Transcribed by Michelle Kelly. 

##Intro

Rhi: Welcome back to Duskwall. Thank you so much for listening and supporting the show. We’re up to 90 backers on Patreon, which is incredibly exciting. We’re working on more transcripts for our episodes, and if we get to $400 per month we’ll be able to not only buy better recording equipment for the cast, but also launch a merch store. I have a whole document full of t-shirt and other merch ideas, but we need the additional funding to pay designers who can make those ideas into a reality. So, if you’d like to own a cool Magpies t-shirt someday, consider backing us on Patreon. And if you can’t, tell your friends about the show, leave us a review, we love it all.

Gen Con is fast approaching, as in it’s next week. Minna and I will be there with Magpies bookmarks and the best way to find me is to drop by the panel that I am moderating on Thursday, ‘So You Want To Start An AP Podcast’. I’m really hoping to meet some fans at Gen Con. September is International Podcast Month, and I’m excited to announce that I’ll be participating for a second year. This year, I’m playing in a one-shot of Good Society, a game about Austen-esque tales of romance, reputation and longing looks across ballrooms. I’m also hosting a discussion episode about accessibility and tabletop RPGs. Friends of the show Madge and Waffles are in IPM episodes as well. Check out the show notes for a link to the main IPM site where you can learn more about the event and how to support it. And finally, in November I’ll be at AcadeCon in Dayton, Ohio. I’m running a Blades game and I’ll have plenty of Magpies bookmarks to give out. Next, Minna is going to tell us about this month’s featured charity.

Minna: RAICES is a non-profit agency that promotes justice by providing free and low-cost legal services to under-served immigrant children, families and refugees. They provide consultations, direct legal services, representation, assistance and advocacy to communities in Texas and to clients after they leave the state. In 2017, RAICES staff closed 51,000 cases at no cost to the client. If you’d like to donate to support their work, go to www.RaicesTexas.org/donate.

Rhi: Recently in Chicago, customs and border control held three American citizen children hostage against their undocumented parents turning themselves in. Thanks to activists raising the alarm and the swift action of elected officials in Illinois, this situation was resolved as well as it could be, with the children returned safely and the parents un-arrested. But it is a sign of the atrocities that our government is perpetuating. Connect with organizations like Never Again Action, RAICES, or other local immigrant and refugee defense groups to help in whatever way you can.

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

##Story continues [00.03.11]

Rhi: We open up on a stormy night in Duskwall. Lightning flickering in the sky, thunder crashing. The streets are mostly empty. Most people have retreated to the relative safety and dryness of indoors. And we pan in on The Nest as a flare of lightning flashes in the sky, and then we move inside to Blaire’s room.

Kim: I like to imagine that she has candles lit all around the room, but the flames instead of being orange, they’re green. So there’s a very unsettling, green, faint, flickering light all throughout her room. Otherwise, it’s completely dark. There is a very intricate symbol that she has drawn on the floor of her room in soot, and it’s more intricate than some of her normal spells, or rituals, or what-have-you. Lots of little intricate details, very ornate. It looks as though if you got even one curve or line wrong, it would throw everything off. So, she did a particularly good job with this. And Blaire is kneeling on the floor, leaning above the circle, and she is reciting an incantation in a language that is not Akorosi or even Tycherosi, it’s something completely different that I don’t think most people would even recognise.

Rhi: It’s probably akin to Demon Speech, which is kind of the primordial language of demons. I don’t think that human vocal chords can make it, but–

Kim: That’s what I was gonna say, it’s probably an approximation, or bastardized dialect of Demon Speak.

Rhi: Yeah.

Kim: So anyway, Blaire takes out a very fine silver dagger and she doesn’t have to put a lot of pressure on her hand for it to draw blood. And she lets a single drop fall into the centre of the circle and that drop of blood begins to steam and mist as if it were boiling hot as soon as it touched the circle.

Rhi: I think we see the steam and bubbling from that drop of blood, and then Blaire’s shadow silhouetted on the wall, and then this, sort of like, bubbling shape appears, silhouetted next to her. Just the shadow of some bubbling entity. And then we cut downstairs to the common area. Minx, Myra, it’s a nice stormy night and you’re cozy inside. How are things? How’s your night going?

Minna: [giggles]

Josie: I think Minx is using the opportunity to indulge her goth side that she discovered she had.

Rhi: [laughs]

Josie: And is definitely sitting by a windowsill, looking wistfully at the rain, trying to write some form of poetry. [laughs]

Kim: Oh my God. Yes!

Rhi: Yes.

Minna: See, I’m just now enjoying the idea of, like, Myra reading aloud from some kind of gothic novel for them.

Josie: Ah, yes. Minx would love that.

Rhi: Oh God, so Myra is helping.

[laughter]

Rhi: Oh, very good. I think Hex is curled up napping on the rug in front of the fireplace. Kevin is, I’m gonna say, posed dramatically in front of a window so that whenever there’s a flash of lightning, there’s just a dramatic shadow on Kevin. And so, I think Myra just finishes a chapter and turns a page, and then there’s a thud-thud-thud-thud-thud as Blaire comes clattering down the stairs.

Josie (as Minx): Dear, is everything okay?

Kim (as Blaire): [heavy breathing] Nest’s haunted.

Minna (as Myra): What?

Josie (as Minx): I’m sorry?

Kim (as Blaire): Nest’s haunted!

Minna (as Myra): Can we help?

Kim (as Blaire): Uh… you know, that’s a good question. I don’t know if you can.

Josie (as Minx): Aren’t there wards against The Nest being haunted, outside your room?

Kim (as Blaire): Uh, yeah. No, it’s not just my room that’s haunted anymore, it’s the whole Nest. Nest’s haunted.

Minna: [giggles]

Josie (as Minx): I think we’re going to have to have another discussion after this is resolved. Where is the spirit?

Kim (as Blaire): [nervous laughter] Good thing you asked about that. It’s not a spirit.

Josie (as Minx): Oh?

Minna (as Myra): Blaire, what is it?

Kim (as Blaire): Um… so… I may or may not have summoned a very small, lesser, infant demon.

Josie (as Minx): Blaire, what?

Minna (as Myra): Why?

[laughter]

Minna (as Myra): For what purpose?

Kim (as Blaire): Hex was lonely.

Josie (as Minx): So you summoned a demon?

Kim (as Blaire): Well–

Minna (as Myra): Okay…

Josie (as Minx): I can’t even, sorry Blaire, but–

Kim (as Blaire): I don’t think he would really get along with normal cats. He needs something that’s more arcane to hang out with them.

Josie (as Minx): And now the demon is loose–

Kim (as Blaire): Baby demon.

Josie (as Minx): –and, I assume, not performing the purpose you summoned it for?

