Download a Word doc version of the transcript: Magpies Podcast tc S01E16 The Centuralia Club Score Part 1

Transcript created by Lyra Song.

## Intro

Rhi: Welcome back to Duskwall. As always, thank you so much for listening. Your reviews, ratings, tweets, #MagpiesLiveCallEpisode livetweeting, and amazing fanart mean the world to us. We love seeing all of it.

Only one announcement this time, and it is that I will be at AcadeCon in Dayton, Ohio this November. If you’re going, track me down and get a cool Magpies bookmark.

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

Minna: According to the True Colors Fund, as many as 1.6 million youth experience homelessness every year, and up to 40% of that number are LGBT+. In Pinellas County, Florida, Family Resources and local stakeholders and community partners gathered to talk and develop a strategic plan to address this problem locally. Safe Connections Resource Center is part of their strategic plan to provide homeless youth with a central point of access for needed services that are imperative to their safety and survival, including basic needs assessment, counseling, and referrals. Family Resources is raising money to renovate a building and open the Resource Center, which is meant for LGBT+ youth and young adults up to the age of 24. If you would like to help make Safe Connections possible, go to www.giveakidahome.org to make a donation. That’s www.giveakidahome.org.

Rhi: If you’re able, consider donating a few dollars. In addition, for our American listeners, please check to make sure you’re registered to vote. There have been continuing issues with voter registration throughout the country, and ensuring early that you are registered is one of the best ways to defend against voter suppression. In addition, please visit 5calls.org and contact your representatives. It’s critical that they know their votes in Congress will determine your vote in the midterms.

Now, then. Let’s get started, shall we?

## [00:02:03] Story resumes

Rhi: Previously, you all had made a deal with The Silver Nails to get you into The Lost District to locate an artifact The Circle of Flame was interested in. You infiltrated a black market auction, stole some Spirit Warden uniforms, and, in exchange for those uniforms, The Silver Nails got you into The Lost District, where you had exciting run-ins with ghost dogs and collapsing floorboards and harvesters that almost set the entire district on fire.

Josie: Yes, it was the harvester that did that, not us.

Rhi: [laugh] After you all had returned to Duskwall and recovered from your various encounters, you got a note from Lani and Roxanne that basically said they had made a break in their research into The Circle of Flame, and asked you to come over to The North Hook Mirror offices as soon as you were able.

So, I think we open up in, once again, Lani and Roxanne’s very small, cramped, note-filled office. They both look a little agitated and disturbed. Roxanne gestures for you to close the door, and once it’s shut, Lani picks up a sheaf of papers and spreads them out in front of her, and then starts signing with Roxanne interpreting.

Rhi (as Lani): We’re looking into a number of leads on The Circle of Flame. After you confirmed that Ambassador Avrathi was part of it, we were looking into her dealings. We’ve been continuing to look into The Centuralia Club, and that’s where we got our break. In the last month or so, six servants who worked at The Centuralia Club have gone missing.

Minna (as Myra): Ooh.

Rhi (as Lani): Duskwall… People go missing all the time. But they usually don’t all work at the same place, and it doesn’t happen this quickly. We’ve talked with some family and friends of the people who have disappeared, and they all said that the people they knew who worked at the club went there for work as usual, and then just never came back. Now, we’re pretty sure that the reason nothing’s been done is because of, you know, bribes in the right places. But if we… Well, if you can find evidence or proof of what happened to these people, tying it to The Centuralia Club or The Circle of Flame, and we go public with it, no amount of bribes is going to keep The Inspectors from doing their work. So, we need you to get into the club and find out anything you can.

Josie (as Minx): [gasp] We get to go into The Centuralia Club! This is the dream! Sorry, why are we even going in, again?

Madge (as Phin): Because we need to expose corrupt people?

Josie (as Minx): Ah, yes. Quite right. Ahem. Um, and, indeed, with security in that place, it is most likely an inside job, so, yes, we will need to thoroughly inspect the interior of the club. Yes.

Rhi: Roxanne, as she’s translating this for Lani, rolls her eyes a little bit. Lani shakes her head, leans over the desk, and pulls out a sack of coin and sets it on the desk. She adds:

Rhi (as Lani): This is the money that we owe you for the copy of that letter you gave us, and what little we could scrape together for this job. It’s 4 coin total. Hopefully that’s enough for what we’re asking. We’re pretty sure that if we can go public with this information, we can… I don’t think this will take them down, but I think it’ll do some serious damage.

Madge (as Phin): Yeah, it’ll be enough.

Josie (as Minx): This should indeed be sufficient. The club shall provide payment of its own, but funds to get in the door are always appreciated.

Rhi (as Lani): We don’t really have much information that we can share. I think you probably know more about the club than we do at this point. But if there’s anything that we can do to help as you’re preparing, just let us know.

Josie (as Minx): We shall. And thank you. You’ve done quite a bit already.

