Transcribed by Michelle Kelly (@Michellicopter)

##Intro

Rhi: Welcome back to Duskwall. As always, thank you for joining us. We’re gotten a lot of new fans lately, which is awesome. Reviews and tweets can help bring those new people in, so please keep telling your friends and followers about the show. You can also support us financially on Patreon or by purchasing a Magpies pin of your very own on our Shapeways store. All your support, in all its many forms, is wonderful and appreciated.

If you follow The Magpies on Twitter, you have probably seen me tweeting a lot about Descent into Midnight. The Kickstarter both launched and funded last Saturday, which is absolutely amazing. It also means that if you back the game now, you are guaranteed to get your reward. At this point, it’s all stretch goals for this incredible game about community, family, hope and fighting corruption. I really believe that if you love the stories we tell here on Magpies, you will also love the stories that you can tell with Descent Into Midnight. We have some very cool stretch goals planned, but the one I’m most excited about is that the Streampunks, led by GM Eric Campbell, will be producing a Descent into Midnight series, with one episode for every stretch goal the campaign hits. As a reminder, I am the accessibility consultant on this project, so I do have a vested interest in its success, but it’s also a game that I love a lot and project that I believe in deeply. So, take a few minutes and go check it out.

Next, Kim is going to tell us about this month’s featured charities.

Kim: There’s a lot of misinformation circulating around the Coronavirus outbreak right now, but I think one thing that’s definitely true is that doctors and hospitals are rapidly running out of supplies. I wanted to feature a way to help Wuhan this month because the outbreak is absolutely a crisis in China right now, and I haven’t seen any charities or fundraisers boosted, or seen any way at all people outside of China can help. In my research, I found a GoFundMe page to raise money for medical supplies to send to Wuhan. I believe it to be legitimate, the page has been organized by the Canadian Society for Virology, Dalhousie University and other members of the Canadian medical community. The money being raised will be going to purchasing and sending supplies like protective suits, masks, goggles, etc to hospitals in need over in China. As of this recording they’ve raised nearly $23,000 out of a $50,000 goal and I think it would be a great cause to give to.

I’m not sure how these organizers will be ensuring that these supplies will actually reach the hospitals that need them and I understand if you feel wary about giving to a cause like this at this time. If you feel at all apprehensive, I encourage our US listeners to simply donate to your presidential and/or senatorial candidates instead. If you’re in a red state and there’s a candidate for senate that’s challenging your current representative, I am actually begging you to donate to them, support them and vote for them, because I want as many of these 51 traitors out of a job as we possibly can. Please, please, please, please do that for me. And for those of us in blue states who already have democratic representatives, or if you live in a state where your senator isn’t up for re-election, I encourage you to find your own ways to pitch in and help turn the tide in November. Thank you.

Rhi: Please continue to call your representatives and take action where you live. A lot of really scary things are happening in the wake of the GOP’s acquittal of Trump, and we need to take action when and where we can. In addition to organizations like 5calls.org, I also want to point folks to Fair Fight, an organization aimed at expanding and protecting voting rights. The GOP’s election year strategy is disinformation, voter suppression, and outright violations of the law in order to maintain their grip on power. We need to do everything we can to overcome this. And on that note, please make sure you are registered to vote and make sure you know when your local primaries are. And do your research, not just on presidential candidates, but all the way down the ticket to state and local elections as well. Those make a huge difference for our communities.

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

##Story continues [00.04.41]

Rhi: We begin on, once again, a new article in the Doskvol Daily. The paper is dated a couple weeks after the break-in at the clinic, and the headline reads, “Charterhall Clinic Opens Under New Ownership,” By Anita Argent, staff reporter. “While the tragic and sudden murder of Dr Elias Hagen remains yet unsolved, there is a spark of hope to be found in these dark times. Lady Verena and Liege Greer Evermar have purchased the clinic from Rolan Hagen, Dr Hagen’s widower, and are preparing to reopen it in partnership with the charity of The Weeping Lady. ‘Dr Hagen did remarkable work for the city,’ Liege Greer said in a prepared statement. ‘We hope to continue that work and advance the cause of medicine and health for all citizens of Duskwall.’ When asked about the new name for the clinic, the Tegan Welker Memorial—”

Minna: [delighted outburst]

Rhi: “Liege Greer simply said, ‘It was named in memory of someone the clinic was unable to save.’ Mother Elsbeth Naria, the proprietor of The Arms of the Weeping Lady, echoed Liege Greer’s hopeful words. ‘The Evermar’s commitment to charity and generosity is well-known in the city, and we couldn’t be happier to hear of their latest endeavor,’ she told the Daily. But not everyone is happy about the clinic’s new ownership. Preceptor Dunvil, of the Church of Ecstasy, and long-time friend of Dr Hagen, expressed some doubts as to the fitness of the new Chief Physicker. ‘The Evermars are a fine family, to be sure. But they’re not well-versed in the medical arts,’ he said, ‘and this Seeks individual is a complete unknown to the medical community. The Church intends to investigate the matter thoroughly so the public can be assured of the quality of this new operation.’ The new Chief Physicker, a mysterious, evasive Tycherosi known as The Rivers Lost But Seeking, offered only this as explanation for her plans. ‘To heal people. What else does a clinic do?’”

Minna: [giggles]

Josie: [laughs]

Minna: Did you reach out to Waffles for that statement?

Rhi: Yeah! Yeah, I did.

Minna: Uh huh!

Rhi: I was like—[laughs] Well, first I was like, “How will Seeks respond if a reporter approaches her with questions about the clinic?” and Waffles was like, “Uh, throw a smoke grenade and run away.”

Josie: [laughs]

Rhi: [laughs] “Brandishing a knife. ‘Who are you?’”

Minna: [laughs] I love Seeks.

Rhi: Seeks is real good. [laughs] So, I think we pull out from this article to find it on a familiar table in the Hound’s Paw. And the paper is sitting on The Magpies’ usual table, but the Magpies aren’t there. What we see is Rigney is at the bar, and facing him at the other side of the bar are a trio of Bluecoats who are standing there looking, you know, with kind of smug smirks as Rigney is counting out some coin from the register. And he, you know, kind of puts it into a pouch and slides it across, and one of them picks it up and tucks it into his coat and then tips his hat and is like:

Rhi (as Bluecoat): Well, glad to see that you’re so reliable. We’ll be back next week.

Rhi: And Rigney just kind of is like:

Rhi (as Rigney): Yeah. Great. See ya.

Rhi: And they stroll out. So, I think that there’s— he kinda stands there for a minute waiting, like, I think you kinda get the sense of like, he’s tapping his finger on the bar like he’s counting, and then eventually he kinda straightens up and goes back to the back room and opens it up and is like:

Rhi (as Rigney): Yeah, they’re gone. You can come out.

Rhi: And the three of you have been waiting in the back room for the Bluecoats to leave. So, yeah, you come back out into the bar.

Josie (as Minx): Heavens. They do come around more frequently, do they?

Rhi (as Rigney): Yeah. And their prices keep going up. I don’t want them to smash the place to smithereens again, so…

Josie (as Minx): Well, we’ll have to do something about that.

Kim (as Blaire): Who do we put in jail to get them to stop?

Josie (as Minx): Do we have any more people to put in jail? I do not think that will last forever.

Rhi (as Rigney): No. I mean, there was that Bluecoat officer you framed a while back, and that kinda got them to back off for a bit, but…

Josie (as Minx): Right. Well, that was not the first time we have sent someone away to take the pressure off. Not certain how many more times we can get away with that.

Minna (as Myra): It seems the way that most people keep the Bluecoats’ eyes off them involves a lot more money than we currently have.

Kim (as Blaire): We could rob a bank.

Josie (as Minx): What?

Kim (as Blaire): We could rob a bank.

Josie (as Minx): I… I suppose we could do that.

Minna (as Myra): That is an idea.

Rhi (as Rigney): I’m… gonna go…

Minna (as Myra): Yeah, no.

Minna: [laughs]

Rhi (as Rigney): Why don’t you go over to your table?

Minna (as Myra): You don’t need to be here for this.

Rhi (as Rigney): And talk about… crimes that you may or may not be committing, that the less I know about the better?

Rhi: [laughs]

Kim (as Blaire): Sorry, Rigney.

Rhi: Rigney shoos you over to your table so he can have plausible deniability.

Josie (as Minx): Perhaps put on some music, dear. [laughs]

Rhi: Yeah, Rigney will get you your usual selection of drinks and bring them over, and then, like, goes to the bar and starts like, you know, polishing glasses or wiping down the bar and is pointedly humming to himself. [laughs] So that he can’t hear anything you’re saying.

Josie (as Minx): So, I think Blaire may have just pointed out the option that has been under our noses for quite some time now. We haven’t done a score for money in months.

Kim (as Blaire): I have no money.

Minna: [laughs]

Josie (as Minx): I’m aware, dear. And I am somewhat tired of buying your meals for you, although I’m sure you appreciate the improved diet, yes?

Kim (as Blaire): It’s kind of… bland.

Josie (as Minx): Bland, huh?

Kim (as Blaire): [stammers] I—uh—

Josie (as Minx): Then we definitely need to rob a bank, Blaire. I did not know you had such discerning taste. We need to up the palate a bit.

Kim (as Blaire): Mm… no, I mean, I’m good with, you know, the… the… you know, the kelp chips and the eel and the mushrooms and…

Josie (as Minx): Yes but there’s— you are absolutely right. I have had my side gig for so long that I was experiencing contentment. We need to, what would you call it, up our standard of living.

Kim (as Blaire): What if we got chicken?

Josie (as Minx): Oh, that would be divine.

Kim (as Blaire): [giggles]

Minna (as Myra): Let’s not count our eggs before they hatch.

Kim (as Blaire): [laughs]

Rhi: Rigney groans.

Josie (as Minx): [laughs]

Minna (as Myra): Rigney, you’re not listening.

Rhi (as Rigney): I’m… that got through!

Kim (as Blaire): [laughs]

Rhi (as Rigney): You should be ashamed of yourself, Myra.

Kim (as Blaire): Oh my gods.

Minna (as Myra): Never.

Rhi (as Rigney): Robbing a bank is one thing, but puns of that caliber…

Minna: Is Rigney just the GM insert now? [laughs]

Kim: You’re just catching on to this?

Josie: Hasn’t he always been?

Rhi: Yeah.

