Transcribed by Tyler (Twitter: @Tyler_MoonSage)

Download a Word doc version of the transcript: TM014 The Black Market Score, Part 2

 

## Intro

Rhi: Welcome back to Duskwall. As always, thank you for joining us, and an extra thank you to everyone who has left us iTunes reviews, tweeted at us, or shared the show with their friends.

Next month is International Podcast Month, and in celebration Tess of RPG Casts and I Am Here has organized a really cool event: one-shot actual plays and audio drama episodes that will air every day all through September. You can find the full list of people involved at InternationalPodcastMonth.com. I got to play in a very cool Legend of Zelda inspired game, and Minna helped run a Harry Potter themed game of Fiasco. There are tons of great creators involved, so definitely keep an eye on that.

Next, Josie is going to tell us about this month’s featured charity.

Josie: The Sylvia Rivera Law Project is a collective organization that works to provide legal help to transgender, intersex, and gender non-conforming people, especially those that are low income or people of color. Trans and intersex people, especially queer trans POC face significant discrimination and difficulty in making sure they are accurately and fairly represented under the law, and the current administration has only increased these risks. The SRLP provides assistance in seeking name and gender form changes and legal representation as well as advocating for the rights of transgender prisoners. To learn more or make a donation visit SRLP.org.

Rhi: And of course, please continue to visit 5calls.org to call your representatives, and make sure that you KNOW you’re registered to vote. We’re getting close to the midterm elections, and voting the republicans out of power in congress is our best chance of slowing down the harm they’re doing to our country.

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

 

## Story Continues [0:01:54]

Rhi: So, Phin and Myra are still in the back of this warehouse where The Hive is hosting a black market auction. The auction itself is about to start. Blaire and Minx, I assume you two are still hanging out up at the bar.

Josie: Mm-hmm.

Kim: Yeah.

Rhi: Okay. As you are kind of nursing your drinks, the door that Myra and Phin had previously gone through opens and a very well-dressed person in like vest and button up shirt and a flowing lacy skirt comes up to the podium and says very loudly, in a voice that carries through the room:

Rhi (as Auctioneer): If I can have everyone’s attention, the auction is about to begin.

Rhi: There’s sort of a collective murmuring, and people are pulling out their envelopes with the invitations which contain their bid number cards. One of the guards sets up something large and cloth-covered on the table and then steps back and removes the cloth. It is a pair of framed paintings. There’s one that is like a cityscape, kind of a scene from far away, like it’s just this shimmer of light in the darkness and then distantly behind it is a glowing volcano. The other is just like a desert scape scene with just these rolling dunes of black sand and the stars above. They are both beautiful.

Rhi (as Auctioneer): We will begin the auction with a pair of exquisite pieces by the Iruvian artist Kamali Rachana. These pieces were claimed from Mylera Clev, the former leader of The Red Sashes…

Rhi: There’s just sort of murmuring, and a couple people laugh scornfully at the mention of the now destroyed Red Sashes.

Rhi (as Auctioneer): These are original works, highly valued, and we will start the bidding at—

NICK: And she names a price in silver coins. Minx…

Josie: Uh-huh… [laughs]

Rhi: You really want these paintings.

Josie: I do. [laughing] I really do~

Rhi: You really want these paintings. Kind of without thinking about it, you’ve got that bid number card in your hand.

Josie: Yeah…

Kim (as Blaire): Minx, no.

Rhi: In order to avoid…

Josie: Uh-huh…

Rhi: If you want to, if you want to basically resist your vice just taking the reins here, and you spending a lot of money that you may or may not have, you are going to need to roll Resolve to resist this, because basically you are just like, you want these, you want these a lot.

Josie: I mean, I don’t think I’m going to resist. I would like to see if there’s a way where I can bid well, to avoid getting in too deep, but Minx is like okay, this is my mission now.

Rhi: [laughs] I will give you the option of that resistance not just going away if you change your mind later, like okay Minx is gonna try to rein it in, you can do that, but yeah. You can just sorta roll with this for now. The bidding started at about 2 coin.

Josie: Oh geez. Okay. There is also the problematic fact that I don’t keep a whole lot of coin on me. Most of it is in my stash.

Rhi: Well, this kind of auction, most people don’t bring that kind of money with them, because that’s asking to get robbed. It’s the sort of thing where you bid, you agree to pay for it, and then they’ll hold it until you come by later with the money, and if you don’t come by later with the money they’ll just put it up for auction again.

Josie: Gotcha.

Rhi: So yeah. That’s the thing. Whatever you have in your coin purse is not necessarily going to constrain you on how much money you spend today.

Josie: Yep. Minx is bidding in. she goes into this thinking all right, well I can probably make it out of here with something but surely I should be disciplined first bid.

Rhi: I think what I’m gonna have you do is give me a Lifestyle roll, which is you roll however many rows of your stash you have marked.

