Mars 3200 CE: Episode 2
Four time travelers find themselves stuck in the Martian capital city of Medusae Fossae. There is a futureistic rave going on, but the party is doomed to stop soon. Can our time travelers save themselves and the colony in time?
The Game
This Game was played using the Mavericks system. An RPG utilizing a deck of cards to tell the story and put fate in the hands of the players. It’s a story-forward roleplaying experience that encourages the players and dealer to work together to create the story. Check out the System Reference Document on Itch.io
https://the-indecisionist.itch.io/mavericks
The Cast
Stella Cheeks is @stellacheeks on Instagram and Bluesky. Check out her other podcasts, Not Your Demographic, X-Treks, and Spooky Thirties.
Sara Moore is @pixiesandpins on all social media channels and at Pixies and Pins.com. You can also check out her Sarah’s Table livestreams on twitch @pixiesandpins.
Omar Burgos is @Taleweaver Check out his work on the Tale of D20s TTRPG channel. More information at https://ataleofd20s.com/
Ben Banks is @Dj_blindian on Instagram and Soundcloud
I’m Ansel Burch and you can find me @TheIndecisionist on all of the meta properties and on Bluesky.
———
Special thanks to Cameron Evesque Davis for the song you’re hearing now and at the beginning of the podcast. Find her work on Soundcloud https://soundcloud.com/cameronevesquedavis
This show is an Indecisionist Production. Go to Indecisionist.com to find more of my work including my monthly gaming event, TTRPG Pickup Con, and my other time travel podcast, Time 2 Party.
As you travel at one second per second, take some time out for these intrepid adventurers. They may be in trouble, but only for the time being.
Transcript
Ansel Burch 0:06
I welcome adventurers from across time and space. Five creators have been brought together from across the internet for one purpose and one purpose alone, to travel through time and have a good time doing it. When big changes happen to the timeline, the change attracts other time travelers like gravity, they won't be able to move past it until they fix whatever was messed up. So our heroes are stuck together, but only for the time being. You
Ansel Burch 1:03
as we begin our scene, we find our heroes in the emergency lit corridor of a Martian colony in the near distance, through thin Canvas walls, we can hear the screaming of an entire rave full of people who have suddenly lost all electricity, light and music, as our heroes rush out into the hallway, they spot one another and are finally united for the first time, just in time to see several high ranking dignitaries of the Martian Colony run into another room as their guide, Gary points them out and indicates that one of them is the president of Mars. As we begin, let's start with aixa. As you are stepping out of this room carrying the Pharaoh whiskers on your shoulders, you have an opportunity, because of the momentum that you have currently to make a pretty big choice. Are you going to chase after the President that Gary has indicated, or do you have another plan in mind? I
Stella Cheeks 2:09
think at this point, the last thing that we talked about Mason and the and the Pharaoh, and I was like, We gotta follow people. So I feel like I would be like, Okay, here we go. And also Elena, like pointed them out. So I think, I think Alex has an on or an off button, and the on buttons on. So excellent. They just charge after him. I think, yeah,
Ansel Burch 2:29
all right, as you charge forward, I said, You are pretty fast. Let's go ahead and do a luck draw. I think you've got this one, but it's it is up to the cards. Name your suit, draw one card, and let's see if you can catch that door.
Sarah Moore 2:41
May I pause it? Yes, that, because she has momentum. Maybe theoretically, she would have advantage on this kind of if it was a dice roll where she would get to do two so maybe she just has to name a color.
Ansel Burch 2:54
Oh, that is an interesting way to think about this. Instead of a suit. I like that. I like that too. Yeah, let's try it out. Let's see how. Let's see how that feels.
Stella Cheeks 3:01
Um, red.
