[SPEAKER_06]: At the holidays everyone this is Brian and I'm going to tell you it is concerning how close we are to Christmas and how few gifts I have bought for my loved ones.
[SPEAKER_06]: However, I do have gifts for you, my dear listeners.
[SPEAKER_06]: One of the biggest things we did this year at many sided media was add a bunch of spectacular new shows to the many sided network.
[SPEAKER_06]: And so, I'm giving you the gift of your next favorite TTRPG podcast.
[SPEAKER_06]: Does that kind of feel like you're weird and giving you a gift card to her vegan salon?
[SPEAKER_06]: Not at all because this is a podcast and it's really, really cool.
[SPEAKER_06]: The episode I'm sharing with you today is for one of my favorite new shows called MyEasGamerum.
[SPEAKER_06]: MyEas started playing TTRPGs less than two years ago and has quickly become one of the most prolific gamers I know.
[SPEAKER_06]: She played over 50 different systems in that time and every time I look, she seems to be playing three or four new games and always has some great thoughts about each and every one of them.
[SPEAKER_06]: Her love of TT RPGs makes me want to get more games to my table, and if you'd like the high level of sound design of my first dungeon, then you are going to love what Maya does over on Maya's Gameroom.
[SPEAKER_06]: The episode I want to recommend to you today is episode 1 of her latest series, Iron Rising.
[SPEAKER_06]: It's a co-op star-forged actual play set in the cast ruled city of Hyperion.
[SPEAKER_06]: You follow two siblings sworn to uphold order as the system they serve begins to fracture.
[SPEAKER_06]: I guarantee that by the end of the first five minutes you will get fully sucked into the story and fall in love with my ears game room.
[SPEAKER_07]: In Hyperion City, Mercy is a malfunction.
[SPEAKER_07]: Somewhere below the gridded lights, the gold line towers, a red is curled on the floor, bleeding.
[SPEAKER_07]: They look human.
[SPEAKER_07]: They are human for all intents and purposes.
[SPEAKER_07]: But they were born with a barcode, so now they belong to someone else.
[SPEAKER_07]: The blows come from a gray, expression blank, hands practiced.
[SPEAKER_07]: He's an angry, and he isn't cruel, this is just a joke.
[SPEAKER_07]: And today, he's behind schedule.
[SPEAKER_07]: We see the gray steps into a small office.
[SPEAKER_07]: Inside, the gold sits at a clean desk, untouched by the sweat and heat outside, and she doesn't look up.
[SPEAKER_07]: And she says, you're late.
[SPEAKER_02]: I was a bit of a mess.
[SPEAKER_02]: The clean up took a little longer than expected, kinda get rid of a crowd, but jobs done, clean and deficient.
[SPEAKER_07]: and then she slides something across the desk.
[SPEAKER_07]: A cred chip.
[SPEAKER_07]: She doesn't smile, doesn't blink, doesn't really even look at you.
[SPEAKER_07]: Docta for Cycle, that should still cover a visitation?
[SPEAKER_07]: Yeah.
[SPEAKER_03]: Thank you.
[SPEAKER_07]: You may go.
[SPEAKER_03]: Good day.
[SPEAKER_03]: It's gonna clench his fist and lumber out of the room.
[SPEAKER_07]: She finishes her tea, rises and boards up personal transport.
[SPEAKER_07]: The glass skims past the sky and below there are grids of neon and color, red workers, blue workers, resting vents, and above the gleam of gold towers piercing the clouds.
[SPEAKER_07]: And by the time she lands, she's forgotten the grace name.
[SPEAKER_07]: This professor enters a gold classroom, the same woman.
[SPEAKER_07]: 30 children rise in unison, their uniforms are perfect, their eyes don't wander.
[SPEAKER_07]: They've been taught better.
[SPEAKER_07]: She begins to listen with the same words every child hears, every day, from their first breath to their last.
[SPEAKER_07]: Long ago, the world burned.
[SPEAKER_07]: We trusted what we created and it betrayed us.
[SPEAKER_07]: Machines turned on man and order collapsed, but the law of seven saved us.
[SPEAKER_07]: Gold bronze, blue violet, gray and red.
[SPEAKER_07]: a place for all, a purpose for each, and a chain unbroken, and then she lifts her hand, and the children immediately know what this means.
[SPEAKER_07]: They respond on cue, with the fists to their heart, and she says, strength is duty, and all the children in unison say duty is order.
[SPEAKER_07]: And then everyone, including this woman, say order is goals.
[UNKNOWN]: Thank you for watching.
[SPEAKER_07]: We see one Saline Kelvarus.
[SPEAKER_07]: She's at her work.
[SPEAKER_07]: She had just gotten a, let's say, she had just gotten a directive.
[SPEAKER_07]: She is one of the praters here in Hyperion City.
[SPEAKER_07]: And,
[SPEAKER_07]: We see Celine, she's in her, she's in the uniform.
[SPEAKER_07]: Celine is part of the Praetorium Guard, the elite enforcement order.
[SPEAKER_07]: So we have the Graze who do kind of regular boots on the ground type work all over the city, just your regular kind of beatcops and other officers and things like that.
[SPEAKER_07]: We have the elite guard, like I said, the preachers and she's in her uniform and you see her walking and next to her we see a cat.
[SPEAKER_07]: I mean, I say a cat, but I mean cat like a, like a panther size cat and it has dots that are glowing on its skin and they're showing different colors right now to showing white.