Rhi: Any other info you would like to get out of the two of them?

Josie: Not especially. They’ve given us quite a bit already.

Rhi: Okay.

Josie: I’ll sign goodbyes.

## [00:06:39]

Rhi: The four of you head back to The Nest to start planning your next moves. Blaire has been really quiet and thoughtful-seeming on the walk back, and as you all gather in the common room, her eyes suddenly go big, and she goes:

Kim (as Blaire): [gasp] I have an idea!

Rhi: And runs off into her room.

Kim: Blaire rushes off into her room. She kneels onto the ground and reaches for this medium-sized trunk that she keeps under her bed. She opens it. It is velvet-lined on the inside, and the scrying crystal sphere is in there. And she’s gonna pick it up very carefully, pet it, dust it off a little. There’s no dust on it, but she’s just stroking it to get the Eye’s attention, like:

Kim (as Blaire): Hey, little guy. Remember me? It’s been awhile.

Rhi: The Eye very quickly swivels around and looks at you, and is twitching a little bit. It seems to be almost expectant.

Kim: Mm.

Kim (as Blaire): Ah, you missed me!

Rhi: Twitch, twitch, twitch.

Kim and Rhi: [laughter]

Kim (as Blaire): [sigh] Okay. I need to know what the connection is with all these missing persons at The Centuralia Club.

Rhi: You are focusing on that, and you’re holding the Eye.

Kim (as Blaire): Yeah. It is eye-level with me. I’m holding it very close to my face.

Rhi: It keeps twitching a little bit, and then it makes eye contact with you. Your vision whites out for a second. Then, your eyes are still open, and if you focus really hard, you can see your room, you can see your hand holding the Eye in front of your face. But overlaid in front of that is a not-very-large, low-ceilinged room. Three of the walls are made out of stone; one of the walls looks like it’s made out of steel plates, almost the kind of thing that would make up the hull of a ship. In the middle of the room is a large stone slab that’s at about a 45-degree angle. It’s pained with arcane runes and there are leather restraints.

Kim: [gasp] Ooh, okay.

Rhi: Like, hanging open. The floor and the ceiling below and above the slab are also painted with runes. You can also see off to one side there’s a small table. It holds some bottles, some papers, some tomes. You’re standing in such a way that you can’t see the door, and, physically, you turn a little bit to look, and there’s a little bit of a delay, but your vision slowly shifts—not at the same rate that your head turns, but it kind of drifts, turning—and behind you is the door. It seems like you are able to move with this a little bit. This’ll be, basically, your Gather Information roll to see what else you can find out. You could do Attune, you could do Survey, you could do Study. It just depends on how you wanna approach.

Kim: I’m okay with Attune. I’m gonna role that.

Rhi: Okay.

Kim: 5.

Rhi: Okay, you get a standard amount of information. You slowly turn and see the door. You drift through the door, and it leads you out into a very small hallway. There’s another door a little bit down the hallway from you on your other side; there is a flight of stairs leading up. Which way do you head?

Kim: I know I have a limited amount of time, but I’m not sure if I want to leave this room just yet. I’m interested—do I recognize the runes written on this slab or the ceiling or the floor? Can I read them?

Rhi: Yeah. If you turn back and go to look, on the slab a lot of the runes have to do with binding and restraint. The ones on the floor and ceiling have to do with knowledge and sight. But that is pretty much what you’re able to see. You have a general sense of the layout. It feels like it might be a basement, but that’s really all you’re able to see before your vision starts to fade, and you can tell that if you pushed more energy into it, you could maintain the connection. As this one minute ends, you take 5 stress.

Kim: Woah! Oh, lordy! Okay. I am… I am not gonna maintain the connection.

Rhi: Tell me what happens as Blaire breaks this connection.

Kim: Her peripheral vision just stretches. It’s almost as if she’s being sucked through a wormhole, and all of a sudden, she is just back in her body; she is jostled back into the present. She is just… Immediately, a buzzing in her head. She is so disoriented. She still has the Eye in her hands. She doesn’t drop it. She’s aware enough to know that there’s something fragile in her hands, and she’s not about to drop it. But she is completely out of sorts, to the point where, for a few seconds, I think, she is not even aware of where she is.

Rhi: The door to Blaire’s room creaks open after a couple minutes, and she staggers out. She is ashen pale, she’s got blood coming from her nose, does not look steady on her feet, her eyes are bloodshot.

Josie (as Minx): Oh my goodness.

Rhi: She just goes:

Kim (as Blaire): I… saw some things.

Rhi: And then collapses.

Minna (as Myra): She used the Eye? She used the Eye, didn’t she?

Minna: Myra runs forward.

Madge: Phin is shortly after.

Josie: Minx is gonna scramble to get something under her head and be like:

Josie (as Minx): No! Precious baby, we’ll take care of you!

