Transcribed by Michelle Kelly (@Michellicopter)
##Intro
Rhi: Welcome back to Duskwall. As always, thank you so much for joining us. And thank you for your ongoing support through Patreon, social media and reviews. Even as our final season is nearing its end, we’re still reaching new listeners, and that’s largely thanks to everyone who’s shared and reviewed the show. Next, Kim’s going to tell us about this month’s featured charity.
Kim: The news cycle may have moved on, but the crisis in Gaza is still ongoing and Palestinian people continue to suffer. All of us here at Clever Corvids stand with Palestine and this month we have chosen to feature the United Palestinian Appeal. The UPA works to assist in the long-term recovery of areas being brutalized by Israeli occupation, through healthcare services, socio-economic development, outreach programs and so much more. To donate, visit UPAconnect.org/support/donate-now and if you live in the US, please consider calling your representatives about reconsidering our country’s complicity with Israel. Thank you.
Rhi: In the US, please continue to contact your senators and advocate for abolishing the filibuster. Countless bills, including a critical voting rights bill are held up in the senate due to GOP threats of filibuster. By removing the filibuster, the democratic majority can do what they were elected to do and start passing important legislation.
Now then. Let’s get started, shall we?
##Story continues [00.01.39]
Rhi: And yeah, they’re out of your way. What would you like to do?
Kim (as Blaire): Uh, okay, what’s our next steps? Gotta find the hook, right?
Josie (as Minx): Yes. I imagine it’s back where they took our relics?
Kim (as Blaire): Probably, but who knows where that is?
Josie (as Minx): Uh, I mean, we saw what hall they went down, so perhaps we should just go that way.
Rhi: Yes.
Kim (as Blaire): Good a start as any. Let’s go.
Rhi: Alright. So, I think the path to getting to this particular chamber wasn’t too terribly complicated, you’re able to find your way back to that central chamber with just like one or two wrong turns. And yeah, you’re back in that main, central room. The tunnel where the person took the relics that you offered is, you know, not exactly straight across but basically just across on the other side of this large cavern from you. And yeah, there’s about a dozen people around. A few of them kinda glance your direction as you walk in.
Kim: We just walk like you belong.
Rhi: Mm hmm. I think there is gonna need to be some sort of roll here. I mean, basically it is the ‘walk like you belong’ conveying we know what we’re doing and we’re supposed to be here.
Kim: Group Prowl?
Josie: Honestly, I was thinking group Sway.
Kim: That works too. Yeah.
Rhi: This is, yeah, this is more of a you’re bluffing situation. What is this gonna be? This is gonna be risky, reduced, because you’re new faces.
Kim: Right.
Rhi: You’re extremely—[laughs] not familiar people, so you’re gonna draw more attention than you would otherwise. So, yeah. Risky, reduced for this group Sway.
Kim: Oof. I got a 3?
Josie and Rhi: Who’s leading it?
Kim: Oh.
Josie: I can lead it, but I do only have four slots left, so—
Minna: I have stress to spare.
Rhi: Okay. Myra will lead. Blaire already got a 3.
Minna: 5.
Josie: I got a 6.
Rhi: One point of stress to Myra. You do it, but with reduced effect. You walk across the central cavern with confidence and poise, right across to the other tunnel and you’re about ten, fifteen feet away when someone else comes up to you and just kind of, you know, approaches sort of cutting you off and is like:
Rhi (as Cultist): Uh, you’re the new initiates, correct?
Josie (as Minx): Yes. Cavill just put as through the ritual at the pool.
Rhi (as Cultist): Yes, I’m actually looking for them. I would’ve expected them to still be with you. Do you know where they are?
Josie (as Minx): Uh…
Kim (as Blaire): Uh…
Josie (as Minx): I’m not certain? They just directed us this way.
Rhi: Gonna need a roll.
Josie: [laughs] Uh, I’m good at Sway though. I’m good at that.
Rhi: Yeah.
Josie: What does a Devil’s Bargain look like?
Rhi: I’m gonna start a 3-tick clock for Cavill is discovered.
Josie: Okay. What’s our position and effect like here?
Rhi: I think it’s still reduced. Risky, reduced. Cause you’re kinda trying to bluff your way through a social structure you don’t know anything about. [laughs]
Josie: Uh huh. Um, I’ll use the Devil’s Bargain to boost effect.
Rhi: Okay. Then I will start that clock.
Josie: I got a 5.
Rhi: Okay. Interesting. Um, so he nods and is like:
Rhi (as Cultist): Oh. Well, I’m Ambrose. I’ve been here for quite a while. Here, I can— tell me where you were headed and I will see that you make it there safely. This place twists and turns, can be very difficult to navigate when you’re new.
Rhi: And so, he is just gonna stick right with y’all.
Josie: [sarcastic] Good!
Rhi: Helpful buddy.
Kim: Oh, fuck.
Josie: Great.
Rhi: Show you around the place.
Josie: He’s so helpful.
Rhi: He’s super helpful.
Josie: Okay. Now we gotta figure out what to tell him, where we were going.
Rhi: Mm hmm.
Kim: He wouldn’t believe us if we said we were going to the relics room, would we?
Josie: Mm hmm. You know what? Minx is gonna:
Josie (as Minx): Oh, they told us to go to the uh… crap, what’s it called? The, uh… n— n…
Josie: [laughs] And try to provoke them into finishing the word.
Rhi: Oh…
Josie: Like, she’s—[laughs]
Kim: Oh, that’s smart.
Rhi: Okay, yeah… um…
Josie: Like, the word I was thinking there was like nave, but…
Rhi: Yeah, okay.
Josie (as Minx): Was it the nave or the transept… I’m sorry, I’m not super familiar with these architectural terms.
Rhi: Give me a roll. It’s still gonna be risky, reduced.
Josie: Well, I got a critical though, so.
