Transcript by Pidj.
Download a Word doc version: S2Ep7 Transcript
## Intro
Rhi: Welcome back to Duskwall. As always, thank you so much for joining us. In just about two weeks the Magpies will be celebrating our one year anniversary. I’ll have more to say about that next episode, but we do have some exciting plans for celebrating! For our Patrons backing us at $2 or more, we’ll be releasing a brand new bonus episode, in which the Magpies have a chat with a very inquisitive reporter. And, Patrons supporting us at $15 dollars or more, will get to join us for our first live hangout stream. We’ll answer questions, play some games, and just have a fun time celebrating our one year anniversary. So, if you’d like to join in on any of the fun, head to patreon.com/magpiespodcast.
We have another transcript available on the site. Season one, episode five, is now available. And before you ask, yes, we’ve skipped from episode three to episode five. The transcript for episode four is in progress and should be up soon.
A note and content warning for today’s episode; this episode returns to the Blaire and Setarra subplot, which in this episode includes a lot of Setarra being a horrible, emotionally abusive person.
## Setarra first appears at [00:47:00]
This plot is interwoven throughout the whole episode, which means I can’t give you a timestamp area to skip through. For those of you who need to skip the episode entirely, there is a text summary of the episode on the website so you can skip this one without missing out on the plot. The summary is in the episode post on our website: magpiespodcast.net/. I will include a direct link to that page in the show notes.
Next, Kim is going to tell us about this month’s featured charity.
Kim: McLean Hospital is a psychiatric hospital in Massachusetts that is committed to helping adults, adolescents and their families struggling with mental illness and addiction. And, on a personal note, it was their inpatient program that I attended when I was in crisis back in the fall of 2017. The people on the staff at McLean are so incredibly compassionate and respectful of everyone who comes through their doors, and I feel so lucky that I was able to receive their quality care. If you’d like to donate, visit them at: givemclean.partners.org.
Rhi: For our American listeners, please continue to visit 5calls.org and contact your representatives. While the 2020 presidential election campaign has already kicked off, there are still plenty of issues that need attention here and now.
Now then, let’s get started. Shall we?
## Story continues [00:02:47]
It’s been about a week and a half since your last score, when you broke into the old Umbra Hunters’ base and the railyards and obtained some blackmail information. You sent a note to Chief Inspector Severin informing him what you would like his next steps to be in terms of dealing with Brogan, but nothing seems to have happened so far. Brogan is continuing to operate in the Centuralia Club as far as you know, there haven’t been any reports of his arrest. So the three of you have been starting to try to figure out what to do next.
Also, in this time, an old friend of yours Nessa Ericks, the artist who you helped out when she was being exploited for her talents by a nobleman, she contacted you a few days ago saying that she finally wants to take you up on the offer that you had made of helping her out with her paintings. So the three of you plus Nessa are sitting at your table in The Hound’s Paw and we kind of come in as Nessa is finishing up her story of why she’s reached out to you. And she says:
Rhi (as Nessa): Yeah, so, um, just with my old fence in Ironhook, it’s been really hard to move anything lately. I have a lot of paintings just kinda piling up in the apartment and, well, y’know I’ve got my mom and my brothers that need taking care of so I just, I remember that you had made that offer of being able to help out, so uh, I’m hoping it’s still good.
Josie (as Minx): Of course it is dear, we’d love to. In fact, one might say you may have inspired me a little bit, I’ve been moving some paintings of my own.
Rhi (as Nessa): Oh!
Josie (as Minx): Not making them, obviously, but—
Rhi (as Nessa): Oh.
Josie (as Minx): I’m not quite that talented.
[laughter]
Rhi (as Nessa): Okay, so, okay, that would be great. I mean, I could just pass you some of the pieces – most of what I’ve been doing lately, I mean, I’ve been doing some of my own, original pieces but those don’t always sell as well but for the other pieces I’ve been just sort of imitating some of the older artists styles so it’s not replicating a piece exactly, because that can get suspicious and caught out pretty easily—
Josie (as Minx): But it’s continuing the tradition.
Rhi (as Nessa): Yes, it’s… an homage that nobody knows is an homage.
[laughter]
Kim (as Blaire): Sneaky!
Rhi: So, Nessa’s like:
Rhi (as Nessa): Okay, um, what’s gonna be the best way for me to get you the pieces, then? Should I just bring them here, do you wanna come to me?
Josie (as Minx): Well, I have a small place not too far from here that I store some pieces in.
Rhi (as Nessa): Oh, okay.
Josie (as Minx): Bring them there, it should be sufficient.
Rhi (as Nessa): Perfect! This’ll help out a lot.
Josie: Also, I just totally ad hoc’d that because it made sense, but—
Rhi: Yeah, I think you have the Something on the Side special ability, it totally makes sense that that’s your side gig.
Josie: Yeah.
Rhi (as Nessa): Yeah, this’ll help out a lot and if I can bring in enough money, maybe ++ Kayden ++ will stop talking up with the Lampblacks.
Josie (as Minx): Oh yeah we can definitely not have that.
Rhi (as Nessa): Yeah, apparently their leader has been expanding a lot and recruiting people—
Kim (as Blaire): Oh honey, you don’t know the half of it.
Rhi (as Nessa): Uh oh.
Kim (as Blaire): Oh I’m sure Minx could tell you more.
Josie: Alright, we’re passing it off to me, alright.
Josie (as Minx): Alright, we’ll explain that a bit more later but suffice to say the Lampblacks can be cruel, we will try and take care of you.
Rhi (as Nessa): Well, I appreciate it.
Rhi: And I assume, Minx, you give her the address for your place.
Rhi (as Nessa): Well my shift at the shop starts in a couple hours so I need to get going, but thank you and I of course, you will get a cut of whatever the painting’s get, and um, yeah, I’m sure this will work out. You all seem a lot more reliable than my my last fence.
[Josie, as Minx, laughs]
Josie (as Minx): Glad to hear it, dearie.
Rhi: Right, and so I think she, gosh, I think she’s a hugger. She’s gonna go and—
[general awws]
Rhi: —give hugs to people. If people don’t want hugs…
Josie: Oh yeah, Minx definitely grabs a hug.
Rhi: Okay. Is Myra cool with a hug?
Minna: Yeah, she’s okay with a hug.
Kim (as Blaire): I want a hug!
Rhi: Yes, Blaire also gets a hug. She hugs everyone and then heads out. So, the three of you are left sitting at your table with your half-finished drinks and the newspaper that, I’m going to say Myra, had brought along and rather than it being open up to the front page it’s actually pretty deep into the pages, sort of in local news, or the police blotter section, is a very short article that reads:
“Chief Inspector Severin seeks information about a recent outburst of gang violence in the Old Rail Yard, in Coalridge. The violence culminated in an explosion that lead to significant property damage to the circle of settlements there. Inspector Severin asks that any tenets with evidence relating to this incident send a letter to the north Six Towers’ station house, so he may arrange a meeting.”
Kim (as Blaire): Busted…
Josie (as Minx): It seems he’s seeing an opportunity to get out of this, do you think… Well, what did we leave in our wake besides destruction?
Minna: Ojal saw me, didn’t she? Didn’t we lock eyes at one point?
Rhi: Ojal saw you.
Minna: So I think Myra’s going to tap her fingers on the table.
Minna (as Myra): Somebody recognised me at the job. I don’t know if she would—
Kim (as Blaire): Who?
Minna (as Myra): [sigh] Let’s just say an old friend.
Kim (as Blaire): Oh, okay, no I don’t want to ask, I just—
Minna: Because I don’t think you guys knew that I ran into Clave, did you?
[cross talk agreeing]
Minna: I think it was just Phin who knew.
[agreement]
Josie (as Minx): Would this old friend have reason to sell you out?
Minna (as Myra): Oh yeah, definitely.
Josie (as Minx): Oh yes, they tend to be like that.
Rhi: You all didn’t sign the letter. So the fact that this is just in the paper implies he is trying to reach out to whoever—
Minna: Oh he’s trying to reach out to us, okay.
[Minna laughs]
Rhi: Yeah, he is trying to reach out without knowing who he’s trying to address.
Josie: Oh. Wait, so does that mean we should go and meet him?
Minna (as Myra): Probably?
Rhi: You can’t really just walk into the station house, you being who you are, but he asks that whoever has done this, send a message to arrange a meeting.
Kim (as Blaire): Oh, okay, so we could send one of those, like ransom notes? So he doesn’t… But not a ransom note, you know what I mean. Like, we take—
Josie (as Minx): Cutting out letters?
Kim (as Blaire): Yeah! So that way they can’t trace our handwriting.
[laughter]
Josie (as Minx): That’ll be a fun scrapbooking project.
Kim (as Blaire): Yeah! I would think so and we send that to the station and we’ll meet at an undisclosed location far away from the station house.
Josie (as Minx): That sounds like a smart idea.
[ Kim (as Blaire) and Minna (as Myra) agree]
Josie (as Minx): And I get to have some fun with typography. That’s a field I haven’t delved into yet.