Rhi: Blaire, it looks like she just fainted. She comes to after a few moments. If any of you ask “did you use the Eye,” she winces, and she explains that while you all were preparing for the Embassy score, she had held the eye and thought about Avrathi and got this split second flash of Avrathi’s office, so she thought she could do that again to see if she could figure something out about the club. And it worked; she did. She tells you what she saw by looking in there. But she looks in pretty bad shape now.

Josie (as Minx): All right. Well, looks like we might have a place to investigate.

Madge (as Phin): Mhmm.

Josie (as Minx): I don’t especially want to go to such a place, but…

Rhi: You guys are able to help her up and get her into bed. She keeps saying:

Kim (as Blaire): I just need to get some rest, and then I’ll be fi—

Rhi: And then she passes out again.

Josie: Minx insists on there being a small meal and a glass of water next to her bed.

Rhi: That’s Blaire’s contribution to the Gather Information phase. She is going to be recovering from it for the rest of the session, ‘cause using that Eye takes a whole lot of stress.

Josie: Mhmm.

Rhi: Also, before you guys get into the Gather Information phase for yourselves, just to refresh on what you had learned about the club previously when you had investigated quite a while ago: Phin knows where two guards at the club live, and knows that one of them is about her size in terms of uniform. You guys know that it costs 4 coin to get in the front door, and that there is either some kind of passcode or token or something that you have to offer at the door in order to get in. I think those are the key things that you know. But you are free to do other investigating.

Josie (as Minx): I think something that will inform our investigations is, do we want to send in anyone legitimately, or shall we all be deceiving and sneaking our way in?

Madge (as Phin): If you want us to be in there by your own coin, you can totally do that, Minx.

Josie (as Minx): It’s simply a matter of the feasibility of getting in otherwise, and whether that’s within our capability.

Madge (as Phin): Yeah. We can pay for at least one person to get in, I think, and that person can be you. I know where I can get a uniform roughly in my size, given that my girl isn’t one of the people who’s been taken, and we can track down a second.

Rhi: The guards that Phin knows about, there’s two of them. They live in the same place. So, in theory, if you get both of those uniforms, Phin and Myra could get in as guards, and Minx could go in the front door.

Josie: Right.

Rhi: I will also add, you do know that thanks to some of your doings, some of the doings of an unknown, mysterious incident on a cargo ship, the numbers of the guards at the club have been thinned, so having new guards showing up might be plausible.

Josie (as Minx): That does seem like a solid plan. I shall enter through the front by way of payment, and you all shall enter through the guard passage.

Rhi: You’ll need to get the uniforms first.

Josie: Let’s get those. Those are pretty important.

Madge: Mhmm.

Rhi: Okay. What I’m thinking, then, is I’ll have you guys do a group Gather Information check. You’ll all pick whatever action you’re gonna do. The result of that Gather Information will determine what you’re able to get out of this uniform theft.

Madge: Okay. I’m gonna be using Prowl for this one.

Minna: I’m also going to use Prowl. I did 5.

Madge: I got a 6.

Josie: I got a 5.

Rhi: Cool. That means the result is a 6. You’re able to get the uniforms. Phin, since you got the 6, do you wanna narrate how it all goes off without a hitch?

Madge: I think it runs like the embassy score should have run. [laugh]

Josie: [laugh]

Madge: Minx and Myra down in front distracting anyone who would be poking their nose into what’s going on; then Phin sneaks in through a window—through their window, specifically; the guards, their window—and is able to get in and out without anyone stopping her.

Rhi: So, you’ve got two pristine uniforms for The Centuralia Club guards. Any other prep stuff you wanna do, or do you just wanna launch straight into the score?

Madge: Let’s launch it.

Josie: Yeah, let’s do this shit.

Rhi: We’re gonna start with Minx heading up the path through the gates towards the club. You get up to the front door, where there’s a pair of guards standing there. They look at you expectantly.

Josie: Indeed, indeed. I’m gonna pay them using the money we just got given. I’m dressed as best as I can; got a poofy skirt going on. I’ll introduce myself as Sonia Kross, with a K.

Rhi: [chuckle] One of the guards leads you around to the side of the building, to where there’s a small addon office, where he takes your money and puts it a safe, and has you sign an agreement. It’s basically a big, flowery non-disclosure agreement. After you’ve signed it, he gives you a medallion that has this very elaborate engraving of the club building itself. There’s some gold and silver plating on it. He hands it to you and says:

Rhi (as Guard): This is your club membership. As long as you hold this, you are a member of the club. If you lose it, if it stolen, then you lose your membership, and you will have to pay again to regain it. It is at our discretion if we grant you membership again if you are found to be careless with it. But hopefully that will not be a concern for you. Allow me to escort you inside.

Josie (as Minx): No need for such a worry. It shall not leave my person. Lead the way.

Rhi: He walks you back over to the doors. When you get there, he tells you:

Rhi (as Guard): When you come up to the doors, you show us the token like this.

