Transcribed by Tyler (Twitter: @Tyler_MoonSage)
## Intro
Rhi: Welcome back to Duskwall. As always, thank you so much for joining us.
If you haven’t left us a review yet, please consider doing so. Our reviews have slowed down a bit lately, and we’d really love to get some new ones. They help new people find the show and they make all of us on the cast really happy.
Those of you who follow us on Twitter may remember a conversation we had about doing a Blades in the Dark themed game of Descent into Midnight. If you don’t remember, that’s okay, it’s been about 74 years since July. We ended up reaching out to Richard Kreutz-Landry, one of the creators of Descent into Midnight and a fan of the show, and we recorded a very cool bonus episode. We’re hammering out the final details, but very soon we’ll be sharing news on how you’ll be able to unlock that episode for everyone to hear.
Next, Minna is going to tell us about this month’s Featured Charity.
Minna: Minna here, and this month I would like to encourage you to donate to a campaign that splits funds between Fair Fight, Raphael Warnock, and Jon Ossoff in Georgia. According to the donation page:
“As we continue to count the votes to hear the voices of Americans we must prepare for the next fight. Control of the US Senate will come down to Georgia’s two runoff elections on January 5. These runoff elections will be tough fights, but we know we can win. We need your help right now to make sure they win and to protect the right of every eligible Georgian to make their voice heard.”
You can donate at secure.actblue.com/donate/GeorgiaSenate.
Rhi: I’ll be honest, I didn’t expect to feel very good recording this intro. When I recorded the last one before the election, I was exhausted and angry and very, very scared of what was going to happen, but last Saturday I was out in the street with my neighborhood as we celebrated Trump’s defeat. I am still exhausted and angry, but I’m a little less scared now.
During the election season I saw a metaphor that I found really useful. Voting isn’t marriage, you’re not choosing one person who’s everything you want, it’s more like public transit. You’re picking the bus that takes you closest to where you want to go. Biden is, depending on how far we want to stretch this metaphor, still several neighborhoods away from where most of us want to be, but it’s still a better choice than the bus that drives us straight into a volcano.
We’re gonna have to keep working, keep pushing the Democrats to be better, to represent their left wing and not just the narrow center, to demand accountability so that the people who have committed atrocities don’t just get to walk free into book deals and pundit jobs, create an electoral system where everyone can vote freely and fairly and easily. The work of repairing the damage that’s been done is going to be hard, and we are going to face more frustration and challenges in the weeks and months to come, but we have a chance to repair it now. We have a chance to make things better, not back to normal, not back to the way things were in 2015, but truly genuinely better for everyone in this nation. Knowing that we have that chance matters, and it is worth celebrating.
Now then, let’s get started. Shall we?
## Story Continues [0:03:37]
Rhi: So, The magpies have been back in Duskwall after their expedition into the Deathlands for a little over a week at this point, you know, continuing to prepare for the many threats facing them in the city, but on this particular day we find them as usual in The Hound’s Paw.
It’s mid-afternoon, kind of slow, and Rigney’s hanging out at the bar updating one of his ledgers. It’s a pretty relaxing, calm day, but that sort of relaxed atmosphere changes pretty quickly when the door opens and Inspector Severin steps in. Rigney immediately gets his hackles up and straightens up and is just… not actively throwing him out, but is about ready to.
Josie: [laughs] Uh-huh.
Rhi: Because he doesn’t know Severin, he just sees an inspector here to hassle his friends.
Josie (as Minx): Rigney dear, I do believe he simply wishes to speak with us.
Rhi: Rigney kind of narrows his eyes.
Rhi (as Rigney) [reluctantly] All right… if you say so.
Kim (as Blaire): It’s fine, Rigney. We know him.
Rhi: He squints suspiciously. [laughs] He goes back to his book but is doing very much just, kind of like, observing this very closely. So yeah, Severin kind of, uh… is a little more bemused by this interaction than anything, but he will come over to your table.
Rhi (as Severin): Glad I was able to catch all of you.
Josie (as Minx): Well, you haven’t caught us yet, otherwise we wouldn’t be talking here.
Rhi (as Severin): [exhausted sigh]
[giggling]
Rhi: … Sorry, I just need a minute out of character.
[laughter]
Kim: Oh wow.
Josie: I didn’t think that would get you so bad.
Rhi: I don’t know why! I don’t know why that one got me so bad, but it really did. I think it’s just, you know, we’re like two minutes in and you’re already just coming for my life. All right.
Josie: [laughs]
Rhi: Severin just rolls his eyes really theatrically.
Rhi (as Severin): Normally I wouldn’t approach you here directly, but this is sort of an unusual situation. I need your help. I guess I’m hiring you? Do you all work for money? You never seem to work for money.
Josie (as Minx): We will of course accept money. [laughs]
Kim (as Blaire): It’s just that we don’t always get to keep it, you know?
Minna (as Myra): Donations are appreciated.
Minna: [giggles]
Rhi (as Severin): Right. Uh… well, let me tell you what I need and then I’ll tell you how I can repay you. Before I was…
Rhi: And he sort of gestures at himself. [laughs]
Rhi (as Severin): …this individual, I lived in Charhollow. I had a number of friends, but one of them is a childhood friend, Emilina, Emilina Alba.
Josie: Minx leans forward.
Rhi (as Severin): I’ve kept tabs on her and some of the other folks in my neighborhood, and recently Emilina filed a police report reporting that her apartment had been broken into and some of her possessions had been stolen. You can probably imagine that the Bluecoats aren’t exactly taking it very seriously.
I can’t help her directly now. She wouldn’t recognize me and I can’t really tell her who I am. I don’t think it would go over well. But, if the three of you can help her out, get to the bottom of this theft, I could pay you in coin if you would prefer that, but I also have access to a lot of files. Some of those files that have your names on them could go missing.
Josie: I think Minx’s eyes are watering a little bit.
Rhi: Aw!
Josie (as Minx): [emotional] Of course we can help!
Rhi: He looks a little uncomfortable with this outward display of emotion.
[laughter]
Rhi: Blaire? Myra? What do you two think about this?
Kim (as Blaire): I’m always happy to, you know, help you out, Severin, not so much the Bluecoats, but yeah, we’ll always help you on personal matters.
Rhi (as Severin): I appreciate that.
Rhi: He reaches into his coat and pulls out the file. It’s… Calling it a file is generous. It’s basically like two pieces of paper. He’ll hand that over so the three of you can read.
Basically what happened is, you know, it doesn’t seem too complicated. The report says that one Emilina Alba reported a break-in at her apartment. There was no damage to the door and no broken windows. Her stuff had been tossed around, rifled through. Coin that she had on-hand had been taken along with a few what are just reported as heirlooms. There’s not really a lot more detail there.
Josie: Mm-hmm.
Rhi: There’s a note saying that she suspects her landlord is involved, but that’s about the end of the report. It looks like… It’s signed by a Bluecoat who looks like did the bare minimum of note-taking necessary to fill out the paperwork and then just kinda threw it in a drawer with no intent to follow up on it.
Minna: [dissatisfied grumble]
Rhi: So yeah, that’s kinda the official documentation. Her address is listed on there. It’s a tenement down in Charhollow. Yeah. Is there anything else that you wanna ask the good inspector while he’s here?
Josie (as Minx): I suppose we should ask. Was she involved in anything?
Rhi (as Severin): Involved? What do you mean?
Josie (as Minx): Anything that could constitute a motive.
Minna (as Myra): What would provoke this?
Rhi: He shrugs.
Rhi (as Severin): I don’t know. I mean, she works at a garment factory, vaguely sympathetic towards the unionization movement, but I don’t think she’s really been directly involved with anything.
Josie (as Minx): Do you know why she suspects her landlord beyond, well, screw them?
Rhi: He shakes his head.
Rhi (as Severin): I haven’t been able to talk to her about this. Like I said, I just kinda keep tabs on people from a distance.
Josie: Minx gets a little teary-eyed again. [laughs]
Rhi (as Severin): If you want to meet with her, which would probably be the best approach, tell her that you’re an old friend of Lian’s.
Josie (as Minx): I see.
Rhi (as Severin): That should at least get her to talk.
Josie (as Minx): Well, thank you, and well, if in exchange for this file some others go missing… well that would be fortunate.
Rhi: He nods.
Rhi (as Severin): Just send a note the usual way when you’re done and I’ll get to work on your files. Thanks, I appreciate this.
Josie (as Minx): Of course, although I can’t help but notice that there’s no circumstance pressuring you to come to us.
Rhi (as Severin): You’re good at this sort of thing.
Kim (as Blaire): We are?
Josie (as Minx): That is certainly true, I just was not expecting you to ever actually hire us.
Rhi (as Severin): Well neither was I, but people in Charhollow think very well of you, so you seemed like a good fit.
Minna: Aw.
Rhi (as Severin): Anyway, I can’t really be here too long. If I am seen lurking around your known haunts people will ask questions. If you need anything else from me, you know how to contact me.
