Vampire: The Masquerade - The Dying Fields, Episode 1

[00:00:01] Speaker A: Hello, friends, and welcome to another single serving tabletop adventure from Queenscore games. Tonight we are playing the dying fields, a scenario from the streets run red supplement for the masquerade. As always, I'm Aaron, and tonight I will be your storyteller as we leave the safety of the urban world for the open skies and small town living of Willerton, Illinois. You can find a link to streets run red by typing exclamation point scenario in chat or. Or by following the link in the show notes if you're joining us via podcast or YouTube. But before we buckle into our suv and make for the Goblin roads, allow me to introduce our cast as gangrel survivalist guru Hayley Drake. It's our resident art czar and queen of the Court v. Hi. Playing boardroom queen Lasombra, Roxanne Silvestri. Our social media maven Laura Tutu. [00:00:53] Speaker B: Hello. [00:00:53] Speaker C: Hello. [00:00:55] Speaker A: Coming in hot as former SI agent, current Banu Hakeem technical sorceress Aubrey. Hello. As toreador kitsch antiquer Jordan Phipps, QCG's outdoor cat, Clara. [00:01:08] Speaker D: Hello. [00:01:10] Speaker A: And joining us all the way from the lovely craftians and other cider studios, it's sade yo. I am so excited to see what this cast comes up with. But first, the masquerade is a storytelling game of personal horror and as such, touches upon topics that some viewers may find uncomfortable or objectionable. The cast has completed a safety and consent questionnaire and has a full slate of safety tools at their disposal. But we want to make sure that you stay safe at home, too. You can find a list of content warnings by typing exclamation point safety in chat, or again in the show notes. If you're joining us after the fact. Does everybody here feel safe? Ready and good to record. [00:01:54] Speaker E: So ready. [00:01:55] Speaker B: Let's go. [00:01:57] Speaker F: Yeah, let's go. [00:01:59] Speaker A: Oh, I love to hear it. We are all properly teeming with excitement, so let me tell you a story. The sign reads, welcome to Willerton. But this is a lie. No outsider is welcome here. Underneath, a second sign reads population 665. This is true, and the town's population has been one soul short of the devil's number for some time now. The metal signs are old, their rusted reality hidden beneath a bright coat of paint. Cornfields rise on either side of the road, and a single. And a single scarecrow stares at the coterie with its empty gaze. Welcome to Willerton. Indeed, that is where we will be a few hours from now. But it is not where we are in this moment. Each of you has been summoned, given an errand by the Hound of Chicago. Willerton exists just on the periphery of Kevin Jackson's proud city. Loud enough to get his attention, but not so dangerous that he needs to devote his time taking it away from more important projects. With the disappearance of a well known courier, that has changed. Now, the prince does have a coterie that he prefers to dispatch on these kind of errands, but they're currently busy. Something about burning buildings and murderous malkavian primogen. And as such, the hound has come round town offering each of you the opportunity for a little bit of adventure and a lot of bit of boon. When the time is right, we'll meet in a parking lot on the south side of the urban core, an suv provided for you so you can drive out of the city, heading south towards this mystery. But before that, I'd like to know what wonderful, peaceful existence was interrupted when Joshua Crozier comes knocking at your door with a mission from the prince. This is the case. I can take volunteers. Failing that, I will turn to my trusty set of dice to assign responsibility by the whim of fate. I see how it's gonna be, all right. That would appear to be Roxane Silvestri. [00:05:06] Speaker B: I mean, when the prince comes knocking, am I right? It's a simple enough existence. Uh, after some mild embarrassment that led to my eventual embrace, I did manage to get myself a rather lucrative setup. Um, writing. What would you call it? Corporate manuals, I guess. Um, how to succeed in business without really trying that manner of thing. Listen, they eat it up. I don't really care. But in spite of my preference of being left to my own devices, as I said, when the prince comes knocking, or the hound, in this case, an. [00:06:05] Speaker A: Extension of the prince's authority. Of course, the Lasombra position in Chicago is tenuous. You're not pimidin yet, but maybe has the clan on orders to cooperate. There's a very tenuous treaty afoot, and it wouldn't look well for you to be telling Mister Jackson no in times like this. But you're not the only one being. Pardon? [00:06:34] Speaker B: No, I wouldn't dream of it. [00:06:37] Speaker A: But you're not the only one being put upon this evening, Miss Haley Drake. I imagine you're harder to find. [00:06:46] Speaker E: I am, yes. I have my tiny little cabin just outside of town. Not. Okay, not, not outside, but within. Because we all know what's outside. But far enough away that you can't hear the cars all the time. There was another gangrel that lived out in this area, but she left, so I'm kind of by myself most of the time, which is fine. It gives me a lot of room and a lot of space to make all of my videos and take all of my TikToks and do everything that I need to do to. To keep the finances fairly stable. But it's a. It's a nice, quiet existence. I have my little. My little stoat who comes and goes and keeps me company, and we have a. We have a nice, quiet life out there. [00:07:38] Speaker A: What were you on your way to climb up and flex on top of when Joshua pulled up? [00:07:45] Speaker E: Hilariously, once I realized that all of that old equipment was not up for grabs, but no longer inhabited by another gangrel, that I wouldn't have to worry about getting on camera or, God forbid, all the birds, it was kind of going to be. It was a goal of mine to see how fast I could make it up to the top of one of the towers out there. So it was a little embarrassing, actually, when Mister Crozier found me, because he made some comment about the gangrel, and there was, I don't know, he said something about a bird. I don't really know. He was very, very familiar in a way that made me think that he just thought that perhaps all gangrel knew each other in a really personal way. Anyway, it was fine. But no, I was making my way up those towers as quickly as possible. I had to restart the video when he showed up, though, so that was annoying. [00:08:52] Speaker A: Well, I'm sorry that content got put to waste. I understand. I do not personally understand how hard it is to do that kind of thing, but I'm told it's very, very difficult. It can be much less the case for Jordan Phipps. When is the last time you climbed in anything? [00:09:09] Speaker D: I make Haley do that for me. Most of the time. I was actually going to call her because. Not pun unintended. Because I have a large wardrobe that needs picking up for the shop. It's been about six months or so since I reopened the shop here. I wanted to call it breath of life or blush of life, but someone said it was a little too specific. So we're calling it breath of life, which is fine. It's kind of cute. [00:09:44] Speaker A: Anything on the shelves that would catch Joshua's eye as he comes inside? Something in the front window that you use to lure in the customers. [00:09:52] Speaker D: Would he be interested in the set of nine irons? [00:09:57] Speaker A: Honestly, dad vibe Banua came. It's not. Not out of the question. [00:10:03] Speaker D: I feel like they're both dad vibes as well as you could probably hit someone real hard over the head with them. I do think they are from the 1960s, which is great. I haven't gotten a chance to look at them yet. [00:10:17] Speaker A: I would be super excited for anyone in chat who's going to play a character with a specialization in melee. If you put specialization golf clubs, let me know and we'll find some way to reward you from Queen's court games. [00:10:30] Speaker D: Truly obsessed with that concept now. [00:10:34] Speaker A: Well, I know who is not specialized in golf clubs, despite their predilection and capacity for violence. Katya Sokolov. Can't imagine you have a great relationship with the hound given your previous employment. Where does he find you this evening? [00:10:50] Speaker F: Yeah, I'd say our relationship is rather tenuous. It's kind of a don't shoot me, I won't shoot you. You know, we'll see how this goes. Finds me probably at my haven I am doing. The thing I'm usually doing is I have a giant board with all of these leads that I am chasing down and going off one by one, crossing them off. One of them has to lead me to what I'm looking for at some point. And if I hit enough people hard enough, it's gotta give me an answer eventually. [00:11:28] Speaker A: Now, this is the second time this has come up. Is the Klan Bane for the Benu Hakim conspiracy boards or do I have the rules wrong here? [00:11:36] Speaker F: Honestly, they really help with the whole vengeance thing and just justice. Cause you can write all your names on there and then it feels really satisfying to throw a knife through them. [00:11:49] Speaker A: I've definitely heard that the best part of a checklist is being able to cross things off. I have not considered adding a knife to my own work. I might have to put that one down in the. In the business office for later. [00:12:00] Speaker F: It's really satisfying. [00:12:04] Speaker A: Of course. Lastly, but not leastly, interrupted, pulled away from the unlife you've carved out for yourself, Jack Bowman, tell us what the life is like before the hound shows up and ruins. [00:12:16] Speaker C: I would say that Jack, normally this is Chicago, right? Probably in the south loop area. There's a lot of clubs popping in that part of town. Normally at nighttime, he looks like a guy that could get gigs, specifically bounced over security very easily. It's also a nice flow of consensual victims. Of course, asking is key in that situation, but yeah, like, he's probably in one of his gigs at the moment. Probably getting ready to like or found someone that he was thinking of approaching before the hound kind of interrupted. A little peeved, but keeping it to. [00:13:00] Speaker A: Himself from my understand job. From what I understand, Jack Bowman looks like the kind of man who can get literally anything he wants when you're that handsome and that size. [00:13:10] Speaker C: He doesn't know that. Right over his head. Doesn't know. [00:13:14] Speaker A: I think that's endearing in a way. Sure. When someone's absolutely gorgeous and carved from marble and knows it. Very different vibe than someone who has a humble ass. [00:13:26] Speaker C: Extremely different vibe. When you're just on your best life. [00:13:35] Speaker A: Well, then the messages are given. The hound, having been on the receiving end of immediate orders, is not so keen on telling you. By the way, you have an hour to go. Take care of this. Last time he did that, a house caught fire. You are all given the privilege of one night in advance to sort out what you might need to take care of, make arrangements while you'll be out of town or look into this mission that you have been given. Joshua himself does not have a lot of information about Willerton, Illinois, but he will give you some basic details. There's a few hours south of Chicago. You'll have to go past that. Sorry. You'll have to go past the suburbs that people who aren't from Chicago use to say, I am from Chicago when talking to people who aren't from Chicago. And then a little bit further past that, like, vaguely rural, there are some fields, but it'll be swallowed up eventually. Then you get that green belt, and then, boom, right on the other side of that. So I'm sure from Willerton, on a clear night, you can see the glow on the horizon that is the Chicago core. But you're far enough away to properly not be in the city. You would know that there's a kindred population there. Despite its small size. Given its proximity to the city, it is a popular place for those who will soon announce themselves to the city and a little staging ground. It is also where you might go if you were kicked out of Chicago but want to stay close enough in case things change. Aside from that, don't expect any of you would know off the top of your head what's going on, but that is not to say you couldn't find out more if you wanted. [00:15:23] Speaker D: Can I look into it? [00:15:25] Speaker A: Absolutely. I will take an angle that lets you research the city itself, browsing Wikipedia, Google search for news articles, things like that. Or you can take an action that investigates the more kindred side, finding rumors, asking who might know. [00:15:43] Speaker D: I was gonna say, I'm not new in town, but new ish. I feel like I'm here. I definitely was sped through the gate, thanks to the other toreadors in the area. I've been meaning to head to Willerton for a really long time, though. They've got a cute reputation, I've heard. Is there a chance I can come at it from that angle? [00:16:07] Speaker A: Of course. What? So are you going to be talking to some people? Are we going to archives? [00:16:15] Speaker D: I feel like I'm gonna lean into the kindred aspect of it because I feel like I must have checked the wiki before anything that's got this much small town Americana on it this close to the city. [00:16:29] Speaker A: I would take streetwise charisma. I would take insight charisma. Insight, manipulation, kind of depending on the approach you want to take. There are a lot of avenues. [00:16:42] Speaker D: Let's go with insight, charisma. [00:16:44] Speaker A: Oh, sure. Making small talk around various kindred hangouts, judging the reactions that people make, seeing if you can tease open who might know something and then leverage your way into that two successes. Well, unfortunately, it's not for lack of trying. You are, in fact, quite competent at these kind of things. It's that the particular dive you have chosen to. You wouldn't be in a dive. Apologies. The particular venue you've chosen for your fact finding mission tonight is full of people who honestly don't know Willerton has a little bit of a reputation where it's. You can be guilty by association. Right? Yeah. There are some people who are waiting to come in here, but it's also where less repeatable names have been sent, so you don't want to associate yourself with it too much or appear too curious. You obviously getting a pass because it is nakedly obvious that you're there for the wraparound porches and the colonial architecture, but. [00:17:45] Speaker D: Want to see a good ass quilt, man. [00:17:50] Speaker A: But yes. Unfortunately, nothing coming out of that. Anyone else? [00:17:58] Speaker C: Can I investigate the kindred that went missing? Do we know who that is? [00:18:04] Speaker A: Joshua would tell you that his name is Everett York. That name is all he's given, giving you. But, yes, if you wanted to dig around and find some more about that, any reasonable pairing of social roles will get you on the way. Okay, so that would be persuade, charisma, maybe persuasion. Incredible. Yeah. Persuasion, charisma, persuasion, manipulation. Either one of those. [00:18:33] Speaker C: Okay, cool. [00:18:37] Speaker A: Gorgeous, and earnest as you may be, you are still fairly new to the city, and there are just some things we don't trust new vampires with. As patronizing as it sounds, we'll tell you when you're older. [00:18:51] Speaker C: Right, sure. Thanks for nothing, I guess. And then he walks off. [00:19:00] Speaker E: I'm wondering if the anarchs would know anything. I'm not an anarch myself. I'm loosely cammy, but not quite. I'm just, you know, in that way that, you know, I. I just. I just like doing my own thing, and there's nothing wrong with that. So I don't have, like, the worst relationship with the anarchs. So I'm wondering if I could go and could I proposition Genghis or Anita or any of that crew to an arm wrestling competition? And if I win, they have to tell me what they know. [00:19:45] Speaker A: Well, two things. The camarilla has a word for people who are like, you know, we kind of want to do our own thing. And that word is anarchs. [00:19:52] Speaker E: Okay, well, I don't like labels. We're not here to label. We're just here to have a good time. [00:19:58] Speaker A: Second, I think, again, just being who he is would not take the risk that he might lose. But Anita is always a game for games of chance, he said, a professional writer. So let's do that. Are you thinking? I want to say athletics and stamina. This is going to be a protracted conversation. I imagine the two of you locked arms, and then the further you get hers leveraged down, the more she's willing to speak. And then as it comes back towards your end, she changes the topic. It's a very elaborate, muscly dance. [00:20:37] Speaker E: Sure. Of course. Of course. Well, that's four successes. [00:20:45] Speaker A: Four is pretty good. Are you asking about the kindred situation in Wilarton or about Willerton generally? [00:20:53] Speaker E: Um, I'm interested in Willerton generally. I'm. I'm relatively skilled when it comes to survival. So I know that there's some. Some weirdness going on generally in. In the space between us and Willerton, but I'm kind of just trying to figure out what I'm getting myself into, more so than looking into the kindred aspect of it. [00:21:14] Speaker A: Mm hmm. Pardon me a moment. Well, she can confirm to you that Willerton is a farming community, population 665. The town has a single hotel unimaginatively named the Willerton Hotel. The Wikipedia article will tell you the population. It will tell you that they continued growing corn even as the nation swapped the soybeans. And as such, their economy has taken a bit of a nosedive, hence the transition into tourism. The hotel is only part of it, though. With your success, she will give you a little bit of history about the ghost hunting angle the city has taken. While city is entirely too generous, Willerton, for reasons that no