Transcribed by Tyler (Twitter: @Tyler_MoonSage)
## Intro
Rhi: Welcome back to Duskwall. As always, thank you for joining us.
Things are, to put it mildly, very frightening and stressful right now. There’s a lot of uncertainty about what we’re facing in our hometowns and nations and around the world. I’ll be honest, it feels pretty weird to be doing normal things like putting out a podcast episode right now, but over the last few days as things in the United States and elsewhere seem to have taken a somewhat dire turn what stood out to me the most is how people are reaching out to each other. People are offering support and comfort, making deliberate efforts to forge human connection, now that we have to keep our distance from each other. I have no idea if episodes of this show can do the same, but I hope that, if nothing else, an hour or so of escapism will help a little bit.
Minna is going to tell us about this month’s Featured Charity, but I also recommend looking for places in your communities where you can donate. Food banks and homeless shelters are going to be in desperate need, and they can stretch cash donations really far, so if not our charity of the month then a charity in your town.
Minna: This month’s Featured Charity is the League of Women Voters. They have a mission to empower voters and defend democracy by working to expand voter access and fight voter suppression. They provide election guides and information for voters and help them register to vote. If you’d like to donate they can be found at lwv.org.
Rhi: Part of why this pandemic looks like it’s going to get pretty bad in the United States is because many of the people in authority are making choices that will actively make this situation worse. If you can vote by mail, please do so. If you can’t, call your local officials and ask that vote by mail be instituted, if not for the primaries then for the general election in November. Be safe, be thoughtful about your choices and how they might impact the most vulnerable around you, and be kind. Call out bigotry and hate and misinformation where you see it, of course, but most of us are just trying to get through these very scary days, so offer kindness to each other where you can.
Now then, let’s get started. Shall we?
## Story Continues [0:02:52]
Rhi: We open up in Charhollow. It is later in the night. That doesn’t really mean a lot in terms of what it looks like out here. It’s still very dark. The streetlamps are glowing. There’s a fair amount of people on the streets. We kind of move through the streets as people are either heading home or heading to work, making their way over into Coalridge for the mines that never really close. We find our way to Kellen’s, which is one of the oldest pubs in the city, dates back to when the Skovlanders who founded Doskvol had opened this place up, and on the first floor of Kellen’s it is pretty well-packed. It’s a busy night, lots of people here drinking after their shifts. There’s a couple card games going. Servers are carrying around trays of drinks.
We see the familiar face of Klyra, an old friend of Minx’s, at the bar pouring drinks, and she is pouring drinks and filling up glasses onto a tray which she slides over to a server who grunts, hoists it up onto her shoulder, and she makes her way through the bar and up a narrow back set of stairs. Gets up to the top, heads down a narrow hallway, and with her free hand raps on the door and then opens it. As she carries in the tray we see there is a large table in the middle of this room, and seated around this table is a somewhat eclectic group.
There is Bazso Baz, the leader of the Lampblacks. He is dressed in kind of his typical fashion. The Lampblacks align themselves more with the working class, so he’s got kind of the button-up work shirt, suspenders look going.
There’s also Belle Brogan who is sort of the leader of the unionization efforts here in Charhollow and Coalridge. There are a couple people posted up behind her leaning against the wall who are pretty obviously her bodyguards.
There’s also a handful of other citizens here, people that are less familiar. There’s three people that are kinda seated together that are huddled together, talking amongst themselves, looking a little suspicious of all of the rest of you.
There’s another person who is I think actually chatting with Belle, and then the last three people at this table are The magpies. This meeting, odd as it is, is the Magpies’ effort at trying to basically get Bazso those friends that Myra and Minx were so insistent that he needed, trying to get the people of the Docks to be able to defend themselves from the likes of Lord Mora and the other gangs on the Docks.
There is this group of people here. You’ve asked—basically the three people who are huddled together are some, you asked for some representatives from the Docks, and then the person who’s chatting with Belle is from the one-block square that Seeks kind of did a smaller version of what you all are hoping to do here. Seeks basically, the neighborhood around her clinic, her old clinic, they managed to kind of drive out the Bluecoats and the gangs and they just take care of themselves now. Seeks was unable to make it herself, but she sent somebody who is familiar with how things operate in her little neighborhood to kinda start talking about how to try and do that at a larger scale in the Ink Row neighborhood.
So, the drinks are set out, and I think as they’re handed out one of the people in the group from the Docks leans over towards the three of you.
Rhi (as Docks rep): Uh… I don’t really know if there’s an order to this sort of thing, but I wanted to, uh, I guess introduce myself before we got into this. I’m Stev Haig. I’m Phin’s older brother.
Minna: [gasps, squeaks with joy]
Josie: Oh—Sorry, we need to squee for a second. [laughs]
Minna: Sorry. [giggles]
Rhi: Yeah.
Josie (as Minx): Oh… It’s good to meet you.
Kim (as Blaire): Yeah…
Rhi (as Stev): Yeah. I heard The Magpies were looking for folks, so I figured I oughta show up.
Minna (as Myra): It’s so wonderful to meet you.
Rhi (as Stev): Yeah. It’s good to meet all of you. Phin asks about you in her letters sometimes, so I’m glad I’ll be able to have—
Kim (as Blaire): You’ve heard from her?
Rhi (as Stev): Yeah. Yeah, a little bit. She doesn’t get a chance to write too often. She’s on a leviathan hunter now.
Minna (as Myra): Oh wow.
Josie (as Minx): Oh. Good for her.
Minna (as Myra): I can’t imagine she loves that.
Rhi (as Stev): She’s actually doing… I think it was a little rough for her at first, from what we heard. I mean, you know Phin, you kinda gotta read between the lines.
Minna (as Myra): Yeah. [chuckles]
Josie (as Minx): Mm-hmm.
Rhi (as Stev): But uh, no, she said she’s doing pretty good in the crew. She kinda punched her way into a position of power.
Minna: [laughs]
Josie (as Minx): Yeah, that’s about right.
Minna (as Myra): That’s Phin.
Rhi: [laughs]
Rhi (as Stev): The last letter I got it sounded like they were maybe looking at promoting her on the ship, not quite an officer’s position but something a little higher up.
Kim (as Blaire): That’s great.
Rhi (as Stev): Yeah. Yeah. It seems like she’s doing pretty good. You know, I mean, I guess as good as you can be out on one of those ships.
Josie (as Minx): Right.
Rhi (as Stev): Still keeping her distance from here, though. She writes when she can.
Minna (as Myra): What about your family? Is your family doing all right?
Rhi (as Stev): Yeah. Yeah. The Bluecoats have been leaving us alone. Haven’t—I mean, you know, they haven’t been paying us any special attention, just sort of the usual.
Minna (as Myra): That’s good. I know that’s what Phin wanted.
Rhi (as Stev): Yeah, but I, uh… yeah. You all seem to be doing pretty good. I mean…
Rhi: He kinda looks around the room and then gestures.
Josie: [chuckles]
Rhi (as Stev): You’re organizing stuff like this, so… I’ll let her know, next time I get a chance to write to her.
Josie (as Minx): Well, it’s not organized yet.
Rhi (as Stev): Heh.
Minna (as Myra): Wait ‘til we see the results.
Rhi: I think at that point Bazso kind of, ahem, clears his throat.
Rhi (as Bazso): As touching as this all is, I do have some business I need to attend to tonight and I imagine I’m not the only one, so… we should probably get started.
Rhi: So, I don’t know if the three of you have any ideas about how this meeting would run. It’s not exactly that—It’s more that you three kind of brought everyone together. [laughs]
Josie: Minx has no specific ideas, but basically if there’s any sort of… if vanguard patrols need help getting set up she is volunteering for anything, like, way out in front, essentially.
Rhi: Okay. There’s a little bit of uncertainty. People go around and introduce themselves. Some of the other people that you have here, like the other representatives from the Docks are a Fiona Barker, who is a leader of the porters who move stuff around on the docks, and she has also kind of been trying to get a unionization movement going on the Docks. It’s not as successful as what Belle Brogan has been doing down here in the mines, but you know, she’s trying. Then, Emerson Miles who used to work in one of the tattoo shops on Ink Row and really is more in this for like, you know… revenge on the people who have made their life a living hell lately.
Josie: [laughs]
Rhi: Then the last person from Seeks’s neighborhood is named Leo, and they basically will talk about how they do things in that little block. I think Belle Brogan ends up taking control of the meeting. She’s an extremely charismatic person and also has a lot of experience with this sort of thing. What she says is that, you know, I think Minx maybe mentions “oh yeah, I’d be willing to help out with patrols and stuff,” and what she says is that before we get to the point of setting up patrols we need to make sure we have supplies. Weapons is gonna be a big one, making sure that the people who are gonna be doing the policing are armed, but we also are looking at electroplasm for generators and even food. She anticipates that it is possible that there may end up being a siege situation when this starts. Basically, at that point in the conversation, people start looking to the three of you [laughs] as, ah, people who can get things
Josie: Well, also, Minx is kind of dressing down and using Ellie voice
Rhi: Mm.
Minna: Hmm.
Josie: Although it’s a little more deliberate here.
Rhi: Yeah.
Josie: It’s kind of like if she shows up as her usual posh self it’s not gonna be received well. [laughs]
Rhi: Yeah.
