Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Good evening, crew members. How do on this fine, fine day, evening, morning or night, whenever you happen to be watching this.
[00:00:12] Speaker B: Good.
[00:00:16] Speaker A: Amazing.
We are back, we being the explorers of elsewhere. And back being in Alicia. For Alicia rising, the second campaign of the explorers of Channel, you collectively have just completed a job.
Hooray. Nothing went bad.
[00:00:42] Speaker C: I mean, some things went bad, some things went bad.
[00:00:46] Speaker A: A cursory glance at your stress bars tells me that nothing went bad in the last job. No, you succeeded. You did it. You've been paid.
And we probably need to pick up and figure out what's happening next, don't we?
Right. Well, unless anyone objects, I'm going to bring on the title screen.
[00:01:12] Speaker C: Roll it.
[00:01:19] Speaker D: Welcome to Alicia, the jewel of the north. On our gilded streets, fortune and fame can be found by anyone.
[00:01:30] Speaker C: Hi, I'm Julia and I'm playing Magpie, an ace of r lurk.
[00:01:35] Speaker B: Hi, I'm Nate and I'm playing cavern, a dragon scent slide.
[00:01:41] Speaker C: Hi, I'm Meg. I'm playing Frida, a wolfkin cutter.
[00:01:46] Speaker E: Hi, I'm JC, and I'll be playing Alganon, an ace of r spider.
[00:01:51] Speaker F: Hello, I'm Errol. I am playing Atta, a goblin whisper.
[00:01:56] Speaker A: And my name is DM Dan. I will be the games master on this adventure.
[00:02:01] 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.
[00:02:24] Speaker A: If you ask nearly any passerby on a street in Alicia, they will likely shrug and tell you they don't know where the veil came from or how it came to be. The appearance of the shield, which saved what was left of Elysia, is publicly unknown.
Some Elysia take solace in not having an answer to the question. But others stare up at the cerulean shimmer that protects them in wonder.
What is certain, however, is that the veil has been infallible.
That is, of course, until today.
For the first time in two years since Alicia was lost to the void, a ghost has been reported inside the veil. As if this news wasn't enough, an Alyssan lost her life to the vengeful spirit which consumed her very soul before it was banished.
This day presents many questions, the most pressing of which is how this happened. Or perhaps who made this happen.
And so we find you at the docks in Waterside, having just received a pouch of coin from one of Musto's people.
After the successful delivery of the arcane orb which emanated divination magic, which you had discreetly removed from a warehouse in Dustry Hill.
Now that you are no longer on the job, where is it you're heading for some much needed downtime.
As your tensions are somewhat frayed. Your nerves are somewhat frayed.
[00:04:32] Speaker E: I suppose we'll either be heading back to the spectre or back to the manor.
[00:04:38] Speaker A: All those in favor of the specter, say aye. Aye.
[00:04:42] Speaker B: I think a stiff drink is definitely needed.
[00:04:45] Speaker C: Fine.
[00:04:46] Speaker F: You can see Atta is almost physically, like, holding her mouth shut because she just wants to talk so much about the ghost thing.
[00:04:57] Speaker B: I like to think that still holding on to the scruff of her collar as well.
[00:05:04] Speaker F: I did it.
Just saying I did it.
[00:05:09] Speaker C: Just vibrating.
[00:05:11] Speaker B: Not now. When we get to peace, we can talk about this.
[00:05:17] Speaker A: Amazing. So, yes, it is a. Very.
Well, between the four of you, how would you describe the atmosphere, particularly between Magpie? Did you see the commotion?
[00:05:35] Speaker C: I heard it.
[00:05:36] Speaker A: You heard it, didn't you?
[00:05:37] Speaker C: I didn't see it. I was busy upstairs.
[00:05:40] Speaker A: Sure.
In which case, Catherine, how are you feeling in this precise moment, given everything you've experienced and seen?
[00:05:49] Speaker B: Catherine's definitely feeling a bit fraught.
Probably from the stress levels. You can tell that he's feeling a bit fraught. So when he mentioned to Atta to gain their attention, he was sort of hoping more along the lines of what she did originally, before we found out about the murder, that she was just going to look up and see what the ghosts were doing sort of up there, because they were acting a bit funny. Wasn't expecting Atta to pull one through the veil.
So, yeah, he's definitely feeling a bit fraught, a little bit impressed, but probably more frightened about what the hell has just happened.
[00:06:45] Speaker A: And like Algonon, Magpie, you both kind of got secondary seats to everything that went down. But from everything that you're sort of like seeing and kind of hearing, where are your minds at Algonon? First.
[00:07:07] Speaker E: Algonon is just quietly trying to convince himself that it's all part of the plan, but he's sort of like.
