Transcribed by Tyler (Twitter: @Tyler_MoonSage)
## Intro
Rhi: Welcome back to Duskwall and to the end of Season 3. Thank you all so much for listening. We have gotten such incredible support from all of you wonderful people over the last three seasons from reviews to tweets to fan art to Patreon support and more. You’re the best.
Today’s episode is a weird one. I’m really proud of how it turned out, and I hope you’ll enjoy it too. That said, I do need to give a few content warnings for the episode as a whole. Setarra’s brand of emotionally abusive mentor is back along with a lot of hallucinations and some vague descriptions of cosmic horrors. Like I said, it’s a weird one.
I also want to give you all a preview for what’s next as it’s going to be a little bit before Season 4 starts. Our next episode will be our now traditional Q&A end of season wrap-up which was a ton of fun to record. Then, we have a two-part bonus episode in which we test drive one of the Blades in the Dark add-ons, Leviathan Song, about the leviathan hunter ships and the people who sail on them. Then, Season 4 will begin in mid-September.
Next, let me tell you about this month’s Featured Charity.
The Okra Project is, to quote their website, a collective that seeks to address the global crisis 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 out the link in the show notes to donate.
In addition, I strongly recommend looking for ways to support your local bail funds and civil rights organizations. What’s happening in Portland, Oregon right now is terrifying, and the administration is promising to spread this campaign of federal policing without transparency or accountability across the nation. We need to be prepared to fight this in whatever ways we can.
Now then, let’s get started. Shall we?
## Story Continues [0:02:27]
Rhi: So we see Blaire dragging this rowboat up onto the shore of the river opposite Duskwall, the lightning barrier crackling overhead. She hoists her pack up on her shoulders and walks into the small river cave, and we follow her into the darkness. I think she has to very quickly turn on an electroplasm lantern. It fills the whole space with an eerie blue glow. It’s not a terribly deep cave, but it does have a little bit of a bend in it, and so she comes around the bend.
The whole cave is damp. There’s a thin layer of water on the ground. There’s water dripping from the ceiling and down the walls. Setarra is standing in the middle of this cavern that has been prepared for this summoning ritual, and she looks very at home here. She looks more energetic than I think Blaire has seen her possibly ever.
Kim: Mm-hmm.
Rhi: Setarra tends to be more of a, like… well, with the exception of when she’s been fighting people. [chuckles]
Kim: Right.
Rhi: Most of the time she’s more of kind of a still pool of water than anything. She has laid out stones that have runes carved on them on the floor so the runes are just above the surface of the water. She’s holding the summoning book in her hands and is kind of pacing back and forth, flipping through things, muttering to herself. She looks up and gives a shark-tooth smile when Blaire comes in.
Rhi (as Setarra): You have it?
Kim (as Blaire): I do.
Rhi: Looks at you expectantly.
Kim: Blaire reaches into her bag and pulls out the artifact that she retrieved from the Archive of Echoes.
Rhi: Setarra closes the book and tucks it under her arm and then will take this box very carefully in both hands and opens it up, and just kind of looks at this vial of ichor for a little bit, picks it up and holds it up to the light.
Rhi (as Setarra): I have existed for longer than any mortals could ever care to count, and I have never seen anything like this.
Kim (as Blaire): You mean it?
Rhi (as Setarra): You have done very well, Blaire.
Kim (as Blaire): [exhales in delighted relief] Thank you.
Rhi: And she kind of is like, you know, she gives you some instructions for finishing setting up the ritual. You’re familiar with sort of what it involves. She takes that vial, and while Blaire is doing these preparations—Blaire doesn’t see this, but we as the audience see—Setarra slides her hand into her dress of water and pulls out a second vial. It is a vial of Spiritsight, the drug that the Circle of Flame was using to force people to have occult visions to learn the locations of the Relics of Kotar that ended up killing them after being overdosed on it, and Blaire gave Setarra a vial of this quite some time ago. So, she has both vials in her hands and kind of is… I think we cut back to Blaire as Blaire is finishing up, and it’s clear that Setarra is doing something with them in her hands, we don’t really know what, but then she turns back around and just has the one ichor vial.
I think one of the things that Blaire had provided was a bowl of some kind for the center of the summoning. Setarra will kind of take her place on one side of this summoning circle, Blaire takes her place on the other side, and I think that Blaire reaches into the ghost field, and I think that lines of energy begin to form between these rune stones on the ground, sort of forming a barrier around this space, and before they’re finished Setarra steps forward and opens the vial and pours this extradimensional ichor into this bowl, and then she quickly steps back and the last line of this barrier closes, and there’s just this glowing barricade that Setarra and Blaire are outside of.
As the chanting continues, it’s a little hard for Blaire to wrap her head around what she’s seeing. Blaire has seen a lot of very weird stuff in her life. She sought a lot of it out. A hole in reality is a little tough to grapple with mentally. You can understand a hole in a wall or a hole in the ground, but this is, you just understand instinctively, this is a hole in your dimension.
Kim: Yeah.
Rhi: You don’t entirely see the thing come through. You see this hole, and then you blink, and then there is something inside the barricade. It is pretty large. It has a lot of limbs and tendrils. It has spines. It has a lot of eyes. You can’t really… you can sort of only process it in pieces. If you try to take it in as a whole your brain starts to hurt in very bad ways, and your mind will not allow you to fully process what you’re looking at, to protect yourself.
Kim: Right. Mm-hmm.
Rhi: It’s within this barricade, and it is thrashing, not making any sound, at least no sound that you can hear. The chanting, I think both of you kind of conclude, it comes to sort of an abrupt stop, and this thing is here, inside this barricade, and I think Setarra just kind of is standing there staring at it. How does Blaire react?
Kim (as Blaire): What is that?
Rhi (as Setarra): I have no idea.
Kim (as Blaire): You don’t know?!
Rhi (as Setarra): You never know what you’re going to get with these sorts of things.
Kim (as Blaire): [weakly] But…
Rhi (as Setarra): But it is perfect.
Kim (as Blaire): Perfect for what?
Rhi: She smiles at you again, that big shark-tooth grin, and for the first time, I think, Blaire sees it as the predatory expression that it is, and she reaches out a hand, and the water in this cave rushes forward suddenly knocking all of the rune stones askew and shattering the barrier. The creature doesn’t seem to realize that it’s free immediately, but when it does it doesn’t charge at you, it doesn’t charge at Setarra, it just goes up through the roof of the cave, almost as if it phased into the ghost field, and then it’s gone, and Setarra starts to laugh this wild, maniacal, triumphant laugh.
Kim (as Blaire): [fiercely] What did you do?! Why did you do that?! We have to study it! You can’t just let it out if we don’t know what it is!
Rhi (as Setarra): [laughs] Oh, you have no idea what I’ve been doing, child. You have no idea what I am.
Kim (as Blaire): Setarra, what are you talking about?
Rhi (as Setarra): I am the waves that break masts and sink ships. I am the merciless tides that drag the drowning from any who would save them. I am the freezing inky depths that hide monsters greater than anything you can fathom. I am the suffering of the sea, and you will not cross me.
Rhi: And it is in this moment that Setarra’s human Tycherosi disguise washes away like a wave coming off the beach. So Kim, tell me what Setarra the Sea Demon looks like.
Minna: [gasps]
Kim: [gasps, smiling] You’re gonna let me describe her?
Rhi: Yep.
Kim: Yes! [claps] Ooh… Ooh, what do I choose? Oh wait, wait-wait-wait, I know. I know, I know, hang on. Uh… Have y’all ever seen a frilled shark?
Josie: Yes.
Rhi: Describe it for our audience in case they have not.
Kim: So, Setarra’s… Question for Rhi. Is this like the closest equivalent to a demon form she can get into this realm or do you think this is like her full true form?
Rhi: Yeah, so demons are of this realm.
Kim: Oh right.
Rhi: They’re just kind of like elemental entities, so yeah, this is… yeah, this is whatever she’s gonna look like. This is her true form.
Kim: Okay. So Setarra’s true demonic form I think resembles somewhat… I would describe it as a frilled shark with a bit of a Bloodborn twist.
Josie: Yes~
Kim: Yeah. So, frilled sharks are just very eel-like, and they’re named for these frilled gills, and they have these very… How would you describe those eyes? It’s like refracted I guess.
Rhi: Yeah.
Kim: It’s that same kind of look that you get when you see cat eyes in a certain light. You know, it just has that weird eerie glow to it, very dark. It is ginormous, and there is just so many spindly limbs. Actually, instead of the teeth that a frilled shark has, I think… Let me see. It probably has the teeth of a dragonfish which are just these very needle-like rows and rows of teeth.
Minna: Ooh.
Rhi: Ooh, cool.
Kim: And you know what, actually… Do we wanna do bioluminescent shit, or is that too much?
Josie: Hell yes.
Rhi: Go for it.
Kim: Yeah.
Josie: Yes.
Rhi: No, there is no upper limit. Make it as fucking weird as you can.
Kim: Great. In that case, there are small pinprick dots of bioluminescence that go along both sides of the entire form. A mix between a dragonfish and a frilled shark, and if Bloodborn got a hand in that.
Rhi: [laughs]
Kim: That’s the closest thing to what I would describe this as.
Rhi: I have one final question.
Kim: Oh! Oh! Hang on, I thought of one more thing.
Rhi: Yeah. Yes, yes!
