Transcript created by Lyra Song and Roxanna Rusbarsky.

Download a Word doc of the transcript: Magpies Podcast tc S01E17 The Centuralia Club Score Part 2

## Intro

Rhi: Welcome back to Duskwall and, as always, thank you for joining us—and, if you’ve done so, for rating and reviewing our show. We’re so happy to have you with us as we crash headlong towards the end of Season One.

International Podcast Month just wrapped up, and if you haven’t yet, go check out the archives. There are so many fantastic actual plays, audio dramas, and blog posts to dive into. It was a great event to be part of and I’m already excited for next year. Also, I will be at AcadeCon in Dayton, Ohio next month. If you’re going, let me know. I’d love to meet our listeners and hand out more cool Magpies bookmarks.

Next, let me tell you about this month’s featured charity. Assata’s Daughters is a Chicago organization that supports, serves, and uplifts women-identified young black people. The group provides education to black girls and women in radical black feminism, political organization, and liberation. They offer educational programs and workshops, organize protests and resistance actions, and maintain a community garden for the neighborhood. If you can spare a few dollars, consider donating.

In addition, there is now just over a month until the 2018 midterm elections here in the United States. While early polling predicts strong Democratic victories, those polls are meaningless unless people register and show up to vote. Double check your registration and be prepared to push back against voter suppression at the polls. Educate yourself on your voting rights and encourage everyone you know to register and vote. If the Democrats can take control of both Houses of Congress, that will be a major check on the hateful and fatal policies of the Trump administration and the Republican party. So please, make sure you’re registered, and make a plan to vote. And as always, please continue to visit 5calls.org and call your representatives.

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

## [00:02:10]

Rhi: So previously, the Magpies had infiltrated The Centuralia Club looking for evidence that would connect the club’s missing servants to the Circle of Flame. Minx had scouted the ground floor and public areas, living her dream of finally getting into the club and being somewhat confronted with the kinds of people who get into that club. She found the elite membership office and also found that Ambassador Avrathi was present at the club and has very nearly crossed paths with her.

Meanwhile, Myra and Phin have found their way to the kitchen where they have just grabbed a servant, who was in the process of being fired for stealing food from the garbage, and fled into the cellar. This looks like it’s storage for the club. There are wine racks, barrels, and boxes of food. There’s shelves that have like towels and bed linens; there’s a big case of candles. That’s what you see as you move into this room. It’s low-ceilinged; fairly well-lit. The girl that you hauled down here, she’s still crying a little bit.

Minna: I think Myra pulls out a handkerchief and offers it to her.

Rhi: She takes it.

Rhi (as Servant Girl): Oh, um, thank you.

Rhi: And wipes at her eyes.

Rhi (as Servant Girl): Who, uh, who are you?

Madge (as Phin): Uh, we’re people who are here to help. That’s the simple answer.

Rhi (as Servant Girl): Um… okay.

Rhi: She still just looks very confused.

Minna (as Myra): The more complicated answer is it’s gonna be a little bit before we can get you out of here, but I promise, we’ll get you out of here safe.

Madge (as Phin): Before we go any further, can I ask you a couple questions? It won’t be about what happened tonight.

Rhi (as Servant Girl): A-a-alright.

Madge (as Phin): Okay. Lately, some people have been going missing from the club. Do you know any of these people who have gone missing?

Rhi: She nods a little bit.

Rhi (as Servant Girl): There was Benedict, he, uh, he went missing about a month ago. He was always nice to me. He-he helped me out when I first started here. He disappeared, um, and there have been a few others. I-I don’t know.

Madge (as Phin): Okay. Before he went missing, did anything happen in the club? Was there someone who spoke to him? Someone who spoke to other people before they went missing as well?

Rhi (as Servant Girl): [stammering] There’s a lot of, you know, very wealthy people here, and um, I don’t know what happened with Benedict, but there was another girl, Nina. She, um, I saw here talking to, um, Mr. Brogan, who owns the club. I overheard he said that, um, he said that they needed help on the third floor and that she could make really good tips helping up there. And so, they went into the office and I haven’t seen her since.

Minna (as Myra): What’s the third floor?

Madge (as Phin): Yeah, who was staying on the third floor?

Rhi (as Servant Girl): Uh, that’s the elite members. They have to pay more and have to be specially invited by the people who own the club to be allowed to go up there.

Minna (as Myra): Would someone like Ambassador Avrathi be important enough to be there?

Rhi (as Servant Girl): Yes, I think so. I think I have seen her. She’s, um, I think she’s here tonight, actually.

Minna: Myra cuts a quick look at Phin.