one seems to be able to explain is home to a graveyard that has more than 3000 graves dating back to before Illinois was officially admitted to the union. And this is incredibly popular with amateur ghost hunters. Not your tier one ghost hunters who are still doing spooky asylums or abandoned high schools. Not quite your tier three ghost hunters who are the ones putting up the YouTube channels with 10 million views. And they have the, like, exosuit looking rigs for detecting spooky things. But that nice middle ground, second tier, maybe you've got a podcast that gets five or 6000 downloads. Those people love this stuff. [00:22:51] Speaker E: Interesting. [00:22:53] Speaker A: Oh, yeah. All kinds of stories about, like, occultism and like, some of it's very, very Stephen King, some of it's more modern, slasher kind of, you know, don't, don't stop and pull over on your way through Willerton kind of stuff. Headlight flashing, a little bit of urban legend spiced in there. [00:23:11] Speaker E: Yeah, but how much of it is true? [00:23:15] Speaker A: People go missing. [00:23:18] Speaker E: Well, people go missing in Chicago too. [00:23:22] Speaker A: It's fair. But that's the thing about a good conspiracy theory, right? You take perfectly ordinary puzzle pieces and it doesn't work. You can make them fit and make whatever picture you want, right? [00:23:32] Speaker E: Yeah, that's fair enough. [00:23:35] Speaker A: Hmm. [00:23:39] Speaker E: Interesting. [00:23:40] Speaker A: Of course, the local tremere might know more about that, but you don't trust them and they don't trust you. As is the order of things. [00:23:46] Speaker E: No, fuck the tremere. Are you kidding? [00:23:53] Speaker A: Katya, Roxanne, anything on your menu so far as knowledge seeking is concerned? [00:24:02] Speaker F: I was thinking seeing if I had any old contacts that I hadn't burned or hadn't been burned from learning of my own death, seeing if they have anything in their files about the city or anything that might be going on there. [00:24:22] Speaker A: Do you have a dot in contacts on your character sheet? I do, actually. [00:24:26] Speaker F: I have three dots. I have a special contact, I believe. [00:24:29] Speaker A: Mm hmm. [00:24:30] Speaker F: Yeah, I have three dots, special contact. [00:24:35] Speaker A: Well, it's going to be an interesting meeting for sure. I'm assuming this contact is from your previous employment. [00:24:43] Speaker F: Yes? [00:24:44] Speaker A: Mm hmm. [00:24:45] Speaker F: It is. It is definitely. It is like, hey, this is like the one last thing that, like, square our debt. You don't say anything about this, I won't say anything. Well, call it even. [00:24:58] Speaker A: Yeah. And I will only accept that this occurs, like, in a park and you're sitting on opposite sides of the bench, you know? [00:25:04] Speaker F: Oh, of course. Real special, like secret spy movie stuff, you know, with not no eye contact at all. [00:25:12] Speaker A: Even if it's not necessary, it's still fun. [00:25:15] Speaker F: Yeah, of course. [00:25:17] Speaker A: Well, your contact has two pieces of advice. One, don't go to Willerton. And then two, if you ever wonder about the first thing. No, don't go to Willerton. Because the government assigns everything in the country. Doesn't matter what part of the government you're working for. It's broken into little sectors and areas of responsibility. And in this case, they know for a fact there's an agent, Cassandra Vera, who is assigned to Willerton and keeping an eye on the kindred population there. And as far as your contact knows, it might not be that long before someone makes a move. Not tonight, not the next night. But it is well known that kindred exists there. And the pieces of the government who deal with that kind of thing are setting themselves up to do something about that. [00:26:11] Speaker F: Well, then I'll make sure to work quickly. [00:26:17] Speaker A: Miss Silvestri. [00:26:19] Speaker B: Uh, well, I would hope that Miss Haley would have given me a little bit of information about the occult. Nonsense. [00:26:29] Speaker A: It's treasonable. [00:26:31] Speaker E: Mm hmm. I assume that we all kind of have, like, a group chat, right? And I would just be sending messages, but, like, in that innocuous way that we. We have to. So I'd be like, OMG, ghost hunters International was in Willerton because of all of this spooky occult stuff. Check out these links. And it just, like, links to a bunch of different Wikipedia articles. [00:26:53] Speaker A: To be clear, three of you. Sorry, four of you were in that group chat. One of you, you have to send a carrier pigeon. [00:27:00] Speaker E: Yes. [00:27:02] Speaker B: Or at least, like, actually show up and talk to my daddy. I'm real sorry. [00:27:06] Speaker E: Ugh. [00:27:08] Speaker A: Can you imagine the look on your secretary's face when you've been turning down meetings all day from people wearing $505,000 suits? And then this, walks in dusty, still having the climbing chalk hair, just like, yeah, no, I'm here to see Silvestri. [00:27:26] Speaker E: Why did I sound like Charles all of a sudden? [00:27:29] Speaker A: It's my default gross person voice. I can't help it. [00:27:32] Speaker E: Excuse gross person. [00:27:37] Speaker B: Pails. What you got? [00:27:42] Speaker E: We've got occultism. I don't know. I think that's what you spooky witches call it. I don't know. [00:27:51] Speaker B: Hey, hey, watch it. That's tremere. Shit, I ain't tremere. [00:27:55] Speaker E: You fuck with the shadows and stuff. That's spooky. It's basically the same thing. Like, on one side tremere, on the other side, Lasombra. Like, basically the same thing. It's either you or the band. [00:28:11] Speaker B: I'm gonna pretend like you didn't say that. I'm gonna pretend like you didn't say that. Cause I don't fuck with that blood sorcery bullshit. But let me see what I can dig up that might be helpful. [00:28:21] Speaker E: Thank you. Yeah, of course. [00:28:24] Speaker B: A cult, while not to the level of the blood witches, it's always been a bit of a fascination for me. So at the very least, I can probably do a little bit of research, see if anything clicks over to that particular area. [00:28:43] Speaker A: With nothing else. The Lasombra in town. Keep track of the occultism and blood magic. No, you were enemy. The monopoly on occultism and blood sorcery is the tremere's greatest asset, so being able to undermine that elevates the position of the lasombra. Delicious intelligence and occult would be mostly from memory or research. [00:29:08] Speaker B: That'll do the trick. It's only two successes, but I'm stubborn, so may I? [00:29:22] Speaker A: Will power roll that storyteller your willpower. Go nuts. [00:29:32] Speaker B: Okay, that brings it up to three. [00:29:34] Speaker A: Three is respectable. On the back of the occultism, you can't have a creepy rural town where people go missing without stories about cults and sacrifices. That is the law. Like title ten, section four, us code. That has to happen. In this case, it's about separating the truth of the occult from the rumor of the occult. And in this, one of your Lasombra allies or a local scholar who you maintain a relationship with is available to kind of separate the wheat from the chaff. To use a farming metaphor. There are four missing persons cases in the last four years in Willerton that have drawn their attention. Now, for a town of 665 people, one person going missing in a decade is a big deal. So one a year, that's well in excess of any kind of national average. What makes this leap out is that the state police have in every single case reported it as a runaway. Case closed. Investigate it for a week. Nope, that person ran away. Done. No questions. Year rolls by. Oh, yeah. No person must have just run away. Case closed. Thank you. Over and over and over again. [00:31:14] Speaker B: That smells like bullshit. I want to say bullshit. [00:31:19] Speaker A: To be fair, most of rural Illinois smells like that. [00:31:22] Speaker B: Yeah, no, that's fair. I've been as far as Calumet city. It's rough. Out of curiosity, as far as the runaways go, how old are we talking? [00:31:35] Speaker A: The ages are actually pretty varied. The oldest in their early forties, the youngest just over 18. There doesn't seem to be a pattern there. Likewise with. With gender and with location. Some of them are people who were driving from Indiana to Iowa but wanted to avoid the big city traffic. Others were people from Chicago essentially just going down for a, I hesitate to say, vacation to Willerton, but, you know, get out of town for the afternoon, that kind of thing. [00:32:08] Speaker B: Well, that's fun. As far as anything deeper within the actual occult nonsense, anything sticking out with. [00:32:20] Speaker A: Three successes, I would be hard pressed, pressed to give you more. Not to say that the information cannot be found. It's just about how much you'll have going into things. [00:32:37] Speaker B: Well, I would definitely bring this information back to the coterie for sure. [00:32:44] Speaker A: I'm sure Jordan is excited. Katya has a lot to say. So I guess then that prompts two questions from me. One, where are we meeting? I would love to know which part of Chicago manages to simultaneously meet all five of your expectations and needs. And then second, who starts the conversation? Who comes into this room as the leader figure? [00:33:17] Speaker E: I mean, it's typically Roxanne, but I think that's just because she's a bit. [00:33:21] Speaker B: Of a bitch and proud of it. [00:33:24] Speaker F: It's that CEO corporate energy. [00:33:29] Speaker B: Not gonna lie. Laura is also trying to check and see if I've got any kind of a haven. [00:33:35] Speaker F: I do have a haven, but I don't know, it depends up. It's probably not a lot. It's probably not great. [00:33:40] Speaker D: You should meet at the shop. [00:33:42] Speaker A: We could. I like that idea. [00:33:46] Speaker E: Yeah, meeting at the shop is cute. I like that. [00:33:48] Speaker A: It is for no other reason than I get to see Roxanne's reaction to what's on the walls. [00:33:55] Speaker D: Gonna be fine. [00:33:57] Speaker B: Yeah. No, it's the creepy dead eyed dolls that always get me, to be perfectly honest. [00:34:03] Speaker E: They're so sweet. [00:34:05] Speaker B: They're terrifying, dear. They're fucking terrifying. [00:34:09] Speaker A: You lack vision. [00:34:10] Speaker D: They're beautiful. [00:34:11] Speaker A: You hear the jingle of the bells on the door. Not the mechanical kind. I'm imagining an actual string of actual bells. And then not those metal perforated, like assembly line shelves, but also not super fancy like oak fold open glass cases. Right. [00:34:35] Speaker D: No, it. This is the kind of place that you could not take children to because they will knock something over immediately. You probably could not take Jack to because he will knock something over immediately. But I mean, we're still reorganizing. [00:34:50] Speaker E: I've definitely knocked some things over. Oh, absolutely. [00:34:53] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:34:53] Speaker E: Full in a china shop. I'm. [00:34:55] Speaker D: Yeah, yeah, it's just walls and stacks. It's almost like. I think it's magical. It's all sorts of beautiful stacks of very cool found objects. You could just sort of get lost in, like, piles. It's really nice, actually. There is a whole. I'm setting up a whole section that's just vintage hardware. [00:35:18] Speaker A: I'm getting a. I'm getting a vibe that says cracker barrel and needful things. [00:35:24] Speaker D: Yeah, much closer to needful things than you think, though. [00:35:30] Speaker A: I will in the follow up. Question to that is, Jack, what was the last thing you knocked over? [00:35:35] Speaker C: That's what I was gonna say. I was like, I don't think he stopped trying to make himself smaller entering this shop, because every time he turns, one of his shoulders just knocks something over. I'm assuming something porcelain, probably, like a. One of those angel dolls. [00:35:56] Speaker B: Oh, the precious moments. [00:36:02] Speaker D: That's on me. [00:36:03] Speaker C: I tried to catch it, and it just. [00:36:05] Speaker E: No. [00:36:06] Speaker A: Oh. [00:36:07] Speaker B: Oh. [00:36:07] Speaker A: Oh, baby, you say that, but with those dots and celerity in your reflexes, I bet you could pull it off. [00:36:14] Speaker C: I bet I could pull it off too. [00:36:17] Speaker A: Do I have to roll for that? No. This has happened in the past, and you've fed since then. I'm just enjoying the all father Cain looking down upon creation and seeing you using the gifts of kindred power to catch a precious moment tall before it hits the floor. [00:36:33] Speaker C: It's one of those things where he knocked it over. He's done this, like, a couple of times now, obviously accidentally, and then, without thinking, catches it before it even gets past his waist and puts it back. [00:36:44] Speaker D: It is almost to a full set. You can't destroy it now. [00:36:49] Speaker C: I've only done it once. I'm really sorry for that. [00:36:53] Speaker E: Yeah, but it was. God loveth a cheerful giver. And, like, that's the most expensive one. [00:37:00] Speaker C: What do you want me to do about it? This place is so small. [00:37:05] Speaker D: Sideways. You walk in sideways. We've talked about it. [00:37:07] Speaker C: So it's okay for y'all to, like, walk in normal, but I have to walk in sideways? [00:37:11] Speaker D: Honey, the last smaller shoulders. [00:37:13] Speaker F: We're not built like a fridge. [00:37:16] Speaker B: Yeah. Also, the last time Jackie tried to walk in sideways, he knocked, like, three things over with that ass alone. [00:37:22] Speaker C: Like, hey, wait a minute. Okay. [00:37:24] Speaker E: Okay. Well, we're not. We're not gonna booty shame, okay? Cause if we're booty shame, then there's two of us, and that's a problem. [00:37:31] Speaker C: So can you go past the doll, please? Like, and ask commentary, please? [00:37:38] Speaker D: Jack, you can meet us around the back. [00:37:40] Speaker C: Okay, I appreciate that. And he slowly backs out. [00:37:47] Speaker D: You can meet us in the manager's office in the back. That's fine. [00:37:50] Speaker A: That's why they call it the loading and unloading zone. It's where the dump goes. [00:37:57] Speaker E: Erin. [00:38:01] Speaker A: Kai, I imagine that given your professional background, you take these things a bit more seriously. I would imagine the conversation is happening, and then you're like, excuse me, actual professional here, drawing Roxanne. And then thus the meeting begins. [00:38:16] Speaker F: Yeah. Yeah, I think so. [00:38:19] Speaker A: Carry on. [00:38:21] Speaker B: So for a population that small, they've had four people go missing every year for the past four years. That seems a little fucked. [00:38:31] Speaker F: It does, yeah. [00:38:35] Speaker E: And what. What do they think happens to these missing people? [00:38:42] Speaker B: Uh, well, the good old boys of the state police have every one of them marked as a runaway. Everyone. [00:38:53] Speaker A: I. [00:38:54] Speaker E: Okay, I'm not. I know I'm not the smartest person here, but that feels really unlikely for a population that size. [00:39:07] Speaker A: It. [00:39:08] Speaker D: I believe the kids say sus. [00:39:11] Speaker E: That is what they say, yes. [00:39:13] Speaker F: Good job. [00:39:13] Speaker E: I'm proud of you, Jordan. [00:39:15] Speaker D: Thank you. [00:39:16] Speaker E: Sus means, like, suspect, suspicious, questionable. [00:39:22] Speaker C: Didn't you just say that they are questionable and suspicious? [00:39:26] Speaker E: You could, but Sus is one syllable. [00:39:29] Speaker C: Oh. So it's just a matter of making it quicker. [00:39:32] Speaker E: I mean, it's also slang, so, like, it's cool, right? Okay, old man. I don't. [00:39:44] Speaker D: I feel like as soon as kindred get the hold of us of a slang term, it is no longer cool. We are all too old. [00:39:49] Speaker B: Probably stops being cool. [00:39:51] Speaker E: Right. Okay. All right. Well, immediately, look, it just. [00:39:54] Speaker A: I want you to pause for a moment and imagine Roxanne coming out of a meeting saying, no, cap. Best idea. [00:40:03] Speaker D: Oh, no, I took psychic damage for that. [00:40:07] Speaker E: I definitely did psychic damage for that. Jesus, can we just. I think we need to take a break. Jesus. [00:40:14] Speaker A: That's the only one. I know. I would normally. I would normally accelerate and continue to use zoom rslang, but you said sus, and I said, no cap, and I'm out. If you know more zoom wristlang, feel free to put it in chat. [00:40:27] Speaker B: No, that's all I got. [00:40:28] Speaker E: I'm too bad. [00:40:31] Speaker A: But Roxanne has communicated a suspicious number. [00:40:33] Speaker B: Of missing persons and some 1312 bullshit along with it. [00:40:41] Speaker F: Of course. [00:40:43] Speaker E: I mean, small town America, one of those things that does not surprise me, I think. [00:40:50] Speaker B: Or change. Really? [00:40:52] Speaker E: Ever change? No, they also love their corn. I don't know if that means anything, but they love their corn. [00:41:01] Speaker D: I mean, it's like, back, but it used to be a backbone of the american farming industry. [00:41:05] Speaker E: I mean, yeah, like, I get it. Like, America was built on corn, but, like, now, like, there are other, like, better crops and so, like, now you've got, like, everything. It is. It is. I mean, everything. Literally everything. Yeah, but now you just have, like, a weird backwater city town. It's not a city? It's not really a city. [00:41:25] Speaker A: Right. [00:41:25] Speaker E: Like how big do you have to be to be considered a city? [00:41:28] Speaker F: I think you need to have at least a thousand people. [00:41:30] Speaker E: Okay, so definitely not a city then. Just full of corn and ghosts apparently. [00:41:39] Speaker D: I know. [00:41:40] Speaker F: Like that old movie. [00:41:43] Speaker E: What movie? [00:41:45] Speaker F: Some movie I remember watching as a kid that