Beam Saber - MEKONG: Symphony for the Devil, Episode 10 [The Inevitable Spring]

[00:00:00] Speaker A: Sun. Ciao, everybody. Welcome, and welcome all to the finale of Queen's court games. Beam saber actual play Mekong. The space opera adventure set in the universe inspired by southeast asian history, culture, and myth. Thank you, all of you, for staying with us on this journey. I can't wait to see what conclusion our tale has in store for us. Our story focuses on a group of people this universe calls Ta Nang. A case to pilots who operate a uniquely powerful mechanized chassis called DC. Say comusta pilots. One last time. [00:00:37] Speaker B: One last time. [00:00:38] Speaker C: One last time. [00:00:40] Speaker D: One last time. [00:00:41] Speaker A: And through their deeds, decisions, and dice rolls, they shall shape the fates in their stars that make up the seven sectors of the Mekong constellation, grapple with the obligations that drove them to this line of work, and ultimately change the course of this cosmic river forever. My name is Jerry Law. I'm your storyteller for tonight. And before me sit four newly knighted Satria, vanguards of the inevitable spring. First up, the Red Vanguard, man's best friend's best friend. Playing the magnanimous envoy, Lord Kalaxin Bulaklak. Say hello to Ryan Omega. [00:01:14] Speaker D: Hi, I'm Ryan Omega. I finally get to be the red power of Psatria Vanguard. [00:01:22] Speaker A: Don't sue us, Saba. [00:01:24] Speaker D: And that's why I didn't finish that statement. So I'm so excited to be here for the finale, and thank you for tuning in to our epic adventure. And I'm so, again, so excited. [00:01:39] Speaker A: Second, the blue vanguard. The stage may be her calling, but the theater where she'll truly prove herself is the theater of war. Playing the ice pilot, rupiah Tayyang, we got Pooja. [00:01:49] Speaker C: Hello. [00:01:50] Speaker A: Hello. [00:01:51] Speaker E: Uh, diva reporting for duty for one last time. [00:01:57] Speaker A: Next up, the gold Vanguard, the father figure we all know and love in more ways than one. The war horse in socks and sandals, playing roman maxilum, we got Andrew Allende. [00:02:07] Speaker B: What's up, everyone? Andrew J. Landy checking in here. Playing Roman. Pronounce he him for both of us, I'm what you call an ice cold can of WHOOP ass. But today for you all, I'll be your daddy. [00:02:25] Speaker A: And finally, the green vanguard. A princess without a kingdom, but the queen of our hearts already vung, played by none other than my dear friend and incredible producer, Clara. Say what's up, Clara? [00:02:35] Speaker C: What's up, Clara? Uh, sorry. Fully just blue screened. Uh, I will get back into it. Hi, everyone. This is episode ten. We did it. We got this far. Holy shit. Let's go. [00:02:55] Speaker A: You seem flustered, Clara. [00:02:57] Speaker C: I. We have hit, I think, across all queen's court properties. We have now hit every every kind of hot guy trope. I think we get all of them now. And if you're listening and if you're watching in chat, try to name them all. [00:03:20] Speaker A: We'll be playing Mekong using the beam Saber RPG, a forged in the dark system written by Austin Ramsey with additional supply drop books written by J. Lo, Philo Hazard and Alfe Demille. Additionally, a special shout out to a friend of the show, Arian Lee, for all the help compiling the cultural, historical and religious research that went into creating Mekong. So thank you Arianne. We love you. You can find the cast as sorted social media accounts by sending exclamation point cast to the chat. And if you'd like to purchase beam Saber for yourself and your own gaming group, exclamation point system will lead the way. There will be some themes that some viewers may find disturbing. There will be depictions of blood, gore, dismemberment, body horror, drug and alcohol use, police brutality, politically motivated violence, gang violence, warfare, sexual themes, teen angst, existential crises, excessive use of english and non english profanity, and as always, some good old fashioned intergenerational trauma. This goes for the last part, especially goes for this session, especially now that we're in episode ten and all of our characters are finally confronting, you know, everything that has, all the problems that they got, bloodline wise, politics wise, all that fun and good stuff that comes with being a southeast asian person on land and in space. Crazy, right? But the cast and I have confirmed and discussed our lines and veils and confirmed that everyone is comfortable playing, but we want you watching at home to be safe as well. Well. So without further ado, the 10th and final episode of Symphony for the devil. So long ago, when the light of the stars flowed like a river across the heavens, Chow Freya, the once pristine jewel of the Vyangchan sector, is ablaze. Kanawa Vung, the youngest son of the reigning house Vuong, has forcefully seized the throne and has declared himself Chakravartin Devaraja, a ruler above heaven itself. Backed by the powerful, wealthy cliques of the sector's corrupt nobility and granted unforeseen power by the Qun Ma captain, the Gui Vung, the demon prince, alongside his trusted lieutenants, minister Rubina, Bulaklak, Tan Nong, despair, Maxlem and Archduke Sara van Deng consolidate their base in Fa Feng and brutally suppress all who oppose the demon prince's new regime. It appears that all known resistance has been crushed. However, unbeknownst to them, hope persists. Four Ta Nong have been inducted into the gilded order of the inevitable spring. Now, donning the monocolor uniforms of the legendary Satria vanguard, the party known as team menagerie have struck a key victory on the far world of Celadon. Her companions now in possession of the weapon of Ravana himself, Chandra Hasa. The exiled princess Oridi races back home to confront her megalomaniacal brother. The symphony has stopped playing, but its song has echoed across the star lanes and has reached Vyangchan. Will our band of heroic pilots stop Bokap Din from consuming Chow Freya, as foretold by Kunta Lanak? What will come from this emotionally charged reunion between brothers and sisters, parents and children, peasant and king? Will the bonds of family overcome the generational wounds of a suffering empire? Find out in the exciting finale of Mekong symphony for the devil stars. The camera begins panning down and we see the round atmosphere, the top of the planet chow Phraya at the bottom half of the frame. And then from the top of the screen, we see the Marigold coming in towards the planet. And then immediately right behind from FTL, the massive supercarrier the MK's alacrity is pursuing it, and there's an exchange of cannon fire between the smaller ship and the larger ship as we draw close onto Chow Phraya within the Marigold. My friends, it's all come down to this. For the past several months you have embarked on a journey from the heart of the Mekong constellation to the far reaches of frontier space. And on the way you have witnessed everything from the devastation left behind, from the ongoing war on the sinner honey drug, to the indignity of forced exile into space with the lost boys, to the vast inequity between the decadent ruling classes and the oppressed underclasses desperate for hope, for a better future, to the shattered terraform worlds marred by Bokat thins re emergence, haunted by a twisted and deranged symphony and its composer. And now you have returned to the place where it all started, Chow Freya, where you will inevitably confront the forces that rain destruction down onto this fragile kingdom. How you got here, though, was that you have stolen the Marigold and the imperial stolen. And now the imperial army has pursued you all the way from Celadang to here. At least that's what you want. That's what you put down on paper, is what happened, right? And so while there's this remarkable space battle happening between these two ships outside, all four of you know this is kind of a farce. As you're making the approach to the planet, right? So with that being said, we cut to the inside of the marigold on the bridge, where all of you Zhong Zi, Jackie, the whole crew, the lost boys, you're all kind of, like, seeing the planet get bigger and bigger on your view screens. And these big bolts of lasers kind of, like, passed by the Merrygold as this quote unquote, battle is happening, right? Orty, seeing that you kind of spearheaded this plan. What's going through your head? [00:11:13] Speaker C: You can see ordie's hand moving up and down as she is going to bite her nails. And then her hand goes back down so that she remembers she shouldn't, and then it goes back up, and then it goes back down. And then eventually, she just grabs Rupiah's wrist to keep her hand from. To just stop it. And then she's like, is this too gay? And let's go. But looking out at everything, seeing Ciao, Freya below, I think I'm just. I'm terrified, that's. And I think it's okay to be scared. I know it's okay to be scared. I kind of wish I was the Brown Ranger right now, but it's gonna be okay. I've seen. I've seen so much of the empire and of the people who are going to be my people, and I have to remind myself that bravery is not doing things that are scary and not being scared of it. It is doing things in spite of being scared of it. And Kanawa couldn't pilot the Krasue, and now I have her. And Kanawa cannot rule this kingdom, and I will take it back. [00:12:59] Speaker A: As you're kind of looking down at the planet, you kind of see that the atmosphere very visibly has changed, right? It's not so much a blue jewel floating in, you know, the Goldilocks zone of this star system anymore. You can see from space that there lines of battle have been drawn across entire squats of land. You see, if anything, in your time away. And now that you just came from Celadang and seen the warfare that has torn that planet asunder, it seems that same feeling you got looking at the devastation is what you feel is what you observe. Looking at your home world now, you didn't think the war. You didn't think, you know, the war with the Ken Mao would never get this far, get this far in, but it did. It got past you. So it is too late to have stopped that destruction in the first place. But it's not too late to halt it in his tracks now. But yeah, rupiah, as already, is kind of like batting at you, trying to work through her anxieties while you were being pursued. And the ship's, you know, occasionally rocking back and forth and Jack and, like, Nina's like, flying in a way that makes it seem like, you know, there's a stressful situation, but all of you guys plan for this to happen, so. But, rupiah, what, what's going on with you right now? [00:15:01] Speaker E: I think that I'm just really, really focused on this. This is the time to take it back and put our families back together, because we've been missing hope this whole time. And seeing what Kanawa did to her and how deeply hurt and devastated that made Roman, seeing how far he's willing to go to hurt everyone for his own selfishness, I was like, this is the stand that we have to make. We. Failure is not an option. [00:15:55] Speaker A: Roman, you've been chugging a lot of rat away, but you can walk again. You're no longer confined to the wheelchair. You're more or less back to your old self. There's some burns, there's still some scarring, but otherwise, you are a functioning soldier once again. Now that you have won this battle with the Fir. With Maestro back in the sinkhole, back on Celadang, and now you are returning to chow Frei to fight another one. But this time, it's much more personal. You know, hope is down there. She may not be her former self at the moment. You know, something has happened to her. You know, something changed between your time leaving and your time coming back. What's going through your mind, and what are you doing right now? [00:16:50] Speaker B: Right now I'm just looking out the view, the view window, looking at Chalfraya and anticipating the battle up ahead. And while I'm standing there, I'm doing the old man, like, just trying to get used to being back on my feet. And I've got this little bottle of salon freeze. It's like biofreeze, but obviously can't use that. So it's, it's, you know, using that on sore, sore parts of my body since again, I'm still getting used to using everything and being fully active. As I'm looking out the view, the window, I can only imagine what I'll have to do to get hope back. All this is to help everyone. But I know that, most importantly, I want my daughter back. And as I'm looking at the window, I'm just quietly praying and whispering to myself, angels east, angels west, north and south, just do your best to guard and protect her while she rests. Amen. [00:18:12] Speaker A: So you have in possession the Chandrahasa. When you used it on maestro, you saw what happened to him. You saw, like the beam saber, as promised, did sever this. You know, the tether that had Bocap then possessing maestro to make him do what he did, so that a similar thing has happened to hope at this point that you've observed with that knowledge going in, what. What do you think Roman's approach for this situation is going to be now? That this is not just an old man that you're fighting going down there? This is your own. This is. [00:18:55] Speaker B: I'm batshit terrified. It's easy. It's easy to kill an enemy that you know is your enemy, but to have to do the same thing to a family member, let alone it being your own. Your daughter, she may not be my flesh and blood, but she's still my daughter. It's much easier to have to inflict a strike on somebody that you don't know, that you don't have a connection with. But that thought's ringing in my mind right now. We have to do whatever's necessary to save my daughter. But then there's that little doubt in my mind, well, what if this doesn't work? What if. What if it only works one time? What if it doesn't? What if I do something that I'll never be able to get back? [00:19:59] Speaker A: And there's definitely the possibility here that hope might be the sacrifice for the rest of the good of everyone. That's a possibility right now. [00:20:11] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:20:15] Speaker A: That'S a heavy thing to reckon with. [00:20:18] Speaker B: And the only thing that's keeping me calm right now is repeating that prayer and just trusting that whatever angels out there, whatever force, whatever power may be, will guide not only me, but the rest of our team to the right decision. And at this point, it's come what may, because no matter what we do, we're never going to be able to walk it back. There's no. There's no second chance here. We have one shot, and I just have to trust in myself that I'll make the right decision when it comes time. [00:21:02] Speaker A: Lastly. Kallaxon. It's been a long journey. It's been a long race. You know, you've been on some pretty long tracks, but now that you're kind of coming up on this particular finish line, sporting colors of these legendary characters you once only heard in storybooks, you look at, you look down at your, you know, your new. Do you see that the uniform, the red itself, like, weaved in, it's a repeating pattern of red zinnias, kind of like up and down the arms. But what about you, Kallaxin? What's going through your mind right now? What are you doing as we go into this? [00:21:55] Speaker D: So Kallaxon is in the shop. He is repairing the kisi by himself, because between races, the best advantage you can get is not just the having the best boosters, but making sure that all those lug nuts are tightened, because it's not the. It's not the lucky shot that's going to win us this race. It's making sure that every piece of armor is secure so that we can take those hits. So he is just handling. [00:22:46] Speaker A: All of. [00:22:46] Speaker D: That himself because it's almost puts him in a meditative state of just preparing as if this were the big race. [00:22:58] Speaker A: You know, you're gonna have to see Robina for the first time when you get down there on opposite sides of the battle line. She's chosen her side, you've chosen yours. What's going through your mind on that regard? [00:23:16] Speaker D: He doesn't know how he's gonna deal with Rubina when he sees her. He doesn't know how he'll react. The very first thing we need to do is get Kanua off the throne. After that, then he can deal with Rubina. So he's almost looking at his sister, someone he grew up with. As you are not anything to me right now, not until this is handled, because that's how you treated me and my business. So this is how I'm going to treat you and your business. When that person is no longer on the throne, then I will care about you. But you are nothing to me right now. But everyone on this, Marigold, is the family I need. [00:24:10] Speaker A: So the feeling on this initial approach seems very between all of you. You are all resolute. You are all united in intention