Josie: [laughs]

Minna: Fair.

Rhi: Rigney… is my son?

[laughter]

Rhi: I raised my boy right. He doesn’t appreciate puns.

Josie (as Minx): Where can we actually get away with?

Minna (as Myra): Certainly not the larger banks.

Josie: Real quick.

Rhi: Yeah.

Josie: So, the Umbra Hunters uniform. What does that look like?

Minna: It has brass or bronze on it.

Rhi: Yeah, black with brass details.

Josie: How hard is that to just mock up? Like, I imagine not super difficult, right?

Minna: We might still have some.

Rhi: You might, yeah…

Minna: We’ve stolen some before.

Rhi: Yeah.

Josie: Oh right, we have.

Rhi: I’m pretty sure the ones you stole have gotten damaged.

Minna: Yeah.

Josie: You say that as though I am not here and fully capable of sewing.

Minna: So we’re gonna impersonate Umbra Hunters while we’re doing this?

Rhi: Yeah, you could definitely do that.

Josie: Think about it. With Brogan gone once again, it’s reasonable to think that some of them got cut-off, money-wise.

Minna: Mm hmm.

Josie: So, it makes sense for them to just smash and grab for money.

Rhi: I mean, yeah, that could potentially work.

Josie: And now it just comes down to the straight-forward task of infiltrating a bank and making it out with a large amount of money.

Rhi: I think as you are talking about, like, “Oh we just have to find a bank to hit,” Rigney will come back over with probably, at this point, unnecessary refills on your drinks and is just like:

Rhi (as Rigney): Guy I pay rent to is at Templesmith Bank and Trust.

Minna: [laughs]

Rhi: [laughs] Pouring your drinks.

Minna (as Myra): Thank you. We will take that recommendation under consideration.

Rhi (as Rigney): Just saying. My landlord kinda sucks.

Josie (as Minx): Yes.

Minna (as Myra): We understand what you’re saying perfectly.

Josie (as Minx): Although we can always help you if rent goes up for whatever reason that I do not know.

Rhi (as Rigney): Yeah, I’ll let you know if it does.

Rhi: [laughs] He will remove himself back to the bar, where he has no idea what you’re doing with this information, of course.

Minna: [laughs]

Josie: Right.

Rhi: So yeah, you all can kinda check out this bank. It is Templesmith Bank and Trust. It’s located in Charterhall. And yeah, mostly it’s the upper classes. It’s not as, like, intense as Saltford’s. Doesn’t have that reputation. But it’s a, you know, big, fancy, expensive-looking bank building. And so, you all can kinda, if you wanna do some Gather Info on the location?

Josie: Yes. I think Minx wants to study… Study, because I have a dot in that now, teller protocol and the like? Partially for this bank specifically, but also just in general how a bank works.

Rhi: Yeah. Go ahead and make a roll.

Josie: I got a 6.

Rhi: I’m gonna say you’re gonna basically have improved effect whenever you are trying to interact with the normal business operations of the bank.

Josie: Right.

Rhi: So, like, if you are trying to impersonate a teller you’ll be at improved effect. Okay, so yeah, Minx knows how banks work.

Kim: Vaguely.

Rhi: Yeah. Vaguely.

Kim: I want to roll a Study to see if Templesmith bank has any, you know, ghost wards or electroplasmic locks, stuff of that nature.

Rhi: Okay, yeah.

Kim: Okay. 4 and a 6.

Rhi: So, what you find is that they have kind of standard anti-ghost wards, which most public buildings have and which you know are reasonably easy for somebody with your skills to overpower and overcome.

Kim: Right.

Rhi: Yeah. It’s nothing unexpected, nothing you haven’t dealt with before, and nothing you can’t deal with pretty well, you think.

Kim: Cool.

Rhi: Yeah.

Minna: I would like to see if I can find out about the security. Not, like, specifically with spirits, but security in general.

Rhi: Okay.

Minna: I think Study. Just like, very carefully, like, a mixture of watching and reading up on typical things for banks. Like, industry standard for this kind of bank and that kind of thing.

Rhi: Okay. Yeah, yeah, you can definitely do that. So, go ahead and make your roll.

Minna: I don’t know if that or Consort would be better. But you know what, I think that works. Because I don’t wanna tip people off that I’m interested in this bank.

Rhi: I think all three of you have rolled Study.

Rhi: Well, if you wanna prepare for an elaborate bank heist, study up.

Rhi: Yeah.

Josie: Well, I mean, Blaire is an A-minus student.

Rhi: [laughs]

Kim (as Blaire): I’m A-plus! I’m still A-plus, even though I got a 3.9, I’m still A-plus.

Rhi: [laughs]

Josie (as Minx): Of course, dear.

Rhi: You got expelled!

Kim: [laughs]

Minna: She wasn’t expelled for her grades.

Kim: No.

Rhi: Fair. True.

Minna: She was expelled for behavioral— oh my god.

Josie: One can argue she was too good.

Rhi: Yeah.

Josie: [laughs]

Kim: In an alternate universe, Blaire is valedictorian at Charterhall.

Minna: Really? Fuck you. The dice. I rolled four dice and I got 3.

Rhi: Oh no. Okay, so what you get is the security on this place is quite good. You learn this because the security guards keep chasing you away.

Minna: [laughs]

Rhi: From lingering too long in any one spot. So, you’re not really able to get a, like, you know that they have pretty impressive locks, you know that they have a lot of sparkcraft security and alarms and stuff, and they have a lot of security guards who are really good at their jobs, because any time they see you loitering around for more than five minutes, one of them comes over and starts asking you what your business is and then will either, if you lie, forcibly escort you to where your business is supposed to be or ask you to leave.

Josie: Interesting.

Rhi: So, a bank. Security is kind of the main thing that you market on.

Minna: Mm hmm.

Rhi: [laughs] “We will keep your money safer than anyone else.”

Josie: [laughs]

Rhi: So, yeah. Any other, like, prep stuff, Gather Info you wanna do? You’re not limited to one Gather Info action per person. I know that’s normally how we do it, but you can all, if there’s other stuff you wanna find.

Josie: Okay. Do I know from my first one what emergency procedures look like?

Rhi: Like, fire drills or stuff like that?

Josie: Yeah, or someone starts firing guns in the lobby, what do you do? [laughs]

Rhi: Oh Jesus. Yes, you know what those are—

Josie: I’m not saying that’s the plan. I just… wanna know. [laughs]

Rhi: Yeah, there’s information about— you got a 6 on that roll, so you also would have information on, like, evacuation procedures and lockdown procedures. So like, if the building is on fire, how do people get out, or if— it does have, like, there’s a lot of stuff about— I think you actually would know how the bank staff would respond in the event of a robbery.

Josie: I have a weird idea.

Rhi: Yes.

Josie: We stage some sort of night assault.

Rhi: Uh huh….

Josie: The vault that they’ve got is compromised…

Minna: That requires a lot of setup.

Josie: What about a two-pronged thing? The other two work on sewing the deceit that things are compromised. In the wake of this, hopefully they bring on more security and I try to get hired.

Rhi: Oh, interesting. Yeah. So, I like the idea of starting with having you all just, like, spreading rumors about, like, the vault is no longer safe.

Minna: We can… it could even be like dueling clocks of, like, we have a good setup versus the bank realizes something is up.

Rhi: Yeah. Yeah. So, whoever wants to kinda start making rolls, just tell me what you wanna do to persuade them that their vault is imperiled.

Kim: Hmm. I’ll go first.

Rhi: Yeah.

Kim: I have to think about this though, because Blaire is not…

Josie: Maybe you can put some mystic-looking bullshit near the wall outside, so it looks like something’s happening there?

Minna: [laughs]

Kim: That is very good.

Minna: Just a big thing that looks like it’s trying to be a Stargate through their wall.

Josie and Rhi: [laugh]

Kim: But in reality, it’s all gibberish.

Minna: Yeah.

Rhi: Yeah. Yeah, go ahead and make some kind of a roll for that.

Kim: I think Finesse best fits this.

Rhi: Okay.

Kim: Ooh, I almost had a heart attack, because that was a 1 and a 6.

Rhi: Hoo, okay.

Kim: Yeah. [laughs]

Rhi: Describe how this looks with Blaire doing this… wall art.

Kim: She is doing this in blood that she has lying around.

Rhi: [laughs] You know what? I’m not gonna ask questions.

Kim: [laughs]

Rhi: I like leaving that statement as is. Continue.

[laughter]

Josie: Alright then!

Kim: And, um… yeah, oddly enough, it is very similar to Setarra’s summoning circle, because Blaire studied that a lot. But it’s missing some gaps, it’s missing some details, and it’s obviously incredibly crude and not in the material that would summon Setarra. So, yeah, she just leaves that. Like, right next to the dumpster.

Rhi: [laughs] Yeah. So, I think that we see Blaire doing that and then the next day one of you goes by and there’s like a cluster of security guards out there, just looking at this and being like, “Aw, crap.” [laughs]

Josie: [laughs]

Rhi: “What does this mean? We’re not paid… we don’t… uh…” [laughs] Okay, I think, you know what? I think Minna was correct that this does need to be two clocks. So, I’m gonna do another 6-mark clock of the bank does something to its security that’s good for you. So, that is gonna fill in, that 6 is gonna get you two ticks. Who else wants to do a thing?

Josie: I… I have an idea. [laughs]

Minna: Ooh.

Rhi: Mm hmm?

Josie: I have the identity prepped because we set it up for an earlier episode and then didn’t get to use it.

Rhi: Uh… for which identity?

Josie: Well, we originally set it up as, like, a “liquidate your housing cause it’s haunted” thing.

Rhi: Oh no! Yeah, yeah… yeah.

Kim: Oh, yeah.

Josie: I want to pass off as an occult security specialist.

Rhi: Okay, yeah. Yep.

Josie: [laughs] I’m gonna make some shit up and it’s gonna hurt Blaire’s brain, but I think I wanna get hired on.

Rhi: Yeah.

Josie: To provide mystic defense.

Kim: Oh my God, we’re Buzzfeed Unsolved-ing this. Okay.

Rhi: You are. This is really good, yeah.

Josie: [laughs] Yo, what’s up demons?

Rhi: It’s ya girl. Um… actually, I think Myra— cause I feel like that’s, like, the last step of you getting hired. Or maybe all three of you get hired to be occult security if this goes well.

