oh.
GM: It’s a real, unpleasant place. Despite that, though, given that it’s Whistle Week, this place is also jammed to the door, but with much less savory company.
Tobe: {exasperated sigh} The …
Myx: Do I see any doggy masks here?
Mhurren: Yeah.
GM: No one seems to be wearing any masks yet. It’s not carnival time.
Mhurren: Head over to the bar.
GM: Yeah, you head over to the bar, and the bar staff are pretty busy. You look around and what do you know, but Red-Eye’s actually sitting there, drinking directly at the bar, and he managed to secure himself a seat. And he turns and sees you.
Red-Eye: “Hey, Mhurren. Didn’t expect to see you in here. Didn’t think this was your kind of place.”
Mhurren: “Well, it isn’t.”
Red-Eye: “All right, th-what are you doing here? You’re not coming to ruin my drink, are you?”
Mhurren: “Well, that’s the last thing I’d want to do.”
GM:Red-Eye: He turns to you, raises his glass. “Fuck the Founders.”
Tobe: “Fuck the Founders. {laughs}” Tobe’s, I’ve said this too many times today already.
Red-Eye: “So, what are you doing here, Mhurren?”
Mhurren: “Well, from your call with Myx, it seemed like …”
Red-Eye: “You hang out with Myx? I thought you would have been busy today.”
Mhurren: “She’s kind of my boss.”
Red-Eye: “Well …”
Myx: Myx is sitting in a booth in the back to stay out of view and is giggling, like, “{tee hees} I’m the boss.”
Tobe: I’m actually standing behind Mhurren.
Mhurren: “But I did hear that you did procure …”
Red-Eye: [pounds bar] “Hey, bartender, you want to get this guy a drink? Come on.”
{laughs}
Red-Eye: “Make it snappy.” [snaps]
Mhurren: “Thanks. Yeah. So, I know you have, um, client secrecy and all that.”
Red-Eye: “You didn’t just come here to talk business, did you? ‘Cause, I thought this was a social call.”
Mhurren: “I mean …”
Red-Eye: “You know you owe me a, a couple favors.”
Mhurren: “Eyeah. I haven’t forgotten about that. But, um …”
Red-Eye: “I mean, you wouldn’t like it if I went around airing your dirty laundry, would yas?”
Mhurren: “Well, I mean, not unless it involved endangering the life of a kid. You see, we have to deal with this business.”
Red-Eye: He frowns at you. “Whatchu talkin’ about? What kid? I dont, I don’t traffick kids. I just sell stolen shit.”
Tobe: I tap Mhurren on the shoulder and I say, “Should we maybe have this discussion somewhere a little less public?”
Red-Eye: “No, I’m good right here, thanks.”
Mhurren: “Um …”
Red-Eye: “What the fuck you talking about, a kid? What kid?”
Mhurren: “Well, you know UpgrayD?”
Red-Eye: “Sure I know UpgrayD. Everybody knows UpgrayD.”
Mhurren: “Well, we were looking for her before and I think a couple of guys …”
Tobe: “She’s been snatched.”
Mhurren: “Yeah.”
Red-Eye: “Prove it.”
Tobe: “Mhurren, do you still have that camera?”
GM: You have access to that camera still, so …
Mhurren: Is there a way for me to play it?
Red-Eye: He hears you guys talking about cameras and, “You-you connected to the camera?”
Mhurren: “Well, yeah. She’s been snatched. We gotta …”
Red-Eye: “That, that’s … Here, let me.” He’s going to hack your flight suit. Uh, and I’m going to pay the sticky tag to make it sits there for a minute.
Mhurren: “Just rewind it two hours.”
GM:Red-Eye: You see him flicking with his hand. “Mother fuck …”
Mhurren: “Do you know those guys?”
Red-Eye: “Oh, I can’t say for sure that … I mean, they might not be the people that I sold them to, but those are my masks. My sister made those, you know? I tell people they’re imported, but she just makes them out of papier-mâchés. Look, I sold them to the Chimes.”
Myx: “Ah-hah! {triumphant}” And Myx leaps up and points right at his …
GM: I will assume that you guys have opened comms between you. He stops, he turns and half the bar is looking at Myx standing on the table.
Tobe: I am face palming again.
Red-Eye: “Maybe, maybe …”
Myx: “{yells} FUCK THE FOUNDERS!”
