Transcribed by Michelle Kelly (@Michellicopter)
##Intro
Rhi: Welcome back to Duskwall. As always, thank you so much for joining us. I wanna give a special hello to any new fans who are joining us after our Thirsty Sword Lesbians bonus episodes. It’s great to have you here. If you’re enjoying the show, whether as a new arrival or a long-time fan, please consider leaving us a review. Reviews make us happy and help even more new folks find the show. Next, Kim is going to tell us about this month’s featured charity.
Kim: With the 2020 US Presidential election just weeks away as of this recording, we thought it best that this month’s featured charity be a voting rights organization. Common Cause has a pro-democracy agenda that has been working towards expanding voting rights, modernizing the voter registration process, ending gerrymandering and advocating for the abolishment of the Electoral College. To learn more about what they do, visit CommonCause.org, and visit CommonCause.org/Donate to support their mission.
There is so much on the line in this election and our voices need to be heard. We urge all of our US listeners to get their selves registered, be informed, make a voting plan and vote early if possible. Together, we can turn the tide this November. Thank you.
Rhi: A week from today is election day in the United States. At this point, I have no idea what the intro to our next episode is going to sound like, what I’ll have to say to everyone. But for now, it’s this: please vote if you can, contact your representatives, and push for change in your communities. And above all, stay safe and don’t give up hope. No matter what happens, we’re staying in the fight for a more just, equitable and truly free world.
Now then. Let’s get started, shall we?
##Story continues [00.01.59]
Rhi: And then everybody wakes up, you break camp, and you set out for day two. So, let’s get another group action for your second day of your journey. This day won’t be the full, lengthy hike. You’ll probably get to your target around midday. But you are gonna be in a risky position for this roll.
Josie: Okay…
Kim: Okay, I’m fine on stress so I don’t mind leading again.
Josie: Okay.
Kim: And this is gonna be a group Prowl?
Josie: Sure.
Minna: Mm hmm.
Rhi: Alright.
Minna: I got a 4.
Josie: I got a 6.
Kim: I got a 6 and a 1.
Rhi: Okay. So, 6 and you don’t take any stress. Nicely done. So, despite that kind of unsettling start to the day, again, nothing is really aggressively coming after you as you make your way through the hills. And at some point you come up a hill and you can see the town that you’re supposed to be heading towards on your map. You can kind of match it up to the ruins. And from that, you’re able to navigate to this estate that Scurlock had talked about.
The estate isn’t actually in the town, it’s a little ways outside of it. It is kind of built up on a hill. It has a kinda oddly familiar-looking, like, wrought-iron fence around it. Like, the style seems not very similar, but more similar than you would expect to the style of like, wrought-iron fences you see now. It is badly rusted and collapsed in many places. The house itself is a style that you haven’t really seen before. I think that like, out of character, it’s kind of almost like a Roman villa style. So it’s got a lot of open walkways and pillars and there will be, like, a central courtyard once you get in there. Large parts of it are collapsed, you know, walls and rooves have caved in. And there’s, you know, a handful of dead trees either still standing or have fallen over. And yeah, this seems to be the place.
Josie (as Minx): Well, on the plus side, if we burn this one down no one will get mad at us.
Rhi: [laughs herself into coughing fit] I don’t know why that got me, but it really got me.
Josie: [laughs] I mean, like, listen, last time we went to mansion in The Deathlands, it didn’t work out good.
Rhi: Yeah.
Kim (as Blaire): I mean, so long as nothing that’s, you know, living here is predatory and/or aggressive, then yeah, probably.
Josie (as Minx): Crossing fingers for no harvesters.
Minna: [whines]
Rhi: So yeah, how do you want to approach this situation?
Josie: By not splitting up.
Rhi: [laughs] Strong start.
Josie: [laughs]
Rhi: I approve.
Minna: Yeah.
Kim: I know it looks abandoned, but would it be helpful to look into the ghost field to see—to make sure that there’s no life signatures around here?
Rhi: Can’t hurt. Because of the 6 you got on your previous roll, you’re back to a controlled position.
Kim: Okay.
Rhi: If you wanted to roll Attune.
Kim: Yes.
Rhi: To see what you can see.
Kim: Okay, that’s a 6.
Rhi: Okay. So Blaire, you slip on your spirit mask and look at this place, and wow is it a good idea that you looked before you started walking forward. There are, you can see, a number of spirits kind of— you’re still a little ways out, they haven’t noticed you yet, but there’s a lot of spirits drifting around within kind of the bounds of this place. And you can see as you are looking at the central estate itself, there are— they remind of you of the kind of like security wards that people would set, but you can’t tell if these were made a really long time ago or it almost looks like they’re written in like, not exactly another language. It’s like if you’re trying, you know, if us today are trying to read, like, middle English or old English.
Minna: Mm hmm.
Kim: Right.
Rhi: You can recognize a word here and there and you can be like, “Oh, I see how this word became this one over the centuries,” but like, you can’t 100% understand it.
Kim: Exactly.
