Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Previously on Alicia Rising.
It's an easy job, as this strange, strange woman has been seen walking around the streets. If I can find out what she's up to without her knowing that I know what she's up to, I'll be laughing.
[00:00:16] Speaker B: We've done this dance several times before. Perhaps if we do this job for you, you might land an actual smuggling job.
[00:00:23] Speaker A: Across our desk, the elderly keeper called Tavarian looks across the gathered crowds of Alicia. This day marks the second anniversary of the shrouding magpie like. Up from your vantage point, you see a woman wearing a shocking purple coat with a top hat. There's a moment where she looks up to the stage and she and Tavaren both catch one another's gazes.
[00:00:57] Speaker C: Now that I have spotted our target, I'm going to start moving north towards wherever she seems to be heading to.
[00:01:09] Speaker D: Welcome to Alicia, the jewel of the north. On our gilded streets, fortune and fame can be found by anyone.
[00:01:21] Speaker C: Hi, I'm Julia, and I'm playing Magpie, an ace of our lurk.
[00:01:26] Speaker E: Hi, I'm Nate, and I'm playing cavern, a dragon scent slide.
[00:01:31] Speaker C: Hi, I'm Meg.
[00:01:32] Speaker D: I'm playing Frida, a wolfkin cutter.
[00:01:36] Speaker B: Hi, I'm JC, and I'll be playing Algonon, an ace of r spider.
[00:01:41] Speaker F: Hello, I'm Errol. I am playing atta, a goblin whisper.
[00:01:46] Speaker A: And my name is DM Dan. I will be the games master on this adventure.
[00:01:52] Speaker D: Now, come on in and marvel at our wonders. Make sure you see the beautiful views we have to offer. And don't mind the ghosts. They're friendly, really. Grab yourselves a seat and make yourselves welcome in the city of Alicia.
[00:02:14] Speaker A: Welcome back to Alicia Rising.
Welcome. Hello. Hi, I'm DM Dan. This is our lovely cast. We rejoin our crew on Memorial Day after they have successfully spotted the mysterious woman in purple.
And they are beginning their chase in inverted commas.
So, yes, how is it that you're approaching this job? You've got one of six options.
So you can assault, you can go in via deception, you can go in via stealth, via occult, via social, or via transport.
[00:03:09] Speaker F: Do we choose our loadout now? We don't, do we?
[00:03:13] Speaker A: At this point, yeah, actually. Job is starting. Feel free to nominate what each of your respective item loadout limits are. So light, medium or heavy?
I assume everyone was light load. So as they weren't kind of stopped and frisked by city watch. Wondering what that was under your coat?
[00:03:35] Speaker C: Yes, definitely. Light for me?
[00:03:38] Speaker A: Yeah, sure.
[00:03:39] Speaker E: I'm going a little bit light.
[00:03:41] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:03:41] Speaker F: Yeah.
[00:03:42] Speaker A: So we know, light load.
Yeah. What is our method of ingress?
[00:03:48] Speaker C: I mean, based on the nature of the job from Mustovan, he did ask us to be discreet. It would probably make sense to make it a stealth approach.
[00:03:59] Speaker B: I would suspect once we find out what her deal is, we can make friends with her, because I would quite prefer to deal with her rather than that spittling little goblin man.
And if she's been spying on all the criminal activity in his control, there might be some interesting leverage for us.
[00:04:20] Speaker E: Plus, if she's got enough money to give to kids, maybe she's got a little bit more.
[00:04:27] Speaker A: Well, that's a good point. While we're thinking about how the method of ingress. So, Magpie, were you stopping to kind of inform everyone specifically, or were you just kind of dashing off?
[00:04:39] Speaker C: No, I think I'd want to.
As long as I can do it swiftly and kind of in passing. I'd probably want to let others know in case they want to come with.
[00:04:51] Speaker A: Sure.
[00:04:51] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:04:52] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:04:53] Speaker C: But, yeah, my plan would be tailing this lady through the streets, see where she goes, like mustow asked us to.
[00:05:01] Speaker A: Okay.
Yeah. In which case, Atta, you've seen that your child workers, your child informants, have just kind of scattered to the wind as they start getting herded up by the orphanage workers. You see them all, like the orphanage workers are looking at each other because each of these children are clutching, like, gleaming gold coins. And as one of them passes you, you notice that the stamps on the gold coin, like elysian gold, the gold that's still in circulation, unfortunately, still has the crest of house antelia on one side to kind of denote it as Elysia.
The coins that these kids have got is, they're octagonal and they bear a crest that you've never seen before.
[00:05:59] Speaker F: Is it possible to try and go and get a closer look whilst they kind of go, just chat with the kids and be like, oh, that's cool. Can I look at it and hold my hands behind my back? Because kids don't.
[00:06:19] Speaker A: Sure.
[00:06:20] Speaker F: I'm looking with my eyes, not with my hands.
[00:06:22] Speaker A: Yeah. So this pigtailed kind of young keeper girl just sort of, like, looks at you a bit warily and then just kind of, as you put your arms behind your back, she kind of slowly shows you this coin. And, yeah, it looks freshly.
And as I say, the symbol of house antelier is quite distinctive. You've pretty much seen it all of your life.
There was a lot of talk about getting all of the currency of Alicia reminted after the war, but that opportunity has now been lost to the void.
These coins aren't from alicia.
[00:07:21] Speaker F: Okay, noted. Thank you.
[00:07:25] Speaker A: So. Yes. Sorry. With that in.
So, are you planning on doing stealth for the initial bit until you kind of make contact with this purple woman?
[00:07:37] Speaker B: Yeah, I think so.
[00:07:39] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:07:39] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:07:41] Speaker A: In which case, I'm going to ask, is Magpie taking the lead on this mission? The tailing?
[00:07:52] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:07:53] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:07:55] Speaker C: If anyone else has strong feelings about it, would Falgi might want to.
[00:08:01] Speaker E: Are you going to be mostly on foot or are you going to try and get up on some rooftops?
[00:08:06] Speaker C: I could, I suppose.
I think I was going to start on street level and see how I go.
[00:08:16] Speaker A: Okay, so what do we imagine everyone else is doing if Magpie is kind of. Are you all kind of giving chase but letting Magpie lead? Or are you all kind of branching off and attempting to get him in your own ways?
[00:08:35] Speaker D: I think, first off, I think Magpie is a perfect person to lead this, considering the nature of it.
Rita would be very aware that she's not very stealthy. So I think she'd be hanging back, maybe trying to move in the general direction of this woman, but very much sticking within the crowd so that it just looks like she's just another person sort of sticking by. But we'll be keeping an eye out more for her crew members just in case anything goes down.
[00:09:15] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:09:16] Speaker E: I think Catherine's going to sort of be somewhere in the middle of sort of Frieda and magpie. He's got a little bit of a prowley to him, but he's probably going to keep relatively close to Frieda as well, knowing that there are sort of guards around, sort of patrolling at the moment.
[00:09:32] Speaker A: Sure.
[00:09:33] Speaker D: Someone's going to keep you out of trouble.
[00:09:36] Speaker A: Okay. And Algonon?
[00:09:39] Speaker B: Well, my prowling days are over, I fear. But I wouldn't mind getting a closer look at the party of tavarien and perhaps the black guard and see what they were up.
[00:09:54] Speaker A: So you okay? In which case, if you're doing that, how are you engaging?
[00:10:05] Speaker F: I think I'm going to be hanging back with Frida. Unless Frida. Unless I'm going to cramp Frida's style, I don't think I will.
But as I sort of head in that direction. Do I have an idea of that? Algonon and cavern are, like, traveled outside of Elysia quite a lot. We've discussed that as a team.
[00:10:29] Speaker A: Yeah, Algonon very much so.
[00:10:32] Speaker F: Okay.
Just as I sort of make my way to Frieda, try and kind of, like, do a little drive by, Algonon and cavern, and kind of quickly describe coin and then head to sit with Frieda.
[00:10:47] Speaker A: Sure.
Algonon. Well, Ata kind of catches up to you, or heads over to you.
Are you just kind of describing the coin that you saw as best you can?
[00:11:03] Speaker F: Yeah, as best I can. Just describing. And it's like kind of casually as, I guess the crowds are dispersing places. I don't want it to seem like I'm trying to be as natural as possible, I suppose.
[00:11:17] Speaker A: Sure.
Well, Algonon, as atta kind of gives you this description.