for this fight that will irreparably alter the fate of the sector and possibly the empire itself. So what I'm going to do is we're going to get into the mission right. So we all seem to be in agreement that the objective is depose Kanoa, is defeat Kanoa. I'm putting it the stop to this now. So we're going to roll an engagement roll, and that's going to determine, as always, the starting circumstances for the battle that's about to come. So we're going to ask a series of questions to help determine what the engagement role is, and then I'll get straight to the narration of all the cool stuff after that. So object, primary objective is defeat Kanawa, save the universe. So is this mission bold? Yes. You are saving Chow fry. So you have two. Is the mission complex. So, in terms of complexity, it's. There's kind of an asymmetrical portion to this. Right, because right now it's you, the lost boys, one bureaucrat, two nieces. That's it. Because, sure, the alacrity is chasing you, and there's Preeta and the Chow Fry exasoler. They. They're pursuing you, but they don't exactly have the rules of engagement that lets them fight the Chow Phrayan navy or the military directly yet. Because, you know, Zung Zi did mention in prior session that the jury is still out whether the emperor has considered Kannoa's takeover legal or not. And because there's so much red tape and so much paperwork to go through, that that's just taking forever. Right. He could make that decision in the middle of this battle, and then you'll have a bunch of reinforces show up. Who knows? Right, but. Right, so right now, it's just you. So that's pretty complex. And that's you against. Yeah, that's good. But, you know, they could get. They could get involved, they might not, depending on what flashbacks you guys use, what roles you make, all that sort of thing. Right, and so. But right now, it's just the crew of the marigold, some. Some pirates versus the royal Marines, the hornets, and, uh, you know, uh, and. And basically house Dang's, uh, retainer forces. Right? So that's three formations versus your little ragtag group of folks. So I. That's pretty complex. Yeah. Okay, so that's. We're down to die again. So you're back down to one. Die. [00:27:12] Speaker C: Like it's. [00:27:12] Speaker E: Now we're at two. [00:27:13] Speaker A: You're at two. Sorry, sorry. You're at two. Do you have a tactic that exploits vulnerabilities? Now is your time to argue with me if there are any vulnerabilities you would like to exploit, Mike, that, you know, ahead of time. [00:27:23] Speaker C: My current thought process is this one. I wrecked the Chow Phi hump house before I got in there. Before I left, I fucked it up. It is not a fortress anymore. Literally. I have points in wreck because I did that. But also, this is already his old stomping ground. This is where she grew up. My plan is kind of two part, which is a larger force occupies, bothers the army. [00:27:52] Speaker A: Yeah, the bulk of the army. While you guys do special forces. [00:27:56] Speaker C: Yeah, we special forces. We go into the back door. We find Kanawa, we murder him, and we take back the kingdom and use it like the palace has not reconstructed or changed since already left. [00:28:07] Speaker A: I'm assuming you don't know that yet. [00:28:09] Speaker C: I mean, that's a fast build, but. [00:28:11] Speaker A: Yeah, that is a fast build, but. [00:28:14] Speaker E: Yeah, you've been gone for like, three weeks. [00:28:18] Speaker C: Yeah, this game is. But anyway, yeah, you've been gone for. [00:28:22] Speaker A: Three weeks, but there's time dilation when you jump, so. [00:28:32] Speaker C: I would argue still, that already is familiar enough with the chow fry in palace that she would know any secret passageways, back doors, anything. So that will be. [00:28:45] Speaker A: You're up to three again. So you're a three die. And is the tactic ineffective against the target? No, that sounds pretty effective. Like, you know where the back doors are. You just gotta. You know where the vulnerability is. You just gotta get the. The objective is just getting there so you don't lose a die there. Do you have external support? Not yet. Flashback. You might have some later, but right now you don't. So I won't give you a die for that. And is there anyone interfering with the mission? No, it's pretty straight on pitched battle, two factions, so. Okay, so the total pool is three die, three d, six in the engagement roll. [00:29:29] Speaker C: Who wants to roll? [00:29:30] Speaker D: I'll roll it. [00:29:31] Speaker A: All right, kalaxer, you saw how I was rolling earlier. [00:29:35] Speaker B: You don't want to risk that. [00:29:36] Speaker C: No, it's not allowed to roll anymore. [00:29:39] Speaker D: All right, here we go. Three D six. [00:29:44] Speaker A: Control six. [00:29:46] Speaker C: All right, fuck off, everyone. [00:29:50] Speaker A: Okay, cool. That's excellent. You are in controlled position, so everything is going to plan. All right, picture this. The marigold cresting over orbit of chow Fria, just behind the massive MK's alacrity carrier exchanging laser fire. Coming over the horizon, you see three battleships flying the colors of house dang. Seeing this kind of battle going through. And Nina has her headset on and she's like. She starts playing the chatter out loud for everyone to hear. And so you hear Archduke dang's voice, kind of like broadcasting on the open channels, like, attention, imperial vessel alacrity. This is the Chow Friar Navy. Why are you pursuing this vessel? Could you please relay to us what's going on? And Preeta, she mutes the chat and then she voice, and then she, like, hails over to the narrator. She's like, before I answer this communique already, I have some good news. Okay, you see the preeta on the view screen. She kind of like steps aside on the bridge and you see someone kind of like walking into frame carrying some sort of lycopod Kallaxin. And she opens it up, and miss mist fits inside with a little message around her neck. And she's like, we've received communication from Dung sun. First off, your puppy is safe. And she takes the scroll off, and she opens the scroll, and you recognize the seal of the emperor of the Huangdae emperor saying, by official degree, I emperor, no, hereby recognize that the kenma have infiltrated our territories and have possessed the rulers, the current rulers of Chow Phraya. This is. This is a failure on our part as the imperial administration. My last decree authorizes dragon Marshal Prita Deng to mobilize all Mekong ease forces against the Chao Phraya, against Kanawha Vung, for his this he the mandate of heaven is lost, and the mandate of the people will now reign. After the crisis concluded, I, the emperor, will be abdicating my throne, and a new one shall step. Because that's just what happens, right? Like, when the emperor fails to do their job, like, settle the crisis and we gotta put a new one, a new guy on, because that's major fuck up on their part. So. So Priya closes the scroll and she says, I'm gonna open fire on them. You guys do what you gotta do, okay? [00:33:04] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:33:06] Speaker A: Archduke Dang, this is dragon marshal Preeta dang of the Mekong defensive army. You are under violation by orders of the emperor for conspiracy against the throne and for collaborating with the adversary. Excuse me. And then you see, Nina's like, okay, that's our. That's our move. And she kind of, like, pushes the controls down and the marigold suddenly, like, starts diving into the atmosphere. And from above, the alacrity starts firing all their guns at the dang fleet. And several Gisi begin shooting out from the hangar bays of the chow, fry and exosolar, while the danks also begin launching royal Marines. And they begin to, uh, engage in this remarkable exchange of. [00:33:58] Speaker B: Of. [00:33:58] Speaker A: Of plasma and mass driver cannons and just an enormous pitched space battle, but, uh, they have become occupied enough that it clears the royal Marines clock and you are free to descend into atmosphere. Cool. Your plan worked, uh, princess? [00:34:20] Speaker C: Fuck. Oh, man, I love when plants work. [00:34:27] Speaker A: Yeah, this whole battle starts happening around you, and you see several sensei classics of kisi fly past you, and they start pulling out beam sabers, and they're shooting their guns and different melee weapons. Kind of carts start coming out, and there's all this magnificent but also terribly violent dances of different martial arts moves being, like, exchanged as these entire waves of mechs begin going at each other's throats. The marigold begins dive bombing into the atmosphere, and everybody kind of. And ninja's like, all right, everyone strap in. Everyone kind of, like, clicks on the ship starts getting really bumpy as the marigold begins begins breaking. Chao phraya atmo. You descend onto Fa Feng, the capital city of Chow Phraya, where the city is devastated from. Clearly, Kano has lost the narrative. And while he was so busy with his evil plans of putting together his gun maki c hybrid mechs and, you know, trying to do his ascendancy or whatever, a lot of people weren't a fan. Was not. Were not fans. It has all the hallmarks of a metropolitan center under occupation, right? Like, you see that martial law is being announced on the loudspeakers. You see, like, big propaganda billboards of, like, advertising when curfews are and all that sort of thing. And there are barricades in the streets and. And around the palace, there are several mechs kind of just orbiting vultures around the statue of a guanyin in the yard. They all look to be in similar silhouette to the archangel, albeit much more eldritch looking, mangled, evil looking things, right? But the Marigold descends, and Nina is trying to, like, find a place to land right now, right? But as she kind of gets closer, close to city, and it becomes more clear that, like, this, it's not just a war zone here. It's like there are certain stretches of. That are under, like, government control, and there are other stretches of the city that look to be under the control of different banners fly that aren't chow frying, that aren't. That aren't representative of, like, the chow frying government itself. You see there are several banners that have, like, the Durga yantra on it, right? That it's that the partisan resistance fighters that have been, like, against whatever Kano was in doing have kind of adopted the symbolism of Durga because the only gisi that seemed to be helping everybody when the city was flooding in episode two was copper pod. And the. The Durgan Popular Front seems to be the only force of other tandong who aren't down with the current regime, who are kind of struggling against Kanuo right now. So that's what you see on the way down. And you kind of land in a zone controlled by them, like a. Kind of, like a big city plaza. Like, the Marigold kind of touches down. Like, there's big billows of dust that get blown out from the landing zone as this whole ship touches down. And you see several people kind of like, at first they were all looking up at the sky at the space battle that's happening between the alacrity and the Dang's naval forces. But then they see you come down and with awe as the ship lands and the welcoming committee appears. You can't see from where you are just because you're so high up from the ship, right? But you're all kind of staring down from the bridge of the Marigold and Orty. What's, what do you, what are your feelings? First on what's going on? Just based on what's presented to you. [00:38:55] Speaker C: I'm concerned by a welcoming committee because I had hoped that people would not realize that we were here. That's not the case. Or they assume that we're something else, like air support for them, but the durga, that's fun. [00:39:19] Speaker A: Anyway, rupiah, what about you? [00:39:24] Speaker E: Honestly, seeing all these people rally under Madhurga's name is a little overwhelming. I did what I did because I didn't think anyone else would in a way, because that's how it's always been. We had to do for ourselves because no one was coming for us. But that's changing. [00:39:58] Speaker C: These people are fighting. [00:40:02] Speaker E: They care and, and that's fucking awesome. [00:40:12] Speaker A: The ramp at the back of the marigold and roman and kallaxon, you, klaxon, you especially. Cause you're in that hangar and you're looking out as you've landed at the people. They're all in various different, like, they're all covered in dirt and dust from the past several weeks of, you know, fighting with the cops, with the royal marines, with the hornets. But you're looking out at them and they kind of remind you of when you were looking out at all your fellow racers at the gala on back in episode seven, right? That feeling of togetherness, that feeling of like we're all looking out for each other. What it's going through your mind right now. Klaxon, how do you react? [00:41:05] Speaker D: Klaxon walks out towards the Durga and just simply asks, all right, what do you need? [00:41:18] Speaker A: And they are, they elucidate you on the whole situation, right? So like, they're like medicine for the wounded and there's like food and supplies and just general, like logistical aid and that sort of thing to just like get the infrastructure that's still up, that's still like working, continuing to work in spite of the fact, in spite of the royal government's abandonment of everyone else, right? Because that seems to be the big thing that you gauge as like, you're talking with these people, with the people on the popular front of, like, after everything went down with the coup, material conditions just declined rapidly for everybody, as it seemed like now that Kanawa was in charge and now that Rubina and everyone else formed up this new administration, they just went. They left, more or less everyone that wasn't in the nobility to kind of just, like, to drown, more or less. And this whole efforts by the denizens here has been a response to that, and they're doing as well as they can. But, yeah, you kind of just start, like, hauling out stuff from the marigold to start doling out what you need and that sort of thing. And, Roman, when you step out, where does your hunch think hope is here on this planet? The first thing that your attention goes to is, like, the circle of vulture Kisi around the royal palace. [00:43:07] Speaker B: I mean, that's where I would think she would be. And initially, I see the vulture kisi, and the impulse is there to just dart out and immediately go. Go running, guns blazing. And then I stop, because there's a whole. A whole. There's tons of people here that need our help too. This isn't just my fight. This is our fight. And a while back, I let these people down. I wasn't there for them. And while I apologize to rupiah for not being there alongside to help out, at least I have a chance not to make it right. So before we do anything, I have to help these people and make sure that we give them as much support as we can. And I do my part what I failed to do last time. So I'm getting out there. I'm gonna try at least to help get some sort of infrastructure, at least secure the damn perimeter so that way, should something happen, there's at least some semblance of safety here. [00:44:24] Speaker A: Everybody kind of disembarks from the marigold, and at first, I assume you all kind of just, like, ingratiate yourself with this group of people, and you offload what supplies you can from the marigold, and even Zhongzhi and his nieces and the lost boys all kind of, like, take turns, kind of, like, handing just, like, moving cargo off the ship to wherever, right? Like, you got. Just got a fresh resupply from sell Udang, and all these military grade aid is all kind of just getting doled out, or the. When I'm gonna say for dramatic purposes, you're the last to step off the marigold. Right? And the entire plaza kind of stops as they see that the rightful queen has returned to. Ciao, Friar. [00:45:22] Speaker C: Don't puke. Don't puke. Don't puke. Don't puke. [00:45:24] Speaker E: Don't puke. [00:45:25] Speaker C: Okay, um. Just breathe. Oh, what do they want? Do they want. I can't. I don't think I could be inspiring about this. [00:45:43] Speaker A: They are. It's not. It's not that like, they want anything. It's that they all thought you died on Celudeng, right? They all thought that the propaganda from Kanoa's regime anyway was like, you are the void child. You're the void witch. You're the one that brought everything here, right? Or at least that's what the nobles were saying. But here, the salt of the earth, the laborers, the off worlders, the. Everyone that wasn't in that room in the parliament in chapter two is here now, right? [00:46:24] Speaker C: We're here for them. [00:46:25] Speaker A: Yeah. So what do you. So what would you say? Would you say we're here for you? [00:46:30] Speaker C: Yeah, I'm gonna. I had step