Gilded Sands 09 — Gold Rush

GOLD RUSH was the ninth session of Gilded Sands, played on 29 October 2020. It was Dodeka's fifth mission. The squad was enlisted by Beryl Mask to free a number of Terrenon mining serfs in the Osskil Highlands, in order to win the favour of the Slag Knights.

Cast

 * Iskra Garomedon, a weary hero. (she/her)
 * Nandi Tin, a haunted faithful. (she/her)
 * Zbinya Cinnabar, an abrasive technician. (he/they)
 * Zoya Gabbro, a fish out of water. (she/her)
 * Beryl Mask, a mysterious revolutionary. (they/them)
 * Asterope Yehedarhed, a vengeful ghost. (she/her)
 * Kai, a stoic knight. (they/he)
 * Alberek Nessen, a cowardly scion. (he/him)
 * Gret of Nessen, an outmatched guard. (he/him)

Previously
Ever since GS02 – MARGINALIA, Iskra Garomedon has been in contact with a royal-blooded Terrenon by the name of Beryl Mask—a masked figure who purports to fight to free the people of their dynasty, who has been helping lead Iskra down a path to a revolutionary mindset. In GS08 – MESSIDOR, the two met once again, and despite Iskra's reluctance at that point to fight on, Beryl Mask convinced her to do so if she wished to end the people's suffering. In this meeting, the two of them agreed to take this mission, as it would be mutually beneficial to both the cause of Vedro and the cause of Beryl Mask's own insurgency.

In GS07 – BASTILLE DAY, Skoryy Felsdpar suffered the loss of one of her prosthetic legs. Due to the rare, fine materials required for a set of replacement prostheses, she ended up temporarily using a wheelchair, and would be unable to join Dodeka for this mission.

Briefing
Dodeka are gathered for a briefing in the Ready Room, where they're met with an unfamiliar face—or two, in the case of Zoya Gabbro and Nandi Tin. Briefing documents are handed out by Zbinya Cinnabar, a technician in close employ by Dunyasha Sand, before Beryl Mask takes over the briefing. Much to Beryl Mask's surprise, Iskra has not told the rest of Dodeka about their plan, and it is with some tension in the air that they explain their mission. Dodeka are to rescue as many serfs as they can—sustain no more than 20% losses—and extract them out of Terrenon territory via Slag Knight Kai's Mule unit.

As a secondary objective, they are asked to implicate another squad in the attack, to sow the impression rising tensions within the Dynasty. At this suggestion, Zbinya suggests they frame Selamis Hogen, the newly-exiled leader of Hogen Sejant—a big target, but a very believable one.

Supporting Dodeka on this mission, Zbinya comes along in his heavy-duty mech, the Batraz. Zoya, unable to force herself back into the cockpit of the Mimic, instead pilots the Lowborn Mechanist's Guild Mole unit she acquired for this purpose in GS08 – MESSIDOR—a sturdy, though not combat-suited, mining mech.

Gatecrash
Shipped out on a boat to the snowy, northern Osskil Highlands, Dodeka make last-minute praparations for the mission. Nandi does her best to scout the terrain from a distance, noting a group of Watchfield-series knechts patrolling on the ground, and a number of Eltz units on the walls above the Adamant Gate that stands between the outside world and the serfs in their mine-prison. A snow-storm is coming on, and the plan is a frontal assault led by Iskra in the One-Winged Hussar and Zoya tagging along in the Mole, while Zbinya and Nandi provide long-range support in the Batraz and Mama.

With the help of Zbinya's reliable simulation system, Dodeka is able to enter the fray with the upper hand, fusing the Eltzes to the wall. Before Nessen's defences are able to retaliate, Iskra and Zoya take out the Watchfields. Iskra announces herself at the gate as a representative of Selamis Hogen, met with bafflement from Alberek Nessen, a scion of House Nessen. Zoya begins her attempt to dig underneath the Adamant Gate using the Mole's sturdy digging claws. She pushes its engine to near-breaking, but to little avail.

Thinking ahead, Zbinya uses small shaped charges to create a snow bunker capable of scrambling sensors and leaving Batraz and Mama hidden behind cover.

Haunting
While Nandi is providing long-range support—for the first time using her neural link with Mama—her systems are suddenly hit with a scrambling interference that causes her comms to momentarily break up. From out in the blizzard, a railgun shot just barely misses the Hussar. Nandi tracks the shot's origin, and is able to locate the position of another Crusader unit—that of none other than Asterope Yehedarhed, whose cockpit she cored in GS05 – LUNAR CONJUNCTION. Over comms, Asterope reaches out to Nandi, expressing her disbelief at Nandi's return from the "dead" after the events that led to Nandi disbanding from Dipsos Root; Nandi accepts Asterope's assessment with humility—which doesn't change Asterope's intent to put her down for good, after Nandi nearly killed her.