Rhi: Jesus Christ.
Minna: [laughs]
Rhi: So, you’re just kind of acting like you’re fumbling for a word.
Josie: Mm hmm.
Rhi: And what is he gonna fill in? Cause since you got a critical, he’s gonna fill in the blank with something that’s gonna get you close to your goal. I just need to figure out what that is.
Kim: The sacristy.
Minna: I kept thinking sacristy too, but I was like that’s too much at the center of the church that it doesn’t actually exist here.
Rhi: You know what, I think I’m gonna go with that.
Josie: Communion and shit?
Minna: Mm, that’s where they keep stuff. That’s where they keep priest stuff, is what I mean. [laughs]
Rhi: Yeah, yeah. As Minx is kind of, you know, dripping words, stumbling, trying to remember, Ambrose very helpfully fills in:
Rhi (as Ambrose): Oh, the vestry? Surprising that they would—
Josie (as Minx): Yes! That’s the one.
Rhi (as Ambrose): Oh. Alright, very well. Surprising they would have you go there right off, but I suppose they want to have you get right to work. This way.
Rhi: And they will lead you into this tunnel past some kind of, you know, other side chambers and then they lead you into another, you know, side room that has— it’s a little, uh, nicer in here. There’s a rug on the stone floor, there’s some wooden furniture and there’s just a lot of kinda general occult stuff. [laughs] There’s rune stones, there’s some small leviathan bone pieces in here that’re carved, there’s different sigils and candles and all the kind of stuff that any of you would expect to see at some kind of occult or arcane ritual. And so, Ambrose will kind of gesture to you and be like:
Rhi (as Ambrose): Well, you can tell me what Cavill was looking for, I can—
Rhi: And before he can finish, someone pokes their head in and is like:
Rhi (as Cultist): Oh, Ambrose. You’re needed, the bishop is looking for you.
Rhi: Ambrose kind of is like:
Rhi (as Ambrose): Oh, um, alright. Terribly sorry, I need to step away. Please, just take a look around for whatever Cavill needed and either I will be back to assist you or you can just shout for someone. There’s a number of around in this part of the complex. They’ll be able to assist.
Rhi: And then he nods and hurries off.
Josie: Phew!
Rhi: So yeah.
Kim: Good.
Rhi: You are left unsupervised for the moment.
Kim: Right.
Rhi: You could tell as you were kind of heading up this way that this area is not empty. There’s a decent number of people around, but for the moment nobody’s babysitting you.
Kim: Alright. So let’s just make ourselves scarce.
Josie: Yes. First we should decide, if that happens again are we just going to knock them out or just try this as many times as we need to?
Kim: I think we should just knock them out. We’re trying to do this quick.
Josie: Alright. But Oskar did ask us to do it with as little violence as possible. And I can only carry so much trance powder on me safely.
Kim (as Blaire): So, let’s try not to run into people.
Josie (as Minx): Alright. Um, do we have some means of making ourselves stealthier?
Rhi: So, in your kind of playbook equipment, no. There are a few things in the Lurk playbook that I think previously I let Myra do a flashback to kind of a downgraded version of a silence potion.
Kim: Hmm.
Rhi: And I’d be willing to do the same here. Somebody would have to spend the stress on a flashback.
Josie: I mean, that’s not a bad idea.
Kim: Yeah.
Rhi: Let me give you the description of a silence potion. It’s a vial of golden liquid that negates all sound within ten paces of the drinker for a span of several moments. So, it’s not gonna make you— it’s more of a in an emergency we need to be very quiet sort of thing.
Josie: I see.
Kim: I think we should save that for if the clock runs out on Cavill being discovered and we need to make a quick exit without being discovered. Just keep up the stealth for as long as we can.
Josie (as Minx): In that case, dears, maybe we should take some of the stuff off the walls and look like we are carrying it back to the relic room?
Kim (as Blaire): I mean, will they buy that? Because these mushrooms are all over the place.
Josie (as Minx): Well, there’s—
Josie: Rhi, there’s a bunch of arcane implements all over the walls, right?
Rhi: Yeah, there’s just stuff hanging up in here.
Kim: Oh, yeah. Okay, in that case yeah, let’s do that.
Josie: Yes, they may not bother us if we look like we’re doing something.
Rhi: Yeah. So, you all can liberate a few things that look important. Blaire can probably actually identify stuff that’s important. [laughs]
Kim: Yeah, yeah.
Rhi: Myra probably also. Minx is just like, “Ah, that’s shiny.”
Josie: Yes.
Josie (as Minx): The shinier it is, the more powerful it is, right?
Rhi: [laughs] And then the three of you set off into the halls. There’s not really anybody else in the tunnels immediately around you right now and you need to find your way to wherever the relics are all being taken.
Josie: Mm hmm!
Rhi: So, how do you all wanna go about doing that?
Kim: Um, just— I think we just need to keep going down that hallway we were originally going down, right?
Josie: Yep.
Rhi: Yeah. I will mention, relics like this usually have some sort of signature in the ghost field.
Kim: Okay.
Rhi: So, if you were to look into the ghost field…
Kim: Oh, I would be able to see if like, a trail?
Rhi: Yeah. Or just a big, glowing mass of them in a—
Kim: Right.
Rhi: Yeah.
Kim: Cool. Can I roll an Attune?
Rhi: Yeah.
Kim: Alright.
Rhi: This’ll be risky, greater cause you’ve got your fine spirit mask.
Kim: Alright. Jesus fucking Christ. 1, 2, 3.
Rhi: Oof. Alright, I am going to— I’m gonna fill that clock.
Kim: Completely?
Rhi: Yeah. I mean, you botched the roll pretty badly.
Kim: Oh…
Rhi: So, Cavill found is at 3 out of 3. I think you all kind of, like, Blaire, you’re looking into the ghost field, you’re trying to concentrate and you think you maybe are getting, like, a glimpse of something in the corner of your eye and then you immediately get distracted by distant shouting back from the central cavern.
