Transcribed by Michelle Kelly (@Michellicopter)
##Intro
Rhi: Welcome back to Duskwall. As always, thank you so much for joining us. In very exciting news, we just posted a big batch of transcripts to the site. The first two episodes of Season 3 are transcribed, as are three of our four bonus episodes. Huge thanks to all our supporters on Patreon for making these transcripts possible.
I haven’t talked about it much this year, but International Podcast Month is gearing up for its third year. This September, you’ll be able to hear podcasters in actual plays, audio dramas, non-fiction episodes and more. I GMed an extremely fun and silly game of Mission Accomplished, and I played in a Forged in the Dark game called Songs for the Dusk. They’re both awesome episodes and I can’t wait for you to hear them.
Next, I’d like to tell you about this month’s featured charity.
The Okra Project is, to quote their website, “a collective that seeks to address the global crises faced by black trans people by bringing home-cooked, healthy and culturally-specific meals and resources to black trans people”. The project provides food and meals in a variety of ways and has expanded to offer cooking classes, an international grocery fund, and self-care opportunities. Visit TheOkraProject.com or check the link in the show notes to donate.
I also recommend looking for local organizations in your communities to support. Search for your local Black Lives Matter group, bail funds, food banks, rent assistance, queer support groups and more. Voting is important. Contacting elected officials is important. But getting involved in your community to support, protect and uplift each other is also absolutely critical.
Now then. Let’s get started, shall we?
##Story continues [00.01.58]
Rhi: So, that is you are starting in a desperate position. The guards have already been notified that something is going on and have seen you just slip in this side door. So, you’ve got two of them coming towards you now. You’re not sure how many more are on their way, but yeah. You’re in a desperate position, for whoever wants to start acting.
Josie: I think I’m gonna go for a distraction route. I don’t have any— I’m not bearing— I’m not holding any weapons in my hand. I, like, I have my cane-sword.
Rhi: Right.
Josie: Which… Minx is gonna do her best to not look perturbed and just kind of carry that just like in her armpit, like at her side, raise her hands up and be like:
Josie (as Minx): [sighs] Fine, fine. We just wanted to talk anyway.
Minna: [laughs]
Josie: [laughs]
Rhi: Okay. Desperate.
Josie: Uh huh?
Rhi: Reduced effect.
Josie: Can I… push my Sway up to normal effect?
Rhi: Yeah, if you wanna take the two stress for it.
Josie: I do.
Rhi: Yeah, then yeah. You can have standard effect by taking two stress.
Josie: Uh huh. Does anyone wanna… help me out with the Sway, or…
Kim: Yeah, I can help with this.
Rhi: Okay.
Josie: Although part of the idea is to get them focused on me so y’all can do something. Um…
Rhi: I mean, I think you can… I think Blaire can assist in a way that maybe she shrinks back behind you a little bit, or I think she can help in a way that still meets that goal. So Blaire, take a point of stress.
Kim: Yes ma’am.
Rhi: And what are you rolling? Does that make it a 5? 5d6.
Josie: Yep.
Rhi: Alright.
Josie: 5d6. Wahey, got a 6.
Rhi: You sure did.
Kim: Oof, that was close, though.
Josie: Yeah, there were two 1s in there, jeez.
Kim: And a 3.
Rhi: [laughs] Just by the skin of your teeth. So, you do it. And you said, “Fine, fine. We just wanted to talk.” Right?
Josie: Uh huh.
Rhi: Okay. So, the good news is they don’t immediately start shooting you. [laughs]
Josie: Right.
Rhi: But they stop about fifteen feet away, guns up and aimed, and will say:
Rhi (as Guard): Drop your weapons. Hands on your head. Down on your knees.
Josie (as Minx): [sighs] Very well.
Josie: I think Minx is going to comply with that, hoping at least one of their guns follow her down and, you know, the people hiding behind me can do something over my head.
Rhi: Yes. I will also remind you, just so that you are aware. As a group, you have three smoke bombs.
Josie: That’s true.
Rhi: [laughs] I just, I wanted to double check and see what you all had on your character sheet. You have three smoke bombs that you can choose to have in your inventory. Minx does as she’s told. What do the two of you do? Blaire? Myra?
Kim: Um, Blaire also complies with this.
Rhi: Okay.
Minna: Myra throws a smoke bomb.
Rhi: [laughs] Okay. This is still gonna be desperate. Reduced effect.
Minna: I’m gonna do Skirmish. Also gonna push myself for normal effect.
Rhi: Okay.
Minna: That’s a 5.
Rhi: I think that you throw the smoke bomb and it goes “psssh” and fills the hallway with smoke.
Minna: Mm hmm.
Rhi: But before the hallway is fully filled with smoke, the other guard shoots you.
Minna: Ah.
Rhi: Right in the chest, Level 3 harm.
Kim: Uh…
Minna: Can I resist that?
Rhi: Yeah, you can resist it. Also, do not forget that armor is a thing. We always forget armor is a thing. So, I’m just gonna remind you.
Josie: [laughs]
Rhi: Armor is a thing. But yeah, you’ll resist it with Prowess.
Minna: Yeah, that’s a 6.
Rhi: Okay. Of course. Why would it be anything else? [laughs] It’s Myra rolling resistance.
Minna: So it’s a level 2 harm?
Rhi: Yeah, that’ll drop it to level 2. I think that you’re able to sort of twist, and instead of it just hitting you square in the chest, you turn and it kind of like grazes across your shoulders and collar bones. So like, you’re bleeding pretty bad, you’re in a not insignificant amount of pain, but it didn’t— you didn’t take a bullet into the chest. So, you’ve got that going for you.
Josie: I think as soon as the shot goes off— Minx was getting down into, like, a kneeling position, right?
Rhi: Right.
Josie: I think she’s gonna do, like, a roll forward and come out at the end of the roll having pulled a pistol out. And just start firing.
Rhi: Okay. You are gonna be firing into smoke, so that is going to, I mean, that’s basically gonna drop you to zero effect.
Josie: Well I’m— more the idea is suppressive fire, right?
Rhi: Okay, I see. You’re not trying to actually hit them, you’re just trying to…
Josie: Yeah. You can’t stay here, otherwise you’ll get shot eventually. [laughs]
Rhi: Okay. I will make that reduced effect then, but it’s still gonna be a desperate position.
Josie: Okay.
Rhi: So. Don’t forget Devil’s Bargains are available.
Josie: Uh, yeah, what does a Devil’s Bargain look like on this one?
Rhi: So, you just, you’re marking for your inventory a pistol?
Josie: Yes.
Rhi: You can do suppressing fire right now, but your pistol’s gonna jam. I know you have the option of a second pistol as an inventory item, but one of your pistols is going to be unusable for the rest of the score.
Josie: Yeah, you know what? I’m gonna take that.
Rhi: Okay.
Josie: And I got a 5.
Rhi: Reduced effect, desperate, you got a 5… you do it, but there’s a consequence. Okay. So, I think that what happens is you start shooting back, like firing wildly, and— so, the other, like, the guards, you can hear them, you know:
Rhi (as Guard): Fall back, get around the corner!
Rhi: And so, they have backed off, but one of them activates an alarm. Because you didn’t take down the whole security system. So, we’re gonna start another clock.
Kim: Jesus.
Rhi: Security Backup Arrives. 1 out of 3.
Kim: We were doing so well.
Rhi: You were. So, they have fallen back somewhat, it sounded like they ducked around a corner. But if you come out around the end of the hall, like, they’re gonna see you and backup is on its way. So, you’ll need to find some way to deal with these two and then skedaddle before their friends get here.
Kim: Are any of them in stabbing range?
Rhi: No, but you could get to it.
Kim: I want Blaire to do a stab.
Rhi: I mean, Blaire can try and do a stab. I support Blaire.
Kim: Thank you. Because that’s what I wanna do.
Rhi: Yeah, go for it.
Kim: Do I have to roll something to just get within range first, or—
Rhi: No, no, you can just run down the hallway and then pop around the corner and stab ‘em. If you have a particular idea for how this stabbing occurs, let me know.
Kim: No, I don’t.
Josie: And also not getting shot by the other one.
Rhi: Yes. Because again, so this is gonna be desperate, reduced effect.