Josie (as Minx): Of course. Good day.
Rhi: He will make his exit, Rigney watching him suspiciously the whole time.
Josie (as Minx): Well, that was unexpected. Frankly, I didn’t think he had a sentimental side.
Kim (as Blaire): Why not?
Josie (as Minx): He just seems very serious.
Minna (as Myra): Well I’m very serious.
Kim (as Blaire): Yeah, and he’s still a person.
Josie (as Minx): I’m going to be honest, I have a hard time thinking of him as people, not because of him but because, well, inspectors.
[laughter]
Kim (as Blaire): Well I mean yeah, but he’s one of the sort of okay ones.
Josie (as Minx): Right, and I suppose he didn’t really, um, come by the position the normal fashion.
Rhi: [laughing] Understatement of the year.
Kim (as Blaire): Yeah, that’s true.
Rhi: All right. So, what do y’all wanna do first?
Josie: We should probably just talk to Emilina, right?
Minna: Yeah.
Kim: Yeah, that’s a good place to start.
Rhi: So, you set off down towards Charhollow making your way to the tenement address that’s listed. I think as you’re down there you do notice a few people that are familiar in that “I know I’ve seen you around, we might have worked together on something at some point, but I don’t remember your name” sort of way, but a few people kind of wave at you.
Josie: Uh-huh.
Rhi: You see people in the area are kind of nudging each other or whispering a little bit but not in a mocking way but in kind of like a “oh hey, hey, did you see, it’s them” kind of way. You’re a little bit of celebrities down here.
Kim: Oh…
Josie: Oh!
Minna: Very strange to be experiencing it, I think, for Myra. [laughs]
Rhi: Yeah. Nobody’s like running up to you, and uh, you know…
Minna: But even just this level of, like…
Kim: Just being publicly adored instead of vilified by the media. [laughs]
Rhi: Yeah!
Josie: [laughs] Minx gets a little spring in her step. “Yay, attention~”
Rhi: [laughs]
Kim: I think Blaire’s probably a little uncomfortable by this, I think. I think she probably shrinks into herself a bit.
Rhi: Aw.
Josie: Aw.
Josie (as Minx): That’s okay dear, I’ll take the brunt of it.
Rhi: [laughs]
Kim (as Blaire): Yeah, I know.
Rhi: I’m just picturing Minx waving back with a big smile while Blaire and Myra are just like, oh God…
Josie: [laughs] Exactly.
Minna: [laughs] It’s just really weird to go home and have people whispering about you.
Rhi: Yeah, folk hero. In a fantasy game bards would be singing songs about you.
Minna: [giggles] If this were a different kind of fantasy game.
Kim: I mean, Duskwall probably does have bards anyway.
Rhi: Yeah. Somebody could be writing a folk song about y’all to play in one of the bars. So yeah, you find your way to this tenement. It’s pretty much like any other in Charhollow. Four, five… we’ll say five stories tall, in pretty bad repair. What looks like some old fire damage that has just barely been patched together, some broken windows, water damage, things like that.
Emilina lives on the second floor, so you head up there, head over to her apartment. You can see there’s a little bit of light from the crack under the door, and you can hear somebody kind of singing to themselves moving around inside.
Josie: … Are you waiting for us to say we knock on the door?
Rhi: I mean, yes.
[laughter]
Josie: Okay, yeah, because we do that.
Rhi: The humming stops, or the singing stops, and footsteps come over to the door and it cracks open just an inch. You can see a woman with tan skin, dark hair that’s pulled back, peering out at you, basically just enough so that one eye can see out.
Rhi (as Emilina): Hello…? Can I help you?
Josie (as Minx): Yes. Emilina? We are old friends of Lian’s. We were hoping to help you recover from the burglary.
Rhi: She blinks several times, and you can see, kind of moves back from the door a little bit and then opens it up, enough that she is standing in the doorway but she’s not opening it up to let you in.
Rhi (as Emilina): Um… all right. Who are all of you?
Kim (as Blaire): We’re The Magpies?
Kim: Blaire’s gonna offer a pin.
[laughter]
Josie: Minx beams and flips her hair.
Rhi: She will take the pin and kinda look at it for a second and then you can see the light of recognition go up in her eyes.
Rhi (as Emilina): Oh…! Huh. Lian didn’t mention knowing you. All right.
Rhi: She pockets the pin and will step back.
Rhi (as Emilina): Yeah, come on in.
Minna (as Myra): Thank you.
Rhi: So, her apartment is just a tiny studio. She appears to have just been making dinner. There’s just a tiny little stove, a bed shoved in the corner. There’s rags stuffed in around the windows to keep the air out. There’s clear water damage on the ceiling. Clearly not a well-maintained place. She will step back and I think turns off the heat on the stove.
Rhi (as Emilina): Um, you’re here about the robbery…
Josie (as Minx): Yes. We were hoping to get to the bottom of it.
Rhi (as Emilina): You’re probably gonna be much better at it than the Bluecoats.
Kim (as Blaire): We usually are.
Rhi (as Emilina): Well, a few days ago I got home from work and came in and the place was a mess. All of my things had been thrown around everywhere. Some of my money had been taken. A few little trinkets, not really that valuable, but the thing that I think they were after was an old family heirloom. It’s called a ship’s ward.
Josie (as Minx): Oh?
Rhi: None of you would know what this is, because none of you are from the Dagger Isles.
Kim: Oh…
Rhi: [laughs] So, I assume if all three of you just have blank expressions…
Kim: Yeah.
Josie: Yeah, Minx just cocks her head.
Rhi (as Emilina): I don’t really know how it works exactly, it has something to do with protecting a ship from spirits, but my family, going back a few generations, we were all on merchant ships until, well… we ended up here. But I was able to keep our ship’s ward.
I’m pretty sure that my landlord was behind it, because he’d introduced me to some woman, didn’t get her name, she wanted to buy it and I wasn’t interested. Then, a couple days later, I got home and it was gone. He’s the only other person that has keys to the place and it didn’t seem like anybody had broken in.
Josie (as Minx): I see… Well I suppose that’s one reason to add to the reasons to hate landlords. Do you know why he would seek to acquire it? It seems a rather specific item.
Rhi (as Emilina): I don’t know. The woman that he was here with just said she was a collector and she was interested. I said I wasn’t interested in selling…
Josie (as Minx): But she already knew you possessed it somehow?
Rhi (as Emilina): Yeah, I don’t know. I have no idea how she found out.
Josie (as Minx): So that gives us two suspects likely working in tandem.
Kim: I forget if we’ve established this before or not. Is there… Does looking into the ghost field kind of give you a sense of what happened in the past here? I feel like we’ve done that before, but…
Rhi: It can, with an Attune roll.
Kim: Yeah. I was thinking about doing, like, have Blaire look into the ghost field to see if she could parse any clues just from taking a peek at what happened here.
Rhi: Yeah! Yeah, I mean, we’re basically doing Gather Info.
Kim: Yeah, so I think Blaire is gonna look to Emilina and probably gesture to her spirit mask.
Kim (as Blaire): Do you mind if I take a look?
Rhi (as Emilina): Um… sure, go ahead.
Kim (as Blaire): Thanks.
Rhi: She doesn’t quite seem to know what the mask does, she doesn’t seem to recognize it, but she’s like “uh yeah, go ahead.”
Kim: So, +1 to Gather Info, right?
Rhi: Yup.
Kim: Okay, 1, 1, 2, 6.
Rhi: [laughs] Man, good thing, thank God for the Gondoliers.
Kim: I guess. They helped with this somehow. [laughs]
Rhi: Okay, so you get exceptional details. The information is complete and follow-up questions may expand into related areas or reveal more than you hoped for. Yeah, so you look into the ghost field and are concentrating on the past. I think that you are able to see, you know, again, sort of that flickering time-lapse image of ghostly figures and things moving through the space. You are able to see, sitting on a shelf against a wall where now in non–ghost field view, in present time, there’s just a big empty space, you can see this very faintly glowing wooden sculpture sort of thing.
Kim: Oh.
Rhi: You can’t really tell what it looks like in too much detail, in this view, but you’re able to see this thing. You see mostly just Emilina sped up, moving around, coming in and going.
Kim: Right.
Rhi: Then at one point Emilina leaves, the door opens, and a man comes in, immediately grabs that slightly glowing sculpture, rummages around a bit, grabs a couple other things, and then goes about tossing the place and then leaves with it.
Kim: Does the man have any discernable features or was it just kind of a silhouette person?
Rhi: No, you get an idea of what he looks like. He’s Akorosian, pale skin, dark hair that I think is sort of slicked back, wearing just a button-up shirt with suspenders, sleeves rolled up. You get a good enough look at him that if you see him again you’ll recognize him, but he’s also not the sort of person who would stand out in a crowd.
Kim: Right.
Rhi: Yeah. So, I think after you see that the vision fades out.
Kim: Okay. Blaire takes off her mask and looks to Emilina.