involved some strange town. People worshiping corn. [00:41:52] Speaker A: Is it. [00:41:53] Speaker E: Was it. Was it Willerton? [00:41:55] Speaker F: It could be biographical. [00:41:57] Speaker A: I don't know. [00:41:58] Speaker C: Would it be children of the corn? Is that the actual. [00:42:01] Speaker F: Yes, I think that was it. [00:42:02] Speaker C: Okay. That's. [00:42:03] Speaker E: How many children are in Willerton? How many, what is the children to adult ratio in Widlerton? [00:42:09] Speaker A: We should have. We should have asked. [00:42:10] Speaker D: We could have looked up. All I know is I've been champing at the bit to get to this place for such a long time. They have such a cool little website. Like they're like, they have a website. Well, I mean, it's like a board of tourism thing. Like they're just trying real hard and it's so freaking cute. [00:42:27] Speaker E: You just want me to go antiquing with you so I can carry all the heavy stuff back. [00:42:32] Speaker D: You're really good at it. [00:42:33] Speaker E: I know I'm really good at it, but look at my little noodle arms. [00:42:37] Speaker D: How could I carry anything? [00:42:39] Speaker E: I know you can't carry anything. [00:42:41] Speaker A: All of this is factually correct. But the rewards on earth from Willerton are nothing compared to the rewards the prince will give you if you do your job. If we can steer the conversation back towards the plot of the game and not the number of children versus the amount of corn. [00:43:01] Speaker D: I'm going either way. So. [00:43:03] Speaker F: Yeah, I mean, anybody else learned anything of note? [00:43:10] Speaker D: Nothing that the board of tourism isn't going to be able to show us on their site? [00:43:15] Speaker C: No. Apparently I'm too young, so kind of blocked on that one. [00:43:21] Speaker F: Yeah. [00:43:22] Speaker E: And what do you, what do we know about this agent who's keeping an eye on the kindred up there? Is this going to be a problem? [00:43:31] Speaker A: Hopefully. [00:43:31] Speaker F: Hopefully not. We just got to move quickly. [00:43:35] Speaker E: Okay. [00:43:36] Speaker F: Yeah. Just let's not spend too many nights in Willerton. [00:43:42] Speaker E: Yeah. [00:43:44] Speaker D: One in the hotel, though. [00:43:46] Speaker A: There's a fair amount of uncertainty between the SI has someone watching this area and Las Vegas. But you're making a very expensive gamble. Yeah. If you want to try to time that market move. [00:44:04] Speaker F: I mean, would I know if said person watching in this area is probably stationed somewhere in the city or the. [00:44:10] Speaker A: Town, not in the. [00:44:12] Speaker F: Are they just watching from satellites? [00:44:16] Speaker A: It's a matter of tradecraft. It would be very hard to sneak someone into this town. Everyone knows everyone. Everyone has known everyone. It's the kind of town where you're not a local until you're five generations born there. Yeah. So having a person of a particular build with you can spot them, right? Yeah. If you know what you're looking for, you can spot them. Would be difficult to keep the operation under wraps. [00:44:43] Speaker F: Incredibly. [00:44:48] Speaker B: Storyteller in my little bit of research, would that role have been enough to get us, like, an epicenter? Like, where's this shit starting from? [00:45:00] Speaker A: The occult aspect, you mean? [00:45:03] Speaker B: Yeah. Like, what's. Where's the. The weird shit been kind of centered in. Is it all in that graveyard? [00:45:09] Speaker A: The specific geography? No, but how many dots in a cult do you have actually? Why you make an intelligence in a cult role? We'll see if you just know anything generally about this. [00:45:19] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Really? [00:45:32] Speaker A: You have heard of something called the goblin roads. You decided it was not worth knowing what they were when you were. You saw that if you were in the library, you went right past that book. [00:45:46] Speaker F: I think it's related to going goblin mode. [00:45:51] Speaker E: Would that, as Roxanne talks about the goblin roads. I don't have anything in a cult, but I do have a decent amount of survival. Would that have been anything that I would have crossed paths with? [00:46:04] Speaker A: Be slightly more difficult, but we can give it a shot. Intelligence and survival. [00:46:10] Speaker E: Give it a shot. [00:46:13] Speaker A: Ooh. [00:46:14] Speaker E: That is two successes. [00:46:18] Speaker A: Yeah. You know, more by a very small margin. The goblin roads. So survival gangrel, the most, the one thing that every vampire knows is that moving from city to city over land, your number one problem is. [00:46:39] Speaker E: Werewolves. [00:46:40] Speaker A: Exactly. It's an infestation of the roads and towns that. That connect the actual important city bits. There are other parts of it that. So when you, when you're traveling from Chicago to Des Moines into Omaha, I 80 cuts straight across. You get in your car and if your alignment's right, you can pretty much take your hands off the wheel and just go arrow straight for 600 miles. Those main arteries are where packs of lupines looking to tear up. Some of the agents of the worm keep their. Their. Their checkpoints and their little watches. There's been more than one vampire who's been driving along the night, sees a siren on, a car, pulls over, and it's not a state trooper, it's a werewolf. Who just happens to have one of those little things you put on, right? Fake inspections, things like that. If you're in the know and desperate enough, the goblin roads are those lonely switchbacks and little dirt off ramps that take you through the parts of America that no one knows exists. Except for maybe the one house on the way. Those forgotten back roads. They're called the goblin roads because there's something weird. There's something wrong where you travel for 30 minutes on a straight road, but end up going 2 miles. Or you have to. You'll see a map and it'll say, okay, you know, follow the street, turn right just past that twisted oak tree. But when you come over the hill and you see the lake, you have to stop, get out. There's an altar 40 steps northeast. Sprinkle some grain. Or all these weird rituals and things like that. You're a gangrel. Survival. I think you would know that there are, like, ferryman gangrel. Who escort people from Chicago up to Milwaukee along the goblin roads that go that direction. They're called psychopomps. So there's something going on there that is explicitly supernatural. Whether it's that you don't understand it or that kindred writ large don't understand it, remains to be seen. So you could recite those facts about the goblin roads. But anyone, well, what's true, what's not. Like, fuck if I know. That's why I don't go. Right? [00:49:17] Speaker E: Sure. [00:49:22] Speaker D: My last Hail Mary on information gathering is that I do have a specialty in academia. I have academics with a special specialty in Americana. This place is moving on the backs of the history of their people, etcetera. Is there any way I can squeeze anything out of that, especially given the new. Given the cemetery. [00:49:48] Speaker A: Yeah. Academics. Comes with research skills. A few more keywords, lets you slide into LexisNexis and see what's going on there. Chicago public Libraries give you a free subscription. That's just a pro tip for anyone who lives in Chicago. Great library service. I could take that specialty in intelligence or wits. Either one would work. One moment. [00:50:11] Speaker D: Let's do Americana and wits. A role I never thought I'd have to say. Three successes. [00:50:21] Speaker A: In this case. It's less about what you find and more about what you don't find. Because any good research program starts with a holistic look at the totality of the literature. Right. Suffice it to say that Wilherton does not have a huge body of extant research. Right. So if you're going to do Americana, that is a lot of oral history, a lot of local folklore, and a lot of newspapers. Right. The newspaper of record for Willerton is the Kendall County News. With issues going back into the mid 18 hundreds. It's full of just ordinary town stuff. I'm sure if you weren't under time pressure, you would find it enthralling to read about every single four h fair and every single harvest queen and every single article about. Can you believe it? They're opening a dairy Queen. Culture has come to Willerton. That's so cool. But what's going to leap off the page for what's going to leap off the page, so to speak, is that there is a gap in the microfilm records from May 31, 1888, until September 3, 1889. [00:51:37] Speaker D: Fascinating. [00:51:39] Speaker A: And there's no reason that you can find why that should be. There's no note in the archive. You can't find a record of something that burned down. You can find microfilm scanned copies of every single newspaper, except that roughly one year period. For those of you who aren't old like me, microfilm is what it says on the tin. It's micro and film, and you get a really big machine that you can look through like a. Like a microscope and read newspapers. Google it. You'll think it's so cute. [00:52:14] Speaker D: Can one pivot to. I'm just going to try for this. Can I pivot to Chicago newspapers in the area from that time? [00:52:22] Speaker A: Bold of you to assume that anyone in Chicago has ever given a shit about what happens in Willerton enough to write it down on ink. [00:52:28] Speaker D: All right, well, that's what I got. I've got a year of missing newspapers, which is aggressively suspicious. [00:52:38] Speaker E: To ask a question. Does that timeframe of missing stuff repeat at any other time? Or is it literally just that year and a half? [00:52:51] Speaker A: Just that one. And that's why it's suspicious when you have 70 odd years of unbroken record keeping and then this is gone. And like I said, there was no flood that wiped out a basement, there's no fire that burned down the county records house. There is no explanation that you can find that would. Would account for this happening. Jack has a thought. [00:53:21] Speaker C: Someone had said that there was ghost hunters that went out there for podcasts and stuff. Have any of them done extensive research into it before going there? Maybe they might know something about this. Missing people, graveyards, something like that. Maybe they recorded it in their podcast. [00:53:42] Speaker A: I'm not allowed to recommend other people's podcasts on our show, but if you wanted to listen through a few episodes, we could see what was in there. Unfortunately, because it is. Because we're talking about a very niche podcast. I think what I'm going to ask for is investigation and stamina as you listen to two bro overacting. Mediocre white men doing spooky voices about the middle of Illinois. [00:54:15] Speaker C: I love that. [00:54:16] Speaker F: Okay. [00:54:16] Speaker C: Investigation and stamina. [00:54:18] Speaker A: They probably. Yeah, investigation and stamina. They probably have a name like Jake and Farty Todd. Right? Like morning Zoo DJ names. [00:54:28] Speaker E: Well, that's Canon now. [00:54:30] Speaker C: Yes. I'm gonna reroll that if that's okay. [00:54:34] Speaker A: It does take willpower to do this. [00:54:37] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:54:38] Speaker A: You were saying, Laura? [00:54:39] Speaker B: No, I did just want to make a point of ensuring that the minute Roxanne realizes that tech is coming out, she's like, oop. Nope. Just, like, backs up to the very front of the store to keep out of the way. [00:54:53] Speaker A: Roxanne is to technology as Jack is to kitschy antiques. Is that the same amount, like, three successes there? [00:55:06] Speaker D: The VTT really hates Jake and Farty. [00:55:08] Speaker C: Todd, which is totally legit with a name like that. [00:55:15] Speaker A: Mm hmm. On the Ghost hunter side. No, it is obviously that. I can't believe I'm going to continue to say this for the rest of the episode. Jake and Farty Todd got about as far in their research as you did, and most of their draw is not unlike a markiplier or a pewdiepie being somewhere scary and overreacting to totally normal things. However, in that 1st 20 minutes where they show up into town and they're studying the background story, you will get the name of a couple other locations that might be interesting in terms of meeting folks, kind of getting yourself oriented. Lay of the land stuff. There is an apparently extremely highly reviewed restaurant known as Sam's motorcycle diner because it is a building that is one half motorcycle repair and one half diner. And that appears to be the epicenter of social life in town on the outskirts of Willerton, which, to be clear, is not that far from the inskirts of Willerton, I think that's how that works is the last chance saloon that is more for transient tourists, bikers, truckers coming through. If you want to avoid getting snarled up in Chicagoland traffic, you can cut through Willerton. Um, apparently Sam's motorcycle diner has pie that is worth adjusting your route for if you're the kind of person who likes pie or if you can eat. [00:56:56] Speaker F: Or if you add to say, I'm. [00:56:57] Speaker D: Like, what happens if I eat pie? I have to know now. [00:57:02] Speaker A: Canonically, without the merit, it turns instantly into ash when it hits your stomach. And you have to, I believe, make a stamina roll or a willpower roll to avoid instantly regurgitating. [00:57:15] Speaker D: Well, I can stare at it. [00:57:17] Speaker A: Yeah. And since that's also where you keep your blood, it's an ashy bloody slurry that. Yeah, it's not great. [00:57:24] Speaker B: Cute. [00:57:26] Speaker C: I can imagine that. I if they're, like, same gusto of markiplier and, like, screaming midway through, like, scary scenes, probably. I jump very often while listening to this goddamn thing. Just subtly. So every so often, over time, it gets worse. But, yeah, I would say that I. [00:57:48] Speaker A: Would do it, but I'm afraid people are going to clip it, and I don't know if I want that on the Internet forever. [00:57:55] Speaker E: Okay, so basically, right now, we know that the goblin roads exist, but we don't know exactly how to traverse them. Aside from knowing that there are people that potentially we could find to get us there. [00:58:11] Speaker A: Yeah, pretty much. Okay, I will, as the storyteller tell you, you don't need a psychopomp to get there safely. [00:58:20] Speaker E: Okay. [00:58:21] Speaker A: It would not be a terribly interesting adventure if I killed you all with Faye on the way to Willerton. [00:58:26] Speaker E: Look it, I mean, we contents content, right? [00:58:31] Speaker F: That's when we're changing the lost. [00:58:33] Speaker E: Oh, God. [00:58:34] Speaker A: I understand. I have instilled in this cast a certain amount of paranoia, which is why I will go out of my way to say no in this case. [00:58:42] Speaker E: Okay. All right, then. Then you know what? I think that I think we'll be okay. I think maybe I have enough of a handle on it that we could figure it out the rest of the way. Just fill in the blanks as we go. That's. That's. That's part of. That's part of survival. That's part of being out on your own. You have to, you know, like, obviously, you want to be as prepared as you can, but you always have to expect the unexpected and be willing to. To make changes as things come. So I think that we can handle this, obviously. [00:59:20] Speaker A: Hash meetthesunride. Hash. Hash blessed. [00:59:24] Speaker E: Uh, can we. Can we petition to change the first hashtag, actually, because I would like hash meetthesunrise to not be the hashtag that we use. [00:59:36] Speaker A: I was assuming it was little tongue in cheek irony on your part. [00:59:40] Speaker E: Sure. I'm also just a little concerned because you're the storyteller, so. [00:59:46] Speaker D: So we just load up the station wagon and go then? [00:59:49] Speaker E: Oh, are we taking the station wagon? I figure we'll be taking my truck. [00:59:54] Speaker F: Supply us with the car for this one. [00:59:56] Speaker A: Is it canonical that Jordan Phipps drives a station wagon? [01:00:01] Speaker E: Yeah, it is. Now it is. No, she threw that into the universe, so. Yes. [01:00:06] Speaker B: Yeah. I mean, it also kind of tracks for the vibe. [01:00:09] Speaker D: It tries. [01:00:10] Speaker E: It does. It does. That. Or a PT cruiser. One of those? [01:00:14] Speaker A: Yeah. [01:00:14] Speaker D: Oh, God, it's a station wagon. Please. [01:00:17] Speaker A: If you have the choice between the PT cruiser, which is an approximation, like a facsimile of americana of that era, or the actual. [01:00:24] Speaker E: The actual thing. [01:00:25] Speaker F: The actual. [01:00:27] Speaker D: It is old and it knows it. To be fair, at this point, I think Roxanne could drive it because it's old enough. It does not technically count as technology. [01:00:35] Speaker B: That's fair. There isn't a computer in it that I will fry by mistake. [01:00:40] Speaker D: This is Harry Dresden rules. [01:00:42] Speaker A: But to Katya's point, yes. They will provide for you a nice. [01:00:46] Speaker F: Black suv, one that our lasombra won't fry. [01:00:51] Speaker A: The Lasombra? Bane is not so finicky, at least not by my reading that holding the steering wheel will destroy all the electronics. Just the way that I normally think about it is does the thing you're touching need to know you're a human to work? So, like a touchscreen? Yes. A microphone. [01:01:10] Speaker F: They're not going to be able to use these little fancy gps touchscreen we have in here. [01:01:15] Speaker A: Right, but the emissions control trip chip that handles engine timing does not give a shit what you are right. Reach in and actually physically handle the circuitry. I would say that it cannot tell through the steering wheel, ghost in the machine style, that something is wrong. Yeah, but that's just my. [01:01:31] Speaker D: I'm sorry, Katya. You could drive. [01:01:34] Speaker F: Yeah, I'm pretty good at it. [01:01:37] Speaker