Rhi: But you get enough of a gist to be like, this is some kind of defensive wards. And there’s, it’s hard to make out beyond all these wards, but you’re pretty sure there’s some more spirits within the estate. So, yeah. This is kind of an occult minefield.
Kim: Okay. Um, I think at the sight of that, Blaire slides off her spirit mask and is like:
Kim (as Blaire): Might wanna rethink your burn it all down plan, Minx. Place is loaded with ghosties.
Josie (as Minx): Ah. Perhaps we might be able to figure out our destination before entering.
Kim (as Blaire): We’d have to get closer and they’d probably notice us.
Josie (as Minx): And it is near certain that they must be mad by this point. Because if we can find one at least a bit lucid, we might be able to talk them into helping us.
Kim (as Blaire): I can talk to any ghost, I’m not worried about that. I’m worried about if they’ll listen.
Josie (as Minx): I think that may be our best chance. It’ll be much harder to hide from them and we need time to look for what we need.
Rhi: Yeah, so you just gonna, like, stroll up to the fence? How you gonna—
Kim: Yeah.
Rhi: Okay. [laughs] So, the ghosts, as you’re kinda looking into the ghost field, they have clearly been dead a very long time. The longer that a spirit’s been dead, the sort of less detailed and defined that it is. You know, something that’s recently dead or that’s able to hold onto its mind and its personality continues to kind of look how it did in life. There will be, you know, facial features and hair and clothes and things. These are just humanoid smudges. You can’t tell anything about them other than they were people at one point. And as you get close, let’s see, how many notice you? Three of them that had kind of been clustered together, drifting around, see you, let out unholy shrieks and rush towards you. What would you like to do, Blaire?
Kim: I was thinking bout rolling Consort, but I have a higher Command. So, I think Blaire— I think I’m gonna have her roll Command.
Rhi: I wanna look up the text on your ability real quick.
Kim: Oh, yeah.
Josie: Remember, technically it’s on my sheet.
Rhi: Yeah, yeah, it’s a Slide ability.
Kim: Oh, I have— I can read it to you, Rhi.
Rhi: Goddammit, we’ve literally just said it’s a Slide thing and I clicked on the Whisper playbook. [laughs]
Josie: [laughs]
Rhi: [sighs] Okay, Ghost Voice, right?
Kim: Yes.
Rhi: “you gain potency” so that means you’re operating at increased effect. So, you’ll be— this is gonna be risky, greater effect.
Kim: Okay, that— I mean, it helps a little. Um, got double 4s.
Rhi: Okay. I think that— tell me what Blaire says. Let’s start there.
Kim: Hmm. I think she just starts off with like:
Kim (as Blaire): Stop.
Rhi: Yeah. And they, like, weirdly just do that. Kinda drift to a halt about ten feet away form you. You seem to have their attention still. They’re kind of flickering a little bit.
Kim: Hmm.
Rhi: I don’t know that you’ve ever interacted with ghosts that are as old as these probably are.
Kim: Probably not.
Rhi: Nobody has really lived out here since the first months, maybe year or two, after the cataclysm.
Kim: Right.
Rhi: So, do you say anything else? Or you just are like, telling them to stop for right now?
Kim: No, Blaire continues. She’s just gonna look squarely at all of them and just be like:
Kim (as Blaire): You’re not here to feed on any of us. I know you’ve been here for a very long time and I can offer you peace if you let us pass.
Rhi: I think… I gotta think about the consequence here. I know what the consequence is gonna be, but it’s not gonna manifest just yet.
Kim: Interesting. Okay.
Rhi: Yeah. I’m gonna write this down. So I don’t forget when it becomes relevant. But for the moment, these three ghosts kinda continue to hover there about ten feet away, flickering a little bit. And then they will drift away. And there’s a number of ghosts out here, like probably at least twelve. Probably more than that. But the grounds are also very expansive, so these three were the ones closest to you. You can safely walk up to a section of the house without running into any others.
Kim: I think Blaire, she actually is a little bit suspicious by this. She’s going to look around over her shoulders and she’s like:
Kim (as Blaire): They didn’t even get to hear my deal. Something’s not right.
Josie (as Minx): Perhaps they are too far gone to think it through?
Kim (as Blaire): Maybe. I don’t know.
Josie (as Minx): Although to be frank, it almost seems like the ghosts here are patrolling.
Kim (as Blaire): They’re protecting something. I just hope it’s not something that we’re here for.
Minna (as Myra): I was about to suggest that maybe we find where they’re thickest and that’s what we’re looking for.
Kim (as Blaire): Great.
Josie (as Minx): I have a sinking suspicion Myra is correct.
Kim (as Blaire): I don’t have enough powder to get rid of all of these ghosts, if that’s what they want. I can think of something else to offer them, but… we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it.
Rhi: Yeah, you’re up closer to the house now, if you wanna kinda give it a closer look to take a look at these wards, maybe see what might be inside.
Kim: I’ll roll a Study to take a look around.