Octagonal coin.
The sigil was of varying sizes of overlapping circles with kind of lines and runes, kind of through them.
You saw a lot of places when you were in the military.
And whilst a lot of your work was around the sort of like regions of kind of glasmier, you had a brief stay over in Huglestatt and a number of those kind of more western, what was once upon a time, western kind of settlements.
You've never heard or seen of currency in this form.
The currency in itself just seems. It's not so much that it's not a currency you've ever heard of before. It's the fact that it looked new. You know, that Alicia wouldn't have been smelting currency during the war.
And Alicia has been adrift for at least two years. So all the currency that's currently been passing around, at the very least, I should say would be almost a decade old, with a decade of wear and tear on it. But the luster that Atta describes.
Freshly minted.
[00:12:53] Speaker B: Fascinating intelligence, Atta. Well done. Not something I recognize, I am afraid. Not a currency of any known nation.
But the freshly minted nature of this gold coins is intriguing. Don't you agree?
[00:13:08] Speaker F: I do. And I love it when you get intrigued, Alganon.
[00:13:15] Speaker B: And there's more and more options, more and more occasions for intrigue nowadays.
[00:13:25] Speaker A: Magpie, please roll me an engagement role and let's have a look. The operation, I would argue, is not particularly bold or daring, nor overly complex or contingent on many factors between a person. So no difference there. No ads or minuses there.
The plans detail doesn't expose a vulnerability or where they're weak. Here, arguably, the target is vulnerable because they don't know they're being tailed. Yes, I would argue that. Are we in agreement?
[00:14:02] Speaker C: Sure. Does that give us a plus one?
[00:14:05] Speaker A: D will give you plus one, plus one dice.
As far as you know, there are no enemies or rivals interfering with the operation. Sorry, there aren't really any other elements to consider.
So, actually, you know what? There are quite a lot of city watch kind of milling about as they begin to disperse from the park. So I will argue that there are kind of rivals operating in the area insomuch as you just have to work around the city watch just to make sure you don't kind of catch their attention, they might just start harassing people.
[00:14:47] Speaker D: Can I suggest a flashback to maybe change that or sort of aid that a little bit?
Or does it not really work on engagement roles?
[00:14:59] Speaker A: Well, what are you thinking?
[00:15:00] Speaker D: Well, I thought if Frida was sort of canvassing the sort of watch and the guards and mucking about with the juniors to try and draw their attentions away, I imagine quite a few bottles of wine and other delicious alcohols probably would have passed hands, particularly from Frieda, to these impressionable youths.
So maybe they're not quite as on point as they usually would be.
[00:15:36] Speaker C: Got the whole city guard drum and.
[00:15:38] Speaker D: I'm happy to do a consort role to see if that happens.
[00:15:49] Speaker A: Roll me a consort. And I will say so effectively, this is like the night before and maybe you got. Yeah, roll the consort. You were attempting to get a number of the guard kind of a bit trolleyed.
[00:16:04] Speaker D: Picture this. I had entered a tavern where I knew that the younger city watch boys and girls and anyone else would frequent on their downtime. And I would have made a point of getting the rounds in, of being a bit round, of just being a real sort of party.
[00:16:30] Speaker A: Sure.
[00:16:31] Speaker D: Rabble rouser.
[00:16:32] Speaker A: Tell you what, I will offer you a devil's bargain. Insomnuch that in exchange for a coin, right?
You provide a finer vintage than what might normally be on offer.
[00:16:45] Speaker D: Okay?
[00:16:46] Speaker A: Extra nice.
[00:16:47] Speaker D: Yeah, sure. Why not? So if I've got two in Consort plus the devil's bargain, and then as a wolfkin, I get an extra die on top of that as part of.
[00:16:57] Speaker A: My usual super ability.
[00:17:00] Speaker D: Yeah, go on then. That's four dice.
[00:17:02] Speaker C: Right?
[00:17:02] Speaker A: Four dice.
[00:17:03] Speaker D: That's four dice. See how this goes.
[00:17:10] Speaker A: Partial success.
Okay.
The difficulty is that you just had to kind of hedge your bets, because when this lady in purple arrived, you kind of didn't know what direction you'd be tailing her and it would be nigh on impossible to get the entirety of the city guard drunk. Absolutely. So, yeah, you were just kind of targeting a number of the kind of taverns for various districts, presumably the city watch outpost nearest Spire park.
[00:17:52] Speaker D: I think we like to call it a pub crawl where I come from.
[00:17:55] Speaker A: Yes.
Okay, tell you what, the guards are drunk, so there will be an extra hungover, I should say. The guards are hungover. So there's an extra dice on the engagement roll. However, because they were chastised by their superiors for being drunk on the night before this memorial day, if they do have a call to arms, they will respond with a greater response because they've got to make it up in their sergeant's eyes, basically.
So they're being a bit more ruthless in order to kind of cheer up the fuzz. But you will get an extra dice off the get go.
[00:18:40] Speaker C: Right.
[00:18:41] Speaker A: So I believe it's just an engagement.
[00:18:45] Speaker C: Roll with one extra die on it.
[00:18:48] Speaker A: Two extra dice.
[00:18:50] Speaker C: Okay.
[00:18:50] Speaker A: One for the stealth approach and two for the guards on the route that you'll be taking are a bit groggy.
[00:18:58] Speaker C: Sure. Okay.
Shall I roll it?
[00:19:02] Speaker A: Yeah, go for it.
[00:19:07] Speaker C: Right.
[00:19:08] Speaker D: I really thought that was going to be like a three then.
[00:19:11] Speaker A: Mixed results. Okay, so you begin kind of following the lady in purple on foot whilst Frieda Cavern and Atta just kind of like, tail behind you and magpie like. Whilst you're being discreet, you're kind of using the crowds as cover as you're walking through. But there comes a point where you turn a corner as you approach abbotsgate proper. So you approach the large, kind of walled area north of Spire park, where a lot of the governmental buildings are, sort of like the tower where the intelligence service resides, as well as the area is dominated by the cathedral of our glorious mother, like the home of the iron faith in this area. And as you kind of approach the gates, everyone gets a bit slowed down because people are being kind of checked through the gate kind of thing.
You kind of get caught up a little bit and the lady in purple disappears from view.
So you kind of know roughly where she is, but you haven't got eyes on her anymore.
Off the back of that magpie. As you kind of make it through the checkpoint into Abbott's gate, what do you do?
[00:20:39] Speaker C: I guess the first thing I want to do is see. Can I just pick up. Can I just see her if I look around first?
[00:20:46] Speaker A: Well, so she has disappeared from view. I would argue to regain her location. It would more be a hunt.
[00:20:59] Speaker C: I'm not very good at hunt.
Shall I get up on the roofs again?
[00:21:04] Speaker A: That might be better, Ken, if you like. Yeah. I mean, you're absolutely right because it is kind of crowded. I will argue that it's a desperate role, a desperate standard, even if I.
[00:21:19] Speaker C: Slip into a side street or something.
[00:21:23] Speaker A: Because, let's say there's a lot of people filtering through these kind of government buildings.
[00:21:27] Speaker C: Right. So because I'm climbing. Is it still survey or is it.
[00:21:33] Speaker A: We'll call it prowl.
[00:21:34] Speaker C: Okay. Yeah. So say it again. It's prowl.
[00:21:39] Speaker A: Desperate. Let's go. Because actually you'll get above the crowd. So let's say desperate. Greater effect.
[00:21:45] Speaker C: Right, okay. Go big or go home.
Okay. I get a plus two to prowl.
[00:21:54] Speaker A: Do you want to push yourself?
[00:21:56] Speaker C: Not maybe that gets one extra, is it?
[00:22:02] Speaker A: So two stress for one extra dice?
[00:22:07] Speaker C: No, I don't want to do effect.
[00:22:09] Speaker A: But you're already at greater.
[00:22:12] Speaker C: Yeah, I don't think.
I guess I could take two stress. That's fine, I'll go plus one and two stress. Okay.
Right, roll it.
Nice. Success. Critical success, in fact.
[00:22:33] Speaker A: So let's start a clock for the purple lady.
You have got a six. And it was a greater. Oh, it was a crip, wasn't it?
[00:22:46] Speaker C: It was a crip, yeah.
[00:22:47] Speaker A: So that whooshes you up by, I believe, five.
[00:22:53] Speaker C: Whoa. Oh, boy.
