Latest / Maia’s Game Room / S3E5: The Fool’s Gambit | A Starforged Actual Play

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S3E5: The Fool’s Gambit | A Starforged Actual Play · Maia’s Game Room

0:02
[SPEAKER_03]: saline calvars log entry.
0:05
[SPEAKER_03]: The momentum is ours.
0:07
[SPEAKER_03]: A successfully placed a tracker on the escaped reds and after evading that parasite A subbellarine, I reconvene with my brother.
0:14
[SPEAKER_03]: We are now equipped.
0:15
[SPEAKER_03]: Reverie has fitted my gauntlet with a prototype scanner and we've identified our primary target R-O-5-5.
0:22
[SPEAKER_03]: The tracker confirms he fled the city, on route to the Colipso derelict.
0:27
[SPEAKER_03]: But before we could depart, I sense deception.
0:31
[SPEAKER_03]: I ordered Dorian to trace the leader's communications.
0:34
[SPEAKER_03]: Dorian had tried to hide it, but I saw the redacted gold-level logs.
0:38
[SPEAKER_03]: He finally sealed the room and showed me the truth, surveillance footage.
0:43
[SPEAKER_03]: R-055, meeting with Dorian, my brother, a traitor,
1:00
[SPEAKER_03]: Strength is duty.
1:04
[SPEAKER_00]: Order.
1:06
[SPEAKER_00]: Order gold.
1:30
[SPEAKER_03]: We are going to go back a few months ago.
1:34
[SPEAKER_03]: Let's start there.
1:36
[SPEAKER_03]: Salene is taking a break and she doesn't have decks with her.
1:42
[SPEAKER_03]: She is walking through out the violet district and we see and there are the sounds.
1:51
[SPEAKER_03]: of music and musicians are along the street like tapping on different instruments and things like that and it is a very happy district compared to where she was coming from where it was the school district very uniform.
2:06
[SPEAKER_03]: She had just got off of work and she went, I went home real quick to change.
2:13
[SPEAKER_03]: She's not wearing what she usually does.
2:14
[SPEAKER_03]: She does not want to be seen and so I'm wearing
2:18
[SPEAKER_03]: I'm wearing this long, dark, overcoat, but it's very in fashion with what people wear in the violent district.
2:26
[SPEAKER_00]: So, very fashionable.
2:27
[SPEAKER_00]: Of course.
2:28
[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, she's she's done this before.
2:30
[SPEAKER_03]: Oh yeah.
2:31
[SPEAKER_03]: She doesn't want to be noticed, so she's not going to be like, too over about being conspicuous if that makes sense.
2:39
[SPEAKER_03]: So her head is down, arms, mostly most of her bodies covered, and she heads into.
2:47
[SPEAKER_03]: Oh, tell.
2:49
[SPEAKER_03]: It's nice, so tell.
2:50
[SPEAKER_03]: And she doesn't check in.
2:52
[SPEAKER_03]: Room is already ready.
2:54
[SPEAKER_03]: And she, I head into the elevator.
2:58
[SPEAKER_03]: And I go up to the fifth floor like I usually do.
3:01
[SPEAKER_03]: And I'm inside the elevator.
3:03
[SPEAKER_03]: Heart rate is going fast.
3:07
[SPEAKER_00]: She'll lock me elevator.
3:09
[SPEAKER_03]: Am I alone in the elevator?
3:12
[SPEAKER_03]: The elevator has a couple in there already, and they're drunk, and they're kind of sloppy on each other.
3:22
[SPEAKER_03]: And she's just, I'm off to the side, just a body turned away from them, I can hear them.
3:29
[SPEAKER_00]: with their public displays of affection.
3:33
[SPEAKER_03]: Yep.
3:34
[SPEAKER_03]: In their next urge, this bulking at our gold watch.
3:38
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay, come on, come on.
3:42
[SPEAKER_03]: I was like dart over for a second to look at them.
3:45
[SPEAKER_03]: And then it gets to the third floor.
3:46
[SPEAKER_03]: They kind of stumble out, laughing and giggling.
3:50
[SPEAKER_03]: And she watches them as they go, and then we get up to, they leave, she lets out like a breath of release, and then we get up to the fifth floor.
4:01
[SPEAKER_03]: Okay, the near, the ding, as elevator doors open, and she goes to the double doors at the end of the hall.
4:08
[SPEAKER_03]: This is room 511, and she gives it 3 knocks, 2 knocks, and then 1, as if it's a code.
4:19
[SPEAKER_03]: So it's to hear that same knock back before the door should open.
4:24
[SPEAKER_00]: And you do, in perfect, almost two perfect synchronization with yours.
4:31
[SPEAKER_03]: And then I wait for him to open the door,
4:37
[SPEAKER_00]: the door slowly opens inward.
4:40
[SPEAKER_00]: Who do we see?
4:45
[SPEAKER_03]: We see a dark, you know, brown skin man.
4:50
[SPEAKER_03]: He has a white, clean, can you have a clean shaving goty?
4:55
[SPEAKER_03]: Like it's just, it's very like trimmed and nice, it's short.
4:59
[SPEAKER_00]: A well groomed.
4:59
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, well groomed.
5:00
[SPEAKER_03]: Well groomed.
5:00
[SPEAKER_03]: Okay, okay, okay.
5:01
[SPEAKER_03]: Listen, I don't know.
5:02
[SPEAKER_03]: Okay.
5:03
[SPEAKER_00]: And it's all good.
5:04
[SPEAKER_00]: It's all good.
5:06
[SPEAKER_03]: He has light brown eyes, very symmetrical face, charming, like,
5:14
[SPEAKER_03]: a short hair kind of faded and he's wearing right now he's wearing like a dark purple silk two piece outfit it looks very comfortable and he has like a book in his hand like one hand is open and looks like one of many poetry books that he just reads a lot of the time
5:40
[SPEAKER_03]: And I see him as I step inside.