Kim (as Blaire): What does your landlord look like?
Rhi (as Emilina): Mr. Kendrick? Um…
Rhi: Blah-blah-blah, describes somebody who sounds very similar to the person you saw.
Kim: At that, Blaire nods.
Kim (as Blaire): I think you’re right, I think he may have been the one who took it.
Rhi (as Emilina): Oh…
Josie (as Minx): If he is still in possession of it then this shall be pretty easy, but in case he doesn’t, do you have a better idea of who this woman was? A name?
Rhi (as Emilina): No. She didn’t give her name. She seemed… It was very strange. Part of why I wasn’t interested in dealing with her is because she was so secretive about it. She was just introduced as a collector. She was wearing a long gown and gloves and a hat with sort of a veil in front of it, so I couldn’t really get a terribly good look at her face.
Josie: Really quick flashback.
Rhi: Yeah!
Josie: Wasn’t there someone like that who ran the auction house, or was that someone at the auction house? Way back in like Season 1.
Rhi: Um… Oh lord.
Josie: [laughs]
Rhi: Hang on. Give me a second, because I don’t remember, but you might be right, and I have—I never delete a document, so… Ha-ha! Auction notes!
Minna: [laughs]
Rhi: Thanks past me. … She was there. Good work. Damn, that’s a deep fucking cut!
Josie: Really~?
[laughter]
Minna: Who is this~?
Rhi: Shit!
Josie: It was the big hat.
Rhi: Yeah.
Minna: Do we know? Do we know who that is?
Rhi: Yeah. Josie just fucking circumvented a huge chunk of this adventure.
Josie: [laughs]
Minna: Oh my gosh.
Kim: Oh!
Rhi: God, that was awesome. I mean, it would have mostly just been the Gather Info portion of this…
Josie: [laughs]
Kim: But that’s great.
Rhi: …but you’re still gonna have to get this thing back. But like, shit.
Minna: That’s a very distinctive hat.
Josie: I have a shit memory. Why did that stick with me?
Kim: Smart.
Rhi: I have no fucking clue, but damn! Yeah, so uh… Minx, something about that description, as vague as it is, jogs your memory. Somebody dressed somewhat similarly to this but the veil was kind of flipped up over the hat… Roslyn, who is one of the representatives of The Dimmer Sisters. You worked with her briefly when The Dimmer Sisters had hired you all to go onto a ship—this is way back in Season 1—go onto a ship to recover some of their items. The ship had been stopped out in the bay due to suspected ghostly contamination. Spirit Wardens were investigating. You all snuck out there and stole a few things including the Eye of Kotar.
Kim: Yes, I remember that.
Josie: Right.
Rhi: And Roslyn was the person that you worked with on that. You’ve also since kind of run afoul of The Dimmer Sisters. You framed them for Raffello’s death.
Josie: Uh-huh. [chuckles]
Rhi: And by death I mean violent murder.
Josie: [laughs]
Kim: Yeah, we screwed over The Dimmer Sisters a lot.
Rhi: Yeah. They did… I think the last time you all saw Roslyn she was trying to exact revenge upon you all when you were doing a bank heist last season.
Josie: Oh, that was her!
Kim: Yes, with the magma creature, right?
Rhi: Yeah. It was like a blood demon or something.
Kim: Yeah, something like that.
Rhi: But you summoned some kind of weird blood entity.
Kim: [smiling] I summoned something.
Rhi: You sure did.
Kim: That’s what I remember from that.
Rhi: Yeah, so apparently, just kind of based on that, you’re like oh, that sounds a lot like what Roslyn wears when she’s out doing business for The Dimmer Sisters.
Minna (as Myra): Do you have any sense why somebody might want to acquire it for an occult collection specifically?
Josie (as Minx): Well, I mean, her employers deal nearly exclusively in that sort of thing. Perhaps they need a ward for some aquatic operation. Who knows.
Rhi (as Emilina): I never learned how it worked. I was too young when we settled here. Yeah, it protected the people on the ship from ghosts when we were sailing around. That’s all that I know. But yeah, if they needed it for something… warding off spirits. I mean, I don’t know why you’d need that. We’ve got spirit bane charms. We’re in the lightning barrier.
Josie (as Minx): No doubt it is something nefarious, and I think it does point us in the direction of where to find it. There could be two different locations I know of, that being her auction house and, well, The Dimmer Sisters’ house.
Rhi: So, just as a point of clarification, Roslyn does not run the auction house. She was just in attendance.
Josie: Oh, okay.
Rhi: Yeah.
Josie: Never mind then.
Rhi: Yep. [laughs] No worries. Listen, you pulled one deep fucking cut from Season 1 already. You’re good!
[laughter]
Rhi: Yeah, so is there anything else you all want to ask Emilina right now? She’s mostly just glad that you all seem to know what’s going on.
Josie: I’m going to ask her if she has, well, a friend to spend the night with for a few nights.
Rhi (as Emilina): Oh. Oh… Um.
Josie (as Minx): Just in case, you understand.
Rhi (as Emilina): Yes. Yes. There’s a few people. I’ll ask around and pack a bag. Ugh, I hadn’t even thought of that.
Josie (as Minx): Well, you should be able to return here if you wish to before long, and I do think once this is over strong words will be had with your landlord.
Rhi (as Emilina): I appreciate you looking into this. I’m not really able to pay at all. I’m sorry.
Josie (as Minx): That has already been taken care of. You needn’t worry.
Rhi (as Emilina): All right, thank you.
Josie: I think Minx is ready to head out.
Kim: Yeah, I think we’re done.
Rhi: Yeah, so the three of you can head out. Yeah, I mean, you know basically who’s behind it now. [laughs]
Josie: [laughs] Are we jumping right to the score?
Rhi: Well, I mean, you still may want to do a little of the gathering of info in terms of figuring out, like, one, do you need to break into The Dimmer Sisters’ house, because that is a tall order.
Minna: [shivers]
Josie: Mm-hmm.
Kim: Oh Jesus. Yeah.
Rhi: Yeah. So The Dimmer Sisters, just kind of as a refresher for you and for our audience, they are one of the biggest spirit traffickers. They’re basically trying to dominate the spirit trafficking trade. They live in a huge old manor house in I think I’ve said in Crow’s Foot.
Nobody sees the Dimmer Sisters. They don’t ever come out. They just have representatives like Roslyn, they have a few others, who interact with the rest of the world on their behalf, which naturally has led to all sorts of interesting rumors about who they actually are.
Some people say that they’re a bunch of spirits, some people say they’re vampires, some people say the Dimmer Sisters don’t exist at all and that they’re just a legend that a criminal organization uses to cover for their activities. The one thing that is known is that even if you are doing regular business with them you do not go into the house.
Josie: Right, like Roslyn or someone comes out and does it for them.
Kim: Yeah, they’re super reclusive.
Rhi: The general rumor is that anybody who does go into their house never comes out again.
Minna: I’m just imagining the 13-year-olds who dare themselves to go into the house.
Rhi: Yeah, don’t make it very far because the security is intense. They have a private lightning barrier at their house.
Minna: Oh God.
Josie: Right!
Rhi: Yeah. So yeah, that’s kind of what you know about the Dimmer Sisters. You, for obvious reasons, have not done a lot of business with them beyond paying off that debt back in Season 1. That’s kind of what you’re potentially dealing with. You could try to look more into what this item is to see if that would tell you anything about maybe where they would have taken it, what they want to use it for… but yeah.
Minna: Is there any place off-site that they would keep this kind of a thing?
Rhi: That would be a good question to Gather Info about.
Minna: That’s what I’m saying. I’m gonna Gather Info about it.
Rhi: Yeah.
Minna: I just haven’t figured out how yet.
Rhi: Okay.
Minna: I imagine Consort maybe? Like, looking around for people I know who might know things.
Rhi: Yeah, just kind of asking around.
Minna: It might almost be The Silver Nails who would know this kind of thing.
Rhi: Silver Nails. Gondoliers would also be a potential.
Minna: Gondoliers are good. Let’s roll and see how well it works. [laughs] That is a 5.
Rhi: Five, okay. I think the Gondoliers are more likely to have the information that you need. They will report that they have seen… So you were asking if they have some off-site locations?
Minna: Yeah, any place that might hold that kind of—they would be likely to hold that kind of thing besides the house.
Rhi: It seems like, from asking around, that they keep everything at the manor.
Minna: Mm-hmm.
Rhi: That’s sort of their central place. However, you do learn from a couple of the Gondoliers that they have seen Roslyn and Irelen, who are both known associates of the Dimmer Sisters, around spending more time than usual around The Docks. They don’t know a lot of specifics on what they’ve been doing or where they’ve been. They don’t seem to be in any one particular area, they just seem to be hanging around The Docks a little bit more than usual.
Minna: Fascinating when put together with the sea ward.
Rhi: So yeah, I think that’s pretty much what you can get from the Gondoliers.
Josie: I think I have an idea.
Rhi: Yeah?
