Download a Word doc of the transcript: TM011 The Experimental Trials Score, Part 2

Transcribed by Tyler (Twitter: @Tyler_MoonSage)

 

## Intro

Rhi: Welcome back to Duskwall, and the second half of our guest star episodes. We’re once again thrilled to have Chris, aka Waffles, joining us as Seeks, the delightful Tycherosi Leech. You can follow Chris on Twitter at @Mahaffay and listen to them on Mouse Guardians and the upcoming Iron Hides podcasts. Links will be in the show notes.

We also have a very exciting announcement for the show. We have a website. Visit MagpiesPodcast.net to find an episode list, contact info, cast bios, and character profiles with amazing full-color character art done by Kim. We’ve been sitting on this art for months while Kim did each piece, and I am so excited to be able to share them with all of you. So please, check out the site and let us know what you think.

In addition, if you’re going to GenCon this August, let us know. Minna and I will both be in attendance, and we’d love to meet some fans.

Next, let me tell you about this month’s featured charity. My birthday was on Sunday, and so for my birthday month I’m focusing on an organization that’s very near and dear to me. The Glenwood Sunday Market is a farmers market based in the Rogers Park neighborhood on the north side of Chicago. In addition to supporting local farmers and new entrepreneurs with a variety of business programs, GSM has a commitment to food access for the community. In Rogers Park over 20% of the residents use SNAP or other government benefits to feed themselves and their families. At the market we raise funds and apply for grants so that we can help those residents stretch their benefits even further and purchase fresh, local food that might otherwise not be affordable.

This commitment to feeding the community is why I’ve been a volunteer with the market for several years. However, as grants have been cut and donations have slowed, the market is struggling. It’s not in danger of shutting down yet, but we’re trying to keep from getting to that point of desperation. So, I’m asking our listeners to visit the GSM website and make a donation if you’re able. If you’d prefer to keep your donation more local to your community look up your local food pantries and make a monetary donation there. Food banks are often able to purchase food at steep discounts and can spend the money on exactly what they need. With threatened cuts to SNAP looming it’s more important than ever that we help feed our communities.

Speaking of threatened cuts to vital government benefits, if you’re in the United States please also visit 5calls.org and call your representatives. Being loud and demanding and telling them over and over that we as citizens and voters expect our government to serve all people in our country is one of the best ways to bring about change.

Now then, let’s get started. Shall we?

 

 

## Story Continues [0:03:21]

Rhi: We cut back up to Phin and Myra who have been escorted through the halls to an unmarked door at the end of one of the halls. The doctor unlocks it, pushes the door open, and points for you two to go in. the orderlies had been about a step behind you. They move forward, they’re not touching you, but the very clear message is that if you do not move voluntarily you will be moved.

The doctor points and says:

Rhi (as Doctor): You’ll wait here until The Bluecoats arrive.

Madge: Phin’s gonna look over like:

Madge (as Phin): Well, you wanted to see if I ended up in Ironhook, so I guess this is a way to find out if I get there.

Minna (as Myra): This is not a good time to joke.

Madge (as Phin): I think it’s a great time to joke, takes the pressure off of the whole situation.

Minna (as Myra): Wonderful for you.

Rhi (as Doctor): [forceful] Now, please.

Madge (as Phin): I’m already in the room! I don’t know what more you want from me.

Rhi: Oh, okay, I didn’t know you… [laughter] GM not being aware that you’re in the room. Has Myra gone into the room?

Minna: [strained] I guess so. If Phin is in the room then Myra is in the room, because Myra has absolutely nothing to stand on.

Rhi: You two go into the room. It looks kind of like a prison cell, more or less. There are two cots, one on each wall, there’s a sink, a toilet in the corner, that’s about it. You two walk in, they shut the door behind you, and it locks.

Madge: I’m gonna go over to the door and wait there and listen until the footsteps go down the hall and I can’t hear them anymore.

Rhi: Mm-hmm.

Madge: And then [laughs], I’m gonna try subterfuge supplies first.

Minna: Is it subterfuge supplies to pick locks?

Rhi: Subterfuge supplies is like a disguise kit.

Minna: Tinkering tools?

Madge: Oh, never mind. Tinkering tools, yeah.

Minna: Do you have any Tinker?

Madge: [mumbling]

Rhi: No.

Minna: [laughs] I don’t either.

Madge: [laughing] What does a Devil’s Bargain look like?

Rhi: You misheard how many people walked away. One of the orderlies is still outside.

Madge: Okay. I can only do a Devil’s Bargain, I can’t take a Devil’s Bargain and push myself, right?

Rhi: Correct, but…

Minna: I can assist. I’ll take 1 stress.

Madge: Okay. I actually won’t take the Devil’s Bargain. I’ll just take the assistance.

Rhi: Okay.

Madge: I’m shaking this die real hard. I’m really nervous.

Rhi: [laughs]

Madge: Four.