B: Yeah. Well, uh, I think as the kids are, want to say, fuck it, we ball. [01:01:46] Speaker F: Guess so. [01:01:48] Speaker C: Stop doing what the kids say. That's just. Can we know. [01:01:53] Speaker B: One of the clients has a kid who's like, I don't know, like, Zoomer is what, is that what they call them? [01:01:59] Speaker F: Yeah, I believe so. Yeah. [01:02:01] Speaker B: Yeah. It's like gremlin, motherfucker. But honestly, it's kind of impressive. [01:02:08] Speaker A: I think. On the way, I would like to hear the story of when Roxanne, as part of a wooing a client kind of thing, had to go to the client's spoiled child's Minecraft Fortnite themed birthday party. And then we'll put that in the same bonus episode as the Jake and farty Todd show. [01:02:30] Speaker B: Yep, that's. Yeah. [01:02:33] Speaker A: We will say that the amounts of research that you've been doing, the time it takes to get the message from Mister Crozier and then assemble it would not be wise to leave now and then make the two hour trip to Willerton. You would get there with not a whole lot of time to find safety before hash meetthesunrise. So you are all welcome to return to your havens and, I presume, establish a rendezvous point for the second that the sun warts the sky. Is that fair? [01:03:03] Speaker E: Sounds good to me. [01:03:04] Speaker F: Sounds good to me. [01:03:08] Speaker A: So, that said, new night, new me. Can I get a rouse check from everyone, please? [01:03:21] Speaker E: Oh, I'm fine. I'm ready. Let's go. [01:03:25] Speaker F: Rousing success. [01:03:27] Speaker B: Rousing success. [01:03:29] Speaker C: Not succeed at all. [01:03:32] Speaker F: Ooh, Jack needs a snack. [01:03:35] Speaker A: I understand why Katya wants to go. I understand why Jordan wants to go. I understand why Haley wants to go. I understand why Jack doesn't want to go. Roxanne is the part that confuses me. All of those other people have, like, a willful reason why the beast might go along with the plan. Right? [01:04:00] Speaker B: I mean, if I make this look good, it makes Clan Lasombra look good. What? What's so difficult about that? [01:04:07] Speaker A: My guy, I mean, actually littered the case. I'm dumb for not thinking of that. And thank you for reminding me. I was so fixated on someone wearing that. Going on a road trip to Nowheresville, Illinois. Right. [01:04:22] Speaker B: Here's the thing. I am smarter than I look. Thank you very much. At the very least, I am not gonna wear the $2,000 heels. It's just $400 boots. [01:04:35] Speaker A: My work boots. My $400 work boots. [01:04:38] Speaker B: Exactly. [01:04:39] Speaker A: Well, Jack, unfortunately, you'll increase your hunger by one for me. Surely there's something to eat in Willerton, if not the highly recommended pie. [01:04:54] Speaker C: It tastes like nothing, but. [01:04:59] Speaker D: Tastes like sadness. It's fine. [01:05:04] Speaker E: I'm sure. My haven is actually the furthest south of everybody's, so I figure folks would probably congregate where I am. [01:05:15] Speaker D: Well, we can meet at your place and head out together. [01:05:18] Speaker F: Weapons check. Head out? [01:05:20] Speaker A: Yeah. [01:05:20] Speaker E: All that fun stuff. [01:05:21] Speaker D: Roxanne, do you need a ride? [01:05:27] Speaker E: You're muted. [01:05:30] Speaker A: I choose to believe that she whispered it to herself because it was vile and she's being polite. [01:05:37] Speaker B: Wait, can you hear me now? [01:05:38] Speaker A: Yes. [01:05:39] Speaker B: Okay, good. Sorry. Must have been a delay on that. Yeah, no, sure. Yeah, sure, Jordan. Thanks. [01:05:48] Speaker A: What a wonderful in my head. And you can correct me if I'm wrong, Roxanne lives in a very Tony Stark kind of condo situation. This is a building where you have to have a credit check to get inside the lobby. Yeah. And then you come down the elevator, and you're walking through the lobby, and you pass, like, the very well appointed, like, no shit security guard to cross out. And it's Jordan in a station wagon and, like, wood paneled station wagon. Like an orangey kind of yellow. Yeah. Is it old? [01:06:25] Speaker D: They don't make this paint anymore, is. [01:06:28] Speaker A: It old enough to have an eight track inside? [01:06:30] Speaker D: Uh, no, that actually did get ripped out. I could not help that. [01:06:34] Speaker A: Okay, so we tape deck? [01:06:37] Speaker D: Yes, definitely. The tape is jammed inside. [01:06:41] Speaker A: Oh, what is playing right now? [01:06:43] Speaker F: Yeah, I want to know. [01:06:45] Speaker D: It's currently off because no one can listen to the proclaimers that many times. Well, I might, but, you know, in for a treat. [01:06:57] Speaker B: You're not forcing me for that. [01:06:59] Speaker D: I mean, just don't touch it and it won't go off. [01:07:02] Speaker B: No, I'm. [01:07:04] Speaker A: That'll be the worst part of a failed drive. Check. Not the crash, but the fact that Roxanne will bounce off the stereo and you will all die together to. I will walk 500 miles. Right. The last thing you hear before your immortal soul is rendered unto dust and the curse claims you is da da da da da da da da da. [01:07:23] Speaker E: Da da da da. [01:07:26] Speaker D: Oh, my God. [01:07:30] Speaker A: All right, then. Well, I regret to inform you that the tension is going to be worse than the outcome. There's always uncertainty when leaving town. The natural order of things. The werewolves have some parts. The vampires have other. Not only have you built your lives and your social relationships here, you've created a home, but you are acutely aware that your entire existence depends on being able to blend in with the source of food. And the further you get away from these incredibly densely packed streets, the more likely it is that you'll be found by hunters. You'll be found by Garrow, or the other things that hide in the between of our world. Or, plainly, that there just won't be a place where a human's around for you to maintain the masquerade and your hunger. There's a base level anxiety that comes with moving away from you or defined hunting ground. And that way, vampires are very sedentary creatures. But you all have a reason why you wouldn't let that show. We've touched on Roxanne wanting to climb the social ladder of the camarilla to demonstrate her usefulness to clan Lasombra. The need to excel and to achieve is literally in her blood. Jordan, also driven by her bane, but in a different way. The toreador find beauty and strange things, but this is a mission made in heaven for you. This isn't even a work trip. This is a vacation. And you might answer some emails along the way. Right, Katya, you've traveled before. You've done the si work. There's a little bit of a thrill of venture to be found, but just like every other Si operation, there was always the chance that you would be the one who learned the hard way that the arms of Ahriman can peel their way into armor. And in this, the danger is no different. Yeah. Hayley, the outdoors have been your kingdom. Sorry, your queendom for. I mean, since you were, what, like, five or six? [01:09:51] Speaker E: Whereabouts. [01:09:53] Speaker A: This is flatter than you're used to. We're not going to have any dramatic changes in elevation, but it's still the unknown. The. Out there, there's a. There's a bare drillsiness to it if you tilt your head and squint through vampire colored glasses. Jack, I want to zoom in here, because the story of your embrace is. Is a bit relevant. Right. Who was Jack before you were made immortal? [01:10:28] Speaker C: Wow. What a question. I would say that I used to. [01:10:35] Speaker A: Be, uh. [01:10:39] Speaker C: I'm not gonna say a delivery boy, but kind of like someone that helped with loading off. Loading things is the best way to put it. Usually on the pier or harbor kind of situation. Was okay with the work that I did, essentially, it paid the bills. I got to go home at a reasonable time, stuff like that. I was okay with a mundane, essentially. I would say that. Didn't want to look for more, either. [01:11:12] Speaker A: Nothing wrong with finding your niche and occupying it, right? [01:11:16] Speaker C: I pick things up, and I put things down. [01:11:20] Speaker A: And that's what drew your sire to you. Some sires choose to embrace because there's something they like and they want more of it. And sometimes a sire will embrace because there's something they like. It just needs to be awakened, because you have that charisma, a raw, natural leadership, and you're physically imposing the ability to make the own, make the world like clay in your hands and mold it. But you were content, and your sire thought the brujahn blood might be enough to change that. At this point. I mean, it's been five or six or seven years since you returned. Has that sense of rebellion and call to adventure landed, or are you still pushing back the curse of your progenitors? [01:12:15] Speaker C: I would say I tried really hard to keep that contentness of just falling into the grind, like big economy rate. But the call of adventure is there. Knowing that I could do more now, it's kind of hard not to. [01:12:33] Speaker A: Well, in a way, that makes you the most reasonable of the five in this car. There's something delightfully reckless about Katya. Bold, but perhaps too bold of Haley Jordan's driven by obsession. Roxanne, too, in a different way. And we'll see if your grounded center does the coterie good as we travel. The suv is a delight never have his servants travel in anything less than the utmost of style. Leather interior, satellite radio, gps navigation, heated seats, individually controlled climate zones, tinted windows, of course, in the very backseat. And all in one. Josh Crozier approved. Oh, shit. We're out of gas and the sun is rising. Survival kit, duct tape, reflective blankets, bags of plasma. Everything for the vampire on the go. I just did. Now imagine in the TikTok influencer world, they have those like, so here's my everyday carry. Or more recently, they're like, this is what it's like to work at Google. Wake up at 08:00 a.m. Have a right. And I'm just imagining that, but it's Josh talking about how to not die when you're on the road. Regardless, traveling down the highway. Highway is a bit ambitious. State highway, two lanes. The asphalt's a little cracked because this is state money, not federal money. The paint wearing down. You don't get the large, those huge sweeping lights that are over main interstates. You don't get the little reflective nubs in the ground or those little strips that rumble when you start to drift off. This is just the barest amount of asphalt over the barest amount of gravel to facilitate travel from one place to another. And we'll say it's the summer. So once you get past the suburbs and you're into that beginning bit where the rural is starting to encroach upon the urban as opposed to vice versa, the corn raises up from the ground. I don't know if you've ever been out into the midwest when it's in that July season, but corn sweatshirt, it has this weight of humidity in the air that also carries with it a faint graininess. Not grainy as in like sand, but as relates to grain. And you can, like, smell corn in a can, it's not quite the same. There's something entirely different and earthy and green and verdant and, like, mesopotamian about the wet and the dirt and the nature. And that's in, like, the left side of your brain. And then the right has that smell of asphalt because the road hasn't been cleaned, they don't do that. So the. The rubber is there, and it's got that. That oily petrochemical whiff to it. The lingering scent of ammonia nitrate fertilizers. So it's this. It's very acute. If you've smelled the manure smell, you can kind of concentrate that down into its essential salts, which forms this terribly interesting waveform of scent. It doesn't matter if you have the windows down or not, the second that you turn that fan on, it starts to blow up into your nose, and you'll be surprised by how dark it is when people visit Omaha. Don't do it when people visit Omaha. One of the things that I like to do, especially if they're coming from a big city, is just drive 40 minutes out of town when the glow of the city goes away, and you can look up and see an entirely different night sky. I've had friends who have only ever lived in the Big east coast, and they come out here and they say, honestly, I didn't know there were that many stars, because this big, inky black void just lights up with a thousand twinkles you didn't know were there. But it's also silent. If you keep the radio off. There's no sirens, there's no horns honking. There's no shutter of a dumpster being emptied by a night crew. There's no clang of a subway train. There's no hiss of a bus as it hits those, the breaks, or the sound they make when they kneel down at a bus stop. If you have excellent public transportation, which Chicago Forest park does, and all of those senses come together to tell you that you're not where you belong, or at the very least, you're not where you're used to being. This is the empty middle of America that you constitutionally, because of what and who you are, know that you do not belong in. In its haunted old farms, its abandoned homesteads, its gigantic hulking green machines churning through land, slurping up the nutrients that drive America and barfing them into GMO labeled corporate seed banks, places smaller than it used to be. And the people that live here resent the people that live there. These towns are barely profitable. The young people move away as soon as possible because there are no jobs. So on every single lever, as you pull up to that first sign, welcome to Willerton. Paint over rust on every single level. You understand that this place doesn't want you to be here. Despite that, Woolerton is where we will go when we return from our break. Sit tight, everybody. We'll be back in about ten minutes. We're going to fill up some liquids, do some stretching. You should, too, but, hey, if you're not gonna. We got some, like, they're kind of advertisements, strictly speaking, but really they're just videos from people who we like, who you should listen to when you're not listening to us. So don't go too far, but do take care of yourself. Back in a bit. Well, we have returned. Hopefully you have too. We have hydrated and stood up and stretched. And if you haven't yet, I insist you do so right now, I'm never gonna know, but I'm going to judge you if you don't. Not like, in a mean way, but in a. Like, we're friends and I care about you way. Right. Disappointed. [01:19:44] Speaker B: Just disappointed. [01:19:45] Speaker A: That's on the topic of people I care about, but torment nevertheless. Our coterie is sitting outside of Willerton, Illinois. We called to mind the scents and the sights and the sounds and the signs. And now the mystery continues. Five kindred brains in here. Surely someone has a plan. It stands to reason you could just drive through the city, roll the window down, and yell, Everett York. I don't know that that would get the results you're looking for. So we know that Katya is behind the wheel. Who's riding shotgun? [01:20:27] Speaker E: Jack's a pretty big guy, so he. We typically. Especially when there's a. When the alternative is that one of us is shoved next to him. Putting him up front just makes more sense. [01:20:42] Speaker A: I can say that it feel bad. [01:20:44] Speaker B: When his knees are, like, shoved up by his ears. Poor thing. [01:20:50] Speaker C: I was going to say that. I had asked to go in the back and be in the middle, thinking that that would work, and it wouldn't. I keep on thinking that I can just make myself smaller, and it's not gonna work. So immediately shove to the front. [01:21:02] Speaker A: No, I think it's one of those. It's the nice kind of suv. So you have the two seats in the front, but it's not a bench in the middle. It's two more seats. And then the back is the full across you could lay. So I can see you allowing Jack to have the shotgun seat or allowing Jack to just spread to his fullness in the absolute back of the suv. Either one works. [01:21:26] Speaker E: No? Shotgun. [01:21:27] Speaker F: Shotgun? [01:21:27] Speaker C: Yeah, like, I'm just gonna shotgun it. [01:21:29] Speaker A: Okay, so then, uh, behind those two, there's somebody behind the driver's seat and this one behind the passenger seat. And I cannot get out of my mind the idea of Jordan is in one of those seats with her face pressed to the glass like a puppy dog because Willerton is coming in. The architecture and, like, oh, my God. The first little farmhouse. And it had the actual, like, slightly rusted windmill that was just creaking in the breeze. [01:21:59] Speaker D: You have endured for this, however long drive and intent. Unless someone stops her. Unless someone stops me. An intense lecture about architecture as it has gone from about, I'm going to say, 1920 to now, specifically in the midwest, because of building materials and, like, and tornado code, etcetera, which is super different and has a huge influence now from the arts and crafts movement, but not really because it can't afford it. And so you've just dealt with that the whole drive. [01:22:34] Speaker A: I don't know, tuned it out. [01:22:36] Speaker E: I don't know if you just caught my eyes, like, glazing over in real time. That's, like, literally what I do. [01:22:45] Speaker B: All three of us are just like, there's nothing. [01:22:49] Speaker D: Well, I'm fascinated by it. [01:22:51] Speaker A: I like this. Now we can get back to the vernacular architecture style of the american settler movement, where they have to make with what they've got. So it's a lot of wood and sod. And then that leads something. I'm here for it. Jordan, let's thank. Let's go offline and we'll listen. [01:23:06] Speaker D: I obsessed. You can't. I prefer can't make fun of me. I will do this. [01:23:11] Speaker A: Yeah. That is. Would you rather. Would you rather listen to Jordan's podcast about american prairie vernacular architecture, or do you want to go back to Jake and farty Bob or Fardet? [01:23:21] Speaker F: This will