Red-Eye: “Maybe you want to tell your friend to chill her beans or something. She’s going to get herself thrown out.”
Mhurren: “Um, Myx, y-you can get back down. Chill your beans.”
Myx: “Okay, Mhurren. Even though I’m the boss.” Myx will sit back down and shush.
Red-Eye: “Yeah, like, I sold those masks to the Chimes. I don’t know if it’s them. It might not be. What the fuck would they want with the kid though? That doesn’t make any sense.”
Tobe: “That’s what I’d like to find out, but apparently, she was in, um, Softy’s place crying about the Chimes a little while ago.”
Red-Eye: “Why in the hell was he letting a kid stay in his bar? That guy’s really irresponsible.”
{laughs}
Tobe: “But, uh, you wouldn’t know where we could …”
Red-Eye: “Doesn’t he know that there are drinking laws?”
Tobe: Are there drinking laws on Mars? {laughs}
Red-Eye: “I’m going to write that guy a ream.”
Mhurren: “Whether UpgrayD was drinking or not, she remains missing.”
Tobe: “That’s not really the, uh, issue here.”
Red-Eye: “Well, honestly, I don’t know. I don’t know where they hang out, but there’s, uh, there’s a big fight going down today.”
Mhurren: “Do you get a lot of the Chimes business?”
Red-Eye: “I mean, I deal with everybody, Mhurren. It’s … I-I’m, I’m a businessman. I’m impartial. I don’t give a fuck who you are. You got the creds to pay me, I’ll do what you want. I can sell you want you need. But, like I said, there’s a, there’s a big fight going down, part of Whistle Week, just outside of town. If they’re going to be anywhere, chances are they’ll be there.”
Tobe: “Right, well, I think that we better make sure that we’re at this fight then.”
Red-Eye: “Yeah, tell that fucker Quen that he can keep his goddamn bets. I don’t like the stupid robots anyway.”
Tobe: Quirk an eyebrow, “Had any bad luck lately?”
Mhurren: “Who’s Quen?”
Red-Eye: “Oh, fuck ‘im. Doesn’t matter who Quen is. If you see him around, tell him, uh, fuck ‘im. Fuck the Founders!” And he just drinks his …
Mhurren: {laughs} “Okay.”
GM:Red-Eye: As you get up he just puts his hand on your shoulder. He says, “Mhurren, I-I hope you find the kid. I’m sorry. I didn’t know that … I don’t know why the fuck they want the kid for, but whatever.”
Mhurren: “I believe you.”
Red-Eye: “I hope you find him.”
Tobe: “We’re going to try.”
Red-Eye: “Don’t trust Quen! He’s a shark, fucking, cheatin’, fuck.”
Tobe: “Damn. I owe that guy like 10 cred. What the, what did he do to you?”
Red-Eye: “He cheats.”
Mhurren: “You know the guy?”
Red-Eye: “I’ll, I don’t like it when people cheat.”
Tobe: “Well, that’s fair enough.”
Red-Eye: “I like to play a good, clean game. Also, uh don’t, don’t tell nobody I told you about the Chimes, because my reputation’s on the line here. Appreciate some discretion.”
Tobe: “Yeah, we didn’t hear it from you.”
Mhurren: “Sure, sure, sure. Fuck the Founders.”
Red-Eye: “Yeah, fuck the Founders.”
Mhurren: “And fuck Quen.”
Red-Eye: “Fuck Quen too.”
Tobe: “Don’t fuck Quen.”
Red-Eye: “If he was a Founder, I’d punch him in the mouth.”
Mhurren: Just give Tobe a don’t know look.
Tobe: Tobe does know who Quen is so he’s just like, “Yeah … Let’s get out of here.”
Myx: Before leaving, though, Myx, she’s going to get up from her booth and she’s going to sit across from Red-Eye. {Interrogationally} “Just one question before I go.”
GM:Red-Eye: He opens up his coat and pulls out the cat mask, “You looking for this?”
Myx: “{surprised gasp} Yes!”
{laughs}
GM: “You know what? I owe you one. Here.” And he just gives it to you. “Free of charge.”
Myx: {Excitedly}”Oh, Red! Oh, it’s perfect.” And she puts it on.
GM: It’s green and purple and it’s patched like a tortoise-shell, but with green and purple and streaks of gold instead of white.
