Waltz for Eternity | Ep. 1 | A Right to Dream

We are Legends of Avantris. Pilots to your stations, sink your cores, fire up the engines and prepare for launch. This is Waltz for Eternity. Space stretches out infinitely beyond the viewport of the Imperial Shuttle, ascending past the atmosphere of Uthun, the capital world of the Cavalon Empire. The stars of Agathos twinkle and shine and cast their guiding light throughout the galaxy through the billowing plumes of Prismatic Aether, catching the glint of the eyes of a young human cadet with a shock of red hair gazing out the window of the transport. Jace Lazarus. Lazarus sits in the uncomfortable seat surrounded by a hundred other cadets and matching white military uniforms all heading to the same destination. An enormous space station in the shape of a gleaming white castle awaits above, orbiting the Imperial Capital. Jace watches it grow in his view as the transport approaches and a crackling voice of the pilot comes through the intercom. Taking the final approach to Ascalon. There is a murmur among the cadets as the level of subdued excitement fills the cabin, whispers about what awaits them as well as their hopes, dreams and fears are ignored by Jace as he keeps his focus locked on the fortress looming large ahead of him. He is a long way from his home world of Cortica as well as its warm sun, agrarian communities and endless fields of golden bracks corn. All of that is behind him now and he vows never to return to it. A sudden sense of certainty washes over him a feeling of destiny. He will become a knight, a true knight and he will successfully execute the mission he has come all this way for. Operation Waltz. Love rages in my heart blazing through the endless sky. I follow you across the stars far beyond the dialyte. In a flash of armored wings, our souls encased by steel. Fighting on the edge of fate for a love no war could kill. Our hearts awoke in shattered skies where angels fear to fly. There I saw a fire in your eyes as we dance through starlight in a wolf's form eternity. In your arms I'm finally free. Love rages in my heart blazing through the endless sky. I follow you across the stars far beyond the dialyte. Love rages in my heart yours until the end of time. Fighting for eternity our love will never die. Jace! You make your way off of the shuttle along with hundreds of other recruits, joining them from more transports arriving just behind you. You follow the directions of the loud repetitive voice delivering information to the new arrivals. And eventually, find yourself before a window with a military officer typing away at a terminal after checking in the dozens of other recruits ahead of you. The officer eyes you and looks at you with bored appraisal. Name? Jace Lazarus. And where are you from? I'm from Cortica. He types a few things into his terminal. And you're here for the operation. Yes sir. I'm here to be the greatest pilot that the universe has ever seen. And you're from Cortica. That's correct sir, yes. What house are you from? I will be representing House Column. Ah, sponsor. So you're a farm boy. Well, yes, technically sir. And you, uh, you think you can pilot MEX? I know I can. That's what I like to hear. He types away a few more pieces into the terminal. Well, here's all the information that you need in this packet here and you'll be taking up Bunk 95. 95? Alright. That's it. I'm free to go. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, you're free to go. I would just kind of take a look through the packet of papers that he's handed me and then kind of just take a look around and kind of take all of this in for the first time. See if there's any signage that might point to 95 and more or less make my way through. I would probably, anytime that there's a window or a porthole of some kind, I would probably stop and not be able to help but look out and just marvel at it. You are flipping through your packet as you are trying to do two things at once. You're three things at once. You're trying to gather the information in the packet, your ravenous for that information, and you're trying to, you're trying to admire the sights. This is perhaps not your first time in space, but it is your first time on an imperial station as large as this one. And it has that same agnostic flair that the Cavalon Empire can produce for spaces such as this in the sense that it doesn't feel like home. There are banners that make it clear where you're supposed to head. There are huge open hallways that feature the signage that you're looking for. And it doesn't take you very long to follow this thing, sort of like being at an international airport in that way. But with all of this information happening, bustling people are doing exactly the same thing. Some are just staring out of the viewports, so to speak, that sort of thing. I would just also, while looking for the particular bunk number 95, just be, you know, if I pass people and they make eye contact with them, I would give them a smile and a nod. I wouldn't make much conversation, but I'm certainly not unfriendly. I would still want to be warm and just, I have an excitement that I can't hide. You find yourself meeting the eyes mostly of the other cadets like yourself. And very quickly, the group that you came with sort of scattered and cross pollinated. Everyone is being guided to various rooms, clearly being sorted by whatever determination, algorithm, or filing that the Cavalon Empire has deemed worthy to put you in that bunk. And they're in there, them in theirs. You weave through your way through the metal hallways of the castle past countless fellow cadets, looking confused as they search for their own lodging. Finally, you arrive at bunk 95. You punch in a key code you received from the processing officer and the door slides open. Within, you find a quaint room with two pairs of bunk beds and a dresser with four metal drawers. And you realize you are not the first member of your squadron to arrive. A young Claude Deren is kneeling with his hands clasped on one of the bottom bunks. His bright blonde hair contrasts with a darker shade of soft fur that covers his body, marked with spots, primarily concentrated on the tail that swishes back and forth, as the cadet is seemingly deep in prayer. As soon as you step into the room, his attention snaps toward you and he opens bright green eyes as he gracefully leaps to his feet and he smiles at you. By the hearth mother's mercy, you made it! You're Jace, right? Uh, yeah, Jace Lazarus. Nice to meet you. Hi, I'm Milo, Milo Arunia. Nice to meet you. I prayed to the hearth mother that your shuttle would make it here safely and she assured me that you would arrive. Oh, I have something for you. Yeah, I'm Milo. See, I looked up our whole squadron and I got here a little early, so I made this for you. I made something for everybody. For me? Yeah. And I'm going to go to my drawer in the bunk and I'll pull in and I will reach in and you'll see a sealed envelope that will have a little red mark on it. It's got like a bright cherry red and it'll say, um, for Jace. Wow, uh, thank you. I wish I had something for you. Oh, no, you don't get anything for me. A gift like this is just what I do to preach the peace and the togetherness of the hearth mother. Which bunk have you already taken? It doesn't look like. I've taken the bottom left. Um, I'll point up to the top right and I'll say, uh, that one taken? Oh, I think I'm the only one here. Great. And I'll have this kind of like beat up duffel bag kind of slung over my shoulder. It doesn't look nice. It doesn't look new, but it's functional. It looks heavy duty and I'll toss it up onto the top bunk and say, uh, so when did you get it? Oh, um, I got in about six hours ago. Um, I was one of the first shuttles from Uthun. Um, I, uh, most of the, uh, most of the cadets from my world of Voltaria, I'm from Voltaria, um, uh, got there a couple days ago and so, uh, and they weren't really ready for us. We just took the first shuttle out. I continue to eye up the envelope that you've given me and, uh, as I tuck it kind of underneath my duffel bag. Uh, which house are you representing? I like to look up at it. Oh, you're not going to open it? Oh, okay, that's fine. No, no, no, no. No, no. You don't have to. I was going to wait to do it in private?���� probably in sci-fi setting, more like markers, as it shows the native creatures that featured on your heraldry of Kordega, this kind of horse-like lion creature, as it also shows it holding hands with a blueish, a long-necked bird that almost looks cloud-like. And I think you might know that that is a creature of from Voltaria, as they're holding hands and it says, I am so happy to be in a squadron with you. I'm very excited for Operation Walt's Love, Milo. How good is the drawing? Like objectively? I mean, I think it's pretty good. Okay. I think it's pretty good. I look at it for a minute and there's a silence kind of false-witch. They're smiling. And I say, lion. Wow, this is really good. You're an artist. Well, I dabble. I mean, when I'm bored, I mean, there's really, you know, and I'm done praying and I'm done with all of my chores back home. I like to draw a little bit. I carefully fold it up and you can tell that I'm being careful with it, like, genuinely. And I tuck it back in the envelope for safety and I place it on my bed and I put my hand on your shoulder and I say, thank you, genuinely. This means a lot. Well, you're welcome. I'm so glad you like it. I hope the others like theirs. I made some for them too. I think I have a good feeling about Squadron 95. Do you know anything about the other cadets? Well, I just know their worlds and their names, but, you know, and so, and so I, it's a surprise for them though. You know what, Milo? I think we're gonna do great. I think we're gonna do great too. I keep praying to the hearth mother and Vistaya's gonna grant her blessing upon us and I think no one else is gonna pray as hard as I am and I believe in the peace and togetherness and I believe we're probably all here for the right reasons. I know that I'm gonna love all of our comrades. I like your attitude, Milo. Yeah, I feel like you're, you really look like a, you know, an athlete. Well, I've been known to play some Flean in my time. Oh, Flean? Yeah, back home I was pretty good at it, pretty good at it. Yeah, my dad always tried to get me into Flean and I always got my ass kicked. That's not for everybody. Yeah, yeah. Well, Flean, we toss a ball around, I would always drop it. You know, I think that's the only part of home that I might miss, but there's no looking back. This is it now. Yeah, well, if we make it all the way to the end, good luck to us, but also good luck to all of our competitors. As you were chatting, you suddenly hear the door here bunk open and the entranceway is darkened by a large figure that nearly fills the frame. A huge Nalari cadet steps into the room with a heavy bootfall. His purple skin contrasts with the white uniform and his draconic scales, ears and horns are striking and not often seen on either of your homeworlds, Jason Milo. He stands in the room with his bag over his shoulder before placing it onto the ground and giving you a firm salute. Squadron 95. All right, this is what I'm talking about. You're our squad? Is this Squadron 95? It is, Jason Lazarus. There is Volo, Vassel of House Makar, and you are? Your shuttle made it. I pray to the hearth mother that your shuttle would make it. I am so glad you're safe. I'm Milo, Rinnia, I know your various, hold on, I have something for you, and I'm gonna zip back. Vassel of House Callum. It's nice to meet you, gentlemen. I apologize for leaving my bag in such a place. Let me put it away if you don't mind. And I apologize for the scuffs on my boots. I'll take care of those right away. I don't understand. It's been a long journey. Don't worry about it. I don't even think we noticed. I didn't notice. I will polish it. All right. Oh, this is for me. Yeah, you don't have to polish it. I mean, I don't think we have inspection until tomorrow. It is my duty. What is this? Are these my orders? What? Are these my orders? No, I don't think I have the authority for that. It's a gift. And you should probably open it now. You are not our commanding officer. No, I don't think so. Then certainly it is you? No, we're just on the same squad. We're all cadets. As far as we understand it, yeah. Who's our leader? I don't know. I mean, they gave us a packet of info when I got here. I haven't really had the time to sit down and read it yet. I'm not sure if you'd leave through it. Maybe the information's in there. I have not had time. Strange, on Basilicus, they would never have allowed this. Well, we're a long way from Basilicus and from all of our homes. I mean, this is, I mean, we're in a space station. I've never really spent a lot of time on a space station. Neither have I. Allow me to put away my things. Sure. And I'll take some time to like open my bag and like take different boots out, put them at the foot of my bed and put everything away and whatever drawers I have. Oh, forgive me, I just began. And I see that like you're on your bunk? No, I'm standing. My bag is just up there. And you can see Milo's letter kind of sticking out just gently placed up there. It's very visible. I look it down on myself and I see that there's one ground bunk and there's one top bunk. I'm going to presume this is mine. Oh, you can pick whatever one you want. Well, there are two options. Yeah. These two are taken, are they not? Yeah, it's first come and you know, you can see there's no. So not anyone that I want, but of these two options I can choose. Well, I mean, I guess if you really wanted mine, I guess I'd let you have it. No, this one is fine. And I'll go to the right bone and I will start putting my stuff away and I will immediately sit down on my bed. There's a creek as the bed tries to support your weight and succeeds. And I'll pull my boots off and I'll start, and I'll take out some polish and I'll start polishing my boots. You start to polish your boots and you all are still just getting accustomed to this new space, the view that is afforded to you. It seems that you are on a space facing side. All that you have before you is the massive expanse and the light of the nebula and stars casting in to the small room that you now find yourself sharing with these strangers. Knowing it would eventually come, of course. You hear the door slide open as a lithe salari steps into the room with almost mechanical precision. His skin is of an icy blue with darker shades than the gradient of his shoulder length hair. His eyes are as cold as his palate as he looks at you wordlessly and appraisingly and not looking impressed. You face each other in silence for a quiet, awkward moment waiting for someone to break the tension. So this is my squadron. Yes, yeah, we're Squadron 95. Oh, thank goodness. You must be, you must be Ren. It's like a broom closet in here. Are you the commanding officer? I'll stand up and I'll give a salute. I'm mimicking Varys. Oh. Yes. I think I am. Sir, welcome. It is an honor and I'll like to kneel down. It is an honor to live and die for Squadron 95. Yes, you're spirited and a big one. Milo said your name is Ren? Jay Slasvich, nice to meet you. My friends and family call me Ren. You can call me Lord of the Rimehold on scathe or my Lord. Lord? Lord? You are your Lord of noble birth? That's right. My Lord, forgive me my Lord and I'm gonna hang my head. But I like to look great in his eyes. Which house? The house of Gorma. The Rulie House of scathe? That's the one. Wait a minute, wait a minute. You're telling me that you're a Lord? What are you doing here? They don't teach school where you're from? Do you know the houses? I was pretty good at schooling and history. Oh, I have you something my Lord. I didn't even know that they actually allowed nobles. I thought this was a program for us common born. Man, I can't believe we have a Lord in our squadron, in our bunk. And I'm gonna go and I'm gonna. I hope this is well. I apologize, I did not expect this. But this is incredible news. If we have you on our team, we can't lose. Yeah, I mean, you must have had training with a master at arm to the castle. That's right. Between you and, what is this? Oh, it's a present. In friendship and blessings of the hearth mother. I received one as well my Lord. Oh, did you open yours though? It's not your penmanship that interests me, it's your piloting. If you're all good enough to stay out of my way, we'll do just fine. Hey man, did you just tear Milo's gift in two? No, oh, it's okay. It's not a big deal. It was really stupid anyway. I'm gonna grab, I'm gonna grab like the pieces. No. And I'm gonna like, I'm gonna grab it. That was a thoughtful kind gesture. We're supposed to be a team here. And we will be, as long as you know enough to stay out of my way. Stay out of your way? That's right. I don't think you understand what I'm here to do. And what is that? I'm gonna be the greatest pilot the Cavill on Empire has ever seen. The greatest pilot, don't make me laugh. Your hands, you look like you're about as equipped to wield a broom as you are a sword. All of that is behind me. There's nobility in custodian roles. And I'm gonna like, I'm gonna take, I'm gonna take the, like my ears are definitely back and down now. And my tail's kind of like down between my legs. I'm gonna take the two halves and I'm gonna stuff it under my mattress. I'll give you this, you're a dreamer, but top pilot, you stand no chance. Not what I showed up. Yeah, we'll see about that. I'm afraid for you, we will. I think there can be two greatest pilots of the Cavill on Empire. Or even more, if anybody who wants to be can set their mind and heart to it. Well, that's a stupid thing to say. I, there's one greatest and then there's everybody else. Well, the teachings of Vistaya, the hearth mother is about peace and community and mercy. And I think that we should try to have togetherness. All of us are here for the same reason, even though we're competing. We're here to protect our homes and our families. We're here to live and die in the defense of the Empire and for the Empress. As you are sworn to do as well, no doubt. My Lord. I'm here to get a rook. And as you said, become the top pilot and earn my position in this program. What's the matter, your family wouldn't give you one? I'm literally doing this, I'm sweating. I'm just like a sweat that comes down. I mean, I have an excuse, but what's yours? I'm happy to earn a rook through this. What's your excuse? Family couldn't afford one? Or you don't have a family? I look away. You got like. It's in this moment of tension, as you've also assembled, that a loud voice reverberates throughout the space station's intercom system. All cadets report to the Great Hall for a welcome by General Sigurd. This message repeats as you join a swarm of hundreds of other recruits. Making your way through the sleek and sterile hallways until you all spill out in the Great Hall of the castle. Among the countless cadets around you, you see officers of every rank of the Cavalon military at various points and stations. The murmur of the crowd is loud as the group is ordered to make tight rows facing an elevated riser. Suddenly, the din is silenced by the blaring of a trumpet as a voice roars out. Company, attention! Commanding officer of Operation Waltz, General Sigurd! The Great Hall silences as a human in a general's uniform steps out onto the riser. His numerous medals denoting a decorated military career. His powerful build is complimented by a strong square jaw and perfectly sculpted cut of black hair. He looks out over the crowd of cadets and speaks into the microphone before him with a commanding voice. 