Along A Route

## Background

### Episode description

> Deep in the Crashyards of Gift-3, Signet, Even, and Echo have been sent by Cascara and Seneschal's Brace to locate and secure a "stitch" in space, a place where two of the Nine Idylls of the Quire system connect as if by magic. Once secured, they are to lead a small group of refugees through that stitch, beginning the long and necessary effort of reconnecting the broken Tides of Harmony. But before they can lead anyone anywhere, they need to get back from their reconnaissance mission… and the drones of Advent Discovery & Salvage and the strange mechanical beasts of Gift-3’s wilds aren’t going to make it easy.
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> **This week on Twilight Mirage: Along A Route**
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> *Two mopeds racing through the forest
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> Making dirt clouds on a path, on a path*
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### Intro

The camera slowly pans down, and below, the planet bustles with activity. Short-hop transport ships dot the sunset sky as caravans transport daily hauls from the outskirts to the cities of Big Garage and Seiche. Smoke rises from open air barbecues, and in the distance there is a sound something like a cross between an old fuel engine and a lion's roar.
We follow that noise and it leads us to the crashyards, the final resting place of all the technology that is or that might be: ships planted nose first in the dirt and sand, hills of discarded consumer electronics topped by dozens of flickering digital assistants with no one to help. Long, high stacks of personal vehicles, entertainment displays and old replicator machines have turned the flats into canyons. And moving through one such gulch are the excerpt Signet, the pilot Even Gardner and the pathfinder Echo Reverie.

## Plot summary

For their first mission, Cascara sends Signet, Echo, and Even to Gift-3 in search of a stitch that can connect the two separated halves of the Tides of Harmony. They perform a reconnaissance mission and discover that Advent Discovery and Salvage Society and the Concretetown Particulars have set up their base, a massive elevator, close to the stitch. They leave to confer with Graph-2, an elder and de facto leader, and travel through the crashyards, which are debris and wreckage from the Divine Fleet.

On their way back, the group sees drones from Advent, which engage in combat with several small Amprunners that don't appear to have pilots. Together the party and the Amprunners take out the drones, but the Amprunners attack the party. Even is injured, and more Amprunners show up. Echo tries to distract them, but ultimately the party ends up fleeing.

As the party tries to run away, they receive unexpected support from Ballad Reverie, Echo's older brother. The two siblings have an emotional reunion for the first time since Echo's arrest. Ballad, who is now a member of the Volunteers of Seiche, takes the group back to the wreckage of Seiche, where they get medical help.

Echo tells Ballad that they found the stitch, and Ballad promises that the Volunteers will help secure it. Signet promises Ballad that she will stop by the local chapel before the group leaves again.

## Cast

* Austin Walker (GM)
* Sylvia Clare (Echo Reverie)
* Janine Hawkins (Signet)
* Andrew Lee Swan (Even Gardner)

### Other Appearances

* Graph-2 (mentioned)
* Ballad Reverie

## External links

* Episode page
* Episode transcript