off. [00:46:36] Speaker A: Brad starts, like, parting way as you kind of, like, walk down. [00:46:39] Speaker C: I. May I look at. I check in with our crew to make sure that all of our supplies go to them now. Because if this doesn't work, then no one. We're not leaving, whatever that means. And then I think, as it gets quiet and uncomfortably quiet, this isn't about a shiny hat, and this isn't about a big house or money or power for one family. This is about you. There are a handful of nobles with my brother, and there are so many of us, and that's who I'm here to serve. Whatever happens after this, it will be for you. [00:47:50] Speaker A: The whole crowd clasp their hands together into the knop, and they gave a respectful downturn. And you as well, kind of clasp your hands and return the knot. A few tae nong are among the people here. You see some sabai kind of, like, come through, and they all notice the colors that you guys are wearing. These are older taenong, by the way, right? The ones that are usually, they're far beyond the age of service right now, right? Like, imagine if your 60 year old uncle started getting back into the mek and that sort of thing, because that's just how desperate it was. And they recognize the colors of the satria vanguard. An older tandong kind of. Kind of comes up from the crowd. He presents himself. His name is Saojoi. He says, like, I'm grateful that the gill, the inevitable spring has returned. I didn't think it would happen in my lifetime. And he reveals a part of his sabbah to show the same green as yours already. But while your green has the patterns of a jasmine flower, his is of a honeysuckle. And you see that the other tandong that are like fighting ready. These older ones that are that should not be piloting at the expense of their. Their elderly health have returned to get into the fight present different monocolored flowers as at one point their hope was shattered and now it has returned. And he says, like, okay, well, seeing that you know the ins and outs of the palace much better than we do, what do you suggest? [00:49:50] Speaker C: I'm not going to. I'm not going to insult you by asking you not to fight. Uncle, this is. But I would suggest that we have a huge force coming in. The emperor has declared canoes rebellion illegitimate and his rule illegitimate and elderly voice. [00:50:14] Speaker A: Shouts took him long enough. And the older ten non also kind of give way to a cane with a bee coated in amber stepping through as another old, another great auntie at this point comes through wearing a sabai and the other tenant part and rupiah, you see Dadiji also wearing a sabai with many of the other Taiyang syndicate underlings, I guess here part of like the ingratiated with the durga in front. And you see Dadaji wears the sabbay of another of a satria vanguard, right, of also. And took him long enough. [00:51:26] Speaker B: Puts the. [00:51:26] Speaker A: Cane down, looks up at you. [00:51:33] Speaker E: Well, go forward, lean down, touch her. [00:51:36] Speaker C: Feet. [00:51:38] Speaker A: She looks down at you and then she just kind of like silently stands there waiting for you to stand back up. She's like, she's really fixated on your uniform. One of the other, sao choi, says, rupiah. And you guys both turn at him, rupiah the elder. And he gestures to Dadaji. I'm sure you have, there's a great many questions right now, but we're kind of in the middle of a revolution, so. But rupiah, now that you're kind of putting the pieces together about like, where the criminal enterprise and where the money was all going and the kind of like, back and forth talk that your grandmother has given you before, how are you taking this moment? Right now. [00:52:40] Speaker E: I'm internally screaming, but externally I am trying to keep as flat of a face as possible, because if I give an inch, I will never hear the end of it in my entire life. Like, if I display anything, it is. It is ammunition for the future. [00:53:03] Speaker A: So. [00:53:07] Speaker E: Questions can wait. Today we have to back up the mandate of heaven with the mandate of the people. [00:53:21] Speaker A: It's unfortunately this point for us to see eye to eye. And I wish I. I wish I, um. I was calmer when I last spoke with you. [00:53:38] Speaker E: I'm thankful that that was not the last time we had an opportunity to speak. [00:53:45] Speaker A: And I know I was scared. I was scared. But fear is not what makes a vanguard. And you, my granddaughter, you have very little of it. [00:54:09] Speaker E: You know what they say, daddy, garage isn't the absence of fear. It's acting in spite of it. And you have never hesitated. [00:54:41] Speaker A: We're going to flash to a kind of a makeshift briefing room inside, like, I want to say, one of the local watering holes that are still kind of functioning here. So the remaining, the elder tandong, they kind of clear off a pool table and lay out a map of the palace and set up several figurines of, like, where battle lines have been drawn and where things are going. And everyone's kind of gathered around in this long briefing room right here, right? Both Dadaji and Saoja kind of, like, take turns giving you guys what intel that they have right now. Hanoa has gone all in on this thing called Project Dark angel, right? Now that those vulture Gisi surrounding the, or at least, like, orbiting the high stupa over Manjushristana palace, those are the dark angel gisis, right? They are mass produced versions of the Morningstar that you previously fought in episode seven. The Durgen Popular front elucidates to you that both the Morningstar and the dark angels have been an experimental new military weapon. But it's also been their means of Kanua's means of, like, oppressing, like, any uprisings here in Chao Phraya. Dadaji looks at us. I'm going to play some footage that our spies have recovered. It's going to be a little disturbing because the nature of the morning star is that. Let me just show you. And she activates the screen in the middle of the table. And you see filmed on, like, a handheld device. Devinder's face. He says, my name is Devinder Cage. I am the pilot of the DC Garuda, and I'm here in the dungeons beneath Manjushri Sana palace. And if there's one last thing that I want everybody to know to see before I'm gone, it's the truth behind what the king says will repel Bokapdin. And he turns the camera, and it's very shaky at first, but from the darkness, you see the morning star kind of like, hunched over, and as it kind of, like, turns. Have you ever seen the painting cronus eating his son by Goya. Most Gisi, they use radioactive selige isotopes as a fuel source, right? The morning star is surrounded by giblets and bones, and you see clothes and sabai and political signs, and it tears into a piece of flesh as it turns towards the camera. And then you hear devinder screw. Wait, no, no, no, no. Camera cuts and. Or it occurs to why the Capitol seems so empty and where everybody is. It's. It's. [00:58:28] Speaker B: It's. [00:58:29] Speaker A: It's clear that, um, these machine monsters are. They're feeding on people the same way Akin Ma would. It is times like these when you need a vanguard, right? When you need Tandong to be tandong again. But all of you all go down the line of, like, what's going through your heads after what you just witnessed. [00:59:04] Speaker D: Kallaxon right now is just in shock that something this horrible, literally inhumane, is at the heart of all of this. And the only thing you could think of right now is I. We need Quanua dead. This is unacceptable. How could this have come so far? How come people aren't saying how wrong this is? But we know. We know better now. We now have to destroy him. [00:59:59] Speaker A: Zhong Zi also kind of comes in. He takes off his bureaucrat hat, and he says, many men have tried to master the kunma, try to tame them the same way we have tamed any other animal. Fed them, chum, give them treats, try to. But these, the adversary is not. This is forbidden. This is truly the most taboo of all actions any tanong or pilot or any of us could take. [01:00:39] Speaker C: Totally stupid. You can hear my, like, a cracking sound, and that's my jaw. The way that I've always fought with Krasue is eating that. Like, Kama. That is the big feature of the monananggal type is those super heated fangs. And looking at. Watching the. Watching the morning stars do it is like a perversion of that almost. You can hear my jaw crack again as, like, it's so tense. She pops it. Kanoa's crossed in to full monstrosity. I think that we already have everyone on our side. This is so much. Even if we can't kill him, we've got to get anyone who's in there out. If it's a pyrrhic victory, if we take down the whole palace, if we take down Kanawha, regardless of anything else everyone needs, victory will be if we can make sure the people are out, and then we'll take everything after that. [01:02:15] Speaker A: The ground rumbles and you see a bunch of dust kind of like fly off the shelves. And the whole group kind of looks out. And you hear some people chattering on the radios, like, oh, we got. Sector five has engaged the hornets. I repeat, sector five has engaged the hornets. And Sao chui turns to the rest of you. He's like, looks like they know you're here. And if the emperor has declared his rule illegal, it means that they're running out of time. We're fighting a cornered animal here. And you know what happens when animals get cornered. [01:02:53] Speaker C: Roman, you fought Morningstar. Personally. [01:02:59] Speaker B: I didn't think it was going to be this bad. Look, you know, what we're seeing is a perversion of nature. I wish I could say something cool right now. Something inspiring. The only thing on my mind is probably the same thing that's on everyone's mind right here. He points at the screen where the morning star is shown. That thing's got to be stopped. By any means necessary. Then he turns. We've got a cornered animal. We've got Morningstar. We have everything we need right now. We defeat that cornered animal, we get through. We've got no other choice. The more time we waste, the worse it's gonna get. We need to get going. [01:04:05] Speaker C: And Roman. [01:04:09] Speaker A: Was that in order? Sir? And you see, like, the lost boys all beginning to, like, put on their flight boots. [01:04:19] Speaker B: Stay ready. But generally, I'm not the one that is fully leading this charge. And Roman's gonna look towards the princess. You're the one in command. I know it's not easy, and I know it's a lot of pressure on you. But we're all looking at you right now. And again, we believe in you. You make the call and we're going to see to it that all of us get this finished. But again, it's when you're ready. [01:04:55] Speaker C: We can't wait any longer. Then let's go. All of us. Before everyone runs out, I want to put a hand on Roman. We have Chandrahasa. Hope's still in there. We can save her, too. [01:05:21] Speaker A: I know. [01:05:23] Speaker B: I know. And we're going to save her. But we're gonna save everyone, too. Thank you. Thank you. I know. It's. [01:05:33] Speaker C: We haven't forgotten. [01:05:36] Speaker B: I know. Thank you. Let's do this. [01:05:42] Speaker A: All right, so each of you head to your kisi. And we're gonna suit up. Once more into the breach, my friends. Just like we did episode one. Let's go to the hangar where each of you approach your mechs and you are all in your vanguard flight suits. Describe to me, one by one, how you get in and the activation process. [01:06:20] Speaker B: Roman walks up to the malaika and standing there in front of it for just a brief moment to just take it in. And what he does is he just goes to each part of it that he can reach without getting lifted into it and just does what he normally does. He just makes sure that everything's in place on the Malayka from each weapon, each, even some of the. Just the nuts and bolts that are holding it together. It's kind of like if you've ever watched the movie Top Gun before. The original Top gun before Maverick gets into his plane, he goes and just tugs on the missiles a little bit just to make sure everything's in place. And once he's sure that everything's in, he's just going to take whatever lift is that will put him into the cockpit. Gets into the cockpit, just takes a moment to be silent and to let the malaika envelop him. So that way it's not just a pilot piloting their KC, it's really getting. Becoming one with the machine. And as he becomes one with the machine, finally he just says, hope I'll be there soon, babe. Just hang on. [01:07:55] Speaker A: We will be there soon. [01:08:01] Speaker B: That must be hearing things again, right? Right. And it dawns on him, even though all this time before the travel, before this mission. So it's really been Roman almost alone against the world, you know, now he's got his found family. And then just hearing that, it's not I, it's we. And then he smiles because he knows one. He's got his family, he's got Klaxon, he's got Oridy, he's got Rupiah, he's got the lost boys, he's got our entire team. And he remembers he's also got Francis there too. [01:08:52] Speaker A: That little quarter slot kind of just blinks at you just once. [01:08:58] Speaker B: I say the quarter slot and I'm going to assume there's a press start button to ignite. [01:09:06] Speaker A: It's that, that little circular plastic press to start. Yeah, little concave. [01:09:13] Speaker B: And upon hearing pressing start, do we hear the. [01:09:22] Speaker A: Kallaxon? [01:09:24] Speaker D: Kallaxon heads over to Sparky. It lowers the seat from its standing legs, so again, from the crotch. It's just the most efficient way to get up there. So he takes a seat, it lifts him up into the center of sparky. He looks at his frame of miss misfit, smiles a lot because he remembers the delivery of the message and thought that was perfect. He looks at the AI, which is also in the form of a talking dog and immediately says, all right. [01:10:18] Speaker A: Where. [01:10:19] Speaker D: Can we find hope? [01:10:21] Speaker A: The AI barks, and there's a little text that says, calculating, and then it presents you a gps map of the fastest street routes to the palace. [01:10:35] Speaker D: I take that information and share it with the group. [01:10:43] Speaker A: It's cross referenced with the intel from the Durgen barricadiers, and they point out several where there are certain checkpoints set up by the Royal Marines that you're going to have to burst through. There's going to be a little bit of fight along the way, but this route will have because you're in controlled circumstances. Let's roll for that. Let's go. Let's roll a scan real quick, and then I'll take that result and factor that into your guys's route to the palace. [01:11:21] Speaker D: All right, I'm gonna roll scan. I will use rook's gambit to take two stress. [01:11:27] Speaker A: Okay. [01:11:28] Speaker D: To basically use my full maneuver tactic. So I think that's a correct. [01:11:37] Speaker A: All right, that's a six. Okay. So, yeah, those checkpoints shouldn't be a problem for Sparky, because I think all you got to do is just kick up some dust, and that'll throw them off enough and buy your teammates enough time to kind of just, like, rush past them. So. [01:11:56] Speaker D: So I take that plan and announce that to the group and say, all right, just like a race. I'll go ahead and start first, and everybody can do what they need, but I'll be the distraction, and I'll even have an advertisement blazing out. [01:12:14] Speaker A: And Mohammed's, like, points up at the advertiser. I'll give you guys covering fire. And. And you see the other tan dong as they suit up, like, yeah, we got your back, guys. So you have some support here alongside that, factoring into that success. [01:12:30] Speaker E: Okay, rupiah, I am gonna walk up to copper pod, and just like I did with Tadiji, I'm gonna lean down and touch her feet. [01:12:45] Speaker A: Daadji also steps up next to you and leans down and touches copper pod's feet. [01:12:51] Speaker E: The gods created mad Durga to destroy demons. [01:12:56] Speaker A: We are at the end of a yugrah. Good must triumph over evil. And Durga was always the first one there to oversee that. She kind of, like, pushed herself up off the cane. When the sun rises in the morning, we'll be freer than we were yesterday. I hope. [01:13:24] Speaker E: We will be. [01:13:29] Speaker C: And. [01:13:32] Speaker E: Adiji, it's not that I'm not scared. It's that you taught me how to be brave. And I'm gonna stand up and raise my arm and that Vasuki arm is gonna turn into a whip that wraps around me and brings me up to the cockpit. [01:14:00] Speaker A: Kind of just watches you as you go up. [01:14:02] Speaker E: And as I hook into copper pot, all of the different, you know, connections that we have. The copper pot brings her hands together and bows. [01:14:27] Speaker A: Kind of tilt her chin down. Our time left on this world is