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## intro music

Rhi: Welcome back to Duskwall. As always, thank you for joining us. If you haven’t yet, please consider leaving us a rating or review. The more reviews we get, the more people will find the show. And if you have left us a review, thank you so much. Every review we get absolutely makes our day.

Next, one thing about today’s episode. I want to give a content warning for some discussion and description of dead bodies in this score. It isn’t super graphic, but it is a little more detailed than we normally have on the show. If you’re uncomfortable with that sort of thing, it might be better to skip over the descriptions. I’ll include timestamps for the descriptions in the show notes.

This month’s featured charity is Masjid al-Rabia, a Chicago-based mosque for queer, trans, women, and marginalized Muslims, who may feel out of place in both mainstream Muslim communities and queer communities. Masjid al-Rabia is centered on five pillars of inclusivity: women-centered, anti-racist, LGBTQIA+ affirming, pluralist, and accessible. Their programming includes weekly prayer services, a free library, a family arts program, and prison outreach initiatives. If you have a few dollars to spare, consider making a donation. A link to their site is in the show notes.

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

## [00:01:32] story resumes

Rhi: We’ll start off the morning after you guys had talked to Rigney and found out that the Inspectors were sniffing around. It’s not really super safe for you guys to be around there. He’s concerned about you all getting arrested.

So, what is the morning routine at The Nest like? Who wakes up first? Who makes breakfast? When does Minx stagger in from her date night with Kay?

Minna: [squeal]

Josie: [laughing] Oh, right. Yeah, I was doing that.

Rhi: You were out having a very nice night.

Josie: Yeah. Minx is coming back pretty early. So who’s up early?

Madge: Not me.

Minna: Myra.

Josie: Minx comes back in with a cloak over her. She’s still in the clothes she was wearing yesterday, and somewhat disheveled. She, in a rare circumstance, has her hair down, ‘cause it’s usually in sort of a practical bun-type thing with a braid around it, pulled back. But now it’s down and uncharacteristically messy. This is probably one of the few times you’ve seen her without makeup, as well. She comes in, looks at you, and says:

Josie (as Minx): Um, uh, oh. Um, uh, good morning, dear.

Minna (as Myra): Good morning. You had a good night?

Josie (as Minx): That’s one way of putting it. Mhm, yup. Hold on, let my put myself together.

Josie: And she picks up way too much speed and speeds into her bedroom to get ready, and you hear:

Josie (as Minx): [thump] Ow.

Josie, Minna, and Rhi: [laughter]

Josie: Actually, for the rest of the morning, Minx is kind of out of it. Not sad, definitely happy, but out of it.

Rhi: Distracted.

Josie: Yes.

Minna: Myra quietly makes a second cup of whatever kind of hellish tea they have in this universe.

Rhi: It’s probably mushroom-based. What’s Myra doing up this early? She just enjoying tea and having a quiet moment? Is she…

Minna: I think in the morning, that’s when she gets stuff done. If she has a thing she’s reading or she has some plans to sketch out, that’s when she can rely on having a quiet minute in the house—or, in The Nest, I should say.

Rhi: Yeah. Who gets up next?

Kim: I will say that Blaire gets up next. The door to her room just creaks open very loudly. It hasn’t been oiled in a while; she has a very noisy door. She just cracks open slightly. It’s very dark inside. She comes out. She’s very bleary-eyed; her hair is poofier and bigger than it usually is, and she looks a little grouchy. She doesn’t even say anything, she just kinda peter-patters over to, I guess, the main room, where the table is. She just slumps over in a chair and puts her head on the table.

Madge: Leaves Phin for last, I guess. I figure she comes out of her room, and she’s completely put together for the day, which is not saying much for Phin. She has clothes on that are pretty much clean, her hair is combed, and she’s wearing her boots. She comes out and gets to work on procuring food.

Josie: When Minx comes out for food, she’s more put together but is wearing a much higher collar than usual.

Everyone: [laughter]

Kim: Yes!

Minna: I have a dumb, dumb question. [laugh]

Josie: What?

Minna: So, these people are all living, basically, in a house together. What is their situation with regards to food? Do they have any communal food or is it all jealously-hoarded own food?

Josie: Minx is willing to share her food.

Josie (as Minx): Just as long as you’re waiting for it to be done up properly, dears.

Minna: [laughter]

Madge: Phin does not provide food. She’s surprisingly picky. Not picky picky. Like, she picks off of other people. Whatever they’re eating she’ll just grab a little bit of it.

Minna: [laughing] Doesn’t eat her own food?

Madge: Nope. She just goes with whatever’s available.

Minna: I feel like Myra eventually just starts making larger meals.

Josie, Kim, and Minna: [laughter]

Rhi: Yeah. You guys are having breakfast, or tea, or laying face down on the table.

Josie, Kim: [laughter]

Josie: Also, did we look that envelope yet?

Rhi: Good question. Myra, have you looked in the envelope that Rigney gave you?

Minna: I think she probably has. I think she would have done it when she got to her own room and she could read it in privacy.

Rhi: Yeah. Basically, that was the payoff of your gather information check with Jeren. Jeren’s information includes the full name of the owner of The Centuralia Club and the person who was giving the orders to attack The Gondoliers. His name is Harvale Brogan. There isn’t a ton of information that Jeren was able to get that you don’t already have. He bought The Centuralia Club about six years ago. The ownership of the club has always been kept mysterious; it’s part of the general air of the place, is that getting to meet the owner or know the owner is another one of those status markers. So most people don’t know. And now you guys do.

Minna: I think Myra summarizes it for them rather than giving them the letter.

Josie (as Minx): I still find ourselves, even after this windfall, distressingly lacking in information. We do have some context, but I’m not certain we can pull in all the info ourselves, as much as I hate to admit that.

Minna (as Myra): Yes, I do miss the days of having a wider network. I think it’s time we worked on building that up.

Madge (as Phin): Mhmm.

Josie (as Minx): Indeed.

Kim (as Blaire): It would save us a lot of time.

Josie (as Minx): Although, it sounds like you have experience in that and might know where to start, yes?

Minna (as Myra): Some, yes. From scratch, it’s going to be a bit of a challenge. But I think it’s about time we planted that seed.

Rhi: Myra, you do, because of your background, have some information and insight on how to build an information network. Building one from the ground up is the work of months, if not years. However, there is a nice shortcut you can take, and that people will often take, which is where you basically co-opt an established network. Particularly among the criminal organizations in this city, it’s a fairly common thing, because, again, a lot of people don’t wanna put in the time to build their own network, so they just sort of steal other people’s. Myra, you know that a lot of the criminal organizations in this city have already-established information networks. You also know that Salia has one, if that’s something you wanted to go after.

Minna: Oh God. She definitely wants to eventually. I don’t know if she’s there yet.

Josie: And The Gondoliers don’t especially count, right? ‘Cause they’re kind of their own entity.

Rhi: I mean, The Gondoliers do get a decent amount of information.

Josie: Mhmm.

Minna: That’s why The Umbra Hunters were after them, right?

Rhi: Right. And yeah, that could be a potential option, as well, to see if they would be willing to act as an information network for you all.

Minna: Another option regarding Salia is that we could peel off just a piece of her network? I don’t know if that would be useful; just suggesting that as a possible option.

Josie: I’d either say that or try to get The Gondoliers to be our informants.

Minna: They could also be very, very good.

Kim: We’re already in kinda good with Kay, at least.

Josie: [chuckle]

Kim: I would say that’d be a good group.

Josie: Do I know if she has any pull or if she’s just a normal gondolier?

Rhi: She could probably tell you who some of the leaders are.