Minna: [laughs]

Kim: That is very good.

Josie: Oh yeah, that’s great. We can be a firm.

Rhi: Yeah. You’re a team of occult security specialists. So, I think that then Myra should do a thing first.

Josie: Yes.

Minna: Do they have, like, somebody who’s on watch but not, like, outside?

Rhi: Yeah.

Minna: Can I dress up all spooky and, like, pretend to be a demon just walking down the alleyway?

Kim: Oh Christ.

Rhi: [laughs]

Josie: You’re giving him a close encounter.

Minna: I wanna be the vibe of something weird caught on the security camera. But there’s no security cameras.

Rhi: Well, there’s… yeah.

Minna: Like, just a weird thing they keep seeing.

Rhi: Yeah. Well, I mean, you could also, like, anybody can Attune to the ghost field, so you could try and do some, like…

Minna: Special effects related to this!

Rhi: Yeah.

Minna: I wanna dress up and do weird, spooky special effects.

Rhi: Yeah. Yeah, so they think that you are some kind of spirit.

Minna: I only have two dice, should I push myself? I’m gonna push myself.

Kim: Do you want an assist? Do you want an assist?

Minna: Oh, or that. I’ll take that.

Kim: I will assist.

Rhi: Alright, so Blaire takes a point of stress.

Minna: Blaire gives me makeup tips. [laughs]

Rhi: Mm hmm.

Josie: [laughs] Wow, this is weird to see from the outside.

Minna: 6!

Josie: And then Myra became a cryptid.

Minna: Yes!

Kim: Mothman.

Rhi: Tell me about your spooky ghost demon looks.

Minna: Oh my God. Oh, I need help with this, Kim. And Josie, frankly. The goth and the fashion expert. Or both.

Kim: I probably don’t have enough blood for this, but let’s just go with it. What if we did some really Carrie shit?

Minna: Oh my God. Well, we could mix up something fake, like fake blood.

Kim: Oh yeah. Yeah.

Rhi: [laughs]

Josie: Minx, in preparation for this, is gonna give you an older, lacier dress from when she was still figuring herself out.

Minna: Yes.

Josie: And it’s probably a little too big, so it has, like, low-hanging sleeves and stuff.

Minna: Oh yeah, so you can’t see my hands.

Josie: Yeah, it’s a slightly faded, white, lacy dress that will soon become splattered in blood.

Minna: Uh huh.

Kim: Perfect.

Rhi: Can I just… I just need to take a moment. [laughs] To point out that Kim’s first instinct is to cover Myra in real blood, and that someone is like, “Or we could use fake blood,” and Kim’s like, “Oh yeah, I guess that would work too.”

[laughter]

Rhi: I don’t want that moment to be lost.

[laughter]

Josie: We’re just so used to it.

Kim: Oh my God… [laughs]

Rhi: [laughs]

Minna: I think… so, I think the ghost field portion— well, I think also that Myra’s hair is down and soaking wet to add to that, kind of like, image.

Rhi: Yeah. So, lacy white dress, fake blood, soaking wet.

Minna: And then the ghost field aspect is that her eyes are like, I think it’s like either purple or red situation.

Kim: Mm.

Rhi: Ooh.

Minna: And she leaves footprints in the same weird glowy color that take a few minutes to fade after she goes through.

Rhi: Oh, cool.

Kim: I love it.

Rhi: Okay, yeah. Alright.

Minna: It’s like a deep, bruise purple kind of color.

Rhi: Oh, that’s very cool. I’m just picturing Myra, like, coming home after that like, “Guys, it went great!”

Minna and Josie: [laugh]

Rhi: Looking like this fucking haunted demon.

Kim (as Blaire): You know, that’s a good look for you.

Minna: You absolutely know that she tested the glowy eye and footprint effect in The Nest while the others watched. So Minx is behind the sofa and Blaire is extremely happy.

Josie: [laughs] Yep.

Rhi: Yeah. [laughs]

Kim (as Blaire): And sulk, sulk, heel-ball-change, sulk, and breathe.

Minna: [laughs]

Rhi: Oh, that’s really good. Alright, Minx, bring us home with our occult security specialists.

Josie: Yeah. We are Spectra and Associates, Occult Security Consulting.

Rhi: Mm hmm. I think that your angle is— because like, you had a bad run with this before where you tried to get somebody to, you know, think their place was haunted and they called the Spirit Wardens. I’m wondering if the angle is like, “No, no, no, if you call the Spirit Wardens, everybody’s gonna know that you have a problem and it’s going to be super obvious. We’re subtle.”

Josie: Right. But I’m also thinking of just outright telling them this is not a normal haunting. This is instigated by a group of criminals. [laughs] Seeking to rob you.

Rhi: Yes!

Minna: “We’ve seen this before.”

Rhi: Mm hmm.

Minna: “The reason you haven’t heard about it is because we fixed it.”

Josie: Exactly. Like, I can’t compete with all the stuff that came before, so all the stuff Myra just said, yes. That’s our angle. Let’s do it. [laughs]

Rhi: That’s so, so good.

Kim: Very good.

Rhi: Oh my God. Okay, yes, make your roll. [laughs] Holy shit.

Josie: Does Blaire have stress to spare on an assist?

Kim: Yes.

Josie: So that I can have suitably authentic mystic mumbo-jumbo?

Kim: Yes.

Josie: 6.

Rhi: Okay, yeah. You all have set this up fucking flawlessly. So, I think that this is actually— this is a deception score.

Josie: Yeah.

Kim: Yeah, it is.

Rhi: We know the method of deception. So, it’s gonna be a 2d6 engagement roll. And that is a 6.

Josie: Whoa.

Minna: Yeah!

Kim: Nice.

Josie: Whoa! We’ve got, like, three or four of those already.

Rhi: Yeah. You all have… well… you were off to a really strong start on the last score, too.

Josie: [laughs] That is fair.

Rhi: [laughs] Okay. So, I think that we open up on a really nice office within this bank. So, this has marble walls, like, halfway up, and then it’s like a very nice white, clean plaster above that. There are some tasteful paintings hung on the walls. Very nice desk. Comfy, leather-bound chairs in front of it. And sitting behind the desk is the bank manager. Hmm… you know what? I’m gonna crowd-source this. Everybody give me a detail about the bank manager.

Josie: They have… what’s it called? That little cinch-up thing that you often see on, like, “I’m just a southern lawyer,” that little pinch thing with the little tassels coming off of it? Around, like, a dress shirt neck?

Rhi: I know what you’re talking about…

Minna: What do you mean?

Rhi: It’s a…

Minna: A bolo tie?

Rhi: Bolo tie! Yes.

Josie: Yes.

Josie and Rhi: [laugh]

Rhi: I was having a crisis because I couldn’t think of what it was called.

Josie: I mean, me neither.

Rhi: Yeah. A bolo tie, okay. Good. [laughs]

Kim: He got here through nepotism.

Rhi: Okay. Good.

Minna: Uh huh.

Kim: So he is incompetent.

Rhi: Good, good.

Minna and Josie: [laugh]

Rhi: Bolo tie, incompetent. And?

Minna: I’m just gonna mess around with the aesthetic a little by saying that his hair is very long and up in, like, some elaborate braids.

Rhi: Ooh, okay.

Josie: Oh, huh.

Minna: Just a fun mix of aesthetics. Why not.

Rhi: Yeah, okay. Okay, just because I glanced at your status, I think that his hair is done up in the, like, loopy braids like what Leia has in Cloud City.

Minna: [laughs] Yes!

Kim: Oh, very good.

Minna: For the listening public, my status is “Leia Organa hours are in effect”, which is my default Discord status right now.

Josie: [laughs]

Rhi: Yes. So, I think that the bank manager is dressed very fashionably, which means that bolo ties are high fashion in Duskwall.

Minna: Yes!

Josie: Excellent. [laughs]

Rhi: I just, I have to live with that reality now.

Josie: I’m sorry, everyone. [laughs]

Minna: A beautiful reality.

Josie: Minx is tapping with an especially well-manicured finger on a chart that was drawn up beforehand, and saying:

Josie (as Minx): And as you can see, they intend to use a form of inverse portalature to create a vulnerability. Polt and Phasma—

Josie: She points to Myra for “Polt” and “Phasma” is Blaire.

Minna: Yeah! [laughs]

Josie: Because I wanted to be nice to Kim.

Rhi: [laughs]

Kim: For giving me a Star Wars name? [laughs]

Josie: Yes. [laughs]

Kim: Thank you.

Josie (as Minx): Can create safeguards against this and future such endeavors, but that will take time. I request that we be allowed to observe the premises until such things are installed.

Rhi: I think, yeah, he’s looking at this map that you’ve drawn very intently and is nodding. And like, this whole time, as you’ve been talking to him, explaining the situation, you know, he’s been listening real, like, acting like he’s listening really intently and nodding and looking at everything, but when he asks questions, it’s obvious he has no goddamn clue what you’re talking about.

Josie: Right. Well, to be fair, a lot of people don’t know a lot about mystical shit.

Rhi: Yeah. And also, a lot of what you’re saying is just made up. [laughs]

Josie: Yep. [laughs]

Rhi: But yeah, he’s just like:

Rhi (as Bank Manager): I see… and I… hmm. It’s just, well, normally we would call in the Spirit Wardens for this sort of occult activity, but it sounds like—

Josie (as Minx): Yes, well, it is a bit of a gray area. And that is where we come in. Of course, specters and mystical paraphernalia can be confiscated by the Spirit Wardens, but that does nothing to prevent future vulnerability. And it takes time to apprehend these sorts.

Rhi (as Bank Manager): I see.

Rhi: So, I think go ahead and give me a roll.

Josie: Okay.

Rhi: You’re in a controlled position to convince this guy.

Josie: 4.

Rhi: So, the bank manager nods again and is like:

Rhi (as Bank Manager): You know, yeah, you’re right. And if the Spirit Wardens are here, people are gonna know there’s a problem and they’re gonna take all their money out. Can’t have that happen again.

Josie (as Minx): Precisely.

Rhi (as Bank Manager): Yes, I believe we can do business.

Rhi: So, he’ll hold his hand out across the desk and shake yours, Minx. And as you’re shaking, he says:

Rhi (as Bank Manager): And of course, my assistant Cyrene will stick with you to make sure that you get anything that you need.

Josie: Of course.