very short, my granddaughter. [01:14:38] Speaker B: But. [01:14:40] Speaker A: And maybe you didn't understand it at the time, all those years ago, after new backcorps and the business and everything, but I and your parents, we fought very hard to give you the best world we could. That still hasn't changed today. [01:15:09] Speaker C: I love you. [01:15:13] Speaker E: In this life or the next. [01:15:16] Speaker A: And you see her kind of step onto the hand of her kisui from across. She pilots a another conara, one of those dancing birds, a woman. She gets in, and you guys are kind of just, like, looking at each other from across as the cockpit's kind of like both clothes in front of you, going into battle alongside each other, for better or for worse, but not to create more wounds, but to heal the ones that were left behind. And finally, Ordi, you approach the nangtani. [01:16:05] Speaker C: But Mimech still has a remote start, remote activation. So standing underneath her, I can look up, and she looks down at me. She's no longer crowned. She lost that part of her head. Instead, I notice, and you can see, like, my. Like the suit that I now wear with the vanguard color. The nangtani has jasmine flowers in her hair or around what would be a band like crown. Her head never fit quite right. So instead of the sleeping dancer face that she used to have, she has this half open grin, and you can see the teeth still sort of peeking out, always sort of always present, always smiling now, and it's terrifying. And I reach out to her, and in response, it mirrors my body language and sort of reaches out, and we hold hands to the best of my ability, like hands on claw tip. And I look at her weird gargoyle coiled body and her new head, and she's both the monster that Kanama couldn't handle and terrified the frontier space for years. And also the only thing that I felt comfortable, the only entity I felt comfortable in for such a long time, the only skin I felt comfortable in. And she now has this new head of a fairy, of a forest nymph that kind of reminds me of the fairy that made me Kong. She's both a monster and also the civilian and the heart of one of the people that make up our empire. And I reach up and again the mech mirrors my movements and sort of scoops me up and brings me into her heart, where the cockpit is. And I let the acupuncture needles sink in. Stretch, and we're just one beast again. [01:19:24] Speaker A: As you enter the cop, enter Nang Tani, and you settle into the cockpit, you also remember that Nangtani, as the legend says, she has a particular thing for avenging women who were wronged by morally corrupt men. And you know in your heart that now that Kano has done this thing and forcefully put hope inside this infernal machine called the Morningstar, Nangtani feels that sense of righteous vengeance. See it through you and its eyes, or the little tears. Kind of like, flash the color red. Al Tan on this is Zhong Zi. Check ins all the way down. [01:20:35] Speaker D: Klaxon, ready to deploy. Sorry. Doghouse, ready to deploy. [01:20:44] Speaker A: Mohammed and Amitabh, ready to deploy. [01:20:49] Speaker C: Viva, ready to deploy. [01:20:53] Speaker A: From the Canarch, this is queen Bee. Ready to deploy. [01:20:59] Speaker B: Seraph. [01:21:00] Speaker A: All systems go, your highness. You hear someone say, we need to give you a call sign. It has to be bestowed upon you. [01:21:13] Speaker C: Yeah, no one was comfortable with it, comfortable doing it when I was in training. [01:21:23] Speaker D: Well, we gotta come up with that now because. Yeah, that's a tradition. [01:21:29] Speaker A: Yeah, we're all about to die anyway, so I might as well give you one before we're out, right? It's. [01:21:35] Speaker C: It's really fine. And you can see that cross. That Nang Tani is now, like, mimicking already's movements, which means that these big claws are starting to, like, move up to its face and, like, fiddle with itself. [01:21:48] Speaker B: Princess, you may think it's fine, but we're gonna need something to y'all when we come out with this victorious. And they're referencing you, so you're gonna need a name. [01:22:01] Speaker C: Okay. [01:22:03] Speaker D: Now, we could go with the tan on tradition of. It's gonna be the thing we're gonna make fun of you for, you know, keep you humble. [01:22:13] Speaker C: Oh, okay. But, like, I. That seems. I feel like I. [01:22:18] Speaker E: You know what? There's. There's really only one. One name that's appropriate, right? [01:22:23] Speaker D: Oh. Oh, yeah, for sure. I mean, look at what you're doing now. Just. [01:22:29] Speaker A: It's. [01:22:30] Speaker E: It's gonna be nibbles. [01:22:35] Speaker C: Oh, yeah. [01:22:36] Speaker D: Nibbles. [01:22:37] Speaker A: Tiny, check in. Tiny, check in. [01:22:40] Speaker C: Fucking do I have to? [01:22:47] Speaker E: It's. [01:22:48] Speaker A: And you hear all the ten I'll get on the channel, like. Yeah. [01:22:53] Speaker C: Oh, my God. All right, nibbles, ready to deploy. [01:22:58] Speaker A: Yeah. All units launch. And all of you, shoot. Activate your boosters. Everyone kicks their reactors into gear. All these mechs start coming to life and they begin dispersing. Out from this plaza into Fafeng city proper. The battle of Chao Phraya is underway, friends. So with that being said, now that the Gisi have been launched and this operation is well underway, the imperial fleet above the skies of Chiao phraya engage the forces of House Deng, while below the Durgen popular front, now accompanied by the Satria vanguards of the gilded of the inevitable spring, charge forth into battle against an animal backed in the corner. That is the regime of Kanawa Vung, Chakravartin Devaraja. What awaits them on the other side of that palace walls? Will this battle be won? Find out after our break. Thank you all for tuning back in to Mekong. Symphony for the devil episode ten the Battle of Chow Phraya has now come upon us. We have been waiting all season for this fight, as our satria vanguards now allied with the Durgen Popular Front, and with their allies in orbit aboard the MK's alacrity, led by commodore no dragon Marshal Preeta. Dang. It's an all out war for the planet. But it seems very clear that we are very close to the end game, as Kanawa and his Atmos chauvinist regime has been backed into a corner and are on their last legs. But that doesn't mean they're going out without a fight. So all of our pilots here have launched and straight into the battle. So I think we're just going to get into the description, right? So Ryan, I see you rolled here a six for scan. So you have calculated the best route from the the Durgen occupied plaza into enemy territory towards the palace grounds. With a six, you've calculated exactly the route you need to take to minimize casualties. So all four of you, as well as your allies, you begin moving in a sort of like caravan kind of thing, just racing through the streets as all around you, all the hallmarks of urban warfare are going on in the chaos. There's small pockets of soldiers, like exchanging small arms fire between the buildings. Several hornet Gisi as well as the royal marines around. They begin emerging out of their defensive positions and they start exchanging fire and blows with the popular front. And far above in the skies, you see that the alacrity and the chow Phraya and exo solar are at each other's throats with the dang fleet and their affiliated G Si. The whole city is alight with. The whole city is alight with exchanges of bullet fire and plasma rounds, all just going back and forth. And as you guys are all kind of like, rushing through the streets to get towards the palace, it's a little heartbreaking already to have to see the city that you grew up in in this condition, right? It's a shell of itself. Buildings with hundreds of years of history have been, like, reduced to rebar and rubble as you kind of, like, leap over them, as you're rushing towards the palace, the infrastructure is toppled. You see the students and other civilians, like, on top of the barricades with guns and they're shooting and they're singing sundar. Spring is here. Spring is here. Even when things seem cold and they seem like there's death all around, all of you are fighting with the hope of making it to the bloom of the next season, whether it be yourselves or those that come after you. The arm might seem desperate and you just, guys just have to hold out until the other Mekong ease fleets arrive. So you are approaching a checkpoint. Describe to me whatever badass things you do to kind of just, like, brush past these marines who are shooting at you as you're rushing towards the palace. [01:27:58] Speaker E: Kallaxon, you're on point, right? [01:28:00] Speaker A: Yes. Yep. [01:28:02] Speaker D: So I think Kallaxon is just looking at the path and he's just basically awaiting the word go. But in the meantime, he is looking through his phone or his tablet, rather, and talking to Miss misfit. Hello, Miss Ms. [01:28:26] Speaker C: Fat. [01:28:28] Speaker A: Like, you see, like, she's still in the lycopod, like, safely tucked away in a secure part of the alacrity. And it's very obvious there's a space battle happening outside. But she's very chipper about this moment. [01:28:44] Speaker D: So he says, hey, first of all, like a wonderful job, thank you so much for, for helping us save the universe. We're going to give you doggy treats. And, uh, we have some commercials. We have some commercials. Oh, oh. We're gonna have you work with one of our new stars, Rupiah, who is just amazing. You're going to get along with her just fine. You obviously know she is. Yes, exactly. Exactly. And we're going to get you some updated lycopods and we're gonna, um, you know, put some, um, luxury lycopods in our little kisi so that, you know, you get to, uh, do a little parade of your own. Once we're all done with this doghouse. [01:29:34] Speaker A: Uh, uh, cut the chatter. Watch your twelve. And just as, and you look up and you see, like, the checkpoint coming up and the marines, like, raise their guns and you burst through, like, the little divider thing. And you kind of just, like, slide right under them and very deftly, you kind of clothesline their legs and you trip both of them as you just blaze through this checkpoint. Because you rolled a six. [01:30:00] Speaker D: Yes. And I was like, oh, oh, sorry. Daddy's at work, so. So we'll talk to you later soon. Love you much. Kisses. [01:30:11] Speaker A: We clear the first checkpoint. Keep moving, keep moving. As you. The palace draws closer and closer as you're kind of, like, crossing and cutting through different alleyways. You slide under different overpasses over and then having to hop over different buildings that have collapsed in the middle of the street. A car is abandoned. [01:30:32] Speaker D: Are there other entities that we're dealing with as we are crossing, crossing through? [01:30:38] Speaker A: Just like there's just battle happening all around you. Right. So the opposing forces you're running up against are the hornets that are kind of still, I guess, trying to, like, maintain some degree of a front line of separation between, like, the area of the city controlled by people loyal to Kanawha and, like, the popular front. So now you're deep in enemy territory. And so there'll be, like, machine people. There'll be, like, guns and stuff, like, still kind of like peppering you with small arms fire on the way as well as the occasional hostile kisi here or there. [01:31:23] Speaker D: So I think I'm gonna use this distraction to kind of egg them on to kind of distract themselves, start chasing me. And I'll do the distraction by amplifying my voice almost by loudspeaker and starting a chant. And the chant is going to be simple. Can Genoa, Kenoa can't. [01:31:54] Speaker A: Okay. Yeah, yeah, let's go ahead. And what skill do you think that. [01:32:02] Speaker D: Would be in my head? That's sway. [01:32:04] Speaker A: Great. Go ahead, roll sway. [01:32:06] Speaker D: I'm gonna, it's stressful, so I'm gonna use that ability and roll 46. [01:32:12] Speaker A: Great. That's six and a one. Okay, so. But I'll take that six. Okay. Yeah. There's a chant going around. You kind of broadcast on an open channel to try to demoralize the enemy. Right? Like, as previously mentioned, Kano has more or less lost the narrative and anyone who's still kind of, like, fighting on his side is already kind of on slippery terms of, like, this guy's crazy. He's got fucking machines that eat people. Like, at what point do you cut your losses? And the second they start hearing, can Kanua can Kanua can, they're like, maybe they're right. Maybe the Chakravartian can't. And you see several white flags kind of go up in different areas of the city as the marines kind of, like, drop their weapons of, like, no, it's enough for them to click like, this. Fighting isn't doing any good, but. And it rattles them. There's still some resistance from, like, the upper managers, like, no, stay. And so there's some parts of the city that the fighting remains as intense, but you've more or less softened it up and much to everybody else's ease. So you've cleared that first checkpoint. You're still closing distance between yourself and palace, but it's getting much closer. Would anyone else like to do anything at this point? [01:33:49] Speaker E: Well, I guess as we approach the next checkpoint, I'm gonna unsheathe copper pod's axe. [01:34:00] Speaker A: Okay. [01:34:02] Speaker E: And do kind of like a running sprint up and then swing it like a cricket bat, except with the pointy end out. [01:34:12] Speaker A: Fantastic. Badass. Let's see that battle. Check. [01:34:17] Speaker E: Double sixes. [01:34:18] Speaker A: Oh, my God. Okay, that's a crit. That fills the clock all the way. Okay, that's all right. Incredible. That's okay. So you see several reinforcements of marines try to stack up at this one checkpoint. And you see them form ranks, like, one rank. They kneel, and they raise their guns. The second one in the back also raise their guns. You jump over this checkpoint, ax raised. You come down, tell me how you want to do this. [01:34:48] Speaker E: So I leap over the checkpoint, axed raised, spin around, and just two handed down, and it breaks any barricade and scatters, like, the impact force of it scatters the marines. [01:35:12] Speaker A: And you see several of them come flying back, and they crash into some buildings and another set of them, as they're about to form the third rank, they scoot in place, and they start backing up. And some of them, a few brave souls, put their guns away, and they, like, pull out melee weapons. They pull out plasma swords, and they try to engage you face to face, but you are in your element, and you have six more arms than they do. You even pull out a second axe, and you just start. [01:35:50] Speaker E: It's like parrying on one side and swinging with another and coming up with another arm underneath to grab one of them around the leg and flip them up in the air. [01:36:03] Speaker A: And as you flip that last one up in the air, the kanara that Dadaji is piloting kind of like roundhouses it out of the air and kind of tumbles and crashes into another building. Orty af, as you see, they've heard they're a pretty girl. Fight good, but even though that's not the combat assessment you want to make. You do see that both the copper pod and Kallaxon's speech have cleared enough of an opening to reach into the palace grounds proper. [01:36:48] Speaker C: Yeah, I just full steam ahead, honestly, kind of a repeat of our racing. I kind of. I think I see Kallaxin start to pull ahead and blast through that first group. And I, like, call out. I call back, like, hey, can I catch a lift? And use just, like, a piece of shrapnel like, chain around Kallaxon's ankle and hovering slightly off the ground so there's no friction. Just let him tow me forward, calling back, like, Roman, you coming? [01:37:28] Speaker B: Roman is in the rear guard, and while we're rushing, he's got his shield up, just trying to deflect what he can for the group. [01:37:40] Speaker A: You do intercept some fire on the way. So, like, you're kind of, like, shield up, right? [01:37:45] Speaker B: Basically, for whatever. Whatever battle is happening and whoever's trying to take pot shots at the team. While we're racing forward, Roman's going left and right, covering both flanks to make sure no one's getting damaged. Right now, he's keeping the other arm of the malaika open in the event he has to draw. The sword of Chandrahasa has not been activated yet with him. He's not ready to bring that out just yet, and I think he understands this is not the time. In a way, it would be overkill. So this whole thing is defend, defend the caravan until we get to the palace. [01:38:22] Speaker A: Great. So you and Ordi, now that Rupiah and Kallaxon have kept the hornets and marines occupied, you reach the furthest edge of the palace. You kind of have to. There's a small breach in the wall of