Kim: Ah, shit. What do I have to roll to do a stab? Is it Skirmish?
Rhi: Yeah. Usually, it’s Skirmish.
Kim: Okay. Oh, um—
Rhi: Or, I mean, if you wanna make an ambush argument, that you’re jumping out of the smoke and stabbing one of them, you could do Prowl.
Kim: I mean, I have the same for both abilities, so it doesn’t matter.
Rhi: Okay, yeah. You push yourself if you want it to be— you push yourself, so you take two stress.
Kim: Alright, I’ll take two stress to whatever effect, whatever’s above—
Rhi: Standard.
Kim: Yeah.
Rhi: It’ll be standard effect. Okay.
Josie: I could argue that I squeeze off my last couple bullets and my gun gets jammed and that’s my assistance, I guess?
Rhi: Yeah, yeah.
Kim: Are you sure?
Josie: Yeah.
Kim: Okay, thank you, dear. Alright, I’ll be rolling 2d6 for this then.
Rhi: Yep. And Josie, mark a point of stress.
Kim: Oof. Okay, thank you Josie. I got a 6 and a 4.
Rhi: Nice.
Josie: Woo!
Rhi: Yeah, what does this look like as— I think, like, the two of them have done that thing where they, like, split around— like, they ducked around a corner and have their backs to the wall and like, have their pistols up, and then Blaire just— what does it look like when Blaire comes around and stabs one of them in the kidneys?
Kim: Oh, kidneys? I was imagining, like, stabbed in the leg or the knee, to like immobilize him?
Rhi: Ooh, that’s even better. Go with that.
Kim: Yeah.
Josie: Oof.
Rhi: [laughs]
Kim: I imagine Blaire just— I know I didn’t roll Prowl, but like, sneaks up behind of them and just goes for, like, the side of the knee.
Rhi: Oh, yeah.
Kim: And just like, immediately topples this guy.
Rhi: Yeah. He shrieks in pain and falls down, clutching his leg. There’s a lot of blood. And I think you manage to duck back into the smoke as the guard who didn’t get stabbed, like, fires a wild shot after you. But it does not connect.
Kim: This guy’s still armed, though. Is it possible for me to, like, grab his weapon while he’s down?
Rhi: You would have to have gotten a critical on that.
Kim: Oh, okay, that’s fair. Okay.
Rhi: Um, but hey, like, yeah, you knocked him down. He’s not gonna be able to run after you.
Kim: Yeah.
Rhi: Myra.
Minna: [sighs] How many of them are still up?
Rhi: Uh, one is standing and has a gun, one is down on the ground, screaming— I mean, well, he’s stopped screaming in pain, but he’s bleeding heavily and also has a gun.
Josie: They are on the other side of the smoke cloud.
Rhi: Yes. Yeah, you kinda have to duck through the smoke cloud, do a thing.
Minna: I have a vial of slumber essence.
Rhi: Mm hmm.
Josie: But how are you gonna use it without just getting shot in the back?
Minna: That’s true, yeah, I dunno about that. I’m trying to find a way where I don’t have to engage.
Rhi: Yeah. And the way we’ve always done slumber essence is that it is applied to the face.
Minna: I have to physically engage, yeah.
Rhi: Yeah, you gotta…
Minna: I gotta put it…
Rhi: “Does this smell like chloroform to you?”
Minna: Yeah, that’s usually how I do it. Um… hmm…
Rhi: I mean, you could shoot. You could kind of pop out of the smoke cloud and smoke.
Minna: Yeah. I might actually do that.
Rhi: You could use your fine whisky bottle and make it into a Molotov cocktail.
Minna: [laughs]
Rhi: You could… I’m just looking at what you have in your—
Minna: That’s really true! [laughs]
Rhi: What you have in your inventory here. I mean, yeah. Yeah.
Minna: What is with my affinity with fire? Question.
Rhi: I don’t know. There’s— Myra, deep down inside, has, you know….
Minna: Just wants to set things on fire. [laughs]
Rhi: She does. Like, listen, she was very emotionally repressed for most of her life, and occasionally, those emotions come out in the form of “I wish it to burn.”
Minna: [sings] I just wanna set the world on fire… [laughs]
Rhi: So, you’re gonna use a fine bottle of whisky, “potent in both its alcohol and its ability to impress” so, uh, yeah, I’m gonna give you standard effect on this since it’s a fine bottle.
Minna: Skirmish?
Rhi: Yeah. You could do Skirmish, you could do Wreck. I think either of those would be appropriate.
Minna: I think it’s minus one die, so I’m gonna do Skirmish, because I’m better at that. [laughs]
Rhi: Okay. What’s— why’s it minus one?
Minna: Because I have level 2 harm.
Rhi: Yeah, you did get shot, didn’t ya? Yeah.
Minna: Yeah, I actually remembered it for once.
Rhi: Yeah! I didn’t. Thank you. So yeah, go ahead and roll that. This is going to continue to be desperate, so mark the appropriate XP. But it is, you’re starting at standard effect.
Minna: What would a Devil’s Bargain look like?
Rhi: Um… I’m gonna tick up the ghost clock by one.
Minna: Are we okay with that?
Josie: Sure.
Minna: Alright, let’s do that. Just cause I don’t wanna die here.
Rhi: Yeah.
Josie: [laughs]
Minna: That’s a 6.
Rhi: Please describe Myra pulling out this bottle of whisky and turning it into a Molotov. How does she do this?
Minna: Well, she happens to have a bottle of whisky on her, I guess, at all times… [laughs]
Rhi: She is very prepared.
Minna: And also a handkerchief, because she always has a handkerchief, are you kidding me?
Kim: I mean, those are both on brand for Myra.
Minna: Yeah.
Rhi: Yeah. [laughs]
Minna: So, she stuffs the handker— I don’t actually know if that’s how you make a Molotov cocktail. [laughs]
Rhi: Yes.
Minna: Okay, thank you. I guess I also have like a flint or something, and I just—
Rhi: Yeah, I think you have, I mean, I think a lighter you can have without it being a thing.
Minna: And I just light it and I throw through the smoke. So they just see, spinning though the smoke, flame.
Rhi: Yeah.
[laughter]
Rhi: So, I think we see it form The Magpies side of things of just like, you throw it and it disappears into the smoke. And then there’s a shattering sound and “woomph” as this big fireball goes up. And then there is more screaming, and I think that because you got a 6, the three of you can basically charge through the smoke and veer around the two now on fire guards, who are both on the ground rolling around trying to put themselves out.
Josie: [laughs]
Rhi: And you can, basically this is kind of a four-way intersection that you get to in the halls. So, you can pick a direction and run in it to get away.
Josie: I mean, I wasn’t expecting first-degree arson to be what we started with, but…
Rhi: I mean, hey.
Josie: So, they’re trying to put themselves out.
Rhi: Yes, yeah, they’re dealing with that situation.
Josie: I’m trying to decide, like, whether Minx is like, cruel enough right now to just like, finish them off while they’re doing that. Cause like, if they’re rolling around on fire, it’ll be pretty easy to put a sword through their chest. Like…
Rhi: It would.
Josie: But I’m trying to decide, like, character-wise, is that something Minx would do right now.
Rhi: Yeah. I mean, that’s a fairly… that’s kind of, in my mind, going from self-defense to murder.
Josie: Mm hmm.
Rhi: so, that’s a significant thing. I’m not saying don’t do it, but yeah.
Josie: She is kind of supposed to be on the upswing now, right?
Rhi: Yeah.
Josie: Okay, yeah, I don’t think Minx is gonna finish them off. She is going to calmly pick up her dropped cane, but—
Rhi: [laughs] Yeah.
Josie: Otherwise, she’ll just hurry past.
Rhi: Okay. So, what direction do you go in? You’ve basically, so, it’s a four-way intersection, so we’ll say north, south, east, west. You came in from the south. The guards were to the west. So, which hallway do you run down?
Josie: Um… I guess the way they did not come from?
Rhi: Okay. They came from the north, they were running straight at you, and then they ducked to the west. So, you’re gonna go east.
Josie: Okay.
Rhi: [laughs] Yeah, I think at this point you’re able to kind of sprint along and put some distance between yourselves and the guards you have set aflame. I think you kind of take a couple corners and head down some different hallways and then you can kinda stop and catch your breath and try and get your bearings.