Kim: You know what, I’m gonna go with it. Have y’all ever seen hagfish slime?
[interested and uneasy noises]
Rhi: Ohh, yeah.
Kim: Yeah. She’s just covered in hagfish slime. It’s just like, pouring, it’s like… not pouring, it’s…
Rhi: It’s this thick…
Kim: Yep, thick gooey, viscous…
Rhi: …like white-gray viscous slime. It’s nasty.
Josie: Ew.
Kim: Yep, and it’s just dripping from her jaws, and it’s all over her body.
Minna: [startled] Oh… What?
Rhi: I have one final question for you about this form.
Kim: Yes.
Rhi: Is it humanoid or—I’m kind of picturing like you said an eel-like shark. I’m picturing that she’s just coiled like a giant snake.
Kim: Yes. Yeah, no, there’s absolutely nothing human about this at all.
Rhi: Excellent. So… this happens. Setarra’s true form is revealed. How does Blaire react to seeing Setarra’s form?
Kim: Blaire is just barely holding it together. She’s very visibly shaken, but she’s still standing her ground and staring at Setarra, and I think she’s just looking at her pleadingly.
Kim (as Blaire): Setarra, I don’t like this. Whatever’s going on, this needs to stop.
Rhi (as Setarra): [slow and deliberate] I don’t care what you like or what you want. You have served your purpose and are no longer of use to me.
Kim (as Blaire): [upset, confused, stammering] What do you—What?! No, you said—!
Rhi: And again, she waves her hand…
Josie: Does she have hands right now?
Rhi: Oh, that’s true. You’re right. She I think just sort of makes this gesture with her head.
Kim: Mm-hmm.
Rhi: And the waters in the cave rise again, rapidly, and just sweep Blaire out of the cave and out into the river. I think that what we see next is Blaire dragging herself, soaked to the skin, face makeup is completely smudged, hair is plastered to her head, dragging herself out of the river on the Duskwall side. I think that as you look around, Blaire, you catch a glimpse out of the corner of your eye of a large many-limbed shape sort of clambering through a building several blocks north of you.
Kim: I know we’re pressed for time—in character we’re pressed for time—but… [sighs] I think Blaire’s just gonna drop to her knees and break down. She’s just gonna cry.
Josie: Aww.
Rhi: That’s fair. Blaire has just had her entire world view forcibly crushed.
Kim: Yep.
Rhi: So Blaire is on her knees, on the edge of the river, sobbing, and we cut over to The Nest. I think first we see Hex curled up in a little ball sleeping in front of the fireplace. Where do we find Kevin, and what is Kevin adorned with this fine eve?
Josie: Kevin… I think Kevin is wearing a black shawl. It’s one of Minx’s goth clothes.
Rhi: [laughs]
Josie: I think Minx is on the sofa or whatever near Jinx, although she has learned not to try and pet him in this state, sipping tea and reading one of her romance novels.
Rhi: [smiling] Excellent. What’s Myra up to?
Minna: I think she’s just kinda like going through her notes again. She found what she needed, but she’s definitely like, you know that point where you’ve got all your research but you need to bring it together to make it make sense to you? She’s been in that zone.
Rhi: Yeah. Okay, so going through your notes on hulls. Yeah, so it’s this nice quiet domestic scene, and I think Hex reacts first. Almost before the two of you can hear footsteps on the stairs Hex sits up and does that very alert cat thing and then just runs upstairs.
Minna: Aw.
Josie (as Minx): Hmm?
Rhi: And then a few seconds later the door bursts open and a drenched to the skin, just absolute mess, Blaire comes staggering in.
Kim: And she just looks absolutely haunted, like her eyes are wide, she’s trembling, not only because she’s cold but she is just in shock. She is just staring out into space not making eye contact with any of you. She looks completely in a daze.
Josie (as Minx): Blaire? Dear? … Okay, um…
Josie: Minx will slowly approach and try and guide Blaire to the table and try and get her some tea.
Kim: Yeah, she lets you. She’s still not completely there, but she lets you.
Josie: Yeah. I don’t think Minx is gonna say anything more until Blaire has tea in her hands.
Kim: Mm.
Rhi: What does Myra do?
Minna: I think she’s obviously—She’s gotten up from the desk and she’s waiting to hear what Blaire has to say. She doesn’t want to add more pressure, but very clearly stressed out about this.
Rhi: Yeah, so I think that you can get a mug of tea into Blaire’s hands, maybe get her a blanket, and yeah, it’s kinda whenever Blaire starts talking, however long that takes.
Kim: It’s probably not too-too long after, you know, she’s taken care of, but maybe like three minutes before she says anything. She just lowers the tea from her mouth.
Kim (as Blaire): It’s all my fault.
Josie (as Minx): What happened?
Kim (as Blaire): She made me do it, but it’s all my fault. It’s all my fault.
Minna (as Myra): Who made you do what, Blaire?
Kim (as Blaire): Setarra’s done something really bad, and I don’t… I don’t know. I don’t know how bad it is, but it’s bad.
Josie: Minx kind of gives Myra a look, like saw that coming, but doesn’t say that out loud.
Kim (as Blaire): [tearful] She used me.
Josie: Minx is gonna rest a hand on Blaire’s forearm.
Josie (as Minx): What did she make you do?
Kim (as Blaire): We brought something here, and I don’t know what it is.
Josie (as Minx): Is it like that time in the bank?
Kim: Blaire’s just gonna start crying again. She’s gonna bring a hand to her eyes, and she just starts sobbing.
Minna (as Myra): How bad is it?
Kim (as Blaire): It’s bad. It’s bad. I… I don’t know what it’s going to do, but I felt it. It’s bad.
Rhi: I think there’s a moment of quiet, aside from Blaire weeping, and it’s in that quiet that you all start to hear the screaming from outside. It is distant, and it’s not like a whole crowd of people screaming, you just kind of hear one piercing blood-curdling scream, and then another one, and then another one, all coming from the northern end of the district.
Josie (as Minx): We have to stop it.
Kim (as Blaire): H-How? How Minx?!
Josie (as Minx): It came from somewhere. We can send it back, right? Like the lobster.
Kim (as Blaire): [tearful] I don’t know. I don’t know… I don’t know, we only– [sniffs] We only ever looked into how to bring it here. I don’t know how to put it back.
Josie (as Minx): [deliberately calm] We can figure it out, Blaire, and we don’t need to act alone in this, but we do need to go now.
Kim (as Blaire): Now?
Josie: Minx nods.
Minna (as Myra): Now.
Josie (as Minx): We’re going to help you.
Kim (as Blaire): Okay.
Josie: Minx said now, but she does go to her room for a second. [laughs]
Rhi: Yes. Yeah, you can. So basically this is the start of the score. You can gear up. If Blaire wants to change out of her dripping wet clothes she can.
Kim: Yeah. [laughs] That’d be nice.
Rhi: Yeah. So yeah, this is going into the score. I will tell you, it’s an Occult score. [chuckles]
Josie: [smiling] Okay then.
Rhi: There also is not gonna be an engagement roll.
Kim: Oh.
Josie: Mm-hmm.
Rhi: Because this is just—this is gonna be fucking weird. [laughs]
Josie: Yep. Minx is going with a heavy load.
Minna: Same.
Kim: I’m also doing heavy.
Rhi: Okay, makes sense. [laughs] Makes a lot of sense.
Josie: And I think Minx emerges from her bedroom saying:
Josie (as Minx): I was saving this for a certain undeath-inclined friend, but…
Josie: She comes out in a full-length black trench coat with lots of various paraphernalia strapped across her chest.
Rhi: [laughs] Yes!
Josie: It specifically includes a bag of rice and wooden stakes.
Minna: [smiling] Minx the—
Josie: [laughs] And her new demon bane charm. She’s basically sexy Van Helsing.
Kim: Oh my God, yes!
Minna: I was gonna say, Minx the vampire slayer. [giggles] I love it.
Rhi: That’s right. Thank you for reminding me about that demon bane charm.
Josie: Yes.
Minna: Amazing.
Rhi: I forgot about that. yeah, that will come in important. So yeah, the three of you run down into the streets and I assume start heading towards the screaming?
Josie: Mm-hmm.
Kim: Yeah.
Rhi: The thing that you notice and that you can kind of take some solace in is you’re hearing a lot of screaming but you’re not hearing the death bell.
Kim: Oh…
Josie: [pinched] That’s good?
Rhi: Yeah, so whatever is happening it doesn’t seem to be killing people.
Kim: Or it doesn’t seem to be killing people in a way that this world understands or recognizes.
Rhi: A fair point!
[laughter]
Minna: Oh, I wish you hadn’t said that.
Kim: You know, but that’s the first thing my brain went to, is just like oh that’s bad.
Rhi: Yeah, you don’t hear the death bell, but you do hear screaming, like terrified screaming, and you start heading north up through the district. As you go you start seeing things, weird things. You come around a corner and you see a horse in full cavalry barding come charging out of a building.
Kim: Oh.
Rhi: Hooves clattering, it throws its head back and whinnies, and then it just charges into the building across the street and disappears.
Josie (as Minx): Um… I’m gonna go ahead and chalk that up to whatever this thing is.
Rhi: You keep going, and you see glimpses of people just sort of… they’re not real people, because they are floating ten feet in the air or walking through walls.
Minna: Hmm!