[SPEAKER_07]: It's pretty calm and this is her glow cat dex is like walking next to her and there are a few officers with her as well, other guard and she has just been told that a red has been corrupted.
[SPEAKER_07]: and they are in the blue district for some reason they had gotten to the blue district and she needs to neutralize them.
[SPEAKER_07]: Well, she says neutralize the order was to bring them in.
[SPEAKER_01]: The order was subdued.
[SPEAKER_07]: The order was subdued, and then I admire to your neutralize.
[SPEAKER_07]: So that's what's happening right now.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yes, absolutely, and I think you would probably find the incident came from a distress call coming from one of the smaller manufacturing buildings in the blue district where things would be coming up from the red district, from all the way into the blue district to be modified in their factories for whatever they need.
[SPEAKER_01]: And you're told that it's currently behaving hostile.
[SPEAKER_01]: and he would put the you would hear him in your calm link.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yes, the red started showing signs of corruption about four and a half minutes ago.
[SPEAKER_01]: It lashed out at its fellow reds and when Gray's made an attempt to subdue it, it overwhelmed them.
[SPEAKER_01]: And we have one Gray who is heavily injured and another one that is trying to hold it off.
[SPEAKER_01]: We evacuated the Fistyship, the workyard and barricaded it within there.
[SPEAKER_01]: So it is isolated with not but the one injured Gray and the other trying to hold it off.
[SPEAKER_07]: How many fatalities?
[SPEAKER_01]: We haven't been able to get close enough to the wounded grade to see if they've let out.
[SPEAKER_01]: One red looks as though it's in completely rip it apart, but it is just a red.
[SPEAKER_01]: No casualties of any blues or others that we can see from this moment.
[SPEAKER_01]: Property damage at the moment is at a minimum.
[SPEAKER_01]: My superiors would appreciate if that stayed that way.
[SPEAKER_07]: It will be taken care of.
[SPEAKER_07]: Thank you.
[SPEAKER_07]: And she has, like I said, she has a few of her other guards.
[SPEAKER_07]: So they make their way over there.
[SPEAKER_07]: And this corrupted red is, hmm, I want to say, where are they near?
[SPEAKER_07]: I want to say that they're near the garden, actually.
[SPEAKER_07]: And so it has been blocked off, like there are some grades who have already come and blocked it off, and we see that there is inside of a building, lights are flickering, and something is going on inside.
[SPEAKER_07]: And so she's going to approach, like there's a lot of guards, gray guards who are supposed to be doing security, who kind of look nervous, but not really, but a little bit because they're just unsure, one of their men already went inside, so they're like, okay, what do we do?
[SPEAKER_07]: I'm going to approach one of the grades and ask how long ago has this started.
[SPEAKER_01]: the Lieutenant of the Grey's Enforcement Squad here turns over and Grey's are anatomically built different than the other humans here in Hyperion City.
[SPEAKER_01]: They are at least at least 7 feet tall or higher.
[SPEAKER_01]: Their muscles are massive and as they are built for fighting and protecting and
[SPEAKER_01]: uh, pray tour.
[SPEAKER_02]: We just sent into of our own and according to all the scans from my forensics team, one of them is in critical condition and the other one is lightly damaged, is still moving about.
[SPEAKER_02]: I would send more people in, but uh, reds can be very unpredictable when they're corrupted.
[SPEAKER_02]: They are, they don't think rationally, they can't be predicted.
[SPEAKER_07]: understood, and are there any other innocent inside?
[SPEAKER_02]: There are some workers who are trapped in one of the small display areas, but they seem to have barricaded in themselves in.
[SPEAKER_02]: The red does not seem to have a specific target.
[SPEAKER_02]: It seems to be wailing at whatever's near it.
[SPEAKER_02]: Hence, my men.
[SPEAKER_07]: This will be done quickly and swiftly.
[SPEAKER_02]: Orders are for too.
[SPEAKER_02]: We've been told to subdue it, but personally I wouldn't mind if the thing I've broken to pieces.
[SPEAKER_02]: Retribution and all that.
[SPEAKER_07]: She doesn't say anything, but she just raises the eyebrow and you see a small smirk on her face.
[SPEAKER_02]: We'll keep the people from coming in.
[SPEAKER_02]: You do your work pray to her.
[SPEAKER_07]: We'll be back in 15 minutes.
[SPEAKER_07]: We go in, I'm gonna text, I'm gonna tell Dex to stay and he immediately just kind of sits and just waits.
[SPEAKER_07]: And he doesn't come in with me.
[SPEAKER_07]: She goes in, she has a couple of regards.
[SPEAKER_07]: It's just three golds that are going in, but we are highly trained at our, at our work.
[SPEAKER_07]: Even though like the grades are these huge, whole-king like seven-feet creatures, we're both built differently.
[SPEAKER_07]: I think great, technically I think golds are just a little bit more agile, just the way that our bodies are built.
[SPEAKER_07]: Um, yeah.
[SPEAKER_01]: So we then go to an access to better protection and tech.
[SPEAKER_01]: Exactly.
[SPEAKER_07]: Um, and so we head in.
[SPEAKER_07]: Um, we had in a little bit slowly and I tell my guard, okay, men stay on my six, look left, look right, head down that hallway in you.
[SPEAKER_07]: down there.
[SPEAKER_07]: And then I'm just starting to point like there's different avenues that they can go.
[SPEAKER_01]: Just a little.
[SPEAKER_01]: They don't speak, they nod and fall.
[SPEAKER_07]: Just let me know on comms what you find.