Josie: One. [laughs]

Rhi: Somebody else in the crowd… You kind of start to get into a bidding war with this person. It’s one of those things where it goes back and forth by increments of 50 or 100 for a little bit, and then this person is clearly getting really annoyed with you and jumps it up by like 1,000, like pushing it from 2 coin to 3 coin.

Josie: Oof.

Rhi: Are you gonna push that, or are you gonna let them have this one?

Josie: I think I would like to make a resistance roll.

Rhi: [laughs] To see if you can?

Josie: To see whether I do or not. It gave me a 4.

Rhi: Okay. that means you can take 2 stress to stop. [laughs]

Josie: Yeah. I think Minx is gonna come to her senses, but it’s just gonna be like:

Josie (as Minx): I really wanted those. Come on…

Kim (as Blaire): Let it go.

Rhi: [laughs] Blaire’s just like, comforting shoulder pat.

Kim: Yeah.

Josie: Minx’s body language is totally transparent this whole time, by the way. She perks up and like goes through the stages of grief at every bid, stuff like that.

Rhi: So, those paintings are won by that other person and are taken aside.

Josie: One thing I do want to note is what I can get of the identities of the people who win bids.

Rhi: Yeah, yeah. So, most of them are not being identified by name, they’re being identified by bid number. This person wasn’t anybody who you really recognize. You do see as you’re glancing around now that you’re not transfixed by the art, you can see one of the other people who was bidding, who is at one of the tables further up, who you’re guessing by the black crow feathers that everybody’s got on, that’s Lydia and her entourage from The Crows.

You do recognize kind of off to the side, Roslyn, who is The Dimmer Sisters’ servant.

Josie: Oh. Interesting.

Rhi: A lot of the people here are a mix of low-level nobility and mid-level criminals. This is not a super, super high end event. You do note that Madam Tesslyn did not bid on those pieces at all. there are some additional art pieces. You now have enough self-control that you can choose whether or not you want to bid.

Josie: Uh-huh… Hmm. I think I kinda wanna go in on all of them, but see if I win or not.

Rhi: Just give me three Lifestyle rolls. We’ll just say that’s kind of an abstraction of your various bids.

Josie: Okay. I’ve got a 4, a 6, and a 3.

Rhi: Okay. that 6, I’m gonna say you win something on that.

Josie: Sweet.

Rhi: And, it’s gonna cost you… 2 coin. It’s a small painting, but it’s highly detailed. It looks like it’s depicting a scene out in The Deathlands; dead trees with branches reaching up towards the sky, and then there’s some kind of creature, it’s hard to make out the details because it’s just sort of a shadowy form and glowing eyes, at the foot of the trees, and the artist is simply known as Rafello.

Josie: Okay.

Rhi: You do manage to win that piece of art, and it’s held for you to collect after the auction, but they take down your bid number and everything.

Josie: Mm-hmm.

Rhi: There’s some other stuff, like there’s a case of military grade explosives that gets brought up.

Josie: [laughs]

Rhi: And then eventually someone brings up a small scroll case that is described as a map containing the location of several spirit wells in and around Duskwall.

Kim: [exhales]

Rhi: And for the first time in this whole action, Madam Tesslyn sits forward and joins in the bidding.

Josie: Ooh, okay.

Kim: Oh… no. What is the bidding starting at?

Rhi: [laughs] This is gonna be 3 coin.

Kim: Fuck. I have 3 coin. All right. A note.

Rhi: And, she does end up winning that.

Kim: Oh-

Josie: Ooh.

Kim: Mm-hmm-hmm. Why would she want that?

Rhi: For quite a bit of money. Her and Roslyn from The Dimmer Sisters get into a bidding war at the end, but Tesslyn ends up winning out. While this is all happening, in the back warehouse area guards are kind of ferrying things back and forth up to the door. Phin and Myra, you see people start carrying stuff up. What do you wanna do?

Minna: When you say we see people start carrying stuff you mean that they’re starting to leave the caged area?

Rhi: Yes. Yeah, packages are being carried out of the caged area back to the door that you came in, and kind of from what you hear as people are walking past is coordinating the logistics of moving the items up at the correct time.

Minna: Sorry. How many guards again?

Rhi: There’s two that are stationed at the cage, and then there’s just a handful, probably three or four, that are going back and forth carrying stuff.

Minna: Okay. I’m trying to think what the best way to handle this would be…

Rhi: The guards are wearing uniforms, if that helps.

Minna: Oh shit. Yeah.

Madge: Are they close to our sizes?

Josie: [laughs]

Rhi: I think you can spot some that are. Yeah.

Minna: Let’s do it.

Madge: Yeah. [laughs]

Rhi: Yeah. How do you wanna do that?

Madge: I think what Phin is gonna do, at least for hers, is wait until one of them is coming back to actually fetch an item and like punch him to knock him out.

Rhi: [giggles] Okay.

Madge: So, I would roll something for that, probably.

Rhi: You could roll Skirmish or Prowl, since you’re kind of ambushing this person.

Madge: I’m gonna use Skirmish for it. I got 3.