Kim (as Blaire): Yeah, so I have some special paper and glue, I’ll get that for you from my room but yeah that’s probably going to be a you project, Minx.
Josie (as Minx): I mean, I am somewhat glad but I do enjoy sharing these things, will you not be present?
Kim (as Blaire): No, no, I’ve got other stuff to do. I’ve got to take care of… a thing in a place.
Josie (as Minx): This wouldn’t happen to be a certain aquatic friend in a certain aquatic place?
Kim (as Blaire): No, no no, no no no. It’s a different thing.
Josie (as Minx): A different thing.
Kim (as Blaire): A different ghostie thing.
Minna (as Myra): Okay, well I hope it goes well for you.
Kim (as Blaire): Thanks!
Rhi: So Blaire, are you gonna head out?
Kim (as Blaire): Yep!
Kim: We’re probably just going to leave some coin on the table to pay her part of the tab for her drink and head out and leave The Hound’s Paw.
Rhi: Okay, are you going to go back to the Nest to grab your stuff and get the things out for Minx first?
Kim: Yeah, yeah. That’s a good point, it’s kept in my room it’s not in a common area so I have to get that for her first.
Rhi: Yeah, so you start heading back and as you are hurrying through the streets, we fade out and fade back in, picking up on a scene from last time. We see Nyryx who had caught up with Blaire and told her about the Reconciled, opening up a cellar door to lead Blaire down into the basement underneath and in. And Blaire, you follow her down the stairs. There’s a couple of electroplasmic lights on the wall. She gets to the door at the end of this little stairs and hallway. She knocks out a very specific beat, and there’s a pause and the door opens and there is an older woman standing there, looks like she’s probably in her fifties, heavy-set, very very good looking, she’s got dark hair with streaks of grey in it. She’s very fashionably dressed, really elegant gown. This is clearly somebody who has money and taste. She opens it up and looks down at Nyryx and is like:
Rhi (as woman): Ah, it is good to see you again child. Did you bring?
Rhi: And she kind of looks past Nyryx and sees Blaire and the warm smile that she had when she was talking to Nyryx fades a little and she’s like:
Rhi (as woman): Ah, good. You were able to find her.
Kim (as Blaire): Hi!
Rhi (as woman): Blaire Culhane?
Kim (as Blaire): Mm-hmm.
Kim: She holds out a hand to shake.
Rhi: The woman shakes your hand, says:
Rhi (as Woman): You may call me Lady Karina. We have, taken some interest in you work and would like to speak with you.
Rhi: She steps back into this room, Nyryx kind of holds the door and gestures for you to go in.
Kim: Okay. I follow.
Rhi: So the little basement hallway was kind of dark and narrow and the bulbs were sort of those bare bulbs, hanging, it looked a little creepy. Inside this room is really, really nice. There’s polished hardwood floors, a couple rugs, some really finely crafted stained glass sconces on the wall, so that the light in here has a sort of reddish-gold tint to it.
Kim: Pretty!
Rhi: There’s a couple paintings on the wall, there’s some very nice furniture. It looks like you went from a creepy basement hall to a nobility’s lounge, basically.
Kim: Dope.
Rhi: In addition to you and Nyryx, there are five people here. All of them are older than you, the youngest is probably in their mid-thirties.
Kim: Most people are older than me.
Rhi: All of them are dressed very nicely. A few of them are in just fine clothing like what nobility would wear. One is in the uniform of the Imperial military.
Kim: What? Whoa. Whoa, what?
Rhi: I’m going to guess that Blaire, you’re probably not familiar enough with the ranks of the military to be able to recognise on sight?
Kim: No.
Rhi: But you know that more bars means higher rank, and this guy has a few.
Kim: Oh boy. I am brushing shoulders with some people. Yikes.
[Rhi laughs]
Kim: Okay so I guess I am going in.
Rhi: Lady Karina looks you up and down and is like:
Rhi (as Lady Karina): You are much younger than we had anticipated for the amount of trouble that you’ve caused.
Kim (as Blaire): What age were you anticipating?
Rhi (as Lady Karina): Well, I’m not really sure. Truth be told, I’ve started to have a little bit of difficulty distinguishing the ages of the living, but I can tell you are quite young.
Kim (as Blaire): 19, yeah.
Rhi: The guy in the military uniform kind of chokes a little bit. I think you just hear:
Rhi (as military man): She’s a child!
Rhi: And then the person that is standing next to him is like:
Rhi (as voice): She’s clearly very capable, just see where this goes.
Kim: Just let the teens run the world, jeez.
[Rhi laughs]
Minna: I hate to break it to you, but you’re the only teenager.
Kim: Shhhhh!
[Rhi laughs]
Rhi: Yeah. Everybody else is in their twenties.
Kim: Shhhhh!
Rhi: Blaire is a baby.
Kim: I am quite the bab. Anyway.
Rhi: So Lady Karina gestures at one of the chairs, and is like:
Rhi (as Lady Karina): Please, have a seat.
Kim (as Blaire): Mm-hmm.
Kim: And she’s gonna take a seat.
Rhi: Some of them sit down. The military guy remains standing. Karina glances past you to Nyryx for a moment and then looks back:
Rhi (as Lady Karina): Did Nyryx tell you much of what our group does? What our group is?
Kim (as Blaire): Not so much what it doesn, but a little bit about what you are. I know that, well, you’re the Reconciled! You’re spirits who have passed on and have retained some of your humanity, which is really great.
Rhi (as Lady Karina): That is true, and yes, we consider ourselves to be very fortunate that we have retained ourselves and our minds. What we do is a bit more complicated and we will get into that with your assistance, I hope, in the future but, as you can imagine, our group is a rather fragile one. If anyone were to discover our existence and our identities, the Spirit Wardens would crush us as best they could.
Kim (as Blaire): I know. Yeah, it’s scary.
Rhi (as Lady Karina): I’m pleased that you understand. However, before we can fully involve you in our work, we need to know that you are trustworthy.
Kim (as Blaire): Okay.
Rhi (as Lady Karina): You have shown an open-mindedness for spirits.
Kim (as Blaire): Thank you!
Rhi (as Lady Karina): We fear, perhaps, a bit too open-minded.
Kim (as Blaire): What do you mean?
Rhi (as Lady Karina): The spirits that roam Duskwall, most of them are not like us. You know this.
Kim (as Blaire): Yes, I’ve dealt with them.
Rhi (as Lady Karina): Yes. We are aware of your dealings with them and that is the cause for our concern.
Rhi: The military guy kind of folds his arms and huffs a little bit.
Kim (as Blaire): But, why?
Rhi (as Lady Karina): Feral spirits are dangerous. They prey upon anything with life essence, and that can at times include us and any among the living that we may have concerns for. You have demonstrated a rather troubling habit of letting these feral spirits go free.
Kim (as Blaire): Into the Deathlands!
Rhi (as Lady Karina): And into the city.
Kim (as Blaire): I- I try not to, most of the time, I try to let them outside.
Rhi (as Lady Karina): We know. And we appreciate this. However, there have been several incidents that we have heard of; a spirit running off with a cultist’s body, a group of spirits lead by one that bears a sword, some others. But most concerning to us are the spirits that escaped from the incident at the Docks a few months ago.
Kim (as Blaire): They – a lot of them didn’t want to go into the Deadlands.
Rhi (as Lady Karina): Well, with the sheer number that were there, it would have been difficult for any one person to take them all anyway.
Kim (as Blaire): Well, not all at once, no, but given the chance I could have done it!
Rhi (as Lady Karina): Well… you’re going to have a chance to rectify, at least, some of this. Many of the ghosts that were involved in the outbreak at the Docks have escaped, some have been dealt with by the Spirit Wardens, some we have lost track of. We have recently learnt that a number of them have remained at the docks, the site of their death. And when a large number of spirits congregated together like that, fixated on the same point of anger and vengeance, a truly terrible thing begins to happen. Are you familiar with a Harvester, Blaire?
Kim (as Blaire): Yes, I’ve… I’ve seen one.
Rhi: She actually looks a little surprised at that.
[Josie and Kim laugh]
Rhi (as Lady Karina): I see. Well, then you understand the threat that they pose.
Kim (as Blaire): Yes.
Rhi (as Lady Karina): We have reason to believe that this congregation of spirits under the Docks is beginning to form into a Harvester.
Kim (as Blaire): Really?
Rhi (as Lady Karina): Yes. It is fortunately not a fast process, but it has also been two months since those spirits passed on. It has progressed somewhat. It is not a full Harvester yet. There are still individual spirits that can be dealt with. And that is what we need you to do. You need to seek out this congregation, destroy or capture the spirits and any that are captured, return to us.
Kim (as Blaire): If I return them to you, do you think you could help them?
Rhi (as Lady Karina): They will be taken care of.
Kim (as Blaire): What does that mean? By your terms. Because, I’m sorry, but I’m not going to destroy them. If there’s a way we can help them—
Rhi (as Lady Karina): There isn’t, Blaire. You either retain your mind or you don’t.