Rhi: You now hear some footsteps returning back down the hall.

Madge: Uh, I will go back and sit down on the cot, and wait, see if they come in or not.

Rhi: The footsteps come down the hall, pass by the door, keep going, hit the end of the hall and then come back. It sounds like someone is patrolling.

Madge: I’m gonna go back over to the door and I’m gonna wait there as the patrol passes really close by, and as it gets further what I’m gonna do is use my scary weapon or tool for my super freaky brass knuckles. And I’m gonna try to break the lock, [laughs] with Wreck, because I’m better at that.

Josie: ‘I’ma wreck it.’

Madge: I gon’ wreck it! Hoo, that’s a 6.

Chris: Nice.

Rhi: Okay. The footsteps fade off into the distance and you pull out your brass knuckles. They’re like the spiked, hooked…

Madge: They’re the really scary ones.

Rhi: Yeah, freaky ass brass knuckles, and just [impact noise] punch the lock. It cracks, and you’re able to just grind the door open.

Madge: I’ll turn back to Myra.

Madge (as Phin): You ready to go or what?

Minna (as Myra): Tch, more than ready.

Rhi: The route you took to get here was not super windy or anything. You’re able to find your way back to the hallway you were in originally, but as you get up there, you’re approaching the corner and you hear footsteps approaching from the other side of the corner. It sounds like the same gate as the person who was patrolling past.

Madge: Can I hide around the corner and wait until he turns to punch him in the face?

Rhi: Mm-hmm.

Madge: Would it be Skirmish or Wreck?

Rhi: Skirmish works perfectly fine for punching a dude in the face.

Madge: Yay, 6!

Rhi: With these brass knuckles of power…

Madge: [giggles]

Rhi: …Phin just pops out, clocks this guy in the face, he drops, broken nose, there’s blood streaming down his face… out of commission.

Madge: Uh-huh. Can we still hear the crying? I mean, can we hear the crying again now that we’re closer to where we originally were?

Rhi: You don’t hear the crying anymore, but you know what room it was in if you want to go investigate.

Madge: Okay. I’ll look at Myra.

Madge (as Phin): I wanna check and see if that person’s okay.

Minna (as Myra): Yeah. Let’s do that.

Madge (as Phin): Yeah, let’s do that.

Rhi: [quietly] Do you guys wanna search the guard that was patrolling?

Madge: Loot the body!

Minna: Yeah. If he has keys or something, I’m looking for that shit.

Madge: Yeah.

Rhi: Yeah, he has keys, has a few coins in his pocket, not enough to be measured as 1 coin, but you know, a little extra pocket change. You’re able to head back to the room that you heard the crying from, Room 134. You don’t hear crying coming from inside it now.

Minna: I think we’re gonna check it out anyway.

Madge: Yeah. Door’s getting opened up.

Rhi: You unlock the door, and… You know the way when you’ve had a cold for like a week, the way that your bed smells, just of sickness and sweat and awfulness? That’s what this room smells like. It looks pretty similar to the room that you two were just locked in, not a lot in the way of comfort. Curled up on the bed, huddled up under the thin blanket, visibly shivering even in her sleep, is a young woman just wearing this grayish oversized shirt, that’s basically what you can see. She looks kind of gaunt, she’s asleep, and is clearly very sick.

Madge: I’m going over and kneeling next to the bed.

Madge (as Phin): Hey, kid.

Rhi: It takes you a little bit to wake her up. She groans, squints at the light, and looks at you, looks over at Myra, then looks back.

Rhi (as Woman): [weakly] You’re not… You’re not the doctors. Who are you? [coughs]

Madge (as Phin): We’re The Magpies. The doctors, are they treating you okay?

Rhi (as Woman): [coughs] This is what I signed up for. They, you know, they give you something to make you sick, and then they give you something to make you better. The second one hasn’t really kicked in yet.

Rhi: She pulls the blanket up a little higher.

Minna (as Myra): Have you done this before? Are you usually in separate rooms like this?

Rhi: She nods.

Rhi (as Woman): Yeah. This is the second time.

Madge (as Phin): How old are you?

Rhi (as Woman): Seventeen.

Madge: Phin’s jaw gets real tight.

Rhi: She’s still just kind of looking back and forth between the two of you. After a second she kind of slides one arm out from under the blanket and sort of pokes you in the arm, Phin.

Rhi (as Woman): Oh, okay, not a hallucination. That’s good.

Madge (as Phin): Have you been having a lot of those?

Rhi (as Woman): Sometimes.

Madge (as Phin): How much are they paying you?

Rhi (as Woman): One coin. Spend a week in here feeling kind of lousy, and it’s more than I’d make in a month cleaning houses or… [coughs]

Madge (as Phin): This looks worse than just plain lousy.

Madge: I am gonna take out 2 coin I have and I’m gonna put it in her hand.

Rhi: Her eyes go huge.