Myx: “Oh, it’s so shiny.”
Tobe: I call back through the bar “You’re going to spoil her, you know?”
GM: He just shrugs, smiles, turns back to his drink.
Myx: “Well, enjoy, Red. Thank you!” She’s bobbin’ out.
GM: There are various fighting arenas for the rigs in the core of Gru country. Most of them are in the center of the city, but there are a few, quite large fight pits in the labyrinth of abandoned lava tubes that circle the perimeter of Gru country. As soon as he mentions that Quen’s going to be there, you know which one he’s referring to. What’s the name of the junction.
Tobe: Crosswalk.
GM: You guys head over to The Crosswalk, and as you arrive, there is an almost colosseum like setup of benches that have been created that lead down into stairs that didn’t use to be there. In fact, most of this area used to be fairly flat, but it looks like for Whistle Week, they have effectively built walls that you have to climb up via stairs in order to walk down a series of benched stairs on the other side to get into the center of what now looks like a colosseum. And, the benches are absolutely packed with all sorts of people. And, it looks like there are two rigs already going at it in the main ring. And you can see that there are, the teams for the rigs are sitting in the edges of the arena, at the bottom of the floor.
Mhurren: Do we notice if any of them have dog masks on?
GM: No. One of them is wearing a bird mask, but their teammates are not wearing masks and the other ones appear to have stripes of paint painted across their face. But, as you guys are walking around the colosseum, you do catch sight of Quen Ling, who is standing next to one of the teams and he appears to be having a heated discussion with someone.
Tobe: I walk over, but I don’t interrupt, so I just stand there and eavesdrop a little bit {laughs} for a while.
GM: As you get close to Quen Ling, as soon as you get within a reasonable distance, the person that he is talking with who is a 5’6″ blonde woman who has almost ashy skin, she’s super pale. She has a very drawn looking face. And, you notice that he has large scratches down her right forearm. And, as soon as you get within 6 to 10 feet, she sees you heading towards Quen Ling and she scowls, stops talking, and walks away.
Tobe: Well, I watch her walk away. “Did I interrupt something?”
GM: Quen Ling, who is, in terms of complexions, skin tone, he is very similar to Mhurren, is he’s Asian in origin, but it very obviously mixed Asian. He’s a little bit fatter and he’s definitely a lot shorter. He’s 4’11”, maybe. He’s real short. And he turns around.
Quen Ling:“Hey, Tobe!”
Tobe: “Hey.”
Quen Ling: “How you doing?”
Tobe: “Uh …”
Quen Ling: “Good to see you.”
Tobe: “Yeah, good to see you.”
Quen Ling: “Y-you come to pay the loan?”
Tobe: “Uh, not today, unfortunately.”
Quen Ling: “Oh, that’s unfortunate.”
Tobe: “I’ll get that to …”
Quen Ling: “I-I would have thought you would have wanted to get it cleared before Whistle Week so you could get, uh, another loan for your bet.
Tobe: “I’ll get it to you as soon as …”
Quen Ling: “I’ve got a hot lead on a new rig.”
Tobe: “{frustrated croak}”
Quen Ling: “Got a real whiz of a pilot.”
Tobe: “M-m-maybe another time. I mean, that’s very tempting, but maybe another time Quen. Bit of an odd question, actually. You haven’t seen any weird, unscrupulous people in freaky dog masks?”
Quen Ling: “Tobe, look around you.”
Tobe: “In, in dog masks! In dog masks. Not just the usual kind, but extra special kind.”
Quen Ling: “Dog mask? Can’t say I’ve seen any dog masks. Why? Why?”
Tobe: “Well do you know of a rig teams who use with dog masks or?”
Quen Ling:GM: “I mean there’s all sorts of different things in the rig teams. I mean, look at this freak.” He points at the guy with the bird mask.
{laughs}
GM: Who turns and goes, “[Oz cawing]”
Quen Ling:“Oh, shut up, Oz, no one cares.”
{laughs}
Quen Ling: “God, he’s obsessed with this bird image. It’s ridiculous.”
Tobe: “Uh, yeah. Okay.”
Quen Ling: “It-it’s something about ravens? I-I don’t even know why he cares so much. Have you seen his ridiculous purple suit? I just don’t understand it.”