1200. There are 1200 of you recruits from 12 Core Worlds, sponsored by 12 Great Houses. By the end of this program, there will only be 12 of you remaining. The number, favored by the gods themselves, ensures that Agathos looks favorably upon and blesses this operation. Operation Waltz. The months to come will not be easy, and for the few of you who are determined and skilled enough to be selected for graduation, it will be even harder as you are sent off to war. Make no mistake, you are all signing up for war, defending our empire from the growing and imminent threat that encroaches upon our borders and plots the utter annihilation of our homes, our people, and our way of life. The critical and unique nature of this threat has provided you an immensely rare opportunity. The opportunity for the commonborn to bond with and pilot sacred rooks of Kavalon. Should our ultimate mission be successful, the 12 of you shall be granted land, titles, and the right to keep your new rook within your famillation for generations to come. I know that none of you will take this lightly. There are 100 cadets from each of the 12 Core Worlds that are a part of this operation. Only one from each world will remain to claim their reward. Three squadrons of four. You will live and die by your squadron. You may have nothing in common, but it is imperative that you learn to fight as a unit. Your lives depend on it. Your mission is to live the tenets of chivalry to earn your knighthood and join the hallowed halls of the heroes of the Kavalon Empire. I look forward to your future achievements. For the Empress. For the Empress. For the Empress. In unison, every person in the great hall echoes. The murmur returns as the general disappears from view and the voice over the intercom directs students to the mess hall for a meal before beginning their studies for the following day. You all guided and it's easy enough to flow into this mess hall. You get in line, choosing perhaps to stand next to each other or given the tension of your assembly. Find a meal on your own and sit. Oh, I would absolutely make sure that I'm with Milo and Varys and I would not turn runaway if you were to join. We're a squad after all, but... Friend can do what he like. Wow, General Sigurd is such a wonderful speaker. I feel very inspired. That was impressive to say the least. He's an honorable man. He knows what he lives and dies for. 1200 down to 12. We're gonna do this. Some of us will. All of us. We're a squad. Yeah, we either win or we lose together. I don't mean to be mean, but I think you're stuck with us. Oh, it seems our fate's abundant for now. Well, I guess it was just chance. I mean, I think that I almost feel bad. It's almost like it's cheating having a... A lord in our squadron? I mean, you probably have actually piloted a mech. We probably only had simulations. None of you have piloted a mech before? No, my lord. No, not I. But I know I can do it. Simulations, that's how we all earned our spot. I don't know if there was an application process. Maybe they don't have one for the noble born, but for the rest of us, it was pretty rigorous and grueling. There was a lot of testing, a lot of training, a lot of simulations. And I suppose you're all top pilots of your worlds? One of a hundred. One of a hundred. It is a great honor that House Maycar has blessed me with it. So, tell us a little about yourself. Come on, we gotta get to know each other. Me, me, me. If you don't mind. I need to know. Yeah. Come on, lighten up a little and I slap you on the shoulder. I served House Maycar as a vassal for most of my life. On the silica, we joined the military very young and been a member of the army. We've been a military very young and been a member of the house guard for many years, almost as long as I can remember. It is my great honor and duty to live and die for them and to live and die for the Empress and the great houses. Come with great honor and great duty and I was chosen for this. It was at the insistence of family. I do not know what they saw in me but I must have performed well in the simulations and was chosen. So, that's it, that's your big dream? To live and die for the Empire? It is not a dream, it is my duty. And in this life, I exist to fulfill my duty. It is my duty to live in service to the Empire, die in her protection and then return to the harmony. As is true for all citizens of the Empire. How aspirational of you. There is no great glory in believing so. It is just the way, it is as things are. If I become a great hero and am buried on one of the great burial moons, then I can barely dream of such an ending. But I care not, glory. Returning faceless to the harmony is enough for me. Man, I think we got to loosen this guy up a little bit. Come on, Milo. Did you leave your present back at the bunk? Maybe that would be, that would help. No, I brought it with me, just in case I needed it. Should I open it now? Well, I guess before we eat, we'll need to say a prayer, but why don't you open it now, before we pray? All right. That's terrible. Just as I described, rather than the horse lion from Quartica, it would be the creature on the heraldry of House Mekor, this kind of stony, rocky, crocodilian basilisk, and six-legged holding hands with the Cloud Wing, and it'll say, Varys, I'm so excited to be in a squadron with you. It's going to go great. Love, Milo. I am excited to be in a squadron with you as well, Milo. Thank you, we're going to do great. And, I mean, we're not going to die, we're just going to fight, and we're going to protect our families, and even if we don't win, we'll go home and we're saying we tried our best. We're going to win. There's no other option. I can swear that I will try my hardest. There's no guarantee. There are many skilled opponents amongst us, but a lord to compete on a squadron. I've never heard of such a thing. Your luck is quite impressive. With us competing as a squadron, with me here, you needn't do anything to achieve top ranks. We will win, as you say, Jace, and I will bring us there. Milo, why don't you tell us a little about you, huh? What are you doing here? What are your big dreams, your goals? Well, before I do that, I'm really hungry, can we pray? Please, I'm hungry as well. Sure, sure, of course. I don't know if I've ever done this. I don't touch common folks. Of course. There is? Yes. Fistaya, hearth mother, this meal you have provided brings us together, unites our community, and keeps us close around your hearth, that banishes the darkness and terrors of the night. Amen. Thanks, Milo, that was nice. What do you need now? Yes, let's eat. And I begin to stuff my face as I ask this. Thank you, hearth mother. The same question. Come on, tell us about your dreams. What are you doing here? Well, I just wanted to protect my home. I, Voltar is a core world, but it's closer to the borders. And, you know, there's a lot of conflict, even notwithstanding the enemies outside of the empire. There's a lot of conflict, and I've seen what war and battles and bloodshed can do. And my family has had it very easy. We own a fairy service. I take care of cloud wings, and we rent them out to people who can't afford ships and air speeders. Ah, that explains the drawing. Yeah, and, you know, it's comfortable, and I have it good, and it felt so wrong that if I followed the stars of Agathos in the constellation of the hearth mother, while their people are suffering from conflict and strife and war, if there's an enemy that's rising, if there's war that's coming, it feels wrong of me to be comfortable and happy with a good family and safety and a belly full of food when I could protect the empire and protect my world and protect my home and my family. That's what Vestaya's mission is. And so maybe it's a duty, but it's only to help protect the people and the friends and the family and the cloud wings and everyone back home. And all of your families and everyone you have back home. And everyone and the families of all 1,200 of us. Well said. Every citizen of the empire, across the galaxy. Yeah. That's very noble of you. Well, it's just all, it's the least I can do. And I'll do my best. You fly cloud wings, son. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, adjusting to, it was surprising. No one expected me to have a knack for a mech, but just something about taking into the sky on the back of a cloud wing and getting in the, and our culture has a, we have a tradition of jousting, of sky jousting. And I guess it translates well to lances in a mech. I didn't know I was, I didn't know I had a knack for it. And then I was kind of good at it. And then I kept practicing and I didn't think I was going to make it. I didn't think, you know, I mean, only 100 people per world. Taking to the skies, huh? Yeah, I mean, I didn't think that House Titalis would, would sponsor me. Well, now look at you. We're taking to the stars. You're here, you did it. Yeah. It's the first step. I did, and everybody else did too. Man, 1200 us, we're all really great. Just look at all these people, they have their own hopes and dreams and reasons for being here too. 11,988 people are going to have their dreams crushed. That's the reality. Only 12 people finish in the program. It doesn't matter that there are 12,000 here. They're all in... 1200. 1200. Fix that math. I said the right math the first time. Yeah, you did. You definitely did, my lord. You said 1200. That's correct. How dare you interrupt, Ray? I'm sorry, my lord. Anyway, there may yet be use for you. You may not be completely useless in the program, accustomed to the skies, lands in. You could show promise. That's what I know, and I know the guidance of the hearth mother. No matter where this ends up, winter lose. I know that I'll follow that path, that I'll follow her stars, and I'll end up where I'm meant to be. What if you, Jace, one of your dreams and hopes, wishes? Yeah. I have one goal. I'm going to be a true knight. You see these people, they fly around the galaxy. They enact the laws in order of the empire, but they're not real knights. You see the way they act? No honor. We can change that. We can uphold and embody the tenants every day and be better. You want to talk about saving people? We can do that. You want to talk about doing your duty? We can do that. We can live up to an ideal that we don't see every day. We can set an example. That's what I'm here to do. Be a true knight. Are you saying there are knights that do not live by their vows? That's impossible. Don't be so naive. But they've all sworn an oath. And they're noble born. They're chosen by the gods. It is the greatest privilege I can imagine. It's their oath. They say the words to uphold the tenants of chivalry, and the empress, and the cavalron empire. All I'm saying is you said it yourself. You've seen some things. You know what goes on out there. Yeah. War is hell. But we can help bring an end to things. We can be better. We can shine brighter. We can all be knights. And whatever happens you in my word, I will never stop fighting. I will never give up on any of you. We're gonna do this. We're a community. We're a community of four. A community of twelve. A community of twelve hundred. A community of an empire. We'll die for the empress and her glory. Whatever it takes. I can tell you one thing. I may not have been born a lion, but my heart roars with the ferocity of one. Yeah. It's a good thing rooks run on a plucky attitude. They do? No. Oh, oh, okay. What is that supposed to mean, Ren? That means for all your lofty ideals and your pretty words, when you get in a rook and you take it to the sky, none of that helps you. Precision, training, and execution are what it takes. Expert piloting. And you don't have that? Everything you want to accomplish, you will. Because I'll get you there. I don't think you realize how lucky you are. Because since we're on the same team, we won't have to meet in the battlefield. One of us sure is lucky. You better hope we never cross sorts. You wouldn't be worth my time. We're all lucky to have each other. That's right, guys. I feel quite fortunate to have all three of you. Especially you, my lord. But there will be training. Just because the three of us have not piloted a real mech, or certainly not a rook, we can learn. We can train. And if there's one thing I've learned in life, the more you train, the better you get. Yeah, I mean, they have to have the top instructors of the Empire here in this castle. I mean, what a privilege it is. And it's all, we don't have to pay for it. Sponsored by the Great Houses. We are really lucky. We really are. You imagine that hundreds of similar conversations are taking place around all of you right now. Other squadrons are getting to know each other. And for those of you who care to look, some are sitting in silence, barely getting to know one another. Perhaps out of fear, or perhaps because they... can't break the ice. Others are erupting into Boycer's laughter, while some do come to blows. And there are officers who have to jump in and stop whatever friction there might be in the face of strangers in this pressure cooker. That is what this castle has become for you. The pressure of the competition, the prize, not withstanding, but the ability to prove yourself on behalf of the house that you represent that has sponsored you, or on behalf of the world that believes in this program, in the ability for it to defend the Empire against the many threats of the galaxy, and to yourself. You turn in your tray, you clear your plate, and eventually you make your way back to your bunk. I would take the drawing that Milo made, and I would open up my locker storage thing, and I would find a way to pin it and hang it up. Magnet! And put it in there, a little magnet. I would say it's easy enough to produce a magnet. You would have had one either there, or there might actually have been magnetized instructions or placards or information about the room therein, and you can take that down and replace it with the photo. The drawn image. The rocker discs cannot hold hands with birds like this. I shot a lot of Williams, sir. Milo's sense of whimsy. I go to bed. As I'm getting to bed, as I open up my locker, foot locker, you'll see that similar hanging up, it's not going to be any of the individual ones. It's going to be a larger piece of paper, and it's going to be all four of our creatures. But you would not have seen those put up, the two-headed fox of scoffing, as well as they're all holding hands, and there is like a several space dolphins kind of leaping over with like a rainbow, and it says at the bottom, it says, I have that hung up in my locker as well. I would not hang mine up, but I would definitely take good care of it, and nobody would probably even see that. But I would make sure that it has a spot in my locker where it doesn't get crumpled up, and it stays safe protected in the envelope. And if anyone could see what I was doing, it would be clear that I was treating this gift with great care. I will go to my bed, and I would have come in with a rather luxury kind of duffel bag with a handhold. Probably I'll open it, and I'll go to my bed and strip it of whatever she provided on it, and redress it. It's a duffel made not with synthetic material. But with... It's a duffel made with real leather from one of those two-headed foxes that Milo mentioned. I'll strip the bed down, and I'll just toss the sheets in the center of the room to the lower bunks and redress it in whatever the finest sheets have in hand. When will the people who come to clean that up show up? When will they arrive? Exactly, right? Somebody will tend to it. And after doing so, I'd tuck in. Quick question. This is more of a diagetic question. I assume that beyond whatever training we'll get into and talk about, would there be facilities like a gym for physical fitness and things like that where we'd have time where I could go work out? No, this is a prison. The door closes and locks. I'm just confirming for our viewers at home. That's a very good question. The answer is that there is certainly some amount of flexibility. But what you would find is no more or less than what you would find on a military base. There is a rigidity. You can't just get up and... A curfew. That sort of thing, right? Even though those facilities are made available when you are not... on orders needed to be at a given training or a seminar or something along those lines, or speech given by the Great General, the answer is yes, those facilities would certainly exist. And you can't imagine what else might exist. The size of this fortress, this castle cannot be overstated. You are on one lower level of what must be... the size of a small moon. And it's all made. It's engineered. This is architected by the engineers of the Cavalon Empire. So it's not even like a base on a moon or something where you're standing on 90% rock. Every single wall and floor and facility has been put here with purpose and an intent in mind. Thank you. That answers my question. My pleasure. Um... good night, guys. May the hearth mother bless our dreams to be sweet and peaceful. I would like... is there a viewport out to space? Yes. Okay, so we're on the exterior of the castle. This viewport starts at about waist high, perhaps a little higher for you, Milo, and extends to the ceiling. It almost has a Cavalonesque emblem shape to it, where it bends in. You imagine that when you look at it from the exterior, you would actually see that image repeated and that that is an intentional design. I don't think that the viewport would have been... given the orbit that it was in would have been facing the tower quadrant of space. But I'm hoping that now I would