[00:22:55] Speaker A: Okay, so, yeah, you managed to kind of move away from the crowds into such a secluded and a location. Secluded enough that you're able to sort of scale. It was effectively like a fire escape up one of the sides of the buildings, up onto the roofs.
And whilst using the fact that everyone's kind of chattering to each other as they leave Memorial Day, you're able to kind of presumably jump sort of rooftop to rooftop to kind of get through the crowds that much quicker and you find yourself sort of like at a good vantage point where no matter what, if she does kind of go through the area, which you're pretty sure she kind of has to, you're going to clap eyes on her sooner or later.
[00:23:46] Speaker C: Sure.
[00:23:48] Speaker A: What is like Frida Kavrin and what are those three doing?
[00:23:55] Speaker E: Anyone in particular sort of being Magpie's eyes on the ground.
I'm going to see if I can do a survey. See if I can do survey sort of through the crowd and see what I can find from sort of ground level.
[00:24:11] Speaker A: Again, you can do the survey. I would argue that the effect won't be that great because of all of the crowds. Potentially a hunt might give you a better result.
[00:24:21] Speaker E: You're not got no hunt.
[00:24:23] Speaker C: That dog don't hunt.
[00:24:25] Speaker E: That dog. Don't.
[00:24:29] Speaker A: Anyone?
Does anyone wish to aid Catherine in his search?
So it'd be stress for an extra dice, I believe, yeah.
[00:24:42] Speaker F: Oh, look at both of you.
[00:24:46] Speaker C: Both. Aiden.
[00:24:50] Speaker F: Do you want the stress? Frida. I'll do it next time you do it. Well, if it makes sense to do it, I'll do it next time.
[00:24:56] Speaker C: Catherine's going to go.
[00:24:58] Speaker E: Frida, over here, over here, over here. And he's going to try and climb up on your shoulders.
[00:25:05] Speaker D: All right, this again. I see. And, yeah, I'm going to let Kavrin climb up on my shoulders so that you can see over the crown.
[00:25:17] Speaker A: Sure.
So, Frida takes a stress.
[00:25:21] Speaker D: Is it one or two stress?
[00:25:22] Speaker B: It's one if you're helping.
[00:25:25] Speaker A: So, Gavin. Yeah? Feel free to give me a like. As you get a slightly higher advantage, give me a survey with an extra dice for a laugh. I will throw in the devil's wagon if you want it. That no matter what you catch, the attention of the city watch.
[00:25:46] Speaker C: Would make sense.
Good.
[00:25:49] Speaker A: Up from there.
[00:25:55] Speaker E: No, I won't take that devil's bargain. So, one extra dice.
[00:25:59] Speaker A: Risky.
Risky. I would say risky. Limited. Risky.
[00:26:05] Speaker B: Limited.
[00:26:07] Speaker E: Let's go.
[00:26:11] Speaker C: Ooh.
[00:26:13] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:26:13] Speaker E: Not as good as do it.
[00:26:15] Speaker A: You do it, but there's a consequence. Okay, that is absolutely fine, because off the back of that, you'll still get at least one segment, which completes the clock. So as you kind of lift up over the crowds, you see specifically, like the top hat, the very kind of distinctive top hat.
And as you kind of look down to freedom, be like.
And you look up to see if you can see Magpie. And Magpie, sure enough, you see, it's very easy to see cavern kind of elevated over the crowds.
Like Catherine, as you kind of wave to magpie, like, you kind of discreetly get attention. Stop. Like pointing near one of the exits from abbotsgate into the adjoining district of old town.
[00:27:11] Speaker C: Right? So if I start making my way towards the roofs of old town, I'm hoping I can keep track of her that way.
[00:27:21] Speaker D: Hey, listen here, short scales, I'm not carrying you the whole bloody way.
[00:27:25] Speaker A: Get out.
[00:27:26] Speaker C: Oh, go on.
[00:27:27] Speaker A: Just like old times.
Meanwhile, Algonon, you're kind of heading towards the stage area where Tavaren and Algarve and whatnot were as you approach. What is it you're kind of focusing on? What is it you're kind of getting involved with?
[00:27:49] Speaker B: So there's three things I'm looking to see if I can see Tavarian and maybe get an opportunity to speak with her. I'm looking for the courier who delivered that letter to Algarve during the speech and I definitely do not want to bump into.
[00:28:06] Speaker A: Sure, sure. So in which case, as you approach the stage area, you spy. Like, it's very easy to pick out Algarve because he's surrounded by a small bodyguard contingent of black guard. And not even from your time in the EIC. So the Elysian intelligence Corps, the foreign service, you do not mess with the black guard. There is a reason why they are Algarve's personal guard.
But it's very clear, very easy to spot them with their kind of gleaming gold and lacquered black armor, their rich, flowing red cloaks.
But interestingly, you note that Algarve isn't heading back to the keep. He seems to be climbing into his personal carriage.
And you watch as with kind of a snort, the warhog that is attached to the front begins trundling off, pulling the carriage away from the castle towards abbotsgate. Give me a survey as you try to look out for either the messenger or tavarian.
[00:29:35] Speaker C: Oh, no.
[00:29:36] Speaker D: Chase scene.
[00:29:39] Speaker A: Okay.
When you get to the stage you can see a lot of scribes and paper writers for Alicia's now only publication, the treaties.
You can see them kind of comparing notes and kind of talking amongst each other. There's a lot of kind of hubbub as everyone kind of starts dissecting what Tavareen was saying in her speech and sort of like, the messenger is gone. You're not able to lie higher than him. But curiously, Tavareen seems to have is nowhere to be seen.
But based off what you know of know, it's clear she made like she left in a hurry. So I would argue that you have lost this opportunity.
[00:30:35] Speaker B: And I'm a little bit distracted by the journalists. Yes, I say, you don't know the people in the department who compiled the cryptic crossword. I have a few suggestions for new clues.
[00:30:51] Speaker A: One of the journalists looks over. It's a little physically little water sprite who looks up to you and.
Oh, yes, actually that would be great.
We found ourselves in a bit of a lull, but yeah, if you've started.
[00:31:12] Speaker B: To recycle them, I've noticed.
[00:31:13] Speaker A: Yeah, well, you did notice that. And this water sprite gives an accusing look to one of their fellow lorevar.
Well, yes, tell you what, here's my details. And the water sprite hands you a little kind of business card.
And the business card says, quite simply, be jammery and then write off all the treaties.
There's no address because quite frankly, no one needs it.
[00:32:03] Speaker B: Well, Jamari, thank you.
I shall get compiling myself. Say, you didn't happen to overhear where the lady tovarien might have scuttled off to.
[00:32:16] Speaker A: The water sprite thinks for a moment and then kind of turns to the other treaties journalists.
Did you see where Tara went, please roll me a.
I'm going to roll a. I'm going to do two dice because there were a lot of eyes.
Do a fortune.
The journalist looked to you and I'm afraid not.
Yeah, I'm afraid not. She's gone like the wind, it would seem.
Perhaps she left her mushrooms cooking.
[00:32:58] Speaker B: Yes, quite well.
Maybe the standard of the articles in the treaties needs updating as well as the crosswords.
[00:33:09] Speaker A: Jamari furrows their brow at you and they kind of nod to you and turn back to the other journalists to carry on. What's Magpie doing?
[00:33:24] Speaker C: Magpie is making her way towards old town, over the roofs and still keeping a good lookout.
[00:33:32] Speaker A: Well, the good news is, as you kind of move towards the edge of Abbotsgate, you approach the area of the wall that borders between abbotsgate and Old Town.
Whilst they are effectively ramparts, it's not like they're manned or anything, it's more of like a status symbol. So you're able to effectively kind of jump across onto the walls and kind of make your way down to ground level to then head into Old Town.
[00:34:07] Speaker C: Okay.
[00:34:10] Speaker A: But as you do sort of like the people, obviously, the further away from Spire park you get, the more dispersed the crowds are as people go back to their respective places.
And you can see there's a lot of kind of clustered groups of civilians. And you would know from looking at them, kind of gangers loitering around old town. There's a couple of furtive looks as certain gangers are eyeing up the distracted citizens, just in case there are any kind of loose purse strings or whatnot.
But whilst everyone's kind of wearing a medley of kind of car keys and browns and grays, you quite quickly see the splash of purple.