Kim (as Blaire): Baby demon. It’s not at its full capacity of power, so we don’t have to worry about that, and I did put up a protection barrier around The Nest, so I know it can’t get out. But, yeah, I summoned it and then it just crawled up on the wall, and it went through the ceiling, and then it crawled out of my door and now I don’t know where it went.

Josie: While you’ve been talking, Minx has retrieved her cane sword and is fastening it to her hip.

Rhi: I think as Blaire’s explaining, ‘I don’t know where it is’, Myra, you hear a drip sound and you look down–

Kim: Oh God.

Rhi: – and there’s this, like, black ooze dripping onto your book from the ceiling.

Minna: Myra hastily shuts the book and puts it out of harm’s way. And also herself out of harm’s way.

Rhi: [laughs] Do you look up?

Minna: Yes.

Rhi: So as you look up at the ceiling, you see an approximately lobster-sized creature. Like, large sea-faring lobster. And it has a lot more appendages than your average lobster. There’s a lot more, sort of, tentacle action happening here.

Kim: So many legs.

Minna: Ugh.

Rhi: So many legs. And it appears to be, kind of like, oozing. It’s dripping this black ooze, but also it appears to be made mostly of black ooze. It’s kind of got a rippling quality to it.

Kim: It’s so slimy.

Rhi: And you look up at it and it lets out a sort of burbling screech and then skitters across the ceiling and–

Josie (as Minx): [shrieks]

[laughter]

Josie: I think Minx fucking lets that out as soon as it makes a noise and starts, kind of, trying to swat her sword at it from a distance, like someone trying to swat a spider or mosquito or something with a fly-swatter.

Kim (as Blaire): Yeah, I tried that, there’s no way I can reach it or get to it. It’s super fast. I don’t know what to do.

Josie (as Minx): How is this a suitable playmate for a cat?

Rhi: Hex, for the record, has woken up and is just looking up at the ceiling and doing that tail-twitching thing that cats do when they see a bug.

Minna: Yeah, absolutely. But he’s going to be useless at catching it, if my cat is any indication.

Rhi: Yeah.

Josie (as Minx): Blaire. Blaire.

Kim (as Blaire): Uh-huh?

Josie (as Minx): You need to tell us right now how to get rid of this thing.

Kim (as Blaire): I don’t know. I wasn’t planning on getting rid of it. I was going for something a little bit more tame. I didn’t think it would be this way. I thought it would be best friends with Hex forever and then we wouldn’t have to get rid of it, so no, I don’t know how to put it back in the dimension it belongs to.

Josie (as Minx): I know you are into various esoterica, but I can’t even fathom this train of logic. How does any of this lead to a black goop lobster? [pause] It can’t get in my room. It can’t get in my room! I have to go block it off.

Rhi: [laughs] When it skittered away, it definitely skittered along the ceiling up the stairs towards where everyone’s bedrooms are, so…

Kim (as Blaire): Aw, jeez.

Josie: Minx is gonna fucking bolt towards her room door and at least shut it.

Minna (as Myra): Are there any, like, standard vanishing things?

Kim (as Blaire): Uh…

Rhi: I think you do know some ways of banishing, but this was a pretty, like, you did a really good job summoning this thing. You definitely are going to have to catch it and get it contained somehow in order to banish it. You know that for sure.

Kim (as Blaire): There’s gotta be something that it’s attracted to, something that it eats, or… there has to be some kind of way to lure it.

Josie (as Minx): I was under the impression demons ate human souls.

Minna (as Myra): That’s spirits. Is it also demons?

Josie (as Minx): I mean, I’m certain there’s no shortage of foul creatures in the world whose diets consist of that.

Kim (as Blaire): I mean, I don’t think Setarra eats people.

Josie (as Minx): She does have shark teeth, dear.

Kim (as Blaire): That doesn’t mean she eats people.

Minna (as Myra): So, what do demons eat?

Kim: You know what, I actually don’t know.

Rhi: Demons don’t necessarily eat. Demons are kind of the embodiment of elements.

Minna: So that’s the thing I’m wondering. If we could use the element angle any way.

Josie: What element would this be, is it sewer goop demon?

Kim: Refresher on what the elements are? It’s water, earth, fire…

Rhi: Lemme look.

Kim: Air… long ago, the four nations lived together in harmony, but everything changed when the fire nation attacked.

Minna: [laughs]

Josie: Yep.

Rhi: Demon affinities. Sea and water, darkness, earth and metal, fire and smoke, sky and stars, storm and wind. I feel like made of oozing blackness is probably darkness.

Kim: Dark. Yeah.

Minna: Let’s see if light does anything to it.

Rhi: There is a crashing sound from the direction of Myra’s room.

Minna: Oh good. Myra goes running towards it.

Kim: I’m gonna follow her.

Josie: Fetch the torches and pitchforks!

Rhi: [laughs] So, the three of you go rushing off towards Myra’s room. What does Myra’s room look like? I don’t know that we’ve actually ever seen.

Minna: Myra’s room is pretty small and plain and neat. She has almost a bunk-style bed with nets over it that hold various little items, and then she’s got a big wooden chest for bigger storage, like clothes and weapons and stuff. She has maps all over the wall above the chest. And that’s pretty much it.

Rhi: A pretty bare-bones room.

Minna: Yeah, she likes to keep it neat. She doesn’t have a lot of stuff.

Rhi: Yeah.

Minna: She might have, like, books open on top of the chest.

Rhi: The crashing that you heard was all those books and things you had on top of the chest hitting the floor, as the lid of the chest is now open. And there’s sort of a trail of black ichor leading in.

Minna: Oh.

Josie (as Minx): Myra, I think you might need to let go of this chest.

Minna (as Myra): All of my clothes are in there.

Josie (as Minx): Oh dear.

Minna (as Myra): Most of my stuff is in there.

Josie (as Minx): Well, I can always take you on a shopping trip. We need to lock the chest and get rid of this thing.

Minna (as Myra): We have neither the money nor the time to replace all of my clothes.

Josie (as Minx): I think they’re all covered in black ink by now, dear.

Minna (as Myra): They might be salvageable.

Minna: And she just stalks up to the chest.

Kim (as Blaire): I could probably help you wash it out, there’s probably some kind of solution that I can make up.

Minna (as Myra): I believe that we can figure it out.

Minna: She is stalking up to the chest. She throws open the lid, if it’s–

Rhi: No, the lid was up.

Minna: The lid was up, okay.

Rhi: Yeah, that’s why all your stuff went spilling to the floor.

Minna: How did it open the lid? Jesus.

Rhi: It has tentacles, it’s fine. Give me some kind of roll for searching for this thing. I’m gonna start a clock for Demon Banished. And it’s gonna be 0 out of 10.

Josie: Oh dear.

Kim: 10?

Rhi: Mm-hmm.

Kim: Okay.

Minna: I mean, it is a whole episode clock, so that sounds fair.

Kim: Oh, true.