be able to look at the window and see kind of the constellations of the hearth mother face the tower quadrant, the Vestaya and the other two gods of that quadrant. You realize there's a bit of rotation and what was facing open space seemed to when you returned from the speech and from your dinner had been looking towards the tower side. But as almost an answer to your prayer, it is now turning it once again to face that open space just as you're readying for your communal moment. The hearth mother's mercy. We are blessed. As I'm going to kind of look out, I'll say the prayer and then I'll get in bed. And I'll just reply to you because you were saying goodnight to me. I would say goodnight Milo. Ferris, Ren, it's good to have you on the team. Tomorrow is the first day of the rest of our lives. Goodnight, Jace. Good night, Lord. Please go ahead. I'm sorry I interrupted. We'll see what it brings. It won't happen again. I swear to you. Good night, Jace. Good night. Good night, Ferris. Good night. Good night, Shen. It's Ren. Oh, good night, Ren. Sorry. As I said, that's for friends and family. You can call me my lord. Good night, Lord Gorma. Good night. And that's where we'll take a quick break. What do you guys think about me? It's a 1400-plus page space opera trilogy for Dungeons & Dragons 5.5e. It has tons of options for players and GMs alike, including an entire galaxy to explore, 30-plus species, 40-plus subclasses, a brand new space combat system, and so much more. It's taken us three whole books to fit it all in. You can become a VIP at neonrpg.com to unlock a free set of neon knights, sharp edge resin dites, and more. It's only a dollar. Become a VIP now at neonrpg.com. Thank you. The following morning, the bell sounds to attend classes for the first half of the day. The 1200 cadets break off into 12 classrooms with 25 squadrons or 100 total students each. You sit in an amphitheater-style lecture hall as an elderly Leica professor that evokes a Scottish terrier, enters the room. He has a large, bushy mustache and kind eyes as he addresses you all. Good morning, class! Good morning! Good morning! Good morning! Good morning. I am Dr. Cressen, and while my specialty is engineering, I have a fondness for galactic history and politics. Let's begin to start who amongst you can tell me about our ancient enemy, the Saurok Dynasty. Oh! Oh! Oh! Over here! Yes, Dr. Cressen. Milo, Aranya. The Saurok Dynasty is our empire's ancient enemy, once ruling the entirety of the galaxy until the Civil War sent them scattered to three corners of the galaxy. Now, they rule from only three primary worlds after the Cavalon Empire brought peace, justice and security and safety after the darkness and the chaos that was left behind. They have a strong connection to the dinosaurs of the galaxy, and they are the only culture that has found a way to utilize harmonite in order to fund their very strange but very powerful technological wonders. What is your name? Milo Aranya. He jot something down on a pad in front of him. That is a textbook answer! I am proud of you! Very well done! Thank you, thank you, sir. Hey, nice job! And they have a reverence for the harmony and the people who came before them and spread that wisdom and not too dissimilar to our reverence of the great heroes of Cavalons and Saurok. There is quite a lot of similarities to the Cavalon Empire, despite the conflict. Similarities? I think you forgot to mention that they are war criminals. What they have spread through the galaxy is savagery. They are hatred of chivalry. They fell to infighting. They have almost torn themselves apart before they have re-stabilized now. And the absolute fringes of the galaxy before the Cavalon Empire re-established control. Well, I mean, I guess that is not necessarily war crimes. I mean, there is a lot of bad stuff that happens in war. But it depends on the books that you read. I don't have access to fancy libraries of castles. Well, maybe you can study up now. I'm happy to explain the Saurok dynasty to you. And how they tear themselves apart. And everyone who gets close. Well, I guess from a certain point of view, you're right. That's why we're all here. I guess why would we be at war if there wasn't something bad at the core of it? That is exactly correct. The Saurok dynasty has its shades of gray, let's say, but it is our duty as the Empire is to identify all threats that might harm or damage the people within it. The Saurok Empire is formidable. For medieval foe, as you say, they have access to technology that, well, we have to better or best in all circumstance. That is part of the reason you're here. Hey, I thought your answer was great. Thanks. I mean, you know, I only really had access to the books that my parents got me. And I don't know how, you know, how peer-reviewed it is. You continue to learn from the professor. He teaches you not just about some of the most recent events of the conflict between the Saurok Empire, but it goes into great detail about showing you maps, holographic displays, showing you battle fronts. You may remember some of these events very freshly in your own experience, or at least having read about them or heard of them on the news. Everything that he articulates eventually turns in some way to a metaphor about engineering. It's not just the Saurok dynasty and the Kavalan Empire, but it is important to remember, of course, the flexibility. Here is of my utmost importance, almost like designing a mech. With a mech, you have to make sure that things can bend. Yes, I know that when you put your hand on the steel, it fails very rigid and hard. But like you, as you all learn to become a squadron, to become a team, it is the ability for it to not bend until it breaks. That makes a good mech. And that is the outlook that you should put into your tactics on the battlefield. Well, I'm getting ahead of myself. Does everyone have a good grasp of the Saurok dynasty then? I think that my knowledge of all of this would be extremely like surface level and rudimentary, and that I'd be learning a lot of stuff for the first time through this. I think that most of this information would probably be new to me specifically, once before anybody else, just based on where I've come from and what I would have had available to me from education. I went through a standard education of the Empire, but it wasn't some super fancy private school or anything like that. No, no, and they are not holding any of their punches back. It is a fire hose of information. I think my head would be swimming a little. Your head would absolutely be swimming because this is a military grade education. This is not even what they would talk about in the news or even in a university on your home planet. This is the view of what the battlefield looks like from the perspective of a source of truth from the Empire itself. I have a question, sir. What was his name? Dr. Cressen, please, sir. Yes, yes, yes. Your name? I am Veris Volo. And what is your question? Ninety-fifth Squadron. My question is, how is it that the Empire has been unable to understand how harmonized technology works given that surely the Empire and the Empress herself must have a closer connection to the harmony than the War Mongols of the Sorok Dynasty? That is a fantastic question. Well put, well put, well put. You see, the actual research and development of harmonized requires a sorry in mind in order to comprehend. We have put our best minds to it and we will crack the code eventually, but harmonized is an elusive and strange material. Something that we have only just begun to grasp ourselves. Part of it is because of the newness of this technology and also because so much of our own time it goes into protecting and developing our own secrets. I'm sure that there are sirens in their own military camps right now asking that same question about Cavalad technology. Thank you, sir. Yes, your name? Jace Lazarus, Squadron 95, Vassal of House Column. When do we get to see the Rooks? The Rooks? If you mean your training vehicles, that you'll be privy to very soon. That'll be this afternoon if you are in the Ninety-fifth Squadron, as I can see. Yes. Yes, yes, yes, very soon, very soon. Good. And I just kind of sit down. Clearly I'm not as interested in this history lesson as there's something I'm very much here for and very excited for. It's almost as though your boredom has and will for that, for getting to the Rooks, triggers the shift, but a bell goes off. For lack of a better term, a signal rings out throughout the classroom and immediately people start putting things into their packs and moving on. Hey, we will pick up our class history tomorrow. We'll be talking not just about the Zark Dynasty, but about many of the threats. And we'll start to get into some of the more interesting details of the history of the Cavalad Empire and how the houses themselves were formed. That's wonderful. I can't wait till tomorrow. Great. Thank you for the lesson, sir. With class concluded, you are actually guided by your orders to grab a quick bite to eat. You enjoy a brief lunch and then you find yourselves arriving or called to the very lowest layers of the castle. I'm assuming the answer is just effectively like military food or camp food. What kind of food are we eating? This is not what Ren would consider fine dining. This is absolutely ration-quality. It is not bad food, certainly. It is protein-rich, it is heavy in nutrients, it is well-prepared. There is nothing slop about it. It is just that you have a much broader culinary experience and what would be served to someone of a royal house would be very different than the... If you are picturing a microwave dinner with the little trays and all the different foods portioned out, that's what everyone is getting and it is cookie cutter. You might be used to having the ability to order exactly what you want on the menu or even just demand a specific dish and it would be prepared for you in a timely manner and as delicious as anyone could possibly imagine. Here, you are getting the same food that Varus is getting, that Milo is getting, that Jason is getting, and so on. I love a hamburger steak. I was unscrewing. Did you guys understand any of that? I mean, it was... I am here for one thing and one thing only. It is not a history lesson. I can't believe they feed this to people. Oh, it is really good. I am actually surprised how good it is. It is really yummy. I mean, I feel like we have to know our enemy. We have to know the threats on all corners of the empire. I don't know. I feel like once I get behind one of those rooks, it is just going to be the fire in my heart. It is a feeling, you know? I am just itching to get behind the controls. Well, I mean, we are only going to be able to even get into the cockpit of a rook if we beat out everybody else. What was that number? It was a lot of people, everyone but 12. 1188, just like I said last time. And who needs a history lesson for that? It is distressing to know that our enemy is manipulating and abusing the harmony in such ways. To wield it against us through weapons of war. I don't know if abuse is the right word. I mean, their entire culture from the top to the bottom reveals the harmony more than cavalon culture does. Based on the lesson, I don't know if it is reference or wicked manipulation. I mean, historically, the focus on the harmony from the empire is through the faceless, only one of the 12. You going to finish that? You want some of this? Yeah, if you are not going to eat it, I will take it. Help yourself. You are lost. And I just go to town on this food that you won't touch. You are not going to eat that? I believe portioned out exactly because it is the proper nutrition for our training today. I will be fine. I can keep up. Don't you worry about me. You focus on yourself and executing flawlessly. I am going to focus on all of us because we are a team. That is what the hearth mother demands and decrees. Milo. Yes, Varys? What can you tell me about the faceless? The faceless? Yes. God of life, death, the balance? Yes. I mean, my study is in Vistaya the hearth mother. There is a connection to the harmony and it is debated on whether Sef dwells there or is the connection to. Perhaps not the creator of, but the balance of life, death and the necessity of all souls to make that journey. And there is no face, just a mask. We are all faceless within the harmony. This is correct. That's what they say. As a member of the house guard of House Maykor, we swear an oath to Sef. Through that is my duty to live and die for the protection of House Maykor and the Empress Bjarne. But they don't teach us about the gods in this way. No classrooms, no books. I mean, there's a lot of worlds in the Empire and we all revere the different gods of the Twelve in different ways, some more than others. I mean, I worship of Garwin the Allfather or the Allfather is the Wildfather is prevalent on Uthun, our capital, but very rarely revered on my world. Strange. It's a big Empire. It's a big galaxy. There's a lot of different people out there. So there are those that do not revere. Faceless? Plenty. I mean, that's even outside of just the borders of the Empire. I mean, the Solar Federation doesn't revere the gods at all or the harmony. They're about to hear and now and the life that we have, not about the life, the death, the cycle or the will of Agathos. Because they care nothing of chivalry or honor. No. Within me. Wow, Milo, you sure know a lot. I'm impressed. My, my Paul always said, especially once the whole fleeing and sports didn't work out. I, you know, I guess that I like books. So he got them for me and art stuff. He tried. I just, I just like to learn about people. I mean, I believe that the hearth mother believes in the community and even if I don't revere Sef or Garwin or, or Tichris or any of the other of the 12 that, you know, I, there are people that do and I at least can respect it, even if they're not my favorite patron. Well said. All of their stars can guide and bless. Will the hearth mother bless us in the trials? I believe so. I pray on it every night and I pray for all of you. Do you believe Sef will grant me any boons for my loyal service? Well, I don't, I don't know if, if Sef will, I just have you try praying. In what way? What, what way do they teach you on your world? How does house, house make or revere Sef? By living the oath. By serving. Well, there you go. Service and duty. There you go. I'm sure that Sef appreciates that. The faceless is very mysterious and, and the one that I know the least about, but. I, I'm sure that in it, in their own way they will bless you and I'll pray for you and the hearth mother will at least bless you. I would appreciate a boon. Thank you. I, I guess we'll all just say another prayer before we go on to our training. There isn't time. Signal blares out and you realize that you've been talking over half finished meals and you have to very quickly scarf down the front of you as you are commanded to make your way down and down to the lower layers of the castle. You all arrives at the lowest layers of the castle and you find an enormous training facility with courses, sparring rooms and other drilling areas for both the scale of on foot combat or for mechs that are 30, 40, 50 feet tall. The sheer grandeur of this space is immense and you cannot fathom just how much it costs to construct this space station. The four of you are ushered to a relatively small hanger that houses four Esquire training mechs. They are simply constructed and optimized for basic combat maneuvers painted in the simple colors of the Cavalon Empire. While not nearly as impressive as the noble rooks, it is still surreal to consider that you are about to hop into their cockpits. Well, for all of you besides Ren. The rest of you have had to train in simulators to be accepted into Operation Waltz, but you, Ren, have had the privilege of practicing in your own training mech procured by your lord father. As you enter the hanger, a large screen flashes with the face of General Sigurd. His voice crackles through the intercom. Cadets! This is your first of many training drills. This is your first time fighting as a squadron, so work together or else you have no hope of succeeding. You will be graded in your performance and ranked, and the ranking will be updated in the coming months. Take heed. Although you will face robotic drones, this is still battled. Injury and death are a possibility. Do whatever you can to keep each other alive. Good luck, Cadets. For the Empress. You are ushered across a gangplank, and you can see that these four, the way that this hanger is built, you're actually up 30, 40, 50 feet up in the air. You're not asked to climb a ladder in order to board. You instead have direct access at the shoulder level to the cockpit itself. And you have a moment to admire this incredible feat of technology and what is actually only one of the standard mechs of the Empire, a basic unit. Wow. This is unbelievable. I can't believe they're letting us use equipment like this. It's charming to see you all so excited. Why are you not excited? Look at these things. I've used this before. This is how I train to pilot. Wow. That must be awesome. We are blessed this day. Yeah. We are blessed. Oh, I cannot wait to get out there. We're going to show them what we can do. Right, guys? Right. I owe this honor to House Maycore. I think we're going to do it. Remember, no matter where we're from, no matter what differences we have, it's like General Sigurd said, we have to work together or we're never going to advance. We'll advance. Just don't get in my way out there and we'll rank amongst the top. Hearth Mother, grant us your mercy and banish the terror and the chill of the night. If I may cast blessed. Come on, baby. Bless is not allowed. Oh, man, was that the Hearth Mother? Was that the Hearth Mother going down and saying bless is not allowed? Oh, no. Let me just double check. I'm going to bless everyone but myself. Wow. Because I don't believe... Wait, do I have a second level spell slot? Oh, man. Your third level, you should. Oh, I'm going to use casted at a second level. Actually, I do. It's a handy-dandy character sheet. Thank you. I haven't used any spells. I'm marking down a second level spell slot. As I'm going to bless at a second level, calling upon Vestaya the Hearth Mother, as I'm going to hopefully grant her blessings upon all four of my companions. With that, I look to you and I say, thank you, my love. Yeah. Yeah, I got a great feeling about this. And I'm going to walk a little bit closer to one of these mechs. Not quite... within touching distance? I mean, like... You would be able to reach out and touch this, the head and the