Rhi: And he demonstrates. Once you’ve done it, he gives you an approving nod.

Rhi (as Guard): Welcome to The Centuralia Club.

Rhi: And the guards both push the doors open. Minx, you step into the entry hall and are almost completely overwhelmed by everything. There’s marble floors, marble columns that are woven with veins of gold and silver, there’s crystal chandeliers hanging above you, fine tapestries and beautiful art on the walls. In the back of this entry hall, there’s a wide marble staircase leading up to the second floor. There are open doorways all along the entry hall leading further into the club. All over, there are beautiful, wealthy people wearing beautiful, perfect clothing. The doors close behind you, and you are just standing there slack-jawed, which draws a few stares. People are noticing you.

Josie: But it’s so beautiful!

Rhi: We’re gonna pull away from Minx for a moment, leaving her gaping at the place of her dreams and cut around to the back of the club.

## [00:20:25]

Rhi: It’s a back alley that is fenced off. Myra and Phin, the fact that the two of you were wearing uniforms, you were able to talk your way past the guards who are at either end of the alley. The guard station, the room that you’re brought into, has a couple of tables and chairs. One of the tables has a few bottles of wine and some communal plates of food. There is a large weapons cage that has a very heavy, impressive-looking locked door in front of it. Sitting at a desk in front of this armory is a middle-aged man; tanned skin, same uniform, has a scar across his forehead. When the two of you are brought in, he looks up and frowns, and looks back and forth.

Rhi (as Guard): Uh, who are you?

Minna (as Myra): Just hired on today.

Madge (as Phin): Yeah. We’re new.

Rhi (as Guard): Um, hm.

Rhi: He starts shuffling through his papers.

Rhi (as Guard): I wasn’t told to expect any new hires. Uh…

Madge (as Phin): Yeah, and we weren’t expecting to get hired. But then, people get killed and we have to fill in.

Rhi: He’s still eyeing you suspiciously. At this point, you guys will have to make a roll of some kind to persuade him that you’re totally supposed to be here.

Minna: I feel like the precedent we’ve set is that this would be a Sway.

Madge: Yeah.

Rhi: And it is risky.

Minna: Do we wanna do a group?

Madge: I can do it.

Minna: Oh, okay.

Madge: I mean, I’m the one who’s talking.

Minna: Okay.

Madge: I got a 4.

Rhi: Hmm… So they believe you, but there’s a consequence. Hang on. I gotta think about what a good consequence here would be. They believe you but something still goes wrong…

Josie: Could be, like, they immediately put you on some onerous task that would be hard to get away from.

Madge: Yeah, grunt work or something.

Minna: Yeah, I like that.

Rhi: Yeah, yeah. Okay, yeah.

Rhi (as Guard): Well, I don’t have you down, but it’s fine. Yeah, if… We do need some additional guards up on the second floor, so if you two wanna head up there, it’s pretty boring patrol work. Try not to pay too much attention to who you see and what you hear. We have a policy of maintaining the privacy of the club members, so…
Minna (as Myra): Right.

Madge (as Phin): Mhmm, mhmm, got it.

Rhi: Rather than pointing you out into the club proper, he actually gets up from the desk and walks over to another door behind him and opens it up. It just leads to a dark, narrow staircase that heads up.

Rhi (as Guard): We’ve got secret passages in the walls here all through the club. It lets us and the servants get around without being seen. Yeah, just stay on patrol up there; just through the halls. Make sure that nobody’s trying to break into anybody else’s room, or overdosed, or choking on their own vomit, or… You know. The usual sort of things.

Madge (as Phin): Okay, so, babysitting.

Rhi (as Guard): Yeah. You’re the new ones. Have fun.

Madge (as Phin): Great.

Rhi (as Guard): Shift’s up in four hours.

Rhi: And he points at the door.

Madge: Then Phin is gonna go.

Minna: Yeah.

Madge: Phin’s good at babysitting.

Minna: [laughing] She’s probably had to do quite a lot of it.

Madge: Yeah. [laugh]

Rhi: The two of you head up into this secret passage, up to the second floor.

## [00:23:58]

Rhi: Meanwhile, Minx, you are standing there, looking around. A couple people come up to you after you’ve been staring for a while. One of them is like:

Rhi (as Club Member): Uh, are you all right? Have you hit your head or something?

Josie (as Minx): Oh! No, no. Sorry. I was… It is my first time, and I was simply… I am– I am a bit of an architect, you see, and I was admiring the design.

Rhi (as Club Member): Ah, well, I mean, it’s [scoffing] not that good. It’s simply a repurposed manor home. If they’d built something from the ground up, this could have been truly spectacular. But I suppose it will do.

Josie (as Minx): Indeed. Although, perhaps that happening is not out of the question, at some point in the future. Is there a schedule about, or shall we simply retire?