be this all day, I think. [01:23:24] Speaker A: You know what? [01:23:24] Speaker B: Yeah. [01:23:25] Speaker D: And every once in a while, I do the dad on a road trip thing where I go, isn't that neat? And everyone look like kind of. I wait for participation. Yeah. Keeps spur, like, genuinely keeps spurring me on. It's good. [01:23:40] Speaker A: So instead of paying attention to Jordan, what are the rest of you who aren't driving doing? [01:23:48] Speaker E: I have brought my enormous backpack with me in the car. I go everywhere with it. It has, in addition to all the stuff that we got from the prince, there's just a whole bunch of survival gear that I always take with me, including my hatchet and things like that, that just in case I'm out in nature. But additionally, inside is a little side pocket where Ernie sits. And so I just. I check on him every now and then, make sure he's okay. [01:24:21] Speaker A: How's Ernie doing? [01:24:23] Speaker E: He's good. He's good. He's curled up, actually, I made sure that he had a nice couple little chew things to enjoy on the trip because he does get a little munchy on the road. I mean, who of us don't, right? But. No, but he's doing great. [01:24:39] Speaker A: And then the code has been around at least long enough for everyone to know that there was a stoat coming, right? No one was surprised by that. [01:24:47] Speaker B: Oh, yeah. [01:24:48] Speaker A: Yeah. [01:24:48] Speaker B: We love, Ernie. Ernie's the best. [01:24:50] Speaker F: Ernie coterie mascot? [01:24:53] Speaker A: Yeah. [01:24:54] Speaker B: Every once in a while, like, I'll reach over and just kind of give him a little scratchy scritch. [01:24:59] Speaker D: When we met, I had offered that when he died, we could taxidermy him, and that did not go over well. So we have learned to move that section of the. [01:25:06] Speaker E: Kind of sweet though, right? I mean, it is, but that would require him to die. And I'm kind of like, you know, not super interested in that inevitability. [01:25:18] Speaker D: Oh, no. Just when it happens. Just not now. [01:25:22] Speaker A: In fairness, Ernie is already kinda bad. A famulus is not a living creature in the way that most people understand it. So I would say he is closer to taxidermy than he is to a stoat that you would see in a zoo. [01:25:38] Speaker E: Okay, well, you know, he still eats taxidermy. Things don't, so. [01:25:52] Speaker A: Totally fair. Well, Roxanne, Katya. Sorry, Katya is driving. Do not use electronic devices when you're driving. Anyone. Nope. Roxanne, do not use electronic devices. Completely different reason, period. How does one keep themselves occupied on a road trip when you cannot thumb through TikTok for 200 miles? [01:26:14] Speaker B: I mean, you know, good old fashioned books, a couple of paperbacks, and I'm good to go. Some of them involving the, I'd want to say probably like, culture and folklore, urban legends of this area of the country. I mean, they are plentiful and something's gonna stick. [01:26:35] Speaker A: Anything good in there? [01:26:38] Speaker B: It's mostly man with hook hand and general warnings about, like, don't go make out with your boyfriend on a backcountry road, because sin, I guess, the classics. Yeah, no, it's. [01:26:51] Speaker E: It's a weird. [01:26:52] Speaker B: It's weird how that all kind of hooks back around. Like, it's basically don't have sex or someone will kill you kind of a thing. [01:26:59] Speaker F: Yeah, it's a little weird. [01:27:01] Speaker A: It's a little weird. [01:27:04] Speaker E: Not unexpected for the area. [01:27:06] Speaker B: I guess we are still kind of in the Bible belt. Like, we're pretty far north. This is still kind of the Bible belt. [01:27:12] Speaker D: Depending on how you feast. I was gonna say depending on how you feed, it could be one of us. [01:27:19] Speaker B: Yeah. No, not quite. My bag. [01:27:23] Speaker A: There's a general waiting for the thing to happen vibe similar to anything about, like, soldiers on a c 130. And, like, it's gonna be bad in about an hour, but you gotta get there first. So it's a tremendous amount of boredom punctuated by several intense moments of activity. And, like, yeah, the ride is uneventful. It's boring as all hell. It's a nice car. So you have cruise control, adaptive cruise control, and then also lane keep assist, which makes it even harder to stay awake if you were the kind of person who needed to, because the car will pretty much like 90% keep you from dying and you start to drift in your thoughts. But then, as we said, the headlights and I can't exist in a universe where this particular car coming from, Prince Jackson, does not have the led headlights. [01:28:12] Speaker F: Oh, yeah, we are just a lighthouse going down this highway. [01:28:19] Speaker A: Fortunate that nobody else lives out here. So you might have passed one car on the way down, but that means from quite some distance, illuminated by the twin suns, bolted to the front of this suv is the sign to Willard. And thus we arrive at the decision point, shaking off the lazy aftermath of a book or a podcast, or the drone of american exceptionalism as told through architecture. Now we arrive so we know what we're looking for. One Everett Yorkshire Camarilla Currier. We know that he was in Willerton. We know that there's a podcast about a graveyard. There's some kind of weird, spooky stuff happening, including four missing people in the last four years. We know there are vampires here, exiles, transients. We know that there is Hotel Willerton, a diner that is also a motorcycle repair place, and then a very, like, rough and tumble biker gang kind of a saloon. Those are the facts we are working with. So I present to the discussion that is now occurring inside the vehicle where we go first. [01:29:42] Speaker F: I mean, my vote is the hotel. Make sure we have lodgings for the. For however long we're going to be there and have sort of a base of operations. And then from there we can decide who does what. [01:29:56] Speaker A: Do we all really need to go. [01:29:57] Speaker F: To all of these places? Divide and conquer is probably our best bet. [01:30:04] Speaker C: I agree with that. [01:30:05] Speaker B: Wrong with that. [01:30:08] Speaker D: Makes sense to me. [01:30:10] Speaker F: I also really do not want to see Jordan eat pie. [01:30:16] Speaker A: I'm assuming that's going to happen. [01:30:18] Speaker D: I was going to say I will turn into ash if I do not at least like, try a little. [01:30:23] Speaker F: Yeah, part of the experience. [01:30:25] Speaker C: But what kind of experience exactly? You're not going to really be able to enjoy it. [01:30:32] Speaker D: I can put it in my mouth. I can taste it. And then you don't need to know what happens to it after that. [01:30:37] Speaker F: Really don't. [01:30:39] Speaker A: In fairness, that's how I approach food, too. [01:30:42] Speaker F: That's so fair. [01:30:44] Speaker B: That's valid, though. That is valid. [01:30:46] Speaker D: It is. It is part of the experience to consume the culinary traditions of the area. Okay, I'm gonna eat that fucking pie. [01:30:54] Speaker B: Arguing with you, babe. Like, get your goddamn apple pie, whatever. [01:31:01] Speaker D: But first hotel. [01:31:03] Speaker A: Yeah, of course. Have to have a place to put down your bags. Well, um, much to everybody else's, uh, dismay, I suppose. Arriving at the hotel Willerton, um, is going to be a very special moment for Jordan. Finding the hotel Willerton is going to present a unique challenge. It's not that long after you pass the sign, welcome to Willerton. Something gets a little fuzzy with your gps one the dashboard. If you've ever had. You're waiting for your Uber eats to come. And then the little icon on the map seems to exist in quantum time, where it is in many places at once. Just kind of do that. And then the location of buildings, it can't decide which direction is north, so it's kind of like spinning around. And you say, well, that's fucking weird. And Katya looks over and says, hey, you know, Jack, can you look on your phone? And Jack pulls out the phone, and no signal. Just 100% dead. [01:32:16] Speaker E: Can I check my compass? [01:32:19] Speaker A: Compass works fine. [01:32:21] Speaker E: Okay, great. Just weird technology. That's fine. [01:32:26] Speaker D: So creepy. [01:32:29] Speaker A: Not unreasonable that you've gotten away far enough from civilization that, you know, Verizon has the best network, but it does not want to serve this area. But the thing with the. The console map, that's a little weird. I'm going to give you the benefit of the doubt that between the five of you, there are enough collective dots in how to navigate that you don't now have to roll to be lost in the woods. [01:32:56] Speaker D: You don't think I don't know how to use a map less? [01:32:59] Speaker A: If you know how to use a map more. I don't want to go to the shopping episode where we remember that we bought the Atlas of Illinois to go find this place, right? And all things told, Willerton is not that big. There's a main drag that goes this way, and there's a main drag that goes this way and Tada. Willerton. So presuming one stays on the main road, you will eventually find this building. And I did mean what I said about Jordan having the most to say here because it unfortunately is not vernacular architecture, as you were discussing. This building is one of the oldest in Willerton. So we have to go back from the 1920s into the late 18 hundreds for what is, honest to God, a spectacularly refurbished example of Midwest carpenter gothic. So you get that board and batten siding, the elaborate gingerbread wooden trim, pointed arch windows with, like, real thick grandma curtains behind them. It's got this super steep central gable that calls to mind a church. And then it dormers off to the sides for the second floor of the building. And on the second floor, inside of that arch, there's always those little wagon wheel windows. And it's painted in that, like, yellow as the main color and accented from their paint scheme. [01:34:39] Speaker D: Oh, I bet it's more made with lead. [01:34:41] Speaker A: Apologies to v content. Warning. Terrible visual art. [01:34:46] Speaker E: I'm trying really hard. I'm just. I'm just trying farming. [01:34:53] Speaker D: You see, like, a tear. [01:34:56] Speaker A: So beautiful. [01:34:59] Speaker C: It's like a Jordan type of place. [01:35:03] Speaker A: I mean, it is. It is charming in a fairy book way. If your fairy tales come from, like, american myth. This is. Yeah. Sign handcrafted. Someone had to get a. No shit. One of those little planning machines and go make the letters down into it. And then the brushstrokes, you can see where, like, there's a little more paint on the bottom because it wasn't sprayed on. It was painted and it pulled a little bit. But it lacks the other kind of features that you would see in, like, a hotel. Right. There's no lamp in front of the sign illuminating it. They don't do the hipster fairy lights along the wraparound porch. It's just little lanterns, little metal caged lanterns. [01:35:52] Speaker D: Do they do the thing where they use, like, the flickering leds? [01:35:55] Speaker A: Oh, no. Like, leds are. That's a plot by Obama to undermine the american fossil fuel industry. This is all incandescent. And they probably went out of their way to find those Edison bulbs, but not so they can hang them from a single chain over a bar stool in a craft brewery, but, like, actually in the original sockets, which, now that you've called attention to it, I'm going to say, are like a polished brass fitting, but it still has that seashell pattern around it. [01:36:22] Speaker D: Yeah. I'm going to need Haley to carry me in. I don't think I can move. It's just so nice. [01:36:30] Speaker E: If you. If I've had to do it once, I've had to do it a million times for Jordan. So as we all kind of get up and get out of the van and I see that look on her face, I just put the backpack over my back, pull on the straps to make sure it's nice and tight, and then just lift Jordan up and kind of sling her over my shoulder in a wonderful little carry. As we start heading inside, we're not. [01:36:59] Speaker A: Going to pause to consider how that might look to people who don't know that Jordan is a vampire. Paralyzed by beauty. [01:37:06] Speaker E: No. [01:37:07] Speaker F: No. [01:37:09] Speaker A: Well, then the woman behind the counter is going to have a bit of a treat as the five of you proceed in. Jordan, you're not torpid, so you can hear. Oh, my God. The way that recycled barnwood creaks as you take the first step up and then through, and the door swings open and it's like, oh. It's like they haven't oiled the hinges on purpose. So you get that not. Not enough to be annoying, but enough to know that, like, this home has bones. [01:37:43] Speaker D: I think you fully hear that, like, from over your shoulder, just, this place has bones. And then, like that, like, exhale. [01:37:55] Speaker B: Now she's making it weird. She's making it weird. [01:37:58] Speaker E: She always makes it weird. [01:38:01] Speaker A: The lobby, so to speak, is essentially they've taken the main entry hallway. And if you've seen the inside of these homes, very narrow staircase that juts right off. And then there's a hallway that goes into the back of the house, where the kitchen probably is. And on the right, there's normally a wall that cuts off the dining room area. And they've taken the center part of that wall out, left the load bearing column, and installed a reception desk. There. There is a. I saw that face. I'm so, so sorry. But it's probably also made from material. They have gone well out of their way to keep the aesthetic the whole time. To include the fact that the small metal bell that all hotels are required by law to have to ring for service sits on a hand knitted grandma t doily. Embroidered might be after the correct term. I sometimes. And by sometimes, you always cannot tell the difference between, like, embroidered, crocheted, knitted, and sewn. They all just kind of blur together. Crochet. We'll go with that. Feel free to yell at me in chat or on twitter. [01:39:11] Speaker C: Yeah. [01:39:11] Speaker A: There is no one behind the counter, but if you look past on, behind the reception desk, there are mismatched chairs, like hand carpented chairs sitting with tables. Obviously, they realize to make money in this day and you gotta do, like, continental breakfast bed and breakfast style. That is how they've chosen to do that. To the left, there is a closed door that reads staff only. And then towards the back, you can see the kitchen. There's a door with not a window window in it. You don't want the glass for when the back of house gets furious and slams it. But there is a porthole open air that you can see back into where the kitchen is. [01:39:58] Speaker E: I will set Jordan down. It's lucky that there wasn't anybody at the desk. It didn't get weird, but I will set Jordan down and just let her take it all in. [01:40:10] Speaker D: Yeah, I definitely, like, slide off you and find a seat. I'm just gonna not even just find a seat and just take it all in. But this place has all these really great stories. [01:40:32] Speaker C: I was just gonna lean over the reception desk to look through that porthole, like, kind of look over and hit the bell. [01:40:41] Speaker A: Oh, my God, the sound. Jordan, are you gonna be okay? They don't make bells like that neither. You can hear the love and affection that the bellsmith put into this when he assembled it by hand. If you flip that baby over, it would have the individual maker's mark on it, hammered in with a little tin chisel, as they do. [01:41:08] Speaker C: I'm gonna lift up the bell to actually look at it, see if it's there. [01:41:11] Speaker A: 100% it's there. But I'm gonna warn you, advance. Don't show it to Jordan. Let's see. You want to know the full history of the motherfucker who made this thing? [01:41:18] Speaker C: I'm just going to look at it, then look back at Jordan, and then. [01:41:21] Speaker D: Just put it back down with all the discomfort. Someone who's going to ask you what you're wearing. You do hear this very softly. The, like does. It doesn't have the mark on it. It's like an upside down trident. [01:41:39] Speaker C: Later, later. Jordan, you're having a moment. Enjoy. Enjoy what you have right now. [01:41:46] Speaker D: Yeah. [01:41:48] Speaker A: Downside of working with people who know you is they've since learned to not answer those questions. It's fine. [01:41:55] Speaker D: I'll come back for you. [01:42:02] Speaker A: Yeah. But as you can see, there's no sign of movement that you can. You can. [01:42:05] Speaker F: You can. [01:42:05] Speaker A: Can detect on a cursory investigation. [01:42:15] Speaker E: Storyteller. [01:42:18] Speaker B: Um, you know, I'm gonna lean into the stereotype a little bit. Is there, like, just, like, a nice little out of the way corner? Like, if someone just needs to, like, have a sit and kind of take it all in, some. A little shadowed. [01:42:34] Speaker A: Are you looking for, like, a guest sit and take it all in, or are you looking for an exhausted employee sit and take it. [01:42:41] Speaker B: All in like, a guest sit and take it all in, but preferably not in direct light. [01:42:48] Speaker A: Well, I have good news on that front. Late as it is, they do not have all the lights on, so you've got a kind of. I hate to use this comparison, but the same person who lights most american horror story sets has also lit this hotel. So you get the soft and the orange, but only like, every third light is lit. Right. That said, your best bet, shadow, shadow wise, would be either in the far corner of the, what we'll call the dining room. It leads out to the. The wraparound porch, and it seems the far end of that is the most shadowed. Not much going on upstairs by way of light or countless shadows on the outside of the building from the interior lights, you know, casting those individual pillars to the window. Right. [01:43:50] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. No, you know what I mean? [01:43:53] Speaker