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Transcript created by Tyler.
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RHI: Welcome back to Duskwall. First, let me say I’m completely blown away by the response we’ve gotten to our first episode. Thank you so much for joining in to listen to this band of misfit criminals tumble head first into disaster every other week.
I want to give a special shout out to Tess of RPG Podcasts. She has promoted our show and given me all sorts of advice on how to actually do this whole running a podcast thing, and I’m incredibly grateful to her. There’s a link to her site in the show notes. Please check it out, and follow her on Twitter as well.
A couple things about today’s episode:
Due to a work schedule conflict and then a power outage, Madge was unable to join us for this recording session. Phin will be back in Episode 4. Why not in Episode 3, you ask? Because this is Part 1 of our very first two-parter.
Next, let me tell you about this month’s featured charity. Starting this month we’ll be highlighting different charities that support causes important to our cast. Our first featured charity is your local NAACP chapter.
Last December, the democratic candidate for senator won a highly contested special election in Alabama, a victory that has pulled some small amount of power out of the GOP’s hands. This victory was due almost entirely to voters of color who were able to overcome systemic voter suppression thanks to the tireless efforts of the Alabama NAACP. Voters of color face continued challenges to their right to vote throughout the country, and local NAACP chapters are among the leaders in championing those rights. If you’re able, donate a few dollars to your local chapter or see if they need volunteers. A link to the national NAACP website will be in the show notes.
Now then, let’s get started. Shall we?
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RHI: So, it has been about a week since your… what’s a good word for it… challenging assault on the Nightmarket Blue Coats station.
JOSIE: That’s a nice blameless word for it.
(laughter)
RHI: So, you guys have spent the last week healing up a lot, indulging your vices, basically laying low. While you have been hiding out in your lair, you guys have been making some upgrades.
MINNA: What I think would happen is they all turn to each other, and they’re like, well we’ve been making a lot of waves, and there’s a lot of heat coming at us, maybe it’s time we sort of make sure we’re safe at home. So, we got alarms. How does it look? Do we booby trap it or something?
JOSIE: So, it’s like, triggered lights, and ringing bells, and alarms and stuff.
MINNA: How do we let it know it’s us?
JOSIE: We could each have a special key or something.
MINNA: Oh yeah, I like that a lot.
KIM: Yeah.
JOSIE: Like, if we put that key into one of the doors, that lets us in, it turns off the alarm before it opens.
MINNA: When we weren’t recovering we spent time installing that together, which I’m sure was a big group effort.
JOSIE: Minx spends a lot of time disguising it so it just looks like decoration, or isn’t visible at all, because it’s clunky and ugly. We also got a vault.
RHI: Yes, and how did you guys go about that?
JOSIE: I have an idea on that. Most of The Nest is on the top floor of this tower, right? I like the idea of the floor below becoming our vault, and it kind of gets sealed off, and then there’s a door in the floor of our main space.
MINNA: Oh yeah.
RHI: Oh, cool. So you guys have a trap door in your main lair living space, and then you climb down that into the sealed off floor below. So, you guys have spent your week doing all that, and now you’re finally getting around to delivering that report that you stole to Lani and Roxanne over at the North Hook Mirror. We open with three of the four of you over in the docks in Ink Lane, and it’s only the three of you today because Phin is out on the boat with the rest of her family. Her two older brothers got sick, and her parents guilted her into coming out to take their place, so she will be out on the Void Sea for the foreseeable future. So, she is off dealing with that instead of working with you guys today.
So, you guys reach the offices of the North Hook Mirror, and inside it’s a scene of organized chaos. There’s a lot of desks, a lot of people hurrying around, there’s the smell of ink and…
MINNA: Warm paper.
RHI: Yeah, yeah, that fresh news print smell in the air. Eventually, as you guys are standing there, some young looking late teens page comes up. “Oh, um, hi. Can I help you with something?”
JOSIE: “Yes. We have a previous appointment with Ms. Athari and Ms. Elpis. We do believe we have a tasty scoop for them, as it were.”
RHI: “Oh, okay! Uh, hang on just a second.” She goes running off, comes back a minute later with Roxanne in toe, and when she sees you Roxanne says, “Oh,” (sighs in relief) “Good. I’m, I’m glad you’re alright. We heard about—“ She glances down at the page. “Why don’t you come back to the office?”