Kim: Ugh.
Rhi: You can’t exactly make out what’s being shouted, but it’s clearly alarmed and you do catch Cavill’s name. So, it seems that they have been discovered.
Josie (as Minx): Ah. Well. Time for running, dears?
Kim (as Blaire): Yeah, let’s go!
Rhi: So, what’s the strategy here?
Kim: Run.
Josie: Um—[laughs] yes. Run as best we can and keep looking, I guess? I don’t know—
Kim: Yeah, maybe Attune while— walk and Attune?
Rhi: I think if you’re main thing is going to be that you’re trying to sort of run and look, it’s either gonna be Prowl or Survey, depending on how you wanna go about it. You could try to Attune again, I didn’t say you lose this opportunity as a consequence.
Kim: Okay.
Rhi: So, you could give it another shot.
Kim: I would like to.
Rhi: Okay. So you all take off running down the hall. Blaire’s gonna Attune again. Minx, Myra, do you two wanna do anything to look?
Josie: Um, I think Minx is just looking mundanely. Like, if anywhere looks more important than any other place.
Minna: Uh, I can either help Blaire or I could also look normally.
Rhi: Yeah. Whichever you wanna do. Let’s start with Blaire’s Attune roll.
Kim: Okay.
Rhi: Risky, standard. Because you’re running, you’re not able to kind of take as much care with it as you would otherwise.
Kim: For fuck’s sake! 1, 1, 3.
Rhi: Oh my God! Get different dice. So, you got a 3. Let’s go for the other two first and then I’ll sort of hammer out what our consequences look like. So Minx, do you wanna do a Survey?
Josie: Uh, sure. Well, I got a 1. Because I only have one die in Survey.
Kim: [groans]
Rhi: [laughs]
Kim: Minna, save us!
Minna: [laughs]
Rhi: What are you rolling? Are you doing an Attune or a Survey?
Minna: I think an Attune.
Rhi: Okay. It’ll be risky, reduced.
Minna: That’s a 5?
Rhi: Okay. So… this wasn’t a group thing, so you’re all gonna have different complications happening. On Blaire we are gonna a start another clock.
Kim: Oh no.
Rhi: Of Cultists Catch Up.
Kim: Okay.
Rhi: On Minx’s [laughs] We’re gonna pump that up to 3 out of 4.
Josie: Oh dear.
Rhi: Myra, um, you’re gonna find the place, but there’s a consequence. And let’s see— I think… okay. So, I’ll do this kinda narratively. The three of you just kinda take off at a run down these tunnels and just looking desperately into doors, Blaire is holding up her spirit mask in one hand and looking around in the ghost field. Blaire, you’re having a hard time because there’s a lot of occult stuff here and you’re almost getting kind of overloaded with information. You can’t pick out the signal from the noise. Minx, you’re just not able to identify the correct room.
And I think what we see is like, the three of you run past a door, Myra skids to a stop and then, like, steps back and kind of looks up. And this is actually— most of what you have been running by has been just more tunnels or open archways. This is actually a door. It looks like it’s made out of, like, repurposed plating on the leviathan hunter ships. It looks like they just took some of those metal plates and riveted them together into this door. And it has a huge version of that maw, that toothy maw sigil engraved into it.
Minna: Ooh.
Rhi: And Myra kind of stops and waves the two of you back. This seems like the right place, but this door is big and it’s locked. The lock is not just like, insert key. It looks like there’s some sort of, um… it’s a Resident Evil lock. You gotta put in the correct sigil. [laughs]
Kim: Ah.
Josie: [laughs] Okay.
Rhi: Into the slot.
Josie (as Minx): Can you two maybe figure it out? I can perhaps distract them.
Kim (as Blaire): I’ll do my best.
Minna (as Myra): Yeah, let’s work on it.
Kim (as Blaire): Yeah.
Kim: Is this gonna be a Tinker?
Rhi: It depends on how you wanna approach it. You could try to Tinker it, or you could try to Attune it, cause it seems like it is maybe an occult, arcane sort of thing.
Kim: I have both the same amount of ranks in Attune and Tinker, so it doesn’t make too much of a difference to me, but I’m going to try Tinker just because I’ve been having bad luck with Attune tonight.
Rhi: [laughs] Alright.
Minna: I’m gonna take a stress to give you an assist.
Kim: Thank you.
Minna: Rather than actually trying to do a group thing, because I have nothing in Tinker.
Rhi: Okay. So, you will get a bonus die on that. What is the difficulty here gonna be? It’s gonna be… it’s still gonna be risky, reduced.
Kim: Okay. Um, highest was a 6.
Rhi: Okay! So yeah, it’s difficult because you’ve kind of learned to pick locks that are traditional locks with pins and all that stuff.
Kim: Right.
Rhi: But you realize pretty quickly that like, this, you know, plate where you’re supposed to put the sigil into connects to a mechanism underneath. So, you just like, pop that open, jam your hands in there, start fiddling around, and after a few moments the kind of sigil spot depresses, it goes down, and the doors slowly swing open.
Kim (as Blaire): We’re in.
Rhi: Yep. The three of you step inside.
Josie: Actually, I think Minx might not.
Rhi: Oh, okay.
Josie: I think she wants to throw them off the trail.
Kim: Oh, good call.
Josie: Because if they corner us in the room, that would be very bad.
Rhi: Mm. So, is Minx gonna just keep running off down the tunnels?
Josie: Yes. And what’s the lighting situation like down here? I imagine it’s not great?
Rhi: In this part they seem to be using more, like, electroplasm lanterns. But they’re pretty far spaced out, like, there’s a decent amount of shadow down here if you wanted to try to use darkness for cover.