Kim (as Blaire): Okay, so…
Rhi (as Lady Karina): If you would prefer to take the risk of taking them to the Deathlands, you may do so. But we will need confirmation you have done so. We need to know that this problem has been dealt with. If you do this then you will have shown responsibility and trustworthiness and we can begin to share with you the work that we do protecting other spirits like ourselves.
Kim (as Blaire): Okay. Okay, I can do that.
Rhi (as Lady Karina): Good.
Rhi: And I think at this point she kind of glances behind you again and Nyryx puts her hand on your shoulder. Karina says:
Rhi (as Lady Karina): I wish you the best of luck and hopefully we will see you back here soon.
Kim (as Blaire): Yes, likewise.
Rhi: Nyryx kind of escorts you out.
Kim (as Blaire): That could have gone a little better.
Rhi (as Nyryx): Probably not, actually.
Kim (as Blaire): You don’t think so?
Rhi (as Nyryx): Well, they’re… not the most… like you said, you understand why they have to keep it a secret, they’re not the most trusting or welcoming group.
Kim (as Blaire): No, absolutely.
Rhi (as Nyryx): It took me a while to even find out about them, much less to get them to trust me at all.
Kim (as Blaire): I just feel bad about it. I, like, started all this with the Docks and the Harvester growing there, and…
Rhi (as Nyryx): Well…
Kim (as Blaire): Do you think they would have destroyed them, if I brought them to them?
Rhi (as Nyryx): I don’t know.
Kim (as Blaire): Well, gosh, I don’t know. Because, like… If it really is going to become a Harvester and nothing is going to stop that, is it better to destroy it? Because letting it out into the Deathlands won’t stop that from keeping it growing?
Rhi (as Nyryx): Well… I don’t know. It kind of depends on- maybe if you can split it up?
Kim (as Blaire): That’s what I’ve been thinking. But I don’t know how to do that, I was hoping they would know.
Rhi (as Nyryx): I think maybe that’s part of the test? I don’t really, I mean, aside from—
Rhi: Nyryx kind of gestures at herself.
Rhi (as Nyryx): —my, uh, roomate?
[Kim, as Blaire, laughs]
Rhi (as Nyryx): I don’t really know a lot about spirits. And as long as she’s with me, I don’t really have to. You can really only hold one at a time as person.
Kim (as Blaire): Yeah, no, I know that.
Rhi (as Nyryx): Anyway, I need to head back.
Kim (as Blaire): Yeah, you go do your thing.
Rhi (as Nyryx): Uh, good luck and, um—
Kim (as Blaire): Thanks.
Rhi (as Nyryx): If there’s anything that I can help with, let me know?
Kim (as Blaire): Yeah, yeah, but I’ll try not to bother you.
[Rhi, as Nyryx, chuckles]
Rhi (as Nyryx): Alright. Um, I’ll see you around, Blaire.
Kim (as Blaire): Yeah. Thanks Nyryx.
Rhi: The scene fades back on Blaire, leaving the Nest with a pack full of supplies and books and heads further up into Six Towers.
Rhi: Back to Minx and Myra, who were left at the Hound’s Paw. What did the two of you get up to?
Josie: I’m going scrapbooking!
[laughter]
Rhi: So Minx will craft a letter. What does your response say?
Josie: I’m going to say, basically in the most sarcastic way possible, that we have ‘evidence’, I would like to meet… ooh…
Minna: I’m somewhere on the edge of between Six Towers and Nightmarket?
Josie: Sure, that way if shit goes to hell we can run either direction!
Rhi: You probably, knowing that this is not just an inspector but a fairly highly-ranked one, you probably don’t want to actually meet in a public place where any of you might be recognised. There’s probably an abandoned dock, down in the canals, as it used to be kind of a gondola stopping point that’s closed now.
Josie & Minna: Mm-hmm.
Rhi: How does that sound for a meeting spot?
Josie: That sounds good. Also, I don’t know if Myra’s going to take these measures, but Minx is gonna be sure to wear like a veil, like a fashionable veil.
Rhi: Ooh.
Minna: Ooh yeah, what are we doing for disguises?
Josie: You know what, a veil and a fan.
[Rhi and Minna laugh and approve]
Josie: So she can go:
[Josie imitates the sound of opening a fan to hide her face]
Rhi: Minx is going all out.
Minna: I was just wondering if there’s like any groups in the area that do do veils or face coverings? Maybe The Weeping Lady? I don’t know.
Rhi: And yeah, we can say that some followers of The Weeping Lady have more face-concealing robes and veils.
Minna: Yeah, so I think Myra’s going to do that.
Rhi: Okay, so the two of you, at the time that you had arranged for, head down there. I imagine the two of you get there pretty early? Make sure you’re the first ones there?
Minna & Josie: Mm-hmm.
Rhi: So, about ten minutes before the appointed time, you hear boots clicking on the stairs and the man that you saw in that photograph comes down the stairs. He’s, like I said, an Akorosian man, pale skin, dark hair, big moustache, Inspector’s uniform – which is similar to the Bluecoats’ uniform, but a little more brass detailing on it. The Inspector’s uniform always just look cleaner, they’re specifically tailored to the person wearing it, the Bluecoats just get whatever. And he comes down the stairs, looks at the two of you, and he raises an eyebrow and is like:
Rhi (as Chief Inspector Severin): Well, I suppose I can’t fault you for paranoia.
[Josie, as Minx, laughs]
Josie (as Minx): It’s a matter of course in our trade, you understand.
Rhi (as Chief Inspector Severin): Yeah, my new… blackmailers, I assume?
Josie (as Minx): Quite. Although, that is a rather crass word for it.
Rhi (as Chief Inspector Severin): Well. Accurate.
Rhi: So he folds his arms and is like:
Rhi (as Chief Inspector Severin): So, you want me to take down Brogan, yes?
Josie (as Minx): Quite. Is there some obstacle to this?
Rhi (as Chief Inspector Severin): Yes, or I would have done it already. That scum has been holding me hostage for years. The problem is the rest of his little group of friends. He and that club of his bankrolls the whole operation- well, not the whole operation, from what I understand, they’re all pretty rich, but he’s the main moneylender.
Josie (as Minx): Quite.
Rhi (as Chief Inspector Severin): So, I arrest him, bring him up on charges, and those charges get dismissed. And I probably lose my job which I would rather not have happen I’ve actually been doing some good with this body.
Josie (as Minx): Apologies, I wasn’t entirely certain who we were speaking to.
[Rhi, as Severin, laughs]
Rhi (as Chief Inspector Severin): Oh no, Gilbert has not been in charge here for a good long while, not since he killed me.
Josie (as Minx): Ah.
Rhi (as the spirit inside Chief Inspector Severin): He and his squad broke into my home looking for a stash of drugs I didn’t have—
Josie (as Minx): I do believe you. I don’t think we are here for your unlife story.
Rhi (as the spirit): Alright, fair enough. In any case, outside of the Brogan thing, I feel like I’ve been doing pretty good, better than he would have done, and I would like to keep my position.
Josie (as Minx): We would not deign to have you lose it, but also you are certain that if he is taken into custody, they will not simply abandon the weakest of the herd?
Rhi (as the spirit): No, not if they have a reason to protect him still, and right now his money is buying him an awful lot of protection.
Josie (as Minx): Indeed.
Minna (as Myra): Even if they find out he sold out his old mates?
Rhi (as the spirit): Ehh, I’m pretty sure they already know about that. But, if you could come up with something to show that a devilfish doesn’t change its spots, if you had some sort of evidence – real or not – demonstrating that he has once again crossed his teammates—
Minna (as Myra): Do you have anything in his handwriting?
Rhi (as the spirit): I might. I’ll have to dig back through my papers. Your biggest concern here is Lady Drake. She’s a magistrate and a member of the circle. If you want him to actually get convicted, you’re going to have to make sure that she lets that happen. Otherwise, I arrest him, I charge him, his case ends up in her docket, she dismisses the charges.
Rhi: Actually, you recognise that name. It was the name mentioned by the guards at Ironhook. She is the one that tipped them off about the fact that you all were coming to break out Phin.
Minna (as Myra): She’s a problem.
Josie (as Minx): Though people in her position do not take kindly to a personal betrayal.
Rhi (as the spirit): No. Based on, at least what Brogan said, he complained about her a little bit. I get the feeling that they don’t like each other very much.
Josie (as Minx): Well, then it seems like the situation is perhaps tailor-made then.
Rhi (as the spirit): Well you are all going to have to come up with some reason for them to turn on him.
Josie (as Minx): Yes, well, that should not be too difficult to concoct, although it will expend resources that will need compensation.
Rhi: He raises an eyebrow again and is like:
Rhi (as the spirit): Right, well you clear the way for the arrest and then we’ll talk.
Rhi: He narrows his eyes at the two of you for a second.
Josie (as Minx): I do believe that will be all for this evening. Thank you for your time.