Rhi: It looks like… You all wouldn’t understand it as being a film rewound, but it looks like that where they’re just walking and moving perfectly in reverse.
Kim: Mm-hmm.
Rhi: You see animals that you’ve never seen before that don’t make any sense.
Kim: [whispering] Yo~
Rhi: These strange creatures from distant lands that maybe you’ve only read about.
Kim: Probably pre-cataclysmic animals, too, I would imagine.
Rhi: At one point what looks like a Dagger Isles privateer ship just comes crashing down the street, and it is coming towards the three of you, and I think just on instinct you all dive out of the way… and then it’s gone.
Josie: Minx, when she left The Nest, was trying to be grimly determined and heroic. Now she’s just like…
Josie (as Minx): WHAT?!
Josie: [laughs]
Josie (as Minx): Real quick question, Blaire. Did you know it could do things like this?
Kim (as Blaire): No, I didn’t.
Minna (as Myra): This feels bigger than an entity. This feels like something is broken?
Kim (as Blaire): Yeah… Yeah, this is, um… [squirms] I could tell you this much. This much I know.
Josie (as Minx): Mm-hmm?
Kim (as Blaire): Whatever we brought it broke reality. I felt it when we brought it here.
Josie (as Minx): Oh good.
Minna (as Myra): Ugh… Yeah, and we can see it now.
Josie (as Minx): I hope reality can be put together like a vase with some glue or the like.
Kim (as Blaire): That would be nice.
Minna (as Myra): I don’t think reality is like a vase.
Kim (as Blaire): Reality is like… paper?
Josie (as Minx): The good news is none of this seems actively hostile. Maybe, perhaps like the lobster it can be reasoned with?
Kim (as Blaire): I don’t know if I can reason with something this big, but you’re right it’s not hostile, it’s just confused.
Minna (as Myra): Maybe it could use a tour guide.
Josie (as Minx): Yes, or at the very least treat it vaguely like a confused animal?
Kim (as Blaire): [sighs] I mean, what else can we do?
Josie (as Minx): Perhaps we can just try and direct it somewhere?
Rhi: You hear gunshots, and you’re not sure if they’re real or not, coming from somewhere up the street.
Kim: Blaire follows them.
Minna: Yeah, we run that way.
Josie: Uh-huh.
Rhi: All right. As you run that way, all three of you, your visions all kind of go this silvery white, and Minx, when your vision clears you are standing on the deck of a ship, not one of the leviathan hunters but an old wooden sailing ship. You are out on the high seas, the sails are furled, the ship is dashing through the waves, and… what is Minx wearing?
Josie: I think it’s the most stereotypical fucking red boisterous pirate captain outfit you can imagine.
Kim: Captain Morgan?
Josie: Yes.
Minna: [laughs]
Josie: It’s a fucking… [laughs] But you know, like underneath there’s a deep V so she can be all sexy about it, and no peg leg.
Rhi: Yeah, the deepest of Vs.
Josie: And I think there is a colorful parrot flying about her.
Rhi: Yes. Yes. Just as a note, this is from Josie, the soundtrack for this entire sequence is the Pirates of the Caribbean theme.
Kim: Yes!
Josie: Yes.
Minna: [giggles]
Rhi: So just have that in mind.
[laughter and some humming of the theme]
Rhi: Yep! Minx looks every inch the dashing pirate captain, but she is not the captain of the ship. The captain who has just stepped out from behind the helm, drawing a blade of her own, is clad in… we’re gonna go with just form-fitting black.
Minna: [laughs]
Rhi: With an embroidered black coat that flairs out and a jaunty hat with a big feather that she takes off and hands off to her first mate. What cool name? Does Minx still go by Minx or does she have some kind of more badass name that she’s known as?
Josie: She absolutely has one of those. I forgot to think of one.
[laughter]
Kim: Whatever it was the surname has to be Swan.
Josie: There we go, the Charlotte Swan.
Rhi: Oh! That’s very good.
Minna: I have to point out that her name is Elizabeth, isn’t it?
Rhi: Yeah.
Josie: It is!
Minna: OHH! Great!
[giggling]
Rhi: So the captain, as she is strolling down the stairs, says:
Rhi (as captain): The Scarlet Swan, I should have known you wouldn’t give up or that those chains wouldn’t hold you, but you’re too late.
Minna: [giggles uncontrollably]
Josie (as Minx): Did you honestly think I would miss this?
[laughter]
Josie: Then Minx sort of brandishes a rapier and gets into a stance.
Rhi: Yeah, and she brandishes her sword back, and roll Skirmish to tell me how this engagement begins.
[laughter]
Josie: Critical.
Rhi: Are you kidding? Oh my God.
Kim: It’s her fantasy, Rhi!
Rhi: I know, but like the fact that even the dice are just… So, um, yeah. Josie, take it away. You just paint this scene.
Minna: [continues laughing uncontrollably]
Josie: Like, I think this is… Panning out, it’s sort of like the two crews are fighting, and it kind of starts with them testing each other, crossing blades and moving through the various skirmishes, eventually climbing up the rigging and some acrobatics onto the cross mast or whatever, the horizontal part of the mast.
Rhi: Mm-hmm.
Josie: And as soon as it is up there it is just the most homoerotic thing you’ve ever seen.
Rhi: Mm-hmm.
Josie: Like, they’re getting really close, they’re quipping at each other constantly, and they’re both smiling the whole dang time. [laughs]
Rhi: Yes. There is indeed definitely a point where somebody’s back is against the mast, and you have the swords crossed right at the neck, and your faces are about three inches apart, and it’s just that very intense stare-down.
Josie: I think Minx is the one who ends up pinned, but she’s also the one who kisses first, because she knows she’s not gonna be expecting that.
[laughter]
Rhi: Yeah. It does indeed throw her off balance. I think the fight continues back down the rigging onto the deck, and Minx with a great flourish disarms her opponent who watches her sword go flying off into the sea. Also by this point both of them have removed their coats…
Josie: Yes.
Rhi: …and shirts have taken some sexy cuts in appropriate places.
Josie: [smirking] Mm-hmm.
Rhi: [laughs] So she watches her sword go flying into the sea and looks back to Minx.
Rhi (as captain): Very well, Scarlet, you win this round, but Nyryx will be mine one day.
Minna: Ah! [laughs]
Rhi: And then she just dives off into a waiting life raft, and Minx, you run to the door behind her which is the captain’s quarters that you just know instinctively, and the door is locked, so you will need to deal with that in some way.
Josie: I think she does a fucking Zorro sword maneuver that somehow removes the lock. [laughs]
Kim: Yes~!
Rhi: Yeah. Roll me something for that, whatever you wanna…
Josie: Skirmish.
Rhi: Yeah, go for it.
Josie: I got a 6.
Rhi: Six, okay, so [sword slash noises], the door just sorta creeks inward, and you see seated on the window seat, those windows that look out the back of the ship, hair down around her shoulders, wearing this beautiful blue and white gown, is Nyryx who stands up when she sees you.
Rhi (as Nyryx): Oh! Ellie darling, I always knew you would come!
Josie: [laughs]
Rhi: And throws herself into your arms.
Josie (as Minx): Nyrie my love!
Josie: The music changes to a sappy ass violin track. [laughs]
Rhi: [laughs] Yeah, the violins swell. I’m picturing that this is a passionate kiss with a dip.
Josie: Uh-huh, definitely.
Rhi: And then I think you come out of the kiss and are still kind of holding her, leaning down, and Nyryx reaches up and puts a hand on your face.
Rhi (as Nyryx): I think there’s something else you’re supposed to be doing, love.
Josie: Minx kind of squints and shakes her head a little bit like she’s waking up from something.
Josie (as Minx): Perhaps you’re right, dear. I think we need to set a new course.
Rhi: And your vision goes to that silver-white again. We are back in Duskwall walking down a dark damp street. It rained earlier in the evening so there’s the streetlamps glinting off the puddles and the damp cobblestones. The goats pulling carriages along. Duskwall is always a dark city, but somehow it seems darker now. The shadows seem deeper. The people walking the streets seem colder, sharper somehow, it’s hard to explain.
We see a fine townhome in Charterhall, it looks like there’s some kind of gathering happening inside, and on the street we see Minx who I think looks more or less like her normal self. Clave is there, and standing between the two of them is Myra. Minna, if Myra never left Salia, what does she look like?
Minna: I think largely the difference is in terms of what she can afford to wear and attitude, because I think Myra always, in any universe, has fairly stayed tastes, but I think she’s dressed much more nicely especially since this seems to be an occasion than I think we usually see this world’s Myra dress. But I think the real difference is that there is something hard and cold behind her eyes that we haven’t seen from her probably at all in the course of the show.
Rhi: Clave is looking up at the townhouse and says:
Rhi (as Clave): I still don’t see why you had to bring in outside help. We could have handled this.
Minna (as Myra): Perhaps, or you could have offended somebody. She has the most silver tongue in the city.
Josie: Dream Minx winks.
Rhi: [giggles]
Rhi (as Clave): [sighs] Fine. You two go in, work the crowd, find the target. I’ll be covering the exits. Get this done fast. She’s not going to approve if you botch this one.
Minna (as Myra): I won’t be the one to botch it, Clave.