She leads the three of you back, weaving through the desks and things, and takes you back to a fairly small, crowded office. There’s two desks wedged in there, a few book cases, there is just paper everywhere. There are reams of paper on the bookshelves, on the desks, there’s paper tacked up all over the walls. It is an incredible fire hazard. When you come in, Lani is sitting at one of the desks taking some notes, and she also looks relieved and signs, “It’s good to see you,” and Roxanne translates that.
Roxanne basically picks up where she left off when she came and collected you. “We heard about the assault on the Nightmarket station, and we figured that was you, but then you didn’t turn up. We were a bit worried. So, it’s very good to see you all in one place. Although… Oh no.” She suddenly seems to realize there’s only three of you. “Is—Is the other one…?”
KIM: “Oh, Phin’s fine. Yeah.”
RHI: (sighs in relief) “Oh, good.”
KIM: “Yeah, don’t worry about it.”
JOSIE: “We’re all fine aside from some bumps and bruises. We’ve had worse.”
KIM: “Yeah, nothing we can’t handle.”
RHI: “Okay. That’s good to hear.” Lani starts signing, and Roxanne translates again. “Were you able to find the report?”
JOSIE: “Indeed. Right here.”
RHI: “Wonderful. Thank you.” Lani takes it and skims through it, and she kind of scowls as she’s reading it, and signs something that Roxanne does not translate. Minx, I think in addition to being able to flirt in every language you also know how to curse in a lot of languages.
JOSIE: Ah, yeah, that makes sense. (laughs)
RHI: As she’s reading she just signs, “Fucking asshole,” you’re guessing probably in response to the commentary left by the Blue Coat chief. She reads through it and shakes her head a little bit, and starts signing. “Thank you so much for this. There are a lot of leads in here. A lot of it we’re not really sure what to do with yet, but it’s a start. It’s a lot more than we had previously.” Lani leans over to the desk and rummages around in a drawer, and pulls out a couple small bags of Coin and holds it out to you.
JOSIE: “Ah, excellent. I do love a clean exchange.”
RHI: Lani signs, “I know we told you that we would give you information in addition to the money. There’s a lot in this report that we could look into. Is there anything in particular you are interested in that you’d like us to focus on getting to you first?”
JOSIE: What exactly was in the report again?
MINNA: The list of leads that we received from the report: There were attacks and murders of some gondoliers, there’s a cult following the Father of the Abyss, we have the name Kotar, Myra’s currently researching the Blood Iron Ring which we also heard about, there was a Tayalarin, a cultist in hiding, and the Umbra Hunters gang is involved in all this. Where were they active again?
RHI: They were active in your neighborhoods, Nightmarket and Six Towers.
MINNA: So, I feel like it would be good to have them research the Umbra Hunters for us. I think we’ll point out that bit in the report.
RHI: Lani looks over it again a little more closely, and Roxanne kind of leans over her shoulder.
MINNA: “I know Blue Coat corruption isn’t news, but the Umbra Hunters haven’t been active for some time, as far as we know.”
RHI: Roxanne translates that and Lani nods, looking very confused, and she replies, “Yeah, that’s very strange. I remember when that gang was broken up. As far as I knew they had completely fallen apart, so this is strange. Yeah, we can look into that, and as soon as we have any concrete information for you we’ll share it.”
JOSIE: “Excellent. Then I do believe all debts are being resolved. Yes?”
RHI: “I believe so.”
JOSIE: “Though, of course you’re always welcome to call upon us again.”
RHI: “I was just going to say, I hope that we can contact you again if we need any more information obtained.”
MINNA: “As long as you keep in mind that we don’t work for free.”
RHI: “Of course.” Alright, you guys gonna head on out then?
JOSIE: Mm-hmm. Minx will sign goodbyes.
RHI: Lani smiles and signs back. “Have a nice day.”
The three of you head outside to the street. At this point you have wrapped up your obligations from the previous score, and you are free to do whatever you would like.
JOSIE: “Now, we have been working on this project a bit, but I do believe our dwelling does need a bit more color in it. Yes?”
KIM: “What do you mean?”
JOSIE: “You know, decorations.”
MINNA: “This again, Minx?”
JOSIE: “I’m thinking paintings.”
KIM: “What kind of paintings?”