Josie: She could likely vouch for us if it comes to that, but I wouldn’t wanna put undue pressure on her to get us in with them. Especially since I don’t want it to seem like I’m using her.

Kim: Well, you’re not the only person who can ask. We can go as a group or send someone else. It’s fine.

Josie: But yeah, Gondoliers is my vote.

Kim: I think my vote is also for Gondoliers.

Madge: Yeah, it just makes sense.

Minna: Yeah.

## [00:10:12]

Rhi: Okay. If you guys want to try to talk to The Gondoliers to see if they’re gonna be willing to become, officially, your information network. How do you wanna approach that?

Josie: I mean, we could ask Kay to just introduce us.

Kim: We could.

Josie: That would probably be the simplest, rather than bumming around district trying to persuade someone.

Madge:: And she probably wouldn’t mind, you know?

Josie: Yeah.

Kim: She already knows us.

Rhi: I think, Minx, in the course of your date last night, Kay talked about her normal route, where she works—partially so that you could look her up again in the future. Minx is able to lead you to one of the canal docks in Nightmarket. Once again, Kay is hanging out on the pier. She seems to be in a pretty good mood, is chatting with a couple other gondoliers, notices the four of you come down, and straightens up and waves.

Rhi (as Kay): Yeah, these are them. These are the ones I was telling you about.

Kim (as Blaire): Hi!

Josie (as Minx): Oh, you’re speaking of us. Excellent.

Madge (as Phin): Hey.

Josie (as Minx): By the way, dear, how are you doing this morning?

Rhi: She glances at your collar and smirks.

Rhi (as Kay): I’m doing just fine, thank you.

Rhi: And gives you a wink.

Josie (as Minx): Glad to hear it.

Josie: Wink back.

Rhi (as Kay): So, what can I do for you this morning? Hopefully no further ambushes—I think we all might need a little time to recover from the last one.

Josie (as Minx): Oh, certainly not. It is, unfortunately, some manner of business, though. We simply need to, regarding recent events, talk to… superior, of a sort? We simply lack the knowledge of who or how, and was wondering if you could provide that, of course.

Rhi (as Kay): You want just a name, or an introduction?

Madge (as Phin): An introduction. We need to start getting a network together.

Rhi (as Kay): [grunt]

Josie (as Minx): If it’s not too much trouble.

Rhi (as Kay): Well, I’m happy to help. But if you’re looking for something a little more broad, you would need to talk to Eisele. She’s the one in charge.

Rhi: She steps back and gestures at her gondola. She’s managed to clean up most of the bloodstains.

Josie: Excellent. [laugh]

Rhi: Most of them.

Josie: [laughing] Most.

Rhi: Still a few. Yeah. You guys all hop into the gondola, and she takes you up to the canals. As you guys get into Crow’s Foot, you can tell as soon as you’ve gotten into the district, because you see a pair of bodies floating face down.

Kim: Oh.

Josie: Oh, jeez.

Rhi: They are, based on what they’re wearing, members of The Red Sashes. Both look like they’ve been shot. Kay sees them, looks around, just making a glance around of the area. Not like she’s looking for people, but just being sort of like “okay, this is my location.” She stops the gondola for a second, and her eyes glow blue, the same way that Blaire’s do when she’s looking into the ghost field.

Josie: [gasp]

Kim: Oh.

Josie: She’s magic.

Rhi: She does that for a second, and then comes out.

Rhi (as Kay): All right. Their spirits are still in there. I’ll send somebody to pick them up once we get there.

Rhi: About 10 minutes later, she brings you to an underground dock that then extends backwards into a bit of a cavern that has a small building built back there; a small boathouse, basically. She brings her gondola up. There’s another of other gondolas there; some that have been pulled out of the water, that look like they are in various stages of repair. There’s a number of people milling around, talking. A few of them wave at Kay as she steps out. Kay leads you back to the boathouse, knocks on the door, and then you hear a voice from inside.

Rhi (as Voice from Inside): Who is it?

Rhi (as Kay): Kay. I have some people here who wanna talk to you.

Rhi (as Voice from Inside): Yeah, send them on in.

Rhi: Kay opens up the door, ushers you all inside. It’s a small room with a couple doors leading out. In this room there’s a desk, a couple electroplasmic lights. The walls are covered in maps of the canals, of the city, that have all kinds of notations in various shorthand and symbols on them. Sitting at the desk is an older woman; she looks like she’s probably in her 50s or 60s. She’s got silver hair that is tied back in a really tight bun; scar across her forehead.

Rhi (as Old Woman): Ah. What’s making you bring guests in?

Rhi: Kay just says:

Rhi (as Kay): They wanted to talk to you; had some interest in utilizing our services more broadly. There’s a couple corpses back around the Crossfire junction, so I’m gonna go and…

Rhi: The woman at the desk is like:

Rhi (as Eisele): Yes, yes. Go. Please, pick them up.

Rhi: Kay gives you all a wave and tells you she’ll be back, and then heads out.

Josie (as Minx): Be safe.

Rhi: The woman at the desk looks the four of you over.

Rhi (as Eisele): So, what can I do for you?

Josie (as Minx): Yes, well, given that you have been graciously doing business with us in matters of boating and otherwise, and given recent developments regarding your business, we were, to move straight to the point, interested in, perhaps, a more long term, and hopefully exclusive, business relationship.

Rhi (as Eisele): You have a very weird idea of “straight to the point.”

Josie and Minna: [laughter]

Rhi: She scans the rest of you and settles on Phin.

Rhi (as Eisele): What do you all want?

Madge (as Phin): We want contacts. We’re trying to set up an information network, and we figured you guys know the most about what’s going on in this city.

Josie (as Minx): Is that not what I said?

Madge (as Phin): No, you took like 50 minutes to take what it took me like two seconds to say.

Rhi: She nods.

Rhi (as Eisele): Okay. That, I can work with. Are you the ones that, I guess, Kay been talking about who are helping, dealing with those attacks?

Minna (as Myra): That was us.

Madge (as Phin): Yeah, that was us.

Rhi (as Eisele): Well, that’s been a great help. We’re grateful for it. But we’re gonna need a bit more if you want us to just share what we know.

Madge (as Phin): Okay. Then what’s the price?

Rhi: She pushes herself up out of her chair, goes over to one of the maps, looks over it a bit, taps one symbol, looks back at the four of you, shakes her head, taps on another one.

Rhi (as Eisele): That could probably work. Y’all seem like, uh … I don’t know, sneaking in places.

Kim (as Blaire): Most of the time, I would say so, yeah.

Rhi (as Eisele): Good enough.

Minna (as Myra): You heard about the night The Grinders and The Billhooks got robbed in one night? That was our crew.

Rhi (as Eisele): Ah. All right. You might be able to pull this off, then. There is an alchemist who’s got a barge. They’ve been using the canals to get around. They’re causing some problems for us. They have been picking up bodies, doing experiments with the corpses, and then with the spirits that come out. And when they’re done, they let the spirits out, and then we have some … I mean, ghosts are already very angry and difficult to deal with, but these are coming out tortured. And we’re the ones that have to put them to rest for good. It’s making our lives more difficult than they need to be. Unfortunately, we don’t have, uh, what you would call the best relationship with The Spirit Wardens. But we also don’t really have the resources to deal with this alchemist ourselves. So …

Kim: Blaire is getting visibly but constrained excited.

Rhi (as Eisele): We think that this alchemist has some kind of arcane means of keeping their barge from being detected by The Spirit Wardens, so what I need you to do is find the barge, remove, break, sabotage, whatever these wards are on it, and then should be enough. I think getting rid of those, The Spirit Wardens will be able to come down on them after that. We may not get along with them, but we have some contacts who can pass on information. So if you can deal with whatever is hiding it, then that will be another problem you’ve dealt with for us, and I think we can do business.