Rhi: Yeah.

Minna: I’m gonna do a Survey, I guess.

Rhi: Okay.

Minna: I got a 2. [laughs]

Rhi: Okay. So I think you, like, start rummaging around through your clothes, looking for this thing, and what you find is a nice, neat, like, your clothes are actually not in that–, well. Some of them are in bad shape. Some of them do in fact look like they’ve been stained with black ink. But it looks like it just kinda tunneled straight through your clothes and then through the bottom of the chest and then through the floor.

Josie (as Minx): [horrified moan]

Minna (as Myra): Why is it doing this?

Josie (as Minx): Who cares?

Kim (as Blaire): I just think it’s probably confused and scared and doesn’t understand what’s going on right now. It’s probably looking for some kind of habitat or hiding place for it to, I don’t know, hide and do demon stuff. Whatever baby demons of this kind do.

Josie (as Minx): Can we trap it in the toilet? That’s the only place I can–

Kim (as Blaire): Why the toilet? Why the toilet.

Josie (as Minx): It’s made of demonic sludge, it’s the only place I can think of.

Kim (as Blaire): What, so we’ll flush it? Let it loose into the sewer system?

Josie (as Minx): I mean, so long as it’s out of The Nest.

Rhi: So, thus far you have made zero progress on banishing yon demon.

Josie (as Minx): Is there any particular reason it cannot be stabbed?

Kim (as Blaire): Uh…

Josie (as Minx): It does appear to be a lobster. Perhaps hot water will deal with it.

Minna and Rhi: [loud peals of laughter]

Kim (as Blaire): Why would stabbing it help? We don’t want to kill it, we just want to get rid of it.

Josie (as Minx): We don’t?

Kim (as Blaire): No, it’s a demon. I’ve gotta put it back to where it goes.

Josie (as Minx): I… alright. What do we need to do to make that happen, Blaire?

Kim (as Blaire): I don’t know. I probably have to do some reading into it.

Josie (as Minx): So you’re saying we have to keep it here while you research?

Kim (as Blaire): Can you keep an eye on it while I figure it out?

Minna (as Myra): We have to find it again first.

Josie (as Minx): It did appear to go downstairs again.

Minna (as Myra): Yeah, let’s go look for it, Minx.

Kim (as Blaire): Okay, don’t kill it while I’m gone.

Kim: Blaire goes to her room.

Josie (as Minx): No promises!

Rhi: [laughs]

Kim (as Blaire): No, please promise me.

Minna (as Myra): I promise.

Kim (as Blaire): Thank you, Myra.

Minna (as Myra): I think it would be very difficult to break that promise.

Rhi: Alright, so I think we’re gonna follow Minx and Myra back downstairs. Blaire is, I assume, frantically going through some books in her room, and Blaire I’ll have you do a roll in a little bit to see how much progress you make. But yeah, Minx and Myra, you two are hunting for a creepy little demon thing.

Josie: So, Minx is overdoing it. She’s kind of, like, moving around the corners of The Nest like a SWAT team, with her sword out, peeking corners and trying to signal to Myra, who I imagine is not so dramatic in this situation.

Rhi: [laughs] Sorry, I’m just picturing Minx doing a combat roll into a room followed by Myra walking like a normal person.

[laughter]

Josie: Exactly.

Kim: Definitely does, like, the hand motion thing.

Josie: Yes.

Rhi: Yeah.

Josie (as Minx): When this is over, we must really speak with Blaire about her demon problem again.

Minna (as Myra): Yes, although I don’t think she’d give up this kind of thing entirely.

Josie (as Minx): Yes, but are spirits not enough? Must it be demons too? Spirits, at least I buy her claim as to their victimization. Demons, less so.

Minna (as Myra): As far as, I mean, we know that she has a predilection towards demons. She has that demon friend, Setarra, and has for longer than she’s known us.

Josie (as Minx): Yes, but it must surely change eventually, yes? Setarra is not the friendliest of entities from beyond the pale.

Minna (as Myra): No, that’s true. But it’s up to her, it’s her life. Might almost be smarter to try and build a good place for this to happen besides Blaire’s room.

Josie (as Minx): Yes. Perhaps a proper laboratory is in order. Far away from here.

Minna (as Myra): Yes.

Josie: Minx is also gonna try and find this fucking thing.

Rhi: Okay.

Josie: She’s gonna be, like, using her sword to peek under things and lift things up delicately at a distance.

Rhi: Go ahead and roll me something.

Josie: I’m gonna roll a Survey. Nope. That’s a 2.

Rhi: So I think the two of you kinda take different halves of the room. Minx is lifting up things with her sword, being very careful, and you straighten up from looking underneath the couch, Minx, and you hear a noise coming from the windows.

Josie (as Minx): [gasp]

Rhi: Where Kevin had been placed.

Josie (as Minx): Oh no.

Rhi: And you slowly turn and look…

Minna: No!

Rhi: And you don’t see the tiny demon, but Kevin now has what on a person would be a pretty sick face scar. It’s like the thing that cuts across the eye.

Josie and Minna: [pained gasps]

Josie (as Minx): Kevin, no!

Rhi: On a person it would be a very badass scar, but it’s on Kevin.

Minna: Are you kidding me? On Kevin it’s a very badass scar.

Rhi: [laughs]

Kim: That’s true.

Josie: Regardless of its badass-ness, Minx is going to rush over to Kevin.

Josie (as Minx): Kevin, no! What did it do to you?

Rhi: There’s just a little bit of that black ichor smeared on the head and hair of the statue, and there’s a neat cut over one of the eyes, like a claw.

Josie (as Minx): We will avenge you, Kevin. You will not be maimed in vain.

Rhi: Is Myra noticing any of this?

Minna: Yes, I think she’s honestly patting Minx on the shoulder and looking at this gash, like:

Minna (as Myra): Hmm. Good to know that it has claws that can do that kinda damage.

Josie (as Minx): Yes, I suppose it is. I mean, I kind of assumed as much, but was hoping this is the demonic equivalent of a rat or some such.

Rhi: I mean, it probably is.

Josie (as Minx): Oh dear.

Minna: [laughs] ‘Oh dear’, Minx responds to the narrator’s voice in the sky.

Rhi: Yep.

Josie: [laughs]

Josie (as Minx): I’m simply trying to stay in character.

Rhi: [laughs] So, I think while you two are mourning Kevin’s injury we pan up to Blaire’s room. How is it looking now?

Kim: It’s frantic. There are books all over the floor. She is just tearing her bookshelf apart, throwing things away, throwing books over her shoulder as she looks. There are papers everywhere. Her room’s normally an organized mess, but this is pure chaos.

Rhi: Yeah. Go ahead and give me a roll to see if you’re able to find anything. I would say definitely this would be a Study roll.

Kim: A Study. Ha-ha. That is a 1 and a 3.

Rhi: Guys.