Josie: Minx is gonna change outfits into something more… more of a trimmed coat, something a little more sailory, and try to figure out if there’s any place out there that they might need that to get into. Like, I don’t know, is there some ghost-haunted isle out there, what weird legends we’ve got.
Rhi: Oh! Okay, interesting. Yeah, go ahead and give me a roll. Are you doing Consort for this, I assume?
Josie: Yeah, 5, 5, 5.
Rhi: Okay. [chuckles] Let me start with this. In your asking, do you mention this particular ship’s ward item?
Josie: Not this particular one…
Rhi: Okay.
Josie: …but I might mention the idea of a ship’s ward.
Rhi: That helps. So, you know, there are a number of stories about haunted islands, dead leviathans floating out there that are harboring all sorts of weird things, ghost ships still sailing the Void Sea… None of it seems really concrete like something that… you know. The Dimmer Sisters are pragmatic. They don’t go chasing down legends. They’re gonna go after something that has truth to it so they’re gonna get their money’s worth. When you mention a ship’s ward, there’s actually a few folks from the Dagger Isles who are at this tavern who kind of perk up a little bit and can tell you that it’s a somewhat old fashioned but still effective way of protecting a ship from ghosts, and the way that it works is, for our modern-day reference point, it’s a little bit like a bug zapper…
[laughter]
Rhi: …in that it draws ghosts in and then kinda hits them with a powerful electroplasmic energy shock, so it stuns them and they’re just sort of left behind while the ship continues to sail on.
Kim: Oh…
Rhi: They kinda comment like, you know, there’s more effective wards and things that you can put on a ship these days, but you know, some of the more traditional Dagger Isles sailors will still use those. But nothing really strikes you as, like, something out on the open ocean that the Dimmer Sisters might be specifically targeting right now.
Josie: Okay.
Minna: Does it have to be used in water?
Rhi: No, it does not have to be used over water. You just have to do a particular ritual to sort of activate it, charge it up so that it can shoot out these bursts of energy to stun the ghosts, but then you could have it pretty much anywhere. Usually it’s only effective on a ship, because if you’re on land and you stun a ghost, the ghost is just gonna be in the same spot when it wakes up, as opposed to if it’s on a ship, the ship will be quite a ways away by the time the ghost comes to.
Josie: Oh, then they probably want to use it on land. This is just sort of free ghosts for them.
Rhi: Mm-hmm!
Josie: Draw them in to get zapped and they jar them up and do bad spirit trade stuff with them.
Rhi: Ding-ding-ding. Gold star for Josie.
Minna: Yay~
Kim: Oh man, Josie, you’re on a roll tonight.
[laughter]
Rhi: Yeah, so I think you can kind of put that together based on that description of how this thing works. Circling back around to Kim.
Kim: Yeah. I wanted to have Blaire do a Study roll and have her read up more on what this object actually is, but I feel like with the Gather Info answers we’ve gotten already we’ve kind of answered some of those questions.
Rhi: Yeah. Yeah. You are… Blaire is kind of uniquely positioned to be tapped into sort of the ghostly happenings in the city.
Kim: Right.
Rhi: So you could try to see if there’s been anything of like, you know, are ghosts reporting something like this happening.
Kim: Hmm. Should I roll a Consort to talk with some neighborhood ghosts?
Minna: [giggles]
Rhi: Yeah, go for it.
Kim: Okay! I’m gonna ask my ghosty friends then.
Rhi: You’re like the opposite of a Ghostbuster.
[laughter]
Rhi: Friendly neighborhood ghost… befriender.
Kim: Well, we already established that the Spirit Wardens are more or less Ghostbusters, so of course Blaire is the opposite of a Ghostbuster.
Rhi: Yeah, pretty much.
Minna: Blaire is the ghost whisperer, which is why she’s a Whisper.
Kim: That’s true. I got two 3s.
Rhi: Aw, okay. When you say… Let me approach it from this angle. When you say you want to talk to your friendly neighborhood ghosts, what neighborhood do you mean?
Kim: Ooh, interesting. We’re in Charhollow still right now, correct?
Rhi: At this point you can be wherever you want. You all have fanned out for gathering info.
Kim: Okay. It probably makes sense for Blaire to be near Nightmarket or near The Nest, right? Near her turf? Our turf.
Rhi: Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Josie: Mm-hmm.
Kim: Yeah, okay. Let’s do Nightmarket.
Rhi: Okay. So, yeah, you’re poking around in Nightmarket looking for local ghosts, and you’re having a hard time finding local ghosts. There just seem to be fewer of them around here than you would expect.
Kim: Oh no.
Rhi: And the few that you find and are able to talk to, they’re not really giving a lot of clear information about where all of the other ghosts have gone, like what’s happened to them. What you get from the few ghosts that you talk to is it almost sounds like they’re describing haunted houses.
Kim: Oh…
Rhi: Like, you know, there’s weird noises, there’s weird lights, people go in there and don’t come back. At a few different locations around Nightmarket, all abandoned buildings, some of them houses, some of them boarded up businesses, but they can’t really… they’re just not stable enough in terms of how well their personality’s holding together to be able to give you anything really concrete.
Kim: Exactly, yeah.
Rhi: Yeah. It seems like there’s something weird going on at different abandoned locations throughout Nightmarket that has something to do with the fact that there’s fewer ghosts in Nightmarket right now.
Kim: [whines] Oh no. That’s sad. Well, it’s sad for Blaire, it’s probably good for the city in general, but it upsets me.
[laughter]
Rhi: Is there any additional info you would like to gather or do you wanna start coming up with a plan? It seems like…
Minna: Uh… so the vibe is that we’re gonna have to infiltrate the Dimmer Sisters’ place, or…?
Josie: A haunted house, I thought.
Minna: Oh.
Josie: Which, I mean, are technically the same thing, but…
Rhi: Yeah, so it could be—you kind of have two paths here. You could try to get into the Dimmer Sisters’ house, because most likely, when not in use, this ship’s ward is being stored there. Or, you could try to ambush whoever is doing this thing when it’s in use ,and it seems like it’s currently, they’re moving around in Nightmarket, pulling in ghosts.
Minna: Can we become Scooby Doo villains?
Josie: Meaning…?
Kim: Again?!
[laughter]
Minna: Manufacture a haunted house.
Kim: We’ve done that like so many times I feel like.
Josie: I mean, we’re good at it.
Rhi: You’ve done it at least once where you staged the—when you broke into the bank, the bank heist also involved…
Kim: Right.
Minna: We staged a haunted bank, but I just want us to stage a haunted house so we can ambush them when they come to un-haunt it.
Josie: You know what? Why not. That’s fun.
Minna: [laughs]
Kim: I’m always down for spooky times.
Rhi: Here’s the thing… you don’t necessarily have to pretend like it’s haunted. Blaire probably has enough ghosts on-hand to actually just haunt a building.
Kim: Yeah. I can make it haunted. Blaire has the means, for sure.
[laughter]
Rhi: Is that the direction y’all wanna go?
Kim: Please.
Josie: Spoopy problems require spoopy solutions.
[laughter]
Rhi: Well, I mean, this is definitely gonna be an Occult plan.
Josie: Uh-huh.
Kim: yay.
Rhi: Yeah, I think you can definitely find an abandoned place in Nightmarket, or very easily in Six Towers. There’s a lot of abandoned property in Six Towers.
Minna: Yeah. That’s how we found our house.
Rhi: All right, so you’re definitely doing an Occult plan, and the arcane method is you are literally creating your very own haunted house.
Minna: Mm-hmm!
Rhi: All right, let’s do the engagement roll. One for luck. Is this operation particularly bold or daring?
Kim: I mean, we’re going against the Dimmer Sisters who really don’t like us.
Rhi: Mm-hmm… I’ll say it’s pretty bold. Are there other elements you want to consider? They are a lower tier than you, so that will give you another die.
Kim: Oh!
Minna: Wow.
Rhi: Yeah, you all are like… You’re Tier 3, the Dimmer Sisters are Tier 2. Y’all are heavy hitters in the city.
Josie: Whoa.
Minna: Still thinking of ourselves as less powerful than the Dimmer Sisters as like “I don’t wanna attack them in their house, that’s awful!”
Josie: [laughs]
Kim: Well it’s just a bad idea in general.
Rhi: Yeah. It definitely would have been harder, hitting them in their house, but you still are a higher tier gang than them at this point.
Minna: Mm-hmm. Good to know.
Rhi: Yeah. So, this is gonna be a 3d6 engagement roll. Okay, got a 5.
Kim: Yay.
Rhi: So you’re gonna be starting in a risky position.
## Score [0:43:53]
Rhi: So tell me about the house that you all find to haunt. Just, everybody give me a detail.
Josie: It’s tall…
Kim: Boo Radley lives there.
[laughter]
Rhi: No. Go ahead, Josie.
Josie: It’s tall and skinny.
Rhi: Okay, so more like a townhouse, like a brick townhouse, kinda like three stories?
