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'Marduk's gonna be so disappointed when he finds out,' Dyrus thinks to himself as he carries on through the battlefield. 'He even talked about Omar as one of his close friends, and he was doing the exact opposite of hurting anyone!' Still, though, Via's poor attempt at comforting does have a point, even if she thought she was accidentally only making it worse. It'd be selfish of him to whine over the one kindhearted Imperial he happened to have met and fought alongside personally. With the baelstorm disposed of with Kristina's warping out of range, he, Via, Laurise, and Felix can safely join the rest of the fight.

Rene, locked in battle with Lady Hauteclere and her strongest horse-mounted subordinates, Emperor Ximeno himself fighting by her side, recalls how she got here, the time spent building up to this confrontation. Mere hours ago, they were waiting at the end of this pass, trying to kill time until the resistance arrived.

Ximeno has borrowed the journal back from Kristina many times over, and upon her returning from her report as to the rebels' current gameplan, he hands it back to her. "This... Felix that my brother writes of, he's very likely one and the same with the chief tactician of the Lords of Chance. You're in charge of Rene's team while she rides along with me. Next I see you, it had better be with my nephew in tow."

Samson, Adelais Dory, and their combined forces, meanwhile, begin to grow impatient. The Dory Company heiress has long since recovered from her wounds as far as she can without growing another right eye, and still no word back from the Dories they sent ahead to give Oswald the a-okay to return Lazare to his son. Adelais can confirm, in fact, that this is taking suspiciously long, and is even strongly considering breaking the rules by showing Samson and co. to his hideout just to see if anything's happened.

>A. Be Rene
>B. Be Samson
>C. Be Dyrus

>>47699918
>A. Be Rene

>>47699918
>A. Be Rene

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>>47700003
You are now Rene, expecting your subordinates to take the direct orders of the Emperor without question.

"You mean for us to kidnap a child?!" Alfred objects, proving you wrong almost immediately. "The very idea sickens me to the core!"

Ximeno glares at him. "I know I like to be approachable to all my subjects, swordsman, but you are pushing your luck. To defy a direct order from your Emperor, especially when the future of the entire Empire depends on their completion."

"My only master is Veiz," Alfred says, scowling. "I follow her word alone."

"Then why do you speak as though you know how she'll react?" Cicero asks. "If you answer only to the will of your master, then you will hear her stance on this."

All eyes expectantly turn towards Veiz, who, while initially silent, ultimately does speak up. "...we're doing it, Alfred."

"But..." Alfred shuts his eyes, adjusting his sunglasses. "I understand."

Omar, Hal, and Saye are uncomfortably quiet, while Kristina is just a glaring-type person in general.

>A. Is there a PROBLEM? (accusatory)
>B. Urge them to follow orders
>C. Try to convince Ximeno this isn't necessary (suggestions allowed)
>D. Write-in response
>E. ...

>>47700193
>B. Urge them to follow orders

>>47700193
>B. Urge them to follow orders

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>>47700295
"Please, you three," you urge, giving them a sad look, "don't fight this... Consider the future of the Empire."

"Even if we cannot unearth the mystery of the true heir to my brother's throne," Xerxes speculates, "that leaves at least four of his children. Together, they might be able to pool their combined strength into controlling Xouide and crushing these rebels."

"But on the backs of kidnappers?" Omar asks, shaking his head. "I... cannot condone this."

"Omar... You yourself have said it. There's no sense in condoning further strife with active resistance and rebellion."

"But Rene, that's different..!"

"Would you rather everyone else be brought there and die, should something go awry?" You ask Omar. "Your healing is invaluable to our team."

"Fine," Omar says, frowning. "I will do it for them, but... I thought you were better than condoning orders such as this."

"C'mon," Kris says, telling that this is only gonna get more awkward for everyone involved, "lemme show you where we'll be warping in. Get a good sense of the land before those rebels show up."

With that, everyone but Cicero and Ximeno leaves the scene, warping away with Kristina.

You sigh, Cicero gives you a concerned look, and Ximeno sighs, telling you, "when stability is restored to the Empire, he'll thank us."