Josie: Yeah, cause that’s the thing. I think she, like, might use the butt of a dagger or something to like, knock out some of the lanterns to make sure it’s dark.
Rhi: Okay.
Josie: And then I don’t know if there’s like, loose rocks or objects she can pick up to toss down hallways to just sew confusion.
Rhi: Okay.
Josie: Cause they can’t see what’s going on down there, so they just hear clanking down.
Rhi: Okay. Minx, you’re gonna run off and we will come back to you as you go to sew chaos in your wake.
Josie: [laughs]
Rhi: Myra and Blaire, you slip into this room and it is also fairly dark. There’s a handful of like, small electroplasm lanterns scattered around, but that provides enough light for you to see that this looks like it may be the only place that’s actually wired for electricity. You can kind of see larger lights in the ceiling overhead.
Kim: Oh, huh.
Rhi: And you can also tell this is a large space. This is another large cavern. And there’s something large in here. It’s too dark for you to make out exactly what this is, though. But because this is wired for electricity, if you could find the switch or the lever to turn the lights on you’d be able to see what you’re dealing with in here.
Kim: Or I could Attune to see if I could get, like, a silhouette.
Minna: I was gonna say.
Rhi: Mm hmm.
Minna: You can use Attune to find the switch, too, because it is electroplasmic.
Rhi: Yes.
Kim: Okay, alright. In that case I’ll just, can I just use an Attune as like a perception and search for both of those things?
Rhi: Yeah. You can just Attune and look into the ghost field and see what there is to see in here.
Kim: Right, I’m gonna peek again. And I’m actually gonna push myself because I don’t have any stress. I haven’t spent any stress yet.
Rhi: Alright.
Kim: Oddly enough.
Minna: Blaire, what do your elf eyes see?
Josie: [laughs]
Kim: All.
Minna: [laughs]
Kim: Okay.
Rhi: Risky, greater in here, cause you’re not running around anymore.
Kim: Perfect. [pause] What the fuck?
Rhi: [laughs]
Kim: 1, 1, 2, 2.
Rhi: Jesus Christ.
Kim: My dice just keep getting worse!
Rhi: You and Minna can’t ever meet in person. If you touch it’ll be like matter and antimatter, you’ll just implode.
Kim: [laughs]
Rhi: Josie and I will be left standing there in confusion.
Josie: [laughs]
Kim: But Minna needs to bless my dice!
Rhi: [laughs] Luck and anti-luck.
Minna: [laughs]
Rhi: Okay, so risky but you got a 2. So, you put on your spirit mask again and you look into the ghost field and you just immediately— like, it feels like a physical blow. Like somebody punched you in the chest. Myra, it’s fuckin weird to you because Blaire’s just standing there, she puts on her mask and then she just gets knocked flat on her back. Blaire, you get the wind knocked out of you, your head is pounding and you’re gonna take level 2 harm.
Minna (as Myra): Oh my goodness. Are you alright?
Kim (as Blaire): Uh… um, I don’t know. That was… phew, a lot of stuff in here.
Minna (as Myra): Do you wanna tell me about it?
Kim (as Blaire): I… just don’t look in the ghost field. There’s a lot of stuff happening in this room. Just [sighs] I don’t know. Try to find the switchbox, get the lights on. Let’s get what we need and go.
Minna (as Myra): Alright. I’m gonna look around.
Rhi: Alright. So, how do you wanna go about locating the switch?
Minna: What would, like, feeling around until you find it…?
Rhi: Probably Survey. I could also see an argument for Study if you’re being really methodical about it.
Minna: I feel like she’s trying to be fast so it is a Survey, even though, God, she has exactly one die in Survey.
Rhi: You can always push yourself.
Kim: Would you like it to be a group Survey and I can lead?
Minna: Sure, if you feel up to it. If Blaire feels up to it.
Kim: Yeah, I have the stress to spare. Let’s do it.
Rhi: Alright.
Kim: I got a 5.
Minna: That’s a 3.
Rhi: Okay.
Minna: So, you’re taking one point of stress and we succeed?
Rhi: Yes. So, yeah, you both kinda get up and start feeling around and Myra, I think you find there’s just kind of a lever and you pull it down. And there’s a little bit of an electric popping sound as the lights power on and the two of you can turn and look into this room and see what is in here. We’ll cut over to Minx now.
Josie: Uh huh?
Rhi: You are running through the halls. I think you can use, like, the end of your sword cane or, yeah, a dagger or something, I’m not gonna— at this point, like, you can easily smash lanterns and stuff as you’re running.
Josie: I just wanna stay out of sight and keep smashing lights and then throwing things in the opposite direction.
Rhi: Okay.
Josie: Like, we’re in an underground cavern, so I imagine it doesn’t take a lot of noise to like, get deafeningly loud.
Rhi: So I’m gonna— this clock that we have, this Cultists Catch Up, I’m gonna kinda turn this into a tug-of-war clock.
Josie: Okay.
Kim: Ooh.
Rhi: You can, with your actions here, take ticks off of the clock. So, it’s at 3 out of 4 right now and if you get a 4, 5, or 6 you can push that number down.
Josie: Okay. I don’t know what sort of roll this would be.
Rhi: I don’t know either.
Josie: I mean, I could see Sway or Prowl.
Kim: Wreck?
Josie: Oh, Wreck could also work.
Rhi: Wreck could work because you are breaking things. Um, I think it’s kind of— so, Sway is gonna be you’re focused on manipulating people. Prowl is gonna be you’re focused on keeping yourself hidden. Wreck is gonna be you’re focused on causing as much damage as possible.
Josie: Um, I wanna focus on manipulating people.
Rhi: Okay. So then it’ll be Sway.
Josie: What’s a Devil’s Bargain look like here?
Rhi: You are gonna get really lost [laughs] in the course of your running. You’re gonna get pretty lost.