Madge (as Phin): Okay, so, first things first, it’s a good thing that we got you away from the action. I know that the guy just fired you, but, um… bad stuff is gonna happen tonight; I can promise that, basically. But, thank you for your help. We’ll be able to help you get outta here by the end of the night and we’ll even help you find a new place to work. How does that sound?

Rhi (as Servant Girl): What… I… Why are you doing this?

Madge (as Phin): Because I’m a nice person, that’s why! People help people.

Rhi (as Servant Girl): Not around here, and not, well…

Rhi: And she gestures at herself, where she’s very obviously a Skovlander. She’s got red hair done back in a knot, and a lot of freckles, and very pale.

Minna (as Myra): You deserve better.

Madge (as Phin): Well, Magpies. Magpies are great people to hang out with ‘cause they won’t judge you like that. Anyway…

Rhi (as Servant Girl): Okay, um, alright. I don’t know what your plan is for getting out of here because, um, there’s no other exit out of this room.

Madge (as Phin): [whispering] Shit.

All: [laughter]

Madge: I feel like that’s a good cutaway point!

## [00:07:02]

Rhi: I think on that, yeah, we cut back to Minx running up the stairs. You hit the door at the top and burst out into a lounge. It’s a larger version of the lounge rooms you saw downstairs. There’s only a handful of people up here, they’re all draped over couches and whatever. You’re breathing a little hard, so you get a nice big lungful of the smoke that’s filling the air in here.

Josie: Oh dear.

Rhi: If you would like to resist that pleasant intoxication…

Josie: Uh… I think I don’t want to take that stress.

Rhi: Yeah ‘cause you’re getting pretty high up in stress there, aren’t ya?

Josie: Yeah, I think rather than getting stressed out I should totally just—

Madge: I was not gonna take any harm… But then I got high.

 

[laughter]

Rhi: So you’re gonna take level 1 harm: Intoxicated.

Josie: So that does fill up both my level 1.

Rhi: You run into the room and you like stumble a little bit, and everything sort of goes soft focus and slows down a little bit. People are looking over at you, but they’re all way too high to care about the fact that somebody just ran into the room.

Josie: Yeah, and now I’m starting to chill out, so…

Rhi: Yeah, part of you is just kind of like, “Oh, okay, this is nice.” There’s another part of you, though, that hears footsteps running up the stairs behind you.

Josie: Can I just, like, step to the side of the door and ready to throw trance powder at whoever opens it? So they’re gonna get a face full of that and the smoke.

Rhi: Mm-hmm, yep.

Josie: So, I’ll just chill.

Rhi: Ok, yeah, so you don’t have to wait very long. The guard from downstairs bursts into the room, and give me a roll to blow it into his face, or however you deliver it.

Josie: Since it’s relatively close range and it’s kind of like, I don’t know, would Skirmish count here?

Rhi: Yeah.

Josie: Ok. That’s not good, that’s a 3.

Rhi: The door opens and the guy comes in. You go to blow the powder in his face, but it feels kind of like you’re moving through water. Everything is really slowed down, so by the time you blow the powder at him, he’s already moved out of the way.

Josie: High as balls. Ok.

Rhi: He’s pulled up a bandana—or, a bandana, a scarf up over his face, covering his nose and mouth. He doesn’t seem to be really affected by the smoke. He grabs you by the arms, spins you around, slams you into a wall, and basically has you pinned in a desperate situation.

Josie (as Minx): Yo, what’s going on? Why are you trying to harsh my buzz, man? Who fucking died?

Rhi (as Guard): You broke in here. You… You do not have permission to be in here!

Josie (as Minx): The fuck are you talking about? I’ve been up– I’ve been up here for like, an hour? It’s probably been an hour.

Rhi: Give me a roll.

Josie: Can I also present the token?

Rhi: Yeah, you can show him the token. This is desperate. Showing him the token, it’ll give you improved effect, so you’re at standard effect rather than lesser, which is what you would have been at otherwise.

Josie: And this has gotta be a Sway.

Rhi: Yes.

Josie: ‘Cause I’m leaning into the whole high thing. [rolling] Oh come on!

Rhi: Oooooh boy.

Josie: God damnit.

Rhi: Well, you know, this is to balance out those three 6’s you got earlier.

 

Josie: Yep. Uh-huh.

Rhi: So, he snatches the thing from your hand.

Rhi (as Guard): You’re a thief.

Rhi: He pockets it and keeps your hands pinned behind your back, and is basically frog-marching you out of the room and back down the stairs. You get down there. Avrathi is leaning against the desk, eyes narrowed as you come down. He brings you over to the middle of the room. She pushes up off the desk, and gets real close at your face and peers at you.