5:43
[SPEAKER_03]: Hi, James.
5:47
[SPEAKER_00]: He whispers in your ear.
5:48
[SPEAKER_00]: You're right on time.
5:51
[SPEAKER_01]: I was always, yeah.
5:55
[SPEAKER_03]: I've just had a hell of a day, so I could use some resin relaxation as my brother likes to put it.
6:04
[SPEAKER_00]: He's a smart boy.
6:07
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
6:08
[SPEAKER_00]: Take that jacket off, kick off your shoes, and tell me about your day.
6:14
[SPEAKER_03]: Okay, I take off my coat.
6:19
[SPEAKER_00]: He takes them and they tosses them to the back and there's a device that immediately catches the jacket and hangs it safely.
6:28
[SPEAKER_03]: I got a visit from my mother today at work.
6:33
[SPEAKER_03]: And you know the great Lucinda Kelvarez,
6:37
[SPEAKER_00]: The queen bee.
6:39
[SPEAKER_03]: The queen indeed.
6:41
[SPEAKER_03]: Hmm.
6:41
[SPEAKER_03]: She took me around and we.
6:44
[SPEAKER_03]: We walked around the quad.
6:46
[SPEAKER_03]: Ironically we walked around her.
6:48
[SPEAKER_03]: Her statue.
6:51
[SPEAKER_03]: That goddamn statue they made for her?
6:52
[SPEAKER_00]: I've always wondered if she liked the statue.
6:56
[SPEAKER_00]: If being around herself for so long is a treat or a curse herself.
7:03
[SPEAKER_00]: Imagine walking around and just standing.
7:05
[SPEAKER_00]: seeing yourself not just in reflections, but in every day objects.
7:10
[SPEAKER_03]: I'm sure she doesn't hate it.
7:13
[SPEAKER_00]: Hmm.
7:14
[SPEAKER_03]: I remember the day they erected it, and there was a whole ceremony, there was a she was proud.
7:22
[SPEAKER_03]: I could see it on her face.
7:24
[SPEAKER_03]: So we walked around that, and once again got another lecture about.
7:29
[SPEAKER_03]: promotion and leveling up and looking after my brother and making sure we're not tarnishing the kelvarus name.
7:40
[SPEAKER_00]: That's something that's I've always found peculiar.
7:44
[SPEAKER_00]: I understand the golds and the long lines of history, I understand it, but it just fascinates me, they you all try to
7:55
[SPEAKER_00]: Lift everyone else up and be this shining example, but you yourselves are just as afflicted with pride as anyone else.
8:04
[SPEAKER_03]: Hey, we're not perfect.
8:05
[SPEAKER_03]: I think we're just seeing is that.
8:08
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, so few of them like to step down to the lowly folk like you do.
8:14
[SPEAKER_03]: You think I'm stepping down?
8:15
[SPEAKER_00]: No, you're not stepping.
8:18
[SPEAKER_00]: You're swan diving.
8:21
[SPEAKER_00]: Fearless, old, ambitious,
8:25
[SPEAKER_03]: You don't have to pepper me with compliments.
8:27
[SPEAKER_03]: That's not what I come here for.
8:28
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, I thought you liked the words.
8:31
[SPEAKER_03]: I like action more than words.
8:35
[SPEAKER_03]: And then she's going to go to him, and then she starts to like undress, starts to take his top off.
8:45
[SPEAKER_00]: He knows this game, he has played this game before, and knows this is when Celine wants to take control, then lose control.
8:56
[SPEAKER_00]: So I think he opens his chest out, and lets it all happen with a warm inviting smile on his face.
9:05
[SPEAKER_03]: And then we fade to black, of course.
9:11
[SPEAKER_03]: It's about three minutes later, I'm just kidding, it's about an hour later, they are now like
9:22
[SPEAKER_03]: There is a hot tub that's like overlooking the city.
9:26
[SPEAKER_03]: There's a balcony with like a hot tub on it.
9:28
[SPEAKER_03]: And there is, there's like a privacy shade around it too.
9:34
[SPEAKER_03]: So they can see out, but no one could see in.
9:36
[SPEAKER_00]: Correct.
9:37
[SPEAKER_00]: And I think it's also illuminated with these little floating orbs that resemble fireflies that give it a very calm and relaxing atmosphere.
9:54
[SPEAKER_00]: a little bit of nature and a vast metropolis.
10:00
[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, but just, you know, none of it's real.
10:04
[SPEAKER_00]: It may not be real to one's eyes, but sometimes people feel things that are real on the inside.
10:11
[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah.
10:13
[SPEAKER_03]: I mean, sure.
10:14
[SPEAKER_03]: But I've seen the real thing.
10:15
[SPEAKER_03]: I've been out of the city.
10:17
[SPEAKER_03]: Have you ever been to the, have you ever been to the beach, off world, and seen real fireflies at night?
10:26
[SPEAKER_00]: He looks up, closes eyes.
10:30
[SPEAKER_00]: I can see them on the inside when you described them to me.
10:35
[SPEAKER_00]: I have not been able to have such a gift.
10:37
[SPEAKER_03]: But, right, I'm sorry, you're right.
10:41
[SPEAKER_00]: No, no, don't apologize to me.
10:48
[SPEAKER_00]: Silly, my raven in the night, my muse, you are gift, so don't you fucking apologize for nothing.
11:00
[SPEAKER_03]: Described to me, I could take you so that I won't have to describe it to you.
11:08
[SPEAKER_03]: You'd be able to fill it yourself.
11:10
[SPEAKER_03]: You can put it in one of your songs in your in your work.
11:14
[SPEAKER_00]: There's a spark in his eyes when you say that.