Josie: That just makes sense, so I’ll take that to increase my effect.
Rhi: Okay. So, it’ll be risky, standard and yeah, finding your way back to your friends is going to be a challenge.
Josie: Alright. I did get a 6. So I get myself nice and lost. [laughs]
Rhi: Yeah, you’re very lost, but you have also thoroughly confused these Cultists. You can kinda, like, I’m picturing Minx ducking into, like, a little shadowed alcove. And you can just hear people shouting, like:
Rhi (as Cultist): They’re down this way!
Rhi (as Cultist): No, they are not! I heard footsteps over here.
Rhi (as Cultist): No, the lights are broken here.
Rhi (as Cultist): The lights are broken over here!
Rhi: And they’re just, like, arguing about where to go, people are searching the same area three times, and Minx is just crouched in the shadows.
Josie: She’s like:
Josie (as Minx): Phew! Now, where am I?
Josie: [laughs]
Rhi: Yeah. [laughs] So because you got a 6, that clock, the Cultists Catch Up, is knocked down to 2 out of 4. So, back in the relic room. It’s a huge cavern. It’s bigger even than the kind of central cavern that you all came into in the first place.
Kim: Oh, dang.
Rhi: This is more like warehouse-sized. And…
Kim: The ark is here.
Rhi: They are building something.
Kim: Oh.
Rhi: In this room is a lot of scaffolding surrounding this massive shape. It’s fish-like, vaguely. There’s kind of a suggestion of fins on the sides and on the top. It has kind of that elongated, sleek shape. But it is constructed of probably thousands of relics and artifacts comprising this thing.
Kim: Oh, dang.
Rhi: Leviathan bone, wood, stone, metal. Any substance, as long as it’s something that holds power, is in this. And Oskar had told you when telling you about this cult that they worship leviathans and that he believed they wanted to summon a leviathan to drown the city, etc.
Kim: Right.
Rhi: It’s slowly dawning on the two of you that maybe they’re not so much summoning a leviathan as they are building one.
Kim: Oh, that’s fucking sick as hell though.
Rhi: Isn’t it though? I’m very proud of it. [laughs]
Kim: That’s really cool, Rhi.
Minna: Wild.
Rhi: And you’re guessing that somewhere in that mass is your fish hook.
Kim (as Blaire): Oh my gods… look at the size of that.
Minna (as Myra): I know.
Kim (as Blaire): Alright, well—
Minna (as Myra): What are they going to do with it?
Kim (as Blaire): Let’s— we don’t have time to speculate. Let’s just get the fish hook and, I don’t know, if you wanna get paid try to take as much as we can carry and then skedaddle.
Minna (as Myra): Yes, I think that’s a good idea.
Kim: And then I think Blaire is just gonna start making her way up to try and like, jeez, climb this thing, I guess.
Rhi: Well, there is— they’re constructing it, so there is scaffolding built around it. So, you don’t actually have to climb on their sort of skeletal structure here. You can climb up the scaffolding and try and look around that way.
Kim: Okay, that’s safer. I’ll do that.
Rhi: Myra, are— what are you gonna do?
Minna: I am going to try and get some relics.
Rhi: Okay.
Kim: Oh, good call. Divide and conquer.
Rhi: So you’re just gonna grab some low-hanging fruit that looks valuable.
Minna: Yeah.
Rhi: Okay. Let’s actually start with Myra, because that’s gonna be the easer roll. You’re basically gonna be making a fortune roll.
Minna: Okay.
Rhi: You can kinda pick what skill you wanna use. It’s probably gonna be Survey or Study.
Minna: Study, I think.
Rhi: Yeah, yeah so you can kinda spend some time analyzing, pick a chunk of pseudo-leviathan.
Minna: I’m gonna play— it’s like those I-spy books that we had when we were kids.
Rhi: Yeah, yeah, basically. You’re staring at this and trying to find stuff that looks especially valuable.
Minna: That’s a 6.
Rhi: Okay. So, you manage to pull down some things that are gonna be worth a total of 3 coin.
Minna: Nice!
Rhi: Blaire. There’s a lot of leviathan bone up here.
Kim: There sure is.
Rhi: How do you wanna go about looking for your metaphorical needle in a haystack?
Kim: This is just going off my own player intuition, I have no idea if this is accurate or not, but I think I wanna have Blaire try and go for the heart of this vessel. Like, where the heart would be located if this were a true leviathan. She’s just gonna head there.
Rhi: Yeah. You can kind of— this looks fish-like, so you can go for where the heart would be on a fish.
Kim: Yeah.
Rhi: The thing with leviathans is they’re all unique, so it’s not sort of one body structure. But they seem to have decided that their leviathan is a fish.
Kim: Yeah.
Rhi: So yeah, you can try and climb inside this thing to look towards the heart.
Kim: Okay. That sounds like a Prowl to me?
Rhi: Yes, yes, I would agree. Risky, reduced again, because this is not a stable structure. [laughs]
Kim: Oh dear.
Rhi: Do you wanna push yourself, Devil’s Bargain— you’ve already rolled.
Kim: No, no, I already rolled. That’s a 4.
Rhi: Okay. So, you find a gap in this thing, kinda where the ribs are being built and squirm inside and there is some scaffolding in here as well. There’s some additional structures because they’re still building the skeleton of this thing.
Kim: Right.
Rhi: And they’re trying to build the skeleton of a massive creature out of teeny, tiny little bits. But you climb inside and crawl along the scaffolding in here and you do see there is like, a bunch of steel cables sort of pinned, secured, to several points on the exterior— or on the interior of this skeleton. And they are all suspending, kind of in space, a big a fish hook. So, you found it. But it’s just kind of hanging out in space.
Kim: And I bet if I grab it this whole thing is coming down.
Rhi: Shrugs! [laughs]
Josie: [laughs]
Rhi: Let’s go back over the Minx.