JOSIE: “The sort that people would pay for.”
MINNA: “The sort that we should get people to pay us for.”
JOSIE: “Exactly.”
KIM: “So, that really abstract shit that everybody pretends to understand but nobody really does?”
JOSIE: “Well, I mean, some people are incapable of understanding it, but if you want I could try to explain what high society’s opinion of these things are,” (laughing) “But anyway, that is beside the point.”
KIM: “I…”
(laughter)
MINNA: Do we know what Minx’s background is?
RHI: Wowww. Minx totally doesn’t understand it either.
JOSIE: No, no. She only thinks she is high society, so any explanation she would give you is total bull crap.
KIM: “Can we agree that contemporary art is kind of bullshit, though?”
MINNA: “I don’t care what the paintings mean. Can we get some of them to sell as well?”
JOSIE: “Yes, of course. I do believe that people would shell out quite a fortune for some of these very unique works, even overlooking certain facts about the piece that make it less unique. I’m saying we should forge paintings, that’s what we should do.”
KIM: “Oh, cool. Okay.”
MINNA: “Did you have some in mind?”
JOSIE: “Hmm… Well, I do believe this might require a trip to a gallery.”
KIM: (groans heavily)
MINNA: (shrieks in laughter)
RHI: (laughs)
JOSIE: “Oh, come now, it’ll do you good to have some culture in you.”
KIM: “Wha—I’m cultured! I read!”
RHI: So, you’re thinking you need to go find a gallery.
JOSIE: Is there such a thing as a museum, or is it all private collections?
RHI: I don’t think there are public museums, because this is not a society that is very concerned with educating the masses. It is exclusively the domain of the wealthy. It’s basically Gather Information. You’re gonna need to figure out who has a collection that you could gain access to. How do you wanna go about doing that?
JOSIE: How high class is the institution Nyryx works at?
RHI: Yeah, Nyryx works at the Red Lamp in Silk Shore, which I think that is a high class place. It’s one of the oldest if not the oldest brothels in the city. You could definitely go and chat with her and see if she has heard anything interesting.
JOSIE: Yeah. I think I wanna do that. I don’t know if she’ll be insulted that I’m asking her to violate like client privacy or whatever.
RHI: You and Nyryx are kind of an on again off again thing, that the rest of the crew will occasionally hear about it when either you are newly on or newly off.
JOSIE: Yeah. Correct.
(laughter)
MINNA: I’m just imagining Minx draped over a sofa, being dramatic about it.
JOSIE: Oh yeah. Break ups with Minx are the absolute worst for everyone in The Nest.
KIM: Yep.
RHI: (laughs) They just come in, and she’s just on a fainting couch, a hand on her forehead, a glass of wine in the other hand, just posing dramatically.
So, that does raise the question as the three of you are making your way over to Silk Shore. Are you and Nyryx on or off at this point?
JOSIE: I think we are in a hard off position right now. Oh, I want to bring some wine. Peace offering.
KIM: Is it good wine?
JOSIE: Yes.
KIM: Okay.
JOSIE: Well, actually, it’s probably not the super finest. It’s one Minx knows she likes, rather than going off monetary value alone here.
RHI: So, you guys make your way across one of the bridges into Silk Shore, which is the pleasure district of Duskwall. Most of the city’s brothels are here, drug dens, casinos, basically any vice you could hope to indulge can be found here. You guys are heading for the Red Lamp Brothel. Describe for me what the lobby entry way looks like.
JOSIE: I feel like it’s definitely made for comfort and getting you in the mood, a little bit, but it has a very clean air about it.
RHI: So, based on what you’re saying, it looks more like the front lobby of a hotel.
JOSIE: Yes, exactly.
RHI: So it’s got some nice plush chairs, there’s probably a fireplace.
KIM: Maybe a chandelier.
RHI: Mm-hmm. Definitely a big fancy chandelier. Some nice plush rugs on the floor, some tasteful artwork. There’s a young man standing behind the counter, and he looks up and for a second is kind of confused, because he doesn’t recognize Blaire or Myra, but then he sees Minx and smirks, and sees the bottle of wine. “Mmm. Are you in the dog house again, love?”
JOSIE: “Not, not, not quite, dear. Just a chat.”