With remarkably little progress made towards opening the Adamant Gate, the serfs locked inside begin their planned riot, and Dodeka must hurry to break them out while fighting off Asterope at the same time. Zoya, making little progress in her digging endeavour, decides to employ some mining explosives from the Mole—but with her lack of expertise in this vehicle, let alone knowledge of explosives, all she manages to destroy is the Mole. As it sustains damage from the explosives, it ejects the pilot seat out of its back, landing Zoya in the snow as the Mole's overheated engine blows up, destroying the machine beyond repair.

Demolition
Zbinya and Iskra pick off the remaining Eltz on the wall, and the last remaining unit comes crashing down in a hail of fire onto the Hussar, damaging its lance-arm as debris rains around the stranded Zoya. Nandi, meanwhile, focuses fire on Asterope, but is hit by a critical shot that leaves Mama immobile for the time being. She climbs out of the cockpit, dead set on confronting Asterope on foot. Zoya, having activated her optical camo, tries to prevent her—but Zbinya orders her to focus on breaking down the gate. Angry at Zbinya's directions, Zoya threatens them: if they don't make sure Nandi gets out of this in one piece, she's coming for them.

Despite her frustration, Zoya does as he says. She sets explosive charges on the gate, using her limited knowledge of engineering to locate its weak spots, and she manages to do quite significant damage to it. However, in the midst of this, she starts to pick up on emotional feedback from the serfs inside, who are fighting for their lives. Their struggles and fear bleed into her conscious, causing her severe amounts of stress, but she manages to urge them to hold the line by projecting a single word back: "Live."

Teardown
Nandi, meanwhile, throws herself into danger—her endeavor to reach Asterope's Crusader on foot fails as the snowstorm and railgun fire make the terrain impassable on foot, and she lands sprinkled with railgun fire in a snowdrift. In desperation, she turns her comms back on, and tries to reach out to Asterope again, asking her whether her revenge is sanctioned by the Tribunal and why she'd rather shoot at Nandi than the Terrenons. Asterope declares that the Terrenons never hurt her as much as Nandi did, and continues fire. Nandi dodges, but she's on the run.

Iskra, seizing the opportunity, discards the Hussar's lance and uses its hands to pry the gate open with a Herculean effort. The serfs pile out into the snow, making their escape towards the Mule. Dodeka's delay, however, has led to a consequence: from the mines, a Malbork-series jousting mech emerges—the same model as Iskra's Hussar. Its pilot, Gret of Nessen—head of the Breakstone guard—brings it bearing down on Iskra. As Zbinya trades fire with Asterope, they ask if she's comfortable risking the lives of the Terrenon serfs for her petty revenge; she doesn't respond before Batraz's missiles slam into her.

Heroism
As the last surviving serfs escape the mine and Iskra trades blows with Gret's Malbork, Zoya—still cloaked—approaches the machine. With a grappling hook and great care, she latches into its back, climbing her way up as she plants an explosive charge on one of its legs. She detonates it, hobbling the Malbork. Iskra, no longer fighting for sport but for the downtrodden and oppressed, takes up her lance again. Due to the damage the Hussar has sustained, she wields it in its off-hand, but it does not stop her from ramming it through the enemy Malbork's cockpit, pinning the mech to the wall—a gesture readable to House Nessen as a Hogen flourish, and readable to the serfs as a declaration of defiance. Gret is dead.

Nandi, meanwhile, digs something out of her backpack: a little altar and the candles she received from Senga in GS08 – MESSIDOR. She gets down on her knees in front of Asterope's Crusader, lighting the candles in the snowstorm and proudly proclaiming herself a superstitious, anti-Dodonan, backwards Taimu. She starts to pray that Asterope's heart will be moved, drowned out by the wind and the clanking of the Crusader as it moves towards her... and doesn't step on her, instead settling down, allowing Dodeka and the refugee serfs to leave.

In a hospital bed, Asterope sets down the tablet with which she's been remotely piloting the Crusader, saying "Bear, you're so fucking stupid."

Debriefing
Batraz and the One-Winged Hussar accompany the Mule back, with Zoya and Nandi riding with the refugees. On the boat back to Vedro, Zbinya chews Nandi out for putting the mission at risk by not firing on the Crusader. Nandi expresses disappointment, telling him that she's here to do what's right, not what's efficient, and that she thought they could have been friends.

Iskra reuintes with Slag Knight Kai, somewhat apologetic about not rescuing every single serf, but they commend her and Dodeka for their efforts.

When she returns to Vedro, Zoya receives a note—Pasha has bumped her up the waiting list, and is ready to have a meeting with her. While the others were gone, Skoryy has been fitted with some temporary prosthetics while waiting for her proper new ones to be fitted.

Mechanical Notes

 * Nandi switches to the Hierophant playbook.
 * She changes her drive from "Be forgotten" to "Enact Duchess Ball-Lightning on Aureate."
 * Nandi gains the scar Reckless.
 * Nandi and Iskra both gain a drive clock tick from the mission.
 * Zoya's Long Term Project to meet with Pasha is completed (by Pasha...), earning her a drive clock tick.
 * Dodeka gains 6 supply points, 1 materiel, and 1 personnel.
 * Dodeka gains a new squad upgrade.
 * Skoryy completes a recover action, reducing her 2x level 2 harm to level 1.