Tobe: {laughs} Stares straight at him because I’m wearing a purple flight suit, and, “Yeah, purple. Who, who would wear purple?”
Quen Ling: “No. I’m … Nothing against purple.” And he points at his own shirt, which is purple. “It’s part of this whole raven deal. He’s just, he’s got an obsession. It’s, quite frankly, it’s a little bit sad.”
Tobe: {laughs} I don’t know if we’re still ragging on Oz or if we’re ragging on Tobe now.
Quen Ling: Yeah, he has managed to successfully deflect this conversation, I think. So, I’m going to try and impose deflected upon you. “So, look, [claps] this rig battle. So, it’s actually coming up just after this one. It’s going to be real, it’s a really hot match. You’re going to be real into it.”
Tobe: “Sure.”
Quen Ling: “The pilot has next level cybernetics, straight off the market. No one’s even seen them before. It’s going to be incredible.”
Tobe: “Next level cybernetics.”
Quen Ling: “Yes! Th- straight off the press, brand new technology that will outperform anything. It-It’s amazing. I don’t … What they, what they’ve done with it, it’s just {sighs}. If I could afford it.”
Tobe: “That sounds like you’re taking me for a ride.”
Quen Ling: “I mean, i-if you don’t want to take a sure bet, that’s fine. That’s fine. You can, you can do all … It’s your creds. I…Ii’m…”
Tobe: “I don’t have any creds to make a bet with {laughs}. I owe you 10. {laughs}”
Quen Ling: “Well, that’s why I was expecting you to, to pay up today. I thought maybe you were, you were looking for a little bit of, you know? A little bit of action. Maybe, m- Tell you what. What if I g- … I could give you a loan.”
Tobe: “{groans}”
Quen Ling: “And, when you bet on this fight, and you win, you can pay me back in full, and you have a little bit on, on top as well.”
Tobe: “{contemplative groaning}” {laughs} “Nah, I think I’m good.”
Quen Ling: “You sure? 20% interest. It’s the cheapest rate.”
Tobe: “I’m good with just owing you 10.”
Quen Ling:GM: “And this fight’s a, it’s a sure thing.” And he winks big. “It’s a sure thing. You know I only tell my leads to my best friends.”
Tobe: {laughs} How much do I feel like one of his best friends? “Hmm. Don’t make me regret it. Fine.”
Quen Ling: “Okay. I just need you to,” and he pulls out a ream of paperwork.
GM: And so, Mhurren and Myx, you now see Tobe is signing papers.
{laughs}
Myx: “A ream.”
Mhurren: “Um … Boss. Do you think we should step in?”
Myx: “I don’t know … I mean.”
Mhurren: “Uh, I don’t know. That’s a lot of paperwork.”
Myx: “That, that, that looks like it’s going to take a long time. Maybe, although, what if we interrupt and we ruin it? What if this is all part of some ploy to get more information?”
Tobe: {laughs}
Mhurren: “Oh, it might be a ruse.”
Myx: “Oh, oh no. We, we should watch. Yeah. That … I mean, Tobe will get through it quickly, right?”
GM: You finish signing up the paperwork and you hear a little beep in your comms as the credits are deposited to your account, and then you hear another boop as you watch them leave your account it just says, ‘Negative 20.’
Quen Ling: “Trust me, Tobe. You’re not going to regret it.”
Tobe: “{Groans}”
Quen Ling: “This is going to be the fight of a lifetime.”
Tobe: “I hope I’m not going to regret it. {laughs} I hope you’re not lying to me about them cybernetics.”
Quen Ling: “Why would I? Look, I’ve got to get back to preparing for the next match, making sure it all goes smoothly, but if you need anything, you just let old Quen know.”
Tobe: “I’ll be sticking around, since I just took a loan to make a … Fuck’s sake.” I hate myself. I’m going back over to Myx and Mhurren. Even though I look a little bit sheepish as I say, “Yeah, he just mentioned something interesting to me.”
Myx: “Wh-what was it? I mean what was that paperwork?”
Tobe: “Apparent- Uh, d-d-d-don’t worry about that.”
Mhurren: “That was a lot of paperwork.”
Tobe: “No, don’t even worry about that. But he said that the next fighter coming up has some next level cybernetics.”
Myx: “No.”
Tobe: “Yeah.”