His hands are starting to tremble a little bit because making conspiracies in your head is one thing and then actually bringing forth something from the veil and it resulting in the death of someone in collateral damage is another. So it suddenly got very real.
[00:07:35] Speaker A: Sure.
Magpie.
[00:07:40] Speaker C: I think, probably pretty similar. I think she's probably a bit shaken by how close it all felt and is a bit worried about the amount of commotion that we made.
Doesn't enjoy just how hot the whole thing got, I think.
[00:08:00] Speaker A: And atta, how are you feeling?
[00:08:06] Speaker F: Amazing.
Got the ghost. Saw a real cool orb. Got to look at that orb for a bit and try and figure out what it does. It's magical.
My friends seem really impressed all around. Nobody seems bothered at all.
Best day ever. Yes.
And, yeah. Going to eat a rat later, probably. So.
Nothing.
[00:08:34] Speaker A: Life is good.
Yes. So your time with the orb that you've now delivered to the cobbles.
Yeah. You knew going in that it was emitting a form of kind of divination magic. Upon closer inspection, you kind of ascertained that it would effectively allow the tracking of the magical energies, particularly, you assume, of the veil itself.
So perhaps with the news, you know, with the knowledge that you have, perhaps it could be used to find out where the weak spots in the veil are potentially.
Yeah. It's effectively like a magical Geiger counter, if you will.
Cool. So you make your way through the slums of Rook Ridge, and given everything that you know has happened in not too very far away from you, up on the hills of Dustry hill, the sense of sort of like, blissful ignorance intermixed with the. Sort of like, the shouting and the screaming and just, like, the noise of too many people in too small a space just kind of fills your ears. They are completely unaware of what's kind of happening elsewhere in the city.
And as you kind of move through the rat runs that make up the rook ridge slums, catching a few eyes here and there as you go, you eventually make it to the bridge over the river that leads you into Duskman.
And a short while after that, you pass under the very familiar arch to see the little tavern on the left hand side with a sign that says the specter accompanied with an image of a ghoulish visage.
Are you staying upstairs or are you just kind of heading straight to the secret speakeasy beneath?
[00:11:02] Speaker B: Think it's probably for the best.
[00:11:03] Speaker E: We head down.
[00:11:05] Speaker A: Yeah. Okay.
In which case juicy gives you a smile and a nod.
And when you're sure that no one's really looking, you let yourself through the bookcase. The bookcase, secret entrance, down into the speakeasy below.
And when you sort of get down and you can see Eric, he looks up at you with a frown, and his face says that he knows that something's up, that something's happened. And wordlessly, he places four glasses along.
[00:11:53] Speaker E: The bar and one for yourself, Caven.
[00:11:57] Speaker A: Thank you very much, he says. And then he plonks down a fifth and, well, if I'm drinking, then I think we're going to have to go with this. And he pulls out like a rich, amber whiskey looking beverage from sort of like a secret little cubby hole and half fills all of the glasses as you all kind of chug Algonon. You notice that Eric is watching you all very kind of carefully. He's clearly studying you, perhaps seeing how this strong bourbon that you've been fed, seeing how it interacts with you, he's expecting it's going to get some sort of reaction, you suppose, but he's seen what the reaction is.
[00:12:51] Speaker E: So I take my shot and it steadies my hand a little bit, but I put the glass back down on the bar and it's sort of vibrating against the bar.
Caven, I was wondering, the name of this establishment might be a tad insensitive. No?
[00:13:10] Speaker A: Specter. Well, I was always a bit of a fan of dark comedy.
I've never known it to rattle you, so my apologies if it's been thrown you off your game or some such.
[00:13:27] Speaker E: No, I just feel like some graveyard humor. I might become more apt in the coming months.
[00:13:37] Speaker A: He, he kind of. He squints a little and he. Well, I'll, I'll, I'll have a word, see word around. See if maybe I'll head up to Abbott's gate, see if I see how much it costs for a rebranding.
We'll see.
But it's clear he's making kind of light chat. He's not doing very good at it. He's pondering you. He's studying you. Not very subtly either.
He then turns to look at. It's got to be, um.
[00:14:20] Speaker B: Avron's slightly got like his claws, like slightly in the bar wood at the moment.
Just sort of just causing a small indent in them.
And that shot is gone. That shot went too quickly.
[00:14:43] Speaker A: His eyes again, narrow and long day, son.
[00:14:49] Speaker B: You could see that.
[00:14:56] Speaker A: Is it the sort of long day that gets lighter when discussed with others?
[00:15:01] Speaker B: I think there's only one person I really need to talk about this with. And he's going to sort of move atta along to the side.
He's going to find a small corner with Atta and make sure no one's looking. Sort of bend down to her height, sort of grab her by the shoulders and go, what the pissing hell was that?