shoulders and the chest, if you wanted to. I do. From where you are. I put my hand on it. You stretch your hand out over the... It's softer, but still loud enough for everybody that my team to be able to hear me, I say, I've been waiting my whole life for this. This is it. We're going to change the world. Yeah, we're going to save the Empire. I think it's the four of us who are going to save it. We're going to win as a squadron and for the Empress. For the Empress? For the Empress. We're certainly going to fly around space a little bit. Yeah! Yes! Fly around the space a little bit! All right. When you put your hand on the metal, you expect it to be cool, but this mech has already been turned on. Launch procedures are ready to go and you find that it's warm to the touch. So the entire thing is almost like a living body and each of you, after cheering and blessing and talking, separate walking down the gangplank and getting into the seat of one of these mech cockpits. You watch as the threshold closes down the actual face of the cockpit lowers and seals you in to a padded seat. There are handles to the left and right and everything that you recognize from your simulations or from your real-world experience is right there, but there's a massive difference between reaching out with haptic gloves and touching things in a VR environment, then actually putting your hands on the... There's no other way to say this. It's like gripping the rough texture of an easy bar as you're about to lift weight. When you grab the handles of the piloting controls. You all settle into the cockpits of your training mechs, close the hatch and punch the buttons on the console to power on the suits. You grasp the controls as your training suits come to life facing the huge blast door of the hangar. A large countdown appears on the screen above as a voice rings out. Training program one initiated. Prepare for battle. Drill begins in ten. Nine. Eight. Seven. Six. Five. Four. Three. Two. One. Red and blue light flashes a trumpet-like horn bellows and the blast doors open to the training grounds ahead. I need everyone to roll for initiative. Let's go! Oh my god! Okay. Hot damn. Do you have stat blocks for Arbus? I'm going to hand those out and we're going to talk about mech rules real quick. So let's get mechanical as soon as I grab dice because I realize I didn't actually get the map. We need a map as well. My ditty dog. I'm going to grab a dice. I'm going to grab a dice. I'm going to grab a dice. I'm going to grab a dice. I'm going to grab a dice as well. My ditty dog. Ooh, ooh. I'm going to let you all decide what color everyone is because it turns out there's a bunch of colored paper downstairs. Oh, yeah, not me. Oh, this is okay. Yeah, you're broke. I'm probably yellow. Yeah, this works. Hell yeah. Oh my god. Oh, you agree on your mech when I have yellow. Oh yeah, we'll swap. You will see that this battle arena, oh and thank you for what you're doing, Richie. I'm going to draw something real quick here. All right. Okay. Let's go over your mech sheets here for a moment. I'm going to talk a little bit about how mechs are different from starships and how this combat differs from traditional dungeons and dragons. Dragons? Dungeons combat. And you'll see that this is very similar to what we've experienced before in terms of having fighters, like when we play starship combat and you're each in your own individual scrambled fighter starship. Or what we did on Friday with Voidbound where you all played in one starship. It has the traditional rules here for things like shield points, hit points, speed, that sort of thing. I want to direct your attention, however, to the underneath crew, the heat maximum that is going to be important for your mechs. In starship combat, you have power dice, if you'll recall. These are extremely handy. If you don't use one, you generate one at the beginning of your turn. You have a roll at the beginning of your turn if you've spent your power die to potentially generate more power dice. And you can use them to do all sorts of cool things. You can use them for boosting your engines, for movement, dampening your inertia, for saving throws. You can isolate signals, jam targeting, raise shields, target lock in order to add your power die value to a roll potentially turning a miss into a success if it's an attack roll. Target lock is very handy. You will need to be very familiar with the power dice rules because that's very different when it comes to a mech. For mechs, you'll have a rules sheet here called mechs and heat. Instead of a power dice pool, mechs have max heat, which means you can just generate power die. So instead of having a pool that you pull from, you can just say, I'm using a power die for this and you can use up to three. However, if you start to use more than your maximum heat threshold, you will start to suffer exhaustion. Myon exhaustion will start to, as your engine overdrives, as your mech starts to push itself beyond its limits. If we go over, if we're holding more heat? You can't go higher than maximum, but if you use a power die when you are at maximum, you will invoke exhaustion. Nice. So we start at zero and as we use power dice, we're gaining heat. Exactly right. And so if we don't use it, we can basically have a chance to lower it. And so if that is the start of your turn, you haven't used a power die, then your heat goes down because you're not pushing your mech to its limits. But this is how we're going to represent the intensity of the mech. And also to set expectations for chat and for our audience. This is still very much play test. This isn't necessarily final or what we're going to put in the book. I want to make clear that this is something that we're actively developing and this expression of how mechs are different and what makes them a threat and what their weaknesses are is what we're going to be playing tonight. Can I read these? Yes. I read these in a few features. The first is gaining and venting heat. When a mech generates a power die, it gains one heat. At the start of a mech's turn, if it has heat, roll 1v6. On a five or a six, it vents heat and reduces its heat total by one. If the mech didn't gain any heat since the start of its previous turn, the roll succeeds automatically. Overheating. A mech at its maximum heat allowance can still use power dice options, but it suffers consequences. When a mech is at max heat and gains more heat, don't increase its total heat beyond its maximum. Instead, at the end of the turn, the mech gains one ion exhaustion. Dang. That's exactly correct. Very cool. And do we have the ion exhaustion levels? That's in the start. Oh, oh, oh. Do you have a problem? Yeah, I'm getting better. Oh, what's the matter guys? Yours didn't come with a custom heat gauge. Oh, crazy. That's badass. All right. So take some moment to familiarize yourself with your training mech as I turn the music down just to smidge because it's getting epic as fuck. And I'm going to do a little bit math back here one moment. To do this. This is on this. Unless it's on the full rules. What are you looking for? Ion exhaustion rules. Oh, it's not on there. Got it. You just, it's minus one no rolls and you just be reduced by one space. It's regular exhaustion. Yeah, that's minus two. Minus two per. Oh, yeah, sorry. Got it. Cool. And of course the other things about an ion exhaustion remain true just like normal exhaustion when you reach six bad things happen. Uh-oh. And we're using our mechs initiative. Yep. Okay, then I know what I got. Okay. Are we ready to dive in? Yes. Yep. Then I will shift over to combat music and we will get into it. There you are. Hey buddy. Let's do you. All right. Uh, 20 to 30. 24. Whoa. 24. Whoa. I will course let the Lord go first. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Uh, 15 to 20. I got a 15. I got a 15. No. No. You. Yeah, buddy. I have a whole two. This is crazy. This is crazy. Quadrant 95 is insane. You go ahead, Jace. I'm right behind you. Woo. Baby, okay. All right, all right. And I mean, yeah, Ren doesn't care. I rolled my roll up. Yeah. Ren's like, I'm too casual for this. Yeah. Oh, wow, that's amazing. I almost already had them in the correct configuration and these goons down here are going to represent. You would know from your briefing what it is exactly that you are facing. There's a certain level of unknown that's part of the simulation itself is that you are going to need to deal with the unknown, certainly. But in this context, this reminds you of the simulations that you've done in the past. There is a control zone. And as you walk in, you can see that there are these big monitors on the ceilings that are facing down at an extreme angle here. Actually, why don't you take these guys and put yourself on the. Oh, let's go. Yeah, where's the hatch? The hatch is the point facing me. So you actually are starting at the corner. Oh, baby. Damn, that's handsome. I'm like that's a lot. Oh, yeah. I'd like that. Let's go, baby. This is actually my worst map. I've never drawn a more terrible. I like this very enders games were really reminding me of Enders game. Put it like right in my right in the palm of my hand. You know, like right up in there. Right back up. There we go. You guys seen it. Close enough. I mean, it's all up there. It's all up there. So I like what he's done with the little like it's wrong. The core here. We're on the court. This basically this hats opening up by two by two. And that's great. Yeah. So probably we're first. Yep. And then you guys behind us. Damn. I feel as this happens, I almost feel like I am feeling that I could act swiftly and perhaps use my eager advance. Oh, Darren. Trink, but I know that it's not about me. I'm here to fight for my friends. My friends. So I hold back and I'm going to make sure that everyone else is able to go out and do their thing before I can then assess the battlefield and support them the best way that I can. The hangar doors open and you're confronted by this massive battle arena out in front of you. It is. There are ramps and surfaces, but there's very little in the way of cover. This is an open field of combat. And you see on the opposing side a number of drone mechs. These are thinner in some places and you can tell by their very build that there are no humans operating these machines. These are purely what's written on the tin. Drones designed for the purposes of training. And they are already and essentially awaiting for you to cross the threshold to begin and trigger the exercise. Additionally, as you look up, you can see that there are these boards, these displays that are being projected into the ceiling of the combat space all around you. And it says each of your names and then underneath that leaderboard. What I'll need each of you to do is anytime you hit with an attack roll, anytime an attack roll misses you, anytime an enemy fails a saving throw you force it to make, anytime you succeed on a saving throw or anytime you destroy an enemy, mark it down for your personal counter. There will be a score, a cadet score for each individual here. Okay, I think what will help is if you restate the... I will re-give you the parameters here a moment. But you also see how as a team this is contributing to your leaderboard ranking as part of your training in academia. What is going to choose you to be the best of the best? You got to get that score up. And so all of your scores combined will be how your squadron ranks against all the other squadrons who are similarly sweating in their own cockpits right now. Let me give you the parameters one more time so that you can write them down. They're pretty simple. It's basically whenever you succeed or fail at anything. Wait, wait, wait. We only add points if we succeed. You add points if you hit with an attack roll. Okay, hit. If an attack roll... Oh, and we have to track the points? Track your own personal points. Oh, okay. I'm going to try to track them too. But you'll tell us how many points we're getting when it happens? Yes. It's always one. Oh, okay. One point for hitting with an attack roll. One point for an attack roll missing you. Missing, yeah, dodging. One point for an enemy failing a saving throw you force it to make. One point for succeeding on a saving throw. And whenever you destroy an enemy, in this case, a target drone. One point for destroying. Exactly right. Let me also tell you one final way that you can get points. If you start your turn in the control zone, the central pad area. King of the hill style. Then you will add an additional 1d6 to your personal score and to your total leader board. Oh, my holy fuck. Oh my God. Okay. Let's fucking go, Barrison. Let's get in there. I know what I'm doing. I'm doing my Lord. Take up this space. Just so I don't mess this up this time. I know when we were on the Calypso, I could use extra attack while manning the turrets. Can I use any of my subclass features while I'm in my mech? It depends on the feature. I think that if it is easily justified, the answer will be yes. What I'm looking at specifically is the disciple, even before a subclass, I can expend an essence point to on a bonus action do two additional strikes. Oh. Would I be able to apply that to my rifle, my arming blade? Oh shit. I don't think I have. Oh, sorry. What is it? It's a... Oh, up here. And so it strikes. One essence point to my arm strikes. None of these affect your mechs. So I won't do anything there. Ignore your class features. Unlike it being a weapon where, as an example, because she was playing a tracer, Nikki was able to attack twice because she was using a weapon, the vehicle... It's not like your int is the vehicle. Your strength is the vehicle. There is a threshold where you have to pause. I just didn't want to miss out on three attacks. No, I appreciate that. I appreciate that. Because your boy's going for the leaderboard. Oh, that's fucking dope, baby. And you're equipped with your mechs. It's important to note that our speed is 100 feet. On foot, every square is 20 feet. So we have five squares of movement. It's still five. Thank you. Very important to note. I meant to mention that out loud. We're trying something to have different scales that mechs will throw on the ground. And then here, this is ground mech combat. So every square here for our purposes is 20 feet instead of five. Okay. I know that was a fire hose of information. I think it's going to... I feel good. I think it's going to smooth out as we play. So, as our first mech combat mech turn, will you mace mech mech go? I will blast forward on my Esquire mech. Your engines aren't on. So what I will say, what I will say is not that you don't have to do anything. It's just that you're not in flight. This is a ground combat scenario. So you race forward. You are running across the hard metal terrain of this simulated battle arena. Preverbally, I blast forward on my feet. One, two, three, four, five. Okay. I'll lead the charge. You may as well stay in the hangar. I'll make short work of these. I'll say to my comrades. And I will show the... So we have two weapons. We have an arming blade and we have a burst rifle. We also, as a bonus action, we have stance change. The pilot changes the mech into close combat stance or fire support stance. Determining it's available actions. If I may, can I say that I just start in fire support stance? I will say that you could have started your turn in whatever stance you wanted to before racing out and triggering the combat. Ren triggers combat. You are already, but he's the one who crosses the threshold. And all of a sudden, the center area turns white with a beam of light that flies up, indicating that nobody is in the control area right now. As you race forward, you choose range or... I will choose fire support stance. You lock a shield and your sword onto your back and you pull your rifle out. And I will attempt to fire on number three. Straight down the line there. Come on, hearth mother. What is Bless? 