Avery/GM: Hello listeners, You may have been wondering "Where is Marty in these past few episodes?" Well, Jenine, who plays Marty, was busy with their amazing acting career when we recorded these episodes and so Marty was left on Olympia. This Interlude explores what Marty was doing on Olympia while the party was at New Terra and explains some more information about the characters we met or heard about at the Institute. Enjoy!
Avery/GM: We will go back in time to just before the dinner party. Marty, you are about to enter the dining room of the Winstons. When you get a beep on your communication watch, you pull up the message and it's from Oswald. What's your normal reaction? Like, like when you first see this message, what is Marty thinking?
Jenine/Marty: Marty might just send it to voicemail. In this instant because we did just like leave this guy, right? We just left Oswald
Avery/GM: like a few hours ago
Jenine/Marty: to fend for themselves. Literally just, yeah, I'm putting, I'm immediately to voicemail or if it's like one that I have to read it is like Left on read. Yeah. But like, not reading it.
Avery/GM: Awesome. Yeah, so you swipe it away and you enter the dining room of the Winstons and your friends start taking their seats and there's some chatter going on and you get another message. And then a third. And then a fourth. .
Jenine/Marty: I'll open the message.
Avery/GM: The first message, which you swiped away says, Marty, I have a code gold. I need your help and I need you to be discreet, please. And then a second message that says, I'm sorry for leaving out the information about how to get out of the trance on the procedure. but Someone's life is on the line and I really need your help. And Marty, you know that a code gold is only used in the most serious of psionic disasters.
Typically either someone's power is running rampant or there's been a large explosion of just psychic energy somewhere on the planet. So you know that this is actually a pretty serious issue. How do you respond?
Jenine/Marty: I was told to be discreet and I messaged. Back as discretely as possible. I go, enough said some location, and then I just try and walk from the table without raising suspicion.
Avery/GM: Yeah, Polaris looks over at you and on his visor there's a little emote with a little eyebrow raise. And then you get a message in your party chat that just says, are you okay?
Jenine/Marty: I go into direct message and say, restroom break, but didn't want to announce it to the table.
Avery/GM: Uh, yeah. Polaris just sends a thumbs up and it's like, okay.
You come out to the front of the club. You know, the, the greeter at the door just waves at you and says, hope you come back soon. And as you step out, a open top air speeder pulls up to the corner. Oswald sitting there. And like, despite that this is urgent. They are trying to look kind of cool, you know, in this speeder.
Like it's clear that this is probably something owned by the Institute. And he's like, I got your location from one of the teleportation experts. So are you ready?
Jenine/Marty: Yes.
Avery/GM: And, uh, you hop in, do you buckle your seatbelt?
Jenine/Marty: I do. I don't trust, I don't trust.
Avery/GM: And as you are flying through the city, uh, he starts briefing you on the situation. Look, I wouldn't have asked you to leave your friends if this wasn't important. You know who the silver shield is, right?
Jenine/Marty: Do I?
Avery/GM: Yeah, so the, the silver shield was the person that, that tour group that Bruce was part of was actually there at the Institute to see. It was like a superhero kind of deal. Well, the silver shield has been having some medical issues related to his powers in recent years. You know, random spikes of energy, randomly teleporting places, the kind of stuff that isn't quite torching, but you know, is worrisome, you know, and After the last tour group that finished up right after you all left, instead of returning to his room, he wandered into the operating room that you were in. I, I thought maybe he just needed some extra medications or wanted to do another blood test or something, but he was standing next to the bed that your friend was in and he stood there for hours, chanting in some strange language. And I, I tried to talk to him and he didn't respond. The nurses tried to help him, other medical staff. No one could get through to him. Even some of our psionic patients couldn't break through whatever he was going through and he just left, he started wandering towards the desert of exile and I know that we don't always get along, Marty, but we can't, I need your help. You are and you can see this part he's struggling to say he's like kind of like gripping the steering wheel a little tighter He's like you're a better psionic than I am and a better doctor than I am and I think he really needs some serious help So we're gonna try and find him somewhere in the desert
Jenine/Marty: Marty smiles and goes It takes a lot to say that. And thank you for looking for help. And then she gives like, she puts a hand up for a fist bump.
Avery/GM: Uh, he, he returns it back with a smile. All right. Well, it's, it's about an hour drive to the, the desert. So get comfortable. Do you like music?
Jenine/Marty: I do. I also do need a, uh, a little costume change. I'm still like in this, uh, and she, uh, like motions to the, the, the red dress that's on her.
Avery/GM: He's like, Oh yeah. Yeah. You're probably right. Yeah. We, we definitely do need to, yeah, where's your hotel?
Jenine/Marty: Um, and then I point to the direction of the hotel. Did we have someone following us at the hotel?