[SPEAKER_07]: Get everyone out that you need to get out.
[SPEAKER_07]: I will hand over the red and she wants to handle the red herself.
[SPEAKER_01]: Absolutely.
[SPEAKER_01]: I would say it doesn't take long for one of your subordinates to find the people barricade themselves in one of the smaller rooms and lower them back out and you see that they are met by the graze and dex.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I think dex definitely picks up on their distress but then the sign of relief so the color sort of flash around dex's body.
[SPEAKER_07]: And so I'm continuing to make my way down and I can hear like heavy breathing.
[SPEAKER_07]: as I I have went down a couple corridors already and I'm getting closer to a door that I can already see that says like not been ripped off as it's hinges but it's hinges but I can see that it has definitely been tampered with like there's a data pad there and I'm like okay somebody has has messed with this already.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yes, it looks as though there was some sort of damage done to it, and the door is dented in a strange way.
[SPEAKER_01]: It looks as though this path goes down to one of the fuel or boiler rooms of this facility.
[SPEAKER_01]: So it would be a vulnerable place for conflict to happen.
[SPEAKER_01]: Exactly.
[SPEAKER_01]: that would cook cause severe damage to the rest of the facility.
[SPEAKER_01]: And yes, as you get closer to that door, you would absolutely hear the sounds of exhausted breaths and break the sound breakings of metal against metal, metal against something not as hard as metal.
[SPEAKER_01]: And the sparks of electricity.
[SPEAKER_07]: I see that it's still locked.
[SPEAKER_07]: And so I give a call to my brother Dorian.
[SPEAKER_07]: I let him know.
[SPEAKER_07]: Dorian, come in.
[SPEAKER_01]: the camera flies upward and outward in rapid speed to a large building almost on the other side of the blue district.
[SPEAKER_01]: And in one of the rooms, a young man in a large coat of purple emblazoned with gold
[SPEAKER_01]: intricacies with long, curly black hair, streaks of white on one side, spins upward.
[SPEAKER_01]: As he hears, the voice of his sister, and Dorian touches the right side of his face where a cybernetic eye attached to a small cybernetic golden plate has a replaced an old wound from his childhood, and he spins around with the golden eye lighting up with a bright neon green
[SPEAKER_00]: Celine, what is it?
[SPEAKER_07]: I'm at the garden, I'm handling a situation with a corrupted red.
[SPEAKER_07]: I need your help.
[SPEAKER_00]: Wow, what can I do?
[SPEAKER_07]: I'm on the first floor, I'm outside of the server room.
[SPEAKER_07]: You know, where the internal core is, and I need to get in.
[SPEAKER_00]: Hello, Professor.
[SPEAKER_00]: Perfect, hello, facility.
[SPEAKER_00]: Icarus bring up the spaccometics.
[SPEAKER_01]: Dorian spins over to his desk on to the opposite side, and a floating robotic creature lifts up.
[SPEAKER_01]: It looks like a dome of a chrome door.
[SPEAKER_01]: And floats upwards, and from the bottom of it, a myriad of long metallic coiled arms and tendrils come out, and plug into parts of Dorian's desk.
[SPEAKER_01]: The central eye lights up.
[SPEAKER_01]: This is Icarus his assistant and and a complete holographic grid of the facility that slings his at being honed on from the communication between her him and Celine lights up and he can see where you are on a sort of digital scale as if he's looking at a miniature version of it.
[SPEAKER_04]: All right, I see somebody messed with this at a oh someone did a number on this door.
[SPEAKER_04]: Just get me in.
[SPEAKER_04]: All right.
[SPEAKER_04]: Looks like you've been told to subdue this one.
[SPEAKER_01]: Get me in.
[SPEAKER_07]: Dorian.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'll take my name and he, uh, with a wave of his, his right hand, almost like goes into it like a digital, like a digital godlike hand goes in and like touches the door and lights up.
[SPEAKER_01]: And you can see on the data pad, uh, the symbol of, uh,
[SPEAKER_01]: kill Varus, the golden hawk, with the grid like pattern in the central eye lights up, and you hear the sound of a digital lock unlocking under.
[SPEAKER_01]: And with a funk of metal, you can feel the iron bar keeping the damage door closed, rises up, and no longer bars your way.
[SPEAKER_01]: Will that be all?
[SPEAKER_07]: That will be all?
[SPEAKER_07]: Many thanks, and you hear the call end.
[SPEAKER_01]: story gives an exasperated sigh, and looks at Icarus and Icarus tilts his dome like head.
[SPEAKER_01]: It says Subdu, we'll see if she keeps her word.
[SPEAKER_07]: And so it opens up, I slide open the door.
[SPEAKER_07]: I'm in this like massive like server room.
[SPEAKER_07]: We hear there's like sparks going off because there are like massive rows of servers set up.
[SPEAKER_07]: And so I have to walk through a mocking and slowly.
[SPEAKER_07]: You notice that I don't have any weapons on me.
[SPEAKER_07]: right now.
[SPEAKER_07]: Um, so, so she's just looking around, uh, head on a swivel and she's checking between each row as she's getting further and further back.
[SPEAKER_07]: And then I hear, um, some movement towards the back and some nervous kind of like whimpering.
[SPEAKER_07]: And I know that the red is there.
[SPEAKER_07]: And I say, yes, come out now and nothing will happen to you.
[SPEAKER_07]: We'll take you in quietly.
[SPEAKER_01]: there is silence other than the labored breathing of one of the of the grays.