Josie: Mm-hmm, yeah.
Rhi: Okay, cool. Tall and skinny.
Minna: My first thought is that there’s a hole in the roof, so there’s like… basically a corner that’s flooded and smells very bad.
Rhi: Oh okay, yeah. [laughs] Gross, I love it.
Minna: [laughs]
Kim: I’m trying to think what would be interesting for basically a fun fact about this building’s history, like who owned it before it fell into disrepair.
Rhi: Oh, okay.
Kim: Like, did a wealthy person live here or was this an office building ,or…
Rhi: So, Six Towers used to be a more upper middle class, upper class district, and then it just sort of… people moved out. It doesn’t say specifically, but I think the plague that created The Lost District also kind of drove people out of Six Towers, because Six Towers is close to The Lost District.
Kim: Right.
Rhi: And so yeah, it just kind of… yeah. Most likely it was owned by somebody who had some kind of money.
Kim: Okay. Yeah, this building used to belong to an upper middle class family, and if we looked inside there’s probably, like, I think there’s a lot of decrepit artwork and family portraits on the walls and lots of faded, just… if this were a video game, environmental storytelling stuff.
[laughter]
Rhi: Yeah!
Josie: Hey guess what? We made a Scooby Doo house.
Rhi: Yeah. So I think that you have to, like… it doesn’t happen immediately, that you unleash these ghosts and then an hour later the Dimmer Sisters’ people are kicking down the door to capture them. You have to kind of let it simmer for a little bit. You have to let rumors spread. You probably help the rumors about oh no, this house is so very haunted, oh no, oh help, whatever shall we do. But I think after a few days you all are kinda keeping an eye on this place, you do start to see some of the… you notice some people poking around. I think you do recognize Roslyn as one of them.
So you all get into the house, get set up. What is your plan? Are you planning on just ambushing them? Are you gonna…? What’s your approach here?
Josie: I want to see if they produce the ship’s ward.
Rhi: Okay.
Josie: And then sneak up behind them if they pull it out.
Rhi: Okay. Yeah, you have to hang out in this house for probably a couple hours. It smells gross, and it’s just constantly damp in here. Everything is moist.
Josie: Eh… hmm.
Kim: Ick.
Rhi: The ghosts don’t mind, because the ghosts no longer feel humidity. After a couple hours the door to this place opens up and four people come in. Roslyn is in the lead. She’s got a pretty heavy looking satchel slung over her shoulder. A couple of the people are basically coming in with a cart of spirit jars, ghost jars. They clearly are intending on capturing a lot of spirits here. They start unpacking their gear, setting things up, and I think I’m actually gonna have, for our first hurdle you have to overcome, is successfully staying hidden while they are starting to investigate this place. So, you’re gonna be in a risky position.
Josie: Are we able to do a group action about this or is this individual rolls?
Rhi: Nope, you can do a group action if you would all like to be hidden together. Yeah.
Josie: Group Prowl.
Kim: Group Prowl.
Minna: I can lead if y’all need.
Josie: I got a 4.
Minna: Oh… eh.
Kim: My highest was a 3.
Minna: Same~
Rhi: Okay, so Myra’s gonna take 2 points of stress, and the result is a 4. So I think that the three of you, in order to all hide together, basically hold up in the pantry in the kitchen, and for whatever reason they decided – I think maybe the kitchen is the farthest away from where the flooding is, so they decided that the kitchen is the best place to set up for this ghost-attracting ritual they’re gonna do, so they’re clearing the space, and in clearing it somebody takes the broken down table that was in a heap in the middle of the room and shoves it aside and basically piles it up against the door of the pantry where you all are.
Josie: Ah.
Kim: Mm-hmm.
Rhi: They didn’t find you, however there’s now not really a way for you to get out of here without making a lot of noise, because you’re gonna have to knock over this table to open the door.
Josie: I see…
Rhi: [laughs] But yeah, that’s the complication. What I’m imagining is that you had the door open just the barest crack and you’re peering out and all of a sudden there’s a thunk and the door just shuts.
Josie: [laughs]
Rhi: Then you hear, like, the sound of things piling against the door. It’s not so much stuff that you couldn’t push it open, but it will be noticeable. There’s not a way to sneak out of this door now.
Josie (as Minx): Blaire?
Kim (as Blaire): Yeah?
Josie (as Minx): Would you possibly be able to create some sort of distraction?
Kim (as Blaire): Um… What kind of distraction would that be?
Josie (as Minx): Get our friends out there excited? I don’t know if you have another one on you, or…
Kim (as Blaire): Um… Let’s see. Let’s see.
Kim: I think she’s just gonna sort through her bottles a bit—no, not bottles, sort through her jars a bit.
Kim (as Blaire): Ah! Okay, Archibald, he’s game.
Rhi: [snickers]
Kim: [giggling, proud] And she’s gonna open a spirit jar.
Rhi: Okay. Give me a roll for sending Archibald out to be a distraction.
Kim: Okay. Would this be an Attune or a Command?
Rhi: Uh… sure.
Kim: No, which one?
Rhi: You can do whichever you’d like. However you want to approach it.
Kim: Let’s do Attune since I have more in that. Two, 3, 5.
Rhi: So, Archibald drifts through the door, and I think you hear excited voices and a lot of movement outside. It sounds like a distraction is happening. If you all wanna try and burst through the door I will tell you what the consequence is once you get out there.
Josie: I would like to get through the door, with a pistol and sword drawn.
Rhi: Excellent. Go ahead and make a roll to dramatically burst through a door.
Josie: Well, dramatically says to me that it’s a Sway.
Rhi: [laughs] I mean, what are you intending to do as you burst through this door?
Josie: See, the thing is I actually don’t want… I actually wanna get up on them before they notice me.
Rhi: Oh okay, so you’re actually trying to be a little sneaky.
Josie: Yes.
Rhi: Okay. In that case…
Josie: Ideally I can get the sword to the throat of Roslyn in a dramatic fashion out of the shadows, right?
Rhi: Mm-hmm. Yeah! Yeah. I would say, for ambushing somebody, it’s probably gonna be Prowl. It’s still gonna be risky, risky-standard.
Josie: I think I am gonna push myself on it.
Rhi: Okay.
Josie: Critical!
Kim: Whoa.
Rhi: Holy shit, three 6s. Okay!
Kim: Damn Josie.
Josie: It’s the Devil’s number.
Kim: You’re just the star of the show.
Rhi: Yeah. [laughs] Crushing it tonight.
Josie: Satan favors me tonight.
Minna: [laughs]
Rhi: So, you… I think that, Minx, you’re able to ease the door open and slide through without the table falling, like you manage to slide out and catch it and shift it a little bit so that the other two can come out behind you without having to contend with the whole table blocking the door situation. You also do this quietly enough. The people who are currently wrangling a ghost into a spirit jar… There’s your consequence by the way, Blaire.
Kim: Oh.
Rhi: Archibald is in the process of being captured.
Kim: No!
Josie: Ah!
Rhi: …don’t notice you. Yeah, Roslyn has her back to you, and you are able to just come up right behind her and sword at the throat.
Josie: Yeah, and then I point the pistol at the one with the jar.
Josie (as Minx): I do believe you have a couple things that don’t belong to you.
Rhi: The person turns, sees that you have his boss at sword point and are pointing the gun at him. I think… I think you are gonna need to roll to convince him to stop what he’s doing in terms of capturing a ghost.
Josie: Is this more of a Sway or Command?
Rhi: I think it is Command, because Sway is being a little more deceptive. You’re being pretty blunt about what’s going on here.
Josie: Okay. I only have 1 dot in Command, so I’m just trying to decide if I want to push myself or not.
Rhi: Yeah.
Josie: Eh, let’s… I’m feeling lucky.
Rhi: Yeah. [laughs] Go for it.
Josie: Five.
Rhi: Five, all right. I’m gonna say that was risky just because right now they do have you outnumbered, your friends have not come into the room with you yet, but greater effect because sword, throat, gun, etcetera.
Josie: Uh-huh.
Rhi: So on a 5 you do it but there’s a consequence. I think that Roslyn kind of like, without moving very much, she kinda nods a little bit at the guy in a yeah, just do it sort of gesture. He will set down the jar, Archibald shoots up through the ceiling to escape, however the complication is that I think while your attention is on this guy, Minx, Roslyn elbows you in the solar plexus and drops to get away from the sword.
Josie: Oh, oof. [laughs]
Rhi: So it’s not enough that you’re gonna take harm, but you basically… she escapes from your hold on her.
Josie: I think Minx had just opened her mouth to deliver another line and then is just like “oof!” [laughs]
Rhi: Yeah. [laughs] So Roslyn gets away, whips around, pulls a gun herself.
Rhi (as Roslyn): Stop her.
Rhi: [exasperated] Blaire and Myra. [chuckles]
Kim: Oh boy.
Rhi: I think you’ve heard the commotion happening outside if you’d like to make an entrance.
