Transcribed by Michelle Kelly (@Michellicopter)

##Intro

Rhi: Welcome back to Duskwall. As always, thank you so much for joining us. And thank you for all the kind words after last episode’s announcement. Preparing to say goodbye to a show, characters and story that you love is never easy, but your support has meant the world to us and we’re rally looking forward to being able to share our new plans with you.

International Podcast Month is almost over, which means there’s a treasure trove of excellent episodes for you to listen to. You can hear me and Waffles in a few different episodes. My second one, a game of Songs for the Dusk, was released yesterday. Songs for the Dusk is a Forged in the Dark game that puts a very different spin on the post-apocalyptic setting. It’s really cool and I highly recommend checking it out. Next, I’m going tell you about this month’s featured charity, which was suggested by Josie.

With protests against police brutality and white supremacy continuing across the nation, we recommend donating to your local bail fund. Bail funds are organizations that pay bail for people that can’t afford it, and who also often provide legal support for people once they’re out on bail. Right now, many of these organizations are supporting protesters who have been arrested, but they’re important to support at all times, as cash bail unfairly harms black and brown people, especially those living in poverty. You can find your local bail fund by searching online for your city or state plus ‘bail fund’. We’ll link to a few in the show notes.

Things continue to be very, very dire here in the United States. So, please continue to call your representatives, support candidates who can oust the current Republican leadership, and prepare to vote. In addition, keep looking for ways to support your communities through donations, volunteering, protesting and more. We need to take care of each other as much as we can. Especially now.

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

##Story continues [00.02.29]

Rhi: We open up in Lani and Roxanne’s apartment. It’s, you know, as we have seen before, small, cramped, a lot like their office at the North Hook Mirror was. Lots of papers and books filling the space. And with the three of you present, it’s definitely feels a little crowded. There’s a kind of worried, somber air to this conversation. The three of you have come over here because earlier today you got a note saying that the two of them had something urgent they needed to talk to you about. And I think that, you know, when you arrived Lani kind of brought you in, sat you down on various mismatched chairs around the table, and she is standing behind Roxanne, who is sitting at the table. She had her head in her hands when you walked in, but kind of sat up. And Roxanne will start to explain, you know, signing along as she does so:

Rhi (as Roxanne): So… last night, um, we got a letter. Unsigned. Neither of us recognized the handwriting. From someone who has some information about my family that would be, I think, potentially damaging to my reputation if it got out.

Josie (as Minx): I see.

Rhi (as Roxanne): And, you know, my reputation leads into the reputation of our press and everything that we’re printing there. So, we’re being blackmailed, basically, is what it comes down to.

Josie (as Minx): What are they asking for?

Rhi (as Roxanne): Right now, money which we don’t have.

Rhi: And Lani kind of steps away and goes to one of the many stacks of papers and will take out an envelope and slide it across the table, and she signs:

Rhi (as Lani): This is the letter.

Josie: Minx will open it and read it and make sure the other two have space to lean in and look.

Rhi: Yeah, yeah. So, all of you looking and— for once, I didn’t actually draft the letter. The summary of it is basically there’s a few things talking about Roxanne’s grandfather and, uh, his betrayal of Duskwall and The Empire. Not any further details than that, but it’s apparently enough for Roxanne to know what they’re talking about. And yeah, they’re asking for basically, like, 6 coin, for now, to keep this quiet. And the implication is very much that there will be more requests for money in the future. Myra?

Minna: Yes.

Rhi: This handwriting looks familiar. It’s not, like, immediately familiar like it’s Salia’s handwriting, but something about it pings your brain to that time in your life, and you don’t know exactly whose this is, but you recognize it. You’ve seen this handwriting before somewhere.

Minna: Hmm. I think Myra takes the letter and like, frowns at the handwriting it for a minute, you know, until she figures out why it’s pinging her as familiar, and she says:

Minna (as Myra): Yeah, we really need to fix this, because this is our fault.

Kim (as Blaire): What are you talking about?

Minna (as Myra): This came from Salia. Or at least one of her people.

Josie (as Minx): And Salia is the sort to come by this sort of information.

Minna (as Myra): It’s her bread and butter.

Josie (as Minx): So, it’s a matter of how do we get that away from Salia?

Rhi: I think Roxanne will say:

Rhi (as Roxanne): I don’t— I have no idea what evidence she could have.

Josie (as Minx): Not to put too fine a point on it, perhaps if we knew what they know— you are by no means obligated.

Rhi: I think she kind heaves a sigh and is like:

Rhi (as Roxanne): No, it’s alright. I don’t think that the three of you will judge me, at least, for this. My grandparents moved here from Skovlan when they were fairly young, I think in their teens. And, you know, they met here in the city and I think they both worked in The Docks. My grandfather was never happy here, and this was in the years leading up to the Unity War, when the Empire was sort of gearing up for it but hadn’t fully declared war yet. But most people could see what was coming.

Josie (as Minx): Mm hmm.

Rhi (as Roxanne): My grandfather saw it too, and he ended up making contact with a… well, a spy for Skovlan. And he passed information about what The Empire was up to to him for years. And the spy disappeared one day and that was sort of the end of it, but there’s a lot of people here who would, uh, would not look well on me or my family for that.

Josie (as Minx): Right. This is difficult, because our connections with, shall we say, Skovlan resistance are slim. But I feel the most effective way of combating this information is to cast it as misinformation.

Minna (as Myra): Or we could steal it.

Josie (as Minx): Right, but again, it’s a matter of what proof could they possibly have of this correspondence? Especially since it may very well have been in person.

Rhi: Roxanne just kinda shrugs helplessly and is like:

Rhi (as Roxanne): They have to have found out.

Josie (as Minx): Did it indicate in any way how they intended to make the information known?

Rhi: The letter says something to the effect of “Your former colleagues at the Doskvol Daily will find this very interesting.”

Minna (as Myra): There has to be something here. There’s either somebody who’s talked or something that she has that is written down, because she doesn’t make threats without something to back it up.

Josie (as Minx): You’re certain this isn’t simply meant to lure us into a trap? Because it seems a pretty tried and true strategy to harass someone we care about to put us in a compromising situation.

Minna (as Myra): It could be, but I don’t think she would make this play without having something she could actually really put out there.

Josie (as Minx): That’s true. And I suppose it’s not mutually exclusive for her to have proof and it also be a trap.

Minna (as Myra): Oh no, it absolutely is also a trap.

Minna: [laughs]

Josie: [laughs]

Minna (as Myra): I’m not— yeah, it’s absolutely also a trap.

Rhi: And I think Roxanne will chime in, like:

Rhi (as Roxanne): I feel like this ends up hurting you either way. You know, either we pay her and have to probably shut down the press, sell the printing press in order to pay it, and then we have to stop, you know, publishing our pamphlets and your history things. Or we refuse and there’s a big story in the Doskvol Daily and our reputation is ruined and same result, we probably end up having to shut down. I think she’s set this up to where she feels like no matter what she does, she’ll win. And it’s probably also a trap.

Josie (as Minx): What is the deadline, and how is the gold intended to be delivered?

Rhi: The deadline is about a week form today. It seems like Salia wants them to have enough time to actually get the money together, rather than just being like, “You have to get this money tomorrow,” because that’s just not possible. I think it’s just that someone is going to come to, like, their apartment to collect the money on the day. Because like, this letter was like, slid under the door last night.

Josie (as Minx): That setup is almost too easy.

Kim (as Blaire): Again, could be a trap.

Josie (as Minx): Yeah, it is most likely a trap. Because as is, it would be a fairly simple matter to stop the arrival of the information in the intervening week and simply ambush whoever comes to collect.

Rhi: Roxanne just kinda shrugs and is like:

Rhi (as Roxanne): Uh, well this is my first time being blackmailed, so I’ll leave it to the three of you to figure out what the best response is.

Josie (as Minx): That’s true. But I do think we should include you in this discussion, because you are the ones most at risk here. I don’t know if you’re had an active role in planning our criminal enterprises before, this should be exciting.

Rhi: [laughs]

Kim (as Blaire): We wanna make sure that whatever we do doesn’t come back to, you know, backfire on you.

Rhi (as Roxanne): We appreciate that.

Rhi: And I think before you get much farther than that, there is a knock at the door.

Josie: I think Minx will get up to get it and have a hand on her cane sword. She doesn’t carry the demon-slaying sword with her. She keeps that safe in The Nest until she thinks she needs it.

Rhi: Yeah. [laughs] That makes sense, cause yeah, that’s not a— it’s not a subtle blade.

Josie: Mm hmm. Is there, like, a peep-hole?

Rhi: Yes.

Josie: Who is on the other side of the door?

Rhi: So, it takes you a second to recognize her because you— I mean, one, you’ve only met her like, once or twice, but also because Clave just looks completely different from how you’ve seen her previously.

Josie: Oh?

Rhi: Minna, you can tell me if this sounds right, but I feel like Salia’s the sort of person who has certain expectations for how her people present themselves, particularly her apprentices, her trainees. She expects them to look, you know, put together and clothes should be well, you know, should be nicely tailored and clean and all of that. Like, she doesn’t have a uniform, but there’s definitely a dress code.