[SPEAKER_01]: You can see as like some of the light begins to fill the room, you can see this gray, she's up against the wall with a piece of metal that seems to have been ripped from the ground itself as pierced into her side and she's sort of keeping it the pressure on it to keep more blood from coming out.
[SPEAKER_01]: her face is like you can see the dent in her the crack in her helmet you can see a very frightful bloodshot eye sort of like sitting and looking at you and is like sort of trying to gesture to the left of you and like the other side of the wall or
[SPEAKER_01]: Almost as if they see something you don't and are trying to give you like a, they're tilting their head just a little bit.
[SPEAKER_07]: I'll just put my finger up to my mouth and then I will tap my wrist to show that people are coming to help in time to just hold on.
[SPEAKER_01]: there is a breath of relief from the gray as she lowers her head and then goes back to just trying to focus on breathing.
[SPEAKER_01]: The panic seems to subside for just a moment as it took a lot of effort for her to move her neck and part of her body to gesture to where the red might be.
[SPEAKER_01]: and all that you can hear in that moment is the sound of something heavy and metallic being scraped against the ground as if something is dragging a chunk of metal.
[SPEAKER_01]: Like a child dragging a baseball bat.
[SPEAKER_07]: Yeah.
[SPEAKER_07]: Um, so assuming that the red can hear me, even though I know that it has been corrupted, I will say it again.
[SPEAKER_07]: If you come out slowly, everything will be done in a more bureaucratic manner.
[SPEAKER_07]: Do you understand?
[SPEAKER_07]: And I'm like, my, my body and like, my head is turned.
[SPEAKER_07]: Like, I haven't fully gone to that side yet.
[SPEAKER_07]: Um, but it's just like my voice projecting so that the, the red can hear me.
[SPEAKER_01]: You begin to hear something familiar that you know happens when a red gets corrupted.
[SPEAKER_01]: They begin to have extremely heightened responses of emotion or phrases they would normally say, which is usually an early sign of that there's damage to their neural network.
[SPEAKER_01]: And you begin to just hear a distended.
[SPEAKER_07]: That will be all, that will be all, that will be all, that will be all, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha
[SPEAKER_01]: Yes, you see the red as the sound gives it away and you chase the sound and the from the voice and the clamoring.
[SPEAKER_01]: You see this red stands no taller than you in a classic sort of red constructors construction jumpsuit that most wear when they're in the labor fields.
[SPEAKER_01]: The face looks uncannily human, not for.
[SPEAKER_01]: the barcode that is present on the reds neck, which is a side from the fact that they are robotics on the inside is the way you distinguish a red from a human.
[SPEAKER_07]: This one seems to have the look human so think like Blade Runners, what's the other the video game Detroit become human cyberpunk yeah.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, Detroit become human cyberpunk, early Terminator as well.
[SPEAKER_05]: Yes, exactly.
[SPEAKER_01]: Very much like, and very much like Terminator, it looks as though this red has peeled off parts of its face.
[SPEAKER_01]: As you can see, almost a claw-like rip through this perfectly symmetrical face of what may have been like a young man, but you begin to see the wires in the circuitry and the one eye seems to have been, is sort of dribbling
[SPEAKER_01]: and part of where lips would be for a mouth you can see the grinding of metal teeth as it's holding a chunk of metal that looks as though it's like a pole that may have been part of a beam with a sharp jagged edge at the bottom and it's just flailing it.
[SPEAKER_07]: What she does is so she sees this whole thing and um I don't know if I explain to what she looks like she is she's quite she's tall I would say for a woman she's six feet tall and I
[SPEAKER_01]: Yes, story is a proud five of him.
[SPEAKER_07]: For proud five, 10.
[SPEAKER_07]: But yeah, so she has this athletic builder hair is like this short, short, cropped, dark hair.
[SPEAKER_07]: And usually she's wearing these dark purple, almost black tactical enforcers uniform.
[SPEAKER_07]: Made of like this ballistic weave and accentators, subtle gold filaments.
[SPEAKER_07]: And we see that the emblem of Halskowaris is a pin on her collar.
[SPEAKER_07]: She is immediately, you see her throw an arm out, and there is a force that is pushed through her body, this kinetic ability that is going to push the red and slam them back against the cement of the wall behind them.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yes, just as the red is about to lunge it you with its percussive erratic movement.
[SPEAKER_01]: You've seen this before.
[SPEAKER_01]: You've done this dozens of times.
[SPEAKER_01]: You know when it's about to lunge it you.
[SPEAKER_01]: And effortlessly fly it again and it is slammed against the wall of this boiler room dropping its jagged weapon.
[SPEAKER_07]: and it begins to kind of spark and I can see that it still has some life in it as it's like it has slumped against the wall and like fallen down and she begins to walk closer to it and she
[SPEAKER_07]: That, that, that, that will be all, that, that will be all, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, do it.
[SPEAKER_01]: Do an Oracle for give us a long tell us like that's hilarious.
[SPEAKER_01]: What is the legliness that you yeah?
[SPEAKER_01]: What if how hard do you hit it?
[SPEAKER_07]: Oh my gosh.
[SPEAKER_01]: Unless you want to say it's 50 50.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
[SPEAKER_01]: And then if you roll 50 or lower you listen and subdue it or 50 one and higher you hit it a little too hard.
[SPEAKER_07]: Oh, if it's 51 and higher, it's a little too hard.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, if you want to hire, you've hit a little too hard and broke the broke the neural brand of the robot.