Kim: Yeah. What do I need to do to rescue Archibald?
Rhi: Archibald got away. Archibald is no longer being ghost jarred.
Kim: Okay, so he’s loose and free.
Rhi: Yes. Yeah, he floated up through the ceiling. He’s up on the second floor.
Kim (as Blaire): Okay, goodbye~
Rhi: [laughs]
Minna: Can I sneak up behind Roslyn and get a pistol to her back basically?
Rhi: Roslyn is currently facing the pantry where y’all are hiding, so that’s gonna be hard. She had her back to the pantry when Minx came out, and then she has since turned around to face Minx and the pantry. So getting up behind her is gonna be tough. Unless you wanna flashback something to have found a second exit point out of this pantry.
Minna: Wait… [laughs] I just had a dumb idea for a flashback, since we’re going Scooby Doo with it anyway.
Rhi: Yes. Yes.
Minna: What if I rigged up something on the ceiling that, if I could shoot out the cord holding it, would fall on her?
Rhi: Oh my God.
[laughter]
Minna: I don’t know what it is, because all I’m picturing is balloons, and that’s not harmful!
Rhi: No, balloons are not gonna… they’re gonna cause confusion and possibly delight but not a lot of harm.
Minna: Yeah!
Rhi: I mean, you can do it.
Minna: [laughs] It’s not balloons, but I can’t figure out what it is. Like, basically secured in a net to the ceiling or something like that.
Rhi: Yeah, um…
Minna: I mean, the idea is to cause confusion.
Rhi: You did establish that there’s a bunch of stuff left in this house still.
Minna: Maybe it’s just pieces of wood, basically, like hacked up pieces of wood that are kinda gonna hurt but also confuse.
Rhi: Yeah, maybe. I’m gonna say this is a 2 stress flashback, because this is incredibly specific.
Minna: [laughs]
Rhi: [laughs] The odds that you would have set this trap and that they would have ended up in this room under this trap… or this also means you had to set up this trap in every room of the house.
Minna: I think it’s more likely that I set up a bunch of traps.
[laughter]
Rhi: Yeah. So Myra spent the last two days, while you were spreading rumors about this haunted house, laying a bunch of traps in this house.
Minna: Listen, we’re gonna do an ambush.
Rhi: Yeah. Yeah. So yeah, you can have traps, you can have this net on the ceiling.
Minna: I’m gonna roll a Skirmish so I can hit the net and make it fall down.
Rhi: Yeah. Mm-hmm. [giggles] I’m gonna have to call this episode like The Zoinks Score or something.
Minna: It’s a 6!
Kim: The Jinkies.
Minna: I like that this was gonna be a noir score and now it’s just Scooby Doo.
Rhi: Yeah… yep. Here we are. So, you said you got a 6?
Minna: I did.
Rhi: [grinning] Of fucking course.\
Minna: [laughs] The other dice were 1s.
Rhi: [fighting for composure] Oh my God. So… is this something that you’re cutting with a knife or you’re shooting?
Minna: I’m shooting the rope so it falls.
Rhi: Okay. So, I think what we see is this dramatic tense standoff between Minx and Roslyn, and then there’s a gunshot but it’s not from either of them, and then, like… I don’t think it’s a net, I feel like you raided the curtains of this place rather than having an actual net.
Minna: Hmm.
Rhi: [laughs] So this musty old curtain and a bunch of broken furniture pieces just fall onto Roslyn and her minions, and there’s a lot of flailing and confused yelling. So yes, in Masks terminology, you have created an opportunity for your allies.
[laughter]
Rhi: Blaire, you can exit the pantry with no problems at this point. What would you like to do?
Kim: That’s a great question, because pistols are out and Blaire is not a shooty girl. I’ve never been good at shooting, because why would I.
Rhi: Well, for what it’s worth, Roslyn is now underneath a curtain, so her ability to shoot anybody is temporarily impeded.
Kim: I could zap her through the curtain with one of my lightning hooks.
Rhi: [laughing] Yeah. Mm-hmm.
Kim: That’s Scooby Doo–esque, right?
Rhi: That’s… I mean, it’s effective is what it is. That will definitely—
Josie: Only if we have the comical effect where you see their cartoon skeleton inside for a moment.
Kim: Yes, absolutely. Okay, let me mark off fine lightning hook off my load and then… what would this be to just zap her while she can’t see me through the curtain? Would that be a Skirmish?
Rhi: Yeah, it’ll be Skirmish.
Kim: Hmm. I’m not good at that either.
Rhi: I think this is actually gonna be controlled, because y’all are higher tier and you have created enough confusion that you all currently have the upper hand.
Kim: Right.
Rhi: You have fine lightning hooks, right?
Kim: Yes.
Rhi: Yeah, controlled, greater effect.
Kim: Awesome. Eh, that’s a 4.
Rhi: So you hesitate. You can withdraw and try a different approach or do it with a minor consequence, so what would you like?
Kim: Hmm… Yeah, let me withdraw and do something different.
Rhi: Okay.
Kim: I feel like she’s just gonna be very angry at Roslyn and just try to stop her from harming any more ghosts. I don’t think she’s going to get any lethal attack, but I do want to, even though she’s tiny, I want her to just kinda lunge at Roslyn and just try to pin her down or pin her against the wall or something, or just get all up in her face and just restrain her somehow.
Rhi: Yeah, you can definitely do that. It’ll still be in controlled, standard effect. Would you like a Devil’s Bargain if you don’t want to push yourself?
Kim: What would a Devil’s Bargain look like on this?
Rhi: Remember when you all tangled with Ojal a couple episodes ago?
Kim: Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Josie: Uh-huh?
Rhi: And a whole bunch of Bluecoats got killed, by Ojal.
Kim: Yeah.
Minna: [uneasy noises]
Rhi: And those ghosts hold Blaire personally responsible for their demise.
Kim: Yeah.
Rhi: They’re gonna show up.
Kim: I’m not sure if it’s exactly worth the trouble for what I’m trying to do here. Like, if I fail at this I’m okay with that.
Rhi: Okay.
Kim: So I don’t think I’ll accept the bargain, even though it’s a very good one.
Rhi: Don’t worry, those ghosts aren’t going away.
Kim: Okay, I’ll just push myself then, for 2 stress. It’s fine.
Rhi: Go for it.
Kim: A 3 and a 4.
Rhi: So I think in this instance you do it with a minor consequence. You, tiny but full of rage, launch yourself onto Roslyn…
Kim: Yes.
Rhi: …who is, herself, not a terribly tall person.
Kim: Oh, that’s great. That works out for me.
Rhi: So I think you are able to tackle her to the ground, and I think the complication is that she clearly has been trained to fight hand-to-hand, because you tackle her and she fights back a lot more than I think you expected.
Kim: Yeah.
Rhi: You do manage to keep her pinned on the ground, but she gets a few good punches in on your torso, so you’re gonna take level 1 harm, Bruised.
Kim: Okay, I’ll accept that. That’s fine.
Josie: I think I want to help Blaire pin Roslyn down.
Rhi: Okay.
Josie: Probably just like a Skirmish, right?
Rhi: Mm-hmm. I think that this is gonna be back down to risky, because basically at this point you having the pistol up was kinda holding the other three minions back from interfering as much, because they didn’t wanna get shot, they don’t get paid enough for that, but when you move in to help Blaire you’re no longer actively aiming a gun at them and they might move in to interfere, so it’s gonna be risky. I’m gonna say greater effect since Blaire’s already got her tackled. You’re gonna be in a better position to fully pin her.
Josie: All right, I got a 5.
Rhi: Five, okay.
Josie: I think I just wanna pin her shoulders down and point the gun at her.
Josie (as Minx): The ship’s ward, if you please.
Rhi: [chuckles] Yeah, so you do that. One of the minions—Like, you point the gun at her, we’re just gonna end up in a standoff again. You point the gun back at her and then there’s the click as a gun is aimed at your head from one of the minions who’s come over. So you and Blaire basically have Roslyn pinned with a gun on her. Somebody is now pointing a gun at Minx. Myra? [chuckles]
Minna: Yeah! Hello…
Rhi: Sup?
Minna: There’s a lot of guns here. [laughs]
Rhi: There’s a lot of guns. There’s two minions who aren’t actively engaged in the combat right now that you may need to contend with, or you could just deal with the one pointing the gun at Minx.
Minna: I would like to deal with the one… hmm. I’m worried if I shoot somebody if that’s going to escalate the situation.
Rhi: Shooting somebody usually is a good way of escalating a situation. Yeah.
Minna: I don’t want to escalate the situation if I can help it. [laughs] Are there still ghosts around?
Rhi: Um… yeah.
Minna: Yeah, I’d like to bring them over here if I can.
Rhi: Yeah, give it a shot.
Minna: That’s gonna be an Attune?
Rhi: Yes.
Minna: That’s a 4.