RHI: “Ah, that didn’t sound too confident to me. Let me see if she’s free.” He flips through a book and runs his finger down it. “Um, yeah, she’s not starting for another couple hours. Let me ring her down for you. God luck.” He winks at you and walks off. A few minutes later she comes down the stairs. What does Nyryx look like?
JOSIE: I think Nyryx is kind of, longer hair, really dark black hair. She might be not Akoros in heritage. She’s the sort of person who kind of keeps things simple in her dress, but she just kind of rocks anything.
RHI: So, she comes downstairs, sees you, raises an eyebrow, and strolls over. “Well, I’m surprised to see you here.”
JOSIE: “Surely you didn’t think I would stay away for too long, yes?”
RHI: “Well, I thought you might have some sense and do exactly that. Do you have any idea how furious Bazso is about the stunt you pulled last week?”
JOSIE: “I don’t believe that man could get really more furious than he was already.”
RHI: “Oh, you have no idea darling.” She glances past Minx to the other two of you, and her gaze kind of lingers on both of you. Blaire, Myra, neither of you have met her before, but she still looks at you as if she recognizes both of you in some way. Then she kinda shakes her head. “Come on, let’s sit down and hear what you have to say. I’m guessing that it’s something to do with your work, if you’re coming here with friends.”
JOSIE: “Well, yes, business is what brought me this way, but it also occurred to me that you haven’t met them yet, and they’re quite good fellows.”
RHI: “Yes, they uh, certainly seem that way.”
KIM: Blaire waves very tentatively at her.
JOSIE: “And they’re certainly much less of a hassle than I am.”
RHI: “Well, that’s damning with feint praise, it seems. It’s lovely to meet you both.” She gestures over towards a cluster of four chairs around a small table, and she waves a hand at the bartender who comes over with four empty wine glasses and a corkscrew for the bottle of wine that you have. Never mind the fact that it’s like 11:30 in the morning.
JOSIE: Right. (laughs)
RHI: Yeah. She sits and just sort of looks the three of you over, and finally her gaze settles on Minx, and she asks, “So, what does bring you here?”
JOSIE: “Well, it occurs to me that while I am quite familiar with the finer things of certain circles of the city I am less familiar with the social life of such things, and your work has introduced you to many a kind, and I was wondering if there was anyone beneficial we could talk about.”
RHI: I think at this point you’re gonna need to give me some kind of roll.
JOSIE: I kind of wanna push myself on this.
RHI: Okay. Do you remember what happened last time?
MINNA: (laughs)
JOSIE: (tentatively) Yeah…
RHI: If you want to, I will not stop you, but…
JOSIE: Oh! Hi! That’s two 6’s.
RHI: So, you ask if she knows anybody, and she leans back in her chair and kind of rolls her eyes thoughtfully and takes a sip of the wine, and her eyes kind of dart back to you because she realizes that you went out of your way to get not the fanciest thing but one of her favorite vintages, and she smiles. “Well, what specifically are you looking for? I meet a lot of interesting people working here, a lot of boring people too, but all of them have money, darling. So, what are you looking for?”
JOSIE: “Particularly those who are fond of painting, sculpture, the arts. I’ve always been a bit of a trappings and furniture girl myself and wish to broaden my horizons.”
RHI: “I see. I assume you’re looking for someone who would be open to a visit.”
JOSIE: “Exactly.”
RHI: “Hmm…” She takes another sip and looks sort of thoughtful. “Oh, I know. Lord Winfield, Clark Winfield, owns some of the factories in Coal Ridge, I think they’re copper production or something like that, but he’s also quite the art collector, and he’s recently come into a brand new collection by some mysterious up and coming artist. It’s all very enigmatic. He’s established a new gallery in his manor to host all of this work. I believe he is throwing some sort of party to show off his newest collection.” And with a critical success, you can ask basically anything, and she has all kinds of details.
JOSIE: I think I want all the details on who this guy is and what he likes.
RHI: Yeah. He is fairly young, has come into his fortune recently after his parents passed away, he’s only held the title for a few years. He likes art, he has an extensive collection. It’s primarily paintings. He has some other works, some tapestries, some sculptures, that sort of thing. Before he assumed the title he was very much a socialite. Since he’s taken over, you know, everyone kind of expected when he took over the title and the family businesses that he was going to be very irresponsible and run the place into the ground, but he’s actually been quite successful. He’s made the factories more profitable in large part by being fairly ruthless about strike breaking, finding places where he can squeeze wages, getting more hours out of people for less pay, that sort of thing.