[SPEAKER_07]: Okay, let's do it 50 or below.
[SPEAKER_07]: She hits it just right.
[SPEAKER_07]: 51, I was gonna say she doesn't know her own strength, but she does.
[SPEAKER_07]: So that, that is a 91.
[SPEAKER_07]: I think she goes a little too hard as it keeps saying that will be all, seems to be a kind of short circuiting and to get it to be quiet.
[SPEAKER_07]: She does a whack right across it's head.
[SPEAKER_07]: Yep.
[SPEAKER_07]: And I think that metal bit gets it just right in the right spot.
[SPEAKER_07]: But she will bring it back and I think she will bring it back to her brother who has to analyze them anyway and the job is done.
[SPEAKER_07]: and she calls the comms over to her other guard.
[SPEAKER_07]: Members?
[SPEAKER_07]: The situation is managed.
[SPEAKER_07]: Tell the grace to come in.
[SPEAKER_07]: Clean up.
[SPEAKER_01]: Excellent work, Pratel.
[SPEAKER_01]: We have subdued any innocence.
[SPEAKER_07]: You've subdued innocence?
[SPEAKER_01]: We have security.
[SPEAKER_01]: I use the wrong way.
[SPEAKER_01]: that was being said quite a few times.
[SPEAKER_07]: He said he said okay he said okay and so they're going to send in some grace especially to help the one that is kind of bleeding out.
[SPEAKER_01]: you do find that both grades that were confronting with this red will live.
[SPEAKER_01]: One that was off to the side was suffered a huge concussive blow to the back of his head and was unconscious, whereas the other one was impaled with a piece of metal.
[SPEAKER_01]: Both of which will live but are need to be taken off the force for some time.
[SPEAKER_01]: And the damage was minimal, no other in essence were harmed.
[SPEAKER_01]: And thankfully, there was no damage done within the boiler room where if the red was to continue to flail pieces of metal, it could have caused severe damage.
[SPEAKER_07]: and so she makes her way out and as she's making her way out there has been a crowd that has formed.
[SPEAKER_07]: So lots of students have come and kind of like formed around.
[SPEAKER_07]: There's lots of universities in this district and like medical students, people who are just going to school and they have kind of crowded around this area and you see people like shouting out, Monarch.
[SPEAKER_07]: Monarch as she's making her way out and she just keeps her head down and makes her way.
[SPEAKER_07]: She calls Dex.
[SPEAKER_07]: Dex to me and he immediately gets up and follows and they make their way back to their vehicle.
[SPEAKER_07]: But there are people who are shouting like, Monarch, did you use your cool superpower?
[SPEAKER_07]: Like, just people are yelling out and she's not trying to listen to anything like that.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, there's also a press there from the Violet District, and they're going, Monak, how would you, how did you fill this corrupted red?
[SPEAKER_01]: We heard that it was causing damage.
[SPEAKER_01]: We heard that it took out a great, is this true?
[SPEAKER_07]: I think she would just say, the situation is managed.
[SPEAKER_07]: Thank you.
[SPEAKER_07]: and continue.
[SPEAKER_01]: Ever the professional, and you see this violet spins with a flash and has very much a news reporter and has a crew in there.
[SPEAKER_01]: Ever the professional Zamanak Celine Kelvarus strikes like a purple woman, he's like,
[SPEAKER_01]: Oh, yeah, purple robe and flashes and little confetti flies off and you can see within the screen of the camera it's very much heightened graphics and all these emojis are going off and explosions and they put like a little digital crown on top of you as you're awkwardly getting into your vehicle and getting away from them Yeah, just one of only three known to have these special kinetic abilities and she truly a marvel of the Kilvara Yes, can we make him sound like the the announcer in Legend of Coro
[SPEAKER_01]: Oh, yes, we absolutely... What does that sound like?
[SPEAKER_01]: Uh... Alright, we're gonna pour- This is- this again, reporting to you is Ace Belleran, with an- New incident subdued and defeated by one Celine Kelvarez.
[SPEAKER_01]: No one for her moniker as- The moniker.
[SPEAKER_01]: She has a perfect record and has saved countless lives here in Hyperion City from corrupted reds.
[SPEAKER_07]: It was ever dangerous anomalies that live well well below.
[SPEAKER_07]: um but yeah so she continues to to make her way to her vehicle and you see that there are people with other blues who like the paramedics who have uh who have the red on a stretcher of the body is covered um and there are people who like are trying their best to take a peek at what it looks like um some of the grays are looking a little
[SPEAKER_07]: Disappointed because subdued doesn't mean body should be covered as saline and her guard makes her way out and that body.
[SPEAKER_07]: It's put into a Vehicle it looks very much like the med the med hover vehicles that you see in like cyberpunk 2077 Oh, yeah, and so they they're it's transported into there that vehicle is heading to you
[SPEAKER_01]: the severely damaged red with they had almost completely taken off and part of its brain crushed in from the impact.
[SPEAKER_01]: Um, leaking, what, what robotics experts would know is just the simple fluid that goes about their bodies to regulate their temperature and regulate their mode of movement and keep their functions lubricated.
[SPEAKER_01]: But it almost seems alarmingly odd that the fluid would also be the color of blood.
[SPEAKER_01]: It is just a deep, deep red.
[SPEAKER_07]: And so as we see the the the med is it hovers and flies over to your building on which is not far you said you're in the blue district.
[SPEAKER_07]: So it gets there within about five to eight minutes and you were already notified.