Rhi: So, the complication is that you have a tagalong for the time being.

Josie: Right.

Rhi: Until you can lose her.

Josie: I think at this point Minx is gonna look to Polt and Phasma and say:

Josie (as Minx): You two should start on the exterior preparations. I will ensure the interior is set and the staff is properly informed.

Kim (as Blaire): [whispers] I could work on distracting our little stowaway?

Josie (as Minx): [whispers] That was my plan, but if you wish to grab her, go for it.

Kim (as Blaire): [whispers] Oh no, if you got it then…

Josie (as Minx): No, just go for it.

Kim (as Blaire): Okay.

Rhi: So, I think that you leave the office and are greeted by a young Severosi woman, dark skin, I think her hair is buzzed kinda short, wearing nice business attire, standing there with a clipboard and pen. I think she’s definitely wearing glasses. And is like:

Rhi (as Cyrene): Uh, hello, I’m Cyrene.

Josie (as Minx): Good evening. I am Spectra.

Rhi (as Cyrene): Nice to meet all of you.

Kim (as Blaire): Phasma.

Minna (as Myra): Polt.

Josie (as Minx): And yes, we know the names. It is branding.

Rhi (as Cyrene): [laughs] Alright, well, um, I am supposed to help you out however I can. I admit I don’t have a lot of experience with sort of spectral things, but, um… I’m excited to learn.

Kim (as Blaire): Yeah. There’s the actual doing of the protecting of the premises, and then there’s the education part, which is me. I’ll be working with you.

Rhi (as Cyrene): Oh. Um… okay. I may need to get someone else, you’re supposed to have a member of the bank staff accompanying you while you’re doing this work, so—

Kim (as Blaire): You are the member of the bank staff. So, let’s get to it.

Kim: And Blaire just takes her arm and, you know, takes her to a different—

Rhi: Okay. Give me a roll. Cause yeah, she’s… [laughs]

Kim: That’s deception, straight up.

Rhi: Yeah, so that’s gonna be Sway..

Kim: I have one in Sway, so we’ll see how this goes.

Minna: I can assist.

Kim: Thank you. Okay. 6 and 4.

Rhi: Okay. Yeah, she’s kind of like:

Rhi (as Cyrene): Oh… okay!

Rhi: And just sort of, like, gets pulled away, off further into the bank.

Josie: [laughs] Blaire can be very insistent.

Rhi: Alright, so yeah. Let’s… let’s actually start with Minx and Myra. What are you two up to with your preparations, plans, whatever it is that you’re trying to do here?

Minna: Oh boy. So, part of it is definitely that I’m, like, making some fake mystical bullshit gestures and look very much like I’m doing things. What I don’t know is what I’m actually doing to help us create vulnerabilities.

Josie: I think maybe we are setting up some various, I don’t know, explosive or other arcane-looking paraphernalia.

Minna: Yeah, okay, I’m definitely setting up, like, fakey bullshit crystal stuff, but it has explosives inside. Do I need to…

Kim: Oh, wow.

Rhi: One of you will need to mark demolition tools. So, I will say in order for you to put them in a place that’s useful you’ll either need to make some kinda roll, for you to have somehow learned the layout of the interior of the bank.

Minna: Can I somehow make that a Consort roll?

Rhi: Yeah, sure.

Minna: I made a friend that gave me a tour.

Rhi: Yeah.

Minna: That’s a 4.

Rhi: So, I think that what you learned is that the bank vault is not on, like, it doesn’t back up to an exterior wall. Which makes sense for this exact reason. So, the explosives you’re planting are gonna be on, like, a hallway close to the vault. But, you know, still helpful. And that’ll be a one stress flashback.

Minna: Sounds good.

Josie: There were exterior guards, right? Because Myra did that thing. I want to go around to them and ask them, like, where they were seeing the weird phenomena and tell them some fake bullshit with how to deal with it and where to look. Basically, I want them to be ready to tear off or look in the wrong direction if something happens.

Rhi: Okay, yeah, Gimme a roll.

Josie: I’m just gonna keeping Swaying about it.

Rhi: [laughs]

Josie: 5. I got it.

Rhi: I think that you have reduced effect. Like, you know, they hear you out and they listen, but they’re not really— they’re not making as much change to their procedures and where people are stationed as you would hope. And they put a couple extra people there, but they don’t, like, move all of their people over.

Josie: Right.

Rhi: Jump back inside to Blaire and her new friend.

Kim (as Blaire): So, a Drowned God is— it could be possible that’s what we’re dealing with here, considering that the sigil on the outside of the building was demonic in nature. However, we cannot rule out a Clouded Wall.

Rhi (as Cyrene): Oh… um… wow. This is all a lot more than I expected to be dealing with. I thought that this was just some ghosts.

Kim (as Blaire): Don’t worry about it, we are here to help. It’s very well possible that it could be ghosts that are very, very clever. And also it could be, as my colleague said, human in nature. Someone trying to impersonate spectral visitation. But, to cover all of our bases, I think that it’s best to start high and then we’ll work our way down, depending on the severity of the threat. So, we are gonna go with this is demonic in nature.

Josie: [laughs]

Rhi: Oh my God.

Kim: [laughs]

Rhi: Okay, so what is Blaire— is Blaire just trying to keep her distracted?

Kim: Yes.

Rhi: Or are you trying to get— well, you could also try and get access to parts of the building while you’re here, if you wanted to.

Kim: Ah.

Rhi: She’s just kind of listening to you with really wide eyes, and is like:

Rhi (as Cyrene): Okay. Um, well, where… wow. Demons. Okay.

Kim (as Blaire): it’s really nothing to worry about. We actually have a little bit of experience in dealing with demonic hauntings. So, it’s totally okay.

Rhi (as Cyrene): Oh. I mean, that’s… I guess that’s good to hear. I mean, it’s not good to hear that anyone’s had to deal with demons before, but it’s good to hear that you know what you’re doing. [nervous laugh] Uh, where should we start?

Kim (as Blaire): Show me… show me everything. Give me the lay of the land, show me all your entrances, exits, [mumbles] the vault if you can…

Rhi: [laughs]

Josie: [laughs] Just gonna blitz that in there.

Kim: Yeah.

Rhi: Uh, gimme a roll.

Kim: This is going to be a Sway and I’m going to push myself for it.

Rhi: Okay, you’re still in a controlled position.

Kim: Oh my God, that’s a critical.

Rhi: Shit.

Josie: [laughs] Nice.

Kim: That’s two 6s.

Rhi: Okay. So, I think that, yeah, she gives you a tour of the whole building. She’s going to explain a lot of their already existing security measures.

Kim: Okay.

Rhi: Including the vault security. There’s a pretty complex lock that requires two keys. It’s that, like, one of them is the bank manager’s and one of them… um…

Kim: We can say the assistant.

Rhi: Yeah. Yeah, I think that—

Kim: Cyrene could have it.

Rhi: Yeah. Yeah, I think it’s that the bank manager and Cyrene both have to be present with their keys to unlock the vault, and then there’s also some sparkcraft security on the vault. So, you get a really detailed run-through on how the security on this place works. What do you all wanna do next? Cause you do, you know, have to get into this vault at some point.

Josie: Yup. Can I actually request that Myra and Minx have a moment just passing around the outside of the building?

Rhi: Absolutely.

Minna: Sure.

Rhi: Let’s cut back to that.

Josie (as Minx): So, if she summons her again, what do we do? Is there anything we can do?

Minna (as Myra): I don’t know enough about demons to answer that question.

Josie (as Minx): I know they’re not really something that is traditionally killed, not except out of legend or the like.

Minna (as Myra): Well, we’re no legends. Not like that.

Josie (as Minx): Sadly, yes.

Minna (as Myra): If Setarra comes and is threatening us, I think the best we can do is run and try to get Blaire out with us.

Josie (as Minx): I suppose so. But, I mean, even if she is not coming after us, if she appears again and tries to pull Blaire away from us, what do we do? She promised she would choose us over Setarra form here on out, but Setarra won’t like that.

Minna (as Myra): I think we stand there with her.

Josie (as Minx): Alright, Well, that will have to do. And we’ll have to hope that things do not get so bad as needing her.

Minna (as Myra): Let’s not borrow trouble.

Kim (as Blaire): So, show me the outside perimeter, what does that look like, security-wise?

Rhi (as Cyrene): Uh, yes, of course. Right this way…

Josie (as Minx): Oh. I was just about to come find you.

Rhi (as Cyrene): Oh.

Josie (as Minx): What’s the update on the inside?

Kim (as Blaire): Standard security.

Josie (as Minx): I see.

Rhi (as Cyrene): I mean… I feel like it’s a little better than standard. We’ve invested quite a lot in our security—

Josie (as Minx): Yes, but we are standing outside, dear. Don’t wanna get too much detail, hmm?

Rhi (as Cyrene): Oh. Oh! Oh, right.

Josie (as Minx): You know what? It may simply be easier for me to take a look for myself. Do be a dear and show her what we are preparing out here.

Kim (as Blaire): So, back to the Clouded Wall. What they’re really known for…

[laughter]

Kim: And I think I just… [laughs]

Rhi: Yeah. Okay. So, what all is your plan for getting at the vault here?

Josie: I think in the chaos we just need to just jack the keys off these two and go for it.

Rhi: What chaos will that be?

Josie: When the explosives go off, obviously. [laughs]

Rhi: Ah, gotcha. Okay.

Josie: But I think I’m gonna go try and get mine from the bank manager.

Rhi: Okay, I see.

Kim: What do Cyrene— where is Cyrene’s key on her person? What does that look like?

Rhi: On a critical, she would have shown you that.

Kim: [laughs]

Rhi: She has it a chain around her neck. Like, she kinda keeps it tucked under her shirt.

Kim: I have an idea.

Rhi: Oh no! Yes?

Kim: In order to get the key from Cyrene, I like the idea of Blaire taking a page from Minx’s book and trying to trance powder her.

Rhi: Does Blaire have trance powder on her?

Kim: That would probably be a flashback, wouldn’t it?

Minna: We can use slumber essence.

Kim: Okay, slumber essence works. Um…

Minna: We could do like, we could kinda do a double-team.

Rhi: Yeah. You could do a group action.

Kim: Would this be a group Skirmish?

Rhi: Or Prowl, because she’s not expecting you to attack her.

Kim: I like a group Prowl.