A: It's. [01:43:53] Speaker B: It's. I have to admit, it is a lovely building. You know, you can see the. The care and time that someone's family put into this however many generations ago. And, you know, hanging out with Jordan as I have, I've started to kind of learn what to spot and how to see things. So, like, it wouldn't be beyond me to maybe, like, take a wander outside. Like, maybe lose myself in the shadows between the windows, you know, while I'm out there in the COVID of darkness, just take a quick peek with oblivion sight. [01:44:33] Speaker A: Hmm. If I recall correctly, haven't played Lasombra a ton. That is a free power, right? No need to roll a rouse check. [01:44:44] Speaker B: Yeah. Irises of the kindred's eyes are black against the white of their sclera. They can now see clearly within pitch blackness and can perceive ghosts who are not actively hiding in their presence. [01:44:57] Speaker A: I should have known. It's going to happen. We invite Laura to come over from. From World's guild and playing that, and the very first fucking thing is, I have dark vision. [01:45:07] Speaker B: Hey, I'm not here for the darkvision. I'm here for the fucking ghosts. It's a haunted ass town. [01:45:11] Speaker A: Well, yeah. And on that is going to be a bit of the confusing part. For one, the streets are empty in the sense of the night vision looking around, right. The sun down, and in any other place, there would be lots of traffic, but here, there is nada. Oh, what is the word I'm looking for? I've played enough phasmophobia that I should know. There are lights that you can see. Presumably in ghost hunting, you take a picture of something or a video, and you will see little traces of light. [01:45:52] Speaker E: Like the ghost orbs. [01:45:53] Speaker A: Is that what they're called? [01:45:55] Speaker D: Yeah. [01:45:56] Speaker A: I thought ghost orbs, but I also said, erin, that's what you would call it if you were making it up but wanted to convince people you were knowing what you were talking about. [01:46:03] Speaker E: Nope. That's what it's called. Yeah. [01:46:06] Speaker A: Excellent. They're not floating in the air. And honest to God, you 50 50 whether they exist. You've just got one of those little things floating across your eye, but in, like, on the ground. In the ground, hard to tell. There's something moving. And eventually, what kind of tilts your head in the right direction is going to be the linearity of it, that if it were little, like eyeball worm things, they'd be floating everywhere. Or if they were ghost. Yeah, if they were ghost orbs, they would be just kind of ephemeral, floating up. But these, it looks more like. Have you ever been flying into an airport at night and you're low enough to see the traffic, but high enough to not make out the individual cars, so you just get that little wave of red and yellow. The colors aren't correct in this case, but it's that kind of feeling. Placing where they are is difficult because it's a bit like three dimensional space. Imagine you were staring through a house that was just a wireframe model, so it can be tricky to figure out. Okay, well, like, is that small, or is it far away? Is it below me, or is it the vanishing point doing something. But it is there might take you a few minutes to make sure. Roxanne not being the person who'd want to take a hallucination as evidence to the rest of the coterie. [01:47:40] Speaker B: Of course not any sort of a pattern to it. Is it leading somewhere? Is it just sort of flopping about willy nilly? [01:47:50] Speaker A: I will say it is. Oh, I feel terrible because you said flopping about Willy nilly. I'm about to use the phrase. No, it's rigid and linear. Think of individual straight lines that intersect at points, but again, difficult to tell. If you wanted to get a better picture of it, you feel like you could. You would have to wander around town a bit and then, like, maybe get some pen and paper out, make a. Make an intentional effort to. To document, orient and arrange these things. [01:48:25] Speaker B: I mean, I imagine I've got pen and paper in my bag. At the very least, I could get something started. [01:48:32] Speaker A: Indeed. While you are up to this, will you make a. An intelligence and a cult roll for me? [01:48:40] Speaker E: Probably. [01:48:43] Speaker A: I should say, will you attempt it? As we know, whether or not you make it is between you and God and foundry, apparently. [01:48:52] Speaker B: Ooh, I'm not mad at that. [01:48:55] Speaker A: That's four successes, which happens to be the precise number that you need to stumble into this nugget. Are you, as the player familiar with sacred geometry? [01:49:10] Speaker B: I have heard it thrown around as a fantasy nerd. [01:49:14] Speaker A: Sure. It's a general system of belief that ascribes sacred meaning to certain geometric shapes and proportions, portions it's tied up in. Like the idea of the platonic solid, the belief that the God or goddess who has created our universe has done so according to rigid rules of. I'm not going to say geometry again, but I actually am. The traditions where you see it and what lends credence to this theory for those who believe in it, is that all the major religions of the world use these patterns. Perhaps not in the exact way, but there is a thread of connection between a sand mandala, the design of a mosque, the gothic ridges of a christian cathedral, even tabernacles, all believe in these things. And it's the sense that there's a fundamental, mathematical, artistic, natural form to the universe that was put there on purpose. And if you can figure it out, you can use it to break the rules, right? You are an occult scholar. You would recognize these things. This is definitely in that vein. You recognize these shapes. There's no way by accident that you would arrive at these angles in these, in this particular arrangement. If you had an aerial view, you could 100% make out the symbol. But that's what the problem is. That's why it didn't make sense at first, because this is big enough. If you imagine the Nazca lines in Chile or Peru, I can never remember which one where it just looks like a big line of rocks on the ground. But if you go 300ft up, it's a monkey. Or if you are the History channel, it's an alien spaceport. So if you could get some altitude on this place, or the legwork of going tracking by hand, putting on a map, you would be able to identify the shape. You're pretty sure? [01:51:23] Speaker B: Holy shit. Yeah, I'll do a quick wander, I guess, sort of around the property to, I guess, start the beginnings of my map fly. [01:51:39] Speaker A: Not yet. The idea of a lasombra in a gyrocopter has just tickled me. I will say that you can wander on the building absolutely fine. It's not going to get you any new information because the scale of this thing is like, I need Katya to drive me around the perimeter of Willerton with a compass in my hand. I will say that takes a certain amount of time, you know, like a good five or seven minutes to go from through that whole thought process on the interior, whether you ring the bell or eventually a woman will appear from the rear of the building. No one is around, customers or her boss. So it appears that it's just smoke break whenever you want at the Willerton Hotel. She returns looking a bit guilty. Would place her in her mid twenties. It could go either way. Is like she 18, but it is a rough country living. Or is she 30 with a youthful face? Who's to say? In either case, a very, I don't want to say rustic. I don't want to lean too much into that. But there's definitely a weathered complexion. A person who has been outdoors. Haley, you would recognize that. But the texture of the hair, which hangs in a very neat christian bob, there's. There's something that's a little, like, quiverful about that haircut. She doesn't know what TikTok is, but she would fit very well with that face. On trad femme, TikTok appears from the kitchen, coming back out. There's genuine surprise on her face. Oh, my God. I'm so sorry. I didn't realize you were waiting here. And she's skittering back behind the counter like, oopsie, I got caught. [01:53:38] Speaker C: No worries. Just checking in. [01:53:42] Speaker A: Oh, excellent. [01:53:43] Speaker D: Yeah. [01:53:43] Speaker A: Do you have reservation? [01:53:46] Speaker C: I didn't realize this was a place that, like, looks back at Jordan that took reservations. [01:53:51] Speaker A: Oh, no, no, it's fine. I mean, we have availability. It's a little off season. And she reaches down under the counter, and there's no computer. She pulls out like, if you were a tremere, you would expect Grimoire, no classic reservation book. This thing lands on the wood with a thunk that sends a shiver up Jordan's spine. You can see it on the face right now and pulls it open. And you don't know if it's part of the shtick or if they just genuinely don't want to pay for a computer, but it is every single page. The 18 rooms, the Willerton Hotel. And then they will write your name in it, and then the amount per night. And then I hope you're ready, because if you try to pay by credit card, you're going to get that slide. Katrunka trunk machine. [01:54:37] Speaker C: Oh, yay. [01:54:41] Speaker A: So she says, no, it's no problem at all. She's looking around to the four of you and then does not know that Roxanne is here, I suppose. But I have to let you know, we only do doubles, so we have two twins in each bed. But I don't have anything that could accommodate all of you. Are you okay with separate rooms? [01:55:05] Speaker E: That's fine. [01:55:06] Speaker F: That's fine. [01:55:07] Speaker C: Yeah. [01:55:08] Speaker A: And how many of you are? [01:55:09] Speaker E: There's five of us. One ran back to the car. She left something, but there's five of us. [01:55:16] Speaker A: Okay. So, yeah. Like. Like two per room is kind of our thing, you understand, is an old building, so they're really, really small. Three is gonna be crowded in one room. So would that be three for you, then? [01:55:29] Speaker E: I mean, I guess if we got it. And I'll look back over Jordan, and I'll say, unless you want to sleep on the cot this time, Jordan. [01:55:38] Speaker D: I'll take a single. [01:55:42] Speaker A: Okay, so three rooms. That is $250 a night. How long do you plan on staying? [01:55:49] Speaker C: Two nights. [01:55:49] Speaker A: Looks back. [01:55:53] Speaker E: Yeah, we're in town for a couple days. It depends on how long this one. And I'll gesture over my shoulder. Jordan falls in love with your little town because, as you can see, she's very, very clearly enamored with everything. So we might have to extend our stay if she really falls in love and doesn't let us leave before she's done. [01:56:19] Speaker A: Are you a history fan? [01:56:21] Speaker D: I. Yeah, no, I'm a huge, big antiquer. And I just. This place is so nice. [01:56:27] Speaker C: It has good bones. [01:56:30] Speaker A: It really does. I mean, I love it here. Some people. Everyone says you have to go to the big city to find yourself, but I've known for a long time that what I need out of Willerton is right here. I don't know about antique shops. You could always swing by Edinburgh's place. I mean, God knows what they have lying around. But, I mean, if you're into the history and you want to really know, you should go to the library. The historical society keeps all their collections there. And the stories. Oh, my God. [01:56:56] Speaker D: Is there any. Are any of you guys sitting next to me? You just. If anyone's looking, the cushion that Jordan's hand is on, just, like, there's just a squish in her hand. I'm gonna need to check the library later. Do you know how late they're open? [01:57:16] Speaker A: Oh, yeah. I mean, until eight, so that's fine. Definitely kind of place that you can go. But not now. There is time between sundown and eight. But you. Yeah. Took you 2 hours to get here, right? Yeah. [01:57:34] Speaker D: Not tonight. Just on the list. [01:57:36] Speaker A: Okay, so that's, um, 250, $50 a room for. You said two nights. Yeah. So then that's gonna be $500.02 nights, and then minus that, so there's a tax and the fee. Are you gonna have breakfast? We separate it out in case people don't need it. [01:57:54] Speaker E: No, we're, you know, we. Yeah, we have snacks. We like to save our money where we can when we travel. [01:58:04] Speaker A: Of course. Frugal. I mean, country living. Right? You gotta. Some people like to splurge. It's fine. Although, I have to say, I mean, like, we get our eggs fresh from the McMillan farm up the roads. So if you have never had an omelet made from fresh from the farm eggs. Anyway, sorry, I'm getting ahead of myself. So that's $1,500, plus there's a 8% tax, city tax, and then a .3% sales tax. So that will be for the first two nights. 1517. $180. And then there's some cents on there. But I'm not doing that math. Fuck that. [01:58:36] Speaker F: That feels really expensive for a place like this. [01:58:39] Speaker C: That one's steep. Real quick. [01:58:42] Speaker A: I mean, it's a historic building. We did the reservation. Sorry. The renovations here required quite a bit of state inspection and things like that. But no in each room. Individually, yes. $250 a night. [01:58:53] Speaker C: Can I do an insight check on this woman? [01:58:56] Speaker A: Absolutely. [01:58:56] Speaker F: I would also like to. [01:58:57] Speaker A: Insight. [01:59:00] Speaker F: What is that? Insights. [01:59:02] Speaker A: Wits and insight. Usually cool. Two successes. [01:59:11] Speaker C: I'm gonna reroll that. [01:59:14] Speaker A: Well, before you do, it's terribly easy to see that this woman is genuinely earnest. [01:59:21] Speaker C: Okay. [01:59:22] Speaker A: This is the only hotel in a very popular kitsch town, and they can charge $250 a night because if you want to sleep not in your car, that's here. It's a. That boutiquey Airbnb. [01:59:36] Speaker D: Like, you know, um, I do hate the. The meme of it all, but I do think I will throw my credit card at Haley and go full shut up and take my money. It's a business experience. Expensive. I can swing it. [01:59:53] Speaker E: Yeah. [01:59:54] Speaker A: Having. Having done the math, using actual Illinois hotel tax and the Willerton county tax, it is $1,684.80. [02:00:04] Speaker D: It is a business expense. [02:00:06] Speaker E: I pick up the credit card because Jordan didn't tell me she was going to throw it at me until I just felt it, like, tink on my shoulder. So I bend down and I pick it up, and I hand it to the wonderful lady behind the counter. [02:00:21] Speaker A: She shows off a little bit, almost like there's great satisfaction. And look how homey we are. You're used to just tapping and running, but here we like to take things a little slow. It's got that, like, Disney tour vibe if you were doing. But instead of jungle cruise, it's hotel from the eighties, but built in the other eighties. The 1880s. Right? So she takes off the one, and, like, you don't not know the last time. Well, Jordan might. The rest of you haven't seen carbon paper in 30 years. She peels off the top one that's for us. And then in the same way restaurants have the little spiky thing that you put that so goes down there. This one's for you. Tears it off. Perforated book. Hands it to Haley. And then. Can I get your. Your names for the visitors log? [02:01:14] Speaker E: Well, that's a question, actually, for Jordan. Is your name on the credit card or is it a different name? [02:01:23] Speaker D: I forgot we are vampires. It's like shit. [02:01:28] Speaker A: Crucial concept for this game. [02:01:31] Speaker E: Literally. Literally. In the name vampire. [02:01:35] Speaker D: The mastery, easily traceable credit card. But in fairness, not technology. I think there's a. I think there is a. You know, it's a business. It's a company card from the old business. So the account is still open. So it probably has a needful thingsy style. It has a. It actually it's. It says like the velocipede. That's the business name. And it is her old. The old business from Seattle. Different vibe. [02:02:15] Speaker A: Tends to reason that if you have a business, you have to have some paperwork name to deal with the city to an ein and all that stuff. So totally reasonable for you to have an identity that's like good enough for government work. Like if the NSA comes knocking, they'll find out it's fake. But it. The clerk at the county courthouse does not give a shit. Whatever, right? [02:02:34] Speaker D: It's not even fake. It's just a business. I haven't closed quite yet. [02:02:41] Speaker A: And to be clear, this is on me. The name for the guest book is one of those like it's kitschy fun that everybody puts their name in so you can look and be like, oh, look at all the people who come from all over the world. Not like a bank. I need to know who you are before I can let you do commerce. [02:02:59] Speaker E: Obviously. Obviously. Which is why I of course sign my name as Jessica Smith. Because keep it simple. [02:03:08] Speaker D: Can I see that book? I promise I'm not gonna do anything weird to it. [02:03:12] Speaker C: I'm gonna sign my name first. Like Brandon Jackson. Before like majority comes over. [02:03:17] Speaker A: She is not watching. I mean, like, here is the logbook. Turn it around. Here's the pen. Here's the pen. Do whatever the hell you want with it. [02:03:28] Speaker D: After some brief reverence, I would love to use. Well, first I'm going to scan the book. Do any of our missing people, have they signed it? [02:03:39] Speaker A: No. It is well within Everett York's sense of preservation to not sign his real name to documents. [02:03:49] Speaker D: It was a reach. [02:03:50] Speaker A: I think it's fine. [02:03:51] Speaker D: Common fucking sense. Following that. Can I use. I think spirits touch. [02:03:59] Speaker A: Cool. [02:04:01] Speaker D: Don't know if I have to do. [02:04:03] Speaker A: Anything to rouse first. That's one of the sexy level four powers. So if you'll make a rouse check. [02:04:10] Speaker D: For me, zero successes. But can I reroll it? [02:04:15] Speaker A: Well, that's your rouse check. So you can't rerouse. You can't