Rhi: Oh geez.

Madge: [laughing] My plan!

Rhi: You jump out to punch this guy, and as you’re like mid-lunge another guard comes running up and is like:

Rhi (as Guard): Hey! They just told us that we need to bring the—Who the hell are you?!

Madge: [laughs]

Rhi: You’ve been spotted and are now in a desperate position.

Madge: Yeah.

Rhi: Myra, what are you doing at this point?

Minna: Gonna go for the guard that is attacking Phin.

Rhi: Well, so nobody’s actually attacking Phin right now. Phin attempted to punch a guy and kind of got interrupted by a guy who is yelling. There’s confusion and shouting at this point.

Minna: Oh. Have they seen me at all, or can I have been hiding?

Rhi: Yeah.

Minna: Okay. I’m gonna come up behind that guy and wrap a soaked handkerchief in front of his face.

Rhi: [laughs] yep.

Minna: I have absolutely nothing in Skirmish, so what’s a Devil’s Bargain look like?

Rhi: I can go with this one from John Harper himself: You can’t resist the consequences of this roll. If there are consequences to this roll, you are not allowed to roll to resist them.

Minna: Okay.

Rhi: Okay?

Minna: Yep. Aaaah! … I rolled a 1. [laughs]

Kim: Nooo!

Rhi: Ah geez.

Minna: RIP my audio, sorry. [laughs]

Rhi: Okay! You go to grab the guy, but he’s just a lot taller and better trained at this than you, and he just whips around and basically throws you and you kind of slam into the wall and crack your head against it. This is gonna be level 2 harm, Concussion. The situation is beginning to spiral out of control. It took you guys a while to get to this point, though.

Madge: It is time for me to, um… [giggles] Gosh.

Josie: Might I suggest punching?

Madge: Yeah. I’m… I want to do punching, but I also want to do high efficiency punching.

Rhi: I mean, you can try to get both of them in one go, it’s just gonna—

Madge: [excited] That’s what I want. I think, with that, could I do it with my manacles and chain or would I have to have a scary weapon or tool?

Rhi: No. I mean- What are you wanting to do with the manacles and chain, trip them, cuff them together?

Madge: Trip them and then cuff them together. [laughs] First I want to damage, and then I want to capture.

Rhi: Yeah. Yeah. I think you can do that. They’re not terribly far apart so that’s not an impossible thing, but this is a desperate roll, so mark experience.

Madge: Okay. I got a 6 and a 5, and two 4s.

Josie: Nice.

Rhi: Okay, 6 it is. Yeah. Describe how you’re able to do this. I think with this roll you’re able to trip them and cuff them in whatever manner you see fit.

Madge: So, full disclosure for the future audience, right before this session I went and I saw Infinity War so I still have a lot of marvel influence in my brain. [others giggle] I want to almost do a Spidy thing…

Kim: Yes!

Madge: …where I sling the chain out to knock both of them off their feet.

Rhi: Yeah, just kind of like whip it out around their ankles and pull them down?

Madge: Yeah. Yeah.

Rhi: Yeah! They had both been reaching for weapons so they weren’t moving, and it catches them both around the ankles. It’s almost like a momentary three-legged race where their legs get yanked together.

Josie: [laughs]

Rhi: They get thrown completely off balance and both go face first onto the floor. You’re able to run over and manacle their- I assume you’re gonna manacle them together?

Madge: Uh-huh. Front to front.

[laughter]

Kim: Oh my gods.

Rhi: Of course, the only way to tie people together.

Kim: Kiss. Kiss. Kiss!

Rhi: [laughs] Listen. I will come up with a whole narrative about what happens to these two guards while they’re chained up front to front in here. You also, I assume—

Madge: Take their clothes?

Rhi: Yeah. Yeah. I’ll say that you’re able to, you know, stuff handkerchiefs in their mouths or something to keep them from yelling and you drag them off and take their uniforms, and then leave them tied up somewhere front to front.

Madge: Yep!

Rhi: [giggling] You two have guard uniforms. I assume you guys wanna head over to the cage?

Madge: Yes.

Rhi: Okay. Yeah, you get up there, and one of the guards who are there just kind of glances at you and starts to go to unlock it. One of them is like:

Rhi (as Guard): Wait, wait, wait. Who are you two?

Rhi: Because you’re not any of the guards who have been coming up here previously.

Madge: Um, yeah. Um…

Kim: [whispering] You’re interns.

Madge (as Phin): I’m Marisha. I’m an intern.

Minna (as Myra): Laura. We got here late.

Rhi: Yeah, you guys are gonna have to make a roll.

[laughter]

Minna: Sounds like a Sway, question mark?

Rhi: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Do you wanna do it as a group?

Minna: Yeah. I only have 1 in Sway.

Madge: Please?

Rhi: Yep. Who’s leading?

Madge: I’ll lead.

Rhi: All right.

Madge: Four.

Minna: Four.

Rhi: Okay! Four it is.