Minna: Yeah. I’m better at Prowl.

Rhi: Yeah, go ahead and make your roll.

Kim: Okay. 3.

Minna: 6.

Rhi: Okay, who was leading that?

Minna: I can lead it. I have stress to spare.

Rhi: Okay. So, you’re gonna take one point of stress, but the result is a 6.

Kim: Okay.

Rhi: So, what I’m picturing is that, like, Blaire is still rattling on cheerfully about these forgotten gods and demons and stuff, and turns so that, like, Cyrene is facing her and she has her back to Myra, and Myra just claps the rag over her face. [laughs] And then she falls to the ground.

Kim (as Blaire): I was just getting to the Leviathan Hunters.

Minna (as Myra): Seems like she got a bit bored and fell asleep in class.

Rhi: [laughs]

Kim (as Blaire): [sighs] Alright fine, let’s get the key and move. I know the way into the vault.

Josie: Blaire’s like, “Can’t relate.”

Kim: Yeah.

Rhi and Minna: [laugh]

Kim: Yeah, no, she can’t.

Josie: [laughs]

Rhi: Alright, so the two of you have your key. Let’s cut back to Minx.

Josie: Is he still up in his office?

Rhi: Yes. I think, like, you knock on the door and he says, “Come in,” and when you do he’s, like, obviously sweeping a game of solitaire off his desk.

Josie: Uh huh.

Rhi (as Bank manager): Ah, Miss Spectra. I hope you have good news for me?

Josie (as Minx): Good news and bad news. The good news is we have prevented the portal from being able to be activated. The bad news is we think there may be an attempt tonight. But we are prepared.

Rhi (as Bank manager): Alright.

Josie: And then I think I’m gonna go for trance powder to the face.

Rhi: Yeah. [laughs]

Josie: She’s gonna be like:

Josie (as Minx): Let me go over with you what we just set up.

Josie: So she reaches into her shoulder-padded coat… pocket sand! [laughs]

Rhi: Yeah, okay. Go ahead and make that roll.

Josie: Got a 5.

Rhi: Unbeknownst to Minx, this guy does a lot of recreational trance powder.

Minna: [laughs]

Josie: Oh no!

Kim: Oh noooo!

Rhi: And thus has something of a resistance built up to it. So, you hit him with what should be a pretty strong dose that would, you know, most people that you deal with just get all woozy-eyed. And he’s like, he’s a little spacey, but not as much as he should be. Like, you can’t just search him for the key and go. He’s going to be very aware that you’re doing that. So, he’s like:

Rhi (as Bank manager): Ooh. Huh. You got cheap stuff.

Josie (as Minx): Uh—

Rhi (as Bank manager): I mean, usually I like it if you’re gonna ask first, before giving me some, but…

Josie (as Minx): Apologies. I just figured we might be able to both use this tonight. You have some more?

Rhi: [laughs]

Minna: [gasps and laughs]

Josie: I’m trying to like—

Rhi: Give me a roll. Give me a roll!

Josie: I gotta try!

Kim: Oh God.

Rhi: Yeah, yeah.

Josie: If he’s not raising the alarm, I’m not gonna do it. 6.

Rhi: 6?

Kim: Oh my God.

Rhi: Oh my God.

Josie: [laughs]

Rhi: And then he does the:

Rhi (as Bank manager): Yeah, yeah…

Rhi: He, like, reaches over into his desk and—

Josie: Okay, while he’s leaning down can I just fucking clock him on the back of the head to knock him out?

Rhi: Yeah.

[laughter]

Josie: I feel like this is worth pushing myself on.

Rhi: Yeah.

Josie: I got a 5.

Rhi: I am gonna start another clock. It’s gonna be a complication. I’m gonna start a clock for somebody finds him. So, yeah. But yeah, he leans down to the drawer and you just— what do you hit him with?

Josie: I think the, like, metal head of my sword cane.

Rhi: Okay, yeah. Crack.

Josie: Thwap!

Rhi: And he faceplants onto the floor.

Josie: And I’ll search him for the key.

Rhi: Yes. He keeps his, um… so it’s on a keyring, which initially— like, he has a big keyring in his pocket. Initially you’re like, “aw crap,” and then you take it out and on each of them is pasted a little piece of paper that is labelled with what it’s for.

Josie: [laughs]

Rhi: So you’re just kinda like, “Oh, okay. Vault.” And take that one. Yeah, you both have your keys. Who is responsible for setting off the explosion?

Minna: Me?

Kim: It’s gonna be Minna, I think.

Minna: Yeah, cause I was the one doing it.

Rhi: Yeah. So, that’s gonna be Wreck.

Minna: Oh, I have no Wreck.

Rhi: Well, if you push yourself and get an assist from Blaire, you’ll have 2d6.

Minna: 4.

Rhi: Okay. So, I was gonna say I think that this is gonna be risky, because you are setting off an explosion on a bank. So, you do it. You blow up the back of the bank. So, here are your options for consequences. Either I start another clock for the Bluecoats arriving on the scene. Because, again, you blew a hole in the side of a bank. [laughs]

Josie: [laughs]

Rhi: Or guards from the bank, like, round the corner just as you do this and see you and are like, rushing you, and you’ll be in a desperate position.

Kim: I don’t like having the Bluecoats on our tails, but at the same time, the switch in position, having us be in a desperate position is also not ideal.

Rhi: You know, if you pick the guards coming around the corner, then you can say “I’m gonna resist that consequence”.

Minna: Yeah. I’ll do that.

Rhi: Okay.

Minna: What is the resistance roll?

Rhi: Insight.

Minna: Okay.

Rhi: To kinda know where the guards are at, to time this right.

Minna: I rolled a 6.

Rhi: Okay.

Minna: No stress.

Rhi: So, yeah, I think you’re about to set off the charge and then you remember, like, having observed the guards outside patrols, and you just wait. And you and Blaire do some, you know, arcane mumbo jumbo at the wall and then once they are far enough away, then you set it off. You blow the hole in the side. So, yeah, the two of you climb into the hole.

Minx, you, I think, leave the bank manager’s office, close the door behind you and start walking, and you get about five steps when you hear a “kaboom!” The people inside the bank react as one would expect when you hear an explosion. The, kind of, a lot of the staff will start to hunker down in place. The guards start moving towards the sound of the explosion. Any kind of customers inside the bank just start running out the front doors.

Josie: Right. Minx is going to do her best to remain calm, pull out a spiritbane charm and brandish it and just start barking orders at the guards like she’s in charge.

Josie (as Minx): Alright, they’re making that move. Remember that alley? You go.

Rhi: Okay. Yeah, gimme a roll.

Josie: This sounds like Command.

Rhi: I think it’s gonna be risky.

Josie: I would like to spend two stress to use my Sway instead. Kinda just counting on the false veneer of professionalism here.

Rhi: Okay, yeah, for sure.

Josie: I got a 6.

Rhi: Okay. The guards, kind of like, they slow down and like:

Rhi (as Guard): Oh, oh shit! Right! Yeah, okay. Go, go, go!

Rhi: And like, so I think that they’re kind of trying to, like, partly escort customers out but then also move to the position that you have told them about earlier.

Josie: Right. And I think I’ll just calmly walk towards the vault.

Rhi: Okay. I think that you, yeah, you reunite with Blaire and Myra at this big vault door. Yeah, you’ve got the keys. This is gonna be the smoothest goddamn score you’ve ever done. [laughs]

Josie: Uh huh.

Ki: Wow.

Rhi: Yeah. So, you have the keys, you are able to unlock it and you haul the vault door open and it is a big room full of small metal boxes. It’s just like safety deposit boxes.

Josie: Right.

Rhi: So yeah, you’re gonna have to— I think what it is, is you’re gonna have to spend some time opening stuff up to find the cash. So, I think I’m gonna have each of you give me some sort of roll to represent you doing that. Gathering the money.

Josie: Maybe a group Survey?

Rhi: Yeah, that could work.

Minna: Yeah, okay.

Rhi: Who will lead?

Kim: I am a bit high on stress, so anybody else?

Minna: I have three to spare.

Kim: Me too.

Josie: Okay. I will lead then, because I have a bit more than that.

Rhi: Alright.

Josie: I got a 3.

Kim: I also got a 3.

Rhi: Minna?

Minna: Uh… I dropped it.

[laughter]

Minna: Let’s find a more stable place to roll. 2! Really?

Kim: [gasps]

Josie: Oh no.

Minna: Oh, we’re fucked.

Kim: Oh no…

Josie: Now I only have one stress remaining.

Rhi: Okay…

Minna: You had to say. You had to say it. [laughs]

Rhi: Yeah.

Minna: About it being a smooth score.

Rhi: This is on me.  I 100% accept the blame for this. I have laid this curse upon your dice.

Josie: [laughs]

Minna: You live in the failure?

Rhi: Yeah. [laughs] I accept the failure, I live in the failure, I’ll let the failure make me better.

Minna: [through laughter] God, this is not the Campaign podcast.

Josie: [laughs]

Rhi: Do not apologize to JPC for stealing his line. You’re in this vault ripping stuff open, and you suddenly hear from the hallway leading to the vault a lot of running footsteps. And, you know, as you turn to look, you see half a dozen bank guards, weapons readied, and standing in their midst is the familiar figure of Roslyn, who works for the Dimmer Sisters.

Kim: Oh.

Josie: Oh!

Rhi: Who, just as a quick reminder, you framed for murder at the beginning of this season.

Minna: Fuck me.

Josie: Yep, we sure did do that.

Rhi: And Roslyn just sorta looks the three of you over, arches an eyebrow and says:

Rhi (as Roslyn): It’s just as I told you. They will pose as helpers and allies and then turn on you. And I’m afraid that The Magpies have acted as they always do.

Rhi: So. You’re in a desperate situation now.

Josie: Great.

Minna: [whines]

Kim: Fuck!

Rhi: [laughs] You’ve got half a dozen guards.

Josie: I have an idea. [laughs]

Rhi: Uh huh?

Josie: This is a fucking Hail Mary—

Kim: But…

Josie: Hail Mary Sway roll.

Rhi: Mm hmm?

Josie: But… okay. We were gonna frame the Umbra Hunters for this, right? And that’s who we were saying was gonna make a move on the bank?

Kim: Right.

Rhi: Yeah, yeah.