Josie (as Minx): How much ectoplasm do you need?
Rhi (as Belle): I mean… the more the merrier. You know, if we don’t use it we can sell it or stockpile it for the future, but really as much as we could get. Same with food. Same with weapons.
Josie (as Minx): Judging by the looks we’re getting, the ectoplasm is gonna be our job.
Rhi (as Belle): You’re welcome to get whatever you’d like, but if that’s what you all would like to be responsible for, I think we’ve got some connections with some of the folks in Barrowcleft, we can probably get food. The weapons are gonna be trickier.
Rhi: I think at that point Bazso’s like:
Rhi (as Bazso): I can get weapons.
[chuckling]
Josie (as Minx): Yeah, I figured. At least we won’t want for medicine.
Rhi: Yeah. Leo kind of nods.
Rhi (as Leo): Seeks already has started setting some things aside, supplies and the like, and if need be can send a couple physickers up here to help.
Josie (as Minx): Excellent. So, I think we need to get planning on where to get the ectoplasm from.
Rhi: Last time you all were gonna, you did have to steal some electroplasm for Lord Scurlock last season, you took it from the lightning barriers.
Minna: Mm-hmm.
Rhi: Probably gonna be tough to pull something like that off again.
Josie: Mm-hmm.
Rhi: So, if that’s the thing you all wanna focus on…?
Josie: Yeah, I think so.
Kim: Yeah.
Rhi: Okay. Yeah.
Josie: It’s gonna be the most dangerous and hardest to get, so I figure the gang that does… the crew that does that should do that. [laughs]
Rhi: [laughs] Yeah, that makes sense.
Minna: We did start out life as thieves.
Rhi: Yeah, I think the meeting will break up, and as the three of you are heading out Bazso calls after you and will catch up with you just outside of Kellen’s.
Josie (as Minx): Oh?
Josie: Minx is already doing her hair up again now that she’s out of there.
Rhi: I think he just kind of notes that and rolls his eyes really theatrically, and then addressing the group is like:
Rhi (as Bazso): Uh… I don’t know if this is helpful to you, but since you, uh… I know you’re dealing with some kind of bullshit with the Circle of Flame, I had some conversation with the traitors in my midst before their untimely demises, and they had made contact with the Umbra Hunters who put them in touch with that Lord Mora fucker, and basically he cut a deal with them that if they killed me and then pulled the gang out of the Docks he was gonna get them some extra funding.
Minna (as Myra): Playing dirty, I see.
Rhi (as Bazso): Yeah. Now, I couldn’t tell, people were not consistent in their answers as to if they reached out to the Umbra Hunters or the Umbra Hunters reached out to them, I’m not sure what direction that came from I don’t know if it matters, but I figured it might be good to know that he’s getting a little more underhanded I guess.
Josie (as Minx): That is good to know, Bazso. Thank you.
Rhi (as Bazso): Yeah…
Josie (as Minx): Although fortunately the Circle and the Hunters may be on the outs.
Rhi (as Bazso): Here’s hoping. You seem to be lacking for ambition these days.
Josie (as Minx): Heh. I don’t know if we’re lacking ambition, just personal ambition. This is way harder than getting rich quick, Bazso. [laughs]
Rhi (as Bazso): Yeah… Yeah, it is. I guess we’ll see if it’s worth it.
Rhi: He tips his cap and strolls off into the night.
Josie: Minx will give a little salute.
[chuckling]
Rhi: All right. The task laid before you then is to steal and transport a large amount of electroplasm from somewhere in the city up to the old Ink Row district in the Docks. I think Fiona Barker, that porter and new unionizer, is at the moment acting as the leadership in the Docks, so she has the basement of a warehouse that she cleared out where as all these supplies are gathered people can stash stuff there. That’s your end goal, to put a whole bunch of electroplasm in that basement.
Josie: I see.
Rhi: You just have to get it from somewhere and get it to that basement without blowing the location of where things are being stashed.
Josie: We need to steal electroplasm and transport it, so I say we steal an electroplasm transport.
Kim: Huh… That could work.
[laughter]
Minna: Yeah…
Rhi: Yeah. I mean, yeah. [laughs] It’s simple. It’s elegant.
Josie: I’m not certain we could steal a ship…
Rhi: That would also probably be too much.
Josie: Yes, but I’m certain there are smaller transports with replaceable folk inside them.
Minna: They have to get from the Docks to other places somehow.
Rhi: Yeah, and I think in order to find out how that all works you can kinda start poking around with your Gather Info.
Josie: Yeah.
Rhi: Yeah. Who wants to do what?
Kim: I can roll a Consort for my Gather Info to see if anyone owes Blaire any favors. I doubt it, but…
Rhi: Well, do you maybe… I mean, I feel like maybe talking to The Reconciled, because a lot of them are pretty highly placed in society, and the leviathan hunters are owned exclusively by the nobility of Duskwall.
Kim: Ah, okay, yeah.
Rhi: So you could see if they have any…
Kim: I will 100% consult with them.
Rhi: Okay.
Kim: [laughs, claps] Gang.
Rhi: Yeah?
Kim: Double 1s.
Rhi: [laughs] Oh no.
Minna: Oh buddy.
Josie: Oh no.
Kim: It’s Gather Info, so it’s fine.
Rhi: Yeah, yeah, nothing…
Josie: You do not have good luck with them.
Rhi: No.
Kim: They don’t like me. [laughs]
Rhi: Some of them do… the ones who aren’t in charge. If you talk to Lady Karina… I think that in this case it’s less that she is annoyed with Blaire as that she’s just busy doing other stuff and doesn’t have a lot of time.
Kim: Yeah, I can see that.
Rhi: I know how she’s gonna play this. She is supportive, because she ,like… One of the goals of The Reconciled is to try to reduce the number of feral ghosts that are around, because feral ghosts cause a number of problems.
Kim: Right.
Rhi: You know, they’re not safe, and having this gang war and this area of the Docks that is just so highly contested and not well-maintained is causing a lot more death than there would normally be, so she’s like, this is good. She also is like hey—she doesn’t tell this to Blaire, but her motive for the information she’s gonna give you, I can use this to fuck over a rival. [laughs]
Kim: Fair.
Rhi: I will point this young, eager go-getter at some noble family I don’t care for.
Josie: [laughs]
Kim: Okay then.
Rhi: So let me try to figure out who she’s gonna aim you at… Somebody wanna give me a family name for a noble family in the city?
Kim: Sinclair.
Rhi: Okay. Have we used Sinclair for something before?
Josie: I don’t think so.
Kim: We might have.
Rhi: Well, whatever. People have the same last name. it’s fine.
Kim: Yeah.
Rhi: There’s like a million Smiths out there.
Minna: Myra Keel and Mara Keel.
Rhi: Yeah, exactly.
Josie: [laughs]
Rhi: So, she points you at the Sinclair family. They’re a more minor noble family. They only have a couple leviathan hunter ships. One of their ships is due to come into dock fairly soon, which means it’ll be coming in from Skovlan, it’ll have lots of nice, fresh, refined electroplasm in the hull that will need to be transported out. She’s not really able to give you a lot of details about how that transport will work, she can just kind of give you the date and the time about when that is supposed to come in so you have a window to aim for when it will be starting to be off-loaded off of the ship.
Kim: Okay.
Rhi: Yeah, and then she’s like… What I’m picturing is that she was leaving the Reconciled hideout, and Blaire was coming in, and they have this conversation in the hall outside the door.
Rhi (as Karina): [inhales] I have to go. There’s a carriage waiting for me. Uh, good luck!
Kim: Yeah.
Josie: [laughs]
Rhi: [laughs] And leaves.
Kim: Basically.
Rhi: Yeah. You’ve got, you know, a target at least to aim at. Myra or Minx, do you have ideas?
Josie: Didn’t Liege Greer’s wife get rich because of leviathan hunter stuff?
Rhi: I mean, yeah, all of the nobility have leviathan hunters.
Josie: Every nobility?
Rhi: Yeah. That is how you are nobility in the city, basically.
Josie: Gotcha.
Rhi: Yeah. The Evermars I think are kind of at a similar position to the Sinclairs, they only have a few ships, but that still makes you enough money to be quite well-off and considered nobility.
Josie (as Minx): What if I, or we, just had tea with the Evermars?
Minna: [uncertain hum]
Rhi: Oh, okay, find out how the business works? Okay! [laughs]
Josie: Yeah. Last time we asked them for basically pro bono help. I’m just asking for information this time.
Rhi: Okay. Yeah. I think that makes sense, just chatting with them about how, how does your business work.
Josie: Right.
Rhi: Yeah. I think you could try and do that. that sounds like consorting.
Josie: I got a 5.
Rhi: Yeah, so I think that you’re not able to meet with Lady Verona who is the one who actually kind of manages the business. That’s Greer’s wife. You do get to meet with Greer though. They are happy to see you. They’ve been down to check on the clinic a few times. They’re very pleased with how things are going.
Josie: Despite the strange sounds coming from upstairs? [laughs]
Rhi: Yeah, I mean, Seeks is more than happy to explain the work that she is doing, it’s just that nobody else really understands it. Everyone knows it involves leeches, and kelp, and some kind of what appears to maybe be blood magic, but at least it’s her blood and not the blood of the patients, so it’s an improvement.