Kim: I love it.
Rhi: Minx, what are you up to?
Josie: Now I think Minx, in the confusion, wants to try and make her way back to the others.
Rhi: Okay.
Josie: Cause she’s kinda lost.
Rhi: She is lost. [laughs] What do you wanna roll in order to do that?
Josie: I was thinking Prowl.
Rhi: Yeah, yeah, I think that makes sense. Trying to—
Josie: Because I can take my time as long as I’m not seen.
Rhi: Yeah, yeah. Trying to retrace your steps. So, this is gonna be risky, standard. You’ve given yourself a lot of cover of darkness.
Josie: Alright.
Rhi: But you also are lost and don’t entirely remember where you need to go. So, those kinda even each other out. So, it’ll be risky, standard for this one.
Josie: Well, I somehow critical-ed this one, so…
Rhi: Good lord! [laughs] Uh, okay, so I think in that case, um, yeah, you’re gonna get back to the relic room at the most dramatically appropriate moment. So, you can burst into the scene. [laughs]
Josie: Okay. [laughs]
Rhi: Whenever you want.
Josie: Alright then. Minx Is just sort of gently sidling down the wall for now. [laughs]
Rhi: Yep. Back in the relic room.
Minna: Yeah.
Rhi: Blaire, you’ve spotted the thing. Myra, you can— I think cause you’re like down underneath this thing picking off relics and I’m imagining that you just like, pull one off and look into it and you can see Blaire, like, on some scaffolding inside of it.
Minna: [laughs]
Kim (as Blaire): So, good news, bad news.
Minna (as Myra): Uh, gimme the bad news first?
Kim (as Blaire): This whole thing might come crashing down on us.
Minna (as Myra): Can you get down safely?
Kim (as Blaire): Well, yeah, but then I wouldn’t be able to get the hook. The good news is that I found the hook.
Minna (as Myra): Well, that is good news. Do you need somebody to catch you?
Kim (as Blaire): Uh… nah, I think I’ll be okay. You probably just need to run.
Minna (as Myra): Running I can do.
Kim (as Blaire): Yeah. Yeah, just be prepared to run. Hey, did you get any good stuff down there?
Minna (as Myra): I did find something.
Kim (as Blaire): Cool. Alright, I’m gonna try and grab this without killing myself.
Rhi: [laughs]
Minna (as Myra): I know there’s nothing I can say that will help, but you know. Be careful.
Kim (as Blaire): Uh, yeah. You know. [nervous laugh] I’ll, uh, I’ll do my best.
Minna (as Myra): Wear your safety goggles while you blow up this alchemy set.
Rhi: [laughs]
Kim (as Blaire): I have my spirit mask, does that work?
Minna (as Myra): [laughs] I was joking! Get on with it.
Kim (as Blaire): Alright.
Rhi: Okay. So, I think this is Prowl.
Minna: [laughs]
Kim: Okay. I’m gonna roll Prowl then.
Rhi: Cause you’re doing a big old jump. I’m just trying to figure out what your position and effect will be here.
Kim: Mm hmm.
Rhi: I think it’s still gonna be risky, but what is your effect? Hmm… so, I’m gonna say… it’s gonna be reduced effect if you just kinda jump from, you know, from this scaffolding. Cause you are, like, it’s big for a fish hook, it’s a small target. [laughs]
Kim: Yeah.
Rhi: To grab on to.
Kim: Right. Right, right.
Rhi: However, you could potentially take a look at like, your items and there might be things you could use that could bump that up.
Kim: Oh! Okay.
Rhi: Cause I don’t think you’ve used any of your load yet.
Kim: Can I mark off either, like, an unusual weapon or climbing gear and have that be some kind of grappling hook so I can try and lasso this?
Rhi: Uh, the climbing gear you would definitely have rope. Yeah, you’d have a grappling hook in climbing gear, probably. Let me take a look, see if it specifically says. Climbing gear. Yeah, it specifically says grappling hooks, so yes
Kim: Excellent. Alright, so I’ll mark off climbing gear and I’ll try to lasso this with a grappling hook.
Rhi: Okay.
Kim: What would that be?
Rhi: That will make it risky, standard.
Kim: Alright. Wish me luck. Ladies and gentlemen and everyone in between, that’s a critical.
Minna: Eee!
Josie: Yay!
Rhi: Wonderful. Amazing. Beautiful. Um, yeah, describe how you super-cool Nathan Drake, Indiana Jones—
Kim: Yay! [claps excitedly]
Rhi: Action-adventure swing over this and yank this thing down.
Kim: [giggles] I think Blaire looks up, she looks at the scaffolding, she unclips the grappling hook from her belt, she swings it in her dominant hand a couple times to grab momentum, tosses it and then it just first try, it wraps around, you know, a high enough— the scaffolding that she was aiming for. And then she just swings across and yoinks the hook. And I don’t know how much the hook is actually gonna move, because you said it’s all tied up in cables, but like, she’s holding onto it. She has it.
Rhi: I think since you got a critical they basically— what I’m picturing it that they, like, had clamps on it but they didn’t drill into it any.
Kim: Okay.
Rhi: Because that would have weakened its power. So, you just like, with your momentum. You’re able to just grab it and pull it free from the clamps.
Kim: Nice. The cables snap in a really cool way and then Blaire just kind of like—
Rhi: [mimics sound of cables snapping]
Kim: Instead of trying to circle back to where she landed from, she’s going to try and like, as the cables snap and space in front of her clears, she’ going to keep riding the momentum and move forwards so she can land outside of the structure and, I don’t know, maybe have a really cool superhero landing as she hits the ground.
Josie: Or fall right into the arms of Minx.
Minna: Oh!
[laughter]
Kim: Yes, that’s even better.
Rhi: Yep. [laughs] Just Blaire holding this giant fish hook and Minx just catches in both arms.