Ansel Burch 3:05
Ace of heart, nice. Uh, okay, fantastic. So as you lurch forward, you are able to grab a hold of the door,
Stella Cheeks 3:15
but that's, that's where the long fingers come in. It's just a finger grab
Ansel Burch 3:21
your spooky space fingers, yeah. So you're able to grab that door and follow the dignitaries into the room. As you do so you come into this new space, which is, it's very reminiscent of like a conversation pit. It's been dug into the Martian soil, and they've, you know, tiled it all around. So it's got sort of a like empty swimming to swimming pool effect to it, but comfortable cushions have been laid all around the space. And this is apparently what passes for a meeting space in in this Martian colony, there are a number of doors that lead off of this room, and a couple of them are being used as other people dressed similarly to the person who was identified as the President, as they filter into the room. So
Stella Cheeks 4:15
the doors are being actively used like people are coming into this Yeah, the other
Ansel Burch 4:19
doors, yeah, from elsewhere in the colony, people are coming in, also in these sort of formal garments.
Stella Cheeks 4:25
Are there any computers or electronics? Does it look like, it's of sort of like hub of any kind, or is it just truly like, this is our boardroom meeting. That
Ansel Burch 4:38
is a great question. You have not so far seen any obvious computer terminals or anything, but I say you are from a space alien culture, so I think there is a likelihood that you can identify like an alternative computer terminal. Clearly they are have some sort of computerization here. So. So let's do a skill draw to look around the space for what would be your terminal. Okay, so skill draw is just one card. Yep, just one card. Compared against mine, I got a 10, I got a seven. Okay, is that one of your marked cards?
Stella Cheeks 5:16
Uh, nope, no.
Ansel Burch 5:17
Okay. So, yeah, you are not able to identify what the what the terminal in this room would be, but you do have three other people with you. Do you want to let them in on the investigation?
Stella Cheeks 5:36
Yeah, I will, but I also want to just ask so, like, how, like, we stand out, obviously, like, we look very different than everybody else. Like, how crowded is it? Is this something where we can, like, Mason, hide in the shadows, or is this like everybody's gonna, like, in a second, stare at us? Chances
Ansel Burch 5:50
are pretty good. Everybody is gonna stare at you in a moment. You followed three people in here. It looks like there's probably, like, gonna be 10 people in the space by the time everything is all said and done. So
Stella Cheeks 6:04
I kind of, like, let everybody in that I'm like, you know, because our ultimate goal is to not suffocate. So I am also thinking about, like, engineering, but I am going to take whiskers off my shoulder and put him down, just because he is, like, the smallest of us and potentially could maneuver if somebody you know is like, hey, get them, yeah.
Omar Burgos 6:26
Whiskers is you put them down, immediately goes towards the first person and says, fairy whiskers, here, take me to your leader. We must speak.
Ansel Burch 6:37
I think the woman that you walk up to turns to you and says, I am the leader. Who are you?
Omar Burgos 6:45
I said, Pharaoh. Did you want my full name? You're not worthy for that.
Ansel Burch 6:50
Okay, explain. Sorry. Whiskers, right? Pharaoh. Whiskers, Pharaoh. Whiskers, okay, well, we are dealing with an emergency right now. Your Pharaoh ness and thank you for being here. We really appreciate your input, and you are welcome to stay and contribute to the conversation. Who is your friend in
Omar Burgos 7:13
sending come? Let me introduce my entourage. Whisker goes around, beckoning everyone to come follow him as we're talking to this leader. Oh, okay,
Sarah Moore 7:24
do you still have my stunt double with you? Oh,
Ansel Burch 7:27
that's a great question. Think
Ben Banks 7:29
we left her. We ran off with that. I think we might have left her with
Stella Cheeks 7:33
Josh. Yeah, he took her wig off. Oh, we left it with Josh. Yeah,
Unknown 7:36
that's right. Oh, yeah. The
Ansel Burch 7:38
whole film crew is still back in the in the dark, suffocating colony rave room, that'll be fine. I would have
Sarah Moore 7:45
the b unit with me, obviously.
Ansel Burch 7:46
Oh, yeah, absolutely. Of course, you're not going to be without a crew. Who are all of you, by the way, are you citizens that I've never met? Because that's a delightful opportunity for another time.
Omar Burgos 8:01
Savior. We're heroes, Savior
Stella Cheeks 8:04
engineers. We're here to help with the lights.
Ansel Burch 8:11
Oh, okay, that's That's great. That's wonderful. We appreciate your contributions and hope that you can find a quick resolution. How can, how can the council help
Stella Cheeks 8:26
show us to the lights?