[SPEAKER_07]: So are you like waiting for it as it's arriving and everything like that?
[SPEAKER_01]: Yes, Dorian would be waiting at the on the bottom floor of this building of the robotics building a branch of Kilvars dynamics.
[SPEAKER_01]: And sitting there, he would have a couple of his assistants, a few handful of blues ready to sort of a system as needed and he as he's waiting there something something small little crawls out from underneath his jacket and looks up at him with two tiny like pearl blue eyes Ajax to your station and this little crab like robot Ajax scuttles back underneath his jacket.
[SPEAKER_07]: we are going to see that they are kind of rushing this body.
[SPEAKER_07]: And there's no wheels.
[SPEAKER_07]: I want to say, you know, it's floating.
[SPEAKER_07]: Yeah, the the the structure is floating as it's they're kind of running to you a couple of the blue paramedics and they're coming to you.
[SPEAKER_07]: Hello, sir.
[SPEAKER_07]: And they kind of just do a nod, a little bow to you.
[SPEAKER_07]: And they say the directive was to subdue the red unfortunately that was not the case.
[SPEAKER_07]: So we were told to bring it to you to see if you can rectify any of the damage done here.
[SPEAKER_07]: If anyone can do it, we know it will be
[SPEAKER_07]: A kill of ours, sir.
[SPEAKER_01]: Unfortunately, thank you.
[SPEAKER_01]: That will be all.
[SPEAKER_01]: I have some of my constituents who can bring it up to my lab.
[SPEAKER_01]: Thank you for your service and good luck.
[SPEAKER_01]: Sir.
[SPEAKER_01]: And he spins around and has everyone following.
[SPEAKER_01]: He puts one of his hands on the floating sort of dolly here where the destroyed red as he opens it up and he could see the damage and gives an exhausted sigh.
[SPEAKER_02]: What am I going to do with you, Silly?
[SPEAKER_01]: And we have it to this montage of I'm bringing it to this platform.
[SPEAKER_01]: This surrounded by this glass cylinder that floats upwards back to where we first saw him going up to one of the larger lab rooms.
[SPEAKER_01]: The body of the red is put onto this larger slab with all these different cylinders that pop up and put beams of fluorescent light around it and begin to do a series of scans with a hologram hitting the wall on the opposite side showing the structure of the red with highlights of colors where damage was done, whether it was external or internal.
[SPEAKER_01]: The color of a deep purple represents corruption, which seems to be encapsulating parts of the head into the side of the core of the body, whereas the rest that is red, yellow, or orange represents structural damage, which he notices that very deep red on the upper right cranium.
[SPEAKER_01]: Did you really have to do that?
[SPEAKER_01]: as he's talking to himself.
[SPEAKER_07]: Yeah, there's a lot of other clues.
[SPEAKER_07]: So there's anything that we can give you, oh, help you.
[SPEAKER_07]: And there's like interns who are like learning from the great story and Cal Marse, so they're like eager, like college-aged university students.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yes, what you can do is you can set up the grid of the neural network.
[SPEAKER_01]: Any goes over to where the head is.
[SPEAKER_01]: Now what you're going to do is you're going to take this device and it brings over this dome-like cap that goes over a redshead to scan it.
[SPEAKER_01]: You're going to lean this in to where it lines up with the corruption source in the head, where the neural network core is.
[SPEAKER_01]: Perfect.
[SPEAKER_01]: Hold it there and wait until the scan is complete.
[SPEAKER_01]: You have to keep it right on that piece.
[SPEAKER_01]: Anything, any sort of adjustment of movement, jarring or otherwise,
[SPEAKER_01]: we'll make it in consistent reading.
[SPEAKER_07]: Yes sir.
[SPEAKER_07]: Yes sir, and you've got this.
[SPEAKER_07]: You see, hand is a little bit shaky, but it's like a young girl and she looks maybe she's like 20, 21 and she follows your instruction.
[SPEAKER_07]: Uh, you see her like, take a deep breath.
[SPEAKER_07]: Okay.
[SPEAKER_07]: Uh, just follows your instructions.
[SPEAKER_07]: She does it really well.
[SPEAKER_07]: They have a, they have a nap for this.
[SPEAKER_07]: So she, she does it.
[SPEAKER_01]: and he begins to dissect it with his mind and a scent where his eye goes from that that gold again, which is seems to be a neutral color, it goes to a blue which highlights investigation as he scans against the hologram and links it up and can see where the degradation of the neural network started this one degraded
[SPEAKER_07]: No, yes, you see that it was degraded and you also notice your eye kind of twitches as your digging deeper and deeper and you realize someone was trying to erase the barcode from this red someone was trying to clean it.
[SPEAKER_07]: it didn't work.
[SPEAKER_07]: And you know this is highly illegal as you immediately clock it and even if people like the pollution know that this is possible.
[SPEAKER_07]: So you don't want any of the students to see it, but they're kind of like waiting on your word as you catch this.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yes, and the way this was so cleverly hidden was that externally it looks as though the bar is complete on the neck of the red But on a digital scan several of those bars don't come up and that's been how the cleaning has been working where it has to be scanned It cannot just be looked at it has to be scanned to be noticed.
[SPEAKER_01]: Oh the students are so should we analyze it as well I'm no no I'm this seems rather
[SPEAKER_01]: My sister has a habit of breaking her toys, and, unfortunately, it looks as though there's been a lot of damage internally in the neural network here, I think, um, just send the reports that you get from the neural scan, and I will, uh, just, um,
[SPEAKER_01]: do once over on it and we'll bring it back down to manufacturing to be repaired and reconstituted into a new into a parts and spare things we need.