Josie: [laughs] Yay.
Minna: [smiling] I love this situation so much.
Rhi: Yeah, so Greer’s happy to chat with you over tea. Are you doing this at their estate?
Josie: Yes.
Rhi: Okay. I think that the two of you are having tea in the drawing room and you can hear running footsteps and kids laughing upstairs.
Josie: Aww.
Rhi: And Greer is just like:
Rhi (as Greer): Their new tutor I think might not last terribly long…
Josie (as Minx): [chuckles] Oh dear.
Rhi (as Greer): Well, they’re very rambunctious and need a sort of firm… someone who’s willing to say no, and I don’t think that she is willing to say no, so… we’ll have a talk after. I’ll go talk to her after this.
Rhi: [laughs]
Josie (as Minx): I suppose we’ll see.
Rhi: So, you’re just trying to circle around to how the electroplasm business works.
Josie: Yes.
Rhi: Greer I think is a little… one, is not as directly involved in the business. They know a decent amount about it just, you know, they’ve been married for a while. I don’t remember how long I said. Ten or twelve years?
Josie: Yeah, I think it was ten.
Rhi: So like, you pick stuff up just by osmosis.
Josie: Mm-hmm.
Rhi: They’re also, like… Greer still has a little bit of discomfort with the source of their wealth. It’s not to the point where they’re gonna give it up, because they live a much more comfortable life than they did before they got married, and it’s a good life for their children, but talking about the leviathan hunters they’re a little, like, you can tell that it’s not their favorite thing to talk about.
Josie: Mm-hmm.
Rhi: But they do give you some information. Basically, when the ships come in each family has their section of the docks and they have their own staff and their own guards and whatnot, so each noble family has their own people who are responsible for coming onto the ship and getting… I’m imagining probably a lot of pipework set up, where the ship comes into dock and on either side of the dock are these big pipes that will latch onto the hull and people have to climb out there and bolt them into place and then the electroplasm is pumped out from there into big vats and barrels and stuff, and then those are loaded onto wagons and the like. I was gonna say trucks and I’m like no, they’re not there yet. [chuckles]
Josie: [chuckles]
Rhi: Loaded up onto wagons. Sometimes loaded onto barges if it’s gonna be moved along the river, if they have a large amount that they’re trying to move along the river traffic. The whole process usually takes, to load up a wagon, I would say usually takes a few hours, and then, you know, the wagons head off. The wagons do not move very quickly because they are laden with very heavy barrels of electroplasm, and as a result they tend to be pretty heavily guarded.
Josie: Right.
Rhi: Since you’ve got this slow-moving target. You’re not the only people who have thought that hey, stealing an electroplasm wagon is a good idea.
Josie: Uh-huh, but what about those barges though?
Rhi: The barges are gonna be laden with a lot more electroplasm, and also pretty heavily guarded, slow-moving. Those are the ones that are usually heading out to the lightning barriers, because it’s just massive amounts of the stuff. The stuff that’s moving throughout the city tends to be more for private use, commercial use, that sort of thing.
Josie: Right. Okay, okay. A plan is coming together.
Rhi: [laughs] Any other questions you wanna ask about that?
Josie: No. I think Minx just wants to have a nice tea with Liege Greer.
Rhi: Yeah! Yeah. I think it’s generally a pretty nice time. I think it does get cut short because there’s the sound of something breaking upstairs, and Greer is like:
Rhi (as Greer): Okay! I’m sorry. I have to go.
Rhi: [laughs]
Josie (as Minx): I understand completely.
Rhi (as Greer): I need to go deal with my children, and their tutor, and… I just wanted a break. [exhales] Okay! Sorry. I’ll see you another time.
Rhi: And will see you to the door and then rush off to the stairs. [laughs]
Josie: [laughs]
Rhi: Myra, what do you wanna do to investigate this situation?
Minna: What is the plan that Minx has coming together?
Josie: I think if we are subtle enough and consult the Gondoliers and the knowledge we have of the under-passages of the city, we could simply siphon a couple barrels off barges that come by a certain stop…
Minna: [laughs]
Josie: …and maybe that barge regularly just stops there for a second, and then keeps going under a bridge.
Rhi: Offload barrels to the Gondoliers?
Josie: Yeah, or if we can get close enough, off into a catacomb entrance and then you roll it.
Minna: [smiling] Okay. So I think I’m gonna talk to the Gondoliers and see if they know the places where their routes intersect with those carts.
Rhi: Yeah. Yeah.
Minna: I think that’s a Consort, right?
Rhi: Yeah.
Minna: That’s a critical.
Rhi: Good lord.
Minna: I’m rolling four dice plus an extra one for Gathering Info.
Rhi: Yeah. Yeah, Jesus. I think you head over to Gondoliers HQ and start chatting with them, and I think similar to the response that Blaire got from Lady Karina, when you explain this plan to the Gondoliers they’re like yes, this is awesome, except they don’t have an ulterior motive and they actually want to help you. [chuckles] So the Gondoliers are like this is great, we love everything about this, we will definitely help. I think what you get is not only are they able to tell you where these barges pass by but they are willing to set up obstacles to slow them down.
Minna: [laughs]
Rhi: Because I don’t think that the barges—The way that I’m thinking of the barges is that, like, you know, they’re pretty big, and it would be, like, if you’re in a city with a river in it and a big ship is coming through and the bridges go up, it stops traffic, similarly I think these barges just stop water traffic. Like, the Gondoliers or whoever else are just, you gotta move off to the side and wait, or it’s like if you’re driving and a train is going by. That’s probably a better example. You just have to wait for this thing to get out of your way. They don’t typically stop very much, but the Gondoliers are gonna be willing to arrange for a few pauses along a route.
Josie: Hmm.
Rhi: They can’t do a ton, because then they will end up getting into trouble, but they can arrange for some points along the route where the barge will stop and you all can, however you want to, offload some of these barrels.
Josie: Mm-hmm. What is the timeframe for getting the ectoplasm?
Rhi: Oh, up to the Docks you mean, for Ink Row?
Josie: Yeah.
Rhi: There’s not really a set deadline, but the general feeling in the meeting was the sooner we can get everything together the sooner we can move on this and the sooner Bazso is able to get some breathing room. They can start pushing back on some of the other gangs. There’s not a solid deadline, but you also don’t have forever.
Josie: Right. If this is a regular occurrence we don’t need to take all that is necessary from one barge. That would be kind of rough, right?
Rhi: I think that what you get is that the Gondoliers aren’t really able, they’re not gonna be able to do this thing where they can get in and slow the barges down or stop them or get in close to help you offload the barrels more than one.
Josie: Okay.
Rhi: Maybe later on somebody could come in with their own little rowboat and nick a couple barrels and then leave, but I think that the Gondoliers are like, we can help you get a fair amount in one go.
Josie: Gotcha.
Rhi: Yeah. I like this plan. You’re stealing gasoline, basically. [laughs]
Josie: Yay.
Kim: If you see a car with this sticker it means you’re legally allowed to siphon its gas.
Josie: Sucking that gas. I love that.
Rhi: [laughs]
Kim: That’s a good one.
Rhi: But yeah, any other prep stuff y’all wanna do?
Kim: No.
Josie: Eh, we have retroactive mechanics, let’s go for it.
Rhi: Yeah. This is gonna be a 3d6 engagement roll. Huh…
Kim: I don’t like that.
Josie: Uh-oh.
Rhi: Three 3s.
Kim: Hmm.
Rhi: [laughs] Huh?!
Kim: I think the dice missed us.
Rhi: Um… Okay, okay. So you’re gonna be starting in a desperate position.
Kim: Why?
Rhi: Because the dice have spoken, and I apologize?
Josie: [laughs]
Rhi: I didn’t do it. It was the dice.
## Score [0:34:40]
Rhi: How do you think you… Tell me about how you get onto the barge, which I’m imagining this is like, it’s big. It is a big, big, big barge with these massive, massive vats, or closed big containers of electroplasm.
Josie: I think we’re maybe already on the canal in a boat near where we want to make it happen, and you know, we just pull off to the side of the road like any…
Rhi: Yeah, like you’re supposed to.
Josie: …any car with sirens behind it, yeah, and just wait for it to roll right past us until we’re at the point where we want to climb on.
Rhi: I’m guessing probably more towards the back.
Josie: Mm-hmm.
Rhi: So yeah, I think that one of the Gondoliers will bring you up alongside of it. You all hop on. They give you a wave as they’re pulling away. It seems to be going pretty good at first, you’re sneaking around examining the situation, and then you… What do I wanna have here?
Josie: [coughs] Apprentices.
Rhi: Huh?
Josie: [coughs more deliberately] Apprentices.
Rhi: Huh…
Josie: [laughs]
Rhi: I mean, I did say… yeah. Okay. Thank you for helping with that. [laughs]
Josie: Woo!
Rhi: So, you’re sneaking around, you’re casing out the joint, kinda figuring out where things are. None of you have ever been on one of these barges before. I think the three of you come around a turn between two of the large vats of electroplasm, and as you do that, standing in front of you is Clave backed by a pair of Umbra Hunters.
Minna: Huh!