Minna: This is absolutely true, because her whole thing is she wants to be respectable.

Rhi: So, that’s how you’ve seen Clave previously, is she’s dressed pretty nicely. She’s not right now. She’s wearing, like, a pretty ratty looking coat with, like, a hood flipped up. Her hair, which is like a platinum blonde basically, is bundled back up under the hood so you can barely see it. It’s obviously that she is trying not to be recognized. And she’s just kind of like glancing around outside and kind of like, shifting from foot to foot, looking pretty…

Josie: I think Minx is gonna turn back to the table and whisper:

Josie (as Minx): Myra. It’s Clave.

Minna (as Myra): What is Clave doing here?

Josie (as Minx): Presumably it has something to do with this?

Minna (as Myra): But why would they move up the timeline like this?

Minna: I think Myra is like:

Minna (as Myra): Fine. I’ll deal with this.

Kim (as Blaire): Well— we’re just gonna let her in?

Minna (as Myra): Not let her in. We’re gonna go out there.

Kim (as Blaire): Kay…

Josie (as Minx): Yes. Uh, Lani and Roxanne, we will handle this. They may be— she may be a friend, but we need to ascertain that.

Kim (as Blaire): Maybe stay outta sight for just a second?

Rhi (as Roxanne): Alright…

Rhi: And I think they stand up and they kinda move into the kitchen, which is not like a direct line of sight to the door.

Josie: I think Minx is gonna be behind the door a bit, pop it open a bit for Myra to address through it.

Rhi: Yeah.

Minna (as Myra): Clave.

Rhi (as Clave): Uh… oh, I was hoping to get Minx.

Josie (as Minx): I’m here, don’t worry, dear.

Rhi (as Clave): Uh, I… is, um, is Blaire there as well?

Kim (as Blaire): Right here.

Rhi (as Clave): Good, alright. Um… I was waiting for you outside, I needed to tell you what was going on, but you were taking a long time and you don’t have time.

Josie (as Minx): What do you mean don’t have time?

Rhi (as Clave): So, they told you about the blackmail. Right?

Josie (as Minx): Uh, yes. We shouldn’t discuss that in the hall.

Minna (as Myra): Fine.

Kim (as Blaire): So wait a minute, before we let you in, how do we know Salia didn’t send you?

Josie (as Minx): Well, we do have our standing business arrangement, and at least between myself and Clave, we understand what happens if either of us is not being forthright.

Rhi (as Clave): Salia doesn’t have any reason to send anybody here until the payment’s due. She doesn’t know I’m here. At least, I hope she doesn’t.

Kim (as Blaire): Myra?

Minna (as Myra): Okay.

Rhi: Yeah, so Clave steps in. I think Lani and Roxanne are kind of watching this whole thing play out from the kitchen with a lot of suspicion. And like, as soon as the door shuts, Clave says:

Rhi (as Clave): Alright, so somebody… uh… where do I start? I don’t know how much Myra has told all of you about Salia’s operations, but it’s not just her immediate apprentices. She has a pretty widespread network of cells, informants, people who get information for her. One of those groups was responsible for getting the information on Roxanne here. Sorry about that. Um…

Rhi: [laughs] She kinda like says to Roxanne briefly, who just kind of like, glares at her.

Rhi (as Clave): And they were holding that information along with some other blackmail material. Salia doesn’t want to have everything centralized. Earlier this morning, somebody broke into that place and stole everything. All the evidence.

Josie (as Minx): So someone… are we certain that’s a bad thing?

Rhi (as Clave): I mean… I don’t know who has it, and you don’t know who has it. Which means it’s gone from something you have a little control over to something you have no control over.

Josie (as Minx): But no doubt Salia is going to proceed as if she still has it, to execute her plan.

Rhi (as Clave): Well, no, she’s trying to get it back.

Josie (as Minx): I see.

Rhi (as Clave): She sent Ojal.

Josie (as Minx): Ah.

Minna (as Myra): Ah.

Kim (as Blaire): Oh, jeez.

Rhi (as Clave): Apparently it’s very important that she has this information, which makes me think that it’s not just your friend here. There’s probably other, far more valuable – no offense—

Rhi: [laughs] They’re both glaring really hard now.

Josie: [laughs]

Rhi (as Clave): Far more valuable information that got taken.

Josie (as Minx): I see. Was there any indication of who the thief was?

Rhi (as Clave): Not that I know of. I wasn’t directly involved in any of those operations and then I saw her send Ojal out with orders to find it, recover it.

Josie (as Minx): And now it is at risk of coming out sooner, as well.

Rhi (as Clave): And if you can get your hands on it yourselves, that’s gonna do a lot of damage to her operations generally. It might make it a little easier to take her down.

Josie (as Minx): I see. Well, thank you for telling us. Do you have any indication of whether you will be involved in recovering the information?

Rhi (as Clave): No. No, she didn’t have me on this. And I can’t help you, because if Ojal recognizes me, I’m dead.

Josie (as Minx): Right. I was just trying to avoid the situation on the boat again where we had to improvise.

Rhi (as Clave): Ah. No, no, I’m officially out doing some other work right now.

Josie (as Minx): So at the very least you have a cover during all this.

Rhi (as Clave): Yeah. The only thing that I know is that they were pretty sure that this thief had holed up somewhere in The Docks.

Josie (as Minx): Well, we do have contacts there.

Rhi: I think Clave basically was standing right at the door this whole time and then is gonna kind of start scooting back towards the door and reach for the handle and be like:

Rhi (as Clave): Um, I need to go so that nobody gets suspicious but um, good luck…

Josie (as Minx): You as well.

Rhi (as Clave): Thanks. I’ll try to follow up with you after, if I can.

Josie (as Minx): Alright.

Rhi: She zips out the door and disappears pretty quickly. So, is there anything else you wanna do here in the apartment?

Minna: Uh, I think we’re all set.

Rhi: Okay. So, we’re doing things a little differently today.

Josie: Oh?

Rhi: In terms of kind of how the score is gonna work. What I’m thinking here is that Gather Info is part of the score.

Josie: Interesting.

Kim: Oh.

Rhi: You need, like, the phases of this are you need to find where this person is, but unlike most Gather Infos where it’s fairly low-stakes, uh, in this case, you have the non-zero possibility of running into Ojal while you’re trying to find this person.

Kim: Ah.

Minna: Mm hmm.

Rhi: Or, if you take too long gathering information, Ojal gets there first.

Josie: We’re doing that thing where if you linger in a place too long in a video game, the nemesis shows up and—[laughs]

Rhi: Yes. Yes. Ojal is Mr. X in this analogy.

[laughter]

Rhi: She is going to Kool-Aid Man through the wall and scare the ever-loving shit out of us.

Kim: Maybe if we put a Thomas the Tank Engine mod on her she’ll be a little less intimidating.

Rhi: [bursts out laughing]

Josie: [sings off-key rendition of Thomas the Tank Engine theme tune] In my experience, that actually makes it more intimidating.

[laughter]

Rhi: Uh… engagement roll. Gonna be a one die.

Josie: Neat.

Rhi: Okay. Got a 5. So, we are going to start a clock that we will be dealing with, which this is kind of gonna represent the, uh, you got a 5 on the roll so this is going to be I think basically a— yeah, this is kind of a mission clock. Which functions like a regular clock, but basically, when it fills up the nature of the mission changes.

So, right now the clock is Find the Thief before Ojal Does. If this clock fills up, it means that Ojal has gotten there first, and now the mission is Get the Information Away from Ojal, or Escape from Ojal… we’ll see what the circumstances are. [laughs]

Josie: [laughs]

Kim: Could be both.

Rhi: Could be both. So, you got a 5, so we’re going to go with 2 out of 10. It’s already got 2 ticks because you got a 5. [laughs] That’s basically the risky position that you’re starting in, that’s the consequence. So, the good news is Lani and Roxanne live in The Docks, so you don’t have to travel very far to get to the places that you need to go. You know a lot of people here, you have a lot of contacts in The Docks. The citizenry of The Docks are generally well-inclined towards all of you and they will be willing to help.

Josie: I actually think one of us should plumb him in case he heard about the job that took the information.

Rhi: Okay. Yeah. Somebody can definitely do that. It’s a little out of your way, because somebody will have to hustle down to Crow’s Foot, but it’s doable.

Josie: Do The Lampblacks in general not have something here?

Rhi: Oh okay, I thought you meant you wanted to talk to Bazso specifically. If you just want to talk to—

Josie: I mean, he’s kind of my in, but honestly, the other Lampblacks will do just as well.

Rhi: You all are well-known enough to The Lampblacks, and you’re known as kind of Bazso’s… friend feels like a strong word. [laughs]

Kim: Acquaintance?

Josie: Unlikeable associate.

Rhi: Yeah, that’s a good phrase for it. [laughs] They’re pretty sure that pissing you off or refusing you help is not gonna make Bazso happy right now. These poor gang members, having to keep up with the latest on like, where do Minx and Bazso stand.

Josie: [laughs]

Rhi: What is their friendship status? Are we supposed to help or are we supposed to fuck with them?

