Overview

The party enters a game show in an attempt to gain resources and connections.

Cast

Billi, Bulwark, Care, Honest

Mission

Personal: Compete in and win the competition Joust! in order to gain material prizes and notoriety.

Rules of Engagement: Obey the rules of Joust!, or don't get caught breaking them.

Synopsis

Qualifier

The group arrives at Joust and gets a look at the competition. There are around () other prospective competitors, all lined up at the edge of the field. The team enters under aliases, Care as Larcen, Billi as NoScope, and Honest as Forklift. Care decides to compete in disguise and not take off his helmet, saying that he doesn't want the wrong people to recognize him. The announcers explain that before Joust begins, they will have to complete the qualifier. Twenty four giant chess pieces are hidden across the play field, and would-be contestants must capture one to secure a spot. The color and type of piece will also determine team and bracket placement. The party decides to stay together and compete on one side of the bracket, and the action begins.

The hopefuls squabble on a giant field of ice - Honest burrows under the ground with Eternity and trips a class three mech, Recipe for Ruin, by dragging half their leg into the ice, so that they can snatch their piece. Care decides not to show his hand by boosting the Redcap, but snags a piece anyways. Several blindingly fast flying mechs clash in the sky, bright red LDYBRD and a sleek black racer. (did one of us help Bulwark?) When the dust settles, the team all has white chess pieces, and the white half of the bracket consists of Billi, Care, Honest, Bulwark, Bloedel, Price, Bird, Shackcham, Gelf Serrano, Kei, Zacharias, and (Myriad).

The competition is divided into two groups, who will compete against each other in brackets. The loser of each match will become the team of the winner and join them in subsequent matches. At the end of the bracket matches, there will be a free for all between the two sides to determine the final result. The top 10 spots will be awarded prizes, with 1st receiving a unique () mech, The Riposte, 2nd an expert cohort of Rovers, (). The contestants will be allowed to pick what events they participate in based on a ranking of their chess pieces from the qualifier, although they will not be told what the events consist of beyond they icons displayed during selection. Once they are in teams, the leader of the team and their chess piece are used to determine selection order.

Matches are played to obvious win or surrender, fights are to remain strictly non lethal, and the death of an opponent will result in the contestant at fault being disqualified.

Round 1

The first match is between Care and Bird. They prepare to start in their mechs, but when the match begins they are instantly locked in boxes, mechs and all, with an open comlink between each other. The rules are not changed - the match is to surrender, so the pair are expected to talk it out. Care tries to uncover Bird's motivations and offer her worthwhile deals, but she is resolute in her need to shine in this competition, explaining that she needs the attention for her streaming career. Care eventually concedes to Bird's promises of cooperation (and that he can drive her mech).

The second match is a long range battle between Billi and Price. Instead of facing off directly against the superior firepower on the Sign of the Times, Billi hides the Artemis and sneaks up to Price on foot. She manages to place an explosive on the leg of the Sign of the Times, disabling it and securing her victory, but enraging Price with her () methods.

The third match is a close range battle between Honest and Bulwark. The two tanky mechs slug it out in an extended and brutal battle, but Honest eventually concedes when it becomes clear that they will not win without taking extensive damage to Eternity.

The fourth match is a race between Kei of the Dirty Pair and an unknown nNull mech. The () does not attempt to race, and instead immediately grabs the other mech and trashes it, then walks calmly across the finish line.

Round 2

The first match is in-mech hide and seek, with Bird and Care seeking Gelf Serrano. Unable to keep up with the flying mechs of the other contestants in the Redcap, Care instead opts to ride along on the LDYBRD. Bird flushes Gelf out of hiding and they begin a chase in the sky, but Bird can't quite finish him. Care gets Bird to throw him onto the (), and begins trying to sabotage it while its in the air, with Bird still in pursuit. After several close calls, Care manages to kill its main boosters and Bird catches up and secures the win.