Rhi (as Guard): Everything okay back there when you were coming in? We heard some yelling, it sounded like.

Madge (as Phin): I dropped a box on my foot.

Rhi (as Guard): Uh-huh.

Madge (as Phin): It hurt. A lot.

Minna: [giggles nervously]

Rhi (as Guard): Right. Uh…

Madge (as Phin): Do you wanna see if it’s bruising? My toe’s like totally messed up.

Minna (as Myra): I-I hit my head…

Rhi (as Guard): Okay. this is not making me want to hand you any of the expensive, priceless, breakable stuff we’ve got in here. You understand that?

Madge (as Phin): Yeah. Maybe you could hand us some of the like non-breakable stuff? I saw that we had some Spirit Warden uniforms back there. We could carry those.

Rhi: … Shit. That’s so well-played. I have to do it! [laughter and clapping] But yeah, so you mention that, and one of the guard’s is like:

Rhi (as Guard): Ugh. Hang on, let me…

Rhi: And he like pulls out a list.

Rhi (as Guard): Yeah. We are- I think we’re getting to the end of this. Those were one of the last items. So, hang on.

Rhi: He goes into the cage and brings out a fairly large, long and kind of flat box. It’s like the kind of boxes that old wedding dresses are stored in.

Madge: Yeah.

Rhi: Yeah. It’s like that.

Rhi (as Guard): It’ll probably take both of you to carry this.

Madge (as Phin): No problem.

Rhi (as Guard): It’s not really breakable, but try not to drop it.

Rhi: He hands it to the both of you.

Madge: I fake like I’m gonna drop it, and then I catch it, and I give them a look.

Rhi: He just shakes his head.

Rhi (as Guard): I am going to be mentioning this to Captain Boatwright once we’re done here.

Madge (as Phin): Yeah. Report me.

Minna (as Myra): I think what my friend here means is that after this night is over you won’t have to deal with us anymore.

Rhi (as Guard): Yeah. I’m gonna make sure of it. Get going.

Rhi: So, the two of you have Spirit Warden uniforms.

Minna: Yeah!

Rhi: What would you like to do now?

Minna: I would like to abscond. [laughs]

Madge: From where we went in, is there like a side door that we could abscond through?

Rhi: You guys haven’t seen one yet, but like, there’s a point where when you’re walking away from the cage you’ll be out of their sight so you can turn a different direction and start looking.

Madge: Mm-hmm.

Rhi: But I think you’re gonna need to make probably another Survey roll. There is another entrance into this area, because they had to load everything in, you guys just have to find it.

Madge: Yeah! Let’s do that Survey roll! Just so you know, you’re gonna have to get better than a 1, because that’s what I rolled.

Minna: Agh! I got a 2!

Rhi: Yeah… So, you guys start wandering around with this big box, which isn’t super heavy but it’s awkward, and you’re making your way through the various shelves and things. Who is towards the front of the box?

Madge: I’ll be towards the front.

Rhi: Okay. You turn around another corner of shelves and come face to barrel with Clave aiming a pistol at your face.

Minna: Ohhh good.

Josie: Whoa…

Rhi: And we are gonna cut back over to the front room now!

Minna: Aaah!

Rhi: The auction is starting to wind down. The auctioneer looks over at the guards by the door and gives them a nod.

Rhi (as Auctioneer): And now for our final item of the evening. We have acquired a set of four—

Rhi: And then the door opens and one of the guards rushes back in and whispers in the auctioneer’s ear really urgently, and then suddenly the auctioneer’s eyes go wide, and then they look back over. You’re too far away to hear but there’s just panicked whispering.

Rhi (as Auctioneer): Um, ahem. Uh… Give us a moment, um, everyone. We’ve had a bit of a delay with the last item. Please, everyone, remain in your seats and we’ll conclude the auction shortly.

Rhi: Then the auctioneer and both of the guards who were on the door all rush through the door and go in. there’s suddenly a lot of rising murmur in the crowd where everyone’s like ‘what’s going on,’ ‘that’s supposed to be the uniforms,’ ‘did somebody steal them,’ and a lot of that sort of murmuring questions and things.

Kim (as Blaire): Sounds like that might be our cue.

Rhi: That said, yeah, there’s currently no one on the door.

Kim (as Blaire): Minx, you wanna bail?

Josie (as Minx): Yes, I think we should. Do you perhaps want to enlist our ghost friend to assist?

Kim (as Blaire): What do you mean?!

Josie (as Minx): Well, I do think they’re quite good at providing a distraction.

Kim (as Blaire): She’s gonna possess someone. No!

Josie (as Minx): I mean, surely that’s only temporary.

Rhi: Yes, it’s temporary until the person who’s being possessed dies and the ghost moves on. [laughs]

Josie: Oh. Minx knows jack shit about ghosts. [laughs]

Kim (as Blaire): No. we’re not doing that. Let’s just sneak out of here.

Josie (as Minx): [huffs] Very well, very well.