Myx: “Guys, I-I’ll, I’ll be back.” And what Myx is going to do is she’s gonna call Reapo.
Reapo: She pops up on your screen. “Hey there, darlin’. What’s up? Found my product? You found my people?”
Myx: “I don’t know if I found you people, but, you know we-“
Reapo: “Then why are you calling me?”
Myx: “Because we might have found your product.”
Reapo: “Right, where is it?”
Myx: “We’re at The Crosswalk. We ended up here following some leads and we just got intel that the next fight is gonna feature never before seen enhancements, not of this world.”
Reapo: “Mm-hmm {skeptical}.”
Myx: “Ringing any bells?”
Reapo: “Y-you think they installed my product into someone else?”
Myx: “I think they might have tried to and we’re about to find out what’s happened?”
Reapo: “Well, I suggest you go get it back, honey.”
Myx: “How? If they’ve installed it?”
Reapo: “That’s for you to work out.”
Myx: “{sighs}”
Reapo:GM: “It’s your debt to clear.” And she hangs up.
Myx: “{frustrated growl}”
GM: She didn’t hire you for nothing. If it was gonna be easy, she wouldn’t have offered to clear literally your entire debt, which is a lot.
Myx: And Myx is going to go back to Mhurren and Tobe. “Guys, we need to find that fighter before the fight begins.”
Mhurren: “Is this something to do with whatever tech they have?”
Myx: “Here’s the thing. I think that they might have the tech, the enhancements that Reapo sent me to find and if they’ve been installed, Reapo still expects me to get them from them {laughs}. That’s not a pretty job. If we can find them and hope that they haven’t been installed yet, maybe there’s still a chance we can do this peacefully.”
Tobe: “{forced laugh}”
Myx: “Okay, less, less blood soaked.”
Mhurren: “I think that’s why they took the kid.”
Tobe: “That is probably why they took the kid.”
Mhurren: “We should go …”
Myx: “Now.”
Mhurren: “… find them. Yeah.”
Tobe: “I’m assuming there’s a backstage type …”
Mhurren: “Locker room.”
GM: In fact, the woman who Quen was talking to, went down a side alley in the path that was created in the stacks of benches, quite clearly made to be entrance and exit to the colosseum area for the rigs.
Myx: Are there guards there?
GM: Nope, there’s no guards as far as you can see. Just an open colosseum. What are gonna do? Fight giant robots?
Tobe: “Lets head backstage. Hopefully, we can find this person.”
Myx: “You guys are going to have to keep an eye out for UpgrayD, because I still don’t know what … I’ve never met her. I have no idea what she looks like.”
GM: So, you guys make your way down the bleachers out of the colosseum area to where they apparently are keeping the rigs. And you can see a few of them from a distance as you get closer. As you start to move into the area where the rigs are being kept, you see that there are two rigs here being prepped and one of the rigs has a group of three people standing at the base of it that are wearing dog masks.
Tobe: “I think that’s our guys.” Is there anyone else around?
GM: There are a couple of people around here and there. Some people addressing the other rig, other people just sitting around having drinks, probably pit crew. You notice, also, that their pilot station for the rig is open and that someone is sitting in it.
Myx: I want to go speak to the person in the pilot seat.
GM: So, as you walk over towards the rig, presumably you’re talking about the one with the people that has the dog masks that are standing right there?
Myx: Yeah.
GM: You start walking towards them and the dog mask people, one of them turns around and he goes,
Nell: “Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey! You can’t come any closer to our robot! It’s our robot!”
Myx: “Whoa, whoa, whoa.”
Nell: “It’s our rig.” He comes up right up in your face.
GM: From where you’re standing now, you’re much closer. You see that the person sitting in the pilot’s seat of the rig is a barely conscious, 16-year-old girl.
Nell: “Y-you can’t interfere. I-it’s almost fight time.”
Myx: “Whoa, whoa, whoa. I don’t, I don’t want to interfere with your rig.”
Nell: “Then what are you doing over here?”
Myx: “I heard that this is a guarantee. And, you know, I put down a lot of money. I-I-I just want to see.”
Nell: “Well, you’ve seen. You’ve got your eye full. Now get the fuck out of here.”
Myx: “Or what?”
Renard: One of the other gang members wanders over and, “Nell, Nell, what is the problem. I’m sorry, madam. You may not be here. You must leave.”