1d4, if it's still going. Oh, are you disadvantaged this distance? Burst rifle's 520. But for ground combat, it should have a secondary amount in one moment. Where is it? It's not like trying to... Yes, 5 to 20 hexes, but 200 to 400 feet. So 10 squares. He's good. Perfect. Wow, I got lucky there. Yes, so you're within range without having to roll for disadvantage. There's no luck. This was calculated in the past. You win every fight before it begins. Got it, the world. If I can roll a blast, if it's still happening. Yes, I would say that some time has passed, but the full minute of that spell, as long as my log is still maintaining concentration, is not an issue. Eight plus... 13. Unfortunately, the shot goes wide. Oh, psh. However, you do have the opportunity of perhaps using a power die if you wanted to generate one and target lock. Oh, wow. Wow. Precision being what it is, is that the end of your turn? Yeah, absolutely. Varus. And also, I apologize for mispronouncing your name earlier. It's spelled with two A's on the back of here, and it's really hard to fuck that up. Go ahead. I'll say. After you, my lord. My name is Varus Vullo. The eyes of the gods, I am faceless. I am simply the living shield of House Makor. Yes! And I am going to 1, 2, 3, 4, 5... I'm going to start stomping behind Ren, and I pass him as I take the dash action. My man! 1, 2, 3... Red for mine, bro. 4, 5 here. The moment you cross into the threshold, you are bathed in golden yellow light. The yellow of the Cavalon Empire. You have entered the control, and you now dominate the control area. And I'll send over the comms. I'm pressing on both foot pedals to run forward, and I do some controls, and my mech will pull from a scabbard, if this is a thing. I am being a sword out, as I am in close combat stance, with a shield and a sword in my arms. And I'll say, Squadron 992 Squadron, I will be the wall! Stand behind me! And the flutter? Good turn. You take the combat stance, and you stand in the control area, and you also don't use any power dice. J. This is all kind of happening simultaneously. I watch as Ren takes off, and watch as Marius takes off. I had started in the burst rifle mode, and I am using my bonus action to stance change before I even take a stepsh, and there's this sound of steel being drawn as I get my sword and shield out. And I say, there's not a chance in hell I'm letting Ren get ahead of me! And I use the dash action to basically take off. And if I can flavor it this way, there's actually some of the flight jets that we would use to fly help assist my movement as I take off and move 12345678910. And I find myself side by side with Varus as I hear your command. And I know that you are our shield, but I'm there to be your sword. There's a burst of steam from the heat of these vents as they propel you forward, transforming into a cloud of vapor that fills the space as you race into the control area and take your side by Varus. That's my turn. Do I get a point for being in the control center? You'd have to start your turn now. Thank you, not the end. Perfect. Just want to clarify. Thank you. So each of us adds points to our team total. By being my starting here. As a start of your turn, you'd be able to roll a d6 and add it to your personal score into the leaderboard. Perfect. I will. It'll be my turn. That's right. I'm supporting you as I'm going to use my bonus action. I may have already been in this, but basically supporting fire stance as I am going to shift to my stance, to fire support stance as I will put the sword away and I will grab the supporting rifle. That's my bonus action as I'm going to dash as well. One, two, three, four, five. One, two, three. As I will ready the rifle of my mech at the one that I feel is going to be the most deadly. So I can offer a cover fire. Do you fire? Oh, I can't. I used the dash. That's right. I'm trying to get some early points here though. The three at the front line here. I'm hiding you. So it'll be two, three and four. They have... That's confusing. It just makes a moose. One, two, three, four, five. There we go. All right. One, two and three. I need to see a little bit more closely. Oh, I can also pull this up too for you. One, two. What we're going to do is we're going to go... One, two, three, four. Oh, yeah. Yeah, you bozo drones. Come on. Come get some! Guess this, I think this is the coolest thing we've ever done in our lives. The sound of the march, the charge, the assault, reverberates through this enclosed space as... The brutal assault? What's that? Nothing. That's fine. Okay. And you can hear, even in your cockpit, the sound of the mechanics and engineering necessary in order to move their body as they stomp forward. They're not as fast as the Esquire training mechs that you find yourself in. So they immediately raise their arm, and you can see these blasters that are attached to the arm. The ones in the front three are going to attack Ren, Jace and Milo sequentially. Okay. So they're still in distance mode. They're taking shots. Exactly right. Ren, with its rotary blaster, a .22 to hit. Oh, that'll hit. It's all right. Plenty of shield points. I'm going to need some dice. I'm glad I was prepared for this. The fact that I could hit, I didn't think it would happen, folks. So it's just going to ignore me, just standing right there. We're taking a shot. Yeah. No one's stopping attacks Milo. Oh, I'm going to. You said one, two, and three are attacking Jace, Ferris, and Ren. Got him. When do I start being this in the edge? Oh, shot. Oh, way farther distance. So two hundred and four hundred feet, that's a ten and twenty square. I miss red. So within ten squares, you're fine. Oh. So two hundred squares would be anything beyond two hundred squares would be disadvantaged. But if I'm in my disadvantage, if they're closer, can I shoot them here? Yeah, yeah. As long as they're not melee. Within twenty, or within ten squares, you're regular. Beyond ten squares, you'd be disadvantaged. Got it. Unless they got up in the melee, then you'd also be disadvantaged. Okay. Nineteen points of damage to your Ren. Oh. As this shot from the side hits your mech. Mech, you're used to this experience having trained in a mech that that sudden jolt the earthquake that happens beneath you and the immediate readout and and a Claxon of sound that surrounds you as you are view view view view view view are informed of the damage and it can read its status for you, Ferris. Wow. I got an eighteen and then a nineteen. So that's going to be a twenty three to hit that absolutely hits. I have your stats right here. That's it. Absolutely. I don't think it does. I think that brother. You think it will. You think it will. But as I see this shot coming in, I raise my shield and it'll deflect. It's a good hit, but I'm going to use my reaction to do shield parry. So right now my AC is eighteen because I'm in close combat. I'm going to use my reaction to shield parry to add two to the mechs AC against that attack because it's a mistake to miss. And then you will see my mech almost heat up as I use a as I gain some heat as I use a power die to. Can I increase my AC? Yes, jam party. Jam targeting. Yep. This one. If you were an ally, supplied attacks, been a power die to subtract from the attack roll. To not increase your AC, but you can lower their hit. Got it. I'm going to do that. Fuck yeah, you will. So what do I need to get to miss for to miss? A two. What was the roll? Um, I got a twenty three to hit. And you went up to four. You got to roll four, five or six. Fuck it. I'm sorry. That's definitely worth it. Yes! Yes! That's a point baby! Two points are various, right? Just one. He blocked the attack. He blocked the attack. You take this stance and you you actually are pushed back a little bit in your zone as the blaster fire hits your shield, but the shield does its work. It is. I do have one heat though. Yes. I won heat. One of your maximum three. Very exciting. I'm steaming a little bit. Then the next shot I said was coming after Jace and that's going to be a twenty. I rolled a sixteen. So I am also in close combat stance which puts my AC at eighteen and I can also use my reaction to shield parry to make it a twenty. But then I still have to pow. I still have to see and it's guaranteed. But so I can't fail. You can't fail. Because I just get a plus on from the heat. But what I'm going to do, if you're at eighteen in close combat stance and you use shield parry to add two, you get to twenty. You shouldn't need to use a parry. No, you know, roll your B. And your roll is twenty? It's meter B. Oh, that's right. So either way, I'm going to use, I'm going to generate heat to basically raise, but the way that I'm going to flavor this is that I don't actually raise my own shield. I duck behind various of the shield and ready my sword. I duck behind my sword to basically pop out from behind the sword to strike. That's correct. That is correct. That is not a blame. That's cannon. I will give one point for making an attack miss and I will gain heat as well. That is zo-cannon. It is outrageous. You know, this is pretty fun. And the two in the back walk forward. They have the same blasters, but they've clearly scanned the threats and made their assessments. Both of them target Milo. Oh, shit. How far did they move first? That's where they moved. Oh, OK. OK. They stood in the back and they're just sort of trying to... Understood. Take shots. The first one is going to be a sixteen to hit. I can't recall what... Allow me to... ...move the combat stance you were in. It does hit because I'm not in close combat stance. Correct. OK. You can power die. You can power die. Yeah, I can. OK, OK, OK. If you wanted to, you could use a power die. Now, I do have the power die. You just had to subtract one? Yeah. Because he's sixteen and they got an eighteen. I thought that's what he rolled. No, he rolled a sixteen. Oh, I am going to use a heat. Spend the heat. Reheating up early. You can do jam targeting. You are generating a power die and you are generating heat. I want to also make clear that... It automatically misses. I want to make clear that jam targeting uses reaction. Yep, that's it. So you can... Oh, technically... That's one of the feelings of that power die. OK, we fucked that up. We fucked that up. But that's OK, move forward, make sure we get it right. I just wanted to say that out loud. I'm not going to do this. Technically, we cannot shield parry and heat for jam targeting. Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh. But what I could have done was jam targeting after he... I could have used a heat die to jam targeting to save him. And then someone else could have... Actually... ...he had to save me. I'm not going to use it. I'm not going to use it. Now that I know that. We could have traded heat... That's good. Because I only rolled fourteen points of damage. And I do not believe that that beats your damage threshold. So even though it hits and you, for the very first time, after hundreds of hours of simulation training, you experience what it feels like to actually take a shot in a mexis. Oh, shit. The second blaster shot reels out and it's a fifteen, so it goes wide. That is the conclusion of the training drones. This is serious, guys. Three of them are racing forward at their maximum speed. Two of them walking, taking shots as they might, hot shots, if you will. These are real rifles. But we're back to the top of the round. Ren, you are up. Shhh, shhh, shhh, shhh. I'm going to go right here. And I am going to continue to fire off a shot at standing right behind Varus. And I will fire at... Your damage would have brought your shields down. Oh, yes. By fourteen. Yep. I will fire at two this time. Okay. Let's pump the jams. That's at least nineteen. That hits. Ooh. What number are you hitting? That's a good one. I'm hitting two. Don't forget, you get a point for the miss. Oh, that's right. Twenty-nine points of damage. Radiant damage. That's a point for a hit. I'm going to have to pull up a chart here. I'm going to try to help the point guy. I'm going to get some D10s at the head here. I know. Excited. I'm excited. I just need like eighteen more sets of these Stardust Graps, you guys. Yeah, I rolled percentile and... Yeah, that's a good one. Can you remind me the amount that you hit? I just wanted to make sure. Oh, I think I said twenty-eight. I want to say twenty-eight. Twenty-eight. I don't remember. I don't think it was twenty-nine. It was upper twenty's. Yeah. For sure. You fire and this time the precision does kick in. Twenty-nine. The chat said, but... Oh, twenty-nine. I thought it was twenty. I didn't want to count. I don't want to cheat you. I don't want to count. I can remember so I hit on the other side. A panel blasts off the side of this thing. An entire missing piece of its thigh and you can see the exposed machinery working underneath as it continues to operate but you've done a significant amount of damage to it. And you look up at the leaderboard and you can see that there are two points flashing under the leaderboard as you and Milo have their own personal cadet scores. I wouldn't look up at the leaderboard. I also have a point. That's exactly correct. We all have points. Well, make sure that you track. I am. I have one point. One point. I also think I have one point. I don't have one point. I just started tracking it because I'm doing a lot back here. Don't you worry about it. We'll keep track of points. Thank you. I got it. I absolutely don't look at the leaderboard. Good. Good. I'm that is of no interest to me. No, no, no. You are in the zone. But, Maris, you're up. My term begins. I'm in the zone. What happens? Do I roll a d6? I lose a roll a d6. You roll a d6. You roll a d6. You also roll for heat. I roll a d6. Just let me point first. Oh, shit. I forgot about the heat. Damn. Six points. Holy shit. Let's fucking roll. How's my score? Squat your dandy points. Now for heat. Come on. Do it again. Do it again. Oh, my God. So, same deal for powered ice, 5 and a 6. You basically get one back. You release. You vent the heat. You vent the heat. So, the steam dissipates. And I'm standing there cold steel. Oh, badass thing to say. Let's fucking go. I'm in the zone. I'm in the zone. I'm in the zone. I'm in the zone. I'm in the zone. I'm in the zone.��������� I'm still gonna hang up. This is my first time I've ever been in a real neck before. It's very strange to go from the simulation where when you pull back on the handle and you have to rear back and actually swing a giant metal arm the size of a tree, you feel that weight as you collide with the drone but you aren't able to do enough damage to critically injure it. I'm using the neck controls. So I'm like, there's like joystick and there's throttles and stuff and I'm doing Gundam Wing style. Nice. I just said at the end of my bonus action swap to the other stance. Hell yeah. Yeah, so fucking good. You pull the shield and the sword out. Yeah, so I will change to the arming blade stance. And this is a physical sword. It has a bit of a glow too. But it is not a laser, a flaming laser sword as they say. Varus, is that your turn? That's my turn? Jace. I will start by rolling for my points. Come on. Being in these things, I got a three, not bad. Pretty good. Then I will roll for heat. Release. Five. Nice. So my heat comes back. Of which I will fix my costume. You cheered. You cheered. Then I hear Varus yell, Jace with me. He's basically taking these blasts. There's steam releases everywhere. Steam releasing from my back. I use this explosion of steam basically as diversion cover and I come out of the steam with sword flying. As I come out from behind Varus to strike at number two, the one that I have seen my teammates already attempt to weaken as I try to finish it off. I'm gonna take a melee strike. I'm imagining like the Zaku beam axes. Like the Zaku laser axes. That's gonna be an 18 plus five is gonna be a 23. Hell yeah. That hits. Fuck it, yeah. Steam that you push through also dissipates in a massive orb as your ground thrusters push you forward. As you cross the combat threshold, even though you know your allies are there and are gonna be scoring points, there's a bit of a, because you've left the combat control zone. 30 points of radiant damage as I yell. Strike with the heart of a lion as I try to cleave this thing in two. What number? Number two, 30 points of radiant damage to number two. You slash down with your sword and you do strike with the heart of a lion, making an enormous gash. Arcs of electricity immediately spray out in all direction and you are shocked to see that it is somehow still standing and it's one hit point. Damn! Is there anything I can use for my damage? No, I don't think I can. I don't think so. Son of a... Not dare. All right, well I got a point. What matters is that I got a point. Oh no, I didn't tactically. No, I'm not the smartest friend. I'm a dumb, I'm so bad, I'm a stupid farm boy. You hear it ping as you exit the combat arena knowing that you won't start your next turn. Jesus is smart enough. He's not smart enough. He's not tactically. He's got to learn it. Damn it. The yellow of the combat arena lights being what they are. Reminded you of the corn back home, Milo, you're up. I'll call out, three is unharmed. Yes. Excuse me, we're also almost dead though. I will call out. Yeah, two is very close. Is one harmed at all? No, I don't think we've done anything but two. Jace, keep your head, get into the center. We need to stay together. Community! I am going to... God damn it, it's right! I'm going to step forward side by side. We've got this, Ren, as I am going to see that Varus is trying to be the mobile shield. And all of perhaps trying to gather the attention, this human shield, the Nolari shield, of all of these, the leading shield, of all these drones, is I'm going to try to offer some cover fire. I am going to just shoot at number five, because I believe I'm in range. Yep, yeah, you're good. Shubity, that should hit, hopefully. 17 to hit. That hits. Okay, point. Point. Shubity. It will be disadvantaged on the next attack roll, it makes. Did you roll for your points for being the middle two? Oh no, I roll. What is that? So you roll D6 and then add that to your point total. One. That's okay, that's all right. So you have three points, let's go. That's okay. Do you have any heat? No heat, you're good. Okay, I have some D10s, let me just kind of grab these D10s real quick. How many D10s? It is, sorry, sorry, sorry, 4010. Okay, easy, I have enough. 10, 15, 17, 20, 23 points of radiant damage on number five. Nice. And it is disadvantaged on the next attack. Nice. I'm going to mark it. Oh, is that? For the burst rifle. Oh, so two is also disadvantaged then. Oh. Cause I shot two with the burst rifle. Oh. Okay, it hasn't gone yet though. So that's good to know. So that's good to know. You fire, and not only do you do damage, but you notice that one of the scanning implements on the shoulder is completely destroyed. You imagine that it has disadvantage on vehicle dexterity checks moving forward. I had a feeling you wouldn't be completely useless. Cover you all. And a turn. It's the drones turn up. And of course, like drones do be, they are mindless. It does say attack rolls. The disadvantage on tackles. Thank you. Because we're going to rack up some points for the fuckers. I'm going to say this one looks here. This one squeezes in. Oh, geez. This one comes over here. Oh, no, they're smart. And one, two, three, like this. Oh, I really fucked up. And this one here. Damn it, corn boy. Damn it, corn boy. You'll never become a colonel like this. I hope to see Jason. I see this fucking training drone. Oh, watch. You'll never become a colonel this way. That's very funny. I made a mistake, guys. Two things happen at the same time. More. No brain. You realize that you are being swarmed and that these drones are designed to work together. They are tactically built to be more effective in a squad. And as soon as one of them crosses the threshold, the entire panel of the control zone goes red. You will not gain points unless there are no enemies inside of the combat arena. Calculated. So I'm going to have. Welcome to the zone, Jason. I think it's number one. It's going to attack. Is it at disadvantage? No, number one is not. Two and five. Two and five are at disadvantage. On Paris. OK. It's at advantage because of squad tactics. That's going to be a 21 to hit you, Varys. I will use a die instead of my shield, Harry. I'm using my heat. You flip a few mechanical switches and all of a sudden. And I try to divert my power to my shield and I just snagged this blow here. Six. Unreal. And I just eat it. That's fucking phenomenal. Let's go. A shower of sparks flies out in all directions, illuminating this water vapor in all directions. Another disadvantage is going to roll normally because of squad tactics. It's going to attack. Shit. It's going to attack Jason. That's going to absolutely miss with a 12. I get a point. Oh, very nice. And the other one is going to also swing down. These creatures don't have weapons. They're not holding knives. They're not holding swords. They have these powerful fists, bludgeoning... Well, piercing fists. Essentially scraping at you with their drone hands. The one in front of you, Jace, however, is going to get a... Wow, that was really close. That's going to be a 23 to hit, Jace. I'm going to attempt to jam at sensors. Oh, my God. You still used all of your reaction? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I have to get a six. You have to get a six. Fuck it. You think two stars? Hard of a win, baby. Oh, my God. If you just probably get a six, I'm going to throw my chair out the window and rip my shirt off and cheer. No, it's a... Hold on. Wait, wait. Hold on. As you do that, I see this blade come out and it's coming towards Jace. Oh, my God. And I'll say, no, Jace! As I'm going to turn my attention towards that attempt, I'm going to use my reaction in attempt to add to that as well. Because now we need a five or six. I wish I had a little hotter. I got a five. Yes! Oh, that's a point! I'm talking like a... No, you get a point. You get a point. You get a point. So we both use heat. Yeah, as I... It costs too heat. Yeah, too heat. Worth it. I'm going to essentially make it with its sensors being jammed that I'm able to get my sword up in time to help just deflect a glancing blow. That's right. Whoa! Nice one, Milo! These blade-like claws flash down and again, there's a shower of yellow and red sparks that spray out in all directions. Add advantage also against Wren. You only use one thing. I think plus two, right? These power claws rend down at you and that's going to be a natural 20. All right, bro. Oh, that's not good. I dropped a couple of cold-blooded lines and he's got a calm effect. Oh, wow, I rolled very low. We're all that puppet monkey, like... Yeah. But we're doing crits differently now, aren't we? Are we doing... Are we doing crit crits or are we doing max damage crits? No, no, no, normal crits. Okay, okay. For now, that would have been disgusting. Yeah, that's too... That's simply too much. These die are too big for normal crits. I said that might eviscerate more, Wren. Yeah, I'm going to prove it. Well, this was a lie very quickly. No, you're all right, man. You're fine, you're fine. You take 23 points of piercing damage. That's fine. Additionally, these blade-like fingers dig into the side of your mech's arm. What should be pain still registers on all of your sensors as you realize that you are grappled and the drone is holding onto you. That's number three. How much was it? I'm sorry. 23. 23. And I need you to roll a d24, man. Hang on one second. I think this is relevant. This is something about mech combat, look, labs. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You'll see it as the hit lands as it will burst through my shields and strike the mech clean. Roll 15. Your frame of your mech buckles. And this is made of common Kavalon metal material. And what you're used to taking in one of your more expensive noble rooks or training mechs, actually does significantly more structural damage than you realize your damage threshold is reduced by 10 until the mech can be repaired. Call them a trash. And you'll note that because this is ground combat, I rolled on the ground vehicle mishaps table. Oh, boy. Ooh, ooh, boy. And the one in the back is going to take a shot at the one who hasn't gotten any threat whatsoever, which is Milo. And that's the now via one that has... It's at disadvantage. Disadvantage. Exactly correct. I rolled a one and a 20. So it's a natural one. Yes! Absolutely misses. Let's fucking go. That's the top of the round. Ren, you are grappled and... Ungrappled. Feeling precision in your heart. So I can't move at all, right? Right, but you do start your area in the control zone. If it weren't for these other enemies, you'd be scoring points right now. Yeah, sure. Nothing matters, nothing matters. Can I try and break out of the grapple? Yes, the DC4 doing so should be on my character. And I have it right here if you wanted to attempt to do it. Is it an action or do I just get to try at the top of the... It'd be an action. An action? I don't care. I'll just strike it, the mech that's holding on to it. Okay, yeah, it's grappled. You have your shield. You swing down with your sword arm. Sixteen. Hiss. Oh! Okay, they don't have a ton of AC. Tracy's on hand, me you filthy machine. I'll just strike into it. That's so fucking good. Cut his hands off. That's one, six. I'm taking this violin. There's some really good combat tracks for this. You get a point. You get a point. Twenty-seven points of radiant damage. Twenty-seven to number... Three. Number three, yep. Thank you. Let me just quickly do a little simulation over here as I get a... Oh, that's exciting. All right, number three. You hit a battery cell. It explodes in the side, which is part of the reason for so much damage. In addition, the... Bren gets a point. You get a point for your leaderboard, and it gains one exhaustion level, so I'm going to have to remember that moving forward. And he said Milo's points are accurate. Is this an action? Yes. Anything else you want? That's my turn. Very serious. You are surrounded. This guy's like sparking and crackling, and he's all messed up. Yeah, he looks like the... In Star Wars, in the prequel trilogy, when one of the drones head starts sparking and spinning around in full circle, that's what it looks like right now. I'll take this one down! This one, Milo the Zone! And I'm going to attack number two. Come on. I'm going to wheel around, I'm going to clean this motherfucker up too. It's going to be spicy. Oh! Before I do that... I still have my heat. Eight. Nine, ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen. I could use a power die to try to hit. Yeah, you can easily hit target lock. And because you haven't learned it yet, I'm not going to tell you what the AC is. That's fine. You know the 60 hits though. I'm going to use a power die to tell you target lock. What do you need? Who's your roll? Eight. I'm at thirteen now. Oh yeah, so it's three or four. That's pretty good. You got a really good chance. Yes! That's a point! So I get a point as my training sword strikes true. And then you can set a point because he dies. Is that a point? Yeah, you're killing me. Just get it. Let's fucking go. Well maybe. It's my HB! Do I need to calculate this math? I do eighteen. Doing math is fun Richie. Thirty-one points of radiant damage. It's a number two. It somehow heals from the damage. And instead of... You were able to rend and destroy this body. It falls to the ground, a metal hunk of what it once was. So I'm at two heats now. And I will stay right there. I'm going to turn my attention to one and just try to block its entry. Not that I can do that mechanically. That's my turn. Jace. I'm mixing it up. I'm in there. We're fighting. Things are going crazy. It's only once I hear over the comms that I've stepped out of the arena that I realize that I've made a mistake. God damn it! I stepped out of the point! Hang on Ren! And I spin around with the force of just the absolute ferocity of a lion. I attempt to cut down number three to clean up this spot. So what's the first thing that happens? I have to check to see if I heal my heat. That's a five, baby! Let's get another burst of steam. I wheel around with absolute... Grace and precision as I go to try to cut down number three here. Do I get to have blasts on my attacks? It hasn't mattered yet, but... Oh! We haven't been using it. I use it once. I forget about that. I'm going to roll for it. You probably would have rolled off. Well, I haven't done a hit, so I'm just going to put it. 16 to hit. 11 plus five is 16. I got to roll higher. Come on. I got to roll higher. It's nine. Nice. Plus 14 is 23. Two number. I don't have to... I'm done. Shut your mouth. 32 points of radiant damage. As I make this slash, I cut downwards in an angle across this drone's back, trying to cleave it in two to three. Did you already get free? You got free. No, I'm grappled. Oh, as I try to kill this thing to release Ren from its place. Oh! It's a number three. Yeah, oh yeah. How much was it? It was 33 points, 32 points of radiant damage. You were successful in cutting down this drone. You're so fucking good at this game. I get two points. One for a kill and one for a hit. Oh, I got my kill point. Then, as it's body crumples and falls to the ground, I don't even give a... I don't have to take an opportunity tag. I was gonna, but I don't have to. I move over as I stand shoulder to shoulder with Virat Varis. And... That's my fucking dirt. Well, well, not bad for a farm boy. Great job, Chase. We're working together as a team. I told you I'd have your back. After that, I am going to stay in the zone and aim at four, hoping that... Actually, I'm going to move up to guard and block and stand here. You're not gonna get past me and get to my friends as I am going to, once again, level my rifle. Let's go! And shoot a blast at four. Come on. Come on. That is gonna be a miss. We say we have blessed or not. We should use it. He did it. It was awesome. He never did it before we did it. I don't care. Unless Derek looks me in the eye and says, we can't have it, we use it. That was a 15. It hits. It just hit. That's a point, baby. Oh my god. Oh my god. It's I... That's for the Rex Maxim. Blast it. Oh, hit a four. Cover fire! And I only need to roll damage. Sorry, it's 40-10. I now remember this 40-10 plus three. Did you start in a zone? I did. Did you roll your zone points? No, I didn't. I rolled horribly, so that's okay. I'm just doing this cover fire. Four, five, 13 points of radiant damage. To which number? To number four, as it is now disadvantaged. And I'm gonna roll the D6. I get three points. Nice. Four zone points. Very nice. Oh, they're all dead. Oh, you got... You did zone points, yeah. Yep. God, I'm so good at this. Okay. That's my turn. We're doing pretty well. We're kicking ass. Nice fucking job, guys. The one that would be a disadvantage steps over to its brother. Oh, to try to... To try to... To try to... Basically, what you are learning to do with Varus is exactly what... Exactly what drones that have been programmed to work as a team do by their very nature. And it is going to swing down at you normal style. Me? Yes. Okay. It's gonna rend down with its power claw, and it's going to get a 17 to hit. Not if I stand behind my shield. I easily take a swift step back into the side, and Varus is right there. To Varus is right there to just easily absorb the hit. I'll get one point. The next one... I'm using my reaction. Standing next to it? That just misses you, right? You have 18 AC. What'd you get? Oh, shit. For flavor. I don't even need to use my reaction. It's fine. I don't need to use my reaction. I keep my reaction. You keep your reaction. No, that's important. The other one is going to swing in, roll a seven and a five. The one that has been taking shots from the back is now going to race up and enter the command zone adjacent to Varus. Yep. Exactly correct. And then it's going to make another rend attack from that point of view, and it's going to get a 21 to hit you, Varus. I would use my reaction, but I use it on my turn to hit. That's right. And I'm coming from all sides. He's coming around! Look out! As he starts to run past me, he gets me in the back. What's the... How much was it? My AC's 18, and it was a 21. Oh, I'm absolutely... If you floor 100 or jam the sensors, I mean, I save my reaction. You keep your commands and your medics communicate with each other on the Hyper Grid Network, instantly transferring over the information that he needs to defend himself. Don't worry! I'm here for you! I got one. That's not enough. Not enough! Fortunately, it's only 13 points of damage. I'm fine. I'm not a tech guy. That's the conclusion of their turn and top of the round, Ray and you're up. Ooh. I rolled a nine, so 14 to hit. Just misses. I will use a power die to target lock. Target lock, baby. You generate some heat, you hear those engines. Six. So 20. And I will... Ooh, not bad, not bad. 16 here. Ooh, 26, 28. 31. 34 points of damage. I'm gonna need the number. 34 points. Oh, oh, sorry. Five, five, five. This one goes down, you're able to destroy it. Oh, hell yeah. And you need another points, is that correct? Ooh. Two points. And you're able to destroy it. Oh, hell yeah, hell yeah, hell yeah. Right before my turn starts, the zone goes green. Yes! Ray, well done, my lord. Oh, she did, you tried standing. We got this. Listen, let's go. We got this. What's our total at? Well, we know our individual total. We have an add to that. Let me pause you right there as it turns green. What is the total right now? I have 10 points. I have 11 points. No, I rolled when it was red, so I should remove it. No, no, no, it died. I cleared it, it died. Oh, that's right, that's right, got it, got it. You only have one that worked well. 21 plus. Got it. Four. It's 25 plus. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. Eight. 36, 32, 32. 32? I'm this. 33. No, no, no, no, I think it was 25 plus eight. 23. It was 11 plus four. I must have missed some. I rolled six. I killed a guy. Seven. You hit a guy. Eight. And then how many misses did I have? Maybe just two, 10, 11? Yeah, I think you blocked two or three. I'll just go ahead. 11, 10 left, it was 21 plus four. 25 plus eight is 33 points. There you go. We'll see what I do here. Oh, I have a heat, I have a heat. Two. Thank you. I say that as I just took a big claw to the shoulder, but it doesn't stop me. I'm going to, I'm gonna flavor this. I'm gonna ram him with my shield. Yes. Oh. And I'm gonna come in and attack this dude. Three. I'm gonna roll bless. Four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, 10, 11. Oh, let me see if I heat. I don't. I'm gonna use heat and I'm gonna try to hit this guy. Yeah, look, you got three to use. I think it's a 15, so. 15. That hits. Beautiful. That's beautiful. Yeah. That's why those spin, I would just be generating and eat like a crazy, crazy man. Oh, I mean, I have been, I've just been getting very lucky that I've cleared it every turn. Yeah. That's very interesting. So that is one, two, three, four. Nine, 16, 26, 32, 38 plus three. Yeah, 41. 41 points of radiant damage as I come in on number, it's the guy right in front of me. Number one. Number one, 48. 48. That's huge. Holy crap. I'm gonna have to do one of these and find out. That's huge. No, 42. 42, my apologies. Thank you. 42. Either way, that's insane damage. Sorry, he said 48, I said yes, it's not 48. Oh, yeah. It was 40 something, it makes it the amount of 40. I think it's like 43. You hit something vital and a fire breaks out on this thing as fuel. Are these piloted by people? No, okay. No, no, no, I'm trying to make very clear. Major points. And, oh. Do you hear your zone points? I dig it by zone points. I had 11. And you got three. 12, 13, 14 for the head, right? Yep. That is extremely obvious to you by the nature of its build. It has a thin head where you wouldn't be able to store a cockpit, its chest is open, even if it's still strong and there. It's for the purpose of the training and very evidently not a pilot in sight. Perfect. It is the conclusion of your turn. Jace, you start your turn and I should have done this at the top of the round because we crossed a certain amount of leaderboard points threshold. Suddenly you're about to race forward and do the things that you are about to do. When all of a sudden the floor drops out from underneath you all. Looks like a giant arena. The arm starts to rotate and twist up. The entire ceiling lifts up. The entire floor, you realize, is actually an extended ledge that begins to retract and pull. And as you drop, you realize that a automated system has activated the jets and the engines on the back of your mech as you are dropped into open space. Everything drops. I guess I don't get my zone points. No. Damn it. Your zone points, everyone is gone. That's fine, I guess. Oh. And you were also horrified. Oh. Oh no. To discover that you're met. I'm gonna do these closer in, because I know you're struggling. I can always cameraman if you need to. I wanna maintain just whatever makes sense for the reality of the world. And they are already there waiting for you as you fall. The two dreads, drones in front of you, also drop, but they too have thrusters on their back and everyone takes a moment to stabilize and confuse to. So we feel it here, the jets, and now we're like flying. Exactly, correct. All of a sudden, they were activated for you. They stabilize and combat is clearly continuing. Without a control zone, you realize you've been thrust into a life and death situation. The time for scoring and points is over. It is survive or be killed. Oh my god. Jace, all of this happens in a moment as you are thrust into this sudden new battle context. What do you do? For what it's worth, this one is still disadvantaged until Milo's turn. I will start by rolling for my hit gauge because there is no more points gauge, points die. That's right. Come on, come on. Nah, three of the styles. That's okay though. I have to take a minute to get my bearings and kind of stabilize the thrusters and the jets here as I take a look around to kind of take in my surroundings see what's going on and yell to the rest of my team that say, there's still more coming in. And I'm going to attack number one with a melee attack. Oh, that's plenty. That's a 20 to hit. Oh, that hits. So I do get a point though, right? Even though the type of person. Yes, those exercise mechanics still are in effect. Oh, so we're still tracking points. You're still tracking personal points. You just don't roll for the combat zone. Got it. The control zone, I should say. 22. 29 points of radio damage number one for a hit and a point for a kill. As I cut down one of the two remaining mechs that were standing in front of Varus and I. And the one that's still remaining is disadvantaged until the end of Milo's turn. Very good. Who is next. And that is my whole turn as that's it. That's my turn. Thank you. Milo. Battle context has changed dramatically. You assess the situation and. Okay, team. Remember, stay together. We're not on the battlefield anymore, but we need to make sure we stay together even more. And with that, I am going to basically get in the center here and I'm going to try to shoot. You're good on any of them. I'm just going to try to shoot seven. Yeah, you're good. That's definitely going to hit with a lot. And because we're now in hex combat, you can just count hexes. Oh yeah, now we're in space. It's no longer 20 feet per. You can now use your space flight. Movement hexes 12. And your space ranges. And you can just 20 hexes to shoot. 