Ansel Burch 8:30
Oh, um, how familiar are you with the with the functioning of the colony?
Stella Cheeks 8:40
Could I take a moment to access my like, Control Panel? If I have, yeah, I just like, hold up one of my really long, creepy fingers, and I like, access it. I think I've decided to name it tinker. Love it because I'm thinking of it like cables. AI in like X Men. I'm just gonna be like, tinker. Do you have schematics for this? I feel like this might be a luck roll or luck card.
Ansel Burch 9:06
I think you're right. I think this is a luck whether or not Tinker is going to have schematics for a an A Martian a Martian outpost. Hey, who knows century? Yeah, clubs.
Stella Cheeks 9:18
Hey,
Ansel Burch 9:19
awesome. Yeah, look at that. Turns out the layout of this facility matches with some schematics that were drawn up far earlier, and they were just sort of executed on here in in the third millennia to create a surprisingly similar layout. So yeah, you've got, you've got a functional diagram of the the sort of footprint and mechanisms of this facility. I
Stella Cheeks 9:50
think it's just like a Tony, Stark hologram for my arm. And I go, yes, you mean these just look very like, very proud
Ansel Burch 9:58
of yourself. Yeah. Fantastic. Oh, wonderful. I'm so pleased that you have that. That's great. So I guess Go, go, go, do it. You
Omar Burgos 10:09
need total, complete access to your entire facility. Hand over the master key. Now, I
Ansel Burch 10:13
don't think we can do that.
Omar Burgos 10:18
I don't think I gave you a question, and I will transform myself into the larger, more deep, more human looking version, yeah, the deity form Yes, and hold up a very long claw to his neck and attempt to, like, threaten him to give me these master keys.
Ansel Burch 10:34
Let's go ahead and open this up as a conflict. Now this is not necessarily a physical conflict, but this draw of three cards will represent the duration of time it takes for you all to convince the colonies council to give you access. And since the air is running out, this will be a very short period of time, I'm going to say that this whole conflict is going to take, let's say, a minute. So three cards each, one will represent roughly 20 seconds of time, and you can lay them out, and let's go ahead and flip over card number one. I have an eight of clubs. I do. We all say which one? Yeah, you can just go around. Say what you got?
Ben Banks 11:27
Yeah, 10 of heart. 10. Okay, Queen of Diamonds. Two of
Sarah Moore 11:32
diamonds. Yeah, I'm not there, so I'm assuming I'm not drawing. Let's
Ansel Burch 11:37
go ahead and have you draw as well, so that you can still move in time seven. Okay, so we had a queen. That means that your desired outcome is going to take the the primary success here. And let's see, we had a seven and a two in play. So that means that you guys are going to be less less successful in this moment. You did not beat my card. The council is going to over master you for now. And then, Omar, you had a 10. Is that right? Yes. Okay, so you're also moving your goals forward. But Ben, what is, what is Mason's primary drive right now? What is it that you're trying to get done?
Ben Banks 12:17
I think to get the lights turned on because he doesn't want to die here in this place, in space, miles away from home. So he's just kind of like, kind of stepped forward and like, hey, Madam President. I know the Pharaoh here is coming out a little strong, but we do need a key. We do need some kind of access to the back end of this if we're going to have any resolution in solving I just, I
Ansel Burch 12:39
don't know that. I'm comfortable with that. I don't, I don't know any of you, you haven't been a part of what we've made here. There's, there's so much about this colony that you just aren't going to understand. Omar, how, what, what do you say to to to that was whiskers. Say
Omar Burgos 13:00
whiskers is in the face of Madam President, and has that claw and is getting really threatening as the hair on his back for like furs up and he goes, You will give us the key so we can fix this mess that I'm sure that you cause, and then you'll never see us again. Or do you want to die here with the rest of your people. Madam President,
Ansel Burch 13:22
I'll never see you again in this one times a billion chance. She turns back to Mason. Is that true? Are you going to leave forever?