Rhi: Okay, yeah, go for it. Are you— you know what, we’ll see what you get and I’ll— we can decide if you look into the ghost field any as well.
Kim: Okay. Effects?
Rhi: Oh yeah, that’s a thing that happens here. Risky… risky standard.
Kim: Okay, that’s a 5?
Rhi: Yeah, I think kind of between sort of a visual inspection and a ghost field inspection, this place is warded to hell and back. You’re pretty sure that if any of you tried to walk in the bounds— there’s places where the wards are still standing but the walls are not, which is like, you can kind of see the outline of what this place used to be in the ghost field. If you tried to walk through without disabling these wards, you’re not sure what would happen because you can’t really read the wards as clearly as you would modern-day ones. But you’re pretty sure it would be bad. [laughs]
Kim: Yeah.
Rhi: Now that you’re closer, there’s not— you can also see that there’s not really as many inside as you thought. There’s like a couple of these spirits drifting around and then further in, um, that you can’t really see, there seems to be like a brighter light in the ghost field. You’re not sure if it’s an artifact or, you know, some kind of other occult entity. But that’s— I think that’s what you get. And the complication… we’re gonna start a clock. The Estate’s Owner Finds You. 0 out of 4.
Kim: Uh— who’s the owner?
Josie: We don’t know.
Rhi: Great question.
Josie: [laughs]
Kim: Rhi…
Rhi: Lord Scurlock did not provide that information to you. He just said that there was a woman who owned this estate who had a big collection of stuff.
Kim: Oh…. Great.
Josie: Okay…
Josie (as Minx): Blaire, do the wards need to be disabled?
Kim: Blaire thinks it over and she’s like:
Kim (as Blaire): I mean, we could, but it won’t be easy.
Josie (as Minx): We could work together on it.
Kim (as Blaire): Okay.
Josie (as Minx): I think we all have some amount of experience with this.
Kim (as Blaire): Alright. Well, if you’re up to it, then I’m down.
Minna (as Myra): Sure, why not. [laughs]
Rhi: Alright, so that sounds like a group Attune.
Josie: Yeah.
Rhi: Who’s gonna lead?
Kim: I can do it. I still have plenty of stress to spare.
Rhi: Okay. Um, so this is gonna be risky, reduced effect because like, I think, you know, Minx and Myra, as you two look into the ghost field as well, have never seen wards and runes like this. So, it’s just gonna be a lot harder to figure out how to take them down properly.
Josie: Um, can I push to increase our effect?
Rhi: Uh, yeah, I think we’ve done that before.
Josie: Okay. Yeah, I will take the stress to do that.
Rhi: Okay. So that’ll be risky, standard.
Josie: I got a 1.
Rhi: Oof.
Kim: 1, 2, 6.
Rhi: [surprised laugh]
Minna: 6.
Rhi: Okay, damn.
Josie: Phew!
Rhi: So, you’ll take one point of stress, Blaire.
Kim: Okay.
Rhi: How do you think that you figure out— cause I think we’ve talked about kinda what it looks like when the three of you do this sort of, the group magic thing. How do you think you go about figuring this out? Is it kind of a, do you test things? Is it just gut instinct? What does this look like?
Kim: I like the idea of this being a gut instinct thing, but I’ll also open it up to you two. What do you think?
Josie: Well, I think Minx, for her part, like, ends up kinda being emotional support.
Rhi: [laughs]
Minna: I think Myra’s like, helping by analyzing what she can make out.
Rhi: I really like that idea, that Myra is being very logical about it and Minx is just kind of lending emotional support as Blaire is the one that’s actually taking them down.
Kim: That’s really nice triforce shit.
Josie: Minx went into this like, “Okay, I’ve got more skill in this and I’ve taken down some wards before with help, let’s do this. Nope, I have no idea what I’m doing with these old runes.”
Rhi: [laughs]
Josie (as Minx): You can do it everyone, I’m here and I’m helping.
Rhi: Yeah.
Josie: [laughs]
Rhi: Blaire, you, with the support of your friends, you’re able to just kinda make a hole in the wards. And nothing bad seems to be happening. None of the ghosts freak out, you don’t see anything moving inside. And the three of you are able to slip in without any problems.
Kim: I’m waiting for that consequence to happen.
Rhi: You got a 6! There’s no consequence.
Kim: No, I’m talking about—
Rhi: Oh.
Kim: I’m talking about the consequence I have set aside for me.
Rhi: Oh yeah, no. I know when that’ll drop. You’ve got time.
Josie: [laughs]
Rhi: So, I think you’ve come into— you can’t really tell what any of these rooms used to be, they’re so ruined. This was a larger room. You’re guessing probably not a bedroom, but other than the fact that it’s large and had a lot of windows, you can’t really make much else out. What does kinda strike you as you climb in here, this is, I think, the point where you’re able to see the central courtyard. You can see, like, so there were the windows looking out, that’s probably what you climbed in through in the physical wall. And then windows looking in, into this courtyard in the middle, where there’s a lot more dead trees, there’s these kind of winding stone paths, there are ponds, like they’re dried out now, but it looks like they were, like, the way that they’re shaped, they’re not natural. It’s like people built these here. That’s not a thing tat happens very often. And there’s, towards the back, this like, large, perfectly rectangular hole in the ground that is 6 to 8 feet deep. Whole thing is covered in tile. It’s like this big rectangle box in the ground. We would recognize this as a swimming pool.