Rhi (as Club Member): Oh, you can do whatever you like. There’s the dining hall, the music room, there’s some lounges, and then, for more private entertainment, you can head upstairs.

Josie (as Minx): Ah. I think I shall be enjoying the music room. Care to join me?

Rhi (as Club Member): [sigh]

Rhi: They look you up and down, and are clearly—not even trying to hide it—judging your clothes.

Rhi (as Club Member): Uh, no. We’re on our way elsewhere. But do have fun.

Josie (as Minx): Very well, very well.

Rhi: They head off.

Josie: All right. I think I will actually head towards the music room. Minx is maybe gonna take a little while to actually appreciate some things, and probably feel uncharacteristically embarrassed, being looked down on in this situation.

Rhi: Yeah. The music room is easy enough to find. There’s piano music and a vocalist that can be heard. There’s a couple people who seem to be actually listening to the music, bust most of the people in this room are having their own conversations, some of them pretty loud. One of them you hear, it’s a group of nobles standing off in a corner. One of them is very loudly complaining about having to find a new carriage driver.

Rhi (as Noble): The last one was so unreliable! He kept claiming sick family, but I’m certain it was drink. It’s just so hard to find good help these days.

Rhi: The others are acting very sympathetic, and complaining about a lot of their staff and the problems that they have with keeping good people around.

Josie: I don’t think Minx can stay in any one place too long, ‘cause if I am already visibly looked down upon, I will likely end up being the girl sitting alone. I don’t wanna be that; I don’t wanna draw attention right now.

Rhi: Okay.

Josie: Contrary to all of Minx’s instincts, [laughing] she is going to try to be subtle, and, in general, get the full layout of the place in those areas I can walk in.

Rhi: Okay. It seems like the front half of the first floor is open to you. You cross the hall and peek in and see the dining hall, which, basically, looks like a miniature restaurant and bar. There’s a lot of tables that are draped in linen and set with china. You can smell the food that’s being served. It’s unlike anything that you’ve ever smelled before; definitely nothing that you’ve ever had the coin to be able to afford to eat. Most of the nobles leave their plates half-eaten. It seems like a lot of the food is just being thrown out.

There’s a few rooms that are just lounges, sort of, where the lighting is a little lower. There’s a lot of couches and chase lounges where people are just sitting about on them. There’s a couple servants standing by, serving drinks and refreshments. There’s a side table that holds a silver bowl that is full of something that you have only ever read about. It is about half full of small apple slices. Apples are one of those things that everybody has heard of them, but it would be like for people in our status, in our world, of having a private jet. It’s not something that we every expect to be able to experience. There’s just a bowl of apples sitting out here in this room.

Josie: And I can just take them?

Rhi: Mhmm.

Josie: I’m gonna get a plate of apples.

Rhi: They are crisp and tart and sweet and delicious, and while you’re standing there savoring these apples, you are just looking around the room. There’s a trio of women standing off to the side. They have wine glasses, and they’re talking and laughing, and there’s a young man in a servants’ uniform kneeling down beside them, cleaning up spilled wine with a towel. Just as he finishes up, one of the women glances over and smirks, and just dumps the rest of her glass out on the floor and, partially, on him. Even from across the room, you can see him grit his teeth, and then stand up and apologize, and leave the room to go get a fresh towel. As soon as he’s turned his back, they all start laughing at him.

Josie: Minx has to stop herself from striding towards them. She takes one step, but then realizes that there’s a lot of people here and this is not the time. She’s gonna cover her mouth with her handkerchief, but just fucking fume for a little bit.

Rhi: I think that’s where we’ll leave Minx for the moment, just glowering at everyone in here.

Josie: Mhmm.

## [00:29:52]

Rhi: I think, cinematically, the camera goes up from Minx, up through the floor, to the hallway, where we see Phin and Myra walking down a hall that has a number of doors lining it. It seems like this area is reasonably soundproofed, but you can still hear muffled laughter, muffled moaning; a whole variety of interesting sounds coming from the other sides of these doors. There are a couple servants around, but don’t really seem to be any other guards. So, what would the two of you like to do?

Minna: I guess I’m trying to thing where we’re going to be trying to look for information about this.

Rhi: Well, from what Blaire told you, the vision that she had using the Eye, she thought that there was some kind of thing in an underground location.

Minna: So, we’d be trying to go down, if at all possible.

Madge: Yeah.

Rhi: There is the secret passages that you could try to check out and see where that will get you. You could also just try to head down the main stairs and see if you’re able to find your way anywhere.

Minna: If we can find the secret passages, that’d be best. I’m gonna, I think, maybe try a Survey.

Rhi: Okay.

Madge: I will follow with.

Minna: Uh, that’s a 4.