JOSIE: I want to know his personality.
RHI: He’s a pretty friendly, outgoing guy so long as you’re somebody that he has an interest in, be that you’re nobility or that you’re of some use to him. Nyryx has never really seen him dealing with people that he doesn’t like, so she can’t really speak to that in particular, but based on what he said she’s guessing that he can be kind of a hard ass. Stuff he likes to talk about… he likes to talk about his art. Also, to the disappointment of some of his friends from his younger days, he likes talking business. He has recently been interested in expanding, he’s making a lot of profit and he wants to invest that into the family holdings, he’s just not sure where he wants to go with it yet.
JOSIE: Mm. Also, what is his favorite color?
RHI: Blue.
JOSIE: Blue. Okay.
RHI: So, anything else you want to ask her right now?
JOSIE: Not about Lord Clark Winfield. Otherwise I think I just want to spend this time chatting, if it doesn’t drive these two insane.
RHI: As the conversation about Winfield dies down, Nyryx glances over at Myra. She finishes off her glass, sets it down on the table, and says, “Um, sorry, can I speak to you alone for a moment?”
MINNA: “Alright.”
RHI: So, she stands up and leads you off to the other side of the room. She looks you up and down, and as she does that something in her face kind of shifts. It’s not like a change of emotion, it’s like… well, Myra, I think you might be a little familiar with this. It’s like something else is looking out through her eyes. She gives you this really sad smile and says, “I’m so sorry that whoever was with you hurt you so badly.”
MINNA: “How did you know?”
RHI: “There’s marks that get left behind on a person when it’s not willing, when it’s someone who left in a lot of… I can tell that whoever, whatever the spirit was, it was someone who left with a lot of pain, and fear, and hate, and it left its marks.”
MINNA: “How can you be living with it like this?”
RHI: Her eyes kind of shift, and she looks like the person you’ve been talking to for the last hour, and she shrugs. “They’re not all bad. A lot of them are, but—“
MINNA: “She wasn’t bad! Let’s get that straight. I don’t know why you feel the need to talk to me about this.”
RHI: “I just… I’m sorry.” (sighs) “I saw it, and I, I just wanted to say something. I’m sorry that I upset you.”
MINNA: “There’s nothing you can do for me about this. I don’t know why you thought… Whatever.”
RHI: “I’m sorry.” Is Myra just gonna walk off?
MINNA: Yeah…
JOSIE: When you come back, Minx is in the middle of an explanation to Blaire about some painting she saw one time. “Well, you see, the black speaks to the inner soul of the—“
KIM: “I cannot tell you how much I do not care.”
MINNA: “Let’s go.”
JOSIE: “So suddenly?”
MINNA: “Yes, suddenly.”
JOSIE: “We were just getting a good conversation going.”
MINNA: “Cool. You can have the conversation as we walk.”
KIM: “O…kay.”
RHI: Nyryx comes back over and is keeping a distance.
JOSIE: “Sorry for the sudden departure, Nyryx. It was god to see you.”
RHI: “It’s alright. It was my fault. I overstepped.”
JOSIE: “Oh. Hmm.”
RHI: “Not like that, you.”
JOSIE: “I know. You think so low of me. Jeez.”
RHI: “Only because you give me reason to, darling.”
KIM: “Daaamn.”
JOSIE: “So cruel. So cruel.”
RHI: “You know you love it.”
KIM: “She got you!”
MINNA: (laughing) I think Myra is just standing off to the side with her arms crossed very tightly across her chest trying to hold it together.
JOSIE: Minx is incredibly flushed and ready to go right now.
KIM: “Okay bye~!”
RHI: She says, “Be safe out there,” to Minx, and then glances at Myra and says, “Again, I’m sorry,” and she steps back and heads back towards the stairs.
MINNA: I think Myra doesn’t even look at her as she goes.
RHI: So, you guys leave the Red Lamp, you’re out on the street. Do you guys wanna talk about things getting weird at the end there, or just move on?
KIM: Uh, I don’t know. Myra seems like she wouldn’t wanna open up about it right now.
JOSIE: I think Minx is gonna wait to ask until later.