>A. He's right
>B. ...
>C. No, Omar's too moral to forget this
>D. Write-in response

>>47700498
>C. No, Omar's too moral to forget this
Right in the feels.

>>47700554
You close your eyes, shaking your head. "No, Omar's too nice for this. Even if it succeeds and the Empire enters another golden age, he'll never forgive how it came about."

"...will he be a danger to the Empire?" Ximeno asks, in a tone you're not terribly comfortable with.

"No, Your Excellency," Cicero answers for you, "even if Omar is open about his objections towards the Empire, he would never consider betraying it. He knows what danger and uncertainty a successful revolution would hold."

"If this comes back to bite us, it will reflect poorly on you all, Lady Rene," Ximeno makes sure to remind you.

"Yes, Your Excellency," you say. "I assure you, Omar will cause trouble for no one but the rebels slain by the Imperial soldiers he heals."

"Let's hope so," Ximeno answers. "The rebels will be upon us in two hours. Be prepared to ride out with us."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l4QJiKNL2pA

"...some tea and belhara slices, Rene?" Cicero asks. "You seem tense."

"Yes, Cicero, that would be nice."

Soon enough, Kris, Veiz, and co. return from their rounds, nothing in particular having happened since then.

>A. Speak to someone (specify)
>B. Skip ahead
>C. Write-in action

>>47700498
>C. No, Omar's too moral to forget this

>>47700794
>B. Skip ahead

>>47700794
>A. Speak to someone (Veiz)

Rolled 2 (1d2)

>>47700842
>>47700940

>>47700973
Whoops, got the (You)s reversed in the post. As always with dice rolls, alphabetically-later things roll for higher numbers. So 2 being rolled means B wins and stuff.

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>>47700842
You mostly spend your time trying to eat your stress away with the healthy, fiery snack. Honestly, it mostly just reminds you of Marduk more than anything, which just makes you sadder, but it is quite delicious...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YajJZHw7g60

Mere hours later, you and Ximeno wait alongside the rest of his cavalry, paladins, troubadours, Mage Knights, and Silver Knights a-plenty. Sitting atop your horse, just in front of them, by the side of the emperor himself, it's... Well, it's really something.

Cicero appears before you and Ximeno, on one knee. "Lady Hauteclere and her cavalry are approaching rapidly. She herself is flanked by a pair of Noban paladins, clad in red and green, and the brunt of the might of the Tarvosian nomads and her own cavalry are following her."

"Then Kristina's ambush will work just as planned!" Ximeno says, grinning. "With a bit of bael poison-"

"-bael venom, your excellency," Cicero responds.

"...with a bit of bael venom, Felix will be all the easier to show to his new life as a prince."

"But Felix is the youngest of the Gerxel line," you point out. "If your blood isn't strong enough, then his as a fifth-born..."

"But as I said, four's combined might could very likely forge a new bond with Xouide." Ximeno pets his horse, yet to give the order to charge. "Rene, when this battle is through... I want you to take Kristina and your team and finish what my brother could not. Even if this battle should end in our loss, you two must survive, restore the Empire to its former glory."

>A. Yes, your excellency
>B. We don't fail here
>C. Can you really pull that off?
>D. ...
>E. Write-in response

>>47701309
>A. Yes, your excellency

>>47701309
>A. Yes, your excellency

Fuck off to /QST/

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>>47701372
"Yes, your excellency," you say, "to do so is an honor."

"Let nothing stand in your ways," Xerxes says.

"Of course not, your excellency."

"Sir, they're coming!" A paladin reports. "By the looks of things, Lady Hauteclere is carrying Iote's Shield!"

"So much for shooting her out of the sky and being done with it..." Xerxes shakes his head. "No, that would be too easy. Rene, Cicero, those colorful Noban paladins by her side. Do not let them distract from the reassertion of my family's divine right."

Cicero hops onboard your horse, arms wrapped around your sides.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BUo0jtbQdy4

"Emperor Ximeno," Hauteclere calls from atop her wyvern, "I must commend your bravery, standing before the resistance instead of hiding away in your fortress and waiting for this to all blow over."