Rhi: All right. How do you wanna do your sneaking?

Josie: You know, I don’t particularly want to sneak, I just kind of want to ac natural like I’m going to the bathroom or something.

Rhi: Ah, the ‘I’m supposed to be here?’

Josie: Yeah.

Rhi: So you wanna do it as a Sway?

Josie: Yes. [laughing] That’s exactly what I’m saying.

Kim: Ooh. Actually, that works better, because I have a point in Sway.

Josie: Yay.

Rhi: Yeah! It’s gonna be risky.

Kim & Josie: Mm-hmm.

Rhi: While there are no guards immediately on the door there are still guards in the room and there’s a lot of people. Are you doing this as a group action?

Josie: I’m free to lead it, if you want.

Kim: I got a 2.

Rhi: Okay.

Josie: Six.

Kim: Oh, thank God. I’m sorry. You’re gonna have to take stress.

Rhi: Yeah, you’ll take a point of stress

Josie: That’s okay.

Rhi: Yeah, you just super casually set down your drinks, make your way up through the crowd, kind of nod at a couple people, and just open the door and walk on through.

Josie: yeah.

Rhi: So, as with Myra and Phin, you find yourselves in a room full of shelves and crates and things, and you can hear shouting coming from somewhere further back in the room. The auctioneer’s going:

Rhi (as Auctioneer): What?! Well, where did they go if you gave them- They didn’t make it up to the-
Rhi: And the other guard who didn’t really talk to Myra and Phin is like:

Rhi (as Guard): I knew they weren’t new. I knew that they had to have been—

Rhi (as Auctioneer): Well then why didn’t you say something?!

Rhi: And there’s just a lot of yelling amongst the guards.

Rhi (as Auctioneer): Spread out and find them before they leave!

Rhi: What do you two wanna do?

Madge: We’re face to face with a gun right now?

Rhi: Yeah. Yeah. You two are currently frozen with a gun in your face.

Josie: I just wanna look for them, maybe prowling about it.

Rhi: Okay. Blaire?

Kim: Yeah, following.

Rhi: Do you want to Prowl, or do you want to do something else?

Kim: No, Prowl is fine.

Rhi: Okay.

Josie: Ooh, yay, I got a 6.

Kim: I got a 3.

Rhi: With all the shouting, you two sneak, sneak, sneak, and come upon this scene of Myra and Phin in guard uniforms carrying this large box between them with an unfamiliar blonde woman pointing a pistol at Phin’s face.

Josie: Oh dear.

Rhi: Yeah, and Clave just…

Rhi (as Clave): [scratchy] Drop it.

Rhi: …and points at the box.

Josie: Can I put a pistol to Clave’s head?

Rhi: Clave is, unbeknownst to her, now flanked. So, yes, you can do that but you’re gonna have to roll to make sure she doesn’t hear you.

Josie: Okay. I got a 4.

Rhi: Okay. you get up behind her and you put the gun to her back, and she freezes and her eyes go really wide. Then, from behind Myra, another couple guards round the corner and go:

Rhi (as Guards): They’re here! We found them!

Josie (as Minx): Let’s run, dears.

[laughter]

Rhi: Well, so you’ve got… The guards are at one end of this hall of shelves, Blaire’s at the other end, and this is sort of the line-up between them with various people pointing various weapons.

Madge: Yeah, but you said these uniforms aren’t necessarily fragile, right?

Rhi: The Spirit Warden uniforms? No. They’re sturdy as hell.

Madge: Okay. Cool. I’m gonna drop the box and kick Clave.

Rhi: Okay. Do it.

Madge: And I’m doing it to cause massive damage, so I’m gonna do it as a Wreck.

Rhi: This is going to be risky, because she is pointing a gun at you, but she also has a gun pointed at her, so you know, things are a little complicated right now.

Madge: yeah. I’m gonna push myself to get a fourth die.

Rhi: Okay.

Madge: I got a critical.

Rhi: Nice!

Josie: Woo!

Rhi: Yeah. I think this is just, you’re gonna basically take her out of play with this.

Madge: Cool.

Rhi: How do you do that? It doesn’t necessarily have to be unconscious, but just in a state where she can’t interfere.

Madge: I wanna bust her kneecap with this kick.

Rhi: So, you kick her square in the knee, there’s a really nasty crunching sound, she falls over, and I’m gonna assume you grab her gun.

Madge: Yeah!

Rhi: Okay.

Madge (as Phin): Mine now.

Minna (as Myra): All right. Will somebody help me with this box?

Rhi: Well Myra, you do still have two guards behind you.

Minna: We’re going to run. … No? Aren’t we gonna run?

Josie: yeah. Uh-huh.

Madge: Yeah. I think we’re gonna run.

Kim: Let’s run.

Rhi: Okay.

Madge: I will help with the box again after I tuck the pistol away.

Rhi: There’s shouting behind you. The guards are running towards you. You all take off running. You guys still don’t know where the exit is.