Madge (as Phin): After you finish up with this round, you don’t come back here. Okay?

Rhi (as Woman): [weakly] Okay…

Madge (as Phin): It’s not worth it. What’s your name?

Rhi (as Woman): Teagan. My name’s Teagan.

Madge (as Phin): What part of the city do you clean houses in?

Rhi (as Teagan): Up here in Charterhall, some of the nicer places in Crow’s Foot.

Madge (as Phin): Mm-hmm. I’m in Crow’s Foot some of the time. I can check in on you, make sure that you have enough to get by.

Rhi (as Teagan): Yeah, okay… Yeah.

Madge (as Phin): You just gotta promise me you won’t come back.

Rhi (as Teagan): Yeah, I promise.

Madge (as Phin): Good.

Rhi: She kinda tucks the money in under her blanket.

Madge: I’m gonna reach out, I’m gonna smooth her hair back a little bit, and then sort of fix the blanket.

Rhi: She smiles a little bit and closes her eyes again, and looks like she’s gonna try to go back to sleep.

Minna: I think Myra has just been standing there looking almost unnerved, just that anger and then there’s a little bit of white around her knuckles, whatever she’s clutching, the doorway or something.

Madge: I’ll look back over at Myra.

Madge (as Phin): It won’t do any good if we take her right now.

Minna (as Myra): It’ll only hurt her.

Madge (as Phin): Let’s get out of here.

Rhi: So yeah, you two slip back into the hall, and we sort of pan across you two heading for the basement, and the camera just drops straight down to Minx and Seeks continuing on through the basement.

You two see the stairs going up, and I think that the two halves of this group meet half way up the stairs. [laughs]

Josie (as Minx): Oh. There you are.

Rhi: You do see a room that’s labeled “Medical Supplies,” basically right at the foot of the stairs.

Chris (as Seeks): Perfect.

Josie (as Minx): Ah, it seems our timing is fortuitous. Shall we?

Madge (as Phin): Mm-hmm.

Rhi: Between all of the keys that you guys have you’re able to just open it up. There’s a ton of medical supplies in here. This place is very well stocked. Seeks can get everything she needs and then some. I don’t know if you guys wanna help yourself to any extras. This is the kind of stuff that you guys know you could sell for a decent amount of money.

Josie: I think I’m content with the stuff I’m already carrying, but if other people want to…

Chris (as Seeks): So, I have a question.

Madge (as Phin): Yeah?

Chris: She says, as she’s pulling some bandages off and putting them in a bag.

Chris (as Seeks): We could take the whole building.

Madge (as Phin): [flatly] What?

Chris (as Seeks): You know, we could take the whole building from them. they don’t seem like nice people.

Madge (as Phin): How?

Josie (as Minx): She’s talking of forgery and signing documents and gunpoint.

Madge (as Phin): Oh. Okay. I was thinking you were talking about actually making the whole building disappear.

Chris (as Seeks): Well, I have a friend who could do that, but I can’t do that.

Madge (as Phin): I don’t believe you. Sorry.

Minna: [laughs]

Josie (as Minx): I imagine it would be simple to do with fire, but we shan’t be doing that.

Madge (as Phin): As awesome as that idea is, I think for right now we don’t really have the capability to do that. We’re kind of small-time. Not right now, but it’s a good idea. We could turn this place into somewhere that could actually help people—Why DON’T we take this building?!

Josie (as Minx): I mean, there’s nothing wrong with setting a long term goal.

Madge (as Phin): This is my long term goal.

Minna (as Myra): Helping people takes resources. It’s gonna take a while before we have resources to do anything for anybody more than us beyond what we already are doing.

Chris (as Seeks): Anyway. He’s putting demon blood in people.

Minna & Madge (as Myra & Phin): What?!

Josie (as Minx): Yeah.

Chris: I take out the vial of demon blood.

Chris (as Seeks): They had a whole room downstairs that was locked off and they had special keys for it, and by special keys I mean they have no keys, I had to break in… and there is a lot of it, and he’s doing stuff with it, and I don’t like that.

Josie (as Minx): And leviathan blood, and strange containers of ectoplasm, and… This is not sound medical practice.

Madge (as Phin): Minx, Minx, Minx. You think that the rest of what he does is sound medical practice?

Josie (as Minx): No, but—

Minna (as Myra): He prays on the poor in order to perform sick experiments, in hopes of, I don’t know, benefiting the rich patients that he makes house calls on. None of this is good.

Josie (as Minx): I am confronting that, but this is somewhat of another level than I was expecting.

Minna (as Myra): Oh no, me too.

Josie (as Minx): And surely we’re not leaving here without giving him some form of justice, yes?

Madge (as Phin): No, we’re smashing all those vials.

Chris (as Seeks): Oh, but I could sell those.

Madge (as Phin): I’m smashing at least half the vials.

Josie (as Minx): Very well.