11:17
[SPEAKER_00]: It almost looks childish, like you've broken through his very swath demeanor and you've seen the child that grew up in the violet district who was forced to make smiles and forced to use his talents rather than just simply enjoy them.
11:36
[SPEAKER_00]: I would love that when are we going?
11:39
[SPEAKER_03]: Oh, okay.
11:40
[SPEAKER_03]: So it just leans back.
11:43
[SPEAKER_03]: Oh, okay.
11:43
[SPEAKER_03]: So you agree.
11:44
[SPEAKER_03]: I didn't think that you, okay.
11:47
[SPEAKER_03]: Okay.
11:48
[SPEAKER_00]: Are you kidding?
11:49
[SPEAKER_00]: Any chance I could have to go out there with you just to you and me?
11:54
[SPEAKER_00]: For the sand.
11:55
[SPEAKER_00]: Look, watching real waves crash and taking in a completely different kind of air.
12:04
[SPEAKER_03]: It's nice.
12:04
[SPEAKER_03]: I just don't want to, it'll make you want to stay and just escape everything and it's tempting.
12:12
[SPEAKER_00]: All good things are tempting.
12:14
[SPEAKER_00]: He opens his arms out and stretches.
12:16
[SPEAKER_00]: That she looks beautiful.
12:19
[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, she looks over his body as he does that.
12:22
[SPEAKER_03]: There's like a violets have a type of like...
12:26
[SPEAKER_03]: the way that reds were created, all violets have a type of like fair amount that that comes off of them, kind of like, how that, it's anyway, it's just kind of like this attractive scent about them.
12:42
[SPEAKER_03]: And they can kind of control the levels of it.
12:45
[SPEAKER_03]: I don't think he ever forces that on her.
12:48
[SPEAKER_03]: I think it's more natural what they have, but they have that ability.
12:53
[SPEAKER_00]: He's would only ever use it if she asked.
12:57
[SPEAKER_03]: Mm-hmm.
12:58
[SPEAKER_03]: And so, I'm sorry, I suggested it.
13:01
[SPEAKER_03]: Now that I'm thinking about the logistics of it all, it's...
13:04
[SPEAKER_00]: Logistics.
13:05
[SPEAKER_00]: Come on.
13:06
[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah.
13:07
[SPEAKER_00]: Dreamers don't worry about logistics.
13:10
[SPEAKER_03]: See, when you say things like that, I get confused, you know?
13:16
[SPEAKER_00]: Not everything has to be planned, silly.
13:19
[SPEAKER_03]: I mean, we've had this conversation before.
13:21
[SPEAKER_00]: Sometimes you can just take each other's hands and jump and see where you land.
13:26
[SPEAKER_00]: Not literally, be a long way down, but you know what I'm saying.
13:30
[SPEAKER_00]: You always have to say.
13:31
[SPEAKER_00]: One last time you did something without overthinking it.
13:35
[SPEAKER_03]: You always have to think about the cost at the end of the day.
13:39
[SPEAKER_03]: Do you not?
13:41
[SPEAKER_00]: I guess sometimes I do, but I always think the risks are worth it.
13:50
[SPEAKER_00]: But his faint fans across his face break hurt my jaw falling down.
13:55
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, at least I can say that I tried jumping to reach it.
13:58
[SPEAKER_00]: Instead of walking past that ledge and wondering, what's on the other side?
14:04
[SPEAKER_00]: What color is the water?
14:05
[SPEAKER_00]: What?
14:05
[SPEAKER_03]: I mean, I think you have the luxury to think like that.
14:12
[SPEAKER_00]: That's the luxury or the curse to think like that.
14:18
[SPEAKER_00]: Is it a curse?
14:21
[SPEAKER_00]: He sits in that for a moment.
14:24
[SPEAKER_00]: If dreams are a curse, I think we're all caught in them.
14:30
[SPEAKER_00]: I think it's what makes us human.
14:35
[SPEAKER_03]: I don't think you would want to hear about my dreams.
14:38
[SPEAKER_00]: Come now.
14:40
[SPEAKER_00]: You're always quite elegant with your descriptions.
14:43
[SPEAKER_03]: It's childish.
14:44
[SPEAKER_03]: It's childish.
14:46
[SPEAKER_00]: The best imaginations start in childhood.
14:51
[SPEAKER_00]: And you shouldn't put those down.
14:54
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, I won't tell anybody you know.
14:57
[SPEAKER_00]: I won't.
14:58
[SPEAKER_00]: I promise.
14:59
[SPEAKER_03]: And she kind of, you know, is looking in the water that they're in and they're steam coming up.
15:04
[SPEAKER_03]: There's like rose petals in different flower petals inside.
15:08
[SPEAKER_03]: And she's just like playing with them.
15:11
[SPEAKER_03]: When I was 10 years old, I saw one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen.
15:17
[SPEAKER_00]: He leans in, tell me.
15:21
[SPEAKER_03]: I didn't think I was supposed to see it though.
15:23
[SPEAKER_03]: She's still like picking at the flowers, looking down at the water.
15:27
[SPEAKER_00]: Doesn't that make it all the more incredible?
15:30
[SPEAKER_03]: It was incredible.
15:32
[SPEAKER_03]: My brother, as you know, he went through a tragedy, a trauma when he was eight years old.
15:40
[SPEAKER_00]: You told me, you told me, it's a, that's rough, but it seems like he's fine with it.
15:48
[SPEAKER_03]: So my parents had the red retired, the one who caused it, and the way they retired him, they used a stable.
16:00
[SPEAKER_00]: His eyes widened.
16:01
[SPEAKER_03]: They are not myths.
16:03
[SPEAKER_03]: They're not just scary stories we tell the children and I.
16:10
[SPEAKER_03]: I did.
16:10
[SPEAKER_03]: And it was beautiful.
16:13
[SPEAKER_00]: Tell me what made it beautiful.