Minna: Yeah, I was gonna say- Who has an out for us?

Madge: We have a perk for  this, don’t we?

Rhi: Your underground passages.

Minna: That’s true.

Madge: Yeah, we have underground passages and also someone has a ghost key?

Kim: Oh! I do.

Rhi: Yeah. Somebody can pull out your maps of the area, that of course you brought, and figure out where there’s a secret way out of here.

Minna: I feel like Blaire is the one who has the maps, usually.

Kim: Probably.

Minna: Because Blaire has the key.

Kim: Yeah.

Rhi: So, yeah. Blaire, you’re able to look, as you guys are running you pull this out, ‘okay, okay, it’s over here,’ and there’s basically a storm cellar door type thing where it’s just the two doors that open and then it leads down. On your map it says it leads down to the canals, but I think somebody’s gonna need to do something to keep these guards from following you.

Josie: I was gonna say, can I pull my second pistol and just… I don’t know. I don’t even really wanna try to hit them, but I just wanna be like whenever we round a corner I fire some shots back, make it so they can’t just run after us.

Minna: Suppressing fire. [laughs]

Josie: Yeah.

Rhi: Yeah, yeah.

Josie: Mmm, a 1 and a 3.

Rhi: Oof. Okay.

Minna: I have an idea. Can I have a lantern and break it so that a line of oil goes between us and then light that oil?

Rhi: Yes. You can totally do that, but I gotta resolve Minx’s bad roll first. Yes, I like that plan. Do you guys have ideas for what a consequence could be here?

Minna: It could be desperate position as now they’re gaining, because the covering fire didn’t work.

Madge: Yeah. I think it’s either we get into a desperate position or the opportunity to do covering fire without hurting anyone goes away. Like, any time we’re gonna try and shoot at these people it’s gonna be to hurt them.

Rhi: Yeah, okay. I like both of the options. Minx, I will let you pick which one you want.

Josie: I think we’re gonna be in a position where we can’t fight back without hurting people.

Rhi: Okay. Yeah. They’ve gained on you so much that you kind of have to shoot them in order to do some damage. They’re closing in. Myra?

Minna: Okay. Myra, from under her coat, pulls out a small lantern and she breaks it. I might have to roll something to break it precisely in such a way that it’s going to roll across the distance between us.

Rhi: You’ll have to do some kind of roll to pull this off.

Minna: I think it’s gonna look like a Finesse, maybe?

Rhi: Yeah. I think you could Finesse this.

Minna: Because she’s trying to create a line of oil between them.

Rhi: Yeah. She’s trying to do something fairly precise.

Minna: So, I’m gonna do that. I’m also gonna push myself. I got a 5.

Rhi: I’m gonna say you have reduced effect. The line of oil and fire goes up, and it startles them back, but it doesn’t create the nice, neat wall of fire you were envisioning. They can get around it, but it buys you enough time. Everybody gets down into the canals. If somebody wants to do a flashback to have your good buddies, The Gondoliers…

Several: Yes.

Josie: Do the thing.

Rhi: Who’s got the stress?

Kim: I’ll take it. I’m doing real good on stress. I only have 1 stress so far.

Rhi: Okay. I’m gonna say that this is two stress, because you guys didn’t know exactly where you were going to be coming out when you went in, so for them to be here is kind of a… it’s a combination of planning ahead and sheer luck.

Kim: Yeah. I’ll take the 2 stress.

Rhi: It’s Kay. Kay came to pick you guys up.

Josie: Yay~

Madge: Yeah~

Rhi: We haven’t seen her for a bit. I think that as you guys get down there she is just pulling up.

Rhi (as Kay): Oh, good, there you are. I’ve been circling for—Okay! You’re in a rush! All right! We’ll go!

Josie (as Minx): Yes dear, quite.

Rhi (as You all pile into the gondola, and the doors up at the top of the stairs open, and there’s shouting. She very quickly pulls you guys off down the canal, and you make it away. So, let’s go into downtime.

 

 

## Downtime [0:30:00]

Rhi: Payoff: Basically this is just an exchange of goods for services. You are going to deliver this crate of uniforms to The Silver Nails and in exchange they will get you guys into The Lost District, but otherwise you don’t make any money on this score. Out of curiosity, Myra…

Minna: Yes?

Rhi: When Clave threw that Magpie pin back at you, did you pick it up or did you leave it?

Minna: Yeah. I picked it up. I didn’t actually say that, but I was definitely thinking that.

Rhi: Okay. Yeah. I failed to ask, so that is going to change the heat on this. I think you’re only gonna take 2 heat. That said, you are still at 7 heat with a wanted level 1, so you’re still getting up there. [laughs]

Let’s see what everybody is doing in downtime. This time we will start with Blaire.

Kim: I’m gonna start with summoning Setarra again.

Rhi: Okay. How are you gonna go about getting her attention?

Kim: Mostly the same process I did last time, the ritual that I did, only this time I provided a larger source of sea water per her advice.