[00:15:37] Speaker F: It was pretty cool orb that we found.
Super magic. I think it can find rips in the veil. Oh, I want to look at it more. I can't believe musto had that right.
[00:15:49] Speaker B: We don't want rips in the veil. We want to keep this veil above our heads or else we're going to end up like that woman. Did you not see her face?
[00:16:04] Speaker F: But how can you really understand something unless you break it a little bit.
[00:16:12] Speaker A: As like Cavern as you, as Etta says that to you, and I can only assume that your eyes are almost bulging out of your head. This point, there's a moment where you kind of glance back up to Magpie and Algonon, who I'm assuming is still at the bar.
[00:16:31] Speaker C: Yeah, Magpie took her shot and basically went and she slams it back on.
[00:16:40] Speaker A: Perhaps it's that kind of exhale that kind of snaps you out of your snaps you too, Cavern. But as you look up, you can see sort of like flanked by the two ace of R.
Eric stares to you and Ata, his eyebrows raised.
And Algonon, how are you feeling? Because Cavern's outburst was quite loud, I.
[00:17:21] Speaker E: Think I trust Eric and most of the regular patrons of the speakeasy. And I also have dirt on all of them. So.
[00:17:34] Speaker A: He like, in which case. Yeah, Eric's eye eyebrows are raised and then he oh, it was a long day then, wasn't it? He says, and then replaces any glasses that have kind of been taken away from the bone, refills the five up again half full. And he picks up sort of like two between his thumb and kind of fingers and offers them between Magpie and Algonon to you two, Catherine.
[00:18:06] Speaker B: And I think Catherine's going to realize he's made a bit of a scene. He's going to the atta, I'm sure is just not nonchalant whatsoever. Just like, yay, never Jinky.
He's going to stand up, he's going to clear his throat, sort of sort out his jacket, and he says, like, I will see the rest of you later. And he's going to walk out.
[00:18:36] Speaker A: Before or after? Are you taking your drink on the way up?
[00:18:39] Speaker B: Yeah, I'm going to.
[00:18:42] Speaker E: Actually, he's going.
[00:18:43] Speaker B: To sort of walk out, come back, drink it and then go.
[00:18:49] Speaker A: Amazing. Okay. In which case, yeah, ate. You kind of rejoin the others at the bar as you grab your second half a shot.
And Eric kind of seeing the look that was on Cameron's face, seeing the looks on Magpie and Algonon's face and then seeing your smiling face at her, he throws his wash rag over his shoulder and I'm just going to.
Yeah, and he just kind of wanders off to leave you all to it.
Is there anything you guys want to work through or shall we go through the start, begin the downtime?
[00:19:39] Speaker C: Um, you can probably begin the downtime, I think.
[00:19:47] Speaker E: Yeah, the stuff I want to work through is downtime stuff.
[00:19:53] Speaker F: Is Catherine upset?
Catherine not like my go.
[00:20:03] Speaker A: So, let us start with. So, you've already had your coin from the cobbles for completing the mission, but, yeah, the first step is the payoff. So your coin is done rep.
So you, as smugglers, with your upgrades, gain three rep base for a mission that is kind of knowledge for someone else. And the shield of Alicia are a tier two faction. So that is a grand total of five rep, which. 12345, takes you up to one under what you need to boost up in level.
Okay, so your rep is nearly filled there, then heat. So, the last mission, I would argue, comes under the phrase the clauses loud and chaotic. High exposure.
Would we agree?
And I'm here for it.
[00:21:25] Speaker B: No one was really paying attention to us. There was other things to pay attention to.
[00:21:29] Speaker F: Our gang used to be savvy.
[00:21:38] Speaker A: Your go getters.
You see something, you get. So, yeah, loud and chaotic. High exposure, which is for heat.
There was a murder, which. So someone died. That shield bearer that got numbed on by the spirit.
[00:21:55] Speaker C: But we didn't kill her.
[00:21:58] Speaker A: No, but killing was involved, and bodies bring questions, so that is an additional two heat.
And I'm going to argue that the whole thing was on hostile turf. So, the shield of Alicia were originally kind of cordoning off the area, and the guard turned up. So arguably, doubly hostile. But that's another two heat, for a grand total of eight heat.
One under wanted level one.
[00:22:37] Speaker C: Wow.
[00:22:39] Speaker B: Say good day.
[00:22:40] Speaker C: So you're saying we got away with it?
[00:22:44] Speaker A: I'm saying you've got eight heat on the board. So off the back of that eight heat, we will have a look at our entanglements.
So let me just make sure that everything's plumbed in 1234-1234 yeah.
I have rolled an entanglement, and I think.
I think we're going to have a look at that.
I'm going to keep that one in my back pocket as we move into downtime.