Josie: And Minx wouldn’t have it any other way. [laughs]

Kim: There’s definitely people who put bets on it, who like vote the over-under for what this week is like.

Rhi: [laughs] Yep. Yep.

Josie: [laughs]

Rhi: That was a long way of saying yes, you can talk to some of The Lampblacks here to see if they know anything.

Josie: Cool.

Rhi: Okay. Go ahead and roll something.

Josie: This is kind of a consort, yes?

Rhi: Yes.

Josie: Not to get too deep into the weeds right off the bat, but what would a Devil’s Bargain look like here?

Rhi: Ooh… yeah… I kinda like the idea of just it’s these two random Lampblacks who just, like, make you promise that you owe them a favor.

Josie: Hmm… [laughs]

Rhi: And… [laughs] at some point, they’ll call that in.

Josie: Uh… no, I don’t think I’m gonna roll with that one.

Rhi: Okay. That’s fair.

Josie: I’m just gonna roll it as is.

Rhi: Okay.

Josie: I got a 4.

Rhi: So, you do it, but there’s a consequence. What are you asking? Let’s start there.

Josie: Yeah, I’m gonna ask that some information bearer was hit round here at some point, and I wanna know if anyone’s heard of it. I’m not gonna specify who, but you know what? Maybe make it a little more alarmist, like there’s potentially a big info leak.

Rhi: Okay.

Josie: And possibly because of— we need to know more about it.

Rhi: Yeah. Yeah, so kind of playing up the like, “This could be damaging to The Lampblacks in some way”, implying that?

Josie: Yeah.

Rhi: I think that these two Lampblacks that you’re talking to, I think that they patrol the area around Ink Row, they didn’t know that it was an information broker who got hit, but they did hear about a break-in at, you know, what they thought was just kind of an apartment building. Which normally wouldn’t raise any eyebrows, like, people’s apartments getting broken into in The Docks happens a lot. But there was a surprising Bluecoat presence.

Josie: Like an unusually high amount?

Rhi: Oh yeah. The Bluecoats don’t bother with that sort of thing in The Docks normally, but there were a lot of them investigating, and then they kind of all disappeared very abruptly, and there was no sign of the people who were supposedly living in that apartment. So, that was weird.

Josie: I think that’s probably about the reasonable amount of information I can get out of this. So, I think I’m good.

Rhi: Alright. And then I think for the consequence I’m gonna tick the clock up one. Because I think you spend a decent amount of time chatting.

Josie: Right.

Rhi: But you do, you know, get some info. I assume that the three of you are gonna kinda fan out?

Kim: Yeah.

Rhi: To cover more ground. Okay, so Myra or Blaire, what do you wanna do in order to try and get some information?

Kim: I mean, I was just gonna roll Consort for some NPCs at the dock. I was thinking that, you know, with Blaire in recent weeks having been to The Docks a little bit more often, maybe along the way she just probably socialized with maybe a couple of dock workers or fishermen or whatever on her way to hang out with Setarra. [laughs]

Rhi: Yeah. Well, particularly if Blaire has to, like, stand around on The Docks waiting for Setarra to show up, I can see where some grizzled old fisherwoman just starts chatting with you.

Kim: So, this is gonna be a… okay, it’s gonna be a Consort. And this is not Gather Info?

Rhi: It’s not Gather Info, so it’s gonna be risky. I think I’ll give you greater effect on this, because of your positive relationships with folks on the docks.

Kim: Alright. I’m still gonna push myself anyway, since I have the stress to spare.

Rhi: Okay, do it.

Kim: Okay, it’s a 4 and a 2.

Rhi: So, what are you asking?

Kim: I feel like just asking about suspicious activity in general is a bit vague.

Rhi: Yeah, I mean honestly, I will tell you, sort of meta level, with what I have planned, asking about suspicious activity is actually a decent way to go.

Kim: Oh. Okay, I appreciate the nudge in the right direction then. Okay.

Rhi: Yes.

Kim: In that case, Blaire is going to ask if they’ve seen anything weird or suspicious characters hanging about.

Rhi: Yeah. You, I think you kinda run into a couple folks who have, like, a fishing vessel. I think you probably met them initially because they, uh, they’re friends of Phin’s family— that’s way too many F sounds in one sentence. [laughs]

And yeah, so they’ve seen you around, they know you, and you start chatting with them, ask if they’ve seen anything weird, and they will mention that they kinda like, they went out pretty early in the morning to go fishing, and when they were coming back they saw somebody, like, kind of slipping out of another boat. Nobody that they’d seen before, they were clearly, like, sneaking around. They weren’t able to catch up to the person, but they went and checked the boat. It didn’t look like anything had been damaged or stolen. It just looked like somebody was hiding on there and then slipped away, and looked like they were heading for the, like, kinda the warehouse area on The Docks.

Kim: Huh. I was gonna ask if they got a look at her— at the person, but obviously not, I don’t think.

Rhi: I think they can tell you that what they saw was like, as this person was like, flipping their hood up, grey hair in a braid, and just kind of as they turned their face away, looked like they were wearing an eyepatch.

Kim: [whispers] Pirate…

Josie: [laughs]

Rhi: But that was pretty much all that they got in terms of physical appearance. I think—let’s see, your consequence. So, you’re having this whole conversation out, like, out on one of the piers—

Kim: I think I know where this is going. [laughs]

Rhi: And yeah, there’s just like, you know, you’re just having this conversation, but as you’re talking, you’re becoming increasingly aware of the sound of the waves hitting the pier and just how much water is around you and directly under you. And I think Blaire is gonna take level one harm, I think just Anxious. It’s not like a— you’re not at like, a full-blown panic attack, but you’re just like [cringes].

Kim (as Blaire): Um, I need to go. Thank you! This is very helpful, bye!

Rhi: [laughs] Zoom, there she goes.

Josie: [laughs]

Rhi: Yeah, you got a little bit of information. It seems like this person was hiding in a boat and then made for the warehouse area. You got a little bit of a physical description.

Minna: Yeah, I’m super curious about this person with the grey hair and eyepatch.

Rhi: Yes.

Minna: I’m trying to think who I would ask about that. Maybe The Gondoliers would actually be someone to ask.

Rhi: Yeah. Gondoliers are very aware of people moving through the city.

Minna: Yeah. And they’re the closest thing we have to a spy network.

Josie: God, I’m so glad we have them as allies.

Rhi: I know, right?

Kim: Yeah, it really paid off for us.

Minna: We befriended, like, one Gondolier in the beginning.

Kim: Yeah, and look at how great it turned out.

Rhi: Yeah. Alright, go ahead and make a roll. This is going to be, I think same as Blaire, risky, great effect.

Minna: It is a 5.

Rhi: Okay. Yeah, you head down to the canals, chat with some of The Gondoliers who are there, and I think same as the other two, what kinda questions are you asking here?

Minna: I’m asking if they know of anybody who either was out of place or is known to like, traffic in information or be a thief answering to this description.

Rhi: I think that kind of initially, you know, your questions aren’t specific enough, but when you give that description, one of The Gondoliers perks up and is like:

Rhi (as gondolier): Oh yeah, yeah, I saw her here last night. Woman, grey hair, braid, eyepatch, some facial scars.

Rhi: He brought her into the district late last night and then she’d asked, like, “Can you wait here? I’ll pay your extra to just wait here for me.” And I think she— she came back, but just to tell him, like, she gave him some extra money and just told him to go. And she said that she was pretty sure that she was being followed and that it wouldn’t be safe for her to go back to Coalridge, and so he should just go. And he was like, “Cool, appreciate the tip. Bye.”

Josie: [laughs]

Rhi: [laughs] And then left.

Minna: Did this person pick her up in Coalridge?

Rhi: Yes.

Minna: How was she dressed?

Rhi: All black, not carrying a lot of stuff, had a— he does remember she had a large, empty bag, like a satchel, with her when he dropped her off, and when she came back it looked like it was full of stuff. He couldn’t see what it was full of, but it was clearly heavier.

Minna: I kind of almost meant like what quality of clothes. Like, social levels.

Rhi: Like somebody from Coalridge.

Minna: Okay.

Rhi: Stuff is worn, patched, yeah. This is not somebody from— definitely not upper class, not even, you know, middle class. This is somebody who is solidly working class. Somebody from Coalridge.

Minna: Yeah.

Josie: I see.

Minna: I think Myra thanks the Gondoliers for the information.

Rhi: Okay. And you had gotten a 5, correct?

Minna: I had.

Rhi: Okay. Which means I gotta give you a consequence. Yeah, I think a consequence is just that again, it’s time that you’re spending on these conversations, so I’m gonna tick the clock up to 4 out of 10.

Minna: Mm hmm.

Rhi: How would you like to proceed?

Josie: Well, we do have contacts in Charhollow as well. Perhaps we can tap into that information network.

Kim: I also think we should check out the warehouse, just to follow that breadcrumb.

Rhi: You could— so, I will tell you that, like, getting down to Coalridge, Charhollow and then coming back is gonna eat up  a lot of time.

Josie: Yeah. Well, I was thinking Briggs as my point of contact. It’s possible that I can just go down to Charhollow while you pursue leads here.