Rhi: [laughs] Yep. The sea water sort of burbles a little bit, and Setarra rises up out of it, and steps out looking faintly annoyed. She kind of looks down at you.

Rhi (as Setarra): What do you require?

Kim (as Blaire): I, um, I was wondering if you had any updates on that thing I gave you, if you knew anything about it.

Rhi: She tilts her head to the side, then seems to remember something.

Rhi (as Setarra): Oh… Yes.

Rhi: She makes a gesture with her hand and the acorn appears, and she just sort of tosses it at your feet.

Rhi (as Setarra): It is a seed for a tree that can no longer grow because the sun is dead. It is a waste of your time, and mine.

Kim (as Blaire): I’m sorry.

Rhi (as Setarra): It is called an acorn, if you care to know. It grew into a tree called an oak. Hopefully you are now spending your time on more worthwhile endeavors.

Kim (as Blaire): [weakly] I am. Don’t worry.

Rhi (as Setarra): Is there anything else you wanted me for, or is this it?

Kim (as Blaire): Uh, no, that was, that was kind of it.

Rhi: She scoffs and turns back towards the basin of sea water.

Rhi (as Setarra): Focus on things that are more worthy of your time and talents. Call me when you have something useful.

Rhi: Then she steps into the sea water and disappears.

Kim (as Blaire): Okay…

Rhi: You wanna pick up your acorn?

Kim: Yeah. Blaire is gonna very carefully and gingerly pick up the acorn, and walk home. [exhales]

Rhi: Okay…

Minna: [sad whimper]

Rhi: How about I mix things up? I’m not gonna go in exact order. Let’s do Myra next.

Minna: So, I think it’s some time later when things have calmed down. Myra comes to Phin when they’re at The Nest.

Minna (as Myra): Hey, I wanted to thank you for earlier. You really stepped up for me.

Madge (as Phin): Well, tch, yeah, of course I would. You’re the closest friend I have…

Minna (as Myra): It meant a lot.

Madge (as Phin): …and she was a jerk.

Minna (as Myra): Yeah. I guess, I just wanted to let you know that it means a lot to me that I have somebody like you.

Madge (as Phin): Well, I’m glad that I can be there for you. Seriously, if you ever need me to beat up anyone else, just ask.

Minna (as Myra): [giggles] I have to tell you, I haven’t had to deal with her in quite a while.

Madge (as Phin): Yeah, I figured, if she didn’t know.

Minna (as Myra): Yeah.

Madge (as Phin): You don’t really talk about that group very much.

Minna (as Myra): Yeah- Most of the time I’d rather not. Um, it wasn’t a great situation, I got out of it, and met you guys.

Madge (as Phin): Yeah. If you ever wanna, you know, dig into that, I’m here to listen… and punch faces if necessary.

Minna (as Myra): [laughs] I guess it doesn’t feel like there’s a lot to talk about. I mean, there’s a lot in the past, but I’d rather it didn’t matter now. You know?

Madge (as Phin): Yeah. Yeah, totally.

Minna (as Myra): [deep breath] I’ve got something new going, and it’s better.

Madge (as Phin): Muy better.

Minna: These two idiots. They’re so bad about talking about their feelings. I could just hear the palpable awkwardness in both of their voices. It’s great.

[laughter]

Madge: But at the end of it, I think, Phin will be like:

Madge (as Phin): I know that you want it to stay in the past, and I totally respect that, but I want you to know… I’m glad I have you on my team, and I’m glad that we took that job together, because my life is way more interesting with you in it.

Minna (as Myra): Me too. … Do you want breakfast? [laughs]

Madge (as Phin): Yeah. [laughs]

Rhi: Yay, friendship.

Minna: [giggles]

Rhi: Let’s then go to Minx. Do you want to do picking up your art?

Josie: Yeah, sure. Let’s just do that.

Rhi: I think it’s just, there’s a storefront somewhere else in Crow’s Foot where you’re supposed to report to pick up your thing. Tell me how this goes, how you approach the situation, knowing that there’s a chance that you’re gonna get recognized going in here.

Josie: I think she’s gonna wear an outfit that usually isn’t like her, not something too painful to wear but something that’s just not her color. I don’t know. She’s just gonna slightly put them off so they’ll have to like ask if she was there and not just be like ‘hey you were there.’

Rhi: Yeah. You head into this shop. I think it’s just kind of like a general house goods type store. There are utensils, plates, bowls, and towels and stuff like that. The directions that are part of the invitation tell you where to go to collect your winnings. There’s a counter sort of off to the side where there’s a very bored looking young man just kind of staring off into space who doesn’t quite seem to notice you when you step up in front of him.

Josie (as Minx): [clears throat]

Rhi (as Young Man): Oh. Um- Sorry. Sorry. What can I do for you?

Josie (as Minx): Yes, I’m picking up a delivery.

Rhi (as Young Man): Oh. A delivery? Or were you here for the, um…

Josie (as Minx): I was here the other night.