21. It should stay next to your. Yeah. 20 points of radiant damage. Birth rate rifle is five and 20 hexes. Oh, so I'm good. 28 points of damage to number seven. Okay. And it has, it's disadvantaged on its next attack. And that's a significant amount of damage, which means that I'm going to do a quick roll roll here. And now the Starship mishaps because the context has changed. And you are able to hit what is very evident on the back of each of these four drones. These aren't just equipped with their power claws and the blasters that you're used to. Each one has what appears to be a cannon locked onto one of their shoulders. And you're able to smash into it, bursting this one's weapon into smithereens, disabling what might have been a very powerful attack. With your turn concluded, it's their turn. The one that you just hit is going to engage its boosters and rock it forward, unable to make a ranged attack as was its plan. It doesn't have to worry about facing as a mech. It can immediately turn and just fly towards you. It can get nine hexes. So it can get right in there. Who do you want to go to? You can get to anybody. That's exactly where I want him. And he has two options. Who are the other adjacent options to attack? This is Milo and Ren. He's a disadvantage. He's going to make a attack against Ren. He misses and the... That's a point. Oh, no, there are no more points, right? No, there are points. There's no airs. The mech that Mikey has his finger on engages its missile, a frag missile suddenly slides forward. That could be bad. And I need... I should still have my react... I have my reaction still, which is good. I need everyone. I need literally all of you because you're so grouped together. How nice for a control zone, tactically, to do what it does, to make a dexterity saving thrust. Okay. Okay, well, we use... No, we have plus five for the save. That's reasonable. Oh, yeah, no, it's fucking huge. 23. Wow. 16. Dirty 20. Nice. Yeah, not bad. Anyone get a 12 or lower? No. Then... We just got a point. There's this natural explosion. Each of you having saved... Successful save. Are able to shield or dodge or race out of the way of this explosion. There's still a tremendous amount of fire and you each take half, 11 points, as shrapnel bursts out. It would have been piercing damage, but you take half as the explosion... I think after I cut down the neck that was in front of Varus, he's able to turn and essentially deflect the missile. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. 100%. You protect 100%. That's what happens. Half of 11 or is 11 already? And that's a miss. It's 11. I already cut down from 22. That's the first damage I've taken. So just from my shield points, right? Yep, perfect. The other, all three are now going to fly in to close range combat. The two that are flying in are also equipped with missiles, but the... That uses his missile. No, the one you had. All of them fly in. They actually use their blasters, but they all missed and the one with the missile stays back. And that will be the conclusion of their turn. Top of the round, Ren, you are up. Now the fight begins. I will swing out and strike this guy that Milo just hit. Damn. Time to. Oh. No way. Yeah. Let's fucking go. This guy's toast. Yeah. I wish I had the clerk. I would have taken him. Oh, that's huge already. 16. Lord, you're going to slice this guy up. Yeah. Yeah. This right up. Oh, shit. Super. Wait, 16. 26. 27. 31. One. A six die. 39. Eight die. And. And. 53. 53 points. Nice. Oh my God. Two. Two which? This is seven. Seven. It's like vaporized. It has begun and you are able to completely destroy this drone. It shatters into pieces and you can watch as the metal scatters out into the open ether filled space. There. 24. Oh my, sorry. Oh yeah, I said things like that. This is again a strange new experience. Oh, setting yourselves. Stay behind me. And I'm going to, I think I'll stay right here shoulder to shoulder against my entire squad. And I'm going to swing it on number six. Okay. 15 to hit. You got hits? That is one, two, three, four, five. 15. No, 20. Is it plus three right? 25 points of radiant damage. Okay. You do a tremendous strike with your infused blade and it, you hit something vital. It'll mechanically take one point of high on exhaustion on the mishap table. And that will be, let me check my heat. Did you get your point for hitting? It killed you. Beautiful. Did you get the point? I did. Okay. For hitting that. I keep everybody honest. I'm at 16 points. I believe. Jace, you're going RF arming now. Yeah, I'm going to start by trying to reduce heat. Sure. Oh, I didn't do that. I miss. Anybody who's watching, especially Ren, would notice that my fighting is not tactical. It's not graceful, but it's also not without intention. There's a fierceness to the way that I attack and I'm attacking with passion, but it doesn't look pretty. It doesn't necessarily look like the smart, like it's very clear that I'm not tactically minded. And so even though we're all grouped up and a missile just came in and got deflected and we're all getting messed up, I am going to stay here and continue to fight shoulder to shoulder with Milo and Varus and attempt to attack number six. Sweat is dripping off of your face and you are moving as fast as you can, taking in all of this new information as you try to slash in with your monstrous, monstrous mech sword. I have to use a power knife. I have to generate more heat to target lock. What heat are you at? This will put me in two. Okay. Okay. Because I was not able to recover my one. I, that's a 14 though, so I can't miss. 15. There you go. There you go. Six is not rolling very well. I am going to roll damage. So we'll get a point for hitting. This is on number six. That's going to be 14. Damn. 14, 24, 25 plus eight is 33. Plus 36 points of radiant damage to number six. I'll get a point. 36 is exactly what you needed. That's a point. Hey! Leave this thing in twain. I got you Milo. Yeah, I'm ready to take the impact of this blade. I'm not, I don't have that usable shield. The blade is swinging down. My AC is low and with an erratic thrust. Ah! Yes, yes. Jace is able to get in between you and parry the strike before felling the drone. Milo, that's your turn. Thanks Jace for getting this. I got covering fire on you as I spin around as I aim at four now, totally unperturbed now. Not going to be at this advanced as it's not my fakes. As I aim and try to strike true at number four. That's going to be a 23 to hit. Oh yeah, you hit. I'm going to blast for, I guess I need to get a point, don't forget. Okay, I know what to get. Hell yeah. That's a 17, 17, 27, 34 points of radiant damage. At number four. Damn! I rolled. At disadvantage? At disadvantage. So I actually get another point. Oh, the roll for heat. Oh no, I already, because I didn't use any heat before, so I'm good. You flash into this, you fire into this thing and you do a significant amount of damage. My heat would cool down because I didn't use any. Yes, correct, I lost one. Nice. I believe you. I would have as well, but I missed it, so I'm just going to stay where I'm at. But didn't you also jam? You may have jammed. No, that was before you. Doesn't matter. Doesn't matter. Game state's fine. Sparks are flying off of this thing and not from the impact of your shots anymore. It is now nearly on the brink of destruction and that brings us to their turn. This, you hear all of you blaring siren on your display. Indicating a missile is heading in your direction. I need all of you to make an additional dexterity saving throw. We might be in trouble here. 19 for me. Oh, God. Dex, you say? Yeah, 17, 14. Yeah, I'm taking a hit here. I got a 13. I think it's 12. I think it's 12. Maybe not though. This could be a different thing. You got a 13? Yeah. That meets it. Oh, sick. So you are able to take half of this time 24 damage. So you all take 12 piercing damage as once again. Seven shield points left. Polymer and metal fly out in all direction in concussive force and like rain, you can hear it against the side of your mech like hail hitting a sheet metal. And I call out my shields down as you'll see as the shrapnel hits it. The shield, the shimmering light blue shield that's around my mech is now completely shorting out and I am full shields down. It blinks and hits. Mine too! Oh, no! Oh, my Lord. And the other two are gonna swing in. One's gonna swing in at normal style against Jace because of the tactical advantage of being a squad. That's gonna be a dirty 20 to hit. And there's, oh, no, I used my reaction ult. No, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Yeah, I used my reaction ult, all my turn. I used my rational return. There's no way you can take this hit. I have to take this hit. You take that hit. I attempt to raise my shield, but there's so much chaos going on that I'm not fast enough. You take 24 piercing damage and you are now grappled by the claws of this thing as it digs its fingers into the chassis of your mech. And you are horrified that one of your monitors in the cockpit actually pushes forward and you realize the threat of what is happening is no longer like a simulation as one fingernail of a claw pierces the cockpit and separates into the actual space that you are piloting. Okay, so game question. I had seven shield points left. The brush just spills over into my hull points, correct? Yep. Okay. So you also watch as my shield falls. Shortly after our two companions have said this, so 24 minus seven is 17, 17 points minus 18. The hull points is going to be 33. The other one is gonna swing into Varys and it's going to be, you've got 22 coming in at you. Oh God, do I use the die? Well, regardless, I'll say no Varys as I am going to swing around with my rifle and punch in some code as I, and some buttons I'm gonna try the jam at systems. Let's see how you roll. Yes. Maybe we can do a little bit of a team attack. Yeah. What is it, D6? Sorry. D6. I need a five or a six for this to miss. Oh. Six. Oh! Oh! Again, you punch if you command. Oh, boy, boy, boy, boy, boy, boy, boy. Boy. He missed. Horth mother guide me. Oh, hi, the Horth mother. Thank you, Milo. Mother's mercy. That's their turn, Ram. You are up. No whining. If you want your mechs to survive, kill them before they kill you. At the start of my turn, I have quick pivot on mechs will while flying before the mech moves during his turn it can choose which direction it faces without spending movement at turn. Yeah. It's not relevant in space. So I was facing this way when I hit. I'm gonna full spin pivot around. I'm just gonna look, I'm just gonna say that's my facing. And I'm gonna move one, two, three, four, five, six. Okay. Nice. Number four. So like swing around in a wide arc and come into crash against your. And I'd even spin the mech even backwards as I fly now. Definitely is more accustomed to this in the air though. This is like a trundling heavy mech. Even with that, I'm trying to get everything out of it that I possibly can as I fly forward. And in contrast to the style, the heart that Jace is displaying as he attacks and beats into it without that precision. All of my strikes you'd be able to see have this cold calculated, not automated, but an extremely efficient coldness to them as they have zero regard for what's around. Any chance, any chance, any chance. No, I think this is totally Mrs. Wad. Oh, how far are you? I, this is a nine. So I'd need, I think six to head. Oh, I have to do my, are we still blessed? I believe so. Oh, you have a broken concentration. So. I mean, I don't know what's going on. As far as I care, it is the maddest health recipe blessed. Four? Wait, so. I can see you up to a 13. All right, all, all it's all going to walk. Let's, let's, let's, let's get serious here. Come on, let's talk about it. Easy, easy, easy money baby. You would have had it without the bless. You slam into this thing. It is got its claws in Jace's armor and making it an easy target. You barrel roll and slash down with your sword. Oh, not that many, not that many. 33 points of radiant damage. Two, number four? Number four. Yes, number four. You destroy it. It, it, it almost disintegrates. You take two points and you watch as the finger disappears from the cockpit as Ren comes to your rescue here in Jace. The 11th hour. There is a thin amount of ether coming in, not so much as to make the cockpit toxic for the short period of time that you're going to be out here, but you are exposed to the elements and Var, Varus, you're up. I'm going to use my quick pivot and seeing that my friends are all here, I'm going to go over the columns and I'll say, Jace, finish this one. I'm going for the missile launcher. And I'm going to just turn it and just jet towards number eight to try to get up in his fucking grill. So he has this little jump. Yeah. And I boost forward and I make a sword slash. Ooh, let's see how well I do here. Two, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine. I could theoretically hit. So first let's see if my heat cools down. Does not. I am going to heat up to try to see if I can hit this guy. You're too heat? Too heat. I'm now too heat. Yeah, I'm too heat. Just check it. I miss. I got nothing. No, that's. I don't have my reaction either. He's now at least as advantage on range attacks if he chooses to attack any of you. Very good. That's okay. Jace, you're all up. I had raised my sword up to stop this claw attack and tried to use the other mech hand to kind of like brace it. But the force was so strong from the drone that it pinned my sword to the outer side of my neck because it's gripping the ring. It isn't until red cuts this thing down that my sword is then freed. And I realize in this moment that I've been saved by Ren and I shout into the comms as I pull back to attack number six. Thank you, Ren. And I go to make a strike on number six. As you do that, does he want to make an opportunity attack against me as I flew away? Oh, yeah. They don't get to use their reactions for nothing. So, and he's not adjacent to anybody. He would have gotten a 21. Damn. That hits because I wouldn't have had my reaction. Yeah. I used it. You would have taken 18 piercing damage as this slash, hits against the back of your engines. Almost a mishap. Almost a mishap. It's just barely under. I mean, I love those mishaps. I'll tell you, they add so much flavor. Oh my God. Fuel sprays out in a sheet of water as... That's a big hit. I think a big hit as I turn it. As Varus risks himself to go after this far, Mech, but Jace, you rock it into action. Yeah, everything I said just happens, but as I'm striking I say, thank you, Ren. Someone give him support. And I'm obviously talking about our good friend who's leaking fuel over there. That's gonna be a dirty 20 to hit. Oh, baby. Come on, just roll Max. That's not terrible. Not great. Not great. 17, 20, 24, 27 points of radiant damage to number six. Oh, I mean, pretty good. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, you slash into this thing and you see that it takes a tremendous amount of time to get it out of there. You see that it takes a tremendous amount of damage, but it's able to hold on. All right. Then all I'm gonna do is kind of just dance around it as I fly, just trying to fly it, keep it busy, and put myself between the other enemy Mech. You're dancing. You're dancing. Milo, you are up. I'm going to turn, use my pivot. I'm gonna look around. That's a point though. And I'm gonna try to see the tower quadrant of the galaxy as I look upon the constellation and the stars of the hearth mother. As I look back, as I'll say, hearth mother's mercy. I'm covering Varus as I blast forward here as I am blasting covering fire for Varus at number eight, hoping that I can distract. I have this, that's 10, that's less than 10. That's gonna be another 23 to hit. Okay. So it'll be disadvantaged on its next, one, two, three, four. You're targeting number? 18. Shoot at this one. Eight, eight, I believe. The one that is crazy. The one that is crazy. The one that is crazy. 18, I'm saying my reaction. I got 27. You're after you. Fuck that. 30. Thank you. 32 points of radiant damage. That's pretty good. I roll three nines. That's huge, dude. Oh, that's really good. Anytime you can make me roll on this, things are gonna be really good. Do you have reaction to stop him from moving? No, but if he tries to get to Varus, I'm just gonna take an opportunity to cut him down. This is my goal. Okay. That's an interesting result. I will resolve that on its turn, and that turn is now, actually. So. I roll to see if I get my heat back. I don't. I'm still at one. Yeah, you got a point for hitting, and it tumbles. Oh, I get a point. You shot into it, and you must hit some sort of navigation system, because suddenly its gyros go out of control, and it starts rocketing in a random direction, and I'm going to roll to see what direction that is. I don't have my reaction to swing at him. And it's going to move. God, that's cool. It moves the same speed that it moved during its last turn. So I don't think that it was yet. It should be tumbling. But it's tumbling. It's tumbling. It's tumbling. The drone is going to try to regain control, because it will continue to tumble at the speed that it was heading until it continues to fail. So it's just a rolling head over heels, but it still manages to take a swipe at you, Varus, which it misses because it's tumbling, of course. That makes a diagetic sense. Jace, you are in a strange fight. You are fighting with a blade, and this thing is coming at you with its claws, grabbing the blade, letting the blade slide through its metal fingers, flashing at you, and it is going to get a 23 to hit. I rolled a 19. I have 18, 23, would be five, I need a six. Oh, I used... But then I also don't get to use my reaction, but it's already attacking me. It's already going, yeah, give it a try. I'm trolling for it. I go to Max Heat. They're steam pouring off of my mech, but not because it's being released, because I'm generating so much of it. Yep. The cockpit is controlled with a good amount of environmental cooling. Pilots know that you need to be able to stay cool and hot, but when the cockpit was pierced, all that heat is also now flooding in. All that atmosphere is getting let out into space. You are being cooked in this. The monitors, all the information I have of monitors is going bright red. The inside of the cockpit is a white red. It's like episode... No! It's okay, it's all right. That was like coffee. I know, I bounced off the roof. That was insane. That was insane. You pushed you past your limits. How much damage do I take? It manages to swipe your sword away, and it digs into the chassis of your... I need two more. Two more. I'm gonna say, no, Jase, we're not gonna die here! As I'm gonna say, by the mercy of the hearts of our there, I got a six. Yes! So then that's a point. That's a point. That's a point. And I don't take damage. That's right. That's a second heat. Dude, Milo. Second heat. All right, I'm gonna color my third heat, though. Heat gauge here. It's just enough between your engine's revving and the signal that Milo is able to send through, you manage to barely parry the attack. That's the conclusion of their turn, random top of the round. Oh man, I know, cinematically, you gotta go right behind him. You gotta, yeah, okay, exactly right. Nothing personal. He doesn't even see your met coming. At advantage, at advantage, no point in seeing him. You didn't see your met even coming. No shot, no shot. He sure doesn't, cause that's a net 20. Oh! I had a hell, I had to hold it up for you, Derek. I had to hold it for you. He's, he's, he's, putting his money where his mouth is right now. Oh, six. Wow. I can't believe you cashed those checks. I can't believe it's six. 19, 25. Of course, Bren would get two crits. 