Kim: Yeah, that works.

Minna: Yeah.

Josie: So, Myra, you wanna stay up here as well?

Minna: Yes, I don’t think that anybody should be up here alone.

Josie: Alright. I am going to talk to some friends, then.

Rhi: Okay. So yeah, you can, you know, again, find a Gondolier and tell them to double-time it. Yeah, so I think we’ll stick with Minx for the moment, as you speed down towards— yeah, if you’re checking in with Briggs, you’ll be gong to Charhollow, which is actually a shorter trip than Coalridge.

Josie: So, I’m gonna tap Briggs’s brain on this.

Rhi: Yeah. You head into the Charhollow market, to his stall. His big dog Mallory is hanging out with him. Fortunately, he doesn’t have any customers right now. I think he’s sewing a patch onto a shirt. And why don’t you give me a roll and then we’ll go from there. This is gonna be controlled, because you are not really in danger at this point. Greater effect.

Josie: I got a 6.

Rhi: Alright. This is gonna be a very useful conversation for you.

Josie: [laughs]

Rhi: Let’s go. [laughs] Yeah, so what do you wanna ask Briggs?

Josie: Yeah, I’ll ease into it, catch up a little bit, but I wanna straight up ask after the woman fitting that description.

Rhi: Uh, yeah, so I think if you kind of give the context of she looks like this, might be a thief, may have done a job up in The Docks yesterday, Briggs listens to you explain everything and then he kind of frowns for a second thinking and is like:

Rhi (as Briggs): Yeah. That sounds like Ruby. She, uh, works with The Lost. Do you— have you worked with them? It seems like you should’ve by now.

Josie (as Minx): No, I haven’t heard of them, I’m afraid.

Rhi (as Briggs): Oh, they’re kind of similar in approach to the three of you. Trying to do good in the city.

Josie (as Minx): I think if they left that many explosions then I would have heard of them.

Rhi (as Briggs): [laughs] Well, they’re not quite as bombastic about it as you are.

Josie: [laughs]

Rhi (as Briggs): Good folks, most of them— they’re trying to atone for things that they’ve done in their pasts. A lot of them used to be in rougher gangs or, um, actually attracted a lot of former soldiers. Yeah, Ruby has run some, you know, gotten some information for me in the past and yeah, actually came in a few days ago asking about some other info broker up in, you know, the North end of the city. What was the name? Uh… Salia, I think?

Josie (as Minx): I see. Honestly, the pictured being painted here isn’t a happy one, I don’t think. But thank you for telling me.

Rhi (as Briggs): Yeah. Um…

Josie (as Minx): Do you know how I might get into contact with Ruby or The Lost?

Rhi (as Briggs): There’s a uh…

Rhi: And he kind of starts fumbling around under his counter until he comes up with a piece of wood that has, like, a symbol engraved in it. And he kinda runs his fingers over it and is like:

Rhi (as Briggs): Yeah. They’ll write this, like, in chalk, on walls or whatever when they’re trying to arrange a meeting.

Josie (as Minx): Huh.

Rhi (as Briggs): if you put this around, it means that you’re a friend, somebody who will help.

Rhi: That’s not an uncommon kind of approach. Some gangs will do that as a way to mark territory or a way to communicate. But yeah, this seems to be what The Lost use.

Josie: Then I am going to— you know what? I’m going to find a nice place to sit down, if there is one, and just have a perhaps a slip of paper next to me with the symbol on it. You know what? I’m gonna go and get tea first.

Rhi: Okay. So, you’re just hanging out in Charhollow to see if somebody from The Lost shows up.

Josie: Yeah. Not too long, but I wanna see what their response time is like.

Rhi: Okay. I think we’re gonna leave Minx drinking tea next to this sigil for the moment.

Josie: Okay.

Rhi: And let’s jump back up to The Docks and Blaire and Myra. You two were gonna head over to the warehouses to see if you could find this person, right?

Minna: We were.

Kim: Yep.

Rhi: Yeah, so how do you wanna go about doing that?

Kim: I might roll a Study about it, just because that’s what I’m good at.

Rhi: Okay. So, what is that gonna look like? Like, searching very carefully for clues or signs of…

Kim: Yep. Just, you know, being very CSI about this shit.

Rhi: [laughs] I think this is gonna be risky, standard. Or actually, no, risky, reduced. Because she’s— we established she’s a good thief, good at not leaving signs of her passage.

Kim: That was double 2s.

Rhi: Yeah, so I think that it’s just you… you spend a lot of time just very carefully scouring around some of the warehouses here looking for any signs of suspicious activity, somebody maybe breaking in, and you can’t really find anything. And I think that it’s something that just takes a lot of time. So, we’re gonna bump that clock up another tick. So, you’re at 5 out of 10.

Kim: Okay. That’s fine.

Rhi: For Ojal finding the thief before you all do. Myra?

Minna: Hear me out.

Rhi: Yeah.

Minna: I’ve been watching a lot of Leverage. And… [laughs]

Rhi: Yes, you have. [laughs]

Minna: They frequently will like, get into random disguises, usually like, FBI for some reason? And like, ask to—

Rhi: Yeah, yeah, the FBI disguises.

Minna: Ask to see people. I have a fine cover identity. Could I use it to be a Bluecoat looking for this person?

Kim: Ooh…

Rhi: Oh, abso-friggin-lutely!

Minna: [laughs]

Kim: That’s vey good.

Rhi: Absolutely you could do this.

Minna: I don’t know if that counted. If, like, disguise counted as part of it. [laughs]

Rhi: I think to get a Bluecoat uniform, you will have to do a flashback.

Minna: I’m happy to do a flashback.

Rhi: Yeah. You can absolutely pose as a Bluecoat trying to find information. Who are you gonna be asking about this? Just sort of generally people around in this area?

Minna: Almost like, warehouse supervisors, or like guards or whatever.

Rhi: There’s— some of the warehouses have guards. There’s like, you know, dock workers and teamsters moving shit around. There’s a fair number of people you could question.

Minna: Yeah.

Rhi: Yeah, so what are you gonna roll for this?

Minna: Um, I guess it almost has to be a Sway, right?

Rhi: It does yeah. You are lying, like a rug.

Minna: What does a Devil’s Bargain look like?

Rhi: On the floor.

Minna: [laughs] What a way to phrase that.

Rhi: Devil’s Bargain… hmm… I think that it’s gonna be, so you were gonna have greater effect on this because of your fine cover identity. That’s gonna drop to standard effect, because a lot of the people that you’re talking to have already talked to the Bluecoats and they’re all just gonna be really annoyed that they have to tell this story again.

Minna: I’ll take that.

Rhi: Okay.

Minna: That’s a 4.

Rhi: So, you’re asking around and people do seem irritated that yet another Bluecoat is coming around asking about this stuff. Apparently, like, earlier in the day, the Bluecoats had just kinda fanned out all over the Docks. And they’re annoyed that another one of you is coming around. But you do get from talking to several people that a lot of them have seen, like, either belated signs of a break-in, like a window propped open or like, a lock has been picked, and a couple of them, when you give the description that you have of this woman, a couple of them recognize like, “Oh yeah, we’re seen a glimpse of somebody who kind of matches that description.”

Minna: Am I able to track all of this to somewhere? At least, like, to an area?

Rhi: It seems like she’s moving around a lot. And I think the most recent you get is, like, at a warehouse from about an hour ago.

Minna: Yeah, I think we see Myra standing in the middle of this empty warehouse, you know, just light pouring in from the door, looking frustrated.

Rhi: Yeah. Let’s jump back down to Minx.

Josie: Hello.

Rhi: Hello. You are trying to lure someone from The Lost into conversation?

Josie: Yes.

Rhi: Can you give me— I feel like this is gonna need to be probably a Consort roll. And this is more of just to see… this is almost more of a fortune roll to see how long it takes for somebody to come by.

Josie: 5.

Rhi: I think you hang out for like, half an hour or so. And somebody sits down at the table with you with their own cup of tea. They just go:

Rhi (as Stranger): Oh, sorry I’m late. Just got held up on the bridge over here.

Rhi: And give you a smile that doesn’t quite reach their eyes. Like, their eyes are very suspicious. They are, uh, Severosi, short hair, just kind of— again, typical Coalridge, Charhollow kinda clothes. Very faded and patched. But bulky in a way that by this point in your life you recognize is concealing weapons.

Josie: Right. [laughs]

Rhi: And I think that they very casually just slide a hand out and grab the paper that had their sigil on it and just kind of tuck it away. And then are just like:

Rhi (as Stranger): So, what did you wanna meet about?

Josie (as Minx): Oh, well, I was hoping to contact a friend of yours regarding some recent business. More of a proposition that anything really.

Rhi (as Stranger): Alright… can you be a little more specific?

Josie (as Minx): Uh, well, uh… I believe her name is Ruby?

Rhi: Gimme a roll to see how— oof.

Josie: Uh… [laughs] yeah, I just rolled Consort and that did not work out.

Rhi: Yeah. So, this is still controlled. So, I think that what you get is the smile fades a little bit and they kinda give you a pointed look and are like:

Rhi (as Stranger): And what might your name be?