Avery/GM: Sure.
Jenine/Marty: That's an excellent question. No, didn't we?
Avery/GM: Hermes and Rho are, no, they would have left by now. So, yeah, so there's no one currently at your hotel, except for Schrodinger, the, uh, really weird bellhop.
Jenine/Marty: Uh huh. Okay, cute, cute, cute, cute. I'm gonna go grab all my shit from the
hotel.
Avery/GM: Sure.
Jenine/Marty: As sneakily as possible.
Avery/GM: Okay. Yeah, you head in, the bellhop gives a little tip of his hat, uh, unless you want to roll a sneak check.
Jenine/Marty: I can certainly do that. I forgot how to roll here. Is it 2d6? It's not a 2d6.
Avery/GM: 2d6 plus relevant attribute and your skill. So this would be 2d6 plus dex and sneak.
Jenine/Marty: Cute, that's a negative one. Um, I forgot that this is not a, it's a five.
Avery/GM: Ooh, yeah, you, you, uh, you poke your head into the lobby. You don't see Schrodinger at the, at the desk. So you start walking through the lobby and as the elevator opens, there he is with his big shitting grin on his face. And he tips his head. Hat to and he's like, ah, hello Marty. I am so glad you were here. How can I be of service today?
Jenine/Marty: If you could possibly grab my stuff from my room, that would be kind of helpful. I'm feeling it's, you know, walking up is kind of hard right now in these like, and like motions to the heels and I have to do like a quick exit is there anyway you could possibly grab my stuff from my room I also know that I have a couple of people up there that want to sleep, don't want to disturb them with it. And like, I do like a little tap dance with the heels that I'm in. You know what I mean?
Avery/GM: He's like, certainly I only exist to serve. And he's just grinning at you still. And he's like, please get on the elevator.
Jenine/Marty: Okay. Yeah, sure. Thank you.
Avery/GM: And you go up and he starts collecting your things and, or no, you go up to your room and you open it and he says, so which things are yours?
Jenine/Marty: And then I point at the dresser that I probably claimed as mine.
Avery/GM: He starts helping you out, moving your stuff. I don't think Marty packed too much, but yeah, you have a good amount of stuff and you head out to your waiting. Speeder, do you leave any kind of note for anybody or let anyone know what's going on?
Jenine/Marty: I do leave a note. It says everything is perfectly fine. I just went on to a side mission and I put a little heart.
Avery/GM: Totally. Awesome. Yeah. You grab your stuff, get a quick change of clothes going on, you know, save the dress for another occasion, I'm sure and yeah, you are ready to go do some medical doctoring.
Jenine/Marty: Oh, wow.
Avery/GM: So as you are heading out towards the desert, is there anything else you want to talk with Oswald about while you're in the speeder?
Jenine/Marty: I do know that I have precognition prepared for the day.
Avery/GM: Oh, good. Yeah.
Jenine/Marty: So I'm wondering if we, if anything popped up on Marty's radar from that?
Avery/GM: Yeah, let's take a look at that. Power, core technique, Oracle, Oracle can only be used on a given question or topic once until the situation substantially changes.
Jenine/Marty: Oh, I remember why I got this.
Avery/GM: Yeah. This was a gift from Rho, or well, inadvertent transference of power between you and Rho. And actually she transferred it to you at level one.
Jenine/Marty: Oh, I had this at level one?
Avery/GM: Yes. So you can see one day into the future.
Jenine/Marty: Oh.
Avery/GM: So, you may ask one question or top, or if there's a specific topic you would like to peer into the future of, then you may go for it.
Jenine/Marty: I think, I think Marty will see if, if she's able to like find the silver shield or like if we can, if there's like, if we can fast track finding the location.
Avery/GM: Yeah, definitely. Definitely. You get a glimpse of a vision of the silver shield sitting in an oasis in the desert under the shade of a tree. The sun is rising in the south. And there are A group of jagged looking cliffs off to the west and in the distance of the north, you can see the remnant or not the remnants, but like the, the distant reflections of like a city.
So you can kind of orient yourself in that way and as you relay this vision to Oswald. He says, Oh, I know where that Oasis is. Yeah. Some of the staff fly out there sometimes for some relaxation. Yeah. I can, I can get us there pretty quickly.
Jenine/Marty: Okay, good. Uh, let's head there then.
Avery/GM: Sure. So you are heading out and you know, it, it takes a little bit of time to get to the desert and it takes another couple of hours just to get To the oasis, but you eventually do arrive at the oasis and you do find the silver shield resting beneath this tree.