Josie: Oh!
Rhi: And then behind you, so you all are kinda flanked, Wester steps in also with, I think he has three guards with him.
Josie: Is he visibly wounded from our last encounter?
Rhi: I mean, he got kneed in the balls real bad.
Josie: Well, remember, I also had a long one-on-one fight with him that ended up with his bloody handprint on my… [laughs]
Rhi: That’s right! I forgot about… You fought him when you were rescuing Myra. I forgot about that. You’re correct. Yeah, I think he’s got a scar that comes up from under the collar of his shirt and goes up his neck, almost to his jawline.
Josie: Mm-hmm.
Rhi: I imagine a lot of the other scars are probably hidden under his clothes, but he’s got that visible from where you just kinda slashed him one.
Josie: I like to think we’re in mid-sneaking pose—
Rhi: [laughing] yeah, exactly, and they’re just, step out, boxing you in.
Josie: So Minx just kind of looks to both sides, straightens up, and is like:
Josie (as Minx): Well, plus side, I’ll be able to finish this one off today.
Josie: She says, pointing at Wester.
Rhi: He just gives you a big, toothy grin.
Rhi (as Wester): Funny. That’s what I was thinking.
Josie: Have they made aggressive motion besides blocking us off?
Rhi: They’re all holding various bladed weapons…
Josie: Okay. Good to know they’re all bladed and not gunpowder. I think Minx is just gonna say:
Josie (as Minx): So how dramatic do we wanna make this?
Kim (as Blaire): I mean, have you met us?
Josie (as Minx): I mean, I’m just trying to make sure everyone’s on the same page, because we could do the Circle thing with a one-on-one duel, or you could haul us off somewhere. You haven’t raised the alarm yet, so I assume you want something.
Rhi: I think one of the Umbra Hunters is gonna throw a knife at you. [laughs]
Josie: Okay. [laughs] Blast.
Rhi: So, I’m gonna need you to roll a resistance. Prowess, I believe, is gonna be…
Josie: Yep, sure is.
Rhi: Or you’re gonna take harm.
Josie: I got a 6, so don’t I heal a stress? Oh no, I didn’t get a critical.
Rhi: No, only if you get a critical, but yeah, tell me how you evade the harm altogether.
Josie: I think I was kinda just generally pointing at the group and turned, like “oh, but that must mean you want something.” The guy throws a knife and I just pull my hand back, like [yelps], and it stabs into the wall.
Rhi: Yeah. Okay, yeah, they’re starting to move in on you at this point. Violence is imminent. What are y’all gonna do?
Josie: I has sword.
Minna: [squirms nervously]
Rhi: Has Minx told Myra and/or Blaire about her arrangement with Clave?
Josie: I think she’s told them she found an informant. She hasn’t had an opportunity to tell Myra yet, because that’s kind of a heavy conversation.
Rhi: Waiting for the right time, and now Clave is here, with a sword.
Josie: Yes.
Rhi: All right. Minx is going for some stabbins?
Josie: yes.
Rhi: Okay. Who are you stabbins?
Josie: Um… shit. I really wanna kill Wester, but also it would be smart for me to go towards the ones behind Clave. Hmm… Yeah, I think I’m gonna stab one of the ones attending to Clave.
Rhi: Okay. Go ahead and roll that. You are still in a desperate situation.
Josie: Oh yay, xp.
Rhi: Heh, so yeah, mark that.
Josie: Critical.
Rhi: Jesus. Uh…
Josie: Four dots is nice.
Rhi: Yeah… You will take out one of them just flat out.
Josie: Yeah. I think he’s advancing towards me, but I just drop low, kick his feet out from under him, and as I’m rising and he’s falling I just cut his neck.
Rhi: Oof. Okay. So he’s bleeding out.
Josie: Mm-hmm.
Rhi: What are Myra and Blaire doing?
Kim: You know what, let’s go with the throwing knives again, because that’s always fun.
Rhi: Yeah.
Kim: I’m just gonna, you know, ninja star these people.
Rhi: Who are you aiming at?
Kim: Whoever’s standing.
Rhi: There’s four guards, Clave, and Wester.
Kim: I’m gonna aim for Wester.
Rhi: Okay.
Kim: Does Finesse make sense for this?
Rhi: Um… I don’t think you have enough distance for Finesse. I think this is more a Skirmish situation.
Kim: Cool. I’ll push myself.
Rhi: Okay.
Kim: And this is desperate, right?
Rhi: Uh-huh.
Kim: Double 4s?
Rhi: Okay! You do it, but there’s a consequence. Let me—Okay. Well… Hmm. Something just occurred to me with Josie’s roll. I think you actually need to not kill your guy, Josie.
Josie: Why is that?
Rhi: Because that sets off the death bell.
Minna: Mm-hmm.
Kim: Oh shit, that’s right.
Josie: Oh!
Minna: We’re in Duskwall.
Kim: We have that.
Josie: Yeah. I think maybe then I drop low and just… He might die later, because I’m slicing the back of his thighs, but… [laughs]
Rhi: Yeah. He’s not gonna die right now. Unfortunately, the reason that this occurred to me, is Blaire does kill the guy she throws the throwing knife at.
Josie: I see.
Rhi: Well, you were aiming at Wester, right?
Kim: Yes. Yeah.
Rhi: I think, since you got a 4, Wester dodges out of the way and the guard standing right behind him takes the knife in the throat and collapses.
Kim: Ooh, whoopsie. Heh.
Rhi: I think there’s kind of this moment where everyone freezes, and looks, and he falls and is gurgling and clutching at his throat and then goes still, and there’s this long silent pause… that is broken by the distant clang of the death bell.
Kim: [exhales] This is what we in the industry call a whoopsie.
Rhi: [laughs] Starting a clock for Spirit Wardens Arrive.
Kim: No!
Minna: Mmm…
Rhi: Let me think… You’re on the river, so they’re gonna have a slightly harder time getting to you, so I’m gonna say you’re at 1 out of 8.
Kim: I don’t like experiencing consequences to my actions.
[laughter]
Rhi: Well, then you should have played a different game, because that is the core mechanic of this one. Myra, what are you doing now in this situation?
Minna: [deflating nervous exhale]
Rhi: You’ve got your old buddies here.
Minna: Yeah, don’t like it.
Rhi: No. Well, the gang isn’t all here, they didn’t bring Ojal.
Minna: Thank God, frankly.
Rhi: Yeah. [laughs]
Minna: Yeah, I’m gonna close and I think try and take out Wester.
Rhi: Okay.
Minna: And by take out I mean I’m going in with the baton.
Rhi: Okay. You’re attacking not to kill.
Minna: Yeah. I’m gonna roll my Skirmish…
Rhi: So, I will say, let me… you’ve taken out two guards. There were five, so you’re down to… This is still a desperate position for you all, and you’re at standard effect.
Minna: I will push myself.
Rhi: Okay.
Minna: Ugh, that’s a 5.
Rhi: Okay! I think I’m gonna say that you have reduced effect. Wester sees you coming and brings up his own blade to block, and I think you’re basically like… I think you manage to get some taps in on him.
Minna: Can I–?
Rhi: Yeah? Go ahead.
Minna: I think I know, actually. He brings his blade up and catches my baton with it, but I am able to get him with some kicks type situation.
Rhi: Okay, yeah. [laughs] It’s that thing where you’ve crossed weapons and are staring at each other dramatically and you just kick him in the shins.
Minna: yeah, I mean, I’m not here to play, I’m not here to fight nicely.
Rhi: No, you’re here to win. So yeah, reduced effect. You hurt him, getting kicked in the shins hurts, but he’s not out of the fight. All right, who is next?
Josie: Well, someone has been killed.
Rhi: Yes.
Josie: Spirit Wardens are coming anyway.
Rhi: [laughing] Oh no! Josie!
Kim: Ohh… Josie, no, don’t do this…
Josie: Well no, this isn’t a roll to kill someone.
Rhi: Uh-huh?
Kim: But?
Josie: Where spatially is Clave?
Rhi: She’s fairly close to you, because you went after one of the guards on her.
Josie: Mm-hmm. There’s not really a way to make this stealthy, so I’m gonna kinda just count on the fact that there’s a bunch of chaos happening. As I move to lock blades with the other guy my roll is gonna be a Sway.
Minna: [delighted laugh]
Rhi: Okay?
Josie: To whisper to Clave.
Josie (as Minx): They don’t need to live to tell the tale.
Rhi: [laughs] Okay. That’s still gonna be desperate, standard effect. Well, let me think. I think it’s actually gonna be reduced effect because of Clave’s sort of inner logic on the situation.
Josie: Right. Can I push myself to standard effect?
Rhi: Yes.
Josie: I got a 5.
Rhi: Okay. I think you whisper that. I’m imagining that you whisper that as you move past Clave, and she sort of turns with you, and I think you sort of…
Josie: Aw, but can she not turn with me?
Rhi: Oh, yeah.
Josie: Because then we can get the dramatic passing by each other, talking while facing different directions.
Rhi: Yeah. I think there’s a moment though where you lock eyes and she is very hesitant, like you can see in her eyes she’s just kinda like, that there’s a lot of doubt there, but she gives you the barest fraction of a nod.
Josie: Yay.