Chris (as Seeks): Okay, that’s fair I guess. There’s your half.

Madge (as Phin): Yeah. I take half, I smash half, you sell half.

Chris (as Seeks): Realistically, he probably has a leviathan hunter captain on his payroll who is smuggling off excess.

Minna (as Myra): Oh, I understand that. This is going to be a drop in the barrel of what he really needs to come to justice, but you know what, it’s what we can do right now.

Madge (as Phin): I will feel so much better if we just smash everything in that room.

Josie (as Minx): So, you all are going to smash those. I shall join you in a moment.

Josie: Minx is gonna leave, and she has a very familiar look on her face.

Minna: Minx is leaving. I think Myra looks at Phin, and she’s like:

Minna (as Myra): Do you think it’s going to be like…

Madge (as Phin): Well, if she does do anything we’ll cover for her.

Minna (as Myra): That’s fair. Let’s go smash those vials.

Madge (as Phin): Hell yes.

Rhi: Seeks, which direction are you going? You’ve got two people going to smash up a room full of vials, and Minx just said ‘I need to go do something’ and walked off.

Chris: That sounds vague and fun. I’m going to hand them a bomb.

Madge: [gasps]

Josie: [laughs]

Madge: Phin looks delighted. [giggles]

Chris (as Seeks): Just uh, you know, pull this pin and toss it in there, and then close the door, and run.

Madge (as Phin): Yeah. Okay. Yeah, this isn’t my first rodeo. I know how bombs work.

Chris (as Seeks): Okay.

Minna (as Myra): Thank you.

Chris (as Seeks): We stole this one from a military shipment, and I’m really proud of it, so…

Madge (as Phin): Ohh. This is even better. You are the best person I have ever met.

Minna: [giggles]

Chris (as Seeks): [gasps] I am?!

Madge (as Phin): Yes.

Chris (as Seeks): [weakly] Oh…

Chris: She excitedly chases after Minx. [laughs]

Josie: Oh no.

Rhi: So, we follow Seeks who catches up with Minx as she is striding with purpose down the hall, although I don’t think she knows where she’s going.

Josie: Uh, no. I am looking. [laughs] I’m gonna be looking for him, but also his office, but then Seeks catches up to me, right?

Rhi: Mm-hmm.

Josie (as Minx): Seeks, are you sure you wouldn’t rather enjoy the festivities downstairs?

Chris (as Seeks): I mean, I blow up a lot of things. It sounds fun.

Josie (as Minx): Well, we’ll see how fun it actually is.

Josie: I’m gonna keep looking for…

Rhi: You’re looking for an office?

Josie: Yeah.

Rhi: Okay.

Josie: Actually, hold on. Can I try to lose Seeks in my search?

Rhi: [cackles]

Minna: She’s a witness~

Josie: Not to be adversarial here, but…

Chris: No no no, this is good. I am excited. I’m going to say you do lose me. I look somewhere, you say ‘check that door there,’ and you’re gone. [laughs]

Josie: Fair enough. [laughs]

Rhi: Yeah. You’re able to lose Seeks. You’re striding through the halls, and you manage to stay far away enough from other people so they just see a blonde person in a guard uniform and don’t really question it. You don’t find the office on the first floor or the second floor. You go up the stairs to the third floor and there’s another pair of guards at the top of the stairwell who both turn and look at you and go:

Rhi (as Guard): Who are you?

Josie: I’ll ignore their question. I’ll say:

Josie (as Minx): At ease, gentlemen. I’ll only be a moment.

Josie: And just try to brush past them, swiftly.

Rhi: You’re gonna have to roll.

Josie: Yeah. I don’t know if that’s really a Sway. Is that a Command, maybe?

Rhi: Yeah.

Josie: And I’m gonna push myself about it.

Rhi: It’s gonna be risky, standard effect.

Josie: Yeah. I don’t think I want to take a Devil’s Bargain here yet. Oh no, 3. Whoops.

Rhi: Okay. You start to stride past and one of the guards just shoots his arm out and you almost clothesline yourself on it.

Josie: Oh dear.

Rhi: And he goes:

Rhi (as Guard): Who are you?

Josie: Um…

Rhi: And he’s kind of giving you a closer look now, and the other guard is slowly reaching for the pistol at his side. They’re both very suspicious now. You are in a desperate position.

Josie: I don’t know. I’m really good at talking, but I think I’m going to pull out an unusual weapon. Let’s say coiled on the back of my belt I have… Yeah, you know what, I have a whip. What I’m gonna do is when he goes for the gun I crack the whip out and just lash at their feet to knock them over. I got a 4.

Rhi: You do it but there’s a consequence. Okay. You snap out with this whip, it tangles around his ankles, takes him off his feet, and that’s when the other guard shoots you in the back.

Josie: Ow. Okay.

Rhi: Level 3 harm, Shot in the Back, you are welcome to resist.