Rhi: For a second the two of you see sort of a blueish glint in his eyes, it’s the same sort of look that people generally get when they’re looking into the ghost field.
Minna: Mm, don’t like that.
Rhi: And he sort of grins, gives you a half bow and is like:
Rhi (as the spirit): Certainly. Tell the other Magpies I said hello.
Rhi: And then he leaves.
Minna (as Myra): Better hope this works out for us.
Josie (as Minx): It will. Also, sorry if I was somewhat taking charge there, we’re blackmailing him, he can’t dictate terms to us.
Minna (as Myra): No, I just… uh, I’m not at my best round his type.
Josie (as Minx): Me either, I must admit. Well spirits of any sort, I feel ill at ease.
Minna (as Myra): I can do spirits, but it’s just not right that – acting like it’s his body? No.
Josie (as Minx): That is truly despicable, and I’m sure that, given the situation, our more spiritually inclined friend might be able to deal with that, after the task is done.
Rhi: Blaire is doing the last bit of her ghostly research – where would you go to do this?
Kim: That’s a good question. Um, is there a library I’m not banned from?
[laughter]
Kim: Because I know I can’t go to Charterhall.
[laughter continues]
Minna: Wait, I can go to Charterhall if you can’t.
Kim: Yeah. Yeah, you can go to my not-so alma mater and I can’t.
Minna: I definitely have access to Morlan Hall’s library.
Kim: Anyway, is there a library I could go to that’s not illegal for me?
[Rhi sighs]
Kim: Is that a no?
Rhi: Well, so, I mean, this is not a setting that has public libraries.
Kim: Right.
Rhi: They’re not that interested in the education of the masses.
Kim: I remember that now. Yeah.
Minna: Maybe you have like a friend who’s a bookseller?
Rhi: Yeah, who are some of your contacts?
Kim: I’m not going to talk to Flint, so that leaves Scurlock, which I don’t think is—
[assorted protests against Scurlock]
Rhi: This Quellyn, a witch, is someone we’ve never—
Kim: I was just going to bring that up. Yeah, who is this Quellyn?
Rhi: I don’t know, you tell me!
Kim: Uh.
Rhi: She can be somebody with books.
Kim: Book witch! Okay.
[laughter]
Kim: And, yeah, she’s basically like a hermit, she lives alone in her house surrounded by a bunch of books.
Rhi: She probably lives in Six Towers.
Kim: Oh. Yeah, yeah.
Rhi: I like the idea that she just lives in this big, decrepit, crumbling mansion that she’s just filled with books and other arcane stuff.
Kim: Mm-hmm.
Rhi: So you, I think you’ve probably been doing some research with Quellyn. So you head up to her mansion, and knock on the door.
Kim (as Blaire): Quellyn?
Rhi: There’s a long pause.
Kim (as Blaire): Quellyn?
Rhi: It’s like a couple minutes.
Kim (as Blaire): Quellyn, are you home?
Rhi: Door creaks open a little bit, and the you see her peering out and she opens it up and is like:
Rhi (as Quellyn): You’re back.
Kim (as Blaire): Hi!
Rhi (as Quellyn): You need the books again?
Kim (as Blaire): Yes please.
Rhi (as Quellyn): Ugh, this better be as important as you say it is.
Kim (as Blaire): Yeah, no, it is.
Rhi: She lets you in, and is like:
Rhi (as Quellyn): You know where all the spirit books are, I’m working on something in the kitchen.
Rhi: And as you step inside, there’s a kinda weird smell in the air, it’s kind of like something floral but also like really, really stinky cheese.
Kim: Oh.
Rhi: Yeah. She’s like:
Rhi (as Quellyn): Help yourself. Don’t take anything.
Kim (as Blaire): Food-wise? Or book-wise?
Rhi (as Quellyn): Both.
Kim (as Blaire): Oh, okay! I’ll just take notes.
Rhi (as Quellyn): Notes are fine.
Rhi: She wanders off down the hall. This is just kind of how she is, she lets you look at her books but she’s not really social.
Kim: Fair.
Rhi: She’s very distracted, she’s working on some kind of potion.
Kim (as Blaire): Good luck with your potion!
Rhi (as Quellyn): I’ll need it!
[Kim and Rhi laugh]
Rhi: Alright, so go ahead and give me a roll for your gathering info here, and this will be what you have learned in total.
Kim: Okay. I would like to roll Study.
Rhi: Yeah.
Kim: Okay, so my highest was a 4?
Rhi: Okay. So you get a standard amount of information. So you are able to find a tome in here – you’ve been working through it for the last few visits – that has a lot of theories about how Harvesters work, how they are formed, it’s actually written by a Spirit Warden, which you’re a little…
Kim: Mhmm, information could be biased but…
Rhi: Yeah. They are kind of the leading researchers into the occult. They are just looking at it in terms of how to destroy it.
Kim: Yeah, which is fucked.
Rhi: But it does have, because its looking at how to destroy it, it does talk about how to interrupt the formation of a Harvester.
Kim: Oh. Okay.
Rhi: It says that there’s a few ways you can do it, one that has had some success is if you can draw any of the ghosts off with something that is more enticing to them than this sort of ball of rage that they’ve become. It also says that, yeah, you can use electroplasmic power, so like your lightening hooks. That would dissipate the ghosts but it would probably also destroy some of them.
Kim: Right.
Rhi: And… I’m trying to think if there would be anything… Do you have any ideas for what a third option could be?
Kim: Wait, let me think about that for a second. I feel like some kind of incantation or ritual would be too simplistic or accessible. Maybe if you got a hold of maybe some kind of artifact that splits harvesters apart and individualises them? You know what I mean?
Rhi: Maybe it’s… Let me pitch this, maybe it’s not an artifact, maybe it’s a tool that the Spirit Wardens use, so it’s like a electroplasmic disrupter, is what they call it.
Kim: Yeah. And the other thing, them being Spirit Wardens, it’s probably more destructive than it is what I was picturing, do you know what I mean?
Rhi: I think that this thing captures the spirits.
Kim: Oh. Okay.
Rhi: I’m gonna say.
Kim: So, electroplasmic disruptor.
Rhi: Yeah. Is the other option.
Kim: So I guess Blaire just needs to brainstorm about what she can do to entice individual spirits.
Rhi: Well, you’ve got the electroplasm to feed them.
Kim: Right, but she – you’re right, but she’s trying to think of something a little bit more high-baller than that.
Rhi: Yeah. So Blaire is continuing to do her research on what she could potentially use to lure these spirits out to seperate, Minx and Myra, what are you two up to?
Josie: Concocting a scheme.
[Rhi laughs]
Minna: I think we’re going to see if we can get paper from Harvale, from our new, not friend…
Rhi: Contact?
Minna: Our new contact.
Josie: Yeah.
Rhi: Right, right, you wanted some stuff with Harvale’s handwriting on it. Let’s call that a Consort roll?
Minna: I rolled a 3!
[Sympathetic sounds from Josie and Rhi]
Minna: I rolled two 3s, and a 1!
Rhi: Oof!
Minna: The dice hate me!
Rhi: You get a limited amount of information. I think that you arranged for sort of a dead-drop, where he leaves these papers. And he has one and a half pages of handwriting. One is a short-ish letter, just giving him some instructions about ‘Hey, leave this area alone, don’t bother these people, they’re with me’ and the other is the top half of another letter, it looks like it gt ripped in half at some point and he was able to find the top half. So you have some handwriting sample, but its not a ton.
Minna: But I can use them, sort of, to try and do some kind of roll?
Rhi: So I think while you’re doing that, Minx, what kind of info are you looking to gather?
Josie: I guess I’m just want to know more about this Lady Drake person.
Rhi: Okay. Just going to try and do your usual schmoozing with the upper classes?
Josie: Yeah.
Rhi: Okay.
Josie: I got a 5.
Rhi: Okay. What you kind of new about her going in: She’s a magistrate, she oversees trials of criminals, or accused criminals, in Duskwall. She’s known for being very ruthless. And, like most magistrates, you verdict depends more on your social standing and the size of your bank account than any actual evidence.
Josie: Right.
Rhi: That’s not particularly unique to her. That’s how most magistrates operate in the city. She is also known for – she is very intelligent, she is nobility – but she’s not very known for socialising. The people you talk to say she tends not to go to parties. Which a lot of them say is for the best, because when she does show up, she’s kind of a killjoy. Very serious, tends to be very brisk and blunt in her speech. The one thing you do get is that she apparently is a fairly active member of The Church of the Ecstasy of the Flesh.
Josie: Hm. Are there any famous or infamous cases she’s judged? I don’t know, I kind of just want intrigue that we can put into whatever note we’re doing.
Rhi: She’s the one who oversaw the trial of the leadership of The Umbra Hunters.
[Minna makes a noise of interest]
Rhi: So, she is the one that put them away.
Josie: Right. And Brogan was the former leader but he sold them out to her?
Rhi: Well, he sold them out, she ended up being in charge of their trial, she and Brogan are now in the super-secret rich people who want power club…
Josie: Right. What happened to The Umbra Hunters? What was their sentence?