Rhi: Unfortunately, because you got a 5, there is a consequence, and that consequence is that while you’re having this locked eyes split second your guard is down and the other guard stabs you.
Josie: Oh heavens!
Rhi: Yeah. [laughs, surprised yelp]
Josie: I distracted myself!
Rhi: You’re gonna take level 2 harm, Stabbed in the Ribs.
Josie: I think it’s actually better for me to take the harm here. [laughs]
Rhi: Okay. Yeah, I was gonna say, I think you’re getting up there on stress.
Josie: I’m stabbed {pronounced stabbid}.
Rhi: Okay. SO yeah, you’re gonna be at -1 die on, I mean, you got stabbed in the ribs so a lot of your physical stuff you’re gonna be at -1.
Josie: Right.
Rhi: Yeah, but… I will say, how Clave’s assistance will manifest is not necessarily gonna be her dramatically turning.
Josie: Right.
Rhi: I am gonna take that into account, it just might not be immediately obvious. I just wanna put that out there.
Josie: Okay!
Rhi: Yeah. [laughs] Because she’s still kind of like, I see where your head’s at, but there’s a chance that we don’t kill anyone and I need to maintain my cover, so she’s gonna play it subtle for the moment.
Josie: Gotcha.
Rhi: So Myra or Blaire, what do you wanna do?
Kim: I can mark off my lightning hooks and give zapping a go. Is that Skirmish again?
Rhi: Yes.
Kim: I’m not a fight girl. This is desperate again, right?
Rhi: No, risky, you’re in risky.
Kim: Ah. Okay.
Rhi: Actually for you, because they’re fine lightning hooks, it’s gonna be greater effect.
Kim: Oh, dope. [snaps] One!
Minna: [gasps] Buddy…
Rhi: [laughs]
Josie: [groans]
Rhi: Okay, so when you said you were gonna use the lightning hooks the first thing that came to my mind was what happens with lightning hooks near big vats of electroplasm.
Kim: Hmm. Good point.
Josie: Oh dear.
Kim: Good point.
Rhi: So, you pop out your lightning hooks, you flip them on, because they’ve got little electroplasm power packs on them, and they spark to life. You swing at one of the guards and she dodges out of the way, and your swing keeps going… and I think hooks into the side of one of the vats of electroplasm.
Kim: That’s what we in the industry call another whoopsie.
Rhi: [laughs] And the lightning crackles out over the side of the tank, and I think you jerk your hook back very quickly, and like… the lightning hooks are not like, the hook part of it isn’t really that sharp because that’s not how you use the weapon, but it does have a little bit of a point to it, and there’s just a… you can see this little crack, and there’s this slow drop of electroplasm forming, and we’re gonna start a second clock…
Kim: Yeah?
Rhi: …called Ghost Hoard Arrives, 1 out of 4.
Minna: Oh!
Rhi: You have just opened up a buffet.
Minna: Nooo!
Kim: Yeah… Yeah.
Rhi: A bunch of hungry ghosts are going to descend and start to feed in rather short order unless you can do something about this situation.
Kim: [pinched] Cool. Cool. This is fine. Love it.
Josie: Everything’s good.
Kim: Everything is awesome…
Rhi: [chuckling] Myra, what would you like to do?
Minna: Uh… Wester.
Rhi: Yeah, gonna keep going after him?
Minna: Yeah. What’s a Devil’s Bargain look like?
Rhi: Ooh. Hmm. Spirit Wardens are getting closer. I’m gonna tick that clock up another 2.
Minna: Honestly, given the other clock, yeah, because they’ll have a distraction I’m sure.
Rhi: Okay. Yeah. [laughs] If you just wait long enough they’ll both arrive at the same time and fight each other. Spirit Wardens Arrive is now at 3 out of 8.
Minna: That’s a 4. What I was going to try to do is knock Wester off the boat.
Rhi: On a 4, you do it but there’s a consequence. You are trying to just knock him off the side?
Minna: Mm-hmm. Do I get knocked off too?
Rhi: Yeah! Let’s go with that.
Minna: [laughs]
Rhi: You shove him off, but as he’s falling he grabs you and drags you down with him.
Minna: Yup. Mm-hmm. Ugh! [laughs]
Rhi: So you have both fallen into the river. Sploosh!
Minna (as Myra): [coughs] God damn you, Wester!
Rhi: [laughing] He’s also kind of flailing to get himself up out of the river. And yeah, so… I think—I’m gonna make a fortune roll real quick. Minx, you see Clave’s eyes dart to the side when Wester goes over the side.
Josie: Mm-hmm.
Rhi: She looks towards where he fell and then looks towards the other guards, and for a second you think that she’s gonna turn and start attacking the other guards, but she doesn’t.
Josie: But she’s thinking about it?
Rhi: I think what she actually does is she disengages from the combat area entirely and is gonna run over and reach out a hand over the water as if she’s going to help Wester.
Josie: All right.
Rhi: So, yeah, Myra’s overboard, you’ve got three guards still, Clave is no longer engaged in the fight, the death bell is still ringing, and you have a slow leak of electroplasm happening.
Josie: None of that is good, I notice.
Rhi: Nope! [laughs]
Josie: I notice that none of that is good.
Rhi: No, no it’s not.
Josie: Uh… I really wanna get Myra out of the water.
Rhi: I mean, yeah, go for it.
Josie: But then I leave Blaire with three guards.
Rhi: That is true.
Kim: Because if you don’t go after Myra I will.
Josie: Okay, in that case, am I directly engaged with one of them?
Rhi: Pretty much, yeah.
Josie: Okay. I just wanna try and kill that guy.
Rhi: Okay. Go ahead and roll, still risky, standard effect.
Josie: I got a 6.
Rhi: Okay! I don’t think that you kill him outright, but you get him out of the way. There’s shoving and stabbing and he goes down in a bloody heap, similar to the first guy that you stabbed.
Josie: Can—
Rhi: Oh. Sorry. Go ahead.
Josie: Can it be, like, I shove his blade to the side with mine and then I just slam his head into the side of the boat?
Rhi: Yeah! [laughs]
Josie: [laughs, makes echoing impact noise]
Rhi: I like that. Yeah. He’s out of commission more or less, or at least stunned for the moment, is not gonna be interfering. Blaire?
Kim: Yes?
Rhi: Did you wanna go and try and help Myra?
Kim: Yeah. What would I have to roll to, you know, get into or close to the water, hold out a hand, etcetera, etcetera?
Rhi: I’m gonna treat this as a setup move. You can go over and reach out your hand, or if you can find a rope, or if you have one you could throw her a rope and we’ll treat that as you can make a roll to do a setup action so that Myra will be in a better position to get herself out of the water.
Kim: Okay. Let me see. What would rope…
Rhi: I don’t know if rope is on your, like—
Kim: It’s not.
Rhi: Well, you know what—Hang on, let me look at a character sheet.
Kim: I think it’s part of—
Rhi: You’ve got burglary tools, right?
Kim: Do I have burglary gear…?
Rhi: Something like that.
Kim: Yes, I have burglary gear.
Minna: There’s also climbing gear.
Rhi: Either one of those would include rope. [laughs]
Kim: Yeah, I’ll go with burglary gear and toss out a rope to Myra.
Rhi: Okay. So, give me a Prowl. Prowl is kind of the catch-all physical thing.
Kim: Two!
Josie: No!
Rhi: Okay, so basically the consequence of this is that you throw the rope out and I think it catches on some debris in the water and it ends up not in a position that can help Myra.
Kim: Yeah.
Rhi: Okay. Myra. You’re in the water. What you see is Clave rushes over and holds out a hand, but she locks eyes with you, not Wester.
Minna: Oh shit.
Rhi: So you can do with that information as you like.
Minna: [under her breath] Is there some kind of insight roll? [laughs] I’ve been playing too much D&D.
Rhi: Yeah, let me…
Minna: I think it’s a narrative choice in Blades. I think this is a narrative choice.
Josie: Mm-hmm.
Rhi: Yeah, I think you can decide.
Minna: Here’s the thing, I don’t know that Myra can swim really. [giggles]
Rhi: Yeah, that makes sense.
Minna: This might be her only choice, so I think she’s going to flail over in that direction, and if Clave happens to catch her hand that’s just something that’s going to happen.
Rhi: Okay. Yeah. This will be Prowl, risky position. I’m gonna say greater effect, because though Myra may not be clear on it you are still getting some help here.
Minna: Five.
Rhi: I think that you flail over and grab onto Clave’s arm, and she is just like:
Rhi (as Clave): Ugh! Get out of the way!
Rhi: And swings you to the side, but like, you’re still on her arm, and her swinging you to the side brings you closer to the boat, so basically she swung you over so you can grab onto the thing, onto the side of the barge.
Minna: Uh-huh.
Rhi: And then she yanks her arm back.
Rhi (as Clave): Wester! Wester, come on!
Rhi: So, she’s trying to make it look like she hasn’t helped you, but she has helped you. I’ll leave it up to you if Myra can kind of pick up on what happened.
Minna: I don’t think she understands what’s happening, because this has never happened to her before. [chuckles] Clave has never willingly helped her.
Rhi: The complication is that I’m ticking up the Ghost Hoard Arrives clock. It is now at 2 out of 4.