Rhi: She just kind of gives you a silent sneer and strides off. So, the two of you walk up to the front door, present your invitations, and are ushered inside. It’s a party of some kind. There’s important rich people here. The details don’t really matter. What does matter is Myra has a letter that she was given by Salia that she was told not to open until she had arrived at the party, and it has further information about her mission here. So now that you are here, where do you go to open this?
Minna: I think she does a few greetings and then she goes off to find the powder room. [chuckles]
Rhi: Mm-hmm.
Minna: And I think once she’s in privacy she opens it, and she’s hissing under her breath, like:
Minna (as Myra): I wish she wouldn’t do this to me.
Rhi: It’s very straightforward as all of Salia’s instructions always are. Your mission here is to eliminate a target, and the target’s name is Jeren Clermont.
Minna: [breathy] No…! [seethes] Shit… Sorry. [laughs]
Rhi: [laughs]
Minna: In this universe did they still make friends and is he still her secret informant?
Rhi: It’s up to you.
Minna: Yes, because that would not have changed, because that was before she left Salia.
Rhi: Yeah. Mm-hmm.
Minna: Hey, audience, I don’t know if you know this, but when Myra worked with Salia she was sent on a mission to Doskvol Academy and kind of pretended to be a student to try and get in with Jeren and get information about his father’s cases. Didn’t work out that way, and Salia was real mad, but Myra made a friend and a secret informant that she has not told Salia about. So I think her face just, like, all the blood leaves it.
Rhi: And… what do you do?
Minna: Aaah! Sorry, that’s Minna screaming.
[laughter]
Rhi: Yep.
Minna: Uh… of course she hasn’t told her why, because she never does. It doesn’t matter what Myra thinks about why or how.
Rhi: No.
Minna: Can she find Jeren in the crowd?
Rhi: You and Minx, if you want to tell Minx what’s going on—
Minna: I don’t know that Myra trusts Minx like that.
Rhi: Yeah, no, that’s fair.
Minna: Because I’m assuming this is not a universe where they…
Rhi: No. This is you have hired Minx to help you on a job.
Minna: Yeah. So I think she goes and scans the crowd for Jeren.
Rhi: Okay. Minx actually probably got you the invites, in the backstory of this dream.
Minna: Yeah.
Josie: [laughs]
Rhi: Yeah, give me a roll.
Minna: I guess this is a Consort.
Rhi: Well, you’re scanning a crowd.
Minna: Oh, I’m Surveying, that’s right.
Rhi: Yeah.
Minna: I did not put another point in Survey.
Rhi: Also, Josie, you can feel free to have Minx jump in and do stuff.
Josie: I know. I feel like we know how Minx acts at a party at this point.
Rhi: Yeah. Minx is doing her thing?
Josie: Yeah, and it’s decidedly like a Season 1 Minx approach to it. Very hedonism focused.
Rhi: Mm-hmm.
Minna: Ooh, that’s a tasty 3.
Kim: Delicious.
Josie: Yum.
Rhi: So, you… I think you do see Jeren, and he spots you, and smiles real big and waves you over to come join him. What was the fake name that you used with him?
Minna: Lizete Booker.
Rhi: Lizete Booker. He waves you over.
Rhi (as Jeren): Lizete! I had no idea you were gonna be here tonight. Oh, it’s so good to see you. Let me introduce you to some of my friends from the precinct.
Minna (as Myra): Hello. Wonderful to meet you.
Rhi: Yeah, you’re now standing here in a crowd of Bluecoats.
Minna: I think eventually she’s gonna tug on Jeren’s sleeve, because I imagine they’re standing fairly close and being genial, and out of the corner of her mouth:
Minna (as Myra): I need to see you alone.
Rhi: Roll me something to persuade him of this.
Minna: That is a 6.
Rhi: Okay. He notices that you look a little worried, and he’ll nod and be like “all right,” and will tell his friends that he’ll be back in a moment and will follow you away. Where do you go?
Minna: This is going to be very weird for both of them, but she is going to tuck her hand into his elbow and pretend to giggle as they leave the room, solely just to give them an excuse to be leaving.
Rhi: He looks very confused.
Minna: Then I think just opens the first door to a semi-private looking room that she can find. Like, literally just opens doors until she finds a place and then shoves in.
Rhi: Uh, it’s a dream, the first door that you find is the place you want to be.
Minna: Yeah, it’s like a study, and she shoves a chair under the door handle.
Rhi (as Jeren): Uh…
Minna (as Myra): How fast can you fake your death?
Kim & Josie: [laughs quietly]
Rhi (as Jeren): What? What are you talking about?
Minna (as Myra): Somebody very powerful wants you dead, tonight preferably.
Rhi (as Jeren): What?! What are you talking about?
Minna (as Myra): I don’t know who you pissed off, I don’t know why this is happening, but somebody wants you dead, and unless I make it look like you’re dead tonight we’re both going to be dead in a much messier way. So, how quickly? Do you have any way to do this? Do you have a place you can go to lay low?
Rhi (as Jeren): I… No!
Josie: I like how this version of Myra assumes that people have contingency plans for faking their death.
Kim: Yeah.
Rhi: [giggles] Yeah.
Minna: Listen! [laughs] Jeren might not be the type, but his dad totally is.
Rhi (as Jeren): No, I don’t have a place to go to…
Minna (as Myra): So ask your father for something, because this is literally life and death.
Rhi (as Jeren): He’s out of town. He’s traveling to Imperial City for the next month.
Minna (as Myra): Of course he is! All right, I know a place, but I don’t know how to make it look good. I didn’t have time to plan this.
Rhi (as Jeren): Okay… I think there must be some kind of mistake here. I’m gonna go back—
Minna (as Myra): No!
Rhi (as Jeren): [stumbles] Maybe I should see you home? Did you have too much to drink? You haven’t been here that long.
Minna (as Myra): I really wish that you would listen to me, but of course this is out of the blue for you. Hi, my name isn’t Lizete Booker, and I’ve been sent to kill you, apparently. How’s that? Try that on for size.
Rhi (as Jeren): What…? What? Oh, you’re… Oh gods, you’re serious.
Rhi: I think he just kind of sits down on the first sittable piece of furniture he can find.
Minna: [giggling] The chair pushed under the door.
Rhi: Probably, yeah, the chair pushed under the door. He was trying to leave.
Minna: I think she leans forward on the arms of the chair.
Minna (as Myra): This isn’t my usual type of job. The good news is that I don’t have anything prepared for this. The bad news is also that I don’t have anything prepared for this, but we have to get you out of here right now.
Rhi (as Jeren): Uh… okay.
Minna: So I think she’s going to leave some blood in this study, but it’s gonna be her own.
Rhi: Oh, okay.
Minna: So she is pulling out a knife and is going to cut herself.
Rhi (as Jeren): Oh, whoa! Okay, I thought—What are you…?
Minna (as Myra): It’s fine. This is just for the look of things.
Rhi (as Jeren): Okay?
Rhi: I think that you can leave some blood splashed around this study without any trouble. You don’t have to make a roll for that.
Minna: Yeah, and she does that and rips off a piece of petticoat and wraps it around her… I think it’s her hand, I don’t know. It’s always hands for drama in movies.
Rhi: Yeah.
Josie: Mm-hmm.
Minna: So she wraps it around her palm and then she grabs Jeren’s elbow, and there’s a window, and she hoists it open and pushes him towards it. I think she leans in real close as he’s about to go out the window and grabs his collar and whispers some directions to him. She’s sending him off to a hideout of hers.
Rhi: Give me a roll.
Minna: Oi… I think this is also Consort. She’s trying to, like… Or maybe Command. I think it’s Command. Four.
Rhi: Okay. He listens to you and nods and jumps down. Are you following him out the window?
Minna: No, I’m staying here.
Rhi: I think that as, like… You stay there for a minute, kind of waiting, and just as you’re about to close the window you hear Clave go:
Rhi (as Clave): Oh, what the hell?!
Minna: Is she in here or out there?
Rhi: No, she’s out there.
Minna: Jumping out the window.
Rhi: Yeah. Myra runs down the side of the house, kind of towards the back alley carriage house area, and Clave is standing there with a gun in her hand aimed at Jeren. Jeren has his hands up, he looks very alarmed, and when Myra comes running up Clave is just like:
Rhi (as Clave): I told her that you couldn’t handle it.
Minna: Myra’s drawing her gun.
Rhi: Okay. Hello.
Minna: Or Myra’s gun is probably already in her hand.
Rhi: Okay.
Josie: Okay, I think it’ sat that moment that from the house there’s the sound of a very large, very expensive window shattering.
Minna: [long breathy laugh]
Josie: And lots of shouting and some distant music, which I don’t know how distracting it is for the people in this scene.
[laughter]
Rhi: Give me a roll.
Josie: Okay.
Rhi: You may not intentionally be distracting people, but it’s happening.
Josie: I got a 6.
Rhi: Okay. Clave and Jeren both look towards the sound.
Josie: I think as soon as they look you see fucking pirate Minx running out of the darkness with a sword and pistol, like…
Josie (as Minx): Blast! There you are! I went in through the main window. I wasn’t sure where you were gonna be.
[laughter]
Josie: …and she levels her gun at Clave.
Rhi: Myra, what would you like to do?
Minna: I think she gives Minx a very brief incredulous look because of the costume change, but then she’s like…
Minna (as Myra): On my mark.
Minna: …and then she pulls the trigger.
Josie: Yeah.