16:16
[SPEAKER_03]: There are movements there silence.
16:18
[SPEAKER_03]: It was like watching the ballet edits best.
16:26
[SPEAKER_00]: A silent death.
16:28
[SPEAKER_03]: I've never seen anything like it since.
16:30
[SPEAKER_03]: And that's what I dream about.
16:34
[SPEAKER_00]: Seeing that stable again.
16:36
[SPEAKER_03]: Being like that stable.
16:38
[SPEAKER_03]: being so good at what you do, no one notices until you're gone.
16:45
[SPEAKER_03]: Right now everybody notices everything I do.
16:50
[SPEAKER_00]: And I can relate.
16:52
[SPEAKER_03]: Yes you can.
16:54
[SPEAKER_03]: The pressure I have from my family, from my mother especially from the academy, from the guard, the pressure on me, is so heavy some days that I can't breathe.
17:07
[SPEAKER_03]: And I think back to when I was 10 years old and I see that sabre, and they were free.
17:15
[SPEAKER_00]: Free's a word, I guess, but I would say they were, it sounds like, not so much free,
17:25
[SPEAKER_00]: And some antics.
17:28
[SPEAKER_00]: No, I'm the one coming logistics.
17:31
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh my gosh.
17:34
[SPEAKER_03]: And she's still kind of like picking up the things.
17:38
[SPEAKER_03]: She said, this is why I don't tell people.
17:42
[SPEAKER_03]: I think maybe Dorian knows, but I don't tell people about this dream because you see yourself as a stable.
17:51
[SPEAKER_03]: I wish too.
17:53
[SPEAKER_03]: But of course, I know that I cannot be anything other than pure gold, as my mother says.
17:57
[SPEAKER_00]: There isn't a law about having dreams.
18:02
[SPEAKER_00]: Yet, I don't think.
18:04
[SPEAKER_03]: There's no spoken law about having dreams.
18:07
[SPEAKER_03]: But in gold society, it's really not about what is said and what's written, it's about what's not said, it's about what's whispered in corners.
18:18
[SPEAKER_03]: So...
18:20
[SPEAKER_00]: So you wish to be unburdened from everything and just be able to dance to your own music.
18:27
[SPEAKER_00]: Thank you for sharing that with me.
18:34
[SPEAKER_00]: I think you could make it happen.
18:37
[SPEAKER_03]: What?
18:37
[SPEAKER_03]: Become a stable?
18:38
[SPEAKER_00]: No, no, no, no.
18:40
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, there we go with logistics again.
18:43
[SPEAKER_00]: It's not the stable with self, I think.
18:44
[SPEAKER_00]: I think it's what it represents that you are drawn to.
18:49
[SPEAKER_03]: I do, I- It represents... What does it represent?
18:54
[SPEAKER_00]: Being your most authentic self and being strong enough to say this is me.
19:00
[SPEAKER_00]: And I don't care what anyone else is.
19:03
[SPEAKER_03]: Don't you think part of it is, it's DNA, no?
19:06
[SPEAKER_03]: I can't become a stable.
19:09
[SPEAKER_03]: I can't become a violet, and it's suddenly have your abilities and strengths.
19:17
[SPEAKER_00]: Nor could I have yours, but we can always aim to be the best that we can, but the cards that we're given.
19:26
[SPEAKER_00]: And maybe pick up some cards along the way.
19:31
[SPEAKER_00]: gestures over a floating like little tray that brings you a bubbling violet blue drink with a bendy straw in it.
19:44
[SPEAKER_03]: What is this?
19:45
[SPEAKER_03]: This is new.
19:49
[SPEAKER_00]: Just some champagne with some exotic fruit mixed in that I wanted to share with you.
19:57
[SPEAKER_00]: You share something with me.
19:59
[SPEAKER_03]: And you made this yourself?
20:01
[SPEAKER_00]: I wouldn't say I made it, let's just say I requested it in a certain form and paid very well to have it made so that when you take a sip, I'm going to see Celine Kilvara smile.
20:15
[SPEAKER_03]: Challenge accepted.
20:16
[SPEAKER_03]: And she already smiled when she said challenge accepted, so she lost immediately and then goes to drink it.
20:26
[SPEAKER_04]: Mm-hmm.
20:29
[SPEAKER_03]: Phew.
20:29
[SPEAKER_03]: Phew.
20:29
[SPEAKER_03]: Okay, this is delicious.
20:31
[SPEAKER_03]: As she smiles.
20:33
[SPEAKER_00]: Now that right there, no stable could have nearly a perfect smile, that's yours and yours alone.
20:40
[SPEAKER_03]: Well, thank you.
20:41
[SPEAKER_03]: Coming from a violet that's the highest of compliments.
20:45
[SPEAKER_00]: Not just a violet.
20:48
[UNKNOWN]: Be.
20:49
[SPEAKER_03]: Phew.
20:49
[SPEAKER_03]: K.L.
20:49
[SPEAKER_03]: The Great.
20:52
[SPEAKER_00]: Ha ha.
20:52
[SPEAKER_00]: Only as great as the muse I chase at night.
20:56
[SPEAKER_03]: And so we spend a little bit more time before our skin starts to get pruney.
21:01
[SPEAKER_00]: And we get woozy.
21:02
[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, she got so little bit.
21:04
[SPEAKER_03]: And then I think she's a little bit woozy and she's, you know, not slurring per se, but you can kind of tell little, little drowsy.
21:15
[SPEAKER_03]: And she says, I'm supposed to go back home tonight.
21:18
[SPEAKER_03]: I told Dorian that I'd just be here for a few hours.
21:25
[SPEAKER_00]: Why don't you stay.
21:27
[SPEAKER_00]: He's a big boy.
21:29
[SPEAKER_00]: He'll be alright.
21:30
[SPEAKER_00]: While he's watching decks, that's why.