Rhi (as Avrathi): Ah, you were… Yes, I remember you. You were the distraction at the embassy, weren’t you?

Josie (as Minx): I think of myself as a bit more dignified than a distraction, ma’am.

 

Rhi (as Avrathi): Mmm, yes, I’m sure you do. Well… [sighing] You weren’t up there for terribly long, so the smoke shouldn’t contaminate anything. Bring her!

 

Rhi: She goes around behind the desk, shifts one of the paintings to the side, and presses at the panel. Then, a couple of the panels pop open, revealing a secret door and a flight of stairs leading down.

Josie: [chuckling] Oh, God dammit. I totally missed that.

Madge: Aw man!

Rhi: She leads the way downstairs…

Josie (as Minx): I should point out that this is highly improper treatment for a paying patron.

Rhi: She doesn’t even respond.

Josie: [laughter]

Rhi: She leads you down the stairs into a small stone hallway, and then through a door into a room with three stone walls, and one wall that is sort of metal plates. There’s a stone slab in the middle—

Madge: [gasp]

 

Minna: [gasp] Oh no!

Rhi: With some runes painted on it.

Josie: [horrified noise]

Rhi: She looks at the guard and gestures at the slab. He starts pulling you towards it. And that’s where we’re going to cut back over to the others!

Josie: Okay.

Madge: Aaaah!

## [00:12:29]

 

Rhi: The girl has just told you there’s no other way out of here. And yeah, what are you doing at this point?

Minna: Myra looks around wildly, then turns to her.

Minna (as Myra): What’s your name?

Rhi (as Servant Girl): Uh, S-Sophia.

Minna (as Myra): Sophia, maybe you can help us out. Do you know how we would get below this building?

Rhi (as Sophia): We are below the building. This is the basement. Um…

Minna (as Myra): This is definitely not the only place below the building.

Rhi (as Sophia): Um.. I don’t, I don’t know. Um…

Minna (as Myra): It’s fine.

Rhi (as Sophia): I mean, this area used to be a bit larger. Um, they… They added in this wall.

Rhi: She points at the back wall, where you see a wall that is made of steel plates riveted together. She’s like.

Rhi (as Sophia): The, um, the storage area used to be a lot bigger. But I guess about a year ago, maybe a little longer, um, they—

Minna (as Myra): Oh, I know exactly what’s on the other side.

Minna: I think at this point, Myra’s cursing quitely under her breath.

Minna (as Myra): There has to be a way in there! We have to be able to find it.

 

Madge: [nearly inaudible in the background while Minna speaks] Um, explosives would work, right?

Minna: Can she like, think about where they’ve been and how it would connect? Oh, no, go ahead.

Rhi: Yeah?

Madge: Can explos– Can– Explosives, can I have explosives?

Rhi: [happily] Of course you can.

All: [laughter]

Madge: Yesssssss!

All: [more laughter]

Rhi: I was waiting! I was sitting here like, “Come on, Madge, remember the demolition tools.”

Madge: I feel like there’s pacing and swearing and then:

Madge (as Phin): I got it, I got it! One sec, one sec, one sec…

Madge: And it’s her refusing to say anything while she sets this whole thing up. And then we’ll step back and actually light something.

Rhi: Okay. I think while this has been happening, there’s been rattling and pounding at the cellar door, and it sounds like they’re starting to try to break it down.

Madge: Yeah, of course they are.

Rhi: Yeah. But you can wire up a whole bunch of explosives onto the wall and, yeah. Go ahead and, uh, wreck this shit. Do you want to Devil’s Bargain or push yourself, or anything?

Madge: Nope, I’ve got three dice!

Rhi: Okay! I mean, to be fair, so did Josie…

Madge: Shush! Shush, shush, shush!

Rhi: [laugh] This is gonna be risky.

Madge: Okay! 4.

Rhi: 4?

Madge: Yeah.

Rhi: 4 means you do it.

Madge: I know…

Rhi: But…[chuckling] That could have been a lot worse. But there is a consequence. So—

Minna: I feel like taking harm makes sense.

Rhi: Well, I’m thinking either you take harm, or they break through the door.

Madge: HURT ME!

All: [laughter]

Rhi: All right, if you insist.

Madge: I would rather get hurt than have this girl put in any further danger.

Minna: God bless, that’s the most Phin thing.

Rhi: All right, Phin. Looking at these plates, they look a lot like the hulls of the Leviathan hunter ships. You’ve spent enough time on the docks; you have an idea of how thick and sturdy they are, so you put every explosive that you’ve got on here.

Madge: There’s so much.