[SPEAKER_01]: Thank you for your patience.
[SPEAKER_01]: The scan looks at it was a 99.7% accuracy the best yet.
[SPEAKER_07]: Thank you sir.
[SPEAKER_07]: One day I'll reach your 100% and a lot of them, they have their their bags and things like that and they they head out
[SPEAKER_07]: The little tendrils waves goodbye and then you get a call from Celine and here like the little The little ringing sound
[SPEAKER_01]: he lets it because yeah in his eye he can see it the alert as if it like he has like a smartphone in his brain and he sees the alert and he sees the ID that it's selling calling.
[SPEAKER_01]: He lets it ring for a moment and he says, Icarus dim the lights increase the sound proficiency in the lap.
[SPEAKER_01]: Icarus like puts two of his tendrils into the wall, dims the lights, and begins to sort of almost soundproof the room for privacy, and also goes into the cameras to sort of keep things in control as this is his lap.
[SPEAKER_01]: Anything recorded in here he has control over.
[SPEAKER_01]: So after let's say 7 or 8 rings.
[SPEAKER_01]: Wow, he picks up.
[SPEAKER_04]: This is Dorian Kilvarris, Senior Robotics Operations.
[SPEAKER_07]: Hello, Sr. of Operations.
[SPEAKER_07]: And you also hear, she says, I am about to rope in my context, Marin Vethers, you know him.
[SPEAKER_04]: Yes, I remember.
[SPEAKER_04]: So, Leanne, what did we talked about Subdu?
[SPEAKER_04]: Diane, we don't have time.
[SPEAKER_04]: I would love to tell you that you're wrong, but you are right.
[SPEAKER_04]: Something came up on the scans on my end, but I suppose that can wait for me.
[SPEAKER_07]: It can wait.
[SPEAKER_07]: Trust me.
[SPEAKER_07]: You're gonna wanna hear this.
[SPEAKER_01]: But very well.
[SPEAKER_01]: Very well.
[SPEAKER_01]: And he reaches over for a mug that comes up and gives him like a coffee.
[SPEAKER_07]: Can I, Icarus be the one that hands him one of his generals?
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, yeah, Icarus come actually.
[SPEAKER_01]: Icarus comes over with the cream and sugar and puts it into the coffee.
[SPEAKER_07]: Um, so we, uh, I dial in, um, Marin, and you see this kind of large, uh, bear of a man, and he looks, usually he looks very jolly, but right now, and you would know that he's just like a very kind guy, uh, he's also a gold, but he is, um, my contact to give me, uh, work, um, but more, it's more important work, um, than usual.
[SPEAKER_07]: And you see, he looks kind of nervous, a little bit
[SPEAKER_07]: Oh, Dorian.
[SPEAKER_07]: Mary, it's good to see you.
[SPEAKER_07]: It's good to see you as well.
[SPEAKER_07]: Um, I don't have much time as, uh, this is an open case.
[SPEAKER_07]: And, something just came onto my table, and I need you and your sister, too.
[SPEAKER_07]: Focus on this, and only this, for as long as you need.
[SPEAKER_07]: Do you understand?
[SPEAKER_00]: Do you need both of us on this?
[SPEAKER_07]: Both of you, I need the best minds.
[SPEAKER_01]: with some frustration, Dorian, like, means in.
[SPEAKER_01]: All right, what's the situation therein, they don't us?
[SPEAKER_07]: And you see, Celine just looks completely locked in, like, maybe he told her a little bit beforehand, but he goes, so I have a new directive for you both.
[SPEAKER_07]: There is rumblings of a red uprising, and while we get these every year or so, they always, it's nothing.
[SPEAKER_07]: Nothing comes up, but this time, that is not the case.
[SPEAKER_07]: We have a word of a red, rebel leader, and we must bring him in for questioning.
[SPEAKER_07]: We must subdue him, silly.
[SPEAKER_04]: Did you hear that, silly?
[SPEAKER_07]: I heard it, yes.
[SPEAKER_07]: Of course.
[SPEAKER_00]: Don't worry, Marin.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'll be there to make sure subdue is followed.
[SPEAKER_07]: subdue will be followed, with prejudice.
[SPEAKER_00]: What's so different about this red uprising?
[SPEAKER_00]: We do get them rather occasionally.
[SPEAKER_04]: Usually, I don't enter the situation until after it's been subdued.
[SPEAKER_07]: Well, here's the thing.
[SPEAKER_07]: We need both of you on this because we need one of the smartest minds in tech on this because what is happening can only be
[SPEAKER_07]: This leader is removing bar codes from reds.
[SPEAKER_07]: They're being cleaned, so they can't be tracked.
[SPEAKER_07]: And you know, this is, you know how legal this is.
[SPEAKER_04]: It's quite damning from what I remember.
[SPEAKER_04]: It's an unsanctioned and unlawful and could result in some very serious punishment.
[SPEAKER_07]: Very serious is an understatement.
[SPEAKER_07]: We have,
[SPEAKER_07]: We have a red here at the Praetorium Guard headquarters.
[SPEAKER_07]: Who we got to talk, and he smiles.
[SPEAKER_07]: So, good news.
[SPEAKER_07]: We don't know who the leader is, and the first task, the most important one, is to find out who this is.
[SPEAKER_07]: Secondary objective, find and retrieve these missing reds, retire if necessary.