Josie (as Minx): And what are your preferences on if the alchemist is encountered? Shall he be left alone? ‘Cause we can also retrieve him or remove him as needed.

Kim (as Blaire): Kill him…

Minna (as Myra): No. No killing. That makes their problems worse.

Kim (as Blaire): Never mind.

Rhi (as Eisele): Yeah. That’s—

Kim (as Blaire): Sorry.

Rhi (as Eisele): One more spirit we have to chase off the canals. But no, I understand the impulse, and, quite frankly, I think death is probably a little too good for them. Just take down the wards, whatever they are.

Josie (as Minx): Very well.

Rhi (as Eisele): And that’s it. You do that, and between what you’ve already done for us, I think we can come to an arrangement.

Kim (as Blaire): That sounds fair.

Josie (as Minx): It shall be done.

Rhi: You all head back outside.

Josie (as Minx): She wanted to talk to Phin. Phin! Sorry, dear. You are plenty terrifying and all, but one can hardly say you’re the social butterfly of the group. You understand, of course.

Minna (as Myra): Some people prefer an entirely direct approach. You have to keep those people in mind at times.

Josie (as Minx): I thought I was being direct.

Josie: [laughter]

Madge (as Phin): Your version of direct and the working class’s version of direct aren’t exactly the same most of the time.

Josie (as Minx): I suppose that’s true. I should know better than that. But I just thought people in charge preferred discreetness.

Kim (as Blaire): I don’t know if The Gondoliers really work that way.

Josie (as Minx): Fair enough. The more of us that can talk to them accessibly, the better.

Rhi: As you guys get out to the dock, you see Kay has come back up, and there are now two tarp-covered bodies. Kay is standing there talking to a couple other people. One of them has started painting some sort of symbols onto the tarps.

Josie (as Minx): Blaire, what do those mean?

Minna (as Myra): Are there rituals to keep the dead down?

Kim (as Blaire): Yeah. They’re just … They are keeping their ghost trapped. Well, not trapped, they’re just keeping them with the bodies, you know?

Minna (as Myra): Good. It’s a good thing. I didn’t know they could do that.

Kim (as Blaire): Yeah. Yeah, that’s a thing that can happen. Or you can make do, if you wanted to.

Minna (as Myra): Can you show me how to do that?

Kim (as Blaire): Uh, no! Of course not. No!

Minna (as Myra): Why not?

Kim (as Blaire): I … [grumble] Well, all right, let me ask you this: why do you wanna know?

Minna (as Myra): Because it would be useful to know to prevent anything unpleasant happening should somebody die close to us.

Kim (as Blaire): Oh. Oh, shit. Okay, I didn’t think about that. In that case, yeah. Yeah, no, when you get back to The Nest later sometime, yeah, I’ll show you.

Minna (as Myra): Thank you. Why would you be opposed to it, Blaire?

Kim (as Blaire): Well, I understand the reason why they’re doing this, but it’s not right for someone’s soul to just stay with their shell if it’s, you know, if nothing’s there anymore. I don’t know. I can’t really explain it. Just, it doesn’t feel right to me.

Josie (as Minx): Well, I can’t imagine that tarp is gonna stay there forever. They’re likely being simply relocated.

Kim (as Blaire): Well, yeah, I know. [sigh]

Minna (as Myra): Hopefully they’ll be burned.

Kim (as Blaire): Yeah.

Rhi: Kay sees the four of you and comes over.

Rhi (as Kay): We were able to recover them. It’s two less ghosts haunting the canals. Did you have a nice talk?

Madge (as Phin): Yeah.

Josie (as Minx): Yeah. [laugh] A nice, very direct, productive business conversation.

Josie: As she says “very direct” she glances over at Phin again. [laugh]

## [00:22:21] gathering information

Madge: Phin’s going over to one of the gondoliers.

Rhi: Yeah. There’s a couple gondoliers who are working on … It looks like they’re resealing the hull of a gondola.

Madge (as Phin): So, they really took that thing apart, huh?

Rhi: One of them glances up.

Rhi (as Gondolier): Yeah, yeah. Gotta, you know, keep up with repairs.

Madge (as Phin): Yeah. What if I helped you with that? Would you do me a favor?

Rhi (as Gondolier): You know a lot about boats?

Madge (as Phin): Yeah. My parents are fishermen.

Rhi (as Gondolier): Oh, yeah, sure.

Madge (as Phin): Yeah.

Rhi: I think this is gonna be a gather information roll of some kind.

Madge: I did just buy a point in Sway, and I could use that. [laugh]

Rhi: Mhmm. Yeah, you could definitely do that.

Madge: ‘Kay, I got a 4.

Rhi: Okay. You chat with this guy as you’re helping him do repairs on this gondola. As you’re wrapping up, you can ask whatever questions you have about this alchemist.

Madge (as Phin): With this alchemist that’s been messing with you guys recently, I hear—

Rhi (as Gondolier): [grunt]

Madge (as Phin): Yeah. He hangs out on a barge, I heard?

Rhi (as Gondolier): Yeah. Yeah, tends to hang out in places where there’s gonna be corpses. So he’s actually been around in Crow’s Foot a lot, Charhollow, Coalridge, Dunslough; those kinda places, where there’s a lot of bodies to get tossed.

Madge (as Phin): Let me ask you something: would you wanna head over to Crow’s Foot with me later tonight, see if we could suss him out?

Rhi (as Gondolier): Uhh…

Madge (as Phin): And, I mean, I could take you for drinks later. You know, pay for the obvious strain I’m gonna be putting you under, dealing with the alchemist and dead bodies.

Rhi (as Gondolier): The dead bodies, not a problem. The really pissed off ghosts coming off of that barge? A little bit more of a problem.

Kim (as Blaire): We’ll take care of them.

Madge (as Phin): Yeah. And two drinks and a date, maybe?

Rhi (as Gondolier): You don’t have to offer a date. That’s just a little awkward, but—

Madge (as Phin): Oh, thank goodness, ‘cause that would have been awful. Two rounds of drinks for you and a buddy of yours.

Rhi: There has been another gondolier silently working on the gondola with you guys this whole time who leans around the ship and gives a thumbs up. Yeah. The guy’s like:

Rhi (as Gondolier): Yeah. All right, sure. This is just taking you there. You’re not expecting me to, like…

Madge (as Phin): Pick us up? No.

Rhi (as Gondolier): Okay.

Madge (as Phin): Just drop us there. We’ll take care of it.

Rhi (as Gondolier): Okay, that works. We’ll do that.

Madge (as Phin): Yeah. Cool.

Rhi: He gives you a dock to meet at later tonight.

Madge: Cool.

Rhi: Yeah. Any other information you guys wanna try to gather? ‘Cause you’ve got most of the day.

Josie: Well, after saying goodbye to Kay and explaining I might be busy the next couple nights but whenever afterwards, I wanna try to find anyone the alchemist might be dealing with.

Kim: Ooh, that’s a good idea.

Josie: I wanna find out what comes out of that barge besides the dead bodies.

Kim: I’ll tag along with that for you.

Rhi: Okay. Who do you want to try to ask about that?

Kim: I might have a suggestion.

Josie: Okay.

Kim: On my list of friends on my character sheet, there is a spirit trafficker named Flint. Maybe he knows something. But the catch is that I don’t like him.

Josie: Mm. Simply providing that information would likely be enough for me to make the contact.