Josie (as Minx): Ooh, very dashing of you dear.
Kim (as Blaire): [laughs] Fancy meeting you here. Thanks for the assist.
Minna: [giggles]
Josie: Minx gently sets her down. [laughs]
Josie (as Minx): Now that we’ve gotten our swashbuckling out of the way, what do you say we get out of here?
Kim: Yeah.
Rhi: Yeah, I think the massive skeleton has like, it’s shifted and there’s kinda been like a groaning sound of like, wood moving, but it seems like it’s not gonna fall over.
Kim: Excellent.
Rhi: At least not right now. So yeah, you can try to get out of here. There is only one exit that you know of, and that’s the way you came in. So, you’re gonna have kinda go back through a pretty open and crowded area. I’m picturing that there’s basically three— this is gonna be three-tick clock that you’ll have to clear because there’s basically three zones that you’ll have to get through. You’ve got the tunnels you’re in, the central chamber and then the tunnels that lead back to the stairs. So, once you’ve cleared all three of those, you can escape back into the city and leave Oskar to deal with this situation that you have wrought.
Minna: [laughs]
Josie: Alright. [laughs]
Minna: Oh, poor Oskar.
Rhi: He is not gonna wanna hang out with you at the cult meetings, Blaire. [laughs]
Josie: Aww.
Rhi: So yeah, let’s get started with finding your way out of here.
Kim: Yeah.
Josie (as Minx): Apologies for the darkness, everyone.
Kim (as Blaire): What did you do?
Josie (as Minx): I had to get loud.
Kim (as Blaire): Alright. Well, let’s keep it quiet as we leave. Um…
Kim: Yeah, group Prowl?
Josie: Yeah, makes sense to me.
Minna: Let’s do it.
Rhi: Who’s gonna lead it?
Kim: I can do it.
Rhi: Okay. I think in this section it’s gonna be risky, greater, because as we’ve established, Minx has destroyed a lot of the lights. So you all have a lot of darkness to work with here.
Josie: I got a 6.
Minna: 5.
Kim: I got a 4.
Rhi: Okay, so the result is a 6, nobody takes stress. You all— at this point, it seems like most of the people searching for you aren’t in this particular section of tunnels, so you all just creep through the darkness and nobody bothers you. You make it up to kinda the mouth of the tunnel and into this big central cave. From where you’re at, you don’t— like, there are still people in here, but you can’t tell how many or where exactly they are. But you can kinda hear movement and voices.
Josie: Mm hmm.
Rhi: And you have to get across this large open space to the exit of this area. So, you’ve filled one of the ticks on your clock.
Kim: Okay.
Josie: Yes… do we wanna stealth around or just bolt?
Kim: I mean, it’s not like we’re coming back here, we could bolt for it if we wanted to.
Josie: Yeah, why not? Let’s bolt for it.
Minna: Okay, we’ll bolt for it. [laughs]
Rhi: What were you gonna say, Minna?
Minna: I was gonna say if we can be relatively quiet during our exit to just, like, minimize the problems for Oskar a tiny bit.
Josie: But also consider that we have two people with reckless on the team now.
Kim: Yeah, and also Oskar can handle it.
Minna: That’s fair.
[laughter]
Rhi: Alright. So, I think that that’s gonna be more Prowling.
Kim: Okay.
Rhi: For just sprinting across this space. You wanna do that as a group thing or you wanna do it separately?
Kim: I can lead it again.
Josie: Alright.
Rhi: This is gonna be risky, reduced in here, because big open space and you’re not trying to hide. Let me— no, it’s gonna be risky, standard because this is just about covering ground. So, risky, standard.
Kim: The duality of dice. I rolled a 6 and a 1.
Minna: [laughs]
Josie: I also got a 6.
Minna: I got a 4. So nobody takes stress and it’s a 6.
Kim: Hell yeah. Good job, team.
Rhi: So, the three of you just sprint across this room and I think that at this point, like, there’s only a handful of people left in here and they’re, like, at the far end of this big cavern. And so they don’t even quite, like, see you. But right as you’re getting to the mouth of the tunnel you hear kind of a:
Rhi (as Cultist): Wait, hey! Hey, is that them?
Rhi: They’re pretty far away though, so you think you can make it. You just have to get through this next set of tunnels that were pretty twisty, turny, windy, confusing. But if you can get through there, you’ll be home free.
Kim: So, one more group Prowl?
Rhi: Could be a Prowl. In this case it could also be a Survey for the navigating piece of it.
Minna: Can I do a flashback?
Rhi: Sure.
Minna: Myra kept track of the turns they took, knowing that they might need them to escape.
Rhi: Uh, yeah. That’ll be… a one stress flashback. Because that’s an extremely Myra thing to do.
Minna: Yeah, we are leaning into the Sherlock Holmes bullshit a little bit.
Rhi: Alright, so yeah. Give me a roll.
Minna: I almost think this is Study?
Rhi: I think so. I think that makes sense. In this case it’s gonna be controlled, standard.
Minna: That’s a 6.
Rhi: Cool.
Minna: [laughs] I’m so sorry.
Rhi: Three of— no, it’s fine. It’s fine. The three of you waltz right out and up the stairs leaving a small amount of chaos behind you, but you return to the Docks. So, you all make your way home with your prizes, reach out to the appropriate people to fence your stolen arcane goods, make a little coin for once. It’s a rare thing these days. Nessa is almost singlehandedly supporting you. [laughs]
Yeah, as you tend to, you head off into the city to patch your wounds, physical and mental. But overall you’re all feeling, you know, pretty good about this. It seems like this went fairly well, all things considered. And I imagine in pretty short order Blaire heads back over to Scurlock Manor?
Kim: Yep.
Rhi: Alright. So, as usual, Oskar opens the door. He does not look happy to see you. [laughs]
Kim (as Blaire): Hey.