Your next challenge is going to be finding the stuff that you came in for. Blaire has a very specific goal that she has not told either of you about. What she needs.
Josie: Mm hmm.
Rhi: Minx, you’re hoping to get a ghost to sell.
Minna: [laughs]
Josie: Yes. [laughs]
Rhi: And Minx also potentially could try to find some information about how to kill vampires. Myra, looking for information about how to defeat hulls.
Minna: Yep.
Josie: Mm hmm.
Rhi: How do you all wanna go about find— like, starting to try and get your bearings and figure out where you need to go to find this stuff?
Josie: Hmm.
Kim: I…
Minna: Is there a classification system?
Rhi: Mm hmm. I mean, realistically, there probably is, but you will have to find, you know, the card catalogue, essentially.
Minna: I mean, I’m going to find the card catalogue.
Rhi: [laughs]
Minna: This is how I do research.
Rhi: God bless. Okay.
Kim: Nerd!
Rhi: Yeah, roll something to start trying to locate where the—
Minna: Is that a Study? Can that be a Study?
Rhi: Yeah. Yeah.
Minna: Aw, fuck me. It’s a 3.
Rhi: 3, okay. So, I was gonna say, you’ve, congratulations, moved up to risky. So, it’s no longer desperate. On a 3 though, you suffer harm or a complication occurs, you end up in a desperate position… I think the complication is I’m ticking up the Backup Arrives by one, so that’s now at 2 out of 3. I think that you can hear distantly, down the hall, like, the guards shouting as they have reached their compatriots and are now fanning out to look for you. And I think that you all kind of wander around a bit more, but are not able to find anything useful that seems to be anything that you’re looking for.
Kim: Yeah. Um, I was thinking of having Blaire roll an Attune to figure out where to go?
Rhi: Yeah. Yeah.
Kim: Because I feel like she has a pretty good idea by now of what to look for, and has an idea of what this thing would look like in the ghost field.
Rhi: Yes. So, are you looking for your specific artifact, or are you trying to find the card catalogue so that your friends can go and find their stuff and you can find yours?
Kim: Oh, no. Blaire is being completely— yes, completely single-minded right now and just wants her thing.
Rhi: Okay.
Kim: Um, yeah.
Rhi: That’s fair. Yeah, so for an Attune you’re using your fine spirit mask. Risky, standard effect.
Kim: 5, 6, 3.
Rhi: 6, okay. So, I think that like, you all have been kind of like, hurrying through the halls just sort of at random. Like, trying doors and if they’re open you look inside to see if there’s anything useful. The unlocked doors don’t hold a lot of useful stuff, unsurprisingly.
And so, Blaire, I think that you, the three of you turn into a new hall and you look into the ghost field and behind a door that’s like, on the right side halfway down the hall, you can see— you’re guessing from the way that the things are arranged that there are shelves that seem to be holding just rows and rows and rows of little arcane objects. Like, they’re all— they all seem to be fairly small, but they are glowing very brightly with power.
Kim: Right.
Rhi: And you are able to recognize what looks like kind of a, sort of a box shape. There’s a lot of sort of glowing sigils in vaguely a cube.
Kim: Yeah.
Rhi: And then inside all of those sigils is a vial that is glowing, but— I feel like we’ve said that the ghost field is sort of like a blue-green, right?
Kim: Yes, we’ve said that. Yeah.
Rhi: This is glowing a neon purple and pink.
Kim: Ooh.
Rhi: You’ve never seen anything like it in the ghost field.
Kim: Okay.
Rhi: It’s weird and you’re pretty sure it’s what you’re looking for.
Kim: And also, she would want it anyway.
Rhi: So yeah, you know what door it’s behind, you know where it is, you can go off after it if you would like.
Kim: Yeah, Blaire takes off. She doesn’t even say anything to you two, she just runs off after that.
Rhi: Uh, what do the two of you do when Blaire just hustles off down the hall?
Minna (as Myra): Uh— Oh— okay… guess she found what she’s looking for.
Josie (as Minx): Um— is it alright if I keep an eye on her?
Minna (as Myra): Yes, go ahead. I’ll keep looking over here.
Josie (as Minx): Alright.
Rhi: So, Minx follows after Blaire.
Kim (as Blaire): What are you doing?
Josie (as Minx): I mean, I figured since you’re going afield, I’d watch your back.
Kim (as Blaire): Okay, well try to keep up.
Josie (as Minx): And hey, where you’re going there’s probably going to be ghosts, so…
Kim (as Blaire): I can handle ghosts, let’s go.
Josie (as Minx): I— I am going. I was just thinking about fulfilling my end of the bargain.
Kim: Blaire doesn’t even respond. She just keeps moving.
Rhi: Oh, Minx.
Josie: Oh. [laughs]
Rhi: So Blaire, you reach this door.
Kim: Yes.
Rhi: Uh, it’s locked.
Kim: Um, how badly is it locked?
Rhi: Tier V.
Kim: Yeah, but I also have Tier V tools, so…
Rhi: You have Tier V arcane implements. You do not have Tier V lockpicks.
Kim: Hmm.
Rhi: Yeah. So, you can, you can try to pick the lock, but you’re going to be at severe disadvantage.
Kim: I know.
Rhi: Or, you can try to get through it in another way.
Kim: I was gonna say, since I have Tier V arcane implements, is it possible for me to just do some kinda spooky shit to unlock it?
Rhi: One of the items you have is a ghost key.
Kim: Oh, you’re so right. Duh!
Rhi: And I think I will allow the combination of ghost key and Tier V arcane implements. I will let you make a roll to try and unlock this with the ghost key.
Kim: This would be Attune then, right?
Rhi: Uh, yeah.
Kim: Okay.
Rhi: Risky, standard effect.
Kim: Great. Okay, that’s a 5.
Rhi: Huh… let’s see. [sighs]
Kim: I have an idea for a consequence, if you’d like?
Rhi: Yeah, hit me.
Kim: Um, she, you know, Blaire obviously breaks through the lock, but it’s rigged with a silent alarm?
Rhi: I mean, basically that would have me push security back up to 3 out of 3.
Kim: Right.
Rhi: The other thing, and I think I wanna have Josie chime in on how she feels about this. The ghost key kinda lets Blaire phase through the door, but Minx can’t follow her.
Kim: Ooh…
Josie: I…
Rhi: How do you feel about that? I don’t wanna—
Josie: To be honest, like… I kinda like that.
Rhi: Okay.
Kim: That’s very good.
Josie: Like, Blaire’s just ploughing ahead and she phases through the door and Minx is like:
Josie (as Minx): Wait, hold on! Aw…
Rhi: Yeah. Um, cause then, like, on the one hand I think Blaire in the moment doesn’t see that as a bad thing, but it also means that she is going to be alone if anything bad happens in here.
Kim: Right.
Rhi: Yeah. So, yeah, do we wanna go with that?
Kim: I agree. It’s a very good consequence.
Josie: Mm hmm.
Rhi: Okay. Yeah, so do you wanna describe how this looks?
Kim: I think since it’s a Tier V ghost key, its… whatever material it’s made out of, it is like, extremely powerful. Possibly cursed? But, um—[laughs]
Rhi: Lightly cursed.
Kim: Blursed, if you will.
[laughter]
Kim: And I think as soon as she, like, whips it out of her pocket, it’s almost like drawn to this lock, like it leaves her hand and it’s just, it moves in and it turns it like it was meant for it.
Rhi: Oh, cool.
Kim: Yeah. And it’s just like a nothing thing. And as soon as it’s unlocked the lock, Blaire’s hand is just immediately pulled towards it like a magnet, and that is how she gets pulled, like phased through the door.
Rhi: That’s very cool. I like that, yeah. And then Minx is just… [laughs] left standing there. Let’s, real quick, jump back to Myra. You are continuing to look for—
Minna: A card catalogue, yes. [laughs]
Rhi: [laughs] “It’s an archive, there’s a reference desk somewhere in this place!”
Minna: Well, there has to be some… organization.
Rhi: Yeah, no, you are—
Minna: Like, even if it’s just like, I look at the shelf labels and I’m able to work out, okay, I’m understanding sort of what’s happening here.