The second match is position defense, with (Myriad) and Kei defending and Shackcham attacking. Shackcham attempts to use his drone fleet to infiltrate their defense point and hit his target, but before he can, (myriad) simply leaves the defense point, finds his (), and forces him to concede.

The third match is out-of-mech hide and seek, with Billi and Price seeking Zacharias. Price advises Billi to be cautious - with Zacharias' huge size and natural armor, this is less hide and seek and more of an ambush waiting to happen. They catch a glimpse of him slipping into some ruins half buried in the ice, and Billi wants to go after him and end the match quickly. Price advises caution - with Zacharias' huge size and natural armor, he likely wants them in a close battle. But Billi's motivation is also personal - she needs to face him, she says. Billi follows Zacharias into the ruins, telling Price that she can stay outside if she prefers. Inside, Zacharias does indeed spring an ambush. Billi reacts quickly and aoids a disabling blow, but is immediately on the defensive, all energy focused on dodging powerful attacks (when does he goop up?)  

The fourth match is position defense again, with Bloedel defending against Honest and Bulwark. Bloedel puts up explosive traps, but Eternity and Bulwark pass through them easily. Seeing this, Bloedel concedes, stating that their participation is as a support crew to Price and it is pointless to waste resources here.

Downtime

Care knocks on Billi's door and asks if she wants some weed. Billi is like Care.. I have weed. Care is a bit embarrassed, and says he got excited - he hasn't been able Billi and Care get high and talk about the day. Billi explains her strong reaction to Zacharias - she joined nNull because her mercenary team was slaughtered by the Molten Legion, leaving her the only survivor. Care talks about the effective loss of his family and his time in prison.

Care is then visited by (), who attacks him without introduction, shattering the visor of his helmet. They then unexpectedly pull him into a hug, and reveal themself to be his old friend and accomplice, Myriad. She explains her appearance - she is remotely piloting a robot - and that his whole former crew is competing in Joust, with Xip and Roust as outside support and her and Prospero in the competition. She also claims that she and the rest of the public on Celeste were told that Care had died in a mech crash.

Honest is surprised when Riot appears in their room. She says she isn't here for them, and hands over a disposable phone before leaving. Honests' handler, Twelve, speaks to them from the phone, asking about their development and their relationship with Eternity. Twelve warns Honest that they need to be careful and not reveal their abilities to the public.

Riot then shows up in Care's room. She knows that he has made contact with his old friends again, and reminds him that others will suffer if he runs again. Riot tells him that something is going to happen to one of the contestants, and that he needs to help () any suspicions of foul play. Care is angry, but says he will do it.

That night, Zacharias disappears, and Myriad's body is found demolished in the snow. The contestants are questioned about the event, and Care claims that he saw the two having an argument late that night. Zacharias is assumed to have left and forfeits his place in the competition. Myriad is still in the running.

Round 3

The first match is an in-mech battle, due to Zacharias dropping out the match up is Billi and Price versus Bird, Care, and Gelf. Bird and Care agree that Care will face off against Price so that he isn't forced to fight against his teammate. Bird and Shackcham take their fight with Billi to the sky, trusting Care to distract Price, who could easily shoot them down. Care boosts the Redcap and charges Price, quickly closing the distance and eliminating her advantage, then jumps onto the Sign of the Times and forces it to send off it's flare, conceding the match. Billi quickly knocks Gelf out of the sky, but Bird continues to threaten her. Billi has a plan, and leads Bird higher and higher until the Artemis breaks atmo. Billi prepared for this altitude, but Bird is forced to break off her chase or risk stalling her mech, giving Billi the range she needs. She takes out the LDYBRD with the Artemis's rifle, winning the match.

The second match is an out of mech battle with Bulwark, Honest, and Bloedel against Myriad, Kei, and Shackcham. The party's group head toward their opponents, but suddenly figures burst up from the snow around them - Myriad has hidden multiple bodies on the field, and they all attack at once. (they lose, partially because Honest wont use their punch on tv)

Downtime

The party hatches a plan to secure their bid for first place - with half the group now under Myriad's command, they work to turn the rest of her team against her. Bloedel and Shackcham are easy, since they entered to support Bird and Price. Kei is convinced, but the party promises her a favor in the future.