Rhi: And you light it. Myra, having worked with you for a while, has pulled Sophia back to the farthest possible corner away from your explosive setup, and is probably like hunkered down behind a barrel. Phin, you light it, you back up; you get maybe about halfway across the room and then it blows. It blows a hole in the wall.

Madge: Heck yeah.

Rhi: A little bit of a hole in the ceiling.

Madge: But, but—

Rhi: And you go flying backwards across the room—

Madge: There we go! [laughter]

 

Josie: [laughter]

Rhi: You slam into the opposite wall. You are studded with shrapnel from the wall, and you slam back into the opposite wall very hard. So, it’s level 2 harm: Exploded, again. Probably fully half of the stuff in this room is just destroyed.

As Myra and Sophia pop their heads up to look out, to see there’s a big hole in the wall. On the other side of it you see a guard, who is sprawled on the floor, also in pretty bad, bloodied-up shape. Ambassador Avrathi, standing at a table on the opposite side, she has one hand on the table to brace herself. In the other hand she’s holding a glass bottle of some kind of silvery liquid.

Minna: Can I shoot the bottle?

Rhi: Yep, in a moment.

Minna: [laughter]

Rhi: Because in the middle of the room is Minx, who is strapped down to the stone slab painted in runes that Blaire had told you about.

Josie (as Minx): Oh, hello dears! I must say, impeccable timing.

## [00:17:37]

Rhi: Now you’re welcome to shoot the bottle

Minna: I would like to shoot the bottle. I would like to push myself.

Rhi: Okay, this is gonna be risky.

Minna: 4.

Rhi: You shoot the bottle, it explodes; there’s glass shards and silvery liquid everywhere. Avrathi shrieks as this glass bottle that she was holding in her hand blows up; her hand is kind of a mess now. The complication is: that door is breaking down. That door behind you.

Minna: Myra is going to give her second pistol to Sophia, just in case she needs it.

Rhi: Sophia takes it and holds it as far out from her as she can, as if she is holding a dead fish.

 

Josie: [laughter]

Minna (as Myra): Hope you don’t need it.

Rhi (as Sophia): Me too.

Madge: Phin will get up and dust herself off, look over at Avrathi, and lift her chin do the Han Solo thing of, like, “What’s up?” and be like:

Madge (as Phin): Hey, Avrathi.

 

Josie: [laughter]

Rhi: She never actually saw you. [laughter]

Minna: [laughter]

Madge: I know!

Rhi: So she has no– I know! That’s what makes this so good! She has no idea who the hell you are, but you just blew a hole in her wall. She has her right hand pressed to her chest. You can see blood starting to soak into her shirt. With her left hand, she awkwardly draws a pistol and then yells:

Rhi (as Avrathi): [shocked] Guards!

Rhi: What do you all want to do?

Josie: Uh, I’m tied down.

Rhi: You are tied down.

Josie: So I will provide blithey (sic) commentary. ‘Cause I am high.

Rhi: So what do you all wanna try and do?

Madge: I wanna shoot!

Rhi: Okay.

 

Madge: No, I’m not gonna shoot, I’m just gonna try and punch!

Josie: Punch girl!

Rhi: I mean, you’re gonna have to sprint across a good deal of room to get to her, but you can do it.

Madge: Yeah, I’m willing to do that. I will say that I’m trying to do as much damage as possible to make it a wreck.

Rhi: Okay, yeah, just slam her back into the desk.

Madge: Yeah. Ahh, I got a 6!

Rhi: She’s squinting at you, trying to figure out who the hell you are, and you just sprint across the room, bull rush her, and slam her back into the desk. She bangs her head against the wall and cries out in pain as this jostles her injured hand. The two of you are struggling over there now, but you definitely have the upper hand for the moment.

Madge: Yeah. I’m gonna grab her good wrist and try to pin it to the desk so she can’t get very far.

Minna: Is there an obvious way to release Minx?

Rhi: They’re leather straps with buckles on them. She’s strapped down. So yeah, you can very easily—

Minna: I’m gonna do that and make sure that Sophia’s between the wall and me.

Rhi: Yeah, yeah, she’s following right behind you, very frightened.

Minna: Perfect. Just assume that I’m shielding her with my body at all times.

Rhi: Okay. You start undoing all the straps off of the thing…

Josie (as Minx): Oh, Myra, you do care!

Minna (as Myra): Of course I do, Minx.

Josie (as Minx): Who’s our little friend? You’re adorable.

Rhi: She’s just kind of staring at Minx very wide-eyed, and looking around.

Minna: Myra reaches out and puts a hand on Minx’s forehead to hold her head still, looks into her eyes, and is coming to the assessment—

Rhi: Her pupils are so big. She is just like… [chuckle]

Minna (as Myra): Oh, Minx…

Josie (as Minx): Now– Now be fair! It wasn’t my fault, although I am enjoying myself.