Rhi: Yeah, I think the challenge is that what I’m picturing is that it’s just a lot of halls with doors.
Minna: Ah.
Rhi: Some of the doors are labelled, but a lot of them aren’t. Like, it’s set up as a place that it’s meant to be difficult for someone who doesn’t know the place to navigate.
Minna: Mm hmm.
Rhi: It’s another nice anti-intruder mechanism. So, yeah, but you can absolutely continue looking around try to find some kind of reference.
Minna: What’s my position and effect this time?
Rhi: Your position is going to be risky. Effect is gonna depend on what action.
Minna: Study again?
Rhi: Study, you’re gonna keep trying that? Okay. Yeah, I think it’s gonna be, unless you can think of something that you can use to bump this up, it’s gonna be reduced effect, so risky reduced. You’re welcome to push yourself or Devil’s Bargain in order to push that effect up if you’d like.
Minna: I have an item called blueprints.
Rhi: Mm hmm.
Minna: Could that help me somehow?
Rhi: Sure.
Minna: Like, maybe I was able to get hold of, like, a general plan of the building, and I’m kind of cross-referencing, like, the door labels I can find with what’s on here, and then I’m like, “Well maybe,” like I can kind of start to see an organization happening.
Rhi: Yeah. Yeah, I will let you do that. Mark that off and you can have that up to standard effect.
Minna: Okay, I’ve rolled a 5.
Rhi: Okay. You do it, but there’s a consequence. So, I think that you pull out your blueprints, you start comparing it, you start walking around and you eventually push open a door that leads into, um, I’m picturing kind of like a rotunda sort of in the middle of the building. There’s some places in Chicago, some buildings in Chicago that have this, where the center of the building— like, the building itself is kind of a donut shape.
Minna: Yeah.
Rhi: And the center is just this, like, open courtyard. That’s kind of what I’m picturing, but instead of it being a courtyard, it’s just in the middle of the building is this glass rotunda. So, you can see, like, the sky overhead. It’s very cool.
And I think in the middle of this is a large desk with several large books that are like, chained to it. And you can kind of recognize immediately from, like, you rush over and you start looking at them, and like, this is— these are the ledgers. There’s not a card catalogue per se, but this is where that is stored here is written down and inventoried. Each ledger kind of refers to a certain block of rooms. So, you can start perusing those. However… the complication. I’m gonna tick— oh man. Do I wanna tick up ghost horde or have security arrive?
Kim: Friends. Bring friends. Not cops.
Josie: [laughs]
Rhi: Well, they’re both gonna get here eventually. I’m gonna tick up ghost horde. So that’s Ghost Horde Arrives is at 3 out of 4. Security Backup Arrives is at 2 out of 3.
Minna: Amazing.
Rhi: If I’m lucky, everyone will arrive at once.
Minna: [laughs]
Kim: I fucking hate clocks.
Rhi: [laughs] I love them with all of my whole entire heart. How do you wanna proceed, Myra?
Minna: Generally, I’m still trying to figure out this system, which I realize is very boring listening, but is how she would approach it.
Rhi: I mean, basically I think if you want to, like, look through these ledgers and try to find the information that you and possibly your compatriots are looking for, you can make a roll to do that.
Minna: I would like to do this.
Rhi: Okay. So, I think just looking through these books is gonna be risky position, standard effect. While you are doing that, Minx, did you stay in the hallway outside where Blaire is, or did you follow Myra? I think that it all happened fast enough that if you wanted to follow Myra, you could.
Josie: I think she’s flabbergasted enough to chill in that hallway for a sec.
Rhi: Okay. So, Minx is standing outside the door in the hallway. I’m picturing her just knocking on it very sadly. “Blaire?”
Josie: [laughs]
Kim: Aww!
Rhi: “Blaire, please.”
Josie: [laughs] I do think she does knock. Is like:
Josie (as Minx): You’re not gonna unlock it from that side? Okay.
Rhi: So, is Minx just hanging out in that hallway for the moment?
Josie: Well, she’s gonna try and look and see if there’s other rooms to go into.
Rhi: Okay. In that case, we will hop back to you in a second after we resolve Myra’s roll.
Minna: 5.
Rhi: 5, okay. I said risky standard. Okay, so I think that you find basically there is a— there’s a block of rooms that’s basically the library. There are books kept here. Tomes that are forbidden and banned elsewhere in the Empire. And you flip through that and you are able to find some references to things that you’re pretty sure will have the information that you and Minx need for hulls and vampires. Unfortunately, just as you find this information, the doors to this room burst open and… three guards come rushing in, guns drawn. As I have completed the clock of Backup Arrives.
Minna: [whines]
Rhi: And so, they come rushing in and see you.
Josie: Well, did I just hear a door burst open?
Rhi: Yeah, yeah, I think you could hear the sound of the guards bursting into that room. I don’t think that Myra is super far away from you.
Josie: Okay. In that case I’m gonna pull out a second pistol and draw my sord and make my way that way.
Rhi: Okay. Are you gonna try and slip in sneakily, or are you just gonna rush in and…?
Josie: I’m gonna try and sneak up on them.
Rhi: Okay. Then that’s going to be, I think, probably Prowl. And it’s gonna be risky, reduced effect.
Josie: Why reduced effect?
Rhi: Because they’re Tier V.
Josie: [grumbles]
Rhi: [laughs]
Josie: I don’t like that, Rhi.
Rhi: Well, I’m sorry.
Josie: What does a Devil’s Bargain look like?
Rhi: Devils Bargain… um… I think that you’re gonna leave something identifiable behind. Like, in the course of your running down the hallway sneaking into this place, you drop something that is either going to tie to you specifically or to The Magpies. Like, you drop a pin. [laughs]
Josie: I think that’s fine.
Rhi: Okay. That’s gonna make a note that you’re gonna have—
Josie: We’re taking a lot of heat.
Rhi: You’re taking so much heat.
Josie: But I think we were gonna get a lot of heat anyway. 6.
Rhi: And that Devil’s Bargain was for an extra die?
Josie: Mm hmm.
Rhi: Okay. So, you were still—
Josie: Oh no, wait.
Rhi: Did you want—
Josie: No, I should roll again. I wanted it to be increased effect.
Rhi: Increased effect? Okay.
Josie: Yeah. Let’s just start fresh. Still a 6.
Rhi: [laughs] Alright, it’s meant to be. That was an even better roll. Okay, so in that case I think you’re able to just, like, jump on one of them, and I don’t think that you, like, kill them outright, but you’re able to stab them in such a way that they’re incapacitated.
Josie: Right.
Rhi: So, Myra, you like stand up from this book and see three guards rush in, and then one of them just gets tackled in a clatter.
Josie: [laughs] Boom.
Rhi: Let’s cut over to Blaire.
Kim: Okay.
Rhi: Blaire, you have just phased through a door.
Kim: Yes.
Rhi: I’m pretty sure you’ve never done that before.
Kim: Nope.
Rhi: So, that’s an experience to sort of contemplate. While you’re contemplating that, what you see in this room are kinda, as you guessed, several rows of shelves that are like five or six shelves apiece. They’re pretty tall.
Kim: Yeah.
Rhi: On these shelves are these basically cages that are just, like, bolted down. Like, the shelves are metal and then there’s cages that are bolted to the metal shelves.
Kim: Mm hmm.
Rhi: And inside each cage is a thing. There are bones, there are vials, there are scales, there are, uh, engraved stones, there are what look like clumps of rags and fur. It’s just this vast collection of arcane relics and artifacts. And you can, uh, you know, if you kind of like pop into the ghost field again, the thing you’re looking for stands out like a beacon, because it’s such a different color than what you’re used to seeing.
Kim: Right.
Rhi: So, you can make your way over to it without any trouble. Where you are gonna run into trouble is that it is ensconced in this cage that you’re gonna have to contend with.
Kim: What do I have to do to make this thing coming out of its cage?
Rhi: [laughs] I mean, you can try and pick a lock, you can try and figure out another way to get around it.
Kim: You know what? I feel like it’s been a while since I’ve had Blaire do any tinkering, so I’m gonna have her pick the lock.
Rhi: Okay. Risky, uh, what kind of tinkerers tools do you have? You just have regular?