So, first off, shall we go highest to lowest, which is cavern, and then everyone else?
Sure.
So, cavern, as you sort of, like, storm up the staircase, emerge out the bookshelf wall, are you just kind of storming out into the streets and off?
[00:24:03] Speaker B: Yeah. Going to storm out into the streets and off, sure.
[00:24:06] Speaker A: So, as you put more and more distance between you and the specter, what do you do? What's your first downtime activity?
[00:24:20] Speaker B: Well, I think it would probably be a very wise idea if I indulged in some of my vices.
[00:24:25] Speaker C: Do you reckon?
[00:24:28] Speaker B: Some stress, because I am literally one off from trauma, boy.
[00:24:35] Speaker C: Fine. I think you're all right. Swing it like that.
[00:24:38] Speaker F: I feel very.
I'm one off from trauma. Needs to be.
[00:24:44] Speaker A: Henry.
I am one stubbed toe away from trauma.
[00:24:52] Speaker B: I am one slow walker in front of me away from trauma.
[00:24:59] Speaker A: Okay, so if you're indulging your vice as your mind rating based off everything that's just happened, I can only assume that the journey is a bit of a blur, just secondary to the thoughts that are racing through your mind, the images that keep on rising to the surface despite your attempts to kind of smother them. Yeah, but where do you find yourself?
[00:25:39] Speaker B: I think Catherine's going to go to somewhere where he does usually go when he's feeling stressed, and that is probably celestial. Celestial.
[00:25:51] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:25:51] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:25:55] Speaker A: When you kind of come to, you find yourself, the images of the ghost kind of latching on to that shield bearer's head, lifting her off the ground by the skull, the sound of the intermingling screams, those thoughts, those memories begin to mesh, emerge with splashes of vibrant and vivid color. The world, which is normally an almost constant hue of purple, are replaced with all sorts of dizzing array of different colored lights, of the sounds of laughter, the sounds of whispers being secrets being whispered.
And when you come to, you find yourself in the celestry square.
So it's a square that the named Celeste tree was planted now a petrified hunk of white material. But from the dead branches, a number of kind of string lights to the nearby, to the houses on the edge of the square.
And you find yourself almost in the midst of a group of cavorting and dancing kind of circus performers have.
Is there a particular place that you're heading to? Or do you kind of sample all of Celestri's delights?
[00:28:03] Speaker B: I think once he sort of enters, he enters the square, he's gonna sort of breathe a small, not full sigh of relief to see, sort of like the liveliness of people, the slightly deviant actions of people sort of going on about him. And he's going to feel a little bit more at home. He's probably going to head to.
[00:28:40] Speaker F: A.
[00:28:40] Speaker B: Pub or a bar that he knows relatively well.
I don't know the name. Anyone want to think of a name? Anyone think of a rather deviant name?
[00:28:55] Speaker A: The.
Let's go with.
Sorry, is it. Is this one that you tend to work, that you tend to frequent?
[00:29:06] Speaker B: Sorry, it will be one that I tend to frequent, but mostly by myself.
I'll never take the crew here.
[00:29:15] Speaker C: Something like the scarlet letter or something like that.
[00:29:18] Speaker B: Yeah, something along those lines.
[00:29:19] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:29:20] Speaker F: What's some of the ones up? Old market called?
[00:29:25] Speaker B: Still bear bar there. He's going for the.
[00:29:29] Speaker C: Alicia bear bar.
[00:29:33] Speaker A: Let's say you are visiting the chandelier.
[00:29:42] Speaker C: Sounds like it's going to be posh. And then you get in there and.
[00:29:45] Speaker A: It'S doubtful the tavern. Well, yeah, I suppose it is. A tavern is aptly named for the chandelier that is barely hanging on over the bar.
Over the past few years, there have been. Well, even before Alicia was removed from the world, there were a number of hasty repair jobs to stop this titular chandelier from falling into the drinks hall.
But, yeah, it stands as a bit of a contrast.
The regalness, the nobility of this chandelier stands in contrast to just the carnal debauchery that's kind of happening below it.
You look across and sort of like in dial, low lit corners, you see all sorts of things that would get you arrested in public. For what kind of things, Dan?
In celestry. I will leave this to your imagination.
[00:31:01] Speaker C: I don't have one. Dan, what does Catherine see?
[00:31:06] Speaker A: He sees people holding hands.
[00:31:20] Speaker B: I think cavern. As he walks in, he's going to look across.
He's going to pull up to the bar. He's going to grab himself a drink first, and he's going to look around the area. Now, there's probably, I like to think that there are, I would like to say, patrons of his who rely on his sort of faith healing. Faith healing, and will probably who may even come to this establishment to hopefully catch his eye if he does walk in.