Kim (as Blaire): Yeah, no, if you wanna see that asshole, that’s fine with me. Just don’t namedrop me.

Josie (as Minx): I won’t. [laugh]

Kim (as Blaire): Okay.

Rhi: I imagine Blaire walks you over to wherever Flint works out of. Tell me about Flint. How did he and Blaire cross paths?

Kim: Blaire does not like Flint on principle because he deals in selling spirits, and that’s just something that does not vibe with her.

Rhi: Maybe he tried to hire her to capture spirits?

Kim: I like that. I also had the idea that maybe she has stolen from him so she could release spirits into the wild. Maybe both.

Minna: Blaire the spirit ecoterrorist.

Rhi: Blaire will walk Minx over to his little alchemist shop, probably ranting about this guy the whole way.

Kim: Yup.

Josie (as Minx): Okay, so like spirit slavery and trading is a thing, kind of?

Kim (as Blaire): Pretty much, yeah. Yeah, it’s really fucked up!

Josie (as Minx): Oh, dear. You know, I suddenly understand your position a lot more, child.

Rhi: Go ahead and make your roll, and then we’ll see how this goes.

Josie: 4.

Rhi: 4? Okay. You head into this little alchemist shop. It’s very small. You go in the door; there’s about four feet of space, then there’s a counter, and then behind that is a door where, presumably, all of the alchemical goodies are kept. There’s a guy in his early 30s leaning on the counter with his chin in his hand. He’s got a book in front of him that he’s sort of idly paging through. Glances up when you come in, gives you a quick once over.

Rhi (as Flint): Hi. Welcome to Flint’s Alchemy. What can I do for you?

Josie (as Minx): Good afternoon. I find myself in need of fresh reagents, preferably ones that can be easily kept out of the way. I was wondering if you could help me find the particulars.

Rhi (as Flint): Uh, kept out of the way…?

Josie (as Minx): The kind one might need to peek around a bit for.

Rhi (as Flint): Oh, yeah. [sighing] This is your first time, isn’t it?

Rhi: Closes the book.

Rhi (as Flint): Flip that latch around the door for me?

Josie (as Minx): [click]

Rhi (as Flint): Alright. So yeah, what are you looking for? You need devil’s fingers, demon rings? Crow feather’s in stock, if you need those. Crow skulls, too; not too many of those, so those’re gonna be pretty pricey. What are you looking for?

Josie (as Minx): Pardon me for not being more direct. I meant more materials of … of a more transparent variety.

Kim: [snort]

Rhi (as Flint): Oh. Spirits, gotcha.

Rhi: He reaches under the counter and pulls out a thicker book that, as he flips through the pages, looks like a handwritten ledger.

Rhi (as Flint): I’ve got, uh, six right now. Anything in particular you’re looking for?

Josie (as Minx): Yes. I don’t suppose any of those are particularly fresh.

Rhi (as Flint): Well, I mean, some of them, if you’re not there right when they come out, it’s hard to know how long they’ve been dead.

Josie (as Minx): Yes, because I’m looking for something a bit more fresh, where the pain centers are still quite stimulated.

Rhi (as Flint): Mm. Don’t think I have anything like that in right now, but I know a guy, another alchemist I do some work with sometimes; goes by Needle. Might be able to hook you up. His place moves around, though. I think he’s been around in Crow’s Foot a lot lately. I would maybe check around there. I know he’s been picking up a lot from the Lamp Blacks and the Red Sashes killing each other all over the place. I mean, it’s been good for all of us in this business.

Josie (as Minx): Indeed. That would make sense. Now, regarding the wares you do have in stock …

Rhi (as Flint): Mhmm?

Josie: I’m going to inquire as to the prices of buying a spirit.

Rhi: Oh, buying a spirit? That’s probably gonna cost you one coin.

Kim: Oh my God.

Josie: You know, I’m gonna buy one.

Rhi: [laughs] Okay.

Kim: Minx!

Rhi: Congratulations. You have a ghost in a jar.

Minna: [dismayed cry]

Rhi: You’re down one coin. You have a spirit jar—

Minna: No!

Rhi: And a ghost in a bottle.

Minna: Why did you give him money?

Kim: Blaire is probably listening through the window. She actually didn’t walk away. She’s very distraught.

Josie: All right. Then I’ll politely say goodbye and leave with my wares discreetly. And I meet back with Blaire, and plop the bottle into her hands, and say:

Josie (as Minx): Here, go nuts.

Kim (as Blaire): Wha— But why did you give him money?

Josie (as Minx): Do you honestly believe that I’m gonna let him keep it?

Kim (as Blaire): Should have stolen it from him.

Kim: She puts it in a bag in her pack.

Josie (as Minx): The day will come, I imagine.

Kim (as Blaire): Sure hope so.

Rhi: [utterly failing to contain her glee] Any other info that you guys wanna gather?

Minna: I think that I would like to do some Studying about these wards, if possible.

Rhi: Okay. Go ahead and roll Study, and we’ll see what info you get.

Minna: Ah! I got a 6!

Rhi: Okay, cool.

Minna: What she’s looking for is what kind of ward she might find, and, specifically, ways to disable them or get past them.

Rhi: Yeah. The thing that stuck out to you was that it’s not something that’s making the barge impossible to see, because The Gondoliers are able to see it. It’s just that when it’s pointed out to The Spirit Wardens, they can’t seem to locate it, which is kind of strange. You do some research on what little is known about The Spirit Wardens. The Spirit Warden uniform is, they have this navy-blue uniform and gloves and a face-concealing brass mask. You’re able to piece together from various books and pieces of research that the masks have an arcane element to them. Based on what you read about runes and wards, it seems like if you were to use these masks as a basis for some sort of ward, it would make it so anyone who was wearing one of these masks would be unable to see through it.

Minna: Awesome.

## [00:32:34] score begins

Rhi: That evening, as planned, you meet up with Phin’s new gondolier friends, who have been promised drinks in exchange for a ride to the spooky place, the spooky barge. You get on the gondola and set out. Basically, you’re just going through the canals without a specific destination. You’ve been on the canals for maybe 10 minutes, not very long, when you hear gunfire. Not directly in the street above you, but a couple streets over. The gondoliers, based on what you guys had said about this guy being drawn to corpses, start heading slowly in that direction. And sure enough, you guys get over there—

Minna: God, this is horrible.

Rhi: And there’s about three bodies in the canal.

Kim: Aww.

Rhi: The bodies are in the canal off to the right. The barge is at the other end of the channel. The gondoliers move up to a point where you guys can get out and move along the edge of the canal to get up to the barge. I think, at this point, we need to establish the score and how you’re getting in.

Josie: I imagine it’s stealth, right?

Minna: Probably stealth.

Josie: Mhmm.

Kim: Yeah.

Rhi: [singsong voice] Engagement roll! [laugh] I rolled a 1 and a 6.

Minna: Oh, jeez.

Josie and Madge: [nervous laughter]

Rhi: The four of you go creeping down the canal. You’re about three fourths of the way to the barge when you hear a splash. You all freeze up and look over, and see there’s a person in a small rowboat who is rowing over to the bodies. So right now, the alchemist is not on the barge.

Madge: I think our entry point is gonna be on the other side of that building thing from him.

Kim: Yeah.

Rhi: You guys approach the barge, are able to step onto the barge without too much trouble, and Blaire, you get a prickling sensation up the back of your neck.

Kim: Oh, no.

Rhi: Then, I think, actually, everybody feels a little cold.

Minna: [sharp inhale]

Josie: [nervous noise]

Rhi: There is a ghost about.