Rhi: Both of you give me some kind of roll for that.
Josie: Five.
Minna: Also 5.
Rhi: Five, okay. There’s a flurry of gunshots. Clave falls and Jeren staggers back clutching his bloodied shoulder. He got hit, but he is alive.
Josie (as Minx): Phew, just in time. I take it this… whatever this is has been less pleasant for you so far.
Minna (as Myra): I don’t know what you’re talking about, but you never saw any of this.
Minna: And she points her gun at Minx when she says this.
Josie: Minx sort of bulks and is like:
Josie (as Minx): Oh, um, uh… What to say? You may very well point that at me, but isn’t there something else you should be doing?
Minna (as Myra): [confused] What?
Rhi: Jeren puts his hand on your shoulder, and if you look back at him he has a very serious thoughtful expression and he nods.
Rhi (as Jeren): No, she’s right. There’s something else you do need to be doing. I think you need to go. You should go with her.
Minna: She shakes her head and looks slowly between them.
Minna (as Myra): Oh… Minx?
Josie (as Minx): Yes! Yes, it’s me.
Rhi: And everything goes to that silvery white.
Josie: I would like to point out that whenever Minx moves when she shows up here the music follows her like the Doppler Effect.
[laughter]
Minna: That’s amazing.
Rhi: That’s extremely good and makes me very excited for the next scene. So, the silver-white cloud fades away, and we see a close-up on a shelf of books.
Kim: [quietly excited] Yes!
Rhi: These fine leather-bound tomes with gilt edging and titles that, well, it’s hard to read what the titles are, but they seem very interesting and important. We see a familiar hand reach out and pull one of them down and pan back to see Blaire opening up this book and starting to read, just quiet contentment.
We pull back and we see that Blaire is standing in the middle of a long, long, long row of books, just this long aisle. The shelves themselves are probably 20 feet tall, and the aisles go almost past where you can see. As we kind of continue to pull out you can see the ends of the bookshelves, and there’s just more and more and more shelves just stretching off from left to right, seemingly forever.
What is, you know, what does Blaire look like? How is she dressed? Is she carrying anything with her? What’s sort of going on with her in this space?
Kim: I was going to say I like the idea of her being in a Charhollow uniform, but I think we already established that Charhollow doesn’t have uniforms.
Rhi: This is Blaire’s perfect fantasy, so…
Kim: Hmm.
Minna: What if in her fantasy there are uniforms?
[laughter]
Kim: Yes! Yes, she is wearing a boarding school uniform.
Rhi: Aw. Okay.
Minna: Is this what she pictured in Tycheros when she was applying?
Kim: Yeah, it’s probably… It’s slacks with a sweater vest and a collared shirt. She… Yeah, she’s probably wearing a tie, but it’s kind of in that Avril Lavigne style, like not up to dress code.
Josie: [laughs]
Rhi: Yeah, it’s a little loose.
Kim: [laughs] Yeah, it’s a little loose, the pattern of it is a little emo.
Josie: I appreciate that Avril Lavigne was your reference point for that.
[laughter]
Kim: I mean, how could it not be? Yeah, and it’s probably like gray and navy blue, I would think.
Rhi: Okay, yeah, so it just looks like a nice emo take on a prep school uniform.
Kim: Yes, exactly.
Rhi: Yeah, I love it. That’s the most Blaire thing I’ve ever heard in my life.
Kim: God… [laughs]
Rhi: So yeah, Blaire, you’ve been in this library for a long time, and you can stay here for as long as you want, and you can read anything you want, and you can do all the research that has ever interested you, and it’s just… it’s perfect.
Kim: Yeah.
Rhi: And then you hear the music.
Josie: [laughs]
Kim: Is it the, um, the opera noise from Inception?
Rhi: [hums the tune] Nope! It’s the Pirates of the Caribbean theme.
Kim: Oh!
Rhi: It’s the Pirates of the Caribbean theme playing muffled in another room, but getting closer.
[laughter]
Josie: I don’t know if there’s a librarian off somewhere, but maybe you hear “shh” and then “I’m sorry, I can’t turn it off.”
[laughter]
Kim: Yeah no, Blaire is definitely poking her head out from an aisle and just goes like:
Kim (as Blaire): SHH!
Rhi: Yeah. So Minx and Myra spot Blaire leaning out from the books, shushing you, and so yeah, the two of you come over, Minx’s soundtrack following her.
Josie (as Minx): Um, hello Blaire.
Kim (as Blaire): What are you two doing here?
Josie (as Minx): Well, we came to find you, not to disturb your rest or anything, but we do kind of need to get back home.
Kim (as Blaire): This is an exclusive library. You need to have a very specific pass to get in here. How did you get in here?
Josie (as Minx): I mean, well, one such as I is unhindered by such limitations.
Rhi: [laughs]
Kim (as Blaire): What?!
Josie (as Minx): Don’t you think, as nice as this is, there’s something else you should be doing?
Kim (as Blaire): I don’t know what you’re talking about. Listen, I can’t do this right now, I have a lot of work to do.
Josie (as Minx): That’s true, but I think we need to work together on it.
Minna (as Myra): The homework isn’t real.
Kim (as Blaire): Don’t fuck with me, Myra.
Rhi: Can I have Minx and Myra both make me some kind of rolls here for persuading Blaire?
Josie: I’m gonna roll Consort. I got a 4.
Rhi: Okay.
Minna: I got 5 as my top one.
Rhi: So, I’m gonna kind of give this to you, Kim.
Kim: Okay.
Rhi: Your friends are trying to persuade you, and they are partially successful or they succeed with a consequence. So I will let you decide how that plays out.
Kim: Hmm. Blaire’s just gonna be like:
Kim (as Blaire): [exhales] Okay, now that you mention it, I don’t really know how I got in here, but… that doesn’t add up Myra, and I don’t know if I’m leaving.
Josie (as Minx): I mean, that is up to you, but we would miss you dearly.
Kim (as Blaire): You could always come back. I wouldn’t be here forever.
Minna (as Myra): Blaire, how did you meet us?
Kim (as Blaire): What?
Minna (as Myra): How did you meet us?
Kim (as Blaire): Uh… I don’t know. I can’t remember. I mean, I… I know that—
Minna (as Myra): Where do you live?
Kim (as Blaire): Holy shit, I can’t remember. Um… Uh, it was a room? It was some kind of room.
Josie (as Minx): Well, it was definitely after you left school.
Kim (as Blaire): I left school? No, I’m in school right now.
Minna (as Myra): You’re remembering or imagining that you’re in school.
Kim (as Blaire): What…?
Minna (as Myra): Six Towers is in danger, and we need to go stop it.
Kim (as Blaire): I mean… what’s wrong with Six Towers? It seemed fine when I got here.
Josie (as Minx): Do you remember Setarra?
Kim: I think at that her face just blanches and she drops the books that she’s holding, and then she’s gonna… It all comes back to her, and she’s just gonna nod very solemnly.
Kim (as Blaire): Yeah… yeah, I remember.
Josie (as Minx): Then we need to go stop her, okay?
Kim (as Blaire): [upset] Minx, I don’t wanna leave.
Josie (as Minx): I—
Kim (as Blaire): Look at this place!
Josie (as Minx): I know, but…
Minna (as Myra): What do you think happens if you stay?
Kim (as Blaire): Setarra wouldn’t find me here.
Rhi: I think that if you look down at the books that Blaire has dropped they are all about summoning demons.
Kim: [laughs wildly] Even in her fantasy she’s making the same mistakes all over again!
Rhi: They may not have been those books when you were holding them.
Kim: Ohh, I like that.
Josie (as Minx): We’ll protect you.
Kim (as Blaire): You can’t protect me from this. Nothing can.
Josie (as Minx): That’s not true.
Kim (as Blaire): Even if we do put this thing away she’s gonna come after me.
Minna (as Myra): Then we’ll stand with you.
Kim: I think at that Blaire just nods and I think she’s gonna take Myra’s hand.
Minna: I think Myra squeezes it.
Josie: Aw.
Rhi: Does Minx wanna get in on this hand-holding action too?
Josie: Yeah. She’s gonna give them a moment first before joining. [laughs]
Rhi: Yeah, so the three of you are standing there, hands linked, and I think Minx and Myra, you kind of are expecting that silver-white fog again, and you’re waiting, and… nothing seems to be happening.
Minna (as Myra): Huh… You’re not waking up.
Kim (as Blaire): What…?
Josie (as Minx): Well, perhaps we need to find a way out?
Kim (as Blaire): How do we do that?
Josie (as Minx): Maybe if we get back to my ship…
Rhi: [laughs]
Josie (as Minx): Presumably we got in here somehow. Let’s head back that way.
Rhi: Blaire, you have no idea how you got in here. You don’t remember. You’ve just always been.
Kim: Oh, are we still in the library?
Rhi: Mm-hmm.
Kim: Oh, okay.
Kim (as Blaire): Um… Hmm.
Kim: Blaire’s gonna take a minute to look around and do a 360.
Kim (as Blaire): Uh, this way! It was this way.
Kim: She’s just gonna take off in some random direction. She doesn’t know if it was this way, but she just wants to reassure everybody.
Rhi: Yeah. Can I get either individual rolls or a group roll from all of you to find your way out?
Josie: Okay.
Kim: Do folks want to do a group roll? I’ll take the stress.