"And you've responded in turn," Ximeno answers. "I suppose that means you think yourself on my level, rebel?"

"This staff I hold will usher in a new era, led by the house of Neirhalm! The Gerxel's reign ends here, with you, Ximeno."

"She has a last name?" The red paladin asks the green one.

"What do you... Of course she does, why wouldn't she?" The green one asks in turn.

Ignoring the clowns, Ximeno responds, "that's where you're wrong, Hauteclere! The Empire will not die today, or next week, or ever in our lifetimes! You will die seeing all your work splitting this glorious nation to pieces crumble into uselessness. Now, enough of words, meet me in battle!"

With that, both sides begin riding forward without as much as a second thought. Ximeno is, as mentioned, focusing on Hauteclere herself, and you've been ordered to take on those two. The red one seems to be holding a Silver Sword, while the green prefers a Steel Greatlance.

Red guy seems to be wirier and more agile, while green is bulkier and calmer.

>A. You both focus on (specify)
>B. You take one, Cicero the other
>C. Screw orders, shoot Hauteclere
>D. Write-in action

>>47701693
>. You both focus on Red

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>>47701734
The red one, you figure, would be the wiser first target. He seems... Stupid.

"Cicero, we target the redhead."

"Yes, lady Rene," he responds, hopping off of Lyka and faking toward the green one, tossing his dagger in red's direction soon after.

The paladin sees through this, hopping aside with a "haha you thought" expression. "So I've been deemed the superior threat, or at least worthy of an earlier death than my cohort? Should I be flattered, Byron?'

"I wouldn't be, Biff," Byron responds, shaking his head. "These people want us dead."

"Then I shan't be! Have at you!"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T3KWrUpGe_4

Biff rides forward towards you, hopping back out of the way of your arrows and riding very erratically, side-to-side and what have you, at some point switching to a javelin and cutting your arm quite deeply with his swift throw.

"Ow..."

Cicero immediately takes to the supportive, drawing out a Mend staff and dressing your wound, ducking out of the way of Byron thrusting forward with his own trusty lance.

"Thought you could target one of us?" Byron asks, Biff wagging his finger in the distance. "Biff and I have been an inseparable team since his mount was a stick with a wooden horse-head on the end."

>A. Cross lances with Byron
>B. Try to shoot Biff some more

And as for Cicero...

>C. Get out of here before they hurt him
>D. Keep fighting!
>E. Be ready to heal you!
>F. Write-in orders
>G. Whatever his instincts tell him

>>47701931
>A. Cross lances with Byron
>G. Whatever his instincts tell him

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>>47701962
You twirl your Steel Lance, raising it into the air and attempting to poke Byron through the skull with it.

He's... LESS agile than Biff, certainly, but he can easily enough dodge the thrust from such a length, in fact responding by using his considerable strength to swat you off your horse with his heavier lance.

Your horse is frankly terrified as you're knocked off of her, retreating from the sight of certain death to a safer distance away.

"It's to my understanding that you wished to take the life of my friend," Byron says, looking down upon you, lance pointed toward your chin. "I know Lady Hauteclere wishes to take you alive, but she has said that she'll understand should we fail to, and you don't particularly inspire charity."

"You fight well, butler! But you'll not be the first Peshkatz practitioner we've encountered." Cicero is currently locked in battle with Biff, both failing to strike the other with their respective weaponry. His eyes lock with yours, but he cannot get to you with Biff blocking his footpath. "Is something the matter? Would you prefer my dearest compatriot and I fight you together? I assure you, it would barely constitute a fight."

So... Alright, how do you get out of this one?

>A. Try and reach for your bow
>B. Say something (write-in dialogue)
>C. Dare him to do it
>D. Write-in response
>E. Do nothing

>>47702159
>C. Dare him to do it
Cicero/Rene Pincer attack!

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>>47702219
"Finish me off, then," you dare, sticking your neck up. "You and your friend fight well, after all."

"I'll only be making this world's future come a little easier by removing you from it." Byron pulls back his lance to drive it forward, up through the bottom of your neck, only for a measly Iron Arrow to distract him, shot through the lance arm of Byron.