Kim: Uh…
Rhi: It would be burglary gear, I think, basically, right? I don’t think you have tinkerer’s tools.
Kim: I don’t… oh, no, I do. I do. I do have tinkering tools.
Rhi: Okay, but they’re just regular ones? They’re not fine or anything?
Kim: Yeah, yeah, just regular tinkering tools.
Rhi: Okay. So, this is gonna be risky position, zero effect.
Kim: Mm. Don’t like that.
Rhi: You will have to push yourself or take a bargain in order to have any effect on this lock from this approach. If you wanna try a different approach, that might change the calculus there.
Kim: Er…. Bargain?
Rhi: You’re not sure what happened to the ghost key after you phased through the door.
Kim: That’s fine. I don’t really need to know.
Rhi: Well, I’m just— it could be a problem later. Because it’s a ghost key, it’s not supposed to just wander off.
Kim: That’s…
Rhi: It’s a key.
Kim: Its still a problem for future Blaire. I’ll take it.
Rhi: Yup.
[laughter]
Rhi: That’s— that’s the spirit. Alright.
Kim: Uh… [laughs]
Rhi: So, you’re using that to push up to reduced effect?
Kim: Yes. Uh— ooh! Guess who critted?
Rhi: [laughs loudly]
Josie: Nice.
Rhi: Okay. Uh, critical, you do it with increased effect, so that means standard effect.
Kim: Fuck yes.
Rhi: Yeah. Yeah, fuck. I will, with a critical, yeah, you can pop the lock open.
Kim: Yeah. What else can I do with a critical?
Rhi: You can get the lock open. [laughs]
Kim: That’s it?
Rhi: Listen, you started at zero effect.
Kim: Fair. Okay. Okay, yes.
Rhi: You got the cage open.
Kim: I will— I got it out of its cage, I am now doing just fine, I will not be greedy.
Rhi: Tell me about this box. Describe it for me.
Kim: I think that it’s a small wooden chest with, like, these iron parquet filagree on each corner. And it is ancient. It is an old, old box. Like, it’s probably made of a wood of a tree that does not exist anymore.
Rhi: I think it’s cedar. I think that, yeah, I don’t think cedar trees can grow anymore.
Kim: No.
Rhi: They’re too big for a greenhouse.
Kim: Yeah.
Rhi: And so, like, you can smell it faintly, and it’s a smell you’ve never experienced before.
Kim: Yeah. Oh… what if this becomes like Blaire’s favorite new smell? I can see her going for like an earthly, pine smell. Anyway.
Rhi: Mm hmm, yeah.
Kim: Even though it’s old and somewhat plain, it’s like, it’s very refined also, if that makes sense?
Rhi: Yeah, It’s well-craft.
Kim: Yes.
Rhi: Are you gonna open it up?
Kim: Oh, yeah.
Rhi: Yeah. So, Blaire opens it.
Kim: It’s velvet lined.
Rhi: Of course. And I think that the bottom has kind of an extra, like, cushioning on it.
Kim: Yep.
Rhi: And resting on that cushion is a, uh, a glass vial, but not like a test tube vial. It’s kind of almost more like a flask. It’s a little wider.
Kim: Is it like a round potion bottle, almost?
Rhi: I was thinking more of like a teardrop shape.
Kim: Ooh, I love that. Yes.
Rhi: And it’s, uh, it has like a metal cap on it that screws on. But it was also sealed with wax at some point, but it’s so old that most of the wax has, like, cracked, and you can very easily flake it off if you want.
Kim: I love it.
Rhi: And inside is a thick, kinda purpley liquid that also has a sort of like, um, oil slick, rainbow sheen to it, the way that it looks like when there’s gas or oil on top of water in the street.
Kim: Yep, yep, yep.
Rhi: So, it kind of has kind of that rainbow sheen, but it’s like a sickly, like it’s not a pretty rainbow. [laughs]
Kim: Yeah, it’s like all of these muddy greens and yellows and it’s— yeah.
Rhi: Mm hmm. And so, as you kinda turn it in the light, the color sort of shifts. But the base color is this very like, dark, bruised, purple. And yeah, if you look into the ghost field, I think that you can see that it’s just this weird glow of purple and bright pink. And I think now that you’re closer to it there’s kind of some other flecks of other colors that your brain’s having a little trouble processing.
Kim: They’re colors that I’ve never seen before. We’re getting into like, mantis shrimp territory.
Rhi: Yeah, yeah, it’s like your brain doesn’t quite know how to translate some of these. But you got it. This is the thing that you came here for and you have it.
Kim: Cool. Can Blaire continue, like, just absolutely wrecking this room and tearing through and just bring home some souvenirs?
Rhi: She can try, but you’re going to have to make— like, you’re going to have to spend the time to pick the lock on each and every one of these.
Kim: Oh shit.
Rhi: Yeah. Yeah, they’re all locked. And you will have, unless you spend stress or Devil’s Bargains or something, zero effect on all of them.
Kim: Alright, fuck that. That’s too bad. Alright. That’s fine.
Rhi: Yeah. Yeah.
Kim: I should just cut my losses and accept that I made it this far. [laughs]
Rhi: Yep. Okay, so I think we see, um, Blaire heading up towards the door, which you can now unlock and just leave. And I think we’re gonna cut back over to the rotunda to see what she hears when she emerges.
Minna: [laughs]
Rhi: So, when we left off, Minx had just tackled someone and done them a stabbing.
Josie: Uh huh.
Rhi: Uh, Myra? There’s two guards who are unstabbed, that were moving in on you, but now have kind of like hesitated for a second because another player has entered the field and they’re trying to be like, “Oh shit, what do we do?” So Myra, what would you like to do?
Minna: I’d like to throw the book at them.
Josie: [laughs]
Rhi: The book is chained— the book is chained to the desk.
Minna: Damnit! [laughs]
Rhi: I’m sorry. I established that earlier.
Minna: I forgot.
Rhi: Or else I would fully support this. But you cannot. [laughs]
Kim: Is there another—
Minna: [through laughter] I’m sorry that I’m embracing chaotic energy tonight.
Rhi: [laughs]
Minna: So what I’m gonna do is I’m gonna leap over the desk and then— well, I guess not leap over there. Go behind the desk and then use it as cover to shoot at them.
Rhi: Okay. Yeah. You can definitely do that.
Minna: Is that a Skirmish?
Rhi: This is going to be… so, desperate.
Minna: That’s a 6.
Rhi: Reduced effe— why are you like this? [laughs]
Minna: I didn’t mean to! [laughs]
Rhi: I know, I know. It’s just you always get, like, the best goddamn rolls. Okay, so you do it, but it is still reduced effect. So, what are you trying to accomplish with your shooting?
Minna: I am trying to… honestly., make them go away. [laughs]
Rhi: So, kind of doing the suppressing fire, the way that Minx was earlier?
Minna: Yeah.
Rhi: Okay. So, I think that they are going to duck kind of back into doorways so that they do have cover from your wild shots. But they’re not— they’re not totally gone. Like, if you pop up from the desk, they’ll be able to shoot at you. They’re just not immediately in the room. That’s the reduced effect piece of it. You got them to back off, you haven’t gotten them to leave. Minx?
Josie: Uh—
Rhi: You have disentangled yourself from the person that you stab-tackled.
Josie: Uh huh. What condition are they in?
Rhi: They are unharmed. They just backed off because there are a lot of bullets flying and they’re smart and well-trained and…
Josie: No, the person I tackled.
Rhi: Oh, the person you tackled, I’m sorry. They are incapacitated, basically. You got— I don’t remember what the roll was, but you got a good enough roll that you just took them out in one.
Josie: And the other two backed out into the hallway?
Rhi: They’re like in the doorways. There’s a lot of doors leading into this central room. So, they’ve kind of like stepped back into the doorways so that Myra can’t shoot at them, but they still have line of sight on particularly the desk where Myra is, possibly on you. Kinda depending on how die rolls go. So, like, they’ve basically given themselves more cover, but they can still shoot.
Josie: To be honest, I think I’m gonna do the same thing?
Rhi: Okay. Like, duck into a doorway?
Josie: Yeah. Back into the doorway I came in through and fire at the one I have the best line of sight on.
Rhi: Okay. Yeah, you can do that. Uh… yeah, it’s gonna be desperate reduced.