re roll the rouse check. Too many r's, too, too small space. But you will get hungrier, I assume, at this point, for enthusiasm reasons. And then the role for that is going to be, oh, God, I've never played some. I've never played with someone who gets this far up this tree, but I am inclined to. It's intelligence and auspex I would put a $5 bet on. [02:04:55] Speaker F: Sounds about right. [02:04:57] Speaker A: But in your sheet, you'd just be able to click the red icon next to spirit's touch, and it should roll that for you. [02:05:03] Speaker D: Heck yeah. Fucking bullshit. One success. [02:05:10] Speaker A: Yeah. One on a hunger die, which is amazing. And then the rest of the audience can't see this, but Jordan has seven dice to do this and has rolled one success on a hunger die. [02:05:21] Speaker D: I'm you thinking it's a VTT thing. [02:05:25] Speaker E: And me, you can reroll, though, right? Willpower. Reroll. [02:05:29] Speaker D: That's what I'm gonna for. I'm gonna willpower reroll. But, boy, that feels pointed. Uh. [02:05:37] Speaker E: God damn it. [02:05:38] Speaker D: Uh, do I have to back the willpower or can I just reroll? [02:05:41] Speaker A: Uh, right click the result you have and there should be a drop down that says willpower reroll. [02:05:47] Speaker D: Oh, that's beautiful. All right, I get to reroll all of the three. [02:05:54] Speaker A: God. Excellent. [02:06:00] Speaker D: This is why we play this game. This is why we're not just telling a story together. Because we're telling a story together. We could just decide and we're not gonna. We're just gonna roll with this. I'm not crying. You're crying. [02:06:17] Speaker A: Oh, man. I. The probability so rough of rolling ten dice and getting one success, that is gonna cry. [02:06:32] Speaker B: That's like, oh, no, baby, do you need a priest or. [02:06:39] Speaker D: I don't know. [02:06:43] Speaker A: Well, suffice it to say, one success is not enough to get the information that you need. And I think we all know why is that. I don't care how many dice you have when you are literally trembling at the joy of this experience and your mind is racing a thousand miles a minute, and out of the corner of your eye, you see that quilt that was made by the local county girl scout troop and won the blue ribbon at the county fair. So they've hung it on the wall ever since, because that is the kind of thing they are proud about in this town. And you're. It's so where do your emotions stop and the things in this book begin? Also, hundreds of names in the book, you, tidal wave of emotions kind of coming up from all of it that you just cannot bring yourself to sort out. Probably would be easier if you found a. A quieter place in terms of what's going on. [02:07:44] Speaker D: That's fine, that's valid. I'm gonna just lay here in real life. I'm actually just going to lay on the floor. This is upsetting. [02:07:53] Speaker A: I'm a bit amused. Because of the last five roles, there have been about 25 dice that have been dropped and four successes total. Among you, statistically speaking, someone should pass a role before the end of the session. [02:08:10] Speaker B: I was fine a second ago, and now. Now I'm a fear. [02:08:13] Speaker F: I am a beer gonna just as. As Jordan apparently seems to have a meltdown, I will take the pen and sign my name, just like out of her hand. [02:08:24] Speaker D: You see, like half of the signature is in there and just goes, yeah. [02:08:29] Speaker A: Just being like, okay, well, as the transaction is completed, this woman is more than takes the book and she folds everything back up and then goes about the rest of the explaining. There is no turnover service, just, it's a very homey place, so no one's going to bother you. In the meantime, breakfast starts at seven and goes until nine. If you are there between eight and nine, the kitchen is open for special orders if you want omelets. Otherwise they'll have muffins, waffles, eggs, that kind of thing. The kitchen is also open 24 hours a day if you have individual orders. But we don't have room service that you can, can call. You have to come down here and order it. Aside from that, these are your rooms. And. Oh, my God. I mean, you're sad about missing the role, Jordan, but wait until she goes back to the big board behind and pulls the key off the wall from its individual slot on the shadow board. [02:09:25] Speaker D: Does it have the little, like, motel return, but like any slot at any post? [02:09:31] Speaker A: You're goddamn right it does. [02:09:32] Speaker D: Hell yeah. [02:09:35] Speaker A: And each one is. It's a pretty heavy key, and it has the. The room number, like, engraved through it. Oh, my God, you. The weight of this thing is satisfying. Three keys for three rooms. We'll just arbitrarily call them 204, 205 and 206. [02:09:56] Speaker B: Storyteller, would I have come back in at this point? [02:09:59] Speaker A: I'm sure if nothing else, the squee would have alerted you. The two activity. [02:10:04] Speaker B: Yeah, I, you know, like, I thought I heard a coyote go off, but nope, it was just Jordan. [02:10:11] Speaker A: Yeah, just Jordan. [02:10:14] Speaker C: Something about the individual keys and, like, the good bones and the grimoire style book and the authentic signature with the actual, like, paper. The whole vibes kind of took her moment, isn't she? Entirely. [02:10:33] Speaker E: Baby. [02:10:34] Speaker C: All right. [02:10:35] Speaker B: Okay. All right. Give her a little, like, pat. Pat on the head. [02:10:43] Speaker A: So then upstairs, I presume. Yeah. [02:10:48] Speaker E: Oh, yeah. [02:10:49] Speaker A: This is one of those questions that I swear is going to sound more menacing than it actually is, but who is staying in what room? [02:10:58] Speaker E: I know Jordan said that she would take a single, but, I mean, she and I kind of are used to sleeping together, so I think just out of habit, out of instinct, as Jordan goes to, like, turn her key to the room, I'm just right behind her and walk on in and just, like, throw my stuff on the bed. [02:11:22] Speaker A: So I can put Jordan and Haley in 206. Sure. [02:11:25] Speaker F: Sounds good. [02:11:28] Speaker A: The others, I assume. [02:11:31] Speaker C: I'm by myself, and I don't know if this is, like, an end of a hallway situation, but I'm closer to the whatever entrance or stairs or elevator there is. So, like, if anyone passes by, I'm the first one. [02:11:48] Speaker A: So hopefully. [02:11:49] Speaker F: And if there's twin beds, you might need to, like, push them together to have a bed big enough. [02:11:55] Speaker B: Oh, buddy. [02:11:57] Speaker A: Jack in 204. [02:11:58] Speaker C: Definitely one of the other reasons why I'm by myself. [02:12:00] Speaker F: Yeah. [02:12:02] Speaker B: So it's me and you, Kit Kat. [02:12:05] Speaker F: Yeah. [02:12:07] Speaker A: And then Katya and Roxanne in 205. Hokey dokey. Then can I get based on this, Jack, Katya and Haley to make a Whitsun investigation role. [02:12:27] Speaker F: Cool. [02:12:29] Speaker E: Okay. Okay. [02:12:31] Speaker C: Sorry about that. Like, not ominous part of this question. [02:12:36] Speaker A: I am being as. [02:12:37] Speaker F: Oh, my God. [02:12:38] Speaker A: Possible. [02:12:39] Speaker F: I'm going to use some willpower because I want more than two successes. [02:12:45] Speaker E: I'm. [02:12:49] Speaker F: Oh, my God. [02:12:51] Speaker E: I'm actually going to willpower reroll as well because I only got one success and that feels like a bad idea. [02:12:58] Speaker A: I preface this with, it sounds more ominous than it does. [02:13:03] Speaker C: Okay, then I'm. I'm fine then it's okay. Yeah. [02:13:09] Speaker E: Let's see. [02:13:10] Speaker F: I mean, I guess hopefully two is enough. [02:13:16] Speaker E: Well, it doesn't matter because I only got one. What? How? How is it possible? I'm actually starting to question the VTT right now because that is the last three willpower rerolls where there have been zero successes. And that feels a little weird, too. Me, anyway. [02:13:32] Speaker D: Are you stealing it wrong? [02:13:33] Speaker B: I think CCT's might have it out for us. [02:13:35] Speaker A: We can test this hypothesis if you want to use the roller tool or just like slash r in chat and roll the appropriate number of d ten. For this willpower roll, we can just. Seven and a nine. [02:13:55] Speaker E: Yeah, that's two successes. [02:13:56] Speaker A: There's two. Okay, that puts you at three. And before this goes on any further, let's. That is good. As you are unpacking, and it makes sense. This is why I asked each of you individually, because the curtains in these rooms are not enough to keep out the sun. There is a set of preparation that goes through all of this, which I was going to describe with nothing but banal attention to detail. If you do not pass an investigation role, or if you're Haley and you succeed, what makes sticking tape to a wall difficult? Make a list of things. [02:14:40] Speaker E: How often the walls have been cleaned or not cleaned. The type of wall covering you have. If it's wallpaper, if it's paint, the type of paint, if it's latex, if it's not, if a type, if a surface is porous, or if it is meant to be cleaned. [02:14:59] Speaker A: Let's go back to that. First one hasn't been cleaned yet. What kind of things on a wall would make tape less likely to stick to it? [02:15:07] Speaker E: Things that just kind of COVID the wall generally or make them give you that texture of grossness. Yeah. Something that's sticky, like any residue left over from residue. [02:15:24] Speaker A: Was that it? What kind of residue? [02:15:26] Speaker E: Say, like a sticky residue? [02:15:29] Speaker A: Like someone else had already put tape here. [02:15:34] Speaker E: Oh. In the same sort of way. Like a vampire would. [02:15:42] Speaker A: Like a vampire would. And if it's on the walls here, that means there hasn't been time for it to, you know, like by ordinary process or by room cleaning be really taken away. So it has to be recent ish, right? Within a week, a week and a half. [02:15:59] Speaker E: Okay, interesting. Is this now? Okay, once. Once I noticed this. Can I go and see if it's the same in other rooms? If there would. If it's the kind of thing where maybe there. It's just like the case where there are lots of vampires coming into these rooms. Or if it's like, just. No, we just got the lucky room. [02:16:24] Speaker A: Sure. I will tell you in exchange for you describing the excited utterance as you burst into each room, interrupting what Jack and the others are doing. [02:16:34] Speaker E: Sure. I don't suppose these doors lock automatically, right? It's the kind of thing where they would have to turn the. Turn the bolt or whatever. Sure. So they haven't done that. So I throw open the door and I say, somebody else has been here before us. Oh, my God. It's so exciting. Okay, I think we're on the right track, you guys. Is it here too? [02:16:55] Speaker F: Can you say that again, like 300% slower? [02:17:00] Speaker B: Yeah, like, I know you don't have to. You might want to, like, take. Take a breath. [02:17:06] Speaker A: Okay. [02:17:06] Speaker E: I just. [02:17:07] Speaker B: Literal sense. [02:17:08] Speaker E: I'm just gonna walk over to the walls and I'm gonna start feeling around on the walls. Do I feel that same sort of sticky residue? [02:17:16] Speaker A: No. [02:17:17] Speaker E: Okay. Then without saying another word, I actually turn and I leave and I go and burst into Jack's room. And I just, like, go up and I start feeling the walls there too. [02:17:25] Speaker F: Oh, hey. [02:17:27] Speaker C: Good evening to you too. It's great. It's only been five minutes. Can I help you with something? [02:17:32] Speaker E: I don't know, can you? [02:17:35] Speaker C: What are you doing? [02:17:38] Speaker E: Obviously feeling the walls, Jack. [02:17:40] Speaker C: I know you're feeling the walls. For what, though? [02:17:43] Speaker B: For. [02:17:43] Speaker C: For why though? For what reason? For what purpose? [02:17:47] Speaker E: Storyteller. Did I find any sticky residue in here? No. Okay, don't worry about it. And I'll turn and I'm just gonna leave and I'll shut the door behind. [02:17:56] Speaker C: About it and then. [02:17:58] Speaker B: Yeah, no, like, Santa sticks her head out of her room. Like, probably witnesses this. [02:18:06] Speaker E: I'm gonna head back. No, no, I'm gonna head back into. Into our room then. And I don't know what Jordan's been doing while I've been gone, but I assume you hear me yelling very excitedly next door and then, like, storming back into the room. [02:18:22] Speaker A: But I do like the moment where you've burst out of the room where Katja and Roxanne are staying and they're like, what the fuck? So they are leaning out the window or at the door into the hallway. [02:18:30] Speaker F: To see you scooby doo style. [02:18:32] Speaker A: One of us is in. You come charging back, and then, Jack, head out behind you. Just as everyone kind of turns to watch you charge back in that direction. And then you turn back to each other and there's that beat of like, what? [02:18:48] Speaker C: Is she also touching your walls for no reason? [02:18:51] Speaker F: Yeah. Said something very quickly that I could barely understand. [02:18:58] Speaker E: Do you guys follow? [02:19:00] Speaker F: Yeah, I would take a moment. [02:19:02] Speaker B: I'm concerned. We should probably. [02:19:05] Speaker D: I have museum gel. You don't have to use duct tape. [02:19:08] Speaker C: Please. [02:19:09] Speaker E: No, but. No, but. No, but. Jordan, Jordan, you're not. You're not. You're not thinking. Jordan, you're not thinking like a survivalist. [02:19:16] Speaker D: I'm thinking. [02:19:17] Speaker E: You're not. [02:19:17] Speaker D: No, you're not. It's so. [02:19:19] Speaker A: You're not. [02:19:19] Speaker E: I'm not thinking like a survivalist, though. [02:19:22] Speaker C: I'm gonna be paleo. [02:19:25] Speaker E: Okay, no, get in here. Get in here, and I'll get everybody inside, and we'll shut the door, because obviously it is, you know, don't want other people to hear. Look. Look it, look it. You guys, you're not. You're. [02:19:38] Speaker D: Huh. [02:19:40] Speaker A: A wall. [02:19:41] Speaker E: A window gesture at the. [02:19:43] Speaker B: Are we playing charades? Is that what's going on right now? [02:19:46] Speaker E: No. [02:19:47] Speaker A: No. [02:19:47] Speaker E: Okay. [02:19:50] Speaker A: First word. One syllable. [02:19:53] Speaker E: Okay. [02:19:53] Speaker A: Sounds like. [02:19:54] Speaker E: Look it, look it, look it. Okay. And I will. I will go. And, Jordan, I will actually grab your hand, and I will put it on the sticky residue. [02:20:07] Speaker D: The face you see first. Jordan. Excited. Because, again, antique wallpaper. Gorgeous. Wonderful. I'm really loving the tiny dot work that they've used for the little floral motif. [02:20:19] Speaker A: Hold on. That word. Dot work. Because Haley's borderline manic explanation of what has happened will not currently explain itself. You are going to get this close. You have an antiquer's mind. If I make you roll for this, it's not going to happen. So I just need to tell you, based on stats, you have. The shutters have holes in them. Not big holes. Holes like the kind a nail would put in. But it's fresh and not done by someone who knows what they're talking about. So you have the thing that Hailey, God willing, will explain to you, but also, someone has recently nailed these shutters shut the face. [02:21:02] Speaker D: You guys see when Jordan. When I go from, like, the normal, like, oh, yeah, I'm so excited. I'm so excited that Hailey is excited about this wallpaper to someone has defaced. This property is truly night and day in almost sad clown variety. And I just, like, remove my hand. Why is it sticky? [02:21:33] Speaker E: For the same reason it was about to be sticky. Jordan. And I'll reach over and I'll grab a roll of duct tape. How the hell were we gonna proof this place for ourselves? We were gonna put up all of the stuff on the windows. We were going to duct tape stuff to the walls. Somebody else. And I lean in real close because I don't. You know, I can't screen this. Somebody else in our social club has been in this room fairly recently. [02:22:04] Speaker B: Oh, holy shit. [02:22:05] Speaker D: That explains. [02:22:06] Speaker E: So Everett York may have been in this room. [02:22:11] Speaker D: Well, if my hands were working, I would find out. But what room is this again? [02:22:17] Speaker A: That is 02:06 the furthest room on the hall. So you go up the stairs, turn right, and then it's Jack, and then Katya, Roxanne, and then Jordan. Haley. [02:22:32] Speaker C: I'm gonna. I'm gonna check if someone from this room checked out. I'm gonna be right back. And he leave. Like, I leave to go downstairs to see if the front desk clerk is still there and didn't take another smoke break or lunch break or dinner break or whatever. Break. [02:22:52] Speaker A: Break. Caught me once. The boss is gonna be furious if you come back down and yelp review this place. Like, oh, my God. The clerk was never. No. You would destroy the local economy. No. Kayla, you will come to find her name is reading her name tag is on station, at least for the next hour or so. So you sound a little urgent. So you come, like, a bit. Not like thundering all the way down the stairs. But there's some. There's some. Some. I'm not gonna. I'm gonna say urgency again behind your moves. So, like, she's already like, oh, my God. Something wrong? And that look on her face. Oh, sorry. Just. [02:23:28] Speaker C: It's my feet. Like, I'm having. Dude. So that's. [02:23:32] Speaker A: That's all. [02:23:32] Speaker C: I'm sorry. There's no urgency. But, I mean, maybe a little bit. I had a question about room. Was it 204, 206, 206, 206. My bad. 206. Do you know who was in that room before? [02:23:50] Speaker A: Oh, God, I don't. I'm sorry. We alternate. One week off, one week on, my brother and I. If they signed into the book, it could be there. [02:24:02] Speaker C: Could I check? [02:24:03] Speaker A: Oh, no, of course. By all means. [02:24:05] Speaker