Josie: I will resist. I’ve got a 4.

Rhi: So you’ll take 2 points of stress to drop that down to level 2 harm. The gunshot goes off. The other guy has fallen over. Seeks?

Chris: I heard a gunshot.

Rhi: Yeah. I was gonna say—Would you like to investigate?

Chris: I run towards the gunshots.

Rhi: Okay. I think that Minx and this guard are going to have another exchange here before you catch up to them. Minx, what are you going to do?

Josie: Whip the gun out of his hand and run away.

Rhi: You can certainly try.

Josie: I want to try, at the very least.

Rhi: Yeah. It’s still gonna be desperate, and you’re at a -1 die on this roll.

Josie: Yes. What does a Devil’s Bargain look like?

Rhi: Hmm—Oh…

Minna: I don’t like that sound.

Rhi: I’m sorry, I just have to…

Minna: You have to cackle evilly, silently to yourself before you deliver this?

[laughter]

Rhi: Those vials you stole…

Josie: Yeah?

Rhi: Some of them are broken now.

Minna: Ohhh boy.

Chris: You’ll need a doctor.

Rhi: Right now, you don’t know which ones are broken, but that glass cut you. So something broke, and something’s in your bloodstream, you do not know what. That is the Devil’s Bargain I will offer you.

Josie: I’m not gonna take that.

Chris: I’ll take it.

[laughter.

Josie: You can’t take it for me. [laughs] I’m just gonna push myself again instead of a Devil’s Bargain.

Rhi: Okay. What are you at for stress right now?

Josie: I just rocketed up to 7 stress including this one.

Rhi: Okay. I had a feeling you were getting up there. Yeah.

Josie: [uneasy] Four.

Chris: Oof.

Rhi: You snap the whip out around his right hand with the gun, and he just swings around with his left hand and clocks you upside the head, and between the gut shot and everything you’re already off balance, and you just fall down the stairs sprawling at Seeks’s feet. You leave a trail of blood down the stairs. And on that note, let’s check in back downstairs.

Madge: I think while they’re getting everything set up, Phin is at least getting some of the blood to sell off later.

Minna: Yeah.

Rhi: [laughs] You guys pocket some yourselves? Okay, yeah, that’s fine.

Madge: While she’s loading up, Phin’s gonna look over at Myra.

Madge (as Phin): So, you’re actually letting her walk off and actually do this? That’s intense for you.

Minna (as Myra): It’s… It might do better for the city than anything else we’re gonna do tonight.

Madge (as Phin): Mm-hmm. I’m not shaming you or anything for it. I’m actually like really proud.

Minna (as Myra): I don’t think it’s great to add to all of the death in the city most of the time, and most of the time a lot of that’s motivated out of how much trouble we’re going to be in, because I don’t want us to get on the bad side of The Spirit Wardens, I don’t want us to get on The Bluecoats’ bad side but we do that plenty anyway. I would like to see next year. This man though, he just, he flicks every switch inside of me, and I don’t like him, and I honestly think it’s the lesser evil to let him die.

Madge (as Phin): Yeah. He’s terrible. I am right there with you. Just, the past couple of days have been weird, so I wanted it to feel… I am glad we are on the same page with this, is what I’m saying.

Minna (as Myra): Hey, that thing you did for that girl…

Madge (as Phin): It was nothing.

Minna (as Myra): No. that was a lot. If somebody had done that for me when I was younger, you know, a lot could have changed.

Madge (as Phin): Well, you know, we’re in a position to help, so we gotta take it.

Minna (as Myra): I don’t see it that way enough. I need to remember that, I guess. It’s not all scrabbling to survive anymore. It’s, we can do things now.

Madge (as Phin): Yeah. We can actually help people. The more I saw her on that bed the more I thought if I wasn’t around and things went south, and if that was Tabitha on the bed, I’d want someone to do the same thing for her.

Minna (as Myra): It’s a beautiful way to look at life, and I think you remind me of that more than I’d like to admit.

Madge (as Phin): [laughs] Come on. Me? I don’t think I’m the person with a beautiful view on life, at all.

Minna (as Myra): It’s not a beautiful view, but you see people everywhere who could be friends, and it’s honestly a little bit worrying, but also it goes a long way.

Madge (as Phin): Well, you’re stuck with me for now. So…

Minna (as Myra): Don’t talk about it for now.

Madge (as Phin): You ready to blow this place up?

Minna (as Myra): [relieved] Yes.

Madge: And that’s when we’ll plant the bomb, and blow it up!

Rhi: Yeah. You two set up the bomb, and the building shakes a little bit because it’s a military grade explosive.

Josie: [laughs]

Chris: It’s a military grade hand grenade. It’s great! [laughs]

Rhi: As you two kind of both with satisfied smiles start heading back out towards the boat, I assume, we cut back up to Seeks and Minx.

Chris: All right. The people at the top of the stairs, are they going for their guns again?