Minna: Valid.
Rhi: Okay. Myra, you are back on the boat. You are drenched. Your clothes are ruined, because I feel like the rivers in Duskwall—
Minna: Very polluted.
Rhi: Probably have a lot in common with the river in Chicago back in the late 1800s, early 1900s, where the river would routinely just catch on fire.
Minna: Hmm!
Rhi: A chicken could walk across it.
Minna: Oh no.
Josie: What the fuck?
Rhi: It was so polluted.
Minna: Why did the chicken cross the river?
Rhi: [chuckles]
Minna: Because it could.
Rhi: Because of all the cholera.
Josie: [laughs]
Rhi: But yeah, the river is disgusting. You should probably go to Seeks after this and just get a whole bunch of shots for various things. She’ll just cover you gently in leeches, it’ll be fine.
Josie: [laughs]
Rhi: You’re back on the barge. Clave and Wester are kind of occupied with each other getting Wester out of the river. There are two guards left in action at this point, so you all can do as you like with them.
Josie: Well, I think I like the option that includes stabbing.
Rhi: Yeah. I mean, that does seem to be Minx’s primary…
Josie: hey, I tried the talky approach. [laughs]
Rhi: [laughs]
Minna: It worked-ish.
Rhi: It worked for one person in this group.
Josie: Oh, well I should have rolled one less dice on that, but it’s still a 5.
Rhi: Yeah, even if we knock off—cutting off literally any of them still gives you a 5.
Josie: Yep.
Rhi: Okay, so I think you and the guard just kinda square off for a while and you’re able to knock him out again, similar to the other one. I’m imagining at some point you flip your sword around and just clock him upside the head.
Josie: Yeah~
Rhi: But it’s time consuming, so I’m ticking up the Spirit Warden clock to 4 out of 8.
Josie: Woo.
Rhi: The last guard looks at the situation before him where one of his compatriots is dead, three of them are unconscious and bleeding, and the people who are supposedly in charge are like, you know, one of them is getting fished out of the river. He just sort of considers the situation and is gonna dodge around you as much as he can and run over to Clave, and he grabs her shoulder in very much a “we gotta go” gesture.
Josie: Okay.
Rhi: So it seems like he is trying to bail out, and Clave looks like… is agreeing with him. [laughs] Like you see a lot of nodding from her. I think that they’re grabbing Wester and pulling him out.
Josie (as Minx): All right. We need to get out the barrels now.
Rhi: Okay. Basically what happens is they pull Wester out of the water and there’s this moment where it’s a very western movie thing where there’s the two groups of three of you on either side of the screen and just this long expanse between you, and Wester dripping and covered in river gunk is going for his blade again, and I think Clave puts out her hand, just shakes her head, and then I think she and the guard have to march him off. They move towards the very back of the barge where you’re guessing they probably have a boat, but Clave doesn’t really give you all any special look as she’s leaving. She seems to be focusing her attention on getting Wester away without him breaking off and picking a fight again that doesn’t look too good.
Josie: [chuckles] Right.
Rhi: Oh man, he was bleeding when he went in there. He’s definitely got some kind of gnarly infection.
Kim: Oh no!
Josie: Haha, get wrecked.
Rhi: [laughs] Wester will die three weeks from now. No, I don’t know. Yeah, they hustle off, apparently deciding better to live and fight another day than continue to fight the lot of you. You still have a dead body, you still have some unconscious bodies, and you still have some electroplasm dripping out of a thing, and also, as Minx pointed out, you all need to get barrels—which I think there are barrels on the barge, I’m just gonna say for ease of making this work. But yeah, you need to start loading up electroplasm.
Josie: I just wanna go for it.
Rhi: Okay. You still have a bit of time before you get to the first Gondolier checkpoint, but not a ton of time. In order to do this stealthily, getting barrels and hooking them up on this machinery, and filling them with electroplasm, and then getting them to the edge of the barge, in order to do that stealthily I think it’ll be Prowl checks.
Josie: Okay. Do we maybe wanna do a group Prowl about it?
Kim: Uh… yeah.
Minna: Yeah.
Rhi: Who’s gonna lead?
Minna: I can lead.
Rhi: Yeah. This is gonna still be risky. The immediate threat of Salia’s operatives is removed, but there still are guards on this boat, so risky position, standard.
Kim: Five.
Rhi: Okay, five.
Kim: My first good roll of the night.
Rhi: Yay.
Josie: This would be affected by my stab wound, right?
Rhi: Yes. Yes it would.
Josie: In that case, I’m gonna push myself to get back to one die.
Rhi: [laughs] Okay.
Minna: I’m at 5 also.
Josie: I got a 6.
Rhi: Ooh. Nice. Okay.
Minna: I take 0 stress.
Rhi: That means you got a 6. Yeah, you take no—Great! [laughs] You take no stress, and you do it. So, I am gonna say… let’s see. I’m gonna roll to see how many barrels you’re able to get filled before you hit the first drop-off point. They’re the kind of barrels that you all dealt with previously the last time you stole this stuff, so they’re oil drum sized, so it’s a not insubstantial amount of electroplasm. You’re able to roll them over to the side and then a couple Gondoliers pull up beside you and they’re able to help you ease them into the boat and then they will take off. So, you’ve gotten two barrels, and I probably should have set this previously, I think that the request was probably for like four minimum, six or more would be ideal.
Josie: Okay. That’s actually less than I was thinking.
Rhi: Also, I was thinking about it, I’m like yeah, if you can get another couple, but at this point the Gondoliers are not gonna be able to do another pickup for a bit, so you may have to just sort of hide out and wait, find another way of getting the barrels off of the thing.
Minna: What do we wanna… Do we wanna try and find boats?
Josie: Sure.
Kim: That works.
Josie: I mean, are there any lifeboats? Is that standard operating procedure in this time period?
Rhi: No~ [laughs]
Josie: [laughs]
Rhi: I think also they figure you’re on a river, you can make it to shore, you’ll be fine.
Kim: How far away are the Gondoliers?
Rhi: The next point where they’re gonna be able to sort of, where they have a chokepoint set up that’s gonna slow the barge down, is probably I’m gonna say about ten minutes away.
Kim: Hmm.
Josie: Mm-hmm.
Rhi: So enough time for you to fill up more barrels if you wanted to just do that and keep filling up barrels.
Josie: Yeah, I mean, no guards have come back. Well, no, we don’t have time for that, because the Spirit Wardens are gonna come for the barge.
Rhi: Yeah. You do have a ticking clock.
Minna: Can I argue for a Study?
Rhi: Sure, to do what?
Minna: To find boats. Maybe I have looked up how barges, like, where they might keep extra boats.
Rhi: Do you wanna do a flashback? You could do that as a flashback.
Minna: Sure. Yeah.
Rhi: Okay. Yeah, I think that makes sense. That’s gonna be a no-stress flashback. Myra is exactly the sort of person who, upon learning that they’re gonna be sneaking onto a barge, would have gone and looked up how barges work.
Minna: Mm-hmm. Knowledge is power.
Rhi: [giggles]
Minna: That’s a 5.
Rhi: Yeah. I think you found where they usually have a, you know, a dinghy, small little vessel that can leave the barge. The problem is that it is at the front of the barge where all the lights are and the barge pilot is… Do barges have captains? How do barges work…? Anyway! [laughs] The person responsible for driving the barge is up there, and then there’s the crew that it responsible for off-loading the electroplasm when they arrive. There’s a lot of people up at the front, but there’s also a boat.
Minna: How sneaky can we be?
Rhi: [laughs]
Josie: I mean, kind of sneaky?
Rhi: Well, here’s the thing, Myra looks like she just fell in the river, because she just fell in the river.
Josie: Uh-huh?
Rhi: There’s a possibility that she could claim to be a person who fell in the river and is in need of help.
Minna: [laughs]
Rhi: To just sort of stumble up there and be like oh my God, please help me.
Kim: You could.
Minna: Yeah…
Josie: If you’re comfortable making that lie.
Minna: Yeah… I got a 2 in Sway. That works.
Rhi: Yeah. That’s gonna be, I’m gonna say that’s risky, standard effect.
Minna: I think I’m gonna push myself again.
Rhi: Okay.
Minna: Five.
Rhi: Okay. Tell me how this works, because I think what it is, what I’m picturing is there’s kind of an enclosed space where the generators are for the lights and where the pilot is, but then around that there’s just sort of crates and benches and a lot more barrels are stored up here and some machinery, and this is where the crew just kinda hangs out until they’re needed, so there’s just a bunch of barge workers sitting around chatting, probably playing cards or whatever. [laughing] And you… Tell us how you approach this and what do you say?
Minna: So Myra walks up, she is soaking.
Minna (as Myra): [shivering] I need a ride to shore. If I could just—
Rhi (as worker): Oh! M-Miss, oh! What happened to you? Did you fall in?
Minna (as Myra): [breathy] Yeah, it was really…
Rhi (as worker): Oh, oh, yeah… Oh, you are just—
Minna (as Myra): Don’t. Don’t come any closer. You’re not gonna want—It’s, ugh.
Rhi (as worker): Yeah, ugh…
Rhi: There’s a woman who looks like she’s probably in her mid-30s or late 30s who starts towards you and then turns around.