Josie: Oh!
Kim: Oh…
Rhi: Obviously no water in it at this point. I think a tree has partially fallen io it.
Kim: Marco…
Minna: [laughs]
Rhi: [laughs] So yeah, as you kind of are looking out into this courtyard, it’s just like— it’s a strange thing to see because people don’t have this anymore. You’re never seen a construction like this.
Josie (as Minx): Not that I wouldn’t prefer it, but how did people live with so much space? Even I would have a hard time filing all of this.
Kim (as Blaire): I’m not sure filling it is the point.
Minna (as Myra): It does seem like a lot of space, but perhaps many people lived here.
Josie (as Minx): Perhaps.
Minna (as Myra): Or perhaps it was a show of wealth.
Josie (as Minx): I suppose either could be true. I’ve never put much thought into how people lived before the cataclysm before.
Rhi: So, how do you wanna go about searching this place? Scurlock recommended, he said that she had, like, you know, aquariums, basically that would have the kinds of things that he’s looking for. So, how do you wanna go about?
Kim: I think what would make the most sense would maybe start at the center and pick a direction and go. Trial and error, maybe.
Rhi: Just kinda work your way out?
Kim: Right.
Josie: Yeah.
Rhi: Okay. Yeah, if you all wanna do a group roll or if you wanna do individual rolls, um, you can kind of— you can search independently while also staying in line of sight. There’s like hallways and you can kinda fan out down a hallway and open doors, or if you all just wanna stick close together and do a group action, it’s up to you all. How do you wanna approach it?
Kim: Um, I could go either way, but I’ll roll individually.
Minna: I don’t think we should split up, but I’m okay if we roll individually.
Kim: Yeah, that’s what I’m thinking.
Rhi: Yeah, I don’t think that you’re splitting up in that you’re like, gonna be out of line of sight, but you can kind of spread out a little more.
Minna: I rolled a Study and I rolled a critical.
Josie: Nice.
Rhi: Okay. This is risky, standard.
Kim: I rolled a Survey and I got a 6.
Rhi: Jesus Christ, y’all.
Josie: I rolled a Survey and got a 2.
Minna: [laughs]
Rhi: Okay. [laughs] Oh man. So, um…
Josie: Minx is too busy thinking about what that swimming pool thing could be.
Rhi: Yeah. [laughs] I think we’ll start— well start with Minx and work our way up. So, Minx got a 2. What did you roll? Survey?
Josie: Yes.
Rhi: Okay. I think that you are, you know, you’re kinda lost in thought, peeking into rooms, and what kind of room would be most distracting to Minx?
Josie: Huh. Most distracting.
Rhi: Yes.
Minna: Cool mosaics.
Josie: Yeah, or like some sort of lounge.
Rhi: Okay.
Minna: Cool mosaics and chaise lounges! [laughs]
Rhi: Yeah.
Kim: [laughs]
Rhi: The three of you, I think, kind of fan out down a hallway and you’re just opening up doors and things and kind of calling to each other about if you find anything. And Minx, you kinda have to shoulder through a door that is sort of stuck and step into a room that is surprisingly well-preserved, all things considered. The windows have been blown out and so a lot of the furniture here has rotted through and collapsed and fallen into ruin. But you can still kinda tell what this was. It looks like it was probably a game room of some kind.
You recognize a chessboard. It looks like the— it had, probably, a wooden frame at one point that’s rotted away, but the board itself was made of stone and just, it’s bizarre. It’s just sitting on the floor. It’s not cracked. It’s dusty and grimy, but it’s just this chessboard. Sitting in the midst of all this destruction. And I think that there are on the, kind of starting about halfway up the wall and curving up to cover the ceiling, there are mosaics.
Josie (as Minx): Oh…
Rhi: They’ve also fallen into disrepair, a big chunk of the ceiling has fallen in kinda further into the room, a lot of the little tiles have fallen off, they’re just scattered all over the floor. But you can make out kind of some things. There’s, I think, one that you’re able to see relatively clearly is it looks like a few people sitting, some green, you’re not sure if it’s a rug or a carpet or something. Rug or carpet doesn’t really make sense because they’re under a tree. But it’s like a living tree. So probably grass that they’re sitting on. You haven’t really encountered much of that.
Josie: Mm hmm.
Rhi: I don’t think that even like in the greenhouses they have grass, because there’s no point.
Josie: Right.
Rhi: So you might not even recognize what the grass is. But it’s people, like, sitting under a living tree. And it looks like, you can see that there’s like, kind of in the midst of them there’s a big bowl that’s spilling over with— you’re able to recognize a couple types of the fruit that are in there. But the rest of them are just, you’re guessing it’s more fruit, but it’s things you’ve never seen before.