Rhi: The one guard, you snapped the gun out of his hands and it fell down the stairs with you. It’s kind of skittered down across the hall. The other guard is getting to his feet and has his gun in his hand, but he’s not quite up.

Chris: I’m gonna grenade up the stairs and drag Minx into cover.

Rhi: All right.

Chris: Can I argue for Wreck?

Rhi: I think with a grenade, yes. [laughs]

Chris: All right.

Rhi: That’s not a precision weapon. This is gonna be desperate, greater effect. Do what you gotta do.

Chris: Crit!

Rhi: Seriously?

Chris: Yea. I rolled four dice. I got a 3, a 5, and two 6s.

Rhi: All right. Yeah. So, describe how you kill two people with a military grenade.

Chris: I think Minx slides to the floor in front of me and I just run past her, unclip the grenade, pull the cord and underhand it up the stairs. I think camera-wise we get the people in the basement whose ears are still kinda ringing, and then there’s another explosion upstairs.

[laughter]

Rhi: Just trading explosions here. At this point, you can hear from somewhere else in the building some kind of alarm is sounding, because there have now been two explosions.

Minna: Took them long enough. [laughs]

Rhi: Minx, you have gotten to your feet, bleeding heavily. Seeks?

Chris: I will run back down the stairs and probably put an arm under Minx’s.

Rhi: Do you have some kind of move where you can help Minx?

Chris: Yeah, I can help the bleeding once we get out of here, but for the time being I don’t have any medical supplies.

Rhi: Oh, okay.

Chris: I mean, I guess I have medical supplies.

Chris (as Seeks): We shouldn’t stay here. They’re going to kill us.

Josie (as Minx): [groans] I’m not really in a position to disagree, dear.

Chris: So, I think we’re gonna work our way through the building. Once we make it to that one long hallway I’m gonna rig up the last grenade as an entry denial device.

Rhi: As a what?

Chris: As a landmine, or like a trip line. I’m gonna string it up to a door or whatever so when they come running down the hall to kill us it’ll explode.

Rhi: Okay. You two are in guard uniforms, which is helping out at this point because there’s a lot of confusion. There was an explosion in the basement and an explosion on the third floor. There’s a lot of running and a lot of panic. Seeing someone injured coming down from where there was just an explosion makes sense. [laughs] They’re like ‘oh, you got hurt in whatever just happened up there,’ which is true, just not in the way they think.

The two of you are able to make it back down to that first floor pretty much unimpeded. I think in this case… Seeks, you’re rigging up that explosive, right?

Chris: I figured they were gonna come and stop us. If nobody’s really coming to stop us we’re just going to leave.

Rhi: Okay. Yeah. Nobody really bothers you guys, because they’re assuming you’re just going to get medical attention. Seeks, you get a couple weird looks because people are like ‘we should remember you, right?’

Chris: I pull up my collar.

Josie: [laughs]

Rhi: Yeah. There’s too much other chaos to deal with. So, I think you two are able to make it back out just as Myra and Phin have finished loading the last of the supplies into the boat. These two come hobbling down the stairs.

Minna: I think Myra looks at Minx.

Minna (as Myra): Crows for Hagen. Yes or no?

Josie (as Minx): No, regrettably.

Minna (as Myra): We’ll find another way. All right, let’s get going.

Rhi: You all pile into the boat. Minx, this feels oddly familiar, as this is the second time in the last month that you have been lying in a boat after being shot.

Josie: Uh-huh. Uh-huh.

Chris: I think as we go I’m going to be doing medicine things.

Rhi: Yeah. Now that you’re on the boat with all the medical supplies you can start doing some basic first aid. Yeah. You guys head away. The alarm is still sounding, but nobody seems to be coming after you in your boat in particular.

So, having survived… We’ll shift over into downtime.

 

 

## Downtime [0:30:08]

Rhi: Okay. You got the medical supplies for Seeks, and then all three of you, Minx, Myra, and Phin, you stocked up, you grabbed a bunch of those vials. Right?

Josie: Right.

Rhi: How much money is this gonna be? I think I’m gonna go with 6 coin.

Josie: Woo!

Minna: Woof. That’s a big ol’ payout.

Madge: That’s a lot~!

Rhi: It takes you a little bit to find buyers. Selling the electroplasm, that’s easy. Selling the leviathan blood, a little tougher but you know some people. You end up having to talk to Blaire about the other stuff, and that becomes a challenge of her not just hoarding all of these other weird ones and keeping them for herself to study. I think that she does end up keeping a couple, because they’re very interesting, but she tells you with great reluctance that people like The Dimmer Sisters would probably be interested in something like this, so you’re able to sell that weird mix of different stuff in vials to them. between all the different places you sell to, you end up with 6 coin. … Heat. [exhales]

Madge: [giggles] Oh, we didn’t leave a pin.

Rhi: Yeah, you did.

Madge: We did? Oh yeah, we did.