Rhi: They were sent to Ironhook and they all were killed in prison.
[Minna exclaims]
Rhi: Yeah, not all at once but over the course of a couple of years.
Josie: See, the thing is he sold them out but I almost wonder if there was like a vengeance narrative we could spin here, from Brogan? Like, said they’d get put away, not all dead, that sort of thing.
[Rhi exclaims]
Rhi: Ooh! Ooh, that’s a good angle!
[Josie laughs]
Josie: And just spin it like he’s working against her because he’s bitter about that?
Rhi: Yeah, you could, you could definitely take that approach. I like that.
Josie: Now it will just be a matter of how to convey that through the resources we have.
Rhi: I mean, yeah, if you’ve got… oh. Oh, I have an idea.
Minna & Kim: Oh no.
Josie: Uh-huh?
Rhi: Okay, so. Your plan at one point was to set it up as though he had hired all of you to kill Avrathi, right? That was what you were going to frame him for?
[Minna and Josie agree]
Rhi: You run with that, and the letters he’s writing to you now are he’s trying to get you to kill Drake. Out of vengeance.
Minna: She’s next.
Rhi: Yeah, that she’s next on his list. He is trying to cull the circle down to the people that he wants to be in it.
Josie: Oh, that’s so good. And Minx can totally compose this letter because this is dramatic and over-the-top and—
[Laughter]
Minna: She’s just dictating to Myra, dramatically pacing around the kitchen of The Nest.
Josie: Like, you have to paraphrase it down a bit because Minx basically improvs a play in front of you.
[More laughter]
Minna: Yes!
Rhi: I love it!
Josie: Basically ends with her sticking a knife into her own chest and lying down as if dead.
Rhi: Whoa, whoa.
Josie: No, it’s like, she’s playing all the parts right? So she’s playing someone getting stabbed. She has to pretend.
Minna: Minx is performing a one-woman play—
Rhi: She’s so talented.
Josie: Thank you!
Rhi: Of Brogan’s plan that doesn’t actually exist.
Minna: I love her.
Rhi: Okay, yeah.
Josie: Should I maybe roll something about it?
Rhi: Well, I think you have the information, and the idea for what the approach is here, now you guys just have to forge the evidence.
Josie: Right. How much study do you have, Myra?
Minna: I have 2 Study. And I could push myself for 3.
Josie: That’s not bad. And I can lend you aid with my dramatic performance.
Rhi: So that’s going to get you up to like 4, right?
Minna: Yep, that’s going to get me up to 4.
Rhi: Okay.
Minna: That is a 5!
Rhi: Okay. Solid.
Josie: Sweet!
Rhi: I think we will come back to the results of that. So while the two of you are working on this, we cut up to Blaire who is at The Docks.
Kim: Okay.
Rhi: And you were told that this ghost problem was happening under The Docks, kind of in the canals and catacombs again. And they weren’t able to give you like a pinpoint location because it’s moving around but they gave you a general area.
Kim: And under The Docks, right?
Rhi: Yeah. But specifically it seems to be, somewhat unsurprisingly, hanging out in the area near Ink Row. This group of ghosts is staying close to the place where all of them died. You make your way down into the canals. As you’re walking you hear kind of a weird splashing sound behind you.
Kim: Blaire’s going to turn around and take a look to see what might have causes the sound. Do I need to roll anything to figure than out?
Rhi: No, you turn and hold up your lantern and there’s nothing there.
Kim: Huh. I’m going to put on my spirit mask and see if there’s anything out there.
Rhi: Okay.
Kim: What does it look like in the ghost field?
Rhi: I mean, there’s kind of your normal spirits hanging out in the canals, as they do.
Kim: Okay, so nothing out of the ordinary?
Rhi: Yeah they’re not really – there’s just canal ghosts that the gondoliers talk to, it’s just a normal feature of the city.
Kim: Right. I’m looking for something abnormal, that may have causes the sound.
Rhi: Yeah, you don’t see anything.
Kim: Hm. Blaire’s going to take her mask off, kind of flip it over to rest on top of her head, and kind of shrug to herself. She doesn’t know what could have caused that noise. And I think she’s going to turn back around and go—
## Setarra enters [00:47:00]
Rhi: And as soon as you turn back around, you find yourself almost nose-to-nose with Setarra.
[Kim, as Blaire, reacts with surprise and distaste]
Rhi: Who’s like six inches in front of you.
Kim (as Blaire): Gee, Setarra, you scared me.
Rhi (as Setarra): Pay more attention.
Kim (as Blaire): Okay, sorry. I didn’t know it was you.
Rhi (as Setarra): What are you doing down here?
Kim (as Blaire): I… am trying to fix something.
Rhi: She just kind of gives you an expectant look.
Kim (as Blaire): Trying to fix something that I caused. You know that ghost thing we did a couple of months ago that you helped out with?
Rhi (as Setarra): Ah, yes. Rescuing you and your friends from getting involved in something you couldn’t handle.
Kim (as Blaire): Yeah, well, all those ghosts are starting to become a Harvester and we’re trying to prevent that from happening.
Rhi (as Setarra): Seems like a waste of our time.
Kim (as Blaire): I – I didn’t know this was a ‘we’ project, did you, were you planning on helping with this or no?
Rhi (as Setarra): It is a ‘we’ project because it distracting from the things you should be focusing on.
Kim (as Blaire): Oh, well this will take really quick, you know I’ve almost got it figured out, you know, I’ll, you know, take care of it and, you know whatever you’ve got planned for us next I can hop right on that, I swear.
Rhi (as Setarra): Ugh. We will see. Lead on. I suppose that if I don’t take the time to make sure that you do this properly, nothing will ever get done.
Kim (as Blaire): Oh, okay. Will, I take it you haven’t seen a Harvester around here recently?
Rhi (as Setarra): I tend not to play much attention to the going-ons of the city, most of them are beneath me.
Kim (as Blaire): Fair. I mean you’re a very busy demon. So, I mean all that I was told was that they were near The Docks so I don’t know, I was probably going to hop into a canoe and like go around—
Rhi: She just holds up a hand and her eyes kind of go starry. And they go from just looking like a pitch black to looking like The Void Sea, with those pinpricks of light in it. And the water in the canal beside you ripples and then it’s sort of this ripple effect that kind of moves down the water and when it gets to a branch intersection, it splits out and you can hear the distant sound of water and after a few moments she lowers her hand, her eyes go back to normal and she just goes:
Rhi (as Setarra): Follow me.
Rhi: And strides off.
Kim (as Blaire): Great, thanks.
Rhi (as Setarra): As I said, if I want this to be done quickly and properly—
Kim (as Blaire): Yes.
Rhi (as Setarra): Apparently I’ll have to do it myself so you can get back to work.
Kim (as Blaire): Well…
Kim: She’s going to step in front of Setarra for a hot minute.
Kim (as Blaire): That’s the thing. I kind of have to be the one that does this. You can help, I would very much appreciate your help, but this is kind of a thing I need to do to prove myself.
Rhi (as Setarra): To who?
Kim (as Blaire): To… some people who want my help.
Rhi (as Setarra): If they want your help, why do you need to prove yourself?
Kim (as Blaire): They don’t trust very easily. They want to make sure, you know, I can do a job right.
Rhi (as Setarra): So it’s a test.
Kim (as Blaire): Yeah.
Rhi (as Setarra): Well. Then I suppose we’ll see how well you do.
Rhi: And then she kind of gestures for you to walk forward.
Kim (as Blaire): Okay. Thanks.
Kim: And Blaire is going to start leading the way.
## End of Setarra’s first appearance [00:50:34]
Rhi: Let’s jump back to Minx and Myra. Myra has finished drafting the letters. How far back are you doing this, how many letters are you doing?
Josie: I think we need to do at least one from before the assassination.
Rhi: Okay.
Minna: Yeah. I think we need to do some that we’re going to plant at Harvale’s as well.
Rhi: Yeah. So you’re basically write both halves of this conversation between the two of you.
Josie: Right.
[She laughs]
Rhi: And so, since you got a 5, Myra writes these letters, kind of back and forth between herself and Brogan. The ones from Brogan, you do a pretty good job with his handwriting. But it’s not an exact match. You’re working off such a small sample of his stuff that you just for some words and things you just have to guess at how he would write them. So it’s pretty good. But it’s not flawless.
Minna: That’s fair.
Rhi: So, you’ve got these letters.
Josie: And now we have to be able to put them in Brogan’s place, and get some to her?
Rhi: Yeah, somehow you have to get this information in front of Lady Drake.
Minna: What if we set up, like a fake hideout, and send her a tip?
Rhi: Oh, so like… Yeah because people still don’t know where your lair is.
Minna: Just like an office or something.
Rhi: Okay, yeah. And then somehow find a way to tip her off.
[Josie and Minna agree]
Minna: I’m sure we could slip a note or something. We could send a note through an anonymous messenger. I would like to try and plant letters in Harvale’s place before we do that.
Rhi: Okay.