Josie: Yeah. You know what? I’m just gonna take the roll as is this time.
Rhi: Okay. Yeah, we’re getting to the point in the score where I think a lot of stress has been spent.
Josie: Mm…
Rhi: Ooh.
Josie: Mm… 3…
Rhi: 3. Not good on a desperate roll. It’s the worst outcome.
Josie: Mm. Oh right. [nervous laugh]
Rhi: Let me think. Okay, here’s what’s gonna happen. So, we see Minx back into the doorway and raise her gun to take aim. And then we kind of cut away from this whole situation to that side door again that you all came through. And there is a shimmer in the air as a ghost key appears and unlocks something. And a door opens, not the actual physical door, but a door.
Josie: Uh huh…
Rhi: And the ghost horde pours through.
Kim: [hums a tune]
Josie: Mm…
Rhi: And by horde, I do mean horde. We are talking probably 40 to 50 ghosts.
Kim: Holy shit! Really?
Minna: 40 to 50 feral hogs in three to five minutes.
[laughter]
Rhi: Yeah. Listen, it’s the worst outcome. So, this place is now flooded with spirits. And the cultists took down the spirit wards. So, there are no protections up to stop them.
Kim: Holy shit, this is bad.
Josie: [nervous laugh]
Rhi: So, Minx, I think that, like, I think what happens is just by the sheer number of ghosts, all three of you, like, everyone in this building, feels the temperature plummet. Like, the building just goes ice cold. You can see your breath, all three of you, no matter where you are. And I think that even without looking into the ghost field, you can just sense that something very large is moving through the ghost field.
Josie: Oh jeez.
Kim: Zoinks, Scoob.
Rhi: That was Minx. Myra took some shots. Blaire. I think that when you had come out into the hallway, you heard the gunshots. You gonna head towards your friends?
Kim: Yeah.
Rhi: Okay. So, you run towards the gunshots. I think just as you reach a door, I think you’re coming into a different door than where Minx did, that’s when you feel that temperature drop.
Kim: Uh huh.
Rhi: So Blaire, what would you like to do? You can see, I think when you get to the doorway, I think you can see Myra ducked behind a desk, you can see Josie and— not Josie, you can see Minx and the guards in their doorways with guns. And you can tell that shit is about to get very ghostly and tense in here.
Kim: I want to roll a Command and see if I can get all of these ghosts to sic the guards and leave us alone.
Rhi: Desperate, zero effect.
Kim: [sighs] See, I was already gonna push myself to Command.
Josie: I’ll assist.
Kim: Thank you.
Josie: To push it up to reduced effect.
Rhi: Okay.
Kim: I appreciate that. Um…
Rhi: So, desperate, reduced.
Kim: I will push myself to give myself an extra die. Is there anything else I can do to help with the effects, or…
Rhi: No. [laughs]
Kim: Okay! We’re doing a plunge!
Rhi: Unless you’ve got some item on you that you wanna make an argument for.
Kim: Let me check out my equipment. Maybe.
Rhi: You know what? I will say… let me look at the description of arcane implements. You might be able to use the Tier V arcane implements to get yourself up to standard. Let me look at the description of what that is.
Kim: Possibly.
Rhi: Yeah. I will— you can use kind of the combination of Minx helping, pushing yourself, using these arcane implements, you can get it up to desperate, standard.
Kim: Alright. I’m gonna roll these 2d6 and hope for the best, I suppose. Okay. Uh, 5 and a 1.
Rhi: What do you say to them? What do you say to the ghosts to Command them?
Kim: I think all that Blaire is going to say is that she’s going to point to the guards and say:
Kim (as Blaire): They’re the ones you want.
Rhi: What happens when that many ghosts try to possess just two people?
Kim: I mean, I have to imagine that it’s like, almost like a piranha feeding. Like, they just swarm it and they don’t care about the collateral damage at all. They’re just all trying.
Rhi: I think you’ve just caused two harvesters to form.
Josie: Oh…
Kim: Oh no.
Rhi: They just all sort of coalesced on these two points and spontaneously— I think it’s also a factor of the fact that, like, there’s just so much arcane energy in this place.
Kim: Right.
Rhi: That they all just swarmed together and…
Josie: But they’re not immediately a harvester, right? We have a chance to run?
Rhi: Mm, no, they’re pretty much immediately harvesters.
Josie: [panicking]
Rhi: No chance to run.
Josie: [laughs]
Kim: Um—
Rhi: Just remember, fire doesn’t stop them. [laughs]
Josie: Uh huh!
Kim: Uh…
Rhi: So, I think they, like, they just swarm and then there’s these horrible echoing shrieks that are, you know, this voice of the legion effect, from both of them.
Kim: Ques… question.
Rhi: Yeah, lay it on me.
Kim: Do you think it’s possible for Blaire to jar up two harvesters?
Rhi: No.
Kim: Okay.
Rhi: We talked about with— it’s too much. It’s basically a one ghost per jar rule.
Kim: Oh, right.
Rhi: And that’s like, at minimum, 20 ghosts apiece.
Kim: Shit.
Rhi: [laughs] Yeah.
Kim: Uh, is there anything I can do to clean up this mess? Because Blaire got in trouble because of harvesters in the past.
Rhi: Mm hmm. She did. Yeah.
Kim: [laughs] Please don’t make me deal with these consequences. We can resist anything in this game!
Rhi: Yeah. You wanna resist?
Josie: Oh yeah, that’s a good idea.
Kim: Uh…
Rhi: You can resist the consequence of this action.
Kim: I can. What do I have to roll to resist?
Rhi: Resolve.
Kim: Resolve?
Rhi: Roll Resolve.
Kim: Okay. Because I actually did reading for once in my life, I just realized the Iron Will gives me plus 1d6 to Resolve resistance rolls, so…
Rhi: Hey, look at you.
Kim: Yeah. And I’m pretty sure I’ve played this game this entire life having— I started the game with Iron Will.
Rhi: You did. [laughs]
Josie: [laughs]
Kim: And I did not know this until now. [laughs]
Josie: To be fair, we don’t do resistance rolls for Resolve very often.
Rhi: You don’t roll Resolve, yeah, too often. Yeah. But… so, go for it.
Kim: My highest was a 4.
Rhi: Okay. So, you will take two points of stress.
Kim: Oh no. [laughs]
Rhi: What happens, Blaire?
Kim: No, I’m getting close. [laughs]
Rhi: Okay.
Kim: I’m good. I’m good.
Rhi: What are you at?
Kim: I have one stress to spare. [laughs]
Rhi: Okay.
Kim: Aah!
Rhi: Where are you two at, Minx and Myra, for stress?
Josie: 4.
Rhi: Oh damn. Crushing it.
Minna: Uh… yeah. I’m 3. I haven’t used it a lot.
Kim: Mom, come pick me up, I’m scared!
Rhi: [laughs] Okay.
Josie: We came in empty, so.
Rhi: Yeah, that’s good. They are pre-harvesters and you could interrupt it and sort of disperse the ghosts again.
Kim: Ooh.
Rhi: You’d have to take the time to do it, though.
Kim: Ugh, this is so hard. This is so hard. Because—
Josie: And then if we disperse the ghosts, we’re back where we started.
Rhi: Right. [laughs] You can basically get back to there’s 40 feral ghosts.
Kim: That’s true. But I can at least Command them.
Rhi: You can try to Command them again, yeah.
Kim: As much as I wanna clean up this mess, we just gotta bail. We gotta keep this show moving anyway.
Rhi: Yeah.
Josie: Yeah.
Rhi: So, the two guards are no longer a problem, and there’s basically the ghosts are all kind of— the ghosts are just sort of swirling together and shrieking in those doorways. But they’re not bothering the three of you. So like, Minx and Myra can kinda come up out of cover. I’m starting another clock, just to keep track of the harvester situation.
Minna: The Reconciled aren’t gonna like this.
Rhi: No, they’re really not.
Josie: So, it seems like the result of this score is Blaire got what she wanted, we didn’t, and also now harvesters.
Rhi: Well, I mean, do you two wanna try to— Myra knows where you need to go to get the stuff that you need.
Kim: Gang, I am more than happy with trying to hold them off while you try to get what you need, because I do want—
Minna: Let’s do that.