[00:35:05] Speaker C: I think at this point, given it's. Well, there's never really daytime, is there? But socially speaking, it's daytime. It's kind of middle of the day.
Everyone's been out at the celebration and stuff. I think a woman stalking the streets in a dark cloak is probably more conspicuous. So I think by this point, she will have put her cloak away and is just trying to appear like a person out on the streets on celebration day, on Memorial Day. So, yeah, I spot her ahead as I'm closing up my bag that I've got slung over my shoulder and I carry on, no worries.
[00:35:49] Speaker A: Okay.
You decloak from your stock magpie attire.
[00:35:56] Speaker C: So now I'm just in the clothes I wore to the celebration, which would have been relatively comfortable, dark but respectable clothes for a lady of my station, I suppose, but not nothing splashy. I deliberately didn't dress up today, so I hopefully will fit in a bit.
[00:36:17] Speaker A: More, in which case, as you kind of blend in better with the crowds, you notice, give me a roll. Me a prowl.
[00:36:32] Speaker C: Sure.
What are the conditions of this prowl?
[00:36:38] Speaker A: I'm going to say now that you're definitely kind of deliberately blended in, in plain sight, let's say risky greater.
[00:36:48] Speaker C: Risky. Great. Lovely.
[00:36:50] Speaker A: Sorry. Risky standard.
[00:36:52] Speaker C: Risky standard. That's fine. Yeah, that works for me. I get a plus two to this. I think I'll just take the plus two.
That's okay. Is that allowed?
[00:37:03] Speaker A: Yeah.
You follow the lady in purple, and you notice that the lady in purple doesn't seem to be moving through the streets with any real sense of kind of urgency.
Yet as she begins traveling through the winding, turning back streets and alleys of Old Town.
Old Town itself looks like a bit of a maze with these kind of towering townhouses that kind of seemingly lean over you. We're talking three, four stories tall. There's impromptu gangways between some of the upper floors and sort of, like, connecting balconies and whatnot.
There are some streets that are just for all expense purposes, blocked off because people are just kind of stacked boxes and crates, and it's just a bit of a labyrinth.
And despite the fact that she's seemingly ambling, every time you turn a corner to follow her, you always see her just about to take another turn. So she's always kind of just disappearing out of sight as you kind of clap eyes back on her again.
And you realize that even though you're kind of keeping up with her, you turn back and look, and you can't even remember the route you've taken, which means that the three that are tailing you, Catherine, Frieda, and Assa, arguably have no chance.
So you're kind of on your own.
[00:38:40] Speaker C: Great. Kind of on your own alone in Old Town.
[00:38:45] Speaker A: But you finally, like, as you turn a corner, as you turn a right, you see the woman in purple in front of a door of what seems to be a relatively kind of abandoned or it looks like an abandoned building.
[00:39:03] Speaker C: I melt into the shadows.
[00:39:06] Speaker A: Well, yeah, you have to kind of double back and pull yourself back, because as she's kind of stopped halfway down the alleyway, as you come around the corner, you see her head start to turn to look in your direction as you throw yourself back. Yeah, but you hear the sound of a key turning, like a lock unlocking a door opening and then closing.
[00:39:29] Speaker C: Excellent. Excellent.
[00:39:32] Speaker A: Atta Cavern and Frieda, you kind of emerge into the streets of Old Town as well, and you kind of look around through all the throngs of people, as dispersed as they are, you haven't got monkeys where Magpie is.
If anything, Frieda, you're probably more preoccupied by the suspicious eyes from the other kind of gangers that you see loitering around that are just kind of eyeing you up. You suspect that perhaps some of them know you. Perhaps they bet against you in a fighting pit once upon a time, in the not too recent past, not too distant past, but, yeah, you can feel the kind of the tension in the air that's lingered in Old Town ever since the old leader of the tellers, what used to be the bankers of Alicia, was found hanged in the crossroads. But, yeah, you kind of have no idea where Magpie's gone.
[00:40:42] Speaker D: There's a bit of a situation.
[00:40:45] Speaker F: Ata's got a weird theory that Ata's thinking about that might help.
Just saying it might help.
This is the anniversary of the veil, the bubble, the shield.
[00:41:01] Speaker A: Correct.
[00:41:02] Speaker F: I feel like. Although correct me if I'm wrong, the things that are pressing up against are a little bit more activated on this, the anniversary of bubble.
And I think there's a few things that Atta's thinking about. Atta was thinking like, are they going to be following Tavarian?
Are they going to be following Tavarian? Are they going to be following purple clad person? Or are they maybe in a place where maybe they can point towards. Maybe Magpie, I guess at Isa is going to try and kind of.
[00:41:46] Speaker D: You're going to do some hooky dookie try and talk.
[00:41:54] Speaker F: On the streets of Old Town.
[00:41:56] Speaker E: I'm sure you won't be the only one.
[00:42:02] Speaker F: At has kind of got these sort of three. Oh, maybe the Tavorian. Maybe they'd be willing to help if we're looking for Magpie. Or maybe they point towards the purple. So I guess Atta's just going to try and, like, as we're walking along, Cavern and Frida are just, like, on the shoulders and Atta's just staring up, trying to zone in on whether they're pointing any particular way.
[00:42:28] Speaker A: Sure. That sounds very much like an attune.
I would argue you're doing this off the main road, though, sort of. So you've still got line of sight.
[00:42:40] Speaker C: That's a hell of an assumption, isn't it? This is at it we're talking about.
[00:42:43] Speaker A: That's not doing completely public hooky dookie.
[00:42:46] Speaker C: Okay?
[00:42:47] Speaker F: Not completely public hooky dookie. I feel like, I guess I wonder if the streets have a lot of.
What's the word?
Debris. Like, if you're talking like, boarded up shops or anything.
[00:43:03] Speaker A: Sure.
[00:43:04] Speaker F: There are, like, places to.
[00:43:06] Speaker A: There'd be places where you could be a bit discreet. That's actually fine. Yeah. Okay. Roll me an attune to hook some dukes.
[00:43:15] Speaker C: Hook the duke.
[00:43:18] Speaker F: What's the.
[00:43:20] Speaker A: I'm going to say the fitch. I'm going to say, interestingly risky standard.
[00:43:29] Speaker F: Can I push myself, please?
[00:43:31] Speaker A: You may push yourself for too stress.
[00:43:34] Speaker F: Thanks.
[00:43:35] Speaker C: Can I give you a devil's bargain? That if you do this, you will make friends with the ghost who will bother you later in the session.
[00:43:42] Speaker F: That sounds great.
[00:43:46] Speaker C: I mean, that is for Dan to decide whether it's great.
[00:43:51] Speaker A: I'm.
[00:43:55] Speaker F: There are a lot of guards around. Maybe.
[00:43:56] Speaker A: I was going to say, well, devil's bargain, you will gain some attention, not necessarily from the watch.
[00:44:05] Speaker C: Okay.
[00:44:06] Speaker F: Yeah, I'll take it. Give me.
[00:44:10] Speaker A: Okay. Devil's bargain.
[00:44:12] Speaker F: So is that like, plus two?
[00:44:15] Speaker A: Plus two for now, yeah.
[00:44:16] Speaker C: Okay.
[00:44:17] Speaker A: Or you can up your effect for one.
[00:44:20] Speaker F: I kind of want to up my effect, if that's cool. So I'll take one extra dive for push and then I'll move to.
[00:44:26] Speaker A: Great thunderball.
[00:44:28] Speaker F: Okay. Let's see what happens.
Oh, no, that's okay.
[00:44:35] Speaker C: Five.
[00:44:35] Speaker F: I didn't fail. Fail.
[00:44:37] Speaker A: Five.
[00:44:38] Speaker F: Let me do my stress. Was it two stress. Right.
[00:44:41] Speaker A: Two stress. Correct.
You reduced effect. Okay.
Fundamentally, you're able. So as you peer up and kind of squint and turn your head slightly, you know those optic illusion puzzles where they're just like a mess of shapes and like when you let your eyes defocus, like the pops out.
[00:45:11] Speaker C: Matricai.
[00:45:12] Speaker A: Yeah. So it's a little bit like that. As you kind of glaze over slightly, the shapes that you can see within, the kind of the void around you, they start forming. You can almost start seeing the outlines of these kind of humanoid esque shapes that are just sort of like pulling themselves across the outer edge of the veil, just sort of like strip. It's like someone's kind of pulling their face across a pane of glass and kind of peering in like children at an aquarium. Rio.