C: All right, so I'm gonna go up, look at this book, see if anyone checked out in the last week. It was like, only, like, within the week before. [02:24:14] Speaker A: Right. So only one person has been in that room. The name is not Everett York. And I did not think ahead to make one up for this moment. So. Shame on me. No. First floor that I came up with. Not good. The gentleman who did sign into this room, whose name we will disclose at a later date, shows arriving, does not show departing. [02:24:42] Speaker C: Hmm. [02:24:45] Speaker A: In our internal game chat, I've been notified that Everett York's stage name is James Bustamante. [02:24:51] Speaker C: James Bustamante. I like. So, James. Okay. I might want to talk to your brother, if possible. Not tonight. It's late and you need to do your job. [02:25:06] Speaker A: Oh, of course. Yeah. Something that matters. Is he a friend of yours? [02:25:11] Speaker C: Yeah. He kind of went ahead of us to check it, and we were expecting to meet with him, and we just assumed, you know, like, enjoying the sights, all that. [02:25:25] Speaker A: Oh. I mean, you know, people do. People do get lost in Millerton. Just every corner. Something to look at. [02:25:33] Speaker C: Yeah. Yeah, I can. I can see that anyway. But, yes, I will. Is your brother around tomorrow, or. [02:25:42] Speaker A: I mean, we all say week by week, but I can have him come in for the. For the morning around breakfast time. Would that be okay? [02:25:49] Speaker C: No, actually, we're gonna be out all day. We had plans, but possibly maybe meet at, I don't know, a diner or even here later in the evening. That'd be great. [02:26:02] Speaker E: Possibly. [02:26:03] Speaker A: Oh, there's hesitation here that you're gonna need some kind of social role to get out of. What you're essentially asking is like, hey, will you call your brother off to come talk to a total fucking stranger about a thing that does not seem that weird on face, the way it has been explained? So if you want to roll charisma, persuasion, I'll take manipulation, subterfuge, any kind of combinations going on there. [02:26:28] Speaker C: Okay, hold on. [02:26:31] Speaker E: James is as charismatic as a brick. [02:26:33] Speaker C: I'm gonna reroll that. I'm sorry? [02:26:35] Speaker A: I'm definitely gonna reroll it. Oh, James is. [02:26:39] Speaker F: That's a pretty face, though. [02:26:41] Speaker A: Jack is built to be charismatic and good at this. [02:26:46] Speaker E: Oh, that's right. That's right. Yeah. You gave him courage. Wait, really? Okay. [02:26:51] Speaker A: Yeah. Five dice. Charisma and persuasion. [02:26:55] Speaker E: Oh, wow. [02:26:55] Speaker A: It's not as good as beating the hell out of people, but, like, that's the b skill is charisma, persuasion. Four successes on the back of a. [02:27:02] Speaker C: Willpower have one of those faces. [02:27:04] Speaker A: Mm hmm. An absolutely yes no. That is. Thank God the plot moves forward. Thank you. [02:27:15] Speaker D: I'm sorry. Your face character can't roll for shit. [02:27:20] Speaker A: You communicate it with. With the correct amount of urgency. There's care, and you just look so goddamn earnest. Right? There's. There cannot. Jack has never had a malicious thought in his life, according to this. This vibe. And, like, you're also kind of handsome, and, I mean, like, Kayla wouldn't mind talking to you a little longer. And she has to call her brother. He can get his lazy ass over here. So Kayla has to do that. It will take some time. Willerton, being the size of it, is, they do not live in Willerton proper, so it'll be about 20 minutes, she says, assuming she can get a hold of him. [02:27:55] Speaker C: I appreciate that. Thanks. [02:27:57] Speaker A: And then I can come knock. Will you be in your room? [02:28:02] Speaker C: Yeah, I will. [02:28:03] Speaker A: Okay, well, then, yeah, of course. [02:28:06] Speaker C: We'll leave it unlocked if you want to come in. [02:28:09] Speaker A: Oh, yeah, sure. And then she reaches into her pocket and pulls out her cell phone and starts pushing the buttons to make the phone call go. [02:28:16] Speaker C: All right, cool. [02:28:17] Speaker A: Thanks. [02:28:18] Speaker C: And goes upstairs. [02:28:23] Speaker A: Meanwhile. Upstairs. [02:28:26] Speaker F: Meanwhile. [02:28:30] Speaker B: Meanwhile, upstairs, there's also the matter of. And Roxanne. I will pull out the beginnings of my little map and explain the weird shit that I saw in taking a little wander around the property. [02:28:50] Speaker A: You have the occult expertise. I don't know what your pedagogical skills are, like, how good a teacher you are, but regardless of how well Haley, Katya and Jordan understand sacred geometry, at the end of the discussion, they no doubt understand the concept of weird shit. [02:29:07] Speaker E: So that's pretty much how I understand it. Yeah. [02:29:12] Speaker F: Yeah. I mean, do you think it's worth it trying to map that thing out? What. What it looks like? [02:29:21] Speaker E: I mean, is it like it's. It's. It's that occult stuff that you guys. [02:29:31] Speaker B: Seem to, you know, this place is haunted as shit. [02:29:36] Speaker D: So, yeah, while that discussion is happening, I'm going to try to ghost whisper for the fucking walls. Because we know that theoretically, another kindred has taught, like the role. How do I even describe this role? Stevie Nick style communing with the object space. Because theoretically, if another kindred put up this tape, it should work. One kindred? [02:30:13] Speaker A: Your ability. Well, so, yes, hopeful. God willing, if there is justice in this universe, there will be. You will get the information that you need. But I am hoping that because the room is less crowded, there aren't so many competing, lingering layers of emotion that it should work better. While you make that rule, though, Roxanna, you. Sorry. Roxanne, you were on the cusp of the. And so of your explanation. Yes. [02:30:40] Speaker B: Um, essentially, there is something mapping its way around this town. Something large and very occulty. Um, now, to be fair, doesn't necessarily pertain to what we're doing. We. We just need to figure out what the fuck happened to Everett. [02:31:06] Speaker A: Yeah. As we are approaching the end of your episode, and I really love a good cliffhanger, I need to let you two of you discuss that you're having this little debate. Jordan is doing her best to push all of you out of her consciousness as she pushes her hands on the walls. How many successes did you end up with? [02:31:27] Speaker D: Three successes. [02:31:31] Speaker A: Well, for once, three is enough. [02:31:39] Speaker D: I'll take what I can get. [02:31:41] Speaker A: It's pretty far away. You're reaching back into time a few days, but that's. That's kind of not the most interesting part of it. If you had more successes or it had been more recent, you'd be able to get a more fine tuned graph of the experience. But based on the role and the time frame, you get a sense of flat, like a neutral affect. The room just kind of like, calmly existing in these waves. Then a spike of adrenaline and fear and surprise, and then it very rapidly transitions into violence, struggle, and then sleep. Just blissful, restful. The sleep you haven't had because we're millennials since, like, you were ten at your grandma's house, right? Like, it happens so fast. If you imagine the visit taking the span of like, three days, right? And you have like, a three minute audio files represent that it is just a flat deadline for two minutes and 55 seconds, and then a whole lot happening all at once. And then 2 seconds of glorious, like, oh, my God. To be able to be that rested. Sleep. [02:33:15] Speaker D: Fascinating. I will relay that to the coterie. [02:33:22] Speaker A: Well, at the risk of letting that conversation spread past our time, we can hold it for the next recording. We've gotten just enough information to know that things are not what they should be. Someone checked into this room and did not sign out. We know that there's this emotional fight or flight moment followed by something that does not make sense in a city that is punctuated, just defined huge lines of something mimicking sacred geometry in the earth. Just enough to leave your brains tingling until the next we record. I cannot wait to hear what theories you come up with. In the meantime, though, I have been Aaron, your storyteller for the dying fields, a vampire the masquerade scenario in the streets run red scenario book. You can put exclamation point scenario in chat, and we will point you there. It's got this one and, I think four others that take place in the space between Detroit, Indianapolis, Chicago, Milwaukee. If you want to get your kindred out of the city, give them a change of pace. They're there. It's also built to be able to tie into chronicles, self contained things that you can place into your story or use as a lead in. If you're starting a chronicle off. I have been able to tell this story because I have had the amazingly talented assistance of first as Hailey Drake. She's the queen of the court. She makes all the art. The reason this overlay, like, all looks so good and shit, is because she is putting in all the effort. Her name is v. And v. When you are not letting me guide you through a minefield of bad roles in a vampire, the masquerade experience. Where can people find you? [02:35:12] Speaker E: Hi. Yeah, I'm vy, like Aaron said, and you can find me on the Internet for vampire, because my name is Vy and I like vampires. You can also find me here at Queen Square games doing all manner of things vampire and cult and Delta Green, and follow me down and just a whole bunch of stuff all the time over here. [02:35:38] Speaker A: Not to spoil anything about follow me down, which may or may not be coming for no reason whatsoever, I will now turn to our social media maven, Laura tutu, playing the Lasombra, Roxanne Silvestri. Laura, if people love this and if they don't, they can fucking fight me, because they are objectively wrong. If they love this and they would like to see more of you other places doing things, where can they go? [02:36:00] Speaker B: Well, I do spend an awful lot of time here at the court doing things like, I don't know, TTRPG retellings of greek myths, and eventually some cults, and eventually some call of Cthulhu, and eventually God knows what else. But I've also been known to hang out with the folks over at Obsidian, Bruce, working through and seeing what's coming up next over there. And eventually, you should be able to find me over at the Crimson Fox tavern as we jump back in with the hounds of hirsum, our little fey wild five e campaign that we're still working our way through. [02:36:41] Speaker E: So. [02:36:44] Speaker A: Excellent, excellent. I will be there. And if I don't see you, I know who's in chat right now. If I don't see you there, we're gonna have words. Not many words. Because I'm a tiny, weak, and cowardly man, you would probably be able to take me. Other people who could take me in a fight include Queen's court games, technical sorceress as the ban of Hakeem, Katya Sokola. Love it is. Aubrey. Aubrey, if people love your hair and want to see it constantly, where would they be able to fill that void in their hearts? Well, if you want to see more. [02:37:16] Speaker F: Of my hair, sometimes when I post photos, you can find me everywhere on the Internet at Madquencosplay. And if you just want to do a lot of stuff here, and I hopefully do more stuff as we move through 2023. If you want see other things that I do, you can find me over on goblets and gays, where I take a bunch of. Bunch of gaze through Pathfinder to e. We have a lot of fun. We're in our final season of our first campaign. You can also find me as Sawyer over on bring your own mech, the sword lesbian who's making all the wrong decisions. And you can find me over on ballad of seven dice with their escaping Carcosa campaign, playing on the five or the Pathfinder two e team. [02:38:07] Speaker A: I like that. Finding Carcosa game a lot. It's the right. I mean, it's an interesting vibe to mix normally what is like called cthulhu vibes with a pathfinder system because, you know, it only gets those two things in the same. [02:38:17] Speaker F: It's been a lot of fun. [02:38:19] Speaker A: Also a lot of fun. We love to have her here, but it seems she only shows up when it's time. Time to bring in a fresh kill or when she needs fed, as Jordan Phipps kitsch toreador is QCG's outdoor cat. Clara. Clara. [02:38:30] Speaker D: Oh, my gosh. [02:38:33] Speaker A: Where can people go to find more of you? [02:38:37] Speaker D: Oh, my God. You make it sound a lot worse than it is. Actually, that's not true. You can find me all over the Internet as clearly golden. Unless you are into mermaids, in which case you can find my mermaid Instagram. Finstagram, the original version of that word, definition of that word at mermaid clarity. I am here with Queen's court games playing this and maybe some other fun things in the future. Whenever I can get the metadata question mark, I'm here and also playing the all night society as Maya the Lasombra. And I'm also over at Happy Jack's rpg podcast playing all sorts of things and probably on Sunday evenings playing demigods. [02:39:26] Speaker A: We've actually posted to a great number of people on the. Literally dozens of people have seen the tweet where we announced Mekong, so I can't say when it's coming out for sure, but Clara is the brain behind that project. Brought together, found us the GM. And honestly, I can't wait to show it to all of you. [02:39:41] Speaker D: I'm so scared of announce it because if I say it, it's real and then I have. [02:39:45] Speaker E: It's already been announced. [02:39:46] Speaker D: I know at this in my heart it scares me. [02:39:51] Speaker A: Continuing my list of things that I am excited for. I have finally gotten to play in a public game as it's GM four shade. We have. It's been literally like a year and a half. I've been like, oh, I can't make that timetable. Oh, I don't have a game going right now. And we finally made it happen. I hope it was worth it. I mean, the amount of anticipation. [02:40:10] Speaker C: It was worth it. [02:40:11] Speaker E: Thank you. [02:40:12] Speaker C: I love this. And you're all amazing. [02:40:16] Speaker B: Hello. [02:40:16] Speaker C: I am sade or Ambrose. You can find me everywhere. Ss Ambrose. Except for Twitter, which is Ssambrose because Twitter hates me. Other than that, you can find me on friends who roll dice. I am in a monthly of the week campaign called Siren Song, where I also play a vampire. I play an emotional drain vampire, which is fun. Their name is Knox. There we go. I have too many characters that I have now. On top of that, I have my studio that I am watching, other Sider studios. And we're going to be bringing over the Arcane Corps and doing an aftermath series, which is just bridging over to the next season of season three, essentially, which I'm excited about. And of course, you can find me on the Lovely Craft Dance podcast, which is a call of the Thulu actual play podcast here on hiatus. But we have four wonderful seasons and looking to continue. That's where I am. You're amazing. [02:41:20] Speaker A: I can say that, Adam. I can see that. Lovely craft teams and goblins and gates both have an amazing backlog. So if you are already caught up on Todd and Farty Jake, then you can fill the void between the next episode by going to either one of those things and finding Pathfinder, second edition, and call of Cthulhu, respectively. [02:41:40] Speaker E: I thought it was Farty Todd. [02:41:42] Speaker A: You know what? I think you're right. Is it Jake and Farty Todd? [02:41:46] Speaker E: Yeah, farty Todd. [02:41:48] Speaker A: Okay, well, this is my brain trying to push it away and all of you being like, no, this is forever. [02:41:53] Speaker E: No, no, this is forever. [02:41:54] Speaker F: It lives forever. [02:41:55] Speaker E: But Aaron, Aaron, I don't think that you can get away from this because we have told all of these wonderful people watching where they can find us. But what if they want to hear more from you? Where can they find you? [02:42:14] Speaker A: Well, as always, anyone who wants to hear more from me, I question their judgment. But you know what? I'm not here to tell people how to live their lives. You can find Merrin in words on Twitter and literally nowhere else, because although I am old enough to be on Facebook, it has a lot of personal pictures on it that I would feel ashamed if you all saw. I've literally against the law for me to be on TikTok. In most jurisdictions, just like there's an age cut off, at which point you are not cool enough to be in the room and you would drag the whole experience down. For anyone else. On Twitter, though, you will find me giving out a little bit of role playing advice, tips on Gming stuff. I like to retweet a lot of the other things that are coming out from designers and games. If you'd like more of me as a GM, come on here to Queenscore RPG on Twitter. I will be doing some guesswork for RP geeks in the near future. Be partnering with speculate not long after that if you'd like to see me as a player. Well, first of all, convince V to run more things because then I'll be in them. But I'm also playing Heinrich Schelf in the Warhammer fantasy role playing fourth edition epic campaign happening over on Red Moon role playing. We've also got some unknown armies over there, which I will eventually bring to the table. But yes, for more of us on anything that we're up to, Newswisecarrpg on Twitter and elsewhere on the interwebs or hell, exclamation exclamation point, social in chat, everything you need to know. In the meantime, we will see you here same time exactly seven days from now. So seven days from now, but also 3 hours ago for more of this vampire story featuring Katya, Jack, Hayley, Jordan, and Roxanne. For now, I'm going to let these lovely folks finally get off to bed and out of costumes. Thank you so much for joining us, especially to our Duke Tier patrons, Ben, Callie, and Mark. In the meantime, bye for now. Bye.