So he is going to look around the bar and he's going to find a particular, I want to say an ace of r.
A particular sort of well dressed ace of our man. I want to say sort of middle aged ace of our man, who is sat there with a couple of other people and is quite chatting and so forth.
He's going to go over to him and he's going to literally just stroke his shoulder and sort of wander off to these back rooms that are conveniently placed in the back area, like most backrooms are.
Catherine's had a very long day. He's done a lot of running.
And I like to think that this certain ace of R believes that Avron's holy enigma, whatever, comes from his feet and likes to give some big dragon scent foot massages.
[00:33:22] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:33:27] Speaker F: Canon Nickley, there's like a lazier wiki feel.
[00:33:40] Speaker A: If we get enough subscribers, I'll make that happen.
Right. Okay.
[00:33:46] Speaker C: Oh, wow.
[00:33:51] Speaker A: I hesitate to say. That sounds good. That sounds appropriate.
Okay, so as sort of like bottles of eel mushroom brood liquor come into the room on ordered request. As you start spending some of the coin that you received from the Amringer job, could you please make me an indulge vice roll? Insight is your lowest ability, so it's a one dice roll.
[00:34:28] Speaker B: Okay, so that is a D six.
[00:34:37] Speaker A: Okay. So, yeah, if you reduce your stress by three for your second downtime activity, did you want to carry on indulging your vice or did you want to do something else? Oh, God.
[00:34:50] Speaker B: If I feel like if I indulge anymore, I might overindulge.
[00:34:57] Speaker C: How many are you on now?
[00:34:58] Speaker A: Five.
Anything but a six.
[00:35:02] Speaker C: Anything but a six. It's only a one in six chance you'll overindulge.
[00:35:06] Speaker B: I lose my foot massager if I.
Yeah, go on then. Let's do another roll. Let's see if we can get the rid of most of this stress.
[00:35:15] Speaker C: Keep this foot train going.
[00:35:17] Speaker E: Let's go. Rolling.
[00:35:19] Speaker A: Let's go.
Yay.
[00:35:23] Speaker C: That's better.
[00:35:24] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:35:26] Speaker C: Look at you.
Cool as a cucumber.
[00:35:32] Speaker A: Amazing. Okay, so next up, Atta.
What's your first downtime activity?
[00:35:40] Speaker F: Hi.
Hi.
I'm also going to massage.
No. Just looking through the window. No.
[00:35:55] Speaker A: Is the canonic thing going to keep on changing as more and more of you appear in the same room? Getting.
[00:36:04] Speaker F: You know, it's like a fantasy role playing game when you get to relax and have them anyway.
Indulging vice? Yes, please. I think it feels like the bar area gets slowly quieter and slightly more awkward and utter still. Sort of like shifting around in the bar stall as she was drinking the drinks. She's kind of making that face that sometimes like your cats make when they smell something weird.
[00:36:30] Speaker C: Like the.
[00:36:33] Speaker F: Kind of a face, alcohol, you know, the face.
[00:36:43] Speaker C: And then kind.
[00:36:43] Speaker F: Of goes, well, I'm going. Bye.
Just kind of excuses herself to kind of, definitely tries to kind of, I suppose, go out fairly smoothly. Like, she's not going to go look at bubble more.
She's going to go indulge her vice and absolutely painstakingly reimagine all the details from both the cool orb that we saw, the arcane orb, the ghost drawing pictures of the ghost sticking on a wall.
[00:37:24] Speaker A: Sure. Amazing orb. Please roll me an indulge vice. This will be a one dice based off your prowess.
[00:37:34] Speaker F: Okie dokie.
[00:37:38] Speaker B: Nice.
[00:37:38] Speaker C: Look at you. Clearing your stress.
[00:37:42] Speaker F: Well, I've still got one left.
[00:37:43] Speaker C: Have you? Okay.
[00:37:44] Speaker A: Yeah. Okay, so Ata's down to one.
What's Ata doing for second?
[00:37:52] Speaker F: I think as atta, I don't think she could have physically not indulged her vice first. But I think as she sort of calms slowly down, I think she slowly starts to have. Feel the weight of what she did change that.
[00:38:16] Speaker A: We. Royal. We.
[00:38:20] Speaker F: I feel like I would like to try and reduce some heat, but I'm not 100% sure how atta can do so proficiently. So I kind of feel like Ata might go to Algonom after some time has passed and kind of ask for some advice about what she could do specifically.
Maybe I could spread some rumors about.
Maybe what I saw were some other kind of weird arcane rumors that move the heat off of us. What do you think?
[00:38:59] Speaker E: Well, I just say that I am very proud of what you did. I thought it was.
And it certainly will draw attention amongst the factions to the weakening of the veil.
Any weird arcane rumors that you can spread around that shift the heat away from us certainly help.