Myx: “I {sighs}.”
Renard: “This area is only for the rig teams and you do not look like a rigger to me.”
Myx: “Well, how about now?!” And put on the cat mask.
{laughs}
Renard: “sacré bleu!”
{laughs}
Myx: “Oui oui, mon ami.”
GM: Does a dramatic pose.
Mhurren: Like with a flourish. {laughs}
Renard: “Are you one of the Chimes?”
Myx: “{scoffs} What do you think?”
Renard: “I do not think you belong here. I think you should leave now.”
Myx: “I think you don’t belong here! Guys, look. You’ve heard of Reapo, right?”
Renard: “You know Reapo?”
Myx: “Yes. And if sh-“
Renard: “Wh-what does Reapo want with us?”
Myx: “Look, Reapo hired you for a job and Reapo did not get what you guys were hired for. Now, she sent me because apparently you can’t do your own job.”
Renard: “And what are you going to do? Hmm? You do not look like so much.”
Myx: “I might not look like much, but have you seen my friends?” She’s up in his face and pointing behind her, chest puffed out, both of her hands pointing towards Mhurren and Tobe. “You see them?”
Renard: He leans down. “I eat kitty cats like you for breakfast.”
Myx: “Well, I’ll scratch up the inside of your organs if you try.”
Renard: “Ooh, I don’t like the sound of that.” I’m not sure what the hell this accent is, but it’s fine.
{laughs}
Myx: “Look. All I want to know is did you steal what rightfully belonged to Reapo and did you install it into that pilot?”
Renard:: “I didn’t.” He turns around and runs. {laughs}
Myx: I want to run after him and tackle.
Mhurren: Yep. I’m gonna start running.
Tobe: I run toward.
GM: There’s another guy in front of you, Myx. So, if you’re going to ignore him, he’s going to try and attack you first. You try to run after Renard and Nell grabs you on the arm.
Nell: He goes, “Not so fast, kitty cat.” But, Mhurren, you go charging after this other guy.
Mhurren: Mm-hmm {affirmative}. The one who scarpered off.
Myx: “Go, Mhurren. Go!”
GM: You run after and you tackle the man to the ground and he lands face first in front of the rig. He’s grappled. Myx, you are also grabbed. What’s Tobe doing?
Tobe: Running over to Myx.
GM: You run over to Myx and as you run over, the guy whose grabbed Myx, pulls him towards her and pulls a knife and holds it against her throat.
Tobe: I pull out my gun.
Nell: “Don’t move a muscle! I g-g-g-got your little kitty friend. Not afraid to make her squeal.”
Myx: Can I bite his arm?
Nell: You bite down on his hand. So, Nell is now bleeding. “Argh!” He reels and lets you go. “Boss! Get the rig out of here.” {laughs}
Myx: “Tobe, we can’t let the rig leave.”
GM: And you see the guy who’s wearing the mask that didn’t move away from the rig, puts his hand on his head and you see the girl in the cockpit sit up suddenly and almost robotically reach forward, pull the lever down and the door on the rig slowly closes.
Tobe: “{strained} Fuck.” {laughs} Can I hack that guy? ‘Cause I’m assuming he’s using a cybernetic implant to do that.
GM: He might well be. You can try.
Tobe: Yeah, I’m gonna hack that guy.
GM: You don’t hack him, but you reach out with your link and you do pick up a signal, which you manage to crack into. And, as soon as you crack the signal, you find yourself looking out of the cockpit of a rig.
Tobe: Oh, shit. So, I’m going to assume does that mean I have control of UpgrayD then?
GM: It would appear so.
Tobe: Uh … I’m gonna use that control to get the rig to come over to our side.
GM: What you just walk it over? Or are you actually going to use it?
Tobe: Would I know how to use it, though?
GM: I don’t know. Find out.
Tobe: {laughs} That’s not going to end well.
GM: Looking down at the panel, the control panel, seems like a really simple system, actually. And, you manage to …
Tobe: At the moment, yeah, just come over to our side and be really threatening. Tobe isn’t sure {laughs} what to do with the control now that he has it, other than, “Well, we have the mech now, so … What the fuck are you gonna do about it?”
GM: With that and with their leader effectively grappled by Mhurren …
Mhurren: Oh, that was their leader?
GM: {laughs} Uh, yeah.