Ben Banks 13:31
Well, when it comes to us coming and going, it's really not up to us, at least not up to me. I don't plan on being out here again, but I can't speak the rest of my friends, but I do want to have, I do want to save your people. I can't have people dying out here. That's that would be the worst outcome. And also, you know, if you want to get reelected, you need constituents to vote for you that are alive. And you know this would be that you saved the colony. Oh, it's
Ansel Burch 13:59
just my turn. Her. Oh, yeah, everyone, everyone gets a turn. It's just my week. But do you want to have the week that everyone died? Is that the week that you? I really do not. I believe you. I believe sir, I believe you, that that you want to help. What do we think happens with IXA in this? While this is happening, I think
Stella Cheeks 14:16
that I'm fruitlessly looking for like, an access panel. I'm
Ansel Burch 14:20
like, like, there's got to be something. Yeah.
Stella Cheeks 14:23
I'm like, These people don't want to give us the key, all right? And I'm just like, fruitless, like, because, like, this is just a two, is me, like, not helping at all. So I'm just pressing on the ball or on the walls, like it's an Indiana Jones tomb, but it's just like a regular wall.
Ansel Burch 14:39
I love it. And how about Elena? What do we think is going on with
Sarah Moore 14:43
you? Oh, I'm hoping that Gary has led me to where the hub is. That's what he was supposed to be doing. Split off. I well, I didn't leave, yeah, I just, I stayed with Gary with the flashlight.
Ansel Burch 14:58
Oh, yeah. I. All right, so you and Gary are still in the hallway. Okay, fantastic, fantastic. I think that Gary leads you off down one of the corridors into an area that is like painted in, rather than the like Apple Store white Chiclet situation that you had going on in the in the like primary colonial spaces. He takes you down into an area where everything's done in like a mylar. There's a lot of lot of silver crinkly surfaces going on. And this is, this is clearly the like maintenance and control space, the facilities, right? He seems uncertain about whether this is exactly the right place to take you and whether he should be taking
Sarah Moore 15:41
Gary is this not where the lights are to put the power to back on? It's where they should be. What does that mean? I
Ansel Burch 15:51
don't know. I it's never This has never happened to me before. Hey,
Sarah Moore 15:55
buddy, you are doing so good. Okay, doing so good. I
Ansel Burch 16:02
went to school for the radio, so, right? I know how a lot of this works. Great.
Sarah Moore 16:07
Okay, so usually there's just, like, a big plug he got a plug back in, or, like, did we to be trip a break or something? Just got to reset some stuff. Like,
Ansel Burch 16:21
I don't know. This has never happened before. We have, like, a really reliable power system,
Sarah Moore 16:25
right? I want you to think back Gary, think, think real hard. What could cause something like this? Great, which means we can un sabotage it, right? Okay, right, yeah, okay, yeah, great, okay,
Ansel Burch 16:44
yeah, all right, so let's go on to our next card. I have terrible news, everyone. This is an ace. Is
Sarah Moore 16:49
that good or bad for you? I don't know. That's good for me. Oh, that's the highest, right?
Ansel Burch 16:53
It's the high card. Yeah? Oh, gosh, three, yeah, four, four, okay,
Ben Banks 16:59
yeah. I got an eight,
Stella Cheeks 17:01
an eight. Yeah, I'm trying all these low cards. Yep, I got
Omar Burgos 17:04
a five of heart and
Ansel Burch 17:06
a five. Okay, were any of those marked card?
Sarah Moore 17:10
No, okay, listen, we all just reached this round. It's okay. Yeah.
Ansel Burch 17:16
So, so this is actually really fun. So what do we think happens in the narrative here that is not moving you towards your goals? Do we think that the the like, President, like, gets into an argument with you guys? Do we think that the rest of the council fights you like? Let's tell this story together. What? What do we think happens that gets in everybody's way, or it could be an external thing, maybe, maybe there's like a Mars quake or something.
Stella Cheeks 17:49
It's fun. Would it be realistic to have like the like oxygen start to go with like, are we starting to not feel good?