21:33
[SPEAKER_00]: decks is a deck's far more capable taken care of himself than any of you.
21:37
[SPEAKER_02]: You're right.
21:38
[SPEAKER_02]: Just just wake me up in a few hours.
21:41
[SPEAKER_02]: How about that?
21:45
[SPEAKER_00]: He brings you over to like the large like fancy like circular shaped bed with like
21:52
[SPEAKER_00]: almost like these pillows that are all these different shapes that almost make it look like stars and the drifting, firefly light sort of follow the two of you to give like a soft glow to the room.
22:06
[SPEAKER_00]: When the last firefly goes out, I'll make sure you're up.
22:11
[SPEAKER_03]: Okay.
22:12
[SPEAKER_03]: And I imagine you got lays down with there.
22:14
[SPEAKER_03]: She's like holding a keys the he's using she's using him as a pillow and then she like 15 minutes later,
22:24
[SPEAKER_03]: And you could see it like on her face like, she's tired, like, really needed this.
22:30
[SPEAKER_00]: Important question.
22:32
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, yeah.
22:33
[SPEAKER_00]: The Celine's snorke.
22:37
[SPEAKER_03]: That'd be funny if the roll is an oracle roll.
22:40
[SPEAKER_03]: Cause I don't know if she does.
22:41
[SPEAKER_03]: Okay, listen, this is our world and we can make it anything we want.
22:46
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
22:46
[SPEAKER_03]: If she does snorke, it's not this kind of crazy chainsaw.
22:50
[SPEAKER_00]: No, and I don't think he would say anything.
22:52
[SPEAKER_03]: And let's see, what we see, what we do, or girl, or girl, or girl, or girl, or girl, or girl, or girl, or girl, or girl, or girl, or girl, or girl, or girl, or girl, or girl, or girl, or girl, or girl, or girl, or girl, or girl, or girl, or girl, or girl, or girl, or girl, or girl, or girl, or girl, or girl, or girl, or girl, or girl, or girl, or girl, or girl, or girl, or girl, or girl, or girl, or girl, or girl, or girl, or girl, or girl, or girl, or girl, or girl, or girl, or girl, or girl, or girl, or girl, or girl, or girl, or girl, or girl, or girl, or girl, or girl, or girl, or girl, or girl, or girl, or girl, or girl, or girl, or girl, or girl, or girl,
23:19
[SPEAKER_04]: mm-hmm.
23:20
[SPEAKER_03]: As she goes to sleep and kale can see like a piece on her face that's just not there when she's fully up and her brain has to work at a full capacity and she finally gets
23:49
[SPEAKER_00]: A few months ago, Dorian was running late.
24:00
[SPEAKER_00]: He had an appointment that he was very much looking forward to, but some work back at his lab held him up, and his father called and his father loves to go on and on and on.
24:15
[SPEAKER_00]: And he actually asked,
24:17
[SPEAKER_00]: We see Dorian in a sort of, I guess, the equivalent of a lift, like, sci-fi vehicle, and he has to confirm with the driver multiple times.
24:31
[SPEAKER_00]: Yes.
24:32
[SPEAKER_00]: This is the address.
24:34
[SPEAKER_00]: It's in the red district.
24:35
[SPEAKER_00]: Yes.
24:37
[SPEAKER_00]: Sir, are you, are you sure?
24:39
[SPEAKER_00]: I am absolutely certain.
24:42
[SPEAKER_00]: Positive.
24:44
[SPEAKER_00]: There's more credits in for you if you get me there fast.
24:47
[SPEAKER_02]: Yes, sir, steps on it.
24:51
[SPEAKER_00]: We get a look at what the red district looks like.
24:55
[SPEAKER_00]: Far, far from the grace of the golden district, the lights and the glamour of the violet, the order and the construction of the blue.
25:05
[SPEAKER_00]: The red district is what would happen if an industrial park was left neglected.
25:13
[SPEAKER_00]: and yet somehow still persevered and expanded.
25:16
[SPEAKER_00]: There's no polish streets.
25:20
[SPEAKER_00]: There's rusted dirt roads and wasteful metal of structures that have long since decayed, but have somehow been reconstructed over and over again, a never-ending project.
25:34
[SPEAKER_00]: Despite all of that, they have a big built communities, one of which is in a little place called the pulse lounge.
25:42
[SPEAKER_00]: Wedged between two of the larger factory areas, it's a tiny little building, a stairway that spirals down into almost like a speak easy, except the majority of the clientele here are reds.
26:02
[SPEAKER_00]: and we see this entranceway from Dorian's perspective.
26:06
[SPEAKER_00]: His hood up, to not draw too much attention, he sees the table in the back, a series of some books, a multi-tiered version of chess with some other sci-fi.
26:20
[SPEAKER_00]: globules floating around it that are tethered to these strings seems like a nerd's paradise in a sense and sitting on the opposite side of that round table is a red he's in a more refined red uniform of elegant workshop in pants with a utility belt he's
26:43
[SPEAKER_00]: got his work like this long work apron and like a deep burgundy despite that he has a very lie than tall form and these curious green eyes that light up when he sees his friend.
27:00
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm so sorry I'm late.
27:02
[SPEAKER_01]: He says, my friend is here.
27:04
[SPEAKER_01]: My friend is here.
27:06
[SPEAKER_01]: Come come come come sit down sit down
27:09
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm so sorry to have been late, my father calls when I was working and you go on and on about.
27:17
[SPEAKER_00]: Is he still working on that project that you told me about before?
27:22
[SPEAKER_03]: Ah, yes, he's working on the, the, some type of, upgrade something I, I forgot.
27:29
[SPEAKER_00]: He's looking, he's working more into the spectacle of these, larger, like, these larger construction bots, with large arms that can float and carry them.
27:41
[SPEAKER_00]: He's calling them Titans.