Rhi (as Young Man): Ah. Yes. Do you have your card?

Josie (as Minx): I do.

Josie: I hand it to him.

Rhi: He looks at it and flips through a ledger. He spins the ledger around to face you and says:

Rhi (as Young Man): Sign here. Let me go get it.

Rhi: And he disappears into the back. You can see, because he’s just sort of left you alone with this ledger, a lot of other people have already picked their stuff up. You can see that there has been a signature put down for the map.

Josie: Gotcha.

Rhi: So, Tesslyn has picked that up.

Josie: Well, I’ll sign just some bullshit fake signature, but can I like, in a small pocketbook or something, scribble down as best I can a copy of that signature?

Rhi: Oh yeah. Sure. I’ll let you do that.

Josie: Yeah. I’m not trying to get a super accurate forgery, I just want to remember it.

Rhi: Mm-hmm. So yeah, as you finish doing that he comes back with a small wooden box.

Rhi (as Young Man): Okay. Let me check the number… Yup. That all matches.

Rhi: He tells you how much you owe, you pay that amount, and then he hands you the wooden box.

Rhi (as Young Man): Have a- Have a good day.

Josie (as Minx): A-All right. Thank you, dear.

Josie: I’ll kind of pause at the door awkwardly, thinking to myself, well that surely went smoothly. [laughs] I head back to The Nest with a bit of a spring in my step.

Rhi: Yep, and a brand new painting. I feel like the walls are getting pretty covered with art.

Josie: Yeah. [laughs]

Rhi: It’s getting a little crowded. Minx is gonna have to start rotating them.

Josie: Also… Where’s Kevin?

Rhi: I don’t know. Where is Kevin? I think last we heard Kevin was keeping Blaire company at her bedside while she was recovering from a broken leg, but I am certain he has moved since then.

Josie: I think Kevin is by Minx’s door with a fashionable sunhat on, even though sunhats aren’t really a thing, but you know, fashion.

Rhi: Yeah, just a broad brimmed hat.

Josie: Yes. [laughs]

Rhi: Very good. We’ll go to you all making the delivery of the uniforms. How do you think you guys get there?

Josie: I presume the way we did the first time.

Rhi: Yeah. [laughs] Just carrying this giant box.

Josie: Well, I mean, we might be able to pack it into smaller boxes or something.

Madge: Yeah, four smaller boxes, I think.

Rhi: Okay. That makes sense. Yeah. When you guys are doing that repacking it is indeed four sets of complete Spirit Warden uniforms with the masks, head concealing hoods, gloves, the coats, everything. A couple of you notice as you’re packing these away there’s a couple blood stains. They’re fairly small, don’t really show up that much on the dark blue fabric, but they’re there.

Josie: Hmm… Okay.

Rhi: But yeah, you get them packed up, boxed up, and head up to The Mustang. This time you come in carrying a bunch of packages, and the woman behind the desk sees you, and her eyes widen a little bit.

Rhi (as Woman): Uh- Head on into the bar and have a seat. I’ll get Tuhan for you.

Rhi: So, after a couple minutes Tuhan comes back in and sort of looks at the boxes piled up on the table.

Rhi (as Tuhan): I’ll be damned. I’ll be honest, not 100% sure that you were actually gonna pull this off, but very glad to be wrong.

Madge (as Phin): Yeah, we live to surprise.

Rhi: She opens up one of the boxes.

Rhi (as Tuhan): [whistles] Wow. All right. Yeah. These are gonna come in very handy.

Rhi: She closes the box again and sort of pats the lid.

Rhi (as Tuhan): All right. We’ll need a couple days to get things ready on our side. Have any of you ever been out to The Deathlands?

Kim (as Blaire): I have.

Rhi (as Tuhan): All right. Well, so you can probably help them out a bit then, but make sure you’ve got weapons, ammo, light sources, anything that you have to ward off or combat spirits. We are not responsible for your safety over there. That’s all on you. If you come back we’ll get you out, but we’re not gonna make sure you come back. I just wanna be clear about that.

Minna (as Myra): That’s completely fair.

Rhi (as Tuhan): All right. Well then…

Rhi: She gestures over for somebody else to come and collect the boxes, and she kind of scoops one up under her arm.

Rhi (as Tuhan): Come back here in two days, and we’ll get ready for a trip.

 

 

## 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 [0:41:50]

Minna (as Myra): After this night is over you won’t have to deal with us anymore.

Rhi (as Guard): Yeah. I’m gonna make sure of it. Get going.

Minna: [sweetly] Oh, hi soft baby~

[bursting laughter]

Rhi: [laughing] Fucking— A cat! A cat walks in front of you. Myra is utterly distracted.

Minna: [gasping, laughing] He jumped up onto my bed. It was really cute.

[giggling]

Rhi: Oh, that was good. I’m gonna have a lot of really good outtakes for this episode.

Minna: I’m so sorry that this is the only way.

Josie: I think we found our bumper.

Rhi: Yep!