Perhaps a handful of misdirections. Other reasons why the veil might be weakening, other than your sky hook.
[00:39:34] Speaker F: Okay.
How much do we like musto?
[00:39:42] Speaker E: Well, I think I've made my opinion on him very clear to his face. And it seemed to go over his head every time.
[00:39:50] Speaker A: Algon, you are aware that you have a good reckoning that you are currently in high standing in musto's books, given all the work you've done for him.
[00:40:09] Speaker E: Well, despite our personal feelings towards them, we are in good grace it in his pocketbook. We should probably stay that way for the time being.
[00:40:20] Speaker F: Okay, maybe I pin it on the other.
Who were the other two factions that were.
[00:40:26] Speaker E: It was the guard and the shield.
[00:40:30] Speaker F: Shield of the watch.
[00:40:31] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:40:32] Speaker F: Seawatch. Sorry, I thought I was almost going to say the children of Ireland, but no.
Maybe I try and pin it on the shield of the lease somehow.
Okay, I'll do some thinking.
Yeah.
You use some kind of role from one of your skills, right?
[00:40:59] Speaker A: Correct. Yeah. So you tell me what you're doing, and then we make the role.
[00:41:10] Speaker F: How ookie spooky do I want to go with this?
Maybe not.
[00:41:16] Speaker E: Rhetorical question.
[00:41:20] Speaker F: Always lots.
So my ideas are either to use a tune and try and I guess, like, I don't know, use that weird connection to the veil, the bubble, to kind of see if rumors about just the children of. Sorry. The shield of Elysia.
Provoking ghosts can kind of just go through the veils, like weird whispers or the other thing that I'm thinking is maybe a tinker role, and it's like purely using tinker in the same way that you might try and.
What's the word?
Forge or change some information if you.
[00:42:15] Speaker A: Wanted to go down the attune route.
If you were to head to their stronghold, you could do some ugie dookie stuff and then just almost sort of like, draw spirits to your location. So it looks like these ghosts are conglomerating over the shield of Alicia.
[00:42:37] Speaker F: And if I didn't want to do the ghost fishing ever again, maybe somebody could plant that in their hideout and.
[00:42:49] Speaker A: Then make a new one.
[00:42:52] Speaker F: Yeah, I could. I'm not very sneaky, though, so maybe I'll see if Magpie is up for something like that, for reducing he. If they want to sneak it anywhere in, because otherwise it's like, use the postal service to post them and just hope they just leave it around.
[00:43:17] Speaker A: Tell you what, which of the abilities are you thinking? And then we'll blend it into the narrative later.
[00:43:22] Speaker F: I'm thinking the attune, like, go there, find a reasonable spot to hide, and try and, like X Men storm style rate. Cool down.
But I'll see what other folks are in doing.
[00:43:42] Speaker A: Wolf, before you do that, actually. Sorry, what did you roll for your indulge? Fly. You rolled a six two three.
[00:43:49] Speaker F: I did? Yeah.
[00:43:50] Speaker A: Okay, we'll drop that down before we forget. Okay, please make me in a tune roll. We won't look at the kind of results, we just look at the numbers.
Four. Okay, so that is a.
That is two heat that gets reduced as we do your thing, which is to kind of magnet fish the ghosts towards the shield of Alicia.
And. Yeah, there are kind of whispers and murmurings as people look up and see this kind of swirling miasma over the shield bearer's kind of stronghold.
Marvelous. Okay, so that's atta.
Let's go.
[00:44:46] Speaker E: Algonon sticking in the specter for now.
Algonon grabs a copy of the treaties and he just leans on the bar, starting to do the cryptic crossword. But he can't quite focus on it, partially because it's a repeat. Again, they've started reusing the clues, frustratingly, but also because ever since it happened, he's been thinking about that mysterious woman and the way she just disappeared behind the passing traffic on top of the bridge after watching us.
I don't know if anybody else is around till here, but he sort of just mutters to himself, she knows how to titillate me.
[00:45:34] Speaker A: There is a.
There are two kind of wolfkin patrons sat on a table for you, over from you, and you catch a glance from a man or woman wolfkin, and you notice that he looks over to you and gives you eyebrows before they kind of returns to the conversation that he's having.
[00:46:09] Speaker E: Yes. I go over to Eric, the bartender.
[00:46:18] Speaker A: Hello, Algie, you good.
[00:46:23] Speaker C: Cave.
[00:46:24] Speaker E: And riddle me this. Why would one wear a pair of dark sunglasses in a city with no sunlight?
I know you and I might be inclined to disguise our condition, but would be most unusual, no?
[00:46:39] Speaker A: Well, I mean, you're absolutely right.
As odd as it would be to wear sunglasses in a place like mean, you would potentially use it to disguise your face.