lineage, that place where you and Gordy were standing, that stairway up the palace. And so it gives you access to kind of, like, the lower levels underneath the hill, almost kind of. So you kind of just slip past that little crevice and into some tunnels below. [01:38:59] Speaker C: Then I'll roll scan just to get a look at maybe I'm looking for. Here's my thing. I'm looking for Kanawa. [01:39:07] Speaker A: Yes. [01:39:08] Speaker C: I assume hope will be with him. That's a four. [01:39:11] Speaker A: That's a four. Okay, so with the scan, as you kind of enter these lower levels. [01:39:17] Speaker B: There'S. [01:39:18] Speaker A: Been a lot of excavation down here. You know that there's, like, secret tunnels under the palace, like every palace does. [01:39:24] Speaker B: Right. [01:39:24] Speaker A: But there's been a lot of work done down here. Right. The tunnels are big enough for, like, the cross suit to kind of, like, hunch down and, like, kind of. Yeah, crouch, walk through, and you see as your photoreceptors on the Ngtani, kind of, like, look at the adjacent walls. These are not walls. These are catacombs. And there are several skulls all along the sides of this corridor. You presume these are the bodies of people that have been fed to the Morningstar and her dark angel siblings. There's a lot of people down here. The canoe has been very busy. But then the catacombs stop, and it becomes, like, a more metallic formal structure, right? Like some sort of underground facility of sorts. You come across a full on, like, engineering lab for kisi, right? Like, big racks and large consoles and big plexiglass separating some sort of testing chamber. Like, there aren't Yantakara working here because then there'd be, like, religious vestments, you know, like Jackie has around here and various shrines. There are no such. There are no such things down here. It's all just pure technology and readings. As you kind of, like, scan further, your nongtani starts immediately, like, extracting whatever data is down here. And you trigger a sort of, like, holographic projection of, like, the security footage of, like, the closed circuit of what has gone down here. And you see the first clip that appears is dated about to about the time you guys left, maybe the day after. And you hear hope's voice going like, no, I have to stay with the archangel. I have to keep her safe. And then you hear Kanua's voice, and he walks into frame. You see her grasping onto archangel. You can't have her. And she's like, well, you see, child, um. You're actually a very critical part of what's to come. Do you know what. Do you know what the morning star is? She's like, what's the morning stars like? That's you. You are going to be the one that will save all of us. You are the chosen one. You see, um. And all we. We just need a little bit of time with Archangel, and, um. And we need you to pilot it to stop Bob. Captain. She's like, it's me. Yes, it's you. And the next kind of clip goes, and it's Kanua and Rubina talking. She's like, are we sure? I need you to be perfectly clear here. You're saying that? Yes, I am saying that. Okay. If it makes us money, it makes us money. And the camera turns, and you see the cockpit of the archangel open from the back. It's kind of like, as kuntulanox feathers begin getting kind of, like, plugged and worked into the actual chassis itself, and. And it's hope screaming, wait, I don't want to get it. Don't make me get it, please. And kind of lowering her into the cockpit and kind of sealing her in there. You gotta break an omelet. You gotta break some. A few eggs to make an omelet, and it's gonna be a very, very tasty omelette for all of us. And she's gonna save the day. She's gonna save us all. She's gonna say, um, yeah. Do you feel good about yourself, Kanawa? I feel like she's going through what I've gone through inside for decades, so this ain't all that different. And transmission cuts. [01:44:06] Speaker B: I'm gonna kill him. [01:44:11] Speaker C: The nang tenni has a bit of a flaw where it leaks. It leaks some reactor fluid from those eye sockets as well. You can hear Oridy cracking her knuckles and her jaw again and just yells out into the space, just. Kanawha, get the fuck out here. [01:44:43] Speaker A: You hear his voice on the loudspeakers? Oh, I'm upstairs. Why'd you come on in? [01:44:53] Speaker B: He's got a tactical advantage. He's got the high ground. We don't know what we're going into, but do we have a choice? [01:45:01] Speaker D: At this point, he can't get away. [01:45:05] Speaker C: With any of this. This is. [01:45:08] Speaker B: All right. [01:45:10] Speaker C: Um, as soon as you see hope, get her out, and I'll deal with my brother. [01:45:20] Speaker B: Noted. Noted. No. [01:45:24] Speaker A: Just how to get the hell up there. You see a single spotlight turn on in the lab, and it turns towards a large, square elevator platform. [01:45:37] Speaker C: It's probably a trap, right? [01:45:39] Speaker B: Hey, Kanawa. [01:45:42] Speaker A: You piece of shit. [01:45:43] Speaker B: Hey, how do I know you're not. [01:45:45] Speaker A: Just setting a booby trap? You want to face us like a proper warrior? [01:45:48] Speaker B: Do this with honor. [01:45:49] Speaker A: Let's do this face to face. Come on. Now, how do I know it's not a trap? Silence. [01:45:58] Speaker C: Are there other key c parts in the thing? [01:46:01] Speaker A: In the lab. In the lab, it's completely emptied out. [01:46:06] Speaker C: I have a dumb idea. [01:46:10] Speaker B: Okay. What is dumb idea? [01:46:12] Speaker C: So we suddenly lift back up, and what's sitting on the lift is just a miss misfit bobblehead that has the baby back boosters logo or whatever her thing is. It's just a little bobblehead. And so it goes up and underneath the lift. Both Nangtani and. [01:46:39] Speaker A: Marla and Malaika. [01:46:40] Speaker C: Yeah, Malaika are, like, underneath it, waiting to see if, like, he takes the bait. Yeah. [01:46:47] Speaker A: Okay. [01:46:48] Speaker C: Very stupid. [01:46:50] Speaker A: Okay, so you go ahead and you set up your little, uh, your bobblehead, and, um, and you hit the switch for the lift, and it rises up, and you. You take your two mechs and you slide under the lift and kind of just slowly hover up. It's a long ascent past, like, layers of rock. And then it. You wait for a moment beneath the lift, and you're continuing to monitor your scanners to see if anyone kind of, like, approaches it. Didi, I know you're trying to be cute right now. I'm not impressed. I don't know, like, you know, I've been waiting for a new year's gift for, like, I don't know, a quality one. And that's it. That's all. That's it. [01:47:47] Speaker C: I don't know if you've noticed, but haven't had a lot of time to do New Year's shopping. [01:47:55] Speaker A: It's really cute, I'll give you that. But, um, I don't know. You can do better than that. He's taunting you. He's like, come on, you are capable of so much more. You know? You are just. [01:48:18] Speaker C: No, honestly, I don't. [01:48:22] Speaker A: You hear him step on top of the. The lift. [01:48:27] Speaker C: Yeah. I don't know how to say this. We are very similar. We have a lot of similar, you and I. We have a lot of the same habits. For example, we both pace when we talk. And I'm going to basically, with the superheated claws, punch through the bottom of the lift to see if I can get at him. [01:48:49] Speaker A: You punch through the bottom of the lift, and the claws find purchase around an ankle, and you pull. [01:48:57] Speaker C: I just. I'll throw. [01:48:59] Speaker A: You just throw. Okay. [01:49:00] Speaker C: Yeah. Did it feel like a mech angle? [01:49:02] Speaker A: I'm hoping it felt like a mech angle. [01:49:04] Speaker C: Yeah, that's what I mean. [01:49:05] Speaker A: Yeah. You breach through the lift, you grab onto a metallic feeling ankle, and he goes like, there you are. And he kind of sinks, but immediately he. And so with this, like, the full force of both of your several ton mechs burst through the lift to reveal yourselves. And you see that as you pull down, you first get. You get sight of Kanawa's Gisi. It's different now. He was piloting the Otokata in episode two, but now he's piling something similar to the Krasue in shape, except it's more masculine in its contours. The Concord krahang, in terms of folklore, kind of the same family as the Krasue, except he has two of these big, circular. They kind of look like rice sifting plates, but when scaled up for mech, they become these kind of, like, unorthodox flying devices of sorts, right? But he, as you grab his ankle and you pull down, he detaches that ankle, and it kind of, like, flies up, and you see it regrow, like, because the machinery on this is not machinery. It's more biomechanical, similar to the Krasue, but much more like, as the second leg kind of like, comes off of. As the first leg kind of comes off of the hinge, like the. I guess like the ball joint of the hinge it with. You see a burst of black feathers as another leg kind of just sprouts. And he steps back, and now you are. You find yourself in this long hall of treasures and heroes. Except all the treasures have been emptied out, and even all the murals have been stripped off the wall. Right. Everything has just been cleared here. And now it's just the two of your mechs and the Krahang. And at the far end of this corridor, very similarly to maestro, you see Kanawa sitting on the Trimerti throne. He's sitting on Shiva's seat, the destroyer. His feet go to nothing, as if a ghost is like he's astral projecting out of his cockpit. And he's sitting with this big napoleonic kind of headgear and this huge european style cape. And he's like, welcome home. I'm so glad to see you, sister. We cut to the outside where the fighting is happening, right? Rupiah and Kallaxon, as you two are kind of like you guys are still on the outskirts of the palace grounds, kind of just engaging in skirmishes with the rest of your allies, with the opposing force, as you're kind of registering on your scopes that Ordi and Roman have made it inside the palace. The dark angels orbiting the statue of Guany, and they start flying faster. [01:52:25] Speaker E: KLaxon if you're seeing what I'm seeing, really seems like we should break up that formation. [01:52:32] Speaker D: I agree. And he's going to take a blast at. At that formation, somehow disrupt it. Let's commit. Oh, wait a minute. Actually, knowing Kallaxin, he would try to figure out what they're doing first. If they're going faster, there must be something that they're doing rather than just blindly attacking. I don't want them to be summoning something, and we. And we lose a lot of our force. So I think he's gonna. I think it's gonna survey. [01:53:08] Speaker A: Okay. [01:53:08] Speaker D: Is going to survey and just figure out what their tactic is or what they are doing. I think this is stressful, so I'm going to use. [01:53:16] Speaker A: Figure out how to do stress. Yeah. Yep. [01:53:17] Speaker D: So two more stress. This is time. And I will roll 46. [01:53:25] Speaker A: All right, so that's a six. [01:53:28] Speaker D: I want to know exactly what they're doing and how we could fight it. [01:53:33] Speaker A: As you see the dark angels kind of circling faster and faster and their wings kind of, like, flapping more aggressively, you see there's some sort of antimatter energy ball kind of forming at the center of their circle, and it crackles with this kind of viridian lightning, almost. And begins expanding slowly. [01:53:58] Speaker D: He immediately alerts the group they're trying for an antimatter attack. Take cover, and then attack after they know. Attack before they blast, because then they will devastate everything. So we need everyone to attack them right now. [01:54:26] Speaker A: Okay, so you're commanding everybody just charge at the dark angels? More or less. Right? Like, all. All hands on deck, all forces go? [01:54:35] Speaker D: Yeah, because if this goes, we're all screwed. [01:54:39] Speaker A: Okay. That would be a command check, I believe. So you would have to push yourself to act again. [01:54:50] Speaker D: So I'm gonna. Yeah, it's gonna be stressful, but this is the time I'm gonna stressfully command the group. [01:54:57] Speaker A: Okay, so go ahead, give another two. Stress. That would be four. Stress because you're going again, so you stress out after this. I think. [01:55:05] Speaker D: I think he would be stressed out. [01:55:07] Speaker A: Okay, so, yeah, we'll play that after the role happens. So go ahead, max out your stress bar, and then take a scar of some sort. So whatever scar would be appropriate for witnessing horrors beyond your comprehension. Go ahead and write that down. Okay. And then resets to zero. You'll just be, like, catatonic for a sec, or however you want to play it. [01:55:29] Speaker D: I'm gonna. I don't know if there's a specific, specific scar for this, but whatever would be almost jittery from just the amount of stress. Yeah, let's go. Haunted. [01:55:41] Speaker A: Yeah, you are haunted. This moment will forever sit with your memory. [01:55:46] Speaker D: Five. [01:55:47] Speaker A: That's a five. Okay, affirmative. Doghouse. We're all moving in now. All forces attack. Attack the dark angels. All forces attack the dark angels. And you see several of the whatever kisi that the drergens have mustered, as well as the lost boys. They all kind of start making their approach towards at least Guanyin and where all these dark angels are circling. [01:56:14] Speaker E: I was gonna see if I could use a flashback to improve the effect of this role. [01:56:18] Speaker A: Absolutely. Sure. What flashback? What do you wanna do to approve the effect of this? [01:56:23] Speaker C: I think that. [01:56:26] Speaker E: When we were in the briefing room and starting to filter out that I took Tatiji aside and we were talking about the spacers district specifically. And, like, I was telling her what happened and about the people and everything. And then she went to the spacers district to gather up a lot of this debris and junk and set up basically kind of like impromptu shrapnel cannons. [01:57:02] Speaker A: Yeah. [01:57:03] Speaker E: That they brought in towards the palace. [01:57:06] Speaker A: Okay. Yeah. [01:57:08] Speaker E: Made up of the garbage of the rest of the city. [01:57:13] Speaker A: They, the Durgans with your, you were in Dadaji's intervention. They set up these kind of, like, mass driver cannons that kind of just shoot a bunch of objects using magnets on a rail, like a rail gun almost. But it just fires off debris into, like, over the palace walls and kind of just into the actual palace itself. So it starts battering the, the actual structure and that sort of thing. So that does improve the effect. It gives everybody else an opening to kind of, like, use the COVID provided by all this debris getting yeeted into the palace grounds to, like, move in and start firing up at this circle of vulture, like dark angel Gisi. And it strikes one of them and it. You hear, like. And the antimatter ball, as it's growing, it, like, starts to stutter a little, almost like it's failing to render. So it's slowing that down a bit. [01:58:26] Speaker E: Okay, I'm gonna help them by pulling out the bow and arrow and going bird hunting. [01:58:32] Speaker A: Fantastic. Go ahead, roll battle for me, six. So there's about, like, six of these all kind of flying in a circle. You draw out the Durga's bow, and you knock an arrow of plasma. You let it loose, and it strikes one of the dark angels and it flies and it sends it tumbling into this dark antimatter ball, enveloping it, swallowing it whole. Right. It shudders as it absorbs this dark angel that you just shot as it falls in and gets consumed by the maw of this thing. And it reverberates out from the center, a shockwave that rocks the entire city. And the dark angels stop circling. Now that sees one of their brethren kind of collapse into this thing and they all kind of disperse downwards. But the antimatter ball itself, it drops down and envelops the Guan yin statue to end. It cuts the statue straight in half. And both sides, wall descends, and this massive scorpion tail rises from the earth. This earth that, like, all begins to collapse in on itself, creating this massive sinkhole very similar to the one that you saw on Celadang, right? And this scorpion tail rises twice the height of the statue, kind of like, flailing back and forth. Walk up, then is upon chow Fria, and not completely, but it seems that she's been fed quite enough and she's ready to show her new form for this century. Back inside the palace, Orty Roman, you feel the whole place rumble, and you look out and you see everything going on with the statue and the tail beginning to emerge from the courtyard. And then you turn back to the astral projected brother with the stupid hat and the stupid visor and this abs and this overly obnoxious cape and this scepter and just sitting on your bio dad's chair while his