Ben Banks 17:59
Oh, yeah. No. So I'm like, yeah, no, yeah,
Sarah Moore 18:05
yes, yeah, oh,
Ansel Burch 18:06
I like that a lot, yeah. So the it's been a few minutes, the oxygen is starting to go and it is enough that you are all able to start noticing it whiskers. I think you can see in the people around you that they are becoming less useful to you, and that's that's a problem. Even though you can breathe for a little bit longer, you need these humans to explain how to fix the problem. Otherwise, you're gonna have to travel through time and go back to the middle of the rave again. We don't want that
Omar Burgos 18:37
the madam president begins to fade. Is I no longer am holding my finger up to her threateningly, but I'm holding her as he's falling over. Oh, you're supposed to
Ansel Burch 18:49
I'm gonna be okay. We're all gonna be okay. Okay. Do you know the signs of hypoxia? He
Omar Burgos 18:57
turns over and looks at me?
Ben Banks 19:00
Do you know, Mason's also kind of fainting. He's like, What the What did she say? How
Ansel Burch 19:10
could we tell if we're about to die? What is it? Is it feeling sleepy? Because I'm feeling sleepy.
Stella Cheeks 19:17
I think that's cold. Okay,
Ansel Burch 19:21
okay, so maybe we're all right,
Stella Cheeks 19:23
no, you are suffocating. Okay, cool. Can we have the key card now
Ansel Burch 19:32
I want, I need you all to promise me that you won't judge our society on our mistakes. I don't think you
Omar Burgos 19:41
have much of a choice, but all right, fine, fine.
Ansel Burch 19:47
I love all right, fine, all right, fine.
Stella Cheeks 19:50
I would judge you more if you did not do everything to help. And I just put my long finger hands out, I
Ansel Burch 19:55
think you see as the president like reaches for some. In her jacket, and then decides against it at the last second, as we turn over our last cards, I have a six
Stella Cheeks 20:10
oh, I pulled a high card and one of my Oh, and it's marked, marked cards, yeah, clairvoyance, mine's
Sarah Moore 20:19
mine's also marked mine as well.
Ansel Burch 20:24
Wow, wow. Look at this. Okay, so, Stella, unfortunately, because you didn't mark the card, the clairvoyance would have told you that that was gonna be the card. So you you knew you were gonna succeed at this. So that's great. All right, so, uh, Omar, that's an ace. No, no, oh, no, sorry, Sarah's got these, yeah, what's the mark you've got on that ace? It's
Sarah Moore 20:43
the circle with the sideways T, ah, yes,
Ansel Burch 20:46
yes, yes. Oh, enemies, yeah, right. So you want to take the draw a second card and take the lower of the two.
Sarah Moore 20:54
Okay, that seems like bullshit. Okay, it's also marked, it's a two, but it's also marked, it's this, which was boob. It's the circle with the.in it. Ah, the boob mark, move mark, the titty mark, yeah,
Ansel Burch 21:08
well, that's the that's the ally mark, great. So, so why not draw another one? Take the higher of those two.
Sarah Moore 21:15
Is that? What happens now?
Unknown 21:16
Yeah, here we go.
Sarah Moore 21:21
Marks this time, just
Ansel Burch 21:24
a regular time that's higher than a six. So good news. All right. Omar, what do you have on that king that
Omar Burgos 21:30
was an emotional roller coaster, king of spades. No more.
Ansel Burch 21:34
Oh, no, Mark. Okay. Ben, you had a mark? Yes, I also had
Ben Banks 21:37
an enemy, three of diamonds. Oh, so I have to draw again and take the lower, yes, maybe you'll get, like, a mark, all right, so I got a jack. I don't think this one's marked on my No, it's not. So I have to take the three. So okay, it's a failure for me as well. I'm still, I'm fainting. I'm on, uh, whiskers, other side, like people Madam President, and I'm like, by him, like, trying to, like, talk, but I'm also, like, slurring my words. And just
Sarah Moore 22:11
like, Yeah, you should listen to the kitty. Yeah.
Ansel Burch 22:16
Okay, fantastic. Well, whiskers and aixa here in the room, you you are going to convince the president to give you that key card. What do we think is the thing that finally convinces her that you are on the up? And
Stella Cheeks 22:29
I just put my, like, creepy, long hands, like, because she has it in her hand, right? Can I just put my hands over her hands and like, I'm not taking it, I'm looking her in her eyes. It's not like a threat, but it's not not a threat. I'm just like, where your only hope for survival?