"Rene, you fool, stand up!" The Emperor calls to you, his own bow drawn as he faces away from his fateful duel with Hauteclere. She strikes him across the back with her axe, him leaping forward as his armor is cut through with ease and turning back to face his blue-haired, wyvern-riding foe, pulling out his Imperial Lance once more.

Byron, nursing his arm's wound, rides away a ways, giving you a chance to stand up and gather your things.

"Byron, my good man, are you alright?" Biff asks, a bloody cut across his cheek as they ride back to one another's sides.

"Of course, Biff... You know I've had worse."

"Ah, but people have perished from less than the worst they've had," Biff responds.

The duo nods sagely, equipping their sword and lance before riding towards you. Cicero, off to the side, crouches, arm tucked away, looking as though he's not in the best state himself. That, and very likely concealing a knife.

>A. Fire your bow at one of them! (specify)
>B. Just get out of the way!
>C. Stand firm
>D. Hurry to the Emperor's aid, regardless of his order!
>E. Write-in response

>>47702417
>A. Fire your bow at one of them!
Biff, gotta make them match

>>47702417
>A. Fire your bow at one of them! (Byron)

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Rolled 2 (1d2)

>>47702438
>>47702504
Since the only other anon on the count was that memester...

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>>47702438
Biff is the faster of the two, certainly, and the less critically wounded with that arrow in Byron's arm. Thus, the obvious choice to put one, two, three arrows in, not to mention shooting his horse from under him with a fourth, is greenie.

"B-Byron!" Biff, of course, hurries to grab his friend and pull him onto his horse with him, but that only leads to his horse being more weighed down, makes it harder to dodge Cicero's knives as they pierce his chest.

"Biff, you... Fool..." Byron wheezes out.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3cyW694B9s

"H-hrk... Ow, that's really... Really in there, isn't it? C-come on, girl, let's... Get out of here!" Biff, tears welling up in his eyes, tries to grin and lead his horse far from the battlefield. "You shall not see our legend die today!"

"Urk..!" Byron closes his eyes, trying his best to breathe. "Biff, anyone but you would have accepted that... This is where we die."

"Ah, but that's... Th-that's why they're not me, Byron! I'll have us... Alive!"

Byron smiles, laughing painfully. "Yes, certainly... Now, I need some rest..."

The sole horse of the two strains to carry Biff and Byron away as quickly as possible.

"Shall we finish them off, Lady Rene?" Cicero asks, approaching you and splitting two vulneraries.

In the opposite direction of where the red and green dead men walking rode, Hauteclere and Ximeno are still trading blows.

>A. Yes
>B. No
>C. ...
>D. Write-in response

>>47702721
>B. No
They'll probably die anyway.

>>47702721
>B. No

>>47702789
"No," you say. "Even if we could catch up to them with Lyka having run away, the odds are high we'll only catch up to a pair of corpses."

"Er... Right, of course," Cicero agrees, looking back to the fight between the emperor and Hauteclere.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rUsFvOINx4M

"You fight well, wyvern rider," Ximeno compliments, wiping blood trickling from his lip, looking quite battered himself.

Hauteclere, just above the ground atop her wyvern, clutches her left arm, armor busted up from that shoulder onwards, groaning and wincing as she looks around the battlefield. "So Biff and Byron have..." She shuts her eyes, wincing and raising the Staff of Katri with her injured arm. "With three against one, I can't afford to fight honorably."

"You think a little staff can keel me over, Hauteclere?" The Emperor laughs, rushing forward, lance raised, poised to strike her through the heart...

"You excellency, don't underestimate that staff!" You try to call out to him, to no avail.

He stops, abruptly, as the staff glows, weapon dropping to the ground. "What in the-"

"Emperor Ximeno, run away now!"

He doesn't listen. Too busy being hacked through the chest.

"Emperor!"

Plummeting to the ground on his back, he looks up towards you. "Rene... Co-ome no closer!"