Rhi: The two of you very slowly move through the halls, looking at the walls, trying to see if you can find anything. As you’re doing this, you notice that one of the servant’s who’s up here is starting to notice that you’re not acting like normal guards on patrol. So, you can either withdraw and try a different approach, or you can do it but there is some kind of minor consequence.

Minna: I think I’m going to try a different approach.

Madge: I’m gonna stay on target.

Rhi: Okay, Phin is going to keep searching, so that’s gonna be a risky roll for you. Myra, what do you want to attempt?

Minna: If Phin’s gonna press on, I think Myra’s going to take her cue and also press on.

Rhi: Okay. Then Phin, go ahead and make roll to continue searching, but it is gonna be risky.

Madge: I’m gonna use a Prowl for this one. Okay, so, 6 and a 4.

Rhi: All right. You are able to find another secret passage that will lead you down. You step out into the kitchen, which is fairly large, very crowded, and very, very hot. There’s several ovens and stoves running; there are servants rushing around preparing food, carrying food out. A couple of them shoot you confused looks, but they are clearly too busy to slow down and do anything about the fact that the two of you have just wandered in here.

As you move into the kitchen, you see that the back door is open, and you hear shouting coming from that direction.

Madge: Someone’s in trouble! Let’s go look.

Rhi: [laughter]

Minna: All right.

Rhi: If you guys make your way over there, you see: filling most of the doorway, is a fairly tall, burly-looking man, also in a servants’ uniform, but his has a bit more of the brass detailing on it—it’s a little fancier than everybody else’s. He is mid-tirade, yelling at a young woman who’s in a regular servants’ uniform, who is not huddled on the ground, but hunched over on herself, curled in on herself and crying.

Madge: Yeah. She’s on the way to the ground, at this point, right?

Rhi: Yeah. As you get closer, you hear him.

Rhi (as Boss): You have no right to that! None. That is not for you! I don’t care where it is, if it’s on these tables or in the trash. That is not yours, and you are stealing from the club.

Rhi: You hear her in between the sobs.

Rhi (as Servant): [sobbing] It was… It was in the trash. It wasn’t going to be used, and my parents need the—

Rhi (as Boss): I don’t care!

Rhi: He shoves her back a step and is like:

Rhi (as Boss): Get out. You are done!

Rhi: She’s continuing to cry and plead with him.

Madge (as Phin): Sir?

Rhi: He stops, a little taken aback that anybody is addressing him, and whirls around.

Rhi (as Boss): What are you doing in here? Are you lost? The guard station is that way.

Madge (as Phin): I’m here to investigate the theft.

Rhi (as Boss): There’s nothing that needs to be investigated. I caught her pulling food out of the trash behind the place. There’s no investigation.

Madge (as Phin): I don’t really have any say on whether I wanna be here or not. They just told me something happened down here and I needed to come and get statements. So, are you gonna let me do my job, or do you wanna have the club be down another guard tonight?

Rhi: Gonna need to make a roll?

Madge: Yeah, I know.

Rhi: [laugh]

Madge: [nervous noises]

Josie: [laughter]

Madge: Okay, that sounds like a… That’s Sway, that’s what that is.

Minna: Or a Command, if you have that.

Madge: Ooh! Yeah.

Rhi: And this is gonna be risky.

Madge: I know, ‘cause I am per hour and he is salaried.

Rhi: Mhmm.

Minna: [laugh]

Madge: I rolled a 1.

Rhi: Oh no.

Minna: Oh no.

Josie: Oh God.

Madge: I messed up real bad, that’s what happened here.

Rhi: He just stares at you for a second, bewildered that anyone would dare talk to him this way, and then moves in toward you.

Rhi (as Boss): I am not doing a goddamn thing that you say. Get your ass out of my kitchen or I will have you fired, too. Now, go.

Rhi: You lose this opportunity. He’s just not—

Madge: I’m gonna… I know he’s not gonna do anything for me, but can I punch him?

Rhi: Yeah. Yeah, you sure can. Yup, you can 100% punch him.

Madge: Yeah, cool. ‘Cause he’s a jerk. [laughter]

Rhi: [laugh]

Madge: 6! [triumphant laugh]

Rhi: [laughing] Jesus.

Everyone: [laughter]

Minna: This is the most Phin thing ever, just this set of two rolls, here.

Rhi: Holy shit.

Josie: Yeah, you don’t talk to Phin like that.

Rhi: Tell me what this very solid hit looks like.

Madge: I’m picturing this guy as a mountain of a man. Is that correct?

Rhi: Yeah. He’s pretty tall.

Madge: Okay. And I’m a shrimp of a girl, aside from my muscles. So, uppercut! A big lil’ Doomfist-style jump and uppercut at the same time to get him square in the jaw.

Rhi: He was not expecting it at all.

Madge: Yeah, of course he wouldn’t. He wouldn’t expect anyone to raise a hand against him. He doesn’t even like people talking to him.

Rhi: Yeah. His head snaps back. You can see a little spurt of blood come out of his mouth. The kitchen goes dead silent.