[laughter]

Rhi: I mean, at least you’re rolling this badly on not a score where you’ll die.

Kim: It’s true. Stakes could be higher.

Rhi: So, I think what we see is like, you know, Blaire is just frantically going through books and tossing things and there’s papers everywhere, and the camera pans across. There’s a book halfway underneath her bed, and we can just see the spine reads, ‘On The Control And Banishment Of Demonic Forms’, but it’s underneath her bed, so she’s doesn’t see it. [laughs]

Kim: Oh my God!

Rhi: It’s exactly the book you need, and you don’t see it just now.

Kim: My dumbass girl.

Rhi: You might find it later.

[laughter]

Kim (as Blaire): Where the fuck is it? Ugh. Fuck.

Josie: I don’t think Blaire says fuck very often.

Rhi: Hex has followed Blaire upstairs and is just, kind of, sniffing around the room.

Kim (as Blaire): Hex, Hex, you gotta help me out. Do you know which book I could get?

Kim (as Hex): [miaows]

Rhi: Yeah.

Kim (as Blaire): Uh…

Rhi: I think Hex is sniffing at the summoning circle and, as you predicted, rolls over onto his side and is rolling around in the soot.

Kim (as Blaire): Hex! What if I need that?

Kim (as Hex): [miaows]

Josie (as Minx): [laughs]

Kim (as Blaire): Hex. Hex, I spent an hour on that. What if I need that to banish it?

Rhi (as Hex): [miaows]

Kim (as Blaire): Shoo! Shoo. [sighs]

Rhi: So are you herding Hex out of the room?

Kim: No, I’m picking him up. Like, stop it.

Rhi: Ah. [laughs]

Kim (as Blaire): You’re being very naughty.

Kim (as Hex): [purrs]

Minna: Ooh, that was impressive.

Rhi: Yeah.

Kim: Oh, thank you.

Kim (as Blaire): [sighs] I just wish I knew how I’m gonna fix this.

Kim: And Hex starts purring.

Rhi: Yeah, I think Hex does a headbutt under your chin.

Kim: I scritch his neck.

Rhi: So, back downstairs, how are you two doing?

Josie: I think Minx is against the wall, the back of her hand to her forehead, sword down.

Rhi: [giggles]

Josie (as Minx): Ugh, I don’t know if I can handle this, Myra. This is all so much out of nowhere. What do we do with this thing?

Minna: I think Myra takes her by the shoulders.

Minna (as Myra): It’s scary, but we’re going to get through this. I think probably, at most, in the end it’s going to be a nuisance. We’re just gonna have to figure out how to get rid of it.

Josie (as Minx): Yes. But, I don’t know how many more times I can handle supernatural entities just paying a visit to The Nest. It’s not the first time.

Minna (as Myra): I understand. It’s really not the easiest thing to deal with. Do you have a lot of experience? I mean, I know everybody has seen some of it, and we’ve seen quite a bit together, but before that?

Josie (as Minx): I mean, never so much as knowing Blaire has exposed me to such things. I generally try to keep my interests squarely focused on the realm of the real. Not whatever’s beyond it.

Minna (as Myra): Spirits and demons are real. They just go by different rules than we do.

Josie (as Minx): Not unreal, just, you know, material, sane. Something that can be dealt with.

Minna (as Myra): Easy to predict and persuade?

Josie (as Minx): Yes, yes. That summarizes it succinctly.

Minna (as Myra): I don’t know if it helps, but I don’t think we’re in actual danger here.

Josie (as Minx): I’m not certain that we are, either. I cannot say the same for my new drapery. It’s more that, well, The Nest is supposed to be a home, not a playground for demons.

Minna (as Myra): Ah, so it’s feeling invaded in your own space.

Josie (as Minx): Precisely. Because that is quite literally what has happened.

Minna (as Myra): Well, we’ll try and get that sense of security back. We just gotta concentrate on the demon first.

Josie (as Minx): Yes. Speaking of, what is our plan?

Minna (as Myra): I’d still like to try light and see if that does anything to at least help herd it, if it perhaps doesn’t like light. Because it looks quite like it might be made of darkness.

Josie (as Minx): Yes, let’s fetch a lantern and see what can be done.

Rhi: Alright, so–

Minna: I think I’m gonna grab a lantern and a mirror and try and, like, direct light towards the demon next time I see it.

Rhi: Okay. Give me some kind of roll. This might be Attune.

Minna: I dunno, I think we’re trying to use, like, normal, mundane shit to try and do stuff to it.

Rhi: But you are trying to interact with a demon.

Minna: That’s true. Dammit. I rolled a 4.

Rhi: Okay, that’s–

Minna: Oh wait, a 4 is fine.

Rhi: Yeah. A 4 will actually get you something on the clock. So, you are walking around with this mirror and lantern and reflecting the light into different spaces and you shine it underneath a bookshelf and there’s a loud hissing sound and some blackish smoke, and it skitters across the floor and then up the wall and back up the stairs. But it certainly did not seem to enjoy that very direct, concentrated light hitting it.

Minna: Maybe if we can find multiple of these, we can try and herd it.

Josie: Yes. I will acquire the same setup.

Rhi: From upstairs there’s a loud [angy miaow] yowling sound.

Josie: [laughs]

Minna (as Myra): Hex?

Minna: And Myra goes pelting towards the cat to make sure he’s okay.

Rhi: Yep. Blaire, are you gonna come out of your room as well, when you hear the cat?

Kim: Yeah.

Kim (as Blaire): Oh jeez, oh fuck, oh jeez.

Minna: [laughs]

Rhi: So Hex is fine, Hex is unharmed. Covered in soot, but unharmed. And is frantically running up and down the hallway, trying to get enough distance to glide up. Because it does have bat wings. It can glide. But it doesn’t have enough starting height to get up to the ceiling where this thing is. So there’s just cat run, run, run, glide… land, run, run, run. Run, run, run, glide… land, and it’s just yowling angrily every time it can’t get it.

Kim: Yeah.

Minna (as Myra): Blaire, do you have anything to trap it?

Kim (as Blaire): Uh… not with me.

Minna (as Myra): Spirit jar?

Kim (as Blaire): Uh, yeah. Let me try and get a bigger jar.

Kim: And she runs back to her room real quick and comes back with a jar.

Rhi: Biggest jar you’ve got. Yeah, you can try to get the demon into the jar. You still don’t really know what would lure it to play. You know it doesn’t like light, but you’re not sure what it would, you know, want.

Minna: Yeah, no. I’m trying to find what it doesn’t want and use that to chase it.

Rhi: Yeah. Blaire, you can try to get this lobster demon off the ceiling and into your jar.

Minna: I think we’re gonna try and work together, right?

Josie: Yeah, might as well.

Minna: Like, you hold the jar, I herd with the light.

Rhi: Do a group action.