Mhurren: Yay! {laughs}.
GM: You guys manage to take control of the situation. How do you wrap this up?
Tobe: Tobe isn’t concerned with Reapo so much as making sure that UpgrayD is okay.
Mhurren: Yeah.
Tobe: And that he can get her out of the shit that she’s in. Yeah, I want to get UpgrayD out of the mess that she’s in and make sure she’s okay.
GM: Yeah, you bring the mech over. What do you guys do with the Chimes?
Myx: Do the whole, “If you ever steal from Reapo again, y-you will not live to see another day.”
Mhurren: I’ll probably just give it a good old sock on the one that did the uplink thing to UpgrayD.
Myx: Oh, and we’ll steal their rig as well, because that was probably still pretty valuable too.
Mhurren: Definitely take the rig.
GM: So, you take the rig. Do you offer it to Reapo.
Myx: No, actually.
GM: Because Reapo wants Reapo’s merch.
Myx: No, no, no. For sure.
GM: And Reapo’s merch is inside a child.
Myx: Yeah. So, assuming this is a super genius, I would assume they’d know how to get the enhancements out.
GM: They look over and the way that this works is it cannot be removed from a living specimen.
Tobe: Give Reapo the rig. I’m not handing Reapo UpgrayD.
Myx: I would.
Tobe: I wouldn’t. {laughs} And I’m protective of UpgrayD. {laughs} And so’s Mhurren.
Mhurren: Mm-hmm {affirmative}. But, if there isn’t a win-win situation, then maybe we talk to UpgrayD about working for Reapo since, I mean, Reapo wants …
Myx: Reapo gonna kill me.
Mhurren: … what’s inside the kid. Myx goes on the lam.
Myx: Myx brings Reapo rig. Reapo then kills Myx with rig. {laughs}
GM: I think if Myx brings Reapo the rig and tells her what’s happened with the product she has purchased … Are you doing this in person or are you calling her?
Myx: I think I should probably go see her in person.
Reapo: You turn up at Reapo’s door with a giant Mech. “Well, this is an unexpected surprise.”
Myx: “I thought you’d like it.”
Reapo: “It’s certainly big.”
Myx: “Yeah, but think about how much the parts could get. This is a really good rig.”
Reapo: “Yeah, I mean, it’d probably clear one of your debts. Sure, why not.”
Myx: “Look, I-I have to tell you something.”
Reapo: “What is it, darling? You can tell me anything.”
Myx: “{heavy sigh} So, I failed.”
Reapo: “What do you mean?”
Myx: “We found your package, but we found it too late. The parts had been installed.”
Reapo: “Son of a …”
Myx: “I-I know that you said that I had to get them no matter what, but I-I can’t. They’re in a 16-year-old girl. I-I-I can’t do that to her.”
Reapo: “I can. Where is she? Who is she?”
Myx: “You might have heard of her. H-her name is UpgrayD.”
Reapo: “Hm.”
Myx: “Please don’t kill her. I-I know, I know those parts are invaluable, but sh-she doesn’t deser- And! She’s a genius.”
Reapo: “They’re worth more than you can possibly imagine, but someone with her ability could probably make pretty good use of them and I could make pretty good use of a person like that.”
Myx: “So, you’re not going to kill her…for now.”
Reapo: “You give her my number. You tell her she gives Momma Reapo a call.”
Myx: “Okay.”
Reapo: “You still owe me Myx.”
Myx: “No, absolutely and, uh, you know, uh, this rig is kind of, I guess an I’m sorry present, but, you know, next favor, just …”
Reapo: “We’ll consider it a down payment.”
Myx: “Okay. I’m so sorry. I-I didn’t want to disappoint you.”
Reapo: “What did you do with the Chimes?”
Myx: “{laughs} We made them sorry.”
Reapo: “Mmm, we’ll see.”
[gentle music]
Host: And that’s all we had time for. I hope you enjoyed this week’s special episode. Our team put a lot of love into it and I really think it shows. If you have any feedback or requests on rewards you’d like to see in our Patreon, drop us a message on Twitter @darkdragonsinn. Join us next week for Sidequests: A Tale of Three Princesses and on June 10th for the start of Season 2. Until next time, travel safe and remember, in this realm or the next, the Scales of Justice are here for you, always.
[Music continues to end]