And we are noticed that they are more numerous than usual.
And there does seem to be, like. There seems to be a point not too far away, like somewhere over there that way, where they seem to be almost clustered, perhaps, like they're being drawn to something.
And as you watch, more and more of these shapes start filtering into that direction to that point.
But it's difficult to say, because some of them arrive and then just kind of evaporate away and kind of climbing, clambering over one another.
But you can't get the opportunity to spot exactly, use that exactly as a pinpoint location before the three of you were approached by some relatively young looking Laura VR who just kind of, like, one of them sizes you up.
Cavern. And how come you get two girlfriends?
What do you think?
[00:47:10] Speaker E: I've just got two.
[00:47:16] Speaker A: The three utes look to one another, and we just don't think that's fair, that you're, like, stealing up more than you should have.
[00:47:27] Speaker E: I don't ask for them. They just come to.
[00:47:32] Speaker A: Like, one of the slightly more muscular of the three. Kind of like siddles up to you, Frieda, and he looks like you could break him like a twig. How about, I know this nice little place they do some banging mushroom wine.
[00:47:58] Speaker D: Frieda just sort of like. I'm guessing she's looking down at him because Frieda's a tall lass. Yes, looking down, she just sort of pushes her sleeves back from her forearms.
[00:48:10] Speaker A: And for you it would be like, oh, you are a child. But, yeah, this kid is looking up at you and there's so much smug.
[00:48:19] Speaker D: Confidence on his face, and I'm going to just slightly bend down to his. So we're meeting eye to eye, and I'm going to match that smug, shit eaten grin on his face.
All right then, bud. You and me, just the two of us in that back alley back there, eh? Is that what you want?
[00:48:44] Speaker A: Okay, tell you what, I'm not entirely sure what you hope the outcome of this will be.
Let's go with.
[00:48:54] Speaker D: He mentioned breaking like a twig, didn't he?
[00:48:57] Speaker A: Let's go with a.
What are you hoping to achieve?
[00:49:05] Speaker D: This is essentially, the effect is to intimidate him.
[00:49:12] Speaker C: It feels like emotional wreck, doesn't it?
[00:49:14] Speaker D: Yes, it's intimidations through psyche rendering.
If he's whipped his twig out, I've just whipped a whole tree trunk out type thing.
[00:49:31] Speaker A: Okay, I think that does still fall under sway because you influence with guile, charm or argument. Yeah, I think it kind of nestles in there somewhere.
[00:49:43] Speaker D: And if I fail, this is boyos getting a fucking slap.
[00:49:49] Speaker A: I'm going to argue it is risky greater because as you kind of squat down slightly and peer at his now slightly nervous eyes under his slightly off kilter kind of hat, he doesn't seem quite so sure of himself anymore.
[00:50:08] Speaker D: Okay, risky. Great. Roll sway.
[00:50:13] Speaker C: Oh, boy. Yeah, you did it. There's going to be two dookies on.
[00:50:19] Speaker A: This street, in which case the three, like you hear an ever so, just loud enough for you to hear the.
And like the, the slightly more muscular one turns to the other two gangs and goes, maybe we should, you know, maybe we should just, let's go. And the three of them just turn and wander off. And you've noticed that the swagger has gone and they're almost kind of like scurrying away a little bit as you stand back up to your full height.
[00:51:00] Speaker D: Imagine it. Girlfriend. He called me a girlfriend.
[00:51:05] Speaker E: Cameron's going to go up and just squeeze Frieda's muscles and just go. I love it when you do that.
[00:51:16] Speaker A: Okay, so as you say that, Algonon, your leads are suspiciously cold.
Is there anything you're doing to jump in?
[00:51:26] Speaker B: So my warmest lead is I think I'd quite like to know where Algarve is speeding off to with his black guard.
[00:51:34] Speaker A: Yes. Okay.
[00:51:36] Speaker B: And I think I'm going to find one of the young hungover guards, the soldiers who it seems to be like in this backstage area still.
And I'm just going to go up to them and I have a little hip flask of fine whiskey and I say, oh, you're looking a bit under the weather there, young private. Fancy hair of the dog.
[00:52:11] Speaker A: The city watchman just kind of gives you a wary look because currently he stood to attention and doing his best to look alert and attentive.
And that continues when he first inspects you and then as his eyes travel down to the little flask you've got discreetly at your side, you notice that his shoulders kind of drop and he relaxes a little bit and he says, I could get into a lot of trouble if I drank that.
[00:52:50] Speaker B: It's okay. Just between you and me, old boy, I'm an old soldier myself. I can tell you it doesn't do any harm in the long run.
[00:52:59] Speaker A: The guard kind of shiftedly looks around and turns to face you like front on, and then discreetly holds a hand out for the flask.
[00:53:11] Speaker B: I hand it to him. You're not looking for the black guard, are you? They seem to have scuttled off somewhere.
[00:53:19] Speaker A: No, I'm glad that they've pissed off. They scare the bejesus out of me, he says as he starts sipping at the flask.
That's good stuff.
[00:53:31] Speaker B: You don't see a role in their ranks, in your future.
[00:53:36] Speaker A: The whole vowel silence thing just gives me the willy.
[00:53:40] Speaker B: It's eerie. No.
[00:53:45] Speaker A: But he sort of like takes a second swig and then screws it back on and coughs slightly and hands it back to you.
How long have you been brewing that?
[00:53:59] Speaker B: Oh, it's been in my family's cellar since, I'd say at least 23 years.
[00:54:10] Speaker A: The guard kind of. Kind of nods and can't, so I've ever drunk something older than me.
And he kind of chuckles to himself as like he feels the warmth spread through his kind of chest and stomach and then he kind of pauses. He thinks about it. And are you hoping to get some information out of him?
[00:54:31] Speaker F: It's been really interesting to see the cat as soon as we started playing like fully want JC.
[00:54:38] Speaker B: Yeah, go fully feral.
[00:54:40] Speaker C: She's so needy.
[00:54:41] Speaker E: Then it has been quite good, you sort of talking and just stroking the.
[00:54:45] Speaker B: Cat argon on a small cat at all times.
[00:54:54] Speaker A: Were you hoping for some potential information from this young city guard while you've been stood here?
[00:55:03] Speaker B: No.
[00:55:08] Speaker F: It'S the knowing Algonon's voice.
[00:55:17] Speaker B: Well, you've been stood here all afternoon listening to speeches and what not. I assume you may have overheard some information about where our boy Algarve might have scuttled off to. Or perhaps the Lady Torvienne.
[00:55:31] Speaker A: Well, Varian said she had another meeting. I would have thought that she would have had the rest of her day clear, but yeah, no, she scuttled off. Fastest I've ever seen the old deer move in a while. But yeah, said that if anyone wants to ask, they could see her back at her residence later this evening.
[00:55:59] Speaker B: Quite well.
[00:56:00] Speaker A: Very.
[00:56:00] Speaker B: Thank you very much. Private. You didn't happen to catch the message that our old boy was.
[00:56:10] Speaker A: The city watchman? Kind of shakes his head and.
No, but martial art garve does get a lot of private messages more recently, but yeah, I mean in the nicest way possible. I think it's better if I don't know what he's been told in hush whispers.
[00:56:35] Speaker B: Yes, that is often the way.
[00:56:37] Speaker A: But it is unusual for him to just hop in the carriage and shoot off.
Also important that you got to go in a bloody carriage.
[00:56:48] Speaker B: With the gun when his home is just next door as well.
[00:56:54] Speaker A: I suppose when you're that filthy rich, you can do whatever the pissing hell you like.
[00:57:01] Speaker B: Quiet. Well, tell you what. Keep this whiskey.
[00:57:05] Speaker A: Sure. Well, thank you very much, he says, and he pockets the whiskey. He pops it in sort of one of his belt satchels.
Henson.
[00:57:20] Speaker B: Private Henson. Well met. My name is former Sergeant Terrence Kinghead.
[00:57:30] Speaker A: One of those eic lot. Well, I'll make sure that you don't catch me getting up to no good. And he kind of gives you a slightly nervous smirk and. Well, I better get going. The sergeants pretty pissed off. It was a bit of a wild night last night.
[00:57:48] Speaker B: Yes, I heard amongst the troops it was.
Got the fine alcohol flowing.
Hardly in the spirit of remembrance though, don't you think?