mech just kind of, like, hovers in the middle of this antechamber. His voice now changes almost like, similar to the vision you had a couple episodes ago, where it's both him and Valkapton talking at the same time. How was your journey, sisu? What did you see? [02:01:49] Speaker C: Before I start engaging, I do send a message in text to Roman. Keep an eye out. And I messaged that to everyone, just as a little text on your hud. The trip was fine. We got new regalia. [02:02:11] Speaker A: I see that. Corrupted it all is how irredeemable this universe is. You still think it's worth saving? [02:02:25] Speaker C: Absolutely. It's not. Nothing is. Nothing is irredeemable. Nothing is without saving. Not when people don't choose these things. [02:02:43] Speaker A: You sound not confident in your answer. [02:02:50] Speaker C: Well, I am talking to half my brother and half whatever the fuck this is. [02:03:10] Speaker A: You look so ridiculous right now. Because, you know, I also saw all. [02:03:16] Speaker B: The same things you do. [02:03:18] Speaker A: I saw those things. I wanted to sell them, too. I wanted to watch for myself. And you know what? When we found her, he looks at the scorpion tail out, thrashing around in the courtyard in the jungle, I found my answer to all ariels. Do you want to know? Because we can fight and I don't have to say anything, or we can get into the program. [02:03:54] Speaker C: I think you and I both know that we're not going to see eye to eye on this. And I'm kind of done. I'm gonna. I'm gonna fire whatever I've got in him. Actually, fuck it. I'm jumping on. I'm done with that. I'm just gonna jump at his mech. [02:04:15] Speaker A: Okay. [02:04:18] Speaker B: Go ahead. [02:04:18] Speaker A: Roll battle for me. [02:04:20] Speaker C: Five. [02:04:22] Speaker A: Five. You can also roll again at a different position if you don't want to accept the mixed success. [02:04:30] Speaker C: I'll take the mixed success because we're just getting started. [02:04:33] Speaker A: Very well, but, yeah. So you lunge. [02:04:37] Speaker C: Yeah. Claws out. Super heated, almost drooling plasma, crying plasma, as the Monanang gal torso of the Nangtani leaps at. Leaps at her brother. [02:04:56] Speaker A: You leap, and the immediately you guys engage in melee. The Krahang and the Krasue start just exchanging blows, more or less. He kind of blocks, swipes, block. It's just. And Roman, you're watching this from the side, as these two siblings, who have fought on the schoolyard and fought in simulators and fought on the battlefield for years now meet. And they're going blow for blow, right? Neither of them seeming to lose ground. And at one point, you do gain the upper hand, or you find an opening in his defense, and you kind of just, like, jab your. Your whole hand through his mech, right? But it seems that the krahang adopted the flexible structure of the Krasue all over. The entire mech just moves, like, your intestines, and you see it just goes all the way through, and nothing happens besides, like, just this sight of the Krasue's entire up to her elbow almost just shoved through this mech. And as you pull it back out, the hole just kind of remains there, and several birds fly out from the hole in repair. So you gonna take level two harm, for you're being torn apart by birds. [02:06:56] Speaker C: I'm gonna resist that on my armor. [02:06:58] Speaker A: Okay. Your armor takes. Your armor gets pecked off. [02:07:02] Speaker E: All of it. [02:07:04] Speaker A: Yeah. [02:07:05] Speaker C: All right, I'll take that. [02:07:07] Speaker A: This is void stuff getting used in combination with a human intellect. You're just. Still just a machine, a biomachine with still some of the effects. But it's very clear that the Karang is the new model and also has integrated a lot of many of the grandma's wiles into its own design. [02:07:25] Speaker C: I'll take that. Armor's gone. [02:07:27] Speaker A: Okay, cool. Roman, do you want to do anything? [02:07:30] Speaker B: Is there any sign of hope in this room right now? [02:07:35] Speaker A: Not by immediate glance. [02:07:37] Speaker B: Okay. [02:07:37] Speaker A: Um, if you want to, just ask if you want to scan, if you want to, whatever you want to do. [02:07:43] Speaker B: Well, first glance, like, if I didn't see any semblance of. Of her in here, seeing that already has charged now is about as good a time as anywhere. I'm going to charge and use the sword of Trondohasa to try and also assist 40, and it's also attack our brother. [02:08:04] Speaker A: Yeah. Okay, so you draw Chandra hasa out, and you activate it. It's pure white blade clothes, almost kind of, like, almost blinding it illuminates the entire chamber and go ahead and roll battle. [02:08:32] Speaker B: Okay. [02:08:33] Speaker A: You wanna roll again at risky? [02:08:36] Speaker B: I will roll again at risky. That was a five. [02:08:41] Speaker A: You lunge and just kinda describe to me the attack you kinda like. While the Krasue and the krahang are kind of engaged, do you kind of, like, come around the back? Do you? [02:08:50] Speaker B: I'm coming around the side. So that way a direct attack should, should my opponent dodge does not, does not leave already in, in, in the strike. So I'm trying to attack from an angle where it's attacking him while also trying to dissuade some of this flock of birds that are now attacking already, too. Basically, I'm trying, I'm calculating the exact angle and just coming over with an overhead strike with the sort of chunk of the chandrahasa. [02:09:21] Speaker A: Yeah. Okay. You kind of come in with the overhead strike, and it connects at first, right? So the blade, it kind of severs through, like this kind of where the shoulder meets the neck on the krahang, right? And it kind of, and you see that one of its circular wings in the back kind of peels off a little bit, revealing all this fleshy intestinal type of connection between the machinery and the chest. Right? And you even hear, like, a gasp or a scream of some sort from inside. And it occurs to you that the muscular structure within the krahang is also reminiscent of human flesh. Like, perhaps maybe all those people that these machines have been feeding on went somewhere. [02:10:26] Speaker C: That's gonna make what I'm about to do really nasty. [02:10:30] Speaker B: And right as I've, right as I've landed that blow, I'm just going to yell, where's my daughter? [02:10:40] Speaker A: Uh. And you hear canoa kind of like, yell out from inside the krahang. Oh, my grace. Ooh. And you see the head kind of, like, turn towards the malaika. She's not your daughter anymore. She's giving herself completely. She is the key part of our plan. [02:11:14] Speaker B: The key part of your plan. Not my daughter. No, no, no, no. She's everything. [02:11:23] Speaker A: She is chosen. We chose her. [02:11:28] Speaker B: That you chose poorly. Wrong kid. Definitely the wrong daughter. [02:11:36] Speaker A: All of the light from, like, I guess, like, the windows of this chamber, it's almost as if an entire dark shroud covers all those windows, and the whole thing becomes any sunlight coming in left from the battle becomes pitch black. You would be wrong. You hear another voice kind of echo throughout. They chose correctly. And that ball that was over by the, by the two statue, by the fallen statue, and it seems to have receded into the ground and traveled underground. And then, as the windows black out, another sinkhole kind of appears in the middle of the antechamber with a. And it begins to emanate, like this massive, opaque black sphere of dark matter again from the center of the room as the ground collapses in on itself and it starts to expand again. And from that void there in the center of the room, you see the morning star began to rise. [02:12:52] Speaker B: Roman is. I am. I am. I heard her voice. Distorted. It may have been. I still heard my daughter's voice. I've still got the sword stuck in my opponent, but I can't take my eyes off the morningstar now, and I can't move. [02:13:19] Speaker A: Okay, so Keno knows. He sees you, that you've frozen up. And another hand kind of, like, juts out from this wound in the back of the krahang and grabs the malaika by the scruff of the neck and yeets you into the direction of the void itself. And you slam. The malaika kind of, like, hits the ground, slam. Slides through like the tile beneath, leaving you at the foot of this growing void that the morningstar has risen out of. You're going to take level two damage, I want to say. Unless you want to resist. [02:14:11] Speaker B: I will resist. [02:14:12] Speaker A: What do you want to use to resist? [02:14:14] Speaker B: I believe I do have armor, so I will burn the armor or your shield. [02:14:17] Speaker A: Yeah, you can use your shield or your armor, whatever goes first. [02:14:20] Speaker B: Great. Going with the shield, then. [02:14:21] Speaker A: Okay. Your shield absorbs most of the blow, but you still kind of slide across. And you're still at the foot with the morning star looking over you. Back on the outside of the palace, um, another shockwave emanates out from the pal within the palace itself. Right? And this time, the shockwave envelops the whole, like, it passes through the whole city. And then a massive dome begins to form around fa fang itself. And you see, you hear on the radio at first, like, reinforcements starting to come in. You hear, like, pretty was like. We have. We have fleets inbound from neighboring sectors. And then all of a sudden, that radio begins to distort as this dome appears around fa feng of dark matter. It's opaque enough that you can still see beyond this dome, but it completely envelops the whole city, stopping at the river. But then, inch by inch, it begins to grow outward, bit by bit, as the morning star, at its full power, has entered the fray. And the both of you realize that Roman and Ordi are alone in there at the center of the action, morale's starting to waver now that this massive dome is formed by the remaining allied forces you have within the city, it seems the rest of the Mekong Yi's armies, as they arrive in the system, they are coming up against this dome. [02:16:02] Speaker D: Okay. The only thing I could think of is look through my AI and figure out, how do you deal with this? Because I have no. I have no context. I've never dealt with it. Uh, we need to use almost, if we have all of this firepower, we also equally have as much brainpower. Right? [02:16:26] Speaker A: Then it clicks to you with you. That third eye you received from the Buddha a couple episodes ago. [02:16:36] Speaker D: Got it. All right. I guess I'm gonna have to do the whole spiritual thing and just connect with what the Buddha said. And he just kind of lets his eyes drift and connects to the third eye and looks for an answer. I will burn a drive clock to connect to the gods, the universe, and all of creation to come up with an answer that stops destruction. [02:17:20] Speaker A: Your eyes. You close your eyes, the third eye, and your forehead opens. And from the outside, everybody turns and sees that sparky. Also, eyes begin to glow. And as you are kind of, like, digging into yourself, you think back to the mandala that Jackie showed you about machines on one end and monsters on the other. And towards the center were men. And you become that bridge. You see the ghost dogs, and in your kind of, like, mind palace, you see them. They're, like, running around you, and they start kind of, like, guiding you forward again. And as you kind of, like, walk forward outside the sparky, just like, the fastest speed you've ever achieved, you break every record ever. As you zip towards the outer parameter of this barrier that is being formed. And much like before, instead of pushing something up, you kind of, with a holy hand, grab onto the edge, grab. Grab onto this dome itself, onto this dark matter, this thing that does that technically doesn't exist. Like, it does not exist in this form. And you being the opposite epitome of the. Of existence itself, pull back at it, and you are holding back this dome from continuing to grow. And you slow it down dramatically. So it buys everyone else the time to set, uh, bring this to its natural conclusion. So. And you see other taednong also see this, and they know they can't hold on to the barrier, but they hold on to you. And so you see several. You see, like, dadaji and, like, xiao zhao and all the other, like, fires kind of, like, warm up behind you. And even, like the marines that you talked out of continuing to fight, they also drop their arms and all kind of like, make a chain behind Sparky. And you're all holding back this dome from continuing to grow and envelop the planet. [02:19:44] Speaker D: Yeah. And Klaxon decides that to radio everyone and say, we know that Konoa can't, but we can. Konoa can't. We can. And he urges them to chant so that they are all on the same rhythm and pushing each other to keep this contained. [02:20:10] Speaker E: Morel is on the upswing here, but we still have, like, this first emergence of ball captain, and that cannot stand. [02:20:23] Speaker A: No. [02:20:25] Speaker E: And so I am going to. [02:20:30] Speaker C: Use. [02:20:31] Speaker E: My beam weapon to blast the scorpion tail because together, working as a unit, all of us can drive back the adversary. We don't have to sacrifice anyone because we're stronger than they are. The center eye of Durga opens, like, of the copper pod. These concentric rings, like, chunk, chunk, chunk. It's an internal switch that I kind of like. It's almost like when you push your tongue against the back of your roof of your mouth and. And just flood us with adrenaline and righteous rage and pour all of that out into this, like, massive cannon shot. [02:21:46] Speaker A: The beam, it's. There's so much pent up everything all going into this. You're screaming at the top of your lungs inside the cockpit as you're kind of, like, letting it all loose. And it. And this radiant yellow beam just comes out and floods and just. It strikes the tail, and the tail kind of, like, rattles and flails around as you're kind of, like, pushing and pushing and pushing. Your just. This demon has to fucking die. It isn't. It's insult on the earth and all these people on it that it is coming here of all places. And you can't stand for that. No, fuck that. It's a four. It's a great, with great effect. You basically, like, almost kind of like a straight diagonal cut through the tail, right? And the carapace, like, cracks and begins to almost, like, fall back into the void significantly. And it kind of just, like, collapses into the sinkhole. It collapses into the sinkhole where it doesn't vanish. It's still there. It's breathing because you still need to sever those last two tethers. [02:23:40] Speaker E: And I think at that point, like, as the tail cracks and falls into this void, it's like all of the arms of the copper pod come out. And I just repeat, we can. [02:23:58] Speaker A: We can. Great. So back in the throne room, Roman the morning star stands over you. The queen of Al Shara told me if I put you down like the dog you are. My father will come back. She promised me. He's still not evacuated, so that means I have yet to finish the job. [02:24:31] Speaker B: I told you you would get your father back if you. If you killed me. I understand. Look, I. As I'm getting up and just trying to. Trying to get my bearings back. They made you a promise. And. [02:25:04] Speaker A: They told me I could save them all. That I have to save them all. And Sheila takes out a beam saber from the back lights. It's this ominous dark purple. Same color as the voice that she kind of came out of. The only way I can do it is getting an archangel. An Archangel's my best friend. And I'm not gonna. I'm not gonna. I'm not gonna not listen to her. Whoever. [02:25:34] Speaker B: Whatever she is, she's telling you lies. [02:25:39] Speaker A: Why would she lie to me? I feel this. I'd be honest. I've been honest. [02:25:46] Speaker B: Because people manipulate things. Manipulate. And when you want something bad enough, you'll do anything to get it back. And sometimes we get tripped up because of that, and we lose sight of what we really should be doing. Hope, please. Please hear me. I know. I know I'm not your father. Not by blood. But if it means anything to you, you will always be my daughter, no matter what. [02:26:32] Speaker A: And she just starts. She kicks you. Kicks the malaika. Fuck me. Just fuck. [02:26:43] Speaker B: No. Because the father never takes up arms against his daughter. [02:26:48] Speaker A: Raise your. Sorry. I need to prove that I've learned that I'm the greatest pilot that ever lived. That's what the kid told me. She, like, raises the beam saber. [02:27:04] Speaker B: No. [02:27:08] Speaker A: This isn't right. [02:27:09] Speaker B: And this isn't. This isn't what I'm meant to do. Again. A father should never hurt his daughter. And you see the sword of Chandrahaza drop from Roman's hand. [02:27:27] Speaker