Care chats with Bird and the two hit it off, but on the way out he uses the opportunity to steal her phone, hoping to gain a piece of tech that isn't being monitored by nNull. Bird calls after him as he leaves, and says that if he needed something, he could have asked.

Round 4

Round 4 is a 6v6 in mech battle. As soon as the battle starts, all members turn on Myriad, and give her the chance to concede. She laughs, and takes it, explaining that she has already done what she was here to do - weaken this half of the bracket so that Prospero would have a better shot at victory. The match goes to Billi's team, leaving her in the running for first place.

Round 5

Round 5 is a game of capture the flag between the bracket we followed and the other half of the contestants. (i will write the rest of this later im tired of writing game shit)

The Party

All the contestants are asked to attend a party to celebrate the conclusion of Joust and rub elbows with the events sponsors. Billi, Honest, and Care attend.

Billi meets some young () who want to work for the team as information specialists and hires them. Care speaks to an old woman who offers to sponsor the team if they tell her stories of their adventures, but when she learns of Billi's new hires she introduces a new condition - one of the spies is her grandson, and she wants him kept away from the war. Billi is unwilling to go back on her word, and the party keeps the spies over the sponsorship.

Honest sees a mysterious veiled figure with a (), and approaches them. The figure claims to be a Prophet, and says it has a mission only Honest can carry out. The Prophet says that Honest must slaughter a Molten Legion village, or else be responsible for terrible fighting and the eventual destruction of the Structure. When questioned, the Prophet explains that this war would be triggered by the kidnapping of Zacharias by nNull. It admits that there may be another option, though they had dismissed it as impossible - if the party were to recapture Zacharias so that the Prophets could return him to his people, all of this death might be avoided. Honest is disturbed and alarmed, and stews on this information all night.

Care finally corners Prospero, who has been doing their best to avoid him. He confronts them, accusing them of hiding his true fate from the rest of their friends. Prospero admits that he knew Care wasn't dead, but claims he was trying to protect the others. They also caution Care against talking to them publicly, saying he will get them both in trouble. Care acknowledges the danger, but has an important question - the location of his little sister, Gentle. Prospero is surprised, and says that he doesn't know - just a few days after Care was taken away, Gentle made a post on () that was quickly erased, and suddenly dropped her PHD program and set off for a "research opportunity" off Celeste. He assumed she had been "disappeared" along with Care. Care lets them leave, confronted with the possibility that everything he had been told about his family's situation may have been a lie.

Billi is bothered by Prices continued surliness, even after she secured second place under Billi's leadership. She tries to make conversation and get to the bottom of the conflict, but it quickly dissolves into an argument. Price reveals that she knows the history of the party and their attacks against the Provinces - both the fight at the train and their massacre of the research team. She tells Billi that the pilot she and Sid killed at the train heist was Gelf Serrano's brother. Billi says that she is sorry, but asserts that these are the realities of war. Price pulls a concealed gun and takes a shot at Billi, missing narrowly, and is removed by event security.

Meanwhile, Bulwark is out on the ice for a meeting - he has arranged to exchange the Riposte to regain full possession of his mech from nNull. A lone mech meets him, piloted by Jesse Harken, (). They have a terse conversation, and Jesse makes a comment about Bulwarks new friends. When asked to clarify, he tells Bulwark not to trust Care, then heads off into the night with the Riposte.

(at some point we agree to trade the riposte for Bulwark?)

Downtime

Idk this one

Honest tells the rest of the party about the Prophet's mission, and their is fierce discussion. Ajax warns them that the Prophets are master manipulators, and the only way to avoid their tricks is to never speak to them in the first place. He says that now, no matter what the party does will play into their plans. Eventually the party agrees that the only way forward is to try to recover Zacharias.