27:45
[SPEAKER_03]: Interesting.
27:45
[SPEAKER_03]: I'm always weary when a gold's named something so grand.
27:52
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, that's Magnuskel Vars for you.
27:55
[SPEAKER_00]: He lives in grandeur.
27:58
[SPEAKER_00]: He means well, but he's always got his heads in the clouds.
28:02
[SPEAKER_00]: I think that's where I get it.
28:05
[SPEAKER_03]: Well, if you get it from, I would love to meet it one day.
28:08
[SPEAKER_00]: That would be a day.
28:10
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, despite everything revolving around this, I think he'd like you.
28:16
[SPEAKER_03]: And you see, it's a little serious on his face.
28:19
[SPEAKER_03]: He looks down at the table.
28:21
[SPEAKER_03]: And he has little coins that he's kind of in playing with.
28:26
[SPEAKER_03]: Because, you know, Dorian, that day might come sooner than we think, you know?
28:32
[SPEAKER_04]: Really?
28:33
[SPEAKER_04]: Whoa.
28:35
[SPEAKER_03]: What do I do?
28:36
[SPEAKER_03]: I think I will see this day in my lifetime.
28:39
[SPEAKER_00]: I'd like that.
28:40
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, I think that,
28:42
[SPEAKER_00]: I personally think that your sort of perspective from being a red and your insights would be of great assistance to my father if he's looking to go into more work with full automaton not what reds are going into deeple more into robotics.
29:01
[SPEAKER_00]: I think having a reds insight I think would be
29:04
[SPEAKER_03]: any would bring so much to the to the experiments and put sea breaches across the table puts his hand on your shoulder if we had just a hundred more minds that thought like you my friend all the city would be a bit a place I probably need more than a more than a hundred I think but I don't want to be too selfish
29:30
[SPEAKER_00]: I'll set this up and as the conversation goes on Dory and sets up the multi-tiered game, which looks at though, there's a little bit of risk, a little bit of twilight imperial, a little bit of chess or like it's multiple tiers of strategy, deception, bluffing, chance.
29:47
[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, yeah, it's and you guys begin to play and you're ready to, are you ready to lose again?
29:55
[SPEAKER_00]: One of these days, Ross, I will beat you.
29:59
[SPEAKER_00]: I've gotten close.
30:00
[SPEAKER_03]: You've gotten close, but I have one of the brightest minds in the city.
30:03
[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah.
30:04
[SPEAKER_03]: Even brighter than you.
30:05
[SPEAKER_03]: Ha ha ha ha.
30:08
[SPEAKER_00]: Not from, uh, well, hopefully I'd like to think we brought out the best in each other's brains.
30:13
[SPEAKER_03]: I hope so.
30:14
[SPEAKER_03]: I hope so.
30:15
[SPEAKER_03]: We've learned a lot from each other, okay?
30:17
[SPEAKER_03]: No more excuses.
30:18
[SPEAKER_03]: And he gets into the zone, then you guys can start to play.
30:24
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I think we see it.
30:25
[SPEAKER_00]: I think they let the roles of their existence, this technician from the Gold District and a worker from the red district.
30:34
[SPEAKER_00]: That moniker disappears and there's just two friends playing a game.
30:40
[SPEAKER_00]: And that's, and the rest of the world goes away.
30:44
[SPEAKER_00]: They, it's like, for a moment there, children, playing with blocks and throwing things in the sand and laughing, flipping tables when they lose and demanding a rematch that goes on for several hours.
31:02
[SPEAKER_00]: And as we see the victory chips, that start in the middle.
31:06
[SPEAKER_00]: Yep.
31:10
[SPEAKER_00]: Doryan has a few, but they are dwarfed by the amount that Ross has garnered, and we also see that Ross being a red does not consume any sort of alcohol, he consumes a fuel that just sort of regenerates all of their mechanic mechanical pieces.
31:29
[SPEAKER_00]: Doryan, surprisingly, this is one of the few places Doryan actually drinks.
31:34
[SPEAKER_00]: because he's with a friend.
31:36
[SPEAKER_00]: And he doesn't have to be a big proper gold here.
31:40
[SPEAKER_00]: He can just be himself.
31:41
[SPEAKER_00]: And he's definitely a little drunk.
31:43
[SPEAKER_00]: He's had a few drinks too many.
31:46
[SPEAKER_00]: And is he a lightweight?
31:49
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, he's absolutely a lightweight.
31:52
[SPEAKER_03]: He he he.
31:53
[SPEAKER_03]: You see that we see Ross pushes all of his chips to the middle.
32:03
[SPEAKER_00]: Hmph, are you baiting me, old friend?
32:07
[SPEAKER_03]: He says, no, my friend.
32:10
[SPEAKER_03]: I fear I am quite serious.
32:14
[SPEAKER_03]: I'm going all in this time.
32:18
[SPEAKER_00]: You're going for the fool's gambit, are you?
32:21
[SPEAKER_03]: It has to be done, at least once in a lifetime.
32:25
[SPEAKER_00]: Hmm?
32:25
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, I respect the move, and do you know why?
32:29
[SPEAKER_00]: I was thinking the same thing, but I have so few pieces to lose, you have the entire, almost the entire pot.
32:40
[SPEAKER_03]: Yes, yes, and then the smile drops from his face and he's just looking down He seemed kind of so now a bit maybe even looks a little bit nervous Because yes, yes What's wrong?
32:53
[SPEAKER_00]: Are you getting nervous to make the move?
32:57
[SPEAKER_00]: Come now.
32:58
[SPEAKER_00]: Come now.
33:00
[SPEAKER_03]: Yes, yes You don't you have no idea how nervous I am Yes, I
33:08
[SPEAKER_00]: My friends sometimes we are the Anvil and sometimes we have to be the hammer.