Minna (as Myra): I didn’t believe it was your fault, given that I just found you here.

Rhi: Meanwhile, on the other side of the room, a few more guards have come in and are making their way through the storeroom towards you guys.

Josie: Am I free yet?

Rhi: Yes. Minx is free. While Phin and Avrathi have been struggling over the desk, most of the stuff that was on the desk is now on the floor. There’s some papers; there’s now a lot of broken glass and weird silvery liquid on the floor; there’s a leather-bound tome that has a little bit of gilt edging on it, also fallen on the floor.

Josie: I think Minx is gonna… If stuff was taken off of her at all, like her cane…

Minna: It’d be sitting on that table.

Rhi: Yeah, or like, it’s leaning against a wall, propped up in a corner.

Josie: Yeah, she’s just gonna walk over to it.

Josie (as Minx): You know, normally I wouldn’t argue against a lady tying me down on a Friday evening. But extenuating circumstances, I suppose.

Josie: I now pull the sword out of my cane and I’m almost drunkenly brandishing it at the people coming towards us.

Rhi: Okay.

Josie (as Minx): [laugh] Come now, come now.

Rhi: All right. Myra? And/or Phin.

Minna: I think I’m just gonna grab the papers and book up.

Rhi: Okay.

Madge: I’m keeping Avrathi on the desk by the arm that I had before. I was just holding it so that she couldn’t move anywhere while pinning her with my other hand. I’m gonna move the other hand. I’m gonna twist it back the way it should not go.

Rhi: That hand, she had a pistol in, so I think you’ve probably bent it back to where she’s dropped it. She’s struggling against you a lot, but she is not a fighter.

Madge: Yeah, and I’m gonna get real close to her face.

Madge (as Phin): You’ve hurt a lot of good people, you know that? In this very room.

Rhi (as Avrathi): It was for things that you can’t possibly understand.

Madge (as Phin): Demonic power?

Rhi (as Avrathi): Power that you would never comprehend. They’re expendable.

Rhi: Phin, in order to keep a hold on her, you’re gonna need to make a roll.

Madge: I’m gonna do a Skirmish.

Rhi: This is gonna be risky.

Madge: Yeah, I’m gonna also push myself.

Rhi: Okay.

Madge: Cool, 6.

Rhi: Yeah, you keep a hold on her. A couple shots go off, but they miss. The guards seem to be hesitating a little bit. I don’t know if you’re necessarily using her as a human shield, but the positioning is such that they can’t get a clear line on you.

Madge: Yeah. I’m definitely positioning myself so that if they try to shoot me, they will get her.

Rhi: Okay, yeah. So, Myra has a bunch of papers and a book; Minx has a sword and a pretty good high; Phin has Ambassador Avrathi.

Josie: Can I use my drunken waving as a distraction? Surely they can see me stumble a bit and perceive that I’m not really a threat, but can I just be weird and annoying enough to draw their attention for few crucial moments?

Rhi: Sure.

Josie: Basically, I want to give people time to get out of the way of being shot. I might get shot, but—

Rhi: So you’re kind of trying to do like a setup action, basically, for everybody else to run.

Josie: Yes, kind of.

Rhi: Yes, you can definitely be distracting and then, if this works, everybody else who follows through taking advantage of your distraction will get either improved position or a +1 effect.

## [00:24:55]

Josie: I am gonna push myself, though, and get myself up to four dice because I’m positing this as a Sway.

Rhi: Mm-hmm. Oh my god.

Josie: Ooh, I’m gonna cry, you guys.

Rhi: That’s amazing. That’s four 1s.

Minna: Oh my god.

Josie: Four 1s, for the listeners.

Rhi: That’s remarkable

Madge: That’s insane.

Rhi: Here’s what happens: you’re stumbling around waving your sword. The guards with the guns don’t seem to be paying a lot of attention to you; they’re still focused on the seeming much more obvious threat of Phin. What you hadn’t been paying attention to is that guard who was on the ground. You stumble over; he lashes out, grabs your ankle, and just pulls your legs out from under you. You go crashing down; you slam your head against the cobblestones; your sword-cane goes rolling out of your hand. You are gonna take level 2 harm: Concussed.

Josie: Gah.

Rhi: He’s kind of struggling upright, looking very bloodied, and is fumbling for his own pistol.

Josie (as Minx): Ow.

Minna: Myra could have left something in the cellar that would surprise these guards.

Josie: Oooh, yeah.

Madge: A rabid dog!

 

Minna: [laughing] Where would I have put a rabid dog, Madge?