Josie (as Minx): Oh dear.
Josie: Yeah, I think Minx is just gonna be mesmerized trying to figure that out for a little bit.
Rhi: Yeah. And I think that the consequence there is that I am ticking the clock up.
Josie: Mm hmm.
Rhi: It’s gonna be at 2 out of 4. So, Blaire and Myra. I think Blaire is the one who finds the aquarium. You find a set of double doors that have, like, towards the end of this hallway that have fallen inward. And Myra is pretty close behind you. I think at this point you two haven’t quite noticed that Minx hasn’t come back out of the room that she went into. Blaire, you look through these double doors. It’s this long hall, long wide hall, white, marble-tiled floors and glass everywhere. The floor is covered in broken glass. But you can figure out pretty quickly where the glass was coming from because there are in a couple rows down the length of this hall, you’re pretty sure are the remains of tanks. Of these big aquariums that are like— the smallest ones are like 12 feet long.
Kim: Ooh.
Rhi: And you can see the remains of like, rocks and pebbles and things. There’s even, like, there’s sand still piled up in some of them that would have been kind of the base, the bottom of the aquariums. Yeah, this is bigger than anything you’ve seen. Like, people have fish tanks, there’s a few fish that aren’t super horrifying to look at.
Minna: [laughs]
Kim: What are you talking about?
Rhi: [laughs] In the Void Sea.
Kim: Yeah.
Rhi: Void Sea fish are very upsetting.
Kim: They’re cuties.
Minna: But also, this is Blaire.
Josie: [laughs]
Rhi: True.
Kim: No, this is just Kim really liking fish.
Minna: Also, this is Kim.
Rhi: Yeah.
Kim: I mean, where do you think all the ghost stuff comes from?
Minna: [laughs]
Rhi: So Myra, I think, comes in right behind Blaire into this room and I think the two of you head into the room. Myra, what you find on that critical is you kind of veer off a little bit. I think Blaire sorta starts heading straight down the middle, peering into these tanks. Myra, you head off to the side a little. And you find, impossibly, still in a gilt frame, the gold on it is flaked and chipped but you can still be a little bit of the shine, there is this huge painting. Most of the painting is gone. It’s been torn away, it’s been damaged by the elements. But there are pieces left. And I think, like Minx, you find yourself for a moment kind of just transfixed by it as you’re trying to figure out what you’re looking at.
You recognize fish. Those are kinda the correct shapes for fish. They’re not like any fish you’ve ever seen. They’re bright and colorful and they almost seem to sparkle. Water that looks blue. Which is just bizarre. Water’s not blue, water is… the Void Sea is pitch black. And there’s, you know, bright green kelp and all of this very colorful stuff at the bottom. It kinda has the same shapes as some of the coral that you’ve seen, the bleached out white stuff. And yeah, I mean like, there is a chunk of this, probably a like, 6-inch square chunk that’s fairly intact. That if you wanted to, you could probably cut away and take with you.
Minna: I don’t think ‘m gonna deface the ancient painting.
Rhi: Okay.
Kim: Blaire might.
[laughter]
Minna: I just don’t think Myra would.
Rhi: That’s fair. So, the two of you have found the aquarium, this is the place that Scurlock wanted you to look for stuff. How would you like to go about looking?
Kim: It’s not very feasible to climb into one of these bad boys, is it?
Rhi: The glass is all broken.
Kim: Oh. Okay, yeah, then Blaire will probably crawl into one of them and just start scavenging, I guess.
Rhi: Okay. So, this is gonna be risky, standard.
Kim: Hmm.
Rhi: Uh huh?
Kim: 4 and a 1. [laughs]
Rhi: Okay. So, 4. Yeah, so you do it but there’s a consequence. So, you have to climb into a few of these tanks, or the remains of these tanks. But you do eventually find one that kind of underneath a lot of broken glass and some fallen chunks of tile, you find like a big chunk of— I think it’s kinda like that lacy fan coral, Kim you probably know the proper name for it.
Kim: Yeah, fan coral.
Rhi: Fan coral. Yeah, I think it’s just a big chunk of that that is all in one piece. It’s kinda broken off from the base, but it’s otherwise intact. And I think that— and you’re like, this seems sufficient for Scurlock’s purposes.
Kim: Right.
Rhi: Consequence, we’re gonna tick that clock up to three out of four.
Kim: That’s fine.
Rhi: Myra, what are you doing while Blaire is looking?
Minna: I don’t wanna leave eyeshot of Blaire, but like, if I can quietly inch toward the way me came like:
Minna (as Myra): Minx? Minx?
Rhi: Uh, yeah, gimme a roll to do this quietly.
Minna: Prowl, probably.
Rhi: Yeah. It’ll be risky, standard again.
Minna: 4.
Rhi: Oh, perfect.
Minna: [whines]
Kim: No…
Josie: [laughs]
Minna: Oh, this consequence…
Kim: Minna, what did you do?