[00:57:58] Speaker A: Well, when times the fact we're all here, I think that's cause for celebration, you know?
[00:58:07] Speaker B: Yes. Well, I might find you again, Henson. And I'll keep this liquor to ourselves.
You wouldn't want your commanding officer finding out about it.
[00:58:20] Speaker A: Henson nods knowingly and you hear sort of like a bark.
And the Henson turns and looks and sees a very angry Majani man shouting his name. And he just kind of gives you a nods and scurries off to his sergeant.
Cool.
Magpie.
What do.
[00:58:43] Speaker C: What do?
So I've just seen purple lady go in a doorway, but I am a little bit lost in old town.
[00:58:50] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:58:51] Speaker C: Right. So I think I want to. I'm not going to pursue any further. I think I'm just going to sort of.
I guess I need to weigh up. Do I stay where I am? Kind of stake out the place? Do I look around, see if there are any alternative exits the purple lady might be coming out of, or do I go find the rest of my crew? Kind of. I think I want to try and figure out where I am in old Town because I need to be able to find my way out and back again.
[00:59:22] Speaker A: Sure. I mean, I reckon you could definitely do that with a survey.
[00:59:26] Speaker C: Yeah. Okay.
Survey.
Risky standard. Risky standard.
[00:59:33] Speaker A: Would you like to push yourself?
[00:59:35] Speaker C: Would I like to? I'm already on two stress taking up to four, wouldn't it?
[00:59:40] Speaker B: I could potentially assist you if you remind me what it is you're trying to do.
[00:59:47] Speaker C: Because I got a little bit turned around getting here. I know what building this lady is in, but I don't fully have my bearings. So I'm trying to kind of figure out where I am in old Town relative to places I kind of know so that I would be able to lead everybody back here, perhaps.
[01:00:12] Speaker A: Algonon's handed out a series of very detailed and comprehensive street maps for you all to use as part of your newly christened. Like your new smuggling endeavors.
[01:00:24] Speaker C: Yeah, it could be. That would make sense.
[01:00:27] Speaker A: So it would have street names, but also landmarks and notable points of reference.
[01:00:38] Speaker B: Now, criminal activity, it's likely that we'll find ourselves in the old town.
So I'd like you all to take an evening to study these maps I've prepared in case we ever get lost there. It's dangerous territory.
Multiple hands fighting over it.
[01:00:58] Speaker C: Okay, that sounds really good. So I get one extra die from one extra dice.
[01:01:03] Speaker B: Yes.
[01:01:04] Speaker C: Nice. Okay, then let's roll it.
It's a two, a fail.
[01:01:12] Speaker A: Okay.
[01:01:13] Speaker C: Whoops. I did not read the maps. I glanced at them and I went, this is boring. I did something else.
[01:01:23] Speaker A: Yes. Evidently, I'm lost. You curse yourself.
[01:01:27] Speaker C: Why did I read the map?
[01:01:29] Speaker A: Not doing your homework.
And as you sort of desperately start trying to look around to see you're trying your best to remember what was in on that mapping, like black door.
No, that's only three stories tall. And as you kind of, like you're staggering around, like, looking up primarily to try and try and kind of gauge where you are, you suddenly bump into someone that you like. As you turn around, suddenly you collide.
And as you're knocked back and you open your eyes to kind of steady yourself, in front of you is a very confused, elderly keeper.
And Tavarian looks to you and. Oh, my apologies, dear. Are you okay?
[01:02:29] Speaker C: I'm fine. It's Madam Tavarian.
[01:02:33] Speaker A: Yes.
Perhaps I should have been keeping a bit of an eye out. You seemed a bit confused.
[01:02:43] Speaker C: I'm hopelessly lost. I don't know old Town at all.
What are you doing here? Do you know your way around?
[01:02:52] Speaker A: She looks kind of like you. Catch her. You catch her in a moment and, oh, I'm meeting a friend for tea. I don't know, perhaps you missed it if you've been lost in Old Town. I just gave a speech for Memorial Day. And you can see the look in her eyes that says how. I can't believe you didn't attend Memorial Day.
[01:03:21] Speaker C: No, I was there. I was there. I heard it all.
I have to say, what you've done for the city.
I'm absolutely in awe.
I can't quite believe we're meeting like this, to be honest.
Do you know what street we're on right now?
[01:03:43] Speaker A: She smiles, places a hand on your shoulder and kind of like she points down the alleyway past the door that you saw the lady in purple enter. And she goes. If you keep going down that way and take the third left, you'll arrive at the crossroads.
[01:04:04] Speaker C: Oh, thank you. Thank you so much.
[01:04:09] Speaker A: And as you say that, as you go to kind of move away you notice that her hand is still kind of holding onto your shoulder.
Remember to always keep your chin up.
It's never usually as bad as it seems, right? It'll all be okay as long as you keep trying to make it okay.
[01:04:39] Speaker C: I mean, of course, but how much longer can we keep going like this? And she sort of gestures to the bubble and the spirits and the perpetual twilight and everything.
I'm just in awe of how you keep that optimism.
[01:05:02] Speaker A: In this moment. You notice a flicker of like there's a moment where her eyes glass over slightly and then they change back into the warm look that you've probably seen at some point in your life before.
And she kind of gives you a nod and on your way there's probably people worried about where you are.
[01:05:32] Speaker C: Well, likewise. Take care out there.
[01:05:36] Speaker A: She smiles and nods. She walks down the alleyway with you and then kind of gives you a wave as she stands by the door that you saw the lady in purple enter.
[01:05:46] Speaker C: She's standing by the door. Is she okay?
As I'm about to turn away I go, oh, I would kick myself if I didn't take the opportunity to ask.
There was a friend of mine at the speech in the square and I lost track of her.
She's quite distinctive. You haven't seen her, have you? A lorevar who wears purple.
[01:06:23] Speaker A: Tavarian turns to the door to start opening it and then she stops and with a surprising speed she turns to look at you and there's almost a flash of accusation in her eye.
No, I can't say I have seen such a distinctive individual, but I hope you find her.
[01:06:54] Speaker C: It was a long shot, but thank you.
[01:06:57] Speaker A: And Tavarian nods and almost to push the point, waves you off.
[01:07:05] Speaker C: I head off towards. I take her directions to the crossroads.
[01:07:10] Speaker A: Sure.
In which case are you going all the way or are you kind of doubling back?
[01:07:18] Speaker C: I think I'll sort of disappear off and wait to hear if a door opens and closes, because I suspect it's about to.
[01:07:31] Speaker A: Yes it does. You hear a turning of a lock, a key in a lock. You hear a door open, a door closed. But on the plus side, you do know where the crossroads are, which is a very notable point.
[01:07:42] Speaker C: Yeah, exactly.
So I feel like I'm reorientated a little bit now. Okay.
[01:07:49] Speaker A: The trio, as you kind of stand around like you watch these kind of youths disappear off and sort of like Frida, you're laughing to yourself, you hear a commotion from behind you and as you turn to look you hear sort of like the sounds of heavy wheels clattering across the uneven cobblestones, accompanied by the loud stomping and snorting of a ginormous warhog.
And you all immediately recognize the ornate carriage as the marshall. Like the royal carriage, the marshals carriage and jogging alongside the carriage are a number of the black lacquer armored, gold faceplated black guard.
And there are shouts from the driver of the carriage, out the way. Move out the way, out of the road, bellowing to everyone to get out of the way, because it's quite clear, like, you see one person that wasn't really paying attention who just gets a Halbert shaft to the side of the head from one of the black cars to forcefully knock them to the side.
And it's unusual to see, well, you expect this from Algarve's carriage, but it's also kind of unusual to see him here.
You watch the carriage trundle past you, and as it kind of wraps round to the left towards the crossroads, you hear in the distance the sound of the carriage will stop.
What do you do?
[01:09:46] Speaker F: The bubble says we should go sort of that way, sort of like vaguely in that way, like this direction at a kind of gestures in a.
[01:09:58] Speaker E: Is that following the same direction as where the car has gone?
[01:10:01] Speaker A: It would seem so.
[01:10:02] Speaker E: Well, it does look like it's gotten a hell of a lot more interesting.
[01:10:07] Speaker D: That'S for certain.
[01:10:09] Speaker E: Let's trust your spooky friends this time.
[01:10:14] Speaker A: As you make your way over Algonon, are you kind of still back towards Spire park, or have you caught, like, a one person, tuck tuck type taxi?