Josie: [laughter]

 

Madge: I don’t know.

Josie: Can you have more explosives?

 

Madge: [whispering] Yes!

Minna: I was gonna say, that’s what’s popping into my head.

Madge: Yeah, more explosives would make sense.

Minna: I think that what she does is she reaches out, she grabs Sophia with one hand and Phin with the other, and she says:

 

Minna (as Myra): Get down.

Rhi: Okay. I’m gonna say that’s a 1-stress flashback. It’s a little trickier to pull off, but not super improbable. So yeah, you pull them back. The guards are starting to move forward and then: poom-poom-poom-poom, a whole bunch of explosions go off. Some of the shelves fall, there’s a lot of confusion and shouting. It creates a very loud momentary distraction.

Madge: Can I use that distraction to grab the gun?

Rhi: Yeah.

Madge: I’m gonna pick up the gun that I stole from Avrathi, and I’m gonna keep one hand on her shoulders to keep her pinned to the desk. Then I am gonna look down at her and say:

Madge (as Phin): The only person who’s expendable here is you.

Madge: And I shoot her.

Josie: Yesssss.

Rhi: To– To kill?

 

Madge: To kill.

Rhi: Okay. Yeah, make, uh, make a roll.

Madge: And I’m not caring about how much other damage I cause to the area around her with this.

Rhi: So you’re shooting a lot.

Madge: Yeah.

Rhi: You’re firing a lot of bullets.

Madge: I’m shooting at least once, but I am not aiming very well. And I’m gonna take another 2 stress to push myself. Two 1s, a 2, and a 3.

Rhi: Wow, that’s… Wow, okay.

Madge: I have her! Right here, and…

Rhi: I think what happens is she knees you in the stomach. It’s not enough where you take harm, but you said you weren’t aiming super well. She manages to get a knee up, knees you in the stomach, you lose your hold. You’ve still got the gun, she’s still pretty badly injured, but she manages to break free of your hold. I think she’s gonna run. She realizes what nearly happened and she is just gonna book it, so she heads towards the doorway and the stairs that Minx was brought through.

Madge: I shoot again.

Rhi: Okay.

Madge: This one is gonna be a Hunt, right?

Rhi: And it’s gonna be risky.

Minna: Is there any way to aid that, or is that not a thing?

Rhi: Yeah, absolutely. You can absolutely help her.

Minna: Hey, guess who has a newly-minted special ability to aid without taking stress?

Madge: Yay!

Josie: Nice.

Minna: I think I fire into the wall and she flinches away from it.

Rhi: Yeah, trying to move her into Phin’s aim.

Minna: Over Myra and Phin’s shoulders, you see Myra raise her gun over Phin’s left shoulder and shoots (sic). It hits the wall, chips it, and Avrathi flinches.

Rhi: All right.

Madge: I have my two best dice in my hand right now. I am so nervous.

Rhi: Yeah. I’m nervous for you.

Madge: 5!

Rhi: Okay. She takes off running. Myra shoots her; she flinches to the side. Phin, you catch her square in the back, and she falls, pitches face forward down. How does Phin feel after she falls?

Madge: Phew… Aw man, it isn’t even like a, “Yes, I did it!” It’s more like, “Okay, what’s next?”

Rhi: Okay. You get a moment, and then you get shot in the side by one of the guards.

Madge: Oh no! Okay, uh, what would I roll to resist that?

Rhi: Prowess.

Madge: Prowess, how many things do I have in Prowess? Oh, I have 4 in Prowess. Cool.

Rhi: Okay.

Madge: 6.

Rhi: Okay, yeah, then you take no stress. Are you guys gonna do anything else, or are you just gonna run out of here at this point?

Madge: I think, at this point, we run, yeah.

Josie: Well, I imagine it is mostly on the backs of Phin and Myra, as Minx is disoriented in a really bad way.

Minna: I think we’re chivvying Sophia and Minx ahead of us.

Madge: Yeah, and threatening anyone who gets in our way.

Rhi: I’m picturing that there’s a lot of shots; probably, a bullet hits one of those chandeliers and shards just go flying everywhere. There is screaming and panic and chaos, and you all burst out of the front doors of The Centuralia Club—

 

Minna: As they step through the front door, Myra tosses over her shoulder a Magpie pin.

Madge: Yes! Good, I was—

Rhi: Yesssss!

Josie: Yes!

Madge: I was thinking the exact same thing, I’m not even joking.

## [00:31:05]

Rhi: Myra tosses that pin. The four of you, with this poor servant girl, so confused and frightened, you all go sprinting off into the night. Where do you take Sophia?

Madge: Hound’s Paw.

Rhi: Hound’s Paw?