25, 38. Ooh. Oh shit, that's a math. 16 plus 38. 16 plus 38. 52. Maybe 54, 54. Oh, 54. I was doing quick math, I was close. Plus 11. You're over two. Was that eight rolls or 10 rolls? I mean, it's like, it's like over 60. Is there any chance it is living through this? There's no way. Cause I hit it for fucking 27. I mean, rolling dice feels good. You tell me when you want to. He just lost count though. I think it's like 70. I think it's like, it's like 70. That's a definitely. Rrrrr. Two points for you brother. Unprotected, this thing goes up. He stopped, just a little bit. I, the, yeah. Inflamed. I slice the blade through this, and it starts to split. And on the other side, I see, I see Jace's mech pouring steam from all, from all edges, just over-heating. There's a very clear crack and hole in the cockpit shield. You can see it. And when you're at max heat like this, there's already a soft orange glow to some portions of the armor, where even the metal itself is starting to, well, it's getting too hot, Mace. I don't know how I have to say this. Has he even hit it all? Yeah, I don't think he's left. Oh, he did. He's tumbling out. He's tumbling now. Yeah, he's tumbling. He's tumbling. And I'm, my mech's not in great shape. It's got one, maybe two hits left. I don't think long, I just must survive. For the Empress, I'm gonna come in, and I'm hoping that the will of the Empress is gonna guide me true here, along with the will of the Hearth Mother here. Wait, 15. Yeah, that's enough. Exactly. I come in and as it tumbles and it's distracted, it can't get away, I'm just gonna try to stab right through it. I'm going to roll all of these. Oh, hell yeah. 32 points of reading. That's gotta be it. Oh, yeah. I'm pretty sure he did love 39. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's gotta be it. It might not be enough. How do you want to do this? Yes! Yeah! Yes! In the reality of the world, our shields are going down. I just blasted, well, I told them to finish them, and on command they did. We're working like a well-oiled machine, despite being totally fucked up. Milo's got a huge shot. He's tumbling, but he's about to regain control, and I see the missile pod that is about to shoot, and probably take out any one of us in this hit. It's already locked and loaded. And that's where I aim for. I see it's about to fire, and I just, I lunge forward and put the sword right where the missile is, and hoping that it will make it explode and finish off this final. You don't have to hope when the satisfying rain of shrapnel explodes within the chamber itself, completely disintegrating the drone before you. There's a, there's no silence after a fight like this, because all of you are looking at your display. Woo, woo, woo! I don't think I want to play. This is a good one. What's this? In the aftermath of this fight, the last thing that I heard before all of this happened was Ren telling me that I was going beyond my limits. So as I recognize now that the danger is, there's no immediate threat around the area, I'll get on the comms and I will reply directly to Ren and say, you know, Ren, we wouldn't be becoming true knights if we didn't push beyond our limits. Nice job, team! Sound off! I'm okay, we did it! We're alive! Varus, the emperor saw me through. We all survived then. There's a chirp on your comms and a voice guides you back. You only have a short distance to travel and as damaged as your mechs are, you all four are able to pull back up into the space that was the ground control combat arena. The ledge returns with a cacophonous squeak and you're able to set down in the initial area where you were competing with these drones, trying to score points by dominating an area and you walk your mechs steadily to the gangplank area and are able to resituate yourself as best you can position your mech so that you can eject the cockpit and once freed, lift yourself out and join the rest of the 95th squadron, your teammates. The four of you are able to reassemble there having just left your mechs in this space. I'm sweating. I mean, the heat in my mech was just unbelievable. I'm dripping sweat. I am going to leap out and land on the ground as I'm gonna, Chase, are you all right? I'm all right, buddy. As my job to, You did it. It's like a hand on you. You survived. You were exposed to ether. Are you okay? I'm coughing a little bit. I am going to say, can I get into your uniform? Yeah, please. As I am going to try to unbutton your uniform and expose your chest, as I am going to kind of place my hands on it and look at your neck, look at your face. As I have a, my background is a caretaker. I care for the cloud waves. Nice. As I am going to use, I have diagnostician and origin feet. As I'm going to use diagnosis to make a medicine check to learn the nature of any poison or disease affecting a creature. And then if I do notice something, I have ways to treat it. So I am going to vary. Look at your neck, look at your chest to see that any of the discoloration of the veins of exposing it. I'm going to look at your eyes. I'm going to see if the tail tail signs your exposure. Milo, check the wrap. I'm going to make my medicine check. Thank you, Milo. Thank you. You did great out there. Rox, great honor to all houses. I got a 14, but the DC was 10. I'll ride out of my mech like a cable and it'll drop me down. Oh, of course. Generally onto the, as it. Gee. I got a 14. I don't know if there's any ongoing sickness, but that's, it was a DC 10 to learn any ailment. Thank you. It's ongoing. You get the sense that the time exposure to ether was so minimal. Even that you're very confident that any coffee you might have will clear up in another minute. It's extremely unlikely that he would take anything permanent damage or be in any serious risk in this. You're all right, Chase. You're lucky that Ren sliced that thing in half before he took any more ether exposure and ripped your cockpit open. Yeah, you're right. We're all lucky because we were all there for each other and I couldn't have done it without any of you missing. Thank you. Yeah. I'm gonna awkwardly try to like button back up your uniform and kind of stand up a little awkwardly. Thank you. Well done, 95th squadron. We survived. You were magnificent. You are the shield. I've been training for a long time. It is my duty and I've done my duty today. You are real warriors. Turns out you're all not completely useless. And you, Reg, you put your money where your mouth was. That's for sure. That was nothing, barely worth my time. Your castle training really paid off. That was incredible. I try to listen. I'm presuming that despite how massive this is like a moon-sized castle, am I able to hear the sounds of battle happening perhaps to mount this fortress? Make a perception check. That's very cool. That's awesome. That's very cool. Natural 20, I'm rollin' shot tonight. God damn it. Maybe. These dispel crab dice, I don't know if they're loaded, but 25. 25. 25. You, you're Claude Darren-Ear's Twitch. And you listen out, even over the breathing of your companions, you don't hear. Anything. In most of the battles, like yourself, have seemingly concluded. And maybe there might be- Were they the last ones? Maybe there might be a very far distant boom or something like that, but the cacophony that you would have expected given the heat of battle in your own training simulation, or exercise, I should say, seems to have either dissipated or it's too far away to hear, even with your traumatic senses being what they are. Wait, the leaderboard. Oh. If all the battles are ending, we might know the final rankings. Did we win? We did pretty good. We did pretty good. Now is a fantastic time for me to check in and ask what your scores were altogether. All right, so I got an 18. What do you have? 20. 20, that's 38. Oh my God, you guys are crazy. 13. Plus 13 is 51. 12. Plus 12 is 63 points. Not bad. Not bad. For the 90th. That feels good. It does feel good. That feels pretty good. That feels pretty good. Thank you. Is there like, basically, I don't know if there's like an instructor or something that's basically leading us out taking the mechs. Presumably they need to have engineers or a parent. You can see your leaderboard, and there are not high ranking officers, but there's an immediate team, a repair team, that's run forward to take care of any pressing matters with the mechs. They'll be in the docking bay for some time as they can either ready these mechs for the next batch or whatever it is that they plan to do them. But with a few exchanged words, it's clear by their indication that what you need to do is go to the sort of like open area that's adjacent to all of these training facilities where the leaderboard would be displayed. Oh man, I'm on the bottom. But at the very least, Ferris, you, that was incredible. How's Maycord, she was right. The glory belongs to them and the Empress. I was doing my duty, and those 20 points belong to the 95th squadron. All that matters is the team's score. That's right. That's all I care about. You push forward. Oh. Good work. You push forward your hands, and the three of you join hands in a celebratory, we survived the initial battle, and you feel good. The three of you, especially, who've piloted mechs for the first time as the adrenaline starts to release from your body and you start to come down from the high of combat, you were able to defend yourself. You were able to, in a life-threatening situation, and the general was not kidding, clearly, come together as a team. Yeah. Well, that has to be it for today's training, right? It was better than I ever could have imagined. I'm exhausted. This is the greatest day of my life. Time to go watch the cascade of people leaving, all those beneath us. Man, I hope we get extra sweets to celebrate day one or something. That would be great. Perhaps an extra portion of meat and bread and hard cheese. I can't think of anything better. I'll take that, sure. Yeah, same. I mean, I was a little like a little sugar, but that's okay. You hear some of the workers nearby who are attending to the mechs chuckle as you push your way through the doors that led you into this hangar and out into the open area. The hallway turn away. You can see a huge crowd of other cadets like yourself, all staring up, either talking amongst themselves or looking excitedly at the board, starting to strategize for what will surely be difficult and rigorous training. The initial status of the board is there. And the matrix display above you is evident. You all see the final rankings from the first day of training, and you cannot believe what you see. Across all 300 squadrons, you are in second place. In bold, bright colors, you see only one group ahead of you, the 201st Squadron, but then you realize at the bottom of the leaderboard, seven squadrons are grayed out entirely with the text eliminated. Eliminate. Oh no. We're in second. Second place. That's top 12. We did it. That is top 12. What does this mean? What does this mean? I get to serve House Mayclaw. I can't believe it. We have to keep up the score for the rest of the program. And if in our triad, if we're the highest ranking, then we will get our rokes, but if eliminated doesn't mean disqualified, does that mean 28 people have died already? The exercise was far more intense than I could have imagined. I didn't think it was gonna end up that way. There's no sense shedding your tears over the week. In second, there's nothing to celebrate. Just means we were the first to lose. Should be us on the top of the leaderboard. Second is? Second out of 300. That's amazing. It's quite notable, my lord. As you disagree, we'll do better next time. As you say this, your eyes even skin the crowd and you look over and you can see a group of cadets. At the lead is a tall buff riso with skin and sharp horns. Behind him, a lithe zamani, the tone of a muted sapphire marked by shimmering gold markings. At his side is a huge and burly jazza of a deep indigo hue. And in the rear is a gorgonite with tawny scales. They all look at you appraisingly and you see the number pinned to their uniform, 201. The riso looks at each of you, thumps his teeth and then puts his hands up before snapping and the four of them walk away. Great work today, congratulations. You must be very proud. As must be your houses. And good luck. Good luck. You watch others show up. They take in the information. Some of them are just trickling in. It doesn't seem indeed that yours was one of the longer fought battles, but perhaps one of the most effective, given your point threshold. There are a few tied below you, but you look up again at that leaderboard and you see the 201st squadron scored an additional 15 points more than you. Finding themselves at 78. We got cooked on that mid-zone. Yeah, yeah. Damn. 15 points. They kept them out. Was that a red riso? Yes, yes it was. Okay, good to know. Yes it was, thank you. 15 points, that's not that much. We did really well. That was amazing. I, I'm gonna pray for the 28 souls. I just... Do you believe they're dead? Is that what that means? After what almost happened to Jason, we were second. I'm surprised it's not more squadrons. You are also disturbed that not, not every squadron was either wholly destroyed or completely victorious in the sense that the four of you were able to survive. Some would lose one and others would lose two or three instead of the entire squadron being absolutely obliterated by these drones. Either due to lack of piloting or tactical circumstances being what they are. You find yourselves finding out that people are being, that delivered the news that they're being transported to a new group or new squadrons are being formed to make the math correct so that always, always, always, as best they can, groups of four are accommodated as part of this very specific training program. Well, if they died, they died with honor. They died for the Empress. I'll give them a salute. You all are guided from here. News spreads, orders are shouted out, and you are all told that the remaining cadets, the squadrons like yourself, are to be taken to the next main event. They're in the bosom of the hearth mother now. It's a beautiful, warm place to be. I'm sure they find comfort there. And if not, they've returned to the harmony. If their deeds were not great enough, and they will join the oneness. They will. If they fought honorably, they'll return to the harmony. They become faceless. Faceless. Yeah. Mother's mercy. You hear the voice of Dr. Cressen. Shout out. Everyone, if you all make your way to the main, the main announcement room, we have a very special thing to share with you. We're going to be sharing the, I'm sorry, so excited. I was part of the, much of the designs. The 12 Rooks, the winners will be inheriting. If you look upon the works of the Cavalon Empire, look upon our most prestigious of Rooks, and see what it is that you are fighting for. The energy. I can't wait. Oh yes. 12, we're at 12. We do not need to win, we just need to be in the top 12. Yes. Let us go. Finally. The energy is electric as the cadets are led to the top of the highest tower of Castle Ascalon. The elite Rook hangar. Oh man. You all fill the space. Oh baby. Dimly lit with half of the hangar shrouded in darkness and casting dancing shadows amongst all of the new recruits. Once the entirety of the operation waltzes within the steel walls, the voice of General Sigurd fills the entire space as the loud thunk of a spotlight illuminates him in a beam within the darkness before you. Cadets, you have come to Ascalon from across the galaxy. You are here to risk everything for the glory and security of the Cavalon Empire. And for that, you have my deepest respect and admiration. We have already lost seven squadrons. We mourn the last lives, but we acknowledge that the, they understand and accepted the risk. 1,180 of you remain and while all but 12 of you will not sit behind the controls of an Imperial Rook, you deserve to bear witness to the greatest marvels of the Cavalonian engineering since the days when the first emperor slew the Tyranarch King and founded the bastion of chivalry and honor in the grim darkness of this universe. The general raises his arm, his fist clenched tight and then one by one beams of shimmering light are shot down from the ceiling with a mechanical clang, 12 in all. Soon you see the row of enormous mechs before you, far larger, more colorful, and more exquisitely crafted than the Esquire trainer suits you trained in. These Rooks stand, their inanimate faces staring forward like sentinels in an internal vigil. Each one is built with the unique flair and specialty of the world and the great house that sponsored it. And then you see each of the Rooks you entered, this program to claim ownership of. From house Tytalis of the world of Altaria, a spearman stands with angelic wings. From house Makor of the world Basilicus, a dreadnought with an enormous shield and flail. From house Gorm of the world of Scaffi, an elegant swordsman with a great plume from its helm, finally. And from house Column of the world of Cortica, a true knight with a roaring lion in its chest. All of you, even you Ren, are filled with a sense of awe as you take in the majesty of these 12 super weapons. A universal gasp leaves the lungs of 1,180 cadets as General Sigurd continues. Cadets, these 12 Rooks are why you are here. It is through them your steel will and your dedicated hearts that you will defend this empire from its enemies on all sides and across every war front. The Empress is relying on each and every one of you. And as her instruments of chivalry and weapons of war, you will ensure that she reigns for eternity. And that is where we will end tonight's session. Oh, hell yeah! My God, Upruturama's canceled for the next Monday. Upruturama has to move to Tuesdays. Cancel something Thursdays. We gotta play this next month. No, I'm kidding. How can I wait two weeks? Derek, thanks for running the session. Thank you. Distance makes the heart grow fond. Thank you for running the session.