Kim: Ooh.

Josie: Yes.

Minna: Still Attune?

Rhi: Sure, yeah.

Josie: I got a 4.

Minna: I got a 4.

Kim: Hey, finally. Alright, I got a 6.

Rhi: Okay, so Blaire has the jar, Myra has the lantern and mirror, what is Minx contributing?

Josie: Um… [laughs] good question. I think Minx is also going to contribute to the light and mirror effort, but she has a compact out and is using the compact mirror to redirect light.

Rhi: Perfect. Yeah, you reflect the light, it skitters down the wall, and Blaire, I think what it is, because you are at 3 out of 10, the demon is not captured yet, Blaire you manage to slam the jar down on it, like upside-down. So it’s trapped, but if you pick up the jar, it will immediately escape again. You’ve just got it trapped on the floor.

Kim: Ah.

Minna: You’ve put a cup on it, but you have no paper. [laughs]

Rhi: Yes.

Kim: Yep.

Rhi: You put a cup over the spider, you don’t have a piece of paper to slide under there to trap it. And it is hissing loudly and skittering around inside, and very quickly you are unable to see inside of it because the glass is just covered in this ichor.

Kim (as Blaire): Uh…

Minna: Don’t like this.

Rhi: But you can tell, at least for right now, that it’s still in there, because the jar is shaking a little bit as it’s moving. So Blaire, you just kind of have to sit there and hold it.

Josie: Aww.

Minna (as Myra): I didn’t consider what we would do at this point.

Rhi: [laughs]

Josie (as Minx): I think now we ask Blaire if she has found some form of ritual.

Kim (as Blaire): No, no I haven’t yet.

Josie (as Minx): Alright.

Minna (as Myra): So, demons usually want something, right?

Kim (as Blaire): I think everybody kinda wants something, but…

Minna (as Myra): Yeah, but demons have, like, the one thing they want, if I remember.

Rhi: Yes.

Kim: Oh that’s right, yeah. Chaos, or death, whatever.

Minna: Let me know if that’s not in-character info that Myra would have.

Rhi: She might, in conversations with Blaire that might have come up. I feel like by virtue of having Blaire as a roommate, you know way more about demons than you did before, and probably more than you really wanted to.

Minna: Eh, knowledge is power.

Rhi: [laughs]

Minna (as Myra): The thing it wants, property destruction?

Kim (as Blaire): I don’t think that’s what it wants, no.

Josie (as Minx): No…

Minna (as Myra): I was making a poor joke.

Rhi: It’s hissing.

Josie (as Minx): Well, what does a lobster usually want? Bottom feeding, I suppose?

Kim (as Blaire): But this isn’t a lobster, minx, this is a demon. We can’t apply lobster logic to a demon.

Josie (as Minx): But it looks like a lobster, and–

Kim (as Blaire): That doesn’t mean it is a lobster.

Josie (as Minx): That’s the only logic I know how to apply in this situation!

Minna: [laughs]

Kim (as Blaire): [sighs]

Josie (as Minx): I don’t know the demon logic.

Minna: It’s made of dark, do we know if the desires have any connection to, like, their manifestation?

Kim: Not always, if I remember correctly.

Rhi: Yeah, no. Their elemental affinity and their desires are not usually connected.

Kim: Oh, how poetic would it be if this thing wanted freedom?

Rhi: It’s a possibility.

Josie (as Minx): I mean, is there a way to communicate with this thing?

Kim (as Blaire): You know what, I can try. That’s a good point, I can try.

Kim: Because I imagine from that book I might know a little bit of Demon Speak.

Rhi: Yeah, we established that. So, yeah, give me some kind of roll to speak to this demon.

Kim: I’m going to try rolling Consort.

Rhi: [high-pitched] Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Kim: Why are you making that noise?

Rhi: Because the idea of you rolling Consort to talk to this lobster demon that you have stuck in a jar on the floor is kind of the best.

Kim: [laughs]

Minna: I mean, it really is just Blaire, in a nutshell.

Josie: [laughs]

Kim and Rhi: Yeah.

Kim: Oh no. That’s a 1.

Josie: [groans]

Minna: Oh no.

Rhi: So, tell me what–, I know it’s in Demon Speech, but give us the translation of what does Blaire say.

Kim: What Blaire intends to say is, ‘We’re not going to hurt you, we just want to know what you want’.

Rhi: So, the jar goes still after you say that, and there’s no more hissing, there’s no more thrashing. And you start to think, like, ‘Oh, I think I got through to it,’ and you lift up the jar and there’s a hole in the floor.

Kim: [screams]

[laughter]

Kim: No!

Rhi: [laughing] It has burrowed away down through the floor again.

Kim (as Blaire): Tiny demon!

Kim: I shout down the hole.

Kim (as Blaire): Come back!

Rhi: You hear a faint hissing in the darkness.

Josie (as Minx): Well, negotiations have failed. Time for Plan B.

Kim (as Blaire): I could try again.

Josie (as Minx): [sighs]

Kim (as Blaire): If we catch it again, I can try again.

Josie (as Minx): Well, if you’re going to sound so sad about it, then I suppose we must try again.

Kim (as Blaire): Yay.

Josie (as Minx): Yes, let’s head down there.

Kim: Okey dokey.

Rhi: You all troop downstairs and there’s a hole in your ceiling now and there’s some black goop on the floor under the hole. But otherwise you don’t really see anything. There’s no new destruction to any of your property, Kevin remains with just the new scar.

Josie (as Minx): [shudders] I hope it doesn’t spoil our food.

Josie: Minx is gonna sort of lightly look around the kitchen.

Kim (as Blaire): I don’t think it’s capable of doing that.

Josie (as Minx): I mean, getting the black goop on it is as good as spoiling it, most likely.

Kim (as Blaire): Oh, okay. Yeah.

Josie (as Minx): Unless we can eat that foul liquid.

Kim (as Blaire): You know what? I am down for most things, but I don’t know if I’m down for that. You’re probably right.

Josie (as Minx): Yes, well…

Josie: I think I’m gonna roll another Survey, looking for it.

Rhi: Yes.

Josie: Nope.

Rhi: [laughs]

Kim: Oh my God.

Josie: I think Minx is, like, looking through things, but is still too scared to actually commit to looking in something for too long. Like, kind of at a distance.

Rhi: Yeah. You’re, like, easing the cabinets open with the end of your cane, but not really getting close enough to look in there.

Josie: Yes.

Rhi: Yeah, that sounds about right. So, yeah, it’s kinda this weird moment of calm amidst the recent last half-hour or so of chaos.

Josie (as Minx): Well, at least we are together through this.

Kim (as Blaire): Mm.

Josie (as Minx): No need for us to split up.

Minna: [laughs]

Kim (as Blaire): Yeah.

Minna (as Myra): Yes, no need to split up, indeed.

Kim (as Blaire): No need to split up, ever.