Rhi: So basically, on a controlled position on a 3 you can either try a Consort roll again but it’ll be risky, or you can try a different approach.

Josie: You know, I do think I wanna stick with Consort, because I think I’m just gonna answer her question truthfully.

Rhi: Okay.

Josie: She gently sets her tea down and says:

Josie (as Minx): Oh. Uh, Minx. Perhaps you’ve heard of me?

Rhi: And that is actually gonna give you greater effect on this roll.

Josie: Yay!

Rhi: Because they have. [laughs] The Magpies are—

Josie: Minx gets to throw her name around. [laughs]

Rhi: Well yeah, The Magpies are a Tier III vigilante gang. Like, you all have got a reputation in this city. Particularly with a group like The Lost. So yeah, their eyes kinda widen a little bit and they’re like:

Rhi (as Stranger): Of The Magpies?

Josie (as Minx): Uh yes, precisely those.

Rhi (as Stranger): I’m not sure if I should be flattered or deeply worried.

Josie (as Minx): Um, uh, the first definitely, the latter is to your own discretion.

Rhi: [laughs] That actually get the first genuine smile out of them. It’s just, it’s a quick thing, but they’re just sorta like, “Heh, alright.”

Josie: [laughs]

Josie (as Minx): Had I known you all were running, we would have had this conversation a long tome ago. It seems we are at least somewhat in line in our intentions.

Rhi (as Stranger): Indeed. You’re a lot more public about things, which is why we haven’t really reached out. We try to keep a somewhat lower profile.

Josie (as Minx): I understand. You do somewhat need to know what you’re getting into with us. But simply put, there was an item in possession of someone and it needed to not be there. We were intending to take it, but it was perchance instead taken by Ruby. So, we just wanna know what happened.

Rhi: Gimme that next Consort roll. This is gonna be risky, greater effect. I will give you improved effect, since you’ve been very forthright and because you’re Minx of The Magpies, dammit. [laughs]

Josie: Yes. What does a Devil’s Bargain look like here?

Rhi: Somebody, uh, is eavesdropping on this conversation.

Josie: I think that’s juicy enough for me to take it. I have changed to evaluating Devil’s Bargains solely on that criteria. [laughs]

Minna: Yes! Thank you.

Kim: On how juicy they are?

Josie: [laughs]

Minna: That’s the point.

Kim: That’s good.

Rhi: Yeah. The person kinda nods a little bit and is like:

Rhi (as Stranger): Well, I go by Chime, and um…

Josie (as Minx): Pleasure.

Rhi (as Chime): Ruby found out that there were some— there’s some info broker operating up in like, Charterhall, Crow’s Foot, that area, who had some information on one of the workhouse foremen down here, real bastard. And we figured that if we could get our hands on that information, we could use it to our ends and maybe get him out of his position.

Josie (as Minx): Ah. So, if I’m understanding clearly, you wanted to— you switched to the blackmailing? Is that what am I to take from that?

Rhi (as Chime): Uh, yeah. We were gonna try blackmailing this guy. I mean, it was gonna depend on what information…

Josie (as Minx): Yes, well—

Rhi (as Chime): She went up last night and hasn’t come back yet.

Josie (as Minx): She hasn’t come back yet.

Rhi (as Chime): Mm-mm.

Josie (as Minx): In that case, it’s highly possible that she is still in danger.

Rhi (as Chime): That’s what I was afraid of. What’s your interest in finding her?

Josie (as Minx): Ah, well she potentially has some information we would rather not see come to light, and was in possession of who she stole it from, who was going to reveal it.

Rhi (as Chime): Oh, so other blackmail evidence.

Josie (as Minx): Yes, more blackmailing.

Rhi (as Chime): Got it. We really just wanted that one piece. So— and honestly, it’s more important that Ruby gets out of there safe.

Josie (as Minx): Right. Would all of you be interested in a bit of cooperation tonight?

Rhi (as Chime): I’ll see who I can round up.

Josie (as Minx): Alright. I will not ask you at this time to reveal secrets to me, but checking places where she may have gone to ground?

Rhi (as Chime): We don’t have as many bolt holes up there. We’ve mostly been focusing on Coalridge and Charhollow lately. If you’re looking for her, she might be more likely to come out if she sees a friendly face. So, I’ll see if I can round up some people and we’ll make our way up there.

Josie (as Minx): Alright.

Josie: And Minx will— I take it they’ll just decide a meeting place?

Rhi: Yeah, I think they tell you, like, that sigil that you had, you know, leave it in a place where you want us to meet and we’ll be there.

Josie: Okay. Yeah, then I think Minx is gonna try and get back up north.

Rhi: Yeah. I think that you’ll be able to do that easily enough. So, I think the three of you are able to reconvene and yeah, how would you like to proceed?

Josie: Well, I feel just like meeting The Lost and coordinating.

Rhi: So, I will say if you… I’m gonna make a fortune roll to see kinda how that goes, with them getting up here.

Josie: Mm hmm.

Rhi: And if you just kinda wait around for them, that clock is gonna tick up some more, because while you’re waiting, Ojal is continuing to search.

Josie: Right.

Kim: Hmm.

Minna: Yeah, I think we’d better to continue to search and either leave somebody to meet or, like, give them signs to help them follow us. Like, maybe the sigil with arrows?

Rhi: Yeah, you could do that.

Josie: Okay. But now it’s a question of where we’re searching.

Minna: Maybe we could put this sigil in the warehouse area and see if she sees it and comes to us.

Josie: Oh…

Rhi: I think that you can guess that kind of like, based on the fact that she is moving around a lot, if you leave a few sigils around kind of with arrows pointing towards, like, a central location, that increases the odds that she’ll see them.

Minna: Mm hmm. So, maybe as we search, we do that.

Kim: Just leave several sigils? That works.

Josie: Okay.

Minna: And maybe we just keep, like, mounting searches from that central area so we always return there in a reasonable amount of time.

Rhi: Yeah, I think that sounds good. Um, why don’t you all give me some kinda group check?

Josie: Okay.

Minna: I think at this point it might be a Survey.

Kim: Probably. I can lead.

Rhi: Greater— yeah, thank you for establishing that. I’m gonna say risky, greater effect, because you’ve got all this information about the sigils and whatnot.

Josie: I got a 2.

Kim: I got a 5.

Minna: I got a 6.

Rhi: Okay, so Blaire’s gonna take one point of stress and yeah, so I think that you leave some of these sigils kind of pointing towards— where do you wanna meet? Do you wanna do, like, an alley, you wanna do like, an abandoned building?

Kim: Uh, an alley works.

Rhi:  Okay. So, as you’re kind of moving through the docks, you kinda leave these sigils with arrows pointing, and then I think you leave one, like, at the mouth of the alley where you wanna meet. And you check two warehouses and then circle back and there is, I think like as you walk into the alley, somebody kinda slides out of the shadows behind you and just goes:

Rhi (as Voice): Who are all of you?

Josie (as Minx): Oh!

Josie: Can I see who it is, turning around?

Rhi: Uh, yeah, if you turn around, it is a person who matches the description that you were given. He’s got her hood back, like I said, grey hair pulled back in a braid. It looks like she’s probably in her, like, mid-50s. She’s got warm brown skin with a lot of like, crow’s feet wrinkles at her eyes and the corner of her mouth.

Kim: I’m in love.

Rhi: Has an eyepatch over her right eye and what looks kinda like burn scars on that side of her face.

Josie: Oof.

Rhi: And yeah, is dressed pretty much how she was described. She’s got a big satchel on her side. Like, this matches the description.

Josie: Minx will just be like:

Josie (as Minx): Oh, uh, hm. The Magpies. A pleasure to meet you.

Josie: She’ll offer her hand.

Rhi: [laughs]

Kim: So polite!

Rhi: Minx, riding that high.

Josie: [laughs]

Rhi: Yeah, and she kind raises her eyebrows and is like:

Rhi (as Ruby): A pleasure. Uh, what do you need?

Josie (as Minx): Um, well, you see, we were, due to grievances committed against us by the former owner of what you have taken, we sought to take what you took. And we believe we can come to an arrangement.

Minna (as Myra): We’re here to rescue you, and hopefully we can reach an arrangement after that.

Josie (as Minx): That probably would have been better to lead with, yes.

Rhi: [laughs]

Rhi (as Ruby): Uh… yeah. Yeah. That’s, um, yeah. Help would be good. There is… someone? Something? Following me up here, and I don’t wanna lead it back to any of our safehouses further south, so I’ve just been running in circles trying to lose it, and it has not been working.

Kim (as Blaire): This thing, does it look kinda… metal-y?

Rhi (as Ruby): I haven’t gotten too good of a look at it, but yeah, it seems like it’s got at least some metallic parts. It’s got kind of a cloak covering a lot of it, but it looks like it’s got, like, metal limbs. I’m not sure if they’re prosthetics or if the whole thing is metal.

Minna (as Myra): The whole thing is metal. You pissed off Salia and that’s one of her servants.

Rhi (as Ruby): Shit.

Josie: [laughs]

Kim (as Blaire): Sorry.