>A. Attack anyway!
>B. Run away!
>C. Write-in response
>D. Stand there, unsure of what to do

>>47703193
>B. Run away!
Orders are orders, gota make sure the empire conitinues.

>>47703193
>B. Run away!

>>47703309
"...I'm sorry, your Excellency," you apologize, not wanting to defy your orders and fleeing.

"Wait... Rene, get back here!" Hauteclere calls, beginning to ride forward towards you.

Ximeno, having precisely none of that, raises his lance one last time, piercing through her side with his lance. "Damn, I thought that'd hit something... More important." He lets out a pained breath. "Ah, well, look at that scar from time to time, remember this battle fondly."

"You've doomed your Empire by dying here," Hauteclere says, wincing and raising her axe once more. "N-not that I... Don't appreciate the favor."

"It was no favor to you," Ximeno responds, grinning, "I was never meant to sit on that throne... I live for the hunt, for battle, Hauteclere. This has been the first I've truly lived since my brother died..."

"It's a shame for you to be resurrected only to die the same day, then," Hauteclere says, bringing her axe down one final time, "but for Queen Hauteclere to rebuild this world, Emperor Ximeno's only throne may lie in the next world."

You find and calm Lyka, you and Cicero riding away from the battle as per Ximeno's orders. Soon enough, you figure, Veiz and the rest will be here, and from there you can...

Ah, yes, there they are! Kris, Veiz, Alfred, Saye, Hal...

"We've terrible news, I'm afraid," Cicero remarks, voice full of that oft-present anxiety.

"Well we've got bad news and news you're REALLY gonna hate," Kris responds, "so pick your fuckin' poison."

>A. Your news first
>B. The bad news
>C. The VERY bad news
>D. ...
>E. Write-in response

>>47703510
>C. The VERY bad news

>>47703510
>C. The VERY bad news

>>47703591
"...alright, hurt us quickly," you request, "what'll we REALLY hate to hear?"

"...that little shit with the axe killed Omar," Kris responds. "Just fuckin' cut him down with one swing."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HbzCochNBx8

You... Physically recoil, tears welling up almost immediately. "I... I need to throw up..."

"Save it, 'cuz we've got more news to break," Kris answers. "We couldn't get the kid, either. He, blue boy, his sister, and that maid were too tough, and they had backup from the other mercs..."

"A-and the... Emperor is dead," you say, "ordered us to retreat..."

"Right, right... By the way, long as you're already having a bad day, I might as well drop something else on you, get it all out of the way before someone else does later. See, before the fight, I popped back by the islands..."

"Oh, gods..." You and Veiz look at each other with horror.

"Hera's dead, Briggid Island's fallen, and there's only a few little islands left with Empire control in the whole area."

You about pass out from all of this information, Veiz and Cicero hurrying to catch you. Your sister shouts, "Kristina, could this not have waited until later? Or... Been told to us sooner, for that matter?"

"Didn't want to mention it before the battle," Kris responds, "knew it'd get you in a funk. BUT there's a silver lining here. When gramps and I fought out there once, trying to snuff out Ada Dory, the Holmstead resistance's leader mentioned that his father's being kept hostage by Oswald Dory. Now, I'm thinkin' if he loves his dad enough to side with THOSE scumbags for his safety, and with us able to teleport to literally any island out there... I dunno, maybe we could at least cause enough of a ruckus to fuck up the Dories and resistance, take back some turf!"

"So you mean to engage in more hostage-holding?" Alfred bursts out.

"His father is a civilian, Kristina," Veiz says, "not an enemy or unbeknownst royalty."

>A. We should
>B. You won't participate
>C. Write-in

>>47703740
>B. You won't participate

>>47703740
>B. You won't participate
We should mention all the bullshit we know about that Samson went through due to the Empire from Veiz's brief visit, and that he was kind of responsible for, if not saving our sister's life, at least protecting her from being harmed by a traitor to the Empire. He may be rebel scum, but that's not the kind of thing you should repay with such an underhanded tactic, and the aforementioned bullshit would make it pretty unlikely to work out favorably, even if he loves his dad. Additionally, we have orders direct from the Emperor before his death that we're to take her and our team and try and gather the remaining heirs in the hopes that they can control Xouide.