RHI: So, you have a target, you know he’s throwing a party, and Nyryx gave you the details of, oh yeah, the party’s in a few days, it starts at this time, all that stuff.
MINNA: Now we just have to find a way in.
JOSIE: Right. So, one or more of us should case the joint. What does a Setup Action actually do? Because I wanna take some time to establish my noble persona.
RHI: The way the Setup Action is written is that it’s more of an in-score thing, but I think we can do it… You’re trying to setup an identity as an interested art collector. We’ll say that it will help with the Engagement roll.
JOSIE: Okay, and it may not be the optimal thing, but I think it’s going to be very much in character for Minx to push herself on this. She possibly goes overboard in setting this up.
RHI: Yeah. Go ahead and make your roll for Sway.
JOSIE: Cool.
RHI: Oof.
JOSIE: That sucks.
RHI: So, I’m gonna say, what happens is you can’t get face time with anybody. Nobody is willing to talk to you about your newfound interest in art.
JOSIE: Okay.
RHI: While Minx is off trying to chat with people, Myra, Blaire, do you guys wanna do anything? You know where the party’s gonna be, but you need an in.
KIM: I have an idea, looking at our contacts on the shadow sheet. Adelaide and Fitz.
RHI: Yes.
KIM: I figured we could appeal to either of them and try to convince them to have us be their +1 or something and have that be our cover.
RHI: So, for Social, the detail you provide is your social connection, so rather than this be a Gather Info roll, you could just say Adelaide or Fitz is gonna get us in, and just tell me how you convince them.
KIM: I kinda wanna go with Adelaide , just because she also has the nobility.
RHI: Okay, so, tell me about Adelaide . What’s her deal? Why is she a contact to a group of up and coming thieves?
MINNA: She went to either a university you went to or one that Myra’s hung out at.
RHI: I like the idea that she and Blaire knew each other at school.
KIM: But, would that work against us, since I basically got kicked out of school?
RHI: Eh, she doesn’t care.
KIM: Okay!
RHI: This is a good point where you would have crossed over. So Blaire, you would have been a student at the Morlan Hall of Unnatural Philosophy studying all kinds of fun occult things.
KIM: Yay.
RHI: Adelaide, she’s a couple years older than you, and she was a student at the Jayan Hall of Alchemy.
KIM: Ooh.
RHI: But there’s a little bit of crossover between those two areas.
KIM: Yeah.
RHI: So, you guys met, you both took a class together, you ran across each other in the library, and you got along. She’d never met somebody from Tycheros before so she had all kinds of questions.
KIM: Yeah. My family were alchemists, too.
RHI: I was gonna say, yeah, your family are alchemists. Once you mentioned that she had all kinds of questions about how alchemy works in Tycheros. Yeah, you two became friends, and you kept in touch with her after you got kicked out. Where is some place off campus the two of you would hang out?
MINNA: What if it’s just a coffee shop?
KIM: That’s… That’s… (sigh) What about a graveyard? Just to hang out.
(laugher)
JOSIE: God damn.
RHI: Yes! Yes, that’s so good. Yes. Okay!
KIM: There’s like a mausoleum that we both just hung out at, for no reason. We just thought it looked cool.
RHI: God, that’s so good. You send Adelaide a letter. The way I’m picturing this if this were being shot on film is like, you see the letter being written of like “meet at the usual spot,” and then it cuts to this dark, moonlit graveyard.
KIM: yes!
RHI: There’s a row of marble mausoleums.
KIM: Mm-hmm.
RHI: We follow Blaire as she’s weaving her way through the graveyard, and lounging against a wall is a young Akorosian woman. He hair is jet black, but it’s obvious that it’s been dyed that color, and she’s wearing this… it’s a little old fashioned, kind of flowy, lacey, dark gray gown. When she sees you, she straightens up. “Oh, Blaire, it’s so wonderful to see you again.”
KIM: “Sup Addy?” I got in to fist bump her.
RHI: She fist bumps you back. “Oh, I feel like it’s been ages since I saw you. I still can’t believe they kicked you out.”
KIM: “It’s kind of a story. I’d rather not get into it right now, because I kind of have a little bit more pressing things right now.”
RHI: “Oh? Oh, yeah, of course.”
KIM: “Um… Do you like art?”