Rhi (as Ruby): I mean, it’s not your fault. I’d rather know. But…

Josie (as Minx): Some of The Lost are coming to meet us as we speak.

Rhi (as Ruby): I really don’t wanna lead this thing back to any of my people.

Josie (as Minx): Well, they’re coming regardless. We could either leave a sigil telling them to turn around, or we try to find a safe space to wait for them.

Minna (as Myra): I think we’ve gotta set up some kind of an ambush.

Josie (as Minx): Yes. I think we may wish to have more people around us, as counter-intuitive as that may be.

Minna (as Myra): Safety in numbers?

Josie (as Minx): Yes. And I do not think she would risk making too big of a scene on a major thoroughfare.

Minna (as Myra): Ah, so go somewhere more public. Yes, I think that’s a good idea.

Rhi: Yeah. You can definitely do that.

Kim: Are there any taverns?

Rhi: Oh yeah. In The Docks?

Kim: Let’s go to a tavern.

Josie: Yeah, let’s do that.

Minna: I feel like a hull in a tavern is going to make a scene.

Rhi: Yeah. So, the four of you head for a nearby tavern. There’s people here, but it’s not packed. But it’s also not totally empty.

Kim: Right.

Rhi: So, there are more folks here. None of them pay you any mind when you walk in and… is your plan just to kinda hang out here and wait for more of The Lost to show up, or…?

Josie: Mm hmm.

Minna: Yeah.

Kim: I mean, I think it has to be.

Rhi: Alright. I’m gonna make a fortune roll to see how long it takes them.

Kim: Oh boy.

Rhi: Hmm.

Kim: Oh… Rhi…?

Rhi: The clock is now at 8 out of 10.

Kim: [groans]

Josie: Oh dear.

Rhi: I rolled a 3. I think you are hanging out there for, like, an hour. And Ruby is getting increasingly agitated. And then after an hour, Chime show sup with one other person.

Kim: Only one?

Minna: Oh…

Rhi: I rolled really poorly on that one too. [laughs]

Josie: Oof… [laughs] Well, at least it’s someone.

Rhi: Yeah. And I think Chime will very quickly spot you and kind of hurries over and grabs Ruby’s shoulder and is just like:

Rhi (as Chime): [relieved] Glad to see you’re okay. We’ve been pretty scattered down there since the last Bluecoat raid, so I wasn’t able to turn up too many people, particularly because we heard there was a lot of Bluecoat activity up here.

Josie (as Minx): It’s quite alright. I do believe we are safe for a time longer here, but apparently, she is being pursued.

Rhi: And Ruby will just kind of nod and be like:

Rhi (as Ruby): Whatever’s following me, I don’t wanna lead it back.

Josie (as Minx): We have happened to run into this pursuer before.

Minna (as Myra): Mm hmm.

Josie (as Minx): What about perhaps a Bluecoat station? I know that sounds counter-intuitive, but…

Kim: Not super counter-intuitive. I mean, the more chaos that we can cause, really, with this, I think is gonna work in our favor, because it’s Ojal.

Josie: Right, and that would just ensure that there’s no way this goes unnoticed.

Kim: Yeah.

Rhi: Yeah, if you wanna give that a shot.

Josie: Could do that.

Josie (as Minx): And this is all presuming that the two of you are staying. Or are you…

Rhi: Yeah, no, they’ll stick around to assist.

Josie: Okay. If we can just disable her for a time so that she can’t follow us, that might be sufficient?

Rhi: Yeah.

Josie: Yeah. Let’s get her incapacitated and— the point is, she needs to be incapacitated or busy.

Rhi: Yeah. Do you— I feel like, also, while you’ve been hanging out here, you have the time to, like, talk to Ruby about the papers, and she’ll basically just like, give you everything except the papers she needs.

Josie: Okay.

Rhi: That’s a solid plan.

Minna: Maybe we should set up a Gondolier escape vehicle.

Rhi: Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. So, we find you outside the nearest Bluecoat station. How would you like to be noticeable? [laughs]

Josie: [laughs]

Kim: Yes.

Josie: I think just, it’s more making little effort to conceal ourselves, right?

 

Rhi: Okay. I think as your little group is kind of making your way to the Bluecoat station, I think one of you catches something moving on the rooftop overhead, but when you look up, there’s nothing there. You hear, like, footsteps behind you as you approach, and I think basically you make it to, like, the street behind the Bluecoat station. And as you’re heading down that street, a cloaked figure jumps off a roof and does a sick, like, superhero three-point landing in front of you and then straightens up. And you catch the glint of metal underneath the cloak. And then it throws its arms out and a couple blades pop out.

Josie: [laughs]

Rhi: And there’s just a very quiet “Oh shit.” from Ruby.

[laughter]

Rhi: So… yeah. You found her! [laughs]

Josie: Hooray…

Rhi: Good job.

Kim: We found her.

Rhi: You’ve done it. She’s here. She’s ready to murder. Because you have the advantage of both numbers and not being caught by surprise like you were last time, you’re currently in a risky position. You have a lot more people with you.

Josie: Uh huh.

Rhi: And you know what you’re dealing with.

Josie: I think Minx is going to grip her cane and put on a real damsel in distress act. [laughs] And just be like:

Josie (as Minx): [gasps] Oh, what is that thing? Somebody, somebody, please help!

Minna: Oh my goodness.

Josie: [laughs]

Rhi: Okay. What is your goal there?

Josie: To get everyone looking at the metal monster thing in front of us.

Kim: [laughs]

Rhi: Okay… interesting. Yeah. Go ahead and give me a roll…

Josie: [laughs] I’m gonna take it out as a Sway.

Rhi: Yeah. So… I’m thinking through…I think this is gonna be risky, reduced effect.

Josie: Okay. Can I push myself up to normal effect?

Rhi: Yeah. And the reason that it’s reduced effect is because you have— basically, where you’re at, you have two types of people around. You have average citizens, who are going to see a fucking terminator, a metal person with blades jutting out of its arms and go, “Hmm. No! I want no part of that.”

Kim (as Blaire): [laughs]

Josie: Right.

Rhi: And Bluecoats, who are known to work for The Circle of Flame. Like, you can, you’re pushing yourself, you get it up to standard effect. If you do well, people will respond, but that’s why I set it at reduced initially.

Josie: Right. I got a 6.

Rhi: There are some Bluecoats who— I think it is kind of like a patrol that’s coming back, and they are like, coming back, they hear you shouting, they look over and there’s just sort of a collective double take of like, “What the fuck?!”

Josie: [laughs]

Rhi: And so, they kinda start drawing weapons and are like:

Rhi (as Bluecoat): You in the cloak with the swords! [whispers] Are they swords? [shouts] Swords! Stand down!

Rhi: [laughs] They’re very confused. Ojal is ignoring them.

Josie: Oh dear.

Rhi: But you have basically gained, I’m gonna say, another four people in this fray.

Josie: [laughs]

Rhi: So— and they are armed, which is handy.

Josie: Yes.

Minna: Whether they’re dangerous is another matter.

Kim: I’m tempted to mark off demo tools and maybe set off a destruction, explosion, or maybe toss a grenade or something?

Rhi: Hey, listen, you know I’m always here for explosions.

[laughter]

Kim: Okay. Alright then I’m gonna do that. Would this be a Wreck?

Rhi: Well, what are you planning to do?

Kim: Just set off an explosion somewhere that would get Bluecoats and/or Ojal’s attention.

Rhi: Okay. In that case it would be Wreck, yeah.

Kim: I have nothing in Wreck. So, I’m gonna push myself for an extra die, so that way I’m rolling…

Minna: I will take a stress. I forgot how assists work. It’s been a while since we did one of those.

Rhi: Yeah, no, no worries.

Kim: Thank you Minna.

Rhi: Alright, so you’ll take a point of stress and…

Kim: I rolled double 2s again.

Rhi: Unfortunate. What I’m imagining is like, Myra is standing in front of Blaire while Blaire is, like, assembling a makeshift explosive that she was gonna throw somewhere.

Kim: Right.

Rhi: And you do throw it, but because it’s makeshift, it goes off a lot sooner than you expected.

Kim: Oh, jeez.

Rhi: So Blaire, you’re gonna take some harm.

Kim: Again?

Rhi: You can always roll to resist. It’s gonna be level 2 harm, Shrapnel.

Kim: Can I put on some armor?

Rhi: Yeah, you can do armor. That’s two load and that’ll knock it down to a 1.

Kim: Okay, Shrapnel?

Rhi: Mm hmm. I mean, Ojal’s attention was already on your little group, so that doesn’t really change it. The Bluecoats are like:

Rhi (as Bluecoat): What the fuck are you doing? Stand down!

Kim: Yeah.

Rhi: Ah, these poor bastards are so in over their head.

Kim: I will not stand down.

Rhi: Myra, what would you like to do in this moment?

Minna: Oh God. Uh, so we wanted to try and disable Ojal.

Rhi: Yeah.

Minna: I feel like if I could snarl shit around her legs, like, take her down like an AT-AT, basically.

Kim: Ooh…

Rhi: Oh, yeah.

Kim: I like that.

Rhi: You can definitely try.