Rhi: Well—

Chris: You blew up the room with the pin in it.

Rhi: Yeah, I was gonna say. Here’s the thing. You know what, here, I’m gonna make a fortune roll to see if the pin survived the explosion. It’s mangled, but it survived enough to be recognizable.

Minna: [inhales, mumbles]

Madge: Woo-hoo-hoo. [giggles]

Rhi: I’m gonna say, let’s see… Loud and chaotic, since you set off two bombs in a clinic, and there was some death. That’s gonna be 6 heat.

Minna: Six coin, 6 heat, we’re doing good.

Rhi: For downtime, Phin, what are you gonna be doing?

Madge: She’s gonna go looking for Teagan.

Rhi: Okay. It takes you a few days of just kinda poking around trying to cross paths with her, but eventually there’s a day where you’ve spent most of the time just wandering around Crow’s Foot, kind of the nicer areas, hoping, again coming up with nothing, you’re heading sort of across the bridges back toward Six Towers, and you see a familiar, young woman hurrying across the bridge down towards Charhollow.

Madge: I’ll run over towards her.

Madge (as Phin): Teagan!

Rhi: She startles and looks over. It takes her a second.

Rhi (as Teagan): Oh, um… [clears throat] Hi… You’re actually a real person. Okay. I wasn’t quite sure. I mean, the money probably should have— Hi.

Madge (as Phin): Hi. I just wanted to make sure that you were okay still.

Rhi (as Teagan): Yeah, I mean, I’m still not… I feel better, but I’m still a little…

Rhi: And she kind of waves her hand, like ‘so-so.’

Madge (as Phin): Well, I have something that I wanna give you.

Madge: She pulls out the coin that she got for her share, and holds it out to Teagan.

Rhi (as Teagan): Uh, no, no. You’ve given me plenty already. I don’t, really—

Madge (as Phin): I want to help.

Rhi (as Teagan): [sighs]

Madge (as Phin): I’m not using it for anything anyway.

Rhi (as Teagan): I mean, if you’re sure.

Madge (as Phin): Positive.

Rhi: She reluctantly takes it and slips it onto her belt.

Rhi (as Teagan): Thank you, and I promise I won’t be going back there.

Madge (as Phin): [chuckles] It feels a lot better hearing you say that when you’re not sick.

Rhi (as Teagan): Yeah.

Madge (as Phin): And if you ever need anything, like besides this, just know that you can come to The Magpies whenever.

Rhi (as Teagan): Where, where’s, where would I go?

Madge (as Phin): You can find us most often at The Hound’s Paw. You can talk to Rigney. He’s really on the up and up. Great guy.

Rhi (as Teagan): Okay, um… Thank you.

Rhi: She basically kind of checks the money pouch to make sure it’s secure, and then skitters on across the bridge. All right, so Myra, what do you get up to?

Minna: Things are pretty crazy for them right now, and I think she might get interrupted at The Devil’s Tooth.

Rhi: Mm-hmm. Myra is blissed out on a couch, and there’s suddenly a very heavy thudding on the door.

Minna: I think at this point it’s getting towards the end of Myra being out of it, so she’s at least aware enough, you know, not completely out of control. I think she pushes herself up a little bit onto one elbow.

Minna (as Myra): It’s occupied.

Rhi (as Knocker): Bluecoats. Open up.

Minna: Oh God… I think she’s going to play the helpless card.

Minna (as Myra): Do you know where you are? I don’t think I can—

Rhi: The door just flies open, and there’s a pair of Bluecoats there. They both walk in and basically block off the door.

Rhi (as Bluecoat): [sigh] So, Myra Keel. Right?

Minna (as Myra): Yes?

Rhi (as Bluecoat): You seem to have affiliation with a group of criminals who have been causing some trouble in the city. Anything you can tell us about that?

Rhi: The one Bluecoat crosses his arms, but in a not quite like both hands flat, one of his hands is kind of just held out cupping his palm. This is a gesture you recognize. This is a happen to drop some money into this and we can just forget all about it.

Minna: How much money will it take, out of character?

Rhi: Three coin.

Minna: Fuck. [laughs, fades to feigned whimpers] Looks at stash… [sighs]

Josie: Oh dear.

Rhi: So, are you gonna pay him off?

Minna: Yep.

Rhi: So, you drop a weighty purse of coin into his hand, and he kinda tosses it up and down a bit.

Minna: I think what that is, that’s all of her living money for the next little while, so she’s gonna have to sell off some shit to make up for it.

Rhi: Yeah. He tucks that away into his coat and is like:

Rhi (as Bluecoat): Oh, sorry to have bothered you. It seems this was just a misunderstanding.

Rhi: He tips his cap, and the two of them exit. He shuts the door behind him. Whatever kind of calm you had at the end there is just completely shattered.

Minna: So, Myra is just gonna go home early, all freaked out.