Rhi: So Myra, you kinda, you inch down the hall a little bit and you’re calling for Minx, and Minx I think you hear Myra calling for you and that sort of shakes you out of your staring. You come out into the hall, the two of you see each other and Blaire, I think at this same time you are kind of gently picking up this piece of coral. And it’s at that point that all three of you hear this high-pitched, shrieking, banshee-like wail echoing down the hall.
Josie: Oh no.
Rhi: You can hear the sound of someone approaching.
Josie (as Minx): Uh, Blaire?
Kim (as Blaire): Yeah?
Josie (as Minx): Oh, there you are. Good. Let’s run.
Kim (as Blaire): Uh, yep.
Josie: [laughs]
Rhi: Okay. Give me a roll.
Kim: I can’t see too many options other than Prowl.
Josie: Yeah, that’s probably right.
Minna: Yeah.
Rhi: Makes sense.
Minna: Are we gonna do a group?
Kim: Uh, I’m okay for that.
Minna: I could lead a group.
Josie: Sure.
Rhi: It’s gonna be risky, reduced effect.
Josie: I got a 6.
Minna: I got a 4.
Kim: I got a 5.
Rhi: Okay, so no stress. Result is a 6. And it was with reduced effect. So, you all just start booking it down the hall. This person, maybe person, you’re not quite sure, sounds like a human voice. But whoever they are, shrieking behind you.
Josie: Also, we heard footsteps.
Rhi: Uh huh. Yeah.
Josie: But the point is, it can’t be a ghost if we heard footsteps.
Rhi: Correct. So, you break into a run, all three of you, sprinting back down the hall, across the courtyard. Here’s the thing. Those wards? They closed up behind you.
Josie: Oh.
Rhi: So, you’re going to have to open them up again in order to get out.
Minna: Hmm.
Kim: Oof.
Josie: Can Minx… Minx has done this before, can Minx just try to like, Wreck them so that we can get through quickly? Like, is this the sort of thing where I can score the wood and disarm them?
Rhi: You can try.
Kim: Would you like an assist?
Josie: Yes please.
Kim: Okay.
Rhi: Uh, yeah. You can give it a shot. Risky, reduced again. Just because you’re dealing with weird wards that you don’t know as well.
Josie: Uh huh. She’s gonna push herself, because she’s trying to do this as fast as possible.
Rhi: Okay, yep. Is that pushing for better effect or just for more die?
Josie: Oh, better effect.
Rhi: Better effect, okay, and then Blaire’s giving you an assist, so you get an extra die there.
Josie: 4.
Rhi: 4, okay. So, I think that you, you know, you look into the ghost field, you kinda see where these runes are, you slash through them with the sword to break them up, and there’s a crashing sound from way closer behind you than it should be.
Minna: [gasps]
Rhi: And the consequence here is that you do it, but she’s caught up to you.
Josie: Oh no.
Rhi: And so, you’re able to get a look at this person. They’re very gaunt. Filthy. Clothes are… it doesn’t look like the clothes that they’re wearing, they’re not clothes. It’s looks like it’s like a repurposed curtain that’s just kinda been tied on. And that’s in tatters. Kind of long, tangled, matted hair. But there’s a, you know, kind of from behind her hair are— it’s a very human face with human eyes that are glowing with like, ghost field energy. And she is going to kind of shriek again and lunge at Blaire.
Kim: Oh.
Josie: [laughs]
Kim: Hmm. No she’s not. Um…
Rhi: [laughs]
Kim: Can I roll a Command and push myself?
Rhi: Yeah. Yeah, it’s gonna be, ooh, let me think. Well, you have that ability so it’s gonna be risky, standard, because of your Ghost Voice ability. Yeah. It does say no matter how feral.
Kim: Okay, that’s a 5?
Rhi: Okay. Yes, you do it but there’s a consequence. So yeah, what do you say?
Kim (as Blaire): Will you just calm the fuck down?
[laughter]
Rhi: First ghosts: stop, I will help you. This person: what the fuck? [laughs]
Minna: Take a chill pill, Brenda.
[laughter]
Kim: Blaire’s kind of over it.
Rhi: Yeah, no, that’s fair.
Kim: And also, like, there were multiple ghosts, this is a one-on-one thing. [laughs]
Rhi: So, she kinda stumbles to a halt and kind of doesn’t look quite steady on her feet, is kinda swaying back and forth. And she points at the coral that you’re carrying and just lets out this very like, pained moan.
Kim: [sympathetic] Oh shit. Uh…
Josie: Uh, Minx will just say:
Josie (as Minx): We need to keep moving, Blaire.
Kim (as Blaire): In a second, in a second.
Josie (as Minx): [stressed]
Kim: Um, God, this pulls at my heart strings.
Minna: Mm hmm.
Kim: Right, I have to think of a trade. Um…
Josie: You want something to offer her in return?
Kim: Yeah, yeah, that’s… I’m trying to think of a trade.