Kim: Out of character, I do want everyone to get what they want out of this score.
Josie: Yeah. Let’s get Myra what she needs. Like, if I don’t get what I need, we just lose out on some money.
Rhi: Okay. And I mean, actually, like, the books that you need that have the information are in basically the same place, so you two can get your info. Minx might not be able to get the ghost.
Josie: Right. And I’m thinking I’m gonna come back to that noble family and be like, “Well, we didn’t get the ghost…”
Rhi: However… [laughs]
Josie: “But if you have resources to offer in dealing with a harvester, you’ll probably get in good.” [laughs]
Rhi: [laughs] “With a what?”
Josie: [laughs]
Rhi: Yeah. Okay, so, can we— I wanna play out this scene of Blaire being like, “Go.”
Kim: Yes, absolutely.
Rhi: So, the thee of you are seeing this, the ghosts swirling together and shrieking.
Josie (as Minx): Oh God, we need to get out of here.
Kim (as Blaire): No. Get what you need, I can take care of this.
Josie (as Minx): I— weren’t we not going to split?
Kim (as Blaire): Go!
Josie (as Minx): Especially for this—
Josie: Minx will just raise her hand and go.
Rhi: Alright. Myra, you going as well?
Minna: Yes, absolutely.
Rhi: Okay. Uh, so I think Myra can lead the way to the library section. And your first hurdle is that the door is locked.
Minna: MM. Yeah.
Josie: Oh, who gives a shit at this point? Let’s blow it open.
Minna: [laughs] Yes.
Rhi: [laughs] Somebody wanna mark demolition tools?
Josie: Um…
Rhi: Yeah, the element of secrecy is well and truly lost.
Josie: Yeah. I don’t think it’s explosives, I think Minx just has fucking, like, a hammer.
Rhi: Okay. Yeah. The same way that you took down Tesslyn’s front door.
Josie: Yeah. And just gonna roll to fuckin’ knock the knob in.
Rhi: Yeah, I’m gonna say risky, reduced effect, because it’s a tough door.
Josie: Uh, Devil’s Bargain?
Rhi: This is gonna set off another alarm, and I’m gonna start another clock for additional security coming to check on you.
Kim: [groans]
Josie: I mean, that makes thematic sense with what I’m doing, so I think I’ll take it to increase effect. I got a 6.
Rhi: Nice. Yeah, you bash the door down and an alarm starts ringing distantly, and my new clock, Security Backup Part 2, Electric Boogaloo, is at 1 out of 4. But you get the door down. Just [smashing sound]. They had all kinds of security against, you know, spiritual tampering or lock-picking. Did not plan for someone just bashing it down with a hammer.
Josie: Yeah. But I mean, who gives a shit? And like, their attention isn’t going to go to where the noise of 50 screaming ghosts was?
Rhi: [laughs] I mean, listen, depending on how these guards are feeling about their lives, they might be like, “You know what? I bet that alarm is less likely to kill us.”
Josie: [laughs]
Rhi: “Let’s go over there.” So, they’re at 1 out of 4. So yeah, you break into this room and it is, it’s a library. It’s a nice library. Nice wood shelves, plush carpets, there’s some armchairs, like, Myra could hang out in here for days. She’s not going to, but she could. And I think, Myra, in the books there were kind of like, you know, shelf numbers.
Minna: Yeah.
Rhi: So, you’re able to sort of both of you be like, “Okay, go.” And I think I am gonna have you both make some kind of roll to, like, locate your specific books and find the info that you need. This is mostly to see how much time this takes you.
Josie: Mm hmm. I’m gonna roll my Survey.
Rhi: Yeah, so this is actually just gonna be risky, standard. Actually, risky, greater effect, because Myra had the information of where things are specifically.
Josie: I got a 5.
Rhi: 5, okay.
Minna: 6.
Rhi: Myra, what’d you get? 6? Okay. Uh, so let’s start with Myra, actually, because that will be easier. So Myra, you, like, you live and breathe libraries, you know just instinctively how to find stuff. You zip down an aisle, find the book that you need, start paging— like, you go to the index, find the info that you need. And what you learn, and this is gonna complete your research project for how to defeat a hull. How many ticks did you have left on that?
Minna: Uh, I think I only had one.
Rhi: Yeah, that’s what I thought.
Minna: Yeah.
Rhi: So, this is gonna complete that. You— the piece that you are missing, because all of these things that you found about hulls didn’t explain kind of how the spirit actually is bonded to the hull. That information is really tightly controlled by the Spirit Wardens, and by the Archive of Echoes.
So, how the spirit is contained, or is bound to the hull. It is contained within a soul vessel, which is a memento from the spirit’s life. It’s something that this person cared about when they were alive. In order to destroy the soul vessel, you have to kind of get ahold of the vessel. A ritual has to be performed to reverse the wards that are binding the spirit to the vessel, then you can shatter the vessel and it will release the spirit. That’s how you stop a hull.
Josie: Alright. I know hulls were already fucked up….
Rhi: Yeah.
Josie: But…
Rhi: I know.
Josie: Like, the people creating them need to learn about the person they’re putting in there and get something valuable to them, too.
Rhi: It’s— I would like to point out, I didn’t make that up.
Minna: What?
Rhi: That’s from the book. [laughs]
Josie: I know!
Minna: Well, on the upside, at least I know the person who became the hull fairly well.
Rhi: Yeah.
Josie: Yeah, but it’s like, okay, I was gonna go with the argument that it’s like, a dehumanization thing and people are okay with it and Spirit Wardens go along with it because it’s like, easy to dehumanize the person, right? But it’s like, no, you need to get to know them and then consciously still do this to them.
Rhi: It’s so fucked up.
Minna: [whines]
Josie: Although, the fact that they tightly control this information means that the public would likely not be okay with it.
Rhi: Mm hmm. So, Myra, you can just take this book if you want.
Minna: Yeah.
Rhi: Because it has the information about the ritual in it, so you can just pocket it. Minx, it takes you a little bit longer, basically, is what this is. Cause you are not as in tune with the library environment. But you do find the book that Myra told you about, page through it, and you find— it’s a, the book is a couple centuries old and it is kind of a description of a movement that was sort of popular back in sort of the 600s where people sort of took the idea of the spirit being bad to a logical conclusion of, “If I become a vampire, then I will never die and my spirit will never be unleashed upon the world, so clearly this is the right way to go.”
Josie: Oh dear.
Rhi: And so, this is kind of a record of that time, basically of some Spirit Wardens talking about how to deal with vampires. How to defeat them. Like, you basically have Spirit Warden: Vampire Hunter Edition. It’s a guide for hunting vampires. And basically, what you learn, how to destroy a vampire permanently, because the thing about vampires is that their spirit— like, the way that a living person works is that there’s the body and the spirit are together, but they’re kinda two separate things. You can pull them apart. If you kill somebody, their spirit comes out of the body.
Josie: Uh huh.
Rhi: For a vampire, the spirit has just sort of diffused and bonded with the body. You can’t separate them.
Josie: Oh, okay.
Rhi: So, the only way to defeat a vampire is to fully destroy the body in the way that the Spirit Wardens, like, destroy bodies to destroy a spirit, the way that they do at the crematorium. There’s like a special electroplasm solution that they have to dunk the corpse in to fully destroy it.
Josie: Jeez.
Rhi: Otherwise, no matter how much damage you do to the vampire’s body, it will eventually regenerate and come back.
Josie: Oof.
Rhi: A lot of it talks about basically, like, rendering the vampire immobile in various ways and then dumping the body into the electroplasm to destroy it, because you can’t— like, there’s one story of, like, we [laughs] we beheaded a vampire and it came back a couple weeks later.
Minna: [gasps]
Josie: Oh jeez.
Rhi: However, it takes you time to do this. So, I’m gonna tick up both of these clocks to indicate time passing. You can also just take this book with you for all of its juicy vampire huntin’ lore.
Josie: Mm hmm.
Rhi: Okay, so while the two of you are reading some books. Blaire.
Kim: Yes.
Rhi: Harvesters are happening in front of you. Slowly.
Kim: Well, pre-harvesters.