Josie: Sure.
Minna: Sure.
Josie: I got a 3.
Minna: I got a 1.
Kim: I got a 2.
Josie: We all failed!
Minna: Hey folks…
Rhi: Yeah, 1, 2, and 3, so…
Kim: So how much stress is that? Is that 2 stress?
Rhi: …3, 3 stress.
Kim: Three stress?
Rhi: Yeah.
Kim: Three stress.
Rhi: Because all three of you failed, yeah.
Kim: Oh hell yeah.
Rhi: You all follow after Blaire, and you’re hurrying through these stacks, and the books, like the shelves around you are changing, they’re different books, but no matter what direction you go it just keeps being this infinite library. It doesn’t seem to have an end.
Josie: Is there like a fiction section and a non-fiction section?
Rhi: Yeah.
Josie: Minx is gonna go to the non-fiction section, as much as that pains her.
Rhi: Uh-huh?
Josie: Is there something about Duskwall? Like, something about Duskwall? A book that’s a history of Duskwall or…?
Rhi: Roll me a check to find something.
Josie: I got a 5.
Rhi: Okay. Yeah, you find a very, like… I think it is just called A History of Duskwall. It’s a pretty standard textbook.
Josie: Are there pictures?
Rhi: Yeah.
Josie: Minx pulls it off the shelf.
Josie (as Minx): Ah-ha!
Josie: She will open it to a random page, put it on the ground, and hop onto it.
Kim (as Blaire): What did you do that for?
Rhi: Minx is gone.
Kim (as Blaire): Oh…
Josie: [laughs]
Kim (as Blaire): Minx?
Rhi: You saw Minx open up—What did you open it up to? What was the picture of?
Josie: Then I think it was like Six Towers from a distance. Right? The skyline so you can see the Six Towers?
Rhi: Yeah. Okay, cool, yeah. So, you see Minx open it up, “ha-ha,” sets the book down, and then jumps on it and vanishes from sight.
Kim: Yeah, I think Blaire’s just gonna follow.
Rhi: Okay. Myra?
Minna: Yeah, following.
Rhi: All right. That was such a cool idea that I was like… no, this works, this is good.
Josie: [laughs] I was like, we’re in a big library, I’m gonna Page Master this shit.
Rhi: I was thinking Mist, but… [laughs] Same thing. So, I think again, as each of you jumps into the book, finally that silver-white fog covers your vision, and when it clears the three of you are standing back in Six Towers. You have moved forward about two blocks, and you can see there’s a six-way intersection of streets in front of you, so there’s sort of a big open space where all these streets come together, and in that intersection is this thing. Minx and Myra, because you do not have the Iron Will ability like Blaire does, you are immediately—you’re going to have a reaction of either you’re gonna freeze, run away, or you will need to make a Resolve resistance roll to keep your head.
Minna: Yeah, I’m gonna make that roll.
Josie: Yeah, same.
Rhi: Okay.
Minna: Five, so I only take 1 stress, right?
Rhi: Yep, and Minx got a critical.
Josie: Yes, but I had no stress, so there’s no additional effect.
Rhi: Okay, so you just, yeah, you don’t take any stress. Okay, so how do both of you keep from, like, how do you both keep yourselves calm in the face of this?
Josie: I don’t think Minx stays calm per se, she’s very clearly put off by it and afraid, but I think it’s like she doesn’t fight it this time and just sort of lets the emotion roll off.
Rhi: Yeah, I like that. How about Myra?
Minna: I think what she does is she looks sideways at the people she came here with and she thinks “we can do this, we have to.”
Rhi: Heh, yeah. So it’s just sort of pacing around it seems like, extending tendrils and spines into buildings, and every so often when it does you just hear some sort of horrible scream or wail.
Josie: I think Minx is gonna slowly gather herself a little bit. She’s missing the pirate outfit that was giving her confidence.
Rhi: You’ve got a cool trench coat and some wooden stakes, though!
Josie: That’s true. I think she’s just gonna clear her throat like she’s trying to get someone’s attention.
Rhi: Um… make a roll. It’s gonna be, uh… risky for reduced effect.
Josie: That’s fine. I’m gonna be rolling Consort here. I got a 6.
Rhi: Okay. You do it but you’re still at reduced effect. It’s hard to say if it looks at you, because again, similarly to how Blaire was when she first saw this thing your brain is kinda not allowing you to fully process this thing, but you sense that you have gotten its attention and that is kind of confirmed when it extends some of its spines towards you. They don’t touch, it’s just kind of reaching out.
Josie: Minx kind of lightly winces, like she closes one of her eyes, but she tries not to pull back too much.
Rhi: Yeah. Myra? Blaire? What do you wanna do?
Kim: Blaire’s gonna reach out to it.
Rhi: Okay. Are you gonna touch it?
Kim: Or try to. Yeah. I wanna have a How to Train Your Dragon moment with this thing.
Minna: [heavy exhale]
Josie: Aw.
Kim: [laughs]
Rhi: You reach out and touch this thing, and it doesn’t really have, like, you can tell that you’re interacting with it, your hand feels weird, I think kind of a pins and needles sort of feeling…
Kim: Yeah.
Rhi: …and I need you to roll Resolve resistance to avoid being pulled into another dream.
Kim: Oh, shoot, you’re right. Resolve you said? Okay, that’s a 6.
Rhi: Okay, so you don’t take any stress and you manage to pull your hand back before it… Your vision kinda starts to go into that silvery white, and you’re like “ooh, nope!”
Kim: Yep.
Rhi: And yeah. Myra, I think you see all this happen. What do you wanna do?
Minna: Oh boy. Well nobody’s tried talking to it yet, have they?
Rhi: No. No. Minx cleared her throat. Blaire tried to touch it.
Minna: Myra steps forward like half a step.
Minna (as Myra): Hello?
Rhi: Roll something.
Minna: Consort?
Rhi: Sure, risky-reduced.
Minna: What’s a Devil’s Bargain look like?
Rhi: I think that you’re gonna have a permanent condition.
Minna: [gasps]
Rhi: We’re gonna call it Dream Touched. It’s not like harm, it’s just gonna be something you can put down in the notes where periodically—and I’m gonna need to write this down somewhere so I remember it—but in place of another consequence I am just going to shove you into a dreamscape.
Minna: [smiling] That’s really fucking cool. Yes.
Rhi: Now, you will have the option to do a long-term project to get rid of that if you so choose, but…
Minna: But at the moment I love it. [laughs] Please curse me with this.
Rhi: Yeah, that’s your Bargain.
Minna: That’s a 5.
Rhi: Five, okay, and you’d taken that Bargain to get it up to standard effect?
Minna: Yes.
Rhi: So you said hello, and I think, again, you can feel that its attention is on you, and I think when you all had come up into this intersection it was like the size of a house, it was huge, now it’s like the size of a horse or a big goat, like one of the Akorosian goats which are also the size of horses. You didn’t see it shrink, it’s just that’s how big it is now.
Minna: Yeah, dream logic.
Rhi: Yeah, and it kind of crouches, sort of, a little, and sort of fans its spines out towards you, and just seems to be—it’s not making contact, but it is paying attention to you, and it’s very unsettling, and I think that… you got a 5, you said?
Minna: Mm-hmm.
Rhi: I think you’re gonna just take level 1 harm of Unnerved. It is just… you are disturbed to your core to have this thing focusing on you.
Minna: Mm-hmm. I’m not gonna resist that, because I’m 3 away from a trauma and I’d like to reserve that for a more climactic moment to take a trauma.
Rhi: Yeah. [laughs] No, that’s fair.
Minna (as Myra): We don’t want to hurt you. We just want to help you get somewhere that is safer for you to be and for everyone else around here for you to be.
Rhi: Okay. It’s still regarding you.
Minna: I think Myra will turn to Blaire.
Minna (as Myra): My friend here is an expert in finding places for supernatural creatures who do not have one.
Kim (as Blaire): We want to bring you home. Let us help you.
Rhi: It’s still looking at the three of you. It has also stopped putting tendrils into buildings. It seems to be just focused on the three of you.
Kim: Oh, okay.
Rhi: So it’s just kind of there, regarding you, still. It seems to be willing to let you, like, do stuff. You’re not sure if it understands what you’re saying, but it’s paying attention to you. That’s kind of as good as it’s gonna get right now with the approach that you’re taking.
Kim: Right.
Josie (as Minx): Blaire, can you, like, do what you did to get it here but perhaps in reverse?
Kim: Uh… Rhi, do you think that’s possible? Because I don’t have the rune stones with me.
Rhi: You can try. You’ve got arcane implements. That gets you chalk. You could draw runes.
Kim: I could.
Rhi: It’s gonna be a question of how well—because Blaire doesn’t have the book anymore.
Kim: Right. How well did she memorize it, yeah.
Kim (as Blaire): Um… I mean, I can try.
Josie (as Minx): Please do, or if there’s a way to open a door without pulling another thing through, maybe?
Kim (as Blaire): I’ll do my best.
Rhi: Yeah. So, Blaire, what do you wanna do for that?
Kim: Well, I’m probably gonna have to roll Attune to try and just start the ritual and get set up.
Rhi: Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Kim: Okay, that’s a 6 – 6, 2, 4.
Rhi: Damn. Okay, yeah. So Blaire, I think you’ll need to mark arcane implements.
Kim: Yes, agreed.