Josie: Mm-hmm.

Rhi: Do you guys go straight there?

Josie: Yeah, probably.

Rhi: Okay. You don’t take a direct route—

Madge: Of course not.

Rhi: You take some back alleys. You guys have been doing this long enough, you know how this works. Minx, you’ve mostly come down from your high on the way, which means there is nothing to distract you from the throbbing pain in your head.

Josie: Uh-huh. Minx is completely fucking out of it, and probably goes over to the bar and [laughing] orders a drink when she gets to Rigney’s, even though he’s probably in no position to make her one.

Rhi: I mean, he keeps the bar open pretty late, but I think it’s getting to the point where he’s starting to get ready to close up. You guys stagger in. He looks you over. There really aren’t any other customers in here. He just looks at you, opens the flap, comes over, locks the door, and then just is like:

Rhi (as Rigney): [sighing] Sit down.

Rhi: And disappears into the back. He comes back with a bottle of cheap alcohol and a roll of bandages. He sets them down.

Rhi (as Rigney): I don’t want to know what happened. Uh, patch yourselves up as much as you can.

Rhi: He looks at Sophia.

Rhi (as Rigney): Uh, this is not Blaire.

Madge (as Phin): No, this is Sophia.

 

Minna (as Myra): Blaire’s at home, safe.

Rhi (as Rigney): Okay.

Minna (as Myra): This girl needed some help.

Josie (as Minx): We have a thing for this, apparently.

Rhi: When Myra says that she needed some help, he just kind of looks at Sophia again, then, looks back at you guys.

Rhi (as Rigney): Are you gonna bring me all your strays?

Minna (as Myra): Not all of them, but this one is a special case.

Madge (as Phin): Can you do me a favor, Rig?

Rhi (as Rigney): Yeah… Well, what’s the favor?

Madge (as Phin): Give her a job.

Rhi: He looks over at her. She basically hasn’t said a word since the explosions started. She is curled in on herself, looking terrified. He sees this, walks over, and crouches down so that he’s more at eye level.

Rhi (as Rigney): Where’d you work before this? What were you doing?

 

Rhi (as Sophia): I, um, I worked at The Centuralia Club.

Rhi: He shoots the three of you a look.

Madge (as Phin): You said you weren’t gonna ask us anything. You stick with that.

Rhi (as Rigney): I… Asked her, which I also now slightly regret.

Josie (as Minx): We lived the dream is what we did, Rigney. We lived the dream.

Rhi (as Rigney): I, yeah, looks… like it. Um…

Rhi: He talks to Sophia a little bit, asks what she did there. She explains.

Rhi (as Rigney): Well, I can make room for another server on staff, I suppose.

Rhi: He rubs the back of his neck and is like:

Rhi (as Rigney): Yeah, come on over to the bar and let me, you know, get some information from you so we can get you added to the schedule.

Rhi: She stands up and looks at the three of you, still very frightened.

Minna (as Myra): The people here are much nicer than at The Centuralia Club.

Madge (as Phin): By a long shot.

Josie (as Minx): Rigney’s just about the nicest person in this damn city.

Rhi: She nods a little bit, and is wringing her hands together:

Rhi (as Sophia): Um, all right, I um, thank you. I still don’t really understand any of what happened here. Um, it’s very… This is not how I expected this night to go, at all, but um… T-Thank you.

Madge (as Phin): Yeah, things spiraled. Sorry about the explosions, that was not in the plan. It was a backup measure.

Rhi: She just nods and heads over back to follow Rigney, and leaves the three of you sitting at the table. Myra, do you want to look over those papers that you grabbed?

Minna: Yes.

Rhi: The book is a thick, leather-bound, gilded tome. When you open it up, there are pages and pages and pages of notes that are written in different hands. It looks like multiple people were taking notes here, and they start about a year ago.

The notes talk about some kind of drug called “spiritsight,” an entity called “The Fallen Star,” and it seems like The Circle of Flame was using this spiritsight drug. They would drug people and then try to ask those people questions to have them have visions of locating different objects, particularly the relics of Kotar.

Josie: Hmm.

Rhi: They worked through a number of different formulas. They started working better when they started incorporating the ghosts of people who had died while on this drug into the formula. Eventually, it ended up working, and this method located the Eye of Kotar, which was shipped in from Iruvia and stolen by the Magpies. After the Eye was stolen, The Circle decided to speed up their search. They built a second ritual chamber.

The most recent entry is someone complaining that it’s harder to grab new sacrifices because so many of the guards are dead. The final entry says, “Use some of the servants, then. There’s enough people looking for work that we can replace them. They’ll be perfectly acceptable.”