Ansel Burch 22:47
Ooh, I like it. Yeah. So she's like, reaching into the interior pocket of her jacket, and yeah, so you put your hand on on that creepy fingers. Your creepy, creepy fingers,
Omar Burgos 23:02
I say, whiskers. But then after that, take off his helmet, it's magic, and use his little suction in the air, and then puts it on top of the head of Madam President.
Ansel Burch 23:12
Oh, I like that. That's very cool. She takes a deep breath of your magic air in your bubble. And she looks, I think, straight into AIX his eyes. I have something I have to tell you. And she pulls the key card out, and just because your hand is already there, there's this, like, sort of almost, almost intimate moment, as you know, her hand comes out of the jacket pocket and just releases the card to you there at the like edge of her lapel. But before we get the confession of the President, let's come over to Elena and Gary. Gary, what's going on?
Sarah Moore 23:55
Gary, buddy, I don't
Ansel Burch 23:56
know. What are you thinking? What are you thinking is in this moment,
Sarah Moore 24:00
what I feel like would be good dramatic irony. I
Ansel Burch 24:05
mean, we're, that's what we're doing here. Because I feel like
Sarah Moore 24:09
Gary is in the middle of explaining how it can be fixed, and he passes out in the middle of the last step. You know, like in that scene in it was one of those space movies, maybe it's the abyss. It's the abyss. Actually, it's not a space movie. It's the abyss. They're like, they like, go out of range, and somebody has thrown up into their suit, and they have to, like, they're like, you have to get the thing. It's to the left, it's a and then it like, cuts out and like, you have to go and, like, she figures it out, you know? So, like, I feel like, mid, mid last step, he loses his battle with lack of oxygen and so amazing. Like, she's like, okay, and she's like, holding the things that would fix it. But she is not an electrical engineer, so I don't know
Ansel Burch 24:59
who. I like that a great deal. That's fantastic. So I think Gary points on a Okay, two things happen, right? I think Gary is going to use one of the terminals, which is activated by his hand, like there's he, he touches the side of one of these, like Chiclet looking throw pillow sized apparatus, okay, and a light emanates from his fingers onto the surface and creates the like work surface. Okay? So it's like, you know, those, those bracelets they keep pretending are going to happen where you can use the keyboard. It's like that, but his whole hand, so he projects this out onto it, and he shows you where, where the room is. And great, I think he is. He's in the middle of telling you, I think he starts with, have you seen The Matrix, ancient Earth movie? Yes, of course.
Sarah Moore 26:16
I'm just gonna say yes.
Ansel Burch 26:20
It's kind of like that, but instead of in a tank, they're just
Sarah Moore 26:27
hairy. Okay, bud, great. Well, I'm gonna go to the room figure it out. Not a tank, something else, like a tank, maybe,
Ansel Burch 26:44
totally fine. So yeah, so I think we'll leave Elena on her way to that room as as the rest of the group get to hear the President's confession. I Yeah, congratulations. That was a that was a good conflict. Well done. She like, looks straight into your eyes, I said, as she is handing you this key card, and she said, we had to be sure that no one in our society could be bought, bribed or tricked ever again. And she waves her hand over one of these, you know, Chiclet apparati, and the light shines out from her hand, creating the display and interface. And she like presses hard on a room at the center of the building floor plan, and it sort of zooms in and opens out into a video from a room where you can see a few people sort of sitting in squalor on the floor, looking sad. The people you see before you once owned everything they wanted. They had all the wealth that Earth had to create. And when we moved to Mars, they wanted to own it too. Our world was parceled and covered with logos for every major Earth company that could afford a rocket and a human life. This is the only punishment we could find that fit the crime of seeking to manipulate every person alive into serving your own whims. Here we live without aging and death, so these undying bastards fuel our whole civilization. Not everyone thinks this is the way, but they are the ones who sacrifice for the good of everyone, and she hands you that she lets go of the other half of that key card and lets you take it away.
Stella Cheeks 29:08
Does it look like they're dying?
Ansel Burch 29:10
No, they just look like super uncomfortable.
Stella Cheeks 29:13
But they're supposed to be powering this station.