Rhi: And I think that you, as you pull out some chalk and start drawing runes on the stones, it all kind of starts to come back to you, like all of the reading that you did, all the notes that you took which are now all ruined in the river, but it’s starting to come back. I think as you’re drawing these runes on the stones it’s kind of following you, like curiously.
Kim: Yeah.
Kim (as Blaire): You stand there. You stand over there. These are the words we’re gonna say. Okay?
Josie (as Minx): All right.
Minna (as Myra): Okay.
Kim: Then she just tells them what they’re going to chant.
Rhi: Yeah.
Kim: I don’t wanna step on any toes, but I feel like this might be a group Attune just to do this ritual successfully.
Minna: Mm-hmm.
Rhi: Mm-hmm.
Josie: Makes sense.
Kim: Okay. I can lead it. I don’t care.
Rhi: It’s gonna be risky, reduced effect, because Blaire is the only one who actually is familiar with this thing, and yeah.
Josie: Mm-hmm. Can we… How does pushing to increase effect in this case work?
Kim: Would I take the stress?
Rhi: Yeah. I think Blaire, since she’s leading, would need to be the one to take the stress.
Kim: Listen, I’m willing to do it.
Rhi: Okay.
Josie: Okay.
Kim: Okay, so that’s 1 to, uh, or is it 2?
Rhi: Two stress.
Kim: Woohoo, we’re getting close, baby!
[laughter]
Josie: I got a 2.
Kim: I got a 4, 1, 3.
Minna: I also got a 4.
Rhi: So the result is a 4.
Kim: So how much stress does that…?
Rhi: One.
Kim: I am stressed out. Blaire’s out.
Rhi: Okay.
Josie: Welcome to the two trauma club. [laughs]
Kim: Woohoo! Thank you.
Rhi: Okay. You start chanting, and the creature, the entity, starts getting kind of agitated.
Kim: Mm-hmm.
Rhi: It’s stalking around. It can’t seem to get past the rune stones that you had drawn, and as the chant builds and you’re going through this recitation it’s just getting more and more agitated and lashing out with spines and tendrils. Then, that hole in reality rips open again, and Minx and Myra both have to grapple with that.
Kim: Yeah.
Josie: Ahh!
[laughter]
Rhi: And when that hole rips open the creature lashes out and several spines strike Blaire. She’s not physically harmed…
Kim: Right.
Rhi: …but she is just knocked into some kind of dreamscape and she just falls. The hole stays there. The creature does not go into the hole, but this massive, like, kind of resembles a bird talon but with a lot of extra toes and claws, massive, comes out of this hole and snatches this thing and grabs it and just yanks it away.
[impressed and uneasy noises]
Kim: There is always a bigger fish.
[laughter]
Rhi: Minx and Myra, here’s the problem. The hole isn’t closing.
Minna: [pinched] Mm-hmm!
Rhi: And this clawed thing that came out and grabbed it was like blacker than black, blacker than the Void Sea. You can’t see what’s on the other side of this hole, but you know that it’s there and you can tell that it is trying to come through.
Minna: Oh no.
Rhi: So Minx and Myra, Blaire is unconscious and something very, very large is trying to come through a hole in reality into your city. What would you like to do?
Kim: [smiling] I’m sorry I left you like this, but I wanted to take a trauma this episode.
Rhi: [laughs]
Josie: I think Minx not being especially familiar with the occult and probably not knowing that the runes on the ground are likely a binding thing…
Kim: Oh no.
Minna: [gasps]
Josie: …Minx is probably gonna move to destroy the circle thinking that will close it.
Kim: I don’t know…
Rhi: It could work. Anything could work. So Minx—
Kim: And we can always resist consequences.
Josie: Yeah.
Rhi: Yes. Minx, if you would like to do that, make some kind of roll.
Josie: She’s gonna Wreck it.
Rhi: Okay. Desperate. [laughs]
Josie: Uh-huh?
Rhi: I think standard effect. There’s nothing really interfering with your ability to break up the chalk sigils on the ground, it’s just you are so out of your depth here.
Josie: Yeah. I think I’m gonna push myself for increase die.
Rhi: Yeah.
Josie: Get up to 3d6 here.
Rhi: [pained] Ohh…
Josie: [forced sarcastic laughter]
Kim: Ooh, no… no-no no-no.
Josie: That’s a 3.
Rhi: That is a 3.
Kim: [hums gameshow failure stinger]
Rhi: [reluctant] The hole gets bigger.
Josie: Uh-oh!
Minna: [nervous trilling]
Rhi: And something is starting to come through. I’m gonna start a clock.
Josie (as Minx): [frantically] Uh, Myra, help?
Rhi: [smiling] The clock is called Something is Coming Through, 1 out of 3.
Minna: Yeah, I’m terrified. Out of character, I don’t actually know how this works. I have no idea what’s going on. I have no idea how Myra would be equipped to deal with this.
Rhi: I mean, as Minx pointed out earlier this episode, Blaire did accidentally do a summon when you all broke into that bank, and that thing did seem to just kind of disappear on its own after a while, like you didn’t hear about it rampaging through the city, so… I think that’s what you might have gleamed from that and maybe from talking to Blaire about it a little bit, things from elsewhere can’t survive here for very long. Now, depending on what they are, they might not need to survive for very long to do a lot of damage, but…
Minna: Yeah, I’m not sacrificing…
Rhi: …this thing isn’t—it’s not meant to be here, this is not its place. I think that’s what Myra knows.
Minna: Then I’m not sacrificing Six Towers to Godzilla even if it’s only one-hour Godzilla.
Josie: [uneasy] Yeah. By the way, what is taking so long for like the Spirit Wardens or something to show up?
Minna: Can I attune to the ghost field and see if I can do something about this?
Rhi: Yeah, so I can… [chuckles] Out of character, Josie, the closer you get to this thing the more you get caught in a dreamscape, so they probably are trying, but they can’t wake up.
Josie: Ah, I see. Mm-hmm.
Rhi: [laughs] Myra.
Minna: What would my position and effect be?
Rhi: If you…?
Minna: Attune to the ghost field. I want to see if I can physically try to stitch this wound in the universe back together, even if it’s starting with a single stitch.
Rhi: Yeah. It’s gonna still be desperate, I think.
Minna: The effect is rather important.
Rhi: Yeah… I will allow you to grab Blaire’s fine spirit mask from her person, with Kim’s permission.
Minna: Yeah.
Kim: Yeah. Totally. Do what you have to do.
Rhi: That will give you—if you use that, that will give you standard effect.
Minna: So it would be reduced effect because I’m Unnerved. I’m gonna push myself?
Rhi: Yeah.
Minna: [relieved] Hell yes. I got a 6.
Rhi: Okay! Tell me what this looks like.
Minna: I think… Oh, you know what? You know what she does? So, we haven’t brought it out in a while, but Myra, she has this thing called Ghost Contract where she has a rune on her that she can shake somebody’s hand and a rune will appear on both their hands that binds them to the promise or they’re cursed if they break it.
Kim: Oh, that’s right.
Rhi: Yeah?
Minna: So she has this rune that means binding, basically, and I think she’s gonna take it and twist it and start sort of doing a chain of these runes along the edges of this wound in reality, like trying to bind it back together.
Rhi: Yeah.
Minna: Like this is just a moment of desperate, you know, necessity is the mother of invention, and like, I don’t know if this is gonna work but I’m gonna try it because it’s what I have.
Josie: Mm-hmm.
Kim: Right.
Rhi: Yeah. I think it starts working. I think that you can tell that it’s getting there, but it… I feel like, yeah…
Minna: I think it’s like this chain of blood red… like runes written in blood red light, and reality is twisting and churning, and it’s trying to keep it together, but it’s fighting back.
Rhi: Yeah. I think I want one more thing, because Minx does have that demon bane super-powered thing.
Josie: Right, but that’s demon bane.
Rhi: Eh, you know what, it got souped-up. We can have it be working against a lot of things if you want.
Josie: Then that’ll probably be what I try next.
Rhi: Yeah. I think give that a shot.
Josie: Yeah, I think Minx is just starting to cry a little bit that she’s even thinking about doing this. She’s just gonna brandish it out, arm’s length, like a hunter holding a cross, and slowly get closer to it and see if it backs off any.
Rhi: Okay. What are you gonna roll for that?
Josie: I think it’s gonna be Attune.
Rhi: Okay. I will tell you, I can also see an argument for Command if you have better in Command.
Josie: Mm-hmm. Either way, I’m gonna use Rook’s Gambit to use my Sway instead.
Rhi: [laughs] Fair enough.
Josie: Having it be kind of like “the power of Christ compels you!” That sort of thing.
Rhi: Yeah. Go ahead. This is gonna be, because of Myra’s actions, risky-standard.
Josie: Okay.
Rhi: Myra’s gotten into a better spot.
Josie: Critical.
Rhi: [relieved] Oh, that’s the best possible outcome.
Josie: Yay~
Rhi: I was so hoping that would happen.
Kim: Minx, you’re a hero!
Josie: I did it~
Rhi: So, Minx and Myra working together, I think that, Minx, this thing starts glowing hot in your hand and you’re just like, “ugh, I gotta keep holding onto this.” Myra, you are forcing—I’m imagining that your hand, the rune on your hand is also glowing really bright. I think Minx is able to kind or repel this thing back just enough for Myra to yank the edges closed, and then there’s a very faint pop sound…
Josie: [relieved sigh]
Rhi: …and then there’s a moment of quiet… and then all of the bells start.