Josie: One of my free load spaces is fine clothes and jewelry? If she’s— if it’s about, like, her possessions, maybe Minx has something nice. Like, I’m willing to bet Minx brought something. I guess just for like, comfort reasons. [laughs] I don’t know why she wouldn’t’ve.
Rhi: I can see that.
Josie: Yeah, I think it’s a bracelet.
Rhi: Okay.
Kim: Yeah, we can try that.
Josie: Like, something that might not get caught on something.
Rhi: Oh yeah, like a cuff sort of thing.
Josie: Yeah.
Rhi: Yeah.
Josie: And I think it has just like a small stone on it. And she pulls it off and says:
Josie (as Minx): Here, how about this?
Rhi: Give me a roll.
Josie: I’m gonna— would this be Sway? Probably? Or Consort?
Rhi: Depends on how… uh, how you’re approaching it. I think— okay, so I think Consort would be you are genuinely going to leave it with her, Sway would be you’re gonna act like you’re gonna give it to her and then run away.
Josie: Uh, I think it’s genuine, so I’ll do Consort. I got a 5.
Rhi: Okay. You’re holding it out and she kind of reaches out and snatches it from your hand, but she has basically claws at this point on her hands, and as she grabs at it she’s not being very careful and she just slashes across your hand. So, you’re gonna take level 1 harm, Gashed Hand. Which you can resist if you would like.
Josie: Um, I think I’ll just take it.
Rhi: Okay. And the reduced effect I think is that she takes it and she’s holding it and she’s studying it very intently, like turning it over in her hands, holding it right up to her eyes. The three of you are able to climb through the gap in the wards, and you just make it outside the wall before you hear a clatter as she hurls it to the ground, and then a shriek.
Josie: [laughs] Aw.
Rhi: It distracted her for just long enough for you to get to the outside.
Josie (as Minx): I liked that bracelet…
Rhi: Well. She didn’t. [laughs]
Josie: Aw.
Rhi: So, you’re outside and are you just gonna run for the fence?
Kim: Yeah.
Josie: Yeah.
Rhi: Alright. So, remember that consequence?
Kim: What’s up?
Rhi: Uh, as you’re running for the fence, a good 15 to 18 ghosts materialize in front of you, blocking your exit.
Kim: That’s a lot.
Rhi: Mm hmm. And one of them just points at Blaire.
Kim: Okay, um, Blaire just looks back at them and says:
Kim (as Blaire): What do you want?
Rhi: They just kind of flicker and shift in place. Like, they are kind of beyond any sort of communication.
Kim: Right.
Rhi: But I mean, Blaire made them and offer and I think you’re gonna either need to make good on it…
Kim: Eesh…
Rhi: Or— you can try to Command them again?
Kim: Yeah, I think I’ll do that.
Rhi: This is a lot more ghosts than I think you were prepared to deal with. [laughs]
Kim: And I will push myself as well for an extra dice.
Rhi: Okay.
Kim: That’s 6.
Rhi: 6, nice. So, what do you say?
Kim (as Blaire): I’ll come back for you.
Rhi: Okay. I think that there’s kind of a long pause, during which time you can hear the person behind you kind of shrieking and then trying to scramble through a window after you, and then the ghosts part.
Kim: Mm hmm.
Rhi: The one that was pointing at you lowers its arm and you are free to sprint for the fence.
Kim: Yep.
Rhi: And yeah, you make it out, back into the Deathlands. I think you have to— you actually don’t have to go that far. You run for a little while, kind of afraid of this person chasing you, but you realize pretty quickly that she’s not pursuing. You would be able to hear somebody coming after you very clearly. And you look back and she’s basically stopped right at the fence and is just staring after you and shrieking. But she can’t— it seems she either can’t or won’t leave the property.
Kim: Jeez, that’s sad.
Rhi: So, you have made it away safely. And I’m gonna do one fortune roll to see if anything happens on your return trip. Okay, no, it’s a— again, I think you kind of encounter the same sort of things when you run into some ghosts out in the world, but you’re able to fend them off. I think at one point you have to hunker down in some ruins because there’s a big ash bear sniffing around.
Kim: Oh. [laughs]
Rhi: You have to spend an hour just like, sitting there being very quiet. Like… “Oh God. Oh God. Don’t see us.”
Kim: Right.
Rhi: But otherwise, um, yeah. You’re able to make it back pretty okay. And yeah, you know, I think when you see the glow of the lightning barrier on the horizon, that sort of gives a new energy.
Josie (as Minx): Phew!
Rhi: And yeah, you’re able to get back into the city, and after a— I mean, because you have been gone for basically three days.
Minna: [laughs] Hugging a wall, like a character kissing the ground who’s been at water for too long.
Josie: [laughs]
Rhi: Yeah. [laughs] Yeah, just, you’re able to make it back.
Josie (as Minx): Can we hang out in The Hound’s Paw? I need to be around people.
Rhi: [laughs] Yeah, it probably is like, a little overwhelming for a couple— I don’t know how long, but for a little while, just like all of the people and the noise and the light and everything. It’s like— I think it’s both a huge relief but also a little bit like, “Oh, this is a lot.”