33:13
[SPEAKER_00]: So come swinging down my friend.
33:15
[SPEAKER_03]: Okay, still kind of a dower look on his face.
33:20
[SPEAKER_03]: He does the final move and he's not even thinking about it.
33:22
[SPEAKER_03]: He beats you once again.
33:24
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, it's very much the two little tethered Orbs go at each other and orient immediately shatters.
33:31
[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, but he still looks.
33:33
[SPEAKER_03]: Even though he just won, he doesn't have that happy look on his face that he usually does.
33:38
[SPEAKER_00]: Normally, you're rubbing this in my face.
33:40
[SPEAKER_00]: This is a, this is a long losing streak for me, then.
33:47
[SPEAKER_03]: Well, it looks at his watch.
33:50
[SPEAKER_03]: It's, it's almost time.
33:53
[SPEAKER_00]: To time to go.
33:53
[SPEAKER_00]: It's, we've only got three rounds and normally we get to the best of seven.
33:58
[SPEAKER_00]: Don't tell me you're, don't tell me you're leaving me to go play this with someone else.
34:05
[SPEAKER_03]: No, never, never, never.
34:09
[SPEAKER_03]: He looks left to right.
34:11
[SPEAKER_00]: I think Dorya will clock that.
34:13
[SPEAKER_00]: Even though he's drunk, don't worry.
34:15
[SPEAKER_00]: That no one knows him here.
34:17
[SPEAKER_00]: Don't, it's okay.
34:19
[SPEAKER_00]: I figured out how to do this perfectly, bud.
34:21
[SPEAKER_03]: No, don't, you, of course, you're brilliant.
34:23
[SPEAKER_03]: And, but I, I wasn't kidding when I said I'm going all in.
34:28
[SPEAKER_00]: Yes, I know, the fool's gambit.
34:30
[SPEAKER_00]: You had enough resources to make it work.
34:33
[SPEAKER_00]: But...
34:34
[SPEAKER_03]: I'm not talking about this fool's gambit, friend.
34:38
[SPEAKER_03]: I'm talking about something else.
34:40
[SPEAKER_03]: Maybe like power down the game and the graphics.
34:43
[SPEAKER_03]: You see his face clearly.
34:45
[SPEAKER_00]: Dory and holds the drink and like sips from it.
34:48
[SPEAKER_00]: Tell me more.
34:50
[SPEAKER_03]: You know, we cannot dream that it's not part of our processing,
34:56
[SPEAKER_03]: If I could dream, I would liberate every single red in this room and in this city.
35:04
[SPEAKER_03]: So, he looks kind of nervous.
35:06
[SPEAKER_03]: He lanes forward and we'll be done, my friend.
35:11
[SPEAKER_00]: Ross, I know we've mused about all the what-evs and the if-ex-then-why strategies for something like that, but it's difficult to make those moves when you don't have the cards.
35:26
[SPEAKER_03]: there was one day when you discussed about cleaning reds.
35:33
[SPEAKER_03]: You talked of how difficult it would be.
35:35
[SPEAKER_00]: It would be difficult because, as I've said, reds are not that dissimilar to humans.
35:43
[SPEAKER_00]: Each one of your codes is different.
35:46
[SPEAKER_00]: They're in code.
35:48
[SPEAKER_00]: Correct.
35:48
[SPEAKER_00]: There's no two that are the same.
35:50
[SPEAKER_00]: Even the
35:52
[SPEAKER_03]: and hypothetically speaking, if I were to figure this out.
35:56
[SPEAKER_03]: Friend, what would you do?
36:00
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, I'd hope you'd tell me you were going to do this.
36:02
[SPEAKER_00]: And I could tell you, Ross, I don't want to see the Grey's or my sister hunting you.
36:09
[SPEAKER_03]: I'm going all in my friend.
36:12
[SPEAKER_00]: Please tell me you're joking.
36:14
[SPEAKER_00]: I want this to be better.
36:17
[SPEAKER_00]: I want this to be better for you and for everyone else here in this district.
36:22
[SPEAKER_03]: Yes, but you don't want it like I do.
36:25
[SPEAKER_03]: You are my good friend, but you have not lived my life, or the lives of any of the reds here in this district.
36:33
[SPEAKER_00]: You are a thousand percent correct.
36:36
[SPEAKER_00]: I have no idea what that's like, but what I do have is a platform I can go to.
36:43
[SPEAKER_00]: Let me talk to my father about this.
36:45
[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe I could get him an audience with you.
36:47
[SPEAKER_00]: He goes, he's the only one from my family.
36:50
[SPEAKER_00]: I would trust to talk to you that I'm not concerned would kill you outright.
36:55
[SPEAKER_01]: I fear the time for talking is done.
36:58
[SPEAKER_01]: This is the Fool's Gambit.
37:01
[SPEAKER_00]: Would you do understand what happens if you fail the Fool's Gambit, right?
37:07
[SPEAKER_01]: Then I will need your help.
37:09
[SPEAKER_01]: Dorian, please, please.
37:17
[SPEAKER_00]: Can you at least tell me you will, you'll think on it and reach out to me again before you begin.
37:23
[SPEAKER_00]: Doryan.
37:24
[SPEAKER_00]: Please.
37:26
[SPEAKER_03]: It takes your hand.
37:29
[SPEAKER_03]: You're one of the best friends I've made in this city and I will need your help when the time comes.
37:35
[SPEAKER_01]: Please.
37:37
[SPEAKER_00]: You do realize that puts me between you and my family.
37:43
[SPEAKER_00]: I understand.
37:48
[SPEAKER_03]: I've just seen, I've seen too much suffering for too long, and while you talk with your father, I have another friend who comes in, beaten, brain-dented in, by a grey while you talk.
38:08
[SPEAKER_00]: If you can give me more time, maybe I could figure out how we could use this method with the, like, perhaps I could slow down the corruption that's happening with the, with the, with the neural networks, I can find a way to fix that.