Minna: I think Myra keeps the spiritbane charm on a necklace around her neck. She fishes it up out from under her dress and clutches it in her hand, looking around.

Madge: I feel like Phin has hers on constantly, because she does not like ghosts and has a very strong opinion that things that are dead should stay dead.

Kim (as Blaire): I mean, they’re trying to.

Madge (as Phin): Not very well.

Rhi: Does somebody wanna take a peek into the ghost field, see what they can see?

Kim: I do. I do, I do! [laughter]

Rhi: [laugh] Blaire jumping up and down, waving her hand.

Kim: Yeah.

Kim (as Blaire): Pick me, pick me!

Kim: Oooh! I got a 6.

Rhi: You put on your spirit mask, you look into the ghost field, and at the opposite corner of the barge from where you guys are, you see it’s a spirit. It looks like it’s probably been a spirit for quite some time, because it has lost a lot of its distinguishing features. At this point, it’s just sort of a humanoid blur, except for one thing that is very crisp and clear, which is the incorporeal sword in its hand.

Kim: Cool.

Rhi: It is floating around the edge of the barge as if it’s on patrol. Yeah. It’s just drifting along.

Kim: She takes her mask off, and she’s like:

Kim (as Blaire): Uh, yeah, there’s a ghost with a sword hanging around here.

Minna (as Myra): It doesn’t seem… angry, does it?

Kim (as Blaire): No. He’s just hanging out.

Minna (as Myra): Hm.

Josie (as Minx): Then I suppose it doesn’t need any interaction for now.

Minna (as Myra): [sighs] I prefer not to interact with the spirits as much as possible.

Josie (as Minx): Yeah. Might as well hide from it, too; get in and out.

Minna (as Myra): Mhmm. We’re looking for a spirit mask, for one of The Spirit Warden’s masks.

Kim (as Blaire): Yeah.

Minna (as Myra): It’s possible the building would be the most likely place for it.

Josie (as Minx): Let’s get in there.

Rhi: You can try the door. It opens.

Josie: [warily] Yay.

Minna: [laughter]

Rhi: Yeah. This building has been split into a few rooms. You guys step into the first room. This looks like an alchemist’s lab, a very messy one. Arun’s was super neat and organized. This looks like a bomb went off in here. It’s chaos. There’s also, as you all step in, this really unpleasant smell…

Kim: Oh no.

Rhi: Like a rotting meat smell.

Various: [noises of displeasure]

Kim: Oh no! No!

Josie: Ugh.

Rhi: It doesn’t seem to be in this room; it’s not that powerful. There are a lot of weird stains on the floor and tables.

Madge: [nervously] What colors are the stains?

Rhi: They’re kind of a brownish color.

Various: [noises of displeasure]

Kim: Great.

Minna: Oh no.

Kim: Great.

Rhi: You’ve got the door you guys came in and another door leading further into this little barge building.

Josie: Is it locked?

Rhi: I don’t know. Have you tried it?

Minna: [nervous laugh]

Josie: Can I try it?

Rhi: Yes. It’s not locked.

Josie: Okay. [laughter]

Minna: [laughter]

Rhi: So, Minx, you’re going first?

Josie: Yeah. Yeah, I suppose I will.

Rhi: You push it open, and the smell gets way worse.

Josie: I shut the door again. [laughter]

Madge: [laughing]

Rhi: [laughs] Without even looking, you just open the door, and then, “Mm! Nope.”

Josie: Yup.

Josie (as Minx): Someone else with a less delicate palate may want to open this one.

Madge (as Phin): I got it.

Josie (as Minx): I’ll remain out here. I am not dragging this stench back to the nest.

Madge: I figure I’m used to at least some level of it. I know it’s gonna be—

Rhi: Of terrible smells, yeah.

Madge: But I know that this is gonna be worse, because human flesh.

Minna: I think Myra does put a sleeve over her face, and she follows.

Rhi: Phin, you open the door. This is the second half of the lab.

## [00:38:57] content warning: detailed description of dead bodies. To skip, go to the next timestamp.

Rhi: There are three tables, two of which have corpses on them. One of the bodies has just been dumped there and doesn’t look like it’s had much done to it. The other one is mid-dissection. There’s a number of jars containing organs and fluids, and, hanging along the ceiling, there’s a lot of bones that look like they’ve been hung to dry.

## [00:39: 32] end of content warning

Rhi: Both of you are gonna take level 1 harm: Nauseated. You can roll Prowess or Resolve, actually, I’ll say, to resist.

Minna: I got a 6.

Rhi: Okay. So, Myra, you take no stress to just power through this.

Madge: I got a 4.

Rhi: Okay, you take two stress resisting the nausea. There is another door leading onward.

Madge: [fearful croak] Let’s go toward the door.

Minna: Have we had a chance to glance around? Does it look like there’s not really a place that—

Madge: I don’t wanna dig around in the bodies.

Minna: Well, does this ward … I just wanna double check that the spirit mask isn’t in here.

Rhi: Nobody’s really looked for it yet.

Minna: I would like to glance around. I don’t think she’s going to take close looks.

Rhi: Okay. That’ll probably be Survey.

Josie: During all this, I’m just gonna be keeping watch, outside in the other room.

Kim: Okay.

Minna: What the fuck. These dice are magic tonight. I got another 6.

Rhi: You don’t see anything that looks like a Spirit Warden mask in here. You do recognize, though, that several of the jars that are in here are empty spirit jars.

Minna: She’ll tell Blaire later, but I don’t think any of them wanna touch those spirit jars.

Madge: Yeah.

Kim: Yeah, yeah, yeah. You guys haven’t really said anything to us two waiting on the outside, have you?

Minna: No? I think they’re not trying to shout back at you.

Kim: All right. Yeah, I’ll go inside, ‘cause Blaire doesn’t know.

Rhi: Yeah. You’re gonna take level 1 harm: Nausea unless you wanna resist it.

Kim: Fuck harm. I’m gonna resist it.

Rhi: [laughs] That’s gonna be either Resolve or Prowess, whichever one you wanna roll.

Kim: 5.

Rhi: Okay. You take one point of stress, but you push through.

Kim (as Blaire): Augh, that’s nasty.

Minna (as Myra): There’s some spirit jars. I don’t know if you…

Madge (as Phin): If you wanna do your … look at it and see if there’s a trail, or anything, or, you know—

Kim (as Blaire): I mean, I could.

Kim: I put on my spirit mask. Can I roll Attune?

Rhi: Mhmm.

Kim: 3.

Rhi: 3. Okay. You start to focus, but you get the sense that if you push on, you’re gonna see some really horrifying things, so you hesitate. You can try again, but it’ll be risky.

Kim: I wanna try again!

Rhi: Okay.

Kim: [laughs] 6.

Rhi: You look into the ghost field.

Kim: Mhmm. [nervous laughter]

Rhi: You see layers of echoes of the room itself. The bodies that are brought in are washed out, desaturated, but you’re able to see, in these echoes, the spirits that are withdrawn from the bodies are very bright. They stand out. And even through these echoes, you can pick up the remains of their rage and their need for vengeance and their hunger.

Kim: So, they’re certified fresh, then.

Rhi: You’re not just seeing the two bodies that are in here right now, you’re seeing—

Kim: Oh, I’m seeing everyone.

Rhi: Back and back and back and back for a while.

Kim: Oh, cool. Great.

Rhi: Yeah. It’s just layers upon layers of echoes of—

Minna: Wait. Are these spirits also still here?!

Rhi: You don’t know. The one unifying thing is that all of the spirits, after they get drawn into the jars, all of these echoes overlay and move through the next door.