Rhi: You do it but there’s a consequence. I think it’s gonna be reduced effect. Two of the five ghosts who are still floating around helping with this haunting show up when you send out a call through the ghost field. Only two of them will drift into the room. I think there’s gonna need to be additional rolls from you or somebody else to actually get them to do something. So Blaire, on that note…
Kim: Yeah?
Rhi: Two of your ghosts have just come into the room. They look kind of confused.
Kim: Hmm, and I still have Roslyn pinned down.
Rhi: Yes.
Kim: I feel like I should Command them to do something or at least get them up to speed a little bit.
Rhi: Yeah, I mean, commanding them to do something to interfere with the minions is a good option.
Kim: Yeah. How about I roll a Command? I think while Blaire has Roslyn pinned down she’s just gonna look at the ghosts and nudge her head at the minions.
Kim (as Blaire): Go take care of them! I’m busy!
Rhi: [laughs] Yeah, go ahead and roll it. Gonna be risky, greater effect.
Kim: Okay. Jesus, okay, a 1 and a 4.
Rhi: Four, okay. So I think Roslyn, almost at the same time that Blaire tells her ghosts to take care of them, Roslyn also will just say:
Rhi (as Roslyn): Take the relic and get out of here!
Rhi: So, the consequence is that one of the minions grabs the satchel that Roslyn had and is running out of the room while the ghosts are gonna focus on the two minions who remain. So, the guy who had the gun, or who has the gun pointed at Minx, is now trying to aim a gun and fend off a ghost, and then the other guy is also just fending off a ghost, so yeah, but then the third guy is running away with the thing you need.
Minna: Myra might be the only one who’s free to just run after?
Rhi: Yes. Yes.
Minna: She will do that.
Rhi: All right. You’re gonna need to roll something to get this person.
Minna: Can it be a Skirmish?
Rhi: Yeah, if you wanna tackle him.
Minna: Yeah. I wanna do a fucking like running tackle if possible.
Rhi: Yeah!
Minna: Six!
Rhi: Okay, I guess the position doesn’t matter then.
[laughter]
Rhi: You do it. [delighted] So I’m imagining that the camera shot here is, you know, we’ve got Roslyn on the ground with Blaire and Minx holding her down, one guy is waving a spirit bane charm in the air, another guy is holding his charm up while also trying to keep a gun aimed on Minx, and we just see Myra run out of the room and then a distant (FOOMP).
Minna: Yeah. [laughs]
Rhi: As Myra fucking linebacker tackles this guy. So yeah, Myra, I think you are able to tackle this guy and grab the bag, which is pretty heavy. This relic is a pretty sizable thing. It’s like a foot and a half tall and about a foot wide, so it’s a big heavy bag. Minx?
Josie: Yeah. Can I, like, movie knock-out Roslyn? Just like…
Rhi: Oh, hit her in the face with the gun?
Josie: Yeah, just bop her with the butt of the pistol.
Rhi: Yeah, you can try and do that. Yeah.
Josie: Okay. Would Skirmish or Wreck be more appropriate?
Rhi: Eh… how much damage do you wanna do?
Josie: Nott a lot.
Rhi: Skirmish. Skirmish then.
Josie: Okay.
Rhi: Wreck is gonna be a lot messier.
Josie: Six.
Rhi: Good lord. That’s right, you have 4 in that.
Josie: Uh-huh.
Rhi: Okay, yeah, so I think you’re able to just do the… flip the pistol around and smack her across the face with it, and she is unconscious, [sarcastic] and will be totally unharmed and will have no negative health repercussions from getting knocked out by a single blow.
Josie: Well, she might have some, but eh.
Rhi: Yeah, probably. Yeah, so you’re able to knock her out. I think the guy still has the gun in his hand, but it’s not really aimed at you anymore. He’s busy trying not to get possessed.
Josie: Uh-huh. [chuckles]
Rhi: If you were so inclined you could probably just book it right now.
Josie: No reason to make this more bloody than it needs to.
Rhi: Yeah. They already don’t like you. You don’t need it to turn into a blood debt that they feel they have to fulfill. Yeah, do you all wanna just get out of here?
Kim: If we have what we need, um… yeah.
Minna: Sounds good. Yeah no, I’m grabbing it and as soon as they’re with me I’m running.
Rhi: Yeah. Give me just I think a group Prowl for making it out of here without complication. I’m gonna say you’re in a controlled position to do this, standard effect.
Josie: Blaire, how are you doing on stress?
Kim: Me? Oh, I’m doing fine. I have… [counts] I have 5 still to go.
Josie: Okay. Yeah, I only have 3 to go, so would you be okay leading this?
Kim: Yeah, absolutely.
Rhi: All right. Go ahead and roll Prowl.
Josie: I got a 6.
Rhi: Nice.
Kim: Two 4s, because I can’t do anything right tonight.
Rhi: Listen, that’s… you didn’t get anybody stress. You didn’t get yourself stress.
Minna: I also got a 4.
Rhi: Four, okay. So the result is a 6. Nobody takes stress.
Kim: Great.
Rhi: I think you all are able to just kinda, like, Blaire and Minx just kinda back out of the room and head on out. [laughs] Catch up with Myra, and the three of you exit your haunted house. If one of you had gotten a critical I was going to have had the two remaining minions chase after you and fall into another of Myra’s traps.
[laughter]
Rhi: Alas.
Minna: Alas.
Josie: I like how this ultimately amounted to just a mugging.
Rhi: Basically. It was a very elaborate mugging. But yeah, you’re able to make it out with the ship’s ward, and I think once you, you know… actually, probably, since you’re in Six Towers you can just go back to The Nest. Once you get there you can kinda take a look at it, and it is, as I said, a pretty big basically wooden sculpture, but it’s made of a kind of wood you’ve probably never seen before. It’s this really, really dark, very weathered from the salt water and the wind, very heavy dense wood that you’re guessing probably comes from the jungles on the Dagger isles.
Kim & Josie: Huh.
Rhi: And it is just carved all over with these different runes and arcane sigils, only some of which you recognize, Blaire. A lot of them are unfamiliar to you. But you kind of realize as you’re looking at it, like if you set it down somewhere and step back, that it is even carved into the shape of a rune.
Kim: Oh, interesting.
Rhi: The wood as a whole. Yeah.
Kim: Runes upon runes. I love it.
Rhi: Yeah. So yeah, it’s a big cool wooden ghostly bug zapper [chuckles], that you all have stolen from the people who stole it in the first place. Good job!
## Downtime [1:12:58]
Rhi: All right. So, let’s do downtime stuff. For your payoff, you’re not getting paid in coin, you’re getting paid in wanted level reduction…
Minna: [gasps]
Rhi: …so your wanted level is gonna drop from 3 to 2.
Minna: [delighted] That’s a great payoff! I love it.
Rhi: Yeah! Yep. [laughs]
Josie: Woo!
Kim: Money who?
Rhi: Yeah. [laughs] I mean, you have like 8 coin in the vault. You all are not doing bad financially.
Minna: We have to go to great trouble to get our wanted level reduced, usually. [giggles]
Kim: Yeah, I know.
Rhi: So let’s do our downtime scenes. Let’s start with Minx. I think we find Minx… where is Minx taking fencing lessons do we think? What’s the…?
Josie: Um, I think… What neighborhood does Nyryx live in?
Rhi: Silkshore.
Josie: Silkshore. I think it’s probably in Silkshore.
Rhi: Okay.
Josie: That’s probably one of two neighborhoods in the city that has something resembling a community center, right?
Rhi: Yeah. I mean, there’s a lot of like… artists in there, so I could see there being like an art center with large rooms that people can rent out for various uses, and usually it’s art but sometimes it’s sword fighting.
Josie: Right. Yeah. It’s probably there, then.
Rhi: Okay, cool. So a community center space in Silkshore. I like it. So, I think we see Minx is… I feel like the shot opens on, like, we’re just focused on Minx as she’s dueling someone with her rapier. How is Minx holding up in this fight?
Josie: I think it’s a slow loss. She’s pretty good with a sword at this point, but she’s also used to getting the jump on people and not having a prolonged fight, so I think she tires way faster than her teacher.
Rhi: Yeah. That makes sense.
Josie: So it’s like she can keep up, for a little bit.
Rhi: Minx, as you’re slowly being driven backwards by your as yet unseen teacher, and I think that eventually, Minx, your back hits the wall and your teacher’s sword comes up under your chin, and I think we get a shot of Minx, uh… wide-eyed, probably blushing a bit. [chuckles]
Josie: [chuckling] Yep, and she sort of stammers out:
Josie (as Minx): You didn’t leave me any space for quips.
Rhi: [giggles] Then I think cinematically the camera rotates around to see her teacher who is a tall, athletically built woman with very dark skin, dark hair done back in many fine braids that are pulled back into a single ponytail at the back of her head. Minx is very winded. She is breathing a little heavily.
[laughter]
Kim: Hot.
Rhi: Doesn’t seem like she’s had to put forth a lot of effort here at all, and she just grins.