Rhi: Per-harvesters. They’re becoming harvesters. Are you gonna do anything to try to interfere with this process, or are you just gonna kinda let this ride? [laughs]
Kim: I feel like I sh— uh… let me put it this way. 40 to 50 feral ghouls is marginally better than two harvesters.
Rhi: Eh, yeah.
Kim: Right? I’m gonna try and prevent this from happening.
Rhi: Okay, how are you gonna do that?
Kim: [laughs] I’m so afraid. Um… uh, I… I don’t know. All I know is that it would have to be Attune, I would think.
Rhi: Yeah. You could use your arcane implements again.
Kim: Yes, I agree.
Rhi: I mean, if you just wanna kind of— so you, like, there was that score where you kinda broke up a pre-harvester at the request of The Reconciled.
Kim: Uh, Setarra did the heavy lifting, I think?
Rhi: Yeah, Setarra helped.
Kim: Yeah. I think… and I can’t push myself because I only have one stress.
Rhi: Yeah. I mean, you can try to basically just sort of— Blaire can like, improvise a ritual to try and interfere with this, with the arcane implements. You can do that.
Kim: I like that. Let’s have that be my Attune roll.
Rhi: Yeah. Okay. This is gonna be desperate.
Kim: Okay. So, I mark XP?
Rhi: Mark XP, yeah. You all are getting so much XP this score. [laughs] Desperate, standard effect, because they’re Tier V implements.
Kim: Okay, good. That was two 2s and 6.
Rhi: Okay, so you got a 6. So, you do it. So, what is— is your goal to just, like, stop the process entirely?
Kim: Yes.
Rhi: Okay. I think, yeah, you can do that, but now, ghosts. [laughs]
Kim: That’s fine. I can handle ghosts.
Rhi: The ghosts are— yeah. The ghosts are all loose and just sorta floating around.
Kim: They’re definitely just like circling me very hungrily.
Rhi: Mm hmm. Yeah. I think that their attention has— they’re not moving in aggressively yet.
Kim: Not yet.
Rhi: Not yet.
Kim: But its definitely vulture city.
Rhi: Yeah. Yeah, they’re eyeballing you. Alright, Minx, Myra, you come rushing back to the rotunda. There is Blaire.
Josie: Uh…
Rhi: She’s surrounded by like, a gently twirling whirlpool of ghosts.
Minna: Oh…
Rhi: It’s not like, moving super fast, but she is surrounded.
Josie: Uh huh. Huh. Uh… hmm… mm…
Rhi: [laughs] That was a great collection of sounds.
Josie: Fuck.
Kim: Minx noises.
Josie: Also, my load is tapped out. Um…
Rhi: What was Myra doing?
Minna: Walking forward.
Rhi: Okay.
Minna (as Myra): Blaire? Are you—
Kim (as Blaire): What?
Minna (as Myra): Do you need some help?
Kim (as Blaire): No.
Josie (as Minx): Can we go now?
Minna (as Myra): Are you alright?
Kim (as Blaire): I’m fine. Um, yeah. Yeah. We can go now.
Minna (as Myra): [hesitantly] Can you come back to us first?
Kim: Blaire just blinks a couple times and the, um, spirit sight just kinda fades from her eyes and she’s like:
Kim (as Blaire): Yeah. Yeah, I can.
Kim: And she’s gonna walk over back to you.
Rhi: Okay. I think there’s gonna need to be some kind of final roll for you all to get out, away from these ghosts.
Josie: We do have a Tier V crew securing our escape route.
Rhi: Yes, and they will keep the ghosts from following you out of the building, but you have to make it to the exit.
Minna: I can lead a group roll.
Josie: Um… yes please.
Rhi: Yeah, what do you all wanna roll? Do you just wanna, like, fuckin’ book it? [laughs]
Kim: I think we have to, yeah.
Minna: Yeah, let’s do a Prowl.
Josie: Yeah.
Rhi: Alright. So, this is gonna be, I think, risky, because again you’ve got your Tier V group waiting outside to assist. We’ll say standard effect.
Josie: I got a 4.
Kim: I got a 6.
Rhi: Okay.
Minna: 6.
Rhi: Okay.
Josie: Woo, no stress.
Rhi: Result is a 6, so I think that uh, Blaire kinda moves through the ghosts and backs up to the two, or the other two of you, and then the ghosts sort of stop swirling as they realize that the person they were interested in has moved, and they just all sort of, almost as one, turn and look at you three. And then, running. [laughs] Just sprinting through the halls, and I think you come out and, uh, you hear Vidrana shout:
Rhi: (as Vidrana): Now!
Rhi: And just in this rush of, again, like you can feel that kind of static electricity in the air, all the wards snap back up. So, those ghosts are now trapped inside this building, but that’s someone else’s problem. [laughs]
Kim: They can deal with it. They have the means.
Josie: Mm hmm.
Rhi: And I think that she just, like, looks at you kind of like, wide-eyed and is like:
Rhi (as Vidrana): Run. Get out. Go.
Rhi: [laughs] And her people are like, immediately breaking and scattering. She’s just like, get out. This situation is so hot, flee. So, you three go. You run and you make it back outta Whitecrown, and I assume just sprint home.
Josie: Uh huh!
Rhi: Minx and Myra, what do the two of you do when you get back? What’s kinda your immediate post-score routine?
Josie: I think Minx is gonna gently set her book down on the table, make to open it, think better of it, and just goes to her room and goes to sleep. She’s stressed, nats. [laughs]
Rhi: Yeah, that’s fair. So, Minx has passed out. Myra, you did get kinda banged up pretty badly, so I don’t know if you want to, like, take care of that wound or immediately go out to see Seeks.
Minna: I think she’s doing like a— they’re probably all quite tired. I think she’s gonna clean it up as best she can on her own, assuming it’s— I mean, I’m assuming it’s stopped bleeding and everything, so she’s just gonna clean it up the best she can and like, go to Seeks later.
Rhi: Yeah. See her in the morning. So, Myra has probably gone into the bathroom to tend to this wound. Blaire. So, you’ve got this thing that Setarra asked you for.
Kim: Mm hmm. Yeah, she doesn’t talk to anybody, she just immediately goes to her room, slams the door shut and she’s just there for the rest of the night.
Rhi: Yeah. Just studying this thing that she’s gotten.
Kim: Yup.
Rhi: So, I think, uh, a few days pass. The Magpies clean themselves up, get some sleep, burn off a lot of stress, and then we see Blaire leaving the nest alone. She’s got a big, heavy-looking pack. And where do you think that you and Setarra are meeting?
Kim: We usually meet at the docks… you know what? You know what I like even better? I think that Blaire is, she’s walking along the docks, but she and Setarra meet at this abandoned cave on the shore that’s like very— like, probably a mile away from the last bit of docks that there are.
Rhi: Okay, so like outside the lightning barrier? Let me look at the map. You know what? I think if you wanna meet at a cave, I would say you could go out on— you could go out on like, the edge. Basically anywhere along the…
Kim: Six Towers or Brightstone?
Rhi: Six Towers or Brightstone, yeah, alongside that edge there that’s facing the Lost District.
Kim: Also Nightmarket.
Rhi: I have a cool idea.
Kim: Go on.
Rhi: So, there’s the lightning barriers here, on the opposite side of the river. You could get, like, a little dinghy, a rowboat, and row across and like, there’s a cave that’s just below the lightning barriers.
Kim: I love it.
Rhi: So, like, you’re just barely inside the barricade.
Kim: Yeah, I like that a lot.
Rhi: And it’s on the other side of the river from the city. Yeah, that’s cool. So, I think, yeah, we see Blaire making her way up through Six Towers and like, climbing down into the catacombs where there’s a little rowboat that she’s tied up. Rows herself across, drags it up on to the shore on the opposite side of the river. The lightning barriers are crackling overhead. What does Blaire’s expression look like as she’s getting ready to walk in?
Kim: Uncharacteristically serious, but very characteristically determined.
Rhi: And then she walks into the cave and disappears into the darkness.
##Outro [XXX]
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 Tw!itter @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.
Jess Nash, thank you.
##Blooper [01.09.14]
Rhi: Three, two, one—
Kim and Minna: Sync.
Josie: Vibe check.
[pause]
[laughter]
Rhi: I’m very proud of us all for not bursting into laughter for ten solid seconds. Good job team, well done.