[01:10:28] Speaker B: Yes, I've held a handsome cab.
[01:10:30] Speaker A: Yeah.
[01:10:34] Speaker B: I've held a handsome cab and I've gone.
Do I know where Tovarien's residence was? That was the last clue that I got. Sure, I do want to arrive sort of at the crossroads where everyone is in Old Town.
[01:10:52] Speaker A: So you do know where Tavarian lives? In effect, most people do because of her status.
It's not an old road. It's not an old town.
Curiously, I suspect. Well, I guess one of your other leads is the direction that Algarve's carriage was going.
[01:11:14] Speaker B: Yes. I'm going to lean into the driver. Did you see Algarve's fine military carriage pass this way?
[01:11:23] Speaker A: She looks over her shoulder, and I did. I did. Like, wherever he's going, there's going to be something exciting happening.
[01:11:28] Speaker B: Did you want to follow that wagon, miss? Follow that wagon.
[01:11:31] Speaker A: Follow that wagon. Okay. And with a kick in the flank of the hog, the carriage kind of trundles off and starts kind of smooching along after Algarve's carriage. So in which case, cavern Frieda Atta. As you hear the sounds of the wheels of the carriage, Algarve's carriage stopping, you hear some more snorting. And as you turn to look, you see Algonon? Sort of like stopping the carriage and his taxi and climbing out and joining the three of you.
[01:12:06] Speaker D: All right, Algonon, how'd you do?
[01:12:09] Speaker B: My.
[01:12:11] Speaker D: Bad.
[01:12:12] Speaker E: Troubling good time.
[01:12:14] Speaker B: I see you've caught up with our purple lady and apprehended her already.
[01:12:19] Speaker A: Well.
[01:12:22] Speaker D: Not quite, but I'm sure Magpie's got it in hand. She knows what she's doing.
[01:12:28] Speaker C: Speaking of which, can I appear at this point?
Yeah. Find my way back to the others.
[01:12:36] Speaker A: Hi.
[01:12:36] Speaker D: And there she is now.
[01:12:38] Speaker C: Hello.
You all made it. Well done.
[01:12:42] Speaker A: Yeah. Magpie, do you relay, like, what you've seen?
[01:12:45] Speaker C: I do.
I relay the location that I saw the lady in purple flip into and the fact that I bumped into Tavarien was also making her way there and the conversation I had with her.
[01:13:04] Speaker A: Sure.
[01:13:05] Speaker D: I guess if you could have a group discussion about what we're doing. Are we going to sort of stake out Tavarien and a purple lady? Are we heading towards the. Sort of for the ruckus?
[01:13:17] Speaker A: So, Magpie, on your way back, because effectively you would had to have popped out by the crossroads to truly reorientate and then kind of, in effect, to take the long route round back. So you would have passed Algarve's carriage, which was stationary.
There were a couple of kind of black guard loitering around, just kind of very. In a very intimidating manner. It's hard to look at the black guards when they're looking at you because of the way that there's just something about their golden masks that makes them hard to look at. Perhaps it's the reflective red eyes, like the ruby like eyes, but yeah, giving them a distinct wide.
Why is Algarve's carriage here?
As know asks the question, what is it that we're like? The area around you has just kind of returned to a relatively kind of normal volume. There's people chattering, mainly people chattering, walking past, calling out to one another and so on and so forth.
When the calm is punctured with a gunshot, there are cries of panic as everyone instinctively kind of ducks and looks around and you see people looking at each other. And was that a firearm?
And you all know firearms being exceptionally dangerous weapons to use in Alicia due to their arcane power source, potentially disrupting and weakening the veil around you.
But the sound is distinctive as it rings through your ears. A singular staccato bang.
[01:15:19] Speaker C: Where'd it come from?
[01:15:21] Speaker A: You look at each other and Atta is still looking at the mess of ghosts over. You realize, Magpie, pretty much where the house that Tavarian and the lady in purple are.
[01:15:37] Speaker C: Could that be where the gunshot came from?
Is that what we're thinking?
[01:15:44] Speaker A: What do you do?
[01:15:46] Speaker C: I guess I suggest we all hustle round to the building in question.
[01:15:53] Speaker D: Aye, tootsuit.
[01:15:55] Speaker C: Yeah, tootsuite.
[01:15:58] Speaker A: As you hurry back like Magpie, you do your best to remember the routes that you took through these alleyways to get back here, but kind of almost. Well, now, using the map that Algonon gave you because you know where you were, because you left it, so you're just working back to it, just giving furtive looks to Algonon to be like, oh, look, I'm using your map.
You make it back to the corner where you bumped into tavarium.
And as you stop and peer around the corner, you can see that there are two black guards flanking the door.
And as the five of you discreetly peer round, you notice the door opens and Algarve steps out of the house into the alleyway. And he looks to the two guards and reholsters the pistol on his waist.
[01:16:56] Speaker C: Oh no.
[01:16:58] Speaker A: And without saying a word, the three turn and leave to head back, you realize, to the carriage.
[01:17:08] Speaker C: No.
[01:17:11] Speaker A: What do you do?
[01:17:13] Speaker C: Oh, no. I know what you've done. I know exactly what you've done.
Oh, boy.
[01:17:24] Speaker F: Magpie, did you see any other ways into the building when you were on the roof?
[01:17:31] Speaker C: I didn't get a chance to scout out it, no.
What do we do? We can't exactly just go up and knock on the front door, can we?
[01:17:46] Speaker A: Alginot, as your mind kind of is racing from the sudden, like the events have suddenly transpired, it dawns on you there was only one Gunshot, but based off Magpie's explanations, there were two people in that building.
[01:18:11] Speaker B: First of all, would you allow me to take a picture?
[01:18:16] Speaker A: Yes.
[01:18:17] Speaker B: Of Algarve leaving the scene, holstering his gun.
[01:18:22] Speaker A: Yes. Give me.
I'm going to imagine. So, given that you've got this kind of newfangled kind of picture capturing technology using kind of prisms and whatnot, mirrors.
[01:18:38] Speaker B: And chemicals and such. Yes.
[01:18:40] Speaker A: I'm imagining there's still a bit of a click kind of sound. There's a mechanical clunk or a flash or something.
[01:18:48] Speaker B: Yes, it's very ungainly. If I was to set it up properly to get the correct exposure.
[01:18:54] Speaker A: So you can absolutely take a photo.
[01:18:59] Speaker C: Wow.
[01:19:01] Speaker A: I will, however, bit risky, point out that the black guard are tier six.
And evading their notice of you taking the picture will mean that your tier zero will be up against their tier six.
So unless you have more bonuses than aya herself, you'll struggle to get above, like, effect zero.
But you can do it. But they could very well notice you doing it.
[01:19:42] Speaker D: It would be amazing if you pulled it off, though.
[01:19:46] Speaker C: I think what Dan is delicately trying to say is, we're not pull it off.
[01:19:50] Speaker A: We're clocking in at desperate zero. Effect, I think, is the starting point. With that discrepancy between yourself and the.
[01:20:01] Speaker F: Black guard, what kind of devil's bargain.
[01:20:04] Speaker C: Though, shall we all give JC a devil's.
[01:20:09] Speaker F: We all take a devil's bargain, every.
[01:20:11] Speaker C: Single one of us.
[01:20:16] Speaker A: It's the sort of thing where you know you absolutely can, but you don't know if you'll get away with it.
[01:20:25] Speaker C: It might be a thing.
[01:20:26] Speaker D: Maybe it'd be better to just get in that place as quick as possible, find out who's left and sort of, I guess, get them out.
Get them out. Because I'm sort of saying this out. This is all happening in the split second. But I guess whoever's left in there, that's who the gunshot is going to be pinned on. So if we can go in and offer them some very quick assistance, then whoever is in there may then be very willing to sort of work with us on other things.
[01:21:14] Speaker F: Will we get blamed if we get.
[01:21:17] Speaker C: It pinned on us?
[01:21:18] Speaker D: Yeah, because we're sus.
[01:21:21] Speaker F: Criminals, maybe.
[01:21:24] Speaker D: Or we could just wait in the shadows and see what happens.
Who comes out?
[01:21:31] Speaker C: Magpie, at the moment, is incredibly anxious that her hero, Tavareen, just been shot.
And I don't think she'd be very happy about the idea of just hanging back.
[01:21:47] Speaker A: What's Catherine thinking?