RHI: “Um, I like some art. Art is a very broad category. There’s a lot of it, I mean, paintings, and sculptures, and music, and…”
KIM: “Yeah, yeah, right, yeah yeah, okay.”
RHI: “What about art?”
KIM: “There’s… My crew is planning an art heist, and—“
RHI: (gasps) “Ooh! That sounds exciting!”
KIM: “Yeah, and we’re thinking about crashing some kind of, you know, rich asshole’s party.”
RHI: “Oh, which—Do you need a list of rich assholes? I know a lot of them.”
KIM: “I bet you do, but I think we already have a name and target.”
RHI: “Who?”
KIM: “Lord Clark Winfield.”
RHI: “Oh. Good choice in rich asshole.”
KIM: “Oh really? That’s good to know.”
RHI: “Mm-hmm. My older sister is just enamored with him, but he’s, ugh, he’s just a prick.”
KIM: “Ick.”
RHI: “Very two-faced, you know?”
KIM: “Oh, I hate that.”
RHI: “Yeah!”
KIM: “Can you get us in there?”
RHI: “I think I can manage that.”
KIM: “You can manage all three of us?”
RHI: “I can pull some strings here. I can get you in the front door, and then I think I’ll have to make myself a bit scarce so that people don’t get too suspicious. Meet back here the night before the party and I’ll get you what you need.”
KIM: “Yeah, because I’ve got nothing to wear…”
RHI: “Yes, I was just going to say—That I don’t believe I can help you with. We are not even close to the same size. You are very short. I can give you the names of a few tailors that might be able to help you out.”
KIM: “I guess. Yeah, I mean, I’m gonna need it.”
RHI: One of the places she gives you is Dundridge & Sons.
JOSIE: Oh, hey, that’s my vice place.
KIM: Oh, hey.
RHI: Yeah, yeah. Minx knows this place well. Their prices are surprisingly reasonable. I imagine you guys chat and catch up for a little bit before she goes swanning off to be dramatic in another part of the graveyard.
KIM: “Next time don’t pose without me.”
RHI: “Next time get here on time.” Is there anything else you wanna do in terms of gathering information?
MINNA: Now that I remember we have those contacts including Fitz the collector, I might gather information just on like the art that we’ll be trying to steal.
RHI: Where do you think Fitz works out of?
MINNA: It makes sense to me that he’s kind of a scout and appraiser, and maybe sometimes buys stuff and sells it on to nobles, so maybe he has an office in Charter Hall or… someplace nice.
RHI: Probably in Brightstone, if he’s doing a lot of work with the nobility. Go ahead and give me whatever roll you’re gonna make.
MINNA: I think it’s gonna be a Consort. I have a 5 and a 6!
RHI: 6, great, so you’re gonna get really good information. You head into Fitz’s office. Tell me about Fitz.
MINNA: I think he is a balding man, very harried all the time, like, he always seems… well, with them at least, you know, get on with your business, I have some work to do, etcetera, but he’s obviously willing to talk to them. I don’t know why he’s willing to talk to them and help out. Maybe he means to acquire things creatively eventually.
RHI: Yeah. He probably gets at least a chunk of his art through questionable means. His office is currently—I feel like it’s always pretty crowded, but it is excessively crowded today. There are a whole bunch of crates that employees are prying open with crowbars, and he is bustling around with ledger inspecting each thing as it gets opened and scribbling down notes, and then talking to the person unpacking it and giving directions. “And this one gets placed in the second storage unit. Make sure that it is placed on proper padding. This one goes in storage unit three with the other paintings. Make sure that the frames are back to back so that the art does not touch. We do not want to ruin the painting. Ugh. Yes? What do you want?”
MINNA: “I thought you might be able to give me a little information that might help us both.”
RHI: (sigh) “You have two minutes.” He snaps the ledger shut and looks at you expectantly.
MINNA: “Party at Lord Winfield’s, found a new collection.”
RHI: “Ah, yes.”
MINNA: “We are planning on taking a little trip there. Is there anything we should prioritize?”
RHI: “Well, a lot of people are very interested in that new collection of his. It’s from some unknown artist. The work is supposed to be exquisite—I haven’t seen it myself of course—but everyone who has viewed it says that it’s done by someone of great talent and gift, and apparently he has made himself this young woman’s patron. This is the first showing of any of her art. I believe these are the first pieces that will be available for display. So, I imagine that if you were to get your hands on any of those works they would be quite valuable. He also has a fairly large collection of twilight impressionist pieces if you would like to liberate any of those.”