[SPEAKER_07]: If necessary, and he, like, eyesling.
[SPEAKER_04]: Is there any report on the number of missing reds that this leader has taken under its wing?
[SPEAKER_07]: Because they are being cleaned, we don't have a number.
[SPEAKER_07]: That is something we could not obtain from the right who talked.
[SPEAKER_07]: But we can give another try.
[SPEAKER_07]: But for right now, the red is in custody, and you don't have to worry about him.
[SPEAKER_07]: We need to know how many reds have been cleaned.
[SPEAKER_07]: Not knowing this number is dangerous.
[SPEAKER_07]: As you know, the reds in this city, they outnumber a three to one.
[SPEAKER_07]: So an uprising that would reach astronomical numbers is not a course of action that we are willing to think about.
[SPEAKER_07]: Or even imagine, we need to snuff this out immediately.
[SPEAKER_07]: And Celine says, the situation will be managed.
[SPEAKER_07]: I'll find this red leader.
[SPEAKER_07]: and also do him.
[SPEAKER_04]: Affirmative, we will prevent catastrophe and restore order and make efforts to understand and prevent this from happening again.
[SPEAKER_07]: Marin says, it is of the utmost importance.
[SPEAKER_07]: You find out how many have been cleaned.
[SPEAKER_07]: The Tribunal VII do not want this to get out to too many people.
[SPEAKER_07]: So that's why it's just you, too.
[SPEAKER_07]: There are not many other gold who know the situation.
[SPEAKER_07]: And you see, you just look clearly like stress.
[SPEAKER_07]: He's like sweating a little bit.
[SPEAKER_07]: But I have faith in you.
[SPEAKER_07]: You will get this done in a timely manner.
[SPEAKER_07]: Yes?
[SPEAKER_04]: To the best of our efforts, we will do this, Marin.
[SPEAKER_04]: And I think you should take care of yourself.
[SPEAKER_07]: I-I need a massage.
[SPEAKER_07]: But I-I trust you, this is why I have you too working on this.
[SPEAKER_07]: So you will swear it here and now.
[SPEAKER_07]: Strength is duty.
[SPEAKER_00]: Duty is order.
[SPEAKER_00]: Order is gold.
[SPEAKER_07]: We take on this new mission and I think the final move of the episode will be to swear an iron valve.
[SPEAKER_07]: You ready?
[SPEAKER_01]: Beautiful.
[SPEAKER_07]: Okay, let's do it.
[SPEAKER_07]: Um, who wants to roll for it?
[SPEAKER_01]: This wearing an iron valve is to complete a quest.
[SPEAKER_01]: We write our vow and we'll give it a rank.
[SPEAKER_01]: Then roll plus heart.
[SPEAKER_07]: Let's do it then.
[SPEAKER_07]: So Selena's going to move and we are talking to a connection.
[SPEAKER_07]: Marin is on the connection.
[SPEAKER_07]: So we have that plus one and if you share with a bond as plus two.
[SPEAKER_07]: So is that a plus three that would be a plus three?
[SPEAKER_07]: Okay, listen, I have a plus four.
[SPEAKER_07]: I have the role horribly for this not the work.
[SPEAKER_07]: So let's see.
[SPEAKER_01]: Let's see what happens.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's just the first big role of the campaign.
[SPEAKER_07]: It's just the vinyl role of the episode.
[SPEAKER_07]: Okay, so I'm going to roll.
[SPEAKER_07]: Oh my god.
[SPEAKER_07]: Oh, that's a spell.
[SPEAKER_07]: Let's just drop.
[SPEAKER_01]: Let Olympus fall to its knees.
[SPEAKER_01]: So the incalvirus has rolled a strong hits.
[SPEAKER_07]: I told you Matt, I told you she is locked in, okay?
[SPEAKER_01]: That is locked in if I ever saw it.
[SPEAKER_07]: She is more focused than she's ever been in her life.
[SPEAKER_07]: You know, like when you take certain drugs, like, I've seen like shows or people put like the drug in their eye, and they're like super locked.
[SPEAKER_07]: Just irises.
[SPEAKER_07]: This is a strong hit with a match, everybody.
[SPEAKER_07]: Okay, this is like, this is her life's mission, because this feels like a different type of red uprising.
[SPEAKER_07]: Okay, so on a strong hit, she is more than emboldened, and it is clear what she must do next.
[SPEAKER_07]: and we will talk about that in the next episode.
[SPEAKER_07]: Thanks for listening to Iron Rising a Star Forge actual play.
[SPEAKER_07]: I'm Maya Wilson and I've been Celine Kilvars.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm Michael Kilbert and I've been Dorian Kilvars.
[SPEAKER_01]: And together, we bring the world of Hyperion City and the law of seven to life.
[SPEAKER_07]: If you're enjoying the series, leave a review or comment or ever you listen, it helps more than you know.
[SPEAKER_01]: We also have a companion blog for those who'd like to dive a little deeper into the forge.
[SPEAKER_01]: All links are in the episode description.
[SPEAKER_07]: And we'll catch you in the next one.
[SPEAKER_07]: Duty is order.
[SPEAKER_01]: The first one's strength is duty.
[SPEAKER_01]: You were lucky, you were lucky, I was like, I feel bad, I haven't just tell you, but I got to tell you, you don't, you have a solid way to say the second part later on.
[SPEAKER_07]: You know what we're recording this?
[SPEAKER_07]: This should be like a clip.
[SPEAKER_01]: This is a blipper.