I could imagine if Gabriel's hitting wherever he's hitting hard, and he might need some sunglasses in the morning to cover up those hangover eye bags.
But no, I must admit, to see someone wearing some sunglasses, it almost makes you stand out a bit more, doesn't it?
[00:47:17] Speaker E: Yes, quite.
[00:47:19] Speaker A: You're willingly drawing attention to yourself.
[00:47:24] Speaker E: And Eric, sort of as he's speaking with Alganon, you can just see Alganon sort of phase out of the conversation as he goes deeper into thought.
[00:47:34] Speaker A: I had a good pair of sunglasses once. I thought they really nice.
[00:47:40] Speaker E: And I'd like to start a long term project to find the blackthorn.
[00:47:47] Speaker C: Exciting.
[00:47:49] Speaker A: Okie dokie. I think I'm going to have to make that an eight clock.
[00:47:59] Speaker C: 08:00 it's a big clock.
[00:48:04] Speaker A: Okay, so I think I'll call that the black thorn. And we have our eight clock. So as you ponder on this long term, what would you like to do to get the clock moving?
[00:48:19] Speaker E: I think I'm just going to retire back to the manor and go over my notes and the occasions where the blackthorn and I have butted heads before. We are professionals in the same field.
See if I can piece together any clues I may have missed in the past. And that's studying.
[00:48:39] Speaker A: Okay. In which case, yeah, please roll me a study. And again, we're just looking at the number five double five. So five is two segments.
Okay. So the blackthorn clock ticks up as you study your journals and your notes, any, all previous kind of interactions, all sightings, and I assume the start of the board with the red pins and string, like in its infancy.
[00:49:18] Speaker E: I don't need a literal board. It's all up here, you see?
[00:49:23] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:49:24] Speaker E: Yes. My mind cork board.
[00:49:27] Speaker A: Amazing. Okay, so in which case, yes, the black thorn clock has begun.
What's your second activity?
[00:49:39] Speaker E: So I'm going to indulge some vice.
So later that evening, I retire to the ensuite bathroom of my parents old bedroom.
And from under the sink, I get these big gallon sized glass brown bottles.
They're filled with photo developing chemicals that I've infused with foresight, the mineral that Argonon uses to predict the future.
And he just fills the basin as full as it will go with this chemical, turns on the red light bulb, and he just dunks his entire head into the sink, opens his eyes until they burn, and like, a series of cryptic and mysterious images flash into the back of his retina, some of which might be helpful in a coming score, but he's looking right now for one.
Just a tiny detail about some stranger, some member of the public, a little bit of dirt, a little bit of coincidence that he can just pick at to take his mind off this big conspiracy.
[00:51:00] Speaker A: Okay.
As the foresight begins to kind of warp your mind and your perception, please make me your indulge roll. It's going to be a zero dice roll. So two dice take the lowest off the back of your prowess.
[00:51:23] Speaker E: I'm almost there with my card tricks, but I've not quite got enough prowess.
[00:51:32] Speaker A: Oh, one.
Okay, so your stress reduces by one.
[00:51:41] Speaker E: Well, I see trauma in my future.
[00:51:49] Speaker A: Well, funny you should say that, because as your head submerges, your world becomes smaller as the liquid fills your ear canals.
And as you open your eyes and you feel that kind of searing pain around your eyeballs, and your mind begins to focus on fleeting images that pass into and out of your head, you start to see the silhouettes of people as you try to reach out for them, to kind of bring them into a clearer definition, just like you always have.
You notice that the burning sensation keeps on growing and growing.
And as you try to kind of block that out and focus more, you see all of these mental images of people in your mind all bathe, all in shadow, and you realize it's because they're in silhouette, silhouetted by a great fire that grows and grows and grows until you realize the burning sensation you can feel is the one of the ever increasing inferno that engulfs all of the silhouettes, one in turn, reaching towards you. And as you pull your face out, the burning begins to subside, just like it always does.
[00:53:42] Speaker E: Well, that hasn't helped much with my stress.
[00:53:53] Speaker A: As you kind of wipe your face down, I assume you have to sort of, like, rebottle all the foresight out.
[00:53:59] Speaker E: Of the it gets used. So I'll need to find more from whoever I smuggle it off.
[00:54:08] Speaker A: Sure. Okay. Very good. Okay. In which case, as you wipe the liquid from your face, like your mind races at what you just saw in your vision, what you felt in your vision.
Magpie?
[00:54:22] Speaker F: Yes?
[00:54:23] Speaker A: What is your first downtime?
[00:54:25] Speaker C: I think I'm going straight in for the reduced stress, because depending on how this goes, I may reduce stress again.
[00:54:31] Speaker A: Sure.
What does this look like?