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>>47703891
"While I admit it could be crazy enough to work, I won't resort to something so underhanded for someone who made efforts to save my sister's life when he was in chains. Even if he's a rebel with a direct hand in the death of the last family Veiz and I had besides one another, I won't pay him back for his nobility by taking to the tactics of pirates. Our orders are clear, Kristina, and they have nothing to do with that."

Kristina groans. "I'm still going to see if we can't do it anyway. With the Emperor dead and no princes or princesses in sight, gramps is in charge now."

"Oh, uh... If you do, could I come too?" Hal asks, not really seeming terribly aware of the situation. "I, uh... Owe your grandfather my life, so I'd hate to see you alone into sea-thug territory is all... I mean, yeah, you're nice to look at and all, but..."

"Save it," Kris says, "backup is backup. Now c'mon, let's just report back to the capital before the goddamn rebels do."

"Surely Methodius would never approve of something so cruel," Veiz assures you.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5lvtbhtR-MU

"Why, that's a fantastic idea!" The old man responds to his granddaughter's proposal upon your return home. "Well, maybe not ingenious, but it might just be the last-ditch effort this Empire needs to remain afloat... I mean, it won't hurt to try, anyway."

"But, Lord Methodius," you say, "with Hal and Kristina both preoccupied, not only will our numbers be thin, but we'll be unable to follow the Emperor's final mission!"

"Oh, it'll be no short task to hunt down these children," Methodius assures you, "if you start on the trail of one, then have Kristina find you after she's done doing away with Oswald Dory... Surely it'll be no time lost at all!"

It looks like you'll have to pick out your first target now... Best not to start with Felix.

>A. Ludwig, dark mage in the Central region
>B. Sara, in the frozen mountains (really, Xerxes?)
>C. Conrad, a bandit leader in the nearby mountains

>>47704104
>B. Sara, in the frozen mountains (really, Xerxes?)
tough and smart, due to the conditions she lives in (probably)

>>47704104
>B. Sara, in the frozen mountains (really, Xerxes?)
I just rolled a d3.

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>>47704154
Sara, that's the one you'll go after first. The second-oldest after the missing entry.

"I only ever set foot in the Ice Authority's territory once, on a bit of a personal pilgrimage. The dragons had been the ones to grant Xouide to my family, after all, so I could hardly not. Try silver wyvern eggs sometime, by the way. They're absolutely to die for... Anyway, there, my heart was set aflame by a cool beauty who was some... At least 100 times my age. Those manaketes, though, they age so slowly that we looked like we could've grown up together, and-" you skim through a bunch of talk about how hot ice dragons got the king, wishing he hadn't written this to begin with-"and now, I've learned that my second daughter was borne of this Ice Representative. It wasn't easy to gain this information, with how little news spreads in or out of there, but... I may confess that I don't care for the snow. Perhaps this has influenced the fact that I'll pick up dearest Sara second-last? Hah, if she'd only been conceived a few years sooner, the Empire might have had an immortal half-dragon empress."

For now, you ignore his tales of meeting Ludwig's mother in the Tower of Longevity, or of Conrad's Tarvosian mother's constant travels making him a perceived pain in the ass to find, focusing only on the location he gave for this half-dragon Sara.

Gathering up the warmest clothes possible, you bid Hal and Kristina farewell as they drop you off in your location before running off to be absolutely despicable.

>To be continued next thread
Well, this sure was an eventful thread.

Thanks for playing, as always. Update twitter/ask.fm are qmgrandflocto, and I'll be around in-thread for awhile.

>>47704318
Thanks for running.

>>47704340
Always a pleasure.

Biff and Byron are two of the favorite recurring characters of myself and former co-QM grandflaw, their concepts, backstories, and personalities existing since long before the start of Generically. But as per their nature as a comedic duo, eventually they're destined to fade out of relevance as more important characters take center stage. Showing them off working as a highly dangerous team one last time, then having them ride off in dire straits, just felt like a better sendoff than silent non-charactertude.