Kim: Yeah.
Rhi: But yeah, you can head into the city and go wherever your hearts desire as we are gonna head into downtime.
Josie: Woo.
Rhi: Woo! As usual, you kinda head out across the city to work out some stress and reconnect with people. And we see Myra making her way over to Silkshore to the next meeting of Historical Society, where I think we just kind of see through the now-repaired window in the front, Myra sitting at a table and there’s a bunch of, you know, other members of the society sitting around, some looking a little horrified, but most listening in rapt fascination and taking notes as she is describing something, I think like holds up a sketch that she’s made of kind of the structure of this villa that they saw. Just explaining all of the history that she’s seen.
And we kinda fade out on that and fade back in on Minx is, uh, I think in probably like, a proper fencing jacket. It’s clear it doesn’t belong to her, I think it’s a little, like, short in the sleeves. You know, this is clearly something she’s borrowing. Her left hand is bandaged up and she’s kind of experimentally sort of practicing some standard fencing moves while holding the blade in her right hand. Not fighting anybody at present, just kind of standing off to the side and testing this out. And then, you know, somebody calls for her and she kinda looks up and jogs off in that direction.
And then from there, we fade over to Scurlock Manor. To that dusty study where Lord Scurlock has his few visitors. And I think that the— I’m imagining that this piece of coral is, like, unwrapped. You’d probably wrapped it up in fabric or something.
Kim: Yeah.
Rhi: Is sitting unwrapped on this table. And he’s just kind of staring at it very intently. Not really much of an expression on his face, but he’s just kind of studying it. I imagine Blaire is, as usual, sitting on the couch opposite.
Kim: Yeah. So, who talks first? I talk first, you talk first?
Rhi: [laughs] After a while he kind of nods and is like:
Rhi (as Scurlock): This will do.
Kim (as Blaire): It’s enough?
Rhi: He nods.
Rhi (as Scurlock): A bit more than enough, but with these things it’s better to have more than you need.
Kim (as Blaire): Yeah. So, what’s our next steps?
Rhi (as Scurlock): I’m continuing to research the process. I will contact you when I have more to go on. I have to be subtle about this, lest Setarra catch on to what the plan is.
Kim (as Blaire): Yeah. Be careful. When I was out there, I also found this.
Kim: And Blaire takes out from her pocket the torn piece of painting.
Rhi: Oh okay, so she’s grabbed that.
Kim: Yeah. And I think she, you know, smooths it out and lays it on the table next to the coral. And she glances between it and Scurlock for a few moments and says:
Kim (as Blaire): I know this is water, but how is it looking like this? I’ve never seen anything like this before.
Rhi: Scurlock is currently going on a face journey. [laughs]
Kim: [laughs]
Rhi: This is kind of the most, like, expression that you’ve ever seen out of him, aside from that really, like creepy, bitter laugh he did earlier.
Kim: I’m so happy.
Rhi: He looks for a second kinda sucker punched.
Josie: Oh no.
Rhi: And then kinda like schools his face back into something more kind of his standard neutral, but he very reverently picks this up and stares at it. And for a while, like for a while, Blaire, you think that maybe he didn’t hear you or he’s just not gonna answer your question.
Kim: Mm hmm.
Rhi: But after a long while, he says:
Rhi (as Scurlock): It looks like this because the water used to be clear and the sky was blue. And the water reflected the blue sky. And so, it looked blue.
Kim (as Blaire): Oh.
Rhi (as Scurlock): It wasn’t always blue. It was blue when the sun was out. At night, it looked the way it does now.
Rhi: And he very carefully, again, sets the painting down and is like— he hasn’t looked at you since you put that out.
Kim: Mm hmm.
Kim (as Blaire): It’s yours, if you want it.
Rhi: That actually gets him to look up again. He looks a little startled and then nods very slowly. Just says:
Rhi (as Scurlock): Oskar was right. You are uncommonly generous.
Rhi: And then he stands up and leaves. [laughs]
Kim: Oh. [laughs]
Rhi: Scurlock is having an emotion and he can’t do that in front of people.
Josie: Right. [laughs]
Rhi: [laughs]
Kim: Oh, but I got him to do an emotion. That was the goal.
Rhi: He had one whole emotion.
Kim: I can retire now. [laughs]
Rhi: So, what does kind of the— I wanna end on Blaire. What does she do after he leaves?
Kim: Yeah, Blaire watches him leave and I think she just smiles, just a little bit, to herself before gathering her things and exiting as well.
##Outro [00.47.21]
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 [00.48.33]
Rhi: Okay, and that’s just sort of general demon research, right?
Minna: How to deal with demon powers, which I think was the answer to my brain trying to brainstorm elemental, you know, Pokémon defenses.
Rhi: Yes. [laughs]
Minna: [laughs]
Rhi: Ah, he’s a rock type demon, that means…
Minna: [laughs] Yes, that.
Josie: [laughs]
Minna: So, what’s the actual way to think about it, was I think my…
Rhi: Yeah.