Kim (as Blaire): Uh, okay, you guys want the good news or the bad news?

Kim: She takes her spirit mask off.

Madge (as Phin): Bad news.

Kim (as Blaire): The bad news is that there’s a lot of death in this room, a lot of fucked up shit has happened.

Madge (as Phin): Wow, really?

Kim (as Blaire): [sigh] A lot of death. A lot!

Minna (as Myra): We— We get it, and we understand there’s a threat to us in this room, yes?

Kim (as Blaire): Well, no, not necessarily. But… [sigh]

Minna (as Myra): [incredulous chuckle] If it’s pained spirits, if it’s hungry spirits, it’s a threat.

Madge (as Phin): [very quietly] Yeah.

Kim (as Blaire): I think I know where we need to go next.

Kim: And she points at the door that the spirits were all drawn towards.

Minna (as Myra): Is that also bad news?

Kim (as Blaire): I don’t know yet.

Madge (as Phin): It probably is, but let’s go.

Rhi: Minx, are you still hanging out there, keeping watch?

Josie: Yeah.

Rhi: Um…

Josie: I know I’m kind of sitting out, but there was no way Minx is gonna deal with that smell. Just no. [laughter]

Rhi: Oh, yeah. No. That’s fine. Why don’t you go ahead and roll a Survey for me?

Josie: And I get a 3.

Rhi: Okay. You’re pacing around, looking at things, waiting for your companions to come back so you can get out of this horrible place. As you’re pacing, you hear on the side of the barge some splashing and thunking sounds as the boat is coming back.

Josie: Oh dear.

Rhi: I’m gonna start a clock.

Minna: How many parts?

Rhi: Alchemist Discovery; currently, 2 out of 4.

Josie: [groan]

Rhi: You guys have been moving pretty slowly through here. He only had three bodies to pick up.

Josie: Can I lock the door from the inside?

Rhi: Yes.

Josie: And I wanna get ready beside it to subdue him if he comes through.

Rhi: Yeah, okay. What are the other three of you doing?

Madge: Going through the door.

Rhi: You open up the next door. Blaire, you immediately can tell what’s going on in this room. Unlike the first two rooms, there’s not really a lot of tables and stuff in here. There’s some shelves in the walls, where there are a number of jars and things, and then on the floor, there’s three large circles that’re made of runes and various symbols. Blaire, you’re able to tell that these are symbols that relate to size, as if something is being stretched or compressed; there are things about containment; there are some that just translate into “knives,” basically, is the closest translation; or “heat” or “cold.” That’s what’s going on here. And then there is another door.

Minna: Is the mask in here anywhere? Can I look for it?

Rhi: You can look, yeah. At this point, it’s gonna be risky.

Minna: I have rolled a 3.

Rhi: Okay.

Madge: This is fine.

Rhi: Myra, you’re walking around this room, looking. All of these rooms have been pretty dimly lit, so you have to walk around to peer into corners and look in things. As you’re walking, your boot scuffs some of the symbols on the floor. All three of you suddenly feel very cold.

Madge: Oh. No…

Rhi: You get that feeling on the back of your neck when it feels like somebody’s right behind you, staring at you. You turn around, and that ghost with the sword is standing there.

Madge: Awesome.

Rhi: Myra and Phin, in order to push through just the primal terror that seeing an aggressive ghost instills, you will need to roll Resolve.

Madge: I got a 4.

Rhi: Okay.

Minna: So, what happens if we don’t resist?

Rhi: If you don’t resist, you can tell me how you react: you freeze or you flee.

Minna: See, the thing is, I think this has been building up for Myra, and, at least initially, we’re going to have a freeze reaction.

Rhi: Okay.

Madge: I’m gonna toss my spiritbane charm at it. [laugh] Like:

Madge (as Phin): Begone!

Madge: [laugh]

Rhi: Okay. Blaire, if you want to assist, you could take a point of stress and help her with this.

Kim: I’ll take a stress.

Rhi: This is gonna be risky.

Madge: 2.

Rhi: Uh, sorry?

Madge: 2! [laughter]

Minna: [laughter]

Rhi: [laugh] Oh my God!

Josie: [groan]

Rhi: Okay, here’s what happens: you throw the spiritbane charm and order it to begone. It does not begone. The charm lands on one of the symbols, and there’s this electric crackling around it. The ghost also doesn’t get any closer, ‘cause whatever is happening with the interaction of the spiritbane charm, the symbol that it’s touching seems to be holding it back for a second. However, you guys can now hear some thuds and thunks from outside, as I’m gonna fill in another tick on the clock of the alchemist getting in.

Josie: How much stress is it to do a flashback?

Rhi: Depends on what you wanna set up.

Josie: I want to have retroactively prepared a disguise.

Rhi: What’s the disguise?

Josie: I wanna have a Bluecoat disguise.

Rhi: I think that’s probably gonna be two stress, ‘cause getting your hands on a Bluecoat uniform is not easy.

Josie: Can I take less stress to have it be less perfect and count on the fact that it’s dark?

Rhi: Yes. One stress gets you just the coat over your regular clothes.

Josie: Okay.

Rhi: Congratulations. Minx has been wearing a Bluecoat coat this whole time.

Josie: Yeah. I’m actually gonna unlock the door but be ready on the other side with my pistol at the ready.

Rhi: Okay, you’re trying to set up where you could arrest this guy?

Josie: Yes, exactly.

Rhi: Okay. What are you folks in the other room doing?

Kim: I wanna talk to this ghost.

Rhi: What are you gonna try and roll?

Kim: Consort.

Rhi: It’s gonna be risky, lesser effect, because it’s a very angry ghost, and it’s not really inclined to listen to you.

Kim: 4.

Rhi: What do you say to the ghost?

Kim (as Blaire): Hi. My name is Blaire. We don’t mean to intrude. We’re just, um … We’re looking for something. We’re trying to right some wrongs and help some folks out. What’s your name?

Rhi: It was starting to move towards you all again in an aggressive stance. Then Blaire starts talking to it and it slows and turns its head towards her. It doesn’t speak. It has only the faintest impression of facial features. And yet, it is emanating confusion.

Kim and Madge: [nervous laugh]

Rhi: I’m gonna say the consequence is that the alchemist is gonna be coming through the door in a second here, so Minx is gonna have to deal with that.

Kim (as Blaire): We’re not gonna cause you any trouble if you don’t cause us any trouble. We come in peace, and hopefully we will leave in peace. And I hope peace comes to you, as well.

Rhi: Okay. You’re holding its attention.

Kim (as Blaire): Also, I really like your sword. Where did you get it?

Minna: [laughter]

Madge (as Phin): Blaire?

Kim (as Blaire): What?

Madge (as Phin): No!

Kim (as Blaire): What do you mean “no?”

Madge (as Phin): Do not ask a—

Kim (as Blaire): Do you see that, though?! That thing is wicked!

Madge (as Phin): You do not ask a ghost where you got its sword!

Kim (as Blaire): Why not?

Madge (as Phin): Because it’s rude.

Minna: Okay, I would like to make that resistance roll.

Rhi: Yeah, go ahead.

Minna: 4. I got a 4 as my highest.

Rhi: Okay. You’ll take two stress, and you can shake off the fear.

Minna: I’d like to look around for the spirit mask, please.

Rhi: It’s not in this room. You determined that. There’s only one room left.

Minna: Oh, there’s still that other room left. I would like to look in that room.

Rhi: You can walk backwards and open up the door. This is a living space. There’s a bed, piles of clothes everywhere, there’s plates of half-eaten food. Yeah, it’s a very messy space.

Minna: Do you want me to roll that survey?