38:23
[SPEAKER_00]: And with that, we could present the reds in a whole new light.
38:28
[SPEAKER_03]: And my friend, we don't have any more time.
38:33
[SPEAKER_00]: Not even for one more game.
38:36
[SPEAKER_03]: I always have time for one more game.
38:39
[SPEAKER_00]: All right, Ross, if I beat you this time, we table this talk for another day.
38:47
[SPEAKER_00]: If you beat me, you have my word.
38:51
[SPEAKER_00]: I will help you in any way that I can.
38:54
[SPEAKER_03]: OK, and he has a small smile, but there is like a sadness in his eyes, but he just smile at you.
38:59
[SPEAKER_03]: Hey, backs up, turns on the hologram.
39:03
[SPEAKER_00]: Get to the game back up and running.
39:10
[SPEAKER_03]: I think could be a face danger.
39:13
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, it could be a face danger of you.
39:16
[SPEAKER_00]: I think it's either, it's, I'd rather do the odds here because I think it is, but I am gonna put the odds in his favor.
39:24
[SPEAKER_00]: I think Ross is better at the game.
39:26
[SPEAKER_00]: So I think it's more of a, it's more of a 70, 30.
39:29
[SPEAKER_03]: I think, what's the, what's the question that we're asking?
39:32
[SPEAKER_03]: How, yeah.
39:33
[SPEAKER_00]: Will, will Dorian beat Ross at this game?
39:39
[SPEAKER_00]: I think it's 30-year lower, Dorian wins, 31 up, Ross wins.
39:45
[SPEAKER_03]: Okay.
39:46
[SPEAKER_00]: So I'm gonna go ahead and roll a D100 and see what comes up.
39:52
[UNKNOWN]: Okay.
39:52
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, like, ah, that is another 69.
39:57
[SPEAKER_03]: What's funny is that we both rolled 69, but also he lost again.
40:02
[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, I think- Yeah, what's going over your mind as you,
40:07
[SPEAKER_03]: We're seeing that he is beginning to win, like you know the move he's about to make to just crush you again.
40:16
[SPEAKER_00]: Yes, I think it's almost like he doesn't want to do it, but it's very much, yeah, you know you can take the king in just one move, but you keep stalling.
40:26
[SPEAKER_00]: I think it gets to that point where Dorian's a little more emotionally, he's had a little more, he's just do it, Ross.
40:35
[SPEAKER_00]: You've had me, lanced and cornered for three rounds now.
40:40
[SPEAKER_00]: Don't do me the disservice of a pity victory.
40:44
[SPEAKER_00]: Just finish it.
40:45
[SPEAKER_03]: And he does.
40:48
[SPEAKER_03]: With the flick of his wrist, we see like, or like, creature kind of go into your smash it.
40:58
[SPEAKER_00]: and I think we see this image of the entire game board disintegrating as it's the last game and it all goes back into its little device and watching this little game world fall apart and like the two of them looking at each other it's this moment of like there isn't any going back and well played friend.
41:20
[SPEAKER_03]: I've had use of practice.
41:22
[SPEAKER_00]: There's a really good chance that this doesn't
41:29
[SPEAKER_03]: He just nods at you.
41:31
[SPEAKER_03]: He has like the steel he determination in his eyes.
41:36
[SPEAKER_00]: But since when is that stop dream, huh?
41:39
[SPEAKER_00]: I'd like to see you have those, my friend.
41:42
[SPEAKER_03]: I'd like to see us all have them.
41:44
[SPEAKER_03]: Everyone in this room to be liberated.
41:54
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, I have to get going.
41:58
[SPEAKER_00]: I have a seminar in the morning, or one new regiment of blues to train, hunt.
42:05
[SPEAKER_00]: Unciple, neuro-network understanding, but these were some great games, Russ and...
42:12
[SPEAKER_03]: The best I have a played?
42:14
[SPEAKER_00]: Please be careful.
42:16
[SPEAKER_03]: He nods that he goes to stand up with you, takes one of your hands, pulls you in to a hug, another arm goes around you and it's tight.
42:25
[SPEAKER_03]: You're on one of my best friends in this city.
42:28
[SPEAKER_03]: I do not regret meeting you.
42:31
[SPEAKER_00]: Likewise.
42:33
[SPEAKER_03]: No matter what happens, you will always be a good friend to me.
42:36
[SPEAKER_00]: No matter what, as Dorian closes his eyes and just hugs him tight.
42:42
[SPEAKER_00]: And I think that's where we pull the camera away as the two of them leave the pulse lounge, one descending and one ascending.
42:56
[SPEAKER_03]: Thanks for listening to Iron Rising a Star Forge Actual Play.
43:12
[SPEAKER_03]: I'm Maya Wilson and I've been Celine Kilvars.
43:15
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm Michael Kilbert and I've been Dorian Kilvars and together we bring the world of Hyperion City and the law of seven to life.
43:23
[SPEAKER_03]: If you're enjoying the series, leave a review or comment or ever you listen, it helps more than you know.
43:28
[SPEAKER_00]: We also have a companion blog for those who'd like to dive a little deeper into the forge.
43:32
[SPEAKER_00]: All links are in the episode description.
43:34
[SPEAKER_03]: And we'll catch you in the next one.
43:45
[SPEAKER_03]: Is that where we're gonna end it?
43:47
[SPEAKER_00]: I think that's where we end this flashback session.
43:52
[SPEAKER_00]: Wow.
43:56
[SPEAKER_03]: Take a breather, my friend.
43:57
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, man.
44:03
[SPEAKER_03]: Oh, my God.
44:04
[SPEAKER_03]: Oh my God.
44:05
[SPEAKER_00]: That was something.
44:06
[SPEAKER_03]: That was something.