Minna: So that when she gets our letters, she can then be like, okay let me check Harvale’s place.
Rhi: Yeah. So that is going to be breaking into his home, probably.
Minna: Yeah.
Josie: Right. Alright, well it’s going to be risky because he is a rich motherfucker and probably has a bunch of security.
Rhi: Yes.
Josie: But I am down for going for a break-in. How are we doing it, are we playing it out like an actual score or…?
Rhi: I think it will be kind of a truncated score. Like I’m not going to go through every single nitty gritty detail. I will do an engagement roll though.
Josie: Okay.
Rhi: I think with the various components at play, it will just be a one die engagement roll. Which is a 6! I think that you two arrive at his house up in Brightstone, at the end of a guardshift, it’s not like right when the guards are changing but it’s like half an hour before so they are more tired and less aware. So why don’t the two of you give me some kind of roll for sneaking into the place.
Minna: What does a Devil’s Bargain look like?
Rhi: Brogan is not home but somebody else is.
Minna: I’ll take that.
Josie: Do we want to make it a group action?
Minna: Oh, yeah let’s do that.
Josie: I have 6 stress, how much do you have?
Minna: I only have 3 right now.
Josie: Okay. Can you lead then?
Minna: Yeah. And I have rolled a 6.
Josie: Nice! I rolled a 4.
Rhi: Okay.
Minna: Perfect.
Rhi: So nobody takes any stress and on a 6, yeah, I think that it’s just like the guard at the back door is just asleep.
[Josie laughs]
Rhi: It’s like three in the morning and she snuck back here and is like napping in a corner. Has her coat pulled up over her head.
Josie: Aww, nap time.
Rhi: Yeah, she’s really tired. It’s been a long day.
Josie: This is a nice change of pace.
Rhi: So yeah, you’re able to pop the lock, slip inside and then you just have to sneak somewhere to plant these things.
Josie: I feel like we shouldn’t do his office. Because that’s too obvious.
Minna: Slid into some books on the mantel or something.
Josie: Yeah. Yeah, that makes sense.
Rhi: Okay. So yeah, I think I need another roll for you sneaking to wherever you’re going to hide the books – or finding a suitable hiding place, you can roll either one.
Minna: Study?
Rhi: Sure.
Josie: Can I roll Survey instead? Because I actually have a dot in that?
Rhi: Yeah. You both can roll different things as you’re looking around. It’s just not a group action then.
Josie: I got a 5.
Rhi: Okay.
Minna: I got a 2.
Rhi: Okay. So Minx, what is the incredibly appropriate title of the book you find?
Josie: Oh God.
Rhi: On the bookshelf. I’ll let you think about that.
Josie: Shoot, now I now I know how you feel.
Rhi: Yeah. Think about the- because it’s Minx, and I feel like she would be like ‘oh this book, which contains a story about betrayal is perfect’.
Josie: How about something like Blood in the Water or something?
Minna and Rhi: Ooh.
Rhi: Yeah. I think it’s like a play.
Josie: A play about some mariner or leviathan hunter who gets wrapped up in this plot of vengeance among nobles and the like.
Rhi: Okay so yeah, Minx is just so proud of yourself.
[Josie, as Minx, makes an excited sound]
Josie: We’re doing like subterfuge and social intrigue and stuff. This is my jam!
Rhi: Myra, I think that you get distracted trying to look for other information? You’re just trying to find more details about what Brogan is up to, what he knows, anything you might have missed? You’re like, ‘well, I’m in his house, might as well’. You actually kind of leave Minx in the study and head into his office. You grab like a stack of papers, and are leaning against the desk. And you’re flipping through them, you see a letter with very familiar handwriting on it. It is handwriting that you have know since you were fairly young.
[Minna makes a worried noise]
Rhi: It is a letter from Salia and this startles you so badly that you straighten up from your lean on the desk and as you do so, your arm bumps into some kind of statue. That falls off the desk and hits the ground with a very loud crash.
Minna: God damn it.
Josie (whispering): You can’t run from your past.
[All laugh and exclaim]
Rhi: So. You have just made a lot of noise.
Minna: I put everything back where I found it. And run.
Rhi: Okay, yeah so you put the papers back, are you trying to clean up the shards of broken statue?
Minna: No, that shit’s done.
[All laugh]
Minna: There’s so many other explanations for that besides a break-in.
Rhi: Yeah. And I think as you’re running to go catch back up with Minx, you hear footsteps moving upstairs. So I need one last roll to see if you two make it out of here okay.
Josie: Okay. Is there any chance of it being a Skirmish role?
Rhi: Possibly. Give me your logic for it.
Josie: It’s like, I’m not trying to stealthily escape? Or anything, because we already made the noise. We’re just going for speed and dexterity.
[Rhi sighs]
Rhi: That’s still more Prowl than Skirmish. Skirmish is more fighting, like if—
Josie: Okay, but what if I spend 2 stress to use Rook’s Gambit? And use Skirmish instead?
Rhi: You can absolutely do that. What does that put you at for stress?
Josie: 8.
Rhi: Okay.
Josie: So I mean it’s not great but I don’t want to flub it right at the end here.
Rhi: No no no, that’s fair.
Minna: I rolled my Prowl and I got a 6.
Rhi: Nice.
Josie: I also got a 6!
Rhi: Alright, so the two of you just book it.
Josie: Just to add a bit more flavour to my Skirmish thing. Minx isn’t the one who hit statue over so she’s super proud of herself and is like doing the most dramatic motions she can while leaving.
[Rhi laughs]
Josie: And turns to look back and sweeps some loose fabric on her because she didn’t wear a full cape.
Minna: Minx is Tuxedo Mask right now.
[Everyone giggles]
Josie: My job here is done!
Minna and Josie: You didn’t do anything?
Rhi: And out the door she goes.
[More laughter]
Rhi: Yeah, and so as the two of you leave, you see a light turn on upstairs in a window but you slip away without incident. So you have planted your half of the letters in Brogan’s house. Well done.
Josie: Yay!
Rhi: So, we’re going to cut back over to Blaire. Setarra has been guiding her through the canals under the city and sort of, from the canals into the old catacombs. And, Blaire you know the underside of the city well enough that eventually you recognise that this is close to that smuggling tunnel that you all used to get into the Ink Row area in the first place.
Kim: Oh, okay.
Rhi: Eventually Setarra tells you to take a right and you turn. And it’s already kind of cool down here, under the city, you turn and step through this doorway and the temperature just plummets, you can see your breath. Setarra is just kind of standing behind you with her arms folded, just staring at you expectantly.
Kim: Okay, Blaire’s going to put on her spirit mask and should I roll Attune for this?
Rhi: Uh, if you’re just looking, no.
Kim: Oh yeah, no, I’m just looking.
Rhi: You remember – you looked at the Harvester in the ghost field. And you kind of remember what that looked like. This is not the same but you can definitely see the trajectory of where it’s getting to that point. You can still pick out individual ghosts. It’s like they’re orbiting something. It’s like there’s a black hole pulling them in. They’re not quite packed into it yet, but they’re all sort of orbiting around swirling in this limited space. So there’s about eight of them, all sort of in this big ghost mass. Swirling around, shrieking. A couple of them notice you, they look, but they don’t make any move towards you, they don’t seem to find you very interesting.
Rhi (as Setarra): Whatever you’re going to do, do it quickly.
Kim (as Blaire): Okay, I’ve got a couple things we’ve got to try. Hopefully the first few will work. Here goes.
Kim: Blaire is going to walk closer to the ghost mass and her first approach is going to try to talk down to it gently. It’s probably not going to work but I want to see—
Rhi: It’s Blaire.
Kim: Yeah, I want to see her be compassionate for a hot minute.
Rhi: This girl is breaking my heart!
[Everyone laughs]
Kim: I’m sorry!
Rhi: No, it’s very good, it’s really good, it’s just like, I mean, yeah… Modern AU Blaire would be trying to talk down a rabid wolf.
Kim: Yes! That’s absolutely true. Blaire’s going to step and little closer and say:
Kim (as Blaire): Hey, hey it’s okay, I’m here to help. What do you need?
Rhi: Uh, give me a roll.
Kim: Oh boy, it’s probably Consort, isn’t it?
Rhi: Mm-hmm.
Kim: I might push myself. I got a 6 for my highest.
Rhi: Seriously?
Kim: I rolled a 1 and a 6.
Rhi: Oh wow. Okay, so because it is eight ghosts I think you’re going to have been at reduced effect. So you’re not going to get all of them but there’s a couple that stop swirling and screaming. And there’s a boundary that they can’t move beyond by themselves. But two of them kind of peel off and float in front of you. There isn’t really a lot of identity left to them, they are very washed-out silhouettes but one of them cocks its head to the side:
Rhi (as a Harvester spirit): I remember you.
Kim (as Blaire): Yes!
Rhi (as a Harvester spirit): You promised us vengeance.
Kim (as Blaire): Yes, yes! A couple months ago. You remember it, at The Docks.