Minna: I can definitely try…

Rhi: You can try anything. That’s the beauty of an RPG.

Minna: Skirmish? Because I’m trying to get in close and fuck her up, basically.

Rhi: Mm hmm. Yeah, I’m picturing with like, a grappling hook. You’re just trying to loop it around her legs.

Minna: Yeah, yeah, exactly. You know exactly what I’m talking about.

Rhi: Yeah, yeah. I know the scene.

Minna: Yeah. [laughs]

Kim: We all saw a Star War.

Rhi: Yeah. We have seen one Star War. Um, yeah—

Kim: Exactly one.

Rhi: I think Skirmish makes sense for that. It’s gonna be risky, reduced effect.

Minna: Can I push myself for increased effect?

Rhi: You sure can.

Minna: And I have rolled a 5.

Rhi: Tell me what it looks like as you whip this rope around.

Minna: I think that she’s slashing at me with swords while I dodge around her and like, am trying to loop this rope around her. And I manage to get it around both legs, and then I just book it.

Rhi: Yeah. I think that in the process of that dodging and weaving, she does slash at you.

Minna: Okay.

Rhi: And so, you are gonna take level 2 harm.

Minna: Uh, I would… like armor.

Rhi: Okay. So, that’ll be level 1 harm, then.

Minna: What should I do?

Rhi: Uh, like, Gash. But yeah, you do manage to get a rope tangled around her legs and— was your goal to, like, have her fall over?

Minna: Yes. Again.

Rhi: Yeah. So, I think just kind of, as you run, you yank the rope and whoop! It’s very comedic.

Josie: [laughs]

Minna: And like, preferable in like, a way that it’s hard for her— it’s going to be very difficult for her to disentangle herself. Although I guess it is rope and she can just fucking cut it, but…

Rhi: Yeah. But I mean, you have knocked her down, and that’s gonna delay her for a little bit. She’s gonna have to deal with that situation before she can be an effective combatant again. So yeah, murder robot is on the ground.

Josie: Uh huh.

Minna: [laughs]

Rhi: The Bluecoats who are out here are basically just shouting at everybody to put your hands up. They don’t understand what is going on. Their current plan is arrest all of you and sort it out later. What— and I think the members of The Lost are… they’re kinda following your lead but they are definitely— they’re ready to run as soon as you tell them to, they’re not really trying to engage in combat, because they wanna be able to book it instantly.

Josie: Right. I think Minx is still gonna play dumb, weirdly. She’s gonna put her hands up and seem scared, and just try to whisper over her shoulder to The Lost:

Josie (as Minx): Time to go.

Rhi: Okay.

Josie: My intention being to start a:

Josie (as Minx): Why are you pointing those at me? [sobs] Why are you trying to arrest me? I’m not—[sobs] I don’t know any of this!

Josie: And just try to… try to Karen at them, kind of. [laughs]

Kim: [laughs] Just weaponize those white women tears.

Josie: Yes.

Rhi: Try to get them focused on you so they’re less paying attention to The Lost running away?

Josie: Yes.

Rhi: Is that kinda your goal? Okay, yes. Got it. Good. Loving it. This is gonna be risky, standard.

Josie: Got a 5.

Rhi: So yeah, they—[laughs] They kind of, like, they focus in on you and one of them is just like:

Rhi (as Bluecoat): Ma’am, we just need to sort this situation out. If you can just keep you hands up and move over here—

Josie (as Minx): I don’t know what’s going on! I want to go home! [sobs]

Rhi: Yeah, so they’re trying to get you to calm down, and the other three members are just kinda like, “Thanks, we’ll catch up with you later!” and just sort of like, dip around the corner. Like, bye!

Josie: [laughs]

Kim: Fair.

Rhi: They run off to the— I think you all had told them, like, head to The Gondoliers and tell them you’re a friend of ours, they’ll help you out.

Josie: Yeah. We arranged a way out.

Rhi: Yeah, yeah, which would be a flashback, but it’s The Gondoliers so it’s a zero stress flashback, so.

Josie: Okey dokey.

Rhi: Yeah, so they head off. On a 5, I think the complication is that Ojal slashes through those ropes and just kinda like, rolls up to her feet in a very inhuman way. Like, joints are moving in ways that a human’s body doesn’t move. Which, you know, freaks the Bluecoats out even more.

Rhi (as Bluecoat): What is that thing?

Josie (as Minx): I don’t know! Please, help!

Minna (as Myra): It’s a hull. You should get The Spirit Wardens.

Rhi (as Bluecoat): It’s a what?!

Minna: Can I Command them?

Rhi: You can try.

Minna: I would love to try. What is the difficulty and effect?

Rhi: Risky, reduced effect, because you’re a civilian. They’re not, you know, typically inclined to listen to you.

Minna: Can you do a Devil’s Bargain for increased effect, or it that just extra dice?

Rhi: Sure. I think we’ve done that before.

Minna: Okay. What does it look like?

Rhi: You’re gonna take extra Heat, because eventually one of these Bluecoats, or somebody else in the Bluecoat station who’s looking outside on their coffee break being like, “Shit, that looks awful,” is going to recognize the three of you and be like, “Oh, we know them.”

Minna: How do we feel about extra heat, guys? I feel like it’s already noisy.

Kim: That’s fine.

Josie: That’s fine by me.

Minna: Okay, then I’m gonna push it up to standard and we’re gonna get extra heat.

Rhi: Alright. I’ll just go over and mark that on the sheet right now.

Minna: 6.

Rhi: Damn. Alright, one of the Bluecoats is just like:

Rhi (as Bluecoat): Oh, okay, okay!

Rhi: And takes off down the alley. So, I am going to start a clock, for Spirit Wardens Arrive. And we’re gonna call this 0 out of 4. And yeah. So, one of the Bluecoats has taken off to summon backup and Spirit Wardens. But it’s gonna take a little time for them to get here. In the meantime, Ojal is up and stabby.

Josie: Uh…

Kim: What can we do?

Minna: Smoke bomb?

Kim: I mean, yeah.

Rhi: You do have three smoke bombs.

Kim: We do?

Rhi: Uh, yeah. You got them from Seeks, like, last season.

Kim: What would that—

Rhi: Well, it depends on what you wanna do with the smoke bomb. Are you trying to give yourselves cover to get away?

Kim: I mean, I think so. Because there’s no really beating Ojal. And especially if the Spirit Wardens are coming. Like, Blaire’s gonna wanna bail, at least.

Rhi: Okay, yeah. In that case I would say this could probably be a Prowl, because you’re using the smoke bomb for cover to sneak away.

Kim: Okay. I’m gonna roll Prowl then.

Rhi: This is gonna be risky. I don’t think I gave Ojal anything like infra-red vision, so it’ll be standard.  [laughs]

Josie: [laughs]

Rhi: That was an option, something to that effect, where she would have enhanced sight. But I think I gave her super jumping legs instead.

Minna: [laughs]

Josie: Um—

Kim: Um, Devil’s Bargain?

Rhi: What were you gonna say, Josie?

Josie: I was gonna say I might like to assist.

Kim: Thank you, I appreciate that. So that’s one extra die, but also—

Rhi: You still want a Devil’s Bargain?

Kim: Yeah.

Rhi: Yeah.

Kim: What would it be, like, be?

Rhi: Ojal’s definitely gonna kill some people before this night is out.

Kim: Okay, I accept that.

Josie: [laughs]

Rhi: Well, that’s not the consequence of the bargain. The bargain is that the ghosts of the people that she kills are gonna blame, because they saw her, or whatever, they fixated on—they will fixate on Blaire in their vengeance and that’s gonna be a problem for future Blaire to deal with.

Kim: You know what? Here’s the thing, I’m so good with ghosts.

Josie: [laughs]

Kim:  Like, I feel like I’d be able to make amends with them. I accept.

Rhi: Alright.

Kim: I know only the highest number matters, but I just wanna read out what everything came up with. I got 1, 2, 3, 6.

Jose and Rhi: [laugh]

Kim: So, it’s glad that I got that [laughs] fourth die.

Rhi: Yeah, so I think you pop this smoke grenade and throw it down, and Seeks did real good with this one and this thick purple-grey smoke just immediately billows out and fills the space. And are the three of you just gonna book it?

Kim and Mina: Yes.

Josie: Yeah.

Rhi: Yeah. So, you run away, and as you’re running, you hear gunshots and screaming as presumably Ojal turns on the Bluecoats. And yeah, you are able to get away and live to fight another day.

Josie: Woo!

Kim: Dope.

Josie: We got out of that surprisingly unstabbed.

Rhi: Yeah, yeah. Well, the fact that you got so many other people involved helped significantly.

Josie: Uh huh.

Minna: We’re gonna pay for it in heat though.

Kim: Eh.

Rhi: Yes.

Kim: It’s fine.

Minna: [laughs]

Rhi: Ojal is a very dangerous individual, but she is an individual, and numbers can help. Alright, so downtime stuff. Payoff. In terms of coin… so, I’m gonna give you a choice. You have a bunch of information from Salia’s kind of blackmail network. It’s not everything, but it’s a chunk. It includes some evidence on Roxanne’s grandfather, it looks like someone was able to recover some old reports that mention his name.