He is tall and kind of bulky. He has short, almost buzz cut, like silver hair and. Really deep blue eyes, but they're hard to see in the, uh, in the night, obviously he's wearing a set of medical scrubs and His feet are bare.. He looks like he just walked straight out of a facility and didn't look back and he is muttering to himself. Oswald turns off the speeder.
Yeah, he's just been doing that this whole time Just muttering to himself in that strange language and Marty you hear what he is saying perfectly clear He is saying she was right here and I missed her. Was that really her though? No, it had to have been I wouldn't I wouldn't forget her like that. She was right here. She was right here.
Jenine/Marty: I cautiously Walk up to him and go hello. Hi. My name is Marty. Really nice to meet you And I can I speak in that language?
Avery/GM: Yes, it is. No more than an afterthought that you could just switch to it.
Jenine/Marty: I'm switching into that and just Being like going up, like, as if it's like a dog that's like kind of scared, uh, don't want to scare anything. Really nice to meet you. I can stand right here if you want me to and keeps the distance. Are you okay? Do you need any medical attention?
Avery/GM: He sort of looks up at you and has a strange look on his face and you hear Oswald behind you say, when did you learn a new language?
Jenine/Marty: I go shh, quiet.
Avery/GM: The silver shield holds up the thing that he's holding in his hand and kind of like faces it over to you. He's like, you, you know her, don't you? And he shows you this picture and it's of two teenagers standing next to each other. Their bright silver hair waving in the wind, a silly smile on the girl while the boy is laughing, you know, holding a camera, trying to take a selfie. Looking at this picture, I mean, they are clearly twins, and you can't help but wonder if maybe you've seen these two kids before, I wonder.
Jenine/Marty: Oh my god, I'm screaming. I'm screaming right now. Okay, okay, okay, okay. Marty's now just, okay. Yeah, yes, I, I, I, I, I do, she's one of my friends. How do you, how, wait. Hi, I'm Marty. Uh, sorry. Marty just looks completely shocked and just looks at me the silvery shield. Yeah, I know where she is too. I can, I can help you if you're okay with that. I don't want to barge in here and anything you're doing. You want to make sure you're okay.
Avery/GM: Uh, no, please. Um, please sit down. I, I have so many questions and he looks over at Oswald and is like, what's, what's he doing here?
Jenine/Marty: Well, he's the idiot that kind of came up with the whole way of helping people that Kind of went a little overboard with their psionics and I was the one that fixed the theory So they brought me over here to help you out
Avery/GM: He waves Oswald over and says well might as well come over here and listen to the conversation No point in standing over there and he has switched back to speaking in this galaxy's version of common.
He says Hi, Marty. I'm Hmm I'm Psi. How do you know Rho? She, she shouldn't be here. She's home. She should be married or doing some other crazy thing that she was always talking about.
Jenine/Marty: Yeah, well, she actually, she actually went on an adventure. To space. Ended up in our galaxy. Kinda cool. Rho's kinda cool. We found her. My friends and I. Found her in some wreckage. And then we brought her here to get fixed. And now we are kind of at a party? Well, not at a party anymore. My group is not at a party anymore. I think they're not at a party anymore. I kinda told them I'll come back. Anyways, that's, that's besides the point. Um, She's kind of been with us this whole time.
She did, we did get beat up by her a couple of times, but that was just because, and then like, like does hand movements towards the brain.
Avery/GM: He, he chuckles and is like, she forgot to take her medicine, didn't she?
Jenine/Marty: Yeah, probably, we don't, yeah, that might, that, that might be the thing.
Avery/GM: Is she still, are they still doing that experiment on her of trying to unlock the secrets of psionics or whatever? Is that why they sent her here?
Jenine/Marty: I think so. But she's also got it under control now. She also is able to give powers to people. That's how I kind of am able to do some things that I wasn't able to do before. So that's kind of cool.
Avery/GM: Yeah. Yeah. Rho's... Rho's power has always been a little bit wild. She, it's so weird the way they, the experiments they did on her when they separated us, you know, I only got glimpses of it through the, The reports that I read and the few times that I got to see her, but yeah, it was really, really awful, but also really amazing what they were able to do. But that's neither here or there is, is she, is she here? Can I, can I go see her?
Jenine/Marty: Yeah, she's actually kind of in the city. That's like that way and points to the city. Um, but before we do go back, I heard that there again are some little discrepancies in the psionics and I want to make sure that you're okay before, like, You know, you want to be all chipper and up, up in the sky niceness and healthy. I promise I'm a medical professional. I just. Yes.
Avery/GM: He, he, he smiles at you and it's like, don't worry, I am used to people being tongue tied when they talk to me. It's totally fine. And you can see his, his, his mood is improving. Just hearing that, that his sister is here. He says, yeah, I, I, I probably should go back and get, get checked out. I just, I just, oh, why did I even wander out here? He starts kind of laughing. He's like. Oh, wow. And you, and this is kind of like when you notice it, like the, the clouds kind of part and the, the moonlight kind of shines a little bit brighter. And this is where you kind of notice that the silver shield is a lot older than Rho.