Omar Burgos 29:20
I mean, I'm not too indifferent to suffering and torture. I mean, my people had legs of locust and death, so but this seems a little How do you can I say
Stella Cheeks 29:36
inefficient, dramatic.
Ansel Burch 29:42
It is both of those things. I can't say that it was my idea. I was not even born. But the copper in the floor conducts the energy that. Bodies produces, and as long as they stay in that room and awake, they produce energy to fuel the rest of the colony, which is stunningly efficient, by the way,
Stella Cheeks 30:18
did one of them escape? I don't understand how you are losing power.
Ansel Burch 30:23
I don't either that is the question. This is not a live feed from the room, so it's possible that some of them have been taken or one has escaped somehow. I can't imagine it. It hasn't happened in centuries. But if there is something wrong with the power, this is the source,
Omar Burgos 30:47
well, then we have found the problem. So what do we do? I say we can at least investigate that room.
Ben Banks 30:59
Yeah, investigating is what I do best, and just spit balling here. Would it have anything to do with an excess power of a giant rave in the middle of your city? Would that have some sort of anything to do with anything? Yeah, just just shooting ideas out here? It's
Ansel Burch 31:19
certainly could be. But we've run a lot of raves. It's sort of our thing. That's how we got to be the capital of Mars. We throw real good parties. I'm DJ. Next week you should come.
Ben Banks 31:34
Well, you didn't want to see us again, so that, oh, right, don't
Ansel Burch 31:38
come to go. Right, right. Just, you know, it's getting hard to
Stella Cheeks 31:44
breathe here, you president, then DJ, normal,
Ansel Burch 31:49
but I'm always a DJ. Just right now I'm a president,
Sarah Moore 31:52
always a DJ. In my heart, I'm always a DJ.
Ansel Burch 31:55
These aren't lungs, they're turntables.
Omar Burgos 31:57
We're running out of here. We need to get Elena and find out what's behind this door, right? I'll jump on top of iexa, just kind of point so I don't have to waste any more necessary air.
Unknown 32:12
Follow the paw. It's good plan. I
Ansel Burch 32:15
would like to throw something out there for all of you to consider. You know that you can time loop this and we retain all of our memories. Yeah, you'll still be yourselves traveling in linear time. You mean? We just have to suffocate and then we'll wake up. Oh, no, you can just activate whatever your time travel mechanism is, and, oh, okay, we
Omar Burgos 32:35
will just be stuck here. We can't go to any other time because of this
Stella Cheeks 32:40
issue. We all have to do it separately and then come back. I
Ansel Burch 32:45
won't make you. You can do that whenever you want. I just want to keep that in your heads in case things get keep going the way that they are.
Omar Burgos 32:51
The moment we're about to pass out, someone say the COVID, and then we'll all snap back.
Ansel Burch 32:56
Yeah, what's, what's our safe word?
Sarah Moore 32:58
I'm suffocating.
Ansel Burch 33:02
That's a good save.
Omar Burgos 33:06
Okay, I'm dying.
Stella Cheeks 33:10
So the President gave us the key, and I have this like layout, so we should know where to go.
Ansel Burch 33:16
Yeah, you have the layout there on your display, and she pointed directly to where that room is on her layout. So yeah, you can absolutely find it is that the same room that Elena is in the room Elena is headed towards, yeah, so this will be another opportunity for the four of you to meet back up. So let's cut to the moment where you all arrive outside the door to the facility where the billionaires are powering society,
Omar Burgos 33:48
you just hear Jessica, and that's how I save Madam President, explaining everything totally Gary
Sarah Moore 33:55
said that it was in this room and it was like The Matrix at a tank, but not whatever that means. Oh, yeah, they, they
Stella Cheeks 34:04
are fueling this whole society by the energy of the billionaires. Great,
Ben Banks 34:09
yeah, the former, former leader,
Sarah Moore 34:11
do we have to do? They have to be dead or alive? What is the deal? They all have to be in there. They can't,
Ben Banks 34:20
yeah, she said they've been in there for centuries. That sounds boring. Yeah, it does sound really boring. So either one of them escaped, or they figured out how to short circuit. They said that the copper wires going through the infrastructure powers it, but it's coming from that room, so they have to be in that room,
Sarah Moore 34:38
all right. So they they have to be touching the copper wires, I'm assuming,
Ben Banks 34:41
or in that room that sends out the signal, or something like that. Okay, it was hard to pay attention. I
Ansel Burch 34:48
would like, at this time for all of you to do a skill draw to overcome the hypoxia. Oh, damn. What about my men? See, oh, no, so that's a king,
Omar Burgos 35:03
okay, does aixa have two goods? Yeah,
Sarah Moore 35:06
she's got a mask.