Josie (as Minx): Never, never again. Not even in the face of a foul being from beyond the pale!

Josie: She’s gonna open a cabinet really swiftly, thinking it’s in there. There’s nothing.

Kim (as Blaire): Here, demon, demon, demon. Here, demon, demon, demon.

Minna: [amused]

Josie (as Minx): Please do not name it.

Rhi: Roll Consort again.

[laughter]

Kim: This is a Consort? Okay. Oh, Jesus Christ. That’s a 6.

[laughter and applause]

Rhi: Better than I coulda hoped!

Minna: I love how excited you are that ‘Here, demon, demon, demon’ did something.

Rhi: Yes! [laughs] It’s the best.

Kim: It’s so stupid!

Rhi: It’s really stupid and I’m really happy about it.

[laughter]

Rhi: Blaire, you are muttering this as you are walking around The Nest and you hear a skittering sound from up ahead. And you lean around the corner into the hallway and you see the demon on the floor, staring up at you with its… hang on… fifteen eyes.

Josie: Jesus.

Rhi: I rolled a d20.

[laughter]

Kim: Yes!

Josie: Oh God.

Kim: I love it. Do they all blink at separate times?

Rhi: Oh yeah, they’re totally out of sync.

Kim: Aw, yes.

Rhi: It stares up at you with its many eyes and you, like, start down the hallway towards it. And you get about halfway down the hallway when it hisses and darts off down the stairs, into the vault.

Kim (as Blaire): Wait… Okay.

Kim: I follow it.

Josie (as Minx): Yes, we can’t let it get in there. Although the door should be sufficient.

Minna (as Myra): Well, none of the doors have been sufficient.

Josie: So, what’s it like down there?

Rhi: Well, so, I think your vault setup, if I recall… because you all live in a tower.

Josie: Right.

Rhi: So I guess it actually wouldn’t be stairs down into the vault, it would be like you have a trapdoor and a ladder.

Josie: Right, you can only access the vault from this floor, not below it.

Rhi: Yeah. So, I think when you get to the trapdoor that leads down into the vault, the trapdoor is just flipped up, and on the ladder there is some of this black ooze.

Josie (as Minx): [shudders] Hold on, let me fetch some gloves.

Kim (as Blaire): Eh, it’s fine.

Kim: And Blaire just climbs down the ladder, not caring.

Rhi: Hmm. What do you think the consistency of this black ooze is? Like, is it sticky, is it going to stick to your hands?

Kim: That’s a good question. I don’t think it’s sticky. I imagine it as, like, the residue of a trail of slime a snail would leave behind. So it is kind of sticky and gooey and slimy, but it’s a thin consistency.

Rhi: Yeah.

Kim: It’s not too goopy.

Rhi: So more slimy, rather than like a tar.

Kim: Yeah.

Rhi: Yeah, okay. Minx still would probably have a heart attack and fall off the ladder if she touched it with her bare skin.

Josie: Yes. Minx is definitely last down, because she is taking time to make sure everything about her is protected from this.

Rhi: Yeah. I think Minx, when you go back through the living room Hex is asleep on the carpet again.

Josie: Aww.

Rhi: But yeah, so you all climb down into the vault, where you have coin and, you know, probably various valuables you’ve stolen. Bits of jewelry and art pieces. And you have also stashed your various artifacts down here. I believe the Eye of Kotar and the blood-iron ring are both in your vault.

Kim: The Eye of Kotar isn’t in my room anymore?

Rhi: Oh, you don’t keep it down in the vault?

Kim: No. It’s Eyeball Friend, it lives in my room.

Rhi: This ancient, powerful relic that hundreds of years have been spent looking for it, and Blaire keeps it under her mattress.

Kim: Under her bed, yeah.

Minna: Of course.

Rhi: Oh my God. Blaire is a treasure.

Kim: [giggles]

Josie: I mean, would anyone think to look there?

Kim: Exactly.

Josie: The vault is the first place they would look.

Rhi: It depends on how well they know Blaire.

Kim: And also, it’s dark and cold and clammy down here. Eyeball Friend is in a chest that’s velvet lined, under my bed, where it’s warm and cozy.

Rhi: Amazing. So, you have descended into your vault, which I think we’ve talked about a little bit, how it’s set up. I think you have it divided up into areas with sub–sections with complex locks and things. Because I know there was a particular spot where Myra stashed the blood-iron ring. There are lights down here, so it’s not pitch black. But I think it’s a little darker than the rest of The Next, a lot more shadows. So, how are you all splitting up to search this space?

Josie: We’re not splitting up.

Kim: Yeah, we’re not splitting up, Scoob.

Josie: [laughs]

Rhi: Okay, how are you moving as a unit to search this space?

Josie: I kind of imagine, like, Myra in front. Almost like a cover from a kids’ adventure novel or something, were someone’s up front with a flashlight and the other two are–

Kim: Oh my God, yes.

Minna: [giggles] Like, holding up the lantern, and some unseen wind sweeping out their skirts.

Josie: Exactly.

Rhi: Yeah, and the other two of you are leaning out from either side of her.

Minna: Yes.

Rhi: In different poses.

Josie: Precisely.

Rhi: I love it, this is perfect.

Minna: [laughs]

Josie: Group action?

Rhi: Yeah, if you wanna do some kind of a group action.

Minna: Survey, or…?

Kim: I had the idea to roll an Attune to try and find it in the dark. See if it has a signature in the ghost field.

Minna: Yeah. I could do that.

Rhi: You can all do it as a group.

Minna: Ooh, I rolled a 6.

Josie: I got a 2.

Kim: I got double 2s.

Minna: But overall, we got a 6.

Rhi: Okay, let me mark that clock up again. So, yeah. Tell me how this looks with looking into the ghost field for this little lobster demon.

Minna: I don’t think demons have ghost field signatures, do they?

Kim: Oh.

Rhi: Yeah, let me take a look actually, really quickly.

Minna: I remember, I just re-read the demon page, because of this. And I don’t think they do, because they run on spirit juice.

Josie: Spirit juice.

Minna: [laughs] I don’t remember what–, ectoplasm. [reading] They are not echoed in the ghost field. Their blood contains electroplasmic essence, which gives them eternal life. They are corporeal creatures, not spirits, and they are extremely difficult to kill.

Rhi: Yeah, so I think that it’s not that there’s a void, I think they just have the same amount of spiritual energy as, like, a lamp.

Kim: Ah.

Rhi: But what happens, who is doing the looking into the ghost field? Is it Myra, since she got that 6? Or Blaire, since that’s kinda her thing?

Josie: Not me.

Kim: I think it’s interesting if Myra does it.

Rhi: So Myra, you’re looking into the ghost field and you can see the faint signatures of your friends, and Hex upstairs, sleeping in front of the fire. And you look around down here and you don’t see the demon. Because, as we’ve just said, demons don’t appear in the ghost field. What you do see is the tiny glow of a ring sliding across the floor.