C: I'm grabbing that sword. [02:27:30] Speaker A: Make a maneuver check. [02:27:32] Speaker C: All right, I'm going to burn a drive clock. And watching Roman not fight his daughter, I don't get that luxury. Not with Kanawa and sort of wrapped around and in this, like, fucking tangled up in my stupid brother's nonsense. Literally, I go into sort of a fugue state. And that third eye that we've been given opens. And for a second, imagined, obviously, because why would you be able to smell jasmine when you're deep in your mechanical. But already has fought her brother for so long, like we are. We were in the womb together. We trained together. I tried to be a good sibling, and he pushed me away. And we just could never really see eye to eye. And I think in that moment, the Nang Tani snakes around again, just fully. Both mechs completely entangled in each other. And she sort of puts her forehead to what would be her brothers. And there's like, this moment of quiet, like, amidst everything. And then the nangtani turns to the neck of the, the neck of the krahang and just bites it and tears it out. [02:29:27] Speaker A: Okay? The whole room. And Chandra Hasi itself, it's still on the ground. It activates. And now that you've pop your third eye, Chandrahasa detects what you're trying to do, what you're trying to accomplish. And the whole antechamber is basked in blinding white light. And then you and are alone in this. No mechs, no. No anti chamber, no violence, no war going on around you. It's just two kids in a white void of nothingness. And he's staring at you for a long time. He doesn't have the visor on either. If anything, he just kind of looks like a twelve year old vianchinese boy with scruffy hair and a. And a chip on his shoulder. Why do you fight so hard for these people? It's not your planet. It was not. It's never our planet. [02:30:44] Speaker C: But it could be. [02:30:46] Speaker A: No, no, no, no. That. Like, we are void children, Ordi, okay? And, and. And we're meant to suffer like you deserve. Like, that's what the elders told this. We are, and. And we're not welcome here. What makes you no. Like, you are so futile and you've. I'm winning the rat race. [02:31:13] Speaker C: It doesn't matter. It doesn't. It never mattered. What they. What they thought of us mattered to me. I know we can't. [02:31:27] Speaker A: Just let me burn it all down. I'll build it back again, okay? [02:31:29] Speaker C: That's what this can't. You can't build it on violence. You can't build it on any of it. [02:31:33] Speaker A: That's what we've been doing. It didn't try to rise above here, okay? [02:31:42] Speaker C: Not like this. You're just. You're just renewing the circle. You're going to. Your violence begets mine, and it has to stop somewhere. We're not what they called us. I was out there. There are people there who are being punished for things that they didn't do all over. Children, adults. It doesn't matter. They're all suffering under circumstances that were never theirs, just like we did. And it has to be. [02:32:21] Speaker A: Let me wipe it away. Let me just. We'll remake it in our image. It will be grand. It will be. [02:32:29] Speaker C: Not this way. And if you can't see that, I don't think that this world is going to be for you. I love you because you're my brother. And I really hope that the next time around, you'll make better choices. [02:33:02] Speaker A: I made the choices they told me to. He's an adult now. And you are also an adult. And you see a snake kind of like, slither around his ankles. You guys are both barefoot in this ghastly realm of sorts. And the snake, you see the snake kind of like, slither off towards a golden door. [02:33:28] Speaker C: It doesn't matter. If we weren't enough for them, we're going to be enough for us. We have to be. [02:33:39] Speaker A: But I won. Kind of starts, like, stumbling towards that golden door. I won the rat race. I made sure everybody else lost. I'm the winner. [02:33:53] Speaker C: And you'll move on alone. [02:33:58] Speaker A: It's up to this. It's bad. Golden rectangle. He looks out at that afterlife, at whatever 17,000 are out there. It looks back. It's not over. [02:34:18] Speaker C: It's not. But your part is. [02:34:25] Speaker A: He looks back at the golden gate again, and the golden door. And the gold has kind of faded. And now it's kind of just like, just a gold square frame. And just past it, you both see Anusha. And she reaches out to your brother. It's like, come on. And kind of, uh. But I'm not ready. I'm not ready. And the door kind of just passes over him, and then he's gone light. And the krahang, after you take that big bite, you see the, uh, chandra has on the floor, the seal, the symbol representing the snake, vanishes. And the krahang kind of, like, just collapses on its knees and then falls onto its face. [02:35:29] Speaker C: I pick up the chandrahasa. I'm not done yet, but this part is. And I'll start moving towards hope and romance. [02:35:50] Speaker A: Roman. So she's kicked your. The morning star has kicked Malaika across the hall. And you continue not to fight her. Like, you drop chatterhasa and she continues to try to. She keeps, like, giving you these white tie knees in the gut, and it sends you through another wall, and you crash onto. On top of a, um. There's a large diagram. Oh, not diagram. A diorama that you crash onto of a, uh. The layout seems very similar to Fafeng City itself. But all of these historical buildings, all this culture and all that, it's been, it's been replaced by, like, miniatures of, like, eight lane highways and billboards and strip malls and, uh, there's, like. And there's, like, big banners with, like, Rubina being all, like, a new chao phraya. And it broadcasts, like, a loop of, like, a presentation of Rubina saying, like, we have brought peace, honor, and economic freedom to this planet, and it will be a birthing ground of a new chao phrase. This is being narrated while the morningstar continues to just knee you across the. The room and you just keep tumbling. [02:37:07] Speaker B: I am in those knees. I've just been waiting. I would like to counter one of those knees, catch it, and activate my third eye to connect with hope. [02:37:28] Speaker A: This is all happening while, like, Rubita's voice is still Braca's. Like, no more shall we answer to the mandate of heaven. The true prophet is prophet, and the invisible hand of the free market will lead our people to victory. But it's drowned out by suddenly this eye opening on your forehead and Malaika's wings suddenly, like, coming. Blaring out, and there's golden sparkles, kind of like, coming off of it, like fairy dust, almost. Right? And. And at first, like, the light begins, like, coming out, similar to what happened with the krahan. Right? It radiates out from the malaika, but the morning star itself also begins radiating out its own void and pushing back at it. Right. And so there's this kind of, like, you'd want to get through to her so bad, and she's. She shouts, like, I just wanted to help, and I'm going to save everyone. You can't stop me. The new sun will rise, and we're all going to live happily ever after. When you're done, it's pushing back. But what do you say to reciprocate as the eye opens on your head? [02:38:46] Speaker B: No. Hope. I believe you. [02:38:53] Speaker A: Hope. [02:38:53] Speaker B: I believe. Yes. You were meant to save everyone. You were meant to save everybody that you could. But I do know one thing is that you saved me. And Roman will. Flashback as almost an active flashback to the time from the beginning, when it was Roman and Francis fighting in the very beginning and Francis last message to Roman to take care of hope. And we're almost watching it as if we're bystanders, and we see the young Roman with Francis Pope. This is what your father asked me to do. And if not for him telling me that I had to watch out for you, to take care of you, I don't know what I would have done because I lost him. He was a. He was one of the best men I ever knew. And, uh. I don't know I hope you know that losing a hymn hurt me as much as I know it hurts you. But he told me to be as much of a father figure as I could be to you. Now, I don't know if I have been that much for you, but all I could say is I'm sorry. Sorry if I haven't been that for you. But all I can ask is please give us one more chance to do right by you. All I know is that you saved me. And the last thing I want to do is lose you. Now. There's so much that's gonna try and take you away from us. So please, as your father, please don't go away. Please come back home. [02:41:23] Speaker A: Come back home. Please come back home. And the light begins to push back at the void and then engulfed in white. What's more, but for you, Roman, when you open your eyes, it's black void now and at the very end. And when you reach out, there's something shield rippling off your hand as you try to reach out. But you see Hope curled up in a ball in the middle of this darkness, and she's holding on to a little archangel in her hand. She's very much attached to it, like, just her hand. And there's two little figures in her hand. There's. One is an archangel, and the other is Apollo key. And she's kind of, like, got them clasped up to her chest, and she's curled up in a fetal position, and she looks up and sees, like, the ripples caused by your hand trying to get through. And then finally, as your eye again opens, you feel your hand kind of, like, push through this invisible wall between you and your. And hope, and you kind of, like, reach out to her to, like, take your hand, and you're telling her to come home. Otherwise, you're kind of, like, weeping to yourself, like, you saved me. Come home. And she's. And she looks down at the little mechs in her arms, and then she looks up at her, at the hand being reached out to her, and you see that little bird, that black bird kind of, like, fly past her, fly around, and she's, like, very clear. The imagery here is that there's a deep attachment that she has here. No, I have to stay here. If I stay here. [02:43:35] Speaker B: If you stay here, hun, you'll still have the memory of Archangel Alpalaki, your father. But when you come home, you'll be able to keep all that and do so many more great things. I realize that I've been. I've been keeping you away from this life, how much you've wanted to be, to become a dandong. I didn't want you to. I didn't want you to suffer for what I suffered. See what I see. And I didn't want you to have to go through that. But that was selfish of me. You deserve to live your own life. So as I drop my hand a little bit, the choice is yours, hope. But just know that whatever you choose, you'll always have a home with me. [02:44:58] Speaker A: Two plastic figurines clatter on the ground. You feel pressure on your hand. You pull the room, the antechamber, the light recedes. And as the light kind of, like, recedes, you see the kuntilanax corruption on the morning star begin to fade. The feathers kind of start falling off. And it looks a lot less like morningstar and more. A lot more like the archangel. Can we go home, dad? [02:45:55] Speaker B: Has my eyes open fully. Do I see my daughter? [02:46:04] Speaker A: Sounds like her. It's just audio only. [02:46:11] Speaker B: Yeah. Hope, let's go home. [02:46:22] Speaker A: From the outside klaxon as you're kind of, like, holding back this dome from continue to expand, it starts to disintegrate. The dome beginning to recede into itself, the antimatter kind of all converging onto the palace, and then it goes. Or do you have the chandrahasa? Yes. Yeah, there's a scorpion in your backyard. You should probably stab it. [02:46:59] Speaker C: Yeah. Um, I turn and leave this drone this hall and head back outside, uh, to find Rupiah and Kolaxen, I assume Roman's coming with me? [02:47:19] Speaker B: We are. Right behind you. [02:47:23] Speaker C: Uh, and I'll call out on the comms. Checking in. [02:47:31] Speaker D: Doghouse here. [02:47:38] Speaker C: Just here. We're all here. [02:47:44] Speaker B: And I think we got a special guest, don't we? [02:47:50] Speaker A: This is. I don't have a call sign yet. [02:47:58] Speaker C: Hmm. [02:48:00] Speaker D: Oh, you don't have a call sign. I guess we have to do the same thing that we did with nibbles. [02:48:07] Speaker A: Oh, who's nibbles? That's so cute. [02:48:10] Speaker C: Okay. [02:48:14] Speaker E: Well, you know. Little sis. [02:48:17] Speaker C: Yeah, she is kind of our little sister, isn't she? [02:48:25] Speaker D: I'm good with that one. [02:48:27] Speaker C: I am down a sibling. [02:48:31] Speaker A: Yeah. Little sister. Archangel standing by. [02:48:37] Speaker C: And we'll have emerged into the yard. I guess. [02:48:44] Speaker A: You see the tale starting to, like, rise up again. Trying to, but trying to rise all up at once. But all five of you kind of, like, gather around this sinkhole. [02:49:03] Speaker C: And I hand the chandrahasa to hope. You want to be ten nong. [02:49:14] Speaker A: Takes it. [02:49:19] Speaker C: I still have one drive clock left. And if anyone else does it would be nice to do this together? [02:49:29] Speaker E: Mm hmm. [02:49:30] Speaker D: Yep. [02:49:31] Speaker B: Go for it. [02:49:34] Speaker A: You burn four drive clocks, all four of you. Your eyes, all your third eyes, all open. And like the stories of old. [02:49:46] Speaker B: They. [02:49:47] Speaker A: Say that the vanguards and their gisi and their connections to them are so in complete synchronization. They say even eyewitnesses kind of aren't sure how to process what they see as all five of your mechs kind of merge, taking on a multi armed form of sorts, with the gazillion arms behind as you rise up. And with Archangel raising the Chandrahasa Levit's head and you all dive down into the sinkhole to pierce the carapace of Loch Ephyn, sending her from whence she came for another thousand years. A great white light envelops the entire palace grounds. Battle is won, and a morning. And a new star does rise over Chowfreya that day. Sun rises over a new chowfraya, one deeply scarred by the crisis that had occurred in these past several months. But the worst of it seems to be over. The rest of the imperial armies from the neighboring sectors, Angkor, Inthanan again, they mop up the rest of anyone still loyal to Kannoa's new regime, and they find that Rubina was taking point on the other half of Project Archangel, which was launching all of the wealthier folks in Chow Friar's ruling classes into space, into space colonies, while after Wildcat then wiped away the surface, Rubina built her brand new real estate project. So just outside the palace grounds, you see her getting hauled away into a by the judiciary forces. [02:52:00] Speaker D: So Kallaxon approaches Rubina and her cohorts and says, so expected of you to make a mess. [02:52:14] Speaker A: Oh, fuck off. [02:52:15] Speaker D: Oh, no, no, no, no. You're going to listen, because, you know, this real estate idea is not horrible, actually. However, we're gonna change it a little bit so that real estate is the reconstruction of all the things that you and your cohorts have demolish. Oh, by the way, maybe something to consider. A lot of you are nobles, I believe, in some of our older noble rules. And some of our older noble rules was many of your families gave a tithe to the empire so that they might be able to put forth some of those projects. And we could either do that, or we can just scandalize you forever, you fucking bitch. [02:53:19] Speaker A: I'm just doing what dad told us to do, okay? Look, we're. I'm. This is rat race I'm trying to win here. [02:53:27] Speaker D: Wow, you swallowed a lot of Kanoa's cock. Didn't you? Wow. No, no, no. I get to be as vulgar as I like. [02:53:38] Speaker A: Please take me away. Please take me away. [02:53:39] Speaker D: No, no, no. She's, like, asking soldiers, I'm enjoying this. But, you know, your voice was out there, out to everyone, saying that you are promoting a time of peace. And you know what? You and your cohorts are going to contribute and be true to your words. We're not going to make our family liars. We're gonna put our money and our efforts to where they are. Now you can go. Bye. [02:54:11] Speaker A: They kind of drag her off, and she's like, as part of the cleanup process, there's a big excavation of the catacombs of everyone down there. And once, and even after the chaofry exasolar finishes up with a space battle and everything like that, Shireen also kind of joins you down there as you both look for where. [02:54:36] Speaker B: Your other third. [02:54:38] Speaker A: Perished, and you do find his remains. And there's a lot of crying, as always, now that the three idiots will only be two from going forward. At the party that night, Shireen tells you that she isn't going to attend. She's going to take the remains of both Maestro and Devinder to their respective homeworlds to see to it that they are put to rest where they belong. So too less gunma in the universe, that's for sure. It