Josie: Okay. [laughs] I’m gonna immediately wheel on her and just try to put as much fury in my eyes as possible, which shouldn’t be hard given this situation. But Minx is just gonna be like:

Josie (as Minx): You bitch! You’re the one selling us out to the Umbra Hunters! You’re the one getting behind our defenses. This is ending right now.

Josie: And I’m gonna reach for my gun.

Kim: Oh my God.

Rhi: Okay, so…

Josie: She’s not exposing us, she’s the double agent trying to get us…

Rhi: Oh, okay!

Josie: Selling us out to the criminals. [laughs]

Rhi: Okay. So… okay. Yeah. You weren’t kidding about it being a Hail Mary.

Josie: [laughs] Yeah, I’m just trying to delay.

Rhi: Yeah. It’s gonna be desperate.

Minna: Can I assist?

Rhi: Yeah, yeah, absolutely.

Josie: Thank you. Cause I do not have stress to push myself.

Rhi: Yeah. Do you want a Devil’s Bargain?

Josie: What does it look like?

Rhi: Um… I think I’m just gonna give you level 1 harm, Panicked.

Josie: Sure.

Rhi: I think that’s gonna give you reduced effect on, I mean, anything where you would need to be kind of calm and focused.

Josie: Okay. I think I will take it.

Rhi: Okay.

Josie: Wow, that’s a lot of 1s. Fortunately, there’s a 5 in there. If I hadn’t taken the Devil’s Bargain…

Rhi: Yeah, yikes. Okay, you do it but there’s a consequence. This is interesting. So, they believe you, they believe that Roslyn is the one who’s the turncoat or the double agent… but there’s a serious consequence.

Kim: I have an idea for a consequence.

Rhi: Yeah?

Kim: The sigil on the outside of the building could wake up.

Josie: So, it was intended to be fake, but it does something?

Kim: Anyway, yeah.

Minna: I mean, that’s always a risk, because nobody can know everything.

Josie: That’s cool.

Rhi: Yeah.

Minna: I like it.

Josie: I like that one.

Rhi: Yeah. Okay, so what is— I mean, what does it do, Kim?

Kim: [giggles] Okay, I like to imagine that, for whatever reason, maybe somebody tampered with it without looking, maybe there’s a little bit of weather outside, something changes the sigil, and… probably not demonic, but probably, I would imagine, something related to a forgotten god.

Rhi: You’re gonna— cause you said you based it on a thing you use to summon Setarra, but not exactly. So, it’s definitely gonna summon something. Cause I feel like, the difficulty with this, like, you do it, is because you also are standing in a vault with crowbarred open safe deposit boxes while holding crowbars.

Josie: [laughs] Right.

Rhi: So, I think that they believe that Roslyn has sold you out. I think that they’re probably not sold on the fact that you’re, like— I think that they’re just like, “no, you’re also still stealing”. So, they’re not, like, they’re kind of returning their attention to Roslyn. They’re not quite sure what to do. And then…

Josie: Tentacles.

Kim: No, I wanna stick with the blood theme. I like the idea of it getting very hot.

Rhi: Oh…

Kim: Yeah.

Rhi: So, there’s these things.

Kim: Uh huh?

Josie: Uh huh…

Minna: Yes?

Rhi: Called Summoned Horrors.

Kim: Oh boy.

Josie: Oh. Great.

Rhi: [laughs] Which are basically things from other realms. So, I think… you used blood… it’s gonna be… okay. So, I think that the guards are confused and kind of looking, like, between you and Roslyn. And guns are kind of, like, some of them are kinda turning their guns on Roslyn, they’re not sure where to go. And then, kind of between your two groups, the wall smashes inward. Just explodes in.

At first, you can’t really like, tell that anything’s there, because there’s a pile of rubble. But then, some of the rock and stone that had fallen when the vault had caved in, or when the wall had caved in, starts to shift and pulls itself up into not a humanoid shape, it’s just sort of a mobile, swirling mass of rock and stone. But instead of being surrounded by dust, it is surrounded by these, like, deep red, very tiny crystals that are kind of glinting in the light. It’s a blood red color, it looks almost like it’s flash-frozen blood. And so, this is now in the room with you. [laughs]

Kim: [giggles] I did this.

Josie and Rhi: [laugh]

Rhi: Yeah, so Minx? [laughs] Once again, some supernatural bullshit is going down.

Josie: I think Minx was wheeled around and pointing at Roslyn, but her eyes just kinda wide and her finger kind of wilts and is like:

Josie (as Minx): [high-pitched] Blaire, what do we do?

Kim (as Blaire): I don’t know… we can always make friends with it?

Rhi: Minx and Myra. This is horrifying and a little bit brain-breaking, so I am going to need both of you to make Resolve resistance rolls. You can choose to not make the roll, and then you will either freeze up or flee in the face of this.

Josie: I like that Minx just freezes up.

Rhi: Okay. Myra?

Minna: If I get a crit on a Resolve roll, what happens?

Rhi: Oh my God. On a resistance roll? You don’t take— you actually, you take no stress and you clear one stress.

Minna: Nice.

Rhi: Myra see— so this horrible monster made of stone and frozen blood shards bursts through the wall like a demonic Kool-Aid man—

Kim: [laughs]

Josie: Oh yeah!

Minna: [delighted squeal]

Rhi: Minx responds like a normal fucking person and freezes up in terror, Blaire is like, “Oh, that’s cool,” what is Myra’s rationale for not losing her shit here?

Minna: Or in fact gaining back some shit. [laughs]

Rhi: Yeah, yeah, for being like, “Oh, okay. This is fine. I can deal with this.” What’s going on in Myra’s head that’s she’s able to keep her—

Minna: It’s not Setarra.

[laughter]

Minna: This could be helpful.

Kim: The bar is so low!

Rhi: [laughs]

Minna: “I’m so glad it’s not Setarra,” and then, “we can use this.”

Rhi: Yeah. I’m gonna make a quick fortune roll to see how everyone else in the doorway reacts. Roslyn, like Blaire, has that sort of iron will thing where she is— she’s startled by this development, but she’s not terrified. The guards, on the other hand, I’m basically making this roll to determine— I said there were six. So, I’m gonna make a roll to find out how many of them just run, and the rest are frozen in shock. I rolled a 6. They all fucking book it.

Kim: Oh my God, yes.

Josie: [laughs]

Rhi: Like, they’re starting to run away, you’ve got this swirling mass of stone and blood shards in front of you, and you have no idea what this thing is going to do. It does not have a humanoid form, it does not have a face, it’s not speaking. You cannot read any sort of intent from it. But it’s here and it’s moving into the space, like into the vault.

Kim: I can talk to it.

Rhi: Yeah. Yeah. Uh… Blaire?

Kim: For the listeners at home, I have an ability on my character sheet that is Ghost Voice. “You know the secret method to interact with a ghost or demon as if it were a normal human, regardless of how wild or feral it appears.” So, I am going to try Consorting with this fella, and I think I wanna roll first before I see what happens.

Rhi: I think it has to be desperate.

Kim: Okay.

Rhi: But you’re gonna be at greater effect.

Kim: Okay, that’s a 3 and a 6.

Rhi: What do you say?

Kim (as Blaire): Hi… I know that you just woke up. And yeah, you’re probably a bit groggy. But these bitches behind me? They’re getting in our way. And I can help you. I can help you get back to wherever it was that you were going. So… deal?

Rhi: So, the swirling stone and blood cloud shifts. Some of the rocks kind of shift around and move. And the cloud of blood crystals sort of stretches out from it and, like swirls around Blaire. And, like, they look like they should be sharp. Blaire, I think you kinda tense up for a second, cause you expect that it’s gonna start cutting into you.

Kim: Right.

Rhi: You know like when you’re in a car and it’s hailing a little bit? It feels the way that that sounds.

Kim: Okay.

Rhi: [laughs]

Kim: I can kind… I follow.

Rhi: Yeah. So, it’s not painful, but it’s a lot of little, like, boop-boop-boop-boop all over and it’s just kind of like, a little over-stimulating and a little much. So, it does that at you for a second, and then it withdraws the cloud and is gonna rush through the door. And Roslyn sees it coming and also books it. [laughs] And I think that you hear, like, stone smashing into stuff and screaming from down the hall.

Josie: Minx slowly turns her head towards Blaire.

Kim (as Blaire): No, Rocky’s a friend.

Josie (as Minx): Oh… okay…. Rocky. You know what? Boxes. Boxes full of money. That’s what I know.

Rhi: [laughs]

Minna (as Myra): Boxes full of so much money.

Josie (as Minx): Everyone grab some boxes.

Rhi: So, here’s my question. Did somebody arrange for a getaway driver?

Josie: I had a thought that how Myra’s haunting was able to happen earlier is that there was, like, a disused secret passage nearby.

Rhi: You do still have, from way back when you were Shadows, you do still have those underground maps and secret passages and all that.

Minna: Yeah.

Josie: Exactly, that’s what I was thinking.

Rhi: Yeah. So, in that case, that’s not even gonna be a flashback. You just know where there’s a secret passage. The thing is, so, the amount of gold you can carry is limited by your load. One coin equals one load.

Minna: What if we have, like, a cart down in that secret passage ready?

Rhi: Yeah. So, like, basically if you wanna get— because we had two of you with normal and one of you with heavy. If you want to get, you know, a lot of money, like enough for you to advance in Tier, you would need to make two trips.

Minna: Or could I, like, run and bring the cart while they start bringing stuff?

Rhi: Yes. Yeah, I’ll allow that.

Minna: Okay.

Rhi: And I think at this point attention is off of you very thoroughly. [laughs] No one is concerned about what is happening in the vault right now. People are concerned about the blood rock demon rampaging through the bank. So, I’m not gonna make you make any rolls. I think that Myra is able to run and grab the cart. Blaire and Minx, I think that you’re just like, ripping open safe deposit boxes and throwing the boxes in the direction of, you know, the vault door. And then, yeah, you’re able to load up this cart and get out through the hole in the wall that you exploded and get back down into that secret passage. And I think when you do finally leave, it’s like, eerily quiet in the bank.

Josie: Uh huh…

Josie (as Minx): I need to rest.

Josie: So how much coin do we get?

Rhi: Yeah.

Josie: I think… I had four load slots and then if I load that onto the cart and go back for more, I can get eight.

Rhi: You had four. Blaire, did you use any items this time?

Kim: No.