Rhi (as woman): Get a blanket or something!
Rhi: And one of the other ones runs off. She does come over to you but pulls on gloves as she does.
Rhi (as woman): You’re not the first person we’ve had go over the side. Come on.
Rhi: She will walk you over and sits you down and somebody comes over with a blanket. Somebody brings you a mug of something.
Rhi (as worker): Here, rinse your mouth out. You probably got all kinds of horrible stuff in there.
Rhi: You know, they’re being very kind, they 100% believe you, but when you bring up I need a ride to shore they’re like, uh, we can’t.
Minna (as Myra): I have… I don’t have money, but I can trade. I have this very nice whiskey. [coughs]
Rhi: [laughs] Um…
Minna: Do I roll Consort on it?
Rhi: I think what’s gonna happen—Initially, their response is, because you got a 5, the consequence is that they’re not gonna take you to shore, they’re not gonna stop and like, you know, they’d have to stop the barge so that some of their people could take the boat. They’re not gonna do that. I like the whiskey idea. [laughs]
Minna: What can I trade the whiskey for? If I offer the whiskey is there something they can offer me?
Rhi: I think if you offer to trade them the whiskey for one of them rowing you to shore…
Minna: Yeah.
Rhi: That is possible, but you’re gonna need to make a roll for it.
Minna: I have this Consort roll right here.
Rhi: Mm-hmm, and it’s a fine bottle of whiskey, right?
Minna: Yep.
Rhi: Yeah. I’m gonna give you greater effect on that. I think you pull it out of your bag and somebody leans in and lets out a very low, impressed whistle.
Minna: It’s a 6.
Josie: Why do you have a fine bottle of whiskey?
Minna: [smiling] It’s on my character sheet. I never get a chance to use it.
Josie: Huh.
Rhi: Yeah, it’s one of the Spider items. [laughs]
Josie: What a weird one.
Kim: Wow, that’s amazing.
Minna: If I’ve used it all I think I used it while meeting with Bazso.
Rhi: Yeah. So, did you do your roll?
Minna: I did. I got a 6.
Rhi: Oh my God.
Minna: I have four in Consort!
Josie: Good job, Myra!
Rhi: That’s so… This is incredible. Okay. [laughs] I love this so much. So you pull this out and I think the woman who had initially helped you over whistles.
Rhi (as woman): Okay, uh… I can take you over to shore, but I’m just gonna have to drop you off wherever we get, because then I gotta bring the boat right back. Is that okay?
Minna (as Myra): That’s fine.
Rhi (as woman): Okay.
Rhi: Yeah. She will slip the whiskey to someone else and be like…
Rhi (as woman): Do not open that until we finish the job tonight, all right?
Rhi: …and the others are kinda like [reluctantly] all right, all right, all right. She seems to be kind of the one in charge of the crew here. She will walk you over to the dinghy and help you in. I think you’ve still got the blanket, and she’s gonna start rowing you to shore.
Minna: Does she row along the back?
Rhi: Sure.
Minna: I would also like to mark a lantern and use the flint with it to light a little spark as a signal. I am willing to pay stress for a flashback to have set up this signal.
Rhi: Um…
Minna: Just for those two to jump onto the boat.
Rhi: Yeah, I think that’s gonna be a 1 stress flashback.
Minna: Good with me.
Rhi: Yeah, so the two of you see a boat rowing out kind of alongside the barge, and you see the little lantern flash. What are you gonna do?
Kim: I think Blaire’s the one who spots the lantern first, probably, maybe, I don’t know. I’ll just say that.
Rhi: Yeah. I will say that in the meantime the two of you can have filled up another two barrels of electroplasm while Myra’s been doing this. Yeah.
Josie: Okay. Yeah. Let’s just get this done then.
Kim: Yeah.
Rhi: Okay. I think there’s gonna need to be one more roll either from Blaire and Minx to get into the boat with these enormous, heavy barrels or Myra, you’re gonna need to somehow get control of the boat.
Minna: I can, uh…
Rhi: Because this lady is not in on your plan! [laughs]
Minna: Vial of slumber essence and Skirmish.
Rhi: Yeah. Yeah. You can knock her out. I’m gonna give you controlled on this, because she’s not expecting you to attack her. She thinks you’re some poor, probably strung out on drugs waif who tumbled over the side into the—
Josie: [laughs]
Minna: Really?!
Rhi: What’d you get?
Minna: I got a 3.
Rhi: Three. Okay. You can either try again and it’ll be risky or you can withdraw and try a different approach.
Minna: I can do that. That’ll be easier.
Rhi: Okay. I feel like what it is, you pour it on your cloth and you start to reach for her and she turns to look over her shoulder.
Minna: Yeah, she turns to look over her shoulder…
Rhi: Uh-huh?
Minna: …so it’s more risky…
Rhi: And?
Minna: …but I immediately clap the cloth over her mouth and nose.
Rhi: What did you get?
Minna: Six.
Rhi: Okay. [laughs] yep! Yeah, so she kind of falls over in the side of the boat, like she’s still in the boat, and she’s just gently napping now.
Minna: Yep.
Rhi: Myra, you can row over to the side of the barge and help your friends load the other two barrels in, and then I think the Gondoliers are kind of in the area and a couple of them—Kay, Kay was at this part.
Minna: Mm-hmm!
Rhi: Because why not.
Josie: Yay.
Rhi: Anytime the Gondoliers are involved in a score Kay needs to be there, because Kay is a delight.
Minna: Yes.
Rhi: Yeah. Kay will come over and, well, I don’t know. What is your plan here? Are you stealing the boat? Are you gonna leave this woman somewhere? Do you wanna transfer yourselves and the electroplasm to a gondola?
Minna: We’re gonna transfer to a gondola, I think.
Josie: Yeah.
Minna: This woman can wake up in a boat.
Rhi: Yeah. So yeah, Kay will help you all get moved, Kay and a couple other Gondoliers. Yeah, so you all load up the last of the electroplasm and the Gondoliers will head off, and this very nice woman will wake up like an hour later, in this boat, real confused but otherwise unharmed. Yeah, you all are able to, I think with the Gondoliers’ help, make your way back up the rivers—well really just the one river—up the river and the canals over to the warehouse. Yeah. I think when you get there and you start off-loading the stuff Bazso comes in three minutes later with a bunch of Lampblacks who are hauling weapons and they are all just like covered in blood. [laughs]
Josie: Oh geez.
Minna: Hmm…
Rhi: I think he just kinda looks over at all of you, because you Minx, also covered in blood, Myra, covered in river gunk. He kinda looks over at you and is like:
Rhi (as Bazso): Good night?
Josie (as Minx): Could have been worse.
Rhi (as Bazso): Yep, sounds about the same here.
Rhi: And then goes back to directing his people.
Josie: [laughs]
Rhi: So yeah, good job. You stole some stuff from a moving barge.
Josie: We did a thing.
Rhi: You did a thing.
## Downtime [1:14:37]
Rhi: Okay. Let’s get into our downtime scenes. Let’s start… I don’t know. Who wants to go first?
Josie: I’ll go first.
Rhi: Okay! what is Minx gonna be up to?
Josie: Minx is going to see Nyryx, but also, specifically, lilac, just to spend time, because she hasn’t really gotten to talk to Lilac at all, and Nyryx is with her all day, so… [laughs]
Rhi: Yeah. Right. [laughs] You’d like to get to know this other person that’s kind of involved here.
Josie: Yeah, and I think she’ll bring her own tea or something, something nice.
Rhi: Yeah. I think you show up at Nyryx’s place on a day that she’s got off of work. I think she’s like… Yeah, I’ll lean into making this just really aggressively cute and domestic.
Josie: [squeaks]
Kim: Yay.
Rhi: I think she’s in the middle of making dinner, like she’s prepping stuff for dinner.
Josie: Aww. Can I do the thing where I slip up behind her?
Rhi: Yes. [laughs]
Josie: [laughs]
Rhi: Yeah. She’s like, you know, doing the chopping things… I imagine that she’d let you in and you’d been telling her about your latest misadventures.
Josie: Mm-hmm.
Rhi (as Nyryx): Well, I’m glad that you didn’t get hurt too badly. It sounds like you’re doing a lot of good over there, potentially, and Bazso too.
Josie (as Minx): Both of those are a relief. we’ve been needing a breakthrough, and Bazso was in a bad place.
Rhi (as Nyryx): Yeah… Well, I’m still not entirely certain he’s in the clear yet. He seems to find trouble with almost as much enthusiasm as you do.
Josie (as Minx): He’s the one leading one of the bigger gangs in the city. I think I have some doing to go.
Rhi (as Nyryx): [laughs]
Rhi: I think Minx will probably have to bring up the thing about wanting to talk to Lilac. I think she just kinda laughs and goes back to chopping up whatever she’s chopping.
Josie (as Minx): So… since you told me I realized I haven’t talk to Lilac at all.
Rhi: You’re still standing behind her. I think you can feel she tenses up a little bit and then kind of like, shoulders go back down.
Rhi (as Nyryx): Um…
Josie: I think I just kind of hold her waist a little bit.
Rhi (as Nyryx): Uh, I just, you know, wasn’t… I know that you’re not… [inhales] thrilled about it, and I just didn’t wanna, you know, make you uncomfortable.