MINNA: “Thank you for the information. I’ll try and get you some of that.”
RHI: “Ah, I hope you do. Hmm? Under two minutes. Well done.”
MINNA: “Always, Fitz.”
RHI: So, you guys have a target, actually you have a lot of targets, you got a way in. do you guys wanna try and get some fancy duds?
JOSIE: Yeah!
MINNA: (laughing) You asked if we wanted to get dressed up.
JOSIE: Regarding that, can I have a completely self-indulgent scene real quick?
RHI: Yes.
JOSIE: So, from what I heard, Blaire got redirected to Dunridge & Sons first, so I really like the scene of Blaire coming into this place and then Minx is already there getting fitted for a blue women’s noble suit.
RHI: Blaire and Myra walk in, and Minx is already up on the little stand thing, arms out, in front of all of all these mirrors being measured.
JOSIE: But then she catches a glimpse of you in the mirror and turns, and she’s absolutely beaming. “Finally, this day has come! Come now, we must get you fixed up!” And is definitely pulling Blaire forward by the hands in particular.
KIM: (groans) “I don’t want a dress!”
JOSIE: “That’s fine. That’s fine. There are plenty of suits.”
RHI: So, for Myra and Blaire, you’re both gonna roll your Stash, which is basically each of you are gonna roll 1d6.
MINNA: (laughs) I got a 2.
RHI: Oof, okay. Blaire?
KIM: Ho, I got a 6.
RHI: Okay. One of the tailors who works there sees Blaire with the horns and the very pale eyes and her tasseled hair, and is just like yes, I know exactly what I’m gonna do here, this is gonna be awesome, and just spends like two hours getting you decked out.
KIM: She is very scared.
RHI: But it ends up looking awesome. Myra, I think with Minx and Blaire kind of occupying the attention of the two more experienced tailors, you get stuck with the new guy, who doesn’t do a bad job, but they keep coming out with these very fashionable dresses and suits and things, but none of it is anything that you’re comfortable in, because you like things that are more practical. It’s this push and pull of no, I need something that I can actually move in versus waterfall ruffles are so in this year! So, eventually they find you something, but it is a lot more plain than what the other two have, and probably a lot more plain that what anybody else has there. It’s something that you’re fairly comfortable in.
MINNA: I’ve probably given in on the color, and it’s not black, or dark blue.
RHI: All three of you have your outfits, Adelaide meets with Blaire the night before the party to give her the invitations, and yeah. You guys are ready to go to a fancy party.
JOSIE: Woo!
RHI: The engagement roll ends up being 2d6. So I didn’t roll very well. I got a 3.
(groaning)
So, basically it means you guys are gonna be in a desperate position when you walk in.
JOSIE: Dear god.
RHI: Yeah.
JOSIE: Oh my goodness.
KIM: We were doing so well.
RHI: You guys get in with your invitations, you walk into the Winfield Manor, and it is this big, old, beautiful estate. The front hall is marble floors, these beautiful, black marble pillars with like veins of gold through them, crystal chandeliers, there’s a band playing at the back of the room, people dressed in finery mingling, laughing and talking. And, as you come in, there’s a trio of people talking to one of the security staff, and as you approach, one of the people in the group turns, and Minx…
JOSIE: Oh no.
RHI: …you recognize this person with a sinking heart.
JOSIE: Is it—No.
RHI: Bazso spots you.
JOSIE: How is he here? No!
RHI: You fucked with him. (laughs)
JOSIE: Oh my fucking god.
RHI: So, he turns and looks at you, and catches your eyes, and smirks. He looks back at the security staff and says, “Yes, these are the ones that I warned you about. You should have them escorted from the premises immediately.”
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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.
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 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.
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RHI: “He also has a fairly significant collection of, uh…” Oh god. I have to invent art periods. Kim, help.
(laughter)
KIM: Uh… Um… I mean, you literally can just borrow from real life if you want.
RHI: I—I don’t know real life art history, bro. give me a couple—
KIM: Okay, Impressionist, just say… Baroque, yeah, that’s a god one, Baroque.