He's like, like Rho is like early twenties. This guy is clearly almost 40, but you can still see that there are features that look very similar. So, you know, a couple of decades of separation. I wonder. Uh, is she, does she have like a family or like a career back home? Has she said anything about that?
Jenine/Marty: Why don't you ask her yourself.
Avery/GM: Sure, sure. Oswald speaks up and says, yeah, we, we really should get you back to the Institute though, Mr. Silver Shield, uh, you, we definitely need to do a diagnostic. Make sure you're not hurt or anything. And he says, yeah, that's probably a good idea. And he looks at you, Marty, and says, would you mind coming back to the institute with us?
I'd love to ask you more questions before I, I meet her. I haven't seen her in 20 years. It's a little bit scary, you know?
Jenine/Marty: Yeah, I get it. We've been traveling with each other for the past couple of weeks. So I got some refresher. So that helps a little bit.
Avery/GM: Great. Yeah. Let's go. You hop into the speeder and head back to the Institute. The Silver Shield has folded this picture and tucked it back into his pocket, the little breast pocket on the, on the scrubs. And Oswald sends you a telepathic message and says, what, what is he talking about? Not seeing his sister in 20 years? That person was too young to be his sister, especially if, twin sister
Jenine/Marty: and then, what do you respond with? It's some space kind of cool shit that only travelers get to do. Sorry, you can't relate. And smirks, and then sits.
Avery/GM: He sends you a sour face from the driver's seat. You arrive back at the institute. A couple hours later, uh, there is, there's some activity going on at the institute. Some people are kind of like talking in hushed whispers and stuff like that. Uh, you hear the word bombing, attack, you know, terrorism, stuff like that, and you are then led by Oswald back to the main lab where you helped Rho and he begins doing some diagnostics. On Psi and after a few of the tests and stuff, you get a message on your wristwatch that is from Polaris and it says, we have to leave for Zahn's home to start this mission for the oracles. Are you okay?
Jenine/Marty: And I message back, yes, everything is fine. And I got swept up for a medical emergency. I'm okay. Like I send that and then realize that it sounded like I was in the had a medical emergency and go, I'm okay. It was just a patient. I'm going to give 'em a heart.
Avery/GM: Polaris sends a thumbs up emoji and says, all right, we'll pick you up when we're done with the oracles. You realize that probably means that Rho is leaving with them.
Jenine/Marty: Oh shit. Okay.
Avery/GM: After you're done messaging Polaris, Oswald comes over to you and says, uh, he's actually passed out for the night. So I think we're going to wait for the little reunion that y'all were talking about till tomorrow. Do you want me to take you back to your hotel? Do you want to just sleep here? I can like make one of the patient beds a normal bed.
Jenine/Marty: Well, it looks like my party kind of left to go to another planet. It's not really a planet, is it? Um Well, you know, so my hotel reservation might not be there and the reunion might have to be pushed back. So yeah, I guess I could stay here if that's okay. I mean, I don't know if my hotel stays extended or stuff. Like that.
Avery/GM: The hotel was being paid for by Machamp while he's fixing your, yeah, while he's fixing your ship.
Jenine/Marty: Um, I mean, if the hotel's open, Marty's gonna stay there.
Avery/GM: Okay. Yeah, then he'll nod and say, okay, I'll, I'll give you a lift back to your hotel. Or I could get one of our teleporters to just zap you over there real quick.
Jenine/Marty: You know, I'm really not. It's, you know, lots of psionic stuff happens. I'm trying to like, lessen it. You know?
Avery/GM: Sure. Yeah. I can see that. Okay. That's fine. Yeah. Let's, I'll, I'll, I'll, I'll drive you back if that's okay.
Jenine/Marty: Yeah, that's cool. Thank you. Thank you. Cool. And I do like a little like, Hit on the shoulder.
Avery/GM: He's like, are we becoming friends? I might have to act more smug again.
Jenine/Marty: Sure. If you want to smug, but it seems that you don't have a lot of friends here. So you have a choice between someone from your home world to be friends with or just no one.
Avery/GM: Good point. All right, let's go. And, uh, he starts flying y'all back to the city.
Avery/GM: Thank you for listening to this interlude episode. Background music provided by tabletopaudio.com and used under an attribution, non-commercial license from creative commons. Tracks used today include Antiquarian Study, Cyberpunk City, The Desert Awaits, and Starship Medical. our next episode will come out on April 15th. See you out there, Beyond the Furthest Stars!