Rhi: Okay, so you have five. So, if you did two trips, you could get ten coin.

Kim: Okay. Woah.

Rhi: Myra, how many free load slots did you have left?

Minna: Four load slots.

Rhi: So, eight plus eight is… so 26 coin.

Josie: Isn’t that as much as we need to level up?

Rhi: It is. However—

Kim: It’s more than enough.

Josie: Well, how much do we need to pay off the Bluecoats?

Rhi: Cause you all are at Wanted level 3. I think it’s gonna be a question of how many Wanted levels you wanna drop. I’m gonna say that to drop one Wanted level is four coin, to drop two Wanted levels is six coin.

Josie: Here’s the thing, for levelling up, I can fill in the gap. I think we should just drop a full two Wanted levels, and then I can give six coin to us levelling up.

Rhi: You’ll just cash out twelve points of stash?

Josie: Yeah.

Rhi: So, is that— does that sound good to everybody? Is that what you wanna do?

Kim: That works for me, yeah.

Minna: Yeah.

Josie: Yeah.

Kim: Weren’t we going to give some to Lani and Roxanne to get their printing press?

Minna: Yes! I wanna do that.

Josie: So, we’re not levelling up? [laughs]

Rhi: No, you still can. Okay, so let me… um…

Rhi (as Narration): Six minutes of complex and boring math later.

Rhi: Yeah, so between the score, what Minx can contribute, and the vault, we were at 47. You lose 16 coin for your bribe and the printing press, and then another 24 to level up.

Josie: So, we can put… how much do we wanna put back in the vault from this seven?

Kim: I was gonna say, do we wanna put the whole seven in the vault?

Rhi: Or you could divvy it up, each of you takes two coin and you put one in the vault.

Josie: Yeah, let’s do that.

Minna: Okay.

Kim: I’m down with that.

Rhi: Alright, and I have officially updated your crew sheet.

Minna: We levelled up and we bought a printing press and we bribed people! This is amazing.

Rhi: Actually, yeah, this is a lot. So, for the printing press, I am gonna treat that as gaining a—

Minna: Turf.

Rhi: Yeah, a piece of turf. A claim, that’s what they’re called. So, Hagen’s clinic, I don’t think I said this last time, Hagen’s clinic counted as a piece of turf.

Minna: Publicity. I think it’s the publicity square.

Rhi: Yeah. For the printing press. So, yeah. Basically, you’ve got people in your corner now who are gonna say nice things about you when you take down criminals or rich people. Alright, so let’s get into your downtime stuff. Myra, let’s start with you.

Minna: I am going to go take over the bribe money to the Bluecoats.

Rhi: [laughs] You’re just gonna roll up, a Wanted criminal, into a Bluecoat station with just a satchel full of money.

Minna: I assume I’m let in through a side door by the guy I’ve bene talking to.

Rhi: Yeah. [laughs] I think that it’s like a storage closet next to the break room, cause the break room has too many witnesses.

Minna: Yeah.

Rhi: He walks you, like, back into there. You have over the money. He does count it out and is like:

Rhi (as Bluecoat): Alright. This is more than enough to lose some files. Pleasure doing business with you.

Minna (as Myra): Of course.

Rhi: And then will head out. And I think then you step out of this storage closet, preparing to go back out that side door.

Minna: Mm hmm…

Rhi: You turn to walk towards the exit and there is a crash as a coffee mug hits the floor, which Jeren has just dropped.

Minna: [laughs] Is this his usual station or is he, like, floating between—

Rhi: It’s not. It’s not his usual station.

Minna: Cause I wouldn’t have just rolled up there casually.

Rhi: No. No. Its not where he usually works. So, like, you’re just as shocked to see him as he is to see you. So, I think there’s like a long pause.

Minna: Myra, like, steadies herself on the wall slightly.

Minna (as Myra): Hello…

Rhi (as Jeren): What are you… what are you doing here?

Minna (as Myra): I really don’t think you wanna know that, but maybe we should talk somewhere more privately?

Rhi (as Jeren): [sighs]

Minna (as Myra): She nods her head towards the storage closet she just came out of. [laughs]

Rhi: He, like, glances around, looks down at the coffee mug, just like, throws his hands up in the air in exasperation and then will, like, angrily march into the storage closet.

Josie: [laughs]

Minna: Myra follows and closes it quietly behind them.

Rhi (as Jeren): What— why— [sighs] right. You said I didn’t wanna know. Not that that’s ever helped.

Minna (as Myra): Do you… I mean, do you wanna know? I will tell you. But it’s up to you.

Rhi (as Jeren): You know what? Yeah, I think I do.

Minna (as Myra): One of your colleagues takes bribes for losing files. I know that makes your job tougher and I’m sorry, but…

Rhi (as Jeren): Great. Yeah. Well. I don’t know if I wanted to know, I don’t know if I feel any better.

Minna (as Myra): None of this is ever gonna feel better. I’m sorry.

Rhi: I think you kind of notice that he’s— the way he’s standing, he’s keeping his weight primarily on one leg. He didn’t really seem to be limping when he was walking, but he seems to be a little bit favoring, like, his left leg.

Minna: I think Myra’s eyes visibly fall to that and then she, kinda like, swallows.

Minna (as Myra): How’s the recovery?

Rhi (as Jeren): Well, you caught me on my first week back from medical leave, that’s why I’m here. Have somebody filling in my old post and they’re sort of floating me around for a bit until they can find me a permanent place. This is a little closer to home anyway, so…

Minna (as Myra): Less walking.

Rhi (as Jeren): Trying to make it easier on me getting to work.

Minna (as Myra): For the record, I’m sorry.

Rhi: He shrugs and is like:

Rhi (as Jeren): Yeah, I know you are. [sighs] It just, that doesn’t really, uh… that doesn’t fix it.

Minna (as Myra): I know. Sorry never fixes it.

Rhi (as Jeren): I probably need to get back to my desk. But it’s good to see that you’re doing okay.

Minna (as Myra): Yeah. It’s really good to see that, too. I mean— you know what I mean.

Rhi (as Jeren): Yeah. Yeah, I know. Look, um, be careful. Alright?

Minna (as Myra): You too.

Minna: I think she, like, catches his arm lightly.

Rhi: He will stop.

Minna (as Myra): You know where to reach me if you need me. Or want to talk.

Rhi (as Jeren): Yeah, I know.

Rhi: He nods and will open the door and slip back out, and then head off down the hall.

Minna: Big sigh.

Rhi: And then she’s gonna head out?

Minna: Yeah.

Rhi: I think we kind of like, I’m picturing sort of a big panning shot across Duskwall from this station, this Bluecoat station, over to… where do we find Minx?

Josie: I think she’s just entering The Hound’s Paw to collect some mail.

Rhi: Do you wanna, like, real quick for the listeners, explain what she’s been doing for the last…?

Josie: Oh right, yeah. Minx gets home after the score and is just:

Josie (as Minx): I can’t wrap my brain around what just happened. I’m going to sleep in my room, read trashy romance novels until things seem normal again.

Rhi: [laughs]

Josie: So, she does. And now she’s feeling a little bit better.

Rhi: Yeah. Minx has decided that her first venture outside after her romance novel and nap recovery period is to get the mail. I think you all usually time your mail pickups for times when the bar isn’t super crowded, so there’s only a handful of people here. And Rigney will, kind of, you know, give you a quick nod. I think he looks a little surprised to see that you’re the one coming in picking up the mail. I don’t think that Minx has done this for a while. And kind of is like:

Rhi (as Rigney): I’ll get your notes. There was somebody here asking for you, specifically.

Josie (as Minx): Oh?

Rhi: And he points to the end of the bar, where there is a young woman, very pale skin, white-blond hair, fairly nice clothes. And she’s just kinda got her arms resting on the bar. There is an untouched cup of tea in front of her. And I think when Rigney says, you know, “somebody was asking for you,” she glances down and also kinda like, you know, looks you over. Because she also has never met you. She just knows you by reputation.

Rhi (as Woman): Minx, right?

Josie (as Minx): Uh… yes, dear. And who am I talking to?

Rhi: (as Woman): My name’s Clave. I’m an old… associate of Myra’s.

Josie (as Minx): I see. So, is this the venue we should be talking in, then?

Rhi (as Clave): Well… I’m led to understand that you do a lot of your business here, and I would like to talk business.

Josie: Minx will slowly step over to where Clave is sitting, plop the mail on the bar and politely sit.

Rhi (as Clave): I don’t know if Myra has told you much about me. If she has, I’m sure it’s not very flattering.

Josie (as Minx): Accurate.

Rhi (as Clave): [dry laugh] I suppose I should just get straight to the point. I want Salia dead and I can’t do it on my own.

Josie (as Minx): [laughs] Huh, funny. I was turning that exact same though over in my head the other day.

Rhi (as Clave): Yeah. Well, she sent Ojal after all of you. I guess… well, I saw the state that it came back in and… good job, I guess.

Josie (as Minx): It takes a bit more than that to get at us.

Rhi (as Clave): I, um… Ojal was very loyal. And she got run over by a Bluecoat carriage, and I saw what that loyalty gets a person. It gets you a slow death and your soul stuck in a crystal and…

Rhi: And her eyes kinda unfocus and, like, she sorta looks haunted.

Rhi (as Clave): If that’s what sticking around gets me, I don’t want it. And I don’t want to end up in Myra’s position either, where she’s hunting me across the city. So, I want her dead. And I need your help.

Josie (as Minx): We were already planning to do what you are asking of us.

Rhi (as Clave): Ah.

Josie (as Minx): There is no other option with a person like Salia.

Rhi (as Clave): [sighs]

Josie (as Minx): I know how hard it can be to prove good faith, so I am going to choose to believe you here, because I can’t think of many more worthy causes than sticking it Salia at the moment. But if this is a deception to get in and betray us, even if that is not your intent now, if you think you may reconsider us later, now is your chance to leave. Go back to Salia and tell her it was a bust.

Rhi (as Clave): And what happens if I do betray you? You know, same page, cards on the table, et cetera?

Josie: She’ll kind of pull up her cane a little bit.

Josie (as Minx): Then I clean you off this blade. Simple, no?

Rhi (as Clave): And probably better than what Salia would do to me if she knew about this conversation, so I’ll take my chances with you.

Josie (as Minx): Alright then. Do you have a place to stay?