Madge: [grunting] I do this.

Rhi: Everybody stops moving and just staring. He’s slowly lowering his head to look at you but hasn’t moved yet. He’s still also recovering from the shock of this. You guys have an opportunity to do something here, before this escalates further.

Madge: Everyone’s gone silent. I’m gonna look around, and I’m gonna be like:

Madge (as Phin): Get back to work!

Madge: Then I’m gonna run. [laugh]

Josie, Minna, and Rhi: [laughter]

Rhi: Yup. Where…? [laugh] Where are you running to?

Madge: Towards the girl who was getting chewed out, is there a path past her?

Rhi: I’ll tell you what the exits are. There’s the secret passage that you came through; there’s a hallway that leads to the guard station, that you can see; there’s a door that, when you guys first came in here, you saw swinging open and shut, that looks like it leads out into the main hall; and then there’s a cellar door that’s propped open and that is a flight of stairs heading down.

Madge: Okay. What I wanna do is I wanna do sort of a slingshot around the moon to get a trajectory sort of thing, where I slingshot around the Mr. Doucheface and grab the girl, and then head for the cellar.

Rhi: Okay, you’re gonna do that, and that will be a roll. Myra, what are you doing?

Minna: Do you think that Myra can tell Phin’s intentions, like, where’s she’s planning to go?

Madge: Oh, yeah. They’re best friends.

Minna: Okay. Then she’s just gonna run straight for the cellar.

Madge: Cool. Yeah.

Rhi: Okay.

Madge: Side note: this girl is ours now. We are adopting her.

Minna: Yes. Yes, yes. This is exactly what I wanted.

Rhi: All right. Let me come up with a name.

Minna: I also feel like Myra both expected this and understands exactly what Phin’s going for, because this just happens.

Rhi: Myra, I think that you are able to sprint to the cellar without any difficulty. Phin, you are pulling something that is a bit more complicated and, therefore, will require a roll of some kind.

Madge: Bringing rocket science into this. I’m guessing Finesse would be good for this, or Prowl.

Rhi: Prowl, probably, I feel like.

Madge: I’m gonna push myself. And that’s two stress. Aahh! 6.

Rhi: [laughing] God. You’re just on fire.

Madge: I love this little pink dice.

Josie: [laugh] Aww.

Rhi: As you’re whipping around this guy, he tries to get you with a haymaker, and, because you’re so much shorter, you easily duck under. You grab the girl, who is too stunned by this entire turn of events to resist you, and haul her across the kitchen, down into the cellar, and I assume, yank the door shut behind you.

Madge: Yeah.

Rhi: Okay. The three of you are now in the cellar. I think that the scene cuts on: the cellar door slams shut. Then we cut back over to Minx.

## [00:39:59]

Josie: Mhmm.

Rhi: Has Minx moved on from the lounge where she was enjoying some apples, or…?

Josie: Yes. She’s picking up the pace a little bit.

Rhi: You’ve looped the first floor and haven’t really seen, in the areas you have access to as a guest, anything that looks like it would lead to a basement. You have encountered a few closed doors, a couple of which, you’re guessing, lead back to the servants’ area, because you have seen servants go in and out with trays of food and drink and whatever. Then there’s one door that is closed and has a single guard standing in front of it that nobody has gone in or out of.

Josie: Okay.

Rhi: I will say, at this point, you do hear from behind one of the doors that the servants were going in and out of, you hear a little bit of a commotion and some raised voices.

Josie: Mhmm.

Madge: I wonder what that was. [laugh]

Rhi: [laughter]

Josie: Yeah. I’ll approach the guard at the door, and say:

Josie (as Minx): Dear, is that normal commotion from what I presume to be the kitchen?

Rhi (as Guard): Oh, uh, I… Sorry, ma’am, I’m not sure what you’re talking about. I’m not hearing anything. I’m sure it’s nothing to worry about. Please, continue on; enjoy yourself here.

Josie (as Minx): Well—

Madge: “Be over here gaslighting our customers.” [chuckle]

Rhi: [laughter]

Josie (as Minx): Well, I mean, forgive me if I’m not familiar enough to know which sounds are proper or not, but it did indeed sound like multiple people clamoring and struggling in some fashion. It wasn’t just yelling.

Rhi (as Guard): It’s possible you also heard something from upstairs. Some people enjoy that sort of thing.

Josie (as Minx): Did quite distinctly hear it from behind that specific door, my dear.

Rhi: What are you trying to accomplish here?

Josie (as Minx): I’m trying to get him to go check through the door.

Rhi: Okay. Give me a roll, then.

Josie: Yes. Triple 6s!

Rhi: Jesus.

Josie: The devil’s number!