was really nice seeing you again after all this time. [02:55:31] Speaker E: It was good seeing you, too. So fucking inadequate. Trina. [02:55:46] Speaker A: I will. [02:55:50] Speaker E: Always love you both. [02:55:59] Speaker A: I love you, too. I, um. But, hey, now that you're friends with the princess over there, maybe you can build it up. Build a theater here. Put his name on it. I think that's what. That'd be the best thing. If he couldn't make stuff while he was alive, we can remember him by doing the thing that we loved. [02:56:23] Speaker E: Oh, you bet your ass I will. Especially if you come dance the opening number for it. [02:56:28] Speaker A: Oh, I gotta get an agent. [02:56:36] Speaker E: You know what? Weirdly enough, I have a lead on that. [02:56:40] Speaker A: Okay, I'll call you up, but, um, I'll call you up for that. [02:56:50] Speaker E: Well, maybe come hunt you down. [02:56:52] Speaker C: I will do it. [02:56:53] Speaker A: I know. No, you don't have to do that. I just. This was a lot. The world feels so different. It's new now. It's like, we'll find each other. Just let me. Yeah, let me put these man that I loved in the ground first, and we'll go from there. She kind of, like, steps out of the doorway, nods. [02:57:23] Speaker E: And I turn around and walk back to Oredy and take her hand. [02:57:32] Speaker C: You can go with her if you want. Buried them. [02:57:41] Speaker E: I said my goodbyes to Dev already. [02:57:46] Speaker C: And. [02:57:50] Speaker E: It'S time to look to the future rather than the past. [02:58:00] Speaker C: And, uh, I have the place I want to show you. And later, during the inevitable party, I want to take Rupiah to the top of the hill, Makuta Hill, where. [02:58:27] Speaker A: You. [02:58:27] Speaker C: Can see the rest of the city, where, you know, you sometimes Tanong race up and. Yeah, I want to bring Rupi up there. [02:58:48] Speaker A: It's a beautiful night, moon's full. [02:58:54] Speaker E: So what do you get when you. What does the winner get? [02:58:59] Speaker C: Uh. Oh, man. Um. Well, the last time that we did this, it was really stupid. And, uh, you know, sometimes you get to make out with a really hot person. [02:59:25] Speaker E: Oh, so I better fucking win then, huh? [02:59:29] Speaker C: I mean, there are only two of us running. And I'll start to run. [02:59:44] Speaker A: And I. [02:59:44] Speaker E: Will laugh and chase already up this hill. [02:59:49] Speaker A: Hammer pans down. We know the rest of the story. We know what happens at the top of this hill. So, yeah, let's just say it's just a citywide party. Everyone's just in total celebration. The fact that this despot has been deposed. Ding dong, the void child is dead. Or at least the Gui vung is dead. And, Roman, you kind of, like, sat down at a table, plate of food in front of you. You kind of, like, watching from across the way as hope is. She's talking to all the other tandong as if this totally traumatic event never happened, right? And she looks like she's having a good time. And then her conversation stops, and she kind of, like, quietly walks over to you, dad, um, I forgive you. [03:00:57] Speaker B: I'm just gonna get out of the chair and hug. Hope, you the warmest embrace I've given in quite a while. Then once we finish with that. [03:01:13] Speaker A: I'm. [03:01:14] Speaker B: Just gonna step back, look at her, and say, go be where you belong. Follow your dreams. Now, as he looks back to the. [03:01:23] Speaker A: Other group of than nong, he's, like, talking to Mohammed. She's talking to lost boys. Yeah. [03:01:29] Speaker B: He's gonna look her right in the eye. Do you have a gift? Use it. Well. [03:01:40] Speaker A: It'S back. [03:01:41] Speaker B: And as she goes back to the other group of Tandong, I'm just gonna look up at the sky. She's gonna be better than both of us, man. Way better than both of us. And Robin will chuckle. Sit back down at the table. I would assume I have a cell phone of some sort or some sort of communication device, right? Yeah, use that communication device. And I am going to call Denari. So I don't know if it's, you know, I don't know if it's gonna answer or not. [03:02:28] Speaker A: But you have a voicemail. [03:02:29] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. I'm gonna assume I'm just gonna get a voicemail, and I don't. I hope you. I hope this isn't weird. Hey, this is. This is Roman. Roman Maxillama. [03:02:49] Speaker A: Shoot. [03:02:49] Speaker B: Why do I sound so official? Uh, hi, Denari. Uh, yeah, it's, uh, Roman. Uh, was wondering what you're maybe doing later. [03:03:04] Speaker A: We fade to cha. To, um, Lancashka. A year later, at the next annual Ayurveda Grand Prix, team Menagerie has an exciting new slate of racers. Hope, maxim, Mohammed, several of the lost boys. They're all kind of, like, saddling up to the track in team menagerie gear and everything. And they look up at the stands. Oridy, you have been about, after everything panned out with the crisis and everything, you were crowned queen of Chow Phraya. And you are an honored guest here at the race to the point that you have your own box and everything. What do we see? [03:04:06] Speaker C: Already flung as queen is, like, never really got comfortable in the really nice. In, like, nice clothes or anything like that, so. And also fucking still needs help with a lot of it, so. Styled by rupiah in what is both a throwback to Nollywood, to classic Nollywood looks as well as mixed with some modern elements. We're waiting for the race to start. There's no huge retinue. It's really just like, it's close friends of Klaxon. Like, Klaxon's invited up if he wants to be there. [03:04:57] Speaker A: Yeah. [03:04:59] Speaker C: And there is just the biggest fucking table of food. Just so much food. It. Sticky rice and just tons and tons of lumpia and just anything and just. Yeah, it's good already. My nails are still a mess. They always will be. Constantly cut to the quick, but we're working on it. [03:05:38] Speaker A: Yeah. In the years since the end of this last crisis over your, as you, as part of your reign, you've kind of overseen, like, a lot of reforms in the chow fry and government, a lot of, like, flattening of hierarchies to make sure all the conditions that led to this whole thing blowing up isn't. It doesn't happen again. Right. [03:06:00] Speaker C: Yeah. The last year has definitely been spent, obviously, tons of infrastructure within Chow fria, but, like, it has been spent kind of on tour, if that makes sense. [03:06:10] Speaker A: Sorry, guys, apology tour. You embark on an empire wide apology tour for everything that went down. [03:06:19] Speaker C: Yeah. But also it's like, just going through CZo Freya and being like, what actually needs fixing here. Like, this isn't just. And it is a little bit to, like, go to where nobles have been living and, like, spend their money hosting her enter retinue to, like, kind of like. I guess the phrase that we would use is servitude through impoverishment, sort of for some of the people who need to host them, and then for the people who, like, for the people in the area, like, making sure that they. The taxes are going to where they need to go and really just getting a good look at everything. [03:06:59] Speaker A: Yeah. Parliament gets much more power. Democracy kind of starts being a more objective thing that you're trying to work towards as opposed to whatever usual favors and backroom deals that were being done. [03:07:16] Speaker C: And one of the last policies that already, I don't know if it goes well, but Oradi is declaring Chow Phraya a sanctuary planet for exiled peoples. So the Neverlanders and anyone else who have been exiled from other kingdoms or other planets can safely live on their planet. [03:07:46] Speaker A: I'll do you one better. There's this thing called the utopian pillars, something that crusadists have written about many times over, and distant governments far from Mekong may or may not have used one of the pillars is no barriers shall stand between worlds. There will be no divisions along those lines, and that will be enforced. So whether you're spaceborn, land born, atmo born, those protections exist now. Roman, you and Danari have been going steady for a year now. It's new territory. You're still kind of navigating. You're a great pilot, you're a great tandong, you're a great soldier. As a lover, you need a lot of advice from your friends. Yeah, yeah, yeah. [03:08:42] Speaker B: But can I say one thing? At least romans ditch the socks with sandals. Okay. [03:08:51] Speaker E: The true win rupiah had over the last year. [03:08:56] Speaker B: Yeah. [03:09:00] Speaker A: Kallaxson, you and Armin are, like, so stoked to debut the new lineup of team menagerie. I guess you and him have been working with hope and like all the lost boys to get them fit for your line of work. And you're accompanied by all your dogs there, and Angeline's there. And so it's just. It's a very lot of fur on the ground, but it's fine. It's a good time. [03:09:25] Speaker D: It's fine. It's good luck. It's good luck to have Miss Misfit and Mister Chow Chow, who's now a champion, now miss Misfit, might have been a little too stressed from attending the battle, even though she did get royal commendation. So I figured, like, she can retire and just be cool, and now Mister Chow Chow can take her that place. Also, Klaxon has kind of hung up his racing skates for a while because the only way to get this team to be featured and be famous is for him to step aside and make sure that hope Maxim, who is now the captain of the team menagerie, can experience what he and Armin went through. So he is stepping aside, enjoying a little bit of what is noble life. Little bit. Sitting at the side of Ordi occasionally just consulting on things, anything financial, but also making sure that the new movie about the whole battle starring Rupiah tying symphony for the devil in theaters now gets promoted. So a little trailer before the actual race is gonna play. [03:11:00] Speaker A: Rupiah, you had to, like, hustle over here from a hotel press junket about the movie, and you're like, the last person to burst into this noble box. [03:11:14] Speaker E: Oh, thank God you have food. [03:11:17] Speaker D: I mean, of course. Oh, my goodness. You look amazing. Wait, we see what you see. I mean, obviously next to the queen. [03:11:26] Speaker A: Ooh. [03:11:28] Speaker E: It's like just that, like, breeze in. Hey, babe. Kiss. [03:11:36] Speaker A: The media has been kind of annoying, speculating when you guys are gonna get married, but, you know, it's a whole thing. [03:11:42] Speaker C: Yeah, I was gonna say, I feel like Calaxon has actually made that is behind a lot of that speculation. Like, every time it dies down, Klaxon's like, oh, they did something cute and it's like, oh, what, are they gonna do it again? [03:11:54] Speaker D: Like, listen, all publicity at this point, especially love publicity, is gonna be good. It's part of the apology tour. [03:12:06] Speaker A: Happy new year, racers, and happy new year's race fans. MSPM ate the wallow for this year's edition of the Gyurveda grand three. First off, we'd like to wish everyone a happy lunar new year for this year's edition of the race. Thanks for all. Coming out, we have an exciting new lineup of racers here on the track. Team Menagerie has subbed out all of their roster for these brand new talents. First of the team, Captain Hope Maxillo. And you see the little Chiron appear and it's like, hope Maxim. Tada. Like the little fucking athlete announcements. And she starts waving and she waves up at your guys blocks coming in. At 17 years old, she's probably one of the most anticipated racist right here on the track. Trained by none other than the legendary king bitch himself, Kallaxin Bulak. Lock and camera. Like, the camera goes to the box and it's like. Everyone's like, cheers. Racers, start your react. Everyone gets in and you see the archangel who's all skated up, who's all. Muhammad's down there. The lost boys make up the rest of the team. Three, two, one. And the credits roll. That is our series. Thank you, one and all, for tuning into Mekong. It's been a long journey, and it's very surreal that it's over now. I mean, it's over. This story is over. Mekong will persist. But if you like this game, please be sure to check out beam Saber, rpgonh IO. If you like us, you want to see more, please be sure to follow Queen's court games on socials and on Patreon. This has been the symphony for the devil. My name is Jerry Law. It's been the greatest and most humblest honor and privilege telling this story with these incredible, incredible players. And this whole thing has meant a lot to me. I'm so grateful for all of it. So Satria, vanguards of the inevitable spring. Shout out your socials, your projects, works you got going on. Now's your time. [03:14:54] Speaker D: Hi, I'm Rein Omega. He him. I am so incredibly honored to have played Klaxon Bulak lock. I have been playing ttrpgs for a long time. This was probably one of the most outstanding casts that I have had the privilege to role play with. So again, thank you. Thank you for running this, Jerry. You can find me on X under Ryan, Omga. Otherwise, you can find me under my full name, Ryan Omega. And I'm going to pass this over to Andrew. [03:15:43] Speaker B: What is up, everyone? Andrew J. Allende here. It's been an honor and a privilege to take the role of Roman Maxillon. Again, pronouns for both of us, he, him. You can find me Instagram, X and threads. Andrew J. Allende. That's Andrew, the letter J, and then my last name, a l a n d y. Again, thank you, everyone, for letting us tell this story with you. And again, we hope to see you soon. I'll pass this over to. Let's pass this to Pooja. There you go. [03:16:20] Speaker E: Hello, everyone. I am Pooja. I have been playing rupiah Tayyang with literally the best cast of people I ever could imagine are all rock stars. It has been one of the joys, like, one of the great joys of my last year is to work with y'all and make this show and tell the story that we did. And if y'all want to see what else I'm on, come follow me on socials. You can find me pretty much everywhere. I am as forgotten saves. You can hear me play other dtrpgs on the happy jacks back catalog or the twelve sided stories back catalog. And just once again, thank you all so much. Y'all are the best. [03:17:17] Speaker C: Absolutely. Thank you guys so much for watching this. When I pitched this to queen's court, it really was truly. It was Jerry and I, a little inebriated talking Star wars, and it became this. And I could not be more grateful for everyone who helped make all of this happen. Just having a cast who was on board to be like, let's just harvest some of that generational trauma and really go for it. And Jerry, who, for your first time running an actual play GM, holy. I threw you in the deep end. And thank you. I've been Clara. I am Clara. I've been playing already fungi. Uh, I'm all over the Internet as clearly underscore golden. Uh, you can find me over here at Queen's court or, um, over at happy jacks in our. In their back catalog as well. And genuinely, everyone who's tuned in, thank you so much for, uh, watching this huge labor of love. We've been doing this for a year. This has been a year in the making, at least over a year at this point. And it. I'm so happy to be able to tell a story that's so meaningful to all of us, so genuinely. Thank you. Jerry, you want to take us home? [03:19:00] Speaker A: Yeah. It really has been a labor of love since the past year. It's been my main squeeze for well over a year now. This has really been a story that I've been sitting on since I was a kid. I guess in some form or another. I just didn't have the language or the experience or the friends to tell it with. So, first off, thank you, Andrew, Pooja, Ryan, Clara, for believing in me and the story. That and the story. Yeah. So thank you for that. I'd also like to thank, again, Arianne for research. And I'd also like to thank Chance Brown, Max Bush, for everyone who read over all the stupid. Not the stupid stuff, the really cool stuff that I wrote that I worked really hard putting together. Mac among. So I love you. And this particular series is also dedicated to my cousin Vin Kwok, who passed away before. About a month before this episode was filmed. You never got a chance to see it, but I'm. I do the best I can to put the stuff he taught me into practice here. So, yeah, you can find me at Myjeria Moore on Twitter and on Instagram. And this has been Mekong. Farewell. Stay hydrated. Tell someone you care about you love them, and, uh, we'll see you around. [03:21:01] Speaker D: All right. This is doghouse logging off. [03:21:05] Speaker B: This is Seraph. Over and out. [03:21:10] Speaker C: This is Diva. [03:21:11] Speaker E: Curtain call. [03:21:14] Speaker C: This is nibbles signing off. [03:21:18] Speaker A: This is the director. Thanks for tuning in. Catch us next time on Queenscore games.