Rhi (as Clave): I mean, I’m not… if I leave, she knows something’s wrong. If I stay, she doesn’t have cause to suspect me as well. And I can get you information, tell you about what she’s up to and her new friends.

Josie (as Minx): That sounds fine. And I take it we will be pulling our punches should we meet in more direct fashion?

Rhi (as Clave): I’d appreciate it, but you know, also, we’ll have to make it look convincing, right?

Josie (as Minx): Right. And you know I will have to tell Blaire and Myra about this?

Rhi (as Clave): Tell them what you like, just… there’s a reason I came to you and not to Myra.

Josie (as Minx): Yes, I imagine there are conversations that need to be had.

Rhi (as Clave): Eh, I’m perfectly fine working with you.

Josie (as Minx): Well, it’ll have to do. Are you gonna finish your tea, or do you need a drink?

Rhi: She kinda looks down at the tea like she forgot it was there and is like:

Rhi (as Clave): Uh…

Josie (as Minx): Rigney! All is forgiven if there are two free over here right now!

Rhi (as Rigney): Well, if that’s all it took…

Josie and Rhi: [laugh]

Rhi: I think he kinda winks at you and brings over two shots of something. She’ll throw back her shot.

Josie (as Minx): Well, if we’re going to be doing business, we need to have business drinks.

Rhi (as Clave): Heh. Right.

Rhi: Let’s jump over then to… Blaire.

Kim: To clear Blaire’s stress, she is going to go and catch up with The Reconciled and share her progress with her long-term project of recovering ghosts that were in the process of being turned into drugs.

Rhi: Yes. So, you make your way over to the hidden Reconciled base that you know of, knock on the door and you are let in by Lady Karina, who kinda looks a little surprised to see you and is like:

Rhi (as Lady Karina): Ah. Blaire. I don’t recall sending for you…

Kim (as Blaire): House visit. I wasn’t summoned.

Rhi (as Lady Karina): Ah.

Rhi: And I think there’s— I don’t think Blaire picks up on it necessarily, but there’s a look of, like, “Oh God…” because I think Blaire will occasionally just drop by to ramble on at them, and The Reconciled have varying levels of patience for dealing with it.

Kim: Yeah.

Rhi: So, I think there’s a like a brief moment of, “Oh no,” and then she’s like:

Rhi (as Lady Karina): Oh, oh that’s— you know, that’s wonderful. Tira, the young woman that you sent to us, or you brought to us recently, she’s been asking after you.

Kim (as Blaire): Oh, she remembers!

Rhi (as Lady Karina): Would you like to see her?

Kim (as Blaire): Yes, thank you.

Rhi (as Lady Karina): Yes, we’ve been doing some work with her to try and help her keep herself together and progress has been slow, but I think we have been making some.

Kim (as Blaire): That’s great to hear, thank you.

Rhi: And so I think she kinda leads you through, like, the main room where you normally are, back down a little bit deeper into this space. It’s still all very nice. For some of them, there are private bedrooms because they have, like, bodies that they are possessing.

Kim: Right.

Rhi: But then there is kind of a, like, a ghost room where the unbodied spirits hang out. For a lot of these ghosts, they have items that belonged to them in life, that they kind of use as anchor points. So, they don’t have their own room, but they have a shelf that has some of their stuff on it that sort of helps them maintain their memories and stuff. And so, I think you head in there and immediately Tira kind of wooshes over to you and materializes as she does so and is like:

Rhi (as Tira): Oh! Uh, Blaire, right?

Kim (as Blaire): Yes! Yes, I’m so glad you’re remembering.

Rhi (as Tira): Yes.

Rhi: And Karina is like:

Rhi (as Lady Karina): Alright, well you two have fun catching up.

Rhi: And then leaves. [laughs]

Kim: Obviously.

Rhi: She’s just like, “I don’t wanna—” Yeah.

Rhi (as Tira): Oh, thank you for bring me here. These people are… some of them are a little weird, uh, but they’ve been really helpful. Some of them went back to my dorm and they found some of my stuff.

Kim (as Blaire): Really?

Rhi (as Tira): Yeah, look, look. I got a whole shelf all to myself!

Rhi: And she points at the shelf that has, like, some books and notebooks and I think there’s, like, a pair of goggles, like safety goggles. And then just some little, like, scraps of fabric and…

Kim (as Blaire): Notes and…

Rhi: A lot of very like, sentimental things.

Kim: Yep.

Rhi (as Tira): Yeah, it took me a while to remember where I went to school and where I lived, but they were able to get some of my stuff and that kinda helped.

Kim (as Blaire): That’s so good!

Rhi (as Tira): Yeah. It’s… I kinda miss being able to go out a lot, but they’re worried that if I spend too much time out in the city that I’m gonna sorta start getting all, ooooh, weird in the head again. So, for now, I’m just kinda staying here. But I’m feeling better.

Kim (as Blaire): That’s so good. I was really worried.

Rhi (as Tira): Aww. Thanks. It’s nice to have people that worry.

Kim (as Blaire): I’d hug you if I could.

Rhi: Looks very thoughtful.

Rhi (as Tira): They keep offering to find me a body, but I think it’d have to be a dead one or I’d have to take it from somebody else, and I feel kinda weird about both of those options.

Kim (as Blaire): Well… not even a dead body that was, I dunno, died naturally or humanely?

Rhi (as Tira): I mean, yeah, just like… it wouldn’t be me, right? It wouldn’t be my body.

Kim (as Blaire): Well, nothing would be your body. Your body’s gone.

Rhi (as Tira): I know. And so, it would feel weird.

Kim (as Blaire): I get it.

Rhi (as Tira): I dunno. I mean, I’ve got a really long time to decide, cause I’m dead, right?

Kim (as Blaire): [laughs]

Rhi (as Tira): I’m not gonna get older. I’m gonna be around forever. Probably.

Kim (as Blaire): [laughs] Yes, that’s true. You have all the time in the world now.

Rhi (as Tira): Yeah. So, what have you been up to?

Rhi: And she, like, moves like she’s gonna sit and then kinda realizes that’s not a thing, and so just sorta like stands there swinging her arms.

Kim (as Blaire): Well, I’m working on a research project. I really don’t like spirit drugs, so I’m work—

Rhi (as Tira): I mean, I don’t either.

Kim (as Blaire): I know.

Rhi (as Tira): That’s messed up!

Kim (as Blaire): It’s really messed up. So, I’m working on something on how to undo that.

Rhi (as Tira): How to undo it? What do you mean?

Kim (as Blaire): How to save a ghost that’s been turned into drugs.

Rhi (as Tira): Oh… if you could do that, that would be, like, that would be wild.

Kim (as Blaire): I’m working on it. But uh…

Rhi (as Tira): Whoa…

Kim (as Blaire): Yeah. I don’t want this to keep on happening.

Rhi (as Tira): Yeah. Huh. I wonder what it’d be like to talk to somebody who’s been drugs. Like, I’ve talked to people who’ve been on drugs, but I haven’t talked to somebody who’s been drugs.

Kim (as Blaire): I imagine that they’re probably dealing with a lot of trauma, so…

Rhi (as Tira): Oh yeah, I guess that’s true.

Kim (as Blaire): Yeah. It’d probably be tough. They’d probably need a lot of time to recover.

Rhi (as Tira): We’d need to find some of their stuff. Finding stuff helps.

Kim (as Blaire): Yeah.

Rhi (as Tira): Alright, so tell me about the research.

Rhi: And I think that we’ll probably fade out on you two getting into, like, really deep alchemical nerdery.

Kim: Yeah.

Rhi: So, we will end with, actually, a little bit of a flashback. So, while Minx was still hiding in her room napping and recovering from seeing a horrible blood stone monster from beyond the veil, Myra and Blaire made their way across town up to the docks to a familiar small apartment, ring the doorbell and there’s a bright flash from under the doorframe. And after a moment, the door swings open and Lani is standing there. And she looks very surprised to see you and then smiles and waves and will kind of half-turn back into the apartment and sign something, and then Roxanne comes over. Is like:

Rhi (as Roxanne): Oh, hi! Wow, it’s been a while. What’s going on?

Minna (as Myra): Yeah. We have some good news, for a change.

Rhi (as Roxanne): Oh!

Kim (as Blaire): We have something we’d like to give you.

Rhi (as Roxanne): Oh, okay. Yeah, come on in.

Minna (as Myra): So, we have…

Minna: She pulls out from like an inner pocket somewhere a clinking bag of coin.

Minna (as Myra): This for you, with which to purchase— well, I suppose you can use it for whatever you want, but I would suggest the purchase of a printing press. It should be enough.

Rhi: Roxanne, like, takes the money and is just, like, staring at it. And they sign back and forth to each other very fast. Lani signs, like:

Rhi (as Lani): We’re not gonna ask where you got this. But thank you so much.

Rhi: And then she’s gonna go and give you each a big hug.

Kim: Aww.

Minna: [happy purr]

Rhi: And then Roxanne gives you hugs. But yeah, I think that they promise that they will do their best to make sure that people understand the good work that you are actually doing in the city.

##Outro [01.28.17]

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.

Now, I’d like to thank our stupendous Patreon backers.

David Bell, thank you.

##Blooper [01.29.35]

Rhi: Oh my goodness. I just saw the picture of Raja you posted on Twitter.

Kim: Raja?

Minna: He is lying directly behind my computer being a cutie.

Kim: I wanna see…

Rhi: What a good soft boy.

Minna: It’s on Twitter.

Kim: I’m going. I’m going.

Rhi: Look at that face.

Minna: The caption, “Help me…”

Rhi: This is probably gonna be in the blooper reel or the stinger.

Minna: What?

Rhi: Because we’re still recording.

Minna: [laughs]

Kim: Oh, Raja!

Rhi: He’s so cute.

Kim: So tired.

Minna: He’s a soft sleepy boy and he was very mad when I moved my bed because I wanted to sit against my pillow, which he’s been lying on all day.

Kim: How dare you?

Rhi: How could you? That’s his pillow.

Minna: I just sat up against him, I didn’t tell him to leave. But he was like, “Fuck you,” and moved.

Kim: Ca you boop his snoot?

Minna: You want me to boop his snoot for you?

Kim: Yay!

Minna: Oh, he woke up, eek! And now he’s sniffing my finger, it’s very cute. Aww, rubbing his face on my finger.

Rhi and Kim: Aww…

Minna: You get scritches for that.