Rhi (as teacher): The point of sword fighting is to win, not to look the most clever.
Rhi: She taps you under the chin once and then steps back and sheathes her sword.
Rhi (as teacher): You did very well today. You just need to keep working on that stamina.
Josie (as Minx): [out of breath] Yeah, I suppose so. I thought I could last longer than that.
Rhi (as teacher): You’ll get there. It’s all about practice.
Rhi: I think that as she’s turning away she glances at the door and nods and waves.
Rhi (as teacher): Ah, Nyryx. Here to collect your partner, I assume?
Rhi: Nyryx is in the door. She’s leaning against the doorframe with her arms crossed and had clearly been watching for a bit.
Josie: [laughs] Uh-huh.
Rhi: She’s just, you know, will nod and straighten up.
Rhi (as Nyryx): Thanks for not putting too many holes in her, Henrietta.
Josie: [laughing] Minx has kind of sheepishly started packing up and changed back into street clothes probably and joined Nyryx by the door.
Rhi: Yeah. So, you know, Henrietta will bid the two of you a good day and remind Minx to keep working on building up that stamina.
Josie: Uh-huh.
Rhi: And then, yeah, Nyryx will take your elbow as the two of you head out.
Rhi (as Nyryx): That seems like it’s going well.
Josie (as Minx): [pinched] You did this on purpose.
Rhi (as Nyryx): Did… Well, you asked me to find you a teacher.
[laughter]
Josie (as Minx): Yes, I just wasn’t… expecting her.
Rhi: She looks up at you, notices the blush, and then with the most innocent smile says:
Rhi (as Nyryx): Well, I figured you needed to be skilled at fighting in any circumstance, even one where you’re very, very… very distracted. … I’m helping!
Josie (as Minx): You could be so devious sometimes, dear.
Rhi (as Nyryx): [grinning] Me~? No~
Josie (as Minx): No, yes, of course, you’re a perfect angel.
Rhi (as Nyryx): Mm-hmm!
[giggling]
Rhi: I’m just picturing that then you two just push open the doors and walk out into the street.
Josie: Mm-hmm.
Rhi: I love Nyryx.
Josie: I love her too.
Rhi: Then I think from there we go elsewhere in Silkshore to the… Minna, help me with the name?
Minna: Fogcrest? The—oh, oh, SNVSH {“snivish”}. [laughs] The Society for Northern Void Sea History.
Rhi: Yes.
Minna: [laughing] Thank you, whoever said SNVSH, because that’s the only way I remember it now.
Rhi: [laughs] So yeah, we head over to their building, specifically to the small but well-stocked library that they have in the first floor. I think that there’s a couple people there besides Myra and Blaire just sort of sitting there with their piles of books, taking notes, just sort of quietly doing research. Yeah, I think Blaire and Myra are over at one of the shelves perusing the titles.
Kim: I think Blaire was definitely just running her fingers over the spines and I think kind of absently says:
Kim (as Blaire): You know, it’s kind of nice… you know, being back in a library that isn’t Lord Scurlock’s. I mean, I like his, but… it’s nice to be back in a library, because you know, I can’t go to any of the others anymore.
Minna: [giggles]
Minna (as Myra): Well, hopefully this one will remain accessible to you.
Kim (as Blaire): It feels weird.
Minna (as Myra): Weird?
Kim (as Blaire): I’m in a library again researching demons but for different reasons this time, and I don’t know how long it’s gonna last, you know? Like, what if I find something that people don’t like and they kick me out again?
Minna (as Myra): I’d say that unless you’re causing property damage or actual harm to the people here they’re probably gonna be okay with it. These are people who already turn over information that can be dangerous.
Kim (as Blaire): You really think so?
Minna (as Myra): I think so.
Kim (as Blaire): I don’t even really know where to start with this. I mean, I know I’ve already tried figuring out how to go about this, but… I don’t know. Myra, I don’t know if we can take her.
Minna (as Myra): Well, start out like any other research. You get a research question, start looking up books that have useful information, look at their bibliographies… It’s not any different from any other kind of research. If we just keep our heads down we’ll eventually find an answer.
Kim (as Blaire): [softly] Okay.
Minna (as Myra): Or we’ll find where there’s information missing and we’ll look elsewhere.
Kim (as Blaire): Well, you’ll look elsewhere. There’s very few elsewheres left for me that I’m allowed to look in.
Minna (as Myra): There are other elsewheres that aren’t in libraries, you know.
Kim (as Blaire): Like what?
Minna (as Myra): [laughs] People with experience, books that aren’t in libraries right now, artifacts, like… there’s so many other ways to look for information that aren’t just the typical library. But yes, it is good to have access.
Kim (as Blaire): It’s still really weird. It feels almost like Charterhall again but not really. You know?
Minna (as Myra): Just a whiff of academia?
Kim (as Blaire): Yeah. Yeah. I’m not used to, you know, having other people around in a library, because the only ones that I’ve been in since getting kicked out of school have all been private ones.
Minna (as Myra): Well, this one’s about as public as they can make it.
Rhi: I think you find a few books and sit down, and as you do, one of the other people there who’s researching leans across the table.
Rhi (as researcher): Uh… sorry to interrupt, but did you say… did you mention Lord Scurlock?
Kim (as Blaire): Uh… yes?
Rhi (as researcher): … Do you “know” him?
Minna: [breathy laugh]
Kim (as Blaire): Who is asking?
Rhi (as researcher): Oh, uh, my name’s Octavia. I’m one of the researchers here, but I… sorry. You know, the rumor is that he’s immortal, and if he is, I mean… it would be really great to interview him about what he’s seen over the centuries.
Minna: [laughs and claps quietly]
Kim (as Blaire): Uh… I mean, he’s a really busy man. I mean…
Kim: Blaire kind of rubs her neck.
Kim (as Blaire): I… Next time I see him I could maybe put in a good word for you, but I can’t guarantee anything.
Rhi (as Octavia): Oh! Of course, of course, of course. I just, you know, just thought I’d ask since you’re here. But yes, that would be great. I’ll let you get back to your reading.
Kim (as Blaire): Okay…
Rhi: And then hunkers back down on her books, very much with the vibe of “why did I say anything, oh God.”
Kim: I think Blaire’s gonna look back at Myra and be like:
Kim (as Blaire): I don’t think he’s gonna want to give an interview.
Minna: [giggles] I think Myra pats Blaire’s shoulder and then raises her voice a little.
Minna (as Myra): Can’t wait to read your research.
Rhi (as Octavia): [nervous and small] Oh, yep, thank you.
Minna (as Myra): See? Lots of people look into things they shouldn’t be.
Rhi: [laughs]
Kim (as Blaire): Yeah, it’s just… you know, I’m kind of on the deep end of that, so I feel like I have to be careful now.
Josie: Only just now does she feel like she has to be careful.
[laughter]
Minna: She’s learning!
Kim: Thank you, Minna! Blaire is learning! Y’all forget, she is a little baby. She’s 19 years old.
Rhi: She is. She’s a wee bab.
Josie: I know~
Kim: Like, her entire character arc is supposed to be a coming of age story. She’s trying to be more grown up now after all the trauma I put her through. [laughs]
Rhi: So, I think we see Blaire and Myra kind of bending their heads over their own set of books, and then we will cut over to Charhollow to Emilina’s apartment. I think we see the Magpies are once again standing there and having just returned the ship’s ward, and she’s carefully returning it to its place on her shelf, kinda fussing with the positioning of it.
Rhi (as Emilina): I can’t thank you enough for this. It’s kind of all I have left of my family, and it’s… it’s really good to have it back.
Josie (as Minx): Of course. Of course. Although, you may wish to, um… again, keep it hidden for some time. We can look after it for you, just so it is not taken again.
Rhi (as Emilina): Oh. Oh… Um? Is there anything that we could do to make it more secure here? I just feel better having it around. I know it’s not safe, but…
Josie (as Minx): Blaire, do you think you could put up some wards?
Kim (as Blaire): Yeah. Yeah, I can do that before we leave.
Josie (as Minx): Yeah, we can put in some alarms as it were.
Rhi (as Emilina): Okay… Okay, that’ll help. I’ve actually been—The friends that I was staying with, we were talking about possibly all, you know… two of them and me, we were talking about maybe moving in together so there would be more people around, so have a few more eyes on it, but until then I think wards would help a lot.
Josie (as Minx): Of course.
Rhi: Yeah, so I think, Blaire, you can set up some good wards and things that’ll make anybody who tries to come in here who’s not Emilina think twice about bothering with any of it.
## Outro [1:26:28]
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.
## Blooper [1:27:39]
Kim: Minna, I don’t know why you mentioning 13-year-old kids just gave me real Stephen King ‘It’ energy vibes. I was just like…
[laughter]
Minna: I mean, yeah.
Several: Yeah.
Josie: You see, the thing about the Dimmer Sisters’ house is they all float in there.
[laughter]
Rhi: Because they’re ghosts.
Josie: [laughs]