Minna: [laughs] Buddy.
Rhi (as Oskar): Hello, Miss Culhane.
Kim (as Blaire): Listen… that was pretty clean for us.
Rhi: He sighs heavily and pinches the bridge of his nose and is like:
Rhi (as Oskar): The worst part about that is you are not wrong.
Minna: [laughs]
Kim (as Blaire): I’m really sorry if that’s gonna make things harder for you over with that cult.
Rhi (as Oskar): I am going to have to put forth rather a lot of effort to make reparations there, but I’ll figure that out. My uncle is very invested in it, and therefore I will be spending a great deal of time making amends.
Kim (as Blaire): I’m sorry.
Rhi: He sort of waves a hand dismissively of just sort of like “It’s fine, it’s happened, ugh.” [laughs] he will bring you into the house and take you back to the parlor. And Scurlock comes down, you know, quickly for Scurlock.
Kim: Oh.
Rhi: Yeah, it’s, you know, he only makes you wait about five minutes instead of fifteen.
Kim: Oh wow. That is fast for him.
Rhi: [laughs] Yeah. Do you, like have it— do you set the fish hook out, do you have it in your bag?
Kim: Yeah, no, Blaire’s just gonna whip it out and I think just holds it and just kind of like, you know, taps it on the ground and just looks at Scurlock, says:
Kim (as Blaire): I got it.
Rhi (as Lord Scurlock): Indeed. Caused no small number of headaches in the process, but you didn’t kill anyone, so I’ll count that as an improvement.
Rhi: And he will hold his hands out for the fish hook.
Kim (as Blaire): I’ll take what I can get.
Kim: And then she hands it over.
Kim (as Blaire): So, what’s our next steps with this?
Rhi: He examines it, kind of turning it from side to side.
Rhi (as Lord Scurlock): I have researched the binding ritual as best I can. Most of those records were lost around the time of the cataclysm, but I think I’ve been able to reconstruct it well enough. We have an element of the pre-cataclysmic world to seed the ritual. We have the hook. And all we have to do is ring the bait.
Kim (as Blaire): Great. What’s the bait?
Rhi: He just stares at Blaire.
Kim: It takes Blaire a couple of seconds, but as she puts the pieces together in her brain you just see her face fall and she’s like:
Kim (as Blaire): No. You’re kidding.
Rhi (as Lord Scurlock): She is very motivated to deal with you.
Kim (as Blaire): Um… [nervous laugh] Listen, I… I mean—
Rhi (as Lord Scurlock): You cannot run from this forever, Blaire.
Kim (as Blaire): No, I—
Rhi (as Lord Scurlock): You summoned her, you bound yourself to her, and now you must deal with the consequences.
Kim (as Blaire): I know that, I know. I just— and I’m going to. I just— I’m scared shitless enough as it is. I— I— and I know that it— it makes sense. But I… are you sure about that? Are you sure about this?
Rhi (as Lord Scurlock): If you do not wish to see this through, that is your decision. Setarra does not know of my involvement in this. I can carry on in my dealings with her. You can hope that you are able to continue to evade her in a coastal city full of canals and rivers.
Kim (as Blaire): I… alright. Well, either she’ll kill me one day eventually doing that or she’ll kill me while I at least make a stand against her. I guess I’ll take the latter.
Rhi (as Lord Scurlock): [flatly] That’s the spirit.
Josie: [laughs]
Kim: I love him.
Minna: [laughs]
Rhi: He sucks.
Kim: I know! [laughs] I know he does.
Rhi: He kinda— he looks at the fish hook again and nods and says:
Rhi (as Lord Scurlock): I have additional preparations to make. It will probably be another few weeks before everything is ready. I will contact you and your people when preparations are finalized.
Kim (as Blaire): Okay. Um… thanks, Scurlock, for all your help with this. I know you don’t have to.
Rhi (as Lord Scurlock): It benefits me as well. I tire of my arrangement with her. This will earn me a few centuries reprieve.
Kim (as Blaire): Yeah. What are you gonna do once she’s out of your hair?
Rhi: He looks back at the fish hook and just says:
Rhi (as Lord Scurlock): It will free me up to pursue other interests outside this city.
Kim (as Blaire): So, you’re gonna be leaving?
Rhi (as Lord Scurlock): Eventually.
Kim: I think Blaire just kinda like, nods sadly at that.
Rhi: He just sort of will nod back and say:
Rhi (as Lord Scurlock): Well, I need to get to work on this.
Kim (as Blaire): Yeah. Yeah, just, uh, you know how to get in contact.
Rhi (as Lord Scurlock): Try not to die in the next few weeks.
Rhi: And he leaves.
Kim (as Blaire): Yeah, uh— I would say likewise, but um, you know.
Minna and Josie: [laugh]
Rhi: Oskar appears in the doorway with the most judgmental expression you’ve ever seen on a human being’s face.
Minna: [wheezes]
[laughter]
Rhi: And will usher you to the door.
Kim (as Blaire): I’m just trying to be friendly.
Rhi (as Oskar) Have a nice day, Miss Culhane.
Kim (as Blaire): Yeah. You too.
Rhi: Closes door. [laughs]
##Outro [00.49.47]
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.
Next, I’d like to thank our stupendous Patreon backers.
Jared Davis, thank you.
Jason Hipp, thank you.
Barbara Bates, thanks you.
And Julius, thank you.
##Blooper [00.51.17]
Minna: I know it’s really late in the game for this [laughs] but wouldn’t it be funny if one of the ways we had of reducing heat was like, writing this anonymous crime column that alleges that other people did things that we did?
Rhi: [laughs] I man, you’ve got some ins with the paper, so I say go for it.
Minna: [laughs] Myra writes an article implying but not outright accusing another gang of doing one of their crimes.
Rhi: [laughs]