Minna: Oh, no!

Josie: Oh…

Minna: If I look with my regular eyes, is it sliding across the floor in the possession of a demon?

Rhi: Yeah! [laughs] Yes. The demon has acquired the blood-iron ring.

Kim and Minna: [scream]

Josie: Oh God, no.

Rhi: [laughs]

Minna: Yeah, I’m gonna point. Let me drop back into character.

Minna (as Myra): Don’t move quickly and startle it. The demon has the ring.

Kim (as Blaire): Oh fuck.

Josie (as Minx): Oh gods.

Kim (as Blaire): That’s bad. That’s bad. That’s really, really bad.

Minna: I’m going to walk slowly and calmly up to the demon.

Kim (as Blaire): [whispering] I can try talking to it again if you want, to see if it’ll slow down?

Minna: I’m gonna do the thing I would do in real life trying to, like, walk past a wasp.

Rhi: Okay.

Minna: Just slow, calm movements, in hopes of not startling it.

Rhi: Alright. Gimme a roll.

Minna: Uh…

Rhi: This is probably Prowl, since it’s a movement-based thing.

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

Rhi: [giggles maniacally] Oh, goodness.

Kim: I don’t like that laugh.

Rhi: Devil’s Bargain. Uh… ooh.

Kim: Oh no.

Rhi: Oh that’s an idea.

Kim: Oh no.

Rhi: Being handled by the demon is going to alter the blood-iron ring in some way.

Kim: Hmm.

Minna: Er…

Josie: Huh.

Minna: Well, we don’t really want anyone to use it anyway.

Rhi: I want you to use it.

Minna: But we don’t wanna use it.

Kim: I wanna use it.

Minna: [laughs] Okay.

Rhi: [laughs]

Minna: So I guess it’s up to Kim.

Kim: Um…

Minna: I can also just roll.

Kim: I mean, the thing is though, is that Rhi isn’t letting on whether it’s going to alter it in a good or a bad way, which is why I’m intrigued.

Josie: I mean, the blood-iron ring doesn’t do good things, so–

Rhi: What are you talking about, it does great things. It lets you read minds and see through walls and locate objects at a distance, it does awesome stuff. It also just, you know, gives you a mild case of cannibalism.

Josie: Yeah.

Minna: It’s already unpredictable. This is just making it more unpredictable.

Rhi: Yeah, I know.

Minna: Yeah, honestly I love that. Let’s do it.

Rhi: Yes! Alright.

Minna: 6! No, sorry. 5! [laughs]

Rhi: Alright.

Minna: It added it together automatically, because I’m using an app.

Rhi: Yes. Okay, so you are able to sneakily sneak up on this demon and get pretty close to it. What are you going to do now that you’re pretty close to it?

Minna: Sneakily also crouch slowly, so I’m on its level. Then reach out and gently try to grab it.

Josie: [sucks air through teeth]

Rhi: You’re going to need to make another roll for that.

Minna: What is that roll?

Rhi: I mean, it’s kind of up to you. You know what? I would say Prowl or Finesse.

Minna: Alright, well that’s 1d6 for that. And I rolled a 1.

Rhi: You grab for the ring. The demon is still holding the ring and it has run up your arm and is, like, running up your arm onto your shoulder.

Minna: Okay. Well I’m going to hold very still.

Rhi: Hissing and skittering and leaving little ichor drops all over your clothes.

Josie: Minx is gonna try and smack it off with her cane.

Minna: No. Don’t do that. Please don’t do that.

Josie and Rhi: [laugh]

Josie: I think she’s scared enough to do that.

Rhi: Yeah.

Minna: I know. Myra was opening her mouth to tell people not to do exactly that thing, but Minx has acted too quickly, being reckless.

Josie: Yep. I’m gonna Skirmish about it. I got a 5.

Rhi: Alright. So, I think with a 5 you successfully, I imagine with a blood-curdling shriek, you knock it off of Myra. I think you kind of like whack Myra on the shoulder in the process.

Josie: Yep.

Rhi: But you manage to knock it onto the floor.

Josie (as Minx): [nervous laugh] I hit it! Take that you disgusting little fiend.

Rhi: It still is holding onto the ring. However, you are at 9 out of 10 on I’m gonna say this is the Demon Captured clock, because once you actually have it secured Blaire can take the time to figure out how to banish it. So, if you can get one more tick on this clock, you can capture it.

Kim: I want to try talking to it one more time.

Rhi: Yeah. I had a feeling that was gonna be. Please do.

Kim: I would love to. Okay, that’s a 5.

Rhi: Alright. So, the demon skitters off. It skitters towards Blaire. Like, Blaire, you’ve gotten between it and the exit. And it remembers seeing you previously and it kind of slows down and blinks up at you with all those many, many eyes again.

Kim (as Blaire): Hi.

Rhi: It hisses at you.

Kim: Can it not talk back?

Rhi: Doesn’t seem like it, but it seems like it can understand you.

Kim: Oh, okay.

Kim (as Blaire): We’re not here to hurt you.

Rhi (as demon): [hisses]

Kim (as Blaire): We want to help you get home. And I’m sorry I took you away from there.

Kim: I’m gonna, like, crouch down to its level.

Kim (as Blaire): Let us help you and I can get you back home.

Rhi: I think it studies you for a minute, and it’s a small creature, it can’t talk, but there is some intelligence in those fifteen eyes.

Kim: Oh, of course.

Rhi: And I think after a few moments it skitters forward and runs up your arm and just perches on your shoulder.

Kim (as Blaire): [delighted gasp]

Josie (as Minx): [horrified gasp]

Kim (as Blaire): Oh, who’s a good little demon?

Rhi: It sticks a tentacle in your ear.

Kim (as Blaire): [screams] Ahh! Okay, okay.

[laughter]

Kim: I’m gonna slowly take the tentacle out.

Rhi: It doesn’t seem like it was trying to do anything harmful, it’s just, it’s investigating.

Kim: Yeah.

Kim (as Blaire): That was a bad touch. Please don’t do that.

Rhi: It still is holding the ring, but I think you’re able to, kind of like, ‘I’m gonna take that’.

Kim: Mm-hmm.

Rhi: It’ll let you take the ring away from it. It kind of hisses sadly as you do so.

Kim (as Blaire): Oh I know. We’ll get you a new ba-ba.

Josie and Rhi: [laugh]

Rhi: Oh my God. Alright. Um. Jesus.

Kim: [laughs]

Rhi: We cut back upstairs. I think Blaire has recovered the book that she needed to banish the demon. And yeah, tell me how this banishment goes.

Kim: It’s actually less dramatic than the summoning is. It doesn’t require any kind of symbols or circles. Actually, all she has to do is almost like a meditation. She holds her hands over the demon while it sits and waits, and closes her eyes and focuses while she recites a new incantation in Demon Speak.