Rhi: Yeah.

Minna: What does a Devil’s Bargain look like there?

Rhi: You are going to have some terrible nightmares. That is probably going to exacerbate your Exhausted condition.

Minna: Yup. 6! Thank God.

Rhi: You step into the room, glance around, and despite the mess, you are able to very quickly spot: nailed to the wall is a Spirit Warden mask that looks like it has been hammered flat and has some kind of rune carved into it.

Minna: I think Myra’s going to grab the mask off the wall and go back into the other room.

Minna (as Myra): Phin, I need you to break this for me.

Madge (as Phin): Awesome. Yes, I’ll do that.

Rhi: Before you do that, I wanna jump over to Minx, because Minx is about to also have a situation.

Josie: Mhmm.

Rhi: You’re squared up at the door, pistol aimed. The door opens and the first thing that comes in is a pushcart loaded with bodies.

Josie: Uh-huh.

Kim: [gasp]

Rhi: There’s three dripping corpses on it.

Kim: [gasp]

Josie: Ugh.

Kim: Gross!

Rhi: Pushing that, straining—‘cause this is three bodies, it’s very heavy—is the alchemist, who is dressed in stained, muddy clothes. The sleeves are wet. Pushes that in, and then looks up and sees you.

Josie: Right as he’s coming in, I’m gonna start advancing on him around the cart with my pistol pointed at him, and say:

Josie (as Minx): On the ground now. This is a raid.

Rhi: Okay. What are you gonna roll?

Josie (as Minx): Can I roll Sway with that?

Rhi: It sounds like Command.

Madge: Yeah.

Josie: What if I spend two stress to make it a Sway?

Rhi: Yeah, for sure.

Josie (as Minx): Critical.

Rhi: You advance on him. He squeaks in terror and flings himself face down on the barge.

Josie: Okay.

Rhi: He goes:

Rhi (as Needle): I didn’t kill them! I just found them like this!

Josie (as Minx): You have every right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in court. [laughter]

Rhi: [laugh] Great. Good job.

Josie: Okay. I’m just gonna keep him there, facedown, so he doesn’t really get a good look at my face.

Rhi: You guys hear Minx’ muffled yelling from the other room. Phin, you have a sheet of metal with a rune on it.

Madge: Yeah. I’m gonna smash it.

Rhi: Okay. This would be the platonic ideal of Wreck.

Madge: Aaayy! I’m really happy. ‘Kay, I got 5.

Rhi: Okay. How are you breaking it?

Madge: I’m gonna throw it on the ground, I’m gonna take out my pistol, and I’m just gonna shoot it and keep shooting it. [laugh]

Rhi: Okay. I think I’m just gonna say that the ghost is still facing Blaire but kind of halfway looks at you, so your next action is gonna be in a risky position.

Madge: Yup.

Rhi: But yeah, you destroy it.

Madge: [quietly] Woohoo!

Rhi: Blaire, if you keep talking to the ghost, you can hold its attention.

Kim: Okay. That’s good, because I have an idea.

Rhi: Go ahead with what you’re gonna do.

Kim (as Blaire): Hey, so here’s an idea: I’m gonna ask a yes or no question. You nod your head yes for “yes,” shake your head no for “no.” Do you like it here?

Rhi: Shakes its head.

Kim (as Blaire): Okay. Here’s the thing: I can get you out. If I put you in a jar like… [sigh] I don’t know, by next week I can lead you to The Deathlands and get you out of here.

Rhi: It’s just still looking at you, head cocked to the side, ‘cause [chuckling] that wasn’t a yes or no question.

Kim (as Blaire): Oh! No, that’s not a … All right. Let me rephrase that as a question. Would you like me to get you out of here?

Rhi: It nods and then turns again, and drags its sword over one of the circles. The sword doesn’t damage the circle, but sparks fly up around it. The sparks go up and surround the ghost, and it twitches.

Kim: So he has unfinished business with that.

Kim (as Blaire): All right, here’s another question: are you asking me to work with this right here?

Kim: And she gestures to the circle that the ghost is pointing at.

Rhi: It starts to nod, then shakes its head, and then drags the sword through it again.

Kim: All right, can I just investigate? Can I roll something to investigate this sword? ‘Cause I don’t know what it’s asking me.

Rhi: Yeah.

Kim: All right, I’ll use Attune.

Rhi: Okay.

Kim: 6.

Rhi: Awesome. You look into the ghost field. Now that it’s standing close to the circles, you can see there are … Your mind interprets them as chains—they don’t look exactly like chains, but that’s the closest thing that your brain can come up with—twined around the spirit and binding it to two of the circles. From the circle that Myra disturbed, there’s a broken chain stretched out on the floor. It looks at you again, and as it drags the sword, you can see the sword hits the chain, and that’s when the sparks go.

Kim: Oh, okay. All right, I understand now. Blaire’s just gonna get on her hands and knees, and she’s just gonna vigorously rub her sleeve over and totally erase these circles.

Rhi: You’re able to disrupt the symbols enough that the other two chains fall off. The spirit does this shiver, looks at you, Blaire, gives you a single nod, and then just drops down through the bottom of the barge and disappears.

Kim (as Blaire): Oh. That’s not what I intended, but okay. That works.

Madge (as Phin): Bye!

Rhi: The ghost is gone.

Kim: Okay.

Rhi: The rune is broken. Minx has the alchemist contained.

Madge (as Phin): So, are we going?

Kim (as Blaire): Yeah.

Kim: We’re outta here, pretty much.

Madge: Okay. Guy came in a rowboat. We’re talking that, right?

Josie: Yeah, sure.

Kim: I mean, yeah. I don’t see why not.

Madge: Yeah? Okay.

Madge (as Phin): Minx?

Madge: I’m gonna call out.

Josie (as Minx): I’m here.

Madge: Man.

Madge (as Phin): We’re leaving!

Josie: All right. That was easy. Can I pistol whip the guy into unconsciousness?

Rhi: Yeah.

Minna: I have an idea for what we do with him. I think we drop him off at a Bluecoats station with a note as to what he did.

Rhi: The Gondoliers, I think they felt that The Spirit Wardens were better equipped to handle—

Minna: Or, sorry.

Madge: Yeah.

Minna: We can take him to The Spirit Wardens, then.

Josie: I think we should just leave him.

Minna: But he might get back out and do this again, and then that fucks over everybody. Everybody in this city, frankly.

Madge: Yeah. Definitely, this boat needs to get burned.

Kim: Yeah.

Madge: Yeah.

Josie: Then what do we do with our ward, then? Do we take him directly to The Spirit Wardens or to The Gondoliers, or…?

Madge: Do any of us know where The Spirit Wardens actually congregate?

Rhi: Bellweather Crematorium.

Kim: Yeah. Is there a way we can just drop him off on the doorstep like an abandoned child?

Rhi: This could be something you could call in the Cabbies for, ‘cause you do have a positive relationship with them. You could just have them do a drive by and shove him out.

Madge: Hey, Cabbies, we have a corpse we need you to transport.

Minna: Not a corpse!

Madge: Oh, yes. Sorry, forgot we didn’t kill him. [laughter]

Rhi: You just really want to, Phin. I understand.

Madge: I really do!

Rhi: Okay, you’re gonna burn the boat and do a drive by drop off of this guy to The Spirit Wardens?

Kim: Yeah.

Madge: Mhmm. We are 100% burning this boat. I’m sorry if anyone doesn’t agree, but Phin is burning the boat.

Minna: I agree.

Kim: No—

Madge: It’s a bad boat.

Kim: This boats needs to go.