Minna: [gasps, then sighs in relief]
Rhi: Like, all of the alarm bells, the Bluecoats, the Spirit Wardens, the Brigade is here for some reason. They don’t know what’s going on, but they figure they may as well show up. They’re all rushing towards your location, and Blaire is still unconscious on the ground.
Kim: But… Rhi.
Josie: Pick Blaire up and run!
Rhi: [laughs]
Kim: Rhi?
Rhi: Yeah?
Kim: Are the death bells included in this?
Rhi: No.
Kim: Okay.
Rhi: It’s just every security force in the city is currently descending on your location.
Kim: Okay.
Josie: Blaire is now a sack of potatoes and we’re running.
Rhi: [laughs] Yeah. So the two of you sprint, and Blaire, while you are in this dream…
Kim: Oh, yeah.
Rhi: For a while you were just kind of, like, it was just dark unconsciousness, you’re not really actually aware of anything, but then you come into this dream, and Setarra, as you knew her previously, not her demon form, is…
Kim: Yeah.
Rhi: I think that you’re still lying on the ground and she’s just crouched in front of you, her brow furrowed.
Kim: [softly] Mm-hmm.
Rhi (as Setarra): Very impressive, child. I should have killed you when I had the chance.
Josie: [nervous whistling exhale]
Kim: Is Blaire awake?!
Rhi: And then you’re gonna wake up.
Kim: Okay.
Rhi: [laughs]
Kim (as Blaire): [inhales sharply, sobs]
Rhi: Yeah, I think that you’re all back at The Nest when Blaire bolts awake.
Josie (as Minx): There, good… Good, you’re still here.
Kim (as Blaire): What happened?
Josie (as Minx): Uh… we patched up the hole somehow. You got it back through, but kinda had to shut the door behind it.
Kim (as Blaire): Wha… agh.
Kim: I think Blaire has a headache. A hand just goes to her forehead.
Kim (as Blaire): [groans]
Josie: Minx is gonna make sure Blaire has tea and a blanket.
Kim: Aw.
Josie (as Minx): Phew… Glad that is over.
Minna (as Myra): [exhales]
Kim (as Blaire): It’s not over.
Josie (as Minx): Oh, well.
Kim (as Blaire): She wants me dead. She told me.
Josie (as Minx): Well, we said we’d stand by you, so we’re gonna do that.
Minna (as Myra): We’re not gonna back down from that.
Kim (as Blaire): You don’t have to. I got us into this mess. It’s all my fault. I should be the one to take it out.
Josie (as Minx): It’s not.
Minna (as Myra): Did you let me face everything alone when Salia came back after me? Because that was my problem too.
Josie (as Minx): Besides, it’s also clear that Setarra’s an evil bitch and she used you, and none of us are gonna take that lying down.
Kim (as Blaire): It’s still my fault. I still tore this city apart because I didn’t know what I was getting into.
Josie (as Minx): Well, you made up for that mistake, and that’s what matters I think.
Minna (as Myra): You took responsibility. We wouldn’t have been able to stop that without you.
Kim (as Blaire): You kinda did, though.
Kim: Blaire just kinda gives that crooked grin.
Minna (as Myra): We wouldn’t have been able to stop it without all three of us. How is that?
Kim (as Blaire): [reluctant] Okay.
Minna (as Myra): And that’s also why it needs to be all three of us against Setarra.
Kim (as Blaire): I’m sorry it came to this.
Josie (as Minx): It’s… It’s all right. I don’t know what being around Setarra was like in private. You trusted her for a reason, I think.
Kim (as Blaire): She was nice to me. I mean, I was the one who brought her here in the first place and she didn’t kill me on-sight like they said all demons do, so… I don’t know.
Josie (as Minx): I can imagine that was encouraging.
Minna (as Myra): She took advantage of your trusting heart, and that’s on her, that’s not on you.
Josie (as Minx): Mm-hmm.
Kim (as Blaire): [tearful] I don’t wanna have a trusting heart anymore.
Josie: At that, Minx is just gonna big hug to Blaire, just {foomp}.
Kim (as Blaire): [whines]
Minna: I feel like Myra moves Blaire’s feet and props them in her lap as she sits down on the couch as well.
Kim: Aw.
Minna: Just doing the ankle pats.
Josie (as Minx): It’s all right to trust, and you weren’t necessarily wrong to trust her either.
Kim (as Blaire): No, Minx.
Josie (as Minx): She hurt you.
Kim (as Blaire): Minx, I was. I should have listened to everything that everybody ever told me about demons, and I just… I didn’t, because I was stupid and I wanted to try something that nobody had ever done before. I don’t know…
Josie (as Minx): Well, you did do something no one had ever done before.
Kim (as Blaire): I did?
Josie (as Minx): Yes. You’ve done a lot of things like that, and I’m sure no one’s trusted a demon before either, and it’s Setarra who squandered that opportunity.
Kim (as Blaire): Hmm… I don’t know. I think any demon would have squandered it.
Josie (as Minx): Maybe, but you have a good heart and no one can fault you for that.
Kim (as Blaire): I’m just so sorry.
Josie (as Minx): We know, and frankly I’m sorry too for not doing more to help sooner.
Minna (as Myra): I’m sorry that you didn’t realize until it got this bad, but that’s not all you.
Kim (as Blaire): The last score, the Archive of Echoes, was to help finish this. I needed something from in there to pull that thing out of whatever dimension it came from.
Josie (as Minx): Given how you were acting, I figured it wasn’t entirely what you were saying.
Minna (as Myra): Next time you need to tell us, though, even just so we know what we’re getting into, because I don’t like being put into situations where I don’t have all of the information at hand.
Kim (as Blaire): [tearful] I know. I’m sorry.
Minna (as Myra): I forgive you, I just need you to do better.
Kim (as Blaire): It’s just that the last thing that I was working on went badly, the whole spirit drugs thing, and she saw that, and she told me that… that this would make it all better, that this would work, that I’d go down in history, and it was all lies.
Josie: I think Minx is just gonna pull into a tighter hug with Blaire.
Kim (as Blaire): I’m just worried that I’m gonna go down for the wrong reasons.
Minna (as Myra): Well, I don’t think history books are gonna look kindly on any of us, but we just gotta keep doing what we think is best.
Josie (as Minx): Well maybe they will if you end up writing them, Myra.
Minna (as Myra): [laughs]
Kim (as Blaire): What are we gonna do? She’s gonna want to kill me. She said… She told me that she should have killed me, and now I think she’s gonna. She’s gonna try. We can’t fight her.
Josie (as Minx): Maybe we don’t need to fight her, but I think if we wanna go down in history for something, figuring out how to kill a demon wouldn’t be a bad thing to go down for.
Minna (as Myra): Yeah, we just have some research to do.
Kim (as Blaire): I don’t want to kill her.
Minna (as Myra): Bind her? Send her somewhere else? There are other things than killing, especially with demons.
Josie (as Minx): That is… I think Myra just hit it on the head. If she wants to open up doors to other places so much let’s open one up and kick her through.
Kim (as Blaire): We’ll have to look into it. I don’t know. All I know is that she used to be my friend once, and I don’t want her to die.
Minna (as Myra): I understand that, I do, and if that’s the choice you make I’ll help you.
Josie (as Minx): I as well, of course.
Kim (as Blaire): Okay.
Rhi: I think Hex comes padding down the stairs and jumps up onto Blaire’s lap in the middle of this group cuddle pile.
Minna: Aww!
Rhi: Curls up in a little Hex ball.
Josie: Aww.
Kim: Blaire’s just gonna scoop him up and just bury her face in him, you know, just kinda like that cat thing that you do, a big cat hug, and he’s just trying to squirm away but she’s not letting go.
Minna: [a “too cute” whine]
Rhi: Yep. So, we leave The Magpies sitting in their living room cuddled up on the couch, pan out of The Nest and across Six Towers. We see Bluecoats and Spirit Wardens just in and out of houses questioning people. There’s a lot of confusion, but nobody’s dead. Then, out to the Void Sea, and we plunge beneath the Void Sea and go down, down, down to the bottom of the sea, not too far from Duskwall, and we see these stone shapes that as the camera focuses in are all in the same shape as Setarra’s true form.
Kim: [breathy] Holy shit.
Rhi: Then we see a single twisted eel-like shape swim in front of them, and that is where we’re gonna end the season.
## Outro [1:25:35]
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.
Before I thank this week’s magnificent Patreon backers, a quick announcement. If I mispronounce your name or if your name has changed since I read it on the air, please reach out to me through Patreon and let me know and I will re-record your thank you for an upcoming episode.
Laura Forbes, thank you! Steven Visovski, thank you. Johan Sjöström, thank you~
## Blooper [1:27:12]
Minna: I took stress during that dream, by the way. [chuckles]
Rhi: Um…
Josie: Oh dear.
Rhi: You did?
Minna: I used it on a roll and I didn’t declare it, but I did.
Rhi: Oh. [laughs] Okay, yeah, mark it.
Minna: I marked it.
Josie: Make sense?
Rhi: Yeah. Yeah. I mean, that is the kind of dream that you would wake up from and be like “I am not rested, I feel worse!”
Minna: Mm-hmm!