Josie (as Minx): Dears, it’s fine. I want to understand.
Rhi (as Nyryx): [exhales] Well, um… let me get this boiling. She’s… not the best cook.
Rhi: [laughs]
Josie: [laughs]
Rhi: She finishes up with whatever she’s making and gets everything in a pot, wipes her hands off on a towel, and when she turns around to look at you it’s that sense of somebody else in her eyes. She gives you a nervous smile.
Rhi (as Lilac): Uh, hi again… Minx.
Josie (as Minx): Hi Lilac. You know, it’s weird, usually I’m good at first impressions.
Rhi (as Lilac): Heh.
Josie (as Minx): But I suppose I’m just really here to talk with you?
Rhi (as Lilac): Oh. Um, yeah… uh. Um… what? I mean, what would you wanna talk about?
Josie (as Minx): What do you enjoy? What do you do with your time?
Rhi (as Lilac): There’s not a way to say this that doesn’t sound creepy. I just kinda, you know, watch what Nyryx does a lot of the time except for when she’s working or she’s with you and she kinda has to send me away. I like reading. I’ve been learning how to read.
Josie (as Minx): Oh, that’s good.
Rhi (as Lilac): Nyryx has some books. I like the poetry that she has. It’s pretty. I don’t always understand it, but it’s pretty.
Josie (as Minx): Well, if you are ever in need of books I have a few and have tried to write some myself…
Rhi (as Lilac): [small gasp]
Josie (as Minx): …although it’s of specific subject matter.
Rhi: [laughs]
Rhi (as Lilac): Oh! What do you—Ohh… Oh. Um…
Josie (as Minx): Just… Not what you’re thinking. Let’s call it fantastical fiction.
Rhi (as Lilac): Oh… Huh.
Josie (as Minx): Very much more about the characters. Anyway.
Rhi (as Lilac): I mean, yeah, I’d like to read that. That’d be fun.
Josie (as Minx): Do you, like, have scheduled time out, or…?
Rhi (as Lilac): Not really. It’s just kinda, you know, sometimes Nyryx wants to take a nap but still get stuff done? So then I can take over and she can kinda get a mental break and…
Josie (as Minx): Well, that’s a nice upside for the both of you.
Rhi (as Lilac): Mm-hmm, and you know, sometimes it’s just… we just sort of work stuff out.
Josie (as Minx): Right.
Rhi (as Lilac): I don’t mind her being in charge most of the time. I mean, it is her body. I’m just kind of a… guest? Yeah, a guest. I’m visiting.
Josie (as Minx): Yeah. Well, you’re definitely welcome around me as well.
Rhi (as Lilac): Thanks!
Rhi: I think she moves towards you and stops.
Rhi (as Lilac): Um… Is it okay if I give you a hug?
Josie (as Minx): Yes of course!
[laughter]
Rhi: Aww, so yeah, she’ll give you a hug. I think when she steps back it’s Nyryx again and she is a little teary-eyed.
Josie: Aww.
Rhi: She’s gonna just bounce up on her toes and give you a kiss.
Josie: Yay. I wipe her tear a little bit.
Rhi: Aww.
Josie: The one-finger way.
Rhi: They’re so cute!
Josie: They’re super cute!
Rhi: Ugh! I love it. All right, well, we’ll leave that very cute scene and let’s jump over to Blaire I think. What is Blaire up to? Yeah.
Kim: So, heh, Blaire’s not in a great place. She was not on her game today, so I think the first thing that we see is that as soon as the crew gets back to The Nest she just storms off to her room and slams her door.
Josie: Oh no…
Kim: If this were in modern times you’d probably be hearing some very muffled Three Days Grace blasting from the door.
[laughter]
Kim: Blaire’s gonna have a good cry, and once that’s done she is going to just throw herself into her research on recovering ghosts from spirit trafficked drugs. She just spends a couple of hours by moonlight. If this were filmed as a time lapse there are some very sharp cuts of Hex napping in very different places, stretching.
Rhi: [laughs]
Kim: You know, completely sprawled out or curled up in a corner, whatever.
Rhi: Yeah.
Kim: So yeah, Blaire’s just leafing through papers and playing with vials and liquids, and right when the first shards of the morning sun are peering through her bedroom window we get a shot of her face and she’s obviously sleep-deprived but there is a sense of wonder and accomplishment on her face as if she had just figured out something amazing.
Rhi: I’m picturing that she’s got just notes spread out all over but there’s one piece of paper in the center that she’s got some complex arcane sigils on that lead down to some alchemical formula at the bottom.
Kim: Yeah. After that I think she just… she doesn’t even make it to bed, she just kinda collapses on the floor. Hex is just gonna lie down there right next to her.
Rhi: Aww. Good cuddle buddy. All right, so let’s jump over to Myra. What is Myra doing at this point?
Minna: I think we’ve got another kitchen scene, honestly.
Rhi: Mm-hmm.
Minna: I think she’s clearing up the dinner dishes and chatting with Minx.
Minna (as Myra): You know, the funniest thing happened when I was in the water.
Josie (as Minx): Oh?
Minna (as Myra): I swear Clave locked eyes with me and helped me back onto the barge? That can’t be true though.
Josie (as Minx): Well… it was a good catch, because um… well, you know how I was working on getting those informants up and running so we can handle Salia?
Minna (as Myra): Minx, you didn’t! Clave?!
Josie (as Minx): You’re right. I didn’t. She did.
Minna (as Myra): You can’t trust her.
Josie (as Minx): There’s an arm’s length plus a blade’s length that we are handling this with.
Rhi: [chuckles]
Minna (as Myra): Clave is only out there for her own benefit.
Josie (as Minx): Perhaps that is true, and she saw what happened to the other one who attacked us.
Minna (as Myra): Oh, she wouldn’t like that about Ojal, would she? Oh…
Josie (as Minx): No. Make no mistake, I am not saying we are allies or that this is anything more than a short-term business relationship, but after that I believe her when she says she doesn’t want to work for Salia anymore.
Minna (as Myra): Now that you’ve said it like that, wow, I kinda believe it. I don’t know why she would come to us, but… I can see why she didn’t come to me.
Josie (as Minx): Yes, well, I suppose it’s just because we’ve made in-roads on the Circle, although frankly if she just wanted to disappear I’m sure some other gang could make it happen, but Salia is very skilled herself I suppose.
Minna (as Myra): yeah, and it’s not easy to get away from her. Hell, I’m testament to that.
Josie (as Minx): Well, I’m glad you did.
Minna (as Myra): I’m glad I did too, frankly.
Josie: I think this is hug time?
Rhi: Aww.
Josie: Sister hug.
Rhi: Yay~
Minna (as Myra): Oh. It’s all right, Minx. I’m glad you told me. I’m glad that we have a source on Salia. This is gonna be strange, but as long as you’re cool handling it.
Josie (as Minx): I am fine handling it for now. I’m still kind of getting to know the woman, so we’ll see where that goes.
Rhi: I think we fade in on the Magpies back up in the Docks. Not too much time has passed, I would say maybe a week or so, and the organizers here haven’t made their big push to push out the gangs and the Bluecoats and everyone, but even so it feels different. You can kinda see people, like, people are walking around together and are… you can sort of tell where people are planning out patrols, a lot of buildings in this area that have been damaged are starting to be repaired where before people just kinda left them because things just kept getting broken over and over again.
Josie: Mm-hmm.
Rhi: I think that as you all are making your way down a street you pass by an alley where you can see a few people, I think Fiona, the lead organizer, is among them, and they are kind of surreptitiously feeding electroplasm out of a barrel into a generator that they have there. Fiona looks up and catches your eyes and just gives you a little two-finger salute and then goes back to work.
Josie: Yay.
Rhi: So yeah, things are progressing there, and we’ll see how that plays out in the future.
## Outro [1:27:24]
Rhi: Thanks for listening. The Magpies will be back in two weeks. In the meantime, follow us on Twitter at @magpies_pod, and visit our Patreon at patreon.com/magpiespodcast.
The Magpies podcast is GMed and produced by Rhi. Follow me on Twitter at @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 at @kimdianajones.
Minx is played by Josie. Follow her on Twitter at @DragonGirlJosie, and watch her art streams at picarto.tv/DragonGirlJosie.
Myra Keel is played by Minna. Follow her on Twitter at @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.
Next, I’d like to thank our magnanimous Patreon backers. Lou Tenant, thank you. Casey S Ungar, thank you.
## Blooper [1:28:46]
Josie (as Minx): Huh. I wonder what Blaire’s up to in her room right now.
Minna (as Myra): Hmm?
Josie: [laughs]
Josie (as Minx): Never mind.
Rhi: Oh! [laughs]
Kim: [singing] Wake me up! Wake me up inside!
[laughter]
Kim: She’s just lying face-down with—[laughs]
Rhi: Blaire is the angsty teenage daughter to Minx and Myra’s adopted moms.
Josie: [laughs] Yeah.
Kim: I’m surprised it took this long for y’all to figure it out.
Rhi: No, no, I think we’ve known it for a while. I mean, you literally claimed that they were your moms at one point.
Minna: [squeaks laughing]
Kim: Oh, that’s right!
Rhi: In a score.
Minna: That was beautiful.