Rhi: Yeah. And so Blaire is holding her hands out, so she’s casting a little bit of shadow over the demon, and as she talks the shadows under her hands get darker and darker and deeper, until there’s this little area of pitch blackness under her hands. And she finishes the incantation and the darkness holds for a moment, and then all of the light comes back into that space and the demon is gone.

Kim (as Blaire): Phew.

Josie (as Minx): Oh goodness.

Kim (as Blaire): I’m kinda gonna miss him.

Rhi: [laughs]

Josie: Minx is just gonna look over at Blaire, like, ‘What?’

Kim (as Blaire): He was kinda cute.

Minna (as Myra): I can see where you could find it vaguely endearing.

Josie (as Minx): I’m gonna go clean up its trail.

Minna (as Myra): Its nose for trouble was almost as good as yours, Blaire.

Kim (as Blaire): Yeah, we should probably clean some of this up.

Minna (as Myra): I agree.

Kim (as Blaire): Maybe we should get a bird. Oh, wait, no we can’t. Hex would probably eat it.

Rhi: I think Hex uncurls on the rug and does that big cat stretch, and then trots over to Blaire and does that cat thing of shoving his head under your hand for pets.

Kim (as Blaire): Sorry I couldn’t get you a friend, baby.

Kim (as Hex): [miaows]

Kim (as Blaire): Do you think he would get along with a fish? That probably wouldn’t make him, you know.

Minna (as Myra): Maybe a turtle?

Kim (as Blaire): [gasps]

Rhi: What do turtles in Duskwall, or in this setting, even look like?

Josie: [whispers] Demon turtle.

Rhi: So yeah, I think that the three of you start pulling out Minx’s collection of cleaning supplies and probably gonna have to get some boards to patch the holes that this thing left in your floors and ceilings.

Josie (as Minx): So Blaire. Blaire, it would be pointless of me to ask you to stop summoning demons, but perhaps there’s a way to do it not in The Nest?

Kim (as Blaire): Yes.

Minna (as Myra): Or maybe there are better wards?

Kim (as Blaire): What do you mean better wards?

Minna (as Myra): I mean, what do you put on your room?

Kim (as Blaire): Uh… [laughs nervously]

Josie (as Minx): You don’t put anything on your room, do you?

Kim (as Blaire): No.

Josie (as Minx): I see.

Minna (as Myra): Maybe we could set aside some space somewhere for you to protect and use as a place to do this kind of thing.

Kim (as Blaire): Okay. But I’m gonna have to invoke the same rules as my bedroom. Only me.

Minna (as Myra): That’s fine.

Josie (as Minx): Mm-hmm.

Kim (as Blaire): Thank you. Where do you think we’re gonna put it?

Minna: I don’t know why I feel like there is empty, un-renovated space in this tower.

Kim (as Blaire): That’s fine by me. Because I don’t want it to be in the vault, because it’s a little cold and dark and clammy down there.

Minna (as Myra): No, I wouldn’t want it in the vault either. Clearly we have some things in there that should not be touched by demons.

Kim (as Blaire): Like the ring.

Minna (as Myra): Yes, the ring.

Kim (as Blaire): That was a close one, huh?

Rhi: Myra, as you’re looking at it, it has a sort of like… before it was just that plain, pockmarked iron look to it. It has sort of a dark sheen to it now, that wasn’t there before.

Kim (as Blaire): Ooh.

Josie (as Minx): Welp, that’s going inside a lock box.

Kim (as Blaire): No it’s not.

Josie (as Minx): What? Why not? It’s safer there.

Kim (as Blaire): Well the demon changed it somehow, we gotta figure out how.

Josie (as Minx): Do we, though?

Kim (as Blaire): I mean, yeah.

Josie (as Minx): Why? Aren’t we just playing keepaway with it?

Kim (as Blaire): But what if it’s, like, ruined or something?

Josie (as Minx): Great. This is an evil thing.

Kim (as Blaire): Well, from a certain point of view.

Josie (as Minx): Blaire, it runs on blood and inspires cannibalism, what isn’t evil about it?

Kim (as Blaire): Okay, yeah, when you put it that way it does sound pretty evil. But still, like, say hypothetically, someone took it from us and what if the demon made it more powerful? Made whatever it does even more evil? We need to know that it’s not corrupted in a way that it’s an even worse relic than it was to begin with.

Josie (as Minx): I mean, do you possess the means to know that without wearing it and activating it?

Kim (as Blaire): At the moment I don’t think I do, but I bet I can figure it out.

Josie (as Minx): Well, then perhaps we should figure it out and in the meantime keep it inside a lock box. I mean, I suppose it doesn’t get much more secure than the vault, but we saw what happens when it’s left out. [sighs] Well, I am glad that’s over. If you’ll excuse me, I’m gonna finish cleaning and then perhaps read a book. Calm down.

Kim (as Blaire): Are you tense? Do you want me to rub your shoulders?

Minna: [amused]

Josie (as Minx): You know, I was going to say I’m fine, but I cannot pass that up.

Rhi: [laughs]

Kim (as Blaire): Okay! Um, you’re probably gonna have to scooch down for me a little.

Josie (as Minx): Yes, of course, dear.

Kim: Okay, and Blaire starts massaging your shoulders.

Rhi: We fade into the common area again. There’s a mop and bucket propped up in a corner. There’s a hole in the ceiling. Hex is sleeping on the rug again. Minx is sitting in a chair while Blaire rubs her shoulders. What’s Myra doing?

Minna: [laughs] Honestly, I think she’s tidying already.

Rhi: Yeah. Myra is straightening things up. And we pull out from The Nest to see that the storm has let up, and now it’s just a nice gentle rain, as we fade out.

## Outro [00.59.32]

Rhi: Thanks for listening. The Magpies will be back in two weeks. In the meantime, follow us on Twitter @magpies_pod and visit our Patreon at patreon.com/magpiespodcast.

The Magpies podcast is GMed and produced by Rhi. Follow me on Twitter @rhiannon42 and check out rpgskillcheck.net for my copy editing and accessibility freelance site.

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.

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.

##Blooper [01.00.44]

Minna: You have to admit that would be the start of a great other show [laughs] he meets with three others named after famous Akorosi painters. I’m sorry.

Rhi: [sighs]

Josie: Did we kill Kim with our TMNT reference? I think she may have just died.

Kim: Oh! Oh that’s… I didn’t get it.

[laughter]

Josie: Really?

Minna: Kim, you’re the one that’s into TMNT.

Kim: I didn’t–,

[laughter]

Kim: [sings TMNT theme tune] Teenage mutant ninja demon, teenage mutant ninja demon.

Rhi: Oh my God.

Kim: [singing] Demons in a… demons in the black sludge. Demon power!