Ansel Burch 35:08
I got my mask. She has got a mask. I will say, go ahead and take, uh, draw two. Take the better of the
Sarah Moore 35:14
two. I got a seven,
Ansel Burch 35:18
still a jack, okay? Jack of Hearts,
Stella Cheeks 35:20
yeah,
Sarah Moore 35:23
clubs, all right, I'm taking a nap.
Ansel Burch 35:27
Any of those marked cards? No, sir.
Unknown 35:28
No,
Ansel Burch 35:29
no. Okay, close. So as the hypoxia is taking you, does anybody have any clever ideas to save yourselves?
Stella Cheeks 35:39
I think maybe we say I'm suffocating, and then we, yeah, you can
Ansel Burch 35:44
do that. I'm also perfectly willing, if somebody's got a like a MacGuffin in their pocket, to give you a little bit more time if, if you want to draw for that, I'm willing to. I'm willing to take luck draws for hidden cans of oxygen.
Sarah Moore 35:59
Yeah, maybe it's, yeah, a union break. And so they would, okay, come in, it's a union break. And so they would come in to, like, give, give her, like, I gotta stop the filming. We're gonna stop filming. We're gonna refresh the actors. Like, so they would come in with whatever you would need to refresh the actors.
Ansel Burch 36:24
Okay, let's go ahead and do a luck draw. Let's see if your if your team had brought bottled oxygen for this eventuality, it
Sarah Moore 36:38
is a marked card.
Ansel Burch 36:41
Okay, did you call your suit beforehand?
Sarah Moore 36:43
Oh, I thought it was to beat you.
Ansel Burch 36:47
Oh, we will do that. Sure. All right, I've got a jack of spades. So what is the mark on that ace,
Sarah Moore 36:57
the upside down triangle with the two little circles at the top, it's probably like, you die.
Stella Cheeks 37:07
Confidence, confidence, fate,
Ansel Burch 37:10
yeah, oh, confidence, yeah. So you are succeeding, so you're Yeah, the ACE already beat the jack. You're gonna take three points that you can apply later on in this great to somebody else's Okay, nice. And, yeah, I will accept that your team have brought in little enough bottled oxygen to sort of refresh everybody for a little bit longer. Yeah,
Sarah Moore 37:35
like, it's a very tense moment, and I think that there is a hold, like somebody yells out, hold. And people come screen in as you're all suffocating at the door, they come screening and give oxygen to everybody, and, like, refresh everyone's makeup, just like, just like last looks clear. And then, and then they get out of the way.
Ansel Burch 38:02
Amazing union. Union break.
Unknown 38:05
Yeah, okay, so everybody gets
Ansel Burch 38:07
a union break, and that's actually a wonderful opportunity for us to fade to black on this episode, and we will start back up open in as you open the door into the room full of billionaires and deal with the problem. Stella cheeks is at Stella cheeks on Instagram and blue sky. Sarah Moore is at pixies and pins on all of the social media channels, and at pixies and pins.com you can also check out her Sarah's table live streams on Twitch at pixies and pins. Omar Burgos is at tail Weaver. Check out his work on the tale of D 20s. TTRPG channel. More information at a tale of D twenties.com Ben banks is at DJ underscore. Blendian on Instagram and SoundCloud. I'm Ansel Burch, and you can find me at the indecisionist on all of the meta properties and on blue sky special. Thanks to Cameron ivesque Davis for the song you're hearing now and at the beginning of the podcast, this has been an indecisionist production. Go to indecisionist.com to find more of our work, including my monthly gaming event, TTRPG pickup con and my other time travel podcast, time to party as you travel at one second per second. Take some time out for these intrepid adventurers. They may be in trouble, but only for the time being. You.
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