You can make a choice of, if you wanna hang on to this information, it’s blackmail material, like, some people who you don’t really recognize but there’s a few nobles in there. I’m leaving it vague, so that, you know, if we wanna have it be like, “Oh, we happen to have blackmail information on this person” in a future score, you can do that. You could sell it to somebody like Briggs who will pay you— for this kinda thing, Briggs will pay you five coin.

Josie: Ooh.

Rhi: You have eight in the vault right now.

Josie: On the one hand, juicy gossip. On the other, money.

Rhi: I wanted to make it a choice you’d have to give some thought to.

Josie: Yeah. I think Minx is actually leaning towards keep the juicy gossip.

Minna: Yeah, it might be a useful resource to have. Myra’s definitely of the opinion that knowledge is power.

Kim: The five coin is tempting, but yeah, let’s keep it.

Rhi: Okay. So, I think probably the next day, really, you show up at Lani and Roxanne’s apartment and Lani will let you in and kinda— she gives you a crooked grin and signs:

Rhi (as Lani): We noticed the commotion. Guessing that was you?

Josie (as Minx): Uh… [laughs] good guess, yes.

Rhi: [laughs] So yeah, she’ll let you in and Roxanne kind of immediately asks, like:

Rhi (as Roxanne): Did you… did you get it?

Josie (as Minx): Yes, we did. Unless you want us to keep it around for whatever reason, we intend to destroy that.

Rhi: She’s just like:

Rhi (as Roxanne): That’s fine. I was gonna do that anyway, so yes.

Josie (as Minx): Good, good. And no one has bothered you since?

Rhi (as Roxanne): No, not for now.

Josie: That’s good. That’s good.

Rhi (as Roxanne): Thanks for taking care of this. Appreciate it.

Josie (as Minx): It’s no issue. Unless there are more skeletons for us to look out for?

Rhi: Uh, [laughs] I think Lani starts to sign something along the lines of like:

Rhi (as Lani): Well, here was that duel in Iruvia—

Rhi: And Roxanne is just like:

Rhi (as Roxanne): Stop it. Stop.

[laughter]

Rhi (as Roxanne): She’s making things up.

Minna: Desperately need to know about this duel in Iruvia now.

Rhi: [laughs] Lani’s just like:

Rhi (as Lani): I don’t know how to use a sword!

Josie: [laughs]

Rhi: It’s clear— Lani is clearly in a much better mood now that she knows that this threat is…

Josie: Yeah.

Kim: Oh, good.

Rhi: Has been removed. [laughs] Roxanne is just like:

Rhi (as Roxanne): Babe, please.

Rhi: [laughs]

Rhi (as Roxanne): I’ve been so stressed, I don’t need this. Stop telling people you were a duelist.

Josie: They’re adorable.

Rhi: I love them. Um, yeah, so they will thank you and you know, I think Roxanne is already, you know, says that she’s putting together some notes on something to include in the pamphlet about how you all, like, foiled a terrible plot to blackmail innocent people, without naming names. Just something to give you all some good press.

Josie: Right.

Rhi: Yeah, so you all say your goodbyes, get hugs and head on out. And I think you, you actually make it all the way back down to Nightmarket and you’re close to The Hound’s Paw when you hear, kind of from an alleyway, like:

Rhi (as Voice): Psst. Minx.

Josie (as Minx): Huh? Hmm?

Rhi: And you look and Clave is lurking in an alleyway, kind of again in that sort of, like, raggedy clothes disguise. And she kind of waves the three of you over.

Josie (as Minx): Well, it went down without a hitch.

Rhi (as Clave): I mean, for some definition.

Josie (as Minx): Was, uh, what condition did Ojal come back in?

Rhi (as Clave): Well, Salia had to pay some pretty hefty bribes to get her out of The Bluecoat’s hands. Apparently they brought out enough firepower to disable most of her form and they just barely got her out of there before The Spirit Wardens swooped in.

Josie (as Minx): Oh dear.

Kim (as Blaire): You were so close.

Rhi (as Clave): It’s gonna take a little while before they’re able to rebuild. The central piece is still intact, but a lot of the frame isn’t.

Kim (as Blaire): Oh, that’s good.

Josie (as Minx): Yeah. We may be able to sleep easy some nights.

Rhi (as Clave): I’ll try to let you know when she’s out on the streets again.

Minna (as Myra): Clave.

Rhi (as Clave): Yes?

Minna (as Myra): You want Ojal the hull to stop, right?

Rhi (as Clave): That would be nice.

Minna (as Myra): I found out how to release the spirits in hulls. Unfortunately, it means that we have to find something important to Ojal, because it’s all anchored by some item of personal significance.

Rhi: Clave kinda furrows her brow and nods and is like:

Rhi (as Clave): Yeah, the Whisper who did the ritual to put her in there asked for the same thing.

Minna (as Myra): I think we have to find the exact one.

Rhi (as Clave): Salia has it. She keeps it locked up.

Minna (as Myra): Where?

Rhi (as Clave): In her home, I think. I don’t know where she actually lives, but she keeps it with her.

Minna (as Myra): She keeps it with her on her person at all times, or just in her home?

Rhi (as Clave): I think just in her home.

Rhi: Which, Myra, you also have no idea where she lives. She kept you all in one location and met with you there.

Rhi (as Clave): I can try and find out where. I’m not gonna try and break in to get it.

Minna (as Myra): I’m not asking you to, but if you could help me find out where Salia lives, that would be a great help.

Rhi (as Clave): Yeah. I think it’d help all of us. I’ll do my best. See what I can find.

Minna (as Myra): Thanks.

Rhi (as Clave): Yeah. You get the information you needed?

Josie (as Minx): Yes. Yes, we did.

Rhi (as Clave): Good. Uh, I should go.

Josie (as Minx): Yes. But pleasure working with you again.

Rhi (as Clave): Yeah… uh, guess it wasn’t that bad, all things considered. Good luck.

Minna (as Myra): And you.

Josie (as Minx): You too.

Kim (as Blaire): Keep your head down.

Rhi: And she’s going to swoosh away down the alley.

Minna (as Myra): It’s so very strange to be working towards the same goal as Clave and not in competition.

Josie (as Minx): I can only imagine. What was it like living with her?

Minna (as Myra): Oh god, it was awful. The only one who was even a little bit okay to live with was Ojal and…

Josie (as Minx): Ah.

Minna (as Myra): You saw how that ended.

Josie (as Minx): Hmm.

Minna (as Myra): Clave and I never, ever worked well together. Even when we were put on something together, we were fighting.

Kim (as Blaire): That’s probably not her fault, that’s just how Salia is.

Minna (as Myra): Little bit how Salia is, little bit how Clave is, honestly.

Josie (as Minx): No offense intended, but I’m surprised she didn’t leave before you did. She doesn’t seem like the sort who would do well under someone’s thumb.

Minna (as Myra): She’s ambitious, but I think she had a good thing going. We all did, honestly. It was better than what we were gonna get on our own.

Josie (as Minx): Well, you were never gonna be on your own, now you have us.

Minna (as Myra): Before you, she, just like all of us, had to weigh freedom versus a possibility of advancement.

Josie (as Minx): Hmm. Well, maybe there’s hope for her yet.

Kim (as Blaire): Maybe once all this is over, we can see about getting her out, too.

Minna (as Myra): Mm hmm. I think that’s what she’s— I think that’s where she’s headed. Very strange. Anyway—

Kim: Is Myra accepting of hugs right now?

Minna: Myra’s always accepting of hugs from The Magpies.

Kim: Okay. Yeah, I just wanted to ask.

Josie: Yay.

Kim: Yeah, Blaire’s gonna give her a hug.

Minna: Yeah, I think Myra like, grasps an arm round her shoulder and squeezes.

Minna (as Myra): Thank you.

##Outro [01.19.50]

Rhi: Thanks for listening. The Magpies will be back in two weeks. In the meantime, follow us on Twitter @magpies_pod and visit our Patreon at patreon.com/magpiespodcast.

The Magpies podcast is GMed and produced by Rhi. Follow me on Twitter @rhiannon42 and check out rpgskillcheck.net for my copy editing and accessibility freelance site.

Blaire Culhane is played by Kim Kogut. Follow her on Twitter @kimdianajones.

Minx is played by Josie. Follow her on Twitter @DragonGirlJosie and watch her art streams at picarto.tv/DragonGirlJosie.

Myra Keel is played by Minna. Follow her on Twitter @mynaminnarr.

The opening and closing theme music is from ‘Trio for Piano, Violin and Viola’ by Kevin MacLeod and is used under a Creative Commons license.

The Blades in the Dark roleplay system is the creation of John Harper and is published by Evil Hat Productions.

##Blooper [01.21.03]

Kim: Fiona sounds right.

Rhi: Fiona does sound correct. We’re gonna go with Fiona, and if it’s wrong, oh well.

Josie: [laughs]

Kim: Her name is Fiona now.

Rhi: Yeah. Listen, we changed a character’s name in the course of a single episode one time. It’s fine.

Josie: [laughs]