Rhi: Amongst all the various alchemical stuff, you can find things that will let you set this barge on fire. You dump your captive into the rowboat. Who does the honors of lighting it?

Madge: [singsong] Me! I use my lantern. I set the boat on fire.

Rhi: You row away with this guy as the barge goes up in flames behind you. Then, I think, with the Cabbies’ help … They’re a little bit like:

Rhi (as Cabbie): You wanna do what? You know what? We don’t wanna know.

Minna: Do we leave a note? Do we leave a pin? What’s happening here?

Madge: Yes note, no pin.

Kim: Yeah, I vote no pin.

Rhi: Okay. You tuck a note into his pocket explaining what he’s done.

Minna: Keep him off the streets so we can stay on.

Josie (as Minx): Well, that was easy. Does anyone else have time for one more thing to do tonight?

Kim (as Blaire): Uh, sleep?

Madge (as Phin): What?

Josie (as Minx): Make some coin out of this. Blaire, you’ll like this one.

Josie: What my end goal here is, is to break into that ghost raider’s place, take our money back, and then rat him out that he’s doing this horrible stuff.

Kim: Blaire almost has stars in her eyes. She’s like:

Kim (as Blaire): Do you really wanna rat him out with me?

Josie (as Minx): Of course.

Kim (as Blaire): All right. Let’s get this fucker!

Madge (as Phin): Is this guy on the way back to The Nest?

Rhi: He’s in the neighborhood.

Josie (as Minx): It’s on the way, even.

Madge (as Phin): Then I’m fine with it.

Rhi: Okay. You are able to break in. He doesn’t really have good security. This is a shitty little alchemist shop.

Minna: Can we steal the cash box? The entire cash box.

Rhi: Yeah. You get three coin.

Josie (as Minx): Honestly, I feel like the rest of you did most of the work, so if you wanna split it between the three of you.

Minna (as Myra): Okay.

Josie (as Minx): I’m in a giving mood.

Josie: Minx ruffles Blaire’s hair.

Kim: Aww, stop.

## [01:00:12] downtime

Rhi: Let’s do downtime. You get Informants!

Josie and Madge: Woohoo!

Rhi: Anytime that you all gather information, you get a bonus die.

## [01:00:21] downtime: Phin

Rhi: Going into downtime actions, Phin, what are you gonna be up to?

Madge: I think the camera goes through the crowd, pulls out, and the fight is already in session. Pretty deep into it; Phin has a black eye, her lip’s been split, and there’s a little bit of blood coming out of her mouth.

Rhi: Who’s she fighting?

Madge: She’s fighting a man about her height but twice as muscular, so it’s pretty unevenly matched. I like the idea of just a final blow coming across Phin’s face, and she gets totally smacked to the floor. She gets up and huffs some of her hair out of her face, spits out a mouthful of blood, and then we see her leave the ring and collect a fistful of cash.

Rhi: Okay. And she feels better about things now, for some reason. That is how Phin is reducing her stress.

## [01:01:20] downtime: Myra

Rhi: Myra, what are you up to?

Minna: Myra has been running herself pretty ragged for the last few weeks. She has not been getting sleep; she’s been choosing work over the amount of sleep she needs to get. She’s been exhausted for a while. I think she gets some breakthroughs when she’s doing her research, so she’s finally feels like:

Minna (as Myra): Okay. Okay, I’ve done enough. I can go sleep.

Minna: And for a little while, it’s pretty restless, because she has these horrible nightmares. You go into her dreams, and there’s whispering in her ear, and she’s calling out:

Minna (as Myra): Mama! Mama!

Minna: And then there’s angry ghosts crowding around her and she’s being forced back into a corner. Then she wakes up gasping. But she gets up for a little bit, and then she finally goes back to sleep. Finally, she’s so exhausted that sleeps just pulls her under and she sleeps for a while.

Rhi: All right. While Myra is sleeping most of the day away…

## [01:02:18] downtime: Minx

Rhi: Minx.

Josie: I think that when Myra does finally wake up, she sees the sculpture outside her door.

Minna: I think Myra opens her door, and there’s a statue right outside it, and she screams. [laughter]

Josie: [laughing] Yeah. It’s not a full size. It’s on like a small table. But it’s as big as someone’s torso, and is kind of just—

Madge: It’s big enough.

Various: [laughter]

Rhi: What does the sculpture look like?

Josie: You know, a marble sculpture of a woman pouring out a pot of water or something, and gently draped with a cloth, or something like that. Something just really simple and classical like that, but it’s, for some reason, right in front of Myra’s door. [laugh] Minx placed it somewhere super prominent in the center room, maybe even on the table, or something, and then either Phin or Blaire just sort of—

Minna: [whispering] God.

Josie: Gently nudged it over there. Now it just becomes a thing. No one ever sees anyone else move it. If you come back to The Nest, it’s probably gonna be in a different spot.

Minna: Do they give her a name?

Rhi: Oh, God. They have to! What do you guys name her? Minx can’t be the one to name her.

Josie: Right.

Rhi: It has to be something where Minx is angry about the name that the rest of you have given her.

Josie: Yeah. It’s some very long, foreign language name that sounds super froufrou, but y’all should give it a dorky nickname.

Madge: Kevin.

Kim: Kevin.

Minna: [giggling uncontrollably in the background]

Josie: I don’t know. I like Kevin. [laugh]

Minna: Yup. It’s Kevin.

Josie: The statue’s name is Kevin.

Madge: Yes.

Rhi: Perfect. I’m glad we’ve come to this decision.

Josie: [laughter]

Rhi: [laugh] Okay.

## [01:03:54] downtime: Blaire

Rhi: And Blaire.

Kim: This is the night after the score. Blaire is alone in her room. It’s pitch black, except for the many, many candles, which she has going around. She is poring over her books, trying to find out what she can about ghost swords. She probably doesn’t hit any breakthroughs or leads or anything, but she is just poring and poring over tons of these encyclopedias and tomes. She just wants to know about that freaking sword, man, and that’s her indulging her vice, is all this ghostly sword research. She falls asleep with dreams of swords in her head.

Rhi: Aww.

## [01:04:32]

Rhi: We see the four of you come up to The Gondoliers’ headquarters again. Eisele is actually outside talking with a couple other people. As she sees you, she comes over and gives you a broad, toothy grin, and is like:

Rhi (as Eisele): Well, you didn’t exactly follow the letter of my request, but I sure appreciate the spirit with which you carried it out. We’ve heard that the alchemist has been detained for questioning by The Spirit Wardens. It’s very rare that people come back from that, so…

Josie (as Minx): Are you all really gonna let that spirit joke go by? Okay, never mind.

Rhi: She smirks at Minx and seems pleased that somebody got it.

Kim and Madge: [laughter]

Rhi (as Eisele): Yeah, as agreed, if you need information about any of your work, you can reach out to any of my people and we’ll tell you what we can.

Josie (as Minx): It’s been a pleasure.

Madge (as Phin): Mhmm.

Rhi: We end with her shaking hands with Phin.

## [01:05:40] outro music

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.

## [01:06:43]

Rhi: [laughing] Oh my God, I’m just picturing one day, Minx—

Josie: And Minx is like:

Josie (as Minx): Y’all are such children.

Rhi: No, ‘cause Minx comes back one day and goes into her room, and stretches, and then looks in her bed. And the statue is neatly tucked into it.

Josie (as Minx): Heavens!

Everyone: [laughter]

Josie (as Minx): Who would dare? Who?

Josie: She comes out and is like:

Josie (as Minx): Who— Who would dare? Who would dare treat fine art in this fashion?

Madge (as Phin): I have no idea. I didn’t see a thing.