[01:21:49] Speaker E: Nobody knows.
[01:21:55] Speaker A: Who'S going in.
Are you waiting for Algarve and the two black guards to leave?
[01:22:02] Speaker C: I think Magpie would.
[01:22:04] Speaker A: Yes. Atta.
[01:22:06] Speaker F: The door had a lock. Dan was. Ata doesn't know this, but Magpie you do. Dan was very specific in saying that both purple person ant. So everyone must have a key to have got all three of them.
[01:22:21] Speaker C: Unless the black guard kicked the door in. I don't know. Do we know what state the door is in at the moment? Does it look tact?
[01:22:31] Speaker A: Well, you'll have to approach to find out.
[01:22:34] Speaker C: Right? I think.
[01:22:35] Speaker A: Yeah, first case. How long are you waiting before you approach?
[01:22:38] Speaker C: I think wait until the black guard and algorithm have moved off, at least. Yeah.
[01:22:44] Speaker A: The door shows signs of a forced entry. There's damage, like, piercing damage, on the door by the lock.
[01:22:54] Speaker C: I guess I would be tempted to try and sneak in. I kind of look to my team see if everyone's happy.
I mean, particularly probably at Algonon.
[01:23:06] Speaker D: I've got your back, Magpie.
[01:23:08] Speaker C: Okay, Magpie.
[01:23:10] Speaker A: As you wait as long as you need to and then scurry down the alleyway, you approach the door that you watched the lady in purple and Tavaren both enter.
And the door is currently a jar due to the damage on the lock.
And as you gently push the door open and it creaks ever so slightly, you can see that there is an armchair in front of an unlit fireplace.
And in the armchair you can see the back of Tavarian's head, her hands, her arms resting on the arms.
[01:23:56] Speaker C: Is anyone else here?
[01:23:59] Speaker A: There does not appear to be.
[01:24:01] Speaker C: Oh, dear.
I guess I'm going to gently walk around so that I can see the front of Tavarian. And I'm kind of going slowly. I'm really worried about what I'm going to see.
[01:24:21] Speaker A: As you move around the front of Tavarian, the kind of the blue diagonal sash that she's wearing is stained crimson.
A single puncture wound where her heart is scorched and cauterized by the arcane magics of the firearm used to shoot her.
She looks unreasonably peaceful.
[01:25:08] Speaker C: I just sort of stand there and look at her for a moment and sigh.
And I guess I'm going to look around the room to see if there's anything I can glean about what happened. Aside from the fact that I know that Algarve was here and clearly shot her.
[01:25:29] Speaker F: Do guns in this world shoot bullets or like arcane papel pipes?
[01:25:35] Speaker A: They're like Star wars blasters. Yeah, they still go bang.
The other four of you, are you entering in to the building as.
[01:25:51] Speaker D: Going to. Rita's going to sort of wait outside and just if anyone comes that way.
[01:26:00] Speaker A: Sure.
[01:26:01] Speaker D: Head them off.
[01:26:02] Speaker A: You know that time is of the essence.
A gunshot is a very serious thing. And Lisa and the city watch will be heading here very soon.
Zatter entering in?
[01:26:17] Speaker F: I think so. And I was considering trying to make it so mess with the door more to see if I can stick it. So when they do try and come in, we get more time in here. Well, okay, but I don't know whether we will be able to escape.
[01:26:38] Speaker A: So, atta, as you enter and you're looking at the doors, you notice that there isn't like a back entrance.
There's a doorway through to like an adjoining kitchen area.
And there is a door that is swinging slightly to the adjacent, like the next street along as cavern and algonon also enter and you kind of look around and you see them.
There's clearly not been a struggle. There's not been a fight. The way that the fact that the keeper's arms are still resting on the arms of the chairs showed that she did not attempt to stop Algarve, who you presume pulled the trigger.
Algonon, as you enter in and you scan the room, you notice that as you stand in front of Tavarien and kind of take it in, you notice that there is a slight scrap of paper tucked up her sleeve.
[01:27:48] Speaker B: I would like to take it.
[01:27:50] Speaker A: As you pull out the scrap of paper, you realize it is a folded note.
And in very eloquent cursive, you read the words on the parchment. And everyone else watches as Algonon's face goes pale.
And Frieda, as you hear the sounds of the approaching city guard and kind of usher everyone to get out. And you'll have to go through the back entrance as they're approaching from the front, Algonon, you're one of the last to leave. As you look at the words on the parchment, the veil is failing.
[01:28:38] Speaker B: I would like to flash back to my little interaction with private.
Private Hansen.
And while he was taking that drink from me, I would like to have tried to steal a little part of his uniform or some kind of signifier for the military.
[01:29:03] Speaker A: Okay.
Perhaps like a shoulder badge that designates rank.
Sure. Let's say we'll make it a one stress. And we'll say it sounds kind of finesse.
[01:29:21] Speaker B: I'm going to push myself too.
[01:29:22] Speaker A: Sure.
And the devil's bargain is that he'll realize it's missing and report it to the authorities. So you'll get increased heat.
[01:29:42] Speaker B: I'll take it.
[01:29:43] Speaker A: Sure.
[01:29:44] Speaker D: Oh, boy.
[01:29:49] Speaker A: Okay.
The complication will be that follow up investigations will take place as he suspects that it was.
As Hanson realizes in the future that his rank insignia is missing, he thinks back to where it could be. And as he stares at the kind of the canteen that you gave him, he surmises it must have been you.
[01:30:22] Speaker B: But he supposed that I was from the intelligence service.
[01:30:28] Speaker A: This is true. Yes. So I guess, yeah. Perhaps the investigation won't start, but there will be someone that kind of has your face, the sanguivar of our face, in his mind.
[01:30:41] Speaker B: And in the present day, as I take that note, I would like to replace it in her dead hand with the scrap of his military.
[01:30:51] Speaker C: Okay.
[01:30:52] Speaker A: Okay.
In which case, as you do that, like Frieda, as you're like. Come on, come on, come, go. Like, hustle.
Alganon. You kind of limp out of the back door, closing it behind you to mask your actions.
And as the five of you make it out towards the crossroads, you can hear the sounds of the boots running in and shouting and hollering from the city watch as they burst into the building that Tavarian is in, and as you move through the crossroads, you can hear cries of Tavarian, Tavarian is dead. She's dead. She's dead.
And as you, Algonon, as you think those words on that slip of paper you have now in your pocket, we'll call it there.
Elsewhere.
[01:32:06] Speaker D: Oh no, here we go.
[01:32:15] Speaker A: In a dark and dusty abandoned house in Old Town, Tavarien's shaking hand clutches the open note before she looks up to the lorevar, the lorevar in purple in front of her.
Is this true?
She says, and the lore of our woman nods slowly.
You don't have long left, so whatever you're planning on doing, you should do it very quickly.
And the Lorevar woman turns her head as she hears the sound of armored boots heading down the alleyway, and Tavaren, also noticing, looks up and with a panic cry she says, go. You go.
I'm not going to outrun them.
And the Lorevar woman bends down on one knee and places like clasps Tavareen's hands in both of hers, and wordlessly she stands and leaves through the back door. In the adjoining kitchen, a young child chasing a ball that was kicked down an alleyway just off the crossroads bumps into a Lorevar woman dressed in purple.
And as he sorry, man, he says, she nods to him, and as he bends down to pick up his ball and turns to look to where the Lorevar woman was, she is gone.
And as the boy looks around, confused, he shrugs and returns to his game ball.
Congratulations, everyone, on completing episode one.
[01:34:43] Speaker D: Oh my gosh, what a roller coaster.
[01:34:47] Speaker A: So we will find out what this means for the city of Alicia as news of Tavarian's death begins to spread like wildfire through the population. But I'm sure it'll just blow over, right?
Yeah.
[01:35:03] Speaker C: Web.
[01:35:08] Speaker A: If you enjoyed that, make sure to like the video and comment down below on your suspicions.
On a scale of one to ten, how shagged the city is right now.
And also, if you want to catch more of this, make sure to hit the subscribe button and the bell icon for notifications of when we release new stuff. Because, I mean, this is the first episode of 20, isn't it? So, yeah, there's lots of stuff to catch up with and we wouldn't want you to miss out, right? It would break our little hearts.
So without all that said, I've been Dean, Dan, this has been our lovely crew.
We'll see you next time.
Bye.