Minna (as Myra): Also, the person who complained about leaving the club unguarded was “H.V.”—Harvale Brogan.

Josie (as Minx): Mm.

Rhi: You’ve got this journal here that basically spells out exactly what happened.

Minna (as Myra): God, I wish we could narrow down who those initials could be. I mean, Avrathi’s probably “E.A.”

Madge (as Phin): Yeah, I was about to say. You’ve got three guesses, the first two don’t count.

Josie (as Minx): [chuckles] But who is—

Minna (as Myra): Who is “E.P.”? And who is “R.”?

Josie (as Minx): No ideas so far.

Madge (as Phin): Probably shouldn’t have shot Avrathi.

Josie (as Minx): Eh, either result is acceptable to me. Good job, Phin.

Josie: Minx is gonna go rest her head on her forearms.

Rhi: As you all are sitting there, there’s suddenly a light knocking at the door. Everybody freezes. Rigney is standing behind at the bar. He looks at it, reaches under the bar, comes up with a blunderbuss, walks over. There’s a window with a curtain over it. He eases the curtain aside and peers out, and then totally relaxes, lowers the gun, opens it up. A rather flustered-looking Lani and Roxanne come hustling in.

Minna (as Myra): Oh, it’s you!

Josie (as Minx): Oh, excellent.

Madge (as Phin): Glad to see you join the party.

Josie (as Minx): We have a scoop for you.

## [00:37:47]

Rhi: Roxanne is translating what you’re saying and Lani signs back:

Rhi (as Lani): We heard the alarm bells going and the death bell, and we heard pretty quickly about some kind of attack at The Centuralia Club, and… Well.

Rhi: She shrugs. They grab a couple chairs and come over.

Rhi (as Lani): So, what did you find?

Minna: I think Myra just gestures to this book that’s laid out here.

Rhi: They take it and flip through it. There’s a lot of facial expressions that grow increasingly more troubled and alarmed. And then, when they get to the last entry, Lani’s mouth goes into a thin line. She pushes back from the table and makes a sign that Minx recognizes is a very rude word.

Josie: [laugh]

Rhi: Roxanne still has both her hands on the journal.

Rhi (as Roxanne): This… This is more than we could have asked for. Can we take this? We need to get started.

Minna (as Myra): Do you have any speculation on those others? I mean, we can guess on two of the sets of initials.

Rhi (as Roxanne): It’s most likely Harvale and Avrathi… “E.P….” Yeah, ”E.P.” and “R….”

Minna (as Myra): Let us know if you figure them out. They’ll be people to watch out for.

Rhi (as Roxanne): Yes, we’ll absolutely look into it.

Madge (as Phin): Yeah. You’re gonna need to question Harvale about it. Not Avrathi.

Rhi: Roxanne and Lani both look at you for a moment, and then Lani nods. It looks like they’re both making the very unusual decision for them to not ask any more questions.

Minna: They can make a pretty easy guess.

Rhi: Yeah, Roxanne closes the book and tucks it into her bag.

Rhi (as Roxanne): You all should rest up. You look like you had a very difficult time getting this. We’re sorry to have put you all through this. But we’ll be in touch. We’ll definitely look into those other names and see what we can find out.

Madge: Mm-hmm.

Rhi: They head out. Rigney, when he sees them leaving, walks them out and locks the door again. He gets Sophia taken care of, put on the schedule, probably gives her a shot to calm her nerves. He tells you guys that he’ll get his buddies in the Cabbies to take her home, make sure that she gets back safely.

Once you all are rested up enough where you feel like you can start heading back home, you get up and make your way back through the streets. You’re all tired and hurting and battered, but you made it. You helped someone and eliminated somebody who was involved in a lot of very terrible things.

 

You get back to The Nest. Blaire is asleep when you get in. You all crawl into bed, manage to get to sleep. For some of you, it takes longer than others.

You’re all awakened shortly before dawn by the sound of bells tolling throughout the city. Several sets of bells are high-pitched and frantic, and you recognize that. That’s the alarm of The Brigade, which are the firefighters of Duskwall. The other bell is a low, constant, steady toll of the death bell ringing out over and over. You all get up, head to the windows, looking out, trying to figure out what’s going on. As you all look towards the northwest in the city, you find your way to those windows. You see, lighting up the sky, a massive fire in the middle of the docks district.

Minna:  Ah! Oh no!

Madge: [whispering] Oh no.

## [00:41:24] 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.

## [00:42:26]

Rhi: Aaand… [singing] Let me look at my list of drugs to see what you’ve just inhaled.

Josie: [laughter]

Rhi: [continues the tune, humming]

Josie: Blades in the Dark, everyone.