Rhi (as a Harvester spirit): Yes… We wanted to make them pay.
Kim (as Blaire): Yes, and you’ve done that. They’re gone now.
Rhi: The ghosts kind of nod and whatever this pole is, they seem to be resisting it. They’re still not able to move outside of this boundary, but the boundary seems to have loosened up a little bit. It’s like the gravitational pull isn’t as strong.
Kim (as Blaire): I’m here to help. I’m here to try to seperate as much of you as I can and set you free.
Rhi: It seems as though they have accepted what you have said and are letting go.
Kim: Yay! So I have two that I’ve officially broken off.
Rhi: Yeah… well, here, I’ll just do it as a clock.
Kim: Oh, Jesus, okay.
Rhi: Well, this is a good clock. When this clock fills in, you’ve been the pre-harvester.
Kim: Okay, I’m just predisposed to be nervous of clocks.
Rhi: I know, I knew you were going to react that way.
Kim: I hate clocks! I’m sorry.
Rhi: No, this is a good clock. This is a clock of Blaire succeeds.
Kim: Yay, I like this clock.
Rhi: And you are at 2 out of 8.
Kim: Awesome.
Rhi: On the clock of Blaire deals with this pre-Harvester.
Kim: Next thing I’m going to try is probably the electroplasm. She’s going to warn the two who have accepted:
Kim (as Blaire): I’m going to try and lure the rest of them. But I need the two of you not to get excited about what I’m going to do next, okay?
Rhi (as a Harvester spirit): We’ll try.
Kim (as Blaire): Thank you.
Kim: And she’s going to reach into one of her jars and bring out some of her electroplasmic food stuff.
Rhi: Yeah, make another roll of some kind. I think the last time you did this it was Attune? This has been Risky position, it’s going to continue to be because there’s six of them and one of you, it’s still going to be at reduced effect.
Kim: Okay, I rolled a 3 and a 6.
Rhi: The two ghosts that you pulled off, they don’t… it’s not twitching, they kind of shimmer more, or flicker when you put it out—
Kim: Kind of like how a flame moves, on a candle?
Rhi: Yeah, yeah! And then two more ghosts peel off from this swirling mass and just dive for the electroplasm.
Kim: Oh, okay, then Blaire drops it in that case. And she’s going to try talking to them while they’re eating, in that case?
Rhi: You have also successfully pulled those two off.
Kim (as Blaire): Hi, I’m here to help you.
Rhi: They’re further gone than the other two. They’re just draining the electroplasm and when you talk, one of them just lets out a wail. It doesn’t seem to be angry at you, it just doesn’t seem capable of speech.
Kim: She’s just going to let those two ghosts eat then.
Rhi: Okay, I think actually I want to cut back over to Minx and Myra. For the two of you, you have left Brogan’s house and now you need to get the letters ‘from Harvale’ in front of Lady Drake.
Minna: I think they’re sitting down at the table in the Nest to discuss this, probably? And Myra says:
Minna (as Myra): So I know somebody who might be very interested in buying the kind of information that we’re trying to get to Lady Drake. And she has her fingers in all of this right now. We just have to find somebody who is willing to take that message and sell it and pretend they’re not associated with us.
Josie (as Minx): Right, well that’s a lot of qualifiers there. I agree with this avenue but…
Minna (as Myra): I have a buyer in mind. We just need somebody who might believably have been here. Someone who might believable have been in our space and found some information. Do you know anybody who would be willing to take that risk?
Josie (as Minx): Oh, oh, I know! It could be Harker.
Minna: Oh, him! Yeah.
Josie: He’s down in the low places of the city and he’s like: ‘well, my people came across this while scrounging around, this might be interesting, huh?’
Rhi: I don’t think that the fact that you two are still on friendly terms is common knowledge?
Josie: Yeah. I don’t think it is, either, and even if it is…
Rhi: People stab each other in the back all the time, it’s Duskwall.
Josie: Right.
Rhi: So where do you find him?
Josie: I’m thinking it’s in a backroom of, I don’t know, either a drug den or a brothel or something?
Rhi: Okay, yeah so the two of you, we’ll say a drug den, have made your way back to a private room separately. I think you’ve been in this room for like half an hour when he slips in. He’s like:
Rhi (as Harker): Huh, well Minx, good to see you again but this is all very cloak and dagger, what do you have in mind?
Josie (as Minx): Well, would you really have it any other way? It’s more exciting.
Rhi (as Harker): I suppose. Exciting tends to land me in prison though.
Rhi: He sits down, and he’s smoking something from up front, he takes a drag from it.
Josie: Minx was lightly smoking something but honestly seems more enamoured with the pipe she’s smoking it in. Just admiring the design.
Josie (as Minx): Well, fortunately, What I wish to talk to you today will likely secure against future stints.
Rhi (as Harker): Huh. That’d be nice.
Josie (as Minx): The difficulty is you’d have to pretend not to like me so much.
Rhi (as Harker): Alright…?
Josie (as Minx): Difficult, I know. Well, we have certain information that we would like others to come by, but obviously can’t come from us. And of course they would likely pay good coin for this information, as would I.
Rhi (as Harker): Do I want to know what this information is?
Josie (as Minx): Not especially. I will tell you if you want.
Rhi (as Harker): You know, I’ve heard about some of the stuff you’re getting mixed up in and I feel like the less I know, the better. Particularly if I do get picked up again then I can’t really tell them anything.
Josie (as Minx): A wise choice. Essentially it’s simple, just a delivery to a buyer.
Rhi: Well, if Minx is doing this meeting, Myra would have had to give her a name. Myra would have had to have told her this needs to be sold to Salia.
Minna: Yeah, yeah, she’d tell her to sell it to Salia.
Josie: Yeah, and she’ll give him a location and Salia’s name and stuff like that.
Rhi (as Harker): Alright. And just, how did I come by this?
Josie (as Minx): Yes, well, given things we have been involved in, moving around has been practically a pastime for us. Simply, it is not uncommon to come across a former Nest.
Rhi (as Harker): Alright, so… okay. Yeah. I was going to meet you at your old hideout, but you’d moved on, and I poked around and happened to find whatever was in these envelopes.
Josie (as Minx): And should this information find it’s target, you will have some amount of security from those who are higher up.
Rhi (as Harker): Huh. Alright.
Josie (as Minx): And the idea is to portray some amount of dividing between us – I do not wish for this divide you understand, you are a delight.
Rhi (as Harker): Oh, no, of course. I don’t see nearly as much of you as I’d like but certainly don’t want to burn any bridges here.
Josie (as Minx): Indeed. And hopefully, should this cover the plan, we can see a bit more of each other.
Rhi: At that he kind of toasts you with his pipe. And I think then, yeah, the two of you hang out for a little bit. You leave first, he leaves sometime after. And now you’re leaving that in Harker’s hands, to see how that goes. So we’ll see how that plays out. Let’s cut back to Blaire.
Kim: Yes.
Rhi: So you’ve gotten four of the ghosts broken off.
Kim: I think what I want to do next is command the remaining ghosts, because I know I’ve managed to succeed in commanding a far larger group before, although a lot of that was due to Scurlock, because I have no ranks in Command, it turns out.
[Rhi laughs]
Rhi: It’s going to be, because you reduced the number of ghosts down, you are at standard effect now.
Kim: Okay. 5.
Rhi: You do, but there is a consequence.
Kim: Could the consequence be that Setarra gets impatient and fed up and tries to cut things short before I really finish this?
Rhi: Yes, she’s going to interfere, is going to be the consequence. But go into what Blaire says.
Kim: Okay, Blaire is gonna try and muster up the energy that she had when she commanded that horde of ghosts all those months ago. She’s going to puff up her chest a little bit, and try and make herself a little bit authoritative and she’s just going to be like:
Kim (as Blaire): Remaining ghosts! Listen to me. I command all of you to seperate.
Rhi: They’re still just kinda eying you.
Kim (as Blaire): Move it!
[Everyone laughs]
Rhi: Blaire is so good. So, you say that and they still aren’t really moving. And then, from behind you, you hear Setarra speak and it’s a language that you have never heard before.
[Kim gasps]
Rhi: You don’t understand the words but you understand the meaning behind it. It is a voice like a wave crashing down on shore and destroying everything in its path.
[Kim gasps again]
Rhi: And the meaning behind it is ‘obey’ and ‘fall’. That barrier that you were feeling, snaps, those four ghosts that you were trying to wrangle at the end kind of go flying to the four corners of the room and slam down into the ground and are gone.
Kim: Oh no. Oh no no no no. They’re gone?
Rhi: Yeah.
Kim: Oh no.
Rhi: The other four are kneeling. They haven’t moved but they are kneeling.
Kim: Blaire is going to whirl around back to Setarra and be like:
Kim (as Blaire): What, what just happened? What did you do?
Rhi (as Setarra): What you were failing at. I commanded them to separate and to be gone.
Kim (Blaire): Not the—
Rhi (as Setarra): Deal with the other four. This is taking too much time. This has taken more than enough time already.