Rhi: Mm-hmm. Yep. All right. And Minx?

Josie: While I’m laid up healing in bed, I’m writing a letter to Nyryx. Does that make sense?

Rhi: Yeah, yeah.

Josie: Just sort of explaining, you know, just what’s up in my life, and that I took a tumble but it’s no big deal, and that I’ve started talking to Bazso again, and we’re gonna keep talking about that, and boy has he not changed at all, and also just asking if we could have lunch again sometime soon.

Rhi: Okay. Yeah. I think it’s one of those scenes where there’s the camera transition from you writing it to her sitting and reading it. There’s some street urchin who’s delivered the letter, and she just kind of smiles and folds it up, and very quickly scribbles out a reply and hands it to the kid. The reply just says, yes of course, and a time, date, and a place to meet up, then it’s signed ‘Love, N.’

Josie: Aw, yay.

Rhi: Okay. I think we’ll wrap up with Seeks.

Chris: I think it would be funny to be patching Minx up, and Minx has bullet wounds…

Chris (as Seeks): Phin did not heal nearly as much as you are. Why are you yelling so much?

Josie: [laughing] Yep. Fair enough. Minx is yelling.

Madge: While that’s going on, I picture Phin and Myra are like sitting outside, and Phin’s like:

Madge (as Phin): You know, I really like Seeks. We should keep her around.

Minna (as Myra): Less of a butcher than Sawtooth?

Madge (as Phin): Yeah. He does judge us. Seeks does not judge us. You know?

Minna (as Myra): [laughs] Seeks seems to have friends who do much worse than we do.

Madge (as Phin): Exactly. I mean, we can still go to Sawtooth if we absolutely have to, but…

Minna (as Myra): Are you suggesting we switch services?

Madge (as Phin): She did say Sawtooth overcharges us.

Minna (as Myra): Now that is a worry. I don’t have the coin to be getting overcharged.

Madge (as Phin): Yeah.

Madge: Phin will get up and head over to the room where Minx is getting patched up, and she’ll knock on the doorframe.

Madge (as Phin): Mind if I butt in for a moment?

Chris (as Seeks): Uh, sure.

Madge (as Phin): Sure you mind, or sure it’s okay?

Josie (as Minx): Agh! [yelps]

Chris (as Seeks): If I kiss it will it make it better?

Josie (as Minx): I mean, I do always appreciate kisses, but no, this is a little beyond that.

Chris: I think she smooches you on the face, and then you suddenly feel like you took a dose of Novocain.

Josie: What? [laughs]

Josie (as Minx): Oh, oh… Oh dear.

Chris: I will mark 2 stress to use Venomous.

[laughter]

Josie: God damn it.

Rhi: You’re not unconscious. The pain has receded, and you’re just kinda like…

Minna: You basically have been trance powdered.

Rhi: Yeah.

Chris: [laughs]

Josie (as Minx): That’s one… hell of a… gift.

Minna: A taste of your own medicine.

Chris (as Seeks): Yes. What’s up?

Madge (as Phin): We were thinking. We need a physician who doesn’t overcharge us and doesn’t ask too many questions. Are you in the market for new clients?

Chris: She shrugs.

Chris (as Seeks): That sounds fun.

Madge (as Phin): Cool. We’ll pay you fairly. You know… Yeah. Welcome to the team.

Madge: And she…. [laughs] I’m doing finger guns through the computer. It’s too awkward.

[laughter]

Minna: [swoons] Ah~! So cute!

Josie: Aww.

Chris: Her eyes get all sparkly.

Chris (as Seeks): Another team… I have two now…

 

 

## Outro

Rhi: Thanks for listening. The Magpies will be back in two weeks. In the meantime, follow us on Twitter at @magpies_pod.

The Magpies podcast is hosted and produced by Rhi. Follow me on Twitter at @rhiannon42.

Blaire Culhane is played by Kim Kogut. Follow her on Twitter at @kimdianajones.

Minx is played by Josie. Follow her on Twitter at @DragonGirlJosie, and watch her art streams at  picarto.tv/DragonGirlJosie.

Myra Keel is played by Minna. Follow her on Twitter at @mynaminnarr.

Phin Haig is played by Madge. Follow her on Twitter at @madgequips.

The opening and closing theme music is from ‘Trio for Piano, Violin, and Viola’ by Kevin McLeod, and is used under a Creative Commons license.

The Blades in the Dark roleplay system is the creation of John Harper, and is published by Evil hat Productions.

 

## Blooper [0:41:15]

Rhi: I think I may have trained a Pavlovian reaction into my cat, because every time I have said “sync” tonight she has come over in silence and batted at me.

Minna: [bursting laughter]

Josie: Aww! [laughs]

Rhi: And I’m like, oh no… [laughs] This, this is not good.

Chris: [laughs] Oh dear.

Josie: It’s the opposite of what we wanted.

Rhi: Harley, please.