Minna and Rhi: [laughter]

Rhi: I think he sounds skeptical, or he’s kind of eyeing you skeptically, and starts opening his mouth to make another denial, and then there’s this loud shout from within the kitchen, and then a sound of what sounds like something falling down and breaking. The guard grimaces, and:

Rhi (as Guard): Ah…

Josie (as Minx): Yes. See, that’s what I was talking about.

Rhi (as Guard): Perhaps you’re correct, ma’am. I’ll go see what the trouble is. Please, don’t worry about it. I’m sure it’s just a– perhaps, difficulties with the staff. Uh, please, uh, enjoy yourself.

Madge: [extremely satisfied laughter]

Josie (as Minx): I will leave it in your capable hands.

Minna: [laugh]

Rhi: He heads off towards the kitchen.

Madge: He’s not wrong. [laugh]

Josie: I’m gonna slide on in that door, if I can.

Rhi: It’s locked.

Josie: Can I do something about that?

Rhi: I mean, you can try to.

Josie: Are things lockpicks something I have, or can that be covered in burglary gear or tinkering tools?

Rhi: You can definitely have the thing where you pull lockpicks out of your elegantly-styled hair.

Josie: Yes, I will absolutely do that and try to pick it, and try to look casual about it.

Rhi: You are trying to pick a lock in a well-lit area with a lot of other people around.

Josie: Correct.

Rhi: So this is gonna be desperate.

Josie: Uh-huh. I get XP. [laugh]

Rhi: Yeah, mark yourself some experience.

Josie: Okay.

Rhi: Devil’s Bargain?

Josie: Yeah. What does that look like?

Rhi: As you were talking with the guard, Elstera Avrathi comes down from the second floor. She hasn’t seen you yet, but she is here. That’s the Devil’s Bargain I’ll offer you.

Josie: I like it. I’ll take it.

Rhi: All right.

Madge: We are all going to die.

Josie and Rhi: [laugh]

Josie: Yes!

Rhi: You got a 6.

Josie: That’s fucking four 6s.

Rhi: You glance over and see her come down the stairs, and you’re like, “oh, shit.” Then the lock gives, and you ease yourself inside. You find yourself in an office. It actually looks fairly similar to the little office that you were brought into when you first went through the whole membership thing. There’s a desk; there’s a couple very plush chairs in front of the desk; there’s some nice paintings and stuff on the walls; there is another door opposite the desk.

As you’re standing here looking around, you remember that the first time you came to The Centuralia Club and just asked some questions, the guard told you that there was an elite membership level, that that was the only way to get access to the third floor.

Josie: All right. I’m gonna take my time looking for the office; perhaps find a premium membership token before I figure out whose office this is.

Rhi: Gimme some kind of roll for casing the room.

Josie: 5. So, partial.

Rhi: Okay. There’s not a lot of paperwork in here. It doesn’t necessarily seem to belong to anybody in particular. You do find a drawer that contains… They look almost like velvet-covered boxes that you get jewelry in. When you take one of those out and open it up, that contains a medallion that looks very similar to the one that you have, but it is plated in platinum, as opposed to gold and silver. So, you’re like, “oh, yeah, that’s probably the premium membership thing.”

You find that and, I assume, slip it into a pocket, because god damnit, Duskwall might be a corrupt, blighted, darkness-plunged hellscape, but the dresses. Have. Pockets.

Josie: Yup. [laugh]

Madge: Good. Good, good.

Rhi: You slip that into your pocket. As you do that and close the drawer, you hear voices on the other side of the door that you came through. One of the voices is Avrathi. Then you hear what sounds like the jangling of keys.

Josie: Oh dear. Um, okay.

Rhi: So you are now in a risky position. The exit points that you can see are the door that you came in, and then there’s another door that’s opposite the desk.

Josie: Let’s go for it.

Rhi: Okay. It is locked.

Josie: Uh, let’s pick it.

Rhi: Okay.

Josie: I am gonna go ahead and push myself here. 5s.

Rhi: I think both of the doors unlock at the same time.

Josie: Oh no.

Rhi: You get your door open and step inside, but Avrathi sees somebody going up the stairs.

Rhi (as Avrathi): What– who– stop! Who—

Josie: I’m gonna, of course, shut the door behind me.

Rhi: Door slams, and Minx sprints up the stairs into who knows what.

## [00:46:58] Outro

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

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

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

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

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

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

The opening and closing theme music is from Trio for Piano, Violin, and Viola by Kevin MacLeod 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.

## [00:48:00]

Rhi: And when you all come in, Roxanne gestures for you to close the door behind—

Minna: [laughter]

Rhi: Oh. Are you okay?

Minna: [laughing] I just spilled my dice bag into my lap.

Rhi: [laughter]

Josie: Oh no.

Madge: [laughing] It’s okay.

Minna: I just had a momentary feeling that it was spilling water into my lap, that thing where you’re so startled and uncomfortable with it. You know? We’re good. [laughter]

Rhi: Um, so—

Josie: We have a blooper.