Kim (as Blaire): But, I – I need those for a bag. Where did they go?
Rhi (as Setarra): They’re gone. They’ve been dealt with.
Kim (as Blaire): But how… how will—
Rhi (as Setarra): What?
Kim (as Blaire): How do we know they won’t turn into a Harvester too?
Rhi (as Setarra): They won’t.
Kim (as Blaire): You’re sure?
Rhi (as Setarra): Quite.
Kim (as Blaire): Okay. Thank you.
Kim: And she’s gonna drop her shoulders a little bit.
Rhi (as Setarra): Take care of these four, so that we can get out of here and you can get back to work that actually matters.
Kim (as Blaire): Okay.
Kim: And, because they’re already obeying Setarra’s commands, do you think they’d go into the jar pretty easily?
Rhi: Uh-huh. They do whatever you tell them. Which is unnerving. Normally there’s a lot of coaxing involved in getting ghosts into jars, but these ghosts, you tell them ‘get in the jar’ and they just go immediately.
Kim (as Blaire): Okay.
Kim: And she jar’s them up, one by one, and she has four ghost-jars, all set up, and she puts them away in her pack.
Rhi: I think that when you turn, Setarra has kind of gone back to the arms crossed, judging look and is just like:
Rhi (as Setarra): Your purpose is knowledge that will lead to power. This is a waste of your time and mine. Bring me something useful and then we will see if I will be willing to continue to help you.
Kim (as Blaire): Something useful… Got it.
Rhi: She steps back towards the canal and you just hear a splashing sound. And she disappears.
Kim: Blaire’s gonna just let out a deep breath and, lets see, the thing she has to do next is make a quick detour to The Deathlands and set these ghosts free and—
Rhi: We can just cinematically, narratively, do that.
Kim: Exactly, yeah, I was thinking either like a downtime scene, or whatever.
Rhi: So yeah I think that we can just have a shot of Blaire with her now very clinking backpack, heading back up to get rid of these ghosts.
Kim: Are they still under Setarra’s spell when I let them go or do they go pretty easily?
Rhi: Yeah, you’re not sure if they were reacting because they were under her control or if they were doing that because they were scared out of their minds? Cause when you get out there, they basically shoot out and just flee.
Kim: Yeah, they’re back to normal.
Kim (as Blaire): Bye!
Rhi: Okay, so Blaire dealt with the would-be Harvester, Minx and Myra have started some information moving and yeah, let’s do downtime. Blaire,let’s start with you.
Kim: The thing that’s on Blaire’s mind is ‘okay, something useful, something useful, something useful’ and she is like digging through her brain trying to find something that she thinks Setarra would be interested in. And she comes across that old book that she can’t really understand but knows on some certain level that it’s filled summoning spells, rituals, incantations, stuff like that.
Rhi: You can’t read the language it’s written in but you recognise some of the arcane symbols as being similar to the ones that you use when you summon Setarra.
Kim: She’s kind of thumbing through the pages like:
Kim (as Blaire): Huh, this’ll work.
Kim: And she’s probably just going to tuck that book underneath her arm and go outside to summon Setarra and show her this.
Rhi: Okay. So I think you have a usual spot near The Nest where you go to summon Setarra. So you set out the bowl of seawater, you draw the chalk symbols on the floor, you do all the things. And Setarra surges into being and looks at you and just raises an eyebrow and goes:
Rhi (as Setarra): Well?
Kim (as Blaire): I found something I think you’ll like.
Kim: And she is going to offer the book up to her.
Rhi: And Setarra steps forward and takes it and her expression kind of brightens a little bit, as she’s looking at this book she starts paging through it and her eyes widen a little. And she gets the same kind of predatory shark toothed smile that she gave when you asked her to help beat up the Bluecoats. She gets that same smile and looks up at you and goes:
Rhi (as Setarra): Oh Blaire, this will do very nicely.
Rhi: And she slams the book shut. So, we leave Blaire talking with Setarra and go over to Minx and Myra, who are in, I assume, the common area of the Nest?
Josie: Alright, so I think Minx is also kind of using the leftovers of her scrapbooking project to add more things to her vision board?
[Rhi laughs]
Josie: We got her started, and now she’s on a tear.
Josie (as Minx): So Myra, dearie, you did seem to pull this Salia person a bit out of nowhere. How did you know they would deal with this?
Minna (as Myra): Oh… It’s a very long story. We can start with, her people have been everywhere lately. Everytime we deal with the circle.
Josie (as Minx): Ah. Your old friends, as it were?
Minna (as Myra): Mm-hmm. I have met two of them recently.
Josie (as Minx): One at the railyard, who’s the other?
Minna (as Myra): Clave, at the auction. I guess only Phin was there. And when I was in Brogan’s house, I saw a letter from Salia which isn’t unexpected, she talks to everybody who’s anybody, if she can and Brogan is exactly the type of person she’d want to make deals with. But I figured she’d be interested in this whole mess, especially if it gave her a way to get back at me.
Josie (as Minx): Now, that’s interesting. Especially as I couldn’t help but notice after you go into the office and see this, the statue breaks. Are you, are you alright?
Minna (as Myra): I’m fine, I just wish she wasn’t involved in this as well. It’s bad enough that we’ve got people like the Circle after us but I, I just wanted to be done with her, y’know?
Josie (as Minx): Mm-hmm. yes, well, I’m hardly the one to criticise for old connections causing trouble.
Minna (as Myra): That’s right. Only, I don’t think you’d like Salia. Not that I like Bazso now anyway.
Josie (as Minx): Well I suspect not, but why wait until now to tell us? This seems like an important connection if we’re keeping you safe, if for no other reason.
[Minna, as Myra, sighs]
Minna (as Myra): It didn’t seem important to bring it up? She’s – most of the time, she’s not the kind of person to go after a person directly. She’ll find ways to manipulate you and get her claws into you, but as long as I stayed away from her it was fine… I figured. Until all of this, she could get leverage that I don’t want her to have. But, for the moment, I can use that, because I want her to have this particular leverage.
Josie (as Minx): Well, glad to hear we have the upper hand but… why? Why does she want vengeance or whatever she wants?
Minna (as Myra): Because I was supposed to work for her for I guess forever? I think that’s what she thought?
Josie (as Minx): Oh, oh dear. And she doesn’t take kindly to you leaving, I imagine?
Minna (as Myra): No, no she doesn’t. She doesn’t take kindly to me leaving. I think she thought I would fail and come crawling back to her. But, jokes on her, because I’m either going to die or I’m going to succeed wildly!
Josie (as Minx): Well, you’re with me and Blaire. Of course it’s going to be the latter.
Minna (as Myra): So far it has been. Surprisingly.
Josie (as Minx): Myra, again, I’m hardly the one to say this and I don’t want to force anything out of you, but it does mean a lot when you share this sort of thing and I think we all work better as a crew the more we know about each other at this point.
Minna (as Myra): I agree, now that she’s mixed up in everything it doesn’t make sense to keep the information from you guys, it can only make things more dangerous if you don’t know what we’re facing.
Rhi: I think on that note the door opens, and Blaire comes in.
Kim (as Blaire): Hey!
Josie (as Minx): Hello, dear.
Minna (as Myra): Blaire! Where’ve you been?
Kim (as Blaire): Oh, you know, just outside. Had to get some air.
Minna (as Myra): Lot of air then?
Josie (as Minx): Indeed.
Kim (as Blaire): No I went for a walk. I had to go, uh, lend a book to Quellyn.
Minna (as Myra): Okay. Nothing that’s gonna follow you home?
Kim (as Blaire): No! No, no, no.
Josie (as Minx): Well, that’s good to hear. Would you care to join me in some additional scrapbooking? You missed out earlier.
Kim (as Blaire): Yes!
Kim: And she’s going to pull a chair at the table.
Rhi: And so I think that we kinda zoom in on the newspaper that Minx is cutting up into pieces for her typography project.
[Josie laughs again]
Rhi: And then zoom out on another paper and the headline reads: ‘Harvale Brogan arrested. Centuralia Club ownership in question.’ There is a sketch, I think it it’s like an artist’s rendering of the arrest and it is Brogan in cuffs with a few Bluecoats and Chief Inspector Severin leading him away.
## Outro [01:24:23]
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, patreon.com/magpiespodcast. 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.
The opening and closing theme music is from ‘Trio for Piano, Violin and Viola’, by Kevin McLeod and is used under a Creative Commons license. The Blades in the Dark roleplay system is the creation of John Harper, and is published by Evil Hat Productions.
Rhi: And now, we’d like to thank our amazing patreon backers!
Kim: Andrew Kemp, thank you!
Josie: Ben Bruce, thank you!
Minna: George Banks, thank you!
Rhi: Kevin Turner, thank you!
##Bloopers [01:25:45]
Rhi: Trying to find a name here sorry.
[Laughter]
Minna: Oh, we’re back.
Rhi: I didn’t think this through.
Minna: We’re back!
Josie: Back in business. Magpies podcast.
Minna: Yes we remember how to do this.