[00:54:34] Speaker C: So, my advice is obligation. So, my slight obsession is trying to kind of make up for being as privileged and well off as I am through my family connections and kind of almost make up for their soullessness. So it's kind of going to be something to do with charity, I suppose. Like probably going to yink something of my mother's and take it to an orphanage or some good cause in the city and sort of make a go with my noble face on, I suspect, and make an anonymous donation. I don't need praise for this.
[00:55:27] Speaker A: Okay.
In which case, yeah, the very stressed looking worker looks up to you with eyebrows raised in surprise, like shock and gratitude.
Please roll me a one dice roll. This is off the back of your resolve.
[00:55:55] Speaker C: Shall I roll my resolve with that?
[00:55:58] Speaker A: If you do it off the dice.
[00:55:59] Speaker B: Roller at the bottom.
[00:55:59] Speaker C: Oh, sure.
[00:56:01] Speaker A: Just one number.
[00:56:03] Speaker C: Okay, it's a one. Guess what I'm doing next.
Orphanages.
[00:56:14] Speaker A: Reach into your other pocket and produce.
[00:56:18] Speaker C: Wait, you already did it, didn't you? So now I've got five. Perfect.
[00:56:22] Speaker A: So, as you hand over, what is it specifically you've stolen?
[00:56:27] Speaker C: So I took a brooch that I know my mother never wears. It's always just sat in a jewelry box, and she's never liked it, and she always goes on about how she doesn't like it. So I've just quietly taken it, and my plan is, if she ever notices it's gone, I'm going to say, oh, don't you remember? You gave that to me, and I gifted it to so and so, I'm just going to kind of gaslight her, basically.
[00:56:55] Speaker E: Okay.
[00:56:58] Speaker A: So as you hand over this brooch and this stress worker begins lavishing you with praise and thanks, and you catch yourself looking at this woman's face as she thanks you, and it's almost like you can't hear her, like you can see her mouth moving. Her face shows her genuine appreciation, but your mind is still preoccupied by the job. You've just run and you feel almost as stressed as you were before.
[00:57:42] Speaker C: Right?
So on the theme of obligation, I feel like the other thing that magpie would be probably trying to reduce stress with.
So you know how she's got the whole.
On the one hand, she is kind of living the life of sort of moonlighting as a lurk, but on the other hand, she's trying to keep up this appearance of being a sort of rich socialite daughter. And part of the way she does that is she kind of makes obligatory appearances at parties and stuff. I think today, especially considering she's had some tips from cavern about how to blend in and schmooze at parties. I think that given that the orphanage donation was a bust and didn't do a thing for her, I think she's going to try and going to a party and actually letting her hair down and actually being seen, genuinely making a spectacle of herself and seeing if kind of that bolstering of the image that keeps her identity secure might reduce her stress a bit. So, still on the theme of obligation to the lifestyle that she's part of.
[00:58:56] Speaker A: Yeah, that sounds good.
[00:58:58] Speaker C: So that will be my second downtime activity.
Okay, let me give it a try.
It's a three better four total. I'll take it.
[00:59:16] Speaker A: Marvelous.
Okay, so we're looking. Well, apart from Algodon, we're all looking a bit more chipper in our.
So that pretty much wraps up the downtime apart from the entanglement cavern.
[00:59:45] Speaker E: Hello.
[00:59:47] Speaker A: How long do you suppose you stayed in celestry? Like in getting your tantric foot rubs?
[00:59:59] Speaker B: I would say he probably spends, and considering that there's no day or night cycle, I think he probably spent what was considered, like, the whole night there.
[01:00:09] Speaker A: Sure. Okay, so in which case, when you regain kind of consciousness, and I assume you're in a very lavish boudoir with semi translucent drapes and lots of kind of silky pillows and the like, when isn't he? Well, this is true. It's very true.
You turn to look and notice, like you can hear a bit of a commotion, that you realize that's probably what woke you up. And you turn to look, and the eight of argent with whom you spent the night seemingly has already left.
And as you sort of, like, again, do the obligatory back of the head scritch, as you kind of wonder where your shirt is, you notice the commotion getting louder. It sounds like shouting.
It sounds like it's coming from inside the building.
And as you find and put on your shirt, the shouting reaches crescendo before the door to your room is booted open and three armed city watch burst into the room. What cavern?
Says the lead sergeant.
[01:01:47] Speaker E: We made an appointment.
[01:01:53] Speaker A: The sergeant looks to the two watch either side of him, and as they begin approaching.
Begin approaching.
The sergeant says, don't you worry, son. We've only got a couple of questions to ask you before the truncheon hits you in the head.
[01:02:22] Speaker C: That's police brutality, my boy.
[01:02:27] Speaker A: And on that note, let's go for a little break.
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